#anyway he WAS a main character still he was present for a decent amount of the first couple episodes

[sonknuxadow]

they werent lying that knuckles series barely has knuckles in it

[islib]

I've slept, I've eaten, I've touched grass. My thoughts are a little more ordered. Let's do this:

On Railroading, Roleplay, the Social Contract and the QSMP

aka I Need To Get This Off My Chest Even Though I Want All Of Us To Move On As Quickly As Possible

So. Let's establish the narrative events as a baseline.

Since the first Purgatory event, Quesadilla Island has been plagued by visits of "Eye Workers/Eye Soldiers" - at first investigative, more recently aggressive ones.

(Side note - it appears that most characters have forgotten about this, but this is an ongoing war. As seen in Philza's [20.12.2023 - Hardcore Boi & QSMP - Xmas Event & a New threat?]:

Idk about you, this looks like a declaration of war to me. They don't care about retrieving Luffy at this point, they're just being destructive.)

This has lead to character actions. We have seen the rise of new safe rooms, fight metas, inventory prep. There's been serious parent-child talks about what to do when a fight breaks out. The characters have reacted to the threat accordingly - as a threat.

The fights have been getting harder. From the start, the Eye's minions were framed as dangerous, and perceived as such, but as time went on, they began to return with outrageously strong weapons, potion effects and health amounts that were essentially unbeatable, and unreasonable fight stamina. Still, thanks to the characters' preparations and the characters' relationships, no one lost a permanent life.

Yesterday (morning crew streams of 11.1.2023), Empanada lost a life.

The fight broke out in the Favela. The Eye Soldiers were using enchanted sticks, enchanted axes, potions, explosives and lassos. (In contrast to previous fights, which were generally only conducted with melee weapons.)

As soon as the players notice the attackers, they shout at the Eggs to get out of there. At first, the Eggs seem to ignore the shouts, wanting to help their parents. Understandable, if frustrating - both Empanada and Ramon have been on a "I need to protect everyone" kick lately, so it makes some sense.

It stops making sense very soon, though. Both the Eggs get downed multiple times, while their parents scream and plead with them to leave. Empanada gets lassoed by the workers, making her escape next to impossible - but we have proof that she got away at some point: you can see her teleporting away at 0:29:43-45 of Fit's stream and later we see her signs in Ramon's room at the bunker:

(slightly meta, forgive, it's still narratively relevant to have the proof)

The fight moves from the Favela to Spawn, Em returns to it, and dies (when she does, btw, there's no time between her getting downed and her dying. a fraction of a second at most.). The fight dies down with some curious events irrelevant to this post, scene ends.

Now that we've established narrative context, here's for a touch of the meta-narrative stuff.

The attacks haven't been ramping up linearly - they started very strong, and then alternated in strength with repeated attacks on a single day wildly varying in power levels. This attack was clearly the strongest yet - Fit's VOD shows some attacks doing minimum of 3 hearts of damage through a decent slime/diamond+high prot armor set.

The use of lassos is new - potentially a narrative show of how the Eye Soldiers are learning Player tactics? It's the main reason for why Em's death was mechanically possible.

There's been narrative in the past arcs of the server where egg death was the point of a fight encounter. It has always been possible to prevent the death in those scenarios.

There have been narrative fights that were unwinnable in the server past.

Ramon wasn't supposed to be on - his admin is sick (or otherwise indisposed and using sickness as a narrative reason for not playing) and had left a message that he wouldn't be on, only to later join anyway, likely due to the event needing Eggs to be present.

As far as I'm aware, this is the first time a player has hard-pulled themselves out of RP. (more on this in a bit)

All on the same page? Let's get to my criticism.

In roleplay, players and game facilitators enter a social contract. Very often it's an implicit one, just "don't be an idiot" and stuff, but sometimes it's more hard coded: what are the rules, what are the expectations, what are the lines we don't cross.

Now, as an audience of the QSMP, we don't know what the details of this contract are - only the players and the admins do. We can implicitly understand that parts of it contain expectations of activity on both player and admin sides, expectations of medium (i.e. Minecraft), expectations of who's participating, etc.

We've rarely seen anyone employ any sort of safety tools, although I expect at least some of the creators have some amongst themselves (think safewords mostly). The extreme safety tool that all of the streamers have access to is logging off, but I don't think we've seen that mid-encounter, ever.

Fit employed a softer safety tool yesterday, when he decided to stick with Ramon in the bunker. At 0:33:30, Fit notices footsteps outside the reinforced door. We don't get to figure out who it is, but he says: "Oh I hear you! If you're an admin, I'm fucking done. [...] We are not fucking moving." Now, some of you will argue this is in character - I disagree. It's semi-in character, simply thanks to the word "admin". Fit keeps some semblance of his roleplay, for any number of reasons, but addresses the admin, taking himself out of roleplay in order to declare he didn't wish to continue in the encounter.

The fact that he partially stays in character makes it easier for both him and the audience to rejoin the character later.

What's really important here is that the admin - whoever it was (I think at that point it may have been Em - backs off. Fit declares he's not playing, and the admin hears that and leaves. Even if it was Em, and whatever was going to happen wasn't going to be in the same tome as the fight encounter, they backed off. That is very good.

Now to the more narrative points.

These Eye Soldier attacks have been clear in their motives: hurt everyone on Quesadilla. Narratively, the characters responded appropriately, by gearing up and protecting the fragile Eggs.

How did the server lore respond? Well, it didn't.

The attacks continue on some invisible timeline, getting superpowered out of nowhere when the players preparations pay off, and the Eggs, despite their general agreements and character motivations, keep running head first into danger.

The only reason I'm not trying to push into a riot over Em's death is the lassos, because those make it mechanically difficult for her to stay away.

In conclusion, the main issue I have with yesterday is the consequences. If the only way to protect your child is to literally pull yourself out of the encounter - because clearly the narrative implication of yesterday is not only will the Eye Soldiers keep going until an Egg is dead, but also that Eggs will be coming back to fight unless they're actually restrained - then who's going to be playing in this arc? Why would anyone, when temporary victory only means more Soldiers with more power, and Eggs that are less likely to leave the fight?

If there was a clear narrative indication that these attacks can be stopped - a clue towards Luffy, or a conversation with the Federation on defences, or a clear sense of what can protect someone against the Eyes - I would be fine with what happened yesterday.

But there isn't. Nothing that's been done has had ANY effect on the events.

I've seen people going "well we've seen this coming" and to them I say: how does that make anything better? That just means there's been time to notice that the narrative line ignored player agency!

I've seen people going "well the players don't take anything seriously until an Egg dies" and to them I say: Morning Crew went out to look for Luffy literally yesterday, trying to move the story along. People have been building safe rooms and preparing fight supplies and player metas so they could defend themselves and their families, they've been taking this very seriously.

I've seen people going "even interactive stories have scripted beats" and to them I say: not at the expense of player agency, not in something as freeform as QSMP. This is not a Telltale game.

I don't think my criticisms are unreasonable - all I want is for the narrative to be actually interactive. To even a little bit allow for players to play, rather than act out someone's unwritten script.

That's what movies are for.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Mods thoughts on latest DB?

//I'm not gonna make a habit of this because Death Battle, while it is trending with me right now, is not my main focus with this blog, so while I might do this with this episode and the next episode, I'm probably gonna halt it there.

//Anyway, Rick Vs The Doctor.

//Really good! Not amazing though, but still fitting in well with the trend of really good fights and by no means a disappointment.

//If I have any complaints about it, it's with the analysis, the death, and a few minor plot holes with Rick. The analysis really sold Rick more than the Doctor, and for a while I really thought Rick had it in the bag, even though I was fairly sure from the outset that the Doctor would win.

//Rick's Death made sense, but it was still pretty lame. Especially by the standards of Rick and Morty where there's no real filter to how disgusting the deaths can get, but Rick kind of just dissipates into space. The ending is pretty funny and honestly a little sad though.

//The part that made the least amount of sense to me though is that Rick let his guard down and kind of let the Doctor regenerate. While I wouldn't go so far as to call it character assassination, Rick evidently showed in the fight he was at least aware of who the Doctor was. He referred to him by his species race at the beginning of the fight and shot him in both his hearts at the climax, proving that he KNOWS how the Doctor's species functions, yet he didn't immediately try to stop the regeneration. Not enough to make the fight bad but...easily the most nonsensical part about it.

//Best part of the fight was the narrative and sequence of the fight, which was a big reason why Courage and Scooby's fight was so good to me, though that one still did it a tad better. I like how Rick and the Doctor banter off each other, and I think they did both characters some decent justice. Voice acting was pretty good too, especially the Doctors.

//Now...Goku Vs Superman 3...

//Let's be real, we WERE warned that this was going to be controversial. There are a few reasons why I'm really annoyed, and surprisingly, it's not for the reasons you'd expect. ]

//This is not only the third time these two have fought on Death Battle, and the two have a pretty poor track history on the channel for their previous two episodes. The reason I'M frustrated personally isn't because of this.

//I love this season of DB especially, especially the last 7 or so fights, in fact, it might be my favorite season of the show EVER. But my biggest issue with the season and what I find really stupid about it is that, now with Goku and Superman, 4 of the fights so far have been DC characters, 4 of the fights have been Marvel characters, and 3 of those fights have been Marvel Vs DC.

//I REALLY just want them to do something else and stop wasting slots to characters they use CONSTANTLY.

//And also, in the second video they straight up, said that Goku’s ride or die on his potential, but Superman‘s power is limitless by default, so I think even with what's been happening with Goku and the new power he's unlocked, Superman will STILL stomp him.

//But...I have to admit...Aside from everything I've just listed, I'm not COMPLETELY opposed to the matchup.

//The biggest issue with Goku and Superman on Death Battle is that their episodes have not aged well, or sit on the throne of the most controversial and disliked episodes of all time.

//That being said, it’s been around a decade since their second match and both characters have made a lot more appearances, and Goku especially has a new peak with Super Saiyan Blue and Ultra Instinct.

//And what matters to me most is that they A) Present both Goku and Superman in a respectful way and really detail their capabilities, and B) Make it at least a decent fight that shows off their capabilities as best as they can. I know it's possible and that the series has come a long way, and to reiterate, the last few episodes, from Bill Vs Discord to Rick Vs Doctor have been the absolute peak of the series for me.

//They CAN do it. And I'm trusting them to knock this one out of the park and redeem both of these characters.

-Mod

[animehouse-moe]

My Special One Volume 2: The Fakeout

So, for those that have read volume 1, I'm sure (like me) you would have though this was going to be a fun and campy shoujo manga that plays with the typical tropes that appear to many readers. Well, Koda sensei doesn't seem to want that to be the case as we hit a huge switch-up and enter some really fresh and unique territory with the volume.

Similar to the first volume however, we still get a lot of that high octane comedy that derives itself from Sahoko's personality. There's not really much in the way of gags or visual effects for the comedy, so instead we're left with character acting and dialogue, which presents just the right amount of comedy for this volume, with things like using her glasses to convey emotion.

Admittedly, a decent bit of it can be oddly convenient, as in just how some of the plot develops (like this following image), but within the framing of camp it's rather negligible. The one thing I did hope for with this volume that we didn't get though, was more of Sahako's friend. School hasn't really been the main focus obviously, but I was at the least hoping to see a phone call or some texts or something.

Anyways, cutting to the heart of it, I really liked the distance that was kept between Sahako and Kouta through the start of this volume. Sahako isn't giving up on her feelings, but she knows where she stands with Kouta. It produces this interesting dynamic of Sahako's passion for Kouta as both an idol as a person are able to work their way under his skin and provide proof that Sahako's feelings aren't superficial or tied to a specific aspect of his fame or celebrity status.

That distance that's still able to convey Sahako's passion really works wonders for how Kouta approaches her as a person. Not that he's immediately saying, "I've been such a fool! I can't believe I haven't cherished what's been in front of me all this time! Won't you give me another chance? Another opportunity to prove my undying love and dedication to you, Sahako?", but rather that he's able to appreciate and accept those aspects of Sahako openly. Plus, the interactions are just cut in general, like "Mr. Kirigaya".

And truthfully, the volume plants the buds of the flowers that will blossom by the end, right at the get go with this volume. It builds a steady climb upward until we reach our climax. Some might not be incredibly into the pacing of it overall, but a confession in volume 1, followed by drama and a resolution in volume 2? I'm all for it considering the glacial pace that so many in this genre adhere to.

Anyways, to cut to the heart of things, it's a really great climb towards that peak with both Sahako and Kouta. They each learn their lessons along the way, namely that Kouta doesn't want just anyone, but that he wants someone that sees him as him. The cool and popular idol with an incredibly soft and cute side behind closed doors. Someone that doesn't place expectations on him and allows him to exist as he is. It's a really hard thing to get across in words, but this sequence with Sahako looking to cheer on/cheer up Kouta encapsulates the core of it very well.

Of course, the peak is a ways off at this point, but from there it's a pretty simple thing to summarize, so I'll spare you the trouble. Rather, I'll dive into Kouta's character that he lays bare this volume.

In short, I think it's a really great angle to take with a high school boy. Expectations and desires weigh heavy on him, as he pursued stardom with his ill mother's happiness at his back, in turn causing him to almost shun her, and not be there when it matters most. As a high school boy without anyone really around him, he quickly internalizes that feeling and further isolates himself from his childhood friend. A spiral of self-deprecation ensues where history repeats itself with his friend. He cuts himself off, refuses the thought of having someone around him that will place a weight on him and continue this cycle once more.

It's so high school end of the world it's perfect, and Koda sensei understands that edge perfectly, working in a thread by witch Kouta holds on by. That little piece that allows him that relationship with Sahoko, and what keeps bringing the two back together. It's not like Kouta doesn't like Sahoko, he really does, and he wants to be together with her, but he struggles to face the reality of opening up to someone else again and finding away to live alongside someone.

It's really beautiful in that way, and presents a storyline that really injects some well needed emotion and development as a follow up to the first volume. It brings energy and drama, but doesn't dwell on either for too long and absolutely refuses to use it as a crutch to continue the story. It's a single facet of the many pieces that comprise where we're at at this point, and Koda sensei still has their gaze fixed on the horizon for what's to come.

I'd really love to say more on it, but I don't want to give everything away for this moment, or how it works within the story, so I'll just say it's really good, and provides an incredibly fresh and surprising twist to what can hardly be called a formula (anymore) that Koda sensei has been following.

So with that said, pick up this second volume. If you're a fan of you'll definitely enjoy this. If you enjoy campy and almost parody type material, you'll enjoy this. If you enjoy indulging in more cliché and tropey entertainment, you'll enjoy this.

One last thing, young Sahako who is incredibly cute.

[laurarolla]

Finally finished Saint's Row 2 after a LOT of PC issues and getting really tired of the game a while ago. The honest reality is that open world games are always a hard sell for me, as they tend to have a flow of gameplay where the best aspects are poorly paced out. Saint's Row 2 adds to this issue by forcing you to do side missions to get a resource that is required to do main missions. I also didn't learn that I needed to complete the Stronghold missions as part of the main story until the end, but I did coincidentally do that anyway as I was going through. It's not a bad GTA style open world crime and chaos game, but I'm not a fan of those kinds of games in general.

The thing that saves Saint's Row for me is the unabashed middle school sense of humor that centers over the top bombast alongside poop jokes and sexual euphemisms as the peak of the comedic craft, and it oddly works well here. The game doesn't seem like it's trying to make pointed commentary about issues with police, corporations, and governments under capitalism, nor does it seem interested in really investigating the idea of the Third Street Saints as anti-heroes against gentrification, but it does have those things in the game by way of it's style of comedy. As such, despite the attempts of the game to make me laugh at taxi company names and a strange Wendy's parody fast food chain, there was still stuff that felt like it connected to my politics as a late 30's socialist while also giving me reason to really ask how easily these gang wars could have been avoided. The final mission I played, involving revenge against Julius from the original game, sort of brought that idea together in the final confrontation, showcasing a conflicted moment between a man who decided that the status quo was better than self destruction, and Playa, who by this point is a bitter, vicious, snarky sociopath who has only done a good thing for the people of Stilwater coincidentally. These conflicts between street gangs and the police don't have a real effect on the greater issues of the system, but there's potential for great good and great evil in the Saints, which based on what I know, the later games in the series actually could expand on a bit.

