#i've seen both movies as dubbed versions

[c-schroed]

I just watched "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem", and I can't help it: Somehow Superfly just reminds me of "Across the Spiderverse"'s Miguel O'Hara.

Really not sure why. But both are marvellous villains, so why bother asking?

[falconmason]

HAPPY DIGIMON DAY NERDS

Who're you bringing to summer camp?

It's Gabumon and Tentomon for me (:

I can't believe digimon is 24 years old today. Seems like it's gone by so quickly...I remember catching Adventure 01 on tv as a kid and I've been enamored ever since. It was so heartfelt and surprisingly deep for a show made for a younger audience, it didn't talk down to you like most shows for the demographic did, and it wasn't content in following its predecessors and become a cheap toy commercial masquerading as a tv show. It became something entirely its own, and I think kids knew that, deep down. It was amazing to see and experience and I still remember it fondly to this day.

Here's to another wonderful year in the digital world! < 3

[petermorwood]

Food on St Patrick's Day (in the USA)...

...is usually Corned Beef & Cabbage, which is the Irish-American version of the original Irish boiled bacon & cabbage, but while the celebratory Irishness is still going strong, try something a bit more authentic.

A nice warm coddle. Not cuddle, coddle, though just as comforting in its own way. (Some sources suggest it's a hangover cure, not that such a thing would ever be necessary at this time of year, oh dear me no.)

Coddle is a stew using potatoes, onions, bacon, sausages, stout-if-desired / stock-if-not, pepper, sage, thyme and Time.

You'll often see it called "Dublin Coddle", but my Mum made Lisburn Coddle lots of times, I've made West Wicklow Coddle more than once, and on one occasion in a Belgian holiday apartment I made Brugsekoddel, which is an OK spelling for something that doesn't exist in any cookbook.

*****

I do remember one amendment I made to Mum's recipe, which met with slight resistance at the time and great appreciation thereafter.

Her coddle was originally cooked on the stove-top, not in the oven, and nothing was pre-cooked. Potatoes were quartered, onions were sliced, bacon was cut into chunks and then everything went into the big iron casserole, then onto the slow back ring, and there it simmered Until Done.

However, the bacon was thick-cut back rashers, and the sausages were pork chipolatas.

Raw, they looked like this:

...and the bacon looked like this:

Cooked in the way Mum initially did, they looked pretty much the same afterwards. The sausages didn't change colour. Nor did the bacon.

While everything tasted fine, the meat parts always looked - to me, anyway - somewhat ... less than appealing. "Surgical appliance pink" is the kindest way to put it, and that's all I'm saying. This is apparently "white coddle" and Dubs can get quite defensive about This Is The Way It SHOULD Look.

I'm not a Dub, so I persuaded Mum to fry both the bacon and sausages first, just enough to get a bit of brown on, and wow! Improvement! I remember my Dad nodding in approval but - because he was Wise - not saying anything aloud until Mum gave it the green light as well.

Doing the coddle in the oven, first with lid on then with lid off, came later and met with equal approval. So did using only half of the onion raw and frying the other half lightly golden in the bacon fat.

Nobody quoted from a movie that wouldn't be made for another decade, but there was a definite feeling of...

*****

There are coddle recipes all over the Net: I've made sure that these are from Ireland to avoid the corned-beef-not-boiled-bacon "adjustment" versions which are definitely out there. I've already seen one with Bratwurst. Just wait, it'll be chorizo next.

Oh, hell's teeth, I was right. And from RTE...

Returning to relative normality, here's Donal Skehan's white coddle and his browned coddle with barley (I'm going to try that one).

Here's Dairina Allen's Frenchified with US measurements version. (I feel considerably less heretical now.)

And finally (OK, not Irish, but it references a couple of the previous ones and is a VERY comprehensive write-up, so gets a pass) Felicity Cloake's Perfect Dublin Coddle (perfect according to who, exactly...?) in The Guardian.

*****

Returning to the beginning, and how boiled bacon became corned beef (a question which prompted @dduane to start an entire website...!)

The traditional Irish meat animal for those who could afford it was the pig, but when Irish immigrants (even before the Great Famine) arrived in the USA, they often lived in the same urban districts as Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.

For fairly obvious reasons pork, bacon and other piggy products were unavailable in those districts, but salt beef was right there and far cheaper than any meat Irish immigrants had ever seen before.

Insist on tradition or eat what was easy to find? There'd have been contest - and do I sometimes wonder a bit if sauerkraut ever came close to replacing cabbage for the same reason.

The pre-Famine Irish palate liked sour tastes: a German (?) visitor to Ireland in the mid-1600s wrote about about what were called "the best-favoured peasantry in Europe", and mentioned that they had "seventy-several sour milks and creams*, and the sourer they be, the better they like them."

* Yogurt? Kefir? Skyr? Gosh...

Corned beef and Kraut as the immigrants' celebratory "Irish" meal for St Patrick's Day? Maybe, maybe not.

Time for "Immigrant Song" (with kittens).

*****

Corned beef got its name from the size of the salt grains with which the beef was prepared. They were usually bigger than kosher salt, like pinhead oats or even as large as grains of wheat, and their name derived originally from "corned (gun)powder", the large coarse grains used in cannon.

BTW, "corn" has been a generic English term for "grain" for centuries, and "but Europe didn't have corn" is an American mistake assuming the word refers to sweetcorn / maize, which it doesn't.

Lindsey Davis, author of the "Falco" series, had a couple of rants about it and other US-requested "corrections". As she points out, mistakes need corrected but "corn" is not a mistake, just a difference in vocabulary.

*****

In Ancient and Medieval Ireland pig would have included wild boar, the hunting of which was a suitable pastime for warriors and heroes, because Mr Boar took a very dim view of the whole proceeding and wasn't shy about showing it (see "wild boar" in my tags and learn more).

Cattle were for milk, butter, cream and little cattle; also wealth, status, and heroic displays in their theft, defence or recovery. It's no accident that THE great Irish epic is "The Cattle-Raid of Cooley" / Táin Bó Cúailnge (tawn / toyn boh cool-nyah).

Killing a cow for meat was ostentation on a level of lighting cigars with 100-, or even 500-, currency-unit notes. Once it had been cooked and eaten there'd be no more milk, butter, cream or little cattle from that source, so eating beef was showing off And Then Some.

