#id like to mention I WILL be rewatching it to review the episode

[milk-ducts]

doc sesimic is the literal personification of a cat oh mggdodd.

doc sesmic after suffering several hemorrhages:

[ghostfalls137]

rick and morty 6/10 spoilers / talk

i think like... a lot of this season was talking to the viewers as morty. Havent seen many people mention this aspect to it so I wanted to ramble lol I feel like most of season 6 was just set up yeah... people were saying how inconsistent the show was getting, and they decided to REALLY DRIVE IN CONSISTENCY bringing up old bits like sleepy gary and the butter robot. just a lot of the writers having fun yet also driving forward each character, as each character got their own ep this season directly, to add them all back to relevancy a bit more bc the show does, revolve around rick and morty. so it did that a little less this season

im all over the place here sorry lol I still need to recover from this last college semester lmao

ok so the main point i wanted to make, was in 'story train 2' aka the uh. the episode with Campbell that harmon DEFINITELY wrote. there's a point where rick points at the camera but is talking to morty and he was like 'youre what matters' to the camera aka the viewers. and the last scene in 6/10 reminded me of THAT. his ramble that he always does, the rick and morty 100 years rant, it was the writers talking to us, the viewers.

you wanted this. you wanted the dark backstory, you wanted the serialization and the focus on other character arcs. you wanted to see rick change. and here, now you get it all! you get what you wanted despite the warnings. idk I was baked when I saw the ep, I've gotta do a season rewatch and then a series rewatch again to trace it, but it felt DIRECT. that scene was the writers talking to the viewers. a lot of the season was, really? with the story cycle episode and jerrys internet famous arc 'when they start looking for shit to hate you for that's how you know you made it' yeah that feels like a harmon line for sure. i know there was a lot of internal conflict of what they wanted the show to be, but they seem pleased with what they settled on. this year alone harmon and roiland said that the show could easily go on for 1000 episodes. if one arc gets finished, if one UNIVERSE gets finished, they've created a setup that they can exhaust forever. they always wanted to be like the simpsons and tbh I hope they get a long run

but im VERY VERY excited theyre taking this turn, story wise, writers aside. its honestly the best way they've could have gone, I remember seeing the reveals and being like :] cus yeah. we got rick developing. we got rick regressing! we got to see more of the other characters, id say we got very nice storylines as well. i enjoyed it all a lot and I am very scared-excited for season 7. its interesting to see how many mixed reviews they get and how much bad writing criticism when I can literally trace their thought process for it... as this season showed rick trying to improve and grain mortys trust and respect, the writers were saying the same to the viewers. in a similar sense, as rick showed morty that he would always be rick and to watch what you wish for, the writers were doing the same. no more silly random adventures, were going full canon and you wanted this.

[murdertoothpick]

Oooh, I wanted to double check first as I would not have wanted to request something you weren't open to writing at the time.

If so, I would be curious on what your take on the relationship between Tech and Crosshair is? Evidence gathered from Tech in the latest episode, when he gives Omega Cross' comm cuff, makes it seem like he misses Cross a lot... and I rarely ever see much between these two and what they think/feel about each other? (Obviously only platonically, though....)

Do you think they get along? Just curious, and I'm fine with headcanons or a prompt or anything of the like... I just find their relationship one that is unknown... but... suggested? Tech loves his brothers and he sounded and looked quite sad about the fact Cross wasn't with them in Rampage.

Sorry for rambling, I get carried away thinking about these brothers!

crosshair and tech- a mini analysis

did i take this as an opportunity to rewatch the clone war's bb arc and the available episodes of tbb? yes.

here are some moments i picked out that i really thought about. i agree its evident that tech misses crosshair even if its in fleeting moments- and he probably feels guilty for not picking up the signs.

below the cut I've written about some of my thoughts about the relationship with accompanying drabbles, 4 of them, with 100 words each, that i imagine communicates how i view their relationship.

this is where me doing two english subjects in year 12 paid off, enjoy and let me know your thoughts! a/n at the end.

tech and crosshair's introduction: cw s07e01 at 00:06:05

i always loved how this scene was written; it flowed naturally and communicated their team dynamic really well without any action. tech is especially talkative as pointed out by hunter, who then goes to say that crosshair is 'not much of a conversationalist.' on the surface, it seems that tech and crosshair are incompatible, and probably don't get along. id argue that crosshair gets along most with wrecker, who even then, he dismisses or derides at times; 'grow up, wrecker' or the snarky 'well, im convinced' in the cafeteria scene...

so yeah, i imagine that crosshair has the least amount of patience with tech's incessant rambling, but when hunter introduces the batch, and crosshair is off to the side while the other three talk to cody and rex, we can see crosshair likes to observe. he's not one to talk to tech, but that doesn't mean he doesn't listen. also i really like the idea of tech's talking lulling crosshair to sleep, especially since snipers are taught to be emotionally distant (from what I've heard) and young crosshair must have felt so alone :(((((...

drabble:

'you're holding it wrong'

crosshair, struggling to sleep, turns to glare at tech through the dark room, his brother's face illuminated as he reviews training footage.

'your rifle, you-'

'what do you know about using a rifle?'

'more than the kaminoans, who do not know how to use rifles. they only know how to use blasters.' when crosshair doesn't answer, tech continues, 'its the way you pick it up and carry it. if you hold it against your arm...' he rambles on, only stopping once he hears his brother begin to snore.

he smiles, switching off the datapad, 'goodnight crosshair.'

'relax, i've got this': cw s07e02 at 00:07:47

okay who didn't love this crosshair moment, it was so unbelievably badass and hot, and him resting the rifle on tech made me so soft. not to mention the fact that he didn't need to use tech as support (HAHA LMAO TECH SUPPORT) as he's seen using the protruding red thingy from his left shoulder for that. though there may be some advantage to that, i.e crosshair and tech both being 6'4 (aka my tall husbands).

for me this scene just spoke VOLUMES about tech's trust for crosshair. no doubt tech trusts the others, but crosshair being...crosshair, i wouldn't blame someone if they had jumped or flinched if a calculating sniper placed a rifle on their shoulder. [edit: also the little tilt of tech's head as crosshair does it abevksbvkjasbjcbKJas its so cute]

but i cant help but imagine how this played out the first time...

drabble:

'stand up.'

crosshair is looming over tech, pulling his focus from his brother's training. 'what?'

'stand up, i wanna see something.'

tech reluctantly stands up, facing crosshair.

crosshair looks him up and down, eyes filled with the same cynicism they always carried. 'turn around'

tech huffs, proceeding to do so, 'i do not understand what you w-'

and then he feels a weight on his shoulder, eyes bulging out of his goggles as they meet the barrel of crosshairs rifle.

'trust me?'

tech slowly nods.

he feels the jolt of the rifle and sees the hole in the target. bullseye.

i think crosshair has a thing for shoulders: cw s07e03 at 00:14:34

c'mon first tech's shoulder and now echo's??? idk its so fucking soft. the way crosshair shows his care for his brothers is really subtle and a little hard to detect, but this moMENT was everything. not only that, but echo's a reg, and i think here, when crosshair places his hand on echo's shoulder, it is out of respect but also a protective instinct.

echo's been through some shit but keeps fighting, he's now 'more machine than man' but still so in tune with his humanity-- in the same way that tech may not be as brutally strong but he keeps fighting anyways, that is his true strength. and that's what crosshair admires the most about tech (at least in my head), not his intelligence, but his willingness to fight alongside his brothers even where he doesn't have the same physical capabilities. (he could 100% top me though and id let him).

drabble:

tech slows down to a stop in front of the bad batch. he had been the one to collect the intel, the only one with knowledge to get past the system's mainframe.

'clankers, a whole group of them are headed our way.'

hunter nods at his brothers, giving orders, 'crosshair, watch our backs, wrecker, with me' before running to face the oncoming droids.

crosshair looks to his brother, 'tech, start the ship'

'but-'

'don't worry about us, we'll be fine'

trusting crosshair's words, he turns to head towards the marauder.

