#i don't normally like to preview the episode i'm working on

[m-a-salter]

Punch-drunk Twelve in "The Doctor Falls"

[babyangelsky]

My Favorite Expressions in Love Sea Ep. 8

That's it. That's my (late) intro this week.

But in all seriousness, although I was somewhat prepared because of the additional previews that dropped for this episode, I don't think it's really possible to be fully prepared for how something might hit you until you actually see it. And parts of it didn't hit great, lads.

Just know that I'm using the term 'favorite' from a mostly acting perspective for this week and probably next week too.

For my own sanity I'm starting off with Mahasamut's fond husband smile. Mostly because I can and I want to but also because we got see a lot of it this episode. The sweetness that I noted last week is still very present.

I was also very glad to see that Mahasamut has forged a very affectionate bond with Meena.

Mira, Viviana, you've got no business looking disappointed that your plans aren't working out the way you want them to and lamenting about it in voiceover when you keep playing these games with my girly. Things will progress if you're clear!

The sweetneeeessssssss.

Vivi makes the best faces when she's watching Tongrak and Mahasamut be sweet. She can't see the writing on her own wall but she can see it on theirs.

Viviana! It's not a competition! It's not a race! Where's P'Kit someone go get him and make him have a come to jesus with Vivi. She's even got Tongrak telling her that fiction ain't reality and that she needs to use her words.

Tongrak, you are gone for this man.

"Nonsense!" he says. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt anymore, is it, Harry? I do love the sibling energy these two have. They're the Spider-Man meme except they're both clowns calling each other out for not expressing their feelings.

It's Mahasamut sleeping peacefully like the angel he is while Tongrak wrestles with the fact that Vivi is right for me.

I expected a lot more smugness and vitriol from Prin given that she's scheming to destroy Tongrak and has done it with such gusto up until now but it says a lot that even she looks disgusted with what she's doing. She won't even let Jak touch her. Turns out even a hell witch has her limits.

But this man? No such luck.

He's making this face after being asked to destroy his child. Prin offered him five million (and possibly more) to hurt Rak and he looks happy about it. Giddy even. That's sheer malice. Absolutely beyond fucked up.

When your adorable teenage niece roasts you for not having any friends and coming to her for advice.

If "Bet." was a facial expression.

Who's the cat and who's the canary now, Khun Tongrak?

Mahasamut's got cartoon hearts floating around his head and baby girl is so done with him.

*holds on to this moment for a second longer*

I throw roses at Peat's feet every week for how fantastic his face acting is but don't think for a moment that Fort doesn't deserve them too because he absolutely does.

Mut's face was all warmth and smiles when he was alone with Meena, then it became more guarded and cautious when they were approached, then we landed at this when Meena confirmed that the trash in front of them was her grandfather.

Fort's face is naturally very sweet and soft. He's got the opposite of resting bitch face but the fact that he can affect one so well when it's so far removed from what comes naturally to him is all in the eyes.

Look at his gaze. His eyes are normally very sparkly but here they look flat and cold and you can barely see his pupils. These are the dead calculating eyes of a shark and they reveal more hatred than words ever could and that takes TALENT.

I have to give An props for that too because he's also very good at the shark eyes but he's using them in a different way than Fort is.

Look at this screenshot and tell me it doesn't feel like Jak is looking through Mahasamut instead of at him. I can't quite describe how his face emotes but doesn't show actually genuine emotion, it's very impressive and unsettling.

The only time it felt like Jak was actually feeling something was when he looked happy about fucking with Tongrak's life.

Save me, adoring smile. Adoring smile, save me.

VIVIANA! I KNOW YOU DID NOT JUST LET KAIMOOK LEAVE YOUR APARTMENT WITHOUT CHASING AFTER HER TO MAKE SURE SHE KNEW YOU KISSED HER AS YOURSELF!

LOOK AT HER FACE. QUIT FUCKING WITH MY KID AND MAKE YOUR FEELINGS CLEAR.

Microseconds were all it took to shift from the gentle loving look Mahasamut was giving a sleeping Tongrak to silent rage as he recalled the encounter with Jak. Microseconds.

Incredulous disgust. I'd lay bets that we all looked like this when we heard Jak say he wanted to fulfill his role as Tongrak's father.

PEAT HAS MADE THIS EXACT FACE AND I HATE IT. NINA MY BABY YOU'RE SO TALENTED AND IN THIS MOMENT I HATE IT. THEIR EYES ARE EVEN A SIMILAR COLOR AND CATCH THE LIGHT THE SAME WAY.

IhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateit my tiny baby princess this is the look of someone so much older than you IhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateitIhateit

Gone. Besotted. Utterly enamored.

How could anyone look like this

when their child is looking at them like this?

I hate how much Jak is enjoying this and there is absolutely no doubt that he is, it's vile.

It took me a very long time to get Chris Chiu's scream out of my head when I watched Unknown and it's going to take even longer for me to be able to look at An Oliver Poupart without feeling my skin crawl.

To end this on a high note, I'm going to point out that Mahasamut's shirt isn't just a solid color.

It's TEXTURED.

The straits may be dire but if nothing else, at least it looks like I'm clowning in the right direction. Let me know if you wanna be tagged in these weekly writeups!

[laora-ryn]

So I've been rotating TMAGP in my head like a rotisserie chicken and. You know what happened in one incident report, I never thought about it too hard, and it hasn't come up again?

In the Voyeur episode, after Tom arrived at the movie theater, his audio started being corrupted. But not in a way that... Really makes sense? It's just that every so often, Chester would read out "[UNINTELLIGIBLE]" instead of whatever words Tom wrote and/or said into his phone

And I'm like. Where and when and why did the distortion happen? Was it during the recording itself, because of the supernatural nature of the theater? Was it when he uploaded it to the internet? Was it when Freddy archived it? Or was it when Chester read it out?

Because we have audio of Needles, Mr. Bonzo, Lady Mowbray, and Ink5oul recorded off a modern cell phone. We have audio recorded in Ink5oul's various hunting grounds, and in Mr. Bonzo's house. Hell, we have audio recorded from Sam's phone in the Magnus Institute. It only switched to the tape recorder when they got to the archivist's office

So it's not necessarily a supernatural creature, or a place steeped in the supernatural, that's distorting it

And I don't know, maybe this is a reach, but the other time we've seen bracketed all-caps text within otherwise normal transcript stuff is with our good friend [ERROR] from episode 10

So now I'm wondering, what made Tom's incident report special? More special than RedCanary's spelunking in the ruins of the Magnus Institute? More special than universe-hopping Darrien, who very likely ran into some version of Jonathan Sims and Martin Blackwood in his therapist's office?

The distorted lines below the break, with a best guess of what might've been there:

Is it a private screening just for me? The contest didn't mention *that.* That's, [UNINTELLIGIBLE], cool, actually. I'm going to head on in... Hang on a sec.

Possibly: "uh," "really"

Snacks acquired! They're obviously short-staffed, since it was the same guy working the concession stand. I feel bad. He looks super old and they're really putting him to work. He seems in good spirits though. Okay... [UNINTELLIGIBLE] find my seat!

Possibly: "I'm gonna," "time to"

So I'm almost done with my popcorn and the film hasn't even started yet. No previews or anything... Do I go talk to the old guy? I really hate [UNINTELLIGIBLE] bother him. I'm just going to wait for now.

