#like if it was gonna be adapted for main series formula it would have to be anyways

[vampire-crimson]

replaying pla and not focusing on the story (context: ive been playing for approximately 7 hours a day for a week and still dont have wyrdeer, intentionally) and like. i already knew i loved this game because like, ive beaten it already. but now being able to really analyze the mechanics and what it all means and like.

this is definitely in my opinion the best pokemon game

[scope-dogg]

What mecha shows did you enjoy but would not recommend to people (flawed personal favourites, shows with high entry barrier, etc.)?

Several come to mind.

Blue SPT Layzner: TV run got shitcanned prematurely and has probably the mast slapdash ending of any mecha show save maybe the TV run of Ideon. OVA adaptation opens with rushed compilation of first half of TV series that's dull to watch and not especially coherent on its own before it gets to the altered and much improved ending. Feels like there's no right way to watch it, you have to do both and piece it together in your head. Definitely one to check out after you've seen Takahashi's better work like Votoms and Dougram, though it's infuriating because the series has banger music and mecha design, and the hypothetical ideal version of the plot that you don't have to basically kitbash together in your head is really good.

Dancouga: Production values are amazing in first episodes and then turn to complete dogshit shortly thereafter, like they literally spent their whole budget up front and then had to pay their animators in loose change and leftover fast food. Very strange pacing. However I've always really liked the main protagonist Shinobu Fujiwara whose voice actor honestly carries the show on his back, and I've had a soft spot for Dancouga the mecha itself for a long time - but it doesn't actually show up until half way in. Yet somehow I can't deny the charm of the show despite how slapdash it is thanks to its interesting approach to the super robot formula, and it leads into Requiem for Victims which is the true ending for the TV plot and a followup called God Bless Dancouga, both of which are banger OVAs (and then another kinda shitty one after that but who cares.) Unfortunately they all make no sense without watching the TV run. It's a franchise for hardcore mecha fans only, though IIRC the 2000s sequel Dancouga Nova is basically disconnected and stands on its own, for better or worse. I've yet to watch it.

Tryder G7: 80s super robot show that's kind of like a part slice-of-life anime, honestly ahead of its time in a lot of ways. Would be my go-to recommendation for 80s super robot shows if there was a decent fansub. The one that exists is a Russian translation of the official Italian subs that then got translated into English and it's as disastrous as you might expect. Not only is it incoherent but even as a non-Japanese speaker I can tell it's often inaccurate. Frustrating because I can tell it's a good show that deserves a proper English sub for fans.

Cross Ange: Notorious show by the Gundam Seed creators. The concept and lore of this show is batshit insane, the mecha are cool, the main character turns out to be interesting and likable despite very negative first impressions, however there's no denying that it's buried under a thick vaneer of shallow coombait and it runs itself off the rails with zany plot at points. Honestly better than its reputation suggests but hard to recommend without looking like a pervert.

Shinkon Gattai Godannar: Basically the same thing, coombait super robot series, fun action, not a bad story. At the same time if you've ever seen a gif of absurd breast physics in anime from the 2000s there's a decent chance it's from Godannar. Good show at the end of the day, better than it has a right to be, artstyle is gonna be a big turnoff for many people and I don't necessarily blame them.

Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise: Probably the weirdest of the build series, also IMO the best. Downside: you have to suffer through the profoundly mediocre original Build Divers to get the most out of it and I'm not sure that price is worth it.

Probably more that I could add. Honourable mention has to go Gundam Seed Stargazer because you have to suffer through Gundam Seed Destiny to get to it, but I hear that the new Gundam Seed movie that's also set after Destiny is good so perhaps the cost-to-benefit ratio of suffering through Destiny has changed.

[ohthehypocrisy]

What if Pokemon Unite was an Anime?

(Video taken from 'Challenge the World! 2023 Pokemon World Championships'. This portion of the video was clipped and uploaded to Reddit, which is where I got this file from, since no GIF of this clip exists at the moment.)

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The Pokemon Anime has been running since the 90's, and since then it had kept a very stable status quo up until a while ago, where the story of the main protagonist, Ash Ketchum and his partner Pikachu, had ended with an optimistic dash into the unknown future.

While the anime was airing, new pokemon games were released, which propelled the series into new regions and characters, and pokemon of course. This did inhibit the series a bit, though, as the show was always adapting to the bigger and grander stories being told within, like settling the feud between Groudon and Kyogre in Hoenn, or stopping Eternatus from absorbing the energy of Galar. You'd be surprised to learn that, for a while, the only animated form of pokemon was this long-running series adapting the new games as they were released. That, and the movies, of course.

It wasn't until a while ago that we started seeing additional animated specials from the animation studio. Not just the one-offs based on Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, I'm talking about the short miniseries that started with Pokemon Origins, going over the Kanto Adventure of Pokemon Red/Blue. After that we saw an expansion with Pokemon Generations, short episodes animating the key story points of the pokemon games. Then came Pokemon Twilight Wings, going over bits and pieces of the Galar region and its characters.

Out of all of the side specials released so far, my personal favorite would be the spinoff featuring Bidoof in 'Bidoof's Big Stand', where a Bidoof has dreams of winning a match only to be used as an HM Mule by the trainer for most of its adventure.

My other favorite series would be Hisuian Snow, an animated miniseries showing life in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Mostly for the animation but also because of it being based off of the game, with how much I enjoyed the game and for how big of a risk it was, deviating heavily from the mainline formula of the pokemon games without being called a spinoff itself.

Speaking of spinoffs, the last miniseries to have been released, Pokemon: Path to the Peak, featured the Pokemon Trading Card Game of all things. Now, to each their own, I did enjoy the episodes when they came out, but I can't help but feel like the show writers for these independent miniseries are running out of material to adapt. Of course, it's pokemon, so there's plenty of games to look into to try and animate.

But shows cost money to make, and any miniseries made has to have a return on the investment. Pokemon: Path to the Peak got by with the idea that anyone can become a TCG championship with a good enough deck, so it's likely to boost sales of TCG starter packs and booster decks and such. For that reason, any future adaptations of spinoff games have to be what's hot right now, and there are two active spinoff games running at the moment; Pokemon GO, and Pokemon Unite.

Now believe it or not, I don't play Pokemon GO. Shocking, I know. My only excuse is that my phone wasn't good enough to run it at the time it came out. By the time I upgraded to a decent mobile device, I figured I was too far behind to actually play with other people, so I never bothered.

I DO play Pokemon Unite, though, on the regular if I can help it. And that's what we're gonna focus on right here. By combining my experience with my writing skills I've honed from making fanfiction for years, we're gonna make a proof of concept for a spinoff series that answers the question...

What if Pokemon Unite was an anime?

[chernobog13]

THUNDER MASK

(I’m gonna re-blog this with some important corrections at the end.)

Just some photos and such about one of my favorite obscure tokusatsu heroes: Thunder Mask!

First of all, the godfather of manga, Osamu Tezuka, was involved in Thunder Mask’s creation.   I’ve read/seen/heard so many conflicting versions of the history of this character, but Tezuka-san either a) created Thunder Mask for a manga, which was then adapted for the television show; or b) created a manga adaptation of the show.

Thunder Mask about to whomp the tar out of the devil beast, Tirema!

I think Tezuka-san created Thunder Mask, and it was adapted for television afterward.  The first episode of the TV show aired a week before the first manga story appeared, which may lead some people to think that Tezuka-san was adapting the show.

One reason I think the manga version is the original is that Tezuka-san himself is very much a character in the story.  He is a mangaka who stumbles upon a situation involving space aliens, giant monsters, and a superhero.  There is even an episode of the TV show (I forget which one) involving a mangaka, who is obviously supposed to be Tezuka-san - right down to the glasses and signature beret - who gets story ideas and notes from the main villain.

Another reason I believe that the manga is not an adaptation of the television show is that the stories, especially the origin of the hero, are very, very different.

Album cover for the Thunder Mask TV show opening theme.  Thunder Mask is battling Devil Dekander on the cover.

In the manga, teenager Koichi Inochi’s girlfriend, Mayumi, is possessed by an evil, gaseous Decander, an alien from outer space.  The Decander race plan to conquer Earth, and possessing Mayumi is just the first step.  Koichi wants to save Mayumi and Earth.  He is unable to do so until he, too, is possessed by another gaseous alien, the heroic Thundar, who enables Koichi to become the superhero Thunder Mask.

In the television show, the Thunder Stars Commonwealth learns of Devil Dekander’s plan to conquer Earth.  They send a warrior, Thunder Mask, to protect Earth, but he arrives 10,000 years too early (this could only happen on a took show, folks).  Then, Thunder Mask takes a page out of Golden Bat’s book: Thunder Mask buries himself in a space coffin, goes into hibernation, and leaves clues so that he can be revived when he’s needed.

Thunder Mask decking Devil Dekander on the back cover of the Thunder Mask TV theme album.  I imagine the flip-side of the album was the TV show’s closing theme.

Thunder Mask then creates a secret identity of Koichi Inochi, an adult male.  The show very much follows the formula of an Ultraman series: Koichi befriends (although never quite joins) a Science Patrol-type monster fighting organization that is inept beyond belief, and fights the monster-of-the-week.  Thunder Mask has a number of specialty attacks as well as being able to grow to kaiju size.

Of course, the no one ever suspects that Koichi is really Thunder Mask, even though he drives around in a flying red car that is more advanced than any technology available on Earth.

The manga also has a doomed romance between Koichi and Mayumi that sets it apart from the television show, where there is not even a whiff of romance.

Thunder Mask lands a thunderous (see what I did there?) upper cut to the devil beast Megatron.  Yes, that’s really his name!

If Tezuka-san was really creating a manga adaptation of the show, I believe the hero’s origin and story would have hewn much closer to the TV version.  Instead, it seems that the TV show producers took Tezuka-san’s concept and changed it to be like every other tokusatsu superhero show.

Thunder Mask still beating the stuffing out of Tirema!

The Thunder Mask television series consisted of 26 episodes which aired on Japan’s NTV from October 1972 to March 1973.  It was a joint production of Hiromi Production and Toyo Agency. 

It should be noted that Hiromi Production was formed by several staffers from Tezuka-san’s own Mushi Production.  Some sources state that Mushi Production was developing a tokusatsu show featuring Tezuka-san’s Majin Garon character.  Those plans fell through when it became apparent Mushi Production was failing; the company went out of business in 1973.  The staffers who formed Hiromi Production then took their plans for a Majin Garon show and changed it to Thunder Mask.

Thunder Mask vs Thinnerman, a devil beast who literally sucks juice out of the brains people high on paint thinner fumes.  Sadly, that was an actual problem back in the early 1970s (people getting high on fumes, not monsters sucking brain juice).

Tokusatsu director supreme, Ishiro Honda (Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, Destroy All Monsters, and many, many more!), directed some of the episodes of the series, although I don’t know which ones.  Of the 26 episodes that were made, only 8 can be viewed today (episodes 1,3,6,7,12,13,19,and 26).  All are available on YouTube.

Thunder Mask can’t seem to get enough of punching Devil Dekander!

Be warned, though: the video and audio quality of those episodes is beyond dreadful.  The YouTube videos are from videotapes made by someone who taped the show when it was briefly broadcast in the US.  Sadly for us completists, no one was able (or had the foresight) to videotape the entire series.

Thunder Mask faces Mothman Parajudon!

The series has never been made available for home video release on any format.  This is not, as most sources would have you believe, because Tezuka-san hated the television series and demanded that all film of the episodes be destroyed.

"Good Lord, man!  Use some Old Spice or something!” scream Tirema and Devil Dekander.

Actually, the real reason (though not as juicy) is that there was a legal dispute between the two production companies.  One company locked all the episodes in their vault, like a kid having a tantrum and taking all their toys home.  Those episodes are still locked away to this day, although the company (I think it is Toyo Agency, which is now known as Sotsu Co. Ltd.) always changes their story as to why they won’t release the episodes.  Sometimes they say they only have the negatives, sometimes they say the film has deteriorated, and sometimes they deny that they have the episodes at all.

“Boot to the eye!” Thunder Mask yells at Genshiron.

While I sure would love to see the TV series in its entirety, prefereably with video quality that doesn’t threaten my eyesight and sanity, I don’t see it happening.  Despite being directed (at least for some episodes) by Honda-san, the episodes (at least the eight that I’ve seen) are marred by poor scripts, cardboard characters, editing that is absolute rubbish, and terrible special effects.  In short, it’s not a good show.   I don’t see there ever being any fan demand for it to be released for home viewing.

Thunder Mask and Girigorin prepare for a make out session.

What might be a better idea is to remake the show, only this time using good scripts, acting, and special effects.  I’d even go one step further to make it stand out from other tokusatsu shows and use Tezuka-san’s original story with the alien-possession and doomed romance elements. 

Thunder Mask gets his groove on with Dorodoron

Filmmakers are always trying to remake good movies and TV shows, and the results are usually not as good as the originals.  It would be a safer bet to tackle a bad show; unless you’re hopelessly inept, you couldn’t help but make it better.

Thunder Mask and the devil beast Dorilling

I do like Thunder Mask’s costume.  It’s one I’m planning to cosplay sometime soon.  I want to modify the mask to be like the manga version, so I’m actually looking through the eye lenses.  We’ll see how that works out; helmets and masks are not my strong point.

Devil beast Gusting gets socked at sundown!

And dat’s all I got to say about this guy.

ADDENDUM:

Apparently, that’s not all that I’ve got to say about this guy.

Thanks to @radmoonlover​, who has provided information much more reliable than 99% of the the other information on the Interwebs about Thunder Mask, I have learned that my Osamu Tezuka theory is COMPLETELY WRONG!

There are written interviews with Tezuka-san where he definitively states that he was approached to draw the manga adaptation of Thunder Mask after the show was created and filmed.

Be that as it may, he certainly put his own very unique spin on the manga.

There is also information that points to Tohl Narita, the designer of Ultraman and Ultraseven, being approached by Hiromi Productions to design Thunder Mask.  Narita-san designed a character, which at the time named “Greenman” (but not the same character as Tsuburaya Productions’ Greenman).

Makiho Narita (no relation to Tohl), a manga artist and designer who worked for Hiromi Production, is then believed to be the person who tweaked the Greenman design into the final Thunder Mask design.

[annethepancake]

Sherlock rant

I recently rewatched BBC Sherlock for Rupert Graves, and aside from the lack of Lestrade appreciation I have a lot of problems with this series. Here are my thoughts:

1. It was all a blur

My second first impression of the show: I don't remember anything but the characters. And some characters I just blatantly forgot, like Mary. And I loved Mary on my second watch! I really forgot that at one point John actually got married and I don't even remember when I watched the show for the first time. I can still recall most of HIMYM's events and I hated that series.

