#jokes aside though the visual of the two of them before the fight is so good

[flower-boi16]

Hazbin Hotel Is A Show That Exists

So...after five years of waiting, Hazbin Hotel is finally out. I had very low expectations going to Hazbin - not only because of the current state of Helluva Boss (Its spin-off show) but also because of all the things I was hearing about it from people who saw the leaks - needless to say, it wasn't very positive. I was expecting this show to be a complete disaster on every single level, though deep down, I did want to be excited for this show - as I did used to briefly be a fan of Viv's work until I realized HB's MANY writing issues, so I went in with low expectations, expecting the show to be awful while deep down hoping that MAYBE It'll MAYBE end up being good. And after watching the first four episodes I can say that...

The show isn't awful nor is it that good. It's just...PAINFULLY average. In this post I'm going to give my current thoughts on HH based on the first four episodes that are currently released. Note that these are only my current thoughts on the show - there's a chance that MAYBE the show will improve in the second half of season 1. But for now, here are my current thoughts on the show:

1. The Animation & Visuals

The animation is...fine. The characters definitely look very rigged at times, but the animation is at least pleasant to look at. An issue I have is the camera work - sometimes the camera work can be VERY off at times. The show would constantly cut to different perspectives in some of the scenes and it becomes a headache to look at. It's especially bad at the beginning of the Happy Day In Hell song - where the camera looks like it's having a stroke during the sequence as it constantly cuts to different perspectives a LOT.

That being said - the camera work is mostly fine throughout the rest of the show so it's not too bad. So overall, the animation looks fine. I don't love it, but I don't hate it.

2. The Comedy

The show's comedy is...actually pretty ok. There were a few jokes that got a good laugh out of me, especially in episode 3, the episode that isn't written by Viv, so it therefore is the funniest episode of the show so far. I am surprised by the lack of sex jokes in the show which is at least a plus. That being said, a lot of the jokes in the show don't really land - mainly the ones that Angel Dust makes. So really, the comedy is OK. I don't hate it, but I also don't love it either.

3. Worldbuilding & Plot

So now let's talk about the main plot of the show as well as its world-building. Ok so the main conflict for the show is that due to someone killing an Angel during the last extermination - the exterminations are going to happen twice as fast now (6 months instead of one year). The mystery of what happened to the angel...lasts for about two episodes before we're given an answer in episode 3, and then it's just resolved like that.

Aside from that the series mostly revolves around its premise so far which is good. Alright, now lets talk about the lore and worldbuilding - basically Lucifer used to be an angel in Hevean but was seen as a trouble maker and Adam demanded that Lilith fuck him (or something Idk Idr) and Lucifer and Lilith fell in love blah blah blah Lucifer gave an apple to his new lover Eve blah blah blah the apple was cursed blah blah blah the apple created hell blah blah blah It sent evil to the world and Hevean was pissed about that so they banished them to hell blah blah blah Lucifer became sad blah blah blah Lilith didn't blah blah blah Hevean started doing exterminations because they were afraid of Hell's power.

(Semi-accurate description of the opening exposition dump). Ok so a few things; 1) I already asked this in another post but why did Hell never choose to fight back against Heaven when Heaven shouldn't have any power over hell because Hell was a realm created by Lucifer? Also, why does Heaven even have any power over Hell to begin with? and 2) So Heaven is eeeevil now and is going to kill all of Hell. Like I already said, it would have been more interesting if Heaven wasn't evil, and it also would've been better than this Hevean v Hell war we're probably going to get in the finale.

They even changed the reasoning to why Heaven started doing the exterminations, instead of it being because of an overpopulation problem now it's because Heaven was afraid of Hell's power...

...which contradicts the pilot which is canon to the series. But then the show just goes back to the overpopulation problem as the reason for the exterminations???? Like??? Which is it, is it because Heaven is evil or because of an overpopulation problem??? PICK ONE!!!

Hell is also kinda boring of a setting, it's just our world except red. That's it. So the lore and worldbuilding is kinda eh, Heaven is just evil cuz ofc it is and the lore has some problems. Its funny to how one of the lyrics of Adam's big villain song is "its all black and white", and since Adam is the bad guy and Charlie's goal is to redeem sinners, the show is trying to go for a "it's NOT black and white" message, but that's kinda ironic considering that this Heaven/Hell conflict is very black and white in it of itself; Hell good Heaven evil. That's it. Not saying black-and-white conflicts with a good guy and a bad guy are bad, most shows can make them work and be interesting, but Heaven would have been more interesting if it wasn't evil, at least IMO.

4. The Voice Actors

A lot of the discourse surrounding Hazbin until its release was the new voice actors. Let me just say I don't dislike the voice actors here; I think they are fine and they fit the characters decently well. Their singing is also decent as well. So I don't dislike any of the voices, they are fine for the most part and fit decently well with the characters.

5. The Songs

The songs so far are...fine. If there was one thing that HB consistently got right, it was the songs. Even if I dislike HB, the songs are actually pretty good (for the most part...). Hazbin's songs are...decent. There aren't any songs that I can say are bad, though I have some issues with the show's music; mainly the fact that the show sometimes shoves in songs...for the sake of having a song.

If you want to make a musical with songs you need to make sure each song has a distinct purpose for the story; take "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. Before this song, it's pretty easy to infer that Ariel has an interest in the surface world - with her collecting human stuff and all. But the song further shows us her desire to see the surface - to see what it's like above water. It shows her desire to see the surface in the form of a song - it has a purpose within the story because it tells you something about the character.

Hazbin Hotel meanwhile sometimes has a problem when it comes to shoving in songs for the sake of meeting the song quota; the two biggest examples are "Hell is Forever" and "Respectless", as well as "Whatever It Takes". These songs are all completely unnecessary and they give us information that could have been communicated through simple dialogue rather than characters bursting out singing.

"Respectless" in particular feels less like a song and more like the characters just...singing a conversation with each other. The song is completely unnecessary and is just there to fill the song quota per episode. None of the songs I've mentioned are necessarily bad, but they suffer from being unneeded (HB also sometimes has this problem in season 2 mainly in episodes 3, 4, and 7).

Aside from that issue - the songs are...fine. None of them are bad but some of them are kinda useless and don't serve much of a purpose. I at least liked Happy Day in Hell and Poison, aside from that most of the songs are...ok. I just don't find most of them that memorable.

6. The Characters

Now, let's talk about the characters. First I'll talk about the main cast then the villains.

Charlie - I think Charlie's...fine. I always like overly positive and happy characters for protagonists so I was going to like Charlie anyway. She's fine; she's easy to root for and she's likable enough.

Vaggie - Vaggie's also fine. I do like her snark in episode 3, but aside from that there isn't much that interesting about her.

Nifty - Nifty's cute. Nifty's funny. I like Nifty.

Angel Dust - sigh Ok so I didn't like Angel Dust in episode 1 because of the fact he was another character whose one character trait is being excessively horny. And I also find all his jokes painfully unfunny. I'm not really in a position to judge how well his abuse from Val was handled so since I held a poll asking SA victim's thoughts on episode 4 and most of them voted no I'll just say that they didn't handle it very well and move on. So ya don't care for Angel Dust.

Alastor - Ah yes the creepy radio demon. He's also fine, I like his whole style and stuff.

Husk - Husk's whole purpose in the first three episodes is pretty much just to be pissed off at stuff, I kinda liked the scene where he talked to Angel Dust in episode 4 but aside from that, Husk is kinda just..fine...like everyone in this main cast.

Now let's talk about the villains so far!

Adam - Don't care for him. Sigh look Adam could be an entertaining villain but so far his dialogue and jokes are just painfully unfunny and I don't care for him as a villain. I could talk about his sidekick whose name I forgot but she's gotten so little screen time I can't form an opinion on her yet.

Also isn't it funny how HH was meant to be a female-focused show yet the males get more focus so far (As I've already talked about)? Ya, I thought so too. Anyways, the characters are...fine. I don't hate any of them, but I also don't really love any of them either. None of them are that interesting so far to me.

That's pretty much what I can say about everything in this show so far; I don't hate the animation but I don't love it either, I don't hate the comedy but I don't love it either, I don't hate the songs but I don't love them either, I don't hate any of the characters but I don't love them either.

7. Conclusion

So, that's my current thoughts on HH based on the first four episodes. Well...it's certainly a show that I watched. It's amazing to me how a show could be so consistently painfully average in pretty much EVERYTHING, from the animation to the songs to the comedy to the characters, to the episodes themselves, Hazbin Hotel is the most painfully average show I've watched so far. It's not bad so far, but it isn't good either. Again, maybe the show will improve when the latter half of season 1 comes out...

...or it will just get worse. I'm expecting the latter unfortunately due to the trailers making it look like there's going to be a Heaven/Hell war which means the show is probably going to abandon its premise like its spin-off (...that came before the main show was released). But ya, Hazbin Hotel is painfully average so far, probably a 6/10 so far, expecting the show to probably get worse, goodbye.

[otakween]

Digimon World 4 - Final Thoughts

Whelp, that was...something. This game is objectively bad, but I still had a good, brain rotting time. It falls into the "game to zone out on the couch to" category. The lack of much story, characters or dialogue means I got in some quality podcast/music time as well. It's pretty similar to Digimon World 2 in its crappiness, but I found DW4's gameplay more satisfying. I think DW2 has the more appealing art style though, so they even out to the same rank basically. Full thoughts below!

Notes:

So this is loosely based on the Digimon X-Evolution CG film I posted about before. I was disappointed to see that the opening credits are just a hodge podge of scenes from said movie. That's pretty boring and lazy if you ask me. I picked Dorumon to control in honor of the film's protag (and since it would be a more novel experience).

I found any weapon aside from the guns to be a colossal pain to use, so I just used guns and guns alone for the entire game lol. At least I was able to get tech points quickly that way!

This game has the most unbalanced difficulty levels ever. It's either stupid hard or stupid easy. Luckily, the stupid easy moments are far more frequent. Every time I fought a boss I braced myself only to just button mash my way to the end in like a few minutes. Most of them were jokes. On the other end of the spectrum, the beginning of the game was weirdly hard because I would get mobbed by enemies and massacred in like two seconds (this is when I realized I should be using the guns lol). It's hard to have much strategy because most battle moves you can do (spin attack, charged attack, block) suck control-wise. My strat for most of the game was either the ole "shoot and run" or just to get up on a high ground where I was invincible. The latter move kinda felt broken and was part of what made the game stupid easy.

Thank God I emulated this game. Although it's mostly easy, there are definitely moments where it's easy to die. Some dungeons will lock you into the tightest corners and then just spawn like a jillion enemies out of nowhere (the Otamamon and Infermon were the WORST). Some of the harder bosses had some pretty cheap moves too. Save states were the VIP, as usual.

The plot of the game is really basic and the writing is just as wonky as DW2. Basically all you need to know is that there's a virus that's bad and you need to get rid of it. It doesn't get any deeper than that and there are no twists or turns. Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and Leomon are the only characters with significant dialogue (none of the bosses talk) and they really don't have anything interesting to say (I did like Ophanimon and Seraphimon's models tho)

The dungeons were definitely better than DW2 in terms of visuals/layout, but the enemies felt super repetitive. You get maybe 3 types of enemies per dungeon and then you just fight those same 3 again and again and again.

The dungeons are unreasonably long slogs with no way to save in the middle of them. I had save states so I was okay, but sometimes a dungeon would take me over two hours?? Like wtf. I know kids have a lot of free time but some of them aren't even allowed to game for 2 hours straight!

Of course, I played this single player. I actually think it'd be really fun as a multiplayer game? Like, that's probably what it was actually built for. There are actually some moments where you can't go to certain parts of dungeons without a buddy :'(

The bosses were mostly big bads from the series/movies which was fun. Made it awkward when I defeated them so easily though lol

All of the walkthroughs for this game suck lol. The one I used for the majority of the game the guy literally kept writing "I don't remember what happens in this dungeon. Just go through it." LOL thanks for nothing, bud. He said "I don't remember" sooo many times it was comical.

I poked around on the internet looking for info for this game and it seems the general consensus in the fandom is that it's pretty abysmal. Still, there are people like me that got enjoyment out of it regardless.

The little noises Dorumon made when attacked were very cute

I never bothered with digivolution. You don't get digivolution until late in the game and if you digivolve it reverts you to levl 1. Nuts to that!

I also didn't bother with any side quests because they sounded extremely not worth it (some of them don't even have a reward?)

I was pretty under-leveled at the end of the game (barely scraping level 30) but I felt like I had infinite healing basically because I had so much MP. That's another aspect of the game that felt broken.

The ending of this game was SO anti-climactic. I defeated the boss, returned to the hub world expecting a cutscene, and then it went straight to credits. No dialogue, no thank you, nothing. I had to go around and talk to people to get some thank yous but they didn't sound that appreciative really lol. Where are my flowers!? 😭 This took me over a month of tedium!

One part of the game that I did find pretty hard was the Storm Train where you have to get to the end of a train track while hitting the right levers while simultaneously fighting of a ton of enemies. If I had to do that without save states, I probably would have given up lol

I never really regret beating a video game, even if it kinda sucked. It's especially nice to check off another game in a series (even though the World series isn't really connected). I give Digimon World 4 a 5 out of 10.

[snubulous]

chapter 377 overview

spoilers ahead. also a long post as well, just a fair warning.

opening the chapter with another reference to violent weather - which is supposed to represent the turmoil our heroes and villains are going through right now. Also notice the hand closing when the wind “blew violently” - likely a visual representation of how both sides are hesitant to reach out or interact with each other in a positive way. And the cherry blossom tree tying everything back to where this story all began: UA.

the FEELS. can’t even imagine what’s going through aizawa’s head when he sees kurogiri roaming free - so many conflicting emotions. He seems quite horrified though, after all if kurogiri is here then the delicate balance keeping shigaraki under control is at serious risk.

based on the last panel, kurogiri seems to almost destabilize when he sees aizawa with his eyes going all wonky and his form losing all shape and human features. just food for thought.

aizawa and manual doing everything they can to shield monoma and ultimately failing is honestly heartbreaking. you can see aizawa reaching out, trying to keep the connection flowing even as he’s knocked over - but it’s no use. monoma and aizawa are definitely going to beat themselves up about this later.

shigaraki just fucking molts when his quirk reactivates. i knew that horikoshi likes comparing him to moths and butterflies, but this is a little heavy-handed in the best way possible.

