#grr i need their dynamic shown

[veveisveryuncool]

an unlikely duo, but somehow their shared introvertism and silent neurodivergent-to-neurodivergent communication are enough for them

[catescher]

Common mistakes in Worldbuilding (Part 2)

And here we go for Part 2! Later than I promised, because last week was rather busy. I’m looking forward to the weekend already again.

Previous Blogs about Worldbuilding

Blog Schedule

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Diversity

I’ll make this quick because this warrants an entire blog on itself (which I will write eventually). With diversity I mean diversity in culture, language, ethnicity, and so on. Diversity in all things imaginable. Elementary things to keep in mind are that people are never monoliths - they may share certain aspects in a country such as a common language or opinion - and that cultures interacting is a thing. If you want to create a homogeneous place, such as a country with only one ethnicity, you need to have a really good reason why. Did the country, for example, decide to segregate itself for some reason? Is it an environment where only a certain people are allowed in? In this case, you could make a case for an exception - mostly. But the fun, the tension begins when you start putting a black samurai into Bakufu Japan - or a white one for that matter (both who actually existed).

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Languages

Yeah, you shouldn’t if you aren’t Tolkien. Or a well-trained linguisitc who knows what he is doing. Some bad examples I read (and created) were bad attempts at mimicking Tolkien with different languages that just so happened to be non-sensical syllables smashed together with english grammar. This is not exactly how languages work. Just to remind you, I’m not exactly an expert either at this topic. My liguistic knowledge is limited to the two classes I had to take - and I hated every second of them. An easier way out of this problem short of studying Linguistics, is to simply mention the different language like GRR Martin does.

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As Time Goes By

A) CULTURAL STASIS And welcome to one of the greatest pet peeves I have: Cultural Stasis. Are you really going to tell me that for an incredibly long time, nothing changed? At all? No new medecines, no historical events happened, no new technologies? And then, your protagonist steps up and everything changes? No. This is just wrong. Shit will happen outside of your protagonist. Also ties in with my point about magic - time and magic both will change things.

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B) OLD SHIT (AND PEOPLE) Old means different things to different people. I’ve seen Americans call two-hundred year old buildings ancient - And then us other folk laugh at them and point at the nearest building which is at least twice as old and survived nukes and bombs (partially) in quite a few cases. To Cleopatra, the pyramids of Giza were as ancient to her as she is to us - she was the last queen of Egypt, a kingdom with more dynasties than some kingdoms had kings. Not kidding. In any case, what we think of as old might differ with the knowledge of history, our own age and where we grow up. Age is important - we as young children might think twenty is old but an five hundred year old elf might be just a child by its own people. We, as the writer and creator, need to keep that in mind and change the dynamics of the story accordingly.

On the Writing Level

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A) INFODUMPS - PLEASE DON’T

Technically a topic on its own, so I’ll make it short: Don’t. In 9 out of 10 cases, infodumps are bad. It’s like a chunk of butter - disgusting on its own if you bite into it, but if spread out on bread it’s good. Information should be spread out like butter on a piece of bread - not served as a chunk and stuffed into the reader’s face. I admit - sometimes an infodump is necessary. Take the prologue in the first Lord Of The Rings movie for example - for the movie as a whole to work and for everyone to understand said movie, the viewer needs information. Galadriel tells us what we need to know - about the ring, Sauron, Mordor, Isildur, and how the ring was lost and found. If we wouldn’t know about this whole backstory, chances are we would not understand why the story takes place at all. But it’s an awesome infodump - she does not only sit in Lothlorien, but Galadriel’s narration is overlayed with scenes from the war against Sauron for example - something still happens. We are shown what she tells us. Also, it sounds very strange if two experiences mages talk about how basic magic works. I mean, they should know this already, shouldn’t they? It can still sound weird if a mage explains basic magic to a new apprentice, but it is more justified.

