#i rewatched the whole donut time third act while making this it's so good

[exdeputysonso-archive]

Tangerine (2015) + Letterboxd Reviews

[calliecat93]

RvB17 Episode 2 Review: Everwhen

Do you ever hear about how some say that some characters just cannot work as the main? Like ‘this character is too ridiculous’, or ‘this one is too dark and brooding to like’. Or, as I hear it, being lazy. Yeah, that's what that excuse is: laziness. Any character CAN work if you put time and effort into making it work. Like when Kishimoto admitted that Sakura was not suited to be the lead female in Naruto, all I hear is “I didn't want to put in the effort in making this character good so I didn’t, my bad!”. It's a stupid, stupid excuse. But that being said, there are certainly some characters that are hard to envision as the central focus. Like IDK how many people would take RWBY seriously if Zwei was the main character... actually I'd watch it.

Despite RvB being... RvB, it's not immune to this. It's probably easier to but say... Carolina as a lead over someone like Jax, for example. So having Donut as the main character in this season... is likely going to tilt some heads. Donut? The innuendo spouting, eternally optimistic character that no one listens to and is missing every other season? That character, of all characters, is going to be our main character this season? How is THAT going to work? Well... how about we find out?

Overview

We begin in what I guess we can now officially call the Everwhen. Donut's still falling through, but it doesn't take long for him to figure out how it works. He can recall different memories, and he'll be shown them. He tests this for a few seconds before deciding to focus to actually get into a specific point in time. The point in time he ends up at? The tail-end of Season 7. Where, if you recall, Wash shot him... yeah... worst? He repeats this about three times. Sheesh. Ugh... at least he knows that Simmons was concerned now? Right?

Okay, anyways, Donut's finally able to get out of the memory and into a new one, though the pain still persists for a bit. He ends up back in S15... I want to say Episode 9. Been a while since I rewatched (the ONE SEASON I fella sleep through during that 30-hour livestream last week),  but I think it was Doc's re-intro form the setup. Oh and Doc is in this episode, whoo. Anyways, once he's got himself collected, Donut tires to tell Tucker and Simmons to round up the others... except Tucker refuses. Why? Because he assumes that it's just going to be a tirade of innuendos, and he's not in the mood for it. Donut is confused as he tries to explain that they're reaching an explosive climax... which only makes them less willing to listen. Fed up, Donut leaves for another memory, leaving his past self acting like nothing happened.

We now go back to S10 where Grif reveals that he still has The Meta's Bruteshot... err, Grifshot. First, Microsoft let him have it back. Second, Donut again tries to get the others to listen. Yeah, three guesses son how well that goes. They end up more concerned about Sarge forgetting his speech, Wash trying to encourage him to remember it. Tbf it IS an epic speech that I too would like to hear again. Naturally, Donut is peeved that not only is he bring ignored, but he's being ignored over the guy who... you know, shot him. So he leaves again, this time going back even further... kinda.

We now end up in S3 during that whole 'we got blasted into the future' mess that I'm not going to even try to recall. It's during the play that Donut wrote to explain to Tucker about their circumstances. Donut lays everything out about everything. About being from the future, about technically being made by Chrovos, about Chrovos' current status, and how they're all stuck without being able to recall anything. Naturally, no one is listening, Simmons, in particular, being too annoyed that Donut took his role. Well... actually one person DOES believe it: Grif. Yeah, he says that it sounds familiar somehow and that crazy shit has happened to them before. You know, like being blasted into the future. Now Grif DOES get sidetracked seconds later by Sarge reminding him about who he's listening to, but at least SOMEONE listened.

But yeah, as I said Sarge calls bull and everyone continues to not believe it. Sarge even outright tells Donut to shut up forever repeatedly, no matter how much the poor guy begs him to hear him out. As a result, Donut gives up and returns to Chrovos' domain. In contrast to Donut being a mix of disappointed and annoyed, Chrovos is cheery and happy. Why? Well, their prison is cracking more and more, but after being locked up for an eon, having anything happen is enlightening to them. They also point out what they continued to point out to Donut last season: the guys have never listened to him, and are never going to listen to him. They even tell him to go ahead and stop as they don't like seeing him suffer like this. Still talking like Donut is their 'child' and in that nurturing father... err, motherly type of way.

