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kukuandkookie · 6 months ago

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Popping in with an agreement that the 1999 cartoon is amazing!! I have such a strong nostalgic fondness for it and the 2003 Nezha cartoon, and I always found them decently great adaptations in covering so much of the gang’s journey!

I admit I’m biased since it was basically my first (animated) introduction to the story alongside some really old books we owned and the snippets I caught of the 1986 live-action show. For the 1999 cartoon, we had the DVDs. 😆

Also its OP and ED are just. Such bangers.

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I will add there’s an English dub for this one that apparently aired on YTV (a popular children’s channel here in Canada), which I had no idea about until I was an adult and writing my undergrad thesis on (historical) Chinese animation. What is funny is that while the 1999 animated one is pretty family-friendly already, the English dub censors things to an almost nonsensical degree, so I’d recommend the original Chinese version if you want to experience it in its “true” glory—especially since the English dub also gets rid of the banging OP. 😅

There’s been a few different attempts by fans to sub the 1999 cartoon in English, so it might take some digging to really get to enjoy it (and the experience may not be complete if you don’t know Chinese and can’t find more subs), but if you can, it’s definitely worth it. 🙏

Which translation/adaptation of JTTW is best for beginners? Besides maybe Dragon Ball (doubt it counts)

Heh yeah I mean it’s a great anime but I don’t think you would have a good Xiyouji experience per se. Usually, I see Dragon Ball used as a gateway for people to THEN read/watch Xiyouji content but like it doesn’t really have much Xiyouji plot wise even if the characters are homages.

I would say that if you want an ACCURATE Xiyouji experience then you can choose between three shows. That being the classic 1986 which is many people's first Xiyouji experience as the cast is so iconic you see these designs in dozens of movies and their influence in future performances. The second is more family-friendly but still one of the most charming and fairly accurate portrayals is the 1999 Xiyouji animation, I would say far more younger people's first piece of media and without a doubt the best Xiyouji animation series thus far personally. That last I would suggest is 2011 Xiyouji series which is one of the more newer shows and I would say I would that if you want more modern effects and humor than this might be a preferance to the 1986 version. They both have their own charm but just depends on what you are looking for!

Now while these are the most accurate there are some Xiyouji media I would still recommend even if they take far more liberties.

This without a doubt being the 1996 tv series. This is portrayed as more of a drama but between the characters and the pure HEART AND LOVE that is in this show that you will be falling in love with the characters. It vaguely follows the Xiyouji monster of the weak formula but taking far more time to humanize each enemy and having our main cast overcome not only physical obstacles but also their own emotional obstacles as well. Fantastic show. Another is Chinese Odessey (please note this is a two part movie)! This does NOT follow the journey at all instead more of an introspective of the character Wukong. This is more of comedy but this is a cult classic as one of the first romance films with Wukong to show him as more of a complex hero which was a deviation from how he was portrayed in media for years as this point. This movie is silly but it is actually very heartfelt and makes you feel for these characters's plights. If you don't know Xiyouji I would say you will be confused, but you can fall in love with these characters anyway! Whil I can't suggest Dragon Ball I can suggest another Son Goku from My Son Goku! This is a Japanese production but the animation is so fluid and the characters are not only charming but there are some heart reaching scenes in this very cute art style! I would say give this a watch if you enjoy anime but also can appreciate angst even in a cute style.

If you are looking for more just great Xiyouji movies that you can pop in and a fantastic one is the 2015 Hero is Back! This was the Wukong come back animation-wise since 1999 and a lot of people first Wukong in the big screens! Does take liberties story wise as we don't see Sha Wujing or any of the journey really, but the HEART and soul of Sun Wukong is there. Another great one is just watching the first and classic 1961 Havoc in Heaven! This was the staple of Wukong iconics for decades and even now you see this Wukong in commercials! This is just a beautiful art style and without a doubt charming and feel good vibes. This one is surprising but actually Nezha Reborn where Sun Wukong actually makes a cameo appearance, but I hear so many people got into Xiyouji just cause how much they love him. So while it's not Xiyouji I would say give it a watch if you are a die hard Sun Wukong fan.

There is also Monkey King Reborn which while less known I still think is wonderfully popular and shows both great animation and also how all three characters of Wukong, Bajie, and Wujing interact in a movie. There is also Monkey King 2 which I know that usually I would say which the first movie but honestly the second movie is my personal fav. You don't miss much without watching the first as the second starts right at the begging of the journey and we are introduced to some of the best designs for these characters in my opinion. This last one is kinda of a hit-or-miss but Conquering the Demon! This one follows Sanzang as a demon hunter in a loosely based story of him finding his disciples, each more monstrous than the last in a dark-comedy! If you enjoy Stephen Chow films then you know what kind of humor you are going to get but it is new take on Xiyouji films in a unique but still entertaining manner! They really make you feel for Sanzang as a character and one of the best humanizations of him really as a man still learning about the world himself.

There some other that are great but I would suggest more on a second watch or if you know the story more! Saiyuki / The Great Alakazam was the first eng dub saiyuki piece of media that came to the USA and still had a lasting influence with the beloved character Rinrin! There is also Monkey King 2009 that only looks at the story BEFORE the journey, adding so many elements to Wukong's childhood and his relationship with the Six Eared Macaque. I would also suggest the Monkey King Netflix Movie as while it is fast-paced it really makes you understand how dangerous but also how complex Sun Wukong is. I think it was a charming movie so give it a watch!. Last is Immortal Demon Slayer! This movie was based on a web novel that was extremely popular in the early 2000s which was based off Chinese Odessey funny enough! This is a movie I would suggest if you know Xiyouji already but it such a tragedy I have to share if you love angst.

If anyone wants to share their what was their first Xiyouji or their favorite Xioyuji please let me know!

#journey to the west #kuku rambles #donghua #Youtube #kuku88

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izzysjunkdrawer · 2 years ago

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So like..... idk if anyone else has heard/watched this before but ill throw a line out anyway. Before there was an official English dub of the Ouran opener I saw a fan translated and sung version on youtube that, in my opinion still to this day after like.... 15 years or so, absolutely love and prefer that version to the official one even if I can only remember the opening line of it. It is still my go to when imagining the song in english. I still do not like the official one that much after revisiting it again too and I would love to watch the fan made version if it still exists on youtube.

My fear is that the person might have took their version down after the Official one was released. That or a multitude of other reasons one could take down or delete a video from youtube after a decade and a half. Now I may be a bit buzzed right now but if anyone one could magically reintroduce me to it or at least reminisce with me if you had heard it or prefer it that would be cool.

anyways like I said I only really remember the first verse which goes:

KISS KISS FALL IN LOVE

*music*

Its plain to see when I’m with you, my heart almost skips a beat, what is this thing I feel could it be Paranoia~

so that is all I remember but I wish I could hear it again. Listening to the official one is not as nostalgic to my brain I guess but he original Japanese one is still the best so I guess I’ll just jam to that instead.

#ouran high school host club #ohshc #im durnk #sorry ouran tag #if that is still active at all #idk i havent thought about it much for like 10 years...#still one of my fav animes #got me really into gender noncomformaty!#thanks Haruhi

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neocatharsis · 4 years ago

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NCT Dream Is All Grown Up and Ready to Show What They Can Do

On a warm, late summer evening of 2016 in Seoul, South Korea, seven boys hoverboarded right into the most defining experience of their youth. Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung, then aged 17 to 14 years old, were making their debut as NCT Dream — a subunit focused on the youngest forces of SM Entertainment’s mega-group NCT. Their first title track, “Chewing Gum,” was as bubbly as its name, with choreography that required nimble maneuvers on the two-wheeled vehicle.

Fast forward nearly five years, and the Dreamies — as they are commonly known — are ready to cross another major threshold in their lives. Their highly-anticipated, 1.7 million-seller first studio album, Hot Sauce, is out today (May 10).

A few days before that, the members huddled together for a conversation with Teen Vogue via Zoom. Clad in black hoodies, face masks, and a few bucket hats, the initial impression is a striking contrast to the vivid atmosphere of their bright, cartoonish teasers for this promo cycle. Rather, this is NCT Dream in the blue hour, right at that moment of transition between the haze of preparations and the awakened reality of their most prominent comeback so far.

“We haven’t even started the actual promotions yet, but just from receiving this much love and support from our fans, we feel very touched, very, very inspired and supported,” says leader and eldest member Mark. Today, he’s wearing a pair of round glasses that complement his laidback, chill nature, while his expressive hands ruffle through his ocean blue hair, settling across his chest in an embrace. “We’re just focusing on how we can return the love that we received from them through our music.”

To say NCT Dream have grown — in all competencies — is not only obvious, but a meager understatement. Through their four EPs, the hoverboards became cardboard cars, then bikes, then motorcycles. Voices deepened, limbs grew longer, jawlines became sharper. And with all that, a number of accolades and records followed. Hot Sauce is currently the best-selling album among all releases from SM Entertainment. And out of all four current NCT units, the Dreamies were the first to receive a music show win, for 2017’s single “My First and Last,” and the first no. 1 on Korea’s largest music chart, Melon, with 2020’s “Ridin.” They received numerous prizes in Korean award shows, collaborated with English singer HRVY, released a single with American boy band Prettymuch, and also became global ambassadors of the World Scout Foundation in 2019 (an experience that culminated in viral mosh pits during the 24th World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia).

“When we debuted as teens, a lot of our music was very bright and cheerful, and that went with our age,” says the lavender-haired Jisung, who is the youngest of the group at 19. Although they are still the same endearing rascals off stage — the most chaotic footvolley game ever comes to mind — they have now “transitioned through all these phases, and with each of them we were able to show a higher level of maturity,” he adds.

In that way, Hot Sauce is their most seasoned effort yet. “We wanted to show NCT Dream’s charms through this ‘hot sauce’ vibe,” says the suave Jaemin, whose attentive eyes remain locked on the screen for most of the interview. “We have a showcase coming up where we plan to show a lot of our b-side tracks for the fans, so we’re very excited for that.” According to Haechan, the resident ray-of-sunshine of the group and owner of one of the most unique vocal colors of K-pop, they prepared a long time for this moment, and want to “show off that spicy side.”

Show off might be the best word choice indeed, as NCT Dream has dabbled with fire plenty of times before in their discography. Think of the rubbery, sticky synths of 2018’s “Drippin’” and its lyrics about a soaking wet love, or the dangerous atmosphere in 2019’s “119,” where they call themselves “twisted” and say “I like it like that.” In Hot Sauce, what was once un condimento is now a full course meal.

The album stimulates the eyes through the psychedelic TV ad-meets-taquería of the “Hot Sauce” music video, the nostalgic ‘90s photography of the teasers, the zany illustrations of the album packaging. For the ears, a 10-track collection of scorching pop with Latin and Afrobeat-inspired sounds (“Hot Sauce,” “Rocket”) and trap and hip hop — “Diggity”, “Countdown (3, 2, 1)”, “ANL” — but also soothing balms like the soft rock of “Dive Into You” and the crystalline vocals of “Rainbow,” a track co-written by Mark, Jeno, Jaemin, and Jisung, where they express “words we want to tell our fans,” according to Shanghai-born star Chenle.

That is because the Dreamies have a special reverence for Dreamzens, their fans. If it wasn’t for their support, the group’s fate could look much different now. Although it might seem counterintuitive in hindsight, the original concept for NCT Dream was to be a rotational unit. Members would “graduate” once they reached 20 years old in Korea (19 internationally), and younger, fresher faces would be added to the ensemble. It can be said that NCT Dream embodied the core concept of NCT as a whole: they held the promise of youth, its shifting nature, and the willingness to dream. But to come of age on screen and experience such foundational moments of life together begets a lingering bond — a transformation that can’t be nullified so easily.

In December 2018, Mark was the first to leave — and the last.

Dreamzens knew how special the original lineup (dubbed 7DREAM until today) was, and stood by his return and the establishment of a fixed unit. In 2020, they rejoiced as SM Entertainment finally decided to scrap the graduation concept altogether and announce Mark’s return. Hot Sauce is their first comeback since this news. “When I heard that I was coming back, I realized how big of an opportunity this could be,” says Mark. “And not only that, but to be able to be part of our first full-length album, I felt like I was lucking [out]. It all comes with the timing and everything, so, from all angles, I felt like the world helped out on this, and that our fans helped out a lot too.”

The members are thankful for his return, too. “I like the members the most!” exclaims Chenle when asked about his favorite part of the comeback. At one point in the conversation, Haechan grabs Mark’s hand and dramatically declares, in English: “Mark, you are very special. NCT Dream means Mark.” He looks at the screen to make sure this moment is being registered. Flustered, Mark quickly pulls away and laughs it off as Jisung chimes in. “All the members have their own uniqueness, their own specialties, that’s the charm of NCT Dream.”

Soft-spoken Renjun, whose half-platinum, half-black locks are hidden underneath a beige cap, explains that he and his bandmates didn’t think much about the impending graduation when they debuted. “Especially because it was the [original] system for NCT groups, we just accepted that fact,” Renjun says. “But now that NCT Dream is fixed, there’s a lot of enthusiasm to come up with new concepts and ideas, and we’re very excited to show them.”

