#basically because the rabbit is so OP its own powers are used to keep it from being OP

[mymiraclebox]

What limits/restrictions would you give fluffs power? (Burrow) because its insanely useful but also incredibly overpowered and dangerous as there seems to be no limit or restrictions on it in canon.

For Fluff, the limitations I’d give would honestly be less magically enforced rules/limits in power, and more done out of honor/duty. The Rabbit Miraculous is just not handed out at random, and Fluff is the one that gives directions to her holders on how their powers are to be used. 

As the Miraculous of Evolution, that is where Fluff’s and her holder’s focus is-- the evolution and the advancement of Earth. When this Miraculous is used it is with the bigger picture in mind, and everything done via time travel is to ensure the best future for earth.

How I imagine all of this works and how everything stays in line without someone going rogue will be explained below the cut-- because I like to ramble. xD

Fluff’s mind does not work in a linear way like humans and most kwamis, but in a much more interconnected manner that most don’t understand. The individual is not on Fluff’s mind when it comes to her powers, but the life and advancement for kwamis and humanity as a whole. 

What keeps the Rabbit Miraculous from being abused is two simple things: Paradoxes, and other Rabbit holders. Like we see in Chat Blanc, Rabbit holders and others can start to vanish and disappear if their present/future starts to vanish. Anyone who messes with time without thinking or with poor knowledge might just end up making their whole new timeline they’re trying to create just vanish from existence, meaning in some cases that Fluff doesn’t have to do a thing but watch them mess up, and things go back to normal.

Fluff’s holders are chosen carefully-- usually by Fluff herself. Guardians may watch her inactive Miraculous, but they know to listen to Fluff or her holders when they show up. In the rare case that the Miraculous does fall into the wrong hands the Guardian doesn’t need to worry, because Fluff and all the holders she has ever had will be there to fix it. Fluff’s memory is different that most, and she can more than easily guide multiple past holders into the Burrow if someone corrupt steps in. If someone like Hawk Moth steps into the Burrow with intention of messing up the timeline, he’ll just find himself ambushed by basically every other Rabbit holder in history, who will set things back on track.

Fluff works on one timeline. Maybe there’s other universes with other Fluff’s out there, but they can worry about their own timeline. Fluff knows the best track for Earth and will do what she can to keep it on that track. When their timeline diverges in a way that isn’t ideal (like Chat Blanc), there is a small amount of time before the main timeline vanishes, and Fluff can guide her holders to fix and erase this unneeded timeline.

Fluff’s job is not to prevent bad things from happening as a whole. She’s had holders who have wanted to stop wars and horrible events that have happened in history, and Fluff has told them no, and has hammered into their mind that it is not their place to interfere. This is very emotionally stressful for the holders knowing that theoretically they could do so much good, but are told that they can’t.

Fluff’s holders are to usually be on standby. Watching from the Burrow to make sure everything is on the right path. What the “path” is they never fully know, but just the snippets of what Fluff tells them. When the moment arises to change an event that isn’t good for the timeline, or to stop something from happening that shouldn’t, they will go and do as Fluff directs. Sometimes this is just popping back in time to tell someone some information, or it can be getting involved in a whole major battle.

Fluff is completely fine with her holders using Burrows as means of transportation, especially in what she sees as “minor” battles, like if Bunnyx wants to help future-Ladybug and Chat in a normal akuma fight she can jump in and out of her Burrow to maneuver about the battlefield without worry. Fluff wouldn’t let her use time travel to just deus ex machina the fight though.

While Fluff mostly does think about things on a larger scale, she is very aware of her holders. She knows their job is stressful, and knows they are putting a lot of blind trust in her. Fluff on occasion does let her powers be used for “selfish” means to reward her holder, as long as it doesn’t affect the timeline overall. 

This can be anything from personal entertainment, to letting a holder use their powers to see a love one they have lost. I headcanon that Bunnyx has been allowed to take her father and brother to various points of time just to see various historical events for themselves, perhaps to Miraculous-affected in points history so her brother can see something supernatural, or letting her Father see things that have been lost to history.

[mysterylover123]

BNHA Rewatch: Episode 17 “Strategy, Strategy, Strategy”

mysterylover123

This visual is so great for conveying Midoriya’s POV and emotions, isn’t it? I feel like I don’t appreciate the great visual storytelling in BNHA enough, but I love how much Horikoshi can convey with a single image. This is also a good exemplar for the early parts of BNHA too. Everyone’s out to get Deku, no exceptions. Things have gotten chummier in recent years, and I’ll admit the socially-anxious part of me misses this early atmosphere a little. A little.

Deku’s newfound empathy for All Might’s situation here is interesting - part of him beginning to understand, really understand, his goals, and his mentor as more than just an idea. 

After some worldbuilding with the Security staff, we jump to the Cavalry Team selection to see that everyone wants on Team Bakugou. In hindsight, I kinda wonder why that is. I mean, he’s powerful, but so are a lot of people here, and everyone knows he’s hard to work with. Class A saw him blow off his only teammate from the past (Iida in the BTA.) So why do they wanna work with him here? Maybe for his point value?

And Kirishima coming over to tell Bakugou bluntly “You’re basically my second choice. Teammates?” Lol. Even Bakugou’s best friend only hangs with him when Todoroki isn’t available. (Also since I hardcore ship KiriMina, I headcanon he picked this team because Mina wanted in). 

Uraraka later on cites this decision as perhaps not her best move. She realizes that her instinct to team up with Midoriya is not out of a pure sense of friendship, but rather because she wants to rely on MIdoriya’s superior skills to get by, something that she realizes may stem from a lack of confidence in herself. As I’ve observed, this seems to be one of Uraraka’s consistent flaws. She tries to copy or siphon off of other people, rather than figuring out who she is on her own. (I wouldn’t have figured this out if Uraraka didn’t point it out herself, BTW). 

This twist absolutely floored me the first time around. I’m so used to the Hero’s BFF always following him blindly, like a golden retriever, that Iida defying this just...I never saw that coming. I do compare it to how, say, Ron in HP getting jealous of Harry is treated as him being petty and just having to get over it, while Iida’s jealousy of Deku just spurs him to be better, stronger. (And also inspires Uraraka to be the same herself. Iichaco ship still sailing!) 

Mei Hatsume! I love her. Absolutely one of my favorites in the series. She definitely has the potential to be a mainstay. The series often uses her as an exemplar of the virtues of pursuing your dream, with everything you’ve got, and examining both the faults and the virtues of that mindset. 

Seeing them talk about hero packs makes me ship them a little. At the very least, a BROTP who I’d like to see interact more. (Also, Ochaco’s jealousy sets me up for a very pleasant surprise later on this arc, and a less than pleasant surprise later on in the series). 

Tokoyami, the unexpected rider! Also, dayum, Deku looks fine in that headband. That Naruto look really suits him. He also goes barefoot a lot in the series, and has notably nice feet. There’s a lot of emphasis on them throughout the series, i’ve noticed, visually, probably cause of that whole Shoot Style switch.  

And now to Team Todoroki. Gotta say, this team is pretty OP. Creation, 1/2 cold 1/2 hot, electrification and Engine. I noticed last ep that Kaminari said he’s “bad at cavalry battles”, and he ends up on the #1 team. Aw! Also, Todoroki and Momo teamwork! Todomomo ship! and setting up Iida’s future relationships with Momo and Shoto too. Such a great crew! 

Everyone wants Deku. Also, they’re after his points. 

