#i think its just an issue with like all (mostly) teenage casts of characters that fandoms like to create age/maturity dynamics

[neolxzr]

meowmeowmeowmeowmeow did enstars fandom make shipping characters they decided were in a family dynamic problematic or something

nyanyanyanyaaynyaaa yes actually but this is not a new problem it has just been bugging me lately lol

its also not just about shipping though its also kind of about like. maturity? like i feel like people all the time place characters in a sort of family dynamic that isnt there and then baby the younger ones super hard as if they are not basically the same age

[arkus-rhapsode]

Refantazio and a lack of Romance

So I’m sure I’m not the only person to have joked that Metaphor Refantazio is fantasy persona. But as many have come to lament-unlike Persona you can’t hook up with anyone. Now according to director this was so that this more adult centric story could focus on deepening bonds based on their different lifestyles and communities rather than teenage romance.

Now there were (and are) plenty of memes about feeling robbed that you can’t marry the goth, elf, knight lady. But I think I’ve come to appreciate how this has allowed for Metaphor to avoid certain writing tropes Persona falls into. The obvious one is they don’t feel like they need to make every interaction with the protagonist and most if not all the female characters contrive some romantic or sexual tension. This more platonic approach allows the characters relationship to feel more than “hey you’re this cool guy” and “can we fake date for our support link?” It actually makes it stand out when they try to throw in some sexual tension like with Junah.

Another thing Is highlight is that Hoshino is right, the vibe of this story is more mature and adult. With a cast of mostly adults they deal with subjects that allow for character exploration in more emotionally and thematically complex way. Yet many of these characters approach their issues with a level of maturity that Persona is more about working a character up to that state of mind.

And yet they still manage to walk this line of maturity while keeping all the characters feeling human but able to care about one another in charming platonic ways. And it makes me happy knowing that this is the level of character writing we can get when there’s a more focused scope of maturing the characters without some type of player romantic gratification.

Now obviously I dont want Persona to lose that about their identity. I want it to still focus on teenagers working through their emotions. I want it to still have its tropey but charming romances in between all the high concept otherworldliness. I love my Japanese high schooler sim for what it is. I’m just saying that I’m glad that Metaphor is allowed to be what it is and not feel like Persona in fantasy cosplay. It’s offering unique experiences in ways that are different but familiar.

And besides-There’s always fanfiction and fanart.

[thomthinks]

Demonata by Darren Shan

✓ I liked it

And I hated it. It was extremely good, and extremely flawed. I wanted it to be over, at the same time, couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed it but it was so hard to get through and yet worth it.

If I haven’t made it obvious by now, I have mixed feelings on this series. And by that, I mean a lot of mixed feelings.

There are ten books in this series: 1.Lord loss 2.Demon thief 3.Slawter 4.Bec 5.Blood beast 6.Demon apocalypse 7.Death’s shadow 8.Wolf island 9.Dark calling 10.Hell’s heroes. Each book is usually less than 300 pages, and pretty easy to read.

It's young adult fantasy horror mostly aimed at younger teenagers. They’re officially listed as “middle grade” however I personally don’t think this amount of gore and horror (very descriptive & graphic) is appropriate for an 8 year old. I remember reading the first 3 books at 14 and loving them.

There are 3 protagonists present by the names of Grubbs, Kernel, and Bec. Each book is told from a different point of view.

Now on to my opinion (minor spoilers):

The first 4 books? Great. Amazing. Perfect even. The ones that come after? Downhill. (Well, mostly downhill. Death’s shadow was still as good as the first ones.)

The first 4 books give the series a very strong start. Each one is about a different protagonist in a different timeline and it sets up the plot and characters quite nicely. But as soon as the timelines crash and the 3 protagonists meet and unite? The story starts becoming stale and dragging on wayyyy too much.

Each of the first 4 books have their own stand alone stories while setting up future plot points, but afterwards it’s just set up after set up, with little pay off and too high stakes, to the point that you don’t even care anymore. It kinda reminds me of MCU actually.

I mean, for example book 9. Dark calling has no actual story of its own. It’s just 186 pages of exposition about information you need to know so that the next book makes sense.

There is a sort of? Inverse? Character? Development?? I’m not sure what it’s called, but instead of unlikable characters becoming likable, the cast of lovable characters becoming completely appalling by the end.

You will start to notic a pattern when it comes to side characters. Most of which aren’t important and get introduced only to be killed later, without any purpose or development.

While I find plot twists to be one of the biggest strength of Darren Shan and I love him for it, I don’t think every single book needed to have one. Now don’t get me wrong, he writes plot twists so well, I’m in shock and awe. I cannot emphasize how good he is with plot twists, but as the story progresses, you start to anticipate them and they lose their intended effect. (Except for book 7, ofc. God that one was so delicious)

All of this complaining might make it sound I didn’t like or enjoy the series, but I assure you that I truly did. My annoyance and fury stems from a place of love. I’m just mourning the lost potential and nitpicking the issues that stopped a good series from becoming a great series. But I would still recommend reading this to anyone between the ages of 12 - 15 I come across.

Lastly, my favorite characters were “Lord Loss” and “Dervish”. (And to a lesser extent Beck. She was pretty great too. Definitely well written and interesting. She's the star of book 7 and she shines.)

I used to like Grubbs and Kernel in the first few books, but like I said, by the end there was nothing likable left about them.

I absolutely loved Dervish. (Even though he was pretty pathetic at times, ngl) he was a good character and a good person, and he stayed that way until the very end. Most importantly he was cool, interesting, sarcastic, and charismatic, lol. His arc and development were good too.

But my all time favorite has to be Lord Loss. Yes the villain. But God, he’s just sooo good at being bad. He makes an amazing antagonist. He’s evil, literally a demon with no redeeming qualities, his presence is dark and chilling and he doesn’t pull back ANY punches. See that people? THAT’S how you right a good villain. If this was a movie he would absolutely steal every single scene he was in. Whenever he showed up I just KNEW things were about to become hella intense and interesting XD

That’s pretty much all I have to say on this book series. It might be worth mentioning that the whole story is rather forgettable. But I guess on the bright side, that means you can read it again and still enjoy it as much as the first time ;)

Farewell for now ~

[idkwhatimdoingbutrandom]

Why Heartbreak High Season 2 Feels Different

I was ranting about this in the tags of another post lmao so I think I just wanna make my own post. I really didn’t know how I felt about season 2, especially once I got half way through, so I’m just gonna kinda organize random thoughts here.

Commentary

Lowkey everything falls under this I can’t even lie. My thing is, I can’t fully tell you what HBH2 was trying to say; it might be because it just wasn’t what I was expecting. Season one commented on race relations and sexual trauma and friendship. Season two kind of did that, but it just wasn’t as focused. I hate to say it, but too many things were going on and the cast is just decently big? Malakai’s sexual exploration felt lacklustre, Amerie x Malakai felt lacklustre, Ant x Harper felt lacklustre, Ant’s WHOLE CHARACTER feels lacklustre, Sasha’s performative activism felt lacklustre and like… a performance, Spider… I’ll get into that in a second, the whole election process kinda felt lacklustre (mostly because of the characterization involved), we lost Harper and Amerie’s friendship along the way a little bit with the way we hardly got to address the real issues within it; all the social commentary that came with all of these things fell kind of flat. I won’t say EVERYTHING was bad — because even if we kinda hit restart and redid Ca$h x Darren, I felt like that went solid enough… except for Ca$h’s sexuality conversation centralizing Darren and BACKTRACKING the conversations we’ve already had — but it definitely could’ve been better in my opinion. Just some, NOT ALL, of the commentary this season just felt shallow/ surface level. Everything didn’t make a perfect circle or tie/ work together the way they did in season one.

