#ooh that some masterpiece op

[caxycreations]

Might piss some people off with this, but it needs to be said.

Example #384329482742 of how NOT to critique/review writing: This.

No opinion is universal. No feelings are universal. What one person finds to be awful writing is what someone else would consider a masterpiece.

Insulting it with remarks of "This book is so bad", "it's boring and no one cares", and "this is stupid" over everything you dislike about it is not constructive or helpful, and telling other people how to write their books is just plain bad practice.

Are there extremes to be avoided? Yes, of course. Nobody wants to be faced with the ENTIRE cast of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden in the very first episode, and nobody wants to be faced with a million in-depth character introductions in the first chapter either.

But some people enjoy a fleshed out cast early on, so 4-5, maybe 6 characters is perfect for some people. Others prefer a lone protag, so anything over 1 is too much. Telling people NOT to introduce more than 3 characters in the first chapter can be taken either way (good or bad) but putting it as a hard and fast rule is just not the way to go.

I think the two things about this that irk me the most are:

"Worse than fanfictions" and "pointless dumb conversations"

"Worse than fanfictions" is probably the shittiest way you could say it. Know why? Because there are a fair chunk of fanfictions that are better than some of the shit on the NYT Best Seller list. "Worse than fanfictions" implies you see fanfic as an inferior writing form, that it's inherently worse than original fiction. That's so fucking elitist and such a ridiculous view to have. As if writing fanfic means you're a subpar writer, inferior to original fiction. Fuck that, and fuck anyone who thinks that.

"pointless dumb conversations" irks me because who are you to say what's pointless or dumb? Who are you to say it's even bad if it is pointless? If every single interaction, every single word and event, is of deep, powerful significance, then NONE of them are. "When everyone's super, no one will be" applies UNIVERSALLY. If every single statement and event has deep significance, then why should we care so much? Oh man, so excited to see Deep Quote #237492872978 after Major Event #284739467235734872 here in the third chapter, so very- where's the substance? Where's the character? Where's the personal touch?

Look, I get it. You want the booktok experience of "grip me by page three and don't let me go until I've finished the book" but that just isn't how it works. "Ooh keep reading, it ramps up, but does it really?" Yes! It does! That's how things work!

You start small. Introductions, setting the stage, establishing the story and it's elements, and then you build, you crescendo, until you hit a climax, and then you relax, you coast down.

Don't go around telling people to write the way you have here. You want to know what's really stupid?

Demanding people cater to the most anti-reading readers. You could be writing instead of reading? Is reading such a goddamn chore?

To anyone and everyone who made it this far, here's MY advice:

Write your way. Ignore OPs godawful "advice" and write YOUR way.

There are a billion people writing to appease algorithms and tiktok-level attention spans. We don't need MORE people dumbing down the writing, I promise you.

Write YOUR way. If it happens to be exactly what OP describes, that's fine! As long as you're writing that way because it's just your way of writing.

Anyone can write how they're told to write. Only you can write the way YOU write. So do your thing, your way, and you'll find your audience. People like OP seem to think every book needs to cater to their tastes or else it's bad writing, when in reality, every book just needs to cater to the author's taste. Their audience will find them, and those who don't like it can fuck off and read something else.

Things that immediately turn me off a fiction book

I'm pretty picky with what I read, because the time I spend reading is time that I could spend writing. I generally know if I will like a book within the first chapter, and I feel no shame in giving up if I'm not vibing with it.

And no, I don't believe in the "oooh read further it warms up" because does it? Does it really? Do I want to waste time finding out?

Frankly, at this point in life, I read more nonfiction than fiction because there's just so. many. bad. books. that are getting published. Worse than fanfictions.

Anyway, here are the things that make me give up. Maybe hearing this will help you as you write your own masterpiece.

Too Many Proper Nouns

Three characters maximum in the first chapter or two. Do not throw dozens of people at me. I will get confused and give up. Let me get to know the main character, by themself or with a few of their closest companions, before you make me remember everyone else. And go deep with those characters! I want someone to stick with!

