#i should really rewatch dbz

[thecoolertails]

you could say it's kinda fucked up that piccolo took a four year old and made him live out in the wilderness mostly by himself . and it is. but also from piccolo's perspective he really thinks he's being a helicopter parent for even looking after him from afar bc HIS dad just shat him out and then died immediately (that scene where he's looking at that family all together and he's so sad and widdle and alone ): ). also piccolo grew up to be an adult in like 3 years so yeah wow he really wouldn't know shit about human/saiyan kids. but anyway i think the fact that gohan dressed like piccolo for the cell tournament instead of in saiyan armor is pretty telling as far as his feelings toward that whole situation

[overlyimmersed]

Tien's Colors

I have no idea where I'm actually going to go with this, so good luck... oh, just as a note, I haven't seen Daima as of writing this, so I don't know what Tien's wearing in that.

I framed this like an analysis but it's actually just commentary... Tien and Chiaotzu don't change their colors very much throughout the series. Which is normal for the male characters in the Dragon Ball franchise. We do see the physical styles change some, but the color pallet stays the same. The green, and yellow with red accents of the Crane School.

Which is weird, considering they totally denounced Shen and his whole deal... They never really distanced themselves from the look, though. Even so far as Super, they still have the same general style.

However, there is a deviation at that point. In the Battle of Gods movie Tien's outfit falls generally in line with his Dragon Ball/Z color pallet (though Chiaotzu has changed his colors to mainly black and blue) but in the Super anime, the color scheme is completely different. Chiaotzu remains consistent though.

^Battle of Gods

^Dragon Ball Super anime.

I usually prefer movie canon to the anime adaptations, I just think everyone's a little more in character in Battle of Gods and Resurrection F than in the anime versions of those bits.

But when it comes to this, I prefer the anime's color scheme.

Anything that gets him out of Crane colors really. Plus, it just looks better. The green with the orange belt and maroon... it's just not as cohesive a color pallet.

Anyone who knows me from 7DS knows I like to design outfits for characters I like. I do, maybe?, intend to design clothes for Tien too. If I can manage it without dying.

One color he should NOT wear though, is dark blue. I don't know why, or even how, but I discovered this while rewatching DBZ years ago. Dark blue, the color of the weighted shirts they get from Kami, the one Goku always has on under his gi, it looks AWFUL on Tien. Somehow, it washes him out so badly... and I don't know how.

He just looks really pale somehow and kinda like...really pink?? It does awful things to his skin tone, it's weird and he shouldn't wear that color.

[small-screen-superman]

OK I basically finished the original Dragon Ball anime other than some filler. It's honestly a bit painful. There's a reason I sometimes don't watch shows to the end for a long time. It can be painful to know there's no more. But I'm happy too. It was a great series. And I can always make more stories and art myself, and I want to do that. It was sometimes amazing, sometimes mediocre, usually very good or great. Overall, an excellent and worthwhile experience. Its art style is one of the best ever and some of its characters have really captured my heart. I am so happy I watched it, and I want to finish reading the manga now too (well, maybe not RIGHT now lol).

I watched about half of it years ago, I took a long break, watched most of DBZ (husband's idea, and it wasn't a bad idea, especially since it's nice to be "in the loop"), and now I finished it. I still have some of the Buu saga to go, and plenty of other Dragon Ball content, but stuff from different eras isn't really the same to me, even if it's still good in many ways.

I guess what makes me feel a little sad is that it used to be something I watched with my sisters, but then I guess we got less interested, and we got busy and didn't spend quite as much time together. And now this second watching session (and all my DBZ watching) has been with my husband. And I love my husband, but I miss my sisters. There was a while where listening to the theme song would make me really sad because I felt bad we drifted apart, even if not to an extreme degree. I live in a different state now, and we still spend time together virtually, but maybe I need to prioritize it more. They even expressed interest in watching Dragon Ball together with me...maybe we should do that. I can't say I'd mind rewatching the Tien Shinhan saga, as it's definitely become one of my favorites, and Tien my favorite character after Yamcha.

[pleasantspark]

Because you are tired rightly of HH , I ask something of Drgon ball.

How have you started to watch?

Are the news series good, because I admit in all my life I have seen only the series wheb sayain arrived, Goku running on wall, his son been teached by piccolo, I like that series but I have vever gotten so much in dragon ball because I find too long. But new series have same problems? Or should I have to try to see all classic series?

Well it's been around 2019 or so, I really recommend you watch OG Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, GT is optional because it's a prequel to Super while also not being canon, then Super.

OG Dragon Ball (Features Kid Goku) Dragon Ball Z (Features Adult Goku) But then there's Kai which is better than both? I'm not sure. Super is where things get fucky and people would claim it sucks.

After you waaaaatch all that, then you can watch GT or whatever movies. When you run out of shit to watch, I recommend Abridged and DevilArtemis' content. That's my answer. It's been awhile, so I need to rewatch again.

New series is fine, but I heard Daima is good and (is the last one that Akira Toriyama worked on before his death, may he rest in peace.) but yeah you watched Dragon Ball Z. There's actually a post I reblogged with all the neat yar har sites, so I will reblog again and you can see it there.

Might rewatch Tournament of Power ARC ngl.

Fun fact, I just put my bedsheets, pillowcase and blanket in the washing machine, went to the bathroom and was planning on listening to my "Happy Song" but I am GLAD to have DBZ in my inbox, so now I am happy.

Yeah, so long story short, there is a recommended watch list.

Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball Z

GT (recommended)

Super

Or if you want to skip OG and DBZ you can go for Kai, I mean Chi Chi's less of a bitch in Kai then normal.

Or if your a Psychopath and watch backwards then I only hope you don't get confused.

[mgree0067]

The Yugioh dub is still the best children’s English anime dub, despite the censorship.

I believe that in my opinion that the Yugioh dub by 4kids was actually better than people said it was and it is still the best English dub for a children's anime, despite the fact that it was heavily censored and had major plotline changes. The dub still holds up even without nostalgia glasses because it was trying to not be a typical shonen anime like the original Japanese version and it is a perfect example of how to turn a shonen/shoujo anime for teens into an anime for kids in a correct manner. Now, let me tell you why most people still praise the Yugioh dub as one of the greatest English dubs ever, even it is a hack dub.

The first reason is the stellar dub voice cast and direction that 4kids has put out in high quality. All of the voices perfectly fit the characters naturally when they were cast and were having voicing the characters. Dan Green really brought the main protagionist Yugi Moto and Atem in distinct ways. He gives a deep and commanding voice to the Pharaoh Atem in which makes him a father figure to Yugi in advanced. He also gives a beliveable teenage vice to Yugi without sounding so old. Wayne Grayson gives Joey Wheeler a not cartoony Brooklyn accent that made him iconic for any line that he gives. Amy Birnbaum voice for Tea Gardner has to be my favorite because of how spunky and feniamine she brings in the character when she was given a moment to shine. For example, in episode 24, Birnbaum really nailed the anger and sadness better than the sub va when she stood up against Kaiba for mocking Yugi when Yugi lost to him, and that felt so emotional and real to me when she yelled at Kaiba. Greg Abbey fits perfectly as Tristan Taylor with that teen suave voice that he portays. Megan Hollingshead plays Mai Valentine with a sexy and husky voice that was really perfect for the character. Ted Lewis brought an extraordinary British accent to both sides of Bakura and makes him sound more manly. Finally, the voice that made me automatically watch only the dub is Set Kaiba's dub va, Eric Stuart. Eric Stuart really had the most quotable lines out of all of anime dub history and his voice is what Kazuki Takahashi envisioned for the character.

The next reason for the dub still holding up is to do with the stellar writing in the dub's scripts. The humor was written well and did not feel cartoony for the most part. The writing from the dub made the anime stand out from other shonen anime dubs and make it not a typical shonen anime like DBZ or One Piece. The name changes for the character actually made sense compared to other dubs from the 90s and 2000s (excluding Digimon).

The final reason of why this dub is still watchable was the dub's music and songs that are still high-quality to this day. The dub music fits the series way better than the Japanese music/songs. The BGM for the dub is still one of 4kids' best dub replacement music ever alongside Pokemon and Mew mew Power. The vocal soundtracks that they made (Music to duel by and Pyramid of Light movie) were filled with banger 2000s songs that range from, pop punk, techno, and Disney/Broadway styled songs. Two of my favorite songs from the soundtrack "Music to Duel By" are "We'll Be there" and "Face Up, Face Down" because they remind me of the Disney Renaisance era so very much and the dub voice actors are also wonderful singers.

So to conclude, the Yugioh dub is till worth watching to this day for a 2000's children's English anime dub. It was the reason why Yugioh became popular in the US and created Little Kuriboh's Yugioh Abridged. I hope that everyone should rewatch the dub and see that it was still watchable despite the censorship and rewrites that 4kids did.

[theshinsun]

me scrolling through a twitter full of old vegeta art I haven't seen in years

[roy-dcm2]

DBZ The Tree of Might Reaction

DBZ Movie Rewatch #3, - Tree of Might

[It's T.Hawk in Saiyan Armor]

This one was original named “A Super Decisive Battle for Earth,” which makes sense, because they really do get pushed right up to the edge, like Goku has to resort to the Spirit Bomb TWICE actually, because the first one doesn’t work. The “Tree of Might” is sapping all the life energy from the Earth, so there’s a montage of plants withering and animals laying down to die.