2. It’s overall not a detective/crime show

Watching Sherlock for the second time, I mostly turned off my brain and just let it play in the background because (1) there's hardly anything for me to solve with the characters, most clues are taken by Sherlock off-screen anyway (especially after season 2), (2) they focus way too much on the quirks of the characters that make it almost like a sitcom that got dragged on for way too long. A crime/detective show shouldn't allow me to turn off my brain.

3. The characters just kinda fall flat

Exploring the depth of human emotions is not a bad approach to a modernized version of anything, I’m not trying to pretend I’m better than someone who gets sentimental over fictional character (if you know my blog at all, you know I am not), but at least write good characters. Sherlock is hardly a multi-faceted person; in fact, he’s kinda like the Wattpad teen fic main character sometimes. He physically fights off some terrorists with a machete to save the damsel in distress? He gets high off his tits but still got everything right all the time? John is just kinda there for most of the cases. Jim is a poorly written antagonist. Irene is a lesbian but gets the hot for our main character, surprise surprise. The only interesting characters to me are the ones who act like normal people: Molly, Greg and Mary. They are the multi-faceted characters, ones who I can actually relate to without feeling inferior to them in any way. Write characters like them, stop trying to be smart about it and stop writing Wattpad fanfictions for Sir Conan Doyle’s original works.

I get that they try to make Sherlock more like a human with emotions, making him quirky and arrogant, then make him quirky and more likable. It’s hardly a convincing character development though. He’s given over-powered deduction skills, so edgy, so high and mighty all the time. When he is finally written as vulnerable, turns out he has plans for that too. I would love to see him get it wrong once and maybe get humbled by that mistake, but getting Mary shot and killed is hardly even his fault, he is only doing his job. And killing off Mary is overall a bad idea anyway.

4. They treated the fandom like shit

I was absolutely disgusted at the start of season 3 when the showrunners just straight up shat on their fans. I wasn't there with the fandom during the wait between season 2 and 3, but I believe it was a pretty long wait (2 years, I could barely wait 2 years for my comfort series, and they have like 10 episodes per season), and they were presented with the first actual mystery of the series: How did Sherlock survive the fall? After years of waiting and having fun theorizing, they were met with a mockumentary about them, starring the most hated character of the protagonist and the fans. Those are the people who actually cared about the show for god's sake. The fact that the showrunners treated fans like crap and there's still an active fandom for the show appalled me.

Now not only The Empty Hearse bugs me, but the entire show does as well.

Allow me to digress.

Doki Doki Literature Club is a great example of audience engagement done right (Sorry for using this example I’m not actually that invested in the other franchises). After the success of the first game, the story provoked so many fans into solving the mysteries of the characters, some of them went really, really far. And that’s because of the actual mysteries that the development team took effort to plant into the plot. There is actual pay-off for painstakingly following the clues; as far as I know, only two (2!) people in the world have come close to solving the mystery of the first game (or they actually did). The game developers value their fans and their intelligence enough to have planted those clues where they did, and it’s a genuine exchange between the fans and the creators. Now even though you haven’t actually played the game, when you hear of the name and you’re only kinda familiar with gaming (like me), you’ll probably know what it is. What started as a mere open-source game by an indie developer became a sensation which left millions of fans begging for more.

Looking back at Sherlock, there are tons of logical flaws for a self-proclaimed crime series, virtually no clues for the audience to solve crimes along with their favorite detective, and when there was actually a mystery (Sherlock jumped off the building), they plainly showed him alive and well minutes later. Do we really need to see things spelled on screen to know what’s going on? Are we supposed to accept that Sherlock Holmes is an all-knowing future-predicting genius now too? Not a great sign of respecting the audience there.

So far, the only thing left that’s interesting about this series is the characters’ dynamic. Which brings me to the next criticism I have for the show.

5. The plague that infested mainstream media

Why is there still an active fandom? Queerbaiting and targeted marketing.

Community marketing is proven to be one of the best marketing methods there is, if not the best, to lengthen the lifespan of a product or service. The way they do that for shows and films and video games is usually by planting seeds of possible lores and history inside the content. Look at Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, they are franchises that ran for multiple years with a ton of history and world building that provokes fans’ imagination.

Sherlock - well, Sherlock has sexually ambiguous men.

Sherlock has a formula for success. It was an adaptation of the most iconic detective novel in the world, funded by one of the biggest TV networks in the UK and possibly the world (don’t quote me on this). Making this series means you can appeal to such a wide group of audience even before airing. Adding in the quirky smart men who live together, you’ve basically guaranteed a prime-time show with millions of loyal fans all over the world.

Fans are not stupid, and queer people don't just find queerness everywhere they go. They know a gay subtext when they see one. Sherlock came back from the literal death for John, pretty gay if you ask me.

This show is very much not just about some guys being dudes solving crimes, they have relationship that’s deeper than friendship, and definitely not platonic. They deliberately wrote a sexually ambiguous Sherlock Holmes from the get-go - literally from the very first episode, then capitalized off of the targeted demographic, never a pay-off for their anticipation. Martin Freeman said in interviews that he could recognize Sherlock fans, them being generally women from 16 - 25. No shit Sherlock, this show targets them and capitalizes off of them, being quirky and gay as hell, of course the fanbase is generally 16 - 25 and female.

Sherlock queerbaited the fandom for years for the sake of marketing and there’s never a pay-off, nor was there any recognition to the community, and to add to all that bigotry, queercoding pretty much all of the villains? Why was a show aired in the 2010′s allowed to do this? Why did Mark Gatiss, an openly gay man, a writer of the show, allow this to happen? Why are millions of fans all over the world allowing all this to go on?!

6. Conclusion

Now I haven’t read the books yet, so I’m not at all qualified to criticize the adaptation quality of the TV series; I’m just talking about the TV series on its own. Despite my criticism, I think the first two seasons did quite okay. There are quite a few nice cases there, I like The Blind Banker and The Hound of Baskerville. They did those well because the focus was on the cases themselves, and the connection between John and Sherlock was only in the background. I, like many other fans, like to figure things out on my own, to read between the lines, and to not have things spelled out for me. With the next seasons bombarded with Sherlock and John bonding it seriously felt like mere fan service for me and even though I wasn’t there when the show was on, I still felt like I was robbed and my interest in the show was abused.

Sherlock is undoubtedly super influential in pop culture even now. It has to have done something right to be in that spot (capitalizing off loyal fans?). I’m not writing this rant to change someone’s mind about the series, by all means, I’m still gonna love the hell out of Gavin Lestrade, and absolutely lose my mind over Mary Watson. So do take my words with a grain of salt, I’m just disappointed that one of the most influential shows there is is just short of my expectations.

[taki118]

List of Reincarnated into the Villainess of an Otome/Romance Novel Series I Like

Soooooo I’ve gotten sucked into the very specific isekai subgenre?trope? Of girl gets reincarnated into an otome game or romance novel she loves but is the villainess. It’s kind funny how similar these all are but at the same time so different. Now these arent all the titles just the ones I’ve read for at least a volume and like. (if asked i might make a list of the ones that failed for me). I’m gonna separate by types. and if you know of any other titles please do tell me.

Received Past Memories during Childhood

(The story starts with the MC remembering her past life as a child and growing up with the knowledge)

I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags...

So this one has a good deal of traction since it has an anime adaption currently running, but I’ll be honest it’s not one of favs. This series is primarily a harem comedy and most of the jokes deal with the MC’s expectations from the game not matching her new reality and not realizing why, which can be very fun, if one note. The characters are likeable which is why I keep reading but I think some other titles on this list use the concept far better.  There is also a spin off version where the MC doesnt get her old memories until later in life and has to deal with the actions of the game character, but it’s fairly the same you arent missing much if you dont read it. 

The Villainess Want to Marry a Commoner

So in this one the MC isn’t trying to avoid a bad end rather she’s very excited to be able to romance her favorite NPC whom she wished was romance-able. (which honestly mood) I’m not very far in but it really takes the whole this is a game the furthest as there are stat checks and the MC basically carried over all the items and skills acquired in her past playthroughs.

Survive as the Hero’s Wife

A web series, this one takes place in a book and the main pair are married as children and the MC plays double agent for the series antagonist to keep her and the LI safe. It’s fairly involved with a larger cast of characters but I’ll be honest this is one of the titles I feel would be stronger if it was just a straight fantasy series, the whole Isekai aspect feels like it’s there just to make the plot move quicker. But all around a good read. 

Fiancée’s Observation Log of the Self-proclaimed Villainess

Now this one has a fun twist on the formula in that it’s told from the perspective of the love interest. Some of the faults other titles are plague with are avoided here as the main character himself has no knowledge of the world being a game, his fiance does but while she’s happy to tell him she’ll be a great villainess and get him a happy ending with the heroine she never tells him why thats so important so he’s left in the dark and thereby so are we. I will give a warning there is  bit of fat shaming in this as the original games villainous was chubby  but this version is skinny, like its not awful but its not the best implication that bad is chubby and good is skinny.

The Evil Lady's Hero

Another webseries set in a novel while we dont see the MC in childhood (save for some flashbacks) it’s stated she’s had her old memories since then. What I really like about this series is the MC’s personality and set up. So she died well into her 20s  and as such she is a bit more mature and levelheaded than most MC’s, her plan was to avoid the main cast of the books as much as possible but ends up drunkenly sleeping with the male lead leading to them dating. Her thought being I’ll just enjoy this for now and let him break up with me when he meets the heroine, all good. The pair play well off each other and I’m curious to see where the story goes.

The Result of Being Reincarnated is Having a Master-Servant Relationship with the Yandere Love Interest

Now this one has a lot of fun with this concept as there are two other characters who were reincarnated like the MC. Because this game had only yandere love interests even the “good” endings arent that good, the MC also has limited knowledge as she didnt get to play all the way through so she feels less omnipotent than other protagonists, and along with not being the only person displaced it gives the series a nice refreshing feel.  

Received Past Memories as Young Adult (The story starts with the MC remembering her past life after/during the events of the game/book)

I’m a Villainous Daughter, so I’m going to keep the Last Boss

So I actually really love this series and wanna read the light novel version. The MC regains her memories during the beginning of the bad end for the villainess and thinking quickly saves face to run off and find the main antagonist of the  game the demon king who happens to be a secret route on the second play through. Its a very fun read but gets a little dark in later chapters I wont spoil cause its good but there is an attempted rape scene. 

Simply Good Sense for a Duke’s Daughter

This one kills me cause the world building and characters are so strong and dense it’s actually weakened by the fact that the MC was reincarnated is really just kinda brushed off most the time. As you get more and more invested the only real purpose her being reincarnated into an otome has is like some ideas for products to sell and how to make things that dont exist in this world yet. Like I wont say I don’t enjoy it but I think I’d enjoy it more if it was just a fantasy story. 

Beware the Villainess

God I love this webseries. The MC is just a delight as she decides she wont be evil but she wont be good either. What I like about this series is it kinda plays with the fact that the setting is a trashy romance novel cause as the MC learns more about the main characters of the novel she finds that the descriptions in the book dont match up because it’s very surface level. Example a merchant whos said to be very smart and savvy in the books is actually rather easy to outsmart, MC realizes it’s cause the writer only ever wrote he was smart never HOW he was smart. I would def give this one a read its a lot of fun. 

For Certain Reasons, The Villainess Noble Lady Will Live Her Post-Engagement Annulment Life Freely

This is again another series I think would be stronger if it was straight fantasy. The MC of this story actually has no idea the world is an otome game, she was  nurse in her past life and uses that knowledge for the betterment of the land, (though actually its hard to tell if she was really reincarnated or just has the memories of this person) The story could have moved just as well if the MC was given like a medical textbook from a mysterious other world. But the characters are fun so its not awful just not one of my favorites. 

Reincarnated but not as Villainess 

I Am Troubled That My Fiance Is a Villain

The MC is reincarnated into an otome game with her memories as a child but as a side character, she ends up endearing herself and becoming engaged to the games villain character. Its very cute because she doesnt have to worry about a bad end she doesnt try to interfere much just keep those around her safe. 

Seduce The Villain's Father

Web series MC gets reincarnated into a novel as a minor character, as the story takes place prior to the events of the book she changes things to keep her new sister safe and uses the opportunity to try and avoid more tragic events. Its not bad I’d say the idea itself is interesting though its a little uncomfortable she calls the male lead “father” 

A Villain Is A Good Match For A Tyrant

Ok so this web series is kinda hilarious and I do have to spoil a little cause the person reincarnated is NOT our lead, its our villain. So this person was actually the author of the story, she had written a novel about a girl being reincarnated into the bastard daughter of a lord who gets engaged to a tyrant and has to pretend to be evil to stay safe from his enemies, and the author is so PISSED she reincarnated into a random priestess. Its so weirdly meta. The MC is the lord’s bastards and the events play out just like story only she doesnt get her body taken over. This series is very fun, cant wait to see how it goes. 

Anyway this is my list if you have suggestions for me I’ll check them out. Will probably make another list later. 

[shinygoku]

Thunderbirds (2004)

A review by me, CutCat! This is 8-ish pages long!

Spoiler for the end of the film warning: Alan is in International Rescue. What a twist!

Totally Turbulent

Soooo, Tbirds ‘04 is one of those Infamous Adaptations, at least among those who enjoyed Thunderbirds (’65) and of more recent times, Thunderbirds are Go (’15). It’s one of those Bad Live Action Adaptations to a near sacred property, making it dubious contemporaries with Dragon Ball [Evolution], Avatar [The Last Airbender] and suchlike.

But wait, is it really That Bad?? Why is it as divisive as it is? What caused the film to be the way it is, and quite unpopular at that?

First I’m gonna make a long story very short by saying that a Live Action Thunderbirds movie was on and off production for many years, and that the script we ended up with is apparently better than another one that was pitched... but there are reports of cooler scripts further back that never made it, for various reasons. It’s almost a story of it’s own right but I’m only going by 2nd hand information at best, so I’d rather just link them at the end for Additional Reading if y’all felt so inclined.

With that out of the way, we have the Takes from the Andersons to look at. Sylvia had a very favourable reception to it:

"I felt that I'd been on a wonderful Thunderbirds adventure. You, the fans, will I'm sure, appreciate the sensitive adaptation and I'm personally thrilled that the production team have paid us the great compliment of bringing to life our original concept for the big screen. If we had made it ourselves (and we have had over 30 years to do it!) we could not have improved on this new version. It is a great tribute to the original creative team who inspired the movie all those years ago. It was a personal thrill for me to see my characters come to life on the big screen."

