#and i really felt that genuine voice come through in the plotline and dialogue!

[jamietxrtt]

im still baffled by the general response to ep 8 btw. sure the dialogue got a little cheesy at times, but the dialogue in this show is always like 15% cheesy? that’s why people like it lol.

i thought ep 8 was really good, plotlines were moving, drama was happening, characters and relationships were being tested. juno temple acted her ass off. i wish the whole season had been like this!

i really don’t understand why everyone disliked this ep so much. am i missing something? am i just looking for something different out of this show than everyone else is? i agree that the season as a whole has been… scattered, but i thought this past ep was really good.

am i missing something?

[lesbiansforboromir]

(RoP ep 5 spoilers)

I was rlly down on rop after episode 4 w/ the flagrant racism and what felt like a real dip in writing quality after the first 3 eps - both the Rhûn and Southlander survivors plots could have been done so much better, Bombadil & Barrow Wights go back to the shadow pls...

But I just watched ep 5 & we're so back!!! Love the delicious deepening poison of the Eregion plot, the web that Celebrimbor has been spun in; every scene in Numenor pulling no punches, + 'our armies cannot defeat both Adar & Sauron. Not alone' 👀

Khazad Dum developing fascinatingly as always, the web beginning to be woven around Young Durin as well (though I miss that spark of threatening ambition from Disa in the 1st season)

And these little teases of Adar & Galadriel have built up the anticipation for that plot to come in the next eps so well, Sam Hazeldine killing it!!

Will be gutted not to see Alex Tarrant again. King 😔✌🏼

Did you have any thoughts? Always enjoy your insightful takes.

Sorry this took so long to reply too I've been enduring diverse horrors but yes! I experienced the last two episodes very similarly, ep 4 was extremely disappointing just for the genuinely shocking orientalism present and whilst it had some good scenes (really enjoyed the elaboration of Isildur's history with his mother and Theo identifying with it so viscerally, the ents were beautifully voice-acted and designed and, of course, big worm) in the majority it was just all the most superfulous plotlines in this show that really have no business being in this story bundled into one episode and none of them even justified themselves by being... good.

And again, cannot express enough how bad Tom's so called 'cornish accent' was, kind of compounding the show's clearly very unexamined and dismissive attitude towards culture, accents, ethnicities and employing any of them with skill or respect.

But with that in mind I wasn't very surprised that the next episode was just better to watch, it had all the plot-relevant plotlines in it 😂 AND was just in general better television. Like I've said this before, but they've clearly worked on and better'd their understanding of 'tolkienian dialogue' for this season, I'm fully convinced by every scene and especially Miriel and Elendil's dialogue, 'when the wolves are licking at the cradle' felt particularly good to me.

And!! Full commitment to the religious conflict! Like I know people will moan and gripe that Tolkien SAID Eru wasn't worshipped but I think he meant that in a completely different way to what most people think it means. Like the Meneltarma exists, the holidays for thanksgiving to Eru exist, hereticism exists and Numenor's story is one of religious oppression, resentment and rebellion. It is a no-brainer to make that clear to the audience through reverence, shrines and prayer. I was particularly won over by the use of 'Nasie' in the shrine desicration scene, which is the quenya version of 'Amen' from Tolkien's quenya translation of the Lord's Prayer (nerd).

I'm also genuinely enjoying the Eregion plotline! Which I did not expect. I think just purely for the acting actually, like it's not groundbreaking to say that Charles Edwards is a brilliant actor but still! It's worth mentioning! He's portraying Celebrimbor in this poignantly empathetic way, not flinching from the frailties but in a way that keeps me with him emotionally 100% of the time.

And I'm enjoying Charlie Vickers offering us, the audience, a clear understanding of exactly the tools he's using to try and manipulate the people around him whilst maintaining the idea that those tactics would work. I also like that there's an effort to make Celebrimbor appear as competent as he's supposed to be this season, even though it doesn't really make up for how little the forging of the elven rings was about him initially.

And in this episode I was REALLY taken with the scene where Mirdania puts on one of the rings, there was a gentleness to the way he found her hand to pull it off and a sort of immediate comprehension of the situation that made me go hell yeah! Thats a lord of elves! Thats a masterful person! Thats someone who is gentle at heart!

Everytime the balrog comes up I'm a little annoyed and concerned, I really do not want to see the destruction of Khazad-dum in the second age, but other than that the dwarf plot line also indeed continues to be excellent. I have lesbian blinkers on about Disa so it's hard to be unbiased, but god the WAY the relationship between the two Durins is progressing... UNBEARABLY heartbreaking, they are putting in work to make this complex and to preserve both characters as ultimately good and to keep the slow disaster inevitable anyway. My personal brand of narrative agony writ large. And! Really appreciated that they had Durin tell Celebrimbor that greed was never a part of his father's personality until the ring's influence, a small thing that helps nod to the larger antisemitism issue.

HOWEVER! Having said all that, the episode was more emotionally polarising for me than solely good.

Firstly, whilst I am enjoying Narvi's characterisation, I was enjoying it mainly because in every scene with him I was like 'wow! I love this guy, he's quiet and thoughtful and a little awkward but also knows his stuff, he and Celebrimbor will get along so well! can't wait to see their friendship progress! 🙂' And then... the doors of durin were already made and Celebrimbor made a joke about Narvi being a thief? And that's the last we saw of them together 😅 Like it really felt like a check box for the writers, and is one of these mirriad of little moments where you're immediately thinking about how much time the harfoot/gandalf plotline is taking up in this very time-constrained show and wish SO much that it could be used for THESE kinds of relational developments. And I mean I know ultimately Narvi and Celebrimbor's relationship is not important for the overall plotline of the show either, and it's not a crime to focus on the characters they're using to drive the story along, but it's still disappointing and sad to see it so relegated to the sideline.

AND THEN god, the scene with Pharazon and Kemen. Like I already feel so blindsided about how fast Pharazon became king, and with the use of the Eagle too. Like I appreciate the idea that Numenor's relationship to the west is complicated and that the eagle still holds weight when elves don't, ultimately like... the Eagle came to Miriel's coronation! The fact that this was apparently such a political blow to her that there was no rebuttal she could make seems a bit insane, does she really have no political allies to debate this for her in parliment? And I know I'm the 'lore doesn't matter' guy I know but... why didn't the eagle speak? We all know they can!

But that's not even my main issue with the Pharazon and Kemen scene, DELIGHTED to finally have the show acknowledge that Kemen had a mother and wasn't grown from Pharazon's own body or something, but... okay so RoP DOES AGREE that the dunedain can just HAVE the gift of prophecy.. so why have we slandered my poor benighted palantiri once again and given them powers they have never possessed? (I know why, the cool Miriel and Elendil vision misinterpretation couldn't have happened if they hadn't I know I know but it hurts it hurts okay!!)

BUT THAT'S STILL NOT EVEN MY MAIN ISSUE, my main issue is... this is the first time in the WHOLE SHOW we've heard anyone mention death as an issue between elves and mortals. Like Pharazon seems to have touched the sceptre and been imbued with the sudden realisation that is sucks elves get to live forever when humans can't. It's being portrayed in this like 'well clearly this is unreasonable, only a tyrant would think this' when this is one of the most emotionally relatable narratives in the whole canon! And multiple characters have MASSIVE motive to connect with this resentment. I mean, didn't Elendil literally lapse in faith BECAUSE his wife died??

It's made most gruelling by the fact that RoP got SO close to crafting a narrative that would have perfectly introduced and accelerated this resentment. Miriel went to war on the word of an elf who will live near-as-makes-no-difference forever and who HAS been alive for thousands of years already and that war killed a huge swathe of humans, many of whom were young with their whole lives ahead of them, but the thousands of years old elf still survived. Like that basic formula IS the catalyst for the first wave of faithless kings of numenor in the original canon! Minastir dragged Numenor to Gil-Galad's defense after Tar-Telperien spent so many years resisting that course of action and Minastir was the last faithful king of numenor for a millenia or more. So you would think! It would be EASY for the show to capitalise on that and show kingsmen associate the deaths of their loved ones with their resentment towards elves and the west who decreed it be so! But no! Somehow, the connection seems like... avoided almost!

Earien is angry at Miriel for taking her brother to war because of an elven artifact that she percieves as mystical and untrustworthy, and that sentiment is repeated by all the kingsmen we see (though many like Belzagar dont even seem that emotionally invested at all, it's more of a political ploy for them apparently). But literally none of them seem to have even considered the fact that dying at all sucks and apparently the option to NOT do it could be on the table, bizarre when their founding king's brother made that exact choice.

I don't know the cynic in me feels like it's an attempt to lead the viewer into an unthinking dichotomy of Faithful = Good and Kingsmen = Evil with no nuance or sympathy offered to the normal people of numenor who are reasonably asking why they have to die when elves don't! Which is would be a frankly crazy take in a show where sympathy for the villainous seems to be like... A HUGE PART of the overarching narrative they're constructing!!

And it's also clearly working if all the viciousness towards Earien is anything to go by, like my god the woman's just doing what she thinks to be the right choice with all the information she has at her disposal and since NO ONE ELSE (Elendil) seems to want to actually have a calm and respectful conversation with her about why she's mistaken and have decided just shouting and threats are the best way to go (Elendil) I do not blame her even one bit.

In general the Numenor plotline remains the MOST like... like it tears me fully in half. I am in love with the designs, the acting is great, even the FOUNDATIONS of these themes and relationships are immaculate (Elendil being initially a reluctant martyr and a disconnected unsympathetic father, Isildur survivor guilt, Elendil having a daughter who was wooed by kingsman ideology, Anarion's estrangement from his father over his revolutionist religious views etc) But they're just not handling it as well as the rest of the show's plots are. It feels rushed and muddy, and the whole 'elves coming over 'ere stealing our jobs' scene still haunts me at night. I can never get over it.

AND LAST THING I am not... content with Valandil's death. Like the scene itself was great, and my god is the music this season hitting right, but I feel like it was a waste to kill him off so early. The tragedy of it was certainly immense and it's going to drive the tension in Numenor up for sure, but Valandil was really carving a place out for himself as an interesting character in his own right and I would have liked to see him go a bit further into the story before we lost him. Though, of course, he always did have to die.

[chocolateslatte]

🚨The Rise of Skywalker Detailed Review and Spoilers Ahead🚨

George Lucas: “If the boy and girl walk off into the sunset hand-in-hand in the last scene, it adds 10 million to the box office”

The “fairytale” we got: A long long time ago in a galaxy far far away, there was a curse of pain and death in a family that just went on and on.  They were never able to break it and they all die, the end. 

Well, you did it JJ, you little punk...you ruined 40 years of cinema. Kids are coming out of theatres crying, they can’t understand. I guess this was the “fun and hopeful ending” you were speaking of during the press tours.  Are you on crack or something, or just sadistic....why would you promote it like that!? Did you forget Star Wars at its core is a story of hope, light, a fairytale in space for children? They did it...they united Reylo’s and Fanboys through hate. 

JJ you do realize tragical romances are only tragically romantic if there was romantic buildup? Romeo and Juliet married in secret, Anidala did as well and flirted in the fields. How was this supposed to be satisfying? A five-second beginning, middle, and end. How this went through multiple execs is beyond me.... I would have understood if Reylo was Rian’s creation. BUT JJ LITERALLY was the one who told Rian to go forth with it...he created Reylo so you can’t say the last Jedi derailed things on that front. JJ wasn’t brave enough for his own vision. This movie was like “the crimes of Grindlewald”, a lot of stuff happening that made me feel nothing. 

Okay, first things first. The OG trilogy was necessary, the prequels were necessary to set up that Vader did not start off bad. What was necessary about the sequels? They just dismantled everything the Skywalker family worked for. Why did we have to see ALL of our favorite characters die? Was the aim that a villain can only be redeemed through death? How original. I’m convinced what they were planning for since force awakens was a journey from villain to hero...but instead we got this a 10min redemption resulting in death a la Vader. Why call Adam Driver’s character a “Disney Prince”?When did Happy endings become so controversial? We go to the movies to feel hope, to escape reality...George Lucas understood that. JJ’s trilogy is uninspired, bland and contributes nothing to the saga. JJ went as far as to recon his own “The Force Awakens”.It had the chance to define generations but no. Literal and utter garbage. Rian made some odd choices but he was bold, unafraid and had the vision. HE knew emotion was at the heart of Star Wars.

WHERE DID THE SKYWALKERS RISE? MORE LIKE RISE OF PALPATINE,  HE BLOODY WON

BUT my problem is not with the ending, it’s the bloody entire movie. This movie made me realize that it's not Reylo that I am a fan of, it was Ben, Leia, Han, Ani, Padme, and all those other characters. I’m upset because this movie is not my Star Wars: of family, love and above all else hope. This is just a 2.5-hour video game with no emotions. This trilogy was all angst with NO payoff.