Possibly: "to," "having to"

So it's been a minute, and the screen is still black. I can hear what sounds like... beeping. It sounds so familiar but I can't quite place it. Medical equipment maybe? There's something [UNINTELLIGIBLE] the screen... Looks like it might be a flashback or something, handheld... looks like it was filmed on an old camcorder...

Possibly: "appearing on," ?

I know that room.... How... How did they get [UNINTELLIGIBLE] This was after the accident. Mum wanted to film it for my brothers... Dad... I... [UNINTELLIGIBLE] Wait. Who is that? In the corner of the screen, there's... _(soft, more shocked than anything)_ Who the hell is that?

All of the other breaks were inconsequential, basically. Dropped helper words, filler words, easily inferable verbs. It's just this last paragraph that we're actually missing information?

So no real... Revelations here, I guess, I just think it's weird that this is the only time we've seen this kind of thing happen and wanted to type it up??

[the-skull-breaker]

MCL New Gen ep 4 spoliers !

alright alright ! the new episode is out for VIPs, and just like the previous one I got to play Roy's route early, I'll play Thomas' once the ep releases for everyone !

without further ado, click on "keep reading" to see my full opinion !

so first we got to go to the Cosy Bear for potentially meet Castiel serving, but sadly we've arrived late and didn't get to actually meet him, we did get to see Lynn however, tho I understand how Castiel's fans must be disappointed, like I would have loved o see how mister rockstar deals with serving customers, it could be really funny !

then Lynn and Thomas have a small discussion and Thomas just casually told her he was in love with her in he past (I will not go into details about him because, again, I'll make another post about his route later) which led to the topic of romantic relationships. now there was a quick scene with Brune before going to the cafe about her relationship with Roy and the bet the night before, and honestly I was kinda worried about it with the way she approached us but it turns out she's not mad about the kiss, so that was a relief.

to go back at the cafe discussion we got to know each characters' relationship statues and, surely, we got to Roy and Brune's, and while I did expect them to not have an actual serious relationship, I was surprised by how honest they were about their true feelings, and I was ESPECIALLY surprised by the fact that THEY DID NOT EVEN KISS. so anyway they ended up breaking up in a calm and mature way, which I did no expect but honestly ? as uncomfortable as the whole thing was I'm glad it turned that way instead of being messy, however it seemed like both Thomas and Devon were pretty disappointed with the lack of drama which is hilarious.

now we get to Candy's relationship with her ex and we've got the choice to got into details or not, I've chosen the first option which raised my LOM with Roy and as much as I should have expected this I did NOT expect how nice our coworkers were, especially Roy and Devon ! first Roy saying that he hopes karma will get to our ex is the sweetest thing, I'm even more in love with him ! then Devon who says they will not make business with our ex-workplace which is so awesome from him, couldn't ask for a better boss than him !

then we see Jason and the topic of why he's our enemy is brought up and honestly ? I hate him even more... basically his company is just to spite the fact he was disqualified to the contest because... he cheated... and took the opportunity of working with the city hall so he could copy Devon's project... good job, dickhead, you've played yourself ! now I want even more to mess with his plans and drive him to ruin ! *insert maniacal laugh*. now about his past relationships is none of my business, he can have many conquests I don't care, I'm definitely not into him anyway. (anyway sorry for those who do like him, nothing against you, I just don' like him at all)

and FINALLY we get to the illus scene which in the case of Roy happens in the bus and wow, I do wish I was in the place of Candy there ! the way he holds us close to him so we wouldn't fall while potentially not thinking much about it just because he might think it's just normal I just... aaaaaahhhh I love him ! then we discuss more about our expectations in a relationship and it's clear he would be such a good partner, I wish I had one like him...

and here you go, many people may think nothing much happened but remember that we're still in an introduction state, this episode was clearly about learning the LIs' view on relationship, and from what I see on the preview it seems like the next episode might make things more serious in terms of story, so hold on, be patient, it could still be great !

anyway, that's all for me, have a nice day !

[silviakundera]

The Princess Royal ep 27 and 28

The moment when both Li Rong and Su Rongqing are like SHIT, your brother stepped into our game of thrones.

Damn it Su Ronghua, omg this is making me more heated than in the book.

now they're giving me the future flash of his death to make me sad but NO. NO! ACUALLY IDC. everything is your fault. 😤

blah blah romance with Shauggan Ya NO. NO NO NO. JAIL FOR 10000 YEARS

It's divorce era! SRQ's absolutely full proof plan has NOT devolved into a scenario that will lend PWX more power and cause his ex to soon start humping him like rabbits.... right... right?????

but who caresssss when my bro Cui Yulang is back in town 🎉

THE WAY HE HAS BOTH SRQ AND PWX SO PRESSED because they know he would hit that with the fury of god lololol

Look I do hate Consort Ruo but this whole poisoning the emperor thing is her 1 good idea

I am a simple woman who enjoys watching SRQ realize he's been clowned. And drunk Cui Yulang and exasperated Li Rong passing back & forth messages

Every time he brushes back a tendril of hair, I can hear her from the novel, "Be normal!"

They kept it! So I can be a softy and I admit was a bit charmed by this minor character when LR shared her view of someone with talent and perhaps desire to be of use, but who in her life never accomplished anything... and then he stops pretending to be a shallow pretty face for a moment to confess the real reason he wants to work for her is simply that he thinks she cares about people. I was disarmed by the way he doesn't think she'll believe that - but she immediately does (how few people have believed that about her, how few people have taken him seriously)

They even included PWX's petty ass fucking with the carriage 😭

Oh pleaaaaseeeeee Cui Yulang trying to come up with complaints about Li Chuan and everyone is like ?? ?? 😭😭😭

MY BODY IS READYYYYY for Li Rong digging a big pit with spikes and convincing Consort Ruo to enthusiastically jump in

Please don't let me down drama, I want that whole scheme!

For once the Su Rongqing and Li Rong scene actually worked for me. I did feel that moment where she bluntly references that this battle is heading in 1 direction: one of them will fall. We can see the blow hit both them. SRQ has been stubbornly in denial that this fight is against her faction but he's not taking her down - not truly. Not this time. But she just ripped all pretense away.

(this is where the story gets me to care about their dynamic. not as a love triangle, which it never really has been. but as 2 broken things that used to huddle in the dark to keep warm, now with a new chance in the light... and this is what they're going to do with it? fight to the death? it's sad.)

My darling Pei Wenxuan has not actually lost in brains from jealousy. Good for him.

(In the novel during this time he's secretly plotting shit about the exams and hiding it from LR, because of the whole 'we used to be the leaders of 2 competing factions in the last life' thing that LR was originally concerned about but then the glow of love made her stop being concerned about it, but guess!! what!!)

(I'm 98% sure they are gonna simplify that conflict.)

"Would you like to have the Inspectorate Office?" yaaasss lets goooooo

Su Rongqing, having no idea of wth is going on: Am.... I about to be clowned ?

as of Round 3 (work in progress):

Li Rong: 2

Su Rongqing: 0

Cui Yulang: my sincere love & devotion, whatever what's worth

[preview shows that next 2 episodes start some horny sneaking around ! whee!]

[chibivesicle]

Ranma 1/2 2024 - early thoughts

Soooooo, we are up to episode 5 of the new Ranma 1/2 from studio MAPPA. And how am I feeling about this? I'm enjoying it! That's right, as a silly martial arts/romance/zany humor series it so far is delivering decently.

I was completely nervous about yet another older series getting a reboot, but this one has already cleared my low expectations. I wasn't sure how I felt with the more pastel/muted color palette from the previews but after a few episodes, I like it.

