#like. helplessness is a pretty big aspect of her arc. she had to confront it a thousand times over to pass on

[assmaster-8000]

i didn't know detention got a movie adaptation??? which is quite. hm.

[littleeyesofpallas]

This isn’t really translation based, and I think most of the key lines I’ve pulled for this are more or less accurate (plus im getting a little tired of juggling Japanese dictionaries) so i’m gonna be lazy and just use Viz’s translations for this...

Looking over the early Arrancar Arc for Orihime stuff, one of the HUGE plot hooks Kubo built up and then once again totally ditched part way into the arc, was the nature of Orihime and Chad’s powers, and how they weren’t just random sidekicks but a part the entire Hollow-Shinigami dynamic and hybrid powers that the arc was all about.

At the onset of the arc the premise we’d originally been given for Chad and Orihime’s powers was still in play: That their powers came specifically from Ichigo.  As it happens their powers are also actually very similar to Ichgo’s and Kubo goes out of his way to make them even more so as this arc gears up...

Right off the bat Ichigo’s name is written literally as “One Protect” and in chapter 2, Ichigo’s attitude about that is explicitly laid out: He won’t let people get hurt if he can help it,but he also won’t make the abstract or high minded commitment to protecting “everyone.”  It’s an interesting way to frame a hero’s morality, but there’s a certain pragmatism to it and Kubo actually explicitly plays with this idea in the Arrancar... until he doesn’t...

Kubo also expands on this a little when he brings up Ichigo’s relationship with his mother in vol.3.  It actually makes him a little more typically heroic.  But it also establishes that he was once a wimpy kid who got strong to protect the people he loves.

So, it doesn’t feel super noticeable that when Orihime and Chad get their powers initially, they are both based on protecting people (because that’s kind of just generic heroism anyway) but the Arrancar Arc builds on the theme pretty explicitly...

Chad’s trajectory for the arc starts when Ichigo recuses him from DiRoy when Grimmjow’s gang attacks Karakura.  Not only is Chad kind of humiliated and ashamed of his weakness compared to Ichigo, but Rukia even takes note of it and chastises Ichigo for being inconsiderate and thinking he has to do everything himself.

When Chad goes to Urahara for help, Urahara mentions to himself that Chad’s powers are like a Hollow’s: specifically he trails off, but when you turn the page the first thing you see is Ichigo’s Hollow mask.  Like with Tatsuki, Kubo is playing very deliberately with juxtaposition and scene transitions, and the natural pacing of having to thumb through physical pages of a manga, viewing two pages at a time.  Then when Chad’s powers further develop as the team invades Los Noches, Chad’s powers are explicitly described as being more Hollow-like, and the true form of his arm takes on the shape of a shield, further emphasizing the already existing them of protection that surrounds Ichigo’s team.

Furthermore, Chad’s second arm form is explicitly described as the power to fight for himself, where as his first arm power is the power to fight for others.  Although Chad doesn’t appear to have the same kind of internal struggles that Ichigo does with his inner hollow and mask, Chad is actually displaying the same dichotomy that Ichigo is here, where Ichigo’s Hollow is all about self preservation and even just raw fighting instinct which is at odds with his need to protect others: Ichigo never lets himself being “selfish,” everything he does he has to do for others.  Chad learning to fight for himself is also co-related to his more/most hollow-like powers.

Orihime too is given the beginnings of a character arc early here where she feels inadequate, at first by being unable to cheer up Ichigo the way Rukia does, then in her inability to save Chad from Yammy and Ulquiorra, and finally with the way Urahara and Yamamoto try to exclude her from their war plans.  When she’s abducted by Ulquiorra, she isn’t just kidnapped, she is coerced into making the decision to save her friends with her compliance.  And once she’s in Los Noches as Aizen’s captive, she realizes that there is something only she can do to help protect everyone, and that is to use her position as a prisoner and as an asset to Aizen’s plans, to try and use her powers to get rid of the Hougyoku... which she never does....

And this wasn’t a few incidental lines just thrown around either, it comes up multiple times and even starts to develop a little bit and point in a very clear direction.  One of the big things the arc was building toward (which never happened) was the idea that Ichigo would eventually get to Orihime and she would refuse to be rescued.  Aizen specifically planned her abduction to look like she defected on her own; Ulquiorra brings up the fact that Ichigo came to rescue her based on trust and faith, but no on the certainty that she was actually innocent; and when Grimmjow talks about Ichigo not understanding what’s going on “inside” her.  It’s all pointing to the fact that Ichigo doesn’t get that his rescuing Orihime isn’t what’s best for her, because it’ll just make her feel helpless again.  Ichigo’s drive to protect people is a strength as a “hero” but it’s actually a weakness as a character.

Also Kubo repeatedly hammers home the idea that the rescue party was doomed to failure: The team splits up because Rukia and Renji guilt trip Ichigo about how his need to protect people forces him to not trust his allies, Dordonii foreshadows that Ichigo is too soft hearted to be fighting the likes of the Arrancar, Ulquiorra’s big reveal as being only #4, all Ichigo’s friends struggling through their Espada fights...  The whole Orihime rescue arc was set up like it was going to be a twist on the last rescue arc, until week after week fights with no plot development really started to drag on, and I get the feeling Kubo got some strong urges from his editor to drop the sidestories and just move the core plot along instead of introducing yet more Arrancar, leading to more and more fights that would only further stall the plot.  The Ulquiorra-Grimmjow-Szayelaporro-Nnoitra marathon in particular wasted legitimately almost a YEAR(50+ chapters) of weekly publications without anyone actually getting any closer to their established goals.

In conjunction with the explicit time frame we’d been given at the start of the arc --roughly 5 months until Winter, when the Hougyoku would be ready.  It seemed pretty clear that the sensible development would be that the rescue arc would fail, Ichigo & co. would be forced to retreat, and then they’d all complete their actual training  in the months left before the Winter War’s projected date.  And as we knew, Aizen had found a kind of hack to use the Hougyoku even before the projected date, so the eventual confrontation would mean Aizen’s forces would be far beyond Soul Society’s projections.  Orihime would have time to try and further her plans, earning Aizen’s trust and finding time and means to sneak her way to the Hougyoku.  Chad very possibly would’ve been left in Hueco Mundo during the retreat, where he could further develop the Hollow aspects of his powers in ways he couldn’t back on Earth.  Uryuu would be forced to confront his father about breaking his promise not to consort with Shinigami.  And Ichigo would actually finish his Visored training properly.

I kinda went off on a tangent here, but yeah...  Orihime and Chad plot threads that Kubo pretty meticulously set up and just didn’t do anything with...

[dogcopter]

Do you have thoughts on why the song 'Escapism' played when it did during the show? Other than coinciding with Lion saving watermelon steeb, the song seems a bit irrelevant to whats happening onscreen (or if it exists in that plane of existence to begin with, since the songs playing over everything)

I do have thoughts. TL;DR: I think it’s a thematically appropriate Rose song to cap off the episode because it’s arguably the most impactful Rose onscreen character development ep, and the last piece of the Rose/Steven relationship development. The song starts with Lion choosing to save Steven and bring him home to Greg, and it ends with Connie and Steven in the tower. If it does exist in that plane of existence, idk how to read it specifically, but Steven’s melon adventure is framed as a dream and there are a few ways that could go.

Escapism is Rose’s last big character episode before Change Your Mind, and sets up both Steven and Rose for their final stand against White. Connie and Steven are also trapped in the tower, so like, argument to be made for the music taking place in-universe in the tower with the “dream” of Steven’s astral projection to Earth as frame. I read Escapism (song) as a Rose/Pink Diamond trapped (in a pattern) song just as much as a Stevonnie trapped (in the tower) one. I’ve speculated - assuming she can and does - Rose may have even first learned to astral project while trapped in baby jail as literal escapism from the psychic pain of her awful family, a familiar experience to many fandom denizens on tumblr.com, because this is the story they chose to tell in Escapism.

The last scene of Escapism (and the whole episode really) is Rose breaking a pattern of escapism/avoidance. (I GUESS I HAVE TO FACE) She tries to distract him with the melon society, but Steven is totally focused on his goal. She rescues him and brings him back to Greg before his melon body can die.

(In/out of universe wise: Greg is the one playing the chords here.) Lion’s main character arc comes to fruition after his behavior in the early Lion eps - choice of coming to Greg & showing how she’s put Steven in more danger specifically is the exact flipside of Lion‘s actions in The Return/Full Disclosure, when she merrily ferries Steven off to fight Jasper & co. and then runs away before Greg arrives on the shore after they crash-land.

I guess I have to face/That in this awful place/I shouldn’t show a trace of doubt

In Legs Lion is not pleased about the Diamonds or Steven going to HW. In Escapism the melon dog just wants to avoid the subject. But Steven doesn’t give up, and Lion ultimately helps him with the last leg of his journey. In CYM Steven goes on to confront the diamonds, and Rose finally faces White after thousands of years of learned helplessness and running away - in CYM she stands her ground because she believes in Steven.

It’s Escapism that serves as her real test of character before the climax because she chooses to face Steven and face Greg. imo, facing Greg, even in Lion form, is a bigger deal for her character. Rose avoids White because White abused her and out of probably not a little fear or even fear on friends’ behalf, Rose avoids Greg because she care him and values what he thinks of her. She respects him and not White, world of difference there. Greg offered her unconditional love and was the last person she didn’t feel she had to hide herself from...but that was before he thought she was dead and before they had a son who keeps endangering.

But pulled against the grain/I feel a little pain/That I would rather do without

...that learned helplessness Rose exhibits is explained via the various abuses Steven experiences in Pink Diamond’s shoes during the HW/Diamond Days arc. Of course she kept running away and lacked self-worth! To have been raised in an environment where pain was impossible to escape - to find the only escape is to avoid and run, because you will be mistreated - it’s understandable, it’s more or less what Steven says to Blue in CYM. His parents did fuck up in a lot of their own ways, but an environment where he was shown love made a fundamental difference in his ability to recognize & stick up for his own worth. That in turn empowers Rose to step out of her passive role and stick up for him.

“Against the grain” means to go against one’s natural inclination. Rose is pained by the mortifying ordeal of being trapped, and would rather keep running, but now she has a reason to face that pain. The idiom can also be used to mean going against expectations in a more social sense, so maybe there’s more going on here, but that’s how I read it.