The reason that I do look forward to playing the future games in the series, and maybe emulating the original sometime, is the character focus. The first game has a number of characters present in this sequel, although only Johnny, Aisha, and Troy have a decent amount of screen time, and I'm somehow actually kind of invested in where the story goes for the survivors of this game, including Shaundi and Pierce (who really doesn't need to be the butt monkey of the group but is probably more lovable because he is). I'm not in a rush to play the next one in the series, but I'm open to it when the time comes, and that's pretty impressive for how many crashes I had to fight through to get to the end of the game.

[kathonydaily]

I’m also pretty sure that they will have (Kate and Anthony) a good storyline. Simone it’s excited to see Kate growing and also see her relationship with Anthony! Off course they will be on the background because they aren’t the main couple but I’m sure that if they haven’t enough time, Simone will NEVER left Sex Education! She really loved working on that set, with the people so she said that she left sex education because she is now a bridgerton girl so 1) she will hasn’t the time to film both (and also in SE she is in the background) and 2) she will NEVER say “okay I will leave sex education for 6 minutes on the screen” I’m pretty sure they said to her “okay you will be in every episode so you have to film a lots a don’t think you can film both”

I agree, anon. I think this source of insecurity is possibly from Jonny's latest interview in italian, but one, I don't think the translation is correct because 'secondo piano' was translated with 'background', when in reality I feel the sense is more in line with 'secondary character', or 'supporting role', and two, Jonny was answering a question about taking a step back from the lead role, not about his amount of screentime or role in the new season. And you'll never hear him say: 'oh don't worry, i'm going to be pretty much present in the new season, anyway'. I mean, have you met Jonny? He's definitely going to prop up Luke and Nicola as much as he can, because he's a team player and always will be.

But like you said I think they are both going to be in every episode (and hello, I think some people missed the fact that he said he had read the first TWO episodes scripts already) and have a decent amount of screentime. Of course the spotlight will not be on them, but on Polin, but still the show is an ensemble and always will be.

[stillness-in-green]

AFO is a victim of the biological determinism of his own quirk--like Toga, but moreso.  But damned if I could tell you how the greater narrative about Hero Society and inequality benefits from that. 👀 oh??

Ahaha, well, that's more a "looking for Watsonian answers to Doylist questions" theory than one I'm ready to seriously declare for, BUT.  It is a theory I've had at the back of my mind for somewhere in the neighborhood of two years now, since I first brought it up in discussion with a friend. 

It's largely a theory aimed at addressing why All For One is Like That, beyond a handwave of, "He was just born Like That.  You know—a monster."  I'd say there are two main parts—the biological determinism, and the vestige mechanics.

Hit the jump!

Firstly, we know that people can be influenced by their quirk.  The standard bearer is, of course, Toga, whose quirk gives her an innate attraction to blood that her trying to suppress for a decade eventually led to tragedy.  She's an extreme case, but Re-Destro makes the observation as well, that there is a connection between one's personality and one's quirk.  Think of something like Bakugou's explosive personality, or La Brava's stalker tendencies.

Re-Destro obviously overstates somewhat; there are plenty of characters whose personality and quirk seem to have no notable connection (say Tamaki for example), as well as characters who seem to have a personality that matches their quirk, but may also just be playing up that personality up as part of their social persona (Present Mic).  Still, it wouldn’t be very hard to read a certain amount of compulsion into AFO. There's even some decent evidence for it, in AFO's interactions with the Pussycats!

I could also see his compulsion being—let’s say, enabled by whatever his and Yoichi’s circumstances demanded of him back when they were young.  In such a dangerous world, with the social order having completely broken down, what was he supposed to do?  Just lie down and let them both be trampled over because, without using his quirk, he was as defenseless as his brother? Not likely!

Of course, him telling himself it’s for his and Yoichi’s sake as an excuse for doing what he wants to do anyway doesn’t excuse his many crimes, no more than Toga’s compulsion and family circumstances excuse hers.  Also too, whatever faux-altruism he might once have claimed, he’s clearly long shaken it off by now.  It’s always been notable to me, though, that he did once try to make excuses for his actions.  In the OFA dream flashbacks, he talked about bringing order to a world gone mad; he framed giving and taking quirks in exchange for favors explicitly as a middle ground he was graciously taking between just stockpiling all the quirks he liked and not bothering with social networking at all versus using his quirk only for the sake of others and asking nothing in return.

He’d clearly already gone full-tilt megalomaniac even then, but all the Demon Lord talk was much more vague, only coming up at the tail end of the dream, and only in the form of a stray reference to, “that comic you used to read.”  That was all likely over a century ago, though, and a hundred years is a lot of time to go all-in on the evil overlord thing, especially after his brother was no longer around to make justifications to, and especially after being defeated by All Might.

Secondly, as regards the vestige mechanics, we know that carrying too many quirks can cause mental breakdowns, even catatonia.  AFO, of course, has some natural resistance to this due to the nature of his quirk, but how much resistance does he have?  Particularly given what we now know about quirks having vestiges, what’s the effect on AFO of spending over a hundred years filling up his hind brain with other peoples’ voices, instincts, memories and wills?  How much can we really say that the present AFO much resembles the person Shigaraki Yoichi’s older brother once was?

To be clear, I don't think this idea is very well-supported by the canon.  As far as the story as we have it is concerned, AFO has just been bad news from the start, at least until Yoichi condescends to tell Deku any different.  Likewise, AFO is clearly capable of being discerning about which quirks he takes and which he doesn’t; he further doesn’t seem to have any reluctance to giving quirks away if it suits his needs.  So I don’t think “biological compulsion” is a thing that has a strong sway over him, and any claims he makes that suggest otherwise (as in the images above) are just him being a big chortling sophist.

In terms of “how I’d treat it if I were to write the fanfic,” however, I think it would be interesting to treat All for One (the quirk) as something of an addiction meeting an addictive personality. To wit, AFO was always going to be susceptible to his quirk’s influence, but once he started using it, his ability to resist the impulse eroded further and further over time.  The same thing happened to his mentality—as he fell farther and farther, he threw away the excuses he once relied on and just embraced his hedonistic desire to possess.

As to how this fits the overarching themes of HeroAca?  Well, I don’t really think it does.  For starters, it would have required a take on Deku and One For All that was much less simplistic than the one we wound up with.  If the narrative had really leaned into the idea of OFA as a “cursed” power, if Deku had run into much more serious opposition from the previous bearers over his “save Shigaraki” notion, that would have paralleled an AFO who was ultimately a slave to his own desires better. 

(I’d also want that version of the story to examine All Might’s “Pillar” ideal and his decision to pass OFA forward even after he seemingly defeated AFO. Have Deku question how much of those decisions were really Toshinori Yagi’s and how much were the influence of One For All seeking to propagate itself forward and transform its bearer into a selfless vessel for service, a literal "One" to serve "All," regardless of the pain endured by the vessel. Look, too, at All Might's paternalism, of his and Deku's tendency to deny other people their say in what burdens they would choose to shoulder! There's so much interesting you could do with OFA if it weren't so damned idealized.)

The story we have, though, isn't a psychological horror about subverted identity hiding in the skin of an optimistic shonen action comic. It's about the impact of superpowers on society at large, about structural complacency, quirk-based prejudice, the correct actions of those who have power and those who lack it, about legacy and about what is meant by terms like “winning” and “saving.”  I think quirks with compulsive underpinnings like Toga’s are an important facet of that story, but shouldn’t be the explanation for the man shaping up to be the ultimate face of The Opponent The Main Characters Must Overcome.

Thanks for your interest, anon!  Other anon(?) who asked about the AFO Retcon Theory, that one’s going to take a bit longer, but I will do my best to get it put together in a reasonably timely fashion.

[jade-qilin]

once upon a dream | jujutsu kaisen (nanami kento x f!reader) • 1/?

notes: i’m back with a new fic! this was self-indulgent because i love nanami kento with my entire heart <3 i don’t post on tumblr often but i swear i’m writing stuff! i still mostly post on wattpad </3. anyway, this is my first time writing in second-person POV so please be kind! also apologies if Nanami is OOC; i love him but i find his type of character is hard to write in a romantic view </3

this was originally meant to be a one-shot, but it got too long so i’ll be splitting it into two (maybe three) parts! i’ll add the link here once part two is added! this work will also be cross-posted onto wattpad and ao3 under the same name.

notes 2.0: part two will contain manga spoiler, f!reader, second-person POV, reader is an older student in university/joined university late, angst, nanami x reader. not proof-read.

details & content warnings: f!reader, fluff, manga spoilers

part two || ao3: xxx || no reposts; reblogs and follows appreciated

you were an older student at the university of tokyo, having had financial troubles which delayed your enrolment straight from high school. after a receiving a hefty sum of money from a recently deceased relative, you decided to use the money towards paying for a degree. the elation you had felt upon seeing the acceptance letter was a moment you would never forget.

having started later than most other freshmen, who were still baby-faced and so new to the world outside of high school, you often found yourself feeling out of place among your younger peers (though most were too busy studying to truly care and notice). still, classes went smoothly and, in your older age, you found that studying alone wasn’t as bad as your teenage self used to believe.

you were thankful that your apartment was within a reasonable distance from the university, so that you didn’t have to pay more towards a dorm room that was surely much more expensive than your one-room apartment. the cherry on top of this arrangement was how close your living space was to your job: a decent sized book store owned by a local group of friends. the job paid a living wage, the managers were kind (yet they always made sure there was no slacking), the regular customers were always so kind, and most importantly — on days where you were placed at the cash register — you were allowed to sit!

the job was truly a blessing. in fact, it was a bit suspicious how everything played out. nonetheless, as long as you remained vigilant and responsible, you were certain nothing bad could happen. the main reason you had decided to go to university was because you had a dream you wanted to make a reality, and a bachelor’s degree was the first step in doing so. the bookstore merely helped you survive thus far, and was a great fallback in case your original plans crashed and burned.

if anything, you felt more inclined to continue working at the bookstore, all thanks to a certain handsome stranger who stopped by many times.

nanami kento, his name which you had learned after asking if he wanted to sign up for a store membership account. he was as mysterious as he was handsome, with his nice suit and well-kept hair, and the ever-present sleepy look in his eye that was quite charming in its own right. you learned that despite his very mature — albeit still good-looking — face that he was only in his mid-twenties.

‘he’s very professional-looking.’ you had thought to yourself the second time he had come to shop. ‘i wonder what job he does that requires him to look so well-groomed.’

on his fifth or sixth visit, you decided to ask him directly.

“i’m... a salaryman.” he had responded, shifting his gaze elsewhere as he handed you his bounty of the day. “sorry, it’s not that interesting.”

“oh, please don’t feel bad! i apologize if i overstepped my boundaries. it’s just...” you trailed off. “you always look so well-dressed, and you always buy an enormous amount of books every time you stop by. i just got a bit curious, sorry.” nanami stifled a deep-pitched laugh behind his hand, causing your face to heat up and your eyes to widen.

‘i made him laugh!’

“sorry about that.” nanami regained his composure (not that it had changed much). “i can assure you though, it’s all for looks.” you quirked a brow playfully as you began scanning his items.

“i didn’t realize being a salaryman was a messy job.” you teased. the corners of nanami’s mouth stretched further, his smile growing.

‘by the shinto gods, he’s so handsome.’

“well, i wish it wasn’t, but when you have, ah, messy coworkers, things start to get unconventional. but,” he paused, a soft look adorning his beautiful eyes. “it pays well.”

“i can tell.” you point playfully at the large bag containing his newly purchased items. nanami laughs softly, not bothering much to hide it this time. you felt your cheeks warming up once more that day.

“you yourself seem to enjoy your job.” he says suddenly, causing you to look up from the cash register. noticing your surprised face, nanami coughs and continues, his ears now red. “i mean, every time i come by, you seem to be enjoying yourself.”

you give a little hum. “well, it does pay well, and it’s close to both my apartment and the university.”

“oh? i didn’t realize you were still a student.” you become flustered, this time with embarrassment, as you shake give an awkward laugh.

“well, some things got in the way of me pursuing post-secondary education straight from high school. you know how it is, haha. but, better late than never, as they say.”

“there’s no shame in that.” surprised by nanami’s answer, you look at him straight in the eyes. there’s a gentle smile on his face. “shit happens in life, but knowing when make a chance and take hold of it is, as you said, better than never.”

you’re so elated at hearing nanami’s kind words that no answer comes to mind. thankfully, as if cupid himself was watching, nanami’s cellphone begins to ring. the man gives a curt bow and goes to answer it. you let out a silent sigh in relief as you finalize his purchase.

‘thank you kamisama! i don’t know what i’d do with myself if he just saw me staring at him like that.’

by the time you finished your task, nanami had gotten off the phone. his face became serious, and it worried you slightly. you handed him his items.

“sorry i kept you waiting.” he apologized. “something urgent came up at work.”

“it’s no worries! if anything, i should be the one apologizing for taking up your time asking you such questions.” you bow quite frantically. not only was nanami a regular, but you really didn’t want him to stop coming because of how nosy you were. “i... i hope everything goes well with your work.”

nanami looks slightly surprised at your last words, before he smiled. he grabbed his items and gave a small bow again before heading out the door.

“thank you, miss. i hope all your dreams come true. take care now.”

you remained still in place, watching nanami leave the building. your face is warm and your heart seems to be elsewhere, thumping loudly in your chest. it isn’t until your coworker comes to tease you that you break out of your reverie. your coworker continues to ask many questions about the “strange man” and what he said to cause you to blush as hard as you are. it takes your manager’s calm intervention for you and your coworker to return to your duties.

the next time you saw nanami was after a few weeks. he looked more tired than usual, walking into the store at a slower pace. he was much more tense than when you two last spoke, and it caused you to worry.

‘i’m sure everything’s fine.’ you chastise yourself. ‘he’s a grown man who can take care of himself. besides, you’re thinking like a stalker, y/n.’

despite this reassurance, the anxiety in your heart refused to quell. from your seat at the register, you take quick glances as nanami maneuvered between the bookshelves. thankfully there weren’t many customers today. when the man began heading towards the cash register, you straightened yourself up and pretended to be doing other work.

nanami laid down a few books onto the counter, and you noticed how small the pile was in contrast to his usual visits.

“i’d like to buy these please.” his deep voiced seemed much more strained than usual. you only noticed the difference due to how often he visited. you gave a short nod and began scanning his items. nanami shifted his gaze towards the stand that held handmade bookmarks.

“did... did something bad happen at your workplace?” you finally mustered the courage to ask. nanami stares at you in slight bewilderment, and you force yourself to speak more. “i mean, last time you came by, you said something came up at work. and you seemed a bit troubled so, i was just wondering if...”

your sudden courage failed on you as you began to stammer and trip over your words. you finished by apologizing politely, your words barely coherent. there’s a small silence before nanami speaks up again, and when you raise your head to catch his gaze, you find that his face his red and that he’s struggling to hide a smile (okay well, not really, considering how large his hands are).

“um,” his voice cracks ever so slightly. “i didn’t realize, um, sorry.” he begins whispering to himself, his words incoherent, before regaining his composure. “in short, something did come up, but everything’s been resolved. there is no need to trouble yourself, but thank you.”

you nod your head slowly, but you must still appear to be visibly unconvinced as nanami continues with a soft smile, the one that melts your heart, that you haven’t seen in weeks.

