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grump-the-deer · 5 years ago

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stuff about HDM ep 8 + overall season thoughts

in other words.....

FINALE TIME BITCHES

this episode was INCREDIBLE. A+++, perfection.

this is what I expected from the get-go, and what I got a lot of the time.

we got some great exposition + bonding double time with Asriel, some excellent portrayal of Asriel and Marisa’s relationship, plenty of dæmons being cool and adorable respectively (Pan and Salcilia running around playing anyone???), some STUNNING visuals, an epic little fight scene with the fire-hurlers and the zeppelins, some great culmination for Iorek and Lyra’s relationship, good ol’ Thorold development, some more Lyra & Roger development (ESPECIALLY the tent and end scenes - Roger’s death KILLED ME OH MY GOD) - just the perfect fuckin meal.

this was exceptional. round of applause for HDM.

(except the Will being 15 thing. what? why is he so old? he could pass for a tall 13- or 14-year-old. that makes it a little weird. I hope Lyra is supposed to be like 13 now then, idk. that’s still a pretty big difference at that age.)

I really have to wonder though - if they show they can do the above stuff perfectly, why didn’t they do it before???

the Bolvangar episode still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. this episode proves that they can make intercision horrific and emotional, and make it mean something with the dæmons interacting. Salcilia and Roger had good reactions - hell, Lyra reacting to remembering almost being separated from Pan was more emotional than the actual scene itself!! Roger’s death was HEARTBREAKING, thanks to his and his dæmon’s reactions!

they put the dæmons in enough, especially in speaking roles, that even when they weren’t around you didn’t really forget about them. I could always do with more background dæmons, but I can absolutely understand budget restraints - so long as you put them in enough. we need to feel they have an emotional impact on the characters. we need to feel like they ARE characters. not accessories.

Pan was a character in this episode. the things he says and do make an impact on the story. he was not a character in the Bolvangar episode, despite the fact that that was the MOST IMPORTANT episode for him to be around and active in.

they can do it right, but they didn’t. this series would be wonderful if they cut out that episode and reshot it and replaced it with a better take. hell, even just the intercision scene. it wouldn’t be perfect, but it would work.

so, overall:

HDM season 1 was a spectacular ride. the dæmons and bears look fantastic (when they’re actually in the shots), the voices are spot-on, the actors do a phenomenal job, and the writers actually added some interesting extra material and development.

some highlights for me are:

- Iorek and Lyra’s relationship. they got it absolutely perfect, if not better than the original. Iorek is perfectly stoic and bearlike and resolute, but Lyra earns his respect and even adoration, as best a bear can. it feels organic and has plenty of development scenes. just heartwarming.

- Lord Asriel all around. really awesome take on him, James MacAvoy loves him to pieces I can tell. he’s way better than the original, and that’s saying something. he’s got a lot more heart and I feel more connected to him despite him being a complete mad genius.

- Mrs. Coulter, for the most part. she’s got a bit of shaky characterization with Lyra towards the end - I’m not really certain of her motivations at the end - but generally she’s fascinating to watch on screen and absolutely horrible. I love her and I love Ruth Wilson as her. she’s positively uhinged. they did some really bold stuff with her character and her relationship with Lyra and I enjoyed every minute of it.

- Farder Coram ended up being great. he and Lyra are always a pleasure to watch interact. he really grew on me as soon as he started getting characterization, particularly with Serafina and the story of his son.

- the cinematography, lighting, set design, and graphics. I couldn’t ask for anything more. they went above and beyond and the framing and this world and its creatures look AMAZING. 10/10. hats off to the animation team in particular, of course.

- the acting. the acting is absolutely brilliant. particular standouts include Dafne Keen as Lyra, of course, James MacAvoy as Lord Asriel, Ruth Wilson as Mrs. Coulter, the voice of Iofur Raknison, and Farder Coram. honorable mention for Will, because he gets the character down so incredibly well.

- the respect for the source material. we’ve seen it blow up once with the Golden Compass movie, but this production obviously has every ounce of loyalty to the original. well, almost every ounce. the stuff they added ended up working very well and feeling organic to the original, and the stuff they kept, especially the verbatim lines, was delivered exceptionally. it’s clear they really care about the story they’re giving us.

- the opening credits are the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. a beautiful tribute to the magic of this series’ themes and world.

and some notably bad stuff, a couple that almost come close to ruining it for me:

- Lee Scoresby. an absolute mess. one moment he’s true to the original character and being sarcastic and selfish, and the next he’s stealing pocketwatches for funsies, yelling out his dangerous motivations in the middle of a town infested with armed Magisterium soldiers, and cooing over Lyra like she’s his flesh and blood and he got injected with Mother Hen Juice. he’s genuinely stupid. his characterization is all over the place. his “development” with Lyra is either nonexistent or rushed, and the only thing he actually does for the plot is fly the damn balloon for about 5 minutes tops. Hester is his only saving grace, and even she can’t do it all. I’m sorry Lin, I really love your work in Hamilton, but this was really disappointing. and I have to blame the writing mainly. they wouldn’t let Lin act a character, they had to shape the character around him. and the whole thing suffered for it.

- the intercision, and dæmon relationships. the Bolvangar episode wasn’t terrible overall, but it did not build up well to the intercision scene, and the episodes around it didn’t help either - especially the previous one. Billy’s death was not sad for me, because the middle of the show did not utilize dæmon relationships with their humans and dæmons as actual characters. we didn’t see them interacting enough with their people to matter consistently to us. the first couple of episodes did this bonding beautifully, even with budget restraints to how many dæmons could be in a shot, and how frequently they could come up. they showed us just enough for us to care about them and what they mean to their humans, particularly Pan and Lyra, and conveniently kept them out of frame when they weren’t necessary to the dialogue between humans.

they can do it properly, but they chose to let it fall by the wayside towards the middle, and it really shot the show in the foot. almost irreparably, I’d wager. Bolvangar, for all its masterful horror trope usage and suspense, was not nearly horrific enough nor emotional at all, thanks to the lack of buildup. we did not care about dæmons and their humans beyond knowing the humans are basically dead without them. there was no feeling behind the threat of Lyra and Pan getting split apart, other than Lyra becoming a shell. the focus was on Lyra and Mrs. Coulter’s relationship, which I don’t have a problem with - but not at the cost of Lyra and her dæmon. you know, the very FIRST line of the books? the main theme of the entire book? arguably the whole SERIES? dæmons as souls, as a person’s sense of free will and consciousness? kind of important to develop an emotional attachment to, don’t you think?

- the Gyptian leads (sans Farder Coram). Ma Costa was passable. she did a lot of crying and a lot of being desperate and pining for her son, and not a lot of kicking ass, proportionally. she didn’t come off as a strong boat mother at the center of her family with sway in her community. she came off as a wiry and lost soul who is somewhat capable but more interested in being depressed and worried. she did get to shine when she killed the Bolvangar doctor, but that wasn’t enough for me.

John Faa was boring. he was a hardass and only every so often came across as the original jovial, caring, but no-nonsense King of the Gyptians. most of the time he was just telling someone not to do something or insisting someone do something. no real personality other than being serious.

Billy Costa had no real character. a waste, considering we’re supposed to care about his death.

Tony Costa was alright. he was kind of a loser, which I guess is okay. I liked capable Tony and his gobbler-fightin’ gang from the books better though. he had a couple good moments with Lyra, and Benjamin was a good addition.

- the themes of belonging. I don’t like how they changed the message about Lyra belonging in different groups. the point isn’t that she can “be anyone she wants to be” - that’s not how real life works, or should work. she can live with the gyptians and like them, but Ma Costa in the books asserts that she can’t be a gyptian, because she’s not part of their ethnic group. a similar message was overlooked with the bears - Iorek gave her the name Silvertongue because of his deep respect for her and what she had done for him, not because she was “one of us bears” now. she isn’t a bear, she’s a human.

the point is that she doesn’t have to be something to find an emotional home with the people themselves. it’s about what she builds, surpassing what she is - which is a product of two twisted, misguided people - taking what’s given to her and making it into something beautiful of her own volition. it’s a very nuanced theme and it’s basically thrown aside in this adaptation in favor of pseudo-colorblindness theory that origins don’t matter and you can stuff yourself anywhere you please. it’s not a deal-breaking point and most people probably won’t pay attention to it, but it’s worth mentioning anyway.

so overall, the show was really really spectacular. a ton of fun, beautifully crafted, with a few hiccups and one major major issue. the dæmon thing gouged out a good chunk of the enjoyment for me, and the integrity of the actual story too. a huge huge blunder on Jack Thorne’s part. I’d like to say they recovered from it, because they did do a pretty great job wrapping things up, but it still lingers in the back of my mind as a big blemish on an otherwise incredible work.

I have high hopes for the future seasons though, when dæmons aren’t around as frequently and less characters are on screen, so there will be more time and budget available to be devoted to them, particularly Pan as a character. they’ve shown they can handle this material skillfully, and I have a good amount of faith in them. I can’t wait to see what else they do with the concepts I’ve come to adore so much.

#hdm #hdm spoilers #his dark materials

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theonceoverthinker · 6 years ago

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OUAT 2X09 - Queen of Hearts

Ooh! After how great that last episode was, I’ve got my HEART set on this review!

And you can experience what I’ve got to say right under the cut!