You can reference other characters, to create a sense of a deeper world, but do not go all-in on them. Make it clear that they are just there to provide a bit of context, and we don't have to remember them yet. We should only be meeting three characters maximum.

Throwing Us Immediately Into a Dramatic Action Point

This is controversial I know, but I hate when something immediately starts with a battle. I don't care if any of these people live or die. I don't know them. I haven't grown attached to any of them.

Even just a page or two to get to know them first will help. You can have them gearing up for a battle, thinking about what's going to happen, maybe talking to their friends, maybe checking their armor, whatever feels natural for them. But do not just start with stabbing people! I don't care about them yet!

Too Many Details

Many this is just me, but I simply do not care about every piece of armor your character is wearing. I don't need to hear a play-by-play of every single color of every single thing because I don't care. Pick out a few specific things for me to focus on and that's it. Stop overloading me with colors and patterns and armor styles.

Yes, yes, you've done your research on historically accurate gear. That's great. It would be good for a movie. But if I have to look up different armor pieces every five seconds, I am glossing over it and moving on. I don't care. I'm here for the story. If I wanted an infodump about medieval armor, I would simply pick up a nonfiction book (and maybe I will).

White Space Syndrome

Tell me what the overall scene looks like instead of all these hyperspecific details of certain objects, like carts or emblems or whatever. I want to know where I am!!

Don't just say "a forest." Tell me what kind of forest. Tell me if it's a young forest or an old snarly forest or a swampy forest or a cold alpine forest.

Don't just say "a castle." Tell me if it's a bustling castle or a gloomy castle or a rundown castle.

Don't just say "on the sea." Cold sea? Tropical sea? Far far away from land or is land in sight? These are the things I want!

Too Much Backstory

For the love of god do not explain the entire history of this culture in the first chapter. The first chapter is for getting to know the characters we're going to be following. You can introduce those things slowly and carefully as the story unfolds.

I get that fiction writers are delighted by all the worldbuilding (or research, in historical fiction) they have done. But the reader does not care right away. They need to get invested before all those little specifics matter at all. My eyes glaze over and I give up because I don't want to have to remember all of that all at once. It's like you just threw a college textbook at my face.

Plus, if you're doing third-person limited, you have to remember that the character is not going to be thinking all of that! They won't say all of that either! Because they know all of that!

Even a general on the brink of a major battle is not going to go "yes, this all dates back to when we took Iuanfutila back in 181, when the brave Iuanfutilans protested the rule of our Yawwbaawnwhryr leaders ...." They are focused on the present moment, and they may discuss the backstory later. Tell us what we need to know now because that is what the character would be thinking too.

"Oh, but Topazadine, how will the readers understand the context if I don't tell them??"

There's a battle. Two groups are at war. Or something was stolen. Or two people are fighting. Whatever. We understand those things. We can get the basic gist of how things are going to play out by just showing us these things happening. Then, as we have gotten a feel for the characters, you can tell us more about the context.

If you walk into a store that's being held up by an armed robber, do you give a shit about his backstory, or do you only care once that person has been arrested and you have to testify? I think we know the answer. You're not going "ohhh why is he doing this??" at first. You're going "HOLY SHIT THERE'S A GUN WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NOW???" and then you'll care about the other stuff later.

Too Much Play-by-Play

I also do not need a play by play of a fight scene. I need to know the general movements, and then the overall atmosphere. I want to feel what the character feels rather than feel like I'm watching a football game.

Your reader will fill in the gaps if you give them enough information, but when you overload them with every single action, they're now trying to keep track of what went where instead of how this moment is supposed to feel. And now the action and drama has gone out of the writing because it's become a manual of fighting techniques.

Pointless Dumb Conversations

"Oh, could you turn around for me? I want privacy."

"Sure, of course, I'm a respectable man." Manfred knew that a lady-in-waiting would be unsettled by the presence of a strange man, so he wanted to be respectful.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Oh my god no one cares!!! No one!! We don't need this exchange. Cut it. This is stupid. Unless something is actually happening or something is meaningful about them saying this, shut up.