Also, loaning a prize bull to run with someone else's heifers was a sign of great friendship or alliance, while refusing it might be an excuse for enmity or even war. IMO that's what Maeve of Connaught intended all along, picking undiplomatic envoys who would get drunk and shoot their mouths off so the loan was refused and she, insulted, would have an excuse to...

But I digress, as usual. Or again. Or still... :->

*****

For the most part, "pig" mean "domestic porker", and in later periods right up to the Famine, these animals were seldom eaten.

Instead, known as "the gentleman who pays the rent", the family pig ate kitchen scraps and rooted about for other foods, none of which the tenant had to grow or buy for them. These fattened pigs would go to market twice a year, and the money from their sale would literally pay that half-year's rent.

For wealthier (less poor?) farmers, pigs had another advantage. Calves arrived singly, lambs might be a pair, but piglets popped out by the dozen. A sow with (some of) her farrow was even commemorated on the old ha'penny coin...

What with bulls, chickens, hares, horses, hounds, pigs, salmon and stags, the pre-decimal Irish coinage is a good inspiration for some sort of fantasy currency.

But that's another post, for another day.

[tomboymikayla]

What sucks about the Sonic franchise is that people only seem to like it when the franchise isn't being itself

Sonic Colors is liked by non Sonic Fans because it's kiddy and lighthearted and not dark and edgy like the 2000s games, which is considered cringe to them and the only time people "like" the 2000s games is when they're talking about those obnoxious Snapcube dubs which they's been spamming for 4 years now

New Fans also praise the current voice cast, which sucks because a majority them don't fit the characters

New Fans also praise how Ian Flynn writes the characters, which also sucks because Flynn's version of the characters don't act like the actual Sonic Characters, (Sonic considering himself as a hero, Tails being Jimmy Neutron, Amy chooses to keep her feelings for Sonic secret and having Tarot Cards be her whole personality, Shadow being an edgy dick, etc) but the New Fans keep insisting that the new versions are better

Also to this day, misconceptions about the franchise and 90s boomers who refuse to let go of the US Lore still persist:

His name is Eggman, not Robotnik

Sonic lives on Earth, not Mobius

Sonic is not obsessed with Chili Dogs

Amy is not a stalker

Sonic has never fucking said "Gotta Go Fast"

Shadow is not an edgelord

People thinking the cartoons and movies are canon

People thinking the Snapcube Dub is canon

Majority of the characters are teens (For some reason people think every Sonic character is a grown adult, even characters like Charmy and Tails)

Also a lot of people seem to forget that the franchise was niche/hated during the 2010s, people didn't give a flying fuck about Sonic and even if they did, they brought it up just to shit on it, it was especially worse when Forces and the Ugly Sonic design came out, everything about Sonic in the 2010s was mocking it, nonstop memes and people saying the franchise only works in 2D (What's worse is that Sonic Mania indirectly proved them right)/was never good, etc

Sonic hate is a lot less common nowadays due to the movies, (mocking Sonic 06 is still brought up to this day tho), however i feel like most of it is people pretending to like Sonic, majority of Sonic praise nowadays comes from the Movies or Frontiers's vocal tracks (because of Kellen Quinn), it also goes back to my previous point with people liking the mischaracterised versions of the characters better

The big two Sonic content coming out this year are Sonic x Shadow Generations and Sonic Movie 3, which has a lot of people hyped because of Shadow the Hedgehog, but it also goes back to my previous point of people pretending to like Sonic, Shadow was heavily disliked by critics and the general audience for being a "edgelord" and looking like a Deviantart OC, so why are people switching up now?

Also from a majority of reactions I've seen, they'll say shit like "Shadow has always been my favorite character" but they don't even know his backstory and when see Black Doom, Maria or Gerald, they go "Who is this!?" (Or make an obnoxious Snapcube joke), I've even seen people ask for Silver, who is a character who was more hated than Shadow and know less about, I doubt they even know he's from the future

All this shit makes me scared that by the time both of these come out, that I'm gonna have to gatekeep the fuck out of this franchise, which is something don't wanna have to do, I just wanna live in a world where the franchise isn't a laughing stock and people actually the franchise unironically

[valtharr]

So. Which Ultraman series would you recommend for starters? Also would Shin Ultraman be a good starting point if you have never seen anything Ultraman related?

Honestly, those are both kinda tough questions 😅

Let's start with the Shin Ultraman one:

Shin Ultraman is a great movie, probably my favorite kaiju movie (sorry Pacific Rim and Final Wars), and you need no prior knowledge of Ultraman, mainly because the movie is basically an abridged version of the original 1966 series. So, as a movie, I recommend it, but I'm not sure about it as an introduction to Ultraman. Mainly because - just like Sentai and Rider - Ultraman is primarily a kids show, while Shin is aimed at a more mature audience, which is why I don't consider a great representation of the franchise as a whole. Don't get me wrong, it totally gets the themes and everything right, but the vibes are just different. So, I recommend watching it, but not necessarily as an introduction to the main franchise.

As for which actual series I recommend for a newcomer... well, I should preface this by saying that I've only really seen New Generation series (late Heisei and Reiwa era). The main reason for that is honestly that those seasons are shorter (about 25 episodes instead of the Showa and Heisei 50). But yeah, my recs are gonna be New Gen only.

I think the safest bet in my eyes would be Ultraman X. It doesn't really call back to any previous seasons, and it's pretty "vanilla" in its setup: The Ultra and his host are distinct characters from each other, the host works for an anti-kaiju defense force, etc. It sticks to the "formula" pretty closely, closer than any of the other New Gen shows I've seen... with the exception of one:

Ultraman Z is also pretty by the numbers, and has the distinct advantage of being fully legally available one Youtube, both subbed and dubbed. The main reason I recommend X over Z is that Z leans a bit more into the greater universe of the franchise, with appearances from old characters, one of which actually ends up playing a major role. That said, it was the first Ultra season I watched in full, and it wasn't like I was totally lost, but I would recommend watching Orb and Geed before jumping into Z. Speaking of which...