Whereas Gerry had a considerably blunter response at the opposite end of the scale:

"the biggest load of crap I have ever seen in my entire life."

As for me, a mere fan of predominantly the TAG series with limited but fond memories of the 90’s TOS reruns, I’d been inclined to ignore it and write it off as a DBE or TLA lost cause. But the combined effect of me deciding to check out unpopular media for myself, namely Dragon Ball GT and the live action Super Mario Bros. movie, and thoroughly enjoying both; and the other effect of TAG finishing but my fixation reawakening with the need to consume More, I dived deeper into the fan base than I had dared to before, in which I found more reasons to watch it and make up my own mind fairly.

Find out what I thought, and a review of the movie itself, below the Cut! ✂

Stormy Story

Ok, enough teasing, I see good things in the movie but not enough for it to be a secret masterpiece, not by a long shot.

1/3 Stars from Me. That’s Poor. (Compare with 2/3 being Good, and 3/3 being Excellent)

My main beef is unfortunately kinda the crux of the whole story, so while there were aspects I really liked, it had permanently set the bar low, and other issues were not helping matters. I’ll go into the problems after I sum up the plot.

[sitcom harp music]

14 Year Old Alan Tracy is stuck in a stuffy school with only his nerd friend to confide in. Something’s eating him up, and it’s jealousy over how his family are International Rescue, the secret rescue workers whole pilot the Thunderbirds, impossibly cool craft with capabilities vastly exceeding standard technology. Even when he’s allowed out of school and back to the Island, his envy and barely repressed resentment over not being a member himself causes him to go off and sulk and to try taking Thunderbird 1, the hypersonic jet plane, for a joyride.

His father and the leader of International Rescue, Jeff Tracy chews Alan out for almost compromising the need for the organisation to remain secret, lest their advanced technology falling into the wrong hands. Alas, said wrong hands are already working against IR: The Hood, a diabolical, cold blooded criminal with psychic powers and a grudge against Jeff. After successfully tracking the location of Tracy Island, he launches a missile towards Thunderbird 5, the Space Station where IR monitor potential disasters to prevent as much damage as possible, manned by John Tracy.

With TB5 crippled and John injured, Jeff and his other three older sons all scramble to the disaster zone via Thunderbird 3, the Rocket Ship. But with Tracy Island largely unmanned, The Hood moves in and aims to use the Thunderbirds to rob bank vaults while simultaneously smearing International Rescue’s good name. As the only Tracy brother left on Earth, it’s up to Alan and his 2 friends, Fermat and Tin-Tin, to foil the Hood and save his family, proving himself worthy in the process. He is also assisted by IR’s London Agent, Lady Penelope, and her driver/butler/lockpicker, Parker.

...

Ok, so that’s a summary you may read on the back of a DVD box, maybe it’s a bit long but whatever. Do you see what’s wrong with the story? The massive rift in the formula that should be within a template set by the hugely popular TV Series?

Critical Crux

For me, the main issue with the movie is that the Tracy family are thrown under a bus, or perhaps it’s more like being locked in a closet, in order for Alan to rise up and be The Hero. A show that was about each of them having different roles and personalities to the others, and the movie sees the best way to adapt the premise is to reduce 3 of them to cardboard cutouts who aren’t allowed to do or say anything meaningful, with the exception to this getting the dubious honour of getting a missile and exploding space station to the face.

I can’t clearly express how much this pisses me off! It’s downright insulting and baffling as well. They had pre established characters right there for the taking but go NO! Let’s make OCs to fill this newly created void instead and make the main Message of the film Friendship Teamwork.

Why does every child-skewed media hafta have the Friendship message? It’s a good one, sure, but nothing said in this film about it was fresh or original. Y’know what I see far, far less? Not just in Kid Flavoured Media, but all sorts? The importance of Brotherly Bonds between actual brothers!! I don’t subscribe to the massively misunderstood message version of ‘Blood is thicker than water’, but a story with the siblings actually pushed and stressed and coming out stronger at the end would have ruled!!

[For what it’s worth, the actual saying is “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”, i.e. the bonds you choose to forge are more important than happening to be born to certain people. This correct message is still compatible with literal siblings though!]

The other, somewhat lesser Large Issue with the movie is simply that we don’t see much in the way of Rescues with the titular Thunderbirds. We only get the tail end of the Oil Rig in Act 1, and then the ‘Birds are used predominantly to get to London and save 1 Monorail Car with TB4.

Watsonian Woes & Doylist Dilemma

When looking at Media, there’s 2 main angles to consider; Doylist and Watsonian. Doylist is the “real life / meta” angle, the structure of the story or interests of the author being in the plot, that kinda thing. Watsonian is the reason given within the story.

All stories have Watsonian and Doylist reasonings, the trick is to blend them in and not use a weedy Watsonian reason for something stupid happening.

Why bring this up? Because it’s still part of the Huge Problem I have with the film; the Doylist reason for all of IR being incapacitated so easily is so Alan can shine without fighting for focus in a large group. I don’t like it, but let’s go along with it for now.

Believe it or not, but I can accept that a Movie format isn’t going to be the same as an ongoing series. There’s way less time and you gotta hit certain beats. Ideally you also condense the essence of the show into the film while being more than just a long episode. They didn’t hit this note in my opinion...

But other than ‘It has to happen for he story to work’, there’s no damn reason for all the Non-Alan Tracys to be cooped up in the crippled TB5! They put all their eggs into one basket when a considerably more sensible choice woulda been to have a small crew, and the others remain on base. Because even without factoring in a worst case scenario where another missile hits them while in space, killing them all, which totally could have happened for all they know, there’s also the part about them being International Rescue! They gotta be ready to respond to other disasters should those develop. TB1, 2 and 4 were still available for use!

If I was Jeff making the boneheaded decision, I would have taken a second to think about it and have 1 of the Bros come up in 3 with me. Seeing to John shouldn’t be something 4 people are needed for, it would just get more crowded and the oxygen would be used way faster! Considering they all come close to asphyxiating, 2 less people would mean things weren’t so damn close to the wire! (Granted, the movie also has them falling into Earth’s atmosphere and burning up as a hazard, but the whole crew being there doesn’t affect that.)

Jeff! You’re the patriarch and supposedly most experienced dude in the whole movie! Why didja run into that trap with both eyes open? Stressful situation, sure, but in the Rescue Business you need to be able to listen to the cold, clinical angle. You’re risking more of your sons’ lives making such a rash judgement!!

Character Conundrums

This is the part of the review where I begin to really emphasise the differences between TOS and this movie. I’ll hold off TAG for now in the interest of fairness.

The movie is a mixed bag when it comes to the individuals within it. Some have been refreshing updates to stuffy 60′s tropes, but several draw the short straw, feeling even stiffer than their marionette precursors.

Alan - Hoo, boy. The plot follows Alan.... for the third time if you’re factoring in the Supermarionation movies, which was quite the baffling choice as Puppet!Alan is quite the obnoxious jerk. But whatever, new movie, new canon, new Alan. While the Alan of the 60′s was a bizarrely whiny brat of a character considering he was supposed to at least be in his early 20′s this Alan at least makes more sense to be annoying. But yes, he starts off as a sullen jerk with unclearly defined jealousy towards his own brothers and seemingly a lack of grasping the stakes behind International Rescue, viewing being one of the crew as a Cool Job rather than a gruelling, life-risking ordeal. Over the course of the movie (mostly Act 3) he becomes less of a berk and a better team player, even going as far as to save the Hood personally.

Jeff - One of the stronger characters in the movie, even with this poor choice I’ve gone on about already, haha. You get the real impression the job means the world to him, but still secondary to his sons. An update and improvement to the sometimes stodgy and holier-than-thou character from the 60′s, plus his proactive role makes him way less of a backseat driver.

Lady Penelope - Best character and a splendid update to the 60′s Socialite. This Penny is always a delight to see, although her ability to change clothes offscreen sometimes pushes plausibility, haha. She and Jeff also have very natural and endearing chemistry, so for this iteration at least, I’m up for shipping them, something I can’t say for TOS.

Parker - Remarkably true to the beloved puppet version and another highlight. His interplay with Penelope is some of the best dialogue in the whole movie, and was written by Richard Curtis in an uncredited role, or so I’ve read.

The Hood - A shockingly sadistic and cold blooded so-and-so. His Psychic powers have been given a huge boost, and the depths of his spite generates all the tense scenes the movie has to offer. His performance may be the best in the whole film, simultaneously over the top while also completely deadly.

Tin-Tin - Y’know, Tin-Tin is a funny character, in how she’s very different in all versions. I enjoy her in TOS, but her potential as an engineering assistant, mathematician and member of IR are quickly discarded to make her a secretary, which is further demoted to bringing coffee. Ahh, The Sixties! One of her other defining features was the sometimes bickering sexual tension with Alan. Movie!Tin-Tin is still the implied love interest [and the same age] with him, but she’s also an Action Girl extraordinaire, with abilities bordering on metahuman. She can trek through the jungle without slowing down, she can dive underwater for prolonged sequences, and has a variation of her Evil Uncle’s Psychic capabilities, but used for good. Notably, the Kayo of TAG takes significantly more from this Tin-Tin to the original, sadly sans Telekinesis.

Fermat - The only OC I’m gonna dignify with a section here lol. He’s basically mini-Brains, complete with the way he t-ta-tal- -distinctive speech patterns. But yeah, as the hypersmart and nerdy pal, I feel that his role is pretty superfluous, though his performance in the movie got me to soften up, he’s a good kid. Just one who, like, is part of the deal breaking issue I have with the whole film. In a way I think he’d have made a better lead than Alan lmao

Brains - Not much to say here, he’s also a dude in distress for a majority of his screentime. Seems to be older than his TOS self and a bit less subservient to Jeff, but also a father ....or Fermat is his clone. They never make that clear. He’s hit on by the Hood’s Female Scientist and it’s played for comedy, more on that later.

John - In TOS, his role was infamously minimal, as Gerry Anderson took such a strong disliking to the John puppet and the TB5 model that he exiled both into space with a few token shots per episode. So in comparison, this movie is far kinder to John! He has a nice, genuine chat with Jeff, without any mission to initiate said videocall. The movie is also quite mean to John in how he gets bombed by the Hood, his space station in tatters, his arm hurt and then near suffocation with Jeff and most of his brothers. Ahh, the conundrum of being John.

Scott, Virgil and Gordon - No, they don’t even get their own paragraphs in my review. Their lack of presence and importance in the movie is my giant gripe (have you noticed yet?) and it got to the extent that I feel they could have been combined into one character to save casting money. They get maybe 5 lines each, if that. I literally can’t tell Scott and Virgil apart (I know they have name tags on their uniforms, but in most scenes I couldn’t even read that) other than knowing 1 of them is taller. Which that one is, is a mystery.

The only one with a slightly distinctive appearance and air is Gordon, which is another can of worms because he seems to be the designated Doubtful Jerk Brother and that drives me mad!! In TOS he wasn’t as main a character as Scott, Virgil or Alan, but he was still a defined person with his own abilities. And his personality was as a slightly mouthy but the most lighthearted character! Why didn’t they carry that over?!

And yeah, Scott and Virgil are pretty much the Main Two of the brothers in TOS, so their roles being reduced to 1 token act during the oil rig rescue each [Gordon didn’t even get that!] is all the more mind boggling.

Hood’s Minions - Can’t be assed to write their names out, I refer to them as Heavy Dude and Science Woman. Heavy Dude is the Heavy, and his character consists of Dumb and somewhat Sadistic Muscle. Science Woman is first objectified (we see her ass first. Yes, really.) but then it’s ‘revealed’ that as she has Austin Powers level teeth, she’s uuuuuglyyyyy and her otherwise genuine attraction towards Brains is played for laughs with this angle. And that’s still female on male sexual harassment, which doesn’t fly with me. Eeeesh. Bad writing! She does Science Things for Hood.

The Rest - Kyrano and his wife are in this. Wife is Original but basically Grandma’s role, though she doesn’t even get a single word to say. Rip. Also the Hood has a few more generic mooks from somewhere, but seemingly only for part of the movie. Kyrano didn’t do much in the show except get bullied by the Hood and little has changed.

Tone Trouble

I feel like the movie has a bit of an issue with balancing a consistent Tone. Again, let’s look back at TOS. It was a Family Show, designed to not just appeal to little kids, but to also keep their parent and other adult amused. Maybe some of it was also the result of the times, but striking to me is that they allowed the characters to get pretty hurt, complete with red paint being applied to look like realistic blood. Some of the criminals, including the Hood himself, would be very vicious, how he treats Brains in Desperate Intruder comes to mind. There was even firefights resulting in death, like the memorable climax of Operation Crash-Dive, where Gordon has to shoot a saboteur in the back, into the open sea below the compromised plane. He then proceeds to hold the cut wires together with his bare hands. Don’t try this at home, kids!

So while I can understand some of that being removed from the Movie (and TAG), there’s still the irritating going down to a perceived kid’s level for the majority of the film, which is probably also a large reason for the massive structural change. But then, there’s shockingly dark implications here and there, and the haunting sight of the crew trapped on TB5 floating lifelessly in the dark, asphyxiating. But then, again, we have goofy choreographed fight scenes with juvenile stock cartoon sounds. And then, we have Hood force choking Alan?! It has been mostly consistent until Act 3, then the tone goes up and down more than the flying machines.

Revamped Rockets

I’m mostly talking about the main craft here, though I know the Pod vehicles got modified too, I’m not sufficiently a TOS Pod Buff to go over them.

TB1 - Looks real nice! Maintains and even enhances the sleekness, and the idea of a glass cockpit is much better than having 1 tiny window and a dinky TV screen to see by. Oddly dark inside the cockpit considering how much glass there is, though. Probably my fav of the Movie Fleet.

TB2 - Oof. Looks bad, man. Like, really ugly. What have they done to the glorious design that was the Original Big Green? The unofficial mascot from her importance and unorthodox style? They turned her into a stubby, too glossy, chunky bar of green soap. The thick ass legs are a good idea but it sure ain’t enough. Also, she carries 3 smaller pods insteada 1 big one.

TB3 - Like TB1, pretty much the same design but streamlined a little. Docks with 5 sidewise instead of like pen going into its lid.

TB4 - I’m mixed. I like the idea of giving her a glass canopy and extendable arms, but the movie’s version is so boxy she looks more like a small yellow Greenhouse with the rear half of the old Four, haha. The arms also look a little stiff, can they bend? Now, if there was a sleek, glass hulled, variable armed, demolition charges-loaded Four, that would be my favourite possible version ;3 Four is my fav craft in TOS and TAG, for what it’s worth.

