#losing the recency battle

[astriiformes]

I know it's a losing battle because the recency of the whole 2015 thing has really solidified October 21st as the primary Back to the Future day in most people's minds, but I still maintain that orthodox Back to the Future day should be celebrated on either October 26th (the date of the first time travel experiment in the films and thus the titular "future" date Marty is trying to get back to in the first film) or November 5th (the date Marty is sent back to, and also the date Doc came up with the idea for the flux capacitor in the first place).

Alternatively, we could observe a 10-day festival of Back to the Future marking the days between the two, but you see what I'm getting at here.

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.206 thoughts

[Mazel Tov]

(Contents: Character analysis - Feng/Soul/Language)

And with that, the Medaka Box shiritori arc is concluded, and man what an arc it was! I think it's a bit unfortunate it had to come after the Golden Week break, that kind of took the steam out of this finale a little bit for me, but damn it was still so good!

Might just be recency bias, but I think this might be one of my overall favorite arcs. It facilitated two different major character arcs (Nico and Feng), gave Ichico some much-needed characterization, showed just how much personality the current antagonists can have, had easily my favorite concept for a fight so far, and elaborated on the power system in a very fun and interesting way. This finale was especially fitting because it managed to touch on all of those concepts, like it was reviewing everything that happened up to now

Starting with Feng, seeing him continue to play the lone-wolf card only to rescind it and actually thank Nico for helping him is just so satisfying, as it illustrates the major change in Feng's character that we've been hoping for all along. By offering his strength in return for the new heights he was able to bring that strength to, Feng directly acknowledges that he wouldn't have been able to reach that level alone, at least not so quickly, and suggests that he's finally begun to learn what Fuuko was trying to teach him about fighting for the sake of others. He hasn't necessarily internalized that lesson yet, but this was an absolutely necessary step on the way to completing that particular character arc

Of course, Feng is still Feng; when he notices a twinge of doubt and weakness in Language, he derides her "what kind of buffoon would think of anything other than victory during mortal combat?" Of course, there's tons of valid answers to that question, but I think the important thing here is that this line suggests that Feng's overall focus, self-improvement and victory, remains unchanged, and that's okay. Feng wants to be strong and defeat others, that's what makes him happy, and he's not wrong for it. What was wrong was his approach, which made it seem like his goal was wrong. Now that he's on a better path, his goals no longer seem like a justification for cruel behavior, just lofty aspirations

This line also harkens back to a major theme of this arc: imagination. The ability to visualize the outcome you want is vital to creating it. This principle was applied very literally in the shiritori battle, where one's imagination was necessary to conjure viable attacks or defenses, so when Language had the thought "this can beat me," that was as good as confirming that she had already lost. I think this is also why "living" conjurations would damage the user upon their destruction; while a wall or a meteor would still be constructed from the user's soul, those things can't be "hurt," but a dragon or a yokai or a god can. They are alive, and being killed is much easier to empathize with than something being broken. You can imagine what it feels like to be cut or burned, so since it's a part of you, the destruction of that piece of your soul is inherently shared with you. Basically, if Language had been able to think something to the effect of "I can still save this," she might have been capable of turning things around, but instead she admitted defeat before she'd even realized it

Speaking of, the look on Soul's face as Language apologized for losing was so utterly human. We've seen UMA have feelings before, but Soul was heartbroken there. His eyes widened by surprise, fear and sadness as she called out his name, how they narrowed with resignation and acceptance upon hearing her admit defeat...it was like seeing Fuuko watch her friends die fighting Sun

The Master Rules have died before, and presuming they win, they'll come back for sure, but that doesn't mean it has to be easy on them emotionally. It's hard to say how the Master Rules feel about each other as a whole, but Soul was definitely affected by Beast's death just as much as he is here by Language's. Whatever they think of him, I think it's very clear that they're Soul's friends and family, and I'm very interested to see how Language's death spurs him into action next

On the subject of the Master Rules dying, I've seen some criticism of Language's core just being her head popping off of her body, but it's not really that different conceptually from Ichico's soul being her head, is it? They both even have the hair tentacles. I think this is meant to further convey just how close to human the Master Rules are, something I imagine is going to be expanded much further upon in the near future, so I'm not going to go much further into it now aside from the surface level symbolism

Language does clearly have a much more nuanced level of sentimentality than most any previous UMA, though. We've seen Burn express his desire to meet God, Clothes jumping through hoops to justify helping Fuuko to himself, and Spring actively wanting to be accepted by humans, but Language had a personal, vested interest in one person. Language viewed Nico as her rival, and used that rivalry to propel herself to greater heights (another way this arc ties into Feng's themes, by the way), but she also loved him. She wasn't waiting for billions of years just to get revenge, she was waiting for someone who could make her feel fulfilled. If she just wanted revenge, she would be cursing him as she died this time around, but instead she sends him off with congratulations and well-wishes. She died with a smile on her face and told Nico to have a happy marriage; how can that possibly be taken as anything other than an act of humanity?

I can only hope that we see that level of humanity from the other Master Rules, but fingers crossed it won't be for a little while. After this arc, I could sure use a breather chapter or six!

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[miyagi-hokarate]

Random assortment of season 6 part 2 thoughts:

To repost my own edit

I had issues with certain things of course — WHICH I WILL GET INTO — however, I think a lot of the emotional, interpersonal relationship dynamics, because the cast was just less cluttered at a time with a specific event happening, worked better in having conflict and resolution than in part 1

OKAYYYY SO maybe this is recency bias in play, but I feel like this part was OVERALL less frustrating and enraging for me than part 1?

First off: what the fuck was up with the lighting decisions

The good things: like I said, as frustrating it could have been, most of the interpersonal conflicts felt like they came from realistic and understandable issues arising in each character. I commend the maturity Sam, Devon, etc. reacted when Tory came back to Cobra Kai in particular — but even if it raised tension, the aggression between Miguel and Robby, Anthony and Kenny, the Binary Bros and Kenny, etc., didn't feel half-assed and made for conflict for the sake of conflict

I can't say the same for Daniel and Johnny :/ but they get the fucking short end of the stick, big surprise. Divorced energies awf the CHARTS 💯💯💯

They're still fighting over who's the most right or wrong when THEIR KIDS ARE IN THE TRENCHES BECAUSE THEY NEED A FUCKING STRATEGY

I will never Not complain about Johnny and Daniel respectively being karate dads to their kiddos though. Idiot jackasses who fight all the time they are, they're so cute when they're giving guidance :')

And they were ROOMMATES

My indifference and complaints of the Sekai Taikai aside, part 2 ending in an all-out international karate war is nothing short of what I expected from the show. I do have to commend the tremendous amount of choreography and energy pulsing through the fight, without it losing its momentum

Oh and the other competitors were there too

RIP Kwon. You never slayed harder than when you killed yourself

Kreese (SCREAMING). Silver (SCREAMINGGGGGGG). Dennis (hey buddy welcome back :D)

RIP Snake

I WAS MOMENTARILY RIGHT ABOUT MIYAGI-DO 3RD PLACE AND COBRA KAI 5TH HAHAHAHAHA

Anyways I'm sooooooooo angry about the recent developments of Mr. Miyagi you have no idea ❤️

To reiterate: I'm so unamused by this plot twist that Mr. Miyagi was involved in crime, murder(s), the Sekai Taikai, etc., because it's nakedly transparent that the only reason this new development had existed is so that the writers could connect their show to one of the few characters whose writing is strictly stuck in the 80s: Mr. Miyagi. Pat Morita can't return to play his character again, so the writers aren't able to portray Mr. Miyagi according to how they see fit — UNLESS they change his character, film flashbacks, and/or reveal information that isn't shared through the character directly. And with what we've GOTTEN already of Mr. Miyagi's character (escaped his village so he wouldn't have to battle to the death his friend, sent into an internment camp with his new family, partook in war (either willingly or drafted), lost his family, considered an outsider still in his community, etc.), what does this Secret Dark Past of Mr. Miyagi really show that's any different, or even as resonant, as what we've gotten? Besides connecting Mr. Miyagi's backstory to something the new show invented. And that's my problem

Carmen being regulated to mildly supportive mom/love interest for one episode 💔 love to see her for five minutes before being put back into storage alongside Rosa

I'm gonna complain about Kumiko, Kim, and Chozen. Why.

OKAY. IT WAS ALREADY ANNOYING THAT WE HADN'T SEEN KUMIKO SINCE SEASON 3, AND YET THERE WAS ALL THIS TALK ABOUT HOW CHOZEN WAS SUPPOSEDLY IN LOVE WITH HER. BUT SHE'S STILL A NONCHARACTER TALKED AROUND, BUT NEVER TOO??? IT'S LIKE COBRA KAI DECIDED THEY DON'T HAVE TO CARE ABOUT WOMEN IF THEY NEVER SHOW THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. WE JUST GET NOTHING ON KUMIKO'S SIDE OF THIS???? KUMIKO???? FUCK OFF

AND FOR THAT MATTER, Kim and Chozen having hatesex was mildly aggravating but whatever. Okay fine. Pair the spares. Regulate Sensei Kim's character to either FOR MY (GRAND)FATHER/HONOR, abusive Tiger Mom, or Love Interest of Chozen. Fucking whatever.

Someone else had already made this point before, but as terrible as Sensei Wolf's physical abuse is, it is a little funny seeing how it's treated with so much gravitas, when Johnny is Still throwing glass bottles at the kids, having a history of disregard for safety, etc etc.

In a similar vein of discussion, we don't have to worry about this same thing happening to Chozen's alcohol issues! Because it's being treated with the same seriousness as Johnny's alcohol issues 🙃

I most definitely had other thoughts, buuut those are what I can remember at the time ahdajfjsjks. Overall, when it was good it was good, and when it was bad it was AGGRAVATING TO MY VERY CORE. See you all for part 3 😮‍💨

[savelockwoodandco]

Hi Admin, hope everything is fine with you, because I truly need your insight.

Whilst I understand that we must approach a battle with high spirits, the way the world goes and with it the media industry really saddens me.

Are we really gonna get the show back?

Do we think CF or the Strouds will really tell us to stop if they think all is over?

I might be far too cynical, but for the Strouds any publicity brings more people to the books.

As for CF, it's still free publicity.

I know that of course none of them will ever be straightforward with us - if anything is happening behind the scenes - because they can't, I guess, but where does the Clowning stop and become simply Delusion?

I keep looking at CF reply for their 5000 followers, and I get it, it looks sus. But are we building a castle made of thin sand out of it?

I'm sorry, Admin, I don't want to upset you. :(

I will still support the show campaign, but I'm so, so, so sad about everything...

Hi Anon! Thanks for the question, and no worries, you didn't upset us! We've got decades of experience in this media game (and in cancellations specifically), and we understand that it can be challenging and frustrating at the best of times.

We totally get being discouraged due to the state of the media industry. It's never been a particularly kind nor relaxed space, and everything about it seems to have been heightened within the last decade or so. What's good -- acknowledging the impact that actors have, the ability to tell stories that would have gone unseen in years past, feeding fan interaction through behind-the-scenes looks while filming and the newfound safety of transformative works (i.e., fanfic) -- has become really, really good. On the flip side, the bad parts of media -- encouraging division and in-fighting, poor treatment of non-administrative professionals, the blind-eye to any profit beyond exponential growth -- have gotten worse.