I’d rather be free....free(etc).... /...from here

think that’s pretty self explanatory. Escapism continues to play over the scene of Steven asking for help, and at the end, Steven returns to the tower and wakes up.

Connie has moved since the start of the episode and she’s asleep now, too. The last “from here” takes place on the astral plane as he returns. So as a Rose song, it makes me wonder - this could be about feelings of being trapped in the tower as Pink, it could be about the world/astral plane more generally & Rose/Lion... this ep is all setup for CYM, but like all of SU, it’s other things at the same time too.

AJ Michalka, Stevonnie’s voice performer, sings Escapism. Therefore, if it’s sung in-universe, Stevonnie in the tower is the most likely candidate. But Greg appears to have provided the music on Earth. If it’s being sung in-universe it’s probably by Stevonnie: maybe Connie and Steven fusing in their sleep, maybe Stevonnie as their own person on the astral plane, maybe more metaphor. I also don’t rule out Rose being one of Stevonnie’s fusion components, since she has said she is part of Steven. I don’t think there’s sufficient reason to assume she is, given Stevonnie’s relationship to Lion, though. Maybe all of SU is just a dream, and Stevonnie is simply musing on aspects of their personality or something, and the song relates to the framing device. Who knows!

[jkl-fff]

Scooby-Doo "Gritty" Reboot Idea (part 2)

“Gritty” because it’d acknowledge some dark realities  (like physical and emotional abuse especially of children,  drugs and drug addiction, sex work, violence and death)  and would deal with some darker lore. But all while still having goofy  and slapstick overtones (a la Season 2 of “Gravity Falls”).

General Plot (with some Lore)

For Season One, they get caught up in investigating  some local paranormal reports (maybe Daphne’s home to begin  with a la Northwest Mansion Noire? she asks Velma for her expertise,  who asks Fred for his help and muscle, who needs to borrow Scooby– for reasons … cat-themed ghost?—who Shaggy reluctantly brings)  that all appear to be connected.  This causes them to start working together *and* to start hanging out,  becoming friends … while also dealing with teenage angst  and high school drama.  Not every reported event is a scam or a sham;  some is actually caused by genuine supernatural/occult events.  And most of what is supernatural is caused by two spirits  in confrontation with each other, both trying to find “the Blaze”.

It’s eventually discovered Shaggy’s parents didn’t die in an accident;  they were collateral damage in an attack by an Old God  that was trying to destroy the Blaze. The Blaze, however, hid itself  by fusing with 12-year-old Shaggy’s soul … which kept him/them alive  through the attack and *could* grant him the Blaze’s great powers  (one of the manifestations of that is how he is a Medium  capable of seeing and communicating with spirits at all times,  not just when they manifest; another of which is his therapy art,  which turns out is Seer/Prophetic showing past, present, or future).  But this also means Shaggy has a powerful enemy in the spirit world  he hasn’t even known about.  Also, some of what he suffers psychologically isn’t just his trauma,  but the Blaze’s own memories/emotions.

The spirits who cause all the Season One trouble are respectively  a servant of the Old God … and one connected to the Blaze  (a friend? an ally? a servant? a servant of a friend/ally?). They had both managed to track the Blaze/Shaggy to that town  after years and years of searching.  The second ultimately fuses with Scooby to protect Shaggy/the Blaze.  As a result, Scooby can now speak *and* has some of his own  supernatural abilities. Also some memories and warnings— knowledge—to impart … but it all gets muddled in Scooby’s mind,  so he can’t make much sense of it anymore. But at least  he’s still unquestioningly loyal to Shaggy … Or is he?

Season Two follows them after leaving town to keep  Shaggy and Scooby safe (gotta keep moving to avoid the Old God  and their minions), ostensibly for a summer road trip to celebrate  graduating from high school. This has them following reports  of paranormal activity across North American in search of answers …  and because it’s fun; they just really like solving these mysteries together.

Part of the group’s overall journey is seeking answers  to who Shaggy’s and Scooby’s spirits really are, who the Old God really is,  and how they can defeat it so as to protect their friends  (also, eventually, having to stop an apocalypse … as one does).  Another part of it is a found family narrative, with them all  mutually falling in love with each other in one, big polyamorous quartet  (with a talking pet dog), realizing they can make their own happiness  and don’t need people who can’t appreciate them.

Some Character Arcs:

At some point in Season One, Fred’s father finds out about him  “dressing like a girl and doing other gross, fag shit”, and disowns him.  This makes Fred technically homeless for a bit, living out of his van,  but his friends (and especially Shaggy’s aunts) give him a safe place  to stay while he finishes his last year of high school. Fred will,  after that, grapple with simultaneous rage at his father  (never wanting to see him again, never wanting to forgive him)  *and* a longing for things to go back to the way they were  (because he still loves and misses his father).  Very complicated, bitter feelings …  He’ll eventually decide that, maybe in the future he might reach out,  but for now he doesn’t owe his father shit, this is all his father’s fault,  and he doesn’t need him because he’s got his friends.

Throughout the whole series, Shaggy is grappling with the question  of who he really is now: Shaggy, the Blaze, both, neither?  Is he still human? Is he a monster? Some sort of demi-god?  Also, his relationship with Scooby has fundamentally changed,  and they have to renegotiate that now that Scooby is, likewise,  more than just a dog. For the record, though, Scooby is very much having a similar difficulty.  How does he move forward knowing that both aspects of his identity  (Scooby and the spirit) have been irreparably transformed  by blending together as they have? How does he be himself when there isn’t a pure self anymore?

At some point in Season Two, Daphne has a crisis of christian faith  after experiencing a lot of stuff that blatantly contradicts  what she’s been taught in Sunday School and by her parents.  It never fully gets resolved, but she grows thanks to realizing that  she doesn’t have all the answers, that society and morality are constructs  but her newer definitions of Good are still worth fighting for. In Season Three, her parents will threaten to pull her allowance  if she doesn’t come home and be a well-behaved girl,  but she’ll call their bluff by threatening to reveal a lot of the family’s  dirty secrets if they do. Standing up for herself and her friends  and keeping the income flowing through a little extortion (yay!).  Although after that, they’ll look to make Mystery Inc. more of  a self-sustaining business (just in case), which will be a major milestone.

At some point in Season Two, Velma’s need for approval  from authority figures will nearly lead to her being taken advantage of  in a bad way (sexual?). However, she’ll escape (in part on her own skills— cleverness and brujeria—in part by getting help from her friends),  learning that she isn’t as helpless as she’s sometimes felt,  that she can indeed take care of herself …  But also learning that getting help from the people who care about her  doesn’t mean she’s helpless (communal living means  giving what she can give to others *AND* receiving what she needs from others, too– different but equally valuable contributions); plus, it’s just a smart strategy.  Also she learns the opinions of some people are just plain worthless.  In Season Three, her research into brujeria will probably start getting her  into trouble as she begins to put too much trust in both academic sources  and patron spirits (kinda the same issue appearing in a different form,  really, which will make her feel like an idiot for a bit). From that, though,  she’ll learn to think critically not just about authority figures (people),  but also about “authoritative” sources of information (made by people).

Some Character Dynamics:

Fred and Daphne bond over burgeoning identities of genderfluidity,  with her helping him to develop a flashier appearance in general  (including helping him try drag a couple times) and him helping her  to learn some of those combat sports she’s always wanted to try.  They also bond over how much it sucked to have domineering parents  who loved the idea of a perfect child more than their actual child.  Both learn together to be more open emotionally, more confident in  who they really are (not defined by their parents’ expectations for them).

Velma and Shaggy bond over being closet geeks for Pokémon  and other similar stuff like Sci-Fi movie series  (which, with typical teenage cynicism, is regarded as cringey  by most of their peers); turns out, they both secretly write fanfic,  and can beta read for each other. They also bond over being nerds  who finally have someone to whom they can infodump  about their interests, someone who actually listens patiently without  making them feel self-conscious and weird—without triggering anxiety. Both learn together to be more confident in who they really are, too, and to care less about what others think of them.

Shaggy and Daphne bond over terrible puns and dank memes.  They are both just the worst when it comes to those. Besides,  they both find them to be surprisingly effective ways of expressing  their complex emotions, be they positive or negative.  It also helps both of them to be more emotionally open  (a thing they all learn together, frankly).

Fred and Shaggy bond over what it’s like to miss a parent (Fred’s mom, Shaggy’s parents) and how hard it is to put into words.  Sorrow and melancholy because they’re gone,  anger and resentment because they left them behind,  guilt because of these other feelings … also guilt that it somehow should’ve been them— that those left behind (Fred’s dad, Shaggy’s aunt) somehow blame them.  This lets Fred learn that showing emotions isn’t “weak”  while teaching Shaggy that he’s not alone in how he feels.

Daphne and Velma bond over interests in history (also frustrations  at how whitewashed and man-washed the narratives of it have been).  Turns out, they’re absolute nerds for various points/periods of  World history in general and North American history specifically  (all of which will turn out to be relevant to individual episodes),  and they can collaborate about how those points connect and influence each other and their cases.

Velma and Fred bond over being working class and poor,  and how weird it is to suddenly have two people who are pretty wealthy  (for all intents and purposes) taking care of their financial needs.  It feels like a relief, on the one hand, but also makes them feel insecure  on the other. Like they don’t deserve it and are being a burden,  like they need to find ways to pay the others back  so as to square the debt and remain “independent”.  Together, they learn, however, that worth isn’t determined by money— they learn that it’s okay to let someone else take care of bills  (during this whole communal living thing) and that they contribute in different but equally worthwhile ways (communal living, again) …  Yet also how to communicate this tricky issue (and how it relates,  rightly or wrongly, to their self-esteem) amongst all four of them.

Fred learns a lot about women and PofC issues and grows from it.  At first, he’s disbelieving and defensive (“not all men” sorta guy),  but he learns to listen and ask respectful questions (“I don’t understand. Don’t all lives matter? So why’s the movement just *Black* lives matter?”), to think about what he’s learned (“Privilege means … there’s something  that doesn’t make my social life difficult, but does for others.  Like skin color, no one treats me bad for mine but they do to PofC.  Or like class, Daphne doesn’t have to worry about money, but I do. Right?”), and to integrate it into his own behavior  (“Wait, am I mansplaining? Sorry, I’ll stop.”). He’s kinda innocently na��f and ignorant about these,  but learns and become more sensitive.