Jeno, whose sweet-eyed smile contrasts with his commanding rap and dance skills, says that they went through a lot of lessons and experiences since debut, but that the greatest one was “learning what we’re able to do and show in our stages, and through that, finding ways to connect with our fans and make sure they enjoy it.” After all, as Chenle adds, NCT Dream means “being able to dream the same dreams with our members and our fans.”

For now, they are ready to bask in the flavorful glory of this era, and all the outcomes it will bring. “One of our goals when we debuted was to bring happiness and healing to people’s lives, and we do feel like we were able to achieve that,” says Renjun.

“Our fans witnessed it all from the start. We grew together, so now it’s time to show what it is like with NCT Dream being adults,” adds Mark. “We can be a perfect example of what growth and development look like.”

#nct #nct dream #hotsauce

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catgirl-kaiju · 4 years ago

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Okay, so, I know lots of G fans hate on All Monsters Attack, but honestly... it's not THAT bad. Don't get me wrong, the fact that the movie relies so heavily on stock footage from previous films and the diminished focus on Godzilla in the film are less than stellar creative choices, and the English dub is just AWFUL.

However, I feel that the focus on a child character living in a clearly decaying and impoverished part of the city is a really interesting choice, and brings ideas of class, the effects of industrialization on urban communities, and childhood wonder into the franchise like no other film had really touched on at the point. Not to mention, that this film took place during a time of economic hardship for Japan after the burst of a bubble economy, and that is clearly displayed in subtle moments of somber reflection in the discussions between adult characters and the shots of polluting factories and abandoned infrastructure.

And, I know the main character can come off as annoying, but I'd hazard guess that lots of my fellow Godzilla fans were just like that as a kid.

Also, like, some of the scenes on Ichiro's imagined version of Monster Island really helped inform the fun idea of what it was like that I had as a kid. Something about running from the Kamakuras and narrowly avoiding being webbed by Kumonga really helps create a sense of peril that feels fun in a childhood adventure sort of way.

I feel like there's definitely significant room for improvement here, but it's not nearly as unwatchable as some people think it is.

Give it another watch sometime if you can. I reccomend the Japanese cut and dub over the US english dub for sure, but you might find something oddly touching and nostalgic in it.

#godzilla #all monsters attack #showa era #scout's brain #scout's spin #spin special interest #kaiju

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extremelyblackandwhite · 4 years ago

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handmaid - 23

PAIRING: mob!sebastian stan x ingenue!reader

WARNINGS: age gap

A/N: i wrote half this chapter listening to taylor swift’s enchanted which i dubbed a christmas song despite it not being a christmas song. i hope you enjoy xx

NEXT CHAPTER

The music was loud, too loud and Y/N could barely hear herself thinking. Between people congratulating Gwen and the overwhelming loud popular music, all Y/N wanted was to spend her birthday locked in her own bedroom reading Jane Austen but whenever she managed to dodge someone, a drunk associate would pat her on the back also congratulating her for her birthday. Darned drunk Daniel and his ‘it’s her birthday too’ sentence. Out of all 365 days in the year, she just had to be born on the same day as the heiress which she initially thought would make her invisible but suddenly everyone wanted to congratulate her too.

Dodging another one of her friend’s father’s drunk associates ready with a hiccupped speech, Y/N quickly climbed up the stairs, happily sighing when she finally got to some sense of quietness where she could read. Opening the red leathered book, Y/N let herself delve into the world of Jane Austen and the swooning love scenarios that came along with it.

With her nose stuck in the book, she started to pave around the floor, dancing around as she imagined the beautiful dance scenes in English regency balls. She could only imagine dancing with your loved one, with the shyness of the sun laying over winter snow, wandering eyes and slow, soft and comfortable dancing. She continued on her mindless dancing which was interrupted by her hitting something.

- Oop ... - Y/N looked up from a book into a pair of the most beautiful light blue eyes she had ever seen in her whole entire life. - I’m so sorry.

- No, I wasn’t watching where I was going. My fault entirely.

- No, I wasn’t paying attention.

- What are you reading there? - he pointed at her book which she had closed over her finger as to not to lose the place of reading. - Jane Austen? A favourite?

- I prefer Emma but Pride and Prejudice is a classic. Are you a fan?

- I’m more of a Charlotte Brontë kind of guy myself. - he gave her that sort of smile that only old Hollywood stars could pull off. The type of smile morphing into a smirk that pulled you in with its sense of effortless coolness and mystique. A dangerous smile if she knew better. - That is if we’re speaking of English writers. My father has a very long personal collection.

- Well, the Forrests aren’t the reading type from what I’ve gathered.

- Say, I’ve never seen you around before. Whose family do you belong to?

- Oh, I ...

- There you are. - a much older man, probably in his early 60s but very dapperly dressed with his hair pushed back and the same blue eyes the unknown man standing in front of her. She guessed they were somehow related by their matching features. - I thought we had discussed being late to meetings before.

- I got distracted, father. - the much younger man shrugged. Y/N stood there, playing with her fingers, fully aware that the atmosphere had shifted into something more awkward than what she preferred. It became even more uncomfortable once the much older man made eye contact with her, making her feel much more smaller than before, head snapping back to her feet. - You sure have a particularly familiar set of eyes there. Have we met before?

- No, I don’t think so. - she played with the ends of her hair, hoping the Earth would open and swallow her.

- What family do you belong to? I’m sure I’ve seen those eyes before.

- BIRDIE! - Y/N turned around to see Dan power walking towards her. - Gwen is waiting for you to cut the cake. Say goodbye, c’mon.

Y/N just stood there, not entirely sure of what to reply to Mr. Williams’ remarks about her. She wasn’t a mistress and she surely wasn’t aiming to be one on the women she had grown accustomed to see coming in and out of the house during her childhood. Sure, she was having some sort of ... affair, if it could be called that, with Sebastian but she wasn’t his mistress. No, she would never be his mistress for that to happen he would have to want to be with her and following last events, he really wasn’t. Besides, she wasn’t like him and she would never be like him.

- I understand your struggle, miss. It must be really hard to see the man you care for not care for you.

- With all due respect, Mr. Williams, I really don’t enjoy your assumptions about me or Mr. Stan. It’s incredibly disrespectful.

- He’s not gonna call you, birdie. I see you checking your phone but trust me. He might not be like his father where it matters but when it comes to women, they’re the same man.

- Don’t call me birdie. - she mumbled, the affectionate nickname given to her by Dan when she was younger losing its innocence as it came out of the associate’s mouth. - I really would like it if you left.

- Don’t be so upset. In this world you have to play dirty to get ahead and you’re surely get to get dirty to get ahead ... You’ll surely have enough money to do whatever you want if you keep going.

- I don’t want any money but I don’t wanna be part of this conversation. - she cleaned her hands against her apron, walking off the kitchen with a decisive step. Ignoring most questioning looks from those at the table, she climbed the stairs back to her bedroom, locking the door behind her.

She was no mistress and she definitely did not want Sebastian’s money and the mere speculation that that was all she cared about made her sick to her stomach. If she were to care about money she would’ve gotten it very much early on. With sadness and heaviness in her heart accompanied by shame of being seen as nothing more than a passing fancy, Y/N sat down against her bed frame, hand moving to grab one of her bedside table books.

Out of all the books she blindly had to pick, out of all novels she had spent her teenage and early adulthood reading, the one she had picked was a particularly old one with a red leather binding and golden title letters. Her fingers softly moved across the cover, feeling the bumps and tears of time over the leather. It used to be her favourite during her early young adulthood years and Y/N was sure she had read it over a thousand times. As she opened the book, it fell onto a slightly crinkly page. She furrowed her brows, not remembering when she had crinkled the page until a polaroid fell onto her legs, photo front down.

Curiously, Y/N closed her book, setting it next to her in the bed before grabbing the polaroid on her legs. She swiftly turned it around, noticing her handwriting on the border ‘18th’. She smiled nostalgically noticing her young face in the sea of people, wearing an oversized babydoll dress which most likely belonged to Gwen, Mary Jane style shoes with the very same necklace nestled between her collarbones and a polite smile. However, what called up for Y/N’s attention was right in the middle of the photo, standing next to Mr. Forrest, was a man probably in his mid to late 20s wearing a dark burgundy suit which made her blink twice, making her pull the photo closer for inspection. His hair was a bit longer and shaggier and his face a bit fuller due to younger age but she could recognise those eyes everywhere. Dan was right, Sebastian had been at Gwen’s 18th and for all that was safe and holy she just couldn’t remember it.

Looking around as if she were afraid of being caught, she jumped off her bed, grabbing her book to stick the polaroid back inside and both of the objects inside one of her suitcase’s pockets, covering by various fabric items. Something told her that she had to question him about that particular event whenever she got the chance. Afterwards, she took her phone from her pocket to check if he had maybe tried to call her back or message her but nothing, only the clock and her lock screen. Two minutes past midnight, Christmas day. It was Christmas and that gave Y/N the excuse to give him another call. As expected by the darkest most negative part of her brain, all she heard was “The number you have dialled is unavailable, leave your message at the end of the tone”.

- Hey Sebastian, it’s Y/N ... you probably know, you have called ID ... - she was rambling and could hear her heart thumping on her throat as if they’d never spoken before. - I just wanted to say ... Merry Christmas.

- Hey Birdie. - Dan opened the door of her bedroom, making her drop her phone onto the floor by surprise. He furrowed his eyebrows at that behaviour. Y/N certainly didn’t use to be this easy to fright. - We’re opening presents, c’mon.

- Yeah, I’m going. - she forced a smile, grabbing her phone to finish the call before following him down the stairs.

Thirty minutes away from the place was she was spending Christmas, back in the Upper East Side, Sebastian was standing inside his office, brandy filled glass as he watched the sights from the large windows and how the snow fell disregarding and uncaring of any other circumstances.

He was much too lost watching various people come out of their houses to celebrate the snow, lost in his own thoughts until the beep of his answering machine removed him from his mind. He shot a look towards the rather old school device as a very familiar voice came through “Hey Sebastian, it’s Y/N ... you probably know, you have called ID ... I just wanted to say ... Merry Christmas.” He placed the glass on this desk, getting closer to the device, finger pressing the rewind button causing the melodic voice to return which wishes of happy holidays. The mob boss smiled at her rambling, how she would go on and on before stopping herself and how sweet she sounded at the end.

- Sir ... - a light knock on his door following by the creaking of the door made him remove his finger from the rewind button. - I’m leaving for tonight. Is there anything you require?

- No Amelia, thank you.

Back at the Forrests, Y/N was cuddled and wrapped with a red blanket, a cup of peppermint tea in hand as she watched Gwen open the large majority of the presents with a child-like enthusiasm along with Dan’s daughter Sophie. With a very soft and absent minded smile, she couldn’t help but get lost in her own fantasies as she watched Sophie’s eyes light up as she showed her father the stuffed bunny she had just unwrapped. All she could see was the Christmas tree back in the penthouse surrounded with various presents wrapped in shades of red and gold as a child showed Sebastian their own presents. Yet, she knew it was only in her mind and that she probably would see that but the child would be Gwen’s.

- Now it’s Y/N’s turn. - Mr. Forrest handed her a card sized present. - Merry Christmas, Y/N.

- Thank you. - she placed her tea cup on the table, carefully opening the present which led to another little box. Removing the lid, it showed a golden key with a matching gold bird keychain all surrounded by white cushioned fabric. - Oh ... thank you. Is it a necklace?

- No. - Dan chuckled. - It’s a house key.

- But I already have the key to this house.

- Well, dad and I have been discussing it and after Mr. Stan and Gwen get married, we thought you might want to start your own life. - Dan had that grin that seemed to appear whenever he was truly proud of himself. - So, we got you an apartment in Paris, like you always wanted. View to the Tower Eiffel and all.

- Oh ... - once again Y/N questioned her full on lack of happiness. She had a place to start her life where she always wanted, she had a house, one she didn’t have to pay for. Forcing a smile, she nodded her head. - Thank you so much, Dan, it’s lovely.

- I can help you make your arrangements after the wedding. - he added and started to ramble on how he knew a great interior designer while Gwen kept questioning her father how come she didn’t have an apartment in France, probably forgetting she had an apartment on almost every single European capital including London, Madrid and so on. She nodded, not really listening to his rambling until her phone vibrated on her jeans’ pocket. Looking down, she noticed a text from her phone company warning her that she had a message in her voicemail box.

- Can you excuse me? - she asked the people surrounding the living room, getting up from her comfortable position. All but one, Mr. Williams, nodded. He instead watched her with hawk like eyes as she removed herself from the living room and paced onto the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

She could feel her body shake, her breathing getting irregular as she dialled the number that led to her voicemail messages. As quick as a second, the voicemail started to play but instead of listening to anyone speaking all she could hear was low breathing mixed with the non existent sound of silence. Her heart sank, this was probably a butt dial. As she was about to turn off her phone a familiar roughed yet laced with sweetness and nervousness came from the speaker.