First off, they decided to keep the series set in the 1980s which means we didn't need to have the full technology upgrade - which another one of Rumiko Takahashi's famous series would completely fall apart with. That's right, Maison Ikkoku wouldn't work with ubiquitous cellphone/texting. They also leverage the 80s decor/aesthetic well, reflecting it through the normal clothing and outfits along with Akane's bedroom.

I first read Ranma 1/2 long before watching the original anime so I'm less attached to the original anime. Sure, it was fine and the first OP will live rent free in my head until I die. I appreciated how the remake made sure to keep the feel of the original OP even with a much more smoothly animated version of the martial arts moves that Ranma and Akane did in the original OP and expanded it to contain Ryoga and Shampoo which was great.

Therefore, unlike other series that I watched a lot more, I couldn't even do a one to one comparison of the original version and the 2024 one if I wanted to.

I have to admit the family friendly censorship of Ranma's frequently carefree attitude towards his female form seems a bit odd as a manga fan. I get it, I'm not some fanboy getting my knickers in a twist over it - more like it matches the self-censorship that is omnipresent with shirtless males in anime. I honestly think the last time I recall a male character in anime had legit nipples it was Spike in Cowboy Bebop. I just don't get it, there was a time when male nipples existed freely in anime but now it is no nipples. I'm not looking for an answer, just scratching my head that this is a line that can't be crossed in more recent series. [cough cough] Golden Kamuy [cough cough].

Anyhoo, I've gotten off course . . .

Five episodes into the series, I'm enjoying it. The color is fun, I like the dynamic panels, extra effects and the much more manga adjacent feeling. The manga is so bonkers and over the top and this anime really seems to capture it well. Since it is a silly manga the gags can be approached from a number of different ways. It appears that someone on the staff is a huge Kuno fan based on his even more dramatic entrance in this version.

The biggest disappointment with this first season is we will only get to the introduction of Shampoo - I'm going to have to wait awhile for my gal Ukyo to appear with her giant spatula.

Welp, that's all at the moment for comments on the 2024 version. I'm also reading the manga currently, past where I had gotten with my first edition books. It continues to be hilarious and I'm currently in the middle of the 'food fu' arc which is a great snapshot of how the series captures that weird sense of humor.

[woodsfae]

Babylon 5 S03E16 War Without End: Part One previous episode - table of contents

From the preview image that Tubi chose for the episode I see that Sinclair's back?? My old friend!! As well as our first glimpse at Minbar outside the Grey Council chambers, I believe! It's beautiful: very sculpted in a sort of sci-fi Rivendell way which fits the Minbari's space elf vibe. 

Entil'Zha is being presented with a sacred box, which has waited for over 900 years..in which there is a letter for Jeffrey David Sinclair! Dun dun dun. Prophecy is real, Babylon 5 is a high fantasy as much as it is sci-fi. 

Another prophecy, this one of the sci-fi variety: Babylon 5 gets a transmission of Ivanova calling for help, saying "they're killing us." 

This show gives me so many fanfic ideas and I haven't looked to see if anyone else has done them yet, because I'm avoiding spoilers. So I really don't go looking for info on B5 or interact with fandom works much. But this episode reminds me that I keep toying with the idea of an AU where Sinclair never leaves at the end of s01 and the whole plot plays out with him. I miss him, he got into my heart so fast and I had no inkling he was leaving the show till well after I was attached. 

It's nice to see Sinclair has had Minbari friends in his time running/recruiting/training the Rangers from Minbar. 

Partner just asked me what my predictions were for Sinclair and then when I went on a ramble just stared at me and told me to write it down. So here: my prediction of Sinclair's fate. In a separate post, because it's a bit too much of a tangent.

I've paused for long enough for only being six minutes into, so we're going to move on now, but if you wanna hear meta thoughts on what I think might happen with other characters end games, I could ramble about it.

Ivanova: this recording is fake. my analysis is based on logic: I didn't do it, ergo it is fake. Garibaldi, living for some sci-fi shenanigans: what if it's time travel.

They have Garibaldi positioned poorly before a dark path in the backdrop and it looks like he has one, huge pouf of hair sticking out one side of his head, lol.

Sinclair's back on Babylon 5! Zack Allen is in plainclothes, so perhaps all staff have the option? Or Zack wasn't invited to their special senior staff matching uniforms? 

Delenn being a drama queen. It's one of the qualities they hire for on the Grey Council. 

Lennier: "It must be done or the dream will die, and countless others will die."

o m in o u s

Eight days since the last Vorlon attack, per Marcus. 

Sinclair looks so good in Sci-Fi Rivendell clothes. Eeeek, I missed him, I love it. 

Oh it's Zak? Zap? Zathras? Yes! Zathras! Wow, I wasn't sre he'd be back, let alone that he'd be in shenanigans with DraalPlanet, OR that DraalPlanet would be doing something with time travel! 

And Sheridan! Is also wearing Minbari fashion! Some very snazzy robes over his uniform. 

Ivanova's message from the future is so grim. The captain is dead. "They" are coming in all over the place. External cams: Shadows. The Shadows have weapons lock. Explosions. Seems pretty straightforward and I bet it'll play out exactly like that with no twists. :P /hah

As Sheridan is doubtlessly about to find out, it's always going to be a normal evening when you are asked to swear you trust someone with your life before events can commence. 

Delenn has a powerpoint presentation about the Shadows. And a battle where the shadows were driven from their home, Zha'Dum. But the Minbari were losing at the time. Until Babylon 4 appeared! Delenn says without Babylon 4, they would have lost the war. 

Even while Babylon 4 was in construction, the Shadows attacked to destroy it. And the White Star was there! Delenn says they must go through the temporal rift that Draal is widening, protect B4, steal B4, and send B4 around in time. End Presentation! Everyone agrees with her flawless logic. And because she brought receipts in the form of video archival footage from DraalPlanet's surveillance system: Epsilon 3. 

That I didn't see coming, either. But like Garibaldi, I am so on board for the sci-fi hijinks. 

Oh, Delenn's plan goes farther! She and Sheridan will take B4 on the entire time travel trip and personally fight in the historical fight against the Shadows. Ten thousand years ago, right??? Damn, Sheridan and Delenn are going to stride through time and strike titanic, decisive blows in a war that felled entire species of sci-fi space gods!! That's so fucking epic. 

Ivanova is floating the idea that she was calling for help from an alternate timeline. But Garibaldi thinks it's the timeline they're planning now, where they take B4. 

I'm sure that SInclair's quippy references to Sheridan are super funny, but sadly I do not get the references. 

Zathras is here again. I...don't get Zathras. He's ehh funny. But extremely plot useful! Sinclair is meeting Zathras for the second time, but for Zathras it's the first time. But Zathras is well-informed, because he's very super honored to meet Sinclair and Sheridan, but also that's on the list of things Draal told him not to mention. 

Ahh, this Sinclair has already lived through the destruction of Babylon 5! He's already experiencing the world nonlinearly and is trying to do differently on this loop - damn! Or he's having visions from an alternate timeline but at some point you gotta agreee those are almost the sme thing, structurally, experientially, and thematically.

Time travel requires the use of devices that act as anchors. Zathras is handing them out and they're all being clipped visibly on a belt or sash, thus guaranteeing that someone will lose theirs. Sinclair? 

Aww, Sinclair sees Delenn and Sheridan holding hands and smiled. That makes me wistful for the Sinclair/Delenn endgame that exists in my personal, unwritten AU. 