Deku fanboys a bit over Tokoyami here. He’s such a gushy sweetheart, so full of praise for everyone...why are you not real, Deku. Oh yeah and Tokoyami is cool and awesome and stuff. 

Another Ochaco is jealous of Mei moment. Sigh. She does have good reason to be tho, since Deku’s (spoken) gush is reserved for Everyone But Her. Seriously, Deku, keep up all your teammates’ morale! 

Sadly for Uraraka, she ends up being the one to mess up Deku’s strategy when she gets the moon shoe stuck on one of Mineta’s...things. I wonder if this was the part she felt kind of embarrassed about later on. 

Monoma is so dumb here. So smug about “Oh the Smartness of Me”. When he’s really an idiot for throwing the first round of a festival you’re supposed to show off in.  And provoking the most temperamental person around (though to be fair, he doesn’t know Bakugou.) 

This is the first of two times where Monoma brings up one of Bakugou’s Damseling incidents to provoke someone...Wonder Duo get really pissed off whenever someone pokes that button. Monoma, please tell me you’ve learned your lesson now, after both of them went nutso on you.

Todoroki vs Deku. To Be Continued!

So this is another episode I like. It’s good. it’s very suspenseful and tense the first time around, so full of strategy. Perhaps because of its structure, it’s a little less re-watchable than some others, since it’s all about the strategy, teamwork and suspense - things that don’t hit you as hard a second time as some of the more emotional episodes, or fight-centric ones. Still though, great ep.

BKDK CORNER

You wanna take MIDORIYA down, right? You know it, Kiri. Savvy boy, that Kirishima (I think he’s one of many in-universe characters who ships it. Alongside All Might, Uraraka and Koda’s Rabbit.)  Also, the Dub changed this line to “Let’s go into battle together”, which doesn’t fit Bakugou’s reaction. It seems like they maybe did it to better set up Kirishima and Bakugou’s friendship moment from Season 3. 

Bakugou and Deku notice the same thing about Tokoyami’s quirk at the same time. I can’t help but snicker about Monoma saying Bakugou is chasing a ���dangling carrot’. My inner twelve year old coming out. 

Deku has pleanty of time to watch Bakugou’s confrontation with Monoma for someone in First Place trying to evade everyone. 

BEST GIRL OF THE EP: Itsuka Kendo! 

For more info on her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_Iyu30pkHY 

RANKER: Favorite Cavalry Battle Teams

5. Team Hagakure (Jirou, Koda, Sato &  Hagakure)

4. Team Kendo (Kendo, Setsuna, Komori, & Yanagi)

3. Team Bakugou (Bakugou, Ashido, Kirishima & Sero)

2. Team Midoriya (Midoriya, Uraraka, Hatsume & Tokoyami)

1. Team Todoroki (Todoroki, Momo, Iida & Kaminari)

[saralikelily]

Tumblr meme: top 10* songs I can't stop listening to

Tagged by the delightful @bumble-b-goode. Most of the songs I listen to repeatedly I listen to in order to sing them, really really loud, as a kind of cathartic self-therapy. Or they're to feel. These change all the time. For this, I'm listing stuff from the last few months, in no particular order, and I'm just gonna list stuff till I get bored, because it's fun to listen to stuff. All of these should be listened to as loud as possible. Listen to them on Apple Music if you can for the best quality, but these are youtube links for ease of listening.

Here's a YouTube playlist.

Mountain Man - Holy Father (best rounds outside of bach. simple enough you can even add your own harmonies.)

Bon Iver - 715 - Creeks (bon iver is... troublesome, sometimes, but this new instrument played this way stirs my soul.)

Beirut - Scenic World

Fuck Buttons - Sweet Love for Planet Earth (saw them live open for deerhoof like a billion years ago, not knowing who they were. they stole the show. second loudest performance i've ever seen.)

The Album Leaf - Story Board

The Appleseed Cast - Hello Dearest Love (The Appleseed Cast and The Album Leaf are bands I deeply love, and of which literally no one I know outside of the person who introduced me to them knows about. They're still around.)

Angelite & Moscow Art Trio & Huun-Huur-Tu - Sunrise (this entire collab is fucking... "incredible" isn't right. it part of some deeply universal shit, something elevated above, and it's part of a tradition that's just apart from most stuff most people in the west listen to. Of all the songs on this list this is the one I most want you to listen to.)

Dan Deacon - Red F (Went to a Dan Deacon show once where he played opposite some famous band, which I forget, because he set up in the middle of the audience, played a song after they did, and eventually stole the show and turned the whole venue into a dance party where we paraded outside of the venue, around the side, back through the front door, all dancing and holding hands with strangers. It was better than any church I've been to.)

Firebrand Boy - Famous (I love Firebrand Boy. It's so gentle.)

The Flashbulb - Eight Empty Beds (Aphex Twin-level solo piano work.)

Jeff Buckley - Be Your Husband (the live version. If this doesn't stir something in your soul to move and stomp or clap you should probably go talk to someone.)

The Tallest Man On Earth - Kids on the Run

Trash80 - At Teh Disko (This is weird, but 8bit music is visceral for me. I started self-discovering music with MP3.com in 1998, right with the rising tide of cheap software for making electronic music, so this kind of thing, with 303 Infinity and The Cynic Project, rock my world in a way I suppose a lot of younger people might see as simple or basic.)

AGST - Synergy (This came up in an apple music playlist and blew my mind. The resolution from the fuzzy grainy sound to the clarity of the chorus is a drug.)

Henryk Górecki - Amen for chorus, Op. 35 (Górecki is a pioneer of "holy minimalism," a midcentury movement in classical music that sought to return to the ideal of music that could be produced by simple instruments and small churches, with simple structures, but that created powerful holy connections. This song is the distillation of that movement.)

Henryk Górecki (The King's Singers) - Totus tuus (This shit is bananas.)

Heinrich Schütz (Choir of Trinity College) - Selig sind die Toten, SWV 391 (choral music is one of the few universally good creations of humankind.)

Diet Cig - Harvard (I love these two.)

Francis and the Lights - See Her Out (Francis is doing good.)

Frightened Rabbit - Death Dream (TW CW: Suicide. This is a seriously powerful song about someone finding a suicide victim, written and performed by someone who later committed suicide. I have a deeply personal relationship with this song.)

Japandroids - Continuous Thunder (Anthem rock done right, with just two people. I think I find rock music made with two people somehow more compelling than three.)

Julien Baker - Rejoice (Julien Baker makes stuff I feel really close to. Consistently. This song is one you can just... holler right till your voice cracks, then keep going.)

Lord Huron - Meet Me In The Woods (This is Night In The Woods in musical form. It's perfect.)

Novo Amor & Ed Tullett - Amateur Blood (Gentler than Bon Iver, and prettier.)

pronoun - snowed in // there's no one new around you

Gregorio Allegri - Miserere (This is the most reliable song to lower my blood pressure and calm me down.)

William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops (These are hours-long single songs made by editing tape. They're very much drone, and perfect to work to. They're too long for YT tho.)

The entire album "Selected Chants of the Russian Orthodox Church" by the Monks Choir of Kiev Pechersk Monastery. (Herzog used them for the soundtrack to Into the Inferno.)

I'm leaving off a lot of turn of the millennium pop punk/emo because it's good but it doesn't swing my soul about the way it used to, because I think that had a lot more to do with my soul at the time, and its local climate, than with the music itself.

