#been enjoying the wily characterization a LOT

[retrobee]

fic link!

[fizzingwizard]

I was genuinely looking forward to Lupin vs Holmes in part 6, but what a disappointment it was. Actually, disappointment is too weak a word. In my opinion, it was pretty much a disaster.

There were so many reasons to be hyped for that crossover. You've got Holmes, the greatest detective of his time, and Lupin, the greatest thief of his. They're both canny, eccentric, and always a step ahead of everyone else. They're also both independent and live by their own set of morals. Holmes picks which cases he'll take without concern for money, and lets people go even if they're guilty if his own convictions say they don't deserve punishment. Lupin always does what he wants, doesn't let himself get pushed around, and enjoys wreaking havoc among inhumane criminals just as much as he enjoys flouting the law.

They're even perfectly matched in the ways they're different. I was open to them either liking or disliking each other (though I feel convinced they'd definitely have respect for each other), because I can see either take making sense. Holmes is calculations with a pinch of chaos, Lupin is chaos with a measured dash of calculation. Holmes eschews relationships aside from a very few - Lupin enjoys social interaction (but prioritizes just a few). Holmes is functionally asexual. Lupin is never not horny.

Even the supporting cast was so promising! To tell the truth, from watching previous seasons I didn't really think the rest of the Lupin gang or Watson would have much to do. But I hoped they would because there was so much potential.

I mean Jigen and Watson are both war veterans in their own way. It's not the best comparison (Watson was a doctor, and got shot almost immediately... but he is also a "man of action" and does have a lot of fight and pluck, even if he's not going to be a match for Jigen in terms of marksmanship). And they're the right hand men of two pretty difficult geniuses... couldn't they spend a moment commiserating lmao.

It could have been awesome to see Fujiko interact with Holmes because her usual tricks wouldn't work on him. I admit it isn't unlikely the show would have been like "Ahh, but this time they do work on him, just like Irene Adler!" and totally ignored that book!Irene impressed Holmes with her wiliness and not her sexiness... But I'm talking about my fantasy here. And in my fantasy, Holmes would have had a similar reaction to Fujiko's manipulation and acting skills similar to how he did with Irene. It would have been pretty cool to see Fujiko interact with a man who was NOT into her, but was just as smart and brave and perhaps wiser than Lupin.

Even Goemon would have had something to do. He could have had a super cool kenjutsu vs baritsu ("what even is that?") battle with Holmes. Extra points if Goemon walks away saying "I respect the skill of that fellow warrior, even if he can't spell his own martial art correctly."

And of course Lestrade and Zenigata's shenanigans at Scotland Yard are a nobrainer. But serious bonus points if they both pine away with equal envy and admiration for their respective smart ass thorns in the side hahahahahahaha.

I mean. There was SO MUCH there. How, HOW do you mess that up???

(Answer: By knowing absolutely nothing about Sherlock Holmes to begin with and basing everything on your memories of inaccurate movies from fifty years ago x'D)

So instead we got: perpetually sad, somber Sherlock Holmes, who isn't working the job that he literally loves anymore in favor of looking miserable a lot and raising a child. And the child is Watson's kid, who Watson can't raise because he's fucking DEAD, and mom can't raise because SHE'S dead (just say Holmes is her mom. Come on. We're in the future. Just say it). Also Watson is dead because Lestrade killed him like WHAT. Of all the twists they could have gone one, they definitely surprised me with that one. Was it a fun surprise though? ... No, no it wasn't.

Add to that the extremely dull characterizations of everyone, the heavy reliance on the danger to a little girl who isn't even a canonical character but is very cute, and the slow, slow pace of the episodes... What a mess. It was memorable, sure, but for the wrong reasons.

Like the only thing I can think of that I didn't hate about the whole arc was Lily taking her first steps as Holmes's assistant at the very end. Fine, that's adorable, and makes me feel ever so slightly better about Watson being dead. And I'm desperate for something to like here so let's go with it.

("It's not really Sherlock Holmes anyway because of the generational difference, it's his great grandson who has his exact same name and job! Same with Watson and Lestrade and sexy Mrs Hudson and and and-" I'm gonna stop you right there we all know it's Holmes. Whatever excuses they make, no matter how they have to bend time and physics to make it happen, it is Holmes Prime in every way that matters lol.)

A melancholy sigh for the Coolest Crossover Ever That Wasn't. As a Lupin fan and a Sherlock Holmes fan, I'll regret it till the day I die.

[afinepricklypear]

Compare and Contrast: K Project vs. Bungou Stray Dogs - Part 3

**Disclaimer: I love both K Project and Bungou Stray Dogs. I highly recommend watching both of them. This series of Compare and Contrast posts I’m doing is merely for my own sake, to get these thoughts out of my head. If you are a fan of one show and not the other, please don’t read, or if you do, save your bashing comments for like-minded antis elsewhere. If you have not seen both, there are a lot of Spoilers ahead, please don’t read. I am heavily critical of both shows, so if you are someone who cannot handle negative things being said (I try not to outright bash and just provide reasonable evidence from the material to back my stances) about your favorite fandom or characters please don’t read. Thank you! ***

Read Part 1, Part 2

Characters

Both Bungo Stray Dogs and K feature ensemble casts, with large numbers of characters. That being said, the shows have vastly different approaches for how they handle those characters and those approaches impact the way they come across for the viewer.

