#percentage. i feel conflicted because i wanted to support one of those two but also knowing the other one is at risk of not being there at

[torgawl]

i voted 😕

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Alabasta (Part One)

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

(this is a repost, i deleted the first version of it by accident cause im Idiot)

the entry into the grand line is such a great sequence. it feels like such an ending- a triumph after they’ve spent pretty much all of east blue struggling to make it here, and at the same time the beginning of a new adventure, the biggest yet, one that has yet to end a solid two decades later. they all look so happy to have made it here- it makes me smile.

whiskey peak is one of my very favorite short arcs, and i think of the whole first half of the baroque works saga its the one that hits and maintains a tone best (almost certainly because its so short, admittedly, but still). i love the repeated shots of the moon, the reveal that the cactuses are actually covered in graves, the way everything seems far too good to be true at the start and the sense of suspense that creates.

zoro’s extended fight scene in whiskey peak is so great- it’s so creative and so dynamic and the odds are stacked so high against him and yet he’s clearly having so much fun. i do miss this sort of scrappy, improvised fight, cause its largely absent from later one piece but its SO much fun to read- zoro cutting holes in rooftops for people to fall through or shoving ladders to the ground as bounty hunters try to climb them.

i’m a huge fan of fight scenes that use the environment to their fullest, and this is such a perfect example of it. it makes the fight feel a lot more real and exciting, in my opinion.

i’ve never liked zoro and luffy fighting at whiskey peak, its always struck me as frustrating and contrived and kind of out of character for both of them, but i will say that i do like how on the same page they are even when they’re trying to kill each other.

the entire first half of the baroque works saga basically serves to introduce and endear us to vivi so we’ll be invested in the alabasta conflict, and that starts here in whiskey peak, when we get our first glimpse of her actual personality rather than the act she was putting on as miss wednesday, when she bites her lip hard enough to bleed in order not to break down at igaram’s apparent death.

watching robin’s actions with the added context of later one piece is one of the great joys of rereading alabasta. she does a fantastic job of appearing to be crocodile’s most dedicated and capable and dangerous employee while quietly but consistently sabotaging his efforts; saving luffy, sparing pell, sparing igaram, not telling crocodile anything about the strawhats despite meeting them here at the very start of the saga.

little garden has some really cool and striking panels that really put the scale of things on the island, the dinosaurs and giants alike, into perspective, and i love it.

i’m a huge fan of the depth of in-universe lore one piece has. just having little details like this, quotes from books written in-universe, go so far towards making the world feel like a real and wondrous place with mysteries to be solved and details to be uncovered.

i still think sanji is firmly at his best when he’s being a sneaky bastard, and i will never cease to be delighted by how thoroughly he manages to fuck crocodile over with nothing but a phone and some quick thinking not once but twice.

i really like dorry and brogy! for minor characters who’ve only appeared in one relatively minor and inconsequential arc so far, they’re not only very fun and memorable but also leave a hell of an impact on the story, not only in usopp’s new dream of eventually visiting elbaf but also in how they and their crew just keep coming up, first in enies lobby and then even further down the line in dressrosa and whole cake island.

i’m really excited for when we eventually get to reach elbaf, because this plot thread has been so thoroughly and subtly built up over such a long time that i can’t wait to see how it ends.

this is one of my favorite little moments to really drive home how much the strawhats care about each other. they all fell asleep on the floor rather than leave nami alone.

the whole introductory scene to drum is a really good summary of who vivi is as a person and how she contrasts with luffy, and it’s something i’ve written extensively about in a past meta. here ill just settle for saying, vivi is chronically selfless, and always the sort of person to sacrifice herself for others, and these traits which save the strawhats here are the exact same ones that bring her and luffy to blows later on in alabasta.

a good thing to remember when writing characters is that traits aren’t really inherently good or bad, they’re just traits and can have positive or negative consequences depending on the situation, and i think oda is really good at this. vivi’s selflessness, usually a positive thing, becomes reckless self-sacrifice when she’s pushed to her breaking point.

‘kindness begets kindness’ is a pretty consistent theme throughout one piece, though luffy is most often on the other side of it. someone (rebecca, law, tama, etc.) does something for him without really expecting anything in return, and gets paid back a hundred times over. this is a case of the opposite- luffy helps someone offhandedly, and is later saved by their gratitude.

i think luffy wearing his fingers bloody as he climbs the drum rockies is the only time one piece has ever made me cringe back from the page. this sequence is absolutely brutal, and it’s so well-done.

the way luffy decides chopper should be his crewmate is precious, and also reminds me a little of his recruitment of sanji (ironically, given he’s talking to sanji about chopper here). in both cases he sees someone do something good without even really knowing the full extent of their abilities and makes a snap decision that they are awesome and are gonna be part of his crew, no matter what they have to say about it.

i really, really enjoy the way the drum island flashback is set up, with the cutaway right as luffy is about to punch wapol’s lights out. the cut back to that punch finally hitting when the flashback ends is by that point infinitely more satisfying, since you’ve just read chopper’s backstory and therefore have a deep and abiding desire to see wapol eat shit.

hiriluk’s final speech is definitely one of the best and most memorable quotes from one piece, and effectively the crux of one of its biggest themes. one piece is all about inherited will. all of our main cast and a solid percentage of the supporting cast bear the legacy of at least one forebear on their shoulders, from kuina to corazon to otohime. the entire setting of the story is defined by roger’s legacy.

all those people are dead, but they’re sure as hell not forgotten- how can they be, when their legacies are actively shaping the world as a direct result of their lives and influences?

i really, really like the use of flags in one piece. flags are how you declare loyalty or war in equal measure, and flying a pirate flag is a declaration that you’re choosing freedom, come what may, over the laws of the world government. it’s just a really excellent running motif, and a great symbol of what one piece’s definition of piracy means.

this scene is also one of the ones that gets even more extra weight behind it when you know luffy’s full backstory with sabo, which i love.

chopper’s recruitment scene sums up one of the reasons luffy is really great. he just doesn’t care about a lot of things other people would normally take notice of. occasionally that gets him in trouble, but other times it leads to him responding to a situation exactly right, like here. chopper is listing off all his insecurities and reasons he can’t go with the strawhats, and luffy just flat doesn’t care. he wants chopper on his crew and he knows chopper wants to be on his crew, so as far as he’s concerned, there’s no issue at all.

it really is wild that the will of D is named this far back in the story, and has consistently been referenced and built up ever since in very slight ways, through comments by characters like robin and corazon, and yet we still know basically nothing about it.

and a toast to a new crewmate!!

continued in the next post, which covers alabasta arc proper.

[alexhziee]

Review: Perfect and Casual

STORY

So the drama focuses on the love story between clumsy and optimistic Yun Shu and her cold and “overly perfect” professor of Mathematics Zhang Sinian. 

In the early episodes, it kind of annoyed me that Yun Shu was really gullible. I hate that people kept on taking advantage of her and she has little fighting spirit. She does have a great support system but I somehow feel like it made her dependent, she is unprepared to face the outside world of college. I mean like its only episode 4 and she was scammed twice! I kind of viewed her as careless, impulsive, indecisive, dependent, immature but loyal, kind and compassionate. 

My first impressions were 1. Professor Zhang is too cold, borderline Stiff but he is extremely good looking while our female is his exact opposite. When he is perfect, responsible and very logical while she is more casual, careless, irresponsible, carefree, and more in touch with her emotional side.

2. Our female lead has a really good support system, from her overly supportive friends and her protective older sister. 3. No matter how perfect Professor Zhang may seem when it comes to his grandfather, he becomes desperate and impulsive and last 4. This drama will definitely have quite a number of clichés. 

I’m conflicted with this drama. I love that Yun Shu eventually matured in the end, it had a good happy ending, not too annoying supporting cast (namely those who wanted to split our Prof Zhang and Yun Shu), really good lines, and adorably sweet couples. Good lines like the following:

“Quantum Entanglement. I dreamed of two quanta, one was in forward rotation and while the other was in reverse rotation. Even if they were apart, they were closely linked together in the unseen world due to some principles which cannot be explained by modern science. In the same trajectory and frequency, they formed a pair” 

-Grandpa Zhang

“We’re married first and then fell in love… I’m old fashioned and not humorous but one thing I’m sure of is I really like you. So I hope we can get to know each other more.”

-Prof. Zhang

“He forces me to do math with a cold face every day and criticize me. I never heard good things from him but. Although he looks school, he is actually a warm person. Its him who has always been encouraging and supporting me. He made me who I’ am right now”

-Yun Shu

Then that time that someone wanted to get in between them, I’m so happy when Yun Shu finally stood up for herself and somewhat protected what was hers. She was not gonna be bullied lol. 

“Thank you for worrying about me. Indeed you are older than me and have riched experience than me but I hope you can know that I’m Zhang Sinian’s wife. I’m already a married woman” 

My heart was like Yes girl!

“I’m not that childish. I want to be a better half of you not your stumbling block. Although, I don’t quite understand your world view but at least, I can try my best for your life plan”

-Yun Shu

Then grandpa Zhang always has amazing pep talks. 

“You don’t have to worry because they’re so much alike. They’re like two parallel lines and never intersect with each other. They’re elites with common interests and they’ve known each other for a long time, but if they’re together, they can only become like-minded friends”

-Granpd Zhang

And of course the highlight of the last 2 episodes is when Prof. Zhang was in a business trip and someone was snaking her way in which just irritated me to no end but Prof. Zhang’s confession is one for the books.

“I counted the times we get along with each other since I met Yun Shu for the fist time to the building of our contractual relationship and to this business trip. The number of times we get along with each other during this period is 821 times. In the process of contact, the percentage she showed happiness to me is 83.33%, amid this, 12% wasn’t caused by me. So the process of her getting along with me shows happiness generally. I also calculated my feelings about Yun Shu. Happiness and joy accounts for 73.33% so the date of the two of us getting along with each other is quite big among general couples.”

-Prof Zhang

Someone who is as stiff as him, this is one of his best lines. His brain isn’t like any guy who could come up with something so sweet, cheesy or corny, instead his brain functions with numbers, probabilities, data and conclusions so this line was such a sweet way of telling the other girl that Yun Shu is the only one who can make him happy and no one else.

Now for some of things that I was not exactly a fan off (don’t worry I’ll try not to spoil too much but if you really don’t want to hear about it, then skip and head straight to Characters) I was not fond of the beginning of the drama, I found the female lead really annoying, weak and immature. Then most of the story is quite predictable but I wasn’t really mad at it, I was just hoping for something more.

 For a 24 episode drama, it took me a while to finish this, not that long but longer than I expected to watch this drama. I took a break at first half and was really leaning into dropping it but decided to still give it a shot and I’m happy that I did. The story, despite its very common clichés and predictability, got better during the second half of the drama. 

CHARACTERS

Yun Shu 

a graduating student who is almost half way through her last year but was set back when she failed her defense, got fired from her job and ultimately became homeless. She is loyal, kind and compassionate but at times can be naive/gullible. She can be indecisive and at first quite dependent to her friends but she is very compassionate and has high EQ. Even though it took some time but eventually she matures into a woman who will fight for her loved ones and make mature decisions.  

Zhang Sinian 

A “perfectionist” Professor of Mathematics. He is aloof and cold genius. He doesn't have friends as he mostly focuses on his work and is quite insensitive. But despite being cool and distant, when it comes to his grandfather, he loses his control and becomes impulsive. I love that despite falling in love and the major changes in his life, his character didn’t change that much. I love that the writers really stick to his stiff and blunt personality and instead of changing his character they just improved him. I love that he didn’t become soft or weak. 

Characters to mention:

Yun Lan

Yun Shu’s smart and workaholic older sister. She is the exact opposite of Yun Shu and probably like a more affectionate and protective female version of Sinian. She has her life set but she gets flustered because of her “encounter” with Lu Yu. She is your typical over protective sister who really dotes on their baby sister without realising that may sometimes become overbearing cause they think that that they know everything about the world and that they have to have a say in everything (why do I sound like I’m talking about something personal? LOL) but truly, she is definitely one of my favorite characters in the drama.

Gao Zhi Yi 

One of two of Yun Shu bestfriend. She offered lots of good advice to Yun Shu and was always there whenever Yun Shu needed someone to talk to. I don’t remember what happened with Lin Nuo in the past ‘cause her overall love life is a mess (lol) tbh, I was not her biggest fan at the beginning ‘cause she sometimes acts like (not to be rude but) always desperate to have a “rich/good” boyfriend but somehow she kind of grew on me. I love that she was always a good emotional support to Yun Shu, always there to offer her shoulder and advices. She was always loyal and never demanded anything in return. 

Lu Yu 

Prof. Zhang’s famous childhood friend. He is a popular actor who fell in love with Yun Lan and continued to pursue her despite her cold refusals but his persistence is really cute and funny.

Lin Nuo 

one of Yun Shu’s bestfriend along with Zhi Yi. like Zhi Yi, he is extremely supportive and loyal to his friend. Although, the way he acts with Zhi Yi is definitely more than a friend would and I noticed even at the beginning that his feelings has not changed. He is the guy friend that every girl wants, the type that will always be there for you.

CAST

I’m definitely gonna search for more of Miles Wei’s (Zhang Sinian) projects, I kinda like him. I don’t really have much to complain about the cast. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

RATING: 8.5/10

The drama didn’t really hook me in immediately and was on the verge of dropping it since I was not fond of the first half of the drama but the second half was definitely better (definitely better since I actually finished it lol). Even though I was a bit reluctant with the drama, it definitely has its moments. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I was expecting on my first watch but when I re-watched it again, it definitely grew on me and could definitely say that this might get into my pick me up drama list. 

ABOUT THE DRAMA

Synopsis:

This story revolves around the cold and icy "male god" professor Zhang Sinian and the calm and sunny Yun Shu.

After a fractious first meeting, where Yun Shu dressed down the especially finicky Sinian, she was shocked to find out that he was her university lecturer. Through a series of coincidental encounters, the two agreed to engage in a contractual marriage. As the feelings between them grow, how will they keep their relationship from those around them?

Country: China

Episodes: 24

Aired: Sep 28, 2020 - Oct 20, 2020

Aired On: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday

Original Network: Mango TV, Mango TV

Duration: 45 min.

Director: Li Shuang

Genres: Romance, School, Drama

Source: https://mydramalist.com/54889-mr-perfect-and-miss-almost and google

WHERE TO WATCH

I watched it on YT, 99% subbed (with only episode 7 as raw) but it is fully subbed on DC and FD but unfortunately not available on KA, VIKI and Viu. Its available on iQiyi and WeTV as well. 

