#overall season 1 had better plots/writing but season 2 is funnier

[totaled-drama]

I have so many thoughts about this season

[redbloons]

Only Murders in the Building S01E08

Last week OMITB graced our screens with a virtually dialogue-free episode (for which I will anticipate some awards). The episode was no less than exceptional, but with a somewhat lackluster ending. I mean, who kidnaps people these days anymore, and in fricking New York City?

Following last week's stellar directing, sound editing and script writing, this week's episode, titled "Fan Fiction", serves as the 8th episode of the season and starts with a group of true crime podcast fans waiting in front of the Arconia building.

So why the ending last week if the rest was just so spectacular? As one of those fans puts it, "Why are you being so negative? [..] trust the team". So I'll do just that and keep watching with an open mind (and heart) and see where this is going (I mean, the show was renewed for a second season, so my guess is we are heading towards a mind-boggling cliffhanger, but hey, it's not over till the fat lady sings).

After the theme song plays the story resumes in Theo's van where Mabel and Oliver are currently held captive. Then, they meet up with Teddy and ride in his limo.

1. How long were they in the van? It's already sunlight when they met Teddy;

2. Was tying them up necessary? Mabel even had a blindfold on, I mean, you just untied them when switching cars. This is just lazy writing.

Nathan Lane as Teddy delivers some very good acting, in a grave tone, which we are not used to seeing him do, and so proves just how good of an actor he actually is. We already knew that, but, his versatility still amazes me.

So, Teddy blackmails Oliver and Mabel in producing a final episode of their podcast affirming Tim Kono killed himself due to loneliness or else he knows where they live (really good pun, good delivery!).

Oliver and Mable meet with Charles, who together with Jan, went through Tim's phone and discovered that Tim saw Theo pushing Zoe off the roof. A bit of wasted time, if you ask me, as the audience already knew this piece of information from the secondary narrative plain from last week.

Following setting up a rendezvous with detective Williams, at her request and to aid her in the official investigation, the team prepares a podcast episode releasing evidence found in Tim Kono's phone ("the who, the how, the why and the why now").

I feel obliged to pause here and to mention that Selena delivers her lines most of the time in a better-than-expected way, while mastering the art of sarcasm and low-key funny. Not to mention, that not even half-way through the episode, we got to see bagels and home-made pizza rolls, two quintessential NYC items, and someone was hungry while writing this.

Carrying on, Oliver invites the true crime podcast fans waiting outside to his apartment where everybody was working on putting the pieces together in solving the mystery and producing the next episode of the podcast. Amy Ryan's Jan gets funnier as the show progresses, in a subtle way (kudos to the writing team), playing the unknowing but very-sure-of-herself female character and love interest, by being "reverse-helpful" (Oliver's words, not mine).

Oliver starts directing a reenactment of what happened on the night of Tim Kono's death using the three fans as Tim, Theo and Lester the doorman.

Shall I mention that up until now, the highlight of this episode was fan#3's attempt at portraying Theo by covering his ears with his hands, at which point Oliver, righteously so, said "never do that again"? I knew I shouldn't have laughed, but my, I do enjoy some subtle comedy in a passive-aggressive voice. The writers have managed somehow to bring some old stereotypes in current media and politely telling society this is not how to do it. Congrats!

Jan tried convincing the team to look into other suspects, not aware of past effort. "Please, exit!" said Oliver and Jan left the apartment. Approaching her flat door, she discovers a note on it with a message saying "I'm watching you". Queue mystery music playing.

The following morning the trio releases the final episode of the podcast, incriminating the Dimases, with police showing at their door: grave-robbery and the murder of Tim Kono.

As the team celebrates the podcast release, Charles texts Jan, but without receiving an immediate reply.

[WARINING! SPOILERS AHEAD!]

But, do not wind down, we have two more episodes to go, so of course, right before the end we get hit with a plot twist. The tox report came back and detective Williams noticed Tim Kono was actually poisoned, which means he was already dead when he was shot. Shocking, am I right?

And it's not over yet, there is photographic evidence the Dimases were outside the building even before the fire alarm went off the night Tim Kono was murdered.

Upon hearing the news, Charles storms off saying that his girlfriend was right for suggesting earlier pursuing other suspects and goes to apologize to her with a flower bouquet for dismissing her views. He finds Jan's apartment door open and he enters. Charles finds Jan laying on the floor, facing down, bleeding from a gun-inflicted wound.

Plot Rating: 7.5/10

Acting Rating: 7/10

Cinematography Rating: 5/10

Writing Rating: 6/10

Ending Rating: 6/10

Overall Episode Rating: 6/10

Now, what did you guys think of Only Murders in the Building S01E08 "Fan Fiction"? What else are you looking for when reading a recap? Let me know! Suggestions and feedback are very much welcome :)

[reversemoon255]

Mashin Sentai Kiramager

I’ve always had the opinion that the best formula for a successful Sentai is to either lean heavily into the comedy or the drama. If your cast of characters is typically serious, when they encounter a humorous situation it’s all the funnier, and when you have a comedic cast and they encounter a dramatic situation it feels all the more dire. Now, this is certainly impacted by the acting, script, etc., but if you look back at some of the better seasons (Shinkenger, Go-Busters, ToQger), you’ll see that a lot of them have that type of lean. And Kiramager has the later feel, standing out as a good season with few low points; ultimately sitting in the upper half of the show’s history.

The Good: One of the big things I talked about when I went over Ryusoulger was the episodic nature of the writing. It felt like it was made to be inviting to first-time watchers for the majority of its run, regardless of their jumping-on point. Self-contained episodes, very few ongoing plot threads, and very trope heavy for the sake of introducing a new audience to the show’s basic concepts and themes. And while I like what Ryusoulger was trying to do, I feel that Kiramager takes those concepts and improves upon them.

While the majority of the episodes were still self-contained, the episodes in Ryusoulger were very focused on fighting enemies, the stresses and one-off characters, and very light development of the main characters with primary focus on Red and Gold. In Kiramager there is much more focus on the main cast, with almost every episode being used to develop a Ranger or their relationships between each other, with the lack there of being one of my biggest complaints with the last season. It also feels like there are more multi-parters and micro-plots throughout the show, which rewards me as a viewer for continuously watching the show, and we don’t get when things are more segmented.

Another of my big issues with Ryusoulger was how heavily it focused on their Red and Gold Rangers. They nixed that out the gate with this show, having a zeroth episode the focused on everyone except Red. And Jyuru was a good Red. Definitely a lot goofier than most, but had a strong personality, was willing to work with and defer to the rest of his team when he needed to, and developed a lot of confidence throughout the season. Tametomo was a lot of fun, too. He was the straight man to everyone else’s silly behavior, but could also pull off a strong gag by himself. He was also very intelligent and a great tactician. Sena was probably the weakest of the main cast, but that was only because her character was more one-note than the others. Upbeat and outgoing at all times, there were very few times where we saw a darker side to her, but those moments were handled well and displayed a depth to her character we could have used more of. And while she isn’t our first female Green, she is our first on a five-man team, and I enjoy seeing them swapping out the usual colors like that. Shiguru started the show as the most serious of the team, but quickly revealed himself to be a lovable goof. The juxtaposition between him trying to act cool and caving into his baser natures was very funny and made for an entertaining character. Sayo was skilled, determined, intelligent, but could also be air-headed. I would describe her as a Yellow Precure turned Pink Ranger, if that makes sense. She usually filled the role an episode demanded of her, but it never felt out of place for her. Takamichi was a decent character, but in a season of funny people, he was the least so. His habit of adding “Wonder” to everything was meh, but he certainly pulled through in the serious moments. I’m a little sad Mabushina’s development didn’t end with her also becoming a Ranger, but she was a good secondary. She could easily hold an episode on her own, and her voice and suit actresses both managed to do a great job of bringing a literal stone-faced character to life.