TB5 - I say it’s quite a visual improvement over TOS and the odds and ends jumbled look that had, though I do appreciate a bit of Chunkiness. This one really needs to have better defence too, TOS 5 may’ve been able to tank that missile lmao

FAB1 - I know that she would have been a Rolls Royce in the film, but BMW said no, so that’s not a point against the movie. And failing the classic image, it’s cute that it’s a Ford Thunderbird, though I’d have preferred one with those 50′s/60′s stylish fins personally lol. Her ability to fly is new here unless you count the Dream Sequence in Are Go (’66) and the water mode was also seen in that before this, and she gets the job done, though we don’t get to see as many gadgets and gizmos in the course of the film.

Unlikely Uniforms

I really don’t understand these. Why are they off white with minimal accent colours? What was wrong with the blueness of their suits and the broad stripe of a secondary colour? I sure ain’t saying the 60’s costumes were practical or even that fashionable, but they were very distinctive and striking!

Not only that, but for some strange unexplained reason, their uniforms all correspond not to their own speciality, but to which craft they’re currently piloting. Even if they’re all in the same Bird...! So like, four out of five are wearing identical looking red accented suits while locked in TB5. I already find the elder brothers to be the Similar Squad, and their microscopic name tags don’t help!

Why don’t they wear their own coloured uniforms all the time? Then ya don’t need the name tag at all! And the silly implication from the way there’s apparently a whole set of Craft Specific uniforms is that there’s piles of clothes that ain’t getting used in all of them, like the tiny TB4 probably having 6 whole sets on board at the end of the film.

Between that, no blue and the outfits looking like Generic Sports Wear, the only nice thing to say is the THUNDERBIRDS down the sleeve is a cool touch. Which should really say International Rescue or IR...

Mingled Misc.

Yeah, The conflation of Thunderbirds and International Rescue is a tad irritating but it’s actually something I can overlook. It’s not a dealbreaker and it makes sense the Dumbass Public would misunderstand and call them the wrong thing.

Jeff refuses Alan early access into IR and cites “No shortcuts”. Then at the end he echoes this when he is making Alan an official member, saying he did it with no shortcuts. The whole faffing scenario was a giant shortcut!!! Fuck training and being a suitable age, am I right?!

Amazingly I didn’t cover this already, but when Alan shortcuts his way onto the team he’s made pilot of ... TB4. That’s why he’s in yellow accents in the pic. Gordon is seemingly the main pilot of TB3 instead, but the movie doesn’t deign to make that clear. While I appreciate that the 14 year old with no Astronaut training isn’t put in charge of 3 instantly, I resent the careless removal of characterisation. Obviously movie Gordon never served with WASP or won the gold medal in swimming or had a massive hydrofoil crash to nearly kill him but ggggghgggaaahhhhhhhhh

Also what’s with the implication that Four is the Babby’s First Machine? She’s a highly specialised craft that would require different training to flying or Space shit! How dare you?! The most charitable link is that Alan stood around in 4 as Tin-Tin did most of the work herself, but I guess it coulda as some level of experience.

Ford Sponsorship - Gets a bit much! It’s one thing for all the cars to be Ford, but them seemingly owning the News is like an unpleasant look into a world where corporations run everything.... hahahaahaaaaaa........

Marvellous Music

Something the movie really excells at is the tunes! The remix of the Thunderbirds March is good in it’s own right and very welcome, and the new music is all solid. Special mention to Busted’s outro song for slapping so hard even people who hate the movie leave warm youtube comments about the song. I have a habit of listening to it set to TAG footage myself, haha

Sincere Summation

Look, I’ve come off negative in this, but I honestly have a lot of respect for a lot of the parts of this picture. Hood, Penelope, Parker and Jeff are fantastic, the physical models and sets have a lot of care and loving detail poured in, the music is all bangers and other little nods and homages to the show shine brightly. The director got a lot of good work in and I hold him no ill will.

I think the problem is in the Writing and probably Studio Mandates, I’m not 100% sure, but things often get snaggy when the studio you’re working under gets bought out by a bigger company partway through. Again, I’ll refer to the info I’ve seen instead of trying to relay it in my own words.

And they made a real bad call snubbing Gerry as a Creative Consultant. Some of his venom towards the film may be from that, as well as his alleged preference to Team America: World Police as a theatrical homage. And I’ve seen that before and wouldn’t really say that’s true to the spirit of Thunderbirds, but yeah...

I’d be interested in any future Thunderbirds Movies, if that’s ever on the cards again. I’d probably be even more up for continuation of the TAG series, or newer new Captain Scarlet with International Rescue involved. Either way, I want new footage of the Birds taking off again, be it puppet, people, CGI, or something new~

Extra Reading

https://securityhazard.net/2017/05/19/thunderbirds-2004/ Full movie review, warm reception. Contains photos of set pieces and costumes.

http://groovyfokker.blogspot.com/2013/02/thunderbirds-arent-go-unfilmed-versions.html Insight into some of the past issues developing a Movie, but gets some basic information wrong (Since when is Gordon the youngest and TB3 orange??)

Thanks if ya’ve been reading the whole thing! <3

[militant-holy-knight]

Castlevania Season 3 Review: Ellis is Gonna Ellis I Suppose.

Warning: Massive spoilers ahead because I don’t give a shit anymore so scroll down really fast if don’t want to get spoiled

Being a Castlevania fan is pure suffering, man. Not only is the video game franchise being put on ice by Konami at the time of writing, but your only form of enjoyment is a hit-or-miss Netflix Original written by a guy who admits never playing the games. I tried to enjoy the first season despite it being only four episodes long, and same thing with the second one which was longer but had a plethora of issues. Now it’s the third season, which took a year-long break to be made, and I am absolutely sorry to say it’s the absolute lowest point of the show: not only repeating the issues from the previous season, but amplifying them and failing to do anything interesting with anything new that is given. I will elaborate why I think so in this review.

So after Season 2, Dracula has been destroyed, our heroes have split up with Trevor and Sypha going their own way while Alucard has stayed behind in his father’s castle overlooking the Belmont Hold. Carmilla and Isaac have survived and are preparing to build an whole new army, the former to establish a new empire and the latter to get his revenge on her for betraying Dracula. 

Even though the stakes are lower than the possible extinction of the human race which was the (possible) outcome from Season 2 which never actually came into fruition, you’d imagine they would do something inciting with this new status quo... But you’d be wrong. This season as a whole felt like padding in all conceivable manners. Not only was the pacing atrocious (which I will get into a minute), but really, nearly all of the events that occurred could have been omitted and the storyline as a whole wouldn’t have been affected somehow. 

The pacing was the worst problem in Season 2 since you had the protagonists locked down inside a hold to do research on how to kill Dracula and endless exposition among the bad guys that some defenders call “vampire politics’ which ultimately went nowhere. The pacing in Season 3 is even worse since not only is it longer (10 episodes this time), you have more storylines now but each of them move at completely sluggish pace with a disproportional large amount of exposition and comparatively few action. 

The Castlevania games were level-based games which had you visiting several distinct locations whether if it was inside or outside the castle. An adaptation series of Castlevania would make more sense if it was episodic in nature, perhaps even with monster of the week formula. It would have been better off for it, but the show is attempting channel Game of Thrones with an over-aching arc with sprawling individual storylines whose episodes are build up for an epic confrontation at the end, but it fails in that regard.

Trevor and Sypha’s storyline was absolutely pointless - they have no idea of the larger threat brewing with two demonic armies about to clash against each other, but they are stuck doing what basically amounts to a sidequest, investigating a evil cult operating in a small town which takes a needless long time to conclude. They completely fail in saving the townsfolk from being sacrificed and end up discovering that one of the characters that has been helping them is actually a monster all along. This only serves to make their effort completely pointless and leave the pair absolutely bitter and angry.

Not that there is any urgency in stopping Carmilla or Isaac since they come nowhere near close to trading blows to one another. In fact, Carmilla doesn’t come anywhere close to achieving her goal of raising an army of demons with Hector (who has been enslaved by her for this purpose) and it’s actually one of her lieutenants Lenore that solves this problem at the end. On the other hand, Isaac gets the closest thing to an highlight in this season by experiencing something of an character development since he is questioned by several characters that maybe humans aren’t so bad as a whole. The problem is that his development becomes inconclusive since he doesn’t learn to be anymore different than he used to.

Alucard gets sidelined like you wouldn’t believe. He spends the entire season in his castle now with two new characters, Japanese twin hunters that seek to be training so they can free their people from the vampires... Aaaaand they try to fuckin kill him, which comes out from nowhere specially after an extremely uncomfortable threesome between him and the twins. And just in case you thought the previous season was depressing enough with Alucard breaking down in tears completely alone in his castle, this one ends not only with Alucard still alone, crying, but now emulating his dad by leaving the impaled corpses of the twins in the castle’s entrance to scare off any trespassers which is the closing shot of this season.

But for me, the biggest letdown has to be Hector. He was one of my favorite characters from the games, having starred his own entry Curse of Darkness for the PS2 where he actually turns on Dracula on behalf of humanity and pursues Isaac for murdering his wife. Here, he does absolutely fuck all during the entire season except being bossed around by Carmilla’s sisters. The guy had such cool powers of summoning Innocent Devils and wielding all types of weapons (including a lightsaber) is reduced to a whimpering slave, whom I have absolutely no hope of seeing in his absolute glory. The worst part is that it was very predictable - the moment I saw Lenore saying that both her and Hector should flee together, I knew she was gonna screw him in some way. The irony is that unlike the other storylines which pull some kind of mean twist in the last second, here you already can tell what is going to happen next.

The new characters frankly do nothing for the story. The aforementioned Carmilla’s sisters are pure window-dressing and only Lenore gets the shit done by herself might I add completely independent from the others and specially Carmilla herself (who does nothing). A video game character actually does get featured - Comte of Saint-Germain, who is some kind of magician in search of his loved one who got lost in another dimension. Another step down from his video counterpart who is a time guardian that preserves the cosmic balance (though it seems they were channeling the historical figure rather than the character that happens to share the same name given their ignorance for the source material).

There are of course those typical Warren Ellis moments like three mentions of bestiality (and one goatfucking as usual) and anti-Christian commentary, though it seems to be sending some kind of mixed messages this time: in one hand Sypha comment that while she hates God, she at least admires Jesus because of his sacrifice which can be considered one of nicest things that atheists can comment about Christianity... And then the next episode features an demon that used to be a Greek philosopher who lived during post-Constantinian Roman Empire and was persecuted by Christians because of his intellect. Oh dear. With that said, it’s rather odd this guy became a demon so maybe he had it coming? 

Overall, this season is a lot more weaker and lacking than Season 2, which at least had the climax in Episode 7 which some people were willing to forgive the dullness from that season. But Season 3′s climax is completely unfocused, interlaced with unnecessary and uncomfortable sex scenes and doesn’t even feature classical music from the games, which was the saving grace from the last time.

So did it have any upsides? I guess so if you look hard enough like Isaac’s schizophrenic “should I hate all humans or not” dillema which goes unresolved. Hardly anything that elevates the season or make it redeemable in some way. To be perfectly frank with you, I don’t know if I have any interest in keeping with this show. It blew away any good will Season 1 and 2 did, it barely moved the plot forward (and that if it has an overaching plot at all), the protagonists being disconnected to the main threat at large and quite frankly, none of the antagonists are as interesting as Dracula, I just don’t care what happens next. Specially if the pacing and exposition remain in place. In theory, if the series was restructured to be episodic instead of trying to be Game of Thrones, my interest in the show would have been renewed but it’s too little too late.

I guess in retrospect I should be grateful that Season 1 was so short had I knew later ones would be so tedious. There is so very little to do with Castlevania: Dracula’s Curse when you already got rid of the main villain and you don’t move the plot forward. If they want to regain my interest, do a Leon Belmont season that is episodic or heck anything else, but I don’t see them doing this because they have to give closure to this story arc, which already grew past it’s welcome and wasted everyone’s time with a season that amounted to nothing more than filler. Well, my patience has been worn thin.

[turquoisewave]

hey sira ..... about that post with the time periods with sinbad and treasure planet and all that ..... WHAT WAS GOING ON? you said you wouldn't rant about it in the tags so i sent this ....... i need answers ..... TT_TT

Alrighty so the main way I know about it is because I learned about the decline of mainstream 2d animated films in the US so I’m gonna be covering both, partially using a copy/paste of a rant I made months back. All info under the readmore:

HOKAY SO, this isn’t all the factors and it’s not everything it’s just what I remember. I tried to fact check this mess and I think I changed any inaccuracies but I COULD BE WRONG.

So, animation in the 2000s, why it was the way it was and why a lot of films went under-appreciated. One thing you gotta remember is that while animation is a creative field, the companies in charge of them are businesses. And businesses will almost always go for low risk/high reward shit. This means, if there’s something tried and true they’ll stick with it. This is why studios often modeled works after other studios (funny talking animals, white gloves, black eyes with that lil white slit, musical shorts like Silly Symphonies, Happy Harmonies, and Merrie Melodies which yes were all by different studios), or in direct opposition of other studios (don bluth going darker with themes to contrast disney’s cuteness, bugs bunny’s trickster personality to contrast mickey’s nondescript Good personality, etc).

But there’s only so long you can do the same stuff before people get tired of it. Most animated feature length films had the same formula: a retelling of an old tale with musical numbers and cute sidekicks. And they started not doing so good.

However, animation at this time had grown in leaps and bounds. Digital coloring and compositing, merging of 3d effects, big studios run by huge companies, and a track record for being profitable as fuck. At the time the companies didn’t want them to go under so they decided to try to get Innovative. Cause that’s how they’d stayed afloat when things went bad before.

They weren’t going to stray from adapting though, too many unknown factors in original stories (which would also require more workshopping and pre-production). So, they’re still adapting old stories. However, they’re pulling from different sources, and in the case of Disney giving them a twist.

Atlantis was inspired by Journey to the Center of the Earth mixed with the myth of Atlantis, Treasure Planet was of course Treasure Island but Pirates in Space (which is one of my favorite nonsensical aesthetics), Dreamworks SKG (their 2d animation dept) went super old school with myths and legends (Sinbad, Prince of Egypt). And both studios went ham on trying to be innovative with the tech at their disposal.

There’s another reason why they went so hard, besides of course being artists. I said before that at the time companies didn’t want their 2d departments to flop, but as time progressed a new alternative began to become prevalent: 3D animation. And this became a huge threat to 2D studios.