“how about i, um, take you out for coffee. and i can explain a bit, if that will help quell your worries.” your eyes widen and your heart begins to race.

“no no, i could never ask to take up your time! i’m sorry for being nosy; i just couldn’t help but be a bit worried.” you apologize.

“it’s no trouble to me, miss. i just do not want you to fret over nothing.” nanami checks his watch quickly. “besides, i appear to be taking up your time on the clock. if anything, i seem to be continuously imposing on you. i would hate to see you get fired; then i’d have no reason to keep coming here.”

you barely catch nanami’s last few words, but they still reach your ears in the end. your heart is beating so hard, you’re scared it’s about to burst. nanami’s face is a deep shade of red, his hands awkwardly clasped together. despite this flustered look, he’s able to maintain eye contact with you, and his gaze is intense, fiery, and you fail to find any other message behind them. tripping over your words once more, you begin nodding your head.

“yeah,” you swallow hard. “coffee sounds good.”

nanami’s smile grows slightly. he takes out his phone and you give him your number. after tearing out a blank piece of paper from the receipt printer, nanami writes his name and number down on it before handing it back to you.

“so you won’t be surprised at the random number texting you.” he says.

you both agree to arrange the outing via phone, after your shift is done. after finishing nanami’s current purchase, the goodbye is awkward, but not in the same way as usual. after he leaves, your coworker once again saunters up to you, her face plastered with an incredulous expression.

“did you just score a date with mr. hottie?! girl, how did you do it?! all the men i attract have been so trashy.”

you can’t really come up with an answer as your coworker continues her barrage of questions, and it isn’t until your manager (once again) comes around to gently remind you both that you’re still on the clock, and that rush hour was about to begin (on weekdays, the rush being in the evening when students are let out of classes. they often enjoyed spending time in the bookstore checking out the manga).

though you are able to finish your shift with no problem, nanami’s handsome face and alluring voice fail to leave your mind for even a second.

once you arrived in the safety of your apartment, you get yourself cleaned up before preparing a quick meal for yourself. as the stove heats up, you unlock your phone and spot a text from a new number. opening the LINE app, you fish for the paper nanami gave you and begin comparing the two numbers together.

“it really is from him... this is real.” you mumble, studying both nanami’s text and his messy (yet somehow still charming) handwriting.

[ Nanami Kento ]

Hello, this is Nanami Kento, from the bookstore.

[ y/n ]

Hello Nanami-san. This is y/n.

[ Nanami Kento ]

I assume I got the correct number then?

you giggle softly.

[ y/n ]

Of course. :) did you think I might have given you the wrong number?

There’s a pause.

[ Nanami Kento ]

No, I was just afraid I might have scared you off. I’m glad I didn’t.

‘kamisama, even through text he manages to be so charming.’ you blush.

you and nanami continue texting until the stove needs your full attention, to which you tell the man you’ll be right back. even as you’re eating, you continue conversing with him. you are also able to arrange a date and a location for where you’re going to meet up. nanami offers to pick you up, but after sharing each other’s address, you find that he lives in the opposite direction from both you and the café. you don’t let this damper your excitement though, and the texting finished as nanami says he must leave. staring at your last texts to each other, you begin to feel warm and fuzzy inside, excited for your date.

***

nanami turned off his phone as he heard gojo and itadori’s voices heading his way.

‘right,’ he thinks to himself. ‘i’m still technically at work.’

he hated lying to you about his profession, but the jujutsu world was not for non-sorcerers to be affiliated with. besides, you both had just started talking more casually with each other. it was far too soon for nanami to share such information to someone who wasn’t quite yet his lover.

nanami’s mind was more unfocused than he thought, as he failed to hear gojo and his pupil actually enter the room, his daydreaming broken only by gojo’s bright blue eye staring at him from under the six-eyed sorcerer’s blindfold.

“what’re you thinking about, nanamin? you have this weird look on your face.” gojo says before gasping. “have you been texting someone naughty things?!” nanami could feel a headache coming, and sukuna’s vessel wasn’t helping.

“eh?! i didn’t know you had a girlfriend, nanamin! you have to tell me about her!” itadori and gojo continued to pester nanami, bombarding the bespectacled man with numerous questions.

“she’s not my girlfriend.” nanami retorts sternly, annoyed now. ‘at least, not yet.’

big mistake. itadori and gojo now focus on the “she” aforementioned, and nanami tries his hardest not to punch gojo right then and there. it’s not until ichiji and itadori’s classmates, fushiguro megumi and zen’in maki, arrive that gojo and itadori quiet down (although the former continued to make teasing jabs at nanami throughout the meeting).

the meeting seemed to drag on longer than usual; it wasn’t supposed to be a formal thing, just a catch up on the strange patchwork curse nanami and itadori had fought about a week or so ago. as itadori and his classmates began making idle talk, nanami’s mind started to wander back to you and your concerned face upon seeing him earlier that day.

shoko had done a good job healing up the wound inflicted by the cursed spirit, but nanami’s muscles still felt like they were on fire. the medical sorcerer had told him to be careful when moving about, but nanami was insistent on seeing your face again. the missions he had been assigned gave him little free time.

while the man did love his books, the biggest reason he continued visiting that bookstore was to see you. the first few times he came around was by chance, but he soon began to notice how regular your shifts were. after that, it became a habit for him to appear when you were on the clock. the books he bought were nice, and he truthfully did hope to read them all sometime, but he could have easily had the books ordered from a bigger bookstore chain and shipped straight to his place, or he could have used the e-reader gojo had gifted him awhile back to buy digital copies at a cheaper price.

but no, nanami wouldn’t change a thing. his last mission truly was an unassuming blessing in disguise, as it gave him an opportunity to ask you out. nanami recalled feeling so relieved when you accepted his request, and he felt like a high school boy who had just gotten Valentine’s Day chocolate from their crush as he stared at your contact profile.

nanami couldn’t wait for your date to come, and he hoped your relationship could deepen even more.

[END]

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Nightwing #81 Review

i swear i actually thought no one was interested so i didn’t write one but a grand total of two (2) people said they wanted to read it, so here it is. honestly, my opinion’s been going a bit downhill, but the art is really cool and there are some decent parts so. holding out i guess? i really hope taylor has an end goal or at least a cohesive plan, otherwise i don’t see this series going anywhere i’ll particularly enjoy

the cover is very straightforward in its imagery, this villain has nightwing in the palm of his hand, easily manipulated, easily controlled no matter the action dick thinks he’ll take. 

what i find interesting is the colour: both previously and heavily in this issue, the colourist has chosen to make pink this villain’s main colour, with different shades of pink as accents. so why the red in the cover? possibly to just make it more eye-grabbing, though one could argue that pink is even more eye-catching than red. maybe to convey a sense of dread or fear that pink won’t fully get across. either way, it’s definitely a decision i’m curious about.

so melinda zucco is in a high enough political position within bludhaven that she is next in line to become the mayor after the previous mayor died and dick just,,,,didn’t have any idea she existed? dick didn’t know anything about her? forget dick’s own brilliant detective skills, forget his doggedness at anything zucco related, you’re telling me bruce never found her and told dick about her? maybe he wouldn’t have now, but back when dick was a young kid, he definitely would have at least made dick aware of her existence, to let dick know and ask if he wanted to interfere with her life or anything.

i have a thought about zucco’s facial expressions. she is very much stone-cold poker face throughout the entire issue. the only time i see her pull a different expression is near the end when dick corners her against a wall with an arm around her throat. 

this is most certainly intentional, what with the varied and intense expressions we see on other characters, dick most prominently. i’m wondering what exactly is the creative team’s reasoning behind this. in these panels, zucco is meeting with the most dangerous, powerful, near-bloodthirsty man in all of bludhaven and becoming the mayor of the city respectfully. in both of these panels, there is barely a hint of emotion in her face: no fear, no determination, no satisfaction. it’s just odd, considering the circumstances she’s in, regardless of any training recieved.

just spitballing here but. like. from what i’ve read so far, dick doesn’t really seem like bludhaven’s guardian angel. more like when peter parker first put on spandex and blindly stepped out into new york.

dick, how exactly can you underestimate someone from one move. so he caught your escrima. anyone with enhanced reflexes can do that. you still don’t know how he can actually fight, and this is shown in the next set of panels. 

i just don’t like the wording here. dick’s “underestimated” him, but beats him up easy in the next page. in addition, i don’t know much about combat, but i would assume it would take more than one move to determine exactly what an opponent’s skill level is, made even more complex when you add physical enhancements and metahumans and aliens into the mixture.

idk my first thought when i saw that he caught the stick was “ah ok he’s enhanced” because obviously he couldn’t have reacted fast enough if he wasn’t (as there are few people trained enough to catch it on human reflexes alone.) then the wording in the next panel, i’ve underestimated him, made me think “oh no ok so he’s not enhanced, he’s just a really good fighter and can give dick a run for his money in a fight.” then, it turns out my first assumption was proven correct in the next panel. it just comes across as misleading to me.

(also sidenote but his curls are cute.)

have i praised the art enough in this series? no, i have not.

i adore the way this is laid out and illustrated. without even having to read the text, the action sequence is visually engaging and intense, and easily followable from one panel to the next. dick’s physical expertise comes through quite efficiently, and i love the special attention shown to draw our attention to dick’s escrima in the bottom right corner.

also that move in the middle row leftmost panel that’s the mcu black widow move to get up off the ground it was the first thing i noticed and it made me laugh; thought it was worth noting

i’m really loving dick’s escrima sticks in this run. they’re just so multipurpose, it’s hilarious and exhilarating. kinda reminds me of bruce’s belt, the way the button in the middle does eevveeerrryyytthhiinngg. 

got a problem? don’t worry! dick’s installed a feature into his escrima that can fix that! (i like thinking dick helped make them it makes me happy and makes my engineer!dick side satisfied)

yawn. your big heart is your one true weakness yadda yadda the fact that you care will be used against you blah blah we get it. jesus can the villains please find a different weakness to exploit, this is getting old.

i need dick’s capacity to empathize and care and love to stop being a weakness that villains sneer about. bonus points if dick saves everyone anyway, either because of or despite his great big heart and the villain is surprised by the goodness of mankind or some shit like that.

i need it to be a strength, right from the get-go. the fact that he cares so incredibly much should be an asset that dick has and will use. he’s a very complex character with years of background, it can’t possibly be that hard to find another weakness of his. 

ooooh this is cool, gosh i absolutely love this.

because what exactly is the reader doing? we are seeing the fear in dick’s face, just as this villain intended. even better, we’re seeing the reflection of it from the villain’s glossy mask, telling us exactly what we’re seeing and exactly what he likes so much about it.

dick’s standing up straight, shoulders drawn back, looking up at this villain’s face with determination and resolve, but his suit is tattered. one eye looks to be swollen. his hair is falling limply around his eyes, as opposed to the curls from earlier. his escrima aren’t even part of the main focus, instead blending into the side of the mask in the outer corners of the mask’s eyes, which tells you exactly how big of a threat they are to this villain.

poor bitewing’s quite alarmed.

also on second thought why would you bring your puppy out like this, when you know you’re gonna end up fighting someone in the suit. a) how many grey three-legged adorable little puppies live in the bludhaven area dick? and how easy will it be to connect the doggo running around with nightwing with the doggo that dick grayson owns? and 2) is this puppers trained? does she have fighting experience? how exactly can you ensure she will survive this highly stressful situation?

dick take better care of your dog 

you know what? i was with tim on this one. why exactly is dick so optimistic and trusting about the people of bludhaven? bludhaven, which has been described as gotham’s smaller, smellier, more corrupt sister city once or twice. it’s not just the corrupt people in power, the entire system needs to change and people need to have faith and hope in order for them to come together, espcially if they’ve been living in conditions like how bludhaven has been described. from how clueless dick is about his own goddamn city, i can tell he hasn’t been here long.

it was a nice moment of hope, i’ll admit. but it was a tad unrealistic for me.

also it was in a weird place in the comic. this sort of confrontation and big get-together of the people to rejuvenate hope in each other feels like it should come near the end of a run, if not the end of an issue. certainly not in the first third of an issue. the pacing’s a bit off to me.

loyal little puppy patiently waiting for her human to wake up. i love her so much.

no it’s not. it’s bitewing.

living for this t-shirt honestly. do comics of dc characters exist in the dc universe? they must if the mug and the shirt are any indication

(now i’m imagining the first batman movie that came out in the dc universe and bruce just. being so offended at who they chose to play him.)

well, yes. but when a group of people are put through hellish conditions over and over again, they soon become desensitized to the pain and terror of their everyday lives in order to both stay sane and keep their life relatively stable, and part of that becomes ignoring or blocking out anything that isn’t directly important to you or your loved ones. having a bleeding heart will most likely get you killed in a city like bludhaven if you don’t have the same skills that vigilantes have.

and of course, people are more than capable of coming together and rallying under their city’s vigilante after seeing the good they’ve done and how they’ve helped the people, but that sort of trust takes time and effort to build. dick also had the whole ric arc and was gone for a while, which has been referenced several times in this particular issue in fact. that’s not going to make bludhaven’s citizens any more likely to trust him.

maybe i’m being a bit harsh but this comic is comic off as a bit too idealistic for the amount of change nightwing can do in a city given the present and past circumstances as well as nightwing’s own abilities. even dick grayson can’t pull off everything.

ok seriously this needs to stop this needs to stop.

right now, dick reminds me of oliver queen in the few episodes of the cw’s arrow i watched. he does the punchy-kicky-fighty and occasionally has smart insights due to the skills he gained from his past that he certainly definitely totally has but only ever exhibits once, while his team does all of the background research and information gathering and actual work.

this is dick’s city. if he has the same intelligence, worth ethic, and stubbornness in this run that he’s been shown to possess all his life, then he knows this city inside out. he’ll have meticulous notes organized in a ridiculously efficient system, he’ll have scouted out zucco long before this started, he’ll have known when anything big happened in the bludhaven political landscape in an instant.

i’m really not liking exactly how much dick’s relying on babs and tim in this series. sure, he loves them and cares for them and likes working cases with them. but he always pulls his own weight, has always been a mentor figure to tim instead of what’s weirdly becoming the other way around, and takes point on the cases in his own damn city.

what kind of weak-ass oracle is this?? redacted fbi files are child’s play. babs used to hack into the fbi for fun. this one particular picture is so out of character i want to laugh.

reading this series has unfortunately made me confront that, despite the tiny fluid acrobat dick that lives in my head 24/7, canon dick is impossibly 5′10 and muscular at that.

mmm. titties.

tim said hydrate or die-drate bitch

love how dick’s doing all this intense brooding and stuff meanwhile bitewing is curled up in a soft comfy post having the time of her life.

you don’t understand i would legitimately kill myself for her.

also the lighting in this one scene is cool. the blue tones come off so well.

they’re just. so multipurpose!! they can become a bo staff. they can cut glass. they can become a grapple hook/line. they can electrify someone. they’re a funky colour. i’m becoming really attached to these things. absolute solid choice in weaponry.

if you’re gonna write up every rookie mistake dick has made during this series to head trauma, then dick shouldn’t be out and about at all, much less in costume.

see this? this is just straight up wrong. dick most definitely should have spotted her, and would have immediately moved to take her down.

scratch that, dick would have done a full check of the building, because he knows not to break into places uninformed, especially if the owner of the apartment was raised by the maroni family. someone as highly trained, experienced, and competent as dick wouldn’t have done this.

and if you chalk it up to head injury, (which is probably true), than his ~love interest~ and his little brother should have done a much better job making sure he stays in his house.

zucco looks so awkward it’s fucking hilarious

are those shadows that mimic a domino mask, to both reflect and hide the fact that his mask is missing? are those bruises around his eyes, to show how, despite what good he’s doing, being nightwing is hurting dick right now? 