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B) GETTING LOST (IN WORLDBUILDING)

Yeah, that happens. Sometimes. Often. Alright, all the time. Okay, worldbuilding is fun. It’s addicting. It’s like fiddling with Lego until not a piece is out of place in the finished model. But holy crap - You need to stop sometime and get down to writing. Really. If you want to write a novel, and you want to build the world of it until it’s done… It might take a while, if you even finish at all. So, sometimes you just gotta say “Well, that was fun” and start writing your story about your magical shopkeeper, no matter if Country X’s political system is finished into its last details. Or - as an other example - if your story takes place in one single country and barely touches on Foreign Relations you don’t need to plan every single detail of a country on the other side of the world. It’s simply not necessary for you in this moment. Maybe later, if your characters travel there you’ll need to flesh it out but if that happens in book 10 and you’re writing book 1 it doesn’t matter yet.

[portraitsofivy]

King of New York rant

A piece of advice: do not write a very long rant on Tumblr, save it in your drafts, and expect it to be there when you return bc it will not. I had at least half of this written out, saved it so I could go to another room and it deleted the whole dang thing and I had to start over. Grr.

Tag list: @lcevinolusola @marvelmerlinao3 @duhke

So in a lot of rants (that I agree with except for the KoNY bits) on how Newsies handled disabilities - Crutchie’s disability in particular - the song King of New York is often brought up. These posts make it out that King of New York is a  chipper brush-over of the horrible things that happened in the previous scene(s). I believe one of them said something along the lines of ‘our friend got dragged away to hell-on-earth, let's sing and tap-dance because we’re in a newspaper that no one’s selling!’ I, however, would like to argue that King of New York is actually a song that the newsies use to cover up just how bad they’re hurting at the loss of their friends.

Before the song, as the lights come up to signal the beginning of Act 2, we see the newsies lying around Jacobi’s, all sporting various injuries. They’re all sad, despondent, and clearly hurting both emotionally as well as physically. After all, no teenage boy (especially ones raised in a society that praised the ‘emotionless manly-man’ stereotype even more than today’s culture does) is going to be that upset over injuries like that. Would they be that upset over losing a fight as important as the one they just lost? Maybe. But I think that mostly they’re sad, and more importantly scared, for what’s going to happen next, especially what’s going to happen to Crutchie. After all, it is made abundantly clear in the first Act (especially during Carrying the Banner) that Crutchie is very close to all of the newsies.

He laughs when they poke fun at his leg (“Do you wanna bust up your other leg?” “No, I wanna go down.” “Hey, Crutchie, what’s ya leg sayin’? Gonna rain?” “No, no rain-- ho HO. Party cloudy, clear by evening.”). He playfully fights with them (punching Jack and Romeo during Carrying the Banner and receives a few playful punches of his own). And when they get into fights with the Delancey’s he cheers them on by waving his fist in encouragement as Albert carries him offstage. Heck, he’s even part of the backwards cap crew, which is a very exclusive club. Everyone feels his absence very keenly.

Perhaps, the one who feels it most is Race. Although never explicitly stated, we can tell from the dynamics that Race and Crutchie are probably pretty high up in the chain of command (I think that they probably share the title of ‘second-in-command’ with Crutchie dealing more with the home base and Race interacting more with the other boroughs. Aaaaaand guess who has another headcanon I need to flesh out *sigh*). Race is feeling more than a little lost without Jack or Crutchie there to help, and everyone is looking to him to make decisions. Even though Jack’s disappearances are implied to be a common occurrence, he at least had Crutchie to help him keep things going when Jack went MIA. But this time it’s just him. And as I mentioned earlier, Race is a never-ending optimist. He isn’t used to being sad. Most of the newsies aren’t used to being sad, but especially not Race. He doesn’t like this. Even Katherine is thrown off by the gloom in the room (“Would you get a look at these glum mugs?”). So she tries to make them feel better by showing them the paper. And here’s the crux of my argument.

Race gets excited. Too excited. If Jack and Crutchie had been there, they would’ve celebrated, sure, but not like they did here. There wouldn’t’ve been such a big deal made out of it, I doubt it would’ve even been a whole song. They would’ve brushed it over in the span of a few lines and immediately started planning their next step. Instead, the newsies grab at it like a lifeline.