Okay, you will never ever convince me Palpatine was planned the whole time. This whole movie was retcon for the Last Jedi that pissed off the fanboys. Lucas films did not have an outline for the three films and Rian derailed whatever they wanted to do....except they didn’t even tell him what they wanted! This should be a cautionary tale of why you need to plan. Kylo ain’t bad, Snoke is gone....well pull out Palpatine I guess. This whole film is JJ’s mad scrambling.  Alright, I will humor you, tell me how Palpatine came back when he fell down a shaft and exploded....not *boom boom because of force*. The force in this movie is not canon George Lucas force, it’s just an easy out whenever JJ wants one. 

1. Opening Crawl: As soon as I saw this I knew all the leaks were true, I wanted to bolt from the theatre. When I saw them in August I laughed cause it was so ridiculous it couldn’t be true. How could Disney let a whole movie leak? The plot seemed like a bad fan-fiction. Actually, fanfics are way more true to lore. Anyway, so Palpatine “announces” that he’s back. Is this the shrewd Chancellor Palpatine we know? Certainly, not...why in the world would he announce it rather than keep on the DL and just attack. Yo Palps ain’t this dumb why would you let them (the resistance) prepare?? Because of plot...well okay. 

2. Did Last Jedi even happen:  this film is the sequel to the force awakens, like TLJ never happened...except it’s acting like there was some movie in between that JJ made. Okay, so why is Kylo trying to run Rey over with his tie fighter...he doesn’t really want to kill her. It’s just meaningless action shots.  And don’t get me started on exposition, the dialogue: “hey look its the Knights of Ren”. Except they do nothing. Cool cool.  Kylo’s character goes back to Force awakens era like no development had occurred...except he’s not even there he’s just messing around not even being a real villain.  JJ’s specialty is set-up and he does this beautifully....but he can not wrap up and follow through. 

3. Rose Tico: yup last Jedi never happened, she has nothing to do. She and Finn are irrelevant. Finn has reverted to being obsessed with Rey. Cool Cool.  I honestly feel so bad for the lovely Kelly Marie Tran. How did you relegate a relatively big character into the sidelines?? Why introduce two new characters this late. Rose could have filmed in for them...but alas we must snub Rian at every turn because that’s just how petty JJ Abrams is. ( don’t get me wrong Jannah was cool)

4. The Rise Of Poe Dameron: Finn has been relegated to a side character who does nothing and just yells “REY!”. It was a great setup, a stormtrooper who was force sensitive but doesn’t want his life to be fighting for nothing. You could have explored trauma, the discovery of the light but nope nada. Tell me the point of his character journey. So flat and static. And with Jannah and the ex stormtroopers they could have gone with the arc of these lost, sad kids coming together to find family. 

5. Leia:  Okay you’re telling me our Princess would give up on her son before he was born, just throw away her lightsaber and accept Ben’s fate? Cool alright. And she knew about Rey Palpatine and didn’t say anything...my princess would never.

6. Mary Sue Rey: Ahh Rey this girl feels no emotion in this movie...just like the audience. Sure she’s trained but she can just do stuff with the “force” that even Jedi masters can’t. Stopping a whole starship, something even Yoda could barely do...yup she can do it. Beat Kylo all the time except one, yup she can. Manipulate the force in mind-boggling ways, heal people...sure Luke couldn’t but Rey certainly can.  Cause she is the chosen one...hell even Ani wasn’t this talented and he had years of training. Poe and Finn have a genuine connection, Rey just seems disjointed (totally understandable why)...but if so the ending is even worse. She doesn’t even find peace with her friends. She’s not realistic and human like Luke and Leia were. 

 Force sensitivity in the galaxy:  What a perfect setup, the boy with the broom at the end of TLJ that was force sensitive. The message is that the power to use the force was spreading through the galaxy. No longer confined to the elite. People were hearing of Luke’s battle of Crate and rising.

7. Kylo/Ben: I still maintain that he, other than Ani was the most nuanced character in the whole saga. His arc from Force Awakens to Last Jedi had progressed. How great that even someone from the legendary line of skywalker and solo could fall to the dark again. He wasn’t flat, he was a tortured boy that was conflicted since the first movie. How great would it have been to see him as a conflicted supreme leader, which was set up in TLJ. But *gasps* a plot of his very own, no can do, this is the nature of JJ’s crush on Rey and Daisy. 

Disney released comics that made us sympathize with him, to see that all along he was manipulated by Snoke, and Palpatine the voices in his head. Neglected by those who were supposed to love him. Adam Driver was cast perfectly, he had almost no lines that weren’t related to Rey’s charcater arc. If he were a woman I’m sure everyone would be offended. That single line’s delivery “Dad-”

Come on Poe had more lines than him, and Driver according to JJ was half of the protagonist. He was pitched an arc opposite that of Darth Vader that’s why he signed. Man JJ really did do everyone dirty. 

8. Ben had no lines while redeemed other than “ow”...I am so sorry ADAM that this nasty ass JJ did this to you...this part was 100% improv by Adam, I am willing to bet my life on it. You know why “ow” was brilliant? Cause it meant he felt pain and emotion, he was no longer hiding behind the hardness of Kylo REN. Adam’s performance as Ben left me speechless, he was convincing as Kylo, intimidating...but as BEN he shines in the way only Solo’s can. The way his eyes become determined once he accepts he must give his life, and he does so happily for the love of his life. His soulmate. Star Wars and JJ never deserved the talent that is Adam Driver.

9. They are supposed to be equals in the force yet they missed the opportunity to fight Snoke together. Tell me how they are equals. He existed only to further Rey’s plotline. 

Oh and the other Jedi including Anakin whisper and help Rey...when his own grandson has been asking for help in distress for like 30years. Nice real nice.

10. Finally Reylo:  it felt unearned cause there was no buildup, JJ just threw it in for kicks forgetting all the P&P parallels he was shooting for. An afterthought. Driver and Ridley’s acting saved the day, they had no lines.  Adam Driver is truly one of the finest actors. You could see the difference between Ben and Kylo in his subtle gestures...the sass was pure Han Solo.  

11. And then the death: I wouldn’t even say we won, but at what cost. We won in no way. Had he died fighting I would have understood, but this death was so unnecessary and put in just for the fanboys. Let me say again I would have been okay with death had it been justified.  How is this any different than Vader x Luke. JJ can only copy not create. How crazy that you can just bring people back from the dead...Anakin is here like, am I joke to you? I could have brought Padme back say what???? What was the point of his whole fall to the dark. The force is infinite, that’s the whole point...once you know how to use it you can’t run out of it like juice. Oh, and Ben did not become one with Rey but rather the Force according to the Disney website. So why pray tell did he not appear as a force ghost? I’m convinced JJ was on crack.  

12. No Mourning BEN no acknowledgment:  5 seconds! And then she moves on from losing her soulmate, half of her soul. She loses it over Chewie but nothing, no emotion not even a second over her other half. Seriously? No one ever knows Ben came back...nada. JJ set up Reylo, time and time again he has said that he crafted the story around the romance. He was left scrambling after Last Jedi and this was a last-ditch shock ending. No Reylo theme song, no across the stars

13. Last Jedi told us you don’t have to come from a powerful family to be important. THE WHOLE thing was that you could be force-sensitive and be a nobody. Nobodies can become somebody. A Hero is not born but made. The force lives in all beings, not just powerful families. It inspired me, what a great message to young guys and gals. Kylo’s line, “you come from nothing, you are nothing...you have no place in this story” finally turns out true. You have to come from something to have a part in the Star Wars story. And Rey had darkness inside her cause she was human. Because none of us are pure, we are shades of grey. But no, it’s cause darkness only runs in families. In the Last Jedi when she wants to see her family all she sees is herself and a shadow (Ben) who joins with her. Please do explain this JJ. And if this granddaughter thing was set up I would have had no problem...but they pulled it from their asses. You can have nothing but mean something. But no pander to the fanboys. In the end, a Palpatine lived and all the skywalkers ended....and we are supposed to have hope. Palpatine really did win. 

14. Rey’s biggest fear was ending up in the desert alone, we were told “the belonging she seeks is ahead not behind” and “there’s someone who could still come back”. They mentioned she felt just as alone with the resistance. Only the other half of her soul understood her. This is truly tragic and sad...I am so heartbroken for her. And don’t tell me she isn’t there to stay...the soundtrack is called “a new home”. Enjoy the rest of your days being exactly where you started Rey....but hey at least you got a droid boo. I’m convinced this is not the balance JJ envisioned in the first movie. At one point in TFA Rey looks up sees an old woman alone, scavenging in the desert. This rattles her to the core and it starts her journey of wanting a better, different life. I am so sorry Rey. Okay so you may say she has the resistance and her friends...but let’s consult the last Jedi. In the end when everyone is on the ship...Rey is surrounded by friends yet looks more alone than ever. No one but Ben, maybe Luke, Leia, and Han understood her pull to the dark.

How sad that these two hopeless souls who had never known a moment of belonging and true love, found it for all but a few seconds.

I will quote: “preventing female characters with strong, compelling narratives from experiencing love, intimacy, and affection is just as regressive as reducing them down to sexual accessories. Assumes that women must choose between a romantic interest and depth of character”

Men really can not write good female characters, can they? A woman really can’t be a badass and end up with the love of her life

15. The Skywalker’s and Redemption: How truly truly sad that Han and Leia gave their life for their son who also died at a young age. ALL the Skywalkers and Solo’s have a tragic end. This is not what George Lucas wanted. What a tragic way to end this saga...they weren't able to break the curse. AND to all those troubled kids out there that lashed out and made terrible mistakes in their youth....doesn’t matter what you do dying is the only way out. You could have exiled him, made him pay in other ways. Nothing can be done to make up for your sins but death, no amount of good means that you can come home. To the young boys that get wrapped up in terror organizations, sorry the only way you can be redeemed is death...don’t bother changing and coming back. They could have exiled him, had him start an academy with Rey for Jedi kids. He could have spent the rest of his days redeeming himself. Why tell us he was literally preyed upon, haunted, and manipulated as a child. Even in a fantasy world, a victim of mental illness and abuse can not catch a break. Ben as a child could not fall asleep due to the demon-like voices in his mind. Everyone abandoned him in his time of need. Ben never desired power like Anakin, he went over to the dark because “the voice” of his grandfather promised belonging. I am shocked that this is the message Disney sends us. Oh and yeah you can totally take on the Skywalker name for kicks...the disrespect I swear

16. The worst bit is that I am 90% sure there was another ending that was scrapped.  There was a promo shot of Jannah in a field, soft lighting, lush planet. It was exactly like P&P. Daisy Ridley said the lasts scene was known to only Her, Jannah on that panel (Driver was away). Convinced Jannah was looking at Rey and Ben starting a new life away from the desert which she and Luke hate so much. Hence the production of “A New Home” soundtrack. Hence why the “Farewell” song played behind Reylo kiss was hopeful. Why Luke’s soundtrack when he became part of the force was not triumphant. Why the death scene was sudden and cut weird and no sorrow from Rey. CAUSE THEY SCRAPPED THE ORIGINAL ENDING LAST MINUTE.  Everyone knows JJ was still editing one month before. The concept art which was supposed to be released this month has been pushed to March. Why you ask? They need to remove the pages with a happy ending. He just didn’t have the guts, pandered to everyone and yet no one. He was successful in creating a beautifully filmed action-filled movie with none of the heart of Star Wars.

And then she goes and buries Anakin’s saber on freaking TATOOINE. He HATES Sand and Luke wanted to get away from there as soon as possible. Of course, a Palpatine would torture them that way. But nostalgia is the cash cow so. JJ can only generate nostalgia, not create original stories. IF he had any creativity she would have buried it at Padme’s grave.

The fanboys say “leave the romance for the romance movies”....have you seen the original trilogy or the prequels? Star Wars has always had hope and romance entwined with it. 

SO AFTER 40 YEARS...PALPATINE WINS...HIS BLOODLINE LIVES ON

...and people thought the prequels were bad 

JJ you also said that your goal was for people to come out of the movie feeling more hopeful and happy then they went in...yet here I am. My roommate literally had to console me and buy me ice cream. I am just so numb. I am sure the casual fan will enjoy this, as seen from the rotten tomatoes ratings. I think the critics were too generous with this one, 

Star Wars is very simple at its core, Good vs Bad and Dark vs Light. The kids are expected to understand that a Palpatine being the only one who lives is hopeful? That is the conclusion of three generations of Skywalker sacrifice...

This is how the Skywalkers are remembered...In Tragedy and Curse??