And then there’s the villains, who did a good job of being just as entertaining and in some cases be as deep as the main cast. Just about everyone was a pretty simple, but fun character that didn’t get too complex until near the end of the story when the core audience would be established. I have mixed feelings about this, as nothing felt too out of place, but it would have been nice to get some build up to this earlier in the story. Kurantula was the team monster maker, and was childish and over-the-top. Whenever he decided to go down and do the dirty work himself, they were usually his crazier schemes. Near the end of the show he expressed the desire to create because he enjoyed it, which put him at odds against his boss and aligned himself with the heroes for survival. Yadonna was a nice mid-addition, shaking up the established dynamic Kurantula and Garuza had. She was so over-the-top evil without being a monster that it was hilarious to watch. I’m a little sad at her ultimate fate, as I would have liked to have seen a turnaround after she was betrayed by Emperor Yodon; have her turn sides, maybe actually get some payoff for that crush Tametomo had. (Eh, there’s always the V-Cinema.) Garuza was the stick-in-the-mud that made everyone else get serious, but could still occasionally crack a joke. He was a great antagonist, and while I like that he turned around at the end, it really needed more buildup. Still, the fact that I wanted all the bad guys to turn face is a testament to how likable they were.

The Bad: I’ve already gone over a few of my problems, but let’s go over them in more detail. Characters have a tendency to be a little one note, like with Sena or Takamichi. Episodes where they explore the depth to those characters are good, but the standard episode has them basically the same character throughout.

And as I mentioned, the big developments for the villains were heavily regulated to the last few episodes. Kurantula didn’t have any signs of being in a slump until the last 5 or 6 episodes, and Garuza turning good isn’t brought up until the 3rd-to-last, and is a bit of a cop out. “Oh, I was brainwashed.” If that had been hinted at at all it wouldn’t be a problem, but I don’t recall any signs of it before episode 43.

Now, these aren’t terrible things, they just could have been done better. It’s part of the downside to the writing style they’ve been pushing to improve ratings. It’s definitely a step forward from Ryusoulger, and they addressed a lot of the issues I had with that season, but they haven’t quite found a pace balance that works for that style and for both new and old fans. If they try this style again with Zenkaiger, hopefully we’ll see some improvements on the formula, but at the same time, since it’s an anniversary season, I’d like if they had a more dynamic and connected story.

Won’t lie, climax was also a little meh.

Overall, Kiramager is definitely a great first Sentai, and a fun one for older fans if you like the more humorous seasons. It has good characters, good (but evil) villains, and silly plots. I really had to think hard about what I didn’t like about the show, and I doubt you’ll notice any of it while you’re watching.

And, as always, if you didn’t pick up any of the toys this year, here are my recommendations if you want to start collecting post-show: Kiramajin (fun toy, fun gimmick), 1 OR 2 copies of Express King (giant T-Rex AND a robot mode), and Zabyuun (adds a lot of play to Express King as well as Kiramajin). I like the toys from this season a lot, but a lot of them are weapons, Gigant Driller is a little disappointing, and Grateful Phoenix is cool but passable. Only go for him if you like what you already have.

[calliecat93]

Top 5 Things I Liked About Red vs Blue: Season 2

(Top 5 Dislikes)

One post down, one more to go… and then twenty-six more to go for the rest of this series. Why did I decide to do this again? Meh, whatever. Let’s just get on with it as we resume looking over Season 2.

#5. Machinima

Okay, this might sound weird, but hear me out. The machinima last season was… basic. Not bad mind you, there is only so much that you can do without a lot of creativity and resources. Resources that RT didn’t have at this point in time. But mostly, they just went through the default motions. Nothing really stood out. It had some cool stuff, like them somehow managing to blow the Warthog on top of Red Base. I think they even said in the commentary that trying to replicate it for the remaster was a pain in the ass. Still, it just didn’t stand out, though the humor made you not notice.

Clearly, the RT guys wanted to push themselves a little more now that they knew how Halo operated and they could machinimate better. Which they did. I noticed a lot of little things when watching the season. Like having Caboose jumping up and down during the opening gunfight while behind a rock, or even Doc just pretending to fire his blaster. Or having Simmons more or less trembling in the finale when his… ugh… fax parts act up and you can tell what Grif is staring at when he questions it. Or adding in things like Lopez’ note in the finale, and even having it written in binary. Heck, we even have smoke come out of Grif’s helmet when Simmons catches him in the act.

These are small things, but it helps make the world and characters feel a little more alive. Clearly, machinima has its limitations, and we’re a long way away from them adding in animation. But creative people will find a way to work within their limitations, and even use those limitations to their advantage. Considering how long this show has been going, I’d say that they succeeded.

#4. Caboose’s Mind

One of the most memorable parts, and one with some actual effects on the characters, is when Church and Tex go into Caboose’s mind to kill O’Malley. It’s one of the weirdest, yet funniest parts of the season. We get to see how Caboose views everyone, with Tucker being stupid and Church being obsessed with being Caboose’s best friend. He gets them wrong, but it makes sense because it’s how /Caboose/ interprets these individuals. They aren’t supposed to be accurate. It’s especially funny when we see the Reds and only Simmons is close to right Grif is Yellow (which they outright did to prove that he was Orange to viewers), Donut is a girl since that’s what Caboose thought at the time, and Sarge has a pirate accent instead of a Southern one. 

It’s just funny to see Caboose, who at this point had been portrayed as the most dim-witted, and how he views these people. It kinda reflects what he wants with Church being his best friend and the Reds fearing him and his greatness. His ideal version of himself is pretty much a cool version of himself, though otherwise not too different. Church’s reaction and frustration at all fo this, especially Caboose!Church, only makes it funnier as is Tex being unfazed by all of it. It did kinda throw me off when I watched it the first time, but God it’s funnier on rewatch now that I know what’s going on. It’s a nice look into Caboose’s mind, and we got to see glimpses of the others int he S14 episode Head Cannon.

I think the biggest things though were for one, we got a location that wasn’t Blood Gulch finally. Sure it’s pretty much a standard video game map with a bunch of cubes, but after having the only setting be a canyon, it was refreshing. We also have some major impact with this since due to all the chaos, Caboose’s character becomes what it is now. We can debate all day how we should view Caboose and his intellectual level, but I do think that this helped endear the character to people and allowed him to stand out much, much more. Even now I know very few people, if anyone, who dislikes Caboose so while maybe they should acknowledge that he was more or less brain-damaged, the character himself has become better due to this. Which is nice~

#3. O’Malley Subplot

Speaking of Caboose’s mind, the O’Malley plot was by far the standout in this season. At first, it wasn’t too much since only Tucker cared about Caboose’s sudden murderous behavior. But once Tex came back, things picked up. While the backstory wasn’t totally accurate, it would certainly lead to more ahead. The fight in Caboose’s mind was fun. Tucker got to show some genuine competence when he came up with the plan to make the Reds turn their comms off and even using Lopez as a backup plan. With how much more competent Tucker grows later once circumstances pretty much force him to, this was an early sign showing that he is capable. He just needs to be pushed into doing it.

O’Malley himself didn’t stand out too much, just being kinda murderous. Then he escaped into Doc. I’ll go more into this next season, but this was the best decision ever. Doc is a whiny goody-two-shoes while O’Malley is gleefully, over-the-top evil. The contrast of the two personalities works super well and is just really funny to watch, though again it applies more for the next season. By the end, O’Malley makes his move and firmly sets himself up as the first proper Big Bad of the series, and he’s the perfect villain for the Blood Gulch Chronicles.

