#but rewatching them now removed from that its still just as underwhelming as it was the first time

[mintedwitcher]

I rewatched The Girl Who Died/The Woman Who Lived, and... this might get me garrotted on here but uhh. Surely Maisie Williams could've put some effort into that performance, right? Literally the only scene where she's really Acting on a level to match Coleman and Capaldi is when she's threatening the Mire. The rest of the time it's just so. Wooden. (I will wholly admit that she is much better in Face The Raven and Hell Bent, I'm talking specifically about her first two episodes.)

(And yes maybe there's something to be said there about potential autistic coding etc with her being "the weird one" but like. Personally I think it was just a bad casting choice.)

So in that vein, do y'all have fancasts for Ashildr/Lady Me, and who are they?

[lizacstuff]

SCK episode 46 asks!

Hi folks, below the read more you'll find a smattering of asks about this week's episode as well as a few spoilers for 47.

Good asks this week:

(under the cut)

Anonymous asked: this may be superficial of me, but why are they dressing Serkan in such ugly tops? they finally brought Eda's hair back but now this

BWAH! You're not wrong. You know what I'm wondering, if they've put him in some of those outfits because they are showing his suburban dad side? It's kind of a subtle nod to him embracing father hood and a different way of life? He's now all about running around the yard after his daughter and not about what he looks like when he's being SERKAN BOLAT, FAMOUS BUSINESS MAN and WORLD'S BEST ARCHITECT.

Also, Eda's hair, thank goodness they let that go once the flashbacks were over and we didn't need something to distinguish between then and now! Those curly bangs were not it.

Anonymous asked: They built up the Edser chemistry soooooo well throughout the episode... for that ending? Who decided to cut it there?! The scene was BEAUTIFUL I’m actually upset lol. are not we going to see any more? I’m not asking for a sex scene, I wanted to see THE moment they decided to get back together (the tattoo line doesn’t do it for me) - a few words, tears as they embrace, him walking through the door as she closes it, one passionate kiss, something! But it doesn’t feel like a cliffhanger that continues next week. I’ll be so underwhelmed when they cut to the morning after and we have to infer that they got back together overnight *sigh* if they were allowed 1 kiss only, id rather it have been here instead of ep 2

We do deserve to see how they reconcile, that should be one of the biggest moments of the season after 7 episodes of build up to it.

90% of final scenes in this show have continued uninterrupted the next week. To me there's no reason to think the next episode won't pick up right where this one left off. Crossing fingers!

Anonymous asked: It just hit me that Serkan is the “Kiraz” for Kemal - but Kemal actually missed his child’s whole 35 years 😬 this is an interesting turn of events. Also that line Serkan said about how fathers should love their child’s mother and how he didn’t have that with his own parents....but his real dad does love Aydan, more than she deserves haha.

Oh so true! Kemal really does love his mother more than she deserves! How he puts up with her, I don't know.

The parallel between Serkan/Kemal and Kiraz/Serkan is strong and I hope it gives Serkan some perspective when he starts grappling with this knowledge. I'm sure it's going to be very disconcerting for him, because while he expected to never see his father again, Alptekin is still his father. He's still the man who raised him and formed him into the man he is. Serkan still runs the company he founded and bears his name.

I don't expect any of that to change, but hopefully he can forge a separate relationship with Kemal that might fill some emotional holes that he has and bring him some peace.

None of that even contemplates how Kemal will feel, thankfully Aydan didn't willfully hide the truth from him. How awful to realize you lost 35 years.

We aren't there yet, but I wonder at what age with Kiraz learn the truth, that her dad is not an astronaut, that her parents went through hell with with cancer and plane crashes, and that her father didn't know of her existence until right before they met?

Just something to think about.

Anonymous asked: i'm so happy for hanker, don't get me wrong, and i'm also so happy we get "together" edser for so many episodes until the end, but i'm already tired of the constant "hanker improvising" comments i know i will be seeing. not that they don't improvise in some scenes, but i just know that every romantic edser scene is gonna be analyzed to hell bc ppl want to look for hanker in them. like there's no possible way that ayse, the writer ppl hate the most, could write any romantic scenes.. nope no way!