(isn’t his domino mask supposed to have an electrifying feature that keeps people from removing them?)

it’s a little odd how the three known villains of this series are all coloured in warm shades, more specifically pink. meanwhile, in earlier issues, dick’s fondest memories were in pink, memories of him and alfred in particular. why has the colour pink changed from signifying something benevolent to something malicious? idk i hope this gets explained later.

this i did like. either it’s just a display of brute force in anger, or dick slipped the ties and pulled them off once untied. both ways, it’s an unintentional display of power, and i think that’s kinda cool.

again. dick is,,,tall? sort of? weirdddd

i’m so glad most readers are unified in the notion that this was the absolute dumbest fucking thing.

i’m hoping this gets disproved or something soon. and i hope dick doesn’t fall for it, because he definitely knows better than to take something as important as this at face value.

what exactly is taylor trying to accomplish here? why is he trying to go back on what we all knew was a happy, loving childhood and throw strife and disharmony and (what i’m assuming will be) infidelity? this will not end well at all.

---

,,,,,this review got way longer than expected lol. and i realize most of it just became me ranting. i guess i didn’t realize how ticked off i was originally. fingers crossed it gets better.

tag list: @woahjaybird @birdy-bat-writes @anothertimdrakestan @subtleappreciation @screennamealreadyused @bikoncon @pricetagofficial @catxsnow @thatsthewhump @xatanna-troy @red-hood-redemption @capricorn-stark @batshit-birds​ @comics-observer

[catgirlxox]

Why "Alien X-Tinction" Was The Best Possible Conclusion

(To The Ben 10 Franchise as a whole, as of Right Now)

In short, while the Ben 10 Reboot isn't without faults, "Alien X-Tinction" did everything it could to pay tribute to what came before it, and why the Ben 10 Reboot could even be anywhere near successful for it's intended audience and for modern age of Cartoon Network.

*Obvious spoiler warning ahead.*

Main Reasons

To begin with the obvious, emphasis being made on the existence of the Omniverse (something I feel like the majority hadn't paid enough attention to during and after the last iteration) was important for several reasons. For instance, confirming what I've been saying all this time! And effectively knocking down certain misconceptions about unfinished or uncertain topics left behind in the previous show. So I really appreciated that.

It gave, at least me, a sense of closure, even though I feel Omniverse's final episode, "A New Dawn", had tried to do that, as well.

Anyway, in doing that, they brought back the original continuity, in honor of what the fans wanted, but the main focus was still on the three main characters (Ben, Gwen, and Max) - something that I've heard a lot of the fandom say was their favourite thing about the series when it first started: going on a family road trip with the occasion alien adventure.

Again, giving the people what they want, while remaining within the confines of what Cartoon Network or the higher ups probably directed them to do with the new series.

It's a compromise that satisfies everyone.

I also can't help but notice they included a limited amount of characters. I'd even say specifically the "fan favourites."

I bring this up because a lot of newer characters and character dynamics introduced in the later installations of the series weren't always well received. AKA, characters like Kai Green (especially her relationship with Ben), or even the way Gwen and Kevin were portrayed in everything following the OS (including their eventual romance).

As such, the special stuck to its roots and gave us something purely "Ben 10": action-packed and focusing on family bonds. Rather than including any other side themes people are divided on. Media like this is made for the people who will watch it, after all.

Notable Mentions

I don't know if anyone else picked up on this, but - characterization consistency with the previous shows! AF Ben was written decently serious like his "mature" self (as the fandom loves to praise him for being). And, UA Ben came in obviously much more sure of himself, which is also consistent with the transition from season three of Alien Force to his rise to fame during Ultimate Alien.

Speaking of characterization, this was AF Ben's reaction to Alternate Max's criticism of reboot Ben, calling him out for being, as he said, "a stubborn brat." Personally I think that's a little harsh, but regardless, it's almost as if he knows what that's like, or something. Interesting touch on the producers' part.

Even if they didn't use a whole lot of aliens, the animators did also go the extra mile in recreating the previous designs for the each of the aliens the alternate Bens used. And, some of the transformation scenes from the previous shows too, as a call back for those who might remember.

Things like this make it clear to me that the producers did their research in the production of new Ben 10 content.

Responding to Criticism

Since the reboot is what it is, I'll expect it to get a whole lot of criticism anyway. But the most common complaints I've heard so far are regarding UA Ben not turning into any ultimate aliens, and the use of Alien X's powers being underwhelming.

In the interest of trying to see what the producers might have had in mind, I thought that, since a younger version of himself was present, UA Ben using the ultimate feature would spoil the near future for AF Ben, and therefore might change the path he takes moving forward. Hence him using aliens from the UA era, like Amphibian, but not ultimates.

I would argue it was done to maintain consistency in the original continuity, as well as the way the Omniverse was set up to work.

As for the alternate evil Ben's "nerfed" use of Alien X, well, I've got a theory about that too. First of all, he's not Ben Prime. He's clearly been through a lot of hardship, and it's taken a toll on his mental state, outlook on the hero life, moral compass, and general wellbeing.

His whole plan was created out of revenge and anger. He wasn't thinking straight. How can you expect him to ultimately defeat everyone with that kind of handicap? Even if he had god powers - he was using them though a cloud of negative human emotions.

Powerscaling isn't really my thing, but I'm sure there was something more he could do if he was seriously set on accomplishing his goal without clouded judgement.

As for myself, my only criticism is regarding why they couldn't just draw the UAF jacket and the Ultimatrix right. It's upside down for...seemingly no reason, lol. But I can look past it, I guess. It was just cool to see Ben Prime again.

All three of him, that is.

[cybernaght]

The Rebel/叛逆者: A Review of Sorts

After being only semi-invested in the Rebel, I ended up getting so into it in the final weeks of its release, I’ve shelled out on IQIYI premium just to get the final couple of episodes a few days earlier.

That’s right kids, it’s a Review of Sorts. Unfortunately, I could not find a translation of the novella the drama is based on, so will be looking at it as a separate entity. 

Most of this post is spoiler-free, however I have dedicated a few paragraphs at the end of it to discussing the final episode, as there are a few specific things about it I wanted to mention. There is a clear spoiler warning before that part.

If you don’t want to risk it, TL;DR version of this review goes something like this: Rebel is very decent, and positively one of the best things that I have seen to come out of China since I’ve jumped into that particular rabbit hole. It’s pretty well written, it’s very beautifully dressed and shot, and the cast is killing it. I thought it dropped the ball a little in post production, and I did not always love the pacing. Other than that, it’s incredibly decent, and well worth watching, unless communist propaganda really irks you, in which case stay very well away. 

I have been having many conversations with @supernovasimplicity​ all the way through watching this drama, so there are likely to be some thoughts here that are influenced by those. 

The story centers around Lin Nansheng, a struggling servicemen in the Guomingdang party. He has a great analytical mind, and absolutely no emotional capacity for his job. He has trouble handling violence, he is impulsive, he cannot speak to his superiors without bursting into tears, and has nothing even remotely resembling a poker face. And that is what makes this drama as enjoyable as it is. 

I don’t think Lin Nansheng’s journey would have been nearly as exciting had he started it from a place of competence. He botches up everything he touches because his big brain switches off the moment his emotions kick in. And so, when you see him grow in confidence, learn to control himself, learn to fake his smiles and compliments, you can’t help but feel a strange sense of pride. It also makes Lin Nansheng very likeable as a character for reasons other than Zhu Yilong’s ability to look like a bush baby.

It did take me a while to feel fully engaged with his performance - not because there is anything lacking in it, but just because it’s hard to be truly surprised by his choices after the exposure I have given myself to his work. That said, at about a half-way point I got charmed by him anyway, and there were quite a few scenes that were truly mesmerising. There were scenes where he broke out of the familiar mould of big unguarded eyes and fluttering wet eyelashes, and tried something that was not pretty: every time to a great success. I am hoping to see more of that in his future work. 

I really wanted to like the female lead, Zhu Yizhen, but unfortunately both the way she was written and the way she was performed by Tong Yao left me somewhat cold. It did not help of course that the screenplay ended up sidelining her at every turn, leaving her with very little personal agency. She was set up so interestingly, but in the end her sole purpose became being someone for Lin Nansheng to pine over. It is particularly curious from a perspective of meta storytelling: seeing how this is all centered around superiority of communism, which as a whole was, arguably, ahead of its time in the matters of binary gender equality.

The ensemble cast of the drama is stunning. Wang Yang came very close to  stealing the show at several points as Chen Moqun, somehow managing to make his rather unlikeable character interesting. I can say the same thing about Zhu Zhu who absolutely shined as Lin Xinjie, showing an incredible range and imagination in her performance.

The overarching story of the show is engaging, with some incredibly suspenseful elements; every narrative arc including a nice progression through it. As spy thrillers go, it was fairly well plotted. You could if you go looking for a few things that did not pay off in a satisfying way (notably, the Chekhov’s cyanide capsule), but you overall the story really was well told for the most of it. 

I did, however, feel like the pacing started to fall apart in the last quarter of the drama. Last episode in particular really did feel rushed, not just due to its pace, but also in a way it failed to pay off the final mission in any visible way. There will be more on that in the spoiler section of this post.

Important to note that The Rebel is a show made in Communist China in the year 2021. It does not ideologically side-step from the path that was laid out for it by that fact. Which is to say, it is, undeniably, filled with propaganda. Communists are the good guys, and if you think a good guy (or gal) is not a communist, they probably secretly are. With one exception of a friendly character who is not a communist, and whose fate we actually never find out. Curious, that. 

The Rebel is not a kind of a show where censorship-appeasing scenes are shoehorned in. It’s a kind of a show in which the main theme is Sacrifice For the Party.

Aside from the being the moral vector of the show, Mao’s gentle teachings explicitly help get Ling Nansheng out of prolonged depression following his injury, and almost annoyingly, this sat incredibly well with the character, as he was written. Lin Nansheng is conceived as this naive idealist who wants to be on the front line, who needs validation and support of others. His - and I can’t believe I’m saying this - his being disillusioned in his beliefs and choosing to join a party which includes people whom he likes and trusts makes sense. Him finding this one thing that gives him hope and letting it propel him into gaining confidence and competence makes sense. 

In many ways, the Rebel is a story of Lin Nansheng’s failure to become an antagonist within the world of the drama.

I have honestly spent this past couple of weeks pondering whether being well written makes political propaganda better or worse, whether the subtlety of it makes it more or less palatable, whether it’s enough, as a viewer, to be aware of it to shrug it off. Ultimately, this is not something I could or should make moral judgements on, but I do believe that it’s possible to acknowledge the fact that propaganda exists in the drama, and still appreciate it for a good piece of television that it is. 

That said, I am very well aware that me being kind of okay with it stems entirely from my own removal from the culture this is made in, and I am, perhaps, lucky to even have a choice as to whether I want to engage with a product which is, undoubtably, here to dress political ideology in fancy clothes.

I have, on the other hand, also seen many things in Russian media of the “Annexation of Crimea is Good Actually” variety and those make me feel very unwell, so feeling somewhat at ease with blatant political propaganda in Chinese media makes me the biggest hypocrite.

But, I digress.

Before we go into some specific plot-related things, I would like to mention that the Rebel has this weird dichotomy in which the production is sublime, and the post-production… not so much. The show very well shot. Every element of it sits perfectly together, not a single prop out of place, not a single extra underdressed, not a page of script not put to good use. It’s lit to perfection. It’s scored beautifully. So much of this show is just stunning.

And then… there is post-production. 

This is not even about bad CGI (and the CGI is, indeed, bad), it’s just that most of post-production as a whole feels rushed.

Starting with surprisingly imperfect editing, which at times just fails to make the scene flow together. The final line of dialogue would be spoken within a scene, and it would fade to black instantly without a single breath to indicate a full stop. A montage sequence would be created, but every shot within it condensed to a second, making it feel incredibly fast-paced when the effect should be the opposite. There would be a cut away from a speaking character and to the same speaking character from a slightly different angle, making it dynamic without any reason to do so. There are a couple of truly startling jump-cuts.

I did not speed this gif up. This is part of a romantic montage, edited like it’s a goddamn action sequence.

And of course dear old friend slowing down footage shot at 24FPS. Please don’t do this. You think no one notices - but we do.

There are other tell-tale signs of production rushing to the finish line: occasional, but very noticeable ADR glitches, very sloppy job done at sound mixing, which contribute to parts of the show feeling ever so slightly off.

It’s not unforgivable, but it does make me wish the same amount of care and efforts that went into shooting this drama would also go into it after it was all in the can. 

Oh, and just because if you know me you know I have a professional fixation on fights, and I am happy to say most action scenes are toe-curlingly delightful. Hot damn those fights are good. I am absolutely in love with the shot below, for example. Placing an actor behind a piece of set so he can exchange places with the stunt double during a one shot is such an old trick, but the execution, timing and camerawork are just... flawless. This is what perfection looks like.

Now we got all that out of the way...

SPOILERS FOR THE SERIES FINALE BELOW

Here’s the thing. I wanted to love the ending and I found that I could not.

The final mission was presented as important, and honestly the scene in which Zhu Yizhen is sending the vital message out as Lin Nansheng holds his ground in hand to hand fight is incredibly dynamic. Party, this is due to the fight itself being incredibly well choreographed, yes, but it’s also where it sits within the narrative, how high the stakes are for everything surrounding it. 

But then, the tension all but bleeds out. The Important Message is sent, the fight is won, and we are treated to ten minutes of a very slow car chase, problem of which is not even its speed as much as its placing within the story. As in, by this point both of those operatives have lost their cover, and completed their Very Important Mission. It would be very sad if they died, but their survival does not technically contribute to their cause. Moreover, Zhu Yizhen getting mortally injured in order to protect Lin Nansheng as part of her mission read a little empty when the mission is technically over. 

While I personally found Lin Nansheng slow recuperation and his low key ending enjoyable, I think I would have preferred to have seen a more tangible pay-off to all the sacrifices made in the name of “bright communist future”, just a little more justification for every moment of death and despair we witnessed. I would have certainly at the very least preferred to see Wang Shi’an’s death on screen. Considering how many likeable characters martyred themselves on screen, denying us the death of the one antagonist just seemed cruel. 

I really did love the ambiguity of the final few scenes however, if we consider the children choir at the end a fantasy. The idea that Lin Nansheng will live out his life in this hope that Zhu Yizhen is still alive, imagining her just outside of his field of vision, his only joy being in this fantasy of her… now, that is incredibly strong. I equally like the idea of rest being promised to him at the end of his journey, and said rest being painful, and slow and unwelcome.

But it felt like as they chose not to to lean into the “sweet” part of the bitter-sweet tone of the ending and we’re unable not commit to the “bitter” part either, so it lands with a splat which is somewhat lacklustre. 

---

This concludes my thoughts on the Rebel. 

I am more or less out of Zhu Yilong’s filmography to watch, which is probably a good thing at this point. I have just emerged out of several back to back work projects - literally today - and will hopefully once more have time for things I grew to enjoy doing during the lockdown. 

Those things, if you have not guessed, include watching Chinese television and writing things about Chinese television. 

[hws-prussia]

On the Iron Cross

I’ve noticed there’s been a decent amount of discourse in the Hetalia fandom about the German Iron Cross and it’s usages/contemporary associations as a (neo-)Nazi dog-whistle. I do not speak on behalf of all Jews, nor on the behalf of all Germans, but I would like to take the opportunity to voice my opinion on the issue, from the perspective of a German Jew. I’m also not trying to speak on behalf of all German Jews either. I don’t speak on behalf of all Jews, I’m not trying to speak on behalf of all Jews, and this is just my opinion on the matter. Feel free to disagree, because it’s also completely understandable to bar the usage of Iron Crosses period, to a certain extent. 

This is a very, very long post, so more under the cut. 

Also: Trigger warning, for the discussion of Nazism and some depictions of common Nazi symbolism. If such images will upset you or cause you any stress, please take precautions accordingly. 