Overall, the whole subplot was really fun even though it did kind of have a slow start. It brought back Tex, had some really funny moments like the Reds' reactions to Lopez’s horrible love song. At least Donut liked it, haha~ It gave us our first proper villain, which led to one Hell of an insane finale. Even everything in between with Donut getting captured by the Blues and them trying to use this to make Sarge build them new bodies was fun to watch. The first half of S2 s super fun, but the second half is, without doubt, the best part for me. O’Malley was the catalyst, and to this day is one of my favorite villains. Love it~

#2. Improved Production Standards

Season 1 was good but flawed. It was clear that the RT guys weren’t really sure what they were doing. Audio quality was meh, jokes could drag, and the pacing was rather slow. It makes sense though when you read about what the original plans were. RvB was meant to be a miniseries, and nothing more. But pretty much a combination of them not getting to what they planned as soon as they thought (Donut was supposed to be in pink armor much sooner for example, and they realized how long it was taking to get there) as well as just coming up with more ideas extended things to a nineteen episode run. So there was no long term plan and things like writing and machinima were done in mere days in between releases. Plus there were only two main machinimators, Burnie and Geoff, and if you listen to the original S1 commentary they are both clearly exhausted. Burnie even said on a one-on-one podcast with Geoff on how they had pretty much had every conversation ever and they’d be like some old married couple just staring at each other. You can find it here if you’re interested, it’s a fun one~

So yeah… when you look back you can kinda tell that S1 was a bit of a rush job, and a tiring one at that. It’s still very good and like I said, they found ways to use so much you barely notice things were made up on the fly. But clearly, they needed a better system. Enter Matt Hullum. He had already been voicing Sarge, but he ended up stepping in to play a larger behind the scenes role. He joined Burnie on writing and directing, and thus they started planning things much farther ahead. As such, they knew the general plot and thus things could be tightened. The pacing is much better with episodes feeling faster, but having plenty of things happening. I already talked about the machinima improvements, which having Matt as well as Gus coming back from Puerto Rico also helped there. The voice acting, while still amateur, improved as well as the audio mixing. The filter is still a little distracting, but it and the general audio mixing is greatly improved. Pretty much every aspect of S1 was improved big time. It wasn’t perfect, but still, they clearly put a lot in creating a more quality product.

Season 2 had a hard job. Season One had to prove that this was a show worth watching. Season 2 had to prove that it could keep going and wasn’t just a one-hit-wonder. And ho boy did they. It’s funnier, it’s more ambitious, and even starts adding in some story. This season got the viewers from last time to come back, and probably brought in some new ones. It proved that this was a show that was sticking around and that RT had staying power. If this season failed, RvB would probably just be remembered as this funny Halo show. But it succeeded because they wanted the show to keep succeeding and be good, and that effort shows.

#1. Improved Characterizations

The thing that I enjoyed most about Season 1 was the character interactions. They just had natural chemistry and their interactions were funny. The characters themselves though were a little one-note. They had personality, but they didn’t really stand out when you compare them to other comedies like The Simpsons or South Park. I guess that RT realized this as well because this is where the characters really begin to become the same ones that we know now. Not all of them mind you like Simmons and Tucker are the least fleshed out here, but even then the signs of who they would become are there with things like Simmons clinginess to Sarge and the joke about Tucker’s rock, as well as the previously mentioned show of competence when pushed.

Donut and Grif show more of their personality, with Donut expressing his hobbies like home decor and growing to like his lightish-red armor. Grif shows his more lazy slacker attributes, like sleeping during meetings and forgetting the ammo, and his unhealthy habits like smoking and his constant eating. Which he’s pretty much doing intentionally to annoy Simmons and mess up the parts that he got from him. Lopez also got a lot of personalities now that he can talk. Namely, after the Reds nearly kill him and the Blues use him for their own means, he hates them all and his apathetic personality has stuck ever since. Poor guy has had such a hard time, haha. And I already went into Caboose, so there's no need to repeat myself. Even Shelia got sassier this season~

The one I think got the most improvement though is Sarge. In S1, he was just kind of a standard sergeant character you could find in just about any military movie, and the voice reflected it. Here? Matt just goes off the wall. He said in the S2 commentary that Sarge is pretty much the combination of various 50’s character tropes, like the grumpy old guy and the mad scientist. It shows. Sarge’s hatred of Blues and love of warfare are much more evident, especially in the finale. His hatred of Grif is also much more played up. We see that he is absolutely insane with his conspiracy theories about Lopez being brainwashed by the Blues instead of reprogrammed and turning Simmons into a cyborg instead of just getting a new robot. Sarge is the opposite of sensible, and having this guy be the leader and forcing everyone to follow his plans due to it is freakin’ hilarious. Matt exaggerating the accent from this point on only adds to this characterization and is much, much more fitting.

The characters, in my opinion, are the best part of Red vs Blue. This season demonstrates that very well. Unlike S1 where there were only shades of their later portrayal, this one uses broad strokes. I think some of the better voice acting can also be due to this since the cast now has more of a character to fool around with instead of just having to more or less act like their everyday selves. The characters were stronger, and as such the interaction and humor were even better. As such, it is my favorite part of Red vs Blue Season 2. Can they keep it up in Season 3? Well… we’ll find out soon~

[theskytraveler]

Hellooooooo ❤️

Short answer: they are fun.

Regency and Victorian Era romances are my guilty pleasure because of the Bridgerton books. I read them and now I am obsessed with the genre. Julia Quinn writes fun books, but if you are supercritical about what you're reading, then you might have some problems with them. My main issue with her books is that sometimes they feel rushed or not fully developed, but if you're the kind of person that can separate the reading experience and the analysis part, go for it!

(Also, some of her protagonists are problematic, but I try to cut them some slack. I am a 21st-century woman judging 19th-century fictional men. But I do not excuse the rape in Daphne's book, that I can't do).

I recommend reading them in order, even if it's not necessary. Sometimes events that happened in one book are mentioned in the next and then characters start having kids and it becomes a whole thing. There's even a 10-year gap between Benedict's and Colin's books (and then Colin's, Eloise's and Francesca's books happen in a really close timeframe).

The official order is Daphne - Anthony - Benedict - Colin - Eloise - Francesca - Hyacinth - Gregory - Extra book with second epilogues for all the siblings + a story focused on Violet.

MY order is:

1) Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Colin): I absolutely love this book. I skim it once a year because it gives me so much serotonin. Penelope is a relatable protagonist and the friends-to-lovers plot is such a joy to read. My biggest fear is that the show doesn't do this one justice.

2) The Viscount Who Loved Me (Anthony): Has the most iconic scene of the series (Pall Mall) and it is overall a delightful read. Newton is the best and Edwina's lack of interest in Anthony (I'll never forgive Shonda for not using this as the perfect opportunity to make Edwina a lesbian) makes everything funnier than it has any right to be. The show did not do this book justice at all.

3) It's In His Kiss (Hyacinth): This book is hilarious. Hyacinth is the best Bridgerton. She is the moment. The girl is legit committing crimes to find her boyfriend's dead grandma's diamonds.

4) An Offer From A Gentleman (Benedict): I'm always switching Benedict's and Eloise's books from 4th and 5th places on my lists. Right now, I am putting Benedict above because Sophie is one of my favorite characters from the series. She has the worst backstory in the Bridgerton universe and she is the best. A cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure. And who can resist a Cinderella AU? This is, however, the book I think has the most wasted potential of the series (the ending was too rushed) and I hope the show fixes the pacing issues it had.

5) To Sir Phillip, With Love (Eloise): It's a fun book. Eloise is a fun character and I love Phillip, my awkward botanist. Not much to say about this one except for the scene of the Bridgerton Boys coming to get Eloise that always makes me laugh (and it better be on the show, Shonda).

6) On The Way To The Wedding (Gregory): Gregory is too pure for this world. All he wants is true love. But he is a Bridgerton Boy, so he is cursed by partial blindness when it comes to it. Not much to remember this book by, but it does feature a lot of Kate in it, so that's a plus!

7) When He Was Wicked (Francesca): The only reason this isn't last on the list is because of Michael. I love him. Don't know what the everloving fuck he sees in Fake Bridgerton, but that's his choice I guess. I really dislike Francesca, but in this fandom, you either love her or hate her.

8) The Duke and I (Daphne): It's just that nothing happens in this book. It's boring. Watch Season 1 and you're good, honestly.

