#due to pacing and tone and that being really hard to adapt

[gascon-en-exil]

I could see something between Rheas breaking point and setting Fhirdiad aflame solely on CF and Dany setting Kings Landing on fire due to them both being pushed mentally by another woman who constantly torments them with acts that are unbelievable tone deaf or petty, but that’s where the similarities end as the older woman Dany was against was evil and stupid while Dany is young and stupid and would completely hit different if we had the Targ(M) vs Targ(F) storyline the book was setting up.

I suppose Jon killing Daenerys was meant to be the male vs. female Targaryen story all along, although it's handled so poorly that absolutely no one liked it. At least I thought it was funny for the show to reveal to the audience that Daeneyrs and Jon are aunt and nephew while the two of them are having sex...but that's about the only positive for me on that point.

It's very hard for me to see Rhea in either Daenerys or Cersei, even at that moment - and not just because in GoT it's the conquering invader who does the firebombing. Three Hopes reinforced that the writers of both games treat Rhea less as a character than as a plot device, in that she's used for very specific purposes - mystery plot red herring, exposition-dumping damsel in distress, or final boss - and almost never appears onscreen when she's not needed to be one of those. She never really feels like a single cohesive character unless you fill in the gaps with headcanons (which I don't care enough to do) or are satisfied by the exposition dumps and her S rank mostly explaining her on a basic comprehension level.

Daeneyrs even at her most sloppily-written has a lot more screetime and more diverse interactions with other characters to pull from to give her some coherence, even when she goes Mad Queen. There's foreshadowing to that all the way back in S1 - the woman just loves to solve her problems by setting people on fire. Cersei meanwhile is a more straightforward villain than either Edelgard or Rhea (or Daenerys), albeit with enough sympathetic moments and a degree of psychological realism to make her failures and her occasional triumphs deeply enjoyable, at least for me.

I just find it amusing that we're now seeing fandom history getting revised; as I understand it, prior to the final season there were a bunch of GoT fans who wanted Daenerys to pull off a Targaryen restoration, and they couldn't stand it when S8 slapped them in the face (with terrible, rushed pacing) with the reality that Daeneyrs was always a conqueror and that her whole "breaking the wheel" spiel was only obscuring her trying to reclaim the throne that her family had (literally) made and held for centuries via conquest. But now, the Targaryens are bad...because the prequel show is all about Daenerys's ancestors being autocrats embroiled in a civil war where none of them even try to sound progressive beyond positing that women can (maybe) be in positions in leadership? If you want to talk about hereditary autocracies, Edelgard's the one to compare to Daenerys, even down to her seeking retribution for her father being stripped of his power by a group of nobles.

The political ideology of ASoIaF and its adaptations has always seemed to me to be a very grim and cynical one, suggesting that nothing ever really changes because people are terrible - which isn't so far off from FE's bittersweet central thesis. It's strange to me that there are fans of both properties who have difficulty engaging with them on those terms, and instead expect canon to give them something that it's just not interested in realizing.

[codenamesazanka]

the reactions are in! my anime-only friends said of the episode:

(asked if it was good or bad) …It was an episode

It’s just Shigaraki in the woods with a giant rock man

I’m a bit confused

that’s the doctor from the first episode? What— oh, he’s helping Shigara— wtf, those hands are his family? why hands— Oh, they’re being sent back to the rock man

(Good so far?) Well, the lab is pretty cool looking. The hand thing is fucked up, but now we know why they’re there. But why hands, they didn’t get destroyed?

So this all happened last year (in-universe)…? In December. Kurogiri’s still there so— When was he captured again? Oh, it’s before last season’s Endeavor arc. So right after Overhaul arc?

They’ve just been fighting the rock man this entire time? They haven’t done anything else? What about the High End—?

(Second half of episode) Who’s narrating? Wait, it’s the lizard guy?? Huh, weird.

Dunno, the League is still kinda… They’re not that interesting. Like, what are they doing? Why are they sticking with Shigaraki? There doesn’t seem to be anything holding them together.

Why aren’t they all killing each other by now? Especially stabby girl and Shigaraki and Dabi and…everyone else.

What is up with stabby girl? What’s up with all of them?

Deadpool copy guy still seems cool.

Who’s the hostage? (Giran, the broker) Who? Have we met him before? (Yeah, he’s the guy who introduced Toga and Dabi to Shigaraki in season 2, remember?) …No, not really.

Okay, random new villains… They’re like, an evil corporation? (No, the leader is just also the CEO of a company.) Oh, so it’s not an Evil, Inc. type thing?

(Curious, Trumpet, Skeptic in background of RD phone-call) Weren’t they just elsewhere? (No, those shots were just… abstract character-establishing still scenes) Oh. Okay.

Yeah, sorry, you’re still weird for liking that Shiggy guy, Nal. We still don’t get it.

-

OVERALL, my anime-only friends are a bit confused, but they’ll keep watching. Mostly just to finish the season.

With the episode skipping back two-three months from last’s episode, and covering 3-4 chapters in one episode, all lot is going on, with seemingly little context. The focus seemed just to suddenly shift to the villains. My friends watch each episode weekly, so lacking a recap, they’ve forgotten most of what the League as a whole last did.

Literally one of them told me in the time between Overhaul and the Doctor, it doesn’t seem like the League as done anything. Which is exactly the point, except instead of learning they were poor and reduced to dumpster-diving via the MVA introduction with Spinner’s narration, the League now just seem to be boring and bad at being the active terrorist Villains they’re supposed to be. The anime really just suddenly switch to the League in the middle of nowhere being attacked by Machia, no context, no lead-up, nothing.

Literally my friends told me the League didn’t seem to have a uniting purpose, which again, was the point, but now they seem like carelessly-written flat characters that are just thrown together. Why do any of them stick around? Without the scene of them hanging out - the mass murder bonding, Twice and Toga playing with a necklace, the banter, the sushi quip - the League’s connection with each other and Giran is completely random and unconvincing.

Plus while I’m happy Spinner got to narrate a bit, for my friends, it seemed completely random that the role was given to the lizard guy. A bizarre choice, because what’s notable about him? Why this background character? He’s just gonna talk; okay then.

Besides those issues that would’ve been easily solved by adapting 220 properly, there’s also the fact that with the rush pacing, there’s little time to take in the atmosphere and tone of the lab scene. Do we get to linger over the whiplash of AFO hugging Tenko, then immediately giving him the severed hands of his family, and so fully realizing the horror and inexplicable cruelty of his backstory, re-arranging emotions and judgements of the silly hand-man? Nope. Do we get to take in the impact of Shigaraki’s dream and the depths of his distortion when he’s speaking at top speed? Nah. We get a brief moment of ‘what the fuck’ over the hands, another ‘what the heck’ over the speech, and then we’ve moved on to wrestling with Gigantomachia. It’s hard to reflect on all this new information when there’s even more new things to learn about a broker and the new army and the League being challenged to a fight.

Basically, the episode and beginning of anime MVA is a mess, giving only the barest of chance for interest in the characters and what’s going to happen in the next five episodes; mainly any continue watching is due to obligation to finish the season and momentum of ‘oh, we’re diving in, okay.’ This is the reaction I get from friends I was eager to watch MVA with and introduce and celebrate the Villains. I’m kinda devastated.

[ikeservant]

How would the ikesen boys react to an mc who is blind but can take care of herself?

This took forever but I finally finished! 

MC has been blind for a good chunk of her life. She adapted quickly though through her sense of hearing and echolocation along with vibrations, being able to detect walls, objects, and people around her. She got sucked into the wormhole and BAM! Sengoku era! 

Nobunaga: She could smell and hear the fire around her and also..someone coughing? She followed the sound until she found the source, remembering the path she took so she can get out, and dragged Nobu’s butt out of the flames. “Do you know who I am?” “Well I can’t see you so nope.” When he realized that she was blind he was very impressed. “Men with all their senses in tact don’t have the bravery that you have. You are indeed a lucky charm.” He took her to Azuichi and told her that she could just laze around and have others take care of her if she wished, but mc is an independent woman that is able to do things herself so she immediately tells him to give her a job and she’d be able to accommodate to it. He admires her ambition and sets her to work. When she isn’t working he invites her to sit with him and chat bc he wants to get to know her as a person as well as how she’s able to adapt to the world without the sense of sight, intrigued with the clever methods to manage on her own. He feels inspired by her to create an education program for his citizens affected with physical limitations and how to help them live a fulfilling life while feeling capable just like mc.

Hideyoshi: His suspicion of mc decreased dramatically when he found out, as a matter of fact, she is blind. Suspicion immediately turned into concern and pity, making him really hesitant of Nobunaga letting mc do chores since she wanted to earn her keep. He was silently watching her with her rag and bucket, ready to step in the moment he sees her struggle. Instead, he sees her stepping around the perimeter of the outside hallway, mentally mapping out the length and width of the hall. Then, picking up the rag, cleaned the whole hall without a problem. Afterward, he approached her and told her about his concerns and worries of her struggling. She reassured him that she was able to live on her own for the most part where she came from, and as long as she made a mental map of the castle and heard when she was getting close to a wall or object, she would be just fine. He’d still insist on going to the market with her since it’s hard for anybody to navigate by hearing and mentally taking notes when there’s a huge market crowd. VERY protective and VERY mama hen Hide around mc to the point where she nags at him to give her space bc she doesn’t want him to worry about her as much as he does.

Mitsunari: Very helpful while also being very curious about how mc strategizes her everyday life. While giving a tour of the castle, he could tell she was taking her time while using her other senses to get a feel for each area. When he talked about her possibly having a helper maid to take her from place to place, mc answered “No need. I now know the area. I’ll ask somebody if I get lost but I’ve got a good mental map of the area.” “Very impressive, mc!” Mitsunari would beam. Mc can take care of herself better than he can, making that the staple point that the others drive into Mitsunari so he actually starts taking care of himself. They often brainstorm of ways to help mc do errands. Like with delivering scroll letters, cutting off a small little square at the bottom in a certain area so she can tell who is getting what letter and travel accordingly (ex: cut in left corner is Nobunaga’s letter. Cut in right corner is for Hideyoshi. Square cut in the middle on the bottom of the scroll is Ieyasu, etc.) Thinks mc is smarter and has a stronger willpower than anybody he’s ever met (besides his “friend” Ieyasu) bc of how she’s able to think and adapt to compensate for her lack of eyesight to survive and be capable and on equal footing as everyone else.

Masamune: He found out when trying to flirt with mc. “Hey I’ve had my eye on you this whole time, lass.” “Wish I could say the same. But that’s physically impossible.” “Ha! I see you have a sense of humor. I would have said I had my EYES on you but that would be only half true.” Both would probably joke about their eyes and brush it off as no big deal. Impressed that by her second day he saw her in the halls carrying supplies by herself, already aware of the area. “Masamune, is that you?” “Yeah it is! I’m impressed! Your senses must be very on point.” “That or the fact that you always smell like spices and walk kinda funny.”mc laughed. Likes how free and independent mc’s spirit is, admiring how she doesn’t let her disability stop her from doing what she wants to do, finding ways to adapt to things. Since boi really likes to write letters but would have to have someone else read it to her while he was away, she taught him braille. Giving him a guide with a scroll listing the indents/holes that indicate different characters, he was able to give her flirty messages while he was away and imagine her blushy face while she’s reading the letter herself.

Mitsuhide: Could tell almost right away that mc was blind. Would secretly be watching over her to see if she was having trouble. Every time he would walk up to her with a “Are you lost, little mouse? It must be hard for you.” in a condescending tone to tease her while also being slightly concerned. “No. I know I’m in the right hallway to go to the cleaning supply room. Just two more lefts then a right and about 10 paces to the left.” He actually was shocked for a second but felt like praising her for having a sharp mind. Tries sneaking up on her but she can always tell he’s near due to just sensing his presence and hearing just the slightest glide of his feet on the hallway, calling him out. Sees a bit of himself in her, being mentally prepared and alert of their senses to adapt and compensate for their shortcomings. When deciding to teach her because he wants her to survive and thrive in this cruel world, he realizes he’ll have to read everything to her and verbally quiz her. However, she introduced him to braille, intriguing him and inspiring him to use it as a new secret code language to send info. Also feels like it’s a special bond between them.

Ieyasu: Would be against mc doing chores or going around by herself because she’ll just be an inconvenience (not because he just doesn’t want her to get hurt I write sarcastically). Would make him stand up and follow her as she gives him a whole tour of the castle, remembering every hallway within one week. He’s glad that mc can’t see how embarrassed his face is that she’s better adapted than he thought. He’d still lowkey be like mama hideyoshi, silently watching her and trying to tell her that she should still be careful. He draws the line at her planning on going to the market on her own because things are constantly shifting and changing there and the noisy crowd might throw her off, leaving him no other choice but to escort mc. As thanks, mc would buy him something spicy, using her nose and advice from others to get him the gift. Normally mc is able to go through the day fine, but sometimes she’ll accidentally tumble, causing Ieyasu to lightly scold her while checking her bruises and letting her see Wasabi. She was SHOOK finding out that she was petting a cute lil deer since she could tell it was a smaller 4 legged animal with lil hooves but didn’t know that it was a baby fawn. Ieyasu would also give mc a walking stick to help her navigate better, especially in unfamiliar areas or areas with possible obstacles in the way.

Kenshin: Was at the bar minding his own business when he heard a cane tap a seat next to him. Mc sat next to him, ordering something to drink. “If you were to try to find a woman, how long would it take to find her in this bar?” she’d ask, hoping that she could get some free time away from an overbearing escort. “Depends on the target. Why? Did you start a fight? If so, can I get in on it?” “Oh nah. I want a break from being smothered with attention and feeling like I need help. If I can go to this specific bar blind then that should be proof that I don’t need helpers for short trips.” He was surprised a woman, much less a blind woman, was confident in her abilities to get from place to place while being sure of herself. Mc and Kenshin met quite a bit after that and the more he heard her complain about her work, the more he realized she was working for the Oda. Not trusting the Oda and not wanting her to face a horrible fate if someone overtakes the Oda first, he convinces her to move into his castle. She memorizes the area quickly and feels less crowded with warlords, but the closer she gets to Kenshin the more he is overbearing and protective over her safety. She gives him several demonstrations of her doing tasks by herself to convince him that it’s very low risk and that she enjoys feeling independent and capable. Although overprotective, he thinks she has the most determined spirit of anyone he’s ever met and will cut down anybody that makes her feel weak or helpless because she’s far from that in his eyes, even if he still worries about her.

Shingen: Shingen was well aware that almost all the women at the tea shop were swooning over him, all except mc, who was eating sweet buns and drinking tea in the corner while waiting for some of the warlords to come back from their long in-town meeting. He tried winking at her, but she just kept staring off and making no expression change. He decided to walk up to her, feeling curious. “Whoever smells like woodchips and cologne that is walking up to my table, please state your business.” Since he’s very intuitive, he’s able to realize mc is blind by now. He decided to have a normal conversation with her, learning how she’s able to stay strong and manage w/o sight. When he saw the other warlords coming back he bolted, but realized she was working for the “terrible” Nobunaga. Since in his mind he thinks the Oda are going to hurt/take advantage of her, he makes an elaborate plan to take her away. When she got to Kenshin and Shingen’s place, she was FUMING bc of being kidnapped. However, Shingen explained everything about how the Oda overtook his homeland and all the horrors he’s seen them do and how he wanted to save her from facing that same fate. Mc pretty much told him that it isn’t his choice to make that call but understands from his voice that he’s being sincere so she decides to stay for a while. He’s very impressed she knows the whole layout of the castle and can tell when he’s walking up to her because he has a “flirty saunter”. When she does feel a little down about being blind he helps her find silver linings like how she’s been able to be braver and determined to adapt, and how she is able to look at someone’s character and words instead of being thrown off by physical appearances. Although he is chivalrous and offers to help her with tough tasks, he will ROAST anybody that calls her weak or fragile because she’s the strongest, most resilient goddess in his eyes. Would make a beautiful wooden cane for her so she can look stylish while walking around outside.

Yukimura: When mc freaked out and ran away, running straight for the cliff, Yukimura caught her. “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING RUNNING OFF A CLIFF LIKE A WILD BOAR? ARE YOU BLIND?” “Actually yeah.” Yuki went o_o before trying to scold her more for running aimlessly w/o knowing where she’s going until Sasuke swooped in, recognizing she’s the person from the present and offers they take her in. Yuki agrees, not wanting anybody to get hurt cuz he’s a caring boi. Since he didn’t want her to trip on anything and could tell she was exhausted and overwhelmed at the moment, he gave her a piggyback ride to the castle. When showing her around he keeps awkwardly asking if she needs help or assistance and gets more embarrassed when she says she can do most things on her own. “Of course I can feed myself. I have hands, dummy.” Is glad she’s capable of doing a lot on her own so he doesn’t have to keep worrying about her safety. Lowkey forgets she’s blind at times but is glad mc can laugh it off and says it makes her happy that she can go about life so normally that people don’t notice her blindness. When mc talked about seeing eye dogs being a thing, lowkey he’s thinking about making Muramasa a guide dog if mc ever wanted to go explore so he can guide her and pull her along. Also embarrassingly asks Shingen to teach him how to carve wood so he can make her a walking stick with their names carved on it and will blush like crazy when mc feels the names on it and tackles him in a hug.

Sasuke: Found her running in the woods the night she landed in the Sengoku era. Since she was overwhelmed and scared for her life, not knowing what the heck was going on, she was stumbling and tripped, making a branch snap loudly. Sasuke, who was nearby, used his ninja hearing and went to investigate. She could hear him approach and turned towards his direction. “I HAVE A WEAPON AND I’M NOT AFRAID TO USE IT” she threatened, gripping her walking stick while whipping out a pocket knife. He noticed the red band around the white stick, which was the noticeable sign of a blind person’s walking cane. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you.” “You sound like the guy from the temple before that big lightning strike. What the hell is going on?” He explained to her the current predicament and how they’re back in the Sengoku era. “I guess that explains why I teleported into a flaming building and just heard a bunch of warlord names and felt like I was in a historical reenactment.” Sasuke helps her go to Kenshin’s place, explaining to Kenshin her predicament and Kenshin agrees as long as Sasuke duels him every day for a month (RIP Sasuke). Is impressed how she’s able to remember how to get around the castle after just 2 days and makes Kenshin give her a job and proving that she’s plenty capable, earning Kenshin’s respect. He has faith that she is plenty independent and capable of living a decent life in the castle, but he still offers assistance in unfamiliar settings and will always come up with good ideas to help when mc asks for advice on how to get around certain tasks.

