#in season 3 and 4 the animation and backgrounds were GORGEOUS

[t00obsessed]

Anyone else worried for how the new PnF seasons’ animation and art is gonna look?

[sunhighriptide]

I held off on watching X-men '97 until I rewatched all of the original X-men animated series. I am glad I did that, I think I enjoyed it even more that way.

Damn. X-men '97 had no right to go that hard. I cannot remember another show that has gotten me to cry that much, first of all. They showed so many sides to the different characters, the art was gorgeous, the soundtrack was absurd, loved the story beats, yes. It was very good.

Rather dissapointed in the other heroes and scientists of the world. Yes, T'Challa and Steve spoke against the bombing of the Asteroid, but Tomy was standing right there, and he never pointed out that maybe shooting down a GIANT ASTEROID with no plans to recieve it was a bad idea.

Spider-man is, of course, exempt from this because we all know he was not consulted.

I loved the hints they showed of other heroes in the world. It felt more like the world of Marvel instead of one divorced. They don't have to focus on others or take away from the X-men to show they exist.

Slightly annoyed that they didn't directly mention Magneto's kids.

Lorna got a single shot in the intro, a cameo in a picture on Forge's wall, and one shot of her as a slave in Bastian's future.

Pietro was in the picture with Lorna and the X-force, and Morph turned into him at one point. He was on Forge's wall at the end, marked as being off-world.

Wanda was on the board at the end.

All three of them were in the background in Magneto's mind, on the ship with Rogue, but were in the shadows, where we couldn't see their face. Even just having them be mentioned, like "What future do you want for your kids, Magneto?" Did them dirty.

Questions for next season.

1. Where is Storm? She wasn't with the others, meeting Apocalypse. She wasn't with Jean and Scott meeting Nathan/Cable. Maybe she is with Wolverine and Morph.

2. Where are Wolverine and Morph?

3. When are Wolverine and Morph going to get together? I did like Storm and Wolverine, but Morph has real chemistry with him.

4. Why didn't they get Lorna to reverse the magnetic affects? Was she not powerful enough yet?

5. Why are Wanda and Pietro off-planet? Avengers mission? You'd think, if they were Avengers, Steve and Tony would have suggested asking their teammates to speak with their Dad before jumping to blowing him up.

6. How long did it take Steve to find his shield after Rogue threw it?

[distortedclouds]

MAPPA didn’t make the characters ugly, it’s Wit that made everyone too beautiful - Let me explain!

By far, one of the biggest complaints thrown around when season 4 part 1 of Attack on Titan first aired was how MAPPA made all the characters—especially the female characters—ugly. There’s some merit to that complaint, but not in the way most people were coming at it

Not sure if it’d been said before, but I think the only reason MAPPA’s aot looks “ugly” is because Wit went out of their way to make every too beautiful—unnaturally so

I have a case to make here and will be going over it one element at a time

Colors

Let’s first look at how each studio picks their colors. This is the most apparent in the flashback shots were MAPPA basically reanimated whole scenes in their style

Both studios use three basic “shades” for every same-color surface

For Wit that’s the base color, a darker variation for shading, and then a highlight, used generously on the characters’ hair and faces (sometimes they add a darker shade, but not often)

MAPPA uses a base color, a darker tone for shading, but they also add cross hatching to emphasize the even darker areas, usually around the eyes and under the neck

MAPPA also very rarely use highlights—only in cases where there’s bright light to actually reflects off of the high points of a character’s face and hair

The same can also be seen in the color choices. Wit’s color palette is overall brighter. They almost never go with true black tones for things and texture that are meant to be black

Characters like Mikasa and Levi, who’re meant to have black hair, they’re given either dark gray or a shade of dark brown that looks black compared to everything around it

MAPPA’s color choices are darker, more somber, this includes the hair colors

Another example is Armin and Annie’s hair colors. In seasons 1-3, the colors are so bright they could almost be considered yellow hair, but MAPPA tones it down, giving them more “natural” blond tones

This is applied all over, from clothes to backgrounds

Proportions

To keep things on the less complicated end, I’m dividng art styles on a scale from “realistic proportions” to “chibi” with the first being closer to the sizing and variation of a human body and the latter focusing on bigger heads and bigger eyes compared to everything else

MAPPA’s style, despite still being solidly Anime, is significantly more realistic leaning than Wit’s, which is more “cute”

Starting with the faces, Wit’s faces are less angular and more rounded. They’ve also given the characters bigger and brighter eyes, along with smaller noses and mouths—especially when the character isn’t talking

Meanwhile, MAPPA has a more realistic approach to facial proportions, therefor, less cute

When it comes to body proportions, it’s harder to compare all the main cast members

There's a 4-year time skip so I'll be sticking to adult characters for obvious reasons

The difference in proportions is immediately obvious. Not only are their shoulders wider compared to their heads, but their limbs are also fuller, when Wit kept them lanky. Their arms, legs, and waists feel like they have more weight to them in MAPPA’s style compared to Wit

(I would've done Annie but I couldn't find official full body art from MAPPA)

Effortlessly Gorgeous

It’s perfectly normal to have attractive anime/manga protagonists. They attract a wider audience and they’ll sell more merch if they’re pretty, handsome, or sexy

I think the main problem with Wit is that the characters are made to always look beautiful. Even at their worse: fighting titans, getting thrown off and rolling on dirt, almost dying- doesn’t matter, they’re always made to look gorgeous with glistening hair that's never out of place

This is most apparent in the characters aot presents as being the most beautiful: Mikasa and Annie

In the middle of battle, their hair always falls back neatly into place. They can have dirt or blood on them but never too much. Not to mention, the lip gloss shimmer that almost every young female character in the anime has

MAPPA…

not so much.

This is partially thanks to the cross hatching they use in shading, gives the character’s expressions a more raw appearance rather than elegantly crafted like some Hollywood film

It's not really just a matter of different art styles, it's a bunch of factors coming together that makes something less "cute" and more grown up looking

How do the styles compare to the manga?

It’s really hard to give a straight answer since Isayama’s style changes drastically over the source of 139 chapters

I’d say Wit was able to take more creative liberties with character designs and the style of the artwork simply because Isayama’s style itself wasn’t as developed/refined during the first few dozen chapters

While it’s hard to say about the colors since the manga is in black and white, any colored covers we do get are more muted, even compared to MAPPA. As for shading, Isayama goes strong on cross hatching and I think MAPPA does him justice in that regard

So when people throw a tantrum online that MAPPA made Annie and Mikasa ugly, then, yeah, sure ugly as in less polished and less baby-like, but only compared to Wit

The manga is generally more gruesome in its portryal and Wit, I feel, leaned too much into the style of the late 2000s early 2010s

[gffa]

THE HIGH REPUBLIC READING PROJECT UPDATE: Since I finished Phases I and II (aside from Young Jedi Adventures previously), in the interests of not having a mile long post, I'm just doing Phase III stuff now. I've also decided against including The Vow of Silver Dawn since I don't think there's an official English translation--though, I am reading the fan translation. (Slowly, I've been reading ORV when I do have time to read.) Look how close I am! I'm even an hour and half into Defy the Storm and I've started the Phase III comics and I'd guess I have about ten issues left in total to catch up on and I finished Young Jedi Adventures. I can totally do this over the next week and a half!

