#i appreciate that they saved on character animation a few eps earlier so they could use maximum slayage on character animation

[c-kiddo]

finished scavengers reign (again) . . 3rd watch i think. i crode

[concerningwolves]

I finished The Irregulars earlier this week and i was going to do a scattered, flippant bullet point “review” as i often do, but after stewing in my feelings about it for a few days i want to talk about this properly, actually.

Something I absolutely adored was the way people’s powers manifested / the way their monstrosity was directly connected to the monstrous things that had happened to them. The concept is that a rip has opened in the universe, which allows something to extend its power into our world. This power grants people supernatural abilities when they seek help by praying/asking spirit boards for guidance/seances etc. The in-world explanation for this is that the rip takes the darkest parts of people and brings those parts to the fore, thus making them do monstrous things. 

(I did feel like the show sometimes contradicted itself, one minute saying that when someone is made into a monster by the cruelty of the world they ought to be met with compassion, the next minute killing off these sympathetic monsters or subjecting them to cruel fates. The fact that Arthur Hilton, a man whose grief and trauma over the deaths of his wife and child drove him to abduct babies, was locked up in Bedlam in a windowless cell left a nasty taste in my mouth. I understand that they needed to have him there for Narrative Purposes, but after using the episode’s climax moment to reveal that this man is suffering – basically to tell us that he isn’t a monster, but someone who needs help – it felt very cheap to use him as a pawn for the plot instead of further exploring that sentiment.)

I’m a HUGE fan of the way the powers reflected the wielder, i.e., Clara (Ep. 4) was sexually abused and given syphilis, which took away her ability to have children. We learn as the episode unfolds that she’s obsessed with the idea of a family because she never had one of her own, and makes little taxidermy family scenes with dead animals. The syphilis made her hate herself and her own skin, so the rip granted her the ability to literally steal people’s faces and become them – an ability she then used to kill the men who abused her with the final goal of assuming the last man’s identity because he had a family. It was a really haunting exploration of monstrosity / what makes us monsters, and it made me go a bit feral with appreciation.

But when the credits of the last episode rolled, I just felt... dissatisfied. I was bitter at how although the casting was supposedly colour-blind, the main villain was a black man and the one “sympathetic monster” who gets killed off (Jean Gates / the Tooth Fairy) was a black woman, both with very dark skin. John Watson, meanwhile, is portrayed by a lighter-skinned POC and although he’s written as cruel, aggressive and threatening, he’s given the chance for a redemption while the Linen Man and Jean Gates get killed off. I’m not entirely comfortable talking about this aspect because i’m white and still very much learning about racist and colourist tropes, but I just kept thinking about the colourism and implicit bias in Bridgerton, and couldn’t help but feel that The Irregulars had fallen into the same or a similar trap? (If anyone has any more thoughts on this I’m happy to listen!)

I didn’t like the fact that the writers decided to acknowledge the homoerotic subtext in ACD’s Holmes canon by making John Watson manipulative and controlling, then justifying that as an act of his (unrequited) love for Sherlock. Like, it wouldn’t be so bad if there were other examples of queer love in the series (save for the one f/f couple at a fancy rich party), but when your only explicitly mlm named character is miserable, alone and pining for an oblivious/uninterested love interest – a love interest who is killed off, may I add – it’s Not Fun. Queer rep doesn’t have to be good and pure or whatever (NBC’s Hannibal, anyone?), but sure would be nice to have some positive representation first! It also seemed to me that John’s redemption was directly tied to him giving up his love for Sherlock, which I was in two minds about. On the one hand, it could be seen as him realising his love had become something deeply toxic and so he had to let Sherlock go (and that really excites me! Complex and angsty relationships are most delicious), but on the other hand it got very close to a Bury Your Gays moment so my feelings the entire time were just :/

Lastly I was super excited about Leopold because disabled character! But it seemed as if his disability just got put to one side unless it was relevant to character arcs and/or plot moments. His leg is absolutely fucked up from the first episode, but he abandons his cane? I did really appreciate the whole “you’re not broken” angle they took, though. I think it was a genuinely good-faith representation, it just didn’t quite hit the mark (which is how I felt about a lot of things in the show tbh, so... :shrugs:) 

To conclude this wall of text: monsters and the takes on monsters were very tasty, and the supernatural elements and worldbuilding filled me with glee; other bits like representation and narrative choices were dissatisfying. i am now tired and out of spoons, will probably come back and clarify this tomorrow.

[razberryyum]

The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 8

(spoilers for everything MDZS/Untamed)

[covers MDZS chapter...none, really...Team CQL pretty much goes completely rogue for this ep]

WangXian meter: 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰

I really thought that Wei Ying should have named his binding technique “无聊” (“wu liao”, aka “lame”, “silly”, “boring”) in honor of Lan Zhan, since that’s his favorite response to Wei Ying. It’s a shame he didn’t end up doing that, felt like a total missed opportunity, especially since he never did decide on the actual name.  The two names he came up with, “sharing clothes” and “no clothes” (according to Viki's translation), felt little more than just Easter eggs for novel readers since we know eventually the two of them do partake in both states of dress and undress. In the context of the actual technique, they really don’t make much sense. However, interestingly enough, in the WeTV subs, the two name choices were actually translated as “binding” and “bonding”, which definitely seems more applicable. Based on my limited knowledge of Chinese words, the Viki translation seems to be a more literal translation of the words used, so I’m not sure how the WeTV team came up with binding and bonding instead, unless those are the figurative meanings of those Chinese characters.  I would love it if a fellow fan who is much more Chinese literate could school me on which is more accurate translation, but seriously, how much cuter would it have been if Wei Ying had just gone with 无聊?