[popculturebuffet]

Scottrospective: Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness

Welcome back my Scottaholics! We’re moving right along fun and fancy free just a few days later from Book 2 to 3. Which fits: As I mentioned in my review of book 1 I first encountered Scott, Ramona and Wallace in a free comic book story, and VERY intrigued, bought volumes 2 and 3 from the same comic shop after reading it in line.. or maybe I went there again later and bought them. My brain is a foggy sinkhole. Point is I was hooked from then on out, and bought the next three volumes as I came out, and through the internet because by then i’d leanred to use Amazon. Ironic given Ramona’s work for them is not only iconic to the series but plot important in volumes 1 and 2. As is Scott’s package toss in the movie. But the story of my long wait for volume 4 can wait for February. Point is it was these two and Free Scott PIlgrim are the ones I poured over again and agian, obessing over as a teen and the ones that stick in my brain the most.  But even with that last time the exaustive process of covering it exposed a LOT of volume 2′s weakness: While it has a lot of iconic scenes, including Scott accidently convincing a man to skateboard himself to death, the Ramona and Knives fight, the envy call, the flashback, and is still very enjoyable..it also feels the most like a collection of loose events out of the books. Good stuff and character and tone wise better than last time.. but not quite as narratively strong. The series was GETTING there, the art was solidfiying into it’s final form, the characters were in the right place, SCott was more likeable.. but it hadn’t quite hit it’s stride yet.  Three guesses when it did and the first two didn’t count. Infinite Sadness is one of my favorite volumes, along with 4 and 6. And while part of that is nostaliga and a personal connection.. the bulk of it is just this volume being even BETTER on the re-read. I picked up subtle bits that I didn’t notice before that only enritched the experince, the pacing is sublime, the character work is top notch and compelling, the art work is finally crystlalized into what the series is known for, and would only get even better as it goes, and the fights are some of the series best. This is one hell of a story and I warmly invite you to join me as I break it down after the break.

Previously on Scott Pilgrim: Scott defeated Lucas Lee, the second Evil Ex, met Luke Wilson, and prepared to go to his ex girlfriend’s concert despite this being a terrible idea to discuss a gig. It was there he and Ramona found out Envy’s base player Todd, the douchenozzle who she cheated on Scott with, is also the douchenozzle Ramona cheated on Lucas with. 

So we open.. exactly from that moment, with Scott and Ramona starring wide eyed while the band plays in an utterly dazzling sequence that’s been brought up a notch in the color remaster. Also one of a handful of moments that was barely touched from page to screen, with only slight adaptations to make it better on screen, and the addition of Metric’s now iconic “Black Sheep”. And when reading the scene.. I couldn’t resisit turning black sheep on as it matched it perfectly..  so yeah have the Clash at the Demonhead performance from the film

So while that worms it’s way into your head, let’s talk about the character designs for Clash Of the Demonhead, since volume 2 is the last time in the color editions O’Malley really talks about character origins and stuff. I could’ve missed something of course, we’ll see as we go won’t we. I just saved it for here as the Volume 2 review was running a bit long as is and while their shown on covers and on the back cover of the black and white edition, they don’t show up in person and in their full glory till the last panel, hence saving it for here where Envy and Todd are the main antagonists and Lynette is... plot relevant. 

Envy was based on the front woman for the band Metric, Emily Haines, designed much like hanes to be a tough, confrotnational, sexy woman, his words not mine, who’d gone through a lot of change in a few years since according to him, and i’m willing to take his word for it since I don’t know the band outside of the one song he picked for the movie, a lot of the bands songs are about that. And honeslty it makes me want to check them out more, as does how awesome black sheep is I can’t belivie I took this long, and is supremely intresting as I hadn’t realized there was a good reason there wasn’t just an original song written for clash at the demonhead. I mean if you base your character on the frontwoman for a band why NOT use one of their songs.

Speaking of band, Plumtree’s drummer, Lynette Gillis, was the inspiration for Lynette Gycott, though the final version of her is more cold and robotic and less like Gillis than initially envisioned. 

Finally Todd..was based on Scott, and while he evolved out from that a bit especially in powers.. the concept basically stuck as Todd is a stronger, dumber, more agressive and douchey version of Scott whose mistreatment of women is far more deliberate than Scott’s untetional douchebaggery. 

So after some interview segments for some sort of documentary on the band with the crowd, we cut to our heroes after the show, all standing around and being nervous. Stephen’s first words are “Decent show eh, told you they were good”. 

Admitely re-reading this one and answering a reader question, unrealted but it got me to thinking, made me realize Stephen wasn’t AS much of a dick as I thought: I didn’t think about the fact Scott and Envy’s blow up cost him their old band which was close to singing, and that Scott both as revealed in volume 3 and in bits here, was kind of a dick towards the end, intitating the breakup while drunk and belligernt and saying a facepunchingly dickish comment we’ll get to. So he wasn’t BLAMELESS and it’s understandable Stephen dosen’t hate her as much. She was friends with his horrible albatross of a girlfriend and didn’t break his heart. 

However.. he’s still an asshole and deserve jeff blim’s theatrical fuck you up there. He still ignores Scott’s pain, or the fact that most of the breakup WAS Envy’s fault as we’ll see. We’ll get into it in full obviously but for the cliffs notes so I can yell at a fictional grumpy closted canadian man: She slowly drifted away from him, treated him like he had no say in a band he helped found or took his feelings into account in the record deal, and cheated on him with Todd and possibly another guy. And as seen here she used her fame to bribe her ex and friends into showing up just so, as we see, she can torture him and his new girlfriend a bit. Envy is not a good person and Stephen is ignoring that and his friends VERY obvious emtoinal turmoil. Especially dickish since by this point Scott has clearly swallowed his pride and agreed to a show with someone who really DEEPLY hurt him for Stephen and Kim’s sake.. and he’s not even remotely greatful for it clearly. The only reason  he’s not the biggest asshole left in the building is because Todd, Envy and Julie, queen of bitches, is in there. 

So after a save point gag that goes nowhere, Envy shows up to take the group back stage... awkward, uncomfortable and very intentional silence insues to makes Scott even more sweaty and nervous and Ramona visably and understandably annoyed. Knives tries to talk to her hero but gets ignored because Envy’s a bitch.. and so’s Julie who not only joins in the shunning of a fucking teenager who clearly loves this band, but also is clearly trying to conversationally surgically attach her lips to Envy’s ass. Her toadying is obnxoious as you’d expect and as transparent as you’d expect, trying to drudge up old nostalgia while Envy’s clearly barely intrested, and the only thing that makes it more tolerable than normal Julie is Envy clearly barely tolerates this and likely is only going with it because she could be a useful minon in the future. 

Thankfully this is broken up. Unthakfully it’s by knives shouting her most iconic line: 

Given Envy is shown to not be the best person.. her response is to have her cyborg goon belt knives in the face

Which leads to an even better line seconds later

Envy then to just .. complete the circle of being a bitch has NEil take knives out then mocks her when Julie explains why knives and neil were even here. And it’s VERY telling that even Julie, who was must minutes from humping envy’s leg and begging to go with her when she leaves, is visably put off by Envy’s attitude. So while Ramona is understandably fucking done with this, as even she has some shred of sympathy for the teenager who tried to stab her a day ago, Scott has to take a minute to have a flashback. We see two brief bits of Scott with Envy, at the start of their college band Kid Chamelon where they were all happy.. and shortly after the breakup where Scott is miserable, in the middle of the street, sadly saying their name while saying “I’m so alone”.. explaning that desert bit from volume 1.. and making it ten times more painful. Nicely done Brian. 

So with Knives gone we get our usual character age intros and descriptoins, my favioritte being Stephen “wants a damn buritto dammit” which I can relate to and thankfully got it monday. He also does show a bit more of his noble self as, things have escalated to the point even he can see Envy has some sort of evil scheme planned and he walked right into it so he asks what her ulterior motive is. Julie pipes up with “She dosen’t NEED ulterior motives she was written up with in spin!”

So Envy grills Ramona a bit clearly trying to make her squirm..though at least when Julie TRIES to jump in she shoots her down, like some asshole pulling a yappy dog on it’s leash hard. Eventually Scott flips out and .. well I don’t want to overpanel this review but this is just.. quotes cannot do this justice. 

The result.. is the reveal Todd is psychic due to being a vegan and he throwing scott through a wall with telkenisis, kyle!

It’s explained he has these powers because he’s a vegan and even was top of his class at the vegan academy. Citation... needed. Not because of his power but because Todd may be one of the stupidest beings that’s ever lived. And I once had a friend whose other friend told me, since they’d be going to diffrent high schools and he was trying to pass off his mummies curse of keeping him from destroying himself with his own stupidity, tried to run into a wall to loose weight. No I don’t get how this would’ve worked but having known the guy I guarnatee he was arrogant and dumb enough at the time to try it. Nowadays I assume he’s much better... I assume. You.. you’d have to be to have survived another decade. 

Todd is also THAT kind of smug dickhead. Thankfully I haven’t met one in real life or online, as the two vegetarians I have known, one of my best friends micheal and my uncle drew, the former of whom now also eats fish and the latter of whom gave it up once he moved to places he could get meat that was raced humanely easier, but who I still respect for having that amount of self control. But Todd is a clear parody of the type of vegan and vegetarian who think their better than everyone.. by thinking he’s even BETTER than regular vegans because not every vegan can take the strain of psychic powers, with Kim naturally sniping at him.. then flipping him off when he says “don’t get snippy babe” and is very lucky he has psychic powers as otherwise he’d suddenly be wondering where his dick is and why kim’s holding a broken bottle. 

Brian also pokes fun at the old 90 percent of your brain trope. You know the old one that claims you only use 10 percent.. 

But it’s only because your only ACTIVELY using it and the rest is simply other functions. But hey we got Deathstroke out of that claim so good enough. Todd claims it’s because the other 90 percent is curds and whey. This might be the greatest use of this outdated trope in human history. No.. no.. it is. It exactly is. 

Envy brags that’s why he can’t beat him having clearly traded disappearing up her own ass  for disappearing up todd’s, Julie was also crammed up there, it was getting crowded. Envy claims to have been with todd since age 11.. which.. is more.. delusion than anything and she brushes off Ramona rightfully pointing out that’d mean he cheated on her with Ramona as Rammy trying to distract her and trying to smack talk SCott more who has another flashback. 

SOME YEARS AGO.. I DUNNO 5? 5 YEARS AGO?

We see Scott’s first meeting with Envy, who was rooming with Julie. Julie, it might shock you.. has not changed at all in 5 or so years. She’s seen bitching at her roomate Natalie V. Adams, the future Envy, for not wanting to get drunk and high and for hanging out in her room with all her anime posters and stuff. As you can tell, she’s a vastly diffrent person at this point, a nerdy interverted otaku and as you can probably guess now the flashbacks have started at the top, we’ll be seeing how she became the sexpot rockstar she is now and how that drove a wedge betwene her and Scott. Julie SHOCKINGLY does not take this well and as Stephen to kil lher if she ever becomes friends with her. I mean I would but If I could travel into fictional works I certainly woudln’t be wasting my time murdering Julie. I’d be asking kim out and trying to get into some cool video game ablities myself. I ain’t got time for that bitch. 

Next cut Julie is ... even worse as she’s calling Scott some “jerky jerky ladykiller”, pointing out he’s hooked up with recurring background characters Sandra and Monique. Now GRANTED, Scott could’ve hurt them and Julie could be right for once..  we’ve seen he has a history of being an insenstive douche by pure accident. But.. from the sounds of it given his encounters with Sandra and Monique were both in seperate ladies rooms, as in casual hookups I assume are common in universities. As long as he used a condom and dind’t lie about being in it longterm, who the hell does it hurt. Same if he and Natlie ended up being that. He’s not a “ladykiller” if he got busy on a washroom sink. He just had casual sex in an awful location and given Scott is both horny and stupid freqently, I could buy he either inittated it clumsily and sandra and or monqiue went for it, or one of them thought he was cute and wanted a quick one with him and it just never went anywhere either due to lack of intrest or Scott being kind of a moron. I don’t buy he INTENTIONALLY hurt anyone, he MIGHT of hurt Sandra she seems kind of ditzy and might’ve not realized it wans’t serious.. but it just entirely sounds like a casual, consesual one time hookup with two seperate women. And as long as he wore a condom and repsected their needs what the fuck is it Julie’s buisness. BEcause their here freinds? I mean they told her but they weren’t expecting her to play dick sheirff with scott probably. And Natlie is not her buisness: their not really friends.. she’s just trying to ruin Scott’s day.  I honestly get the sense she only hates Scott because she can’t get rid of him, Stephen won’t dump him as a friend and he fucked her friends once. Which makes me hate her MORE. Natlie/Envy however also calls bullshit and thinks Scott’s much too awkward to be a ladykiller. Accurate. I mean he’s good with women and gets dates easily, he’s just not inteitonally leaving them high and dry. He’s just not great with empathy. 

Scott snaps back to the present and gets pissed.. and we get the real reason for the outburst as he shouts “You you ass! She USED to be NICE!”. It’s very clear that Scott blames Todd for Envy’s change into an cold and cruel person. But .. that’s not on him entirely. I do think Envy’s cattier, more cruel “play with prey like a cat with a mouse” personality at this point is due to Todd feeding into her worse impulses.... but the flashbacks make clear even before she saw him again she was slowly changing as a person for better, gaining a drive and passion for music.. and for worse, shutting scott out cheating on him and generally not carring about anything but her career, especially Scott. As much as he wants to belivie it she didn’t MAGICALLY change into a bitch overnight and beating todd won’t fix that. She became what she is as a choice. Todd just made what she became worse. 

After the predictable result of Scott getting flung into the air and falling back down, he has another flashback and we see the next phase of their relationship: Scott, Envy and Stephen playing in a band for Stacey and Wallace (!), whose hair is certainly a... choice. And the two falling in love and julie grilling scott on if he and nat are a couple because why stop making me wish for a bus to hit you NOW Jules?

So we then get ANOTHER iconic line and another scene that was perfectly translated into the film

Comic gold no matter the medium.. Brandon Routh just nailed it and I watched the scene again before writing this just out of curoisty. Flawless stuff. Check it out

I will say however that while Movie!Envy’s response of just quickly covering is pretty funny.. I prefer the comic’s envy’s utterly baffled and pissed off “What are you talking about Todd?”. Even she can’t fathom what the fuck just happened. But since it’s late and Todd’s brain is pretty fried, Envy calls for everyone to get some sleep and they’ll regroup tommorow at 1pm at Honest Ed’s. Honest Ed’s WAS a famous discount Store in Canada that sadly closed in 2016, making what ‘s about to happen to it here sad in hindsight. It was known for big sales, big spectacle and i’ts larger than life owner who sadly passed a few years after this volume. But god bless him for giving this series one of it’s best settings. More on that when we get there for now FLASHBACK

Back in College, we see Nat’s change into envy as she sells all her stuff for some bitching new boots and cd’s and during sex with Scott asks him to start calling her Envy. Their still somewhat happy, as the next flashback has Scott remembering their 8 month anniversary and her playfully mocking him as the girl.. before we get a much starker one of him telling her he loved her and her not responding.. and looking at him.. more.. bored than anything. 

Back in the present our heroes try to wait out the rain under a bank thing, can relate to the times i’ve visted the city and came out to rain, and when that fails Kim says she’s off and will see them at practice and tells Stephen to blow her when he asks her if she’s going to Honest Ed’s, then seems genuinly confused if he pissed her off before heading home. Swing and a miss stevie, swing and a miss. 

Scott is hungry and sorta drags Ramona, whose not in the mood for anything, over to Pizza Pete’s a nearbye eatery. It’s there they happen to run into Other Scott... Other Scott is another guy named Scott. He dosen’t do much in the books. But the name Other Scott is objectively funny and he is objectively nice so he’s fine in my book and I applaud the movie for using him as Wallace’s love intrest. Though I wouldn’t be REMOTELY suprised if they were fucking in the books too. And of course with him is Wallace himself, who really is just.. entering this volume in the most Wallace way possible. 

A little drunk, eating some cheap but good food, with a million dollar style and in just the exact right place at the exact right time. If that’s not Wallace Wells, I don’t know what is. Wallace and Other Scott were clubbin, not a huge suprise given Wallace has his own deep and complicated social life we never see and Wallace is naturally a little bit absolutley livid when he finds out Scott went to see Envy’s show anyway despite you know, putting him in a misery coma. Who do you think has to clean you and feed you when your like that Scott? Elves? Well I mean .. Wallace MIGHT be an elf.. but he stilld soen’t want to do either of those things.  He breifly gets sidetracked by the fact that Scott is wearing his shirt.. maybe. I mean he wore it the other day but given their living situation it’s honestly hard to tell. Ramona reminds him of his priorites

That’s part of the fun of rereading these again so soon after rereading them in december: I’m noticing tons of little moments like this I didn’t really before. The two explain things, including Ramona pointing out Scott’s extra stupid around Envy. I mean it’s a bit mean to point out given this is clearly a lot for him. 

Wallace brushes it off and promises to help him train like a true pal before being prompted to talk about this new boy he picked up Mobile.. who we wont’ see in person for a while but Wallace is clearly head over heels for and begs Scott to let him have the apartment.. or more accuratley Ramona, whose clearly not in the best of moods with Scott, to take him. His sales pitch is immaculate

So she agrees and a friendship is forged based on mutual hatred and being someone’s dipping sauce bitch. I’ve forged longer lasting friendships on far less. Also Wallace forgot his keys but wisely banked on his Gladstone Gander esque luck to help him out.. seriously i’m convinced he has a lower yield version of that. Or God wants to bang him but can’t because his penis is so powerful it CAN SPLIT A MOUNTAIN IN TWAINNNNN. You make the call. 

So they sleep it off, and Scott heads home early next morning.. and forgot he gave wallace his keys. Thankfully wallace finds him, and even got him donuts for when he came back, what a guy, makes you cry and I did. He also shows off a new trick about using your chi to dust rain off you. Turns out Mobile is psyhich which.. dosen’t come into play but for vallad reasons: Scott assumes Mobile can just.. give him psyhic powers and training but a) he and Wallace JUST met and while they’ll remain together for the rest of the series, it’s a big ask to have him help train his best friend to fight a man as dumb and chisled as a mountain, and B) “It dosen’t work that way” meaning scott’s probably not psi adept and even if he can be taught, there’s not NEARLY enough time for him to get good enough at shielding himself from Telkenisis in time given Todd’s already fighting him today and has two other oppprotunites afterwords to beat his ass to death. There’s just not enough time. So scott collapses with a donut in his mouth.. are .. are we sure this isn’t just a more attractive more sucessful canadian alternate me? 

We flashback to when Wallace met Envy and since i’ts post-becoming envy, it dosen’t go well and he hates her immidetly, and expects Scott to break up with her asap.. which while  bitchy.. actually woudl’ve been a good move in the long run. And “Bitchily phrased but a good move in the long run” has apparently always been Wallace’s go-to move. 

In the present Wallace helps Scott , who thinks everything sucks, realize it does not, with the help of fresh bacon and perspective, helping him avoid thinking Envy is “back” when she’s just vistiing and somewhat forces him to admit it’s not happening again nor should it. And implicity your both with other people, you’ve moved on, stay moved on. ANOTHER Flashback, this time with Envy asking Scott how he and Wallace met after dinner with Scott’s parents. It’s the story we’ve been hinting at since.. uh last volume. 

And indeed it is somewhat gay! Behold! The origin of a friendship to piece the heavens or .. something like that. I’m tired. 

It’s a quick breezy story that honestly both explains a lot and is what you’d expect; Wallace taking an intrest, Wallace presumibly realising Scott is straight off screen but deciding fuck it I like this guy let’s be pals instead, and jjust sorta showing up at his house. But since it’s Wallace and he and Scott both love gaming.. it just stuck. And it’s easy to see why. Scott’s a bit of an introvert and Wallace is a ton of an extrovert. Wallce is nice, naturally charming and endlessly cool, and as you can see it took him probably just an afternoon to go from freaking scott out for showing up randomly, to Scott talking the guy up and clearly being the bosom buddies they are now. The two just ballance each other out well. Wallace need’s scott’s weirdness and general heart, and Scott needs Wallace to keep him from running into the brick walls of life via his own stupidity and conflict avoidance. It’s what they do, they make it a two player game. 