'oh and tech,' crosshair calls out, 'you did good today.'

tech's looks of concern™: bb s01e01 at 00:17:10 and 00:18:11

my oh my the way tech looked at crosshair in these scenes had me so close to rushing to dave filoni's door to demand he tell me what his plans were for my murder toothpick husband.

in contrast to hunter who outwardly questions 'what's wrong with you' and echo saying 'wake up' or 'stow it, crosshair', tech is much more subtle in his reactions to noticing crosshair's strange behaviour.

tech is unafraid of telling harsh truths, i.e telling echo he's 'more machine than man' or telling wrecker that his 'affinity for destruction...stems from [his] conditioning' but he doesn't point out his suspicions or concerns for crosshair, which is definitely something he should've done. but here, tech just observes crosshair--and that seems to be the basis of their relationship. **definitely related to the first point i made. and i think the dynamic works, crosshair doesn't really speak, aside from snide remarks here and there, and tech tries to figure him out like a puzzle.

i think tech can read crosshair better than any one of the bad batchers, and can probably identify when crosshair is on edge or anxious. that being said, when crosshair goes all order 66, the reason tech doesn't fully anticipate whats going on with his brother is because it's not his brother.

drabble:

'what are you looking at?' crosshair sneers, flitting his toothpick to the other side of his mouth.

'why do you chew on toothpicks?'

the sniper turns to walk away, ignoring the question. tech follows him.

'it is because of your anxiety, no?' he persists, taking advantage of their current privacy.

crosshair stops in his tracks, turning his head to the side.

'my what?'

'your anxiety. you are jittery before missions—though that does not affect your marksmanship—you get constant headaches, struggle to fall asleep...'

crosshair looks at tech, a sad smile on his face, 'maybe it is my anxiety.'

a/n: i really hope we get some bb talking about their feelings + crosshair, it would make me cry in a good waycbkswwbcke,,,

and ill be honest, it took me a while to fulfil this request because i wasn't quite sure how i wanted to tackle it. i didn't really want to do headcanons since i felt i had a lot to say, but a one shot wouldn't have done it justice. i hope this was okay to read <3 i know its wordy but thanks for all your support!!

[popculturebuffet]

The Owl House: Enchanting Grom Fright: Happy Valentine’s Gays

Happy Valentine’s Day owl ladies, gentleman and non-binary folks! It’s time to finish off this holiday in proper style with a LONG overdue review of enchanting Grom Fright and even longer overdue coverage of the Owl House.  The Owl House was one of the best debuts of last year if not THE best, only in contention because Close Enough also started last year and looks to surpass regular show in terms of quality. But with stunning animation, tons of representation, and colossal worldbuilding. And given how i’m on record for thinking Star Vs went so far down the tubes they bumped into where Cthulu is sleeping, it’s nice to have another magic based show that seems to be on the right track: carefully building i’ts world, supporting cast and for today’s topic main romance. It also rather than just obliquely hint one character was bi and the other pan, actually goes out of it’s way to have a bisexual protaginst with a gay love intrest. As my good friend @jess-the-vampire has brought up quite a bit, star had plnety of options. .but no willingness to actually campaign for any queer rep, the way Gravity Falls head Alex Hirsch tried to, he still gets credit for trying, and Owl House creator Dana Terrace gets full credit for. 

Terrace got her start working on Gravity Falls in line production before working her way up to directing for ducktales, being instrumental in how Webby was animated and how she moves and acts, and being the director for several classic season one episodes including “Woo-Hoo!”, “The Spear of Selene” , “Day of the Only Child!” which was one of my faviorites from season 1 and “The Beagle Birthday Massacre!”. And while I can’t 100% confirm she’s the only part responsible for starting Weblena, given she was director on an episode where a lot of the romantic subtext was in the visuals, she certainly helped so thank you Dana. Thank you a lot. Their adorable. Point is she’s a talented lady and wasn’t satisfied with directing, so she pitched her own show, combining tons of ides and stuff including of all things, Pokemon Red. I checked the article wikipedia had sourced, it was one of her happy childhood memories as it was one of the last things her dad gave her. Awwwwwww. That’s as sweet as it is painful. She’s also currently dating Alex Hirsch, something I was entirely unaware of but find also adorable. Point is i’m glad I looked into her as she’s a very nice person, and very much my kind of weirdo and i’m happy for her sucess and her singuarly weird show that sprung from that sucess. 

Now that part of it’s out of the way the episode itself was an uphill battle as you’d expect. As anyone familiar with this blog is aware, but just in case your new, you tend to hear me bitching about Disney’s handling of queer represntation a LOT

For the most part Disney’s pretty bad at it: There was the string of “FIRST GAY CHARACTER IN AN X” they had going for a while.. that consisted of a character I dind’t realize was gay, a kiss I didn’t see, and a talk with a character who I honestly wouldn’t of been looking for had disney not patted themselves on the back with some giant sized hands because htey saved some pym particles for that occasion. Ducktales was unable to have Penumbra come out as gay more clearly because I don’t know Ducks can’t be day.. but they can be IMPLIED to be gay or pansexual as hard as the crew possibly can so they win anyway. Pixar was able to have a gay lead character for one of it’s sparks shorts out and even focused on him coming out of the closet and it’s very good and something I WILL give Pixar credit for... but not Disney Plus who go out of their way to not mention the lead being gay.. despite the fact the short opens with a gay space cat riding a gay space dog out of a rainbow and then it being revaled our lead is in a relationship not long into the short. My point is the idiots who won’t watch this for having gay characters are just going to turn it off, who cares what they think, why are you like this Disney. They need to do better, and be better and i’m getting tired of this shit.

That being said... this episode is a step in the right directoin as despite having to get past one obstructive asshole, not her words but damn if it isn’t the truth, as the rest of hte execs were fine with having a gay character, Terrace fought hard for it and WON, having a clearly gay character, and a clear road to a gay romace as the lead one, all because she wanted some representation in her works. So to honor this, I present this review in honor of love, effort and saying screw you to not having represntation because money. Join me under the cut and allt hat. 

We open in the owl house, in the owl house, duck dodge push and shove, it’s how we show our love in the.. you get the point. Luz is learning yet another Rune, this time plant runes.. and already something I love about the series pops up: the fact Luz’s rise in skill is gradual but noticable. Each spell noticably improves in potency with time,  going from simple lights to shaping them into simple constructs, and learning to control or time her spells and glpyhs so they launch she she says so, with each one getting more powerful the more she learns. And on top of that osmething I just noticed on rewatch of this episode is her tecnique in finding them evolved, something I dind’t notice the first time because I hadn’t fully caught up and checked this one out to see if Disney would actually let them go through with it.. and they did. Point is her first spell is found by accident, her second by realizing how her magic works fundemntally, both require skilled deduction and on the fly thinking and casting, so she’s already pretty skilled.. but now sh’es ACTIVELY seeking out a new spell here for the first time. She knows how she gets them, she knows each school is tied to a form, and she likely got the plant from williow since that’s her thing and she’s a saint. A demon but also a saint. They can have those too. It’s what I assume relicor is. 

I miss that goblin demon bat man. Point is it shows an evolution in Luz’s thinking: while it’s a subtle thing she took a more proactive approach this time even if it took a lot of practice.. and it pay soff as by the time of her next rune, while it’s once again sorta handed to her she has less time to learn it, almost none, and finds it singed onto a ball.. and learns it effortlessly to the point where by the next episode it’s a crucial plot point. IT’s subtle but clever character progression, and stuff I really enjoy, showing our hero going from a bit inept but not helpless or incomptient.. to a force to be reckconed with and far more clever and strategic than yo’ud expect given her sometimes reckless and almost always happy go lucky attitude. 

Luz worries teaching King about the internet was a bad idea because he gets excited about a literal cat fight which .. yeah... it was a bad idea but not because of that.. but because next he finds someone saying the earth is flat and she wisely yanks it away. It’s.. very sad that the absolutley maddening and easily debunked flat earth theory is still RELATIVLEY more sane than the stuff we’ve had pop up during the trump era and the cornoavirus pandemic. 

But one of the main conlficts of the episode pops up as Luz’s mom messages her and Luz can’t bring herself to tell her anything and just sends a thumbs up.  I do think this episode helps even things from the pilot a bit as it was a bit lopsided: While I got that Camillia was genuinely struggling with how to deal with Luz, and was offered an out and had to take it... the fact she sees NO problem with the normalcy camp, which comes off intentioanlly or not a sa parallel to conversion camps or camps to make autistic kids “Normal”. And as someone whose both bisexual and autistic, I naturally relate to luz way more as someone whose intrests sometimes just don’t quite fit with everyone else, and who dosen’t get how bad some of their actions were.  THat’s why this episode feels like a necessary course correction: Luz is shown to genuinely love her mama and feel guilty.. but we see camilia genuinlely loves and supports her daughter a bit more. While it was clear from the pilot this shows it more, with her genuinely just wanting to know her daughter’s okay and checking up on her, and giving me the feeling that possible consequences or no if something bad WAS happening or she didn’t hear from her for a long time, she would’ve drove up there to get her. It feels like the writers realized the implications they accidently created and wanted to fix it, though I can’t say for certain. But if so good on you for course correcting, not every show does that. 