This isn't a doom-and-gloom statement, though -- these things come in cycles. The Hayes Code Mentality is coming back into full swing, but at least we're past the point of forcing actors to get married in order to promote their films. Some things improve, some things fall back, lather, rinse, repeat. We get being discouraged due to the media landscape -- but remember, all problems are temporary, and bad things will come and go just as often as good things. The good things, the progress, the encouraging changes are no less good simply because they're accompanied by uncertainty.

And if we had to pick a mission statement for answering this ask, I suppose that would be it. There are so many good and encouraging things that have happened -- watch this space, as I (tumblr mod) am going to have Twitter Mod, in all her beneficence, grab me some screenshots from Twitter to show off good/hopeful/encouraging things that have happened recently, since not everyone (including me!) is on Twitter -- that, while we may encounter doubts, disappointments, and uncertainty, it would be as foolish to throw everything out as it would be to assume that we're completely in the clear.

Recency bias, negativity bias, and plain ol' uncertainty have a way of reminding us that there's still doubt and uncertainty surrounding us in this campaign; at times, to borrow a quote, we can feel like we're braving a storm in a skiff made of paper. When a day, a week, two weeks, or more pass without Absolute Confirmation of being picked up, it's easy to lose confidence, to become discouraged, and to believe that nothing we do matters.

And yes, to just simply get sad. And that's okay, that's normal and understandable.

To answer the question posed at the beginning of this ask: yes, we still firmly believe that we're going to get our show back. So many good things -- Nice Things -- have happened and continue to happen (once again, watch this space for a screenshot-heavy post about those things!), that I think it would be wrongheaded to ignore them.

Yes, CF would tell us if there wasn't a chance. It's not really 'free publicity' to encourage people to support a campaign to save a show that they don't have a stake in.

And yes, they make Lockwood and Co; but without a second season, there's no opportunity to make more profit off of it -- sales off DVDs only apply when the show will be put on DVD, after all, which is increasingly uncommon for streaming-premiered shows. Positive word of mouth of "oh they made that really good show that netflix unfairly cancelled" -- a true statement -- only goes so far when negative word of mouth -- "they led fans on when they knew there wasn't a chance" -- is the trade-off.

CF isn't a huge company, they need that positive word of mouth to draw in viewers for current and future projects. On top of all of that, they're human. It's tempting to see every business, no matter the size, as a soul-sucking machine that wrings fans dry for profit, but that simply isn't true, especially of smaller outfits.

The same goes for the Strouds -- there was so much of a rush for the books when the show first came out; people had to wait weeks and weeks for more copies to be printed and sent out through Amazon/Barnes & Noble/other booksellers, and libraries had hold lines for months. That fervor only holds out so long, though, without something concrete -- another season -- to keep it up. In this age of 'receipts', Stroud isn't going to risk his reputation (and provide a lot of clean-up work for his agent) by stringing us alone without any hope.

Everyone involved in this, from the production studio to the author to us, the fans, has a vested interest in not just creating buzz but in actually making a S2 happen. Simply from a business standpoint, it's better business to supply an in-demand product than to not. Attention spans -- and business experts' opinions of attention spans, which is almost more important -- are famously short nowadays. Businesses cannot and do not plan on a small injection to produce long-lasting loyalty and results -- and when they do, like Netflix has been, it bites them in the rear repeatedly.

The sad, sorry fact is that they can't be open and transparent with us about renewal efforts, you're completely right about that. The legalities of contracts and deals within the media industry demand absolute silence until the ink is dry, and sometimes for a bit after that. To use a recent example, the showrunner for Warrior Nun tweeted in March that the show being saved would be because of fan efforts to make it happen. A full 3 months later, he was allowed to announce that the show had officially been picked up. The wheels of media move slowly, but they move.

When does clowning become delusion? The only situation where it would would be if CF came out and told us to stop and that there was no chance. Barring that, it doesn't become delusion. We like to toss around the term 'clowning' -- and it's a fun term that we, the mods, use regularly -- but all we're referring to is the process of distilling what we see into tangible data.

I don't mean to make it sound like some scientific process, but...isn't it? Isn't this all some grand experiment in the name of a grand hobby?

We plot, we plan, we infer, we record, and at the end of the day we turn all of that effort into tangible results. Those results -- trending every single day since cancellation, usually with multiple hashtags/phrases, numerous articles written about the show, its cancellation, and the efforts to save it, a petition with nearly 25k signatures, award nominations, you name it -- are very real, and very helpful.

While ultimately we can't sign the contracts or enact the business deals that will cement our pick-up -- trust us, if we could, they'd be signed by now -- we can provide strong reasons through our engagement for business to want us. The higher we raise demand, the more of a no-brainer providing supply -- a second season -- is.

To all of LockNation, we thank you for your continued efforts. Your tweets, posts, fanart, fanfic, hashtags, signatures, articles, and most importantly, your relentless cheerful dedication, mean the world. We heartily thank you and we heartily encourage you to take breaks, to take care of yourselves. We're confident that, in the future, we will be able to look down at our little skiff made of paper and find that it was made of sterner stuff than we thought.

We're confident in the continued future of Lockwood and Co. We can do this. Look to other successful campaigns; we may have months to go, but we can get through them and come out the victors on the other end.

[mariacallous]

Like a soap opera, you skip an episode and lose track of the story. For the past month, two of the most successful hip-hop artists of recent times—Kendrick Lamar and Drake—have been embroiled in a back-and-forth rap beef that reached new levels over the weekend as Lamar released “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us,” and Drake dropped “The Heart Part 6.”

The conflict might be the most newsworthy music event of the first half of 2024, as both MCs voiced strong opinions about each other on the diss tracks, leading to secondary discussions fueled by fan hives, trolls, think pieces, and social media threads. And while the early exchanges might have only slightly piqued some listeners’ interest, the stakes went up following the release of Kendrick’s “Euphoria” last Tuesday. At that point, the beef became something bigger, evolving (or devolving) from the standard stuff of rap and into stormier waters. This includes accusations and exchanges around serious topics: racial authenticity, domestic violence, illegitimate fatherhood, moral posturing, grooming, hypocrisy, colorism, and even colonialism.

The conflict is now mature enough to warrant some larger reflection. Specifically, an examination of what this beef tells us about the marriage between hip-hop, conflict, and online culture.

No advertising campaign can generate the anticipation that rap beef creates, sometimes out of thin air. Whether we are enjoying it or not, we all wait for the next iteration. Through Drake and Kendrick Lamar, we are reminded of just how quickly public squabbles can seize attention—and the many ways that the ecology of digital space in 2024 can shape how these conflicts happen.

For one, artists now control the timing and pace of the releases. Unlike years past, when popular DJs often folded diss songs into radio sets, artists today can curate the release of these tracks, going directly to listeners via platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and X.

Second, the war on truth in the age of misinformation now renders fact-checking irrelevant; whatever someone accuses another artist of in a song might be true or false. Whether we believe it is mostly about whether we want to believe it, whether the message aligns with our preexisting views. And while dodgy accusations have always been true in beef raps, the speed through which falsehoods can spread today makes it easier for absurd claims to take on a life of their own.

Finally, there is the specter of fake songs, generated by artificial intelligence. This makes us double-clutch before clicking a link, as we scramble to debate the authenticity of what we’re about to hear. Saying someone employed ghostwriters used to be the most damning accusation in hip-hop. Today there are many more ways to fabricate a song, and fewer ways to tell the difference between us and the robots. This specifically came to the fore in April when Drake released “Taylor Made Freestyle,” a track that seemingly used an AI-generated version of Tupac Shakur’s voice. (The rapper removed the song after Shakur’s estate sent a cease-and-desist.)

Battle rap, whether it takes the form of in-person face-offs or is done via diss tracks, has always been one of hip-hop’s flagship sports, defined by banter between artists, often—but not necessarily—derogatory in tone. It has roots in “the dozens” and related relics in African American culture that thrive on spontaneity, humor, and wit (often at others’ expense). So while “battling” can be strictly done for the sake of competition, “beef” requires some degree of personal animus between the parties. What’s happening in 2024, as artists like Drake and Lamar trade bar(b)s via IG posts and YouTube clips, and their fans debate the merits on social media, marks a new era of rap beef.

Even this summary has some recency bias: Competitive poetry existed in parts of the world centuries before hip-hop did. Yet, there is something special about how conflict happens in hip-hop: Beef has driven some of the most popular songs ever made, and has been linked to real-world violence. It’s an issue that hip-hop reflects on for small windows (often following the loss of a popular figure, like after the deaths of Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. in the mid-'90s), after which it returns to business as usual: Rappers A and B exchange taunts, maybe several times. Sometimes a winner is declared. Sometimes it doesn’t matter. Sometimes there is violence; sometimes there is formal peacemaking, like when Jay-Z and Nas ended their beef onstage during a show in 2005. Often, there is widespread attention: rinse, rap, repeat. In the digital world, the cycle moves at the speed of a click.

Very early on, hip-hop communities (like many subcultures) found a home on the internet. At first, message boards served as a place for discussion, and shortly thereafter, rap battles: lines exchanged message by message. No physical stage. No hand gestures. Punchlines only traded bit by bit.

YouTube and streaming created the possibility for something different: the propagation of live battles featuring artists skilled at in-person battling. So popular was battling on YouTube that successful rap battle leagues emerged, turning participants into influencers that accumulate large followings.

Woven throughout is the rise of algorithms and social media, which provide not only an ecosystem for viral videos and songs, but also automatic (and unconscious) instruments to curate media for certain audiences.

The hip-hop movement that can be most directly traced to digital space is the rise of “drill rap,” a form born in Chicago during the 2000s. Its catchy minimalist beats and lyrics make it easier to adopt across regions, local dialects, and lifestyles. It has spread nationally, and spawned the careers of dozens of successful artists. Unfortunately, the story of drill is not the innocent tale of another unique subgenre of hip-hop. Its lyrics feature lamentable celebrations of youth violence, and its songs and videos can include taunting and direct mentions of specific murders.

Public conversations around drill have intersected with debates around policing, gun control, and the contagiousness of high-risk behavior in a digital world. As the genre’s popularity grew, a blame game ensued: Mayors declared war on drill, and appointed special units to investigate local acts; award-winning scholars chimed in, joining a chorus of activists who argue that algorithms should share some of the blame.

Whatever one's take, we can agree that the scenes are chilling: A teenager is gunned down on a Monday. By Thursday, the alleged assailants (often members of a group in conflict with the victim) are boasting about their death on a drill song posted on YouTube. By the following Tuesday, affluent teenagers in Beverly Hills are TikTok-dancing to the track. Rinse, rap, repeat. And in this case, another homicide.

What makes drill so unique is in where rapping stands in the structure: Drill can use rap as little more than a messaging canvas for a street conflict. This is unlike the Kendrick-Drake beef. While the conflict may have taken a dark and personal turn, violent threats haven’t (yet) made their way into the barbs. Given the visibility (and maybe ubiquity) of violence in hip-hop conflicts, we should be grateful to the artists for this. And in general, the Kendrick-Drake beef has the ingredients of a classic rap beef: two talented artists, who care about the craft, trying to settle a score over a beat. Yet, it feels so different.

Fans of hip-hop history know the stories of old: That Boogie Down Productions’ “The Bridge Is Over” (1987) was so impactful that, in its aftermath, artists from Queens allegedly had a hard time getting signed. We’ve heard tales of Big Daddy Kane hunting Rakim around New York City in the late 1980s, looking to battle and end the debate around who was the better lyricist. Most of us know the legendary story of a twentysomething Jay-Z battling DMX in the Bronx. The audiences were small, but the stakes were never higher. In those days, many thought hip-hop was just another fad. The artists were battling for their own ego, but also to grow the art form.