This got SO LONG OMG. Sorry. But feel free to send me an ask or DM me if you want more info or recommendations of other authors of the genre! My personal favorite is Sarah MacLean ❤️

okay seeing everyone talk about it might convince me, but are the bridgerton books worth reading?? if so are they all good or just a select few ones worth reading??

I actually haven't read all of them yet love but @theskytraveler has, what do you think Bea? ❤

[billica-riverdine]

Starmyu review (s1 and s2). I’m very careful not to write major spoilers!

I have to say, last year I came across this anime called "High School Star Musical" or starmyu on wikipedia, while tending a page of seiyuus. I never watch an anime unless it was recommended by my friends. So when I saw they have all great voice actors, I thought "Oh, this will be worth it." The only idol animes I watched prior Starmyu were Utapri and Shohari via recommendation. (Now I've watched most of them including B-pro, tsukiuta, , and tsukipro)

Yes, I find the abrupt burst to song hilarious! (Sorry) also the bg concept in their singles were... magically amazing. The soundtracks were godsent.

The main story is about the MC, Hoshitani, who enrolled to a music-focused academy (hs?) with the dream to perform with a student of the high school he briefly saw years ago while passing the school building. Never he ever thought that his future-coach was the high schooler, who is also a council member, which makes his team a Star team. MC's team consisted of 5 members plus 1 coach, and they have their own (rather serious) backgrounds and concerns, which were screened per episodes. We can see how their lives were heavily influenced with musicals. They did not start off well..

I skipped several episodes of season 1 until episode 9, I completely stopped. It was during the time I shifted all my attention to the worldwide recommended anime, Yuri on Ice.

After my breakdown 6 months ago, because of a college admission test, I detached myself from anime for many months. The very first anime I started to watch again was starmyu, and I was very surprised to know that SEASON 2 AIRED DURING THE BIG TEST. I am 7 months late to welcome the series. Talk about bad luck.

So I started from season 1, from where I left off, episode 9 and the previous episodes I had skipped. Starting episode 10, I realized that this anime was far more intense than I had previously thought. Selfishness was the cause of conflict.

Even worse, not only the pressure from the "bad guys", their luck wasn't any better. I absolutely love the resolution, I never thought the way they fix everything bad thrown to the boys. That's where I got invested to the series.

The OVA of season 1 was not to be skipped. The animation is very eye candy and not 3d generated smooth like in most idol shows (then again, they are not idols haha). There are character developments too.

I was excited to start watching season 2, especially after knowing the super hot alumni of the academy, the "Ancients". The season started off okay, and the mysterious new character (Ageha) is very cute too, despite his Haruto-obsession. Nanjo and Kitahara Ren gave me the impression of antagonist lol

This season, focused on musical drama performance.

Season 2 was quicker to intervene the smooth pace. I kind of expected some plot twist from the start, though. The gags were funnier. And although we get like 10 new characters, they all have unique personalities that we can easily differ all of them. Also I like how Ren obviously has a crush on one of the main boy Kuga, haha.

And after more episodes, we got more and more twists. It's a good twist though, with several miracles to fix it included. It's no wonder why the MC was so distressed that everyone thought he might kill himself. Ouch. Not really though, one of the boy was surprisingly imaginative.

Each character's interaction were interesting, which develop their characters too. Unlike season 1, we can see the star teams unite and chill together.

In season 2 two, we only get 2 singles. The rest of transition songs were collabs or duet, and the songs were a lot lot better than the previous season. (((( Someone give medals to the bgm team please. ))))

And oh my god, the problems were never ending. You wouldn't have guessed anything wrong until it happened, What I also like from this season is, though there are obviously stereotyped characterization, they actually put their "bad deeds" into good use we never thought were effective. For example, one of the character was marked a copycat, but later he was useful as a replacement with his mimic ability.

The intensity of the rivalry for the roles were told from the start. Don't be shocked to know of all many many 30 boys you would see, only 11 performed on stage and only 8 actually got on screen time. The rest were behind the scene staffs, which makes the point of the show that "no matter where we are, what position we are in, our hearts are one." I assure you, you will see that the bg team also shine the same with the ones on stage. If I hadn’t spoilered anything, even the first part the performance was magnificent.

OVERALL, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HOW THE SEASON TURNED OUT. I ACTUALLY CRIED @GOD WHY HADN'T I KNOWN THAT 2ND SEASON HAS AIRED SOONER.

I will end this speech. I still can't get over last episode. This anime man, was on par with yuri on ice to me on how unforgettable it is. I will continue to support this anime, since the fandom seems to be quiet. But that doesn't matter, I do my best even if I ended up alone.

[chunsoftie]

personal worst-to-best episode ranking: south park s21

This list is mostly a subjective viewing that I wanted for myself, but I figured I would post this and see if you guys agreed or disagreed with some points that I’ve made.

Overall this season was a mixed bag and even though I felt it did far better than its last season, there were still plenty of flaws that should be looked upon so that the next season could be working for improvement. Plenty of episodes this season were not funny, and the correlation between plots really didn’t really hold up, except for a few episodes on this list. For a satirical show that’s primarily focused on the comedy, I want next season to work more on implementing jokes that focus on the actual plot rather than just thrown in for the sake of relevancy. 

Relevancy is a huge factor into South Park, I understand this, but when I’m watching an episode and not laughing at a single joke, jokes that can be made for general audiences, there are faults in that execution.

Let’s get right into this.

10.) White People Renovating Houses.

I’m not really sure if this choice surprises anyone. The premiere for the season left me bored and confused. The premise was interesting enough, and the Cartman/Heidi interaction could have been funny, but overall there were plenty of missed opportunities. (I think that’s going to be something you’ll see me say a lot throughout this list). I was glad that the next episode did substantially better, but considering this season is deemed as an episodic one (even with the ongoing narratives intertwined, it’s still an episodic season), it’s not going to be an episode I’ll flip on Hulu when I’m bored. Next.

9.) Franchise Prequel

Putting this episode so low on the list, mostly because of how disappointed I was at the end. One of the reasons why 2 and 3-parter episodes do so well with South Park’s narrative structure is because of how much room there is to breathe. Characters have more development and the pre-game tension is heightened due to a great episode, or series of episodes. This however felt just like I was watching a 20-minute trailer. The comedy in this was better than some episodes, but the fact that I was watching an episode that would have benefited from tighter writing took that away from me. Overall, a boring episode that had superheroes elements that could have been done so much better.

8.) Splatty Tomato

I appreciate the fact I came away enjoying this episode, generally, more than the S20 finale. However, the flaws are still there, and it primarily comes down to the ending. The last five minutes of the episode were extremely rushed and felt out of nowhere. I understand Heidi’s confrontation with her relationship with Cartman, and how that was foreshadowed plenty, but even with a great scene it doesn’t excuse the timing of said scene compared to the rest of the season, along with the cliffhanger at the end. I wished that they replaced Super Hard PCNess with this episode and made the finale something else. But we’ll get to former episode in just a little while…

7.) Sons a Witches

The one thing about this episode I appreciate is making a Halloween-themed episode that has a better title than another episode on this list. I felt the first plot was relatively satisfactory, but the Cartman/Heidi plot could have been worked on. It would have been funnier to see the boys take Cartman’s plan out of miscommunication just to realize what Cartman was actually going to do – would that have been too predictable? Maybe. But it would have been funnier than what we actually got. There were plenty of scenes that were good on their own, and the animation peaked in this episode, but overall I won’t go back to rewatch it.

6.) Super Hard PCness

A good Kyle characterization episode, one of the things I came away with watching this one was how they managed to shape Kyle as a character with his flaws out in the open (for the first time in a long time). It made me appreciate when the crew takes chances with certain characters, and this is no exception. The references to Bigger, Longer, and Uncut were appreciated, a movie that I have been meaning to rewatch for some time and now I more motivated to do just that. I appreciated what they did with Kyle in this episode, and how they started to shift things for the finale, but still, felt it could have benefited from better writing.