Don’t feel obligated, but for funsies, I tag @spseyler @worksofgenius @everybody-walk-the-dinosaur @mondriankite @insertsexualnamehere @benegesserit @surreal @p0ttedplant.

[tumblunni]

Oh yeah I TOTALLY FORGOT to talk about environmental monsters lol

Okay well what I mean is.. in games with enemies roaming on the map, why don’t we ever see them doing anything? They only ever home in on you when they see you. Everyone in the entire world does nothing except run screaming at you to initiate a battle. No matter what the enemy is, no matter what the story is, no matter the genre. its even rare to see minimal differences like some enemies running and hiding, or whatever.

And like.. i can understand this in some genres, at least. In some genres ‘creating a vivid world’ isn’t really a priority, or there’s an actual reason for all the enemies to attack on sight, like if its a stealth game infiltrating a base. or it might just be hardware engine limitations of the time. i think the majority of this trope used to be because it wasnt possible to do anything else on those consoles, and its stuck around even on more powerful consoles just cos its “a tradition”... I think this idea could specifically be very useful in monster-catching games, where the goal is to find them and gain their power. Having ones that appear on the map and run away or hide would be a better form of challenge than some of the bullshit in pokemon where there’s a 0.5% of fishing up a certain fish only on five tiles out of 140. And like.. the weaker more basic ones could just stand around doing cute animations instead of chasing you down. Chasing you down is only a challenge instead of an annoyance when the chaser like.. actually poses a threat. For minor monsters where the aim is literally just “allow player to enter this encounter” then.. do that. They can stand still in a predictable spot so its easier, and they can have cute animations so it doesnt draw attention to the fact they’re just standing there. Plus there’s loads of other ways you could make it difficult to get them! like ones that camoflage with the scenery or have different movement patterns for their escape, or only appear under specific conditions!

but BASICALLY the concept i mean here is that... I want to run through a field and see monsters everywhere I want to be able to run past ones that don’t attack I want to see them interacting with their environment as if it’s real I want encounters that’re possibly completely optional I want to be able to find little secrets of monsters being cute that i can take a screenshot of i want a world that’s memorable as if its a travel trip i want all the fun of actual animal-watching!!! ^_^

IDEAS!

* Peaceful grazing herbivores in a field. * Shake bushes or flip over rocks to find smaller bug monsters. * Flying monster that can only be caught during a brief window of time when it swoops down to eat smaller monsters. you have to find which small prey is marked as its next target, by seeing a shadow overhead. And then when you engage that prey in battle, instead you get the rare flyer! kinda like the shaking grass that gives you audino in pokemon BW? * Monsters hiding up in trees who only emerge when they cant see you, and jump back up when they can. So you have to avoid their line of sight and wait until they appear, or set traps for them. * Similar sort of thing with monsters in burrows? But you could perhaps get a shovel item to bypass this restriction, at the cost of permenantly destroying that monster spawn spot. You’d get a horde battle with all of the rabbits at once and they’d be angry and harder to catch.

* Possibly having to balance ecosystem stuff like that? you can only fight a certain amount of a certain monster during a single adventure, and have to wait various different times for them to respawn. Perhaps areas have sorts of levels for the ecosystem too, so stronger monsters with higher chances of rare abilities would start appearing if you favor a certain area a lot. And maybe a few choices at certain levels where you could kinda customize it? like go on a quest to improve one part of the ecosystem which will increase the amount of one monster and decrease another. Or there’s two rare species that have just been sighted but theyre competing for the same territory and only one of them will stay- you get the choice of which side to help out.

* Possibly monsters who have rivalries! If you happen to initiate a battle with one monster while its predator is within eyesight, it’ll join the battle and help you fight against it. or you might have certain monsters that’re rare because they spawn near their predator and you have like a time limit to catch it before the other monster does. or maybe lesser rivalries instead of eating each other- like two different patterned variants of peacock who do elaborate dance battles! Thei AI could switch from peaceful to aggressive whenever there’s more than one of them together.

* Possibly monsters could have schedules? like, a time-based system of changes for this ecosystem. More than just only finding certain ones at night, they’d all have their own set walk-routes of being available in different sections of the area depending on the time of day. Figure out the brief time window for a very rare creature, and enjoy that satisfying feeling of pulling off a successful ambush. And maybe different cute idle animations that make you feel like they have a life outside of when you’re there. See the wildebeast herd making their daily trip to the watering hole, see birds digging up worms, see baby lion cubs playing chasing games together while mama and papa watch~! This would work really well with having an integrated screenshot system, and maybe some achievements for getting certain rare photo ops? * Maybe this could also relate to the rivalries? like, have two monsters whose schedule runs on wildly different timescales, and only matches up once in a full moon to have them both competing over the same food source in the same area.

* A good hints system would probably be necessary if we’re gonna pull this off. Or at least a logbook that keeps track of details you’ve already found about each monster. Encounter it at a certain time of day and its written down now, etc. And have a general idea of how many different times and different behaviours you havent found yet. * Could have various npcs who reward you for different things instead of just for catching X monsters or defeating X monsters. Like ones who just want you to find out what time you can find that monster, or what its favourite food is so they can lure it. these could help give you the hints towards finding rarer secrets!

* Hoarder monsters. A rare archetype which can reward you for finding their nest during a time that theyre NOT there! Like squirrels burying their nuts or magpies stealing shiny and potentially valuable things. You have a chance of scoring a bunch of useful items, even if it makes you feel like a bit of a jerk. * Monsters who’re sleeping on the world map and you have to sneak past them to not wake them up (if theyre dangerous) or sneak up to them instead (if theyre ones that normally run away) * Possible ability to lure in monsters by throwing food, or chase them away with stuff like smelly salts or items theyre scared of. (Giant cat: *no like banana*)

* Pet button. not many monsters are tame enough to just accept it immediately, outside of the ones in the basic tutorial area. But it can be super rewarding to win a monster’s trust and be able to do this! It’d be like a small chance of capturing them without a battle, and be boosted by taking various actions that particular monster likes. * Maybe not all of them are as simple as just giving them food they like and being unthreatening? There might be monsters who respond positively to ‘bad’ actions, like ones who respect you for seeming tough and simply think you’re too boring to deal with if you seem unthreatening. Maybe even ones who want to see you prove yourself in battle? So if you fight enough other monsters in the area, suddenly all these ones start following you around cutely and practically forcing theirself into your team! Oh, and also maybe if you defeat the predator or rival of a certain monster?

* Similarly, other forms of affection and temporary allyship you can have with monsters even before you catch them. Like maybe monsters that’re teetering on the edge of trusting you might display certain behaviours to try and convince you to catch them, and then you can benefit from that for a little while before they get frustrated and leave. The ones who respect your toughness might join you in fights as a guest party member, or reward you with an item for every fight you finish within their time limit. * Probably the most common and useful temporary allyship would be mountable wild monsters! Cos I’m thinking maybe how many mons in your party would be determined by ‘party points’ or something, rather than each taking up one slot. mount monsters are bigger so you could take one of them or like six small monsters for the same amount of upkeep. Finding a good reliable mountable wild mon and bringing all the stuff you need to befriend it will help you cut costs on your adventure! Tho probably they have more limited abilities compared to a tamed mount, like worse obedience and stuff.