So later that day, and some off screen training later, presumibly to the song Two Player Game despite the fact it didn’t exist yet, our heroes (Scott, Ramona and Wallace), Villians (Envy and Todd) and other not so much evil as just cretionus assholes (Stephen and Julie) arrive. It’s also clear that Envy just made up the challenge as she went and I fucking love it, just saying they’ll run to the back, try and kill each other and no psychic powers, with Scott’s own handicap being “He isn’t a surivivor” which earns a rightful you unebleiviable bitch from wallace and a just ast rightful “fair enough” from Scott. 

Stephen wonders what the deal is and Julie’s answer is... I don’t.. I can’t unpack this. 

Meanwhile Wallace says “I hate her so much” Which I THINK was meant for Envy, but as a teen I interpited as being for Julie. Then again it being BOTH is entirely possible given no one can stand Julie for more than five mintues other than Stephen. And that’s because he’s still in the closet and hasn’t come out as bi or gay and thus sees her as a safe option or he really sucks with his taste in partners. Or a little from collumn a , a little from collumn b. So yeah Scott wants a Strategy and Wallace has.. nothing other than “Well he can’t use his powers so.. use that. I guess.. I dunno. I’m hungover” though Ramona warns he can’t go long without using them without freaking out. So gooood? I’m starting to think Kim is the most useful member in his crew for this fight.. and she’s the one who decided to nope out of it because she didn’t want to watch his ex pick him apart mentally and her muscly new boyfriend pick him apart with MIND BULLETS. Wallace isn’t really helping this go round, though he’s still a treasure, Ramona is trying but dosen’t have much, and Stephen thought bringing Julie was in any way shape or form a good idea. Which really sums up their entire relationship so it’s not surprising, it just makes me question why the two are friends at all. 

No really,  out of Scott’s three close friends.. this friendship feels the most like two guys who just used to hang out but have no real reason too other than convience. Wallace would go to bat for scott.. with an actual bat.. to Envy’s skull. He just dosen’t want to go to jail.. again. Kim pines for him, pun intended, and also does care, she just dosen’t show it because scott’s kinda a moron parade and an insenstivity brunch rolled into one. So she sticks around even though it hurts to. Stephen.. lost his big shot in part due to Scott (Though Envy’s pushness and lack of consideration for his feelings didn’t help), his shrew of a girlfriend hates him and he’s not that good at bass... and I just got it. While Tornoto’s a big city , he’s probably not sure if Kim would be doing this without Scott. He’s.. entirely still his friend because he needs a bass player and kim’s a damn fine drummer whose hard to replace. I just got it.. it makes him a self serving douchecanoe for only being someone's friend because he needs a bass player even though he doesn’t like him, but I at least GET IT now. 

 So the rush into Honest Ed’s begins and.. my god this whole sequence is sublimely redelcous. It feels like what would ACTUALLY happen if two guys fought for the reasons scott and todd are fighting: just two idiots dinking around in a discount store. Scott dosen’t even last a few seconds before shouting in response to Todd’s taunts “We are all dead”, tripping while looking for eyeware and well..

Meanwhile Todd starts to break down while shouting FATHEERRRRRRR like all good psychics. As for how long this beautiful nonsense has been going on....

Oh and if you thought it hadn’t gotten redicously hilarious enough... wait till you see what’s next. 

No words.. should’ve.. sent a poet.. got a tubby asshole who reviews comics, disney shows and disney comics instead.... 

So we then get a montage in todd’s head with his SHOCKINGLY OLD dad telling him he dosen’t have the willpower to be a vegan.. Lynette telling him she’s his for the taking and Envy will never know as she opens her shirt, and 

Gideon.. showing he not only consults the league but confriming what the audience and scott realized: He’s behind these assholes.. but it also shows how much. He’s actively coaching them.. and granted we KNEW the exes were in contact with one another given Lucas was having an understandable sigh about Matthew.. but this shows Gideon isn’t just some player and this isn’t some automated service. He brought them all together. The how ends up being hilarious, and we’ll get to that but while it was obvious he was the final boss this is a nice and terrifying bit of clarification. As for what happened next.. well Todd freaks out with his powers from not using them

Really sad in hindsight.. but still really funny despite the horrifying concidence. So yeah our hero declares victory but dind’t really when and things just kinda end. This segment went basically nowhere and acomplished nothing. .but was still really fun, with great lines and is one of the most memorable and awesome scenes in the series.  It also shows the series growth between volumes: Last volume had a lot of cool moments.. but no real plot structure, just a bunch of things that needed to happen to get here. With Volume 3.. things are VERY tightly plotted, and even a fun but kinda pointless diversion like this... still fits in perfectly, giving us a second Scott and Todd fight to build him up, showing off just HOW powerful Todd is, and fleshing out the tofu headed douche a bit. As we’ve seen this volume still has it’s little slice of life moments the series does well. their just well put into a very compelling and fast paced plot, one we’re fully invested in as we see Scott’s torment and Ramona’s mounting anger at envy’s bullshit. It helps that Envy and Todd are the second best big bads of a volume behind gideon himslef in the fimale, with Roxy close at their heels if you were curious. Envy just oozes ego and superiority and is fun to watch every time, while we see moments once in a while that show she’s still human underneath even if she acts like a goddes.. and is admitely one of my types but that’s enough of that. She provides a nice contrast to ramona, also being standofish and mysterious but wheras ramona is clearly mysterious out of shame for a past she’s not proud of Envy is out of a past.. she has no reason to flee from and was never that bad.The only part Envy kept was Todd which was an objectively bad decision. 

Todd meanwhile like all the exes as I re-realized.. is a mirror to scott. Each one has a piece of his worse traits amplified and expanded. So far Patel has been scott’s dorkyness, expanded from 

To being a giant showy hipster douche desperate to seem cool and important. Lucas is scott’s afabliity and laziness taken to just outright avoiding a fight.. not nearly as bad as the others given he still has one of Scott’s best qualities with no drawbacks.  But Todd.. is probably the ex that mirrors scott the second most. Besides both being base players with shaggy hair, both are delightfully stupid, both have a lot of charisma besides that and both are extremley good in a fight.  But noticably.. Todd zigs a lot where Scott zags and the simlarites sort of stop. While both are objectively attractive, Todd is more conventinually chisled while Scott is more adorable, expertly reflected in the movie by having former Superman Brandon Routh opposite former George Micheal, Micheal Cera.  Todd’s ablities are mental while Scott’s are entirely in martial arts and later swordplay. Todd has a rough relationship with his dad who never supported him and constnatly doubted him while Scott’s parents fully support him and love him uncdoitoinaly and despite his protests and annoyance with them.. it’s clear he still cares about them and loves them.  And most damingly.. Scott treats people like garbage sometimes.. but it’s because he’s oblivoius. He’s a finaical burden on Wallace, cheated on Knives, gave Kim no closure, blew up Stephen’s chances at the big time, and in general can be kind of a dick.. but NONE of that is intetnional. It dosen’t make it okay, the books make that clear.. but it’s why we can still root for him: It’s something that can be fixed. Scott hurts people a lot but he lacks gneuinely malicious intent. He leaves a lot of pain in his wake.. but it’s because he’s socially inept, and again and I say this as someone with atusitim myself, defintely on the spectrum , so he dosen’t GET he’s hurting people unless they tell him. Something that will probably not shock you but I relate to and has happened to me in the past, hence while i’ll clal him a douche or stupid, because he’s both, I do sympathize with the guy as the whilrwilnd of descrution is just him being so intent on being seen as a good person and moving past things he can’t see the wreckage in ihs wake, and the series is about him growing past that mindset. 

Todd.. is just an entitled dick who KNOWS he’s probably going to hurt people but does the things anyway because he thinks as a rock star he can do whatever he wants. As a Vegan he’s superior so he’s allwoed to do WHATEVER he wants. He’s so obessed with making his dad not see him as a failure he’s developed an Ego that can only be visualized properly using well.. Ego

That’s what his ego has become. He’s so up his own ass his head is coming out of his mouth somehow. He’s so in love with himself he’s probably googled “How to make a sexy clone of yourself”. He’s scott’s oblivoiusness and selfishness, but with genuine intent. He’s scott if he KNEW what he was doing was wrong.. and said fuck it anyway i’m a rockstar baby. Todd, is EASILY what scott could’ve been at envy’s side had they not broken up.. successful.. but an utter bastard who only cares about themselves.  Anyways we cut to practice that night were Stephen is spiraling and Kim declines going to the show.. not for the obvious reasons of wanting to avoid another round of “watch Envy tourture scott before Todd beats his skull in with his psychic powers”, but because she has a date. Lucky bastard. The guys are naturally as tactful as you’d expect about this and suggest she’s doing a collage or puzzles before she shuts htem down and they awkardly recover and I laugh my ass off. 

So Scott and Ramona head out, trading some talk and what have you and having some Sushi, not going there often because they can’t afford it.. but it’s cool Scott swipied Wallace’s card. When pressed on his douchebaggery Scott assures her. 

We’ll get more into this next time, but needless to say Scott’s mooching is finally becoming a plot point next time. Speaking of next time on the way to the show Ramona realizes “Wait why the hell are we doing this” and convinces Scott not to go as they can relax, have a night off, cuddle and stuff, and then Scott can fight Todd tommorow at the big show. Why DO they need to sit in with two assholes who are only inviting them to fuck with their heads some more. Well okay one asshole while Todd is okay with all this he probably just mubled some “sure whatevers” while trying to solve a rubix cube while Envy outlined her plans to him before rearanging the stickers so he could win.. I Mean with his mind so it’s sitll a little impressive but still. 

So they TRY making out, complete with being in their undies.. but it just dosen’t work as both of them keep picturing Envy’s face and that’s not good for either of them.

AND it was at this point fucking tumblr.. ate an hour’s worth of work I just did. Probably not something you need to know or care about but something that pisses me off greatly as I was approaching the end of the review and now have to either retype or entirely rethink what I JUST spent a while working hard on. 

And this time I mean it. The only reason i’m not giving up and shelving this review for a bit.. is ithat i’m a stubborn bastard who refuses to give up that easily and who needed to vent about this to somewhere. 

So Ramona finally comes clean about Todd.. and in a nice moment admits to cheating on Lucas with him “It wasn’t very nice but I wasn’t a nice person”. It’s a small thing, something I didn’t notice before.. but it’s actually a big step given how guarded Ramona is to admit to doing something this bad. Last volume, just a few days ago time wise, she lied entirely about this and probably has no idea Scott knows already. But she’s being honest, telling him the truth so he’ll be prepared for what’s coming and know the full story.  The full story is they were both little shits who raised hell together till Todd disappeared for a while. He shows up as you’d expect, dickishily interupting class before explaning Dairy Scientests kidnapped and experimented on him. He also says this

So he proves his love. in the most badass and horrifying way possible: BY MAKING ONE OF THE TWO BIG NOTICABLE CRATERS ON THE GODDAMN MOON. 

One of the series best jokes. Ramona also takes a hard pass to learning about envy and asks about Kim... not for any reason.. just thinks sh’es nice. It’s not like she wants to make out with her face.. a lot. Just.. girl things. SHUT UP. She’s also unsatisfied with Scott’s piss take version of his relationship with her.  Closing out the chapter, Knives.. has somehow climbed a huge pile of billboardsi n the middle of tornoto.. which would be awesome.. if it weren’t such a beautifully sad image. 

Whelp my heart just exploded with pain at this poor girl whose lost the love of her live, which is a goood thing mind you but dosen’t mean it dosen’t hurt less, her faviorte band and her highlights all in the span of a month.  Moving on as we approach the final act, we get a brief scene as Todd orders some Gelato, which is itallian icec ream, very not vegan and Envy does not relaize this. Todd however rants about being a rock star, being so above people and as for the rules

We also get this lovely bit

And then they make out and i’ts treated as a big shocker despite.. us.. finding that out several dozen pages ago. We know already. 

Back at Scott and Wallace’s place, Ramona shows up with cool new blue hairdoo, which I agree with Wallace is awesome and admits she changes her hair up every couple of weeks.. someething that in the color version we do see better. We also get a gag that no longer makes sense as he asks if that’s her natural haircolor and she says yay and the caption admits this was funnier in black and white. Eh one or two jokes for some really pretty colors is a fair enough trade. 

Scott however once again bitches about his hair, despite Ramona pointing out to him and Wallace that.. there’s like dozens of haircut places within walking distance. I remain unsuprised thier that oblivous. But to shut her boyfriend up she agrees to cut his hair and while they do asks what Envy’s actual name is.. scott’s response .. is pretty heartbreaking “Natalie. She stopped liking it. Then she stopped liking me.  So Scott shows up with his NEW HAIR CUT.. aka his old one just trimmed up a bit, but the one you see in modern merch and the game. A bit shaggy but not as long. Scott reassures Stephen whose spiraling with panic that it won’t be the same as last time and they’ll have fun. Kim, understandably and having not been told anything, wonders what “last time was”. After everyone chimes in Kid chamelon i’ts time for another FLASHBACK.. as you were probably expecting by now.. but this time I added some proper effects to spice it up. 

So we find out more of whta drove a wedge between the two: Envy slowly but surely took a tryanical death grip on the band, adding some guy named Joel on the drums, possibly the same guy from Crash and the Boys, and bumping Scott to bass, without asking him or Stephen about this and just sorta.. demanding it. While her intetnions are understandable, she just wants the band’s best sound.. her actions are still head tiltingly obnoxious, and clearly show she had not studied rock history yet as usually taking absolute control of the band and ignoring your band mates is the easiet way to destroy a band. Sometimes it’s just envy, pun unintneded but welcome, but yeah.. it’s no wonder they didn’t last. Scott is also shown to be more and more uncomfortable with the band going from a fun thing he did with his friend and girlfriend.. to something that could make him famous.. something he’s very transparently not ready for and dosen’t want.  And it makes sense: he was just a dumb college kid in love.. he didn’t start the band for fame or glory.. he just wanted to have fun. Same with his current band. And while in the PRESENT his lack of ambition can be obnoxious and will be a problem in the next volume, here.. he’s still in college and sudeenly got thrust into a career he dosen’t want with a person who no longer loves or respects him. It’s understandable that he’s a nervous , miserable wreck. 

So in the present, Stephen is throwing up and asking for julie and Scott.. is a dick and ignores him. Were it anyone else and any other relationship currrently int he books I would actually give a shit. So he wonders around a bit, running into some teens who are intrested in him, word travels fast apparently, Julie, who for once displays a human emotion of concern for Stephen or the closest she can, and thankfully Wallace, Stacey and Micheal,who now has a spooky skeleton ring from the future and badly needs his own spinoff. Stacey TRIES to pump her brother up.. but it’s clear he’s in no good mental place for that and trudges off while Wallace, man of the year, worries about him.  One GOOD THING about the astronomical setback that happened is in the orignal draft of this.. I forgot to talk about Stacey. Despite promising to. So here it goes: After this Stacey.. just sorta vanishes from the series. She’s still around and while not super promient gets a decent amount of screentime in the finale, she makes cameos before then. But from this book on she’s no longer a main character like she was in the first two books. There she had several scenes, lots of focus, and her own mini arc in the first one about Wallace stealing her boyfriends. There’s. an actual reason for this as O’Malley regretted naming her after his sister and thus basically stopped writing her unless he had to, sticking her in once in a while to assure fans he hadn’t forgotten her but removing her from the main plot.  That being said while his reason is weak.. I dn’t think it’s the ONLY reason she slid into the background. The main cast already had 6 characters, and on top of that this volume heavily focuses on Envy, the next adds Lisa Miller to the mix, and every volume frmo this one on has increased focus on the ex of the week, building them up more as characters and giving them way more screen time. Stacey.. really didn’t have a unique niche or roll in the sotry the other 5 non-scott leads didn’t: Knives filled out the position as the baby of Scott’s friend group, Ramona and Wallace served as better voices of reason, Kim and Wallace had better chemistry with Ramona and thus worked better as her friends, and Stpehn. did nothing she did but still at least had a part to play as band leader and the only one of Sex Bomb-Omb with ambition. Stacey is not a bd character and DID deserve to still be  way more prominent.. but her move to the back let Kim take her place and rightfully so. And not just because of the crush on kim thing, Kim’s just more compelling and tha’ts an objective fact. Still would’ve been nice to learn more about Stacey though. 

Scott then frees his girlfriend from a conversatoin with Sandra and Monique, as Julie bitchily told both about Gideon which Envy told her about, because as your every couple of paragraphs reminder, Julie is a piece of shit. Scott then orders them some alchols, breaking his usual teetotling and runs into kim, hollie and joseph. with Hollie here to see the band and .. Joseph here to see todd. At least h’es honest.. for this volume. Anyways, our happy couple soon split off for a bit and while we bounce back and forth.. i’m just going to cover what hapepned with each seperately as SOMEHOW tumblr once again ate a good hour’s worth of work, this review is already a day late, and I have both abother one and a dental apointment today. So in short

Ramona and Kim: Kim fills Ramona in on her past.. via  tone down, seemingly contridctary, and as we’ll find out later the true version of what happened: She was with Simon, he was a dick, Scott showed up he was also a dick, things happened. I guess. Ramona is disapointed, though Kim does provide some crucial info on her moving to tronto.. and reuniting with scott. 

It honestly.. explains a LOT of why Scott is the way he is what happened with Envy. He saw Envy change entirley as a person.. and thus feels changing as a person , and smoking, is a sign of something bad.. when really it just means.. your changing. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst but we area LWAYS changing and it took me a lont time to realize that. The two are distracted from this though by Todd sloppily making out with Lynette in front of everyone. 

We’re also reintroduced to Crash and the Boys, now redubbed the boys and crash, and seemingly playing music without intsturments. The thorughly lovely and rediculous explinaton for this and their new gloves and goggles, i’ll save for in a bit. 

Scott and Envy, Scott and Knives: Scott goes out to get some air.. only to find Envy, who despite menally tourturing him for a few days insits they talk like regular people.. Scott wisely counters with “Nat when did we ever talk like real people” and while saying he won’t get to call her that again, it still chips down her walls for a second and shows that a bit of who she used to be, loath as she is to admit it, is still there. 

Scott then spots knives... and has a moment of truth. And a hell of a series of reaction panels

It’s a VERY good scene.. that i’ve written about TWICE now but regardless, it shows Scott.. genuinely changing. Ignoring his past actions, running away from them and trying to pretend he never fucked up once... that’s been his go to. It’s his main flaw and hte one that takes the entire series to deal with as we’ll get into. And it’s here.. he faces it for the first time. He’s scared of knives at first.. but realizes.. he genuinely hurt her, and she’s where she is, cold, alone, and huddled in an ally lost and confused, because of him. Sure Envy hurt her.. but so did he.. and what’s worse. he did it just like Envy hurt him. Not thinking of her as a persona nd throwing her away when he didn’t need her. And so after books of build up.. he finally takes some responisblity and talks to her. It’s WHY the books work: Sure scott’s a dick, and remains a bit of one throughout, but.. he means well, isn’t inteitonally a standoffish prick, and slowly grows PAST this, and tries to be better, for Ramona.. and just because it’s the right thing to do. 