Yes, this is one of my pet peeves, I can't stand the "Edser left the chat" and all the "that's Hanker, not Edser" type conversation. it's so invasive and most of all disrespectful to not only the writers, but Hande and Kerem and all the work they pour into bringing Eda and Serkan to life.

One of the things in fandom that sets my teeth on edge is when folks take some interpretation of the character by the actor and then decide because it wasn't "scripted" (pro tip the vast majority of physical movements the actors make are "unscripted") that it must just be the actors themselves and have nothing to do with the characters. What an embarrassing and naïve assertion. Actors literal job is to take what's on the page and then translate that. So, no, OF COURSE, every look and touch is not scripted. The actors interpret how their characters would think and feel, and what they would do in given moments and then do those things.

Eda is not touching Serkan's arm just because Hande can't hold herself back from touching Kerem. Puh-lease, they are professionals. Grow up.

However, having said all that, I do think there was one scene that seemed to be very improvised this episode. The bean scene in the grocery store did feel like them just eFFing around. LOL.

andhewonherheart asked: @andhewonherheart: SCK promo department is best and worst all at the same time, cause giving away the last (cliffhanger) scene in fragman is just cruel. But based on the next week’s fragman thing happens that we we think happens *wink*

Hee! So true. The thing I'm grateful for is that in season 2 not one fragman has made me dread the episode, I think there was at least one fragman an episode from 29-37 that was hella upsetting.

As far as I'm concerned these fragmans are doing there job, making me want to watch.

I am really excited for Serkan planning how he's going to ask Eda to marry him, I wonder what Kiraz's reaction is going to be. So far she's been their very own cupid!

Anonymous asked: I didn't find it surprising that Serkan removed his tattoo as soon as Eda left. His logic is always out of sight out of mind though it doesn't work. He did the same when he broke up with her when he found out about the death of her parents. He removed all of her belongings. But their memories are too strong and enough for him to continue to remember her.

Truth! Will he ever learn that it's never going to work? He'll never be able to erase Eda, she has left an indelible mark on his soul. Let's hope he's never faced with that situation again! From here on out, he and Eda are together, a unit, and will live a long life together and in love.

Anyone have any guesses where Eda's tattoo is? Will we find out or will it remain between the characters.

Anonymous asked: I've seen some people say that Edser are getting married now way too fast and to that I just have to laugh lol. First there were complaints we don't have happy Edser and now when we do, of course there's something else. These two have had a rollercoaster of a year when they first met and a five year separation.. they've been through the dating phase, the engaged phase.. of course they'll head straight to the altar! It's not like Eda's plane proposal and that first wedding wasn't rushed either!

I'm on team head straight to the alter! No more waiting. They've had terrible luck, so they just need to tie the knot and make sure there are no easy outs.

As for people who think it's too fast, they don't even know the storyline yet, I swear there are folks who complain just because that's their personality and they're never satisfied.

Anonymous asked: From some of the spoilers of BTS pics, and the fragman we got, I was just reflecting on this season and Turk romcom dizis in general and I just wanted to say how LUCKY we are to see Edser married (again, from spoilers) and with a kid on screen for more than just 10 minute at the end of the finale. Like, it is really rare and as much as people have nitpicked on this season in general, I feel like watching these last episodes have been such a breeze after the last arc of S1.

Oh agreed, I think these episodes have been very enjoyable. The writers are giving me exactly what I want from this show. Comedy, UST, romance with a little light angst thrown in now and again. I would rewatch this season a dozen times before even thinking about watching anything from the 30s.

We are very lucky that we've got to see them as parents, and actually forming their family. We've gotten so much domestic goodness so far and we still have a ways to go. I'm very appreciative of this season and that Ayse came back, got rid of the constant ridiculous melodrama for melodrama's-sake and is telling a very human story about family and love persevering.