Donut, not being that kind of stupid, refuses to buy into this again and is still determined to try and prevent Chrovos from destroying everything. Chrovos protests that it'll be painless, and at this point, they might as well since the paradox has caused pure chaos... backward. Yeah, backward. Donut picks up on this, asking about what happened after the paradox. Chrovos tries to pull back, saying that there's just two timelines: one where Wash was shot and one where he wasn't. But Donut points out something: that there's a third. A place out of time, like they themselves are. And aside from him, who else from the Reds and Blues weren't caught in the paradox? Wash.

With this little revelation, Donut gets the discarded time gun and leaves. Chrovos, due to the barrier, can do nothing to stop him. Donut arrives at a canyon on Chorus, assuming that it is where Wash would go. Wash isn't there, which means that our wide-eyed hero is going to have to go through the entire planet in hopes of finding him. Let's just hope that he won't bring up the repeated shootings when he finds him, haha...

Review

Okay! Good episode! So the first thing that I've noticed so far is the pacing. Much as I loved Joe's seasons, the biggest issue I had with both 15 and 16 was the pacing. 15 was rushed and 16 had this bizarre trend of having a lot of having things happen, but taking too long to get to anything significant. IDK if this is due to Jason taking over or because we're in the second half of this arc they can go faster, but things have been going very quickly so far. And I mean that in a good way. We get into things, have a fun little romp with it for an episode, and get back to the point. Both this and last week's episode did that very well, and I like that. Mind you I am concerned about things going too fast, especially since we only get 12 episodes this season, but so far it's been good.

This episode was essentially about showing us how the Everwhen works and Donut's struggles along it. It works simple enough, you can go through the memories of your choosing and possess yourself int hat period. IDK if that's how it goes for Genkins since he possesses AI-figured people, but it makes sense for Donut. It luckily doesn't take him long to figure out how to make it work, so we get a nice laugh when he gets stuck getting shot... and then feel bad for laughing... but my point is, we don't waste time on having Donut figuring out how it works. Again, very fast but the episode doesn't waste our time as a result. It does what it has to do, and moves on to the next thing.

So... Donut. He's freakin' great here. As I said above, there are some characters that are hard to envision as the main character, and even harder to figure out how to execute it. When I started this show two years ago, I would have never, ever, ever, EVEEEEER been able to imagine Donut as the focus character. Ever. Back then, I saw Donut as funny, but utterly pointless compared to everyone else. He'd been gone for various points so he missed out on many events, didn't do much during Chrous or S15,  and his double entendre/flamboyant jokes had gotten stale very fast, at least to me. It was gonna take work to pull off Protagonist Donut... and they did. S16 did a VERY good job of helping Donut flesh out as a character and making us sympathize with him. It pointed out how Donut is constantly ignored, belittled, and treated like a joke by his peers, which makes him falling for Chrovos' manipulation all the easier to buy and keep him likable despite obviously doing the wrong thing. Which makes him choosing his friends and the subsequent fight against O'Malley all the stronger. Not just because it was a badass fight and finale all around, but because Donut came in and out of it a much stronger, much better character.

It is because of this that Donut in this episode was so good. First, we do get to see that he IS competent. We all kinda forget that sometimes, but Donut is an overall very capable soldier when he focuses. After all, who grenaded Tex in S1 again? But yeah, he's able to quickly figure out how the Everwhen works and also pieces together that time, to some extent, is still intact after Chrovos' slip-up. The boy is... well I can't say he's not dumb, but it's RvB, everyone is at least a little dumb. But the boy IS capable when he's given the chance to be. He also remains sympathetic throughout as the memories continue to make clear that yes, Donut is constantly ignored and belittled by his “friends”. Chrovos isn't wrong about that. Yeah, they DO care about him. Simmons didn't get upset about Donut being shot for no reason, after all. But they're so horrible at showing that, not just to Donut but amongst themselves,s but Donut's probably the one who gets it the worst. Even when Grif actually listened, it died the second that Sarge reminded him of who he was listening to. And none of them make any attempts to hide it either.

