#anime adaptation - nope alternate timeline

[sir-adamus]

the thing about the NieR anime is that it's really leaning into concepts from Drakengard 3

the show isn't an adaptation of the game, it's another timeline of events, which results in different characters being around, personalities being different (shown most clearly with Pascal whose peaceful goals are rooted more in him finding faith than it is strictly pacifism), things changing but the big things still playing out to the same end result

the encoded messages seen in each episode are even associated with Accord, who was observing (and later directly intervening) during Drakengard 3 (those messages also directly label A2 as a Singularity like Zero was - i believe encoded messages on the home release of season 1 say the same of 2B and 9S - a being whom these multiple timelines revolve around)

it even played in on a lesser extent in the remake of Replicant - despite being almost 1:1, it's explicitly a different timeline to the original as the novelised Ending E only had one administrator in the quantum server while the remake has two (which is a major plot point in Reincarnation as well - that there used to be only one, and the creation of the second led to several unprecedented events)

[ellana-ravenwood]

The Batfamily TV show I wish existed but that will most likely never be (wecanhopethough) :

I’ve been fantasazing a LOT lately about a Batfam centric tv show. Not a story just about Bruce and then the kids are somewhere in the background, or just about one of the kid, or one character of the “extended family”. Nope. A TV show, that would focus on everyone. And here’s a few of my thoughts haha :

We’ve seen enough of times Bruce’s parents murder so no need to have a scene of that again. Even people who never read a Batman comics or watch a movie/animated show, sort-of know how he ended up being Batman ya know ? It kinda became a trope, a classic scene, to see little eight year old Bruce screaming above his parents’ bodies, in an empty alley...We really don’t need to see yet another one of those. We all know the story. And for those who are not up to date, there will be hints of what happened dropped all through the show. Because it’s still about Batman.

The Robins and all though, often people don’t even know there’s more than one Robin ? Or at least don’t know how many there are really...So here how I would love for the show to start/be : 

The first few episodes would only be about ONE kid, and ONE “extended family member” (Like Babs, ya know ?). My absolute biggest dream would be to have the ENTIRE Batfam represented (or most, there’s some members from alternate timelines/world that I’m not sure would appear...or maybe just as a cameo ?), and each of them would have their moments, and be just as important as the other. My perfect Batfam TV show would portray how they are all linked, how they’re a family (albeit not always a very functional one) So. Here we are. Longer episodes than normal shows,more mini-series sort of things than the traditional 40 minutes episodes. I think an hour would be a good timeframe, at least for the “origin story” episode...so, yeah, longer-than-usual episodes about all the origins of the kids and all.

First episode start with Dick coming in young Bruce Wayne’s life. We quickly understand that Bruce just came back after years away from Gotham (and that it was to train to become Batman). He’s been back for less than a year, and already started to be a night vigilante...And here he comes. Little Richard Grayson. A boy in which Bruce sees himself a lot (because of the way he lost his parents). And so Bruce makes the crazy decision to adopt the kid (yeah yeah I know “ward”), and it literally changes the way he lives. And boom, Dick’s origin story. Maybe a little shenanigans across the Manor. Dick’s difficulty to adapt to living with Bruce now, and not having his parents. Showing how he can get so angry at times ! And how he isn’t just that jolly little boy who jokes around and hugs everyone he sees ? Basically, an episode that could show every faces of Dick Grayson. Because he deserves to have a show where an entire episode is JUST FOR HIM, and how he is.

Second episode would be Barbara Gordon’s introduction. Pretty straight forward. Who she is, daughter of who, how she came to become Batgirl. Her close relationship with the Batman and his sidekick(s). Showing all the dimension of Babs, her intelligence and such. She isn’t just “a badass girl” (she’d only be a girl at the beginning), but an extremely intelligent one who’s able to turn situations around that look desperate, thanks to her analytic brain etc etc. She’s essential in a lot of Batman stories.

Third episode would be Jason’s arrival. Completely different from Dick’s. the episode would focus on the few years he has with Bruce, and where he comes from. How Jason hasn’t always been “the rebel of the family” (and how actually Dick has that role more than any of his brothers really...in this episode, probably there will be a quick mention of how the “previous Robin” is sort of a taboo subject because he left Gotham to go with the Teen Titans and Bruce is still not over it...). How he’s actually really sweet, and so SO happy to be Robin, and finally have someone that cares ? Which will explain why he became Red Hood later on...The episode would end on his death.