How to Not Write a Horrible First Chapter That Makes People Ragequit

Can you tell I'm mad today? I started and stopped three different books because they were all so bad.

Three characters max in the first chapter, with deep discussion of each. (One or two is better.) General appearance, demeanor, profession, whatever.

Restrain the urge to infodump! Dribble it out over the chapter!

Give the setting more attention than random little details that ultimately do not matter. I don't need to know the pattern of the curtains on the horsecart that's about to be burnt. Don't care.

Do not give a play by play of every single action that a character takes because it's boring and no one cares.

In media res is great but do NOT start with a big climactic intense battle or fight or whatever because we don't know these characters and don't know who to root for (or why we should care).

Your character is not going to give us a history lesson in why this conflict is happening. Do not do it yourself either. Give us just enough to get intrigued and no more. Think how your characters would think and what they would prioritize in discussions.

If a conversation is just pleasantries and has no purpose, drop it, we don't care.

[blst236talia]

Sikkiim and Talia’s Musings

Recently we (Sikkiim and Talia) have been sending each other an obscene amount of TikToks, tweets, and videos in general when we should have been doing our work. However this has not been a fruitless endeavor as we have found these gems that we think are super relevant to the course. And so it begins.

First is the music video for DJ Chose and Beat King’s THICK which has recently blown up on TikTok as a new dance phenomenon. This song describes some women that the singer finds sexually attractive and talks about how their body types make him aroused. We started discussing this music video after the class discussion about WAP by Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion. We found that WAP had themes of the Black female reclamation of sexuality and that THICK was the exact opposite with the overt sexualization of Black women. One of the themes that came up in class discussion was that while there were sexual elements of the music video for WAP, the central theme of the song and the music video itself was about female pleasure and women reclaiming their sexuality. On the other hand, THICK is centered only around male pleasure and the objectification of Black female bodies, within the video and the lyrics themselves. For reference view timestamps 0:20-0:26 and 0:42-0:46 and lyrics “Ooh, Ashley, aye, Ashley (hey), I get hard when she walk past me, (Look at that ass)” and “She talk too much, but I still hit cuz she a fool on that, D d d d d d d d d d dddd dick.” 

In the first time stamp (0:20-0:26), DJ Chose elbows a woman aggressively on her buttocks and then proceeds to repeatedly smash his head against said buttock. Throughout the music video, he and Beat King are rough with all of the women and continually gropes them. Furthermore, the lyrics, “I get hard when she walk past me, (Look at that ass),” are all about experiencing sexual pleasure because of one’s objectification of a woman’s body. 

In contrast, consider the lyrics of the masterpiece that is known as WAP and how they describe a sexual experience that is pleasurable for both parties. Think of the lyrics, “I want you to park that big Mack truck, Right in this little garage, Make it cream, make me scream.” These lyrics, unlike the lyrics of THICK which describe sexual actions the speaker wants to do to someone, describe what Cardi B wants her partner to do with her. Another set of lyrics that demonstrate this contrast are “He got a beard, well, I'm tryna wet it, I let him taste it, now he diabetic, I don't wanna spit, I wanna gulp, I wanna gag, I wanna choke, I want you to touch that little dangly dang, That swang in the back of my throat.” These lyrics describe both cunnilingus and fellatio; sexual pleasure experienced by both parties. Both WAP and THICK are explicit in their lyrics describing sexual interactions but the connotations of the two differ as THICK only thinks about a male perspective of desiring women while WAP describes consensual, interactive sex between two partners. 

