#like I watched the first ep in english FIRST and was so '... :\' about the VA that I tried the sub just because I felt disappointed

[blujayonthewing]

literally genuinely hate to be this guy because I originally WANTED to watch the dub because subtitles are annoying and distracting for my adhd ass but I don't know how y'all can stand marcille sounding like a nurse joy

[room-surprise]

Dungeon Meshi Season 1 EP 5 review

Episode 5 of the anime came out and we got to see Kabru!!! My boy Kabru!!! Oh right there was other stuff after the first five minutes.

KABRU THOUGH!!!

I don't actually have a lot to say about this episode. I thought it was competent, although as always characters standing around and talking, or doing simple tasks like eating, are just not Trigger's strong point.

Has anybody deciphered the language that Kui is using in the backgrounds? SO HAPPY that her glyphs are here now, instead of the Japanese in the first episode. I've tried to figure out what they are, but I'm honestly stumped. Seems like a combination of Norse runes, Greek letters, Cuneiform and Sanskrit...

Was NOT a fan of the way they overdid Kabru scaring Mikbell. It's really not a joke that's even that funny, so I think the lighting change and drama of it was really overselling it. Would have been much better if it was like in the manga, some childish, light-hearted ribbing between friends while they get ready to leave.

Although it was VERY VERY funny, I was also not a fan of the youtube-poop-esque zoom out on Marcille when she sees the treasure bugs. Like Laios' galaxy brain moment, comedic edits like this remind me that I'm watching a TV show, instead of allowing me to be immersed in the historical fantasy world. If I wanted modern jokes I'd be watching an Isekai where the characters are in a video game, not Dungeon Meshi.

I think they could have gotten an equally good laugh just from doing a simple zoom out.

I love the way they're depicting Laios. You can clearly see all the red flags his friends are picking up on and how he might be scary to others, but he's also very sympathetic and sweet.

All the Japanese VA's are doing a great job. I liked Kabru's Japanese voice a little better than his English voice just because I think he did a better job capturing Kabru's dual nature - he started out very sweet and cute, and then dropped his timbre noticeably once he was no longer sweet-talking someone. The English voice actor meanwhile felt like their voice basically stayed the same the entire episode.

THE DUB

This is still the better way to watch the show, the subtitles are SO lacking that they make the story harder to follow. The dub script, meanwhile, does a much better job. I wonder if there's a way to watch it with Japanese audio and the English dub subtitles?

BangZoom continues to make interesting casting decisions that make me VERY curious to see how they're going to handle the elves when they finally arrive.

Kabru, Daya and Kuro are all voiced by black voice actors! Rin's voice actress is Asian American, and Namari's voice actress is nonbinary. They all sound fantastic and I'm excited to hear them develop their characters as the series progresses.

Obviously Kabru isn't black, he's Indian, but Zon also isn't black, so I appreciate casting people of color to play characters of color (?) or at least, characters that are minorities? It feels like that's what they're trying to do.

ON THE OTHER HAND, Daya is very much not a minority or a character of color... I suppose that would be a case of race-blind casting? Which is also a good practice, getting new, underutilized talent into the industry... But obviously not a part of the previous point. Regardless, she sounds great.

Again, REALLY wonder how this will influence their casting decisions with the elves. Wonder if any of this was done with instruction from Trigger or Kui, or if it's 100% BangZoom operating on their own.

[ceoandslutler]

have you heard kuro dubbed in any language other than english? or in any other asian language other than korean or chinese? well i found a persian one and it's so fucking bad that it's hilarious.

(also stay tuned to find out why the persian dub of kuroshitsuji being so bad has directly to do with anti-shipping sentiment and puritanism)

i would like to politely invite anyone who's ethnically from/lives in/speaks the language of a country with an ultraconservative government to contribute to this post if they know a dub of kuro (fandub or licenced by a company) in their language to contribute to this post (agree or disagree that policing media causes a drop in its quality and accessibility in other countries) but let's keep it civil. if you are not from a country like this but have something to say, feel free to add anything on, the conversation is open to all :)

so i just heard the homemade persian dub of kuro's first ep made by some young people who sound like they're in uni (probs 18-23 yr olds), tears have been flowing from my eyes for the past 20 mins

(link under the cut)

to save time, go watch the bits i linked below or just laugh at the whole thing (full link) but don't blame these kids for being awful at this or just skip to the end of the post. as i said, there is a reason this dub is so bad and no official dub exists and it has to do with... anti subculture?!?*

but first, the funny stuff

ciel's voice is awful but just listen to the goofy dub laugh seb's va did at the start I'M FUCKING SOBBING (00:15-00:35), and also not ciel's va MOANING after the op song (2:35) ??? i REPEAT the woman who VA'd ciel was fucking MOANING, the YAWN was the worst part, dub team shotacons???

also SHEEL FANTOMHAYO?? THE KID'S NAME WAS DUBBED AS SHEEL FANTOMHAYO. (refer to 6:30 in the video linked)

now this isn't because we lack a 's' in our language (my alias is literally a persian name meaning shadow aka ✦sayé✦), we've just transliterated it as shiyel, but SHEEL???

the other guy calls him fantomhayo too (8:25) and the fantomhayo condition strikes again with sebastian's va talking about the fantomhayo hospitality at 12:40 ish in the video.

this is particularly bizarre because we do have a V in persian, please guys, use it!

please note: i have nothing but good things to say about finny's va... the way the va says "sebaastiyaan!" (12:43) is so cute <3

at 13:00, we get this golden crumb "meyrin... oh meyrin" from this college aged dude doing sebastian (who is SO lost) then he proceeded to say in persian "i beg you, ON MY LIFE, just pour the fucking wine in the glass and walk away" save me from the bad dub, ono daisuke, save me...

the furnace scene is just gold (18:50 onward is comical, the scream at the end... priceless), these people deserve an award, im tempted to do subs on this whole video because the translation is so wrong yet absolutely too hilarious to leave untranslated. also, i like how you can hear other people talking in the background constantly, they didn't even bother finding a quiet room 😭😭

finally i translated some of the best comments under the vid (everyone fuckin hated it 😭)

..tldr: irani/persian speaking netizens are brutal. but also, it shows that persian speakers are used to quality dubbing, otherwise this wouldn't be so offensive. if we were used to badly done dubs, the comments wouldn't look like this. many famous kdramas and jdramas and indian/turkish films have been dubbed. animated movies e.g. disney films and most commonly 70-80s anime have huge followings in iran and were dubbed extraordinarily well. in fact, in iran, many of our own films are dubbed especially if the original footage did not capture the audio well enough/the director was unhappy with the actor's delivery and it's usually hard to tell if this has happened because it's done very well. shockingly, dub is more popular than sub. so why does kuro not have an official dub? why is the fandub so bad???

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING

*IMPORTANT: an anime like this is not allowed to be legally dubbed by studios in iran because iran is under an islamic theocracy (the islamic republic) and all media that promotes devil worshipping and blasphemy is banned, homosexuality is too (anyone can tell kuro has homoerotic undertones, the homophobic heads of media would never let this queer gothic romance through). oh and trans people are "allowed" on TV but only if they're not vulgar/explicit (not even then, half the time) & grelle would not make it into the anime AT ALL. even if we ignore all the devil worshipping and queerness, sex is banned too (as well as lewd appearances of women), so season 1/2 & boc would never make it. oh and alcohol, bom would never make it. oh and also, women's empowerment is banned too so boa would never make it. when will it end? will someday everything be banned? sure looks like it. but isn't this what anti shippers want? i mean kuro IS problematic media, it never condemns people for having sex or partaking in drinks, not even murder is condemned.

moving on, the subtitled version of the episodes are very well done for what they are but it's still not good, you won't understand what's going on properly. meanings are lost. a dub is much more accessible to those who can't read subs and generally a necessary option. people NEED dubs. don't get me wrong, the iranian fansub team are dedicated however subs are much easier for fans to do than dubbing. as you heard, kuro's persian fandub was frankly terrible. these kids didn't even know how to pronounce ciel's name and it's NOT because of the language barrier, my theory is that because the internet access is so limited, they had to figure out how to pronounce ciel's name purely from the japanese original or another lang dub and had no access to the eng dub. as you can see, they are not able to follow the mouth movements either (don't have editing software); i assume the internet restrictions targeted streaming platforms w the dub on it (because the government wants to CONTROL what media people consume) so they had to figure everything out from japanese or another language, (they probably used another fandub to translate since the ed seems to credit the eng vas while they can never be heard in the bg) which is not easy. unfortunately english is taught in schools around the world not japanese so the dubbers' translation was quite honestly terrible- after all, they had no official script to base their translation off. BUT if a professional dubbing studio (e.g. iran's glory entertainment) got their hands on kuro, it'd probably be dubbed very well. if mehrdad raissi, CEO of glory, was on for seb's role, it would be glorious (pun intended). if he did flynn rider well, he can do sebs well too. but that studio often has their shows played on state televisions and the last thing they want is to get blacklisted and arrested for dubbing the gay demon butler anime. please do not take this fandub as representing all persian-language dubs. and remember, kuro itself is banned for being problematic media in counties like iran... no sebaciel needed (although anyone can definitely see the gay undertones to the story from a cover alone).

if you want to ban people from shipping things or making fan works that are problematic... soon you'll have to get rid of problematic media in general. and already, antis sound like the media people in charge under a dictatorship. "violence is okay, murder is okay but s-sex?!? women in scandalous clothing!!! oh good heavens..!" this is the kind of mindset which leads people down the rabbit hole of "this is problematic!! let's ban it!!!" until there's nothing left, a slippery slope. imagine this was the english dub of kuro. imagine it was banned in western countries and a team of young'uns had to gang up and make their own dub using only the japanese raws. imagine problematic media like kuro wasn't picked up the west because it's "shota" and that's bad. we'd be stuck looking at the same sanitised stuff and if we wanted to watch kuro, our options would be trash dubs (no offense) like this one. pretty scary to think this could be the state of the english dub if puritanism was as bad here as it is in countries like iran. policing media and deciding what creators should or shouldn't create will take you to the side of theocratic dictatorships and you will fall into alt right puritan lunacy, fanpoll are about as woke as a dictatorship, remember that.

don't sound like this:

NEVER sound like this.

it is clear that conditional freedom is no freedom at all. there should be zero criteria to the media we want to create, no religion or purity culture to it. just be media literate. let nobody control what you want to create or consume! (or you'll end up in a world where the media that is deemed "problematic" is maintained but only through underground circles, losing quality and accessibility day by day, until these channels are shut down too and only a sanitised husk of options for media consumption remain)

[fallloverfic]

TGCF donghua Season 2, Episode 9 thoughts

This episode T-T Very good ep. Spoilers for the show and the book below.

Qi Rong looks really pretty aldkjaldja I mean yes, he looks like Xie Lian, duh, but also alkdjal he just looks pretty <.< I really like his braided hair :3 I think they did a good job making the two of them similar enough without being identical. It's the little things like his hair style and mouth movements that sell it.