Fourth episode would start with Bruce being depressed, still not over Jason’s death. It would show how he became even more violent, which he has fights about with Dick...At the same time, Dick came back to Gotham as Nightwing after Jason’s death to still be there as a support for Bruce. Dick is always there when his friends or family members need his help...Doesn’t mean they don’t fight though. Bruce is even tougher to get through to than he used to. Jason’s death really hardened him further, the guilt not helping, of course. And then...Here enters little Timothy Drake. “Hey, I know you’re Batman !” he tells him, smiling widely...A few of his (baby) teeth are missing, that’s how young he is. The episode would be about how Bruce refuses to take Tim in as first (even more so since Tim’s parents are still alive by then), and would show their relationship evolves, all the way up to Bruce officially adopting Timbo.

Fifth episode : Hey is that Stephanie Brown we see ? Yup it iiiiiis !! Her story. Her background. What’s up with her. This episode is all about her. How she’s an important part of Bruce’s life, however isn’t one of his adoptive kid (it would be weird anyway...it would mean she ends up dating her own brother...). I always viewed Steph’ as an important member of the “Batfam”, but not as one of Bruce’s kid ? Like, she’s most definitely cared for and loved, but she doesn’t permanently live at Wayne Manor, and isn’t officially his ward or adopted kid etc etc...Doesn’t mean she isn’t included and not sort-of-family ! But, ya know what I mean, extremely close friends can be family too (remember : this is only MY opinion and how I view the characters after I read comics with them, you can totally disagree...in that case do it nicely, please).

Sixth Episode would be Cassandra’s. Bruce is fighting against her father, and that’s when he finds that young girl that appears mute, and that just killed a few men in front of him. He learns of her story, how her father tried to turn her into a weapon since she was born, via some audio recordings he found in one of his hideout. And he feels utterly disarmed. What is he supposed to do ? He can’t let such a dangerous person out, at the same time, she looks so young...And it’s not quite her fault, according to the recordings...He can’t just leave her there, but he’s also sure that locking her up would do more harm than anything else. So he takes her in. Ensues the beginning of Cass’ evolution (the rest will be in other episodes).

Seventh episode would be the one where Bruce discovers that Jason is still alive, and that he HATES HIM. Fighty fights fight...Oh shit it’s my son. Flashback of how Jason got resurrected and his short time with the Al’Ghuls, and a little speech about why he hates Bruce so much. Very “Under the Red Hood”, I guess. Ends with a heartbroken Bruce, and an even angrier Jason (because he saw Tim and Cass and can’t believe Bruce still enrolls kids to be his little “child soldier”...of course, it’s more complicated than that).

Eighth episode, Damian’s dramatic entrance. “I thought you’d be taller”. He tries to fight every single one of his siblings (that he most definitely not consider as such yet) (and yes I’m including Cass because I want her to be part of it all...), and it’s obvious they let him win. Sure, the kid trained since he was born...But they’re all pretty old now, and trained by the Batman too. Damian couldn't overpower them that easily (yeah it’s a canon thing I’m not a fan of...). In any case, Damian’s first few days in the family are tough af...

Then after all those origin stories, a lot would happen before Duke’s episode finally comes (because he appears quite late in the Batfam). So an explanation about how he came to get in, what happened to his parents, etc etc. An episode about Duke ! He might come in only like, in a later season (again he comes really late into everything, although he appears before). But when he comes in, Damian is less of a brat now, and considers everyone his family etc etc.

I know there’s a lot more people that are friendly with the Batfam (like Luke Fox and all) HOWEVER, I wanna talk about the “core” Batfam, Bruce and the kids and all. Family. Now of course, Kate Kane would appear. Maybe have her own part of an episode about how at first she decides to become Batwoman of her own volition and isn’t even affiliated with Bruce. Her story at her military school. Why she decided to get into this business etc etc...Probably things about Jim Gordon too. Oh, and the villains ! But really, only full episodes about the ones that are really...family. Like, Kate is Bruce’s cousin and all, but...they always kinda had their own things going on. Now as I said, she’ll appear, but you know what I mean. Basically, allies and friends will most definitely appear, but they won’t all have a full episodes about them ? Maybe a story revolving around them, and therefor we learn the essentials. Also, lil introductions to all the pets the Batfam has (of course we’d have Batcow, Titus, Ace and other Alfred the Cat hehe). 