I randomly thought of this scene from Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/IBuX0Q2ZJL

Another piece of social media that we shared and discussed is this tweet from user @rileywrittens which reads “I randomly thought of this scene from Atlanta.” and has attached a video clip of a 1:44 scene from the show. According to the user, the clip is from Episode 7 “Champagne Papi” in Season 2: Robbin’ Season. In the scene, Terry (Danielle Deadwyler) speaks to celebrity Devyon Johnson’s (Brandon Hirsch) girlfriend who is a white woman. Terry makes the point that Devyon’s girlfriend as a white woman fits the ideal of womanhood in U.S. society; Terry says, “Type beautiful woman in Google images, honey. Then you can talk to me.” Devyon’s girlfriend reacts defensively to Terry’s conversations and claims that their relationship is because “two good people found each other and I’m a good woman who found a good man” and disregards race in the conversation. Terry calls her out on this and says, “There are plenty, plenty, plenty, plenty of good Black women but you don’t see Brad Pitt tryna date Shonda Rhimes.” 

Looking back, homegirl had a point about white women being defined as the standard for beauty. But also, its kinda weird on how homegirl is being portrayed in this scene too. https://t.co/RFUSPxw7We

In a followup set of quote tweets, the OP says, “Looking back, homegirl had a point about white women being defined as the standard for beauty. But also, its kinda weird on how homegirl is being portrayed in this scene too.” and “Almost as if black women aren't supportive of black men and their goals/dreams. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. Idk.” The writer and director seem to make a racialized choice in this scene about how Terry, a Black woman, and Devyon’s girlfriend, a white woman, are presented. Terry is made out to be extremely aggressive and as if she is attacking this white woman for nothing; she begins the interaction by saying, “Yeah. I’m staring at you. Ho.” Meanwhile the white woman is played as apologetic and sweet; she replies by timidly saying, “Is there a problem?” This scene exemplifies the ideas that society associates with white womanhood (victimhood) and Black womanhood (matriarch, aggressor). Terry comes across as the angry Black woman stereotype. This is even shown in the lighting of the shots. Terry has a dark background while Devyon’s girlfriend is backlit by the fire; likening both of them to a lightness and a darkness. This tweet and our subsequent conversations reminded us of Michelle Wallace’s analysis of the Moynihan Report in Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman. Wallace details the consequences of the Moynihan Report on the relations between Black men and white women and how that affected Black women. 

It has been interesting seeing how much of what we consume on our various platforms of social media relates to the themes of this class. Most notably is how there is such an overlap between the works that we are reading that were written in the 20th century and our experiences with 21st century pop culture.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Mairimashita! Iruma-kun 5 - 6 | Stars Align 4 | Shinchou Yuusha 5 | No Guns Life 5

Iruma-kun 5

“Seriously, stop!” – The phrase in purple is yamerotte!, where the -tte is for emphasis. “Seriously, stop!” makes it funnier because it’s in the language I’m more fluent in though.

The demon language seems to bar some resemblance to katakana, according to the kora-! sign. Update: Maybe? Biri in demon looks a lot like the symbols for kora…

Oh, so that’s why Sabnock wears those tags…Update: Yeah, I forgot to tell you – Asmodeus’s first name is Alice, not the other way around. I read a few spoilers and apparently his mother shows up later, which is how I could tell. Therefore, the muscular demon’s name is Sabro, not Sabnock (that’s his surname).

I see the sword that Sabro generated has his symbol on it as well.

Is the big creature – the Guardian or whatever – the momma bird?...Yeah! Such a cute reunion!

Sabro is built like a guy in his 20s who works out…we’re meant to buy that he’s the same age or similar to Iruma?(!!!)...Ehhhhhhhhh, this is a demon comedy, I can buy it.

Oh my goshhhhhh…for some reason, Clara’s voice is only starting to annoy me now. (Probably because I don’t always have the volume on.)

Come to think of it, what (legally, or by whatever other demon standard) is Iruma’s surname? It’s Suzuki by human standards, but did Sullivan put him into Babylis just under the name “Iruma”?

Wait, but Eggie-sensei didn’t wipe Sabro’s name out!!!

Huh…come to think of it, this is basically the Amazing Race, complete with penalties! LOL!

Rank Owl, huh? *cue Hedwig’s Theme* I thought my Snape jokes would be the end of the Harry Potter comparisons, but there we go. (The owl even has a tie! Cuteeeeeeee!) Also, Eggie-sensei calls the last-placers kisama, so you can tell he really doesn’t like them (then again, that might just be because Iruma is one of them).

