#like i rarely draw pv. what happened here

[hellonpluto]

ohhh doomed toxic yaoi. Save me doomed toxic yaoi

reblogs are uber appreciated btw!! ty :]

[stardustizuku]

Why Miraculous LadyBug Is the Worst Thing To Happen To Magical Girl Genre in All Its History.

It would be easy to sit here and tell you all the logical reasons why Ladybug is a bad show. It has horrible pacing, it has low stakes, repetitive episodes, and a dialogue that is cringe worthy enough to get its own tiktok sound.

But saying that, would be beating a dead horse at this point. Everyone knows this show is a bunch of wasted potential, only made worse by a director who keeps thinking he created gold, when in fact he messed up in a lot of areas – particularly the fact that he’s a grown man who thinks he knows what little girls want.

I’m not here for that.

Particularly, because I can be quite forgiving to shows like this. I mean, they’re kids' shows! Meant for little girls, and I haven’t been one for a few years now. But I still enjoy them.

Why? Well, cause I’m a massive fan of Magical Girl animes. I love the glitter, the sparkles, the silly adventures with friends, and the transformation sequences! Even with all its flaws, I really like them. So, stories or shows that borrow from them, get a pass in all these things. 

I mean, I have fun re-watching WINX Club, I love Star Vs The Forces of Evil despite its flaws. Steven Universe holds a deep place in my heart and She-Ra is…She-Ra is in its very own league of how amazing it is.

So, no. Be it a very dumb show or a very smart one, I can have fun. It’s very rare when a show with, you know, glitter, girly stuff and animals CAN’T hold my attention.

But, well, MLB failed at that.

It’s just, not a good show.

I mean, it could be. But the age demographic would need to drop several, several age groups just to be barely watchable – and even then, I seriously doubt that it would be good for young girls to watch it. The lessons it teaches are concerning, to say the least.

And at this point, you may be thinking,

"Why do you care so much about this show? It’s dumb and you’ve acknowledged it treats its demographic as toddlers. Why do you care so much?"

Well, because I've been here... for a very, very long time.

Listen, I started watching Miraculous Ladybug, back when I was in high school. Maybe a bit old, but, hey, a lot of unique cartoons came out around that time. (Star Vs, Steven Universe, etc). So, I was hopeful. Really hopeful.

Mainly, because I was here before it EVEN premiered. I remember it. The original PV was 2D animated and it had this vague Princess Tutu vibes that JUST I couldn’t resist. It was clear as day that it borrowed a lot of its inspiration from magical girls from the 90's, probably even 80's.

The premise looked similar enough to Kaito Jeanne, and Kaito St. Tail for me to draw those conclusions.

It had a dynamic very similar to Princess Tutu and seemed like a mix of silly and dark like that one was.

To be honest, I could even see hints of Sugar Sugar Rune with Pierre and Felix.

Not to mention, the animation was beautiful.

I will never, never forget that scene with Chat looking at Ladybug starry-eyed under the Paris Moonlight. That was so beautiful, a genuine touch of romance that rang so similar to the Magical Girl animes I grew up with.

I was thrilled, I was excited. I wanted this show to succeed, before even the premier had dropped.

This is all to say -

I never came to this show with the intention for it to fail.

And I didn’t expect nor want it to be ground-breaking or a giant of the genre. I just hoped I could have a fun time.

I didn't want subversions, I didn't want it to be dark, or deep. All I wanted, was sparkles, fun and a good time.

So, when it first aired, I tried to stay positive. I tried to like it, even when it had all these massive red flags.

I’ve never been a big fan of 3D animation, and especially not how it’s used in Magical Girl animes. (We all know the disaster the first season of Sailor Moon Crystal was).

But I swallowed it down.

The characters were different from the original PV

But I swallowed it down.

The background scenery was bland and generic and hardly felt unique.

But I swallowed it down.

I was here since day 1. I was here when Stormy Weather premiered. I was here before many of you were, and

I swallowed it all down.

Because I really, really wanted this to be good.

And I really thought it would.

But things should have been made clear, when they fucked up the one thing they shouldn't. The one thing that held this all together. The one thing that kept me here even as everything was burning to the ground, and I was too naive to realize it.

They fucked up the thing that started all this, to begin with.