Anonymous asked: the last scene gave me chills for some reason. you could actually see eda fighting her head and her heart and deciding to take the step (metaphorically and physically!) towards him for good. i wanna SUE whoever decided to end it the ep there though.. it was actually cruel. also looking at the next frag.. it makes my heart soft that in the flashbacks we see serkan pushing off their wedding bc of his fears and now he can't propose and get married fast enough.. can't believe we're really getting it

I know, it's almost surreal at this point. Since we're near the end we know it's for real and won't be ruined by psychos or awful family members or terminal illness. I just hope that they give us an emotional scene when they get married, whether its just them or the whole cast is there as guests, after everything they've (we've) been through we need to see them both feeling that moment and reveling in it.

FYI - I'm out of town next weekend, so I may be slower than usual in replying to asks and in posting gifs of 47, but I'll get to it all eventually!

[loopy777]

You've got me curious now as to what anime youve seen, enjoyed and why.

Oof, I don’t track that type of thing. I’ve been asked about anime I like previously, and I feel like I always forget something. I suppose I should start a MyAnimeList one of these days, just for reference.

So let’s list everything I can remember, as well as a pithy reaction.

Baccano!This one is just so much fun. It’s violent and crass in a classy way, it’s funny in a weird way, and it’s a great example of a non-linear narrative. I love it.

Code Geass (Season 1)Ugh, I only watched this one because people solicited my opinion on it. Well, my opinion is that it’s not as smart as it wants to be, there’s too much contrived melodrama (and considering the wild premise, that’s saying something), and Kallen would be a wonderful and interesting character if she wasn’t always being demeaned for fan-service. I quit when the first season finale kicked off, because I felt things were just getting too contrived. I hear it really fell apart in the second season.

Cowboy BebopI found this a bit pretentious. It had good episodes and bad episodes. The production quality is good. But I'm not sure why it's legendary. Still, I liked its sense of humor, and enjoyed it when it wasn’t trying to be super serious. My favorite character is Ed.

Demon SlayerI'm mainly watching this because my brother wanted to give it a try on Toonami, but I kind of checked out when it unceremoniously removed everything difficult about the sister being a demon and made her into an order-following sidekick that fits in a suitcase. Now the latest episode introduced a loud annoying side character, so we may quit. I have no idea why this one is so popular.

Fullmetal AlchemistCovered

Gatchaman CrowdsI was asked to watch this one, as well, but it went a lot better than Code Geass. It’s a bit weird, and I think it's naively optimistic about the internet in many ways, but I still found it's exploration of Internet-age superheroes to be interesting, and it's the best, most mature take on the Power Rangers-style ‘sentai’ genre that I've seen. I don't know how well it matches up with its Gatchaman legacy, but as its own thing, it's pretty good.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (including 2nd Gig)This is another legendary one that I think is good but a bit over-rated. It's a good piece of modern Cyberpunk, but it's very talky, and very jargon-filled. I'm almost convinced that the viewer is not meant to follow half of the conversations, that they're just part of the ambiance. I tended to like the stand-alone episodes better than the storyline episodes. Still, it’s a very smart series, and probably the best thing in the franchise, from what I’ve heard.

Log Horizon (first season only)I’ll tell you what- I think it’s possible to make a good anime with the premise of people from the modern, real world entering a fantasy realm (either another dimension or a VR video game). Log Horizon did not end up being that ideal. The main character is a Gary Stu, his romances with girls who are either ten years old or just look like they’re ten years old are creepy, and it got boring seeing the protagonists’ plans always succeed without much of a hitch.

Lupin III (series 4 and 5)I like this franchise when it's being clever, when it's springing a twist while playing fair. Sometimes, though, it doesn't play fair with its twists, leaving me underwhelmed. And while the regular cast is amusing, they're fairly shallow characters; this isn't always a bad thing, as that allows them to slot into all kinds of genre fare, but does limit the storytelling ambitions. It’s fine.

Macross franchiseSuper Dimensional Fortress MacrossI still like the original, despite how dated it is. It's probably the best possible implementation of 'soap opera in space.'