In 2024, we find ourselves at an inflection point. Hip-hop is now as mainstream a form of music as any. Today, narratives live and die on digital timelines, and not in project hallways. The stages are no longer sweatbox nightclubs occupied by dozens (like the ones depicted in 2002’s 8 Mile), but rather online spaces with an audience in the billions. The veracity of claims matters less. And more than ever, the size of the narrative is more important than the quality of the product. “Winning” and “losing” mean everything and nothing, depending on what we care about (e.g., even if Drake is “losing” this beef, it will likely cost him little). This all makes conflict so much more intriguing, and drives a distinct flavor of techno-rap beef—one neither better nor worse than the past, just different.

The manner that technology has already changed rap beef begs the question of where it will go next. One day, the taboo around AI in hip-hop will disappear, and entire battles will be orchestrated by LLM-rappers trained on the raps of individual artists. Quants will develop metrics for who the winners are. If we are offended by a lyric about a member of our family, we’ll blame the machines. It may sound like the stuff of science-fiction, but the gap between this future reality and 2024 might be smaller (in time and manner) than the gap between Canibus vs. LL Cool J (1998) and Kendrick vs. Drake.

The state of things highlights another example of the late MF DOOM’s clairvoyance. The sarcastic lyrics on “Beef Rapp” (the lead song from the acclaimed 2004 album Mm..Food) were not only about the past, but also about a present and future of hip-hop where conflict has life-and-death consequences. Early in the song, DOOM scolds our addiction to rap bloodlust, using beef consumption as a metaphor: “I suggest you change your diet; [beef] can lead to high blood pressure if you fry it.”

The world might agree. Soon, rap beef will cease to exist as we once learned to love it. And that may not be a bad thing.

[meeblo]

Top 5 fave Arknights events (be it story, gameplay, or both), GO!

Oh, this is a tough one. These won’t be in any particular order, and I might merge a few events I think of as related into one entry.

Il Siracusano is phenomenal. An interesting story executed very well, with good pacing, great character moments, and strong themes. The Azione Solos, map, and other bonus parts of the presentation complement and accentuate the already great elements of the main event story. No one who read Il Siracusano will ever forget Rubio's speech. Gameplay-wise, I don't think its mechanics are especially exceptional but they aren't bad either. They're fun, they make you approach stages in different ways from usual, but they aren't why I love the event. The music is a highlight as well, with an excellent battle theme, menu theme, and one of the most memorable boss tracks in the game, as well as great operator EPs.

Lone Trail, even accounting for recency bias, definitely makes my top five. It's an effective and evocative conclusion to multiple longrunning narrative threads, with numerous delicious thematic parallels drawn between members of the cast. Its presentation is wonderful, and like Il Siracusano the bonus text entries benefit the overall experience greatly. Unlike Il Siracusano, the event welfare character is usable, as well as being unlike many alters in that she's a well deserved alter; Silence the Paradigmatic great way of capping off Silence's arc, with a kit that reflects her character growth and some juicy file entries and voicelines. The event's mechanics are quite fun. Running enemies over with balls never gets old, and the enemies that are tanky but lose defense/res on hit open up strategies that allow fast attackers and multi hit characters to see use where most of the time they aren't as valuable next to characters who have big damage per hit. And of course, there's the mechanics that encourage shifting, which is always a blast. Once again phenomenal music that I find myself listening to frequently. I'd also like to shout out Mansfield Break. It is, imo, one of the most ambitious event stories. Not only is it told via frame story in a fascinating structure that no other event replicates, it begins largely in medias res. As the first Rhine Lab event, it pulls no punches with the preestablished character dynamics and complex landscape of the internal politics of Rhine Lab. Mansfield Break is a strong story on its own with a great cast of characters and well articulated themes, but it's even stronger when taken in full context of the Rhine Lab narrative that followed it and just how many things that Mansfield Break set up or alluded to in ways that trusted the reader's intelligence without outright spelling things out or leaving things unsaid entirely. Dorothy's Vision is great too of course but it lacks that special something to have me rank it as one of my top events, whereas Lone Trail and Mansfield Break absolutely have it. The Columbia events all have some of my favorite societal critiques Arknights does. As someone living in the U.S, they get so much right about the issues they bring up.

Darknights Memoir, A Walk in the Dust, and Vigilo I'm all lumping together. Honestly, I'm not sure if I should really include them at all given they tie so closely to the main story. All three provide fascinating looks into W, Kal'tsit, and the Doctor respectively, as well as being thematically rich and filled to the brim with important lore information. Vigilo has, in my opinion, the most interesting and well executed story of the three, with one of the only dialogue choices in the entire game that had me stop and think for a few minutes what I wanted to choose. All three are mandatory reading imo for someone who has finished main story act 1 before they move on to act 2, though Darknights Memoir can be read earlier than the other two. I also want to mention What the Firelight Casts as another main story adjacent event, but Reed's story doesn't have direct ties to W, Kal'tsit, or Doctor so it felt odd listing WtFC with the other events. For all intents and purposes you can consider it part of this entry as well, the "basically part of the main story" events. It's another great character focused story with a relatively smaller scope so it can focus in on its subject, while simultaneously having a number of notable connections to the main story regarding its themes of what a resistance/nationalist movement should prioritize and the setup for Eblana's entry into the Londinium Crisis.

A Light Spark in Darkness is one of the game's most interesting events structurally. The shifting PoVs make excellent use of dramatic irony, with events the reader knows are coming looming over the story as you see another character's view of what led up to them and what happened in the aftermath. The event is thematically focused and has a smaller scale and lower stakes relative to many other event stories that allows it to laser focus on how the stakes and events of the story are relevant to the characters in specific ways. In addition to being a wonderful self contained narrative, it also has additional depth when taken with the context of what happens in other events regarding Grani, what neo-Reunion's role in the main story as a whole is, and Cannot Goodenough's sparse narrative threads the game drops into a number of events. I would recommend it to everyone were it not for it having episode 8 spoilers by implication.

Lastly, I'll shout out Who is Real. It's definitely my favorite of the three Sui events I've read (I haven't read Where Vernal Winds will Never Blow yet). I love Kroos, Mr. Nothing, and Lava as a trio of characters, Nian is both fascinating and fun, and Dusk herself is very interesting. The star of the event for me, however, was Saga. I loved how Saga embodied so many of the event's themes, with her philosophical debates with Dusk on the nature of art and of life in general and her decisions within the painting to help its false inhabitants, refusing to stop treating them morally. I really want to know more about what happened with Kroos prior to the events of Who is Real and what caused the breakup of A1 Preparations Detachment. Dusk's presence through the event was very well done. Though she herself doesn't appear in person until relatively late in the event, everything about the painting and her actions through the storyteller inform the reader as to her characterization and disposition. Invitation to Wine feels like it tries a similar thing with Ling only appearing fairly late into the event, but it doesn't stick the landing like Who is Real because Who is Real had so much directly tying Dusk to the nature of the events unfolding and the direction of the conflict occurring while Invitation to Wine's central conflict was spurred by the second brother, the Sui Regulator, and others rather than being as tied to Ling as the setting and conflict of Who is Real's painted world were to Dusk.

There's plenty of other events I loved too but didn't list here. Twilight of Wolumonde is the strongest of the game's early events, Under Tides and Stultifera Navis have some great stuff in them, Near Light has tons of outstanding scenes but as I'm yet to read Maria Nearl or Pinus Sylvestris I couldn't properly appreciate it, ditto for An Obscure Wanderer, Break the Ice is great and I have a lot of respect for the story staying true to Silverash's characterization despite his popularity in the fanbase as it would have been all too easy for the writers to have caved and painted over his actions and make him Not That Bad Actually He Said Sorry, Guide Ahead is very solid but didn't resonate quite as much as I had expected it would from things I'd heard about it going in, Ancient Forge is a ton of fun and has very nice subtle characterization for Lava and Nian as you can see what parts of the script were Nian's choices and what of Lava's original script survived the rewrites, To be Continued has some great followups on other past events, and the Luo Xiaohei crossover It's Been a While was way way better than I had expected it to be going in. There's a few notable events I haven't read yet since they haven't been rerun or I haven't had the time, so don't worry Lingering Echoes fans, I'm not snubbing it I just haven't read it.

[squidpro-quo]

15, 20, and 28 for that writing ask?

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

In terms of ao3 WIP status, that would have to be A Study in Myriads! I'd wanted to upload all my kaishin fics that I'd amassed over the years on here into a neatly organized collection, I'd even counted all of them so I could have an accurate chapter number to keep track, but alas. One goal for 2024 will be actually migrating all those vignettes to ao3 so I won't lose them all if tumblr burns down.

In terms of real WIPs, I have a gakuryuu body-swap au, a coda fic for that first year of Trigger's formation before the i7 story actually starts, and a Hidden Region gakuryuu au to work on in the future.

20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?

Might be a recency effect but I think it's I want us to change each other's lives! Specifically the second chapter, the Houseki no kuni/Steven Universe/Pacific Rim fusion au. I just rewatched Pacific Rim with my family and I got hit with a need to read. It's such a specific combination of works that I'm not sure anyone else would either want to read it or have all the background knowledge necessary to piece together what I want the imagery to be, so it's also the most self-indulgent piece I've written too. But it does scratch a very specific itch for me, with the different combinations of 3p Trigger in battle and the perfect coincidence in them actually having a song called Diamond Fusion and the uniforms could be like military uniforms and the hangar spaces and everything, I just thought it was such great inspiration.

28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

Oof that's a hard question, I wrote a lot of gakuryuu and I love them in all variations and combinations! But I'll pick Their Own Legacy because I really like the space in canon-compliance that it occupies and it made me realize that Trigger really is the musical group of the series, and what the implications of that are. My one regret is that I wrote it for the i7 bang before BTP came out and I put Tenn as the one composing the music when it turns out Gaku is the one taking on that mantle, so now I feel the need to write a fic with Gaku composing to make up for that mistake.

I really liked these questions, thanks for your great picks!

[kyojuuros]

Hello Heidi!! (◕ᴗ◕✿) for the shingeki ask game; 5, 18, 35 and 50 ☺️

Hope you're having a nice day/night ✨

hello bb!! <33 I hope you're having a wonderful day/night as well!

5. Who was your favorite character originally? Did it change? I immediately fell in love with Eren when I first started the anime. Generally speaking that never changed, although for the longest time I kinda went back and forth between him and Mikasa on who's my "#1 favorite". Mikasa eventually solidified that title though lolol

18. Favorite op? This is probably recency bias but I am so in love with The Rumbling by SiM.

35. Is there a character you really see yourself in? Why? Mikasa - which is undoubtedly why I've grown so attached to her. We are both more on the quiet side and fiercely loyal to the people we love. We have both also had to deal with - over and over - losing the people we love from our lives (though my losses are through less dramatic means lol) and having to learn how to move forward without that person who meant the world to us at one point. Her growth in the story gives me hope and reminds me that life goes on and it's ok to miss the people we used to be close to and move forward at the same time. It's okay to let the people we love go. Goodbye is inevitable. It's okay.