MAIN STORYLINE NOVELS - PHASE III:

The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness

The High Republic: Escape from Valo

The High Republic: Defy The Storm

MAIN STORYLINE COMICS - PHASE III:

The High Republic: Shadows of Starlight - 4 issues

The High Republic (2023) - 7 issues [ONGOING]

The High Republic Adventures (2023) - 5 issues [ONGOING]

The High Republic - Saber for Hire (2023) - 1 issue [ONGOING]

ONESHOT COMIC ISSUES - PHASE III:

The High Republic Adventures: Crash Landing

EVERYTHING ELSE:

Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures - 25 episodes + 6 shorts

I enjoyed Escape from Valo a lot more than I thought I would, Older's and Wong's books usually just aren't my jam, but when they got in a bunch of new characters, I found myself more intrigued this time around. Part of that is probably that Phase III feels a lot tighter and more impactful now that they've had time to really get in gear as an initiative, but also I think maybe it feels like Older and Wong are spreading the story around to more characters and ones that resonate better with me. A lot of it is that I feel like Older is a little too close to Ram's character and winds up making him feel like The Most Specialest Boy Ever, but putting him into smaller chunks made him go down a lot better for me and I found his struggle to connect with the Jedi younglings versus becoming attached to them (in the way the Jedi mean it/more Buddhist-aligned) worked well for me. I think the book still fits into the overall trend for me--mostly one of my lesser faves of the Phase, but with 2-3 absolutely BANGER scenes about Jedi philosophy that make it worth reading for. Now, on to Defy the Storm and I'm curious how this will go, I like both Ireland and Gratton's work, but I do get a little "...." at Ireland's writing for Avon, who I thought worked well enough in the first book but starts to feel like she's not allowed any real flaws because she's too special. I just want a little more variety with the heroes, to let them have some genuinely unlikeable moments to be relatable. (This is personal preference, I might feel different if these were established characters or I was more in the target range.) I also finished Young Jedi Adventures and I honestly enjoyed having it on in the background! It's very much aimed at a preschool audience, but it does so with charisma and charm radiating out of it in every scene. The voice acting is top notch, the animation is gorgeous, the character/setting designs are stunning, and I admit, I got a little invested in the characters over the time spent with them. To the point I'm kind of genuinely champing at the bit for a second season because I NEED Taborr resolution, YOU CANNOT END IT THERE??? I NEED TO KNOW HOW THIS TURNS OUT???? I NEED ANOTHER SEASON!!!! At least tell me that someone else is in the same hell that I'm in of wanting to see how that conflict plays out and getting weirdly invested in that little shit that just wants real friends. ;__;

[fandom-anthropology]

Fandom Dissection: The Owl House

Warning: This post will contain spoilers for The Owl House

The Basics:

The Owl House is a Disney Channel cartoon that began airing in 2020, and just recently finished.

The story follows Luz Noceda, a human girl obsessed with magic who discovers a portal to The Demon Realm. There she meets Eda The Owl Lady, a wild witch as well as someone hiding from The Emperor’s Coven. She also meets King, the adorable self proclaimed “King of Demons”. Luz decides to stay in The Demon Realm so she can learn magic.

The show became immensely popular for various reasons. These include the characters, writing, animation, music, world-building and LGBT representation. However, these things do not solely build a fandom. So let’s apply my Six Elements to this show.

1. Recognizable Art style/Aesthetic:

The Owl House has a very recognizable aesthetic, very much playing into the fantasy genre while also having it’s own spin. It is more monstrous and macabre then your average fantasy school story but that’s part of the charm. And despite that, the imagery and backgrounds are surprisingly gorgeous.

In regards to character designs, many of the residents of The Demon Realm look like normal humans, save for the pointy ears. However some characters like Boscha inexplicably have more monstrous features. This makes the options for oc designs pretty expansive.

2. Faction System:

The Owl House has its own Faction System, that being The Covens. These nine forms of magic are a major element of the shows world building. The nine types of magic are: Abomination, Bard, Beast Keeping, Construction, Healing, Illusion, Oracle, Plant and Potions. Despite the coven system being criticized in the show, I often see fans associate themselves with one or multiple of the nine types of magic. The system is very much built to use as a jumping off point for a self insert or sona. This system also is interesting from a world building perspective.

3. World Building:

Speaking of world building, The Owl House has quite a bit of interesting world building. The Boiling Isles is a world that many people are fascinated with. The world is fascinating and filled with mysteries. The rules are set up and correlate with the story in an interesting way. The world and characters are also fit for many different types of AUs. Wholesome AUs, angsty AUs, or both.

4. Theories and Headcanons:

Like many modern cartoons, The Owl House had a strong theory following. It set up interesting mysteries about the lore of The Boiling Isles, Hunter’s Origins, Belos’s plan and The Collector as a whole. All of which were heavily speculated on in the fandom. The series is also perfect for headcanons. The characters are so expansive and likable, and due to many plot threads being cut by the shortened series, there’s room for fanon to step in where canon was unable to be fully developed.

5. Shipping:

Many people jumped on this show as a result of the viral news of Luz being canonically Bi, Amity being canonically a lesbian, and the possibility that they might get together being revealed near the end of Season One. This was when the show really became well known. And as such, Lumity (Luz X Amity) became the most talked about element of the show.

However there are other ships that heavily impact the fandom. The two big ones being Raeda (Raine X Eda) and Huntlow (Hunter X Willow), sometimes called Winter.

These three ships make up the bulk of shipping content for The Owl House, however some rarepairs exist like Alador X Darius. 6. Tumblr Sexyman:

Speaking of Alador and Darius, they are the two who fit the tumblr sexyman mold the best. However there are also similar followings for Raine and Eda.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, The Owl House is a very special show. It is unlikely we will ever see a show like it again. Despite how much it was screwed over by Disney, the show managed to have a pretty satisfying finale. Plus it made huge steps in representation, with canonical same-gender couples, non-binary characters and even an aroace character. It was dark but funny, sweet but heartwrenching, it was truly something special. It makes sense why it gained such a massive following.

[zoeykallus]

I've watched Clone Wars ages ago and back there I wasn't much of a fan of the clones but now I am OBSESSED. Are there any episodes you would recommend me to try to quench my thirst for these gorgeous men?

Aye! Good question. Well, if you are not afraid of some good angst and tension, I totally recommend the "Umbara Arc", starting with Season 4, Episode 7 "The Darkness Of Umbara" up to Episode 10 "Carnage Of Krell", Fives and Rex hot as hell. But be aware there is a lot of angst in these episodes, so better bring tissues. I tear up every time I watch it, and I still come to rewatch it again. - As heart aching as they are, these are probably my favorite episodes.

Another one would be the last four episodes (9-12) of season 7, very dark, very heavy, but awesome. But I'd save that for last.

Another sad gem would be the first four Episodes of Season 6, it's tense and angsty too, but it's with Fives (I love Fives, which is why these episodes hit me pretty hard)

I have to admit I had trouble with a few episodes of the first season, and season two as well. Clone Wars didn't catch me right away either, the series gets much better with later seasons, at least in my opinion (Not just in terms of story telling, but also the animation gets better). But there were still a few gems, one of which was the second episode of season one, showing Jedi Master Ploo Koon and how much he cares for the clones he's leading, loved that. We get to see Wolffe here for the first time... I think.

And Episode five of season one, where we get to see Echo and Fives as shinies.

Episode 16 of Season 1 is an interesting one in terms of clone behavior, I won't say more about it, because I don't want to give away too much.

Episode 20 of Season one is a cute one, I mean there is the war in the background, but there are two clones (Waxer and Boil) that I pay more attention too throughout that episode, I guess you'll see what I mean, if you give that episode a chance.

Season 2, Episode 10 "The Deserter", love how Cut and Rex meet and how they get to understand each other. I can't say much without giving away too much, it's worth a watch.

Season 3 Episodes 1 and 2. We get to see how clones get their final training and how hard it actually is for them. We meet 99 as well and learn that there are actually clones getting sorted out, who are not "fit" for duty. There is also some angst in these two episodes, especially in the second one.

Maybe I should stop here, there is a lot more I could tell you, but on top of my head, these are the ones coming to mind right away. Well, all in all I'd say, get ready to fall in love with those clones and be ready for them to die, cause a lot of them actually do 😭

And Of course, very important, if you haven't done it yet, give the two seasons of The Bad Batch a try 😁😊

[a-swag-potato]

Hey tysm for tagging me

Ok I’m gonna do mine

1. The Owl House, my favourite show at the moment. I adore the story, characters, animation and everything about this show. This show got me through some tough times and i love it is much. It changed my life and the queer rep was really helpful in helping me realise i was queer.

2. Avatar the Last Airbender, I only watched this show a couple months ago and damn it phenomenal. I had seen a lot of praise for the show before but after watching I’m absolutely blown away. The character arcs, the animation and story are amazing

3. Amphibia, this show is so special to me, honestly I’ve never cried so hard at a finale (still my favourite finale for a show imo) the main trio are so well written and are some of the best characters in media. Everything about this show is amazing

4. Gravity Falls, ah the show that got me into cartoons (and got me through lockdown lol). I first watched the show with my sister one night when we were bored during lockdown but absolutely fell in love with it. This show inspired me in so many different ways

5. Spy X Family, I love this anime so much. The character dynamics are my favourite thing about it but the animation, story and character design are amazing as well. I read the manga first and adored it so I decided to watch the anime. can’t wait for season 2

6. Big City Greens, my sister got me into this show and its we ended up watching it together. It was a great way for us to bond and I’m so grateful for that. The story is amazing and i love it. Season 4 has been amazing so far and I’m really excited to see how it will go. Plus there’s a movie coming which is fun

7. The Legend of Korra, the animation is stunning. I love this show, its not perfect and i have my issues with it but i still adore it. I also love how this show was one of the first to have a queer couple so that’s great.