I also really like the Tree of Might as a concept, a parasitic alien tree that destroys planets to produce fruit that makes you stronger. By the way, this is the second ecological disaster in these DBZ movies.

I used to be convinced that I liked this movie, but watching it again. It’s kinda boring. Turles' Minions don’t leave that much of an impression, and they disappear to fight off the rest of the Z-Squad. Goku is in this weird place where he can Kaiohken x10, but can’t go Super Saiya-jin. There’s no really victorious moments. Goku just limps to the finish.

Turles is SOMETHING. He’s not just a carbon copy of Vegeta/ Nappa. He’s pretty grounded for a villain that’s the leader of a squad. He might be a world conqueror, but he knows he’s working his way up. He’s found himself a niche, and has a mechanism to steadily rise to the top. He needs strong allies, and so he does take the time to try to recruit Goku/ Gohan.

I’d say that he should have turned into a Great Ape, but that would just draw more comparisons to Vegeta. However, something that keeps coming up, is the idea that Turles is what Goku would have become, if he hadn’t hit his head. Its interesting that Turtles works with a squad, just like Goku, unlike Vegeta that didn’t tolerate weakness.

[hashtag - this screenshot is not from the movie]

There’s a theme of Nature restoring itself. First with the forest fire at the start of the movie, and then with everything returning to normal once the Tree of Might explodes.

6/10 It is a plain bagel.

[Pour one out for the original Z-Squad. This is the last time they'll pretend to be part of the plot.]

[seikyoko]

Johnny Gill appreciation post

There’s plenty of issues I have with DGM Hallow, people other than me have talked about it and honestly I don’t feel like rereading the manga AND rewatching Hallow to explain all my dissatisfaction with it, but whatever, they wanted to make it short enough for it to be 14 episodes, it’s difficult to make it 100% faithful, whatever, I understand, even though I’m sad the zombie arc and the funny part of the phantom G arc were not in here, I understand, I’m not going to nitpick even the little things.

BUT WHY THE HELL would they on purpose take out the Johnny content in such an outrageous manner? like at the very beginning, where Johnny is the one who notice that polite speech doesn’t suit “Allen” and that when he doesn’t pay attention, he slip to more casual speech. It was instead replaced by.. Lavi, and while yeah good to give more Lavi content,

It was annoying to steal another character’s very rare screentime, and besides, it was impossible for Lavi to do this interaction, even if Johnny didn’t in the manga. Look, that happened after the 14th reveal, Bookman forbade him from getting too involved with “Allen”, because it was going to be his downfall if he involved himself that much in the war, and Lavi heeded his advice, you never see Lavi & “Allen” interacting again after the 14th reveal (though with the recent events of “Allen” going to the campbell mansion and is going to meet bookman and everything even if Lavi’s not with bookman that’s probably going to change), and that interaction was way more important than “woah bro no need to be so formal” with the mana mask revelation and Red’s actual personality and everything, and you know it’s relevant to that because it happens in the same episode, and in the manga very few chapters after.

And also the whole “the regret won’t let me die in peace” between Johnny & Kanda, instead.. happens between Marie & Kanda & Lenalee, and the anime scene absolutely sucks, the sacrifice Kanda is making doesn’t really hit you and it comes off as the dbz “past evil dude/asshole is now helping the protagonist”.

Look, he got better after the alma karma arc, and he love and trusts Lenalee & Marie a lot, but I find it kinda weird Kanda would volunteer such personal information on his feelings that easily with virtually no reason to (though I’m no Kanda expert), the interaction is just Lenalee who wasn’t involved in the Alma arc weirdly insisting on prying, after Kanda already accepted the innocence and can’t take it back anymore and Kanda pouring his heart out just like that , which, weird, because when Lenalee say “don’t you were already trapped in the order more than all of us and the order harmed you so much”, his reaction is to change the subject by successfully picking a fight with most people on the room (like Komui and Bak at least) by drinking it out of Lenalee’s hands.

It doesn’t even work as real Lenalee screentime because you can tell she was a mouthpiece to make Kanda say it before Hallow end/say it to someone other than Johnny, it wasn’t a real Kanda & Lenalee interaction

In the manga it was after Johnny and Kanda (who already bonded and came to care about each other quite a lot during their roadtrip/travelling around), who are both people who are pretty much risking everything to find and help “Allen”,  exited the pub and Johnny showed that he was a ride or die friend, reminding Kanda of Alma, likely the first time he thought of his past without feeling pain (like “Allen” comparing the orphanage director to Mana), then Johnny ask why Kanda did it, whether Kanda even answered or not, it was going to be nowhere as personal as how it ended up being, then that akuma snatched Johnny, and it very much stated “it’s Kanda yuu” at the beginning, showing that it was a speech personally aimed at Kanda, rather than a generic exorcist, saying that he was an absolute fool to come back, that he had very very little left to live, and he should’ve spent his last moments in peace, and that he chose hell, and he doesn’t go “what are you talking about ?” or deny it, showing that yeah, he does have little left to live and he most probably did choose hell.

Then Johnny goes “really Kanda... why ?” then go silent, so Johnny wasn’t going to badger him on it, then Kanda goes on to say his reasons (and yeah Johnny works better because he have more informations about the Alma thing than Lenalee had, since Kanda most likely almost never talked about it, and the scientists there were probably more informed than the exorcists after the facts and Kanda most likely didn’t tell her much, if anything really, I mean the dude can’t even stand when you say his first name just because it reminds him of that time, and Johnny did witness Kanda stab “Allen” and the whole shitshow, he’s more involved I mean).

AND THE “I was about to say sorry and then I stopped myself, thank you kanda, thank you, than..” WAS SO TOUCHING

end rant about “the manga is better !!”

And they’re not only making these moments worse, but they’re shooting themselves on the foot, because Johnny is a vital character to the “searching for Allen Walker” arc. and they keep down playing his worth as a character and his bond with “Allen”.

Johnny dropped everything for “Allen”, he loved his job as a scientist and everyone in the order, and the whole thing was risky as hell, and he did it anyway (he had no guarantee of quitting the order safely, and he wouldn’t have without Kanda, he had no guarantee of finding “Allen”, he had no guarantee the Noah or the 14th wouldn’t kill him immediately and when he first decided it he didn’t know Kanda would be around so doubly gutsy), and the love is very clearly mutual with how badly “Allen” freaked out at thinking Nea killed Johnny and that heart warming hug when he exited the wheat field and how desperately he wanted Johnny to be okay when the earl attacked and Nea took over, and you can tell it’s because Johnny mattered to him a lot instead of a general kindness thing because, really, the whole TOWN/CITY was in danger from the Millenium earl being around and homicidal, and last but certainly not least, JOHNNY’S DECLARATION OF FRIENDSHIP which really mattered to “Allen” (It was the most flustered he’s ever been in the whole manga).

And it mattered in the end ! it changed everything ! Kanda wouldn’t have found “Allen” without Johnny’s plan. and “Allen” would be literally dead, erased, not from this world anymore if it wasn’t for Johnny.

Look, unlike all the other times Nea took over, the last one was pretty bad, in fact it should have been impossible for Allen Walker to ever open his eyes again, his soul was done for, he was technically dead.

But the power of people’s bond is probably the most powerful thing in DGM verse, so powerful that it can even do the impossible, like bringing back the dead.

Cross, Tyki and Link weren’t going to do that because of their allegiances, Road can’t maintain her form, even if Mana was going to choose “Allen” over Nea, he is very much amnesic, it wouldn’t have occured to Kanda and most of the order to try that, because it was very obviously the 14th, and Kanda doesn’t even call “Allen” by his name anyway, they’d have jumped straight to trying to defeat him or try another method to bring “Allen” back, if Apocryphos could still bring him back his way, he’d have merged with “Allen” and “Allen” as we know him would be no more.

Yeah, pretty sure “Allen” would be no more, and it wasn’t a case of right place/right moment or anything, it was because Johnny and “Allen” loved each other (platonically, I shouldn’t have to precise that but here we are) and it shook reality in ways usually only the earl take advantage of.

Also you imagine the amount of mental badassness it would take to take your friend, and physically try to carry him away while he’s the target of the earl who is looking extremely deranged and is being really violent ? 

Also he prevents Kanda from using violence against “Allen” who was in pretty bad shape, and that with Tiedoll’s speech help him find the guts to face “Allen” eye to eye and a lot of what ensued after

Don’t ever underestimate Johnny’s importance to the story.

Yet here he’ll always be a barely relevant side character to the anime (well at least Hallow I refuse to watch the 2006 anime and check if his earlier moments were done justice), and for what reason ? because he’s not good-looking/hot, and because he’s not physically powerful or badass in a conventional way.

That’s.. the end to my salt I think

[nimedhel09]

SDBH commentary - episode 32 (spoilers ahead!)

Well, it's a weird time to do it, but each episode is less than 10min so whatever.