Same for Daphne vis-à-vis socio-economic class and religion. She takes money for granted, thus doesn’t understand  why it’s such an obstacle or a motivator for most people  (“It’s only $50, what’s the big deal?” or “Why not simply buy the land?  Why go to all this trouble to scare people away?”).  And much of her life was Jesus-this and Jesus-that,  so she’s never really understood that other religions and philosophies  are actually a real thing until being with the others (Shaggy is Buddhist,  Fred is atheist, and Velma’s grandmother did folk brujeria  while her father is Jewish). 

They all learn a lot about queer issues and identities in general  (especially from Shaggy), which allows them to develop their own  in a healthy way (Fred and Daphne as genderfluid and bi/pan,  Velma and Shaggy as demi and bi/pan … all of them as poly).  With a bunch of kinks and fetishes along the way, maybe.

Shaggy learns a lot about the supernatural. He was *never* interested  in the subject (in fact, he always kinda hated it because it terrified him … perhaps instinctively because the Blaze was within him),  but the others were fascinated by it. So exposition on these matters  is made to him for the audience’s sake.

[akatokuro]

The Inevitable Saint Seiya Rewatch, Episodes 16-19

i am legitimately unsure how to respond to seiya fucking murdering a lady

- Hyouga, why the fuck would you leave your invincible rosary at Ikki's grave. TAKE THAT SHIT TO MU AND HAVE HIM RESEARCH IT HADES WILL NOT STAND A CHANCE

- ah yes, time for delicious toei filler

- In all seriousness, this filler is goofy and ridiculous as fuck, (OH NO THE BUGS ARE STEALING MY COSMO!!!) but I actually do like some of the character moments a lot, and I like the idea of the core group + Saori having time to bond and really become a team before shit starts really going down, and before Saori realizes she's a goddess.

- I have to wonder, though, if you're going to make filler to try to buy time while Kurumada smokes weed and makes shit up, why would you go with a really obvious "evil Pope" plotline? Seriously, it should be super obvious that eventually the manga is going to have its own plans for the Pope and Sanctuary, since he was a big figure in the first chapter/episode. Like, if the anime went to do completely its own thing, that'd be fine, but the halfway measure where it tries to weave weirdly back into the manga is just, uh, strange.

- Not that projecting Saga onto Toei's Evil Pope (complete with Evil Harem!) isn't the funniest fucking thing, don't get me wrong. Wait until they find out how much he loves being an owl!

- I mean, yeah, the montage of trainees dying horrifically by the hundreds is brutal and disturbing, but... is it really that much harsher than the picture we get of regular Saint training, considering LOL NINETY DEAD KIDS WHOOPS? I dunno...

- Marin and Shaina are both legitimately really cool characters. Saint Seiya ladies in general are cool as hell, you just wish that they got more focus, Saori included.

- The way Toei tries to inject RACISM!!! as another reason why Sanctuary evil feels a little weird, considering that, like, half of their Gold Saints aren't from Greece either...

- A wild Aiolia appears! The early stealth appearances of the Golds are a lot of fun. (Imagine how much more fun they could be if they were actually seeded in with, like, intent!) At this stage if you're watching blind you probably have no idea to make of this guy, who is also the narrator for the episodes...? It doesn't feel like he's obviously been set up as a "future opponent", but he's also not going out of his way to oppose the bad guys, either... but he does seem to be Marin's friend, so hmm...

-  It just seems like the kind of thing that'd be fun to play with, expectations-wise, if you're going to revise the series with hindsight in mind. In a way that, you know, gender-swapping Shun is not. What? Did I say something?

- Man, though, a Silver Saint like Shaina who is willing to shit-talk a Gold like Lia to his face... yikes. That's sort of nuts. You really do get no respect around here, do you, Aiolia...?

- have i mentioned lately that i'm in love with saori

- "Why are they after the Gold Cloth?" UH, BECAUSE IT'S A GOLD CLOTH, GUYS? HYOUGA, SHIRYUU, YOU TWO WERE TRAINED BY FUCKING GOLDS. SEIYA YOU'VE LIVED HALF YOUR LIFE IN SANCTUARY. YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND THIS IS KIND OF A BIG DEAL?

- "Our magic warriors were secretly behind every major historical event ever" was cringe in Madoka Magica and, uh, it's cringe here too, sorry!

- I'd loooove to see a more elaborate process of Saori slowly realizing and coming to terms with being Athena. More Saori content in general, pls.

- AH YES, THE SHUN SHOWER SCENE

- AH YES, THE SHIRYUU WAKING UP WITH KIKI SCENE

- I really like seeing the Bronzies do stuff like run around town doing "normal" activities, like Shun jogging, though! Shun is cute! CUTE! I even like seeing Seiya hanging around with the orphanage kids and setting up Miho for extreme disappointment.

- SAORI STANDING UP TO AND SASSING A SAINT WHO JUST BLEW HER HOUSE UP BY HERSELF I CAN'T IMAGINE BEING THIS BADASS GOD

- her expression change when seiya shows up though hnnnnng

- The setup is dumb filler, but I like the underscoring that Saori is HARDCORE (ignore me, protect the Cloth!), the Bronzies meeting up to discuss what they should do, and Seiya's not-super-personal rationale at this point for going to rescue Saori. I actually do think their relationship has nice progression, the fact that ideally there would have been more focus on Saori realizing her Foundation is pretty fucking evil aside.

- wait, you guys are going with hyouga's plan? seriously? oh shit..........

- AND THE CRYSTAL SAINT APPEARS. MY NEMESIS

- oh my god i want to see camus demonstrating this hilarious ass leg freezing technique. 'donk' sound effect and all. why would you deprive me of this

- i like how even the crystal saint, someone who is obviously defined as very much a 'nice/good saint', will cheerfully watch his student get mauled by a polar bear as part of his training though

- I'm not sure if it's more plausible that CRYSTAL SAINT failed to warn Hyouga that "hey, even if you freeze their legs, they can still punch you" or if Hyouga heard and just forgot...

- Shiryuu and Kiki are too late to reach the cave, watching them fly away in a helicopter because this is a filler arc. Wait, Sanctuary uses helicopters? Is there a helipad in Saga's house? Is it equipped with a personal bath? I need to know these things, dammit!

- I would seriously watch an entire fucking episode of just the Bronzies and Saori sitting in a room together discussing battle plans and other serious business, punctuated by Seiya and Saori occasionally flirting, and Hyouga occasionally invading Shun's personal space. A+++ quality episode right there.

- GHOOOOOOST SAAAAAAAAAAAAINTS

- poor shaina, getting filler villain-ized. but on the other hand, i kind of like her more in the role of 'ruthless and threatening villain/supporting character' as opposed to having a crush on seiya, ngl.

- Saori shitting on Tatsumi is always the greatest thing. But even that aside, even with the GHOOOST SAAAAINTS, I... like the idea of more elements of the Graude Foundation and their interactions with the actual world getting involved in this conflict?

- ghost saints tho...........

- I also really like Saori already showing she's growing up and changing the way she thinks. She has this perpetually troubled air about her even in the Ikki arc, so even though there's not as much focus on what's going on in her head as there SHOULD be, it's plausible she's really mulling things over, re-evaluating them, and internally struggling so she can be up to this task she doesn't fully understand. Rather than being smug about Graude's capabilities like Tatsumi and like she was in the early episodes, she's already thinking about the impact of their actions on the world at large. Because she rules.

- Really wish we had some aspect of her more directly confronting the fact that her grandfather was an evil fuck, but it's one of those things I feel like I can probably headcanon too, I suppose.

- shun and the nebula chains mvp all day every day

- i like how seiya is sitting there playing sad guitar and hyouga and shiryuu huddle together and are just like "man seiya's guitar sucks" “i know right”

- Saori's growth is great because she really feels like an actual character to me? There's an awkwardness about how she's trying to approach the Bronzies and bond with them that feels really organic and endearing, but she's trying very hard. I really like touches like Saori trying to say the reason she came was because she was worried about them, and Hyouga and Shiryuu sort of exchanging this skeptical glance. It's what makes things on Saori's end sort of easy to 'headcanon', so to speak.

- I love this whole idea of Saori randomly chucking her jewelry into the ocean to 'show her appreciation'. Because it's so fucking weird and awkward. This is a gesture that doesn't actually mean anything to the Bronzies - they're totally like "huh? uh, okay" - and objectively it's a dumb useless thing to do, but you can tell she, as a young girl, has really been wracking her brain over how to SHOW that she's growing to care about them, and... and came up with this? Uh, it seemed like a good idea maybe? And her self-consciousness continues to come through, the way she can't even look at the Bronzies as she explains what she's trying to say is that their lives are more important than any Cloth.

- In growing this way, Saori is already vastly different from her grandfather and even Sanctuary, who obviously didn't value life at all - but Saori is trying to figure out and navigate this new way of thinking and caring on her own. Of course it'll be clumsy as hell, but there's also a real earnestness to it. Saori is so great...

- THE HYOSHUN IS VERY REAL. even in the midst of dumb filler, i love the way hyouga is so consistently attentive to shun. why is hyouga the only one who reacts to shun getting pulled underwater and then tries to save him? shiryuu was right there too... i mean...

- (the answer: hyouga is crushing on him hard, but)

- shun catching hyouga on the cliff against THE EVIL BUGS too ffffffffff

- NEBULA CHAIN! PULL IT UP!

- "Shiryuu, what happened!?" "I DON'T KNOW." and then we never speak of this again. sounds legit tbh

- holy shit did seiya just fucking murder a lady

- seiya just totally cold-bloodedly murdered a lady

- AIOLOS DID YOU JUST FUCKING WINK AT SEIYA AFTER HE MURDERED A LADY THROUGH YOUR HELMET I..................

- no, but seriously, she's fucking lying helpless face down on the ground and seiya fucking punches her to death what the fuck. even the way the shot is framed. and then you get to hear her scream in pain as she's being fucking punched to death. like seiya could have seen an opening and punched her as she was falling from aiolos's sucker punch, but while she's literally lying on the ground is really... uh...

- WELL, UM, MOVING ON I GUESS... SAINT SEIYA!

[icameheretowinry]

FMA Live Action Review

As promised!

