#because 10 is stuff like the seven samurai

[kattahj]

People on MyDramaList giving 10 stars to everything, and meanwhile I'm like "I loved this show to pieces... 8.5 stars."

[floral-force]

ok i just watched seven samurai (1954) yesterday and magnificent 7 (1960) today and i have MANY thoughts. putting them under the cut.

magnificent 7 (1960) is what happens when you take a good plot (seven samurai (1954)) with details and depth (training the villagers, exploring relationships, adding substance to the romance so it’s actually interesting) and change it so it satisfies americans’ white savior complexes, and avoids allowing masculine men to have emotions and depth outside of being cool, stoic gunslingers.

they never show the actually interesting moments that make the relationships btwn characters and the characters themselves likable so their deaths are more tragic and emotional rather than “necessary” (if that makes sense). the romance lacks depth and is just…bland. the last line is set up and consequently delivered with absolutely none of the gravity it deserves. at the end of seven samurai the remaining men are standing below their fellow samurai warriors'—i'd argue, friends'—graves, defeated and mourning.

they did the honorable thing. they helped save a village by training the villagers so they can protect themselves without them and sacrificing themselves in the fight. but the end just shows that these men won’t know peace or any other life; it's tragic despite the happiness we think we should feel. mag. 7 never builds those relationships that make the end tragic and impactful. it never shows you how the characters connect and interact beyond surface level stuff. they don’t have meaningful relationships with the villagers that make their deaths even more tragic (we see the villagers mourn with the samurai at their graves before the ending). hell, wild bunch (1969) and the dollars trilogy (1964-66) show more emotion from men and explores interpersonal relationships more than mag. 7.

what i enjoy about westerns more than other genres is how it explores morality and humanity. these cowboys set out to help a village not for the money (they aren't paid much for a six week contract) but ultimately because they have hearts, simply put. and we never see that humanity explored. one character has interactions with children that are a bit sad but…that’s it. i want to see these people grapple with their gray identities and how their perceptions and biases shift, and that can be from relationships with others. they're drifters; it isn't unbelievable for them to be skilled with socializing and making connections! cowboys aren’t good people, but they aren’t truly bad either. they’re the perfect way to explore humans. (i really think the man w no name exemplifies this throughout the dollars trilogy. i could write an essay on that alone.) they’re driven by money first (and almost entirely) and their hearts second.

but that can change, and that depends on their interactions and the interactions we see them have as the plot moves along. that’s what makes them likable and their deaths tragic. i think of 3:10 to yuma (i’ve watched the 2007 remake, the original is on my list) and dan, and how we come to empathize in a weird way with/somewhat understand the motives of ben through dan’s relationship to him. what makes westerns compelling extends beyond the stunts, music, fight scenes, and cool one-liners. it's the humanity underneath it all, and how at the end of the day, we might all be a little bit like those morally gray gunslingers in at least one way.

what disappointed me most about mag. 7 is how it took out those essential plot details for the sake of focusing on the cowboys only as one-sided reluctant heroes (again, i interpreted that writing/centering as a manifestation of the white savior complex). their deaths/fights were the only focus, not the villagers fighting back (who i’m supposed to believe they trained thoroughly from a few short montages?), and certainly not their interpersonal relationships with each other. these men could have had compelling stories and relations with each other, but it was scrapped for the sake of protecting the traditional image of masculinity. their growing friendships and relations w the villagers were scrapped in the name of the white savior complex; we only see the villagers as one-sided, meek people that we never really see defend themselves and fight like hell for their village in the final showdown.

anyways, i could write an essay on how the dollars trilogy--despite its flaws--explored this moral grayness effectively, and how cowboys and the western genre as a whole is an almost perfect medium for exploring humanity, but i won’t. for now i will conclude my mini rant/essay by saying: akira kurosawa, you created art; cowboys should show emotion (even if it’s subtle); guns are phallic symbols; western stunts are awesome. thank you.

[ouatihell]

Rating Main Characters from the Top Ten of Variety’s 100 Best Movies List Based on Whether or Not I’d have a Drink with Them

I have massive beef with this list but that’s beside the point

1) Norman Bates (Psycho)

11/10 and not just bc @old-wild-child would be disappointed in me if I rated him any less. I don’t even care if Mother would try to kill me. He’s also probably got zero tolerance for alcohol and I think that would be funny to watch.

2) Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz)

0/10 that is a CHILD. I would however get fucked up with the scarecrow.

3) Michael Corleone (The Godfather)

5/10 I’m scared of him but maybe it would be fun idk. I haven’t seen this movie in ages.

4) Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane)

7/10 IF it’s like 25 year old Kane. Idc about old man Kane but I bet he’d be entertaining if it was that era.

5) Jules and uhh. Uhh. That other guy. Vega. VINCENT!! (Pulp Fiction)

8/10 for the pure gits and shiggles of it. I don’t think they’d kill me because they don’t have a reason to.

6) Kambei Shimada (Seven Samurai)

5/10 because I’ve never seen this but uhhh he’s got a sword that’s pretty cool.

7) Dave. Guy. Dave Bowman? (2001: a Space Odyssey)

3/10. Is this picture even him? I don’t know, I haven’t seen this one, but considering it’s space and they’re probably sad and stuff I don’t think he’d be super fun to drink with. That said I would totally drink my sorrows away with Roy McBride. Yes I’m biased.

8) George Bailey (It’s a Wonderful Life)

I know I JUST said I wouldn’t hang out with Dave because he’s sad and weird but me and George are the same kind of sad and weird so he’s getting a 7/10 👍👍👍

9) Margo (All About Eve)

6/10 because I ALSO haven’t seen this one (fake film bro 😔) but she looks like fun.

10) Tom Hanks. I mean. Uhh. JOHN H MILLER (Saving Private Ryan)

5/10 because I’ve never seen this and he looks scary :((

[blazehedgehog]

As an Internet veteran and draw-person, I really need to ask: what anime influenced you and many online artists circa 2000s? There's a specific style from those early 2000s webcomics and fanart I'm looking for and trying to replicate, and your old art fit in that "style", in my opinion. Thank you!

It’s hard to narrow it down, but it’s also not that hard to narrow it down. Anime was a much, much smaller industry back then. The “boom” was just beginning thanks to efforts by the Scifi Channel and Cartoon Network to bring anime to television in timeslots that people would actually watch.

So here’s your crash course in casual anime history, I guess, from someone who definitely isn’t like... obsessed with anime. Or isn’t anymore, but was back then.

For me, it all kind of started with, like... Dragon Ball, and this was a show that struggled to gain any traction at first. Where I lived, it aired at 5am on Sunday mornings. If you knew a kid that watched Dragon Ball, there was a solidarity there like, “Yup, you get it.”

Then DiC got the license to Sailor Moon and started airing it in the weekday morning slot I would typically describe as “right before you catch the bus.” You’d wake up around 6am, maybe 6:15, and watch whatever was on at 6:30 while you ate breakfast. As the credits were rolling, you’d head out to catch the school bus. Sailor Moon was what I remember doing that with the most. That combined with Dragon Ball formed my foundational interest in anime.

Around this time (1995, 1996) you were starting to see anime start to seep in to the mainstream elsewhere. There was a commercial I remember for, like, an anthology of anime classics like Akira...

And, y’know, when you’re like, 14 or 15 and you see a commercial like this -- cartoons! With blood! And nudity! It’s like, holy crap. Most of the classics we know today (Akira, Ghost in the Shell) were only really available via mail order like this back then.

More shows started getting localized for TV, too, like Ronin Warriors was one a lot of my friends got in to. It was considered “The Manly Sailor Moon.” And then there was, of course, Samurai Pizza Cats. Eventually Saban stopped dubbing Dragon Ball altogether and moved straight over to Dragon Ball Z, and that gained enough popularity that I think it eventually shook it out of its Sunday Morning time slot to somewhere a little more visible by general audiences.

Coming in to 1997 and 1998, anime was really starting to gain some momentum. The Scifi Channel had begin doing their “Saturday Anime” show, which aired at 3am every Friday Night/Saturday Morning. They probably figured it was one of the only ways they could get away with showing violent cartoons.

For me, this was where I got my first “real” taste of anime. They had a stable of about 5 or 10 movies and OVAs they’d run. Venus Wars, Vampire Hunter D, Project A-KO, Robot Carnival, Tenchi Muyo In Love (my favorite), Project L.I.L.Y. Cat, Beautiful Dreamer, Galaxy Express 999, Fatal Fury The Motion Picture, Record of Lodoss War, Dominion Tank Police, Roujin-Z, Demon City Shinjiku, Gall Force...

That felt like the bandaid got ripped off. Suddenly we were all buzzing about anime. Hey, have you heard about this movie called Ninja Scroll? There’s hardcore sex in it! No American movie, live action or not, could ever match the body horror of Akira! Hey, does anyone remember Robotech from the 80′s? That was actually anime, too! Wow!

Cartoon Network was smart enough to take notice and snatched up the rights to air Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z at reasonable, non-morning hours, and they dug out Voltron and put together a simple block of anime. I don’t even think it necessarily had a name, it was just an hour or maybe 90 minutes of anime a day, and it exploded. Right place, right time. So Cartoon Network expanded.

They added more classic anime, and some shows that were similar in tone, and called it Toonami. Robotech, Ronin Warriors, The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest, Reboot, Thundercats...

And this became the place to watch anime. Which is when we enter the era you’re asking about, the early 2000′s. This is where it starts to feel like a little too much to cover, because it came hot, heavy, and fast. There was a thirst for anime that was hard to quench because production companies were small and choosy about what they’d dub, but at the same time, a sort of gold rush was starting.

When I think of peak, classic-era Toonami, the stuff that really influenced me artistically, it was shows like Outlaw Star, Ruroni Kenshi, and Gundam Wing. I’m sure I’d also have friends speak highly of Big-O, G-Gundam, and Yu Yu Hakusho, three shows I never really got in to.

Eventually, Cartoon Network (and Williams Street, then called Ghost Planet Industries) began to realize that there was a growing library of anime they couldn’t show in the afternoon because it was too intense for the kids. There was also an undoubtedly vocal contingent of anime fans who were frustrated when their favorite shows had to be edited for broadcast. This gave birth to Toonami: The Midnight Run, the precursor to what would eventually become Adult Swim. The Midnight Run became home to uncut (or simply less-cut) episodes of afternoon shows that restored blood, alcoholic references, and the few cases of more extreme violence.

Midnight Run started getting exclusive shows, too. When I think about what Midnight Run (and later Adult Swim) was known for, it was shows like Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, and again, though it wasn’t really something I saw a ton of, Paranoia Agent.

Other networks did try to cash in on the anime craze. I think Tech TV/G4 tried to get in on things with Serial Experiments Lain and a few other shows, but to be honest, it never hit as hard as Toonami did. Then there was obviously the work of guys like 4KIDS, with the Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon shows on Saturday Morning, but those felt noticeably different in vibe and in tone (something that only got more pronounced when Kids WB started a Saturday Morning Toonami block that was even more aggressively sanitized than what could be shown on Cartoon Network).

Beyond broadcast TV, the stuff I remember being popular among my circle of friends were things like Tenchi Universe, Ranma 1/2, Slayers, Saber Marionette, and.... like, Di Gi Charat and Chobits? This was probably right around the era of Azumanga Daioh, too.

Unfortunately, much past 2003 or 2004 is where I started falling off of anime. The feeling of it being “new” and “special” was starting to wear off, and there was enough coming out that the standard of quality was beginning to drop. Whereas small studios like ADV and Manga Corps. could only afford to bring out the best of the best, we were starting to get junk like Duel Masters, Rozen Maiden and Tenchi Muyo GXP.