THE HISTORY OF THE IRON CROSS

The Iron Cross (in German, we call it the Schwarzes Kreuz, among other things) is the emblem used by the Prussian Army and the German Armed Forces from 1871 to the present day. Designed during the German campaign of 1813, and commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia on his late wife’s birthday (to honour her for her bravery in standing up to Napoleon) as the first military decoration open to all personnel of any rank, including enlisted man, it quickly became a popular symbol for Prussians (and later Germans) as a whole, regardless of rank and and social class. It was put alongside the Black Eagle on the Prussian war flag. Derived from the Black Cross of the Teutonic Order, it’s been important to Prussian symbolism for centuries, and continued to be significant for centuries afterward. 

(Iron Cross 1st Class of the Original Napoleonic Wars)

After the fall of Napoleon, the Iron Cross became a symbol of both peace and victory. It was inserted into the Peace’s laurel wreath, making her the Goddess of Victory in the early 19th century. In 1821 it was a major design element of the National Monument for the Liberation Wars on Kreuzberg, which still stands a hundred years later. 

The Black Cross was used in the naval and combat flags of the German Empire, until 1915, when the simpler Balkenkreuz replaced it. The Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany and the Bundeswehr also inherited the use of the emblem in various forms. It’s still used, post-unification, to designate German military vehicles and aircraft, though a new blue and silver version of the cross is used for other official contexts. 

The first person to receive the Iron Cross was Karl August Ferdinand von Borcke on 21 April 1813. He was an officer of lower rank, with very few distinguishments before then. This marked a new era in German military history, and by 1817, a told of 670 chevaliers had received the Iron Cross 1st Class. 

(Different varieties of the Iron Cross throughout history.)

King Wilhelm I of Prussia authorized further awards on 19 July 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War. Recipients of the 1870 Iron Cross were still in service in 1895 were authorized to purchase and wear above the cross a Jubilaeumsspange, celebrating twenty-five years since German Unification. 

In WWI, Emperor Wilhelm II reauthorized the production of the Iron Cross on 5 August 1914. It was seen as a generic German decoration, and all classes of the Cross appeared the same, and were worn differently to distinguish them from each other. The Iron Cross 1st Class was pinned onto the left side of the owner’s uniform. The 2nd Class, and the larger Grand Cross, would be displayed using different ribbons; the Grand Cross around the neck, and the 2nd Class on the chest, through the a button hole on the tunic. 

(The Grand Cross of WWI. This is also the version of the Iron Cross that Gilbert and Ludwig are commonly depicted in.)

The Grand Cross was only awarded to the most senior officers of the German military. The Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, was awarded only twice, to Generalfeldmarschall Gebhard Leberecht von Bluecher in 1813, and then Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg in 1918. A third was planned for the most successful officer during WWII, but was scrapped after Germany’s defeat. 

In WWII, Adolf Hitler would again reauthorize the production of the Iron Cross (though he would call it “restoring the German tradition” of the Cross) through the Enactment for the re-introduction of the Iron Cross of 1 September 1939. The WWII variety was divided into three main series of decorations, the Iron Cross being the lowest and the Knight’s Cross (an usurpation of the traditionally Prussian Pour le Merite, created by Frederick the Great). 

(The Nazi version of the Iron Cross.)

ALLIED PROPAGANDA VERSIONS

In 1914, the Allies sold very crude anti-German versions of the Iron Cross in order to raise money for the War effort and provide relief for Belgian refugees. One was inscribed FOR KULTUR in raised letters, another with FOR BRUTALITY. Another listed the names of French and Belgian towns attacked or destroyed during the retreat from Mons on the ends of the upper arms of the Cross. 

POST-WWII 

As modern German law prohibits the production of items containing Nazi insignia, the West German government authorized replacement Iron Crosses in 1957, with an Oak Leaf Cluster in place of the swastika, similar to the Iron Crosses of 1813, 1870, and 1914. This Cross would be gifted to WWII recipients of the Iron Cross as a replacement for their old ones. 

(The Balkenkreuz, used by the modern German Armed Forces.)

A modern campaign for the German Armed Forces to reinstate the Iron Cross would begin after Germany began taking part in active wars, first in Kosovo, and then in Afghanistan. In 2007, a petition to the German parliament to revive the Iron Cross decoration was initiated, a received over 5,000 signatures. 0n 13 December, the Ministry of Defence was allowed to decide on the matter by Parliament. On 6 March 2008, President Horst Koehler approved a proposal by Minister of Defense Franz Josef Jung to institute a new award for bravery. Thus the Ehrenzeichen der Bundeswehr series was instituted on 10 October 2008. However, it has very little in common with the traditional Iron Cross, and more closely resembles the Prussian Military Merit Cross.

(The de-Nazified version of the Iron Cross of WWII, which is the one I’d actually recommend you use. Don’t worry; it’s German government approved.)

In the United States, the Iron Cross was also adopted by outlaw bikers more o signify rebellion and to shock than to signify any nationalist ideology. For reference, the way the swastika had been used during the punk scene in the ‘70s-’80s. Anyways, by the early 2000s, the Iron Cross had spread from bikers, to skateboarders and many extreme sports enthusiasts. It quickly was adopted into the logo of several different clothing companies. 

THE IRON CROSS AS A HATE SYMBOL

According to the German Criminal Code Section 86a, any “use of symbols of unconstitutional organisations” outside the contexts of “art or science, research or teaching” is strictly prohibited. Though it specifies no specific criminal organization, it’s commonly used to outlaw symbols associated with the Nazi Party, the Communist Party and Islamic extremism. There is no specific symbols associated with these laws, and because of this, outlawed groups will often use modified versions of these symbols, or other, more historical symbols. Because the Hakenkreuz swastika is illegal, this has lead many far-right groups in Germany to co-opt the Iron Cross as a part of their symbology. 

(Another photo of the WWII version of the Iron Cross.)

According to German law, the symbols will be taken up in a case by case basis. A far-right protest using the Iron Cross on a poster displaying voelkish ideology will be taken to court. Someone who collects war memorabilia that happens to display swastikas will not be taken to court. 

The Anti-Defamation League in the United States classifies the Iron Cross as a potential nationalist dog-whistle. And while I don’t mean to discredit the ADL at all, because they do a lot of good work in combating anti-semitism and racism, they also classify pit bulls, bowl cuts, Mjoelnir and the acronym ACAB as potential Nazi dog-whistles, so I’d take everything they say with a grain of salt. 

Or do as the Germans do, and look at the context of the situation at hand, before forming your final judgement on the situation (whatever it might end up being). 

The Iron Cross is, however, undoubtedly used by neo-Nazis and skinheads. Due to its complicated history, it’s understandable to be wary of it’s usages, especially when by people you don’t know very well. 

USING THE IRON CROSS IN MY HETALIA STUFF

Onto the reason I made this post, which is the discourse surrounding using the Iron Cross in Hetalia fan-art and cosplay. Is it disrespectful, is it racist, is it a Nazi dog-whistle, and should it be avoided?

And, in my opinion, the answer is: it depends. 

It depends on the context of where you are using it, and why. But, I’m going to be honest with you guys: whatever you’re doing, it’s probably fine. Avoid using the varieties with the swastika in them, and there’s really no problem with it. If you’re really worried about potentially upsetting anyone with it, I’d recommend tagging your work with such, so anyone who would be upset by seeing it can filter it out, or skip past it. 

(Obviously, if you’re doing other things to glorify fascism in your works, aside from putting your character in an Iron Cross, there’s a problem, but the simple act of using an Iron Cross is in no way racist.)

Honestly, as a someone who’s family hails from Prussia, my only real complaint about using an Iron Cross would be wearing it in cosplay, and it’s only that it just seems a bit weird to me. It would be like buying a Medal of Honor and wearing it for an America cosplay. There’s nothing technically wrong with it, but it feels strange to wear something you didn’t earn. 

But also, it’s a costume and I don’t really care that much. Like I said: context matters. 

Honestly, that’s the whole take away here. Context matters. 

But, for anyone who doesn’t want to use the Iron Cross at all, but still keep the general character design, here are two option I’d recommend: 

The Pour le Merite, which was reserved for the highest officers of the Prussian Army, commissioned by Frederick the Great, would be fitting for Gilbert. There’s other variants of the Pour le Merite (the Blue Max) that continue to be used throughout German history. All are acceptable, but I’d still recommend the Old Fritz one. 

The modern Badge of Honour for the German Armed Forces would work for Ludwig. That, ot the Oak Leaves variant commissioned in 1956 (image has already been previously used) if you want it to be less historically anachronistic. I wouldn’t recommend using the Pour le Merite for Ludwig though; there’s no historical way he would’ve earned it, and Prussia was a meritocracy. It would’ve looked very disrespectful for him to wear it, even if Gilbert gives it to him. (He can display one though, if you would like). He can wear the other variants of it though, if you want. 

(He could also earn it as a civilian award, which I actually think would be really cool. However, the use of the Pour le Merite for civilians is post-WWII.)

In that case, I’d recommend the Order of the Red Eagle. 

Thanks for reading, and if you’re opinion differs from mine, I’d love to hear it. Like, genuinely. Just be respectful and courteous to each other (and to myself). Respect each other’s opinions (unless they’re truly a bigot, in which case, ignore them). 

Anyways, you may go back to your regularly scheduled browsing. 

[jade-marie]

I didn't watch episode 4 but I saw gifs of Beth yelling at Jane and it got me thinking, what's your view on the Boland kids not being parented?

Lmao you love getting me in trouble🤣

Sorry. It got long but I could rant about this for weeks.

Pre canon and S1

Obviously, we don’t see anything pre canon when it comes to the Boland kids, but you can put together an idea of what their situation was like from the first few episodes. Beth was a SAHM - she made them fancy packed lunches for school, had them enrolled in extra curricular activities, dropped them off/picked them up from school, put them to bed, got them ready etc. She was the main caregiver and Dean was at work. When he came home, he got to be the fun dad.

It seems like they had a decent amount of structure, as far as schedules go, but they’ve never been given any responsibility and didn’t appear to be well disciplined. We had Kenny telling Beth she sucked at math in s1 - something I certainly wouldn’t have gotten away with. Anyway, they had a decent amount of structure and stability, they were used to things being a certain way and that was all disrupted when Dean was kicked out of the house. Then suddenly, Dean was back, but he was sharing a bedroom with Kenny. It doesn’t seem like any of this was really explained to the kids properly or that they were helped through the process, which can have some knock-on effects. 

Throughout Season 2

First episode of S2, Dean was shot. The kids were told that he was mugged and were, understandably, shaken up by the whole thing. Once again, nobody truly comforted or helped them through this process and we started to see the fallout of that. Kenny essentially developed an eating disorder and started bingeing, Jane “ran away from home”. But again, nothing is done about it. Beth says they need to be more present, no phones at dinner, they look into a child therapist, but we don’t ever hear about the kids actually getting therapy even though they desperately need it.

Throughout the season, the structure that they still had in S1 rapidly disappears. It goes from Beth being the main caregiver to her handing the reigns over to Dean in 2.05 and he doesn’t do a good job of it. The house becomes a mess, the kids run wild. This would be a perfect opportunity to start giving the older children some chores, helping to re-introduce structure, but it doesn’t happen. From the kids perspectives, they would notice their mother becoming more and more absent from their lives, missing dance recitals, coming home late, missing dinner, missing bedtime and so Dean is becoming the consistent parent (important for later).

Dean decides to weaponise the children, taking them away from Beth and going to stay with his mother for a while, before going back home. Beth and Dean tell the kids that they’re going to be getting a divorce, obviously that doesn’t happen, again creating quite an unstable environment for them. Effectively, they have a roof over their heads and they’re being fed/clothed, but nobody is actually parenting them. 

Throughout Season 3

At the beginning of S3, with the dealership gone and Beth no longer working for Rio, they have significantly less money. It’s not clear how much of a knock-on effect this had on their extra curricular activities because Jane still has her piano lessons and Kenny has hockey. Beth’s taking them to the park a lot, it’s also not clear whether this is simply because she’s stalking Rhea and Marcus or genuinely because the park is a free activity for them. Regardless, they’ve been going to the park enough that it’s no longer fun. The kids really don’t seem to have any structure anymore and, once again, it doesn’t seem like they’ve been receiving any emotional support during what would be a challenging time for any child. 

Dean has gone back to work, Beth is now also working, so Judith steps in to help take care of the kids. She takes things a little bit far, which pisses off Beth, so Judith is quickly removed from the equation. Again - instability. Then we have the fallout between Rhea and Beth, which means Jane can no longer play with her best friend Marcus for (at least from her perspective) absolutely no reason. Again – instability. Fast forward a few weeks, the entire house is emptied so the kids have to go and stay with Judith for an unspecified amount of time. Again – instability. We can play the blame game to decide who is the cause of this instability, but it’s pretty irrelevant. The fact is, the kids lives are being shaken up and nobody is helping them through it.

Beth buys new furniture, the kids come home, it all seems great, and then Dean gets arrested. So now their dad ,who has been the more consistent parent in their lives for the last year, is out of the picture. Once again, nobody is really offering them support during this time. We see Jane asking for her dad, we see the kids talking about how Dean lets them eat by the TV, because they’re missing things which have been consistent for them, and then we finally get to Janes little stand-off with Beth over the remote control.

That is quite clearly the result of her emotional needs going unmet for God knows how long, so she’s acting like a brat. Instead of taking care of and supporting her child, Beth lashes out. I find the editing choice to mute the yelling and playing music over the scene annoying, because it lightens it quite a bit. It’s pretty obvious that Beth was wildly over reacting to the situation, because she was lashing out at a child over things that had nothing to do with Jane. She was stressed about Dean, she was stressed about Fitzpatrick‘s upcoming murder and taking that out on a kid. Yeah, she felt bad and gave her a hug after, but you’ve still got 3/4 kids (is Kenny coming back??) who’ve been emotionally neglected for at least a year. 

Beth’s kids compared to Annie/Ben

We don’t really see a lot of Ben‘s relationship with Greg, it doesn’t seem like he’s a particularly bad parent in any way, Nancy is probably a bit neurotic, but nothing major. Annie, is pretty emotionally stunted and immature, she puts way too much responsibility on Ben, so it’s the complete opposite of Beth. Ben is effectively the grown-up in their relationship, he leaves reminders for his mother to make sure shit gets dealt with and any structure Ben has is structure he’s created for himself.

But at the same time, he trusts his mother and when something is bothering him he actually talks to her. We saw him come out to Annie before Greg and Nancy, he told Annie when he was being bullied. As he gets older, you can see him growing tired of parenting his mother, but I think she’s learning from her mistakes by recognising the way they’ve impacted her son.  I think it’s also important to remember that Ben has been largely unaffected by Annies criminal activities, this is predominantly because she has a shitload of baggage to deal with. 

Beth’s kids compared to Ruby and her kids

As a whole, Ruby‘s kids have been relatively unaffected by her criminal activities. It doesn’t look like they ever had a rigourous schedule of extracurricular activities, but they’ve always had a stable home life. Not financially well off, but happy. We’ve always seen them be respectful, they have boundaries with their parents, they don’t particularly misbehave etc. They just appear to be good kids with good parents. They witnessed Stan being arrested and Sara especially took that quite hard, but she was supported through it. It’s also quite clear that she’s had a good emotional support system throughout her illness and kidney transplant. When she found out that Ruby was up to something shady in S3 and their relationship became strained as a result, she spoke to her mother in a way which was disrespectful, eventually that behaviour was checked. Because Ruby and Stan parent their children.

Beth’s kids compared to Rio/Marcus

From the very first time we were introduced to Marcus, we’ve seen that he’s very polite, very well-balanced and has a good relationship with his dad. We’ve seen Rio patiently instil important lessons in his son, such as cleaning up his messes, being patient and waiting his turn - things which Beth’s kids still don’t understand.