Hey there! As I’m sure with everyone else in this crazy fandom, I recently watched the Fullmetal Alchemist live action film that premiered on Netflix last week; albeit after waiting two hours for it to download over shoddy hotel wifi so I could experience it offline in the back of a car on a twisty mountain road. Long story… *ahem* Anyway, since I heard that there would be a live action adaptation last year, I’ve been rightly freaking out to see it, so you best believe I took my time, and watched this film like a hawk (see what I did there??) XD Below the cut you’ll find my reviews of characterizations, plot, costumes, cinematography, CGI, music, and a couple of other things I found interesting, or particularly enjoyed. Please keep in mind that I’m not a film critic, but I just wanted to share my observations. I hope you enjoy! Feel free to comment as well! This is LONG btw heh :D

Characterizations:

Edward Elric (Ryôsuke Yamada)

All in all, I found live action Ed’s character to be one of the best in the entire film. Yamada’s interpretation of our favorite angry red bean captured some of the best nuances of Ed’s character. His passion for their quest, sadness, regret, anger, and occasional goofiness were all there. He didn’t just look like Ed, he more or less acted like him too. Yamada’s Ed was emotionally reactive when the situation demanded it (his horrified reaction to Nina being one of the best instances - don’t worry, I’ll be spending time on that arc a bit later on), yet the viewer didn’t lose out on his tender smiles to Winry, or his immense respect for Hughes. While live action Ed’s open displays of sadness, which often had him on the verge of tears or actually crying, were a huge departure from Brotherhood and manga Ed, they felt appropriate within the shortened time frame of the film, and in response to modifications made to canon plot. However, while I did enjoy live action Ed’s character as a whole, he was not without significant flaws. His frenzy of seemingly uncontrollable anger after Al accuses him of fabricating his memories, his over-the top-horrified yelling when learning the main ingredient for philosophers’ stones, and near helplessness when confronted with a roadblock in their quest all felt very out of place. Well, not so much out of place as immature, which gave me serious fma03 vibes.

Alphonse Elric (Atom Mizuishi)

I’ll be talking strictly about live action Al’s character in this section. Comments on his CGI armor will come later. For starters, the biggest flaw in Al’s character was his very limited screen time. While this was. I’m assuming, most likely due to the difficulty in animating his armor, for a story that centers on the quest of two brothers, Al came across more as a background character than a true protagonist. In the few scenes we see a lot of him, Mizuishi did a brilliant job of letting his personality shine through. We see his passion for alchemy when he gets carried away trying to explain it to the citizens of Liore. We see his kind and gentle nature during his interactions with Nina. We see his frustration when he accuses Ed of fabricating his memories (although the rest of that scene was one of the most poorly done in the film - I’ll be touching on that later.) We even get to see some of that sassy nature we all know and love when he asks if his body is taller than Ed. It’s a huge shame we didn’t get to see more of that.

Winry Rockbell (Tsubasa Honda)

As the character I relate to most to in the entire series, I was incredibly excited to see how Winry’s big and dynamic personality would play out in a live action film. As much as it pains me to say, I was thoroughly disappointed. Honda’s renditions of Winry’s impassioned outbursts felt overdone and awkward. The flexibility of imagery in the animated series and manga (such as the running gag of her hitting Ed over the head with a wrench) don’t translate in a live action environment. Without that additional comedic heft, Honda’s Winry came across as obnoxious. Even her tearful lamentations to Al about how much Ed cared about him seemed childish and forced. A majority of her screen time was spent as Ed’s side kick, or as a hostage at the end of film. Hell, the only indication that she’s Ed’s automail mechanic (other than it being said) is prancing around with a toolbox, and dinging up Al with a comically giant wrench. (Which why on earth was she bringing that to Lab 5 in the first place???) Also, Netflix translated her line at the end of the Marcoh arc as, “I’ll clean up the mess.” GURL THAT MESS IS A HUMAN BEING. To abandon all formality, just uuuugggghhhh. The only moment I truly loved her character was when she was on the train alone with Ed before they found Marcoh. That’s the Winry I know, and I wish I could’ve seen more of her.

Roy Mustang (Dean Fujioka)

Live action Roy, let’s be real, is everything I’ve dreamed of. While at times, he’s a bit of an ass, Fujioka does an unbelievable job of beautifully delivering many aspects of his character. It’s obvious that he respects and cares for Ed, especially during the aftermath of the Nina arc. He also trusts Ed enough to go after Envy, and doesn’t give him shit for swooping in to save his ass from Lust. He pushes himself to the limit for those he cares about, even taking a hit from Lust for Riza, and is hellbent on avenging the death of his best friend. Like Ed, he’s emotionally reactive when the situation presents itself, and his ruthlessness is unwavering, and amazing to watch. While I felt that some of the condensation of plot hurt the development of some characters, this doesn’t seem to apply as much to Roy. He was vulnerable, caring, angry, vengeful, and collected all at once. It was beautiful!

Riza Hawkeye (Misako Renbutsu)

Sadly, Riza’s character was another major disappointment. I don’t recall her saying more than two full sentences until she told Ed of Hughes’ murder over halfway through the film despite appearing with Roy in the first fifteen minutes. While he carries on full conversations with other characters, she may as well have blended into the wallpaper. I didn’t even really see glimpses of the badass sharpshooter until the last half hour. Outside the numerous Royai moments, which I will discuss later, that one scene of her directing the assault on the puppet soldiers did a pretty damn good job of redeeming her character in my eyes more so than Winry’s one solid scene. When Renbutsu’s Riza actually had lines and something to do, she was utterly on point and badass. Bottom line, I wanted MORE.

Maes Hughes (Ryûta Satô)

Next to Lust, live action Hughes was one of my favorites in the entire film. Did I need to see more of this man? YES. Did I need to see him die for the fourth time? GOOD LORD NO. From the first moment he comes bursting into Mustang’s office saying, “Yo!” and saluting, I was d o n e. His care and respect for Ed, Al, Winry, and of course, Gracia is beautiful (he also ships edwin just so ya know.) While Satô truely does an exemplarily job of portraying Hughes’ character, I will thank the plot of this film for giving me more things to cry about. Hughes openly involving himself in Ed’s research, his conversation with Mustang in the garden, and *sighes* t h a t  s c e n e. Just Envy appearing as Roy by the phone booth, turning into Gracia to stop his attack, and them back to Roy to kill him. His BEST FRIEND seeming to kill him. AND THIS IS IN TWO DIFFERENT SCENES. But what really got to me was that unlike the manga/Brotherhood, Roy and Hughes spoke while he was dying. Roy knew what was going on, and could only listen, and then, he was accused of carrying it out himself. My angsty heart thanks the creators.

Gracia Hughes (Natsuki Harada)

While she only had a few lines, Harada’s Gracia was sweet, caring, and perfectly in character. The absence of Elicia was disappointing, but the fact that she was expecting a child made Hughes’ death just as tragic. Also, you could totally tell that when Ed and Winry were over for dinner that she shipped it!

Shou Tucker (Yô Ôizumi)

My basic reaction to live action Tucker was, “Thanks. I hate it.” Ôzumi’s interpretation of the worst human ever was a morbid delight. The sadist monster thinly veiled by an awkwardly brilliant researcher and single father was incredible. Of the diverse cast of villains in the film, he proved to be vastly more interesting and dynamic than General Hakuro could ever be. From taking Barry’s place in canon to put the idea into Al’s head that he was artificial, to figuring out how to activate and use philosophers’ stones, this is the most horrifying rendition of Tucker yet, even giving cimera!Tucker a run for his money. To top it off, his desire to crush the Elric’s dreams of ever getting their bodies back has no grounding in reality, other than for his own entertainment. As in canon, his demise was gruesome, rightly deserved, and satisfying to watch.

Nina Tucker & Alexander

I’m grouping these two together because… well… I’M SORRY OK. Anyway, the little girl who played Nina and the very floofy Alexander gave us all the ingredients to once again fall into the deepest pit of despair at the end of their arc. We got Alexander jumping on Ed. We got Nina happily playing for the first time in ages and admitting so to Al and Winry. We even got her being supportive of her father is the sweetest little conversation ever. And then… I wanted to chuck my phone out the window.

Lust (Yasuko Matuyuki)

You’re not going to believe me, but live action Lust was my favorite character in the entire film. I don’t know if it was the graceful way she carried herself, the sultry nature beautifully entwined in her dialogue, or the look of bliss on her face as she was being consumed by flame, but sweet jesus, it was PERFECT. Of all the characters in this film, she was the only one that felt as though she was plucked straight from the manga. Matuyuki did her research, because I was more than blown away by her rendition of Lust. In role that threatened flatness due to the even nature of the character’s personality, Matuyuki let viewers both fear her as a villain, yet fall in love with her at the same time. Just BRAVO.

Envy (Kanata Hongô)

Can I say enough good things about the live action homunculi? Hongô’s take on Envy was spectacular! They’re snarky attitude, disdain of humans, and cunning personality were all there. Although we missed seeing our favorite full-scale garbage lizard, little was left out. However, the character truly suffered due to plot changes. My biggest complaint was that they die without revealing they killed Hughes, or admitting their jealously of humans. Had Hongô had the time frame to do those scenes, we would’ve really been in for a treat!

Gluttony (Shinji Uchiyama)

Uchiyama’s representation of Gluttony, like the other homunculi in the film, was fantastic. His baby-like appearence, clipped sentences, and lumbering gait were all spot on. While I had a good laugh watching him waddle after Amestrian soldiers with an obviously fake set of teeth strapped to himself, his performance was rightly terrifying, as it should’ve been.

Dr. Marcoh (Jun Kunimura)

Despite largely being a character of convenience in the film, live action Marcoh garnered a lot of sympathy from me in the few minutes he was on screen. We saw a man paranoid and terrified of being used, yet still attempting to do good by running a local hospital under an assumed name (although not a very good one lmao). His warning to Ed about the nature of the philosopher’s stone felt genuine, and his quickly manifested respect for Ed during their conversation never felt forced. His ensuing change of heart in providing information on Lab 5 was also appropriate. Despite being on screen for less than fifteen minutes, his death was sudden, tragic, and heartbreaking.  

Father Cornello (Kenjirô Ishimaru)

Live action Cornello, like Trisha Elric, was a minor role that was successful in how close it stuck to canon. While the manner in which his fraudulent teachings were exposed was different, his open disdain for the Elric brothers, thirst for power, and generally unsavory personality were faithfully represented by Ishimaru. He met the same gruesome end, and his downfall was just as satisfying to watch as in the manga and animated series.