UA just straight up explodes as well, hoping none of the injured or anyone present actually died in that explosion - though going by later panels, it didn’t seem to be as harmful as it looked, simply blowing away some of the cage trapping shigaraki. Though it looks as if UA’s destruction is pretty much inevitable at this point, and everyone present is going to have to get their asses out of there soon if they don’t want to die a fiery death.

shigaraki uses his shed skin as a new waist coat, seeing as he lost his old one. All jokes aside, that is genuinely terrifying and probably incredibly traumatic for shigaraki.

our #1 mom kurogiri is here to help and protect shigaraki while he’s vulnerable. dude is clearly floored by whatever the fuck just happened to him.

FINALLY, shigaraki is back! looks as if this whole skin shedding sequence was him emerging as a more mentally resilient version of himself, able to fight afo and take charge of his own body - though afo isn’t truly gone just yet.

Shigaraki making a callback to the mall encounter and calling himself midoriya’s nemesis is just perfect here - shigaraki has never cared about another hero as much as he does midoriya, and midoriya doesn’t care about the other villains like he does shigaraki. Their dynamic has become increasingly personal and this scene reflects that. Don’t forget that midoriya’s chosen to selfishly risk losing this battle by not killing shigaraki and instead trying to save him despite everything, while shigaraki wants to kill midoriya specifically because of how much of a nuisance midoriya has been to him in particular. The two of them have practically destined themselves to become locked in this battle, everyone else be damned despite their best intentions.

also note that shigaraki is doing the signature “crazy eye” thing, making a strikingly similar facial expression that instantly reminded of bakugo upon seeing it. shit is about to hit the fan.

we get our answer as to why to second’s quirk has a time limit, and i’m honestly a little disappointed. I expected more from the second’s quirk, as did most people - though perhaps I should save my criticism until the fight is actually over and we get a full explanation for this quirk. there’s still a lot of questions surrounding it.

as suspected, afo is losing control over shigaraki and now he’s resorted to coming to UA in person to fix things up before his original body dies. midoriya is about to have a very bad day.

overall, I really liked this chapter: lots of great Emotions and symbolism going on. can’t wait for the next one!

[broken-clover]

So after rewatching with the director's commentary (yeah, technically I watched the movie twice in two days, but the second time I mostly had it in the background while doing other stuff) and having some more time to collect my thoughts, I think I'm just deciding to do a list of all the things I thought the movie did really well, expected or otherwise. Like, everyone knows about the bizarreness and the so-bad-it's-good memery but I want to highlight some stuff I thought was genuinely admirable

-In watching the director's commentary, it seemed that he had a pretty realistic and relatively grounded and familiar understanding of the source material, which is inherently more than the live action Mario movie did. Even if it didn't pan out like expected, it's cool to see that passion went into it and he had a sense of respect for the games instead of writing them off as childish and trying to 'improve' it

-Likewise appreciate the director sharing petty grievances with the film, it humanizes things quite a bit. In fairness I also want those swizzle sticks and Bison dollars and would've been bummed if I was the only one who didn't get any.

-100% will always respect practical effects and physical set design. There were a few areas where CGI was used but for the most part it's all tangible

-Also!! Practical fighting!! Yes it's easy to make jokes about Van Damme's accent when playing someone so cartoonishly American but in a movie like this that relies so heavily on fight scenes he's exactly the sort of person you'd want to cast.

-(Perhaps an odd aside but upon reflection and trying to see other peoples' opinions on the film I think @ninewheels makes a very solid point in that having an immigrant Guile subtly works in the narrative's favor while also downplaying the plot's 'white savior' element to a degree)

-Again, discarding the canon divergences, Honda and Balrog had some terrific moments as a comedic duo, and for as little screentime was they had they managed to make their characters compelling. It's made completely understandable that given all three having their lives ruined by Bison in some form that they and Chun-Li would gravitate towards and work together. Unironically would watch a whole side series just about the three of them they bounce off of each other in a strangely natural way

-Likewise, Dhalsim!! Was not expecting to find him so compelling. I know it's a steep deviation from canon but at the very least they gave him his own little character arc, and the desire to use his skills for the betterment of humanity does sound a lot like canon Dhalsim behavior so I'm fine with it.

-Like I mentioned before, I was quite shocked at how well done Vega's presence was in the film, being rather spot on visually and personality-wise. As I found out while looking up more info, apparently his actor was still learning English at the time, so it's understandable why he only had a few short lines. However, just about everything else makes up for it. The costume design was near-perfect, and even without dialogue his body language did a terrific job of having him come across as condescendingly smug and dismissive. I see a lot of (absolutely deserved) praise for Mr. Julia but Jay Tavare did a fantastic job and absolutely deserves more credit

-On that note in general a recurring sentiment I kept having was that the silent/gesture comedy in this was really, really sharp. Some of the funniest parts in this movie were ones with no dialogue whatsoever

-This movie was funny on purpose!! I've seen some people describe the memetic moments in this and make it sound as though the whole thing is a straightforward action flick, but there were a whole lot of actually intentionally comedic elements and most of them landed perfectly well!

-Zangief is another underratedly terrific performance. Even if he's much duller than he is canonically it's played with so much gusto and enthusiasm that it's so enjoyable to watch him in action.

-Raul Julia. No explanation needed.

-Ming-Na Wen. Slight explanation needed bc WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME SHE WAS SO GOOD IN THIS. Woman did her own stunts and gave the movie a dose of colder realism that worked excellently with the somewhat unsteady tone

-Bazooka Cammy. Also as iffy as I was initially at having a pop star acting in this Kylie turned in a pretty solid performance.

-Gun Ken. I don't have much elaboration for this one it was just funny. Super magical spirit karate from living in backwoods Japan for like a decade with some old guy and you just decide to use a gun. We brought back Neck Snap Cammy from the II OVA for 6 so we can totally bring back Gun Ken for SF6 too right?? Please?? Don't even have to do anything too fancy just take regular Ken and give him Gun.

[penultimate-step]

JJK S2 Livewatch: Eps 5-7

the watch continues! Ep 5 acts as a sort of coda to the previous arc, and then we return to the present time for eps 6 and beyond. honestly that surprised me - part of the fun of going blind into a series that you heard mutterings about but don't know details is seeing where you have weird impressions for no reason. I thought the flashback arc was going to be more substantial - like half this whole season. joke's on me, I guess, but it's fine.

Ep 5 continues going extremely hard and unsubtle on the imagery. Like 15 minutes are devoted to showing just how traumatized Geto is. Everywhere he goes, a part of him is back in that audience room, hearing the cultists cheer. The show uses audio and visual cues to indicate this to the audience - windows act like TV sets and display scenes from the past, the sound of rainfall is swapped out for the sounds of applause. I'd be quite interested to know how the manga conveyed it, because these all seem like flourishes distinct to the adaptation, which I appreciate. Eventually we get to the moment of Geto's final choice, with the light flickering his shadow into two versions of him that he could become, he fully becomes a villain and massacres the town.

Honestly, while I did feel the ep was great, if I do have a complaint it did feel like the whole thing happened way too fast. I didn't question my assumption that the flashback was going to be longer last time because it seemed like there was a long way to go for Geto to become the self he was by the movie, but in the end it felt pretty abrupt. He struggles for a while with inner doubts then decides he will be the kind of person to commit mass murder, and then does. It's a little weak for a villain arc.

What's not weak is the scene where Gojo confronts Geto, though. My favorite bit is how they have their argument in the middle of a crowded street. The way passerby are going about their day, pushing the two aside, really emphasizes the whole thing - because the everyday civilians can ignore the sorcerers, can walk right past them as if they are in a different world entirely, but they aren't. theyre right there, and their presence is very clearly what the whole fight is about. One of my favorite scenes.

I liked the scene right before where Geto talks with Shouko a bit less, though. Apparently she doesn't go on missions? I'm curious what her deal is. Anyway. Feels like she didn't get enough screentime for me to understand her relevance or her importance to the other characters. Between her and Tsukumo, both of the relevant female characters in this ep only have screentime so that they can show up and ask the main men about their feelings. The "proud" shonen tradition of strict gender roles in action I suppose.

Overall while I have some issues with the pacing, and think the flashback needed some more substance to make us really feel the change in Gojo and Geto, I still liked ep 5.

Ep 6 brings us back to the present, but not fully into the main plot just yet. First we have a brief interlude where the main trio meet at a cafe, along with an old classmate of Yuji's. Going to be real, I had forgotten what the personalities of these three even were, so it was nice to have a relaxed refresher before jumping into the main event. That is the main purpose of this little event, I think, a bit of a tone cleanser to break up the melancholy flashback and the action-heavy present time. It's also good to get glimpses of the lives of the protagonists from before they entered the story - little bits of characterization can go a long way.

As for the battle that follows, I have mixed feelings. It did have the kind of overly flashy fight style that I disliked in S1. However, the fact that the guy brought out a whole mecha does make it seem warranted this time. It didn't really grab me as a fight, but probably if it had been less dramatic I would have thought it had fallen flat.

The fact that I rambled for so much longer about ep 5 alone than the next two eps combined is probably a bad sign, I think. I just find the present day plot less interesting than the flashback was. But I'd rather be optimistic, the show still has plenty of time left to change my mind.

[fantasy-the-final-frontier]

“Thus [Fingolfin] came alone to Angband’s gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth to singled combat. And Morgoth came.”

This guy was so pissed off he challenged a literal god to a fight to the death, and was skilled enough to deal said god a lasting injury. True BDE

[ninoisntluka]

A Deep Dive of the Kaoruko-Futaba Revue in the Movie, or why you should really talk with your partner before deciding your plans for the future

So the Revues in Revue Starlight are super complicated. They’re left a little vague and there’s so much visual and auditory information on screen at once, that it’s hard to explicitly say what’s going on since most of what we register is subconsciously understood.

Plus the fighting is cool and that can be distracting.

Revues are even more confusing in the movie, since unlike the in the episodic format of the original show, where we could easily set up the conflict in the school half of the episode and resolve it in the revue half, this one has all of the set up for the fights occurring for every single character at the same time, so it’d be easy to forget some important context since there is just so much going on at once. Plus the extra animation budget means they go all out on the fight scenes, so there’s even more to take in!

So this is my attempt to kinda lay out everything that’s happening and do a deep dive on each of the Revues. And since the movies start with the Kaoruko-Futaba Revue, I will too.

There’s a joke about how it’s the two of them getting a divorce, and honestly that’s pretty close to the truth.

The revue is basically a PSA about why healthy communication is important since literally everything would be solved if the two of them would just put aside their egos for a bit and listen to each other. What they really should have done is resolved this in couple’s counseling, but no, they just had to be dramatic about it and settle it with a literal duel. But they’re theater kids so it makes sense.

Anyways, the whole reason their fight escalated so far is because they were so focused on themselves that they didn’t take a moment to touch base with each other to figure out if they were on the same page.

Take Futaba for instance. She’s applying to the New National Theater Troupe.

Back when Futaba applied to Seisho, she had the lowest score of all the accepted applicants, which makes it tough since New National only has a 2% acceptance rate. That’s even lower than Seisho’s 3.3% acceptance rate! Because of all this, Futaba doesn’t think she’ll make it.

After all, Futaba still couldn’t beat Kaoruko when it counted in a Revue, even though she learned from Claudine and practiced everyday. Futaba doesn’t think she’ll actually make it into New National, this is a reach for her. The only reason she did that is so she can aim high, hit low. Futaba is constantly amazed and inspired by everyone else around her, so she knows that this is the only way she can keep up.

I mentioned the low acceptance rates of both Seisho and New National before, and I think that it was intentional that they were so similar. They are both considered the pinnacle of their fields, with Seisho being one of the best theater schools in Japan, and New National being one of the best troupes in the world! So New National is a lot like Seisho, and Seisho was great for Futaba. She did struggle, but she met so many stage girls who inspired her to be better. And it was at Seisho that Futaba found her own star, so New National is a great place for Futaba to bloom.

But despite acting like she’s fine with getting rejected, she is hyped to go to see New National on a Field Trip. And according to Mahiru, Futaba’s list of questions is even longer than her’s, which shows that they’ve been excitedly learning about the troupe together. So it’s likely Futaba does really want to get in. 

On the train too, the girls who end up going to the troupe are having a blast acting out the play they’re going to see New National Perform! (A neat little detail is that they are all practicing the line the top star says! All of them are aiming to become the lead!)

But on the other hand, Kaoruko is straight up not having a good time, since if Futaba goes to New National, then they won’t be together anymore.

Admittedly, she starts off in a much better place than last year. Even though she is returning home next year, this time it isn’t a sign of failure. Last time, she was going to return in an attempt to ignore reality, but she’s grown since then. Now she’s going to take the lessons she’s learned at Seisho, and continue to apply them while she journeys to be the best dancer in the world! She’s no longer running away from the expectations put on her, both as an heir as well as her promise to Futaba, and that’s awesome to see since that was her big thing that she had to deal with in the show!

But it’s interesting that while Futaba is unsure about whether or not she can get into her top choice, Kaoruko only has one idea on her career survey, since she’s the heir, so she’s guaranteed to become the next head of the Senka-Ryu dance school. She’s so certain that that is her future, she doesn’t need backup options.

Although, despite maturing from last year, Kaoruko’s still a pretty self centered person, so if things aren’t going the way she likes, she is pretty harsh with her criticisms. And this is most prominently seen when Kaoruko plans on ditching the New National Field Trip.