[uzuuzuking]

so this started out as just a general post about why i like cinderella adaptations, but slowly spiraled into a ranking/review of all the cinderella adaptations i’ve seen in my short, young life. so strap in for possibly the longest post i’ve ever made on this blog. (look, i never know how much i have to say about something until i really get going lmao)

idk why i like cinderella adaptations/remakes/spinoffs so much? most of them are garbage (especially the ones within the last 10 years don’t @ me) but fuck it i like this brand of garbage. it’s fun to watch these movies and rework the bad plotlines and dialogue in my head as i go along.

i guess i like the source material and some of the aspects of all the different adaptations, but honestly i just like re-imagining them because there’s only so much cringey script-written-for-teens-but-clearly-written-by-40-year-old-adults-who-have-no-idea-how-teens-or-even-people-for-that-matter-actually-talk-and-interact i can take in one excruciating sitting.

anyway here’s my personal ranking of all the cinderella adaptations i’ve seen that no one asked for. (not including stage productions because i haven’t seen any and have no opinion of them. also not including into the woods because that’s not just cinderella, but a spectacular amalgamation of fairytale mishap and shenanigan.) and reviews because apparently i had more to say than i originally thought when i first started constructing this list:

cinderella (1997) - the absolute best cinderella adaptation of all time, hands down, this is non-negotiable. this movie has it all: an excellent and diverse cast, gorgeous costume design, beautiful sets, some of the most dazzling dance numbers i ever witnessed when i first watched it at the wee age of 4, and a positive, progressive message that was accurate for its time yet also so ahead of its time. i cannot praise this version of cinderella enough, it is my all time favorite and one of my top 3 feel-good movies. if you watched it today, the effects might not be as magical compared to what we have now, but keep in mind it was released in 1997. anyway, the cast is truly amazing and so effortlessly inclusive (and honestly the fact that the prince was asian with a black mother and white father and they literally never addressed it was such a power move). i could go on about this movie forever (i’ll probably make a whole post dedicated to it in the future) and what it meant to me and many others as young, impressionable poc. in conclusion, this movie set an exceedingly high standard for me and destroyed the chances of any other cinderella adaptation even hoping to live up to that. i love it! so! much!

ever after: a cinderella story (1998) - tbh i never saw this until i was in college but i immediately fell in love. i love the flow of the story as a whole - i never felt like anything was missing. i love the costumes and i especially love how danielle and henry’s relationship progressed throughout the film. slow-burn comes to mind when i watch their interactions and we all love a sweet, sweet slow-burn. it’s romance babes! it’s Dramatic in a few scenes and all i can say is that it really works because drew barrymore’s performance is exceptional, fantastic, engaging, more adjectives to describe how enthralled by her i was. above all, her character is compassionate - she uses her voice to speak in support for those who are suppressed by the flawed government systems and law enforcers, and influences the prince to use his status and power to better his people who lack the privileges of the nobility. she’s such a strong female lead (emotionally and physically - she literally fireman carries her love interest, who is taller than her and definitely exceeds her own bodyweight) and truly the mvp of this adaptation. watch it. watch it for Her.

enchanted (2007) - amy adams and idina menzel - ‘nuff said. okay but for real this one is so unique with its transition from classic d*sney 2D animation style to the real three-dimensional world and i adore it to the ends of the earth. the music? slaps! the story? slaps! the development of the main character? slaps!! she’s so princess-y and d*sney cartoon-y and struggles in the real world, but she adapts at a good pace and i love that she learns to be realistic while also keeping hope and love close to her heart. also her mother figure / daughter figure bond with morgan is so so precious. the only constructive criticism i have for this movie is the fact that we were robbed of idina menzel singing!!! did they know all along she was destined to play the frozen queen years in the future and decided against her singing in this one?? is that it? ridiculous. it’s been over a decade and i’m still seething over this. other than that this movie is *chef’s kiss*

ella enchanted (2004) - anne hathaway’s back must still be hurting from carrying this film. (no shade to the other cast members, they’re good, but anne is a queen and i forever love her.) this is another childhood favorite of mine. the story itself is a refreshing take - hats off to gail carson levine for the source material! i’ve talked about the differences between the movie and book before in the midst of my reread of the book a few months ago, but i don’t remember how much i focused on the movie. it’s so different from the book that it might as well be its own thing. on its own, the movie is pretty decent! again, mostly because of anne. it’s funny, it’s sad (especially that scene towards the beginning between ella and areida, i’m in stupid tears every time), and it gets weird but it’s a fun time. the chemistry between char and ella is so zesty i can feel it through the screen, i swoon over both of them. tbh i probably wouldn’t like this movie so much if not for the fact that anne hathaway is truly talented and i spend most of my time watching it just looking at her. 

cinderella 3: a twist in time (2007) - i genuinely enjoyed and appreciated how the characters were written in this one. they all had clear motives and became much more dynamic through their lines and actions (drizella is arguably the most static character here but she still amuses me so it’s fine i guess). cinderella has more agency since the stakes are higher. prince charming actually has a gotdamn personality and has some of the funniest scenes and dialogue. good for him. i was kind of sad that anastasia’s story with the sweet baker boy was thanos snapped by the stepmother, but she and baker boy get a cute credits illustration together so it’s still canon! maybe i’m more biased on this one because i grew up rewatching it A Lot, but i definitely prefer it to the first and second movies.

cinderella (2000) - this one is kind of weird but i like it? the film has a really interesting vibe that i’m still trying to figure out how to describe even after seeing it like 5 times. wikipedia refers to the aesthetic style as “the glamour of the 1950s” which just might be as close as we can get. it follows the general guidelines of the cinderella plot, but the main differences were: zezolla (cinderella) was already helping with the chores before her father remarried, claudette (stepmother) was actively trying to murder zezolla’s father during their marriage, the stepsisters were much more violent and crass (they hunted zezolla’s beloved farm animals for sport and talked about getting “a man in [their] bed”), zezolla’s father was manipulated by everything claudette did and said and treated his own daughter poorly as a result, and prince valiant is honestly kind of a douchebag but seems willing to improve himself after meeting zezolla (basically his vibes are iffy but he’s willing to learn). this whole movie is pretty niche and i have yet to interact with someone who’s also seen it. and the only reason i’ve seen it so many times is because i just like listening to how the dialogue is delivered. (except for prince valiant’s random song at the ball, i kind of hated that and i skip through it every time lol).

a cinderella story (2004) - the classic hilary duff version. very cliche early 2000s high school romance, but it works for the cinderella narrative. not particularly diverse. a classic nonetheless. in my mind this is the pinnacle of the “modern cinderella movie” type. this is one of the most iconic movies for us zillennials and i’d like to think it’s known well enough for me to not go into a lot of detail about it. basically it was fresh and new for its time, had plenty of memorable scenes, and did i mention hilary duff? the film kind of plays into the “not like other girls” trope - as do a couple of the movies i listed above - but i’m just going to acknowledge that the early 2000s were Wack and simply move on. all in all, i like this movie for the nostalgia, iconic scenes, and hilary duff. also jennifer coolidge is pretty funny as the stepmother.

another cinderella story (2008) - again, an early 2000s classic, but this time with selena gomez. i liked the dancing in this one. i like selena’s quiet, somewhat timid characterization of her character, mary. and jane lynch in the stepmother role is perfection. she’s so fun to watch and is always hilarious. the story is nothing remarkable, but it’s okay and i liked it as a kid. after the hilary duff version, this one still managed to feel fresh because, though it was similar in its modern era approach, it focused more on the performing arts and dance. “cinderella” is an aspiring dancer, rather than the 2004 aspiring scholar. the “prince” is a famous popstar, not a football player. the stepmother is an outdated popstar desperate to stay Hip and Relevant with the kids, not a cranky botox lady. honestly i just love watching this one for the dancing, mary’s genuine and innocent love for the “prince”, and literally everything that comes out of jane lynch’s mouth. that woman is a dialogue gold mine.

a cinderella story: once upon a song (2011) - lucy hale is good. missi pyle is good. they play their roles and lines that they’re given fairly well. over all, it’s entertaining. lucy, of course, has them Pipes and i do like the songs in this movie. the only major downside for me was the “token best friend of color” trope. lucy’s best friend is an asian girl who’s good at sports and is there for one liners and support. the prince charming character’s best friend is a black guy who he only knew for probably a month at the most. he can beatbox, sing, and dj. basically he’s also just there as support. they really don’t do much for the plot but they’re there for diversity and whatnot. this movie is.. fine.

cinderella (1950) - the only reason this ranks so low for me is because i watched it a lot as a child when it was on vhs and it always felt like a fever dream to me. i was just really young and didn’t feel invested in any of the characters. it is a classic, though, and i would watch it again and be able to enjoy it.

cinderella 2: dreams come true (2002) - i liked cinderella’s and anastasia’s stories from this one. jaq’s was meh. it was fine.

dj cinderella or cinderella pop (2019) - netflix knows i like cinderella adaptations so, naturally, they shoved this into my recommended and, naturally, i watched it. twice. which is more than i can say for the following review... so this movie is brazillian and is pretty much the cut & mold of modern cinderella movies. but she wants to be a dj. she stars out living a perfect life as a wealthy girl with a loving family, but turns out her dad is cheating on her mom with his secretary. that’s when she “stops believing in love”. which is actually valid bc if i saw one of my parental figures cheating on the other, i honestly wouldn’t know what to believe in anymore. anyway, cíntia dorella (yes. that’s her full name.) and her mom move into her aunt’s place. a year or so passes. stepmother/secretary/cheating lady is throwing an extravagant birthday party for her daughters and hires freddy prince, a popular musician who cíntia doesn’t really like. meanwhile, cíntia gets a dj gig she’s excited for until she finds out she’s the opener for freddy prince at her stepsisters’ party. she ends up disguising herself as “dj cinderella” and freddy is super into her. it’s pretty generic from there but i was entertained enough to watch it twice. take from that what you will.

cinderella (2015) - ok so we been knew that d*sney’s live action remakes ain’t shit, and this one is no exception. d*sney within the last few years has been like 99% aesthetics and marketing. this movie was visually stunning, especially with the settings and costumes. those were the only 2 things i truly liked. everything else was forgettable. in its defense, i did read a post about the “have courage and be kind” message which is something wonderful to hold onto, especially for anyone in an abusive situation like ella. that’s valid and i respect that. i still lowkey hate this movie tho. i started getting a headache about 4 reviews ago, but remembering how much praise this movie got has reignited my fighting spirit. honestly if you like it, that’s good, you like what you like and that’s that. but this is my review and i hated how proper ella’s posture was (she’s been doing physical labor hunched on the floor for years now, how does she not slump around in exhaustion at the end of the day??), i hated how perfectly curated the whole thing was (again, that’s mostly because of d*sney and their aesthetics), and i hated how hollow everything felt. i can’t perfectly describe it, but i never felt emotionally invested in any of the characters. something about their performance was lacking and yet again i blame d*sney. i actually really like lily james, but something about the way she was directed left me devoid of emotional attachment to ella. i remember nothing about ella’s step family or the prince. that’s how much of an impact this adaptation had on me. also i just remembered the fairy godmother as i type this. i ADORE helena bonham carter, but this movie does a horrible disservice to her. if she liked working on this movie, then i’m happy for her, but even she wasn’t strong enough to sell this to me. i saw this movie in theaters and came out of it lamenting my waste of money that i could have spent on something i would have actually enjoyed. but the thing that enraged me the most, the thing i despised, i detested, the thing i seethed over and rant about to this day was the ONE (1) token black character. i don’t even know if he had a name but he was captain of the guard or some shit. if i remember correctly (but probably not tbh this movie was so forgettable), he was the one who heard ella singing and was the whole reason the prince was able to have her try on the glass slipper. this man, who had zero character development, zero relevance to the plot, an insignificant amount of screen time, is suddenly the reason the main character is able to finally connect with her love interest. um. What. i hate how the writers treated him and i will forever be filled with every last grain of salt over this. anyway he’s my favorite character and everyone else is just eh. to conclude this ungodly long review, i don’t like this movie. i tried to watch it again once but got so bored i quit 10 minutes in. do yourself a favor and watch cinderella (1997) instead. (the only reason this movie is ranked above the remaining 5 is the production quality. but i guess that’s unfair bc d*sney has the big bucks. and maybe i wouldn’t be so harsh if i weren’t sleep deprived and grumpy from a sugar-induced headache, but these feelings still come from my Chest so idk.)

a cinderella story: a christmas wish (2019) - i think we all secretly enjoy christmas-themed movies and this has got to be someone’s guilty pleasure. i was mildly entertained (but again with the cringey dialogue written by people clearly not in high school...) and i do like laura marano. but they autotuned her to hell and back - which i loathed - because the woman can actually sing and she has a lovely voice. she got to sing candidly one (1) time and i relished the experience. my ears thank her beautiful, un-autotuned voice. other than that it was.. fine. i didn’t hate it but i didn’t like it either. laura marano deserves better than this. (can’t say the same for the other actors tho because their roles were unmemorable.) also laura marano was super cute in her elf costume!