MasterList >> NEXT

[yuuana]

Music Monday #110: NICOLAS - 真昼の蜃気楼 (Mahiru no Shinkirou)  release: June 2019 genre: visual kei, visual rock

What looks like a new band but actually isn't? Yup, it's the relaunch band, a thing that happens sometimes for reasons that are much gossiped about but rarely explicitly stated. A band "breaks up" and then comes back a few months to years later with the same members (or mostly the same members) but a new name (or maybe not that new, yup, looking at you Ayabie). Full disclosure time, I was not a particular fan of Gossip, not because there was anything wrong with them, but they got overshadowed by DIAURA and were just kind of ... yet another band doing the same thing that a whole bunch of other bands were doing. They were good! But boy did they catch a lot of shit for supposedly being cheap knock offs of the GazettE or Dir en Grey (or both!), depending on who was doing the accusing. In fact, NICOLAS isn't even the first time these guys have relaunched - Saku, Akane, Satsuki, and Zero started out together back in 2010 in a little band no one knew* called JyuLie before folding in 2014 and then coming back as Gossip**, picking up a drummer (Ritsu) along the way. And while I might sit back and snicker a little, there's also something ... reassuring about seeing a group of guys doggedly sticking together to make music for so many years in spite of everything. NICOLAS is still practically brand spanking new, although they're already on a oneman tour (side benefit of being a relaunch instead of an entirely new unit - the band can (re)claim their old fans and ticket sales pretty easily), hitting small live houses across Japan and two singles out now. Their new 'signature' is apparently masks on bassist Zero, we'll see how long that keeps up. Mahiru no Shinkirou is distinctly different from their other PV, Maronpa, the latter of which feels more in line with the Gossip I knew before. As for the visual language of the PV, I'm really into the switching with the monochrome-but-with-red-added and the desaturated color sections of the shoot. It's visually interesting with a side of interesting to see which things they're choosing to draw to our attention. I'm not going to hold my breath on these guys keeping my attention, but at least for the moment they've piqued my curiosity. * I'm exaggerating here, JyuLie was together for ~3.5 years before folding, they had enough people knowing them to last that long, even maintained their own official YouTube ... and still broke up and decided to relaunch as Gossip on AINS. ** Technically, the band's name was Dainippon Onitanjigumi Akudoukai ni Senkyo sare GOSSIP ... but even in kanji that's a lot, so they largely went by just GOSSIP

If you’ve been enjoying my selections and analyses, please consider buying me a Ko-fi!

[thesportssoundoff]

The UFC Released A Schedule; Let’s Play Matchmaker For It

(As always, this shit is tiring but also a lot of fun. If you read this, I appreciate it. It's a lot of work to even try to play around with this stupidity but I also think having to do this exercise makes you a teensy bit smarter, if only because you gain an appreciation for its difficulty.)

Joey

November 12th

The UFC unveiled it's 2019 early schedule slate and it is in so many words, an attack on you, me, the world of MMA, the universe as a whole and all we love dear. It's a loaded slate of 11 fight cards compared to 8 in 2017 and 9 in 2018. It's the debut of the ESPN era where 42 guaranteed shows at 12 fights a pop are coming our way with rumors of as many as 4-5 Fight Pass slates as well. The UFC will be on ESPN, ESPN+ and PPV from locales like Brooklyn, Brazil, Australia, London and Arizona with plenty more to be announced in the coming weeks obviously. The past year whenever the UFC has rolled out their scheduling in THIS format, I've tried to play the best Sean Shelby/Mick Maynard I can and matchmake for the events. It is a long painful process and if you're reading this, I hope you're prepared for me to do it again.

Couple o' caveats before I begin:

-I am not predicting any flyweight fights. Until they book a single fight in 2019 at the weight, I'm assuming it's gone.

-We're rolling with what we got. No GSP, no Diaz Brothers. no Rumbles bails out, none of that. We got what we got.

-Just doing co-mains and main events. If I got a PPV fight or two in mind, it'll be in the overview of it.

-Don't expect a non-Brazilian main event in Brazil or so on so forth. There ARE rules to this game, ya goons.

Ready?

January 19th UFC on ESPN+/ESPN Barclays Center Brooklyn New York

ESPN+ Main Event: Anderson Silva vs Israel Adesanya Co Main Event: Yoel Romero vs Anthony Smith

ESPN Main Event: Rachael Ostovich vs Paige Van Zant Co Main Event: Cub Swanson vs Jeremy Stephens

At the press conference, Dana White said somethings at UFC 230 were going to lead into what would happen for this card. Given the amount of middleweights on the show, I suppose that's where the action is. We know Yoel Romero has a signed contract for Jan 19th so right off the jump, the first assumption is Romero vs Costa which, I suppose, is the right fight to make at least until Ariel Helwani broke news that Paolo Costa is hurt----again. The question I have (and perhaps will continue to have) is where Anderson Silva fits into the discussion. Silva is rumored to be returnign in January LIKELY for this card. Silva vs Israel Adesanya sounds very interesting and I'd be 100% with it.  It would be a tremendous treat for striking fans and is the perfect use of both guys. My concern is that Adesanya, Paula Costa and Jacare Souza are all basically jockeying for the back up spot for the February show from Australia. It makes FAR more sense to put Adesanya there vs JAG and roll with something else for Silva----but you're not going to get a lot of these opportunities. Silva vs Adesanya will probably draw more eyeballs to your ESPN+ debut than any other fight you could come up with that isn't a title fight (and for the record, I bet the app will get a few title fights here or there). More on that in a pinch. Keeping Yoel Romero on the card and finding somebody else to fight him keeps a dude who just headlined a PPV on your undercard in a somewhat premier role. I am all aboard on Romero vs anybody but let's go with Yoel Romero going UP in weight to try his hand at 205 lbs vs Anthony Smith. Let's roll. The ESPN "prelims" need to be treated like a main card due to the attention it's going to receive and while PVZ vs Ostovich might sell folks on your app, PVS vs Ostovich probably gets more eyeballs on your ESPN debut on a network. Go with that because it's a lie to assume you can come up with another fight to garner that level of attention.