Maria Ross (Natsuna Watanabe)

While her role was relatively minor, Watanabe’s Ross was pretty solid. Her insights into the Hughes’ and Ed’s research of Lab 5 were insightful, and I adored that Hughes referred to her as a good friend. There needs to be more fanfiction of that people! Additionally, her transition from Ross to Envy’s character was subtle and unnerving. While I was slightly disappointed to see “her” role as Hughes’ shooter taken away, the fact that we still had an scene with Envy as her was awesome.

Trisha Elric & Young Elric brothers

For the .2 seconds Trisha was on screen, she seemed to perfectly personify her canon counterpart. Even the Anime Mom Hair™ was on point. That’s really all there is to say. On the other hand, the boys who played little Al and Ed did a spectacular job! Their sadness, determination, and child-like innocence were spot on, as well as their sibling dynamic. Little Ed took the leadership role, and calmed Al when he had doubts. Also, the raw emotion they were able to summon during the human transmutation scene was downright incredible for actors so young, especially when the bulk of that scene relied on CGI.

General Hakuro/Halcrow (Fumiyo Kohinata)

To be honest, I didn’t even remember that Hakuro/Halcrow was a canon character. Upon further research, he played a minor role in Brotherhood/manga, and a slightly less minor role in fma03. He was never a villain, but simply a superior officer jealous of Roy Mustang’s rapid ascent to power in the military following the Ishvalan war. Don’t get me wrong, I am ALL FOR taking minor characters with unverified pasts and giving them a larger role. While this film does really throw canon out the window (which I will also discuss later), shoving a sniveling rival of Mustang’s into the villain seat felt like a copout. In a canon universe known for its dynamic and interesting villains, Hakuro’s appearances were painfully convenient. Surprise! I’m going to ask Mustang to introduce the Elric’s to Tucker. Surprise! I walk in just as Ross and Hughes as researching Lab 5 and the philosopher’s stone. Surprise! I’m actually the puppet master and will TAKE OVER THE WORLD. Please. He’s like a goddamn Disney villain, except to the undead, a nice snack.

Plot:

I’m just going to come right out and say that I honestly had more issues with character representation in the film, than I did with changes to plot. I really struggled with the adjustments during the first hour of the film, but once I gave in and just accepted that canon was more or less going to be thrown out the window, I finally started to enjoy myself. Below, instead of going over the plot as a whole (I’ve already burned enough ink on this review as it is, so to speak), I’m going to touch on a few plot points I particularly loved, and other that that should’ve been left on the metaphorical cutting room floor. *cracks knuckles* Let’s do this!

Plot Points I Enjoyed

The first real dialogue between Ed and Roy in his office after the Liore incident was damn solid. It had all the element fans could wish for: Ed’s nearly unbridled passion for getting Al’s body back (SO in character), Roy’s cold demeanor, yet obvious concern for their safety, and finally, the grand entrance of Maes Hughes yelling “Yo!” with a his ridiculous salute that filled my heart with rainbows and added ten years onto my lifespan.

That little moment where Hughes and Garcia were just as big of EdWin shippers are you are. ;)

Like I’ve mentioned before, the conversation between Ed and Winry on the train to find Marcoh was my singular favorite moment of her. Winry was so sweet, adorable, and genuinely supportive of Ed, and his smiles towards her made me blush on her behalf. Just letting their two personalties and pasts bounces off each other in that scene worked perfectly.

ROY TAKING THE HIT FOR RIZA????

RIZA HOLDING ROY UP IN LAB 5????

RIZA LOOKING ALL CONCERNED DOWN AT HER BLOODY HANDS AND THINKING OF ROY DURING THE ASSULT ON THE PUPPET SOLDIERS???

HER SPRINTING AWAY TO SEE IF HE WAS OK???

*ahem* I will also arguably say that Hughes’ death scene was much more tragic in the live action than the other three (why tho) versions of this scene. Make Roy the shooter?? Broke my damn heart into a million pieces, but effective and perfect for my angsty heart?? YES.

Lust’s death scene was beautifully animated. Actually, every scene with her was excellent. Her ruthless, nonchalant attitude was incredible.

Ed’s conversation with Marcoh was ripped straight from the manga I noticed. I’m sincerely glad that some moments weren’t messed with. The little tidbits of powerful, straight-up canon are what held this film together. SPEAKING OF…

I’m not going to lie and say that the best scene in the movie was the reveal of Nina’s fate. It was perfectly dark, stuck to canon, and the emotion was raw and real. Although chimera!Nina’s CGI was a bit iffy, the voice acting ended me. Plus, the additional emotional turmoil Al was going through with Tucker’s claim that his memories were fabricated, plus Ed just having just witnessed the death of Marcoh made this moment a triple whammy in the feels department. Who knew the series could get darker? I LOVED it.

Plot Points I Didn’t Enjoy

In general, I didn’t like how the characters were aged up. The time gap between the Elric’s as little kids trying human transmutation and their current quest feel like too much of a massive time gap. I wish they would’ve honestly used younger actors.

What was with the entire Elric house being ripped apart in an electrical tornado when they tried human transmutation? I know they don’t show them burning down their house, but that was a bit much in the drama department.

Why is Hughes a captain??? It really doesn’t make much sense that he was demoted for the movie.

The award for second worst moment in the movie goes to the scene where Ed faces Truth for the first time and loses his limbs. Why is it a dream sequence? Why is he an adult? I get that that would be a very emotionally raw scene for the young actors to play, but I think it would’ve been incredibly more effective, such as in Brotherhood, to watch. If they couldn’t participate, it honestly would’ve been better to give an explanation and leave the scene out entirely (even though I adored Truth’s performance in that scene).

The biggest offender in this film that legitimately made me cringe, was the scene with the Golden Trio in what they thought was Lab 5. Why was Winry there? Why did Ed throw a complete temper tantrum that lead to him destroying his left hand on Al’s armor? WHERE DID SHE GET THAT GIGANTIC WRENCH??? XD That scene was an absolute train wreck. Ed and Al were being stupidly selfish and immature, Winry was randomly there and beating Al up with this stupidly large wrench and then crying. I cried too wondering where the wheels fell off the wagon…

Costumes:

Like I am no film critic, my knowledge of fashion and costume design is limited, but I couldn’t resist commenting on this aspect of the film. One word: AMAZING. I can’t say enough good things. The Amestrian uniforms were well done, as well as appeared easy to move in. For example, the scene where Riza took off running to find Roy near the end of the film exhibited this perfectly. Dramatic, but functional. I dig it! Winry’s yellow sundress was also a highlight for me, especially during the lighthearted EdWin scene on the train on their way to find Marcoh. In Brotherhood, her fashion choices were a bit on the somber side, so seeing her in bright, warm colors really reflected the kind nature of her character. Finally, I actually loved Ed’s outfit? By some fashion miracle, he actually looked pretty damn cool. I remember a post where someone likened his fashion sense to someone who robbed Hot Topic in the dark. Not here, my friends. Not here. Who doesn’t want that black jacket of his? Let’s be real. Also, bonus points for putting baby Ed in red at the beginning of the film!

CGI:

While I remember lots of fans being concerned over the quality of the CGI in the live action, I must say that I was quite impressed! The time, effort, and budget really paid off. While some of the sequences felt a bit video game-y (read: the chimeras Cornello summons at the beginning of the film and the rendition of chimera!Nina), the alchemy animations felt on par with the nature of the story. While the massive stone pillars and human transmutation scene in Lab 5 were impressive, one of my favorite moments was when Ed used alchemy to quickly fix his clothes after the chimera attack in Liore. After the dramatic reveal of Ed’s automail limbs, the action was incredibly subtle, but beautifully animated. Now, don’t even get me started on Al’s armor! As I mentioned before, it was a shame that we didn’t see more of him on screen, but when he was there, the CGI was a pleasure to watch. While the fight scenes were solid in execution, I loved as natural (well, as a soul bounded to armor can be lol) he looked in the environment of the film. For example, when Winry embraced him after they first reunited, he seemed just as substantial as any other character. As a final note, I will admit that Truth’s animation was my favorite. That wispy, nearly intangible figure coupled with that oddly omnipresent narration was specular to watch!

Cinematography:

CGI aside, the live action actually had some fairly solid filmmaking behind it. While the shooting of difficult scenes in general was pretty tight (see the fight sequences in Liore as a prime example), the use of lighting changes and slow motion shots were usually well-utilized and a pleasure to watch. Homunculi appear? The lighting gets darker. On the other hand, light-hearted scenes, such those when Ed and Winry are together, were lit warmly. In Lab 5, the ominous nature of the scene was highlighted by the blood-red light emanating from the philosophers’ stones. As for the slow motion shots, I was a little worried when the first was used strictly for comedic effect during the Liore battle sequence, but damn did it bring me to my knees during the showdown between Roy and Lust. That vengeful expression on Roy’s face illuminated by flame, coupled with Lust’s near smile at the acceptance of her death was just BEAUTIFUL. We catch both the hero twisted by revenge, and the villain finally at peace. I had to pause and take a break after that one.

Music:

Did anyone else notice the music?! Kitasato’s themes for this film are just wonderful. The upbeat notes during the Liore sequences gave me some serious Fairy Tail vibes (which is always a good thing!) and the dramatic flairs during the Lab 5 arc perfectly piggybacked off the ominous lighting and unnerving dialogue. While MISIA’s op for the film is a departure from normally high-energy ops of Brotherhood that we all know and love, the vocal work and synthesized strings work together harmoniously.

Misc:

This section is just pretty much for additional details I enjoyed about the film!

I loved that the Liore arc was filmed in Volterra, Italy. As I was watching the beginning of the film, I kept thinking how familiar the scenery looked. When I finally searched filming locations, I was blown away! I was just there this summer, and it’s such a beautiful city. If possible, I love it more now that I know it was a filming location!!

For some reason, the conversation between Ed and Roy after what happened to Nina really stuck with me. I don’t know, just Roy’s line: “How long are you going to let yourself be miserable?” was super poignant (more or less along those lines). While Roy never said anything like that to Ed in Brotherhood/manga to my knowledge, I felt the line was truly in line with his character.

I can’t believe Roy’s dumb black coat made it into this movie XD

Conclusion:

I figure that after rambling for so long, I should probably wrap this up! In short, I thought that the Fullmetal Alchemist live action was a solid film. While it did have significant flaws, it did, bottom line, give me more content and further interpretation of characters I positively love. It did a great job of breaking my heart all over again in the best possible way. Was it a faithful representation of the manga as promised? Not at all. Yet again, neither was fma03, Conqueror of Shamballa, or The Sacred Star of Milos. Look at this film like an awesome piece of fma fanfiction? Now we’re talking. If there’s more of this in the cards, BRING IT ON.