2. Square One

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like a lot of the things HBH2 was trying to do was just done better in HBH1. The discussions around sexuality and masculinity and trauma and betterment were all done pretty well from what I can remember of season 1, but then we get to season two and… nothing’s really changed? I get it, they’re teenagers; but also, what am I here for if we’re just restarting and kind of doing it worse? This also ties in with the lack of focus. Season 2’s discussions felt worse because there just wasn’t enough focus, not enough time spent on each thing. Season 2 didn’t really build on season 1. I felt like it was just kinda doing its own thing besides Harper’s trauma because that carried on pretty well. Like we spend hardly ANY TIME in SLT class and that’s where all the magic happens. I kinda mentioned this above, but omg Darren x Ca$h… what happened? Their story was pretty good, but Darren ending up with the Puriteens… they’re too smart. I feel like season 2 kinda undermines the intelligence of the characters. Going from the “you’re my too much” scene to what happened in season two just felt… ????

3. Spider

First of all, it will always be SCREW SPIDER!!! SCREW YOU SPENCER!!!! I hope I don’t have to explain why. With Spider… it just TOOK TOO LONG! We knew what he was like in season one, why did we have to redo this whole thing and TIKTOKIFY IT TOO!? We didn’t need the extra thing with Missy. No offense to that storyline, but if we spent all of that time we did with Spider and Missy with Spider and his mom instead and then realizing his feelings for Missy (which imo came out of nowhere) OR he thinks back on his feelings for Amerie… it would’ve been so much better. TikTok is mentioned like twice, and yet the whole masculinity storyline is basically based off of it. Coach I Forgot His Name was just saying the same thing over and over again, it wasn’t building and the indoctrination process wasn’t that evident. I guess the superficiality could’ve been a point, but Spider is smart. Instead of the whole “just one joke ruins a life,” I wish they were daring enough to actually sprinkle some white supremacist and potentially Nazi (I don’t know the political landscape of Australia so take this with a grain of salt) ideologies in there until it became so extreme that Spider realizes what the hell is going on. Spider’s mom being a TERF is one thing (that we don’t even have time to dive into because the show gives us one damn scene), but we don’t really get to see how that settles in him. How he’ll never be able to please his mother or be who she wants him to be. Idk if I’m making sense lmao. Making Coach a joke character was also a mistake.

4. Rowan

I THOUGHT HIM AND MALAKAI WERE SO CUTE :((((((( My thing is that he was just brought in too early. He could’ve been a major season three character and season two could’ve been spent wrapping up all of season one storylines. Rowan just interrupted everything. He’s incredibly interesting, but with all the things we needed to get done/ wrap up, we didn’t even get as much time as we could’ve with him either. We don’t even get to see what his family life is like or his dynamics with his parents. Because of this, what we would expect to be commentary on mental illness just… kind of isn’t there. And it also takes away from Amerie, and the overall school community (!!!!), being held accountable for/ addressing their bully tendencies. Like as soon as we think “huh everything is fine and good and perfect” after wrapping up season one storylines, the show could’ve spun us around and made us see that there was still a ton of work to do.

That might be it. Maybe there’s some more, but I think this is generally my thoughts. HBH2 was very entertaining and fun and I’ll never get tired of Australian culture, but it still felt different.

[hazelcephalopod]

So I’m on the last episode of Dead Boy Detectives and it’s a nice little show, overall a fun watch. If you’re just looking for a fun spooky little show with some queer characters, and a strong YA vibe overall. You’ll enjoy it.

That said I’ve got several… notes. Mostly just personal bias so take it all with a grain of salt. And some of its good.

It’s very YA, with the occasional fuck thrown in. Not bad or good, just unexpected.

I’ve seen it said and I’m going to say it again grown ass men detectives. They look no younger than 20. In fact I’m not sure I believe any of the main cast are over 20. Jenny their landlady looks barely older than the “teenagers”.

Niko. I do love you, you are a cringe little weeb-girl. I’ve decided she’s autistic as hell. I’m glad she is learning boundaries. Though, damn what a horrible circumstance to learn them in poor girl, she’s been through enough.

I… was a bit uncomfortable with how much everyone is just trying to force Edwin to come out. There are parts I enjoyed and some that just didn’t sit well with me personally. (In part because he’s a century old ghost and also in the story a teenager… so, idk, I’m conflicted about it)

This point will be called “The issue with the Cat King”. He’s a fucking manipulative fucking prick. Yes he’s hot, he’s also a controlling assholes whose… trying to blackmail Edwin into a relationship? Or something? We will see how that goes down the line, maybe he could be redeemed enough that I could like him -bc actually I’d like to- but… currently I don’t. (Edit: him being terrible may be the intent. So… ok. I’ll think on it)

I’m sad about the unrequited love confession. That’s all. I’m just sad. Like. It’s very realistic. It also… idk this show isn’t itself doing this, but I must say it tingles my latent queerbaiting sense. Again, this show isn’t doing that, however it manages to press all those buttons and I commend them for somehow doing so but not the big QB… but… I was in the trenches of the great queerbaits. I remember, I’m still learning to trust.

Plz. Give Edwin a love interest that isn’t trying to blackmail or manipulate or trap him. Plz.

Yeah no actually it would help me trust more. Plz. He’s already dead and escaped hell. I’m surprised he… actually came out.

Boy did this show need more episodes. Some can do it, and this does. But if it had maybe 12 episodes? It would be really great. This one could actually benefit from some extraneous bs. Just a bit. A dash. They do a good job with what they got, but it is compacted.

[juminsswife]

my thoughts on Netflix's ATLA live action

As an adult who watched this show growing up and was there for the countdown to the comet (iykyk!!) I have thoughts!

Best: Zuko. angsty, teenage boy depression, father issues, determined to a self-destructive degree. The actor is great at capturing all these facets of Zuko's conflicting, complex character. Really great with the choreography/martial arts too. Its not easy to pull off Zuko's mostly shaven but with a ponytail haircut, but this actor manages it. And yes, the opening scene with him seeing the beam of light from the iceberg and saying, "Finally." did give me some chills. Honestly the actor just captures Zuko really well. Great casting.

Worst: Katara. has the personality of an elegant yet unassuming well watered house plant. Its more because of the writing than the actress… she's doing her best with this depressing egg whites version of Katara she's had thrusted upon her. It's not going to be convincing when Toph comes along next season and calls her sugar queen.

Aang: never has any fun. spends every episode staring into the distance being sorrowful and melancholic. *teardrop rolls down cheek* he is a depressed 40 year old in the body of a 12 year old. He has no fun side to him anymore- an important side for a 12 year old kid to have! Also spends the entirety of season one (you know, titled "water"!) and doesn't learn a lick of waterbending, not even from Katara, who spends a lot of it learning from the waterbending scroll!! Why??? However the actor is doing a great job and I think he captures Aang's essence really well. He is young and I think next season he will improve a lot.

Sokka: I almost forgot to write thoughts down for him, which I think says more than anything else. He's essentially been boiled down to the same old overprotective big brother, but now he comes complete with daddy issues. It's a little hilarious that Katara's worst memory is watching her mom get burned alive by a firebender soldier while Sokka's is hearing his dad say he's disappointed with him. Kind of ruins the moment tbh. They really took all the fun aspects of the main Gaang and dulled them down completely, its sad. At least he's cute though- and imo, the chemistry with Suki's actress was there.

The previous avatars: every single one meets Aang just to berate & yell at him and tell him he shouldn't have friends and where has he been for the past 100 years without giving him a second to speak. What?? Sadly it seems any dignity, grace, or wisdom the previous avatars had in the original, has been completely wiped out in this live action. Also, this idea of them telling Aang about things that are going to happen makes no sense. Did no previous avatar tell Roku his friend was going to betray him, let him die on the island, and start a 100 year long war? Also the idea of Aang being able to communicate ONLY if he's in one of their temples is stupid. What is the point of the avatar state, then? Will Roku be able to teach him anything at all?