Important to note in this regard is the advent of Pixar in the mid 1990s. 3D animation had come a long way from its clunky, surrealist roots. And with the success of movies such as Toy Story and A Bug's Life, it proved itself to be an upcoming profitable medium. It wasn't just the animation though, Pixar had amazing storytellers and directors. And this shit was new, not directly based on an old Grimm Fairy tale or something. In short their whole package was amazing. Dreamworks started being active around this time too and added fuel to the 3D animation fire. Granted Shrek was based on fairy tales, but in a way that was a subversion and became incredibly iconic for it.

At the time Pixar was independent from Disney but working in contract with them. And the success was more than welcomed. As always in capitalism, the question of profitability comes into question. Traditional 2D animation, especially at the high framerate disney was known for, is expensive af to make. Often if directors and producers are not careful, a budget can really run away from you. For example, Toy Story only cost 30 Million USD to make. Treasure Planet cost 140 Million USD. (granted that's because of the combination of 3d and 2d elements. But Lilo and Stitch was almost strictly 2D and still cost more than Toy Story at 80 million USD.) Also, Disney also kinda oversaturated their market. They released a fuckton of straight to dvd sequels (which Disney himself was avidly against) which kinda degraded the overall quality of the Disney 2d animation brand.

There was also competition from other factors. The early 2000s saw the Harry Potter boom, and Lord of the Rings came not soon after. Those of course siphoned off a lot of attention. They were part of pre-established series. The experimental stories that Disney was doing at the time, i.e. AU versions of literary classics, fell flat because the target audience was not familiar with the origin sources, and those that were weren't interested in "kids movies" They had no fucking clue how to market them, and the target audiences didn’t know to look for them.

Lilo and Stitch actually met with success, because 1) they marketed the hell out of it and capitalized on Stitch's mascot-like status and 2) it was more rooted in the kid demographic rather than that awkward kid/teen straddle the other two had. But even Lilo and Stitch couldn't save the Orlando animation studio when Disney finally decided to shut it down. They concentrated the last of their 2D animation studios in Burbank, California. Pixar's contract with Disney ended in 2004, and Disney tried to capitalize on the success of 3D with their own films, Meet the Robinsons and Chicken Little. Both were uh...the Meet the Robinsons wasn't too bad but Chicken Little was like...trying to hard to be a hacky version of a Dreamworks movie Ratatouille was released by pixar independent of Disney which is a neat thing to note. And of course met with success Meanwhile 2D kept falling behind, and whenever it flopped like with Home on the Range it was just another nail in the coffin. Disney renewed its contract with Pixar, and after the release of The Princess and The Frog they switched gears to focus solely on 3D animated feature length films, relegating their 2D staff to tv shows. Granted there's some great shows like Gravity Falls etc but, the fact that they've given up on films is disappointing. But the numbers don't lie. Tangled was its biggest success in a long time. And then Frozen came and blew it out of the water.

tl:dr - People were tired of seeing grim fairy tales stories retold with musical numbers and sometimes talking animals. - Studios tried to use different sources for adaptations and put cool spins on them and incorporate new technology.

But it didn’t end up working in their favor and 2D animation declined because:

- success of studios that were using 3D animation (though credit can also be given to their pre-production staff/writers/storyboarders) - competition from other growing franchises, in some cases Disney cannibalizing its own profits (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean) - Cost effectiveness of 3D vs 2D - Changing of fads and appeal to audience - Inability to market movies properly to target demographics - Studios actively sabotaging their 2d studios to have an excuse to tank them and focus on 3D work.

So yeah, that’s all I got. I’m definitely missing some nuances here though feel free to correct me whoever sees this.

[badlydrawndrawnings]

atwq book two thoughts

i know from a search online there’s a supplementary book (kind of?) published between the second and third book, and i saw the news netflix is like, probably developing an atwq series? i love reading supplementary material, but i currently have no way of reading it, and netflix for all i know, could adapt it and i can be ‘uh....what the hell is this?’. so i’m gonna take a break from reading the atwq series (idk how long) to figure out what i’m going to do. like, i may jump into the third book and save the supplementary book for last to make myself feel better about the possible bittersweet ending this series is gonna have. 

as a kid i did not take lemony’s warning into consideration, so the me now knows better and realistically readjust ending expectations. good thing too, considering this book reveal a lot more than i thought. i guess it’s a given due to the fact it’s a four-book series and not thirteen-book series like asoue.

more of the review under the cut. i also have some asoue rambling opinions -one is which related to some atwq/tua things in regards to lemony and his family, and some thoughts on the possible netflix!atwq series.

so before going to the plot, i want to talk about kit and lemony’s last conversation for the time being. actually, i want to talk about the snicket family in general. 

teen!kit took what is probably the biggest risk for their plan to steal...whatever they wanted to steal from vfd (so it’s important enough for kit to deciding to continue the job solo but not important enough for lemony deciding to not send in a replacement despite probably the one who came with the idea; will talk about that when i get to lemony). it’s a big risk on kit’s end, and it hurts lemony is more than willing cut short the conversation. i don’t blame him for it, not really. there’s the matter of people overhearing and hiding it from their chaperones.

but teen!kit getting caught by the police makes me think of the end with kit thinking both of her brothers are dead. obviously teen!kit will have her breaking out of their custody and meet lemony and jacques again because clearly she’s not in prison by asoue (unless she actually served time, but i doubt it; adult!kit broke taxi laws and safety and got away with it) or something akin to it. now, kit in some parts of tua knew lemony was alive. she did recommended the asoue books after all. but when was the last time they talk to each other? i presumed lemony was on the run for the last 15 years since olaf pinning lemony for crimes sort of corresponded with beatrice and bertrand getting married. in their what turn out to be their last conversation (probably right before it all went to crap for lemony or before lemony’s mistaken death), did lemony cut the conversation short? or was it kit who cut the conversation short?

like maybe kit could be comparing lemony’s situation to her and thought it would end the same way, only for her to proven wrong in the worse possible way.

while kit is the important snicket that is the protagonist of her own story told in the illustrations (adult!kit confirm to have worsen eyesight as an adult), it’s nice to see jacques get a name drop. i suspect he has no clue what his younger siblings are planning or does knows, but is too far away, even father than lemony and his resident in strain’d-by-the-sea (sbts) to help out (i’m thinking the latter like the way lemony wants kit to send his regards makes me think jacques has some idea the younger siblings are planning). with the last snicket sibling out of way, i need to talk about their family.

i think i should have mention this in my review of the first atwq book, but it’s more noticeable here. lemony seems to have some memories (the hike is what i want to talk about that’s the flag that made me go ‘uhhh’ out loud and got some glances; also my headcanon about e snicket enjoying camping and nature feels more sensible now) of his parents. but in tua, lemony most likely/confirm to be taken as a baby and still crawling. with lemony’s comment about his mother and father on the day he and his siblings got taken in the tua, i assumed that at least all three or one of the siblings were able to meet up with their parents again as teenagers/young adults before their death and told their grief on that day. 

yet in this book and the last book to some minor degree, lemony talks about his parents as if he reunited with them before atwq series started. i’m not going to lie, and i should have brought it up in my last review, but i went ‘wtf’ at the first chapter of the first book i almost bought the fake parents act and the fact s. theodora markson figured it out made me go ‘oh thank good so lemony haven’t reunited with his parents yet” (s. theodora markson looking past the act means she is more competent than she looks, so i’m wondering why she’s...that with the main case she’s working on). i also made a note in my last review kid!lemony uses his imagination for familiar comfort and joy from out of his loneliness, so i’m wondering that’s the case here. i think while mentions of his parents is lemony thinking of what he wants to think, the ones with more details are ‘real’, in a sense jacques and kit told lemony. like the hike.

jacques and kit could actually remember that day and told lemony because they remember most of the events even if some parts are fuzzy. i say this because i was five and ran into traffic and almost got ran over. the memory of the incident itself is fuzzy, but i remember most of it to where i know it really did happen.

with some sad feelings of the snicket family situation out of the way, i get to talk about the atwq characters. i only know jake hix and cleo knight for one book, but i love them and i hope they become high school sweethearts (like they exist and those who are devoted to one another have great happiness with one another).

jake is honestly that meme of that guy going ‘i’ll feed you all’. i don’t want to call jake team (food) mom yet because i have a semi-bad experience of another fandom with a male character who cooks and is call ‘team mom’ due to the early parts of the fandom going out of control with it (it chilled down now hence ‘semi-bad experience’). but seriously, jake is going to care for the kids and he’s gonna feed them all and no one can stop him. no one will also stop him when he learns cleo isn’t actually okay and got kidnapped (he’s so devoted to her and her goal this is why i say i hope they become high school sweethearts) to where he was willing to crash her car in the clinic but didn’t because the car is like, non-destructible. i thought with his character description he would have like, bangs. the illustration shows that’s not the case. his bowtie is very dapper.

cleo really only showed up close to the ending so i kind don’t have a good grip of of her character like jake. but my goodness, i love her illustration (the full one that has her looking menacingly not the poster of her face). cleo’s outfit screams rich kid vibe (granted she is one) + late 1970s clothing with the future flair (cleo being ‘modern’ as she can be is helping my headcanon the vibe of the asoue world is like, slowly rebuilding and getting dominated by the world in first 20th century due to rose tinted glasses). the black and white motif her family has going on screams ‘in theory, we could order a hit man but we choose not to’ and that’s because they decided to drain the sea instead. that’s how rich they are. anyway, i doubt cleo wants to kill a person. she has to create a formula and save sbts. i don’t want to call her team (chemistry) dad just yet, because i don’t have a good grip f her character. but i like how she help moxie with her injury, and how goal driven she is to save her town from her family’s mistake.

since cleo and ellington were able to make their plan work to a degree, ellington is probably older than lemony and not just taller than him (i know 12-13 years old can look older than their real age, but people i know those age when i was in middle school only got mistaken as a freshman). also, the kid friendly noir vibes are now getting stronger. ellington just pretended to be someone else and like, it’s raising the red flags in my mind and i’m the eye emoji now i am on my guard i may be under attack. however, i still have my heart on my sleeve for her and have hopes of her reuniting with her father, who I now really think he’s a good dad and was specifically targeted (like cleo) due to being a naturalist.

it helps hangfire really shows how terrible he is. he tried to pretend to be her father! i know his voice mimicry is basically akin to juni cortez’s mimicry, but this is just cruel had ellington been there.

whatever hangfire’s group is doing, i’m not seeing how this relates with the BB statue and the people he kidnapped. we got a chemist who does things with tubes and bunsen burners and dangerous chemicals that makes one wear goggles, and a man who likes the natural environment. the tadpoles that bites are confusing me more though. why would someone create tadpoles that bites? still, with more detail of what hangfire is part of and with parts of his plan known at last, the plot is picking up speed. i’m scared, intrigued, and excited to read what will happen next, especially since hangfire is like, now going to be active in his own plan + group. they’re clearly not giving a damn about human life given their name of the inhumane society. whatever they’re planning and with the people they kidnapped so far, it has to do with the BB creature itself. is this going into the supernatural realm? is this connected to possibly the great unknown? am i overthinking connections?

i don’t have too much to say for most of the other secondary characters. i hope qwerty deals with his moth problems (so if moth balls stop moths from eating clothing, can they work in libraries? can qwerty even afford some non killing month repellent with his sub-librarian salary?), pip and squeak need to stop working and go be kids (their dad must be close to death if he’s that sick and they have to work), and prosper lost can tone down the watching. also, i think the mitchum parents don’t really love each other or not as much as before and need a divorce or couple counseling (their bickering is making me concern), and stew...still can’t find any pity or anything to find him a character i love to hate.

in regards to moxie, she is honestly the best friend lemony needs. she’s sticking her life to helping lemony with his case and while having opinions at the end of the day she just wants to help her friend in need. she puts up with so much give her an award like she got ditched at the library and stay to give lemony a piece of her mind before going all ‘okay so what we gonna do next’. she also gave him a dumb haircut. that is best friend material and i want their friendship to go into their adult years (yes i still think she’s the kind editor).

also, LEMONY CANONICALLY HAD A BOWL CUT HAIRSTYLE. he now has reasons to wear a hat and hide his face for the time being.

i said most things in regard to lemony in the snicket family situations paragraphs at the beginning of this post, so talking about kid!lemony as a solo character is not going as wordy. in this book kid!lemony could have died several times, one time by hangfire’s hand! he’s a kid, and this is really something a 17 or 18 should be in (even then i don’t want a 17 and 18 year old, or anyone of any age, be in his situation). he’s risking so much of his life for sbts and the people living there, all without knowing his sister is also in trouble as well until the final chapter. with lemony learning what happen to kit, i can’t help but wonder his worry for family will affect his actions in the next two books. though now i am question is actions pre-atwq like lemony almost got thrown out of vfd?? shoot lemony, i didn’t think he like vfd a lot as an adult ‘active’ member of vfd  but he was still loyal, but this is new. i also don’t want to say he’s staging a coup but he and a whole other sbg members -kit is obvious- are clearly doing something that’s totally a coup? was being frames for crimes he didn’t commit, living on the run, and losing everything (fiancee, friends, and family) broke adult!lemony so much it made him  ‘passive’ (i don’t think it’s the right word but it’s the one i can think of now)?

my feelings on s. theodora markson are the same as before, but i think she may be smarter than she looks given a re-think of the last book. her current behavior makes me think she is ‘warming’ up to lemony, even in the last book. she took him off probation was being ‘nice’ and when teasing lemony about his not-crush on ellington (i legit don’t know if lemony has a crush on her or is really wanting to help her out). that’s something an adult does to a child who may or may not have a crush on someone. theodora still treats lemony like she did in the previous book, no doubt due to vfd rules and her upbringing in vfd. 

i only have read two books of atwq, so i probably don’t carry too much weight on my two cents of a netflix adaptation. but i am thinking of the changes netflix asoue made with hector and kit, and vfd as a freaking whole. hector is not part of vfd the organization anymore, but he can be replaced with larry-your-waiter (just got to rewrite the balloon stuff with something else). kit is giving me a headache because i still can’t figure out if she was retcon into the youngest snicket in netflix show, and excluding that netflix!kit’s change of personality/character makes me think netflix!kit would not have gotten caught and like, kit needs to get caught it’s important for her off screen story and kid!lemony story as a side thing. because it’s the books, vfd is still the ‘old. old as balls’ conspiracy secret organization, while netflix is the ‘hey let’s make our (book) club be something more to change the world’ secret agent organization made by ishmael. well, netflix good luck with the hole you dug that is possibly kit and vfd.