8. She Ra and the Princesses of Power, the queer rep is what drew me in but the amazing story is what i stayed for. The shows characters are so lovable and i love the world. The backgrounds are gorgeous.

That was really fun! :D Again thanks for tagging me.

I’ll tag some moots (no pressure of course), @prosto-moti @tanasha @peridots-dorito @8bitandbey0nd @violet-prisim-creatively @gloriasaro @spacemichelle @xxlunadrawsstuffxx @childlikegoblinqueen @immalanee @calamitymishap @dodelidoo @my-autisim-adhd-blog @talonmom @bi-fiend @jupitergirl125 @alilweirddragon @uhwhathappenedhere @silverlombaxwitch

8 tv shows to get to know me better

tagged by @ronanceisintheair , sorry it wouldn’t let me reblog the post :/

warrior nun- LIFE CHANGING SHOW fucked me hp in the best way possible the cinematography the music the STORY 10/10 show

the owl house- CHANGED ME AS A OERSON i am mot 50% owl house character personality i care about this show so deeply my babies <3

young justice- not a popular answer (*boos from the dc fandom*) but this show is really formative to me and got me into comics and superheroes so whatever haters gonna hate

stranger things- amazing show genuinely i loved it but 50% of fandom ruins it for me unless your my mutual sorry

wednesday- yeah yeah it wasn’t great but wenclair my babiesss and this show is how i made a lot of my friends on tumblr and i do enjoy it

first kill- i think about this show so often i miss it so much but i loveee it. teen coming fo age vampire gayness enemies to lovers but kinda one sided and alose romeo and juliet please watch <3

the legend of korra- i love avatar too but i have more specific memories of korra and it’s always a pleasure to watch— genuinely iconic to me

harley quinn animated series- okay so i’m probably gonna think of another show later but i do like this one a lot it’s SO funny and i love harley and ivy more than words can describe

not: @hearteyes-wheeler @agrebel18 @milfkarazorel @fell-in-love-with-a-fantasy @bookish-swiftie13 @evermore-4-life @el-fandom-birb

[teeth-and-tea]

Anime I've Binged: August 2021

I've been crafting a lot recently because I wanna get my yarn work done before it gets cold so LOTS OF ANIME lmao let's gooooo

The Case Study of Vanitas: On god, this anime is gorgeous. Still being upload as it's a new seasonal, but it's a Yen Press distributed work by the same mangaka of Pandora Hearts and Crimson Shell so it's STYLISTICALLY GORGEOUS. The story is interesting and feels new but familiar enough to have guess, people who like men AND women will have something for them, and Noè is my baby boy, my heart, my lovely little lamb, the sweetest green bean on the planet <3. Can't wait for the (eventual, as told on the first episode) death of Vanitas by Noè's hands that will crush me <3. 9/10.

Oddtaxi: I was NOT EXPECTING this anime to be THAT GOOD. Oddakawa is the MVP. You think you're getting a slice of life anime with some furry elements and instead you get Paranoia Agent meets Yakuza and went to school with Beastars. Genuinely one of the best anime of the coming decade. The last 30 seconds of the last episode legitimately left me screaming and my brother had to ask me what was wrong. 11/10.

The Slime Diaries: The offshoot for That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime full of shorts while the second half of the second season was put on hiatus due to covid. Cute, bubbly, but the drawing styles for everyone was a little too off for me to entirely enjoy. However, the extra background and time they gave to all the characters really fleshed them out and gave them more depth so you have more to care about when you're watching the main series again. Not bad, pretty cute, but you won't understand unless you've watched all the way up to the middle of the Second Season. 8.5/10.

The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist: Another Light Novel Slice of Life Isekai given life, I've seen better but this one isn't bad by any means. It gives you exactly what it says on the tin, with NO annoying fan service or gross (bad) harem dynamics. Pretty cute tbh. 8/10.

Mob Psycho 100 S1: The animation is INCREDIBLE. OH MY GOD. Story was solid, depictions of original characters was GREAT and Mob is my beautiful little boy I want to wrap up in a blanket and put to sleep <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Reigen is a sweaty, sweaty gross goblin I found outside the Denny's dumpster at midnight and decided "ahh, yes, a man who is perfect to destroy and objectify all at once." 11/10.

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid S1, S2, and Shorts: I'm gonna be real, I'm a mad lesbian who knew I was gonna be disappointed by what I wanted but knew I wasn't gonna get it. STILL super cute tho. Lucoa and Shota gave me HARD SIDE EYE VIBES THO. Tits. Tits for days. Not my favorite but I've seen worse. 7.5/10.

How to Keep a Mummy: SO CUTE genuinely went online to see if I could buy a plushie before remembering I have crafting power and twelve dollars. Slice of Life featuring an adorable cast of high schoolers and their supernatural pets. 8.5/10. I couldn't stop being delighted by how CUTE everything was <3

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life: A Slice of Life Turned Plot-ish about if Tohru from Fruits Basket was a guy and shoved in an entire apartment complex full of supernatural beings, with less explicit romantic plotlines. It's not bad but the plot is all over the place and nonsensical in the the "why did the writer think this was a good idea" way and not the "lol" way. It was a Light Novel turned published piece tho so that clears up a lot of things. Incredibly small internet presence so if you want the world's tiniest fandom, try here. 8/10.

Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average In the Next Life?!: Another in the long line up of isekais and light novels that have gained an audience, this is honestly one of my favorite of the Isekais I've watched so far. It's fun, humorous, and it's got the decent premise of "oh yeah, I'm average in all my abilities! ... If you compare them from the tiniest bug to the strongest dragon alive." It's busty jokes and certain dried up cliches are abound tho, so some of the humor falls flat. That being said: the magic is run on nanomachines. That alone gives it enough premise for me to watch it. I watched the dub which I'll admit isn't amazing, but worked for me. 8.5/10

Restaurant to Another World: Another Light Novel adaptation but this one was a much earlier one that was published a few years ago, it's so calm that I like watching it to fall asleep to. That being said, don't watch this while hungry! Or watch it while eating leftovers! Because THE FOOD LOOKS SO GOOD I WANT IT D: Lol but serious it's pretty cute, really normal, there's no plot, I almost hesitate to call this anything other than a fantasy slice of life show instead of just a series of shorts strung together to make a show. I want to eat at Restaurant Nekoya TTuTT 8/10

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS:

How NOT To Summon a Demon Lord: I got 6 episodes in before I straight up could NOT take the fan service anymore. Literally, I watched 5 1/2 episodes, paused about 4 months, gave it one last shot and watched the 6th episode, and then called it quits. It's SO GROSS IT MAKES ME NAUSEOUS. Not in a gorey way (which is preferable tbh) but in "all these hyper-sexualized, assaulted, groomed, fan serviced girls are underage or are lolis" way. Ew. Gross. I refuse. I made myself watch PRISON SCHOOL but smth about this show just... made itself unwatchable. Maybe how it's still trying to make the MC seem like a normal dude and in Prison School they were literally all written to be unlikable and everyone knew it was fucked up. Here, it's like... portrayed as normal and positive? I just can't do it fam, I hate this show so goddamn much. I'm going to bed.

[book-o-scams]

'Sorry Wrong Ed' Alternate Ending Storyboard Sequence

Check out Al Kang's Ed, Edd n Eddy portfolio!

Al Kang worked on the show during seasons 3-4 and had roles on the storyboard and prop teams apparently. (IMDb says he was credited as Al Choi at the time, but it also says he worked on season 1 episodes, which doesn't line up with the timeline he mentioned.. anyway.)

I discovered his portfolio a few months ago after seeing fandom discussion of the alternate 'Sorry Wrong Ed' ending. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few other treats as well! But yes, I even sorta liked what I learned about 'Sorry Wrong Ed' in the process... (I threw in a little analysis comparing the two endings at the bottom)

I noticed Al seemed to mix up the order on these, so I thought I'd try my best to figure out the right order. This was the most confusing one for me to try and figure out the order of since almost all 8 pages were out of order. I think I finally figured out what's going on in the original ending.