She says she’s in a bad mood because today’s the anniversary of the auditions, but a part of me thinks that it’s mostly because she doesn’t want to see New National, the Troupe that Futaba would rather be with than her.

But clearly the lack of auditions this year is taking a toll on her. Kaoruko’s goal is still to be the best, as stated in her career counseling session. But I think she also genuinely missed what the Auditions made out of her. She says that the auditions and the competition to be the top star pushed all of them to be their best self, and it’s not hard to see why. After all, if it wasn’t for their Revue, Futaba may have lost faith in Kaoruko, and left her. And now that there is a chance that Futaba may leave her again, making her jealous of herself from last year who took part in the auditions, the one who could make Futaba stay. And so, Kaoruko lashes out at them for not caring about becoming the top star of the audition. 

But none of them agree. They look at her with a mixture of concern and confusion. Because they aren’t aiming for that stage anymore. It’s not what they need right now. Also because winning an audition means stealing everyone else’s radiance or trapping yourself forever like Hikari. I’m not 100% sure if Nana ever explained what was going on with her time loops, but what I’m trying to say is that they really don’t want to be the top star of those auditions anymore, since they all know it only brings suffering. 

So Kaoruko storms off and calls them all useless for not agreeing with her, for not wanting to be the top star from her warped perspective, but in private, Kaoruko knows that’s wrong. She admits it when she comes face to face with Claudine, who stares her down.

She doesn’t actually want to be the top star. But her promise with Futaba is that she would become the best, and that Futaba would be right by her side and would be the first to see it. Just like the rest of them, she doesn’t want to be the top star of that audition, but unlike them, she can’t explicitly say what she wants.

I think the reason Kaoruko can admit this to Claudine in particular, is because Claudine is almost a foil to Kaoruko. I know in the show they draw explicit parallels between Maya and Claudine as well as Kaoruko and Futaba, with the former of the pair being the leader and the latter being the follower. Both pairs of them push each other to be the best, with the leader having a duty to meet the follower’s expectations, and the follower having to push themselves in order to make sure the leader can’t rest.

But Claudine and Kaoruko have been in the spotlight since they were young. And while Kaoruko became spoiled, Claudine remained a hard worker, even after hitting the roadblock that is Tendou Maya. There’s also the fact that they are both teachers to Futaba, who looks to them both for guidance. Which is why, in the Revue later, Kaoruko expressly blames Claudine for Futaba leaving her, since she was the one who offhandedly suggested that Futaba aim for the troupe.

Also, earlier I said my theory that the real reason Kaoruko didn’t want to go to New National was because that’s where Futaba was applying, and my reasoning is because while Junna and Claudine talk about Futaba applying their on Claudine’s suggestion, we get a close up of Kaoruko looking disgruntled.

And then while listening to the others talking about their future plans, Kaoruko gets annoyed at them, calling the next station useless, with an overview shot of New National’s stage, or the future.

Because for Kaoruko, the next station won’t have Futaba, so it’s useless to her. She’s getting pissed because everyone’s excited for the future, but it sounds terrible to her.

Anyways, Kaoruko eventually gets what she asked for on the train, and she is ready for the audition, despite the fact this isn’t anything like the previous auditions considering it’s literally everyone against Nana, and there is no giraffe to officiate.

This incredibly lucky break for her distracts Kaoruko enough to the point where she ignores Futaba, even after Nana pins Futaba to the ground with her sword, which is a sign that Kaoruko is so hung up on the idea of the top star that she forgot why she wanted it in the first place.

This is in contrast to Futaba on the train, since she’s super concerned with Kaoruko. In fact, Futaba was worried about Kaoruko earlier too when she stormed off.

Anyways, while the stage girls are moping around at the pep rally after the train, I think it’s interesting to take a look where they are standing, since that can give a good idea of their mindset and what they want.

Futaba is self conscious about her skills as a stage girl. She doesn’t think she’s as good as everyone else. She’s watching the party from afar, and the spotlights shining on it makes it look like a stage. But Futaba’s not there. She’s in the dark. She’s the audience, who can only admire, but can’t stand beside them.

Kaoruko meanwhile, is waiting at Futaba’s bike, like all those other times they went home together. But Futaba isn’t here and she isn’t coming.

Anyways, now it’s time to get to the most underappreciated scene in this movie! When the director and scriptwriter from Class B reveal they don’t know what they’re doing, but everyone supports them anyways.

The 101th production of Starlight is a big deal for the 99th class. This is going to be the last play they put on together as high schoolers. They’re scared and they don’t want it to end here. But everyone is scared too. And by working together, they’ll make a stage that surpasses all their previous stages.

Imma level with you, I didn’t really understand this scene on my first time watching it. Mostly because I was so excited for all the homoerotic duels, so I don’t think I paid too much attention.

But this scene basically encapsulates the whole movie.

The Scriptwriter isn’t finished by her deadline, but the director doesn’t blame her. Even though she isn’t ready and is scared that her next stage won’t surpass the last one they did, the director tells her that they have to present it, since everyone is waiting.

Just like how the stage girls aren’t ready for their futures, it’s coming for them regardless.

But this is the moment that everyone listening realizes that they can share their struggles with their classmates in the revue. That they don’t have to go through this alone since everyone else is going through it too, and they all want to help each other become the best stage girl they can be.

Also, if you’re rewatching the movie, you really should pay attention to the lines of the play that are read when they focus on certain characters, since they feel significant.

Futaba’s main struggle is that she doesn’t feel good enough, and it’s this moment that helps her explicitly understand what she needs to do in the future. 

And Kaoruko needs to stop idolizing the top star. Also this could mean another thing in the context of the revue, but we’ll get to that later.

And during the same speech, when they erect the new set, the start of the next stage, Kaoruko has this to say:

Despite the fact that Kaoruko is scared of the future, it still entrances her, setting up the seeds of the resolution at the end of the Revue.

So with this newfound resolution, the stage girls have the chance to take a good look at their failures. Specifically their loss to Nana on the train.

To be honest, I’m not completely sure what this is about, since it’s a little too high concept for me. But what I think is going on is that these are all dead stage girls. Like metaphorically of course. This is what happens if they refuse to move onto the next stage. I only think this because it literally happens when Karen refuses to move onto the next stage right before her revue, and she just fucking dies. Like she goes limp and it’s super disturbing, especially with how broken up about it Hikari gets.

Anyways, this is a crossroads for all of them. They are seeing the future if they continue as they are now, since currently they can’t make it to the next stage, at least according to Nana, but she’s wrong like 30% of the time so take that with a grain of salt. But the stage girls can make a choice now to determine their future.

Futaba isn’t looking at her double, but she is laying it across her back, so she acknowledges its presence. I think it’s interesting that Futaba is in the dark again, like in that scene at the party. Maybe this is showing that she can’t shine if she’s supporting someone else, or maybe that in order to shine before, Futaba had to rely on others, like Kaoruko or Claudine.

Meanwhile Kaoruko is lying down, mirroring her double. Maybe this is because Kaoruko is the closest to dying as a stage girl. After all, she came very close to giving up last time since Futaba wasn’t staying at her side and things weren’t going her way, and her current situation is mighty similar to that as well.

As for what they’re saying, Futaba talks about putting an end to it, which sounds like putting an end to her and Kaoruko’s relationship, but when you consider the next line is Kaoruko’s and she finishes it by saying “it” is her spoiled self until now.

Futaba was spoiling herself by sticking to Kaoruko. But she can’t improve if she stays with what’s comfortable. And Kaoruko lashes out like a spoiled child when she thinks that Futaba is going to leave, but the point of their next Revue is to come to terms with that.

In the end both of them bite the tomato, the first step in accepting that it’s time to move onto their next stage. And sorry that I’m not explaining why eating the tomato means that, but it really doesn’t matter much in this revue, so that’s a topic for a future essay.

Although don’t ask me why they aren’t wearing shoes. I have literally no idea what that’s supposed to mean. Maybe it’s because they were full of tomato juice so it would make their socks soggy if they put it on? I don’t know! Not everything has to be symbolic! Sometimes the curtains are just blue!

And now that we finally get to the actual revue, I feel a little bad that I’ve written so much and am only just now getting to it, but I think context is important for understanding why Kaoruko and Futaba are so completely pigheaded in this revue.

Before this fight, they have been so focused on themselves that they’ve completely ignored the other’s wants and needs, as well as the effects of their actions on each other.

Anyways, the Revue begins in typical Kaoruko fashion with her avoiding responsibility by blaming literally anyone other than herself for her and Futaba’s imminent separation. Specifically Claudine. But claiming she’s actually talking about Claudine messing with Kaoruko’s candy box.

But Claudine cuts straight to the chase and ignores the metaphor, just like before in the dorms.

Anyways, then Futaba comes in by destroying the wall, along with any hopes of a Claudine-Kaoruko revue. I mean I get it. I understand this was more appropriate for the character journeys and whatever, but let me dream!

Anyways, I’m not going to go into too much detail here, but whenever you see a character in a costume that isn’t their Revue Outfit, that means the character isn’t being genuine. They’re putting on a performance, they’re acting, it's just a front.

Like right now! Kaoruko is dressed up like the older sister of a yakuza clan and Futaba is dressed like a delinquent, a yankee specifically. Or at least I think that’s what they’re wearing. I’m not entirely sure since as an American, I’m not up to date on the latest Japanese Fashion trends.

But my point is they are both acting tough.

After they do their introductions, you can see here that both Kaoruko and Futaba are on the same page about what happens here, even though we know that neither of them actually want to let go of the other forever. I’m gonna use the assumption that after a character does their introduction, they say exactly what they want from this revue. 

In this battle, Kaoruko isn’t going to try to convince Futaba to stay with her. This is them figuring out how they’ll say goodbye.

But while they both seem unaffected by this conclusion, the song they sing in the background is wistful, regretting that they have to part after all this time. 

Admittedly, the reason I’m not going to go into too much detail on how the outfits are just a performance is because the two of them immediately change into their revue outfits and just ditch the betting house setting entirely to beat each other up instead. It feels like a callback to their first revue, where they completely hijacked their audition to settle their own arguments instead of fighting to be a top star.

And I guess Claudine fucks off to go play animal shoji with Maya, since they both just literally forgot she was there. Honestly, first the mobile game had the Revue of Gemini where the Yumeoji sisters make Claudine play mediator, and now Kaoruko and Futaba drag her into their revue! If I were her, I would be exhausted. 

Anyways, the fight starts out with Kaoruko reminding Futaba of their promise that Kaoruko would become a top star, and that Futaba would stay at her side. Kaoruko wants Futaba to know that she betrayed her, and that Kaoruko won’t forgive her for this.

But Futaba tries to tell Kaoruko that she’s only leaving for a bit to stay by her side in the long run, since Futaba needs to be more independent if she is ever gonna bloom into a top star in her own right.

Because Futaba doesn’t think she’s good enough. That’s what she’s been struggling with since the first half of the movie. It’s what she’s been struggling with the entire series. So Futaba is desperate to do anything that can get herself up to par with everyone else. So much so that she doesn’t mind being separated from Kaoruko for a little bit while she goes on her own path, but wants her to understand why she has to go.

She understands that Kaoruko might feel saddened, but she doesn’t really understand how much her leaving would affect Kaoruko. Futaba thinks that if she left, Kaoruko would be fine, but it’s basically the end of the world in Kaoruko’s perspective.

And while Futaba was genuine in that she flat out stated what she wanted and what she needed, Kaoruko has too much pride to just lay herself bare like that, which is why when we get Kaoruko’s perspective, we switch into a performance.

So the two of them are now in a nightclub, or at least some kind of bar. Again, as an American, I am not familiar with the Japanese nightlife scene, so I can’t be too specific.

Futaba is caught on the backfoot, and is nervous, but still tries to be genuine. She talks about how she felt she wasn’t good enough. How she saw everyone else excelling around her. And how she didn't have the qualities that all the better stage girls had.

But Kaoruko acts the role of a high maintenance girlfriend who is dismissive of Futaba’s concerns, which throws Futaba off. Or maybe it’s a pair of lovers where the one in the dress caught the one in the suit cheating, since it’s Kaoruko leveling accusations at Futaba the entire time. I can’t say because I literally have no idea. This feels like a movie reference, but I’m not cultured in cinema in any way shape or form, so I have no clue what it’s supposed to be.

But I think the real reason Futaba isn’t too confident here is because she knows she messed up.

Kaoruko directly asks why Futaba didn’t talk with her about her future plans, and Futaba, like in the rest of the revue, gives the honest answer: that she knew Kaoruko would be against it. 

Futaba knew her leaving would hurt Kaoruko, but she didn’t want to think about it, so she ignored it. But it’s not like Futaba can just stay with Kaoruko, since that would make her stagnate, which is equivalent to death for a stage girl. 

Futaba knows that she has to go on her own. That’s the only way she can improve. If she stuck with Kaoruko, her life would be guaranteed as the aide to the head, but instead Futaba is aiming for auditions at a competitive troupe, which gives her the chance to fail, and Futaba thrives in competitions. It’s why Seisho was so good for her, because it forced her to try harder to keep up, instead of just being dragged along by Kaoruko like before.

She’s focused on herself right now, and what path is best for her, but Futaba is also accidently ignoring what this path means for Kaoruko.

Despite not talking about it with Kaoruko, Futaba was pretty open about going to New National, so it wasn’t like she tried to hide the fact. And it’s not like Kaoruko asked about Futaba’s future plans either. So while they both knew what was going on, they both put off the hard conversation which anxiety in both of them. 

This is reflected in the song, where Kaoruko complains that Futaba is being self centered and isn’t properly facing Kaoruko. Meanwhile Futaba sings there’s nothing they can really talk about, since Futaba has to do this. It’s a little interesting that they echo each other's lines, maybe a sign of how they are only now starting to understand each other. Although they sing in harmony the next part, of how they long to be as close as they once were again.

And this is what led to the tense situation now, where Kaoruko is assuming the worst from Futaba, and isn’t giving her a chance to explain herself.