For the most part, Marcus seems to be pretty well shielded from Rio’s criminal activities, which is why I think Marcus was so heavily affected by his dads absence in S3. But, unlike the Boland children, he was emotionally supported through the process by his mother. He went to her for comfort and he received it. When Rio isn’t around, Rhea appears to pick up the slack and ensure Marcus still has some stability.

I think they’ve deliberately contrasted Beth’s kids with the other children on the show. Her children are the only ones who seem to be truly feeling the effects of choices she’s made during the course of the series. She claims to be doing all of this for her kids, but is completely ignorant to the fact that her choices are hurting them. This isn’t me bashing her character or saying she’s a shitty mom because I don’t like her, this is just stating what’s happening on the screen and right now, whether or not it’s deliberate, she’s being a shitty parent. Dean has always been a shitty parent. So now those kids don’t have anyone😕

[murdereraisuha]

Final Chapter 5 Reflection

This will have my personal opinion/thoughts on:

The VDC outcome, Rook’s actions, and what could’ve made it better

The Rook reveal and Neige

Kalim, Jamil, and Epel’s development

The Grim scene

Total word count: 2134 words

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So, RSA won the VDC. My feelings on this are mixed.

Looking at it in relation to the whole plot of TWST, it makes sense. It moves the chance for NRC to finally beat RSA to the upcoming magift tournament, which gives NRC’s potential victory a large amount of excitement/importance which it wouldn’t get from this middle of the year championship.

Furthermore, Rook’s actions do make sense based on his personality. If Vil really didn’t believe that he himself was beautiful, Rook of course would vote for the team that exhibited pure joy in their performance and therefore exhibited a heartfelt beauty. It would be a lie to vote for NRC, and it would disgrace both Rook and Vil. Rook’s actions plot wise also lead to the discussion about Vil valuing himself vs seeking value from others, which I think is a crucial thing for Vil to remember. While trying to gain recognition for hard work is good, and Vil certainly does deserve recognition, it’s much more important to maintain a good perception of yourself even when things happen or people wrongfully say things that might tear down your self-esteem

However, I still have issues with how this played out in relation to the plot of chapter 5. It’s unrealistic for all of Vil’s misgivings about himself to get fixed through the power of friendship and beating each other up. But, still, the team went through a lot in order to get to the championship united and ready to perform. It feels like a slap in the face for them to lose after all that. Especially the scene with Kalim and Epel crying while Ya Hoo cheerfully plays in the background, it's so comically dissonant. Though we already got an explanation from Vil about how Neige’s performance appeals to viewers, I was still shocked. At least it was a close competition rather than a crushing defeat. 

Also, while Rook’s message was sound, the timing was rather bad. Vil and the rest of the team just had a massive battle and then went through a whole song & dance performance without major blunders while still injured. Focusing on Vil’s self-esteem there makes it seem like Rook is just brushing all that determination and effort away. Though Vil doesn’t seem to truly hold it against Rook since he offers the handkerchief back to Rook when he cries, the situation still feels off.

In conclusion, I think that the plot events made sense. However, the execution of them could have been improved. As is, it’s hard to understand Rook’s motivations in this part due to the ridiculousness of RSA’s kid’s song winning. To fix that without just completely overhauling the plot, I believe that the admirable qualities of Neige and the dwarves should have been shown more clearly. For example, while the Pomefiore CM shows a glimpse of their bond, that’s nonexistent in the game. I think that incorporating that into the game (ex. a short scene of Neige reassuring the dwarves that their performance will go well before they step on stage) would help people understand Rook’s point of view better by showing instead of just telling us about the belief Neige has in his friends.. 

Moreover, alongside better reasons for why Rook choose RSA, I think it should be clearer why he did not choose NRC. It seems an attempt at warning of the “betrayal” was done with Vil menacingly saying he’ll win the VDC during the voting, followed by the shot of Rook just going “........”.  To make this less sudden, I think I would change episode 66. Though that episode has Vil saying that he’s ugly, because the team contradicts him and keeps him as the leader it makes it seem like the problem is solved there. Therefore, to better lead to Rook’s speech, I would change episode 66 to have Vil show more hesitation and signs that he still doesn’t believe in himself. 

--- 2 ---

Anyway, on to the reveal about Rook. I wasn’t sure what to think about the name slip up during the previous part, but I just guessed that maybe they’d met before and that meeting is related to RSA and Rook having light magic. Nope, we get Neige simp Rook. I think this reveal was really surprising, but more in a funny way than a “ruins Rook’s character” way. It’s nice to see Rook seriously caught off guard by Neige just nonchalantly exposing him in front of everyone, and everyone’s reactions were extremely funny.

I think that the chapter did a decent job of making it clear that Rook’s relationship with Neige as a fan of him is vastly different from Rook’s calm admiration of and friendship with Vil. I’m kind of curious now about how and when Rook became a fan though. Him being the 2nd member of the fan club implies that Rook found Neige when Neige still hadn’t gotten much fame yet. 

I loved everyone’s Ya Hoo too. Ace and Jamil having level 0 enthusiam, Kalim and Rook having level 1000 enthusiasm, Deuce being startled but slowly getting into it but still being kind of eh, Epel just keeping that wide-eyed confused expression the whole time. ボーテ、１００点. For Vil, I understand that he was probably faking his big smile for the benefit of the audience. However, I still hope his opinion of Neige has improved somewhat or will improve. Neige telling Vil that he’s still number one in the eyes of the people who voted for him was really sweet and their interactions with each other are pretty cute/funny when Vil isn’t trying to murder him.

Unlike other minor characters like Chenya and Farena who either weren’t involved in the plot or were only involved as backstory, Neige is Vil’s present rival and motivation for doing the stuff he does and over blotting. With such a large presence that continued all throughout the chapter and the Rook reveal, it would seem strange for Neige to suddenly drop out of existence come chapter 6.

Therefore, assuming that the Grim situation doesn’t derail the current patterns we’ve seen in the story, I think that Neige will be included as part of the Pomefiore involvement in chapter 6. Of course, it could be something small like getting called in for a favor near the end or just mentions of Rook continuing to write him fan letters. However, I’m hoping it’s something larger. From my analysis of the previous part:

Vil’s team’s performance had a lot of cohesion and rehearsal put into it, but it was very competitive focused. On the other hand, Neige and the dwarves obviously had a lot of fun with their performance. However, it was clumsy and they were ill prepared. Therefore, Vil could teach Neige more discipline and planning while Neige could teach Vil about how to not lose sight of finding joy in your work. 

Now that we have confirmation that Neige is a genuinely nice guy, I really want Vil & Neige friendship to happen, or for them to at least be on good terms with each other. It might just be my personal love for relationships where one person tries to be all rival-y but then the other is like “nope, I’m going to friend you whether you like it or not,” but I think this sort of development in the story of TWST would be really enjoyable to watch.

--- 3 ---

For the performance of Absolutely Beautiful, I love that Jamil got to be in the center for a bit. However, that also just makes me more disappointed that we didn’t get more Scarabia or anything about how their families are watching this. With the stuff in 5-30 and 5-34 focusing on Kalim’s perspective on things and his relationship with Jamil, I thought that at some point we would get a final scene focusing on them and how they’ve developed since chapter 4. What we got with  Jamil swooping in to the rescue with the magic carpet then talking about how he could sense that Kalim was about to do something stupid was better than nothing, but idk. I just love the writing and complexity these two have gotten and I wanted that to continue to the end. I still have hope though! If we can get a thing about Leona noticing the traces of magic in the arena, then we can get future appearances from the Scarabia boys too!... please...

Now, for Epel, I also have mixed feelings about his development throughout the chapter. I absolutely loved the beach scene with Deuce and Epel, it was so cute and I liked Epel realizing the power of beauty because of the apple juice Magicam post. However, I think the narrative missed something important. Though Epel’s views had a lot of improvement to be made, Vil’s treatment of him was also terrible and should have been addressed. I believe Vil saying that “throwing a tantrum and taking it out on others was terrible of him” in episode 66 implies that he’s realized that all his actions, not just the overblot, were wrong. However, it’s not clear enough that that was the intention. Vil does not apologize specifically for how he attempted to force Epel to conform to his own beliefs. Though there’s always chapter 6, it still doesn’t seem like the story will ever really address this issue, which is a shame to say the least.

Furthermore, in this final part, Epel offering to take the center position was really good and showed how much he’s grown since the beginning of the chapter. However, it still didn’t bring the whole “poison apple” thing to fruition. Absolutely no one made any comment on his cuteness or how it might rival Neige’s cuteness. Did they plan something with that but scraped it? Like, this is way too little pay off for such a focus on Vil shaping Epel into a way to best Neige. My disappointment with this ending might have to do with these past 3 main story updates being the only ones I’ve been in this fandom for, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Whatever the cause of my disappointment may be, my disappointment still does exist.

--- 4 ---

To top off this roller coaster of a chapter and end this reflection with a more neutral analysis, we have the stuff with Mickey and Grim. Mickey seems really nice, I’m glad that Yuu seems to have made an ally in him. We certainly need one after whatever the hell just happened with Grim. I really have to give props for how unsettling both Grim’s appearance and the sounds during that scene were.

Though we’re obviously getting close to the endgame, the Ignihyde sneak peak that we got seems pretty normal and related to their personal problems rather than the plot. Though it would be interesting for a big change to happen like Yuu being out of commission for the chapter, I think it’s more likely that Yuu will be rescued, Grim just goes missing, then we don’t get much more info on that whole thing until the end of chapter 6 leading into chapter 7.

Anyway, for the scene itself I understand if it just because silent protagonist, don’t want to make them talk/do too much, but it feels kind of weird that there wasn’t really any indication of a struggle? Just standing there, staring at Grim, getting clawed, then black out. Nothing to indicate trying to step back. There was some weird clopping??? sound after he attacked but since the camera didn’t move that wasn’t Yuu collapsing.

Also, it might just be supposed to be “Grim’s laugh but creepy,” but his ケヒッ、 ケヒヒッ laughter sounds unusually distinctive? Idk, I just had the thought that it could be in reference to some other disney character with a similar laugh but idk who that would be since I’m not big into disney movies.

Right before he attacks, Grim also shouts “this is my stone!!!” Firstly, assuming that this stone is the same small size as the others, shouldn’t he already be done eating it? Yuu’s not exactly gonna stick their hand down his throat to retrieve it. So what stone is he talking about?

Well, we know that the magic crystal on the magic pens is supposed to collect blot so that it doesn’t built up inside someone, right? Blot accumulated from outright eating it instead of blot accumulated from casting magic is probably different, but what if some of the blot from the black stones did get gathered up by Grim’s crystal on his collar? We know how crazed he has been getting about the black stones. Is it so much of a stretch to think that he might be trying for more? That he might be trying to create instead of just find? 

How would a black magic crystal taste?

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Della Arc Reviews: The Spear of Selene or THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES, GOD OF HOMEROTIC SUBTEXT OUT OF MYTH!

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to my coverage of the Della arc! It’s our last 2017 episode before the Finale, and it’s a huge one as we delve into a fan faviorite that introduces a pair of fan faviorites, a drum of tzatkiki sauce worth of gay,  an asshole so odious getting sent to the bowls of hades and laughed at for all enternity after being cast out by eveyrone he knows really was getting off light, and at last some plot progression on this arc. At the time it aired mind you at this point Dellas been a beloved cast member for three years, and we’ve known what happened to her for longer than that. 

At the time though.. it’d been 8 MONTHS since the Great Dime Chase. Let that sink in. The Della reveal was the biggest hook of an already exceptional pilot: It not only promised to flesh out a character who’d had all of one story in the comics at this point in present day, but solve the mystery of why she was gone. Not only that but Scrooge and Donald’s feud clearly stemmed from this exact moment. And the first full episode in the arc confirmed it: Della had taken whatever “The Spear of Selene” was and apologized to Scrooge for it. So why had she taken it, why did Donald blame scrooge, why did Scrooge not blame himself, at least outwardly, where was she, what was the spear of selene...

As I pointed out last time airing order didn’t help and due to airing the arc episodes really close together, gave the impression the arc would not only move fast but take up more of the season than it did. In practice both arcs take up a fourth of the season not including the finale, which would take both up to about a third. The expectation on how much of the season would be taken up by the arc.. was on Disney for airing things badly. I will give credit where it’s do as they moved this episode up in the order to try and make up for it (and give themselves a huge mid season opener).. but then for some reason shoved the last episode before last crash, ie. the only one they coudln’t move, way back to right before that episode. “ Here’s an actual photo of the person who made this decision

As I said they did get better next season with only a few swaps and only for good reason. So props. 

HOWEVER.... this episode still has some  flaws with pacing and revealing info, with or without Disney drunk driving the schedule. The wait between episodes in this plot is an episode LONGER in production order... and dosen’t move the plot forward by much. I will get to that when the time comes.. and that DESPITE this treatment of the fans.. this episode is still one of the seasons best. How are both things true? Join me under the cut to find out. 

Thunderstormy to be precise and the Sunchaser is natrually encountering loads of turbulence with Launchpad barely holding int here while Donald’s buffeted around the back. Why Donald’s with them... 

But it’’s one of his only five starring episodes in the season, out of 9 appearances total the rest of which are cameos.  Yeah now seems as good as time as any to talk about Season 1′s Donald Duck problem. 

See Donald was promoted as a major part of the series, rightly so since he was reduced to a guest star for the 87 series due to a combination of Disney not wanting to overexpose the characters, people possibly not being able to understand his voice and thus making plots hard to understand, and Tony Anselmo being new to the roll at the time. So the reboot went all out promoting the fact Donald would be in it, front and center and gave him TWO character shorts to the rest of the casts one. Disney really went out of their way to show he’d be in there so as a certified Donald Fanatic, I was sure he’d actually be in the show a lot and on the adventures a lot. The crew were not blameless as both promotional arts featured him. Launchpad and Beakly conversely were asbent, so the impression given by all of this was that Donald would be central to the series and in a lot of episodes, given equal focus to scrooge and the kids. 

This.. didn’t happen as you all know. Instead as stated he’s up front and center for 5 episodes, and makes cameos in others, but generally is hardly around. Now there is KINDA an excuse to this as he doesn’t want to adventure, be in the mansion or any of that.. but it’s a REALLY weak one. He still at least could’ve made more cameos, the fact he was working on the boat all that time isn’t made clear till last crash, and his two spotlight episodes both have him dragged along on the adventure anyway, so it’s not like his not wanting to be there meant he woudln’t be forced to join in anyway. There were ways to include him, still have him in a supporting role instead of leaving him back at the mansion.. and even the second episode proved there was still comedy to be mliked from that.. and pathos don’t forget the pathos. So yeah this was easily the biggest mistake of the season and one season 2 largely corrected: He got four dedicated plots, and was around a decent amount in the first half of the season and while he DID get shot up to the moon... it was for valid reasons. They wanted to focus on Della and the kids, give her room to breathe as a brand new major addition to the show, and thus him being around and the elephant in the room of his and scrooge’s feud that was never dealt with on screen, would’ve distracted from that. And even with that they still gave him a focus episode that somehow added more depth and MASSIVELY advanced the main plot, and a sizeable roll in the finale. Season 3 likewise had things better: while he shows up as much as in season 1, the episode count is lower by one, and he’s a major part of the plot in every one BUT Last Christmas, with four of those having the spotlight on him in some way. They eventually did figure out how to use him far more ballanced. So yeah credit where it’s do it got MUCH better, but he still felt like a recurring character in his own series, that was still bad, and I still needed to give out about it. 