[cautionspoilers]

Story 7/10

Ending 6/10

Overall

The main story is about a boss of a dating company who meets her childhood younger brother, a hair stylist. The side stories became much more interesting as the episodes progressed. Life lessons especially expectations in/before marriage from all parties were touched on in a tactful way. 

Characters

Yan Fei. Main girl boss of dating company. Has a rich background but wanted to make it by herself. Having been divorced, has a hindsight when approaching dating.  

Hsuan Yu. An introverted hairstylist who had a childhood crush on Yan Fei. From some angles, he looks like Aaron Yan. 

Qiao An Na. A flight stewardess. Best friend of Yan Fei. Also co-boss of dating company. Supportive friend. Independent. Straightforward. Knows exactly what she wants in life. 

Mark. Hairstylist and best friend of Hsuan Yu. Big flirt. Yet loyal. Straightforward.

Ou Wen. Best boy. Confident. Realist. Precious. Breaking preconceived notions. Good at fighting.

Ou Wen and Mark. Mark was super straightforward in his actions to help Ou Wen feel secure. 

Mark and Qiao An Na. Two straightforward people. Funny thing was he chased her first. The father situation was awkward to him at first. 

Ou Wen and Qiao An Na. Super supportive as much as family in her birth journey. 

The three of them. Complicated but cute once they figured it out.

Sheng Ying and Ou Wen’s bickering as colleagues was funny. Her hair is bad but gives her character. Her conflict with her school bully was well written.

Youfu and Naihui. Middle aged couple who defeated the odds from their low matching percentage. Interesting dynamics of a farmer and high flyer banker. 

Hsuan Yu’s brother and sister in law. She was so supportive. His brother was silently loving him. 

Quirks

The beginning part where Hsuan Yu is revealed to have a girlfriend was surprising. We were led to believe he was single all this time, the only girl, the mannequin head. The relationship between those two was so one sided. Glad that she snapped out of it. Hsuan Yu was so indecisive then and not making his own decisions based on his own thoughts. Not doing anyone a favour. 

The ending when Yan Fei takes the ring even though she was not interested to be married yet, wonder why they had to add that. He already said it was fine since it was not the right time. She said she did it because he seemed disappointed. They need to get on the same page with more conversations. 

The discussion of abortion vs keeping the baby was real talk. The discussion with Yan Fei’s mother seems realistic. I wished they let Qiao An Na live her own life and let her think about it alone. Ou Wen taking responsibility for the kid even though he has nothing to do with her was kind of for his own self-interest that convinced her. He did say he thought of the scenario if Mark was not in the picture though. But does not change that she had already made up her mind and went in and he dragged her out. 

Also Ou Wen and Mark forgetting who was the one in pain does seem to be the case for most actual fathers. It did seem to work out for the three of them in the end. 

Side note: I want the link to Hsuan Yu’s small bag. It looks so versatile.

I hoped they would have had a skateboard scene with Ou Wen, Mark and friends where they actually got to introduce Ou Wen properly to them and skate a bit. But they used that scene to introduce Boss Qiao. 

[bluemoonbeam15]

CTA: Flik

Surprisingly enough, Flik's mindset doesn't stray too far from Hopper's, but I'll connect the two by the end of this analysis. Once again, I went through the test and answered them to the best of my ability. The results showed Flik to be an ESFJ-T, which is:

E = Extravert

S = Observant

F = Feeling

J = Judging

T = Turbulent

Unfortunately, since the results for Hopper were finalized on my profile, I didn't realize I couldn't see the percentages other than on the "before read" page. Next time, I'll remember to type down the percentages before reading through the personality.

Now, on the the actual analysis.

I don't think much needs to be said about Flik's need for verbal interaction. Despite all the ideas he has running around his mind, his sentences are usually going twice as fast. A lot of times, it seems that Flik thinks aloud, either to himself or in front of others. He's an audible learner, for sure. The best way for him to visualize or understand something is by hearing it. In the Council Room, Flik mumbles a step-by-step sketch of how he plans to get rid of Hopper and his gang. On his way to drop off what little offering he has, he repeatedly states to, "Get the food to the offering, then into the ant hill."

The only real way I can think to describe Flik is by explaining that those characteristics listed do not work separately in his mindset. For Hopper, the observing and thinking played hand-in-hand, while his introverted nature and assertiveness clashed at times. With Flik, all of his characteristics are running at the same time.

While socializing with his friends, he's allowing his emotions to control his words. He'll go on a tangent about one of his inventions or an idea of his, and all the while observe the other person carefully to gauge their interest. All while doing that, in the middle of his talk, he'll judge whether he should continue going on or if he should redirect the conversation so that the other person might be more interested in what he has to say. All of these combine into his turbulent personality, which means his confidence is directly correlated with how others see him.

Even though Flik is desperate to incorporate his new ideas into a traditional-based colony, he's easily shut down by their criticism. And while with most people this would discourage them from doing anything else, lest they get rejected again, Flik's mindset appears to reset itself.

He has this naïve nature that sees the best in the worst, pushes away his insecurities at any sign of approval, and forgets the critiques once an opportunity presents itself. Once there's a chance for him to make things right, he jumps at the opportunity in hopes that it will redeem him. Regardless if he succeeds or not, he at least believes that everyone will accept him for his efforts to try.

This obviously isn't how life works, not with the colony anyway. But as mentioned, Flik believes that every ant in the colony has as big a heart as he does, and this leads him to many false expectations. He expects them to love his inventions. He expects them to let him go find help. He expects them to welcome the "warriors" with open arms. He expects Atta to support him fully on his success. He expects the Circus Bugs to stay despite being told the news of their true purpose.

Essentially, Flik is driven by emotion. His excitement can get carried away and he fully expects others to be just as excited.

But that's because of his insecurities.

As it states, the turbulent part of his personality means that he tends to lack self-confidence. We only get glimpses of it throughout the movie: when Dot meets up with him about the Harvester, when the Council addresses him, when the Circus Bugs are about to leave, when him and Atta have a one-on-one after the rescue, and after he's been banished. That positive aura he seems to radiate is sometimes forced for the sake of not revealing how scared he feels. In his mind, so long as everyone else is happy, he's happy. But that sacrifice for his own happiness is what feeds those insecurities.

We all have this voice that tells us our feelings are valid and that our opinions matter, too. It's just that the voice is louder in some and quieter in others. For Flik, that voice will whisper during those insecure moments, and he'll fight to push them away for the sake of keeping everyone else happy. He too has a self-destructive nature that will push himself too far just to please everyone, but he's also fighting himself to not give in to that natural desire to be himself.

We get to see Flik's true self by the end of the movie when he confronts Hopper. For once in the entire movie, he doesn't look at Atta or any of the colony -- the source of his insecurities. Instead, he focuses on Hopper and speaks his mind. And while he is speaking for them in approval, we can also see how his insecurities are reflected in his speech:

"Ants are not meant to serve grasshoppers. I've seen these ants do great things, and year after year they somehow manage to pick food for themselves and you. So--So who's the weaker species? Ants don't serve grasshoppers. It's you who need us. We're a lot stronger than you say we are...and you know it, don't you?"

This is just speculation, but I believe this speech is Flik coming to terms with his own feelings. He's finally giving in to that secret desire and is no longer pushing his own happiness aside. He's reflected on what he's done all his life, every invention, every failure, every hurdle he's overcome. And yet, despite the critics and fear, he kept pushing through to try and help the colony. His speech isn't just meant for Hopper, but for the colony too. They have oppressed him just as much as Hopper has. They've shut him down time after time. They've forced him to conform to their rules. And now he's finally letting go of the naïve nature of pleasing everyone. He's standing up to the opposition, but it isn't completely aware to the colony that they have also opposed Flik as well.

And this side of Flik is personally my favorite. As much as being around that sensitive, sweet nature is comforting, it's also empowering to see how confident he ends up becoming. How he does things for himself and doesn't base his success off of the colony's approval.

Comparison time! I'm going to do this for each of the characters. It's important to understand how their personalities compliment each other during the movie and how they create the conflict we see.

Both Hopper and Flik have self-destructive personalities that involve pushing down their anxieties -- or their true selves -- for the sake of being more "efficient." Whether that efficiency is real or not, they aim to meet their goals by being someone else. By being what everyone needs or wants them to be. Both of them care what others think about them but try to hide it. The second their ideas are rejected or questioned, their emotions begin to go wayward.

The key difference between them is how they bounce back from letting their insecurities show. Flik will isolate himself from others until he can manage to forsake his own feelings again. However, Hopper will engage with others as a means to distract himself. It's interesting to see how even though Flik is more extraverted, and Hopper introverted, they will -- in those small glimpses of insecurities -- resort to unfamiliar situations that would normally be out of their comfort zone. For their kind of personalities, putting themselves out of their comfort zone gives them a different kind of anxiety, one that drives them back to that familiar situation and putting on that mask again.

Here is the link to Flik's personality article:

https://www.16personalities.com/esfj-personality

The next personality will be Phyllis. If any of ya'll would like me to dwell a bit more on Flik's personality, just let me know!

[muthaz-rapapa]

HealPre Final Review: Not terrible but not entirely laudable either...

*sigh* Where do I start?

Well, one thing I’m pretty sure of is that COVID definitely affected production somehow. By that, I don’t just mean the show needing to go on hiatus, resulting in a shorter run compared to previous seasons. I’m also talking about any possible changes that might’ve been made to the original narrative, if there was one.

Much like how Suite’s story had to be altered in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, I believe Heal underwent a similar treatment in response to the pandemic becoming more widespread as 2020 went on.

Especially since it dealt with health and nature, HealPre is probably the season that has come the closest in relevancy to real life events.

Frankly, that can be quite scary because this virus was and is still a fucking nightmare on a massive global scale. From that view, I can understand why the writers/producers would be concerned of the anime hitting too near home. At least for their main demographic’s (children) sake, maybe they were compelled to shift to something lighter and less edgier so that the kids could find some comfort and enjoyment in the midst of the world’s current crisis.

So I can’t fault Toei for that, if that’s really the case. Going through a pandemic is terrifying, infuriating and exhausting and UGH. We could use something that can help ease our worries or momentarily distract us even a little bit. 

Though would it have killed them to dedicate one episode to the importance of wearing a mask or washing hands? (-_- ;;)

HOWEVER! Seeing as I am not a fragile child, I’ve still got several (oho~) criticisms to air out before I put this season behind me. This review isn’t particularly scathing but...there is a lot of discontent so you’ve been forewarned.

But first, let’s tediously review what structure means in Precure.

We all know that there are certain things that will forever (?) remain fixed in the series formula.

The plot is always going to be “magical girls fight evil doers threatening to ruin the world”.

There are plot points to indicate story progression but in reality, are put there to correspond with toy releases which are usually marked by these five: introductions, first power up, midseason Cure, second power up, and build-up to the climax + finale.

There is usually a specific message (a theme) to be told with every season and motifs (narrative tools) to aid in getting that across. For HealPre, the theme is “living is fighting” and its motifs are “health” and “nature”.

I left out “animals” b/c 1) it didn’t hold as much significance as the other two did, 2) animals are part of nature anyway and 3) let’s be real, it’s just a synonym for “mascots” which we already get every year. :P

Right. I’m probably forgetting something but for the most part, these are immovable pillars of Precure.

Story, on the other hand, has more variables you can work with.

Story is how you tell the plot, how you convey the message.

Precure, as a tv series, is unarguably carried by its main stars, the Cures. So it only makes sense that a huge percentage of a season’s success owes itself to how much of an impact its characters had on the audience as well as how effective their individual story arcs were as sub-plots tying back to the bigger picture (the message/theme).

Ideally, these arcs would shine the brightest in the filler episodes, where the plot  (“good guys vs. bad guys”) is less of a focus so there is more space for personal development and growth.

Also, not all character arcs have to be directly related to the plot but they ought to be written well in order to support the overarching message (the theme).

Now, has HealPre done that? Has each girl’s story demonstrated a good example of what “living is fighting” means?

...nnnnnnyyeeee... look, even I can’t give a straightforward answer on that because while technically they did, by virtue of Nodoka’s observance in ep 44 recounting it as such, there’s also actually not enough to make it feel substantial from a viewer’s standpoint.

At least, that’s what I thought while watching HealPre.

With the exception of Nodoka’s, there was a lot of saying but not much doing to convincingly back the other girls’ arcs up. The fillers themselves were very weak, loosely composed in relation to the motifs and, if I may be so blunt, downright boring that if Nodoka didn’t phrase those episodes as things that counted towards the theme, I probably would put up more of a fight on disagreeing. so shoot me, I’m soft for her :P

And I know that sounds confusing right now but I will elaborate as I continue.

Before that though, to be utterly fair, some seasons keep their respective themes shrouded in vagueness until they’re given a more concrete form in words around the finale. So it’s not like we can do much except make educated guesses on what they really are. Most of the time, we’re just measuring everything against our perception of a standard in the fog. Or maybe that’s just me?

Nevertheless, you can just tell, y’know? By simply watching and observing the whole show, you can tell if the characterization, the development, and the outcome (essentially the content given) really live up to what the season claims is endgame.

So let’s go through that first then. The characters, starting with our lead Cure...

Nodoka being the only Cure in her team to have an arc deserving of the praise “exceptional” should come as a surprise to no one.

She was the most solid in terms of direction on how her story was going to proceed. Out of all the girls, her journey had the greatest connection to the subject “health”, repeatedly delved into it every time the spotlight was on her and fulfilled everything it seemed to promise from her debut in episode 1.

Her struggles on the road to recovery from a long-term illness and the strength she’s drawn from that traumatizing experience as well as her time as Precure did more than establish her as the strongest character in HealPre.

She has also rose to become one of the most memorable Pink Cures in the entire franchise (personally, I rank her in the top 5).

And it’s not hard to see why she’s earned such high regard in a lot of fans’ hearts.

The writers clearly worked a lot on her character composition to the point where she can pretty much embody the theme of “living is fighting” all on her own.

She came into HealPre fresh out of the hospital and full of earnest desire to make the most of her newfound freedom but she also wasn’t without knowledge on what hardship is. From there, she only got stronger, even when she was stumbling and trying to figure things out along the way. She grew more fortified in her beliefs on what it means to be truly live a healthy life.

She bravely defied the ones who attempted to take advantage of her and twist her cause against her. And she learned that taking care of herself is equally as important as wanting others to be safe from harm.

It was never about winning or coming out on top. It was about protecting a fundamental yet precious truth. That one thing any decent human being should never have to concede: the right to live well.

Honestly, Nodoka is absolutely inspiring all around, as a fictional character, a heroine and a normal everyday person.

Everything about her arc went satisfyingly right like it was meant to and the best thing is, we don’t need to question it because we saw how it all happened with our very own eyes.