As always, prepare for rants more than anything lol. And random commentary.

- Power scaling is weird in SDBH........ IN DBS. I mean, it made more sense in DBZ? (Can't remember if the Buu saga was a mess of power scaling or not, but I feel like it was)

- Show me more of my psychopathic legendary husbando, please. Even if the animation is poop. Even if they made his face all roundish. And the noses weird (Girl, I hate the DBS/SDBH noses soooo much)

- Fuu created his new universe! And it's a tiny ugly thing, lol.

- Angy Monke fusion.

- Fuu being obsessed with his experimentation process, lol. At least he stays in character throughout.

- Lol. Towa and Robel going kind of magical girl on us with their "demon god" transformation hahaha.

- Demigra makes a move!

- Also, I hate the fights. They're soooooo booooooring. They lack dynamism.

- 🎶'cuz I'm frooooooooooooozeeeeeen! 🎶 (SS4 Gogeta and Fuu lol)

- Vados and Whis! Destruction kittehs! (aka the only good thing to come out of DBS, the series. Still waiting for that Broly slice-of-life on Vampa or even him joining the Saiyan crew on shenanigans. I'm waiting Toei! You cowards).

- Goku is confused. I'm confused. Everyone is confused.

Ok. End of episode feelings.

I don't like the fights. I need dynamics other than "ki! bam! screen shaking to show us that they're powerful!" over and over and over again. Give us the martial arts, DAMMIT!

As a former martial artist (because I've not practiced in a decade, shame on me), one thing I've always loved in DB and DBZ (well, until it changed into a big ki fest, lol, mostly in the Buu saga, I think? Would have to rewatch the Cell games to really see if there's fight-fight to go along the ki-fight) is the way that the moves were depicted in such a beautiful and dynamic manner. Look at the Garlic jr. film with baby Gohan, when Goku comes in and begins to fight the baddies. Gorgeous. Perfection. Magnificent.

What we've got in SDBH? Bleh. Uninteresting. For a series built on martial arts, the martial arts are kind of absent in most of the current material (DBS: Broly, once again, shows its superiority over anything done in the series until then, lol. The beauty of the animation and the MOOOOOVES. Damn, the fights were orgasmic in that film), which is a pity.

We barely saw my sadistic monke husbando, which is always sad. He's so beautiful, even with the horrendous noses and animation of whatever the hell this is (can you feel the salt?).

Still confused on what the heck Demigra is doing here.

Fuu is best boi. I think I like him so much 80% because of the original voice acting. It's perfect.

The plot is, as always, confusing or really badly exploited. Like, I get the anime is a small little promotional thing and that the animators and all the people working on it are paid nothing and put under lots of pressure, but it's tiring as a fan too. Toei, instead of greedily milking that cow till its death and giving us bad quality content should let the creators have the time they need to make a proper animation, build a proper story, pay them fairly and finally have the fans being as happy as they can be. Am I asking for too much? I don't think I am.

Another criticism that I will never shut about because I WON'T and I NEED: BLOOD. I need blood in this franchise. It's not made for children. It's not made for children. Ok, it's a shonen, its target audience is early-teen/pre-teen boys. SO. WHERE. IS. THE. FREAKING. BLOOD!!!!

Finally, WHERE THE HELL ARE MY CHILDREN????????? Again. the Xeno crew outside of (*le big sigh*) Veggie and Goku is left on the side because it's not enough to fan service or whatever the heck it is that they always give us Goku and Veggie. NO! Now they have to give us TWO Gokus and TWO Veggies. And, yes, I love the Xeno crew in its entirety. Xeno Goku acts way less dumb than main Goku (as he should, Goku is not dumb. Goku is silly and 100000% has ADHD, but he IS. NOT. DUMB. - another reason I hate 95% of DBS outside of the Broly film, lol) and the wholes Xeno crew is stunning. And I NEED MORE PAPA GOHAN AND PANNY, pleaaaaaaaaaaaaase, for the love of all that is good in this world!

Anyways. I think next time I'm watching an episode, it's going to be with a glass of wine. Need to buy more white wine though, because we only have red left, and I HATE red wine (urk).

[mugiwara-lucy]

Finished my rewatching of the first Naruto vs Sasuke fight and now I can DEFINITELY say Naruto vs Sasuke Part 1 is LEAGUES better than their Part 2 fight.

For one, the fight doesn’t feel as rushed (four chapters? It should have been FIFTEEN AT LEAST)!

Second, the big DBZ like explosions didn’t feel Naruto-ish while the first fight had plenty of tactical moments.

Not to mention there was a greater sense of tension since I feel revealing Sasuke would be in a last REALLY took away from that fear of “OMG who will live!?”.

It was still nice with them losing their arms

But yeah…

>>>>

[keepyourpantsongohan]

Ayesha Liveblogs Cardcaptor Sakura S1

For faithfulness reasons, I’ll forgo rewatching in English even though I’m Jared 19 and never learned how to read 

I will say the original English dub had a BANGER of a theme song and I do miss that

"I’m a Fourth Grader at Tomoeda Elementary” I know I watched this like when I was age 7 or smth but SHE’S LIKE 10?? OH MY GOD who is letting this ten-year-old roam the streets

“I’m gonna stomp on him” [Lucille Bluth voice] good for her

I fully forgot Sakura had a dad I was ready to accept her Grade 11 brother raising her

Sakura’s roller blades give me visceral memories of my barbie skates

Lmao is Yuki’s ability to throw a piece of candy at a child from a moving bicycle backwards foreshadowing his superhero abilities

Okay having checked this scene in both English versions and Japanese, my opinion no one asked for: the Aminax version is bad voices on all counts, Japanese has a better voice for Toya and original English dub has a better voice for Sakura and Yukito (who they called Julian lmao) I am not accepting constructive criticism 

Tomoyo and Sakura sound so similar I could not even tell that Tomoyo was speaking omg

“There isn’t anything cuter or more interesting than you Sakura-chan” Tomoyo is really honest with her feelings I guess ten-year-olds be like that sometimes

“Is someone there” home invasions are what happens when you don’t lock your front door

This is not a study lmao this is a personal library there is hardly a workspace just aisles of shelves

Oh shit The Clow WIND RAIN SHADOW WOOD SWORD POWER THUNDER SLEEP CARD CAPTORS OF THE CLOW EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED NOW

Wait if this is hanging out in her dad’s study was her dad the last Cardcaptor lmao

Or probs her mom, since she’s gone the way of all anime moms

Sakura is accepting this whole “tiny magical flying lion” thing p well

“I accidentally fell asleep” “For how long” “30 years” same

“Stand right over there” Kerberos does not ask permission before magical girl transforming you lmao

“Why are you acting so wimpy” bc she’s 10 and you’re asking her to fight a giant ghost bird???

Honestly I love a good quest-to-collect-important-items maybe Inuyasha and DBZ ruined my taste but it’s a great formula 

“You’ll be a better adult if you have all sorts of experiences in your life” r u going to take career counselling advice from a tiny flying lion Sakura

I do kind of miss Kero’s slightly unhinged young man energy

I like that whenever Sakura’s brother is rude she steps on his foot or kicks him fkjhjgkh excellent little sister depiction

I was expecting more secrecy but it is very funny to see Tomoyo try to convince her friend to be a superhero

“Do a flashy one” kfhkjdhkj Kero supports the use of magic powers for showing off

“Trademark poses and skills are the basic parts of being a magical girl” oh my gooood

I mean if I walked into my school and there was a mountain of haphazard desks waiting there I too would be threatened 

Sakura is the only one in this group who has a reasonable understanding of what ten-year-olds should be allowed to do

LMAO @ Tomoyo’s team of bodyguards dropping her off to break into the school ONLY TO DRIVE AWAY

Tomoyo and Kero’s friendship is killing me the SHENANIGANS

I’m not sure I accept this light logic bc you need light to cast a shadow

Sakura’s “heart-racing first date” ur TEN oh my god

I mean it’s nice that Sakura wants to save the penguin but why did it take that for her to get upset it was going to drown a whole adult woman

Did Toya just RIP APART a WHIRLPOOL with his BARE HANDS

I wonder how Toya feels that his little sister has a crush on his boyfriend lmao

This cell phone is really top of the line for 1999 lmao I love it 

U know if I were a high school student and my friend asked my 10 year old sibling out to lunch instead of me I’d be confused

"They’re not even gonna hold hands? Kids these days” This is a VERY weird vibe for an episode

You know I guess if you never watch the second episode you never have context for all of these superhero outfits LMAO

None of these locations have security cameras I guess the 1990s was a lawless time

Will all of Yuki’s magical advice be delivered in the form of mysterious field trips

LMAO @ YUKITO ALWAYS TAKING SAKURA TO TOYA’S TEMP JOBS

Say what you will about the ominous influence of the other card, I think Wood is being fairly polite since it’s contorting around her house instead of destroying it lmao

“I was planning to film ‘Sakura Dances in the Jungle’ in the park today” I love Tomoyo 

Every little girl in this show sounds so similar lmao this is not good for my distracted watching style 

Wow Ms Maki is really unloading on these two fourth grade girls 

Since Tomoyo clearly interacts with even the more spirit-like Clow Cards I really have to wonder why no one else in this town is seeing these giant ghost monsters loom around the city

Well I guess this episode is a direct response to my previous comment 

“I can’t stand scary stories” says the girl who spends her nights going into isolated areas and fighting magical ghosts

Seeing Sakura activate her Fly card really gives me overwhelming nostalgia for the days I wanted nothing more than to be a Cardcaptor I used to wave around a toy broom like that magic key ahhhhhhhh

In the absence of the first English voice and with the added gentle Japanese intonation for his speaking, I am constantly forgetting that Yukito’s character is a 16-year-old boy 

Toya is really casually bomb-dropping the fact that he used to see ghosts and Yuki’s just like ‘dope are there ghosts around now’

Omg Kero’s sad face as he dropped the flower in Sakura’s lap 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

“I want to see if she wants to tell me something” like maybe ‘don’t run around town at night chasing ghosts ur 10!!!’ 