not cinderella’s type (2018) - i legit forgot about this one until after i compiled the entire list lol. i saw it on youtube and it was decent as far as i remember. it’s another modern day cinderella. i think the “prince” runs over “cinderella’s” cat or something?? i’m pretty sure it was her mom’s cat so now she has nothing left to remember her mom by. prince boy feels awful and tries to befriend her or do something to make it up to her, but she just doesn’t really like him. i think her aunt and uncle are emotionally abusive to her and prince boy does his best to be there for her without making things worse. if i remember correctly, i liked that aspect of the movie because it’s hard to be there for a victim of any kind of abuse if trying to help them could potentially hurt them more, especially minors still under the care of abusive guardians. anyway i think cinderella girl’s best friend is in love with her or something but she ends up not being into him and slowly gets together with prince boy. she eventually moves out of her guardians’ house and into the spare house at prince boy’s home (he’s rich or something). i need to rewatch this movie tbh i could be wrong about everything here lol.

rags (2012) - not amazing, definitely not memorable because i have nothing to say about its plot or writing, but it has keke palmer which is its one redeeming quality. also it’s the only one on this list where the male protagonist is the cinderella. so that’s solid i guess.

a cinderella story: if the shoe fits (2016) - this was a movie. it happened. i vaguely remember how ridiculous it was and sometimes i felt secondhand embarrassment. i don’t remember what about specifically, but i remember the emotion. sofia carson is a talented singer. i think she’s a decent actor but this script was Bad.

elle: a modern cinderella tale (2010) - i only watched this one because i was bored out of my damn mind and saw it on youtube. i felt bad for all the actors because this script was terrible. i don’t recommend this unless you’re about to sit down with your squad and make fun of it.

apparently descendants is on the “cinderella adaptations and references” list on imdb but i refuse to put it on my list because it’s not a cinderella-specific adaptation and i don’t like the descendants franchise. now, if we’re going to discuss a quality series about the children of fairytale characters, that would hands down be ever after high. but that’s a different topic for a different day.

thus concludes the ranking no one asked for but i felt compelled to make. thank you and goodnight

[kagemajaya]

pet - A beautiful and tense journey through the peaks and valleys of memories

Winter 2020, Geno Studio - 7/10

Hiroki appreciates the idyllic imagery of the landscape of memories

This season has been bountiful for me and pet was one of the main contributors to this success. Despite my avoidance of tense and emotionally exhausting topics, going through pet was easy. First and foremost, pet was a champ in the department of visual storytelling and I expected nothing less from my favorite director Oomori Takahiro. Whilst I don’t always fall in love with all the stories he adapts into anime, I know that he will never make a show that underestimates its audience and that the story will always have heart. And pet didn’t disappoint.

The main attraction of the show for me is the depth of emotion and the psychological struggles it portrays in characters I actually care about.  Of the main foursome, Hiroki was an immediate favourite with his sweet, naive and just nature, followed by an interest in his “boyfriend” Tsukasa, mostly because of the creepiness he exuded but also because he still wasn’t unlikeable - he did really care for Hiroki. Their relationship, of course, was a big draw in itself - immediately intimate and full of innuendo, much like the rest of the narrative around the co-dependency between image users who give and receive peaks from each other (peaks represent the best memory that make up the entire psyche of a human being.) This almost surface-level subtext never disappointed despite all the drama surrounding each other’s value in each of these four characters.

I’m not one to say no to an intense bout of connecting in memories.

In some cases the relationship drama made me sad - because why couldn’t Hayashi prioritise Tsukasa? Why was it always Satoru who came first? It gave me a dark pleasure in some - Tsukasa’s intense need for Hiroki to be with him drowned out his need for Hiroki to be okay. He just needed him around no matter what. In others, it made me stray away from the emotional core a bit - who cares about this supernatural Chinese mafia and their politics? I’m not one for the gangster stories. I need beauty and elegance in my crimes rather than grit. I was also a bit suspicious about the extremely over-the-top vibe in some dramatic scenes. Tsukasa confronting Hayashi felt almost hammed up to me.

At the end of it all, pet delivered a finale that made the uninteresting bits suddenly interesting and made the interesting but confusing bits all the more deep. A lot of the drama was actually caused by the limited emotional capacity of these four, who had a different developmental period than normal people. They couldn’t create their own memories and they didn’t feel their own emotions until someone else came to save them. The nicer, more naive and newer pets like Hiroki and Satoru felt exactly like that - pets. They were not treated as equals and were clearly tricked into all sorts of situations they didn’t want to be in. More importantly, they didn’t even want to think, they didn’t know how to form their own opinions, but despite the lack of basics in emotions, they still grew those. It was easier to see that they were indeed limited in their capacity to not feel (because they felt a GREAT deal) but in their capacity to make sense of it and control it.

The older, cleverer characters like Hayashi and Tsukasa looked well-adjusted on the surface until past halfway, where we could see the cracks in their armor. Hayashi prioritised his younger “child” Satoru, not because he didn’t love Tsukasa but because he thought Tsukasa could have been a lost cause in the hands of the Company, whereas he had been able to take care of Satoru till recently. Thinking back on it, this fact didn’t make me feel relieved for Tsukasa because in the end he was relegated to a secondary position, but it made sense. Hayashi was not cruel, he only had the capacity to prioritize one particular feeling (or person in this case.) He had even thought of Hiroki and wanted to bring him out despite not even having met him but more than anything he had to get Satoru out.

Hayashi’s protective feelings for Tsukasa were more hurtful than warm. After all, he was always the “too.”

Tsukasa, himself, was acting in a lot of scenes but this was not true for all scenes where he was emotional - despite giving the impression. The confrontation scene with Hayashi was as hammed up as the scene where he was putting on a performance for Satoru, but the truth is he was just unable to express himself in a way that was genuine. His emotional baggage was of course far bigger than this. After all, he even groomed himself a perfect pet after he was betrayed by his peak giver. He wanted someone to trust and he could only trust someone who would be on his side unconditionally. His actions (and thoughts) made it obvious that he didn’t see Hiroki as an equal, but the question is was that also his feelings? If anything, Hiroki (and Hayashi) were put on a pedestal and he could not live without them. However, he didn’t really understand how to go about keeping them without thinking about himself first. He had been self-centered for so long that it was impossible to think of anything other than himself. He’d never learnt to.

Tsukasa’s perfect world.

And the Company - I didn’t care about this plotline until the last episode where the connection between Katsuragi and LianLian was revealed. And what a way to end it! Suddenly I was emotionally connected to the evil goon, doing the bidding of his superiors and nothing else the whole season (and he had no gay storyline to boot, so a tough sell for me :)). 

The sad ending was coming from miles away - but pet also surprised me in that regard. The ending could be viewed in two different ways. The source material had been a completed manga for a long time until recently, in which case, it looked like the “stupid” ending of the naive pets, looking optimistically into the future, never likely to have what they want. We do now know that a sequel is starting that focuses on the lives of Tsukasa, Hiroki and Satoru after this point, and I, for one, am excited to see a somewhat happy follow-up to this tense but strangely sweet psychological drama. We might end up finding out about more rules surrounding how memories and images work (though that plot itself is not necessarily my main concern.) And who knows? Maybe Hiroki and Satoru will really bring Tsukasa to their peak and Tsukasa will relearn how to make memories and they will live happily ever after. A girl can dream...  Though I still must add, the conclusion is a perfect one as it is, not entirely sad, but really just two fool’s dream that we can also choose to believe in.

The peak that bestows hope on all who is destitute

Putting aside the story elements, the show itself is crafted superbly both visually and narratively. The imagery was almost never outright explained but always visible and giving a pleasant rush to me when I noticed them.

Don’t kill the innocent pets! They understand nothing about the evils of the world they live in. 

The dissonance between thoughts, feelings and actions of the childish but equally deep main four was showcased well in all dialogues, but especially in the confrontation scene between Tsukasa and Satoru in episode 12. Both characters didn’t suspect they were wrong despite both of them being half-wrong. The pacing of the dialogue allowed both their thoughts and actual words to be conveyed but also showed us in great detail how underdeveloped they were emotionally. Their understanding of those external to them was somewhat complex, it’s not like any normally raised human being can figure out all the things that were happening in that situation, so it was realistic that they wouldn’t understand it all. More importantly, their self-awareness levels were way below the threshold that would allow them to flourish in a cruel environment, surrounded by people who were hellbent on taking advantage of them and seeing them merely as pets. It made for a fascinating watch - the cleverness of it all was the depth of the characters who I’d classify as idiots in a lot of ways. As someone who very rarely enjoys idiot characters, I’d call this experience an orgasmic pleasure.

Takes one to know one.

One last word about Ueda Keisuke, the seiyuu of Hiroki. The genuineness and sweetness portrayed in the character hugely owed to the great voice work of the actor. I had heard him in Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine before as the titular character Heine and noticed his distinct tones, but hadn’t felt anything beyond that. Hiroki’s performance, however, affected me to my core. Looking back on Heine now, I really appreciate the sense of distinctiveness he can grant the characters he plays. Heine was not an attractive character for me, so I didn’t care at the time as his voice fit him perfectly - it was not particularly attractive. With Hiroki, he put on a performance with a completely different range of emotions that retrospectively, I can put Heine together with Hiroki,  and see what a great voice actor he is. Here’s hoping for more roles for Ueda in the future! (Apparently he is a stage actor as well, but selfishly, I hope he becomes a full time seiyuu.)

Ask me again in that voice, you sweet little child.

The overall tension and the focus on two young men and their relationship, in addition to the matter of their survival within a gangster world remind me of Banana Fish but I must caveat that I intensely dislike BF for failing to do all the things pet did perfectly - from a genuine relationship and real characters other than the very main character, tragedy as a harrowing storytelling medium rather than the sake of having it there (and without respite,) drama that is not cheesy despite being over-the-top in places (with good reason) and imagery that served the narrative which closed the loop, without leaving any threads untouched. 

As the pull of the show is the emotional co-dependency between the male cast for me, I have a hard time narrowing down my actual recommendations for pet. There are so many of them, and they are not necessarily similar to the show in other respects. I will name a few of my favorites here if you are up for gay love/obsession as a theme in tense, non-romantic anime, with characters who aren’t quite in touch with their emotions: Shigurui, Saraiya Goyou, Kenpuu Denki Berserk, and 91 Days might do the trick. Let me know your thoughts!

[pride-vns-blog]

LGBTQ VN Week: Day Four! (6/21)

Wow, we’re already at the fourth day of LGBTQ visual novel recommendations! You’ve probably seen this preface on previous parts of this list, but if you haven’t read my first post, that writeup’s “One note before we get started” section, explains more clearly what this list is and why I’m writing it!

Plenty of visual novels talk about sex and intimacy, so for today, I’ve set aside four with my personal favorite approaches to the topic — CODE:Phantasm’s 404 Error: Connection Not Found, parade’s No Thank You!!!, SugarScript’s Cute Demon Crashers, and Mitch Alexander’s Tusks: An Orc Dating Sim, plus a conversation with Mitch about his creative process on Tusks.

Head on in to hear about your little brother dyeing his hair pink, a truly inscrutable protagonist, freeloading demons playing Mario Kart, and inspirational Skyrim mods!

404 ERROR: CONNECTION NOT FOUND (CODE:PHANTASM)

Itchio Tagline: “Sometimes connecting to others is harder than loneliness.” Genre(s): Slice of life; drama. Release Date: July 30th, 2017 (demo); TBA (full version). Content Warnings: Text-only depiction of sex and sex work; adult content.

404 Error: Connection Not Found is the story of Ren Matsuura, a camboy who ran away from home after turning eighteen and supports himself financially through camming — but thanks to his agoraphobia and general anxiety, he rarely goes outside, to the point that he’s pared all his social connections down to casual conversations with his clients and lying to his younger brother Haru about what he does for a living. When his brother decides to come visit for the first time since Ren moved out, Ren is forced to confront the fact that his guilt and shame have driven him into a corner with no support system. In the span of the demo, he starts to try and reach out to the clients he has a more regular relationship with to prepare him for Haru’s eventual visit, ending on a cliffhanger that seems to be leading directly into the plotline of the main story.