The narrator would be Alfred Pennyworth, because he’s the one constant in every story. He’s always there (or almost). First episode would start with Bruce as a little boy, after his parents’ death, training around the house, and then as the episodes unfold, more and more members appear, training with him (opening credits).

We’d just have episodes about their domestic life AND their detective life. A perfect mix of both World. And after all those introduction episodes, that would be all interesting because we all know those peeps have some wild backgrounds, then the audience would know everyone ! Now, it’s a lot of characters, so, once they’re all introduced, they don’t need to always appear. There would be episodes of all of them together, and sometimes of just two of them bonding over whatever ? Like, Dick and Jason. Tim and Damian. Etc etc.

And every episodes would talk about all the different facets of their personalities, and not only focus on stereotypes (like it’s often the case :/). Like, NONE OF THEM are one-dimensional characters. So, let’s show that Bruce is a caring man but also a total jerk sometimes, that Dick is the “carefree” one but also the “angry Robin” more than Jason is, that Jason isn’t just a killing machine and a rebel, but also very sweet. That Tim isn't just that coffee addict boy who never sleeps, but a selfless man who’s in it because he thinks he does the right thing. That Damian isn’t just a brat who hates everyone, but tries really hard to better himself and is actually extremely scared of becoming like the Al Ghuls and turning bad etc etc...Show their complex personalities, and not just boring and lazy cliches. 

Are you starting to see why this show would be impossible to exist, wether live action or animated ? Haha yeah, it’d be like, 300 seasons long hahahaha. Because there’s so much material ! ...But I’m pretty sure so many of us fans would watch every single episodes.

PS : This is an “adaption” I imagined, so of course not every subtlety about everyone are in the short synopsis of their episodes I gave, and there would be much more than that. And some aspect of the stories are switched a little. And it’s only snippets, small portions. My idea would be much more worked on. I just wanted to share the little things I thought about ^^. '

[ao3feed-danganronpa]

In One Universe, Out The Other

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3uT7nwn

by RicochetedEclipse

Universes are a tricky thing. People talk about universe hopping, imagine interacting with their favorite characters from books, tv, and movies, all the time!

But when it actually happens... it’s one hell of a ride.

Meet our universe hopping idiots, Hide and Seek.

Unfortunately, universe hopping isn’t all fun and games.

Hide has to obtain one item from a ‘character’, with the character in question willingly giving it.

Seek has to fix one problem given to them by any means.

Both cannot leave unless both of them finish their objectives.

Hide also adapts to each universe they go into, gaining whatever power or ability is normal or some of the characters have while in that universe.

Seek gains one thing from each universe after completion, depending on the universe it varies.

What’s hijinks will ensue with these two idiots running around in different universes trying to achieve their goals?

 Well, that’s for me to know and you to find out.

Words: 248, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of It Takes Two To Ruin A Timeline

Fandoms: Multi-Fandom, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, 地縛少年花子くん | Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun | Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (Anime), 斉木楠雄のΨ難 | Saiki Kusuo no Sai-nan | The Disastrous Life of Saiki K., Hunter X Hunter, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Soul Eater, 鬼滅の刃 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Anime), 約束のネ���ーランド | Yakusoku no Neverland | The Promised Neverland (Anime), Haikyuu!!, Assassination Classroom, more fandoms may be added - Fandom

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Multi

Additional Tags: Holy shit this is a lot of fandoms, chaos duo, Alternate Universe, Dimension Travel, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Author Regrets Everything, so many characters - Freeform, Crack Crossover, Crack Treated Seriously, who am I kidding, This is just crack, OR IS IT, please help me, none of these are tags but it this point I don’t care, At this point it’s more me talking to you than tagging, but do i care?, nope - Freeform, anyhow back to actually tagging, Author Is Sleep Deprived, enough about myself, your here for the good shit, and who am I to deny, Author can not tag, Sorry Not Sorry, Crack, did i mention crack, well I did now, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, author tries to be funny, Angst, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor Being An Asshole, Saiki is done with this shit, Hanako is along for the ride, and is it a hell of a bumpy one, killua is so done, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, ray is edgy, but that’s no surprise, death the kid needs to calm the fuck down, this is the last tag I swear, lol nope, -backflips into a trashcan and rolls away while cackling maniacally-

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3uT7nwn

[neni-has-ascended]

So, maybe it’s just me, but Netflick’s “Erased” kinda sucks

(Neni’s Advent Calendar, Day 18)

And it took me rewatching every single other incarnation of the story to figure out why.

