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gravecinema · 5 years ago

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Top 10 Horror Movie Franchises - 07/06/2020

Number 10 – Phantasm

Number of movies - 5

In the first movie of this series, the residents of a small town have begun dying under mysterious circumstances, leading the young boy Mike to investigate. After discovering that the town's mortician -- known as the Tall Man -- is killing and reanimating the dead, Mike seeks help from his older brother, Jody, and local ice cream man Reggie. Working together, they try to lure out and kill the Tall Man, all while avoiding his zombie minions and a deadly flying silver sphere.

Featuring a beautiful Plymouth Hemi Cuda, a four-barrel shotgun-toting ice cream man, and a menacing tall and creepy antagonist with a ton of iconic flying silver balls of death, the Phantasm series is one the best and most enduring franchises in all of horror. With most of the main cast and actors returning and being featured in all five films, the quality of the series rarely dips, which can always be a detriment for other franchises. This is extra impressive considering the first film came out in 1979, with the final one being released 37 years later in 2016.

The character of Reggie would go on to become a great horror hero on par with the character of Ash from the Evil Dead series. His character becomes the main heart of the series, and really gives the audience someone to root for in each of the films. Combine that with the great villain of the Tall Man and the unforgettable killer flying spheres, and the Phantasm series is definitely deserving of the number 10 spot in the top 10 horror franchises of all time.

Number 9 – Saw

Number of movies - 9

In the first Saw movie, a photographer and an oncologist wake up in a dark and dirty bathroom while chained to pipes at either end. The two men soon realize that they've been trapped by a sadistic serial killer nicknamed "Jigsaw." Jigsaw then forces them to complete his perverse puzzle to live, while flashbacks reveal the fates of his previous victims. Meanwhile, the Dr.'s wife and young daughter are forced to watch his torture via closed-circuit video.

That first Saw movie is intense and suspenseful with a great twist ending. Working off a low budget, it would become one of the highest grossing movies of the year, and spawn 8 sequels, with the latest one set to be released within the near future. For seven years, the Saw franchised owned the Halloween movie season, with a new installment of the series being released every year. The low cost of the production of the movies pretty much guaranteed a high return at the box office for as long as the movies remained popular.

The character of Jigsaw would go on to become an Icon of the new millennium of horror. The movies would coin a new subgenre of horror known as torture porn. They have certainly left their mark and continue to inspire newer filmmakers today. They will always make us want to answer the question of whether or not we want to play one of Jigsaw’s games.

Number 8 – Psycho

Number of movies - 6

Secretary Marion Crane is fleeing after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to run away with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis. She buys a new car and soon gets caught in a heavy rainstorm. Traveling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the small Bates Motel and meets the polite but odd proprietor Norman Bates, a young man with an interest in taxidermy and possessing a difficult relationship with his mother. One fateful shower later, and Psycho would then transform itself into a landmark of horror cinema.

The original Psycho movie by Alfred Hitchcock is one of the great masterpieces of horror. It made an entire generation afraid to take a shower the same way Jaws made people afraid to go into the ocean. The shower scene is one of the true iconic moments of horror with a great soundtrack to go with it. The great twist at the end would give Anthony Perkins one of the most memorable roles in horror, and he would go on to give equally great performances in the next three sequels.

The first Psycho sequel released 23 years after the original is one of the best sequels I have ever seen and is just as pleasing to watch as the first movie, with another great ending. While the quality of the other films may be questionable, Anthony Perkins always gives a great performance and makes the movies well worth a watch. That’s why the Psycho series is one of my favorites, and worthy of a spot in my top 10.

Number 7 – Evil Dead

Number of movies - 4

Ashley "Ash" Williams played by the great Bruce Campbell, his girlfriend Linda, and three friends drive into the woods to a cabin for a fun night away. There they find an old book bound in human flesh and inked in blood called the Necronomicon, whose text reawakens and possesses the dead when it's read aloud. The friends inadvertently release the evil from the book and must fight for their lives or become one of the evil dead. Ash watches his friends become possessed one by one and must make a difficult decision before dawn in order to save his own life in the first of Sam Raimi's great trilogy.

The first movie of the series is a landmark in independent horror, and the next movies would each outdo the other in their own way, with Evil Dead 2 being more of a horror comedy, and Army of Darkness being more of a horror fantasy adventure. There would also be a remake released in 2013 that would take the series back to its terror roots and it is one of the better remakes of the genre. Bruce Campbell would also return as Ash in the Starz series Ash vs. Evil Dead in 2015 for three seasons.

There is not a weak installment in the entire series, and the character of Ash continues to be one the most iconic heroes in all of horror. When you have a chainsaw for a hand, and a boomstick in the other, the cool factor is definitely on your side. Another movie installment has recently been announced, and that is sure to be another great watch in one of the greatest horror series ever produced.

Number 6 – Frankenstein

Number of movies - 7

Released in 1931, The first iconic Universal horror film of this series follows the mad scientist Dr. Henry Frankenstein as he attempts to create life by assembling a creature from body parts grave robbed of the deceased. Helped by his loyal hunchback assistant, Fritz, Frankenstein succeeds in animating his great monster, played by Boris Karloff in his breakout role, but, confused and possessing an abnormal brain, it escapes into the countryside and begins to wreak havoc on the local villagers. Frankenstein searches for the elusive creature, and eventually must confront his tormented creation.

The original Frankenstein series of movies is among the most historical and iconic in all of horror. It was the original series to bring true terror to audiences starting all the way back in the 30’s. It is the most successful and prolific series of the original Universal horror monsters and maintains a high level of quality with each film. Bride of Frankenstein is highly regarded as one of the best sequels ever made. Each film has some of the best actors of their time, and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man kicked off the very first cinematic universe of films.

This universe reaches its zenith with the final film of this franchise in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948. This classic film can be considered the first horror comedy, and brings together the classic monsters of Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolf Man, with even the Invisible Man making a quick cameo at the end. It features only the second and last cinematic performance of the great Bela Lugosi as Dracula and has as great an ending as any horror franchise can ask for, inspiring even greater franchises in the years to come. This landmark horror series of cinema more than earns its place in the top 10.

Number 5 – Child's Play

Number of movies - 8

Gunned down by a detective, dying murderer Charles Lee Ray, played by the great Brad Dourif, uses black magic to put his soul inside a buddi doll named Chucky, which an unsuspecting mother then buys for her young son, Andy. When Chucky kills Andy's babysitter, the boy realizes that his new doll is alive and he tries to warn people, but he's institutionalized. Now his mom must convince the detective of the existence of the murderous doll, before Andy becomes Chucky's next victim, and the next vessel for the killer’s soul.

The greatness of the Child’s Play series is the ongoing story of the killer doll Chucky. Aside from the recent remake, all the movies in the series are written by Don Mancini, which provides the series with great continuity. Once the series starts getting named for Chucky and drops the Child’s Play title, each installment offers something new and different from the previous one. The introduction of killer doll Tiffany in Bride of Chucky breathes new life into the series, and her character soon becomes just as iconic as Chucky himself.

After the events of the most recent film which ended in a bit of a cliffhanger, a new television series will soon be released further exploring these characters and expanding the mythology in this great and ongoing franchise that started in 1988. The length of this franchise, it’s iconic status, and the continuing installments of the series has this franchise earning its place in the top half of my top 10 horror franchises.

Number 4 – Halloween

Number of movies - 11

On Halloween night in 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was then locked away in and institution for 15 years. But on October 30, 1978, while being transferred for a court date, a now adult Michael Myers steals a car and escapes. He returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, donning a simple white mask where he looks for his next victims, including that of Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis in her first starring role.

The very first Halloween movie has to be the most iconic in all of slasher-horror. It has spawned a franchise that has released 11 theatrical movies, with 2 more soon to be released within the next two years. The memorable theme song can be considered to be the finest in all of horror. Laurie Strode is also known as one of the best final girls of all time. Even after the series gets a little tired, every now and again, a new semi reboot gets released to install new life into the series, such as the most recent installment in 2018.

Even though the Halloween series is probably the most well-known horror franchise, the inconsistent quality of the movies and multiple restarts of continuity keeps this series out of my top 3. Starting with the third film, the series starts to branch off in multiple directions and continuities that essentially turn the Halloween franchise into a choose-your-own-adventure series. However, just like Michael Myers, the Halloween franchise never stays dead for long and always finds a way to come back.

Number 3 – Scream

Number of movies - 4

In 1996, writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven re-invented and revitalized the slasher-horror genre with this modern horror classic, which manages to be funny, clever and scary. The movie starts with the finest opening scene in all of horror and shocks the audience into believing that no one is safe and that anything can happen. As a ghost-faced knife-wielding maniac stalks high school students in the remote town of Woodsboro, a who-dun-it takes place as the cast tries to figure out who the killer is as they all start to die one by one.

With the first few sequels, the Scream franchise single handedly revitalized the entire horror genre that had been on a downward trend in the 90’s, with each film being a commentary on certain aspects of the genre. After the initial trilogy, a fourth film was released a decade later to add another self-aware take on reboots and remakes that had been happening more widely during that time period. With each movie being directed by Wes Craven and with the main surviving characters returning for each one, the quality and continuity of this series remains higher than any other franchise in horror.

With the announcement of a new movie planning to be released within the next few years, the Scream series continues to live on. Even with the sad passing of Wes Craven, the willingness of cast members to keep returning to this series almost guarantees that the quality of movies will remain to be high. As Sydney Prescott, Neve Campbell will go on as possibly the greatest final girl in all of horror, starring and surviving in each installment of the series. The sheer force of creative nature that keeps the quality of each movie insanely high earns this franchise my number 3 spot.

Number 2 – Friday the 13th

Number of Movies - 12

In the first movie of this classic and iconic horror series, Crystal Lake's history of murder doesn't deter a young group of counselors from setting up a summer camp in the woodsy area. Superstitious locals warn against it, but the fresh-faced and lusty young people pay little heed to crazy Ralph. Then they find themselves stalked by a brutal killer. As they're slashed, maimed, and stabbed, the counselors struggle to stay alive against a merciless and unseen killer.

If Halloween started the slasher craze, then the Friday the 13th series launched it into the stratosphere. With 8 installments released in the decade with varying degrees of quality, Friday the 13th lorded over 80’s horror. After a brief cameo in the first movie, the character of Jason Vorhees would go on to become one of the titans of horror. Donning his iconic hockey mask for the first time in part 3, the image of the machete-wielding hockey-masked killer would live on as one of the most recognizable and greatest in all of horror.

Since the remake that was released in 2009, the franchise has remained stagnant and caught in litigation hell, preventing another movie from being released for the time being. However, that will eventually pass, and just like Jason Vorhees himself, there will be no stopping this behemoth of a franchise from returning from the dead with a new movie in the near future. The only thing keeping this series out of my top spot is the franchise performance of Jason’s greatest rival in horror...

Number 1 – A Nightmare on Elm Street

Number of movies - 9

In Wes Craven's classic slasher film, several teenagers fall prey to Freddy Krueger, played by the charismatic Robert Englund, a disfigured fedora-wearing murderer known as the Springwood Slasher who preys on the teenagers in their dreams -- which, in turn, kills them in reality. After investigating the phenomenon, Nancy begins to suspect that a dark secret kept by her and her friends' parents may be the key to solving the mystery, and finally defeating Freddy Krueger once and for all.

Released in 1984, A Nightmare on Elm Street is quite possibly the most unique and best horror film ever made. The story terrorized audiences, and throughout the sequels, Freddy Krueger became a household name. Each movie launched Freddy more and more into the spotlight, giving us a killer who was not only scary, but also funny. The success of these movies single handedly turned a small movie studio into a major player in Hollywood. There’s a reason why New Line Cinema is known as the house that Freddy built. No other horror franchise can lay claim to that honor.

With the rights to Freddy Krueger recently reverting to the Craven estate, rumors continue to run rampant on the possibility of Robert Englund returning for at least one more movie as Freddy. His last movie as Freddy was when his character finally faced off against that other titan of 80’s horror, Jason Vorhees, in Freddy vs. Jason from 2003. If that movie should ever come, you can be certain that it will be the king of the box office just like the Freddy films of old. Even though Freddy may have lost his fight against Jason in Freddy vs. Jason, the massive success of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and the continued adoration of the Freddy character has let A Nightmare on Elm Street claim the top spot as my top horror franchise of all time.

#grave cinema #top 10 #horror #horror franchises #movies #scary #review #critique #essay #a nightmare on elm street #friday the 13th #scream #halloween #child's play #frankenstein #evil dead #psycho #saw #phantasm

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13eyond13 · 6 years ago

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Comparing Manga!Near to Anime!Near

Sure! I actually found Near’s character very wooden and boring the first time I watched the anime, and then was very pleasantly surprised at how interesting and full of personality he seemed when I read the manga later, so I think comparing Near’s character in both sources is a great idea. I’ll outline the major differences I found between them below.

(This post is using the official English translation of the manga and the English subtitles from Netflix for the screenshots, by the way):

1. MELLO AND NEAR’S PERSONALITIES AND MOTIVES ARE DIMINISHED IN THE ANIME’S VERSION OF THE WAMMY’S CHILDHOOD FLASHBACK:

This is a scene that was changed slightly in the anime, and at great detriment to both Mello and Near’s characters and the audience's immediate understanding of them, I think. When we are first introduced to these two in the manga it shows a few panels of Mello being a bully at Wammy’s who gets right into the center of the action, and Near being a loner who is invited to participate but prefers to do puzzles by himself:

The anime begins directly at their meeting with Roger in the office, so we know nothing about how these two normally behave at the orphanage or how their peers perceive them / interact with them:

When asked to work together Mello refuses and explains to Roger that he and Near have always been at odds. The manga shows a flashback to Mello studying very hard to surpass Near's scores and always failing to do so, which sets up his inferiority complex and his strong work ethic. It also shows Near being surrounded by admiring students, which indicates he was probably well-liked despite being a loner, and shows that he’s very competent, the most successful student in the school:

The anime simply has Mello say that they've always been at odds and competing with each other. Mello describes himself as overly emotional and Near as logical and cool-headed, and then they just leave it at that.

It isn’t until much later in the anime -- after the kidnapping, when Light finally finds out about Wammy’s -- that the difference in Near’s and Mello’s academic ranking is even mentioned at all:

I think the manga gives a much better sense of the successors’ personalities and motives right away than the anime does. All we see in the anime is that Near seemingly doesn't give a shit about L's death, nor care much about how the successor choice is made, and that Mello is temperamental and thinks that since Near’s unemotional he will be able to better solve the Kira case. I remember finding Near extremely cold and wooden the first time I watched it, because his reaction to L’s death is so callous, and none of that other stuff about him was shown or explained.

2. THE SPY IN THE SPK IS TAKEN OUT OF THE ANIME STORYLINE:

In the manga once the NPA Director is kidnapped by the mafia Near starts to suspect there is a mole in the SPK who would've leaked their plans to the kidnappers (which there is, Ill Ratte):

In the anime Ratte's role as the spy was cut out of the storyline altogether, so Near just immediately figures it out and then orders his FBI agent to cooperate with Soichiro:

I’m guessing they cut that spy bit out of the anime due to time constraints, but Near being betrayed by one of his employees and being shrewd enough to suspect it adds an extra little layer of vulnerability and sympathy to his character beyond just “smart, blase guy who never loses his cool.”

3. NEAR NO LONGER SUCKS AT DARTS IN THE ANIME:

The scene of Near and Light first talking on the phone and Near calling Light “L number two” is basically the same between the two sources:

Except that in the manga Near is shown to absolutely suck at darts, lol:

In the anime Near is just sitting there building a basic tower out of dice:

Little detail changes like this might not seem that consequential, but I'd argue they make all the difference; sucking at darts adds an endearing aspect to Near beyond just “humourless successor of L who sits around playing with toys a lot.”

I love it because it seems like exactly the opposite of what you'd expect them to show in order to get the audience on his side and believing he's L's super-competent successor, you know? It made me laugh and feel affectionate toward him in the manga, because he looks so dang serious about it; plus I love that he sticks with it for so long despite clearly not being very good!

*(side note: Tumblr’s image uploader glitched out at this point, so unfortunately the rest of the post won’t have any visuals, apologies:)*

4. THERE IS NO “WAS HE EATING CHOCOLATE?” SCENE IN THE ANIME:

Near never detains Sayu and Soichiro after the kidnapping to interrogate them in the anime, so sadly we don’t get that hilarious little manga moment where he deduces it was Mello behind the kidnapping because of the sound of him eating chocolate over the phone.

5. NEAR’S RESPONSE TO THE SPK DEATH SEEMS LESS EMOTIONAL IN THE ANIME:

His reaction to most of the SPK getting murdered is different in anime, and I would argue he comes off much less sorrowful or shaken by the deaths. He seems pretty matter-of-fact about it, and almost like he'd predicted and planned for it to happen that way. The main emotional reaction we see is his dice tower falling and his face looking intense/angry.

In the manga Near is caught off-guard by the deaths; he laments that he didn’t find the spy in the SPK before it was too late, and then he says to Light: “I was somewhat prepared for this the moment YOU gave the notebook away to the kidnappers, but it sure does hurt.” He is shown looking very sad about it. Light asks Near to share information, and Near has to deliberate for a while internally about whether he wants to trust Light with any information about Mello or himself before he agrees.