The gentle Xie Lian hand touch on Hua Cheng's back T-T

Hua Cheng like no I am not stopping because there is an injustice here that is hurting you and I refuse to let it slide even if I have to hurt you to do it.

They really got across Hua Cheng's rage at Qi Rong really well. Like obviously he spent last episode beating Qi Rong up and he's doing that again here, duh, but it's just... there's a lot of stuff they do with Hua Cheng's other movements and expressions that's just really excellent.

Okay the angry budaoweng Lang Qianqiu crawling out of Xie Lian's robes and jumping on the ground next to writhing Qi Rong just... the animation is so good. It's a really good-looking scene.

Distracted by Qi Rong bein pretty.

Xie Lian insisting on keeping up the partial lie because it's better than the whole truth T-T

Qi Rong looks so happy to discover it's Xie Lian! His cousin! And of course it's really because he's making the connection between Fangxin and Xie Lian, but like... for a moment you can think about the little boy who loved his cousin who came to his rescue, and idolized him.

Qi Rong's laughter is animated really well. I just love all the details when the characters are all standing together.

Another gentle Xie Lian on Hua Cheng hand touch T-T He really doesn't want Hua Cheng to dirty his hands dealing with Qi Rong. Am I thinking about Qi Rong being used to bullies and scorn and unsurprised this last family member turned their back on him, it's just normal, nope, not at all.

I do like the way Qi Rong's hair pillows over his jacket collar.

aslkdjaldj Qi Rong rolling over in laughter is just alkjdalj

I love this terrible man your honor. Love him.

Xie Lian fightin his own fights against Qi Rong. Love him. I love Hua Cheng always going to Xie Lian's defense and honestly nothing that Xie Lian doesn't typically defend himself (for various reasons), but really, Xie Lian just keeps himself in reserve a lot. He can dish it out as he pleases. The first thing to know about any weapon is when not to use it. And Xie Lian does love his weapons.

Hua Cheng watching Xie Lian slap Qi Rong: -new kink unlocked-

(I mean he's always been into Xie Lian hitting people but the way they framed Hua Cheng's awed expression while the dramatic theme plays made me lol)

Xie Lian... not... stoppin Hua Cheng slowly step towards Qi Rong this time... >:3 (this entire episode is so fun with movement, just love it so much)

I truly love that Xie Lian, who is generally viewed as weak by just about everyone, does not even remotely view Lang Qianqiu as a martial rival. Like he is not even remotely intimidated by this guy. He knows Lang Qianqiu's abilities, that he's a full on god with a lot of power (unlike Xie Lian, who's wearing two cursed shackles). But Xie Lian can and will still take him on. Not using power doesn't make you weak. Knowing when and how to properly use it is what matters, and that's a theme throughout the story, but this episode/arc in particular.

roflmao what did Hua Cheng do to Qi Rong before stepping off of him. Qi Rong's Chinese VA is doing a great job.

Aww the Hualian animal masks. With matching red pearl earrings. Cute.

Xie Lian catching the plates just alkjdlaj That straight left leg. Love him.

I also still really love how much of Fangxin's outfit is butterflies.

Qi Rong comin in to spoil everything :/ Terrible man. Love him tho.

Also I didn't realize but a couple episodes ago the ending credits animation changed a little, and it's very pretty!

A wonderful episode! Had some more bad English sub moments, but it wasn't the worst. The beautiful animation, character movements, little character moments and interactions, everything happening just... It was really good. Loved it.

Also wanna boost this really good post-coffin scene Hualian fic I read ages ago.

Other episode thoughts for season 2 (didn't start till episode 3):

S02E03

S02E04

S02E05

S02E06

S02E07

S02E08

S02E09 (you are here)

S02E10

S02E11

S02E12

[drawnaghht]

so..... Am I the only one who heard the reverse-akuma as "kumiko" and think that makes more sense, both for pronunciation and for meaning?

i watched the mlb paris special and tho ii've been off mlb for years now i was pulled back by this

I went to google this after I watched the special last month.

Now... I could try and find out what the exact meaning for the names could be, but instead I'll try to see what the crew would have thought a good re-name for these reverse-akuma could be from the POV of "what would this character name a good version of his power".

Now, commonly, the word "Akuma" means "demon" - fitting for HawkMoths Butterfly, I was a bit annoyed with the choice first when the show aired, but I'm so used to it now, I don't really question it anymore why the crew decided on this name. it seems like looking for simple pronunciation and recognition were at play here.

I find that because our ordinary evil!Gabe has always names things in sly but very direct ways, reverse!Gabriel would probably use babyname sites for inspiration for names etc. - as you do when you have access to the internet and are out of ideas.

Kumiko - Meaning: Companion child; Drawing together; Forever beautiful child

Kamiko - Meaning: Fragrant ocean child, "Little Goddess"

we don't know the exact kanji, so I can't actually say what the real meaning it would be. for example, japanese-names.info lists a similar meaning to both of these, depending on the spelling. to a native japanese speaker, the meaning would probably be obvious and then the reason for picking the name as well, like with the original "akuma"

but, considering how the crew on this show likes to name things - by going for the most obvious solutions, but also mirroring things in this special ep - the first one seems more plausible just by those reasons alone. But also, I feel like even if we didn't consider japanese pronunciation (as is often done in other-language productions, to adhere to local pronunciation so the word/spelling is easier to understand), it seems like it would be easier to pronounce this way in english.

I can only deduce that re-naming the akuma butterflies, they must have found the same search results I did the first time, and just went for it. Or maybe someone in the crew knows more japanese and chinese vocabulary/names than they're letting on in the show-proper.

The only real difference as a person's name, comes down to the differences between the "ku" and "ka" syllibles. I could probably find out more if i go to https://www.romajidesu.com/ and did a deep dive about the different meanings of these two syllables in ordinary words as well.

so.. even if i didn't know much about japanese as a language (i don't know much in any case anyway, besides how to pronounce japanese words and names) imo - sounds like smth the crew would use-just bc it sounds like an almost reversal/anagram of akuma - it's just gotta have that "ku" in there.

The second choice also becomes plausible once you think of the work "Kami" for "god" being the direct opposition to "demon", the original version we see in the actual show. "a small companion" vs "a small god" - seeing it from this POV, both seem possible good meanings, if you start to expand on them like that. + r!Gabe does have the whole angel-theme going on.

I am holding my preference with "kumiko" because I picture that when they made reverse!Gabe, they probably pictured that his version of the akuma would be re-imagined as a companion, rather than something that takes over. But the angel motif on the other side, does feel like it "takes over" as well, just in a different way.

As an aside note, I found it funny how much they'd managed to change reverse!Hawkmoth as Betterfly. Like. Completely different character. Still has Gabriel's face so I want to punch him, but. At least he is interesting and sorta entertaining to watch on screen? I guess? sdfsdfs it's just very entertaining to me, to see Keith (both Halwkmoth/Betterfly's VA) play another completely different version of this character (pancake-Gabe and movie-Gbe I am looking at you)

2nd: I sorta hate the word "akumatized", but you gotta hand it, it sounds better than "kamikotized" - vs "kumikotized" '- I guess would have the same weird effect as "akumatized" the first time you watch it, that it sounds un-natural as a word a bit, but then you slowly grow into hearing it.

anyways.... both are girl names, but kumiko is literally what I heard Keith Silverstein pronounce lol

[mgarmagedon]

What would you change in rid15 If you could?

DAMN IT'S A TRAP QUESTION1!!11!1

Because I would change a lot of things! But not like "disney making live action of their old movies" kind of change, but more like "i love the concept and characters so much that I will give more info about them also fix story"

And for the sake of your time and my mental health, I won't start talking about EVERY ITTY BITTY TINY THING THAT MAKES ME MAD ANGRY Soo... I'm just gonna tell you about main things and focus mainly on 1 season :D AND THAT GONNA BE JUST MY PERSONAL OPINION WHAT WOULD AT LEAST A LITTLE FIXT THE SHOW, YOU CAN DISAGREE WITH ME

Firstly I would change OP by deleting him from the show, like let this old fart rest! I would show more of Primes heaven-Azgard, when he struggles with being a god (ofc I would change his design for more god looking, which he couldn't transformer anymore) and if it didn't work out, I would alternatively put Nemesis which could somehow got his own consciousness or just do another demantoid stuff (which could solve most problems with characters like fucking Soundwave), but I'm more focusing on just making OP a ghost who could just watch actions of Bee and try contact with him. As a bonus I would at the fact that OP could say only few words, because how hard for him is contacting with his son, and mainly show what he want to say! (maybe in sign language, after all canonically Bumblebee knows this language, because he could talk)

Add finally Drift as a main character, because at this point it's pissing me of when I see Windblade and OP in opening, WHEN DIRFT IS LONGER ON SCREEN THEN THEM BOTH. Also delete that bitch too, and as a replacement I would add Chromia or Arcee (but I'm more into Chromia idea)

FINALLY do some character development, because we practically know NOTHING about past of characters, besides of little part that was said in their dialogues (WHICH ARE CHANGING IN EVERY LANGUAGE, SO IN ENGLISH WE HAVE SMALL REFERENCE TO SUNNY, WHEN IN POLISH WE DON'T HAVE ANY). That's why i would delete few episodes to just put character development or just change those ep to just make them develop those idiots. I heard from my friend which read a fucking rid15 book about drift, where was just a little part of his past, but... IT SHOULD BE IN FUCKING SHOW, NOT IN A BOOK WHICH READ MY FRIEND AND 5 OTHER CHILDREN.

Ik (kinda out of topic, but hear me out) I'm aware that this show was made because Hasbro had big struggles with money at this time and that's why they chosen to just make so much money that they could and they made it more safe option (which failed sooooooooo hard XDDD) but like bro, VAs were writing episodes at some point!!! And they lost so much potential which I fell in love in this 2015... OK THAT WAS MY FULL RANT, LETS BACK TO THE LIST :DDDDDD

I'm aware too, that they had problems with licencing, that is why drift isn't bunny Drift and Sides is the best version of him ever. But for god sake those designs... I beg you change them, for something other IK you didn't have any money then, but PLS they look bad... Specially after you find out that they faces are 2D and backgrounds too (they tried do the same that is ind earth spark which is mix of 2D and 3D, but it looks weird.) And it's not only Drift and Sides problem, that's everyone problem!!! Like why Bee is so futuristic?! Isn't he should be old timer for them, and in first ep theoretically he should be still in his earth alt model... SO WHY HE HAS SO MUCH LEDS, LIKE FR, IK they wanted to make him adult, but it could be make better! Did you were even aware that Sides could be blue, and has more Sunny character because of licencing??? But his alt model sucks

I would also give a reason why human do LITTERALLY nothing with those dumb bitches! Like at this point should be like whole war army chasing for them? XDDD In my opinion after Optimus died and Ratchet came back to earth and grave after his dead husband, he was kicked back to Cybertron after few years, because government chosen that ALL cybertronians are threat... so yeah... And because of that Bee can't exit Crown city (Królewiec) and near by area of it, just because Alchemor, which is stack underwater of the city river, jams their signal. AND THAT'S WHY THEY NEED USE HUMAN HUMAN COMMUNICERS LIKE RADIO! AND THAT IS WHY THOSE STUPID AS BITCHES FROM CYBRTRON DIDN'T FOUND ANY OF THEM JUST LIKE THAT----- Yk it's just my stupid idea uwu

I think also making less episodic plot could make it better! Like more pokemon-like format it's cool, but... in this case it's not fitting at all.