One of the things that K does a hell of a lot better than BSD, is fleshing out and managing of its characters. This may in part be due to the fact, K doesn’t attempt to give all of its characters a starring space in the story. It’s comfortable letting some characters fall into the background, allocating them to the role of side characters. There are only a few members of each of our main clans (Silver, Red, Blue, and later, Green) that are given attention and the rest of the clansmen (Red and Blue are the only clans shown to have notable clans members who regularly show up and are given names and little else outside of our mains) fall to the background. For some people, this may be frustrating, as we don’t learn a whole lot about the rest of Scepter 4 or HOMRA in the anime, but narratively, I’m comfortable with it because I’m not asked by the show to care about those characters, and the characters that I’m meant to care about are given adequate screen time to develop them into someone who’s story I am invested in. That being said, K does have moments that utterly flop. Scepter 4, for me, beyond Fushimi, is an absolute failure in presenting itself as a likeable or, even, relatable organization of individuals (Full disclosure, I hate Munakata, and while Awashima has potential, she’s treated by the series as little more than a miniskirt and bad boob job obsessed with Munakata). They seem to be there only to be obnoxious. I get the sense they were originally intended to be viewed as villains, but they became so popular following the first season, that the creators tried to treat them more as heroes in the movie and second season. However, it was painfully obvious in the final episode of K: Seven Stories – Nameless Circle, as the surviving members of the Green, Red, Silver, and good Colorless clan members (Yukari and Kuroh) enjoyed their final farewells with their fallen clansmen (I dare you not to cry when Mikoto and Totsuka pour Kusanagi a glass and Yata takes Anna’s hand in the background), that Scepter 4 staring up at Munakata’s lost Sword of Damocles was the least humanized of the Clans. They lost nothing, they felt nothing, their presence in Nameless Circle was nearly pointless beyond fan service. Likewise, K heavily drops the ball in Season 1 with its primary antagonist, the Evil Colorless King, who’s back history, motivations, and even his (her?) name remain a mystery to date.

BSD starts out with an already large cast, and while Atsushi and Dazai might arguably be the “main” characters of the show, starring roles in various arcs and episodes are given to the other characters, as well. Most of those episodes, however, can easily be relegated to the “filler” pile. On top of this, BSD continually introduces increasing numbers of characters, it also likes to bump characters up from side character to more main character type roles, which only serves to take limited screen time from the initial cast of characters and ultimately fails to give itself enough space to flesh out the cast. Time constraints, of course, doesn’t always mean a character can’t be adequately developed (see the first ten minutes of Pixar’s Up for how it’s done right), but possibly, because of this limitation, BSD has a tendency to fall back on telling instead of showing. It also feels like many of its characters were not fully developed in the creator’s minds (this appears to have been confirmed in several interviews with the creators) when they started their story, so that when those backgrounds are revealed, especially in those far too often instances where characters that have interacted in past episodes and given no indication of a history between them are newly revealed to have a connections to one another. It feels tacked on and last minute, and consistency of characterizations is lost. As previously discussed in a past post for this Review Series, this may also be due to the fact that K was envisioned as a self-contained story, and BSD seems to have been developed as an ongoing serial without a predetermined ending.

For these next several posts, I want to do more individualized character analyses, but to keep things simple, I will only focus on the characters of K that are given focus in the story and I’ll try to reference only its anime (just to be fair, because I’ve read all of K’s extra materials, and have not for BSD because I lack access in my country). Likewise, I’m only going to talk about BSD’s characters from the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia, as well as, a few key villains like Shibusawa, Fitzgerald, and Fyodor. Once again, I will attempt to keep to only what’s been revealed in the anime.

A reasonable starting point on character analysis for these two shows would be our sort-of main protagonists. Although, BSD and K are both ensemble anime, they do each feature a character that may ostensibly be considered the “main” character, in the sense that they kick off our main events and are positioned as integral to all subsequent storylines. For BSD, that character is Nakajima Atsushi, and for K, that character is Yashiro “Shiro” Isana. Interestingly (maybe), these characters share a similar aesthetic. Both are young males, with white hair and light-colored eyes, they are also both small, waif-like, bishounen that might be better suited to a shojo or even yaoi anime, rather than leads on a seinen series.

At the start of both series, Atsushi and Shiro, respectively, find themselves thrust into a world of supernatural powered people in which they are targeted for reasons to be revealed throughout the story. The greatest similarity between these two, however, is that they are both weak characters. Neither one proves interesting enough to shoulder the responsibilities as main character of the show. You would be hard pressed in either fandom to find someone who would name Atsushi or Shiro as their favorite character. I’m not saying these fans don’t exist, because they do, they are just few and far between.

Shiro spends the first half of the first season trying to avoid being killed by the Red Clan, who believes he killed their Clansman, Tatara Totsuka, at the same time, he is trying to convince his reluctant ally and potential executioner, Kuroh, that he isn’t the Evil Colorless King responsible for Totsuka’s death. Atsushi’s story, on the other hand, begins with him finding out he’s an ability user that shapeshifts into a white tiger, and, subsequently, being rescued and recruited into the Armed Detective Agency by Dazai. Then the Port Mafia begins hunting him because a bounty has been placed on his head, conveniently only after he’s learned that he is the white tiger that he believed had been hunting him his entire life, he’s joined the ADA, and Dazai has the chance to warn him with a picture of Akutagawa “beware of this bad boy” mere hours before Akutagawa attacks him.

The initial drawback with both of these characters is that they are merely victims of the plot and not helping to drive the plot forward in anyway. Shiro only becomes invested in determining why there’s video footage of him murdering Totsuka because Kuroh demands he provide evidence that he’s not the Evil Colorless King or he’ll face justice at the end of Kuroh’s blade. When Atsushi learns about the bounty on his head that Port Mafia is pursuing, rather than show interest in why anyone would want to capture him (alive, to boot), he “nobly” decides to run away, in his naivete believing that it would spare the ADA war with Port Mafia.

Throughout the K story, we do see real change in Shiro’s investment in his own mystery when it’s revealed that his memories, and the memories his classmates have of him, are not real, but fabricated and imposed upon him and those in close proximity by the cat girl that’s obsessed with him, Neko, AKA Official Provider of Fanservice #1.  This provides a further explanation for why he’s so lackluster about pursuing the truth, she’s been bending his reality and his perception of it from the start. It isn’t until her ability and how she’s been using it is revealed, and she runs off in humiliation and panic, that Shiro begins to actively pursue the truth. Even before this, however, Shiro is shown to be a wily and clever character who is quite self-sufficient. In his first meeting with Kuroh, he’s able to escape Kuroh’s justice by lying and manipulating the swordsman. He later throws off the Red Clansmen pursuing him by appearing just as Kuroh is facing off against a very annoyed Yata and calling out to Kuroh as though they are allies. This falls in line nicely with the big reveal of Shiro’s true identity as the Silver King, Adolf K. Weissman. In flashbacks to an unnamed great war (FYI, people speculate this was WWII, which, fun fact, would make Adolf a Nazi, but because this story takes place in an alternate history of the world, it’s equally possible Nazis never existed), we see that Adolf was originally researching the Dresden Slate, a mysterious artifact capable of granting people mysterious powers.