This visual novel’s demo is the shortest of all the stories on my entire list, to my knowledge, but it’s also the most memorable demo I’ve played in a long, long while. As someone who’s had to contend with similar mental illnesses in the past — paranoia and agoraphobia unsurprisingly have a pretty high degree of comorbidity! — I felt like Ren’s slow struggle to make progress for the sake of his younger brother was written sincerely, thoughtfully, and believably in the timespan of a single demo playthrough. Ren can be funny, when he’s not spiraling internally, and his rocky progress at trying to talk to others more honestly is loaded with plenty of funny jokes and quips about his takes on things. He’s a sympathetic, well-rounded protagonist who comes across strongly in the demo alone, and I ended up really rooting for him to make it to a place where he was happier with his life.

There’s another aspect to the story that I ended up really liking, too: the fact that sex work, especially jobs like camming, can be extremely common among LGBTQ people who can’t support themselves financially in other ways. Ren can’t go outside and can’t interact with many people without severe, earth-shattering anxiety attacks (a few of which we see in the demo!), so this job is what he’s got. It’s a job that’s sustained him for years, and although it’s certainly fed into his own relative isolation, 404 Error seemed to walk that careful balance of making it explicit that it’s Ren’s own lack of steady support for his mental illness instead of the simple fact that he does sex work that causes his interpersonal problems. I’m optimistic about the remainder of the story’s handling of those kinds of things, too, because what was present in the demo was sympathetic and sincere! There’s not very many sex workers or camgirls/camboys in visual novels outside of an extremely tiny handful, let ones alone in conjunction to stories that acknowledge of the way LGBTQ people as a whole can struggle with more convential jobs, so Ren’s genuinely empathetic personality and the hope I have for his future makes me excited to see where CODE:Phantasm takes 404 Error from here.

404 Error: Connection Not Found’s free Yaoi Game Jam demo is available now, and you can follow the CODE:Phantasm team on Itch.io, Twitter, or Tumblr to stay updated on their progress with Ren’s story.

NO THANK YOU!!! (PARADE)

MangaGamer Tagline: “This summer vacation begins with a car accident...” Genre(s): Comedy; drama; mystery. Release Date: June 28, 2013 (Japanese); February 27, 2015 (English).  Content Warnings: Adult content; multiple sex scenes; frequent sexual harassment; blood; drugs; violence; death.

Right off the bat, I think parade’s debut visual novel (as a studio, at least) does a lot of interesting things and definitely seems to be aiming high with creating distinct, memorable stories. The art in No Thank You!!! is gorgeous, its voice acting is top-tier, a lot of the side characters are compelling even beyond the space or role the narrative gives them, and the love interests alone are all fully-realized characters with interesting stories. Romance option Ryu’s route, in particular, fleshes out the larger sense of mystery and the other characters to an astounding degree! That’s to say nothing of the most unique mechanic — which I mostly call the NTY!!! button — that offers you the chance to say “no thank you” in a variety of scenes without always telling you what it is you’re saying that to. It’s occasionally a little too easy to guess, but at certain points I ended up lulled into a false sense of security with that easiness that the game was all too ready to take advantage of with a much less obvious choice.

One of the sticking points with No Thank You!!! that I’ve seen other players express, on the other hand, is the way protagonist Haru is written. That’s not to say his writing specifically is bad — parade clearly had a vision in mind for Haru’s personality, and from his sketchy beginnings to his clearer end, he’s a coherent character with a consistent narrative. While the crux of the story is more insight into Haru, where he came from, and what the truth behind all those mysteries might be, though, Haru’s behavior still underpins a lot of what drives the romance routes forward. And his behavior... The official quote on his personality, “[s]exual harassment is an everyday activity for him,” can at times seem like it’s underselling exactly how often he tries to grab an ass. It’s no surprise that a fair few other players I’ve seen have walked away with pretty strong opinions on Haru as a character. (I’m personally not a huge fan.)

But to me, a divisive protagonist who you don’t actually fully understand as a character — Haru’s thoughts on a lot of key things are far less accessible than the likes of Aoba Seragaki or most Western M/M protagonists, which leaves you knowing most of his thoughts or feelings via his interactions from others — seems to go perfectly hand-in-hand with the way the visual novel as a whole operates. No Thank You!!! puts you at a distance by Haru’s viewpoint being occasionally “indecipherable” (to use the official phrasing), and then it throws you further with its sometimes-unpredictable NTY!!! button mechanic, but the strength of its other individual pieces taken together still sold me on it as both a solid set of mystery stories and an 18+ dating sim.

Also I really like Maki.

No Thank You!!! is available for a sale price of $19.95 on MangaGamer’s store (18+), and you can read more about parade’s story and characters on MangaGamer’s designated No Thank You!!! page (also 18+).

CUTE DEMON CRASHERS (SUGARSCRIPT)

Itchio Tagline: “A short and silly consent-friendly and sex-positive VN!” Genre(s): Modern fantasy. Release Date: April 7th, 2015 (Mirari and Akki’s routes); August 15th, 2015 (full version). Content Warnings: Multiple sex scenes; detailed uncensored nudity.

I don’t think I could sum up Cute Demon Crashers better than the Itch.io tagline does — it’s short, it’s hilarious, and it’s got an emphasis on consent that meshes perfectly with its goofy “a bunch of incubi and one succubus come to the mortal realm to have sex” plot. The characters are all charming and fit perfectly into its universe, with distinct personalities that come across clearly without ever feeling hamfisted in the limited time that the script lets you spend with them. Although this isn’t necessarily a romance game, especially given that incubi and succubi are “closer to what people know of as aromantic” according to the SugarScript FAQ, its cute, thoughtful writing and adorable design in everything from the characters to the user interface mean that there’s plenty of love infused in every aspect of Cute Demon Crashers.

Like yesterday’s We Know The Devil, Cute Demon Crashers is one of those visual novels with a distinct, memorable mechanic that almost placed it squarely in Tuesday’s creative design list. Cute Demon Crashers is one of the first visual novels — or, by my experience, the first altogether — to implement a mechanic specifically themed around stopping in the middle of sex. If you’re ever uncomfortable or you just plain want the scene to end, you can hit a button and protagonist Claire will talk with her partner to bring things to a close. (There’s also an option to just plain old not have sex with any of them, and spending time with the characters!) A lot of the dialogue in these scenes in particular is thoughtful, nuanced, and reads to me as being a pretty realistic depiction of how someone like Claire might ask those questions or express those kinds of concerns. 

The way Cute Demon Crashers handles intimacy and sexuality, by another measure, is one of those things that I think has also had a not-insignificant impact on the visual novel community as a whole; I’ve seen a fair number of people who’ve apparently never enjoyed an 18+ dating sim before talk about how its portrayal of sex resonated with them or brought them some measure of comfort. Because of the SugarScript team’s relative investment in the English-language visual novel scene as a whole, too — this project was born out of NaNoRenO and I’ve seen them promote development forum hub LemmaSoft or other small visual novels more than once — the compassion for the player that’s written into every aspect of Cute Demon Crashers seems to extend naturally to everyone else around the team in real life, which is something extremely special.

The entirety of Cute Demon Crashers is available now for free, and you can find out more information on its upcoming sequel (Cute Demon Crashers: Side B) on the SugarScript Twitter, Tumblr, and Itch.io!

Itchio Tagline: “GAY ORCS available in YOUR AREA.” Genre(s): Romance; fantasy; community building. Release Date: July 18th, 2015 (First Day demo); January 1st, 2018 (FUARLANG/full main story); TBA (individual route endings). Content Warnings: Adult content; sex; mentions of violence.

Mitch Alexander’s Tusks: The Orc Dating Sim, from head to toe, is one of my favorite depictions of sex and intimacy in video games — and with every gradual update, especially the most recent FUARLANG build that finished out the mai storyline, I’ve only become more sure of that. There’s an endearingly genuine quality to its art, character dialogue, and even in things like the NPC autonomy feature, where your companions have just as many chances to sway things like group votes or decide who’s on watch as you would without NPC autonomy being enabled. 

Interested to hear Mitch talk a little bit about his design process and the inspiration behind Tusks, I got in touch and asked him a few questions!

Thanks for taking the time for an interview, Mitch! While the title might be fairly self-explanatory, haha, how would you outline Tusks: An Orc Dating Sim in more detail to somebody new?

Tusks is a visual novel where the player joins a group at an annual orcish gathering, in a forest at the edge of a semi-mythical version of Scotland, and you then travel with this new found family and get to know them better. Most of the game is your group getting into adventures, talking to them one-on-one at camp at nighttime, and making decisions about how to go about your travels. The game's cast are all queer, and the game itself is an exploration of queer identity, community, history, and our relationship with the idea of monstrosity/Otherness.

I think it's fair to say that Tusks, as well as your larger body of work, deals a lot with intimacy and sexuality, especially the intersection between those two things; this is probably a question you've thought over yourself a fair bit, but what in particular interests you about those topics that drives you to explore them in Tusks and your other work?

Part of it is the fact that intimacy and sexuality are areas that can be massively important to queer people (especially since many of us are marginalised as a result of our sexuality being seen as deviant) but there aren't a lot of mainstream sources that play with intimacy and sexuality in relevant ways. And part of it is just because exploring sexuality for its own sake can be fun as well!

Definitely! There's always room for more fun with depictions of sexuality, haha. The premise for an all-orc dating sim is definitely a memorable one, and one you've fleshed out incredibly well with the thoughtfulness of your worldbuilding and character dynamics. What was the original inspiration that you built Tusks on, and what helped carry you across the finishing line of completing (for the most part) its story?

It was a lot of different threads coming together: I'd been playing a modded Skyrim save with an orc character who, in my head, was gay and had left his stronghold so to find other orcs like him and establish his own wee found family. That happened at the same time as me finding out about the NaNoReNo visual novel game jam, plus wanting to work on a game that actually put queer characters and discussions first and foremost rather than us just being a token presentation.

As for what carried me through, there was lots of things: the excitement of getting to tell stories that you just don't see in mainstream games, getting amazing feedback from players, and then at the end when I released the full main story on New Years', it was sheer bloody-mindedness.

There's a fair few interesting mechanics in Tusks, especially with regards to NPC autonomy; can you share a little bit of insight on why you decided to include those and how they function in the code?

NPC autonomy's a small but effective way of just slightly upsetting this idea that in visual novels, the player character gets to make all the decisions -- it automatically puts you in a decision-making leader role, and it's up to the writer then to narratively justify that -- which can be difficult if you're wanting to tell a story about a group of equal partners. So instead, NPC autonomy lets characters vote on things or lets characters potentially turn you down for romantic encounters.

It's an optional feature, so it's possible to play the game without it being on -- it just slightly changes the flow of the story and makes it seem a tad-bit more like you're part of a collective, if that makes sense.

Yeah, that makes sense! I think my playthroughs where NPC autonomy was on were definitely more interesting, by and large, because it really does add a lot to that sense of cooperation and community.

If you had to pick just one, what non-human (and non-orc) creature do you think more people should appreciate?

I'm really interested in exploring things with strong mythological connotations like minotaurs, since they're surrounded by particular ideas like labyrinths, being half-human and half-animal. I'd also really like to see someone explore the monstrousness of hags from [Dungeons and Dragons], because I think there's probably a way to talk about them and explore their relationships to femininity, presentation, glamour magick, witchcraft, and power.

Good choices! Those are both definitely really interesting ones. To wrap things up, are there any LGBTQ visual novels from other developers that you'd like to recommend?

I'd recommend checking out The Bitter Drop, by Isak Grozny; Ladykiller in a Bind by Christine Love, and We Know the Devil by Date Nighto!

Perfect! It's been a pleasure talking to you, Mitch, and I'm looking forward to your future projects.

Tusks: The Orc Dating Sim is available now for a reverse-sale price of $2.02, and you can support Mitch Alexander’s work on Patreon or follow his “nonsense” on Twitter and fully-released work on Itch.io!

[schraubd]

David's Personal Top Ten Video Games

This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. It is a personal list, reflecting the games that have stuck with me the most over the years. I'm not enough of a gamer to claim it is anything comprehensive, and it has a strong bias to the sorts of genres that I like. Nonetheless, I'd stack these games against any that have been made in my lifetime. Anyway, without further adieu ....

Honorable Mentions:

Portal 2: How can a game with virtually no “dialogue” (if that means conversations between two characters) have some of the best spoken lines in all video game history? I have both the original and a capella versions of the Turret Opera on my iTunes (yes, I have “Still Alive” as well).

Railroad Tycoon II: A brilliant simulator that makes you actually feel like a turn-of-the-century robber baron (by far, the game is most fun to play when set in the late 19th century). If every man goes through his “trains!” phase, this was mine. As in real life, I am not good at playing the stock market.

Horizon: Zero Dawn: Robot dinosaurs! Incredibly, Horizon: Zero Dawn takes a core concept that sounds like word association from an over-caffeinated twelve-year boy and makes an entirely serious game about it—and it works. It works so well, in fact, that I loved it despite the fact that the plot and entire world-building background centers around my single greatest phobia (no, not that—being alive for the extinction of humanity).