Press Release Cora and Hook face off with Mary Margaret and Emma in a race to secure the compass, which will point its holder to the portal into Storybrooke. But back on the other side, Regina and Mr. Gold, desperate to keep Cora out, put a plan into action that would kill anyone entering the portal - placing Mary Margaret’s and Emma’s lives in danger as well. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale land that was, Captain Hook travels to Wonderland and meets up with a vengeful Queen of Hearts. General Thoughts - Characters/Stories/Themes and Their Effectiveness Past I don’t really feel like there’s a lot to say about this segment. Apart from re-establishing personality traits of both Killian and Cora, this segment serves only the purpose of giving exposition for why Killian and Cora weren’t cursed and how they started working together. While it’s really well done exposition and it’s great to see Killian and Cora bounce off one another, exposition doesn’t leave a lot to discuss and what I do have to say is in other segments. Storybrooke The segment provides the ultimate test of Regina’s character thus far in the series: Rumple offers Regina a path of temptation and she has to choose whether or not to take it. This was fantastically done because not only has it been well built, but the conflict itself resonates with Regina’s character so well. Her biggest fears and dreams are pit against her, escalating the impact of the choice and making part of the fallout (Where she loses having Henry to herself) come off as effectively tragic and giving the resolution all the more bittersweet. Enchanted Forest I actually forgot that Emma had a story of her own in this episode as she deals with what being the Savior actually means. And I loved the direction they took with it. Emma’s intimidated by the prospect, as Emma would be, but she also is willing to accept the responsibility and that fear is channeled into the question of how much control she has over her destiny and what is to come of it now that her initial purpose (As far as she knows) is fulfilled. That’s a really good question to ask, and what makes this conflict so good is how Emma continues to give it her all, and it’s a combination of her history as the savior as well as her sacrifice for Snow that makes her heart unrippable and proving herself to be something unique: Magic. And her conversation with Rumple sums all of this up in a way that enforces Emma’s value and gives hints as to where her character will go next like a neat bow on top of a package. All Encompassing “Love is weakness.” There’s a contrast here between Emma and Cora. When the line was stated to Cora, it was from Regina who (As far as she knew) sacrificed her mother’s life for herself (For as justified as it was). As it’s being said to Emma, Emma sacrificed herself for her mother, and that selflessness between the later mother/daughter duo, partnered with her lineage, is what allows Emma to reject the notion for “love is strength.” Insights - Stream of Consciousness -Given his backstory, how much you want to bet that that “slave” comment from Faceless Guard 1 took Killian from competent fighter to competent fighter with a vengeance? XD -I just noticed, but Belle has a roomy as fuck cell. I mean look at that thing! My bedroom is smaller than this! Put a desk and a mini fridge in here, give me some WiFi, and make my bed not suck and I’d live here. -”A friend.” Not yet, Killian, but give it a few more seasons. -Killian can be the freakin’ best liar. Look a how well he delivers that fib to Belle! Like, if I wasn’t aware of what he was doing, I’d believe him. -”Do I look like I’m playing a game of chess?” Once again, not yet, Killian, but give it a few more seasons. -”Until.” I like how Rumple’s subtly comments on the change in Regina’s outlook on life, a subtle show of her redemption. -Emma’s reaction to Snow’s news about being told beforehand that she was going to be the Savior was so sad! Look at how shake up she is and just compare that to how she was when August told her as much in “The Stranger.” She now realizes that like it or not, this is her life and she needs to be the beacon for everyone. As someone who recently felt that pressure for all of two days, I can’t imagine how it must feel like to have to live with that mindset. -I know I’m supposed to be freaking out about Emma’s name being written so many times, but all I can think is “damn, Rumple has pretty penmanship.” -The Regal Believer development is just beautiful here. It blossomed so well from the last episode and now Henry’s showing more overt pride in Regina’s progress. It makes the fact that Regina’s lying to him so sad. -”No one mourn her [The dead fairy].” Rumple, dude, why would you say that? She was a nice fairy! Get your fairy vendetta out of your ass! -I feel like Regina has waaaaaay too much faith in Killian. Like, there are WAY too many holes in this plan, ranging fro Cora’s sheer power to the fact that someone can sneak through while Killian’s getting the job done. -So here’s my question: Why did Cora end up sticking with the Wonderland crazy aesthetic of masks and whatnot? I feel like that’s just not her style. -Look at Killian’s reaction when he discovers that the organ is missing! He can HEARTLY believe his eyes! XD -Yay! Aurora’s heart looks normal again! A touch too pale, but normal! -”Actually, no.” While I do like how the legitimacy of this line is retroactively made better later on in this episode, I feel like as it stood at the second it was said, it was rather weak. I love Killian, but up until this point, for as much as he’s talked about honor, we haven’t been shown it as much. While yes, in “Tallahassee” iself, Killian didn’t lie to Emma, that act was done more passively. What I want (And again, get later on in this episode) is a more active show of that honor, for not only did it poorly affect the present events of “Tallahassee,” but this scene in its entirety too, including the hurt that’s supposed to be behind Killian’s speech about the bean. -I love Emma and Snow’s discussion about Emma’s role as the savior. The way that it builds is fantastic and the tragedy of the circumstances that Emma brings up (That she doesn’t know of her work as the savior was finished when the curse was complete or not) as well as Jennifer Morrison’s acting is just fantastic. It sells her unsureness and frustration concerning the fact that her saviorhood was created not from who she was as a person, but as a product of her lineage and a prophecy. -Cora sure CORRODED that dirt away! XD -”Honor? For the pirate that snuck into my palace and attempted to assassinate me?” She’s got a point there, Killian. -Okay, so I want to give a rebuttal, if you will to what is considered a plot hole. In the flashback to “Dark Waters,” the events are implied to happen between the casting of the first curse and when Killian pretends to be a blacksmith. The plot hole that’s brought up is that that’s not possible because Cora froze them for the curse. My point of contention for this plot hole theory is that people in the shattered Enchanted forest are shown to be awake. Mulan notes that Killian’s been in their town for a month and that the town needed time to be constructed. Therefore, I pose that the time spell broke when Emma arrived and Cora’s words were more in reference to her interest in traveling between the realms and that it would come to pass after the curse was broken because that’s when Regina would have lost everything. -I really wish they’d still call Mary Margaret “Snow” when she came home. It’s so annoying to write her long ass name. -Snow is the ultimate archer! Like, what the fuck?! She’s so freakin’ good! Who can shoot a freakin’ compass like that?! -”Normally, I’d prefer to do other more enjoyable activities with a woman on her back…” I know this line gets a tough break (And I have something to say about Killian’s more...unavoidably shitty thing down below), but I genuinely don’t think this line means what many antis say it is. The line is about sex and as it comes right after Killian saves a woman’s heart and gives it back to someone who will ensure Aurora’s autonomy, the framing of that line as crossing a line just doesn’t add up to me. While these are my thoughts on the line, I just want to make it clear that I understand sensitivity, and if something like this line hit close to home for a situation for you, I neither could nor would ever want to tell you you’re wrong. Killian’s manner of speaking in Season 2 was definitely problematic and I’m glad that the writers decided to stop going so close to the edge of discomfort going forward. -”With my life on the line.” I don’t think this line was only talking about his own mortality. As we’ve seen (And will see in just a couple of episodes), Killian cares fuck all about his mortality. His “life?” His revenge. It’s so pathetic to see that that’s what Killian’s measuring his life as and it makes his redemption at the end of the season much more meaningful. -I love the actiony nature of the climax. -Rumple, was probably not a great idea to knock out Belle’s bestie like that. -Something to point out, when Regina’s holding Henry back, she’s physically holding him back, either consciously or subconsciously holding herself back from using magic like she promised (Also, Rumple is the one who has used magic throughout this set of present events. -*Totally choking up at the Snow Swan Believer hug* -”Just remember never to bet against you in the future.” Emma, make sure you do that because if not, he will forget HARD! -Rumple and Emma’s conversation towards the end of the episode sells Emma’s dilemma over her nature as the savior. Rumple says it best: He made the curse, but he didn’t make her. He took advantage of the person she was, the person she built for herself to accomplish what he wanted, but she as a person was the one who came through and accomplished things. -”Dinner at Granny’s? On me.” Ruby, did you steal Gold’s wallet or something after the assumed verbal thrashing you gave him following you waking up? Because otherwise, that’s gonna cost a ton! There are at least twelve people in this room and those dwarves eat a LOT! -The lighting for Hook’s ship is AMAZING, darkened by the clouds and fog, but unmistakably The Jolly Roger. Arcs - How are These Storylines Progressing? The Journey Home (May as well combine the Emma and Snow/Storybrooke stuff since they’re one and the same) - And here we come to the close of this arc. Overall, this story was so well done. It accomplished the task of opening and closing so many stories and arcs, all the while involving almost the entire main and supporting of the series. Additionally, it went on for as long as it needed, never feeling too long or short. Most every episode was satisfying and contributed to the solving of this duo-realm conundrum. Rumple’s Redemption - Rumple, of course, took a bit of a step back here, but I like it. Not only is he early in his redemption, but Cora’s a threat the likes of which he hasn’t been threatened to face since he started his attempts to better himself. It’s also given an added bout of weight due to the circumstances that Regina laid out in the last episode (Cora could hurt Belle) and that he brings up in this episode (The entire town as a whole is in danger). Regina’s Redemption - I misspoke last episode by calling it the culmination of Regina’s redemption arc in this partial season, because in hindsight, it’s more of a two-parter. While we got payoff the last time in regards to the improvement in hers and Henry’s relationship, this is the challenge portion. It’s one thing to work towards repairing relations with your son who you unashamedly love, but to help not only those who you hate, but to also risk a powerful and abusive enemy crossing your path in the process is something else entirely, and that was such an important distinction to make and present. Killian’s Redemption - *sighs* So I can’t help but feel like the missteps I pointed out in my “Tallahassee” review really did this particular arc dirty. Like, I feel like had the interactions between Emma and Kiilian been a little bit stronger in terms of setting up a dynamic where trust was being built but cut down just as it was on the precipice of really coming out, the moments here where Killian shows such vitriol over being betrayed would have been so much more powerful and to see them not work because of that is just so frustrating. HOWEVER, I feel I should say, that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing good to be said about Killian’s redemption here, because a VERY good decision was made that for my money, essentially revitalized Killian’s arc. I am so glad that it was Killian who caught Aurora’s heart. As I said before, that’s the kind of show of honor that reinforces that there is goodness in Killian and that said goodness can be worth growing. It helps to solidify Killian’s ability to be sympathetic in a half season that characterized his more villainous attributes well, but needed a touch more balancing when it came to the more heroic ones. This one action showed Killian as both the pirate with the snarky one liners as well as a man who can be saved, and that was imperative to see before we went back to Storybrooke. Favorite Dynamic Rumple and Regina - Rumple is one half of the fork in the road for Regina’s conflict throughout the episode, but what I really appreciate is that it’s not just left at that. Look at the following line: ”You won’t be able to be a better anything if Cora comes through.” Rumple knows Regina so well, acting as the devil on her shoulder, but also a guardian at the same time. He knows not only what Cora can do to him and the town, but Regina too, just on a personal level. While he doesn’t say this outright, choosing to focus on the more overt danger that Cora poses, the way that Robert Carlyle delivers that line and the history that Rumple and Regina have together convinces me that it’s true. In this episode, Rumple’s motivations are selfish, but not entirely, and I found that so nuanced that I couldn’t let it go unappreciated. Writer Adam and Eddy were in charge here, and of course they are: The run the ends of every major arc! And I think that’s what they do best. If and when they communicate correctly and are paying attention to what the other writers are doing, they’re good at providing finales that come full circle from where they started. This is very much one of those cases. I feel like Adam and Eddy were really paying attention to what their writers were going for and wrote this episode accordingly. Also, I genuinely like their writing. What they put into this episode works, with natural dialogue and a good use of story elements all around. In this episode especially, we get so many from Rumple’s stolen wand to the scroll in the jail cell to Jefferson’s hat and even the well! Darker Aspects (TW: Mentions of assault and abuse) Watching Killian smack Belle is incredibly uncomfortable to watch. I get that we needed a way to see Killian turn on Belle after she showed herself to be useless and magic’s not really his thing, but maybe he could’ve stolen some sleep powder. It would be more in character given that he’s a pirate and wouldn’t push a character who was designed with redeemability and sympathy in mind to a place that’s so screwed up. And I get that villains have done worse. Hell, this isn’t even Killian’s worst deed (Not by far), but modern sensibilities are what they are for a reason and something so personal as hitting a woman in such a real way simply strikes a lot harder of a note than a murder which for most audiences has a level of distance (Especially given the more fantastical methods of death in this show such as being gut by swords and having one’s heart ripped out and crushed), and this was the case when the episode aired too. Do I personally go on to like Killian after this? Yes, I think that’s pretty obvious from everything to my icon to my reblogs to the fact that I’m both participating in and creating a project partially dedicated to the guy, but just as with Regina and Graham, it’s a dark spot on a record that I refuse to forget, even as I move on from it. “I’m sorry, Mother. Without you, I’d never have become the person that I am now.” Given how abusive Cora was to Regina and how that abuse framed Regina’s mindset for such a long time, that line is so messed up, though better written for the fact that it was correctly framed for the complicated relationship that Cora and Regina have. Rating 9/10. What a fun episode! So much of the personalities of our mains come out as we close out the first major arc of the season! The entire episode was filled with great character moments and an earnest feeling of closure. It’s intense, heartwarming, romantic, and just a fun ride. I took points off for the uncomfortable moment as stated above in my “Darker Aspects” segment because that was honestly just disgusting to be portrayed in such a callous way and because of the disproportionate early payoff to the setup of the Emma and Killian dynamic. Flip My Ship - Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness” Hooked Queen - Regina’s hook pull was just sexy as hell. Going against someone as flirtatious as Killian with such an intimacy-inflicting maneuver just works so well! Captain Swan - Don’t think I don’t notice how the camera doesn’t point to Killian as Cora mentions how in 28 years, there will be a savior. Also, as this is a CS-centric segment in the scene with the infamous sword fight, I feel like I should weigh in on the immortal question: Did Killian throw the fight? My answer: Nah. There was this great post made a while ago and I don’t remember who wrote it, but they analyzed Killian’s sword fighting and concluded that he was trying to win, but not harm Emma in the process. Anyway, if you remember that post, please send it my way so I can link it! Finally, I found it to be such a good writing choice to have Emma be the one who heard why Killian saved Aurora’s heart because it was a good show of how he is someone redeemable. Swan Queen - Two things. First, Emma’s “thank you” is so amazingly sincere. It’s quiet, but energized, amazed and yet calmed. Second, the good-natured quips about Cora provides a very genuine moment of bonding for the two women for the first time really. Snowing - We get a great parallel here for the TLK that wakes Charming up. Not only is the dialogue given again, but the dwarves are there too and even the sheets are white just like in Snow’s coffin. It’s one of my favorite parallels of theirs, up there with some of the moments in “Snow Falls.” That’s because while there are these repeated elements, there are changes to make this a new scene and give it a different level of weight. It’s the first time we’ve seen a TLK in Storybrooke since the curse broke and new characters with new motivations are there for the ride. ()()()()()()()()() Season 2 has been utterly amazing thus far! Score wise, it’s doing better than Season 1, and even the disappointments have been relative improvements over the last Season’s. This is an especially great surprise because I had little recollection of Season 2 before I started this rewatch and I’m so happy that it’s been as good as it’s been and I hope that it stays this good going into the next arc!

Thank you all for reading and to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales! Putting this project together has really boosted my appreciation for the sophomore season of OUAT and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the extra boost my channel has gotten since this has started and the people I’ve met by doing this!

Season 2 Tally (86/220) Writer Tally for Season 2: Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis: (29/60) Jane Espenson (17/50) Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (20/50) David Goodman (10/30) Robert Hull (10/30) Christine Boylan (7/30) Kalinda Vazquez (10/30) Daniel Thomsen (10/20)

Operation Rewatch Archives

#ouat #once upon a time #watching fairytales #ouat rewatch #jenna watches ouat #tw: assault #tw: mentions of abuse #basically every character in this episode is discussed #ships mentioned #hooked queen #captain swan #swan queen #snowing #ouat 2x09

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snicketsleuth · 7 years ago

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Slackin’ with the Sleuth: Reviewing Netflix’s “The Austere Academy”

Writing a season opener is an ungrateful task: once you have recapped the previous year of plot and set up the precious exposition, there is usually not much left to enjoy. That being said, this installment could very well be the weakest double-episode so far: it struggles to start the running B-plot of the season to the point that it forgets to be an adaptation of a particular book, or even a basic episode of a streaming television series. It is, quite frankly, a mess with some fantastical bits. But the sum feels less worthy than the amount of its parts.

At this point the Netflix series has fundamentally changed the basic narrative structure which befits the story. It is strange to remember that the books closely follow the point of view of the Baudelaire orphans and never leave their side. Of course, this story is told by a tangential narrator who frequently interrupts the tale of the children to make allusions to his own life… but “allusions” remain the key word there. Daniel Handler even had to release supplementary materials (“The un-Authorized Autobiography”, “The Beatrice Letters”, etc.) to clear up parts of the plot which couldn’t have been included in the main series itself, as it needed to focus on its protagonists. And that is precisely what the Netflix adaptation loses here: focus. We are dealing with an ensemble cast off to its own particular adventures, its own separate plotlines. The camera moves from one protagonist to the next like a player over chess pieces, leaving little time for the characters to breathe.

And it is unfortunately for that reason that Duncan and Isadora become even more forgettable than they are in the books. Several key dialogs from the books, intended to work up their charm, were omitted (the initial confusion of the Baudelaire orphans over the twin/triplet controversy, Duncan’s pyrophobia, the wild dreams of the printing house: etc. Most of the charm of “The Austere Academy”, as a book, is the opportunity for the Baudelaire orphans to relate to another set of people who have fallen in similar circumstances, to find some manner of community. Its adaptation has no time to explore that. Given the importance of the triplets in later episodes, it is honestly dumbfounding that the writers didn’t take more time to establish them as characters. Especially considering the great work they did to develop more secondary players like Georgina, Babs or Hal, not to mention non-entities such as Gustav. The next episodes cannot make up for this as Duncan and Isadora are limited to a much stricter screen-time, because of plot constraints.

It is natural that the writers would fall in love with characters/relationships they essentially created or introduced for the show… but a line must be drawn when it comes at the expanse of preexisting characters. What, indeed, did the actions of the V.F.D. supervisors amount to? There is not much point to Olivia Caliban’s character in this episode, and even then, little which could not have been accomplished just as well by the character of Jacquelyn Scieszka. Larry’s quest is ultimately pointless as the Baudelaire orphans never really get to browse the contents of the book he’s trying to deliver. Jacques Snicket’s earlier introduction is, however, a welcome and even necessary invention. His death in the books has shock value yet nothing else, as the reader knows nothing about him. The Netflix show instead sets him up as likeable support primed for heartbreak.