In the anime Near calmly predicts the deaths right before they happen, then tells Light that they died, then says: “L, you helplessly handed over the notebook.” Light asks him if he would have done anything differently if he was in charge, and Near says: “No, with that kind of preparation it would’ve been taken either way. There’s no point in us arguing. Let’s help each other and tell each other what we know. I have some idea of who the culprit may be.” MUCH LESS EMOTIONAL, and a bit overly willing to immediately volunteer information about Wammy’s and Mello to Light.

6. NEAR COMFORTING AND INFORMING THE SPK ABOUT MELLO AFTER THEY ARE DISBANDED BY THE GOV’T IS CUT OUT OF THE ANIME:

In the manga Near spends a good deal of time explaining Mello’s thought process to his team and warning them about his dangerousness before they ever meet up with him. He tells Halle in particular to watch out, because he believes Mello will target her home because she’s the most vulnerable, and then says to whole group:

“If you’re scared, you don’t have to participate. But please don’t leave the headquarters. I’m scared, so I’m not going to go outside.”

This display of thoughtful consideration for his team’s feelings and safety and his honesty about his own fears is not shown at all in the anime, as it skips directly from the news of the SPK being dissolved to Mello breaking into Halle’s apartment and taking her hostage to the SPK HQ.

7. NEAR SEEMS A LITTLE MORE EXCITED BY MELLO’S ARRIVAL IN THE MANGA THAN HE DOES THE ANIME:

And there was a more in-depth explanation given in the manga about why he continued to defend Mello and sympathize with him. But even so, I would say these scenes are for the most part very similar between the two sources. The anime did a great job adding some lovely stained-glass visuals behind the boys and such here, too!

8. THERE IS NO SCENE OF NEAR AND MELLO WORKING TOGETHER TO QUESTION MOGI IN THE ANIME:

This is a real shame, because it’s basically the most fun interaction these two have and the closest they get to collaborating in a personal way after their dramatic reunion at the HQ (even though it could also be seen as Mello just attempting to taunt/use Near, but Near doesn’t seem to take it that way). Near’s interactions with Mogi and Mello are weirdly cute in this scene, as he often compliments them on their impressiveness and such, so it’s too bad that the anime chopped it out!

9. THE ANIME PUTS A MORE POSITIVE SPIN ON NEAR AND MELLO’S COLLABORATION AGAINST KIRA:

It’s left very ambiguous in the story if Mello was trying to save Near or beat him by kidnapping Takada. The manga takes a typically unsentimental view of Mello’s intentions, and the anime takes a more hopeful view of them.

In the the manga, Near says this: “I find it hard to believe that Mello thought that far ahead. But I am sure that he was always trying to get ahead of me. And that’s not all. Even if he didn’t surpass me, Mello always said that he was going to be number one, and that he was going to be better than me and L. But I always knew I would never be able to surpass L. It could be that I lacked the action and he lacked the calm; and even though we couldn’t surpass the one we admired on our own, together we can stand with L. Together we can surpass L.”

In the anime, Near says this: “I believe Mello knew in his heart that alone we aren’t able to reach our goal, to surpass L. But together... together we can stand with L. Together we can surpass L!”

10. NEAR’S PHILOSOPHICAL SPEECH IN THE WAREHOUSE IS CUT OUT OF THE ANIME:

It’s probably my favourite thing he says in the entire manga, so that’s too bad! He says it in response to Light’s passionate Kira monologue.

In the manga, after Near shuts Light down, Light says: “Near, you're wrong. I'm the icon of justice now.”

Near replies: “You may be right. I'm no different than you. I believe in what I think is right, and believe that to be righteous. Nobody can tell what is right and what is wrong, what is righteous and what is evil. Even if there is a god, and I had his teachings before me, I would think it through and decide if that was right or wrong myself.”

I loved getting these little deeper thoughts from Near in the manga; it made him come off less cold and uncaring and more human and insightful to me.

11. NEAR HAS A PLAN TO LOCK LIGHT UP FOR LIFE IN THE MANGA THAT ISN’T MENTIONED IN THE ANIME:

When Light tries to stall for time by attempting to tempt Near into testing the Death Note, in the manga Near replies:

“Light Yagami. Kira. I have no plans to kill you. I really don't care if the notebook is real or not anymore. From the very beginning, my goal was to capture Kira. All I want is for everything to become clear and for Kira to be captured. You're as good as arrested now, and I'll confiscate the notebook Mr. Aizawa has. That should be enough. And I will not announce Kira's arrest or the existence of the notebook to the public. I believe that everybody here can keep that secret. I'll take full responsibility for locking you up in a place where nobody will find you until you die."

I find this both refreshing and scary, because it shows Near’s definitely not doing this for his own glory or his ego (like Mello and L might), but it’s also a very ruthless and scary side of Near that adds a lot of spice to his character! I can’t imagine much of a worse fate for Light than that had Ryuk not gotten to him first, yikes.

12. THE EPILOGUE CHAPTER IS LEFT OUT OF THE ANIME:

In which Matsuda and Ide speculate about Near possibly “cheating” with the Death Note (aka being behind Mikami messing up with checking for tampering and dying in prison ten days later and such). Near is shown doing well as the new L, playing with toys and eating some of Mello’s trademark chocolate and collaborating with the NPA on their new work. Which is nice!

So in conclusion to this massive post, I would say that most of the characters in the second half of the story kinda got shafted by the anime because of how the plot was condensed; it didn’t help that the animation portrayed the subtler characters like Near in a less dynamic/expressive way than the original manga art did, either. Despite what it may sound like, I do love the anime a heck of a lot, but I think people will probably miss out on a lot of Near’s charm if they never get to experience the original manga version of him, as well!

#death note #near #mello #light yagami #long post #meta #p #i am so mad that the image uploader crapped out #i took like dozens of screencaps i can't use #but i guess you get the gist of things #there are probably other things i missed too

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dancingwithour · 7 years ago

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Times Taylor Swift did THAT:

Red

okay so, in light of all this discourse I decided to make a post about songs I love of Taylor’s and my favorite lyrics. In this case, the entire red album lol. let me know if you want me to do any other albums sometime soon too and which ones! alright here we go:

State of Grace

“we fall in love till it hurts or bleeds or fades in time” RTRTRT

“we learn to live with the pain, mosaic broken hearts” that IMAGERY really just gets me man, my heart

“you’re my Achilles heel” we love an allusion to greek mythology

Red

“like the colors in autumn so bright, just before they lose it all” the true beginning of associating red with the fall time, an ICONIC moment

“forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met” what a lyricist I think about this lyric all the time it’s just an incredible way of describing how impossible it is to forget someone you loved and i’m gonna cry if I keep typing

“losing him was blue like i’ve never known, missing him was dark grey all alone” yes taylor painting emotions with color and it’s so vivid

Treacherous

“and i’ll do anything you say, if you say it with your hands” okAY TAYLOR

“and I, I, I like it” me being drawn in and loving situations that are risky and most likely detrimental

“all we are is skin and bone trained to get along” one of my favorite lyrics of all time it just explains itself

I Knew You Were Trouble

“I guess you didn’t care, and I guess I liked that” once again RELATABLE also a theme of remaining in situations that we been knew will end rough

“a new notch in your belt, is all i’ll ever be” ouch harsh reality

“and the saddest fear comes creeping in, that you never loved me or her or anyone or anything yeaaaaah OOOOOOOH”

cause it’s a beautiful lyric and that 1989 tour version NOTE THOUGH YES VOCALS

ALL TOO WELL

“left my scarf there at your sister’s house and you still got it, in your drawer, even now.” just cause give the scarf back jake

“and I might be okay but i’m not fine at all” just a reminder as to where she was then versus now we love a glo up

“hey you call me up again just to break me like a promise” one of my favorite lyrics of ALL TIME scream it

also where is the 10 min version i’m still salty

“it feels like a perfect night for breakfast at midnight” i’m feeling late night waffle house vibes

“we’re happy free confused and lonely at the same time, it’s miserable and magical” my sister says this is exactly how being 22 feels

“you look like bad news, I gotta have you” hmm a theme of bad decisions once again? can relate!

bonus: “who is taylor swift anyway? ew” I love taylor making fun of herself

I Almost Do

(is always slept on)

“I bet it never ever occurred to you that I can't say ‘Hello’ to you and risk another goodbye” so beautiful and i’m obsessed with this line’s melody

“in my dreams you're touching my face and asking me if I wanna try again with you. and I almost do.” I just started crying typing this lyric and i’m not okay wow

“and I hope sometimes you wonder about me.” I love when taylor’s outros mirror the first verse so powerful UGH

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

“when you said you needed space (what?)” lol her what is me with all boys always pulling the dumbest things

“like....ever” truly how I end all my arguments

“with some indie record that’s much cooler than mine” yes sarcasm tay and also 1989 tour version when she screamed this I got chills I was shook before shook was a thing

Stay Stay Stay

(my mama’s fave song of taylor’s!)

“no one else is gonna love me when I get mad, mad, mad” unconditional love got me thinking of joe SHE FOUND THE LOVE SHE WAS DAYDREAMING ABOUT GOOD GOD DONT TOUCH ME

“but you carry my groceries and now i’m always laughing” the way she says groceries I want on a loop as my ringtone

“it’s been occurring to me I’d like to hang out with you, for my whole life” yeah once again don’t touch me i’m not okay I wanna cry

The Last Time

(my child)

“put my name at the top of your list” yes make me your PRIORITY

“disappear when you come back, everything is better” and again, bad decisions that just feel so good

“This is the last time you tell me I've got it wrong,

This is the last time I say it's been you all along,

This is the last time I let you in my door,

This is the last time, I won't hurt you anymore” I LOVE A TAYLOR SWIFT BRIDGE also the harmonies on the “ohohohohoh” are to die for

Holy Ground

“back when you fit my poems like a perfect rhyme” y’all I love taylor swift lyrics I can’t even put into words they are everything

“and I see your face in every crowd” RETWEEEEEEEEEEEET

“but I don’t wanna dance, if i’m not dancing with you” I love it I love it I love it I love it that is some HOLY GROUND I think everyone can relate, honestly me with harry styles though. jk! (no i’m not)

Sad Beautiful Tragic

“words, how little they mean, when you’re a little too late” this can be applied to so many areas of life

“and you’ve got your demons and darling they all look like me” THIS. LYRIC. KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT I WILL NEVER STOP LOVING IT AND TAYLOR SWIFT

“kiss me, try to fix it, could you just try to listen?” thank YOU taylor, when all someone wants to do is try and “fix” something but you really just need someone to listen to you I CAN RELATE @ all boys ever

The Lucky One

(I STAN IT)

“you had it figured out since you were in school, everybody loves pretty, everybody loves cool” screw the popular kids lol

“and your lover in the foyer doesn’t even know you” this lyric just gets me going I don’t know I get so aggressive at the industry and truly shout it lmao

“cause now my name is up in light, but I think you got it right” this lyric makes me feel emoooootions dude like it’s like her noting the moment she realized how brutal the media and fame is and the damaging effects because she’s living through it as she grows up :((((((

Everything Has Changed

“cause all I know is we said hello, and your eyes look like coming home” so cute, so real, the harmonies man, i’m soft!

“I'm feeling like I've missed you all this time” when you didn’t even know the person before but now you’re like, this is the piece that has been MISSING and taylor really has me in my feelings

“all I know is pouring rain, and that everything has changed” I love a taylor song with rain guys

Starlight

“we were 17 and crazy running wild, wild”

I just love that she had this magical idea from a picture she saw of bobby and ethel

“and we were dancing, dancing like we’re made of starlight, starlight” this song just feels sparkly and pretty. it’s just stunning and makes me happy

“don’t you dream impossible things” at the very end, the song fades out so glittery and pretty and I love love love it so in summation, starlight is an ethereal, sparkly, pretty song

Begin Again

“you pull my chair out and help me in, and you don’t know how nice that is but I do” cue the tears, she’s gotten used to people not treating her how deserves to be treated so the simplest gestures are amplified

“thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end but on a Wednesday in a cafe I watched it begin again” such a contrast from the rest of the album, I love how perfect this ending is. it shows that you will heal and pain isn’t permanent and wow i’m crying

“and for the first time, what’s past is past” YES SIS WE ARE MOVING ON WE ARE OPENING BACK UP TO BEGIN AGAIN YALL WE ARE CLOSING THIS ALBUM BEAUTIFULLY BECAUSE TAYLOR WEARS HEELS NOW OKAY

#taylor swift #red #!!!!!!!#im weeping

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viewagain · 5 years ago

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“Doctor Sleep”: Remember how great ‘The Shining’ is?

When “The Shining”, based on a book by Stephen King, was released, it was ridiculed and earned Stanley Kubrick, one of the greatest directors of all time, a Razzie nomination for worst director. Among the detractors of this now highly-regarded horror classics was author Stephen King himself. Stephen King went on to write and produce a TV adaptation of “The Shining” in 1997, which is held in high-regard by probably no one. In 2013, the sequel to The Shining was published and now there is a film adaptation as well, also produced by Stephen King. It is a sequel that is obsessed with “The Shining”, not the 1997 version, but – perhaps due to King’s own softening opinions – the iconic 1980 version.

Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself. This statement has become a meme. When a sex trafficker who is friends with many prominent powerful people, including the President of the United States is going to give up his clients ends up “killing himself’ under suspicious circumstances, it lends itself to be one of the more probable conspiracy theories. Unlike those other ones about incredibly evil, wealthy people like the Illuminati, lizard people, or Satan worshippers who eat aborted fetuses to gain immortality. “Doctor Sleep” is not actually that far off from the latter. While “The Shining”, in very simplified way, is a family drama in a haunted house, the sequel is about a magical child must save the other magical children of the world from a group of evil magical adults who want to kill them to live forever. This may read like a YA fantasy novel, but the sequence where a young boy is kidnapped and brutally murdered as a group of adults crowd the horrifyingly screaming child and orgasmically breathing in his escaping life force is grotesque and genuinely upsetting. Especially when you think about the parallels in the real world.

Despite all the fantastical elements, this film is surprisingly realistic. You don’t encounter super-powered protagonists inappropriately quipping – characters vomit when seeing a corpse and their hands shake as they poor out whiskey to calm their nerves. Though the beginning can be quite chaotic, as it jumps between characters, states, decades, but once it is settled, “Doctor Sleep” is a slow-paced thriller that is tense and engaging on its own, independent of its connection to “The Shining”. Compared to its genre contemporaries it is well above average, but unfortunately, it is unavoidable to compare it to the horror classic that preceded it. “Doctor Sleep” is obsessed with “The Shining” and constantly reminds of Kubrick’s film. Therefore, despite all the praise one can give to Rebecca Ferguson’s hypnotically charismatic performance as the lead villain, you are reminded of Jack Nicholson’s insane intensity as Jack Torrance. Pretty much any villain performance loses in that comparison

It is not just Jack Torrance who is back, pretty much every character from the Overlook Hotel returns. Remember that lady in the bathtub from that one scene in “The Shining”? Be prepared to see her multiple times. Or that bloody tuxedoed partygoer who says one line? You’ll see him too! With “The Shining” being almost 40 years old, obviously the rolls are recast and for the most part, the film does a good job. Notably, Alex Essos as Wendy Torrance, though her screen time is brief, is amazingly spot on. Henry Thomas, on the other hand, had the thankless job of portraying Jack. It would have been better to just not try.

Having recurring characters is not a sign of over-reliance on the success of a previous film, it is to be expected. As well as little Easter eggs, like a house number being 1980. However, it is crossing a threshold, when the final act is basically a reenactment of all the iconic moments of the predecessor – the blood elevator, a face in a shattered door, the shot of the great hall, a limping man with an ax and so forth. Some shots serve no other purpose than to be call-backs for people to recognize which is seemingly maybe recognized by characters in the film. Similarly, the score is an endless tribute to the orignal, instead of just musical themes connecting the film. There are plenty of moments when the music does not fit, because it wasn’t really written for this film. This constant fan service is a detriment to “Doctor Sleep”. Call backs may excite some, but when it becomes this over-saturated, you end up thinking about how much better those moment are in “The Shining”.

One of Stephen King’s gripes with Stanley Kubrick’s version was the reduced emphasis on the alcoholism theme of the book. Jack Torrance was an alcoholic, tried to get clean, but the ghost of alcoholism claimed him. Alcoholism runs in the family, as it sadly tends to do, and Danny Torrance too has the vice of liquor. He tries to break the cycle. In the cycle of life and death, Danny, the titular Doctor Sleep, helps the dying in hospice care to go peacefully into the big sleep of death. This cycle, however, should not be broken, as the haunting evil spirits do or the aforementioned immortality seeking child murderers. Though it could never fully escape its sequel status, “Doctor Sleep” could have broken the Hollywood cycle of uninspired reboots and nostalgia-dependent sequel. It almost does. But then it limps over the finish line, dragging the corpse of the old classic instead of letting it rest in peace.

7/10

IMDB: 7.7 RT: 76% | 89%

#doctor sleep #the shining #film #film review

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kemuele · 5 years ago

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Never-Ending Survey: Kemuel || Elouan

Rules: Repost, do not reblog

Tagged by: @lightdevoid because you love me

Tagging: @ whoever wants to/finds it interesting!