Macross PlusI'm not sure why this one is so revered. I feel like it doesn't play fair with its mystery, despite being such a short story, and whole thing with the killer popstar AI just left me cold.

Macross 7I like the music, but the story really drags for the first half with a formula that’s repeated far too long, and then falls apart in the end. The love triangle isn’t resolved, and in fact I’m of the opinion that two of the participants didn’t even know they were in competition. The bad guys are allowed to sail off into the sunset, forgiven, despite still inhabiting the bodies of kidnapped humans. But this isn't a series you watch for the story; this is a series you watch because you like the idea of a rockstar flying into space in a transforming mecha, controlled by an electric guitar, to sing at alien invaders. Personally, I think the idea is dumb. Plus, this ruins the premise of the original series by adding in what is effectively magic.

Macross ZeroThis is pretty good and has the best dogfights in the series, but it has one of those weird arty endings that anime sometimes likes to do where no one can tell what actually happened and we need to find translated interviews with the creative team to get it explained.

Macross FrontierBy this point, I was wondering why everyone is so eager for the Macross franchise to get American distribution. It’s better than Macross 7, but feels like a first draft of the intended story, and the creative team lost track of their own subplots. The two AU movies do a more satisfying take on the same basic story, but sometimes they come across like an abridged recap of the series, so you really need to watch everything to get a satisfying experience. That said, the final experience was indeed fairly satisfying, making this the second best thing in the franchise for me. Still, I wouldn’t say it lives up to the original in any way.

Macross DeltaBoy, this one was dumb. Everything wrong with Frontier is worse here, with none of the good stuff.

The Melancholy of Haruhi SuzumiyaI still want an ending for this, despite nothing worthwhile coming from it since 2011. It wouldn't even be hard to pick it up again; set it in modern times, and explain the fact that everyone has smartphones now to be a result of some weird off-screen Haruhi antics.

Mobile Suit Gundam franchiseMobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded OrphansI've only ever experienced the Gundam franchise because my brother wants to get into it and he keeps trying to find a vector. This was my first experience with it, and I found it very 'teenage boy,' in both tone and story. I was underwhelmed.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096Another case where the storytellers reached the end only to have forgotten the rest of the story. Why does that happen so often in anime? And I think it assumes the viewer is familiar with the whole rest of the franchise, because there was a lot that just went straight over my head but didn't seem like it was supposed to. Nice animation and art style, though.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Advent of the Red CometEverything I said about Unicorn, only more.

My Hero AcademiaCovered

NichijouThis thing is still hilarious, even after a rewatch. Stick with the sub, as the new dub's voice-acting doesn't have the same range and power of the original, losing a lot of the humor.

Outlaw Star I'm struggling to remember a lot of this one. it’s another I watched because my brother was interested in it. I do recall that it was a fairly standard Space Western that ends in a way that's more like serious science fiction, and that for some reason a Japanese swordswoman in classic clothing was part of the cast. Now I wonder if that was an homage to Lupin III. Or maybe Japan just really loves throwing classic samurai into everything, regardless of setting or genre.

Pokemon (part of first series)I was in high school when this franchise first came to America, and for some reason all the geeks in my high school thought it was the greatest thing. The games were good, yeah, but the anime? I don't think it's bad for a kiddie cartoon, but it obviously has no greater ambitions than pleasantly occupying the kids for 22 minutes. Personally, what I really want is a series about Team Rocket done in the style of Cowboy Bebop.

Princess TutuCo-owner of the Best Magical Girl designation. I forget who asked me to watch this, but I owe them.

Puella Magi Madoka MagicaCo-owner of the Best Magical Girl designation. I still haven't bothered with anything but the original series, and I continue to be happy with that choice.

Samurai ChamplooI liked this better than Cowboy Bebop, but only because its ambitions were lower. It leaned more into its genre, had fun with its style more even when being serious, and as a result became more enjoyable. I overall liked going on a journey with these rascals, but I think it ended at a good point. I don’t need more.