Ultraman Orb is actually the most recent season I fully watched, and I really like it. The main character is just really cool, and while the supporting cast starts off as kinda annoying, but they grew on me a bit over the course of the show. It's also pretty serialized, with some mysteries that slowly get revealed throughout the story.

Ultraman Geed, like Ultraman Orb, is a bit of a fan favorite. Now, technically, the main villain of the show is a major villain in the greater Ultraman lore, which at first might seem like this would be a bad entry point, but the show provides you with enough context that you can just treat as backstory. I also like that it kinda gives you a bit of "best of both worlds" when it comes to Ultras: The main character is actually an Ultra in human form, but there's also a secondary Ultra who does the more classic "bond with a human host" thing, so you get both common flavors of Ultraman in one series. Also, for what it's worth, I once commissioned a Youtuber who knew basically nothing about tokusatsu, let alone Ultraman, to review Geed, and he ended up liking it.

Finally, I'm gonna shout out Blazar and Arc, the most recent seasons, with Arc's second episode having just aired the same day I'm writing this. Blazar has some Ultraman staples, like the defense team and the human and Ultra being separate entities, but also does some new stuff with those tropes, like the Ultra not being able to properly talk, and the host actually being the head of the show's main defense team. Obviously, I can't say much about Arc yet, but it seems to go in a bit more traditional direction. Both are also available on Youtube, with Blazar having two audio tracks (Japanese and English) that you can switch between, and Arc having separate uploads for its sub and dub

Also, I should mention: Every Ultraman season prior to 2020 is available on BluRay via Mill Creek Entertainment, and from what I can tell, they seem to be region free. At least I had no problems watching them on my German PS4.

[rascalentertainments]

Is Sabino gonna be alive at the end?

What are the Sakina and Sabino's headcanon voice actors?

Would Magnifico break the fourth wall once he transforms into a monster or during the credits?

Do you have your own set of Villains who are ten times better than Magnifico that you take inspiration for my rewrite from him? like some of them are your most loved and hated villains?

What would be sabor’s defeat?

If Star is a prince, Does Star and and his mother shares a same familial relationship as Ariel and King Triton, Moana and Chief Tui?

Is King Magnifico planning on using WG!Star as bait to trap his mother and drain her magic or drain both of them?

Is Asha and Flazino are like cousin figures?

How did Flazino became apprentice to King Magnifico?

Hello there, @albertthewolfdog! Sorry I'm late to your ask, but here I am!

Yes! And he will perform his deleted song "A Wish Worth Making" at the end of the story to help close it out! Its actually one of the few things I'm glad the movie changed. I really like Sabino and glad they didn't kill him off.

Sabino's is still Victor Garber, I feel that was a great choice, but they didn't give him any good lines to say or have an impact on the viewer. Very underutilized. As for Sakina, I know it sounds strange, but I picked Whoopi Goldberg. WG!Sakina has a bit of sass to her (that's where Asha gets it from) but she can still be motherly and caring. She'll even have some good lines later on and in the bonus stories. I think Whoopi can make all that come through in her voice.

He will do it twice as a monster, actually! He looks at the camera and says "How's that for a climax?" when the time comes for him and Star to fight. And another when Gabo asks Amaya how did she get to the top of tower before Magnifico did. She can't explain, and neither can the King, so its a Emperor's New Groove reference!

OH YEAH!! The inspirations are Team Rocket when they're in front of a crowd, then Hades and Maleficent when they're alone together. LOVE both of those pairings, so they fit in well!

5. I haven't quite decided yet. I've been considering turning him into a regular housecat to reference Yzma's cat form, or getting injured fighting Valentino. He would begrudgingly receive care from Bazeema during his recovery.

6. Actually Star is technically a regular guy. "Wish Granted" Stars ate dubbed "star nomads", where they travel across the galaxy in the Startosphere without a permanent home. There's only one royal star, and that's the legendary wishing star that no one has actually seen in the present. Though, Star feels like a prince when he's with Asha and Asha feels like a princess when she's with Star.

As for the mother relationship question, I would say Moana and Chief Tui. Star's parents don't really understand why he wants to visit Earth so badly when he has all of space to travel in. They still love and care for him, he's just the odd kid in his family.

7. Nope, but you're close! He's using Asha's family and the Hamlet as bait so he gives her an ultimatum. Either she hands over Star and he dies, or her family dies. You are right about both he and Amaya wanting to drain Star's magic. He's going to use the staff to stab him in the chest and drain every drop out of him until he's empty. Then the two will share the celestial magic and will be able to conquer the rest of the world.

8. Yes, good eye! Its not a Disney reference, but they're similar to the Alien Force version of Ben and Gwen Tennyson. They're practically family and get along, no romance in the slightest.

9. Like the deleted scene, Flazino's wish is to study magic. For this story, its so he can help others lives be better, which is what he thought Magnifico wanted as well. He thought the job would be more glamorous or fun as he learned, but it turns out Mags doesn't actually want a successor. He plans on being in power permanently with his wife. He pretends he granted Flazi's wish and instead of studying magic, he's the errand boy, cleans the lab equipment, feeds Sabor, and is in charge of the tour guides for newcomers. Flazino just practices what he can at home and secretly takes ingredients from Amaya's potion cabinet.

He gave his wish at 18, and was surprised to hear it was getting granted so soon. Though Mags doesn't really need an apprentice, he takes Flaz on just in case something happened to him, all of his magic, power and evil will go into the apprentice. Sort of passing on his plans to him to become the next Magnifico and continue his work. That's pretty terrifying.

During the first few months of becoming the apprentice, he learned about the Hamlet through rumors in Rosas. He didn't understand why people would run away until he stumbles on seeing the king and queen crush the wishes of a couple who talked about leaving Rosas and not trusting the royals. He never saw that couple again.

He later took off one night into the forest to finds this supposed Hamlet using a tracking spell. Once he finds it, Sabino and other people tell him why they ran and what a monster the royal could be. Flazino felt so disgusted that he promised to help anyway he could. So he makes an excuse to get specialty mushroom from the Uncharted Forest once a month and brings supplies to the Hamlet ever since. (stuff like seeds to grow food, flour, medicine, toys for the kids)

And there you go! Thanks for submitting! Feel free to ask more questions whenever you like!