Kaoruko doesn’t want to let Futaba go. So she doesn’t want to listen because if she does, that means Futaba would leave her. But the fact that Futaba keeps insisting even though she doesn’t want to hear it pisses Kaoruko off, making her imagine the worst case scenario.

And that’s why it’s Kaoruko who ends the scene, telling them to take it outside, which brings us back to the beginning with the Semitrucks, but this time they are on the rooftop, where Kaoruko seems to have made up her mind.

And while Futaba says she doesn’t want that, she does agree that they can’t be together anymore.

From the beginning, they both knew this was true. It was their first statement in the Revue Outfits. This Revue is about on what terms they will part. The fact that no matter who wins this revue, it will end in them separating is in stark contrast to their previous revue, where no matter who won, they’d stay together. They were instead fighting over who would be in charge.

Actually, a lot of things in this current revue resemble their previous revue as well. There’s a scene in both revues of Futaba listing everything she does for Kaoruko. But while the first time it was to show how Kaoruko took Futaba for granted, in this Revue it was about how Futaba cared so much for Kaoruko that she was willing to do all that. 

And the Revues were even caused by the same issue: Futaba becoming more independent and Kaoruko wanting things to stay the same...

But they do touch on similar themes. Futaba mentioned how inadequate she felt compared to her classmates in both revues, and unlike this time, Futaba is the one mad that Kaoruko broke her end of their promise, since she had given up on aiming to be a top star.

But honestly this entire fight is basically a word for word remake of what happened in Episode 6.

Just like when she didn’t get a spot in the audition, Kaoruko insisted that she never wanted it in the first place. So now that Futaba might leave, Kaoruko insists that actually Kaoruko is the wants to cut ties, in a pitiable attempt to save her own ego.

But just like with the train at the last second, Futaba stops Kaoruko. She doesn’t want them to cut ties. And here she insists that they shouldn’t just throw away all the good times they had together.

And just like their last revue, they are about to charge towards each other.

But in the last Revue, Futaba didn’t fight back at the end. She saw that brilliance that had entranced her when they were younger, and couldn’t swing her halberd.

So back to the actual movie this deep dive is about, if you look at Kaoruko’s semi, it says that “I am angry” and “Futaba’s become a you that I don’t know.” This is mirrored in the song in the background, with Kaoruko singing that she wants to keep that Futaba away from her. This is why Kaoruko wants to cut ties with Futaba, and why Kaoruko is taking this so personally. Because Futaba changed without Kaoruko.

The song has them both sing that they’re passing by each other at 100 km/h, and we’ve seen this in how they both have been so self centered, that they aren’t taking the time to properly listen to each other. Kaoruko alone is cutting off ties because Futaba changed, ignoring what Futaba had to say about why she’s changed. After all, at the core of it, Futaba is trying to change to become worthy of staying at Kaoruko’s side.

Meanwhile, Futaba’s song portion is about how she couldn’t be satisfied with their old dream, since only Kaoruko was becoming a star in that one, and now Futaba doesn’t want to just be near the star, she wants to become one herself. She’s changed since they attended Seisho, and now, like her own truck says, she doesn’t need Kaoruko’s opinion. 

And this time, when Kaoruko charges at Futaba, she’s ready to fight back.

Kaoruko is just as dazzling this time, but still Futaba reached a point where her own convictions as a stage girl allows her to fight back with her own brilliance. Both of them can see it. And this Futaba is dazzling. So maybe that’s why Kaoruko gives up. Just like Futaba in the last Revue, Kaoruko is blinded and can’t fight back anymore. 

Like that line at the pep rally, she turns her back at the top. She doesn’t fight, and instead passes Futaba by and lets her truck go over the edge of the rooftop, giving up on the top.

You can tell that it's Kaoruko truck since it’s pink and has the dragon motif.

Before, Kaoruko called them all useless for giving up their ambition to be the top star in the auditions, but seeing Futaba’s full potential, Kaoruko thinks she should give it up too. After all, the last Revue had Futaba setting Kaoruko straight in order to become a dazzling star, so this Revue is about Futaba now, and she needs to be free to become that dazzling star.

So Kaoruko lets go, but Futaba holds on.

At this point, they’re not fighting anymore. The Revue is over. They understand each other and can’t be mad anymore. 

Kaoruko is regretful that she almost cut ties with Futaba, and is uncertain of their futures, leaving it in Futaba’s hands. Meanwhile Futaba complains that Kaoroku’s being unfair, like she did not too long ago before their final clash, but now it’s bittersweet.

But eventually the wooden board Futaba was holding has too much stress, and it snaps, and they fall.

Now in general, falling is pretty bad. Especially from a rooftop. You can get hurt!

But just like how no one gets hurt in the fights in Revue Starlight (physically at least), no one ever gets injured from falling! Although just like how the fights are symbolic, so is falling.

And I know this is about Kaoruko and Futaba, but I gotta talk about Karen for a bit so we can discuss what falling means in Revue Starlight.

The first time Karen falls is in the weird dream she has in the middle of class right before reuniting with Hikari. While falling Karen realizes that at her current rate she can’t fulfill her promise anymore. Although it’s vague, later on we realize that Karen is talking about her promise to be a star with Hikari. And in the first episode, we see people constantly criticizing Karen’s work ethic, and while it’s mostly lighthearted teasing from her classmates about her tendency to sleep in and give extra work to Mahiru, it’s used as a legitimate reason to bar Karen from the Auditions by the Giraffe. And we see in the second episode that Karen struggles to do stretches and hit high notes, showing that she needs to polish her technical skills more. It’s only after losing her Revue to Maya that Karen realizes she needs to make a change and sacrifice more for the stage if she wants to be a top star with Hikari.

And much later in the series, we see the role Karen wants to play in Starlight, Flora. Flora is a tragic character whose promise with Claire goes unfulfilled after Flora herself falls from the Starlight Tower, giving another signifier that falling is a sign of someone being unable to keep their promise.

And falling in general is the opposite of what a Top Star wants after all. Since they are supposed to be at the very highest point, constantly progressing upward. And if your cape falls, you lose in the audition.

But in order to join the auditions, you have to take an elevator to the basement. Karen joined the auditions by literally falling onto the stage. And everytime Karen goes through her “I am Reborn” transformation sequence, she falls from the top of the frame. And in the rewritten Starlight, Flora has to make her way up after falling from the tower. And in order to save Hikari from the Eternal Stage, Karen had to descend the stairs in the basement to reach Hikari.

So falling is both necessary to becoming a top star and keeping promises, yet it is also antithetical to it. It is a sign of failure on the path to success, but you can’t even start that path until you brave the fall.

At first it seems like the difference between the two is intent, like whether you accidently fell vs whether you meant to jump into the unknown, but later on we see Karen climbing back onto the stage even when Hikari forcefully knocks her off the stage in their final (show, not movie) revue.

So what’s really important in relation to falling is what they do afterwards, which I think sends a nice message: That even if you fail, it’s just the start of your next attempt.

I swear I’ll circle back to the meaning of falling in a sec, so I didn’t just go off on a tangent for no reason. 

So luckily the two manage to land in the semi truck’s container that was carrying a bunch of flower petals, so they’re safe. And once they’re there, Futaba softly asks Kaoruko to wait (as opposed to all the shouting from before), but Kaoruko says she can’t guarantee she will. It’s a little funny that the song she’s singing in the background says the exact opposite though. That’s pretty common in this revue, especially with her.

After all, who knows how long it’ll take Futaba to come back to Kaoruko. There isn’t a set timeframe to look forward to. Plus, what if someone else is dazzling enough to make Futaba forget about Kaoruko?

But none of that matters since that thing in Kaoruko’s hand is Futaba’s motorcycle keys, with a position zero keychain.

Position zero symbolizes the end in Revue Starlight. After all, it’s the goal they’re all aiming for in becoming the top star. It’s what ends every revue, as well as the very last frame of the show.

And so as long as Futaba is a stage girl, she’ll end up with Kaoruko, who Futaba gave her position zero to.

After all, Kaoruko is Futaba’s goal. She’s aiming to become a better stage girl, since she has to do so to remain by Kaoruko’s side. It’s what Futaba had been saying all along in this revue.

Also it’s super sweet. What the heck. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Now circling back to the falling from before, Futaba and Kaoruko give up on being the Top Star in the auditions, since instead they have their own position zero to achieve: their promise and each other. This is confirmed by the both of them agreeing that they’re useless, which before Kaoruko called anyone who gave up on the auditions.

It also shows that they’re both ready to move onto the next station, since Kaoruko also called that useless too. And the next station means their futures in this context. Just to say it explicitly.

So when Futaba wins this revue, there’s no bitterness. They don’t need to use their weapons against each other. Futaba just picks up a piece of broken mirror from the crashed truck and uses that to cut Kaoruko’s jacket. And unlike before, Kaoruko and the song don’t contradict each other.

Okay but for real don’t pick up broken pieces of a mirror with your bare hands. Futaba should know this. She’s usually way more responsible than this! You could hurt yourself since it’s hard to see the sharp parts! And also the glass fragments! Use proper gloves!

Anyways, for some closure on the Revue, here’s a friendly reminder that of the characters watching from afar at the final revue, Kaoruko is the first to throw away her jacket since being the Top Star in these auditions doesn’t matter to her anymore, which is a far cry from what she was saying at the start of the movie! After all, they’re done with the auditions. They have to go onto the next stage.

Also Kaoruko was pretty obviously lying when she said she wouldn’t wait for Futaba, and it’s nice to see her in the credits with the motorcycle that Futaba will be back for. Even though she tipped it. She’s so dumb, I love her.

And Futaba made it into New National! I knew she could do it! I always believed in her! I mean I already saw the movie before so I already knew it would work out, but still! Go Futaba! 

In the end, the revue helped Kaoruko understand what Futaba needed to do, and it gave Futaba the chance to let Kaoruko know that she’d be back, eventually. Honestly if they had been talking to each other properly before this, they wouldn’t have needed a whole 10 minute song and dance number with fight choreography, but it was fun so I can’t complain. 

Anyways, now that that’s over, it’s time for a bunch of cool things I found while watching that I wanted to share, but not enough to break off into unrelated tangents to explain them in the middle of my deep dive!

At the very start of Revue, there is a frame with a Hannya mask, before transitioning to Kaoruko’s face. From my 5 seconds of googling, this is a mask used to represent a Jealous Female Demon in Japanese Noh Theater, which feels very fitting for Kaoruko in this revue.

So first off, they’re betting using those buttons, which are used to clasp their jackets. And if they lose them, they lost the revue, so those buttons are the pride of stage girls. 

Also I think it’s a nice touch how the knife is separating them. 

And initially, it’s Kaoruko blaming Claudine for taking her candy box. Candy is pretty important to Futaba and Kaoruko. As kids, part of the deal was that Futaba would buy Kaoruko candy. Also when Claudine and Maya helped sort out their first fight in Episode 6, they were gifted candy boxes from Futaba and Kaoruko, so maybe that has some significance to the two of them. And Futaba called their relationship candied when she breaks in later. She also calls it rotten but whatever. 

One more thing though, is Kaoruko referring to Futaba as her property? Kinda yikes if you ask me.

Also don’t take my word for this, but I think I heard somewhere that Futaba speaks with the same Kyoto dialect as Kaoruko. I’m not sure if this is for the entire revue or just for her introduction, but it’s still nice to hear, since Futaba is originally from Kyoto too, but sounds like she’s speaking in the Tokyo accent most of the time, probably to fit in with everyone else. But now it’s just these two, so she doesn’t need to worry about the others. Or maybe she’s talking like this specifically to get Kaoruko to understand her, to speak the same language and all.

A neat little detail is that Futaba has Tiger heads on her jacket and Kaoruko has a dragon tattoo on her shoulder. Also their semi trucks from later will also have a dragon and tiger on it, but if you look closely, you can see the other person’s animal too, showing how much they shaped and impacted each other, even when they’ve been torn so far apart in this revue. This is a longstanding thing for them too, since it’s referenced in their first duel, with their respective animals in the artwork behind them. 

The Tiger and the Dragon is kinda like a yin yang thing from my quick google. They are strong in different aspects, like the Tiger is more straightforward and the Dragon is more cunning. You should look it up if you’re interested, since a ton of eastern media has pairs with this motif.

It’s interesting that they have this argument while climbing up a staircase. Since Futaba and Kaoruko are going up, with Kaoruko a little higher than Futaba, but Futaba is the one pushing them upward, kind of like how Futaba keeps Kaoruko on her toes to become a better actor as they aim to be the top star. Also interesting since staircases are often associated with the sets of Takarazuka Revue.

Anyways, minor tangent, the Takarazuka Revue is a real life, all female Japanese Musical Theater company that has the actors compete to be the all important top star. Another fun fact, Seisho is based on a real life school, which happens to be the alma mater of literally every member of the Takarazuka Revue.

In this scene, Kaoruko complains that Futaba’s reasoning is of a grown up, despite Kaoruko being more comfortable in the adult environment, showing how both of them have what the other lacks. In the end she admits they’re both just kids though.

Funnily enough, Junna and Maya beating Kaoruko in revues convinced Kaoruko to drop out of school in episode 6, so maybe that’s why she singled them out by name when complaining about Futaba mentioning other women.

Google tells me that the tower that’s being projected is called the Toji Tower, a famous landmark of Kyoto. It’s famous enough that in the end credits, this is the landmark used to show that Hikari is visiting Kyoto. No clue about the other buildings though. That’s not due to them not being significant enough, but rather me sucking at geography.

I remember hearing once that Kaoruko’s name means flowers and Futaba’s name means branch, so together they’d be the flowers on the branch that Kaoruko twirls around in Futaba’s memory of her. But it’s a little sad that they are lying on a bunch of flowers that have fallen off their branches. 

I didn’t mention this before, but the motorcycle also has a position zero on it, since it’s a Tonda brand. And explicitly Futaba said she’ll be back for the motorcycle, but we all know she’s talking about Kaoruko. So the scene where Futaba tells her to take care of the motorcycle, she’s telling Kaoruko to take good care of herself, because they’re in love and Futaba wants her to do what’s best for herself.