Team CQL deciding to throw in more yin metals to the story was really a stroke of genius considering how much mileage they got out of that little invention: they got to introduce Xue Yang and eventually the Yi City boys earlier, provide a more extensive backstory for Lan Yi which of course also impacted other plot elements downstream, utilize Wen Ruohan more as a villainous character (which I personally consider a minus), stretch out the running time for more episodes, and most importantly, create more bonding opportunities for Wei Ying and Lan Zhan. First time I watched this episode I straight out cheered when Wei Ying skipped out on his Yunmeng fam to go after Lan Zhan; I thought that was so adorable. I was so looking forward to their adventures together. Too bad their alone time only lasted a few minutes...literally less than 4 minutes; I actually kept track this time around. Originally I thought that Nie Huaisang was brought in to be a third-wheeler because it would have been too suggestive for Lan Zhan and Wei Ying to spend time together off on their own, but after finishing the show and seeing all the other times they've spent together all alone, I soon realized I was totally overthinking things and it really was for the story's sake. One point I was never clear on was how did NHS clue into the fact that Jin Guangyao was behind his brother's death, since qi deviation actually seemed a reasonable explanation for his demise. Guy was bleeding through all his face holes, but he also had the ghost puppet lines on his neck. Because of NHS' experience here with Lan Zhan and Wei Ying when they faced off against the Wei villagers he was able to see firsthand how people affected by the Yin metal looks so I wonder if that's how he made the connection with what happened with his brother since Nie Mingjue also had those veiny markings on his neck. This had to be the only opportunity he had to see ghost puppets up close since he didn't really participate in the battle part of the Sunshot Campaign.

I could be way off base of course and perhaps the actual answer is more obvious than that, but one of the reasons I look forward to rewatching the show is filling in these gaps I have in terms of the plot and seeing if my conjectures to what I previously hadn't figured out yet are correct or not.

Another benefit to NHS' sudden appearance was seeing how Lan Zhan seemed almost jealous at how chummy Wei Ying was being with him.  He didn't look thrilled at all when NHS popped up, and then that look on his face before he turned away from them was really the epitome of disapproval. Actually, he looked a little pissed. I wonder if he was actually disappointed to be reminded that Wei Ying's overt friendliness was not just reserved for him, since he was just as exuberantly social to NHS as well.  

But progress was being made in their relationship just the same: take the fact that he didn’t fling off Wei Ying’s hand when he grabbed hold of him. Prior to their time in the cold pool cave, I doubt Lan Zhan would’ve allowed anyone to touch and lead him that way. In fact, he’s straight out said before that he doesn’t like physical contact with others. Obviously that’s no longer the case anymore, especially when it comes to Wei Ying. It's only the first of many more instances of hand grabbing and other touches between them. It's so exciting watching their relationship slowly but surely growing all over again.

Although, when it comes to Wei Ying, I think it takes a much longer time for his feelings toward Lan Zhan to undergo any change from close friendship. I'm probably alone on this, but while I think he likes Lan Zhan a lot, I don’t think his feelings went through the same transformation to love that Lan Zhan’s did until much, much later.  Or at least, not in the way that he is actively aware of.  He clearly felt an instant kinship with Lan Zhan, but I think it takes a long while before he even understands that it’s different from how he feels towards someone like Jiang Cheng or even Nie Huaisang.

Watching him as he admired Lan Zhan's beauty, I was naturally tempted at first to ascribe more meaning to his reaction than just appreciative appraisal because I wanted Wei Ying to be enamored with Lan Zhan already. But the truth of the matter is, now that I’m able to take a step back and really assess their relationship, I don’t think Wei Ying was quite at the maturity level yet to be able to properly comprehend what his admiration may actually be an indicative of. Wei Ying has a big heart, which is one of the most lovable qualities about him, but because of his heart and it's boundless capacity to love and care for others, I think even he himself can't decipher the differing levels of feelings he might have for different people.  And because it will take him a long time to realize the greater significance behind his attachment to Lan Zhan, it’s really heart-breaking how he almost carelessly friend-zones Lan Zhan at various points in this first part of their lives before he finally wakes up. In fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment when I believe he wakes up, but since it's still in the far future, I’ll save my further ramblings on that matter until then.

Bunny Time with the Yunmeng Sibs

I love bunnies a lot and I also love the Yunmeng siblings a bunch, so naturally I wanted to love this moment completely as well, especially since seeing Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng nuzzle bunnies is just one of the cutest sights I've ever been laid eyes on. Unfortunately, there was one thing that put a damper on the scene for me and it was seeing Wei Ying throw that poor bunny at Jiang Cheng.  That wasn't a stunt bunny he tossed, it was the real thing. I rewound several times just to confirm it. I winced so hard the first time I watched the scene that I think I gave myself a toothache, and even now I still grimace a little when I see it. For my peace of mind I have to assume Wang Zhuocheng (who of course portrays Jiang Cheng) did catch the bunny and the take we saw was not a do-over because he actually missed it so they had to redo the scene again. I will also have to assume that the bunny was the same bunny throughout the rest of scene which means it survived the toss and it was just fine afterwards since bunnies are usually fragile little creatures and are susceptible to heart-attacks at just the slightest shock (and being suddenly tossed in the air would definitely qualify as that). The alternative is just too gloomy otherwise. Chinese productions don't generally have a good track record when it comes to animals so...yeah...I gotta stop thinking about it and just focus on the siblings cuddling the cute rabbits.

I hope someone adopted the bunnies and the cast and crew didn't just cook and eat them afterwards.

ChengQing

It actually just crossed my mind tonight that Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing's ship name actually sounds like part of the Untamed's Chinese title. I don't know why I didn't notice it before. The extra "g" probably threw me off. Anyway, the way this scene started was rather odd because based on the way they greeted each other, it was as if Jiang Chen and Wen Qing were on the outs, like they just had an argument or something. Which doesn't make sense because the last time they saw each other was at Cloud Recesses, where Jiang Cheng was still making puppy eyes at Wen Qing while she was making her lantern wish, but then cut to here and it's like he's not even that thrilled to bump into her again. What happened to his little crush on her? I was kinda disappointed.