I remember friends speaking highly of shows like Bleach (heh), .hack, Full Metal Panic, Midori Days, Tenjo Tenge, Yakitate Japan, Eureka Seven, and Air Gear, but I can’t tell you anything about them, personally.

Either way, I’m sure I’ve given you more than enough to chew on.

[ja-khajay]

2020-2021 Animation Watch(ed)list

I haven’t posted about animation in a while that I remember, and I know a lot of my followers are into it as much as me so I decided to make a list of the animated movies and series I watched on the past year or so, coupled with my short, spoilerless take on them. Enjoy!

Organized by

Things I saw for the first time

Things I rewatched

Under a cut for the sake of your dashboards! PS: I have not added any images yet. If you are interested in knowing more about the visuals of these movies, I might make an old fashion ask-prompted imageset list.

Part One: Things I saw for the first time

The Bear’s Famous Invasion of Sicily

Movie, 2019, Italian/French

9/10, a delightful little movie with amazing visuals. It feels like an animated picture book.

One of those “plot is in the title” media! I had never heard of this before but was heavily recommended it by my family members, who all loved it! It’s a sweet story, nothing groundbreaking but the unique colorful visual style alone makes it worth it.

The Castle of Cagliostro

Movie, 1979, Japanese

10/10. Reminded me of all the books i loved reading as a child

I assume its because it’s so old and the art style and themes are so different that it gets little to no love compared to other Ghibli movies, which is a shame! It’s fun with an endearing cast and as always, great animation and music

Mushishi

Series, 2006, Japanese

10/10 three episodes in I knew it was going to be my favorite series ever

One of the few things I’ve seen I’ll describe as life-changing. It’s absolutely lovely but never toots its own horn about it. Humble, calming, emotional and surprisingly mature. It’s pretty impossible to binge due to how intense the experience is. I just want to walk in the forest now...

FMA: Brotherhood

Series, 2009, Japanese

6/10 Dissapointing adaptation of a classic story

I read the manga for this when I was in middle school and remembered loving it. The animated version does an ok job of presenting the characters and worldbuilding and has some nice action scenes but overall looks really damn cheap and just. Not very good. Seeing I already knew most of the plot I did not have the element of discovery that made me marvel so much reading the original. It’s still a nice series but I really recommend reading it instead.

Code Lyoko (s1+2)

Series, 2003, french

3/10. 1.5 being for the opening song alone

This show sucks ass if I hadn’t been watching this with my bestie I would have dropped it two episodes in. The art style is ugly the stories are always the same and the first season has a (later removed thank fucking god) LITERAL “erase any consequences” button as a plot device in every episode. If you watch it for one thing let it be the nostalgia factor of early 00s Vidya Game Plot

The Legend of Hei

Movie, 2019, Chinese

7/10. Impressive visuals and a poor story

I finally watched this, peer pressured by the load of gifsets on my dashboard! It’s a sweet movie with really impressive animation, sometimes a bit too flashy for my taste (the action sequences go so ham they become not very readable...) but the story was just ok? The setting is barely explained and you are instead bombarded with vague epicspeech about powers and stuff that made me fondly remember Kingdom Hearts lol but that asides it’s a really good time! I need to watch more Chinese movies the few I know are just delightfully off the shits in how they approach action and I love that

Hunter x Hunter

Series, 1999, Japanese

9/10. Superior to the recent one!

I first got introduced to the series via the 2011 one. Comparatively, the 99 series focuses way less on action and way more on the characters, which I love because that fits my personal preferences! Despite mediocre filler episodes and some weird slight pointless plot changes, what it changes from the original manga doesn’t have much of an impact on the characters. The animation quality isn’t always consistent including a huge art style change for an arc (???) but it’s overall pretty nice. The series really shines in the last arc it adapts.

Oban Star-racers

Series, 2006, Japanese/french

9/10 a lovely surprise

This series is completly obscure despite having been created by people famous for their other series (Cowboy Bebop, Code Lyoko that i can name) and it’s a crime! It’s a kids show but without being stupid about it who tells the story of an inter-planetary race. If you liked that one scene in the star wars prequels you know what I mean. It’s got surprisingly nice animation for a TV series, and some truly great character design. The art style is a bit unique in a not for everyone sense, but I didn’t mind it much. It’s also THE most offensively 2000s series i’ve seen in terms of visuals. y2k kids assemble

The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

Movie, 1963, japanese

8/10. Classic fairytale format with incredible visuals

Watched this for the art style because I know it inspired Samurai Jack, and it delievered! I dont’ have much to say about this one, it’s a very simply film but it’s sweet. For my pirates out there if you want to find it in good quality with english subtitles it’s VERY hard to find. If you just want to see the looks of it, it’s on Youtube with portugese subs.

We now enter the Gobelins Shorts Zone....!

My Friend Who Glows In The Dark

10/10 makes me cry each time

Pure delight...great animation writing everything. A little short about death and friendship but not in the way you imagine!

Colza

9/10

Visual treat...homely and nice :) not far from a 10 but a 9 because nothing about it is that groundbreaking

Sundown

9/10

If you’ve ever been ten minutes from failing a group project because of a single dude you will REALLY enjoy this. Loved the colors and personality

T’as vendu mes rollers?

10/10

It’s SUCH a sweet little short I loved that one so much

Dix-huit kilomètres trois

10/10

Surprisingly well written dialog. Visuals are great but the humanity of the characters carries this to another level

Un diable dans la poche

9/10

Amazing visuals and the most tense/creepy of Gobelin shorts i’ve ever seen. Chilling

La bestia

8/10

I had some issues with the pacing. Interesting story and visuals choices but I was not fond of the art style

Goodbye Robin

5/10

Confusing but predictable. Both at once??? Yes!

Le retour des vagues

6/10

Cool animation stuff but felt pretty pointless

                                                                ***

Part Two: Things I rewatched

Ruben Brandt: Collector

Movie, 2018, Hungarian

10/10. Underrated as hell

Watched this fully blind for the first time in an animated festival and rewatched it with friends. It’s a crime I never see anyone talking about it given the amount of whining I see about the lack of both adult animation and 2D movies? This film is a unique love letter to art in the form of a weird mix of charming crime story and psychological horror with amazing visuals. I recommend watching it blind and also buying it to show appreciation for how nice it is!!! WATCH THIS MOVIE...

Mononoke

Series, 2007, Japanese

10/10 Visual/storytelling masterpiece in the weird shit departement

If you can stomach intense stuff watch this. The visuals are incredibly unique and beautiful and under the jewel tones and art direction high takes it’s a really cool horror series. My only obstacle to enjoying it the first time I saw it was how dense it is - simply put, it’s so...culturally Japanese it’s not very accessible to me who doesn’t know anything about the culture? Watching it for the second time helped understanding the stories more! 

Corto Maltese in Siberia

Movie, 2002, french

9/10 but really close to ten. A great adaptation!

I’m a huge fan of the original comic so I entered this a biiiittttt suspicious it would suck but it was a really pleasant surprise! It has all the wonder and charm of the original and the animation was surprisingly good for the little budget. If you’re not familiar with the series, it’s a sort of geopolitical action/adventure movie but with it’s own really poetic vibe to it. It’s almost impossible to find online but happens to be fully on YouTube so go ham I guess?

Redline

Movie, 2009, Japanese

10/10 cinema was invented for this, actually

Every review of this movie i’ve seen gives it five stars and starts by talking about how immensly stupid it is. I’m no different. It’s a masterpiece of escalating energy with the depth of a puddle and it fucking rules. It’s free on YouTube too so there really is no excuse to not watch it. Watched it for the first time on a huge cinema screen and despite this my second rewatch on my small laptop was as/even more enjoyable. If you watch this stoned with friends you might travel to another dimension

Spirited Away

Movie, 2001, Japan

10/10 deserves the love it gets

I watched this a single time as a kid and had little memory of it! I mean it’s Ghibli you know it’s going to be good as hell but this one rly shines in how colorful and detailed it is and in it’s world! It made me remember I had a huge crush on the dragonboy as a kid. I’m gay now

Kung-fu Panda (1&2)

Movie, Usa

10/10. KFP fucking rules

Honestly my favorite franchise of the whole disney/dreamworks/pixar hydra. It’s fun as hell, doesn’t skip a single beat and has amazing animation and character designs. If something is a good time I will not care if it’s deep or not and boy I fucking love these movies

Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas

Movie, 2003, Usa

5/10 Some great some really bad and overall generic

I tend to hate american cinema and this includes that era of animation I have no nostalgia for. Sinbad is in a weird place because I love adventure stories and the visuals of the movie absolutely deliver but it’s very predictable and TANKED by the addition of the female character, pushed in your face as “look we have woman!!!” despite her writing being misogynistic as hell lol. The evil goddess rules tho. This movie would have been a solid 9 if instead of the girl the two dudes had kissed

[unwiltingblossom]

Wow!! You love isekai too!! Here are some I think you'll like Moshi Fan Ren, Master of Ragnarock, Hataage! Kemono Michi, Gun x Sword, Citrus, My Sweet Sugar Life, Overlord, Magic Knight, Recovery of an MMO Junkie, Chaos Dragon, Arifureta, Mr Love Queens Choice, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. What animes do you like ? °.·~°·*.· ~ . *

Hello!

Lemme take a look at your list~!

As for Moshi Fanren, I’m not that much of a fan of zombies (I love post apocalypse for watching a world rebuild, but not much for zombies themselves)

I’ve actually already watched Master of Ragnarok - I remember there being a plot where his love from his life ends up getting isekai’d much later in the story, right? There was also a completely ridiculous and hilarious moment where a girl’s boob somehow just...came alive and knocked a piece of fruit off a platter she was holding. I don’t understand. it was surreal.

Kemono Michi was fun, though a bit strange.

I haven’t seen Gun x Sword before, but it reminds me of Trigun somehow from the description, I’ll give it a look when I get the chance!

As for Citrus and My Sweet Sugar Life, I probably wouldn’t enjoy them, as I’m not into yuri (or yaoi, I prefer gxb if it’s gonna be a romance anime) - that, and in the latter case I’m picky on thrillers

I really enjoyed Overlord season 1 and also 2, but season 3 really turned me off from the show, as Ains has started losing control of his villainous persona and starts doing harm to his own (human) followers. I do like Jircniv though.

If you mean Magic Knight Rayearth I really enjoyed that manga. It’s a classical isekai kind of format and I loved it. I never finished part 2, but that’s because my library didn’t have the rest. Anyone who likes isekai should try reading that, as it’s a precursor to modern isekai format

As for Recovery of an MMO Junkie - I absolutely adored that anime. I ship Moriko and Sakurai to death. They’re adorable, and I love Sakurai. Such a cutie. I really hope we get more of the anime.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Chaos Dragon before? I’ll have to give it a look.

As for Arifureta, I liked it at first, but his relationship with Yue speeds though at such a ridiculous pace it left be dizzy and completely disengaged with it, which is a problem because the rest of his relationships are dependent on the fact that his and Yue’s relationship is the most epic of epic. Also, Hajime is just a capital J jerk. It reminded me of Shield Hero if people weren’t constantly being like ‘Naofumi stop being a dick for five seconds pls’

I actually play Mr. Love Queen’s Choice! I’m caught up with the english release of the game and I know some stuff that happens in the future. Currently I’m trying to ease my father into watching the anime, since the story is so good but I won’t be convincing him to play a girl game any time soon, lol

I’ve never heard of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint before but the power sounds really cool, so I’ll look into it and see if I can find it, even though the genre isn’t really my favorite.