50. Be honest, what did you think of the ending? sdgdfhdfhfhj well let's just say I've warmed up to it more over time. Thematically I think it hits the mark and I love that. I respect the endings that were given to most of the characters. I still think that the epilogue was a little messy and that the climax of the final battle was... kinda weird. Eren and Armin's conversation still feels a little awkward to me and I still hate how Historia was handled but like... overall I'm not too bitter about it anymore. I'm curious to see what MAPPA does with it. They're pretty 1:1 with their adaptations so I'm not expecting them to change my mind about anything. But music and voice acting and movement has helped certain scenes shine more to me in anime form before so it's possible.

[snkpolls]

SnK Episode 62 Poll Results (for Manga Readers)

The poll closed with 314 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Manga Readers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll, click here.

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RATE THE EPISODE 303 Responses

There was an interesting contrast this week between anime only viewers’ and manga readers’ reaction to the episode. Anime only viewers overwhelmingly felt positively about the episode. But for manga manga readers, many of the cuts in the anime dampened their enjoyment of the episode, and for some ruined it entirely. Still, overall, the episode got positive reception, even if it wasn’t overwhelmingly enthusiastic. 

a little rushed but still very enjoyable. it defo got the point across about Reiner's struggles

It was... Fine. I'll give it a solid 8/10 on emotional value and finally seeing these chapters animated. But accepting that the anime and manga are not the same and that there will be cuts is hard.

Wasn't very good. The cut scenes really hurt the pacing and overall story.

i thought the pacing was way too fast :(

Stunning. Beautiful 

Another great episode. My only criticisms are the music that was used at the beginning of the episode, which didn't really work, and the cuts but I understand why that had to happen.

Disappointing

Impeccable. The adaption was both efficient and emotionally effective. Zero misses so far - I'm officially a MAPPA ho. 

Really great! Feels different from the manga and makes me excited for future episodes, because even if it's not perfect, we will always have the original material + some fun new scenes that the anime is adding, can't wait for more

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING MOMENTS WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 304 Responses

The much-anticipated scene where we learn amputee-kun is actually Eren was the most favored of the episode, with 37.5% of the vote. Following behind that with more narrow margins were the introduction to Marley’s titans, Annie and Reiner’s fight and Reiner’s suicide attempt. 

The first part was very rushed and I wasn't as impressed by it. But I was very impressed by the second part of the episode once the warrior kids made it to paradise. I also very much enjoyed how they animated the scene of Annie taking out her anger on Reiner after Marcel's death. There was just something about the use of colours that really appealed to me. 

The Reiner and Annie fight and Reiner's suicide disturbed me a lot more this time around, partially because I haven't read the chapters in a while, but this is easily one of my favorite episodes now.

WE GOT THE FULL ED LAST WEEK. AFTER SEEING IT IN ITS ENTIRETY, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT NOW? 294 Responses

The majority of the fandom are enjoying the new ending, with 65.6% loving both the song and the animation. 11.2% are enjoying the song… but not so much the animation. 11.9% feel that it’s “just okay.” Some are enjoying the animation, but not the song, and a few more dislike both. 

The song and the animation are truly beautiful and gorgeous. I couldn't imagine better. It is always so peaceful after the full of emotions episode. 

Beautiful song, although the bit with the streaks of shiny animation look like 480p and are a little boring. 

I didn't see it 

Bold of you to assume I watch the EDs and don't just skim ahead to the preview.

i'm not interested in the ending

There was a half ED?

ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 5, HOW MUCH DID YOU ENJOY THE SEQUENCE INTRODUCING ALL OF MARLEY’S TITANS? 303 Responses

A very tiny fraction of voters weren’t impressed with the way MAPPA executed the scene that introduces us to the Marley titans and why each warrior was picked for the titans they received. However, the majority of respondents felt very positively about the scene, with 221 even feeling they, too, will become a titan as a result of the awesomeness. 

I really liked the marley titan montage but why the hell were the female titan's boobs so big? It looked so out of poportion

It was awesome and I loved the introduction to the Titans

OUT OF ALL THE TITANS THE MARLEY MILITARY HAD 9 YEARS AGO, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE? 299 Responses

Whether it’s for practicality or aesthetic reasons, we all have different titans that appeal to us more than others. This race was a close one, with the Female Titan holding on just slightly over the Jaw Titan in terms of favoritism. The Armored Titan came in at a distant third with the Beast Titan and Colossal closely behind. Only a very small fraction would like to inherit the Cart Titan from Piku-chan.

WHICH OG WARRIOR CANDIDATE WOULD YOU WANT TO ADOPT? 299 Responses

Overall, the majority (29.1%) wouldn’t want to adopt any of the OG warrior crew, whether because the responsibility is too much or because they don’t like kids at all (or perhaps, a missing third option being they don’t like any of them). But for those who would happily take on one of the OG warrior kiddos, 24.1% would most like to take Reiner home (and probably give him lots of hugs). 21.1% adore little Pieck and would shower her with parental love forever. 9.7% probably want to pinch little Bertolt’s cheeks, and 8.4% wish they’d adopted Annie instead of her father.

A LOT OF THE SHIGANSHINA BREACH HAS REUSED WIT ANIMATION FROM PAST EPISODES - THOUGHTS? 303 Responses

The majority of respondents felt positively enough about seeing WIT’s S1 style mixed in with MAPPA’s, with 42.9% feeling it flowed together well enough, and 26.4% understanding why they didn’t reanimate the event (despite preferring it if they had). 11.2% don’t care at all, and 8.6% think it was way too jarring. There are some who are reminded that they miss WIT’s style, and others who have a continued appreciation for MAPPA.

KAJI YUKI HAS LOWERED HIS VOICE A BIT TO DEPICT AN OLDER EREN. THOUGHTS? 301 Responses

Overall, nearly everyone seems to be pleased with Kaji Yuki’s more “mature” sounding Eren, with 76.4% feeling he is portraying an older and more jaded Eren perfectly. 11.6% are lost in their lust for a 2D drawing and are focused entirely on that (we understand lol). A few are simply indifferent to the lower tone, and a smaller percentage just prefer Eren’s voice prior to the timeskip. 

Anime onlys can spot him more difficult, which I like

Made sense to me, he’s not a teenager anymore after all, plus works better for this “new” Eren who’s less angry and shouty all the time.

I didn't even notice lol

Eren is adult so changing his voice was a very good choice. I like his new sound.

It was stupid that he ever talked so low before now. He was fifteen and he sounded like an adult, well they all do that bc it's standard anime shit but it makes it even harder when they become real adults.

NOW HE REALLY SOUNDS LIKE KENMA 🔥

WE’VE LOST COUNT OF HOW MANY TIMES WE’VE SEEN MARCEL GET EATEN. BUT OF THE OPTIONS BELOW, WHO DID IT BEST? 296 Responses

Seeing Marcel get eaten 2000 times seems to be a running gag at this point, so naturally we had to include this question. Whether it’s recency bias or objectively true, 44.6% feel that MAPPA’s take on Marcel’s death was the best. 30.4% feel that Isayama’s more recent art style truly does Marcel the most justice. 14.2% liked the way WIT Studio portrayed the scene and 10.8% like Isayama’s older, more grungy art style.

RIP Marcel

DO YOU THINK THAT REINER WAS CORRECT, THAT MARLEY WOULD HAVE HAD ALL OF RBA EATEN IF THEY HAD FOUND YMIR AND RETURNED HOME IMMEDIATELY? 292 Responses

In the hypothetical scenario that Reiner hadn’t convinced Annie and Bertolt to stay on the island, the majority feel that Reiner was wrong in his assessment that they would be executed practically on-site. 55.1% believe that the idea would have been out in the open, but ultimately rejected. Though, 35.6% feel that Marley is too ruthless and uncaring toward Eldians to care what the situation is, and would absolutely hand over their titans to others deemed more capable. Very few felt Marley would be understanding by default. Many write-ins feel that Reiner is the only one who would have been executed for the failure. 

Depends on if B/A emphasize that it was Reiner’s fault rather than their own.

If all of RBA got eaten then I think they wouldn’t use kids for their next attempt. Maybe teens around the age RBA were after training in Paradis military

Magath would have pointed out how wasteful it would have been, but probably even him couldn't have saved reiner

He was wrong. What would be the point of feeding them to other children, if they were the best candidates? Too much of work. 

Reiner said that there's a possibility that they couldn't find Ymir even if they try. He has a point. But I don't think Marley would have RBA eaten even if they lose Jaw.

They wouldn't go through with it because they seem to lack other qualified warrior candidates.

I think Magath and maybe Zeke would have tried to convince the government to not go through with it and that Reiner might have been the only one sacrificed.

Obviously. They would have indisputable proof that sending a bunch of kids to carry out a massively important mission is the dumbest shit they could have ever done and immediately they'd put the titans into older soldiers.

They'd let them live a few more years just for propaganda and used them for other battles, then they'd have them killed around their midterm.

Possibly, but they put a lot of time, effort, and money into training their warriors. It would be a big decision to execute all of them and start over. Maybe they would have executed Reiner as an example.

WHAT’S THE FORECAST FOR TONIGHT? 295 Responses

In our least-serious question of the poll, we asked you guys to try and predict the weather based on Bertolt’s sleeping pose. 18.3% believe his legs-on-the-wall pose means clear skies, 13.9% are certain it means rain. 13.6% are confident in an overcast night. At 11.5% foresee storms coming and 11.2% think it’s gonna be snow. 18% are probably just annoyed with the question. A few write-ins pointed out that Bertolt was, indeed, sleeping in the Hanged Man Pose.

It’s gonna be partly guilt ridden old man with a 90% chance of suicide by hanging

Blood and guts

HOW IS THAT EVEN COMFORTABLE?

Let's just call it hail

Hanged man posture, dreamed about the old man

raining titans

No one can make me like the warriors even if I don't blame them for what they were forced to do as kids. idc what quirky habits they have.

There'll be clear skies for some time but don't be deceived, heavy rain is incoming

This was amazing because it's a reference to The Hanging Man on Tarot cards: he's willingly being hanged for his sins. Look it up, it's so cool.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MAPPA CUTTING A GOOD CHUNK OF REINER’S TRAINING? 302 Responses

With only 20(ish) minutes to fit in all of Reiner’s backstory, cuts were inevitable. MAPPA made the decision to nerf most of Reiner’s struggles training as a Warrior Cadet (among a couple other more lengthy scenes during and after the wall breach). 62.9% are sad that some of these scenes didn’t make the cut, but also understand that we can’t have it all. 13.2% actually preferred seeing Reiner’s backstory in MAPPA’s condensed version, while 12.9% feel it completely ruins the characterization of the warriors.

I don't even remember what was cut 😂

Slightly ruined the warriors’ characterisations (especially Reiner’s)

I thought they could have shown a bit more about Reiner's underdog, it's something that really made me sympathise with him in the manga. 

Kinda disappointed, since some scenes were essential for a little background on their lives

Honestly, even after all the cuts and the restrains it tells the story of a "warrior", Reiner.

Mappa fucked RBA backstory and I would bet it's because they are biased towards Eren and 104th...

I wouldn't say it ruined their characterisation, but it did leave it a lot more shallow. I would've loved to see those scenes animated, but I also realise that things will have to be cut to fit everything in, and I think these cuts still preserve the forward momentum of the story reasonably well. 