Garibaldi is due an arc of making good, upstanding decisions and not doing police brutality so it hits extra hard when he blows up with Babylon 5. Or he makes it two more seasons, idk. I wouldn't mind if they lost a few characters and he was one of them.

Especially not if we could swap him for Talia back. I can't decide if I think she (or her personality that got overwritten) will be back or not. 

The White Star has been ugraded with Vorlon skin, so it deflects attacks better, which Sheridan affects to be unimpressed by.

Garibaldi guesses "Hello, old friend," as the password which Sinclair used to lock a goodbye/sorry video Sinclair left for him. Which makes me softer for Garibaldi. That's what I think of when I think of Sinclair, too! 

Oooo, Sheridan's time stabilizer got hit and now he's unstuck in time. Space is big. Hope he lands on something with an atmosphere. Delenn can pick him up later, I'm sure.

Sheridan always automatically turns to Delenn for backup, but Sinclair automatically turns to Ivanova, and I love that. 

Sheridan just time traveled to the future where Londo is the Emperor of Centaur! And it's "just in time to die."

Are they currently losing a war in the future? Perhaps Centaur is now a holdout in the war for existence against the Shadows in an alternate future and Sheridan will be meant to save the future as well as the past? 

So funny how taken aback Delenn is that Sinclair speaks Minbari now. He lived there! Marcus, who was being trained as a Ranger there learned Minbari as what he implied was a necessity. But Delenn is so surprised. Their heart to heart is so sweet. *shipping intensifies*

Back to the future! Sheridan and Londo seems like he's blaming other people for his own support of the Shadows' agenda coming back to bite Londo and Centaur in the ass. "Ohhh if only you'd joined me in collaborating I wouldn't have had to face any consequences!" He'll get everything he ever thought he wanted and learned that being Emperor lost him everything he'd ever cared loved.

That's a pretty good hook and a cliffhanger. And a ton of interesting information was revealed! It's too late for Part Two tonight but I pinky-promise I will watch it tomorrow. I wrote up some predictions after I did a Sinclair one and an other-characters one before I watched...

War Without End: Part Two

[stray-tori]

quick lc s2 rant about trolling the audience

Slowly but surely my patience is running out.

The LG trolling in PVs was already annoying to me. But like, sure. why not, it's all meta stuff, and the episode itself actually switched to LM (recognizeable by the choke marks) before the flatline. so, fair! easily catch-able when you pay attention or rewatch.

But this new episode...? In ep6's ending, the shot of CXS running with LTX had his eyes normal (like, in the actual ep!!).

I HATE shit like this. I'm sorry, wtf? This is not a case of "if you paid attention, you got something early". In fact, it's the complete opposite. it's turning to your audience and saying "oh, you paid attention? too bad, we lied!"

In s1 LM being possessed was obscured SO naturally through the mask and later the dark room being all red. Going from that (which is genuinely one of my favorite things from s1) to this kind of stuff really frustrates me.

In both cases (assuming this ep's ending is also misleading*) I feel like they could have edited it in a way that didn't show the eyes at all, and then use the full animation for the next episode.

Or at least make it a far shot then where non-colored eyes could be an abstraction/simplification because of the distance.

i just. i can't do this.

screwing over your invested fans who try to make sense of things they see IN THE EPISODES is just a move that I cannot understand.

Because yes, the eyes likely aren't in-universe. it's purely for the audience, but it's not like their approach changed to make for a less direct hint. They didn't keep doing it through ep7 as they did in ep6 - which proves that this is solely to be unreliable and to troll and I find that disappointing.

Because I absolutely understand the value of leaving things in the dark with this stuff - nobody can be trusted, etc. It would be great for the genre switch. But that's not how LC has operated with this until now and instead of consistently adjusting, it's done like this.

Maybe ep6 was an error, but considering how likely it is for ep7 to be doing the same, I don't think it would be.

\* reg why I think ep7 is also misleading: LG was too hurt to walk to the door without opening his wounds, there's NO WAY he could do all this. and we know that CXS possessing someone carries his physical condition over. also in a preview for s2 they showed the timestamp LG was waiting for in ep6 (18:55) with text that says "Past meets future". Idk how this will work considering he probably can't dive to save himself if he's actually taken but IG we'll find out!

edit: toned down my wording a bit ;w;

edit after ep8 came out: it wasn't trolling since they consistently portrayed him without golden eyes "before" we saw the dive happen, so that's fair game to me. Just makes me dislike ep6 end even more though lol, why did they deviate from their portrayal for that one shot ugh :(

[autumn-foxfire]

Bunny Girl restaurant episode! Where Shinichi is a normal straight boy and Ran is a normal straight girl.

But first it starts with Akai and Amuro flirting with one another as a preview for what's to come.

I'm still annoyed that Ran goes around to clean Shinichi's house as I know she only does to show how good of a housewife she'll be for him <.<

She's so flustered T-T Ran, is it turning you on?

LOOK AT HER. SHE'S RED.

And totally straight Kudo Shinichi cares more about the food then the pretty girls dressed in bunny outfits.

I KNOW WHAT YOU TWO ARE.

HE SHOULDN'T JUST BE ACCUSED, HE SHOULD BE CHARGED.

Kogoro, there is a DIFFERENCE. He is touching her with her consent but you fucking groped her. The fact he doesn't know the difference is just concerning. No wonder Eri left him.

Look at him, just enjoying his juice. He does not care for anything else. Even though he's in a bunny girl restaurant. That's because he's gay :p

Amuro, only Kaito is allowed to call Shinichi tantei-kun.

Ma'am that is a 17 year old girl. Who is more attracted to you, than the old man.

The bunny ears being included in the body line is making me laugh and I don't know why XD

Oh, this is the first time we see Amuro think of Elena. I can't believe he actually said in an interview that Amuro's love is her T-T

This is just painful to watch, not because it's bad, but because it hurts to see how happy a family Ai could have had if it wasn't for the black org. Ai and Akemi don't look anything like there parents though XD She shares that in common with Ran.

Using your phone camera to find things does actually work. It was a life-saver when I lost my glasses as I am blind without them and would never have found them by myself if I didn't have my phone on me.

Dude, you can't control how people grieve. Especially when this was an arranged marriage to begin with where he was forced to leave the girl he loved to marry another woman.

It doesn't matter that she's actually your master's daughter, even if she was his young lover, you had no right to get upset with him and how he chooses to grieve and move on.

Amuro purposely finding ways to spend time Elena would be cute if I didn't know that Gosho made the reason being that he loved her romantically T-T

I didn't say it last episode but this Ai ending is so goddamn adorable and I never want it to change.

The gays are flirting.

Damnit Yuusaki, it was just getting good. I'm guessing this is the infamous tea party that the Kudo's have with Amuro and Akai XD

[vikenticomeshome]

The Cyberchase Homepage Through the Years: part 2 (January 6, 2005 through February 10, 2007)

I decided to pick up where I left off on my earlier post documenting the Cyberchase homepage over the years. Here is a capture from January 6th, 2005. The page is now back to normal after Starlight Night 2004. We now have an advertisement for "Cyberchase: The Quest".

On January 30th, 2005, we got the Valentines Day design again. Cyberchase had wrapped Season 3 in December of 2004, and they wouldn't start airing Season 4 until April, so I suppose they didn't have anything new to promote just yet. I only just noticed that Matt is holding a flower as part of this artwork. I'm a bit surprised that neither of the girls are holding anything.

They went back to advertising Cyberchase: The Quest by February 20, 2005.