Lemony’s monologue in his brother’s car is admittedly the best scene in “The Austere Academy”. Patrick Warburton delivers the perfect emotional cues without breaking from his usual flair. His admission of how much he misses Jacques, who we can still hear whistling nonchalantly, goes down as one of the most emotional scene in the adaptation. A perfect testament to the narration of the books. The talent of the writing team never leaves the screen for a second, it’s just… misdirected.

Speaking of characters, it’s about time we address the real star of this episode… And as strange as it may seem, sometimes an actor can be too good. Kitana Turnbull is adorably obnoxious and obnoxiously adorable as the infamous Carmelita Spats, but at what cost? She acts Malina Weissman and Louis Hynes under the table. Baudelaires and Quagmires look stiff and awkward next to her. Even her singing sounds too harmonious. We should NOT be looking forward to the sound of Carmelita’s voice, she’s supposed to be annoying! The writers even felt obligated to have Violet begrudgingly admit her recitals are “improving”. That being said, two hours of “The Carmelita show (starring those cakesniffing orphans)” is far from an unpleasant experience. Although Carmelita only becomes Olaf’s sith-in-training much later in the series, introducing their dynamic right off the bat is a great idea. The show even suggests a possible etymology for the word ��cakesniffer”, whose exact meaning remains a mystery in the books. The answer is both blunt and traumatizing.

We should also not forget Roger Bart’s performance as Vice Principal Nero, which deserves just as much praise. The secondary players of “A Series Of Unfortunate Events” are tricky parts, as they rely so much on caricature. Finding some warmth, some internal struggle to sell the character as more than a bland cardboard cut-out is no easy task, but Bart undoubtedly succeeds. It is only while watching the episode that I understood the point of Nero’s character in the books; he is very much Daniel Handler’s dark alter-ego, a somber reminder of the bitter maniac he could have become had he not succeeded as a writer. You have to give credits to the writing team for trying to expand on these characters while retaining as much of their original lines as possible.

As usual Neil Patrick Harris expanded Olaf’s disguise-of-the-week in interesting ways, and Coach Genghis could perhaps be the most ambitious yet. He retooled the character persona as a mix of Hitlerian youth leader and self-actualization guru, all in the name of “school spirit”. The end result is strikingly similar to several criticisms made on the education system in other books (“The Basic Eight”, “Why We Broke Up”, etc.). The social satire of the original series lost nothing of its bite. If anything, it’s coming back with a vengeance. Putting Genghis’ arrival at Prufrock as the mid-episode ending was definitely a mistake, however. Olaf has already come back to torment the Baudelaire orphans under three disguises at this point, therefore the revelation of a new one is not much to fuss about.

And if we have to really put our cards on the table, I suppose I should once again speak of the worst, most damageable aspect of the Netflix series: its music. No, scratch that; its sound design. The series is extremely fast-paced and dialogue-heavy. With Lemony’s narration already commenting on everything, putting so much music into every single scene is the worst possible choice the directors could have made. It drowns out the lines of dialog, which become difficult to follow, and every scene feels, looks and sounds the same: accordion and klezmer everywhere. There is, to put it simply, no pacing and no ambiance. It’s heartbreaking to see so much money wasted on expensive sets when you know it’s going to get ruined by the same cursed accordion notes.

On that regard, there were clearly some budget accommodations made on this episode. The director of “The Miserable Mill” simply made Prufrock Prep way too big: its exterior layout makes it look big enough to house a thousand students, but we only ever see a hundred of them at the pep rally… And the cafeteria can only seat two dozens.

More new musical themes could have helped. It’s really more of a general complaint, but it’s especially bad in “The Austere Academy”. Nero’s terrible recitals actually act as welcomed pauses in the pacing, since they require silence in the background. But the worst offender has to be that final scene before the midway point: as Genghis is about to introduce himself on stage, the Quagmires cry out to the Baudelaires, who can’t hear them because of how much noise the crowd is making. But we don’t even really hear the crowd making a ruckus: the accordion music is louder, it just sounds and feels exactly like every other scene, noisy environment or not. Therefore the viewer can’t really understand why the Baudelaires and Quagmires can’t communicate. It’s a painful and spectacular failure of sound mixing.

The entire ordeal is a cacophonic catastrophic in that it robs several key scenes of their intended emotional resonance. The Quagmire’s final capture is but one many dark and dramatic moments in the plot on which the Netflix adaptation fails to capitalize. It’s nowhere near as bad as the humorous trombone played over Josephine Anwhistle’s death scene, but it’s getting close. So far “The Austere Academy” retains too much of the original books’ contents, and understands them too well, to deliver anything but great television… but it succeeds in the details rather than the big picture. If only it could be the other way around!

#review #ASoUE #a series of unfortunate events #Lemony Snicket #asoue netflix #netflix #count olaf #violet baudelaire #klaus baudelaire #Sunny Baudelaire #neil patrick harris #0535

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andrewtheconqueror-blog · 7 years ago

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Blog No. 6

Group Performance of the Kings of Classical Music (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven)

Group Mates: Eva Cuenza, Mareal tumanda, joshua Gramaje, Ruzzel Santos, and Trixie Dayrit

Franz Joseph Haydn, (Born March 31, 1732, Rohrau, Austria—died May 31, 1809, Vienna); Austrian Composer

Over the course of his 106 symphonies, Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn became the principal architect of the classical style of music.

Synopsis

Franz Joseph Haydn was among the creators of the fundamental genres of classical music, and his influence upon later composers is immense. Haydn’s most celebrated pupil was Ludwig van Beethoven, and his musical form casts a huge shadow over the music of subsequent composers such as Schubert, Mendelssohn and Brahms.

Early Life

Franz Joseph Haydn was recruited at age 8 to the sing in the choir at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where he went on to learn to play violin and keyboard. After he left the choir, he supported himself by teaching and playing violin, while studying counterpoint and harmony.

Haydn soon became an assistant to composer Nicola Porpora in exchange for lessons, and in 1761 he was named Kapellmeister, or "court musician," at the palace of the influential Esterházy family, a position that would financially support him for nearly 30 years. Isolated at the palace from other composers and musical trends, he was, as he put it, "forced to become original."

The Mature Artist

While Haydn rose in the Esterházy family's esteem, his popularity outside the palace walls also increased, and he eventually wrote as much music for publication as for the family. Several important works of this period were commissions from abroad, such as the Paris symphonies (1785-1786) and the original orchestral version of "The Seven Last Words of Christ" (1786). Haydn came to feel sequestered and lonely, however, missing friends back in Vienna, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, so in 1791, when a new Esterházy prince let Haydn go, he quickly accepted an invitation to go to England to conduct new symphonies with German violinist and impresario Johan Peter Salomon. He would return to London again in 1794 for another successful and lucrative season.

Already well known and appreciated in England, Haydn's concerts drew huge crowds, and during his time in England the composer created some of his most popular works, including the "Rider" quartet and the Surprise, Military, Drumroll and London symphonies.

Later Years

Haydn returned to Vienna in 1795 and took up his former position with the Esterházys, although only part-time. At this point, he was a public figure in Vienna, and when he wasn't at home composing, he was making frequent public appearances. With his health failing, his creative spirit outlasted his ability to harness it, and he died at age 77.

Haydn is remembered as the first great symphonist and the composer who essentially invented the string quartet. The principal engineer of the classical style, Haydn exerted influence on the likes of Mozart, his student Ludwig van Beethoven and scores of others.

Works

Haydn is credited as the 'father' of the classical symphony and string quartet, and also wrote many piano sonatas, piano trios, divertmenti and masses, which became the foundation for the Classical style in these compositional types. He also wrote other types of chamber music, as well as operas and concerti, although such compositions are now less known. Although other composers were prominent in the earlier Classical period, notably C.P.E. Bach in the field of the keyboard sonata (the harpsichord and clavichord were equally popular with the piano in this era) and J.C. Bach and Leopold Mozart in the symphony, Haydn was undoubtedly the strongest overall influence on musical style in this era.

The development of sonata form into a subtle and flexible mode of musical expression, which became the dominant force in Classical musical thought, was based foremost on Haydn and those who followed his ideas. His sense of formal inventiveness also lead him to integrate the fugue into the classical style, and to enrich the rondo form with more cohesive tonal logic, (see sonata rondo form). Another example of Haydn's inventiveness was his creation of the double variation form, that is variations on two alternating themes.

Structure and character of the music

A central characteristic of Haydn's music is the development of larger structures out of very short, simple musical motifs, usually devised from standard accompanying figures. The music is often quite formally concentrated, and the important musical events of a movement can unfold rather quickly. Haydn's musical practice formed the basis of much of what was to follow in the development of tonality and musical form. He took genres such as the symphony, which were, at that time, shorter and subsidiary to more important vocal music, and slowly expanded their length, weight and complexity.

Haydn's compositional practice was rooted in a study of the modal counterpoint of Fux, and the tonal homophonic styles which had become more and more popular, particularly the work of Gluck and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, of the later Haydn wrote 'without him, we know nothing'. He believed that the search for an appropriate melody was essential to the creation of good music, and carefully constructed his around countrapunctal devices, so that it could be overlayed with itself in a variety of ways, and the fragments could be worked with individually, and still retain some degree of unique character.

Haydn's work became central to what was later described as the sonata form, and his work was central to taking the binary schematic of what was then called a 'melodie'. It was a form divided into sections, joined by important moments in the harmony which signalled the change. One of Haydn's important innovations, one which was adopted by Mozart and Beethoven, was to make the moment of transition the focus of tremendous creativity, instead of using stock devices to make the transition, Haydn would often find inventive ways to make the move between two expected keys.

Later musical theorists would codify the formal organization in the following way:

Introduction: If present in an extended form, a slower section in the dominant, often with material not directly related to the main themes, which would then rapidly transition to the

Exposition: Presentation of thematic material, including a progression of tonality away from the home key. Unlike Mozart and Beethoven, Haydn often wrote expositions where the music that establishes the new key is similar or identical to the opening theme: this is called monothematic sonata form.

Development: The thematic material is led through a rapidly-shifting sequence of keys, transformed, fragmented, or combined with new material. If not present, the work is termed a 'sonatina'. Haydn's developments tend to be longer and more elaborate than those of Mozart, for example.

Recapitulation: Return to the home key, where the material of the exposition is re-presented. Haydn, unlike Mozart and Beethoven, often rearranges the order of themes compared to the exposition: he also frequently omits passages that appeared in the exposition (particularly in the monothematic case) and adds codas.

Coda: After the close of the recapitulation on the tonic, there may be an additional section which works through more of the possibilities of the thematic material.

During this period the written music was structured by tonality, and the sections of a work of the Classical era were marked by tonal cadences. The most important transitions between sections were from the exposition to the development, and from the development to the recapitulation. Haydn focused on creating witty and often dramatic ways to make these transitions, by delaying them, or by having the occur so subtly that it takes some time before it is established that the transition has, in fact happened. Perhaps paradoxically one of the ways in which Haydn did this was by reducing the number of different devices for harmonic transitions between, so that he could explore and develop the possibilities he found in the ones he regarded as most interesting. This is perhaps why more than any other composer, Haydn is known for the jokes that he put into his music. The most famous example is the sudden loud chord in his 'Surprise symphony|Surprise' symphony, No. 94, but others are perhaps funnier: the fake endings in the quartets Op. 33 No. 2 and Op. 50 No. 3, or the remarkable rhythmic illusion placed in the trio section of Op. 50 No. 1.

Haydn's compositional practice influenced both Mozart and Beethoven. Beethoven began his career writing rather discursive, loosely organized sonata expositions; but with the onset of his 'Middle period', he revived and intensified Haydn's practice, joining the musical structure to tight small motifs, often by gradually reshaping both the work and the motifs so that they fit quite carefully.

The emotional content of Haydn's music cannot accurately be summarized in words, but one may attempt an approximate description. Much of the music was written to please and delight a prince, and its emotional tone is correspondingly upbeat; this tone also reflects, perhaps, Haydn's fundamentally healthy and well-balanced personality. Occasional minor-key works, often deadly serious in character, form striking exceptions to the general rule. Haydn's fast movements tend to be rhythmically propulsive, and often impart a great sense of energy, especially so in the finales. Some characteristic examples of Haydn's 'rollicking' finale type are found in the 'London' symphony No. 104, the string quartet Op. 50 No. 1, and the piano trio Hob XV: 27. Haydn's slow movements, early in his career, are usually not too slow in tempo, relaxed, and reflective. Later on, the emotional range of the slow movements increases, notably in the deeply felt slow movements of the quartets Op. 76 Nos. 3 and 5, the Symphony No. 102, and the piano trio Hob XV: 23. The minuets tend to have a strong downbeat (and upbeat!) and a clearly popular character. Late in his career, perhaps inspired by the young Beethoven (who was briefly his student), Haydn began to write scherzi instead of minuets, with a much faster tempo, felt as one beat to the measure.

Symphony No. 94 in G Major, 2nd Movement (”Surprise”)

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Symphony No. 94

The story of the Surprise Symphony starts with the death of Haydn's great patron, the Austrian prince Nikolaus Esterházy, in 1790. While Haydn's music had been spread across Europe (and even to the Americas in the hands of music aficionado Thomas Jefferson), Haydn himself hadn't left Austria in decades. His music was already popular in England, so a new patron appeared after the death of Esterházy and asked Haydn to come to London for two seasons. An agreement was stuck where Haydn would live in London and compose a total of six symphonies to be performed there.

Symphony No. 94 in G Major was one of these symphonies, which debuted in London on March 23rd of 1791. As the crowd quickly found out, it was full of surprises, showcasing Haydn's wit and ability to play with audiences' expectations.

Haydn knew how to play with audience expectations during a concert

The total work is broken into four movements, a symphonic structure of Haydn's that was still relatively new at the time. The first movement was written in the wrong key, according to the traditions associated with the 4-movement symphony, thus setting up one surprise from the beginning. The first and third movements have a lively feel that was more associated with outdoor concerts than with concert halls. This was especially true of the third movement, a minuet, which was basically the predecessor of the waltz. The second movement contrasts these with a gentler and softer tone, while the fourth escalates it, racing toward its conclusion with a march-like beat.