The important scenes were animated, so it's good that way

MAPPA cannot animate every panel and the best will be, if fandom finally understands that. Every episode has limited amount of time and MAPPA is doing everything they can to make episodes good and easy to understand for anime onlies. I was fine with cutting because I know that episodes aren't long and there are more important stuff to animate than every part of training.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT NOT SEEING ANNIE PARTICIPATING IN THE FIRST WALL BREACH? 298 Responses

MAPPA completely glossed over Annie’s role in the wall breach, showing her being choked by Reiner and then waking up in the refugee camp later. 40.9% state they would have preferred seeing Annie play her part in the mission, though they accept that it isn’t there. 34.6% are concerned that those who don’t read the manga will just be confused as to where Annie was during all of the chaos (Oh no! Did RB leave her passed out in the fields!?). 16.1% are simply just disappointed altogether. A small fraction felt it wasn’t necessary anyway and have no problems with the cut. 

I feel kinda iffy about it because that was one of my favorite parts of the chapter, but oh well... it is what it is.

Kenny's scene should be eliminated.

I mean it's not like the female titan could destroy the walls herself. I think nobody expects it and then her absence makes sense

Yams did an oopsie in the first place retconing 

It really confused me lol for a moment I completely forgot what she even did in the manga and had to reread

KNOWING NOW THAT ANNIE IS ACTUALLY ADOPTED, DOES THE JOKE ABOUT HER BEING KENNY’S LOST DAUGHTER HIT DIFFERENTLY NOW? 299 Responses

We learn after Annie comes out of the crystal that her father is actually an adoptive parent. Annie, in an attempt to cover up why she’s stalking Kenny in the underground, claims (or jokes) that she was born to a brothel worker and is Kenny’s lost daughter. We asked if this made the joke any less funny to readers, though most of them didn’t think so at all. Only 14% of respondents say the new knowledge actually makes it a little sad. Some people forgot entirely that Annie is adopted and voiced their confusion in the write-ins. 

wait,,,,, she.,,,, she's adopted ??? wha- how did i completely forget about this

Kenny's gay anyway so it's impossible! Sorry, Annie :/

I don't really get this joke tbh 😅 Do people think she and Kenny look alike?

We're all Kenny's lost daughter

It just brings into question her true parentage, like how she can scream summon other Titans and if that’s a royal blood thing or not. But probably doesn’t matter since it hasn’t come up in the manga yet 

I hadn't thought about it before today.

She's adopted?!?

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MAPPA’S EXECUTION OF REINER’S ATTEMPTED SUICIDE? 302 Responses

With such a weighty scene, execution is of utmost importance. So we were curious if you guys felt that MAPPA hit the mark. Overall, MAPPA’s take on this scene got positive responses from the fandom, with 42.4% feeling they felt about the same as they did when the scene came up in the manga. 26.5% actually thought that MAPPA did a better job with the scene, whereas 26.2% felt that Isayama’s original take on the scene is still superior. 

I think that while the manga's intent is for the reader to feel Reiner's pain and emotions during what he thought were his last moments, the anime focuses much more on making it disturbing and depressing (both taking into account the same things, just choosing to highlight different aspects of the scene). Not a bad change but I prefer the manga's portayal, it made me feel so much more attached to Reiner

Actual scene was good, but the build up was lacking.

I really liked the flipping back and forth 

Not nearly as emotional as I expected

The lighting was so good in the anime version. 

Bruh we needed the flashbacks cause they depicted Reiner's journey and regrets

I think it was more impactful in the manga, but MAPPA did it amazing too

The scene looked more serious but the building of the characters didn't live up for the moment. 

It impacted me differently than in the manga. I prefer the manga scene, but the anime's was still really good

I was worried about it being overly censored so I’m glad it wasn’t 

The execution was about the same, but it had a bigger impact when you read it for the first time

The drool was a great touch

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING CUTS WERE YOU DISAPPOINTED DIDN’T MAKE THE EPISODE? 292 Responses

While we shouldn’t dwell on cuts too much, there will still be things that people are disappointed didn’t make it into the anime. The scenes which were most missed this week were Annie’s role in the wall breach, Reiner passing along a tired Annie over to Bertolt atop the wall, RBA discussing their infiltration plans in the field (also known as the tree-uprooting scene), seeing Bertolt, Annie and Marcel surpassing Reiner in their training, and Reiner breaking up Eren and Jean’s fight (noticing Annie is exhausted). Well, at least the manga still exists, right?

I wish they didnt cut some of the flashbacks right before Reiner tried to kill himself. 

Really great episode, but Bertholdt looking up at the wall before breaking it was such an iconic panel, I'm a bit sad

Any cuts are a negative. I dont care how much it makes sense for the anime onlies, I just wish they somehow incorporate some of the small slice of life scenes that made the Marley arc special.

Truly loved it despite cuts and pacing, but just wish we could’ve seen that tree uprooting scene!

I still hold the sentiment that Mappa is cutting way too much from these episodes. The amount of small details getting cut from every chapter/episode results in losing out on smaller moments that in my opinion have a real impact. While I understand a 1 to 1 replica might not be possible, the amount of cuts is too much imo. Missing out on nearly all of RBA assaulting Shiganshina was a huge disappointment, and less Falco and Gabi scenes makes it tough for me to connect to them. Talking to my Anime-only friends though, they are very into this season, so I'm glad to hear it works for them. 

I'm not necessarily sad they cut so much, I feel like as an Anime only I wouldn't have noticed! The only thing I wish that had been kept was Annie's involvement in the destruction of wall Maria. 

I was sad they cut stuff but that’s inevitable.  The only cut I’m sad about is the scene before Bertholdt  breaks the wall.

some of the cuts made sense, some made other scenes kind of occur out of nowhere, like annie with kenny.

SO FAR, WE’VE LOST A FEW INTERACTIONS BETWEEN FALCO AND GABI AND SOME MOMENTS WHERE FALCO IS BLUSHING OVER HER. DO YOU THINK THIS WILL LESSEN THE IMPACT OF HIS EVENTUAL LOVE CONFESSION TO HER? 296 Responses

While the Falbi romance isn’t a major focal point of the series, it does play a big part in their storyline and overall character development as their involvement in the plot increases. MAPPA has had to let a few scenes go, so we were curious if manga readers felt it would lessen the impact of Falco’s inevitable confession just before the rumbling starts. 31.4% feel that the anime is doing just fine at portraying Falco’s feelings. 28.4% feel the impact will be lessened, but that it’s fine due to it being a minor plot point anyway. 14.5% are upset about the missing pieces and 11.8% think MAPPA will make up for it later. Smaller groups of voters either don’t understand why Falco likes Gabi or just don’t care. 

I'm more dissapointed about Zofia and Udo getting cut than those two.

Kid romance is lame anyway

It's not gonna hit like the manga but it's still pretty important plot imo

What works on paper doesn't always work animated, they're doing ok 

I hate gabi gahh

It is obvious he likes her anyway

Not really, they've established he has a big crush on her since he pretty much came out and told it to Eren

DO YOU THINK MAPPA DID A GOOD JOB OF HIDING EREN IN PLAIN SIGHT? 297 Responses

We failed to ask this question last week, but it still applied well to this week’s episode. When it came to anime only fans, we wondered whether manga readers felt MAPPA did a good job at making him as mysterious to anime watchers as Isayama did to us manga readers. 40.1% felt that MAPPA did a great job, as many anime watchers didn’t seem to catch on. 25.6% feel that they didn’t do any worse or better than Isayama did. 13.8% feel MAPPA did not do as well as Isayama, as some anime watchers easily caught on. 9.4% think they did completely awful at pretending it’s not Eren. Some write-ins felt we couldn’t objectively judge this as we already knew it was Eren anyway. 

I think the voice gave it away the most. The sneaky animation was great! 

Hard to answer because chapters were a month apart while episodes are weekly and I’ve already read the manga when it came out

well, I can't say much about this. since I know he is eren, I was just focusing on how Kaji Yuki will handle this important speech

They even didn't try to hide him. I'm disappointed because I wanted anime onlines to feel what we - manga readers - felt, when after few chapters we found that the hobo man was Eren. 

I honestly didn't even realize he was supposed to be hidden from the readers/viewers at this point. It was so obviously him in the manga and the anime. Genuinely confused by how many people did not catch on. 

Watching some reactors they were like "...wait...that *looks* like Eren...but his leg is amputated...his leg would've grown back??" but as soon as you heard his voice it was instantaneous 

I, being a manga reader, had a hard time getting how you couldn't see that it was Eren, but some of my friend only got it at the last scene.

Hard to say. WIth the manga, it took me a few reads to catch on, but now that I KNOW, it's hard to say anything.

Yes, I'm watching the episodes with my anime-only friend and he still hasn't figured it out

I think they did a good job, but with anime being the medium it was easier to guess due to both hair/eye color and voice.

It was nice, I was actually surprised that some of my anime only friends didn't even realize that it was Eren talking to Falco this episode

When Eren was finally revealed in the manga, I was *shocked! I had *no clue that was him! I think the anime did a great job, but of course had to reveal him sooner. It was perfect both in manga and anime imo.

It's obviously him once you see his eyes, but I don't think that the animation team were trying to make it a big shock reveal, they want this scene to say "this is probably Eren, but can you be 100% sure" to keep anime onlys engaged and reassure them that the main cast is still relevant.

Yes, but the manga hid him better, it took me way too long to realise it was him while reading

HOW WAS KAJI YUKI’S DELIVERY ON EREN’S SPEECH TO FALCO? 299 Responses

The vast majority of respondents were very pleased with Kaji Yuji’s delivery on one of Eren’s most prominent speeches. 38.1% felt it was exactly as they had hoped it would be. 28.1% were extremely happy, and feel that any delivery by Kaji Yuki as Eren will be 100% spot-on. 24.7% are simply just content with it. Smaller fragments of respondents just wanted to voice their thirst, or felt that the delivery could have been better. 

Better than I could have ever imagined

I don't really care

Eren is the best main character ever

Not my native language so I can't really tell how good it is, but Kaji's delivery seemed about right

It was a bit fast but good

Very good. You get a real sense of how clueless but trying to be tough Eren really is.

EREN TELLS FALCO HE HOPES FALCO LIVES A LONG LIFE. KNOWING WHAT WE DO NOW, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT HIM SAYING THIS? 298 Responses

Eren already knows he will bring destruction upon the world, so it’s a wonder why he would bother telling Falco he hopes Falco will have a long life. 64.8% believe that he truly means it from the bottom of his heart, despite knowing his future actions will likely affect Falco. 10.7% believe he said this because he has already seen that Falco will survive the Rumbling. 10.1% aren’t really sure what to make of it at all. Smaller numbers of people think Eren was only trying to gain Falco’s trust and didn’t mean it at all, or believe that Falco will take part in Eren’s eventual demise and Eren is already aware of that. 

He saw him in his memories so imma believe what he says

I'm sure there is part of Eren that hopes for a good long life for Falco. Just like there was part of him that couldn't help but save the refugee kid. But that doesn't mean he isn't any less dedicated to his plan to genocide a whole lot of people. He has his conflicts, but in the end he's still going ahead with the attack on the square and later with the rumbling.

I think it's the same deal as him saving the immigrant kid when he knew that he would die in the rumbling.

In an ideal world Eren would want *everyone* to live a long life--he's been portrayed as someone who cries and disassociates while he commits his genocide so we're meant to understand he doesn't enjoy it. Sadly it doesn't matter what he hopes or wants when he's decided murdering everyone is what has to be done..

