#i had this in my drafts for a while

[choppedcowboydinosaur]

The Boy and the Heron Review

I originally did not intend for this to be a review but the more I wrote about it the more I realized this might as well be a review.

I saw the Boy and the Heron and was considering reviewing it, but I saw other people's takes and it made me think I should rewatch it to catch any possible deeper meanings I may have missed. Everybody seemed to be gushing over this movie. It felt like Studio Ghibli's greatest hits in both a good and bad way. It's meant to be a celebration of Ghibli's work but also doesn't feel as strong as some of their previous work. Like you have the usual Ghibli tropes like: The Ghibli heroine, the food preparation scenes, the cute spirit things that resemble other tiny, cute forest creatures from Princess Mononoke and those dust creatures form Spirited Away. It repeats these tropes, but it doesn't have the same impact for me personally as their previous films.

I thought it was going to be anti-Imperial Japan in the beginning since it takes place during WW2 but it doesn't really dwell on it. Instead, it portrays civilian life during the war in a matter-of-fact sort of way. Which is interesting since Miyazaki usually makes it very obvious how anti-war he is in his movies.

The intro with the hospital fire is amazing and the animation is something I've never seen Ghibli do before. With the way the flames and smoke distort Mahito's perception of everything around him. For me it's one of the standout features of this film that make it unique.

There are also bits of meta commentary on Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki's legacy using the old man and the fantasy world he created. He leaves it to his descendant but it's too late and the place just collapses in on itself. Some see this as a metacommentary about Miyazaki's relationship with his son or his employees, but I feel like that might be reading too much into it. I guess the way I would interpret that ending is you can't live in the fantasy world and must move on with your own life. For the metacommentary part I guess it's Miyazaki realizing his studio will collapse without him and that his fans should move on with their lives. (The impression I get of Miyazaki is that he has no successor at all). That or just make their own fantasy as Mahito still has a piece of the fantasy world with him after he leaves it.

Also, some people on twitter were saying the parrots were allegories for anime fans or pretentious Ghibli fans who just consume everything in sight. You could interpret it that way but I feel like that's reading way too much into it.

In speaking of birds the Heron is probably the most interesting and fun character of the bunch. He is so bizarre and his voice is just so weird, growly, scummy and funny. It was surprising that he kind of drops out half way through the movie.

Mahito and the kid version of his mom don't interact as much as I would have liked them to. Mahito clearly misses his mom and gets this opportunity to talk to her and bond with her but they never take that chance. It's a shame because you could get some good character drama with that, but they never explore it. The kid version of his mom is very much a typical Ghibli heroine. She is a tomboy who is capable as the men and is adventurous. There's not a ton to her character which is a shame since there is potential to explore her given the way all the other characters talked about her when she was still alive. The kid version of the mom is not bad but not that new or interesting either.

It's good but not as good as some of their other films like Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Castle in the sky, Porco Rosso or Princess Kaguya. It tries to be like those movies but doesn't have the same impact or energy for me tbh. It has the skeleton and some of the muscle for a good story but it's missing those connecting tissues and tendons to make it complete. I get the general story for this movie is that Mahito misses his dead mother but he must learn to move on with his life. But it's not explored as well as it could have been.

Perhaps it's just my own mindset when I saw this movie, but I didn't feel that same magic or mystique in this movie compared to the other Ghibli films I have seen. I'm aware that not all Ghibli movies are masterpieces. For example, the Cat Returns is what I consider to be a mid-level Ghibli movie. It's fun and never feels like it's trying to be a masterpiece. But the Boy and the Heron feels like it wants to be a masterpiece but doesn't reach that same mark as something like Spirited Away or Porco Rosso. It feels like a Ghibli's best of reel for better or worse.

[sunnysidemage]

Gojo gives a class assignment

[ithevvitchfinder]

Ilhavo

2023

[naiad-r]

Cage me like an animal A crown with gems and gold Eat me like a cannibal Chase the neon throne If I could only let go

Death pact, fulfilled.

[mattmonss]

Yaaaaaaaaaaawnnn

[cheriecoke]

nanami kento, who hates dating, and didn’t do much of it in his early twenties. but now, he’s almost thirty, watching all the people he works with settle down, have kids, and he thinks he wants that. so he might as well try.

so satoru sets him up on a few dates — friends of friends, he calls them. and at the end of every one of the dinners, kento goes home empty, exhausted, because he knows what they want is not the same.

still; he thinks maybe he’s being a little self-destructive, maybe too picky, maybe he just got so used to being alone. with satoru’s insistence, he gives all the women another call, invites them over to his apartment.

the first time was a disaster… kento had barely set the dinner on the table before his cat had hissed at her, scratched her down the arm in a thin gash. and though it did draw blood, it was hardly enough to warrant that reaction.