Overall, Symphony No. 94 in G Major is about 23 minutes of expectation subversion, interplay between tempos and sections of the orchestra, and some very demanding technical sections that reveal Haydn's confidence in the London orchestra. It was one of the works that helped Haydn's 4-movement symphony become the standard that would define orchestral music for generations.

The Surprise

Symphony No. 94 is lively, fun, and full of quirks, but not much more so than any other of Haydn's works. So, why was this one nicknamed the Surprise Symphony? That name actually refers to a single moment in the second movement. In this movement, the pace is gradual, peaceful, and tranquil. The melodies are passive and unencumbered, listing lazily along when out of nowhere BAM! The audience is hit with a jarring and loud chord that crescendos without warning. Surprise!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756–5 December 1791)

Mozart was one of the most influential, popular and prolific composers of the classical period. He composed over 600 works, including some of the most famous and loved pieces of symphonic, chamber, operatic, and choral music.

“Music is my life and my life is music. Anyone who does not understand this is not worthy of God.”

– Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Short Biography of Mozart

Mozart was born in Salzburg to a musical family. From an early age, the young Mozart showed all the signs of a prodigious musical talent. By the age of five he could read and write music, and he would entertain people with his talents on the keyboard. By the age of six he was writing his first compositions. Mozart was generally considered to be a rare musical genius, although he was also diligent in studying other great composers such as Haydn and Bach.

During his childhood, he would frequently tour various palaces around Europe playing for distinguished guests. Aged 17, he accepted a post as a court musician in Salzburg; although this did not suit him very well, the next few years were a time of prolific composition. In 1781, he moved permanently to Vienna where he stayed for the remainder of his life. In Vienna, he became well known and was often in demand as a composer and performer.

“I pay no attention whatever to anybody’s praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings.”

– Mozart

However, despite his relative fame he struggled to manage his finances and moved between periods of poverty and prosperity. This difficulty was enhanced when, in 1786, Austria was involved in a war which led to lower demand for musicians. In 1782, he married against the wishes of his family; he had six children but only two survived infancy.

The work of Mozart is epic in scope and proportion. There were few branches of music Mozart did not touch. He composed operas, symphonies, concertos, and solo pieces for the piano. His work spanned from joyful light-hearted pieces to powerful, challenging compositions which touched the emotions. In the beginning of his career, Mozart had a powerful ability to learn and remember from the music he heard from others. He was able to incorporate the style and music of people such as Haydn and J.S. Bach. As he matured he developed his very own style and interpretations. In turn, the music of Mozart very much influenced the early Beethoven.

Mozart was brought up a Roman Catholic and remained a member of the church throughout his life.

“I know myself, and I have such a sense of religion that I shall never do anything which I would not do before the whole world.”

Some of his greatest works are religious in nature such as Ave Verum Corpus and the final Requiem.

Mozart was very productive until his untimely death in 1791, aged 35.

“I never lie down at night without reflecting that young as I am I may not live to see another day.”

In the last year of his life, he composed the opera The Magic Flute, the final piano concerto (K. 595 in B-flat), the Clarinet Concerto K. 622, a string quintet (K. 614 in E-flat), the famous motet Ave verum corpus K. 618, and the unfinished Requiem K. 626.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “Biography of Mozart”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net, 28th May 2008 Updated 3rd October 2017

Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major ("Alla Turca") K. 331 (K. 300i)

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Musical Analysis

Apart from its foreign influences, the last movement has two other interesting features. The first of these concerns its structure; the movement is a rondo but, unusually, the first theme occurs only twice (traditionally, in rondo form the first theme is presented most frequently in the piece). Therefore, the A major idea from bar 25 becomes the more important as the movement progresses, occurring three times and forming the basis of the coda. Also, Mozart extensively repeats melodic ideas within sections. For example, in bars 8-16 the same melodic idea occurs four times (the second two times transposed down a minor third), and the A major passage at bars 25-32 consists of a repeated motif, with the ending modified on the repeat to allow a perfect cadence to close the phrase. This is a recurrent feature, especially in the coda.

The form of the rondo is A-B-C-D-E-C-A-B-C-coda, with each section (except the coda) being repeated twice.

A: This section, in A minor, consists of a rising sixteenth note melody followed by a falling eighth note melody over a staccato eighth note accompaniment. It is nine measures long.

B: This section introduces new material in a melody in thirds and eighth notes before varying the A section with a cresendo before falling back to piano.

C: A forte march in octaves over an arpeggiated chord accompaniment. The key changes to A major.

D: A piano continuous sixteenth note melody over a broken chord accompaniment.

E: A forte scale-like theme followed by a modification of section D.

Coda: A forte theme consisting mostly of chords (arpeggiated and not) and octaves. There is a brief piano restatement of the theme in the middle of the coda. The movement ends with alternating A and C-sharp octaves followed by two A major chords.

It is worth noting that each movement of the sonata is based around the tonality of A. This is unusual as there is typically a change of key for the second movement to provide a necessary tonal contrast. One can only presume that Mozart considered the huge diversity of material presented in the piece to be sufficient to dispense with this need.

Bar 1-24 The opening theme consists of rising turn-figures which outline an a minor arpeggio. The use of ornamentation continues in bar 5 with grace notes helping to accent the first beat of the bar. A brief diversion to C major in bars 9-12 is short-lived, since it is followed by a return to the tonic. The repeat of the opening idea in bars 17-20 leads to a tonic cadence in a minor, following the reharmonisation of the top C in bar 20 with an Italian 6th chord. This opening section (A) is in itself a miniature ternary form. A surprising number of keys are used at this early stage; a minor, e minor (bar 5) and C major (bar 9) before a return to a minor (bar13). Bars 1-8 have a natural rhythmic accent on the first beat of the bar.

Bar 25-32 A sudden change to the tonic major starts a brash, loud passage which provides an immediate contrast to the preceding passage. The LH uses arpeggiated grace notes for percussive effect. See the background notes for the influence of Turkish music evident here.

Bar 32-56 Once again, a sudden contrast is created through a change of key (f-sharp minor), sudden reduction in dynamics, thinning of texture and bubbling semiquaver passages in the RH. The LH reverts to the texture found at the movement’s opening. In bar 38 the key changes to c-sharp minor to bring the phrase to a close; however, the music then leaps into A major for some scalic RH features that carry on the stream of semiquavers. The f-sharp minor passage returns in bars 48-56, although the second half of this is modified to keep the music in that key and closes with a perfect cadence. This is the ‘C’ section of the structure. The RH melodic cells that open this section contrast well with the a minor theme at the beginning of the movement, since their general shape is an inversion of the turns in the a minor theme. They also start in a descending series, whereas the a minor theme consists of ascending motivic cells.

Bar 56-64 Repeat of bars 24.2-32.1 (the ‘B’ section)

Bar 64-88 Repeat of bars 1-24 (the ‘A’ section)

Bar 88-96 Repeat of the ‘B’ section again, but with the RH octaves broken into pairs of octave-leaping semiquavers. This RH change adds to the percussive, brash nature of the original.

Bar 96.2-127 The coda consists of four presentations of the same A major phrase (bars 96.2-102), with subtle changes, variations in ornamentation and, in bars 109-115, a different texture in the LH accompaniment (an Alberti bass). Other than this , the LH utilises the percussive figure from the previous A major theme. The chord progression in this repeated figure is a very strong I – IV – I – V (resolving onto the tonic to start the next version of the phrase). The last six bars of the piece consist of an affirmation of the tonic A major harmony, bringing the work to a rousing and boisterous close.

"Queen of the Night" aria from "The Magic Flute" by Mozart

The Queen of the Night sings this aria to express her fury and longing for revenge (‘rache’). Mozart chose the key of D minor for this aria. It is a key often associated with tragedy, and prevalent in the Requiem that Mozart was writing, that would dominate his thoughts in the weeks following the premiere of Die Zauberflöte.

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The aria contains marked dynamic contrasts, accents land on and off the beat and the vocal line is often highly chromatic. Rather unexpectedly, after the opening bars the music suddenly moves to F major, the relative key of D minor. Gaining in confidence, the Queen scales the vocal heights. The Queen tells Pamina that if she does not kill Sarastro as the mother has asked then she will no longer be her daughter, and sings a series of repeated notes on a high C before climbing even further to several dizzying top Fs. Nothing, it seems, can stop her.

After Sarastro’s thoughtful hymnic aria ‘O Isis und Osiris’, the Queen’s virtuosity is all the more staggering. And however hollow her threats will prove – she clearly does not know her daughter’s moral strength – the aria could not make its point any clearer. The recurrent gestures, manic twists and turns and final ferocious D minor cadence place a thrillingly thunderous cloud of wrath over the proceedings.

Sources:

“Franz Joseph Haydn.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 5 Jan. 2017, www.biography.com/people/franz-joseph-haydn-9332156.

“Franz Josef Haydn.” Prince Biography, www.8notes.com/biographies/haydn.asp.

Study.com, Study.com, study.com/academy/lesson/haydns-surprise-symphony-analysis.html.

https://www.biographyonline.net/music/mozart.html

https://sensq.com/blog/story-of-rondo-alla-turca-turkish-march

#ClassicalKings!

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selcier · 7 years ago

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Obikin Fanfiction Recommendations

I’ve been thinking about typing this up for a while now.

This is by no means an extensive or exhaustive list. These are simple a few fics that I remember vividly for various reasons. Many of theme are masterpieces in their own right without the added benefit of being fanfiction. And many are fics that I have read over and over again. These are also fics that have inspired me to to my own writing.

Please also keep in mind that these recommendations will include some constructive criticism. While I love them all, there are comments that I think need to be said in any recommendation. I’m not going to be adding warnings (those are in the links) but I want to give a larger picture of the piece besides fawning over how much I love it.

There are many fics that are not on this list that I actively read and love and I’m always looking for more! I have excluded works that I love but are in the beginnings of their development as a cohesive story. This list also does not include any tumblr ficlets. I love those too but they are more difficult to keep track of. If you follow me, I tend to reblog everything I love so you can find more that way. If you have any recommendations to send me, please do!

I have tried to tag authors when I know them on tumbr.

In no particular order:

His Face in the Rearview Mirror by starscry

The car breaks down a week and a half into his trip.

What a beautiful AU. Fast cars, sexual tension and a great retelling of TPM. I’m drawn to this fic for its detail and mood. I can feel the heat of the desert in every scene. I can envision Anakin’s upbringing in the descriptions. I desperately want them to justkissalready the entire time; there is a fantastic level of tension throughout the narrative. This is the type of short but fulfilling read I go back for many times. Its currently on hiatus but I’m crossing my fingers that starscry will finish it soon.

Fringe Believers and Hopeless Wanders by iiscos

A Jedi falls in love with a kind, but poor mechanic aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.S.C. Terranova. A Star Wars/Titanic AU

This fic is definitely an inspiration for my own writing. Its paced fabulously with a steady rise of plot and tension. And while it follows closely to the original plot of Titanic, all the Star Wars details are fleshed out in loving detail. It also has the same feel as Titanic; a romance that doesn’t make any logical sense but that is captivating none the less. Unfortunately, this fic is also on hiatus it seems as the author seems to have moved on to other fandoms. However, keep in mind the original tags were ‘happy ending’ so I’ll go with that. :)

Favorite line: “ Obi-Wan in his formal Jedi robes, clean and simple against the lavish backdrop, searching for familiar faces in the dining saloon.” For some reason this image keeps with me. I liken it to the line from the RotS novel in which Obi-wan stands in the expanse of carpeting in Padme’s apartment looking lost. The parallels reduce me to a sobbing fool.

wicked thing by imaginarykat

There are rumours of yet another Sith Lord hiding among the Separatists. The Council sends Anakin to investigate. Anakin has a bad feeling about this.

or,

the story of how Anakin exists in a perpetual state of intense embarrassment, Kenobi is enjoying it a little too much, and everything is, generally speaking, a gigantic mess.

Ah yes. The opus of the Sith!Obi-wan movement. May we be forever blessed. This fic sucks you in from the very first moment. The insight the reader has into Anakin’s mind is a fabulous take on his character and I love the inanity he brings. Oh course, the whole plot is rather contrived; but that’s part of the fun. Fanfiction is for nothing more than indulging our every whim and a myriad of possibilities. I particularly enjoy that we’re meant to not fully understand whether or not Kenobi is using Anakin or not. And whether or not Anakin is already his apprentice or not. Unfortunately, the last few chapters have been lacking direction for me. But I’ve still enjoyed reading them and still look forward to experiencing the story with the characters. Not all obikin needs to be sadness and flames.

Favorite line: “His mouth opens to speak even though his mind seems empty of all thought; only one word escapes his lips, one that tastes of defiance and submission and fire all at once.“Master.” “ Hot damn yes. This is why I come here!

Ad Verecundiam by DarthSnug

Time Traveling Sith Lords seems like a matter for the Council, so Obi-Wan puts the man’s sudden arrival at the Temple out of mind. He has other things to worry about after all: his Trials, for one, and his former Master’s stubborn insistence that young Anakin Skywalker must be trained.

Then the Council approaches him, saying that their reluctant darkside guest is specifically asking for him, and in standard fashion, Knight Kenobi finds himself getting into all sorts of terrible trouble without much backup at all.

This is probably the least developed fic on this list. Only three chapters in, however, and I’m hooked. So far, it hasn’t gotten caught up in extraneous scenes or pointless divergences to the plot and I’m hoping it continues to do so. I’m enjoying, despite the fantastical nature of the canon divergence, the reality of the narrative. Characters have reasonable and relate-able reactions to outside influences. The Council is appropriately suspicious, Kenobi is appropriately obeying the Council’s orders-but-not-really. I’m excited to see where this is going especially as Vader is clearly not necessarily remorseful about his actions. He hasn’t turned into the good-guy yet. I think we all forget what a Sith is supposed to be canon. They aren’t just dangerous and handsome, they have ugly goals. I’m hoping that this fic explores that option.

Solider, Poet, King by @glare-gryphon

Second chances are very rarely given, but the Force smiles upon two of its favorite children and returns them to a time before their actions have met their consequences. Anakin Skywalker, also known as Darth Vader, seeks redemption while Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi, disillusioned with the Jedi Order and its Code, falls to the Darkness. Trapped out of time, Master and Apprentice must once again work together to stop Sideous’ plans from reaching fruition and bring Balance to the Force—all the while dodging the Jedi, the Sith, and their feelings for each other.