On April 6th, 2005, Digit started advertising "Know Your Dough", which was all about teaching children about money management.

This capture from June 28th, 2005 shows an advertisement for "Quest 2: Race for Radopolis".

On July 21, 2005, we got this promotion for Hacker's secret.

This was referring to the main part of the "Transformatron Story Arc", as it discussed the four episodes where The Hacker was assembling the Transformatron. This was also where Slider was reunited with his dad.

Season 4 Episode 2: "The Icky Factor"

Season 4 Episode 3: "Penguin Tears"

Season 4 Episode 4: "Past Perfect Prediction"

Season 4 Epsiode 5: "Measure for Measure"

I may do a separate post talking about the promotional content, as it is no longer on the PBS Kids website, but I have recovered most of it for the FlashPoint Archive Project. Unfortunately, that video preview was in RealPlayer, and those files are lost now. But, the rest of it is now preserved.

By August 7th, 2005, the "Hacker's Secret" promotion was gone. At that point they didn't have any advertisement in the bottom right corner. Fun fact, the file names refer to this bottom-right-corner advertisement as a "bug", regardless of what was being advertised. This would have been in reference to bottom-right-corner station IDs that you would see on television channels.

I found a capture from September 30th, 2005 where they re-worked the page. The background is the same, but they've added new screens, kicked out Buzz and Delete, and now we get a count-down for new episodes, which are given a more prominent place. There is also a mention of a contest for 2005. It looks like another Intel partnership where winners would get laptop computers, similar to the 2004 contest. I need to dig around and see what can be retrieved from that and make a separate post.

It's October 13th, 2005, and we get a Halloween version of the site. It looks like they just recycled it from last year. It is a bit of a shame, as I liked the new screen arrangement.

And then, when November 2nd, 2005 rolled around, we are back to the advertisement for Cyberchase: The Quest.

Here we see a capture from December 5th, 2005, and its a little bit confusing. The kids are all dressed up in their winter wear, and we have Cybersite Penguia as our backdrop. It looks nice until you start thinking about it.

At first, I thought the kids had lugged the terminals and computer screens out there for this winter photoshoot. But then I saw the whole-ass balcony was also out there. How would they get that all that way to Penguia? Portal? Why would Motherboard agree to that? Was she in a particularly silly mood? And why were Buzz and Delete invited to this photoshoot? I think this is a Star Trek Holodeck type of situation where they haven't left the original room, and they are just simulating Penguia.

And now, we have this capture from December 10th, 2005, where Bianca makes a cameo to announce the winners of the 2005 contest. I don't think the kids have noticed her yet. Otherwise, they would be very surprised.

And now, it is January 18th, 2006, and we get a promotion for Cyberchase Super Science coming in 12 days. I don't remember what this was off the top of my head.

It is now February 2nd, 2006. The winter theme is gone, and the screens have been shifted around again to advertise "Cyberchase: The Quest 3" (the top left Cyber-beast), and "Cyberchase Super Science".

This was an initiative that focused on kids designing, creating, and customizing things. This is something else that I need to make a separate post on at some point, depending on what I am able to recover. I can see that we have a link to "Cyberspace News Issue #3", which is a little confusing. The "Hacker's Secret" promotion gave us an un-numbered issue of "Cyberspace News", which I assume was Issue #1. I don't remember seeing an issue #2 anywhere. I need to look into that.

This capture from April 10th, 2006, shows the "Know Your Dough" advertisement has returned. Maybe the kids spent too much money on the screens and needed a refresher.

An June 15th, 2006, we get a promotion for "My Cyberchase Summer", pushing aside the Cyberchase Super Science promotion. This new promotion does feature The Hacker, and he would do something like that. This section had a list of the different episodes that were going to air during the summer of 2006, and they included activities to go along with them. Maybe I'll make a separate post all about this section later.

It is now September 25, 2006. They finally kicked The Hacker off the screen and replaced him with a promotion for "My Big Idea".

This was an initiative where parents could submit videos of their children working on inventions. This page talks about the invention videos being put up on the website and potentially aired on TV. The TV airing would have been part of "Cyberchase: My Big Idea", which was a two-hour special hosted by Harry and Bianca. The special used four episodes aired in a row, and Harry and Bianca would show up in-between them to talk about inventions and show the clips of the kids. I need to see if this is still around somewhere.

Here we go. It is October 23rd, 2006, and the site has had a major redesign. They had been serving Flash games for years now, but now the homepage interface is all Flash. Additionally, the kids get idle animations. I can post a still image, but that can only show so much when the whole point is that the site is full of animations now. This particular page is advertising the new episodes coming in February, the character gallery where they put artwork submitted by viewers, a Starlight Night theme, and an advertisement for "Cyberchase: The Quest.

Delete shows up if you click on this door.

Uh oh! Buzz and The Hacker have gotten into wherever this place is. If we don't count The Hacker appearing on a screen or advertising bug, I think this is the first time The Hacker has shown up "for real" on the homepage. Maybe the Cybersquad should do something about that.

Hey, I just wanted to point out that it is February 2nd, 2007, and the kids haven't taken down their Starlight decorations yet. https://web.archive.org/web/20070202023432/http://pbskids.org:80/cyberchase/index.html

They did them down sometime between February 2nd and February 8th.

I think this is a fair place to stop for right now, before I hit the image or character limit.

[jgyapologism]

predictions for ep 3 based on ep1&2 and previews:

+ just some general hunches and some arcs I can see happening as a storyteller myself. I have a week in between episodes and some time to kill ... so why the hell not put on my analysis goggles?

First and foremost, the Mew/Top/Boston fuckery (+ some Nick theories):

Based on Boston's actions and reputation as someone who sleeps around, I think Mew may have guessed right away how Top and Boston actually know each other. It's not hard to guess. This could be another reason why Mew is making Top work so hard for it.

Based on previews for Ep 3, there are so many possibilities on how it will pan out, but I think Top and Boston will definitely end up fucking. How, you ask? Why would Top agree to sleep with Boston after rejecting him so many times? Welllll ... we ALSO see in the preview 1) Boston trying to make Top jealous of RayMew and 2) Nick finding the photobooth photos of TopBoston. I don't think #1 has quite as much a chance of working as the preview makes us think. I think Top is confident enough that Mew likes him, and that Ray's feelings are unrequited. BUT, Boston holding something over Top to get him to sleep with him? 1000% plausible and would make much more sense given their dynamic - and the uncomfortable way in which Top simply ... didn't fight when Boston assaulted him in the shower (yes, I'm calling it assault. There was no consent). I think Top already knows that Boston has some leverage in their relationship. (Or, there's simply trauma for Top we haven't been introduced to yet, which is also completely plausible.)

But do I think Boston will actually have those photos in his possession by the end of the episode? Hell to the no. I think Nick will definitely swipe them for himself, as collateral to keep Boston around (in addition to the sex tape, which we have yet to see). We haven't seen Nick interact with ANY of the other characters, except for Sand, but that doesn't mean he isn't connected to other characters. I would not be surprised if Nick and Mew know each other somehow, or at the very least, he knows that Top is pursuing Mew and that Boston is friends with Mew. This is the queer community after all, and Top is one of the "Top Tier" which means everyone knows him, and word will have spread that he's pursuing someone named Mew. And just because we haven't seen Nick at the bar, doesn't mean he doesn't go.

I would not be surprised if Nick is the one to spill the tea about TopBoston to Mew (also just made myself laugh because - you know, spill the tea + Boston = Boston tea party. I can't with myself sometimes ya'll).