As for anime I already like, hm...well I might forget some but off the top of my head some of my favorites are:

Dragon ball (all of them except GT, which had potential but really squandered it hard. Super has its issues, but it’s still ongoing and hasn’t started randomly throwing away characters, nor given Vegeta a buzz cut)

Fushigi Yuugi - the manga, the anime wasn’t done very well honestly. I actually hate the primary romance and Miaka’s just...almost unbearable, but I love the whole concept and world and the characters so much that it’s one of my all time favorites anyway. I of course read all of Genbu Kaiden and am reading Byakko Ibun too.

Video Girl Ai - There’s an anime running now called Rent-a-Girlfriend, but Video Girl Ai did this already, first, and way better. Just not the anime. The anime only covers the first three graphic novels of like...10?

Naruto is a given, obviously, it’s probably one of the best battle shounen anime there are, especially at accomplishing things other ones fail to do properly.

I also enjoy Black Clover and I kind of liked Fairy Tail but it’s a little silly, and I don’t like Natsu. If you don’t like the protagonist of a shounen anime that’s gonna be a problem. Though to be fair I read literally two panels of Asta and went “Wow, I hate him.” but he almost immediately gets better, and is one of the smarter shounen leads.

Other anime I enjoy...hmm. Tenchi, of course - not Tenchi in Tokyo - Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2 though I never finished either. I really wish I still had the PSX Inuyasha game where you could pick who Kagome dated, boohoo. Seven Deadly Sins, though the latest season has been boring, My Hero Academia though probably not as much as most people would, Rage of Bahamut was great and Favaro needs to get back with Amira already. Fate Stay Night, naturally, though I don’t care for heaven’s feel. I need more of Kuromukuro to be made, so the samurai and his girlfriend can finally be reunited again. Despite its weird ending, I also liked Chobits

I also liked Orange, CLANNAD, Steins;Gate (and 0) and SukaSuka/WorldEnd because I guess I like suffering. I was there for when .hack//SIGN was starting out, so I’m always going to be a fan of that bizarre, convoluted mess of a mystery.

I started Fruits Basket but dropped it as soon as I realized who Tohru would end up with, because I hate a love triangle where I already know the result from the beginning. I just don’t like love triangles at all, honestly, partly because I never prefer the canon ending. (and thus if I can tell it’s a triangle but not who will win - which is rare - I still don’t enjoy it due to anxiousness). I liked Free! but the fandom is so annoying I got tired of the show and dropped it. I enjoy Bleach, but I feel like it peaked in the Soul Society arc, and the filler kills me.

I’m sure I’m missing some, but it’s what I can think of right off.

[rcrisdraws]

Okay, here goes. This is going to be way too long and probably way too in detail and honestly not very kind.

Blue Eye Samurai pretends to be a lot of things: it pretends to be mature, it pretends to be historical, it pretends to be a love letter to the showrunner’s daughter.

The most infuriating thing about the historical aspect of the show is that the character design, the set design, the costumes and props are all amazing, and the research that must have went into them is clear as day because they genuinely remind of the effortless accuracy of Kurosawa’s movies and Edo-Meiji ukiyo-e. And then there’s also some scenes that I’ve personally had to spend hours looking for historical account of and have found their inclusion in this SUCH a breath of fresh air: the engagement dinner with Akemi was spectacular, presenting gifts to the shogun in the last episode, the brothels inspired by Yoshiwara and all the mentions of sex and sexuality, the sword-making as a whole, the entirety of episode 6 being framed through a traditional puppet play – and while I haven’t managed to find what that scene with the writing on the body represented, it’s also presented in the same well-researched manner (it looks like Buddhist practice but I gotta read deeper into it bc prima facia google search gives me Chinese practices of writing with your own blood).

But the main story’s conceit just… falls flat. From the very opening lines: people have never seen a white face? In 1650’s Japan? Did all the people from Sengoku/Muromachi just die? What about Denjima, near Nagasaki? The Dutch traded all throughout Sakoku Edo with the Japanese and the Portuguese were only forbidden from trading in 1639. That is to say that most people indeed didn’t see foreigners, so it comes down to bad phrasing that overall, together with other stuff that I’ll mention a bit later, sends of a message of western victimization and how backwards these times in Japan were. Which gets me to talk about the guns. I was so excited seeing the inclusion of guns in the first episode because I feel like a lot of western/USAmerican produced stuff about Japan forget samurai had guns, and had them all throughout the Edo period, they just didn’t use them as much because the scale of conflict during the Tokugawa shogunate was much smaller and close-quarters and a sword was honestly better for it. Just watch Seven Samurai, the foundational samurai movie and look at the use of guns in that setting. The fact that the shogun didn’t retain a force of gunmen in Blue Eye Samurai is honestly ahistorical (https://tokyocheapo.com/events/tokugawa-hundred-member-gun-squad-fair/), but the story needs Fowler and his guns (a metaphor for western imperialism) to completely outperform any home-grown Japanese strength – like the archers in the fortified Edo castle should NOT have been defeated that goddamn easily; the show itself says that it takes skilled archers 8-10 second to reload!?!? Archers are seriously and consistently disregarded as terrifying in media and it’s kinda pissing me off, but that’s beside the current point.

Also Fowler. Why is he English, with an Irish accent, but you know the answer to that question. Because it’s so easy to make the British the face of colonization and tell their western imperialism starter course takes about how “we just invented worse faster”. Maybe a single show shouldn’t be responsible to talk about Japanese imperialism and colonization (even at that time in Edo there have been attempts at colonizing the Ryukyu Kingdoms -1609 and Ainu territories – 1457 & 1663 rebellions relevant here) but if colonization and imperialism are one of your main themes it’s kind of relevant. And that’s not even mentioning the implications Fowler having an Irish accent, victim of British colonialism himself, sends. Just make him goddamn Dutch. But I bet that’s the reason they couldn’t actually mention the Tokugawa shogunate by name, because it’s not Japan, it’s the showrunner’s alternate version of Japan so they can say: look! These Japanese people are so sheltered that they look at blue eyes and go oh shit a demon (I’ll get to this) and don’t even stand a chance against a single white man with some guns.

And now let’s take a look at Mizu because the misogyny with which her character is treated is touted as being historical, which yes, it would have been, but then the showrunners also decide to include lines like Fowler’s saying: “Your bones break like a woman’s” and that’s how he finds out Mizu is not in fact a he. Mizu’s a goddamn athlete, while stress fractures are generally more common in women, what actually gets those bones breaking is your physical fitness/condition, not gender (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21539165/). Also poor Mizu, apparently based on the showrunner’s own daughter is the character that consistently gets VISCERALLY BRUTALIZED IN EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. Yes that’s what revenge does to a mf, it’s Ellie’s plot in The Last of Us Part II, but I don’t think that’s the show you want to make and say look daughter, look how they would have treated you if you were in Edo period Japan (which is actually the premise of how the show was born), and claim it’s out of love. If I were in their daughter’s place and I’d have seen the excessive brutality with which Mizu is consistently treated, compared to every other character in the show, I’d feel like absolute shit. It’s horrifying.

Yes, any sort of difference was seen as too different historically, in Japan, it’s like a plot point in most animes, but hey maybe check out Sword of the Stranger and how the southern barbarian with the red hair is a plot-point in there, or the deaf Sasaki Kojiro in the Vagabond manga. And I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something about how Mizu being perceived as an onryo is treated in the show feels disingenuously portrayed. One instance is however unironically fantastic: framing puppet play in episode 6 over Mizu’s life story really goes to show how her otherness becomes almost supernatural and inhuman.

And honestly Mizu’s character is actually about the best and only display of good, historical writing. Taigen is stereotypical, but in that westernized version of what a loyal samurai is (and the showrunners claimed to have watched Kurosawa). But Akemi’s entire character is way too modern.

She’s your average 2010’s historical drama heroine where marrying a lord against her will is the worst thing that can happen to her. And she’s not marrying a lord – she’s marrying the shogun’s son, in Edo period Japan, outwardly complaining about complying with the at the time extremely fashionable blackening of teeth. I know, character arc, she realizes she could have so much power if she becomes the mastermind behind her husband/father and uses their name and credibility to benefit her own plans, but the way in which it’s written doesn’t feel historical at all, or at least, again, not in line with the insidious brutality of Mizu’s femininity. Sansa Stark is how you do that storyline. And again, those blackened teeth, because Akemi’s views of blackened teeth being unappealing or weird is a modern, western standard.

The entire show cannot escape the fact that it’s been written by a white guy and a team of other USAmericans, despite having so many actual Japanese films as an inspiration/source. It also cannot escape the fact that it’s written by an American-Israeli settler, but I’m not articulate enough to point out the minutia of why the way the show talks about colonialism makes it feel that way, but it’s pervasive.

And despite the sex and nudity and gratuitous gore it feels like a show written for edgy 16-18 year olds, just old enough to find all those things titillating and mature just for being depicted. The storytelling is too plain, too lacking in subtlety; it has to blast you with the morals of it all, have the characters outright tell you those things because it doesn’t trust you to pick up on the themes – in general that’s a problem with ALL of current media; I wanted to watch Warrior Nun, I couldn’t because the show didn’t trust the audience to see that the character had regenerative powers bc her wounds healed on their own, but had to verbalize it as well. With the exception of Mizu, all characters act like the storylines they’ve been assigned and I could tell what Taigen and Akemi’s plot beats will be after the second episode, which frankly makes it all unengaging for me. I kept watching for Mizu, and to add insult to injury, the plot of the next season won’t even be in Japan.

Hi! Ive been following you for a while and I'm absolutely in love with your art!

I saw Blue Eye Samurai on netflix last month and since then ive been thinking the characters would look amazing in your artstyle. You should check it out!!

I have way way way way way too many thoughts on this should bc it touched on the hyperfixation and not in the positive way. I wish I could have liked it more; i wish I could like it in the way other people did. Mizu's excellent, but the rest of the show doesn't quite hold up around her.

Anyway here's a doodle of Mizu 👍

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #22: Romulus

Welcome back to Fate and Phantasms, today we’re building Rome, possibly in a day. Roma may be all things, but we’re going to narrow it down to three goals:

Magna Voluisse Magnum: We need “tree manipulation abilities” to match his Noble Phantasm.

The Seven Hills: You can grant blessings to your “children”.

Weirdly enough, talking to animals isn’t a named skill, but it is something you can do.

As usual, a spreadsheet for this build can be found over here, and a detailed explanation for the build is below the cut!

Race and Background

You are the son of a human and Mars (or possibly Heracles, ancient stories are iffy like that), making you a pretty clear-cut Aasimar. Building and protecting civilization is also your thing, making you an Aasimar of the Protector variety. As an Aasimar, you get +1 to Wisdom and +2 to Charisma, 60′ of Darkvision, Healing Hands, letting you spend an action to heal a creature for your level in hit points once per long rest, Celestial Resistance, letting you resist necrotic and radiant damage, and the Light cantrip.

As for your background, there’s equal arguments for making you an outlander or a noble. On one hand, you raised up a major civilization, and that makes you kind of a big deal. On the other, you were raised by wolves. I think we’ll save the noble background for the second go at romulus down the line, though. As an Outlander, you have proficiency in Athletics and Survival, and can memorize terrain and forage for food better than others.