- Merry Christmas, my angel.

tag list: @lilya-petrichor @xoxohannahlee @irespostthingsiwanttoseelater @nikkipea @madisonpillstrom @cevans98 @thelostallycat @sideeffectsofyou @anxiousdreamersworld @captainchrisstan @lookiamtrying @sarge-barnes-sir @stuffforreferences @thebadassbitchqueen @sebastianstansqueen @nsfwsebbie

#sebastian stan #sebastian stan x reader #sebastian stan/reader #sebastian stan x you #sebastian stan/you #sebastian stan x y/n #sebastian stan/y/n #sebastian stan fic #sebastian stan drabble #sebastian stan imagine #mob!sebastian stan #mobster!sebastian stan #mafia boss!sebastian stan #mob boss!sebastian stan

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zerochanges · 3 years ago

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My 2021 Media Binge Reviews

2021 was a weird year for me personally; full of a lot of downs, and yeah that’s pretty much it, there weren’t really any ups to speak of, just downs, it just kept going down and down–in fact I think it hasn’t stopped yet, I’m still falling, please god, make it stop, things get worse every day. ah-hum Excuse me, ignore that. My year honestly isn’t probably all that different from a lot of others’; it was the same old, same old: work sucked and drained my life, my health declined, a family member died, and covid just kept trucking. To say this year burned me out would be an understatement. I won’t really elaborate too much more than that, it’s all just useless self gratifying prattling anyways, whatever, who cares, but because of how hard my year was it sent me down a couple new rabbit holes and also really kept me from engaging in my usual hobbies.

Usually at the end of every year I list off my favorite video games and anime but damn man, I really didn’t play that many games this year, and shit, I can’t even remember when x anime aired and if it was from y season or even if it was from this year. It all just runs the same and blurs together now in some gelatinous apathetic blob known as time. But I did do stuff this year! I did find comfort in this living hell known as reality. So I thought as an experiment it would be interesting to discuss and go over the media I binged this year instead of just listing and ranking random shit that came out between the months of January and December. If it catches on, maybe I’ll try to do it again next year, I'm not sure, but making a media year-in review seems like it’s popular nowadays. Right? I see a lot of really long, annoying, and impossible to follow threads on social media dedicated to that at least. Well whatever, who even cares anymore.

By the way if you are wondering why all this is happening a week into the new year, my own health declined once again, literally on New Year’s Eve, yup, ended that year just right. Well, being overdramatic, but damn, I got sick during New Years, so I’m a week late.

One Piece

One Piece was my rock this year. It got me through the worst that 2021 brought me and marathoning episodes well into the night just to wake up and watch more episodes in the morning was all I could do in order to keep living. It was nostalgic and comforting since it’s been going since I was a kid, but also all new and exciting since it will never end and there is so much content to digest that there’s always something to discover.

Now, One Piece fans will laugh at me for sticking with the Funimation redub of the series, but I have grown very fond of it over the years and found it best suits my watching habits. I try to just sit down and complete entire story arcs of this behemoth and then take a break from the series when I need a break. It just makes it more digestible and easier to sit through, I cannot even imagine trying to follow it every week anymore. The English dub is still stupid behind but this watch method of mine makes that less of an issue since I still haven’t caught up with the dub anyways.

That might change though in the near future as I progressed a considerable amount this time. I watched over some 220+ episodes this year, picking up at Thriller Bark where I last remembered watching it and going all the way through Punk Hazard, finally getting past the time skip, it felt so good. I plan to pick up Dressrosa now too, since the dub is in Zou and I know I can watch all 100-something episodes of that arc in peace with no fear of waiting for the next volume.

This chunk of One Piece I watched this year was especially fantastic and highly beloved in the fandom, and it’s easy to see why. Impel Down, Marineford, Post War, all these arcs are masterfully done and set in motion such unforgettable moments in the series. And here I was at my lowest pigging out on these episodes nonstop, life was good then. Updating my current personal list of favorite story arcs for One Piece I think it is now:

Arlong Park

Impel Down

Post War

Loguetown

Thriller Bark

Robotech

One of the better things to come out of this year is the end to the long (and at the time) seemingly never ending dispute between Harmony Gold and Macross, and I am hopeful that we will be seeing more Macross in the near future. For now, we have the first ever blu-ray release of Robotech, and I’m a slut so I bought it and began my rewatch of this 80’s classic largely because of that.

Robotech is controversial because of the terrible things Harmony Gold has done but now with this hopefully behind us we can appreciate it a bit more. For many it was a landmark experience and a gateway into anime and a damn fine attempt at localizing material that never had any chance over in these necks of the woods. Robotech is legitimately fairly fascinating and well crafted for what it was. The writing is sharp, and even the voice acting holds up surprisingly well–and it is some of the earliest known roles for a bunch of now prolific voice actors in the anime dubbing community like Wendee Lee and Tony Oliver who seems even more famous and beloved now than back in his heyday of the early 2000s. I remember hearing him in so many dubs then and he never seemed to get much attention so it’s funny how much the American Lupin fandom has claimed him the definitive English Lupin. Getting off track there, my bad, just been thinking about how much people’s perception for celebrities (do anime voice actors count?) change the longer you live.

Super Dimension Century Orguss

This is a show I wanted to watch for a very long time. For about 6 years to be exact. When Discotek originally released Orguss on DVD back in 2015 I was beyond excited to get it but one thing led to another and I just sort of lost track of time. It didn’t help that this DVD set in particular never really seemed to go on sale that much and was on the more expensive end. Because of that I decided to wait for an eventual BD release from them since it is a fairly common business tactic from Discotek. When they finally got around to rereleasing the series on blu-ray this year I was all in!

I got to tell you guys, Orguss is weird. Like really, really weird! I never experienced a show like this before, it’s honestly really hard to even explain it! I don’t even know where to start with this thing! The main character is a complete asshole and total pervert. Somebody like Kei would never be in a TV show today, especially as the main protagonist. At best maybe a funny side character but not the main guy. Kei is a total horndog, he cheats on girls, he can’t keep it in his pants, his main fling in the show is with a girl who has a fiancé already, and did I mention he caused the end of the world?

The show starts with my dude for whatever reason breaking military order and deciding “Screw it! I’ll detonate this extremely complicated and very dangerous weapon of mass destruction that needs exact calculations to work” and causes a calamity that implodes like every Alternate Reality into one. I don’t know, does this count as an isekai? To Kei this is like being flung into some parallel universe but it is actually his own Earth! Just that every other parallel universe Earth is also now conjoined in it. Honestly it sounds like some DC crisis superhero comic cross-over event instead of an anime. I have no goddamn idea how Big West thought this should be the follow-up to the highly acclaimed and profitable Macross and I can totally see why it was considered a flop during its time for falling to live up to Macross. It’s like going from Star Wars straight into David Lynch’s Dune. We are firmly in psycho weird ass anime territory with this one, and goddamn I freaking love it. Orguss is wonderful. Also, the opening theme song is iconic.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

I only ever watched Eva once, back when I was in High School. Back then I remember thinking it was okay but also that it just kind of really bummed me out and it probably wasn’t for me. I more or less kind of wrote it off as overrated as very intelligent and worldly teenagers often do and moved on with my life. Over the years I became more interested in the series that served as major inspirations to Eva, this was not because of Eva though and I often didn’t realize they even were its inspirations until much later after people brought it up. For me that meant having to defend the likes of Devilman and Space Runaway Ideon from Eva fans that saw them as only stepping stones of Evangelion. To this day, I find this debate annoying and honestly detrimental to the enjoyment of some series–but honestly my biggest regret is that I never went back to revisit Eva because of it.

As an adult, I definitely ‘get’ Eva much more now. Shinji chanting “I mustn’t run away, I mustn’t run away” is me every morning in my parked car sitting outside of work on the verge of a mental breakdown as I force myself to go inside and pray to whatever god in the universe that might listen that I won’t die of covid today in this hellscape I unfortunately have to call my home. Shinji as a protagonist is something I can relate to a lot more in my mid-30s than I ever could have as a teenager. The series honestly feels less like a head trip to adult me and more like a deep dive into somebody’s depressive episode and how to cope with a world that is constantly collapsing around you. In this regard it’s one of Anno’s sharpest works which is another thing I respect. Despite my prior disinterest in Eva I always found Anno to be extremely talented and loved many of his works, from Shin Godzilla to Kare Kano to Gunbuster, all seminal works with great direction, atmosphere, and writing–and now as an adult revisiting Eva I can say the same of it as well.

I love how Shinji as a character has a pretty classic tired-and-true character arc throughout most of the TV series as he grows, socializes more, and comes out of his shell–only to be abused so badly at the eleventh hour by his father forcing him to almost kill a friend and regressing back into an even worse state than he started the series in. It’s poignant, my boy was shot down the second he was starting to fly again, that’s toxic people for you. Shinji’s rage, paranoia, and sense of betrayal upon having to fight Kaworu is honestly the high point of the entire series to me. “You betrayed me! Just like my Father!” It’s at this point the young man has completely lost his marbles, and I love it.

The final two episodes of the series are rough, and for many leave a lot to be desired but I think it’s my preferred ending. The End of Evangelion films are fine, and I like some parts of them better, it certainly gives Asuka closure and not to mention way more to do! But overall, I actually think the original TV series ending as-is was thematically more poignant and just more interesting.

Coming back full circle to where I started, it seems like I don’t need to come up to bat for Devilman anymore; it having its own resurgence with Masaaki Yuasa’s very excellent Devilman Crybaby reaching new generations. I still think I’m more of an Ideon guy though at the end of the day. Ideon’s tenuous relationship to Eva really has brought it nothing but hardships honestly. So many people expect a show like Eva when they watch Ideon but Ideon is far more cut from the same cloth of the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam than it is of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The front half especially of Ideon is far more inline with the episodic early portions of Gundam granted on a cosmic scale and with some mysticism thrown in but it’s the back half of Ideon where it gets downright Lovecraftian. Sadly most Eva fans never get that far. Also Ideon can kick Unit 1’s ass any day of the week, fight me. Ideon destroyed entire planets, and eventually galaxies, and maybe even the universe itself. The ideon wins every time!

I ended up spending some stupid money on this because of the classic dub being taken hostage in a special edition set, but I don’t regret it. This was how I wanted to watch Eva again and goddammit I had a great time watching it again. I definitely can see why a modernized dub was needed, and I definitely see the merit and quality put into it, but I just couldn’t accept the large amount of recasting despite the new actors all being incredible talent that I love in other works. To me, recasting Spike Spencer is like recasting Sean Schemmel as Goku, it’s just not something you should do. Apparently somebody else out there agreed since he has reprised the role again post redub.

Twin Peaks

Oh boy! Here we go again! This was my biggest obsession of the year! Twin Peaks! A few years back I tried to get into Twin Peaks and I am pretty sure I got somewhere in the middle of season 2, before the murder was solved (I never had that spoiled for me thank god) but just didn’t finish it. This year, I finally came back, I just had to really cross this one off my list. It felt great! This is such a remarkably quirky and iconic series and it had such a huge influence on Japanese nerd culture, and hell after reading a lot of essays and watching the show Twin Peaks probably even changed the landscape of American television forever. But the Japanese nerd end is definitely where my interest lies. Watching the show I had glimpses of Suda and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and of course survival horror games, Silent Hill and Deadly Premonition being the biggest most obvious instances. It was almost like Twin Peaks was some primordial ooze that birthed all these great and wonderful things that I grew up with and obsess over so finally coming full circle to Twin Peaks, I obsessed over it all the more.

At its core is just such a wonderful and fun show and the main character Dale Cooper easily is at the heart of it giving great sage wisdom that I find myself now trying to live by and just having a general quirky zest for life that feels refreshing and wonderful. Coop is just a joy, and I wish more modern TV shows would ape this too, we need protagonists that are just wonderful people that are excellent to everyone. When you start the series you have no idea what this guy is about, he seems cool but there isn’t really anything to go on, hell back when it originally aired in 1990 there were even some people who were initially confused at who the main character was supposed to be after the pilot aired. But then a couple episodes in, Coop is talking about Tibet, solving crimes by playing baseball, and having strange cryptic dreams that he believes whole heartily will solve the mystery. It’s a wonderful progression as you slowly learn more about Cooper and slowly become more entrenched and in love with this small town and the many people that live here.

For me the original first two seasons are peak Twin Peaks, it’s the show at its best. I know a lot of people think the second season starts to go downhill a bit after the creators were forced to solve the murder of Laura Palmer, something that David Lynch was adamant about never wanting to do since it was a plot device to steer the entire show. And I agree that at first the second season can be a bit rocky, post Laura Palmer murder, but it picks up and gets great again if you ask me. It’s everything after Season 2 that falls off a bit.

To me, the film Fire Walk With Me, is both a masterpiece and the worst entry in the series. It’s beautifully shot, has some incredible lore, great moments, lines I quote constantly, but not the right tone. The darker subject material, that being a prequel that gives you an in-depth look at the rape and murder of Laura Palmer, is … how to say it lightly, a downer. This movie made me downright depressed when I watched it. It’s wonderful but this is one that hurts. It hurts a lot to sit through. There’s no levity in the whole film once it starts covering Laura’s last week alive, and there is no quirkiness the series had. It’s violent, upsetting, and beautiful. I can see why the film was initially misunderstood and hated when it came out.

