#season 1 was good but i am constantly comparing it to the play. which i think is better. tho the show can do some things really well

[youssefguedira]

in a lapse of judgement i have decided to move directly onto fleabag season 2 because i am so endlessly curious

[scoatneyhall]

This news has people saying they'd like to see more from AFC Richmond (obviously) including the creation of the women's team. This is kind of a nightmare idea for me, because one thing I, as a football nerd, need people to understand about the concept of an AFC Richmond Women's Team is that they absolutely definitely already should have had one during seasons 1-3 of the show? Which made the pitch from Keeley in the s3 finale montage land SUPER badly for me. Like, a nice idea, easily conveyed, but nope.

Because the "football canon" of the situation is that every established Premier League club now has an affiliated women's team. And like yeah, Richmond aren't very good. But most other clubs going down the ladder into the Championship, League One, etc, also have women's teams. Richmond, when the show started, had been in the Prem without relegation for a long time. They would not be the only Prem club without a womens team!!! They would have been constantly called out for it, it would have been a huge criticism and pressure point.

(Side note: same goes for a youth academy - clubs are required to have one. So you can imagine that off-screen, AFC Richmond is operating an academy, a Development/ Reserve men's team, and a women's team, it just has nothing to do with the squad Ted coaches and their training may well be housed elsewhere.)

The WSL (womens top tier in the UK) doesn't have as many teams in it as the Prem due to structure (12 vs the Prem's 20), so the levels the men's and women's teams play at can vary drastically within the same club. Not all Prem clubs have the womens team in the WSL. But any club you (or the TL writers) may have compared to Richmond, or based them on? They do have a women's team, whether they play at the top level or not.

So for me, the moment with Keeley works okay as a "don't question it" thing in the context of a harmless series finale montage, but it doesn't work as something to build new stories off, at least not in the simplistic way it was presented. Because any extension of the Ted Lasso Universe, or a Ted Lasso season 4, that would possibly incorporate the "starting of a women's team" would be the show going SO far outside the realm of football realism that it feel like a major contrast to how the show has approached the football element before - including like, what division or tier a newly launched team would even be allowed to start in, and all that. You're not meant to dig into the moment in the finale, just process it as a nice, fuzzy concept. But if there is more show to come, with a plot line that tackles the idea pitched in the finale, it could never match the level of football realism that was applied to the show before, because they've invented a totally fake situation that just doesn't work like that. They would be lowering their own bar. I know that many elements of TL, like Ted coaching, are already extremely fake, but their dedication to most of what counts is very good and very specific. Following through on what the finale implied about the women's team would be a drop in football realism from their existing standards and I am suuuuper not interested in that happening. It would be a quality drop for sure.

This is a bit of a rant and I am possibly the only fan who cared about this, but that Keeley and Rebecca scene was honestly one of the worst finale moments for me just because it implies something soooo wroooong.

HOWEVER, there's a pretty easy fix, and it would be cool if they went in this direction: the only reasonable explanation is that Rupert ran the women's team into the ground/never funded it, just met the bare minimum requirements, and they were currently playing below FA level, like in the 5th tier with only semi-pro players who don't get a professional wage - basically hobby players, and Keeley’s pitch was about reviving them and getting promoted up the tiers ASAP, Welcome to Wrexham style, with new funding, recruiting etc. Sucks that they got no attention from Rebecca before now but they may not have had money to spare for it during season 2 or before Rebecca sold shares in the club... dealing with that, and the fact that Rebecca had to knowingly leave them on the back burner and neglect them... that could be interesting. There's a story to be had about the women's team, don't get me wrong, but it isn't as simple an idea as the finale implied and that the fans have since run with.

[no-white-dress]

Icy's season 8 backstory is fine, actually

Let me start off by saying that IT IS TRUE that the execution could have been better, that it's a huge retcon on the character, that it came really late in the series. On the other hand, nothing after the first movie was exactly in the plans so the last two points are sort of weak.

Nearly every fanfiction I've read has a better backstory for the Trix (allow me a moment of self-appreciation, even mine does). I am not fond of Icy and Bloom having specular stories (Roxy was enough), although I see why the writers thought it was a good idea. However, that is not what I want to discuss.

Generally people complain about 4 things:

1) the Trix's sisterhood

2) Icy's connection to the Ancestral Witches

3) the fact that the Trix keep coming back

4) how out of the blue the backstory is

While point 4 is legit for the reasons listed above, the others are not.

1) The only evidence of the Trix being blood sisters comes from something Straffi said once like a decade ago.

The series (pre s8) goes against the Trix being blood sisters in s3, when they don't recognize each other after falling in the waters of the Black Willow.

The comics go against the Trix being blood sisters as well: in number 27 Icy recalls her childhood, saying that she used to play with Darcy, Stormy and Darko in a park where their babysitters brought them. They grew up together, but as friends.

Their design and characterization goes against them being blood sisters too: how are they all enrolled in Cloudtower at the same year if they have different ages (which is a very common headcanon)? Plus, their physical appearance tells clearly enough that they're not twins, since they would at least share some traits.

Not to mention that Darcy and Stormy could still be blood sisters.

The fact that they call each other sisters is irrelevant because there are several contexts where people call each other "brother" or "sister" but aren't siblings.

2) Icy's backstory does not contradict the fact that she is the descendant of Belladonna.

The Ancestral Witches are older than Valtor. This means that their bloodline crosses millennia. Consequently, they can be the ancestors of the Trix and not be their grandmas. Icy being a princess doesn't mean she can't have an infamous ancestor somewhere up her family tree (quite the contrary).

Realistically speaking, the Ancestors are so old that their family tree is probably forgotten by many for the most part.

Also, nowhere in the series was said that the Ancestors themselves were blood sisters either.

And I need someone to explain to me how, if the Trix are blood sisters, they can descend from their matching Ancestral Witch and not the other two. That is not how family trees work, folks.

Icy being a princess doesn't mean she can't be a witch either, as some suggest, because we see clearly with Faragonda, Mirta and Selina that you CHOOSE whether you are a fairy or a witch. Her decision of becoming a witch may be counterintuitive, but that's on the writing and I already said I have bones to pick with the writing itself.