Also I feel like the motorcycle has some symbolic meaning here, since Futaba initially got the motorcycle to give Kaoruko a ride to school since her legs get tired, but also developed bike riding skills on her own, which is kind of what happened when Kaoruko brought Futaba to Seisho so they wouldn’t be apart, but then Futaba found her own path to becoming a star.

The endings of the Revue of Malice and the Revue of Promises are pretty similar, which is nice. (They also hold hands on the right picture too, it’s the shot immidiately after!)

So yeah, that’s my thoughts on the Kaoruko-Futaba Revue! I like that their issue was very straightforward and easy to digest, since the other ones are way more vague because of all the conflicting and nebulous motivations of characters coming into their Revue. And while everyone else had to confront hard truths about themselves in order to continue being a stage girl, Futaba and Kaoruko were single mindedly focused on the issue of what’s gonna happen to their relationship in the future, and honestly that just goes to show you how important they are to each other. 

Although I am a little worried I got too caught up in surface details and missed something major, so feel free to correct me or add something on if you feel like it.

But I think the straightforward nature of this match is a good reason for this to be the first revue of the movie. Like the show’s revues, it starts with the characters' introduction and ends with the loser’s button coming off. But in the rest of the movie’s revues, this format is broken all the time. And each time, It’s a subversion of both our and the characters’ expectations in the Revue, so it’s good to set the stage with a revue that follows the proper steps.

(Masterpost for the other Revues)

[mcdonaldsnumberone]

SUIT UP!

marrying reo hcs

gender neutral reader

a/n: my background with weddings is unfortunately primarily christian weddings, so while i did my best to try and make the wedding customs as ambiguous as possible, it’s undeniable that that bias will be present in this fic! i apologize in advance for any inconvenience this might make, and i completely understand if such writing isn’t for you!

Marriage has always been something Reo has considered to be on the horizon: ever present, ever distant, yet still an anomaly that escaped his picture perfect world of control. He knew his parents would want him to marry for love before anything else, but if he failed to find love in this vast yet disgustingly unentertaining world of his, he would end up having to marry for position. Perhaps that’s one of the many countless reasons why Reo was even drawn to you in the first place. Like a moth drawn to a flame, you had been the exception to everything he had ever known in that perfect life he had always led.

Despite how well off he is and all the eyes placed on him, the kind of wedding Reo really wants is a small, private one. He knows his parents will make him go through the song and dance of a really expensive wedding for the sake of performance, but the wedding he wants where he can say his vows, look into your eyes and promise the rest of his life to you, the one where he scoops you up in his arms and swears nothing but happiness to you is the kind of wedding where it’s just him, you, and a handful of close ones to celebrate your union. He doesn’t need million dollar champagne or custom made clothes—he just wants that same loving comfort you’ve always welcomed him with.

Reo can hardly sit still as the two of you plan your wedding. He understands that it’s a painstaking process and that it isn’t something that happens overnight, but if he could marry you the very next day after he proposed, he 100% would have. Whenever you’re crunching numbers for the budget or figuring out the decorations you want, Reo tends to find himself simply melting into your presence and soaking up the euphoria of knowing that marrying you is a reality. Every little addition to the wedding prep is proof of that, and sometimes his excited jitters get so bad that he can’t sleep at night.

Reo writes, rewrites, and practices his vows to you constantly whenever he gets the chance. He’s practically engraved it into Nagi’s memory from how much he’s recited it to the poor boy, to the point that Nagi swears that he’ll end up chanting Reo’s vows even when he’s all old and wrinkly. Jokes aside though, Reo wants to pick the prettiest and most sincere words for you, and on the nights when he can’t sleep out of anticipation, he’ll reread his vows to you and daydream about how happy he’s going to be once he’s tied the knot.

The first time you two go out to buy wedding clothes, Reo has to fight the urge to immediately purchase everything you try on. He’s floored no matter what you slap on at the shop, staring at you with his eyes blown wide open and speechless, stunned that the visual he’s always built up in his head is actually becoming real right before his eyes. He genuinely forgets how to speak for a minute, and when you ask if he likes it, he blushes a brilliant shade of red and can’t look you in the eye. He definitely encourages you to find a way to preserve your wedding clothes and keep them as a memento. He tries to sneak a picture of you in all the different wedding outfits you put on, only to get (lovingly) scolded by all the shop attendants who tell him to be patient and take proper pictures on his actual wedding day.

Once the day hits though, Reo feels like he’s barely human. He’s so excited, so nervous, yet so ready for everything all at the same time that he can’t sit still. Nagi works wonders to keep Reo in one piece, and the white-haired boy has to practically wrestle Reo into his seat so that he doesn’t go running off into your dressing room and stick by your side before the two of you are actually supposed to see each other at the ceremony. Instead Reo settles for showing Nagi pictures of you pulling everything together with him for the wedding, proudly showing off all of your shared hard work.

And when it’s time for you two to be married for good, Reo does his best to shove everything deep into his memory. No matter what becomes of him and no matter how much the world changes, Reo is sure that his love for you will remain good and true. This instant, with you hand-in-hand with him, fulfilling another chapter of your lives together, is irrefutable proof of your bonds together. This is undoubtedly one of—if not, the most—happiest moment of his life, and he hopes that in the happily married years to follow, he can return the same joy that you’ve generously shown him from day one to what will one day be your last with him. 

“I promise to love you, now and forever. Nothing would make me happier than spending my remaining days by your side. If you feel the same as I do, will you take me to be your husband?”

x

[itsclydebitches]

Two questions about Sandman, from a comic-only reader: (1) Does the show keep the little visual/audial joke of the background conversations in Dream and Hob’s first and last arranged meetings being identical? (2) Have you seen the fan-made short film version of 24 Hours? It can be found through the Sandman Wikipedia page.

If they recreated that I missed it. Though their initial scene has many of these lines spoken almost word-for-word across the inn, their reunion just has the soundtrack and the general murmur of people nearby. It definitely makes for an emotional ending to the episode, but I do like the idea of, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

For anyone wondering:

"--Third poll tax in three years. What else could we have done?" / "Thatcher's bloody poll tax. There's going to be a revolution if they try to push it through..."

"All I'm saying is when Ball and Tyler were killed, the spirit of the working man died with them." / "I see the labour movement died with the minor's strike..."

"Penny ale and cold bacon. Penny ale and cold bacon. I would have good hot meat and French wine." / "...make more on the Dole than they would from an honest day's work..."

"--War, plague, and two bloody popes, fighting like weasels in heat. The end of the world is soon, you mark me." / "...of course AIDS isn't God's way of punishing people, Darren. Don't be a pillock / "...All the signs are there, in the Bible. It'll be the end of the world very soon..."

"...murder, nor rape, we need a return to law and to order. The king should act against these bandits." / "...No respect for law and order..."

"...up her dress, and she says, 'Are you hunting for rabbits again, friar?'"/ "...up her dress, and she says, 'Are you hunting for rabbits again, vicar?'"

They tweaked the timeline too so that "The Sound of Her Wings" could take place in one half of the episode and Morpheus reuniting with Hob in the second half (most of which is taken up by their flashbacks). If I've got my comic dates correct, they last met in 1889 (the fight), then Morpheus is captured in 1916, and he escapes 1988, giving him a year to recuperate before meeting with Hob as scheduled because, you know, being captured and the consequences of that have gone a long way towards helping him admit to this friendship. That's why Hob just says, "I wasn't sure you'd be coming." In the adaptation though, Morpheus misses their meeting due to his imprisonment because in this version he's been confined for "over a century" and Hob commiserates with a bartender about how he was an idiot last time they met and probably ruined things. The bartender informs him that the pub is being torn down to make space for apartments and, in 2022 after spending the day with Death, Morpheus returns there to find the place in shambles. Some spray paint points him to The New Inn though and there he finds Hob whose line has been changed to, "You're late."

Though the adaptation is definitely more wishy-washy in terms of dates, this version is waaaay better for ship potential imo. Because 1. Delicious angst in which Hob thinks he's been given proof that their friendship is over and 2. He apparently spent fucking YEARS just sitting around this place hoping that Morpheus would show up?? I mean, TV logic aside, how much time does he have to spend there for Morpheus to find him on the one day he wandered in? Hob never gave up hope, God bless 🥺 Seriously though, some of my favorite Hob/Morpheus fics (and by that I mean like 3 of the 25 that exist lol) run with the idea of Morpheus missing their meeting due to his capture and Hob setting out to try and find him, convinced that something must have happened, rather than that he's actually been ditched. Now we've got a version of Sandman where Hob might have looked for him without anything in the canon directly contradicting that, which is just, [chef's kiss].

Anyway, I haven't seen the fanmade film, but I intend to now! I fell out of Sandman for a long stretch and when news of the adaptation reignited my interest, I found that a ton of stuff had been published since I last picked the series up. I'm also hoping to get hold of the current Corinthian run and the two Dreaming volumes that are out sooner rather than later.

[witchy-jadda]

rott spoilers ahead

so i’ve given myself some time to think about everything and try to process it all and here are some of my thoughts on trollhunters: rise of the titans...

- straight off the bat, i loved the intro. opening with blinky telling the story of what happened up until this point was incredible. i would have loved if they had circled back to this though (i saw someone else say it should have been him telling the story to jim and claire’s kids and i loved that idea!)

- i also liked that they didn’t waste time at the start, instead they just jumped right into the action which was fun.

- honestly, i thought jim’s plotline throughout the movie where he basically thought he was useless without the amulet was just really not fun to watch. i understand why it was there and it played into the climax but i really did not find it one bit necessary seeing as i felt that we have grown beyond that. i felt it was overused. we’ve been there before and jim is aware that he’s the trollhunter, amulet or not.

- douxie being so soft with nari was genuinely one of the most heartwarming parts of the movie. i feel that we were really robbed of so much potential with douxie in this movie though. we didn’t see nearly enough of him. it seemed that the writers were picking and choosing when to remember how powerful he is. switching with nari and connecting to her are two examples of when they actually used his power, but aside from that they just disregarded it a lot.

- and speaking of forgetting how powerful people are... i’m genuinely so hurt and let down over what they did to claire. do they not realise how powerful she is? did they just forget about her character arc? it sure felt like it. she got to use her powers a few times (connecting to nari, portalling the titan, etc) but mostly it felt like she was saying she was spent and therefore unable to do anything. she is so strong and so powerful, and that’s just so empowering - especially for young girls. and then it kinda felt to me that rott was reducing her to basically nothing more than jim’s love interest.

- okay another quick note, it kinda felt to me that krel’s potential was also pretty wasted? he barely did anything and i just think he deserved more too.

- ew okay i don’t even want to think about it but i know i can’t discuss rott without talking about the mpreg thing. seriously, what the fuck was that? at first, i thought it was going to be a joke. i thought aja and krel were gonna wind steve up and see how far they could go with making him think he was pregnant just for a little bit of comic relief. but then he was actually pregnant. and so i laughed, because even though it was dumb it was kind of funny. weird and unexpected, but kind of funny. but by the time the movie was over it just didn’t sit right with me. looking past the fact that it was just more of them making steve’s character into a joke, i couldn’t see the logic in giving so much time to that subplot when other characters (claire, douxie) and other relationships (claire and douxie’s friendship) were sidelined. maybe if he had gotten a whole season the mpreg thing could have been included as comic relief or whatever, but with such limited time i really don’t see the point of wasting so much time on something so pointless. 

- speaking of steve, i need to talk about creepslayerz... they really deserved more :( like i get that eli literally helped steve through child birth and then named one after him which was lowkey adorable but i loved their friendship so much and i was really hoping to see more of them. i was kind of hoping they’d get to do more as well. look i gave up on hopes of a romance long ago (even though i still really wished it would happen) but i hoped that at least we’d see some more of their friendship.

* by this point my brain has decided to forget absolutely every point i wanted to make... cue the brain fog (we don’t like her) and allow me to take a moment to read back and try to find my point again *

- i don’t think i can stress enough how much i loved the visuals in this movie. holy fucking shit it was just phenomenal. like wow. the art was absolutely fantastic and i’m really hoping for another the art of... book because i love the art of trollhunters and i feel that they could do with updating it to include the newer stuff. but yep, the animation quality was incredible and i don’t have a bad thing to say about it because just wow.

- speaking of art... a moment of appreciation for character designs. just wow wow wow. we love to see such intricately designed villains. we love to see growth in our other much loved characters. and the locations too? fantastic. beautiful. amazing. loved it.

- another moment of appreciation for jim. the hair. the scars. the injuries. the winter jacket. the fact that he looked a little older.... loved it. loved it, loved it, loved it. i cannot wait to spend hours pouring over reference pictures to draw them all.

- and claire... her armor being weathered and worn. her eyes!! her hair looked great as always. i just love her...

- nari nari nari... my goodness, her magic is so beautiful. i wish we got to see more.

- also, the jlaire moments were very cute. their kisses? so soft. they literally love each other so much. i adore them.

- what happened to the babies from the darklands btw? is not enrique just chilling in the lake’s house with a ton of babies? 

- barbara deserved better. i would have liked to see her and strickler happy.

- on that note, why the actual fuck did they think a few explosives would win against magic?? literal ancient magic and these dumbasses were like huh i guess we should blow it up. i’m sorry, what?? y’all are stupid.

* currently trying to think of every possible point that isn’t to do with the ending because i really don’t want to think about that yet *

- the whole thing with archie and charlemagne felt super unnecessary. like usually characters sacrifice themselves and it’s like sad and you can see the reasoning and stuff. but they literally could have gotten out. i really did not vibe with that. it felt like they just did that to leave douxie with no one.

- that trollmarket was beautiful though.

- speaking of trollmarket... they really restored the heartstone just like that? are you joking? i was not impressed at all. the heartstone was dead and gone, could not be destroyed. did they just forget that? half the shit in wizards wouldn’t have happened if the heartstone could have been restored. very pissed off by that. it was dead, that was it.