As Adolf, Shiro is shown to be a light-hearted, goofy man with no place in war or battle (consistent with what we’ve already seen in the show). Nothing of his character feels last minute retconned, and no previously unheard of connections are revealed to other existing characters in the show that haven’t been heavily hinted at or already explained. He believes that his research will be helpful in granting people their wishes throughout the world, yet when his sister is killed during an air raid, he runs away, leaving his research and the Slate with his friend, a Japanese military officer who becomes the Gold King and curator of the artifact. This turn of events does grant Shiro greater weight as a main character, and an importance in the plot that doesn’t feel contrived or heavy handed. Hints exist early on that Shiro is not who he thinks he is, starting with his high school classmate, Kukuri noting in introductory scene that she feels like he’ll disappear if she takes her eyes off of him. After all, one of the things that K is often praised for is its mastery of foreshadowing, this comes from having a very clear idea of the entire story its creators hoped to tell and a firm grasp of the connections between all of its characters.

That said, Shiro still remains throughout the story as relatively uninteresting, serving more as a plot device rather than a character. After the Blue Clan, the Silver Clan is the second least relatable and their scenes in Nameless Circle also remain a bit ‘meh’ as the “losses” the Silver Clan experienced throughout the anime were far removed from the actual plot. They didn’t resonate. We see, in Nameless Circle, Adolf’s sister and the younger version of his lost friend, the Gold King, enjoying breakfast with the Silver Clan every morning on repeat. Yet, Adolf’s sister was never developed beyond “here’s a tragic thing that happened in Adolf’s past”, so it’s hard to really feel her loss. She isn’t a person but a plot device, used to reveal more of Adolf/Shiro’s character rather than having anything of her own. As for the Gold King, he suffers the same fate as Adolf’s sister, but also, he lived a long life, and died of old age, so his death isn’t any kind of tragedy in the same sense as Mikoto, Totsuka, or Nagare’s deaths. There’s certainly a melancholy to these scenes, Adolf misses his friends, but it doesn’t pull at the heart strings, quite the way the Red and Green Clans losses do.

The real reason that Atsushi is being pursued at the start of the manga is yet to be resolved. We’re given a loose explanation, a foreign organization known as the Guild put the bounty on his head because allegedly his ability is the key to finding some powerful book that can manipulate reality. When the main antagonist of the Guild, Fitzerald, is defeated, this explanation and Atsushi’s importance becomes all but forgotten in subsequent arcs featuring new villain, Fyodor Dostoevsky. Atsushi himself can best be described as whiny and severely underdeveloped. He continues to be a victim of the plot just dragging him along, but worse, he quickly becomes one note with the constant flashback to his Orphanage’s director telling him he’s useless and doesn’t belong anywhere. There are entire scenes dedicated to this refrain causing him to full-scale breakdown into bouts of self-doubt. All I can say is he was eighteen when he was “kicked out” of the orphanage, he had zero work experience, and when we find him at the start of the story, he’s only been on his own a couple weeks and is already considering turning to assault and thievery to survive. Considering that Dazai and Chuuya were sixteen when they became Executives in the Port Mafia, Kunikida is only twenty-two and has already had a successful career as a teacher before becoming a detective with the ADA, Kenji is fourteen when we find him at the ADA and a former hard-working farmhand, Kyouka is a capable fourteen year old assassin before joining the ADA, Lucy is eighteen and comes from a similar abusive background and is already busting her ass to work for the Guild and then the ADA’s favorite Coffee Shop (jobs she got herself, thank you very much, for spending anytime looking for her like you promised, Atsushi, you jerk), and so on…I’m inclined to side with the orphanage director: Atsushi is useless. It’s a good thing they kicked him out, or he’d probably still be a bum surviving off social welfare the rest of his life.

I also can’t help but agree with Akutagawa, Atsushi has practically had everything handed to him and yet still manages to pull a pity party routine on the regular. It isn’t long after getting kicked out of the orphanage that he’s taken under Dazai’s wing and handed a job with the ADA. This wouldn’t be so terrible if he didn’t constantly squander it, and consistently prove that he doesn’t earn it. It’s hard to like him, especially when the author seems to be bending the story over backwards to give him some semblance of importance in the plot to the point it hurts the narrative. This is best exemplified in Dead Apple. Throughout the entire movie, we see every other character acting to bring the plot forward, meanwhile, Atsushi spends the entire time whining that they need to find Dazai, because Dazai will know what to do. Bitch, Dazai is busy trying to outsmart two super smart bad guys; he doesn’t have time to also prop you up on your own damn feet. It gets so bad that even Kyouka becomes fed up and leaves him. It really says something that the majority of comments for the movie on CrunchyRoll are complaining about how whiny Atsushi is throughout the movie.

While some people are quick to defend Atsushi by pointing to his abusive childhood to excuse his behavior, it is worth noting, he is not the only character that has an abusive past and he is far from being the character who has suffered the most abuse, and that’s including the odd growth on the side of Dead Apple’s plot that is the inexplicable, unnecessary, and might I add, ridiculous connection that was made between him and Shibusawa at the last minute that only raised more questions than answers and created huge plot holes. Atsushi’s travel companions in Dead Apple, Kyouka and Akutagawa, both have their own history of being abused. Just to underline Akutagawa’s complaint that Atsushi has everything and manages to forsake it all, Akutagawa was abused by Dazai, whereas, Atsushi is saved, fawned over, and praised by Dazai seemingly only for the sake of further tormenting Akutagawa. This continues to contribute to making Atsushi a weak character that I find difficult to really like all that much or see as having anything more than a forced relevance to the plot.

Atsushi does have redeemable moments in his interactions with Kyouka and Lucy. With the aforementioned Dead Apple aside, Atsushi is often at his best when he is with Kyouka. She sees him as her savior, and it reflects in the way that he treats her, being seen that way helps to boost him from pitiful status to someone that may actually have potential as a hero. As for Lucy, because she has a similar life history as Atsushi (abused orphan with matching burn marks), he can’t get away with the same woe is me lines that he throws at every one else. She’s got the same kind of past and manages to stand on her own two feet, forcing him to also rise up to meet her. Both of these girls have tragic histories, but seek to lift themselves up from those histories and stand their own ground, which serves to lift Atsushi as well, unlike with other characters that only patronize, validate, or outright feed into his insecurities leaving me playing on my phone hoping his scenes end quickly. More interactions between Atsushi and Kyouka, Atsushi and Lucy, or all three together would be a welcome addition in Season 4. These babies build each other up, and it’s beautiful to see.