FOR GOT SAKE WHY DID THEY USED MEGATRONUS?! BECAUSE THEY COULD HAVE MEGATRON??? It's for me a joke which is stupid as hell, Imo it should be Liege Maximo!!! After all he is in this continuity literally a Loki from MCU, why not use something new and leave Megatron dead.

For today I think that will be all, but there is still one more thing that pisses me of to te state that I'm asking like a crazy mad dog. Which is this scene:

It's so... so unemotional! Isn't Optimus be he his dearest friend and husband since ever??!?! And Bee isn't your little baby anymore?! I hate it so much like i can't breath!!! (sorry that i edited it a little bit, but i needed that) And to just end it nicely, I LOVE many many many things about rid15 too, but that doesn't mean that this show is just waste potential mainly and it makes me sad deeply when I see Earth Spark where is worse version of rid15 Bee having the similar relation with kids and everyone cares more about this, then the show that created it (and no i'm not talking about comics at all/srs)

Still love and hate rid15 😘😘😘

[multifandomhellhole]

Did you see the new Nier anime? I’m so happy to see the androids + Adam and Eve animated. Everyone is so beautiful and handsome. I really hope that makes more people come in the fandom. This anime is even adding things from the stage plays as well. It’s so fantastic.

I only saw a promo for it!!!!( ngl I first thought it was a fan-animation up until about a month ago) but if the anime is out now I didn't know, if the first ep is already out I will drop everything im doing to watch it rn like litterally. (Although I've wondered since I saw the promos if for english dubbed they'll keep the same VA such as Greg for Adam and ray for eve, specifically ray since he does a lot of anime dubs, I feel like that would be a cool thing)

From the videos and clips I saw the art is indeed beautiful and I feel that the artstyle and quality will draw more people in aside from being an anime. God I really hope it blows up a bit cause this fandom is suprisingly small for how iconic 2b is and The game generally, it definitely deserves an adaptation/more hype tbh.

Ahhh that's so cool there adding the play tidbits in too, I can't wait to see what other details they add and what characters they include. (Really wanna see jackass animated lol) . Also are they animating all endings or just the true one???

[olivieraa]

I've such conflicting (but mostly) negative opinions about dubbed anime. If so much of it wasn't just "strong American accents trying so hard not to sound like they're reading from a script but they clearly are" then it'd be great.

I'm not an elitist, about anything really (not that I can think of, but maybe there's something idk I'm tired), but I will always pick sub over dub. Am I able to properly analyse subbed anime and the voice work done on it? No. That'd be ignorant. The way a character says "nande? nande da yo!?" in Japanese vs a character saying "what? what?!" in American English is obviously going to sound different. And I can't find flaws when I hear Japanese voices. But maybe people who speak Japanese can. Because if I'm listening to that "what?" in English and it sounds forced, scripted, not passionate enough, bland, too angry, etc then I'll know its bad. Cause its my first language. And maybe Japanese people can tell when voice acting is bad in Japanese. Idk. Sometimes I've been able to. I can tell when a Japanese VA does not want to be there but wants a paycheck.

But for the most part, I'm pretty much sold on Japanese voice work. They're passionate about their job. It FEELS like they're there to try their best. And after having only watched subs since, idk, 2010? I'll be quite harsh on dubs. But here's the thing. I'm biased. Any dubs I seen pre-2010 I vouch for being good. Why? Because I originally watched them dubbed. Inuyasha and Death Note being the main ones. And due to that, I constantly re-watch them dubbed. Its actually hard for me to connect them to their Japanese VA's. Now, to give Inuyasha some credit, when you watch the first good few eps, they're not... the greatest. Just some voices trying to match their mouths to the characters and it sounds so off. But then... then they get the hang of it. And they get better at it.

Death Note I believe is the overall best dub.

YGO... ok. How do I even talk about YGO...

Removing Kaiba bc people have literally said no other dub voice could ever replace his and be able to portray that asshole more perfectly, I think the YGO dub is decent. I don't fault anyone for saying its bad. I think the overall consensus is that its a good dub with terrible (but classic) dialogue. If they'd had the same script as the Japanese version, it'd be brilliant.

People can argue about Joey's accent, Bakura's accent, and say "why give them those accents tho", but Joey speaking in that accent is better than literally 99% of Americans giving generic American voices to characters to the point that they all sound the same. PLUS, Wayne Grayson portrays Joey's emotions brilliantly. And its a personal thing to me, but I like Bakura being British. If others dont, that's fine. I know he can sorta come across as Stereotypical British Villain as Deadpool calls it, but I think he's sassy and I like it. Some voices are a NO. The actor that portrays Noah is the most famous actor (not even VA, he's in movies and shit), but his voice is awful. Same for Marik, and Yami Marik, and Weevil. But then Pegasus comes in perfectly. And Anzu doesn't sound forced. And then some are just ok, like Tristan and Ishizu. Dan Green is debatable.

Like I said, I can only vouch for two good dubs. Maybe if I'd seen Kuroshitsuji dubbed I wouldn't think its so terrible and gave it more of a chance than one episode. But I don't know...

Because as of now, I've seen 10 Attack on Titan dub episodes and fuck me......... they sound like Power Rangers every time they talk. In the Japanese, I feel... inspired? In the dub I'm like "could they have not said this line as a normal human being would???????"

[avislux]

Anime Expo 2023 recap

Well it's long since I've lost my fervant passion for Bocchi The Rock. I still love it, just not to the extent that I'm thinking of it every second. I went to Anime Expo 2023 for 4 days, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Made some friends. Got to see Rie Takahashi in person. I wish I was more excited for that but I was excited enough.

Day 1

Panels all day long. Got up to 6 to arrive in LA around 7:20. Encountered some traffic on the way surprisingly, so I made a note to get up earlier. Lined up for the queue to get in then for the first panel of the day, Colorful Stage with Tomori Husonoki and Hinata Sato. Unfortunately I don't know these two seiyuu that well. I downloaded the game but haven't played it yet. Dunno if I will, I have enough time invested in gacha games. They basically talked about the game and answered some trivia about it. The voice actors visited Santa Monica and they said it was like a pilgrimage for a Japanese show that was shot there. Next up went to the Eminence in Shadow S2 premiere which had Cid's VA Seiichirou Yamashita. I got in while the panel was on going so I missed part of it. Apparently he speaks decent English. Kind of an entertaining guy I think. He didn't say "I am atomic," though. Then saw the first ep of S2. Checked out the entertainment hall for a bit before lining up for the next panel. To my surprise and excitement, they were playtesting Taiko no Tatsujin. Apparently I was the first person to do Oni difficulty. Lined up for the TOHO Animation panel after. Room was full though I barely got in. I was lowkey hoping they would announce something for Takagi-san with Rieri on the panel but that was not the case. They showed some upcoming shows such as JJK, spice and wolf. Last was Spy family, which Takuya Eguchi appeared for. I was walking out to line up for the spy family panel up until Eguchi appeared. Then I stayed. Spy Family Panel with Eguchi was right after that. A friend saved a seat so I got to be near the front. He basically answered a bunch of questions about himself and the show. Did a live reading of one of the lines in the first episode where he is in the train. He also did another scene I think it was about protecting children. He's pretty entertaining. I've listened to the Spy Family radio so I'm kinda used to hearing him. He really likes drinking. Half his answers were related to beer. What's the best way to eat peanuts? With beer. They also gave away a shikishi with his "absolute masterpiece" of a drawing. "Do you guys really want this?" he asked. After the panel, played some Taiko in the entertainment hall. Saw a real pro FC Hibana Ura. Lined up for the Mashle panel. They had the EN and JP voice out for this. Aleks Le apparently went to Japan to work with Kobayashi. They made molds of their fists. No cream puffs though. I'm not the biggest fan of Mashle. I like gag humor but the show's humor doesn't really hit for me. Aleks wore a robe out and brought one for Kobayashi.

Day 2

First was Twisted Wonderland panel. I do not play or care for it, I just wanted to see the voice actors. It has a more female demographic it seems. It was Natsuki Nanae, Chiaki Kobayashi, and someone else I forgot. They did some trivia on stage. Got to check out the exhibits today. Found a lot of bocchi stuff. Lined up for the CDawgVA panel with Ironmouse. Not a huge fan but I saw a clip of them last year and it seemed good. I lined up 30 mins in advance rather than the typical hour. The line went out the hotel. It was fun. Although I wish I left it early as I needed to catch the next panel. The Yakuza panel filled up, I didn't think it would. A lot of people were there to camp for the FGO panel that was next. I watched the panel on stream instead while in line. Strangely, once the doors closed, the line collapsed on itself. Anyway, I got to be on the right most side for the FGO panel and I was able to get into that. I don't care about FGO at all but I needed to see my oshi. She covered her mouth with her hands as she walked out due to all the cheering. The panel itself wasn't very smooth though. It seemed very awkward for the guests. It seemed like they answered questions the guy wasn't asking. Not sure. Overall the guests didn't talk much so they didn't seem like they were necessary for the panel. I just stared at Rieri all the time. She tends to make a lot of cute gestures as others are talking. The panel itself announced a bunch of Fate stuff and updates for the game, none of which I cared about. RIERIIII.

Day 3

I woke up particularly early today for the Rurouni Kenshin panel. Needed to line up early then book it to the queue for the event hall. It worked, I got seated near the front. And for the moment, I was happy. I got to see Rieri up close. She apparently shopped at vintange stores while Soma Saito bought a guitar. Apparently Rieri only addresses Saito as Saito-san whereas she uses "kun" for others. First time for both of them to be in America. Overall a better panel than the FGO one. They got to talk a good amount. I'm trying to remember more from the panel but it's not coming up. It was a good panel though I hope they release the vod somewhere. I checked out the Aniplex and A1 panel for a bit before dipping to explore everything. Had to line up for the Yamada panel at least an hour in advance, and I got in somewhere near the middle or so. This one featured Koki Uchiyama. The whole time he didn't seem like he wanted to be there. Maybe he was tired. I don't think a whole lot of interesting things happened but they announced an English dub. Uchiyama talked really fast. I then stayed to camp for the Rascal movie. It was fine, won't rock your socks off but wasn't bad. Checked out the entertainment hall again before leaving

Day 4

Just lined up for the Horimiya panel and saw that as my only panel for the day. Uchi is here again and he seemed more energized. They actually did some live readings in this panel. Rest of the day was exploring things.

[stormears]

Get to know you game, aw yeah classic tumblr time. I was tagged by @spacejammie-eimmajecaps.

Last song listened to?

This vicious kickass ominous song with a strong beat and angry eldritch noises by Woodkid, "Volcano", PLEASE listen pleeeeeease.