I'll tag you guys in case you want some extra info before my next lore drop! @oh-shtars @tumblingdownthefoxden @chillwildwave @annymation

@your-ne1ghbor @thesafireartist @ishadow246 @uva124

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

Alright guys, it's that time again. It's time for me to make completely unhinged in-depth theories on cartoon shows based on comic lore.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Edition!

If you are unfamiliar with this series then congrats! You get to listen to the, hopefully entertaining, ramblings of a mad man.

But! If you, like me, binge watched this series and are now left with a burning hole in your chest wondering when season three will come out then congrats! You also get to listen to the ramblings of a mad man, this time with slightly more context!!!

One of the burning questions everyone was left with in the wake of Rottmnt and the movie was "who are the other two turtles?" See, Rise from its very inception had always intended on introducing two more turtle siblings to Raph, Leo, Donnie and Mikey's family dynamics. This inclusion can be seen as early as season one when there are six turtle pods shown on screen during the boy's origin story.

We, in fact, actually see one of the missing sisters in season 2 of the show. The character dubbed 'Big Mama's Assistant' is confirmed by the show runners to be a secret sibling and, if they had been given a season three, they would have revealed this at the end of season 2. Season three would then have been focused on the Hamato clan retrieving the missing sisters.

But who is Big Mama's Assistant? Is she Venus De Milo, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sister from the live action show? Is she Jennika, the turtle in yellow from the comics? Well I've got news folks. She's neither.

Tweets from the show runners confirm that Big Mama's Assistant was never intended to be Jennika or Venus, she was instead going to be an original character.... or was she?

Guys, gals and nonbinary pals, I submit to the court that Big Mama's Assistant is in fact an original character that is both an adaptation of Jennika and Venus.

First, let us establish some facts.

In the above images I would like you to acknowledge several things.

this sibling is in the height range of Donnie/Leo (as can be seen when compared to Big Mama's height).

this sibling has a thin shell, one that is barely noticeable under her clothes.

this sibling has a gigantic forehead.

this sibling wears a mask that shows markings that start at the eyes and wrap around the head.

this sibling's weapon of choice is neko-te.

Finally, this sibling seems to have two small fake turtle shells strapped to shoulder as shoulder pads.

So I raise the question: Who do we know that has a thin, barely visible shell, gigantic forehead, is approximately Donnie's height and wears prosthetic turtle shells? Donnie.

Yeah, folks I'm pretty sure this sibling is a softshell. She's wearing her own version of her 'battleshell' from her turtle tot days as shoulder pads. Actually, I'm pretty sure we see her green battleshell here:

And do you know what a Smooth Softshell Turtle looks like?

It's the same face markings. And it's yellow. Objectively, they have to use yellow for one of the two sisters because they gave April green in Rise.

"Alright," I hear you saying. "So you think she's a softshell, but what does that have to do with who she is??"

What a perfect segway question! Thank you so much for asking. Did you guys know that Venus' name isn't actually Venus? Venus is the alias that she uses to fight crime/be a ninja with her brothers/fit their art theme. Venus' actual name is Mei Pieh Chi which translates to Beautiful Softshell Turtle Energy.

So it is actually ENTIRELY possible for Big Mama's softshell turtle assistant to be an adaptation of Mei Pieh Chi without being named Venus. If she simply picks a different alias then we're all good. (I'm assuming the creators liked 'Frida' because Smooth Softshell Turtles look like they have intense eyebrows)

Alright, so we've established how Venus fits into this (aka Venus doesn't, Mei Pieh Chi does) but what about Jennika!? Well that one is actually super easy. Yeah, so remember how the mystery sibling uses neko-te?

Yeah, uh, Jennika's main weapon is a neko-te/tekkō-kagi mash up. (Aka Wolverine claws) I'm assuming she would use magic neko-te until she eventually unlocked her ninpō and got the wolverine upgrade (mirroring how the boys switched weapons) I'm also assuming that she would inherit Jennika's color (yellow), Jennika's sexuality (lesbian) and it's confirmed that she would inherit Jennika's personality (see below).

(also I'mma call it right now, she's autistic and I love her. She's Very Very Serious ™ aka she takes everything literally)

And now let's take a look at what I call "The reason Big Mama and Draxum already knew and hated each other, got into an argument about stealing stuff from each other and the reason why Draxum waited 13 years to do the whole mosquito backup plan":

"No, it would’ve been sweet, right? Like, at the end we see, like, maybe Draxum’s bodyguard takes off their mask and, you know, reveals a female sibling, and then there was, like, another one 'cause we thought it’d be great to investigate, ‘Okay, like, Splinter was able to save four out of six and maybe we just didn’t see the other two and, like, what would that be if they were raised by Draxum and Big Mama?’ And this would be something Draxum would admit to them at the end of season two." - Executive Producer, Andy Suriano

Guys, Draxum in season one is a divorced dad who lost custody. He went with the backup plan after THIRTEEN YEARS because his kid said "Fuck you, I'm living at Mom's house!" Draxum threw Leo off of a roof because the goatman had PTSD from his daughter rejecting him and nOW SUDDENLY THERE'S FOUR NEW KIDS THAT HATE HIM?!

Also, let's circle back to the other sister being "a little kooky from being trapped in another dimension for years." You know what'd be traumatic enough to abandon your parent and completely reject them? If they got your sister stuck in another dimension with no way out. You know what'd be a super good reason for Draxum not telling the boys about their sisters? If he LOST ONE.

But where oh where did this lost sister go and who is she? Well, I've got more on that but you'll have to wait for part two because I am out of pictures!

Thanks for being unhinged with me and see ya next time folks!

[tremendously-exhilarated]

Still can't quite believe I've seen this movie in a theatre today, and on a nearly perfectly preserved 35mm copy from the 80s.

I say nearly, because as an employee had informed us beforehand, the responsible projectionist in the 80s had (and excuse any terminology mistakes as I'm not well versed on how exactly film projection works) spliced together the singular, 10-minute long film reels pretty carelessly. This resulted in the seamlessly hidden 'cuts' to be a lot more visible and overall less smooth, as a few frames on both the beginning and end of a reel were now missing.

Although it would have been nice if the projectionist back then had been more careful, I really can't complain and it didn't bother me at all, but I found it interesting enough to share it here. 