I admit, I’ve re-read this at least ten times. It came with me on the plane to Thailand, comforted me next to the fireplace this holiday season and was there for rainy days this spring. This is a fic I cannot gush about enough. The first time I read Chapter 1, I thought ‘oh this sounds interesting, if cliche.’ But then i was hooked. Glare, in all their writing, adds such a depth to the characters without distracting lines of exposition. As the reader, you’re desperately on Anakin’s side hoping that he finally gets his happy ending. And you feel Ben’s pain on having to live again. You want them to succeed. This is compounded with the spiraling-out-of-control relationship Padawan Obi-wan has with Qui-gon and the ongoing fight against Sideous.

I am worried that this fic has gotten too large and that there are too many spinning wheels to pull together in the end. But that hasn’t dampened my ability to enjoy it as it is. And I’m not sure if this is intended (although I certainly enjoy it), but there is an underlying strain of ‘wrongness’ about Anakin and Ben’s relationship. This isn’t a happy story, I think. I don’t want it to be happy.

Favorite line: “ Vader’s durasteel wrist is pinned to the stone by one of Adelfos’ boots, preventing the younger Sith from moving. His back is to Obi-Wan like this, but the Padawan can see Vader’s face through the man’s legs. Whatever Vader sees when he looks up into the man’s cowl, the shock hits him like a speeder. Blood drains from the Sith’s face and he’s trembling, mouth opening and closing like he’s trying to form words but doesn’t quite know what to say.” This line gives me chills every time. I love feeling Anakin’s surprise though the lens of Padawan Kenobi. Beautiful.

as good a place to fall as any by @glimmerglanger

Obi-Wan and Anakin are sent to find a rumored weapon from the Old Republic on a mission directly from the Jedi Council, taking them away from the front lines at a vital time. During the course of the mission, they find far more than trouble than the anticipated and stumble into a series of events that leads to unintended attachments, misunderstandings, a fierce love affair, bloody victories, and an eventual end to the Clone Wars…

I’m a big fan of a/o/b fics done well and this one is fantastic. While the dynamics are certainly part of the story, it is more focused on the emotional relations between characters in the backdrop of a war. Each chapter is almost a mini story with a full plot and satisfying ending. It does have that same feeling of a story arch in the Clone Wars where you know the main conflict will be resolved even as the over-arching conflict (Anakin and Obi-wan’s relationship) continues on.

And I can’t say enough about the tiny world building elements that glimmer adds. In the first chapter, they focus on the a/o/b dynamics as if it were any physical condition in a modern world. Its not sexualized from the stand point of the characters (until, well, it is sexual). And they way that Obi-wan addresses his crisis is so in character. He really struggles with his decision and is eventually overrun and guilty about his choices.

Favorite line: ““I don’t remember what that’s like, either,” Anakin said, and he sat up, scrubbing at his face. For a moment they sat, and then he reached out, and tugged on a strand of Obi-Wan’s hair. A cautious smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “I like seeing you like this.”

Obi-Wan snorted, wishing he had not removed his tunic. He could feel the blush on his skin. “Messy?” he asked, abandoning the cot and the intimacy, before it tempted him beyond his ability to bear it. Already his emotions were in a tumult, as they had been since he had thought Anakin would not breathe again. It was best not to think about it.” Urgh the pain and happiness rolled up in these scenes sends me to tears.

Admire the Foliage by the AngryAssassin

Anakin is left to his own devices on an unknown planet and naturally, he gets himself into trouble. Obi-Wan helps him out. Porn with a little tiny bit of plot.

I would call this porn with absolutely no plot whatsoever. But I don’t even want to tell you how many times I’ve read it. Be forewarned for plants, vines, tentacle bits, possible non-con, threesomes of a sort, voyeurism, and other nsfw things.

Thank you and have a great day.

Wake the Storm (part i of the Ouroboros series) by @bedlamsbard

Considering that he had picked up what was probably a Sith artifact, promptly passed out in the middle of a war zone, and apparently woken up twenty years in the future with Obi-Wan having taken up residence in his head, Anakin thought he was entitled to have a few questions.

This is the first fanfiction I had my husband read. Overall, it is not a full Obikin story but I love the undercurrent of tension. (Both between Old Ben and Jedi Knight Kenobi). And while the plot is based on a slightly outlandish theme, its pulled together tightly across multiple times and space. And when we get to see the interactions between Kenobi and Padme, my heart breaks every time.

Many times in fic, we take the idea that Obi-wan will leave the Order to be a given. Like it isn’t hard to give up everything you’ve ever known to seek out a different life. Like that isn’t a terrible decision to make. In this story, this idea is treated with the respect it deserves. Its easy for us, as readers, to make these decisions for the characters but it is much more difficult for them to choose. In this fic, we see Obi-wan struggle between being who he really is (in this case, Anakin’s friend), and who he really wants to be (a Jedi Master).

And we also see another version of that Kenobi who did not make such a decision and the ramifications of that. I’m torn between empathy and hatred of that version. But i fully enjoyed the exploration of one character who underwent such a drastic split.

Overall, this seems like it would be an exploration of Anakin (and I think it was intended to be one), but I see it more of an exploration of Obi-wan. And, of course, the sequel is every bit as thought provoking and well written.

Favorite line: “Obi-Wan leaned against the wall beside him, his face hidden behind one hand. “I saw what Vader left behind.”Again, the smell of sulfur and burning flesh, a sound that might have been screaming. Anakin’s stomach heaved again, making him clap a hand to his mouth, but there was nothing left to vomit up. After a moment, the Force impressions vanished.” Well, i have many, many favoirte lines. But this is from the second chapter. Every sentence is so well planned and full of nuanced. Be still my heart.

The Light You Leave Behind by laventadorn

Ahsoka has left the Jedi Order, and Anakin is haunted by the last words he spoke to her on the steps of the Temple: “I understand, more than you know, wanting to leave the Order.” But perhaps leaving does not mean walking away; perhaps, it means only taking a different path.

For Obi-Wan, things are even less simple. The darkness clouding the Force seems to whisper behind him; with Anakin gone, he feels half-blind. Does his way lie with the Order that has raised him, or with the two Padawans he has lost?

Because Anakin and Ahsoka have set out to learn what they can about the Sith - and to destroy them, once and for all.

This is another rec that is still in it’s infancy. But I’ve been sucked in to the pure feelings of this world in all the relationships and their dynamics. I would consider this, so far, a bit more on the gen side but the sheer stress between Anakin and Obi-wan and Anakin and Ahsoka is captivating. I especially love the way Obi-wan just holds himself back at every turn and how much the reader can feel his distress.

The last chapters were a bit more plot focused than the first few. I am not really sure at this point what type of direction this story will continue in. We seemed to leave behind the emotional tension to focus on moving the story along. That isn’t the type of story I normally enjoy but I’m hoping it returns to its roots a bit more in the future.

Favorite line: ““Well,” he said eventually, “that wasn’t what I was expecting you to say.”

Anakin’s forehead crinkled in clear confusion as his eyes cut toward Obi-Wan, as if trying to figure him out. He reached out in the Force, a tentative brush that Obi-Wan couldn’t bring himself to meet. He had to keep his shields shut tight or he might -

“I thought you were going to tell me you’re leaving the Order.”” Kill me know. Obi-wan, just kiss him already!!!

Finding Balance by moonstone

The Dark side clouds everything, even to eyes that should see through the murk with ease. Darth Sidious has miscalculated, drastically, and the waiting game for his enemies is now at an end, and Balance is at hand.

Another Sith Obi-wan here. But a bit different. In this, Obi-wan has always been a Sith, even when living with the Jedi Order. He’s been biding his time before creating his own Empire. I love how cold he is in this one. And how all the members of the Rebel Alliance are unsure of what he might do. Will he keep his word? Will he kill us all anyways?

I think, in this story, the relationship between Obi-wan and Anakin takes a bit of a back seat to to the world-building and overall plot development. In this case, i love that aspect. I want to see Anakin scare the shit out of people when he pulls up in a Destroyer, and I want to see them scramble for words when the Emperor ends up injured in their base.

Its a simple story and not overly complex. And I love it for that.

The World Undone by lilyconrad @writegowrite

Anakin Skywalker, proud symbol of the strength and purity of the Jedi Order, is the target of a strange and handsome Sith named Obi-Wan, whose only goal seems to be pulling Skywalker down into the dark with him.

This is an all-around great read. Very entertaining, a great host of characters, good plot, fun story, sufficient sexy scenes. I had a great time reading it and its a staple for the fandom.

I especially love the brutal nature of Kenobi in the beginning and the way he plays with Anakin throughout the story. I love seeing how their relationship evolves from enemies to sparring partners to friends to lovers. It is so, so satisfying. And also, Anakin is a joy to read here. You know that something fishy is going on in the background but have no idea what! I was glued to the screen in the scene when Anakin comes back from the Council. I think that this is a great additive to the story. I wanted to learn more about what was going on just as much as I wanted to finally see them make-out.

However I did miss that brutal quality as the story progressed. This is purely a preference and has no bearing on the quality of the story (because the quality is superb), but I felt it lost its Sith-like edges with the introduction of Anakin and Obi-wan’s back story. Suddenly, we were meant to sympathize with Obi-wan. I feel like that took away from his character as a Sith. Sometimes, I don’t want to apologize for the characters. I want them to be dangerous and awful in their own way; like a first testament god. But like I said, that was a matter of preference. I do feel like it is the prerogative of the writer to create the story they wan to see. After all, that’s why fanfiction exists. And I applaud the author for creating a dynamic piece that covers such a wide variety of topics, characters and stories.

#recom #star wars fanfiction #my list #fanfiction #obikin #my writing #star wars #recommendations

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odrseasonone · 6 years ago

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Episode Emphases???

i thought it might be useful to sort of note the sort of like ~themes or emphases i’m seeing coming out of each of our eps now, in terms of sort of pumping them out into 60-min eps, etc, so i thought i’d write this down and we can discuss our thoughts on this when we get a chance! (if we like this, if we don’t, etc)

EPISODE 1

note: so this one’s a bit different bc its obv a pilot buT i did notice some things about it

dragons are a major focus of this ep which is GREAT!! and exactly as it should be!! but also the power that comes w them - a power all-but gone in aragoth now but clearly v desired!!!

guy is the protagonist but that also works out really well ((still forever laughing that he’s actually guy now lasjdlfkjdsjkf))

guin is also big which is important bc she bridges the gap we’ve got between two of our three main locations in the ep (1 - court, 2 - guy’s town, 3 - resistance camp)

house fontaine also takes a front seat in the action, w guin as the protagonist of their subplot

((im laughing at those poor ppl who’ll be watching this ep imagining that guin and guy are the main characters and will fall in love etc and then BOOM #angstslutalways))

cedric is big in this, actually???? but that’s great bc he only has 8 eps total so *thumbs up*

cassius is clearly the main antagonist in this ep which is another great thing

this ep is action-heavy which is great!!

also, weirdly loving that the pilot ep is technically a tragedy bc the bad guy wins in the end bc im a sick person???????? #empirestrikesback

EPISODE 2

so obv helena is the protagonist of this ep!! i feel like, the next major character in this ep may actually be lynessa!

w charles and alex figuring strongly

the main action of this ep is the ball, itself

we also learn more about aragoth’s history which helps worldbuild

but mostly we get to see how the nobility lives in stark contrast to how the peasants live

also features house beaumont (as a whole) pr heavily in this ep!! i also like that we see them both individually and as a whole

we even already have establishing character moments planned out for half of them!!

lynessa and celia are the focus of this house in this ep which i think is good since there’s a lot going on - evie and avelina figure more prominently next ep

we also get our first hints of the godiva vs arrington thing but aren’t drowned in it which’s a really strong way to go!!

it raises questions and draws us into the next ep and does NOT clobber us!!

EPISODE 3

roran and charles sort of share this ep!! like they share everything <3 v degrey, much dragonrider

w cassius as the antagonist

speaking of which, this one sort of solidifies what dragonriders can do and thus sets the stage in terms of dragonrider worldbuilding for the rest of the series!!

also, since this one’s gonna be exposition heavy and therefore maybe a lil confusing, it’s great that we have helena’s dreams going on in the prev. ep to literally illustrate what we’re talking about

speaking of which, i wanna find a few movies or eps of smth to watch to analyze ~how they handle heavy exposition

like, if we get a really strong charles actor, it will be fine but...if we don’T we wanna make sure it still flows...

i also feel like this is really our first good look at rowena!!

on the court side of this one, tho, this is really alex’s ep and through him we meet the other two beaumonts - in avelina’s case we get to know her better than anyone really wants to know her ;DDDD

this is also where it’s most natural to delve into the godiva/arrington thing a bit more, since avelina will mostly rave about it ;D

it would also be a good place to develop the dmitrei/avelina and lay the groundwork for general #teambeaumont stuff

EPISODE 4

note: so far, this is the least developed ep!! bc of this, i was actually thinking maybe we should move the alex/avelina confrontation and therefore the godiva/arrington backstory to this ep?? it would also cut down on the amount of exposition in the prev ep which i think would be good

i feel like james and guin are at the forefront of this ep

this one is action heavy and also explores the theme of what we’re willing to do when pushed to extremes

the resistance faced w the starvation of the ppl, james faced w a literal volcano ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

it’s also v much a ‘passage of time’ ep as roran and arya train and james learns how to eat mangoes the right way ;D

also w the alex/guin plot, we have lots of opportunities to strengthen the suspense of her entire...situation

and wrap up anything we need wrapped up at house fontaine before jon arrives

also the fontaines prepping for jon’s arrival

also, if we haven’t before, here would be a good place to firmly establish arthur’s connection to the two elder fontaines so we know he’s in ~deep before jon arrives...and stiLL does nothing when he does

EPISODE 5

this is a big beaumont ep!! i feel like the big dynamics in this ep are celion and team beaumont

i also feel like it’ll be interesting to watch those develop in conjunction esp since celia gets her rude awakening soon

dezod also figures prominently for the first time so this might be a good place to learn more about him

jon is the main/obv antagonist of this ep - dezod is also but its not yet clear he’s an antagonist yet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

also, lots of sorcerers in this ep, what w the whole #dezodclassreunion thing going on

in fact, this may be where we learn rowena’s a witch, once and for all, tho im sure we’ve had many hints before now, if not a definite confirmation

either way, this is a good time to talk about magic

if we wanna do avelina’s dabbling in sorcery in season 1, this might be a good place to put it

this might also be where we learn about the prophecy?????