Let me start out by saying that I friggin’ LOVE “Erased/ Boku dake ga inai Machi”. I own part of the Manga in Japanese and read all of it twice, I watched the entire Anime adaptation three times and the live action movie I watched another two times. So when I saw an ad pop up on my Netflix account informing me that a serialized J-Drama adaptation of the story was coming to Netflix this winter, I was psyched. The live action movie, while great in its own right, suffered a lot from a lack of time to tell the story properly due to the time limitations of being a feature film, and thus ended up having the by far worst ending of any version of “Erased” up to that point, much to my dismay. I was thrilled at the prospect of finally seeing a live action version of the story that will actually have a valid opportunity to do everything right.

Oh, to be young and naive like me…

Note: When I originally wrote this post, I had only seen the Netflix Version up to episode 6. Now I have seen all of the Netflix show, my opinion by and large hasn’t changed, though I still have some comments, which I have added in bold font in the end of the original text.

Like probably a majority of people in the west who know about it, I was introduced to “Erased/Boku Dake ga Inai Machi” through the A1 Anime Adaptation, which aired back in early 2016. Originally, the story was released in form of an award-winning Seinen Manga by Sanbe Kei, the Mangaka’s most famous work to boot.

For those of you who don’t know the story yet; What are you doing with your lives!? - No, in all seriousness, now. “Erased” is the story of Fujinuma Satoru, a 29 years old struggling Manga artist, with the uncanny ability to unwillingly rewind time whenever misfortune happens in his vicinity. When Satoru’s mother is murdered as the result of uncovering new evidence in an 18 years old serial murder case, Satoru manages to rewind his own time back to the 1980s in order to prevent the murders that got his mother assassinated from ever happening - as a grade school child. In doing so, Satoru learns a lot about himself that he was afraid to face before  and sacrifices pretty much everything he has. 

Despite being a comic, the Manga reads a lot like a novel due to how it is structured and told. For a while there I was actually convinced that the Manga must have been adapted from a novel based on how it read alone, but that guess turned out to be incorrect. The story of “Erased” is incredibly gripping and well-paced, despite intentionally meandering in parts (especially in the Manga). I can unironically and without exaggeration say that this is the ONLY time travel story I’ve ever seen that works 100% perfectly, without any obvious plot holes or inconsistencies caused by the main character’s time-leaping escapades.  It certainly helps that the story uses its brand of time travel incredibly sparingly, not giving Satoru access to it unless it is absolutely necessary, especially not for the sake of a Deus Ex Machina. The Manga’s original title, “Boku Dake ga Inai Machi” means “The Town where only I don’t exist”, and I honestly never got why it was translated as “Erased”, since that screws over quite a few connections the title has to themes in the story. In my honest opinion, a much more fitting localized title would have been “Where I’m Not”, but that’s just my opinion… Anyway, I’m getting off track…

“Erased” is probably one of the most notable new Manga series to release in the 2010s and, despite being so recent, has already spawned quite the number of entries into its franchise in the past 3 years alone. For one, there’s actual extensions of the story, such as the spin-off Manga “Erased:Re”, which I heard retells the story from the perspective of other characters (I haven’t actually checked this one out myself yet), and a sequel novel called “Erased: Another Record”, which I own, but haven’t read yet. 

Then, there’s straight up adaptations. The story has been adapted as a super-popular A1 pictures Anime, a pretty dang good live action feature film… and now, finally, a Japanese serialized Web-Drama, produced by Netflix in cooperation with Kansai TV. 