3) I understand that the Trix constantly coming back can be boring given their underwhelming performances in s5-7 compared to the first 3 seasons, but despite everything they're the most recognizable villains, as said by @/UnicornOfWar.

4) As I said, the story IS out of the blue. But it's pointless to complain about how late in the series it came, because it's a retcon that was clearly, obviously planned when it was too late to insert hints in the previous seasons. Bad writing? Yes. Are we used to it? Also yes.

Besides, it all began with the Trix and if any season is really going to be the last, it's fair that it is one that wraps up their story as well.

I am sure that if Tecna or Flora got a backstory, a proper one, that late, people would complain about that too.

[crystalelemental]

Friends...it is with a heavy heart that I must announce...I think maybe sometimes the Pokemon anime is good.  I'm crying also.

Maybe watching the various seasons for so long has lowered my tolerance threshold, but we've been watching the Hoenn series and got through the first two seasons of it, and it's...good. Like actually pretty good.  I did like Alola a lot, I'll grant you that one, but I think that's more comparative and enjoying the general group going on.  Hoenn feels, like, legitimately good.

To keep up my usual cred, I am attributing this largely to May, who, in an effort to be as incendiary as possible, I am going to refer to as "Serena but good."  While I enjoy the Alola collective better as a group, May is the best companion Ash has and it is not close.  She's goofy, she's snappy without being mean, she's just a fantastic personality to follow, and her dynamic with Ash feels the strongest.  Having been through a lot of seasons with the lad now, Ash is at his best when he's a petulant little shit.  Kalos is boring because it's just constant action hero Ash with one (1) instance of being a bit of a brat played for drama as "This isn't the Ash I know!" which really only reinforces that Ash/Serena is a garbage pairing because girl, he has been like this for at least 80% of this journey, what are you on about?  By contrast, Ash in Hoenn is this delightful mix of an absolute brat, constantly arguing with May about his gym battles taking priority and being bullheaded and stubborn, but also being more competent as a trainer than he initially was back in Kanto, so his exploits and successes feel much more legitimate.

I think part of this is also the contrast of how bad May initially is at all this.  When you're playing the games, you take for granted that you're just shown the moves your Pokemon knows, but in a functional setting like the anime, it makes sense that there's time you have to dedicate to know this stuff.  May likes Pokemon, she wants a companion, but she doesn't...know anything.  She never really put in the time, and she doesn't know their basic attacks or how to give a command.  And that's a really interesting starting point for a new trainer, that both gives Ash a more significant role as an experiences trainer providing advice (which she will stubbornly refuse at multiple turns), and recontexualizes his earlier performance.  Ash is presented as a complete dingus in Kanto, but by comparison, he put in the work.  Even with an unexpected Pikachu he knew what it could do and how to lead, even if it wouldn't follow.  I think it's great to showcase this kind of discrepancy.

It also (as my wife pointed out) contrasts well with Max, who is a walking encyclopedia of how things work.  He has incredible book knowledge of types and moves and Pokemon broadly, but as a young kid, lacks the functional experience Ash has, and is constantly surprised by what he can do.  The fights may still cheat a bit, but my tolerance threshold has absolutely been lowered for this by now, and it makes for a neat presentation to have Ash pull out some of this nonsense that Max would never think of because he's so by the book.  It feels a lot more reasonable to have Ash doing nonsense in this context, rather than just "Oh that Ash is just so clever" when no one's surprised by it.

But back to what's important: May.  I think what's important to note about May is that, despite her initial lack of knowledge, she's not incompetent.  She does pick up moves, but only around the time she decides to pivot into contests.  At that point, she not only starts to learn the moves of her Pokemon, she starts to know how they interact and how to create a combination that dazzles a crowd.  And unlike Serena (a phrase I'll be using a lot here) who just does the show, she still gets to battle.  Battle experience and know-how is just as important to the contest circuit, and while she's not doing a gym challenge, you have a good sense that May is able to really play the battling game well.  Her victory over...shit, is it Grace?  The Medicham girl who is supremely annoying.  It's a clever victory that is, to be honest, kind of in the Ash style of using particular traits of the attack to your advantage.

But by the same token, May's still inexperienced and it shows.  She bombs her initial contest battle because she wasn't prepared.  She hits frequent mistakes because she's in a rush to do something.  She gets arrogant over her two consecutive victories, and overestimates what she can do, leading to an embarrassing defeat with Bulbasaur.  May encounters her fair share of roadblocks, but unlike Serena, her roadblocks are character moments.  Serena tended to fail based on accidents.  Fennekin accidentally trips over its ribbon, or Eevee accidentally slips and they have to recover, and so on and so forth.  When May loses, it's because she's being stubborn, or she's being rash.  May has clear character flaws that others point out; Drew is quick to identify that May is often indecisive and it throws off her Pokemon's confidence in what they're expected to do.  But that same rash nature is also how she pushes ahead and keeps herself going, so it cuts both ways.

And of course, there's her dynamic with Ash, which occasionally gets played up because male protagonist/female deuteragonist.  What I like is that their dynamic feels very sibling-like.  It's the same kind of petty arguments that May and Max get into, and the same kind of well-meaning attempts to give advice or encourage, and the same kind of stubborn refusal to hear it and irritation at feeling condescended to.  It is a great dynamic that really builds on the characters and makes their connection feel organic and sincere.  You know.  Unlike Serena.  Who kinda just fawns over Ash while he does nothing of particular note, resulting in a dynamic I could not describe in detail despite watching three seasons of it.

I think what I'm getting at is that this cast feels really natural.  I think a lot of Pokemon seasons tend to have partners and characters that feel very...gimmicky?  You know, like Clemont's "The future is now thanks to science" bit you get every goddamned episode, or Bonnie's stupid "You're a keeper bit" and Clemont's canned embarrassment response.  Or Brock, who is the sole thing holding back the Hoenn group.  You can count on most episodes having a pretty girl that Brock is going to be weird about, and you can count on Max taking over Misty's old job of pulling him away.  By and large, May and Max lack that kind of gimmick.  But they do have bits.  Max has his poindexter bit of being super knowledgeable about book stuff but also super snooty about it, particularly toward May who often doesn't know this stuff.  Meanwhile May is a goober, and her running bit of pretending to be a newscaster and commenting on what's going on around them admittedly gets me every time.  It's cute, and it's varied while still being very much the character's Thing.