EPISODE 6

this is really a fontaine-centric ep

actually, in a way, lord fontaine is the central character tho also not ;D he’s sort of the macguffin, if you will hahaha

i feel like this is a good place to further explore each of the fontaines and their various relationships both together and w others

the other major set of characters here is the pirates - including james

w jon firmly in place as an antagonist and the compare/contrast w the various fontaine courtship styles going on, i feel like this is where we more fully explore the softer side of cassius which we’ve been developing the whole time

we also get the interplay between lynessa’s feelings vs the demands of her ambition - tho its not necessarily written in such clear terms yet

we see diff vers of her firmly set w 3 diff men: cassius, jon, and joseph

we also see team beaumont actually at work as they lay a trap for jon and thus seal lord fontaine’s fate

EPISODE 7

so obv the big four here are isabella, ophelia, roran, and cedric

also we should show whatever the other resistance members are doing as well, esp if we can come up w a plot for charles and alaric and arya

a theme here could be unity/faith - the having thereof as seen in cedric and roran and the lack of it as seen in the fontaine household and the appearance of it as seen in cassius and guin and the betrayal of it as seen by isabella against roran and cedric

it’s also about the pov of the peasantry vs the nobility that we’ve been seeing so much of

since there’s only one plotline here atm i don’t have a whole lot more to analyze about fluffing out this ep atm hahaha

EPISODE 8

this could be a big alaric ep, given that a lot of the plot revolves around the plans and actions of the resistance

we could fill in about his past here - his rearing as a lord, his seat on the council, his imprisonment

potentially we could juxtapose alaric to arthur, here, since we see some of arthur in present and would, if we decide to do flashbacks, see him there

and next week arthur’s own past actions and choices will be revealed

in any case, this or the next ep could be a good place for jon and arthur to fight (tho it takes on much more significance in the final ep so this one might be better)

that way, it was last season so he’s not as big a suspect as cassius and alex who fight w him in s2 but their dislike is still firmly established

we also see that roran has not learned anything from the past two eps - reinforcing his growth when he does after cedric’s death

stopping the enforcer and taking the castle are the main action of the ep

also we could def have some wedding prep in this ep

possibly avelina and lynessa extract a promise from jon/his men to retrieve celia asap

EPISODE 9

obv this is rowena’s big ep where we get our answers about her and she takes her place as a fully-fledged (but sympathetic) villain

that being said, she’s technically a protagonist of this ep

this one’s also action-heavy, what w the whole siege of the castle

we should also give each member of the resistance a hero moment that sort of closes out their character arc for the season and points them towards next season’s arc or at least gives the viewer whose fav character they are some sense of closure for the season ;D

we also have to give our other plotlines for the season some sense of closure tho not necessarily resolution

for example, we have to do something w the lynessa plotline even tho we know she marries jon in the v next ep so there’s no resolution - for example, maybe joseph admits his feelings to her or smth

so yeah we need to do smth momentous for each of our key characters:

lynessa

celia

the thieves thing + kiss will serve for celion

cedric

obv he dies heroically

roran

fights cassius w charles and arya and learns the dire consequences of recklessness, etc.

charles

finally takes up arms against cassius for the first time since cassius murdered his bro and all their friends ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but only to protect roran #iweep

dezod - actually im not sure he needs anything but isabella and ophelia may

guin

james

the thieves thing + kiss will serve for celion

rowena

learns there’s a new dragonrider and she’s noT safe

helena

alexandir

cassius

learns that there’s a new dragonrider - his bff’s kid - and fights both him and charles

alaric

jon

#questions for our next meeting!#plotting #kate #1x01 #1x02 #1x03 #1x04 #1x05 #1x06 #1x07 #1x08 #1x09 #s1 #season episode breakdown

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murasaki-murasame · 6 years ago

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Thoughts on Tokyo Ghoul :Re Season 1

I just finished rewatching this, so I figured now was a good time to make a big post about it, especially because of how the manga also recently ended and so it’s a lot easier to look back on the story as a complete product.

As someone that’s already read the manga, it’s basically impossible to discuss this season without taking about the entirety of :re, so this is gonna have some casual spoilers for later stuff. It’s also mostly just gonna be me talking about how the anime feels as an adaptation, because of that.

My non-spoilery TL;DR is that I think this was an imperfect but surprisingly great adaptation of a very flawed manga, and I honestly think I prefer it to the manga already. If season 2 can go anywhere near as well as I hope it will, at least now that we have confirmation it’ll cover the rest of :re, I would probably just suggest people watch the anime instead of reading the manga. It’s a shame that the anime side of the franchise doesn’t quite stand on it’s own because of how Root A went, but that’s not super relevant to the :Re anime.

Anyway, more detailed and spoiler-y thoughts under the cut, including some more of my speculation for season 2. [As a fair warning, this got really long, and there’s a fair bit at the end that could be taken as being anti-Tou//ken, even though I don’t mean anything malicious or ship hate-y by it]

It’s interesting to look back at this season of the anime, after having read the ending of the manga, and after having seen how disappointed people were with pretty much the entire second half of :re. People complain about the anime in general cutting out ‘important narrative details’, mainly to do with backstories and worldbuilding, but I feel like those things ended up being a double-edged sword in the manga that ultimately got people’s hopes up, and made them more annoyed at the ending than they should have been.

For instance, the anime didn’t go into Saiko’s backstory, and they didn’t show the fact that Shirazu’s father had killed himself, but it’s not like those things came up again [aside from Saiko’s family being mentioned in an off-hand bit of exposition in the finale], so I can’t exactly say that it took away from the story in any meaningful way.

In general, I feel like anime-only people would mostly just be confused as to why the manga side of the fandom developed such increasingly complicated theories about certain things, and why it disappointed them so much when, for example, Uta ended up just being some regular quirky dude and nothing more. Which I think says a lot about how it’s probably a good thing in the end that the anime glosses over the sorts of details that got people making theories as they read the manga.

The part of the manga that this season covers is definitely the most well-written part of :Re, but overall the series is a bit of a bloated mess, so I’m glad that the anime ended up being almost like a second draft of a novel, that just trims things down to a more reasonable size and pace. The effect should be a lot more apparent in season 2, though, since they’ll probably start cutting out entire story arcs, whereas with season 1 it was mostly just a matter of them shortening scenes a bit and being less repetitive in general with their storytelling.

There’s definitely some small parts where I think they cut a bit more than they should have, though, like how much they heavily gloss over Matsuri’s backstory and reason for being at the CCG, and then the whole Rose investigation. It’s not a huge deal though, since the audience can still basically understand what’s going on. It’s also made a bit better by the fact that those writing issues pop up during the part of the show that was best overall, so it’s easy to just focus on the good parts.

Other than that, I really had no issues with them cutting out story material. For the most part, as I said before, it was just a matter of the anime being less repetitive, and in general it came across like it didn’t need to spell certain things out to the audience as much as the manga did.

One of the more important elements that were cut was how they removed a lot of Akira’s warmer moments with Haise, and in general the whole framing of her being a mother figure to him. But honestly, after sitting on it for a while, I think I prefer it to how she was portrayed in the manga. It feels more in line with her characterization in the first series, and I think it just makes more sense and is more interesting for her to basically hold him at arm’s length most of the time. It’s also just a bit sad how, in the manga, she acted as a mother figure toward him because she was ordered to in order to manipulate him. On a more subjective and broad note, I think the manga slowly got more and more off-putting with how it handled familial or psuedo-familial relationships, in a sort of . . . Freudian way, almost. The stuff with Haise and Akira was a pretty minor example of it, but it ended up being part of a larger whole, so I’m not exactly upset that they just cut that little bit out.

I also think it gave it a bit more weight later on, when she awkwardly tried to comfort him during episode 10. Since it was the most overt act of affection that she’d displayed toward him until that point, and because it had so many conflicted emotions behind it. And in general, they kept her warm attitude toward him during episode 7, so that was nice.

While I remember, I should say that the whole house party scene in episode 7 was a great example of the anime editing down the manga into something more concise and less overwhelming. Changing it so that it was just about Haise, the Qs, Arima, and Akira, made it feel a lot more cozy. It was a little overwhelming to have like twice the amount of characters involved in that scene in the manga.

Anyway, back onto the topic of cut/condensed material, the other more blatant parts are how they gloss over some of the details of the Torso and Nutcracker investigations, which I think was fine. The manga mostly just dropped that police procedural-y tone pretty quickly, so it just feels a bit more consistent with the story’s overall tone, for them to not worry so much about the details, and to focus more on the action. And for episode one in particular, they didn’t really have much choice in terms of how to adapt it, since the end of chapter six was the first good stopping point they had. Anything before that would have made the first episode feel insubstantial, like it was lacking a meaningful hook. So I think they did the best with what they had. I appreciate that they took the chance to actively change how the Torso arc was structured and paced in order to make it fit more reasonably into one episode, instead of being slavishly 1:1 with how the manga did it.

One of the big changes that happened early on which I think got people off onto the wrong foot with the anime, so to say, was the whole taxi scene with Mutsuki and Torso in episode one. Hoo boy, that one sure caused a lot of complaints from people. Personally, I thought it was fantastic. Overall, it feels like the anime treated Mutsuki with more respect and dignity than the manga ever did. Which is one of the big reasons why I disagree with the idea that the anime ‘lacks heart’. In a sense, I feel like it reflects the strict love of an editor, rather than the obsessive love of a fan. But for this in particular, it really does just feel like the people writing the anime care more about Mutsuki than Ishida does, to be honest.

They actually kept like 99% of the content related to Mutsuki and Torso, but just reframed things slightly to be less in-your-face and shock-value-y about it all. The anime already explains how Torso exclusively preys upon ‘women with bodily scars’, and shows him being very specifically obsessed with Mutsuki’s body later on, so really they had no need to actually show Torso ripping open Mutsuki’s shirt and exposing his binder and whatnot. I’ve seen a lot of people accuse the anime of being too blunt with it’s writing, but it’s moments like that which feel like they respect the reader’s intelligence and their ability to put two and two together than the manga did.

Similarly, they kept the part where Mutsuki has social anxiety in the night-club because of people staring at him, but they just left it at that. Which was fine. And during the auction raid, they very bluntly make it clear that he ate parts of those dead investigators to heal himself, and just presented it as a pragmatic choice on his part, whereas I’m pretty sure the manga was less clear about it, and eventually tried to frame it as a ‘big shocking twist’ later on that was meant to play into the whole emerging theme of him being a crazy serial killer or whatever. Yet again, another way in which the anime treats him with more dignity, and isn’t just trying to manufacture forced shock value to surprise the audience.

On the note of the auction raid, it’s kinda amusing to me how that was the part of the story that was probably the most faithful to the manga, and cut barely anything out, but I think we can all agree that it was the worst part of it. To me, it mostly just suffered from the inherent flaws of the source material. The manga could at least somewhat coast by on flashy art and fight scenes, but the general opinion from manga fans has always been that the auction raid was a pretty messy and kinda uninteresting arc. It has good moments in it, but for the most part there’s just not a lot of emotional weight behind the fights, and to be quite honest, Takizawa in this arc is one of the more overtly edgy and over the top parts of the entire series. As a whole he’s a really good character, but man, that first impression of him being a minor character who comes back as a crazy half-ghoul with white hair and scary eyes, and who starts eating people and rambling about fruit sure is, uh . . . something, alright. If anything, the anime’s more subdued art made him come across as being less ‘overwhelming’ and over the top, which was nice.

Although they were just minor cuts to a few lines of dialogue, the auction raid did cut a few things though, which I also think were for the best. During the Mutsuki-Urie hug scene, Urie’s sentence just gets cut off as ‘you’re a . . . ‘, which is honestly way less clunky than the ‘you’re a wo(man)’ way it was phrased in the manga. On the one hand, it’s a very overt indication of how Urie still views him as a man even after figuring out about his biological sex, but on the other hand it’s so awkward and clunky in it’s delivery that most people didn’t even take it that way in the first place. I think it was just fine how it was in the anime, although I do sorta wish that during episode seven they could have included the detail of Urie continuing to refer to him with male pronouns even in his internal monologue, but oh well.

Similarly, during the scene where Suzuya kills Big Madam, the anime just had him say ‘Farewell’ instead of adding ‘Dad’ onto the end. To be blunt, I have no idea what the fuck Ishida was thinking when he wrote that line in the manga, and it’s stuff like this which is why he comes across as having Really Weird hang-ups about LGBT people. That line in particular in the manga was basically just an act of deadnaming, in essence, since Big Madam is obviously a trans-woman who clearly presents and identifies as female. So yeah, cutting that part of the line out in the anime was entirely for the best.

Some people complained about the use of Unravel during the Takizawa fight as being kinda nostalgia bait-y, which I get, but I think it was fine. It was surprisingly fitting, since that whole scene focused so much on Haise grappling with the identity of Kaneki that lives within him. I’m mostly just glad that they didn’t try and use it a second time, since that would have been a bit much.

Though the auction raid was a bit dull overall, thankfully episodes seven through ten were fantastic, and overall the peak of season 1. I really appreciated that they took the time to spread the material from volume four across three episodes. The anime’s definitely at it’s best when it focuses on character interactions/development, and that part of the story had a whole lot of that. Even though I think that for the most part this season was better than it’s respective part of the manga, these episodes in particular were just great. With the rest of the anime, you could definitely say that the manga’s fight scenes are superior, but when the story isn’t focusing on fights, the anime just feels fundamentally better. Episode seven in particular was very nicely structured, and felt a fair bit more fleshed out and cohesive than it did in the manga. I already talked about how the house party was way better than in the manga, but I also preferred how they handled the scene at the cafe, though I’ll wait to talk in detail about the scenes involving Touka and Kaneki until later, since I have a lot to say about that.