It's clear throughout that Donut is getting tired of this. It was what got him to fall for Chrovos' manipulation prior, after all, and even he pointed all of this out in the S16 finale. The fact that despite it he's still determined to save them all is something that should be applauded. It's time for the guys to start recognizing how far Donut actually goes for them and to be at least a little bit more respectful. They can still be annoyed at the innuendos, which I'm SO glad that my headcanon of Donut having never realized what he was doing is confirmed, but it won't kill them to be nicer. They've all slowly been coming better people, so... yeah.

...did I just write three paragraphs worth of a Donut analysis? Damn, me two years ago would have NEVER seen that coming. But it makes my point I think. Any character, even a ridiculous one, can be done well if the effort is put into it. S16 did a solid job of building up Donut’s character and essentially preparing him and us for this season. As such, because of the character development and the particular situation, he works very well as the focus character and I am loving every second of it. Anyways, moving on!

Chrovos continues to be a fantastic villain. Jason has done such a good job on characterizing the Cosmic Powers (speaking of, when are they coming back? I need more ProZD in my life dang it!). Not only does Chrovos have a ton of personality, including some incompetent traits akin to his son Atlus, but I... almost felt bad for them. When they expressed being so happy to have anything happening after billions of years in isolation, you can hear their pure joy and relief. Mind you they're going to eradicate time as we know it to shape it into their image, but it's good to have that there. It makes Chrovos a more three-dimensional character who we want to see more of, even if they are the bad guy. And them realizing that they fucked up by telling Donut about the paradox effects and failing to stop him from leaving? That was some funny shit. Move aside Mercs, at this rate I may have a new favorite villain very, very soon.

What else can I comment on? Well... it was nice seeing some of the moments again, namely S10 and the S3 skit. I also liked how Grif is the one who believed Donut. Sure he got thrown off, but with this and him being the one who mainly got deja vu last episode and in the finale, I think we've got some strong hints that chances are, he's going to remember first. Which means my fear that he's going to be shown what happened to Huggins, which he's NOT going to take well, grows closer... but hey at least we got one person who listened, brief as it was. Oh, and joking about Wash having shot Donut throughout? Are we finally touching on this? THANK YOU! Even if it's just for this episode, THANK YOU. Now if we can have Wash apologize at some point...

Speaking of Wash, so... we finally got the answer to what I've been wondering for a while now. Wash wasn't caught in the paradox, so his fate was left wide open. Well, now we can confirm that he, like Donut, is in an out of time period. Now we know from last season that he went back to Chorus, my guess is to confront Dr. Grey about his brain damage. Which means that... yeah, he's likely not going to be in the best state when we see him. We're probably also going to see how the regular timeline is doing with the paradox breaking things as Donut searches for him. So... well... next week should be fun, right?!

Final Thoughts

Great episode! It wasn't too long, but it did what it needed to do. It established the Everwhen, gave us a fun romp of Donut's adventures through RvB history, did some character stuff for our main hero and villain, and perfectly set up for next week. I have no complaints that I can think of aside from my fears about the pacing, but again that so far hasn't been an issue. So what will Episode 3 have in store for us? IDK, but I'm going to work on getting my heart ripped out so that I won't be in pain. So gonna go take care of that, and I'll catch you all next week!

[aion-rsa]

Ed Asner: The Most Memorable Animated Roles From the TV Legend

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We lost a great one this weekend with Ed Asner. The lovably gruff actor died at 91. Asner was a prolific actor, not only having well over 400 credits to his name, but also still performing roles to the end. Sure, every obituary is going to talk up how well known he was for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and all that, but for many of us, he was a huge part of our childhoods.

Ed Asner did plenty of voice work. More than I can talk about here, but his deep, growly, and at times friendly voice lent itself well to a lot of cartoon characters. Not just the old man from Up, but lots of villains and supporting characters in superhero shows. He was also in FoodFight, but we don’t need to talk about FoodFight.