So this alternate ending starts at an unknown point with Eddy flat on the ground, presumably injured, picking himself back up. At this point in the final cut of the episode, Eddy has just been squashed by a tree, but this seems more like a different injury, and he's not even retaining his injuries from the truck scene... The scenes with Jonny and Plank from the final cut of the episode seem to not exist at all here, Jonny and Plank don't appear in this sequence.

Anyway, Eddy picks himself up in the middle of an on-going scene, sees Jimmy drop a coin in a jar for Ed, who has inexplicably turned the cursed phone into a scam on his own. Edd is glaring at the off-screen kids, who have somehow learned about this phone and are excited to kill Eddy with it.

Eddy: "Jimmy! No!"

Jimmy answers the phone: "Hello?"

Ed: "HA HA HA"

Edd: "You people don't seriously believe--"

Then we sync up with gags that did happen in the ending of Sorry Wrong Ed, with context that makes its tone a little more sadistic than random. Jimmy's paid phonecall drops the sandbox on Eddy.

This page has the most skeletal dialogue...

Kev: "Yes." (I think he's meant to be fist pumping because Eddy got hurt, more of a "Yes!")

Jimmy: "BAD LUCK EDDY PHONE." (this dialogue must have been a placeholder)

Edd: "HA HA" (sarcastic ha-ha or did Al mean to write "Ed" for this?)

Jimmy seems to offer the phone to Edd.

We sync up again with Edd's denial from the final cut of this episode, except now it actually makes sense that he's so one-track-minded, because there are people actively arguing with him and keeping him disengaged from the victim.

Edd: "There must be a cargo plane overfilled with playground supplies..."

Sarah interrupts him.

RING RING

Sarah: "Oh, that's for me."

Eddy at this point holds Ed responsible, as he should, and starts running to stop Ed or Sarah. Ed offers no explanation for his betrayal.

Eddy: "Ed! What are you doing!?"

Sarah: "Hello?"

Sarah's paid phonecall summons the hippos, the most random moment in the final cut of the episode. Note how both of these slapstick gags were storyboarded on the same generic background, seems like the lane or an empty lot, but clearly a different location than Eddy's front yard from the aired ending.

And that's all we have to go off of!

I'll put my updated opinions below the cut, but suffice it to say, I like the episode a little better now! Knowing what the ending was going to be and trying to figure out the choices that led to the ending we got, I feel more appreciative that it didn't end up a lost episode or something and less annoyed that it was 11 minutes of one joke.

I know I have a reputation for not finding slapstick funny and disliking this episode, but violence was never my only issue. Lots of episodes have lackluster slapstick that I just let wash over me. My point that never gets as much focus is that this episode never felt FINISHED to begin with. It's just a slapstick vacuum with no ending and no point, and it used to be frustrating to me not knowing for sure if my hunch was right or not that it felt like the episode just wasn't working and they had to cobble it together from the scenes that almost worked.

I am surprised to say I like the episode more now that I know that is pretty close to the truth. Judging from this peek into the episode's development, this episode seems to have reached Danny Antonucci's and/or Wootie's (the episode's lead board artist) limit for being mean-spirited with the characters without a reason. I'll still probably avoid rewatching it, but knowing the episode has no ending specifically because it's been trimmed to bare bones is somehow reassuring.

The most obvious flaw to this original ending is the lack of motivation for Ed's or the kids' actions. The kids presumably still weren't in the rest of the episode, so there's really no reason for them to be here other than reiterating the same idea from 'Your Ed Here' and 'The Good Ole Ed' that the neighborhood kids are always looking for a reason to gang up on Eddy, something that isn't really true of those characters in earlier seasons.

I think I can imagine how, on paper (in the writers' outline), this episode sounded funnier. Trying to imagine this ending as part of the whole episode, I think the script's idea of the final joke is that Ed is not satisfied with ending the tests at the point where they tried to return the phone to Rolf. I think Ed converts the curse-testing process to a scam at that point, building off of how Ed already wasn't processing Eddy's safety in anything so far, and is probably more focused on proving to Edd that curses are real (as Ed was previously in league with Evil Tim). The addition of Ed running his own tests and the kids arguing Eddy's point against Edd's while Eddy's busy, does sound more like a complete manic cartoon boiling point than the way the finished episode just petered out with Edd as the sole antagonist. But unfortunately, in visual execution, suddenly piling in so many aggressive characters and so much random violence at once, would only really result in it petering out at a higher volume.

Meanwhile Edd's characterization is made much more structurally sound in the original ending. He's annoyed FOR Eddy's sake, and the only reason he's not actively helping Eddy is because like 3 other characters were supposed to be arguing with him while this was happening. It seems extremely apparent to me that the cuts made to this ending were for the sake of mitigating Ed's reputation in the fandom, as well as the kids', and I think it's really unfortunate that Edd's characterization was the cost for salvaging everyone else's. I'm glad I already considered his behavior in 'Sorry Wrong Ed' non-canon, because now it feels like the reason the aired ending is so out-of-character is just because Edd is basically arguing with the ghost of the original scene. I formally forgive 'Sorry Wrong Ed'. Production turnarounds are tough and AKA did their best to not turn this into another forgotten 'Special Ed' episode that simply wasn't working.

I think ditching the original ending was ultimately the right call. It was not an exemplary episode, but I can admit it's less out of place to have a pure "vacuum of violence" story than it would've been to essentially give the kids a supernatural revenge plot like this. That would've been really weird to have to accept-- Eddy definitely wouldn't want to be friends with anyone at the end of the movie if THIS was their past. Changing it to an unaware Jonny and a questionably aware Plank being responsible, indeed, was a vibe that landed much more like standard EEnE fare. It was weird enough that the kids all saw Santa in JJJ, can you imagine if they all knew curses were real AND participated in attacking a neighbor with one??

If there was a silver lining for me the first time I saw this episode, it was that none of the kids were directly involved in Eddy's suffering. It made the questionable reality of the cursed device slightly more acceptable that only the Eds and Rolf know about the curse. If this ending had happened, I would've reacted the same, but I would've rejected its continuity even more than I do now, because it would just feel like they animated one of the DC Comics (where the kids can blow the Eds up with fireworks at the end or the Eds can randomly be crushed under an avalanche of anvils)-- the art could end up gorgeous but the characterizations don't exactly land as real human beings, the balance this show strives for typically.

And I think that's all I wanted to say! In the end, I found myself liking 'Sorry Wrong Ed' slightly more than I used to, all thanks to this glimpse into how the animation production system morphs the outcome of a cartoon. Thanks so much to Al Kang, for sharing your art and this insight into the industry! I don't know whether he did both the gesture drawings and the revised art, but judging from his other boards I think the cleaned up art is his, and I liked seeing the poses that almost were!

[likealittleheartbeat]

Top 5 sexiest ATLA episodes:

5. Jet : Don’t pretend you didn’t fall for Jet’s smoothness, too. But also look at the background designs in this ep and some of the best fight sequences and bending for Katara and Aang in the first season (until they reach the North Pole). Even Sokka for the first time is allowed a more potent heroic kind of masculinity in this episode.

4. Zuko Alone: Our poor samurai cowboy! What makes damaged people so attractive? This episode’s as good a place as any to investigate that question. Zuko with a new haircut (finally appealing to Western aesthetics) and no uncle to distract from his byronic hero status wields his sexy swords to serve justice for a small town, a down-on-their-luck family, and an idealistic kid while he reminisces about his childhood in fields of sunflowers. It’s capital R-Romantic.

3. The Waterbending Master: The wrath of Katara! We get to see what our girl is truly capable of, and it’s one of the best fight sequences in the whole series. Those slow motion hair slices!!! And just to emphasize the connection/contrast between rage and love (a juxtaposition that ATLA does several times) the intense fight scene ends with Pakku’s remembrance of Kanna. Such an interesting inter generational eroticism that unfolds here.

2. The Crossroads of Destiny: Azula’s shining moment and the reason every Zutara fan thought their ship would become canon. This episode has some of Azula’s classic dominatrix lines (“Don’t flatter yourself. You were never even a player.”). We also get an epic battle with some of the best bending for the four major players that we ever get to see, a gorgeous pieta moment with Aang and Katara, and the villainous side prevails which is admittedly sexy. This ep is another example of forgiving tenderness and power-seeking juxtaposed multiple times to dig into the nature of desire.