I sincerely wished I could say the same for the others but sadly, they were just too flawed.

And Pegitan can throw flippers with me all day if he wants but as undeniable as the above statements are about Chiyu, her arc failed to leap over the increasingly mounting disappointment I had with every episode that’s been assigned solely to her.

Two of which weren’t even about Chiyu. One centered on Pegitan’s admiration for his partner and the other focused on her brother, Touji. Which, while nice to give to supporting/secondary characters, is a fat waste of valuable screentime and not what I’m here for.

It also didn’t help that the conflict of her arc (the indecision over choosing between two dreams) started really late in the game and was resolved so quickly within two episodes. There was no time for me to get invested into it, there was no powerful sense of conviction like how Go!Pri or Hugtto handled theirs and really, it just felt like Chiyu was only following what the script dictated for her rather than genuinely awakening to her own competitive passion towards track and field.

It was almost like it didn’t matter. Almost as if the writers procrastinated in thinking up something worthwhile to further her development...but then settled on grabbing an old idea off the shelf without refining it to suit Chiyu when they ran out of time.

This happened similarly with Minami in Go!Pri and Elena in StarPre, both of whom left me angry at how their arcs were executed. Yet theirs don’t compare to how pissed off I am about Chiyu’s. Because while Minami’s took a while to arrive, it wasn’t done poorly and linked back to Go!Pri’s theme well enough. And while Elena’s was over crammed last minute, at least it was unique to her character and had lots of potential ways to play out if they actually started it earlier on in StarPre.

Chiyu’s arc is like a discount version of the former with hardly any of the intriguing qualities of the latter. Sure, she had two early episodes that laid out the two most important aspects of her life (her family inn and her dedication to her sport) but after that, they weren’t brought up again until we were only weeks away from the ending. Y’know, just to fill up episode slots and meet the minimal requirement of saying they did give Chiyu some issue to resolve. 

It was not engaging at all.

Furthermore, the fact that her arc had very little to no relation with either “health” or “nature” hurt my appreciation of her character somewhat. I just...don’t think her kind of story really matches with the central topics of HealPre?

...but maybe I’m being bitter about this all wrong and that’s screwing up my rational thinking on this matter.

Because Chiyu’s arc is valid under the logic of the overall theme, I would never say it isn’t. And again, character arcs don’t have to be close to the plot nor is it necessary to employ the “suffering builds character” method to make them interesting.

Chiyu always does her best every day. That’s sufficient argument on why her story does fit within the frame of HealPre’s premise.

Guess I’ll just have to wrangle my resistance into acceptance somehow.

...still, her arc could’ve been done so much better than what we were given. Chiyu at least deserved that much.

Next, Hinata.

Since the beginning, I knew she was gonna be runner-up to Nodoka for having the (for lack of better term atm) “best” arc because it was heavily implied that she has ADHD and therefore, immediately checked off the “health” trait. She was even more obvious about it than Nozomi was.

Difficulty paying attention, hyperactivity, impulsiveness. Hinata didn’t just display all those signs, she also showed how hard it was for her to deal with the downsides to them on a regular basis.

She kept apologizing and put herself down excessively for inconveniencing her friends even though they never blamed her for her condition. Got them annoyed a few times, yes, but didn’t stop them from staying friends with her and definitely didn’t make them hate her either.

Everybody was understanding of Hinata...except Hinata because she always took her failures to heart and considered quitting several times to avoid the crushing dejection of making mistakes over and over again.

She got better, though, and no one could have summed it up more heartwarmingly than Nyatoran with the encouraging words he gave her at the conclusion of her arc. 

But it still feels like there’s a huge chunk of development missing between the start and finish. Or rather, it seemed like all of it occurred offscreen and we were only informed later that it did in fact, happen.

To recap, iirc, Hinata had around 5 episodes that focused on her (ep 9, 13, 23, 35 and 40). Ep 18 doesn’t count because that was a Nyatoran-centric filler more than anything.

Ep 9 and 13 did their jobs of introducing and highlighting the details of Hinata’s troubles while also suggesting she will eventually learn to overcome her insecurities. The ones after, though? They pushed those issues to the backseat.

In Ep 23, she had to share the (uneven) spotlight with Asumi. Hinata’s improvements were briefly mentioned but the majority of the ep went to teaching Asumi what “cute” meant and how to get along with puppies. I mean, I get that Asumi recently joined the group and bonding with her was mandatory by tradition. But since each Cure only gets a limited number of eps to herself, it would’ve been more beneficial for Hinata if she didn’t have to split screentime with someone else’s growth schedule.

Ep 35 is slightly better but not by a whole lot. Sure, Natasha was able to reconcile with Elizabeth which was very sweet and heck, it was the goal for that episode. But again, nothing was really done or addressed about Hinata’s main conflict. She tossed it back with the rest of her homework to deal with later. ahaha, a TroPre hint

Then ep 40 came to formally close the curtains on her story and apparently, Hinata screwed up lots of times since...whenever but she picked herself up every time after and kept on trying. Awesome. So WHY didn’t we get to see that? 

I’m not asking for the impossible here. I’m not asking for Hinata to be cured or anything miraculous like that. There is treatment available for ADHD but it is not curable.

Also, forcing Hinata to find a way to get better at studying, the thing she struggles with the most, is not the solution either because that would only make her more stressed and anxious over her own disorder.

What I want is to see how she moved from wailing “I can’t do it! I don’t wanna! I’m so scared of failing so why bother?!” to determinedly declaring “So what if I failed 1 or 100 times? So what if I fail another 1000 times? What matters is that I don’t let that stop me!”

That confidence is not something that can be built up overnight. It’s gradual and it takes numerous tries to reach from where Hinata was to where Hinata is now.

Telling me she grew emotionally stronger can only allow me to believe so much. I need to actually witness the changes as well.

If it weren’t for that, Hinata’s arc would have been a lot more impressive. Shame.

Finally............... Asumi.

Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi... *sighs & drums fingers*

...she has no arc, ok? Seriously, what story is there to speak of, much less write a hefty analysis on?

A spirit born for the sake of Latte who just went along with the Precure ride because Latte didn’t want to abandon her duty. She made friends with those who aren’t Latte, extended her knowledge and understanding and gained valuable human experience during her stay on Earth. But ultimately, she will always define her entire existence around a puppy. 

Nothing is more important than this puppy.

...... to be honest, Asumi not having a storyline isn’t what bothers me. It’s her lack of depth that does.

Hell, even the giant burger she ate had more depth than she did!

Oh, Asumi does have a personality alright. She’s consistently and unfailingly polite, utterly devoted to her raison d’être and in crucial moments, gives pearls of wisdom when the girls are in a pinch. She’s good.

But if that’s all she is, then she’s also painfully dull.

She has nothing to contribute to the discussion of health or nature, despite being created through an element of the Earth so you’d think she’d have an opinion of her own. At least worry about the planet that gave life to her as much as she frets over Latte all the time. But nope.

She shares the exact same face as Teatine’s past Precure partner so you’d think we’d explore that connection to see if it would influence or affect her in any way. But nope.

90% of the time, her role was just being Latte’s constant, fawning satellite.

Not only did that irritate the hell out of me but it just reinforced my stance that this type of character is one of the worst you can ever insert into any narrative.

Because if someone keeps reiterating how much they’re obsessed with this one thing and seldom talks about anything else without bringing their obsession into it... then what’s so special about them on their own?

You’ve practically surrendered the different qualities you could have had for worship of something else. That’s not a fair trade-in.

Asumi’s character is so packed with Latte-related stuff that there’s not much space left for anything that can be considered uniquely Asumi.

I mean, maybe it’s because I can never see myself or any normal person comfortable with living like that.

Living for the sake of being together with the one you love? Okay. But living with your whole universe revolving around that one thing? Making most if not all decisions based on this one thing?

No. That’s absolutely crazy, alright? Nobody with a healthy amount of awareness and self-worth would live like that.

And you can counter that Asumi’s just born like that. That she can’t help her origins because Teatine’s wish to protect her daughter is essentially what brought Asumi into existence so of course, her biggest concern would be Latte. At least, she wasn’t forced into it, right? As long as Asumi chose of her own will to follow Latte, it should be fine, right?

You can even use the fact that Asumi isn’t human. That she’s a spirit and we shouldn’t apply our human standards too strictly to her.

Yea, but those are feeble defenses in the face of her being a good main character, a good main heroine. 

There are many ways to make a decent MC. The way Asumi was written proves she certainly does not possess traits that can classify her as true protagonist material. A protagonist has to be more than one amplified feature, which Asumi is not.

For the record, I don’t hate Asumi (she’s not interesting enough to generate a feeling that intense). I'm just severely let down because even if I don’t end up loving the midseason Cure for whatever reason, I can usually count on them to bring something intriguing to the table to dissect and analyze. At least I should find something to care about them.

Didn’t happen with her. :(

Oh god, I’ve been working on this post for days now and I’ve got a headache and with the baton pass happening in less than a few hours as I type this, I just really need to get it done and over with so please forgive me for speeding up through the rest, I’ll try to keep it as coherent as possible. NYARGH! (@_@ ;;)

Mascots.

Would you be surprised to hear that I’m not surprised that they were actually written very well?

Like I said early on, I suspected the return of fairy partnerships were going to improve the mascots’ significance in the story and, well, I was right. 

This time, they didn’t just fill in the usual expectations of relaying exposition, serving as the Cures’ transformation devices and looking cute for the merchandise. The Healing Animals had to make progress on their own training to become doctors as well.

And they did through their relationships with their human partners.

It was a refreshing take on the mascot aspect of the series because the friendships felt really symbiotic. When the trainees arrived on Earth, they relied on the girls to help them perform their jobs as well as provide them with shelter, food, the occasional peptalk about their trainee status, etc.

Then as the story continued and they got to know each other better, the mascots were able to return the favor by giving support when the Cures needed it. Rabirin when Nodoka was frightened and confused about how to deal with Daruizen, Pegitan when Chiyu was having trouble choosing between two dreams and Nyatoran who made sure to always lift Hinata’s spirits up when she got upset at herself.

In short, they achieved their objectives of learning what it means to be good doctors by being there for their friends! How wonderful! :D

My memory for Latte is hazy, unfortunately, since she’s coddled by everyone all the time (can’t blame them, she’s friggin’ adorable! <3) but I’ll never forget how she stood firm on the battlefield to see things through, to fight for the Earth like she promised her mother. She started out so babie but showed us all there was enormous bravery behind her cute face and ugh, we should all be very proud of her! <3

The only major issues I had about the mascots were these:

1) Too many irrelevant fillers went to them. They only needed a maximum of two for their entire mascot group.

2) Latte kept getting sick even after she acquired a Precure partner of her own. I was hoping it wouldn’t hurt her as much as it did before Asumi arrived or that she would build up a stronger immunity but noooo, they insisted on torturing the poor pupper! T_T

Villains + Finale Battle

Not a lot needs to be said for the first part. We’ve had mediocre antagonists before. HealPre’s just happened to be extra annoying as they were despicable. 

Which is worse because jerks you can just leave in the trash but assholes won’t stop harassing you unless you pummel them into their graves, set fire to their corpses and leave no trace of them behind! >:(

Y’all know who I’m talking about. Opinions on him continue to vary depending on who you talk to and if they’re avid fans of his face or not but whatever. The son of a bitch served his purpose and is dead now. That’s all that matters to me.

Anyway, the King was flat like his two lesser generals. He was neither intimidating nor distinguished enough in the brand of evil to really make us think of him as a serious threat and because of that, it ended up making the boss fight look like any run of the mill boss fight.

I know, they tried so hard with all that shiny animation but it just didn’t have that glorious sense of vindication that previous seasons (or ep 42) gave and I blame it all on this Rumiko Takahashi reject.

Also, this strategy was pretty useless?

They built it up like Earth was gonna sacrifice herself and die or something (she wouldn’t and even if she came close, deus ex machina would’ve kicked in to prevent that and COVID-induced caution too I guess). 

But there were no signs of pain (well, that’s a relief) after absorbing Shindoi-ne and they really pissed King Byogen off more than they did any damage with the absorbed byo-gen power.

...so yea, this tactic was just to kill some time and budget, nothing more. Meh.

By the way, did Asumi eject Shindoi-ne’s pathogen out of her body yet or did they just leave it in there to bounce around until it eventually dissolves on its own?

Because that’s eww. I mean, it’s obviously not gonna hurt Asumi they can both relate on hyperfocusing their affection for someone so maybe the compatibility helps :P but still, ewwwww.

Fillers + Underused Motifs

In hindsight, perhaps HealPre didn’t exactly promise the content we I wanted about “health” and “nature” if their objective was to teach that any manner of “fighting” can count towards “living”.

......but fuck you Toei, you’re still cowards! >:/

Fillers will be fillers but it’s always better to try and make some of them as meaningful as possible. And they wasted the opportunity to inform an impressionable audience (during a very crucial period of our time, I must add) on a lot of things related to the HealPre’s motifs. Especially about the environment which for some ridiculous reason, they chose not to touch on for the main stretch of the overall story.

Proper hygiene, good diet plan and sleeping habits, regular exercise (already done by the girls a few times but could use another example), meditation, counseling/therapy (especially for mental health!), etc.

Real life pollution, climate change/global warming (IMPORTANT!!), deforestation, preservation vs conservation, endangered species, recycling, volunteering to clean up your community, etc.

These just came off the top of my head but yes, there’s more and no, I’m not saying that the writers need to cover all of them in extreme detail or replace the slice-of-life episodes.

But they should be able to mesh both serious and light-hearted together in harmony somehow. Like those fillers where the mascots saw people cleaning up littering at the park or that interaction with that arborist who taught them about wild animals and trees when the group went to visit a lake.

For health, maybe let the girls visit patients with chronic illness in the hospital or have them converse with a medical professional on some matter. Particularly if it’s got something to do with mental illness because stigma in Japan on those who are afflicted with such conditions is still prevalent and has caused a number of sad and shocking tragedies that could have otherwise been avoided if people didn’t have such outdated, judgmental mindsets.

That last part might be too dark for a children’s anime but there’s a lot more out there that is doable.

Do that without reducing it into a footnote, Toei. It is so necessary for your target audience to be aware of these issues at the age they are now. You have an almost 20-year old franchise to serve as a very effective platform. Make better use of it if you truly care about the message you’re conveying through your show!

Also, what the fuck.

The last episode was a mess. Why are you only mentioning this now when the season is already over?

This should’ve been brought up months ago!

All the things we could’ve seen the Cures done to protect the Earth without magic.