To my surprise, this...might be my favorite iteration of Team Rocket, too?  Kalos Rocket felt like they leaned too hard into serious villainy to be a fun appearance each episode, while Alola Rocket did alright for themselves but largely by having longer stretches of just not being around.  Hoenn's been a fun interpretation, and I think it's because they're a good balance of relatively harmless and actually funny this time.  I'll admit, this time around they're gimmicky, repeating like the same plan at every gym battle episode, and having every theft prefaced with Meowth attempting to explain why this is a good gift for the boss.  The difference is that the gimmicks are elevated by how they're handled, as they start to catch on to the fact they're doing the same things and it never works but find ridiculous ways to justify doing it anyway, and Meowth's stories becoming more and more detached from reality until even James is pointing out that this is a stupid idea before being roped into it anyway.  Like, they're actually funny this time.

Rivals!  I kinda like that Ash doesn't have a battle rival.  He's met some people, but it's not like an ongoing thing.  I appreciate it.  May's rivals are all really good except one.  I do not like Medicham lady.  But like...the mom with the Flareon, who's part of a big fanclub for contest participants?  That's neat, I like that.  Also her daughter is like a savant, the kid should compete.  The Dusclops kid was interesting, though holy shit his family is a disaster.  Drew is a fun kind of arrogant rival, being fairly full of himself but not a dick.  He does give May legitimate advice for the smacktalk he does, and seems to genuinely care about her development and performance.  My wife is deep in the throes of contestshipping at present.  I'm not as deep, but it's a cute pair.  I think keeping him as the recurring rival was the right call.  The others have some stuff going on, but I like having a rotating cast of people just out there, with only one real focus.  Serena's rivals were...look, I only remember Shauna.  I know there were others, but the attempt to make them stand out didn't work, you kinda have to commit to just one.

The Pokemon of the season are pretty good.  The personalities of the Pokemon can help bring out a lot in the show, and I think Hoenn's strength is that it's got a high concentration of lunatics.  May's Torchic is our sweet child with one braincell.  Wurmple was cute as a Wurmple though lost a bit on evolution.  Skitty is an absolute delight.  Bulbasaur is precious.  Corphish is an energetic loon.  Torkoal's an over-emotional disaster creature and I love it.  I do think they could do a bit more with interactive traits between the Pokemon.  The only one I can really think of was Corphish being jealous of Grovyle, and Corphish stealing Torchic's food and then Combusken being like "I can kick your ass now."

The gym leaders!  Roxanne feels pretty unchanged, so nothing to comment on.  Brawly got a lot, and I kinda like what they did with him.  Wattson is hilariously passed over, they didn't even try.  Flannery, to my frustration, they did a pretty good job with.  Norman's a bit played up but I do appreciate that he's where May's obliviousness comes from.  And Winona was unfortunately far too hinged.  Lacks the lunacy of her ORAS counterpart, less invested.

The background stuff with Magma and Aqua is largely fine.  I appreciate that it's integrated well, and that they're kinda just following the games' path on this one.  It's a nice nod to me, as someone who tend to prefer the games, and I like that they get play a little early instead of tossing it all in at the end of the region.  Though one thing that was funny, the first episode absolutely used different names for Tabitha and Shelly, which threw me.  I remember being like "okay these are just anime folks," but then they show again and used the right names and something about that tickles me.

I dunno, we're having a pretty good time with Hoenn!  I'm...kinda surprised by it.  Ash has officially grown on me, something I imagine will give @alphakuriboh and @megazardx2 a smug satisfaction.  May's not quite favorite protagonist now for me, Dawn is still very much my girl though we'll see how the anime does her character, but May did secure her place as my wife's favorite.  It's good enough that I'd legitimately taken the stance that Masters should consider just using anime May's personality over games May, because I can legitimately say this one's just more interesting.  Could do without Brock, but nothing is perfect.  Two more Hoenn seasons to go.  The last one's the Frontier as I understand it, so I'll finally get to learn, like, anything about the original Frontier set.  Fun times ahead, I suppose.

[undertheknightwing]

Hello! I am always glad to find another gar lover on this hell site. But if I may ask a genuine question? Aa someone who has never seen Superman and Lois and still imagines Jon as like. A little kid and has also never once imagined Jon and Gar as like a thing but is still curious may I ask you to idk explain the dynamics of the ship a bit?

🤝 hello fellow Gar lover,, I will gladly explain GarJon's dynamic!

But first I gotta explain Jon's character in S&L because it's nothing like his comic book counterpart (at least not the "Super Sons" version) and is one of the reasons I think GarJon works so much.

First, Jon is definitely not 10 in S&L, he's 15/6 and was played by a guy in his 20s, both same with Gar. He has no powers so he's not Superboy (which sucks). And he's blonde lol

^ that's him

In the opening of the pilot episode, Clark describes Jon with: "Jonathan was easy, always happy, always smiling" and when we meet his character what Clark said absolutely fits. Compared to his twin brother, who's dark and brooding, Jon is cheerful and the goofy brother, who's a bit of a himbo at times. He's very much is a ray of sunshine.

We learn about him quite a bit in season 1. On a surface level: Jon is extremely selfless and caring, he often puts others before him. Protective of his loved ones to the point where he puts himself in dangerous situations to protect them. If someone's sad/going through a hard time, he's there, being the one to help cheer them up and give them love and support. He does that a lot in season 1 with his brother Jordan, constantly encouraging and building him up.

But the fact that Jon is so selfless and is the one to support his family comes from not so good mindset, which we learn a lot about in season 2.

Jon is the family support, which is not a good thing. He's a teenager who goes through a SHIT TON of traumatic experiences (brother shatters his wrist with super strength, almost gets gunned down, gets in a serious car crash, just to name a few). His parents should be supporting him but they don't, they rarely pay attention to him or his problems because "He's Jon, so he's always happy. No matter what he'll be happy. He doesn't need us, he's strong."