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Kemuel || Elouan Sauveterre

NICKNAME: Kem, K, Pigeon || Elou, El,

AGE: unknown, appears to be in 30s || 34

BIRTHDAY: none, but like 12/9 || 9th Sun of the 6th Umbral Moon

ETHNIC GROUP: Archangel? That count? || Elezen Wildwood

NATIONALITY: n/a || Gridanian

LANGUAGE/S: all ancient/current languages to some extent, fluent in English/Enochian || Common

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Panromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single

HOME TOWN / AREA: Heaven || Gridania, towards the outskirts that lead to Hawthorne Hut (East Shroud)

CURRENT HOME: Earth, primarily Pacific Northwest in America | Travels a lot, but can be seen more frequently in Ishgard.

PROFESSION: Archangel due to created duties, whereas entry-level gigs to pay for his ‘human home’ || Sell sword Paladin, sometimes returns to being an errand boy or courier back in Gridania or other nations.

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Umber, short on the sides with medium-length on top.

EYES: Dark brown, flecks of gold seen when light hits them perfectly.

FACE: Large brows and lips, defined jaw and cheekbones with signs of stubble along his jaw and upper lip. || Same for all except stubble is minimal to none, and a long scar can be seen on his right cheek, extending from his jaw all the way to his orbital socket.

LIPS: Full, with a pinkish-beige complexion. || Somewhat full, often found in a light smile.

COMPLEXION: Tan || Likewise tan, more on the warm scale of flesh with freckles spattered along his upper cheeks and the bridge of his nose.

BLEMISHES: None.

SCARS: Scars litter his body in varying severity, with most concentrated on back and forearms. One long, jagged scar can be seen towards the ‘root’ of his left wing, just as it connects to his body. || Scars likewise litter Elou’s body in the same fashion, yet that long scar on his back is instead smaller, running from left shoulder down to mid-back.

TATTOOS: None

HEIGHT: 6′10″

WEIGHT: 230lbs

BUILD: Broad shoulders, toned and pronounced muscles, with an overall build resembling that of the average rugby player.

FEATURES: Has three pairs of wings designated visible, yet only two does he show on earth. These wings all have blue eyes on them that see at different levels of light waves, referencing his true form. ||

ALLERGIES: None.

USUAL HAIR STYLE: Kept out of his face, combed towards the back of his head and given a little volume with the disheveling towards roots. Sometimes he’ll use clips as it dries to get that look.

USUAL FACE LOOK: Pensive, with brown eyes looking around and lips pursed, sometimes his brow is furrowed due to concentration.

USUAL CLOTHING: Somewhat formal attire, primarily slacks and button-up shirts. He may wear a blazer or the like when he feels like it. || Armor, and heavy at that. When he’s taking a break from the sword, he can be seen wearing a tunic and trousers, as well as dark boots that cut off at the ankle.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR/S: Falling from heaven, deep waters, death, being forgotten || being forgotten, failure, betrayal, and deep waters.

ASPIRATION/S: To be better, make heaven and Father proud || Become a renown paladin and help others reach that level of dedication in their field, primarily tank or damage-oriented roles.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Loyal, kind, patient, intuitive, intelligent, caring, stubborn, hardworking/driven

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Stubborn, hard-working, self-sacrificing, lacking in direction (Kemuel), aggressive

TEMPERAMENT: Phlegmatic

ANIMALS: Dogs, Bears || Golden Chocobo

VICE HABIT/S: Anger, overworking to the point of detrimental consequences.

FAITH: Is a believer, given his own existence. || Not extremely religious, but aware and acknowledging of the Twelve.

GHOSTS?: Yes.

AFTERLIFE?: Not for him.

REINCARNATION?: No.

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: None

EDUCATION LEVEL: N/A? || Nothing advanced as a whole, except in the ways of the gladiator and paladin. He has basic knowledge in mending his clothes and developing armory/blacksmith skills.

FAMILY.

FATHER : N/A except by name, God || Anatole Sauveterre

MOTHER : N/A || Margeaux Sauveterre

SIBLINGS : Too many to count || None

EXTENDED FAMILY: None

NAME MEANING/S: Helper of God || Light, Safe land

HISTORICAL CONNECTION?: He’s the archangel that, in old times, had guarded the gates of heaven, as well as act as a leading archon. He is also the archangel that has an army of twenty thousand angels dedicated solely for destruction, an apt tool in the early wars and the final ‘hurrah’ during the days of end. || Not quite, just suitable due to how beautiful sunlight can interact with the Black Shroud and its forests.

FAVORITES.

BOOK: Can’t say for certain, but he has a feeling it’d be something like The Song of Achilles || hasn’t read too much, but Count Fortempt’s logs are interesting. Likewise with the Wondrous Trails in Idyllshire.

DEITY: He has no favorite, given his limited interaction with them. || His guardian deity, Azeyma the Warden

HOLIDAY: None in particular || Moonfire Faire

MONTH: August || Eorzean equivalent

SEASON: Summer

PLACE: Eden || New Gridania

WEATHER: Sunny with a cool breeze

SOUND / S: rain, leaves dancing in the wind, old hymns, thunder, laughter, metal hitting metal, shouts from war

SCENT / S: after an evening rain shower, sweat from sparring, metal and leather from armor, freshly brewed tea, and roses.

TASTE / S: warm, somewhat sweet like daifuku mochi or yams

FEEL / S: warmth, another person’s body against his own or in his arms, feathers, cotton fabric.

ANIMAL / S: Dogs and Grizzly Bears, as well as Golden Eagles || Chocobo

NUMBER: 20

COLORS: Gold, Copper, Umber, Cerulean

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Singing, swordsmanship, and leading.

BAD AT: Cooking, small talk in general, identifying romantic interest.

TURN ONS: Smiles, deep conversations, sparring, and loyalty.

TURN OFFS: Indecisive, overtly worried/anxious, untrusting, and lacking of faith.

HOBBIES: Reading, star gazing, visiting the sick (Kem more so than Elou).

TROPES: Lawful Good, Gentle Giant, Light is Good, Now Let Me Carry You

QUOTES: “Loyal to the end, even when I may no longer stand or carry the sword of my creator.”

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 : If you could write your character your way in their own movie, what would it be called, what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about?

A1 : Name is tba, I suppose. Something like an action film, with intense fight scenes or fixation on the preparation of war? With lulls that offer character introspection and some more tender moments between characters, telling his story and duties as an Archangel in heaven, and then ending through his first steps on earth.

Q2 : What would their soundtrack/score sound like?

A2 : Gustav Holst- the Planets- Mars, Bringer of Wars, perhaps.

Q3 : Why did you start writing this character?

A3 : I wanted to try my take at an angel, but not just some pretty boy with wings. I had the intent to make his ‘true form’ the regular appearance, yet the time it’d take to draw countless of icons and format it with my schedule/energy doesn’t work. I wanted to make an angel that believed to be good and just, even when his actions don’t necessarily reflect that. Kem’s a character that has yet to be his own person and live life for himself, but much rather, revolves 90% of his actions around God.

Q4 : What first attracted you to this character?

A4 : The idea that angels aren’t just these pretty faces that do good and are good no matter what. There’s a level of complexity to their nature, good derived from what God had deemed such rather than formed from their own mind. I wanted to explore the consequences of this isolated life of an angel, where any actions of independence happen to be discouraged and punished, likewise when orders are deemed immoral by an angel, too.

Q5 : Describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse.

A5 : He seems static. Fixed in his ways and never quite going to improve. It’s the biggest thing that I find hard for me to circumvent or get him into a new

Q6 : What do you have in common with your muse?

A6 : Reading, thinking, and general kindness as a whole? We’re both interested in learning yet Kem’s is limited to what texts and like are in front of him, compared to actively seeking that new information without ties to God/heaven. I tend to think before I speak, often times taking hours or days to truly reflect on my actions or general conversations before I can offer anything I deem ‘complete’.

Q7 : How does your muse feel about you?

A7 : I believe Kemuel, given his character and such, may view me with some respect for my drive to work hard and do my best, but hold some concern over my mental health/background.

Q8 : What characters does your muse have interesting interactions with?

A8 : Interesting? Well, there’s a lot. I want to start out with Fracturedsword’s Michael, as he and Kem are able to properly explore a healthy sibling dynamic and help each other up in their times of need. Making a thread revolve around their physical presence in one another’s lives, as well as the idea that men don’t have to be ‘macho’ or reserved in their emotions is truly nice to see! Likewise, lightdevoid’s Kurasa gives Kem’s FF14 verse a run for their patience. I like that we have this conflict in their current dynamic, making things like friendship harder to obtain but more rewardable in that regard. Likewise with wildborne’s tiger Queen, Skylar. She opens up a world of humanity and individualism that he had otherwise been starved of. The two share their respective worlds with one another, and then intertwine themselves in a world of their own making. One derived from a friendship and curiosity.

Q9 : What gives you inspiration to write your muse?

A9 : Hozier (see Sunlight and Church), Bastille (Icarus, Kindness, The Anchor), One Republic’s Native Album, American Authors’ Deep Waters, and summer sunsets.

Q10 : How long did this take you to complete?

A10 : Too long, I got distracted and then stumped on some questions. Say, two days?

#voice from above | ooc #testimony | rules & info #documented time | save tag #cw: long post #long post

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ramajmedia · 5 years ago

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Once Upon A Time: 10 Hilarious Memes Only True Fans Understand

We might have finally closed the book on Once Upon A Time, but that doesn't mean fans have completely forgotten the show that gave our beloved childhood stories a whole new life. The premise of the series was brilliant, and even though it went through some troubled times and some questionable plotlines, we're happy to say it holds a special place in the heart's of every true fan out there. After all, how can anyone remain indifferent to a show that brought back all the characters we grew up with?

Related: 10 Once Upon A Time Characters Sorted Into Their Hogwarts Houses

Many people will agree that it was more than the time we said goodbye to the magical world of Once Upon A Time. But even though that's true, we aren't prepared to completely put it to rest. Fortunately, there is more than enough room for a couple of rewatching sessions. And, of course, memes! Let us all remember the magic and laugh at the same time while we take a look at ten hilarious memes only true fans will understand!

10 Mr Grey AKA The Huntsman

Way before Jamie Dornan was making half of the world population go crazy with his role as the enigmatic Mr. Grey in the much-anticipated movie Fifty Shades of Grey, he was gracing our small screens. His role as the huntsman was short-lived, but it made enough impact to make some fans really mad when he died.

Considering that the show lasted seven seasons and he didn't even make it past the first one, we say there's a good reason to be mad. It's not like his character was vital to the story or anything. He didn't even have that much dialogue. But he. Was. So. Hot. it just seems a little bit unfair, but maybe it's time to get over it. Or not.

9 Does My Hair Look Okay?

Yes, yes - we know she wasn't actually checking out her hair for fashionable purposes. The girl just wanted to make sure she was in the right reality. You know, as opposed to the one with unicorns and women with tails. But it's still pretty funny to assume that the first thing Regina would do after waking up from a dark curse would be to check her haircut.

Mostly because that is so Regina. Both this Regina and Regina George. Maybe it's a name thing? Either way, say whatever you want about the woman, but one thing is for sure - she has her priorities right!

8 Pun Intended

Remember Peter Pan? Not the cutesy, lovable child our parents used to tell us stories about. Rather the one who was Henry's great-grandfather, Bae's grandpa, and Rumpelstilskin's dad. If you think your family tree is messed up, watching Once Upon A Time will probably make you thank the heavens for what you got in the cards.

Related: Once Upon A Time: 10 Hidden Details About The Costumes You Didn't Notice

Either way, Peter Pan was an idiot. He was a full-blown villain, that made for a very confusing, albeit very entertaining third season. It's like he actually made this joke, but you know what? He might as well have because it's not exactly out of character for him to be extremely annoying. Do us a favor and never leave Neverland. Thanks!

7 Who Wore It Better?

Rumpelstiltskin was one of those characters you both love and hate. You know, sometimes you love to hate him, other times you hate to love him. And that friends, is a great example of both amazing writing and a fantastic performance. Even though everyone is Storybrooke managed to be some measure of messed up, Rumpelstiltskin takes the cake.

But one thing's for sure, the man knows how to be stylish. Even when his skin is green and full of weird marks, he still delivers some iconic fashion moments. Even more iconic than Prince Charming himself who, let's face it, is a tad bit boring. Maybe hire a stylist?

6 I Have The Perfect Solution For You!

If you've never been slightly obsessed with a television show before, chances are, you're not human. Slightly is already a very tame term, considering just how overboard some fans can go when it comes to defending their favorite series. Or talking about it. Or loving it in general.

Related: Once Upon A Time: 10 Best Costumes On The Show, Ranked

The thing about Once Upon A Time fans is that you can't rest assured they are all very peaceful souls. They just happen to enjoy a sprinkle of magic in their lives, and that a-okay. Just be careful not to insult the show too much. After all, you never know when a poisoned apple might make its way towards you...

5 Go Emma!

In all honesty, our hearts will always go out to Emma. Jesus, the woman has been through some serious hardships in her entire life. Not only did she have to give up her child for adoption, she has to deal with him coming back years later. Along with the revelation that she is Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter, of course!

However, through it all, Emma has somehow managed to stay sane and thrive. She eventually accepted her fate and found a middle ground to co-parent Henry with Regina. Plus, how much cooler can a mom get than Emma Swan? That's straight-up impossible, so congratulations to our good boy Henry!

4 Hey, I Just Met You...

How many variations of this song have we all heard by now? Probably thousands. But we're willing to argue that none of those hit the mark quite as this does. Where else could you find such a perfect situation, that it's both implausible, tragic, and hilarious in its ridicule? Leave it to Once Upon A Time!

Related: The Myers-Briggs® Types Of Once Upon A Time Characters

Let's all take a second to make sure we show Emma Swan enough love and appreciation. What would any of us do if we heard and witnessed the things that she did? Probably consult several therapists. Not Emma though! She embraced all the craziness around her, and thanks to that, we got seven awesome seasons.

3 Bae?

Call your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife. You can even call you pets. Just be sure to let them know that they are officially canceled because the one and only Bae is in town! Remember him? Henry's father, Emma's first love of sorts, Rumpelstilskin's son before he went all dark mode?

We would truly like to know if the name choice was intentional or not. Probably not, considering that at the time the expression "before anyone else" still wasn't mainstream. But it's just one of those rare instances int he universe where everything aligns so perfectly...and it's all in a name!

2 Just Shut Up, Snow

It's probably one of the longest-running gags amongst fans of the show. Snow White is a lot of wonderful things, okay? No one can deny that she loves deeply, fights for the well being of others, and is braver than most heroes out there. Plus, she's at the center of one of the most beautiful love stories ever depicted on television.

But the woman can't keep her mouth shut. To the point where it's detrimental to others, and to the point where it actually brought about her own near destruction. For the love of all that's holy Snow, put an Apple on it. Or just kiss Charming. Anything but letting sounds get out of your mouth.

1 BuT I'M a MoNSter!!

Rumpelstiltskin is the ultimate sad boy. It's not like we can't sympathize with him, he did go through some pretty horrible things. But wasn't there a better way to deal with it? Either way, that's beside the point. What matters here is that he actually thinks no one can love him, even when someone does. Clearly.

Do you know who really does love you, Rumpel? Despite every horrible thing you did throughout the course of the show? Your fangirls, Rumple. Your fangirls love you. Three clicks on the Internet are enough to prove it- - maybe consider bringing that self-deprecating tone down a notch?

Next: Once Upon A Time: The 5 Best Relationships (& The 5 Worst)

source https://screenrant.com/upon-time-hilarious-memes-fans/

#screenrant

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jgfiles · 8 years ago

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Re-watching Joker Game: Ep 5 Robinson

So, as I proposed a re-watching, here I go continuing on doing the re-watching. Hopefully someone else will join! ^_-

Also, hopefully there’s someone out there that read all this stuff… as I know it’s pretty long… shame on me for analyzing things too in deep…

Mind you, what follows are my ramblings over Ep 5, comprehensive of my impression on how the frames were structured and so on with some occasional reference to the other Joker Game media.

Also, for personal comfort, I’ll use the characters’ names even if the anime hasn’t stated them yet. In short, as this is a re-watching and not a first watching, you’ll also get a telling that’s mixed with my knowledge of the future. Consider yourself warned.

And now, let’s start.

So yes, like in the previous episode I starts with the preview for this episode that was in Ep 4.

Now, we’re again in whatever place the previews take place… and, at first, we see only Tazaki’s reflection and it looks like he’s about to fall asleep.

Kaminaga joins him and points out Tazaki looks sleepy, which Tazaki confirms, saying he has been incredibly sleepy lately.

Kaminaga suggests him to sleep when he’s sleepy as, when the time is ready, he’ll wake up on his own.

It’s an interesting reference to what happens in his episode, in which the soldier who helps him is called the ‘sleeper’ basically a dormant spy that activates himself only when the SIS captures a spy, though you can actually see it as a reference to how it seems they didn’t let Kaminaga rest properly while he was taken prisoner or how he faked giving up but ‘woke up’ just to catch his chance to escape. Whatever you prefer.