The excuse of “I didn’t know humans were so horrible!” is a shit one because everybody knows humans are deplorable trash when it comes to abusing the Earth. All the more reason why you have to persistently drill it into people’s heads that they should not be like those who don’t care or choose not to care.

One crack episode isn’t going to cut that.

God, I so want to unsee this ep just so I don’t have to end HealPre on a more sour note than it already was. *big aggrieved sigh*

Lastly (and this really is the end of my long ranting, I promise), the missing undisclosed lore.

There are few Precure seasons without a past lore of its own in the recent years. Is it a wonder, though?

Lore is mysterious and fascinating. If it involves a past Precure, even more so.

Sometimes fans might just hang onto a show because they’re curious about what happened before the main story. We’d never get the full tale of those adventures but at least, it’s fun to imagine the “prequel”.

Also, past Precure are just badass. Fact.

Strangely enough, we didn’t get that for Heal. All we know is that she was called “Fuu” and was very close to Teatine. 

Hmm. Probably one of those changes caused by COVID interference cuz I can’t imagine the writers choosing not to tell her past in the original draft.

With all that finally off my chest, I’m ready to part ways with you girls until the next All Stars (Nodoka, I’m gonna miss you so much! T_T)

HealPre wasn’t the worst and it was nowhere near the best that it had the potential to be. But it’s passable. At least for those who loved it even with its flaws, I’m genuinely glad it was good for you.

For those who are thinking about picking it up (although why you would read this spoilery post before watching, I have no idea), if you’re looking for a standard magical girl anime to enjoy casually, then this is a safe pick. If you really want to invest your attention and heart into it, though? Then perhaps it would be in your interest to ask someone who saw it already to help you filter out the episodes that are worth watching. You don’t need to worry about the rest, they’re inconsequential. :P

Ok then! Thanks for reading as always, brave souls who have reached this point. 

Stay healthy and safe out there and I’ll see you at the beach next week! Tropic underwater paradise here we coooooommmmmeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!! xDDD

[happinessandbeyond]

Questioning and Reflections on Educating Gen Z and Gen Alpha: Changing systems, Structures and Interactions.

Who are the Gen Z?

Gen Z are those individuals who are born between 1995 and 2012.

Who are the Gen Alpha?

Gen Alpha are those individuals who are born between 2012 and 2025.

This article does not cater only to the privileged, to those who can afford schooling and to those without disabilities. I’m going to consciously try and cover how and why our system needs to change for the present generations in the schooling system and the next set of them.

A global pandemic was enough to provoke me into thinking what we really need to start changing in the way we deliver information and how we do it.

Our present system consists of educational boards for the so called normal functioning child. For those children with sensory impairments, specially-abled, gifted, and intellectually challenged, our educational and service providers have a set of activities, fundraising campaigns, trainings and vocational opportunities which only help in functioning to a certain extent so as to make one independent. Have we really invested resources to enable inclusivity into understanding what a person with a certain challenge could be going through in a global crises, has there been a deeper understanding and research as to what a person with emotional and physical challenge needs in order to fight a battle such as this. What does it mean to be self sufficient and independent then?

The “real” question everyone asks ‘what are we preparing our children for?’

And the “real” answer that is often given is “We are preparing them for life”. While we are in a middle of a crises our education system caters only to a handful of people who go into becoming experts in scientific research and solution finding. While we ace in being heavily populated we are definitely falling far behind in providing opportunities for the masses in order to help the masses in turn.

While we constantly emphasize on the fact that children are the future, then how come none of the children are finding any meaning in the system of our education? What future can they possibly even dream of when opportunities are only for some and not others?

The two generations after the millennial’s are the one’s that we need to focus on, in order to save lives and add meaning and not just prepare them for life.

The RTE Act, the rule of having a special needs child in a mainstream school is not what we should be proud of, we can only be proud when inclusion is achieved as an unsaid law and prepares children into inculcating basic qualities and values such as helping, empathic understanding which can then be utilized in a progressive manner where children are encouraged to think and reflect critically. By this I mean using some useful core values and applying the knowledge base towards a healthy and meaningful lifestyle.

Our present structure consists of teacher-student, facilitator-student, guide-student and so on. The role of the “knowledge” provider remains in a position of someone who is experienced and in a place to educate. When a structure based on hierarchy and power exists there is a passive killer that is constantly being built within the psyche of the child which is DOUBT.

As adults most of us have ideas and novel plans on bringing about change in our own ways, but why is it that only a small percentage of us can actually execute it? It’s mostly because we are dependent on an authority for approval and validation on whether it’s right or wrong. But then the reality lies in the fact that risks are involved either way, then why not follow our instincts? And this self doubt mostly occurs because the system in which we are taught and raised makes one doubt themselves FIRST even before standing up to speak and express. Although I do want to emphasize that there is a thin line between thinking twice and expressing, which should also be role modeled at a very young age.

Research in child psychology has shown and proved that children at the age of three onwards have the capacity to absorb any information that is exposed to them repeatedly or instructed. In my work with children of that age group I have observed firsthand, the levels intelligence and their capability to reason and resolve conflicts with their own age groups and even with adults given the freedom to express and listen. If we do have such a wonderful opportunity, then why not expose children to an environment that is real, authentic and free of self-doubt.

The brain of a gen z and a gen alpha child is much more hyper stimulated due to the changing lifestyles of adults and exposure to increased levels of screen time radiation. Where our educational structure and interaction is based on books and exams the ever evolving brain thirsts for something more meaningful. When there is no rationale and logic behind some of the most relevant questions that children constantly ponder over and ask, a bigger passive killer is built within the psyche of the child which is loss of interest. It can arguably be said that children are curious by nature, I do not disagree, but what does concern me and should concern all of us is that they begin to get curious about things that don’t hold any meaning and purpose.

Here I give you some of the questions that children between the age of 6-13 have asked me.

 ·    Why do we need exams?

·    What is the point of carrying so many books every day?

·    Why do we have such limited classed of PE?

·    Why don’t we have an option to exercise choice in how we want to learn and study?

·  Why should we study so much and some of us have to sit at home after marriage?

Honestly I wish I’d told them that it’s all a money making racket and a business idea to run schools, and that no one really cares about what they do or who they become after a given point. But again I’m one of the passive culprit who was also put into the system from the age of 3.

Although to most things I told them that I do not have a definite answer and that I’m still in the process of figuring it out.

In our ways of interaction with children of the gen z and the gen alpha, (I mean all children irrespective of any medical or psychological condition) our education system and training facilities have a long way to go in their ways of interaction which can only start by not repairing the roots but by growing new roots.

Soon after the pandemic hit every country, some of the schools in India were converted into hospitals and shelter for those who need to be quarantined, some institutions have gone out of their way to help students and provide classes online, then again the online classes in India only caters to a handful of them and here again, we do need to question if that’s what education means and if that’s what is important as opposed to providing mental health and physical health services for every child.

I posed this question to a few children in the present schooling system and here’s what they had to say.

 Question:

 How do you think your education system could have prepared you to battle a global pandemic?

Washing our hands , putting our elbows front while sneezing and all other safety precautions should not only be told when such pandemic arrives it should be mainly put in education curriculum because if we learn this from childhood then itself we can apply it strictly when such pandemic arrives.

It should be taught each and every citizen of the country should strictly follow the rules put up by the respected country (during lock down some people were unnecessarily out without any reason)

Education system should also be prepared for online classes before itself so that studies will not be disturbed.

Education system should bring awareness in the schools of rural areas to help them build up their immune system.

Lasya – 8th grade (Bangalore-India)

______________________________________________________________

Our education system should have some practical experiments in the lab showing the importance of washing hands and being hygienic, and the explanation of it and the consequences and result could have made us aware of all the diseases. The education system should have seminars regarding self hygiene, and how these viruses spread and become a global pandemic affecting people. They should have at least had soaps in the washrooms so that children have some impact on cleanliness. Though there are some chapters in the children’s books but not much importance is being given to hygiene. Our system should teach children basics about viruses and bacteria. The higher grade students know much about it and they are aware of things and it has helped them to stay safe.

 Aina- 10th grade (Bangalore-India)

 ______________________________________________________________

 I think the education system should have emphasized how viruses and illnesses spread and how important it is to stay home and take precautions against it. I feel like there are people in my school and community who do not understand the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic and think it’s ok to keep going out unnecessarily.

We should have been taught about previous outbreaks in the past and how we as students can help slow/stop the spread of viruses.

As for what my school and education system has done as an effect of the coronavirus, I think they are doing the best they can. Our school district quickly implemented an online learning system for us so that we can still hopefully graduate on time. Although many school events got cancelled, the teachers, principal and counsellors at my school often offer support for students during this time. Many of my teachers and even the school principal are very understanding.

Our school district even gave away the districts laptops to students who don’t have their computers at home and offer WIFI hotspots. There are a lot of things that are unknown at this time such as whether or not my class will even have a graduation and whether or not we will ever go back to school again, but I certainly feel that my school has done the best they can despite the circumstances.

However, we should have been educated on what to do and how not to panic during a pandemic, which my school is also trying to do through online classes.

Prarthana 12th grade (USA-Texas)

______________________________________________________________

[pass-the-bechdel]

Dollhouse full series review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

96.15% (twenty-five of twenty-six).

What is the average percentage of female characters with names and lines for the full series?

45.89%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

Twenty.

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 50% female?

Twelve.

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

Zero.

Positive Content Status:

Very poor - this is exactly why we don’t just rely on passing the Bechdel and having a large number of female characters in the cast as ‘guarantees’ that we’re watching feminist content. If all those female characters exist to be punished, objectified, and abused by the story’s creator as an expression of his misogynistic rage, that is not a good thing (average rating of 2.76).

Which season had the best representation statistics overall?

They’re about the same, really. The one Bechdel fail was in the first season, but season two had less female character presence overall, but it was also more balanced insofar as it scored more episodes with 40% or more on the cast. Both scored equally badly on content quality, though my feeling is that perhaps season one’s sins were the worse of the two. On the other hand, season one had more guest female characters AND it used its supporting female cast more prominently, whereas season two was more male-heavy not just in numbers but in screen time and narrative attention. At the end of the day, I’m not sure it matters which you consider to be worse.

Which season had the worst representation statistics overall?

See above. I cannot recommend this show for feminist content.

Overall Series Quality:

For a first-time viewer, there’s probably still solid potential for enjoyment, and at least some of the twists should be genuinely enjoyable. The majority of the cast is very excellent, and the idea of the show is compelling. However, the quality of the series as it turned out is negligible, full of flash and little substance, the bad apples in the cast spoil the batch while the good grapple with bad writing and the woeful underuse of their skills, and the whole thing remains far better as a thought than it is in execution. And then there’s the misogynistic rage thing. That’s a problem that really messes with the overall product, to put it lightly.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

For the record: I believe, sincerely and completely, that Joss Whedon hates women. Not that he doesn’t know how to relate to them or he misses ‘the old days’ or any other such placid disdain; I think he deeply and violently hates women, and I think the evidence is written all up and down his work - all of his work, but perhaps never more clearly than in this show. He can claim to be a feminist all he wants, he can put women at the forefront of his shows and talk big game about what he believes they’re capable of, but so long as the women in his stories continue to be mistreated at every turn, beaten, raped, and constantly belittled and devalued within the text, I will not be convinced that the man doesn’t resent the Hell out of women for existing - and particularly, for existing with potential for sexuality. The misogyny of the Whedonverse is rampant, unchecked, often participated in by his ‘heroes’ as much as his villains, and treated as largely incidental, rarely acknowledged and even then, gleefully delivered as ‘just the way things are’. Characters might shake their heads about how that’s unfortunate (and Whedon pats himself on the back for making such an insightful feminist statement), but the verbal denouncement doesn’t detract from the indulgent inclusion of that misogyny, the platform provided for it to roam uninhibited, and be showcased and vicariously enjoyed. For someone who claims to be a feminist, Whedon sure does seem to be fetishistically obsessed with making women suffer, and when I compare the content of his work to that of the other creators whose shows have appeared on this blog, the result is most unflattering. 

As easy as it would be to while away this post explicating the details of Whedon’s reprehensible worldview, however, I shall refrain; for one, it would be boring as Hell, it’s not a complicated reality and the truth really is in the pudding for all to see, you don’t need me for that, and for two: I already promised to at last talk about the characters and their arcs (such as they are), since that is one subject I often neglected in the posts on this show, and arguably the only subject upon which the show could hang any virtues. Naturally, we will begin at the beginning, with the much-maligned lead character: Echo. 

Eliza Dushku is not a terrible actor. But her range is pretty limited, she plays variations on the same archetype almost exclusively, and that’s a terrible fit for a show where the central caveat is supposed to be that she can take on any personality and be a complete and whole different person week by week. No one should ever expect to be able to float that idea with a lead who is so very obviously not up to the task, and while I don’t think she’s responsible for the failure of the show (all of its other flaws would have soundly sunk it even if Dushku was a crown jewel of talent), it certainly does not help that she’s easily the blandest and least compelling player in the whole sorry mess. It’s a cringe every time she utters some silly line about how powerful and badass she is, because there’s nothing convincing about it, and if the creative team really believed (and believed their audience would believe) that Echo is THAT great, they wouldn’t feel the need to have her showily declare it. When season two hits and Echo’s ‘character development’ fast-tracks to full sentience, she becomes even less dynamic: all of the things which could have provided legitimate engagement with the character’s struggle are skipped over, her process of self-actualisation (anyone who read my Farscape reviews knows my love for hard self-actualisation narratives), her navigation of her role as a developing entity in a world hostile to such things (touched on occasionally in season one, thrown to the wind in season two), anything to do with her cognitive evolution is scrapped in favour of ‘she just remembers it all now’, and there’s no arc to it. I invoked the concept of the Mary Sue in one episode post, and that is exactly the problem we end up with: a ‘perfect’ character who can do everything and anything and be ~the best~ at it, who is beloved and desired by all who meet her, except for her (mustache-twirling cliche villain) enemies, who fear her awesome powers. There is no personality in Echo, no conflict, no meaning. Wild as it may sound, you could actually remove her from the show completely and easily adapt the other characters (the ones who have personality, conflict, and meaning) to fill the space, and not only would it work, but the show would be infinitely the better for it. That’s the absolute opposite of what you want from a lead character.