Piety

Mythic Odyssey of Theros overhauled D&D’s piety system into something DMs might actually remember to use, opening up new character customization options. Since Piety is heavily dependent on DM participation and is relatively new, it won’t be a major part of this build, but could add extra flavor to the character if the DM is okay with it. You gain piety by acting in ways that your god of choice is cool with, and lose piety by acting in ways your god isn’t. When you pass certain thresholds of piety, you gain benefits relating to that god. Ephara is the god of city building, which is kind of your thing, so it shouldn’t be too hard for you to rack up piety with her. At 3+ piety, you can cast Comprehend Languages a number of times per long rest equal to your intelligence modifier. At 10+ piety, you gain advantage on persuasion checks while inside a city, and can reroll a failed intelligence save once per long rest. At 25+ piety, you can cast Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum once per long rest, letting you thwart any dramatic teleportation based kidnappings that would normally happen. Finally, if you get 50 piety or more you can improve your intelligence or charisma score by 2, even if that score is already at 20.

Admittedly, invoking the name of a Magic the Gathering god here is a pretty major flavor fail, but you can always just say you’re really getting help from Mercury, and that will be a little closer to the point.

Stats

Put your highest stat into Wisdom. You built one of the greatest nations in the world, that generally requires a good understanding of the people you’re ruling. Next is Strength. Much like Leonidas, those abs aren’t for show. Next will be Constitution, trust me you’ll be needing that health. Follow that up with Dexterity. There isn’t much evidence to put it one way or the other, but we need it for your AC. After that comes Intelligence, you’re not stupid, but you can be a little hot blooded, and also we needed other stats more. Finally, dump Charisma. You do have a way with words, in your own strange way, but it’s definitely not your standard charisma. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to persuade people in a couple levels.

Class Levels

1. Fighter 1: When you start as a fighter, you get proficiency in Strength and Constitution saves as well as two skills from the fighter list; grab Animal Handling to wrangle your brothers better and Insight, because you’re good at knowing what makes Rome so Rome.

At first level you get a Fighting Style. Grab Dueling, adding 2 to damage rolls made while wielding only a one-handed weapon, because nothing else really applies to you. You also have a Second Wind, letting you heal as a bonus action, giving back 1d10 plus your fighter level in HP.

2. Fighter 2: At second level, you gain an Action Surge, letting you add another action to one turn once per short rest. A lot can happen in a Roma minute, so you want to be able to stuff as much into one turn as possible.

3. Fighter 3: A third level, fighters pick their martial archetype. Flavor wise, you’re probably more of a Champion, but we’re trying to fit 21 levels of classes into a 20 level character, so instead of a second level of Barbarian (oops, spoilers) we’re taking the Samurai archetype. When you take the archetype, you gain proficiency in one of several skills, and we’re grabbing Persuasion to help bring the city-states together. Samurai also gain a Fighting Spirit, giving you advantage on all weapon attacks this turn as a bonus action, and also giving you 5 temporary hit points. You can use the feature three times per long rest.

As a Protector Aasimar, you also have a Radiant Soul, letting you spend an action once per long rest to transform yourself, gaining a flight speed of 30′, and you can add your level in radiant damage to attacks you make once per turn. The transformation lasts for a minute, or until you end it as a bonus action.

4. Fighter 4: Use your first ASI to improve your Constitution, for more health, and better AC in a bit.

5. Barbarian 1: Hop over to barbarian for a bit to show off those abs of yours thanks to Unarmored Defense, turning your AC into 10 + Con + Dex when you aren’t wearing armor. You also gain access to Rage, and we’ve been through this song and dance before. You can’t use or concentrate on spells while raging, get resistance to common weapon attacks, deal extra damage while making strength based attacks, and have advantage on strength saves and checks. A lot of that isn’t going to be that useful this time around, but the damage reduction may come in handy.

6. Druid 1: Continuing our tour of the class system, bounce into druid for some more goodies. You surprisingly fit well as a druid. You can talk to animals (maybe) and control trees. On all levels except second, you are pretty druidic. At this level you learn Druidic, letting you speak a language that no one will use, and leave secret messages in that language. Those who know druidic can spot and read them immediately, but anyone else needs to succeed on a dc 15 wisdom check to find them, and even then will need a spell to translate the message. 

You also get spellcasting at this level, including two cantrips and first level spells. Druids can technically use any spell they have the slots for, but it needs to be prepared at the start of the day. You can prepare a number of spells equal to your druid level + your wisdom modifier at the end of a long rest, and use your wisdom as your spellcasting ability. For your cantrips, grab Resistance to give “your children” a minor blessing in the form of a d4 they can add to one save, and Shillelagh to make your weapon attacks surprisingly strong. I know officially you use a spear, but you’re never really able to see the head of it, so that’s just enough leeway for me to call it a quarterstaff. For a minute after casting the spell, you can use wisdom instead of strength when making attack and damage rolls with your weapon, and the damage die used becomes a d8. You can only have one casting of Shillelagh going at a time, despite not being a concentration spell, and it also ends early if you let go of your weapon.

As far as level one spells go, I would suggest using spells that involve your kinship with beasts, such as Animal Friendship or Beast Bond, or spells that help other members of you party who you consider children of Roma, such as Cure Wounds or Longstrider. You can prepare damaging spells if you want, but you can already hit people with a stick to do that.

7. Druid 2: As a second level druid, you gain the feature you’ll probably be ignoring to stay in character, Wild Shape. This abilities lets you spend an action twice per short rest to transform into a beast. At 2nd level, the beast has to be at most CR 1/4, with no flying or swimming speed. You can stay in this form a number of hours equal to half your druid level, or until you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hp, or die. While transformed, your physical stats and HP total are equal to the creature’s  You also gain the beasts’ skills and saving throw proficiencies if they’re better than yours. Transforming back leaves you at whatever HP you had before you transformed, unless you turn back by taking damage. Whatever damage is left over after dropping you to 0 hp then gets applied to your normal form. You can’t cast spells while transformed, but you can still concentrate or take actions as a part of a spell you’ve already cast. You can use other abilities from class level and racial feats, but special senses like darkvision don’t work unless the beast form also have them. Finally, you have to either drop all your gear, make it disappear for a bit, or continue wearing it, the last one at your DM’s discretion. Equipment that is merged into your body doesn’t have any effect.

Now that all that text is out of the way, here’s more text. You also join a Druid Circle at this level. You’re joining the Circle of the Land for an extra cantrip and more spell slots. Land druids have a Natural Recovery, letting you recover a number of spell slots during a short rest that combine to equal half your druid level. For example, right now you’ll just be able to get back one level one slot. For your bonus cantrip, grab the most powerful spell in the game, Druidcraft, the only spell that always predicts the future with 100% accuracy. Casting the spell can create one of several effects, including a weather prediction for up to 24 hours, an instantly blooming flower, a harmless sensory effect of your choice, or lighting/snuffing out a candle, torch, or campfire.

8. Fighter 5: Fifth level fighters get an extra attack per turn, so you can now make two attacks per turn, or four if you use your Action Surge.

9. Fighter 6: Use another ASI to increase your Wisdom for more damage and better spells.

10. Fighter 7: Seventh level Samurai become an Elegant Courtier, letting you add your wisdom modifier to your persuasion checks, because you’re now clever enough to look like you know what you’re doing. You also gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws, because you’re awesome like that.

11. Druid 3: Third level druids gain 2nd level spells, and Land druids become a member of a specific circle, either Arctic, Coast, Deseert, Forest, Grassland, Mountain, Swamp, or the Underdark. Given the physical location of Rome, you’ll be a Coastal druid. At this level, you learn Mirror Image and Misty Step, which are always prepared for you, and don’t count for the number of spells you can prepare. For spells at this level, I would suggest spells like Animal Messenger to make some homing pigeons and Enhance Ability for even better blessing to bestow upon your party.

12. Druid 4: At this level your Wild Shape improves. Now you can transform into beasts of CR 1/2 or lower, and you can use beasts that have a swim speed. Also, use your next ASI to become more Durable, adding 1 to your constitution and letting you heal a minimum of 2x your constitution modifier per hit die rolled. To be perfectly honest, this didn’t have much to do with being Romulus, but the extra utility is way more useful than one more point, since every other score you have is even already.

You also learn a new cantrip, so grab Create Bonfire to, well, create a bonfire. Yes, fire, the untamed element, oldest of man’s mysteries! Giver of warmth, destroyer of forests! Right now, you can make fire! And force a dexterity saving throw on whoever is standing in said fire, or they take 3d8 fire damage.

13. Druid 5: Fifth level druids get 3rd level spells, including two circle spells. Your freebie spells for this level are Water Breathing and Water Walk, very helpful for starting a coastal city. Or a religion, I won’t judge. Other spells to look at this level include Conjure Animals to summon your less bipedal children, and Protection from Energy to give protection from the more common spell damage types.

14. Fighter 8: Taking a break in some shorter levels for a bit, Use your next ASI to max out your Wisdom for even more damage and spellpower.

15. Fighter 9: You become Indomitable, giving you a free do-over on a failed save once per long rest.

16. Fighter 10: Tenth level Samurai gain a Tireless Spirit. If you start a fight with no more Fighting Spirit left, you gain one back. Your Fighting spirit also improves, giving you 10 temporary hit points instead of 5.

17. Druid 6: Land druids learn the Land’s Stride, letting you ignore nonmagical difficult terrain and damage from nonmagical plants. You also have advantage on saving throws caused by magical plants, such as the entangle spell.

18. Druid 7: This level gives you 4th level spells and two more freebies, Control Water and Freedom of Movement. The former is great for protecting your city from enemy navies (or starting a religion, we won’t judge), and the latter will help your “children” keep up with you as you already ignore most difficult terrain anyway. 

19. Druid 8: Your Wild Shape improves once again, adding flying creatures to the mix as well as creatures of CR 1 or lower. Use your last ASI to improve your Constitution for more health and a higher AC.

20. Druid 9: With your last level, you access 5th level spells, including your circle spells Conjure Elemental and Scrying. At this level, you finally gain access to the two spells most congruous with your Noble Phantasms. For  Magna Voluisse Magnum, use Wrath of Nature to animate all plant life in a 60′ cube to attack your enemies, also turning any grassland in the area into difficult terrain for your enemies. At the end of your turn, all enemies within 10′ of a tree must succeed on a dex save or take 4d6 slashing damage. One creature on the ground each turn must make a strength saving throw or be restrained by roots and vines. Restrained creatures can also make an Athletics check to try and escape. As a bonus action each turn, you can launch a rock at a creature in the cube. Make a ranged spell attack, and on a hit deal 3d8 nonmagical bludgeoning damage. On a hit, the target must also make a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

To emulate Moles Necessarie, use Wall of Stone to create ten 10′ square stone panels to protect yourself and the party. If you can keep your concentration for the full 10 minutes, the walls then become permanent.

[andmaybegayer]

@angelicicarus replied to your post “Gonna watch Alien (1979) for the first time.”

IT IS SO GOOD HOW HAVEN'T YOU SEEN IT EARLIER

There’s a HUGE amount of “classic media” I haven’t been through that I’ve been slowly going over as of late. I watched Blader Runner for the first time last year, I think I have “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” around here somewhere, along with “Scott Pilgrim” and “Seven Samurai” for next time I’m in a movie mood.

I knew a lot about Alien going in because I’ve been an SFX nerd basically since forever, so I’ve read several books that used Alien specifically to talk about practical effects, propmaking and miniatures, plus a lot of cultural osmosis. Despite that I think that all the parts I knew were coming (chestburster, the whole design of The Alien, the fakeout before the real ending) were still striking on the merit of being very well done.

The chestburster has a long build up to the actual bursting happening, the Alien’s design is just extremely horrifying even if you remember how the mouth works and the fakeout was done with so much conviction that I started wondering if that really was the end and the “flushing out the airlock” scene was from Alien II and I was just misremembering.