At the end of the day, Shiro and Atsushi are prime examples of the “perfectly innocent protagonist whose only flaw is their own self-doubt” and exemplify why this type of a character is always, ultimately a failure.  They’re bright eyed, they’re kind, without internal debate they always make the right choice, everyone is drawn to them because they are light and goodness, I guess, and even when they are clearly the weakest in a fight, they always come out on top without working towards bettering themselves in anyway beyond putting in some old-fashioned good guy gumption. This is so painstakingly evident in Atsushi, who receives zero training upon joining the ADA, and is expected to battle (and is successful) against exceedingly powerful bad guys on the regular. Contrast this against Akutagawa, who we see underwent harsh training from the Port Mafia, yet still manages to always lose in his battles against the untrained Atsushi. Proving yet again, that you don’t need hard work to become the best, when you got the power of good on your side. Self-doubt exhibited by these types of characters never rings true, because we see them always get their way, everything turns out fine for them in the end, they never encounter lasting consequences for their choices (at one point in BSD, Akutagawa mocks Atsushi that everyone around him dies, but we have yet to see anyone he cares about die – the only person’s death that we see him have to deal with is his Orphanage Director that was coming to visit him with flowers and probably apologize for being a jerk, and his struggle there is with whether he’s allowed to still hate the guy or not, I mean, come on), and everyone around them that matters respects and dotes on them even before them being shown to truly do anything that should earn that respect and affection. I still don’t fully understand what compelled Kuroh to swear loyalty to Shiro, if I’m being perfectly honest, when Shiro is a lay-about, coward and liar, that ditches his clan in the end to soul search in his airship. Though, I will note, Shiro does demonstrate this character type a mite less than Atsushi. He’s not often shown to come out on top in battles, he doesn’t actually engage in any physical battle himself (his fight with Nagare at the end of Missing Kings, not withstanding, because he’s really just blocking that whole time waiting for Kuroh to show up and do the heavy lifting), he typically needs to rely on the strength and intelligence of others, and is more often than not shown running away. Also, Shiro is never really put into a position where he needs to make any hard, moral choices which has its own drawbacks for a main character in a show where a lot of hard, gray moral choices are being made around him.

I have seen it commented in defense of these characters’ weaknesses that the main character of a shonen/seinen story are always weak. This is not true, and I will point to one of my all-time favorite characters from any anime, as example: Edward Elric of Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions of the anime). Ed is badass, he earns his name as Fullmetal, and he earns his title as the youngest State Alchemist. We see him earn it as we watch him and his brother, Alphonse’s journey to become stronger, yet he also makes mistakes. It is his own arrogance that kicks off the entire anime when, in the Elric brother’s attempt to bring their mother back to life using forbidden Alchemy, Ed loses his arm and then his leg to save his brother who has lost his entire body. Their journey to find the philosopher stone for Ed is entirely about restoring his brother, he doesn’t care about his own body and, in fact, views his missing limbs as his own deserved punishment for challenging God, and throughout we see how their moral failing in the past effects all of their choices going forward. We know why Ed makes the choices he does; it isn’t merely because he is the “perfectly innocent protagonist that exudes light and good”; it is because he has learned from his mistakes. His naivete is not shown as a benefit, but as something to overcome. Ed is always acting on his own motives, while the plot is being driven forward by other characters around him, he is not merely a victim of the plot or being dragged along by it, his own actions and goals also help to forward the story and eventually brings him in direct conflict with the big bad. He struggles under the weight of the choices he’s made, he bears the burden of those he couldn’t save, he doesn’t leave the heavy lifting of gray moral decisions to the other characters, he’s seen to struggle and even lose in the anime, and in those instances, we watch him work to better himself so that he can come back stronger. We know where his power comes from – he trained and studied for it; it was never handed to him. Throughout the anime he is shown to literally and figuratively grow and develop into a powerful hero that we can believe is capable of overcoming our main antagonist, Father, in the end, but not without losses and struggle. This is a protagonist done right. Compared against Ed, the failings of both Shiro and Atsushi is glaring.

That is all I have to say about those two. Next up will be the Black Dog of the Silver Clan versus the Black Dog of Port Mafia.

[agemintherough]

Revisiting Chapters Nineteen, Twenty and Twenty-One of Gems Without Measure; A Pirate’s Treasure

I do apologize for taking so long to do this, but between the holidays, writing final exams, reading over 60 research papers, and getting sick, I haven’t really been feeling up to writing anything of quality. Thankfully, it seems like I can finally breathe. This is a positive thing. Still, it has been three chapters since my last round of chapter commentary, so let’s dive into it:

1) Back when I thought the harpoon was a sword, the gag with Connie quoting Thor was going to be about King Arthur. Instead, I switched it to Captain Ahab from Moby Dick. May I just say that Moby Dick is an English teacher’s nightmare? I am so glad I do not have to teach it, but even I don’t think I could capture an entire class’ attention with that over several weeks.

2) I am unsure at what point I decided to have Amethyst and Petrea become best friends, but I feel like it works. I’d chalk it up to Petrea fighting Miss Doublefinger to save Amethyst, but what do I know?

3) I will never stop quoting the 4kids rap about Usopp doing his “marksman thing.” If I have an opportunity to slip it in, odds are I will.

4) Ratchet and his crew are absolutely terrible at being villains. They pose no threat and really accomplish nothing. When I decided to do this movie, I had not yet viewed it but I chose it for three reasons: to counterbalance the seriousness of the arc that came before it and the arc that will come after it, to have Peridot fight in a giant robot, and Luffy’s finishing move. SecondaryShade pointed out that, by keeping Ratchet and the others pretty much the same, I instantly removed conflict from the arc, thus making it less about HOW the conflict would resolve itself but, rather, WHEN it would. While it is funny to point this out in the story every now and then (which I do a lot, especially in the next chapter), something is lost. This was part of the reason that I am proud of how my version of “Oceans Dream” turned out. It was even suggested that I could have removed the villains and made it a standard treasure hunt and achieve the exact same outcome: a lighthearted calm before the storm. In hindsight, I agree that it could have been a fun time, but I like to think that this arc still had its moments to shine. 