* The design of this monster is something I’m gonna enter into a kickstarter backer reward thing, so i probably won’t be able to still use it in other projects afterwards. But here’s the idea I had for that Sombul monster if it was in a game style like this! I was thinking it could be one of those sleeping on the map type monsters, but also it fights back with sleep magic when awakened. So it just puts you to sleep and then falls back asleep next to you XD There could probably be other monsters that evade you using other techniques instead of regular fighting. Various sorts of stunning or weakening your attacks, so they can run away while you’re distracted! But I think Somnul in particular would be super cute if it doesn’t even run away afterwards. Its just like the ultimate no-sell “NO FIGHTING” monster who you can only catch by befriending it. And even its no-sell just has it cuddle up to your sleepy self and take a nap too~ Probably its befriending technique would be to just sit down next to it and go to sleep on your own. I know i’d really wanna just lay around and watch the monsters frolicking in a game like this~ Weird ghostie friend admires your napping technique! It joined your party! Woo!

[miseriathome]

I feel bad for inadvertently using the OP of the last post as a platform, so I’m making a new post to comment on this subject. [Previous chain]

@clickclick4

i really like this “you as an individual are not morally bad for your power-wielding identity, and here’s how you can wield it to help others” idea, that’s important.

I do have one question about that concept, though, related to the “white savior” thing. I know that as a white person, it’s important to use my white privilege to combat racism wherever i see it, but I’m currently having trouble looking at both of these ideas at the same time, which to me suggests cognitive dissonance. My question is basically, how do I use my privilege to help others without doing the bad stuff that a white savior does? (sorry for the clumsy phrasing here, im gonna start another paragraph to clarify what i mean by white savior stuff)

From what I understand, the white savior thing is when white people decide that nonwhite people need to be saved from themselves, or interfere in their intercommunity conflicts, and then put themselves on a pedestal as their morally superior savior. and it’s bad for obvious reasons, and also because it involves the white person glorifying their own culture & community despite its flaws and structures of oppression (a phrase i just made up, so please ignore any connotations it might already have, cus i dont know them) in favor of imposing its flawed and oppressive values on a society with its own different flaws and oppression structures. (that mayve been a sentence fragment? but please bear with me) basically the white society points at nonwhiteness as the reason for the nonwhite society’s flaws and structures of oppression, instead of recognising that it’s because of the way humans are. like a sorta people-who-live-in-glass-houses thing.

i do sorta see how it’s different, but im still not sure how to keep from putting myself on a morally superior pedestal when i wield my power to help others. basically im having trouble figuring out what method of thinking i should use to look at it. i dunno.

im gonna go ahead and tag you, but please dont feel obligated to read through all this and do the emotional labour of answering if it’s not something you personally want to do.  @miseriathome

Sorry for the late reply--this has been sitting in my drafts for a few days.

Identity has no inherent moral value, but actions do.

A post about allyship is on my to-do list, but it is sort of difficult to draw lines with regards to where an ally should stop before stepping over their bounds. Obviously the idea of the people who are conditionally accepted to engage with Western society (ie PoC) being the root of Western’s society’s flaws is racist and just generally terrible.

I would say that people with social power have to break down what they are trying to accomplish when they “help” other groups. Boosting voices and engaging with others’ stories to better understand their experiences is good. Seeking to “fix” problems one doesn’t share is bad. So no “this could be better if you did X” but yes “I’m going to commit myself to education and I’m going to deflect a much harmful stuff as I can from the vulnerable class.”

With regards to that last bit, what I mean is that if somebody asks for a definition of a simple term in the context of a complicated and nuanced discussion, you can do some light education so that the actual speakers don’t have to derail to constantly respond to the outsiders looking in on them if their ultimate goal is intra- or intercommunal conversation. Likewise, if a point has been reiterated multiple times, it’s up to allies to boost it in the face of nay-sayers who would otherwise sap activists’ spoons with constant slander and negativity. As a real-world example, white activists at protests should shield black protesters from the police, but make no moves to speak to journalists on their behalf. But even individuals in the same activist group will have different opinions about how far is too far--especially if you’re boosting one side of a very split conversation. So at a certain point, you should be ready for criticism no matter what--just be receptive. The essential question that allies should always ask themselves is “where am I coming from when I engage?”

I hope that helps. I tried to keep it on the short side because I didn’t want to get too far into a rabbit hole of social commentary over advice.

[destiny-smasher]

I just keep thinking about the bay or bae choice but like in the context of the choice the beast gives Wirt at the end of over the garden wall. Like the tornado asking to choose between chloe and Arcadia bay and Max just responding with, "that's dumb" and choosing something else that saves everyone lmao

Haha, I’ve never drawn that comparison but that’s amusing. OTGW is one of my favorite stories in general at this point, though. Thinking on all of this led to an informal essay that helps me ground myself in my own mistakes with other fics I’ve worked on, All Wounds’ planning stages, and how I’m approaching its impending ending.

This one’s a bit of a doozie.

(I will be referencing elements of the endings to Over the Garden Wall, Life is Strange, Steins;Gate, and Oxenfree, in case you’re worried about knowing things you don’t yet want to know)

OTGW and LIS are very different stories dealing with very different themes, and OTGW can get away with a blunt and brusque resolution like that because it’s a dark comedy that’s in many ways subverting or teasing a lot of melodramatic tropes. LIS often introduces tropes and then peels back a layer and asks us to look deeper, which is a whole other sort of deal.

The problem, though, is that its own finale and final climax kind of doesn’t hold up, because it hinges upon a choice that really makes no sense – and a moral-oriented choice, at that, which makes it even harder to swallow.

With Wirt and the Beast, there’s a physical character within the world to confront. To call out. To vanquish or scare off or outsmart. Greg’s disposition can be broken apart and he can be released. The entire story is about mystery and, well

OTGW makes no allusions that its story isn’t supposed to quite make sense, it embraces its mystery, and it subverts things by making ‘reality’ a hidden element until the final act.

The story makes it pretty obvious that this world isn’t supposed to make much sense, too, which leads us to not really question things when it doesn’t.

Wirt is the elder brother, he’s supposed to set an example, he’s supposed to look out for his sibling, and he fails.

And while there’s a lot of darkness to this story, it is, ultimately, a comedy, first and foremost, and most resolutions with the various antagonists are resolved with some kind of clever or amusing tactic. It doesn’t want us to take it too seriously, and it’s often making fun of tropes in dramatic fantasy stories.

What’s happening with Max, Chloe, and the tornado isn’t so physical as being lost, as confronting magical beasts. It’s abstract and unexplained, yet the story wants us to take it seriously and tries (weakly) to ‘explain’ things. This falls short because there aren’t really any concrete, established rules, and yet we’re supposed to buy into everything being Max’s fault when we don’t even know how it’s her fault. This is tricky because within the context of the narrative, it makes the player assume the position and perspective the creators wanted:

Max Caulfield is supposed to choose between the greater good, or what she desires as an individual.

The premise of that choice is great, and it’s what the entire game has been foreshadowing and leading up to. The execution is just very iffy to me because of the dodgy attempt at explanation…without explaining anything. ‘Chaos Theory’ literally does not work the way the game alludes to it. The writers know none of this makes sense, which is why in the finale they unfortunately go as bluntly as to make Chloe say:

Pretty blunt cop-op that even made me squirm on my first playthrough. Lazy writing that was intentionally planted right before the finale scene to remind us as the audience to just…”ya know, just forget getting a proper explanation OK? We ain’t got one, so just stop waiting for it, all right?” It would’ve been better to just not draw attention in the first place. Not have Warren toss ‘chaos theory’ inaccurately, not have Max keep reminding us of how this is all ‘her fault’ somehow, maybe instead focus on how/why letting Chloe die would undo this.