And it's gets so much worse in season 2. It's actually concerning how little Clark and Lois care about their son.

But what does this have to do with GarJon? If you've watched Titans, you might think "that seems familiar" and you'd be right because that's exactly what happens with Gar. After all the traumatic experiences and other things (Rachel making fun of him, Dick lying to his face then abandoning him, almost being killed by Kory multiple times) he's been put through, The Titans still only see him as the goofy sidekick who never needs their comfort because "Gar's supposed to be happy, he's strong and smart so he can get through everything by himself."

Gar and Jon are the "team support" but never are supported in return, they're on their own. And that's one of the reasons they'd bond because finding someone that's just like you and is able to understand you in ways no one else can would definitely be something special after years of feeling alone and isolated from the people around you. But other than being trauma buddies, their personalities are a lot alike. Both of them are genuinely sweethearts and more cheerful/happy than the rest of their families. And I think they'd gravitate towards each other because of that fact, they'd rather have someone like them than their opposite.

Okayyyyy now with that out of the way.. onto the dynamic:

Gar has been sheltered from the world so he's not the most affectionate person just due to the fact that never really experienced it but it's okay because Jon is a very affectionate person who's always hugging/kissing his bf with funky green hair and Gar loves it all, and actually helps him learn how to receive and react to genuine affection. They'd definitely be the lovey-dovey couple who are constantly holding hands and flirting in the dorkest ways possible. Gar wears Jon's letterman jacket a lot too.

They're the sunny, goofy ones who are joking around and doing fun stuff like going to hangout at the park at night while drinking slushies and talking about whatever they can think of. But if one of them isn't in a sunny mood, the other one is right there to bring a little sunshine. They support and care for each other equally, no one is the "Knight In Shining Armour" who saved the other one. They're just two broken boys who found each other and helped put each other back together with what they always deserved: love.

One of my favorite scenarios is Gar beginning to beast out because of something (stress/fear/anger/something), warning Jon to stay away from him, but Jon refuses to let Gar be taken over by his powers, so he tries to help anyway (well knowing he could get his hand taken off) and it works because he dares to do something the Titans wouldn't, he threw danger to the wind because Gar is struggling, wants to do anything to help him, and holds his hand tightly to let Gar know he's here for him and does/says whatever he can to help him calm down until his powers chill out and Gar is back in control.

That will live in my brain rent free forever.

Like Jon does not care that Gar is metahuman and can shapeshift into animals/has some animal instincts. He's an alien from Krypton. Neither of them are humans and are pretty much the only ones of them.

I could go on forever but I'mma stop here.. I'm sorry for how long this was I just care about them a lot 😅

If you want a more in-depth about their relationship explain that starts from them meeting for the first time, their friendship, then eventual romantic relationship, I highly suggest my fic "Escapism" on Ao3. It's all about them and explains them a lot better than this did!

[notobsessediswear]

Okay, so I have a sad Steve Harrington headcannon I would like to share here because people don’t wanna listen to me irl. Disclaimer and warning: I talk about EDs and depression so if any of that is triggering please take care; also these are all just my personal thoughts that I had based on my own personal experiences and I am not a professional so please correct me if I say anything horribly wrong

Steve has an eating disorder. I don’t think it’s as bad as like starving yourself, obsessively counting calories, or making yourself throw up but I think it’s there. The kind of eating disorder that makes the simple task of eating seem unappealing and if you do eat something it feels gross in your stomach and you immediately want to never eat again. Even your favorite foods sound gross. You don’t think it’s that serious because you are eating but not a lot. Like you’ll eat 3 meals a day but it’ll be the smallest portion possible and you’re full after 3 bites. It’s one of those things I that are always hovering at the back of your mind but you brush it off as nothing. Now I understand that this might be a bit of a stretch based on limited evidence but I feel like not a lot of people realize it. Example 1: I don’t remember the exact quotes but early on in season 3 when Dustin visits Steve at Scoops Ahoy Dustin’s is like, “you get free ice cream all the time; how awesome is that!” And Steve replies with something along the lines of “yeah that’s probably not a great idea for me, gotta keep in fighting shape for the ladies.” It seems like a joke that he usually makes but that look he gives is way too familiar. The “I don’t want to worry you but please notice that something is off” half smile look. I hope people know that “I’m not going to eat unless someone points it out and I need to eat but I really don’t want to” look. I don’t know if it’s me projecting onto a character I really like but it feels deliberate, the way that was played. And nobody even notices! Which clues me into the fact of 2 possibilities: 1. This isn’t new and has been going on for a long time or 2. Dustin is oblivious. I’m leaning towards 2 because Dustin worships this guy and pointing out flaws in your hero is hard. I love Dustin but sometimes I feel like he uses Steve as an example of what he wants to be and not his own person. Not only that but this was the 80s and even now people say things like “guys don’t get eating disorders” and living in Hawkins with the upside down and everything no one’s constantly worried about their friend’s eating habits or other issues that seem small compared to what they’ve been through so it can be easy to ignore. Example 2: here’s why I think Steve developed an ED. Steve has proven time and time again throughout the series that he thinks his worth is dependent on his looks. He thinks that people like him cause he’s hot and nothing else. And people keep proving to him that that is true even though it not. The kids look up to him because he protects them and takes care of them when he doesn’t need to and is genuinely a good person. But the issue is, nobody says that. When the only thing people tell you is that you’re pretty or popular or get all the girls you start to believe that that is where your worth lies and you do things to maintain that attention from people. @see_doubleuu on TikTok made a really good video about Steve’s loneliness. He doesn’t seem to realize that people value him as more than a pretty face and that’s proven in his conversation with Eddie in the upside down. He looks shocked when he finds out that Dustin actually sees him as a good person and it’s even more proof that he doesn’t think of himself as one. I honestly think he wasn’t at all in the wrong in Season 1. Now that’s a whole other post, but he’s constantly working to make up for high school and he clearly doesn’t think he ever will. His friends his age, with the exception of Robin, also seem to contribute a lot to his self doubt and hatred. For example, Nancy. When they were together, she called him an idiot multiple times, got mad at him for trying to protect her from Johnathan (who from his prospective was a creep who took pictures of her half naked through a window of HIS HOUSE that his girlfriend was cheating on him with), and never corrected him whenever he degraded himself. (Holy shit this is so long that it won’t let me go on. I’ll make a part 2)

[michaels-reality]

jsaghka whats wrong with ok ko?