it’s now round two of asoue character cameos (kit doesn’t count she’s a protagonist of her own off-screen story), and widdershins is a surprise. before i get into his atwq cameo and my opinion of the character, i want to copy-paste something from my first atwq review: asoue was one of my first fandom i entered via me me and my sister. no one else read the books or weren’t fans of them, so we turn to each other to talk about them. i began lurking pre-atwq books, but gave up after several months due to being in more active fandoms and i had bad timing to join when it was basically dead, and i outgrew the target demographic when atwq came out and i had no chance to read the books. i only made the decision to re-lurk (sparingly i am still in more active fandoms) and make and share content in 2016 (and i’m too used to lurking for this fandom. i can reblog for fandoms, just not for this fandom and i’m trying to overcome whatever is making me not do it).

so, i’m a fandom hermit living in the woods away from fandom society and i suddenly decided to enter fandom society, and all of my opinions are free of influences and other fan opinions (sans my sister but we talk more about the plot and story than characters). my opinion of widdershins is a dislike-neutral-*thinking emoji*. i dislike him, but i don’t hate him. and if i have to make a tier list of all the important and semi-important  asoue characters from favorite to hated, widdershins would actually be lump in the middle with the other true-neutral characters i have.

disliking widdershins should be obvious. with a most likely vfd upbringing, he probably thinks his actions are acceptable and the norm but they blur a lot with his parenting to where his actions are just plain awful. the big one is him throwing fernald under the bus or allowing jacques to throw fernald under the bus when it came to the anwhistle aquatic fire (i’m not sure what happen here). don’t get me started with the talk of arranged marriages and willingness to send fiona and the baudelaires -which is basically two teens, a teen i call a kid, and a baby- into a life or death place (and sunny almost died) and left without instructions and maybe no note (with the reveal of violet’s fifteenth date i wonder if widdershins and phil were putting up decorations and when they had to leave, widdershins went ‘the balloons will do’ because they spell out vfd and somehow thought he was killing two birds with one stone; it’s still bad as no note).

the whole *thinking emoji* came from the happy family photo. it got me asking ‘what the heck is up with this guy’ and a fascination on trying to figure out how he ticks. with re-reads, i got the impression widdershins was a normal and calm person/vfd member as can be. fernald clearly liked widdershins before the anwhistle aquatic fire. widdershins being fernald and fiona’s stepfather is proof mrs. widdershins loved him -flaws and all- and accept his proposal in spite of the age gap that went over my head as a kid. the way he speaks of josephine, kit, and jacques means he has friends who like him. i sort of came to the idea his level of jerkass and awfulness gradually build up over time post anwhistle aquatic fire (being its worst by tgg), and i took his off-screen actions in the end based off the photo and my impressions of pre-fire widdershins that widdershins realized what he become -probably when he got the news fernald and fiona double cross olaf- and clean up his act to be with them again, even if it kills him. 

so i’m kind of please teen!widdershins (that tiny as hell illustration makes me think he’s a teen okay) is calm and normal? he’s not screaming ‘aye’ every other sentence. he’s more considerate to others. he’s nice as he can be to kid!lemony when breaking the news teen!kit got caught (widdershins breaking the news makes me think kit and him are friends). he even complimented kid!lemony for the not coup kid!lemony is planning (he’s probably going along with the not coup he’s clearly not stopping it; and i want to say their friendship ended when widdershins believed a certain daily punctilio story and showed it everyone- including beatrice- which lead to widdershins forgetting lemony’s name, yet lemony was part of the crew of two after jacques, so something else must have been the cause?). teen!widdershins has his philosophy of not hesitating, but it’s not consuming his life. from what i read, teen!widdershins is someone (kid and teen) fernald would and probably did got along with: it’s the older big brother (figure) who has cool stories to tell while also being sensible with kind words and advice when the younger sibling feels down and needs help and probably let said sibling do whatever they want. it perfectly lines up with my messed up widdershins-caliban theory headcanon holy ****

with the cameo now in mind, i can’t help but wonder if teen!widdershins would hesitate -or not hesitate- to punch his adult self for becoming radically different. 

[stevenuniversallyreviews]

Episode 116: Gem Heist

“We won’t stand out if we play the roles we were made for.”

There’s nothing like a good heist. You’d think a plot with such a consistent formula (build a team, go over a plan, execute the plan and adapt to its inevitable failures) would get stale, but consider for a moment that Inception and Fast Five premiered within a year of each other, and are both heists following the same general beats, but they’re fully different experiences. I’m not gonna say which one is better, but only one of them has a car chase where a car is chained to a giant safe and uses it like a wrecking ball, so.

In some ways, Gem Heist drops the ball on what I want from a heist: there’s barely a planning stage, and the team is already together, so it’s all about the execution and the wrenches thrown at our heroes. But while it’s hardly the caper I hoped for from the title, I can’t help but admire how it takes the tropes associated with heists and uses them to comment on Gem society.

A heist is all about specialists with clear jobs. Safecrackers, getaway drivers, demolitions experts, con artists, the whole point is getting a bunch of talented people who are each essential to the group. This element is only briefly touched upon in the traditional sense in Gem Heist, with Steven referring to Pearl as “our hacker,” but in its place, our heroes must succeed by putting themselves into the very roles they escaped by becoming Crystal Gems. Sapphire is a wise advisor and Ruby a disposable bodyguard, and the two must be separated. Amethyst must be huge. Pearl must be lowly servant. And Steven, who can’t exactly take the leadership position of his Gem parent, must play the dumb human.

This conceit drives the episode and makes it unexpectedly solid in terms of characterization, given how bland its plot ends up being. This is basically an episode about walking through a hallway, and instead of a third act we just get two minutes transitioning Steven to the Zoo that could’ve been spent in our next episode (or heavily cut). Even Adventures in Light Distortion feels more meaningful from a sheer plotting standpoint, and that was literally just getting the Crystal Gems from Point A to B. But because of how fascinating the characters are to watch when forced into the positions they’d be stuck in had they not rebelled, I’m able to enjoy what would otherwise be a slog of an episode.

The surprise lead of Gem Heist is Sapphire, who takes charge of the situation right away and finally shines on her own. Ruby got a head start in Jailbreak in terms of screentime, and takes up more room when the two are together thanks to her louder personality, and has a whole squad of counterparts to define herself against, so I love seeing a focus on Garnet’s quiet half. 

Sapphire’s serene baseline is portrayed so well by Erica Luttrell that she’s often played comically straight (her casually agreeing to call Steven “Esteban” is a great example here), but we already know from Keystone Motel that she’s more than just her calmness. It’s great to see her lose her cool so early in the episode, putting up a confident front while planning but getting frazzled with its inevitable failure before the team even disembarks. I wouldn’t quite call her a ham in the way Ruby and Peridot can be, but her overacting while narrating her activities to warn her friends of danger is wonderful. And of course, she gifts us with the universe’s cutest wink.

Charlyne Yi always brings a lot to the table as Ruby, and while she’s had more to do than Luttrell after Hit the Diamond, this is the first time since then that she’s voiced our Ruby. The line of the night is her furious declaration that Blue Diamond “hates fusion and love?”—it’s such a horrible thought that Ruby treats it like a question rather than a statement, because how hating something as good as love even possible? Still, Ruby’s bigger highlight is all in the animation as she runs up a locked door, claws at it while screaming, and admits defeat when this doesn’t immediately work.

Pearl also benefits from the visuals, which portray her humiliations in ways Deedee Magno Hall can’t in the moment due to her needing to be quiet. Which isn’t to say Magno Hall doesn’t do a lot with what she’s given, going from embarrassed and deferential around Holly Blue Agate to pissed off while alone with the Crystal Gems. And while Amethyst is the first Crystal Gem to go, Michaela Dietz picks up the baton from Yi and Magno Hall to play other amethysts; it’s neat to hear her turn down the playfulness for gruffness without completely removing the prankster edge from her voice. And what we do see from Amethyst is a reasonable amount of nervousness around a first encounter with her peers, which pays off wonderfully in That Will Be All (as does the actual sentence “That will be all” that Pearl will soon get the chance to redirect).

Steven is surprisingly low-key here, all things considered, but I suppose with all the focus he gets in the first two episodes of this arc, as well as our next one, it makes sense to look more deeply at the Gems; after all, they’re the ones who were born into an oppressive class structure that they must temporarily return to (give or take an Amethyst, but she still has plenty of issues stemming from societal expectations). He’s got some decent jokes, and dominates the last part of the episode when separated from the Gems, but the last part of the episode is so boring that I don’t really care. 

Still, none of these characters would have the chance to shine without Holly Blue Agate, who comes in hot and seems physically incapable of chilling the hell out. Christine Pedi voices Holly in just two episodes of the original series, but boy does she know how to leave a mark. After seeing Homeworld loyalists from the bottom of the totem pole in Peridot and the rubies, a Homeworld loyalist who’s a known hero in Jasper, and two leaders of Homeworld in Yellow and Blue Diamond, we encounter perhaps the worst kind of zealot: middle management.

Holly Blue Agate is the Dolores Umbridge of Steven Universe. She’s not given the stage to become main villain material, but she sure knows how to be the most detestable kind of miniboss we could hope for. She’s a shameless sycophant whose worship of Gems she considers superior is matched only by her disdain for those she sees as beneath her, but because she actually has some authority, she’s able to be far more tyrannical than the likes of Peridot. She’s hardcore lawful evil on the classic alignment chart, but if we allow for variation to the classics, I’d consider her more petty evil than anything.

With one character, we personify the entire toxic class structure that the Crystal Gems were born to defy. And with every word, Holly Blue proves that our heroes were correct to abandon this caste system. She’s flippant in her physical abuse, and wears her bigotry as a point of pride, taking glee in enforcing the inferiority of every Gem around her but Sapphire, who earns the same kind of swooning she applies to Blue Diamond. This is all performed under the thin disguise of politeness, because again, this is Umbridge we’re dealing with. She yells that there’s no yelling allowed, then gets mad when an amethyst corrects herself by being too quiet. She either pretends to not understand human speech or genuinely doesn’t get that Steven is talking (I could get into a whole thing about the necessity of an unrealistic translator for the Gems, but first off they’re magic so unrealistic things are fine, and second off what’s clearly more important here is Holly’s attitude).

It’s almost a shame we don’t get more of Holly Blue, because she may be loathsome, but she’s the compelling kind of loathsome that makes an excellent villain. Aquamarine is similar in feigned sweetness and cruelty, but Holly lacks that Cartman-inspired awareness of how miserable she is, which makes her less extreme and more relatable to real-life monsters in our daily lives who are blind to their own awfulness. At least she gets one more episode to be horrible and receive some decent comeuppance for her behavior in Gem Heist.

As I’ve said, the actual story here is pretty dull. We get some hints at lore, as it’s now pretty clear that the Era 2 referred to by Peridot was separated from Era 1 by the death of Pink Diamond. We get further indirect characterization of Blue Diamond with Holly Blue Agate’s praise and Ruby and Sapphire’s scorn. And the final sequence, while feeling tacked on, at least gets some neat usage out of what looks like the same tech as Peridot’s gone-but-not-forgotten robofingers. But if not for the stark reminder of why the Crystal Gems’ ability to decide their lives is important, this would be one of the least consequential episodes of the series. Plenty of episodes have great characterization, this is Steven Universe after all, but most of those also bring more to the table.

I’ve never been to this…how do you say…school?

Second episode since Gem Harvest to feature the Floridoverse as the main promo, and while it’s a little unclear whether this is another Floridoverse promo where a new adult character is portrayed as a teacher (Holly’s uniform vaguely resembles Greg’s and Ruby’s) I’m gonna go ahead and hope the intent is for her to be a student because man, that vibe on a peer is in some ways even worse than on a superior.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

Lousy plotting really knocks this one down, considering how great an actual heist could’ve been, but the character work barely scrapes this from an episode I don’t care about to one I enjoy. It straddles the line between Like ‘em and Enh, but I’ll be nice this time.

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Adventures in Light Distortion

Gem Heist (barely!)

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

No Thanks!

     6. Horror Club      5. Fusion Cuisine      4. House Guest      3. Onion Gang      2. Sadie’s Song      1. Island Adventure

[booasaur]

Hey! Appreciate all that you do! The bits you've posted about Nancy Drew made me interested enough to start watching. You said before you don't like a lot of choices Nancy Drew is doing, I've never read the books is the characterization really off?

Oh, heh, I said that after the first one or two eps? It’s drastically different in tone, which kind of carries into everything else? It’s just a different piece of media altogether. 

In the books, Carson Drew is a well-respected and successful lawyer, Nancy’s mom died when she was young but her dad and the housekeeper Hannah Gruen raised her as a loved, well-adjusted, well-liked kid. Bess is a bit overweight, a bit timid but very nice, George is increasingly tomboyish over the decades the series continued, her hair getting shorter and shorter and very recent adaptations have straight up made her into a lesbian. The Sarah Shahi adaptation CBS didn’t pick up a few years back because it was “too female” had Vanessa Ferlito playing George as a lesbian too. 

You can see some of that in this show, right? Bess is still the scaredy cat, George is tough, Nancy is Nancy. But the books had the conflict coming from outside. They were already such a well-oiled unit, who loved and trusted each other, it was just a different kind of plot when the drama didn’t need to rely on friction between the main characters. And you could say this is an origin story, they’ll end up becoming the trio, but I don’t think they ever really can? This show? It will always need to rely on interpersonal drama. It was an interesting move to start Nancy/Nick as an established couple but they’re still gonna give them jealousy and random other relationship drama and break them up. Bess and George were cousins in the books, but really, they just all genuinely liked each other so much.

But anyway, back after the first eps, I think what I didn’t care for was that George wasn’t gay, that she didn’t seem particularly tomboyish, in fact, their, what, subversion of the tomboy into the girl who had a reputation for sleeping around and having an actual affair with an older man, like haha, how unexpected, she’s THAT straight! Bess isn’t overweight. I don’t remember any Ace in the books. Why is there this guy in the middle of the trio? 

Some changes, you can consider kind of cosmetic, in that they don’t change anything crucial or make things interesting, like, they’re all working together now (in the books they tended to kind of be on eternal break but always having money, or one of them would be working at a place where suddenly there was Crime and Nancy would have to investigate), people don’t like them, the supernatural thing is interesting, not sure about Bess as a homeless kleptomaniac, but okay. Everyone having secrets now and this tortured past, like, it changes things but for a TV show, it helps. 

I’m taking it mostly on its own merits now and the main thing that annoys me is the drama sometimes feels forced but some of the things they changed, from a couple of paragraphs above, those were arbitrary and more conservative than the original. And tbh, the fact that it’s so hard for these three girls to get along, that’s not particularly bold either. As a whole I guess I enjoy it, I like the casting and it’s ambitious, at least. Or kinda, I mean, going along the same lines as Riverdale and Netflix Sabrina and Charmed season 2 seems more of an alignment to a formula someone thinks is working than it is about trying new things. But you know what I mean, heh.