But Webby and Dewey have a mission even if Dewey dosen’t quite get what’s going on so they flip a switch to turn on a warning light of some kind forcing Launchpad to make an emergency landing on a gorgeous tropical island. To Huey’s amazement, as the place was apparenlty only a myth, though naturally the guidebook did have it’s aproximate location listed... Ithaquack, home of the gods. Naturally Scrooge and Donald want to leave as soon as possible for reasons we’ll get into but Launchpad , for once is being a responsible pilot “Better safe than.. something right? Scrooge is of course irate that Launchpad picked NOW of all times to be safe, and the Kids.. don’t listen because Huey sees a beautiful realm of myth, Louie sees a beach vacation and Dewey and Webby.. have work to do. Webby eventually fills Dewey in on why their here, having wrongly assumed he got why they were going to a mythical greek island. As Dewey delightfully puts it later “Don’t assume I know anything. “ So she pieces it together for him: Selene was the greek goddess of the moon... Della took the SPEAR of Selene. Ergo this island is the best place to find the Spear and failing that, Selene herself to get more info on it and Della. 

So we have our two plots. Scrooge and Donald dealing with their pasts and the gods, and Dewey and Webby diving into his mom’s past. And unlike the last review where a genuinely unsettling story about an abuse victim forced to manipulate her girlfriend not going into a murder vault was paired with Louie having to deal with a Sasquatch while Huey catches a case of Dewey’s stupidity somehow, these two plots are perfectly paired: Their both perfectly thematically connected, both dealing with the past, Della’s absence and Scrooge and the Twins past encounters with the gods.. but both being self contained outside of that, entirely unconnected but stilll necessary to be in the same episode. THIS is how you do two plots. But since they don’t really synch up again till the end, let’s cover each one at a time shall we?

“What if My Mom was a Bad Person?” 

The plot is pretty straight forward but expertly done: Dewey and Webby first check your standard Zelda dungeon which apparently has a cursed weapon at the end. We also get an utterly adorable and sweet shot of Webby comforting Dewey after he’s clearly shook from it. Awwww. Turns out it’s the SWORD of Selene. and quickly turns into a game of put the Cursed Sword back before we all die. 

Next up is a monster who nearly kills both protecting it’s spear.. the spear of POSIDEN. (Look at meeeeee). And since they aren’t going to be on a boat that isn’t a house boat anytime soon, they don’t need that and the monster cheerfully redirects them, with Dewey apologizing for calling it ugly. 

So all pretty standard stuff for the show and really good stuff.. but it’s the building tension underneath that truly makes the episode and leads to one hell of a climax for this plot. All the while Dewey is DESPERATE for some explination for his mom’s disapperance that isn’t her betraying Scrooge, maybe returning the spear because it was cursed or getting eaten by a monster. Just ANYTHING but the mounting and horrifying suspicion.. that his mom was a bad person who destroyed her family and betrayed her uncle and laughed all the while. Webby.. does not help, backing that side of things and constantly voicing hte idea Della betrayed Scrooge, so obsessed with solving the mystery of her life.. but so unfamilliar with people she dosen’t see the very real toll this is taking on her best friend. To her she’s just making a logical counterpoint.. to him it’s just another idea in his head about the way his mom could’ve betrayed everyone she cared about. 

So that climax is where it explodes. Our heroes find a scale model of ithaquack (Complete with Tiny Maniticore! It’s so cute Webby just wants to slay it)  and an opening.. with an ominous message about incurring the wrath of the god seemingly conforming the worst. So Webby prepares to find out the whole story.. only for Dewey to stop her. No one’s finding this out, whatever it is, no matter how far they’ve come. And given this is the biggest mystery of her life and she simply dosen’t understand WHY Dewey dosen’t want to know.. both sides are ready to fight for this. And Webby DOES try to back him down, pointing out he really can’t beat her in a fight. But Dewey’s already grown leaps and bounds form the pilot and is working smarter not harder. Beat Webby, who spent a good chunk of her life being honed into the most badass child on the parent, one who can take on several of scrooge’s worst foes one on one? Not on his life. But hold her off long enough for the gate to close? He can do that. 

So the result? One of the best fights of the series... and given the sheer amount of great ones we’ve gottten since this one it still says something it holds up THIS well. It’s an even, furiously paced fight, with Dewey using every advantage he has including tossing said manticore to keep up, but not slowing down one bit. It’s heartbreaking to see the two come to this but it’s an delight to watch. Webby DOES win eventually, though time’s running out to get in and she finally asks WHY. And  while the stakes have been crystal clear for both this whole time.. we get them laid out in the most painful way for both. 

Webby: We're so close to the truth! Why won't you let us find it?! Dewey: Because...*his voice cracks* what if my mom was a bad person?

It hits VERY hard. For Webby this has been a puzzle something to solve the greatest achivment of her life, her chance to make her mark... and her best friend just wanted to abandon it. But in one swift response, he disarms all of that.. and makes her see how insnstivie she’s been: He may not know his mom.. but he can’t bear the thought she was a bad person. That she left or WORSE, because she didn’t care about him, or scrooge or ANYONE. Knowing nothing is better than knowing she was a monster. 

Webby realizes what she’s been doing to her friend and is horrified and offers to back out. The answers.. aren’t worth destroying her brother. But her willingness to back down.. finally gets Dewey to see the light. His fear was valid.. but at the end of the day,  it’d never go away. it’d just keep eating him for the rest of his life, every time she was mentioned or he found something else out he’d just wonder if it was a lie and wonder wht he COULD’VE learned this day. And if Webby’s willing to sacrifice THIS MUCH to give him peace of mind... then he can sacrifice that peace of mind for the truth, for her, and for himself. So he pulls them inside. 

Inside they find Selene who suprises them.. and is then confused. Their not della. Also I guarantee mentally she’s thiking “Thank me I didn’t do it naked this time. “. After some confusion as to who this is, Webby explains that IS Selene, and Dewey begs for answers about the spear... only to find out she dosen’t have one. Nope. The sword seen before and a SPHERE, yes.. but no Spear. So the poor boy breaks down, back to square one. It’s hard not to see why... all this effort, all of this sacrifice.. and he’s no closer than when they first set down. 

Selene does help though... giving him an idea of who his mom WAS: one of her closest friends (And let’s face it  Della named the ship after Selene and Selene casually uses Della’s shower. If they didn’t go out at least once, I am an outer god. And I very much am not and they very much banged hard. Goodnight. ) , a good person who brought fun to everyone, and loved her family more than anything. Wether she betrayed Scrooge or not, she wasn’t a bad person. And her own orb shows it showing Della in her prime, brightly smiling next ot her family. Selene encourages the boy not to give up, that his mom always loved a mystery.. and he can solve this one and gently hugs the sobbing child.. with Dewey quickly pulling webby in. It’s genuinely touching and a satisfying ISH ending. 

The ish... is because while this is a VERY good plot, i’ll gush more about it at the end, it does have one supreme flaw: the mystery dosen’t progress. And with the huge gaps between this episode and hte next one, in BOTH airing orders... it’s unforgivable to not have EITHER plot give us any hints about what happened. I don’t ask for much, but they could’ve found a clue in the sphere Dewey got, or saw a memory of her that brought up the next place they look, just something a little. While it’s still a very fine story, the main plot suffers a bit by having one of the ONLY three episodes delving into the della mystery before it’s fully revealed in sunchaaser have almost no progress. Della was probably a good person, which comes from her ex who clearly still loves her so that’s not really reliable, and the spear isn’t literal. While the lack of progress works for the story in the episode itself.. it comes at the cost of any actual plot progression. We end up exactly where we started and have to wait SOME TIME before we get to the next spot on the tour. Well we did, you guys will find out Monday or Tuesday depending on if the finale goes up in the morning or Disney holds it till the actual airing. Please don’t you bastards. Point is it’s  VERY good plot, but it’s hampred by not really progressing the arc. 

The arc progression for this storyline is painfully slow, and tha’ts not on disney. In either order there’s a MASSIVE gap of 15+ episodes between what we learned in the great dime chase and what we learn in castle mcduck. It’s sloppy writing and I expect better from this team, especially since the Lena plot the same season is far tighter paced: each one builds a bit, both on Lena as a character (Why she’s doing this etc), her development as a person, her relationship with webby growing and Magica and her growing more and more spiteful with one another. They could’ve had at least ONE MORE subplot to build this up, especially since we really dind’t need the sasquatch episode but just.. didn’t for whatever reason and it’s still frustrating.  But as always credit where it’s due.. the next two seasons were better about it. 

Season 2 while not perfect, and we’ll get to it’s plots someday.. and I do say plots as not alternating between the two plots for season 1 was a mistake if a well meaning one as not to drive up the price for Kev but for future refrence if any of you want me to cover an arc for something I WILL have to cover all of it or any adjacent to it that flow into it. Point is they move faster and both Glomgold and Louie’s are pretty lowkey and low stakes so while enjoyable, their not moving incredibly fast dosen’t hurt the show. And the Moon plot has the best pacing of the three and possibly of the series plots period: We get filled in on Della fairly quick, getting answers on her WAY faster, get introduced to the moon and it’s people right away, get a whole episode on them, and the most importantly in sharp contrast? She returns HOME halfway into the season. 

I will probably go into this again when I get to nothing will stop della duck but Season 1′s pacing and general wisdowm made me think she wouldn’t get home anytime soon and she’d return in the finale. Instead? We get a whole half a season fleshing her out further, seeing her connect with her kids, all that good stuff, WITH an episode advancing the moon arc, without that arc feeling unimportant, but still having the slow pacing. 

Season 3 meanwhile while again not without bugs, the last few episodes before the finale having no real build up to it really wasnt a good idea and I question why these two episodes were the ones leading into it, has two seemingly barely related plots.. that EFFORTLESLY merge into one, with one hell of a huge twist in impossibin that ratchets up the stakes. I don’t know how it’ll payoff.. but we’ll see. 

So they did get better, i’m still hard on it because it happened.. but I will never stop stressing how this crew usually corrected a mistake. If they fucked up, they LEARNED FROM IT, course corrected, and made it better and they listened to US. IN the good way, not letting fans run the series but listening to valid concerns and adapting to them. And given how fucking rare that is and how hard it must’ve been with the tight schedule, I.. I really appricate it and i’m going to miss it. And I can’t think of a segue so enjoy this picture of a turtle hitting a trapper in the face with a bat instead. 

“Someone Always Gets Hurt”

So let’s take it back a few hours. Hit it boys!

Donald tries getting the boys back on the ship, clearly fearing something coming for him.. and we soon meet that something. Yes it’s the hero of legend, the stork out of myth, the star of a LOT of Donald Duck Slash FanFiction only half of which he wrote, STORKULES!

In case I didn’t make it clear when I reviewed New Gods on the Block! I love this guy. He reminds me a LOT of the marvel version: Boisterious , horny (if in a far more pg version), Gay (Pansexual for the marvel version), flawed but still immensley likeable. Stork is a bit diffrent, a bit more naive, a bit peppier and entirely blind to the fact his father is a terrible person. But my love of the marvel herc means Stork was an easy sell for me and Chris Dimatopolis’ performance is second to none, only topped in this series by his later work as Darkwing where he got a bit more range than “Joyous ham who wants to bang”. Also I’m 100% convenced he’s made this memetic expression to donald at some point... 

If someone hasn’t redrawn that with Storkules yet, we have failed as an internet. And if someone has please show me. 

His crush on Donald is also endearing even if I don’t ship the two. And if your curious as to why it’s simple: Storkules is attracted to a version of Donald that no longer exists. Storkules craves a Donald whose a brave daring hero who loves adventure. And while still a brave hero when the situation calls for it as this episode will bare out.. he just.. dosen’t have the passion for adventure he did as a kid. While a LOT of that is loosing his sister for a decade, even once he makes peace with that and later gets her back... he just wants a normal life. His greatest wish was for one. He apparenlty “wishes for this every day”. He dosen’t hate adventuering anymore and by season 3 has come to terms with the fact he’ll never get everyone else to stop.. but I also think it’s always been obvious he clearly wants to one day. To have a normal life, settle down, find a girl, and if she wants to get married. Get old , fat and happy. I honestly think that’s the direction the finale’s heading in judging from the previews. I don’t think he’ll ever stop entirely, his family life’s too insane for that.. but he just dosen’t want to keep going forever and Stork, being an immortal hero does. They want diffrent things entirely and that just won’t work. Though that’s also JUST me and if you ship them or have a way around that, feel free. This is just my opinon. 

Anyways Donald’s not happy, the kids are confused  and Scrooge. has problesm bigger than simply not knowing how to say i’m not into you.... aka Zeus, king of the gods and of all assholes. He was originally supposed to be a swan due to a certian myth.. but they realized since that myth is both really fucked up and really not for children to not do that because why the fuck would you. Point is Zeus in myth is an asshole, a rapist, a cheating husband, and a vengeful, petty dick and that’s with barely any knowledge of Greek Myth on my part. He’s played by Micheal Chiklis whose famous for The Comissh and the Shield.. but whose famous to me for playing the ever loving Blue Eyed thing in the Tim Story Fantastic Four movies.. and honeslty, at least till marvel takes a crack at it soon, is the best screen version of the character. Look the film is flawed and I don’t remember a lot of it.. but his stuff in it just NAILS the character perfectly, at least the first one, and while the look is.. eh, he was the perfect casting. He just wasn’t in the right movie. So he’s naturally awesome here as history’s greatest douchebag. 

As for why Zeus is pissed at him unlike say Donald (The whole Spear of Selene fiasco) or Magica (Who while even worse than Zeus still lost her brother because of his callousness), or others he’s wronged.. Scrooge did absolutely nothing wrong here. During a beach party Storkules intiates, he reveals he used to be king of the beach and loved and worshipped by the people of ithaquack, which last time the adult ducks visited was a lovely hideaway for heroes. Scrooge naturally did a bunch of heroic and cool stuff, and upstaged him, and then bested him in various games and what not. Zeus claims they ran off because of this and because they didn’t want to party with a god bested by a mortal.. but scrooge reveals pottery showing it’s because Zeus threw a temper tantrum aka “a year long lightning storm”. So yeah for once all Scrooge did was just upstage someone who was already objectively horrible and who brought all of htis on himself. Scrooge even points it out perfectly “They didn’t leave because they liked me, they left because they didn’t like YOU. “ 

Pissing off the god who already didn’t like you for stupid reason goes about how you’d expect and when Storkules tries to cool things down by suggesting a game, Zeus turns it into a contest. His son against Scrooge’s nephews. Because he uh dosen’t want to lower himself. Yeah that’s it, totally not that Scrooge would kick his ass and then fucking kick his ass. Yeah that’s the ticket. 

So our boys don Toga’s, and gear up for the first challenge: grabbing the bag of winds. In case you thought Spongebob just made that up. Zeus of course opens it so Donald can’t just leave, but Huey simply thinks his way out and wins , Zeus demands best 2/3 and we soon get a montage of various events from chariot racing to sculpture where we get our title picture, lest you thought I was kidding abotu Storkules obession with donald. I mean there’s subtextually having a character have a crush on another and then ther’es making a naked muscular statue of him. I.. I don’t even have a joke here. He made a naked muscular statue of Donald. The only way they could be less obvious without just coming outright and saying it was if hte statue was of hima nd storkules making out. And i’m 100% sure Frank, Matt and Dana, yes Dana Terrace was involved in this one i’m as unsurpised as you are, only didn’t do that because Disney said no. 

Zeus declares one final round because he’s tired of this..e ven though he CLEARLY won the last one while Donald once again tries to just leave and Storkules finally calls him on it wondering why he’s given up adventuring and wondering what della would say if she could see him like this, having just given up and not caring anymore about any of ths stuff.  “Well she can’t! Someone always gets hurt....”