Spice & Wolf (first season)I watched this on someone's suggestion, and found it a little underwhelming. What I really appreciated were the two main characters, especially that they seem to be into each other, romantically and sexually, and aren't freaked out by it while at the same time not being in a hurry to become a couple. It was just a kind of, "Yeah, this could really be something if we ever find the time." It was so amazingly mature and real. Too bad the main Economics plotlines just wound up being tepid.

Tekkaman BladeMy thoughts haven't changed on this.

Tiger & BunnyI'm still fond of this one, and I'm actually kind of curious to revisit it in light of My Hero Academia.

Transformers ‘Unicron Trilogy’These three cartoons are true anime, produced by and for Japan. (The other cartoons in the franchise were written, and sometimes animated, in the west.) It's garbage that assumes its child audience are morons, and on top of that the first two series wound up with laughably bad dubs. How this trilogy revitalized the franchise, I have no idea, and thankfully I'll never have to worry about it.

Volton (original)Either this or Robotech/Macross was my first anime; I was too young to say which I discovered first. I'll admit that the original Voltron isn't good, despite the toy being neat, but I have a soft spot for it. I tried the Netflix reboot, watching the first three episodes, and found it to be vacuous junk. Maybe some day a version of this will come along that will do justice to the toy.

And I think that’s it. If I remember anything I left off, I’ll reblog with the addition.

[educated-ella]

Phantom Blood review

(Image courtesy of Shueisha)

I’ve decided to review every part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (with the exception of the currently ongoing JoJolion) because why the hell not. Every part is exceptional on their own, but I’ll be going over the pros and cons for each.

Oh, and spoilers, obviously.

Set in Victorian England, Phantom Blood follows Jonathan Joestar (the dark haired boy in the photo above), only son of the wealthy Joestar family, Dio Brando (the blond boy in the photo above), the only son of an abusive, alcoholic thief, and the mysterious Stone Mask that Jonathan’s mother had purchased before her untimely death. After being adopted by the Joestars, Dio sets out to become the sole heir of their fortune by removing Jonathan from the equation. These attempts all blow up in his face as Jonathan continues to persevere through Dio’s bullying. Eventually, Dio pushes Jonathan too far and ends up backed into a corner. In order to avoid arrest, Dio uses Jonathan’s father as a sacrifice to the Stone Mask and dons it, turning him into a vampire. Now it’s up to Jonathan to master the Ripple (a sunlight/breathing based martial art capable of destroying the undead) and bring his adopted brother to justice.

Easily the best thing about Phantom Blood is the duality between Jonathan and Dio. Their ever changing dynamic as one or the other goes back and forth between seeing each other as sworn enemies or true brothers is genuinely engaging, especially since they are meant to represent polar opposites. It serves as the perfect setup for how Dio views the Joestars in later parts, as people he respects yet sees it as his destiny to remove them from the picture. It’s also much shorter than any other part of the series, meaning that the plot is more streamlined and focused. The ending is also easily one of the best in the series, and remains as shocking today as it did in 1987: Jonathan dies at the end, bleeding out aboard a flaming ship, cradling Dio’s disembodied head and declaring him as his brother. And on his honeymoon, no less. Having a lead protagonist like Jonathan, the one for whom the very series is named for, die like he did was unheard of at the time, and is still very rare today.