10. Sid Meier’s Gettysburg: I find it odd that very few games have sought to replicate Gettysburg’s spin on an RTS—focusing combat around regiments rather than individual units and prioritizing morale over raw numbers. But the thing I like best about Gettysburg—and sadly it’s mostly unique too—is in how it concentrates on controlling territory (and terrain). Many RTS games, for me, might as well have a blank screen over 80% of the map between my base and my opponent’s base. You build up your force, and then try to swarm your opponent before he or she swarms you. But in Gettysburg, the goal of missions is not “wipe out your opposition”. It’s to capture and hold a ridge, or dig in and hold an exposed farmhouse.

My only critiques are that I want this game to be bigger. I want it to encompass dozens of map spanning the entirety of the Civil War. I want to be able memorize even more obscure Union and Confederate generals and wonder if they really were “mediocre” or if that was just a game balance decision. The random battle generator is okay, but this game screams for user-created expansions which I’ve never been able to find.

9. Crimson Skies: A pulpy fun flight simulator taking place in an alternate history 1930s where America has fractured and Zeppelin travel rules the day. The game doesn’t hesitate to lean into its concept (phrases like “broad” and “floozy” abound), and it does a great job world-building in a relatively short period of time. Somehow, I could meet an enemy “ace” for the first time in the middle of a mission and yet still feel like we had a history of epic dogfights together of which this was only the latest. Meanwhile, each of the locations the game takes you to (Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, Hollywood, the Rocky Mountains, and New York City) are a blast and a half.

A sequel, High Road to Revenge, was released on Xbox and leaned a little too hard into the arcade-y elements (power-ups, automatic evasive maneuvers with the press of a button, and so on). But the original PC game was just right—planes flew exactly like how someone who knows nothing about planes thinks planes fly, which is just perfect. You felt like an ace pilot because of your skill (even though behind the hood the game is really holding your hand). Piloting a gyrocopter through half-built New York City skyscrapers, or a prototype single-engine through the Hollywood "O", is great. Doing it to evade local security, then doing a loop and turning both guns on them -- well, that's the cat's meow.

8. Mass Effect (Trilogy and Andromeda): As far as I’m concerned, the definitive space opera (even muscling out Halo). Fabulous voice acting (listening to Martin Sheen play evil Jed Bartlett is one of the great joys of my life) and memorable plot lines pair with a morality system that at least inches away from “basically decent person or utter asshole.” The universe feels genuinely alive, like there’s an ecosystem and civilization that you’re very much apart, but also moves in your absence.

I can’t really separate out the core trilogy games from one another (each sequel seemed to simultaneously step slightly forward and back), which is not I think an uncommon position. What may be more uncommon is that I think Andromeda stands right in there with the core series. Yes, it was disappointing that it took us to a brand new galaxy and only gave us two new species (while eliminating many of the more backgrounded Milky Way aliens). But I was much more disappointed that there will be no DLC or sequels to continue the story and tie up loose ends.

7. N and N++: There can’t be any serious controversy that N is the greatest Flash game ever made. While Flash demands simplicity, N is not so much simple as it is elegant. It is the perfect balance of speed and control, thoughtfulness and twitch-trigger reflexes, serene relaxation and butt-clenching tension. Once you master the floaty physics and the unique enemy styles, you will truly feel like a ninja—stripped to its core essence and deprived of all the usual but unnecessary bells and whistles. A virtually unlimited supply of levels guarantees you endless gameplay.

And so it is unsurprising that N was one of the rare flash games that made a successful jump to a full true game (in the form of N++), one that has a strong claim on being the greatest platformer ever made. The developers were wise not to disturb the basic formula: run, jump, and slide around a level, dodge obstacles and traps that will kill you instantly, reach the exit. Repeat ad infinitum. But N++ adds just a splash of additional flavors and spices into the mix. A perfect trip-trance soundtrack that sets the mood perfectly (and may single-handedly stave off keyboard-smashing frustration). A few new enemy types that deepen the game without ruining its austere grace. And perhaps most importantly, it adds a bunch of extra, semi-secret challenges (which can be used to unlock still more levels) waiting for the very best-of-best players.

Of all the games on this list, I might be in absolute terms “best” at N++ (there are a non-trivial number of levels in the game where I have a top 100 or even top 10 score on the global leaderboards). And yet there is not the slightest chance that I will ever perfect this game, or even come close to it. Nor is there any chance I will become permanently sick of it. A simple concept, executed brilliantly. The perfect N++ level is also the perfect description of the game.

6. Final Fantasy IX: The question was never whether a Final Fantasy game would make this list, only which one. I’ve long had a soft-spot for FFIX, which I feel is often overlooked inside the series (in part because even on release it seemed players were already looking ahead to the Playstation 2). Yet it’s hard to find fault in Final Fantasy IX as an emblem of a straight-forward JRPG. It has a moving story, fun gameplay, beautiful music, loads of quests to do and places to explore, a fabulous supporting cast (Vivi might be my favorite Final Fantasy character ever written), and a lead character you don’t want to punch (*cough* Final Fantasy X).

Final Fantasy IX is often described as “nostalgic”, and despite the fact that it was only the second game in the series I had ever played, I got that feeling instantly. Try listening to the soundtrack for “Frontier Village Dali” without feeling a little melancholic. You don’t even have to have played. But I recommend that you do.

For the record, my ranking of Final Fantasy games that I’ve played goes: IX, VII, XII, XV, X, XIII.

5. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood: One difficulty in judging games within a series is how to compare an earlier game which still had some rough edges but represented a quantum leap forward versus a later game which didn’t do anything super-novel but tweaked the formula to perfection. That, in a nutshell, is the difference between Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. Now, for me, this is an easy call for idiosyncratic reasons—I played AC:B before AC II, and so I experienced the former as both the perfected model and the quantum leap forward as compared to the original game. But I respect that for those who played the series in order, this is a harder call.

What should be easy for anyone is to agree that together, Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood represented the AC series reaching its full potential. Ezio continues to be the best protagonist the series has seen to date. Renaissance Italy likewise is the ideal setting for both AC’s vertical and horizontal platforming elements and its shadowy-conspiracy/secret-history plotline. As a franchise, Assassin’s Creed really launched the parkour/open-world exploration genre, and Brotherhood was the first game where every single element of what that genre could be came together. Other more recent games have been tons of fun (Black Flag and Syndicate are I think highlights), but these two games are the reason this series is so iconic.

4. Might and Magic VI: The same problem posed by AC2 versus Brotherhood emerges with Might and Magic VI and VII—except here, I did play them in order. Like the previous entry, I do think that VII ultimately improves upon the formula set out in Might and Magic VI. It’s more versatile, has more replay value, a touch more balanced (and that’s not getting into ArcoMage) … all in all, probably a better technical game.

But Might and Magic VI is for me iconic—it may well be the first RPG I’ve ever truly loved (and given the way this list is stacked in that direction, that’s saying a lot). Virtually all the things that characterize what I love in games today, it had in at least skeletal form. Open world exploration? Check: It was the first game where I felt like I was a true pathfinder—meticulously crawling over every corner of the map to find each obscure bandit’s cave and goblin fortress. To this day I still have the lay of the land in Enroth basically memorized. Overly detailed worldbuilding text to read? Absolutely: my obsessive-streak came out in reading every single artifact description, conversational option, and quest backgrounder (it is canon that Enroth, and the entire planet it resides upon, was blown up in a magical explosion—a fact I’m still resentful towards 3DO for long after it disappeared into bankruptcy). Slight genre-bending? The splash of Sci-Fi onto the fantasy setting was delightful to discover for someone who had never played any of the prior entries in the series. And some of the music—well, the White Cap theme is a thing of beauty, and on my computer “Adagio in G Minor for Strings and Organ” is still listed as “Church Dungeon Music.”

3. Heroes of Might and Magic III: If comparing earlier, more revolutionary games against newer more polished ones presents a problem in the Assassin’s Creed and Might and Magic series, it presents no trouble at all in Heroes of Might & Magic. That’s because the third installation in the series both represented a huge jump forward from what came before and is unquestionably the best entry in the overall sequence.

Sure, some of the expansions are a bit goofy, but they still work—sharpshooters and enchanters are massively overpowered, but they’re generally used in missions that would otherwise be impossible. But the main campaign is fabulous—a surprisingly intricate and interwoven plot that bridges Might and Magic VI and VII compliments outstanding strategy gameplay. And that doesn’t even get into the acre of standalone maps provided, plus countless more available on the web thanks to a map editor so intuitive, even I can use it (I’m terrible with map editors).

As a result of all of this, Heroes III is maybe the only game on this list that can compete with N++ regarding infinite replayability. This is fortunate, because—given the fact that Heroes III was a full-budget release and was not supposed to be “simple”—it ages incredibly well. Even the graphics hold up (no need for that remastered remake—which doesn’t even include the expansions!).

2. Witcher III: As you may have noticed, this list has a strong bias towards RPGs. My preference is toward “Western” RPGs (which have a go-anywhere/do-anything exploration mentality) compared to “Japanese” RPGs (which are more linear and story-driven), but Witcher III does an incredible job of synthesizing the best of both. It has a huge open world to explore, one that feels alive and dynamic—but there is also an incredibly rich story filled with deep, well-written characters (of which Geralt—the player character—is but one).

Gameplay-wise, Witcher III really hits the perfect balance. I simultaneously felt like the biggest bad-ass in the room, but also like a single slip in concentration or bit of overconfidence and my corpse would unceremoniously end up at the bottom of whatever cave I was in. But Witcher III particularly stands out in how it subverts certain common RPG tropes. You are a hero, but you’re not particularly well-liked. You’re a powerful warrior, but you’re still ultimately treated as a pawn in larger political machinations. Your interventions do not always save the day, and sometimes don’t even make things better. If a mission starts with a villager worrying that their beloved has gone missing, nine times out of ten that person has been devoured by a monster well before you ever get there. While many games claim to place the hero in difficult moral dilemmas, Witcher III is a rare case of following through (some games might give you the choice to let a trio of witches eat a group of kids whom you recently played hide-and-seek with, but few make it so that might actually be the more moral of the options in front of you). There’s even a quest where you help a knight rescue a lady in distress from a curse, then lecture him that he’s not entitled to her romantic attention as a reward (talk about a timely intervention in the video game genre!). Over and over again, the game reinforces the message that being really powerful and doing “the right thing” isn’t enough to fix a fundamentally broken system.

Most impressive is the emotional impact that Witcher III dishes out. Sometimes this is a result of rich character development that pays off over the course of the entire game (as in “The Last Wish” quest). But sometimes it shows up in even relatively minor sidequests—the epilogue of the “Black Pearl” quest was one of the more brutal emotional gut-punches I’ve experienced in a video game. Ultimately, this was a game where one always felt like each character was a person—they were imperfect, they had their own interests, hopes, dreams, strengths and foibles, and while you were a little better with a sword and gifted with some preternatural abilities, you were still only one player in a much bigger narrative. As a result, Witcher III might well be, in my estimation, the perfect RPG.

Oh, and Gwent is ludicrously addictive. Let’s not forget that.

1. TIE Fighter: I don’t think this list has a particularly “modern” bias. Still, there’s something impressive about the number one game on this list also being the oldest by some measure. TIE Fighter originally came out in 1994, and the definitive Collector’s Edition was released in 1995. It is, to this day, one of the best games ever made. And that’s not a retrospective assessment. Star Wars: Tie Fighter holds up even played right now.

For starters, it is one of the few elements of the Star Wars universe to get the Empire right. I’m not saying that the Empire is the real protagonist of the series. I am saying that they wouldn’t view themselves as evil—as much as naming spacecraft “Executor” and “Death Star” might suggest otherwise. TIE Fighter is quite self-assured in presenting you as being a force for law and order in the galaxy, battling not just seditious rebels but pirates, smugglers, and other anarchic forces that threaten to tear civilized life apart.

Let’s start with something often overlooked in TIE Fighter: the music. It’s probably the only context that the phrase “kick-ass MIDI soundtrack” makes sense. But that’s not even the half of it. The iMuse system dynamically and seamlessly arranges the musical cues to reflect what’s going on around you in the mission—you can literally follow important mission updates (e.g., a wingman being shot down, or reinforcements arriving) simply by the way the melody shifts. I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered anything quite like it since. To this day, the number that accompanies an incoming enemy capital ship fills me with exhilarated dread.

Gameplay-wise, TIE Fighter is almost shockingly rich. The core mission requirements are challenging, but by no means out of reach. But embedded in each level are a series of secondary and secret bonus objectives. These unlock a parallel plot of the Emperor’s Secret Order—but always present a brutal risk/reward calculus. That’s not unrelated to the fact that you’re often flying, well, TIE fighters (not noted for their durability)—but the challenge extends well beyond physical peril. TIE Fighter actually gives you an “invincibility” option if you want it, and yet even with it on some of the later missions and bonus objectives will strain every piloting skill you’ve ever developed.