Wen Chao is a Close-Talking Creep

I don't like Wen Chao but I absolutely enjoyed He Peng's performance of him because he is so effectively creepy and shitty. Just the way he purposely invades Big Bro Xichen and Wen Qing's space as he threatens them totally made my skin crawl.  More than once I've wondered how the hell Wen Qing was able to grow up around him and not get harassed in the worst way.  He's also such a petty dick, with the way he purposefully dirtied big brother's rug for no good reason other than to be a shithead. But then, later on, when he's called to be totally pathetic to the point where he's downright sympathetic, he was able to pull that off with equal aplomb. So even though I almost hate his character, I do want to take this moment to give some love to the actor, whom I think did a really good job. Playing villains is sometimes an equally thankless job as playing the straight man, especially with villains like Wen Chao which aren't meant to be alluring like Xue Yang or likable like Jin Guangyao. He could have easily veered into caricature territory, which I actually thought the actor for Wen Ruohan did so that's why I didn't like his performance nor was I able to take him seriously as a character, but He Peng's Wen Chao always seemed grounded to me. I think a big reason for that is because the actor, in his own words, viewed his character as an arrogant, spoiled rich kid instead of a soulless villain and therefore chose to play him that way. As a result, I think he was still able to infuse Wen Chao with a small degree of humanity.  The fear he felt whenever he had to face his dad was palpable. He's basically like a bully because his upbringing allows him to be one, but ultimately he's still a weak human being. That's why, when he turned into a sad, sniveling shell of a man under Wei Wuxian's torture, I found him really pitiful and actually felt bad for him.

Odds and Ends

Seriously, why the hell was Wen Chao able to hold the yin metal with his BARE HAND like that??? They've been saying time and again how powerful the metals are, how full of resentment they are, how normal people can't just handle them cuz even a highly cultivated person like Lan Yi was done in by just one piece, so how come a medium-powered mofo like Wen Chao was able to just hold as if it was just a some rock he picked off the ground? Even if the yin metals were only just activated from their dormancy, they're still soul-sapping implements of evil, so this really should not have been possible.

The dear translators kept on calling Wen Chao's bird an "owl" and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out WHY. There is nothing about that thing that resembles an owl, imho. It looks more like a raven with eagle talons and the sounds it made were like that of a hawk, so I really can't figure out how they got owl from that. Even the Chinese words for owl ("猫头鹰") is completely different from the characters used for that bird. I mean, I guess it could be one of those deep dives like how they came up with "Childe" for all the male honorifics, but seriously why even bother? Probably would’ve been easier to just call it a raven since that's what the cloudy mass looks like the most. Although I must say, I do love the way it looks: I like that they use the evil smoky effect for it since it’s suppose to be a bad birdy. I think it's one of the more successful CGI effects in the show.

Team CQL can be proud of themselves for the owl/raven/whatever effect, but then they should also dunk their heads in the toilets for this shitshow at the Wen Village. There was no consistency to these guys...some had the whited out eyeballs that up until then, all ghost puppets on the show have been shown to have, but then some, like that female extra in the front had regular eyes. And then some of the extras were rolling up their eyes. It's like, was there NO direction give to these guys? This whole Night of the Living Not Dead scene was a complete embarrassment. Any tension they were trying to build up for this scene was completely destroyed as soon as these walking jokes showed up.

Lastly, I had to laugh when Wei Ying quickly divulged the secret of the yin metals to Nie Huaisang without much prompting whatsoever. He JUST pledged himself to secrecy in front of Big Bro Xichen and Uncle Lan in like the last episode, and he already broke the promise by this one. What was more amazing was that Lan Zhan didn’t even bat an eye at it nor did he even try to stop him. I guess they both completely forgot about the promise already.

Question I Still Have

Actually, I’ve had this question since the beginning but now seems to be a good time as any to ask this, since this episode ended on those guys: WHY they're called "ghost puppets"? I've actually never heard of the Chinese words they used for the zombies before, on any other show.  Was this terminology just a creation of the Untamed’s scriptwriter just for the show. And if so, I still don’t understand why they have to be called ghost puppets since they’re clearly NOT ghosts. Calling them "living" puppets would’ve been more appropriate. If someone has some insight on this, I’d appreciate the knowledge drop.

Overall Episode Rating: 7 Lil Apples out of 10

Disclaimer: The Untamed would not be possible without Mo Dao Zu Shi and Mo Xiang Tong Xiu-laozi.  I mean no disrespect whatsoever with my humble comparisons between the novel and the live action, even when I sometimes favor the changes in the show. All hail MDZS and MXTX-laozi always and forever!  

[florrickandassociates]

TGF Thoughts: 3x08-- The One Where Kurt Saves Diane

I wrote this over the span of, like, a full year and it is not very interesting. I am posting it simply because I am committed to the idea of writing something about every episode of this series. I recommend that you go check out Evil instead of reading this.

I’m just not intrigued by the clips of news footage about some sort of “Unredacted Unspecified Report” that open this episode.

Diane doesn’t seem to be that interested either: she’s not watching and talks over it. 

More interesting (but, tbh, not actually that interesting to me either, because I’m losing interest in this season) is that Diane gets a letter of warning from a ~mysterious source~. 

Most interesting of all: Diane and Kurt have a normal morning together.

Kurt spots the letter first and opens it. STOP DIANE. THEY KNOW ABOUT THE HACK. So maybe it’s directed at Kurt. Or maybe it’s supposed to say, “Stop, Diane.”

I still haven’t warmed to Diane’s bedroom set, especially because it still feels like Diane lives in her bedroom and her home has no other rooms. 

Joy, Felix Staples has returned. All I have to say about this case is that the day this ep aired, basically what’s happening in this case happened in real life, because… Kings. 

Hello, it’s October now and I suddenly felt like returning to The Good Universe and writing. It’s been a while. 

My memory of this episode/arc is that Diane and Liz just did something uncharacteristically dumb and illegal, and this is the episode where Kurt secretly puts an end to the shenanigans without Diane even knowing. I remember this episode being satisfying, if only because it got rid of the aforementioned dumb and illegal plot. Let’s see how good my memory is. 

Wait why don’t I remember Roger Bart being on this show and why didn’t I note it earlier?! How could I let George The Killer Pharmacist go unmentioned?! 