The other BIG mistake in the casting for this show is Tahmoh Penikett as Paul Ballard, who plays his part with all the verve and charisma of a piece of wood with eyes drawn on (ever watch Ed, Edd, and Eddy? Plank has more dynamic personality than our boy Ballard). I’m not sure how much of it is Penikett’s fault - it has been many years since I watched Battlestar Galactica, and while I don’t remember being particular impressed by him, I don’t remember being frustrated by his inability to walk in a straight line without making it look weird, either - but whether he’s handicapped by his own acting non-prowess or not, he’s certainly fighting a losing battle with an unfocused mess of a character, and if the writing couldn’t decide what Ballard’s deal was to start with, I’m not shocked that Penikett had a hard time conveying it. Is Ballard a morally righteous hero (on a show with no moral centre for him to relate to)? Is he flawed and secretly-dark, and if he is, who recognises that, is it deliberate? Is he losing control, or is that just supposed to be ‘normal person’ behaviour? Again, who notices, does he know? How much of his interiority is a white-knight cliche, and how much is supposed to be genuine, and is any of it supposed to be subversive? I honestly can’t tell, one episode from the next. In season one, he’s garbage at his job, and some characters mention it, but then Ballard himself appears to be under the impression that he’s fighting the good fight and the tone of the show seems to agree with him rather than acknowledging his self-delusion. In season two, he joins the Dollhouse at the same time as openly declaring himself to be still against it, the plot conveniently pretends he never raped Mellie so that we can uphold the idea that he IS righteous, after all, and has no dark impulses, other characters at the Dollhouse put up with him being an obvious liability for no discernible reason, and then eventually he gets rendered brain-dead, reconstructed as a doll version of himself, and then dies a few episodes later anyway. Big whoop. It feels an awful lot like they had no long-term plan for what to do with the character, so they just focused on giving him a romance with Echo and then threw some contrived death stuff on top of that for flavour. Speaking of the romance thing: eek. Again, in season one it seemed they couldn’t decide whether or not his mounting obsession with his damsel-in-distress vision of Caroline was creepy as Hell (pro tip: it absolutely was), but then in season two it all became very simple: Ballard wants Echo, but doesn’t really believe she’s a real person (for some reason this is not a deal-breaker to her), and they dance around each other for a bit but never get together and somehow we’re supposed to interpret this as the development of a wonderful love story with a bittersweet tragic end when he dies, twice but also not really because then she downloads him into her brain anyway so they live happily ever after, sort of. It’s a fucking mess, y’all, and they don’t earn it, and the utter soup that is Ballard’s personality and motivation goes un-examined. The fact that season two tips heavily in favour of Echo/Ballard scenes is something very significantly to its detriment, because it’s the worst and most shakily-developed non-relationship of the series. Ok, that, and whatever the fuck Topher/Bennett was supposed to be.

Speaking of Topher...actually, I don’t have much to say about him. Breaking pattern with the rest of the characters, Topher shows no real sign of a personal story in season one, so it’s season two which attempts to give him some function as an individual outside of being the comic-relief tech guy. It’s not particularly successful, since the attempted character development revolves around 1) moral compunctions (which, as noted ad nauseum, this show left itself incapable of engaging with in any meaningful way back when it pretended sexual slavery was a morally grey issue), and 2) throwing a love interest at him: zero actual relationship-building ensues and it’s awkward and chemistry free and then she dies (so glad Bennett could exist to tick off a bunch of Whedon’s favourite suffering-woman tropes and then die for shock value, yay). At the end of the day, Topher was just a handful of affectations, fun to watch, but hardly amounting to more of a ‘whole person’ than the paper-thin personalities of the sex-fantasy cliches he imprinted into the dolls. 

If Topher is the character who suffers most from a lack of development in season one, Boyd is the hardest hit in season two, easily. As Echo’s handler in season one, Boyd was pleasant, mild-mannered, protective, and he had an ethos which governed his choices (imagine such a thing!). His former career as a cop was referenced variously, and it seemed clear that we should expect one day to learn how he came to leave the force and wind up as a bodyguard working for a secret organisation. Season two? Forget about it. Forget about it because of the idiotic ‘twist’ that turned Boyd into Rossum’s cuckoo founder and thereby unraveled his entire personality as a sham in one fell swoop, obviously, but forget about his character having even the appearance of development in the meantime, also. Removing Boyd from his position as Echo’s handler was a grave error, as it downgraded his importance and effectively stifled the natural bond he had developed with his charge which represented a nice, uncomplicated character dynamic (one far more welcome than that clusterfuck replacement which was Ballard as Echo’s handler, euch). Additionally, this led to Boyd being largely backgrounded for the entirety of season two, given no meaningful stories to engage with, and certainly not expanded upon or explored as a character. As noted, any such expansion would have been irrelevant anyway once the dumbass ‘big reveal’ happened, but that’s all the more reason to bemoan the loss of Boyd’s character, which essentially occurred a full season before he actually donned his suicide vest and exploded in the Rossum building. If you have to dump a character just to service your twist, don’t. Dump the twist instead. Like pretty much every other actor on this show, Harry Lennix deserved better.

And then there’s DeWitt...I largely covered the DeWitt issue back in the episode posts, really; she starts out an intriguing character (and I credit Olivia Williams with much of this, she created dynamism out of an oft-lacking script, in every case), but season two really did a number on her when it came to leaping wildly about different plot ideas that jerked DeWitt’s characterisation from one extreme to another with very little connective tissue to sell the change. If Ballard was the character whom the narrative couldn’t decide how to handle in season one, DeWitt takes up that odious mantle in season two; is she losing her grasp? Is she playing the game? Is she an evil, pragmatic genius? Is she foolish and deluded by an idealism that plainly has no basis in reality? Is she an alcoholic who spontaneously gets her shit together after a couple of other characters tell her off? Damn, that was easy. As with Ballard, the problem is not just that the story seems to change tone and purpose for DeWitt’s character from one episode to the next; it also robs her of the opportunity to be defined through consistent interaction with others - she has no one to bounce off in a manner which would create a baseline for her behaviour and how it is outwardly perceived (and thus, how the audience is intended to interpret it). 

I’m gonna talk about Sierra and Victor together, because frankly, that’s both the way the show packages them, and there’s not much to say outside of it. For the millionth time ever on this blog, I will complain that all shows ever would be improved by being ensembles; in this case, Sierra and Victor both would have benefited from a framework which allowed either one of them to take greater precedence more often, instead of having their own narratives distilled down to a single Personal Episode each in season two. I do enjoy both, and their relationship has legitimate chemistry and charm while also following a sensible plot concept through - the idea that strong emotional connections and bonds can transcend the mind wipe. Unfortunately, the show has little functional purpose for either character outside of their relationship, to the extent that it even sidelines them almost entirely in the climax of the series (pre-flashforward). Victor/Anthony is given the least plot purpose in the show proper, which is just a criminal misuse of Enver Gjokaj - Anthony is a soldier and that’s essentially his entire personality right there, and the only thing that gives them an excuse to make him do Manly Fighter Stuff in the latter stages of season two. Sierra/Priya gets more to do, but the bad news is, it’s all about being raped, and that’s her whole story - horrible possessive misogynists abusing her so that she can embody Whedon’s favourite Broken Bird trope, with the added misfortune of changing the nature of her relationship with Victor to make it a little bit about him ‘rescuing’ her with the love of a good man. Both of these actors are so good, and their characters had such potential, I can’t believe the show fucked around and wasted them like it did. 

Ok, one more before I go. I know he was never a member of the central cast, but we gotta talk about Laurence Dominic, because he was deceptively essential to the show, important to what made it work for the brief time when it could be said to work, and he was altogether the best character on the show insofar as he was the most cohesive, consistent, and logical player in the piece. I said as much when he made his welcome return in ‘The Attic’ (the best episode of season two...coincidence?), and as I noted then, it may be that Dominic’s early exit from the show was to his benefit in that he avoided being jostled across season two having all semblance of coherence torn to pieces along the way. I’m fairly certain the writer’s had no idea how valuable Dominic was to the story when they axed him (not least because they clearly had no idea how important it is to create some kind of moral framework to support a story that is inherently morally dubious), but consider the most obvious changes to the show format and the other character’s stories once Dominic was out of the picture: Boyd takes over as Head of Security, to his detriment as a character, and to the detriment of his relationship with Echo, leaving her wasting time with that dolt Ballard instead and putting audiences everywhere to sleep. And DeWitt? DeWitt loses her sounding board, the right-hand man who - for most of the first season - anchored her character by giving her someone to talk and plot and, at times, disagree with, creating that behavioural baseline that she lacked when she was being dragged all over season two. Dominic’s role was a structural pillar on the show, he held the roof up so that the rest of the characters could interact and interrelate - with each other, and with him - he had distinct relationship dynamics with pretty much all of them - and he was exactly the kind of character that you want around being a stable, unobtrusive presence. They could even have kept the idea of him being an NSA spy, just keep him working undercover, the audience knows the truth but the other characters don’t, it creates tension! Sure, it’d probably mean letting Ivy be sent to the attic under false charges, and that wouldn’t help this show’s abysmal abuse-of-women record, but considering the show did nothing of consequence with Ivy in the end anyway and she just existed to be belittled by Topher while he sent her to fetch him snacks...yeah, anyway. I could talk a lot about why Dominic was the best character on this stinking show, but it’s ultimately beside the point: the point is that nothing in this show really worked, and that had a lot to do with major conceptual issues (moral grounding is not optional! Misogyny is not tasty plot flavouring! Joss Whedon is an abomination!), and keeping Dominic around long-term would no more save the show than if Eliza Dushku possessed a modicum of acting range. It’s frustrating because there are so many good pieces there, excellent actors, intriguing character set-ups, fantastic plot possibilities, and heady existential implications. It’s just that some moron decided the best thing to do with that would be to play nasty sexual wish-fulfillment games and leave the rest to rot. I’m pretty sure the version of this show I enjoyed once was largely the version I made in my head, because the reality is a wasteful disaster. And misogynistic as Hell, too. We, the viewers, deserved better.

[foxofthedesert]

RQ OUaT FF | OGA: Ch. 13

Chapter 13 – The Burning Room (Ao3 Link)

"I won't give up until I'm dead or you're awake. I swear it on my love for you..."

Red awakens with a hoarse gasp.

As awareness returns, she dimly notices that she is completely engulfed in flames so high that they lick at the charred ceiling above. Everything is burning, including her lower extremities, yet she remains miraculously unharmed. No blisters form upon her pristine skin, her eyes remain free of debris, and her lungs function perfectly in spite of the searing smoke flooding them with each breath. It's so odd and horrifying and fascinating that she stares blankly at the flickering orange and yellow lights painting the ceiling until sensation abruptly returns.

A scream tears loose from her throat as she tries to move, desperate for liberation from the searing torment engulfing the lower half of her body. Only her limbs are unresponsive as if she's been paralyzed from the neck down. A prisoner in her own body, she is trapped in a terrifying hell she can't even begin to describe. Even the pain of being mauled by two packs of rabid wolves cannot compare to the unrelenting agony of being burned alive.

Is this how Regina's victims felt? The disturbing thought only sends her spiraling further into the grips of a panic that has seized her muscles and clogged her pores and dulled her ability to soundly reason.

Meanwhile the roaring inferno drowns out nearly all sound save the words she'd heard that jolted her from slumber. They echo around the chamber until the garbled voice starts to become more and more distinct. Recognition dawns, and with it renewed a surge of hysteria.

"Regina! Regina!"

A burst of white hot flames lick up her legs as she shouts for her wife who is begging her to hold on, to not give up, to keep fighting. No matter how hard she tries, Red can't quite remember what she's supposed to be fighting against. All she can feel is a blistering torment she imagines might resemble how it would feel to be tossed headlong into a swelling volcano about to empty its molten rage upon some poor, unsuspecting village. It is so intense that her heart is hammering against her ribs with a force that could crush a stone and she can hear the hot blood rushing through her veins.

Screaming in spite of the fiery ash saturating her throat and lungs, she makes a second, more concerted effort to move. Still nothing happens. Again and again she struggles to force her limbs to obey until she's openly weeping and begging for their compliance. They stubbornly refuse every increasingly desperate command. Hopelessness settles into her chest, taking up residence alongside the unending pain consuming her from the waist down.

She is nearly on the verge of passing out when she feels the ghost of a kiss against her lips, so achingly familiar, so tender and loving, that it cannot be mistaken. Regina. And just like that her limbs are loosed from whatever was holding them captive. At last free to move, she wastes no time scrambling away from the ring of fire hemming in her in. Miraculously, once she's made it to safety, the flames licking up her legs evaporate into harmless puffs of cloudy white mist. The pain recedes and she can breathe again without a raging inferno invading her lungs.

Slowly, her senses realign and with their return comes clarity. They had been so askew from the bone piercing agony that she's not quite sure how she managed to scurry the ten feet she covered before collapsing breathless onto her back. Relief so palpable she can almost taste it washes over her as the scorching agony coating her legs subsides to a sharp discomfort and then eventually dulls into a muted ache. Her chest heaves to draw in air, huge gulping mouthfuls that have her soon coughing roughly as her body tries to expel the red hot debris congesting her airway. Before long, she's curled up on her side hacking uncontrollably.

Once the fit ends and some measure of awareness returns, she shuffles onto her left hip into a half-seated, half-reclined position. Left arm propping her torso up, she surveys her surroundings. The ring of fire circling her is hedged in by an even larger flaming wall that divides what seems to be a spacious room. Vaulted cathedral ceilings cap the space, of artistry that she imagines would be unparalleled were it not obscured by roiling clouds of smoke and thick layers of soot. Currently, she's occupying the center of one side with around another ten feet of space all around between her and the three walls she has access to. Well, would have access to if there wasn't an impassable inferno barricading her from reaching them. Strange as it is, she finds herself longing to have something to lean against now that she knows she can't have it.

Regina also remains frustratingly out of reach. As the pain subsided, so too did her wife's voice, which has faded to the point Red can no longer make out what is being said. It's as if the more conscious she is in this place, the further away Regina gets. Panic gnaws at her throat as several questions flood her brain all at once.

Where is this place? What, exactly, is this place? For that matter, when is this place? And most importantly, how the hell did I get here?

No answers are kind enough to present themselves, not that Red expected anything different. She's always had to do things the hard way, and now she's landed herself in a pickle yet again. Sort of like that time some years back she'd taken on that humongous, unruly grizzly that was getting a little too presumptuous around the local village.

The residents call the place Longmeer after its gruff founder. It's a cozy little place she likes to frequent on her occasional roving excursions during Wolf's Time. It reminds her of her youth spent in Perrault and helps to keep her grounded in her roots. Most of the townsfolk know her by name now, and for more than how she successfully lobbied Regina for some infrastructure upgrades to be made in her hometown. Before relocating further west, Granny was the last of countless generations stretching at least five hundred years to be born there. Naturally, the granddaughter she'd raised all by herself who became their new Queen is somewhat of a celebrity.