In fact, the only reason we as the audience are expected to believe the Storm is her fault is because Max…says it is?

Why does Max feel this way? How do we know she’s not just internalizing things? There’s not really much evidence as to why random snow is falling, why the eclipse or the two moons happen, why the Storm happens…yet we’re told, over and over, how this is Max’s doing…somehow. And that wouldn’t be too much of a problem if the final climax didn’t hinge upon this nonsensical phenomenon. Plus, how can we be expected to assume Max is able to intuit her own powers properly, when time and again she’s illustrated that she doesn’t understand how they work? This element is sometimes played up for effective character growth, but in the finale it just works against things. We’re only supposed to believe Max comprehends her own abilities when it’s convenient to move the plot along?

It doesn’t even really add up that Max going back and letting Chloe get shot would prevent the Storm, either. That ending bothers me more than the other one because it makes the entire story basically mean nothing. Max has endured all of this psycho shit and no one else can understand it, no one else can get what she’s been through, because it hasn’t happened for anyone but her.

“Remembering something that no oneelse can is a painful thing. You can’t talk to anyone about it. Noone will understand you. You’ll be alone.”~ Okabe Rintaro; Steins;Gate

And what did Max do to deserve this? The cause of her powers is never explained, and thus it ends up just being a needless tragedy without any real purpose or cause. Was she supposed to learn to “let go” of Chloe? That’s a popular feeling, and I do love this concept of ‘learning to let go’ in other stories (and it’s one of the most common themes I write about) – except she’d already let go of Chloe before the story even started, having lost touch with her for five years. Why shove Chloe back into her life, only to rip her away again with none of it having technically happened?

Steins;Gate and Oxenfree tackle time travel and its consequences in a way that’s more rewarding, IMO.

With the prior, you have the protagonist making choices beyond his understanding, slipping deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, and needing to claw his way out, one step at a time; only to realize by the end that he’s wound up back with the same problem he had at the start (much like Max trying to save Chloe for so long, only to remember the Storm at the end).

Eventually, this culminates in Okabe needing to be clever, and outsmart himself, after having grown and matured through enduring the insanity of time travel. The story suffers from a lot of characters who are kind of one-dimensional anime tropes but at least it manifests chaos theory and time travel into a plot that’s rewarding. It’s a story about a character facing consequences for foolhardy choices and needing to make things right, coming out the other end a better person for it.

“Keep the past,for all intents and purposes, where it is.”~Okabe

With Oxenfree, it’s a different genre, and so it ends up being more of a thriller/ghost story with time travel looped around it, but even this story boils down to these core concepts in my mind: don’t fuck with things you don’t understand, appreciate the life you have and think before you act.

“Whatever. I’m sure it’ll be fun. It’s something to do. Right?”~ Alex

Alex ends up in her situation out of boredom, essentially. Is that fair? No, it isn’t. But the story doesn’t hide this, and Alex herself sometimes (depending on the version of herself) vents her frustration at how unfair her situation is. And yet, all the same, it’s a Pandora’s Box she did open, a choice she did make, due to her own aimless meandering and indecision – a desire to just do something over not doing nothing, and even if that led to bad things, it’s a much more interesting setup than just her being dropped into things.

Enough of an explanation is provided (and even more details if you are observant and explore!) to convey to the player, ‘Alex done fucked around with shit beyond her comprehension, and that’s not good.’ This isn’t to say that Alex deserves to be dealing with what happens in the game. Max Caulfield doesn’t deserve what happens to her, either. But Alex is still an active participant in these supernatural things that are happening, in multiple ways. There is an explanation for why she ends up in her situation, whereas for Max there is none. There is an external force outside of Alex’s control, working against her, with a reasonable and logical motive, if a selfish execution. There is an explanation.

Even if that explanation equates to “Well, she didn’t know what she was getting into” it still gives meaning to the ending, because she at least understood how she ended up where she did, even if it was unfair. This makes her choice(s) at the end more rewarding, because we have some idea of what she’s been dealt, and when you replay the game from the beginning, everything still makes sense and adds up within its own world, and you can see, plainly, how Alex got herself in a bad way, and influence her decision in how to deal with it.

With Steins;Gate, when you go back to the start, everything still makes sense, and it’s already obvious before you get to the ending in the first place why and how Okabe ended up in a bad way.

With Max, it’s sort of making stuff up as it goes (which is not always bad!) but when you get to the end and you start over, it’s like…you’re still confused. Why does this all happen? Why is it Max’s fault? What did she really do that triggered this situation, and how does it make sense? Why is she seeing visions of a Storm that she supposedly caused by mucking with time before she’s even made the accidental and inadvertent act of Rewinding in the first place?

If her vision in the very first scene of the game was supposed to be a warning, how the fuck was she supposed to heed it? It had no context, it made no sense.

Was it even possible for her to not have chosen to Rewind in the bathroom if the vision of the Storm happening was already a thing before that opportunity even presented itself to her?

Hell, by the time she even realizes it was a vision of the future, she doesn’t really have an opportunity to try warning anyone about it, because she’s too wrapped up in everything else. She has no way out of this situation without sustaining trauma and pain that she didn’t deserve or ask for, without any defined reason, opposing entity, or purpose. It’s unfulfilling.

Yes, life is indeed strange and sometimes things happen without an explanation, and that is fine. But it’s not so fine when the entire story’s conclusion is hinging upon a situation oriented around a choice (a morality skewed choice) that has no explanation and makes no sense. This leads to the audience becoming frustrated the more they dwell on it, because a glaring lack of explanation naturally leads the human mind to question things further and further, exposing more and more cracks and fallacies. But, provide enough of an explanation to the audience, and they’re much more willing to suspend disbelief and go along with it.

Wirt has to accept a situation that he and his brother mutually got themselves stuck in, and while there isn’t an explanation for how they ended up in The Unknown, the story bluntly tells us at the start that it’s…The Unknown, a mysterious place that doesn’t make sense. Right from the start. It’s a story about two brothers who got lost in a magical land, who are too young to really know themselves too well, and no real clear motivation at the outset.

The story’s climax does not at all hinge upon how they ended up there, or the nature of this place, but rather, how they’re going to get out. It’s all about being lost, and finding your way back home by never giving up on yourself or those you’re connected to.

By the story’s end, we’ve seen both brothers rise up to help save each other, be clever and outsmart fantastical creatures in their own ways, and in general realize that they want to get back home, that they don’t want to remain lost.

They act on that desire accordingly and are able to not completely lose themselves.

Okabe Rintaro has to accept his situation he got himself into, understanding how and why he ended up there, and knowing it’s kind of his fault, primarily (though Kurisu certainly works toward this bad decision, too, if out of curiosity more than anything). The story has a climax where Okabe must accept responsibility for what he’s done and make things right again by using his mind, and using his heart to stay vigilant and determined in the face of insanity. Along the way, he’s forced to confront that he focuses far too much on trying to build a false persona born from childish desires, rather than just…being himself. He’s forced to face that he’s been acting immature toward those around him and needs to grow up.

By the story’s end, we’ve seen Okabe realize how foolish he’s acted, the weight of choices on others, and he realizes his motivation is to set things back to the way they were, because the way they were was perfectly fine and he should’ve appreciated them in the first place.

Okabe is able to act on these realizations and desires accordingly, and is able to not lose himself – or those around him.

Alex has to accept her situation that she got herself into, understanding how and why she ended up there, even if it’s unfair, and knowing that the force at work actually has legitimate motive to be acting selfishly. The story has a climax where Alex confronts this external force that she’s known about for some time, and must simultaneously choose how to react to it while accepting her own part in opening such a can of cosmic worms.