I think the “birdy bird day” is a pun on toriaezu (for the moment) from what I heard…Update: Nope, that’s not right.

(Demon Prophecy Scroll) – Yup, that’s Iruma, alright.

Apparently those hand gestures of Sullivan’s are meant to suggest the number 6…as in 666.

Ooh…ponytail demon boy. Me likey.

I think some of the girl demons are wearing their badges on their sleeves (literally), which is why they need one. According to Iruma’s uniform, the boys wear theirs on their collar.

Next time, the spotlight is on Amelie, so I’m excited! (SPOILERS: Honestly, I’ve read enough spoilers that I can’t wait to see Iruma and Azz-Azz in dresses, or evil!Iruma, or Kuromu the Akudol!)

Stars Align 4

There’s an OP for this show???

Oh, the green racquet from the OP is Toma’s…

I didn’t think a guy with the name Tsubasa would be aggressive. Maybe that’s because Tsubasa means “wing(s)”, which are fluffy and not really a name for an aggressive dude like him.

Dammit, Mitsue, you’re not doing anything!

There appears to be a sign hanging from one of the levels about the girls’ soft tennis team getting to nationals. It’s like it’s deliberately there to mock Maki and co. Update: Yeah, I thought I’d seen it before somewhere. Turns out it’s behind the prez when she dances in the ED.

I never really figured this out despite my years of learning Japanese, but do senseis call each other “sensei”? According to the audio of this show, the answer is “yes”.

Tacky = Takichi. It’s because Sakurai’s (the art teacher’s) first name is Takayuki.

Why am I so sure something bad’s about to-oh crap. Something bad did happen.

Ohnonono, please don’t repeat the thing Itsuki did to that bully…

Geez, that cat is a bit of torture now that you’ve snapped my heart into two again. I know watching Hoshiai no Sora is bad for me since I always worry about whether that abusive father is around the corner, that’s why.

Shinchou Yuusha 5

Oh, so does the feather in the OP represent Rista…? (Or would a better representation of her be her buzzer?)

Are Mash and Elulu allowed in the gods’ world…?

It’s DanMachi’s Hestia, kinda sorta…”Hestiaca” doesn’t fool me!

Aww…you ruined a perfect anime with boob grabs…

Mash does an absolutely perfect impression of Seiya (aka Ume)!

Hmmm…so what magic does Elulu have an affinity with…? I bet that’ll be a bit of foreshadowing for later…

No Guns Life 5

Mochi kinchaku. Basically a squidgy bag of soup juice and mochi.

LOL, I like the egg joke. It was nicely foreshadowed and everything.

Well, they don’t call her Scarlet for nothin’.

“…how good I am with scissors.” – Says an old man to a guy with a gun for a head, neither of which have proper head hair to prove that statement with.

Seriously, why is there unnecessary focus on Olivier’s boobs…? Can we not, male gaze?

“You’re a gun.” – Yup, someone had to say it! Juzo is a gun – he has a gun for his head, plus he’s hella muscular!

Who’s the one saying “You men have some nice bodies”? I can’t seem to figure it out without turning on the sound (which I can’t – I hav someone in earshot who I’ll disturb if I do).

So Juzo’s barrel spins when he’s nervous…?

These waves look funky.

Dude. I don’t like this angle on Olivier’s butt.

Cronen, eh? (Refers to David Cronenberg…(?) Although I’ve never watched it, I think The Fly is a masterpiece because I’m so viscerally disgusted by it.)

Iruma-kun 6

I never realised exactly how much I liked this show until I had a really bad day and then couldn’t watch it…

Smartphone = hellphone (sumaho).

Considering the frailty of cherry blossoms and Iruma’s status as a human, that’s…a highly appropriate flower! (Also, after reading a This Week in Anime where it said Iruma was living his best life at Babyls, now I think “aww” when I watch this show.)

Notably, the demon language seems to map to katakana, which is one method as to how Iruma manages to keep his status as human for so long (Iruma’s first name looks similar to the kanji for “human”).