But King encourages her, telling her she’s doing the right thing by lying and to “trust the demon on your shoulder”. Keep this in mind for later, but that joke is great on it’s own. But soon i’ts time for school and Hooty.. barfs out Luz’s books for her. 

I haven’t been this disturbed since.. (Looks at the clock) About 2 maybe three hours ago when I watched a man have, if apparently shorter than the oriiginal cut as I wanted to see everyone else’s reactions dammit, sex with hiis car which was possesed by the mad ghost of his dead wife. Because that’s the kind of stuff i’m into when i’m not reviewing stuff. And before that Tinky.. just everything about tinky. 

I do not have enough time to get into TInky here or why he exestially horrifies me. Or why Jeff blim is a living god. I will save that for a proper review if I have the time tomorrow. Point is I saw a lot today and that still tops it. Willow and Gus are likewise grossed out and want to leave. 

Cut to school where Luz wonders what’s with all the decorations.. that remind me of this honestly

And frankly given the whole state of the boiling isles it REALLY wouldn’t surprise me if the decorations were indeed well cooked faces. But i’ts Grom time, which means elaborate gromposals (Some Dude asks Skara out with a beating heart and an elaborate medical proposal.. which.. points for effort. And for using an actual heart. Couldn’t get one for mine. ), dancing and someone being chosen for Grom Queen. WHich Willow hints isn’t as nice as that sounds. Before we can get into that though Amity bumps into them and gets into a tizzy before meekly greeting “Luz.. and Co”. which.. not going to lie.. is my faviorite gag of the season. Just htw way she adds them and just the way Willow and Guz both smile widely at it as if to say “That’s us!”. Amity drops a note and snatches it back. This will be important later, you all know why, point is Amity becomes Grom Queen.. and is heavily depressed with Luz following her to find out why.  At the gym.. she does indeed ifnd out why: Turns out Grom is not some mutation of an earthname but is based around a horrifying entity lurking beneath the isles, Gromethious the Fear Bringer, who emerges from his slumber once a year and must be fought back and brings out his target’s greatest fears. Just like groundhog day only with less time loops and rodent abuse. Amity is scared of hers, and i’ll obviously get into this more later, and Luz simply suggests asking bump to opt out and Amity appricates the support. Awwww. 

Luz heads home and we find out Eda is chaperoning and King is mcing. Eda is also rocking a suit. Just damn girl, damn. But Luz considers taking her place.. and gets laughed at, with Eda assuming she’ll have to save her and King just being kind of a dick. I mean he’s a loveable thoroughly cuddly dick but he’s still a dick... just more like a stuffed plushie of one.  So basically exactly like Tinky. Look I mention him more than once in this review he dosen’t put me in the bastard box. It’s a great system.  Naturally this makes Luz more determined than ever to prove herself and she finds Amity in the night, with Amity having been unable to get out of it.. and Bumps a resonable guy, he just wants a substitute and no one wants the job.. except Luz who galdly volunteers and insists ntohing scares her before the giant spider on the back of her head proves otherwise. Because of course it does, spiders are fucking terrifying. Kill then all.. except the pokemon ones. Galvaltula are sweethearts. As are Ariadoses. Sweethearts who can elctorcute or poison you but still. 

So the next way Luz begins preparing.. and by that I mean it’s time for training. Sadly we don’t get an episode of Luz and Amity getting trapped in an 80′s fashion montage... I mean yes Rise of the TMNT also did that plot the same year, but we had two diffrent plots about someone getting trapped in an eldtrich sitcom and a THIRD this year, all entertaingly unique. Though we do get Luz pulling out an otter suit that’s adorable and she sadly still hasn’t worn yet. “This one says i’m an otter, with a dark side”. She also got thrown out of a school dance for.. wearing an otter suit. Okay the other things we saw in the pilot were understandable but htis is just.. baffling. Who cares what you wear to a dance as long as it isn’t horribly racist of nothing at all. 

Damn you flanders and your glorious ass. Point is Amity shows up and threatens hooty’s life because.. he’s hooty. The fact he isn’t dead already is a testiment to how badass he is and how much money he’d cost Eda to replace. Owl Tubes don’t come out of a stygian hole in the unvierse every day you know. That’s only every three years. It’s basic styigan owl tube science. 

But Amity wants her to be ready and that she’ll have to face her greatest fear.. and cue hooty popping up, poking amity in the face and asking if she wants to know her greatest fear. Really he can clearly hear everything in the house given he heard that, so he heard the death threat he just chose to ignore it. That.. was a mistake. And by mistake I mean we get a hilarious cut to the outside of the house as Luz tries to stop her love intrest from murdering her second mom’s tube monster. The result is some bandages and an eyepatch. To be fair that last one was just flaring up from a  previous beating. 

For this solem task of training, Amity has brought in her local disaster bisexuals.. aka her twin siblgins Eldric and Elmyra, whose greatest fears are dying alone and being stuck with Eldric. Both understandable. They conjur luz’s greatest fears which are.. some of the funniest shit I heard all year.. and also very relatable. Human souls in cat bodies, which is genuinely terrifying good job Luz, Jerks on the internet who mansplain things, relatable, and soy milk. 

But Amity knows this is just the openign act. it needs to be something deeper.. so while Luz dosen’t realize it’s probably her mom issues she brings up her issues with her other mom: that Eda dosen’t think she can do this. Hence we get a giant eda putting Luz in a babychair. Before we can unpack how wrong that sentence sounded, Eda comes out, and marvels at how hot giant her is. But she’s quickly distracted from sex with a giant version of herself, which is not an easy feat, by the relization “Wait Luz is going to fight grom isn’t she.. fuck i’m going to have to save her”, though Luz holds firm on doing it to prove she’s fine and dosen’t need to be saved constantly. it’s a good conflict. Eda IS right that Luz is not ready for this alone, that she’s overcompensating and that Eda would, in normal circumstances be the one to rescue her. As we’ll see it’s not her who does it but still, were this any other foe she probably would be. But Luz’s motivations are equally understandable: She wants to help her friend not have to do this and she wants to prove she can do it. She just wants her mentor, the only person in her life up to meeting her that GNEUINELY supported her in magic to respect her. To have faith in her and actually see how far she’s come. And given how her own mother writes off her dreams, if not unrealistically, and before this she had no friends or support system to speak of outside her mom, it’s easy to see why this is so improtant to Luz: she just wants to make the one person in her life whose ever support her actually think it was worth it when in truth Eda already thinks it does and just dosen’t want her to die. 

She’s just not good with talking to her or not condescending to her as her own ego is stacked sky high, probably because the whole curse thing meant Eda was an outcast by default and the system wants to either chain her to one form of magic and one only or shackle her to them as a hired goon. Her ego, while justified, is also a defense mechanism: a way to shield herself from the fact almost no one cares about her and one of the few people who DOES, dosen’t care what she wants or needs. Once the curse happened she lost just about everything and had to rebuild and thus build up walls around herself and kept everyone else at arms length till Luz changed her for the better. It’s just a tragic clash of two wills both with similar problems but both unwilling to talk about them. 

But with time up, our heroes need to get to the diggity dance. So they indeed do and we get some fun sight gags, Willow makes corsages,  that one girl with the cresent head somehow ended up with Mathomule and is not happy, as anyone who ends up with him should. And it’s time for Luz to face her destiny.. in a tux with a tutu because of course, and Amity likes it because also of course. 

IT’s time to rumble, with King getting nervous due to eda’s prodding about mcing since his co-mc gus is really good at it, and introducing our champion.

No wait sorry he’s still trapped in Mojoworld. no it’s still Luz who shows off a seasons worth of skill by easily dispatching the first few fears and saying to grom let’s finish it.. before grom puts a tentacle on her head. 

It’s to downlaod her fear.. which is Camillia. Granted we could all see it coming but still Luz obviously can’t fight her own mother or her own overwhelming guilt.. her mom did hurt her.. but she gets why and just loves her and wants her to be proud but dosen’t know what to do: tell her the trutha nd possibly loose a happy and fufilling life or wait until it all blows up. It’s a painful choice. So luz and king end up running. King runs first because he can’t handle it and Gus talks him back into the groove while Luz runs away because she can’t fight her own mom, understandable, and Gus encourages king to lead the crowd which he does. Amity and Eda follow Luz. 