5.) Doubling Down

Even though I believe this episode was entirely avoidable due to the fact they hardly reference it in upcoming episodes, I felt there were some good things out of this episode. The animation sequence that referenced Dumbo and Cats Don’t Dance was something enjoyable to see as it aired. I really loved the difference in dynamic between Cartman and Kyle in this episode, even though I feel Kyle’s actions in this episode really go against his character in some regards. The jokes stuck more here, with Beyond KFC and the final part with Heidi going against Kyle. Not one of my favorites, but the pros are there.

4.) Put it Down

I feel like I should put this episode so high on the list for the plot regarding driving and texting alone. They were able to pull off a good political point with that plot in a great way, and the incorporation of that sideplot into the main Craig/Tweek plot was appreciated. The final musical number was one of the highlights of this season, and I genuinely could not stop smiling after the episode was over. It was a great step away from the premiere, and it was a great look into the Craig/Tweek relationship, said by someone that feels indifferent to the ship. Well done, South Park.

3.) Hummels and Heroin

This was one of the only episodes this season that felt funny throughout the entirety of its run. I loved the fact that this episode revolved around the boys, and how it felt like something to come out of earlier seasons. Seeing other characters such as Stan’s grandfather and more of Stan, honestly, is always a good thing and the plot came with clever twists that kept the comedy intact. This will be one of the only episodes from this season that I’ll go back to rewatch when bored.

2.) Moss Piglets

The reason this episode is so high up on this list is because, besides it being really funny and interesting, it never felt sloppy in execution. The pacing felt very efficient in this episode, nothing felt out of place and the plots mixed together splendidly. I think seeing fat!Heidi for the first time wasn’t entirely unpredictable, but the way that they paralleled the girl group to the main four was hilarious. Out of the fat!Heidi centric episodes, this was by far my favorite. What a great episode.

1.) Holiday Special

Holiday Special, despite it having a crappy title, was my favorite episode this season. There are so many things that should be said about it, but to keep it to the point, the pacing was the best this season. The humor was great, the characterizations were great, and the stance that Trey and Matt took when discussing the politics in this episode was something I came away loving immensely. I’ve already rewatched this episode several times – it’s my personal favorite, and one of which I wasn’t expecting to love so much, but I will continue to rewatch this episode as it was done so well.

[vetivervelvetviolet]

Yuri!!! on ICE Dub Review: a Translator’s (in training) Perspective

As promised, here's my review of the Yuri!!! on ICE dub by @funimation. In case you are new to my blog (which will be 5 years old this July, yay), I'm currently in graduate school for a Master's in Japanese Translation. I've been studying Japanese since 2005, and I've been watching anime and/or reading manga for a little bit longer than that. Some of the points I’m going to make are based on translation theory and practice facts, some are educated guesses about a dubbing process I had no part in, and some are just personal opinions. Please keep this in mind.

Strengths

Overall I was truly impressed with this dub, especially given that the episodes would have been translated, subtitled, and re-recorded on relatively short notice, and that there would have been increased pressure on the actors to get their lines in a few takes since the episodes were being released on Crunchyroll only a week after they premiered in Japan. Josh Grelle was an excellent voice match for Yuuri and carried this show, Jerry Jewell's Viktor was charming and funny, and Micah Solusod did an admirable job as Yuri P., doing what I think might have been his first Russian accent (at least as far as I have seen), and generally playing the motivated little asshole part very well, once again proving that sweet guys tend to play the best douchebags.

The side characters also had very good English voices, in terms of suiting the character type. I'm in love with Joel Mcdonald's Phichit; his voice is 110% believable coming out of Phichit's mouth. Joel seems to have the "kindhearted boy voice" corner covered. JJ's voice actor was great, and conveyed the character's outrageousness over to English superbly. Lastly, I love Chris Sabat's Christophe. I love him. That is my boy right there. Sorry haters, you can't change my mind. I hope Christophe gets some more backstory next season. In all, the choices of actors in the dub were excellent.

・The Asian characters didn't have accents. This subtle decision was a very thoughtful move in terms of maintaining how Yuuri, a Japanese person, would perceive his fellow skaters in an English-dubbed environment. You know how people talk about "a director's director" as someone who makes movies that appeal to directors, this was a translator's translator’s decision.

In Japanese culture, Chinese and Korean people are not considered gaikokujin, per se, despite being foreigners from a legal standpoint. These countries and cultures have heavily intertwined histories, so it makes sense that Japan would consider them sort of in-group. In recent years, too, perhaps as a result of globalization and increased contact, this foreigner-but-not-really-a-foreigner status is also sometimes given to Southeast Asian people. Europeans, Africans, Pacific Islanders, people from the Americas, and people from the Middle East are still gaikokujin, and are seen as Other from a sociological perspective. Although I obviously wasn't in charge of translating the Japanese script, writing the English script, or hiring the actors, this is the only logical reason I can come up with for why Phichit, Guang-Hong, and Seung-Gil didn't have accents, but everyone else (save Leo who is American) does. JJ even said "eh?"  and pronounced his vowels a little differently in the first episode he appeared in, just in case you didn't catch that he was from ~Canada~. Intentional or not, I was really impressed by this decision and hope it is a sign of movement towards more nuanced dubbing.

・No one's name was gravely mispronounced *is still not over the D. Gray-man dub*

・Yuri P. was adequately rude; he didn't sound toned-down or forced (like how I felt about some moments in the Attack on Titan dub) 

 ・I think Minami sounded equally gender ambiguous in the English dub as he did in the original. Apparently his seiyuu was the protagonist in Haikyuu. I have not seen that series, but I can say from what I have seen of the art that that character is much more obviously male, and perhaps people who were familiar with Haikyuu and that actor knew right away that he was a guy, but it was not obvious to me in the the original! Minami’s character design is not terribly masculine, nor is his behavior, and if Trina Nishimura hasn't dubbed him, I honestly would have expected Greg Ayres, what with that hair, personality, and snaggle tooth.

Weaknesses

・Why did Celestino have an Italian accent? Even his Japanese Wikipedia description clearly says he's イタリア系アメリカ人, which means he is an American of Italian descent, as in, his parents/grandparents/etc. were from Italy. He is not an Italian immigrant/expat who lives in America. 

 ・I think Stephane Lambiel's guest appearence was handled clumsily in the dub. Considering how thoughtful the American crew seemed to be in regards to dubbing just about everyone else, I couldn't understand why they didn't either 1.) Keep the original audio of Lambiel, himself, speaking his few lines, or 2.) If that wasn't possible, record someone else speaking his lines in French. There were only a few, and with no lipflap to match, it seemed doable for someone who isn't necessarily a professional voice actor, but is either French or speaks French fluently. Granted, if they had re-recorded French audio, they would have needed to overlay English subtitles around or over the already-present Japanese ones which would be visually awkward, butttt... which for some odd reason they still had in the dub??? I don’t doubt that they --the dub crew-- probably also thought that this was less than ideal, having two sets of subtitles on the screen simultaneously, but I found it supremely distracting, for one, and absolutely unnecessary in the case of the English ones, since the dub actor was already speaking in English.

・One of the international skaters (either Guang-Hong, Emil, or Leo, I can't remember which), in his first appearance, was clearly dubbed by someone using a completely different mic or recording system than the majority of the cast. I lack the proper technical terms to describe his voice for those lines, but it sounded fuzzy or clouded, not like someone was speaking to me in real life. By no means did this ruin the entire episode or something for me, and it was probably a result of the time crunch ("you can't make it in today? okay, sure, you can record from home and send it in, so long as we have it by the end of today"), but it was noticeable.

Addressing some issues and qualms brought up by other fans

・"Jerry Jewell's Russian accent wasn't flawless/he sounds like Gru from Despicable Me". I know next to nothing about Russian, so maybe it was horrible, but it wasn't so horrible that I could tell. But more over: TIME CONTRAINTS. Funimation had to find a veteran voice actor who could reliably get lines done in a few takes (given not just the time contraints, but the fact that Viktor speaks a lot in every episode) and could also do a passable (to Americans) Russian accent. I cannot imagine that there are too many people in the Forth Worth-Dallas area who meet both of those requirements. Second, if you can sit through the Minions, you can suck it up and deal with a just-okay Russian accent. 