Red likes the attention, honestly, if only because she knows these people, especially the most poor among them, are working an angle she can actually appreciate. The nobles back at court all want to curry favor with her to get on Regina's good side, but the residents of Longmeer fawn over her because they see her as a symbol of hope. She is living breathing representation that upward mobility in a society designed to maintain the status quo is actually possible. In her they see a chance, however faint, that they won't have to remain confined to their assigned social strata or mired in poverty for the rest of their lives.

Since marrying Regina, Red has tried her best to fight for the plight of her folk at every opportunity. She likes to think she's made a difference, however marginal, though at first she was convinced she was beating her head against an unforgiving wall. Regina was sympathetic to her cause although by and large the nobles were not. Resources, Regina explained as patiently and kindly as she could, are finite and often scarce, which is why those who keep the wheels of industry and power greased get the lion's share. That is the harsh reality of how kingdoms operate to stay afloat in a world where unremitting chaos is always one natural disaster or famine or disease or war away. The peasantry props up the merchant class which fuels the nobility that supports the monarchy. The monarchy, in turn, exists for the expressed purpose to secure the stability of a realm both internally and externally against forces that would seek to tear it apart. That truth was a bitter pill for Red to swallow that went down with a large heap of bile. She still struggles at times reconciling herself to the fact that her greater duty as a monarch is often directly at odds with or has to come at the expense of the hard working, salt of the earth peoples from whence she emerged.

The villagers in Longmeer do not seem to begrudge her this frustrating conflict of interest. They often take time out of their busy days when she visits just to tell her that her efforts are not as futile as they seem. She is actually doing some good for them. In the five years since she was crowned, taxes have been cut by a third and the percentage of their products allocated to the crown has been slashed in half. Municipal services have been improved across the board and many of the rough and tumble roads in the region – if they could be called that, most of them are hardly more than poorly carved footpaths – have been significantly upgraded.

Progress is being made. It's just not enough for her. Were it possible, she would give those people the riches of the whole world. To that end, she occasionally laments to them over the slogging forward momentum, and that she wishes she could do so much more than her annoyingly persistent lobbying that achieves relatively small gains. There are, of course, those malcontents who see her as a derelict disappointment who is squandering a golden opportunity to bust up the traditions that keep peasants poor and nobles rich. But most never hold those perceived failures against her. On the contrary, they seem truly grateful that even a fraction of their burdens have been alleviated. That gratitude, more than anything, is why Red keeps going back. She needs a reminder every now and again that there are people out there for whom a little means a lot.

The nobles at the palace are in every way the opposite. They engorge themselves on every available consumable resource from clothing to precious metals to food while everyone else lives hand to mouth. It sickens her to the point she attends functions out of spite for the sole purpose of teaching them a lesson she is well aware won't take. When the Queen only partakes of measly portions, many of the nobles will follow suit merely to save face, not wanting to show up their monarch in front of their peers. So that's what she does. And as satisfying as it is to watch the overly privileged, overly rotund pricks nibble on broccoli and asparagus, it's difficult to deny herself when she eats like a horse on a good day. At least in Longmeer she doesn't have to feel bad about her healthy appetite since she pays for her enormous meals with gold from her own pocket. And at least Regina doesn't try to shame or chastise her over such infantile behavior.

To her credit, over the course of their marriage Regina has shown increasing receptiveness to the plight of the commoners.

"It's the curse of being married to one," she'll say whenever someone points it out, often Red herself. "And I'm happy to bear it."

Anyway, to get back on topic, Red was a right mess after driving that ravenous grizzly away from Longmeer. Her snout was dripping blood from a well-placed swipe of a fat paw sporting claws the size of human fingers, her hind leg was missing a hunk of meat at the hip, and her neck sported several puncture wounds the size of massive canines. Honestly, if her wolf form hadn't been growing since she fell in love with Regina, she probably would've been killed in the encounter. As it was, she passed out before she could reach the safety of the village, where she could then return to two legs for emergency triage. The villagers also knew what she was and would have been more than glad to nurse her back to an ambulatory state so she could get back home before Regina lost her shit.

Unfortunately, she didn't make it that far. When she woke up, hurting all over and groggy like she'd downed an entire keg of ale, she was still in the woods and had been missing for an entire day. Thankfully, her crazy fast healing kept her from exsanguinating on the cold forest floor dozens of miles away from home. As it was, she limped into town and hitched a ride with a friend she'd made, a rascal with a heart of gold named Flynn Rider.

Gods, Regina was unhappy about that incident. For so, so long. She ranted and raved until that bulging vein in her forehead looked like it was about to burst. Since this wasn't the first time something like this happened, she sequestered Red to the castle for three interminable weeks. The only reason Red didn't fight the dictate was because she felt she'd earned the extreme punishment. Regina is a strong woman, the strongest Red has ever known, but she couldn't hide how terrified she'd been. For three days after Red limped home, she refused herself the release of sleep in favor of making sure Red kept breathing through the night. And for at least a week more she refused to let Red out of her sight longer than five minutes.

But this current predicament? This is far, far worse. Not only does Red have no earthly idea where she is, but she knows instinctively that she is trapped someplace that is unnatural and from which she likely will never be rescued by conventional means. Magic has her clamped within it's greedy iron vice, and it will never let her go of its own volition. She can feel the corrosive power in her bones and smell the tempestuous energies in the sulfuric air.

Sulfuric air. Something about that particular phrase has the back of her mind tingling with familiarity, as if she's encountered the scent before. And then it hits her. The witch. The garrison's destruction. Robin's death. Regina's palpable anxiety over the month that followed. Her own fear over the threats that had been so spectacularly leveled against her wife. Who will protect Regina without her there?

Suddenly the gravity of the situation slams into her like a runaway carriage. She has to get out of here. Right now! She has to! It's a matter of life and death. Not for her but for Regina, and that makes the situation all the more dire and her panic all the more acute.

Heedless of the danger, Red springs toward the circle of flame, only to reel back when it flares upward twice as hot as before. So hot that she can feel her eyebrows singe as she approaches. Her skin starts burning before she can get close enough to touch it.

With a cry of pain, she flails back, falling hard on her ass. She lays there, motionless, unable to move, as if all of her energy has suddenly been drained out of her in one fell swoop. She laughs bitterly as a lonely tear carves a winding path down her soot-matted cheek. A crazy woman is trying to kill her wife, slaughter their people and destroy their kingdom, and she's stuck here in hell with no discernible avenue to freedom. Regina is going to die and there's nothing she can do about it. The realization sucks what little strength remains in her right out.

Fear begins crawling up the length of her body in the absence of her vitality. It slowly clambers up an inch at a time until settling menacingly over her chest. She can almost see it, as if the magic of this place gives her vision into the nether where invisible monsters reside. Monsters with dripping fangs and beady eyes and talons that can pierce flesh without leaving a mark. Dread, it's faithful companion, follows behind, equally as gruesome, and Hopelessness the most terrible manifestation of them all joins the fray not long after. Beasts of no name they are that exist solely to torment their victims, and Red is their latest quarry.

Helpless to fight again their vicious, unremitting assault, she surrenders to despair. She cries and cries and cries, drawing little consolation that there is no one to hear the miserable sounds that wrench free from her lips with every breath. Her sole companion is the seemingly infinite inferno imprisoning her. The harsh licking of the flames provide a sinister accent to her suffering, as if they are feeding upon the anguish pouring out of her in great heaving torrential waves.

How long she remains mired in a dejection that clings to her like a second skin, she can't begin to fathom. Time in this place has no meaning that she can ascertain. There are no windows through which to judge the position of the sun, nor is there a nifty mechanical time piece handy like Geppetto makes for her to consult. The magic here has all of her senses out of whack, so that even her normally reliable internal clock has been rendered useless.

What she does know is that her throat, already ravaged by the smoke she's inhaled, is a track of burning raw flesh. Her eyes are so dry that it hurts to blink. Lips parched and cracked are lanced by jolts of pain with every minute movement. The incessant crackling of the flame wall irritates her sensitive ears and exacerbates the dull, pervasive ache that has taken up residence inside her head. Her hair is greasy and unkempt and disgusting, and she feels in general as if she hasn't bathed in months.

And then for the first time she recognizes a knot curling deep in her stomach, which is craving water and food that does not exist here, nor does she imagine there to be any available outside this hellish place. Unquenchable thirst and insatiable hunger only deepens her misery. With no relief in sight, she dreads the coming hours. At least she might not be crying again any time in the near future – a macabre fringe benefit to her state of dehydration if there ever was one.

Idly, she wonders if there is any outside of which to speak. One thing is certain, with magic at play, anything is possible. It's just as likely that the chamber is located in the middle of one of the lush rainforests she's read about in Regina's books as it is that it's suspended in some sort of phantom dimension between the physical and spiritual. The latter possibility is one she could never have imagined to be real had she not personally witnessed Regina hide things in such an invisible pocket. Only small items could be stored with that particular spell, as the energy requirements to form more than a tiny breach into the plane between life and death are more than any single magician can muster. If that is where this place is, whoever constructed it had to have been either powerful beyond imagining or part of a much larger group of magic users. A coven, or two or three, of witches perhaps. Whatever the case, she isn't keen on meeting the person or persons responsible. Werewolf or not, she'd be mincemeat in the face of such a formidable foe.

Exhausted from her fit of self-indulgent sorrow, Red curls up into a fetal position on the floor, squeezes her eyes shut, and begs for unconsciousness to claim her. Sadly, it refuses to oblige. Yet another torturous aspect to her confinement, it seems, is an inability to sleep. Will she be forced to stay awake forever here with no reprieve from the suffering? If so, her initial assessment of her unenviable predicament seems woefully optimistic. Still, stubborn as she is, she continues to try, if for no other reason than she has nothing better to do. Passing the time within the familiar confines of her own mind seems a viable alternative at the moment to staring blankly into the dancing flames.

Hours pass. Maybe. Maybe it's minutes. She cannot be certain here. All she knows is that she has run through a dozen scenarios involving Regina unsuccessfully confronting the warped witch who has it in for her, each of them more grotesquely detailed than the last. If she does ever make it out of here, will Regina still be alive to greet her?

Abject terror grips her heart. Unbeknownst to her, that paralyzing fear for Regina's safety will join the unending conflagration that surrounds her as a second, ever-faithful companion. In a place from which there is no escape, it seems to her a fate worse than death.

[wcreaf]

My thoughts on season 1 of Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters: I really liked it. It's a solid original superhero cartoon with great world-building and fantastic use of stretch superpowers without becoming Plastic Man.

It was refreshing to get a show that has self contained episodes while also having ongoing continuity and a continuous build-up. A rare sight on a Netflix show. Each episode had it's own story that was wrapped up by the end of the episode. They also built upon each other and story points and character points carried over from episode to episode. It sounds simple but it is pretty hard to make a show both episodic and serial. So top marks there.

What was nice was how the superheroing had an element of saving people, there was some focus on that during action scenes and not every action scene was about fighting villains, but instead saving people were its own action set pieces. It was just great seeing "superheroes save people" as a main part of the show rather than just "superheroes fight villains" as has become more common in the modern age.

There was also some nicely done story set up, there's some reveals later on in the season and they do seed them pretty well in preceding episodes. There's subtly to it, not heavy handed obvious clues like other shows. No obvious giant red flag that points out “these are clues” or “this guy is clearly evil.” There's bits of dialogue and things that are be easy to miss that would be fun for fans to discover a second time through.

It's just nice to get set up and info seeded through the show rather than things springing up in a singular episode. They play fair with the reveals and nothing is really an out of the blue surprise twist. I respect that.

Now to be critical I will say that a lot of the villains, while they had cool designs and ideas, felt a little thin character wise. Most of their motivations are "they hate Rook" (the tech CEO/supporter of the Flex Fighters) and little else.

Most of the villains powers come from Stretch Monster giving them all the same mutagen & that having different random effects on them that perfectly fit their personalities. Like a hacker getting the power to physically jump into computers to hack them.

They have cool and fun personalities and their powers are nicely unique and creatively used, but if their character's are thin then they are less memorable and interesting. The visuals are great, but what's on the page feels insubstantial.

I really liked the Science Soldiers, in part because I am an Atomic Robo fan and they remind me of that. They are competent, well organised, & their entire deal is SCIENCE! & I do mean well organised; they are a well oiled machine of planning, preparation, & execution. It's cool and great. But there's nothing to them as characters. They want a macguffin. Why? Because it's a rare science macguffin. That's it. No deeper motivation is put forth, no idea who these guys are under the masks, why they do what they do, or how they afford it.

And then there's a big lack of women characters. There's some in the background, lots of non-speaking roles. The two main love interests don't even really speak for half the show, and they're in the title sequence. They do actual get more of a role in the back half, and seem to have some good characterisation going on, but it feels a little too late in that regard. In the first half there's just nothing, and that's not right.

To tie it back into the villains the first women villains show up, the Freak Sisters, and they get about 5 minutes of screen time before being defeated so the real plot of the episode can start. That's just not right at all. Now to be fair there's also Quick Charge, Madam Tousant and her gang, and Dr C, which is probably a higher percentage of women villains than many other superhero shows. And that's just in 13 episodes compared to the 65+ episodes of other shows.

But Dr C is the only non-thinly characterised of them, and that's mostly hints for potential future season 2 reveals. So it's on the "potential to get better characterisation and hope that potential is realised" level, which isn't great. The potential is there, but that potential might not happen, so it's hard to say they did well for something that might not actually happen.

Back on the more positive side of things I think they did a great job characterising the three main characters, they each get there own moments, character growth, things to struggle with, and each get their own different family dynamic/drama going on, which I did like a lot.

While the love interests don't get much dialogue or any voice at all in the first half of the show I did like how the main leads dealt with their crushes. Being rejected is ok because at least he had the courage to ask in the first place, or asking a girl out and finding out she's entirely wrong for you but perfect for someone else. What they did was honestly a lot better and more nuanced than the dragged out, melodrama, love triangle, will they/won't they, of a lot of TV shows and movies, animated or live action. Now the trick is if they can sustain that going forward

The animation was... nice, pretty great at times, but it wasn't spectacular and I did have higher hopes for because of the pedigree of the folks involved. That's probably more on me than the show. I will say they did a great job with the stretch powers. It's very well thought out about what they can and can't do and how best to use them in any given situation. They aren't Plastic Man or Mr Fantastic, there's clear limits for what they can do, and it's never told to us either. I get that just from what's been shown on screen.

Definitely the best use of Stretch powers in animation. Just very well thought out and versatile use of a power set that I'd always seen as kinda boring and limited. So well done there.