They’ve just had someone who means the world to them ripped away, lost a huge fight, possibly lost their jobs, and like Jack said, they aren’t there ‘on playtime.’ They’re starving, and there is a very real possibility that they could die because of this. They feel hopeless. Then Katherine offers them a spot of hope and they jump up to grab it.

Race grabs the newspaper, his optimistic spirit returning. Since he’s the leader, the others follow. They all jump on the paper, talking to each other about how this is a good thing (“Would ya look it, that’s me!” “I won’t be last in line for the tub tonight!” “Wait until my fadda sees this!”). But then Katherine asks Specs and Albert about serious subjects, she gets an answer, and Race overhears.

“Could ya stop with all the seriosity long enough to just drink in the moment?” He doesn’t want to think about it. They’re teenage boys who run off optimism and the charity of nuns, of course they want to ignore the things that hurt. That’s how they manage to get out of bed every day.

They’re singing the song not because they don’t care about Jack missing or Crutchie being in the Refuge, they’re singing because they do care, and caring hurts. They’re dying inside knowing that their friends aren’t safe. So like someone who is overwhelmed by hurt, they grab for something that’ll make it better. They grab for the balm that heals, at least momentarily.

In Carrying the Banner, they frequently mention all the bad things that are happening (”Curdled coffee” - “Just give me half a cup!”, “Summer stinks and winters freezing, when you works outdoors.” “Start out sweatin, end up sneezin', in between it pours!”) but they acknowledge these things. Even in Letter to the Refuge Crutchie mentions all the bad things going on, even though he’s trying to remain optimistic to reassure Jack. In King of New York, they don’t mention a single bad thing. They’re trying to have a smile on their face, even if its a fake one.

Really, it makes me think of this quote from Doctor Who; “Every time you see them happy you remember how sad they're going to be. And it breaks your heart. Because what's the point in them being happy now if they're going to be sad later? The answer is, of course, because they are going to be sad later.” They all know that the sadness will crash in again soon enough, so they cling to the happiness of that moment.

The song isn’t happy in the way that Carrying the Banner is, it’s the happiness that comes from people who are trying too hard to be happy to escape sadness. King of New York may sound like a happy little mid-show ditty, but it is actually a song of desperate children trying not to think about the world collapsing around them.

(And it is furthermore shown that they do care. Specs visits Crutchie in the Refuge and delivers a letter to Jack. During the scene change for Watch What Happens (Reprise) the newsies are shown wandering around New York looking for Jack. They care, a lot. Like Crutchie said, “New York’s got us, and we’re family.” They love each other to death, and the absence of one of their ranks is heartbreaking.)

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Reflection 12 (FINAL) | Netjuu no Susume 1 | Mahoutsukai no Yome 1 | Code:Realise 1 | Kino’s Journey (2017) 1 | Dynamic Chord 1 | Houseki no Kuni 1 | Anime-Gataris 1 | Idolmaster Side M 1

Kekkai Sensen seems to be off limits, even when I try to comprehend the relevant JavaScript after dodging region lock. Grr…I spent and hour and 30 mins just trying to figure out that code!!! Oh well (dejected tone), at least I have Classicaloid…

Reflection 12 (FINAL)

Oh please, X-On. Fighting fire with fire is the worst thing you can do. Haven’t you learnt that over the course of this show?

Gahhhh! Finally, the magical girls have arrived! Thank you, Stan Lee!

Wowee, that was some concentrated sound, so to speak.

Well, that’s just original, y‘know? Pyramid. In the desert. Whoop-de-doo.

Rule number 14138008 of crime-fighting: Always make sure you have a backup in case someone uses yorur kryptonite against you. Or in this case, a superpower-stripping technique.

I don’t think X-On’s become one with the Darkness yet. He has some flippin’ plot armour on his side, after all. Why haven’t any of these guys succumbed to the ageing process yet?

Well, I got my answer to my previous question, but how did vision!Eleanor appear, anyway?

Wait…wait. I knew he had plot armour! Argh! X-On! What the heck did you do to deserve plot armour???

Oh, the magical girls are part sentai and part actual magical girl. Notice they have kanji across their chests for their associated element.

“Why won’t you accept Darkness’s darkness?” – Okay, “Darkness’s darkness” is a bit too redundant, y’hear?