UHHHH AGAIN TOYA REAL CASUAL ABOUT THE GHOST THING 

Yukito Tsukishiro: Chronic Aid-er and Abet-er of Pre-teen Mischief 

Also if I’m right his name means something like “Ice White Moon?” Very heavy-handed foreshadowing lmao

“After we left, I went to the museum again and borrowed one” TOMOYO U CASED THE JOINT KJDHFKJHF

WHY IS EVERY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL KID IN THIS TOWN ABLE TO BREAK INTO THIS MUSEUM SO EASILY

Tomoyo is eerily well-prepared for this mission it’s like she has been planning to burgle a museum all her life

They really made an executive choice to have both a Yuuki and a Yuki that was a decision that someone made

Oh hey it’s the other pre-teen supehero!!! That guy!!

The more I think about it, the stranger the height difference between Sakura and her brother becomes bc compared to him she’s really like 2.5 feet tall they did not pick a proportion scale

U see this what I mean by gentle intonation, Syaoran somehow sounds older than Yuki simple by roughness of voice

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH TOYA U DEFEND UR SISTER

“Here, a steamed pork bun” Yuki sure nows how to de-escalate lmao 

“That is made out of an insulator as well” Tomoyo is really prepared for any and every situation

It’s not fair of Li to compare what is probably years of magical training from his family to ‘trial by fire for eight weeks with a plush toy who doesn’t explain anything important until critical moments’

I’m really not sure what’s happening with Rika and the teacher but I DON’T LIKE IT

“I just want to be with you as long as possible” [cut to floral pattern] Tomoyo is aiming to supersede Yuki as Gentle Shojo Protagonist Sakura Fixates On looool

I’m sure there’s NOTHING significant about this familiar-looking sword brooch

Kero biting Li whenever whenever he says something rude to Sakura kghkjghk direct feminist action

What IS THIS business with Li running away flustered like that are pre-teen Cardcaptors ONLY allowed to have a crush on Yukito

“I guess I’ll have to beat him up once” Toya has zero qualms about fighting a ten-year-old

Two fourth graders giving Yukito chocolate while he peacefully hangs out with his boyfriend is the funniest version of executing this weirdness that could happen

What I’m really wondering is how the hell they cut out or explained away Li’s crush in the first English anime

“You were just a fledgling teacher and you married one of your [high school] students!!” u did WHAT what the FUCK MR. KINOMOTO I’m on Sonomi’s side

“Mother got married when she was 16″ MR. KINOMOTO CANCELLED! BANNED! THE HELL IS THIS!

“It was I who was granted time with Nadeshiko from her 16th to 27th birthdays” GO 2 JAIL DO NOT PASS GO 

This episode has added a lot of layers to this show none of which I like

“What kind of person was my dad” someone who should be banned from teaching

“Your father is a disgusting person” WELL

SONOMI I KNOW UR TRYING TO BE NICE BUT HE HAS AT LEAST ONE MAJOR FLAW

Lmao they’re not even giving context why Yuki is around anymore he’s just an accepted artifact of the Kinomoto household

How is that the Time card is Li’s but not Thunder since he also returned that one to its original form

“Their fastest confirmed speed is over 100km/h” Yamazaki leave Li alone he just wants to adore the sloths jhfkhgjhgkhg

Ahhhhhh Li helping Sakura get the Power card?? These motives are quite hard to read but it seems sweet

OMGGG @ TOMOYO MAKING SAKURA DEADLIFT A PLAYGROUND

“I heard a rumour that everyone who asked Kinomoto out has been denied.” Well. [x]

“It’s one of the seven strangest things at this school, that both Kinomoto and Tsukishiro don’t have girlfriends.” WELL. [x]

AWWWWW YUKI DOESN’T LEAVE THE OTHER PRE-TEEN FAN CLUB MEMBERS OUT OF HIS KIND GESTURES

[Hannibal Buress voice] I was so caught up in euphoria of festival arcs, that for like a minute I lived in a world where the rest of this anime didn’t exist 

TOYA BEING THE STAR OF DRAG CINDERELLA... OP UR MIND

I have no idea what the premise of the next Clow Card is but I really hope it’s “turn u into whatever ur acting as” bc I will LOSE my mind

I have not heard Yuki once intone as passionately as he did when he thought Toya was going to fall 

“You like someone else” 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

“I didn’t promise anyone else a dance” Can I just say I LOVE TOYA?

The moment of stillness before Yukito revealed who he was asking to dance lmao... the repressed teenage wlw inside me LIVES

Yuki and Toya tag-teaming as the Sakura Support Team my heart!!

Geolocating someone from a fax... the incredible 90sness of this act....

I seriously don’t understand this world in which you leave 5- and 10-year-olds unattended for hours where are your child welfare laws

I am really choosing to ignore how absolutely bananas the concept of Tomoyo having a hidden Sakura Movie Theatre is

Speaking of weird, are we just trusting that this old man is normal? Is everyone doing that? I’m still not ready to trust yet the Sakura’s dad situation really burned me

“Girls look their best when they smile” a sweet thought that would not fly if an old man I just met told me that lmao

I’m REALLY not trusting this old man dressing up this girl in his dead (missing?) granddaughter’s clothes and staring broodily when she mentions there is a parent with her

“My great-granddaughter seemed happy” YOUR WHAT NOW 

Their school trips seem much more fun than ours were we never went to the beach or fishing or got disappeared briefly in a cave

It continues to be funny how Sakura and Li have 0% tension re: Clow Cards, 99% tension re: Yukito who is already in a committed Something or the Other with Sakura’s brother

“Why were you on the roof” “Because it’s nice out today” LOL YUKITO

There’s no rhyme or reason to these card types huh some are like “I will destroy an entire zoo for fun” and other ones are like “mood lighting :)”

Sakura really isn’t out here to teach us any lessons lol it’s really a ‘get others to do your homework if you can get away with it’ episode

Rounding out the triad of superpowered pre-teens with Meilin I suppose

“Syaoran is my fiance” I have had it up to HERE with this anime cousinfuckery I don’t CARE if it’s cool in Japan or Hong Kong or whatever STOP BEING WEIRD WITH YOUR COUSINS

Poor Syaoran he was doing so well with getting along with Sakura until Meilin got here

"It was done by a girl again?” Oh my god is Meilin beating up grown men in parks for street cred

“It seems our relationship chart has gotten rather complicated” Tomoyo probably means astrology chart but here’s my understanding so far:

Speaking of complex relationships I wonder how Meilin will react to Syaoran’s crush on Yuki

This rivalry between Sakura and Meilin could not be more one-sided

I really was wondering for a second if the card was going to split in half

I love the vibe of Sakura and Toya teaming up to help their creepy dad but even MORE SO I love that Yukito is In This Household

“The contents are already up here” This episode really doesn’t hit the same way now that cloud storage exists and also what were all those floppy disks for if not to save your work Mr. Kinomoto

I love that Tomoyo always pulls her weight in her superhero sidekick role like she is here to support and help whenever needed 

Sakura using her powers to impress her crush with a ghost duet lmao these priorities 

“Sakura’s Little Adventure” I see what u did there

Kero’s little shoulder pat with his paw to let Sakura know he’s there aw

Omg this Clow Card is so cute “Is it your fault I’m so small now?” [nods pleasantly]

It is very bold of Sakura to be doing magic so casually when her brother and Yuki are right downstairs 

I like that this show recognizes the inherent intimacy of allowing someone to cut your hair

“Information about you has gotten around to the cards” well this is an ominous start to this funky tarot reading

Well the experience of seeing his little sister try to murder him has got to be traumatizing for Toya I hope he doesn’t remember this

UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM DID TOYA JUST FALL OFF OF A CLIFF

“Can you give me a break... and stop looking like Sakura” EXCUSE ME

“My mom’s up there too, so say hi to her for me” OH MY GOOOOD TOYA REALLY DOES SEE GHOSTS AHHHHHHHHHHH

WAIT SO IT WAS A CLOW CARD DOES TOYA HAVE MAGICAL POWERS TOO

Omg @ Toya feeding Yuki from his bed this really is an intimate episode

I kind of appreciate the slow build of this show like it took them 25 episodes to introduce meaningful stakes

“But it might be tougher than the earth going ‘boom!’ Depending on who you are...” Well hello threatening figure in sunglasses standing outside Sakura’s house what’s up

“I’ll look the other way” Ms Mizuki is literally this meme:

I can only assume that if Toya knows Ms. Mizuki then she must be a ghost

Personally if Mizuki gives Syaoran the heebie jeebies I trust his instincts

“Um... do you like Yukito too?” Oh my goooood they’re sincerely discussing being Not Straight in middle school in this 90s anime that I watched when I was 7 I cannot believe

“And it’s been a year since you told me you loved me here” WHY DOES EVERYONE IN THIS FAMILY WANT TO DATE SOMEONE TOO OLD FOR THEM WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING DATING SOMEONE TOYA’S AGE MIZUKI

Also I have to rethink every thought I had about Toya being gay. I mean bi is great too but my thoughts..... racing...........

