#never animated before this is a glorified storyboard

[asklawyer]

test

[ayeforscotland]

(tw: discussions of rape, child sexual abuse)

the person who said "mixed reaction to baldur's gate 3 in þe "people i respect þe critical opinion of" community" said they were referring to lily orchard. if im understanding them correctly - i hope im not - theyre saying they respect lily's critical opinion on things, which with all due respect, you should not. Lily's consumption of media is almost exclusively animated shows for children, disney movies and marvel, and she has warped ideas on what media "has" to be, including having little conflict, never using slurs and such.

She wrote MLP fanfiction that glorified child abuse, it was based on her raping her younger sister before she transitioned, as she had been sexually abused as a child herself. Her sister, Courtney Peet, came out with the full story and while it is very much word of mouth vs word of mouth, Lily herself has went on record saying she wrote the fanfic, titled "Stockholm". She claims to be Native American and draws her persona much darker than her actual skin, as her sister has proven. Presumably to allow herself to complain about all the "white character praising" in kids' cartoons without people able to point out that SHE is white, which she often complains about. She also slandered Rebecca Sugar, a Jewish person, claiming they wrote themes supporting Nazism in Steven Universe, and insists that artists cannot write stories well, which is why SU was a badly written show, as the storyboard artists worked on the story. Her critical thinking skills are very low.

In other words, don't worry about her opinions on Baldur's Gate 3. And I'm a bit concerned about people attacking Courtney if they read this so just fyi I'm not saying this to cause drama, just to inform you that Lily Orchard's opinion on that game should be discarded for a number of reasons. So you dont have to reply to this or anything, and I hope I havent bothered you by saying any of this.

I don't usually engage in online drama but Lily Orchard is my one exception as I started watching her a while back and thought she maybe had some good points, until I learned she made up things about the shows she covered and the people that worked on them, then learned about the awful stuff she did and lies about. There's a ton more discourse I don't think is worth getting into.

Good grief. Happy for this to be the first and last time I hear of this person.

[hermajestytak]

Her Majesty, Our Almighty Tallest Lady Miyuki

She was a lost character that never made it to the show proper because The Trial was never finished and never adapted post cancelation. She was voiced elegantly on the spot by Melissa Fawn in The Trial's Invadercon script reading, but was never officially voice acted, animated, or even colored.

Yet...despite never making it to the show, more than many other cancelled characters, something about Miyuki resonates with the Invader Zim fandom. Take a look throughout the fandom and you'll see her time and time again. In fanart, she's romanticized and illustrated as elegantly as possible. In fanfiction, she's a crucial character to the backstories many Irken fan characters.

There's many reasons why this is. For one, her name is gorgeous. One of the few facts we have about her is she was named and created after storyboard artist Miyuki Hoshikawa.

The name Miyuki itself holds different meanings depending on which kanji its spelled in: 美幸 means "beautiful fortune/happiness," 深雪 means "deep snow," 美雪 means "beautiful snow, and 美由紀 means "beautiful reason for history"

The association of Miyuki with snow has lead to some depicting her lead color as snow white. However, the most common color to depict her in within the fandom is blue, usually a cereulean blue. Other colors she's been drawn with include yellow and green, but the popular blue depiction arguibly makes her even more loved by the fandom because it makes her stand out from the usual green/red/violet color palette of the Irken Empire and, quite frankly, it makes her look gorgous.

Speaking of standing out, another reason for Miyuki's popularity is her gender. Female Irkens are much rarer characters in the series than Male Irkens (most likely because they take 1-2 more steps to design than their masc counterparts). Of the 50 named, individual Irkens on the series, only 7 are female (a whopping 14%), so Irken girlies are a rare treat for the fandom and of them, Miyuki is by far the most powerful.

In fact, Miyuki was most likely the most powerful Irken in history (that we know of). Red and Purple have to split their power between each other and Spork was only Tallest for a very short time. However, Miyuki was both a solo Tallest and one implied to be Tallest for a while.

Speaking of the tallest, Miyuki is one of only four that we know. Of them, her reign is the oldest. We don't know how long she was tallest, but she perished when Zim was over 10 years old. In the fandom, she's often depicted as being the tallest since before Zim was even born, so she likely reigned while our most important Irkens (Zim, Skoodge, Red, and Purple) were smeets that would have been taught to look up to whoever was tallest.

One interesting, debatable note about Miyuki's character is how much better of a tallest she supposedly was. She openly worked with the Vortians that Red and Purple went on to betray during their reign, so we know she was a more strategic and responsible tallest at least. However, some fan depictions take this a step further and headcanon Miyuki as "the rightful tallest" so to speak: a more merciful, kind, and virtuous planetary leader to contrast Red and Purple's cruelty. In other words, the fandom has a bad habit of really romanticizing her.