Okay so I will spoil the whole main plot of the series with it but there are 3 main problems I’m gonna get into with this series and it’s problems with character design, jokes on child neglect, and ableism with system caricatures. And this is coming from someone who enjoys the show before anyone thinks I’m just hating to hate on it. But again, these issues are so big for me that I would not recommend this show to anyone skjhskjf.

1. Issues with character design

Alright, so first off, please look at this picture of the majority of the women of the show and tell me what’s wrong with it?

Yeah! Almost all of them have the exact same body type! I’ve seen people praise ok ko with its diverse character design but if you boil it down, almost all the women have the same cinched waist and big hips. And for the characters the characters that do have different body types, it's almost unfair to compare them to the rest of the characters, like you can’t compare Carol to Rippy Roo because Rippy Roo is an actual animal. And you can’t compare Dendy to Enid, because Dendy is a child and Enid is a teenager. And for the Ladies that have an actual difference in body type, that’s like 6 characters out of how many? And to those characters that have different body types, the Hue Troops only show up for 2 episodes and even then the main focus isn’t on them so they barely get any screen time, Punching Trudy shows up for one episode to fight Punching Judy, Pheobe shows up for 7 episodes but she’s a background character and I don’t ever remember her speaking, and then there’s Foxtail. Foxtail is probably the only female character that has a different body type that has an important role in the story and shows up for more than just background appearances.

Compared to the men in the show, there is way more diversity but even then, there is a lot of making the upper half of them bigger and giving them tiny hips and legs. 

There is also the issue that kinda pisses me off is the racial ambiguity of everyone. Like most of the characters aren’t even human so whatever, but there are characters like enid that have darker skin but she has straight purple hair so what are we supposed to get from that? I mean, I guess there is some wiggle room for anyone that isn’t white to claim her but then you start to see that all these darker skinned characters seem to always have straight hair and that’s also a problem. The only character I can confidently say is black is foxtail and she has straight hair. And the only character that is said to have curls and an afro is RADICLES who is BLUE and an ALIEN! Like it makes me mad that our curly haired and black coded character is designed like this. Like, I get it, he’s an alien, he’s blue, he’s not human, BUT WHY DID HE HAVE TO BE THE ONLY ONE? WHY CAN’T THERE BE ANOTHER CHARACTER WHO IS DARKER SKINNED AND CURLY HAIRED? 

It’s so ironic given that ok ko has one of the BEST racism metaphors I’ve ever seen in episode 28. Dendy says kappas don’t need pow cards to be heros but it feels nice to be appreciated but this show is not making me feel very appreciated right now sjglksjgds.

2. Jokes about child neglect/abuse

OKAY! BOXMAN! I LOVE BOXMAN BUT WHAT THE FUCK?

Okay, so in the show, Lord Boxman has robot minions that he is constantly annoyed with the performance of and punishes them and yells at them. AND I WOULDN’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS IF BOXMAN DIDN’T REFER TO THEM AS HIS CHILDREN! It’s shown in the show that Boxman raised them as baby robots and they call him daddy and they have a very familial relationship. But it’s constantly joked about with Boxman saying how they never make him proud not taken seriously in the show. Like, in the second episode, one of the first things we see Boxman do is put Darrel in the furnace and Darrel says “I deserve this” BUT DON’T TAKE IT SERIOUSLY CUS DARREL IS A ROBOT AND HE’S BACK 2 SECONDS LATER! The robots get emotional over any sense of approval, like at the end of “Villains Night In” Darrel and Shannon literally fall apart after Boxman gives them shirts and says to “keep up the good work”, and the end of Plazalypmics, Darrel, Shannon, and Raymond get participation trophies and are really happy with that. Like, this isn’t normal.

The whole relationship between the robots and Boxman is actually pretty toxic and kind of bothers me sometimes. The robots seem to have a very intense sibling rivalry but it’s over the affection of Boxman, which is unhealthy but most of the time it’s just played off as funny joke for the tv. And it becomes even more apparent because episodes without Boxman, like Rad likes robots, it shows them getting along fine and even worrying about each other. And in season 2, Boxman comes back from the sun and Darrel stands up to him and says he doesn’t need him anymore, but one “I’m proud of you” from Boxman and Darrel is back to wanting his approval. LIKE ITS ALMOST NEVER FRAMED AS A BAD THING OR TAKEN SERIOUSLY! I AM NOT A FAN OF HOW THEY TREAT THIS! Like, I can admit it gets better after Venomous comes into the picture and Boxman has that realization of “oh I should be proud of my kids achievements” but to me it looks like this whole forgiving your abuser plot line and I fucking hate it! And Boxman still admits to incinerating his robots after the company switches over to his and Venomous’ ownership when discussing what to do to punish them and he says “I usually see improvement in my robots after I incinerate them.” 

And even if it got better, it’s still played off as a joke in all of season one and normalizes terrible behavior. Child neglect in tv shows, especially in children’s media, played off jokes and funny are never good and can be insensitive to children who are in these situations seeing it played up for laughs. You can argue that being on the villain’s side frames it as a bad thing but that kinda loses meaning in a show like ok ko where you start to see the villains as regular people and not necessarily bad, just “evil”. I just feel like this could have been treated so much better and not trivialized like this.

3. System Caricatures and ableism

Let me start off by saying, I am a singlet and I don’t have as much authority on this type of thing so feel free to correct me on anything I get wrong or add on in anyway. 

With that said, KO and TKO along with Shadowy Figure and Professor Venomous are terrible system caricatures. KO is 6-11 years old is prime age to develop a system, so when shadowy figure comes into KO’s life and traumatizes him, he splits. And so we begin our little “evil alter ego”(quoting the show! using this phrasing is terrible and should never describe a system like that) stereotype.