I did NOT know that the Android was a thing in this movie, why is he full of milk. 8/10 was EXTREMELY freaky but what was all that milk for.

I want nothing more than to just run around the Nostromo pressing random buttons like in that “russian nuclear power station control panels” post. Let me into the set I know it’s out there somewhere.

Speaking of the Nostromo, the whole atmosphere and lighting and set design are extremely good, I want to go find some special features stuff about the camerawork/sets/props/lighting because there was clearly a LOT of impressive work on display. There were a lot of scenes that definitely have the look of “iconic and someone has done an homage to this in their own horror movie elsewhere.”

In summary

poetic cinema

[sasukerevolution]

Any chance you have a list of Naruto episodes that mainly focus on Sasuke? I kinda want to rewatch, but only remember the arc with Sasuke vs 5 kage/Dei/Ita/Danzo.

Not right on hand, no, but I can comb through and let you know which parts I tend to watch when I miss him! You only listed eps from Shippuden but I’ll include original series anyway ^^ I organized this by arc; beginning part has my commentary and then just a list after. I bolded the ones I actually do rewatch a ton.

This got really long so here’s a tl;dr for the parts I recall/can be bothered to find and the rest is under the cut.

ORIGINAL SERIES: 3-5, 6-8, 10-15, 16, 19, 22, 24, 28-30, 33, 39, 66-68, 75-76, 81-85, 101, 107-110, 128-135.

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: 1, 51-53, 113-114, 115-118, 121-126, 135-beginning of 139, 140-141, 143-144, 152, 202-203, 204, 208-211, 212-216, 220, 331, 333, 334-335, 337-339, 341, 366, 370, 373, 474-479.

ORIGINAL SERIES

Prologue - Land of Waves

There’s pretty decent focus on him for the first part basically up until he passes out in the Forest of Death. Episodes I like to rewatch a lot for Sasuke specifically are 3-5, and 16, which is where Sasuke sacrifices himself protecting Naruto (I usually prefer to read the Zabuza arc bc I feel like the battles drag out too long in the anime). A more comprehensive list would probably be like… 3-7 (one of Sasuke’s first battles with the Demon Brothers is there), I really don’t like watching Zabuza’s battle with Kakashi in the anime but episode 8 has Naruto and Sasuke tag-teaming to help free him, episode 11 and maybe (?) 10 have Sasuke and Naruto eating a lot and training and etc., and then 12-16 cover Sasuke fighting Haku and Naruto eventually showing up to help. Sasuke wakes up and they ask Kakashi some insightful questions in 19.

3-5, 6-8, 10-15, 16, 19 

Chuunin Exams & Konoha Crush

I don’t really rewatch this one a ton but episode 22 is the Rock Lee Beats Sasuke’s Ass ep, 24 is the Sasuke Figures Out You’re Supposed to Cheat on the Chuunin Exams Test ep which I enjoy personally but also don’t really watch a lot, 28-30 for the Sasuke vs Orochimaru stuff in the Forest of Death, 33 for Sasuke going sicko mode on the Sound ninja, 39 for Sasuke using Lee’s jutsu to beat that one guy’s ass in the prelims, 66-68 is Sasuke vs Gaara but I don’t rewatch this a lot and prefer reading it in the manga bc the anime drags it out way too much imo, I actually don’t rewatch their confrontation in the forest much either but I think (???) it’s eps 75 & 76.

22, 24, 28-30, 33, 39, 66-68, 75-76

Search for Tsunade

I watch 81-85 a lot. That’s where Itachi returns to the Village and we get our first real bit of insight into Sasuke’s past– this is usually one of the first things I’ll rewatch when I’m missing Sasuke. He’s in a coma for the rest of the arc, though. I also watch 101 which is the Kakashi’s mask filler ep and doesn’t really focus on Sasuke particularly but it’s fun watching him freak out.

81-85, 101

Sasuke Recovery Mission

107-110 cover Naruto and Sasuke’s rooftop fight and Sasuke making up his mind to leave the Village. A lot of things about this piss me off a lot lol so I actually don’t rewatch a lot. 128-135 is Sasuke and Naruto’s battle at the Valley of the End. There’s a lot of Uchiha lore embedded here and I like his fight with Naruto so I rewatch this battle a lot.

107-110, 128-135

I don’t watch any of the filler after this.

So to summarize, the Sasuke parts of original series that I can recall are: 3-5, 6-8, 10-15, 16, 19, 22, 24, 28-30, 33, 39, 66-68, 75-76, 81-85, 101, 107-110, 128-135.

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN 

Kazekage Rescue Mission

The first episode teases Sasuke’s later return and is also just generally nostalgic if you’re into that. I also just like the opening for this arc lol.

1

Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission

Sasuke’s first appearance in part two and his reunion with Naruto are episodes 51-53. I don’t rewatch these a lot mainly just because I rewatched them all the time when I was 14 and got bored of it.

51-53

Itachi’s Pursuit Mission/Master’s Prophecy and Vengeance

Finally good stuff. Episodes 113-114 cover Sasuke killing Orochimaru– I prefer reading this in the manga to watching it so I don’t actually rewatch it a lot. In 115 Sasuke picks up Suigetsu and the episode is a bunch of filler stuff that wasn’t in the manga but it’s fun so I rewatch that one a lot. 116-118 are where he picks up Karin and Juugo and forms Taka which is *chef kiss* golden content. 121-122 are Taka looking for Itachi… I find this stuff kinda boring so I don’t rewatch it so much unless I’m in a particular mood. 123-126 cover Sasuke’s battle with Deidara, which is awesome, but I prefer reading it in the manga, and Taka taking care of him, which is very cute… 135-138 and the beginning of 139 are Sasuke’s battle against Itachi, which is also golden content that I rewatch a lot (though admittedly I tend to just type “Sasuke vs Itachi” into YouTube and watch it there than actually watch the episodes for some reason). 140-141 are Sasuke finding out the truth about the Uchiha clan– I think along with episodes 81-84 in the original series and Sasuke vs Danzou these are the episodes I rewatch the absolute most. 143-144 are Sasuke and Taka joining the Akatsuki– 144 specifically is the Taka vs Killer Bee fight which I watch a lot. 

113-114, 115-118, 121-126, 135-beginning of 139, 140-141, 143-144

Pein’s Assault/The Two Saviours

If I recall correctly, episode 152 is where Sasuke speechifies at Tobi and tells him he doesn’t care if people see him as childish, he wants to destroy the Leaf, blah blah. This speech is real good but I tend to read it in the manga– I’ll bold it anyway though because I read it a ton.

152

Five Kage Summit/The Assembly of the Five Kage

You mentioned this one in the original ask but since we’ve come this far anyway I’ll say the parts I like. I love this arc, it’s definitely one of my favourites in the entire series. I think 202 is where Sasuke fights all the Samurai, 203 is where Sasuke meets Gaara again and they fight (lmfao I opened the episode on Crunchyroll to check that I’m thinking of the right one and look where I stopped last time)

Maybe I like SasuGaa? Anyway, in 204 Sasuke ditches Taka to go after Danzou, then Danzou vs Sasuke and Sasuke’s betrayal of Karin is 208-211, which I mentioned above is among the like, top three things I watch the most when I’m missing Sasuke, along with Itachi vs Sasuke in both original series and Shippuden. 212-216 are Team Seven finding Sasuke again and Sakura trying to kill him and Naruto and Sasuke talking to each other in their heads and blah blah… the only part of this I tend to watch a lot is Sasuke’s interaction with Kakashi because I find this part really annoying. In 220 Sasuke gets eye surgery.

202-203, 204, 208-211, 212-216, 220

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax/The Great Ninja War - Sasuke and Itachi

Crunchyroll’s not super great about breaking the next parts into seasons and I’m lazy so I’m basically just gonna talk about the rest of the war arc. I know it’s a million parts long but I just think of it all as “The War Arc” anyway.

Sasuke’s out cold recovering from surgery from most of the beginning of the War arc and doesn’t wake up til 331 (there’s also good Taka content in this ep– Suigetsu and Juugo looking for Sasuke, and Karin breaking out of jail). He catches up with Itachi in 333 - I rewatch this one a lot but I’m more likely to reread it. 334-335 is Sasuke and Itachi vs Kabuto, and 336 is too but it’s more Kabuto-focused. Focus comes back to Sasuke and Itachi for 337-339– and 339 is where Itachi says the “I will love you forever” line. I rewatch that episode a ton. In 341, he meets up again with Suigetsu and Juugo and brings back Orochimaru– I tend to reread this a lot in the manga but not watch it. 366-370 are when he gets Orochimaru to bring back the Hokage, but most of it is Hashirama talking, so the Sasuke-focused ones are 366 & 370 (I tend to rewatch this entire part a lot though because I love the Hashirama & Madara stuff). In 373 he joins back up with Team Seven and says he wants to be Hokage and blah blah blah. I think that’s basically the last episode of the anime I actually bother watching sometimes. I thought about combing for the Team Seven stuff where they’re fighting aliens and the prophecy and whatnot, but everything is really fucking scattered after this part and I tend to just skip around for Sasuke content in the manga because I can’t deal with the anime, especially because this is around where the anime famously released a new episode weekly for a year and only eight of those episodes weren’t filler. The Naruto vs Sasuke stuff is 474-479 and a whole metric ton of it is filler that makes me sick to my stomach so I never watch it, but I figured I’d mention it anyway.

331, 333, 334-335, 337-339, 341, 366, 370, 373, ?????????, 474-479

So to summarize, the Sasuke parts of original series that I can recall/bother looking for are: 1, 51-53, 113-114, 115-118, 121-126, 135-beginning of 139, 140-141, 143-144, 152, 202-203, 204, 208-211, 212-216, 220, 331, 333, 334-335, 337-339, 341, 366, 370, 373, 474-479 (which you couldn’t pay me to rewatch).

I love recapping so, tl;dr:

ORIGINAL SERIES: 3-5, 6-8, 10-15, 16, 19, 22, 24, 28-30, 33, 39, 66-68, 75-76, 81-85, 101, 107-110, 128-135.

SHIPPUDEN: 1, 51-53, 113-114, 115-118, 121-126, 135-beginning of 139, 140-141, 143-144, 152, 202-203, 204, 208-211, 212-216, 220, 331, 333, 334-335, 337-339, 341, 366, 370, 373, 474-479.

Happy watching!

[whirlybirdwhat]

Hello, what are your favorite anime? Do you have a top 10'

I would have a top ten if I watched more anime than I did so instead I’ll just named the one that I watch? Its mostly main stream ones, so you’ve probably heard most of them but I’ll explain a bit. The first six are all on American Netflix which is where I watched them (or coming to Netflix soon, in One Piece’s case,) for easy watching! 

So. Personal ones that I like/love!

1. One Piece. Duh. It caters to me and me personally in literally every way so its my favorite above all other favorites!! Gonna assume you know me via my op stuff so i won’t explain what it’s about beyond PIRATESSS!! I think ive made seperate posts but if anyone wants to ask me why i love op i have an essay in my brain ready to go lol

2. Fullmetal Alchemist! Another popular one but It was my second anime that I ever watched and OH i love it so much! Essentially two brothers atttempt to regain their bodies after treading on God’s territory and hhave to learn to deal with the military, life lessons, and immortal beings ;) I recommend for this one watching both FMA 2003 and FMA: Brotherhood, because FMA expands on a lot more on characterization (especially with Lust!! And Nina!!) while Brotherhood is far better in terms of plot. I personally love both, and the themes it has are really good!