Wait…wait. Ninth Wonder only had 4 members??? Wat. Then Ian goes and undoes all their hard naming work by calling them by their real group name, dangit. You ruined a perfectly good magical girl show, Ian.

They didn’t even put in the crack on X-On’s helmet…head…thingy.

Okay, I am so confused…Guh. Thank goodness it’s over.

Netjuu no Susume 1

I like the rare stories where a girl transforms into a boy for non-hentai reasons. This is the closest anime I’ve gotten so far to that concept, so…yay, me?

“Recommendation of the Wonderful Virtual Life” and “Recovery of an MMO Junkie” mean two very different things on the same topic. What was happening in the localiser’s mind when they created this title for the English-speaking audience???

That scene where Moriko collapses on her bed…for some reason, someone was watching a show with the Moonlight Sonata in the background, so now I think MMO Junkie is sad. (Which is probably wrong.)

Oh, by the way. The –juu in Netjuu gives the word a special kind of connotation. A riajuu is what’s known as a normie, or a non-otaku, non-gamer sort of person. A netjuu must therefore be a net addict. Kiznaiver taught me that.

“I chose the NEET life.” - I know that feel, Moriko.

Oh, they even gave Moriko’s character Saiyan hair for a moment, LOL.

Okay, here’s a pun. Mori (forest) is 3x ki (tree) and hayashi (grove) is 2x ki. That’s using the kanji, though.

The guy with the glasses looks like a dude from Occultic;Nine. I have bad memories of that show because of Ryouka…er, big knockers girl.

Owee. I once joined an RPG because of some IRL friends but I forgot to ask them what group they were in, and so I was a solo quester…so I know that feel, Moriko.

This is based on a Comico manga, so the designs are simple to draw and they were originally in colour, so they just needed to be reworked for animation. See? Backing Comico in my Superstar wa Nemurenai days wasn’t such a bad idea, now, huh?

Himeralda? For a guy character? Well, that broke the gender barrier.

Christmas is a holiday for lovers in Japan, so I suspect it’s something to do with that.

Lawson -> Cowson, LOL.

Despite all the obviously still motion shots, I’m really enjoying this. Why does it have to be 10 eps??? (By the way, why didn’t I get Kekkai Sensen??? Dangit, Funi!!!)

Oh, this is so adorable! Lily even dressed up and Moriko got her chicken! It’s such a heartwarming Christmas for these guys.

These transitions, while not original, I find are really cool. Not Disney-level, but still inventive. Also, that green dot is definitely Hayashi and the pink one Lily.

LOL, Lawson was a sponsor this ep, it seems. Had I paused a little later, I would’ve missed its credit!

This is a keeper for sure. I’m just disappointed about the short ep count (due to the nature of Comico)…and Kekkai Sensen, uwu…

Mahoutsukai no Yome 1

Le hype. That’s all. I’ve been watching 1 – 2 eps per day (for these first eps of the fall season) and since the weekend is so full of good shows, I don’t know how people can watch entire seasons like this…As for my take on this show, it’s pretty and well-received after the OVA and advance screening, so hopefully this will deliver. I’m not an AMB manga fan by the way.

It’s normally a bad sign to start with an OP, but it shows off the animation, so I’m not complaining.

The English title shows how interconnected the world is these days…it’s kinda scary, actually.

Chise looks lke a bride here, or she’s on her deathbed. Both symbolic meanings are applicable.

I never thought Japanese people would be able to capture Western elegance so well.

The chibi-ish style doesn’t suit such a serious show. Are these chibi-ish sections also part of the manga?

I thought the woman with the bonnet was called Silky? Not Silver? The promo materials all say “Silky”, and the OVA did too IIRC.

I think the biggest descriptor of this show is “whimsical”.

Historically, fairies lure people into Fairyland like the stereotypical portrayal of sirens, and they’re not as benign as my portrayal of them in One Wish They Never Wanted.

The irony of a dog-face skull calling you his puppy. It really brings an odd sense of humour to this show.