“Because the next time I see you, you’ll have someone else that you’ll be in love with” Yukito BF confirmed but oh my GOD this relationship chart IS complicated good lord

If there’s anything the episode “Sakura and Her Shrine of Memories” has taught me it’s that everyone in this show is bisexual and all teachers in their neighbourhood should be in jail

I understand that Meilin is a kid but poor Syaoran he is constantly being harassed 

I love Yuki’s bottomless stomach lmao

Syaoran and Sakura have such a genuinely supportive relationship but it is very funny how they try simultaneously to get Yuki’s attention with the exact same words

“I’ve been thinking for a while that Mr. Terada is a lot like my dad” oh thank you Rika for someone finally being normal in this show

“Well it’s a harmless one” You see this is what I mean the dichotomy of Clow Cards is like... “I’m going trap you in a maze until you perish” or “I’m gonna give you a sugar rush :]”

I like that Sakura and Syaoran are starting to partner up as a duo on purpose like yessss I love a 1-2 finish and friendship development

Ahhh poor Syaoran he’s realizing that Yukito’s #1 in his life is the Kinomoto fam

We’re all familiar with the eternal struggle of whether using ur superpowers for school sports is cheating 

AWWW SYAORAN USING HIS POWERS FOR MAGICAL PEP TALKS AFTER HE HELPED TURN REI’S PET FOX INTO A POKEMON CARD THAT’S MY BOOOOY

“I will stomp on him” it’s been 31 episodes let Sakura stomp on her brother

Oh my GOOOD does this Big card mean that Sakura WILL FINALLY STOMP ON TOYA LMAO

Ur telling me that no one else in this ENTIRE TOWN notices this altercation of a giant preteen vs a dragon

Why does the logic for how voices travel based on size apply for the Little card (when Toya was speaking) and not for the Big card (when Sakura is speaking)

Sgskdhgkhkgjh honestly body switching as a trope will never not be funny

Syaoran blushing and running away from Sakura oh how the turn tables

Every domestic scene that Yuki and Toya have adds ten years to my life we love some gay/bi teens about to be gay/bi adults

Ffskhhfkj I absolutely cannot relate to this Southern Hemisphere nonsense of finding ten degrees celsius arctic cold like BRO that is a normal spring day here

“We’re not frozen because we have magical powers” I know that cutaway was to confirm Mizuki’s magical powers again but this would’ve been a hilarious time to reveal that like Yamazaki the Compulsively Lying Classmate had powers

Awwww he likes her now that’s cute 

“I got work that day” I will bet someone ten dollars that Toya is working at that quiz rally

Update from 5 minutes later: PAYPAL ME $10

Kero keeps whispering to the moon when in fact some iteration of the moon is right around the corner (literally)

GOOOOOOOOD SYAORAN REALIZING HE HAS A CRUSH ON BOTH HALVES OF THAT TEAM KILLS ME SWEET BOY

Shared Gaze of People Who Have Dated* Toya and Have Magical Powers They Haven’t Revealed Yet

*Go to jail Mizuki

I am really going crazy wondering when they’re gonna reveal stuff about Yukito like bitchhhhhhh I know you’re a moon man when will u tellll usss

How many more times will Sakura have this same threatening dream before she realizes her math teacher is probably going to try to kill her

Update from one minute later: I guess it was exactly one more time

“That’s right, Yukito’s birthday is on Christmas day” is this coming to be a coming of age where he like suddenly sprouts wings at age 17

I’ve been thinking this for a while but this show makes it seem like Japan has a much more fun approach to athletics than my school experiences

Yukito really is unflappable about hanging out with a bunch of kids half his height huh he’s like the Fourth Grader Whisperer

I KNEW IT YUKITO NEVER GOES WITH SAKURA ANYWHERE UNLESS HER BROTHER WILL ALSO BE WORKING THERE DFHKDFHKJ every time it’s just “Hey Toya :)”

“This kid...” HAHAH TOYA HAS JUST REALIZED THAT SYAORAN HAS A CRUSH ON HIS LITTLE SISTER AND HIS BOYFRIEND THE UTTER SUSPICION IN HIS TONE

“Wind become a binding chain” Whoops Sakura foiled by 4th grade knowledge of the elements

Oh shiiiit love a world-building moment now we have two card combos in play ayyyyy

Lmao @ Kero using his returned powers immediately for fireworks mood lighting is a serious Clow Card priority

“I would like to come again this year” everything in this show feels like foreshadowing for dramatic irony

[joecial-distancing]

2019 in review in review:

A few years ago I started tracking yearly goals, books read, movies watched etc in a year, along with overview blurbs, in private posts. End of 2019/beginning of 2020 I was really frazzled/burned out about a lot of stuff and just never finished up making the thing. 8 months later, got the urge to read back what I’d got done, then figured I’d maybe go ahead and see about finishing. 

Media tracking below the break. thoughts/blurbs written in 2020 italicized, 2019 not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_____________________________~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Didn’t do so hot on explicit personal goals, but had a lot of stuff go ok around them this year.

School’s been fine/better than fine.

Job’s probably the biggest failing. Still with same job, haven’t made the firm moves to jump off, dragging my feet too much on exploring stuff w/ Columbia/NASA GISS.

Did not get better with covid, lol

Dating life still non-existent, but I’ve registered on apps, gotten more comfortable with selfies, improved general social life dramatically, been flirted with, updated my wardrobe, and generally started to get comfortable accepting that I’m a hot person.

Somehow got extremely better during covid.

Books

Grant (finished)

We stan a taurus legend

Guy was good at exactly one job, and was fortunate enough to have been in the right place/right time to get to do it.

Mort (discworld)

Definitely best discworld I’ve gotten to so far.

Don Quixote p. II

Really entertaining in a way that part 1 wasn’t; I was shocked how much the meta element landed for me.

Consider the Lobster (DFW collection)

had zero context on who DFW is/was when I read, and still don’t exactly tbh. Wanted to wait for a pause in The Discourse before diving into more of him, but dunno if I’m ever going to get that.

Crime and Punishment (revisited)

Weirdly didn’t get much more out of this than I did the first time I’d read it

Better Than Sex (HST Gonzo papers)

Xerox/widespread fax accessibility opening citizen access to mass media in a manner really reminiscent of what social media would go on to do at a much larger scale. Has a much more deliberate narrative arc than the other gonzo papers collections, also has that excellent HST richard nixon eulogy

The Brothers Karamazov

SPQR

Slouching Towards Bethlehem (Didion collection)

Pet Sematary

Not my favorite King, but not bad

Sourcery (discworld)

still funny/charming, but Mort really made clear/reminded me how much the hapless sadsack Rincewind mold of protagonist wears on me after a while.

The Devil's Teeth

My Year of Rest and Relaxation

Liked it a lot more once I realized it was doing a Fear and Loathing thing.

Homage to Catalonia

This should be the Orwell that gets taught in schools. Make it a followup to All Quiet on the Western Front or something, jeez.

Lyndon Johnson I

Having now finished all of them, this one’s probably the least-interesting but sets up a bunch of important context that the others still then feel the need to retread.

The Razor's Edge

Recommended to me as a “white guy discovers eastern mysticism” book, but also is more interesting in its treatment of that than I’d expected (helps it was written in the 40s). 

Cat's Cradle

There’s a part in this where Vonnegut’s making fun of people who try to bond with strangers over being Hoosiers, and my dumbass immediate thought was “ooh, Vonnegut’s a hoosier? Me too!”

Lyndon Johnson II

Robert Caro felt compelled to apologize for spending so much words lionizing Coke Stevens, segregationist opponent to Johnson’s senate run. His goal was pretty clearly to show lbj’s lack of campaign charisma by contrast, definitely definitely overcommitted in his own narrativising.

Libra

I want to go back to this after reading some more De Lillo.

Gravity's Rainbow

This book absolutely kicked my ass

Overstuffed and referential in a specific way that really keeps me hooked in instead of put off. When I learn about some piece of cultural context that I retroactively recognize as being referenced in this, I want to go back and reread the entire thing.

From Caligari to Hitler

Kind of fails both as film criticism and cultural analysis, but absolutely made me want to run for the hills when considering current relationship between mainstream movies and demands of pop culture.

I took a class on Weimar cinema in undergrad that I now realize was probably biting pretty heavily from this and never once referenced it.