Lookit Ameri go! Woot!

I guess demons think of humans like we think of fairies, mermaids…or demons (LOL).

I get the feeling two strokes in the upper right = tenten (since I think that’s where “ge” is), but I haven’t busted the demon language outside of that.

I just realised the teacher (Suzy) is part of the ED…in the very last shot.

Oh, right. The side character’s name is Eiko = A-ko. It’s like calling your side character Jane Doe (or calling your side character “Mob”, in a case that is in anime), but specifically for girls.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Girls’ Last Tour 1 - 2 | Juuni Taisen 4 - 5 | Ancient Magus’ Bride 2 - 3 | Idolish7 1 - 2

The only one I’ve properly kept up with out of my 5 shows this season is Juuni Taisen, so I’m going to roll out the tag for that show first. Also, the Idolish7 first two episodes became free recently so I cover them here too.

Girls’ Last Tour 1

Pipes…grunge…hey, doesn’t this look familiar? *glares at Princess Principal*

I’ve only seen one episode of Made in Abyss but I get a bad feeling about these character designs…

I’m worried about this falling into the Yuri Divide. Sure,the fandom can do what it wants, but please don’t ship the lolis.

Oh right. Wind, meaning there’s an opening somewhere.

That dramatic eye opening made the outside world seem like an anticlimax. C’mon, show. You can do better than that.

I feel like Chito says “shut up” a lot, even though she’s only said it twice. I get how she’s kind of relatable, but this show’s not on the level of MMO Junkie or even Juuni Taisen. It’s just kinda…average.

Did Tangled ever teach you how to use a pan, Yuu?

Everything’s kinda WWI-esque. It’s kinda unsettling for a person who’s never properly seen war.

Even in this snowy world, you could still learn to hunt and cook, right?

If you kill your friend in a post-apocalyptic world, you’ll be lonely by war. Don’t kill each other, kiddos. Lives are precious.

This is serious, kiddos! C’mon!

Eating snow is meant to quench your thirst, but it’s not any good for hunger. Apparently.

Well, I’m quite lukewarm on this. I’ve already found my seasonal hits and I study globalisation, so it’s no surprise I find this stuff a lot like my weekly content. Nonetheless, whoever decided to put Classicaloid behind a paywall’s gonna have to pay (pun not intended)!

Girls’ Last Tour 2

I half expect a “hey you!” joke but they don’t work in Japanese…

What are the wiggly things on the ground next to Chi and Yuu in the OP??? Leeches???

Oh geez. Now they even draw cleavage on the lolis. Meaning these guys are just drawn young. That’s both a good and a bad thing.

Those letters seem to be…no language in particular.

Book burning. What a thing to throw in.

Oh. The blocky writing is actually hiragana or katakana. You just need to look at it closely.

I think that was meant to be comedy…but it was so cruel. Poor book.

I think what they’re saying is “don’t burn history”, but I think we learnt that a long time ago when the Chinese burnt books.

Maybe if these gals had Bear Grylls they’d survive a bit longer…?

Lemme guess: either Yuu burnt them all, destroyed them all or read them all.

The original joke was gomen wa, where ne is similar to wa. At least, I think it’s a wa. It could be a re.

The red circle said Yuu wrote the me wrong, so it’s actually probably gonun ne.

Well, someone funded a sakuga ending. Like the one from ACCA with dancing Lotta.

Juuni Taisen 4

I find it heavily symbolic that Nezumi likes eating eggs. Eggs represents chickens…and conundrums…

Ooh…bam. Nisio Isin’s going the Middle Eastern proxy route.

Hmm. Interesting, it’s basically Bystander Effect: the War.

The anime’s currently ahead of the manga, so I got slightly startled by Boar’s appearance. However, I’ve read some spoilers elsewhere, so I knew she was going to be in Monkey’s story somewhere else. I just didn’t think it was this soon.

Recycled footage…bad show! Bad!