Welp, that’s another safe keeper. I’ve being quite definite about my choices, as you might have noticed, since the weekend is positively overloaded with shows (as I mentioned earlier).

Code:Realise 1

It’s an otome game adaption. They don’t always go down well, but it’s worth a shot.

Isn’t it “London Bridge is falling down”?

CR seems to have forgotten to title this ep “London Steam” on their site.

Well, they’re guards. Y’think lowering their guard would’ve been a funny pun, at least if this were dubbed in English (which this will be…eventually).

Ooh, so this plain bishie is Arsene Lupin? Me likey.

Like, seriously, Where are this tiny spark-star-thingies coming from?

Impey…who? Update: Google (plus previous spoilers) tell me that Impey is Impey Barbicane, accomplice to Lupin.

LOL, I’ve watched me too many Kaito Kid heists. Me likey, once again. However, the thing I don’t get is the voiceover. Couldn’t Lupin have actually said these lines instead of putting them on voiceover???

Gahhhhhhh! This eyecatch’s bishie has such horrible eyes that they burn mine! Get me out of here!

How does Impey know Cardia’s name??? Update: You’ll get the answer later…

It’s a few generations too early for a man to go to the moon, LOL. Poor Impey.

Victor…well, I never. Anime really does cover everything. Plus, Frankenstein ain’t his monster in this one, which would make Mary Shelley proud.

Hey, Kaitou (Phantom Thief) Lupin is one thing but using your real name as your kaitou identity is taking it a bit far. Sure, there was Kaito Kuroba, but at least he was Kaito Kid as well.

Sheesh, the Horologium sounded like nuclear power before Lupin explained it was Cardia’s heart…that would’ve been tonnes scarier, had Cardia been a nuclear monster.

LOL, Lupin’s so tsundere! Hahaha…

Oh please. Don’t let the vampires steal away Cardia (LOL)!

Victor being pegged as a terrorist has something to do with Isaac, right?

Lupin’s so effin’ short. No wonder he stands in high places when he lords over the British Army, haha.

Smol corgi with cyborg leg is probably my new dog aesthetic, haha. Plus top hat. I like top hats.

Shouldn’t the corgi have died when Cardia grabbed it though, or was that because of its leg?

The rainbow transition was a bit much, but okay. I can live with it.

So smol corgi is called Sisi? What a weird name.

It’s…not bad, I could probably watch until the end. However, the colour scheme seems to be “bright” with these recent female games (see Sengoku Night Blood for another example of what I mean). Well, since I said that, it’s a keeper. (I think the random James Bond-esque scene involving shooting guns then being in front of an explosion in the ED sealed the deal though, LOL.)

Kino’s Journey 1

I’m a noob to the world of Kino, so please don’t spoil me on anything you’ve seen in the previous adaptations! All I really know is the shtick: Kino is neither a guy nor a girl. They stick around in a country for 3 days then leave. They have a talking motorbike named Hermes…that’s pretty much it.

Lerche? On Kino? Y’think someone else could’ve done it better? I feel like a washed-out, subdued feeling would suit this show best. However, these words are coming from a Kino’s Journey noob, as I just said, so disregard me if you want.

Mori no naka de…b? What’s the “b” for?

A few times when they say “country”, I imagine a sea. That makes sense, considering it’s the sea that separates a lot of us.

How does Hermes talk???

Hermes is CGI. Trust my eyes, they’ve seen a lot of CGI for their time.

The gun is called Cannon? Wuh? The other gun is called the Woodsman? Wuh wuh???

A motorrad appears to be a motorbike, but…okay. It’s a BMW make of motorbike. Like a Ford Gran Torino.

*Kino points the gun* Whoa! What a fakeout!

Kino is CGI sometimes, too, it seems.

Those cows seem to be angry at Kino for some reason…

Why does no one question the talking motorbike???

Oh, I see. That was what I suspected from the moment the rifle was shown in the store. Public order is good here because people simply turn a blind eye.

I think Kino hopping behind Hermes should’ve been 2D. It’s not fluid enough in 3D…not quite yet to convey a proper sense of action, but enough to create a sense of disquiet. (Which is what I believe the show wants, so I’ll take my words back for the moment.)