That being said, Phantom Blood is a very standard horror-themed shonen manga. I think that helps bolster its legacy for future parts, almost making Dio and especially Jonathan out to be these legendary warriors from a time long past, but it also means that PB is kind of underwhelming on its own. Similarly, Jonathan and Dio play off of each other very well, but as they’re not very compelling on their own. This is especially true for Jonathan, who does not have the luxury of character development later down the road. The supporting cast doesn’t fair much better either. Baron Zeppeli, Jonathan’s mentor and teacher, gets his fair share of development and backstory, but he doesn’t play off of Jonathan or their other teammate, Speedwagon, well. We’re given all of this exposition as to why he knows the RIpple and why he wants to teach it to Jonathan, but it never does anything to bolster him as a character. He fills the role of the mentor archetype, but that’s about it. This problem plagues the other supporting characters: their backstories are dumped on us in long expositional monologues, but their personalities are rarely fleshed out beyond their role in the story. Though on the other hand, characters who aren’t given any exposition are extremely forgettable. PB lacks the usual JoJo flair that makes the series so memorable. Things just sort of happen because the plot needs to move forward, rather than feeling like the consequences of each character’s choices. I mean, this part gives us a zombie Jack the Ripper who hides inside a living horse and I completely forgot about him until I rewatched the anime. If that doesn’t go to show how by the books Phantom Blood is, I don’t know what does.

[jarrettfuller]

A Piece of Work

A Piece of Work, the limited-run podcast from WNYC and MoMA and hosted by Broad City's Abby Jacobson is positioned as an attempt to demystify modern art. On each episode, Jacobson, with a rotating cast of celebrities1 and MoMA curators, looks at a few objects from MoMA's collection to discuss topics as diverse as performance art, video art, and sculpture and artists like Yves Klein, James Turrell, and Yoko Ono. As podcasting becomes an ever more popular format for content, there's a distinct lack of shows about art and visual culture2; especially ones that break of industry talk, process, or inside stories and are directed towards a general audience. With MoMA and WNYC producing this show and a host as charming as Jacobson, I had high hopes. But as the series wrapped up its initial ten-episode run last week, I found myself largely underwhelmed by the results.

But first, a caveat: I know I am not the audience for this show. A Piece of Work is clearly geared towards people who don't know or don't understand the art world, especially "modern" art. This is why, I think, the host is someone like Jacobson — a former art student (from my own alma mater, no less!) — and explains the train of celebrities who parade through each episode — they make for a great hook. I knew every artist and most of the work discussed and already had the basic knowledge the show assumes its listeners don't have. Yet putting myself in the shoes of one who doesn't know this work, its unclear what one is supposed to take away from the series.

The hook of the show is Jacobson bringing a friend to MoMA to look at a particular work of art. Their knowledge of the work varies from episode to episode — sometimes they are encountering it for the first time, sometimes the guest is intimately familiar with the piece or artist, and sometimes Jacobson acts as the intelligent friend educating you on who made it and what it looks like. Jokes ensue. Encountering James Turrell's skyspace at MoMA PS1 leads to riffs about being high, watching performance art with RuPaul dissolves into jokes about body hair. Here, a MoMA curator is introduced to reign things back in and give some background information on the artist or artwork, before turning it back to Jacobson, now more educated about what she's looking at, closes the show. And this is my biggest frustration with the show. Each episode essentially ends at the same place: an invitation to the viewer — the listener? — to interpret the work for themselves. In modern art, we learn that all that matters is what you see, what you take away from the art.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this argument — I don't disagree that the viewer always brings something to the work3. The problem here, though, is that it's not earned and can often feel like a cop out. What do the preceding fifteen minutes do to teach the listener how to look at this work? What critical tools did it give her to interpret the work for herself and derive meaning from it? The show focuses on Jacobson and her friends talking about what they see and then we're asked to make our own conclusions. The curator's contribution is often simply a background survey and we rarely get the cultural, political, and social context of when the art was made, what it was responding to, or what else was going on in the world at the time. The art, in a sense, never exists outside MoMA.

The goal of the show becomes muddied. Is it to get people to visit MoMA next time they are in New York? Is it a comedy podcast? Is it supposed to be educational? Inspirational? Entertaining? Is is supposed to get people excited about art? Is it to explain why things look the way they do? How art moved from realistic representation to abstract? It's unclear to me what I'm supposed to take away from the show. If the aim of the show is to demystify modern art, it needs to be removed from the gallery — from the white walled museum — and made relevant in our lives here and now.