LOL, CGI tank. Sorry for ruining the mood, but that stood out a bit too much for my liking.

“…participation is mandatory…” – Huh. I never saw that detail coming.

“Ow. I thought you were against violence.” – (LOL.) Yeah, but apathy isn’t good when something’s coming to get you in the sewers, so I’m with Monkey on this.

Wa-wait! Y’mean, Rabbit can use Chicken to use Eye of the Cormorant…so Monkey will die this ep??? [Monkey dying]’s exactly what I’ve been fearing for the duration of this episode. Update: If you want the spoiler version from the end of the ep…she didn’t die.

Notice Monkey uses moves that use the strength of her opponent against her. It’s a very pacifist touch, so to speak.

There are a series of images that flash by before the casual clothes part of the ED. If you observe them closely, you’ll see a lot of them involve the number 12. (Example: the cubes have lines on them that read “12”.)

LOL, I think I only just now spotted the bodyguard behind Boar. He’s hard to spot behind all the splatter.

Home boy and his T-bars make me laugh every time. Then of course, there’s Mr Floofy Jacket.

Oh, it’s Duodecuple who’s doing these next ep previews. I couldn’t figure out who it was last time I tried.

Juuni Taisen 5

Genius, with a capital letter? They keep calling him the Genius of Slaughter in his backstory, so I guess that’s where it’s from.

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing is the same in Japanese as it is English, so at least the pun is there.

LOL, this episode is pretty much all “stuff goes kaboom!”, and that’s pretty much the way of the Sheep. Haha.

Of mice and men, eh??? (I read enough spoilers to know who the victor is…but I don’t know how they win.)

Whoa, yeah, baby! Bring that action! (That happens to be exactly the way I imagine my own action stories – from the front seat, so to speak.)

The snake’s winking! So cute! I want me some plushies like those!

Old-Timer. Haha, great pun on so many, many levels.

Ancient Magus’ Bride 2

I started doing a productivity blog and got caught up in it so much, I neglected anime! Imagine that – me, neglecting anime!

Oh, there’s a little “open” sign near the door.

It’s anime Hogwarts! Only the train is more colorful…LOL. (Actually, Little Witch Academia is anime Hogwarts, so scratch that.)

Ooh, Elias has a good taste in faces. Not that I’m complaining or anything. (Looks like En-chan, to boot.)

Elias is like the NEET genius of the magic world here. It’s kinda funny.

What’s a Gem’s Bee? (No spoilers, I’m not a manga reader!)

Angelica’s like her (Chise’s) mother, LOL. Seeing Elias properly emote is hilarious, hilarious! (Why I procrastinated on this show? Because it’s a slow mover that should be appreciated in its own time, but I’m not good with binging so…that’s why I’m only watching it now.)

Oh! No wonder Angelica seems like a mother. She is a mother.

Ooh! Ice flowers. Pretty. I’ve already gotten way too many screenshots for my own good out of this show…As a writer, I feel like I could never make a story like this.This is a story best fostered under someone else’s hand.

Poppies, eh? To me, poppies symbolise war and sticking out, but that’s just a product of where I was born. In the case of war, poppies represent the blood of the fallen and those who rise above that.

Speaking of stories I couldn’t write, I’m currently bringing Next to Me to a close. I feel like that’s my best match to AMB, which is why my thoughts dwell on stories so much right now. Next to Me is one of those stories where the world matters just as much as the character building, if not more, which is why the understated majesty of AMB is a good match.

Seeing a blonde Englishman use –kun like a Japanese is a bit disorienting.

Simon really treats Chise like a child, eh?

The “open” sign now says “close”. What is this house, an apothecary?

The CGI door was a bit weird…

Whoa! That was a bit of a fast approach into the dragon scene, but apparently the dragon part of AMB was really hyped…

Ancient Magus’ Bride 3

How does skelly-man see like that?

The dragons look like…Pokémon! (That was my first thought, LOL.)

This blonde is Lindel from the promo material I’ve read. He looks like zaShunina (Kado), so it’s best to be wary of him.