What these depictions tend to forget is that Miyuki was proud of her Empire. The very nature of an Empire, especially the Irken Empire, is to expand their rule. The Massive was designed during her reign to expand this rule by conquering nearby planets. She may have been a more competent Tallest, but a Tallest nonetheless and in the Irken Empire, intergalactic colonization and war is extremely glorified no matter who the leader is.

So I personally headcanon Miyuki as not a merciful, benevolent Tallest that the entire universe loved, but rather a Queen of England type figure whose adoration, regalness, and acts of kindness within her empire serve as a distraction from her and the control brains' cruel, empirical nature; she's beloved by her kind, but despised by everyone who sees the Irken Empire for what it really is: an intergalactic colony of genocidal ants.

[beesofink]

Buddy they ain't real, calm tf down

If you don't wanna see that shit just block the tag

Listen, maybe you mean well, but the "They aren't real" advice is HORRIBLE.

Yes. They are fictional. But that doesn't mean it isn't problematic. Fiction is influenced by reality, and more often than not fiction can influence reality. Let me use an example. However, a major trigger warning for H@zbin H0tel, and mentions of r@pe. I'm not saying Ribbun is r@pey, but those two things are still mentioned in this.

Let's say that a victim of abuse watches something. And that material winds up glorifying the abuse they go through. This would reinforce that what they're going through is "okay" and "normal", and could also retraumatize them if they got out of that relationship. And before anyone says "but shouldn't they know?"

1. A victim is usually taught that what they're going through is "normal" and shouldn't be questioned.

2. "Shouldn't they know?" Unintentionally or not, is victim blaming. The fault is always on the abuser, not the victim.

Let me use a popular animated example of this: Valentino from Hazbin Hotel.

I wish I never had to mention him, but this is important. For anyone who doesn't know, he is a r@pist who abuses Angel Dust. While it could've been WONDERFUL representation of abuse in the adult industry, it is often:

- Sexualized and shown without warning (A r@pe fetishist storyboarded the scene and Vivziepop, who fetishes r@pe herself as seen on her old Zoophobia channel if you look at the playlists wrote it).

- Joked about it in a horrible manner (Vivziepop made the "the visuals the ¢ums with it" joke when advertising "Poison", a song about being r@ped. Also while this is a different character, Sir Pentious was dragged into a room to get r@ped, while he was drunk and crying out for help. As you'd expect from Vivzie, she made this a joke.)

Those are only 2 of the MANY things that are done wrong in Hazbin Hotel. I won't go into a full on rant on how terribly it's done, since:

1. It's been talked about a lot on Twitter already.

2. This is about Ribbun and the glorification of abuse, not Hazbin Hotel.

The reason I bring up Hazbin Hotel for this is because it led to a lot of victims being retraumatized and horrified. While yes, some were fine with it, Vivziepop not putting in a warning was atrocious of her. And even if there was a warning, it was still executed in an awful and disgusting way.

If you want links for proof, I'll be happy to provide them.

So what I'm saying is, even if it *is* fictional, it can cause issues, such as normalization of abuse in one's mind or retraumatizing someone. Ribbun would be one of those ships, because Jax pulls things at Gangle's expense, and like I said in my original post on this, even pulls a gun on her at one point. It would NOT be a healthy relationship, and therefore shouldn't be treated as one. I'm not saying "never write these relationships", I'm saying "if you're going to write a relationship like this, do so in a manner that properly shows why it's bad and how it hurts the victim." And before anyone else says "But what about enemies to lovers?", it is still shipping a relationship that in the original and is therefore inherently, abusive.

However, you are right about the tag thing. I don't know why I didn't think about it at first. Though there is a chance I have, and my memory is just fuzzy. Either way, thank you for the reminder on that.

[rodpupo2]

Research: Storytelling project

JOCK

Mark Simpson, best known as Jock, is a Scottish comic book artist and illustrator. He began his career in 1999 working on the British comic book publisher 2000 AD (where most of the British artists and writers, began their career, before going to the major leagues like DC and Marvel), and started working with characters like the Judge Dredd.

The artist began his career in the USA with The Losers, at Vertigo (a subdivision of DC comics), and some issues of the Green Arrow.

He also have worked with conceptual arts for various films such as Iron man 3, X-men days of the future past, and Star Wars episode VIII.

I have known Jock for a while, I have seen many of his works in the comics, and he is known for working mainly with covers, where he does extremely surreal works, mixing various types of colors, and always uses a lot of shading, not worrying if the characters are in the correct proportion, because that is not his proposal.

But I know he did some works as a sequential artist, like The Losers, for example, where he makes extremely tight pictures, always focusing on the expressions of the characters, and especially on the hands that he most likes to do.