And now let’s dig into the episode.

As Yogiri [夜霧 Night fog] plays in the background, as well as a rain falling sound, we start with the episode showing us London’s most iconic building, the Big Ben while the writing in overlay telling us that yes, we’re in London and the time is still 1939… well, I’m saying still 1939 but since in Ep 4 we actually were in 1941, the time would have changed had we watched the episode in the transmission order.

Differently from how they did in Ep 6 the episode doesn’t waste time showing us London (differently from how Ep 6 felt the need to show us Hsinking). It’s likely not due to lack of love for London, merely because they probably assumed Japanese viewers wouldn’t be interested in viewing 1939 London. 1939 Hsinking was part of Japan’s history Japan having turned it into Manchukuo’s capital and having shaped its structure. I guess Japanese viewers might have felt curious about it even if the city actually isn’t important for the plot. 1939 London isn’t something Japan contributed in building. If it’s different or the same from present London is probably something that doesn’t interest Japanese viewers so, instead than showing us shoot of 1939 London, the next we see is a street.

A person is running through it, trying to shield himself from the rain.

Allow me a moment to talk about how they showed us the street and just the feet of the person running, their shadow moving over the puddles. It’s a beautifully detailed scene that still keeps hidden the identity of the person running while giving us an idea of what’s going on.

Next we see a street lamp, the camera moving closer to it to tell us that actually the running person is running close to it. And then we see this person finally climbing some steps and arriving to a door. The anime was careful, it hadn’t shown us the face of that person yet. It has to be if it wants to keep its identity secret.

The runner is Kaminaga, who actually had a role in Ep 1 & 2. It was minor but it was enough to make him noticeable. Probably it would take little for us to recognize him.

Kaminaga takes his time in front of the door to pat away the droplets of rain from his coat. I can’t deny I love Joker Game for its care in the details. Many over anime would have forget to show this. Also let me jump back to a second to mention how Kaminaga climbed the stairs. Like someone who’s tired after a run. Because he ran to get here. That’s care in the details, guys.

There’s to note that while Ep 1 took special care of having odd shoots that actually were subtly delivering messages on how to read the scene and Ep 6 instead was mostly focused on showing us the relevant things, Ep 5 is the episode in which they use Kaminaga’s body language to let us know what’s going on. Ep 5 main focus is really Kaminaga. The interrogator and Marks are really minor roles. Ep 5 is almost Kaminaga’s “monologue”, a monologue not made just by words but also by actions, expressions and it’s not easy for an anime to have a single character to remain on the camera on his own for so much time, often without having the chance to do much because he’s supposed to remain seated. So sit comfortably and watch how beautifully Ep 5 makes Kaminaga expressive.

Back to the episode we see the man looking up. The camera moves and we see what he was watching. Hum… here I think they could have done a better job because it’s actually hair but it’s a bit hard to say it at first glance.

It’s common knowledge that sticking a hair to the door is a trick to see if someone tried to get through said door. The hair is still there. Kaminaga now opens the door. The camera moves and we see that door is actually another door to enter inside the Maeda London Photo Studio (actually the ‘o’ in Photo is missing but probably they’ll correct it in the dvd version). Sort of a backdoor only on the side of the shop more than behind it.

This might lead us to think that person is Maeda, the owner of the shop.

The camera shows us that person getting in, hanging his hat, moving to unlatch his coat (it’s a trench coat, typical in London at that time period). We still haven’t seen his face and the place his dark. Then, that person moves to turn on the light. We see his hand reaching for the switch but, before he could turn it on, a strong light blinds him and he has to cover his eyes. If we’ve good memory we can now realize he’s Kaminaga, one of the D Agency boys.

The background music switches on ‘Kinan’ [危難 Danger]. When Kaminaga manages to open his eyes again he can see a man, also wearing a black trench coat, pointing his gun at him. The choice for black isn’t casual, it makes him look creepier.

The camera doesn’t bother to show us his face, it focuses on the gun pointed at Kaminaga, so as to emphasize the danger Kaminaga is in.

The guy tells him in English ‘I spy you’. Why they use an English sentence here and won’t use English later on even if it’s clear that through all the episode they’ll speak in English?

It’s to tell us that the guy pointing the gun at Kaminaga is English. Why is it relevant? Because Kaminaga entered in the Maeda shop. We could assume that guy is Maeda, and therefore a Japanese, instead the fact he speaks in English is meant to be our hint to figure out he’s English without seeing his face and without him needing to have stereotypical English traits. It’s a Japanese anime code and Japanese anime viewers, just by this, get the message.

There are no subtitles for what he says so it might be not so easy to figure out what he said for a Japanese viewer but they deliberately chose a simple sentence spoken slowly and including the word ‘spy’ that’s likely familiar to who’s watching ‘Joker Game’, so as to give Japanese viewers more chances to figure out what’s being said. If you do, you can guess the guy is an English spy and not… let’s say just a robber.

Kaminaga raises his hands slowly. He doesn’t seem impressed but then two other guys, dressed as that English guy, appear from behind him.

Why dressed the same? It’s not a problem of poor wardrobe or an uniform, it’s just a visual message to let us know they’re in the same group with that other guy. Because they seem all the same (even the little we can see of their facial features seem the same though their heights are different) we immediately assume they’re all companions.

Kaminaga looks behind himself now that he’s surrendered and starts to look more nervous. Admire the close up on Kaminaga’s face to better deliver Kaminaga’s feelings. His eyes are wide open in surprise, his eyebrows lowered in a worried frown, his mouth closed in a tight line. Kaminaga knows he’s in troubles.

The guy from before, now in Japanese, tells him that he’s under arrest for espionage. Why he’s now speaking in Japanese? Because we already got he’s an English guy, there’s no need for the anime to remark it, now we need to know what he’s saying and so they let him say it in Japanese.

I’ve heard reviews in which people complained they should have let them keep on talking in English as they’re in England. Now… first of all it’s not so easy to find Japanese voice actors good at English and willing to do all these dialogues but… well, if they had kept on speaking in English it would have meant to sub their whole dialogues for the Japanese viewers. This would have forced the Japanese viewers to devote part of their attention reading the subs instead than just watching the episode for… no good reason at all. Once that first sentence was said, Japanese viewers knew the dialogue was being done in English and, very likely, weren’t interested in hearing it all in English. So why waste time and money for something that wasn’t necessary and was detrimental to the enjoyment of the episode?

‘Kikan’ [機関 Agency] starts and we gets Kaminaga telling us the usual shortened version of the explanation of what D Agency is.

Then this ends and we get…

…the opening. Which is the same as usual. Kaminaga is the second spy that appears in it and he seems about to do something. At around the end of the opening we also see him jumping off a wall.

In short the opening, by showing him twice, did its best to help us to not forget Kaminaga’s role in Ep 1.

By the way let’s talk a moment of Kaminaga’s role in Ep 1. The main point of his role in Ep 1 was having him saying a sentence:

‘For example, if Japan lost the war, the people would promptly learn to take all their faith and put it in the antithesis of their original beliefs.’

Why that’s relevant? This sentence is fundamentally why Kaminaga, and not another spy, was chosen for this episode. In this episode Kaminaga is tempted to switch sides. Even the official info on the episode given on the Anime homepage hinted at how Kaminaga would be tempted to switch sides. The sentence Kaminaga said to Sakuma was meant to make us doubt of Kaminaga’s loyalty to Japan, was meant to let us believe that, once Kaminaga were to be put into a situation in which he would ‘lose’ (he’s betrayed by Yūki) he would easily stop serving Japan and start working for England. We weren’t supposed to forget Kaminaga and his sentence, so we could be better tricked into believing that yes, he would easily switch sides, and the opening had the job to help us remembering him (Miyoshi and Odagiri as well as what they did in Ep 1 will become important in their episodes).

Anyway the opening ends and we resume with ‘Joker Game’.

‘Shijima’ [静寂 Silence] begins to play while we’re shown a beautiful sunset on the sea.

As in all the episodes, this is the point in which we can see the title. Normally I don’t mention it, but this time it becomes relevant because the title of this episode is ‘Robinson’ and, after seeing the title, Kaminaga’s voice begins on explaining us who Robinson Crusoe is.

For us western “Robinson Crusoe”, the novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719 is a classic. In Japan though it was translated on in the ‘900.

I couldn’t find the exact year for the first translation, I know that the editor that translated it opened in 1914 but the oldest translation I could find for it was dated in 1951 and titled “Robinson Driftworm” (ロビンソン漂流記 Robinson hyōryū-ki), changed in the following translations into “Robinson Crusoe” (ロビンソン・クルーソー). Note that it could very well be that in 1939 Robinson Crusoe wasn’t translated in Japanese yet as Kaminaga is reading a copy of the book that has the title in English… which might hint at how the book Kaminaga read was an English version (the D Agency boys know English just fine so reading it in English wouldn’t be a problem for him).

Anyway all this is to point out why ‘Joker Game’ feels the need to summarize the story of Robinson Crusoe for us. Westerns know it pretty well because it’s a classic by 300 years… but for Japanese viewers is a book they started to read possibly only by 60 years and I’ve no idea if, for them, it’s a classic. So, while for us this info dump is useless, for Japanese viewers it might be necessary as many of them might be not so familiar with the story.

So guys, before claiming that Joker Game is giving us useless info, please, always remind that the intended target were Japanese viewers and they have a standard knowledge that’s different from ours. It breaks my heart to read of people complaining that Joker Game is wasting time explaining useless stuffs that we already know when Joker Game is actually doing all this because its intended target didn’t already know about all this.

Back with the story. I’m not going to retell for you Kaminaga’s summary as we already established people here is familiar with “Robinson Crusoe” story. It’s an interesting choice though to have Kaminaga summarize Robinson’s life as a sailor while the camera is showing us shoots of the sea, and then of a ship on which we can see Kaminaga is, watching the sea that was shown to us. It subtly hints at how there will be, in the future, parallels between Robinson and Kaminaga.

Anyway Kaminaga grows bored with watching the sea and goes back to his room. We see that, in it, he’s reading a book, and we can easily figure this book is “Robinson Crusoe”. Kaminaga, MEANINGFULLY, stops in his summary of “Robinson Crusoe” after mentioning the part about Robinson saving Friday. This is the core of the episode and the part we were meant to remember, that’s why Kaminaga stops here but the scene is smooth, Kaminaga is still in the middle of the book so we can assume he stops here because he hasn’t finished it yet.

By the way, it’s pretty easy to figure out that this scene is a flashback, and that Kaminaga is on his way to England here.

The camera shows us the title of the book Kaminaga is reading, ‘The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe’ (subs tells to Japanese viewers the translation of the title). As said before the title is in English, a hint that the book is in English (which increases my impression in 1939 it wasn’t translated yet).

There’s a smooth visual effect. After seeing the title of the book in a shoot that basically shows us only the book and nothing else, the book is lowered and, instead than seeing Kaminaga’s room again, we see Yūki in his office. It’s a flashback in a flashback.

It shows of when Kaminaga got the book from Yūki, the man telling him, without even looking at him (he’s reading a letter), that the book is a parting gift and then raises his hand as if to wave at him. He doesn’t look at Kaminaga in the eyes. I wonder if he feels guilty knowing which are his plans for Kaminaga’s mission and what Kaminaga will have to go through.

We go back to Kaminaga staring at the book while being on the boat.

Kaminaga puts down the book and resume with summarizing the story of “Robinson Crusoe” so no, he hadn’t stopped in the middle, he had read it all, the pause on Friday had been DELIBERATE. And the summary starts again by talking of how FRIDAY SAVED ROBINSON from solitude. Kaminaga now rushes to end Robinson’s story saying he was forced to spend 28 years on the island and wondering if the book is a message to tell him that his mission might last that long.

Kaminaga’s idea isn’t farfetched as in Ep 1 (LOL, Ep 1 was relevant in more than one way, do you notice it now?) Yūki talked of how spies might have to spend years in a foreign land in solitude (ironically that part is close to the part in which Kaminaga talked about how if Japan were defeated people would switch their beliefs… I told you that choosing Kaminaga for this episode was an amazingly good choice) so Yūki’s parting gift might be a way to tell Kaminaga just this… but well, we’ll discover actually there will be much more to it.

The transition moves from a Kaminaga wondering all this lying on a bed to present time Kaminaga currently in the Maeda shop surrendered by English spies. ‘Seion’ [静穏 Quiet] starts playing as Kaminaga is grabbed and gagged.

The camera moves on the guy who was pointing his gun at Kaminaga. And here there’s another nice visual idea. Fundamentally, instead than showing us what’s happening to Kaminaga, the camera shows us what Kaminaga is seeing. So the camera waves, which implies Kaminaga is twisting his body in attempt to escape then a black curtain start falling on the view, which implies someone is also putting a blindfold or something like that on Kaminaga. We don’t see the whole thing, but because we can get it and the camera shows us what Kaminaga was seeing we end up getting ourselves in his shoes and the scene gets even more scary as if we were the ones being blindfolded.

We’re about to experiment what a spy goes through when he’s caught. Prepare yourself!

We see a car stopped on a gate.

Someone check in then the car is allowed to continue its run inside the gate, toward a building.

Now, I’ve no idea which building that one is. It’s not the SIS headquarters as that one was in 54 Broadway and looked different so if there’s someone who’s knowledgeable about London (as I fail at this)… well, I’ll love if he were to tell me which place the one they took Kaminaga is.

Back to the story. Everything goes black…

Then the curtain rises again, showing us Kaminaga’s legs, a table and some feet under the table. We’re back into Kaminaga’s vision guys as it’s clear they had removed the blindforld. The camera moves up, implying Kaminaga raises his head and we see the owner of those feet.

This is probably his best shoot and he looks as anonymous as humanly possible, also thanks to his eyes which will always remain in the shadows.

We aren’t meant to have feelings for this guy. He’s just the interrogator and, fundamentally a plot device, Marks’ tool. This episode is Kaminaga’s episode. On him it’s placed the main focus of the story. Everyone else is just there for Kaminaga’s story to work.

When we’re shown Kaminaga. He’s still gagged, two English Military Policemen holding him with his back slightly bended. Kaminaga is looking around anxiously and looking none too pleased. As soon as they removes his gag he demands to know what’s going on and that they got the wrong man. He’s panting and his body language is very expressive. It has to be because, as said before, for a while all that we’ll have to see is Kaminaga sitting there and being interrogated. Try to think how boring it would be if he remained still and kept always the same expression. Never mentioning that, in such situation, it would feel pretty unrealistic. I wish I could show it all to you but it’ll be too many shoots so I’ll do the reverse. I’ll show you just a shot and ask you to wonder how the scene would have felt like if ‘Joker Game’ has decided instead to leave Kaminaga in that same position with that same expression. Boring, right?

The interrogator apologizes for the rough treatment and we can see from Kaminaga’s body language he’s calming down a bit. He seats more comfortably, he’s not pushed toward the interrogator as before. A gold star to his voice actor as well as Kaminaga’s voice is also well reflecting his status and he’s still panting.

Kaminaga is asked who he is so he introduces himself as Izawa Kazuo, a photographer in Maeda London Photo Studio (remember? The place in which he was captured) in Oxford street. Now, even who is totally unfamiliar with London like me probably had heard of Oxford Street so I guess it’s a good thing for Japanese viewers as well that Kaminaga’s shop is in a place with a familiar name.

The interrogator seems friendly, Kaminaga seems to be calming down. He mentions going to the pub near Kaminaga’s shot to drink Stouts (at the time the term meant either strong beer or strong porter [dark beer] while now is generally used to refer only to porters) and we can see Kaminaga relaxing more, attempting a smile and saying he too goes there to drink.

The interrogator gently asks him if Kaminaga knows why he was brought here. Kaminaga looks first surprised then lowers his gaze and looks elsewhere as he claims he has no idea. The interrogator tells him he’s suspected to be a spy. Admire again the many changes in Kaminaga’s expression and body posture. You could do a set of emoticons just with this episode’s Kaminaga and would probably cover most of the emotions available if not all.

Also ‘Tōryaku’ [韜略 River] starts being played in the background.

Anyway Kaminaga first acts surprised then says it’s ridicule (have I mentioned how good is his voice actor at switching tones?). The interrogator isn’t impressed. Kaminaga lowers his head and seems a bit desperate when he claims he’s just a photographer and they could ask his uncle to support his claim. We know Kaminaga is a spy but Kaminaga is doing such a good work we could forget about it. He really seems a man who has realized he’s in deep troubles but is innocent and he’s sort of trying to find a way out.

Photos are tossed in front of Kaminaga and it turns out they had been observing him for two weeks.

Hum… in the photos there’s Kaminaga… but very little is visible of who might be with him so they don’t seem very compromising photos. However the interrogator says they keep Kaminaga under surveillance for two weeks and saw him meeting up with German spies and member of the British Union of Fascists, which they find an odd company for a mere photographer. Well, personally I wish I could see those guys in the photos as everyone who’s not Kaminaga is hardly visible in them but let’s let it slide. Those people aren’t important in the story, after all so maybe this is exactly what her lack of visibility is subtly trying to tell us.