I’ve talked about OK KO with my friends who are systems and it makes them mad that this show had so many moments to be good system rep and then it turns around and fucks everything up! Like TKO could have been written well. TKO is very clear on stating he isn’t KO and is his own person but everyone still refers to him KO and treats him like a bad thing because he isn’t KO. And when TKO acts out due to being referred to as KO and rightfully being upset, they act like it is some evil act against them and they need KO back! Like, the show misses its own point so much!!! If they treated TKO like a person (which he is!!!!!) then half the problems they have wouldn’t be a problem in the first place. And TKO has done nothing wrong other than wanting to front! KO even talks about TKO as another person but they address him as such! 

The way people talk about TKO in this show makes me so mad, like when Dendy does tests on KO in “Mystery Science Fair 201X” to bring out TKO, TKO finally comes out to deal with the feelings KO can’t deal with and then they almost do it right when Dendy realizes she was the one that fucked up and then SHE APOLOGIZES TO KO INSTEAD OF TKO FSDGHSDFJ!!! And they always treat TKO as a threat as if he’s a danger! Like TKO’s a kid just like KO and acted out when the people around him upset him! Like a kid! And the last time TKO shows up in season one in the finale, TKO actually SAVES everyone in the plaza and leads the battle away from the plaza but because “oh but TKO is the evil” they go and try to stop him from saving them? Like yeah he got a little reckless but he only ended up hurting people in the plaza when Rad and Enid interfered. They treat him like a problem because they MAKE him a problem! 

Also, the moments where everyone tries to bring KO back by saying “you are loved” and all that, that’s actually really manipulative! Like, they’re using positive triggers to kick TKO out of front and that’s actually a really rude thing to do. They’re trying to bring to front who THEY want to see and it’s not fair to TKO who is fronting. It also goes the other way around when Dendy is experimenting on TKO to try and get him to front.

And then even KO treats him terribly, locking him in a cage, then keeping him in his head all the time, and then when he finally lets TKO out and TKO acts out from being locked in his own head for so long, KO then traps TKO in his subconscious. Which is terrible! TKO should be allowed to front and should be treated like his own person! It’s so weird how the show almost gets it right but then does shit like this that makes it terrible again. Like KO has a headspace and he creates things in his headspace and he talks to TKO like another person and they communicate their feelings but then the show turns this all on their head when KO locks TKO away and blames him for destroying everything when he’s the one trapping him in his brain. 

There is also the problem with TKO being the one with all the power and changing his appearance cus that all contributes to the system caricature. Also, TKO and KO integrating at the end of the series? ALSO VERY BAD AND HARMFUL CARICATURE! Alters are different people and they should be treated as different people and KO is not TKO all along THEY ARE DIFFERENT PEOPLE! And integration is possible but it’s usually not by choice. And even then, integration being the end goal of a story is a very ableist narrative and shouldn’t be written.

And it confuses me, why does shadowy figure have his own pow card but TKO doesn’t. Like, KO and TKO are established more as being different people than Shadowy Figure and Venomous so why doesn’t he get his own pow card? Like the end of season one, TKO fought the fight at the plaza and used his power to defeat Boxman jr but at the end KO ends up leveling up instead. And on the topic of TKO’s power, again, that shouldn’t be a thing. TKO and KO should both have access to the same power because they use the same body because that's how systems work! They use the same body!

And I know what the show was trying to do like “oh TKO is a manifestation of all the bad feelings that KO has!” but there are so many ways to do that without making a caricature of systems. Like if you didn’t make TKO a person then this would have been fine. Like if other people didn’t see TKO this could have been fine. There are ways to make a manifestation of your negative emotions without doing it like this. And the way this show did it is such bad writing, because you are meant to think TKO is this terrible manifestation of emotions but all you see is this scared kid who doesn’t know where he is and lashes out when he gets rightfully upset. BECAUSE LET ME REMIND YOU! TKO AND KO ARE BOTH 6-11 YEARS OLD! THEY ARE KIDS! THEY’RE SITUATION SHOULDN’T BE TREATED THIS WAY

And my guy shadowy figure...... bad. Shadowy Figure and Venomous’ is not only a terrible caricature but also very inaccurate. With KO and TKO, their system developed at the correct time as a child, but with Shadowy Figure and Venomous, they developed after Venomous got his snake disease. And, Venomous doesn’t even know about Shadowy Figure and that can be a result of dissociative amnesia but it’s really unfortunate. And again! the end of the series! Shadowy Figure and Venomous integrate into one entity and it’s terrible! Because they aren’t the same person and shouldn’t be treated as the same person! And again with the whole “evil alter ego”. Like Shadowy figure only exists to traumatize KO and make him split and create TKO. And the fact that they turn out to be KO’s dad??? Yikes??? Like again, these are terrible caricatures and are harmful to systems and should’ve been treated better in the show.

---

Like, I love OK KO, I used to hold this show very close to my heart and made me very happy to see this show with the amount of LGBT rep but looking back it was very bad in many ways. Like that racism episode I mentioned, that shit resonates with me! And I appreciate characters like Dendy and KO and I still love the boxbots and venomous, I just wished this show lived up to the potential that it had.

TL;DR: OK KO has a problem with misogynistic character design and colorism, normalizes child neglect, and has put out an ableist narrative with system caricatures.

[alolanrain]

how old is ash on yours au’s?

It really really depends and I’m finding out that I’m absolutely horrible at actually giving out somewhat concrete ages, barring a few Au’s.

Unspokenly Ash is usually around late 20 to very early 22, unless I did write down and post an age for him in what ever Au has it, but thats also more drabble and fillet based. That is… basically my standard and I really need to vocalize that more from the content that I do write him as younger.

Basically how it goes is that with each region he ages up a year. Spending his birthday at home with his mom and the Oak’s that are present at the time before going off on another adventure. This gets kind of tricky around Sinnoh because Ash stay’s there to take on The Brain. I have that written down that it takes 3 month’s to even half a year. Which then put’s off the ‘sharing the birthday with mom and oak’ thing. This lands his birthday in the middle of his current journey at the time or a bit later like right before the league or a month before, if that makes sense. So in the end he comes home obviously older. Though I have been messing around and making the time in Orange Isles shorter to around 9 months instead of a full year.