Movies

Venom

Movie itself is not as fun as the Tom Hardy hype coverage. PG13 was the absolute worst space to aim for, PG- or R- versions of this could have been a blast.

Harryhauser Argonauts

Was tripping when I put this on, and it was all kinds of fun.

2001: a Space Oddyssey

First time seeing this, all-time classic for a reason!

A Good American (the NSA doc)

Dr. Strangelove

Mel Brooks History of the World p. I

Not my favorite Brooks, best joke was at the beginning.

In Bruges

Had been a while since I saw a proper dark comedy.

Spiderverse

Fukkin awesome!

Visually great, and extremely better than usual superhero stuff for being aimed at PG instead of PG-13.

You Only Live Twice

Highlander (Revisited)

I watched The Old Guard on netflix recently and it mostly just made me wish I was watching Highlander instead, because at least Highlander knows exactly how goofy it is

Moonraker

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Much like The Shining, I though this would have been 100% spoiled for me by cultural osmosis, but turns out it wasn’t, and even the scenes I had seen *totally landed* in-context still.

Kung Fu Hustle

Ichi the Killer

Really gross, really fun

Matrix Reloaded (watched thru highway scene) (Revisited)

The highway scene was not nearly as cool as I remembered it being.

John Wick 3*

Probably dumbest plot of all of them, best choreography. I like how every single fight had its own distinct flavor. “Knife museum fight” “horse fight” “halle berry dogs fight” 

Akira

A classic

Pet Sematary * (ugh, bad)

Why can’t john lithgow be in good movies anymore

The Revenant

MCU Spiderman

Fuck this was awful.

MCU Spiderman 2*

Really weird, complete Rorschach Test of a movie: it’d be totally valid to read into this that global warming is Fake News, for instance.

Lmao this was completely awful

Rites

Dredd (non-stallone)

oh hey Lena Headey’s in this

For All Mankind!

Watched in honor of moon landing anniversary

Lion King *

Watched it way too stoned, was like dark side of the moon + wizard of oz except instead it’s a lion king script reading + nature footage edited for lip syncing.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood *

Many scenes of very long setups for really stupid shaggy dog jokes, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. I do kinda want to rewatch now knowing more about manson, which I knew pretty much nothing about beforehand

Blowout

A good john lithgow movie

also I think I like travolta in things.

Lord of War

A Good cage movie

I like when Eamon Walker shows up in stuff.

Taxi Driver

A classic

Snowpiercer

Watched in a bar with only one speaker working, which is the correct way to watch. Weirder and funnier than I thought it was going to be, which still doesn’t make it good, but,

dbz big green dub

Exorcist III

Brad Dourif just tearing it apart

Deep Red (argento)

Suspiria (1977)

Watched the remake in 2020, which was ok, but nothing tops the Goblin score.

Elf Bowling

Thanks, Gnome

Parasite *

Interesting to me that this one seems poised to hang around people’s good esteem for a while

TV

FMA: B

Rick & Morty

Saw some episodes, generally pretty funny, some misanthropy that’s probably appealing to a certain type of teen al a something like House, but ultimately I don’t totally Get the intensity of discourse about it.

Leterkenny

Mob Psycho 100

One Punch Man

Deadwood

Watchmen

Only watched like half of it. Was playing around with a lot of hefty imagery/thematics, but didn’t really seem ready to rise above playing (tho also I feel like it’s weird on some level to *expect* them to rise above that in the first place)

Music

New Avantasia

HEALTH/ show

lol remember concerts

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard/ show

Just learned about King Gizz in 2019 and got completely obsessed with them. I don’t tend to expand my music selection very readily, and a lot of what I currently *do* know is old/inactive stuff, so it was/is incredibly exciting to have an active group with good momentum just immediately win me over like that.

Mistimed the edibles and ended up with a really good finale and a really long subway ride home.

New Yeasayer

Sad they split up

Steve Wilson Tull remixes

Aqualung’s a good album and the sound mixing’s kinda bad, so I liked this project.

Stonefield

Opened for Gizzard. Really good as studying music

Video Games

Civ VI: Gathering Storm

Hades

Turns out Supergiant’s design proclivities all work *extremely well* on a roguelike

Baba is You

Untitled Goose Game

Cute, if maybe a bit overhyped

finally fucking finished Pillars of Eternity

Had fun with it, but too long, and really dour for how long it is.

Pillars II

Kinda drifted off it eventually, but I do genuinely like that the flavor of the fantasy is colonial era rather than medieval.

There’s a Balancing Bastard Factions element where it’s like the writers are just being smartasses after a while. Having to go extremely out of their way to make siding with colonizers seem like a competitive option.

Pokemon shield

Cuphead

pisses me off, which was a nice outlet when I was stranded by flight cancellations during thanksgiving

Celeste

Also very difficult, but really easy to stay patient with, which is nice.

Disco Elysium

None of the discourse made me want to play this, but people talking about the mechanical stuff it did got me extremely interested. Mostly Delivered IMO.

Breath of the Wild

You can approach the nodes of the main quest in the order you choose, and the second one I chose made ninjas start fucking spawning everywhere when I’m just trying to explore, and there’s no way to make it stop. May go back to it one day.

Podcasts

Relentless Picnic Patreon feed

The treats really helped me start distinguishing individual personalities, compared to the regular eps.

Picnic Discord!

<3

FatT Counterweight

Fun, but also I think Mechs are not my shit.

FatT Spring in Hieron/ end of that particular world

8 months since I’ve last tuned into FatT. ah well.

Law School

He’s in everythiiiing!

You Must Remember This: Manson family

*There’s* the context

Misc.

Kindle train guy

Times Square sleeping guy + kids taking selfies w/ him

toddler singing along after Psycho killer (a, ya, ya ya, ya)

drunk and dragged to a drag show

Central park football family

Soft Steel Drum Subway Busker

Weird old lady going to grand central for oysters

2018 in review (cards):

MySelf (CC)

Self: Tower

Blocked: 10 Cups

Ethereal/subconscious: 8 Swords

Material: 3 Swords

Past: Justice

Future: Page Wands

Attitude: Sun

External: King Swords

Hopes/Fears: 5 Coins

Trajectory: High Priestess

Also Self:

Hierophant

7 Cups

7 Coins

Blind Spot:

(self & others): 5 cups    ||    (others not self): High Priestess

(self not others): Moon   ||    (nobody): 3 Cups

[mysterylover123]

BNHA Rewatch: Episode 44 “Roaring Upheaval”

mysterylover123

In which Deku’s panic about Kacchan gives me too many feels.

Poor Tokoyami. He looks like he’s being swallowed up by a monster. 

Deku has a hard choice to make and of course he makes the choice that makes me love him the most.

DAMN THAT LOOK IN HIS EFFING EYES!!!!

Back to TodoBaku bickering again. Any ship of Kacchan’s that doesn’t involve “like an old married couple” bickering is doing it wrong.

The faces of two guys who know they’re screwed.

Deku there are no words to describe how much I love you and your brilliant, kind, insane mind. You are seriously the smartest and best of all characters and I swear my undying loyalty to you for all time. (my reaction to Deku’s plan)

I love this peak into how Deku’s mind works.

Hey guess who figured out Deku’s plan right away and even improved on it?

Smoldering TodoBaku flames!

Tokoyami and Shoji angst and bromance! Kinda ship it.

OOH BOY CONFUSED KACCHAN! THIS ADORABLE IMAGE, THE MOST PRECIOUS THING IN THIS ARC SHORT ONLY OF THOSE DEKU-TRYING-TO-USE-PARENTS-QUIRKS SCENE. HE’S SO CUTE AND KITTENY I JUST WANNA RUFFLE HIS HAIR.

“We could take on All Might” haha yeah right of course they immediately lose Kacchan after Deku makes that arrogant a statement.

Tsuchako vs Toga! This will be epic and bloody.

Toga is so freaking cute and crazy in all the right ways. Maybe she really is Deku’s best girlfriend, they’re exactly alike.

URARAKA AWESOMENESS!!!!

Uraraka’s annoying crush counter: 8 I think. And this is probably one of the most bizarre of all of them. Honestly, this scene just...freaks me out. Like, what are we meant to take from this scene? That Uraraka’s crush on Deku is like Toga’s obsessive, horrific murderlust? WHY? What does this add to their “romance” (which I now say in quotation marks, because I think romance needs to be mutual, and this has become completely one-sided now.)

My best takeaway from this scene is that Uraraka is not, in fact, in love with Deku, but rather wants to be just like him (and she does! Check out the Imitation essay for more), that she envies him his strength and power and wants to be like him the same way he wants to be like All Might, and that that desire is toxic to her - and therefore, she has to “put her feelings away”. That, perhaps, maybe why this arc really annoys me: not because Ochako “gets in the way” of other ships I like better (I do like Izuocha!) but because the story keeps implying that her relationship with him is toxic and obsessive while dressing it up like a cute love story. Why can’t she just like him and admire him, huh?

Toga is me here.

Oh fuck you Mr Compress

Poor Aoyama! Bb you saved Tokoyami later I don’t hold this against ya.