As I’ve said already, this is the third time now “Erased” has been adapted to motion picture, but with all previous adaptations I quickly noticed a curious quality to them: Both, the Anime and the Motion Picture stuck almost slavishly loyal to the elements and even dialogue of the original Manga, adapting it as faithfully as possible in their respective media— until the final act, when both adaptations suddenly began to WILDLY DIVERGE from the original Manga’s timeline and wrote out two endings which were both so incredibly different from what was seen in the original Manga, it could hardly even be called the same story anymore, especially in the movie’s case .Now, perhaps this shouldn’t be too surprising, as the original Manga was one beast of a detailed story, with a final arc that dragged on longer than anyone who was reading the Manga at the time probably expected and that threw tons of additional information at the audience who were probably already long ready for the story to end at that point, but it was still quite surprising for me to learn just how different these three endings were from one another. These weren’t just simple adaption changes, it was like every adaptation of the story was showing us a whole new timeline, alternative to the one presented in the Manga, quite fitting actually, given the nature of the story. 

Each of the “timelines” presented in the different ultimate outcomes of the story in the Manga, Anime and Movie were all fascinating in their own right (even if I’d argue the movie kinda devolved into a bit of a mess in the end, thanks to its own time-constraints). That’s precisely why I was so excited to see the story all over again, this time as a serialized J-Drama. I wanted to see yet another possible ending, yet another potential fate for Satoru and his friends to laugh and cry about. I was so incredibly excited about revisiting this world and these characters again and finding yet another new way of looking at them!

Now, I haven’t actually seen the ending of the Netflix Series yet. But right now, I’m not actually sure I want to anymore.

I’ll be blunt: I have been disappointed. Gravely. 

I’d barely watched two episodes of the Netflix version when I slammed the “stop” button on my player and took a few minutes to reflect on what I’d just seen. In the story, Satoru often talks about “having to find out what’s ‘off’” in order to escape one of his time-loops. Well, that’s what I felt like too at the moment. Something was off. Something just absolutely wasn’t right with what I’d just seen. It was “Erased”, as I’d known it, I recognized the characters, the environments, even the dialogue and narration, but something just didn’t work, didn’t click. I was shocked. How could this happen? Every previous time I’d gone through this story before, I’d felt moved to tears even by the first couple of chapters or first 20 minutes of action on screen, yet here I was, 40 minutes into this show, and I felt… nothing. It was like reading the Wikipedia page describing the Manga’s plot. Everything was described just right, but it didn’t feel right. And for the love of me, I couldn’t figure out why. 

That’s why I decided to play Satoru for a bit and subject myself to a “Revival”, my own personal time-loop. 

Yes, I started rewatching the Anime, the movie and rereading the Manga. All at once. Side by side. 

Now, you may consider this overkill, my friends, and yes, it is, but I quickly learned something from that ordeal: The problem definitely (and thankfully) wasn’t that I’d become bored with the story. Even after I’d watched it three times in a row in three different mediums, the moment of Fujinuma Sachiko’s death and Satoru’s reaction to it still drove tears to my eyes in every single version of the story - except the netflix version. And then, in direct comparison, I think I finally realized why. 

I shall use screenshots to illustrate.

Manga

Anime

Movie

Netflix

Those are all the exact same moment in the story. Maybe you see already what’s wrong here. That’d make you quicker to realize it than I was at least.

You see Satoru randomly giving his Mom train directions in the Netflix version? That’s the only version that happens in, but there is a reason for it. In all versions of the story, there is a scene early on, where Sachiko (Satoru’s mom) is still alive and annoys him by asking him for directions to Ueno. At the time he’s having none of her shit and spitefully brushes her off by claiming you need to change trains to get there. Later in the story, he’s regretful of that and (in the past) gives her the correct directions, confusing her, as she hadn’t actually asked for them yet. The Netflix version decided to extend that regret of Satoru’s into Sachiko’s death scene. 

Their intended effect was probably the following:

Instead, it came off more like this:

And honestly, this is how I could pretty much sum up the whole problem with Netflix “Erased”. 

It’s not an incompetently made show, nope, in fact, if it were the first adaptation of the story, I’d find it decent enough. There’s plenty of original Manga dialogue, many scenes are replicated extremely faithfully, and there’s nothing in there that violates the original story or characters in any way.

But, at the same time, it just all feels so… soulless. 

“The Devil is in the Detail”, they say, and I think that’s never been as true as here. If it were all about the big picture, Netflix’ “Erased” would be a perfectly serviceable adaptation, but the thing is, the big picture was never what made “Erased” great. The details are. And so many of those are missing here. The carefully crafted shots and angles used in the Manga and all previous adaptations to convey mood and tension, the expert comedic timing of Satoru’s internal monologue and snarking, it’s all thrown out of whack, just a little off, just not quite the way it’s supposed to be. 