Like here’s a time table and I’ll keep both set’s of ages if I do mess around with Orange Isles time line and add it as concrete. It gets really complicated so if you want a little more explanation please don’t be afraid to ask. I am also keeping the Brain Arc to half a year.

Starting age to finishing age *0/12 means how many months he is instead of a full year.

Kanto: 10 to 11

Orange Isles: 11 to 12 or 11 to 11 + 9/12

Johto: 12 to 13 or 11 + 9/12 to 12 + 9/12

Hoenn: 13 to 14 or 12 + 9/12 to 13 + 9/12

Sinnoh: 14 to 15 or 13 + 9/12 to 14 + 9/12

+ battling the Brain: 15 to 15 + 6/12 or 14 + 9/12 to 15 + 3/12

Unova: 15 + 6/12 to 16 + 6/12 or 15 + 3/12 to 16 + 3/12

Kalos: 16 + 6/12 to 17 + 6/12 or 16 + 3/12 to 17 + 3/12

Alola: 17 + 6/12 to 18 + 6/12 or 17 + 3/12 to 18 + 3/12

Galar: 18 + 6/12 to 19 + 6/12 or 18 + 3/12 to 19 + 3/12

I just want to say that typing all this out looks like one hell of a long ass math equation, kinda hate it and might change it later. But this is my completely basic format of what I use. Of course there’s a lot of wiggle room as I write Ash starting around 20 to 21 in Alola and Galar. He’s obviously going to probably spend more the one complete year in a region and less then another. The end of the league doesn’t dictate when he stays and leaves. Theres also the months that build up between each “arc”, another word I use to refer to his journeys, and to account the HC that some leagues start off at wildly different times then others.

It’s literally just a pick-and-pull basket and just a large general target where Ash would be ages wise. As you see in the end the two different age lists end up being only 3 months part from each other. It really doesn’t matter and I’m mostly just playing around with it. Another note thats… vital isn’t the correct word but I’m use it is that I don’t take Cerise Laboratory and the research assistant job into account. This is based off if Ash travels Galar to his normal standard with every other arc but Alola but I did keep the characters.

You didn’t ask for this but I want to add in other traveling buddies and side rivals ages and how they are compared to Ash as well. Usually Ash is the youngest if not one of them up until Hoenn. With the exception of being exactly 24 hours older then Ritchie. And all of this have way to much detail but its making my ADHD brain go brrrr happily.

He’s older than May, surprisingly, by like a month and a half but he doesn’t realize that and mentally clocks that he’s younger than her because of how responsible and adult like she acts a good chunk of the time. Max is obviously the youngest while Brock is the oldest. The same thing kinda happens in Sinnoh. He’s older then Dawn by a good year and a half to maybe even two years. Though Ash is younger then Paul and Barry by a varying few months between each boy.

Unova is where it changes a lot. Going from one of the youngest to one of the oldest out of his group of friends. Iris is drastically 3 years younger then Ash, making her around 12 at the start of the arc and somewhere around 13 at the end, and around 3 and a half with Cilan. This causes her to constantly pick against Ash because to her he’s older. Ash should be acting more like a seasonal trainer with known responsibilities and shouldn’t be so excited about everything. That’s also an expectation that was subconsciously taught to her by Drayden when she was still in School in the Dragon Village. Virgil is actually the oldest being freshly turned 18 years old while Cameron is the youngest at 11 and 5 months. Stephan is like the closest to Ash’s actually age but also acts a lot more older and more adult like then he really is just by his laid back attitude. Bianca actually just turned 18 before starting her journey.

Age Note: the reason why Cilan is weird and awkward around Burgundy is not because of her short temper and brash attitude but because Burgundy just turned 13 years old. She is a legitimate child just like Iris, compared to Cilan’s 16 years and 6 months when the meet on the road for the first time and not at a connoisseur event. Her deep infatuation and how young she is really puts Cilan in a active land mine field. Unlike Iris who listens to him and actually talks, he has no clue how to interact with her. Burgundy isn’t a normal gym challenger coming to his and his brother gym for a badge or even a normal crazed simple fan. As a gentleman at heart as well he raised to talk between certain age limits close to his own and this ends up making Cilan see Burgundy actually younger then she really is. Kind of like how Iris clocked Ash as a ‘kid’ when he’s obviously older then her and more experienced.

Kalos then thrusts Ash or being the oldest out of the main group but not as a whole. Bonnies around 8 while Clemont is 2 months and a half younger then Ash. This is where I struggle a lot in placing peoples based age in Kalos is actually because of Serena. I don’t want to make her too young to which the point it’s weird and also I based the other contest girls age’s around hers. But I also don’t want to make her too old to the point that Miette, the oldest out of the contest girls no matter what, is older then Ash. The general consensus is that Miette is right in with Clemont and Ash age wise while Nini is the youngest out of the trio. So that places Serena around 13 to 14 while Nini is like 12 and 7 months. Sawyer is obviously just turned 10 while Trevor, Tierno, and Shauna are between 12 and a half to 13 and a half years old. Giving that easy bonding connection with Serena and Shauna while giving Miette a older more experienced vibe and the childlike wonder to Nini. You’d think with Alain and all Ash would be the second oldest but your wrong. Ash is exactly 1 whole week older then Alain but, much like May, he doesn’t know that and mentally clocks Alain older then he really is.

In comes Alola and this is again where I usually bump Ash up to 20 to 21 but for the sake of everything I’m going off the basic target. Ash is obviously the oldest of the class by a good year on them alone though the classes collective smarts pushed them up different grades in school so thats how their together. Kiawe was the oldest at 16 and 9 months while Sophocles is still the youngest at 12 and 3 months, again bringing in the fact that the class is super smart and its based off intelligence instead of age like with every other class. Mallow is the third oldest at 16 and 2 months with Lana following on by at 16 and 1 month. Lillie is specifically around 15 years to 13 years and 4 months based off if I want her to suffer more as a older teen or as a child, literally her age is based off if I want to traumatize her more or not. Hapu is around 12 to 13 years old despite her obvious size and squeaky-ish voice. Acerola despite being very very mature for her age is only 17 years and 4 months old. Horacio is about Ash’s age at an even 17 years old when he and his lackies first meet Ash, Sophocles, and Kiawe.