Princess Yue: yes I wrote an entire paragraph about her lol. She is one of my favorite minor characters. I think they wanted her to look so accurate to her original counterpart that she just looks too much like a cosplayer, with such a stiff and lifeless looking wig. This is the one and only time I will concede I prefer M. Night's version of Yue as far as costuming goes, though both funnily enough forget her eyebrows shouldn't be dark. The actress was fine. But this version of Yue is quite a different person from og Yue, I can't really compare. Plus, it feels like we see her for a good 10 minutes before she dies for the moon spirit. I couldn't buy into her and Sokka having feelings for each other because it felt like they knew each other for a good 2 hours at most. Ideally, I think these two versions kind of fused together would be perfect.

Azula/Mai/Ty Lee: Grouping them together because. Azula is the most unconvincing out of the characters for me. I don't buy that this girl is supposed to be the princess Azula for a second. I'm neither intrigued nor intimidated, and that's pretty bad as Azula was one of my top favorite characters from the original. The costume is fine, the wig feels cheap, her dialogue is horrendous, the actress can't convince me. Azula isn't smart or cunning, sharp, or collected, and her "working with Zhao" just made her look dumb when the entire plan flopped. She is a whiny, petulant little girl stamping her feet in every other scene. It's not for me. Also, the way her relationship with Ozai is depicted here makes Ozai look like a loser, too. It's like they want us to not be afraid of either of them.

As for Mai and Ty Lee. Ty Lee is fine. She looks okay, the actress is fine for how little we see her. On Mai, the wig is just so bad I don't get what happened. It's like they're struggling on the line of being realistic with the styling, or leaning completely in cartoon-character-came-to-life. I don't think the actress for Mai here was a good choice.

Dialogue: the worst part of this show. When they're not completely quoting word for word from the original, it's.. just bad. Everything is always exposition and thats not good. The few moments that aren't are just... idk.

CGI: not bad. I was expecting worse. Fire, earth, and air all look great. Water feels a little slow, mostly when its just water and not ice but that can be improved I assume. Koh was pretty cool, as was Wan Shi Tong.

Settings: Beautiful!! Omashu looked great. South and North water tribes looked great. Ozai's throne room looked incredible and I was annoyed every time we see it, he is just standing around and not sitting on his throne. It just reminded me how amazing the buildup to Ozai and Azula's reveals were in og season 1.

Costume: Its either a hit or a miss. There's strangley not much in between. Aang, Katara, Sokka, Zuko, Iroh, June, Ozai, Jet, Suki, the Kyoshi warriors, all look pretty great. Then you have characters like Azula, Mai, or Yue, who just look like half decent cosplayers. It kind of takes you out of the moment when it looks like the person is a cartoon character, rather than just a normal person. For example, compare how Katara looks compared to Azula.

Music: of course it was fantastic. A lot of it (I think most) was from the original show, which has one of the greatest soundtracks an animated show has ever had imo.

Final thoughts: Ultimately, it was kind of what I was expecting. You can't condense 20+ episodes worth of development into 8 and expect it all to flow perfectly. However, there are also a lot of changes that really don't make sense to me. I am very curious to know how on earth they will do seasons 2 and 3, as season 1 is the slowest in pace compared to the next two seasons. The original's finale was split into four episodes! Unless they add more episodes for next season, it's going to be a big jumbled mess of lore being shoved into our faces. I am also concerned about Toph. The Gaang so far has been stripped of their fun/unique personality traits. Is Toph going to be the same?

[wobblyprinny]

Thoughts on Koi Kaze, Part 1

So, I just finished reading Koi Kaze vol. 1 (Ch. 1 - 7) and.... yeah, it's just as good as I remember, if not better honestly.

Now, just like I wrote in my last post. Koi Kaze tells the story of a budding romance between siblings Koshiro and Nanoka and can be summed up in three words: Honest, awkward, and uncomfortable.

But all in a good way, at least to me.

Be it East or West, incest, much less consanguinamory, isn't a subject that, for various reasons, that's easy to talk about, much less frame your whole narrative around.

Now, to be fair, I do think Japan does a lot better with the subject than here in the US and the West more generally which tents to cast it as unequivocally bad, usually by means of abuse and that's it....

That's what made Koi Kaze stand out though.

Even if/when incest is treated less negatively Japan, it's almost never done so in a genuinely 'honest' light like it is here. Something that's reflected in its art style that is... well, kind of plain. Stylized for sure, but nothing that really comes across as overly flashy or exaggerated. The two lead characters, even accounting for Nanoka's cute design... are really quite plain and a bit generic compared to other examples in the medium.

This isn't really a criticism though, but rather a point of strength for the story that tells its audience in no uncertain terms that the story you're getting, fiction or not, is as real as it's going to get while still being a manga.

The plot of the story and the question it's trying to answer can be summed up best with this one line:

'What does it really mean to really like someone from the bottom of your heart?'

...With the second, unspoken question being:

'What happens if the person I really like happens to be my brother/sister?'

Like I said... the story is honest, awkward, and uncomfortable, especially in volume 1, which is told mostly from Koshior's point of view as he repeatedly tries, and fails, to both try and treat Nanoka as a sister despite never having grown up with her since their family divorced when he was in middle school and at the same time suppress his growing sexual attraction to her because he 'can't see her as a sister. Remember, he's already a full grown adult and has never even grown up with her since she was a toddler.... That's not going to be easy no matter how you slice it, incest or not.

Complicating matters, at least for him, is Koshiro himself. Both his naturally awkward personality that makes it hard for him to be honest and come off as cold or distant, and the circumstances that occurred between the siblings when they met without knowing they were, in fact siblings.

Long story short, Koshiro's girlfriend of 2 years dumped him due to him being 'too cold', leading to a not so great moment of depression and wondering if he could've done something different, him running into his then unknown younger sister, and then being egged on by his coworkers to just go out with her since, for all his awkwardness, he sucks at being stoic... leading to the pair out on a date at an amusement park and Koshiro, in a moment of weakness, getting comforted by Nanoka.

Under any other circumstance, not small age gap notwithstanding, this story would be pretty standard and cute for your average reader... but then comes the unceremonious, almost glossed over even, reveal that they are siblings.

I actually like how much the reveal gets glossed over. It really highlights just how socially ingrained expectations are about 'how we should act around each other' given our respective roles. something that gets tacked a lot more generally in manga but takes a much more personally dramatic tone when the roles in question are family and all the expectations that come with it.

For Nanoka, this isn't really an issue since she 'wants' the 'big brother/little sister' dynamic... mostly out of the idealized view she has of said relationships and because she's a pretty innocent teenager who's never really fallen in love before now. To be clear, she doesn't have any real clue how to deal with this either but definitely has an easier time of it... at least until she falls in love with Koshiro herself later.

No, most of the drama is all on Koshior's part as he struggles to make sense of what he's feeling vs how he's supposed to feel.

The problem is that he just can't see Nanoka as his sister, especially not after how they met and how he opened up to her.... to say nothing of his near instant attraction to her the moment he saw her. So, to be suddenly told, 'hey, that's your sister and you're going to be living together, so don't see her as a woman pleast, love society'... is not something our poor guy can do.

No, struggles and agonizes with this dilemma even as his feelings for her grow with each passing day, with several months passing by throughout the first volume alone. And let me tell you, watching him try to suppress how he feels or tell everyone around him that Nanoka is just his siter and nothing more... kind of painful to watch, but hard not to relate to either, in that awkward idiot guy kinda way.