MOMO IS THE BEST YALL WOW SHE’S SO COOOL

Friendly reminder that Momo saved everyone and "group that could take on All Might” let him get snatched in about 5 minutes.

THIS IS THE FACE OF A MAN WHOSE SO HAS BEEN TAKEN AND WILL NOT REST UNTIL HE IS SAFE. NO ONE SHOULD EVER FUCK WITH DEKU’S VERY OWN KACCHAN UNLESS THEY WANNA DIE.

Holy shit he has the most beautiful eyes.

His other ships express their concern for him. Probably annoyed that he’s being ignored for Katsuki.

Ochako too. This, bTW, is the kind of Izuocha stuff I actually like. Just, nice friendship and taking care of each other (Well, OK, Ochako taking care of Deku. We need more of him taking care of her, please and thank you.)

And also Toga reminding us that she likes Deku too.

Speaking of. Yeesh he’s terrifying.

This one is intense as shit. I’m so enthralled by it, it’s hard to look away. Intense and really emotional all the way through, with everyone doing their best and still failing - you gotta admit, that’s one of the hardest things to watch in a show. To see characters you love in this much pain, it’s just agonizing. And it’s only gonna get worse. This arc is intense, no wonder I binge-watched through it the first time around.

BKDK CORNER

Behold the “Oh crap Deku got beaten up again how to express concern in my angry Bakugo way I don’t know does not compute” face.

HOW DARE YOU THATS MY KACCHAN

Holy Crap I was just kidding with the DBZ reference, that’s actually what he says! Compress calling him out for how devoted he is. 

He’s right, though. That is his Kacchan. Hands off, ya smug bastard.

BEST GIRL OF THE EP: No new best girls this ep. I think I’m just gonna turn this into a MVP Girl corner instead until new ones show up. For this ep and this entire arc, the award goes to Momo Yaoyorozu. We’d all be screwed without her.

RANKER: Favorite LOV Quirks

5. Compression - Mr. Compress

4. Blue Flame - Dabi

3. Copy - Twice

2. All-for-One - All for One

1. Transform - Himiko Toga

[themattress]

Rewatch: My Bride is a Mermaid Ep 9 - 11

In which I watch three episodes, each better than the last.

Except for their endings, which somehow keep getting worse.

Episode 9: The Running Man

OK, so much happen in these episodes that I’m doing this with bullet points.

- “SUN! YOU JUST HIT A CELEBRITY IN THE FACE WITH A VOLLEYBALL!”  Right off the bat, Lunar loses all of that menace she had in the previous two episodes. What a dork!

- Kai Mikawa is introduced, crashing though the gym floor with a submarine. He’s a jerk who throws his power and money around to solve his problems, but a highly entertaining one.

- That flashback to child Kai and child Sun was hilarious and adorable.

- Kai has severe agoraphobia. He would thrive in the current conditions of the world.

- The midway point of the episode is clearly where Kai’s debut chapter in the manga ended, with him seemingly leaving to go on a journey of self-improvement for Sun’s sake only to show up as a new classmate the next day. The second half of the episode is a completely different story about a school field day, with the only link being Kai’s heavy involvement.

- Kai reveals his famous space suit, the only way he can get around his problem with being outdoors. He also gains a devoted servant in Chimp, who betrays Nagasumi and even tries to launch missiles at him from Kai’s submarine. Damn it, why couldn’t you stay Chimp Roshi? Actually, great things come out of this Kai/Chimp alliance later on, so I should be grateful.

- Sun’s team is rightfully losing, so Gozaburo fucking cheats and declares the final event to be worth a ridiculously large amount of points so that if Sun’s team win it, they win the whole field day. But ha ha, this plan fails when a downpour of rain incapacitates the merpeople.

- Seeing Kai flopping around on the track as an orca whale is just....what!?

- The episode ends abruptly: Sun sings her ridiculous sleep song to put everyone to sleep, and then there’s a brief scene with all the girls talking before Nagasumi, Kai and Chimp’s faces get superimposed onto a rainbow and Kai’s voice saying something like “I’ll get you next time, Nagasumi Michishio!” Really? They couldn’t think of a better way to end it?

Episode 10: Iron Man

- This episode introduces one of the most famous characters from this series: Lunar’s father, the boss of the Edomae Gang, who is a total Terminator parody. Seeing this huge, seemingly emotionless, Arnold Schwarzenegger-looking guy as an overprotective dad is hysterical.

- Nagasumi spends the start of the episode being menacingly stalked by Papa Edomae and trying to convince all his doubting friends that he really saw such a monster of a man. This would have worn thin if it’s all the episode was, but thankfully it switches gears pretty quickly.

- Mawari throttles Chimp. I fucking love you, Mawari!

- A long chase scene with Nagasumi and Kai running from Papa Edomae occurs, with them trying every possible hiding place, getaway route, or means of defense (Kai even pulls a Karin Kanzuki and tries to blow Papa Edomae up with a satellite beam), but nothing works. 

- So Kai’s dead, then? But he only just got introduced! 

- Sun comes in to protect Nagasumi, which isn’t a surprise. But Gozaburo coming in to protect them both is, and Nagasumi is astounded by his heroism as he holds his own against Papa Edomae in a brutal 1-on-1 battle that, like episode 8′s climax, seems very DBZ-inspired.

- Papa Edomae’s identity is revealed, he goes into a flaming dumpster and, in a parody of Terminator 2, gives a thumbs up while saying “Hasta La Vista, baby!” And that’s the end. Again, pretty abrupt. You would think we’d get more from Lunar at the end than we did.

- Another Masa Today omake, with Maki getting her comeuppance for that stunt she pulled two episodes ago: first locked in a cage and then flushed down the toilet! Damn, that’s harsh.

Episode 11: Armageddon

- Chimp Roshi is back! But damn it, he’s indulging in the perverted side of Roshi, which isn’t any different from how he usually acts! And now Kai is in on this creepy-ass behavior too?

- Lunar is devastated at having gained weight and immediately decides to go on a crash diet, which she drags Sun into, which in turn drags Gozaburo into it. Oh, this is going to be fun!

- Masa and Shark Fujishiro run their own mermaid telemarketing channel in their off time. It’s supposed to make funds for the Seto Gang, yet Gozaburo buys from it himself to help with Sun and Lunar’s exercising! And then Fujishiro buys from it as well! These people are idiots!

- Nagasumi accidentally drinks mermaid bottled water, which has a negative effect on humans...specifically, it makes him grow gigantic and turn into a mindless rampaging beast!

- Mawari sees a giant, naked Nagasumi and decides she’s overworking herself.

- Class Rep sees a giant, naked Nagasumi and decides she needs new glasses.

- It’s Kai to the rescue when he hits Nagasumi with a rocket ship and sends him to the moon before he can smash up the town. But then he takes it too far and launches missiles at the moon to kill his rival with. “Time for you to DIE, Nagasumi Michishio!” Gee-zuz, Kai! O_O

- Gozaburo is also hilariously ecstatic about this development, but poor Sun is devastated. It’s brief, but we actually see Lunar looking concerned and saying “Sun...” softly. Awww! 

- That Lance of Longilus-inspired mermaid spear actually ends up playing a pivotal role in the climax of the manga, but here its main use is for one of the funniest jokes in the series. Sun gives her dramatic speech and catchphrase amidst the falling sakura petals, gets ready to throw the spear at the moon...and then trips and falls down. And then Octopus Nishijima lands on the spear and breaks it. Needless to say, Sun’s mind breaks at the exact same time.

- But it’s OK, because order one spear from Masa’s TV channel and get a second free!

- The episode could have ended on a funny yet touching note with Sun and Nagasumi, but it fucks up at the last minute by having it end on more abuse given to poor Nagasumi from his awful parents. Child abuse is something that is extremely hard to make funny, and I’m sorry, this show does not manage it. Gozaburo is Nagasumi’s unwilling father-in-law, so him beating up Nagasumi is funny. Nagasumi’s actual father beating him up, otoh, is just aggravating.

[slothcritic]

Dragon Ball Z Abridged - Episode 9 Review

Consistently funny. The weak points do not drag this episode down.

The Set Up begins with a great cold open. Piccolo is drop-dead unconscious on the ground, Gohan is desperately trying to wake him up, and Krillin is anxiously awaiting for Goku to show up. After all, he’s their friend who would never let them down right? Meanwhile... Goku is busy eating at Jadoshin's palace. Even as a departure from the original series, I like the idea that the two of them made up and are friends now. Jadoshin, however, has to remind Goku about the Saiyans. Goku then runs out in a panic.

[Title Sequence]

Piccolo isn't getting up and Nappa needs a new toy. He chooses Gohan seemingly at random from the two remaining, and floors him in one kick.

"Wooo! Not me!"

When Krillin isn't being the resident Milhouse, he's the rimshot comedian. The joy doesn't last for much longer though, as Gohan stays down.

Nappa is about to tear Krillin a new one, when the bald monk suddenly screams out that it's his turn. And for some glorious reason, this actually works on Nappa. This is some straight up Looney Tunes, "Duck Season, Fire!" type tomfoolery.