Most importantly, the secret objectives usually are more involved than “blow up everything in sight.” They reward initiative and exploration. Maybe your primary mission objective is to destroy a rebel space station. But just before it goes down, you spot an escape shuttle fleeing the station. Take it out? Maybe—but maybe the occupants are VIPs best taken alive. So you switch to ion cannons and disable it for capture. Yet that extra time you just spent has given the rebels enough breathing room to summon reinforcements—now an enemy cruiser is bearing down on you. Take out its missile launchers and clear path for bombers while praying that your own Star Destroyer will arrive soon to back you up. All on the fly. All while dogfighting starfighters, dodging mines, giving your wingmen orders … it’s insanely, beautifully chaotic.

Did I mention this is all happening in 1995? 90% of games released today don’t have that kind of depth or spontaneity. In terms of playability, replayability, and just plain fun, TIE Fighter stands alone, and unchallenged.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2HbDTEl

[driftingglass]

Kimi no na wa / Your Name Analysis Review

I wasn’t originally going to post this, since, these analyses are a lot more personal and I never really consider them worth sharing. It’s a bit messy, and just a stream of my thoughts after finally watching the anime film Your Name for the very first time. 

This is kind of long. So, thanks, @killushawn, for pushing me into posting this and sharing it on this site. 

Again, these are unedited and mostly just theories done without any additional research. My rawest thoughts on the film and what it entails. 

Also there are definitely spoilers. So, if you haven’t seen this beautiful film, please do yourself a favor and watch it. 

So, yeah. Here goes nothing.

Analysis / Review of Your Name

There are countless things to appreciate individually about Your Name, and not all of it has to do with the fact that it’s one of the most gorgeous films I’ve ever had the pleasure to experience.

I want to first discuss how this film operates in its combined, balanced usage of aestheticism with visual storytelling.

The art style is photorealistic and traditional in a worthwhile combination that, against all intents and purposes, shouldn’t work this well, but it does. 

There’s a certain candor to how its presented, from the sweeping landscapes that are conveniently zoomed out for our pleasure as the viewer, to the ever-changing sky that echoes the importance of time, place, and location for the two main protagonists.  

Again, of all the elements of this film that impressed me to the core, one of them has to do with the fact that, unlike nearly every other medium I’ve come across, I easily believed and grew attached to the world presented in Your Name.

This is, of course, owed to two major things: the blend of traditional and newer, more polished animation, both leading to an experience that dips easily between realistic and fantastical. 

The world of Your Name feels so tangible and real it teeters on the edge of mind-boggling, owed to these factors as well as the incredibly well-drawn features and mannerisms that differentiate the two leads from each other.

This is especially important because there should be definitive factors about them as people that show through their swapped bodies, adding not only a more authentic feel to the overall story, but a sense of relatable theme and lighthearted connection between the viewers and the characters.

Mitsuha’s actions and manner of speech are easy to pinpoint in Taki’s body, and vice versa.

Thankfully the animators and the immensely talented voice actors paid attention to who they were meant to be in the switched roles, creating a sense of realism and humanistic layering on top of everything else.

I was shocked at just how easily I felt like I could reach out and have a conversation with either Taki or Mitsuha, just from watching how they interact in their circumstances and within each other’s physical bodies.

Aesthetically, we are presented the polished, beautiful worlds that both characters thrive in—one encompassed mostly by family, togetherness, and culture (Mitsuha) and the other finding balance in a busy, bustling city with more personal and internal ambitions as an artist (Taki).

The characters feel very real and human, making it easy to connect with them and identify with them. 

Even the humorous undertones in certain scenes are incredibly wholesome, and expected when it comes to the idea of switching bodies with the opposite gender.

Mitsuha and Taki’s reactions to each other’s body swaps are hilarious and genuinely heartwarming in a strange way that I certainly didn’t expect. Maybe it has something to do with the mark of innocence and maturation from adolescence, and how that correlates between their experience and a rather unfortunate introduction to coming-of-age.

Now, taking these into consideration, there’s something truly immaculate about how non-pretentious and artful this film appears with such jaw-dropping animation and a story that, if done incorrectly, could come off as trite and uninteresting.

The animation does not overpower the characters or the story. To the strength of the overall film, it enhances it.

And this, is one of the greatest aspects of Your Name.

The ambient sounds, the gentle, wistful music that flourishes in its soundtrack, the way that each character walks and embraces each scene in accompaniment with the other factors of the film on a visual standpoint make it all the more entrancing.

The story and themes are a fine mix between realistic—in terms of emotion, nostalgia and experience—and fantastical—when relating to scenery, the mystical elements and the more controversial topics of dimension-jumping in space and time. 

Because it’s structured in this way, the visual representation, while beautiful and practically flawless, works as a bridge between what you would both ideally expect from a work of animation, and what you would expect from a work of live-action.

Film is meant to a be a medium of visual storytelling. And this film takes every element needed to make a film watchable and elevates it to unimaginable heights.

It is due to each combined factor of these elements that we are able to see the blossoming relationship between Taki and Mitsuha and a plotline that I’ve never seen done in this manner before.

I had no idea what to expect in terms of how I could buy a romantic connection developing via body swap—it sounds ludicrous.

And, honestly, the film is ludicrous, but that’s one of its greatest strengths.

It’s a work of balanced, human art with both rawness and polish, and this is just one of many things I adore about this spectacle. 

It feels like a true testament to youthful dreams, hope, and love, with special emphasis on how the journeys themselves matter apart from the themes and ideas taking place in the background.

Mitsuha and Taki, rather than fall into the traditional and somewhat overused anime trope of the love-hate dynamic between a girl and boy, make choices that instantly separate them from the demographic even in the first twenty minutes of the film. They bicker, of course, but the real charm lies in their communication to begin with, and how they quickly fall in sync with the actions and decisions they make when switching bodies.

And here, is where I found the film’s incorporation of technology and the emphasis on phones, in particular, to be one of its greatest strengths.

I think this is a good time to segue into what I thought about the film’s clear focus on the state of human connection and emotional intimacy, and how it was portrayed through both modern and older, more traditional ways.

The film pays special attention to how both Mitsuha and Taki are awkward, growing teenagers, and we are easily drawn into their dynamic because of how easily it feels that, in such a short span of time, we believe that they know each other well. 

The connection is palpable and richly brought out in their dialogue and messages left behind on their phones, creating a truly beautiful and wholesome relation that echoes to our generation of viewers with ease.

I love that the use of cellular technology in Your Name is neither romanticized nor demonized, but viewed for its practicality and shown as the sole bonder between Mitsuha and Taki in their rather unfortunate circumstance.

The attention to detail is, of course, mind-blowing, but I love how amplified and important the minute details are as well.

From watching both Mitsuha and Taki flip through their phones, engage with social media, and brush their fingers over the glass touchscreens… ah, it all flows on a wavelength that reminds me of just how varied and engaged people are with the world despite how opposite it seems to older generations.

This movie, at points, seems to be both its own intrinsic story, and a reflection of coming-of-age, natural romance and relational development. 

The way these two fall in love isn’t overly explained or even thrust into our faces as some ludicrous concept; it’s believable because we know, from watching them communicate, interact, and admire one another in both their own and in each other’s bodies, that they have a connection that cannot be matched equally with anyone else in their separate lives.

Now, these factors, while seemingly small and even insignificant to some, parallel much larger occurrences in a setting that doesn’t require disastrous things to happen. 

The story weaves a massive tragedy in its world to make the concept of two people switching bodies across the length of space and time seem all the more nonsensical. But, again, this is playing to more of the film’s strengths, rather than weaknesses.

Your Name, despite its relatively simple premise (at least, at first) expands so heavily in a visual sense that we’re greeted with amazing landscapes, incredible mountains, a fucking comet, starry evening skies, dawn, dusk, fields, busy cities and quiet roads alike.

It’s such a gift to be able to see the beauty in completely different lives take place, and to see the appreciation experienced from one person to another, just by living in their shoes for days at a time each week.

Now, the purpose between these two characters being the way they are speaks volumes to the intention behind creating this story to begin with.

The concept of possibly switching bodies with someone across the world, or close by, or, you know, switching bodies at all, is a terrifying concept. But, these two, while clearly raised in cultural differences and having varied interests (thankfully) embrace the process and use it as an opportunity to communicate with each other in a unique way that no one else can do.

It honestly makes me think of something much more mundane, but honestly, truly incredible. 

The Internet, social media, and the potentially easy connections formed over distances both vast and small, serve as a human reflection of what this film is delivering. Of course, it’s not nearly the same as switching bodies, which is the ultimate form of being required to experience through the other person’s shoes, but… there’s something equally beautiful about this, and how easy it is to take it for granted.

One of the words, actually, that came to me almost instantly as the film began, just from the scenery alone and one very particular thing that I’ll touch on later… was connection.

This film embodies both the fantastical and realistic forms of human, emotional, spiritual and intellectual connection.

In my opinion, there is nothing more intimate than understanding that piece of another person that allows that connection to begin and grow into something indescribable.

It’s miraculous, to experience a connection that you can’t grasp the meaning behind, and yet, somehow, those thoughts linger, and you find yourself drawn to particular people out of first sight, or first conversation, or other factors woven through other topics that could contribute to this argument.

The ending of the film, with the two of them consistently passing one another with that vague recollection of each other’s names (which I will also touch on later… since that’s obviously pretty damn important) reflects so many unexplained moments of Déjà vu and other instances that make you think: “Wait. I swear I’ve seen this person before. I don’t know how, but I have.”

Of course, I don’t believe in the supernatural elements displayed in this movie’s setting and story. 

But, the fact that the argument exists as a reality in this world that we get to experience, is wonderful to think about. 

It’s a romantic idea on its own, to think that these connections formed between people out of incredibly simple circumstances are borne out of occurrences like this, separated across time and meant to find each other’s likeness at some point in their lives.

The moment where Mitsuha and Taki find one another’s voices on the rim of the hollow, where the comet had struck, and finally see each other across the barrier of time and space… that, was one of the most breathtaking and emotional scenes I’ve seen in a film. And I’ve seen many.

The pacing, the music, the unbelievable joy you feel as the viewer being allowed to witness something so intimate and mythical take place on the edge of one world and the next… there’s nothing like it.

The animation was astounding in this scene, and the emotions were so vulnerable and believable with both Taki and Mitsuha. 

Watching them accept the terms of how they were meeting and agreeing to write each other’s names on their skin is something that just echoes trust, honesty, and love through actions and words as an assistance, rather than a replacement.

Now, since I’m getting way too excited to dance around this topic any longer, I’m going to dive into one of the most obvious (but undeniably fascinating) elements of the film: the literal, figurative and symbolic representation of fate. 

And this goes alongside the usage of the Red String of Fate.

I knew as soon as I saw Mitsuha’s red thread that it was meant to be a symbol for the symbolic Red String of Fate. Of course, this is to be expected in a film with this premise, but man, was I impressed with not only its subtle usage of this mythological element, but its handling of it as well.

I don’t believe in soulmates. 

I enjoy reading about them or studying the mythology behind the idea, as well as learning to experience it in mediums that make the idea in itself romantic and interesting. The Red String of Fate is used prominently in this film as a means of representing the connection between Mitsuha and Taki.

We see her call out her name to Taki on the train when she met him as a stranger, tossing out the thread and allowing him to take it in his hands. When they encounter each other again on the “Edge of the Comet” (that’s just what I’m going to call it), Mitsuha takes the thread from the bracelet around Taki’s wrist and wraps it around her now-cut hair.

It’s beautiful and intimate, and shows the amount of both conscious and subconscious care displayed between these two characters and their inevitably intertwined fates.

Something I noticed during these scenes, and this may be a bit farfetched, but I’m going to talk about it since it struck me while watching and now it won’t leave me alone.

The place where they meet officially in each other’s bodies for the first time—what I’ve now called the Edge of the Comet—was seen in earlier parts of the film as one complete, whole place. We’ve seen it destroyed, repaired, demolished by the comet, and even overgrown with breathtaking landscapes and people alike.

This place, when struck by the comet, is expanded into two melding circles. Two worlds inevitably colliding, one borne from outside the earth, and the other already there to begin with. Molded over years and years, of mountains growing from nothing and trees and flowers blooming from natural time.

The two circles overlapping, these constructs of one world meeting the next, to me, resembled the infinity symbol.

Of course, it’s not the exact same thing, but it adds some considerable weight to the scenes that transpire around these moments, with the two craters visible and showing just how impactful the story and interwoven destinies of the characters are.

... Or maybe it's just me.