On that note, how did I not use the opening scene of the season (Diane saying “I’m happy” as an excuse to ramble about how weird it is to experience happiness on a personal level in today’s world?) (I was just watching 3x01.)

I’m actively not watching the case scenes so they don’t kill my drive to actually write this. 

Oh God, I’m going to have to deal with Blum again at some point. I had blocked out his bloviating. I think this is the last of the Blum/Maia free eps? 

The weird Lucca/British actor plot is still happening!!!! I didn’t miss it during all those months in which I wasn’t reminded of it. 

The joke about how these TV lawyers aren’t like other TV lawyers, except they are, was funny the first time. 

Always great to see how Lucca, who is the head of a department at this point, gets called into other cases frequently. Definitely how things work. 

Is it bad that I’m more interested in making a mental list of all the times TGF/TGW have filmed in this little park than this Marissa/Alan Alda scene? 

I can see why this is the episode that made me stop writing these for a bit. So far, this ep is all case and a subplot I don’t care for.

You know what else was funny the first time and has hit a point of diminishing returns? The thing where a main character’s love interest shows up in court and then they get thrown off their game and it’s CUTE FLIRTING!!! Find a new, unique way to signal interest, writers! 

This gag now involves literal gagging. I’m overjoyed. 

Lucca’s monologuing at a toilet about her crush. This plot is cute. It isn’t bad. It is watchable. BUT! I know it’s a novelty, so I’m just not that excited by it or invested in it. It’s not really deepening my understanding of Lucca. 

Lucca picturing everyone in court in their underwear is just unnecessary and honestly not funny??? 

Kurt leaves the warning note out for Diane to see. He confronts her about it and she asks for a drink.

The credits are at 19 minutes in. I do love them. Have any of you watched Evil yet? I watched part of the first episode (I intend to go back to it, I’ve just been busy) and the credits resemble the TGF credits. (Update as of March 2020: I watched all of Evil and you should too.)

Diane tells Kurt about Book Club or #Resistance or whatever I was calling it. Even though Diane doesn’t tell him the full story (mostly for his own protection, and she makes it clear she’s omitting stuff), I do appreciate that Diane and Kurt don’t keep secrets from each other, and if/when they do, they talk about it openly and calmly. I love them. 

(I have blocked out Kurt/Holly almost entirely. I know it’s canon, but I still don’t believe it was anything other than a plot device to motivate some unnecessary drama in the TGW finale. God, that finale was bad. Ghost Will? Kurt cheating? GENEVA and Peter? GHOST WILL? Even the slap, which is one of my favorite parts, is more powerful as a symbol than as an actual plot development, since (1) Alicia betraying Diane is something Pilot!Alicia would’ve done to any friend to protect her family and (2) it stems from the nonsense about Kurt cheating and Peter tampering with evidence. What a letdown of a finale. The Kings are lucky they got to redeem themselves with TGF.)

(As anyone who’s had a one-on-one convo with me about the TGW finale at any point in the last three years will tell you, I will NEVER tire of discussing it, even if it means rehashing the same points over and over and over.)

I forgot about the thing where it wouldn’t stop storming in season 3. 

Don’t have much to say about Kurt devising a plan to help Diane get out of trouble, but I do find it very fun! 

OOOOH this is the episode about censorship that got censored!!! If you haven’t already, do read Emily Nussbaum’s piece about the behind-the-scenes drama of this episode. I thought the “this content has been censored” screen where the short would have been was a joke… but it was actually censored. That may be the most interesting thing about this episode.

I want more character-driven plots. I want more Liz and Lucca. I have nothing to say. 

Book Club still believes the con artist who brought them together is something other than a con artist. Book Club is not that smart for being a collection of very smart people. 

“So the whole group is bullshit?” Liz asks when Diane loops her in. Yes. But also, like, this is what happens when you do illegal shit with a group formed by a literal con artist. Liz may have an excuse for trusting the group (Diane brought her in), but why does DIANE trust them? 

“My life is simple, Diane. I have a son. I have a mortgage. I have my job. And I go from home to work and work to home. So this stuff is, this bullshit intrigue… I’m done. Too much drama,” Liz laments, about a week too late. Where was this last week when Liz was like YES LET’S DO CRIMES? 

One of my problems with the whole Book Club arc is that it makes very little sense that Liz would get involved in the first place. I understand why she would be sympathetic to their cause and willing to look the other way on their methods… if she were watching a news report about them on TV. She’s too practical, and has too much to lose, to get involved with a group like this. 

An NSA nerd is back!! He’s the one warning Diane! 

Okay, picking this back up in March 2020 because *gestures at the world* I have time. Like, I have so much free time I’ve finished 9 books in the last 14 days AND finally made it to the episodes of The Sopranos with JMargs. I began watching The Sopranos in 2017.

As I write this, I have no idea if TGF is coming back on April 9th as planned or not. Unless there’s something in the works for season 4 that can’t possibly be left unfinished or air today, I think they should air whatever they have now. TGF is always timely, and while scenes set in an office are suddenly feeling weird and implausible, they’ll probably play better now than in six months. And we’d all forgive the writers if they had to wrap up the arcs through an animated recap song. 

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the TGF credits so I rewound to watch the credits. I went to 2 minutes into the episode, then remembered… they’re 20 minutes in.

Y’all. They blow up a purse with hand sanitizer in it. Did they predict this?! 

I wrote that preamble and then stopped writing. But now we know that TGF is really coming back on April 9th, which means I have to stop watching The Sopranos and write these things! 

Ah, Felix Staples. I haven’t missed you! 

Case stuff happens. Really riveting episode, this one. (It is an interesting case, though.)

Kurt saving Diane is pretty fun. But I don’t have anything to say about it and to write about it would just to be to give a half-assed play by play… and why?

Oh WOW, Lucca and Downton Abbey guy is still happening?! 

Getting to see Kurt be really competent and caring is the best thing, by far, about the Book Club arc.

Wait, I take that back, Liz’s speech about voter suppression is also pretty high up there-- as long as you ignore the context. 