So Knives reflects on the past few weeks, admitting that it’s been unbearably painful.. but she can’t and won’t go back to who she used to be. She’s lost her innocnce and all that, been dumped by the “love of her life”, been punched in the face by her faviorite drummer and treated like dogshit by her faviorite artist. Todd did nothing for once but gets no credit because of who we’re dealing with here. Point is.. it was a lot and while sh’es not HAPPY.. she’s greatful for it. Scott however.. steps up, saying what Envy did was wrong, she deserved better.. and finally, after how terribly he broke up wit hher.. apologizes for how he hurt her. And while Knives takes this as hope they’l get back together, Scott continues to be very mature, especially for his usual behavior, telling her no, it won’t happen, to give neil a try as whle she is dating him because he looks like Scott he’s not all bad, and that wallce was right: she was too good for him. And while Knives isn’t ready to accept it.. Scott did the right thing. Good for you man. 

So while he, and later kim and stephen seperatly, get ready, Ramona.. runs into Envy. Whose oddly nice for ahlf a second.. before bringing up Gideon and giving Ramona a barrage of insults, clearly trying ONCE AGAIN, to knock her down and wreck her. Thing is while Scott clearlya nd understandably has baggage with Envy is easy prey for her manipulative elephant dung, Ramona. isn’t. All Envy’s done is piss her off more and more with each act of high school level mean girl bullshit... and sh’es done with it. 

FIGHT’S ON. This Volume.. is honestly where Ramona really comes into bloom, pun intended, as the duetragonist of the books. While the book IS about Scott getting his life together and their relationship and he’s still her hero.. the books are also about RAMONA growing as a person, her own flaws and past, and the climax of all of them.. is just as much about her as it is scott. And this book has her own flaws come into play: Just like Scott she runs from the past, from who she was, and only faces it when needed, which will become more apparent as we go. But at the same time, we get to see far more of her personality as a result as her mysterious facade continues to drop. She’s prone to getting upset, but also clever and witty and knows her limits, knowing that going to that second performance would’ve just done no good and knowing herself very well, something Scott has genuine trouble with. She’s strong, sarcastic and knows who she is and what she wants and this volume finally brings that into focus. Not only that but her fight with Envy, is just as warranted, climatic and awesome as Scott’s fight coming up, as no one has stood up to envy due to her fame.. but Ramona.. dosen’t care. Someone’s gotta stop her, and Ramona’s taking up the job. And the awesome looking hammer. 

That being said taking up a giant hammer against a beloved celebrity dosen’t win you any point, so Ramona finds herself discouraged, even if Envy can very clearly handle herself. Thankfully she gets some encouragment from exactly who you’d expect. 

And Wallce.. turns out to be pretty useful. At least in this one fight. His shouting not only gives Ramona her fight back.. but keeps distracting envy, leaving her wide open. The tide turns though when Wallace has to pee, and Envy uses the distraction to knock the hamme rout of Raona’s hand and prepare to flatten her. But once again.. someone save sher in the knick of time.. and this time it’s the LAST person you’d expect, as Knives gives the hammer a flying kick.. and then crashes into a wall, and when Ramona, understandably not getting this since she tried to turn her into swiss cheese earlier this week, asks why, Knives admit’s she just wants Scott to be happy. Knives has grown too, and while she’s still obessed with Scott and waiting for themt o break up.. she’s no longer going to try and wedge her way in. If Ramona is what Scott wants, tha’ts what he gets. 

All three are distracted by well.. this...

State of your outfits mates. Though that line is iconic. But serously the outfits are hilaroiusly and reaslitically mismatched. Kim’s home made and overdone gothica lolita outfit that dosen’t match her AT ALL, goth yes , poofy goth no. Stephen’s johnny cash outfit he clearly had lying around and Scott’s Dad Suit. 

That being said.. still the best looking one of the three. But Envy takes advantage to regrab the hammer and try and murder the two of them.. but Scott sees this.. and well... you get it by now, one more time. Bake me away toys!

So we get the final weeks or days or whatever of the relationship. In a nice parallel to Scott playing Ramona a song he does the same for Envy.. who both questions what this is for then is confused why he’d do something so sweet. Next scene is her getting a call while their cuddling in bed from some guy she idntiefies as Jason and.. barely disguises is clearly cheating on Scott with. and could possibly be todd I dunno.  After that we get to Kid Chamelon preparing to sign a deal and Envy.. trying to press Scott into sginging it, ignoring his obvious discomfort, and then casually threanting to replace him. While Scott does give us a face punchingly dickish comment about “How he started this band to meet chicks and maybe he met the wrong chick”... he’s still somehow in the right as while he’s being a manic dickhead... Envy has ceased seeing him as a person or even something she cares about and tells him to get a hair cut and leave. 

We then get the breakup itself as Scott goes up to envy.. and she tells him to get out of her life. ack in the present, Scott’s grown enough to realize he has to stop her and does so.. by touching hte back of her knee which.. uhhhh.

So yeah.. he beat her with an orgasm, and that looks oddly hot. And i’m moving on before that last part of the sentence sinks in. Envy, once she recovers, orders Todd to do a murder on them, but Todd’s not there and Ramona, naturally, brags about him having cheated on her. Envy.. denis.. this. 

I .. don’t have time to unpack that. This review is late, I have two other reviews to get to today. Time for ANOTHER flashback. 

This time it’s Envy teling a story bok verion of her and Toddd’s relationship. It’s a real poetic and well done sequence. In a nuthsell: Envy and Todd were best friends and deeply in love as kids until todd moved away i’m guessing sometime in middle school. Deeply depressed, Envy sailed through life as sort of a ghost, TRYING to find another connection like that, but failing. Todd returned after she graduated though, and gave her a symbol of his love.. a hole on the moon. Yes another one. And they both promised to never waiver as he went off to the vegan academy. Clearly Envy did with Scott... but it paints her ambition in another light. One where she wanted to be big and bold enough for him.. but slowly carved out her old self to do so. 

And as is obvious it was pointlness: not only did Envy love someone else.. but Todd never cared as much as she did. As Ramona points out, and relcutnantly because even she feels a little bad about this one, he did the moon trick with her.. and this time Envy CAN’T deny it.. becaue the evidence is right there. 

And of course Todd.. makes his case even WORSE by picking that moment to come out of the bathroom, sipping up his pants, with panties on his head, and with Lynette following right after him. Envy.. tries to murder Lynette, her go to, but LYnette teleports out. Because she can do that. Though Envy does hit her cyborg arm so she looes that and the panties and Ramona offers to mount it at her place if Kim takes the panties, but kim admits she wasn’t scrapbooking, she said she was and was just making the dress. Horay, as ramona puts it “Col se can still be friends. Right.. FRIENDS. 

Envy TRIES to cave Todd’s skull in, get some therapy woman, but Todd naturally tk’s it away but despite being the king of all assholes DOES care enough not to fight her. Envy... plays nice then knees him in the nuts like he fucking deserves. Todd then returns to being the once and future douchebag by TK’ing her into the crowd and bragging about it. 

Scott dosen’t take this well, even after everything and the final fight begins. They have a bass fight.. but like the game i’ts redicuously one sided since Todd both is a skilled bassist compared to Scott.. and is still using his psychic powers lest you forget he’s a bastard man. 

The Boys and Crash however show up to even the odds.. and their trainig is the reason they can play music without insturments as they can now manipulate pur sound. Fucking beautiful. But even they aren’t enough and Todd swats them aside. 

While poorly is a bit harsh.. the vegan police show up, which is awesome, though the movie got thomas jane for one of them and had that high five so they win. But yeah.. while this is hilarous.. and the scene with them is great.. it’s also the weakest part of an otherwise near perfect book. It just feels a bit anti clmatic that after all this build up.. Todd is just.. beaten with a sloppy depower. The boys and crash would’ve still been a cop out, but it would’ve been a freaking cool cop out.  The thing that saves it is afterwords Scott still gets an epic finish: after they devganize him for the gelato earlier, scott headbutts him epicly and wins. He gets money and. 

A 1-up, which understandibly terrfies him but will come in hand in a few volumes. Trust me. Scot checks on everyone. Ramona’s fine, Envy is not and breifly blames scott before he points out Todd was a no good cheating dickwad, and Kim is obviously fine as nothing happend, but him asking is a nice bit of charcter growth. Kim asks about kinves but she’s okay and neil is helping her. But theshow must go on and since the headliners are dead (don’t worry he’ll respawn), in parts unknown and in emotoinal apocalypse, someone’s gotta play.

So our heroes have the show of their lives, and crowd reaction is mostly positive with Jospeh noticing htier levels were horrible, a hint for next time, and the crew interviewing everyone.. including a mysterous gentleman having a beer, who has no commenta nd walks away. 

 Gideon.. was here the whole time,but he’s not ready for Scott JUST yet. Still a really damn cool tease for the final boss. 

So we close the next day, Scott and Envy sorta make up, with both apologizing for their behavor and while Scott gets no closure, envy promises to return.. and makes good on it. But.. that’s for the finale. For now Scott’s girlfriend and best buddy give him a moment to baste in his pathos, before heading off. And in a nice bit of metaphor, the clouds part, and our three amigos walk off into the sunset and a bright future. Three down 4 to go.  Next time: Lesbian Artist Ninjas! Side Stories! Scott Gets A Job! The Band gets a producer! Kim gets a decent apartment and a boyfriend! Lisa returns! See you in feburary. 

Until then if you liked this review, spread it around andi f ther’es a comic you want me to cover, my comissions are open. Until the next rainbow, it was a pleasure. 

[shangyangjunzhu]

So I have a question from my understand Legend if Ruyi and Yanxi Palace covers the same events but focuses on a different consort to spotlight as the heroine and they are enemies of each other. You seem to enjoy both shows per your blog how would you define the pros and cons of both shows?

okay my wonderful anon this is gonna be a very long post so brace yourself

legend of ruyi

legend of ruyi is an adaption of ruyi zhuan, a novel centered around a fictional retelling of the infamous empress of the nara clan, the only qing empress to not be given a posthumous title. the protagonist of the show is ula-nara qingying who later takes upon the name ruyi. 

my personal take: even after I am reborn, this show will forever remain top on my list; there are multiple reasons as to why this is the case primarily because it was one of my first historical dramas and second because it is one of those dramas where the writing is terrific and by all means, I am drawn to multiple characters apart from the protagonist and I feel their pain. even though legend of ruyi is at the end of the day a harem drama, it is more than fighting for favor and climbing atop the phoenix seat; it is the tale of a woman, even historically, who dared to follow her heart during a time period where it could ultimately destroy you. ruyi isn’t your typical protagonist who enters the harem in the sense that she was never really forced to enter the harem without her wanting it. she fell in love with a prince, who went on to become the emperor. she isn’t naive; she knows the harem is not a safe place and that people will plot against you all the time. she sees through such schemes and she battles against them too. however, she chooses to trust and love those closest to her, and that is her fatal failing. something about her character that wishes to be good and wants to be true to her values is very endearing to me.

pros:

- solid writing; it is hard to find such amazing writing in historical dramas these days as the industry is saturated with idol dramas

- the casting: zhou xun, oh god, where do I even start with her? she pulls at my heartstrings every time she appears on the screen. wallace huo, oh man he is so good. and almost every actor in the cast lives their role to their fullest.

- relative historical accuracy: okay the show has its fair share of historical inaccuracies I admit it, but there are so many historical details that may seem negligible at first glance but it shows the keen effort put into the making of the show.

- costumes and settings: I love all the pretty outfits and grand settings inside the forbidden city

- the ending (spoiler alert): okay it’s not a real spoiler but the ending is very much different from that of the novel which apparently zhou xun had a hand in, which makes the show like 10 times better

cons:

- it was marketed as a sequel to legend of zhen huan but the timelines of the shows intersect, and certain aspects of the stories change; it’s not a con per se but you know...

- the lighting: this is more of a personal gipher complaint but yeah the show’s tone is darker which aligns with the plot but you know it kind of bugs me...

(sorry anon, I am biased there aren’t any more cons in my opinion)

the story of yanxi palace:

the story of yanxi palace is also based on a novel of the same name, revolving around empress xiaoyichun, one of two han consorts to be conferred the title of empress posthumously of the qing dynasty. the protagonist’s name is wei yingluo, who goes from being a servant to imperial noble consort.

my personal take: for many reasons this show will remain in my all-time top 5 due to the story-telling of the show being atypical for harem dramas. for obvious reasons, harem dramas are grim and so is the story of yanxi palace to a certain extent, but the show does not give up on inducing humor once in a while to lighten up the mood. the writing itself (which has its fair share of loopholes) is pretty decent and the aesthetics are pretty amazing too. I love yingluo, for she lives her life according to her own set of rules and she kicks ass.

pros:

- casting: wu jinyan is amazing as yingluo and no one else can do it better; qin lan is magnetic and xu kai I thirst for but charmaine sheh is in this show, so like everyone, she uplifts the show to a whole other level

- costumes and aesthetics: unlike ruyi, the tone of this show is a lot lighter and beautiful pastel colors are present in the outfits and clothing, which are really pretty

- humor: the comedy in this show is top class; like I still laugh my ass off during every rewatch.

- chemistry: I love the chemistry wu jinyan shares with xu kai and nie yuan and they light up my screen

cons: 

- the maker: this is a yu zheng drama and anything that usually touches his hands is unwatchable and trust me I have watched too many of his shows for my impression of his to change and he is such a blatant and shameless plagiarizer (it’s actually hilarious to see how confident he is); though he did not write the show, which saved the show, my impression of the show is definitely impacted by him

- the historical inaccuracy: I can’t even side-eye the historical inaccuracies in this show because there are wayyyy too many. if I go on that tangent now this post is gonna be so much longer but the inaccuracies that make me go hmmm are the entrance of yingluo into qianlong’s harem (this one is kinda forgivable) and certain princes and princesses being deleted and no princess is ever shown.

- the writing: I do understand that the show is about yingluo, but you do not have to make the side characters who begin with potential into sources of comedy and ridicule so as to elevate yingluo.

- the last 10 episodes of the drama: there are pacing issues that make me less interested in the show but that’s negligible too.

yeah so that was basically my view on both dramas; they really are two of my favorite shows and i love them both!

(sorry for the length though hahaha)

[terramythos]

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 6 of 26

Title: The Killing Moon (Dreamblood #1) (2012)

Author: N. K. Jemisin

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, First-Person, Third-Person, Female Protagonist, LGBT Protagonist, Asexual Protagonist.

Rating: 8/10

Date Began: 2/07/2021

Date Finished: 2/13/2021

Peace is sacred in the walled city-state of Gujaareh, and must be maintained at any cost. The Gatherers are a priesthood tasked with maintaining this goal. In the name of Hananja, Goddess of the moon, they walk the city at night and harvest Dreamblood-- the magic of dreams-- from Gujaareh's denizens. They bring the peace of death to those who need it... and to those judged criminal or corrupt.

But something else haunts Gujaareh's streets. A Reaper, a rogue Gatherer driven to endless madness and hunger from Dreamblood, is preying on the innocent, casting their souls into an eternal nightmare. Ehiru, one of the elder Gatherers, finds himself caught in the middle of a political conspiracy between his priesthood, the holy Prince, and the monstrous Reaper. An insidious corruption runs deeper than Ehiru knows-- and it may be too late to stop. 

The Gatherer’s eyes glittered in her memory, so dark, so cold--but compassionate, too. That had been the truly terrifying thing. A killer with no malice in his heart: it was unnatural. With nothing in his heart, really, except the absolute conviction that murder could be right and true and holy. 

Full review, major spoilers, and content warnings under the cut.

Content warnings for the book: Graphic depictions of violence, gore, death, warfare, and murder-- including death of children and mass murder. Discussions of p*dophilia/grooming (nothing graphic). Brief reference to r*pe. One character is a minor infatuated with a much older character-- not reciprocated. Rigid gender and social roles, including slavery. Magic-induced addiction and withdrawal. Loss of sanity/altered mental states/mind control/gaslighting.

Last year I read N. K. Jemisin's short story collection How Long 'Til Black Future Month?  One of my favorite stories was The Narcomancer, which explored a vibrant, ancient Egypt-inspired world with themes of faith, dreams, violence, and duty. I wanted to read more from the universe, and finally got to do so with The Killing Moon, the first book in the Dreamblood duology.

Jemisin's creativity in worldbuilding is, in my opinion, unmatched in the fantasy genre. I thought Gujaareh was super interesting and fleshed out. While the ancient Egypt inspiration is obvious, it's also clearly an original fantasy culture in its own right. Everything from religious practices to social castes to gender roles to the fucking architecture felt methodical and thought out. The base premise of assassin priests compassionately harvesting magic from people is a fascinating idea and totally gripping. The pacing is a little slow, but I didn't mind so much because learning about the world was so fun.

While there's a hefty amount of worldbuilding exposition in the story, Jemisin doles out information gradually. Bits and pieces of Gujaareen law, etc are introduced at the beginning of each chapter, and usually have a thematic connection to the events of the story. Information is sparing at times, meaning that one doesn't have a full picture of how everything ties together until pretty far into the story. Even something as crucial as the dream-based magic system isn't fully realized until near the end. I like the mystery of this approach, and I can appreciate how difficult it must be to keep the reader invested vs frustrating them with a lack of info. Jemisin consistently does a great job with this in everything I've read by her.

I did want a little bit more from the narcomancy aspect of the story, since dream worlds are such a huge part of Gujaareen religion and culture. In The Killing Moon we see just a few dreamscapes, and then only briefly. There's so much potential with narcomancy as a magic system, yet most of what we see is an outside, "real-world" perspective, which isn't terribly unique compared to other kinds of magic. Dreamblood being a narcotic (heh) with some Extra Fantasy Stuff is interesting, but I wanted more. Perhaps The Shadowed Sun expands on this. 

Characterization is the other Big Thing with this book, as it's very much a character-driven story. Overall I'm torn. There's some things I really liked, and others that felt underdeveloped. I'll go over my favorite things first.

Ehiru is probably the strongest of the main cast, and I really enjoyed his character arc. Here's a guy who is completely devoted to his faith, regardless of what others may think of it. Yet he's not a self-righteous dick. He sees Gathering as a loving and holy thing, so when he errs in the line of duty, it totally consumes him. And things just get worse and worse for him as the story progresses. Say what you will about the Gatherers and the belief system of Gujaareh; Ehiru comes off as intensely caring, devoted, and compassionate, and I genuinely felt bad for him throughout the novel. I'm not religious but these kinds of faith narratives are super interesting to me.

Looking at characterization as a whole, I appreciate The Killing Moon's gray morality. No one in the story is wholly good or evil. The Gatherers are an obvious example, considering they murder people in the dead of night in the name of their Goddess-- but do so to help those in need. Despite being a megalomaniacal mass-murderer, the Prince has believable reasons for his horrific actions, and they’re not wholly selfish. Even the Reaper is a clear victim of Dreamblood's addictive and mind-altering nature; it sometimes regresses into the person it used to be, which is sad and disturbing. There's a lot of moral complexity in the characters and the laws and belief systems they follow. This kind of nuanced writing is much more interesting to read than a black and white approach.