His storyboards or sketches are very different, because his drawings do not follow the traditional way of being centered on the pictures, many of his characters are jumping over the pictures, to show the size of the action scene that Jock wants to do.

It is worth remembering that he mixes his drawings made with pencil and nanquin, with digital, often taking pictures of different landscapes or scenarios, and drawing over them, and mixing with his drawn character to make an interesting composition.

Despite all this, he has a very peculiar style, which many people complain about the lack of movement and poses that his characters does. That his lines are also very dirty and dark. But Jock says, that this is his way of drawing, that he likes to have a not so commercial style, like many other artists. He likes to play with colors and likes to draw his characters, in a little more simple poses, and glorifying the background.

Saul Bass

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and filmmaker, he’s known for designing movie posters and title sequences.

For 40th years, he worked with Hollywood greatest filmmakers, such as Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese and Billy Wilder.

Bass was born in New York in 1920, to a Jewish family, he was all ways drawing when he was a child.He graduated from James Monroe High school in the Bronx. He studied part time at art students league in Manhattan, and moved to Brooklyn College, where he had classes with György Kepes, a famous Hungarian painter and photographer.

He began in Hollywood in the 40’s, designing prints for films like champion (1949), death salesman (1951) and the moon is blue (1953).

He became widely known for creating the title sequence for Otto Preminger’s The man with the golden arm (1955), which’s about a jazz musician, addicted to heroin. Bass decided to create a poster which dialogues with the controversial subject, so he chosed the arm as the central object, as is a image which relates with heroin.

For Alfred Hitchcock, he provided memorable posters, like Vertigo(1958), North by Northwest(1959) and Psycho(1960).

For Martin Scorsese he had done the posters of The Goodfellas(1990), Cape Fear (1991), the Age of innocence (1993) and Casino (1995).

For Stanley Kubrick, he designed Spartacus (1960), and probably the best poster in his career, which is the poster from The Shining (1980).Kubrick, however, wasn’t amused. On the sketches themselves (which were later discovered in his personal affects) he wrote “Looks like science fiction.”Title looks small, looks like the ink didn’t take on the part that goes light,” and “Maze too abstract and too much emphasis on maze,” and, the most scathing of all, “Don’t like artwork.”

More discussions followed, and Bass agreed upon an illustrative approach of a large head peering through the title.As Kubrick instructed, the poster evokes both “terror” and the “supernatural.”

Bass once told,that his main goal for his titles sequences is “try to reach for a simple, visual phrase that tells you what the picture is all about and evokes the essence of the story".

James Cameron

James Cameron is a famous film director, which is for having two of the greatest box office films of all time, which are Avatar and Titanic. In addition, he is always revolutionizing in special effects, always bringing something new and revolutionary, but it all starts on his drawing desk, with his sketches and storyboards.

James Cameron has always been known for creating extremely interesting worlds, and completely out of the ordinary. Starting with the film Aliens, the sequel to Ridely Scott's film, where he expanded this world by creating an ecosystem for the aliens, in addition to showing futuristic equipment, for the space army that faces the aliens.

He also created concepts, for the Terminator films 1 and 2, where it was an idea never before seen of a robot that travels in time to kill a person. Its detailed perfectly drawn storyboards show one of the most interesting scenes in the film, where the terminator does a self surgery, revealing his true form.

And finally, once again creating a whole world, with a fauna and flora never seen before in the movie Avatar.

Cameron always wanted to create worlds, so he putted everything on a piece of paper when he was a child, where later, he took courses of drawings and did art colleges, to get a clearer idea of ​​how his worlds and characters could be.

Before being a director, he wanted to be a writer and an artist, but he never thought his ideals could be just in a book, he wanted to expand these ideas in a way never seen before.

Perhaps what impresses me most about James Cameron, besides being a creative force, is all the care he takes with his works, he said in an interview, which he always preserves all his storyboards, even from those films that he never made or did not work, and said that almost every day, he sits at his drawing desk and tries to come up with possible scenes for any film he is making. And when he creates an interesting scene, he tries to invent a whole story, to get to that specific scene.

 https://issuu.com/dteditore/docs/spidercameron-screen-eng/1?ff

Glen Keane

Glen Keane was born on April 23, 1954, in the city of Philadelphia, United States. Early on, he became interested in art while watching his cartoonist father Bill Keane draw. After finishing high school, he turned down a scholarship to play football and signed up for CalArts- California Institute of Arts.

Keane signed up for the painting program, he wanted to be a visual artist. However, his application was accidentally sent to the animation department, then Film Graphics. The college vetoed him to change course, so he stayed there.

Glen’s passion for painting helped him tremendously in animation, since the first skill an animator must have is knowing how to draw. Do not simply draw, but really know anatomy and how to give the illusion of weight.