1. The Blue Spirit: The first moment everyone realized Zuko actually had sex appeal. But it’s not just our silent masked vigilante. Listen to the spare music, look at the dark coloring that cloaks every frame (including a dungeon with our hero Aang in bondage), and, because this ended the initial contract for the series before getting picked up for more seasons, the quality of the animation is heightened beyond what had been seen in the series before. All the lines between good and evil are blurred impossibly in this episode! No episode maintains a tone of mystique for as much of its runtime as this one. Even the ending is tender and haunting, setting us up for Aang’s bold choice in the series finale and the redemption arc Zuko that everyone has come to simp for. And that’s why it’s hands down the sexiest overall ep of ATLA.

[sauntervaguelydown]

Insurance is for suckers let’s go

Part 1 (Green Jacket): wildly variable quality. The first half of the series has the “high drama James Bond underworld” genre convention of the manga without its dark-comedy sensibility, creating a weird misogynistic morass of This Might As Well Happen, I Guess. Format is episodic heist of the week. Visually resembles Johnny Quest as directed for porn

Sexism: comes out at 5/10 stars because of the midway change in direction.

First half Highlights: ep 4 has the iconic long-way-round prison break; ep 9 explains who Fujiko is

Second half Highlights: 14 is where the quality picks up as Hayao Miyazaki takes over for good. Tone becomes less dark, Fujiko gets sassier, art direction is ambitious

Part 2 (Red Jacket): probably what you remember from adult swim when you were a kid; this series occasionally leans into the loony tunes logic and usually sells it. Heist of the week format. Somewhat rocky start and then gets into a groove midway season one. Episodes tend to speed up as they go and end with a breakneck pace of plot turns. Solid background noise for eating meals alone.

Sexism: your run of the mill “women are materialistic and inscrutable” type. Points for letting Fujiko be competent at her job. 7/10 girlboss points

Highlights: Lupin fakes his death multiple times and Zenigata keeps crying about it; in one episode Zenigata’s girlfriend dies in his arms and then the plot immediately pivots back to loony tunes shit

Part 3 (Pink Jacket): both sillier and also somehow more committed to the bit. Haven’t watched much.

The Woman Called Fujiko Mine: one season with an overall arc, at first disguised to look like heist of the week format. Gorgeous art direction. The plot has a pretty interesting science fiction foundation.

Highlights: the many sequences where characters are tripping balls are smooth, intriguing, ambiguous, and may contain ghosts

Sexism: incredible amounts of fan service; Fujiko learns nothing and does not grow as a person. She is treated as a cipher by all the male characters. She’s not even good at stealing. 2/10 girlboss points.

Part 4 (Blue Jacket): a modern style anime with an overarching season plot interspersed with one-off episodes. There’s a lot of focus on the weird shit happening around Lupin’s gang, and the absolutely bonkers choice in story arc contrasts strangely with the more grounded character writing. All the staple characters are endearing, even when the plot is making you say “what. What. How.”

Sexism: pretty good for modern anime; Fujiko is less present in the story but has a fair mix of petulant girlboss energy and actual competence. Rebecca is basically fine although handled sloppily. The topic of sex trafficking comes up repeatedly and it’s not any worse than you’d expect, although not much better. I give 7/10 watchability. but in a different way than part 2

Highlights: both Jigen and Zenigata have solo episodes which I recommend to anyone, they’re both fun character studies

Part 5 (still blue): this series ambitiously focuses on the concept of the gang being Men Out of Time; technology, surveillance, and the changing world are major focuses. Part 5 asks “can we still have Lupin in 2020?” I think it handles this well.

Sexism: shroedinger’s cat of “is it self aware parody or is it just confused fanservice”. Fujiko is literally only allowed to solve problems by getting naked. Also a teenage girl is introduced in her panties for no acceptable reason. 5/10 I am writing a strongly worded letter

Highlights: there’s a whole two parter about Zenigata and Lupin and this teenage girl surviving in the wilderness, and it’s a LITTLE bit gay.

Part 6 (Green Jacket Redux): this suffers from a first half and second half directed by different people. The first half arc ending builds up a lot of good will that the second half ending ultimately burns through. It’s a very entertaining series over all, and if you’re forgiving about over-complicated schemes the end reveal of the second half might not even bother you.

Sexism: gets points for having lots of different kinds of women, good and bad and ambiguous. Fujiko is fine actually. It even has an old woman doing stuff, which I thought anime was allergic to. That overcomplexity I mentioned loses it some points but even so it’s a solid 8/10 “women are people” stars

Highlights: finally a Sherlock Holmes who isn’t an arrogant asshole

Lupin Zero: there’s only 6 episodes but I’m genuinely impressed with it. Writing quality is up on par with 6, and it’s fairly episodic. You have to suspend your disbelief that a 15 year old would be hired as a solo gunman. Also you have to suspend disbelief that he could just fire a gun in public in Japan in the 1960’s and not cause an enormous panic. Still, they’re selling me on Jigen/Lupin, which is not an easy task. Writing kind of feels like Hunter x Hunter

Highlights: this is the SECOND time a Lupin series has done a sexy Che Guevara with the serial numbers filed off

What if I did a quality recommendation assessment of all the Lupin iii series I’ve watched instead of filing my insurance claim

[grayscaleskies]

Thoughts on the new mlp gen 5 movie? :3

HOW DARE YOU ACTIVATE MY TRAP CARD THIS WAY okay let's go:

Overall: Terrible. Just. Eugh. I was initially excited for the 3D animation and was hoping it would look something similar to the My Little Pony movie (and I absolutely adore that movie, flaws aside it's one of my favorite movies ever) but I have a LIST of grievances with the new movie.

THE ENTIRE PREMISE FOR THIS GEN SUCKS. Like. What on EARTH happened between Twilight's Equestria and this one??? In the finale of Gen 4, we literally see creatures of all types living in Equestria, changelings, yaks, dragons, hippogriffs, griffins, etc and somehow something got fucked up so badly that now we have pony segregation?? And full-on pony racism between the three types of ponies?! JFC like WHY. I do not understand why that was a fun idea. It feels like reneging on all the progress FIM made throughout the series in being more inclusive of non-ponies. It feels like the writers gave up on a story and just did this. And I dislike it.

The names and designs are AWFUL. Like FIM ponies definitely don't look like horses but this was reaching uncanny valley levels of ick. Watching them animated made it a little more bearable but if I ever looked at their faces for too long I'd get freaked out again. All the names are boring as SHIT and the characters have almost zero personality. Izzy basically had Pinkie Pie's personality carbon copied and Zipp is so obviously this gen's Rainbow Dash it was PAINFUL. Sunny is such a boring protagonist too, WHY does she think differently than everyone else, and what is her motivation here? Because it's extremely unclear and a few pleasant memories with her dad feel like a really weak motivation to be the 'chosen one.' Hitch is annoying as shit with a side of copaganda AND ARE WE REALLY GOING TO BRUSH OVER SPROUT LITERALLY ABOUT TO ENGAGE IN WARFARE AGAINST THE OTHER PONY RACES????? LIKE THAT WAS SUPER BRUSHED OVER AT THE END OF THE MOVIE??? Like he destroys Sunny's childhood home and is about to engage in mass warfare and it's like...yay whatever end of the movie LIKE WTF this is STARLIGHT LEVELS OF BULLSHIT

Speaking of the end of the movie WHY THE FUCK DID SUNNY BECOME AN ALICORN AT THE END OF A SINGLE MOVIE??? Twilight needed several seasons and it felt EARNED, Sunny just. Made like 3 friends and united some artifacts and boom, horn and wings. It felt so rushed and unearned and her alicorn design just LOOKS like a plastic toy even in animated form, it's so ugly, and ugh.

AND I WAS SO READY TO LOVE ALL THE SONGS BUT ALL OF THEM SUCKED. Like they all had that shitty 'top ten hits apply it to any vague scenario' vibe and none of them were even all that catchy. Like I ADORE a TON of songs in MLP and none of them stuck in my head for more than 5 minutes after watching this film which is pathetic!! Like not even ONE good one?

I did like that it was set in the future and there was technology, some of the rendering was nice and the backgrounds were gorgeous! But unfortunately that's about as positive as I can be about this movie. It was a huge disappointment and JFC HIRE VOICE ACTORS STOP JUST HIRING CELEBRITIES IT SUCKS.