V excited (!!) to get back to Maia’s bullshit in the next few episodes, not because I want to watch it but because if there’s one thing I’m actually motivated to write about, it’s how the show has handled Maia Rindell. Also, they handle the next few episodes well for her. 

Oh RIGHT Liz tells ChumHum about her dad’s sexual harassment issues! And Adrian and Liz are finally going to tell the press! It may mean losing Neil Gross, though. 

Book Club is over! Wooooooooooooooooooooo! On to more interesting things!!!

Also gone? Downton Abbey guy, who gave an interview about something new and exciting in his life. Lucca thought he was talking about her, and he was talking about some...personality test that sounds like a cult from the way he describes it? AAAAAND I Googled it and yup. It is. What a goofy ending to this arc I didn’t care about. Reminds me of the way the Marilyn arc ended (with a cameo from a celebrity who she was supposedly sleeping with). Glad the actor was so game to poke fun at himself, but is this the best we can do for Lucca? 

Diane thinks she took care of the hack and made it go away. Kurt lets her take the credit. 

The end! 

[garmmy]

appmon afterthoughts

appmon is finally over! it’s been a great journey. ;v; i drop shows easily when watching them week by week so i prefer binge-watching them at once, so appmon is the first show of this length that i managed to watch as it aired all the way through! (i dropped off somewhere in neovamdemon’s arc when trying to keep up with xros wars, haha. i did go back and finish it after that though!)

my personal preference of seasons: frontier > adventure > *appmon* > savers > 02 > hunters > tamers > tri > xros wars (as usual i still love all the seasons!! this is just if i had to rank them. i won’t deny that the 7 death generals arc was a bit of a drag for me though..)

here are my (LONG and incoherent) thoughts after watching the series, spoilers under the cut.

characters: - gosh i love the main cast so much!! ;v; i’m also glad that the appmon get a fair amount of characterisation and focus too (though still not as much as their human buddies), i feel there are times when digimon gives focus to the humans but in turn sacrifice some of the focus that their monster partners get. - i live for character interactions, so while i’m glad that haru/eri/astra interact with each other a lot, it’s a bit disappointing to see how little interaction rei and yuujin get with eri and astra. :( and hackmon never really interacts with the others much, or at all..i like hackmon, but it’d be nice to see him talk to someone other than rei for once. - i love the character growth in this season so much ;; possibly just behind frontier. eri and astra’s growth wasn’t as overt possibly due to how they express their personalities, but they throw a lot of it about the ‘filler’ eps and it all comes together really nicely. haru gets visibly stronger and more confident throughout the show, and rei’s change in reaction to his applidrive’s “are you alone?” question alone says so much. - on that note, i LOVE how they handled yuujin’s question (would you give your life up for a friend). in the end, it’s not those flashy scenes where you take a fatal hit for someone, but yuujin giving his life up not just to save humanity, but more importantly to save haru from having to shoulder the heavy burden of actually making the choice to kill yuujin. i thought that was a really powerful scene and it really got to me. - (shipping) haru and rei...i don’t care if it’s romantic or platonic or whatever i just love seeing them interact so, so much. people who know i like other pairs like seliph/ares, aichi/kai, etc...it’s the same pattern, nice pure boy gets the brooding edgy jerk to open up. i am a predictable person lol

story: - there are a lot of fillers. (but what is a digimon season without fillers?) i like fillers myself (probably why i like hunters when many people hate it), but i read the wtw comment threads every week and you get tons of complaints every time it hits a filler ep, and i can somewhat understand their frustration. appmon can be a drag to watch if you’re the kind who hates fillers. (i don’t deny a few fillers like the maripero ep did bore me though) - appmon does handle the main plot progression better than hunters though, despite the still whack pacing, and the fillers still tend to have nice character bits/growth. i love hunters but i won’t defend its absolute disregard for plot then trying to cram everything in at the last minute haha. still there are a number of unanswered questions..while i do agree that not all questions necessarily need answering, they can still provide deeper insight to characters. - personally, i liked how they kept the lightheartedness of the story while touching on salient AI-related issues. but while they bring up some very interesting issues, i don’t feel like they addressed them satisfactorily (at least from my pov)? leviathan’s aim with the humanity applification plan was to eradicate problems like conflict, disease, and human error from humanity, which is in a way even backed up by haru’s grandpa, who mentions “being data is great! without a physical body, one has no need to worry about injuries or sickness”, coming from someone who died in part because of sickness. you can see where the protags are coming from, but they never really address these ‘benefits’ of the humanity applification plan and how the benefits of not going through with the plan would outweigh the benefits of going through. - app-fusion might work well as a game mechanic, but i think it only serves to detract from the story in the anime, at least the way it is right now. for two series whose evolution is centred around fusion, xros wars handles fusion much better, utilising more creativity in both using and fusing the ‘fodder digimon’. appmon just tends to forget its fodder appmon exist. i personally think that appmon would be better off if its app-fusions were treated as simple evolutions instead (that’s pretty much how they treat the buddy appmon anyway; globemon is pretty much treated as ‘evolved gatchmon’, rather than an actual fusion of dogatchmon and timemon), that way you don’t get the nagging feeling that the fusion fodder appmon are just..fodder. - speaking of app-fusion, i have to say i personally prefer the more emotion-driven evolutions from the earlier seasons, rather than the evolutions achieved by getting the correct chip as we see in appmon. it makes sense from a gameplay perspective, but in context of the anime it feels..less impactful, i guess? i just always love seeing the bonds between the humans and their partners get tested, and become even stronger. - on an unrelated note, i find it funny that the show has a subplot involving two computer genius brothers and the cicada 3301 thing, mainly because i have a FDD story centered around the same idea (that i don’t make progress on at all. it probably looks like an appmon ripoff now but i don’t care haha)