Anyway!

The concept of infinity is an interesting one when considering the attention to culture, family, love and destiny in the overall film. 

The Red String of Fate, even, is often seen as a symbol of tethered souls connecting that breach the laws of logic, space and time. 

To think that the Red String would be breaching the laws of infinity as well, or somehow intertwining with it in some way, shape or form, makes the universal idea all the more interesting, and it stemmed simply from watching this movie.

It’s a truly incredible thing to think about, and even more so when considering how Taki goes through leaps and bounds to successfully prevent a natural comet disaster from killing countless people.

You know. The usual daily shenanigans of a teenager in Tokyo.

Now, I’m going to take this and shift it into something I loved from beginning to end about this movie, and again, it ties into the discussion of fate, dimensions and time itself being considered something as flexible and changeable, rather than concrete. 

The Red String of Fate and the two craters resembling an infinity symbol to me are only two of many scenarios I thought of while watching this.

There’s one consistent change of scenery that’s constantly brought about in this film. It’s both a stylistic experiment on the story itself and a visual representation of what it means to take a step forward and unknowingly testing the waters of new possibilities that you would never think of as possible.

I’m talking about doorways.

I’m talking about the sliding doorways, specifically, that are shown in heavy magnitude throughout the entirety of the film. 

Many obvious transitionary scenes in the film either start, end (or start and end) with doors sliding open and shut. 

This is prevalent in Mitsuha’s home as well as other notable locations throughout the film, especially as the story picks up.

But, it’s also an important stylistic choice when considering the train scenes—all of which are present prominently in both the earliest and latest portions of the film.

Doorways have always been symbolic in literature as an easy means of representing the idea of stepping forward, or into another world entirely. In fantasy, especially, this is very common, all the way back through old myths and legends. 

In this modern tale, doorways are relatively subtle in their usage, but when considering the concept of fate, destiny and time alterations thrown into the mix… you have an entirely new definition for the doorways in Your Name.

Destiny and fate are portrayed as still frayed paths of adventure and journeys between two people. 

Yes, they are connected by fate, and yes, they are contacting over the span of bending time and the laws of natural order. Yes, they keep one another in their lives, but it is due to their choices and the individual motions they make apart from each other.

This film brings about the thought of destiny still treading on the path of choices. 

A theory of fate lying on a thread, yet still woven through an intense labyrinth of decisions and ideas made by the two individuals involved that can either lead them to crossing their paths, or never fulfilling their “purpose” to begin with.

Mitsuha meets Taki on the train in Tokyo after deciding to go see him herself. She knows she must, and at this point we know that a strong, unique bond has formed between them through a connection unlike any other, through messages and decisions made out of their knowing, out of their control. 

In this moment, she knows who Taki is, and tells him to remember her name while removing the tread in her hair and allowing him to take it.

In this scene, she takes the bold leap through the door of the train, and then leaves with the same bustle of people after she removes the thread.

What would have happened if she never took that step onto the train to begin with? What decisions would have transpired from that moment? Would the same events still have happened in a similar manner?

What would have happened if he never took hold of the thread from her hair? If he never called out to her and asked her who she was?

A pretty glaring series of questions, in my opinion.

We have this moment again, flashing forward five years later, after Taki and Mitsuha changed the dynamics of their futures and altered their own destinies through choices that neither of them expected. 

They glimpse each other in passing, fleeting but unsure, wondering if those moments of slight recollection and meeting are remnants of fantasy or reality.

It still makes me wonder, even now: “If we watched this film in reverse, or just saw the ending with neither of them saying a word, what would the rest of this story appear to be? Would it still hold that same resonance of genuine love that we saw develop and grow? Or would it seem too farfetched to even grasp?”

I love how much this film makes me think, how it presses audiences to appreciate what they have in modern-day relationships and how we can use our technology to reach across the world and break new ground.

As a person who’s been betrayed and used so many times out of naivety and my own incompetence, to see something like this played out of pure love and adoration for the idea of two people connected across time, space, and tragedy, makes the overall appeal even more breathtaking.

Now, there is another important point I want to talk about when referring to the film’s thankful subtlety and handling of its own title.

I find it beautiful to think about the nature of knowing someone’s name, and to have the memories behind that person’s identity held in the palm of your hands. 

Mitsuha and Taki experience each other’s lives, quite literally stepping in each other’s shoes and growing attached to memories that aren’t originally meant to be theirs.

They know each other so well, without having the opportunity to directly speak for the longest time. This, in itself, is truly mind-boggling, and just emphasizes the importance of experiences and how they shape people and form bonds.

There's so much more to this idea than just romantic connotation. 

No, I do not believe in people being connected by fate, but it’s incredible to think how simple choices lead to certain friendships and relationships forming out of seemingly nothing. To think of how vast the world is, how many different people there are walking this earth, and how many different minds operate in existence…

The nature and beauty of life and human connection is celebrated in Your Name, down to the rawest and sincerest moments.

Thinking about this film today amidst the darker times in both life and the world brewing around us, makes me consider and mull over how thankful and glad I am to be alive, and to have the connections to both good and bad experiences and people.

Life, choices, and the concept of fate in general resemble a bit of a quilt, really, in all shades of colors and contorted into different patterns, scattered and messy beyond belief. Frayed edges, smooth turns, twisted knots and curling loops. Paint slathered on cords, shapes changed from triangles to squares and beyond.

And finally, an endless ocean of names of people we will never know, people we wish we knew, people we see on the other side of the world and dream of encountering, and people we have come to know thus far.

This is what Your Name just… does.

Not what it is. What it does.

And that’s just… amazing.

[i-am-the-entertainer]

An Attempt At A Comprehensive Review of RWBY Volume 4

I did a couple of posts reacting to RWBY4 as it was coming out, which you can find in the rwby4 tag on my own page. But I figured now that it’s been a few weeks I can write a more comprehensive review.

FULL SPOILERS FOR RWBY VOLUME 4. And sorry this is long.

First thought: IT WAS SLOW AS FUCK.

I mean sweet jesus, that dragged. If I were to think of the whole volume as one long movie, I could count a full hour of content going by without a single fight going on. Which, I mean, you can get away with in a full-length movie, but with a show like RWBY, which was co-created by a guy known for his fight animation, that comes out in 20 minutes spurs every week? That’s really, really bad. I mean, I guess they sort of got away with it in past volumes (not really though), but that’s mainly because the episodes were a lot shorter. And the World of Remnants coming out at seemingly random points made it all the more worse. I mean, I sat down and watched the whole thing through recently, episode by episode, and honestly it was alright. But watching it in process? That was torture. Plus it didn’t feel like the more interesting arcs going on were getting enough development time.

Second thought: Pretty good world building

Okay, slowness aside, for me the World of Remnants painted a fascinating picture of...well, of the world of Remnant. A lot of thought was definitely put into the mechanics, and Vic’s voiceover as Qrow getting increasingly drunk made them all the more entertaining. But again, I’d prefer it if they came out concurrently with the episodes rather than in place of an episode. As some have noted, that doesn’t build hype, it pisses you off.

Third thought: Meh Fight Choreography

RWBY’s was interesting to me in the first place because of the fight choreo, though I stuck around because I wanted to see what happened with the characters. Since we don’t have Monty and Shane on hand anymore to animate RWBY, their animation which to some extent was RWBY’s signature is gone. Of the fights in RWBY4, I felt that only two felt like something resembling Monty or Shane’s work––the character short and Qrow v. Tyrian, though both of these fell flat.

Fourth thought: Animation style and design was beautiful

Barring the snore-worthy fight choreography, the switch to Maya this season definitely improved the quality of animation drastically. The animation in Volume 1 was deplorable, the animation in Volume 2 was better but still kind of lacking, Volume 3 was an improvement but they could still have done better. With Volume 4 the design elements were done really well, and in the Maya engine they came out in ways I don’t think Poser could have achieved.

The Grimm this year were especially terrifying. I loved the added touch of the black smoke they emitted, and the Nuckelavee Grimm was pretty cool.

But again, I think there’s a problem when you at first have good fight choreography and poor animation, and later have good animation but poor fight choreography.

Fifth thought: Too Many Plotlines

Six different stories and about 3 hours to tell them? Really, really bad idea.

This is something you do in a show like Game of Thrones. I get that RT Animation is fairly small, but if you’re gonna have this many plotlines you need much, much longer episodes, at least 30 minutes per chapter I reckon. But 10-20 minutes means a plot that starts one episode doesn’t pop up again until almost a month later, by which point you’ve forgotten about them or ceased to care.

Sixth thought: Underdeveloped Plotlines

I would call this a side effect of the previous one. I think the first...three or so?...episodes introduced quite a few compelling plotlines (at least to me). Cinder’s recovery following the number Ruby did to her at Beacon, Yang learning to live without her arm, Blake running away from her problems, Weiss dealing with her parents, Oscar.

But as the season dragged (and boy did it drag) a lot of these plot points were seemingly dropped or at most didn’t serve as much importance as the first few eps implied. For example, I thought they would have more about Cinder’s recovery or how the team was dealing with Pyrrha’s death, but most of it only appeared in a few eps and would be brought up––sometimes randomly––several episodes later. Yang’s arc felt especially truncated––the prominence in the opening made it seem like it would be a major point this year, but they had only two episodes of her dealing with PTSD, and all of sudden she has the arm and is all better. I mean, I liked what little I saw, but I really really wish they’d shown more. If you’re gonna take on a topic like that you need time to show it, and the way this season was set up there wasn’t enough time.

The thing is, the way this year went you can sort of tell when Miles and Kerry went, “Oh crap, we went in over our heads.” I think it was around episode 4, when we had a World of Remnant, a RWBY episode, then another World of Remnant, which I think is the first time a WoR has appeared so soon after a previous one. To me that inconsistency signals a point where the team realized they were nearing the halfway point and the plot wasn’t going fast enough.

That’s a failure of the production structure: if you’re gonna take the show to an epic scale like this, you need to have everything ready before the first episode, or at least somewhere in advance. RWBY is largely produced as it’s being released, and the result is they don’t have enough time to review everything and realize when something’s not working. If Rooster Teeth Animation doesn’t have the capabilities or the time to take a plot to its full potential, that plot needs to be dropped.

The only really good plot this year I thought was Weiss’s arc. Well-written, good performances by the voice actors (more on that later), and fairly well-developed. But it was stretched out over a long period of time, so in retrospect that made it a little difficult to follow.

Seventh thought: Voice Acting Was Great

Maybe it’s experience or the fact they hired more professionals, but the voice acting this year was really good. All four of the Team RWBY voice actors were great, but I’m singling out Barbara Dunkelman and Kara Eberle for best performances, as I think their arcs provided the best range of emotion for them to portray; this especially shows in comparison to their performances in the first volume, which I rewatched back in December while this season was in full swing. I think ultimately though Yang’s plotline was too truncated for us to see how much Barb has improved since 2013. Kara, after portraying Weiss’s icy personality in the first few volumes, really showed a surprising range of emotion for Weiss’s realization of just how vain her family and acquaintances are.

The real MVP of this season was Neath Oum. He’s by no means a professional voice actor, but knowing he took on the character in honor of his younger brother and the surprisingly substantial role Ren and Nora served this year, he honestly killed it.

Minor thoughts

The best moment I thought this season was Qrow and Raven’s discussion in Higanbana in “Chapter 4: Family.” Great voicework from Vic Mignogna and Anna Hullum, well-written dialogue, good camera angles, and an interesting way of developing the plot. Only problem is it was a few minutes in an early episode, and the discussion was never brought up again––hopefully next year?

The best episode was “Chapter 10: Kuroyuri.” I thought the voiceover work for young Ren was kind of eh, but I liked that we got more of Ren and Nora’s tragic backstory, which was only alluded to in the first few volumes. We get a glimpse of Ren’s semblance and the start of their friendship, plus a genuine glimpse at what kind of enemy the Nuckelavee is. But I think it happened too late in the season––at that point I was just too invested in what would happen to the other characters to really want a flashback episode. The stakes needed to be raised earlier, and though we got hints at the Nuckelavee in Chapter 2, there wasn’t enough in the rest of the episodes to make us aware how big of an enemy it was.

Moving on/Too Long; Didn’t Read

As a general assessment, this season had vast improvements from previous seasons, but overall the result was a disappointment. Too much going on with too little time to tell it. Moving forward I think RT’s best decision is best case scenario make longer episodes, worst case make more episodes. I suppose a better in-between ground is reuniting Team RWBY, but at this point that’s probably not gonna happen until the end of Volume 5.I was, again, disappointed, but I was invested enough in the characters that I want to see what happens to them next year...this September...whenever the hell they start up. So for now I say goodbye to RWBY proper, and look forward to whatever ridiculousness they bring to RWBY Chibi this year.