Oh, and the visual changes they made for the ED in episode seven were great, and got me kinda emotional, given that I know where things end up, lol. I’m really happy they inserted that one panel of Kaneki and Arima walking together during it, in particular. It really sets up the emotional weight that comes to fruition during the Black Reaper arc.

Although I still think episodes seven to ten were the best part of season 1, as I said above they do also have some of the more unnecessary story cuts. It’s just really easy to not care much for that when it’s surrounded by so much good material.

The final two episodes weren’t quite as great, since they were so action-heavy, but they were still really good, and I think I enjoyed them slightly more the second time around. Episode eleven in particular really nailed all of the emotions surrounding Tsukiyama and his servants. But it was in these episodes in particular that I also really noticed how the anime is a lot more gore-y and explicit than I expected it to be. It’s kinda surprising how often they just outright show characters getting stabbed through their stomachs, and so on. There’s also a lot of limbs being cut off in that whole arc in general, and even though they silhouette Kijima when he gets chainsawed, there’s at least one cut that just outright shows him with the chainsaw sticking into his head with no real censorship.

In general the only real censorship in this season was how some stuff like Hairu’s decapitation was strategically placed out of frame, and also that one scene where Yuma’s tongue was pixelated. But that’s about it. There’s certainly nothing like what we got in the first season of the anime, where obnoxious shadows and black bars got put over the screen during action scenes, or the colour scheme got all weird to try and obscure the gore, or whatever.

A lot of people disliked the overall pacing of the finale, but I thought it was great. It’s easy to unfairly compare it to the previous season finales we had in the anime, but those were largely the products of Morita’s directorial vision, and how much he heavily fleshed out the source material. This was just a more straight-forward adaptation of how these chapters played out in the manga, so it feels kinda mean to bash it for not being as interesting as some of the previous season finales. Though even then, I kinda prefer how certain things were done visually in the anime. Like how heavily they used the checkerboard room thing during Haise’s dream sequence, how they fleshed out the child abuse memory scene to be more than just a single static panel, and in general how they portrayed Haise’s memories of the ‘underground garden’. That place always looked nice in the manga, but I really like how the anime portrayed it. It might seem jarring to some people that it was so bright, but I think it worked really well. For one thing it makes sense for it to be a well-lit area, and it has an interesting contrast against the violence that goes down there. The haziness of it all, and some of the visual effects, also made it more apparent in a neat way that the flowers were a hallucination of his, and not actually real.

I also thought that the scenes with Kaneki after he regains his memories were very well-done. I think some people misinterpreted him as being more hot-headed and angry than he actually was, since I remember there being some complaints about how blunt and monotone he was. It seemed perfectly fitting to me.

Eto’s voice-acting in general was also pretty damn superb, and really added to the experience. She was clearly having the time of her life with that one.

I liked that they waited until the finale to show Eto’s kagune talking. It gave it a bit more impact when it finally happened.

I honestly don’t really have much to say about Karren’s part in it all, but I think it was done pretty well. In general, the anime cut out a lot of her more repetitive scenes that just hammered in things we already knew, so that was good. I also liked how they were a lot less blunt and on the nose with how they revealed that she’s a woman. I still can’t help but roll my eyes at that one panel where Ishida basically goes ‘hey isn’t it such a neat coincidence that the kanji used for Kanae’s name looks like a female symbol :^)’. In general, her whole story arc is mostly just a kinda old-fashioned Mulan sort of arc, but it’s executed pretty well.

Oh, and the anime handled the scenes of her being tortured by Eto incredibly well. The garish purples and reds mixed with the oppressive clock noises were a really nice touch that made those scenes even creepier than they already were.

Before I forget, I should mention that, in a similar way as how I felt about Akira’s character in the anime, I quite liked how they handled Hairu. I get why people were disappointed by her, but I enjoyed the way that they toned down her airhead nature, and how they only really showed how she idolized Arima right before she died. In a way, it just made her seem more professional and self-motivated.

Now that the manga’s over and I’ve had time to look back at it as a whole, and to think about how season 2 will adapt it all, it’s been really interesting to see exactly what the anime kept versus what it cut, and how they reflects upon how they’ll probably handle the next season.

Firstly, they kept pretty much everything that sets up the Black Reaper arc, to the point of even ending the season off with a teaser preview of the big Kaneki-Arima fight. But they also kept details like Shirazu’s corpse being stolen, Okahira getting killed, Hinami getting taken into custody, Akira finding out that Takizawa’s alive, Amon getting teased at heavily, Scarecrow being shown in the auction raid [and even in the OP], Torso becoming obsessed with Mutsuki, etc etc. So it seems pretty clear to me that they won’t really cut much of anything out of that arc when the next season comes around.

One thing they cut, which I haven’t even seen many people comment on since it was pretty subtle, was the detail of Kaneki’s rapid aging and how it affected stuff like his vision and regeneration. The anime never showed Haise wearing his glasses [at least from what I remember], didn’t show him having headaches, and during the finale we didn’t see his weird kagune hand thing. So I think they’re just completely removing that whole detail from the story, which I’m fine with. But it does have some interesting implications for how season 2 will go. Overall, it was a pretty irrelevant plot point that ended up getting hastily resolved anyway, but in practice, it was mostly just relevant to add some more tension to the Goat arc by making it look like Kaneki was at risk of dying, and it helped give a reason for him to become Dragon, since it ended up curing him.

I think the main implication of them cutting it from the anime is that it’d make it a LOT easier for them to just not bother having Kaneki become Dragon, since they wouldn’t need to bother with using it as a way to magically cure him. I’ve been thinking for a while now that it’d help streamline the story immensely if they just have Rize be the one to become Dragon in the first place, and this would help facilitate that.

As I’ve said, from season 1 it looks like they’re being more respectful with how they’re portraying Mutsuki, so I wouldn’t be surprised if season 2 is much kinder toward him than the manga was. They might even more or less cut out the whole subplot of him becoming an antagonist, which would be good since that was just a dumpster fire of bad writing that didn’t even go anywhere meaningful.

One interesting addition they made was explicitly showing Eto delivering the Hangman’s McGuffin book to Haise. That’s a REALLY interesting detail, since in the manga, we found out much later on that Hide was responsible for sending it. I don’t think this is a retcon or anything, though. I think this was how it went in the manga, too. I’ve talked before about how I think Hide had been working with Eto since around the end of the first series, and that for some reason or another Ishida was unable to get around to explaining that, and this makes it seem like the anime might be a lot more open about their connection. It makes a lot of sense to me that Eto would deliver the book on Hide’s behalf. It makes me very excited to see how Hide will be handled in the next season. With the manga, it really feels like Ishida had to scrap a lot of his plans for his character, and so when he finally came back into the story he felt like a bizarre tacked-on remnant of a previous draft, so it’d be great if the anime ends up handling him in the way that Ishida might have originally intended. And on the note of Eto’s involvement in it, I wonder if she might drop a hint to Kaneki about how she sent the book to him. That’d be neat.

They also added in a shot of a missing poster for Hide at the very start of the season, but that’s pretty minor. It at least helps immediately remind the audience that his official status as of that point is ‘missing’, not ‘dead’, though.

Oh, and judging by the scene we got of him during the auction raid, he seems to still have the same injuries as in the manga. I really liked how they just outright showed him having a wheezy, broken-up voice. But either way, it goes to show that they seem to definitely be keeping that detail from the manga. It makes me wonder how they’ll handle things later, especially with the part where Kaneki remembers having eaten him. I wonder if they’d keep it as-is, or try and integrate it into the way that the scene played out in Root A. Overall, it definitely seems like they’re pretty much ignoring the story changes made in Root A, but we’ll see. I hope they at least flesh that part out a bit, since I still feel like the flashback we got to it in the manga just raised more questions than it answered.

It’s pretty difficult to judge the anime as it’s own thing since I’ve already read the manga, but I still think it did a really good job with getting across the emotional thrust of the story, and the character arcs, and whatnot. The Qs in particular were handled fantastically. I got the impression that anime-only people actually liked them, particularly Urie and Mutsuki, slightly more than manga readers did by this point. Probably because they heavily cut down upon the quantity of Urie’s more shitty bits of dialogue, and because they were less overtly weird and obnoxious with how they framed Mutsuki. I distinctly remember that the Mtusuki Discourse [tm] was already a thing by this point in the manga, but nobody watching the anime has any real reason to be all weird about him. So that’s been nice to see.

Haise’s character arc was also handled really well. It really reminded me of how his whole arc was by far one of the best parts of the manga. At least in terms of :re. It’s just a really effective, tragic arc about how he’s stuck living in and clinging onto this fake life, and slowly being chipped away at and replaced by somebody that he effectively doesn’t know. Seeing him be a happy dad taking care of his surrogate found family of misfits is still endearing no matter how many times I read or watch it, and it hurts just as much to see him get ‘replaced’ by Kaneki and immediately abandon the Qs.

Tsukiyama’s part in the anime was also great in general, and also reflected the strengths of the manga. It’s pretty insane how much more interesting of a character he is in this part of :re than basically anywhere else in the franchise. It really helps that they spend like half of the season with his whole story arc being in the spotlight. They really did him justice.

Before I forget, I also wanna say that, even though the animation wasn’t much to talk about [but also wasn’t anywhere near as bad as some recent production disasters I’ve seen], the art itself, especially in terms of character designs and backgrounds, were consistently fantastic. In general, ‘consistent’ is definitely the word I’d use to describe the overall art direction of the anime. On the other hand, the manga is a lot more uneven in terms of it’s art quality, varying from hyper-detailed fight scenes or individual expressions to silly chibi reaction faces or some really sketchy fight scenes, and so on. The anime smooths things out to a nice, consistent mid-ground, which I appreciated. The manga has always been a bit too bombastic and over the top at times, especially with how it handles action scenes, so I kinda prefer how the anime handles it, even if can come across as being more boring.

I also kinda feel like it took Ishida a little while to nail exactly how to draw a lot of the new characters in :re, so them having consistent, clean designs from the start was pretty nice. Similarly, I get why people were annoyed at how the anime slightly changed Touka’s hair-style, but it just makes it more consistent with the rest of the series. In the manga, she ends up going back to her original hair-style and hair colour anyway, so it makes perfect sense to just have her design be consistent from start to finish, rather than making her hair blue and fluffy for a while and then going back to how it used to be. And judging by the s2 key visual, it looks like they might just keep this design for her for basically all of s2 as well, instead of literally just going back to exactly how she styled her hair in the first series. So I’d also appreciate that.

And on that note, I should finally get around to discussing my thoughts on how Touka was handled in general in this season, and her whole connection to Kaneki in particular. To put it simply, I had absolutely no issues with it. I really loved how she was handled in this season, and I think it has interesting implications for how she’ll be handled in season 2, but at the same time I get why some people have frustrations with it.

To start off with probably the most minor thing, they cut out the scene where she was visiting the hospital, although they still showed her flower basket being left on Shinohara’s bedside table. I’m fine with this change, since it felt like such a long-running mystery in the manga that I couldn’t help but feel disappointed when we found out about what was actually going on. And also, since they stilled showed her flowers there, it’s entirely possible that they’ll touch upon it sometime during season 2, and possibly have a flashback or something to reveal that she was the one sending them. So ultimately it might not even be cut at all, just handled slightly differently.

Just to cut right to the chase, it sounds like some people are annoyed that the anime cut out/toned down upon the romantic set-up between her and Kaneki, but that’s actually a big part of why I liked it, haha. Though they didn’t even technically cut much, if only because they barely have any scenes together in this arc of the manga to begin with. But they did cut stuff like that scene where Kaneki wonders to himself if she’s out on a date, and they cut the part where she talks to Tsukiyama about how the :re cafe is a place for Kaneki to return to if he wants to in the future.

I get why that bugs people. I’ve seen a few people complain that because of those sorts of cuts, it’d seem forced and out of nowhere when they get together in season 2. But, well, what if that’s the point? What if they’re NOT going to have them get together in season 2? I haven’t seen anyone really talk about this possibility, understandably, but I think it explains the choices they made with handling Touka as a character in this season.

The biggest point worth considering is the insert song they made for the cafe scene in episode 2, where Haise and Touka meet again for the first time since the original series ended. The soundtrack composer put out an official AMV for it on Youtube that uses that full version of the song. It’s a really wonderfully made AMV, and a very pretty song, so everyone should check it out. Put simply, it’s a song about the bittersweet process of letting go of an old crush, and moving on with your life, even after you have a random chance encounter with that person later down the track.

The lyrics are pretty blunt and unambiguous about it. The chorus is about how Touka kept dreaming that Kaneki would return to her side as if he’d never left her, but the song starts out with ‘I’m waking from this dream. Returning to reality is so bittersweet. I open my eyes, and the illusion is fading, slipping away’, and ends with ‘Although I’ve found you, I know this meeting will not last. I have to let go. Continue finding your own way, though I will miss you. It’s time to wake from this dream’. Especially since :Re already uses the motif of ‘waking from a dream’ to describe how Haise eventually has to give way to Kaneki, it seems very noteworthy that they so overtly used the same motif to describe how Touka wanted Kaneki to return to her, but slowly she comes to terms with the need to let go of that dream. They even play those last few lines during the scene in episode 2 itself, just to make it even more clear what it’s referring to.

So yeah, I feel like that whole insert song helps make it clear that the writing changes made with Touka might just be rooted in the possibility of the anime committing to this idea of her moving on from Kaneki. It’d certainly explain why they cut out the scene where she says that the cafe is a place for him to return to, if she’s already resolved to let him live his own life, while she lives hers. It’s worth noting that, even though it’s technically about the same as it was in the manga, these writing changes put a different sort of twist on what Touka says to Uta in episode seven about how, in response to him asking if she plans to just wait for Kaneki to return, she says ‘I’m going to continue doing what I’ve already decided on’. In the overall context of the anime’s writing, it mostly comes across as her talking about how she’s not just waiting for Kaneki to return to her, but has chosen to move on from him. It’s worth noting that one thing the anime did change about that scene was that they had Haise visiting the cafe and getting served by Touka, shortly before she talks to Uta. The way that we see her, for a second time, treating Haise as just a regular customer, also helps emphasize the overall point.