Dialogues are almost never shot from interesting angles, instead relying on boring shot-reverse-shot cinematography to convey that people are talking. The effect used to represent Satoru’s time traveling looks cheap and flies totally in the face of the Manga’s clear intention of making the traveling seem sudden and abrupt, without a clear transition from “present” to “past” for Satoru. (In fact, I can’t take it seriously whenever I see that effect on screen, it looks so stupid). Satoru’s internal monologue is there, but it’s very badly timed with what the actor is actually doing on screen, often having Satoru’s thoughts narrate one emotion, while the actor on screen is displaying a completely different one. Generally, the acting in the show seems  wooden. I don’t buy Airi’s quirkiness in this version at all, even though her actress in the 2016 movie quickly won my heart, and Sachiko was just flat-out miscast in the Netflix version. She’s supposed to seem blunt, somewhat manipulative, but still well-meaning. Netflix instead made her into a generic “Mom” character. Actually, I’d say the best actor in the Netflix show is Kayo’s coat, because I actually buy that that’s Kayo’s coat. The rest of the characters may look like the characters they’re based on, but they just have none of their charm, none of their soul. There’s a reason the Anime starts every episode by showing us the kids being cheeky and lovable to each other in the opening animation, and yet, Netflix had the gall to just cut pretty much every single instance of the kid characters (and Sachiko and Airi) showing their personalities for a moment, leaving us with a cast of exchangeable heads. I assume this was done to save time, but that STILL makes no sense when you consider that the movie, which was far more time pressed than this series, still managed to put all of the most important moments in to at least let us get a feel of Kenya’s and Airi’s personalities. Heck, even the emotion in Satoru’s own portrayal suffers. Every previous version of the story had him absolutely shell-shocked by suddenly being transported back into his childhood, needing several hours to calm down and think straight somewhat, and even then he still acts awkward around people and has trouble remembering now-important facts from his childhood. Netflix cut ALL of that. Now it just feels like going back to the 80s in his 10 years old body is Tuesday for Satoru.

An article on crunchyroll claims that the Netflix show was aiming to adapt the Manga more faithfully than previous adaptations did by sticking to the original ending, which would perhaps explain why the show is moving through the plot as such a breakneck speed at the expense of important character moments for pretty much every one, but even if that’s their intention, they already screwed that up too, because far more important than retaining the entire ending arc from the Manga (which has PLENTY of stuff which can easily be cut) would have been restoring some of the early chapters of the Manga, which every single adaptation so far has simply chosen to ignore. To elaborate, in the Manga, there’s a whole lot of plot that happens before Satoru first travels back into the 80s, which elaborates on his various childhood traumata and his relationship with Airi, making it a lot easier to relate to the distant way he acts towards people early in the story and making his eventual romance with Airi (as weird it is thanks to the age gap) somewhat more believable. It also gives more details on how Satoru’s “Revival” time travel ability works, making it clear that as long as he doesn’t resolve or at least change whatever misery caused the time-loop, he’s just stuck in the loop, replaying it over and over, unable to escape. In one scene, he almost gets stuck in an impossible loop for eternity, until Airi manages to break the loop by accident, which has an enormous effect on how Satoru sees her from that point on.

But, of course, Netflix, like every previous adaptation, decided to cut all these scenes, because apparently, retelling the original Manga ending, which was already kinda unnecessarily long-winded from the very start, was more important or something. Oh well. Who knows, maybe there were fans out there, clamouring, screaming for an accurate adaptation of those few chapters, who knows. I definitely wasn’t one of them. I was totally content seeing every new adaptation of “Erased” as its own timeline and being excited at how the story will end this time every time I started watching again. 

All in all, Netflix’ “Erased” is honestly a disappointment to me. A great story and great characters thanks to the source material, but its all wrapped in poor cinematography, poor timing, poor sound-design and poor direction. Of course I’ll probably still watch the show to the end (Still 6 episodes to go), if only to see how well they actually *do* adapt that accursed ending-arc, but after that, I think I could really do with sitting back and rereading the whole Manga while listening to “Re:Re:” by Asian Kung-Fu Generation on a loop. In fact, I’ll probably do that.