His first work was Bernardo and Bianca in the kangaroo land. In the following years Keane worked on other features such as the Hound and the fox, Oliver and his gang , treasure planet, and the list goes on.

But it’s was at the time called the Disney Renaissance that Keane stood out. He animated Ariel the little mermaid, Beast from the beauty and the beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Tarzan, and most recently, was Rapunzel (Tangled).

At the time, Keane and the animators, had to use the traditional animation (by using paper), so him and his crew had to plan, all the scenes and poses, by doing storyboards, and later drawing on the paper frame by frame (the frequency to project a film in the cinema is twenty four frames per second, twenty four drawings in total were needed for each second of animation seen on screen).

There is no professional on the animation field, who does not know the name Glen Keane. He is the reference to all of them. What sets him apart, is his passion for his characters. During the production of the animations, Keane understands them and is thus able to perform better.

[charlierejouis]

My Cautious Optimism Towards the EDENS ZERO Anime

Well, the Edens Zero anime is almost here. We knew that it was going to come eventually, even before the announcement came. But it's weird to think of how close it actually is. I've seen a lot of thoughts surrounding the anime. While the reactions of people who don't like Mashima are predictable, there's a lot of concern coming from fans about how this will go. I've gone on record saying that I'm cautiously optimistic about the anime. While we're waiting for it to (officially) air, I want to share why.

Let's start with the positives.

When I heard that EZ was going to be animated, I didn't have high hopes for a studio. There was no way we were getting Shaft or David Production to animate this studio. I figured that a smaller name studio that has produced competent work would pick up the project. I threw out names like Studio Shuka or Studio Deen, responsible for animating Rave, as possibilities. I was surprised to see that it went to J.C. Staff.

I know that people were disappointed to see JC Staff considering their lackluster work on the second season of One Punch Man. But it feels unfair to judge the studio on just one production. The first season was the result of talented artists working under a great director. Both seemed to be unavailable working on another show to air the same season. We were never going to get anywhere near the same level of anime.

JC Staff has proven themselves to be great at adaptation. They've produced plenty of popular high-quality series. They were responsible for some of the best romantic dramedies of the past few decades in Toradora, Golden Time, and The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. They've handled popular Shonen Jump titles in Bakuman and Food Wars. In the way of action, their more recent work on DanMachi is a good sign that the studio has the talent.

There are a few specific names that I'm excited to see working on this project. First and foremost is Shinji Ishihira. Fans of Fairy Tail will recognize him as the man responsible for directing the series. Even as he's only serving as chief director, it's great to see that he'll be influencing this project. I loved seeing the additions he made to Fairy Tail in anime and it's great to see that he'll be working with Mashima on some level.

Outside of directing Fairy Tail, he's directed several other series, including Log Horizon which just got a third season. Though, his big claim to fame is his storyboards. Naturally, he's done storyboards for some of the series he's directed, including Fairy Tail. However, he's also done the storyboards for other big projects. Let's put it this way. He's done storyboards for some of the biggest episodes for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and My Hero Academia. I think he deserves more respect than people are willing to give "Fairy Tail's director".

Next is the show's composer. There were a lot of guesses as to who would get the nod. Most people figured that it would be Hiroyuki Sawano or Yasuharu Takanashi, teaming up with Ishihira for another project. Personally, I wanted Michiru Oshima to do the score because no one writes for an orchestra like her. Somehow, we got someone else: Yoshihisa Hirano. His work on Death Note and Hunter x Hunter is amazing and I can't wait to hear what's in store for Edens Zero.

On the voice acting side, Rie Kugimuya has come back to voice this version of Happy. And Sayara Ohara joins the cast to voice Elsie. Stuff like this tells me that there is a recognition of how this universe is at least somewhat tied to Fairy Tail and I’m not terribly against it. However, I'm particularly interested in the choice of Rebecca's voice actor. Fans of Re: Zero may recognize her as the voice of Minerva, Witch of Wrath.

Even glimpses of the anime are enough to get me excited. The opening and ending do well to reference future events and current powers and abilities. The ending even directly borrows images from covers. They even addressed a somewhat serious concern I had in Rebecca's ether signature being blue. (Though I wish it was a darker shade.)

So, why the caution? At least, two big things: production staff and Netflix.

You know how I was praising the staff for their past efforts? Those things don't necessarily entail an anime's success. Plenty of great creators have gone to make anime that don't live up to their name. 

If you think I'm wrong, consider the case of Boogiepop and Others. The reason JC Staff handled One Punch Man's second season was that the people from the original staff went to work on another series. While it wasn't a bad anime, by any means, it was a disappointment to many. It hasn't had as much impact as other shows from the same season. (For reference, it premiered the same season as Kaguya-sama: Love is War and Rising of the Shield Hero among others.)