he didn’t even try to stop her as she picked up her bag and left, huffing like she’d been morally offend. kento, though, could only smile to himself in amusement.

because maybe kento was a poor judge of character, a man who was secretly hoping nothing would pan out — but his cat could certainly tell the good from the bad.

it became a little game to him, after that. seeing if anyone could win his pet over, and if they could, perhaps they were the one. his darling animal was a fickle thing anyway. a bit too defensive, quick to bite anything threatening after years on the streets.

naturally, no one came back twice.

he was close to giving up, accepting his solitude because he was tired of empty conversations over dinner. but then, he ventured out over the weekend to a new coffee shop, during hours he normally didn’t spend out of his home, and met you.

though you only talked for a moment, kento felt like maybe he’d known you in a past life. a part of him thought maybe it was strange, the way he kept coming back to talk to you, catching you at the end of your shift to see if you wanted to grab a coffee sometime.

by the second date, kento started to think you could turn out to be his best friend.

by the third date, kento wondered if soulmates were real.

on the fourth date, almost two months later, an appropriate time to get to know someone when you were as reserved as kento, he invited you over for dinner. it was, perhaps, the final confirmation he needed to let himself be with you.

he let you through the door, smiling softly as you told him about the book you were reading, and hung his coat on the rack. a moment later, you stopped, distracted, hands covering your mouth in a gasp.

“kento! she’s the cutest cat i’ve ever seen, you didn’t even show me pictures!” you exclaim, and, a few feet away, crouched down. “look at her pretty eyes…”

“careful,” kento said, “she’s not very—“

but the cat approached your outstretched hand, sniffed once, before letting you scratch her under her chin, purring loud enough for kento to hear across the room.

“shes such a sweetheart, you told me she was mean!” you smiled, making a cooing noise as you threaded your fingers through her fur. “kento’s a liar, isn’t he… you’re so precious.”

a few moments later, she snapped her jaw at you in a biting motion, and you only laughed, withdrawing your hand. “alright, i get it, i won’t bother you anymore.”

though she still brushed against your legs, just as she did kento’s, and seemed to communicate some sort of message to him.

“do you want any help cooking?��� you ask, tucking your hair behind your ears. “i’m a disaster in the kitchen, but—“

“sure,” kento said, his chest tightening as he blinked back at you, only in his apartment for minutes and already looking as at home there. he wondered if it was possible to fall in love so quickly. “but only if you want to.”

[insertdisc5]

📚 A List Of Useful Websites When Making An RPG 📚

My timeloop RPG In Stars and Time is done! Which means I can clear all my ISAT gamedev related bookmarks. But I figured I would show them here, in case they can be useful to someone. These range from "useful to write a story/characters/world" to "these are SUPER rpgmaker focused and will help with the terrible math that comes with making a game".

This is what I used to make my RPG game, but it could be useful for writers, game devs of all genres, DMs, artists, what have you. YIPPEE

Writing (Names)

Behind The Name - Why don't you have this bookmarked already. Search for names and their meanings from all over the world!

Medieval Names Archive - Medieval names. Useful. For ME

City and Town Name Generator - Create "fake" names for cities, generated from datasets from any country you desire! I used those for the couple city names in ISAT. I say "fake" in quotes because some of them do end up being actual city names, especially for french generated ones. Don't forget to double check you're not 1. just taking a real city name or 2. using a word that's like, Very Bad, especially if you don't know the country you're taking inspiration from! Don't want to end up with Poopaville, USA

Writing (Words)

Onym - A website full of websites that are full of words. And by that I mean dictionaries, thesauruses, translators, glossaries, ways to mix up words, and way more. HIGHLY recommend checking this website out!!!

Moby Thesaurus - My thesaurus of choice!

Rhyme Zone - Find words that rhyme with others. Perfect for poets, lyricists, punmasters.

In Different Languages - Search for a word, have it translated in MANY different languages in one page.

ASSETS

In general, I will say: just look up what you want on itch.io. There are SO MANY assets for you to buy on itch.io. You want a font? You want a background? You want a sound effect? You want a plugin? A pixel base? An attack animation? A cool UI?!?!?! JUST GO ON ITCH.IO!!!!!!

Visual Assets (General)

Creative Market - Shop for all kinds of assets, from fonts to mockups to templates to brushes to WHATEVER YOU WANT

Velvetyne - Cool and weird fonts

Chevy Ray's Pixel Fonts - They're good fonts.

Contrast Checker - Stop making your text white when your background is lime green no one can read that shit babe!!!!!!

Visual Assets (Game Focused)

Interface In Game - Screenshots of UI (User Interfaces) from SO MANY GAMES. Shows you everything and you can just look at what every single menu in a game looks like. You can also sort them by game genre! GREAT reference!

Game UI Database - Same as above!