Alex’s situation is more tragic – she arguably has no way out of her mess, but she can perhaps prevent someone else from suffering her fate, which she somewhat brought upon herself (if unintentionally).

She acts on her knowledge of what happened in the past to try to change things, both past and present; she tries to assist other versions of herself, her family, or just the friends she was with in the first place. She confronts her own part in things, accepts responsibility to try and fix them, and maybe, under the right circumstances, leave is possible, if only for another version of herself.

In so doing, Alex’s story highlights a fascinating element of being a human being through its tragedy – humans have the ability of foresight. They have the ability to leave knowledge behind for those who come after them.

Max, meanwhile, has to accept a situation that was pushed upon her without her understanding much of anything, and it’s unfair and arguably not even her fault (and if it is her fault, it was unknowingly and accidentally caused).The story has a climax where Max is forced to choose to give up someone she lost and found again, or give up the abstract “greater good” despite not understanding how or why this is even her responsibility in the first place. And neither choice leads to something inherently good, which can be a great device if the main character actively got themselves into a bad situation. But Max didn’t, she had a bad situation forced upon her, with no motive of her own, no motive of some external force, no logical lesson to learn, and thus no logical meaning to take away from it.

To make matters worse? Max’s entire driving force in the story is, at its core, protecting the women around her. Chloe, of course, but also Rachel, Kate, even Victoria, and other side characters who…had potential for deeper side stories, but they ran out of time/resources to flesh them out. This is such a great theme.

But –

This core value and character trait of Max’s – trying to fix things, trying to help others, trying to protect them – is given no final resolution, no climactic test, no illustration of value or even a proper examination of its double-edged aspects (though the Nightmare does certainly touch on this). This power, this core element of her character, is betrayed by an ending that forces her to accept that she can’t protect or save anyone, not really, and that it’s somehow all her fault when she didn’t do anything to actively bring this all about.

This is unsatisfying, to say the least.

It is nice for Chloe to be pushing at the end, here, to be trying to tell Max how awesome she is for trying to do good, and of course for saving her. That’s great – but even that gets a bit watered down by Chloe’s need to keep trying to insist that this was all ‘supposed to happen’ if the endgame is that she wants Max to undo all of it. There’s a lot of weird, forced writing right before Max’s nightmare, on the beach, where it’s like the writers just had no planned explanation of things so they tried to have the protagonists make up their own half-assed explanation. That’s cute for their characters, I guess, but unsatisfying as the moments leading to the climax of the narrative.

Let me be clear about something re: All Wounds: Other Max does not symbolize my own beliefs. She is a manifestation of Max’s anger at how unfair her situation is.

She also symbolizes Max Caulfield’s own self-projected fears, worries, and doubts, which have been propagated by an unfair situation that doesn’t really make much sense.

So how does she make sense of it? She blames herself, which is what human beings sometimes do when people around them get hurt without explanation.

Max and Chloe’s story could have culminated in a meaningful and rewarding lesson or theme regarding the tough reality of death and how we have to let go of people we love sometimes in order to move on. And for people who play LiS once and are done with it, that might still stick with them. But because things don’t add up, this invites more dedicated fans to dwell on how they don’t add up, and this leads to frustration. It’s good to present your protag with a situation that isn’t fair to them, but it’s not so good when they had no part in its creation, were not at fault, and have no way out of the situation. Nonsensical tragedy is a real thing, but a story is an intentionally constructed device. If you don’t take care and you treat your story as disposable, the people who really get attached will end up annoyed and pick apart at your story’s flaws, because we want stories that stand up, that endure, and if you’re building a temporary story without that foresight, it’ll fall apart quicker than you might like.

Max’s story does allude a lot to an idea of “myself vs the greater good” or perhaps “how I view myself vs how the world views me” and these are excellent themes for a young adult narrative. It’s a core aspect of adolescence, but the story doesn’t really add up to something that delivers on this message in a meaningful way, but one that is cheap and robs the protagonist of actual power in their situation.

If the story doesn’t make sense, it makes it harder for the audience to comprehend what the message was.

When I dwell on Life is Strange and why I love it, I am not dwelling on the ending, because it doesn’t add up and doesn’t really deliver on a concrete theme or message for me. I instead dwell on things that happen before The Storm, before Episode 5 (because, frankly, Jefferson’s motives and ham-fisted monologuing don’t quite add up with the character presented in eps 1-4, either), because LiS offered up many interesting and meaningful themes about dealing with real life problems and understanding real life people. Its strengths are not in its time travel plotline, at all, but in its humane and rounded treatment of its characters, giving them reasonable flaws and strengths.

Another pro that’s…also a con, actually, is how it’s a time travel-themed story that is very much about the protagonist not having any power at all. What little we can decipher about Max’s powers are more to do with what she can’t do, rather than what she can do, and this again culminates in an ending where she realizes she can’t do much of anything to resolve things. This was foreshadowed very well, and it creates a theme of “I can change things – but not really,” and it’s a nice contrast to other time travels stories that are about “I can change things – but I shouldn’t.” But, it results in a weaker endgame because Max didn’t do anything to put herself in this mess in the first place, plus the story is literally about her not having power to fix or change or protect anyone/anything, which…just isn’t rewarding or satisfying, is it?

Thus, the climax is disappointing, and that can lead to bitter feelings and a sense of “Well, what was the fucking point of all this, then?” And I see a lot of LiS fans experiencing this. It’s honestly my biggest issue with the ending(s) of Life is Strange, because there’s not…really a defined purpose or point. And copping out with ‘well life is strange and weird stuff happens and it doesn’t always make sense’ is a much easier pill to swallow when it doesn’t involve magical tornadoes appearing out of literally nowhere because of reasons.

[art by sketchingsands]

That isn’t life, that’s fantasy, and that’s OK! But you need to have it culminate in something rewarding, something satisfying, or something with meaning and purpose. Fantasy is fun because of how it can rebuild reality by creating alternate rules – and seeing how those alternate rules play out, or are bent or broken themselves, and how that creates a type of character development that can’t exist in reality is, really, what makes fantasy stories rewarding, IMO. Fantasy is interesting to us as humans because it’s about seeing characters do things we can’t do – but so much of Max’s story is about what she can’t do, which makes sense for a character who’s full of themselves and needs to have their ego knocked down a peg, but not much for a girl dealing with self-esteem issues and self-doubt. When Max actually finds out she can do something new, something useful and amazing, she’s almost immediately brought down by limitations, and her powers just make things worse. While this is a theme of time travel, pretty consistently, Max never asked to be put in this position, unlike most time travelers.

No matter how much you try to explain to me, “It’s about how Max has to let Chloe go” I’m always going to counter with, “Why does she have to let Chloe go in the first place?” (even apart from the unsettling context of queer romances not surviving mass media stories) Seriously. Why does Max need to let Chloe go? Because Chloe makes self-destructive choices that can hurt those around her? That’s kind of the only potential reason I can think of, but the story doesn’t really develop this concept enough for it to seem to be the intent. And Max has no reason to let go of Chloe the first time she encounters ‘modern’ Chloe in the bathroom. She doesn’t even know who that girl is.