ANYWAYS so sorry for that WALL of ranting about the new movie but thanks for the ask Lea! 😅

[elpercotreviews]

Reviewing My Anime 10/10's *Relatively* Spoiler-Free

Note: What I rank a 10/10 is very specific and obviously very subjective to my own. Something can only be a 10/10 if I already consider it a 9/10 AND I must have rewatched it. I am someone who typically does not rewatch/reread anything, unless it's something I truly absolutely enjoy. With that being said, because of the requirements, I only have 4 animes that I rank 10/10, and tbh only one of those animes would get that ranking from the general anime audience. The rest are SO SO SO specific to my particular tastes that I would be absolutely stunned if someone also had the same four as me, because the requirement is so specific. Imma make another post eventually for my 9/10's because I think that list makes a lot more sense for a general anime audience lmaooo.

Soooo, in order of least personal to most personal (although obviously they're all personal to me lol) we have:

1. Psycho-Pass

Recommended for people who: are really into that dark dystopian future society vibes, are fans of Ghost in the Shell, like detective/crime stories

Okay, for a few people, this one actually probably makes some sense. At the moment, it has an 8.37 on myanimelist which means this anime is super well liked. I've watched this anime twice, first the original and then the second time I watched the director's cut (yes that exists lol). Overall, I'm a huge fan of the entire Psycho-Pass anime series as a whole. I've watched all three seasons, as well as two of the movies. I didn't watch any of the Sinners of the System ones cuz tbh I literally couldn't find an english sub of that anywhere, it just doesn't exist lol. I think it's okay cuz the ratings for the Sinners of the System trio of movies seems meh. I've actually watched Psycho-Pass the Movie like three/four times LMAO but that's simply cuz a movie is obviously much quicker to watch than an entire anime season. Like just objectively, the Psycho Pass series as a whole is very inconsistent in quality due to the fact that it's all original, so they do technically just make up everything as they go lol. Season two is all right (I think it gets more hate than it should), three is good but season one by far is the absolute best in the entire series. I'd argue the movie is technically my absolute favorite out of the whole IP, but I actually give the movie an 8/10. The movie, because of being obviously way shorter, simply does not have the deep controversial and philosophical lines of thought that season one has. It lacks that extra depth that would make me put it anything higher than an 8. The two main characters have good chemistry as a crime-fighting duo and the main villain's rivalry/relationship with the male lead is super compelling. The female lead is meant to be relatively naive/more on the innocent side which works with the plot as it allows the show to naturally explain and give more exposition as to the actual world and rules of Psycho-Pass without having it seem so ham-fisted or just throwing info to the audience.

2. Violet Evergarden

Recommended for people who: cry to sad movies, like gorgeous animation, are very empathetic, like vignette-esque storytelling

All right if you even remotely consider yourself an avid anime fan, then this anime is probably also somewhere on your 10/10 list or at least an anime you consider to be "very good." That is, unless you are that very vocal minority who simply really just REALLY do not like this anime for some god forsaken reason. However, in my honest opinion, I think an anime like this just really doesn't sit well with ... how do I put this blunty ... people who do not give a fuck about other people or anyone else's feelings but their own. Basically, IF YOU ARE SELFISH, A NARCISSIST, EGOTISTICAL, OR ANY SORT OF COMBO OF THOSE THREE, YOU WILL NOT LIKE THIS ANIME. And if you do, you probably don't think you're any of those things. Because of the anime's very premise, I find it very difficult to see a very self-centered/heartless person particularly enjoying this anime. The whole premise of this anime is that the main character who, because of her upbringing, doesn't understand feelings/emotions, especially the concept of love, grows as a human and slowly begins to learn what love is. The show does this by showing multiple sets of characters meant to represent different types of love (romantic, familial, platonic, etc). The vocal minority of people I've seen give Violet Evergarden bad ratings all typically argue that although beautiful, the anime doesn't have any substance/doesn't really mean anything. If that's honestly all you got after watching the entire show, then you deadass just don't get it, and you probably will never ever get it. If you've seen or heard of Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song, than just know that these two animes are VERY very similar in vibe despite being technically different genres. However, I personally found the themes and concepts in Vivy are done much more masterfully in Violet Evergarden which I think is due to Vivy's heavier focus on a story-driven overarching plot/action as opposed to Violet Evergarden's focus more on emotional impact/an episodic format. I've watched the entire series and I've rewatched the main show twice. TBH you can probably skip the gaiden movie AKA the one set at the girl's academy it was highkey pointless. Compared to the opera episode they added as a "special", the gaiden movie was still good but I wish resources were dedicated to something that actually added to the story. ALSO YES I KNOW ITS A GAIDEN AKA A SIDE STORY AKA FILLER SO YES NO DUH IT DIDNT ADD ANYTHING, BUT STILL. As for the main show, I think I cried for three episodes (the one about the playwright/author I forgot lol, the mother and daughter, and the soldier). On my rewatch, I didn't cry but I still deeply cared for and related to the characters. Violet Evergarden is a beautiful anime with a beautiful story.

3. ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu Ka

Recommended for people who: like bread and bakeries, don't mind a very chill and slow-paced story, like stories about political intrigue and hidden agendas

Based on a relatively short manga, ACCA: 13 follows the main character Jean Otus as he performs his job of auditing the 13 districts of his country Dowa, while rumors and politics brew in the background that threaten to entangle Jean into a complicated plot. To be honest, I think properly reviewing this anime is impossible for me, because I just can't really explain the vibes of this anime besides "chill" and "intriguing." I think trying to explain anything more than the basic premise I just wrote would spoil a lot of what ACCA is, because it's plot is actually relatively quite simple and straightforward. Compared to Psycho-Pass which has a relatively good cult following, and Violet Evergarden which is universally praised, ACCA is an anime that I've yet to personally meet anyone who has ever even heard of it LMAOO. And almost everyone I know watches anime, so that's saying something oof. ACCA is made by Madhouse, which if you don't know, is a super well known anime studio, producing big hits such as Death Note, Hunter x Hunter, One Punch Man, etc. That's why I'm surprised that ACCA has flown just SO under the radar, but that may be due to the overalls nature of the anime itself. ACCA is an anime where all the characters hold their card close and no one seems to really share their real thoughts. One main criticism the anime has is the lack of deeper connections to characters and that for a main character, Jean Otus is very bland. To be honest, I think that's a very fair criticism and I can understand why this would prevent people from rating this anime higher than an 8 or 7. Due to the very nature of the anime and its plot, I do agree that there is a huge cast of colorful characters that we unfortunately don't really get to know more about. To be honest though, I don't mind this because I feel that's honestly quite realistic, especially factoring in Jean's job. All these places he's going and all these people he's meeting, it's literally just his job. He's not on vacation, these people aren't his friends, so the anime has no real reason to dwell much longer on places past its specific episode. Just like in real life, you encounter so many people and go past so many places that you probably won't ever see again. So for me personally, I didn't mind that the anime didn't explicitly show much about the backstories or lives of the cast, save for the very main characters (as their backstories were plot relevant). I think as viewers of not simply an anime, but a whole other world, I think it should be satisfactory to inherently understand that these are whole "people" who have entire lives that we are not exactly privy to. So although admittedly our understanding of many of the characters was all around quite shallow, I think that works for the scope of the anime, which was relatively simple and focused on just Jean living his life and the political plot stirring in the background until it was brought forward in the second half of the anime. Also I love Jean Otus. I actually completely absolutely adore him. He is literally my profile pic for myanimelist LMAO. I think calling him "bland" is fair from other people's perspectives, especially as the supposed main character of an ANIME, but I feel that if ACCA was in a different format like a novel, I think his personality would have been less criticized. Like I said, I love him soo much. I don't find him bland at all, but actually very interesting and highkey attractive LOL (if only he'd quit smoking but it's part of his charm 😞). Yes for an anime "protagonist," he is quite underwhelming especially compared to others, but I think that makes him very charming!!! Like all he wants to do is just chill, vibe, and do his job lmaooo. I think as a person, he’s very charismatic, and in the world of ACCA the rest of the characters see that as well. Because like, if he really were such a bland person, why would so many people like him and actually trust him lol? As for why it’s technically my favorite anime of all time (my ultimate one is a movie), I can’t give super detailed reasons why to be honest. I just really like the overall vibes of the anime itself, and I think the anime is just super unique and original. I’ve watched a ton of anime over the years, but I’ve genuinely seen nothing like ACCA in the slightest. I mean, just look at the recommended animes on the myanimelist. The recommended animes are all stuff I’ve also personally really liked (like fugou keiji unlimited and the great pretender) but yeah there’s just truly nothing that’s close to what ACCA is, and because of that, it reminds my absolute favorite anime show. I’ve seen the dub and the sub, even though I am a vehement dub hater lmaooo (except for very few circumstances, and this also applies to all non-English media, not just anime). There was only one thing in the entire show that slightly confused me/ seemed slightly unbelievable and I won’t spoil but it had something to do with the overall timeline of some events, but it doesn’t detract from the story at all. Oh and the art style! I really love the art style of the anime. It stays pretty true to the manga, but is also just an overall kind of art style I really like. I really enjoy the more like 2d/flat/drawn art style versus really clean and really detailed stuff, and I’m typically not a big fan of very obvious use of CGI (unless done tastefully like in Demon Slayer). All the backgrounds in ACCA have this painted/drawn style and the anime itself has this like muted(?) filter over it that makes the anime seem like someone’s drawings just put up on display in a way that’s really refreshing and nice. I highly recommend this story for anyone who wants a breath of fresh air and to get away from the typical action-packed high energy of big name anime.