The Return (aka Season 3) almost feels like a combination of the two, it is a darker, harsher, more cruel Twin Peaks, some 25 years later, but it is still Twin Peaks. The humor and tone return to level out the violence and harder to watch aspects that the series gained with Fire Walk With Me. It’s a strange season but it is great to see a series become un-canceled even after 25 years. This season initially was hard for me to follow and I wasn’t into it as much as the first two seasons, and still now I think those are my favorite, but The Return is something that grows on me, especially more as I analyze it and try to understand the deeper meta narrative behind it. I wasn’t sure if I would ever … return to The Return but I think in future rewatches I will. As a finale it’s not exactly what people want, the unconventional ending can easily leave you feeling confused, and maybe upset. But the more you examine it, the more you look at it outside of the context presented in the show, the more you can see what it is doing is something special.

Overall, there is nothing really like Twin Peaks (except Deadly Premonition, that nails it) and it’s something that needs to be experienced. It was one of the best TV experiences I have had in a really long time, and obsessing over it, and later the works of David Lynch, have kept me going long after I finished the final episode. That said, my God, I don’t think I will ever forget some scenes from the show. To not spoil anything, let's just say “It is Happening Again” is forever a scene that will stay with me. It was quite possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced in television.

On another note, the blu-ray set I bought had these wonderful menus that played clips of the show, all curated around themes or commonly used motifs in the show and I absolutely adored the amount of effort that went into giving each disc its own. When I reached The Return I was gutted to find that these discs did not do that. This isn’t uncommon, I’m no stranger to companies reprinting older discs with just a different label on top of them so I am sure they simply grabbed already authored discs for logistical reasons and used them but losing those wonderful menus made the transition to The Return all the more jarring. Man, those original discs had so much personality and were made with so much love for the show, and The Return discs are so bare bones, and so depressing. Don’t get obsessed and over analyze media kids, or else you become a 30-something that talks about DVD menus.

David Lynch films

I am going to start off by saying I know David Lynch directed more films, I don't have them all, but I have give-or-take almost all of his feature films on blu-ray that are easily purchasable. I know Inland Empire is long OOP and DVD only in the US, and I don’t want to mess around with importing European BDs and there’s a few other oddities like that, but so far, what I got this year, I am happy with. I haven’t seen every film here yet too, but burning through Lynch’s filmography is something I am enjoying at my own pace and I just wanted to mention that I am doing that.

Obviously, like I said above, my love for Twin Peaks was so much that it made me branch out into all other David Lynch material. I have grown rather fond of the man, he is a true artist and I greatly respect him. I enjoy his work, his outlook on life, and just listening to him. My YouTube history at one point was just video after video of interviews and keynote speeches from Lynch on movies, art, meditation, and just anything else. Lynch is such a fascinating individual, he makes some of the hardest, most violent, thought provoking horror I have ever seen but in real life is the kindest, most gentlest, charismatic, charming little old man. He’s too adorable in a lot of ways. You can truly tell every work of Lynch is 100% sincere, he puts himself into everything and wears it all out on his sleeve to create something beautiful. There’s no corporate world BS or just doing a job because you need a job, the man is an auteur, you can identify David in every one of his movies. That’s him. That’s so him. His work is himself.

Out of everything I have seen so far, I think my favorite of his films are probably Blue Velvet and Lost Highway. For Blue Velvet it’s easy to see, it is almost in many ways prototype to Twin Peaks, maybe that’s my dumb Twin Peaks fan way of interpreting the film but I can’t unsee it. It’s a fascinating movie and probably the most conventional and easy to digest film from Lynch. You can’t help but get a certain Twin Peaks vibes in how the film presents a good vs evil dichotomy, and Dennis Hopper is hopping mad in the film as Frank Booth, which is legit just Killer Bob from Twin Peaks. Lost Highway I love for the elements of identity and how people aren’t who they seem to be. The mystery is unsettling, and the villain, if you can call him that, once again steals the movie as a truly haunting performance from Robert Blake, who turned out to be an actual murderer in real life too, so yeah, go figure. Lost Highway is a real head trip though about reality and what we think is reality, and how we all shape our own identities, sometimes to even hide ourselves from none other than us.

#New Years #David Lynch #neon genesis evangelion #One Piece #Robotech #Super Dimension Century Orguss #Twin Peaks

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urirealvibekiller · 4 years ago

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˚ ． ♡ this is an idol life ship for @thechoppersan !! sistah nana !! i love you loads and loads okay :(( <3 hope you enjoy this ehehe !!

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˚ ． ♡ your entertainment company

˚ ． ♡ your pre-debut days

you were scouted at the sm town concert in brazil. you were a little bit skeptical and unsure at first because it is such a big decision and although they were offering you a place among their trainees, it wasn’t guaranteed that you would debut so you had your doubts but ultimately, you decided to give it a chance.

of course there were some challenges at first such as the language barrier, rigorous training, and your naturally shy personality. but that didn’t last long; you made friends with fellow trainees and the place practically became your second home.

you’re a fast learner and a hard-worker so you adjusted to everything and everyone was impressed with how fast you learned the language and how diligently you work everyday.

you trained for four years before debuting.

˚ ． ♡ your position(s), role(s), and what you’re known for

you are the lead vocalist, lead dancer, and visual of the group.

you’re also known as the quiet one of the group as well as the fake maknae. however, you’re the fake maknae because of how young you look and initially, fans mistake you as the maknae. your group members don’t ‘baby’ you or anything though. if anything they respect and adore you.

you’re also known for your artistic abilities

you’re playfully dubbed as snsd taeyeon’s sister (i had to, i’m sorry ahahah), which makes sense since you guys are from the same company and look similar.

you actively participate in the songwriting process.

˚ ． ♡ your group

there are four members in the group, including you.

your group was hyped both by the company and by fellow artists even before the actual debut.

your group members (in order of age) includes:

soo-ah (’91-liner) is the oldest and the leader. she’s from seoul, korea and she trained for six years before debuting. she’s the main vocalist and lead rapper. she’s the official mom of the group and is known for her cute nagging. she’s a great leader and can be strict during practice or serious times but is also so loving and kind-hearted.

yume (’95-liner) is the main rapper and the face of the group. she’s japanese and is from osaka, japan. she’s the mood-maker and social butterfly of the group. she trained for five years before debuting. she’s actually one of your first friends when you first joined as a trainee.

ella (‘98 liner) is the main dancer, sub-vocalist, and maknae. she’s korean but she lived in england for five years with her uncle’s family before moving back to seoul after passing the sm global auditions. she trained only for six months before debuting. she can speak english fluently. she’s the savage one of the group - definitely the ‘evil maknae’ but she also has the kindest and softest heart. extremely funny. she’s kind of a tsundere but she genuinely cares about others. she just shows it in her own way.

your group has a very tight relationship and bond which contributes to your team work. you guys are basically sisters. you, soo-ah, and yume actually have been best-friends since your trainee days and they were your first friends. ella did join you guys the latest but you guys welcomed her with open arms and she fit right in and pretty much immediately feels at home with you guys.

˚ ． ♡ your group’s concept

your group has a girly and innocent concept, similar to most songs done by apink (used to be my ult group omg i miss them). your debut song similar to nonono by apink and it quickly became a hit and became one of your most popular songs along with another title track which has a similar tune to mr.chu by apink.

in the recent years, the girl-crush or darker concepts have become more popular so a lot of fans think that your group has a nostalgic feel and gives a taste of a more classic form of kpop with a modern twist which is absolutely loved by fans.

˚ ． ♡ your female best-friend

hyuna || you and hyuna are an interesting duo, especially because you guys have a contrasting public image in a sense that she is known for her sexy image and you’re known for your innocent image. but you guys also have such a beautiful friendship and have more similarities than what is seen on the surface.

you guys met at an award show where you guys met in the bathroom actually. you talked for a while and actually hit it off and ended up exchanging numbers and the friendship quickly blossomed from there.

you guys are extremely supportive of each other and are each other’s biggest fans. she posts a lot of pictures of you guys together on her instagram. you guys even have also do instagram lives together, just talking and being yourselves which the fans love to watch and witness.

˚ ． ♡ your male best-friend

baekhyun || you guys are so similar yet so different and that’s what makes your friendship so precious. you help each other grow and become better versions of each other.

you’re actually really good friends with all of exo through him; you’re especially close with chanyeol, kai, and sehun, you guys are basically a squad at this point.

you have a lot of duet ballads together on sm station.

some fans like to ship you guys but there is nothing but platonic love here.

there are actually some funny rumors about you two.

the funniest is that he’s only close to you because you look like taeyeon and he’s trying to replace her with you. :)) you, your group, baekhyun, exo, all sm artists, lee soo man, and the whole kpop industry finds it funny okay. it is very hilarious.

˚ ． ♡ your boyfriend

taeil || i mean you might be tired of being shipped with him at this point ajhsk YOU GUYS ARE JUST perfect.

you guys have been pretty good friends since your pre-debut days. you become closer after being paired together for a couple cover song which was a special stage for inkigayo.

working together with him and all for the performance, you guys bonded on a deeper level than you guys ever did before. you talked about really deep stuffs like your careers, your thoughts on certain issues in the industry, your plans for the future.

since then you guys have been really close friends.

as you gradually grow feelings for each other, you guys have this skinny love. everyone around you knows you and taeil have a connection that is more than just platonic and even both of you can feel it but you just didn’t really verbalize it. maybe because you have been friends for such a long time it was harder to admit romantic feelings.

when he did finally ask you out, everyone was like not surprised but absolutely elated.

you guys dated privately for a year before you decided to publicly announce the relationship on your first anniversary.

the support from the fans is immense okay. you both quickly become the nation’s sweetheart couple.

˚ ． ♡ miscellaneous

you also professionally pursue art as more than just a hobby.

some of your drawings are featured at some of seoul’s art galleries.

xuimin used to have a crush on you (again i had to oops) but he never said anything because it was around the time you still had the dating ban. but you guys are good friends now.

you guys won the award for best new artist at MAMA.

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thank you for requesting nana !! have a beautiful night sisturrr

#kpop ships #kpop ship requests #ship requests #idol life ships #thechoppersan #sistah #<3 #nana

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pyrokinesis · 4 years ago

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So I lost the patience and watched Kizuna

! Major spoilers ahead !

Listen, I know I said I will wait until the Blu-Ray comes out, but I was impatient little bitch and I found a working Sample 3 link with English dub, so I said, fuck it! My brother joined me 20 minutes in, lol. Anyways, onto the movie.

I don't really know what to say, Digimon Last Evolution Kizuna was exactly what I expected from the movie of such name, a movie that promotes end of relationship between Digimons and their human partners.

I kinda didn't have my hope up, mostly because I rewatched Adventure & Adventure 02 last week and finally watched Tri, and the whole point of Digimon has always been, no matter what happens, Digimons and their humans will always stick and stay together, I think the quote goes "humans and Digimons forever" (?). I kinda was hyped up though, partly because of art style (it was much better than Tri, less dark and more symmetrical when it comes to faces and bodies, Tri was annoying at times with weird asymmetrical faces; also Yamato!!!! Yamato is so hot and pretty in Kizuna, wtf Toei leave this poor lesbian alone), partly because of Adventure 02 kids (my brother is so annoyed with me, but I'm a huge 02 fan, Wormmon is my baby and I can rewatch 02ep25 anytime, Stigmon's first appearance is fucking iconic).

Adventure 02 kids got much more screentime than I expected, especially Iori/Cody because he is sometimes really put aside. I love how they were staying in touch with Original Six/Eight through Yamato, and how Hikari and Takeru stayed part of their team (Tri lacked this so much, it was so weird to have Hikari and TK not knowing what happened to their friends when they were supposedly a new team/best friends). Also my baby Ken's hair (*le cries*), I miss his long hair. Both my brother and I expected Paildramon to appear near the end, but there were no DNA/Jogress evolutions besides Omegamon/Omnimon.

Yamato was so fucking hot it's unbelievable, he's become top Digi-destined to me, 2D character or not. He was so smart, so persistent, so consistent, so selfless, so cute, itty-bitty blind (those cute glasses that appeared on his face for a mili-moment during him being in uni classroom panel, all of my uwus gone), still has one of the best relationships with Gabumon (he plays harmonica for Gabumon, even after all these years, he keeps Gabumon by his side, and they both tried to find that bad-guy-turned-FBI-agent-guy sneakily, so so cute). Overall, Yamato is a emotionally much more main character than Taich is, probably because emotionally, Taichi was the main character of Tri.

Now onto our second main, Taichi. Honestly, technicall, both Yamato and Taichi are Kizuna's main guys, but emotionally, Yamato left much bigger impact. Taichi was the main character in the beginning, but as the story progressed, I could feel Yamato much better. Still, Taichi isn't left aside (like all other Original Eight kidz/people). He is a struggling university student who has no idea what to do with his life (my brother sorta compared him to me, LMAO). This is very consistent with Tri's Taichi, who is full of self dubts, abstract ideas of future, and melancholy when he thinks about his future self. Toei nicely showed it when they let us know Tai earns for his future by working part-time as a waiter (?) in an automat casino. He is kinda really down all the time when he starts realising he has to make huge choices about the future, even though he has no bloody idea or genuine thought what to do (also his porn stash, LMAO what was that Taichi, who even uses porn magazine after the age of 14).