“Erased” is an amazing story, regardless of which version you are watching, and first-timers to this world and its characters might just fall in love with it through the Netflix version, like how I once did through the Anime, however, if you’re an old fan who’s already read the Manga and seen the Anime or movie, I’d tell you to just skip the Netflix series. It really has nothing to offer that adds to the story you already know. Go, buy the DVD of the live action Movie or legally stream the Anime instead. At least that’s my opinion. 

Update:

 I have now seen all of the Netflix adaptation. My final judgment is that the adaptation gets considerably better past the halfway mark, direction, pacing and everything. Still, the show never reaches quite the emotional prowess of the Anime adaptation, and that isn’t entirely due through the differences in medium. The ending is indeed much closer to the original Manga than the previous adaptations were, but some things were left out, presumably for time constraints, which angers me, given there’s an entire episode dedicated to a scene that the Anime handled far more effectively in under ten minutes. 

One good thing I can say is that the ending, as been-there-done-that as it is to anyone who’s read the Manga, is definitely a lot better than the one in the 2016 movie. I appreciated that a lot, if nothing else. Still, again, if you’ve read the Manga and seen the Anime, I still can’t really give a recommendation to check out this version, unless you really, really want to.

[bookdragonlibrary]

Ninth Tuesday YJ appreciation

1-3 ; 4-6 ; 7-9 ; 10-13 ; 14-16 ; 17 ; 18 ; 19 ; 20 ; 21 ; 22 ; 23 ; 24-26

—————————— Into the Breach

- Victor talking about gift, he’s starting to accept his situation :D

- Another 16.

- The Team faces one Granny when the other one faces the other.

- Bart making the sound effect and being a fan nerd xD Bart being Bart!

- “I guess it’s Klamulon tech!” I’m sure he’s not serious xD

- Scarab is back! Apokaliptian tech, Blue isn’t compatible to this :/ Just like in season 2.

- They fell in the X-pit!!

- Jaime seems to suffer more without his armor on :(

- Did Ed just teleport to another dimension?! Right next to Bart? But he is still lost without bearings just like in season 2. So maybe the screams of his friends was the bearing he needed? Plus the urge to save them?

- Does Bart know Jaime is incompatible with this tech?

- Granny can fight against a rhino?

- Why Overlord is this big now?

- I love Gar with Granny’s haircut.

- Why Jaime is alone? Where is Ed?

- Gar being a Martian animal! :D He went to Mars just after the end of season 2 remember?

- The fights are too realistic for Gar and Vic I can barely watch it :/ 

- Booya indeed!

- OMG! Gar has a black eye! Green eye! Well he badly injured! But the team has such a solidarity!

- Worst! Grandma! Ever! XD

- Vic understood everything! Made all the dots connected!

- Well this is “serious Bart”, pretty rare to see him like this. The situation must be critical.

- “Blue nearly died.” I couldn’t have tell if I didn’t remember a line from season 2! You could guess for Gar and Vic but not for Jaime. He stood almost right after the others when he should be like Dick or in coma or something to make us undertand/feel he almost died because of Apokaliptian tech and not with just a line.

- “Did we just... loose?” He sounds so broken :( That must remind him events or situations from his past :(

- Is it the two Body merging with each other? Disgusting

- Wow! Rainbow powers! So now Halo is able to use all her auras at once without switching?

- So there is a bigger Overlord?

- Vic and Violet just saved the day!

- It seems that Conner is a literal person right?

- War between Darkseid and Savage now?

- “Now he and Violet are lost forever...” Two boomtubes opening. “I knew you’d make it!” Pick comedy! XD

- “You MVP this puppy!” Translation please? Did i miss an inside joke?

- Victor did accept himself and the change!

- M’gann isn’t worried to see her brother that injured?

- Ok so the fight with Infinity was fake since Frost was controlled. They are working for Luthor of course...

- He’s still growing... :/

—————————— Overwhelmed

- 316 new teenagers for the Center. We can see Ed and his dad taking care of few of them, including the Great Smurf?!

- Why the plan in motion implies Lian? I’m worried for her :(

- She want to find Wally and her mom :,( She’s so sweet! ;-;

- They are babysitting her in the Hub!

- Nope! Nopenopenope! Why the few kisses there are are so bad? ><

- She feels she betrayed Wally even after 2 years :’(

- I love Conner adapting to Forager :)

- Geranium city? Sounds familiar.