UFC 223 January 26th Honda Center Anaheim, California

Main Event: TJ Dillashaw vs Henry Cejudo Co-Main Event: Robbie Lawler vs Ben Askren

This one is I guess pretty much locked up. The UFC isn't going to bring Ben Askren in without the plans to showcase him and a co-main under this kind of a title fight makes some sense. Personally I'd go with something else BUT I'm also not sure what would fit better. If they're committed to Askren fighting for a title, might as well co-main event him. Cruz vs Lineker is a tremendous #2 fight with the idea that a guy can jump up in the case of an injury to Cejudo or something of that ilk. Wouldn't surprise me if they roll out a title fight to protect them in the event that fight falls through BUT I'm not sure we're going to get one of those. Your PPV main card could look something like TJ/Cejudo, Lawler/Askren, Till/Mike Perry, Cruz/Lineker and a filler fifth fight. Not awful but probably not the greatest shakes either.

UFC on ESPN+ Feb 2nd Centro de Formação Olímpica Fortaleza, Brazil

Main Event: Jose Aldo vs Donald Cerrone Co-Main Event: Demian Maia vs Diego Sanchez

Brazilian Fight Nights often times suffer from cards that are sliced and diced and picked apart before fight time comes around. The UFC's got an easy one to deal with here as apparently Aldo vs Cerrone was in the works once upon a time. Aldo has said he's waiting to see if Holloway or Ortega wins to make a move to 155 lbs but my belief and hope is that he'll simply make the decision to go up 10 lbs regardless. The co-main event can just be a fun time. Demian Maia has said that he's retiring at the end of his UFC deal so let's just give him safe and fun fights. Watching Maia vs Woodley, Covington and Usman combined with the losses from the top guys he beat gives off the impression that his run to the title shot was very much the work of some amazingly fun yet brief smoke and mirrors. Maia vs Sanchez is a rare "fun" fight that sort of protects both guys and could give way to some intriguing grappling exchanges. Let's not beat the devil out of Demian just yet. Throw in your usual collection of good solid Brazilians on the undercard (Thiago Santos will show up here for sure, I'd imagine Shoeface and Lil Nog will as well) and you're on your way to something good.

UFC 234 February 9th Rod Laver Arena Sydney, Australia

Main Event: Robert Whittaker vs Kelvin Gastelum Co-Main Event: Cain Velasquez vs Either Tai Tuiavasa or the winner of Curtis Blaydes/Francis Ngannou

There are very few fights I'm as intrigued about as Whittaker vs Gastelum. On paper, that's a fantastic fight well worthy of a main event spot. It's the confirmed headliner so there's not much to play with there. I originally figured Rose vs Andrade would make sense here but there's a problem; Rose Namajunas says she's not going to be ready to go until the Spring. Andrade vs Suarez as an interim title fight would be nice and all but I imagine most fans would reject that fight on principle alone. Let's dream big and by big I mean HW. Cain Velasquez is APPARENTLY healthy and ready to fight soon for the UFC. Per Javy Mendez, Cain and the UFC are wrapping up a new deal and once that's done, Cain's getting brought back out for a fight. I don't TRUST that but Cain vs anybody is a fantastic co-main event and would give Australia something nifty and different. I don't need to see Cain vs JDS IV especially since both men are cooked and Stipe Miocic has a more important role to fill. That means that Tai if he beats JDS or the winner of Blaydes vs Ngannou can get the Cain fight instead. Rounding out the main card, I've got my eyes on Jacare as the back up for the main event. While UFC booking says Jacare gets the best MW available (because why would we do something simple?), I'm giving Jacare a soft touch for doing me a favor and staying on the show. Italian Alessio Di Chirico is coming off a win and is a weak-ish enough grappler that I could see that being easy work for Jacare. Ross Pearson is bound to show up on here somewhere (it's the way of the world) and the same goes for Tyson Pedro (fighting in early December). Wouldn't snub my nose at maybe one more Mark Hunt old dude HW fight either vs another old dude (Arlovski?). Also if Volkanovski wins vs Chad Mendes and is fresh enough to return around this time? Put him in the showcase spot.