Thinking back about it now, it's kinda underwhelming with how it actually, emotionally, focuses on the whole "Digimons have to leave their partners" philosophy. Like, it barely shows interactions between humans and Digimons (which Tri did at least, with I think all characters, so I would expect at least some focus on Yamato and Taichi). There were some interactions between Taichi and Agumon, and Yamato and Gabumon at the end, but it just felt uncomplete and unfullifying. Also whole concept is bullshit (did I mention it? Because if I didn't I will, because this whole thing really is). It all started with Tri, which felt like it was produced by random people who watched Adventure & 02 after fifteen years and decided to make their own spin on it, without actual respects for stories and characters Adventure & Adventure 02 were trying to make us feel and understand (though feelings of OOC-ness Tri had at the times were minimal in Kizuna, thank goodness for that).

Then, Kizuna continued it with the concept of "when Digi-destined grow up, their Digimon partners disappear because they are not on the same mental wavelengths anymore" which is the complete opposite of one of like three main Digimon philosophies, "Digimon and Digi-destined, together and forever"; like while I disliked 02 epilogue, it showed us that after all hardships, Digi-destined and their Digimons get their happy endings, together. Both my brother and I (we watched it together) groaned at the whole concept (along with predictive bullshit plot and plotholes).

While I understand the reason behind this (I read some spoilers on here afterwards, to broaden my post-Kizuna horizons), that humans/Digi-destined grow up, and Digimons kinda don't, it still makes me really dissatisfied. Tri showed us in flashes that, when given time spent with their and other humans, Digimons can grow and become mentally wise adults (cue to the cutest scene when Patamon closes his one eye because he understands the tension between Hikari and Takeru, as in, that they like each other and they might need some time "alone"), so Kizuna kinda fucked up all previous Adventure works by telling us everything is in vain, Digimons leave, their connection to humans they had will become meaningless and humans will have to move on. Bullshit plot(hole), but whatever.

The amount of screentime non-Taichi&Yamato characters can be underwhelming, especially if you don't read spoilers like I did. The movie starts with Takeru and Hikari as important as Yamato and Taichi, but as the movie progresses, they just fade in the background. Kinda happens to everyone else except Koushiro/Izzy, who kinda has a really leading role, considering how much screentime Taichi and Yamato have (I feel like wordcount apps will find Yamato&Taichi as my most used words in this rant review), and he is probably third most important role, until he undramatically disappears because of psycho main lady.

Now towards real ranting. I'll try to keep it short because I have no real emotions behind it and I feel some other rants might articulate it better. Anyways, the plot of the whole movie is so goddamn predictable. It starts so weirdly, with Taichi, Hikari and Takeru fighting Parrotmon (what the fuck was that even, btw???). Like, Parrotmon, again? It feels just very reused, and that feeling that doesn't leave even during the credits. Soundtrack—while nice, nostalgic, and very fitting—is also just reused Adventure 01 soundtrack, and it just brings kudos from my memory lane road nostalgia. Deja Vu is the feeling that sticks to your skin and bones, if you like me, watched Adventure 1-3 just before Kizuna, and understand how so many scenes are just reused wanna-be old seasons references.

From two older adults (I honestly thought there will be two goverment agents, again, and mentally groaned) sticking up into Digi-destineds' business like some omni-knows creature, same as agents from Tri, fucked up (female) main antagonist who pretends to be a good guy (lady?) for the sake of gathering intel and trust, who is a complete nutjob (full-time pyscho in Kizuna lady's case) because of the loss of her Digimon partner, to bullshit powered-up Digimon created from human coding (my brother pointed this one to me, and honestly, half of this movie is both Diaboromon movies rehashed/redone in 2020 shine), Omnimon fighting in some weird Digital World room powered-up creature (first Diaboromon movie straight up scene for scene), even that first scene with Parrotmon and this time completely unexplainable appearance of a Digimon in the real world, and Digi-destined having to fight it, and of course, bullshit new unexplained Digi-evolution with new (human???) mega forms of Agumon and Gabumon. All in all, it just feels very forced and all very already seen.

Now onto the less main, even less supporting characters. 02 teens are amazing, considering they have barely any lines and some little fighting moments. I love them, and I'm happy they got this, considering how they were blatantly forgotten in Tri, and how obviously nobody in the production of Tri even cared to hide that. Wormmon and Stigmon are my babies and I'm happy to see them have some screentime.

Original Six/Eight (excluding Taichi and Yamato) are kinda disappointing, though. I read some spoilers, so I knew Sora wouldn't appear much, but damn, even that was much compared to her actual screentime in Kizuna. She is almost as forgotten as 02 kids were in Tri. I get that she is shown to have moved on faster than other Original Eight kids, but still, they didn't even show her losing Piyomon (which did happen, and it was emotionally, overwhelming, in a fucked up sense when you realised Piyomon wasn't by her side). Jou, Mimi, Takeru, and Hikari were shown at the beginning of movie with so much potential screentime, but in the end they mostly were there for the dramatic cliffhangers (I didn't understand at the beginning what happened to Mimi and Jou, and I thought Hikari was murdered and that the FBI agent straight up shot Takeru), during that mini battle scene sometime in the Neverland, and of course, during the end credits. It was kinda really both overwhelming and underwhelming to see them during the credits when they could've had much more moments during the movie (I sorta had some hope because the movie is almost 2 hours long, and usually movies are like 20, 30 minutes long, but even during those one-episode-length movies there is more of main-supporting characters shown).

As mentioned, the ending is bullshit (my brother ended up crying and I had to put Adventure OST on to calm him down), Agumon and Gabumon dying is literally the most senseless thing ever since both Taichi and Yamato love their partners so much, and even among all the adulting and hassles in their lives, they try to make time for their Digimon partners (during their time in the restuarant, Yamato and Taichi literally talk how they don't have time for even their closest friends, hell Hikari even mentions Taichi should give their mother a visit, but Taichi still finds time for Agumon), so in the end both Taichi and Yamato were among the last people to lose their Digimons and I'm really disappointed in this concept, especially how they didn't show Gabumon and Agumon disappearing, Taichi and Yamato deserved explicit goodbyes.

Uh, I don't think I have anything much to add anymore. I read spoilers and some are pretty much novels from how much people put their thoughts in, this is just my ranting review, tbh. I dived into this hoping to get my heart mended from Tri (say what you want about Tri but it was too bad for six hour and half movies, especially general Adventure constistency-wise), but not with high expectations, having seen the trailer and having some spoilers read. All in all film wasn't too bad, but it wasn't too good, solid 6/10 rating from me, mostly for the animation and nostalgic soundtrack, but the whole plot was shit as fuck and the philoshophy behind it.

(Random, but I noticed straight people/shippers liked the movie better than gay people/shippers, is there any correlations between that)

ALL IN ALL, Digimon: Last Evolution Kizuna wasn't the best nor the worst Digimon movie/work, but it probably isn't something I will rewatch or recommend anytime soon (also wtf were those humanoid mega forms, like W T F).

#Petra talks #Petra rants #digimon #digimon adventure #digimon last evolution kizuna spoiler #digimon last evolution kizuna #digimom spoilers #and ranting #too many mentions of taichi and yamato #tw swearing #taichi yagami #yamato ishida

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medea10 · 4 years ago

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My Review of To Heart

How did I get into this anime? I have been curious about this anime for a straight-up decade now and the randomizer decided to bless me with something not incest. Thank you Arceus!

Since she was young, Akari Kamigishi has been best friends with Hiroyuki Fujita. Because of kind acts he did for her as a child, Akari has stayed by Hiroyuki’s side. Now that they’re both in high school, something has changed in Akari and it feels more like she’s falling for her childhood friend. Will Akari find happiness with her best friend or will she end up friend-zoned?

And because this is a harem, there are quite a few girls hanging around Hiroyuki throughout the two seasons. Just to name a few, we have the brash friend, Shiho. Then there’s the tomboy type, Aoi. The very silent type, Serika! And then there’s the robotic maid, Multi. Yes, you read right. A robot! This is Japan after all! Oh yeah, there’s also the class rep, an actual American girl, and a quiet girl with supernatural powers.

Akari, girl, you need to step up your game if you’re up against all these chicks!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Before I discuss all that, let’s go down the ugly story about To Heart for fans in the U.S. The first season (and only the first season) was dubbed by RightStuf (at least I’m certain about that). Everything else wound up undubbed and even unlicensed. To Heart was kind of left in the dust due to what happened when the first season was supposed to release in the U.S. A lot of damaged material was the culprit and this came during the time when animation was transitioning from animating using cells to going digital. So to sum that up, the anime debuted in Japan around 1999, Rightstuf licensed To Heart in 2004 with a release in 2005, and the actual release was delayed to 2007. And in back-in-those-days times, that’s pretty fucking long. I can see why they didn’t want to bother with this series after it took all that trouble to remaster a series many were calling only “OKAY”.

Now then, on with the good stuff! I went in thinking that this was a Geneon reject, but was blown out of my ass to hear voices from New York! Lisa Ortiz, Jessica Calvello, Veronica Taylor, Wayne Grayson, and my personal favorite (not who you’re thinking), Carol Jacobanis! Yeah, surprisingly I didn’t hear Ted Lewis here. But Jacobanis is my second favorite in the NYAV group. I am in nostalgia heaven! Yes folks, these were the same people to give life to many characters from Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Berserk, His and Her Circumstances, Bakuman, Gravitation…OH, gambled and lost! Well, you get my meaning! Thankfully this dub wasn’t as horrific as Gravitation (despite Hiroyuki’s voice actor is well-known for something from that particular anime). Here’s what you might recognize these folks from!

JAPANESE CAST: *Akari is played by Ayako Kawasumi (known for Ursula on Pokemon DP, Saber on Fate/Zero, Izumi on Beyond the Boundary, Aoki on Bakuman, Laura on Index, Yoshida on Shakugan no Shana, and Nodame on Nodame Cantabile)

*Hiroyuki is played by Kazuya Ichijo (known for Hoteye on Fairy Tail and Zafila on Nanoha)

*Shiho is played by Chieko Higuchi (known for Tomo on Azumanga Daioh)

*Multi is played by Yui Horie (known for Hanekawa on Monogatari, Tohru on Fruits Basket, Hanyuu on Higurashi, Minorin on Toradora, Charla on Fairy Tail, Chie on Persona 4, Maria on Umineko, and Riki on Little Busters)

ENGLISH CAST: *Akari is played by Debora Rabbai (known for Mika from Gravitation, Rika on His and Her Circumstances, Leina on Queen’s Blade, and Boogiepop [original])

*Hiroyuki is played by Rich McNanna (known for Jack Walker on Pokemon Movie 9 and Shuuichi on Gravitation)

*Shiho is played by Jessica Calvello (known for Prima on Pokemon, Hange on Attack on Titan, Excel on Excel Saga, Kanako on Maria Holic, Tsukino on His and Her Circumstances, and Aika on Aria the Animation)

*Multi is played by Tara Sands (known for Richie on Pokemon, Soujirou on Rurouni Kenshin, Mokuba on YGO, Badiane on Sailor Moon SuperS movie, Tori on Pokemon Movie ~ Deoxys, and Filia on Slayers Try)

SHIPPING: So remind me what genre this anime is!

HAREM!

We’re watching a harem! But it’s more slice of life than anything romantic. There are a lot of love interests for Hiroyuki throughout the series. It’s just that it doesn’t develop as much as one might think (except for maybe Akari) in season one.

And it’s so easy to think that Hiroyuki is the object of every one of these ladies’ desire. Serika waits for him to come to the club room. Aoi finds him helpful, as does Tomoko and Lemmy. Multi got attached to Hiroyuki’s headpats. As for Akari, she’s got quite the teddy bear collection because of Hiroyuki. After watching all of season one where Hiroyuki is hanging with all of these ladies individually, I thought there would be a moment of jealousy from one or more of these girls. Much to my surprise, that was not the case. It didn’t go down any of those bad-end routes you’d see with things like Kanon, Clannad, or God-forbid, School Days!

But then season two happened…

Ooh boy! First of all, Hiroyuki ended up getting his first confession of love from the most unlikely person ever. Kotone wasn’t even a contender in the first season as she had other issues. In fact, didn’t she have feelings for Masashi in season one? But halfway in the season, she gets ballsy and confesses to Hiroyuki. He rejects her and thankfully it didn’t get ugly (except Akari heard it and got jealous). Lemmy, I also thought wasn’t in play, but here we are! She was apparently childhood friends with Hiroyuki and brought it up when confessing her feelings. That unfortunately came at a bad time as he’s in a quarrel with Akari so he dismisses her.

And then there’s Akari! She’s been able to put on a smile and kind of be a wall-flower whenever Hiroyuki is doing something with one of the other girls. And most of the season, we see him mostly with Aoi and Multi. Thankfully, Aoi never showed romantic interests in Hiroyuki. I much prefer Aoi x Kotone if you want to know the truth. But halfway into season two, jealousy came in like a drunkard in a bar. Akari was definitely pissed when she saw Kotone confess to Hiroyuki and would get jealous seeing Hiroyuki and Multi together so much.

Oh yeah, good old Multi! Yes Multi loves Hiroyuki. Now does Hiroyuki love Multi back? It’s complicated! Because of Multi, Hiroyuki ends up pursuing a career in robotics and as a result spends quite a bit of time with her (pissing Akari off in the process). But because Multi is kind of a malfunctioning robot, who the hell knows if she’ll even remember being with Hiroyuki.