Well, I probably feel that way because Koshiro is, for better or worse, someone I can relate to on a personal level...

Anyway, the volume ends right around Nanoka's 16th birthday and when the failure to suppress his feelings leads Koshiro to do some pretty stupid things and 'relieve' himself to try and cope.

Needless to say, he feels more than a little shame about masturbating to his sister.... Cue more misunderstanding fueled due to her Koshior forgetting Nanoka's birthday and Nanoka thinking he was mad at her for seeing him in the bathroom because she forgot to knock....

The end of the volume 'does' see Koshiro patch things up with her, at least as far as the birthday bit goes, but as for his own issues about her?

...Not hardly. Not even close.... He, and audience, are just left wondering why he couldn't just talk to her more honestly even though the answer is also sort of obvious.... at least for the more 'conventionally minded' readers out there.

Frankly, reading this made me think a lot about my own past and I really couldn't help but feel for how stupid Koshiro was being... It made me both angry at him, but wanna root for him. I dunno.

Anyway, those were my thoughts on Koi Kaze vol 1.

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2024 #47

my laptop is getting its fan repaired/is sitting in the computer repair shop waiting for a new fan to arrive so my workflow for this week has been decimated. ah well. at least there's books

a few housekeeping notes: I'm starting to try using Storygraph again, same username, just trying to populate it with the books I read this year. I try to stay committed to not giving books star rating if I can help it, because it detracts from my reading experience. working slowly at giving the books i've read written reviews (sometimes just taking the thoughts i put in these posts for it).

Finished:

Until I Love Myself, Vol. 2 by Poppy Pesuyama, translated by Emily Balistrieri (speaking of storygraph, my thoughts/review of this book were on there first) I think this manga. moreso this second volume but also in the first, is about the circumstances of its own creation. so many of its chapters include discussions between Pesuyama and their editor regarding what they want to include and how they want to handle its publication

LEASH. DEPATURE. COMPULSION. by rozecrest on ao3

Tiger, Tiger by Petra Erika Nordlund *caught up. not finished. tiger tiger is an ongoing web comic. i'm bad at keeping track of ongoing serialized work i'm reading on these posts, so i've been slowly reading through it for a while. you should check it out for amazing art, cool worldbuilding, and messy queer characters

The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 7-9 written by Kieron Gillen, art by Jamie McKelvie (vol. 8 has a lot of guest artists and writers) okay now that i've finished this series i have some Thoughts. i think wicdiv is very very twisty in a way that was probably really fun when it was being released. however how i am reading the series, as a collection of trades that compile multiple issues together, it mostly reads as very cheap. the one exception to my negative opinions toward its twists and reveals is the revelation about the actual nature of the gods cycles and their powers, which felt earned in that it had genuine clues to its set up in the earlier issues, so there was no 'we hid key information from you ah ha arent you so surprised about how it actually went down' that rubbed me the wrong way about the rest of the twists.

Blue Box, Vol. 6 by Kouji Miura, translated by Christine Dashiell *wails* oh no the drama of an unrequited crush that's out in the open. the way that Taiki lashes out at Chono for continually talking about him as 'the guy she likes' when he doesn't feel the same for her and be reminded that she like-likes him makes him sad and uncomfortable about not requiting her feelings... these teenagers....

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 7-8 written by Kanehito Yamada, art by Tsukasa Abe, translated by Misa 'Japanese Ammo' aw yeah baby we're back on track. no more boring extending mage exam arc, we're back to the bread and butter of the series. short adventure vignettes

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede, audiobook narrated by the cast of the Words Take Wing Repertory Company i picked this up for my mini mutuals book club! we rolled a random number on our list and this is what came up. juvenile fantasy about a princess who runs away and is voluntarily 'held captive' by a dragon. i did picture her relationship with her dragon as a lesbian romance, and i am correct. i will not be taking questions at this time

The Girl That Can't Get a Girlfriend by Mieri Hiranshi autobio manga about the author's struggling love life

"Boot Hill and the Fear of Dice" by Rutskarn essay/blog post about the author's experience using a highly lethal cowboy combat ttrpg to run a high intrigue high politics, limited combat tragedy game. sounds like he has an awesome table of players and really made me think about all of the work i'd want to do if i ever wanted to run my own political intrigue game

last night in a darkened room by bigdamnher0 on ao3 read to feel sad about dick grayson and tim drake

Started/Ongoing:

Provenance by Ann Leckie, audiobook narrated by Adjoa Andoh yay stand alone book in the imperial radch universe! i love crime.

Magic's Price by Mercedes Lackey, audiobook narrated by Gregory St. John SPOILERS but: extremely frustrated about the self-conscious narrative defense about the problematic age gap relationship (no its fine that his love interest is less than half his age! he's his soulmate reincarnated!). listen. i was ready to meet you at your freak. i will read some Weird Shit and enjoy my time with it. i was in fact delighted by the romantic comedy farce that the bard had to go through to get the hot older wizard to notice him. the younger party being the active pursuer of the relationship took us as far out of uncomfortable power dynamics as it reasonably could, and i was ready to root for the happy couple. but the minute you start going 'no no no its NOT weird. its completely fine actually for this magical reason' you've lost me. are you trying to tell me that it's not freak shit? that its just okay and not weird and No One needs to feel weird about it? embrace your freak shit or die

[simplylove101]

2024 Horror Challenge: [42/?]

↳“The juice is loose!" Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) dir. Tim Burton

Plot: After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.

Starring: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Arthur Conti, Jenna Ortega & Willem Dafoe

I feel bad I'm only just now reviewing this movie because I definitely had watched it twice before its release on digital and had more than plenty of things to say about it but oh well. lol I think it's because sometimes I forget to think of the original movie as a horror since it doesn't scare me at all but I adore it just the way it is. That said, while this one didn't scare me too much either, the horror aspect gets a little more heightened with the assistance of Monica Bellucci's character & her powers since it was a little like, whoa dark. lol I kept going back and forth about whether to go see it in theaters or not because people kept being negative about it and saying it'd be a shitty sequel but I decided to let nostalgia win that battle. I was mostly glad I did in a way??? lol As I said, I later watched it again in theaters about two weeks later since my dad really wanted to go see it since he's a big fan of Michael Keaton and I enjoyed parts of it enough to be willing for a round 2. The truth is, yes, it's not as classic as the original movie for a good number of people, myself included (I have seen that some people prefer it though so that's interesting), but I wouldn't say that makes it awful or a waste of time. There were still moments I really liked and I didn't mind paying to see it in the theater at all. As my dad declared at the end of movie, "Well, now that was rather mildly entertaining... But I was a little disappointed. Hmm." I feel like that sums up perfectly what my initial thoughts were. lol I think my core issue with it is the pacing. It feels like it takes a good while to really get going since they certainly take the time to have us play catch-up with Lydia and her family, which didn't really feel needed the way they chose to go about it. Meanwhile, once it does get going, there's like multiple plots going on (Beetlejuice trying to get Lydia to free him, Astrid having her own major storyline, Monica Belluci's character looking for Beetlejuice, etc.) but none of them feel like they're getting the proper time to cook right since it took so long with the exposition, the other characters, and then there's the filler stuff. Now, I love fun filler stuff. I don't hate fun. lol This is a Beetlejuice movie, so you gotta have that. And I know Tim Burton loves a music moment, I do too. You knew there'd at least be one after the first one had the truly classic scene with "Day-O" but it felt like there was too much of that kinda thing in this sequel for me, at least the length of time dedicated to that stuff over plot. I just wish the editor had been able to trim some things down a bit because it managed to feel a lot longer than a basically 90 minutes movie. Anyway, I'm gonna stop being so negative and go back to how there were things I liked about it, despite my complaints. The cast was wonderful, Michael Keaton once again killing it as the iconic Beetlejuice. It did feel like they could have used Jenna Ortega a little better but maybe it's just cuz it kinda felt like they wrote Astrid a little one-note at times. Idk. lol I still laughed plenty and the music choices themselves were fun (Though my dad kept saying "Why did they have to use 'MacArthur Park' for the big moment?? That song sucks" XD) It was nice to be in this wacky world again even with different characters included. Also, no spoilers, but that nightmare sequence at the end was classic horror comedy goodness and I dug it so much. lol There's probably more I could say but I think I'll stop here by saying that even though I wanted to like it so much more than I actually did, I still had fun. It is hardly the worst sequel ever and is deserving of its blockbuster success. I'm glad it didn't get the streaming treatment.