UFC on ESPN February 17th Talking Stick Casino Phoenix, Arizona

Main Event: Tony Ferguson vs Dustin Poirier Co-Main Event: Frankie Edgar vs Josh Emmett

The UFC's official OFFICIAL debut on ESPN comes in February in Arizona so let's go out there and give us some of that fresh out the oven violence for fight fans. Let's say Khabib Nurmagomedov gets suspended for six months from the date of UFC 228. That puts him in line-ish to fight in April which is basically the cut off point before he takes off for Ramadan. It would be doable but a tight squeeze for the UFC to pull that off, right? Okay NOW let's say he gets suspended for eight months. An eight month suspension is basically a year long suspension since it'll take Khabib into Ramadan and Khabib tends to re-emerge into the September to December months. As such, Khabib could be out into "it's reasonable to have an interim title" range. The same goes for a year long suspension or potentially even longer. With the lay out as it is,  Tony Ferguson vs Dustin Poirier makes a lot of sense as a potential interim title fight. Tony Ferguson is the unofficial official UFC lightweight champion while Dustin's never been hotter as a fighter. The co-main event just feels like a good way to get Edgar back into the mix vs a guy who has some steam on him. Holloway vs Ortega, Moicano vs Bektic, Volkanovski vs Mendes sucks up six of the top featherweights and I've seen Edgar beat Swanson twice and Stephens once (and I kinda booked them against one another but shhhhhh!). That leaves very little that's appealing for Edgar at 145 lbs and the idea of doing a fun as shit Edgar vs Cruz fight at 145 lbs probably has very little zest with fans PLUS Cruz is fighting in December. The only other option I felt moderately interested in seeing Edgar face would be Josh Emmett. Emmett is coming off a loss but he did headline on Fox (and was a co-main), he's got some spark behind his name and I feel very comfortable and confident that it'll at least be a somewhat captivating fight on paper.  As for the rest of the main card? I don't have anything definitive in mind given how loaded November and December are for the UFC. If you forced me to flesh out six fights, it might look something like this:

Ferguson/Poirier Edgar/Emmett Mackenzie Dern/Felice Herrig Aljamain Sterling/Rani Yahya Gian Villante/Khalil Rountree (Because deep down inside of my soul, I really do hate all of you and myself)

That's assuming they do five fights. If they do four, scratch that last one and thank me for it.

UFC on ESPN+ February 23rd Scotttrade Center St. Louis, Missouri

Main Event: Justin Gaethje vs the winner of Dan Hooker/Edson Barboza Co-Main Event: Marlon Moraes vs Raphael Assuncao II

The UFC hasn't announced a venue for this yet so we're playing a little bit of God here. There are heavy rumors that this show is bookmarked for South Korea but if that were the case then the UFC Would be going Korea, Australia and Brazil in a span of a mouth and that doesn't seem overly likely. If it was up to me, the main and co-main event here would be swapped and reversed. The only way you're going to get bantamweights accepted as main eventers is to roll them out and see what happens. Assuncao vs Moraes II is supposedly a fight the UFC is working on and both guys are #1 contender types in a division hungry FOR a number one contender. Feels like a fair and easy fight to make but ALAS----welcome to MMA where everything is fine until it isn't. Figuring that the desire to have a "big" main event trumps logic and common sense, even for a digital streaming app, let's go with what I think is a perfectly acceptable headliner of Justin Gaethje vs the winner of Barboza vs Hooker. Gaethje has main evented in three of his four UFC fights so he's clearly a guy the company has faith in in that spot. Barboza is a proven headliner and IF Hooker beats Edson then there's no doubting where he should be ranked and who he should wind up facing. That main event just feels right in the UFC's never ending division of great fights. Moraes vs Assuncao II is a perfect co-main event, teeth firmly grinding together as I type it.

UFC 235 March 2nd T-Mobile Arena

Main Event: Daniel Cormier vs Brock Lesnar OR Stipe Miocic Co-Main Event: Tyron Woodley vs Colby Covington

The main event feels like a lock for DC's final fight before he either goes off to work as a WWE commentator or replaces Dana White as the face of the UFC while Dana takes a more behind the scenes role in the company. Despite Cormier saying he'd fight Jones again at LHW, I don't see that ever being the case just due to the weight cut. Not cutting to LHW has been such a positive for DC that he has joked (perhaps?) that the lack of a weight cut has opened the door for him to extend his career if he wanted to. That means either Brock or Stipe is getting the call to face Cormier. My immediate thought is that they will do everything in their power to get Brock vs DC in March. Why? Because if both guys are retiring then you're just free to do whatever. It's sort of like how Bisping turned down Vitor as a retirement fight when both were looking for one last fight; what's the downside to cheating if you're going to be gone anyways? As for the co-main event, we can't avoid this forever. At some point, Tyron Woodley vs Colby Covington is coming our way and our collective asses are going to have to deal with that. It's an intriguing fight I suppose inside the cage but at the end of the day, there's simply no way to workaround the ugliness that'll follow it outside of it. And just for the sake of funsies, add a third title fight here for good measure. Give me the winner of Jonna/Shevchenko vs the winner of Eye/Chookagian in December. Feels like everything should match up in a timely fashion there. Hell I wouldn't even be totally opposed to Nicco Montano getting the shot here either. Throw in Michelle Waterson vs Livia Souza and Chris Weidman's debut at 205 lbs vs Misha Cirkunov and we are happily off to the races.