- okay back to jim... love that he pulled the sword from the stone. it was cute that it was a group effort, kinda would have preferred if it was just him but that’s just a me thing. and maybe me and my daylight tattoo are biased here, but excalibur is not half as pretty as daylight.

- not gonna lie, jim yelling come on trollhunters! kinda got me. i was very emotional watching this.

- i think the most in character jim moment of the whole movie was when he dropped excalibur, he didn’t have his armor, he was all alone and he decided to make a fist and fight the wizard/god with literally no weapon or means of defence. i don’t think y’all understand how much i love this dumb self sacrificing selfless boy. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, he is literally one of my most favourite characters of all time. i love him with all my heart.

- the armor!! wow wow wow. that was a fucking cool scene. beautiful.

- jim getting stabbed or whatever with that fucking spear thing nearly killed me.

- okay here goes... toby. my sweet toby. jim and toby’s friendship is one of my absolute favourites ever. my goodness. and toby getting in the van and going to save jim was incredible and such a toby thing to do. of course he would think of doing that.

- but like seriously... claire and douxie are so fucking powerful and they were both just like lol i guess we can’t do anything to help jim? i’m sorry what?? don’t tell me that claire wouldn’t go full on black and purple eyes and get herself up their to him. i just... i’m so bothered by the fact that they were sidelined y’all :|

- also, do not seriously try to tell me that aaarrrgghh!!! would let toby go on his own. he would have went with him. he would have followed him.

- literally as jim was falling the first thing that went through my mind was oh aaarrrgghh!!! is gonna run up and catch him.

- and while we’re on the topic of aaarrrgghh!!! why tf did they have such a build up that something was going to happen to either him or blinky for literally no reason? wtf

- aaarrrgghh!!! would not have let toby go alone!!! if he had been there, he would have protected toby, he would have saved him and none of that mess of an ending would have happened.

* ugh here’s the bit i was dreading... the ending *

- first off, i am choosing to ignore it.

- time stone? really? we’re... we’re gonna do this? literally one of the most original things i have ever watched is now - at the literal last possible minute - rip off another movie?? really?? whyyyy???

- i literally cannot express how much i hated it. it was so fucking unnecessary.

- he didn’t need to go back that far!!!

- i’m actually trying to block this out but i suppose i have to at least touch on it. jim would never ever put that burden on to toby. he just wouldn’t. before even looking at all of the other issues with toby getting the amulet, i need to say that. it just wouldn’t happen. he struggled so much with being the trollhunter, he wouldn’t put that on toby. 

- also toby literally never wanted to be the trollhunter?? he never wanted the amulet? he wanted to be a duke and have his war hammer and go on adventures with his best friend and his wingman and eat mexican food.

- okay so um i guess they all just forgot about unbecoming? cool cool cool.

- seriously though, was it not established many times that jim literally had to be trollhunter? and if he wasn’t it would be draal and everything would go to shit? did they just forget about that??

- having jim just decide to give toby the amulet literally takes away from the entire meaning behind jim getting the amulet and becoming the trollhunter. the amulet chose jim. merlin chose him. out of all of the creatures in the world, it had to be jim. he can’t just give that to toby!!

- and as much as i love toby, he would not last a day as trollhunter.

- and that’s not even beginning to mention all that jim erased by not becoming trollhunter. no father son relationship between him and blinky. they didn’t stop steve from picking on eli so no steve redemption and no creepslayerz. is he just going to allow enrique to be taken? toby will not have the same incentive to go into the darklands to save him if that’s the case. strickler will not show any sort of sentiment towards toby either. and then the big one...

- IS THAT FUCKER REALLY GOING TO ALLOW CLAIRE TO NOT GET HER POWERS??? WHAT???

- if jim isn’t trollhunter and the whole thing with enrique doesn’t happen then claire will never get her shadowstaff. let’s be real, strickler probably wouldn’t even need angor rot with toby as trollhunter. somehow i can’t see him making it that far...

- if claire doesn’t have her shadow staff then the whole thing with morgana won’t happen. she won’t destroy the shadow staff and then she will never develop her powers. would jim really rob her of that?

- okay i can’t do anymore, it’s too much for me now...

- i touched on this already in a separate post but i gotta say it again... i did not enjoy the destiny is a gift bit at the end. first of all, jim having toby find the amulet literally takes the meaning of that speech and his destiny away instanty. and second, i just could not stand hearing emile hirsch say the words that belonged to anton yelchin. it was just uncomfortable.

aaand i think i’m done. maybe i’ll have more later but i have a headache now from all of this.

[takaraphoenix]

Another thing about the comics is that... I have never felt this poly-baited before in my life.

Many love triangles give off big “this would be better poly” vibes to me and I end up shipping them as an OT3 instead. But very rarely do they feel like the writers themselves are two seconds from coming to that same conclusion; most feel more unintentional in the vibes they give off.

But the BtVS comics very much felt as though they were deliberately setting Angel/Spike/Buffy up to become canon. And I’m saying that as someone who doesn’t ship that. I only ship one of these three angles, so I can’t even say that this is personal shipper bias making me see things.

First, we have season 8 making Buffy and Angel actual soulmates. Which feels like the kind o thing that, I don’t know, should have a real pay-off.

Then, we have Buffy and Spike being the central romantic relationship of the comic run, being canon for two whole seasons, with Spike being her primary love interest in the comic continuity and the comics really fleshing out their romantic relationship.

And then there is the third angle. The Angel and Spike angle.

For one, the comics actually did just randomly confirm that Angel/Spike had a thing at one point in the past. Completely unprompted. There was no need to put that in there, but it sure would have worked as a good foundation for yes, they do have a sexual history with each other too. There was something once; under the right circumstances and maybe with the right ignition (-> their shared love for Buffy), who’s to say there couldn’t be something again?

And, outside of the Spuffy moments, one of my favorite moments was when Angel was losing himself and Spike was the only one to ground him. Spike. Of all people. Him, getting Angel back by calling him Liam, by going back into Angel’s past and using Angel’s abusive father to redirect Angel’s anger. That was... such an incredibly vulnerable moment for Angel and it also gave insight into just how well Spike knows him. And I do think that, throughout the comics, their relationship grew a lot and they became much more grown-up and less dick-measuring-contest brats around each other.

Seeing Spike, Angel and Buffy fight side by side and rely on each other so incredibly fluently was actually fascinating.

Another huge aspect was how... Buffy... kept fantasizing about them. For one, when we see her go into her dreamscape with Ethan and she sees herself in the nurse outfit with Spike on her one side and Angel at her other side.

(It feels wrong to say that and not provide a visual.)

But there was also a whole tiny mini comic that was just Buffy dreaming about Angel and Spike making out with each other. Which goes beyond the her wanting them both for herself, but also her subconsciousness thinking about them together.

And lastly, and the biggest reason why it felt not just poly-baity but like they genuinely wanted to go there: Harmony.

Harmony Kendall, who continued to be the biggest Angel/Buffy/Spike shipper in universe. She brought up polyamory by name repeatedly. At one point, she got the freaking book that could alter reality into her hands and aside from many selfish wishes, she literally wanted to give Buffy the “ultimate” happy ending in having Angel/Buffy/Spike be a happily married triad.

One time’s a joke. But if you continuously keep bringing up “hey actually polyamory is a thing” then it starts to sound less like a joke and more like foreshadowing. Because her bringing it up started to feel more and more like the way Willow and Dawn and Dowling kept bringing up Spuffy around either Spike or Buffy during s9 and early s10; just before Spuffy actually became canon.

Love triangles always present two possible ship outcomes and the oh-so dramatic either/or question. But those are not actually the only options.

The comics went with the third option of just... not... making anything endgame at all, which might just be the most frustrating approach to this. But they really had the opportunity and, quite frankly, the set-up to go poly.

(I’m not saying Angel and Spike would have just... immediately fallen in love or anything. But if nothing else, their shared love for Buffy would have made them willing to give it a try.)

[yeolmae-s]

a chanbaek analysis from a veteran exo-l

before anything else there are a few disclaimers i'd like to make:

i am writing this analysis right now because as a non exo stan i'm not into chanbaek that much anymore. of course i like them to some degree since i'm writing this and all but it's nothing in comparison to the way i felt about them two years ago. so i feel like it's easier to keep a less clouded (?) state of mind being where i'm at right now, mentally, in regards to them. i feel like i can look at things more objectively, which is why i decided to write this and share it with you all.

for all the smart asses out there, this is a ship analysis. yes, i’m reading too much into everything. that’s what an analysis is.

all translation credits goes to @/fyeah-chanyeol

i'm a chanyeol stan. this analysis will, most likely, have more information about him in comparison to baekhyun. this is simply because i consumed more content about him since he's my bias (such as magazine interviews, fancams).

i don't stan exo anymore, but it's not because of anything they did. i liked them for a long time and made a lot of different friends because of this fandom, therefore i experienced a lot of hurt, scandals, fights and didn't deal very well with many things, so i decided to leave. this didn't happen because of exo themselves and neither did it happen because of the fandom itself. it happened because of the relationships i had.

that being said, i haven't been following them closely for the past year and a half, but i still keep up with stuff a bit, although not chanbaek related stuff since i gotta dive in kinda deeper for that lmao. so this analysis is mostly in depth for 2012-2018. if anything that you perceive as significant happened after 2018 i'm more than willing to hear your opinions about it.

so, let's get started!!

MAMA ERA

I have always felt like Chanyeol and Baekhyun's relationship was strange. I started shipping them when they debuted and more specifically because of the 130128 ISAC. When I was younger I didn't see a lot to discuss in their ISAC interactions besides it being cute and shippy, but I've started to look at it differently now.

I think everyone knows how ISAC is known for being basically a stage for fanservice. The whole "dating ground for idols" issue aside, judging from the amount of attention they direct towards the fans who manage to attend the event, idols are clearly instructed to perform fanservice. EXO's first ISAC had to be full of it, obviously, and they did give fans a lot to be happy about, content we still get giddy about to this day, and I'm sure they were instructed to act like this to please us. I don't believe that fanservice equals "false interactions": if two individuals are talking, touching each other, they are interacting, even if it is a carefully planned setting made specifically for pleasing fans. They still get reactions out of one another through these interactions, it is still relevant to the way these people's relationship will develop; even though these acts are done with the intent of pleasing a crowd.

Don't get me wrong, though. I don't think the 2013 ISAC fanservice changed anything in Chanbaek's relationship. In fact, I just want to use it as a way to illustrate something I will explain later on.

To be remembered in an industry you must have an image. You won't be getting anywhere without a carefully constructed visual image. Marilyn Monroe is always used as an example of this: she's someone you can easily make a costume of and people will instantly recognize it as her. She's basically a concept by now: blonde hair, red lips and white hair. These aspects take our mind back to her instantly. Of course, most celebrities don't achieve this type of icon status, but it is still important to cling to a specific concept/image of what you want your celebrity self to be perceived as. Without this, you'll be forgotten as soon as your career ends.

When Chanyeol debuted, he clung to the first trait they gave him: being a happy person, a.k.a "happy virus". If you were not an EXO fan back in 2013 then it's likely you're not even aware of this nickname that was given to him, but it's basically just what it sounds like (lol). He was bright, energetic, had a "teeth rich" smile (another nickname that was given to him back then), was able to give 10/10 laughter reactions to MCs and to his members jokes, was always enthusiastic to interact and smile towards fans. He even introduced himself as "happy virus Chanyeol" in interviews (and later on that changed to "EXO's voice Chanyeol" or "EXO's rapper Chanyeol").

I feel like Chanyeol was very much aware of this "must have" that I mentioned, this need to have an image pasted into yourself and have that image be what people will remember you as. We're all complex and multifaceted individuals, but the general public needs something simple to grab on to, something easy to remember. That happy guy from EXO? I know who he is! I'm sure this is the path Chanyeol chose, back when he debuted: to pick a trait given to you by the public and make it a huge part of your image.

However, that image of him didn't last very long. It certainly became tiring to worry so much about how he was being perceived, to carefully construct something so his career would last, specially when his group had so many scandals and went through a sudden burst of popularity that changed their lives completely. By 2017, Chanyeol already had a change of mind in relation to his career, these changes being mostly due to how he felt about music and what he wanted to do with it.

He recognized himself as having always being impatient, which might be the reason why he clung to a specific image so fast right after debuting:

From Fall Magazine in 2017

"At the moment I just want to enjoy myself with the music as it comes, without feeling as though I have to do something. It isn’t a greed from impatience, I could call it more of a greed to do better."

"When I first debuted I thought I was very optimistic, but as time has passed I think a more reserved side of me is showing."

"I think I've grown in many ways. Maybe it’s because it’s as though I perform everyday, but the stage has become comfortable for me. Shall we say I’ve become more calm and composed? [...] I think I’ve become more mature."

He matured. He's still bright and energetic but he's also more reserved. He managed to keep up the fanservice that his fans adore in a way that is more fitting to his actual personality. It still is an image, but an image that's not as exhausting as his previous one, with its strict demands to act in a certain way all the time. I remember specific interview with MCs demanding him to smile (although jokingly, of course) saying things like "Aren't you EXO's happy virus?", so I'm sure he felt pressured.

This is interesting to think about when put side by side with his relationship with Baekhyun. Back when they debuted, Chanyeol and Baekhyun were close friends that clearly felt comfortable with each other, and it isn't surprising to think that Baekhyun would be Chanyeol's first pick when he thought about doing fanservice with someone. Of course, I can't exactly pinpoint their first fanservice moment since I'm not a walking EXO encyclopedia anymore, but I can say with certainty that both of them felt like it worked as soon as they first tried it with the fans, and that's the reason why they kept doing it. Conveniently, they were both good friends, so all was good.

Until well, it wasn't.

At some point, Chanyeol's interactions with Baekhyun seemed too eager for Baekhyun himself. There are various moments where this is visible, such as this one:

Why are you grabbing my wrist out of nowhere young man........