I recently rewatched the great Marxist critic John Berger's seminal 1972 BBC series, Ways of Seeing. Berger, in many ways, was doing something similar. Over the course of four episodes Berger breaks down how to look at art — not just formally, but also culturally and politically — and how to read the images we're surrounded by to see the ideologies built into them. Over the course of four episodes, he uses Walter Benjamin to talk about reproduction, looks at materialism and consumer culture, the male gaze and the female form, and the relationship between advertising and Renaissance art. Berger wasn't trying to explain modern art like Jacobson is, but he was trying to show how art functions, how we interact with, and how it relates to our own lived experiences.

Thinking about Berger, I can't help but wonder if the medium just doesn't fit the subject. Hearing someone else describe a work of modern art can be like listening to someone try to tell your their dreams. I wonder what someone who doesn't know this work takes away from these descriptions? Publishers are pushing video right now 4 and while I think many of these efforts will backfire, there is something about using video to talk about art that feels right. Imagine short three to five minute videos of Jacobson in the museum, looking at a single work of art with a curator and friend. The audience gets to see what she's seeing, in real time, and curators can pull references, historical points, and other artists easily without the viewer needing to research on their own. Connections can be made in the moment, right on the screen, where the audience is learning both about the art and artist but able to put it into larger historical and cultural contexts.

What MoMA, WNYC, and Jacobson are trying to do is hard and I truly applaud their efforts. But what the show needs is a clearer focus and an interest to ask the larger questions: why is this work still worth talking about? Why are they even in MoMA's collection? Who made them and how did their culture shape the work being produced? And perhaps most importantly: why is art important and why should we care? It's only after attempting to answer these questions does the listener leaved with the critical tools to look at these works of art and see their value.

People like Questlove, Tavi Gevinson, Hannibal Burress, and RuPaul. ↩︎

There's something interesting about using an auditory medium to talk about something inherently visual. It's hard to do and especially hard to do well. Believe me, I try to do it too. ↩︎

There's a whole strand of aesthetic philosophy that deals with the role of art in a viewer's lives, or instrumentalism. (See: John Dewey's book Art as Experience or Alain de Botton's Art as Therapy.) ↩︎

See MTV, Vice, GQ, et al. Ugh. ↩︎

[peppermint-shamrock]

@bitterseaproduction asked for 001 for YGO, so I’m doing that here:

DM:

Favorite character: Yuugi, he’s such a precious young man.

Least Favorite character: Least favorite in terms of horrible person? Gozaburo, he’s just awful. Least favorite in terms of not compelling? Yami Bakura, he was such an underwhelming villain, didn’t really undergo development at all, can have most of his involvement removed without affecting things much, and is just generally boring.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Encourageshipping (and associated ships), Polarshipping, Blueshipping/Mizushipping, Crystalshipping/Stageshipping, Heartshipping

Character I find most attractive: Does it count if I say older Yuugi?

Character I would marry: Yuugi, of course!

Character I would be best friends with: Again, Yuugi - but of course the rest of the smiley face circle of friends would be great as well

a random thought: I hope the DSOD sub comes out soon.

An unpopular opinion: Aside from my opinion on Yami Bakura? Well, I’ve got an unpopular opinion regarding DSOD, but I don’t know if you’ve seen it so to avoid spoilers, I’ll skip that one, too (I’ll just say I didn’t like the resolution). I guess a somewhat unpopular opinion I have is that the manga isn’t strictly better than the anime - I think there’s a number of things that the manga did better, but also a number of things that the anime did better. Some people hold up the manga as so much better, but I don’t agree with that.

my canon OTP: Please define “canon”. Encourageshipping is canon in some directions (i.e., Anzu’s attraction to Atem is canon, Yuugi’s attraction to Anzu is canon, Word of God confirms Anzu would end up liking Yuugi), but not all...I don’t know that it counts if it’s one-sided. I’d argue Polar is canon in the anime. Mizu’s almost definitely canon, but some people would argue that. I can safely say I like Roseshipping though - no one can argue that that isn’t canon.