[trinuviel]

Winterfell’s Daughter. On Sansa Stark (part 1)

As a book reader and a fan of Sansa Stark, Game of Thrones is often an intensely frustrating experience because many of the adaptational choices do her character a real disservice, not just once or twice but consistently. Thus it is very tempting to compare and contrast the books with the show. However, since I intend for this to be a character analysis based on the show, I’ll try to refer to the books sparingly and rather focus on analyzing what is on the screen instead of ranting about what was excluded.

Sansa is very much an internal character – she lives in her head, something that becomes even more pronounced when she becomes as hostage because though she is actually very observant, she cannot speak her thoughts openly. She is also a very passive character for a large part of the story because she is a prisoner. She is at the mercy of other people and she has very little agency herself. Thus, her character is difficult to transfer to the screen where she very much is viewed from the outside. The audience isn’t in her head and that can make her more difficult to read. It is a character that requires an actor that is strong with non-verbal cues and fortunately, young Sophie Turner has developed into just such an actress.

DIFFERENT FROM HER FAMILY

Sansa is very much a child that conforms to the expections that accrues to her gender and her social status. She is a conformist and obedient child and yet she is also a bit of an “outsider” within her own family. This “outsider” status is visually articulated from the very beginning of the story. When we first meet the Starks, Ned, Catelyn and all they boys are outside in the castle courtyard. On the other hand, the audience meet Sansa and Arya in an indoor space, engaged in the art of embroidering, which is coded as exclusively feminine. However, Arya quickly leaves the confines of the sewing circle and runs outside to engage in archery with her brothers. Sansa’s difference from her family is further emphasized when the Starks line up to meet the King. All of the Starks are clad in fur-decorated cloaks. However, unlike the cloaks of her parents and her siblings, Sansa’s cloak is of of a light blue colour that matches her dress. Visually, she sticks out like a sore thumb.

From the very start, Sansa is singled out as different from the rest of the Stark through purely visual means. It isn’t something that the show (or even the books) delves very deep into but part of Sansa’s isolation within her own family is tied to her gender. Like all other highborn children, boys and girls are educated differently in the Stark family. The distinction between inside and outside spaces encapsulates the gender divide in the very first episode. 

The lives of highborn girls are proscribed by a number of restrictive social conventions – almost all highborn women in Westeros are forced to engage in compulsory femininity. This is not a problem for Sansa since her interests and talents conform to the social restrictions placed upon her gender. Arya, on the other hand, doesn’t conform. She rebels and engages in activities normally reserved for boys. In that sense, Arya shares something with her brothers that Sansa doesn’t. In fact, Sansa’s feminine world is very much cut off from the sphere her brothers inhabit. Thus, Sansa conforming to gender norms also marks her as a bit of an outsider in a family of four boys and one tomboy. Therefore, it shouldn’t be that surprising that Sansa is eager to leave Winterfell – even if it is her safe and loving home. She desperately wants to find a place where she “fits” in a way she doesn’t “fit” in at Winterfell.

NAIVITY AND ROMANTICISM

Her conversation with her mother before the banquet is the first real introduction to Sansa as a character. This conversation tells us that she is dazzled by the royal glamour; she wants to make a good impression on Joffrey. She gushes about Joffrey’s looks, asks about when they’ll be married, etc. She’s in a hurry to leave WF and rush into adult life. She’s got stars in her eyes.  

It is clear that Catelyn doesn’t share Sansa’s enthusiasm for getting married quickly. She tries to point out that getting married would mean Sansa leaving her home, to which Sansa replies that Cat had to leave her home to come North. Catelyn doesn’t have a rebuttal to this comment – because it is true. Sansa (as well as Arya) would always have to leave home when they marry.

Sansa’s naïve enthusiasm for getting married, leaving home and becoming queen is in a sense framed as something silly: she acts like a starry-eyed girl who thinks she’s starring in the Westerosi equivalent to a Disney story. However, I do think we ought to look at the way Sansa buys into this whole “fairytale” isn’t about her being silly, vain and frivolous. A big part of her season 1 arc is about how this ideology of courtly romance that Sansa espouses is a trap, a pretty lie that serves to make lull girls like Sansa into passively accepting their fates as a genteel form of human livestock. The sad fact is that Sansa has absolutely no influence on her betrothal. Robert summarily decides upon it in a sentimental moment where he mourns the losses of the past. Even Ned passively accepts Robert’s fiat – none of the adults seems to consider whether this is a good match, both in terms of personality and politics. Hell, Ned has no idea what kind of boy Joffrey is and whether he’ll make a good husband for Sansa. He doesn’t even seem to question it until confronted by Arya in ep03!

It is a shame that the show completely erases all references to the songs and romances of Westerosi culture; elements, that along with the ideology of knighthood, constitutes the core of the culture of Courtly Love and Chivalric Romance. It is a world where princes and kings are noble and brave, where queens and ladies are beautiful and gracious and where knights are honourably defend the weak and helpless. Through popular songs and literature (like the stories about Florian and Jonquil, Aemon the Dragonknight and Queen Naerys, etc.), Sansa has been conditioned to romanticize and idolize knights, etc. unquestioningly. By removing this aspect of Sansa’s character almost entirely, the show has effectively removed the context for Sansa’s ideals, which informs her worldview and her behavior. It is indirectly represented but it is easy to overlook if you haven’t read the books and if you aren’t conversant with the Medieval culture of Courtly Love that serves as GRRM’s inspiration for this part of the cultural fabric of Westeros.

Ironically, Sansa isn’t the only family member who is eager to leave Winterfell. The scene between Sansa and Catelyn is followed by a scene between Jon and Benjen, where Jon hotly argues that he is ready to join the Night’s Watch. “Father will let you if you ask him”. Benjen advises patience – arguing that Jon doesn’t know what he’s giving up. This gif set perfectly illustrates the parallels between Jon and Sansa. Jon is an outsider in a very different way than Sansa – as a highborn bastard, he is set apart from his trueborn siblings (especially by Catelyn) but he is also privileged because he is the bastard of a High Lord. However, he is just as idealistic as Sansa when it comes to his destination. The difference is that Jon’s disillusionment is quick and permanent whereas Sansa’s disillusionment is  slower process, partly because various people are actively trying to keep her trapped in the illusion, which is something that I’ll explore later on.

The interesting part is, that both Sansa and Jon look to establish their worth outside of Winterfell. Sansa by becoming queen and Jon by proving himself at the Wall. I’d argue that this is partly caused by them not “fitting” easily into the family. Jon because of his birth and Sansa because her interests and talents isolates her from her siblings. Arya occupies an outsider status as well, but in a different manner. Life is sometimes difficult for her because she doesn’t conform to gender norms. However, she shares interests and talents with her brothers and Ned secretly indulges her. So despite Arya’s struggles with the performance of compulsory femininity, she isn’t isolated within the family because her siblings value her interests in a way that the Starklings don’t do with Sansa’s embroidery and songs. It isn’t stated directly but the audience is shown Arya and her brothers bonding over weapons practice straight after Arya rejects the sewing circle that Sansa is part of. Arya doesn’t care for embroidery and it is such an exclusively feminine activity that I doubt that the boys holds it in any kind of value either. [This makes Jon’s compliment of her homemade dress in season 6 extra meaningful!] I think that it is notable that Arya doesn’t want to leave her home. She’s happy at Winterfell, despite the gendered restrictions that are laid upon her.

GRRM created Sansa as a source of conflict within the Stark family. The Starklings simply got on too well. However, his choice to make the contentious Stark a traditionally feminine girl in a family of boys and one feisty tomboy has had the unfortunate side-effect of tapping into a of more or less subconscious misogynistic discourse when it comes to the audience’s reception of Sansa’s character. Like all the other characters in this story, Sansa has her flaws. She makes mistakes and she pays dearly for them (though she also pays for the mistakes of others). However, a LOT of the criticism that is levelled at her character draws on deep-seated patterns of misogynist thought. For a large number of readers, Sansa’s greatest sin is being a feminine girl and those of her traits that are coded as conventionally feminine are often judged negatively, fx her romanticism, her love of pretty things, etc.

To be continued...

[themattress]

Ranking OUAT’s Villain Redemptions

10. Mr. Gold / Rumpelstiltskin - What redemption!?  Rumple was an out-and-out villain in S1, and he didn’t truly change at all in S2 no matter how often he publicly restrained himself to appease Belle.  S3 was the only time he made an honest effort at redemption, but it was fraught with failures, temptation, doubt and relapses into asshole behavior.  The only thing that made it succeed was that it occurred in a very specific set of ideal circumstances...and that Rumple died at the end of it all.  After being resurrected and losing his son, Rumple quickly regressed into the villainy he’s comfortable with, becoming the Big Bad of S4.  In S5, we had that brief “hero Gold” arc that was not only morally insulting and nonsensical, but also pointless since he ends up choosing to become the Dark One again by the end of it...the Darkest Dark One, in fact, who is thoroughly unpleasant up until the very end of S6, where - after being faced with the consequences of his own evil actions, consequences that include the potential destruction of the entire multiverse - he does the right thing once, which leads to Belle taking him back, allowing him to help raise their son, and him getting accepted at the big family dinner by all of his victims. What the actual fuck!?  That’s not a redemption - Rumple hasn’t repented of his evil ways, he hasn’t given up his dark powers, he hasn’t sacrificed one damn thing, and he only did something good after his own evildoing backfired on him. He is literally responsible for the crisis he helped resolve.  And yet he gets rewarded with his own “happy beginning” with his abused wife and helpless infant son?  Fuck off, A&E.