For me, it’s about the journey more than the destination (which is why I still love Mass Effect even if the ending was dumb), but if you’re going to make such a big fuss of your destination, have it make sense, at least. This is usually a big deal in time travel stories – you create a loop, or you break the loop. Many time travel stories do this, and typically, there’s some kind of message there. And while I definitely can feel and relate with Ashly and Hannah’s feelings on the ‘Sacrifice Chloe’ Ending creating a powerful reminder of losing people you love, Max is not losing Chloe in a realistic way but a fantastical one, which, without an explanation or a purpose, really drains a lot of the power from it. If Max was supposed to let Chloe go in the first place, we needed some kind of context as to why. She didn’t even recognize Chloe in the very scene where she’s expected to ‘let her go.’ She only finds value in her relationship with Chloe because she chose to save someone she didn’t even recognize at first, supposedly acting in a way she ‘wasn’t supposed to,’ per this theme of ‘you need to let her go.’ If Max had ‘done what she was supposed to’ and let go of Chloe in the first place, she’d have no emotional investment, no reason to do so. But because she tried to save someone, tried to do a good thing, she developed an emotional investment that was punished but without any reason why.

ie it all doesn’t add up and doesn’t make sense, and that’s frustrating.

And perhaps, in the end, the entire point was to make the audience question things. Question themselves, question what matters to them, and why. And that’s great, and something choice-based games really have a way to facilitate. But if you don’t have a defined theme or message, you don’t have a climax that makes sense, it’s basically as if you’re being a bit lazy and asking the audience to define these things for you, when you are the storybuilder, and it is your responsibility to at least construct a frame to support those interpretations, those questions. Otherwise, again – what was the point?

When a protagonist (and thus the audience) understands how things led to a climax, it creates a much more rewarding conflict resolution, even if that resolution isn’t happy – because a character can’t make effective choices without understanding what position they’re in. This isn’t to say that the other three stories cited are inherently better than Life is Strange. But I would argue all of them have much more rewarding climaxes, because rather than trying to get a cheap tug at heartstrings, they make enough sense for the protag to be equipped enough to make a proper choice, and thus make said choice much more meaningful and valuable – and their climaxes recontextualize the entire rest of the story and add extra meaning, rather than confusion.

The human mind is hardwired to make sense of things. When it can’t, it tries to figure them out – failing that, it gets frustrated.

In other words, when a story makes sense within its own world, it is inherently more satisfying. This leads to willful suspension of disbelief, and without that, a story can lose a lot of its staying power.

I adore Life is Strange, but for its characters, not for its plot, and frankly, I kind of wish the game had no time travel nonsense at all, if it couldn’t be bothered to at least portray chaos theory accurately in its conclusion. ^^;; Have there be some horrible event that could only have transpired if Chloe was alive, something that adds up and makes sense. Problem would’ve been solved. But I guess that’s not as bombastic and theatrical as a tornado. Sometimes going big or going home aren’t the only options. Oftentimes, you can go just the right size, but it’s not easy.

Whew.

This…turned out way longer than I planned, and I’m not at all saying I never make mistakes or trip into these pitfalls sometimes. In fact, I openly admit that some aspects of All Wounds’ plot don’t fully make sense and have no solid explanation – because I have no canonical rules to build from, I’m stuck with a lack of logic and have come up with my own plot twists, but with no concrete rules to build from…it can be frustration. But I don’t have an entire development team, an entire animation studio (~glares at Legend of Korra’s lazy-ass cheap writing~), a publisher, or anything like that. When you do, when you have so many people helping you construct your vision, it really pays off to actually construct something that is architecturally sound, so to speak, and won’t fall apart when enduring the natural elements of, well, a critical audience.

In other words, you want to build stories, not just moments, that weather storms.

(PS if you wanna see how I’m coping with LiS’s ending you can play my visual novel demo here or check out the fic/art here.)

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Girls’ Last Tour 1 - 2 | Juuni Taisen 4 - 5 | Ancient Magus’ Bride 2 - 3 | Idolish7 1 - 2

The only one I’ve properly kept up with out of my 5 shows this season is Juuni Taisen, so I’m going to roll out the tag for that show first. Also, the Idolish7 first two episodes became free recently so I cover them here too.

Girls’ Last Tour 1

Pipes…grunge…hey, doesn’t this look familiar? *glares at Princess Principal*

I’ve only seen one episode of Made in Abyss but I get a bad feeling about these character designs…

I’m worried about this falling into the Yuri Divide. Sure,the fandom can do what it wants, but please don’t ship the lolis.

Oh right. Wind, meaning there’s an opening somewhere.

That dramatic eye opening made the outside world seem like an anticlimax. C’mon, show. You can do better than that.

I feel like Chito says “shut up” a lot, even though she’s only said it twice. I get how she’s kind of relatable, but this show’s not on the level of MMO Junkie or even Juuni Taisen. It’s just kinda…average.

Did Tangled ever teach you how to use a pan, Yuu?

Everything’s kinda WWI-esque. It’s kinda unsettling for a person who’s never properly seen war.

Even in this snowy world, you could still learn to hunt and cook, right?

If you kill your friend in a post-apocalyptic world, you’ll be lonely by war. Don’t kill each other, kiddos. Lives are precious.

This is serious, kiddos! C’mon!

Eating snow is meant to quench your thirst, but it’s not any good for hunger. Apparently.

Well, I’m quite lukewarm on this. I’ve already found my seasonal hits and I study globalisation, so it’s no surprise I find this stuff a lot like my weekly content. Nonetheless, whoever decided to put Classicaloid behind a paywall’s gonna have to pay (pun not intended)!

Girls’ Last Tour 2

I half expect a “hey you!” joke but they don’t work in Japanese…

What are the wiggly things on the ground next to Chi and Yuu in the OP??? Leeches???

Oh geez. Now they even draw cleavage on the lolis. Meaning these guys are just drawn young. That’s both a good and a bad thing.

Those letters seem to be…no language in particular.

Book burning. What a thing to throw in.

Oh. The blocky writing is actually hiragana or katakana. You just need to look at it closely.

I think that was meant to be comedy…but it was so cruel. Poor book.

I think what they’re saying is “don’t burn history”, but I think we learnt that a long time ago when the Chinese burnt books.

Maybe if these gals had Bear Grylls they’d survive a bit longer…?

Lemme guess: either Yuu burnt them all, destroyed them all or read them all.

The original joke was gomen wa, where ne is similar to wa. At least, I think it’s a wa. It could be a re.

The red circle said Yuu wrote the me wrong, so it’s actually probably gonun ne.

Well, someone funded a sakuga ending. Like the one from ACCA with dancing Lotta.

Juuni Taisen 4

I find it heavily symbolic that Nezumi likes eating eggs. Eggs represents chickens…and conundrums…

Ooh…bam. Nisio Isin’s going the Middle Eastern proxy route.

Hmm. Interesting, it’s basically Bystander Effect: the War.

The anime’s currently ahead of the manga, so I got slightly startled by Boar’s appearance. However, I’ve read some spoilers elsewhere, so I knew she was going to be in Monkey’s story somewhere else. I just didn’t think it was this soon.

Recycled footage…bad show! Bad!

LOL, CGI tank. Sorry for ruining the mood, but that stood out a bit too much for my liking.

“…participation is mandatory…” – Huh. I never saw that detail coming.

“Ow. I thought you were against violence.” – (LOL.) Yeah, but apathy isn’t good when something’s coming to get you in the sewers, so I’m with Monkey on this.

Wa-wait! Y’mean, Rabbit can use Chicken to use Eye of the Cormorant…so Monkey will die this ep??? [Monkey dying]’s exactly what I’ve been fearing for the duration of this episode. Update: If you want the spoiler version from the end of the ep…she didn’t die.