Currently reading:

"Red Seas Under Red Skies", which is book 2 in the Locke Lamora series. Locke Lamora is a very smart street thief who steals from the rich and has very funny dialogue, he lives in a world where magic is real but only accessible to the ultra-rich and those people currently want him dead. Quippy fantasy heist series.

It's far from my favorite, but still a detailed and engaging fantasy world. My brother bought me book 1 a long time ago and book 2 recently and I kinda feel obligated to finish them. The series does impress me with its ability to actually make me laugh irl with its written dialogue. I think its an accomplishment for any writer to get a reaction out of the reader stronger than the "puff of air through the nose laugh." When I finish, it'll finally be time to tackle the Priory of the Orange Tree!

Currently watching:

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2, very slowly. I thought about watching S2 dub alongside sub, and I did for a few eps, but Toji's English VA put me off soooo bad that I kind of dropped that...also been watching a few horror films lately.

I finally watched Men which was strongly disturbing and Saint Maud which was pretty good, a bit on the dull and slow side but pretty bleak. I was also pretty impressed by No One Will Save You (extremely socially isolated young woman's home invaded by aliens, it's NOT a dream).

More frequently than that, I watch Game Grumps for a little stupid positivity and a few horse-related YT channels.

Currently obsessed with:

My fantasy au KageHina fic about mage!Kageyama and unicorn!Hinata, which I've kicked around in my head since mid-2020 and am currently planning to make my NaNoWriMo project. My outline is looking faaaaatttt and I'm pretty hyped about it. And I kind of would like to turbo-run this story and get it out of my head and off the WIP table, this bitch is too crowded.

I started Nano last year and had 1 successful week but then got called into my boss's office to be told I would let go in a few months. The threat of upcoming joblessness and immediate need to apply for jobs destroyed my creative drive and simply cancelled Nano for me. This year though, I have a way better job and I work from home 90% of the time! Life is 5x better than it was last year, so I may actually make it through Nano properly!

Not sure if I'll hit 50,000 words though...I'm setting a soft goal to just hit 500 a day instead of the correct 1600. Baby's first real Nano.

Tagging: @mintoche / @spacefinch / @princess-madara /@rogue-crew-ask-blog / @misakiokui / @awritingkay

Get to know you game! Answer the questions and tag 9 people you want to know better!

Thanks for the tag @pabloernesto

Last song listened to?

Don't remember

Currently reading:

Dracula (for the first time) (I'm late to the trend lol) (also I didn't want to wait for emails so I just bought the book)

Also reading Frankenstein, though the original 1818 text version is very hard for me to process so it's slow going lol often have to re-read sentences to understand the meaning

And then waiting on updates for a few different fanfics

Currently watching:

Behind Your Touch, Bleach TYBW, My Perfect Marriage, The Great Cleric, slowly/casually rewatching Soul Eater, very slowly rewatching Stranger Things (with my sister bc she is scared to watch it alone lol), Zom100 (though I'm a few weeks behind), Undead Murder Farce (tbh only watched the first episode and then got distracted with other stuff but I will eventually get back to watching it probably)

Currently obsessed with:

SGB, as always. There is very little room in my brain for anything else.

Tagging: @astrowaffles @wordvomitgenerator @spooky-kakashi @aliresix @axreliono @stormears @wewindondowntheroad @voidpeony @paintbrushyy

[magicalgirlsandcerulean]

Episode 9's blog post (Spoilers under the cut!)

This post by Balletta is dated 8th June 2021. It apparently took him 8 hours to write...which is why I took so long putting this post out. (I had to skip a lot of the descriptive stuff and it still took me over 4 hours to do this post...)

There are also some tweets from Hishida below, including one regarding ep. 10. If you don't want any info about ep. 10 until you get to it, skip reading tweet 2.

Due to the nature of the ep., there is a mention of suicide below.

Hishida's tweet 1:

そういえばF蘭９話でゲスな男の久ニさん役で鳥海浩輔さんが出演してくれました。僕にとっては初監督作の陰陽大戦記でタイザン役を演じてくれたとても恩のある方です。ありがとうございました。そして明日放送の１０話でも非常にお世話になった方が登場します。これも逃れられない縁なのでしょうか！？

Now that you mention it, F-Ran episode 9's male sleazebag Kyuji was voiced by Kosuke Toriumi. For me, he had the role of Daizan in my first directorial work, Onmyou Taisenki, so I have a big obligation towards him. Thanks a lot. Also, episode 10, which is airing tomorrow, has a person who's taken extreme care of me. Is this an inescapable fate?!

(Who is this he's talking about? Read on.)

Hishida's tweet 2:

まさか福山潤くんに会えるとはね。りっくん、生まれ変わってギャンブラーになってました…w #フィクションです

Unexpectedly, I was able to meet Jun Fukuyama, huh? Rikkun was reborn as a gambler...LOL #ThisIsFiction

"Rikkun" = Riku Tachibana, protagonist of Onmyou Taisenki.

Hishida's tweet 3:

美梨香ちゃん、プリチャンのルルナ…。僕はキャスティングには関わっていません。

Birika-chan is Pri-chan's Luluna...My casting has not changed.

Pri-chan = Kiratto Pri-chan. Luluna and Birika share the VA Hibiku Yamamura.

On to the post (note Balletta goes backwards and forwards in time a lot in this post, so with that on top of my omissions, it's a bit hard to keep track of):

Post's name: "The Perverted and Slightly Sad Episode 9". (You know why it's perverted, but the "slightly sad" will be revealed later on. Balletta specifically uses a word for "slightly sad" used by teenage girls, ぱおん.)

Balletta starts by giving various greetings (this matches last time's), asks if everyone enjoyed Fairy Ranmaru ep. 9. It's Uruu's second turn, so he's going to give real-time thoughts and comments on the ep.

The ep starts with Uruu painting "blue roses" (according to Balletta). "収録の時に、第3話の時みたいにうるうくんの英語から始まったらどうしよう…と台本貰うまでドキドキしてたのはここだけの秘密です…" - "It's a secret between us that when we were recording, I was nervous until I got the script, wondering what would happen if we started with Uruu-kun's English like in episode 3..."

Balletta goes on to discuss how people call Uruu "Blue Rose" (from Tiger and Bunny). People have been making this connection ever since the key visual (the one with the fairy forms) dropped. Even now, when watching the anime on Nico Nico Douga, he'll think: "Hi, Blue Rose's older brother!").

He skips to Uruu's mother's suicide scene. Her wings are broken like glass and Balletta thinks this is when Uruu's heart was broken too. This is also where he thinks Uruu's ideal of "always be proper" was born.

The blushing Homura, being healed by Bakkun and reading an article on Shiina's manga, is "transcendently cute".

It's at this point where Balletta starts introducing quotes from the discussion with "ワン！トゥー！！スリー！！！" ("One! Two!! Three!!!") (<- For the curious, there are 6 of these in the post, but they're not entirely the same.)

Balletta wonders in small text if there was tongue or not during the CPR scene...

"この時のうるうくんの表情が完全に悪役の悪い顔になってて、正直自分もアニメ見てて「うるうくん！顔わるいなぁー！！」ってなりましたね！" - "That time Uruu's face looked like a villain's, and straight up I also saw in the anime, 'Uruu-kun! You're making a bad face-!!'"

Balletta is relieved Homura has been revived.

The sloth's lump is moving...

Balletta introduces Birika and the plot of the week. "不倫！ダメ！！ゼッタイ！！！" - "Adultery! Don't do it!! Absolutely don't!!!" (he repeats this through the post and counts the times he says it - the editing Chesarka from the future says he ends up with 3 instances of this)

Balletta recaps that Uruu is good at painting, as we know from ep. 1. It seems to be the same painting, but then he puts red paint on top. This made Balle-san think of Homura so much, he couldn't concentrate on the painting. In short, FIRE (insert flame emoji, obviously referencing Homura's shirt).

5 to Heaven synced up on how they thought during recording. When Uruu is talking to Birika and she says "心が清廉だからだよ" ("Because you have an honest heart."), they all thought, "心が清廉、どうも清怜うるうです。" ("You have an honest heart - thank you, Uruu Seiren.") Balletta thinks they increased their bonds as a result. (Note "honest" in this case is "seiren".)

Some descriptive bits later, we get to this sentence: "第1話から今回の第9話までに、うるうくんの心情や見えている世界が大きく変わったことを意味しているのではないかと自分は思いました！" I thought from ep. 1 until ep. 9, the world he is seeing has changed greatly!" A bit further down: "先程も話した、第1話から第9話にかけて、うるくんの心情や見えている世界が大きく変わってきていると言ったもう一つの理由がこの言葉なんです！第1話では世界に対しても常に正しくあるべきと考えていたうるうくんが、第9話に至るまでに色んなことがありました。

過去のトラウマ、火焔族への憎しみ、焔くんに対しての嫉妬。" - "That's another reason why I said earlier the world Uruu-kun sees has changed greatly from ep. 1 to ep. 9! Ep. 1, where Uruu-kun thinks everything should be correct about the world, to the Uruu-kun in ep. 9 who has had various things happen. Past trauma, the hatred of the Ignis clan, the jealousy which he feels towards Homura."

Balletta can't believe how Birika's mother came back and had a kiss mark on her neck. He gets so angered he starts making puns on his own name (bareru means to leak a secret, while barebare means a transparent lie) and ends with "あ、どうもバレッタです。" - more along the lines of "Ah, sorry, I'm Balletta" than the previous "thank you"s - before returning to the previous discussion.

Some more description later, Balletta mentions the appearance of Sirius. "素晴らC！いや！すばらシリウス！！！" - "SubaraC (shii)! No! SubaraSirius!!!" (subarashii = wonderful) He then discusses Sirius's musings.

End A part. Balletta stops for a bit to note "You only noticed all this incredible impressions and comments are [for] the A part? Didn't you see the previous post?" He also comments Hori's post was short and that was fine. "ま、イケメンだからいっか！！！（うるうくん達が）" - "Well, they're handsome, so what?!!! (Uruu-kun and co. are)"

Now to the B part. Balletta notes there's a piece of art that is a pot in the art gallery. Pot quota: check.

Some description (and more yelling about how adultery is bad and unforgivable) later: we get to the kiss scene. This transformation is voiced differently to the one in ep. 3 in terms of the pan upwards part and the sound effect of boots scratching you can hear during the "Taboo rescinded! Love! In abundance!" callout. "自分もリアルタイムで第9話見てて、「あれ！？ボイス変わってるし、音が追加されてる！凄い！！」ってテレビの前でなってました！ありがたい限りです！" - "Even when watching ep. 9 in real-time, I was in front of the TV, going, 'Huh?! The voice changed and a sound was added! Amazing!!' I'm nothing but grateful!"