[brunhiddensmusings]

Tell me more about this conspiracy theory about dragonball as a retelling of journey to the west please

okay, some of this is pretty surface level to the point its just face value but also just more ignored then denied firstly, i must establish ‘journey to the west’ to those not familliar with it- its a 2000+ page long chinese novel from the ming dynasty, like 1600 if i recall, but odd because it focuses on a buddist mindset in a time when china still considered buddism to be a foreign influence. the author uses fairly large sections to critisize the other contemporary options to buddism such as daoism (for being largely unconcerned with helping people or betterment) and confucianism (for being rigid to the point it cant adapt and promote extremely bloated beaurocracies incapable of doing much) as well as to extoll the upsides of budism (namely magic powers) and how badass demons are journey to the west is notable for being the origin of about 80% of all anime tropes and over a dozen anime and videogames are directly based on it son goku, unsurprisingly, is pretty much a dirrect anlouge for son wukong, the magical stone monkey king that was born with laser eyes spends the first 7 chapters becoming about (i lost count) 8+ kinds of immortal, learning how to shapeshift and fly from an old hermit monk, and pissing off most gods of any note and the entire bureaucracies of both heaven AND hell. as i said, this is face value to the point its pretty open

son wukong’s identifying features including a size-changing 8 ton iron staff, being pretty much indestructible even to major gods, being extremely impulsive and moderately arrogant, flight, and pretty much openly admits he has probably eaten some people. this should sound familiar however he is not the main character, Buddha himself buries him under a mountain (which has a magic seal on top because a regular mountain wouldnt be heavy enough to hold him) to try and teach him some humility (which fails) saying he needs to wait untill someone frees him in which case he will be endebted to and be the servant of said free-er. while we progress to the ACTUAL protagonist of the story a bald monk named Tang Sanzang is in fact the central charachter, although his name has been interpereted several ways including Tripiṭaka (also the name of the baskets of scrolls hes supposed to carry). the big B entasks he of the shiny head with the task of journeying from china to india to pick up said sacred scriptures so holy they can redeem anyone and then bring them back to filthy filthy china thats badly in need of these ��morals’ things people keep talking about. but this is where you start to get a lot of ‘wait, that sounds familiar’ when i describe things like ‘bald monk’ and the adventures cueball the magical is going to go on with his companions of anime

because almost immediately after freeing son wukong from the magic mountain of sityerassdown and putting a magic circlet on his head that causes him great pain when baldy says a prayer to keep him in line (yes this is where inuyasha gets the ‘sit’ necklace) they come across a SHAPESHIFTING PIG DEMON who turns out inst all that bad a guy its just that his new wife is very upset because she thought she was marrying a handsome bishounen despite admitting hes a dilligent worker and treats her well because hes seeking attonement for having eaten people after being kicked out of heaven (where he used to actually be a bishounen in the celestial army) for hitting on women. yet another case of DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR

and i just now realize why he was wearing the chinese military officers uniform or at least would sound familiar to people who watched the original ‘dragonball’ and not just DBZ where oolong and the 50 other characters who were all established to be quite powerful when used cleverly were all relegated soely to be sideline cheer squad and ‘hey, remember these guys, from back when this wasnt the kiss goku’s butt show’- which is the point here following the original journey to the west story you started with the magical monkey shenanigans (check) then he learns from hermit (check) how to fly (check) and shapeshift (i guess they thought he was powerful enough without it despite it being one of his major go-to solutions in the story but i get that they already established thats a power someone else had so i understand leaving it out narratively) battling demons, gods, and pissing off the kings of hell and the emperor of heaven (check) and then gets humiliated by Buddha (absent, again i understand leaving this out for narrative tone and to avoid being overly religious in a kids cartoon despite actively leaving king Yema in the story) teams up with the bald monk who they initially clash but becomes his friend over time (check) who then becomes the main protagonist (major not-check) magical monkey jerk is repeatedly scolded for wantonly killing people and given a magical crown of headaches ( fail) teams up with shapeshifting pig who also becomes close ally with useful powers but has deep character flaws (check) and then team up with a dragon who ate their horse who then apologizes by transforming into a horse and then everyone forgets its a dragon (wait, what) and then team up with a river god named sandy (by this time the dragonball plot has already passed mars and is orbiting Jupiter because i think this is when frankenstein appeared and then king piccolo with his sons drum, tamborine, piano, and cymbal, i think goku kills one eats another and asked a samurai if he could eat the third but this is before they retcon piccolo to be a namek {eg- from the planet ‘slug’} instead of a demon because they keep waffling if demons are real) and is then followed by a long list of falling into traps laid by demons because the monk is naive, the pig is cowardly, the monkey is foolhardy, the dragon is too busy staying in his ponysona, and the river deity is carrying the bags narratively this is confusing for several reasons but i could literally teach a college level class on what DBZ does that no writer should ever, EVER, do and every friday to prevent unkind amounts of homework point at how original dragonball at least had narrative cohesion of purpose when it went off in left field but that's part of the journey- in original dragonball everything is a journey of the human spirit for self improvement, in original journey to the west everything is a journey of the human spirit for a shot at redemption, but in DBZ everything is goku is awesome and nobody else is worth his time unless they go ‘ha-ha, i am the most powerful fight punch guy in universe, we must fight’ because fuck anyone who isnt the most powerful being in the universe and even fuck them because they almost never have a reason for being the most powerful and its irritating how shit they are like some of them are mentally five years old who gave you the power to be this dangerous. whats odd is they specifically set it up several times that goku is supposed to narratively step aside and his son(s) step up to carry on the legacy in a return to the earlier more sensable formula, even presenting them as being less powerful as him as an attempt to move away form the absurd escalation issues the series had where goku can destroy a planet by farting yet every thursday they mysteriously find someone five times stronger then the last strongest person in the universe as that wasnt the point in either original dragonball or journey to the west where being clever was always far more important then being powerful, especially as son wukong was mostly more powerful then goku anyways but still got in monster of the week shenannegans not solvable by impulsive brutality. they knew this was a problem, they understood that the endless escalation had gone to the realm where the audience had lost any investment and nobody other then goku could be useful to the story to the point that they even had a WHOLE SERIES where to try and counteract the power creep they had some weird explanation goku is actually time traveled or cursed or some shit so hes only a kid and roughly as strong as he was in later episodes of the original dragonball..... close, so close to actually addressing the problem but also keeping so many other problems krillin moving into being the protagonist would have alleviated the majority of the problems DBZ had- the power escalation bullshittery and the complete lack of stakes as you know goku is going to punch the thing untill it explodes after six episodes of yelling and anything without ‘planet gonna go boom’ no longer seems like a problem worth caring about. goku being downgraded to being the impulsive muscle on a team that included others that were less overtly powerful but still narratively useful to the adventure would have also alleviated almost all the ‘everybody who isnt goku is a fragile useless  porcelain figurine of a child’ problems that are very counter-intuitive and kind of insulting: in original dragonball, for example, master roshi was the only known human capable of doing the kamehameha which took 50 years to learn (goku learns it by watching it once and that should have been the cap for him being overpowered{a rival teacher had a more powerful version that nobody else learns}), climbed the sacred tower which took 7 years (it took goku about a week, which is well within the realm of where escalation should be), and blew up the fucking moon but in dbz his ‘power level’ is lower then his pet turtle..... despite all of that and being the one who trained goku and krillin allowing them to be absurdly strong in the first place so they apparently forgot their own history.  so taking the actual good story points they aready had and throwing them in the trash is a running problem

they even had the setup for krillin being in peril continually, all the ‘krillin dies’ memes are about on par with how often every demon on the road (which they pass like gas stations) are kidnapping and trying to eat Tripitaka, whcih is framed as despite Tripitaka being powerful he isnt as powerful as his allies but never framed as useless, especially as even goku has to seek help frequently, often from non-martial sources instead of the ‘kung fu solves everything’ mindset im unsure if anyone will want to start a fight about my statements regarding daballz but im okay with an intelectual argument about its writing .... how do i tag this? i forgot replies dont let me do that but i need to learn how to tag my rants one of theese days in hopes they actually get feedback

[entamewitchlulu]

Homura’s Flash Reviews [February 2019]

This will be my first review post for 2019!!  I’m watching winter anime currently which I won’t be reviewing til the season is over, but for those who are interested, here’s what I’m watching for winter!

The Price of Smiles

Ace Attorney

Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka

The Promised Neverland

Mysteria Friends

I’m also gonna be adding a few other things to these Flash Reviews and also review the movies I’ve seen during the month, just cause I rly like having opinions lol.  So without further ado, here are the anime, shows, and movies that I saw this February and January!

Castlevania

Not technically an anime in anything other than style, Castlevania is the animated adaptation of the third Castlevania game, following the adventures of Trevor Belmont, the last of his vampire hunting legacy, Sypha, a nomadic magician, and Alucard Tepes, the son of Dracula and his human wife who was killed by the church, and their struggles to take down Dracula before he wipes out all of humanity.

I don’t know much about Castlevania the games, as they really aren’t my genre, but this adaptation was incredible!!  Proof that video game adaptations can and should strive for greater heights!  The dialogue was funny and witty, the characters were interesting and even the villains were endearing, and there was this incredibly crafted atmosphere of both sadness and hope.  Not to mention, the animation was top notch.  Plus, I have to give it credit for finally letting characters say “fuck” realistically.

overall: 9/10

Futari wa Pretty Cure

The very first, original start of the popular magical girl franchise, Pretty Cure chronicles the tale of Nagisa and Honoka, two very different girls who are brought together when they are chosen to become Pretty Cure, the legendary warriors who will defend light from the darkness!  Together with their mascot friends Mepple and Mipple, and juggling their real lives along with their supernatural battles, Cure Black and Cure White will do whatever it takes to protect the world from evil!

I’ve intended to watch Pretty Cure for literally years now, and no one could agree with where I should start, so I decided to just do what I usually do and watch from the beginning.  I’ve only seen the first season of Pretty Cure and not the Max Heart sequel yet.  Overall, it was about what I expected!  I’m a bit of a sucker for the traditional 2000s magical girl genre, with its repetitive formulas, catchphrases, poses, and the usual five episode plots that every single one of them has.  The designs were super cute and I love how Black and White look so distinct and yet are still clearly a team.  Pollun especially is super adorable!!

Definitely I can see why Pretty Cure became such of a behemoth in the magical girl genre today; it has staying power.  This season was definitely full of a lot of generic magical girl filler, and I will be honest that I started to lose steam for it towards the end, plus the villains were not at all endearing or interesting (like, Poisonny and Regine are both very pretty, and Kiriya was okay, but other than that, no one stands out), but it was still a great and adorable experience that I’m glad I experienced.  I’m not sure when I’ll get to the next series, but I’m sure it won’t be long!

overall: 7/10

Incredibles 2

I took my sweet time going to see this sequel, but here we are.  In the anticipated sequel to the original Incredibles, the family faces new challenges as Elastigirl is scouted by a CEO to help make superheroes legal again, while Mr. Incredible has to learn the challenges of taking care of the family by himself.

 I guess overall it was a good movie and well made for its intended audience.  The animation was pretty good and I usually like their cartoony anatomy designs which are more concerned with a comic-book-esque aesthetic rather than proper anatomy and perfect realism.  Definitely the quality has soared since the first Incredibles.  For me personally though...as much as it was entertaining, in hindsight I don’t think it was really made for me.  There were a lot of plot threads that didn’t seem to get resolved or even addressed.  Bob never fully confronts his jealousy for Helen’s new job, and is never quite confronted about the fact that he hid Jack Jack’s powers from Helen either.  The new superheroes were...honestly not my favorite designs in the world outside of Void, and I felt like their only purpose was to become fight fodder for the final battle, which could have been done with almost any other means.  For as long as the movie was, it felt like a lot of the threads were simply not deeply solved, and only shallowly addressed.  As this is a movie for kids, though, I can look past that; this wasn’t the story for a hugely deep look at things.  It did affect my personal enjoyment, though, but it was still a greatly fun movie to watch.

overall: 7/10

Dragon Ball Super: Broly

Finally coming for the canon after a couple of decades, DBS Broly brings the legendary super Saiyan Broly into the main cast.  When the young Broly is sent away from Planet Vegeta for being too overwhelmingly powerful, he and his father are stranded on a barren planet for forty years, until they are found by some of Frieza’s soldiers and brought into the Frieza Force.  Frieza immediately pits the super powerful Broly up against our heroes Goku and Vegeta, who must pull out every trick in the book in order to stop him from destroying the planet in his growing rage.

I never ever thought I would say this about anything relating to Broly, but GODDAMN that might have been the best Dragon Ball media in years.  Let’s get this part straight: I’ve disliked Broly since he first appeared in the DB movies.  He was boring, had a ridiculous backstory, and was just there to be a Gary Stu to really push Goku and Vegeta to their limits.  But this movie??? This movie singlehandedly shot Broly to my top ten characters in Dragon Ball.  He is endearing, gentle, a recovering abuse victim with a rage he cannot control, and his strength is more dangerous to himself than to those around him.  In TFS’ review of the movie, they made a great point: the real stakes of his movie aren’t whether Broly is going to destroy the planet; they’re whether Broly himself is going to be okay.  I’m focusing a lot on Broly, but Goku and Vegeta are in top form in his movie as well.  It’s great getting to see Vegeta have a massive fight where he isn’t immediately jobbed for Goku’s sake, and Goku himself is at the top of his game as the fun-loving, battle-crazed but still sympathetic hero that he should always be written as.  Not to mention our new additions to the main cast in Cheelai and Lemo, two of Frieza’s soldiers who found and ended up befriending Broly, who are equally endearing and fun especially in their dynamics with Broly himself.  

All in all, this was a fucking excellent movie, and the first DB media that I can imagine wanting to rewatch!

overall: 10/10

Fireworks

When Nazuna is about to move away, she asks Norimichi to come with her to the fireworks, though she plans instead to run away.  When this doesn’t work according to plan, Norimichi finds that a strangle marble belonging to Nazuna has the power to turn back the clock, giving them a second chance to be together.  However, with each reset, they move further and further away from reality -- can they return to a world where they’re able to spend at least one day with each other?