[andro-dino]

Fuck it we ball here’s a very long, unfinished shogun steel ramble I’ve had sitting in my drafts for like a year and a half (probably more tbh but idk I have no perception of time). I hadn’t reread this in ages before the other day but yk what this banged I love loving shogun steel so I’m gonna share this 🔥

I’ve got a big ol rant abt my ideas of the shogun steel characters and their comparisons to the original cast and how their specifically different and how that feeds my headcanons for them oooohohoooohoh

The way I interpret it, I like to think that the characters in shogun steel are a little younger than where the main cast started and juuuuust before where they were in fusion skill-wise. Like, most of the characters in fusion are introduced right off the bat as already being incredibly skilled bladers and they only get more and more insanely strong as the series progresses. When it comes to shogun steel, I like to think that they even though they are strong, they’re not quite where the original cast started yet. That’s something that I find very charming about them. It’s clear that they’re still young and a little rough around the edges, but they’re all so deeply impassioned to surpass those who came before them that that fire inside them burns tenfold and they work even harder to refine themselves and hone their skills and grow and change even more and I really like that. A lot of shogun steel characters very obviously parallel earlier characters (i.e. Zyro and Gingka, Sakyo and Ryuga) but what I like about them is that even though they play similar narrative roles and have those connections drawn, they make a point to make them distinctly different. I like that the shogun steel cast really feel like they’re learning and growing and not just that they’re the replacements for the og characters but that they’re learning to be better than they were. They’re not quite the legends they’re looking to surpass yet, but they really make you feel like they’re gonna get there.

Now, I like looking at this not only from a skill angle, but also from how they are as people. I’ve joked about it before but I really do quite enjoy that my silly little self-indulgent hc for these guys is just “they’re communicative and they work to support each other and talk through their issues and they love each other and show that in healthy ways.” Obviously, the shortness of shogun steel doesn’t give the characters a lot of time to go through extremely fleshed out character arcs, but those arcs exist nonetheless. I know it’s just a pacing issue but I like how these kids are able to pinpoint their issues and work on solving them and figuring it out. A whole bunch of them (Shinobu, Kite, and Sakyo mostly, just to name a few) go through their own little “edgy angsty teenager who doesn’t need anyone or any help” moments, but they are SO quickly ripped out of them by their friends just being like “NO. WE LOVE YOU AND WE’RE HERE FOR YOU AND YOU DESERVE SUPPORT” and they’re like “oh fuck fr? I mean yeah ok makes sense sorry for being an ass” AND ITS THE GREATEST. THEY ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR ISSUES AND THEY WORK THROUGH THEM AND GROW STRONGER AND CLOSER BECAUSE OF IT. They’re angsty kids and they’re messy and rough but work to become kinder and more supportive people and it’s so nice to think abt. I KNOW THIS CAN BE APPLIED TO EARLIER CHARACTERS BUT LISTEN. IT JUST FEELS DIFFERENT TO ME.

Outside of canon, it just brings me a lot of comfort to think about them finding different coping mechanisms and communicating their struggles and boundaries with each other and striving to support one another and just being human. It’s nice to think about these fucking kids just living and learning and doing it all together and coming out closer and stronger because of it.

I love thinking about them being affectionate with each other too. They always so openly voice their support for each other and feel such protectiveness and pride over each other. They have healthy banter but so clearly love and care for each other. I like to think of them all as each other’s hype men. They feel like the type of friend group where if one of them wanted to show something off, all of the others would be totally hyping

-

And that’s where the draft ended. I’m not gonna continue it but you can kinda figure where my train of thought was going for the most part at the end there. In conclusion I love shogun steel amen and happy new year

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: August 2023

Ugh where did the summer go?

……….FILM……….

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) Artwork, story, and the turtles' characterization were all 10/10 for me. Big turtle fan so that's already enough for me to like this. But for me, the writing was real weak. The supporting mutants didn't really have much personality and the comedy really only relied on pop references. Was Mondo Gecko a surprise favourite? Probably because he had a lot of personality and his funny moments were from that characterization and not from a name drop. I love the ninja turtles so maybe I'm too close to this. All I'm saying is that this was fun and good and I hope a sequel gets made so that the other mutants can be given a little more depth.

Nimona (2023) Really great! Some of the earlier scenes felt...visually empty...but that third act more than makes up for it. A different beast than the comic but a great example of adapting for the medium. Really beautiful on all levels.

The Report (2019) I came into this a little late (apparently missing all the torture scenes so no complaints) but it all made sense to me! It really committed to the chronology of events but did a good job of showing the consequences/contradictions between sides. But I mean was it a good movie? It felt like a full story and the acting was great so I guess so. I dunno I always find based-on-real-life movies to be tricky.

……….TELEVISION……….

Poker Face (Episode 1.01 to 1.06) I love everything about this show. Its structure (Columbo-style where you see the murder first and then watch it get solved), its cast (mystery-of-the-week means rotating characters with Natasha Lyonne as the excellent anchor), and its style (from the fashion to the title credits)...everything is a swing and it nearly all lands for me.

Jury Duty (Episode 1.05 to 1.08) The premise never got tired and the ending is such a great cap to the season. Really recommend and the show really did luck out in getting Ronald Gladden as the lead.

……….YOUTUBE……….

toy movies for adults forever by Caleb Gamman and Feeling Cynical About Barbie by Broey Deschanel Hey I loved the Barbie movie and I think it's okay to be critical of the media we love. Neither of these felt like they were simply taking on the big fun successful movie for the sake of being contrarian and raised a lot of thoughtful points. VIDEO (Caleb Gamman) VIDEO (Broey Deschanel)

No Way Home Was Kind of Sexist by CJ The X Without spoiling the main thesis of this video, I really appreciate how they encapsulated the third movie. It truly does stand apart from the other two movies and it's a shame business got in the way of this trilogy sticking the landing. VIDEO

When a DEEP Character Pretends to be SHALLOW… (Hobie Brown) by schnee Ha really digging into Spider-Man vids this month and I really enjoyed the character breakdown. Schnee has a lot of great writing-based videos and I recommend checking them out.

……….READING……….

Jingo by Terry Pratchett (Complete) Always enjoy Discoworld novels centred around the Watch but I wasn't sure if the main thrust of the book was going to be...you know...a little racist? Turns out I had very little to worry about as it sends up most tropes and perspectives in a lighthearted-yet-sensitive way. Gosh I love this series.

Batman: White Knight by Sean Murphy & Matt Hollingsworth (Complete) Started this as single issues years ago but never finished...until now! Rereading, I realized I fell off because the politics were a little wonky at the beginning and reading "gatekeepers" over and over again kinda lost me. But having now finished it, it mostly worked, but I'm just a sucker for a story that can bring in a big cast of villains to fight at the climactic finale. Lots of cool ideas so I'll likely check out more from this world.