UFC on ESPN+ March 9th Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City, New Jersey

Main Event: Cody Garbrandt vs Jimmie Rivera Co-Main Event: Dominick Reyes vs Jan Blachowicz

Again, no location is listed here so we're left to play creative games with locations. The UFC has agreements in place to run shows in China and Russia twice a year (in theory) but they also have deals with Singapore (normally in June) and Atlantic City. Let's keep it in the States and turn our attention to Atlantic City. AGAIN the only way you're going to get bantamweights respected is if you give them main event opportunities. I would've gone Cruz/Lineker winner vs Garbrandt but I'd imagine the winner of Cruz vs Lineker is the fast track candidate for the bantamweight title fight. Garbrandt needs a break from TJ Dillashaw and Cruz----and a fight with Jimmie Rivera feels a bit like a safe and secure rebound fight. Rivera is probably the easiest of the available top 5 guys and I'd like to see if a refreshed Garbrandt could handle Rivera's pressure and crisp combinations. The co-main feels like a damn good fight that even Reyes has chimed in about. Dom Reyes wants this to be a main event but I'm more committed to helping improve the imagery of bantamweights as main eventers than I am in giving Reyes a main event spot. He doesn't need it as much as bantamweight overall needs it.

UFC on ESPN+ March 16th The 02 Arena London, England

Main Event: Darren Till vs Derek Brunson Co-Main Event: Marcin Tybura vs Alexander Volkov

Guys like Jimi Manuwa, LEon Edwards (the hell do you find a spot for him on these shows?), Arnold Allen and the wealth of other good European fighters figure to be on here somewhere. This is where not having a Mousasi type hurts because you could willingly plug him in here at any spot and he'll be a reputable international draw. For me, give me Till vs Brunson in a test to see whether Darren Till is ready for the move up to 185 lbs. Brunson is sort of the Mr. Reliable a la Uriah Hall who the UFC calls on when they need a guy with some clout who can pop in and do a deal. The co-main is just the usual international bit; two big European heavyweights being told to go out there and throw hands at one another. Sneak in Overeem somewhere on this main card in an easier fight (Shamil Abdurakhimov, lookin at you!) and you've got a pretty decent top of the billing for a return to the UK. Leon Edwards is the one guy I kind of lack a spot for; Edwards was supposed to fight a bunch of different guys but the UFC has basically hidden him out in Europe (with a pinch hit in Brazil or Asia) so it's hard to find a good spot for him. Just talking out loud here on that one but maybe the loser of Usman vs RDA? I can't see RDA being willing to go to Europe but he fought in Mexico and Singapore recently so perhaps the travel isn't going to be THAT big of a deal. Also I assume this is where we'll see the return of Gokhan Saki despite him being MIA for what feels like a century now. Mairbek Taisumov vs David Teymur would be a dandy too.

UFC on ESPN+ March 23rd American Airlines Center Dallas, Texas

Main Event: Holly Holm vs Amanda Nunes/Cris Cyborg Co-Main Event: Yair Rodriguez vs Ricardo Lamas

I am going to BET you that ESPN has some "You'll get a title fight" assurances from the UFC. Just a random guess. With Amanda Nunes bottoming out on PPV with under 100K buys vs Rocky Pennington and Cyborg always one foot in, one foot out the door, maybe this is where you use your digital platform to help make some folks happy. Holly Holm is (usually) always really good at attracting eyeballs to her fights in some form or fashion. Consider that she sold 200K+ buys with GDR as a headliner for the love of all that's holy (with some help from Anderson Silva too) and remember the numbers she's drawn on free TV. Holm vs Nunes is a fresh fight at 135 lbs that would/could make folks happy on all fronts. It's a respectable main event. Cyborg vs Holm 2 could follow a similar suit as a "big" fight main event given to fans for $4.99 a month. It's an enticer and perhaps that ESPN+ sub count means more to ESPN (and the UFC) than whatever rating you pop the week AFTER this one. Things don't always make sense in MMA anyways. Yair vs Lamas is a fight the UFC has tried to make apparently three times before and so now I imagine is as good a time as any to pull it off. Yair's stock will never be higher and Lamas seems to be on the downswing of things in his career potentially. Maybe that's a fight you can pull off and feel good about. Also I imagine March is more than enough time for Derrick Lewis to heal up and grace us all with his wonderful presence

.