9. Regina Mills / The Evil Queen - I technically consider Regina to have the worst redemption on the show since I refuse to accept Rumple as even having a redemption. Regina’s first attempt at redemption happened quickly into S2, some may argue too quickly. While it seemed to be going well at first, it soon became apparent that she was only doing it in order to regain custody over Henry rather than out of any true remorse or desire to change. The moment something goes wrong for her, she turns evil again, and ends up being even more heinous a bitch than she was before.  If the show had been operating under any logic, Regina should have been considered irredeemable at this point.  But instead, she is given another chance, and for most of S3 she does a surprisingly good job...until the last five episodes, where her redemption is suddenly fasts-forwarded so that she receives all the rewards she has not yet done anything to deserve: a new boyfriend, easy reconciliation with Snow and with Henry, a True Love’s Kiss with Henry that breaks the Dark Curse, light magic out of nowhere that defeats her previously more powerful sister, and the complete trust and forgiveness of the entire town despite her past victimization of them. But then one thing goes wrong for her, and while she resists falling back into full-on villainy, she still returns to being a whiny, spiteful, self-pitying woman-child who is always looking for the easy way to get what she wants and occasionally does do evil things to achieve this, yet is paradoxically treated by the rest of the cast as a messianic saint, someone who has come so far and worked so hard and deserves her happy ending, with the narrative frequently giving her all of the big hero moments at Emma’s expense.  In fact, much of her development comes at Emma’s expense, since A&E clearly see her as the true star of the show.  And that show just isn’t any fun to me.

8. Cora Mills / The Queen of Hearts - This one is just bizarre. Cora was a villain of the highest order all the way up to her death, where she had a dying epiphany as to where she went wrong in regards to her daughter.  But for some reason, her death is treated as such a tragedy and as such a source of guilt for Snow (not how she killed Cora, no, just that she killed Cora at all) that one would think Cora redeemed herself before her death, which just isn’t so.  Things got iffier when Cora showed up in the Underworld during 5B, and after doing one good deed in reconciling with her daughters and getting them to reconcile with each other, she is allowed to go to Heaven.  While I personally find this acceptable since Cora actually did repent of her villainy and fully acknowledge that she would deserve to go to Hell if that was her fate, I can see why many would be bugged about one of the most evil villains in the show’s history being shown going to Heaven while other characters higher above her on the moral scale - Milah, Gaston, Auntie Em, and even Prince James in the same episode - are condemned to the River of Lost Souls.  When put into that context, it seems less like a good lesson on divine mercy and more a case of creator favoritism toward the character. Cora probably should have just remained in the Underworld to continue her redemption.

7. Maleficent & Ursula - Two thirds of the Queens of Darkness (the other one, Cruella, was an irredeemable sociopath in life and in death), both of them have things that work about their redemption and things that don’t work.  For Ursula, her redemption comes when, after Hook brings her father Poseidon to town who restores her singing voice, she realizes that her true happy ending wasn’t recovering that but reconciling with her father, who is now repentant of his past patriarchal abuse of her.  This is all well and good, but Ursula really didn’t do all that much evil for the redemption to be powerful.  She always came off as lost and confused and hanging out with the wrong crowd, not truly villainous.  And then there’s Maleficent, who has the opposite problem.  Her happy ending is also reuniting with a family member, her long-lost daughter Lily.  It’s sweet and touching, but it also glosses over all of Maleficent’s established villainy.  Maleficent cursed people, burned people alive, destroyed a village, was deemed as having the greatest potential for darkness by a Chernabog, but none of it matters in the end. Even her sworn vendetta against Snow and Charming (whom were made to look like villains and Maleficent their victim) is abruptly dropped and she’s suddenly getting along with them. It’s pretty much Regina’s bullshit redemption but on a mercifully smaller scale.  Since Maleficent did not actually repent of her evildoing, the show should have treated her character accordingly - as still a villain and a potential threat, but also a loving mother.  At the end, she’d be the gray-shading which is complimented by Ursula’s white and Cruella’s black. 

6. Tinkerbell - Aside from the villain-to-hero journeys of Regina, Rumple and Hook in 3A, we also got Tinkerbell, who was an ex-fairy turned trusted partner of Peter Pan.  The Nevengers persuade her to help them, but only if there’s something in it for her (namely, leaving Neverland and being able to confront the Blue Fairy about getting her wings back).  In the end, inspired by Regina and Hook’s progress, Tink learns to believe in herself and earns her fairy status back.  It’s a nice little arc, but it’s missing one crucial detail - the nature of her villainy.  We never see her and Pan interact, we never learn exactly what kind of work she did for him to make him trust her so much.  We see that she’s a scavenger who is prone to violence, but that’s it.  Wendy, Pan’s longtime prisoner, is friends with her, so she couldn’t have been all that bad.  This lack of clarity undermines what is otherwise a good redemption.

5. Zelena Mills / The Wicked Witch -  For the most part, Zelena’s redemption in S5 and S6 really works.  She was never as bad as Regina, so already her changing is more believable. When she realizes that her wicked lifestyle is actually harmful to her baby daughter, she allows Regina and Robin to take her in order to keep her safe.  She doesn’t join Hades despite him professing his love for her until she thinks she can use her own love for him to redeem him.  And when it becomes apparent that it won’t and never will, Zelena kills him in order to protect her sister and everyone else in Storybrooke.  When Regina is an ungrateful bitch and blames her for Robin’s death, Zelena is ostracized from everyone else.  But even when the Evil Queen comes along and tempts her to return to her wicked roots, Zelena keeps firmly out of the conflict, preferring to remain a neutral party for her baby’s sake until her hand is forced and she joins the side of good despite it not really getting her anything and no hero save for Belle caring much for her.  This commitment to doing the right thing comes to a head when she actually sacrifices her magic, the thing she’d defined herself by for so long, to help stop the Black Fairy, a sacrifice Regina should have made long ago but never did. After this, the other heroes fully embrace her as one of their own.  It’s a great redemption, but there is one snag - Robin, both the man and the baby named after him.  The baby Zelena conceived through deceiving Robin into thinking she was Marian.  By - let’s not mince words here - raping him.  It’s not quite as bad as Regina with Graham, especially since Zelena didn't kill Robin and Robin was willing to give her a second chance of his own volition prior to his death, but it’s still rape all the same, and to have the rape victim die while the rapist keeps the baby is extremely squicky, no matter how surprisingly good a mother Zelena may be. This one aspect casts a shadow over Zelena’s redemption and it never should have happened. 

4. King Arthur - Arthur was a villain in 5A, a corrupt monarch obsessed with fulfilling his destiny and ruling over Camelot at all costs.  While despicable, Arthur was also somewhat sympathetic too, as he became more evidently pathetic as the arc went on and Merlin really did screw him up by filling his head with visions of a future he felt the need to achieve.  In the climax of 5B, Arthur escapes prison only to be promptly murdered by Hades.  Down in the Underworld, Hook confronts Arthur with the truth: he was a terrible king and will probably go to Hell if he doesn’t do something to atone.  Note that at first this is the reason why Arthur helps Hook in his quest for the book: he just wants to avoid the consequences of his villainy.  But as the episode goes on, a clear change in Arthur can be seen as he sees the depth of Hook’s feelings for Emma, his bravery and his nobility...in this lowly pirate, Arthur sees the man he had wanted to be and failed to become, making him feel true remorse.  Arthur then becomes invested in the quest to the point where he is willing to sacrifice himself to the River of Lost Souls so that Hook can get to the book.  And at the end, when a doorway to Heaven is open and Arthur has the chance to go through it, which was the whole reason he joined Hook on this quest at the start, he declines and opts to stay in the Underworld, to rule it as a benevolent king and make it a better place, which a short on the S5 DVD shows that he did indeed do.  In just one episode, Arthur had one of the best redemptions on the show, from a selfish cad to a noble hero.  While like Zelena, he also has a rape-like situation with Guinevere that remains untouched upon (he used magic dust on her to keep her from leaving him and turn her into his compliant wife), there was no confirmation of actual rape and even some proof against it (he was too consumed by his obsession with Exaclibur to do anything romantic for Guinevere, let alone sexual), so it’s not quite as harmful to his redemption.

3. Ingrid / The Snow Queen - Ingrid is an even better example of a great redemption being accomplished in just one episode.  Despite being terrifying, prejudiced and insane, Ingrid was also one of the most tragic and sympathetic villains to ever be on the show, with an absolutely heartbreaking backstory and her sole motivation being to have a family who loves her.  She cast the Shattered Sight spell in order to make everyone in Storybrooke kill each other save for Emma and Elsa, who would become her new sisters, but when Anna shows her a letter from her sister Gerta expressing remorse for imprisoning her and confirming that she still loved her, Ingrid realizes the error of her ways.  In one of the best redemptive villain lines in the series, she says “I am a monster. Not because of my powers, but because of what I let them turn me into!”  She then reverses the spell at the cost of her own life, telling Emma, Elsa and Anna that they are all amazing people and that she is proud of them, then saying that her happy ending will be to join her sisters in death.  The whole scene is acted and scored beautifully, and I can’t help but cry anytime I see it.  By acknowledging what she did wrong and accepting responsibility for it, Ingrid is one of the show’s best redeemed villains.

2. Anastasia / The Red Queen - One of the two main villains of Once Upon in Wonderland, Anastasia quickly began to look more appealing, sympathetic and redeemable in contrast to the monstrous villainy of Jafar.  Her main crimes, apart from aiding him, were giving up love for power and being a neglectful ruler to her people...and she was helping Jafar in the hopes of getting to change the past so that she never did any of that.  When this failed and it became clear that she wasn’t going to be able to take the easy way out, Anastasia gave up on her aspirations and finally took full responsibility for being a terrible queen, vowing to make it up to the people of Wonderland by fighting to save them from Jafar, a fight that she stuck through even when it got her tortured by the Jabberwocky and then murdered by Jafar. In the end, her redemption earned her life, being revived by the water from the Well of Wonders, and won her back the love of Will Scarlet.  Years later, she is still ruling Wonderland but now as the White Queen, who actively works to bring love, hope and joy to her people. Anastasia’s redemption is everything that Regina’s is not, with her being fully self-aware of her villainy, truly remorseful of her actions once she starts her redemption, and with purely altruistic motives - doing the right thing just because it’s the right thing and she wants to help make amends for her past mistakes.  Add in Emma Rigby’s performance and it’s nigh-perfect.