designs: - i love the standard grade main appmon designs, they’re all so cute ;w; they have this distinct style in mind and i think they pulled it off well. (i’ve warmed up to musimon’s design A LOT from when he was first revealed, but i do still think it could be slightly less cluttered) - the ultimate grades are PERFECT, they’re some of my favourite digimon designs and possibly one of my favourite ‘group’ of designs out of protagonist digimon!! (possibly only bested by the frontier beast spirits and maybe the savers ultimates/tamers adults? haha) i just...yes. they’re amazing. i love them so so SO much - i’m not a fan of the direction they took with the god grades (maybe because i love the ultimate grades too much lol). all the gold didn’t sit too well with me either, maybe because we already had so much gold in xros wars? i do think they make great ‘final forms’ for the protagonist mons, but personally i still greatly prefer all their other forms to their god forms. i’m a bit more partial to hadesmon than the others because i LOVE jesmon, but hm...hadesmon still looks a lot more gaudy..like jesmon’s gaudy little brother. hahaha - i think the level system is a nice simplification from digimon. hopefully this means we can see appmon in future digimon games..they would be easier to implement than xw digimon anyway, haha;;

animation: - like many others i was skeptical about the making of higher-grade appmon 3DCG at first, though it eventually grew on me. the fights between 3DCG appmon were nicely done, but seeing the difference in animation between the 2D characters and 3DCG appmon was jarring, especially in shots where they’re together, mostly because of the framerate..the 3DCG appmon are animated on 1s? while the humans are animated on 3s like normal anime, it’s a big difference. thankfully most 3DCG fights don’t bring in the humans much. - the models/3D animation are still pretty well done! and i appreciate that they didn’t render them cel-shaded like what most anime do with 3D models (i remember translating the appmon interview mentioning why they did this, before appmon started airing; i was skeptical but now i can see what they were going for and i think it turned out well!) - after watching appmon i think 3DCG is a nice move for toei though, because we all know toei’s animation quality...could be better? hahaha. but i find toei’s weakness isn’t so much layout/choreography, but more of sometimes poorly-drawn frames, bad timing, or too little inbetweens, some of which are solved with 3DCG. you can especially see the contrast with digimon tri’s fight scenes; highly detailed digimon like jesmon for example would’ve benefited greatly from 3DCG, i know how painful it is to translate all of its details to 2D animation but as you can see it results in quite a number of not-as-nicely drawn frames. - special mention to charismon because i really like how he was modeled/rigged. those eyes!! can you imagine duskmon in 3D doing that and with those creepy sound effects too. - i’m not a huge fan of the palettes used in the AR-fields..(i didn’t like how the digiquartz was depicted that much either, and their depictions are quite similar so yeah) i can definitely see the effect they’re going for, but it felt more ‘kiddy alien-ish’ than ‘digital’ to me.

music: - i found the music quite ok (i liked DiVE!! and BE MY LIGHT though!), but i guess it didn’t match up to my personal tastes as much :x sadly appmon might be the lowest of the digimon seasons when it comes to music for me, i liked that endings are back! but the songs themselves didn’t captivate me as much as the previous seasons’ ending songs did. - on that note i’m glad they put in an insert song though! i guess i���m just really big on insert songs in digimon because as a kid i printed out the lyrics to brave heart and the other evo songs and loved singing along when they played in the show. lol - i remember complaining about this when the first episode aired, and my opinion still hasn’t changed 52 eps in. i CANNOT stand the applidrive voice at all hahaha (and the speed-up effect they use when app-linking/fusing) - the character songs are cute!! i’m personally really glad they decided to make them :) - the background music was pretty nice and had some memorable tracks..i’m not quite sure how i’d compare it to the rest? i liked all the soundtracks so far, though xros wars’ and frontier’s osts stood out especially for me.

[rainbowravioli]

the way yoi staff is either blind or just rly fucken stupid. ive seen a lot of written reasons why people love yoi, and yuuri's probably the biggest one. cuz yuuris anxious. stubborn. chubby (at the beginning). yet so relatable. having him not to win gold, and to lose to yurio is like slapping him into face with words "nice try, loser, but not enough." on the other hand, letting yurio win is also a crime. its like telling him: "u're a brat, but thats ok." not only it doesnt help him, (1)

it just absolutelly messes with his character. and hes not even happy with gold. cant see how rude he will be in 2nd season. now, yurios cool. in his own twisted way. & breaking the cliché "the main character always wins" may look nice, but in the end its just N.O.N.S.E.N.S.E. yuuris favourite of reasons. of good reasons. some relate to him thanks to chubbiness, others due to anxiety. but hes not normal character. hes complex, yet so relatable. rly nice to see such a character like him. (2) thats why not letting him win is a big slap to the face. and dat character mess in last episode? (last only. ep 11 still made sense with characters, while the narrative was slowly destroyed [dem scores] - then in ep 12, the story made no fucken sense). there was anon who wrote to soobaki&you, the one with autism. i can feel their rage and disappointment in show. yuuris one of few reasons i still care bout the show. others are victor (they gonna fuck him up, save him), other characters (3) and their development (are they gonna defend yurio's behavior. i wanna kick his ass - i don't care if he has tragic backstory, thats no excuse for such a behavior hes doing). also, can they treat chris like person and not sex symbol. u just gotta have feeling staff loves yurio more and ignore yuuri. sometimes i wonder if they despite yuuri cuz of his "glass heart" (such a shitty name for his personality). also, the behavior to victor? asses, give him to me and ill write him a proper story. (4) i relate to yuuri way too much, too. imma not kiddin', when finale happened & i figured out what was goin' on, my school marks just dropped down. people may laugh at me, but when u still have the message "nice try, try again" in ur head, people cant expect ull be doing excellent. & the fanon theories? vic cant do the dishes? bitch, ive been taking care of myself from young age & never had a problem doin' dishes (i do live w parents, but they kicked me to care bout myself pretty early). (5) cooking meals isnt my strongest thing, but i can prepare smth for myself to not die from hunger. dissing vic's character like dat? fight me, assholes. hes not like that. "hes an alien" thing? someone fucked up, can u feel it. btw, sorry for long message. you probably have tons of asks rn. let yoself rest too. peace~ (6)

You guys never have to apologize for long messages. I’m always very happy you want to talk to me. Also, yes, entrust me with your anger and salt! I’m here for you guys. 