THE PREVIEW SHOWED PIECK AND PORCO NEXT TO REINER AT THE DAYTIME FESTIVAL. THIS WAS NOT IN THE MANGA. WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS MEANS ABOUT POSSIBLE ANIME-ONLY ADDITIONS? 298 Responses

Many of our respondents seem to be looking forward to Pieck and Porco’s inclusion in the daytime festival. 47% are hopeful that this will mean some wholesome bonding scenes between the Warriors and the kids. 26.5% don’t know what to make of it, but are looking forward to it nonetheless. A handful of people think it will be similar to how WIT included Sasha in the Clash arc - adding minor details without changing anything in the story-line. 7% wish that MAPPA wasn’t doing this at all, and 5% are hopeful this means that MAPPA will find a way to repurpose Pieck crawling on all fours next episode. 

I still want Pieck butt

IN THAT SAME VEIN, IT SEEMS LIKE EPISODE 4 WILL ADAPT CHAPTERS 97 AND 98, ENDING ON THE FINAL PANEL OF 98. HOWEVER, THE VAST MAJORITY OF CHAPTER 97 WAS ALREADY ADAPTED IN LAST WEEK’S EPISODE. WHAT WILL THIS MEAN FOR EPISODE 4? 293 Responses

Who wants to place bets on the contents of next episode? While the largest chunk of people don’t know what to expect in episode 4, others are happy to speculate. 19.8% feel (or are at least hopeful) that MAPPA will fill in some screen time by repurposing already-skipped scenes. 19.1% feel that there will be minor additions, but not too much. A solid 16% feel that there will be a few anime only additions during the daytime festival. 10.9% are placing bets that episode 4 will actually bleed into chapter 100 before the end.

Mappa won't have to cut a lot of stuff like they did to ep 3

The title "From One Hand to Another" immediately made me think we would actually be getting Eren grasping Reiner's hand and transforming at the end (meaning chapters 100 and 101), but that's just so much. The title may just refer to Magath and Willy's handshake. 

What about just enjoying the show?

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 298 Responses

As expected of the fandom! Reiner and Eren’s reunion is the most anticipated scene for episode 4, with 74.8% having voted for that. 17.1% are most looking forward to the daytime festival, and 6% are excited to meet Willy in anime form for the first time. One commenter is very invested in the banquet and how it’s executed. 

Not this ep but if they cut the Udo and Kiyomi scene I'll RIOT!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

I'm upset so much was cut from Reiner's backstory but the cinematography is freakin' excellent I can't even complain

*cheers MAPPA animators for their hard work* ... Perfect for anime onlies, I think. Made me almost wish I hadn't read the manga so I wouldn't have missed the cut scenes.

Cuts aside, the animation was much better than the previous episodes. 

"The one scene I really wanted was Bertholdt looking over the wall and seeing the EMA trio. Of all the cuts, I think that was the only one that was damaging to the story. I also kind of wish that MAPPA animated the reused scenes. I kind of like comparing and contrasting the animation styles of both studios so its a bit of shame that we didn't get anything new from Episode 1.

I'm really impressed with how much MAPPA is managing to squeeze in each episode and I'm content that Reiner's flashback was covered in a single episode rather than two. It just makes sense pacing-wise. The only real criticism I have is that in the flashback scenes where everyone is supposed to be 12 years old, they don't sound 12 at all. Their voices are way too mature, especially the males, and I understand they're voiced by adults, but I feel like they could have at least tried to sound more like kids. Other than that, great episode.

Elaborating on the missing content: they really shouldn’t have cut Annie’s transformation prior to wall Maria being breached. It makes it look like Reiner choked her out and then a minute later bert was kicking the wall through. 

I'm in the boat, where i think it wouldve been better if Mappa didnt cut out so much, but considering what there is to cover, we will live,but i hope they dont end up butchering everything Also the bit with reiner’s dad would be confusing to anime-onlies since it cross-cuts between that scene and him on the parade. I’ve seen some reactors think it was a daydream, or that he left during the parade. 

It was quite rushed, but I understand why they did it, the flashback wouldn't have been as impactful over 2 episodes, and I do think when the Marley arc was first introduced in the manga, manga readers were quite inpatient to get back to the main cast, so they might be feeding off that feedback. 

Mappa has become my favorite studio of all time. Not just in regards to anime, but studios in general. Their discography is on another level (imo) and the fact that on top of every other masterpiece they’ve made, they’re doing an outstanding job with my favorite series of all time just solidifies them as the first and probably the only anime studio that I can truly Stan.

Lots of (I think) Important stuff cut, but the meat is still in place. I like my meat to be juicy and marbled, while Mappa cut out all the fat that makes for a flavorful meal. I completely understand why and I am apathetic about it.

disliked the fact the wall breach was so quickly glossed over, and the transition between mappa and wit style was jarring to say the least

Regardless of the cuts, i think it flows together nicely. The anime has always been more speedy than the manga so i kind of expected this. I don't think it'll get as bad as s3 part 1 in terms of pacing. I trust in Mappa, so far i haven't been disappointed at all. The animation and backgrounds are absolutely stunning. That warrior titan sequence was incredibly well done. Props to the animators!

It was a bit confusing mishmash of scenes, but there were some good moments sprinkled in like the introduction of all of Marley's titans. The emotional reactions, however, just weren't the same as they were when reading the manga, to be honest.

I’m really glad they cut the part with RBA hanging onto Female/Armoured neck by a rope. That whole thing seemed stupid to me. Doesn’t match up with previous chapters and I feel like SOMEONE would have noticed two kids hanging onto the Armoured Titan’s neck. 

I think MAPPA is doing a really good job so far, can't wait to see the battle in Liberio. I'm not bothered at all with the CG titans because firstly, they look really good, and secondly, I understand why they had to do it. I also hope they don't censor many things or cut out some dark scenes that are important to the season because I would love to see everything animated. 

Felt like watching a recap episode... And it wasn't supposed to be one, so

I'm really dissapointed that mappa cut so many things from manga. Reiner's backstory is my favoure part of snk. Suicide scene completly lacks impact. 

I really dislike the fact that MAPPA is trying to show only bad side of the marleyan officers. They removed the gate guards, they removed the scene where Magath is telling RBA to stay safe (on Paradis). One of the best parts of the manga is showing that the both races (Eldians and Marleyans) have good and bad sides. By removing positive aspects of Marleyans MAPPA is creating totally different picture. This way the anime onlines may find the whole rumbling even more justified. The episode was pretty good and the OST has made some scenes to feel more dark and serious (especially the moment where the new titans are introduced), but sometimes I feel like the characters are speaking and acting way too fast. I was waiting for the scene with Kenny and Annie, but it took only like few second and was cut. I love MAPPA's version of Kenny. He has more serious aura and looks more like his manga counterpart. In other words;  wrinkled grandpa with skinny neck :) 

It honestly wasn’t my favorite, but I still loved it. I feel as though they skipped around a lot and there wasn’t a lot of scenes that actually tied together and I’m worried anime only watchers might get confused. Definitely some of the stuff I wanted to see animated didn’t make the cut, but I still love the animation style, the characters and the story!

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 285 Responses

Thank you to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again next episode.

[radramblog]

The Legend of Perfect Jazz

Last year I participated in Season 2 of the Ultimate Communitylocke League on the Nuzlocke Forums, a challenge in which you choose a specific Nuzlocke ruleset and do a run of one game from every region in the mainline Pokémon games with that ruleset. In my case, I was doing an Alphabetlocke- a variant in which the nicknames for every Pokemon are randomly generated, and your team has to consist of the first 6 alphabetically of the Pokemon you have available. I wouldn’t recommend this ruleset in retrospect, as having to stop everything grind up a new member half the time you catch something isn’t the most pleasant experience. But it was from this ruleset that the legend of Perfect Jazz began.

April 8th, 2020. Lockdown is in effect, even in Perth, and I’m on the last run of my journey. Ultra Sun. I’ve been using a particular website called Behind the Name for my nicknames, and being exposed to a lot of obscure names from a variety of different cultures as a result. After the disappointing catch that was Waheeda the Alolan Meowth, who would have been both of limited use even if its name wasn’t buried in the last stretch of the alphabet, I was moving on to my encounter in Hau’oli City.

Out pops a Magnemite. This is an exciting moment- Magnemite and its evolutions are excellent in Nuzlocke runs on account of their great typing, solid movepool (at least in later gens), and good stats. A boon like this so early in the game can be quite the benefit, if the cards fall right- especially seeing as in US/UM, its has early access to moves for both its types as well as both paralysis and confusion statuses. These status moves made it a bit of a pain to catch, but eventually it stayed in the ball, and I randomly generate a name for it. This, of course, is the origin of Perfect Jazz. I don’t know how a website like this could spit that out as a name, nor do I know why. I have never been able to replicate this result, nor does it appear in the websites databases when I go back and check. My only assumption is that some random person submitted Perfect Jazz as a name as a joke, later having it removed but not before it was generated for my Magnemite.

I don’t know why, but it’s a weirdly fitting name. A lot of jazz instruments are metal, so its possible a Magnemite could attach one to itself and…somehow, electromagnetically, play some tunes? I haven’t figured it out yet. I am, however, thinking of getting that commissioned.

Unfortunately, P is on the lower end as far as initials go, and so Perfect Jazz would not last long on the team. While they were fantastic for the time they were present, such a time didn’t last. Perfect Jazz would escape the run unharmed, despite how bloody it ended up being in the end, but underutilised.

Cut to 2 months later. The Ultra Sun run, and by extension, my UCL season 2 challenge, is over, but hungry for more community Nuzlocke content I sign up for the Nuzlocke World Cup. NWC was a competition rather than a challenge, with teams of runners matched up against their opponents seeing who could get the lowest death counts for certain games for certain rulesets. It’s round 2, and my team, the Unova Units, is on the chopping block- if we lose this round, we’re out for good. My assigned game is Crystal, and I’ve been running it fairly well- I believe I was only at 2 deaths at that point and would only finish with 3. At this point, I had an Onix on my team, and while Megasnek was pretty good, Onix peaks eventually and is terrified of a fair few coverage moves. So I wanted to evolve it. Typically, in GSC, the only way to get a Metal Coat to evolve Onix into Steelix is as part of the S.S. Aqua event, which takes place after the credits roll for the first time, and therefore outside the scope of the run I was doing. There is, however, a 5% chance that a wild Magnemite encountered will be holding a Metal Coat, and I still had the TM for Thief, so I burned that on my Haunter and went hunting. Somehow, before I actually got that 5%, I got the much lower chance of a shiny Magnemite.

Shiny Magnemite is not especially distinct in Gen 2- the only real difference is the lack of a blue tinge to the grey body. But somehow, through the ridiculously fast turbo enabled by the emulator, I managed to catch the trademark sparkle, and later, the mon itself. Considering the recency and, frankly, how funny I found the name in the first place, I chose to name this too Perfect Jazz. Or, well, Perf Jazz, due to the character limit.

Perf Jazz is not my first Nuzlocke shiny. In fact, in the first season of the UCL, I encountered 1 each in back-to-back games- Tamiyo the Pelipper in Sapphire, and Empyrrean the Steelix in Diamond. However, both of those came too late in the run for me to consider adding them to the team. Not Perf Jazz, however, and I proceeded to grind them the hell up, to the point of evolving into Magneton.

I was then informed that the NWC did not actually have a shiny clause in the rules, and that it was fine that I’d caught it but that I couldn’t actually use it in any battles. So once again, I was forced to abandon Perfect Jazz.