On the note of Haise’s involvement in that scene, it’s also interesting to me how in episode seven in general they added some original scenes with him that went a long way to emphasize the idea of him being nostalgic toward Anteiku as a whole, more than anything else. He doesn’t even seem to have much of a reaction to Touka the second time around, and as I said above, they cut out the part where he wonders if she’s out on a date, so it comes across a fair bit less like he has a crush on her. And while I remember, I should say that the original scene with Haise remembering Anteiku but not knowing what it really is was incredibly good.

And in terms of the scene between them from episode 2, I still just think overall that it was way better than the manga version of the scene was. It was so good and emotional. In particular I love how the anime really highlighted Touka’s shock upon seeing him again, and the way that she quickly adjusts herself and just treats him as a regular customer. It’s really effective, especially in conjunction with the insert song playing in the background. Haise’s line about how she looked sad, and at a loss, also has even more weight to it if she was resolving in that moment to finally let go of him for good.

So yeah, I honestly think that the anime might just not have them end up together at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have them hook up anyway, to be faithful to the manga, but it does feel like the only real explanation for why they’d make all those subtle but important changes to how they wrote her parts in season 1.

To begin with, I still think that even if they did include their whole romance in season 2, they wouldn’t really have the room to include ALL of the stuff between them from the manga. For one thing, I doubt they’d be able to animate the sex scene because of broadcast regulations and whatnot, and since I feel like the whole 24th Ward arc is one of the first things they might cut in order to fit the rest of the manga into twelve episodes, it might be difficult to include their wedding, or Touka’s whole pregnancy drama. And if they avoid having Kaneki become Dragon, they wouldn’t need to use his wedding ring as a plot device to have everyone find and rescue him. Plus, in general, even if they did include stuff like the sex scene, it’d probably have to happen in the same episode as when Kaneki starts living at the cafe, or the episode directly after it, which would probably feel a bit rushed.

Though even then, it would be possible for them to just imply that they hook up after the anime ends, or for them to just have them have sex off-screen and basically leave it at that until the epilogue. So it seems particularly interesting to me that it seems like the anime might be outright moving away from the idea of them hooking up at all, rather than just having it be that the anime doesn’t show as much of their relationship.

To be blunt, I feel like the only real reason why they’d actively shut down the idea of them getting together at all, rather than just reducing the time spent on their relationship, would be if the anime plans to have Kaneki end up dating a different person instead, in which case it’d obviously make sense for the anime to cut the romantic ties between him and Touka as neatly as possible. At the very least, I think we can all agree that they’re not just gonna have Kaneki be single in the anime forever. That’d just piss off everyone for no good reason, lol.

Basically what I’m saying is that the anime might have Kaneki end up dating Hide instead of Touka. At the very least, he’s Kaneki’s only other real romance option at that point in the story, so it’s either him, Touka, or nobody. But I think it’d make a lot of sense for Kaneki to end up dating Hide. We know for a fact in the manga that Hide is in love with him, and going by stuff like the whole Hide hallucination scene in the Cochlea arc, or him talking to Touka about how his desire to be with Hide again is paralyzing, it’s not exactly hard to believe that Kaneki could have feelings for him as well. It’d barely require any real changes or additions to the story to make it work. Just have Hide directly confess his feelings to Kaneki rather than having him awkwardly tell Amon about them. And unlike with Kaneki and Touka, there’d be no real expectation for them to include a whole sex scene or marriage scene or pregnancy plot-line with Kaneki and Hide, so they could easily get by with just leaving their relationship off at a mutual confession/kiss scene, until we see them together in the epilogue. And given that Hide already narrated the whole epilogue chapter of the manga, it’d be pretty natural and easy to have it end in the anime with him going out on a date with Kaneki or something.

I don’t want to get too, like, conspiracy theorist-y about this, but part of me still wonders if one of the reasons why it felt like Ishida handled Hide so poorly in the manga’s final arcs was because he might have originally planned to have Kaneki end up dating Hide. It’d certainly be a good explanation for why things got so out of whack with him, and Hide ended up feeling so out of place and unnecessary in the manga. It’d also explain why we conveniently only learn about Hide’s feelings for Kaneki when he talks about it to Amon, and why the intensity of Kaneki’s feelings toward Hide seemingly got thrown out the window when they actually got to reunite.

Either way, I don’t mean any of this in a ship-hate sort of way. I have very . . . complicated feelings about how Ishida handled Kaneki’s relationship with Touka in the manga, but these are just the observations I have about how the anime seems to be handling it, and what it might be setting up for season 2.

Anyway, that went on for way too long, lol. To sum it all up, I thought that season 1 was surprisingly good, in spite of it’s flaws. I honestly had very low hopes for it before it aired, since it seemed impossible to adapt properly, but I ended up being very surprised by how it went, and I’m very excited to see how season 2 wraps it all up. I was apprehensive about season 2 when it was first announced, but the more I thought about it, the more clear it became that with some strict and careful editing, it could easily adapt the meaningful parts of the rest of the story into 12 more episodes. Either way, if it goes well in the end, I might even end up buying both seasons on BD when Funimation eventually releases them.

#murasaki rambles #tokyo ghoul #tokyo ghoul :re #I have a Lot of thoughts about this one lol #I get why a lot of people disliked it but it was basically crafted exactly to my tastes #and I do genuinely think that season 2 will probably be an immense improvement upon the manga

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heimwee2456 · 6 years ago

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The Netherlands is a fascinating country to visit, combining almost two thousand years of history and architecture with endless scenic canals and waterways and an energetic modern vibe. Ancient towns like Breda, Maastricht, and Middelburg have been in existence for at least a thousand years, and the entire country is a treasure trove for history buffs and architecture enthusiasts. Now let’s have a closer insight into this culture-rich piece of land!

First things first, starting off with a brief description of the largest Dutch cities:

• Alkmaar – picturesque town, where you can every Friday from April to September visit traditional market with cheeses – de Alkmaarse kaasmarkt. You can also visit a museum of cheese. Everything you need to know is here: http://www.kaasmarkt.nl , http://www.kaasmuseum.nl. • Amsterdam – capital of the Netherlands offers you a lot of interesting attractions. Located there is e.g. museum of one of the most famous victims of nacism Anne Frank Huis (www.annefrank.rog). Building of the museum in the shape of boat NEMO offers the biggest interactive exposition of science and technology in the Netherlands (www.e-nemo.nl). Rijksmuseum will astonish you with collection of almost 1 million of artistic exhibits situated in 200 exposition halls and acquiant you with works of Dutch masters from 17th century (www.rijksmuseum.nl). You certainly can’t left behind the Van Gogh Museum, in which you will find unique collection of drawings and paintings of this famous artist (www.vangoghmuseum.nl). Amsterdam also offers the lovers of unrestrained fun amounts of coffeeshops or the famous district Wallen, known also as Red Light District. • Delft – the town is famous mostly because of production of porcelain Delfts Blauw (Delft Blue), so there can’t be missing a porcelain museum De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles (www.royaldelft.com). Interesting is also a monumental building of the town hall on square Markt. • Den Haag – in Den Haag you can visit e.g. center of Dutch politics Het Binnenhof or Madurodam, 25 times decreased town, where you can as from bird’s eye look on everything what is typical for the Netherlands (www.madurodam.nl). Part of Den Haag is also Scheveningen – famous touristic paradise with beaches, promenades and bars. • Groningen – town was from major part ruined during the World War II., but still has a lot to offer to its visitors. Symbol of the town is a church tower Martinitoren, which is situated on the square Grote Markt. You can have a cup of coffee there in very unusual building Gaoudkantoor. • Maastricht – the Vrijthof square is dominated by a Romanesque basilica Sint-Servaasbasiliek and Gothic church Sint-Janskerk. Interesting experience can also be a visitation of gallery of the art Bonnefantenmuseum built by proposals of famous Italian architect Alda Rossi. • Naarden – is one of the best preserved fortified towns in Europe and it’s known also because of its star shape. John Amos Comenius is buried here (www.comeniusmuseum.nl). • Rotterdam – center of the town was completely destroyed during the WW2. In fifties began a new construction and Rotterdam became one of the few European cities with development of skyscrapers. Besides nice walk between high-rise buildings you can visit Euromast, 185m high tower, from which you can savour view to the town of modern architecture (www.euromast.nl). And for lovers of architecture the city of Rotterdam offers museum Nederlands Architectuurinstituut (www.nai.nl). Europort, largest port in Europe, will dedicate you to the history of sea transport (www.europort.nl). • Utrecht – one of the oldest Dutch towns can offer you a lot. Go to the highest church town in the Netherlands Domtoren (www.domtoren.nl) or walk through the university area De Uithof. It’s a singular case of collection of unique buildings in modern architecture. Rietveld Schroderhuis is, on the contrary, the lone building, which was at that time built by architectonal principles of art movement De Stijl. In 2000 was written to the Word Heritage UNESCO list (www.rietveldschroderhuis.nl). Utrecht is outstanding also thanks to the canal Oude Gracht, on which shores are from spring to autumn opened terraces of dozens of cafés and restaurants. • ’s Hertogenbosch – in this town was born famous Renaissance painter Hieronymus Bosch. His world full of fantasy can be admired in Jheronimus Bosch Art Center (www.jheronimusbosch-artcenter.nl) • Zaanstad – how was life in 17th and 18th century in the Netherlands will bring you inhabited open air museum in province North Holland De Zaanse Schans (www.zaanseschans.nl).

Now let’s see the other attractions!

Zaanse Schans

Those who wish they could travel back in time and visit the Netherlands of the 17th and 18th centuries have come to the right place. Zaanse Schans is located around 15 kilometers to the north of Amsterdam and is styled as an open-air museum where you can take a stroll around a traditional Dutch village and find out how ancient craftsmen would have worked. Just some of the sights include a shipyard, a grocery store, a pewter factory, and a range of dainty green wooden houses. You will also find some graceful windmills although out of the 600 that would have dotted the area in the days of old, only 5 now remain and can be visited by the public. These include an iconic saw mill as well as an oil mill and you will find fun live demonstrations like a clog making session.

Kinderdijk

There are many things that make the Netherlands the unique place that it is, but nothing complements better the traditional Dutch landscape than its picturesque windmills. The country is full of them, but the UNESCO-protected 19 old windmills of Kinderdijk are, no doubt, one of the most famous sights in the Netherlands.

Designed in 1740 to drain the Alblasserwaard polders and to prevent flooding, the windmills were perfectly preserved ever since. Nowadays, tourists from all over the world come to admire this idiosyncratic scenery and learn about the brilliant Dutch water management. Moreover, from April to the end of October, one of these ancient generators is open to the public in order to be explored and admired.

Kinderdijk sits in the province of South Holland, about 15 km east of Rotterdam, and can be easily reached by car, train, bus, and even by boat during the tourist season.

Efteling

Established in 1952, in the little town of Kaatsheuvel, Southern Netherlands, Efteling is among the oldest theme parks in the world and the largest attraction of its kind in the country, about twice as large as California’s famous Disneyland.

The park is divided into four different realms – each with its own theme, and has lots of attractions to entertain the entire family, from wide-open green spaces, concerts, and theatrical performances to bars, restaurants, and a four star hotel.

Towns by the Zuiderzee

Among the most beautiful villages in the Netherlands are the small hamlets along the Ijsselmeer, the freshwater lake that resulted from the closing of the sea entrance to the Zuider Zee. These towns flourished during Amsterdam’s Golden Age, when they had access to the Atlantic and prospered as fishing and trade centers, but lost importance as the harbors silted up. Time seems to have stood still for the fishing village of Marken and the seaports of Volendam and Enkhuizen, where many of the colorful houses have become museums and shops. Enkhuizen has preserved many of its buildings and seafaring industries in the open-air Zuiderzee Museum, where the cultural heritage and maritime history of the old Zuiderzee region is preserved. Here, you can see craftsmen at work learning old maritime skills. In Volendam’s harbor, you can see a collection of colorful old wooden boats.

Volendam

Marken

Arcen Castle

Arcen Castle is steeped in mystery and has stood in Limburg for over three centuries, placing it among the oldest surviving strongholds in the Netherlands. Several impressive, landscape gardens lies beyond its double-moat, which regularly hosts outdoor events.

De Haar Castle

Near the lovely old city of Utrecht, the fourth largest in the Netherlands, Kasteel De Haar is the largest fortification in the country. This spectacular castle, built by the famous Dutch architect, PJH Cuypers, required so much land (it sits on a spectacular 250-acre park) that the entire village of Haarzuilens had to be relocated to accommodate it. While the original castle site was established in the 14th century, this newer structure dates from 1892 and is well worth taking the time to explore. Inside, you’ll be rewarded with impressive collections of antiques, furniture, paintings, and tapestries, but it’s the gardens that really draw the crowds – along with the castle’s fairytale looks.

Madurodam

If you want to see the whole of the Netherlands but don’t have time then travel to Madurodam in The Hague. Here you will find a mini version of the Netherlands on a 1:25 scale and you can see all the county’s top destinations including cute windmills, main landmarks, and decorative features like bridges. This model city even includes its own harbor as well as a railway system and an airport.

Giethoorn

Imagine the tranquility of spending a few days in a peaceful Dutch village surrounded by scenic waterways and canals. The centuries-old village of Hiethoorn is almost completely devoid of roads, and many houses can only be reached by boat or by making your way along a footpath or bicycle trail – bike rentals available in the village. As you can imagine, boating is the primary activity in Giethoorn, and you have a number of options for renting a suitable boat to explore the area. You can spend a peaceful day or two gliding along the canals, stopping at the many waterside restaurants to sample some regional Dutch food and drinks. There are three canal-side museums to visit, showcasing ancient Dutch life, vintage motor cars, and precious gemstones.

Although considered a small country, there’s many places worth a visit in the Netherlands as you can see. In this article I’ve laid out some of the best places, definitely worth a vist. Hopefully it will give you some inspiration on where to go!

Have a great day!

Cultural Curiosities in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is a fascinating country to visit, combining almost two thousand years of history and architecture with endless scenic canals and waterways and an energetic modern vibe.

Cultural Curiosities in the Netherlands The Netherlands is a fascinating country to visit, combining almost two thousand years of history and architecture with endless scenic canals and waterways and an energetic modern vibe.

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