So Luz is backed down, facing down a monster tha’ts going to go on to everyone else next if she fails... and Eda prepares to interfere.. but it’s AMITY who faces her fear and dives in. And we find out just what her fear was as grom turns into a humanoid shape and rips the letter in half.. it was a grom invitation. Though conviently the who it’s adressed to was ripped out. 

And yeah not going to save this one: It’s Luz. You know it I know it I didn’t even hide it in the intro. Even before the reveal in a bit it was obvious. But it also makes perfect sense. I’ve avoided talking about her character arc up to this point because I was waiting for now. Amity’s growth is the third major arc of the season behind Luz’s slow learning of magic and eventually induction into hexside and eda’s curse, which I lump in with Lilith chasing her since both were mildly entertwined and then entirely are once the reveal hits in the finale. When we meet her she’s an outright bully.. but we slowly see there’s more there. That she’s not really HAPPY or content, is contstantly under pressure by her family name, is outright bullied by her own siblings who don’t understand her. So Luz coming in, seemingly only being intrested in magic because i’ts neat.. understandably bothers her. She’s not a great person, bullying her old best friend because tha’ts what’s expected and being close with outright bullies because of that.. but it’s through Luz she starts to grow, realizing Luz is genuinely nice and genuinely sorry for any trouble she caused Amity, and evne then both cases were causaed by Amity’s own dickishness and outside forces, so it’s easy to see why she defrosts faster. Her siblings realize they’ve genuinely hurt her, and actually try to be good siblings from then on and help her, and slowly Amity learns to truth luz, trust in her, and accept her... and thus accept her feelings for her. There are gradual hints she’s growing attracted to her.. but her walls had to come down first, and it wouldn’t of worked from the outset. The show cleverly has the two build a genuine friendship, two opposities who work well together, so when feelings do happen it feels natural. It’s not “I’m in love with this person because I have to because you can’t be friends with someone your attracted to” bullshit or anything like that, cough star vs cough, it’s just well built catching feelings. I’ts how this kind of thing SHOULD go: niether went in intending for this to happen.. it’s just happening. 

And Amity’s reluctance is painfully understandable, as Luz is the ONLY friend and support she has. Sure she and willow are patching things up, but WIllow would understandably choose luz over her and she’s terrified of loosing the one good thing in her life. Of course Luz would either say yes, and probably will some day, or let her down gently, she’s nice.. but it’s also understandable to be afraid that someone won’t take the reveal well. I’ve been there trust me, it’s easier when you let it out even if you get rejected, but I get it being hard to let out because you don’t want to loose a friend. I did not, and niether would she, but I can see why she wouldn’t want ot take the plunge. At least not yet. We’ll see this summer hopefully. 

But we do get a shiptastic, gorgeously aniamted scene of the two dancing an fightin gin perfect synch, combinging luz’s new use of plant magic with amity’s mastery of abominations resulting in the two utterly decimating grom, likely in part because with two fast moving targets he can’t get a lock on and likely nees more fear and mass to attack multiple targets at once. Or just more tendrils. it’s a quick, beautful sequence that’s utterly glorious, being framed as romantic as any hetero scene of the type and rightfully so. A triumph and well deserving of this praise. 

Our heros have won, get crowns, and King gets praise. All is well.. except Luz drops the crown once she gets home because she feels like she failed and feels lost about her mom.. though at least king gets it “I’m king and queen, best of both things!”. You tell em sister. 

So we end with Luz genuinely responding to her mom, with some montage stuff as we see Gus and Willow poke a fear blob, willow fears bugs, understandable and Gus fears clowns... 

Also understandable. Though I didn’t put up a bug picture because

And Amity looks out folornly into the night. Camilla responds to Luz.. and mentions letters.. which while Luz brushes those off.. we see someone sent them. And by someone I probably mean king since we now know only eda and him had acess to the portal, and given he was actively encouraging her to lie.. yeah i’m supscious. But we’ll see next season. For now this episode is fan fucking tastic, showing off tons of character development, being representative and sweet as all hell.. and being really funny. Tons of great gags in this one including the turtle guy from an earlier episode being forced to be adisco ball.  This is easily the series best so far and if you haven’t checked it out, please do it’s fantastic as is this show. Check both out. Until the next rainbow i’ts been a pleasure. Tommorow more disney shenanigans this time with pete. And also more of this possibly we’ll see what I get done. 

Goodnight everybody!

[cherryholleydraws]

I posted 81 times in 2021

45 posts created (56%)

36 posts reblogged (44%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.8 posts.

I added 143 tags in 2021

#my art - 38 posts

#artists on tumblr - 26 posts

#fanart - 18 posts

#ocs - 16 posts

#pokemon - 9 posts

#new horizons - 8 posts

#animal crossing - 8 posts

#drawfee - 8 posts

#acnh - 7 posts

#character design - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 97 characters

#i've been wanting to try some monochrome stuff since that drawfee vid where they swapped sketches

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Update dropped early!!! I was gonna draw the Roost, but... boat dad... 💚

53 notes • Posted 2021-11-04 23:01:22 GMT

#4

Drawfee's recent vintage travel poster vid inspired me, so I made a poster for my Animal Crossing island.

61 notes • Posted 2021-08-19 22:08:13 GMT

#3

It's their ass-kicking outfits, [BIG SHOT]!

91 notes • Posted 2021-09-30 23:50:33 GMT

#2

I’ve been rewatching Drawtectives for clues, and in the first episode, Jacob mentions York wears his armband because he thinks it’s cute, so now I headcanon that York’s fashion sense is whatever the orc version of cute is. So naturally I drew the trio on a shopping trip.

(Sorry for the low quality; my scanner’s out of commission so I had to make do with my phone camera.)

[ID: Ink illustration of Grandma Highforge, Gyorik ‘York’ Rogdul & Rosé. Grandma’s a cheerful, chubby dwarf with ruddy skin, brown sideburns, beard & hair, standing with his hand on his hip. He wears green sandal heels, tan sundress, green scarf, small round glasses & tan sunhat with leaves in the brim. Rosé’s a smiling, thin human with warm beige skin & pinkish-blond undercut, nudging York. She wears knee-high heeled black boots, thigh-high pink socks, pale pink skirt & black long-sleeved shirt. York’s a tall, buff orc with light-green skin & blond ponytail with shaved sides, looking down at his outfit: pink camp romper & chunky-heeled brown boots. Despite his Resting Anger Face, a small heart indicates he likes it. End ID]

309 notes • Posted 2021-01-22 00:23:25 GMT

#1

OK but I would genuinely pay to watch a movie where Dracula falls in love with van Helsing.

519 notes • Posted 2021-10-29 22:28:40 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[seriouslycromulent]

I’m officially finished binge-watching all 8 seasons of Dexter

I won’t bother giving a full review of the show because you don’t want to read it and I don’t want to write it. But now I can see why so many people felt it went down hill in its last seasons. That being said, I don’t necessarily agree with the timeline of when it sent down hill for some. 

I’ve heard some praise the first 4 seasons only. And I have a coworker who said he stopped watching after season 6. And I’ve heard nothing good about the series finale. So it seems like a mixed bag, but I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed seasons 1-5, and would probably rewatch those episodes in the future. Yes, John Lithgow was a tough act to follow as the Big Bad in season 4, but I really liked a lot of the episodes in season 5 with its continued growth for Dexter throughout the season given how season 4 ended.

I won’t claim to have a favorite season, but I can say that I loved the character James Doakes something fierce. Man was that guy a great asshole to have on the show, played to perfection by Erik King. And such a wonderful foil for Michael C. Hall. His “Surprise, Motherfucker” will forever be iconic. 

With that being said, I do have a Top 5 favorite kills on the show. I know that sounds absurd or a morality conundrum, but I felt that the storytelling in these episodes and how Dexter goes about juggling the kill, his inner self-doubt, his work life, and his private life was so beyond entertaining, I have no guilt in saying I would love to watch these episodes over and over again.

Here they are (in no particular order of favoritism):

Season 1, Episode 8: “Shrink Wrap”

The victim was played by Tony Goldwyn, a psychiatrist that was using his practice to manipulate successful, wealthy women into committing suicide. 

Season 4, Episode 2: “Remains to Be Seen”

Dexter is too sleep-deprived to remember where he hid a body after a kill. Then, he flips his car in an accident and spends the rest of the episode trying to find the body before he gets caught. Gun to my head, this episode might be my absolute favorite.

Season 4, Episode 4: “Dex Takes a Holiday”

One of the few times Dexter’s victim was a woman. She was a police officer who murdered her husband and daughter, then tried to sell her house to “start over.” Dexter’s tete-a-tetes with the woman were some of my favorite “verbal chess games” of the show.