I’m always here for Yuuri appreciation and Victor defense squad so let’s get to it. 

Like I mentioned here (x), Yuuri is one of the big reasons YoI works and achieved the popularity it did. Seriously, go look at positive reviews of YoI. Even in short ones, they usually take the time to specifically point out Yuuri as being an excellent character and protagonist. And he is. He’s a huge part of the initial appeal of the series and of what distinguishes YoI as something new and original.

Yuri on Ice is an adult story. Yuuri is not the typical sports anime protagonists who is a teenager still learning the sport and wanting to make it to the big competition for the first time, who has to learn about teamwork and friendship and is still growing up. No, Yuuri did all that already. He’s an adult, he’s the top male figure skater in Japan, he is in the middle of his career and it suddenly goes terribly for him. Yuuri is emotional, he has weight problems, he suffers from anxiety and a deep imposter syndrome that makes him an unreliable narrator, but he’s also determined and stubborn and he hates to lose. And he’s an adult who is facing the lowest point of his career and having to find the strength in himself and his support system to move forward. He’s complex, nuanced, flawed and very realistic. Many people can relate to him or identify him as someone they could easily know in real life. The audience wants Yuuri to succeed and to finally believe in himself and prove his self-worth to the world.

Aaaaaand that’s one of the reasons why episode 12 doesn’t work. There’s really no reason to have Yuuri lose, especially when we are told and shown throughout the series that he always had the ability, he only lacked the confidence. Having a consistent build up to Yuuri winning gold at the GPF only to have him lose is not edgy, or clever, or “realistic” (x) (if I have to hear this argument one more time I’m going to set something on fire). Breaking the “cliché” does not make for quality writing. It’s particularly baffling in a series like YoI that managed to consistently surprise the audience in ways that added to the narrative and made sense, like the brilliantly executed plot twist of last year’s banquet.

Thing is, in the case of YoI, Yuuri losing is not even breaking the cliché because Yuuri’s entire story and journey doesn’t adhere to typical sports anime conventions to start with. Having him lose to Yurio is particularly insulting. Not only does it justify every single one of Yuuri’s earlier fears and doubts but it completely turns the story’s themes and meaning on its head. Yurio is a brash teenage genius who has been a prodigy since he was young, starts the series already believing he is better than anyone and then he proves it by shedding his entire identity for better scores (and developing super powers in the last episodes). Did Yurio learn anything? No, other than having his terrible behaviour justified. Hell, he’s even unhappy with his result because Yuuri beat his FS score, how dare he. Did Yuuri learn or gain anything? No, just that even while trying his hardest and battling through his anxiety he’s still just not good enough. Genius > hard work.

It’s weird and concerning how the staff has been acting and talking about the characters post finale. Sometimes it feels like they just wanted to make Yurio the protagonist but were aware he would never have been able to carry the story properly (YoI wouldn’t be even a quarter as popular as it is now if it had been Yurio on Ice, fight me). I just want them to treat Yuuri like the protagonist he is and, while we’re at it, shower him in the same level of love and attention they are giving Yurio. I anxiously await for season 2...they better compensate Yuuri. RIP Victor though. Poor dear, he also deserved much better and was completely screwed over. I swear, it’s like episode 10 never happened.

imma not kiddin', when finale happened & i figured out what was goin' on, my school marks just dropped down. people may laugh at me, but when u still have the message "nice try, try again" in ur head, people cant expect ull be doing excellent

There’s nothing laughable about fiction touching us deeply like that. *hug* I hope you’re doing better now. I understand. I...was kind of in a deep sad daze for a good while after the finale. It felt like betrayal. Specifically 12 because I was not panicking after 11. Episode 11 still makes sense. I just avoid it now because in retrospect it was the beginning of the end *sigh*

As for fanon interpretations. I can’t with Victor and the dishes! He’s an adult, he can take care of himself. I don’t understand why people think it’s cute or charming to portray him as some kind of human disaster who has only survived without “housewife” Yuuri so far by ways of a miracle. I also can’t with Victor having no impulse control and Yuuri having to keep him in check when in canon that’s Yuuri! Yuuri is the impulsive one. Victor is actually a much more controlled and thoughtful character than people give him credit for. Also Yuuri being serious and cold towards Victor and constantly threatening divorced (though with some of the things people have fanon Victor do, I can understand where the divorce comes from). Oh and any of them preferring the other’s merchandise over the real person. That’s not cute. And this doesn’t even cover all my fanon problems but good God. What’s the appeal of taking a healthy, loving, equal relationship and twisting it into that?

As for “alien” Victor...well Kubo is partially at fault for that one, isn’t she? But fandom just went with it. And it bothers me because it dehumanizes him. I feel like many people just don’t care to understand his character at all and just have him be this ~wacky random guy who is so mysterious and incomprehensible in his actions~. Victor deserves better. Time to pull out that badge again. 

[teenwolfpotential]

Season Facepalm Ep. 10

Overall, it still felt pretty paint by numbers.  It felt like they were trying to hit these emotional chords and I could see those attempts, but I couldn’t feel it.  It might be that at this point the season was so haphazard that I just couldn’t get into it enough to really identify with the emotions.  

There was a good amount of humor that hit correctly this episode, though, and that was nice.  Having all the characters finally come back helped, so at least I wasn’t wondering where they were all episode.

The plot seems as holey as ever though.  They tried to explain a few things, but some of those things still contradict stuff that happened earlier in the season.  I also have no clue at all what the point of the Wild Hunt is supposed to be when it’s not hijacked, how the Nazi alpha hijacked it effectively, and how the Hunt was stopped from entering the real world, but I kind of figured it would turn out that way.