Hotel Tsubo returns. "なんかもう毎回このアニメをリアルタイムで見るたびに「今回はどこに壺が隠れてるかなぁ〜♪」ってなってる自分がいてビックリしますよ笑" - "Basically every time I watch this anime in real-time, I'll be like, 'Where will they hide the pot this time~?♪', so I'm surprised. LOL"

"そしてそんな「HOTEL壺」では、美梨香さんの母親と久二さんがS○Xしてるシーンが出ましたね。申し訳ないけどもう一回だけ言わせてくださいね…

ふざけんにょ！！！" - "Also, at that Hotel Tsubo, Birika-chan's mother and Kyuji have a scene where they're having s_x. I'm sorry for saying this, but please let me say this once...stop screwing around!!!" (The "screw" pun is intentional on my part.)

Enka scene. Balletta calls Uruu "sexy & beautiful" because of his black lace wings and strong gaze.

Head back to Bar F. "バックンはこのアニメの癒し…

いつもありがとうバックン！" - "Bakkun [being] in this anime is healing...thanks as always, Bakkun!"

Some description later, around the part where Uruu's mother says Uruu is just like his dad...you can see germ-like objects that look like water fleas and Uruu gains some damage from them sticking themselves down his throat. There are various versions of this scene and after all the yelling from recording them, he felt considerably more passionate.

Some more description later, Balletta doubles back to the scene slightly beforehand. where Ranmaru and Chilka are in the same place.

Balletta then continues for a bit about the plot and is at the scene where Kyuji is relieved he's free of the old hag when he goes, "ワン！トゥー！！スリー！！！ 「エヘッ、ぱおーん！」 こんの野郎ーーーー！！！ぱおーんじゃねぇんだよぉー！！！！！ガオーってライオンだらけの檻の中にぶち込むぞぉーーーー！！！となったのはこのブログだけにそっと記しておきますね。" ("One! Two!! Three!!! 'Ehe, that's kinda sad!' These bastards---!!! This isn't 'kinda sad'!!!!! I'll throw you into a cage full of roaring lions----!!!...This blog became a place where I can quietly write this precisely [because I can], huh?")

Balletta discusses the final scene and then draws attention to Takara's scene by going, "「あっちゃー、もう一山残っちまったかぁー」 えっ！？何が残ったの！？" - "'The worst is yet to come.' What's coming?!" (<- Translation using the CR line)

He then tells everyone to look forward to next time's Fairy Ranmaru ep., says he's finished, that was ep. 9's comments and impressions, apologises for his long post again and puts some promotional stuff I've already covered on magicalgirlsandcerulean (in order: character song CD, the live show in Sept., Sweets Paradise, Vivid Army, Otasuke Heaven, BD/DVD 1, the curry plate, Bakkun plush, key necklaces, Fairy Ranmaru's official Twitter + YouTube). He then ends by saying he's done (again) and he's Yutaka Balletta, who voices Uruu.

Takara's comment: "原稿用紙40枚やで～気合い入れて読んでや～" - "You took 40 sheets of genkou youshi~. We read it with effort." (referencing the line where he apologises for his long post: "今回また2回目の当番回だったというのもあって気合い入れまくった結果やっぱり長文になってしまいました！ご容赦くださいまし！！" - "This time was the 2nd time I was in charge [of the post], so the result was, of course, me putting in effort! Please forgive me [for my long post]!")

Update: Minor fixes for accuracy and clarity.

[ae0nx]

FRUITS BASKET S2 EPISODE 18 + short Ep 1-17 english dub recap

AND I'M BACK WITH THE MADNESS.

Took a bit of a break from the Fruits Basket recaps because life happened and I wanted to focus a bit more on my art career and my webcomic. But, I came to miss doing the recaps! So, I'm gonna try and finish season 2 and do some of the left over recaps now in time for when Season 3 drops!

I HAVE however been re-watching the older episodes of Fruits Basket Season 2 with the english dub this time and I have a few notes!:

A shoutout to the wording used in the Yuki 'confession' scene on the beach with Tohru. However, in the sub the confession came across a lot more like platonic love to me and in the dub the confession came across a lot more romantic. (Especially in the episode after where Yuki says he doesn't regret kissing Tohru lol)

Laura Bailey stays killing it as Tohru. All the little vocal inflections are so freakin cute and make her sound more human! But that also speaks to the editing as well which is great. The balance between a little naive and scared and yet strong and determined in her scene with Akito was... amazing.

(Also... all of Akito’s most violent and hurtful moments are when it’s dark... I dunno I just found that cool and interesting lol)

Jerry Jewell in EPISODE 9?!?! His scene with Akito always gets me regardless but Jerry Jewell's performance was heartbreaking! Ah, I could cry. (I did) The little shake he did while declaring he wasn't in love with Tohru because he can't say that shit actually truthfully? 😩 Also... is he intentionally making Kyo’s voice sound a little deeper? It definitely sounded like it in that episode with Kagura. I like!!

While I LOATHE Akito, Colleen Clinkenbeard is amazing, I've never heard her sound this sneakingly evil! And yet... it's slightly carefree too. Reminds me a lot of Shigure. As I said before, Akito and Shigure's english VAs pair up so nicely in audible form.

I love how flirty Hatori was in the English dub when it came to him and Mayu’s episode. It was a really lovely performance from Kent Williams :) I always read that scene of Hatori just being friendly when asking Mayu out to get something to eat but this was a whole other wonderful take!!! <3

I LOVE KIMI TODO’S ENGLISH VA’S PERFORMANCE OMG. THANK YOU, CHERAMAI LEIGH 🤣

Kakeru’s English VA continues to sound cuter and cuter... 😘 Whassup, Aaron Dimsuke? I kid, lol

I lovee the fact that Haru calls Yuki ‘fragile and kind’ (two typically feminine presenting descriptions) and Yuki took it as a compliment! I dunno about the description of fragile as many people could take that offensively, regardless of gender, but the way it’s explained here it’s almost like he’s describing him as precious?... Coulda went with that instead...

I like the decisions for the moments where Mikaela Krantz emphasises on Momiji’s put on German accent and when she tones it down and return to his natural voice

But anyways... lol, this episode was... a LOT. Not an easy breezy one for me to come back to at all... I’ll be watching the english dub.

TIME TO DIVE BACK IN!

-------------------------------------------

- Hiro's so cute at the start of this episode talking about his sibling and how he wants to look out for his mum. Of course, it's in the most Hiro of ways but this scene definitely warmed me up to him a lot more :)

Hiro’s mum is like a future Tohru, haha

That hair animation they give Rin is always great 😂 I hope Takaya-sensei is proud.

It’s so curious how Hiro speaks so honestly and true to Rin yet is so careful of her emotions. He’s never really been like this with anyone but Kisa, especially not the other teens or adults. It kinda shows how much seeing what happened to Rin by Akito’s hands really got to him and traumatised him. Of course, Hiro’s not just doing this because of his trauma but cos he genuinely cares!

- I noticed that there was a slight parallel between Hiro + Kisa and Rin + Haru. Kinda highlights why breaking the curse is important to Hiro and gives more reason as to why that event with Rin and Akito freaked him out.

- I dunno if this is intentional or just an animation glitch but I’ve noticed that in that long panning shot in the opening theme that closes into Yuki, Tohru and Kyo looking at the sunset, it looks like Kyo’s experession kinda ‘glitches’ in between a smile and a stoic look. Again, I don’t know if it was intentional, but I like to think it’s as a little show of Kyo not really managing to attain true happiness fully (for now anyway).

- (Also, I think that this opening song might come third in my list of most favourite opening songs in Fruits Basket history!!! <3<3<3)

- I’m super glad that Shigure and Rin scene didn’t go any further than it needed to... 👀 but the fact that Rin thought ‘Gure would be up for using her body as a bargaining chip says more about Shigure than Rin in my humble opinion...

Self-loathing? From Shigure? Unexpected. Empathy? For him? A little.

...Damn it.

🤣

I’m sorry. This scene is very gorgeous, well lit and beautiful and dramatic. But, I can’t not laugh at how early 00s gothic romance this is! But, I love it. It’s sweet and probably the first ‘raunchy’ scene we’ve gotten in this anime, ooo la! But, that kiss animation was kinda awkward for me, sorry. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I hate that Rin is AGAIN getting Outfit Appreciation Award when she’s literally killing herself with stress and worry but... amazing wardrobe as always. 5 stars.

Is it just me or does every zodiac member see Tohru as a parental figure or associate her with motherhood, except for Kyo?... 

*mentally notes essay of Tohru being the depiction of being a ‘merciful God’ compared to Akito being the decpiction of being a ‘vengeful God’*

Heartbreaking. 

but... WHY DO THEY ALL HAVE TO HAVE PARENTAL ISSUES?!

Also, Briana Palencia in this scene was amazing. Everyone is so, so good in this show! Dub and sub!!

...I totally forgot about this bit of Rin’s backstory. I love that they really highlighted how drastic the change was from happy family to an abusive household. Obviously, there must have been some cracks in the frame of the happy family and Rin as a child was inquisitive enough to see them. ...Only for her to be later punished for it. 

Kazuma!!! He and Tohru just be constantly saving these zodiac kids, man.

- Rin’s parents might just be at the same level as Kyo’s dad on the ‘WORST PARENTS OF THE ZODIAC CHILDREN’ list. Well... until later...

🥺💝

Beginning to understand why they’re so attached and bonded to each other now. <3

- Also, lowkey, Kagura’s mum is great! From her protecting Kagura from going to the beach house because of Akito to her taking Rin in without question! And she seemed completely cool with Kyo too! Yay to good parents in anime!!!

- The confession scene between Haru and Rin is so pure and blunt yet romantic and just... so them <3

- I’m not even gonna put any screencaps from the final scene with Akito because I find Akito is just disgusting. But, really? Pushing someone off the balcony?! I mean... I remember why Akito’s feelings for Rin are so strong and darkly intense but I still can’t excuse their actions. I kinda don’t like that they presented this very abusive and violent moment as... poetic? I mean, it matches Rin’s ‘style’, I guess? But... this is just someone going past the limit.

- And her landing like that on the conveniently pointy stone? I was surprised she didn’t damage her spine...

----------------------------------------------------------

I’m so happy I’m watching Fruits Basket again! This anime really is the best! And it DESERVEDLY won Best Drama at the CrunchyRoll Anime Awards! Yayyyyy! Sorry, if this ended on a weird note, I did enjoy this episode. Just a very dark one to return to 😅

See you... soon? Haha!

[protect-namine]

ahh I gotta get ready for an outing so I'll watch ep 2 later but FIRST IMPRESSIONS

okay prefacing this to say I'm not a dub hater and nowadays I have a lot of forgiveness for english dubs than most people lmao okay let's get to it

love xie lian's voice!! I think it fits. it's like the right amount of gentle, but firm enough that I don't question his abilities or think he's an innocent damsel in distress. good casting I think!! 10/10, looking forward to him roasting lqq in that voice in season 2

but fu yao's VA really nailed his character ahhhh nothing but the best for my boy. 11/10. love him so much. "yeah it's dirtyyy" god he's so (shakes fist)

nan feng is Okay. not sure how I feel about ling wen though. she's so polished... maybe too polished? not terrible, I think it's more of the direction than the acting that I'm not sure about.