Now are there other boys interested in any of these other girls? The only other boy that has any prominent screen time is Masashi. It’s just that after season one, he’s only seen every so often because he’s busy with soccer. But in season one, it almost felt like Kotone was admiring him from the distance. Don’t get excited because that was just a one-and-done sort of thing before Kotone set eyes on Hiroyuki. Actually, Masashi does reveal his fondness for Akari (at literally the worst possible time). But it seems like Masashi ends up with Shiho in the end. So…whatever!

Hiroyuki DOES end up with someone. Just go down to the end of season two to get that answer.

ENDING TO SEASON ONE: The last two episodes of this season consist around Shiho deciding that she wants to throw a Christmas party at an old hangout from her middle school days! But this isn’t the only nostalgic kick she feels. Shiho ends up remembering the first day she met Hiroyuki and after he took care of a wound she got, Shiho starts seeing Hiroyuki in a new light. Yeah, up until this point, Shiho and Hiroyuki’s relationship could be summed up by saying they both give each other shit every day. Then you have Akari, who is also feeling a little nostalgic with trying to see if Hiroyuki is able to remember things from their past. During the finale however, Akari does develop a cold and has to bail on the party planning.

When Shiho came to visit Akari, it kinda comes out that both girls do care for Hiroyuki. But because this isn’t one of those kinds of romance animes, it really doesn’t get ugly. It’s more of an “I acknowledge your feelings for the boy I like and good luck to you”. Shiho really didn’t do any confessing and we get a cute moment with Hiroyuki and Akari out in the snow.

Let’s see how Season Two holds up!

OMAKE: Nozomi Entertainment also released the six Omake specials that came with releases of the first season. Not dubbed! Just a couple of minute-long specials that range from cute to wildly absurd.

There were also Omake specials in season two that mostly consisted of all the girls fighting each other in almost a Street Fighter or Dragon Ball style.

REMEMBER MY MEMORIES: Five years after the first season aired, To Heart returns with a bit of a time-leap from where we left off last and some slightly improved(?) animation. And if you’re wondering why this season isn’t called “To Heart 2”, there is a series named that already. To Heart 2 is a spin-off of To Heart. It’s just that none of the characters from To Heart are in To Heart 2. ANYWAYS…

It has been a year or so from where we left off. Hiroyuki, Akari and the others are now in their senior year of high school and a lot has changed. Minor character, Kotone who mostly kept to herself in the first season, has found another role in hanging out with Aoi (the chick who’s into martial arts). Serika is still silent, but that blue hue to her hair is definitely not silent. What the hell is with this new animation? And finally, Multi apparently left a year ago and came back in the first episode of season two. Only now Multi has amnesia. A lot has changed since season one, especially when it comes to romance. Buckle up!

ENDING TO REMEMBER MY MEMORIES: Yeah, this season layed on the melodrama really thick compared to the previous season. All the ladies love Hiroyuki and at least half of them expressed those feelings to him. Akari had some conflicted feelings when it came to Hiroyuki. She loves him, but feels like he doesn’t return the feeling due to him hanging around a lot of other girls (especially Aoi and Multi).

Speaking of Multi, this girl has had such the rotunda of computer issues. My stroked-out Dell PC from 2005 had more working power than this girl! For starters, her memories are in danger of being wiped away at several points of the series. We even begin season two where Multi returns after over a year with full-blown amnesia. And since then, Multi had some sort of malfunction issue arise every other episode. This was showcased in the finale, where Multi gets so upset and runs away to the amusement park!

So, Hiroyuki and all of his friends come together to look for Multi. They thankfully found her at the amusement park (during closed hours) and broke into the main-frame to the Ferris wheel. And did I mention these people almost committed assault on police officers? Yeah, these kids are about to have a rap sheet the size of Texas by the end of the episode. Anyways, Hiroyuki, Akari, and Multi ride the ferris wheel and have a nice talk before Multi falls asleep for…

…Let’s say a long time…

Fast-forward to high school graduation! Hiroyuki and Akari seem to be doing a lot better. They’re both going to attend the same college and are pretty much on better terms than when Akari was having a jealousy, bitch-fit. At graduation, they both decided to give each other the Christmas gifts they never gave each other. Because Multi was having another malfunction, they never got to give the gifts. Hiroyuki got a hand-knit sweater. And Akari got a ring!

Hiroyuki wanted it and so he put a ring on it!

During the ED credits, we see the characters we’ve seen throughout these two seasons and what they ended up doing after high school. Lemmy is back in San Francisco. Aoi and Kotone are still doing the fighting matches. Rio is a primary school teacher. Serica is still into the occult. Tomoko is working for her father’s business. Masashi is becoming a big soccer star with Shiho working on journalism (and I think Shiho ends up romantically involved with Masashi).

And we close with Hiroyuki and Akari working with the HMX robots and surprise, surprise, Multi wakes up.

And before you ask, I did NOT watch To Heart 2. And I don’t intend to…at least not yet. I’m saving it for another day and putting it back on the randomizer list.

This anime was…just okay. Yeah, a lot of things were predictable, especially when it came to who the main male lead was going to end up with. Come on, we all know Akari was going to end up with Hiroyuki in the end. If this were the visual novel, I’m sure there were infinite numbers of routes Hiroyuki could take and there’d be a good end to all of the girls. But I’m mostly anime only here! In terms of recommendations, ehh…I feel like there were other better harems you could watch.

Only season one of To Heart got an official release in the U.S., but you might have to search around for any DVD copies as I’m pretty sure it’s currently out of print. Anything else from the series, you’ll have to do some heavy searching to watch all the way through.

Okay, next licensed limbo/unlicensed classics!

What’s that one play everyone and their mother has seen, but you haven’t?

*sighs* Hamilton.

No, the other one.

Les Miserable? Wait, this never got licensed?!

Okay! I guess I’m watching that. I hope I can do well at this review considering I never watched the play, read the book, or watched that film where Russell Crowe can’t sing.

#anime review #to heart #to heart remember my memories #hiroyuki fujita #akari kamagishi #shiho nagaoka #hmx-12 multi #kotone himekawa

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tavrosian-disaster · 7 years ago

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Looking Back At Anime I Enjoyed As A Middle Schooler

Hoo boy, I’ve been re-watching some old anime in my spare time and I’ve come to see a lot of bad stuff in anime I used to love. Time for me to look and whine about things in anime that I used to enjoy. There’s a lot of stuff I didn’t quite understand or realize were bad as a kid and then there’s just stuff I looked over.

So let’s see how my old favorites have fared. (Why am I even doing this?)

Soul Eater

Wonderful; Still love the characters, still love the plot, still love the animation style. However, something I used to look past: the absolutely unnecessary nudity. Sure, it’s kind of censored and never explicit, but it doesn’t need to be, it’s bad enough. Can we please have less random naked underaged girls? Seriously, in nearly EVERY EPISODE there is some scene involving an UNDERAGED GIRL seen partially naked and/or portrayed in an overly sexual manner. And don’t even get me started on Blair. I know she’s not underaged, but it doesn’t make it any less upsetting that she is naked 99% of the time and also a little too comfortable flaunting herself off to an underaged boy.

Angel Beats

Yeah, I still cried. A little less engaging than I remember it and a little mediocre too, but it’s still enjoyable and I still love the premise and the characters are fun. Music is lovely, as always. Nothing really negative though! Pretty solid!

Sailor Moon

Yes, I watched the old English dub as a kid, and while I realize it messes a lot with the more mature and serious tones and even censors thing unnecessarily, I will admit, I kind of enjoy the voices. I’ve seen it in Japanese and the story is much better told through it. Regardless, the show is just as fun as I remember, albeit, the fillers got really annoying after a while and I just wanted to get back to the plot. Ignoring this fillers though, the show was still great and very nostalgic and lord, I really do love the art style and aesthetic of the show, still to this day!

D. Gray Man

Man, I don’t know what to say, this show is still REALLY FREAKING GOOD. My opinion has not changed on it, though the ending feels a little weird and wonky to me, but this might just be because the mange was on hiatus before it could finish. Still an okay ending though. I love the characters so much and I just love the story and action and I just LOVE THIS SHOW!

Black Butler

Ugh... I don’t know what to say, I’m really conflicted on this show, which is sad, because I still have nostalgic feelings for it, but, it really does have it’s fair share of flaws. Quite a few.

Right off the bat, yeah, the oddly sexual parts are disturbing, but in it’s setting, it fits well enough to not be too bad. However a lot of it is still bothering to me. Now, while I am not sure about the rumor that Black Butler was originally intended to be a pedophiliac yaoi (there’s never been any real reliable sources and most of the quoted sources are vague and could easily be misinterpreted) but regardless, there are still scenes that clearly aim to please fans who ship Ciel and Sebastian, which, being a pedophiliac ship, is just bad. It’s bad.

I still love the characters and I love the gothic themes and aesthetic. I really do love this show. But... I can’t help but see it in a dirty light now. It’s upsetting to me.

Shugo Chara!

HEY LOOK IT’S MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE MAGICAL GIRL SHOW! (It’s still problematic as heck though.),

This show was my first anime that I got into in middle school and also the first manga (excluding the Zelda manga). This show is actually where I got my blue spade motif from (Miki was my favorite chara.)

Shugo Chara is still extremely fun and full of wonderful characters and great lessons about life and how to stay true to your heart and become be your very best self! It’s cheesy, but in a very fun manner and it’s a fresh take on Magical Girls! Mostly because the issues are very down to Earth, which sounds weird, but it makes it more fun. Also, I love that there are magical boys in this too, that is practically NONEXISTENT in anime. Albeit, very repetitive and full of fillers. THe manga is much more condensed. Not to mention the later seasons are just... awful. Season 1 is the best, Season 2 is fun and okay, but from there? Don’t bother.

Issues? The main ship, Amu/Ikuto is kiiiiiinda a nasty ship, looking back on it. Ikuto is 17 and Amu is 12. Ikuto is far too friendly with Amu right from the beginning and it is honestly, very gross and pedophiliac.

I didn’t really think this was weird as a kid. After all, it’s just a 5 year age difference, the same as parents. Know that I’m older, I realize that there is a BIG difference being a couple being 20/25 and 12/17. It’s not right and it’s gross.

THIS ship is what I find really icky about this show and it’s a shame that it’s so prominent in it.

Oh, and there’s a one sided relationship thingy where Utau has a weird crush on Ikuto, her big brother. It’s played off as her being overly protective and loving of her brother, but... nah, miss me with that shit.

Durarara!

Still a great show. Weird, kind of philosophical, and above all, oddly intriguing. It’s just as good as I remember, if not somewhat less engaging. But that just may be because the narrative is one better enjoyed the first time around. Nothing bad here though, solid work!

InuYasha

Reeeeeeeally contrived plot that drags out waaaaaaay too much, but still enjoyable regardless. Gets very repetitive, and this even applies to the later episodes that I skipped way back when. However, I still love the characters and it’s a fun show and very nostalgic. Has some of the typical anime issues involving sexual content; “pervy” scenes that involve a guy making gross remarks to a girl and/or accidentally seeing a girl partially nude and getting blamed and hit for being a perv. I suppose you could argue that much of it is due to the brutish nature of the many feudal Japan enemies, but there are plenty of scenes that can’t be defended by this.

Oh, it’s also a very fun show to playfully make fun of with friends while eating junk food and binge watching, lol.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Yooooooo this show is still wildly as heeeeeeeck man!

I love this show, love it’s characters and love it’s twist on the magical girl genre. I was really expecting to see some gross theme I missed before or find it boring, but it was just as fun as I remember.

A nice bonus, too, is it’s length. It’s a perfectly paced show, not too long like many other anime.

Still a dang solid show!

Lucky Star!

Nostalgic, buuuuuuuut...

BORING. Opening heckin’ RULES and is damn CATCHY. But that’s it.

Next.

Fruits Basket

Eh, kind of the same as Lucky Star.

It’s... boring. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s still a funny show, but the romance is a lot more lackluster than I remember.

Also, there’s more weird incest stuff (mostly one-sided crushes, but, still...) and a couple of pedophiliac things every once in a while.

Overall, it’s just... kind of boring now. Meh.

Ouran High School Host Club

OH OH OH OH!

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND! THIS SHOW!

LORD HOWDY, guess how much I love this show!

It’s absolutely hilarious, has lots of genuinely cute and almost romantic scenes and a whole cast of fun characters! It’s got some issues, but it’s still a piece with some takes that I haven’t seen in anime without usually being annoying.

There’s the issue of the twins fake “forbidden, incestuous love” routine, but, while I’m 99.99% certain it’s made to be fanservice, the show and the twins themselves also make fun of the very people who enjoy that kind of stuff.

I really like the gender positivity that this show presents, even if it does kind of stick to typical gender roles. Haruhi is pretty obviously comfortable being seen as both a guy and a girl and her attitude about gender is refreshing for a romance anime such as this. She’s not a typical romance protagonist and I like that. And there are characters such as her dad who enjoys cross-dressing and, while relatively stereotypical, are not presented in a joking manner and the characters respect them and treat them as normal human beings.

It’s just a really fun show and I don’t think I’ve seen another show quite like it! It’s definitely the one anime I’ve re-watched the most, as it is also short, only 12 episodes, and doesn’t drag on.