For now, this is where the legend of Perfect Jazz ends, but so help me I am going to make it continue. Whether that means finally using one in a Nuzlocke or breeding a shiny one for competitive, Perfect Jazz will one day properly take the stage, magnetized saxophone in hand. Or, uh, magnet.

(If you’re interested, you can find signups for the third season of the UCL here.)

[teaveetamer]

Alright just for fun Ima rank my personal preferences when it comes to Pokemon gens.

1) Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald

Admittedly this might be a bit of nostalgia talking since these were the first games I really played as a kid, but idc I love them. Archie and Maxie are kind of ridiculous but Hoenn is such a wonderful region that’s interesting and intuitive to explore, the music is pretty kickass, and it’s full to the brim with Pokemon that I absolutely adore.

Main criticism: 7/10 Too Much Water (Also I was not the biggest fan of ORAS as remakes).

2) Black, White, Black 2, and White 2

I’ll admit I wasn’t too keen on these ones when they first came out, but now that they’ve had quite some time to sit I gotta say I love them. IMO this is the last Pokemon game that really took risks, what with having the largest cast of new ‘mons since Gen 1 (and Black and White actually forced you to use them). Admittedly some of the new ‘mons were a bit hit or miss, but with such a large cast there’s at least a lot of cool ones to choose from. I also really wish they’d revisit the sequel idea at some point, getting to explore Unova again from a different angle was truly something special.

Oh, and I’d say Team Plasma is probably, like, the least ridiculous of all the evil teams (barring maybe Rocket, since at least they’re just a gang without world ending aspirations). It honestly had some pretty interesting characters and character focus that I wish more Pokemon games would do.

Also I really liked PokeStar Studios. Sue me.

Main Criticism: A little too linear at points. I know they were trying to phase out HMs, but it did create a sort of annoying situation.

3) Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum

Also perhaps a bit of nostalgia but Sinnoh is an excellent region. Another roster of kickass new pokemon, including some new evolutions to give some of the older ‘mons a bit of an upgrade. Another thing I really wish they’d revisit at some point. There’s also lots of neat little nooks and crannies to explore, and the series’s best rendition of pokemon contests. The little areas with the AI partners and forced double battles were also really cool, IMO.

Main criticism: Not enough new Fire Type ‘mons.

4) Gold, Silver, Crystal (+Heart Gold and Soul Silver)

Crystal was technically my first Pokemon game, though I was too young to really play it properly. I know HGSS are technically remakes but I don’t think I’d like the originals so much if they didn’t get such fantastic remakes. Everything about HGSS is absolutely amazing. Pokeathalon was a fun diversion from the main game, two regions in one game was amazing, and the cute little ‘mons following you around were amazing. Buuut if we go just by the original games then they’re definitely lower on the list, just by virtue of being older games without a lot of the little modernizing touches and QoL fixes we got down the line.

Main Criticism: I find the game generally enjoyable, it just didn’t really grab me like some of the higher games on this list did.

5) FireRed and LeafGreen (with a special shoutout to Let’s Go! Eevee)

I actually didn’t play the original RBY until I was an adult, but I think by now we all know those games were being held together with scotch tape and hope. Kanto, as the OG region, has a special place in a lot of people’s hearts but I just… can’t really get that into it anymore. I mean I enjoy it, but given GameFreak’s incessant need to throw the OG 151 into everything I’m just kind of bored of the region and the ‘mons that came with it.

I will say that the Let’s Go games really spiced things up with the visible map pokemon, following/ride pokemon, different catching system, boxlink letting you switch up your party on the fly, and the adorable as fuck little partner you get to have riding around on your shoulder the whole time. Not to mention the fun little post-game challenges for the completionists out there.

Main criticism: Overuse. Also Let’s Go only included the original 151, even though many gen 1 ‘mons got evolutions or pre-evolutions in future titles. Would have liked to have seen those carried over. Was also not a fan of the lack of breeding or GTS to make certain Pokemon easier to obtain.

6) Sword and Shield

Might just be recency bias, but I did really have a lot of fun with this game. A lot of the locations were really beautiful and I really hope they bring back a big, explorable wild area type thing in the future. It’s one of those things that Pokemon always should have had, but you don’t realize how good it is until you’ve got it. The new ‘mons were probably my favorite new cast introduced in the most recent three gens. Also the clothes perfectly captured my bum aesthetic and I appreciate.

Unfortunately this game loses a lot of points with me because of just how unfinished it is. The towns were woefully small and the story was pretty non-existent. It just screams of a game execs wanted to push out to reach a deadline.

Main Criticism: Obviously unfinished. Probably my least favorite collection of starters ever.

7) X and Y

Honestly the last two slots are pretty interchangeable for me, but I will say I had a lot more fun with X and Y than I did with Sun and Moon. Even if it’s not my favorite I have replayed it at least once, which is not an honor I can give to Sun and Moon.

That said… I just hated a lot of the things X and Y did. I hated megas (and how they were forcibly shoved into ORAS), I was not a huge fan of Fairy type, the rollerskates were fucking stupid, the story was dumb, and just like Sword and Shield there were a lot of “this is clearly unfinished” moments. Granted there were less than Sword and Shield, but they were definitely still there. This was also the first gen to start the “less than 100 new pokemon per gen” tradition.

I’ll also say that this is the first gen where “exclusions” started to become really noticeable. Newer gens always removed features from older gens, but it was usually small stuff or side stuff like contests or the pokeathalon. This time around they put in a whole ass core gameplay  feature (megas) only to completely remove them two gens later with very little explanation.

That said, Kalos was a really beautiful region on the whole. PokeParis is probably the best “massive city” that Pokemon has ever done.

A Random Compliment: They finally added sitting to a Pokemon game god bless.

8) Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon

Ridiculous amounts of handholding, small cast of new pokemon, very few Pokemon I was actually tempted to use, and a region I was very meh on. Island trials really didn’t interest me. IMO they didn’t do enough to mix up the formula, it was very much still a Pokemon Game going through the Pokemon Game motions, just with a slightly different coat of paint.

I also find the existence of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon insulting. X and Y were unfinished, but they didn’t then try to sell you the improved version one year after the release of the original at full price.

I know the existence of third versions is a bit controversial, but they didn’t bother me that much with Gens 1-4. Yellow was completely it’s own thing, and Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum were just improving on already extremely solid games. Sun and Moon made me feel like a beta tester. I was honestly so disgusted I’ve still never finished playing Ultra Sun to this day.

Biggest Fucking Criticism: They took away my ability to sit?! One gen after they introduced the magic of sitting?!

[stephanericherthanyou]

Ch81-100

Ch81: Twelve Tone Rendezvous

oh all the captains together! is this the only time before the defection...

Ch82: Conflictable Composition

‘kumetsumo’? is this mayuri he’s referring to? (ya probably....& ‘giraki’ is ‘zaraki’ probably)

so are these intruders one of aizen’s illusons or something else or the timeline is kinda wrinkled or what

Ch83: Come With Me

aizen & gin’s play-acting....pls....they really did set it up well tho

again, he is so obviously related to isshin

“you are different from the other shinigami!” yes bc he’s a quincy/hollow/whatever. and your cousin.

Ch84: The Shooting-Star Project 2 [Tattoo on the Sky]

aizen pretending to care about momo (upside down smiley)

Ch85: Intruderz 2 Breakthrough the Roof Mix

there was a fic author whose stuff i used to read way back when and they used to title their fics in this “whatever, x mix” style--i never paid attention to the chapter titles before but suddenly it all makes sense

Ch86: Making Good Relations, OK?

“are you two breaking up” “yeah i guess” p l s

also interesting wrt ikkaku’s bankai--idt it’s introduced until fkt maybe? but the fear that he’ll be transferred away...i wonder if that comes from the recency of losing renji to byakuya’s squad

Ch87: Dancing with Spears

i love that both ichigo and yumichika call ganju’s sand magic weird

ASLKDFJSLK YUMICHIKA USING A “YOUR FACE” INSULT.....this truly is 2004 isn’t it

Ch88: So Unlucky We Are

i love that ichigo looks like he’s winking

ah yes...blood...well we are in a battle shounen

Ch89: Masterly and Farewell

well now i’m shipping ichigo/ikkaku i guess. of all the things.

yes ikkaku he needs to know your zodiac capability!

well, technically, since she’s the sword, she /is/ him...

(honestly i’m still surprised that of all the persistent bleach fan theories, ‘yachiru is the sword’ actually turned out to be true! ‘ichigo is related to kaien’ at least had more direct support so was not surprising, and all the ‘x is the soul king’ were about as believable as this one....)

actually uryuu, ichigo is smart! he is impulsive but impulsive != stupid, augh

Ch90: See You Under a Firework

oh the scanlation site crashed....well, finding another one was easy

ganju...incredible

Ch91: King of Freischutz

so it’s basically shikai roll call

Ch92: Masterly and Farewell (Reprise)

orihime :’(

Ch93: Steer for the Star

ooooo kenpachi strong-arming mayuri...../adjusts shipping goggles

why tf are you two talking where mayuri can hear you he’s probably bugged the place

Ch94: Gaol Named Remorse

ahh the sewers...wonder if that’s where swr got the idea...

‘she is weird that’s why i have to save her’ ichigo....

ANOTHER SHUUHEI SIGHTING! <3

Ch95: Crush

ichigoooooooo ily :’))))))

Ch96: Bloodred Conflict

ichigo: he taught me nothing also ichigo: /flashbacks to urahara’s training, names him as teacher, etc

Ch97: Talk About Your Fear

this is good whump

Ch98: The Star and the Tramp

this both makes me ship renji/rukia more and less lmao

Ch99: Dead Black War Cloud

The reason we think the flowers on the precipice are beautiful, / is because we are standing on the precipice as well. / Do not fear, because we are like the flowers, / We did not step off.

Ch100: Like the Flower on the Rock Wall

if momo didn’t want to fight why did she join a combat division? aizen’s manipulations?

aizen and then the moon huh...kyoka suigetsu....

what a cliffy for chapter 100 huh....fake dead aizen...

[imagintama]

Yoooo I love you and your writing and your blog. can you please give me some cutesy Katsura and okita with their s/o?? anything goes honestly, you are da best

love you more, anon! 💖

Katsura Kotarou:

There’s something peculiar yet comforting in the way he looks at you, like you’ve stolen the stars and placed them in your eyes. It’s not the usual kind of look he gives you, but you doubt its recency. Rather, it’s the flitting instances of pure admiration caught by passersby on the way to the public train— no doubt, still a stranger to your eyes, because you’re not looking. Not at him. 

“I think I love you.”

You’re fighting the urge to laugh, but you lose the battle anyway. “Kotarou, I know that already. You said that a million times after our third date.”

“Have I? Then I shall say it again.” The determination in both Katsura’s voice and gaze sends sparks down your spine. “I think I love you. No. I know I love you. I know I do.”

Right now, he’s all you see. So, you kiss him again, and again, and again.

Okita Sougo:

Despite his enactment as the menacing king of the sadists while awake, an innocent, young child thrives in Okita Sougo while he sleeps. Even more so when you jolt awake from his own unrelenting nightmares that leave him no time to breathe nor rest.

“It’s just a dream,” you murmur, your fingertips caressing the strands of his hair. “Just a dream, Sougo. I’m here, it’s alright.”