Also, since I watched a German copy of the movie, I thought I might as well share something interesting most people who aren't from Germany probably don't know: There actually exist two different German dubs of Rope.

The first dub is from 1963. In this version, the conversation about the Übermensch Theory and Nietzsche had been toned down and significantly altered, so that the explicit reference to the Nazis and Hitler could be left out. This version was considered lost for a long time, until it resurfaced and is now widely used for releases.

The second dub is from 1984. All characters except for Rupert have different voice actors, and the reference to Hitler and the Nazis is retained as is. This is also the one used in this particular 35mm copy.

[picturemecountingcards]

Do you have any Russian cartoons/series/youtube series you would recommend?

Sure thing!! Although I probably won't be able to find subtitles rn, at least not from my phone, sorry :( I'll link to the videos themselves though.

Not recommending metal family, since you're already on that, but just wanted to mention it bc yk. can't not

Anyway:

1. Смешарики

It's a kids show that gets very existential on a regular basis, but still manages to be goofy and fun for the most part (the passage of time and the melancholy associated with it is a pretty prominent theme). It's got great songs and the writing is genuinely really good. It's also given me some bonkers echolalia, thank god everyone around me understands what i'm quoting

Linking season 1, but the rest are available on the same site. There is an english dub and a german dub somewhere on youtube, but if you're able to find subtitles, I obviously recommend that

2. Падал прошлогодний снег

Not technically Russian, but Soviet, but it's my entire childhood, so i can't not mention it. Once again, fatal echolalia levels. Claymation, very cool looking and a fun ride with quiet existential moments near the end. I might be noticing a theme.

It's a short film, not a series, but i think it fits under the definition of a cartoon? I... might not know the exact definition of cartoons, actually, oops

3. Слова-паразиты

Ok, this one's less of a cartoon, more of a music video, BUT. It was featured in a pretty big indie animation festival when it came out. The band also played there and i'm so so bummed that i couldn't go. This one's probably easier translation vise, since all you need is the song translation

4. Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона

If you haven't seen the Soviet adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, today's your lucky day, it's fully on youtube with English subs (linked above). The best existing adaptation imho, and since it's Holmes, it's obviously very gay :)

5. Ok, this one is more of a fringe suggestion, since they're movies, but I've been really into Майор Гром lately. They're based on comics that I haven't read yet, but I know that once I get around to them, I'll hyperfixate immediately. Both the comics and the movies are extremely gay, I'm honestly not sure how the fuck they're getting away with it. I'm not gonna link them here bc I really want you to see the extended version of the first one (it's gayer. that's the only difference), but i don't think i can find it from my phone, so if you're interested, please dm me, and I'll send you the links from the puter this evening (and maybe infodump a liiiittle bit. with pictures of fanart i bought).

6. Алиса в стране чудес and Алиса в зазеркалье

The Soviet cartoon adaptation of Alice in wonderland, it's trippy and really really fun, the animation looks cool as hell. Also, Alice's design is pretty close to Lewis Carroll's illustrations!

[puella-magi-images]

Hey guys, since I've seen it going around, I just want to say that the Madoka Magica website did not change its release date from winter 2024 to coming soon!

The English version of the movie has always been slated as "Coming Soon," it was that way in both the initial English trailer and has been that way for the English site since they updated it for the new movie. It has not been changed. The Japanese website still says winter 2024.

The most likely reason for this is that they don't know how long it will take to sub/dub the English release after it comes out in Japanese.

That said, I doubt that the movie will come out in early winter, and it will probably be later in the year. Hang in there, guys!

Please don't continue to share that the movie has been delayed or that the release date has changed! I don't blame anyone for the misconception, but I'd like it to not go further!

TL;DR (for a short post, yes, but I want to get the point across): The English release has always been "Coming Soon" as opposed to the Japanese release which is "Winter 2024"! Nothing has changed! There is no evidence of a delay at the current moment!

[synergysilhouette]

Making a tracklist for a Kingdom Hearts musical

If you haven't seen my previous post about pitching a Kingdom Hearts musical film made by Walt Disney Animation, please check it out; you'll probably be confused if you don't, as I've changed some things. As the title suggests, this post is an idea for the songs that would go with this musical. I haven't really established if in my mind there's a different voice cast for this movie, or if it's the same speaking voices but mostly different voice actors doing the singing. NGL, this was difficult to make since I only had the concept; now I gotta iron out the plot! I may edit this later.

"Scaela Ad Caelum" By Xehanort, Eraqus, the Foretellers, and chorus--I like the idea that this is an epic opening track in a similar vein to "The Emperor's Dream," an alternate musical opening to 1998's "Mulan," as well as "Prologue" from Raya and the Last Dragon. I'd like it to explore how the kingdom was created by the foretellers--though in my mind, the design is widely different to incorporate The Land of Departure, Radiant Garden, and Destiny Islands, with SAC would as the capital. It'd be a long song, since it would cover Xehanort's childhood and friendship with Eraqus, as well as how he descended into darkness.

2. "Destiny" By Kairi, Sora, and Riku--This song would mainly concern their dreams of traveling, visiting Scala Ad Caelum, as well as concerns of drifting apart as they have different dreams. Kairi wants to visit her hometown where she lived with her grandmother, Riku wants to find adventure, and Sora, despite wanting to visit different places himself, tries to find a compromise so that they don't have to separate, at least not yet. As such, Kairi gives them a paopu fruit to share, telling them that her grandmother used to say that the people who share it will always be a part of each other's lives. (I'm also fine if they sing a revised version of Hikaru Utada's "Sanctuary.")

3. "Something Greater" by Riku, Ansem the Wise, and Xehanort--Following a fallout with his parents about traveling, an insecure Riku is invited by Xehanort (in his younger form to appear more inviting; essentially Ansem, seeker of Darkness) to come to Scala Ad Caelum and allow him to learn under Ansem the Wise and learn magic (since Ansem the Wise is conflated with Yen Sid here and is thus a mage or mage-like scientist). Riku reveals that he's afraid of losing his friends as well, and while Ansem consoles him, Xehanort privately stokes his fears, telling him to forget them because they'll forget about him as they travel. This starts his own descent into darkness as Xehanort begins to manipulate him. When he's not there, Xehanort convinces Ansem the Wise to appoint Terra (one of his assistants) to supervise Riku and monitor the darkness taking over his heart.