Non-canon OTP: If Encourage doesn’t count for canon, then Encourageshipping. At the very least, my way of encourageshipping (all three, peach, revo, and puzzle, all reciprocated) is non-canon. But it is a very pure and supportive ship. It should be canon, dammit.

most badass character: Jounouchi

pairing I am not a fan of: ...I’m sorry, but Prideshipping. I can see the appeal of it, and after watching DSOD, I can believe that Kaiba has romantic feelings for Atem. But I just can’t see Atem reciprocating them, nor do I think that a relationship could work out between them. Though they respect each other, there’d be too much conflict. I think Kaiba needs someone who can be more patient with him, still be able to put their foot down when he goes too far, but they do need to be a lot more patient than Atem is. It’s far from my least favorite pairing(that’s the more popular Kaiba pairing and I’m not getting into that right now), and in fact I can get behind it as a strictly one-sided relationship with unrequited feelings on Kaiba’s end, but this said “not a fan of” and not “hate”, so...

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): In the anime, Jounouchi did get turned into a joke far too often. He wasn’t completely ruined, but that’s definitely something I think went wrong. But if we’re talking both manga and anime...honestly, I wish something more had been made of Shaadi - he had a lot of potential to be interesting.

favourite friendship: Yuugi and Jounouchi are the most canon brotp. I also just love the whole smiley face circle of friends friendship.

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: Can’t really think of any of them.

GX:

Favorite character: Fubuki

Least Favorite character: Amon, but of course no one likes him.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): I’m not as familiar with the GX fandom, so I don’t know too many ship names, but I like proshipping(Edo/Ryo), Shou/BMG, Misawa/Tania, Soulshipping(Judai/Yubel), Fianceshipping(Judai/Asuka)

Character I find most attractive: Fubuki, to no surprise.

Character I would marry: You know, as much as I like Fubuki, I don’t think he’d be husband material...I think I’d go with O’Brien for this one.

Character I would be best friends with: Asuka

a random thought: I should probably rewatch GX...it’s been a while

An unpopular opinion: Again, not really familiar with the fandom, so I have no idea what a popular or unpopular opinion would be...

my canon OTP: Shou/BMG is definitely canon. Even if it’s silly.

Non-canon OTP: Proshipping.

most badass character: Ryo, I mean he really screwed himself up with the electroshock duels but you have to admit it’s pretty badass.

pairing I am not a fan of: Can’t think of anything off the top of my head.

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Honestly? I can’t think of any. It’s been a while, so I could be missing something obvious, but I remember GX doing a really good job with its characters.

favourite friendship: Judai and everyone

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: Can’t think of any.

Arc V:

Favorite character: Selena

Least Favorite character: There’s a lot of characters I don’t really care for, but least favorite is probably Eita, the know-it-all quiz-show kid.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Lustershipping, Emblemshipping, Appleshipping, Fruitshipping, Dartshipping

Character I find most attractive: Gongenzaka

Character I would marry: Yuugo

Character I would be best friends with: Yuuya

a random thought: I’m looking forward to the finale. Even if this last season has been pretty disappointing, I’m still hopeful for a good finish.

An unpopular opinion: Synchro Arc was pretty good, I liked it.

my canon OTP: Honestly, I don’t think anyone can argue that Appleshipping isn’t canon, so we’ll go with that.

Non-canon OTP: Lustershipping (I wish this was canon, but unfortunately Masumi stopped being relevant after 30 episodes)

most badass character: Gongenzaka

pairing I am not a fan of: Yuzu with anyone except Masumi or Yuuya. I’m normally quite a multishipper but with Yuzu, despite the ship bait interactions she gets with a whole lot of characters, I don’t like any ship with her except Luster and Fruit. They’re just off-putting to me. I especially am not fond of Bracelet and Serenade.

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): We’d be here all night if I were to list them all. But right now, I’m really frustrated with what they’ve done to Himika. She was much more interesting as the cold, generally horrible person.

favourite friendship: Yuuya and Gongenzaka

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: I will adopt Reira and Reiji, please. They deserve better.