Ooh, now there’s an application of shadows I’d never be able to think of!

Holy flame spirits, Batman! Elias has a tongue! (I got spoilered on that by ANN, but it’s crazy seeing it in context.)

Ancient mages shouldn’t be hot like zaShunina! Where are the real old fogeys like Kiku(hiko, SGRS)?

Uncle Nevin! I found it extremely charming this uil has a name beyond “Uil”.

Can these dragons read minds? Or is it just the power of Dragon Knowledge (TM)?

When they say “Anime saved my life”, I guess they never meant it this literally…or at least, Chise never meant it this literally.

That dragon has way too many eyes!!! Yipes.

Huh. I haven’t felt this feeling since SGRS. The feeling of a masterpiece on my eyeballs.

羽鳥チセ <- That’s how you write Chise’s name, so they did another “Western creature uses Japanese knowledge” thing…

D’aww. That was beautiful! No wonder people like it, now I like it too. Nothing short of majestic, guys, nothing short of majestic.

Hey, the guy who voiced Nevin is called Ryuuzaburo. Ryuu means dragon in this case. (Meta pun!)

Idolish 7 1

Crunchyroll really tried to hype this thing up! Wow. So, here I am at what could pretty much be called a premiere event of the simulcast commentary. Enjoy, friends.

By the way, I’ve tried a bit of the Idolish 7 game (but since it was on BlueStacks, I couldn’t do the “rhythm” part of the rhythm game very well and subsequently couldn’t get too far) and of course, there’s a vested interest through Shirai, Masuda and Nishiyama. Update: There’s no Nishiyama in sight. Sorry, guys.

Oh wow. This is exactly as I remember it in the game, right down to the word!

Yay! I was looking forward to seeing the basketball scene adapted, since it’s possibly the only scene I got to experience in the game in its (Japanese) entirety. Bring the dang game to the Western world, Bandai!

Riku is such a pure cinnamon bun when he gets the basketball back.

LOL, Nagi is such a flirt, kyaa~ (semi-sarcastic).

I don’t remember them dropping Trigger’s name so early…geesh, my memory must be sketchier than I thought it was.

Just as a reference, Iori (black) is 17 while Riku (red) is 18.

Ooh, I just spotted a Trigger ad on one building during that cut.

Ooh, good sense of drama these guys have got going.

Idolish 7 2

Expressiveness for a grump like Yamato, LOL.  

LOL, there’s a shark in the back…

Iori has a cat shirt, hahaha.

Cool and sharp…stationery? Like a compass?

Iori’s so sarcastic, I can’t tell f he’s ever being serious or not.

I don’t know who’s my favourite so far out of these i7 boys. Probably the one similar to my husbando, Tamaki.

Ahh, gotta love me a good, honest hardworking anime gal. You don’t see them very often, y’know. It’s refreshing.

That was a great Iori impression Mitsuki did, even visually (note: I didn’t listen to Mitsuki do the impression, I only read the subs…hence my comment). Troyca really captured the style of the game, to boot, which is another cherry on the cake.

Notice Iori stands in front of the D.C. (da capo) and leaves to reveal it.

I researched who Riku’s brother is while I was watching ep 1 and…(spoilers for the uninitiated!) the brother is Tenn of Trigger!

There was a soba ad in the back in one lingering shot…

Hey, I get the feeling there’s CGI involved in this dance segment, but it’s…hardly detectable! Amazing! These guys seem to have gone a long way since the horribly animated Monster Generation MV.

Notice they (Troyca) only use CGI in (mostly) shots which don’t involve closeups.

Of course Nagi winks in the middle of his performance…

Whoo, yeah. That was a bold move by Crunchyroll, and of course that would grab me more than just leaking the first ep. I wonder if any critics covered this on their blogs…? Or would it not matter, since critics wouldn’t cover this “uncritical slop” anyway? Nonetheless, I covered it, and that’s what matters! (Update: Yeah, all the critics – Frog-kun, Lauren in Space, Mage in a Barrel etc. - passed on it. As expected of those critics…)