4. "Chasing the Sunset" By Kairi, Sora, and Chorus--Believing that Riku has left them, Sora encourages Kairi's dream of returning to her childhood home and goes with her. They enjoy their time traveling, but both of them worry about Riku; Sora is worried that he abandoned them, while Kairi is concerned that something much darker occurred. Their romance also grows at this point, while Xehanort shows this to Riku to convince him that they don't care about him. Xehanort also uses his powers of shapeshifting (again, read my previous post) to pose as Riku and make Kairi and Sora believe that he is annoyed at them leaving him behind and abandoning their friendship, making the two feel guilty over giving up on looking for him so soon.

5. "The Master" By Ansem the Wise, Sora, and Kairi--Eventually the duo makes their way to Scala Ad Caelum, where their appearence makes Ansem suspicious of Xehanort, and sees the kindness in Sora and Kairi's hearts. Posing as DiZ, he teaches them limited magic, where Sora manages to summon a key-shaped weapon. Kairi, inspired by him, summons one as well, which Ansem dubs "Keyblades." He tasks them with using them to get rid of Vanitas' unversed that lurk around the city and spy on the citizens, and promises to help them find Riku, not revealing that Xehanort has corrupted him. He also keeps his assistants in the dark, worried about what Xehanort may do if he found out they knew.

5. "Nobody" By O10 (excluding Xehanort, Terra, and Vanitas) and Kairi--By this point, Kairi has been kidnapped by Axel because of her pure heart that Xehanort intends to exploit in order to bring balance to the world and bring it into a golden age and rid the world of its impurities. (Saix is the only one who knows that this means she'll likely die, but Luxord has his suspicions). Kairi manages to befriend Axel and Demyx, as well as somewhat amusing Luxord, but Saix, Xigbar, Larxene, and Marluxia are all about business. It's explained to Kairi that by using her light, she will be restoring their hearts, as they are creatures called Nobodies. The backstories of Axel, Saix, Marluxia, and Larxene are explained here, while the rest are left enigmatic.

6. "Wayfinder" by Vanitas (featuring the Wayfinder Trio, Eraqus, and Sora)--While Sora attempts to find Ventus and restore his heart, he is intercepted by Vanitas, who wants to kidnap Ventus once he awakens and returns him to Xehanort. In this particular universe, I imagine Vanitas has a soaring, amazing voice, and he's essentially telling Sora the story of how the Wayfinder Trio and Eraqus stood against Xehanort, only to be defeated. Terra was one of them, and believed that his friends died against Xehanort, so it was easy for Xehanort to break him and recruit him into their ranks. One of them--Vanitas' "brother" Ventus--so strongly resisted Xehanort's attempts to control his light that his heart fled to Sora's, resulting in Vanitas looking like Sora. Sora attempts to appeal to Vanitas and tells him that he could be his own person. Vanitas says that he doesn't know who he is without Ventus (and now Sora), and tells Sora that he needs to abide by his "older brother." During this, Xehanort summons Aqua from the depths of the Realm of Darkness, tricking Aqua into battling him Spoiler: He does indeed defeat Sora and capture a restored Ventus.

7. "Don't Think Twice" by Axel, Saix, Vanitas, Xehanort (featuring Riku, Ventus, Terra, and Kairi)--This is an emotional song where Axel and Vanitas attempt to convince the Kairi and Ventus that trying to fight Xehanort and the organization is futile. At this point, Axel's allegiance is failing, at which point Saix is telling him not to think twice, and to think about their childhood friendship instead of his new friendships with Kairi and Ventus. Meanwhile, Xehanort attempts to continue to have Terra and Riku embrace their darkness while Aqua and Sora appeal to them.

8. "One Sky" by Ensemble--This song is a bit of a two-parter, with some during the battle and then a reprise at the end (elements of "Face My Fears" could be thrown in there). As Sora, Riku, Terra, Axel and Aqua battle against the organization, they show Xehanort that they represent light and darkness, while he and his group simply embody darkness, having casted a pall on Ventus and Kairi's light. As such, he realizes that his goal of harmony was achieved--just not by himself. As he is defeated, Ventus and Vanitas become one person, while Sora ventures to rescue Kairi and disappears, and he gives his life to restore hers after Xehanort seemingly shatters her body (but her heart was intact). In the end, the people of the kingdom marvel at the concept of light and darkness, and that selfish deeds eventually led to peace. The nobodies are restored to their original bodies, and Elrena and Laurium tell Riku and Kairi that Sora is out there somewhere: "Sora didn't die. He just went somewhere else. Wherever he is, he's watching the same sky we are." Maybe tie it into the wishing star Disney motif by having Kairi wish on it, and the star begins to fall...

In the end, we'd hear that iconic KH1 quote.

Lemme know what you think! I may add or change a song based on how I feel later; I'm still on the fence about having removed Namine.

[pridewishes]

i wanna try to get into enstars bc i like pjsk (even tho i am so bad at it) and also am gay but i find it overwhelming and confusing can u give me some tips or something

Absolutely, I will do my best to help! It's very, very overwhelming and a lot so I don't blame you at all! I'll put everything under a cut because I'm autistic and very excited and have a Lot of links and things!

First, absolutely watch the Enstars anime. This will go over the main points / ideas of the Main Story of the first game (aka ! era). Strongly recommend watching in sub because the dub isn't very good.

Then, watch Element. This goes over the Element Arc of ! Era Main Story. They cover this in the main anime but not as good.

There's also a movie, which I have but I don't have a link for it. If you'd like the download + subtitle file for it, just shoot me an ask or dm me at @shinobukawajiri and I can help out! But it's not super lore important or anything so don't worry.

Alright! So you've seen the anime! Now you can get into the music. You could also listen to songs before the anime, really whatever you want! For this, I'd suggest going to the wiki and picking a Unit! Check out their discography, which you can view from their wiki page and give the songs a listen. You can find all of them on YT! I'd definitely listen to a couple songs from all units to get a feel because they all have very different sounds! If there's a music genre you like let me know, and I can recommend some songs / units! There's also some Temporary Units + Shuffle Units, which have music as well that you can listen to! If you'd like some recommendations, lmk!