Beyond this, though, I struggled to connect with the other leads. Nijiri's utter devotion to Ehiru is basically his whole character, and while the tragedy of that is interesting for its own reasons, I kept wanting more from him. Sunandi is a good "outsider perspective" character but I had a hard time understanding her at times. For example, the two most important people in her life, Kinja and Lin, die in quick succession. Yet besides a brief outburst when Lin dies, this barely seems to affect her. I get people mourn in all kinds of ways but it seems odd. Her sexual tension with Ehiru is also weird and underdeveloped. Perhaps this is meant to be a callback to The Narcomancer, but it doesn't accomplish much in this narrative.

Another issue I had was emotional connection to minor-yet-important characters. Kinja dies offscreen before the story, yet is supposed to be a big part of Sunandi's past (and thus emotional arc). But he's never even in a flashback, so I never felt WHY he mattered to her. Una-une is the big one, though. It's pretty easy to figure out he's the Reaper by process of elimination, but he's barely in the story outside of a few early mentions. There's this part near the end that's clearly meant to be an emotional moment; Ehiru realizes his (apparently beloved) mentor Una-une is the horrific monster, and thus a foil to the situation between himself and Nijiri. But we never saw the relationship between Ehiru and Una-une, and nothing really established this prior... so there's no emotional payoff. It felt at times like this book was part of a much longer story that for whatever reason we never got to see. In some ways that can be useful to make the world and history seem vast, but here it made me feel emotionally distant from several characters. Perhaps flashbacks with these important characters would have helped bridge the gap. 

Credit where it's due, though; it's clear a lot of the dark, often brutal tone and stylistic flair in The Killing Moon was adapted into Jemisin's fantastic Broken Earth trilogy. Probably the most notable are the cryptic interlude chapters told from the perspective of a mysterious character whose identity is unknown until the end. We learn bits and pieces of the beliefs and lore of the world through excerpts of common laws and wisdom. I also liked the occasional stream-of-consciousness writing during tense or surreal moments. The Broken Earth is an improvement overall, but I can appreciate The Killing Moon for establishing some of these techniques early.

I enjoyed this book overall and am planning to read The Shadowed Sun. While I have some criticisms about The Killing Moon, I think it just suffers in comparison to other works I've read by Jemisin. It was still an entertaining and intense read, with a captivating and original world. It's not a story for the faint of heart, though, so please mind the content warnings.  

[ja-khajay]

2020-2021 Animation Watch(ed)list

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

Organized by

Things I saw for the first time

Things I rewatched

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

Part One: Things I saw for the first time

The Bear’s Famous Invasion of Sicily

Movie, 2019, Italian/French

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

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

The Castle of Cagliostro

Movie, 1979, Japanese

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

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

Mushishi

Series, 2006, Japanese

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

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

FMA: Brotherhood

Series, 2009, Japanese

6/10 Dissapointing adaptation of a classic story

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

Code Lyoko (s1+2)

Series, 2003, french

3/10. 1.5 being for the opening song alone

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

The Legend of Hei

Movie, 2019, Chinese

7/10. Impressive visuals and a poor story

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

Hunter x Hunter

Series, 1999, Japanese

9/10. Superior to the recent one!

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

Oban Star-racers

Series, 2006, Japanese/french

9/10 a lovely surprise

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

The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon

Movie, 1963, japanese

8/10. Classic fairytale format with incredible visuals

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

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

My Friend Who Glows In The Dark

10/10 makes me cry each time

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

Colza

9/10

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

Sundown

9/10

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

T’as vendu mes rollers?

10/10

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

Dix-huit kilomètres trois

10/10

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

Un diable dans la poche

9/10

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

La bestia

8/10

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

Goodbye Robin

5/10

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

Le retour des vagues

6/10

Cool animation stuff but felt pretty pointless

                                                                ***

Part Two: Things I rewatched

Ruben Brandt: Collector

Movie, 2018, Hungarian

10/10. Underrated as hell

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

Mononoke

Series, 2007, Japanese

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

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

Corto Maltese in Siberia

Movie, 2002, french

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

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

Redline

Movie, 2009, Japanese

10/10 cinema was invented for this, actually

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

Spirited Away

Movie, 2001, Japan

10/10 deserves the love it gets

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

Kung-fu Panda (1&2)

Movie, Usa

10/10. KFP fucking rules

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

Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas

Movie, 2003, Usa

5/10 Some great some really bad and overall generic

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

[inputanimeoutput]

Thoughts On: Moriarty the Patriot

Let’s not speak of this again || Awful || Bad || Okay || Entertaining || Good || Better than Expected || Really Good || Amazeballs || What is this vision of glory I’ve witnessed?!

I had a hard time deciding whether or not I wanted to review Moriarty the Patriot.  Not because I didn’t enjoy it but because the first season was really just an introduction.  So...lets get into that a little more.

There is so much media that adapts the various chronicles of Sherlock Holmes, doing it in very different ways and portraying Sherlock in a variety of ways.  In most adaptations, Moriarty stays the same--a nefarious side-character there only to be Sherlock’s equal and nemesis.  The fact that it’s Moriarty rather than Sherlock who is the main character and focus of the anime is definitely something that I haven’t seen much and makes the anime a bit more original.

William Moriarty is an interesting character.  The tone of the series is set through William’s character, and we get a good sense of the Victorian time period the anime creates as well as William’s stake in both being a genius and using that genius to help those of lower status overcome the odds in a society stacked against them.  He does this, purely and simply, but applying his genius to help them get revenge on the wealthy who have wronged them.

Its actually a rather simple premise, and that made the first half of the season so incredibly interesting.  However, with the introduction of Sherlock, the last half of the season took on a different tone entirely due to putting Moriarty on the back-burner and focusing on Sherlock.  This I didn’t exactly enjoy.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the version of Sherlock in Moriarty the Patriot.  It’s refreshing to get a Sherlock who is both genuinely good and genuinely an asshole, isn’t made out to be some untouchable intellect, and actually has a personality beyond opium and investigation.  Sherlock’s characterization is great, and I have no criticisms of it except for one--it completely ignores Moriarty.

Yes, it was important for Moriarty the Patriot to introduce Sherlock and his opposition to Moriarty, but the way in which the series did it was a bit jarring.  In a way, it made the season seem like two different series, each one focusing on a different protagonist.  This just served to make this series more of an introduction so far, and that element of pacing was something I didn’t quite enjoy.

At the same time, it did make me want more, not simply because I enjoyed every episode immensely but--even as other 11-12 episode series go--this felt wildly incomplete.  I’m also glad I knew before watching it that it was already getting another cour, so that softened the incomplete feeling because I had already assumed that would be the case.

We really only got a taste of the Moriarty group and the Sherlock group, and the first cour of this series covered a lot of information in a very interesting way.  This series had a fantastic start, and I am eager for more.

If you like shows like Black Butler, ACCA, 91 Days, Baccano!, Durarara!!, and others that have a a very specific tone and focus within a specific time and place, then definitely consider this show.  It does get violent, and it focuses on some incredibly dark themes, so definitely check out doesthedogdie.com or any other content-labeling websites before you watch it.

Also, if a sense of incompleteness bothers you with single-cour anime, then maybe wait until this series continues to catch up.

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Gou Ep12

First things first, I’ve finally gotten around to getting a subscription to AnimeLab so I’m not just pirating everything I watch each season, so that’s cool, lol. I can’t really justify getting multiple streaming service subscriptions, though, so I’ll still probably pirate anything that this site isn’t streaming. But thankfully they’re streaming this series, so I can watch it guilt-free.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut.

I honestly wasn’t expecting them to continue following Minagoroshi in an almost 1:1 manner since we’re getting so close to the end of this arc, but the fact that there’s only one episode left before the next arc starts makes it pretty obvious that we’re going to get some real curveballs and a sudden ending in the next episode..

I think that in the original anime’s version of Minagoroshi, there were like three episodes left in the arc after what this one covered, so there’s no real way for them to actually cover all of that. But obviously this isn’t trying to faithfully adapt Minagoroshi from start to finish, so it’s just been a matter of time until things change.

Honestly, I feel like this episode is another example of how Gou has been functionally more of a remake than a lot of people probably want it to be. I’ve been seeing lots of people complaining about how the show’s been really boring because like 90% of it has been going over stuff from the VN, and that just really goes to show that they weren’t kidding about this being accessible for newcomers, and probably aimed at them first, and old fans second.

I also think it’s totally fine that they’ve really toned down the horror aspect of the series. I never really liked that the blood and gore became the big defining part of it’s cultural legacy and how people remember it, so I’m glad that Gou is more faithful to the focus on mystery and drama in the VN. There isn’t the same sort of slow-burn dread and paranoia, but that’s just something that a 24-episode anime split into 5-ish arcs fundamentally can’t do properly, so they’re going for a different sort of pacing and atmosphere that works more naturally here.

Anyway, since this episode was almost 1:1 with this part of Minagoroshi, there isn’t a whole lot to say there, but I still spent the whole episode being worried that everyone in the main crew was two seconds away from murdering everyone in the village council, lol. It didn’t help that my memory of Minagoroshi is really fuzzy, so I couldn’t remember if everyone was acting this way originally, but I think it was all pretty faithful to the VN.

There are still a few notable differences from the VN, though, like Ooishi just randomly showing up at the meeting to creepily observe Keiichi, which I think is original to Gou. Considering that he also had that ominous final scene in the last episode, I’m really suspicious of what the hell’s going on with him in this arc. I thought maybe he’d show up here to stop Keiichi’s plans to save Satoko, or to reveal something about what’s going on with her and Teppei, but he didn’t really do anything. He also seemed like he was maybe supportive of Keiichi’s whole plan to rally the village, so I just have no idea what he’s thinking at this point, lol.

I also think the first scene with the damaged shrine might be original, and I don’t really know what to make of it. It might have just been there so we could see some random villagers talk about how everyone secretly thinks that Satoko and Teppei will be the victims of the curse this year, but I feel like there must be more to it. For one thing, I’m skeptical that it was actually Teppei who did it in the first place, but I also think the symbolism of a desecrated shrine is pretty heavy for a story like this.

Part of me’s still convinced that Teppei might already be dead, but honestly I’m less certain about that after how this episode went. We also didn’t even see Satoko at all, which is kinda worrying. Maybe she’ll wind up dead, but I’m not sure.

I guess the bottom line is that there’s only one episode left to this arc, so there’s only so much they could do at this point, and it’ll have to happen pretty quickly. So I at least think that part of the big divergence in this arc will involve the outcome of the village rallying together for Satoko. I thought at first that maybe this time around they’d fail in getting Oryo’s support, and the whole plan would fall apart, but things played out the same as the VN with her, so if something’s going to screw up the plan, it’s probably something else. And since Ooishi seemed kinda supportive of Keiichi here, maybe he’ll sit back and let them continue their protesting like in the VN, instead of breaking it up this time.

But other than that the obvious guess for how this will all fall apart at the last minute would be if we find out that Satoko and/or Teppei are already dead, which would immediately invalidate the entire protest.

Though I’m still also thinking that maybe they actually WILL succeed in saving Satoko, and it’ll lead to a deceptively happy ending where everything just falls apart afterwards due to some other reason, like in Minagoroshi. I doubt it’d be the exact same thing, though. 

I guess a more or less happy ending could still happen with the Satoko situation if Teppei alone winds up dead, and Satoko just gets to go back to living with Rika afterward. Which would probably at least take less time to deal with than having the whole process of getting Satoko to speak out against Teppei and provide evidence of abuse to the CWS.

I still like my theory that all the main characters will survive this arc, and that this will lead to the future where teenage Rika gets murdered, but I’m not entirely confident about that at this point.

One thing that’s still bugging me, and is making it hard to predict exactly what’s going on, is that I can’t tell exactly what’s going through Rika’s head, and what she actually thinks is going on. She’s continuing to apparently remember and quote stuff Keiichi said in Minagoroshi, but even in the VN they established that she can’t remember that arc at all. There’s also the scene early in the episode that seems to imply that she’s suspicious of Takano, but the idea of her knowing about Takano being evil still feels really strange to me.

For one thing, it feels like in every arc thus far she’s done absolutely nothing to try and stop Takano’s plans, but it also feels like Rika is doing the exact same thing she did in Minagoroshi originally, where she assumes that in this type of arc the only thing they need to do to achieve a happy ending is save Satoko. But in Minagoroshi the whole point was that she *didn’t* know about Takano, so she didn’t realize until it was too late that saving Satoko wasn’t enough. But this time around it seems like even though she’s maybe aware that Takano’s evil, she’s still going with the idea that saving Satoko is all they need to do to achieve a happy ending. And she isn’t even saying anything to her friends to make them aware of what’s going on with Takano so they could at least prepare for it in advance instead of being caught off-guard by her.

Maybe this is just bad writing, but I still prefer to think that she doesn’t actually remember or know anything about Takano, and the show’s just been misleading old fans into assuming that she does. Which is why I came up with my theory that Gou’s whole story is an in-universe fictional story written by someone like Featherine that involves a fictional version of Rika who basically branches off from the level of knowledge and development she had around Tsumihoroboshi, before she learned about Takano. And that the happy future she told Hanyuu about isn’t actually Matsuribayashi, but an arc in Gou where we get a seemingly happy ending but Rika dies as a teenager anyway.

Either way, I’m still at least going with the theory that Takano isn’t the big obstacle this time around. If only just from a meta perspective of how it’d be the biggest way to change things up compared to the VN’s story, and how there’s just not really enough time to actually cover all the stuff that happened with her in the VN. There’s still the question of why she still seems to be the exact same person as in the VN, including having the name that she got after being adopted by her grandfather, but I still think a lot of this could be explained by having Gou be a fictionalized version of the Higurashi gameboard where the surface level of Takano’s character is the same, but her backstory has basically been retconned, either intentionally or because the person writing this doesn’t know about what’s going on with her.

And on the note of Takano, I still think this arc should end up providing more clues about what’s going on with her and Tomitake in each arc. They haven’t really done anything in this arc yet, but it’d be weird if we don’t get some more clues about them before the question arcs end and we start getting answers.

But we haven’t even gotten to the festival yet, and there’s only one episode left, so who even knows if we’ll get far enough in the timeline for anything to happen with them in the first place.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking more about all the different theories of what’s going on this time around, and where this is all going to go in the long run, and even though it’s too early for me to really be confident in anything, one idea I’ve been messing with is that, at least in the first two arcs, Keiichi was a lot more involved in the different murders than we’ve been lead to believe. Basically I just thought about the fact that he almost definitely hallucinated most of his fight with Rena, and I tried to see if I could really go wild with that sort of storytelling logic and apply it to anything else that’s happened.

This is mostly just me trying to see how far I can stretch this whole theory, so this is kind of a reach, but to begin with, it’s possible that Keiichi is the one who murdered Rika in the first two arcs. Maybe in Onidamashi he killed Rena and then remembered how Rika convinced him to trust her, and in his L5 state he decided that she must have been trying to get him killed, so he took the kitchen knife and went over and killed Rika [with Satoko being caught in the cross-fire].

My theory for him being potentially responsible for her death in Watadamashi ties into my similar idea that maybe in that arc, if not also in Onidamashi, he killed Takano and Tomitake. And then later in Watadamashi, Rika went full Bernkastel at him and revealed that she knew about Takano and Tomitake being dead, and he ended up snapping and killing her. One thing that’s been nagging at me about that whole sequence is that that episode ended with Satoko inviting him to play dodgeball with her and the other kids, but then at the start of the next episode she’s being suspicious of him and asking about if he was with Rika when she disappeared. Which might have just been Satoko lying, but there were other kids involved who could have vouched for Keiichi if he was with Satoko the whole time, so I think that they just lead us into assuming that he took up her dodgeball invitation, when in actuality he didn’t, and he went off and killed Rika in secret, which is why Satoko acted like she didn’t know what he was up to.

But going back earlier in Watadamashi, I think that after everyone left the Saiguden, what actually happened might have been that Keiichi succumbed to paranoia and attacked Takano and Tomitake off-screen, and then later on Mion called him on the phone pretending to be Shion, and got him to agree to a fake alibi that she made up to cover up what he did.

This might also shine more light on what happened behind the scenes with Mion and Shion after the festival, if what actually happened was that the village elders all more or less figured out that Keiichi killed Takano and Tomitake, and Mion snapped and murdered everyone after they started to suggest that he should get punished for it.

It always seemed a bit weird to me that multiple characters pressed Keiichi for info about if he was with not just Shion but also Takano and Tomitake at the festival, and that Mion/Shion was getting him to confirm that he met everyone on the shrine steps at the festival even though they all should have remembered that. So it might explain a lot of stuff if Keiichi was actually involved in their disappearances, and people started getting suspicious of him, while Mion worked to make up an alibi for him. The whole story of them fleeing the village might have also been made up by Mion as part of the alibi to explain why they disappeared.

I still think Rena killed them in Onidamashi because she thought Keiichi found out about her murders and that he’d ratted her out to them, but part of me’s still kinda suspicious of how Keiichi walks up to them at the festival but then just stops and walks away before actually talking to them, while Rena stares at him in the background. It makes me wonder if the way the scene was depicted wasn’t actually true.

In general I wonder how much Gou might be willing to intentionally depict false information to the audience about Keiichi’s POV. There’s a few scenes where he obviously hallucinates stuff, but maybe it extends more than that.

Looking at it from an Umineko perspective, Keiichi might be the viewpoint character in Gou, but that doesn’t necessarily make him the detective, so it’s possible that his perspective is sometimes just straight up misleading.

If we’re willing to doubt Keiichi’s perspective on things, I also think this raises a lot of questions about the Yamainu’s potential involvement in things. If he was the one who killed Rika and Satoko in Onidamashi, then maybe in that entire arc they didn’t actually do anything at all. And maybe in Watadamashi Rika didn’t even talk to a construction worker at all, and that was just Mion covering for Keiichi. He might have also hallucinated seeing them on the security camera footage due to being suspicious of them by that point, but it’s also possible that what he saw was just some random construction workers doing work near the Sonozaki property, and in his paranoid state he interpreted them as being evil and coming to murder them all. I don’t think he was directly involved in Mion and Satoko’s deaths, but I wonder if maybe the Yamainu weren’t involved either, and it really was more of a murder-suicide. The gun looked like it had been swapped out, but maybe someone other than the Yamainu did it, like Ooishi.

A lot of this is a big stretch, but this ties into a lot of little things that have been bugging me, including the fact that Keiichi has felt almost strangely ‘innocent’ in each arc thus far, compared to how he was in the VN. And looking at this from the perspective of Gou being an accessible mystery to new fans, it makes me think that maybe a lot of these mysterious incidents aren’t being caused by effectively unknown third parties, but by Keiichi himself.

It might be a bit cheap, but I think the first two arcs at least provided very understandable motives for why he’d kill Rika, which even new fans could catch onto. In Onidamashi she basically tried to gaslight him into trusting Rena which lead to him nearly getting murdered, and in Watadamashi she straight up started talking about Takano and Tomitake’s deaths while acting like she has a creepy amount of knowledge about everything going on. On a similar note, it’s starting to kinda worry me that there’s been several instances in Tataridamashi of him noticing that Rika keeps talking about stuff that he apparently said to her, that he has no memory of. It just feels like in every arc she keeps doing and saying stuff to him that from his perspective would be extremely suspicious.