But a bit more troubling is its streaming platform. I'll have the opportunity to watch it as it airs through Hulu in the States. But the vast majority of anime fans will have to wait until the show is available on Netflix. Netflix's "all at once" model has been known to kill the hype behind the anime it licenses. Much of the fun of watching seasonal anime is watching it and engaging in discussion with others as it airs. This will be lost for many people watching the show.

At the same time, maybe I'm overreacting. Seven Deadly Sins, which also came from Weekly Shonen Magazine was one of Netflix's first anime license pickups. It's been one of the most popular shonen action series. (certain things notwithstanding) And much of this staff has proven themselves to be reliable. Many seem to be excited to work on this series.

I just hope that this anime adaptation is good. I don't know that we'll get an adaptation that is better than the manga, and I'm not sure I want one. I don't know if this will be the series that gets people to actually respect Mashima's writing. All I want is an adaptation better than a glorified slide show. I already like the first ED which was done with HoneyWorks and hope similar songs come from this show. 

People have thrown around 25 episodes as the estimated length. I'd say that's enough to get to the end of the Digitalis arc. If they get another cour, Sun Jewel would be a good stopping point. I personally would have liked to see a long-running anime adaptation. However, as Black Clover has ended recently, I have to accept this will be a relic of the past era of anime.

In Conclusion:

There’s a lot of good things to be excited over with the EZ’s anime coming. Though, I’m worried about how it will go, I want to believe that things will work out well.

[lia-nikiforov]

Summer Anime Watchlist

We’re a couple of weeks into the summer and it’s time to decide which shows I’m gonna be keeping up with for the next three months. Because there was so much terribleness, I’m going back to my worst-to-best format for this list, so let’s get right into it

Dropped

Netsuzou Trap: Fetish lesbians are predictably terrible and gross, moving on…

18if: What was that first episode even about. It was so confusing and nonsensical and it also looked butt ugly. I’m guessing it’s trying to be Alice in Wonderland-esque but it’s just boring and weird. Heck, I’m not even sure if I was awake through the whole episode. Can’t be bothered with more

Keppeki Danshi Aoyama-kun: I was willing to give this a 3-episode chance but then ep 2 came along with the mandatory waifu character and I HAAAATE her. She’s literally my most detested heroine trope and I want to delete her from existence. Also the rest of the episode wasn’t particularly funny, but mostly I couldn’t stand the heroine girl and wanted her to die and can’t imagine myself suffering more of her insufferable existence one more minute. It’s a shame, I had good expectations for this show.

Saiyuki Reload Blast: Nothing particularly wrong with this one, but I wasn’t particularly hooked by it, and although it’s not very prohibitive for newcomers, I definitely feel I’d be more excited about these cool dudes being cool if I had any rapport with them. 

Inertia watching or let’s see how long until I can’t be arsed to keep watching

DIVE!! Oh wow, they actually made diving boring. A running theme this season is taking something interesting and making it boring. Just wow. The main character is borderline insufferable, his girlfriend is awful (and he is awful with his girlfriend) and his friends are milquetoasty forgettable at best. And the animation and visuals are so bad you’ll be hard-pressed to find an on-model shot of any of the guys and the diving itself looks so inconsequential. I’ll give it one more episode, but I’m honestly more than ready to drop it.

The Reflection: So this is a collaboration project with Stan Lee and on that alone it’s a bizarre and interesting thing that somehow was willed into existence. It’s a shame it’s a boring thing. The visual style is unique which isn’t necessarily a good thing, but I didn’t find it as terrible as others did, ymmv on that one. The story though, god was it boring. Also the plot doesn’t make any sense as of now, to the point that I’ve no idea what the story’s even supposed to be about. The animation is chunky and almost non-existent and the fight scene was just so dull. Idk, idk, idek what it is about, if next episode doesn’t give me something I’ll drop it.

(couldn’t even find a gif for this one lmao)

Re: Creators: Ah yes, just what this show needed, a sleazy eroge author to glorify plus giving “totally-not-the-protagonist” Sota an excuse to participate in the self-masturbatory megacrossover that’s apparently gonna take up the finale of this show. Did you know light novel writers are awesome? Light novel writers are awesome and this show won’t let you think otherwise.