Sound Assets

Zapsplat, Freesound - There are many sound effect websites out there but those are the ones I saved. Royalty free!

Shapeforms - Paid packs for music and sounds and stuff.

Other

CloudConvert - Convert files into other files. MAKE THAT .AVI A .MOV

EZGifs - Make those gifs bigger. Smaller. Optimize them. Take a video and make it a gif. The Sky Is The Limit

Marketing

Press Kitty - Did not end up needing this- this will help with creating a press kit! Useful for ANY indie dev. Yes, even if you're making a tiny game, you should have a press kit. You never know!!!

presskit() - Same as above, but a different one.

Itch.io Page Image Guide and Templates - Make your project pages on itch.io look nice.

MOOMANiBE's IGF post - If you're making indie games, you might wanna try and submit your game to the Independent Game Festival at some point. Here are some tips on how, and why you should.

Game Design (General)

An insightful thread where game developers discuss hidden mechanics designed to make games feel more interesting - Title says it all. Check those comments too.

Game Design (RPGs)

Yanfly "Let's Make a Game" Comics - INCREDIBLY useful tips on how to make RPGs, going from dungeons to towns to enemy stats!!!!

Attack Patterns - A nice post on enemy attack patterns, and what attacks you should give your enemies to make them challenging (but not TOO challenging!) A very good starting point.

How To Balance An RPG - Twitter thread on how to balance player stats VS enemy stats.

Nobody Cares About It But It’s The Only Thing That Matters: Pacing And Level Design In JRPGs - a Good Post.

Game Design (Visual Novels)

Feniks Renpy Tutorials - They're good tutorials.

I played over 100 visual novels in one month and here’s my advice to devs. - General VN advice. Also highly recommend this whole blog for help on marketing your games.

I hope that was useful! If it was. Maybe. You'd like to buy me a coffee. Or maybe you could check out my comics and games. Or just my new critically acclaimed game In Stars and Time. If you want. Ok bye

[timethehobo]

Constantly picturing Emmy having to jump into the water to retrieve Rook after he falls in for the umpteenth time. 💀

Esp since I drag him everywhere.

[nuclearanomaly]

Spite Loves...

[hughmanbean]

Loving Threats

Inspired by a song and its remake. But I am trash at syncing lyrics to storybeats.

Danny and Jason met in the ghost zone when Jason was dead, but he forgot it all coming back to life. When the two of them were together, they went through the entire song and dance (literally) of asking each other out.

I'm serious. There were like 10 different musical scenes with varying themes. It was Fenton Romance at its finest. And Jason's old school romance heart was certainly played a large part too.

It was their love language. Dramatic acts, vague threats and all.

Post revival and reconnection with the Batfam, Jason spots a familiar face. A flood of memories wash through him, and with it a bout of giddiness. Though he's currently dressed as Red Hood, Danny'll be able to tell who he is and keep quiet. Just have to greet him in a way that he'll recognize.

---

Danny is out taking the kids for a walk. Dan was grumpy since he wasn't allowed any ecto chips, for both his health and as punishment for severely beating a guy who tried to mug Danny without permission yesterday. Ellie is quite cheerful, since she's going to visit the Crocodile and Zombie sewer-dudes when Danny's not looking.

All of a sudden, Red Hood, casually wielding a gun, approaches Danny. He makes an overly familiar gesture, wrapping an arm sideways around Danny's waist. He whistles under the hood, a faint green glow from the white eyespaces.

"Well who do we have here? You look half dead, honey."

Danny looked at him. Horrible pick up line? Check? Thin veneer of confidence? Check. Zero self control around Danny? Check.

Jason. The rancid ecto signature is new, though. Honestly, not surprised he's a crime lord now.

"Well, you know how it is. The kids have been running me ragged. And you sure haven't been any help."

Danny puts on an innocent smile. Jason sidles closer. A few bystanders watch them with varied expressions.

"Well you don't need to worry about that now. How about you and I go somewhere more private?"

---

"A crime boss, huh?"

Dan is raiding the fridge. Ellie is watching a fight on TV.

"It was a... necessary step. I promise I would've visited you sooner if I had known."

"It's fine. What else happened while you were gone?"

"Well..."

[artzee534]

"Where have I seen this before?"

The individual frames:

Bonus: concerned brothers

[nekrosmos]

[daunart]

And I, lost in the golden hour, felt the weight of it all, the way you turned everything to gold, the way your presence filled the silence with unspoken things...

[slavhew]

jakey + dirkjake sandwiched between my organic chem notes. a poem in there somewhere

[heavyheavycream]

pov - your secretary is too cheap to refuse food (and too cheap to buy a new shirt)

[artkaninchenbau]

"...I will never be that girl of four years ago. Half of me... will always be pain." "Are you certain you will ever be happy again?" "No. But what if- someday- I was."