I think Watadamashi also provided enough evidence for how he might have snapped and killed Takano and Tomitake off-screen, since he was acting weirdly hostile toward Takano during the entire Saiguden scene, and then freaked out at Shion/Mion when she talked about what Keiichi was up to at the festival and provided the cover story of him just hanging out with everyone on the steps. Even when Ooishi questioned him about what he was up to, he got defensive about it and complained about how everyone keeps asking him about his involvement with them.

It’d at least be a pretty simple way to have Takano and Tomitake be red herrings this time around, if we find out that they just keep getting killed by people who get suspicious about them.

Along these same lines, I have to wonder if maybe Teppei’s going to wind up dead because Keiichi killed him off-screen in some kind of paranoid fugue state that he might not even remember. But we’ll see how it goes.

One thing that I like about this theory, at least, is that it would play into how Gou seems to be designed specifically to mess with Rika’s preconceptions, and having Keiichi be responsible for a lot of what’s going on would really fuck with her, especially with how she’s acting in this arc. Honestly, I started thinking about the “Keiichi culprit theory” after how it started seeming like blatant dramatic irony that Rika was talking over and over again about trusting Keiichi. In basically each arc thus far she acts under the assumption that things will play out a certain way, and then they don’t, and in this arc the main thing she’s done has been trust Keiichi and assume that he’s going to resolve everything with Teppei peacefully and lead everyone to a happy ending.

Anyway this got a lot longer than I wanted it to, so I’ll stop there, lol.

[meaningofmotorsport]

My opinion of the F1 teams and drivers so far this year!

As F1 is currently on its summer break, I thought it would be a good time to give my report on how each team is fairing so far in 2021!

With this year’s car being very similar to the previous year’s one, it was expected that it would be as easy this year for Mercedes as it was last year! However, with some new rules which were clearly aimed at slowing down Mercedes, it has become a much more difficult prospect for them! On the whole, they have handled it pretty well, I don’t think they have the fastest car, at least over the tracks we have seen so far, so to be leading both titles is a good job, even if it has happened through luck and certain circumstances! Mercedes cannot be totally happy though, as they have lost out on a bag of points through strategy errors, and the car just not working at some tracks. Hamilton has not been perfect this year, with some misjudgements creeping into his game, yet he has been pretty close to it, and will need to stay at that level to keep up with Max. His fitness is a real concern, due to long covid symptoms! As for Bottas, with no wins to his name, and some pretty diabolical weekends to add to that, it has been a sub-par year for him to say the least. Plus, now was when he least needed it, with a massive threat from Russell for his seat!

Despite it being their best start to a season for many years, Red Bull have been massively unlucky so far. If luck was on their side, they would have a big title lead in both standings, but that is not how it has worked out, and the team needs to pick themselves up and come back stronger! They have the fastest car, Perez is getting better by the weekend, and with Lewis showing signs of weakness, and Mercedes potentially signing Russell, it could cause drama at their team too! This season could well come down to the mental strength of Red Bull, which they showed none of after Silverstone, and their overreaction undoubtedly distracted them going into Hungary, where Mercedes beat them in qualifying! Much like Lewis, Max has been near perfect, only some slight errors earlier in the year, and perhaps he needs to tone down the aggression a bit! Otherwise, he has what it takes to bring down Mercedes! Perez would have hoped for more when the season began, whilst there have been highs, there have also been many performances, especially on a Saturday, which have been underwhelming! If he can just gain a few tenths, to put himself above McLaren and Ferrari, and start to upset Mercedes in the race, it would be perfect for Red Bull!

There were high expectations for McLaren going into this year, off the back of 2 growing years for the team, and with a new star driver coming in. In some ways they have matched that, if not bettered it, as Norris is currently sat in an incredible 3rd in the driver’s championship, after a superbly consistent year. Yet with Ricciardo, it has been rather lacklustre on the most part! Obviously coming to a new team won’t be easy, however, he has been the slowest to adapt by far, and even by now isn’t quite where he should be. I think he will get there eventually; it is just the little nuances of the car he is struggling to work around! This team may be the best as a unit so far in 2021, as we have rarely seen them miss a trick at all. Despite this, the fight with Ferrari will be a tough one, and will require both drivers to be up at the front!

The gains that Ferrari have been able to make in what has been a pretty static rule set from last year to this, is impressive to say the least! This has mostly been on the engine side, after the circumstances with their 2019 engine, that I am sure we are all aware of! Leclerc has once again been getting the most out of the Ferrari, including 2 pole positions, however, there have also been some big mistakes in there too, namely at Monaco, which could even have cost them a win! Sainz has adapted the best to his new surroundings of all the drivers who moved, as he was right with Charles from the first round of the year! A couple of podiums show that he has been pushing his teammate hard all year, much more than most people probably expected! That could be their biggest strength in the fight with McLaren, if they still aren’t able to get Ricciardo fully up to speed!

For the most part, it has been another year where Alpine (Renault) has not been able to fight where a manufacturer should be, and the positive trajectory from a couple of years ago has faded away really! That being said, another part of sport is making the most of the opportunities that are handed to you, which Alpine certainly did last time out at Hungary! It was clear that they were slower than the Aston Martin there, yet Ocon and the team got the job done, and I hope this will act as a bounce pad, not only for the rest of this year but also going forwards! Over the 11 races so far, Alonso has really been the better driver, especially given he has just returned from some time out of the sport. Ocon is a very talented driver, he just needs to show it more consistently, at least he has the security of a long term contract!

AlphaTauri looked ominous in pre-season testing, and the expectation was that they would at least be in the battle for 3rd in the constructors, if not winning it! The reality has been far from that though, partly due to strategy and driver errors, and also just a lack of race pace! In qualifying they have been probably 3rd or 4th best, with Gasly at least, but it isn’t often they finish there! Pierre has been one of the stars of the year so far, as whilst there have been some slip ups, he has been maximising the car he has mostly! Tsunoda arrived on the scene with so much hype around him, and in Bahrain he matched the hype, however it has been downhill for the majority of the time since then. Overdriving seems to be the main issue for him currently, as he just expects too much from himself at this stage in his career!

2020 was probably the best year ever for the Silverstone based team throughout all its previous guises. I didn’t see anything wrong with them copying the Mercedes, copying has always happened in our sport, so it was nothing new really. The problem with copying the best team on the grid, is that rule changes will be aimed at slowing you down, and as we have seen this year, it has really damaged Aston Martin in terms of car performance. Bearing that in mind, they have made the best of a bad situation, with some very promising results coming to them throughout the year! Vettel has been reinvigorated at the team, as he may not be a top level driver, but he has made a step forward from his final years at Ferrari. Stroll as you would expect has not been able to match him most of the time, but has not embarrassed himself either, as he gains experience during his time in F1.

When Williams said they had make a ‘peaky’ car for this campaign, it had the potential to work really well for them, as being consistently out of the points means nothing, as opposed to 1 point scoring race! The team was tremendously unlucky to not score points before Hungary, although they have now got what they deserved, with a huge 10 point haul for them! That may be enough to stay 8th, however, they may even be able to grow their lead further in the remaining 12 races! Russell for the most part has been outstanding in what is still a poor car. There have been a few blemishes, such as Imola, but everything else he does is the best advertisement possible to Mercedes, as to why he should be there next year! Latifi has mostly been hidden behind the limelight of George. On the odd occasion he will push him very hard, which is good to see, I am just not sure if it is enough to keep his seat!

Alfa Romeo came to join the Sauber team on such a high note back in 2018, as they grew the star of Leclerc, before he went to Ferrari! Since that point, points have been hard to come by for them, as they battled to stay above the bottom of the table. They should be able to do it again this year, however their position won’t be that satisfying! Their performance isn’t helped by 2 drivers who aren’t a match for the rest of the grid. Kimi in his prime was an excellent driver, but this year especially he hasn’t really shown much to write home about! Giovinazzi has had a few years now to grow in the sport, and although he is beating Kimi very often, he isn’t showing any signs of being a star of the future. I think a driver overhaul for next year would do them a world of good!

It has been a woeful year for Haas, as an underdeveloped car with 2 rookie drivers, is a painful combination. As they focus on 2022, the good thing is that their drivers seem to be improving as the year goes on, to prepare for what they hope will be an upturn in results! Schumacher has been a class above Mazepin, as we thought would happen. It was also nice to see him get his elbows out whilst battling with some of the top runners, even if it didn’t last long! Mick just needs to tune out the crashes we have seen from him this season, otherwise he could have a promising career ahead of him! Nikita has at least stopped his habit of crashing, which plagued him to start the season, now he just needs to get on terms with his teammate in both qualifying and the race.

If the second half of this year is as good as the first, we could have a monumental season on our hands! All I hope is that we have a title fight which goes right down to Abu Dhabi, for the first time since 2016, and maybe some drama along the way to keep it like that!

-M

Thank you very much for reading this article! To keep up to date with when they go out, and to see my reactions to races and other news, follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/MeaningofMotor1

Also, if you want to support me, I have a Patreon Page at: https://www.patreon.com/meaningofmotorsport

[marysfoxmask]

the secret garden (1949) - why it’s my favorite adaptation

hello @renee-mariposa! thank you so much for the ask! while i believe i have answered a question like this before, i don’t think i’ve elaborated as much as i’d like to. so allow me to wax poetic on my favorite adaptation, the secret garden (1949)!

intro

this adaptation really stands out, i think, because of the the era it was made in; i don’t think you could get an adaptation aimed towards kids that is such a sentimental, gothic-lite melodrama with these days, at least without aggressively telegraphing its more emotional moments a la pixar/disney; it’s amusingly blunt and straightforward in that regard, much like the children at its center. there’s not much syrupiness at all. the child actors (margaret o’brien as mary and dean stockwell as colin) are fast-talking as any actor of that era, but in my opinion, the film’s clearly scripted dialogue just makes all the kids seem amusingly precocious.

actors

margaret o’brien as mary is great. i love her stridency, her snobbishness. unlike other adaptations, which downplay mary’s contrariness to the point where her character arc comes across as too subtle by half, the movie upgrades it. not only is 1949 mary contrary, her sullenness has been replaced by a shrillness, snobbery, and the tendency to run to emotional extremes (not to mention a healthy helping of classism). she alienates herself from the other children on the ship to england purposefully, finding them inferior to herself, then attempts to physically fight another passenger when the child calls archibald a hunchback. while this characterization isn’t book-accurate (book mary is a mix of fiery and sullen that none of the films capture accurately imo), i prefer this characterization of her to the closed-off sullenness of the 1993 version or the palatably traumatized 2020 version. 1949 mary isn’t given an obvious freudian excuse for her issues; her parents are just as neglectful, but the film puts the onus on mary for being contrary, which is weirdly refreshing and more attuned to the novel’s perspective. (that isn’t to say that mary’s traumatic early childhood didn’t inform her character in any meaningful way, or that the adults around mary aren’t responsible for how she turned out--but imo the films tend to take an un-nuanced view of the situation in order to make her a more palatable, sympathetic character, which is vastly less interesting than a complicated, flawed one no matter if the character is a child or not). when mary’s character develops and she becomes sweeter, it’s much more impactful as a result of this earlier narrative choice.

brian roper, who was 20 at the time (crazy, right?), plays dickon, and he plays him with a sweet affability that’s hard not to enjoy. he’s a little mischievous, laughing at mary when she accidentally speaks yorkshire (i’ll talk about that in a bit), and has, in a nice touch that i’ve strangely only seen in in the 1994 straight-to-dvd animated film, just as much of a passionate interest in the secret garden as mary does. dickon isn’t treated as mystically as other adaptations, save for the tendency to disappear strangely quickly just when mary happens to turn around (which is a nice nod to his quasi-magical aspects without being distracting, and also adds to mary’s sense of displacement/confusion on the mysterious misselthwaite grounds). he also gets a surprising amount to do in this adaptation, which i love, as someone who strongly believes his character has been under-served in all the film adaptations thus far. in this film, he gets to even enter misselthwaite manor by climbing up ivy into colin’s room in the middle of a storm (albeit offscreen), which is just the kind of adventurous, dramatic touch i enjoy. he also gets probably more dialogue than any of the other dickons (whoo!), as he makes a couple minor declarations--nothing super ham-fisted and melodramatic, as i said the screenplay is rather straightforward and devoid of a lot of corniness you might expect from a children’s film made in the ‘40s, especially with this kind of source material--that are heartfelt without being cloying (one of the benefits of having an older actor playing this kind of role).

colin, played by dean stockwell, is a weaker element to me. he does a good job alternating between screaming (and this movie contains a lot of screaming) and being sweet when the movie calls for it, but i don’t think he was the best choice for colin. while i think it’s awful to criticize a teen actor (stockwell was 13 at the time) for being baby-faced, the fact that he looks significantly younger than o’brien (who was 12) means that his tantrums come off as less a result of arrested development than they should. while he speaks as stiltedly as 2020 colin (who i personally think was one of the best elements of that film), it’s unclear whether that’s the result of the ‘40s fashion of expressing dialogue or a characteristic choice (i’m guessing the former). he can’t help but pale compared to o’brien’s mary, though he is perfectly adequate. he just didn’t stand out for me.

i summed up my feelings of elsa lanchester as martha in my previous, brief review of the movie back in june: “the one major flaw, i think, is actually martha, played by elsa lanchester; her portrayal is odd, feels definitely tone-deaf. her constant shrieking laughter feels very forced and unconvincing. in her few scenes, she jars everything to a halt in terms of believability.” she was significantly older than brian roper, being in her ‘40s playing a character heavily implied to be in her mid-teens to early twenties, and as a result feels out of her depth. her establishing scene is probably the worst, although i’ve warmed to her other scenes as time’s gone by.

tone/atmosphere

in general, i think the ‘49 film does a wonderful job expressing the gothic implications of the original book, even emphasizing them by casting misselthwaite manor largely in shadow and having mary and mrs. medlock first arrive in a carriage pulled by black horses on a dark, stormy night. it makes the bright outdoor scenery seem that much more inviting in comparison. burnett’s robin is also replaced by a raven, who also takes on aspects of dickon’s crow soot, as he is friends with dickon and hops on his shoulder occasionally. while it divulges from burnett’s book, i think a raven makes a little more sense in this adaptation, which amps up the eeriness of the original story; it gives mary’s journey a little more of a fairytale aspect, i think, and is overall an understandable and palatable change.

plot

the big plot development that divulges from the novel is the presence of a subplot where, due to a misunderstanding of an axe and a tree in the titular garden, mary and dickon fall under the impression that archibald killed lilias. now, this is a pretty bizarre plot, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t take up much of the film; it’s charming in its strangeness, and fits well with the idea of innocent children struggling to understand the complicated adult world—which is itself a theme original to the story that i’m kind of a sucker for, in general. it also serves as a bonding point for dickon and mary, whose friendship largely feels passed over in film adaptations.

and, of course, there’s the big plot-breaking point near the end, where archibald goes to tell colin that he’s selling misselthwaite and going to move to europe with him. an obvious plot point that conflicts with this scene is that colin, in the book, has no relationship with his father. again, it’s an odd adaptational choice meant to amp up the stakes, but it doesn’t impede my enjoyment of the film as a whole. the presence of two doctors—one, a hapless neville craven figure named dr. griddlestone, and the other is obviously inspired from the book’s “doctor from london,” who insisted all colin needed was fresh air, food, and exercise—gives the film some psychological weight. despite the disappointing element of all of colin’s neuroses being blatantly the result of his father’s emotional ailments, which i think is a lazy way of reading the original novel’s portrayal of colin’s illness, i think the way this development was executed in the film was tolerable—and i’m a sucker for children’s films that don’t think anything of including long conversations between adults about psychological issues. like, you can’t help but respect a film like that!

the garden

something i also love about this adaptation is that the garden isn’t a huge part of it; it represents more of a place where mary and dickon and colin can foster ideas and grow rather than a place of orgasmic beauty. there’s not a surplus of lavish panning shots, really, like in the ‘93 film, and it lacks the magical realism of the 2020 film. the garden itself is more transparently a plot device, which i actually like—it gives more room for the children to center themselves.

individual scenes

and the pacing of the film is actually really nice, i think—probably the best out of all the films. i love the ‘93 film with all my heart, and it’s definitely gorgeous in its own right, but i think it gets a little sluggish; this film is paced beautifully. there’s no fat, really. 

there’s a scene i really love that shows the passage of time from winter to spring in a super succinct, stupidly obvious way that nonetheless works because of the innocent sweetness of o’brien’s delivery. like, it’s very old-fashioned and sentimental, but gah, it gets me every time.

it’s time to talk about the scream scene!

this film stole my heart the minute mary screamed wholeheartedly at colin that she hopes he dies. there’s a dark comedy to this whole scene; these two maladjusted, spoiled children trying to out-scream one another while tearing down curtains and knocking down tables full of food higgledy-piggledy?? you just can’t get better than that!

if you’re adapting the secret garden, i strongly feel you can’t soften the children’s meanness, their sharpness and ugliness. their tantrums must be harsh and grating and horrible! they have to really let loose! the rawness of the children’s emotional dysfunction contrasted against the buttoned-up stiffness of edwardian england is one of the fascinating aspects of the novel i love to think about, and you just can’t get that contrast if you don’t have the children be genuine terrors! i think this scene puts that nicely, more nicely than any of the other films, which pussyfoot around colin’s intense tantrum too much to be nearly as effective. i get giddy whenever this scene comes on; it’s brilliant.

there are so many little details from the book that i love: that the children speak yorkshire to one another, mary singing her ayah’s song to colin, 

dickon’s “i will cum bak” note (here written as “i will kum back”), the mention of dickon’s mother sending them bread to eat to make them strong. it’s all so nicely implemented, and reminds me of the joy of reading the book for the first time.

but the scene i love most is one entirely made up for the film. in it, mary tells colin about the garden, but wraps it up in fiction wherein it’s a sort of child’s eden, only accessible for children like themselves. that gets to the heart of why i love the book moreso than any other adaptation i can think of. it’s a children’s paradise where the innocent, inherent goodness of children reigns. it makes me tear up almost every time, despite the scene’s brevity.

miscellaneous

there are some little details that i love about this film: the fact that mrs. sowerby is spotted in one scene where we see dickon at his home, feeding a lamb (and the implication that mary was so darn excited about finding the key to the garden that she ran all the way to the sowerbys’ cottage, five miles away from misselthwaite, to show dickon), mary’s clearly false story to colin about being surrounded by tigers and elephants in india, mary threatening to tear people’s gizzards out, mary telling dickon she hates him because he (gasp) dared to know about colin so she couldn’t reveal his existence to him...there’s a lot to enjoy about this film. it definitely isn’t the most accurate to the book, but it’s one of those films that i could watch over and over again.

aside from some superfluous subplots, it’s a lean adaptation that still captures all the essential elements of the book to at least to a degree. i can easily imagine some very indignant little girls in 1949 insisting that no, the raven was a robin in the book, and there was no implications of murder, either, but i love it in all its simplicity. i think you need a little old-fashioned sentiment to make a film adaptation of the secret garden successful.