Fullmetal Alchemist/Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Oh come on, why am I even doing a look back on this, it still heckin’ rocks and it’s the best shit I’ve ever seen, full stop.

Don’t even ask me questions, thank you for coming to my TEDTalk.

#anime #critique #review #not really- it's mostly rambling

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pkmnjesus · 7 years ago

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My experience/review watching Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! in theaters (NO SPOILERS)

The day has finally come...I WAS LOOKING FOWARD TO THIS ALL WEEK! After it was first announced in December 2016 that the 20th Pokémon movie would be paying homage to Ash’s origins, I GOT SUPER EXCITED! I was always updated with the news surrounding this film, and got excited every time new information came out (despite some negative reaction by some fans). You can tell by searching through my blog archive...so I pre-ordered the tickets by September, and got the earliest showing with the best seats in the house!

When the day finally came (which was yesterday lol), I got my good ol’ high school buddy to go with me, who was a fan of Pokémon and the anime. Of course, it was a special premiere day, and had to dress for the occasion by wearing my Ash Kalos hat, and the original Team Rocket shirt.

Now for my thoughts on the movie...is it my favorite out of all Pokémon movies? Nope, but it’s definitely up there! First off let me just say, that THERE ARE SOOOO MANY EASTER EGGS (a.k.a. past anime/movie references) IN THIS MOVIE! When I get the Blu-ray copy for this (hopefully there is one?), I will be going back to multiple scenes pausing so many shots!

Anyway, the movie overall was really awesome and a fun adventure to watch! It was (as advertised) a retelling of Ash’s journey starting out as a Pokémon trainer, and his road to becoming a Pokémon Master. The ultimate goal in this movie was to see Ho-Oh after it left its Rainbow Wing for Ash to pick up. To be honest, I’m not really sure if majority of the movie even takes place in the Kanto region o_O A couple nostalgic scenes were re-done beautifully, and teary :’( Some of those scenes really took me back to my childhood watching the old episodes in my VHS player. It wasn't exactly as portrayed in the canon anime, which makes this alternative universe really interesting to think about Ash’s journey. The most notable thing I would have to say about this movie is Charmander’s development. It’s really surprising how different it is from the disobedient one we knew when it evolved as a Charmeleon. At one point of the movie (I won’t say much), Ash really did something UNCHARACTERISTIC of him that really caught me off guard with his Pokémon and friends. Then again this is an AU, so I shouldn't be surprised if his attitude is not exactly like the character I grew up with. Definitely keep your eyes on it when watching!

One of my favorite parts was definitely towards the climax when Ash was is in this BIZARRE but familiar environment that really didn’t seem to fit when you usually watch Pokémon (you’ll have to see it to find out). Again SO MANY REFERENCES caught my eye during that scene, and it doesn't just apply to Pokémon. But I’m pretty sure what EVERYONE in the theater was shocked about, EVEN ME, was what happened between Ash and Pikachu at the very end of the film...very touching and very cute is all I can say. One final thing I would like to say is THE ENDING + CREDITS SCENE WAS A BLESSING. I WILL NEED TO GIF THOSE WHEN THE DVD COMES OUT (ᗒᗨᗕ)

As for the characters, the main supporting stars take spotlight! Verity and Sorrel...LOVE THEM! A lot of people might say how rushed their characters were rushed, but it was a 90+ minute movie and they could only do so much. Ash is the main star, and most of the story should revolve around him, so I honestly think both they had enough time to show off who they are, and what their purpose is in the film. Besides both of them being from Sinnoh, Sinnoh Confirmed their backstories...OH MY GOD BRO! I may got spoiled beforehand why Verity was traveling alone with her Piplup (this Piplup really gave me a lot of vibes similar to Dawn’s Piplup), but I DID NOT anticipate one of Sorrel’s flashback scenes which pretty much broke everyone’s heart in the cinema including mine (it’s still sad thinking about it ಥ_ಥ). Both have solid goals, although Verity’s seems to be more of a personal issue she wants to avoid. Also you definitely have to pay attention to Verity’s scenes since her personal issue with a certain someone wasn't directly given to the audience nor even Ash and Sorrel...just pay attention to detail 👀 Oh yeah, and if you’re a shipping type of person (multishippers to be exact), there’s definitely some cute scenes that Verity has with her companions ;) It just makes me wish that Verity and Sorrel can be future canon traveling partners because all three have great chemistry in the movie together as friends, even though if it was just for a short period. Their Ho-Oh adventure/journey is what really made them close.

Although Team Rocket’s involvement was very minimal in the movie, and was really there for comic relief background, it made me happy that they didn’t really interfere with the main storyline of Ash’s quest to find Ho-Oh. Ash and Pikachu developed well without their involvement, and writers probably didn’t want to put too much time giving a battle scene with them. Sure, I wish they could be used better, but better have them there than not at all right? They were still lovable as always with their goofy antics shown throughout the movie.

Cross, who served to be the big bad rival in the movie, really proved himself to be a real jerk. He is a bit like Paul, only thing is that Cross is more aggressive with his claims. He’s the type of trainer who is a self-centered brat and believes everything should go his way or else he does things by force. He does share a similarity with Ash though, but I’m not saying what it is since it is a spoiler. He served as the Alolan flavor of this movie since he was the only one carrying Gen. VII Pokémon. On the other hand we have the cute but mysterious new Pokémon, Marshadow that actually plays a bigger role in the movie than what you initially thought of. You’d think it’s just there all the time in the background, but you know something is going on as it lurks everywhere throughout the film.

Now there really isn’t that much to say about Bonjī since he only appears at the later part of the movie. I just wish that the old man had more of a backstory and a reason why he was chasing Ho-Oh all his life. Speaking of which, I was happy that the all of the Legendary Beasts get their big screen spotlight along with Ho-Oh. The other thing I wish was that we get to see what really happened with Ho-Oh in the end since the epic final battle of the movie was a bit questionable.

At the end of the day, me and my friend had such a blast! We even got the promotional TCG card of Ash’s Pikachu (FYI this is a really useful card in competitive play if you play the TCG) We both have A LOT of disagreements when it comes to the Pokémon anime, but both of us really loved and enjoyed the movie. Funny story, there were these 4 girls probably around my age (fangirls to be exact) beside me who were absolutely having a blast watching the movie. They screamed out of joy, shouted when Cross was being an ass, squealed in cute moments, cried in the sad moments, and basically were really into the scenes and characters like singing the Pokémon theme song at the beginning of the movie. Annoying? Yes, but I can’t really blame if they had a good time, and I think that’s the most important thing when you watch things you love with friends to share the moments with (though they probably could have toned it down a bit...I’m sure they were self-aware they were loud). My friend couldn't stand them, but I just tried to distract him with my noise since I didn’t want to ruin the girls’ fun time beside me. Plus I was a bit talkative too in several scenes of the film. Honestly I wanted to shout at the beginning of the movie because I WAS THAT HYPED, but didn’t want to embarrass my friend :p *Shoutout to the girl with the Charmander plush beside me at the AMC Fullerton theater if you’re reading this xD Hope you didn’t get too much tears on your plush from some emotional scenes in the movie (⋟﹏⋞)

The ultimate question is, should you go see this movie?

ABSOLUTELY! If you’re just a casual fan who doesn’t really keep up with the anime or movies after the original, you probably wouldn’t enjoy this movie that much. But I would say still watch it if you really love Pokémon! I count each movie as its own thing because none of them are really canon with the main series storyline. Movie 20 really stands out on its own because of how different it is from the rest, notably Ash’s journey getting a brand new fresh reboot, and the fact that there really isn’t an antagonist here who is trying to “rule the world” by getting an enormous power or whatever. This movie was a celebration of what the series has accomplished over the past 20 years.

However, this is just my opinion, and everyone has different tastes. All I’m saying is that you’ll only know how you truly feel when you see it! If you ask me, the best review of this movie is YOUR REVIEW. And from what I’m seeing, it really makes me happy to hear most of you guys are seeing it in theaters, and saying how much you enjoyed it. Let's support a great movie with a great dub! If you can’t, you can always wait for the DVD release and support them that way! If you want to watch the original Japanese version with English subtitles, be sure to buy the DVD too! Just support any way you can to show your appreciation and love for the Pokémon franchise.

As for my thoughts on spoilers, I will keep that to myself for the time being probably until a couple of weeks after the DVD release...will probably be making some GIFs or reblogging posts about it since I’m always late to the GIF making game LOL! However if you want to chat about it, feel free to message me OR join my Discord server and chat about it with other people who have seen the movie under the spoiler channel: https://discord.gg/mVSgxbp

Welp that was a long post! I’m pretty sure I have some text/grammar errors here, but whatever I’m tired and I want to get this posted already ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ My next long post will probably be my 2017 PokéAni highlights...’til then, PEACE

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kebinwooo · 4 years ago

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Hello! It's me again!! (This is long so bear with me!) I got home yesterday, I was traveling with my family to Michigan to see some family (not a great idea rn but my objections were ignored sooo.. what can you do). I do love traveling and it was nice to see my family but still. Onto happier things! I'm so glad that older groups are getting attention as well! I'm a fairly new fan so I haven't fully gotten into most older groups (cause it's sad for me to try and get into groups that... 1/4 - 🌹💎

(hi 🌹💎 anon! i put this under a cut bc it got real long with my answers tacked on too oops)

have broken up) but it's great to see them getting recognition for their hard work! Also yes, fancams give kpop fans such a bad rep. I'm not on twit so I haven't seen it a lot but like, spamming people with them is just going to make them hate you and kpop in general. Okay, now onto the questions! Very Nice: Picking up my dog from the sitter after not seeing her for a week!! She was so excited to see me and just wanted to cuddle and nap together for the rest of the day. ❤️ She's so... 2/4 - 🌹💎

cute and she knows it. Clap: I don't binge watch stuff bcs I'll just end up with a migraine (both of my parents suffer from chronic migraines and passed it on to me 😬) but the last show I watched was My Hero Academia. Like I said, I tend to avoid subs so I don't watch anime but it's got a decent English dub so I enjoy it! Fallin' Flower: I looove wintery/Christmasy scents like cookies, hot chocolate, gingerbread, spices, etc. I do all my candle shopping in the wintertime cause it's... 3/4 -🌹💎

all the best scents are sold! My all time favorite candle was Bath & Body Works Hot Chocolate candle but they discontinued it a few years back. ;; Okay! Even tho the event is technically over I wanted to ask a few more questions: Home, Mansae, and Thanks! Also sorry for the super long reply whoops. 4/4 - 🌹💎

oh dude that’s me and my mom. she’s been trying to get out of the house and for the most part she’s only commuted to work and back home, but a few days ago she went to the mall (YES YOU CAN ROLL YOUR EYES AND GROAN) and the entire time i was trying to talk her down but it didn’t work 🙄 ahhhh when did you become a kpop (or svt) stan? i’m an old old old kpop stan so definitely seeing my 2nd gen groups getting attention makes me so so happy ;u; i totally get you tho about old groups :// but if you’re ever interested, i’d always be happy to send song recs and the like! (hint hint: might slip some into your playlist)

awww that must be so nice seeing your dog again ;; they’re truly instant mood brighteners. ooooo interesting! i’m usually an anti-dub person (sorry HAHA) but that’s good that my hero academia had a good dub! i started the show bc my friend loved it and i watched like three episodes and for some reason stopped watching LOL maybe i’ll pick it back up some time. mmmmm all those scents sound (?) so good! Christmasy scents are definitely good go-to’s bc they’re just so cozy hehe

PSH it’s totally fine that you ask a few more questions haha

Home: What makes you feel nostalgic?

i told myself i wouldn’t bring up my 2nd gen kpop groups again but then realized that they truly make me feel the most nostalgic OOPS but yeah every now and then i get into a mood and i miss how simple it was in the past and then i end up blasting music from my 2nd gen groups at max volume. like listening to their music is such a comfort and reminds me of how much fun kpop was back then (not saying it isn’t now but it’s definitely different) and yeah i just really miss 2nd gen kpop :’( all those collaborations... all the funky music... the super distinct groups... take me back ;A;

Mansae: What is something you really want right now?

there’s nothing really specific i want right now i think... aside from finishing my scholarship application LOL oh and having monsta x talk about ukiss LOL OR having seungkwan talk MORE about ukiss bc seungkwan best kissme :’) OOOO OR for covid to be over UGH i miss social interaction and i also really miss going out and also concerts T__T my monsta x concert was supposed to be four days ago and i was going to see my best friend again but nope miss rona had to ruin all my plans (....so turns out i want a lot LMAO)

Thanks: What can you spend hours talking about?

I actually was asked this by somebody else LOL but! if it’s not obvious enough, i can talk a lot about my ult groups (ukiss, seventeen and monsta x) and also about 2nd gen kpop in general. i actually had an irl friend ask me about ukiss once and i LITERALLY talked about them for hours with her LOL i can also dissect certain kdramas for hours and actually depending on the topic, i can definitely talk about a lot of things for hours upon hours (i talk a lot if you can’t already tell from this super long reply)

ok! so sorry for the LONGGGGG reply. for the next event, i need a bit of your input to get a better sense of your music taste! what genre do you normally like? what are some of your favorite seventeen songs? (that’s a hard question but try to pick a few!) if you listened to seventeen’s playlists on spotify, which member’s taste is most similar to yours? are there any other kpop groups you like listening to? and what kind of general mood are you in recently?