Or...

That one pic where Jongdae, who was in front of them, looked so damn uncomfortable I can't even bring myself to google it

Of course, they had some over the top fanservice that did work out pretty well, such as this one, both of them imitating Jonghyun's and Taemin's Internet War stage, which seems a little scripted now that I look at it properly, with Baekhyun seemingly expecting Chanyeol to do whatever it is that he did on that day. (Can you imagine this: both of them backstage, watching Jonghyun's and Taemin's performance in silence, and one of them just blurts out "We should do that too!". What the fuck was going on)

By the way, if you have never seen the original Internet War performance, you can watch it here.

This is what they were imitating.

Tumblr won’t let me upload the gifs for this moment for some reason, so here and here.

You can't tell me Baekhyun wasn't expecting it already, lol.

Now, know what this moment reminds me of? ISAC. On their Internet War imitation moment, Baekhyun seemed fine, playful, even, agreeing. During ISAC, however, doing basically the same thing again (this time on a lighter way even; since they weren't, you know. Imitating a strong performance such as Internet War.), he appears reluctant. It's a bit painful to watch.

What changed? The ISAC event happened a few months after the SMTOWN concert where they did the Internet War thing, so what made things become so different?

If this has enough likes I’ll make a second part!

[stingyslegslookweird]

Curvier - a short essay-type thing

Okay, it's been 11 years, I have to share a theory. I'm fully aware that basically no one who currently follows me and/or pays attention to the things I post about will understand anything I'm about to say, but tbh I've put way too much into this to really care.

Anyway, you guys ever heard of TOME? :D

If not, it's this neat little 15-episode (technically 16 if you count /FILE:ZERO, 25 if you also count the Season 1 shorts, and 26 if you count all of those plus AvZ, the 5-year anniversary short) animated web series about two teenagers, an imp, a dragon-man, and a [REDACTED] who get together and fight criminals in VRchat.

Jokes aside, it's really good and you can watch it here. Seriously, go do that. It's so damn good. Today's the 11th anniversary, you literally have no excuse. At least watch episode one, otherwise the rest of this post will make absolutely no sense beyond the most surface-level of details.

Okay, done? You've watched Episode 1? Good, good. So...

In the first episode, specifically around 3:06, Nylocke pronounces Kirb's username wrong, to which he replies "It's Kirbopher. It's like Christopher except curvier." But... it isn't, though, is it? Merriam-Webster Dictionary (the most official dictionary, as we all know) defines a curve as "to have or take a turn, change, or deviation from a straight line or plane surface without sharp breaks or angularity", its synonyms including bend, curvature, arc, bow, and crook. Basically, any circle, half-circle, quarter-circle, oval, etc.

To be fair, assuming the onscreen textboxes are actually a "thing" in TOME itself, as opposed to a visual effect only used to tell the story, one could claim that the font Kirb's player uses is rather curvy itself (and they'd be right), but is it curvier?

After checking Google, I quickly found a list of every font used in the show, gathered in this here Google Doc by one unicornfoal (their username didn't pop up in the menu thing when I tried to @ them so idk if they still go by that), which tells us that the font Kirb uses is "Spicy Sushi Roll".

With the font determined, we can compare the curviness of the names. To do this, I typed each of them out in a word document, took a screenshot, and pasted it into my photo-editing software of choice. There, I created this handy diagram detailing every curve in the letters, in addition to offering brief definitions of my terminology and method for determining what counts as a curve.

Also, as an aside, I'm really proud of how this turned out, especially with the lines and colors and the grid in the background. Like... man. Not to suck myself off or anything, but holy hell am I good at this.

Anyway, as you can see, the name "Kirbopher" has 7 inner (convex) curves and 8 outer (concave) curves, adding up to a total of 15 curves, which, assuming I'm correct about all this, had to be intentional. "Christopher", on the other hand, has 10 inner curves and 11 outer curves, which adds up to 21 total curves. Therefore, "Kirbopher" is not only not "like Christopher except curvier", but is in fact less curvy. This revelation, while shocking, isn't my final point. No, no. Because this rabbit hole goes deeper, dear reader. First, though, we must talk about parallel universes a long-defunct 2000s internet forum.

Long before TOME was a 15-episode web series, its world and characters were conceptualized in a 70-something long series of sprite animations on Newgrounds, known as TvTome Adventures, or TTA for short. Based on the forums of the TvTome website, which now redirects to tv.com, the series featured characters based largely on the forum's users, including one white sword-wielding marshmallow-thing by the name of Kirbopher15, pictured below.

Yeah. That's... more or less Kirby in a hat. Somewhat Kirby-like. Kirbyish? Though, to be fair, it could probably be... kirbyer?

And that's where my theory kicks in. Buckle your fuckle because this is gonna blow your damn mind.

What if, and hear me out here, the original line wasn't "curvier", but instead "kirbyer", as in "more Kirby"? It'd certainly make more sense, seeing as, one, the character was originally just a Kirby recolor in a hat, and two, the name Kirbopher is literally just "Christopher" but with "Chris" replaced with "Kirby", minus the y.

Why was it changed, then? Seeing as it's so early on in the show, which has been stated to have had somewhat of a rough production, almost not making it past four episodes, it could be out of concern over copyrights, trademarks, or other legal issues possibly arising, were the show to be, say, picked up by a TV network or something. Even though Kirby is an actual name that real people have, when you factor in the character's previous incarnation, it could definitely be taken to mean the Nintendo character, instead of a regular person's name.

Oh, and one more thing. Tumblr, being very art-driven by design, is home to tons and tons of artists, writers, voice actors, etc., both amateur and professional. Plus, because Tumblr lets you @ blogs you know the names of, someone with an insane theory about a single throwaway line of dialogue in an episode of a somewhat niche web animation could, say... @ the creator of said animation, assuming they're on tumblr in the first place, and ask if they're correct in their long-winded assertions, or are simply talking out of their ass. So, with that in mind...

@kirbopher How'd I do?

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

#5: The One With Astruc's Self-Insert

In my introductory post, I said the main inspiration for this blog was @hypocrisyofandrewdobson​. For those who don't know, Andrew Dobson is an infamous webcomic artist known for drawing webcomics that tend to demonize people he's come across in public or people who disagree with him online (either critical of his art or his political views), while portraying himself as the victim or wise man calling them out on their differing beliefs.

If you want to learn more about this guy who I consider to be far worse than Astruc, check out the blog in question. And no, I don't know why he draws himself as a blue bear.

Why am I talking about this? It's one thing for some schmuck on the internet to use his work to respond to criticism, but the creator of a popular animated series dedicating an entire episode to attacking his critics and trying to get others to feel bad for him is another story.

The second episode of Miraculous Ladybug's third season, “Animaestro” served as a wake-up call for fans (myself included) to make them realize how immature Astruc could be. The plot centers around the premiere of a movie about Ladybug and Cat Noir directed by Thomas Astruc, who voices himself in the original French dub.

And this isn't just a brief cameo like what Stan Lee did in the MCU. Astruc is the Akumatized person this episode, so there's naturally a lot of focus on him. Throughout the first half of the episode, Astruc portrays himself as this timid man who nobody recognizes or respects, like this idiot who doesn't know what animation is.

Doorman: This is a private event, sir.

Astruc: Huh? Excuse me? I'm Thomas Astruc, the movie director.

Doorman: You filmed Cat Noir and Ladybug? What are they like in real life?

Astruc: Er, it's an animated movie. It's all cartoon characters. We don't actually film anyone. See, there's this whole team that draw the chara—

Doorman: Whatever. Who would want to see Ladybug and Cat Noir as cartoon characters?

Get it? Wasn't that meta joke hilarious? This is how much I was laughing:

And Astruc continues to get about as much respect as Rodney Dangerfield when he interacts with other characters like Jagged Stone and Chloe.

Jagged Stone: Ladybug is one of my best buds! I can't wait to see her movie!

Astruc: Well I—I'm the director, so actually it's more my movie, so to speak.

Jagged Stone: Oh, so you're the one who created the story?

Astruc: Well, technically the screen writers wrote the story, inspired by Ladybug's exploits.

Jagged Stone: Oh, okay. So you did all the drawings?

Thomas: No, no. The animators do all the drawings.  

Jagged Stone: So what do you do then?

(Later on...)

Chloe: So you're the one responsible for this movie?

Astruc: Yes, yes! Exactly! That's me!

Chloe: Then you were the one who left Queen Bee out of the trailer. You're lame, utterly lame.

I can't believe Astruc had a scene where he interacted with Chloe and didn't insult her at all.

The episode is determined to make the audience feel bad for Astruc. Nobody respects him and what he does. Isn't that saaaaaad? Nobody cares about animated film directors like Walt Disney or Tex Avery anyway. Not even these stupid children understand how hard Astruc works.

Several Children: Ladybug! Where's Ladybug?

Astruc: Hey there, kids!

Teacher: Ladybug isn't here children. We came here to meet the director of the movie. Children: (frowning in disappointment) Aww.

(Astruc looks visibly disappointed.)

Way to insult your primary demographic, Astruc. I thought you said kids have a better understanding of these stories when people criticized the writing of a certain episode (It's that scene in “Puppeteer 2” if you're curious/don't value your sanity).

It's almost like you're using that as an excuse to half-ass your work while still getting to claim this show is so groundbreaking.

In case you can't tell, “Animaestro” is one of those episodes. The ones where the showrunners decide to dedicate an entire episode to attacking critics of the show in a blunt fashion. Whenever a show addresses criticism, they either create an obvious strawman character to parrot the opinions of fans who don't like their work, or have someone defend the show and insult the critics directly.

The problem isn't that they're ignoring criticism. It's their show, and they aren't obligated to listen to critics or fans who don't like the direction the show is taking. On the other hand, they aren't obligated to fight back like this and treat their audience like crap. Any show that does something like the three clips I showed you usually comes off as petty and immature because they dedicate so much time to insulting the critics. 

Even during the Akuma fight, Astruc has to call out Ladybug for having problems with his movie in-universe, obviously representing critics of the show Astruc claims have no right to criticize the show while it's still airing.

Ladybug: What's with that trailer too? I am not scared of cats, at all.

Astruc/Animaestro: You haven't even seen the movie and you're already slamming it?

Cat Noir: He does have a point, you know.

Ladybug: I wasn't slamming it. It's called constructive criticism!

Yeah, how dare Ladybug be angry that this movie is portraying her as a powerless coward dependent on Cat Noir as opposed to a confident and brave superhero. She just doesn't understand the genius of Thomas Astruc!

And of course the character Astruc claims is “perfect” is the one to take his side.

And that's another problem with this episode, the metatextual references. Before he gets akumatized, Astuc says he spent three years of his life working on his movie. I get that time in this show is weird (we somehow had episodes taking place on the first day of school, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and the first day of Summer), but how did Astruc's self-insert work on a movie based on a superhero who has only been active for a year? Meta-wise, it's an obvious reference to the scorn Astruc has gotten from fans after working so hard on his show, but the only people who would get that reference are the ones who are aware of Astruc's reputation online.

Self-Insert aside, I actually think the titular Animaestro is one of the more visually impressive Akumas featured on the show. Animaestro takes on several forms based off several different forms and eras of animation, like flash, anime, rubber hose, and they all stand out. Granted, some of them are obvious parodies of other characters like Goku or Sailor Moon, but the actual Akuma fight is fun to watch. According to the Mexican Miraculous Ladybug Twitter account, this episode took two and a half years to create, and it shows. It's too bad the story behind it is completely insufferable, almost like the cartoon equidistant to Pixels.

But then comes the part that honestly makes the episode worth it, mainly for how unintentionally hilarious it is. Do you want to know what Animaestro's weakness is? Do you really want to know?

Animaestro is physically incapable of moving unless someone is watching him. I am not making this up.

Ladybug and Cat Noir literally defeat Animaestro by getting everyone to stop paying attention to him.

I could make so many jokes with this, but I can guarantee you're already thinking of something just as good, if not better, than whatever I write.

And there's the end where Astruc gives Marinette his ticket to the movie, which prompts Marinette to kiss up to him for no real reason.

Astruc: Sorry, I guess you don't know who I am either.

Marinette: Of course do. You're Thomas Astruc, the movie director!

Astruc: She recognized me. Somebody actually recognized me!

Nothing happened to make her change her opinion on the Ladybug movie, she didn't really say anything to him earlier in the episode that connects to this exchange, and outside of a few lines Animaestro said, she doesn't even know why he got akumatized (even though ironically she and Chloe accidentally contributed to it because of the awful subplot involving Kagami I talked about last time). If anything, it comes off less like she actually appreciates Astruc's work, and more like she's stroking his ego just to keep him from getting akumatized again.

So yeah, this episode is awful, and the fact that it came out right after the controversial “Chameleon” only proved to show what kind of direction the show was taking this season.

But honestly, even if Astruc still wanted to make about how he doesn't get enough respect the episode could have potentially. All he had to do was make a simple change: Instead of making it about validation for Astruc as a creator, make it about validation for animation in general.

It's a common misconception that animation is only used for shows and movies aimed at children, so the episode could reflect it. Instead of the huge turnout where several celebrities appear at the premiere, instead, the turnout could be a lot smaller, with the media dismissing it as some stupid kiddie flick. Instead of getting akumatized because he gets humiliated in public/getting no respect from anyone else, Astruc gets akumatized because he sees the audience didn't go wild for the movie after the premiere. All he can hear them say is that it's just “kids stuff”.

So when Astruc is Animaestro, he goes on about how important animation is. How it's helped produce propaganda since World War II. How it helped improve special effects in big blockbusters. How the medium is used to create movies that simply can't be filmed on a physical set.

After defeating Animaestro, Ladybug shows up to talk to him. She had seen the movie earlier, and actually enjoyed it. She had a few problems with the story, but they were just minor nitpicks and inaccuracies Astruc wouldn't know about, and she was blown away by the animation. She tells Astruc not to be deterred by his critics, and continue to do what he does. As a designer in her civilian life, Ladybug knows the joy creating brings her, and both she and Astruc want to spread that joy through their work.