UFC on ESPN March 30th SAP Center San Jose, California

Main Event- Luke Rockhold vs Paulo Costa Co-Main Event- Anthony Pettis vs Nik Lentz

And so we end this long and painful march towards the end of the "official" calendar with one more show on ESPN. I feel like at this point the "obvious" fights are exhausted and you're left to try and get creative with a smidge of spots that make sense for an ESPN headliner. The one fight that remains that I'd feel most comfortable with is this one; a clash between rising MW contender Paulo Costa and longtime stalwart and guy who seems too stubborn to cut to 205 Luke Rochold. In reality, it's a pretty fair match up for both guys. Costa gets to chase the big "name" that eluded him and after pulling out of two fights and struggling with injuries, it makes sense that Rockhold's return would be a bit more subdued. Rockhold is still a guy who can draw eyes to TV sets and so Rockhold vs Costa on "free" TV feels like a bit of a dandy for fans. As far as a co-main event for the ole boys at ESPN? Kinda stuck. At this point I'm projecting 10 events (and like four months into the future) so it's not exactly the easiest deal in the world.  As such how about Anthony Pettis vs Nik Lentz? Pettis is still a name who can be relied upon for some semblance of notoriety and Nik Lentz is one of the few dudes at 155 lbs he hasn't fought quite yet. Most of the fun exciting LWs I believe Pettis has either fought or has passed on as well given that he turned down Mairbek Taisumov (not the worst idea), Kevin Lee (for UFC 228) and so Lentz feels like a fair shake in giving Pettis someone he COULD beat while also presenting challenges to him. Throw in Ovince St. Preux somewhere and give us the latest from Cat Zingano and I'm cool with that.

[insightshare]

Seven things I learned about Participatory Video for Most Significant Change

by Anna Patton, InsightShare Associate and training participant

Laptops banned. No notebooks allowed. For those of us who like to write everything down, the instructions for the latest InsightShare course on Participatory Video for Most Significant Change (25-27 October, in London) were a bit daunting. How would I remember it all?

Fortunately, visualisation (lots of drawing, arranging of keywords and mind maps) and experiential learning (going through the process ourselves as participants) helps it stick. Here’s what I learned:

1. “Most Significant Change” sounds a bit fluffy, but it’s actually a recognised evaluation technique.

Participatory monitoring and evaluation means that those affected by (and those affecting) a programme are involved in the process of assessing what worked. Together the group negotiates and agrees how to measure progress.

The Most Significant Change process, developed in the mid-1990s, is one form of participatory M&E. Groups collect people’s stories of significant change in their lives, analyse them, and then systematically select the most significant ones. Reflecting on the stories at each stage allows those involved to learn about what causes change.

MSC is now accepted as a valid monitoring and evaluation technique, and has been used by government agencies like the UK’s Department for International Development and international organisations like Oxfam.

2. Adding video makes a lot of sense.

MSC was conceived mainly as an oral exercise, with stories captured in writing. This can have its issues, especially if you’re gathering hundreds of testimonies. One user of MSC reports that it was difficult to get the evaluation teams to write up stories, because they saw it as adding to an already heavy workload. Written stories also risk being left unread: some people may be illiterate; those who can read might be put off by many pages of text. Writing also loses the expression and body language of the storyteller.

Using video, meanwhile, can bring those stories to life, potentially increasing the impact on the viewer. As InsightShare facilitator Isabelle explains: “It takes data off the paper, and it makes it human”. Since anyone can learn basic video skills, storytellers can speak to peers, in a familiar setting; they can watch videos back immediately and as a group. People may also be more inclined to attend a screening than to take part in a focus group. In short, it’s fun and accessible, yet still analytically rigorous and data-rich.

3. It’s best suited for organisations prepared to learn — and maybe even change.

With so much pressure these days to demonstrate the value of a project and show what’s been achieved, it’s easy to think evaluation is about reassuring funders. But as one of my fellow trainees put it, this is evaluation “that aims to improve — not to prove.”

The stories are based on responses to an open question — usually: “What has been the most significant change in your life [in x time period]?”. That prompts unforeseen answers. Perhaps the programme had unintended effects; participants might not mention the aspects you thought were crucial; maybe something else entirely influenced the change they talk about.

So organisations considering PV MSC need to be doing it for the right reasons. (It works especially well as part of a long-term intervention, when the findings of a first phase can feed into the next one.) And they need to know that the process “can bring a cost”, as InsightShare facilitator Neville says, and “the cost is change.”

4. It’s not going to replace quantitative methods any time soon.

Quantitative methods help you see what has changed and by how much. MSC isn’t a replacement for that: it doesn’t use predefined indicators, or anything that needs to be counted and measured.

But MSC can work well alongside quantitative research, by exploring why things have changed, as Soledad Muniz, InsightShare’s head of innovation and development and our trainer for this course, told us. It adds a deeper understanding of what a programme or activity has actually meant to people, she said, and that “lets you understand people’s perspectives on how change happened in their lives, as well as how other enablers contributed to that."

Many InsightShare clients, such as Nike Foundation, have used PV MSC as part of a much bigger evaluation exercise.

5. It can also build skills and experience among those involved.

PV MSC gets you more than just useful feedback: it can also build capacity.