#long post #carat anon #🌹💎#i'm so sorry for the long ass reply #i tried to keep it short but i talk a lot ACK #anyways hopefully you see this soon bc i'm getting started on your playlist right now! woot #anon

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 7 years ago

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The debuts for the winter season keep coming, but we’re almost at the end of them with this post.

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card 1

Note I don’t have any prior experience with Cardcaptor Sakura aside from 1 volume of manga and watching the show in passing while other people were watching it, plus knowing about a few spoilers and the show’s reputation as a seminal magical show show…then in more recent days, I finished 2 episodes of it (in fact as of the day I’m typing this, I finished episide 2 today!).

This OP makes Sakura look like later-stage Sailor Moon, and I think that’s the point.

Where did the bear in Syaoran’s hand go when Sakura hugged him?

Eriol! I don’t really know much about him, and I knew I should’ve known about him before starting this, but…it was a bit of a shock to see a character I technically haven’t seen the debut of with my own eyes.

I get the feeling these are the “two bears” from the prologue OVA…

Emails! In the world of Cardcaptor Sakura! Wow, I feel old…and I didn’t even grow up with her.

Hot dang! Gimme dat bishie (Yue)! I knew he was coming, but…I still don’t really know how he came to be!

Wow, this Yamazaki kid spouts such rubbish! I’m looking forward to seeing him in the main series now.

It’s pretty obvious I need to watch the original before understanding this fully, so I’m putting it on hold.

Gakuen Babysitters 1

I’m here for my Ume and Nishiyama. I’m not particularly good at dealing with kids, especially younger kids, but this doesn’t make me run for the hills either.

Ryuichi involves the kanji for “dragon” and Kotaro has the kanji for “tiger”.

That man with the hat is so not sketchy…

I’ve never heard of NAS before (but I have heard of NAZ through Idolish7).

That joke Saikawa told actually worked! These shows may all be middling this winter, but I’d be happy with even some of them on my docket. I’ve been pleasantly surprised more often than not that I haven’t found “stinker of the season” yet.

The comedy for this show’s really on point, although the overall design is a tad lackluster.

K-Kamitani?! Apparently Ume-chan’s character is Hayato Kamitani, so that’s how Ume got involved, so to speak. This sudden intro of 4 kids works on a story scale, but not in a way any person can process without pausing the video (or getting individual intros later).

Well, there are those individual intros I was asking for. Spoke too soon.

It’s actually kinda sad and quite telling how independent Kotaro is. (I still find it extremely hilarous Nishiyama – whose first name is Kotaro - didn’t voice Kotaro, although from a practical standpoint I understand why.)

Usaida has such bedroom eyes, it’s hard to ignore (because they make him look like En)! Dangit, I want my En back!

This brings back memories. My mum used to deal with kids all the time, and of course I was in the background for some of the shenanigans.

Dragon puppet symbolism, eh? (see the dotpoint a bit back about Ryuichi’s name)

As soon as this guy (who kinda looks like something out of Haikyuu) started demanding Taka come with him, I screamed. That character doesn’t seem very Ume, but…uh, it’s Ume. Gotta deal with it. Now that I listen to their voices properly though, Ume does have a “big bro” voice and Nishiyama a “earnest young man” voice.

Oh dear. Taka’s imprinted on me already, and I don’t even like boys that age.

I haven’t felt a genuine sense of danger from any of these winter shows until this one, so it seems like it’s one of the strongest debuts. Then again, CCS was my frontrunner before this and YuruCamp the second best, so I guess I can’t talk, eh?

Gah, I feel like I wanna cry now. That is a strong premiere!

I have a real problem with how anime tears come out in globs. Then again, I’m too much of a crybaby, as my notes can attest…so I guess no arguing here.

Should it be “Chairman” or “Chairwoman”???

Tsundere grandma. Now there’s something I thought I’d never think in my life…

Oh, I didn’t realise earlier but Taka = “hawk” and Hayato = “falcon man”. Animal jingoism at its finest!

Whoo, that was a real nice debut. I thought I was too old for this stuff, but it’s a keeper!

Idolish7 3

It’s a good thing I chose to cover episodes 1 – 2 so I won’t have to do them now.

I didn’t notice Nagi getting all huggy there with everyone in range (the first time, at least).

In case you don’t know from all the other idol shows, the centre is the one in centre stage. They’re often seen as the leader, so it’s a very important position.

This song can’t be anything but Monster Generation! Woohoo!

Wow, I haven’t seen one of those “watch from a distance” things in a while. Makes me nostalgic.

“Ichi” would probably refer to Iori, right? (He has the kanji for “one” in his name.)

Wowee, Nagi’s entendre…is really thick. Like pudding.

I agree, brothers can be so strange…

“…spoil me sometimes.” - Laying on the entendre thicker than custard here, Iori!

These boys are so into their Magical Kokona. I want in now.

Tamaki really is an En-chan…En-chan! Come back! (But why does Tamaki have no socks???)

These ED outfits are so elaborate! Ooh! Imagine a gender-swapped cosplay of them, that’s be great!

Who’s that on the edge of the ED video though? (You can see something hopping up and down.)

Zoku Touken Ranbu Hanamaru 1

Can we please just call this “Hanamaru 2” like Crunchyroll? “Zoku” just refers to a continuation…anyways, I got Hanamaru season 1 done last year while dealing with Katsugeki, so…here I come, sword boys!

Didn’t Hanamaru get a dub, by the way? Why would you dub this? For me to criticise it? The Touken Ranbu fanbase is kinda small…

W-Wait, did they just write Yams out of this season? Yams is the protag (if not a protag) here! What did Ichiki do now to deserve this???

It was getting too hard to jump through the proxies to play Touken Ranbu as of late, so I deleted my DMM account. Even still, the sword boys have multiplied since I left! Yikes!

Wow, unexpected 1st person bit there, Kashuu/Masuda. I thought I told the industry to stop doing that…

Exposition wave…I don’t need this wave, but I guess anime-only fans might. Carry on, Heshikiri.

So this multiple Konnosuke thing wasn’t a Katsugeki-only gag? Oh dear, my head’s spinning…

I don’t think I noticed, but Kashuu uses a brush (and not a specialty brush provided in the lid of nail polish). Probably because in Touken Ranbu, plastic isn’t much of a concept…

I still appreciate how Kashuu was this Saniwa’s starter. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy for my own TR days…

Photos are a nice way to recap. After all, 1 picture speaks 1000 words.

Wow, Shishiou’s a real chibi compared to these tachi. But Shishiou’s a tachi too…

Dang, I’m jealous. These bros were around when I was a TR player, and I missed ‘em! Dang Kebishii drops!

So that thing really is a nue. I could never see it on Shishiou’s card, y’know.

Hmm…considering the bros are new swords, the Saniwa’s strategy is to level up them up using the younger bro as leader (remember, the leader gets more experience). I see…

A “pincer attack” is a V shape, so the description fits the Crane Wings formation…

I can’t say I wasn’t impressed by Akashi just then. Come to think of it, he didn’t have any battles in Hanamaru’s 1st season.

A double attack suits a pair like this, of course!

Oh my gosh, they even got two dfferent voice actors for the Konnosukes! LOL!

Hanamaru’s EDs kept changing and it seems like they’ll continue to change, eh? This one looks quite spiffy.

The style of this ED doesn’t look like Hanamaru at all. It was probably done by the original illustrator for the swords.

It’s a great return to form for Hanamaru! I’m sold!

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san 1

Another day, another long title…plus this show I would’ve passed on, if not for that resolution…

Michiko Yokote is on a lot of shows I watch. I don’t really know what her influence is, but it seems she’s genuinely competent at what she does.

So…uh, Gendo pose anyone?

I think the teacher is the best part of this. I’ve been a bit of Tonari no Seki-kun, and the pull of that is the sheer ludicrousness of what Seki does with his stuff. However, there didn’t seem to be any intervention aside from Yokoi (I think that was her name)…

Nishikata’s reactions are just way too easy to read…

Well, that was okay, but it’s definitely a show to binge all at once. On to the “on hold” pile it goes.

Wait, but they missed a segment (the 100 yen segment). Gotta skip forward…

I didn’t get any laughs out of that show at all, but it’s still a decent school SoL.

How to Keep a Mummy 1

I have absolutely no experience with this manga, mind you…aside from seeing this tiny mummy on Comico…

Wow, if the mummy can fit in his shoe…how big is it?

The translation of “ready” is surprisingly ganbaru, and there’s a “but” mentioned in the Japanese title missing from the English. Also, “ready” has sexual connotations I’d rather not pair with a tiny mummy…I’d say the translation of the episode title should be something more along the lines of “White, Round, Small, Very Wimpy But [Also] Tries Its Hardest” (“It” being the mummy and not Pennywise…).

Is Dracula even public domain right now? (Does anyone care about the intellectual property of a classic vampire novel anyway? Because I sure don’t.)

Can we please start making jokes about how Sora’s daddy got him a mummy? It may seem childish, but I’m tempted to now.

This mummy is so adorable, I think it even beat out the kids from Gakuen Babysitters! Geesh, I’m spoilt this season! It completely set off my moe senses, and I don’t even have any!

It imprinted on him! Oh wow!

The mummy doesn’t even have a mouth…how can it spit things-oh wait. That’s the joke, isn’t it?

Come to think of it, crybaby characters ae few and far between. However, between this and Devilman…er, Crybaby…they’ve suddenly become popular…I guess?

It’s like a harem, only it’s between a dog and a mummy. Why I never…

One of the best things about anime is that you can learn about other cultures through the things included offhandedly…like that molokhiya thing that Sora mentioned. Apparently it’s a Jewish vegetable of some sort.

Do mummies get jet lag too? I was just thinking how Comico stories, with their full colour and yet simple design (to allow for downward scrolling and intake by the eyes) are perfect for anime.

I listened to the show with volume for once…because Tazuki seems to be the guy voiced by Keisuke Koumoto…and I think I was on the money there. Plus, Sora’s VA really sells the delivery of jokes (although he seems to be voiced by a woman…?)!

Yamanba…like Yamanbagiri’s namesake. The mountain hag, right?

Yep, I was right on the money with Tazuki being Koumoto. Kamitani Tazuki, it seems his name is…

This dance ending’s kind of cute, too. It’s a keeper!

Death March 1

(looks at title just above this dotpoint) C’mon. There’s no way I’m going to repeat “Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody” over and over again for at least 11 or 12 episodes…by the way, I’m here because I was reading a KonoSuba novel and saw an ad for this, just in time for the anime…

“SADA”, my butt…

I love how they almost replicated Windows 8 in this show. Or is it 7, or 10? They don’t show the taskbar, which is the main visual difference between 8 and 10, but either way the Windows replication without being sued is really something…

This OP’s gonna make me dizzy someday…

Classes, eh? So that means Suzuki’s working with an OOP language. Plus you can see Cortana on the computer as the mention of classes goes by, meaning that person’s on Windows 10.

UML.

By the way, Satou is a fairly common name in Japan…at least to my knowledge. But Suzuki is a pretty common one, too, hence the mistake.

The client? Unless Suzuki is referring to the client as in the program, it could also mean the client as in the person/group who wants the game made. Considering what he says though involving a call, it’s probably the latter.

That’s the second show with a lost kid in the first episode. It seems a bit trite, don’tcha think?

According to his phone map (flip phone!), he’s in Akihabara.

FFL…eh? Google says there are multiple Final Fantasy games for Android, meaning I’ve probably thinking of Fire Emblem Fates (which doesn’t match), and there’s no such thing as Final Fantasy 50 (L in Roman numerals) yet.

That’s the second time they mentioned work/daily life being a death march. Can we not???

Come to think of it, Suzuki looks like Nobuaki (King’s Game), which doesn’t bode well for either show.

Apparently you can get Facebook Messenger for Windows 10, which I didn’t know…

“…being a corporate slave.”

C’mon! This ain’t the Animatrix, but still, if you’re trying to make stuff look technological, at least make it look a bit better.

Third time they’ve mentioned “death march”.

It might just be Houseki no Kuni’s fault, but this CGI is really janky.

Welllll…at least it looks like a game.

Welllllllll…at least they knew where to put their money for some sakuga…

This running through fields scene is either a homage to Every Anime Opening ever, or Pokémon. I distinctly remember it being in Emerald’s opening animation, at least.

Dude, if you want to look for a wyvern, do it from the ground where you won’t get injured, dumb Satoo.

Does this look a lot like Berserk (2016) with all its CGI knights…or is that just me?

Zena…? I might be showing how old I am with this (or how much I scour the internet), but…by any chance, do you mean this gal instead?

I think I’ve had enough of this flip for now, so I’m putting it on hold.

#simulcast commentary #gakuen babysitters #zoku touken ranbu hanamaru #touken ranbu #touken ranbu hanamaru #miira no kaikata #how to keep a mummy #death march to the parallel world rhapsody #cardcaptor sakura #cardcaptor sakura: clear card-hen #karakai jouzu no takagi-san #teasing master takagi #idolish7 #school babysitters #Chesarka watches Gakuen Babysitters #Chesarka watches Hanamaru #Chesarka watches Idolish7

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