5) I thought it would be funny to have Petrea have a running gag in this arc having the nice dress that she received from Ratchet (her being the only one who seemed to enjoy it without questioning it) constantly keep getting destroyed. I worded that I was making her too petty, but I do not think it came across that way. She is from the world of One Piece, where this kind of gag is considered commonplace.

6) Remember the Talisman of Cloth? I introduced that back in Chapter 38 of AGITR to explain where Steven keeps getting his shirts. It might be odd to think that Gems need cloth, but if you watch the newest set of episodes, it’s not that far out there.

7) This scene presents an example of one of my biggest flaws as a writer: having a giant scene with over fifteen characters and having them talk. Drawing comics or animating a cartoon can show the characters there, even if they are just reacting to the action. Here? I tend to interject a single comment every now and then just to remind the audience that they are there. It is one of my biggest problems and, as such, we are having more scenes of the cast splitting up and getting their own individual spotlights. 

8) Remember kids: Peridot has never heard of Malachite before. Will Malachite appear in this story? Time will tell.

9) Opal’s presence in this story marks the second official fusion appearing in this story. The movie just has them released from the trap by the butler, but I thought this was better suited. I made sure to acknowledge her forgetfulness that is outline in the book Guide to the Crystal Gems.

10) As of this chapter, Peridot’s official laugh is now (and was retroactively changed to “Nyehehehe!” As the Gem who is the most attuned to the One Piece world thanks to Robin’s influence, it makes sense that she would get her own One Piece laugh.

11) As noted, Ratchet’s castle is pretty much taken right out of Scrap Brain Zone or Metropolis Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog or Skull Castle from Mega Man.

12) If I ever decide to pull a Scooby-Doo split-up, you can bet your bottom dollar Greg will call it out.

13) I am proud of the Petrea/ Amethyst/ Maji beatdown. It features some of my better fight descriptions. Kudos to me.

14) Of course, Steven lists off various plots of video games in his rampant speculation about Ratchet’s fortress, including Dr. Robotnik, Dr. Wily, and Bowser.

15) My original intention was to have Zoro and Damian beat the shit out of Honki as a gag, but then I realized Steven would never allow that. Steven might have learned that fighting is necessary some times, but he’s still our boy at heart. If he can find a way around fighting, he will.

16) I drew out a lot of sketches for how I would create Peridot’s robot. I looked up various Gundams and anime designs, but nothing was speaking to me in terms of aesthetics. I did find an AWESOME custom of one of my favorite Transformers (Tailgate) customized as Peridot. Finally, I decided that if this was a video game inspired villain,  I should have a video game inspired boss. I looked up Mega Man Robot Masters and found my inspiration in Astro Man from Mega Man 8 (I have never beaten that one. Just typing this gives me terrible memories of “JUMP JUMP SLIDE SLIDE.” He also appeared in Mega Man and Bass. The cogs connecting the arms might have been an unintended reference to Mega Man 2’s Metal Man (my favorite Robot Master besides Drill Man) but I honestly can’t remember.

17) I was so excited when I came up with the name “Peribot” only to get sad when I found out that was the official name for Peridot’s robot.

18) This fight was truly what sold me on this movie. The idea of Peridot fighting Ratchet because she was offended by him calling himself a genius spoke to me. This is the first time Peridot has actively fought for the crew and is a big step in her development. She might have not fully declared herself an actual Crystal Gem (save cowering at Aokiji), but she is open to being a Straw Hat. She is the only full Gem as of this moment to actually get offered an actual position in the crew as its inventor. Between Steven actually caring about Peridot both before and during this story, Petrea urging Peridot to become a team player, Luffy’s open acceptance of her, and Robin acting as her guide; Peridot has grown to care about this dimension and the people in it. 

The question is if she has worked that part out. Remember: the events of “It Could Have Been Great” and “Message Received” have not occurred…but who knows if those episodes will play out the same in this story?

19) The “I am many things” quote is appropriated from Superman: The Animated Series; specifically, Darkseid in the series finale. God, Darkseid is just a great villain and Michael Ironside is perfect. If I could cast One Piece with anyone, he would be my pick for Crocodile.

20) Peridot comparing Luffy’s new ability (I WONDER WHAT THAT WAS ABOUT. I'M SURE IT WILL NEVER COME UP AGAIN) to soup is a reference to “When It Rains.”

21) Peridot being chosen as the ship’s inventor of course leads to an argument with Usopp, who is the inventor by default. Surely this will have no impact on the upcoming arc.

22) We now have instance number two of Greg playing Avi and Surasshu’s beautiful background music: the fusion theme for Alexandrite from “Super Watermelon Island.”

23) My narration for the Alexandrite scene lifts a line from “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” I’m sure you can pick up on it. You guys are smart. 

24) To end the video game theme, Steven quotes the first ending of Super Mario Bros…though in-story, it would be Super Mueo Bros.

25) I almost named the baby turtles after Ninja Turtles, but I instead chose a Sesame Street reference (that was mainly because the name “Shelly” was too punny not to use) and a Looney Tunes reference that I doubt anyone picked up on.

26) In the movie, the Straw Hats try to drag the eggshell into the ocean and lose it due to its weight. Rather than make this all for nothing, the extra wealth will be used to further the story along. How? Wait and see!

27) Connie was given her bag back in Chapter Eight of AGITR. 

28) Phil, as you may remember, is a character from F*ckthesystem125’s fanfiction Luffy’s Renewed Adventure (which is the story that inspired me to write this story). I got approval to use Phil as a sort of underworld broker, so here we go. 

29) Backslide Island is named after Dan Backslide: Coward-Bully-Cad-And-Theif from the amazing Merrie Melodies cartoon The Dover Boys. Telemachus Island is named after Odysseus’ son from The Odyssey. 

Can you tell I teach English?

30) Spandam: the character I have been the most excited about writing. I have often expressed that Crocodile is my favorite One Piece villain, but Spandam is probably my third favorite right after Arlong. However, Crocodile and Spandam are very similar in my eyes because of one thing: I look at both of them as being like Cobra Commander.