3. One Punch Man! I really only watched one season of this, but the premise is what if someone could defeat anyone with just one punch? Its a satire on fighting in other anime’s and focuses on other character’s fights, slice of life shit, rising complications, and other things. Its fun, and I absolutely love genos.

4. Dragon Pilot! I’ve only watched two episodes of this so far but its a pretty cute show about how a woman in the Japanese Rookie Guard becomes friends with and thhen pilots a Dragon which acts like a jet, and is very fun!

5. Fairy Tail! Baby’s first anime and it still has a place in my heart. In a world of wizard guilds, a celestial wizard finds her way into the legendary Fairy Tail Guild and things get wild from there.  I can’t really say anything about how good the series is in terms of worldbuilding or characterization or what not but it does have a lot of feel good moments that had me cheering, and the fanservice moments were easy enough to skip through! 

6. Seven Deadly Sins! This one is pretty fun not the best anime i’ll say I’ve ever watched but the fights were fun and I loved the reveals it had! Premise is that the former criminal knights of the kingdom are being regatherd by a Princess to save the kingdom. Uh. Some of the characters (elizabeth) are very annoying but the rest are pretty fun and everybody is just. very powerful and i love it. worst down side is that there are a lot of pervy jokes which i hate :///

Fuck what else do i watch. Shit.

Um. I have also watched Magi: Sinbad (sinbad from the story fights through mystic dungeons) Yuuri On Ice (gay figure skating ?) , and My Hero Academia (hero school but make it traumatic and with poor world building)? Basically all the ones I have easy access too.

My to-watch list is, however:

1. Gintama - samurai and fun shit with a lot of one piece references lmao

2.  Castlevania - Vampires?? Thats all i know for this one sorry i want to find out more lmao

3. Lupin the Third - Crime! with fun hijinks! Apperantly!

4. Carole and Tuesday - muscians but in the future and supposedly really sweet. 

5. Cowboy bepop - bounty hunters in space

6. Mob Psycho 100 - kid withh pyshic powers find person to help him withh them?

7. Soul Eater - Reaper in training and her weapon which can turn into a person hunt down souls.

And things people Have recommended too me that I probs won’t watch for a while/never watch in general but you mighht find interesting!

1. The Promised Neverland

2. Demon Slayer

3. Sword Art Online (??? my friend really likes this one and i have yet to understand what it is about)

4. Jojo’s bizarre

5. Golden Kamui?Kamuy? 

yeah. 

Hope that helps anon! my anime list isn’t very big, sorry, I have a short attention span for things im not 100% hooked on so I often drop shit half way through and I prefer reading, so I haven’t really looked for a lot of anime

fuck i do need to watch more shit lmao one piece just took over my life

[a-marlene-s]

This is a... long list of stuff I have watched or read. Along with a list of Au’s I would write for.

If any of you want to know what ‘Fandoms’ I would write for, here’s a list of things I have seen or watched, and I am willing to write for. Along with a list of AU’s I will write for. 

Keep in mind, the list is subject to change and I had left out some things or I forgot about it. If any of you have any questions, throw me an ask or message.

Anime/Manga:

Books:

Ancient Magus’ Bride

Attack on Titan

Black Bird(Read the first couple of chapters, I need to go back an continue it.)

Black Butler

Black Lagoon(First season-ish?)

Bleach

Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo

Cyborg 009

Digimon Frontier. (Due to reasons, I will only write for this season.)

Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball Z(Still a better love story than Twilight.)

Durarara!!(I really need to watch the rest of this…)

Fairy Tail

Fullmetal Alchemist/Brotherhood

Hellsing

Hetalia(I… I only watched it because my brother told me one of his friends watched it. There’s a fine line of insanity, and it crossed it for me.)

Howl’s Moving Castle

Inuyasha

Kiki’s Delivery Service

Kimetsu no Yaiba

La Corda D’Oro

My Hero Academia

Naruto/Naruto Shippuden/Buroto

Oban Star Racers(I love this show!!!!!!!!)

One Piece(First couple of seasons. It’s been a while…)

One Punch Man

Ouran High School Host Club

Ponyo

Prince of Tennis

Princess Mononoke(My first Studio Ghibli movie. I wasn’t even ten.)

Seven Deadly Sins

Shaman King

Soul Eater

Soul King

Spirited Away

Sword Art Online(Only watched the first couple of episodes. I like it.)

Tokyo Mew Mew

Trigun(I really need to rewatch this.)

Wolf Children

YuGiOh/YuGiOh GX/YuGiOh 5D’s(I will only write for Yugioh 5D’s. Due to personal reasons.)

Zatch Bell

Cartoons: (I’ve seen a lot more, but I won’t mention them here.)

A Christmas Carol

BFG

Charlotte’s Web

Harry Potter

House Of Night Series

Hunger Games(Only the first book.)

Twilight

Games:

6Teen

Addams Family

American Dragon: Jake Long

Atlantis

As Told By Ginger

Avatar: Last Airbender

Batman

Batman Beyond

Batman the Animated Series

Ben 10

Chalkzone

Code Lyoko

Codename: Kids Next Door

Courage The Cowardly Dog

Danny Phantom

El Tigre

Fillmore

Gargoyles

Generator Rex

Growing Up Creepie

Hazbin Hotel(I recently just watched the pilot… it was interesting.)

Hercules: The Animated Series

Hey Arnold

Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi

Jackie Chan Adventures

Jimmy Neutron

Johnny Test

Josie and the Pussycats

Kim Possible

Legend of Korra

Lilo & Stitch

Men in Black, The Series

Mighty Ducks

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Chat Noir

Monster High

Mummy: The Animated Series

My Life as a Teenage Robot

Mystery Skulls Animated

Pokémon

Proud Family

Pucca

Rocket Power

Rugrats/All Grown Up

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch

Samurai Jack

Scooby Doo

Secret Saturdays

Speed Race: The Next Generation

Static Shock

Super Robot Monkey Team

Sym-Bionic Titan

Teen Titans

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Three Delivery

ThunderCats

Time Squad

Total Drama Series

Totally Spies

Voltron: Legendary Defender

Winx Club

X-Men

X-Men Evolution

Xiaolian Showdown

Yin Yang Yo

Young Justice

Movies:

(A lot of Otome games. Just ask.)

Dragon Age

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Elder Scrolls: Blade

Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Eldarya

Fable

Fallout

High School Story

Hollywood U

Love Nikki

Mortal Kombat

My Candy Love/University

My Forged Wedding

My Sweet Bodyguard

Mystic Messenger

Sly Cooper

Super Smash Brothers

Ty the Tasmanian Tiger

Tv Shows: (English and Spanish)

10,000 BC

101/102 Dalmatians

13 Ghosts

2012

50 First Dates

A Cinderella Story

A Little Princess

A-Team

Ace Ventura

Addams Family

Agent Cody Banks

Alice in Wonderland

Aliens/Predator

An American Tail

Anastasia

Annie

Antz

Aristocrats

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

August Rush

Batman

Beauty and the Beast  

Beetlejuice

Big Hero 6

Black Cauldron

Borrowers

Brave

Camp Rock

Casper

Charlie Angels

Cinderella

Coco

Conjuring

Coraline

Corpse Bride

Crimson Peak

Dawn of the Dead

Despicable Me

Doctor Doolittle

Ella Enchanted

Emperor’s New Groove

Epic

Fifth Element

Finding Nemo

Firehouse Dog

Forrest Gump

Frozen

Green Mile

Hairspray

Halloweentown

Harry Potter

Hellboy

High School Musical

Hobbit

Hocus Pocus

Holes

Homeward Bound

Hotel Transylvania

How To Train Your Dragon

Hunchback of Norte Dame

Hunger Games(One the first movie.)

I Am Legend

I, Robot

Ice Princess

The Incredibles

Independence Day

Inside Out

Iron Giant

James and the Giant Peach

John Wick

Jumaji

Krampus

Kung Fu Panda

Legend of Tarzan

Lila & Stitch

Lord of the Rings

Matilda

Meet the Robinsons

Megamind

Moana

Mostly Ghostly

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

Mummy

Nanny McPhee

Night At the Museum

Nightmare Before Christmas

Parent Trap

Penelope

Peter Pan

Phantom of the Opera

Pirates of the Caribbean

Pocahontas

Polar Express

Princess and the Frog

Princess Diaries

 Moves under the Main Disney Banner:

Bones

Marvel or under the same publication:

Snow White

DC Films: 

X-Men

DC Animted:

Superman I, II, II (1978, 80 and 83)

LIst of AU’s I will write for:

Superman: The Animated Series

A Christmas Carol

[littleeyesofpallas]

BLEACH  -Name Games

You know who I totally forgot even existed? (and so did Kubo?) The Royal Guard(pt.1)!

Hyousube[兵主部] Ichibee[ 一兵衛]:

Hyou[兵]= “Soldier,” Su[主]=“Chief,” Be[部]=“Department.”  To specify I think it’s supposed to read “Chief-Department [of the] Army,” as opposed to “Department [of] Army Chief(s).”  It’s pretty literal as far as the specific character, and in-world it implies he comes from a lineage of military commanders. (Either that, or he’s the first of his name and took the surname based on his own military career.)  But much more notable is that his given name is Ichi[一]=“One” Be[兵]=“Soldier” E[衛]=“Defense”/“Protection.”  You’ll notice that both his names use the same kanji for ”Soldier,” but of note here is that Bei[兵] reads directly as “(Non-officer ranked) Soldier”/“Weapon/War-Machine,” 

Hyou[兵] means the same kind of “Soldier” as the Bei[兵] reading, but also refers to the Fu[歩] piece in Shougi, which is pretty much identical to the Pawn in chess.  Personally, I assume the change in pronunciations was more a matter of finding an aesthetically pleasing name, over pinpointing a more specific meaning, but it’s hard to say.  Still, “Chief Department [of] Pawn(s)” does take a little more sinister tone, which aligns with a lot of the ominous atmosphere Kubo surrounded Ichibee with, even it didn’t really amount to anything.

It’s worth noting that for a character seemingly named after his innately military aspects, we don’t see him actually command any soldiers (unless you count him being the Royal Guard’s defacto team leader, but I don’t think that’s quite the same)  Also, he doesn’t evoke the usual imagery of a military leader; he’s very clearly more Shinto/Buddhist monk than he is samurai or feudal lord.  Moreover, he also seems to dodge falling into the Souhei, warrior monk character type, despite that being the most obvious overlap of the existing themes. 

Another thing that caught my attention was that fact that the name Ichibee[ 一兵衛]=“One Soldier Protect” has very clear similarities to Ichigo[ 一護]=“One Protect,” although to what end it doesn’t seem clear.  But there’s not way Kubo made Ichibee’s name without knowing he’d made it very similar to Ichigo’s, I just have no idea what he could’ve meant by it.  (Very probably just another of many dropped threads...)

Kirinji[麒麟寺] Tenjirou[天示郎]:

Kirin[麒麟] = “Qilin,” a Chinese mythical beast, typically depicted as a cross between a dragon and a horse or deer, but with many variations.  They are also a part of the 5-phases cycle of elements in daoist mysticism, and its many iterative features.  Namely, amidst the cardinal directions(NSEW...), colors(Black, Vermillion, Blue/Green, White...), elements(Water, Fire, Wood, Metal...), and creatures(Tortoise, Bird, Dragon, and Tiger...), the Qilin is associated with Yellow, Earth, and “Center” a 5th cardinal direction in Daoist geomancy.  They are sometimes interchangeable with a “Yellow Dragon” which is itself interchangeable with the Emperor either in the form of a man or a dragon himself.  And the kanji Ji[寺] = “(Buddhist) Temple,” so the surname reads “Kirin Temple,” which is actually pretty straight forward.