Lure by Lane Milburn (Complete) Slice of life with some light sci-fi elements and a lot of commentary. It's beautiful and it stuck with me but I think I was expecting something more psychedelic or surreal so it didn't quite land with me. But that's okay it was still an engaging read.

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 9 (Hardcover) by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, Stuart Immonen, and more (Complete) Big Spider-Man month. I always liked this take on the clone saga and while it means there's only a small amount of Ultimate Scorpion, it's memorable. This stretch really does a great job of blending the big drama with the personal stakes (dating MJ & Kitty Pryde! Aunt May finding out Peter is Spider-Man!). Also very excited to get into Immonen's run as his work is just...so good.

……….AUDIO……….

Self Titled by Dead Man's Bones (2009) After seeing BARBIE I was reminded that Ryan Gosling's spooky rock album and it's not fair how good this is. Like it doesn't have any right to have this much personality and charm.

……….GAMING……….

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Tuesday Crew is busy in the mines fighting back the dangerous Dragonettes (full recap here) while the Mof1 Crew is dealing with the aftermath of taking out a Gingerbread mob boss!

Snakes of Wrath (Weast Coast) Finally got my kickstarter copy of the game and can't recommend it enough! It took a few plays to get into the groove of what you can and can't do, along with sorting out the strategy, but it's a nice breezy game with beautiful art and good quality tiles. Big fan.

And that's it! See you in September!

[greatwyrmgold]

I just started watching KamiKatsu. It's hard to describe! It's like someone stuck Konosuba, a Re:Zero RPG Maker fangame, a Unity asset flip, and the journal of a young left-wing thunderf00t fan trying to work through some stuff, then had one guy stitch that slurry together into a full cour in a single week.

KamiKatsu is a story about Yukito, a cult leader's son whose last thoughts are a wish to reincarnate in a world without gods or religion, because said cult made his life a living hell (and also ended it in a weird barrel ritual). As requested, he ends up reincarnated in a world with no gods or religion...or adventurer's guilds or RPG mechanics or anything like that. However, it does have two things that are kinda religious: A totalitarian government which enforces arbitrary rules with absolute moral certitude, and the god from Yukito's dad's cult, who he accidentally summons to the other world while almost re-dying at the end of episode 1.

The most important thing about KamiKatsu isn't its story, though. It's the budget, or rather the patently obvious lack thereof. There are two ways a studio can react to this kind of issue: Either do the normal cost-cutting measures all anime needs to use, just more, or do some extreme cost-cutting measures that make the anime artistically distinct. KamiKatsu goes for the second route, and while it sometimes just looks cheap, it looks absurd often enough that I'm willing to overlook that. I'm particularly fond of the pixel-art doodles that pop up to backfill fight scenes, daily chores, and so on.

(KamiKatsu is the cheapest-looking anime I've ever seen dubbed.)

But the story isn't bad. The first episode's pacing feels a bit rushed, probably so they can get to the bit where Yukito accidentally summons a god in the first episode, but I like Yukito as a character. He's consistently watching for the plot hook that might signal the fantasy journey he's been anticipating for weeks, which is funny, but he's also content doing manual labor and getting drunk alongside people who he gets along with. I also enjoy the supporting cast, and the world they inhabit. It's not a deep world, but it isn't pure nonsense and it has some interesting ideas that mesh together into a coherent whole.

Speaking of interesting ideas that mesh together into a coherent whole, themes! The left-wing thunderf00t fan thing I mentioned was a reference to this bit. The fantasy world Yukito ended up in cleanly divides religion into two separate entities; you have the institution in the empire's absolute authority, and the spirituality in . It's making a strong statement about organized religion—that it has both good and bad aspects, which aren't closely linked. You can have the good without the bad. It doesn't seem super deep, and I don't agree with everything it seems to be saying about religion. Despite that...it's clearly trying to say something, that something is mostly positive, and it's a bit nuanced. Not just "religion good" or "religion bad," but "this part of religion good, this part bad". It would have given me something to think about in my shitty teenaged atheist phase, and there are a lot of shitty teenaged atheist otaku out there.

Also the jokes are consistently funny, and not just in the charmingly-shoddy sense prior paragraphs implied. Yukito reincarnated in a world that, for all its hardships, is absurd in a lot of ways, which are leveraged for comedy. It's no One Punch Man or Kaguya-sama, but it's consistently funny. And while it occasionally has dramatic bits right next to serious ones (like when it switches rapidly between Mitama being a goofy god and being a vengeful one), it generally avoids having the humor step on the drama's toes or vise versa.

KamiKatsu should suck. The story is a mash of stuff that, on paper, sounds absurd at best and incoherent at worst. The animation ranges from mediocre to baffling. And yet, it's enjoyable.

Is this an anime recommendation post? I have no idea!

[sweetestcersei]

A Journal of Ice and Fire #2: Battles and Betrayals

Is there anything more exciting in fantasy than a great battle? Yes, a great battle in fantasy packed with body horror, magic as weapons of mass destruction, sickening twists, and the icy bite of harsh allegories cutting like a sword slash across the face. The last third of A Clash of Kings (and arguably, the entire damn thing) is defined by the first on-screen siege of the War of the Five Kings – the Battle of Blackwater Bay. It's Tyrion's fleeting shining moment, where all his plotting, preparing and verbal dueling with Cersei and the small council comes to a head as Stannis lands on the shores of King's Landing. It's his Icarus moment, as he flies too close to a very green sun, and it's an exercise in hubris that begins GRRM's much-cited "villain origin story" for Tyrion. The revenge of all those he wronged comes crashing down on him, and other betrayals and falseness are spun anew as things finally, desperately start to escalate going into book 3.

In all honesty...I didn't much care for Clash the first time I read it. Sure, my favorites got to have powerful moments that spelled their demise (Catelyn) or rise (Daenerys) from the literal ashes, but I never connected with this novel much. My issue is that it feels as if the momentum from the big great end to Thrones is lost in a sort of operatic stage reset. These books are slow burns, by and large, but this one especially feels like such a slog. However, I did find myself enjoying storylines I rushed to finish to get to the main course back in 2011. Jon Snow held my attention far more than I recall back in the day, and I actually found myself...liking him? He's a bit of a snarky brat still by book 2, which is maybe why I was so bored by him as a teenager (too familiar lol).

I also made the unfortunate discovery getting through this book that I might just like Ser Davos. I always rolled my eyes at the whole Stannis plot, mostly because it had so few chapters in the first three books, but I am learning to like a cast of characters I would have previously dismissed as being "man pain porn". Davos' chapters in Dance are notorious in the fandom for being GRRM's writing at its best. I cannot deny how great those scenes are. But. I never realized I might relate to an exhausted, idealistic man realizing far too late his crisis of faith was a sign to save his liege from himself. And now, as an exhausted, idealistic man I can see how easily relatable Davos' story is.

On the topic of idealistic fools, Sansa became one of my other favorites on this re-read. Her belief that – maybe, just maybe – some people are truly good even if they can't show it, did feel weirdly resonant with me. I think there's a teenage part of me that still fears being outwardly good at the risk of being genuine or cringe. Her jaded optimism is clearly a bit of a self-insert by George (after all, he is the anti-war boomer that wrote "in the songs, all knights are gallant and all maids are beautiful"), and it landed especially well with me on this read through. Even when facing a drunk Cersei Lannister during the battle, she maintains that hope that even those who turned on her might still impart wisdom or protect her. Don't even get me started on her relationship with the Hound.