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FEEL ABOUT HUA CHENG'S VOICE but I think it will grow on me. he only narrated stuff and didn't speak in dialogue so it's hard to make an opinion based on just that. his narration does sound very Fond, which I like

the flow kinda feels off but I expected it. I also felt this a little bit in the original cn. idk if it's just me but there's something about the way the bgm mixes with the voices, but now it's just more pronounced in the en dub

I don't like how all the spirit stuff is being translated as magic stuff though..... it doesn't have the same vibes!!

"if you cant find a meaning in life, then allow me to be that meaning," love this line though, 11/10

[thegoodomensdumpster]

I WATCHED GOOD OMENS IN FRENCH SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

and it wasn’t that bad. Here are my thoughts, barely edited as I wrote most of them while watching the show.

EP 1

OK i like god’s voice so far

possibilité d’embarras gastrique is a good formulation, I wonder if it’s the same in the book ( I think I kinda need to read it in french now...)

aghghdhgs « primo-délinquants »

of course subtitles don’t match the audio for a variety of technical reasons but when you get things that have very different underlying meanings i find it… not good This one about Crowley being evil / a demon : subtitles : « c’est ton travail » - « it’s your job » audio : « c’est dans ta nature » - « it’s in your nature » i mean dang

crowley sounds like a little shit asking az about his sword

« T’AS FAIT QUOUA » - he just loses his shit (kinda giving me some le coeur a ses raisons vibe)

ok crowley sounds very nerdy when he tries to explain that he took down the phone network, i think i actually like this voice acting

ligur sounds… very suave (im a little ill at ease)

crowley getting called mon chou by satan freddie mercury is a thumb up from me

i see the part where aziraphale speaks japanese wasn’t dubbed over and we can still hear michael sheen. it’s a bit disturbing considering french aziraphale has a higher pitched voice (and he sounds soooo much more anxious than sheen, give this angel a xanax )

“sandwich bœuf cresson” ( beef and cress sandwich ) deirdre really who makes this kind of sandwiches

im being reminded that the chattering nuns prepared little cut outs for their explanation about the antichrist switch… such dedication to useless crafts (it made me laugh on my first viewing and it’s still funny to imagine that some of them either ordered or built these things themselves just so they could make this two minutes long presentation for the most important act of their satanic nun careers)

retire-toi vil démon infernal, créature des abysses XD i swear az doesn’t sound even remotely convinced when he is saying the « get thee behind me foul fiend » line in french, it’s just too over the top for credibility, it sounds like it’s straight out of some super intense dnd session

they still can’t say bouillabaisse (which, like, weird because french, but still valid). nice touch is crowley couldn’t say soupe de poisson (fish stew) either and said poupe de soisson (sish ftew)

warlock mah boy how can you be a teenager and not like dinosaurs

c’est un dinosaure un nullosaure plutôt - apply burn heal

La façon dont warlock s’est exclamé « C’EST NUL » m’a fait penser au nain de naheulbeuk

the english version has nothing on french speaking aziraphale for the second hand embarrassement during the magic tour. it’s over 9000 i literally hid my head in my jumper when he was presenting harry the bunny. Horrible experience, 0/20, would not recommend

EP 2

oooh agnes has a lovely voice !

why is young newton having such a quality dub for the three sentences he has to say

dick turpin’s name is jesse james (tbf dick turpin is not known AT ALL in france, i discovered him reading good omens)

shadwell is pure chaos (as expected). No particular accent for him though, the chaotic energy was probably enough. Would have made me laugh if he had like, a chti or a marseilles accent.

aziraphale is so fucking stressed out by crowley’s driving i thought he was gonna explode

« tu es un gentil garçon » => « you’re a nice boy » said az to crowley DANG THAT’S SO INFANTILIZING AZIRAPHALE YOU’RE TALKING TO A DEMON FROM HELL NOT TO PINOCCHIO

ARGH FIRST MON ANGE OF THE SERIES i’m hit straight in the heart

anathema’s mom doesn’t have a spanish / latino accent at all when talking in spanish…. why...

dog being called toutou is definitely adorable (it’s basically « doggy » but way cuter imo)

tickety-boo has become ça gaze. that’s valid. it’s corny but i still use it unironically from time to time so ... i stan

EP 3

« je répands la fomentation » « i’m here spreading foment » « quoi tu fais des crêpes au froment ?????? »  « what you’re making crêpes with wheat ??? » love the fact that we shoehorned in one more ref to crêpes

az called crowley mon cher camarade, unintentionnal communist propaganda ftw

« pas de repos pour les… bah, pour les bons » « no rest for the… good »  – az was so deflated about the ineptitude he realized he was saying, he felt zero percent commited to his sentence

i was wondering how they would play aziraphale not being able to speak french in the bastille and they opted to have him stutter a bit and say to his executionner « excuse me i’m anxious » XD

« vous êtes le 999e aristo à mourir par mes soins. Mais vous êtes le premier en costume beige » « you’re the 999th aristocrat I’m going to kill, but the first one in beige attire » yeah i guess now that az isn’t english anymore his most noticeable feature is his cream aesthetic

« c’est au cas où ça tournerait en eau de boudin » « j’ADORE le boudin » => « in case it all goes pear shape » - the literal translation featuring food in french is « turning into black sausage water ». I don’t know what pear shaped inspires to english native speakers but the mere mention of boudin always make me giggle, it’s such a funny word and such a funny food

OH !!! no terrence rampa for the tv series, we’ve got anthony J. rampa. Rip terrence petit démon parti trop tôt :’(

« tu roules trop vite pour moi rampa » SERIOUSLY i know we can still infer « rouler » (here as in driving, but literally rolling) as a metaphor for their relationship but you could have said TU VAS TROP VITE that would have been so much better argh

has anathema got an emergency stock of potteries to break in case of emotionnal crisis ?

« Rampa, un démon très futé, il m’oblige à redoubler d’effort » « crowley, a very clever demon, he forces me to make double the amount of effort » oh so admitting you’re making an effort there aziraphale ? :))))))

dang i really want to know how shadwell said that major milk bottle died because not only did he die in combat but aziraphale’s reaction is a bit intense, it must have been quite a tale (this could be a crack fic prompt : «The Epic Tale of the Death Of Major Witchfinder Milk Bottle, by Sargent Witchfinder Shadwell» )

des sorcières et des phénomènes sorciéreux x)

CROWLEY CALLED AZIRAPHALE DUCON ?????? EXCUSE ME ????? #NotMyCrowley #CrowleyWouldNeverDoThat  #CancelAnthonyJRampa2K20  => ducon would be an insult, the gathering of du and con, con being a very nasty but common swear word, and associating it with du- makes it extremely patronizing. it’s like « absolute pathetic digraceful moron +++ ». thanks i hate it *frowny face *

EP 4

l’apocalypse c’est pour aujourd’hui juste après le goûter : it could be translated as « apocalypse is scheduled for today right after tea time » except that « goûter » is not quite tea time but rather the little sugary snack kids take when they come back from school and that most adults drop out of (i haven’t and i’m sure az hasn’t either). thanks aziraphale for having exclusively food related notion of the time because tbh same

ligur has no right to be this sexy between ariyon bakare and his french voice actor that’s just not allowed

radio crowley’s voice vs french ligur’s voice, who has the sexiest voice : FIGHT

(jk french agnes nutter’s voice is by far the sexiest)

gender neutral doesn’t ‘quite’ exist in french but pollution has been assigned a female voice actress and masculine pronouns (i’m saying it doesn’t quite exist because officially we have no gender neutral, but it’s a serious wip among lgbt+ circles to the point where it’s started being used in a few medias)

hastur « en attendant qu’un plombier vienne » / « while waiting for a plumber to come » does hell have a special plumber unit or do demons have to call on human plumbers for their pipes damages ? Dang hastur having to call a human plumber for hell’s plumbery is another damn good writing prompt for a crack fic

Michael is called Michel in the subtitles but Michael in the audio *shrug emoji*

EP 5 

to get a wiggle on has become « il faut qu’on se remue les fesses », literally « we need to shake our butts » like, yes, se remuer les fesses is a common expression to say « we need to act in order to get things done » but it really casts the image of people shaking their booty to some music and obviously crowley thinks the same Weirdly enough I have almost nothing to say for that episode. Sorry. But we’ve discovered most voice actors and actresses so far and no bit of dialogue really struck me as worth discussing or pointing fingers to mock it.

EP 6 

« on va BROUTER quelques derrières » - « we’re gonna lick some butts » OK THIS IS UNQUESTIONNABLY FAR SUPERIOR IN FRENCH THAN IN ENGLISH you thought LICKING butts was good ??? you really thought that ???? AZIRAPHALE HERE SUGGESTS TO GRAZE BUTTS. TO NIBBLE THEM. TO EAT THEM. TO. MUNCH. ON. THOSE. BUTTS!!!! not just licking, guys. This is as serious step beyond licking. (oh yeah he should have said « botter » instead of brouter btw, which is really just kicking, fyi)

« moi je crois en la paix, pétasse ! » wow, language, pepper (fyi i think « pétasse » is far far worse than « bitch » even if it means roughly the same, pétasse is almost never used while bitch is rather common, so it’s a swear word +++)

Dagon sounds like she’s got a nasty cold. #GetDagonIbuprofen2K20

I can confirm that Crowley offers Aziraphale to not just stay at his place, but to move in with him. « tu peux t’installer chez moi si tu veux ». omg they were roommates.

Bad translation strikes again : i don’t know why, but the french dub doesn’t have the « tickety-boo » / « ça gaze » being referenced as Rampa / Aziraphale is being knocked down, which is… a real mistep. It was narratively significant and I’m quite mad the translators missed it.

The Jesse James explanation from Newt has become very nonsensical, instead of the neat and to the point pun « wherever I go I hold up trafic » we’re getting a circonvoluted « because it’s a crime to mechanic’s diligence ». I’m not judging that one too hard, I have no idea how to make it better, and that’s probably how it was translated in the book as well thirty years ago, but it definitely doesn’t have the same impact. On the other hand, it definitely IS a very bad joke that doesn’t even deserve a chuckle, so Anathema’s embarassement really matches the audience’s (aka mine).

OVERALL :

I wasn’t convinced by Crowley… I mean, Rampa’s voice at first, but as the nerdiness showed up it really grew on me. I still think that french dubs have often problems with some voice inflexions every here and there, and for instance in Rampa’s case it was when he was annoyed or frustrated ( at the Globe when complaining about horses and Shakespeare’s plays that aren’t comedies, and also when discussing Azirphale’s magic tricks, it’s like… there is a step between having the right amount of grumpy complaining and overdoing it that is overlooked. It’s overacted, it should have been a bit quieter imo. I don’t mean to criticize voice actors too hard either but as an audience watching french dubs this is a very recurring problem and it always feels off to me. It’s actually one of the main reasons I avoid french dubs whenever possible.)