Kaminaga insists he doesn’t get what he’s saying and that he hadn’t even been in London for a month… in short he was in London by around three weeks… which loosely hints at how, if the SIS began to immediately keep an eye on him two weeks ago, in short around a week after he arrived, it might be not because he made a mistake and made himself suspicious but because someone tattled him out.

Kaminaga insists on his version. The camera does a close up on him but… moves slightly. It’s a good idea for many ways. First of all still shoots are boring. If the camera were to remain still nothing would move as we can’t even see Kaminaga’s mouth as he’s speaking. Second, the… waving of the camera gives us the subtle impression it’s Kaminaga’s world that’s waving.

As Kaminaga professes his innocence the interrogator says ‘very well’ which causes Kaminaga to raise his head with a vaguely hopeful, vaguely surprised expression. I’ve already said it many times but just admire the work they do with Kaminaga’s expressions and movements in this episode as he’s interrogated. He’s really the focus of the story.

The interrogator crushes his hope claiming they’ll only take a break and this will be a long day and Kaminaga lowers his head defeated. The shoot is angled in such way that it seems almost as if he’s ‘disappearing’ in the table.

And now beware. The interrogator tells him he can go to the toilet. The Military Policemen (they’re two) raise him.

As ‘Suiri’ [推理 Reasoning] starts playing we see Kaminaga walking through a corridor following one of them. The camera is careful to show us he’s passing in front of a room with an open door. Inside it, men are discussing on where to send more men and, on the wall, a map of the place is hung, in a position that makes it perfectly visible from the door. The camera makes a close up on it and then on Kaminaga’s eye, discretely looking at it, so that we know that he too noticed it. Once they pass that door everything blur and goes dark as the scene changes.

Now… Joker Game is a story that asks you to pay attention to subtle details. Yet it slammed in our face a map of the place Kaminaga is in. It did more than slam it in our face. It slammed it in Kaminaga’s face. The open door, the people talking of what could be useful for a spy to hear so as to attract his attention just in case he wasn’t being careful, the map in plain view… We don’t need to be an amazing D Agency spy, we would have noticed the map as well.

Of course, after hearing people speaking low of the Military Police in Ep 1 & 2, one might think those guys are just careless morons. The hero managing to catch a glimpse of the map because some moron let it in plain view is an often used cliché of action movies. We might not pay attention to how, fundamentally, all that the map was missing was a giant neon sign saying ‘look here’ and this is suspicious per se. We’re losing sight of a detail, we’re being tricked by Joker Game because we let ourselves blind by movie clichés, like Sakuma in Ep 1 & 2 was blinded by his own faith in the emperor. And Kaminaga is letting himself be blinded as well, not by movie clichés, as he’s not genre aware, but by his own confidence. These people are morons, he’s a super smart spy, of course they will make a mistake.

In itself it’s good we will meet Marks only later on in the anime (in the novel Kaminaga met Marks almost immediately). It makes easy for us to think that the people there are all morons if we don’t know there’s also an amazing guy in the place orchestrating all this.

Kaminaga is forced to sit down. The MP are rough with him. He seems worn out. It’s likely our clue that this has been lasting for more than around two minutes (the time the previous scene lasted) plus the time for a break. Otherwise it would be odd for him to be so worn out (though yes, he never went to sleep). They point an extra light to Kaminaga, blinding him (I love how they made it! It almost blinded myself as well!).

Kaminaga is roughly pushed down on the table as he’s told the interrogation will continue as ‘Kōsoku’ [拘束 Restraint] starts playing in the background.

Now since I met people who had no idea on why the blinding light is used in interrogations, well, I’ll tell you this is a mean to cause extreme sensory discomfort. It’s fundamentally a ‘tame’ form of torture that wears you down and makes harder for you to lie convincingly. It seems that keeping the victim in a poorly light place and then blinding him and yelling at him he should confess or similar things was also used as a method of torture as it increases the sense of fear in the victim and makes easier for him to end up on speaking the truth.

So, while it might seem not so terrible, in the long run this becomes a way to torment the person you’re interrogating, same as holding Kaminaga still in an uncomfortable position or being rough to him or letting him get little sleep.

As the interrogator resumes questioning Kaminaga we see that someone is watching what’s happening, and even having it recorded on a camera. We’re not told who he is but, to refresh everyone’s memory, I’ll tell you that’s Lieutenant Colonel Marks, the spy master of the English service.

The anime implies how the interrogation method is affecting Kaminaga while still taking care to be discreet enough not to scare impressive souls. The camera shows us Kaminaga having troubles to keep his eyes open against the strong light…

…the interrogator’s mouth as he speak (do you notice his teeth? Remember the matter about teeth and psychological threatening perception?).

We don’t hear what he says as the audio is replaced by the musical background but from the way he opens his mouth we can figure he’s being loud, probably yelling, which is another way of tormenting someone who’s being interrogated. Kaminaga seems always more fatigued and then we see a hand being slammed down. They’re probably threatening him… and Kaminaga’s head falls down and all turns black, a hint that Kaminaga might have fainted.

The next scene opens again with Kaminaga being carried in the interrogation room by two policemen. His back is bent and he seems fatigued. In the anime it’s unclear but the novel tells us he had to go through a week of this. When he sits down he can’t stand straight, his back is still bent and his head lowered as if it’s too much effort to keep it raised. We see someone walking close to him holding a red book and when we see Kaminaga’s face his eyes are half closed and there’s sweat on his forehead. He might have just arrived there but he’s already worn out.

The one who just arrived asks him if he knows what’s the red book (the title says it’s the ‘Army intelligence codebook volume 3’). Kaminaga gives it a quick look then shakes his head slightly, evidently too worn out to speak. Again, the whole scene so far is handled by Kaminaga, the focus all on him. The other (who’s no one else but Marks) stand but we can’t see his face just his legs. So far he’s for us still a non character, somewhere who exists, like the MP around Kaminaga but that had no real identity. It’s his voice actor who starts to help us forming an impression of him. His voice his smooth, calm. He claims he envies Yūki for having such good subordinates.

I guess the subtle implication is that Kaminaga did so good that Marks decided to take the whole thing in his hands (it seems in the novel he immediately did so). Kaminaga shows surprise at this and then the camera moves on Marks and ‘Senpuku’ [潜伏 Latent] begins playing. It’s in this moment in which Marks is going to become the other protagonist of this story.

Marks’ character design is ugly. While the scar on his face is something he had in the novel as well, even Miwa Shiro is aware his face resembles a light bulb and joked about it in his twitter posts.

It’s ugly because he must clearly look as the scary, bad guy, the adversary in our eyes and the more creepy he is (and he’s rather creepy if I can say so), the more the tension gets raised but, I wonder, if the fact he looks like a light bulb was meant as a visual foreshadowing that this man is goddamn bright, a match for Yūki. It’s also so memorable because, even though Marks won’t show up a lot, we’re supposed to remember him as we’ll see a glimpse of him in Ep 10 as well. We’ve to remember this guy and ‘Joker Game’ is making its best to make this easy.

Kaminaga’s thoughts introduce us to the guy. He tells us his name and rank as well as his job. He’s the British service spymaster.

Marks says the time is up and they can’t wait any longer. I’m not 100% sure because I’m working with the subs here but, by his tone and by the wording used in the subs he seems to use a polite speech. Anyway a small box is offered to Marks by a Military Policeman and inside it we see a syringe and a vial. Marks informs us that is the last truth serum they’ve developed. Now, we can’t fully read the name on the vial, what we can read is just:

-ANE ALKALOID -OMBINATI- T-T/35 -perimental drug -of medical purpo- -de in C-bra-

If we make a wild guess we can assume that what’s fully written on the vial is:

TROPANE ALKALOID COMBINATIN t-t/35 Sperimental drug fof medical purposes Made in C-bra- (sorry, no idea where it’s made…)

Now a tropane alkaloid used at the time as truth serum was scopolamine, later replaced by barbiturates like Sodium amytal and pentothal (the truth serum usually used in spy movies…). Anyway, as all these names might not tell you much let’s try to break it down.

First of all a truth serum isn’t the magical recipe that forces you to tell the truth. The scopolamine was a drug that more or less put people into a kind of "twilight sleep" which caused people to speak extremely openly about things they normally would be very inhibited about.

As Marks says that’s their new truth serum, I’m not sure if it’s still scopolamine as scopolamine is the oldest truth serum which used tropane alkaloids and was dropped early on due to the side effects, among which are hallucinations, disturbed perception, somnolence, and physiological phenomena such as headache, rapid heart, and blurred vision, which distract the subject from the central purpose of the interview.

Still Scopolamine was replaced by barbiturates DURING WW2 and by the time this episode takes place WW2 has just started so Scopolamine should be still in use. Maybe Marks is just using an improved version of it or some sort of improved FICTIONAL version of it.

Back to the episode Marks claim that the ‘truth serum’ will tell them much more about Kaminaga than any amount of torture.

Kaminaga’s expression changes from surprised into a scared one as he sees the syringe.

The Military Policemen hold him down forcefully and raises one of Kaminaga’s sleeves. Marks, calm and smiling, preparing himself to do the injection, tells Kaminaga not to worry and that they know how capable and loyal he is before bending down on him. The voice actor well expresses how Kaminaga is scared even though he’s just making sounds of distress.

Marks’ image is replaced by Yūki’s as it looks like it’s Yūki who’s about to inject something in Kaminaga.

The most likely implication is that Yūki also had used truth serum on Kaminaga.

Meanwhile the camera focuses only on Kaminaga’s dilated eyes. It’s just by watching them that we understand when Marks started to inject the drug into Kaminaga and Kaminaga started to be affected by it and losing consciousness. Again, this episode uses Kaminaga’s body language in a scene that fundamentally has him still and restrained to tell us what’s going on. I’m impressed. Anyway, as Kaminaga loses consciousness everything goes black.

We then hear a voice and then, slowly the screen moves from black to showing us a recorded tape being played. The voice we’re hearing is a recorded on and, from what it’s saying we know it’s about to reveal a secret and asks to the one he’s talking with to not reveal it.

We see Kaminaga now. He’s seating limply on a chair. He’s awake but he seems out of it.

The voice asks to the one its speaking with if that person knows the Maeda London Photo studio on Oxford Street, which is the one in which Kaminaga was working. The tape is stopped. Marks’ voice asks Kaminaga if he knows to who that voice belongs to. It’s noteworthy to point out that, differently from before, Kaminaga will now remain motionless and expressionless as he’s interrogated. He speaks but that’s all. And from his stillness we get even better he’s under the effect of the drug.

Anyway as ‘Kaigi’ [懐疑 Skepticism] begins playing, Kaminaga replies it’s Sotomura Hitoshi a Japanese diplomat who just arrived in London. The tape resumes on being played. Sotomura explains how Maeda went back to Japan and then mentions his young nephew who just came to take over, in short Kaminaga. He insists on demanding the one he’s talking with won’t tell around. The person who answers him is clearly female.

Meanwhile the camera, who was on Marks, clearly visible, ‘moves backward’ to include Kaminaga as well, only Kaminaga is slightly blurry at first. Everything in the scene is meant to visually underline how Marks is in control, how he’s dominating Kaminaga... though Kaminaga will still remain the main character. He’s the one in front of the camera, after all, Marks being BEHIND him.

When Sotomura mentions the name Kaminaga is using for his mission ‘Izawa Kazuo’ and saying he’s a Japanese spy, we see Kaminaga reacting for the first time by closing his eyes and saying ‘Stop. Shut up.’ He’s clearly talking to Sotomura. Of course the tape doesn’t stop and Sotomura goes on talking about D Agency. Kaminaga asks him to stop again while the tapes goes on and the man claims only a selected few in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs even know it exists. Don’t forget this, it’s important.

Marks smiles creepily. His face is half in the shadows as he does it.

He then sits down at the interrogator’s table. The interrogator is nowhere to be seen, it seems Kaminaga and Marks are alone (though actually there are Military Policemen around as well as the interrogator). Marks asks Kaminaga if he understands the situation he’s in. Note how tables are reverse now. Marks is the main character of the scene. The camera focuses mostly on him, not on Kaminaga. He’s the ‘winner’.

Kaminaga replies he’s been sold out.

Marks posture hides his mouth, we see only his eyes. Why is that? Marks is a spymaster and what we should pay close attention to is how he’s studying Kaminaga. Marks isn’t just swallowing all Kaminaga is saying confidently, he’s still studying him. He probably knows the truth serum isn’t 100% reliable.

Anyway he asks Kaminaga if he knows who blew his cover to which Kaminaga replies Yūki. Now we’re allowed to see that Marks is smiling as he says they’re getting somewhere now, his gaze being beyond creepy.

Kaminaga is looking up, the camera is straight over him, looking down at him and moving closer as Kaminaga says: ‘use me’.

Remember what I told you at the beginning on why they picked up Kaminaga for this role? Kaminaga has been ‘defeated’ by Marks. And what Kaminaga said defeated people would do, once defeated? They would put their faith into the opposite of their beliefs. And so he does. We can assume that Kaminaga is really willing to switch sides because what he said in Ep 1 fits with him being someone who would switch sides if placed in such situation. It’s brilliant and let me remember you of something. Kaminaga said the same even in the novel… but in the novel it’s never said he’s Iwao Kazuo. In the novel we don’t know who was the spy that takes the role of Iwao Kazuo before being Iwao Kazuo. The choice of giving such role to Kaminaga is one made by the anime (no idea if they asked for input to Yanagi Kōji)… and it’s BRILLANT because it can perfectly trick us into believing that Kaminaga might consider switching sides.

Of course he won’t but, on a first watch, you don’t know and you might end up assuming he would.

Anyway Marks is happy they finally managed Kaminaga to join their ranks and Kaminaga’s reply is sort of heartbreaking as he says he has nowhere to go back to. And it’s worth remembering that Yūki too was betrayed, and he too had nowhere to go back to and yet he still went back and he still remained loyal to Japan. Yūki’s dedication to Japan is different by Sakuma’s but still impressive… and this is a good hint of how, differently from what Sakuma feared, he wouldn’t have chosen men who could switch sides.

Note how, in a way, Marks is playing the role of the good cop, compared to the previous interrogator. He never yells at Kaminaga or is hard to him, he claims he makes a most pleasing offering and he subtly remind him he was sold out by Yūki. There’s to wonder if he’s the one who subtly suggested Kaminaga that it was Yūki who sold him out as actually it’s Sotomura who did it. Yūki might not have figured out that the guy would tattle everything to Marks’ spy and might not have even talked directly to him. Maybe Sotomura knew it because someone else also tattled it out.

Back to Marks he says that the fact that Kaminaga was sold out by Yūki is the best letter of credit Kaminaga could have to get their trust and again he asks Kaminaga what the red book is.

‘Shōbi’ [焦眉 Emergency] begins playing.

The camera leaves Marks and return on Kaminaga. Kaminaga turns his head to look at the book and, this time, Kaminaga replies. Now… it wasn’t that difficult, I would have read the title on the cover and known about it as well but well, I guess the question is here because it has a deeper meaning.

As Kaminaga replies Marks, always in his ‘I’m your friend’ behaviour, motions to the previous interrogator, who leaves, and then goes near Kaminaga, rests his hand on Kaminaga’s shoulder and whisper in his ear they’ve already a task they want Kaminaga to perform. Note how Marks’ behaviour is subtly persuasive. He’s like a snake hypnotizing his prey.

Kaminaga turns slightly toward him. He’s sweaty, has dark rings around his eyes and his cheeks seems more sunken than usual thanks to the light. Anyway he doesn’t look good.

Something big is placed with a thud in front of Kaminaga, startling him. Let’s remember that, Kaminaga is drugged on the top of having had to go through a third degree for a week.

It’s a machine to send coded messages, in fact Marks tells him his first job will be to send a coded telegram to Japan. Then, kindly, informs him they’ve prepared the message and encoded it and converted to Morse code for him to send. Note how deep he is in his good cop part? He’s so ‘kind’ to Kaminaga… Kaminaga only ‘simply need to send the message using the unique keying style assigned to Kaminaga. It’s just a small job, Marks isn’t really asking much of him.

He then motions for a policeman to untie Kaminaga and that one does it. As Kaminaga doesn’t immediately start typing, Marks is fast to encourage him. He asks him what’s wrong and reminds him that a minute ago he said it himself that Yūki sold him out. Therefore he reminds him Kaminaga has no other option left. Really, this guy is manipulative as hell.

Kaminaga’s hand moves slowly, which well works to increase tension but also to express his indecision and his drugged state then everything goes black. If you were hoping Kaminaga would resist temptation… no, Kaminaga ended up sending the message.

The first thing we see next is a light match, then appears what’s around it. Marks is using that match to light his pipe. It subtly tells us his job is done. The then reads the message Kaminaga sent and hands it to the interrogator, claiming that now Kaminaga is openly one of their allies. Then instruct the Military Policeman to take him get some food. There’s to wonder if this implies Kaminaga never eat while being there.