It wouldn't be a sweetestcersei post without mentioning the Lady of Casterly Rock herself. Reading her scenes from Tyrion and Sansa's POV with the knowledge of her great fall from grace was such a treat. She's much more Real Housewife than strong HBO female lead in this book, especially from Tyrion's perspective. She's often the object of comic relief, and it feels so good to watch her fail, even if you love her. You get this close to trusting her when you see her through Tyrion's eyes, until she presents Alayaya to him thinking she's won. The tense rivalry the siblings share anchors the King's Landing storyline and is one of if not the best part of the book. It reminds me of my own family and the messy, complicated dynamics I have with my own sisters. Just another George-ism that continues to feel extremely personal and made specifically for me.

Another great observation from this re-read is how perfectly George plants some very, very important seeds in his garden throughout this whole book. There's of course Daenerys' acid trip that we see foretell quite a few things in book 3, 4 and 5, but the setup for the Northern betrayal, Ramsay's bait-and-switch on Theon...the list goes on. The man works more in breadcrumbs than classic foreshadowing, and he does it wonderfully. I never even realized that Arya's final chapter in Clash was our first mention of Robb breaking his vows. Elmar Frey tells her his house has been dishonored and his "princess" will no longer be marrying him. We get little to no detail as to what the dishonor could be, beyond some unsettling gestures toward Roose Bolton's true allegiances when Arya is serving him later in the same chapter. It's a perfect example of why the series is so rewarding, even after poring over it for years.

Lastly, the chapter that truly kicked the air out of me was Catelyn and Jaime in the dungeon. I hadn't realized how intense that scene was back in the day, and found myself crying reading the whole sequence. Catelyn, believing all her children dead except for Robb and captive Sansa, barely even able to verbalize her family's most recent horror in fear of making it real is this series at its best. The desperate tone the entire chapter takes makes it feel like something that actually happened. This chapter also contains my favorite quote from the whole book:Jaime's "they make you swear and swear..." speech to Catelyn. It's how I feel in my work and personal life more often than I want to admit.

I'm happy to say I enjoyed this book far more than my first read back in 2011. I'd safely put it at #4 in my overall ranking, above Thrones. We'll see where Storm lands in my ranking once I finish it, but for now, I've got a date with Ser Davos and Salladhor Saan.

[kinetic-elaboration]

April 27: Daria Episode Recs

I saw the question again so I've been thinking about it: what would be good Daria episodes to use to introduce someone to the show? I've been pondering this since B said that he'd tried to watch it and couldn't get into it, not because I am going to try to convince him to--I feel like that's a jerk move and also sort of a waste of time--but because I get why he didn't get into it, and I think starting Esteemsters is not a great way to try. Because the thing is that it is a show about teenagers and high school and he is 34 years old. It's definitely possible to get into Daria as an adult; I know people did during its original run and probably still do now. But it's never going to weasel its way into your brain and permanently change your DNA if you watch it for the first time in your 30s, the way it did to me when I watched it for the first time at 13. I think in some ways I love Daria so much because it grew with me--which is to say that yes it is the sort of show that can do that, but one of the prerequisites for a growing-with experience is starting out with the media when you're not-grown. It's really impossible to say what I would think of the show if I'd watched it for the first time in my 30s or even my 20s.

Anyway, I think part of the issue with trying to get anyone into the show by just starting at 1x01 is that the early episodes, while they aren't bad, are much more one-note and simplistic than the later ones. The show at its best was so thoughtful, developed its characters so well, included so much nuance--but you're not going to see that in the first half of season 1, which is mostly just Nerd Fantasy: smart outcast makes fun of other people and comes up with various schemes to make herself the winner of all the weird and embarrassing situations she finds herself in as a high school student. I do like these episodes, I'm not trying to say I don't know, but they're not the strongest and they don't show off the diversity and intelligence of the show very well. I find them the least-rewatchable.

Not even I started watching at 1x01. I think the first episode I saw might have been Write Where It Hurts, which is the last episode of S2.

On the positive side, most of the episodes are sufficiently stand alone that you don't need to start at 1x01 to understand what's happening.

So--what would I recommend to someone who wants to give the show a try but doesn't want to commit to watching the whole thing, or even the whole first season, up front?

1x13 The Misery Chick: I think this episode is the closest this show comes to a thesis statement, and is one of the best episodes for 'decoding' Daria's character. It uses most of the main cast and shows off several different characters and dynamics. It includes a couple of different registers--the darkly comic, the serious, etc. And it's in S1 so it gives you a sense of the show's early era, while still being more complex than, say, College Bored. (Boxing Daria is the other episode I consider to be truly essential for understanding Daria as a character--but I cant recommend someone start at the finale lol.)

1x12: The Teachings of Don Jake: A good episode for Morgendorffer family dynamics but honestly I just consider this one such a Classic I have to include it. I think it also is a good test of whether or not this style of humor is for you.

2x05 That Was Then, This Is Dumb: I think this episode places the show pretty well in its cultural context: that Daria is the Gen X daughter of Hippie Parents (actually she's probably an older Millennial technically, but the show is very Gen X). Also, even though the Yaegers are mercilessly mocked by both the narrative and Daria, this is one of the episodes where she does question her assumptions and judgments ("People believed in stuff back then.")

2x13 Write Where It Hurts: Another episode that really goes into Daria's character and inner life. Also as I said I think this was my first episode, and it worked to get me interested in the rest of the show.

I think I would start with those. There are others that spotlight particular parts of the show, like particularly good Morgendorffer family episodes, or Jane episodes, or Lawndale High episodes, and so if I thought someone was showing an interest in some specific aspect I might have more recommendations. There are also some personal favorites, like Road Worrier or Lane Miserables, that I didn't include because I didn't think they were really representative of the show. And I don't think anyone should really start with anything in seasons 4 or 5. Those are too different, and I think they need to be appreciated in context. But if I were to rec from those seasons, I'd probably say Lucky Strike, which is one of my overall favorites, and maybe something like Psycho Therapy or Groped by an Angel for character-centric episodes that are still understandable as standalone episodes.

[rancidslime]

honestly the more i learn more about director katsura "i've never had a friendship with a woman" hashino and his body of work the more i'm unable to even be that generous with 5 or even 3, because so much of the work he oversees is just suffused with conservatism and his simmering misogyny. It's good that he basically brought Atlus back from the brink by making Persona have more mainstream appeal but the older I get the more 3-5 have aged like milk, with 3 only being slightly spared by virtue of "memento mori" being a more universal theme and less liable to getting trampled on by this team. 5 is honestly even more frustrating than 4 to me since A) Admittedly my nostalgia for 4 cushions its shitty parts for me B) P4 came out during the PS2 era, when the quality of video game storytelling surrounding it was much lower. P5 arrived 8 years later when we were well into the indie boom and seeing tiny projects accomplish much more with much less. C) 4's cast for all that they are a monument to missed potential, do feel somewhat like teenagers - albeit heightened, exaggerated ones. 5's cast is kinda one dimensional D) "Seek out and accept the truth, no matter how ugly" was a mishandled theme in 4, but at the very least even when it was fumbled during character arcs, it was still tied to a central mystery plot. P5's general themes of rebellion keep slamming skull-first into a directorial team that seemingly does not have an issue with the status quo, and mostly thinks "rebellion", if it's necessary at all, should basically mean "small-scale conflicts with bad actors".

the thing about persona 4 vs. 5 is that both are rife political praxis, it's just that 5's is slightly less terrible. dgmw 5 is very "EVERYONE can be redeemed and it's ALWAYS bad to kill someone" but i'll take that over 4's "you should always accept the role thrust upon you and if you feel upset with it you just need to force yourself to like it". like persona 5 is very much the platonic ideal of persona 4 to me in gameplay mechanics and narrative, though neither will ever surpass persona 3 imo.

[vergess]

(reposted because??? tumblr ate or deleted the first post???)