Here are our favorite animated characters that Ed Asner gave voice to…

Roland Daggett (Batman: The Animated Series)

It really says a lot about how high-quality Batman: The Animated Series was when they had Ed Asner doing a bang up job playing Roland Daggett and he was probably considered the least interesting recurring villain. Giving Batman his own Lex Luthor wasn’t as strong a dynamic as it should have been and other than being a side villain in the Clayface origin episodes, Daggett’s episodes don’t really stand out among the rest.

When you do watch one of those episodes and remember that Daggett exists, Asner’s charm definitely does some heavy lifting. He absolutely pulled whatever blood he could out of that stone.

Hoggish Greedly (Captain Planet and the Planeteers)

Ah, Captain Planet. Incredibly cheesy, but honestly way better than it really had any right to be. Asner played Hoggish Greedly, one of the various go-to villains on the show and one of the villains who was so on the nose that he’s made to look like a literal gross animal to drive the point home how evil he is. Greedly was half-pig/half-Trump, which led to Asner doing oink-based laughter that went on way too long. I’m sure that saved on the animation budget.

Asner’s Greedly also did a lot of yelling at his sidekick Rigger and that guy was voiced by John Ratzenberger. Forget all the pollution and trying to murder children and eco-Jesus. Being mean to Cliff Clavin is going too far!

Hudson (Gargoyles)

Third season excluded, Gargoyles was one of those shows that was so good that you can’t help but look back in wonder at how fortunate we were to have something so good. Asner was the team’s resident grizzled mentor character Hudson (who named himself that after thinking that naming a river is stupid as hell). He brought his A-game, plus a Scottish accent, but was a bit overshadowed by the team’s leader Goliath. Asner may have had a gravely voice, but he was a silver medalist to Keith David’s gold in that regard.

Despite being a battle-weary soul, Hudson always brought a weird sense of optimism to the show whenever he was around. He acted like living as long as he had was something to be celebrated and that he was lucky for it.

Mike Cosgrove (Freakazoid)

As the story goes, Asner was prepared to voice Sgt. Cosgrove with more pep and emotion, but when he blandly read through the lines to get them down first, others told him to just go with that. Cosgrove’s complete lack of enthusiasm in contrast to Freakazoid’s over-the-top behavior is what makes him so memorable and likeable. He was like the anti-straight man.

There’s a real Dadaist charm to Cosgrove, who is entirely competent (he once caused a Cthulhu-like being to back off via a threat to bust his lip), but really outlines the utter weirdness of Freakazoid’s world with his mild banter. It doesn’t matter how dire the situation is, if Cosgrove invites Freakazoid to some random distraction, it will almost always work. Then he’ll tell him something odd like how pigs are smarter than bears, but they can’t ride bikes. Then he’ll convince Freakazoid to get back to the plot and move on.

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This did lead to the biggest BS moment of the show, though. One time Freakazoid couldn’t go get a yogurt with Cosgrove, so Cosgrove asked the viewer if they wanted to join him, followed by reacting as if we said no. Don’t you put that evil on me, Steven Spielberg! I don’t appreciate the gaslighting and I know I’m not the only one.

Asner did get to reprise the role one last time in a recent episode of Teen Titans Go! that guest starred Freakazoid. Once again, he got distracted from a life-or-death situation because Cosgrove wanted to buy him a donut and then discuss the different types of donuts.

J. Jonah Jameson (Spider-Man: The Animated Series)

When it comes to Jameson, it’s all but unanimous that JK Simmons is THE portrayal. Even in terms of animation, people tend to think of Paul Kligman for nailing the character back in the 1960s. That said, Asner played him a different way and it worked. Asner’s Jameson wasn’t a motormouth with an inflated sense of importance. He was a gruff and, for lack of a better term, menacing boss who was a thorn in the side of Peter Parker’s two identities.

While he did come off as a jerk, they made sure to emphasize that he wasn’t a bad guy, just a grouch with an axe to grind. That made it all the better in the aftermath of Peter’s wedding when he revealed in secret that he paid for the whole thing, but didn’t want Peter to know he actually liked him.