Hitorijime my Hero: You know, going in I wasn’t aware there would be two focal pairs, but as soon as I found out I thought for sure the teacher-student one would be the problematic one… then along came the other couple that has its big moment when Dude A tells Dude B that he has to choose between fucking him or never talking again. Run for the hills Dude B!! Of course that’s not what happens and why must BL always be this gross ugh. I should also say the direction and storyboarding is a mixture of incomprehensible and terribly bland. Honestly hoping at least the teacher-student pair gets something interesting going soon or I might drop it

Katsugeki! Touken Ranbu: I think people doing Tourabu anime are missing out on a huge opportunity to appeal to bigger audiences by restricting their stories to the tomfoolery that is the game’s original plot. For a series that has a serious look like this one, I certainly expected some variation on the story, but so far it looks like I’m just watching Hanamaru without the village parts. I’d thought the show was going to be more about the actual Bakumatsu period –hence choosing Hijikata Toshizo and Sakamoto Ryoma’s swords as the main focus-. I think one of the show’s biggest shortcomings is that the villains are just loads of faceless minions so they don’t feel particularly threatening and although visually the fights are fairly cool, there’s just no tension or excitement. Will I end up dropping this one too?

Centaur no Nayami: it’s just okay? Mostly harmless? I hope demon girl is actually a lesbian and not just fetish lesbian? The merpeople skit was pretty good and it’s interesting how they’re politizing the racial issues of this Monster world, I certainly find those segments much more interesting than the ones where the monster girls are just being cute (the school play, for instance, was so boring I almost quit the episode halfway)

Vatican Kiseki Chousakan: This show is very stupid and also they say they’re going to South America but they actually show Mexico and cacti in the middle of the jungle what are they doiiiing? It’s also kinda unintentionally funny, although I think they piled way too many mysteries for the opening episode and it’s become way too convoluted. But having a notorious interest in Catholic iconography (even though my level of atheism is over 9000), I was very pleased with the accurate depictions of the martyrs, and mostly I’m rooting for the killer to succeed just to see how they execute Catherine’s and Lawrence’s martyrdoms. Please don’t let me down show.

Since there are no gifs for this show either, please appreciate the Road Closed signs in English with the cop car that says Policía Federal in Spanish

Honestly this part of the list is kinda vague, I don’t have a particular order of preference for these shows beyond not being notoriously impressed by any of them but also not bored to tears either

Shokoku no Altair: This one I wouldn’t quite call a disappointment, but it sure has a slow start. Episode 1 was quite confusing, the second one was way better but still feels like it’s lacking something. A problem I have is that the totally not Germanic dude is way too inequivocally evil. Politics and war are never quite that black and white, but this guy is so unsympathetic watching his different plans unfold becomes quite frustrating (I also have like zero tolerance for “cheating”, which is what all his practices can be categorized as). I feel the characters need a little more depth before I can get more invested in it. Also sad to see this one got the C-team from MAPPA ):

Ballroom e Youkoso: This might be my biggest disappointment of the season tbh? It’s fairly standard sports anime fare but it has done nothing particularly interesting to distinguish itself. The animation can be really impressive… when there is any, and that’s the crux of the problem here. We’re two episodes in and we haven’t seen a full dancing sequence. Heck, I timed the dancing in ep 2 and made barely 13 seconds of actual movement. Episode 3 clocked at a full minute in spite of being entirely set in a competition. There are just so many still shots it’s quite grating. I was really expecting to get a Stammi Vicino moment in episode 1, a show-stopping performance that enhanced the beauty and wonder of dance with a mesmerizing choreography and beautiful music, but the show seems too focused on being Haikyuu, emphasizing the power and OOMF of the moves rather than any artistry or fluidity, and don’t even get me started on the music because there isn’t any or it’s of minimum importance. I’m reaaaally hoping this one improves down the line

Fate/Apocrypha: I mean, it’s Fate and it’s dumb but it’s so far mostly (emphasis on mostly) inoffensive and the battle between Karna and Siegfried was pretty cool, A-1’s doing a fairly decent job of recreating that ufotable feel. I also quite like Mordred, she’s cool and fun and her dymanics with Sisigo are very equal, which is great when you compare how main girls were treated in relationship to Shiro in the main Fate series.

Made in Abyss: I wasn’t quite expecting to get into this one but it got really good critiques so I decided to give it a shot. So far so good. The aesthetics are bright and vivid and the concept is unique and exciting. There are some murmurs around the net about the source material that concern me so I’m only cautiously optimistic right now.

Kakegurui: I guess it’s fine? I’ve a feeling it can get really boring really fast (episode 2  featured a memory game and even the cheat was extremely bland, I was almost laughing at how surprised the other students were when the girls got pairs lmao), but so far it’s been more or less interesting, with engaging visuals and great voice acting, even if I’m not a big fan of the over-erotization of the whole thing. Sayokan’s OP is gr10.

The only inequivocally good (new) show this season

Isekai Shokudo: Although this is not an outstanding show in any aspect, it just succeeds at everything it sets itself to be and that’s a surprisingly rare quality this season. It has a pleasant, homelike atmosphere. I find it kinda funny that the characters get blown away by what looks like fairly standard Famires food, but it’s a sweet little show nonetheless. It’s unassuming and unambitious but it makes me feel happy (and hungry) and I enjoy it a lot.