General

I’m glad they suddenly remembered that everyone existed this episode

glad we finally remembered that Corey can move between worlds although it would have been more helpful earlier before Corey was taken and in fact it was used for very little useful in the end

so glad they finally acknowledged the difference in how time passes in the train station vs the real world, it would have done more good to explain why they kept not returning to the characters that were taken if they had acknowledged it earlier, but oh well

so glad they gave some sort of explanation for why Stiles didn’t meet up with everyone else, but it also begs the question why Stiles happened to be in the right room where all the action with the Ghost Riders and portals happened, it also doesn’t mesh with how Stiles tried to escape and just kept looping back into the same room and didn’t find any other rooms no matter where he tried to leave from

Ghost Riders

there seem to be a lot more Ghost Riders than I would have thought, seems kind of hacks

the Ghost Riders continue to seem suddenly super easy to beat by any and all methods compared to how impossible they were to fight earlier in the season

the Ghost Riders’ powers are pretty useful when the worlds are merging and shooting someone just ends up slightly displacing them in the regular world, not that I want the protagonists to die, but it would have been much more effective to kill them the regular way...  

they’ve diverted their problems to another town? why does diverting the train fix everything and make it all go away?

since they never explained how any of the Ghost Rider stuff works, I still have no idea why the train could even be diverted to start with, how the worlds were being merged, what the purpose and origin of the Ghost Riders is supposed to be when they’re not corrupted, how the Nazi alpha werewolf (still hurts) called the Hunt and kept it trapped, or anything else, but hey, at least I know his motive for wanting to make the Hunt his supernatural army in the real world, that’s something

Nazi alpha werewolf becoming a Ghost Rider and the Ghost Riders leaving after they were free of him was a neat way to wrap it up (so that Scott didn’t have to kill... yet again, not even Nazis apparently), but if they don’t have a leader, why were they ever under his control in the first place?

I’m guessing some of this was maybe explained a little at some point, but it’s all so jumbled that I couldn’t remember if I tried, not sure why they assumed remembering Stiles would magically fix everything either, pretty sure they proved themselves wrong on that

PSA

jumping onto a horse from a height is so not okay, that’s animal cruelty

people need to stop walking in the middle of damn train tracks, especially ghost ones, a train is likely to come out of nowhere and just splatter anyone on the track

Stiles

mostly I’m just damn relieved that Stiles and his dad both made it through the show alive, I’m already halfway considering not thinking of anything in season 6 as canon, but I’m positive that I’m not going to pay attention to the second half so I’m declaring Stiles’ dad safe

I very much approve of Stiles’ reappearing in his jeep

so glad Stiles used liquid nitrogen to hose down Parrish, nice callback to the fire extinguisher he used with Scott, I checked and it actually is something a hospital might have on hand

another tally for my Stiles at gunpoint list

add another to my count of Stiles’ head trauma incidents, that makes something like 6 or so, Teen Wolf Season 7: Stiles’ Long Term Brain Damage!

record for shortest time between getting back to the real world and getting taken again: Stiles, followed closely by Nishi from Gantz

still not 1 single positive interaction between Stiles and any version or fake version or hallucination of his mother, Stiles giving his jeep to Scott kind of feels like him letting go of his mother and after all the negative things, I’m not so good with that, you never really let go of a dead loved one anyway

appreciated the acknowledgement that Stiles is saving Scott’s butt a lot of the time

I’m well reassured that Stiles’ college is in a part of town called Foggy Bottom, seems right, I’m extremely glad Stiles’ key copies made an appearance, pre-FBI is cool, but I kind of prefer to think Stiles gets all the training he can and then ends up striking out on his own as some sort of supernatural tracker (but only for the bad ones)

Lydia

the fact that Lydia used her banshee scream and it was super effective! against the Ghost Rider threatening Stiles just makes her failure to use it when the Ghost Riders were first chasing Stiles even more baffling

“I didn’t say it back”, “You don’t have to” is an exchange that would make a lot more sense if Lydia were the one that were taken or if Lydia had given Stiles any solid indication of returning his feelings in the past, since she’s the one that hasn’t made it clear while he’s been pining all this time, yes, she kind of does need to say it

Lydia would have been super useful during the final showdown and yet she was separated from the major action like she always ends up being, it made sense before she got her scream working, but now that she’s got it, they should have let her really use it to the best effect

I’m assuming that Lydia is headed off to college with Stiles and won’t be on the show anymore since she’s in Boston?  and so she doesn’t get to say goodbye? we just get Mason and Liam saying goodbye to Stiles and Scott?  or just Stiles?  it seems rather unfair that Stiles gets to say goodbye to people, but he and Malia don’t even interact, Lydia didn’t get to say goodbye to anyone, and Jordan is back to pretending he doesn’t know anyone but the Sheriff

Scott

Scott being told he would have made an excellent Nazi Youth 1) seems like a poor choice even as a joke for your main character since a Nazi is seriously comparing the main character to Nazis favorably and has the authority to know what he’s talking about, 2) kind of makes my day a tiny bit even if it’s not really an accurate comparison, but I’ve got so many frustrations with Scott in general that I know will never get addressed on the show

Scott instinctively knows how to use a whip on the first try?

we didn’t get to see Scott reunite with Melissa???

I’m glad they acknowledged that Liam can’t really be alpha unless he kills Scott, but this also further reinforces (not that it was needed) that the way the show treats pack is far too loose and sloppy for what a pack should be, not so much an insult to Scott, but to the creators and writers

Parents and Pack

I kind of got fond of Corey and I’m not really sure how that happened, but I would follow him and Mason as the main characters of a different show probably, Liam came back from war big time, so he’s allowed to come to, and I guess maybe Theo because he and Liam seem to be the IT ship now

I like Hayden on her own, but for some reason I don’t like either her or Liam when they’re together, maybe because they just spend time being goopy

poor Mason, Liam finds the disappeared people and goes straight for a kiss with Hayden without so much as a by your leave for his best friend

still not feeling Melissa/Chris, but I’ll give them the line “that was so hot” because I like how the parents are allowed to be real people, this is probably my least favorite season for Chris though

I would complain about Peter getting redemption after he’s been a betraying asshole 2 times already, but I’ve always strangely liked him anyway, so I won’t bother being upset, I do feel like I’ve already seen this before about 2 episodes ago though

I give credit where credit is due, Theo saying Scott’s got a pack, Malia adding that Theo’s not in the pack, and Peter popping up to declare that he’s also not in Scott’s pack was pretty great