Kaminaga is still lying limp on the table, the policeman has to grab him and pull him up. And here we will start to see that Marks is MUCH MORE than the good cop. As the policeman is pulling Kaminaga up, Marks remind him to handcuff Kaminaga. The policeman is surprised but Marks replies that, until they’ve confirmation their fake intel damaged Japan, they can’t allow him to leave. In short, Marks isn’t trusting Kaminaga one single bit. This is a HUGE hint that Marks is a cautious guy and not an overconfident one. He has tormented Kaminaga, drugged him, told him he was sold out, made him admit it, manipulated him into sending fake intel and… he still doesn’t trust Kaminaga a bit. He even instruct the policeman to not let Kaminaga out of his sight.

Really, he’s not the man who would have let a map of the place hung for everyone dragged in the interrogation room to see should the chance arise.

Kaminaga is tied, although his hands are tied in front of him and not behind his back. Remember of how I talked previously about ‘tame’ forms of torture? Forcing someone to hold his hands behind his back is also part of this. The fact that they’re tying Kaminaga’s hands in front of him now, while denoting a lack of trust, also signals they aren’t planning to torment him any longer.

There’s also something else worth to note. Before Kaminaga was always escorted by two policemen. Now it’s just one. Yet Marks doesn’t trust him. Why is that? We’ll discover it soon.

This is the moment in which the episode switched in its second part. The interrogation has ended, now it’s the time for the escape because yes, Kaminaga has merely pretended to have been defeated. If you believed for a moment he was… well, he had fooled you (though considering the story and the fact we’re only halfway through it I bet very few let themselves be fooled).

‘Suiri’ [推理 Reasoning] begins playing. It’s more relevant that it can seems as we’ve heard it being played already in this episode and that was when Kaminaga saw the map. This is Joker Game playing with our sensory memory. Hearing again this song at such a short distance is meant to cause us to remind that scene and figure, even though no one had told us anything, that Kaminaga now could try to put the knowledge of seeing a map of the place to good use.

Kaminaga and the policeman are walking. Kaminaga is ahead of him, keeping his head lowered. He stops at a crossroad in the many corridors of the place and claims he needs to go to the toilet. He’s told to go to his right but Kaminaga claims the one around the corner should be closer and moves toward it without waiting the other. The policeman follows after asking him how he knew. We don’t get to hear Kaminaga’s reply but all this is to also remind us that Kaminaga saw the map of the place and hadn’t forgotten it. The same goes for Kaminaga’s assertiveness in choosing in which toilet he wants to go. It’s our clue to figure out this is a man who’s merely pretending he was defeated but he’s actually not.

We see Kaminaga in the bathroom. When he’s washing his face he starts screaming. The policeman with him goes to look what’s wrong. Kaminaga, with a shocked face is pointing at the mirror. It’s not suspicious per se, as said before the drug injected into Kaminaga could cause hallucinations and the man might think it hasn’t worn out yet. Anyway, he asks Kaminaga what he’s saying in the mirror and Kaminaga catches this chance in which his guard is low to hit him and cause him to fall on the ground.

Hum… the sound the blow made was so strong I thought Kaminaga broke his neck but no, if he needs to tie the guy down he’s evidently still alive… and this is a good point to remember everyone that D Agency’s rule ‘Don’t die, don’t kill’ exists merely because killing in certain situations would be unprofitable, not because D Agency boys can’t kill at all. Yūki himself will throw a grenade to the enemy, when taken prisoner, which might have killed someone. Yūki isn’t above killing. He’s just not doing it his main method as instead the Army would like to do.

Compare Gamo’s actions in the novel and in the anime. Novel Gamo is a member of D Agency and has no need to kill Cho as this could raise unnecessary suspicions. Anime Gamo is a member of Wind Agency which embraces the Army’s mentality and kills Gamo. It’s out of luck that Graham doesn’t get suspicious because Cho suddenly ‘disappeared’/died.

Anyway, back to the story.

‘Tansaku’ [探索 Search] is playing and here I guess the search is for a way out.

Kaminaga explains that he wanted to go to that toilet to confirm its location. In short he wanted to make sure that the map was true and that, according to it, he was in the point he thought he was. He then begins his escape. He wants to go to the third floor, where there should be an emergency staircase from which he could get out on the storeroom rooftop and escape on the main road. Kaminaga runs, even though we see him moving in a slightly slow motion (which increases tension as well as the impression of how badly Kaminaga longs to reach the third floor), sends on the ground a military policeman and causes him to faint and, when he says that right around that corner there’s the door that will lead to freedom… he reaches a dead-end.

It’s meaningful how they had him remark the way out was around the corner before having him turn the corner. It has increased our expectations as well and so our disappointment when there’s no way out.

Kaminaga even feels the need to go rest his hand against the wall and push, as if he can’t believe there’s no way out as he asks himself ‘why?’…

…and here he realizes the truth. He was against Marks, who’s also a genius spymaster. The map placed there in full view… well, that was a trap to check Kaminaga’s loyalty. This was way faster than wait if Japan would be damaged by Kaminaga’s fake intelligence and way safer. In fact, that result would be affected by many variants, Japan might not decide to trust Kaminaga’s intelligence for its own reasons or something could get in the way, or the opposite could be true, Japan can pretend to trust in Kaminaga’s intelligence so the English will believe in him and then Japan can use him as a double spy.

In this way instead… Marks can check immediately Kaminaga’s loyalty and with no harm whatsoever. Marks set up things so that Kaminaga could have the chance to escape, even assigning to him only one guard, knowing that Kaminaga would be tricked into escaping in a dead-end and therefore, if he were to try to escape, Marks would catch him back soon enough.

A fine trap and Kaminaga should have expected it considering he was working against the British SIS spymaster… but Kaminaga, like many D Agency boys, was overconfident, undervalued Marks and fell right into his trap. Marks would have never let him see that map if it would have lead him out of the place. Kaminaga could have figured it out and we as well.

Can I be cruel and laugh at the fine irony of all this? In Ep 1 & 2 the boys made fun of Sakuma who, at first, wasn’t capable to see beyond the beliefs that had been taught to him… and here we’ve Kaminaga who is ‘blind’ to an obvious trap Marks, the English genius spymaster set up for him.

Well, Miyoshi will have it worse. He had Sakuma believe he would have to stab himself… and Karma will come to bite back Miyoshi by having him die due to stabbing. ‘Joker Game’ has a fine sense of irony. Let’s remember also Odagiri… who tried to help Sakuma to understand how spies work… only to figure out in the end that he’s also not suited to be a spy. Karma, indeed.

Meanwhile the Military Police realized that Kaminaga escaped and they’re closing in on him. They know where he should be so it’s not hard work for them to converge on him. Before they can reach the floor Kaminaga is in though, as ‘Kinan’ [危難 Danger] starts playing, Kaminaga notices the symbol of the planet Venus drawn on a corner of a door…

…and realizes something.

The scene switches. The Military Police is on Kaminaga’s floor. They know he’s trapped. They reach the corridor in which Kaminaga ran. Can I mention again I love the cure in the details that Joker Game has? Have you noticed how the wallpaper is ripped on some points? It would have been easier to keep it whole but it being ripped gives it a touch of realism.

A Military Policeman gets into the corridor and goes straight at the door Kaminaga was observing, demanding for him to come out. He opens the door…

…but, at the request of one of his companions demanding to know if he found him he places something down and claims he’s not there.

Did Kaminaga manage to escape? No, he’s there.

The soldier lied on purpose. We’ll discover why later.

The Military Police regroup complaining Kaminaga has disappeared. Marks joins them. They tell him Kaminaga has disappeared. Marks informs them that, since the floors below are completely secured, they’ll continue secure the following floors, a hint he thinks Kaminaga managed to escape on the floors above them. Likely he thinks he can’t escape from them, as jumping down from the fourth floor or higher would probably kill him so Marks feels he’s still technically in control. Kaminaga should be somewhere inside. If he’s not on the third floor he should be above it.

‘Yūki’ [結城 Yūki] begins playing.

And now, we see what the soldier left in the room in which Kaminaga was in, a map and some keys…

…while Kaminaga explains us what happened. Remember ‘Robinson Crusoe’ the book Yūki gave him and that gives the title to the episode? Robinson, who kept on acting as an Englishman even when on a desert island is the perfect allegory for a spy in an enemy country that has to keep on acting a part. As he says so Kaminaga takes what the soldier left him and goes on explaining. Remember how when he narrated the story of Robinson Crusoe previously the episode tried to put a subtle emphasis on Friday? How Robinson saved Friday?

The camera shows us the soldier who pretended not to see him now. Kaminaga claims this guy probably normally works as a soldier of his majesty the queen and activates only when the SIS captures a Japanese spy. Kaminaga says he’s a ‘sleeping spy’, a ‘sleeper’ who goes under the codename of ‘Friday’ which is represented by the astronomical sign of Venus.

Why is Venus the planet for Friday? It might be not so obvious to who doesn’t know from where the word Friday comes but the Romans called Friday the dies Veneris, in short, the day of Venus, the goddess of beauty. In English the goddess Venus was associated with the goddess Frigg. In short for them the ‘die Veneris’ translated in ‘Frigg’s day’. Do a little twisting that always happens as time goes by and while Italians end up with ‘Venerdì’, English people end up with ‘Friday’, both supposed to mean ‘day of Venus’. From here to connecting the day dedicated to Venus with the planet dedicated to Venus I guess the process is easy enough.

Now… as we see Kaminaga escape, Kaminaga goes on with his exposition. So we learn that while Kaminaga knows that sleeping spies exist, he had no idea that ‘Friday’ existed as Yūki never mentioned it so that Kaminaga would never be able to confess his existence. In short, it was done to protect Friday (I guess Yūki too didn’t trust Kaminaga up to this point…). He however handed him ‘Robinson Crusoe’ so that Kaminaga could figure out things should he need Friday’s help. In short Yūki was planning ahead of Marks.

We next see again the scene of Yūki giving an injection to Kaminaga, only here we hear what he says. He asks the students to split their consciousness in multiple levels so that information that the enemy can have stay at the top level while what he can’t have stays at the bottom of it.

Now… I wish they had explained things better because yes, the memory has various layers and what Yūki talks about seems akin to a mix up between suppressed memories and repressed memories.

Just so you know in VERY SIMPLE TERMS…

Suppressed memories are part of our conscious experience and are usually unpleasant memories we deliberately kept out of consciousness because they are painful, disgusting, shameful, or stressful. Since we do not want them to disturb our current life, we make a conscious decision not to think about them, however, if asked about them, they are readily available to consciousness and are recognized as personal history. In short they aren’t so hard to recover as Yūki makes them look.

Repressed memories are memories suppressed beyond the realm of conscious awareness and are normally almost exclusively relate to traumas of unbearable pain, fear, or disgust, whose repression is usually caused by torture, threat of severe personal harm, interference with the most fundamental biological needs, and sexual abuse. Those are normally not accessible to consciousness even after long questioning and providing stimulation with pictures, sounds, or written documents of the repressed events. So the problem here is that it would be that Kaminaga wouldn’t be able to recover them himself unless he is given an ‘access code’.

What Yūki is asking to the boys is to consciously create suppressed memories that are so ‘suppressed’ that reach a level akin to ‘repressed memories’… though they aren’t repressed otherwise the boys wouldn’t be able to retrieve them. While I guess this can more or less be done we stumble into a problem with what Kaminaga says next. But let’s go with order.

Kaminaga explains that when he sent the false information he related the message verbatim, with no errors. This too was part of a plan as a perfectly keyed coded message sent to D Agency signals that actually Kaminaga is experiencing troubles, that he has been captured and in need of help. So far so good and also amazingly smart. Kaminaga was looking like he was obeying to Marks and betraying Japan when actually he was sending an S.O.S. to it.

Now however Kaminaga says that this info is stored so deep in his consciousness he would have to be killed before anyone could extract it and this seems a bit more shaky because, if the memory isn’t a repressed one it can be retrieved… and even repressed memories can be retrieved nowadays (though it’s much more complicate) and this doesn’t cause the death of the person from which you retrieve them.

However what Kaminaga says in itself is not impossible if we assume that the implications are that:

- Kaminaga wouldn’t reveal that info under any type of physical torture. If they were to keep on torturing him despite him remaining in silence the whole thing would only end with Kaminaga’s death. People who died under torture without confessing anything existed, hence this isn’t impossible.

- Kaminaga also has strong tolerance to the truth serum. People are affected by it differently with some being more affected and some being less affected. In order for the truth serum to work on Kaminaga you should overdose him as otherwise he can handle it. Remember, the truth serum is fundamentally a drug. Overdosing Kaminaga could/would lead to Kaminaga’s death. Hence Kaminaga assumes he’ll die before speaking.

In the novel and in the manga Kaminaga was capable to lie while under the truth serum. This might be seen as a hint his tolerance is strong enough he can remain in control of himself when given it enough to make up elaborate lies.

So it’s not so much just a matter of layers of consciousness but also of Kaminaga’s resistance to physical torture and drugs. Layers of consciousness just make harder for him to slip up.

However, in regard to the truth serum, this is all in theory. When Yūki tested truth serums on Kaminaga he likely stopped before it could become fatal and Marks is trying the latest truth serum developed on him. The effects of truth serum also are conditioned by other factors. So, unless Kaminaga is so highly immune to drugs in general (because Marks might have used a different type of drug than the ones Yūki tested on Kaminaga) it’s safe enough to assume not even overdosing him with whatever type of drug would make him talk, we can’t guess for sure the outcome injecting ‘truth serum’ would have on him.

But well, maybe this is Kaminaga’s overconfidence speaking… or it’s just anime talk to make Kaminaga look cooler.

Back to the anime we go.

While Kaminaga explains all this he manages to get out of the place and reach a parked car. He knocks on the window and says what’s supposed to be the sort of random sentence that identifies him to allies. The one in the car gives him the appropriate response that identifies him as well as someone sent to retrieve Kaminaga. Kaminaga gets in the car and the two of them leaves.

We see a flashback of Yūki giving a lessons to the D Agency students, telling them that when an enemy captures a spy he wants to use it to send false intel to the enemy so that’s the best moment to get a chance for the spy to escape. In short Kaminaga has been waiting for Marks to ask him to send intel back home right from day one. He never meant to betray Japan, he just played that mummery to have a chance to ask for help. So in a way he sort of remained in control… at least till he didn’t fall on Marks’ trap.

As Kaminaga is being carried away by the car he explains us what spurred all that. ‘Yogiri’ [夜霧 Night fog] the music with which this episode started begins playing as if, with Kaminaga’s explanation, we’re coming to a full circle.

Three months ago they learnt that confidential Army intel was being leaked to the British due to a diplomat who wasn’t encoding his communications. The Army protested but couldn’t connect the leak to the diplomat so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs turned a deaf ear to the army.

So that’s Yūki’s plan. He had Kaminaga being captured due to a diplomat leaking his identity so that Foreign Affairs would be clearly put at fault and would have to obey to the Army request. After all Kaminaga can testify he heard Sotomura giving off his name and other info as Marks kindly let him hear the tape.

As he thinks all this Kaminaga briefly reads a newspaper. We can see the date, it’s November 16. World war is already ongoing but it was in a ‘quiet state’. Poland had been invaded by Germany and Russia but England, France and Germany weren’t seriously fighting each other yet. It’s what was called the Phoney War or, and we can see this name quoted on Kaminaga’s newspaper, Twilight War.

Anyway Kaminaga doesn’t really spend much time watching the newspaper (though he’s supposed to be a fast reader so this might not mean much) and put it down, wondering where he’ll end up next before closing his eyes, maybe trying to fall asleep.

In the meantime we see that his car is travelling toward a boat, a hint that Kaminaga is about to leave London and, likely, England.

Ending theme.

This is possibly one of the best episodes of Joker Game, both for the storytelling choice as it turned something that was meant to be visually boring (a man seated and held still being interrogated) into something expressive and intriguing, put in a certain amount of actions and a lot of twists. It also chose wonderfully which spy had to interpret it.

Sure, some parts in it were a bit blurry. I’ve mentioned the whole thing about split consciousness and Kaminaga’s confidence he’ll die before speaking. We can continue with how the place in which Kaminaga was restrained has surprisingly few men walking through it. Sure, maybe they were all busy searching for Kaminaga elsewhere but well, it feels a bit hazardous. Some complains about the Sleeper fundamentally being a plot device… and it’s true. He doesn’t have a real characterization nor a name. It’s also true though that sleeping spies existed, that it wasn’t relevant for us to get emotionally attached to the sleeper who, for us, looks so much like the other English military policemen we’ve hard time recognizing him from the others more than we would have had recognizing Yūki’s students the first time (at least they had suit of different colours, the sleeper is dressed EXACTLY the same as the other Military Policemen and doesn’t seem to have distinguishable features) so this is part of the plan and isn’t meant to be a lack in the plot. The sleeper is one of Yūki’s tools, nothing more. This is Kaminaga’s episode, after all. Even the interrogator was nothing more than Marks’ tool, and even if we saw closed up of his face, it hardly made an impression. In a way Marks had to have such noticeable features exactly because he had to manage to stand out despite having a relatively small role.

Yes, Marks’ look is grotesque but I think the idea is that Marks has to look scary, creepy and he does. Wonderfully. He’s also rather good at his work, personally I think he’s Yūki’s best adversary.

So yes, I loved this episode.

And this was Joker Game Ep 5. Thank you to everyone who was brave and patient enough to sit through my long, long ramblings for the whole episode. I hope other people will feel like sharing what they had observed while watching it!