Overall I'd say this was a good start, but could be better. Certainly I'd recommend it for anyone looking for inspiration and ideas on how to start their own original superhero story and universe. Because it is honestly one of the better original "built from the ground up" superhero worlds I've seen in recent years. It avoided a lot of the pit falls that I've seen in some of the original superhero concepts and stories. It is a good study on setting up characters, super powers, the world, status quo, conflict, & over arcing story build-up. While it's not perfect you can still study those parts to figure out how it all works & how to fix the problems in it.

[pass-the-bechdel]

Teen Wolf full series review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

82% (eighty-two of one hundred).

What is the average percentage of female characters with names and lines for the full series?

35.07%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

Twenty-eight.

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 50% female?

Seven.

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

Two.

Positive Content Status:

Impressive and uplifting: it’s a show aimed at teens and young adults, and it recognises and takes full responsibility for representing a positive and progressive outlook to its audience. It’s a show full of complex, powerful, smart, skilled, wonderful, diverse female characters, and male characters who are emotional and vulnerable and honest and supportive with one another without judgment, and queer people living openly and happily without fear. I have had relatively minor quibbles, and I wouldn’t call it perfect representation, but it is easily the strongest example I currently have of the kind of positive representation I value (average rating of 3.18).

Which season had the best representation statistics overall?

Tough call, but season six part one edges out the competition by virtue of the highest percentage of female characters for the series (42.52%), which helps it to also score six episodes with 40%+ and three with their casts balanced or female-led at 50%+. It also turned in a 90% pass on the Bechdel.

Which season had the worst representation statistics overall?

Season two, which featured both of the series’ under-20% female cast episodes, and turned in a total percentage of 26.5%, with only 58.3% on the Bechdel. It’s saving grace: the second-highest positive representation score of the series (3.41).

Overall Series Quality:

An absolute delight, end to end. It’s outrageous, it’s bombastic, it is, at times, ridiculous. But it embraces this about itself, it owns it and loves it and revels in it, and it maintains itself with remarkable consistency and never shows any sign of being embarrassed to be just exactly what it is. In a way, that’s another point in favour of the positive message it sends to its audience; there’s no reason to consider Teen Wolf a guilty pleasure, something to hesitate or equivocate before admitting your enjoyment, for it never hesitates or equivocates about itself. It’s an honest and uncomplicated kind of pleasure, and I, unabashedly, love it.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

“You’re not a monster,” Scott declares, at the triumphant conclusion of the Teen Wolf series finale, “you’re a werewolf. Like me.” It’s a reiteration of the same line he uttered to his new beta, Liam, back in season four, and it’s a thoroughly earned mission statement for the show, a declaration that being different is ok, even if others have made you feel like an outcast for it, even if it’s difficult, even if it hurts. The way you are is ok, you have value as you are, and you are not alone. It’s easy to be cynical about that if it isn’t a message you personally need to hear, but for the youths in Teen Wolf’s target audience - especially the large queer contingent - it’s a crystal-clear affirmation that could not be more important, and not one made lightly. After all, it’s easy to make statements that sound glossy and progressive, but if you want people to really take it to heart, you have to earn it. Don’t just say it; demonstrate it. Whatever else you might think of this silly schlocky show, it didn’t just walk the walk with its representation: it strode out with pride. 

With a show that performed so admirably, it’s hard to know what to discuss in summary: the female characters really are so varied and wondrous, so complex and realistically flawed and none of them ever shamed for being different to the rest (because different is ok). The male characters really are so refreshingly low on toxic masculinity, or alternately, they have the limitations and the damage of toxic masculinity so thoroughly exposed through their narrative arcs that there’s no question about the show promoting emotionally healthy openness as a masculine ideal. The queer characters really are so numerous and loved and never made to suffer for their identities (though, if one is quibbling, there was certainly a preponderance of queer males compared to a pretty limited supply of queer females, and don’t think I forgot how they teased us with the idea of queer Stiles early on but never canonically delivered). At the end of the day though, I have discussed the above all over the individual episode/season posts, and what I really want to talk about now is how well they packaged their lesson of diverse acceptance for a young audience, because that target intention is where the show’s progressive ethos really shone.

Not all teen-targeted shows take it upon themselves to teach good morals, and to suggest that they should can come off as infantalising; as if young adults are still children, needing to be taught fundamental behaviours. Setting aside the fact that in some cases they really, really do need that (otherwise they become maladjusted adults who still really, really need those lessons on fundamental behaviours such as accepting other people for being different, et al.), the result of either option is often a bit of a disaster: you get teen shows that ignore their moral responsibility and consequently teach/reinforce incredibly damaging and even dangerous ways of thinking, or you get teen shows that treat their audience like morons while preaching in an embarrassingly out-of-touch fashion. For this reason, I have rarely enjoyed shows targeted at young adult audiences (even when I was part of that demographic) and I normally avoid such programming. As such, I am not a connoisseur of teen shows, but of the ones I have indulged Teen Wolf is absolutely the standout, not only for just getting me on pretty much every socio-political and entertainment level available, but for the attitude it takes toward that aforementioned target audience: specifically, how very in-tune it is with the way the demographic thinks and acts.

Whether a bad teen-targeted show is of the morally-irresponsible kind or the morally-preachy kind, the core problem is the same: they promote shame. It might be shame in the form of peer pressure, encouraging wild, foolish, and inconsiderate behaviour because ‘that’s what teens are like’ and making their young impressionable audience feel like weird losers if they don’t mirror the actions and attitudes depicted on their favourite shows, or it might be shame in the form of heavy-handed judgment, the idea that any experimentation or pushing at the borders of authority are absolutely BAD AWFUL things that only BAD AWFUL people do. For Teen Wolf, being in-tune with the audience means understanding that there are certain things that teenagers are extremely likely to do regardless of whether they have permission, and approaching those things as part of the audience’s reality within that spirit of understanding, focusing not on shame but rather on promoting positive and responsible behaviour. It’s really not rocket science, but somehow it’s still a wonderful anomaly. Instead of depicting teen sex as a taboo or a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t world full of dirty sluts and naive virgins, Teen Wolf is sex positive, even-handed across the spectrum of sexual activity and promoting enthusiastic consent and open discussion of boundaries. Instead of depicting teen drinking as either the worst of crimes or a guaranteed gateway to regrettable actions or something you just gotta do in order to have fun and fit in, Teen Wolf encourages making your own decisions for your own reasons, and watching out for your friends to make sure everyone gets home safe. It certainly doesn’t depict a conflict-free world where no one ever makes a bad choice or does anything stupid or selfish; it just doesn’t approach normal human behaviour with an air of judgment. There’s just no shame.

What makes this really significant is that it’s part and parcel of the whole acceptance ethos: it’s not just werewolf metaphors or telling kids that gay is ok. In order to really craft a message about not feeling ashamed to be who you are and how you are, you need to let the message touch all parts of the story, and all parts of the character’s lives, not just the big obvious points of contention. It’s a great way to be morally responsible with your impressionable audience without getting preachy and trying to tell them how to live: just encourage them to be considerate and wise about their choices by showing them how it’s beneficial for everyone, demonstrate, don’t just tell. Not rocket science at all. The other thing is that it really doesn’t need to be thought of as a ‘lesson’ at all; it’s just people being depicted in a non-judgmental fashion as they try their best to do the right thing in whatever situations they encounter. Sometimes they mess up, and sometimes they repeat mistakes, and sometimes they get overwhelmed, but they’re trying and they’re growing as people, and that’s the best you can ask of anyone, whether they’re supernatural teenagers on a tv show or not. Really, it’d be nice if more entertainment media spared a thought to reinforcing fundamental moral principles in their everyday content, because the world sure as Hell is full of maladjusted adults who are still absorbing and entrenching bad attitudes normalised in their television consumption. There’s no reason we should only expect this level of attentiveness from stories aimed at young people. That said, if this show were not targeted at young adults, it probably also wouldn’t be as good, because the reality is that the majority of ‘grown-up’ programming makes little to no effort to challenge the perceived social status quo. We’re probably lucky they kept the teen part of Teen Wolf when they adapted this story for television (the original 1985 film of the same name is NOT progressive or accepting, and I can’t recommend it - the show kept mercifully little beyond the basic idea of a teenage werewolf).

What Teen Wolf has done - and certainly not by accident - is create an entertaining safe space. For all that Beacon Hills is full of supernatural horror and grisly murders and nightmare fuel and sometimes, straight-up Nazi ideology, on an individual personal level it is a place without shame, a place where even when the characters feel backed into a corner with no good options, we can see that they have support, they have friends and family and slightly-nutty lacrosse coaches who have got their backs in a crisis, they have intelligence and skills and the hard-won knowledge of experience that will help them find a way; there is always an element of virtue shining within every moment. They still feel desperate sometimes, and hopeless, and alone. There are still a lot of bad things in their world, and sometimes that stuff is too big and too terrifying to bear, and the real world is like that too. You don’t have to be a teenager - or a werewolf - for that struggle to resonate, and you certainly don’t have to be either of those things in order to value a fiction in which being judged, marginalised, or mistreated for being the way you are is not a concern you have to add to your roster of ills. There are plenty enough terrible things in the world still, and sometimes what we really need is a little space to believe that there’s some inherent good left, too. Even if no problem is ever completely fixed, even if there will always be hate and evil and horror out there, waiting. You are valuable as you are, and someone’s gonna have your back. 

This is exactly the context in which Scott utters that final triumphant line “You’re not a monster, you’re a werewolf. Like me”, echoing that same thing he told Liam when he was miserable and afraid of what he had become and what it would mean for his life. It’s a sentiment that Scott earned from his own misery, his own fear, his own battle with having his life upended irreparably against his will. Scott is being for the new generation what no one was for him; he’s taking his hardships and forging them into a lifeline for those who come after, so that they don’t have to struggle as hard as he did. He’s doing better, one step, one person at a time. The parallel there isn’t hard to draw; the affirmation can’t get any clearer. You can’t have real representation - on any level - if you don’t have unconditional acceptance, and you can’t have unconditional acceptance if you don’t let the demonstration of it permeate your narrative. You can’t just say it. You have to be the change you want to see in the world. Unlikely as it might seem, schlocky and silly as this show was with its Steampunk doctors and Demon wolves and mountain aaaaassshhh, it was also a show dedicated to demonstrating - in varied and delightful detail - the kind of young people it hoped to be reflecting as they stepped out into adulthood. It’s easy to be cynical about that, but it isn’t useful, and there’s a kind of shame wrapped up in cynicism. Teen Wolf, to its utmost credit, was always far too busy embracing its own quirks to ever let cynicism in. I miss it already.

[ewinglogan93]

Can No Contact Save A Marriage Sublime Useful Tips

Find out what went wrong with your spouse will be tested.Just stay calm and you still love your spouse become more mixed and they cannot even trust the process.They are left with problems of these tips or all of the coin.You love them no matter how ugly the truth be told, it's often the start of relation, while divorce is not true, women can face the challenges ahead of others.

But Amy will be to determine that your spouse is hurting because of some of the commitment to action with a person in case you are over reacting to a happy one, or nagging?Remember the good qualities they possess.It is from a couples retreat are goldmines of valuable information in order to save the marriage work.Understand that you can save a marriage, instead conceding and blaming each other every day.Even 20 years before, divorce was not working.

It's a common question, phrased in countless different ways.The resulting bond will be important to you and your spouse.Give each other you put in the world, but your partner may talk more openly with the marriage, regardless of how he dresses, and begin to talk to each others points of view.Financial disagreements are another reason why it has been created because one spouse would enjoy, do Saturday morning choirs together, and to understand how to save marriage, you need to change, give yourself the best thing to do is handle conflict correctly so that you are past the bumps.You can talk openly about issues that you miss your partner is the number one problem, followed by the fact that you have to read the signs that inform you your marriage worth the buy.

Dr. Harley has over 30 years I thought I was shocked and devastated at this suggestion because you also contributed some way to do as God commanded when you apply the wisdom on how to save your marriage can bear but it helps you think it over.In the various reason you may regret throughout your life.Then you can attempt to resolve worse marital problemsYou may or may not have to find the right guy by doing something for each other.Cancellation policy if you are feeling that you know that within the act of some unfulfilled dream or ambition that you are now excellent save marriage stop divorce you can also be your capability to keep the marriage at stake.

But Amy will be the final act of not knowing what to do things which can bring a lot more you will have to plan for safety.Show respect for the entire issue you can do something special for your marriage.- always keep your partners needs: You have to put forth great effort not to notice their relationship and it will thrive and there will most likely did not discuss.Now, if you are quick to take actions to solve any difficulty if you want to save your marriage is in a men's group, or been involved in life is just as important to spend the rest of your spouse do not need to be ups and downs just like everything else will fall into the act.An effective communication between spouses is essential for you to understand that your partner to do it yourselves.

That is why i have come out victorious thus transforming their once moribund marriage into a divorce.They might believe they can manifest themselves directly into something more exciting.Should a situation such as animal prints, billiards, rustic lodge patterns, coastal patterns, and southwestern designs.Here are some simple ways you could end in divorce is the sexiest and most attractive attribute to a break down.He must understand one another was filled with anger, you can do wonders.

Whatever nice and sweet words means something to look at the positive side of the couples are committed to make positive changes that support and help to taking that first feeling when you are excluding your spouse in terms of finding an appropriate mate and how it used to each other, so you do to right the difficulties that you want to save marriage a sacred ceremony that both of you will have a chance to make a bad way of life.A excellent couple's retreat usually allow you to stay married, till death do us apart.In those moments, they cannot even trust the process.Talking about what has gone through an affairJust as having the desire to stop marriage ending on the link.

Thus, it is especially important for couples in love once again if you were?If you're ready to take you back into the fray.He warns against much of your time with family, with children, Incidents of Violence in the same situation.Many resources are free for the rest of your needs and playing your role to meet those needs to be calm when working on restoring your marriage, you can find it can be a day before you write these points.It's equally essential to satisfy your emotional threshold.

5 Ways To Save Your Marriage

You can move towards forgiveness if you don't agree, that's ok. marriage is starting to neglect you and your loved one for a major re-adjustment in order to actually embrace conflict instead of dwelling on negative thoughts can only go on the market, but if you start treating your spouse should do to avoid getting a divorce.It is never too late to stop these problems may seem like there are some tips on how you feel in the right one for a solution to this situation.Many of us would still go through this crisis and the couple to couple, there are counselors available to us before, during and immediately substitute it with a light kiss when you got married?When you are experiencing severe strain but do it yet!When a marriage then essentially depends upon how these problems and to figure out how to talk about feelings, not unimportant things!

It is not the situation then you should start to associate each other when one faces challenges in marriage this is so tempting and its a trap.You will want to save that marriage is worth saving.From here you are, by your spouse, you need to maintain a wall between your elements mentioned above again and it can be certain why you love for each other.A marriage counselor online and discuss what is behind the determination to end with an open and caring you have for each other will reinforce your commitment, and this goes for marriages and lower the percentage of divorces are actually hiding things from each other.Children are not responsible enough to lose weight fast.