Training local evaluation teams — beneficiaries, local staff, other stakeholders — and taking them through the whole process means they learn and practice data analysis, presentation and public speaking, consensus-building and negotiation, and video recording/editing skills. Depending on existing levels of education/experience, training and support can be time-consuming and costly; though the process can also be done on a much more limited budget, without ticking all the participation boxes.

6. Sharing personal stories can be powerful stuff.

How often have you simply talked to people who listen, without interruption, for as long as you needed to, knowing you were in a safe space? Oddly, something so simple seems rare these days.

Day two of InsightShare’s PV MSC course offered this experience. After the story circle, one of my fellow trainees said she found it “enriching and liberating to have the opportunity to share my story in a safe and neutral space. It was the first time I’ve shared my story so freely… It was beautiful… to feel truly listened to.” Another said that sharing her story “made it real and opened new doors for reflection and decision-making”.

As for me, talking and listening sparked a palpable sense of connection in a room of near-strangers. We each described different things — but there were common experiences, similar worries. Even when there’s little in common, you’ve shared something of yourself that you maybe don’t even bother your best friends with.

It’s not hard to see how storytelling circles can build solidarity among a community and develop people’s confidence in speaking up. (Of course, the process can also be difficult and even traumatising; in some cases a trauma counsellor might need to be present.)

7. Selecting one story isn’t random.

This was the bit I struggled most with. How can one story ever be representative of a hundred or more? And what about all the detail you miss by focusing only on one story?

The point, though, is that the evaluation team have heard and analysed all the stories. They can choose what data to capture from them, and this can feed into a final report.

And in fact, it’s not really about the selected story being representative, but about being meaningful. Two metaphors for the MSC process help illustrate why it makes sense to focus on the meaningful:

“Do you remember the average things [about a holiday abroad] or the wonderful and terrible things? MSC helps teams of people focus on the memorable events and uses these events to help realign effort towards achieving more of the wonderful things and less of the terrible things. When the focus is on learning, we need to capture more than just the average experiences.”

“A newspaper does not summarise yesterday’s important events via pages and pages of ‘indicators’ (though they can be found in some sections) but by using news stories about interesting events… The most important stories go on the front page and the most important of these is usually at the top of the front page.”

From ‘The ‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) Technique: A Guide to Its Use’ by Rick Davies and Jess Dart

And MSC is robust because of the breadth. Hearing a few stories from the field might be merely anecdotal, but as the InsightShare PV MSC toolkit explains, “when 50 or 300 stories or more are collected and analysed, meaningful patterns emerge.”

What about defining significant? As our group struggled to choose which of our six stories to select, Soledad suggested another metaphor: “think of a chrysalis becoming a butterfly”. Change is something that can’t be reversed.

Aside from this, what any given group decides is significant will be subjective — and that’s ok. Because the criteria that a group uses to select their story also says something about what matters to those people. That’s a valuable thing for any organisation to learn about those it’s trying to help.

Photos: Ingrid Guyon

References & further reading: http://insightshare.org/resources/participatory-video-and-the-most-significant-change/ https://www.odi.org/publications/5211-msc-most-significant-change-monitoring-evaluation http://insightshare.wixsite.com/videogirls/the-pv-process http://www.mande.co.uk/docs/MSCGuide.pdf http://www.tools4dev.org/resources/the-most-significant-change-msc-technique-tool-review/

[recentanimenews]

Interview: The Most Shocking Isekai Premiere in Years!

As 2018 draws to a close, we begin some of the usual year ending traditions: celebrating the holidays, spending time with friends and loved ones, giving and receiving gifts, and thinking about the year gone by wistfully. We also get to start thinking of what is to come in the next year: all the opportunities, challenges, and trials that we’ll face. But the most exciting thing to think about? Winter anime season is coming, baby, and this year it’s gonna be a doozy, as it’s bringing with it the hard hitting and exciting The Rising of the Shield Hero! We know how much you love isekai anime, and Shield Hero is ready to give you the content you crave, while also preparing some shocking surprises. To get your appetite ready for the anime, premiering exclusively on Crunchyroll in January, let’s take a look at some reasons to be excited for 2019’s first big anime!

First, isekai is a genre that some people love, and others love to hate, but either way, other worlds are always on people’s minds. The Rising of the Shield Hero comes into the fray with its very unique take on the genre: instead of a hero who hits the ground running with amazing abilities, powers, friends, and luck, our protagonist, Naofumi Iwatani, has none of those qualities! Dropped into a world he knows nothing about, Naofumi is told that he’s the Shield Hero, one of the four great heroes… and seemingly the weakest one of them to boot! He finds himself with no friends, no gear, and barely any support, with only a single ally at his side… that is, until he gets betrayed! As we saw during Crunchyroll Expo, the first episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero paints a bleak and harsh world for Naofumi, and he doesn’t quite take this in stride either, becoming embittered and harsh in return. Where many isekai shows start with characters meeting unfortunate ends in their “real worlds” before being transported to a new one, regaled as a hero of legend, Naofumi almost seems worse off in his new world than he did back in Japan. This isn’t helped by Naofumi’s lack of charisma either; instead of being an easygoing and charismatic leader like most other isekai protagonists, Naofumi is reserved, and by the end of the first episode, hurt and betrayed, making him an overall guarded character that doesn’t project much of an aura of “hero of legend.”