#Joker Game #Kaminaga #Yuuki #Howard Marks #Sleeper #JG Robinson #Joker Game Random Thoughts #Joker Game ReWatching #Joker Game Anime #Izawa Kazuo

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frontproofmedia · 5 years ago

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The Fighter of the Decade 2010-2019: Part 2: Floyd Mayweather Jr.

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By Hector Franco | Senior Writer and Editor

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Published: January 07, 2020

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“If we should be blessed by some great reward, such as fame or fortune, it’s the fruit of a seed planted by us in the past.” – Bodhidharma

Throughout the last ten years, there may have been fighters that participated in more fights, won more world titles; however, nobody’s name has brought more attention to the sport of boxing than Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. (50-0, 27 KOs).

Before the start of the decade in 2010, Mayweather retired in 2008 with a first-ballot Hall-of-Fame career as one of the best defensive boxers in the history of boxing.

He was just the fourth fighter to win titles in five weight classes joining Thomas Hearns, Ray Leonard, and Oscar De La Hoya.

Last decade that ran from 2000 through 2009, Mayweather was one of the finalists for the Boxing Writer’s Association of America (BWAA) Joe Louis Fighter of the Decade award along with current WBA Welterweight champion, Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao ended up receiving the award that started in the 1990s with the first recipient, Roy Jones Jr.

During most of the 2000s, Mayweather was still the “Pretty Boy” version of his persona. Once he began fighting on Pay-Per-View, the man known as Money Mayweather was born.

Most famously during the build-up with his fight against Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.

Following a stoppage victory over then-undefeated British champion Ricky Hatton in December 2007, Mayweather decided to retire for the first time.

This retirement may have cost Mayweather the Joe Louis award in the 2000s as Pacquiao went on to win the Fighter of the Year award in 2006, 2008, and 2009.

While the “Pretty Boy” version of Mayweather was prominent during the 2000s, the 2010s were all bout “Money.”

From the beginning to the end of the decade, Mayweather’s name was synonymous with boxing.

Whether the conversation was negative or positive, Mayweather was always in the headlines.

From the moment the clock struck 12:01 am on January 1, 2010, the main storyline in boxing surrounded a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather.

Mayweather and Pacquiao did eventually step inside the ring to face each other in 2015, but Pacquiao was just one part of the many accomplishments Mayweather achieved in the decade.

At the start of the decade in 2010, when a fight could not be agreed upon between Mayweather and Pacquiao, Mayweather moved on to face future Hall-of-Famer, “Sugar” Shane Mosley.

Mosley was considered a top-five Welterweight at the time, having scored an impressive stoppage over Mexico’s Antonio Margarito in the best performance of his career since his first bout with Oscar De La Hoya.

When the two men met in May 2010, Mosley was facing over a year of inactivity with his last bout-taking place in January 2009 against Margarito.

Mayweather came out of retirement in the fall of 2009 when he faced Juan Manuel Marquez and won a dominant unanimous decision.

Fans and pundits demanded a fight with Pacquiao or against a top Welterweight from Mayweather. Mosley fit that bill and then some.

While Mayweather-Mosley was a non-title fight, the winner, along with Pacquiao, would be considered the best Welterweight in boxing.

Looking back at Mayweather’s career, he has been the prohibitive favorite in each bout since facing Deigo Corrales in 2001.

When a fighter is always the favorite, fans and pundits tend to underrate their victories.

The expectations surrounding Mayweather are unmatched by any other fighter, as even losing a round or two can be detrimental in how fans view his dominance.

Besides a rough second round where Mosley hurt Mayweather with a pair of right hands that had the Michigan native on wobbly legs, Mayweather largely dominated Mosley using counter right hands to make the California fighter hesitant and ineffective.

Throughout his career, Mayweather has only been officially knocked down once.

This took place against Carlos Hernandez in the Super Featherweight division in 2001 when Mayweather hurt his right hand after landing a punch causing him to touch his glove to the canvas in pain.

Former Super Lightweight and Welterweight champion Zab Judah also landed a straight left hand that caused Mayweather’s glove to touch the canvas when they fought in April 2006, but the referee did not count the knockdown.

It is a testament to not only Mayweather’s toughness but also his unmatched focus inside the squared circle to never have suffered a real damaging knockdown while having fought in three separate decades.

Mayweather followed his bout with Mosley with two of the most exciting bouts of his career.

In the fall of 2011, Mayweather challenged Victor Ortiz for the WBC Welterweight title. This would be Mayweather’s first world title bout since facing Ricky Hatton at the end of 2007.

Ortiz was coming off of what would end up becoming the Fight of the Year for 2011 when he defeated Andre Berto for the WBC Welterweight title in a fight that featured multiple knockdowns.

The gap in experience and, more importantly, ring intelligence played a significant role in Mayweather’s bout with Ortiz.

The five-division champion's elite defense frustrated Ortiz to the point that he started using his head as a weapon.

In the fourth round, Ortiz’s inability to land consistently on Mayweather led to him ramming his head into the Michigan native’s mouth in one of the worst fouls the sport has ever seen.

Ortiz was overly apologetic, much like a bully who knows he is about to get his comeuppance.

Referee Joe Cortez took a point away from Ortiz for the head-butt and waved both fighters in to continue the match.

While Ortiz continued to apologize, Mayweather would have no more of the bi-polar Ortiz and landed a one-two combination that sent him to the canvas unable to beat the referee’s 10 count.

This began Mayweather’s second reign as the WBC Welterweight champion.

The controversial ending, along with Mayweather’s hilarious argument with former HBO commentator Larry Merchant in his post-fight interview, kept casual and non-casual boxing fans talking for months.

Many of Mayweather’s highest-grossing bouts took place in the Super-Welterweight division.

He would once again venture to the weight class when he took on Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto for the WBA Super Welterweight crown in May 2012.

In what would be considered Mayweather’s most entertaining bout of the decade, Cotto was able to win rounds against Mayweather using his jab and making a commitment to go the body.

Mayweather would pull away with the victory in the championship rounds as Cotto seemed to slow down while Mayweather only got sharper.

Mayweather was awarded a unanimous decision victory over Cotto, and he now held the WBC Welterweight and WBA Super Welterweight titles.

In 2013, Mayweather would enter the Showtime era of his career as he signed an unprecedented exclusive deal with the network to broadcast his fights.

For the first time since 2007, he would be fighting more than just once a year.

The first opponent Mayweather faced was one of the least interesting of his opponents in the decade as he took on California’s Robert “Ghost” Guerrero for his WBC Welterweight title.

For most of the match, Mayweather was on cruise control controlling every aspect of the fight.

Mayweather would successfully defend his WBC Welterweight title against Guerrero via unanimous decision.

Possibly Mayweather’s most significant victory of the decade took place next as he took on Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in September 2013.

Alvarez at the time was 23 years of age, and the heir apparent as the next boxing icon from Mexico.

Mayweather would face Alvarez in the Super-Welterweight division and instituted a catchweight for the bout of 152 pounds.

The match would be for Alvarez’s WBC Super Welterweight title and Mayweather’s WBA Super Welterweight title.

In what many will argue as Mayweather’s best and most virtuoso performance of the decade, he was able to dominate Alvarez for a vast majority of the 12 rounds, winning a majority decision victory.

The win for Mayweather established him as a unified champion at Super Welterweight, along with later being awarded the Fighter of the Year award in 2013 by the BWAA and ESPN.

Mayweather’s victory over Alvarez is one of the best by any fighter in the entire decade. One can look at the catchweight and Alvarez’s age to criticize the win. However, as of now, it still stands as the only official loss of the young Mexican’s career.

Following the fight with Alvarez, Mayweather moved back down to Welterweight to take on Argentinean power puncher, Marcos Maidana, in a Welterweight unification title bout.

Along with Maidana’s vaunted punching power, the Argentinean also had an unwavering amount of fearlessness, leaving him unintimidated by any opponent.

Needless to say, Maidana did not shrink inside the ring against Mayweather when they first met in May 2014.

From the opening bell, Maidana attacked Mayweather with relentless barrages, including some illegal punches to the back of the head and below the waistline.

Despite Maidana’s efforts, Mayweather remained calm and poised.

Over the second half of the bout, Mayweather took over as Maidana began to slow down from his effort in the first six rounds.

After 12 rounds, it was clear that Mayweather had participated in one of the closest and toughest fights of his career.

Mayweather won a majority decision with two of the three judges scoring in his favor, and the final judge scoring the match a draw.

The bout was close enough and, more importantly, exciting enough to warrant a rematch.

The first bout with Maidana made Mayweather a two-division unified champion as he now held the WBA/WBC Welterweight and Super-Welterweight titles.

In the rematch with Maidana, Mayweather also put on the line his WBC Super Welterweight title along with both of his Welterweight titles.

Unfortunately, the rematch was far less exciting and competitive than the first encounter.

Mayweather outsmarted Maidana through most of the fight, knowing when to engage and when to clinch the Argentinean to stop him from mounting any effective attacks.

Mayweather won a clear and wide unanimous decision to put matters to rest with Maidana.

After five years of anticipation and five years of excuses, politics, and a massive amount of debating between fans, the fight that everybody was asking for finally came to fruition.

On May 2, 2015, Mayweather faced his greatest contemporary rival in Manny Pacquiao for Welterweight and pound-for-pound supremacy.

Before the bout, they was a large contingency of fans and pundits that felt the bout was five years too late and that Pacquiao was no longer in his prime or the same fighter he was just a few years before.

Despite any negativity put on the event with the lackluster undercard, the high priced $100 PPV or the lack of tickets made available to the general public; nothing would stop the behemoth that was Mayweather-Pacquiao from becoming a financial juggernaut.

Mayweather-Pacquiao would sell over $4.6 million in PPV buys and took home the highest-grossing live gate in Nevada boxing history at $72 million.

The fight itself could not live up to the lofty expectations. People expected a battle in the same vein as Holyfield-Bowe and instead received a high-level boxing chess match.

The difference between Mayweather and Pacquiao in 2015 was most evident in their footwork.

Mayweather was able to use range and proper distance to keep Pacquiao continually resetting.

The eight-division champion was unable to keep any momentum he may have explicitly garnered in the first six rounds where he had his best rounds.

After 12 rounds, Mayweather was awarded a unanimous decision in a fight that may have been closer than it may have first appeared.

With the victory, Mayweather made boxing history for holding the most world titles at one time as he held the WBA/WBO/WBC Welterweight titles and the WBA/WBC Super Welterweight titles.

Talks of a potential Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch have been a yearly occurrence since the final bell rang in Round 12.

Following the fight with Pacquiao, Mayweather would face former Welterweight champion, Andre Berto, in September 2015.

There isn’t much to be said about the bout with Berto as it was seen as the one-sided affair it would eventually become when the match was first announced.

Mayweather would announce his second retirement shortly after defeating Berto.

Like in most sports, retirements aren’t usually permanent.

Mayweather would make his return to the ring in August 2017 against Mixed Martial Arts fighter, Conor McGregor. McGregor would be making his boxing debut to face Mayweather in the Super-Welterweight division.

Unsurprisingly, Mayweather stopped McGregor in the 10th round.

The McGregor bout was a financial and professional risk for Mayweather.

He would virtually get no credit for beating a fighter making his professional boxing debut. Also, the bout was lamented by critics as more of a circus event than an actual athletic contest.

Mayweather-McGregor would go on to sell $4.4 million in PPV buys with over a $55 million live gate, putting it behind only Mayweather-Pacquiao as the highest-grossing fight in Nevada boxing history.

Mayweather would retire for the third time following the McGregor bout, leaving the sport with an undefeated record of 50-0.

Looking back at the 2010s decade, Mayweather had his hands in almost every facet of the boxing game.

Mayweather became the richest athlete of any sport in the decade, making almost $1 billion.

His shadow looms large over every pugilist in the era, as his business acumen, and matchmaking guided him to make the right fights at the right time.

He has left a template for all boxers to follow in playing the boxing game and not letting the game play him.

Mayweather’s influence in this decade cannot be understated as to how it will impact boxing for years to come.

The only fault that can be found with Mayweather in the 2010s would be that he was too inactive, having not taken a serious opponent since 2015.

The context in which the McGregor bout is viewed is important.

It is understood that it was an event and opportunity to make a vast amount of money. However, since the contest counted on Mayweather’s record, it can be criticized as the worst opponent that any of the other BWAA Fighter of the Decade nominee’s faced by a large margin.

The man known as “Money” Mayweather, however, does have two of the absolute best victories of the decade against Pacquiao and Alvarez.

Mayweather and his chief rival Pacquiao are one of the few boxers that could have been ranked as the best fighter of two separate decades.

Muhammad Ali did it in the 1960s and 1970s and Sugar Ray Robinson did the same in the 1940s and 1950s.

Whether you watched Mayweather to see him win or to see him lose, everybody was watching.

It will be unlikely that we ever see a mix of skill, talent, and box office numbers like that of Mayweather in the 2010s.

The same way, Mayweather did not need corporate sponsors to help him amass his millions; he does not need the BWAA to validate his accomplishments.

Inside or outside the ring, the numbers don’t lie, and for Floyd Mayweather Jr., the numbers were always in his favor.

(Featured Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images)

#HF #Floyd Mayweather Jr #BWAA #Boxing #Mayweather Promotions

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puclpodcast · 7 years ago

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Pokemon Catch-Up: Looking Back At Season 1

Welcome to Pokemon Catch-Up and our special post where we look back at season 1. Pokemon Catch-Up is a post series where we look back at only the most important Pokemon episodes and follow Ash along in his journey per the Pokemon Fast Track Viewing List. Today, instead of covering an episode, we’ll jump into covering the entire season and discuss how Ash progressed, pick out the more interesting parts of the season, and what we have to look forward to.

A lot of Pokemon fans hold season 1 with a certain sense of nostalgia. Many revere it and honestly, it’s for a good reason that I’ll get into later on in the article.

One thing I’ll mention before moving forward will be that I’ll cover one more season 1 episode after this article, mainly because the episode is listed as season 2 in some lists and as season 1 in others. To me, this last episode is a great teaser for season 2 and a wonderful “bonus” episode for season 1 so that’s how we’ll treat it.

Without further ado, let’s talk about the season 1

What did Ash do?

Without listing off each episode, let’s jump into what happened in the season as a whole:

Ash received his first-ever Pokemon, a feisty little Pikachu. With this companion, he traveled the Kanto region. Along his journey, Ash met MANY friends, two of whom followed him through most of the journey: Misty and Brock.

Ash also met many new Pokemon, a few of which he caught. Among his closest companions are the three Kanto starters: Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. Only Charmander evolved along the way.

Upon learning about the Pokemon League, Ash started battling gym leaders. He didn’t win each match the first time but he did beat the eight Kanto gym leaders, granting him the access to the Indigo Plateau Conference. There, Ash battled his best before losing his sixth match.

Every so often, our hero ran into his rival, a trainer by the name of Gary Oak. Gary was a fantastic trainer with a lot of ego but strength to back it up.

And in just about every episode, Ash also ran into the notorious Team Rocket who tried to steal Pokemon for their own evil purposes; however, Ash’s Pikachu blasted them into the next episode almost every single time.

“Exciting” is probably the best word I’d use to describe season 1 to everyone.

Note: we should also mention that the plot of MewTwo Strikes Back took place in season 1.

Ash’s Pokemon

Ash started out with a Pikachu, a Pikachu that hated the trainer and would not go into the ball. Spoiler alert: Pikachu never makes it into the ball. But Pikachu is not the only Pokemon Ash catches.

One thing to really point out here is that Ash has a “pattern” he follows that usually ends with Pokemon trusting him. He often screws something up, endangering the Pokemon along the way, and then he fixes it by sacrificing himself in some way. Let’s sound off real quick on all the Pokemon Ash caught.

Caterpie. Caterpie has the most heart-breaking story in season 1. It’s Ash’s first true catch. Caterpie shares its dream of becoming Butterfree with Pikachu by the moonlight on its first night with the boy. Ash helps Caterpie achieve its dreams by helping it evolve into Metapod and finally, Butterfree. It battles with heart.

However, during the episode “Bye Bye Butterfree“, Ash made the difficult choice of letting Butterfree go. I know that I, as a fan, cried during this scene and waited for Butterfree to return for several seasons before giving up. It was a heart-breaking moment and it demonstrated the deep connections with trainer and Pokemon. It also displayed Caterpie’s desire to be caught and trained.

Pidgeotto. Ash caught Pidgeotto just the next episode. The relationship between the two isn’t fully explored and so I’d say that Pidgeotto was very much a utility Pokemon for Ash. It fought hard, it got Ash out of a few jams, and it put out countless fires.

Bulbasaur. Whilst observing the Hidden Village, Ash befriended Bulbasaur who hated the trainer at first. In fact, the boy had to gain the Pokemon’s trust and even when Bulbasaur desired to accompany the hero, it requested a fair match first. Ash had to prove himself to Bulbasaur and that he would train it well. Bulbasaur was the first of the three Kanto starters that Ash caught.