Back at the premiere, Astruc thinks about what Ladybug said to him when he sees some kids reenacting a scene from the movie. Astruc walks over to them and asks what they thought of the movie. They said they loved it and how energetic it was. When he tells them he is the director, the kids' faces light up and they say they want to do what he does when they grow up, bringing a smile to Astruc's face.

Isn't that a much more humble approach instead of what we got? It would have helped Astruc come across as more sympathetic, especially with animation fans. But instead, we got an entire episode of Astruc whining about how misunderstood he is.

And you know the footage used for the movie at the beginning? Remember that, because I have a huge rant about it saved for a later post.

For now, here’s an example of a creator appearing in his work done right.

[sparrowsabre7]

Black Adam Review

Much like “Aquaman” before it, “Black Adam” manages to be a thoroughly mediocre movie, elevated by some really nice visuals and solid action sequences. Unfortunately, it suffers from being considerably more derivative than the King of Atlantis’s film, but does boast stronger performances from its cast, with one major exception. 

I’ll start off by saying I have the most cursory knowledge of most of the characters in this film. Besides the fact Black Adam is Bad Shazam (Captain Marvel as was) and what we get in the “Injustice” games, I know next to nothing about him. Nonetheless, he is portrayed with some competence by Dwayne Johnson here, who I think manages to avoid just playing “The Rock”, an unfair criticism levelled at this film by many. Without wishing to over-praise, he does bring a sense of sobriety to the role and while his delivery is deliberately archaic, Johnson manages to make it work without feeling too silly. Sarah Shahi plays Adrianna Tomaz  (who I only realised on reading the cast list was based on “Isis” from the comics, the same source as Zari from “Legends of Tomorrow”) with plenty of pathos as the female lead and makes for a sympathetic but tough character, without devolving into action girl or damsel clichés. 

Aldis Hodge and Pierce Brosnan also bring a great deal of life into their respective characters. Frankly it’s mad that Brosnan has rarely been used in the Obi-Wan mentor role before, he sells it here incredibly well as a time-worn and world-weary Doctor Fate. His suit is also a visual treat, looking deliberately over-CGI’d to evoke an otherworldly quality that makes sense for the character. Hodge similarly manages to make Hawkman’s stick-up-his-ass dogma still feel earnest enough to avoid coming off like a complete dick. They are the glue holding the Justice Society together, which is a good thing because the other two members barely contribute to the plot or action scenes at all. Indeed one of them is a negative influence. 

Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone is a breath of fresh air, and despite very VERY minimal screen time or plot purpose manages to light up the scene whenever she’s on screen. A talented and charismatic actor who deserves more time to shine. On the other, deeply unfunny hand, is Noah Centineo, whose role as Atom Smasher fails to excite any kind of emotion other than irritation. His role is reduced to comic relief and flirting with Cyclone with zero payoff. His super suit also has a Deadpool mask that’s painted blue. I say that without exaggeration, it’s not just similar, it literally has the black diamonds where Deadpool’s eyes go, it’s just all blue. He doesn’t do anything cool action wise and all of his jokes fall flat.

That’s sadly not something reserved for Atom Smasher though. Pretty much every attempt at humour in the film, with maybe one or two exceptions based on Teth-Adam’s flippant attitude towards murder, dies on its arse. It’s common for people to mock “millennial humour” and MCU movies use of it these days, but I can safely say this film is the only one where I’ve seen these stereotypes actually be true. It’s all so awkward or out of place, or just incredibly tired. It’s one of the few things I genuinely disliked about the movie. 

Back to positives, I do enjoy that it manages to gently caress the idea of superheroes being concerned with predominantly white, “first world” problems, as opposed to actually fighting for injustice worldwide. It’s mostly paid lip service without being dug into, but it manages to touch on a subject many other comic book films would be reluctant to. Equally the notion of the citizens being the heroes, not the superpowered beings does work for me here, albeit another overly used trope. Indeed much of this movie is painfully derivative: Doctor Fate fights very similarly to Doctor Strange, Black Adam fights like a Man of Steel Kryptonian, and the big bad is the laziest most generic looking demon I’ve seen in my life. All that aside, the action sequences are still a lot of fun. There’s not been enough lately of heroes just going ham on each other, even in the actual “Man of Steel” so to have so much of the run time taken up with Black Adam pinging about the place zapping and smacking baddies makes for an entertaining romp. It’s also fun to see action sequences set to songs once in a while. I know “Guardians” and more recently the two Taika “Thors” did it too, but there’s something about the way it’s done here that feels so delightfully 00′s that it transported me back to that time when super hero movies were a rarity. Back then a film like this would have blown people’s tits off, as it stands it’s a decent enough Sunday afternoon film. Forgettable but fun.

[whentheynameyoujoy]

So the ATLA Movie Is... Good, Actually?

Just kidding, of course it’s not, it’s so bad it sucked the paint off my walls. But after ten years of people pointing out its glaring flaws, why would anyone bother talking about this garbage heap if not to go the other direction? So here’s a very brief and very superficial list of things the movie does get kinda... not atrociously wrong.

And they won’t be fake hipster pokes, like “It’s fun to laugh at”, “The Rifftrax for this is OK”, or “Kudos to the actress for managing to say we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs with a straight face”.

(though now that I mentioned it, it is fun to laugh at, the Rifftrax for this is OK, and massive props indeed.)

Rasta Iroh

Yes, I know it’s not exactly the aesthetic of the real Iroh or that it makes no cultural sense for him to sport this do when no one else in the racebended Indian “OMFG what were you thinking Shyamalan” Nation does but goddamn, long-haired dudes are my one mortal weakness and I will ogle the hell out of him.

Jesus is that a man bun I see that’s it mum I’ve been deaded

Yue’s hair

No.

Now we’re talking. Yue’s hair turned white when the Moon spirit gave her life, so it makes sense for it to go black again when she sacrifices herself to revive the koi fish. It’s a neat detail I find myself expecting whenever I rewatch the scene in the show. Yes, I realize it’d be a pointless hassle to animate since she, unlike in the movie, immediately goes on to become the Moon herself but still. I like.

The Blue Spirit’s mop

Zuko, hun, what’s with the dance-off?

First of all, I want to imagine that Zuko the Theatre Nerd was about to leave his ship with just the mask like in the show but then stuck his head into the cleaning cupboard and went, “Yeah, more coverage might be good, even though it do seem mighty fried to shit”.

Which makes me giggle. I like to giggle.

And secondly, the hair’s movement is what makes the static mess of the Blue Spirit’s solo fight scene appear at least bit more dynamic because God knows the cinematography isn’t doing it.

Any particular reason why it’s at the edge of the action, shot all boring-like?

Now, I get why circular shots would be reserved for Aang while he’s in the practice area and then used once the two join forces. What I don’t get is why Aang’s part of the action scene has a defined visual style while Zuko’s delegated to a few stationary wide shots from afar as though he’s a tertiary goon, meaning that when the time comes to combine the respective pieces of cinema language and visually convey collaboration, there’s not really much to combine.

But as long as Zuko is stuck in this static mess, it’s that awesome disaster on his head flopping about that draws the eye, helping me understand that something even is going on over there.

It also prevents me from paying much attention to how the extras are mostly just staying put and a lot of the hits don’t land, so that’s good.

The music slaps

James Newton Howard is too good for this.

Pls ignore that the word “gods” is used in the ATLA universe

I can’t be the only one who constantly uses this piece to daydream about writing specific fanfic scenes instead of, you know, actually sitting down and writing them. It’s just so good at communicating a sense of sorrow while speaking of rebirth that I find myself getting misty-eyed whenever I listen to it. Unfailingly, the soundtrack as a whole manages to break through the mile-thick crust of horrible acting, confusing writing, and uninspired cinematography and make me feel things. And considering how everything on screen is working against it, that’s no small feat.

Imagine what a powerful experience it would be if the score was used in service of an actual movie.

Dev Patel

No wonder since he’s the only one in the film occupying that crucial intersection between “is a good actor” and “was given something to work with”. It also doesn’t hurt that he breaks with the trend of actors starring in martial arts flicks despite never having done any martial art.

And all EIP-jokes about “stiff and humorless” aside, he’s a pretty decent Zuko considering how abridged this version of the character is. A while ago, I remember hearing a reviewer say that with his comedic chops, Patel should have been cast as Sokka. And on one hand, yes, god, absolutely, I need to see that asap. But on the other? He captures all layers of Book 1!Zuko, the desperate obsession, rage, and self-loathing, and at the same time gives you a peek at the soft momma’s boy dork that’s buried underneath. For Christ sakes, he exudes intensity and ambivalence even when acting against an emotionless hunk of wood that’s giving him nothing in return.

Oh, and I guess there’s a tree in the frame.

Ba dum tss

What can I say, the guy’s good.

Showing vs telling

OK, so this movie is all tell and no show, except for one single moment. And it’s the exact moment where the original goes in the other direction in terms of how information is conveyed.

See, I never liked this. The revelation is preceded by Iroh giving advice to Zuko who scolds him for nagging. Iroh then apologizes, moves in to say the line above, and is interrupted by Zuko who seems rather uncomfortable with Iroh laying his feelings out like this. And once they’re out, Zuko verbally confirms that he knew already and Iroh didn’t need to bother.

All this extraneous information and pussyfooting ends up weakening what should be a profound scene that reveals to us, the viewers, how deep the relationship between these two in fact runs.

Compare to the movie where Dadroh acts like a parent by fussing and worrying, with Sonion needing a single look to tell him and us that he understands what it’s all really about.

It’s genuinely efficient and just good.

No Cataang

Fine, a bit mean-girl bitchy from me since I only start minding the ship in Book 3. And probably unintentional on the part of the creators since there are moments where I think they’re trying to set the romance up? There’s a, well, an attempt to recreate the famous introductory shot of fateful meaningful destiny of meaningness, there’s some slight note of saving each other’s bacon going on, I’m pretty sure they’re the only ones in the film who smile, and oh, right, Katara’s shoved into her post-canon useless role where she doesn’t ever do anything, and is all about Aang right from the get go.

Yes, I will blame the “executive producers” because a) I’m incredibly petty, and b) it’s perfectly in line with their vision of the character so why the hell not.

Hilariously, none of it reads on screen because the actors are just... yeah. These poor kids are struggling so much with delivering their own lines and portraying their own characters they don’t seem to have any strength left to create something between them. To be fair, the bare-bones shot-reverse shot style of their scenes doesn’t exactly lend itself to the idea they occupy the same universe, let alone are friends or each other’s crushes.

And I enjoy this immensely because it allows me to forget the depressing horror show Katara’s life turns into post ATLA.

Yes Zutara

I need to delve into this because it’s fucking hilarious. So in a movie which fails to establish the original’s central romance so spectacularly that if Aang got lost in a crowd I don’t believe Katara would notice, SomEOnE thought it’d be a good idea to add an utterly unnecessary non-canon moment where Zuko for some reason feels the need to pause his character-defining hunt for the Avatar which otherwise has him ignore everything and snap at everyone, and explain his central conflict to an unconscious peasant he doesn’t know, complete with gently pushing the hair from the pretty girl’s the soulmate’s the Water Tribe Ambassador’s the Fire Lady’s the love of his life’s her face away, AFTER his uncle nagged him twice to find a girl and settle down.

I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page and this is what we really saw.

Celibate Avatars

I have no idea why the decision was made, if TPTB thought expecting viewers to understand the story through the lens of Buddhism would be too much, or if the “executive producers” already worked their retconny magic. What I do know, however, is that there’s a big shift in worldbuilding and Aang’s struggle with his role as the Avatar stops being a personal conflict defined by a) his grief for Air Nomads, b) his notion of being robbed of the loved ones in his life, and c) the selfish attachment to Katara he confuses with true love. Instead, what he has a difficulty to accept is apparently a general notion of who Avatars are supposed to be, i.e. a fantasy version of Catholic monks, no family and worldly relations, period.

I guess either someone understood the original’s portrayal of de/attachment as “hermit no freaky”, or thought the audience would so why not go there outright.

Now, do I like this on its own? No, God no, it makes the world infinitely poorer and changes the story from an exploration of ideas which aren’t all that ingrained in the West, to a cliché tropester about a Catholic priest going Protestant so that he could be with a girl.

At least I assume that’s where they were going to take this eventually.

I mean, I think the direction was “look conflicted, this isn’t the final stage of your journey”?

But consider this—the show went there, it built on the concepts of Eastern philosophy and touched upon the ideas of spiritual awakening, only to swerve in the end and strongly imply they’re bullshit and Aang should have never wasted his time with them.

So honestly, I much prefer scanty worldbuilding to an insulting retcon by a damn rock.

Multiracial Air Nomads

Probably the most substantial “no hint of irony” point on this list and a genuinely good addition to the universe’s worldbuilding.

See, the notion of the elemental nations being perfectly separate and never mingling before Sozin has always been sketchy but it’s especially ridiculous in the case of airbenders. It never made sense to me for all airbenders to be Air Nomads and for all Air Nomads to be monks and for all monks to be chilling at the temples all the time to facilitate a quick everyone-dies genocide should an imperialistic warlord ever decide to commit one.

Because committing everyone to a single way of life at a handful of places kinda goes against the central philosophy behind airbending. Like the freedom and nomadism part.

Instead, there should be more variety to the airbending culture, with some staying at the temples as monks, hermits, and teachers while others live as nomads, travelling the world and creating more airbenders, with the resulting children in turn being influenced by the non-airbending cultures they grew up in.

And thus, not only should airbenders not be modeled after a single culture to create a one-size-fits-all lifestyle, but they should have the most diverse and dynamic culture out of the four nations.

And it’d be precisely this diversity which would pave way for an eventual reveal that some of them survived, that their complete extermination is impossible.

Because they’re everywhere.

You know.

Like air.