Even though Asner was able to play Peter’s cantankerous quasi-father figure, he did get a brief shot at Peter’s more loving one in Spectacular Spider-Man. As Uncle Ben, Asner showed some real grizzled warmth that really stood out despite being a very short role.

Granny Goodness (Superman: The Animated Series)

I already mentioned Daggett earlier, but Asner has done his lion’s share of DC characters. The animated adaptation of All-Star Superman had him as Perry White, which is so obvious in retrospect that I can’t believe it took that long to do (Asner had also been considered for the role as far back as Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie). He was also Hephaestus in an episode of Justice League Unlimited, which was overshadowed by the extremely inspired casting of the brothers from Wonder Years as Hawk and Dove.

Just as inspired was Asner as Granny Goodness. A cosmic evil in the form of a “loving” grandmother type is one of the most Jack Kirby of Jack Kirby ideas. Having Asner trying to use his menacing gravel voice for a female character is just so fun to check out, especially once you figure out it’s him. Granny didn’t get too much use, but I would love to see the footage of Asner in the booth trying to make it work.

Carl Fredricksen (Up)

While I can talk about Cosgrove and Jameson for days, Asner’s most famous role is that of Carl, the crotchety old man from Up. It helps that by the time we first hear Asner’s voice in the movie, we’ve already seen Carl through his whole life, including the heartbreaking tragedy that comes with it. It lets us know that underneath the harsh growling, there’s a sensitive man underneath and Asner’s performance opens up throughout.

Though again, he’s mean to John Ratzenberger and I can’t abide by that!

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Up is a great companion piece to A Goofy Movie, in how it hits differently for each generation. Much like how kids identify with Max while adults identify with Goofy, Up has Russell the scout and Carl. When Kevin the bird gets kidnapped, Russell can only scold Carl in disbelief for letting it happen. Carl, whose house and belongings were literally just on fire a moment ago, responds with the emotional and fed-up, “I DIDN’T ASK FOR ANY OF THIS!” which is probably my favorite Asner line read.

I’m really not looking forward to rewatching that movie. I love it, but it’s going to break me. Let’s see what else Disney+ has to offer… Oh, Dug has his own series of shorts! …Oh man.

Santa Claus (Various)

One of roles people these days remember Asner for is Santa Claus in Elf. That was neither the first time nor the last time Asner portrayed Jolly Old Saint Nick. He’s played the character various times in various projects. For some reason, Ed Asner just made for a fantastic Santa. It’s not like he was playing him the same way every time.

His performance in The Story of Santa Claus was your regular vanilla take. The version in Elf (which had an animated spinoff short, so it’s on-topic!) felt like a well-meaning but flawed take on the legend. Olive, the Other Reindeer added some real cynicism to Santa while Regular Show went even further to the point of absurdity. But yet no matter the version, Asner added warmth and wisdom to his portrayal of the seasonal gift-giver.

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Honestly, an Ed Asner Santa marathon isn’t the worst idea for this December. It’s a good way to remember such a beloved talent that I’m certainly going to miss.

The post Ed Asner: The Most Memorable Animated Roles From the TV Legend appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[recentanimenews]

The Top 10 One Piece Anime Moments From 2018

One Piece has been going for about two decades, and I sometimes doubt that I will live to see the end of it. So, it might seem silly to take a little year out of its grand timeline and talk about the best parts of it. But the day that I stop celebrating One Piece is the day that joy dies, and that's why I feel that it's necessary to look back into 2018 and pick out the best bits. And yes, I know that 2018 isn't truly over yet, but unless One Piece decides to include an anime-only scene in the next episode where Sogeking has a sudden one-on-one duel with Kizaru, I think this list is pretty set in sea stone. 

  So with that said, here are the top 10 greatest moments from the One Piece anime in 2018! Many of them are great for different reasons--some are touching, some are weird, some are action-packed, and some are about Luffy cutting off a villain's windpipe. Actually, that's #10. Let's check it out!

  10. Luffy Chokes Out Charlotte Cadenza

    Not a lot of focus is put on this sequence, but in Luffy's effort to find Sanji's location, he chokes Charlotte Cadenza to unconsciousness . This stuck out to me because it shows that Luffy is so desperate to find his cook pal that he's breaking out the sleeper hold. It makes me hope that we'll eventually see Luffy get so frustrated that he locks in a triangle choke on Blackbeard, or a double wrist lock on Akainu.