Charmander. Charmander’s story is a heart-breaking one. Its original trainer abandoned it to die by telling it he’ll come back and making it stay in one place. And yes, to die! Charmander’s story is the first time we confront the idea of Pokemon death in the series. Ash and his friends obviously save it but even then, Charmander is reluctant to join Ash’s party. Again, Ash has to prove that it will take care of this abused Pokemon. The boy does so selflessly, caring less about his own team make-up and more about the Pokemon’s safety.

Charmander is the only Kanto starter that Ash evolves and it evolves all the way into a Charizard. Charizard’s own storyline is a fascinating one. In its case, Ash did not prove himself to be a worthy trainer in season 1. Charizard never follows orders or connects with Ash, even to its own detriment. It doesn’t actively want to leave, it just disrespects Ash. Charmander wasn’t enough for its trainer, and now, Ash is not enough for Charizard. The boy has to train himself harder and become a better trainer in order to gain Charizard’s respect but when will that happen?

Squirtle. Squirtle is a “bad boy” at first but through getting to know Ash, he chooses to follow Ash. In “Here Comes Squirtle Squad“, we learn more about the trainers that abandon their Pokemon. They are not “released” into the wild (in my mind) but they are simply left alone. The boy hero befriends their leader and earns Squirtle’s trust. Squirtle then joins Ash without a fight.We get a small glimpse into the dark side of the Pokemon world again. Charmander’s trainer was cruel, he told Charmander he’ll be back and never came back while Squirtle’s trainer is an unknown individual that left it outright. Ash and Squirtle develop a very close bond.

Krabby. Krabby is Ash’s seventh Pokemon and so it gets automatically transported to Oak’s lab. I think Krabby is a comic relief to some extent as it often shows up unexpectedly when Ash calls the Professor. Oak is very happy to have Krabby as a companion. It eventually evolves into the powerful Kingler during the Indigo League Conference. We don’t see much of it otherwise.

Muk. Muk joins the team somewhat reluctantly but becomes very affectionate quickly. Known for its hugs, Muk plays very well with everyone else and shows its true power during the Indigo League Conference.

A few honorable mentions. Ash had several Pokemon that temporarily joined him on his journey that he let go. I mentioned Butterfree exclusively because of its importance to Ash’s personal journey but its slot never gets permanently filled. Along the way, Ash gets to battle with Haunter and Primeape. He also catches MANY Tauros.

Ash’s Friends

Ash was off to a rough start at the beginning of the show but throughout, he became friends with many people. He gained respect of the Gym leaders, and he proved himself to not only Pokemon but to humans as well. All in all, Ash’s friendships always helped him move forward.

Misty. In the first couple of episodes, he quickly left a negative impression on Misty in particular, destroying her bike very early on. But she stuck with him and together, they became close friends. They traveled together through the entire season and they battled only once when Misty represented the Cerulean City Gym in the Water Flowers of Cerulean City.

If I recall correctly, Ash pretty much beat her before Team Rocket interrupted. And since then, she became more of a coach to Ash, advising him and guiding him through his battles. Misty had her own journey; however, we did not see much of it through the fast track viewing list. There was definitely some chemistry between the two characters but again, nothing really came of it.

Brock. Brock is still around, almost twenty seasons later. Ash and Brock first met when Ash challenged him to a battle at the Pewter City Gym where he lost at first and then Ash had to power through and win against Brock…through a technicality.

Brock’s own journey is an interesting one, too. He went from being a hardcore Gym leader to becoming a Pokemon Breeder. He cooks for the group, their Pokemon and he he heals the Pokemon, too. Just like Misty, he becomes Ash’s coach and helps him get better over time.

The trio became iconic and set up a standard for the rest of the show where Ash is usually flanked by two friends that focus on the Pokemon world without conflicting with Ash’s own journey to becoming a Pokemon master.

And while we rarely ever met other characters that Ash befriended in the Fast Track list, we did one more very important character.

Ritchie. Ritchie showed up for a handful of episodes all the way at the end but he exemplified a more refined version of Ash. A true friendly rival that could push Ash toward becoming a better trainer. Ritchie had his own Pikachu and even a Charmander. He was the perfect counterpart and when they battled, it showed where Ash excelled and where Ritchie did.

You see, Ash had powerful Pokemon including his Charizard but Ritchie had better control over his Pokemon which lead to Ritchie’s victory. Ash used cunning strategy and that’s where the trainers matched evenly.

The Rivalry

I already mentioned Ritchie and I think Ritchie is Ash’s true rival. Looking at later gens, the dual protagonist setup makes much more sense and shows up in Indigo League with Ritchie being the friendly rival whilst Gary being the unfriendly rival

Gary. Gary Oak shows up in the first episode and then pops in and out every so often. While he is very arrogant, he is also strong. I’d say he’s actually a bully but his poking and prodding of Ash gets the boy riled up enough to keep getting better.

Ash and Gary never end up having an all out epic battle you’d expect from other anime. In fact, they rarely ever clash. But Gary is always several steps ahead. When Ash is getting his eight badge, Gary already has ten. While Ash caught less than ten Pokemon, Gary had already caught dozens.

Eventually, we get some semblance of how they measure up against each other when Gary drops out a round prior to Ash at the Indigo League Conference.

Where to next?

We don’t yet know where Ash will head but he’s done with Kanto, there’s nothing left for him to do with the Indigo League Conference being over. But we should see pretty soon!

from Pokemon Catch-Up: Looking Back At Season 1

#pokemon #pucl #pokemon podcast #ORAS #nintendo #video games

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acradaunt · 7 years ago

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Saw one of those ask things around for Etrian Odyssey, and I felt like doing it, so. I think someone's supposed to ask you particular numbers first. That's dumb. I'm just gonna answer those that interest me. Which is pretty much all of them.

1. What is your Guild Name? -It's never been the same. Usually it's a compound word and/or related to the game's region. Skyquake was EOII, Riptide for the watery EOIII, Zephyr for the airship-oriented EOIV. It's Starlight in EOV, which was a really fitting coincidence.

2. Favorite class? -Chasers/Linkers/Chainers. Which, at the end of the day, are all the same thing. They're all sorts of nifty, but I think I like them the most when subpar attackers get a little something extra out of it, like a Medic with a Polar Rod or a Botanist with a Bow. The downside is you really gotta build around them, but I kinda like doing that, personally. Weirdly, I never liked Buccaneers. I also really like Runemasters. The Runes putting two contrasting functions into a single spell is an amazing idea. It saves so many Skill Points and makes them really versatile. Them also 'fixing' magic to not be painfully straightforward is worth big points, too. Shamans having 'take less damage from Fire/Ice/Volt, but also do Fire/Ice/Volt damage' was a huge black mark against them, and ultimately why I stuck with a Poison Botanist. Contrasting is cool, contradictory is not. Apart from the 10F boss, I can't think of an instance where that wouldn't be actively detrimental to you. No, I'm actually not sure if that Fire/Ice/Volt is bonus damage on top of normal damage or an affinity change. That would change everything, but I never assed myself to find out. I may be petty.

3. Favorite NPC? -Jenetta. Full stop. No contest. I guess Edie would be a diiiistant second place.

4. Favorite monster? -At this moment, gotta give it to the Sword Saurians (shame they weren't an actual race). I'm a huuuuge sucker for any enemy that makes you go 'hey, that's exactly one of our moves'. Them being an enemy chaser, well, it was pretty obvious I'd like 'em. Most commonly, this concept has shown up throughout the series on turtle/coral/crab monsters being wannabe Protectors / Hoplites / Fortresses.

5. Favorite FOE? -This probably needs more thought than I'm going to give it, but fresh off of EOV's caves, any of those three get points for puzzle design. The sound thing is a big step up from EOIV's moths only moving when there's combat. Once Atlus figured out what to do with them, the Pumpkin trio became great too. They were practically a third superboss in EOIV if you didn't handle them properly.

6. Favorite Boss? -EOV has had exceptionally good bosses so far, so this answer could certainly change, but I still gotta give it up to the Warped Saviour from EOIV. Unlike every other boss or FOE, which is one big, nasty healthbar, it changes between forms that favour multi-target attacks and single attacks. It's a fight that keeps you on your toes and adapting, but pretty much every class can find a way to contribute. Unlike almost every other superboss. Ur-Child at least gets props for one-shotting himself on Painless Counters, though. That's just hilarious.

7. Favorite Stratum? -Aethsetically, EOII's Auburn Thicket, hands down. Literally just autumn isn't much of anything, but I'm apparently a colossal sucker for that. It then probably loses all those points by being the biggest difficulty spike in the series. EOIII's Undersea Grotto and EOV's Jagged Reach get big points too. None of them have too much in the way of puzzles, though. They're also all second stratums. Weird. Hall of Darkness's final floor also deserves a huge shout-out for really seeing EOIV take the gloves off. That's probably the most synergy you'll ever see a collective group of monsters have. Having a mini-section for nearly every previous gimmick in the game is worth points, too.

8. Favorite game? -EOIII probably did the most to solidify the series, and EOIV is easily the one I'd recommend to new players, and I'm still going through EOV, but I think it's the winner here. Normally, I'm not one to go 'yay difficulty', but EOV really did nail the difficulty just right.

9. Favorite song? -EOIII's Porcelain Forest, without a doubt. EOIII's volcano deserves mention too, especially since nobody else seems to like it. I'll admit it sounds very Streets of Rage-y next to everything else.

10. Least favorite class? -The easy answer would be the classes that fundamentally don't work, like Beast and Yggdroid. But that's too easy. Probably Troubadour. They do one or two buffs, then are completely useless for the rest of a fight. At least later buff-boys like Sovereign and Dancer do it right.

12. Least favorite monster? -Any answer that isn't a Petaloid is wrong. Muskoids primarily, though. Party-wide petrification is borderline cheating. Yes, they need to be hit first for the range-increase, but make it an ambush and throw in a Hollow Magus, and, well, you can be wiped before having a single action. Stun Eryngii doing loads of damage on death is also really annoying. I'm sure EOV's final stratum will have new horrors to add to the list. ...After writing 13, I changed my answer. EOV's 1st floor doggos and EOIII's Great Lynxes being able to instantly kill anybody, even if they're blocking, have probably done plenty to turn people away from the series. They're stupidly unfair at that point, and why I'd sooner recommend EOIV over the others to a new player. At least with Baboons, it's at least sort of your fault for not being attentive enough.

13. Least favorite FOE? -Not a fan of a petrification goats, especially since you need to kill loads of them for Formaldehyde. On further thought, my answer's gotta be the Baboons from the very start of EOIV. I know more than one person who got to mining, got ambushed by not noticing that FOEs move when you mine, wiping, then promptly throwing their 3DS off a building.

14. Least favorite Boss? -In contrast to Warped Saviour, shitlord dragon is a bunch of crap. Lots of classes are nigh useless against him, and it's very much one of those 'know exactly how he works or you're screwed' fights. Weirdly, he's like a carbon-copy clone of the last sea boss from EOIII, and that wasn't half as annoying, despite having to put up with idiot NPC AIs for it.

15. Least favorite Stratum? -EOII's fifth stratum is an eyesore, even if the music's pretty good. Not a fan of the enemies, either.

16. Least favorite game? -The most honest answer would be EO2. Looking back, it's a really poorly balanced game. Like, REALLY poorly. I'm super-biased against the Untold series, because I don't feel it needs to exist, and Story mode feels six kinds of wrong for this series. Especially because I loathe every party choice in EO2U (well, Sovereign is okay, but otherwise). Ohwait, forgot EMD exists. Let's go with that.

17. Least favorite song? -Any of the more ambient ones, like the caves in EOIV and EOV, or the second stratum in EOIV. ...EOIV had really weak dungeon themes all around, thinking back. EOIII's second battle theme is pitiful compared its glorious first battle theme.

18. What is your favorite floor mechanic? (ie: warping, dead zones, etc.) -Looking back, these really didn't go anywhere until EOIV. EOIII had the gates in the shrine and EOII had sliding ice puzzles and damage tiles. Whoo. Then IV had things like FOEs breaking walls, being literal walls, changing the fire cave to an ice cave, and more. EOV's just taking things a step further, with knocking pillars down, day/night FINALLY meaning something, and an actually good teleporting puzzle. A couple rooms (especially 3F's redux) where I had to sit down and actually think. Only one puzzle in EOIII made me stop and think (the NW tentacle on B25F). I mean, there's a puzzle in EOV where you've got to use a falling pillar as a (painful) speed boost. That's freaking awesome. Exploring in and of itself is a lot more fun in EOIV and especially EOV than it was in earlier titles. I imagine EOU and EO2U did things to un-borify some stratums. Again, wouldn't know.

19. What floor mechanic annoys you the most? -Warping suuuucked in EO2. 29F, at least. Especially, especially, especially since you had no adequate way to mark them all. Not even by using random icons. You'd need duplicate icons well before you finished marking all those infernal teleporters. The 'invisible' areas in EOIII's last two stratums feels like a missed opportunity to me. I feel like those areas should be semi-randomly generated, rather than just 'oh, I can't see my little dot on the map'. No, they're not super-closely related, but it brings that to my mind.

20. Do you like the Grimoire system? If not what would you change? -I conceptually like what it stands for. Get a couple random skills from other classes. But that was the thing. It was either too random or too complex, if not both. It felt atrocious from EOU's demo alone. I can't imagine dealing with that all game. I don't like the idea of you getting monster skills. At all. Apparently, EO2U fixed some things. Wouldn't know.

25. Do you defeat any FOEs when you’re a higher level than them, the same level or a lower level? -My plan for FOEs is pretty much always ignore them until you've seen the stratum's boss. Or maybe just forever in EOII, where FOEs didn't give you anything of value, ever. Starting with EOII really discouraged me from fighting them, so that's probably influenced me.

26. Do you like the cooking mechanics in EOU2? EO4? EO5? -Short answer is no. Just looking at the food buffs made them seem pretty underwhelming, and finding/using the rare stuff was a pain, because Wiglaf and Kirjonen were constantly asking for them. In EO5, I just never seem to need food. A Botanist provides enough healing on her own, and when I pull out, it's more because I don't want to lose 40 minutes of mapping or save after a rough FOE fight than because I'm direly low on TP. Also, I never seem to have the ingredients to make anything, anyway. Maybe it's because nobody knows fishing, and all the good dishes require fish? Ramus hasn't shown me a dish since the start of the third stratum, so maybe he doesn't blab about them if you don't have the ingredients on hand. Memory is hazy, but I think EO2U's way of doing cooking was okay. You'd permanently have one food effect active until you ate something else, right? It doesn't make sense that that's what food would do, but from a mechanical standpoint, it's a neat extra modifier to play with.

30. What is one thing you wish Etrian Odyssey could improve on? -I certainly like the direction the series went. It could've been stuck in a mire of 'let's emulate early-early-ass dungeon crawlers' forever, and never really moved forward. But uuuuh, single thing I'd like to see the most? Gimme a reason to use multiple parties. It's a great problem to have, but seeing all these cool classes, yet never really having a chance to use them or good opportunities to swap guys around kinda hurts. EOIII and EOV's Learning/Memory Conch and EOIV's jump to lvl-25/35/45 books do help, but the former doesn't really keep them competitive and EOIV's are limited to two uses. And even that, that's more talking about individual characters. Yeah, I used EOIV's books to swap a second Fortress out for a Nightseeker and then again for an Imperial, but I wanna see a reason to use completely different parties. Simultaneous dungeon-exploring or characters being unavailable for multiple days after being bodied, whatever. I wanna reason to have 15+ characters viable and in play.

31. Do you think about Etrian Odyssey with other crossovers? (ie: Collab events) If so, what collab event would you like to see? -Screw mere collabs, I can seriously see a lot of potential for a Monster Hunter X Etrian Odyssey game. Basically, it'd be an EO game with some design changes, wearing a MH skin. Weapons would be instead of classes (Lance = Protector, Switch Axe = Imperial, Hunting Horn = Troubadour, etc.), and instead of beating up semi-generic squirrels and durians and doggos, it'd be iconic Monster Hunter monsters. And it'd be more like 'all FOEs, all the time'. Both series kinda sorta have this thing on 'get better drops by killing it in a certain way' that started this thought process. Rather than exploring through stratums, you'd have a dozen or so mid-sized maps, each with their own gimmicks and FOEs. Your goal, as always, is to killdoze one particular monster. It'd be a task of picking when and where to fight, as other FOEs would be eager to step and make things miserable for everyone. Running and re-initiating fights would be a thing, and monsters would maintain their health. Putting traps and using the field against the FOE would be a big thing. Things like Narmer (and every 1st stratum boss, really; why are the first guys always the most interesting?) the Boiling Lizard, and Primordiphant certainly influenced this thought.

32. Sea exploration or Sky exploration? -At the end of the day, Sky exploration is kinda... empty. It looks cool, and mini-dungeons isn't a bad idea, but it's more window-dressing than a real system. Sea exploration has a billion things wrong with it; it's too demanding that all your moves are perfect, putting a money cost on it is stupid, and so on and so forth. I don't like the Untold subseries, but I'd really like to see EO3U do it right. Some of those places are just begging for EO4 style mini-dungeons, like the Lighthouse, the Golem's Ruins, or the Pirate Island. Honestly, if they just straight-up transplant a couple stratums out of Yggdrasil and onto the other islands, that'd be cool with me. Reaching Deep City so early made it feel... not so very deep, really.

#Etrian Odyssey

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