1. Killian Jones / Captain Hook - Hook’s redemption starts at the very end of S2, inspired by his regrets for failing Baelfire long ago and not wanting to do the same with his son Henry, putting aside his desire for revenge in favor of doing the right thing.  He had everything to gain by not making this decision, but he does so anyway.  Throughout 3A, he does an admirable job helping the heroes through Neverland and returning to being the honorable man he was long ago, although his motives aren’t entirely pure as he hopes to woo Emma. When he is separated from Emma and gives up hope of reuniting with her, he tries to go back to his villainous pirate ways, but is overcome with remorse after doing so, realizing that his time with Emma changed him to the point where it’s not just for her that he wants to reform for, but for himself too.  When he learns that Emma’s family is in danger and that he must find her and get her to go help them, he trades the Jolly Roger - and his home, crew, livelihood and reputation along with it - in order to do so.  He continues to do good not to “get into Emma’s pants” but to ensure her happiness regardless of whether she ever returns his feelings, and to be the hero he now sincerely wants to be. His redemption comes to a climax in S5, where he becomes evil again after Emma forces the Darkness upon him to save his life, and is once again put into a position where he’d gain everything he wants by following through on his villainy, but remembering that this is not the man he wants to be, he once again does the heroic thing instead, at the cost of his own life.  In the Underworld, Hook learns the value of self-forgiveness and accepts the possibility of a second chance at life, but when it looks like this is impossible, he promises Emma to move on to Heaven when she asks him too.  Unable to do so until his unfinished business of helping Emma defeat Hades is resolved, Hook has a heroic quest alongside Arthur where he proves just how far he’s come, and when he goes into the light to fulfill his pledge to Emma at the end of it, he is instead resurrected by Zeus, deeming him a True Hero worthy of being reunited with his True Love.  

Hook’s redemption is superb not just because of the events that transpire and his growth throughout it, but because of his overall attitude toward the whole thing.  He knows full well that he was a villain, is remorseful for every crime he committed and takes full responsibility for them, and whenever the chance to make things right with someone he wronged comes up, he takes it.  It takes a long time for him to fully get past his self-loathing for his past sins, as he doesn’t feel entitled to happiness just because he’s changed and is doing heroic deeds now, as opposed to Regina, Rumple and initially Zelena who all believed themselves entitled to a happy ending, their crimes and victims be damned.  And lastly, also unlike them, every privilege that Hook has by the end of the series he has earned through his own hard work at redeeming himself.  He has no leftovers from anything he gained as a result of his villainy, even the rings on his fingers have changed from ones that belonged to dead victims to new ones he presumably fairly bought.  His new wife and family, his friendships with others, his house, his ship, his job as deputy sheriff, his very life...all thanks to his heroism and the good karma it rewarded him with.  All of this is why Hook’s redemption is truly the series’ finest.

[jolteonjordansh]

Thoughts on Battle of Adventurers

So Digimon Tamers had a movie! I mean, all of the series so far have had a movie. Adventure just had one at the end of its run, while Adventure 02 had a non-canon one smack in the middle and an actual canon movie at the end. Tamers has its own neat little side story smack in the middle of it, so I went ahead and watched it.

If anyone’s wondering: I watched this movie after reaching episode 21. So the reason I’m writing about this before writing my thoughts on the second arc is because... I’m not done with the second arc yet. But I’ll be done with it pretty soon after. So how is this movie?

I remember when I wrote about my thoughts on Hurricane Landing/Transcendent Evolution that while it wasn’t an awful film, it was definitely questionable in its existence. But one of the things I did commend the film for was its sense of scale and how it really felt like a big adventure.

Battle of Adventurers also manages to capture this atmosphere as well, though in its own way and while also managing to be an interesting, fun, coherent film. It kind of feels like it takes some of the aspects of what made the other Digimon films good and turned it into its own thing--a similar set-up of Our War Game!, the grand adventure of Hurricane Landing/Transcendent Evolution and the teamwork of Diablomon Strikes Back. Maybe that sounds like a forced metaphor, but hear me out.

From what I can tell, Battle of Adventurers is the first material to establish the multiverse in Digimon, with Omegamon (yes, our favorite Omegamon consisting of Tai’s Agumon and Matt’s Gabumon) confronting a manifestation of the remnants of Apocalymon known as Mephistomon. Mephistomon escapes to the Tamers’ universe, and Omegamon cannot pursue him and only travel through digital space. Whether that means there’s separate Digital Worlds in these universes or that they’re one universe, or that Omegamon can universe-hop through Digital Worlds but not “real worlds”, I’m not sure. They don’t really clarify, but it’s not a particularly big deal.

Now, this could have been really cool if Tai and Matt were fighting along Omegamon (ala Our War Game!) and could have actually universe-hopped to help the tamers confront Mephistomon and defeat him. But that unfortunately didn’t happen and again, the whole multiverse thing wasn’t the focus here. Then again, Xros Wars/Fusion tried to do this kind of thing too and from what I understand that didn’t go too well, so...

But onto the main plot. The whole big adventure feel I was going on about goes to mostly Takato going on a summer trip, while Henry goes on his own adventure to some ruins. Rika... stays in Tokyo, because I guess someone had to. It’s been pretty clear in the times Rika has been with her mother that she’s not quite the fond traveler, at least that’s the impression I get. Unfortunately, we really don’t get to see much of what Henry does--which is odd since they’re kinda specific as to what kind of place he goes to. The biggest adventure element comes from Takato and Guilmon, who visit an island with Takato’s cousin Kai.

Maybe it’s not quite as big as the Adventure 02 DigiDestined traveling across America and I could totally be having a personal aesthetic preference here, but I really liked the time Takato ended up spending on the island with Guilmon. The scenery looked really nice and I loved some of the swimming and underwater sequences, which comes with an honestly really nice insert song to boot. Maybe some people found the beginning boring, but I honestly found it really nice, calming and just a good way to ease into the movie by not forcing our protagonists into a fight immediately and just have the Tamers, friends and Digimon having a nice time.

When the fights do start though, they really go by fast. At times, I almost felt they were a tad too fast. There were actually quite a few neat looking Digimon throughout the movie--like Tylomon, Pteramon, Archelomon and Baromon (hello Ganon)--but most of if not all don’t even get scanned or name dropped. It left me thinking “Ooh, what’s this Digimon? What is it capable of--HEY! WAIT! Don’t kill it! You didn’t even tell me what it was called!”. With how many fights there were, I guess some of them did require fast-pacing, and that didn’t even make them bad either. They still looked good and were fun to watch. I think my only grievance is when a Divermon fell through the hut roof and Kai’s grandpa challenged it, he didn’t wipe the floor with it downright Rafiki style. Come on, you know that would have been hilarious!

In regards to the animation, I found it mostly pretty standard. It wasn’t bad, but nothing that wowed me like Our War Game!. There were still some scenes that looked nice (the aforementioned swimming scene and some of the scenes in Digital Space), and honestly one of the oddest things was how well animated the V-Pet was. Granted, it also wasn’t anything mindblowing, but it was still surprisingly smooth for something that’s basically a BonziBUDDY clone. It was certainly a few levels over the actual show, being in widescreen, having nice pastel colors and shading. Still, one weird animation moment was having the Digimon Digivolve split screen, but only having WarGrowlmon’s in his usual CG while Rapidmon and Taomon were traditionally animated. And then the animators decided to cut and paste Rapidmon and Taomon with CG WarGrowlmon--it just really sticks out like a sore thumb.

The plot of the film was pretty nice, not only setting out to be an adventure but also a pretty good story about loss. I’ll be straightforward: as someone who lost her best four-legged friend six months ago, this one was a hard film to watch that hit really close to home. It made relating to Minami effective without feeling cheap, especially with the theme of irreplaceable companions. That alone worked pretty well with Takato, as a sensitive young boy who fears the idea of ever losing his Digimon partner. 

I think something I wish they could have done was had Minami with Seasarmon de-Digivolved to Labramon, considering Labramon’s striking similar appearance to her dog Mei (and I mean, how can you not adore a Digimon this cute!?). It would have been interesting to continue the theme of Mei being an irreplaceable friend to Minami, who she felt responsible for, and having to struggle with Labramon for looking so much like Mei yet--in Minami’s eyes--was not Mei. This could have also fleshed out Labramon/Seasarmon a bit more for dealing with the hardships of being rejected despite his loyalty. But hey, his sheer loyalty was really strong and touching. I can say it was downright cruel of the writers to make poor Minami lose her dog not once, but twice. Again, this hit a pretty personal spot for me that put me in tears yet again.

I still wish the movie could have done a little more with tying into the Adventure universe, but it’s nothing I’d knock it for. Even if it made Omegamon kind of a plot device to help bring Henry and Rika in to help defeat Mephistomon. Regarding Mephistomon, while he isn’t the most interesting Digimon antagonist, his origins were neat (though not really fleshed out) and he could be pretty cunning. I certainly wasn’t expecting him to be able to disguise himself as a human being to get his way, and his Digivolution to Gulfmon did give a sense of helplessness. One thing I couldn’t help but find kind of funny was his reaction to hearing Omegamon when he helped bring in Henry, Rika and their Digimon. His “oh shit it’s Omegamon!” reaction was just priceless to me, but I enjoy villains who think they’ve won only to have the one person or thing they fear come in and completely change their tune... even if it was rather brief. Still, his utilization of ordering around other Digimon, even willing to fire freaking laser beams at Minami to threaten her father was pretty diabolical.

I will say the movie actually did stress me out with some of its sense of danger, having technology shut down and fail. It is similar to Our War Game! in that way as to how Diablomon took control of things like nuclear missiles. Still, just showing me any potential of a plane being in danger of crashing or getting destroyed with passengers inside absolutely strains me. It’s a personal and psychological thing, but still showed how threatening the infection of the V-Pets was.

I do think this movie definitely had one of my favorite battles of the series so far with Mephistomon/Gulfmon towards the end. Not my absolute favorite yet, but pretty high up there--especially with the combined Trinity Burst attack. I won’t deny that I’m a huge sucker for combo attacks (you can probably blame Tales of Symphonia’s Unison Attack mechanic for that). I’m only sad to know that Trinity Burst is never utilized in the series ever again. Seriously, it’s a powerful combo attack, why wouldn’t you use that more!?

Other than that, the movie ends kind of abruptly. Even though I have a couple of minor complaints about it, they are still minor at best and most of them don’t distract from the fun, joy and painful feels I got out of this movie. As I said, it takes a lot of elements of what made the past Digimon films good and did its own thing. And I really appreciate it as a fun side story. I’m not sure if I have a favorite Digimon film so far (I’m torn between Our War Game!, Diablomon Strikes Back and this one), but I think of all of them, Battle of Adventurers is the most balanced in every aspect. For all of the little problems it has, all of the good is just really pleasant and so worth watching. And hey, even if the ending was abrupt, it had a nice ending song by AiM!

So honestly, this was a great Digimon film for all of the good stuff it has, and I could definitely see myself watching it again for how nice it was. It’s a great side story for the Digimon Tamers series.