I think it would be soooo interesting for Boston to have his own dirty games used against him, by someone as seemingly innocent as Nick. Boston thinks he has the control in their relationship because of how blatantly Nick is into him, but Nick isn't above using manipulation and blackmail either.

(Also, can we just appreciate that Boston labeled the photos as "Hot Night" like who even is this guy)

BUT let's go back to TopBoston fucking in the car, yeah? Let's just assume this is a normal parking lot or side street. A parking lot/side street is a public space, and ANYONE can walk by and see what they're doing, so why have sex in a car of all places if you're not trying to get caught? Well, Top may not want to get caught, but could be under the influence enough, jealous enough, or under Boston's thumb just enough to agree to it. I think Boston definitely wants them to get caught. There really is only one scenario I see playing out, but it could play out in many ways. This is where Nick comes in.

As suggested in the preview for ep 3, Nick walks by and sees SOMETHING. The preview suggests it might be SandRay, but that wouldn't make sense thematically. Plus, the lighting doesn't match. But you know what scene it DOES match?

Also, it was in the OG trailer too that Nick catches TopBoston together, which I think means he'll have a huge role to play. I have a hunch he might actually see TopBoston fucking and videotape it to use as further blackmail against Boston. Boy's got a collection at this point.

Another possibility is that Mew sees it all for himself and continues to act beautifully oblivious to the fuckery happening behind his back while preparing some sort of revenge (or absolutely lose his shit and beat Boston like shown in the OG trailer). And also, based on ep 2 when he goes to grab them both from the showers, I have the suspicion he had the motive to catch them - which he doesn't, but he certainly notices Boston's shorts on the floor. I wouldn't be surprised if he notices them sneaking off alone and decides to catch them in the act.

Maybe both or neither of these HCs are going to happen. Who knows! Moral of the story: SOMEONE is going to see TopBoston fucking and the consequences are going to be juicy.

Man, I love that this show has given me my analysis goggles back. Thank u @ jojo and team.

[booasaur]

how are you downloading Ici tout commence?

From the official site!

First, I use a VPN to get a French IP (or Belgian--I'm not sure which they accept, I just know these two work) so I can access the network's streaming site, TF1+. You should be able to sign up for a free account without issue. This is the page for the season 4 eps:

https://www.tf1.fr/tf1/ici-tout-commence/videos/saison-4

Apparently there are always two eps in advance available for the premium subscribers but I'm not caught up plus I think it'd be a little harder to sign up for an actual paid account so I probably won't be able to do that.

So normally I would use youtube-dl/yt-dlp to download the eps but that won't work here, or at least not without some extra steps, because these are DRMed. This is where it gets a little tricky and the whole process isn't super well documented both because it changes a lot and it makes more sense to teach people to learn how to do it than how to do it and also because, well, the more these methods are spread, the more networks change things up and make things harder.

This thread can help you get started: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/412113-MYTF1-Help-needed-New-DRM-system-can-t-download

The whole forum is quite useful and I've only had to post for help a couple of times, mostly I just search my issue and read through.

That provided command in the second post, that's something to be used in your command line, on Windows in Start you can open that by typing in cmd or PowerShell or just google what you'll need for your computer.

These are the things you'll need to get to run the command:

N_m3u8DL-RE is a tool you can google and download, and also ffmpeg and mp4decrypt. You'll want them in the same folder for convenience. (I think you might need to install python too? If it says you do, then go ahead, lol.)

The way to get the key, this is the most gatekept part, probably. The various streamers out there use different methods of encryption and increasing security levels, and if you read up on it, you'll see stuff about kid and pssh and cdm and L3, it can be overwhelming, but in this case, the things you need are relatively easily accessible.

I'll tell you how to get the pssh and the license URL and you'll be able to use those to get the key. There are several tools you can use them on, one is public and easy, one is private but still easy-ish, and one is pretty complex and not a route I've gone down myself yet (it's the pinned thread in that particular forum). I don't want to link any of them myself, but I'll link to a thread that mentions the easy public one. It does go down at times which is why the hardcore people recommend that last method.

First, before you click on an ep, open up your browser's Developer Tools, usually Ctrl+Shift+i will do the trick. Go over to your Network tab, this shows all the requests your browser makes when you go to a site.

Then click on the episode in the actual browser. You'll see a flood of requests in the Network tab, filter on mpd.

Select the mpd result and the details for it show on the side, click on Preview. Scroll down until you see <!-- Widevine -->. A couple of lines below it, you'll see something like <cenc:pssh>AAA[a bunch of characters]</cenc:pssh>

Grab that whoooole part that starts with AAA, that's the pssh. Go to the Headers detail tab while you're there and grab the Request URL, this is the mpd link we're going to use later.

Now to get the license. Usually you can filter in your Devtools Network tab on license or, in this case, widevine. Since we're already on the Headers detail tab, grab this Request URL now, it should start with https://widevine-proxy-m.prod.p.tf1.fr/proxy?

Now go back to that easy public tool linked in that thread I linked, lol, and just fill in the PSSH and the License. Hit Send and you get a list of three keys at the bottom. I've always gone for the one in the middle and not bothered with all three, but you can try them all.

So at this point, you should be able to fully create and use the command in the first forum link above. If you read the documentation for N_m3u8DL-RE, there are various flags you can use, --save-name "Outputname" will let you name the output what you want, -sv best defaults to the best video quality, -sa best is best audio quality, and so on.

The way to get the subtitle is to turn on subtitles on the video player on the site and to go back to the DevTools box and filter on textstream. Grab the first request, the one that ends with =1000.dash and paste it into a new browser address, and change the .dash to .vtt. That's the subtitle. :) You can use the free tool Subtitle Edit to both convert it to srt, which will let most video players play it with your video, and there's also an Auto-translate option that lets you translate to English. It offers several ways but as I don't have a Google API, I just use the normal "slow" method, it's not that bad.

A second way to get the subtitle is to use the same command as when you're downloading the ep but remove the -M format=mp4 at the end, and instead add -ss 'id="textstream_fra=1000":for=all'

This was all figured out through a LOT of trial and error on my part so please do try your own best if you hit some issues, that's the best way to learn. Also, I just don't want to be the helpdesk on this, lol.

[zaiban2989]

BNHA S2 EP24 - Katsuki Bakugou: Origin

Or final exam battle: Deku/Kacchan vs. All Might.

*takes a deep breath* I have SO many fucking emotions when it comes to this episode. Honestly, I'm trying hard not to cry like the emo bitch I am right now lol Fuck... Okay. 😑 This post is going to be fucking long and all over the place and I apologize in advance.

Let me actually begin with the ending of ep23 where we have both Deku & Kacchan's voicing the preview and that fucker talks over Deku and shit, yelling "PLUS ULTRAAAA" and you hear Deku little "Traaa?" at the end, hkdmqmmsd that's so fucking funny.

Now for the real shit. Man rewatching that fight after being caught up on both s6 and the scans? Yeah, my heart can't take that stuff...😫

All Might is our top bkdk shipper, man. Apart from Aizawa, he's probably the only other adult really seeing what the relationship between Izuku and Katsuki can truly become (gotta love Aizawa for being so observant and forcing them to team up btw). That fight against AM is truly the first big step in mending their broken relationship, eh.