Season 5, Episode 6: “Everything is Illumenated”

After Lumen shot the first guy she identified as one of her attackers, she calls Dexter to help her deal with the body, but Dex is in the middle of another kill and has to postpone it. This entire episode had a level of absurdity that just made me love the show completely. That scene where he’s chasing his first would-be victim, whose butt naked and wrapped in plastic wrap, down the long stretch beside the semi-trucks in slow motion has to be the funniest thing I’ve ever scene on this show, and perfectly captures both its insanity and its brilliance.

Season 6, Episode 3: “Smokey and the Bandit”

The victim is Walter Kenney, an old man, whose also a former serial killer himself, living out his last days at a retirement home in Florida. I liked the way Dexter wavered back and forth on this guy, but also landing on depriving him of notoriety after he died.

Honorable Mentions:

Season 6, Episode 7: “Nebraska”

Dexter takes a road trip with his “brother” to see if Arthur’s son is responsible for the murder of Arthur’s wife and daughter. I like this one because 1) it got us away from the slow-as-hell “Doomsday Killer” storyline, and 2) it was great to see Dex outside his element listening to his inner voice telling him to get more in touch with his id. ;-)

Season 8, Episode 5: “This Little Piggy”

What I like about this episode isn’t really about the kill. It’s simply for the opening scene in Dr. Vogel’s office after Debra tries to kill Dexter by forcing their car off the road into a lake. Dexter’s line upon being told his sister had officially hit rock bottom, and he should see that as a promising sign for her, he looks at her and says: “Great. I’m so fucking happy for you.” It’s easily one of my favorite lines Michael C. Hall says in the entire series. His reading on that line is just pitch perfect, and I couldn’t help but pause the episode and laugh my ass off.

Season 5, Episode 9: “Teenage Wasteland”

Again, not about the kill in this episode. Instead, what I loved is the character exploration and development here. Astor is all growed up ... for, y’know, a 12-year-old. I really liked the dynamic of Dexter and Astor’s relationship as it developed throughout the episode. Even though he’s all elbows when it comes to emotions and raising children, he finds the right things to say and makes her feel like she can always count on him. They really do share a beautiful moment in the car at the end of the episode. Plus, I loved when he beat up her best friend’s mom’s boyfriend. That scene almost made me wish Dexter was a real person instead of a fictional character.

OK. I think I’m done gushing. But just as a heads up, I might be reblogging some old Doakes memes and general Dexter-related posts just to burn off what’s left of my binge-watching obsession. You’ve been warned.

[jaeyooniverse]

🌹 anon!

Work was fine, except we had some severe thunderstorms here and when I got home around midnight there was no power. On the plus side, no power meant no lights so it was really dark and the fireflies were suuuper pretty!

I haven't watched anything else with Seo Inguk, but now I feel like I have to because he's so good! I don't think I've seen most of the dramas you mentioned, are they worth picking up? I really should keep a list of what I've seen, it would make things so much easier. The only thing I have is my watched list on viki but that's only for the dramas they have haha.

I have a lot of nostalgia for Boys Over Flowers bc I watched it when I was like....16ish? So it was right in my lane at the time haha. I couldn't rewatch the whole thing now though, I don't think it's aged very well tbh. 😅 The King: Eternal Monarch came out last year starring LMH and I really liked it, Woo Dohwan was SO good in his roles, I recommend the show just for him. 😆

Must You Go was cute, it just fell into some of the same problems I've seen a lot of mini series like that have. My favorite recent mini series is Color Rush, it has its flaws too but loved it. I reeeally want a second season, even though it'll probably never happen.

My problem with all the content is like....there's so much to catch up on, but inevitably I always end up on a tangent watching funny compilation videos people make instead of the original content haha.

Also I appreciate multiple paragraphs of rambling bc I'm the same. 😂

😊🌹

oh man is the power back now?? glad work was fine tho ^^ and omg yes fireflies are sooo pretty i love seeing them on my way home from work.

the drama i watched with Inguk was The Smile has Left Your Eyes(i originally watched it for Park Sungwoong...when I tell you I LOVE this man skhkshsv) I feel like his character in that is kinda similar? Very mysterious, emotionally challenged,, that sort of thing 💀 I remember enjoying it a lot i kinda wanna rewatch it.. it's a bit of a murder mystery/investigation drama with of course the touch of romance lol if that sounds like your cup of tea id say go for it!

Handmade Love is cute and touching the main character helps comfort people through tailoring (hence, handmade) it's on youtube, a really quick watch it probably takes abt 2 hrs to watch the whole thing! I enjoyed it 🥰

Hospital Playlist is even more touching I really enjoyed it im a sucker for close friends and family stories and just sentimental moments in general 😅 but I guess that's why I like kdramas in the first place haha

i mean you could always keep a note on your phone or like a handwritten note to keep track of everything lol but I like mydramalist since it keeps track of what you've watched, what you're currently watching, and what you plan to watch. it even helps you keep track of which episode you're on. people also post reviews and stuff but I don't do all that 😅

ahaha maybe thats it, it didn't age well 😂 I do remember feeling like I would've been all for it if I tried watching it years ago, or if it was one of the first kdramas i watched. Ooh I remember seeing he was in Eternal Monarch i think I added that to my watch list 😂 was the show itself good tho? I saw a review saying it was boring and just a bunch of product placement skgkshksh

Ohhh i totally forgot about Color Rush a lot of my mutuals watched it since Hyunjoon was starring in it! I should add that to my list before I forget 😂😂 im glad to hear it's good!

I mean no pressure there's no rush to watch everything just watch what you can/want to. those compilation vids are nice you can just watch all the funny parts 😂😂

haha okay im glad you don't mind the paragraphs 😁❤❤

[xtremedespair3d]

HajiKo Anime: Winter-Spring 2020 + Summer First Impressions

I wasn’t willing to return to Tumblr to keep making these posts about my anime reviews which they’re the only thing I make because I was burned out on making them and I wanted to commit on writing my novel but I ended up abandoning it now because I was frustrated with everything about it, from harsh criticism I didn’t ask for to not figuring out the story well enough.

Then I tried to keep my reviews going by making threads on Twitter, but later I wasn’t satisfied with how they turned out nor like writing them because I was feeling limited, and I was even debating on whether to keep the Twitter thread format going, returning to Tumblr or just simply tweet my tiers of every anime I watch, so what better way to keep this review series going? It’s to return to Tumblr because I really like reviewing anime and Tumblr has been the most comfortable space to make my reviews and giving it a new name, HajiKo Anime, as in my name I go on Twitter as Hajime Komaeda.

So, kept you waiting, huh?

I had a lot of stuff to do in my life to the point that it drives me totally insane to the point of questioning my will to live, and then there’s also the pandemic which everything gets delayed and cancelled, even upcoming anime!

The biggest problem with making my reviews is sometimes I have to force myself on commenting on other shows I don't have much thought on, only like few I have tons of feelings I want to express, so I really hope things will be any better once I’m back on Tumblr to make these reviews I liked doing.

By continuing to make these reviews by including my new tiers, let me remind how do I interpret the ranking tiers:

S: 10-9

A: 8

B: 7

C: 6-4

D: 3-1

E: 0

Let’s keep in mind that I wouldn’t give full reviews on literally everything I watch because sometimes I don’t have much thought on so I’ll just skip them, I make lengthy reviews on some shows because I genuinely have feelings on these shows, that was one of my struggles with my other reviews, some of them were forced but I promise I will only do lengthy reviews to some shows I have lots of thoughts to talk about.

First off with Winter which is looking qutie strong even for the beginning of the decade:

Winter 2020

(Higher resolution)

Ishuzoku Reviewers: Perhaps one of the best ecchi series I've ever watched in years to the point where the ecchi really gets near-hentai level... so much so it caused controversy for Funimation and Japanese television alike, with Funimation removing the license and cancelled the English dub due to its content, and the series being removed on Tokyo MX. Though I might say that I wouldn't go that far to consider this as the best ecchi series of all time because there are a couple of things I really hated about the show, it can be a little too biased on some fetishes, includes fetishes I’m not a fan of, etc. But still, I admire the show for taking risks by going beyond the limits of Japanese television.

ID: INVADED: This is the most surprising show I've ever seen this season, it may also happen to be somewhat underrated. How can a dying studio like NAZ produce something really well-animated for once? All thanks to Ei Aoiki. I'm not really much of an animation expert but I really hope there might be someone who will make an article saying "How Ei Aoki saved Studio NAZ with ID: INVADED."