  9. Pudding's Third Eye Is Beautiful

  Charlotte Pudding is one of Big Mom's many manipulated children, someone who has lived her whole life being told that she is ugly and is currently being used in one of the Four Emperors' schemes. No matter how important she is now, Big Mom will always see her as a pawn. Then, on their "wedding day," Sanji tells her that her third eye is beautiful, and in a life that's devoted to serving her unstable warlord mother, Pudding finds a brief moment of comfort.

  8. Charlotte Linlin's Feast Of Friends

    I wondered how they were going to do this scene, because it would be weird if I had to eventually tell people "man, remember when Big Mom graphically ate a dozen helpless children?" But what the anime ended up with--while not quite scary--was weird in its own right. It was so calm that it was a little bit unsettling.

  7. Nami's Lightning Bolt

  If there is one Straw Hat that does not get enough credit for how cool they are, it's Nami. I've mentioned this before, but Nami is frequently the Straw Hat's MVP. However, because she's rarely altering the landscape with earth-shattering punches, everyone ignores her contributions. No, her lightning bolt didn't incinerate Big Mom, but it did buy the Sanji Retrieval Team some time to get away. Here's hoping that she gets more big moments in Wano.

  6. Luffy Clashes With Katakuri

    The fight that everyone compares this to is Luffy vs Lucci--while I'm gonna need to mull over that question for about five more years before I have an answer as to which one is definitively better, I'm gonna go ahead and deem Luffy vs Katakuri to be particularly rad. I honestly think that the anime is pacing it out a little better than the manga did. That may sound blasphemous to One Piece manga purists, but who cares? They can go make their own lists.

  5. Pedro's Sacrifice

    First of all, you're my boy, Pedro. Your duel with Baron Tamago in 2017 is one of the best One Piece anime fights in years. Second, this hit me just as hard as I hoped it would: I got goosebumps when Pedro's image dissipated. Let's all pour one out for Pedro right now. Coffee, liquor, water, it doesn't matter. Your boss asks you to clean it up? Tell THEM to clean it up. That nerd will never understand.

  4. Sanji Wants To Return/Luffy Decides To Crash The Wedding

  Sanji revealing that he wants to be back with the Straw Hat crew was nice, but the icing on top of the nakama cake was Luffy's nonchalant "We're just gonna crash the wedding" reveal. There is regular chill and then there is Luffy chill, and that's a level of chill that I hope we can all reach one day.

3. GERMA 66 ASSEMBLE

    Every once in a while, I'll hit a manga panel (Subscribe to Weekly Shonen Jump! It's $26 for an ENTIRE YEAR and it's incredible) that makes me excited for what it's gonna look like in the anime. And Germa 66's big Power Rangers reveal was one of those panels. Luckily, the anime didn't disappoint. All of the awesome makes you momentarily forget that the commanders of Germa 66 are 80% terrible and that only Reiju should leave One Piece alive.

  2. Katakuri's Donut Bliss

    Yeah, I'd be slightly unhappy if Eiichiro Oda decided to end Luffy's quest to become Pirate King and instead shifted the One Piece story to focus on Katakuri's love of donuts, but the key word here is "slightly."

  1. Carrot's Sulong Transformation

    If there is one kind of scene that One Piece does amazingly well, it's the "A Character Just Gained A Power Boost And Is Now Gonna Straight-Up Eat An Enemy's Heart" scene. And when Carrot transformed into her Sulong form and began tearing ship wheels off and demolishing the Big Mom pirates, it gave me that classic feeling that I got when Luffy first activated Gear 2 against Blueno years ago. Oh, One Piece. You're too good to me.

  And those are the top 10 One Piece anime moments of 2018. I hope you've all had a decent year, and let's ring in 2019 the right way: By rewatching One Piece from the beginning. Don't act like you don't have the time to. 

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Daniel Dockery has a Twitter that he uses for official One Piece business and/or dumb opinions. 

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com