(my mind's a fucking whirlwind and I'm trying hard to be coherent, bear with me)

I'm thinking of something as stupid as this but... look at the distance between them here - and compare it to how it's going to be after s6 and Kats' apology? That dude has grown so fucking much and it shows even in his placement next to Izuku lmao *damn*

We start that ep with Kats' POV and all his anger and frustration towards Deku making progress right? He's set on winning that shit on his own, refusing to cooperate and telling Deku to not follow him (yeah my dude we know you'd die if the nerd didn't follow you anymore). All in all, it's a freaking bad start when facing All Might, we even have that scene where he's yelling at Deku and Deku is yelling back "STOP YELLING! It's because you do that we can never have a normal conversation!" and boy... 😫

Since we all know Katsuki's an overthinker (how he's been bottling shit up after 'ending All Might's career?) and that he is obsessed with the nerd, he's probably been thinking about this too, "If I start yelling we won't be able to talk" so he actually starts the convo softly during Deku vs Kacchan part2, like hello?!

Ahem. Anyways, what's also interesting is that moment where they knock each other out because they aren't working together at all. Katsuki is only thinking of charging to AM to defeat him and win while Izuku is literally too intimidated by his idol and wants to run away. They don't even think about each other and what the other is planning to do, hence the clashing. It's so great to actually see this because it brings out their cooperation (later in the episode but also in the whole series) and how they're really a fucking 'wonder duo' when they do work together. Once the relationship is on the way to being mended and they start seeing each other as rivals (see movie 2 Heroes Rising for instance), we actually see how much they're in synch, they don't even have to fucking talk to one another to understand what the other is thinking or planning next and it's just so fucking amazing man... Like really, that connection they have on the battlefield is ridiculous.🧡💚

(sorry the fucking screen cap is hilarious lmao it's like they're lining up in the air to dance or something omfg I'm sorry rlekrjemzrmzer)

Moving on to when Deku is stuck under a fence cuz AM is an asshole djdmmds he literally just fucking broke Kats' ribs or something, the dude is puking, like what the hell...

Anyways we got Deku's flashbacks of their childhood and him fawning over Kacchan. "I always admired you for that [winning]" - and I don't know, but have you guys noticed how Izuku's memories are always about Kacchan and his admiration for him, like he'd be following him around spying on him, just watching him with stars in his eyes the whole fucking time - THIS is what's in Izuku's mind everytime he thinks of their childhood and at the opposite end what do we have? Katsuki hung on the damn river scene OVER AND OVER AGAIN. The contrasts is crazy and it holds so much meaning aaaah 😖🧡💚 I love Hori so much for this, man.

We move to Izuku punching Kacchan in the face to save his ass and run away in an alley, literally hopping like a bunny (pyon pyon) and they have a sorta normal convo (yeah Kats is still yelling and exploding a wall but eh I call that progress). Then they face AM again and tadaaaaa we have another scene of Katsuki's crying face and WHY? Because he's fucking frustrated! When I tell you guys that dude only cries like this when he's frustrated and only in front of Deku and AM (for the record, that's up till he's accepting all of his feelings for Izu and Izu's love for him in the latest scans... *cries thinking of it*)

I think that's also when he's slowly but surely starting to accept that yeah he's eventually going to have to cooperate with Deku, not just for this fight but in the future too. Right now it's still too raw, his inferiority complex is still too present and yeah... but we'll get there, won't we? 🧡

Anyways, Katsuki Bakugou's Physical strength appreciation moment because... Fuck, even Izuku is astonished by the weight and strength of that dude's gauntlet and Kacchan is moving around and blasting that shit like it's a piece of cake, like what?!?! 😲🔥 Hot.

(our baby is so cute and hot with his bf's gauntlet I swear 💚)

Also this episode is literally the introduction of "Win to Save" vs "Save to Win" in a way, because it focuses on Katsuki's 'Origin'. Like I said, that episode is so fucking important for Deku vs Kacchan pt2 *sigh*

Win to save 🧡

Save to win 💚

There are still so many things I wanna say about this ep but damn it's already way too long as is it lmao Let me just end with how AM really doesn't give a shit about injuring his students hdmqmdlq the way he fucking pushed himself to Deku and broke his fucking back? Like damn man, any normal dude could have died of just that lol

All Might ending this post with this 👇🏼💚🧡

Now let me go cry my heart out cuz this episode fucked me up

Bonus: I forgot to add my fav scene hdlkdezmdeoe "I'm gonna send you flying!"

[fallloverfic]

Solo Leveling Episode 6 Thoughts

Excellent ep!!! Spoilery thoughts for the anime, novel, and manhwa below, also CW: blood, murder

The OP is still so good. Between Studio PPURI's animation and the song, just ahhh. I'm so excited for the Igris fight in the show T-T

Oooh more Go Gunhee and Woo Jinchul! It's fun to see how much more they're showing up, even more than in the manhwa! Jinchul looks really nice.

lakjdalj I know when Jinchul says, "Would it be all right if I asked for a bit of instruction? . . . It might be the kind of change of pace you need, too." (smile) he's saying, "let's spar" (it's a martial arts thing), but alkdjlaj I love this addition to the cute flirtiness of their relationship. It's very sweet. The novel gave us Gunhee asking Jinchul out for drinks, and now Jinchul is like, "let's spar :3". It's so cute.

Jinwoo v the dungeon boss is pretty cool. It's neat to see Jinwoo move so much, and the animation is gorgeous.

Jinwoo's jacket is giving me Seragaki Aoba DRAMAtical Murder vibes with its ridiculously wide collar lol (Doesn't help they're both that same bright blue).

Gunhee's fond gaze as he faces Jinchul :3 Also it's neat to see Gunhee fight. We're not getting to the Frost Monarch this season, so it's a nice little preview of hopefully future seasons.

They're so cute T-T

Jinwoo sadly accepting he'll get betrayed T-T He's so used to it T-T And Jinho standing by him!!! Love He :3 Even Jinwoo is like : D Jinho still calling him bro, bless.

O.O Park Heejin, Gina, and Lee Bora (had to look her up, since she's a manhwa-original character, and I believe only actually named in Arise) know each other??? And Gina is wearing normal clothes before reincarnation timeline??? Marvels, all!!! And they know Iron??? (And of course he's still a dick lol) This is so nice :3 Folks know each other :3 It's really wonderful world expansion.

Jinwoo with his necromancy shadow energy already, looks beautiful.

The song during the Lizards fight section (Dark Aria &lt;LV2> by Hiroyuki Sawano, lyrics by Benjamin) is gorgeous. I don't know why tumblr is screwing up the formatting here. The link works. It just looks bad.

Jinwoo using dash to appear in front of Kyuhwan was an amazing bit of animation that was honestly terrifying alkdjlaj His face alkdjalj It's terror time, indeed.

Bye Dongsuk. Aww, poor Jinho, just getting nearly murdered and traumatized a dozen times, but hey, you get a sugar baby out of it kind of, so win-win?

I feel like learning a bunch of people died is the really wrong time to geek out over armor releases.

And a little peek of Dongsoo. Bleh.

Wonderful episode :3 Loved all the stuff they added! This series continues to feel like really fun fanfiction in all the best ways. The animation was beautiful! The music was great! Jinwoo is going through so many discoveries and revelations and realizing how confining and horrifying the system is in new ways, and Jinho is having all sorts of discoveries of his own. Can't wait until S01E07.