BanG Dream season 3: This third season of Bandori is THE BEST Bandori season ever, this made me like RAS (RAISE A SUILEN) even more.

Eizouken: This was an interesting series about making anime that may or may not compete with SHIROBAKO, though even if they have the same theme of making anime, they're completely different in terms of setting. The animation, even from what I've seen with Masaaki Yuasa and Science Saru with Devilman Crybaby, surprisingly looks like the series was actually fully hand-drawn instead of Adobe Flash, though Adobe Flash is still present in the opening.

Isekai Quartet 2: This second season of Isekai Quartet was a huge letdown compared to its predecessor, my biggest deal breaker is how they wasted the Shield Hero characters into minor roles, they straight-up overhyped them. The last few episodes seemed like they were slowly redeeming themselves on making the Shield Hero characters have some more screentime. Now that the series got a third season, let’s see how they will handle the Shield Hero characters this time if they’ll truly become main character status to be shown on the OP and ED, or they continue to be minor characters on the classroom where most of the supporting and minor characters from the main isekai properties attend to. Also, at one episode there was this cameo of these two characters from a series called Cautious Hero, if they end up becoming actual main characters or something, I’m not even gonna bother binging the series just like I did with Shield Hero.

Nekopara: I was skeptical about this series, but upon watching the first episode alone, this is a very comfy series, but its existence and inclusion of original characters will always baffle me.

Honorable mentions:

Azur Lane The Animation: As of July 2020, I think I might have accepted the fact that a lot of people (At least the Western side of the AL fanbase) hate the anime and they say it sucks, I’m really spoiled about it and it sucks to feel that way. I’ve always been hype as hell when I was watching the series from the very beginning, it had all kinds of easter eggs and references I couldn’t stop pointing them out since I’m an avid Azur Lane player (JP version only), and the best part is that at one episode, it had a bath scene where in the Blu-Ray version, the whole scene happens to feature official animated nipples! Official Azur Lane nipples in official media! I wish this could happen very often, even official artists would occasionally draw their characters in full R-18, such as Sirius and Ark Royal. (NSFW, CLICK WITH CAUTION)

Sure, sometimes the series had some quality, especially at the end of episode 4, but that doesn’t make the series automatically garbage or anything. The Azur Lane anime is NOT GARBAGE, PERIOD. Got that?

If I had the time, I’d seriously love to rewatch the series (Using the BD rips of course) to prove everyone wrong.

In terms of the future of Azur Lane anime, as much as I’d love to see this get more seasons and even movies to beat Kancolle to the punch, we’re now getting an anime adaptation of the Twitter 4komas, well, at least that’s certainly something cool. With that being said, I bet people are gonna be like “This is way better than the main anime” which I won’t condone it like hell. Let me say it again, the main Azur Lane anime is not garbage.

Fate/Grand Order Babylonia: Long after watching the series when it was on the air, I’ve been thinking that this was probably okay, Babylonia is not my most favorite singularity throughout FGO because the previous ones deserve some respect and I’m biased to the Shinjuku singularity for obvious reasons. I do wish they would adapt pretty much every singularity but they’re tediously long that they need to make hundreds of anime of each, so they just happen to skip all that and decided to make a Babylonia series and the upcoming Camelot movies because they’re the most favorite. I don’t really buy it on why are they the most favorite, but okay.

My Hero Academia season 4 and My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising: Heroes Rising was probably the last movie I’ve seen going to the theater before the pandemic happened.

Castlevania season 3: For some reason I didn’t like this season as much as the first two (Unpopular opinion).

Phantasy Star Online 2: Episode Oracle: I was very skeptical throughout the first half of the season, but this second half was making me in high spirits, although I would still prefer the original PSO2 anime over this.

Moving on to Spring:

Spring 2020

(Higher resolution)

Fruits Basket: Fruits Basket continues to be an excellent series, balancing comedy and drama the way I like with the comedy always making me laugh and the drama always making me tense. (I don't wanna see or talk about EP9 ever again.)

Shin Sakura Wars The Animation: Sanzigen continues to deliver quite a lot even after BanG Dream! season 3, not only we get one but TWO shows this season. My main problem with Shin Sakura Wars The Animation is that they really must have abused the hand drawn parts so much, and this was a really frustrating problem that this should be A tier instead, but it was still quite good regardless, I love Sanzigen to death.

Watanuki-san Chi To: This was a neat second season and this makes me strongly believe that the Watanuki-san Chi series are the future of VTuber anime, or dorama as what the series is, and I’m still mad that there are still no subtitles for this, neither official subs nor fan subs.

My few complaints for Watanuki-san Chi To is that Ikuko's role that kinda takes Futaba's place a little too much since Futaba was working at a karaoke bar most of the time and Ikuko and Futaba had interacted on-screen like twice (or three if that ending from episode 3 counts) on episodes 5 and 12 (the final one). I'm hoping that we'll get more of the Watanuki sisters and Ikuko interacting together on-screen some more but I think things will be the same with Futaba continuing to work on the karaoke bar.

Then there’s episode 12 which was the episode where Ikuko leaves the Watanuki house after finding her real parents, the episode was kind of predictable as Ikuko returned and decided to stay with the Watanuki sisters afterwards. This is one of the few, if not, the first time that something definitely made me say and feel something was actually predictable, but not that I would hate on it or anything.

Another complaint I have for this entire season is that it lacked the crowd laughs the first season had, the first season felt like it was true a comedy and having no laughs this season gave an entirely different atmosphere and I wasn't very comfortable with it.

Despite the flaws, I give huge thumbs ups for what they did with the world and the characters, they finally happen to bring the characters from the audio drama played by various other VTubers, and we finally happen to explore outside of the world for a little bit between shots of the streets where Ikuko walked through at the beginning of the series and the karaoke bar, not just sticking to the Watanuki house over and over.

The best part of introducing the newer characters is that they finally showed male characters for once, one of which was Futaba's boyfriend, Kenji, who's sort of a recurring background character frequently mentioned in the first season, he happened to finally have his body revealed, but still no face reveal. And there was also this other male guest character in episode 3, he was interesting to say the least. Finally, something to make the series not sexist.

I wouldn't really consider myself as the most dedicated Western Watanuki-san Chi fan. As much as I'd like to call myself that, I don't really speak Japanese to understand the series some more and I would have to be a badass to actually make fansubs, some events happened in Japan, which I don't live in Japan, and I don't buy the merch, let alone the Blu-Rays and the audio dramas. The worst part about the audio dramas is they're purchasable on Pixiv Booth, which Pixiv doesn't really let me use my debit card (or might if I were to use my Wallet app or something). I for one wouldn't really consider myself as the ONLY person who watches the Watanuki-san Chi, I wouldn't be watching the series if it wasn't for the people who have been uploading torrents of every episode on Nyaa, there's a very niche amount of people who do watch the series.

(I probably shouldn’t talk too much about piracy related things and sites like Nyaa, and I try to make my review posts as formal as possible to stay away from such things, but I’m just an independent reviewer who makes these posts as a hobby, I’m not a big anime news site or anything and I can say whatever the fuck I want, so who cares?)

BanG Dream! Garupa Pico Ohmori and Welcome to the Japari Park season 2: These ones are definitely the absolute surprise and looks like things are definitely gonna get absolutely better. They both premiered between late April to early May, so they're kind of a special case.

Kaguya-sama season 2: I didn't get the first season as much, but this second season is finally making me feel better about the series. (Probably because when I binged the first season, I multitasked and get occasionally distracted, that's why I didn't get it at first)

Argonavis from BanG Dream: This one's quite an interesting series. Not as good as the mainline female-centric series, but as a self-contained universe, it's pretty good on its own. It even handles topics that the base series won't even do, like music industry and money. Although Chuchu is probably the closest thing we experience when she's a music producer character of sorts but she's more entitled to her own band, money is a far more important issue the series doesn't want ot tackle, and Argonavis does it right.

The only thing that almost ruined the series is the unnecessarily dark final episode where the entire episode was basically Banri passing out after doing their debut performance in Destiny Rock Festival and Argonavis were having a hard time about what to do if something were to happen with Banri and they made a song dedicated to him afterwards. Episode 12 should have been the final episode, we didn’t need to see a rollercoaster episode, this should be played out more as an OVA, but I digress. This isn’t the weakest or the worst finale but it’s seriously unnecessary.

Now I just hope the second season makes the other bands teased in the last few episodes become regulars, just like how the first season of the female Bandori where they teased a lot of the other bands, and then from season 2 onwards, the other bands have become regulars. I just really hope they'll make the other bands from Argonavis be full CG because they were all hand drawn for some reason,  and I also need season 4 of main female Bandori series so bad so they can introduce Morfonica which in anime format they're introduced in the Garupa Pico Ohmori series.