  In our interview with Junichiro Tamura at the Crunchyroll Expo premiere, he said: “Unlike most of the isekai projects that have girls and are a harem, this one is different and a lot darker; the main character has to go through a lot of hardships. I would like everyone to go through these hardships and rise along with Naofumi.” Judging by the power of the first episode and its twists and turns, it seems like we’re going to be in for an interesting and difficult ride to see if Naofumi can overcome his trials and truly become a hero. Check our Crunchyroll Expo premiere coverage of The Rising of the Shield Hero for more insight and commentary!

  We’ve seen other dark takes on isekai before, with the likes of Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, and as Re:Zero proved, once you take away the power fantasies of isekai stories, things can get really dark, really fast, but also very, very intriguing! One of the strengths of The Rising of the Shield Hero is the unique abilities (or lack thereof) of the main character. Instead of being gifted with powerful magic, great insights, the ability to reincarnate, or even frankly a strong weapon, Naofumi gets… a shield. He can’t attack, level, or power himself up, but also has no party members to help him fend off foes. And it isn’t even like he can just bash them with the shield, either, as he finds out that he literally cannot attack enemies at all, meaning he needs other people to defeat his foes for him. Isekai shows usually have characters showing off mastery of modern technology, or being gifted amazing abilities, but it is rare to see a character be given a supposedly legendary title and ability, only with no real way to make any sort of use of it! As The Rising of the Shield Hero moves on, we think one of the biggest things to watch for is how Naofumi overcomes his defensive nature, and if he really can become a hero of legend with just a shield at his disposal.

But a good premise will only carry a show so far; after all, we’re here to see anime in beautiful motion, so what does The Rising of the Shield Hero have to offer? Well, frankly, a lot! As you may know, Crunchyroll is involved in the production process for Shield Hero, and we’re excited to show you all what’s coming after the first episode. Tamura-san mentioned that he specifically loved the ability to design things from scratch, giving everything a unique feeling based on his interpretation of the novels. During an interview, Tamura-san said: “When I’m specifically working with novels, since most of it is not illustrated, we have to make and design everything from scratch, from all the small things like props to background characters." In his chat with Crunchyroll at Crunchyroll Expo, Tamura-san went a bit further, talking about how the collaboration with Crunchyroll was giving him the ability to be creative: “The Rising of the Shield Hero is very special to Crunchyroll, because it’s the first project that Crunchyroll was able to select and license the source IP. Generally from past co-productions, we were introduced to other companies, so we had no choice in the matter for what we wanted to make.” We’re very excited to see what Tamura-san has helped cook up for us for the rest of Shield Hero, and if it matches what we’ve seen of the series so far, we can tell you that you’ll be in for a visual treat to accompany the tantalizing narrative of the series!

    And of course, we can’t forget the music! Kevin Penkin, the Crunchyroll Award Winner for his work on Made in Abyss, worked hard to create a unique, special set of compositions for The Rising of the Shield Hero. When we got to talk to Kevin at Crunchyroll Expo, he gave us a lot of really amazing insights into his composing, but one thing that got us really excited was this tidbit: “There was the main theme that was shown in the first episode and also in the PV, which is a classic example of what the soundtrack will be in terms of variation. It’s gonna jump sometimes between in-your-face symphonic rock and then it’ll have a sort of more sensitive guitar sounds at times. I’m trying to create almost a bit of an emotional whiplash between these two set of contrasting styles that will yield interesting emotional results with the audience.” Symphonic rock tied to a dark, brooding and emotional fantasy story with awesome fight scenes? Sign us up! We already know Kevin is an amazing composer, and his unique style of mixing musical genres together seems like a great match to Shield Hero’s unique take on isekai anime. If you love music playing a role in setting the atmosphere and scene of your anime, The Rising of the Shield Hero is going to give you what you want, and probably more!

At Crunchyroll Expo, we could tell that the crowd (and us too, frankly!) were biting at the bit to get to see more The Rising of the Shield Hero, and it’s hard to believe that it's not too long before the series premieres! As we get closer to the show’s start we’ll try and keep you up to date with all the exciting news we can find, and you better believe that we’re hoping you’ll love this show as much as we have in making it happen. So enjoy the rest of 2018, sip some eggnog, watch the ball drop, and when 2019 hits, get ready to hit the ground running with The Rising of the Shield Hero!

What are you looking forward to the most in The Rising of the Shield Hero? Let us know in the comments!

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Nicole is a features and a social video script writer for Crunchyroll. Known to profess her love of otome games over at her blog, Figuratively Speaking. When she has the time, she also streams some games. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries 

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com