In a funny coincidence, the general descriptions of the Qilin as horse or deer-like, with scale-like patterns, golden color, and horns/antlers is how early Ming dynasty encounters with Giraffes led to the Chinese name for Giraffe being Qilin.  And by proxy Japan’s name for the Giraffe is also Kirin.

I didn’t think about it until typing this out, but this might actually be why Tenjirou’s designed to be very tall and thin... and with a pompadour that kinda looks like a giraffe head... oh my god he’s a giraffe...

His given name, Tenjirou, reads Ten[天] = “Heaven,” [示] = “Show” /”demonstrate”/”exemplify,” and [郎] = “Son,” and seem to suggest that he is either himself an example of divinity, or he is a person who indicates or heralds divinity.  Like with most of the Royal Guard, we never actually got to see enough of him to really put this in proper context.  Ironically his personal epithet is  Sentouki[泉湯鬼] = “Spring Hot Demon.” It’s notable that he uses the Chinese Tāngquán[湯泉] but in reverse order, rather than the Japanese Onsen[温泉] which the more recognizable word for “Hot spring.”  All in all it is a name that has very Chinese overtones to it, although he has more of a delinquent vibe, what with the pompadour and thuggish attitude.

Kin[金] = “Gold,” Pi[毘] = “Assist(?)” Ka[迦] = “ka.” (This is what’s called a Jinmeiyou kanji, used to lend phonetic sound to a name without indicating its own meaning.)  But something that strikes me as odd here is that there is the actual kanji -suke[助] that is a common suffix in names that also means “Assist.”  So in conjunction with the -ka, clearly, Kubo had some very particular reason to choose the kanji he did...

Of note in this, the release call, “Tenjou[天照] Issen[一閃]” translating as “Heaven Flash,“ doesn’t use the usual kanji for Tenjou[天上] meaning literally “Heaven Above” it uses the kanji for Amaterasu[天照] the Japanese progenitor sun goddess.  I bring this up because the Bi[毘] in Kinpika actually most readily returns the full name, Bishamonten[毘沙門天], the Japanese version of the Buddhist god, Vaiśravaṇa[वैश्रवण].  And I think the two references to gods, as well as the Qilin, are the relevant link here...

(I’m just gonna yoink these off their respective wikipedia pages instead of trying to summarize it in my own words...)

In Japan, Bishamonten (毘沙門天), or just Bishamon (毘沙門) is thought of as an armor-clad god of warfare or warriors and a punisher of evildoers – a view that is at odds with the more pacific Buddhist king described above. Bishamon is portrayed holding a spear in one hand and a small pagoda in the other hand, the latter symbolizing the divine treasure house, whose contents he both guards and gives away. In Japanese folklore, he is one of the Japanese Seven Gods of Fortune.

So there’s spears like Kinpika, and treasure like gold, and then the punishing of evil like...

According to Taoist mythology, although they can look fearsome, qilin only punish the wicked, thus there are several variations of court trials and judgements based on qilin divinely knowing whether a defendant was good or evil, and guilty or innocent, in ancient lore and stories

There’s also some stuff I could say about the Shiten’nou[四天王] “Four Heavenly Kings” that Bishamon is a part of and its role in Japanese pop culture, but these two turned out a lot longer than I expected... this'll need a part 2...

In the meantime, here’re all the other name breakdowns I’ve done thus far:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

[jhaernyl]

Headcanon re: Konoha’s pay brackets plus meta about said headcanon

This can be considered to tie in with this piece of meta about Konoha, paychecks and how I headcanon repeating missions/discounts work in Konoha, which links to another post about my opinions on Konoha’s pay brackets because, apparently, my pieces of meta are becoming akin to matryoshkas.

Anyway, this is part of the set up I am finding myself in need to do in order to do that post about taxes in Konoha ninja paychecks that I talked about the other day and people were so nice to be interested into.

So, as a fair warning: 

This is my own headcanon, I developed it, please no one come tell me about this isn’t how it is in canon, I know what it is in canon and I think Kishi was bullshitting stuff out of his ass, this post is not about canon it’s about what I think and what I will be referencing when I bring up pay in either meta posts or fics in the future so that I can link to it later on if I need to.

This is meant, as a tool for myself, for specific use in the contest of Minato’s genin and teenage years, because prices fluctuations are a thing and so is the difference between wartime and peacetime economy, which does influence prices fluctuations among many other things.

If someone else wants to take this and run with it (even if it is just to have an idea of how much money their ninja might make) or take my base work and then do their own personal spin on it, please feel free to and know that I would just appreciate being quoted as a source or original inspiration.

That said.

According to my handwritten notes, I did my calculations on a day when 1 $ was equal to 108.58 yen, which I then rounded out by defect to 108.5 yen = 1 $ (and canon says 10 yen = 1 ryo so that’s staying too) and that’s what I decided to keep using, just to have some semblance of continuity in my accounting.

Missions prices as they are presented to clients, once the clients have presented their case, as well as what missions are available to what teams, is something that is evaluated on a complex scale depending on various factors, among which are:

Who is the client? What influence do they wield, personally or through their connections? What kind of money can they afford to spend? Should they be offered one of Konoha’s deals? Should the payment be monetary only or can other conditions be worked in or a different kind of trade made?

A flow of information, influence over certain individuals, trade agreements, favours being owned to Konoha are only some of the various payments that can be used to either cover what money cannot {in which case, Konoha will cover what the client cannot pay their ninja out of their own pocket in the immediate present in exchange for future earnings} or in the stead of money {if the client either cannot pay or thinks what they have to offer is worth more than money}

What kind of people will the ninja have to interact with? Commoners? Middle class? Rich civilians? Minor nobles? Daimyo court nobles? Members of the various clergies in the land? Ninja from other Lands and, in that case, which shinobi and which Lands? Samurai? 

It is actually counterproductive to send someone who isn’t equipped to deal with the social situation at hand in an environment where they will do more damage than good to Konoha’s reputation and future earnings, without even going into the risk any diplomatic incident might have. In that sense, someone like Tazuna, supposedly a drunk bridge builder without many connections, would have actually been pretty appropriate for Team Seven’s first out of the village mission, given how Team Seven was at the time, behaving in canon.

Is it a repeat mission and thus the client-paid amount has to be divided among more than one team and so ends up being a lower-paying one, on the shinobi side of things? Is it a one-off? Is this mission a showcase of what Konoha can do to ensure future business?

This relates to what I said in one of the other posts I linked above about what benefit Konoha would get from offering a deal or de-pricing a mission, especially when it comes to D-Ranks and their own citizen. Once it has been weighted what the learning opportunities are for their ninja, especially their genin, versus what the genin will be required to do, then it can be decided whether it’s worth it or not to offer the deal and possibly have to supplement a little part of the paychecks, to cover for the client-given discount, themselves.

Where will the mission take place? In Konoha? In the outskirts of Konoha? In the forests around Konoha? How many [insert miles/km here] outside of Konoha but inside the Land of Fire? Outside of the Land Fire? In which direction and on which Lands? How many [insert miles/km here] outside of Konoha and inside those Lands?

On top of having a lot of factors play into a mission’s rank and necessary payment depends on where the shinobi are heading, travel times are not something that has to be underestimated, especially because if civilians are involved they will slow to a crawl compared to what ninja could pull off on their own which means that it will take longer which means that in inhospitable places where it’s not guaranteed that the ninja will be able to forage their own food and drink {see: Sunagakure} there will be a need to account for more ration expenses and water needs plus it’s important that the shinobi involved know what kind of equipment they will need, etc. etc.

What’s the time frame of this mission? How long will it take? Does it have a set amount of time it has to happen in? How much time will the client need this Konoha resource to be with them?

The shinobi are Konoha’s soldiers and it’s very important that Konoha know where they are at least supposed to be, so that if anything happens there can be an idea of when they should have checked in and why they didn’t and other related measures.

What are the risks involved? What enemies are they expected to deal with? What kind of difficulties will the mission run into? What’s the kind of manpower the client wants vs what’s the actual difficulty level the client can guess at, presume to or be aware of?

All of these are fundamental to gauge the preparedness and skill levels of the team or teams that will be involved, both on part of the administration and on the ninja’s part as it will give them an idea of not only how much should they pack and of what but also an idea of what the client’s expectations they have to fulfil are.

How complex is the mission? Is there one single objective or more than one? If there are any, what’s the priority on the other objectives? Are these objectives realistic or should they be haggled down to something that won’t conflict with each other? Can one team fulfil all the expected objectives or should this be split down into different missions, one cheaper and the other higher-priced or both of them of equal value and then given to different teams?

Let’s say someone hires you to protect a caravan of an important merchant that does not travel with its goods but just awaits their delivery. 

In the eyes of said important merchant, your client, what is more important? The lives of his people or the goods themselves? Whichever one is more important will be your main objective, with protecting the other being the secondary objective. If they are both equally important, it might be better to split the mission in two and give it to two different teams, tasking one to protect the goods and the other to protect the people.

Maybe among the goods, there is something that the client specifically wants to have extra protected, even at the expense of losing other goods, so that one thing should be prioritized above everything else and receive priority.

All of these things have an influence on both price and whatever teams are considered appropriate to ask for this specific mission.

What skills are needed to pull off the mission? What kind of operatives does the client need? Is this to be an overt or covert mission? Should this mission be covert, would the client need an overt mission with another team to help hide the covert one (for example: having someone come with your caravan in disguise but since you always get a ninja escort, hire another team to escort your caravan to make it looks as if things are business as usual)? 

If we look at things logically, you wouldn’t give green genin the same mission you would give to experienced genin and you wouldn’t give any genin at all the kind of mission you would give to a jōnin and so on, so forth.

You also wouldn’t put a front line assault team or operative on a covert tracking mission and you wouldn’t put a code-breaking team or operative on an open front line assault job. The kind of skills a mission requires will dictate which kind of teams or individual ninja the mission will be open to. 

As a consequence, the more you learn and become good at, the more missions you are able to pick from.

Can this mission be treated as a training mission for the younger ninja?

I suppose this counts as self-explanatory XD

Once everything has been taken into account, a price has been haggled and decided upon, the contracts have been signed and the client has left that price gets cut down twenty per cent (the cut that goes to the Konoha treasury), marked appropriately to determine who can see and apply for that specific mission and then slotted into the appropriate pay category/bracket.

Signing up for any given mission does not mean that each member of your team gets paid the total amount. It means that said total amount is then split among your team.

A couple of quick examples: 

In a genin team, the jōnin is not only teaching the children but also the one responsible for their safety and thus is pulling triple duty as teacher, commanding officer and babysitter of three different people while also losing out on the kind of higher-ranked mission they could be doing if they hadn’t taken on a team, so the jōnin gets half of the amount the team gets paid and the remaining half is then split in three among the genin.

In a team where everyone has an equal rank, the pay gets split evenly. all members getting the same amount, regardless of who takes a lead or what that rank is.

In a team where there’s a higher ranked ninja, let's say a tokubetsu jōnin, calling the shots but the other members are all equally ranked chūnin, the higher ranked ninja will get paid 2/5ths of the amount and the remaining 3/5ths will be divided among the other members.

More complex teams (team of variously ranked ninja that do not fit in the above examples) will, of course, get more complex splits.

The pay brackets (post 20% deduction to Konoha treasury but before any other taxes and/or benefits are applied) for missions unrelated to the war are as follows (with the added definition of the kind of mission plucked from Narutopedia):

D-Rank missions

Assigned to genin fresh from the Academy. They are supposed to pose almost no risk to the ninja's life.