Brand New Animal: It partially is because BNA starts with B, but he main reason is that I thought it was alright, and as a Netflix series that I can binge in one run, it's easily forgettable. Not the weakest of TRIGGER, but I feel rather indifferent with this.

Princess Connect ReDive: This was my absolute least favorite of Spring, I couldn't stress enough on how much of a Konosuba wannabe this is, it's such a poor imitation and I wish the actual game wasn't this ridiculously bad. From the over-the-top wacky tone to goofier background character designs and a very retarded MC. I don't know why but I thought this would be a simple way to get into Princess Connect without getting into the game because I see fan arts a lot, and Japan apparently seems to like this, as evidence with the fan arts and as much as I would like to like this more because of it, it just didn’t work for me, the animation is alright, though. At least this is way better than the NOT Shadowverse anime.

I got a comment from someone saying that the Konosuba influence comes from the director of the Puriconne series and this series serves to introduce the game as an original story for non-Puriconne players without touching any major plot points.

And finally let’s talk about my first impressions to all the shows I’m watching this Summer season:

Fire Force season 2: I was hoping this season can be a little bit better animated than the first, but upon the first episode of this season alone the terrible pacing is still there, but then the second episode, things get really interesting. The story is the main thing that will keep me intrigued for the rest of the series.

Dokyuu Hentai HxEros: The first time I heard about this series was when I retweeted and saving a Suketto Sanjou-related picture by artist Rakko where he hid a reply where someone posted a link to the Amazon page of the upcoming volume of the manga of HxEros (which the manga is not by Rakko and this is totally unrelated, what the hell was the guy who made the reply thinking?), that was a little while before I heard that this was getting animated.

At first I was 50/50 on watching it or not, but I saw the news that there’ll be this “H Energy Unleashed” version, which is the “uncensored” version and that sold me, but I continue to be unsure on watching it, that is until the day of the premiere where I was randomly seeing screenshots of the episode on my timeline, particularly scenes where the girl Kirara was completely naked, and I was absolutely sold on it and decided to watch it, and after doing so, I kinda dig it.

However, I dislike Kirara because of how she is. It makes me feel bad for how she used to be when she was a kid during some flashbacks where she was a dirty minded girl to present day where she’s a hardcore tsundere hiding her horniness, the way she is, it really makes me hard to empathize with her. She’s pretty cute and hot too.

Re:Zero season 2: It feels weird having a second season of Re:Zero considering it’s been 4 years since the first season came out, and after watching the first episode, now I just feel unprepared.

Oregairu season 3: While I was watching the episode, I was randomly reminiscing some memories and characters I remember from the first two seasons and who do I like, which I kinda like most characters, but Komachi is my least favorite because she constantly says “gross” to poor Hachiman, geez.

Uzaki-chan: This was a pretty solid series and this is definitely being AOTS. However, recently I found something very hilarious that I’m dying to talk about.

Remember the time when there was a controversy from an SJW where they criticized the Uzaki-chan Japanese Red Cross poster because of her big boobs? Well, that’s a separate story, but things with Uzaki-chan gets more laughable, as I stumbled upon this tweet a few days ago and...

Anime News Network gave the first episode a 1.5 star review?!

Holy jesus... What is that?! What the fuck is that?!

Yikes, Anime News Network are a bunch of clowns!

I’m really glad ANN is getting the hate it deserves, I just don’t like ANN when they do reviews, I never liked them since their discussion post on Netsuzou Trap and then episode 0 of Saekano season 2.

All that aside, this series is going to be quite a fun ride.

This Summer season could have been strong if only Akudama Drive and Danmachi season 3 weren’t delayed, but that’s for the better as Fall 2020 is looking like it’s the strongest season of the year, and you’ll find out why in September.

And that’s it for all my reviews! I really hope you enjoyed my biased reviews and I can’t wait to continue to make these reviews just like I used to. Also, let me address that I don’t make money from making these reviews, I only write these posts for fun.

Anyways, see you in Fall 2020 for my review for this Summer season and what am I gonna watch in Fall!

Check out my Carrd.

[sealedbeastnue]

hey its that time agian time for fukin anime reviews hey boys and girls

now that symphogear and fate/apocrypha have come to deliver us from evil, its finally time to render judgment unto the Mostly Fucking Abysmal Spring 2017 Anime Lineup

alice to zouroku: 5/10. I think this show failed on three levels: 1) not understanding the genre it wanted to be 2) plot structure and focus did not suit the characters or themes 3) BUDGET 4) replaced sana’s personality with FRAZZLED for three episodes in lieu of actually... yknow... any Thing. watch if you want to see it based on what others say because honestly I kind of checked out on it. I could see this having a higher review from others but seriously christ if I had to read the word “frazzled” one more time I was going to knife

seikaisuru kado: 10/10 from me because I cum for extradimensional science. I recognize that the last third had some structural problems but I believe the setup WAS present and consistent, and clearly the show was intended to flow smoothly but something forced the recap episode in and we had to squash out some of the development. I can't spoil this though so thats all. go watch it if you like Cosmos and understand the themes or if you just like sci fi. its really cool.

ID-0: 9/10. ADAMS FORTE CHEVALIER. sci fi cult classic in the making here (cus no one had the good sense to watch it lol sad tho) and strong recommend. it doesnt have a 10 because it starts really slow and kind of could be 2-3 eps less but goddamn it was cool. watch if ADAMS FORTE CHEVALIER

oushitsu kyoushi haine: 9/10 very consistently executed. everyone was likeable and (mostly) it was tightly plotted. charming and good budget. very honest. excellent hook for season 2. has some chibi and it does it right for the first time in 20 years. watch for heartwarming and if you like boys or something its a good show just go check it out

uchouten kazoku S2: 7/10 and probably biggest letdown of the year. so this show is supposed to be fun, right? that’s like the entire point? why were the last 4 episodes filled with torment, perdition, and brutality? why did we have the same plot as S1 plus the nidaime? where did the honesty and charm go? I think the key line that typifies what went wrong here is jyuroujin yelling "I RULE THE SKIES OF KYOTO!" like no bro this wasnt even.. a thing... ever. dont watch it but go watch season 1. season 3 might redeem this. im like 80% sure itll get made eventually since most people somehow apparently liked this one...

eromanga sensei: 3/10 and that's only because the animation and art quality was really good and I feel that it’s important to recognize that they had no part in making the show shit (honestly did a real good job). everything else gets a 0. this show is purest buttcrack cancer and I have no idea what I was thinking by liking it in any way other than the animation. the last 5 episodes were just the author masturbating in your face. there wasn't even an ending! it just stopped! also this is like proof that we're getting toddlercon within the next 1-2 years because oh god kill me. dont watch this pile of shit. dont support this  kind o f behavior anime was a  Mistake

sakura quest: 9/10 and going really, really strong. its nearing the 10 range really fast now that we've finally developed a clear overall plotline. this is still Feels Quest. if you're not watching this you really need to as a young adult (thats all of you probably) its so good in every single way.

sin: nanatsu no taizai: 9/10 hey this is where all the fun and delight that got sapped from uchouten went! we found it guys it's over here. I'm astounded, really truly amazed that this got produced for a titty anime figure line because it's super gay, and super sweet, and a wild ride. miami. you really should be watching this. all the male viewers hate it because the fanservice is all grotesque (what little real fanservice there is) it's all weird fetish material that's downplayed into kind of Just A Thing. it's fuckin awesome

girl beats boys: 8/10. a fine quick watch. good VN setup. good fight scenes (though short) and charming, interesting, unique way to present the material. worthy of respect, to my amazement since its an 8 minute show. hey my druids.

love tyrant: 8/10 actually? I picked this up on a whim because hey I should watch the other fanservice bullshit this season. turns out this had a lot of really great stuff in it. lots of good fetish material, really hot sadist, yandere shit, incest, reversal of gender roles, hot sadist, weird 6-winged face angels, companionship and the innocence of learning about young love. yeah that's all in one show. also there's a penguin that's like a sexual predator and a super saiyan terminator and that is why. the points were. deducted. from the show because why. anyway this one was fun. watch if fun and also hot sadist. did I mention her yet

re:creators:

this show sucks

bastard akashic records: 6/10 pointless shonen dreck

sukasuka: 6/10 pointless shonen dreck on which they wasted a really good cover of Scarborough Fair:

haifuri OVA: 6/10 we had to shit out something for the DVD release to get people to buy it or something

soutai sekai: pretty sure this didnt even exist. or just nobody bothered to sub past episode 1 because it sucked ass

maid dragon specials: these also disappeared? is anime real

frame arms girl: didnt watch the rest

tsugumomo: watched one episode. waifu clinically examines MC's dick as though she is a doctor. he responds clinically with no passion or eroticism in any of it. like we're measuring an animal (stallion?) for its penis size and ability to stud. dropped instantly.