More episode thoughts:

S01E05

S01E06 (you are here)

S01E07

S01E08

S01E09

S01E10

S01E11

S01E12

[mx-piggy]

just got around to watching the Ghosts Christmas special/finale. yesterday i saw previews to posts i assumed were negative, so i went into it with the thought i might not enjoy it. i have yet to find out what the negativity was in reference to- i'll go looking through some posts in a sec to look at the reaction to the ep, though i've already skimmed an angry post about it from someone i follow. but maybe the issues i have with the episode are different to others people's. i don't know yet.

anyway, here are my fresh from the oven thoughts about the episode. my opinion may be altered by reading some other thoughts on the ep but everything i put here is my uninfluenced thoughts.

first off, i cried. very bittersweet way to end the show, but honestly i didn't think it was a bad ending. it strikes a good balance for me, where Alison still sees the ghosts without having to take care of them like she used to. but i guess it's weird considering the previous episode where they try to get Mike and Alison to stay.

i don't want to be negative about this show that i adore and will no doubt rewatch and at some point write some fanfics for. technically speaking, though, i didn't really enjoy this episode as much as other episodes. i didn't like the choice to focus so heavily, for the first two thirds of the episode, on Mike's mum and the exorcism fake-out that i doubt worked on anyone watching. the build up was so unconvincing it seemed intentional, but regardless it felt kind of like a waste of time and an idea that should have been done in a different episode, not the series finale. it felt like the ghosts were sidelined in an episode of a show named after them. this bad pacing and focus on a weak story wasn't entertaining.

i also didn't laugh much at this episode, which is surprising, because normally Ghosts is good at balancing humour with emotionally resonant moments. it's frustrating because not a lot of this episode felt particularly emotionally resonant either because Betty takes up so much of the episode, and i wish that the weight of the ending didn't feel like it had just been tacked on to the end of an episode that only felt like it functioned as a finale in the closing few minutes. it barely even felt like a Christmas episode.

i would have preferred if S5 E6 had been the finale and this had just been an epilogue that could have been a fun, sweet Christmas episode rather than a Christmas episode and a finale, neither of which it feels like for most of its runtime.

again, i'm not unhappy with the choice to move Alison, Mike and Mia out of Button House, but i wish it hadn't felt so underdeveloped because of what else the episode chose to do. like i wish the rest of the episode didn't feel so tenuously connected to the Mike's mum story that took up so much time. i get that the thing with Mike's mum was there to make the ghosts realise that Alison might need some space away from them, but surely there was a better way to do that that didn't involve centring so much of the episode on a supporting character?

if it were me- an amateur writer- who was tasked with writing a Christmas finale and special, i have a (possibly worse) idea about what i would have maybe done. so here's my pitch: an episode that takes place when Mia is a little girl. there's a cold open where Alison or Mike make the typical parent mistake of dropping Mia on her head at some point during her first Christmas. everything's fine. cut to next Christmas, she takes her first steps. a ghost makes a comment that she should stop seeing them now. a couple/few Christmases after that, she starts talking about the ghosts. it's clear she can still see them. alternatively, Mia ends up having some kind of accident when she's long since outgrown seeing ghosts, and then she ends up seeing the ghosts (bonus points if Julian sees it happen and alerts Alison, and the ghosts are forced to question if Julian would harm a child). i just want this kid to see ghosts.

now there's ample opportunity for the ghosts to have the screentime and focus they were robbed of in this episode via having some sweet interactions with her. the Captain can still have his little arc of learning how to talk to a child in a way that isn't so stiff. Kitty learns to overcome her jealousy of a literal child, and she's the most enthusiastic auntie ever. Julian tries to be a good role model for his niece (this would also be related to another thing that i would have wanted in the episode, which is the idea that Rachel comes to visit or gets in touch with Alison or something). that said i don't know if it'd be appropriate for Julian to be around a kid for so long given the trouser situation he has going on. with Fanny, it'd be sweet if she was happy to see a girl grow up so free of the restrictions she grew up with. Robin could tell Mia all about the ghosts who've been sucked off. honestly that episode sounds like it'd be messy, but with an extra half an hour i think it'd be doable.

you can still find a way to kind of justify Mike and Alison leaving if you want to, by them wanting Mia to have a more 'normal' upbringing, or them wanting to put away some money for Mia, possibly? but honestly i kind of just like the idea of Mia having an interest in the ghosts' and the house's history from a young age and doing something with that, like writing a book about the ghosts or something. maybe that's all a load of crap, but i might write a fic based on that idea if anyone would like to see it. if i wrote a fic it wouldn't be constrained by festive obligation either. so let me know if you'd be interested in that (i might start outlining it even if someone tells me it's shit and i should never write professionally).

i can honestly say that this is the first episode of Ghosts that i haven't really enjoyed. it's saying something about how great this show is that it takes 34 episodes for it to get to a point where i think it's a letdown. it's just unfortunate that the dud had to be the last ever episode.

going into writing this review i didn't think i disliked this episode and its choices as much as i did. and honestly i don't hate this episode as much as i do other bad finales (looking at you, How I Met Your Mother). i still love this show and i think that everyone involved in it is so great at what they do. i'm not passionate in my dislike of the episode. i just think it was kind of disappointing that the episode focused so heavily on a supporting character and neglected most of the main cast in a way that a good final episode shouldn't. so many other episodes of the show would have been far more satisfying send-offs. i might just ignore this episode on rewatches to be honest.

feel free to chat with me about the ep and your thoughts on it, or your thoughts on my thoughts. comment, reblog, send me asks. i'd just love to discuss it with you guys!

[djeterg19]

so I don't really watch many bls but is it normal for them to be editing and cutting shit out on a weekly basis? I mean they thought it was important enough to put it in the preview but between then and now they suddenly decided they didn't need it anymore?? why? I can think of a few reasons and sadly none of them have to do with the actual storyline. they might still be endgame but my faith in it actually being done justice is pretty much gone at this point. especially with the teasing of the sex scene which is all they seem to think we care about. I'm just very frustrated for us but mostly fb who don't deserve this at all. (sorry just needed to vent and I saw your ask was open and decided to go for it lol thanks for listening)

Thank for the ask! Rant away! That's why I turned anon back on...it's been off for years due to a long dead fandom and figured it was time to open it up again.

I am by no means an expert because I've only been into BLs for a little over a year but I have never seen a scene shown in a preview get cut from the episode? Not in BLs anyways. I thought I was safe from promo monkey shenanigans here. I think part of the issue was they were still filming when the show started airing which has caused it to be rushed and choppy? I don't think there were many issues until episode 8 and things have started going off the rails since then. And I can understand why that scene was cut after seeing it but the entire angry!Mew turn this episode after him softening towards Top was...jarring and it didn't make sense to me.

And honestly if I didn't love ForceBook as much as I do and want to support them every way I can...this episode might've been my breaking point because my darling Mew was kidnapped by aliens and replaced with a pod person? And poor Force had one scene that was touted as super emotional and I'm pretty sure that was the cut scene where he cried. Both of them have been doing an amazing job and it just hurts to see their hard work end up on the cutting room floor.

I don't know that they can make the ending satisfying at this point for me either and the whole here's a sexy photo thing was... annoying. Like yes obviously I would like some sexy times after they reunite but Top and Mew need to TALK. They and Mew specifically need to sit down and discuss where they go from here and if they want to make things work. Because Top has said he wants to try again and how he would change and Mew...didn't really say what he wants or needs from Top. They substituted unnecessary drama instead. I don't understand the point of Boeing being brought in now with a revenge plot because it was just RayMew 2: Electric Boogaloo and I thought Mew had decided to move on from that. I just...did not enjoy that episode at all. Thanks for the ask and sorry if this was rambling!