[ilikelookingatthings]

Hunter x Hunter 1999 is better than Hunter x Hunter 2011

So I’ve read the Hunter x Hunter manga. I’ve watched both The Hunter X Hunter 1999 anime and the Hunter X Hunter 2011 reboot. Subbed AND Dubbed. I’ve looked at a couple of reviews comparing the two and I am confused as all hell because I apparently have the unusual opinion that Hunter x hunter 1999 blows 2011 out of the water.

Pacing

2011 is appealing to many because it tends to have a quicker pace. Once I got used to it I could see the appeal. It doesn’t have any filler arcs or episodes unlike 1999 HOWEVER especially in the first season 2011 suffers from this fast pace specifically in regards to the tests to become a hunter and to get to the test. The quick pace took a lot of the atmosphere away and doesn’t let certain moments, lessons our characters learned or special skills linger long enough for it to settle in. The cooking hunter test in specifically suffered from not being given enough time and they had changes to it that felt unnecessary. Certain characters like Kite were cut out entirely from season one in 2011 so they could move quickly but that meant when Kite appears later on it had no impact because while Gon knew him the watcher(in this case me) hadn’t seen him before so I had no attachment which is a BIG problem when unlike 1999, the 2011 anime goes through to the ant and president arc. It still WORKS but the attachment is greatly lessoned.

The fast pace of Hunter x Hunter 2011 also has the big problem that it caught up to the manga VERY quickly. The whole reason they had to reboot the original hunter x hunter anime was because it had to stop due to catching up with the manga and had to wait it he wrote more and by then it had been years. Milking a franchise can have its problems if you go too slow but it gives the room to breath and it would give the manga more time to get further into the story which in turn would have given us more anime. If 2011 had been longer it  could have have paced its self and let people enjoy the experience of this show coming out. On the other hand it IS useful as a binge anime so its a preference thing.  It takes out or changes certain aspects, characteristics and backstories for certain side characters for no real reason which wasn’t that great

Hunter x Hunter 1999 on the other hand has a slower pace and even added a few extra episodes that weren’t even in the manga such as the episode were Gon leaves his town to get to the boat where he was supposed to meet Kurapika and Leorio. The extra test where everyone gathers treasure around boats and have to navigate a potential storm to name a few. HOWEVER filler doesn’t equal a waste of time or bad even if filler in general has a bad rap. These characters are brilliantly written so I’d enjoy seeing them shopping or doing mundane things anyway and those episodes still showcased great character moments so we can know our characters. like Leorio hardly gets a focus put on him later on and he really gets to shine with how the pace lets the facets and moments he does have, have some breathing room. The treasure hunting test was just as interesting as the canon tests so i fit right in and gave more opportunities for us to see all the friendships strengthen which is important if we are going to care about the groups connections even when they are separated. 2011 has all the strong connections but 1999 is stronger. Not to mention if you haven’t seen the 1999 episodes when Gon was trying to steal Hisoka’s badge an got punched and the episodes dedicated to scenes or Gon’s anger hurt and pitifulness. Getting extra scenes and episodes dedicated to giveing us more character moments to help flesh out the characters we enjoy is a good thing when the moments and episodes are written this well.

Animation wise from what I can see everyone claims that hunter x hunter 2011 has better animation than hunter x hunter 1999. I’ll definitly agree it looks crisper, cleaner and brighter. The animation it has is really nice to look at. however I still think 1999 beats 2011 in this regard as well. It seemed to have more animation over all per episode in 1999 which was probably helped by having more episodes. The still shots and scenic drawing has personality, atmosphere and if I had money I would pay for a still shot of. The more muted tones also gives it a earthy feel to it and the shot compositions. I still get chills at the YorkNew arc when we get to see Kurapika and his powers. The way they use imagery and transition in the 1999 version can’t be beat by 2011. Over all 1999 looks better though it has a bit of a grit to it. Its not clean and shiny.

Character design wise they feel more similar to the manga versions in then 1999 version than the 2011 version. Both 2011 and 1999 are clearly the same characters....but for example kurapika and Killua are clearly guys in the manga and 1999 version while in 2011 they where more cutified. It made the jokes about Kurapika getting mistaken for a girl make more sense in the 2011 version but it took a while to get used to. Killua in the 2011 version felt brighter and more cute which made his transition to killer dead eyed mode more shocking which works in his favor but the more serious eyed killua in 1999 and his killer look gave him a bit of a maturity and a hint to all the stuff he had had to grow with and makes when he is vulnerable hint in a different way. Both are good Killuas but I have a fav.

1999 Leorio is more handsome than 2011 Leorio. I don’t know why....its just facts.

the 1999 Gon  looked like he has thoughts behind his eyes. I could tell 2011 version of Gon was going to be a physcho because he smiled way to much and just something about his eyes....1999 always felt like he was looking at something or someone while 2011 version felt like his eyes where looking into space at times. There voices actors were great in the subbed but english dub 1999 Gon I think beats out 2011 Gon. Both are nice but 2011 exasperated that feeling something was a bit off with Gon.

I mean sure there IS something off about Gon in general canonically but its supposed to feel hidden most of the time. -_-

Hisoka is equally matched no mater the anime or the sub or dubbed.

Canary looks better in 2011 though.

I’ve noticed a common thoughts lots of people will say about the 2011 version. That the characters are cuter and brighter so it makes the darker elements that show up more shocking and have a larger impact since it lured you into a false sense of security. That is something that was nice when I first watched it but 1999 felt darker and it more consistently gave me episodes and scenes I would want to watch their own. When you rewatch that cuteness camoflaging the darker scenes later on felt like a waste since its not going to have the same effect after you know how dark hunter x hunter can get....and hunter x hunter in general has some dark scenes through out. and because everything feels a little more natural and darker it makes the brighter moments stand out, not just the dark moments when it compared to the over all tone.

I’ve seriously given it some thought and the only thing that could elevate the 2011 version over the 1999 version has to be the gaming arc, ant arc and president arc. The gaming arc because the 1999 greed island arc is hard to find and are OVAS, and the ant arc and president arc because 1999 doesn’t HAVE those arcs. Those are arcs only 2011 has and those arcs. Especially the ant arc. Its one of the most brutal, brilliantly written arcs the manga has and the 2011 version does a great job of adapting it so people would have a better view of the 2011 version because it has those arcs. That is however unfair because the 1999 version doesn’t have those arcs and the greed island arc can go toe to toe with each other.

So...1999 hunter x hunter beats out the 2011 hunter x hunter....do you agree? disagree? why? what parts are your favorite? have you watched both or just one?

[malethirsty]

Sexual Alliance: Russell Hantz

A New Villain’s Proposition 

Summary: Being cast on Survivor: Samoa II was an amazing opportunity, and you planned to capitalise. But when a veteran player makes his fifth grab at the prize, it takes you both to places you wouldn’t expect.

Warnings: M/M smut (21+), Bareback (Wrap Before You Tap!), Voyeurism, Daddy Kink

Inspired by: https://twitter.com/malethirst/status/1199820519106732032?s=21

Being placed on the cast for Survivor: Samoa II was one of the biggest accomplishments of your life. To get the opportunity to play the world’s toughest game was amazing, and even if things didn’t work out, as long as you grabbed attention by shoehorning your way into tribemates discussions by flashing off your personality, you’d get a platform of attention to fall back on.

You had planned on playing clean for a bit, before adapting to dirty to stay in the game. And that was fine until HE came along. Due to a reemerging All Stars twist, Russell Hantz was included in the cast. A veteran villain, you had to make sure to watch out for him, as the man intimidated you & most. Although you had to say, he looked really cute, so when he was assigned to your tribe, you were somewhat pleased, he’d be under team constraints until merge, and he also would be in ample viewing sights.

Russell often disregarded shirts, which was great for you. He didn’t have a chiseled physique, and you really didn’t mind. The muscular masculine never intrigued you, you liked the bigger man because they were more susceptible to love & appreciation. A couple of episodes passed and you realized that you’re personality had been shafted behind the big return of Russell, with your plan hanging out the window, you needed another way to get on top of the game.

You knew from your other tribemates that Russell often went for evening walks. Evening walks your ass, you knew he was searching for the hidden immunity idol. And he was often quite good at finding them. Knowing your team would never disturb someone’s private time, so you’d be free to discuss your plan, you set off with a cameraman behind you, which proved a bit agitating when it came to tracking through, but eventually you lost him. You noticed Russell digging around in the jungle, a cameraman on his back. He looked up to see you “Y/N! I didn’t expect to see you.” He said in a frantic way, trying to find a way to explain why he was digging “Clearly not, given how desperate you are to find this idol.” Russell feigned shock “No, I’m digging up dirt for healing properties, like they do at the facials.” You raised your eyebrows at him “Russell, I know full well it’s a mud scrub. And where are you gonna get the water? You couldn’t use the group’s supply & also the beach is miles away, you’d come all this way to get some dirt and run it back across Samoa?” You noticed the cameraman stepping back to get a wider shot, this was going in the episode, now you needed to remain confident.

Russell looked into your eyes, he knew he met his match “Fine, I’ve been looking for the idol, something your tribe should be doing. But they are all so busy being ‘nice nice’ & ‘team exercise!’ And while that’s had us win the last couple of immunity challenges, they’ve forgotten that the aim is ‘Outwit, Outplay, Outlast’!” You grinned, you thought Russell would be needlessly harsh, but he was actually being very blunt, some of your team needed to hear it. Russell noticed your grin “You seem to be agreeing with my trash talk.” “Yeah” you said dreamily “Well how about this Y/N, you keep this immunity idol a secret & I won’t tell your team you’ve talked shit about them hey?” Russell tried to barter, but you had a better deal. “I actually came out to find you to speak about game.” “Oh yeah?” Russell asked, an intrigued tone laced in his voice. “Yeah. I’ve been watching you for the past few days & I know you’re needy for an alliance, someone to gain helpfulness for you so you can move forwards with this new cast.” “So you can offer me information about your new tribe and I keep you safe?” Russell asked “Partly, but that’s not the basis. I want a sexual alliance.”

Russell spluttered “A what?!” “A sexual alliance, I empty your blue balls and in turn you keep me safe, in fact we both watch out for each other.” Russell listened to your proposition and gathered himself together “You a fag or something?” Russell asked, completely forgetting the cameraman recording him, probably planning on leaking Russell’s slur to TMZ the first chance he got “And what would the problem be? I know when you were here the last few times your marriage went down the drain, and you’ve struggled to find a relationship since. Your balls have been full for over a decade Russell, I know you’re desperate to unload & I’m right in front of you offering you three things you like: Sex, Safety & A shot at the million. What do you have to lose?”

Russell stood for a bit pondering your deal. “You swear this won’t get out right?” He asked both you & the cameraman, you both shook your head “Wrong network, we’d have our licence pulled, I will need you to shoot another stricken up deal for the episode.” “Deal” you grinned at the cameraman, not noticing Russell until he pinned you up against the tree “Let’s seal it with a kiss” he grinned as he indeed kissed you deep, his tongue slipping into your mouth. You grabbed Russell’s head, deepening him, his trademark hat falling off and onto the ground. “Damn man! You got real nice lips.” Russell groaned “They’d fit nice round my cock!” He pulled down his underwear, his cock flopping out along with another type of package: A hidden immunity idol. Russell flushed bright red “Guess your usual place is going to have to change” you grinned at him, grabbing the idol & handing it back to him. “Suck my fucking cock!” Russell roughly said, grabbing your head & shoving it downwards. You gagged from his rough treatment, earning a moan from the veteran “Yeah, you’re so full with my dick right now you fuckin slut!” Whilst you liked being used, you wanted to build a pace with him so you took several deep breaths through your nose & eventually after a few minutes, you were able to control how you sucked his cock. 

“Oh fuck yeah!” Russell groaned, his eyes rolling back into his head “Your mouth is so good on my cock Y/N!” The praise on Russell’s lips was blissful & you continued your pace, his musky taste on your mouth the most amazing thing you’d ever had. You also began to roll his balls, making the man let out a large moan “Fuck! You keep that shit up & I’m gonna fucking marry you.” “Looks like I’ll be getting my hands on that million after all.” You grinned, Russell chuckling before knocking you down to the ground, him above you “I’d love to have you keep going but I’ll blow & I still need to have your tight ass clenching round my cock. You ready?”  

Once you nodded, he immediately thrust in your ass, making you moan loudly “Jesus Fuckin Christ! Your ass is fucking perfect!” Russell praised, as he set a rough but smooth pace, his beer gut colliding with your back, the echo all around you. “Daddy Russell, fuck me harder!” Russell slapped your ass “Greedy slut wants more huh?” You nodded “Arch your back babe” Russell ordered and you did, Russell rewarding you with a rougher pace, making you scream out a mixture of curse words & his name “Yeah Y/N, work your ass back on daddy’s cock bitch. Work it so you earn my vote.”

You were both making so much noise that you were worried someone would find you, you looked behind you to see if anyone was watching & low and behold, the cameraman had his camera on the floor, eyes closed, hand stroking his cock, lost in blissful pleasure grunting ‘Fucking slut’ ‘Use that bitch Russell’ you lent up to Russell’s ear “Look behind you, someone’s loving this.” Russell quickly mirrored your actions & when he turned back to you, he grinned and fucked you even harder, your combined moans making The Cameraman arch “I’m gonna fucking cum!” He yelled, very quickly shooting his load. “Look what you did to our professional staff!” Russell mockingly said “Your sluttiness made him shoot his load!” He spat on your face & slapped it “Such a fucking whore for daddy!” You went along with his kinkiness & licked his spit into your mouth “You love this don’t you? My southern sexual prowess making you so desperate for daddy’s dick.” “Yes sir” you moaned out.

Russell knew he was close to shooting so he tried to pull out. Aware he would do this, you grabbed his ass & held him in place “No” you said “I’m not a woman, you can shoot inside me.” Russell grinned as he went deeper & rougher “FUCK! You’re so tight round my cock and you want me to shoot in your ass. You’re like the perfect woman, who obeys me and loves my cock!” Russell’s appraisal made you shoot all over yourself “Fuck, you liked Daddy Russell’s dick?” he groaned. You tightened around Russell “What does that fucking tell you?” You responded back. Russell would have slapped your ass for talking back but he knew he wouldn’t last much longer “Oh fuck! You’re so damn tight, daddy’s gonna cum in your pretty tight ass! Fuck! You’re gonna make me cum! YES!” He threw his head back, moaning utterly blissed out as he came a decades worth of load was shot into your ass. It went on for a long while, before he finally stopped shooting out & he moaned, collapsing onto you. “Oh yeah! Fuck man! That was so good!” You grinned “You were amazing Russell.” “Was there any question?” Russell asked “Well I’m not a hot ass blonde girl for your dumbass girl alliance, so I questioned your desire to try hard.” You cheekily responded, causing Russell to slap your ass “You think that wasn’t me trying hard, you’ll be walking back to camp with a damn limp bitch!” You laughed at his cockiness leaning up for a kiss “You’re in. I’ll keep you till the end, as long as I get to cum in you!” “Well after that fuck, I knew I was.” You cockily responded back, Russell laughing at your level matching his “We’re gonna have a good fucking time running these fools off the island.” You grinned at Russell “We should get back to the group, they’ll wonder where we’ve gone.” “Yeah Y/N, I guess we should.” he responded, you put your garments back on as Russell put his underwear back on, stuffing the hidden immunity idol in there “I’d love to hold the hidden immunity idol.” You flirted with him “Don’t worry babe, you will.” Russell responded.

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

Surviving in a Different Medium: The Struggles of Making a Comic Book Movie

There have been live-action film adaptations of just about everything under the sun, from video games to cartoons, to books, to television shows, heck, even to amusement park rides or board games.  While some adaptations can turn out some….less-than-great products (Street Fighter, Inspector Gadget, Dune), other adaptations tend to do fairly well, such as adaptations like Jaws, The Princess Bride, or Forrest Gump.

Not all adaptations are created equal.  Some source materials are simply easier to adapt to the big screen, such as novels.  Others, like cartoons, are considerably harder to turn into a coherent, movie-length story.  But none of these, it would seem, pose quite the challenge that is the balancing act of a comic-book adaptation.

Comic book movies are odd in that, when they are successful, they are extremely so, but when they aren’t, they’re really bad.   For every major hit, there has been twice as many misses, (up until recent years).  For every Superman, there is a Supergirl.  For every Batman, a Catwoman looms.  For every Blade, there’s a Steel.

And that’s not even mentioning the sequels, or heaven forbid, Howard the Duck.

When you think about it, it’s kind of odd that studios should have so much trouble with what seems like a very simple task: cast actors who look like comic characters, take a story from a comic, and make a movie.  The plot and characters are already there.  All the filmmakers have to do is make a movie out of it, right?

Easier said than done.

Wait a minute, you might say.  I’m not blind.  Have you seen Marvel’s film roster over the past ten years?  They’ve been very successful!  And what about Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy?  Or Wonder Woman?

Admittedly, comic book films have been far more successful (and respected) in recent years than they have been in the past.  This is a good thing.  It means filmmakers are learning.  But by the same token, even in this new age of comic book blockbusters, there are some films that haven’t done so well.  The Fantastic Four.  Green Lantern.  Daredevil.  Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.  

The question is, why?  Like I said, a comic book movie seems like it’d be much easier to do than a board-game film.  Comic books themselves are practically story boards.  What is so hard about lifting a comic onto the big screen?  Or, put another way:

How can comic books survive in a different medium, specifically live-action film?

That’s the question we’re going to be answering today, particularly as it pertains to superhero films.  Let’s take a look.

Comic books are, by nature, visual novels.  They are stories told through pictures as much as words, typically full of larger-than-life characters or situations that are nearly impossible to replicate on-screen.  You can do anything with comics.  The sky is the limit.  The creativity of the illustrator (and author) are the rule-makers in the universe of comics.  It is due to this unlimited creativity that villains such as Stilt-Man can exist, or heroes like Spider-Ham.  The costumes or abilities of characters are not governed by what can realistically be shown the audience.  They are governed by what the artist is able to draw.

Already, we’ve stumbled upon problem number one.

When adapting a comic to film, already, something has been lost: the freedom of visual style.  Comic characters have the benefit of being drawn by different artists, in distinctive styles, with costumes or abilities that are difficult to be done with on screen.  For this reason, many costumes for film adaptations end up changed for practicality reasons, such as any version of the Wonder Woman ensemble, or Scarlet Witch’s costume.  The recent adaptation of Captain America redesigned the look for a less-goofy design, and even the Batman costume, while remaining one of the most accurately depicted, has had a few changes in order to function on a movie set.

The realistic nature of live-action also cuts down on the heroes and villains that are usable.  Batman, the Joker, and the majority of his Rogues Gallery are able to be adapted to film with relative ease, as their gimmicks, while outlandish, don’t require an inordinate amount of special effects.  On the other hand, Marvel villains such as M.O.D.O.K. are far more difficult to replicate without it looking unrealistic or overly disturbing.  This is the primary reason that of Superman’s villains, only Lex Luthor has adapted well to the big screen: he is the most human, and therefore, the easiest to do realistically.

The problems with adaptation don’t lie merely in the visuals, however.  More difficult (and important) is the translation of character.