The sequels from Spring that keep me sane

Boku no Hero Academia: We’ve slowed down a little for the internship part except OH NO IIDA WHAT IS YOU DOING SOMEONE SAVE HIM. I love this show

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul: None of the new shows this season were good enough to overcome the leftover sequels from spring, especially not Bahamut that has once again delved in the complexities of war and also given us Nina’s extremely baddass dragon gandma. I don’t have a lot more to say in the scarce two weeks since my last appraisal, other than the show continues to be utterly excellent in every regard

Damn this season is dead. I guess it’s a good time to catch up on my pile of shame? I’m trying to binge Symphogear to catch up to the new season, it’s a palatable type of garbage entertainment. I’m starting a Masters’ course in two weeks so maybe not having a lot of anime on my plate is a good thing? Let me know which shows you’re watching and which are your favorites of the season!

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Mini Golf Madness“

Written by: Haley Mancini

Written & Storyboarded by: Alicia Chan, Grace Kraft

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Mulligans are not necessary here.

The episode starts with an establishing shot of Wooly’s Ragtime Mini Golf, the Wooly’s clearly being a replaced word. Totally Not Old Man McGucket, or Wooly for short, tells everyone to have a “golf-tastic time”. Then he gets hit by the Wooly’s sign, revealing that it used to be owned by Rico. Is there a point to this? There might be, but it's never outright stated.

The golf course is filled with animatronics of 1930′s cartoon characters...and Top Cat! A very rare appearance of a Hanna-Barbera character not named Scooby Doo on modern Cartoon Network. I wish it was less rare. Unforunately, these robots are breaking down too easy, which could be our first hint that’s something is not quite right about this place. Bubbles doesn’t seem to mind, though. It’s still cute to her.

Buttercup plays a round of mini-golf, with her sisters helping out. Bubbles is the wind checker, checking the wind using her pigtails. Blossom is keeping score, and because she’s a nerd, she also suddenly talks about the history of the golf course. It was based on the characters from an old 1930′s cartoon called Owly Boop, an obvious parody of Betty Boop. Before Blossom can talk more exposition than necessary, Buttercup shoos her away while she readies her shot.

It lands in in animatronic’s trumpet, which then breaks down, dropping the ball right into the hole. Blossom tells Buttercup that her score is a -7. Buttercup scoffs that her score is a negative number because she’s doing so great, but Blossom reminds her that negative scores in golf are a good thing.

Buttercup: Well, it’s time for Buttercup to do terrible!

Too easy. Also, running gag.

After a montage of Buttercup “doing terrible“, Buttercup faces a giant animatronic Owly Boop at the “Final Hole“. Buttercup has gained enough of a crowd to get the janitor to act as a commentator, because she’s the first person at this mini-golf place to ace every hole so far. Judging by, this is her first try, too.

She swings super hard at the golf ball, making it fly. It hits the animatronic’s ear, an airplane, and a generic sign that says “Generic Sign“. The animators couldn’t get rid of the placeholders in time. It lands right between Owly Boops’ legs, rolling right into the hole.

Bubbles, now acting like the reporter as the janitor is busy with this episode’s poop joke, congratulates Buttercup on her first time perfect game, and asks her what she’s going to do next. Unfortunately, since this is Cartoon Network and not something that owns world famous theme parks, they can’t complete the obvious reference. Instead, Buttercup says she’s going to take her game-winning lucky ball back home.

Wooly isn’t too fond of that plan, as this golf place was built before the concept of having a final hole that is essentially a glorified ball return place. He menacingly tells the girls that all balls must be returned...OR ELSE! Buttercup asks, but he’d rather keep it a secret. He then does a villain laugh, because he's the suspicious guy!

Buttercup goes up to the ball return place, assuring Blossom that she’s a good girl and that she’ll return it like the man says. Of course, Buttercup has a diffterent plan. She just happens to have a gumball in the same shape as one of the mini-golf balls...which she then starts chewing so she can think harder. I’ll admit, that’s an okay joke.

Buttercup’s actual plan is to steal one of Bubbles’ reboot pigtail beads and use one of the blue balls as the replacement. Hey, they finally made Bubbles’ new design useful! We get an ominous shot of the Owly Boop robot opening its eyes while the Powerpuff Girls talk about how creepy Wooly and his course is, making it a bit too obvious what’s going to happen next.

Buttercup cherishes her lucky golf ball, as she and her sisters go to bed. While sleeping, Blossom hears a big explosion. Apparently, even Blossom has gotten used to the lack of crimefighting in this series, as she thinks the explosion was Bubbles farting. Bubbles says it wasn’t her, and then she actually farts. Because this is a piece of children’s media in 2017. I’m surprised there isn’t a pee joke to complete the trifecta.