Low

542.5 to 5′425 ryo (equal to 5′425 to 54′250 yen or 50 to 500 dollars)

Medium

5′425 to 8′137.5 ryo (equal to 54′250 to 81′375 yen or 500 to 750 dollars)

High

8′137.5 to 10′850 ryo (81′375 to 108′500 yen or 750 to 1′000 dollars)

C-Rank missions

Assigned to experienced genin or chūnin. They are missions with little to no chance of combat against other ninjas.

Low

10′850 to 16′275 ryo (108′500 to 162′750 yen or 1′000 to 1′500 dollars)

High

16′275 to 21′700 ryo (162′750 to 217′000 yen or 1′500 to 2′000 dollars)

B-Rank missions

Assigned to experienced chūnin. They are missions anticipated to involve combat with other ninjas.

Low

32′550 to 37′975 ryo (325′500 to 379′750 yen or 3′000 to 3′500 dollars)

High

37′975 to 54′250 ryo (379′750 to 542′500 yen or 3′500 to 5′000 dollars)

A-Rank missions

Assigned to jōnin, concerning, among other things, village-or state-level matters and trends.

Low

65′100 to 75′950 ryo (651′000 to 759′500 yen or 6′000 to 7′000 dollars)

High

75′950 to 108′500 ryo (759′500 to 1′085′000 yen or 7′000 to 10′000 dollars)

S-Rank missions

Assigned to experienced jōnin and concern state-level confidential matters.

Upward of 108′500 ryo (upward of 1′085′000 yen or upward of 10′000 dollars) and, depending on the request, the sky is kinda the limit but also, mostly, a challenge.

[zabbaninja]

Ranking

This is my ranking

This is the Zabbaninja Ranking, what the posts revolve around. This is my ranking of each show (Or movie) I have watched this year, starting from January first. Just because something is low doesn't mean it’s bad. It just means I liked the other stuff more. 

1. Punch Line

2. HaNaYaMaTa

3. Promare

4. Spirited Away

5. The Helpful Fox Senko-san

6. Laid-Back Camp

7. No Game No Life Zero

8. Parasyte

9. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

10. Komi Can’t Communicate (Manga)

11. No Game No Life

12. Squid Girl

13. BNA

14. Star VS The Forces of Evil (Cartoon)

15. Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

16. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

17. Blue Exorcist (Kyoto Saga)

18. Kohana Kitan

19. Steven Universe (Cartoon)

20. Steven Universe the Movie (Cartoon)

21. Hero (Live action movie)

22. The Last Samurai (Live action movie)

23. In this Corner of the World

24. Eromanga Sensei

25. Dragon Quest Your Story

26. Gourmet Girl Graffiti

27. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Battle in Egypt)

28. Anima Yell!

29. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Diamond is Unbreakable)

30. Avatar the Last Airbender

31. Recovery of an MMO Junkie

32. Sonic The Hedgehog (Live action Movie)

33. Nezha 

34. Scissor Seven (Season Two)

35. Infinity Train (Cartoon)

36. Modest Heroes

37. NinoKuni

38. Oblivion (Live Action Movie)

39. Scissor Seven (Season One)

40. Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja (Cartoon)

41. Wataten! an Angel Flew Down to Me

42. Baki

43. Fireworks

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff's Best of 2019

WARNING: Just wanted to say cheers to you for making it through another year. I send you best wishes for next year to be fruitful. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy. (Best of 2017) (Best of 2018)

Dedicated to Russi Taylor, John Witherspoon, Rip Torn, Tartar Sauce, Caroll Spinney, Peter Matthews, and the many of KyoAni lost in the arson incident. You all did wonderful; rest in peace.

Welp, I figured the last year of this decade would be the most chaotic one by far, then again everything peak after 2012. As for now, I am counting down the best cartoons/animations/comics I’ve seen and loved this year in no particular order other than #1. Same rules apply: No sneak previews of future projects, no repeats, and this time anything goes.

Runner Ups: Superman Smashes the Klan, Marvel’s Aero, Infinity Train, Enter the Florpus, Amphibia, Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart, Helluva Boss, Meta Runner, Lego Movie 2, Forky Asks a Question

Anyways, Badda boom bang whiz, let’s do this shizz...

10. Super Mario Bros GT

Nostalgia can be quite a mystery, especially one that can come out of nowhere. Super Mario Bros Z kicked so much ass as a kid that now, it still frustrates me to this that it got a cease & desist from Nintendo, even the reboot from the same person couldn’t last long. But the gods have offered a slight miracle in the form of this new spiritual successor that has heart and soul put into every pixelated frame. There is much to celebrate with Youtube animation, where many say it’s dying due to the algorithm and all of the site’s corporate bullshit, but it’s stuff like this which helps me understand why we should celebrate. Against all odds, channels like Smasher Block willfully put their works out their for the people and continues to because on top of getting a little dough, it’s what they want to do.

9. DC SUPER HERO GIRLS (2019)

Awwwwww yeah, this is She-Ra and the Princesses of Power done right. Diverse female squad, each given a quality screen time to truly shine (Beecher especially) on their which makes the episodes where they’re all together feel earned and joyous to watch. Certainly reminds me of Friendship is Magic, which is coincidental since they were created by the same woman. I’d like to think this and MLP G4 were the answers to Faust’s cancelled project Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls where multiple personalities collide to one extraordinary superhero team of girls capable great feats that are lifted from their insecurities or drawbacks. And on top of this being a fun series to kick back to all around, it’s a comforting, somewhat aspiring thought to consider.

8. JOKER

I am somebody that rarely goes to the theaters to watch a film; you have to hook my tight just for me to even think of buying a ticket, no less plan to. But honestly, Joker was worth the hype, the ticket, and the fact that it wasn’t the incel uprising that buttfuck normies tried to make it out as. It’s lower on the list because in thought, there definitely could’ve been some tweaks to the dialogue and a couple scenes that I felt didn’t work in the long run. But really, this movie to me worked because of the escalation that leads to a cathartic climax and ending that left me in actual tears. I don’t give a shit if it “doesn’t fit”, having Frank Sinatra sing the film's credits put me in shambles. Joaquin Phoenix was phenomenal as Arthur, and this movie felt authentic in its many details. This is definitely up there with my favorite comic book films of all time. Good thing, too, Spider-Man was taking up most of that shelf.

7. TUCA & BERTIE

This series being what I can’t help but say is a spin-off to Bojack Horseman, a show I respect, was enough to pull me into watching it. But it being like Bojack where it’s tight-roping between a bouncy comedy and a grounded drama was what kept me around for more. It is a damn shame this was cancelled after one season (while 13 Reasons Why gets FOUR seasons like what the fuck), because while this did feel enough like a complete series, I was certainly interested for more because I really enjoyed it all. I have my issue with a couple choices in the show, but I am sure this series would’ve addressed them later down the line. I can see why some women would find this personally endearing, it felt like the personal stories of actual people, and it deserved better. Either way, I enjoyed this series and I recommend it just as much as Bojack.

6. PRIMAL

Genndy Tartakovsky is that kind of cartoon creator where you feel he’ll go beyond if you give him the right amount of space. He’s not a perfectionist like John “Dirty Diddler” Kricfalusi, but with things like Hotel Transylvania and Samurai Jack, he certainly has proven to have the range in animation where you know how he plays. Primal showcasing his noted skill in dialogue-less storytelling and dynamic action scenes, able to convey everything clear with its ruthless yet careful protagonist and his dinosaur friend, all on top of the most luscious backgrounds. This is a series that definitely feels like Genndy’s taken what he’s used from his previous works and putting it together for a brutal yet passionate look at the prehistoric life. He truly brought us an adult series to enjoy and to look forward to more in the coming year.

5. SPINEL

Bet you didn’t expect a character to be on this list, eh? Spinel is the best thing to come out of Steven Universe in general; makes me wish she was in a better movie. The crew certainly did their darndest to make her not only an enjoyable and connectable character through and through, but a very versatile character that the fandom could take in any which way. Call it corny, but Spinel perfectly represents SU as a whole: a lovable goof that can certainly mean business but deep down is deserved of a hug because of what she’s gone through. Wish she had a more satisfying resolution in her respective debut, but really it’s the balance between those three elements mentioned that makes Spinel almost eternally wonderful.

4. MOB PSYCHO 100 II

As someone that doesn’t like reading, I’m a firm believer that the best animations or visual medias elevate the writing to a memorable degree; the visuals hook to the point where you want to think about what you saw and how it was conveyed. Mob Psycho 100, for two seasons now, does this in spades where Studio Bones throw them bones in animating one of the most dynamic animes of the modern era, providing the writing and characters a proper chance to flex its muscles. The characters are especially what makes this and MP100 as a whole work so well, the story being about a boy learning to be more sociable as well as emotionally stronger all while helping others understand maturity and empathy. For more on this, I recommend Hiding in Public’s video(s) on Mob. But with the animation, Bones was able to provide a sense of impact and immersion to the moments that matter, not making it an overstimulating mess, and putting some respect on ONE’s webcomic art style. 

3. KLAUS

Hands down, this is a great Christmas movie. Take away the animation and you have a charming, wanna say ground and authentic, story about the makings of Santa Claus. With memorable and likable characters, a nice escalation in terms of the plot, and moments that are/can be so satisfying, they can bring you to tears. A couple overdone tropes in the road that doesn’t make this the most perfected story, but those sincerely minor compared to everything else that makes this story the best. Now. Add in the animation, and you have a gold, nay a platinum animated story of the year where the visuals definitely enhance the story to a degree where they’re undoubtedly inseparable. The visuals alone is enough to check this movie out and it’s eye-opening when you learn of how it’s all done. Klaus is a film that did it’s job and then some, and I hope this will be well remembered as a classic holiday film for it deserves that status.

2. BEASTARS

I’ll be fair, I’m mostly referring to the manga and not the anime but since the anime premiered this fall, it counts. Because be it the anime or the series overall, Beastars has such well intricate world building all while offering a little something for everyone (violence, romance, slice of life). The story is well paced and even when we aren’t focusing on the main characters momentarily, Itagaki is surprisingly able to make every supporting/side character we come across memorable in their own way; like I said before, the city is much a character in this story. Oh yeah, and the mangaka is the daughter of Keisuke “Grappler Baki” Itagaki, that in itself is a treasuring bit of trivia for this. Everything about Beastars is enticing and Studio Orange certainly helped in giving this series more of a following.

1. GREEN EGGS & HAM

Well, well, well. Guess Netflix is three for three in terms of bringing its best foot forward among its few steps back each year. The best term to describe this series is surprising. Surprising that this is a Dr. Seuss story that got expanded a 13 episode series, that has fleshed out characters, fun hijinks, an easy story, lovely emotional, more quieter moments... on top of being 2D hand drawn animated. I mean, what else is there to say? Green Eggs and Ham is to Dr. Seuss what Seven was for Final Fantasy, what Friendship is Magic was for MLP, what watermelon was before a nice menthol cigarette. This definitely took the top spot because to me, it was able to bring many good elements from the previous entries and knot it all together into a well kept bow that I never knew I wanted until now. I’m genuinely glad this show got to exist the way it is and I am hoping, praying, that the second season keeps that momentum up.

That leads us to the actual number one which is

1. STEVEN UNIVERSE FUT-

Total Dramarama is now the two time World Heavyweight Champion, babey. Will 2020 give us a quality contender? Will the streak last another year?

Stay tuned, and always seek out the Good Stuff.