Notice Monkey uses moves that use the strength of her opponent against her. It’s a very pacifist touch, so to speak.

There are a series of images that flash by before the casual clothes part of the ED. If you observe them closely, you’ll see a lot of them involve the number 12. (Example: the cubes have lines on them that read “12”.)

LOL, I think I only just now spotted the bodyguard behind Boar. He’s hard to spot behind all the splatter.

Home boy and his T-bars make me laugh every time. Then of course, there’s Mr Floofy Jacket.

Oh, it’s Duodecuple who’s doing these next ep previews. I couldn’t figure out who it was last time I tried.

Juuni Taisen 5

Genius, with a capital letter? They keep calling him the Genius of Slaughter in his backstory, so I guess that’s where it’s from.

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing is the same in Japanese as it is English, so at least the pun is there.

LOL, this episode is pretty much all “stuff goes kaboom!”, and that’s pretty much the way of the Sheep. Haha.

Of mice and men, eh??? (I read enough spoilers to know who the victor is…but I don’t know how they win.)

Whoa, yeah, baby! Bring that action! (That happens to be exactly the way I imagine my own action stories – from the front seat, so to speak.)

The snake’s winking! So cute! I want me some plushies like those!

Old-Timer. Haha, great pun on so many, many levels.

Ancient Magus’ Bride 2

I started doing a productivity blog and got caught up in it so much, I neglected anime! Imagine that – me, neglecting anime!

Oh, there’s a little “open” sign near the door.

It’s anime Hogwarts! Only the train is more colorful…LOL. (Actually, Little Witch Academia is anime Hogwarts, so scratch that.)

Ooh, Elias has a good taste in faces. Not that I’m complaining or anything. (Looks like En-chan, to boot.)

Elias is like the NEET genius of the magic world here. It’s kinda funny.

What’s a Gem’s Bee? (No spoilers, I’m not a manga reader!)

Angelica’s like her (Chise’s) mother, LOL. Seeing Elias properly emote is hilarious, hilarious! (Why I procrastinated on this show? Because it’s a slow mover that should be appreciated in its own time, but I’m not good with binging so…that’s why I’m only watching it now.)

Oh! No wonder Angelica seems like a mother. She is a mother.

Ooh! Ice flowers. Pretty. I’ve already gotten way too many screenshots for my own good out of this show…As a writer, I feel like I could never make a story like this.This is a story best fostered under someone else’s hand.

Poppies, eh? To me, poppies symbolise war and sticking out, but that’s just a product of where I was born. In the case of war, poppies represent the blood of the fallen and those who rise above that.

Speaking of stories I couldn’t write, I’m currently bringing Next to Me to a close. I feel like that’s my best match to AMB, which is why my thoughts dwell on stories so much right now. Next to Me is one of those stories where the world matters just as much as the character building, if not more, which is why the understated majesty of AMB is a good match.

Seeing a blonde Englishman use –kun like a Japanese is a bit disorienting.

Simon really treats Chise like a child, eh?

The “open” sign now says “close”. What is this house, an apothecary?

The CGI door was a bit weird…

Whoa! That was a bit of a fast approach into the dragon scene, but apparently the dragon part of AMB was really hyped…

Ancient Magus’ Bride 3

How does skelly-man see like that?

The dragons look like…Pokémon! (That was my first thought, LOL.)

This blonde is Lindel from the promo material I’ve read. He looks like zaShunina (Kado), so it’s best to be wary of him.

Ooh, now there’s an application of shadows I’d never be able to think of!

Holy flame spirits, Batman! Elias has a tongue! (I got spoilered on that by ANN, but it’s crazy seeing it in context.)

Ancient mages shouldn’t be hot like zaShunina! Where are the real old fogeys like Kiku(hiko, SGRS)?

Uncle Nevin! I found it extremely charming this uil has a name beyond “Uil”.

Can these dragons read minds? Or is it just the power of Dragon Knowledge (TM)?

When they say “Anime saved my life”, I guess they never meant it this literally…or at least, Chise never meant it this literally.

That dragon has way too many eyes!!! Yipes.

Huh. I haven’t felt this feeling since SGRS. The feeling of a masterpiece on my eyeballs.

羽鳥チセ <- That’s how you write Chise’s name, so they did another “Western creature uses Japanese knowledge” thing…

D’aww. That was beautiful! No wonder people like it, now I like it too. Nothing short of majestic, guys, nothing short of majestic.

Hey, the guy who voiced Nevin is called Ryuuzaburo. Ryuu means dragon in this case. (Meta pun!)

Idolish 7 1

Crunchyroll really tried to hype this thing up! Wow. So, here I am at what could pretty much be called a premiere event of the simulcast commentary. Enjoy, friends.

By the way, I’ve tried a bit of the Idolish 7 game (but since it was on BlueStacks, I couldn’t do the “rhythm” part of the rhythm game very well and subsequently couldn’t get too far) and of course, there’s a vested interest through Shirai, Masuda and Nishiyama. Update: There’s no Nishiyama in sight. Sorry, guys.

Oh wow. This is exactly as I remember it in the game, right down to the word!

Yay! I was looking forward to seeing the basketball scene adapted, since it’s possibly the only scene I got to experience in the game in its (Japanese) entirety. Bring the dang game to the Western world, Bandai!

Riku is such a pure cinnamon bun when he gets the basketball back.

LOL, Nagi is such a flirt, kyaa~ (semi-sarcastic).

I don’t remember them dropping Trigger’s name so early…geesh, my memory must be sketchier than I thought it was.

Just as a reference, Iori (black) is 17 while Riku (red) is 18.

Ooh, I just spotted a Trigger ad on one building during that cut.

Ooh, good sense of drama these guys have got going.

Idolish 7 2

Expressiveness for a grump like Yamato, LOL.  

LOL, there’s a shark in the back…

Iori has a cat shirt, hahaha.

Cool and sharp…stationery? Like a compass?

Iori’s so sarcastic, I can’t tell f he’s ever being serious or not.

I don’t know who’s my favourite so far out of these i7 boys. Probably the one similar to my husbando, Tamaki.

Ahh, gotta love me a good, honest hardworking anime gal. You don’t see them very often, y’know. It’s refreshing.

That was a great Iori impression Mitsuki did, even visually (note: I didn’t listen to Mitsuki do the impression, I only read the subs…hence my comment). Troyca really captured the style of the game, to boot, which is another cherry on the cake.

Notice Iori stands in front of the D.C. (da capo) and leaves to reveal it.

I researched who Riku’s brother is while I was watching ep 1 and…(spoilers for the uninitiated!) the brother is Tenn of Trigger!

There was a soba ad in the back in one lingering shot…

Hey, I get the feeling there’s CGI involved in this dance segment, but it’s…hardly detectable! Amazing! These guys seem to have gone a long way since the horribly animated Monster Generation MV.

Notice they (Troyca) only use CGI in (mostly) shots which don’t involve closeups.

Of course Nagi winks in the middle of his performance…

Whoo, yeah. That was a bold move by Crunchyroll, and of course that would grab me more than just leaking the first ep. I wonder if any critics covered this on their blogs…? Or would it not matter, since critics wouldn’t cover this “uncritical slop” anyway? Nonetheless, I covered it, and that’s what matters! (Update: Yeah, all the critics – Frog-kun, Lauren in Space, Mage in a Barrel etc. - passed on it. As expected of those critics…)