- OMG! They finally have their own city!

- It’s not like Jaime to spit on someone :/ Especially someone of the team. Who wrote that?

- it’s good to see the 3 siblings together!

- Why Tara is sad? Wait! Is she still talking to Slade? About her own brother?! Why?

- Wait what? What did Zatanna just say?

- it’s so cute to see Gar playing with Lian!

- No! Don’t hurt Lian!

- They can’t speak? Granddaughter? “Extremely important players” Foreshadowing for season 4? It will have a season 4 right?

- “Assuming Darkseid will not kill you” This part better not be a foreshadowing...

- Other lines from previous seasons. Is Wally stuck in a loophole? Or Artemis not be able to imagine a new dialogue? Third year in a row?! Wally knows about sunrise because he’s alive or because Artemis knows?

- Their old appartement!

- Compromising Tara cover? They want to sacrifice her? Slade wants to betray her just like he promised the others will!

- They have diplomas! And of course Wally has one in Physics! They’re teachers! They have a baby! And Zatanna is there to remind her sunrise is soon!

- Does Wally seem to be worried about Artemis?

- interesting speech to Conner but maybe a little harsh :/

- What is written in Greek above the front door?

- Even Wally is chocked how Artemis receives their friends.

- If he was an illusion created by her imagination he would just get along with her not fighting to make her love her life right? He seems too real to be an illusion. I need proofs he’s still up there somewhere somehow... ;-;

- What? All the stress during the season for that conclusion?!

- Tara, what have you done? Why?

- Wolf sleeping with Greg :’)

—————————— Nevermore

- Jeff working with Barbara?

- Vlatava and Markovia are indeed bordered countries.

- Why Bart and Ed are so far from each other? Did something happen?

- There is more?

- The moment Tara is waiting for. Revenge her parents to her uncle? Killing Gar?! Why? What did he do to her?! I can’t understand the logic between the betrayal of her brother and this! Someone can?

- Brion protecting his sister!

- Gar is injured again :(

- Brion is letting his anger controlling himself again :o

- Why Tara wants to kill Gar? He looks so hurt by her betrayal :(

- Batman has seen his micro expressions? He’s such a Gary Sue... -_-��

- Yes! A happy ending for Tara in one timeline/story!

- Wait! Bedlam was without fighting spirit a moment ago and now he’s provoking Brion?!

- Did he just... kill him? He... seems sad and lost after. He really thinks he had no choice.

- Why is he mad at his sister? At the League I can understand. But doesn’t he understand his sister was manipulated?

- The Ambassador seems weird...

- Brion just joined the Dark side...

- Where Gregor would go now?

- What M’gann team (Blue Beetle, Kid Flash, El Dorado, Wondergirl, 13 and the others) was here for? A diversion? This characters sadly seem useless this season :( è.é

- Luthor is the one who was stabbed on the back! XD

- Troia could be the next secretary? :D

- Tara was redeemed!

- Brion seems sad all alone, he isn’t made to be king :/ Jace is back? è.é

- The Amabassador was a meta? And is working with the Light? He was manipulating emotionally Brion to make him kill his uncle when Gar successed to stop him! It wasn’t his fault! :( 

- Wonderwoman, Aquaman and Miss Martian resigned? :( It’s not like Diana could have done anything in space and she tried to knock some sense in them! Feel a little unfair for me... 

- Black Lightning is the new leader? :D

- Well secrets already almost destroyed the team back in season 1...

- After Forager and Tara, Conner is also part of the Outsider!

- Conner and M’gann are back together. Again. Can we please stop this drama? And develop more the other relationships? Like Kaldur’s and Bart/Ed situation for example?

- Vic defended Cisco. Fred outed himself. Wait! Tara is in the same class than Fred and Violet? Well, she is 15 and Violet is 16 so that could make sense.

- The infinity Incorporation works for Brion now? Were they turned meta by Jace?

- Oh! It’s the café runner from season 2!

- Did you see the ring?! It’s Legion of Superheroes right? So who is this girl? Saturn Girl? Dream Girl? They come from the future right? So it’s from the alternative future Bart created when he saved the world from the Reach? Now I have a headache...

- The wait for Slobo ended like this?! Another waste of time screen and false hope to end before it even starts! Just like Artemis/Will situation...