4. From Up on Poppy Hill

Imma make a whole separate post JUST for this movie so I can explain why I love this movie so so much. And honestly, Imma need a whole separate post in the first place to address the elephant in the room when it comes to this movie (if you’ve seen it, then you know what I’m talking about). And if you’ve haven’t seen the movie, maybe you’ve heard about one of its controversial themes. I’m not gonna say what it is, cuz I KNOW it’ll be super off-putting for a lot of people, but please omg just hear me out. I just love this movie so so much. I’ve seen it like 7 times and counting. I have it downloaded on my computer and on a flash drive. I’ve watched the sub AND the dub however I’ve stopped watching the dub because it makes me sad every time I hear Shun’s voice actor ;-; This movie is legit an honest-to-god comfort movie for me that I could watch over and over and I’ll fall in love with it again each and every time. And once again IMMA MAKE A WHOLE SEPARATE POST BECAUSE I SWEAR PEOPLE ARE GONNA BE LIKE “Yo ain’t this the movie with the -----” and it’s like PLEASE LET ME EXPLAIN. The vibes of this movie, the themes it addresses (yes even THAT theme), the music, the art, the characters, is perfectly presented in a way that I will never stop watching this movie. The only other film that has come close to the amount of times I’ve watched From Up on Poppy Hill would be Legally Blonde lmaooooo. 

[winterbl0ss0m]

🍳 + 😇 + 🎀 + 👀 from da utapri ask game :-]]?

IM STILL THE MUFFIN MAN BUT IM WAITING FOR MY MUFFINS TO BAKE LETS GOOOOO

how long have you been in the fandom?

not long shskdbekf- i first downloaded shining live in- december 2020 according to the app store 😭 but i didnt start playing it until around may or june 2021? forgot abt it for a bit, after i got home from nc i remembered it and was like huh the blue boy was pretty maybe ill play it again- aaaand then i fell down the rabbit hole AHDHJFNT and ive been obsessed since it has taken over my life<3

who’s your best boy and what drew you to him?

ai since the beginning man 💪 during the sl intro thingy i was like DAMN that boy’s cute… and i really liked the way he presented himself in the intro :) and his voice was so soft, i was just immediately drawn in. i didnt know that he existed prior to getting into it and was very pleasantly surprised by his existence<3

id always loved otoya too, he was my third favorite for a while (syo was second) !! when i started the anime, i loved how he helped haruka get into the academy, and he was just so cute and sweet !! although i didnt pay much attention to him during my first watch because i was mainly focused on getting that sweet sweet ai content LMFAO but as a bit of time passed i grew really attached to him, especially after finding out more about his background in season 2 and just. season 4. my god that was heartwrenching and beautiful (fuck eiichi otori fr) djagskwhdkrbg ;w;

sorry for rambling a lot but yea, they are my sweet boys, and i love them so much equally <333

favorite shining live card?

oh FUCK ok give me a sec

it has to be these ones. im in love with this entire set, and the way it so beautifully showcases each character so wonderfully. the art is so stunning, and i love seeing them all playing their instruments. the colors are gorgeous, and dont even get me STARTED on all the symbolization oh my gosh its just INCREDIBLE shining live really popped off with these sets

do you own any merchandise?

HELL YEAH I DO !! my school backpack has a QN button, a charm of ai and otoya, and this one with a purple crown. my travel bag has a triangle beat keychain :) my keys have these sick charms of each ai and otoya with little hearts and stars<3 i also have these crown charms for ai and otoya each, but they were much larger than i expected and they clang against each other really loudly so i dont have them on anything currently- i still have a pin of otoya, i had one of ai but it fell apart 🧍‍♂️ some months back i went a little insane and bought a SHIT ton of merch from this one seller. eventually i wanna make an ita bag…

WOW OK I RAMBLED A *LOT* I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS I HAD FUN ANSWERING THESE<3

utapri asks !!

[wayward-pendragon]

My favourite animated shows on Netflix

Hi y’all! Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe☺️ bc uni is soooo stressful I have been coping by rewatching some of my fav cartoons on Netflix and I thought I’d share! It’s a small list so if anyone has any recommendations leave a comment or send me a message!! (I’m not including any animes bc otherwise we would be here all day)

Avatar: The Last Airbender (my literal fav show ever) (3 seasons, 61 episodes)

I can’t even begin to describe how absolutely amazing this show is. I have been doing an annual rewatch of ATLA for just over a decade now, and I love it. I’m pretty sure most people are familiar with the show but for those are you who are not, it is set in a world where people can control the elements and the avatar is the only one that can master all 4 and keeps in the peace in the world. After the fire nation starts a war to basically take over the world, the avatar mysteriously vanishes and is discovered 100 years later by 2 siblings. This follows their journey as the avatar must learn to master all of the elements and bring peace to the world once again. This is a really trash summary but the overall premise, characters, THE SOUND TRACK, and literally aspect of this show is phenomenal and I can’t recommend it enough. If you like this one, the second series Legend of Korra is also amazing, sadly it was taken of Netflix for my region tho.

Voltron: Legendary Defender (8 seasons, 76 episodes)

Giant robotic space lions. That’s the show. Just ur average ragtag squad fighting to protect the galaxy from evil alien invasion... with giant space lions. I went into this show knowing very little and really I think that made me enjoy it more. The characters are fantastic and the world is so much fun. This show made me laugh and cry and cheer, it really deserves all the hype it got when it was airing (maybe not the last season tho.. don’t come for me plz). The fights scenes were so sick and this show was just honestly so good plz watch it.

Miraculous Ladybug (77 episodes on Netflix +1 of the movies, on-going)

Oh boy here we go. This cartoon originally aired in France, but got soooo popular that its now dubbed in 5 languages on Netflix. I watched both the English and French versions as French is my second language and it helps to keep my comprehension skills intact (both versions are 👌👌). The show follows 2 high schools students who were chosen to protect Paris from evil. This crime fighting duo work together as Ladybug and Cat Noir, but must keep their identities a secret, even from each other. You can imagine what kind of situations this leads to 😂. This show is so creative and precious, it’s really cute but can also pull at your emotions which really surprised me. The characters are 10/10 and the love fricken square makes you want to pull your hair out but I am sooooo invested at this point. Netflix has the episodes in a really funky or so I suggest reading some Reddit posts or consulting TikTok/youtube to find the best order.

The Dragon Prince (27 episodes, on-going)

Honestly the animation style is what originally drew me to the show, but I stayed for the adorable characters and their adventures. The animation is gorgeous I really enjoy the direction they took the art style for this show! The characters are also sooo cute and everyone has their own little mission or back story, it’s just a fun adventure show with magic and a whole bunch of fun creatures. The very simplified summary is that 2 brothers (princes) end up having to go on adventure to protect the egg of the dragon prince and return it to its mother to bring peace to their land. It kinda ended?? But I think it’s been picked up for a whole ass saga so I highly recommend checking it out.

Pokémon: Indigo league (52 episodes on Netflix, 80 eps total)

Okay this one is a little controversial because I’m pretty sure it’s technically considered anime but this shit was my childhood. Whenever I don’t know what to watch or need something playing in the background I always put on indigo league. It just brings back that nostalgia and I love it so much. If you have not watched this already or are look for a little nostalgia, indigo league is for you.

[suf-lives-rent-free]

Fragments

Everything below is just my opinion; I am in no way trying to say that how I feel about this is the one correct take or whatever.

I know a lot of people like this episode and what happens in it, but I don’t.  I totally understand that some people just don’t want to see any negativity, period, but negativity is not inherently bad or wrong.