“Ow!” is an understatement, considering it (the arrow) must’ve severed a muscle or two.

Ah, loophole. I didn’t see that coming.

Whoa. What dramatic irony.

I swear they recycle parts of this footage over and over again. I’m getting dejavu.

Hahaha, that crepe ending was funny. It wasn’t an ideal way to finish such an unsettling episode, but it was a good punchline.

Well, I think this is going to be really repetitive, so I’ll put it on hold and roll the next show up.

Dynamic Chord 1

More Ume. As an Ume fan, I’m spoilt for choice this season.

Cherry blossom opening is probably a bad omen. It’s probably the most cliched opening you could go for.

Holy eye colours, Batman! “That yellow should not exist as an eye colour,” is all I’m saying.

Honestly, this is the least gripping band/idol anime I’ve tackled all season. If they’re just going to be angsty in the rain, they should’ve been one season earlier because I would’ve taken this over The Reflection or In Another World With my Smartphone, laser eye boy be damned.

Wait, is pinkhead in the car or out of it? Update: He’s in a convertible. So it’s a yes and a no.

That metronome transition was pretty bad. Really hamfisted.

That transition away from the metronome, I couldn’t even tell that was a transition!

Aw gawsh, spare me. This looks like one of those ads you see play between shows on TV channels without company sponsorship. Or an only-half-decent MV.

I think they’re trying to be Dark and Edgy (TM) in comparison to, say, TsukiPro, but that was better than this.

Extended Pans for No Reason Whatsoever (TM)! Also, Bumblebee car. I’m having fun ripping this show apart, man. Now I see the real quality of Hatewatches (with a capital H), but it’s only been 5 minutes...

Dual eye colour boy (Reon), oi. You really didn’t do anything. Don’t give yourself unnecessary credit.

Bumblebee boy has way too long eyelashes, by the by. Did I ever mention that?

At least they justified the previous shots. That one there, at about the 6 minute mark, was not justified.

Based on Dai Murase (Ume’s role in TsukiPro), I thought the Kyohso doppleganger was gonna be Ume, but he thankfully got someone more attractive (Kuro of apple polisher). I still don’t like the name apple polisher though, how the heck did that name “get popular overseas”???

The camera shakes sometimes for no reason at all.

Reon seems constantly grumpy for some reason…

C’mon…this production is visually quite junky. Admit it.

Please don’t make this another ad fakeout. Only play your cards once for a certain trick…

Pink and blue eyed boy looks like a villian, but he’s probably a “hero” in this story.

This is probably a music video, but if I wanted a music video, I’d go to YouTube. Not an anime, unless it were an anime musiv video (a proper one, not an amateur effort YouTube Poop).

Wait, they spent 5 minutes just showing us a music video? It was pretty bad, so of course I noticed it in a bad way.

What is up with black and blue guy’s hair? I thought bumblebee guy was bad enough.

Sometimes removing the volume is all you need to figure out if an anime is good, since if they cared about their visuals and plot enough, then they wouldn’t be relying on shots of dudes rocking backwards and forward so much.

I get not all band people are singers, but still…bumblebee boy, if you’re so willing, why not you take Reon’s place?

Wait, so pink-haired convertible boy is the famed Yorito??? Dorito, more like it!

If the animators for this show were any good, they’d animate the fingers when the guitarists play. I’ve seen people play the guitar before. I used to take music classes. Geez, Pierrot. Stop skimping.

Another Skimping Technique (TM) – Speedlines in Replacement of Actual Motion (sic).

Too bad Dorito’s skipping practice, eh, Reon?

C’mon, Dorito. First it’s an angsty rain scene, now it’s an angsty shower scene? You don’t even look half hot here. Or half wet, for that matter.

I know anime is meant to look flat, but these sections I’ve been calling “music videos” are…superflat, to give them a name. They look like paper overlaid on the anime background, with little to no real animation being done, and that’s why I’m giving this show such a bad rap.

All that angst…for this? It seems a little anticlimatic, is all I’m saying.