His bleary eyes are staring at you. The tiredness in them tugs your heartstrings. Amidst the haze of waking up and returning to sleep, he searches your eyes for a haven to ease all his toil.

“…Stay,” He whispers against the skin of your neck. “Don’t leave.”

You pull him closer, and wait for his breathing to relax before you fall back into slumber.

[junker-town]

6 takeaways from Yankees-Dodgers, which might have been the World Series preview

Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images

Two of the best teams in baseball produced an exciting weekend at Dodger Stadium, and teased what could be an even more thrilling clash in October.

The battle between the teams with the two best records in baseball lived up to the hype throughout an electric weekend in Los Angeles. We’ll have to wait and see how the Yankees and Dodgers play in October to know if this was an actual World Series preview, but the series still showcased a lot of fun moments between two clearly excellent teams.

Spiderman meme offenses

Both offenses have been hell on opposing pitchers all season. The Yankees and Dodgers lead their respective leagues in scoring. This series was a little like looking into the mirror for both teams.

“They got a lot of good people in that lineup, just like we do,” said Justin Turner, who homered on Saturday for Los Angeles.

That home run accounted for 40 percent of the Dodgers’ offense in the series, in which they were outscored by 16-5.

Both teams grind opposing pitching staffs to the nub with patience, then pounce on the opportunities they get in the strike zone. This weekend was no different. The Yankees tagged Hyun-jin Ryu and Clayton Kershaw with three home runs each, season highs for both.

“It’s really fun to watch a team approach, with really good players. I really like guys from the offensive side of things hunting pitches and having a plan. If you don’t execute, you can get hurt,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s why teams like them, teams like us, get to pens, get starters’ pitch counts up consistently.”

About those home runs

It’s the year of the home run in baseball, and this series was a monument to the feat. The Yankees mashed five home runs in Friday’s series-opening salvo, and home runs accounted for the only scoring in Saturday’s low-scoring thriller.

We went nearly two full games without a run scoring without the benefit of a home run, from the eighth inning Friday to the eighth inning Sunday.

The Yankees are second in the majors with 241 home runs, and the Dodgers are third at 227. Both are on pace to pass the major league record for home runs in a season (267) set by the Yankees in 2018.

August has been particularly powerful for the Yankees, whose 61 home runs are a major league record for a single month ... with five games still remaining.

Aaron Judge, who started his August in a 10-for-55 slump, homered in all three games over the weekend and is hitting .364 (12-for-33) with seven extra-base hits in his last eight games.

Yankees got the pitching they needed

Entering the weekend, the Yankees had a putrid 6.44 ERA from their starting rotation since the All-Star break, 29th out of 30 MLB teams. But New York’s starters got the job done against the Dodgers, allowing four total runs in 16⅔ innings over the weekend. That included Domingo German winning his 17th game with six strong innings Sunday night, and James Paxton pitching into the seventh with 11 strikeouts in the opener.

“I feel like [Paxton] has been on the verge of having this outing for a while,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He really set the tone for us in a big way.”

No, Ryu didn’t lose the Cy Young on Friday

Hyun-jin Ryu had his worst start of the season in the series opener, allowing seven runs and three home runs while failing to finish the fifth inning. Those earned runs and home runs matched Ryu’s totals for his first 11 starts at Dodger Stadium in 2019, covering 77⅔ innings.

That performance ballooned Ryu’s ERA all the way to 2.00, still the best in baseball.

The very idea that Ryu lost the National League Cy Young Award with his Friday clunker is preposterous, first because it presumes that the award was already his to begin with. Yes, he was the favorite with a minuscule 1.45 ERA as late as Aug. 11, but there are a number of good candidates besides Ryu. Max Scherzer (2.41 ERA) and Jacob deGrom (2.56 ERA) are tied for first in the NL in fWAR (5.6), and are first and second in FIP. DeGrom leads in bWAR (5.5) narrowly over Scherzer (5.4), with Ryu trailing at 4.6. Not that the Cy Young should simply be determined by sorting a WAR leaderboard, but there are other non-Ryu candidates.

Plus there is still a month of the season remaining, and though recency bias likes to trick us, Ryu allowing five total home runs in back-to-back losses to the playoff-bound Braves and Yankees doesn’t invalidate a season’s worth of excellent pitching.

Facing a hero

Tony Gonsolin started for the Dodgers on Saturday, just his fifth major league game, opposite retiring Yankees star CC Sabathia, who was making his 557th career start. Gonsolin played shortstop, just like his idol Derek Jeter, growing up in Vacaville in northern California, just a short drive from Vallejo, where Sabathia grew up 14 years earlier.

“I was a Yankees fan growing up, so it’s pretty great to throw against all those guys,” Gonsolin said. “It feels even better going up against CC, from the hometown, 15 minutes down the road. I met him when I was in high school. He probably doesn’t remember me, but I do.”

Gonsolin got the better of Sabathia on Saturday, allowing one run in his five innings while Sabathia allowed two runs in his four innings of work. Sabathia also smoked a ball to right field, a 97-mph liner caught by Cody Bellinger in what will likely be the final regular season at-bat of Sabathia’s career.

If we do see Sabathia swing the lumber one more time, it will likely mean the Yankees made the World Series.

What in the hell were they wearing?

The Yankees and Dodgers have two of the most iconic uniforms in the sport, but they were replaced this weekend by what looked like a battle between the all-black pajamas and the ice cream men in all-white.

“With Dodgers-Yankees this isn’t the best weekend, but to have them in their uniform and ours in ours, I think that would be cool,” Boone said.

At least some of the shoes were cool, like these Doug and Hey Arnold kicks worn by Cameron Maybin:

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees won two of three games, and while it doesn’t guarantee anything for the postseason, it sure would be nice to see a seven-game series between the Dodgers and Yankees (with apologies to the Astros, who are in lock step with New York and LA with a 100-plus-win pace).

“There’s a lot of talent all over the field,” Roberts said. “Two great, iconic franchises. You could feel the energy from both dugouts as well as the stadium.”

[fictionerd]

Good to see you, friends!

Damn the dilation is still way off. I’ll try to get it back to speed. Anyway here’s the lo-down on this week’s Magical Girl Spec-Ops episode.

Synopsis: Hot damn the action in the beginning of this episode was great. We’ve been needing this. The battle between Asuka and the Mercenary Sorcerers was pretty darn gripping, while Stalker Nurse’s struggle to stay upright against Sweeny Todd and her halloween henchmen was really enjoyable. It’s nice to see some improvement in her ability to hang in a battle from the last Halloween Hijinks she fought. Getting to see a little bit of Scarbro’s Magical Combat unit stepping in and showing their competency was sweet too

Of course all good things must come to an end. Just when it seems the Kill la Kill cosplayer is about to get her due Rule 63 Vega from Street Fighter steps in to drop a box on our heroes and Roadrunner right on out of there. The rest of the episode is given over to the aftermath of the battle. Nozomi is revealed to have PTSD triggered by Scissors and Magical Girls. Naturally War Nurse has a way to treath this, but it’s only applicable given the recency of the trauma, and the trade off is that Nozomi will lose a week’s worth of memory including all those great times she spent with Bookish, Asuka, and Stalker Nurse! I stress this because it’s what occurs to Asuka, and she calls for Stalker Nurse to wait before she can stop herself and realize how selfish she’s being.

As for the other consequences of the most recent event Asuka relents and agrees to join M Squad. I’m actually happy about this because it’s very obvious that she’s going to need to if she plans to make any headway in recovering from her trauma and depression.

The episode caps off with Asuka grappling with the reset memories of Sporty and deciding it’s for the best since erasing that trauma from her life was worth losing the memory of their week together, the pool trip, and the promise to go out more often. However, we’re given a ray of hope in the form of Sporty tracking Asuka to ask if she wants to go see the movie they were planning to go to proving that in spite of everything Sporty is the same person she was before all the horrible shit went down. She’ll be able to be happy and bring joy to the lives of those around her thanks to Stalker Nurse’s treatment.

Thoughts: While part of me isn’t too excited about Nozomi being given a Magic-ex-Machina for the Trauma she’s been through, another part of me is happy for it. Honestly I think it was unnecessary to have her get that broken by what happened. Yes, I realize most people would have been in her exact state after that, but this is a work of fiction. Furthermore it’s blindingly obvious the writer thought there were more stories to tell with Happy Nozomi than with Broken Nozomi since they reversed the damage. Maybe I just don’t have enough of the big picture to see the significance of not just sweeping it under the rug. Hell if you were going to pull the mindwipe it probably would have been better to not show us Nozomi freak out at the sight of Magical Girls.Just explain in a debriefing that they applied an Amnestic to Sporty so she wouldn’t suffer any further from her run-in with the Babelfish.

This is all me nitpicking though if I’m honest. This episode was leagues better than the first four. I’m just sad it took us this long to get to a point where the quality is picking up.

Calling it now: The Evil Magical Girl Queen is Francine somehow completely betraying the memory of the character in Asuka’s mind if not ours.

Until next post keep talking fiction, friends! I’ll see you soon.

[fuckyeahjamieandclaire]

“Sassenach” (season 1, episode 1) – Obviously, you need to watch the pilot if you’ve never seen the show before! Even if you’re just hungry for a re-watch, there is a delightful sort of nostalgia that comes from seeing many of these characters for the first time within this world. It reminds you where Claire comes from, which is very important for understanding the journey ahead.

“Both Sides Now” (season 1, episode 8) – It should not come as a surprise that many premieres / finales are on this list, given that they are critical in terms of development; yet, at the same time they deliver so much more beyond the dramatic cliffhangers that you see elsewhere. This episode was an exceptional showcase for Caitriona Balfe as Claire faced both the person she was with Frank, but also the person she was becoming in the past. 

“To Ransom a Man’s Soul” (season 1, episode 16) – In terms of content, this is not the easiest episode to watch due to what happens to Jamie — yet, at the same time it features an Emmy-worthy performance from Sam Heughan and it was one of the most emotional episodes of any show in 2015. It demonstrates the full extent of Jamie’s torment, the horror of Black Jack Randall, and sets up a future full of hope and new beginnings — even if some ghosts from the past do eventually find their way to both Jamie and Claire.

“La Dame Blanche” (season 2, episode 4) – The first part of season 2 was more strategic and political than what we saw at times during season 1, but through the dinner-party scene we saw what was a slow simmer begin to boil. It showed the stress that many of our heroes were under, and established the wickedness of the Comte St. Germain and many other characters in France. This episode also happens to be when Claire informs Jamie that Jack Randall is still alive, and the consequences of that will ring for some time.

“Faith” (season 2, episode 7) – The strongest Balfe performance of the entire series, as Jamie and Claire discover her daughter is stillborn and she also loses her own life due to fever. It is a gut-wrenching story in so many ways, whether it be the end of Jamie and Claire’s time in France, the perversions of the King, or the farewell they give to Faith’s grave in the end (hopefully you had some tissues nearby during this). It also marked the end of St. Germain, though we can’t imagine anyone was too upset over that given the rottenness of this man.

“Dragonfly in Amber” (season 2, episode 13) – Maybe it is recency bias, or maybe it is because it runs longer than the standard hour — either way, this is our favorite episode of the entire series. It was a chance to leap forward to meet Roger and Bree, and in the process view the show through multiple timelines and perspectives. There were battles, adventures, schemes, and a whole lot more; it felt almost like a brilliant standalone movie. This is an episode we may watch a couple more times over before season 3 premieres later this year.