…I have a point to this.

Versatility is very rare when it comes to characters. Typically when you create a character, you have to stick with the traits that make that character well-known. Michelangelo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles might have started out bland, but the second his Microseries came out, he was established as the gentlest Turtle. The second the 80’s cartoon came out, he was established as the “party dude.” From there, his characterization kind of built upon those two key story structures.

But every now and then, you get a character that can transcend that. The best example is Batman, who can be both a grim avenger of the night and a fully-deputized agent of the law and still be the same character. Batman might have his tragedy (even in the Adam West show, where it was mentioned once in the first episode), but he can be anything. I love Batman: The Animated Series just as much as I love Batman: The Brave and the Bold. 

Cobra Commander is similar, but different.

When first developed, Cobra Commander was appearing simultaneously in the G.I. Joe cartoon and the Larry Hama comic book. Both had him as the main bad guy, but holy shit were both of them radically different…and that is not even getting into Cobra-La or the Used Carsalesman Origin. 

This is Cobra Commander in the comics:

In the comics, Cobra Commander was deadly, manipulative, and competent. He created a terrorist organization by using a pyramid scheme and managed to have it grow multiple times. The entire Broca Beach arc right after he came back from the dead shows just how manipulative he could be…just like Crocodile, who manipulated an entire country into a civil war. However, I can’t even claim that the Crocodile I wrote was completely similar to the comic Cobra Commander. To complete THAT comparison, you need to add G.I. Joe Resolute into the mix:

Alternatively, you can add both of them together and produce the G.I. Joe Renegades version, who has manipulated the USA to thinking that Cobra is legitimate while being just as ruthless as the Resolute version. Is it perfectly Crocodile? No, as Crocodile is his own man, but the same sort of tone is there when I write him. Both are ruthless and intellectually brilliant. The difference is one has lost hope in his original dreams and shifted them instigating chaos in the hopes of obtaining military might, the other has never lost faith in their original dream of controlling the world. 

The cartoon version, however, throws that out of the window for what the writers described as “less Adolph Hitler and more Yosemitie Sam.”

Holy crap, this guy is ineffectual as hell, but there is always something slightly threatening about him. Clearly he a large enough threat to warrant the creation of a military mission force, but the man’s ideas in schemes range from creating mind control fast food restaurants to making the greatest rock and roll band ever. When I read Spandam (and if I ever get inspired to record an audio version of this story…yes, I have thought about it, but I have no actresses who could join such an ambitious project), I read him with Christopher Latta’s voice. He wants to gain power, but he is lacking in nearly every department. His minions are all stronger and smarter than him…and yet he still needs to be competent enough to demand respect. Spandam is dangerous and, quite frankly, despicable in how he treats Robin and Franky. He is the absolute worst…and yet is two steps away from being a laughing stock. I love it. I love the over the top antics and how smug he is. The man is deplorable in every sense, which will make him a perfect foil for Steven later on…

To sum up this giant, semi-off-topic post: Crocodile and Spandam are my faves.

30) Pay no attention to the mention of Vegapunk, Spandam picking up something and quickly putting it into his pocket, the mention of CP9 recruits, or the bit about “Gems of myth.” That is just fluff.

31) “Don’t cry for me. I’m already dead,” is from The Simpsons. This is not the last Simpsons reference in this chapter.

32) Steven is imitating Darth Vader from Revenge of the Sith…because why not?

  33) Despite my previous claim, “Pucci” is NOT a Simpsons reference, but was actually from the manga in this section of the story. Since it was explicitly called a city and not an island, that meant I could tie it into my Baroque Works trio’s underworld adventure. Hooray for canon-wielding!

34) It was important to split up the crew at this point. It would be way too hard to juggle around all of these different characters at the same time and still give everyone the proper attention they need. Does this mean I am putting them on a bus for this arc? Not exactly, but what they will be doing WILL be worth waiting for. 

35) Though Pearl is doing her best to fit in and enjoy herself, it is important to remind everyone that the Cluster is still a threat. Think of it as a “ticking clock.”

36) Genevieve remembers Greg’s advice from Chapter Forty-Five of AGITR on how to properly leave somebody for an extended period of time.

37) We now have our second Simpsons reference: the shipwright song. When I started writing down lyrics, I thought I was using the melody of “The Perfect Nanny” from Mary Poppins. Instead, I found myself thinking of its Simpsons counterpart: “Minimum Wage Nanny.” Honestly, I’m just happy I managed to get Luffy’s canon request for him to be five meters tall into the song. This might be my favorite song in this part of the story so far.

38) Why does Garnet want money for a newspaper? The answer may surprise you.

39) I justify Steven taking Connie on a date because they aren’t actually dating for romantic reasons. They are way too young for that. This is for them to have a great time together. Nami recognizes this and is levelheaded enough to properly handle Steven’s request. To be fair, who doesn’t look at those two kids and think they will be a great couple when they get older? If only there were a time skip that could show them that way…

40) Greg is, of course, reminiscing about the events of “Greg the Babysitter.”

41) Greg is my favorite Steven Universe character. He is one of the greatest fathers in television and a man who truly loved his significant other. I kind of used Greg here as a mouthpiece for how I view my relationship with my wife. We love each other for who we are and what we mean to each other, and this was brought about by time and open communication. No topic is taboo…that, in my eyes, is the key to a successful relationship. It is not about lavish gifts or forcing romantic moments, it’s about the times as the end of the day where you just sit and talk. A wife…a husband…a partner…they are your best friend first. It is my anniversary today as I am writing this, so excuse the sentimentality.

As it stands, I was surprised as I watched the newest episodes of Season Four (thank you Xfinity!) and *spoilers* noticed an INCREDIBLY similar conversation to this one in one of the episodes. If that was not prophetic timing, I don’t know what is. I think that is twice now this story predicted things on the show, with the first being Steven greeting every object in his house when he returned to it after a long absence.

42) CP9 was mentioned twice before in this story (Chapter 40 of AGITR and Chapter 21 of GWMAPT)…I am sure it means nothing.

Well, that turned into a giant post. Tune in next time in three chapters! In the meantime, check out @cyanideoreo who is now pretty much this story’s official artist! Now that I no longer feel sick, I will begin writing the next chapter tomorrow so let’s hope I can finish it soon!