I have a hard time judging Aziraphale’s voice dub because it clashes so much with both the idea I had formed with it when I read the book and Sheen’s delivery that I just… kinda filtered it. It was too high pitched for me, and too anxious (though for this last point I must admit it could be funny at times, but I’m not fond of this character portrayal). The rest of the cast was rather good, nothing to complain about. There wasn’t anything stellar either, but everything that needed to be conveyed was and it was professionnal. It was also very homogeneous, no voice really struck me as being way too bad or way too good compared to the others, so it was really consistant.

So I don’t have much to complain about overall despite a few wonky translations here and there, BUT there is one thing I felt very robbed of : Crowley calling Aziraphale « mon ange » happens only once, when giving a lift to Anathema, and I’m almost certain they translated it that way because otherwise the joke about Anathama mistaking them for a couple wouldn’t work. So, they were forced to make it that way. The rest of the time Crowley calls Aziraphale « l’angelot », and despite being literally translated by « little angel », it feels sarcastic more than anything else ( the « L’ » in front of « angelot » is part of the reason why, it creates some distance, the other reason being that this word in itself has a very corny vibe and people being affectionnate to each other wouldn’t use it as a term of endearment). So, that’s a shame.

I like the English dub much much MUCH better than the French, but the french wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be. The voice actors and actresses were quite good, the dialogues mostly faithful and endearing despite a few really missed steps. It really had its moments. Props to brouter des derrières, that one was fantastic.

[anthropwashere]

You've inspired me to rewatch FMA 03. I watched it originally as a little gremlin child who had read the manga first and was like bah its different and quit.

Oh hey! I’m glad to hear that anon. 03 was how I got into FMA back when it aired on [adult swim] in, what, 2005? I cried like a baby seeing ep 50 the first time, haha. Plus I didn’t find out about CoS until years after it came out for that matter. It was a genuine delight to find out there was more 03 fun to be had. Idk how far you got in your first watch or how long ago that was, but I really hope you enjoy it this time around! 

Mangahood’s obv the story sandbox I like to play it but I love the amount of characterization that went into 03, bizarre filler eps and all. It doesn’t flinch away from the darker aspects of its story and often drives the point home unflinchingly instead. It’s so very much its own beast that it does a disservice to every version of FMA to bog yourself down with constant comparisons. I don’t mean it isn’t also interesting to make those comparisons, but so often you see folks springboarding to decry one over the other and sometimes going so far as to insult those who prefer one over the other for that matter. It’s two cakes, y’all. 

On the subject of making comparisons, I can’t speak for the subs but the dubs went out of their way to get as many voice actors from 03 back for Brotherhood and I keep making the Metal Gear Solid ! sound whenever I catch one. Father and Majhal have the same English VA and I just about died laughing.

I’m doing a rewatch with bunch of other folk on Discord every Saturday. We’re... 20? Episodes in now? We’ve got folks who’ve seen it multiple times, only seen some of it, and have never seen it all piled in there. If that’s something you’d be into doing too come join us! https://discord.gg/KvyVHPbg (1 day link)

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 13/02/2021 (Digga D, AJ Tracey, Cardi B)

It’s not as big of a week as it is just a confusing one, so there’s no pre-amble. Olivia Rodrigo spends a fifth week at #1 with “drivers license” and let’s start REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

I started writing this a bit later than usual so I just want to rush through most of what’s here. The songs dropping out of the UK Top 75 are either debuts from not long ago like “Notorious” by Bugzy Malone featuring Chip and “Lo Vas A Olvidar” by Billie Eilish and ROSALÍA, or songs that have been here for a while, like “Monster”  by Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber, “Holy” by Justin Bieber featuring Chance the Rapper and “Dynamite” by BTS. We even have some #1 hits dropping out of the Top 75 this week, like “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac, “WAP” by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion and “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. In terms of fallers, we have, seemingly, some of the older Winter cuts being replaced, as we see “Sweet Melody” by Little Mix getting a harsh streaming cut down to #30,  “Whoopty” by CJ down to #33, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa and remixed by DaBaby down to #34 (although this could rebound given the album release), “you broke me first” by Tate McRae at #37, “SO DONE” by The Kid YAOI at #57, “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo at #61, “Looking for Me” by Diplo, Paul Woodford and Kareen Lomax at #62, “Train Wreck” by James Arthur at #63, “See Nobody” by Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio at #64, “Take You Dancing” by Jason Derulo at #65, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #68, “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi at #72 and “Golden” by Harry Styles at #73, as well as some more recent debuts, including the entirety of Fredo’s album impact from last week, as “Money Talks” with Dave is at #11, “Ready” with Summer Walker at #31 and “Burner on Deck” with Young Adz and the late Pop Smoke at #32. “Skin” by Sabrina Carpenter and “Apricots”  by Bicep aren’t faring that well either, at #51 and #56 respectively. When I said these songs are being replaced, I wasn’t overestimating anything as we have our new crop of hits seemingly all surging, as “Martin & Gina” by Polo G is at #54, “Be the One” by Rudimental, MORGAN, TIKE and Digga D is at #49, “Best Friend” by Saweetie featuring Doja Cat is at #42, “My Head & My Heart” by Ava Max is at #35, “Love Not War (The Tampa Beat)” by Jason Derulo and Nuka is at #27, “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals is at #24, “Your Love (9PM)” by ATB, Topic and A7S is at #23 (it’s honestly starting to grow on me), and “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd is somehow back up to #20. Speaking of the top 20, we also have “Friday” by Riton, Nightcrawlers and Musafa & Hypeman dopamine re-editing itself up to #16, “Save Your Tears” also by the Weeknd at #15, and two new top 10 hits, both songs with basically the same chart run and genre. “Goosebumps” by Travis Scott, remixed by HVME, remixed by Travis Scott is at #10, becoming HVME’s first and Travis’ fourth top 10 hit here in Britain. We also have “The Business” by Tiesto grooving up to #7, becoming Tiesto’s fourth top 10 hit. I honestly feel bad for the still completely uncredited vocalist. We also have a third new top 10 entry but that’s a debut that we can discuss later. I should also note that “Roses” by SAINt JHN and remixed by Imanbek is back at #74, and a winning Eurovision song, “Arcade”, by Dutch singer Duncan Lawrence is also back at #39 off of the back of some TikTok traction. I think this is the most streamed Eurovision now – I’d watch out for this being a big hit. Welp, time to get into our really, and I mean REALLY, varied and weird crop of new arrivals, starting with...

NEW ARRIVALS

#75 – “Roadtrip” – Dream and PmBata

Produced by Banrisk and Perish Beats

Okay, so this is a song by Minecraft YouTuber Dream, or at least that’s who I think he is. I think there was some kind of scandal related to him, and a couple people got involved and someone got doxed... listen, I don’t care. Not only is this song really not worthy of reviewing on the principle that unlike Wilbur Soot a couple weeks ago, Dream has never been a musician, which is clear from how involved no-name singer PmBata was in this, but I care for my private information not being made public so... What ridiculous excuse do I have to not review this? Okay, 1997 reggae-rock classic “Doin’ Time” by Sublime returns to #75 after Boris Johnson made a TikTok in the Houses of Parliament where he says “Pogchamp, Brexiteers, I just got tested for COVID-19” with the song in the background, and Joe Biden is on a Zoom call with him a few seconds later visibly annoyed because he prefers the New Radicals. Sure, let’s go with that. What was this entry about again?

#71 – “Goodbye” – Imanbek and Goodboys

Produced by Joris Mur, Imanbek and Goodboys

Everyone’s favourite Kazakh house producer Imanbek is finally back on the charts with his collaboration with British pop trio Goodboys, who you may know from their carbon-copy hits made with MEDUZA. After listening to that EP he made with Rita Ora, I’m slightly less impressed with Imanbek’s production, but that EP’s impact, if any, will be seen when the lead single featuring David Guetta and Gunna debuts low next week. Yes, seriously, all four on the same track. Anyway, this song, “Goodbye”, is actually pretty okay, with a generic deep house groove and fake hand-clap effectively saved by the Goodboys’ really intriguing vocal delivery and processing, which ends up in a Travis Scott-like Auto-Tune harmony that’s honestly pretty endearing right before the anti-climactic slap-house drop. The song’s lyrical content probably isn’t worth talking about, but it’s about a generic struggle with a break-up, and how hard it is for one of these good boys to say good bye. The build-up with the pre-chorus before the blue-balls second drop is kind of genius, and that’s probably my favourite part of the song outside of the abrupt vocaloid drop at the end. For what it’s worth, it takes more risks than most of these house-pop songs, most notably by having only a single verse in the middle of the song, and being really short, clocking in at less than two and a half minutes. It’s not as infectious as “Piece of Your Heart”, but this is fine. I’m glad it’s here if it’s going to give Imanbek another non-Rita Ora-assisted hit.

#60 – “Little Bit of Love” – Tom Grennan

Produced by Jamie Scott, LOSTBOY and Daniel Bryer

Tom Grennan is an English singer-songwriter who released their debut record in 2016 and was crowned by the BBC as the “Sound of 2017”, before dropping off the face of the Earth. He was brought to fame by a guest feature on a Chase & Status song that didn’t even do that well and now he’s back with the lead single from his upcoming sophomore effort, and his highest ever charting song. Well, is it any good? I mean, I like OneRepublic too. The rising strings here in the intro and chorus are pretty cool, and I’ll give it to Grennan for having an interesting voice but the odd level of grit in it does not fit well for this plastic production, which quickly devolves into vaguely danceable synth-mess that’s just not interesting. The content is mostly about unconditional love, particularly one that feels not particularly reciprocated, although some of the detail in the second verse feels like it’s going somewhere. I’ll admit, the chorus is catchy, but this mix puts way too much emphasis on a flawed vocal take from Grennan, which really detracts from the pathetic excuse for a bridge. I do enjoy how this feels like a flash-back to the mid-2010s, where happier, synth-based pop was this prominent, and I do love how the strings come back in the outro, but good production can’t do much to save a song that just feels under-cooked and definitely under-written. The OneRepublic comparison feels particularly fitting here too because their stuff tends to be just as stagnant, not to mention the lyrical riffs off of “Counting Stars”. I mean, when you start your first verse – in the first 10 or so seconds of the track – with the most recognisable part of a very recognisable song, I think Ryan Tedder deserves at least some royalties.

#58 – “Astronaut in the Ocean” – Masked Wolf

Produced by Tyron Hapi

Masked Wolf is an Australian singer and this song is actually from June 2019, just gaining enough traction, presumably off of TikTok, to debut on the charts this week. The song got a 2021 reissue and I assume a remix and, well... for God’s sake. The Kid LAROI should not have been an entry point for Australian trap, because outside of a second or two of distortion in the intro, this is far from unique. It has a guitar-based trap instrumental with dark 808s that even Gunna would pass up on, and an Auto-Tuned delivery from Masked Wolf, clearly trying too hard to replicate Drake in the intro and bridge, Kid Cudi in the chorus, G-Eazy in the first verse, Eminem AND Kendrick on the second verse, to the point where he even directly references Kendrick Lamar’s much better music. He suffers from the same problems as all of these artists combined, with lyrics that seem like they’re building up off of something interesting about depression before going into aimless flexing like a mid-tier Kid Cudi track, flows that sound as meandering and checked-out as Drake’s, the failed attempt at some kind of white-boy swagger that G-Eazy hasn’t pulled off successfully since 2016, the substance-less content hidden behind fast flows from Eminem and... oh, my God, this guy’s just like Australian Logic. I don’t like American Logic, why do we need this guy too? Yeah, this is bad, and there’s not much worth nitpicking in this mix or even the lyrics to even point out. I guess the worst bar is when he says he believes in G-O-D but not a T-H-O-T. So he’s a slut-shaming NF now? Jesus Christ, I’d take a full album from The Kid LAROI over this.