 ・Which brings us to my next point: the time element. You cannot reasonably expect something, any sort of product for consumption, to be flawless, fast, AND cheap/free. Going too fast in translation, including subtitles, almost always results in errors. Hence there were minor flaws in the subs (as @fencer-x has noted; she has better listening comprehension skills than me, and I trust her ear) , and since the dub script was not terribly different than the subbed script in this series, I'm going to guess that those errors carried over. I don’t have time to go back and analyze the places where the mistranslations occurred, though, so I am not 100% sure. They did not affect the plot or the characterization of the characters, though, so I do not consider them serious. 

 ・Some time ago @fencer-x responded to a comment about jokes/references/lines being moved around. I don't remember what she said, but here are my two cents:

Moving around jokes/references/lines is normal in translation, especially when you need to match lipflap. There may be many reasons why, and they will vary depending on language pair, but they can all be said to be necessary to meet target culture norms, and in the the case of dubbing, meeting target culture mouth movements. Although technically up for debate in academia, I am of the persuasion that some loss of linguistic and cultural content is inevitable in translation, even in literal translation, sometimes (linguistic relativity). A good translation attempts to make up for some of that through "compensation", though. This could explain why some characters reactions or quirks (*cough*Christophe*cough*) are more extreme in the English dub than they appear to be in the original. I for one found the humor funnier in English, and the touching moments, like the ring exchange, more touching in the dub.

・I get the sense, not just from this particular dub,  but from the dub vs. sub way of thinking of some fans have in general, that there is a severe misunderstanding about subtitles and their relation to translation and language. Also, that some people do not understand that what is being said, as in literal words being used, is not the same thing as what is being conveyed/what they meant by those words....

SUBTITLES =/= EXACTLY WHAT IS BEING SAID IN JAPANESE, BUT 'JUST IN ENGLISH'

Subtitles are not literal (hopefully) or "pure" translations. There are no such things as "pure" translations. Subtitles are not necessarily any closer to what is being said, or what is being conveyed in Japanese (or any source language for that matter) than dubbed scripts. Subtitles are not magic language decryption.

・For example, subtitles, like any translation, frequently make use of techniques called transposition and modulation when going from Japanese to English. Transposition is "a change of one part of speech for another (e.g. noun for verb) without changing the sense" {Introducing Translation Studies, Munday}. Modulation is a change "in the semantics and point of view of the [source language]". In many cases, when coming from a language so linguistically different from English as Japanese, using these techniques is basically mandatory if you want the resulting English to sound 'normal', or as we say in academia, unmarked. Combined with the concept of linguistic relativity, the moment you translate even quite simple sentences, phrases, or words from Japanese to English, you have irrevocably changed them. Theoretically speaking then, no matter if the subs or the dub say "My name is Meghan" or "I'm Meghan", they are both 'correct' translations, but entirely DIFFERENT THAN "メーガンです". 

 ・Subtitles often include adaptations of what is being said in Japanese on screen. This means that cultural references, in-jokes, and the like are changed to be relevant to English-speaking audiecnes. This is an instance where what is being conveyed outweighs what is literally being said in importance. That is, if the translator or script writer didn't change them, the joke or reference would be meaningless, and thus, pointless, supposing the necessary cultural information doesn't also exist outside of Japan.

In conclusion, I was very impressed with the Yuri!!! on ICE dub. I am definitely going to buy it on DVD. As a longtime fan of anime, I appreciate quality dubs, and can relate to fans who want to see dubbed episodes as soon as possible. I am also, unfortunately, familiar with how a poorly chosen cast can ruin a show--which obviously did not happen here. However, as a translator, I am now more aware of what goes into the translating and dubbing process, and I firmly believe that the dub crew gave it their all here. I also have the firsthand experience to say that, hell yes, being rushed sets you up to make mistakes, which seem to have happened in some places in the translation process of this series. However, as I said earlier, those errors did not affect the plot overall, or the characterization, or my understanding of the story, so I can still confidently give the dub a thumbs up.

See you next level!

[thedramafilesblog-blog]

Appearing before the Dramacourt: Man to Man Ep 01

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

Issues:

Whether the sniper shooting scene was realistic

Whether the “prison break” was believable

Whether the evil scorpion man villain scene was the funniest thing ever

Whether the breakup with the mob boss’s daughter was legit

Whether ex-fangirls would really make the best managers

Whether the explanation on ‘how to contact a Ghost Agent’ was hilarious

The Rule(s):

Absolutely not. There’s a reason snipers don’t move around and jump across buildings when on a mission.

Somewhat. It started out strong and then its like the write gave up thinking halfway through.

Totally. Cheap, terrible CGI and random NYPD in the most un-New York environment is totally ridiculous.

No. It was totally not legit. So many unanswered questions.

Depends.

Yes. Totally hilarious.

Analysis:

RedRosette J: Finally. A show that isn’t absolutely horrible right from the start. I have to say that I was waiting for this show ever since they announced it. I love James Bond-y spy shows, so this is totally up my alley! It got off to a rocky start with the ridiculous “sniper” scene (See Issue 1) at the beginning but after that the show picked up. There was all the super secret spy stuff, running around Europe, and things blowing up just like in any good spy show. There was definitely a LOT going on in this episode and I had to stop for breaks throughout (this probably has nothing to do with the actual plot though and more to do with the fact that my brain is tired from studying. Exams. Ugh). Park Hae Jin is totally believable as Agent Kim Seol Woo. He’s done previously “soul-less” roles before (Bad Guys and arguably Cheese in the Trap), so there’s no doubt he can deliver. I also like that he brings a little bit of a “I-give-no-shits” vibe to the character. I really liked the introduction of the movie star Yeo Woon Gwang and the people around him. They all seem to have unique and well developed characters. Right down to a Descendants of the Sun spoof! I’m excited to see how Park Hae Jin’s and Kim Min Jung’s characters interact as the show goes on. For right now, it seems to be the typical borderline love-hate situation. As for the political plot line, I got bored and sort of zoned out, but I’m hoping it gets better later on. The production is well done and the OST is decent too. So far, I don’t hate it and I’m really hoping it continues this way and doesn’t disappoint.

Jubiemon J: Overall, I’ve enjoyed this episode. We had a good mix of action and humour. I also liked how the episode showed a contrast between Kim Sulwoo and Yeo Woo Gwang through the transitions. When Sulwoo is suffering in prison, you have Woo Gwang being a jerk to all the workers around him. There’s a nice contrast between their personalities, yet they’re similar in many ways as well. Sulwoo can charm people like how Woo Gwang is great at acting as if he cares about the people around him (not his direct team; other directors/actors). However, Sulwoo seems to be less conceited and has a more serious, responsible personality unlike Woo Gwang who is really the arrogant type that you can’t hate completely since he’s still good at what he does. Also, though the spy scenes in the start were a bit cheesy at first and the long English scenes were kind of excessive, I still enjoyed seeing that setup for Park Haejin’s character. I felt like the crew intentionally had that long intro segment to lightly make fun of typical spy movies too. In spy movies, there’s always that femme fatale and how Haejin’s character ended the relationship he had with that woman in Hungary was hilarious and totally made fun of spy movies.

I wouldn’t say this episode was a 10/10 because there were still some parts that bug me. I did think that how Sulwoo entered the prison was on the ridiculous side; he could have just committed some crime and entered or acted as some prison guard. Instead, he had to go through that long saga with getting kidnapped by some peeps to get to the Russian military leader.  I also don’t particularly enjoy Cha Do Ha as a character. She seems to be the typical Mary Sue. She’s a kind, devoted woman with good intentions and is completely infatuated with Woo Gwang to the point that it’s embarrassing. She’s like at least 30 in this drama . . . and she fan girls like a teenager. I know it’s supposed to be cute/funny, yet I just cringe. Not to mention, did they HAVE to give her the worst bowl cut ever? She also keeps interfering with Sulwoo’s mission which sincerely irritates me. I’d rather watch how his mission will play out than have her believe he is some paparazzi. Even worse, it’s completely obvious how Sulwoo will eventually fall for her. There’s already some hint that something about her “bugs” him; his boss even alluded that there’s always a woman involved. Finally, the political parts were still . . . ugh. Can we just let go of all the corruption dramas going on? -0-‘ So sick of this theme. (I do have to say this drama has done the best so far in terms of dealing with the politics; not TOO TOO much like in some dramas like Defendant. God. No.)