Well, I made it through one episode. It’s probably not as bad as I made it out to be, but I do hatewatch picks for my own pleasure and this just became one of them. Onto the drop pile it goes…

Houseki no Kuni 1

This is the last debut of the fall season, at least until someone hands me Kekkai Sensen. Okay, here’s the story about why I’m here: I heard good things about Steven Universe in my home country, so I went on a trip and tried some Cartoon Network there. Thing is, Steven Universe didn’t resonate with me as much as I thought it would. Therefore, to take the concept and turn it into a real anime – would that do it for me? Let’s find out.

Hmph, I had the sound on this time and I had the feeling all the gems were voiced by women. Like Steven Universe.

When they said “sunspots”, they…uh, kinda meant it.

I feel like Master Kongo’s VA is a bit too soft. Otherwise, this show is pretty good.

Whoa. Seeing Phos shattered like this and still conscious must be freaky. Makes for some good body horror, eh?

Well, this show has some excellent worldbuilding. That’s something I haven’t said in a few seasons…in this simulcast commentary, that is. Made in Abyss has good worldbuilding too. The only problem with this is…where did Phos’s gloves come from?

The eyecatch seems to be in English. Like Princess Principal last season.

The echo, I think, had a worse effect this time than when Kongo destroyed Phos.

“Don’t use that hand!” - LOL.

So Cinnabar’s poison creates amnesia and (an indirect need for) amputation, eh? What a duo of afflictions.

Well, it’s…actually pretty good. Let’s press on.

Anime-Gataris 1

I actually wanted to pass on this, but after seeing Karandi pass judgement on its second episode and seeing a Haruhi reference, I decided I would pass a judgement on it too. Well, it’s an anime about anime. What do you expect, really?

Hahaha…Oarai is known for being popularised by Girls und Panzer, so Galtan is short for Girls with Tanks.

Haritaro = Hamtaro, Dezumon = Digimon, PreFae = PreCure. Haha, it’s an anime watcher’s paradise of parody anime!

“Double riding is illegal.” - I think that’s a reference to the first episode of Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and the tandem bike.

Fish??? Wuh???

Aw. That fakeout, I was hoping for it to be A Certain Magical Index or something.

Geez, typical School Council Pres with optional Ethereal Glow. Now available in Blonde too, it seems.

Sebastian Michaelis right there.

The teacher just did the flippin’ Ringo (from UtaPri) intro! Holy gender-barriers, Roppongi is a man??? Why I don’t react like that to Ringo, I’ll never know.

The “I should go by myself” bit is also from UtaPri, IIRC. The bit where one of the boys reveals he’s actually the star Haruka likes.

Obvious Chuunibyou with extra Fake Magic. Geesh, if it weren’t for the anime references…I really wouldn’t be covering this…

That’s my face when people talk about anime, LOL. Hero School = Boku no Hero Academia while R:Zero is Re:Zero.

Shika = deer, hence the weird deer. I don’t know what the references around the Shikabari one are, though, including the fence jump.

You picked a fight with the wrong anime lover, Anime-Gataris (I specialise in recent anime, for obvious reasons)! Tamukeda = Tanakeda (Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge) and Toramiko = Kumamiko. Clearly someone doesn’t remember that Kumamiko was a controversial flop, anime-wise.

Bakusou = Bakuon. Therefore, Shikabari is probably…Kiznaiver? No, it’s Kabaneri. That’s the best match, considering we’re talking about spring 2016. Time Travel Shonen = Time Travel Shoujo. Still don’t get the fence jump though.

Kyou Kara Sessha Wa!! = Kyou Kara Ore Wa!!, where “sessha” is an pronoun for…I think it’s older males. Angel Story = Angel Legend (Angel Densetsu).

The OVA references went over my head again…

Gachiemon = Doraemon, naturally. Nobue = Nobita and Karashi = Takeshi (Gouda). Well, while looking for the Gachiemon movie, I found Reddit spoiling it all for me. Refer to it if you don’t want me doing it for you, because I’m going to...ignore it! Haha, you thought I was going to use it as a crutch now, didn’t you? I like this challenge.

The dog one is A Dog of Flanders, Everstrike is Evangelion. I thought the Cinnamon Roll one would be the not-often-mentioned Powerpuff Girls anime  but Reddit says it’s Dragon Ball??? Autumn Wars = Summer Wars.