[jillmckenzie1]

Higher, Further, Faster

Representation matters. It’s just as important to see some facsimile of yourself at age seven as it is at age 77. It’s a way of shaping your identity, a way of telling the world that you matter. Done right, representation can show you a higher path and provide you with a way to be better.

As a kid, my morals were shaped more powerfully and acutely by comics than they ever were by church.* Spider-Man taught me doing the right thing can suck. It can be lonely and painful, but it’s no less the right thing to do. Superman taught me that consideration for others makes the world not only a better place but also a more bearable place. Those moral lessons imprinted themselves because I could see aspects of myself in those characters. I’ll never web-swing through the concrete jungle of Manhattan, but I always have the opportunity to be decent.

The other power that representation has is normalization. It introduces groups, ideas, and concepts to the “mainstream,” and over time, they cease to be a novelty. From the years 1820 to 1860 a third of all immigrants were Irish. They were initially persecuted and looked upon as lesser, and “No Irish Need Apply” were a common feature of Help Wanted signs. Now? Having an Irish heritage is as big a deal as buying produce. That’s as it should be.

That all brings us to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s an unstoppable cultural juggernaut that, for a long while there, was built on straight white dudes. This may come as a surprise to you, but out of 21 films in the MCU, all but two of them have starred a straight white dude. All but two of them were directed by a straight white guy. One of those films is the newest entry in the MCU, Captain Marvel. Is it going to be like Black Panther, where it’s a cultural asteroid strike that fundamentally changes things? No, but it’s a strong step forward.

Her name is Vers (Brie Larson), and she’s a soldier. Scratch that, she’s maybe the soldier. Her honor and duty is to represent Starforce and the best parts of the Kree Empire. She lives on the Kree home world of Hala, and the Kree have been at war with the Skrulls, a race of shapeshifters. So she fights them. Yet there’s a giant blank in her memories, and maybe there’s more to her life than a centuries-long conflict.

Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) is her commanding officer and mentor, and he mansplains that she needs to keep her emotions in check. There’s a lot of that going around because the Supreme Intelligence (Annette Bening) tells Vers the same thing. Does she? During a conflict with the Skrulls, she’s captured and the Skrulls futz with her memories pretty extensively. She escapes, wipes the floor with about two dozen Skrull soldiers, and peaces out in an escape pod. As far as I can see, her emotions are serving her just fine.

Things get more complicated when Vers arrives on a backwater dump of a planet. We call it Earth. The bad news is that she lands in a hellhole known as Los Angeles. The worse news is that it’s the year 1995, and the inhabitants of this jerkwater burg are not what you would call sophisticated. The even worse news is that a squad of Skrulls, led by the wily Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) have followed her.

All is not lost, because of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). He’s been riding a desk for a while, working for a shadowy organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D., and Fury seems to be a little lacking in direction. He’ll team up with Vers, also known as Carol Danvers, and she’ll learn a great deal about who she really is, her place in the world, and the truth of things. Oh, and there’s an orange cat named Goose who’s just *chef’s kiss* perfection.

When Wonder Woman was released in the summer of 2017 it was largely viewed as a feminist triumph. The first big-budget superhero film starring a woman and directed by a woman, it did two things in very short order. First, it made a trainload of money and proved that blockbusters viewed through a feminist lens could be critically and commercially successful.** Second, for a brief moment, it made the MCU look just a little irrelevant. I’m not saying the success of Wonder Woman was the primary reason for Captain Marvel. From here, though, if you squint a little bit…

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Flack, Captain Marvel is a solid, second-tier film in the sprawling MCU.*** It arrived with gigantic expectations, viewed as being a feminist triumph with the same cultural cachet as Black Panther. Those expectations are unfair. Yes, Captain Marvel has a first act that feels uneven, production design that feels like more of the same from the MCU, and too many winks at the culture of the ’90s. Once the film finds its groove, though, we’re treated to some strong action sequences and decent FX.**** More importantly, Boden and Flack come from the world of independent film, and they have a reputation for strong characterization. I appreciated that they often pump the brakes so we can hang with the characters and get to know them.

Boden and Flack wrote the script along with Geneva Robertson-Dworet, and it falls prey to an increasingly common problem in the MCU–that of the relentless quips. The worst offender was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Time and distance have shown me that Guardians has an unpleasant habit of undercutting moments of genuine emotions with giant-sized snark. Here, it’s not quite as bad, but it too often feels like gags are crammed in instead of being allowed to happen organically. When the script steps away from that and drills down into Carol’s memories and her recapturing of her strength, it soars. It’s not subtle,***** but the movies of the MCU aren’t designed to be subtle. They’re aspirational, and I enjoyed Carol becoming her best self after falling and getting back up, all under her own steam. Her character feels somewhat flimsy at times, and another pass on the script would have likely solved some problems.

If there’s one thing Marvel Studios consistently excels at, it’s casting. They tend to use their main character as a solid anchor, then allow the supporting characters to orbit around them. Captain America is a rock in his own films. He doesn’t change, but things change around him, and he reacts accordingly. As Carol, Brie Larson is in a similar situation. She’s brave, smart, and a touch impetuous. There isn’t an enormous amount of meat to her character, but Larson is an intelligent actor who knows when to lean into the superhero iconography and when to play it more real. She’s joined by an entertaining Samuel L. Jackson, playing a Nick Fury who hasn’t yet become a cynic. I particularly enjoyed Ben Mendelsohn’s layered Talos, and it’s nice that the MCU seems to be moving away from two-dimensional villains.

I don’t think that Captain Marvel is going to strike the culture like a metaphorical Mjolnir. It doesn’t have to since it’s a well-made standalone adventure, as well as a comfortable piece in the tapestry of the MCU. More importantly, as portrayed through a positive feminist lens, the adventures of Carol Danvers take us a little bit further to a day when a blockbuster made by and starring women simply isn’t a rarity. That alone is worth celebrating.

  *It also bears mentioning that nobody ever got radicalized by reading Avengers comics.

**Duh.

***It’s not up there with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Black Panther or Avengers: Infinity War. I’d but it right next to Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man: Homecoming.