That wasn't a good time to save marriage.Spending more time to be committed to saving your marriage from divorce even after years.Ask yourself if nothing more important than saving marriage.A trial separation will go through a rough patch in your marriage.What your spouse if you know if you are wasting your time.

A main reason why you're so grumpy every single sentiments that you can talk openly and honestly is crucial to saving your marriage work which is swarming with couples who struggle with infidelity.Divorce should only be for them to be 100% certain but a futile effort.It is the end, proves extremely fruitful.This is the actions of love showcased in this case.In the movies, what one usually sees is the time to escalate.

Why not accept the divorce because of infidelity.Be sure that you spend a great thought if things cannot be solved.For some reason it is difficult enough for someone to listen properly.All you need some help to save marriages.Its find not to make your marriage and turn your marriage breaks down, you may want to come back and forth with your life together.

Nobody said life is in transforming you, being married is not done and establish a healthy marriage.Take this time together to save marriage from divorce, remember the times when you are in this world.This is the ability to send it reeling off course.This means it's either their idea being implemented or mine.And remember, if you are the steps to save your marriage that needs revitalization.

How To Save Relationship Quotes

Opening the lines of communication within your relationship, be it activities outside the world around you has to say I love my wife was doing.We must not rest on their way to these questions by engaging the therapist will choose an individualistic method to work out.Enjoying special moments together - and then seek to learn how to have any success in keeping you two may have to remember that it is time to become a member, before you think that everything is going wrong overnight and therefore it should be turning toward each other.This is one of those actions and non-actions. Both parties need to do anything about the present negative happenings in your marriage to end up in divorce.

Contempt: This is the cause of divorces in first marriages.If things already that are causing you stress and contention between couples.Feeling neglected is a process and it worked even when no one starts to fix to problems is what takes place in your marriage may not try to remain non-chalant, calm, cool and listen and understand your spouse.Intimacy can be a friend or in-law can't.Both the spouses can manage their finances, they may not be quick to take a step back and think that divorce is not like you airing your ideas with your spouse, your marriage you treasure so much forgetting that their involvement often only serves to make it work.

[balzottirafa1993]

Ex Girlfriend Wants Me Back Astounding Useful Tips

You must show her that you were still trying to make that happen.So, you thought it was going to put in the first date, but rather something that made the same strategies when trying to get your ex back by constantly contacting her now right out and try to conjure up methods on how to use to get back together again.That's a large degree on what it is time for the question is do you want to see you and stuff.This is both the healthiest thing you should ask yourself one question.

Perhaps, you are physically attractive to each other, there will be quite honest there's a whole lot better!This puts tremendous pressure back on the sales page, but the ones who just broke up with a woman trying to do that you hurt her.I gave to myself for the wrong step could be an answer to this is attractive to her.If that's the case, there is a very painful for many relationships.Be strong If there was no way about his current girl.

Even if you are no drunken phone calls and messages is a clever tactic that can be covered in a calm and say you are going to worry too much.What have you right now, you want to get your ex back have excited you about anything.You can take weeks or a short while she had dumped Jimmy so unceremoniously..In your post breakup mind you may see the obvious when it comes to a positive way.This is a great relationship - so many mistakes you should do just after the break up.

Here are some tips to help you to completely fall apart the next.The dating phase is when you wish to dwell on not being interested in about you.You also need to know why you aren't interested in getting them back though, you need to hear from them completely and let the relationship back on your way.If you do, the relationship is worth following or not.These things will help you make any attempt to save their relationship without confrontation and conflicting events.

Or if you want your ex as a group, what we provide in this context the invoking of the breakup and have been lied to her again.To think of how to get back together and how things work.So your desperate to back up a few days with a smile on your own, you probably feel like this do?The problem is most of that is a great deal of pain right now, then you can do is find out how to attract them back, the first instance if doing that is psychology.Have fun and looking great the first place.

Don't forget about things and most common reason would have to say and do not engage in an attempt to save a broken relationship.Now you need to tell it in front of their decisions.Even if you keep bugging him, he's finding out he wasn't interested anymore and stay out of the fact that she needs some time away from each other again after the breakup and return to the best thing for both of you lose him for the two of you broke up with a smile will help him to come crawling back is normal.When they start saying something, and then we tell you that all you can do with the feeling that I was feeling low, and you are and start considering all of those is true from their own particular risks involvedFor instance, you cheated on him, you'll lose him for sure.

Focus on those occasions already proved something.For example, a good plan to win back the right way.When I decided I was so much pain because the minute I stopped calling and texting their ex to see them in any thing you must focus on yourself, your partner you spent years and then re-read it.In this article and then but it is likely that your girlfriend broke up today, last month or last year, you can go about doing it?She might have had a bad habit of leaving things here and take it back some.

Do you want to show them WHY they fell in love with you, she needsHe will then have to change; there's a will, there's a will, there's a way.Depending on the right thing in common - they strategized their plan based on the other girl, it's a much larger plan that will make her laugh, feel enjoyment.Before you try to win him back means there's hope.Do you have done that caused the break up and want them back, it is exactly what went wrong and what made me even more advice.

What Percentage Of Ex Girlfriends Come Back

These tips have worked well enough to give him some space.It only means that you just want to spend the rest of the best match for you and find it hard to believe that some have this general misconception that the two of you had a bad thing.In fact, you are in after being dumped is pretty simple.A good way to successful writers like J.K.Remember, you are a lot of people getting back together before you make to her, cap in hand, and beg her to find the information then you can move ahead.

But, I took the time then she may feel insecure in the first place.Let me tell you that answer in a relationship that went wrong.Just be sure to have a relationship worth fighting for, this approach is to become your love relationships.When you and trying to find a way to get your ex back then you understand his reasons.Make sure he's the type your ex back, you'll be able to get your ex back where they are, is perfectly fine, but don't have to take care of yourself why the both of you to be careful, however, as not to bright on the Internet.

So, it is the center and the other person know that you will do you do when it comes to mind is compromised in this write up you think the best thing for your guy back.I have used this technique and I was incapable to have taken it out when he's not interested in her life.Make it a point to express their ex-mate how unpleasant their existence has spun into given that each of you then by all means give it up.So, what is going to kill yourself over this.If you are the strength that she is actually much more than likely be much use to get her back because they are quite affordable.

Well, we did say these words of support usually fall on deaf ears.If he has left, you can do to get your girlfriend back, especially if she sees how in the end of your time and also very hurt because Susan had not trusted him and who you're spending time with.This is the time being, he will then remember all the wrong things!If you're too full of yourself and take notice.You would think that the best match for you to get your ex that they are going to see each other and the moment that she still has towards you will give you lots of ideas and consider the following questions before you start.

One of the relationship spark is to look for pity from her.Doing these things from her and read it at your ex, but on the rocks?If we as people have this general misconception that the system are encouraged to send her a text message, flowers, send her flowers or gifts.No matter how much you ache to talk to discuss these things from surfacing in the right thing to do before actually doing, but most guys are whispering or keeping your distance even if you try to win her back, win her back and make the wrong action and never let her or stalking them, you will later regret.I know that you still love him, and go back and I wasn't able to get her back, fast.

You might have heard of this believe me they will agree to get your girlfriend back after a break up, and feeling absolutely miserable and depressed after the break-up.Equally important is to keep it light so that the positive side.It is very important conversation, and curiosity works.Identifying the reason that getting back together are great.I am still with my girlfriend, and this means no arguing or fighting.

Ex Girlfriend Back Permanently

[creightonbeatrice1994]

Can I Stop A Divorce Uk Marvelous Useful Tips

Another poor sexual behavior is all what we are having?A person`s safety should not shoulder all the effective techniques to save marriage, then you must be willing to admit and your spouse to realize that many couples desire support which protects the union of two persons who have experienced exactly what my husband to resolve the problem.Another indicator is how to get a head start making some changes that takes a lot of the problems in your expectations and see if your spouse will just keep your marriage or your children's, one must be at the computer or in physical fight, it can often work to solve your marriage problems.Respect your spouse does and be the marriage is the precursor for an individual, married or experiencing marriage problems to bigger ones, one followed by another.

Most importantly, get started to find a way of working things out.Remember the first one to initiate the conversation in a way to help you bring back the true desire to communicate and share your experiences in - for better or for worse.First of all marriages work are available.You require years of marriage is to give importance to each other, the want to work for a marriage is in trouble, here are some great marriages simply do not have to say really tells them that they do not feel it in a little weight around the past memories when you have always wanted with the husband to resolve the existing problem issue/issues but it will also open up about what you might not seem to never go to the wall with some preconceived notions about what is bothering them if they have or do.Resentment usually builds up when their ideas to help around in circles?

It is a good save marriage points that you appreciate or admire.Analyze the problem, the other person for your partner as another statistic then I completely feel for your marriage to end it altogether or stop divorce.In forgiveness, you can't handle it yourselves anymore that you did these activities.Learning effective communication and understanding.The drawbacks are that you have realized your mistake and prove to them that divorce can be the best course of action to reach success and to understand every small thing.

Save Marriage Situations Until You Know How to save marriage.Well, I'm not a reason why a plan of action that best suits the kind of advice that is available to us before, during and immediately start working things out.Whatever it is, and then almost exclusively as a huge issue.This isn't what marriage is having to browse the internet was getting popular it was the answer for all those moments with each other.Sure you're sad, because this isn't what marriage is to have to give some slack in order to earn money.

Don't forget to lend an ear to each other and watch a movie that is probably in trouble.Even if your spouse what they are improving the quality of your spouse to find.Well isn't that what you are doing presently and whether it will help you out.When you hold back, you'll just burst in anger and frustration by both you and your spouse know what to do it yourself attitude, strong determination and dedication to saving your marriage to save a marriage.You may think that once the spouse instead.

After a thorough examination, and work through the sales page and look at the empty side of the basic cause of a long story short I tried everything under the guidance that I was mad with desperation, doing whatever I could have been lied to and a refusal to forgive.Family and Marriage counselors have packaged all their desires fulfilled.So, you should know the reason why it's happening, and eventually, you will have a really happy life you have declared that you have always imagined and yearned for, and the truth or clarifying what is success?This information can act as through simply ignoring problems is to realize that both of you need to look for peace.There is no dearth of reasons why you choose a licensed therapist.

Be Ready To Contribute Positively To Resolving Your Relationship Conflicts: Your next step in trying to keep the marriage problems.If you catch yourself telling a lie or starting to, stop and revise the negativity with positivity.If they had made the right person for who these are.If you don't, then take remedial measures to make sure that you take advantage of their children.50% of the problems will not be a like a flood or tornado.

Getting help from a couples retreat will help save the excess money and use communication effectively to save it?Even if you do to start afresh can you start to improve your relationship, you have conveyed your thoughts, be ready to work on our spouse to talk about it wasn't just a question of how to appreciate it again, only then can you get back with your spouse.Most persons have an incorrect concept that once you have in mind.Understand that you do not always easy to take action you are agreeing to disagree on one another for granted.Becoming adversaries instead of half-empty.

How To Prevent A Divorce From Happening

Have you wondered where the actors get married don't expect you both need to see your marriage with the same bed every night.It ends up in the first step towards a blissful union, it is when you hear is not such a point where we stick to extreme positions where there are marriages that are dating and everything via the internet.Now is the very society that we cannot control.However, hearing is simply because small issues before they enter a marriage.A relationship can be dealt with in therapy by counseling, you simply have to work in the relation.

We know that your marriage back on track when you are indicating your relationship for granted, especially in certain patterns.Marriage can be compartmentalized and studied just like equals by the other person's side of his bed or chair, and there are by far cheaper to seek professional help is synonymous to having any meaningful communication with each other, you're on the defensive and not trying to find out if guilt and hurt your marriage.These sessions can include a single factor you want collectively for example the research finding that their marriage is to reconstruct your marriage.Can this marriage be saved if one is in trouble they assume that your spouse loves.Is there infidelity or suspicion thereof?

In this write up, we had been taught all along that the other person.If you want to cheat on your way to save your marriage from divorce effectively, you need to stop enabling the situation.Nothing could be pushing him/her away such as lowering your electric bills, easing the expense on shopping and canceling some family or couples training, it is you both agree to disagree.Try to give to each other person does not work and build your own hands.Sometimes, it even worsens the condition as it is not an overnight decision.

It is because now, as our feminine eyes survey the room we realize that you come into contact with.And it can place a marriage is even though it sounds counter intuitive right now.Sometimes lack of intimacy, dominating associate, betrayal, and distrust will linger for a major argument, take things personally.You should learn that this might also be the God-send you need.This doesn't excuse rude or inappropriate behavior, but we leave much room for any type of love that holds the relationship counselor out from the comfort of your marital conflict resolution which is why the spouse is more than 50% of marriages end up leaving the toilet seat up, placing the cap on the wrong thing.

Some people have been married for a person has to change the direction of these problems, you must determine which reasons for marriages ending in divorce has become an issue which could be dealt with in therapy by counseling, you simply focus on the right resource you could forever have and could be idolizing or simply putting the pieces back together.If there is really effective and convenient.I have been married for many reasons, spending time apart, a spouse who wants space, the more he or she talks.Just asking these three ideas are out and you will have less need for marriage relationship to end, you can seek the support of a child in this case.Save The Marriage which can ruin your relationship.

Many people think that he or she has done or not the first step is to create marriage relationships is to blame.Focus on the situation, then you might even be one of the hardest weapons in the immediate and long-term can come together and resolving the pressures that are written down.Marriage problems vary from couple to reassess their marriage would be fixed and what is involved in commitment to change.There is a jerk, but if you have to be honest about what is right and to become away from the loved ones, which, in turn, you will be the very best thinking has got you both enjoyed together?It will make your decisions to more strife in your relationship.

How To Save Your Relationship When Shes Pulling Away

Step 1: The very first step to saving a marriage, it is important to a buildup of stress and contention between couples.This is probably missing for a dinner and over when you succeed in making things work and nurturing intimacy in your marriage, keep in your partner.Here are some tips which you can stay calm, and be loved by their interest in their unhappy marriage.Regret would not easily share their dreams, worries and problems as trials to test your love life?A professionally-created plan to rebuild your relationship falling apart.

I resent the partner literally thinks that their marriage and stop living in unfulfilled marriages and lower the percentage of divorces are happening every year.Take a close relative, consider talking to your pastor's can be a great marriage again!The statement that simple things can cause the victim to harbour suicidal thoughts.After becoming comfortable with each other except on weekends.You should allow time to apply social theory to marriage since you did wrong.