Vegeta does not handle Nappa's stupidity very well, and in his anger does a fourth wall break where he references a timestamp in the video. This is kind of clever and a bit of a break from the other fourth wall jokes that they've done so far, but I feel like it could lose its charm if it's done more than once. As for the timestamp itself, which is at 9:18 in the video... we'll get to that later.

Krillin decides to use the Destructo-Kienzan, and Vegeta shouts a warning to Nappa that it's a trick.

"But Vegeta... tricks are for kids."

The tense background music just completely stops here, but you can still hear the vibrations of the kienzan in the background. Great sound design. The long pause afterwards is also well timed, and Vegeta takes up the "fuck it, you wanna die, then die." mentality with Nappa. This skit is succinct, well paced and well editied.

Nappa receives a deep cut to the face for his troubles, as it just nearly takes his head off. Nappa laments his modeling career, and the scene cuts to a photoshopped rendition of Nappa on Vogue magazine. The bald, beautiful Saiyan, and his 10 tips on being a better lover!

This might have been a joke before its time, or perhaps the intention was different while writing this in 2009, but Nappa shows us all what a "nice guy" he was trying to be during all of this, and now decides "okay, full ultra-violence it is!" and fades Krillin with a white sparkly angel dust attack. I'm sure it has an actual cool sounding name (Like "Galaxy Breaker" or something) but I'm going to keep calling it the white sparkly angel dust attack. The owned counter ticks up to 8 here, but it doesn't feel deserved.

Piccolo jumps up with an "I'm back" and shoots Nappa... in the back. He sees what you did there. Just as Piccolo and Nappa are about to throw down, Gohan appears out of nowhere and roundhouse kicks him through a boulder. More indication that Gohan has some incredible hidden power inside of him. This surprises Piccolo, and Gohan is initially apologetic, but Piccolo begs for him to stay angry before Nappa just as quickly hops back to his feet.

It turns out Gohan hit Nappa so hard that he turned Italian. Seems a little out of left field, but why not. The "I'm a firing my laser" reference is perhaps the most dated thing I've seen since Episode 1. Would this even count as a meme? Wasn't "Firin Mah Laser" something that came out before the word meme even became popular as a way of describing internet fads, jokes, templates and trends? Back when Demotivational Posters and I Can Haz Cheeseburger ruled the internet? Truthfully, I loved this joke when it came out, but now all it does is remind me of the proto-internet days. And part of me feels weird for being nostalgic about that, because I just know someone in their 30's is going to read this and roll their eyes saying "Oh God, I'm getting old", in much the same way I'll feel horrified when people start to become nostalgic for Fortnite in the next 10 or 20 years.

Back to the episode, Piccolo's sacrifice happens right about here, and the scene does a good job of pointing out a plot contrivance in the source material. Piccolo could have just grabbed Gohan and moved out of the way. Though the scene plays up the amount of time Piccolo had to work with, there was still nothing stopping him from just grabbing him and chucking him like a bag of potatoes out of the way, even in the original. However, if Piccolo doesn't die, there's no real reason to go to Namek. What I think might be a more practical reason is that, this is a turning point for Piccolo as a character where he starts thinking emotionally. It's no real secret across both the canon and the abridged material that Piccolo is actually a pretty decent parent. So this right here is the idea of Piccolo more or less abandoning rational thought and considered only protecting Gohan. That contrasts a little with the ruthless, methodical, cunning, intelligent character he's been shown to be, just to throw that all away to save him, but the contrivance definitely becomes less egregious when you consider these factors.

However you want to address it, then end result is that Piccolo sacrifices himself to protect Gohan. In the original this is capped off with Piccolo comparing Gohan to his son, which is what Gohan begins to explain before Piccolo calls him a nerd. In this series however, Piccolo laments one final time:

"Why... didn't you... DODGE!!!"

Bleh. And with Piccolo's death, Kami is soon to follow. He explains the Namekian Dragon Balls to Mr Popo, and the long (very long) journey that must be undertook in order to revive everyone, but Mr Popo outright refuses and simply reminds Kami of the pecking order. Kami dies, and thus the Dragon Balls become inert.

Back at the battlefield, Vegeta was busy reading an issue of that very same Vogue magazine with Nappa on the cover and thus didn't see him kill Piccolo, like a mother three sangria's deep at her kid's soccer practice.

I've never much cared for Gohan's exasperated expletives in this or any scene in DBZA. This one in particular doesn't sit well with me simply because they went to the effort of being purposefully verbose but then still chose to use the word "condom" over "contraceptive" - A condom is made of latex, whereas a contraceptive is any kind of device at all that prevents pregnancy. As an example, some of the first contraceptives in history were made from linen and animal intestines, while the condom itself wasn't invented until 1855. Gohan specifically saying he's going to use Nappa's intestines as a condom serves the same purpose either way, but “contraceptive” would’ve been more technically accurate, in a bit of dialogue that is purposefully trying to be technically accurate. I wouldn't be picking on the semantics so much if that weren't the express purpose of this entire scene. Also it has more syllables and therefore sounds more smarterer.

Nappa gives this scene the backhand and the "bitch please" it deserves and we're done with that.

"Everyone important to you is dead." "Hey I'm still alive--" "EVERYONE important." "...Damn it."

See, this is where the Krillin Owned count should have gone up.

After Nappa doesn't smash, Goku appears on the battlefield. His reaction to showing up too late and everyone being dead is uncharacteristically deadpan, and it's hilarious. He asks where Chiaotzu is, and Krillin gives him the Achmed the Dead Terrorist explanation. Over there, over there, and up there. I'm not actually sure if this episode predates Jeff Dunham or not, but I enjoy both, both used the same joke at least once, and both make me laugh so I'm drawing the comparison anyways.

Goku asks why everyone is dead and Nappa immediately and without hesitation calls dibs. This leads into one of most famous and iconic scenes, if only for meme reasons, in all of DBZ.

"Vegeta, what does the scouter say about his power level?" "It's... 1006." "Wha-- Really?" "Yeah. Kick his ass, Nappa!"

Not gonna lie, this genuinely made me burst into laughter the first time I saw it. I don't know if it was just shock value or what, but it doesn't have the same effect now that I know it's coming every time I rewatch this episode. I just love the idea of the scouter being upside-down and Vegeta not questioning it. An even better headcanon is that the scouter was never upside-down, Vegeta was just getting tired of Nappa's bullshit and just decided to send him into an ass-kicking anyways.

We're treated to a solid 15 seconds of Nappa getting completely curbstomped while the various characters look on in shock and awe, until Nappa gets dumped at Vegeta's feet.

It's also here that Vegeta finally learns that Piccolo's life is directly intertwined with the Dragon Balls. I believe this was already established in the original series, but no such conversation ever occurred here. Vegeta has quite simply lost his chance at immortality and it’s all because of Nappa.

I actually wonder how an immortal Saiyan would work. They receive a Zenkai boost, which makes them stronger when they almost die, but if you can't ever die, you can't ever “almost” die either, so you wouldn't get the Zenkai boost and your power wouldn't increase that way. Then again, most expectations of logic or consistency within Dragon Ball are pretty much always doomed.

Speaking of doomed, remember that timestamp at 9:18 that Vegeta referenced earlier? Because Vegeta certainly does, and with both the camel’s and Nappa's back having officially been broken, Nappa is sent to the shadow realm in a blinding flash of light and a massive explosion.

Vegeta's smirk is all we needed to close out this episode. There is no stinger.

Conclusion

Really good episode, actually. I wouldn't consider it as strong as Episode 7, but it definitely holds the same energy throughout. There are more high quality comedic moments in this episode than I could count on both hands. At worst some of the dialogue was uninteresting, pointless or overproduced, but the average pace of this episode rests rather highly compared to its valleys.

Microphone quality and sound mixing on some pieces of dialogue is still meh. Krillin's first line in this episode peaks the audio or something similar, because it takes me out for a hot second just because it's so sudden and emphatic.

We also see a slight evolution in the dynamic between Vegeta and Nappa which keeps things fresh. This is becoming less of a deadpan snarker and over the top clown, treads more into the ticking time bomb territory which is great for slowly building tension, and not unjustly as it has a satisfying payoff.

Plot holes in the original are addressed and lampooned here, creative jokes such as the Vogue Nappa and “1006″ are present and accounted for, and on the whole there's a lot of very on the mark humor, and only some of it is overdone. The story for this episode also holds significant weight and momentum, and it all blends together quite well with an above-average script and some great visual and audio edits.

Score: 77

Passing Thoughts

"Riiiiiicola!" - Oh hey, it's this again.

"Oh and I totally killed that guy. Oh well, at least we still had fun getting here, right Vegeta? Vegeta? Remember the bug planet? Vegeta? Vegeta? Vegeta? Vegeta? Vegeta? Vegeta? Vege-- AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!"

[redphienix]

For someone who has been practically marathoning DBZ fighterz content and debating on getting back into Dokkan despite losing my progress and the like- I should rewatch Dragon Ball or maybe even Z.

Still need to finish super, but truly, big interest in revisiting DB or early DBZ.

DB is my fave. And I really need to watch the rest of super already, or marathon all the movies,