Light music club = K-On, classical literature club = Hyouka, NJ club = GJ Club.

The cover of this magazine appears to be Newtype or Animage, which I think both started around the 70s or 80s. That’s definitely Urusei Yatsura on the front, though.

The Girl who Slept Through Time = The Girl who Leapt Through Time and Replica…Paprika, perhaps? (Think I was recalling Reddit there.)

Is that…a Boueibu reference?! Or is that just a cliché…? (If it’s a cliché, I’d feel sad, man.)

I feel like the video quality seems to warp a little at infrequent moments. It’s quite disappointing for a 2017 anime to be suffering from strange visual problems like that.

There’s a KonoSuba poster…sort of.

Maria Clara doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen although it does kind of look like Hatsune Miku or Elsword.

Dang that fakeout, I thought she meant the beret.

I feel like this is best binged to get at all the references, so onto the on hold pile it goes. I think its plot will be cliché but its references are the best thing about it.

Idolmaster 1

Time to thin out the herd! This’ll be tough, since all the contenders I’ve kept have the potential to be great.

The pun here is that 315 (saikou) can mean “the highest”, or in this case, “the best”.

The eyeless producer (and Saito, by the by) was probably a bad idea.

Hey, it’s a 315 business card!

The cardboard boxes say “Bear Mark Moving Company” (Kuma no Ma-ku no Hikkoshi Kaisha).

Ooh! I like ponytail boy. I have a thing for bishies with ponytails.

“Handwriting” is probably the wrong word for a typed contract, CR subbers.

An odd juxtaposition between lawyer (or any other job) and an idol. That’s what piqued my interest about this idol anime specifically – because there is clearly going to be some dirty stuff that comes to light once characters have debuted as idols, and the more disconnect between the past and the present, the more the paps are gonna eat it up. At least, that’s my thoughts, having written Half-Paid Heroes. (I’m currently not sure if I should continue on HPH though, since I had a fight with fellow Honeyfeed writer Aura…).

Nice shirt, Teru (LOL).

When Kaoru broke the cheery atmosphere, Teru’s shirt suddenly said roiya (“lawyer” in katakana, transposed to hiragana).

Dandou literally translates to “male way”. It’s actually hilarious since it sounds really macho…in a bishie show intended to capture a female audience.

“I want us to work together…”

Does this producer have a name? I get the feeling he doesn’t. Maybe, instead of that woman producer they were hinting at at the end of Side Jupiter (was that a woman?), it was this guy.

Sakuraba’s being kind of awkward on the side with his fistpump. I like him.

“Then from now on, the three of you…”

If you know me from Boueibu, you’ll know the line Saito says should actually be “Boys be ambitious”.

The board up the back of the Dramatic Stars’ party says “Celebrate! Dramatic Stars’ Formation”…or something like that, anyway…(Happoro beer, LOL.)

Oh, it’s Hokuto, Shouta and Touma from Jupiter.

It’s this shot from last episode. Oh, okay. It’s kinda like Death Parade in that there are two backstories leading to the same ending shown in ep 1.

What’s with those 17 badges, guys???

This frog mascot looks kinda funny in a (LOL) sort of way. I think Ume’s character will be in a unit with the shota that likes this frog mascot, so…good on me.

At least “Drive a live” doesn’t sound as bad as “Burny!!” or “Crazy Baby Show”, namewise. It does, however, sound like a slogan for a drink-driving government prevention scheme.

I think Ume’s character is the guy behind the counter, although I’m a bit sketchy on that. We’ll see in a few eps.

I think I’ve probably been missing out on something by not listening to the trio with the music. Even though I threw the others out based on visuals and plot, an idol/band show is nothing without its music, so I’ll put Idolmaster on hold so that I don’t become too attached to any of the trio and maybe someday I can evaluate TsukiPro vs Idolmaster better.

[deenanas]

This feels canon. Pretty wholesome.

an unlikely duo, but somehow their shared introvertism and silent neurodivergent-to-neurodivergent communication are enough for them