We’d never get anything done if professors looked like this

Fake dating

Tea with a mob boss

Shady shit always goes down in alleys

LOL!

Making sure everything is perfect because you have the boss from hell

Smiles

When someone interrupts your “me time”

This guy tho

“Let me see your equipment” ;)

When you can’t believe he’s so pretty!

There’s some political stuff too…

Issue 1: Whether the sniper shooting scene was realistic

RedRosette J: I get what the drama was trying to do. I really do. They wanted to show him as a rebel who doesn’t follow the rules and does crazy stuff. I get it. But there are tons and tons of other much more realistic ways of showing that! There’s a reason that snipers lay in wait and don’t move. It’s all about precision and timing. It takes time to focus on your target and wait for the opportune moment. It is highly and I mean highly unrealistic for a sniper to be able to pick up his giant ass gun, run across a building, jump down said building and then aim and shoot a man. Seriously? Not to mention, those guns are really not meant to be “portable and user-friendly.” I just found this scene completely ridiculous and thought they could have done much much better.

Pretty sure that’s not how a sniper works

Breaking all the rules

Dude: “He doesn’t listen to anyone.” Dude 2: “Perfect let’s recruit him”

Issue 2: Whether the “prison break” was believable

RedRosette J: Let me just start off by saying that I am a HUGE fan of Prison Break (Season 5 airing now!). So, any show that does anything remotely related to a prison break, I expect Prison Break level standards for the breakout. I was super super excited when things started rolling towards a prison break: stuff got exchanged, soap molds were made, prison batteries were made, shank keys were cut and then the actual breakout was WTF? They just ran. Like ran through the prison. I’m sorry but where were the guards and the locked doors? It’s a prison. Not some hotel hallway where you can casually run down. It gets worse. They get to a grate in the wall which just opens and then they jump into some hole and the scene cuts to them sitting in a car by a helicopter. What? So many questions are unanswered!!! Where did the tunnel lead? How did they get out of the tunnel? Was it even a tunnel? Where was the car? How did they get the car? Did they talk to someone? I don’t know…It was really like the writer got too tired to think about the ending and was just like ‘whatever I’ll resolve it off screen’. No. Brah. You have to see it through!

Jubiemon J: What I did like about the prison break was the start of it, the part where Sulwoo stuffed something on that door which then led to something being lit up. The lights then all shut down. I quite liked that part. I wouldn’t say the prison break was THAT bad compared to the ones I’ve seen in other movies. It was just okay. What bugs me more is HOW Sulwoo ended up in prison. It was totally unnecessary to have to have dated that daughter of some evil guy and then get kidnapped by the dad and thrown to prison. Ha. Like I said before, he could have had a prison guard there. Also that ending part with the Russian military leader being sent off by his crew ? If he could have gotten a helicopter all set up, why couldn’t he have broken out earlier by himself? Was Sulwoo really necessary? I doubt it.

When you in prison but still got moves…

  When you in prison but you still chill af…

What is this? Where does it go?

Issue 3:  Whether the evil scorpion man villain scene was the funniest thing ever.

RedRosette J: I LOL’d so hard at this! This was the funniest thing ever. The dude was wearing like a full on body suit (Batman style) and had a massive scorpion tattoo on the side of his face that glowed! It was completely ridiculous and totally hilarious. The shitty CGI made it even funnier. It was also set in New York (?) but looked like it was actually outside a strip mall. LOL! Dead. So funny!

Jubiemon J: This part really, really confused me at first because I thought there was some supernatural element to this drama. I almost got really mad and wanted to say no to this drama. After I realized that he was just filming as a “bad” Superman, I thought it was all right. I guess they wanted to introduce a popular guy who does action films that can sometimes be cringey yet still popular. (Hinting at lots of those sequels and franchises I bet.)

LOL!

That tattoo tho LOLOLOL

When you famous because you were in a corny movie, but still got swag

Issue 4: Whether the breakup with the mob boss’s daughter was legit

RedRosette J: I totally understand the logic behind why he had to die for there to be a proper wrap up of the relationship. He’s right. You do not want a scorned woman on your case if you are an international super spy. My only issue is with the execution of said death plot. The car explodes with him in it while she’s walking towards it. Cool. But how did he get out? And then he just walks away right in front of the burning car and she’s supposed to be right behind the car. How did she not see him walk away? I don’t get it. Again, this could have been written better, eg: engineered drive by shooting with a fake blood pack and a bulletproof vest or gets pushed off a cliff into the ocean, or I don’t know anything else that seemed a little bit more legit. It’s for the dramatic theatrics, yes, but still I hold spy dramas to a higher standard.

Jubiemon J: I can kind of see how she wouldn’t notice him going away. When someone is caught by surprise and he/she isn’t trained to be immune to these dangerous scenes, he/she would probably be caught up with whatever that surprised the person. It’s sort of how there has been this experiment that has shown that when there’s a fire, most people are way too shocked to even react and run away. They just freeze. I think it’s reasonable for her not to have noticed Sulwoo walking off. I do agree that we’re kind of left wondering how he escaped; I think that might have been the writer/director thinking that this would show us how awesome Sulwoo is as a spy. We’d never know how he escaped. That’s the beauty? A magician doesn’t reveal his/her tricks?

NO.

Issue 5: Whether ex-fan girls would really make the best managers

RedRosette J: You’d really have to make sure that she’s not some psycho stalker first. But in an ideal situation probably yes they’d make good managers. Case in point is Cha Do Ha (Kim Min Jung’s character), who literally picks up the Yeo Woon Gwang’s car with a forklift because he was making out with some random actress in it. Talk about an extreme deterrent. Ex-fangirls would definitely be willing to go to extremes to protect the star…that much I believe.

Jubiemon J: No. You don’t want someone that’s a crazy hormone-filled fan girl to act as your manager. Sure you will get someone who understands your pet peeves and habits, but you also have someone that’s likely fantasizing being with you or stalking you. It’s also unprofessional for her to be going goo-goo ga ga behind the scenes when there are co-workers around her. It’s cringey and embarrassing. I also think that having someone like her who only sees him as that perfect man will eventually end up stunting his career. He treats his closest staff so terribly that they will likely want to leave him later. Also, I think someone would want a manager to be able to bring some sense to the star like keep them grounded. I think the only reason that he has kept her around is that he is a narcissist. He wants someone to idolize him completely. (This is just on the first ep; his character assessment will likely change b/c we have that hint of him being all sensitive when the politician’s wife told him she managed that clothing brand.)

How you react when you an exfangirl and your bias does something cute

This is top notch deterrence

Issue 6: Whether the explanation on ‘how to contact a Ghost Agent’ was hilarious.

RedRosette J: This was absolutely hilarious. The best part was that what Seol Woo’s “handler” Lee Dong Hyun (Jeong Man Sik’s character) was explaining to the Director was totally realistic. You know how they say the best spies are the ones who wear no disguises? This is totally that except the best spies are the ones that act like regular people! The director was all “how do you contact him?” and Lee Dong Hyun is all “I texted him” LOL! Totally totally hilarious. He goes on to explain to Seol Woo later on that the Director thought he was kidding because it was too normal and realistic. I love it!

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed.

Rating: 3 = MM. Okay. Fine. (It was good. Not cookie worthy good, but still good. Here’s to hoping it gets better)

Dissent from Jubiemon J – 3.5 – that .5 comes in because Park Haejin really studied hard to execute his English lines! He executed his lines very well considering how English isn’t his mother tongue. I’d probably would have given this a 4 if it weren’t for the cringey Cha Do Ha. I think cutting her character out would be fabulous.