So the next two songs are ones I’ll actually need to somewhat lump together, as they are consecutive on the chart and both from the same album, and the same washed-up band.

#53 – “Waiting on a War” – Foo Fighters

Produced by Greg Kurstin

We have two songs from Dave Grohl and friends here from their latest album, Medicine at Midnight, technically three if we count the entire top 100, which means, yes, the UK just had a Foo Fighters album bomb. I’ll focus on the album as a whole with the next song because this is easily the worse track here and the worst track on the album purely out of how misguided it is. Dave Grohl wrote this song because he felt inspired by the current hell-scape of the political climate, reminding him of his own youth when he was surrounded by rising Cold War tensions. His young daughter asked him if there was going to be a war and naturally this song came out of it, reflecting on the fears he and his daughter have and that everyone deserves a future and a lifetime not taken away from them by conflict and fear. This is a good song idea but it absolutely does not work, and that’s partially down to the production. When I first heard this track on the album, I genuinely grimaced at the vocoder-mumble that Grohl takes on against the scratchy acoustic guitars. The whole point of the instrumentation is that it builds tension with rising strings, multi-tracked acoustics and eventually some electric guitars and powerful drums, yet because of how slow-paced the song is, it fails to mirror the rising tension of the prospect of there being a war. Instead, it’s a slog and its pay-off by the end feels unwarranted in the most boring way. Sure, the squeals of the guitars in the back of the mix sound good, but surely a song like this should not end like any of the Foo Fighters’ other pop-rock anthems, especially not as abruptly as it does. Wouldn’t you want a more subdued outro to comfort your daughter’s fears that at least right now, everything’s okay? That would make the most sense to me, but that’s thrown out of the window, with pathetic songwriting, with verses that play word association with the blandest of rhymes, seemingly irrelevant pop-song-generator filer and a chorus that is mind-numbingly repetitive but ultimately fails to build tension because of the content asking us to wait, constantly, even when it gets into its heavier rock tone. We’re supposed to wait for something that is only implied to never come, because there isn’t finality. Sure, that could work as a way of saying that Grohl is just as uncertain and scared as his daughter is about political conflict, but that would imply this song gives off any further emotion than the fact the Foo Fighters felt the need to cut a vaguely political track out of necessity. As a song, and as an album, Dave Grohl is utterly confused, and “Waiting on a War” is way too slow and non-specific to act as a protest song, as well as being way too on-the-nose for it to work as a ballad. Let’s talk about this next single.

#52 – “Making a Fire” – Foo Fighters

Produced by Greg Kurstin

What the hell is Greg Kurstin doing here? This is the first track on the album and is supposed to make some kind of gripping impact but is instead just a snoozefest. The choral female vocals sound bored, but at least it’s not as strained as the struggling Dave Grohl trying and failing to yelp over a stiff groove which has its momentum killed by drumming too slow and mixed too oddly to make this pre-chorus even coherent, not helped by Grohl’s butt-rock delivery and non-descript lyrics. There could be a guitar solo here, to make this track feel memorable, but no, it’s hidden under a pre-chorus with an extended gospel bridge that doesn’t build up effectively to a chorus that just comes crashing in and hence has no effect. Maybe I just can’t listen to arena  rock in a quarantine context, but I can’t even imagine this making much of a fuss in a packed stadium without desperately needing tweaks in the songwriting and especially the production, because this just sounds stunted. It’s telling that Grohl made his best tracks as the Foo Fighters on his own and those first two records, alongside a pretty decent 2014 comeback in the form of Sonic Highways, are still great. I’m not denying that Grohl can write a good song, or that the Food Figures can’t play, because they’re all talented guys. This is just one album in many that leaves me with the feeling that these guys just can’t do much more outside of their comfort zone than fail miserably. These songs won’t stick around, and thank God for that.

#50 – “Believe Me” – Navos

Produced by Tom Demac and Navos

Another week, another... okay, but we already had a generic pop-infused deep house track from a couple EDM randos, do we really need another? Okay, well, this one is even less interesting than Imanbek’s effort as it doesn’t even try for a verse, instead going for a deep house groove I’ve heard countless times before, drowned out by some square synths and, yes, you guessed it, 90s piano loops and an uncredited female vocalist repeating basically the same couple lines over and over. This is made for the clubs, but I feel like even regular club-goers would tire of this vocaloid drop and cloudy production two minutes in. There’s nothing worth discussing here, because this probably took as many minutes to make as it did to listen to. I have no idea why Navos debuts a song so high, but I’ve got to assume TikTok’s to blame. Apparently this guy makes tech house, where’d any of that skill or intrigue go here?

#21 – “Up” – Cardi B

Produced by Sean Island, DJ SwanQo and Yung Dza

Anyone else surprised at how such a big name gets production from people I’ve never heard of before? Not that it matters, it’s just odd. Anyways, this is Cardi’s new single, presumably from that ever-elusive second album, debuting around 20 spots lower than it will in the US, and it’s going for a more gangsta-rap content than the hyper-sexual “WAP”, but does she keep the same energy? Well, yes... in fact, after all the mediocrity, I’m glad to have a genuinely great song debut this week. This is a great, bass-heavy beat that gives a Memphis phonk feel in the dark keys as well as the hard-hitting 808s and spacey percs and sound effects that add some needed distortion, even if there’s going to be some brief clipping along the way. Cardi brings some necessary energy from the brilliant opening lyrics and continues with a fast-paced, chanting flow that accentuates some of her funnier lyrics with her charisma that she always brings to a trap track like this. I’d say that this is maybe too repetitive – with very little of the verses to speak of – or even somewhat derivative of her previous song, “Money”, but there’s a lot better lyrical content in this one, not to mention how well she complements a more straight-forward but still killer beat. Oh, yeah, and Cardi’s stacks are Shaq-height as she dismisses haters with an impressive level of swagger and confidence, that carries the refrain, but that’s not to say the lyrics aren’t really great in the verses. There’s genuinely funny and sexy wordplay here, especially in the second verse, and also some great liners: “hoes speakin’ cap-anese”, accusing her haters of having pink-eye and their breath smelling like “horse sex”. This is a short, probably underdeveloped song, but it’s the type of surreal, high-energy trap I kind of really love and I hope this sticks around further in the UK.

#19 – “Latest Trends” – A1 x J1

Produced by ShoBeatz

A1 x J1 are a British rap duo with no other songs. Yeah, something’s fishy here: this is their only song on Spotify that blew up from a 15-second clip on TikTok, and their Spotify bio is trying to decide whether they’re the next D-Block Europe or the Beatles, as well as really emphasising how the song grew “all organically”, even though they’re already signed to Universal... yeah, there’s nothing subtle here, so I won’t buy this TikTok fame schtick, but does it matter when the song is good? Well, not really, and honestly, I’m kind of into this guitar-based drill-R&B fusion in the beat, but it doesn’t really help the fact that J1’s Stormzy impression is janky and unconvincing, especially if he’s going to try for some shallow wordplay, and that A1’s Auto-Tuned croon is just boring, reminding me a lot of A Boogie wit da Hoodie, but with a less recognisable voice and delivery, even if the first verse contains a funny line about a woman making that ass clap “for the NHS”, although he totally took that from Swarmz anyway. Yeah, I’m not a fan of this fake attempt at an organic pop-drill crossover, but unfortunately, I can very much see this working, though I’d be happy if the British public will see through this dishonesty as soon as possible.

#5 – “Bringing it Back” – Digga D and AJ Tracey

Produced by TheElements and AoD

Now for a rap duo that makes more sense to debut this high and are actually, you know, separately successful rappers, therefore they debut in the top five, which is impressive. The whole concept of this song is that Digga D and AJ Tracey are using old flows, those that would be nostalgic to their deeper fan base, to spit bars on a new track called, fittingly “Bringing it Back”. The flow AJ Tracey brings back is from his overlong “Packages” freestyle, a five-minute track from 2016, that works more as a freestyle than it does as a song, where he uses a familiar UK drill flow to go off for a really long time, and, yes, it is pretty impressive but the flow becomes stale too quickly. Digga D uses his flow from his “Next Up?” freestyle from 2017, a similarly badly-mixed UK drill freestyle but with a much more palatable length. Digga D’s flow he uses in that track is arguably slicker but honestly one that I see used a lot in UK drill and by Digga D, so I’m not sure it’s not worth “bringing it back” when you could come up with a new, catchier flow. I’ll admit that “Bringing it Back”, however, is a pretty damn good song, with Digga D’s more technical and fluid flow allowing for a lot more intricate internal rhymes that sound really great over the triumphant, string-heavy drill beat, as he trades bars with AJ Tracey’s slower but more confident, laid-back flow, which allows him to spit some more specific, interesting bars, some of which really hit, like when he says he “locked up the food for the kids like Boris and then I let it go like Rashford”. Hey, I respect it, I haven’t heard a more clever way of intertwining political commentary with cocaine smuggling since Pusha T last released a record. The way AJ Tracey and Digga D play off of each other’s lines is really smooth, and especially how Digga D plays with the beat, as while his lyrics may be less interesting, they mash perfectly with the beat’s frantic fades in and out, especially in his last lines before the first chorus, where he asks for the track to literally be turned off... and it is. So, yeah, I’m pretty damn happy with this debuting so high off the energy alone, even if Digga D is going to pronounce “LOL” like a one-syllable word. I’d say this is actually a really good starting point for people who want to get into more UK drill because it has a lot of the grit and menace of the genre in a more accessible, catchy form, even if it may run a bit too long for my taste.

Conclusion

Wow, what a weird, weird week... and a lot of it was straight garbage. I’m giving Best of the Week to “Up” by Cardi B, with an Honourable Mention to Digga D and AJ Tracey for “Bringing it Back”, though Worst of the Week is pretty much a toss-up. I’ll give it to the Foo Fighters for “Waiting on a War”, with a Dishonourable Mention tied between “Astronaut in the Ocean” by Masked Wolf and “Believe Me” by Navos for just both being worthless. Anyways, here’s our top 10:

The UK Singles Chart is honestly kind of chaotic right now – even more so than usual – and I don’t see that changing. Even if I don’t like all of the songs, it’s at least compelling. Anyways, thank you for reading and you can follow me @cactusinthebank on Twitter if you want. I can’t really make any predictions for next week other than Taylor Swift re-recording her own music and I guess some impact from Rita Ora and Imanbek, or hopefully, slowthai. Regardless of what happens, I’ll see you next week!