So. Lots of pain meds at the moment, so this is a little bit nonsensical, but, I have been playing the newly released video game I was a teenage exocolonist (available on steam, not linked because tag visibility) while I am laid up in bed.

Lots of opinions, basically all positive. There’s a specific thing I want to talk about in more detail, but this post got too long so I will just link a future post on the gender politics of nature, nurture, and future as presented by the twins Dys and Tang.

So instead here’s my Most Recommendable Qualities (mostly free of spoilers):

Native linux compatibility:

you know how I am about that. I cannot believe I’ve become the very linux guy I so hated when I was working retail…

Upsettingly beautiful art

2D gaming is my first love but man the medium has come a long way since needing a flashlight to play pokemon. Sometimes I forget how far, and then games like this pop up with the gorgeous art and expressive characters, and I inevitably find myself wondering why the “”“"mainstream”“”“ video game market (in as much as such exists these days) focused so obsessively on photo realistic 3D when inevitably a well directed art style is what matters most.

The backgrounds and environments in the game are all extremely lush, with a gorgeous, colorful style that if I had become an art critic instead of a writing critic I would probably have better terminology to describe. Like, uh. Water colors or some shit. Stained glass. It’s all very luminous fuck dude I don’t know, the closest I’m going to get here is to write a poem and I’m not going to write a poem where the fuckign developers might see it. I need to be sober for that.

Characters:

I’m a character driven asshole, we all know this. It’s why I read so much fanfiction and play so much melodramatic fantasy and spend several hours of my life openly sobbing about a single fucking issue of Sandman. So, you’ll understand when I say, "people keep recommending me dating sims and I keep bouncing off of them because the characters never Do A Thing,” what my major criticism of a lot of Large Cast Of Dateable Character games is.

None of those issues arise here. I’ve played a few runs now, making a conscious decision on each to focus on a specific character. One. SIngular. Except, the thing is, you can’t do that. Not in the sense that the game won’t “let” you. You could certainly just dump all of your time into skills and one character. And the timeline of the game would change to reflect your isolationism.

Characters you don’t interact with during runs have their own “autonomous” storylines written, and each divergence your player character makes has its impacts meticulous tracked to create different character experiences every time, even as each character holds very tight to a narrow set of repeating traits. This only further emphasizes the fundamental strangeness of the player character, as the only one capable of being fundamentally different across timelines.

Also all the dateables are just, oh god, SO cute. And, by the time they are capable of fucking, very fuckable. Extremely attractive designs. Honestly everyone is super cute. The whole cast is magnificently designed. And that includes…

Monsters & World Building:

First of all, let’s get the important personal opinions out of the way. I think I would fuck the antagonist….uh….commander, whatever his title is. He looks like a fucked up centaur and I’m into that. There are also Adequate Amounts Of Tentacles. If you’ve known me long, you know that is a high bar, but the game clears it admirably and with diversity!

The alien fauna are all very FUCKING COOL. There’s a bit of throwaway dialogue from An Adult (your dad?) that talks about expecting the planet’s ecosystem to be ‘more alien’ than it is, and I respect the space program’s attempt a tpreparedness but for me, the whole uhhhhhh. Situation. With regards to the alien animals is PLENTY alien, and SO satisfying.

If you’ve ever been like, “god, I wish someone who wasn’t orson scott card would do all the cool shit they did in fucking speaker for the dead” then by GOD is this the game for you.

Accessibility:

The content warnings are extremely detailed. I reviewed them all, and having seen several of the ones I was most worried about, I feel they accurately described the situations without spoiling them. I did end up upsetting myself rather badly with one thing which happened, but it is hardly the developer’s fault that I misunderstood the context in which the “teenage pregnancy” CW would apply. I personally want to specify that (IN THE ROUTES I HAVE SO FAR PLAYED) the pregnancy is a very wanted, safe, and cherished.

The game players very well on controller, which is a must for me. There are a handful of UI elements that I have not yet been able to access by controller, but I think this is more a factor of my being bad at remembering buttons than the game’s design. If you have a mouse, that will solve the issue entirely. My GF speaks highly of the keyboard and mouse gameplay.

Turning off screen distortions and weather effects generally made the game very visually understandable for me, with large, clear iconography. If you have significant visual impairments, I don’t know if this is a good game to play. Picking up items on the ground can be tricky in some cases and there’s nothing for eg a high contrast or greyscale mode if you need that kind of thing.

Stability.

It’s easy to forget that near-launch properties are supposed to be complete games that function well. This game is very complete (VERY, INTRICATELY, COMPLETE) and very stable. With as complicated as the sets of cause-effect-timelines are, I expected it to be much easier to create minor paradoxes in dialogue.

So far, the only time events have seemed to happen slightly out of sequence due to relationship progression or what ever else, was when I made a conscious effort to be as obnoxious as possible at one point just to see if I could make it misbehave.

I haven’t been able to make it crash from within the game so far. I’m hardly a Q.A. tester anymore, but I do tend to be pretty aggressive to my games, so I feel confident in saying it’ll run steady for you if you get it.

Politics etc:

The queerness is all very excellent, super queer in very believable ways, especially given the cultural aspects of the worldbuilding. Characters behave queerly outside of just all being bi-for-the-player. The trans characters were all extremely appealing to me with strong characterization that included but did not obsess over their genders. There are at least 2 trans teens in the player character’s peer group and 2 trans adults of very different ages and character types, and there’s even a cute little intergenerational trans solidarity bit you can get sometimes. In addition, of course, to the ridiculously complete gender personalization.

You would not believe how many games forget that “bro” and “cowgirl” are gendered terms, but this one remembers.

The racial politics are, from my perspective, adequate to not interfere with my gameplay experience. The human characters do consistently refer to the environment and native animals in very colonialist terms but they’re literally colonizing the planet so…. The point is, there is not a native people being eradicated, though there are… territory wars(? I guess.) with both wild animals and antagonist peoples.

If you’re particularly sensitive to colonial narratives, handle with care, but I felt the writing in the routes I’ve seen so far handled most of the issues well. Plus I mean. THe title. Is “teenage exocolonist” like. I think the whole “colonialism is a major narrative theme” ituation should be made clear by that.

In terms of the human diversity it’s pleasingly broad. There are characters of all ages, builds, complexions, races, personality types. There’s a massive range of disabilities both physical and mental, as well as plenty of fun sci fi accomodations.

I mean just among the dateables I can remember top of the head, theres:

ambiguously asian twins who really said Autism Has Two Genders,

ambiguously brown fat girl with developmental disability,

ambiguously brown Gym Bro (derogatory) who is, and this is true, literally named 'ambiguously brown

ambiguously white farmboy who has clearly been eating his space wheaties and also helps invent space cannabis with your dad

unambiguously black girl who looks the autism twins dead in the eye and said 'no autism has one gender and is me’

unambiguously white tomboy who goes full samus

A dog (human)

Hatsune Miku (gender neutral)

Venom (twink)

There’s something here for everyone, all of these characters are super fascinating concepts honestly. I know I keep harping on that but it’s true so there.

Scenario writing:

It’s a bit difficult to separate the player character writing from the scenario writing for reasons that rapidly become clear in the game. Both are very good, though, so that’s fine. The writing is just really very good.

The variations on the timeline that you are able to uncover through repeated play are fascinatingly diverse even as certain events remain immutable, and the whole thing really plays with the concept of time travel and the other-self so beautifully. Really one of my very favourite explorations of the topic already, and I’ve only seen… IDK 4 endings along 2 routes? And there’s 29 endings???

It’s very good. The point is that it’s very good you should go play it.

It’s on steam. It’s app 1148760 on steam and it’s very good, it’s definitely worth more than what they’re charging. I mean have you seen what a $60 console game looks like these days, and then this is like. $25 and SO very much.