This is pretty much, in a nutshell, everything I love about anime movies.  It’s beautiful, fluid, full of amazing music, and the emotions hit so close to home.  While the story itself doesn’t explain much, it really doesn’t have to -- the surrealism of the surrounding world sells it more than any exposition would, proving you don’t need to slow down your story to explain something as long as you can make people feel something for it.  Despite having so little to know about both Norimichi and Nazuna, I was still more than sold by their romance. And once again, the surrealism of the animation and the story are something that only anime can pull off.  You just can’t do stories like this live action.

The only thing that really dragged this story down were some of the CGI bits, which I found unnecessary and weird against the otherwise gorgeous backgrounds, but I guess this is where animation is going lately so I might have to get used to it.

overall: 8/10

[loadinglord552]

Best Dnd Games

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Not based on D&D but an adventure gamebook of the same name, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Goblin Scourge Edition is a unique experience on the Switch. More like a tabletop game than most of the games on this list, it even lets you switch (pardon the pun) things up and play as one of the. Dungeons & Dragons video games for XONE sorted by popularity among gamers. Xbox One is the 8th generation console and the third in the Xbox family from Microsoft (a successor to Xbox 360). It was released on November 22nd, 2013, initially only in 13 countries over the world.

Best D&d Games Pc

Best D&d Games For Xbox One

Not only is Planescape: Torment the best D&D game to have been made thus far, many would argue its place as the best RPG game ever made.

In addition to those games inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, the property has been the host of many officially licensed D&D games over the years - many of which stand as classics in their own right. Peruse our ranked list of the top ten D&D video games below, and share your picks in the comments at the end of the article.

Manticore Games, creator of Core, chose to honor the iconic RPG with a massive contest, inviting hundreds of players to create D&D-inspired experiences on its system. These fan-made adventures are all completely free to play right now on Core, and players can even access a special hub world that will teleport them to the contest winners.

D&D has been part of popular culture for over 40 years.

Even its creator Gary Gygax could not have possibly predicted the reach and popularity that this pen-and-paper tabletop game would achieve. Naturally, its successes have allowed it to seep into different types of media—video games included.

Thus far, D&D’s video games have followed the RPG formula. These titles also tend to translate the tabletop’s intricate rulesets into engaging video game mechanics, where players can create and customize characters. Plus many titles on this list boast fantastic narrative and writing, thanks in part to a significant amount of published literature and tabletop content for D&D.

Let’s dive in and see which games are the most fun to play in the D&D franchise.

NOTE: Unless otherwise specified, the video games on this list are available only on PC (either Windows, Mac or Linux).

10. Dungeons & Dragons Online

Released in 2006, Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) is the franchise’s first major take at an MMO title.

When it originally came out DDO scratched the online multiplayer itch with third-person perspective combat, cooperative quest-based progression, and customizable build paths.

Its graphics were functional in quality, but they sufficed for the game’s basic premise.

Unfortunately DDO hasn’t aged very gracefully in either graphics engine or gameplay.

Still, it earns a spot on this list for being a decent first shot at an online D&D video gaming experience. On the bright side it also came before D&D as a franchise really took off through Internet fandom, so maybe there’s hope for another similar multiplayer title.

9. The Temple of Elemental Evil

Released in 2003, The Temple of Elemental Evil follows the RPG formula taken by D&D video game titles from the previous decade.

However this game takes players away from the Forgotten Realms setting, which had become something of a favorite for D&D content.

Instead we are taken to Greyhawk, the first world designed by Gary Gygax for the tabletop’s first edition.

Temple of Elemental Evil uses turn-based combat, and many of its mechanics are based on the D&D 3.5 edition ruleset that released in the same year.

This title’s fidelity to the tabletop’s rules serves as a particular highlight overall, though it does lack the same narrative punch and writing chops as some other video games in the franchise. Still a really fun game to play if you’re a big fan of D&D as a whole.

8. Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation

Released in October 2017, Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation is set in the Chult region of the Forgotten Realms, one of D&D’s flagship settings.

The game’s main story follows the same plot threads as D&D 5th edition’s Tomb of Annihilation adventure module.

Unlike many preceding video games in the franchise, Tales from Candlekeep shies away from basing its mechanics too wholly on any one edition of D&D’s ruleset.

Instead combat follows an amalgamation of rules that resembles standard D&D fare adjusted particularly for a dungeon crawler focus.

In that regard, the gameplay is more reminiscent of the turn-based combat seen in the XCOM series than previous D&D video games.

Players get to choose the members of their main party from a set of premade adventurers, each with their own specializations that give you leeway to develop multiple iterations of tactics and combos.

Typical of RPGs, adventurers progress by undertaking quests that reward experience, gold, items, all that fun stuff.

The game also contains a map generation system that lends itself to multiple replays so it’s probably gonna keep you entertained for a while.

7. Neverwinter

Unrelated to other Neverwinter-themed titles (which we’ll come to later), Neverwinter is a free-to-play MMORPG available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

The game takes place in the eponymous city of Neverwinter where players can undertake different quests and storylines.

All the narratives and locations take inspiration from novels written in the Forgotten Realms setting. However recent content includes tie-ins to official modules published for the tabletop game.

You can also experience player-created content through the game’s “Foundry” system.

Neverwinter initially started with mechanics that took after D&D’s 4th edition rules. Gameplay involved players creating characters based on one of eight classes, each with its distinct roles and abilities(typical of D&D).

Players could team together in up to five-man parties while completing content. With the advent of D&D’s 5th edition, however, the game rebalanced its classes in 2019 to better match the most recent edition’s ruleset.

Like other MMORPGs, your characters grow more powerful by leveling up and acquiring better equipment. Though now you can do it in D&D-style!

6. Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition

This isometric RPG takes place in the eponymous Icewind Dale, a region in D&D’s Forgotten Realms setting.

Based on the Icewind Dale Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore, the game boasts fantastically-written dialogue and hours of content through quests and exploration.

Players create and control an adventuring party of up to six characters. Each character receives special class designation and stats, which determine their effectiveness in combat, skill access, and spellcasting ability.

You also improve these characters by earning experience points from quests and enemies.

Black Isle Studios(who is responsible for other great favorites on this list) developed the original Icewind Dale game.

Much later Beamdog took over its Enhanced Edition remake, which packaged in the original DLCs as well.

The Enhanced Edition features improved graphics, UI changes, bug fixes, and gameplay tweaks.

For both new and experienced D&D fans I’d say Icewind Dale will definitely scratch that classic RPG itch.

5. Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition

The original Neverwinter Nights had been developed by Bioware with Beamdog taking over the game’s 2012 remake.

This title contains hundreds of hours of content set in D&D’s Forgotten Realms.

In addition to the main storyline there are numerous side-quests and subplots. Players receive rewards (such as experience and items) for completing content outside of the main questline, so there is a lot of incentive to partake in engaging different characters and exploring areas—a highlight of the Neverwinter Nights experience.

The actual gameplay mechanics are mainly based on D&D’s original 3rd edition ruleset, which gives you many options in customizing characters.

Practically everything you do in the game relies on chance, based on a 20-sided die roll. You have some control over the results based on character stats and abilities, but there will always be a level of randomness to the successes and failures.

The game also has modding compatibility which adds more replay value through fan-made mods(and there are dozens of them). Also at this point there’s little reason not to go with the Enhanced Edition since it already contains the DLCs packaged in.

4. Neverwinter Nights 2

A top-down perspective RPG title brought to us by Obsidian Entertainment. This 2006 game provided audiences a taste of what this developer could do with the RPG genre(and some of you may know Obsidian for their much later work on Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds).

Taking place in the same setting as Neverwinter Nights, this sequel title features equally stellar writing and depth of content to its predecessor.

The fact that this title improves on some of the first game’s flaws is what gives it the edge on this list.

Neverwinter Nights 2 faithfully adapts D&D’s 3.5 edition ruleset to create an authentic tabletop gaming experience right at your computer.

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Players go through an intricate character creation system, much like the tabletop game, that lends itself to customization and optimization.

This title also has three different DLCs, though only two were developed by Obsidian. But with these extra DLCs players who enjoyed the base game can opt into the expansions for some really fun additional content.

On top of having mod support, Neverwinter Nights 2 (as with its predecessor) benefits from an active modding community so players can find a lot of replay value here as well. Highly recommend this if you’re big into PC gaming.

3. Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition

Baldur’s Gate takes place in the ever-popular Forgotten Realms setting, specifically (and unsurprisingly) in the city of Baldur’s Gate.

Players dive into an intricate story of intrigue and interfaction conspiracy that threatens to spark open conflict in the region.

During the adventure your burgeoning hero can be joined by several colorful characters, and you may even encounter some big names of Faerûn fame, like Drizzt Do’Urden.

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The original and remake games’ mechanics take after the 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons ruleset.

And just to clarify: the original 1998 game “Baldur’s Gate” is fantastic in its own right. In fact, it was hailed one of the best RPGs ever released… though I have to hand it to Beamdog for remaking the Enhanced Edition into a more superior title fit for modern standards.

In addition to looking better, the Enhanced Edition stays true to many of the original’s gameplay mechanics. But it adds hundreds of quality-of-life changes along with content and player options. I mean, it’s fair to say gaming has changed a lot in the past 20+ years.

The remake also contains the original Baldur’s Gate expansion pack, Tales of the Sword Coast, while having its own exclusive DLC called Siege of Dragonspear.

2. Baldur’s Gate 2: Enhanced Edition

Even in the realm of video games, the sequel curse exists—where a great work is followed by a not-so-great sequel.

I’m happy to say Baldur’s Gate 2 kicks that curse to the curb.

This succeeding game builds on what made the first one so memorable. Baldur’s Gate 2 takes the player deeper into Forgotten Realms, this time focusing on the country of Amn.

Much like the original Baldur’s Gate, here you are plunged into an epic adventure on a scale to rival or even exceed its predecessor’s story. With different class choices you can eventually build up your character to be a walking army, accompanied by a cast of fleshed-out recruitable companions.

Like its other D&D remakes, Beamdog’s take with Baldur’s Gate 2: Enhanced Edition polishes graphics with a more advanced engine along while adding many modern changes (such as functional multiplayer capability).

The remake also maintains its fidelity to the 2nd Edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

All the while the Enhanced Edition keeps to what made the 2000 original game such an impressive RPG: its great story, in-depth characters, and hundreds of hours’ worth of adventure.

1. Planescape: Torment

The top spot on this list indisputably goes to Planescape: Torment and its remake, Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition.

I have to admit the remake does well to update graphics to more modern standards that most gamers expect.

Not only is Planescape: Torment the best D&D game to have been made thus far, many would argue its place as the best RPG game ever made. Period.

You play as an immortal amnesiac protagonist known as The Nameless One.

Though based in the central hub of Sigil, the City of Doors, you will have to brave all the dangers and oddities of the Planescape multiverse (imagine every universe in existence).

Your goal?

To search your memories and understand how you came upon your immortal state. Of course, your quest won’t ever be as simple as that. And the game’s setting is a gift that can give one memorable highlight after another.

One can only imagine the utter weirdness and hilarity that can ensue when you mix creatures from every nook of existence, sometimes of utterly different moral alignments.

Luckily the writing is top-notch to keep up with the possibilities of the game’s multiverse.

Planescape: Torment just hits all the ideal RPG beats you want in a game.

A fantastic setting where you don’t always know what to expect. Complex and well-written, with tight dialogue and a gripping narrative. The chance to round out your party with compelling characters all with their own sub-plots to resolve.

And lastly, this is a game system that encourages different builds and customization.

Whether you’re new or a veteran of the RPG genre, Planescape: Torment is a must-play experience.

Special Mention: Baldur’s Gate 3

While Baldur’s Gate 3 hasn’t seen the light of day yet(as of this writing), I wanted to give it a special spot as possibly the most hyped D&D video game since Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition released.

This title will be brought to us by Larian Studios, developers of the acclaimed Divinity: Original Sin game series.

What we know so far is that it will take place (again) in Forgotten Realms, and gameplay will include some aspects of D&D’s 5th Edition ruleset.

Fans should also get excited at the prospect of encountering the terrifying Mind Flayers, a notorious creature borne more of Lovecraftian mythos than typical tabletop fantasy.

While Larian Studios and Wizards of the Coast have been keeping this title’s finer details under wraps, Baldur’s Gate 3 promises to be a must-have RPG-experience if its predecessors are anything to boast about. Keep your eyes peeled for this game’s release as we move into the 2020s.

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[thegoddamnowl]

chefpyro replied to your post “chefpyro replied to your post “oh yeah i forgot to mention this a...”

i cant believe this poopoo thats coming out of your mouth right now

Lemme give it to you straight:

Akko is dumb. And not the endaring kind of dumb like in the OVA. She’s loud, annoying, stubborn, a bumbling loosemouth that seems like she cannot think about what is actually going on around her or even follow instructions right before thinking about whatever stupid thing goes through her head.

She’s basically kid Goku but with the negative parts strangely more accentuated on the anime. Watching the episodes and shit I came across a common pattern (which is not just here but whatevers) that is better handled on other stuff than here simply because this kid is kinda like Amy Rose was with Sonic except she’s this to Silver Shiny Chariot. There’s no reason I could be given reasons to root for this kid and makes one wonder why the fuck are not her friends or her “rival“ (because is one-sided by akko’s part, just face it) the main characters you are following instead

The problem here is that “am I gonna be stuck with this asshole the whole series?“ then comes the wonder: She would be getting some development right? She’ll become better, right? This right now starts combining the slice of life formula with a school setting and some Harry Potter stuff (because magical chosen one tropes) and with careful observation one can figure out the twist for later on. Now, the answers I got were really not of my liking.

So basically, and just as I feared, the formula goes on and on with no coherent development, some story thrown in here or there but since it all at the end of the day orbits Akko there’s no point on investing time in it and it progresses whether Akko has grown as a person or not, and though there may be genuinely good moments its all overshadowed by just how awful the protagonist is and how she literally steals the spotlight unjustly. You are never really told anything about the world she’s in except or the times where it matters (like the woods on the first episode, or the cards in the second, or the brooms on the third one plus a cafe) and it just leaves you wanting to know more but because you’d rather expect world building than still go with Akko and not because of genuine investment, especially because in here seems to be like stuff is managed like it traditionally was but with slight changes for the modern age adaptations

Now, the goods are that the anime looks pretty good and stylized, the music is ok but the OP was good too, voice acting is fine (in japanese that is), the character designs are recognizable but sensible and the setting although familiar is pretty ok.

Shame all of this was better managed in a 30-40 min. retcon than on a full-fledged anime series haha

Its sad how one can go from just a single big bad thing and tear down from there. I don’t have any reason to go for more episodes of Little Witch Academia besides riffing, but even then I wouldn’t bother. There’s nothing in there for me.