****I was particularly impressed with the digital de-aging of both Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg. Here, Jackson looks exactly the way he did in The Long Kiss Good Night. Watch closely, and the only giveaway is that his movements are occasionally stiffer and slower.

*****Did we need a major battle set to “Just a Girl” by No Doubt? It’s extraordinarily obvious, and I think the same thing could have been done with more style.

from Blog https://ondenver.com/higher-further-faster/

[kyisalwayshigh-blog]

Fifty Shades Of Grey Movie Review

The "Fifty Shades" set of three may have first surfaced in 2009 as a work of "Twilight" fan fiction, however it immediately separated itself as its own particular colossally fruitful, completely questionable pop-lit wonder (100 million duplicates sold and checking). A long ways from Stephenie Meyer's professional forbearance dream, James' startlingly express story demonstrated enormously famous with ladies everything being equal, introducing unthinkable subject of subjugation porn into the mother well disposed standard. What's more, for all the merited reactions of Meyer's writing style, she truly had nothing on James in that division, as shown by sentences like "Want pools dim and lethal in my crotch" and "The muscles inside the most profound, darkest piece of me hold in the most delectable form." Is it sadomasochistic aching or is it bad tempered entrail disorder?

At any rate, it might mostly clarify why our courageous woman spends a significant part of the film looking not by any stretch of the imagination responsible for her lunch. An anxious, dim haired English writing understudy at Washington State U., Anastasia "Ana" Steele (Dakota Johnson) has been allocated to compose a school daily paper article on Christian Dim, a 27-year-old business financier and college promoter who ends up being not simply vulgarly well off and effective, but rather (as played by Jamie Dornan) outlandishly attractive to boot. Talking with Ana in his glass-walled Seattle office, Christian fixes her with the iciest of come-here gazes, his cheekbones basically cutting through the account torpor. Ana, as far as it matters for her, reacts by looking unobtrusively entranced with desire, refining the rich and confused subtext of James' novel — gracious my god, he's so hot — into a solitary goodness my-god-he's-so-hot articulation.

Following their interview, Christian and Ana heighten their mutual attraction with a couple of not-so-chance encounters. He sends her some rare 1st editions (happily, not “The Iliad”), hits on her at the ironmongery shop wherever she works, and eventually whisks her off to his living accommodations by non-public heavier-than-air craft — at that purpose James’ up to date Cinderella story begins to reveal its Angela Carter facet. It’s not simply that this American-psycho suitor shuns standard romance and conducts his relationships on a strictly transactional basis. As he notes early, Christian may be a man of “many physical pursuits,” that embrace piloting, stalking, topless piano enjoying, and recreational bondage: Specifically, he selects and grooms young girls willing to be certain, gagged, clamped, lashed and probed for his pleasure and presumptively their own. Imagine Bruce Wayne with a Red space of Pain in role of a Batcave and you’re quite halfway there.

Depending on the exhibitions of two engaging, new confronted leads with minimal earlier onscreen stuff, the producers have turned their form of "Fifty Shades of Gray" into a wily tragicomedy of conduct — Jane Austen with a riding crop, maybe, or maybe Charlotte Bronte with a peacock plume — that concentrates no deficiency of giggles from the anxious pressure between Ana's sentimental dream work out as expected and the psychosexual bad dream seething just underneath the surface. By cheerfully shedding the book's 500 or so pages of numbingly dreary inward monolog and including the essential point of view of the camera, the movie producers have additionally made Ana a to some degree harder, more wary courageous woman, played by Johnson with an extremely engaging combo of young lady lost naivete and bit by bit extending confidence. One of the motion picture's all the more amusingly offhanded minutes finds the two leads situated at inverse finishes of a meeting table, instituting maybe the most erratic contract arrangement scene since "A Night at the Opera."

Normally, Ana's horrifying deferral of her choice — regardless of whether to wind up Mr. Dim's own sex slave — doesn't shield them from inspecting each other's products meanwhile, beginning with a scene at generally the 40-minute check in which Christian strips her of that annoying virginity in a protected, cuff free condition, before gradually acquainting her with the perfect joys of torment. By the by and large pedantic models of the standard, the room activity in plain view figures out how to be considerably more unequivocal than the studio standard while avoiding anything especially questionable.

Tits and ass are pampered with matter-of-actuality consideration in d.p. Seamus McGarvey's correctly encircled widescreen creations, while a trio of editors — including Oscar-winning veteran Anne V. Coates, whose numerous striking credits incorporate "Unfaithful," "Out of Sight" and "Striptease" — explore easily among closeups and full-body shots, their each cut keeping up a watchful visual parcel around the on-screen characters' humility. (Obviously for a film with this specific control/submit dynamic, the typical sexual orientation based twofold standard wins: a lot of Johnson, however just a temporary look at johnson.)

James' books were pilloried in a few quarters for extolling injurious connections, and hailed in others for subverting servitude and pretend with a striking vision of female strengthening. Whatever one's elucidation, the story they advise is intended to be one of recovery, in which Ana ends up being herself to be the genuine overwhelming by drawing the mishandled, harmed Christian out of his den and into the universe of practical human connections — one spoke to here by his assenting mother (Marcia Gay Harden) and Ana's sweet yet diverted mother (Jennifer Ehle) and lively closest companion (Eloise Mumford), all gleaming signals of mental stability and enthusiastic dependability. Tragically, it's a show that can hardly support one film, not to mention three, and as our courageous woman turns out to be perpetually mindful of exactly how dull Christian's dim side is, "Fifty Shades of Gray" begins to lose its comical inclination and evoke the wrong sort of chuckles — peaking with an entertainingly exaggerated S&M montage weighed down with such a significant number of ease back movement breaks down as to recommend that Ana wasn't the just a single wearing a blindfold amid the get together.

The last half-hour or so is rebuffing in something other than an exacting sense, conveying us to a not as much as sparkling cliffhanger in the now de rigueur way of book-based, fan-driven establishment admission. Dornan, an appealling nearness, to a great extent nails (in addition to other things) the blend of exceptional custom and fun loving obscenity that characterizes Christian Gray, yet he demonstrates rather less gifted at enlightening the complex inward existence of a sexual freak. "I practice control regardless," he notes from the get-go — talked like a man who doesn't understand he's still got two continuations of go.