Now, after viewing the anime, and listening to songs, pick a Unit or some characters you like and focus on stories for them! Since there's a lot of stories it's better to just pick some favorites and go from there. Crazy:B and Alkaloid were introduced in !! era / the second game, so you won't see them in the anime, if they're of interest to you. Here is a guide for important stories from the first game for the characters in that.

To access stories for the first game / ! Era, you'll have to use the wayback machine, or you can just look up (story name) tl / translation on Google, and you should usually be able to find what you need, since they were forced to take down any tls on the wiki.

Now, there's two games as I've established. The first game is completely in Japanese, and I'd rely on Story translations from the wayback machine wiki. As for the new game, you can play in English! It's accessible from the appstore, but remember, this takes place AFTER the other game! You absolutely do not have to know all the lore / read all the stories or anything to play! I'm just mega autistic so lmao. But the English version of Enstars Music doesn't have the best translations, but it is more accessible. Though, if you become super invested like me and my partner, you can absolutely download the Japanese version of the game!

There's lots of people on Twitter who translate and things for the stories + general game things and id be happy to direct to them if you find yourself super enjoying the Series!

Basically it is VERY difficult bc there's also drama cds, stageplays, manga, but finding things translated or just finding them can take work but ofc all that isn't required. In general just have fun!!! Don't be deterred and like I said I'm more than happy to help find things or whatever anyone needs! Since my partner has been more invested for longer than me, we both can do our best to help!!

Also a note from said partner ;

to my wife’s autism anon: i am also autistic . enstars has been my favorite thing in the entire world since the ripe and beautiful year of 2019. this source is beautiful , fun , indulgent , deep as all hell , and So So So much to unpack . there is no such thing as a background character in enstars . there are 50 characters who are all so deeply fleshed out and have so much content and backstory to them so i am absolutely certain you will find somebody that appeals to you . enstars can have some pretty heavy topics at times it’s not your run of the mill happy idol franchise, but if you like project sekai (which i also LOVE) you will Love enstars . the game is so much fun , the characters are so deep and interesting and real , the stories are engaging and silly and wonderful, you will love it. you Have to. for me . stan knights

[johnnylandslide]

People I Want To Get To Know Better

I got tagged by both @otherworldseekers and @mimble-sparklepudding !

Last Song: Masayoshi Takanaka - All of Me! It's a whole album, not a song, but I always listen to it front to back. It's my most potent productivity aid, lol.

Favourite Color: Blue!

Currently Watching: A few friends and I are watching Baki. We'd seen so many hilarious out-of-context manga panels of it that we just had to know what the hell happens in that show.

Last Movie: Fast and Furious 10. I'd seen it once already, and it was even worse the second time. Also, the audio track on the version we had was totally desynced, so halfway through we ended up switching to the Spanish dub with subtitles turned on.

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Spicy! I like a challenge.

Current Obsessions: I've been writing a lot this month! Though I haven't kept up with FFXIVWrite very well, it did succeed in breaking me out of my writer's block. I've been writing mostly small FFXIV oneshots, but also have a Fire Emblem longfic to get back to.

Last Thing In My Search History: "Penumbra". Not because of FFXIV mods, surprisingly; It was a crossword answer I was helping my mother with.

[neonscandal]

Anon from earlier! I've watched the first episode in sub and it felt nostalgic watching it subbed but I am sad for the dubbed fans. Good luck on editing your old stories!!! I hope you have fun with it. ❤️💕

All the sub actors returned? I’m legit so happy for you 🥲 What’s funny is, now, I watch sub and dub. Sub when I can focus, dub when I can’t (constantly battling my impulses to do everything all at once).

But your message made me realize I’ve never seen the sub of any of the shows I’d watched as a kid! I’ve never seen the sub version of Pokémon, Ranma 1/2, or Inuyasha to this day! Edit: that’s a lie, I watched the Inuyasha movies subbed and maybe the Ranma 1/2 ones too!

I really loved Sarah Strange’s and later Ian Cox’s Ranma and also just genuinely wanted to be as disaffected as Nabiki always sounded. I even owned the box sets of the full series and still didn’t but that could be a fun rewatch ❤️

Great to hear from you and I’m excited for both of us with the reboot! They managed to capture that retro look both with the characters and different accents throughout the animation, it really does feel nostalgic.

[kohakhearts]

hey that pokemon 2000 gifset + your jn dub analysis made me think about the pokemon 2000 dub - I've only seen it subbed once (compared to the hundred times I watched it dubbed as a child) so I could be misremembering, but didn't the dub completely change the themes of the movie with the chosen one ash thing?

i actually haven’t watched the sub nearly as many as times as the dub either :p but i have read extensively about this topic bc it’s personally my favourite pokemon movie and yes! the first and second pokemon movies are both victim to this (like mewtwo’s epic speech we all love so much at the end of the first movie…being a complete fabrication by the dub team :p you gotta give those writers credit - they were VERY good at what they did), largely i’m guessing due to cultural values and expectations. since they were trying to sell the anime to an american audience, not a japanese one.

tangentially, i will say i also think that’s the root of this like…subtle distinction some people have between the characters “ash” and “satoshi.” i don’t differentiate them in any big way myself because fundamentally they still are very much the same, but it is true that in japanese, ash has somewhat different mannerisms and responds differently to events at times, especially in the early anime when it was so much easier to get away with making big changes for…a big assortment of reasons haha.

in THIS movie in particular, some of those things are like…well. the prophecy is probably the most obvious change. the dub team rewrote it to include the chosen one reference, which works great because of the word play on ash’s name. in japanese, it just says “an exceptional trainer will appear to help calm the wrath of the gods.” ash’s response to this is more mild trepidation than outright fear. he doesn’t hesitate like he does in the dub. and tbh? both reactions make perfect sense for his character in my opinion.

in japanese, his concern is more "do you really think i can fit that role?" this...tracks pretty well with his character development by this point. like yeah he said he could win the indigo league, but he's also thinking about dropping out after gary loses; it's that little grain of insecurity he has, which he's normally good at covering up with arrogance (a lot of which is also very genuine, don't get me wrong). but he sees the opportunity to help and he takes it. that's just...what ash does.