Comic book characters, specifically superheroes, are big and bold, with personalities to match.  On top of that, especially in older comics, characters were typically stagnant.  Up until more recent years, there wasn’t a whole lot of development, so readers weren’t confused if they happened to miss a few issues.  On top of that, thanks to the different iterations of each character, trying to find the ‘definitive’ version to adapt can be challenging, especially with all the alternate timelines, clones, and other odd occurrences that can make for new methods of storytelling with the same characters.  These methods, while good for comic readership, don’t make for easy, accessible adaptations for wider audiences.

As a result, we can get films like Man of Steel, where interpretations of the character are wildly different from traditional comic canon, or the change for Tim Burton’s Batman to disregard the ‘no-kill’ rule that has been widely accepted as a trait of the character.  To create a distilled version of a character, some traits have to be changed, or removed altogether.  The problem comes with how this is done, trying to make it work within the context of the character, and the context of the story you are telling.

So, to successfully adapt a comic book character, we’ve addressed that you need to change both the personality somewhat, and the look, if casual audiences are to enjoy the film version of this character.  While doing this, you must also balance the existing, canon character most traditionally viewed, ensuring that you do not alienate the already-existing fans by changing the character too drastically.  It’s a tough balance, but it’s one that more and more filmmakers are hitting, and have been since Christopher Reeve first donned the Superman cape in 1978.   But there’s more to comics than just the characters.

The stories have to be changed too.

In recent years, superhero blockbusters have become bigger and bigger spectacles, with the world (or the universe) at stake.  Some of these stories are original to the filmmakers, taking well-known villains and heroes and creating their own story.  Others, on the other hand, try to compress comic-book storylines into movie form, and therein lies problem number three, if anyone’s keeping count.

The issue with adapting the plot of a superhero comic is twofold: format and pacing, and nature and scope.  In the first of these two problems, the problem is very simple: movies don’t have the time for it.

In a comic series, a storyline can have several issues to play out, as demonstrated by The Dark Phoenix Saga, Snowbirds Don’t Fly, and The Dark Knight Returns.  In arcs like these, it can take several issues for a plot to be wrapped up, and in cases like Infinity Gauntlet, these stories are so vast that they are practically impossible to adapt into one concise film without leaving anything out.  As a result, the scissors come out.

In a lot of these cases, such as Marvel’s Infinity War/Endgame films, stories are condensed in order to fit into one (or two) films.  Subplots and characters are cut, things are switched around, and sometimes, the final result is very different from the original comic.  This is the risk of adaptation, no matter what format, but for comics, there’s a little more to it than that.

The nature of comic book stories is very eye-catching, expansive, larger-than-life.  The dialogue is typically over the top (either campy or dark), the comics are full of action scenes, (nobody wants to read a comic about a bunch of people standing around and talking) and the stakes are grand, the action grander.  The visuals of comics are a large part of what draws people to them, and so it’s for the best that they’re big and bold.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t exactly translate the best to live-action film.

Except in cases like Batman from 1989 and the original Superman film from 1978, most comic book films have a very hard time pulling off the ‘campy’ feeling from the comics while also being a genuinely good film.  Straddling the line between keeping the same tone from the comics while making sure it works in the context of the film is tough, with most subsequent films going too far either way.  Either a film becomes so over-the-top campy that it’s impossible to take it seriously (Batman & Robin, Superman IV, the original Captain America attempt), or so gritty that it can be alienating (Man of Steel, Batman Returns, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice).  While both extremes have their fans, most fans seem to be the happiest with a balance, again, a balance that’s hard to achieve, especially when you’re working with caped crusaders and flying people in tights.

When it’s put like this, it can seem almost impossible to make a good comic book movie, especially by the time you work in a script, actors that might work, and actually begin shooting the thing.  It seems like an uphill battle.  But there is good news.

Like I said, since 1978, superhero films based on comics have been hit or miss, but recently, there’s been more hits than misses.  Besides the original Superman and Batman films, there are newer endeavors like the MCU and Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Shazam, all of which are proving that live-action superhero films can be done, and done well, by achieving that balance.  There will always be misses, but the odds of filmmakers understanding the delicate stability of the elements to making comic book films are looking better with every passing movie.

The secret to helping comic books survive in a different medium is a blend of styles and focus, everything from the visuals to the characters.  That’s it.  There’s no secret tip or trick, nothing that the filmmakers are ‘overlooking’, very simply, the secret to a good comic book film is just knowing what to keep and what to leave out, which can vary from project to project.  Some films operate better as darker, more serious films.  Some thrive on the ‘campy’ source material.  Some movies work better with changes made to the characters, others succeed far better with a more accurate portrayal of the characters.  It depends on the individual story, characters, and even filmmakers.  There’s no manual to make a movie a success, no matter the source material.

In short?

For a comic book to survive as a live-action film adaptation, the people behind it must have understanding and respect for the source material, combined with an understanding of both mediums involved.  When you have the respect already in place, and the desire to make a good movie, the rest doesn’t seem quite so impossible.  

Thank you guys so much for reading!  Don’t forget that the ask box is always open for questions, discussions, suggestions, recommendations, or conversations.  I hope to see you in the next article.

[gotatext]

                   hllo ! i’m nora ( she / her, 24, gmt ) crawling back to this rp once more like the dirty sewer slug i am !! i just can’t get enough, baybeyyy ! u may remember me frm such roles as alma putnam, rory bergstrom, bridget matusiak or greta o’driscoll 2 name jst a few.... sure there were more over these long years, bt the show must go on.... this is mimi, she’s dogmatic, tenacious n single-minded 2 the point of recklessness, she doesn’t like handouts n she’s funding her degree through her onlyfans account n moaning abt shit on tiktok. we love 2 see it !!  slam that like button n i’ll creep into ur DMs like the slippery worm i am   OR u can discord me at that bitch carole baskin#8664.   a humble pinterest.

『ALEXA DEMIE ❙ CIS-FEMALE 』 ⟿ looks like MIMI MARTÍNEZ is here for HER SOPHOMORE year as an ARCHITECTURE AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY student. SHE is 22 years old & known to be STRONG-WILLED, GOAL-ORIENTED, ARROGANT & EASILY BORED. They’re living in MORIS, so if you’re there, watch out for them. ⬳ nora. 24. gmt. she/her.

this is p embarassing but i actually originally wrote mimi for a discord rp based around love island asgjag dont laugh at me but it was so chaotic n someone deleted it w-out telling any of us so i lost her bio.... all her threads....e verythin.... it was mad. but anyway we startin from scratch w this intro so bare with

mimi is a really extra character so when trying to flesh her out i thot of the most extra thing i could do n made a colour coded mindmap with watercolour paints detailing her values, aesthetics and early life. shoot me

background: she grew up in a trailer home in boulder city, abt half an hour from vegas. her mom had worked in a vegas casino for most of her 20s but relocated to boulder city for a slower pace of life / lower crime rate when she started having kids. mimi has 2 older brothers n she’s the youngest. has that invulnerable younger sibling complex n basically thinks nothing can touch her. very confident in her own intelligence and her ability to get shit done 

has mexican ancestry on her mom’s side. doesn’t know her dad. was raised with spanish catholic principals n found it all very stained glass windows and extra n that’s why she was kinda drawn to the decadence of vegas and all these massively high key aesthetics, like dia de les muertos was her fave thing growin up just bcos the pure feel of the festival and painting a sugar skull on her face n being able to party on the streets in a flower crown where everyone was kinda anonymous but together in this celebration

in boulder city her mom worked as a carer as there’s a lot of retirees there. mimi really resented the slow pace of life, longed for some fucking energy n life. she was a cheerleader in school but outside of school there wsn’t much to do except practise stunts and go on bike rides.  occasionally they’d get dressed up and catch a bus to henderson, the next biggest city for them to get tht sweet night life

her teenage years consisted mostly of hanging around the renovated motel blocks used as housing projects n tanning by the pool. very florida project if you’ve seen that. she reminds me a lot of the mum in that. also she started working as an avon rep going door-to-door when she was 16 bcos she wanted to have her own income. like as young as 14 she’d decided she was smart enough to go to college but she didn’t have the money n her family didn’t really see it as a worthwhile thing, her mom was very like the mom from matilda “you chose books.... i chose looks!” which i think is where a lot of mimi’s more shallow / appearance-driven traits come from

wasn’t really ‘cool’ until high school. before that she was a bit of a lisa simpson type. won a spelling bee when she was 9. was in the mathletes squad in middle school. when she went from middle school to high school she started cheer and tried to reinvent herself basically. always been very concerned with social mobility and keen to socially climb, like when she enters a new situation she’ll find out who the alphas are and quickly try n befriend them

when she turned 18 she moved out and went to vegas despite her mom hating the idea bcos it was everything she’d tried to get her kids away from. she worked in the clubs there for several years as a shot girl, a table dancer, n eventually she started workin behind the bar in a strip club. in the club it ws really hard to resist becoming a dancer bcos of the sheer amount they made in tips. no one really pressured her into it she just eventually decided tht it was way more logical to do it while she was young n fit and had the stamina and ppl were willing to pay to see her body so she started taking pole fitness lessons. she also started working as a cam girl around this time

working in vegas strip clubs is basically whats paid for uni. like she didn’t go at 18 like most of her friends did bcos she didn’t have the money and she didn’t want to feel indebted to a college like she had to compete for her place and not put a toe out of line bcos she was on a scholarship. she was determined to pay her own way and it took 4 years of working really hard and saving n even tho she was working in vegas she basically never went out bcos every penny she had needed to go on uni n thts how we get to radcliffe baybeeyy

part 2  - interior / values / personality

values: the aesthetic !! literally loves the aesthetic so much. everything she owns is super embellished, she’s a pop socket gal, her dell laptop is covered in glitzy stickers, she always has acrylics n probs makes nail art videos on tiktok. really tuned into tiny details like painting a little hello kitty above her eye which translates into her degree when she’s doing small-scale mockups of town plans n stuff... she jst puts so much detail into them. ppl often get surprised when she tells them she does architecture but it makes so much sense bcos she grew up in a trailer park n was always thinking about ways the space could be more efficiently used, like she loves re-conceptualising neighbourhoods, definitely spent hours on sims as a kid. she also grew up near hoover dam n so loads of school trips they just took them there n she was like.... this is tight but it could be cooler.... where’s the passion....

massively into photography, has such a neat instagram feed like everything just compliments the tones in the next post like mMMM. idk if any of u know any architecture students but this is literally the one constant i can find…. like they all have super good instagrams feeds. is that bitch that will take 40 fake candids of u in a row at different angles to get u the perfect profile picture cos she understands the importance of marketing urself and having an online #brand

has wire rimmed glasses that she doesn’t need to see BUT they r like a magnifying glass for when she’s working with really small materials to do a mock up of an urban plan, and also just sometimes wears them for the aesthetic bc she’s such a pinterest bitch

assassination nation is such a big mood. literally the aesthetics of that and lily colson’s whole brand of feminism and nudity not being inherently sexual but at the same time wanting to profit off that bcos why the fuck shouldnt she use a corrupt system to her advantage is incredibly mimi

literally a human personification of a bratz doll both in attitude and fashion sense

somehow simultaneously gansey in the raven cycle AND elle woods in legally blonde? the two genders 

values cont bc i started rambling: her independence and freedom. being the best at any given task she sets her mind to accomplish because she is unable to accept failure. social mobility. sexual liberation. interested in the psychology of sub-cultures and how ppl form groups and interact w each other and cult identities which is why she minors in anthropology. pro-choice. pro-weed legalisation. pro-sex worker rights. very activist.

aesthetics tht remind me of her: von dutch. a strappy cami top that says ‘please do not do coke in the bathroom’. low-waisted jeans that show off her belly button piercing. acrylic nails tapping against a heavily embellished second-hand dell laptop. heart shaped sunglasses in every colour. translucent stripper heels with barbie doll heads and plastic spiders in the heel. spraying champagne you cant afford all over the walls. narcotics in a heart shaped locket. an amazon wishlist full of lingerie linked on your tinder profile. sex tapes recorded on VCR. a religious devotion to waxing clinics. necking shots like you were born to do it.

she’s an enfj type which makes her pretty charismatic and confidence, like she has a fierce kind of energy to her, but she’s also super unwilling to accept criticism, dogmatic and can only really see her own way of thinking, quite ruthless when it comes 2 other ppls emotions despite having a poor control of her own and being prone to turbulence / throwin a bitch fit in the craft lab. easily bored. competitive. self-assured to the point of arrogance. forceful. adaptable. usually more rational than emotional but occasionally loses the ability to make rational decisions when blinded by a need for perfectionism.

very goal-oriented. money motivates her. money and clothes. she wants to look bomb while earning big bucks. when she gets her mind set on a project it literally consumes her she will forget to eat and sleep? i don’t know her.  like when a final design project is due for architecture she’ll be up all night doing adderall and speed to keep her awake working on the placement of a single tree for ages cos its gotta be perfect

loves chaos. will spill your secrets and pretend it was an accident. will always be that gif of kim kardashian sipping her tea while drama unfolds around her. lives for the drama like that gifset of bratz when she comes running and gets her phone out to record a fight.

im makin her sound like a really bad person but hopefully she’ll be somewhat likeable she can be very charismatic and endearing and she’s naturally quite funny. also now she’s finally in college and doesn’t have to worry so much about money she actually allows herself to party n bcos she denied herself of it for so long she kinda makes up for it by going p wild like will be the girl climbing on to stage to crowd surf at gigs or doing a summersault off the bar and being escorted out by bouncers, thats the energy were looking at, pure dionysian hedonistic impulse

really gd at talking her way out of shit like parking fines. so good at being an ‘im baby’ girl and often dumbs herself down to figures of authority to appear less like a threatening ball-breaker and more like a confused fiat 500 girl who didn’t know red meant stop she thought it meant slow down

listens almost exclusively to female artists. has fergalicious on repeat when she does squats infront of the mirror n just the biggest fergie stan. also lana del rey’s whole vibe is massive mimi energy

ok ya thats all i have for now..... hopefully this is somewhat coherent and not just garbage.

[chibimyumi]

Inspired by the Anon's recent ask: What are your thoughts on an Emerald Witch musical?

Dear Daydragon17,

I personally think that the Emerald Witch Arc is the most likely next candidate for a musical adaptation.

Last Solid Arc

First of all, that arc is quite popular and is considered the last solid arc among the Japanese fandom. The arc wherein R!Ciel is introduced and Undertaker explicitly confirmed to be the villain is of course interesting, but many agree that the story was all over the place. Starting from the boy bands, to everything that only inspired more questions than it answered… The Blue Sect Arc is so vague that people can’t even tell whether everything that happened since the boy bands belongs the axis of same arc, or whether we have been reading multiple side-arcs. (Example; the part where Meyrin and Ranmao are doing research is commonly acknowledged as a new arc in Japan, but if one were to argue it is part of the Blue Sect Arc, nobody could very well argue against.)

The Emerald Witch Arc however, is solid. We know when it starts, we know when it ends. It also introduces interesting characters like Sieglinde and Wolfram, offers a high-stake villain, and also touches upon the truest emotions of our main characters.

            Face Behind the Front

O!Ciel makes a very stupid mistake by not believing in ‘the werewolf’s curse’, so he recklessly enters the forest and falls ill. However stupid, we did get to see how incredibly broken O!Ciel actually is when he isn’t left with any spare mental capacity to put up the ‘Lord Ciel Phantomhive’ front. Similarly, we also got to explicitly see how terrible Sebas is at being human when his patience is tested too much, even now.

“Seriously Sebas… shocking a human OUT of trauma? Brilliant.”

Sebas: “It worked, did it not?”

“… touché.”

ANYWAY, in short, this is the arc wherein we see the two main characters unmasked for the first time in present timeline (i.e. not in a flashback).

Thematic Potentials

The setting of the Emerald Witch Arc could offer a very satisfying set provided that MKP (Musical Kuroshitsuji Project) has the budget for it. The artificial Medieval setting can also offer glorious opportunities for delicioussss costumes (unlike tame school uniforms), as well as provide a clear theme for the music and choreography.

Child Actors

Though it is always hard to find child actors who can bear the weight of a main cast, it must certainly be possible to find someone suitable for Sieglinde. I know TOHO has quite many very very talented girls, for example. If TOHO can find them, then surely someone else can too.

Reo is really too big now… so they’d also have to find a new actor for O!Ciel. I wonder who would be next. Reo also left some pretty big shoes to fill.

Female Characters

The Emerald Witch Arc is without doubt the arc with the most female characters who also take active parts within the story. So far in the Kuromyu, we have had a primarily male cast. With Sieglinde, the Witch and the rest of the ‘villagers’, Kuromyu would have a very stark change in cast structure. It would be very refreshing to see Kuromyu having more female characters in the spotlights. So far we’ve only had Madam Red who was actually part of the main cast. Grell and Lizzy were still more a support cast than main.

Wolfram

Wolfram is the character I am most excited about (partially due to a very biased dream). I have been dreaming of seeing Watanabe Daisuke - Furukawa’s best friend in the world - as Wolfram.

Not only is he a fierce friend and that I want him to be able to share Furukawa’s precious Kuromyu experience, but he is also a first tier actor from TOHO just like Furukawa (He no Prince though. IMPERIAL! DUB HIM ‘KNIGHT’~!)

Watanabe has a wide array of facial expressions; fierce, cute, emotional, poker… That’s Wolfram if you ask me.

Increasingly More Serious Tone

The Kuromyus have become increasingly more serious in tone.

🌹 In Lycoris that Blazes the Earth, the obvious comic reliefs were Aberline and Hanks, of course. But Grell, Lau, Undertaker, the Viscount, the Phantomhive servants and even the Double Charles were comical characters.

🎪 Then came Noah’s Ark Circus, where only the AberHanks duo were the comic reliefs. Other characters such as the Phantomhive servants and Dagger etc. had occasional comical scenes, but otherwise they were serious characters. However, I personally found AberHanks’ presence resulting in mood dissonance at times in this ultra dark story. Sometimes a very heavy event just happened, and the audience was not even allowed to time to let it sink in before AberHanks already burst with their slapstick. The pacing of this musical was incredibly fast simply because the arc is long and the musical only 2 hours. I understood that they had to rush it, but I think that a lot of time - time which they didn’t have - was wasted on unnecessary comedy. I did the sum, the unnecessary comedy in total was 30 minutes at least.

🚢The theme of Tango on the Campania was considerably less dark than Circus, but the tone felt much more serious still. There, the comical scenes were an addition rather than an integral part of the musical. To me, the balance felt better. AberHanks still got their moments, but they never hijacked the story the way they used to.

This darker and more balanced tone was very well received, and I think it conceivable that they will try to keep this up for potential future musicals.

🐺 Though developments do not need to happen linearly, I think the dark themed Emerald Witch Arc would be a befitting candidate for a next adaptation. It is an arc that deals with childhood trauma, gas-lighting, brainwash, racial genocide, child mutilation etc. If this will become the next musical, it would be wise to take itself more seriously. AberHanks are so iconic to the Kuromyu that there is no way they are going to leave them out, but it would be best if the balance could resemble Campania more than Circus.

Personal

Also, I need to see Furukawa Yuta do this. ⇊

We have seen Furukawa being demonic before, but is that enough? Don’t we want to see Yunbastian FLIPPING HIS SHYTE!? Ò▽Ó