Negative opinions, even about something you enjoy, can be valid too - regardless of whether you happen to agree with them or not.

Also I get very salty near the end of this, and that might be entertaining to people who stan this episode?

I am aware that a lot of people – the majority, I’m pretty sure – think that the episode is a masterpiece. And on some level, I see where they’re coming from with that assessment.

The episode is boarded beautifully, the backgrounds – especially during the training montage – are stunning as always.  The music is fantastic, and the performances are great too.  In these respects, Fragments is a stand-out episode; I agree.

(Like look at this.  Gorgeous.)

However, something that’s bothered me since I saw the episode is the writers’ decision to write it into the story that Steven shatters Jasper.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: I just don’t get it.  I’m purposefully misinterpreting the story to say it’s bad.  Steven brings her back to life; and it’s not like he meant to do it in the first place.  I just don’t have the capacity to understand the sublime nature of the show’s storytelling.  I’m an SU crit and all I want to do is make the real fans feel about themselves for liking it.

Uhhhh... no.  Nah.  That ain’t it chief.

It’s true; I am not a writer.  I’m just a passive consumer of media.  However, I do not agree with the viewpoint that in order to properly understand or critique a thing you need to have the expertise and/or experience in order to make something similar.

For example, if I were to put something I drew when I was 10 years old next to something I drew yesterday, it shouldn’t take a person who has had an education in fine art to tell you that the latter drawing is better-looking than the former.

That’s how I approach media consumption and criticism; when I criticise a writing decision, I am doing so as a consumer.  I’m not saying I could write it better, or even that my opinion is objectively correct and the writer is wrong or bad.  I’m just saying that I didn’t like a thing.  Which, I would hope, is allowed?

Okay, defensive hedging over, back to the point; I don’t like that they had Steven shatter Jasper.

[I get markedly saltier from this point on, fyi]

Full admission of bias here: one of the things I really cherish about the original show is how they wrote Steven’s character; he’s a boy with interests that don’t rigidly conform to gender stereotypes.  He likes ‘boyish’ things and ‘girly’ things, and that’s okay; thats just him.  In cartoons when I was growing up, characters like Steven would be the butt of jokes about being ‘girly’ or thinly-veiled homophobia.  I find him very relatable, and I want to acknowledge that yes, that is probably a significant part of why I have such an issue with this episode’s twist.

I am not trying to say that he’s a perfect baby angel or whatever; Steven regularly gets frustrated and angry. He does some pretty manipulative and dickish things to people around him (stop trying to make Larsadie happen, Steven. It’s not going to happen).  He is a flawed character who fucks up sometimes. And he’s not 100% peaceful either; he acts violently when he defends himself against corrupted Gems and Homeworld Gems (and Crystal Gems on occasion *cough*Bismuth*cough*).  

However, he has a pacifistic temperament; whenever it’s possible, he prefers that problems be solved without needless violence or hurt.  And I like that; in most media, it’s rare to have a male protagonist who wants to solve their problems without jumping straight to punching things.

When he accidentally frees Centipeedle, he convinces the Gems to step off and allow him to try and rehabilitate her peacefully; he even notices that the Gems’ weapons are a trigger for her, and make them put them away.  He frees Lapis against the Gems’ wishes because he recognizes that keeping her prisoner is wrong, and when she steals the ocean, he talks it out and heals her so she can leave Earth peacefully.

He tries to aid Jasper when she starts corrupting, fixes Eyeball’s gemstone when she’s cracked and tries talking Bismuth down when she attacks him with the breaking point.  In all of these situations, his words and help are ignored or rejected; he’s forced to resort to violence.  And it traumatises him.  

We get an entire episode dedicated to the fact that he’s been struggling with processing these awful things that happened.

Even in Future, Steven shows hesitation about engaging in unncecessary violence; he gives into Jasper’s goading for a fight after what’s implied to be dozens of failed tries at making her come to Little Homeschool, and he spends an entire episode trying to keep Lapis from squashing the two rogue Lapis Lazulis. 

The only time he hops into a fight willingly is after Eyeball and Aquamarine hold Greg hostage, and even then they pose a clear threat to his and Greg’s safety and have made it clear that they want to hurt him emotionally and physically.  Even at that, he stops and switches tactics to talking them down as soon as they lose their focus and start bickering with each other.

(I mean, he fails.  But it’s the thought that counts.)

I personally find it really jarring that the writers found it appropriate to write it into the series that this same character – over the course of three (3) days – goes from disliking mindless violence for mindless violence’s sake to happily engaging in the destruction of plants and animals* and has done a total 180 on his willingness to spar with Jasper, to the point that he instigates their rematch.

*(You best believe plenty of small mammals and birds – y’know, like the nest Steven saved in the first episode – died as he and Jasper felled tree after tree, not to mention all of those displaced by the destruction of their habitats, and the potential loss of food sources from some of those trees.)

You’re telling me that it’s a reasonable character beat for this boy to gleefully laugh like an anime supervillain at his sudden new-found joy in fighting, then pin Jasper in place, taunt her for helping him get so strong, and hit her so hard that she breaks into pieces and dies?

You’re telling me that that’s an in-character thing for Steven Quartz Diamond Cutie-Pie DeMayo Universe do to another character?

(And yes I am purposefully dancing around talking about the mental health stuff because if I did that I’d have to go on a whole other tangent about Growing Pains and fuck I just don’t feel like it right now lmao)

Going back to Mindful Education, another big thing we see Steven struggle with is the idea that his mother shattered Pink Diamond.  This knowledge sits heavily with him; it makes him sympathetic to the Diamonds, even under the circumstances in which he sees them (escaping from the Human Zoo, and being on trial for said murder). 

He sees their grief, and he feels awful.  He questions who Rose Quartz even was.  He knows, based on what Garnet said, that Rose had to do it; there was no other way to free Earth.  But he still feels awful seeing the pain that Pink’s loss has caused Blue and Yellow Diamond.

In Steven Universe, shattering is clearly equated with execution/death multiple times.  When Pearl and Garnet fret over the crack in Amethyst’s gemstone worsening.  When Blue Diamond threatens to break Ruby.  When Bismuth introduces the breaking point, and Steven recoils at the sight of what it does.  If you want to take the fact that Gem shards are sentient and desperate to become whole again into account, you could even argue that it’s a fate worse than death. This particular act of violence is treated very, very seriously.

When we find out that Rose shattered Pink Diamond, there is a season and a half long arc unpacking the implications and consequences of this one action, and how this knowledge forever alters Steven’s mental image of his mother.  And she didn’t even kill anyone.  It was a lie!

In Steven Universe Future, Steven shatters Jasper 4 episodes before the end of the series.  And it’s only brought up twice; once for a big *gasp* moment during his breakdown in Everything’s Fine, and in I Am My Monster by Pearl, when she has to fill-in Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot.  Notably, it is never discussed around or by Jasper.  Y’know.  The person who actually died.

No indication of how (or even if) what Steven did is affecting his own self-image after his initial breakdown, how Jasper feels about what she went through beyond falling back into the Era 1 and 2 mindset.  No inkling of how the knowledge that Steven killed somebody has affected how anyone in his life thinks or feels about him; when Pearl brings it up in I Am My Monster, she seems to not even really believe it’s true.

If there are any consequences or talks about this incident, they’re skipped over between I Am My Monster and The Future, and we’re expected to assume that Steven and his therapist are dealing with it, I guess?

And yes.  It was an accident.  He did bring her back to life.  But it still happened.  If you hit someone over the head and they stop breathing, just because the paramedics are able to resusitate and stabilize them afterwards doesn’t mean you never hit them.

But here, it’s shoved aside because dwelling on it would take far too much time, and risks framing Steven in an unsympathetic way when he’s meant to be on the cusp of a breakdown.

It just feels like careless writing to me.  They really, really wanted their big action scene with Steven and Jasper, but didn’t think (or maybe weren’t interested in thinking) about the seriousness or consequences of what Steven shattering someone would entail.

In my opinion, Steven shattering Jasper is one of the cheapest, laziest things they could have ever done with his character (and hers, for that matter).  To me, the entire thing feels entirely out of character.  It’s pure shock value; nothing more.

So yeah.  That particular writing decision just does not work for me.  And if you disagree... well that’s fine?  It’s fine.  We can agree to disagree?  I’ve read a lot of defense/praise for this episode, and honestly even after processing all of those opinions and all the time my thoughts about this plotline have been stewing in my brain, I still feel the same way.