in english, though, the prophecy is pretty clearly about him. there's no one else it could be. it has to be him. and he...doesn't like that? that scares him. which, fair. anyone would be terrified by being singled out like that. it's also so much...not ash's thing, even at this point in the series. his character development is about embracing having to work hard to do well. to keep trying until you get it right, no matter how many times you get it wrong. the idea of being a "chosen one" completely robs him of his ability to be so single-minded about what he wants his destiny to be that it manifests as pre-determined; it just...pre-determines it for him, if that makes sense. lol.

the thesis of the japanese version of the film is that no one person or pokemon can stand on their own. everyone needs help. it's about harmonizing with each other and with nature. about letting others help you, and helping them in turn. the english version rewrites that into a story about power and destiny. the title alone says it all, right? it's called "the power of one" - no reference to lugia, no reference to the birds. in japan, the title is about the revelation (or "birth") of lugia.

westerners love a good chosen one story, so this was a really good choice by the dub team in that respect. i mean, it's a narrative that's stuck really well. fandom loves chosen one ash! in general, western fanbases are really into this narrative. it's everywhere. and there's a lot that goes into that, culturally, and especially religiously, historically, etc. so at the end of the day, i don't think the change is so much about conflicting ideas about collectivism and individualism. it's more about goals and ideals, on a personal level.

let me say again for the 273456784th time, i love that they resolved ash's story by having him realize that the goal he's really been striving for all this time is to meet and befriend pokemon. to learn from them. to earn their trust. it's like...he did the thing that everyone else thought represented his goal, maybe even himself included, only to realize that his dream was never about the end of it anyway. it was about everything he learnt and everyone he met along the way. (i also suspect nobody writing in 1997 knew that that would be the ultimate resolution, either. but it makes sense in the entire context. it's kind of a nice irony, even. to only figure it out after writing the story :p)

and i think this little distinction is important to that goal! it's his whole character! which is why even though i too love chosen one characters, i don't necessarily think of ash as one. because even if he is, his whole Thing is that he wants to try. a lot of the chosen one narrative is about characters being reluctant to be used for a "greater good," or about them collapsing under that pressure. ash doesn't really have that. he does what he thinks is right because he...thinks it's right. sometimes, sure, others have to push him into it a bit, but usually they're actually pushing the other way - it's too dangerous, you're going to get hurt, etc. and to me, i don't know - thinking of times he's died, or nearly died, and some legendary or mythical pokemon has saved him at the last minute...i don't think that has to mean he's special in a cosmic sort of way. i think it just means he's special to them. that he did something for them, or for someone else they had come to care for (thinking manaphy responding to may's emotions, not just to the fact that ash was drowning, or in mpm ash convincing latios to trust him because of their mutual desire to save latias, etc.), and so they want to help him. which is completely opposite to the typical chosen one narrative, i think? because he doesn't do those things out of obligation...he does them because he thinks he can become a better trainer by doing them, and he wants to do that. and well. he did do that.

anyway my tl;dr here is YES they changed the theme a lot haha, but i find it fun that they also changed the characters’ responses to that theme. funnily that’s…kind of also what fanfiction writers do all the time, lmao, but that’s a whole other conversation.

[okayto]

Mini-Review: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

Scott Pilgrim meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, only to find out her seven evil exes stand in the way of their love.

An alternate take on the Scott Pilgrim story, which started as a series of graphic novels and received a live action feature film in 2010, this anime starts off by seeming to be a pretty straightforward animated adaptation of the film, but that soon changes.

I can't speak to how either adaptation compares to the original books (because I've never read them), but the film, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, went heavy on the video game and comic influences in a way that I found fun when it came out, and still fun when I rewatched last year.

I'm here to talk about the anime, but it's worth bringing up the movie because my experience watching the show is inextricably linked to having previously watched the movie. I don't know how the anime would be without that; probably fine, but likely somewhat of a different experience without having a "previous" storyline to compare to.

Because for the first episode, the anime hews pretty darn close to the film, making it seem like you're just watching the same thing but in cartoon format. But it diverges at the end of the first episode, at which point it becomes super intriguingly clear to the viewer that they're going to get a different story.

And this is a fun story! These characters are mostly young adults, many of them if not aimless, then just kinda doing what they can in basic jobs to get by. Scott is a loser—like, an entertaining loser because of the plot, but the guy is 23 and initially dating a 17-year-old, which (in both versions) is made clear that everyone outside of the couple thinks this shouldn't be happening.

One of the things that becomes clear within a few episodes in this version is that compared to the film, Knives-the-17-year-old gets way more focus and is allowed to develop as a character beyond "enthusiastic high schooler with a giant crush on a loser." It's really nice to see, and it's part of a larger trend in this show of developing characters beyond the title guy and his actual love interest, Ramona.

Actually, Ramona gets more development, too. She's a much more prominent and active character in this show than the movie; as the plot goes on she deliberately inserts herself into various Shenanigans as she pursues answers to a mystery, and the audience gets a better grasp of who she is as a character, not just the object of Scott's instant attraction.

She and Knives aren't the only ones; even the League of Evil Exes gets more development! (Or, for people who haven't seen the film, they get introduced to the League as characters with personalities beyond "showing up to a single fight because some guy wants to date their ex-girlfriend.")

The fights make great use of animation as a medium. The colors are saturated, the movement has weight. I wondered, before watching, how the art style would translate because it's fairly thick and chunky, but it actually turned out fantastic. Animation is smooth, and the art consistently feels like a style rather than a bunch of chibi versions of adults.

Finally, I have to mention my favorite character: Wallace Wells, Scott's roommate who actually functions as an adult, and whose deadpan sarcasm I could watch all day. He's a great foil to Scott (immature, enthusiastic), but he is also just a pleasure to have on screen (although unfortunately, a lot of his snark doesn't appear to have been gif'd).

Verdict

English dub? Yes! They notably got all the main film actors to reprise their roles for the English voices, which is a bonus for film viewers. For anime-only watchers, they're just good, solid voices—generally normal people voices, not frenetic cartoon voices.

Visuals: Great, I actively enjoyed literally watching the show.

Worth watching? Definitely for enjoyers of the film, and almost-definitely for anyone else. It's a fun action-y show with good animation direction and plenty of humor.

Where to watch (USA, July 2024): Netflix

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more!