And that one very sharp and painful line both outlines Donald’s arc here, and for the season, and makes it VERY clear why he retired and why I felt like he was already on his way and the spear of selene was simply the final straw. He gave up.. because he was just tired of it. Tired of being the one who got hurt.. and devistated when it wasn’t him that time. When he lost his sister for what he felt was NOTHING. Sure hte stars would be great but they’d done everything and gone everywhere..w asn’t.. wasn’t that enough/ Couldn’t they just be done? Couldn’t he just stop. The spear gave him an excuse to do what he always wanted, but it also caused him to harden up and view EVERYTHING about his old days of adventuring as bad when like most things i’ts not that simple., There were good times, sunshine, giant sized gay men obessing over you.. okay maybe the last part isn’t a plus in his book, but point is there was good and his arc is seeing that and realizing he can’t just cling to his pain. He has to let go so he can move on heathliy. 

As for said final challenge Zeus tasks the boys and Storkules with stealing the golden fleece from a little girl. While this is part of a whole scheme... he undereistmaed his son’s valour and Storkules is naturally sent spinning over having to steal from a child and is sent into a crisis. Louie however has no such qualms, as he is a children.. and he’s also louie.. but as he tries to the child starts singing. As Scrooge puts it “nothing good happens when creepy children start singing. “ Very true, it’s usually a sign freddy kruger’s about to show up or your  about to be taken by a miltiary orginzation obssed with The Doctor. 

The boys plug their ears.. and Zeus’ plan becomes horrifically clear. Turns out he had no real interest in an actual contest this time, and has the child take control of Storkules to murder them. And gives the doucheist shrug imaginable when his OWN SON IS BEGGING HIM NOT TO MAKE HIM MURDER SOME CHILDREN. 

Scrooge naturally gets involved. Meanwhile Donald is trying to escape the lightning cage Zeus is using to make sure no one leaves... when he hears the boys cries of terror. He may hate this kind of thing.. but there’s one thing and only one thing that can make him snap back into who he used to be like it was yesterday. And that’s harming his boys. So Donald snaps into action and it’s a glory to see as Scrooge snaps back with him “Just like old times”. The two once again get a little closer to reconclisation by wrestling a golden pansexual to prevent him from brainwashdely murdering two children. God I love this show and this job. 

Huey however is more of the aim for the head sort and Louie simply uses his natural talent to talk the siren into working with him, with him as her agent. As he puts it Zeus just wants to use her.. he wants to use her too.. but to make them BOTH rich. She agrees, Louie wins, and Donald finally accepts storkules is his friend. Scrooge TRIES to use this to mend fences with Zeus.. but Zeus being a petulant dick wants another game and Scrooge simply throws a game of billiards or something like it to get this over with. 

So we get our wrapup. Dewey and Webby return, and Storkules and Donald say their goodbyes. Donald finally admits he’s his friend.. and in that one act finally admits he can’t just bury his past because parts of it are painful. And as Storkules puts it he may be done with adventure.. btu adventure’s not done with him. He’s got more of his old self in who he is now than he thought. Dewey also accidently wins and our family finds launchpad took the plane apart. There.. there’s no real ending. I can only assume Selene said knock this shit off when she found out or beakly later came in guns blazing. I don’t know. 

Final Thoughts: This episode is excellent. It has it’s fault: there’s no plot progression, and the ending is just stupid and is the only one of the series that feels like nothing was resolved. That being said.. the rest of the episode makes up for it. It’s filled with great gags as usual.. but the real meat is the character work. Dewey’s worries about his mom, and Donald’s attempt to literally leave his past behind, it’s really amazing stuff that elevates the episode past it’s flaws and into one fo the series best. Wheras revisting Other Bin reminded me it had a bad subplot that drug it down.. revisiting this one showed me just HOW near perfect it is with only a few things holding it back. Even with the dispaoitnment factor.. this one’s still excellent, with Ben, Kate and Tony all at the top of their games. Great stuff. 

Next Time on this Arc: Dewey has to face the future when the truth comes out. And Scrooge.. bitches with his dad for half the episode. Sure beats his dad sadly btu sweetly passing on to be with his wife huh?!

Next time on this blog: Amphibia time! Speaking of facing the consequences of lying to your family, Hop Pop’s FINALLY forced to face hiding the Box from Anne, and we also get an ivy episode. Super fuckin shooters. 

If you liked this review, consdier joining my patreon, link’s in the blog and next stretchgoal is a darkwing duck episode a month. Until the next rainbow it’s been a pleasure. 

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Tell me if I'm being crazy here but I was just wondering if you feel like the Ogata in the anime is an inaccurate representation of the Ogata we get in the manga? And if you feel the same as me why may that be? I really can't nail it but it's bothering me watching him in it. Like they missed the point of his character.

Well...

...in itself all the characters are inaccurately represented in the anime.

There are some problems that come with the anime adaptation:

- the first is not really a fault of who creates the anime, merely a consequence of the anime being a different medium. As a result some things can’t be delivered in the same way as the manga.

For example this is one of the spread pages in which Noda plays with the contrast between what happens in one half and what happens in the other half.

On one side we’ve Sugimoto and Asirpa eating warm food together, safe and happy, on the other we’ve Ogata being shown alone (although we know there’s people around him) about to freeze to death and in a poor shape.

You can’t just get the same effect on the anime.

We see a similar trick also used in a scene that seems to foreshadow the ‘cat alliance’. In this three panel we see Edogai’s cat and then, below his panel, two panel showing Wildcat Ogata and Tiget Kiroranke exchanging a nod as they turn at the same time.

You just can’t get the same effect in the anime but the anime didn’t even made an effort as it didn’t show the cat falling on the ground (or better, it’ll show it but later on) but just Ogata first and Kiro after, both clearly looking at Hijikata without turning, Ogata’s expression different from the original (change of expressions is a point in which I’ll dig later).

...and the same goes for other ‘manga only’ ways to show things. For example the manga can use a swirling shade to imply that Ogata is actually in turmoil despite looking calm on the outside.

The anime wouldn’t be able to do such thing without making the draws looking weird. Of course some anime would find different ways to drive home the same concept (from a certain music to moving the whole swirling to the background or things like that)... but Geno tends to miss those details.

Anyway this might seems minor, many believe they don’t notice this sort of details... but actually most of those details are meant to pass below your conscious radar, and give you a determinate feeling without you quite realizing it. They shape the background of your opinion on the characters or of their relations or of the themes of the story.

- another problem is something for which the adaptation can be partly blamed and it’s the matter of cutting scenes. We should probably split the anime adaptation into the three series because they had different fates.

A premise. Out of late anime series have started being created for being 12 episodes series for commercial reasons. I won’t get into details on the why but this affected GK as all its series are 12 episodes and, to fit all the amount they decided to fit in 12 episodes, cutting scenes was mandatory in many cases. You just wouldn’t manage to put everything in them.

Plus, many anime series aren’t created to cover the whole storyline but just a part of it, using the anime series merely as a way to promote the manga (and likely, originally GK was planned to be a mere 12 episodes series).

Now, in GK case...

The first series adapted most of the story. There were however some relevant cuts that affected the series, the main one being how they completely removed Umeko from the plot something that hugely affected Sugimoto’s characterization but also, will come to bite back in future series with the result it’ll affect Sugimoto and Asirpa. Another notable cut was the Barato arc. They recovered it in the OAD, but if you don’t watch the OAD but just the anime, you’ve a great hole in the plot development. If the series has stopped at 12 episodes and had been merely a promotional mean for the story it wouldn’t have been a big deal but we know ultimately it continued. I would also say in some points it felt a bit rushed... but again, it could have worked for a promotional series... while it feels pretty bad for an ongoing one.

The second series was... a mess. It cuts left and right without really paying care to connect well the various parts of the story. Parts of the cuts had a reason to be, as some scenes seemed hard to transpose in an anime (think Anehata), others though were just cut so that they would fit in the 12 episodes quota all the plot that was missing to cover the story up till Abashiri, when the series would have benefitted greatly if they had stopped sooner instead than making a mad rush for Abashiri that translated in a cutting fest. They then recovered the Shiraishi arc, the giant snake arc, the boss Wakayama arc, the Anehata arc in 3 OAD (but we still miss the Lighting bandit arc and the fake Ainu arc), but it’s worth to mention some of whose OAD clearly weren’t planned, as they can’t connect anymore with the series which cut them in such a way they can’t be reinserted anymore.

The third series tried again adapting everything except the Sekiya arc and the Koito past arc. Overall though, despite those two cuts, they tried to adapt the most they could and at a decent pace, which allows the third series to come out as the best of the 3.

Result of this all?

The characterization of most of the characters, especially if you watch only the anime series without the OAD (or with the OAD but not placed in the order in which the manga storyline would have placed them), suffers of a lot of cuts that are instead important for their development.

Ogata is, of course, among the ones affected.

Some cuts are small, for example here we see him explaining that he’s not just randomly escaping, but that he has assested the situation and a retreat was the smartest thing he could do.

The same goes here, with Ogata again analyzing the situation and planning countermeasures as well as taking care of their weaknesses (warning Nikaidou to hide his binoculars).

And the same goes here

Ogata is even capable to point out that Hijikata’s plan might suceed at first but not in the long run, which shows a capacity of analysis of the big picture.

Plot wise this kind of cuts are meaningless, they don’t change the story but, character wise, they rob Ogata of one of his main characteristics, observing a situation, analyzing it and being fast to come up with a valid course of action.

You’ll find many cuts through the anime series and they touch various aspects of each character.

Sometimes those cuts affected lines exchanged between characters so that the relationships felt different because some things were just left unsaid.

Other cuts affected the boxes explaining things, for example in the anime we aren’t told why Ogata eats snow but we’re supposed to figure out on our own, or how the bear could sneak up without Ogata and Nikaidou noticing or how Ogata learnt during the war that he had to avoid hitting vital parts to slow his pursuers down and so on.

Then there are the HUGE cuts, the one I mentioned before, that involved plot threads (Umeko) or entire arcs, or had arcs placed in OAD that not everyone saw or that don’t well connect with the anime.

The Barato Arc and the Anehata arc both involved Ogata significantly, so not seeing the OAD affects the understanding of the character.

The fake Ainu arc being cut stripped Ogata of a lot of scenes, among which Sugimoto’s stubborn refusal of Ogata’s logical theory (those Ainu are fake) as well as didn’t show how Ogata saved Sugimoto’s life by shooting to a fake Ainu who was about to kill Sugimoto, returning Sugimoto’s favour (Sugimoto saved him while they were in Edogai’s house).

The Lighting bandit arc in the manga worked well to tie with the fact Ogata was a child born from parents who didn’t love each other. The anime kept Ogata’s backstory (and animated it mostly rather well) but it felt less strong since it lacked the frame of the Lighting bandit arc... and the worst part is we lost this bit.

The constant cutting of Umeko from the plot ended up causing the scene in which Sugimoto replied to Asirpa he was searching the gold to take care of a friend’s widow and Ogata pointed out how that widow was the woman Sugimoto loved and also realized how Asirpa was crushing for Sugimoto. The lack of this bit affects how we read the whole scene on the ice in Karafuto.

The fact the anime decided to skip the Anehata arc, changed the reunion between Ogata and Tanigaki making Ogata’s reaction to the death of Tamai and Co and to the discovery of how they actually died weaker and even deprived us of Sugimoto’s recurring ‘don’t trust Ogata’ to Asirpa who instead trust him, affecting how the relations were presented. This cause the relationship between Sugimoto and Ogata to look much better than it was.

Also, they removed Ogata’s presence once they were in the blind bandits house. He entered in it with Sugimoto but then the anime decided to have him disappear and left Sugi to handle it all when in the manga Ogata was there to help.

- another HUGE problem are the transposition choices. The biggest fault of the first series is to tend to present the character from a distance or from behind, hardly showing us their expressions. The Japanese voice actors (sorry I hadn’t tried out the dubs), expecially Tsuda Kenjiro, Ogata’s voice actor, do try their best but sometimes you just need to see the faces to get a feeling of what they’re feelings.

Look at this manga scene in which we see Ogata’s expression trice.

Do you know what they showed us in the anime? This.

Basically the anime put entirely on Tsuda Kenjiro the burden of delivering to the viewers Ogata’s displeased and suspicious feelings. Only Tsuda Kenjiro was instructed on keeping Ogata mostly toneless so, while he’s still an awesome actor and there are differences in his performance that give out what Ogata is feeling, they don’t come out as obvious as the visual of the manga, especially to a not Japanese viewer. It’s not a choice to keep Ogata mysterious, it’s a specific problem of the 1st anime series which does it with many, many characters, Sugimoto and Asirpa included because drawing and recycling such a scene takes less effort than animating all the panels that were in the manga.

It’s a problem mostly of the first series though, as the two following series were more expression friendly but... but the expressions they showed in all three series were often different from the ones used in the manga. Look at how in this scene Ogata is serious, I’ll say worried in the manga since his face is shadowed and as he understands something might be up but he has no idea what he is, but he clearly doesn’t like this development...

...while he grins in the anime, his face well light as if he’s having the best day of his life.

Then when he’s proudly showing off what he knows in the manga he smiles...

while in the anime he feels down.

Smiling with his eyes raised...

...versus not smiling with his eyes lowered.

...and so on and I don’t even know why they felt the need to change the various characters’ expressions (yeah, it’s not just an Ogata’s problem) as there’s simply no reason to do it.

On an interesting  note the anime chose to expand some fighting scenes. Ogata’s first fight with Sugimoto is longer, as Ogata manages to swing his bayonet a little before ending up on the ground (which is detrimental of Sugimoto who’s WAY more amazing of a fighter than him as Sugimoto can fight on par with Gansoku and Ushiyama) and felt the need to stretch the confrontation with Tsukishima too.

In the manga Tsukishima just kicks Ogata, Ogata notices Tsukishima is taking then gun and then tosses himself behind the stuffed people as he was still in that room. In the anime Ogata is in the room with the stuffed bear instead. Tsukishima kicks him behind it but then Ogata manages to spring out the room and go hid behind the stuffed people in the other room.

On another note, when in Edogai’s house Ogata is being beaten up by a soldier in the manga it’s shown he’s trying to protect himself with his arms while in the anime he seems to remain there completely still... and the anime put a sudden focus on Ogata’s eyes to switch at Sugimoto attacking the soldier and, at the same time pushing him away from Ogata, as if Ogata knew that he wouldn’t die there because Sugimoto was there to cover up for him, where in the manga there’s no emphasis on Ogata’s eyes and the two scenes are cut by how one has to turn page... plus Sugimoto hit the soldier so that he fell above Ogata so it’s clear Ogata wouldn’t have managed to glimpse Sugimoto.

 - Lastly yes, they missed the point of many of his interactions. For example the anime makers said they believed since Ogata’s mom kept on making the anglerfish nabe, it was because Ogata liked it, a sign she liked her son... when, according to the story, she kept on making it because it was his father’s favourite dish and she had gotten mad. In Karafuto they downplayed Asirpa’s efforts to have Ogata say citatap and hinna and completely missed how Ogata was allucinating her as Yuusaku...

(I mean in this scene is pretty obvious there’s a parallel between the two so I’m not sure how the anime missed it)

...and the anime seems to put more focus on how the lynx and Ogata’s tracks superimposed than on how Ogata is now walking on a different path from the lynx... just to list some of the things that came to my mind.

For more I’ve a couple of tags in which I compared the episode transposition and the manga one in details or a little more vaguely.

So, long story short, anime Ogata can’t help but give a different impression compared to manga Ogata.

He misses part of his story, his interactions are different, his expressions are changed, scenes that were meant to deliver certain things aren’t there so of course he seems another person.

It’s not done specifically to him though, as everyone suffered about this.

The anime, in his attempt to make the story simple and more... ‘shonen’ friendly has taken away much of the grey concepts for a more black and white picture which influenced also how situations were presented.

But well, while I’m not satisfied, part of this is done to market the show to a wider audience so it’s kind of a forced choice.

(On a sidenote it’s worth to remember that the anime adapt the volume version of the story which differs from the mangazine version in some relevant points. So not all the changes are completely made up by the anime.)

I hope it helps. Thank you for your ask!