Blossom tells Buttercup to get out of bed, and she wakes up the other two to show them what she’s seeing:

A shadowy giant singing robot that looks oddly familiar destroying the city. The Powerpuff Girls get out of bed and tear off their pajamas, revealing their usual clothes. Yes, they do apparently shed off their bare feet to reveal their shoes. Don’t even ask how.

It turns out, it’s the giant robot Owly Boop that guarded the last hole on the golf course, tearing apart the city in search for something missing. In her words, which she sings in the style of Betty Boop:

Owly Boop: Hooty-hoot, who’s got it? Hooty-hoot, who’s got it?

She dances around, sings in a jazzy style, and there’s shots like the one above, which fits with the Betty Boop theme of the character. Mostly, she just lifts buildings, leading to jokes like comforting a man who felt his room was too stuffy with that pesky ceiling, and the classic “reveal a woman bathing, causing her to scream“ joke. This is a throwback episode, so it fits.

Highlighting one scene in particular, the robot lifts City Hall like one of those step-on garbage cans to find what she’s looking for, grabbing the Mayor. This leads to The Mayor commenting that she looks just like Ms. Bellum except for her face. I’m glad that Ms. Bellum isn’t completely forgotten, though comparing her to a Betty Boop parody tells me they still don't see her for her personality.

He then cries, because he misses her, with Bubbles having to comfort him. Later on, there’s a cutaway where Bubbles reads him a bedtime story in the same way Ms. Bellum did in one of the flashbacks in Bye Bye Bellum. A more obvious callback to a previous episode? Who would have thought that would happen?

Blossom immediately knows what’s going on, and tells Buttercup that this is happening because she stole the golf ball. Buttercup tells Blossom that she earned it by being "terrible", and says she would do the same thing in her position. To Blossom, she's the epitome of morality, and she would never steal a thing. Guess she forgot about those golf clubs.

Buttercup, not willing to give up her lucky golf ball, decides to do what she actually does worst: actually beating up monsters in this reboot. To be fair, even in the original, if it would break the story, the Powerpuff Girls could, and should, not defeat the Monster of the Week. Catastrophe? The slime monster keeps reforming. Uh Oh Dynamo? Better have that monster be suddenly invincible so they can get in the robot!

The main issue, and I've written this before, is the lack of contrast. There's very little Girls Punch, Monster Down to establish the Powerpuff Girl's powers in the reboot, unlike the original where episodes often open with Townsville under attack and the Powerpuff Girls saving the day. It's a good thing Cartoon Network's website has original episodes as well, or we might forget that the Powerpuff Girls are supposed to be ultra-super-powerful.

Of course, robot kick, girl down. Womp womp, hooty-hoot-hoo. The way she does it isn’t too bad, though: she telescopes her legs to the sky, and then while Buttercup is confused, she kicks him in a way resembling Betty Boop’s dance moves. I like the way the robot is animated in this episode; I wish I made more GIFs.

Wooly shows up, not really concerned that one of his animatronics is destroying the town, but is concerned that whippersnapper is a thief. He tells Buttercup robot will not stop until what she has stolen returns. Huh, he sure seems to know a lot for being an innocent golf guy. He does a lot of evil laughs, too.

Despite everything, Buttercup still feels that she doesn’t need to give up that golf ball that she earned. Besides, it’s not like the city is totally destroyed! Cue the ironic panorama shot!

Wah, wah, wah, waaah.

Buttercup, having no choice, goes on top of a ceiling. She asks Bubbles to check the wind speed, and it’s apparently so strong that it blows Bubbles away. I guess the Powerpuff Girls are now weaker than wind. Buttercup repeats the same golf ball bounces everywhere gag from before, and the ball lands right into her mouth, shutting her down.

They all get ready for the once-an-episode apology scene, until the robot comes back to life with the startling twist! I won't entirely spoil it here, but you can add this episode to the massive pile of episodes that make Blossom look foolish.

Foolish enough for a wah-wah trumpet!

I will give this episode credit: despite consantly making him seem that way, they never really out Wooly as the villain that's the cause of all of this. This episode actually leaves an interpretation to the viewer, and that’s actually nice in a reboot not familiar with the word “subtlety“.

Does the title fit?

Madness is caused by a stolen mini-golf ball.

How does it stack up?

I didn't come to this episode expecting much, but I left rather surprised. The Owly Boop robot is charming, some of the jokes actually work, and it's great to see an episode involving superheroics. In Buttercup's way of thinking, this episode is "terrible". In other words, it's good. Wrap your head around that one.

Next week, the Bro Sharks. Oh, (Man)boy.

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