things I am currently watching which are not new:

stella jogakuin koutou-ka c3-bu: super delightful and cute. girls with airsoft. my jam. hoping this one's good because I love what I've seen thus far

granblue fantasy: I watched an episode and it honestly seems a bit too simplistic Fantasy Action for me to bother with but I put it here for completeness thats all

berserk (1997) rewatch: with @prince-nal​. still the best 2k17 whassup

symphogear rewatch: with @justifiedsurrender who im dating and stuff. its an increasingly awesome time. I dont have a link to your SFW blog my bad. anyway DETERMINATION CANT BE MEASURED WITH NUMBERS!!!

other things I watched lately:

kekkai sensen: so I don't remember what I rated it but I could see anywhere from a 4 to a 10 being appropriate for a viewer. it had all the elements of a really good show, and lots of incredible animation and music, but it ended up being like... eating a whole package of cookies in one sitting? like, you're just choking down all this rad shit, and it just becomes too much and turns you off and probably gives you diseases. I think they also somehow dropped ~4 major antagonist plotlines without even resolving them but I feel like I got tricked because I only noticed it now. I would say watch this for sure but try to take it slow

scrapped princess: 8/10 stands out as a strong shonen title from the middle age of anime. watch if youre into that. strong character designs and pretty good art, great OP/ED. main complaint is that main character guy turned into Just An Angry Man for no real reason which was like ok if we gotta

hell girl S1: 8/10. not too sure what to say. it was cool and it had a good ending but it was pretty meandering which made it rather slower than it could hve been. also the horror was overplayed into Silliness almost, so it didn't have as much impact as I was hoping? will be watching S2-4 eventually though

basket army: ha ha what the fuck? did they really try to sell a novel with this? delete this

binbougami ga!: 9/10 I can't even explain this show honestly but it made me laugh REALLY hard at least once per episode which is my qualification for a comedy to be good

[haleyfury]

If We Were Having Coffee is my favorite way to share current happenings in my life  outside of my usual fangirl and bookish-ness. But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of talk about the books, TV, and podcasts I’ve been consuming lately. 

Although I’m waiting for my  honors cords to come in the mail, my cap and gown did come in, which called for an impromptu photoshoot!

If we were having coffee, I’d probably be having a cup of coffee with milk and cinnamon. I feel like I’m cheating on summer by saying that I haven’t been drinking iced coffee that much lately. 4 out of the 5 people in my house drink at least two cups of coffee everyday, so instead of making single cups using the Keurig, we usually make two or three pots a day using Dunkin Donuts’ Original Blend. My sister and I love blending cinnamon in the grinds before brewing. 

If we were having coffee, I’d probably tell you that my mind feels like its in five different places at once. It’s weird to think that I feel busier being at home vs. being out in the world at school and work. I know I’ve mentioned it in a wrap-up and maybe another post, but since my If We Were Having Coffee about my college graduation, I made the decision to stay at my alma mater to attend their Master of Arts in Teaching program. I had actually been admitted into the program back in March and hadn’t made a decision about when and if I’d join the program when the world went into madness. Since one of my summer jobs went from full-time to part-time remotely, I made the decision to join the program and start taking summer courses. 

Although I’ve still been eating up 3 or 4 books a week (summer time is the best reading season for me), I’ve been doing so much work and reading for school since mid-May. Two of my classes met for two weeks each every day, so now I have a slight lull in my schedule. I have a weekly elective until the end of June when the second round of classes  begins. I am also doing some remote work for the organization I worked at as an undergraduate. It’s definitely a busy schedule, but I am of course grateful to know that I am able to partake in all of these things from home. 

That being said, by the time 6 PM rolls around each day, I am so sick of looking at a computer or phone screen. When I was going to school remotely during the spring semester, I had read a few articles and blog posts about Zoom burnout, but didn’t really understand the phenomenon. I don’t know if it’s because my spring course load at home definitely lessened up with all of the craziness vs. the amount of work I have for grad school, work, and meetings, but I completely understand the burnout now. I’m definitely kicking myself for not getting blue-light protection on my glasses last year.

One of the perks of being home is that on my breaks, I can go for a walk around town or sit out in my backyard (or in my pool) to eat lunch and READ. I also feel sort’ve guilty because while I have been reading my normal amount, I also haven’t been in a super big writing aka blogging mood lately. Instead of writing a little bit each day like I normally do, I’ve found that I’m better off taking an hour or two at least twice a week and just banging out a few posts at a time. I really want to get back to my old ways, aka writing a review at least a few hours after I’ve finished the book and scheduling the week’s posts by Sunday night, but I’m trying not to push myself. Blogging is something that I love and while I do have obligations to read books for review, I don’t want blogging to become something that feels like a chore or job itself. 

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that my go-to listens on my walk haven’t changed too much. I’ve still really been embracing podcasts – Bad on Paper is still my favorite and I’ve been loving co-host Becca’s new podcast series with Rachael King, RomCom Pods. RomCom Pods is a fictional podcast series about, you guessed it, rom-com stories! Each season will take on a new storyline. This first season will be six episodes total (currently 2 are out) about Claire, who after finding out her fiancé is cheating on her, decides to still go on their honeymoon tour of Italy. Podcasts are still my go-to walking activity – I also started listening to Here to Make Friends (a Bachelor recap podcast) – but I also sometimes listen to music. After loving Ben Platt’s Radio City special on Netflix last month, I’ve been listening to Sing to Me Instead all the time again, including the live cover of “The Joke,” and his newly released songs like “So Will I.”

If we were having coffee, I’d probably wouldn’t be able to contain myself over my excitement about my local Barnes & Noble re-opening and my library preparing for door side pick-up…even though my friend recently gifted me with her old Kindle! Yes, three months into quarantine and after getting frustrated with using an iPad for e-books, I finally gave in to using a Kindle. Obviously, I’m super happy that the bookstore is open and that my library is working on pick-up plans, but I do see myself still reading e-books (okay fine, I admit I read maybe one e-book a month because I love physical books way too much) because of limited services and availability.  

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I got a new MacBook! I don’t think I’ve ever talked about my laptop issues here, but until May, I had been basically running my life with my 2013 MacBook Pro. I’ve had that laptop since I was a high school sophomore and it was finally time for us to part. For the past two years, I had to always put it on at least twenty minutes before I needed to use it. During this past February, the battery basically died in the middle of my senior capstone class. I was able to get it replaced at a store in my college town and borrow a laptop from the library for a few days, but even with the replacement battery, it wasn’t operating too well. Between work and online school for the summer, I was very fortunately gifted with a 2020 MacBook Air for my graduation and I’ve been LOVING it! I was originally going to go with the MacBook Pro because I was so used to the Pro and I wanted to try the tool bar, but after ordering the Air instead (oops) and reading the reviews, I decided to keep the Air and I am so happy with my decision. It’s super light, works really fast, and I love the Touch ID. It also came with a free year-long trial of AppleTV. 

If we were having coffee, I’d probably talk about what I’m watching on TV.  Unless I’m up to my eyeballs in school work, I usually take the last 1-2 hours before bed either reading or watching TV. Reality TV is still the current love of my life, between Selling Sunset S2 (Netflix), Below Deck Mediterranean (Bravo), Outdaughtered (TLC) and The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever (ABC). My friends and I love watching The Bachelor together, so this is a fun way for us to connect while being separated and unable to watch the show IRL together. Since I’m fairly new to The Bachelor, I like the idea of these episodes covering one whole season of the show so I can get more familiar with  Bachelor Nation faves and not-so-faves. When it comes to ‘actual’ TV, I recently finished finally watching The Morning Show (Apple TV) and started watching Shtisel S2 (Netflix). I’ve also been rewatching The Politician because S2 drops TODAY. No matter how long this season is or how long the episodes are, I can guarantee you that I’ll have this second season finished by next Friday, if not earlier. 

What you been reading and watching lately? Any recommendations for me? Do you have any plans for the summer? Share in the comments! 

If We Were Having Coffee: June 2020 Edition If We Were Having Coffee is my favorite way to share current happenings in my life  outside of my usual fangirl and bookish-ness.