  File No: Man-To-Man-EP-01 Appearing before the Dramacourt: Man to Man Ep 01 ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

[thejpfdude-blog]

Fall 2016 Shows Rankings and Write-Ups

1. Nobunaga no Shinobi (7/10):

Before I start with the write-ups, let me start by saying that I think this season is the weakest season of the year. When the number one show is a fringe 7-8/10 and I look at most of the shows with a tinge of disappointment, then it ends up being that way. Having said that, this is my “Underrated Short of the Season”, and basically became my AOTS. Basically this show is a historical short about a girl shinobi (an assassin like person dude?) working for Oda Nobunaga, and shenanigans ensue. The character designs are very much cutesie, but that’s the type of stuff I like, so I feel it’s fine. The best aspect of the show is it’s humor: even though it’s only 4 minutes, it’s able to make me laugh every episode with its fast paced call-and-response humor. At times it goes really fast, but that’s usually the case with these short shorts.

Now the negatives. With a historical short, there’ll obviously be historical references, most of which went over my head. However, that’s not a huge problem as prior knowledge of the subject isn’t required to enjoy the content anyway: they explain all of the things that are happening, so it’s not confusing if you’re out of the loop. Overall this show earns a high 7/10, low 8/10: would recommend.

2. Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan (7/10):

Now I loved Saiki as much as the next guy, and it’s a really good show. It’s clever and funny in its execution: I never know what direction it’s going to go and it almost always ends up making me laugh. It’s characters are great too: Saiki is your standard snarky protagonist with all of the superpowers, and the countless side characters help to create wacky situations for each episode. The only problem I had (and I feel like I’m the only one with this problem) is that the second half of the show was way less funnier for me. Maybe it was the new characters they introduced, maybe it was that they switched to a weekly format instead of the 5-minute short every weekday, but something about this season’s version of Saiki fell a bit short for me. If the first half of the show was a 9/10 for me, the second half is probably a 6-7/10. Overall a fun short that I would recommend to all, especially since it’s so underwatched for how good it is.

P.S.: The good news is that this show is getting a second season in the future, which means more Saiki! I’m excited that this show is getting a second season, but like all shows I’m cautiously optimistic.

3. Haikyuu!! S3 (7/10):

Yep, I have this show rated this “low” (low depends on how much you like this show). Now, a 7/10 for me is still a good show, just that it has a few flaws here and there. And the flaw for this show starts with the opponent of the match, Shiratorizawa. They were not what everyone on the show hyped them up to be: the all-powerful team to me felt really underwhelming. The main man Ushijima didn’t feel as intimidating to me as characters like Oikawa or even the tall dude from Dateko when Karasuno first faced them. He had his moments, but looking back he was just there most of the time to me. Everybody else on the team was fine as well, but there’s that one spiky-haired dude who I hated, and that was Tendo. He reminded me a lot of Betelguese from Re:Zero, and that’s not a good thing. He felt really out of place in a show about high school sports, and though I understand he was supposed to be a sort of enemy to rally against, I just felt uncomfortable watching scenes with him in it.

Another problem I had with this show was the formatting: the season was entirely based on one match, which did get a bit tiring after a while. They did the best they could with it by spacing out the match with flashback scenes, but like Shokugeki’s second season with the Autumn Tournament, there weren’t really any fun slice-of-life moments this season, which made the show kinda drag on a bit.

Other than that, this season was the classic Haikyuu we all know and love. There were some great episodes, like episode 4 and the last episode, especially with the final rally. The rise of Tsukishima was a bright point, and made me love him when I originally hated his character during the first season. Overall a solid 7/10, and excited for the next season of this show (whenever it may arrive).

After this point, I was too lazy to put my notes into full sentences, so because I want to put this out ASAP, here they are in full rough-draft mode.

4. Flip Flappers (7/10):

- Didn’t know what I was watching the first 5 or so episodes: not good or bad, just a thing

- Episode 6 was one of the best episodes of anime I’ve seen in a while

- Nice that the symbolism isn’t the only thing needed to understand the show: if you don’t want it, then that’s okay

- Animation very on point: great during action scenes

- Sometimes episodes could be hit or miss depending on whether you like what they’re parodying (Mad Max and mecha parodies weren’t really my thing); still though, fun to watch

- Whole arc with Mimi was a bit boring compared to previous episodes

- An interesting experience, decent show

5. Hibike! Euphonium 2 (6/10):

- Not as good as first season, and I think the multiple arc thing was the main reason

- Show felt very detached the first few episodes, especially with main conflict/source of drama coming from secondary characters

- Got better later through the season

- Yuri undertones are still not my thing, decide already KyoAni whether there is or isn’t going to be romance (doesn’t even have to be main ship)

6. Yuri!!! on Ice (6/10):

- Overall decent show

- Didn’t really care for the coupling of Yuri and Victor, and not because gay couple

- There were some fanservice-y moments that I didn’t enjoy (Swiss dude)

- Animation-wise was lacking other than first episode, but can’t really blame them as ice-skating hard as hell to animate

- Ending was a bit eh, everything felt a bit rushed

- Was a bit stale in the middle/end with the format of short performances one episode and free skate the next

7. To Be Hero (6/10):

- A decently done short

- Funny toilet humor, and scenes that were pretty emotional as well; did a nice job of blending both types of scenes

- Plot-wise was a bit confusing for finale until Reddit post mentioned what it was

- Actually pretty good animation during the action scenes

8. Watashi ga Motete Dousunda (6/10):

- Great comedy during the first few episodes, fell apart when they introduced Nishima (can’t blame them for that though, would get stale otherwise)

- Actually hated Kae’s character design, and the others as well

- The whole brother thing was a bit weird

- Still had some stupidly cliche stuff like the boob grab and the fall on the heroine stuff that harem anime usually have

- Ending was something I didn’t really mind, nobody was going to get chosen anyway

- Overall it was okay

9. Sengoku Choujuu Giga (5/10):

- Getting “second season”, should be interesting

- Some episodes completely flew over my head (like the singing one), but overall is a decently done short

- Comedy is very much improvised, but I enjoy it

- Animation very average

- Historical references once again sail over my head, only this time it is somewhat important to the show. Still entertaining nevertheless

10. Stella no Mahou (4/10):

- Good first half, horrible second half

- When it was just Honda and the three, it was mildly entertaining CGDCT

- Then they introduce new character to the club, and I HATE her

- My pet peeve of not believing someone when telling truth: annoys me so much

- Not to mention some questionable scenes, like Tamaki strip or the whole baby-making thing

- Overall a meh show

11. Nyanbo! (4/10):

- A two cour short that isn’t finished

- Yes, it’s made for kids, but still pretty bad

- Animation style is actually really nice, only good part of show along with opening song

- Female characters only exist to love the MC

- Other characters fit cliches to a T

- Somewhat dreading the second half of the show

12. Kiitarou Shounen no Youkai Enikki (3/10):

- Pretty dang cliche short

- Characters so bad, the only reason this show is bad to me

- Had some moments, but JPP hand joke (can count them on a mangled hand)

13. Okusama ga Seitokaichou!+! (2/10):

- Kept the lewd of the first season but left out all of the nice heartwarming moments with main couple

- Painful to watch, with every girl being either tsundere or airheaded, and Ui just looking on

- Went the harem route, which went about as well as you would expect

- Seriously though, only remember half an episode when main couple were doing romantic things; pretty bad

- Somewhat understandable as apparently manga at this time was going through changes (different magazine, guidelines, etc.), but still seems like they could skip to good part...

- Bad sequel to an okay show.

And that’s all for this week! Thanks for reading: sorry about the crude notes for most of them: I wanted to put this out as soon as possible. Overall, a pretty meh season, but had its moments.

Well anyway, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next post which looks to either be the new TWiA post or the 2016 Awards post! See you then!