Age Note: Horacio absolutely used his age as a card against Sophocles as many times as he could to the point it was so overused. This made Ash especially angry because he hated it when people used their age against much younger kids. Just because you’re older doesn’t mean you’re right.

Then we reach Galar as our final stop. Ash is once more the oldest out of him, Chloe, and Goh but not everyone else. That would be Hodge at a straight 19 years old when he first meets Ash and Goh at the Battle Frontier Flute Cup. Chloe comes at 14 and a half years old with Goh just freshly turning 14. This makes Ash’s relationship more of a mentor type distant older brother thing. Those two actually don’t find out about Ash’s age up until he and Goh get their letter so of recommendation and have to fill out the normal personal stuff. If you think Hop is close by in age with Ash then you’re wrong again. He’s actually two days younger then Chloe making Hop around 14 and a half years old as well. Marine is 13 years and 9 months old. Bede is much more closer to Ash then the others at 16 years 8 months. For Leon, Raihan, and Sonia their still very much the same in a way. Leon is still the youngest at 20 years while Raihan is the oldest at 23, leaving Sonia in the middle at 21 and a half years old.

Age note… once more: this fits perfectly for the Kanto and Galar Trios as they basically get opposite of themselves in a way. Goh who’s very oriented, loud, and on the go gets paired with marine who’s very quite and shy for the most part and their going to subconsciously teach each other that its okay to come out of your shell or its okay to take a moment and relax. Hop is very much like Ash and Goh combined with the strategies and the none stop puppy own straight crack like energy and he declares himself as Chloe’s, who’s silent and very critical and almost broody like it’s not quite there but it’s close enough, rival and is trying to teach her that battling is fun and okay and a lot of Pokemon like battling for those reason. Ash and Bede are the obvious choice for each other because once again Ash is very bright, happy-go-lucky, just sweet in general to everyone while Bede is completely broody, extremely sour, and just utterly rolling in his own image and being way to cocky.



[maxemilianverstappen]

I definitely agree that Charles doesn’t always know how to interact with Max and I think that’s partially to do with their history (sworn rivals or whatever they like to call it), but I also think it’s because of how tense everything was last season for the championship. I think after Charles won the first race, he fully expected to have season like Max and Lewis had last year and that’s why I think he somewhat expects it to be like closer to the end of the season depending of what results are. He also will remember nico and Lewis and how toxic that was, even though he wasn’t in f1 at that point, and those are really the most recent championship battles (Lewis/bottas don’t count cause he was never going to be allowed to win a championship, he was the second driver)

But I also think it won’t get like that and it’ll mostly be because of how Max responds. His relationship with Lewis is/was completely different - the man never seemed to like Max and people constantly say Lewis essentially bullied him when he first joined f1 (he was literally a teenager so… wtf). They’ve had a civil relationship at best throughout the years. I think everyone knew it was gonna get ugly last year when it appeared someone other than bottas would be fighting Lewis because unfortunately, Lewis has had a toxic championship fight before with someone he called a friend and he’s shown he will use the media and such to play dirty (we all know he does cause nico did the same to him). I can’t see Max or Charles doing that tbh - max only did it in retaliation to Lewis and even then he was very tame with his responses, while Charles has already refused to be baited by saying how much he and max respect each other (good old British media trying to create a toxic atmosphere again 🙃). Redbull and Ferrari seem to have a very different relationship to each other compared to redbull and merc last year which will also make a difference too tbh but we’ll see what happens later in the season.

I also don’t think Max wants that again for a start - especially after how intense everything was last season and how drained he and everyone were after it. I also think their relationship was already different to the one he had with Lewis - he and Charles might not have been besties but they had/have a lot of mutual friends in the paddock and they did talk over the years. Lewis on the other hand has always kept himself separate from other drivers and only really the past couple seasons seems to be trying to form some kind of surface level friendship with other drivers. So even though Charles seems to be kind of expecting it, I don’t believe it will ever get to the levels it did last year, just because I don’t think Max or even Charles will let it - they both seem to be the types that would react rather than instigate so unless one of them decided to be a dick and make a comment, I think it’ll stay pretty civil.. and the media will hate it

Charles saw 2018 and how media and Lewis reacted to Sebastian when he was in a winning car in the first half of the season. Again, it was very toxic and the problem was presented as Sebastian with His Highness remaining spotless and innocent. God, I am looking forward to the day he retires.

Yet, I don't think Charles' sole reason to act like this is him expecting a toxic fight. He was very tense and cautious in 2019, too. He relaxed visibly only after he strengthened his status as number 1 driver against Sebastian. It is his personality mostly. And it is okay. He will continue to be the live example of 😌 emoji this year if things and the points margin go like this. But if ahit hits the fan in the coming months, I hope they both stay away from the crappy baitings of the media and just do their thing. They are both reactionary people instead of being provokers; so, it is mostly upto their teams and the fans.

[carmensandiego-dreams-collection]

i genuinely love all your takes and man i didn't even realize it was only 7 eps compared to 10 lol. i thought they handled mental health really fuckin poorly in s4 (carmen's "lack of empathy", graham's... osdd..?, and other things but those two stand out). your opinion on zack and ivy's character is really smart and i've been thinking about just how much could have been done with them in terms of, yknow, teaching carmen, and how little they were actually treated like friends (especially in the end). and THANK YOU for mentioning how cultlike vile is because it was one of the biggest things ive picked up on 😭 and i constantly think about how they introduced shadowsan apparently having like, ninja speed for ONE episode, and then never mentioning it again or explaining it or even like bringing up he did that. it was a good show but MAN did it go downhill

I actually misspoke, it’s 8, but for some reason my brain always thinks it’s 7 lmao. I went ahead and edited the original post for correctness. But that means it’s really only one less than season 1! Plenty of room! I don’t know why everyone was so insistent that the studio is somehow to blame when the show clearly wasted its own time, even if another season would have padded things out more comfortably.

Also, can I just say how relatable the phrase “graham’s…odd..?” is? I’m glad I’m not the only one who has trouble even describing what his whole deal was, to the point he’s sort of holding up my production schedule. I’ve rewritten his character’s section of the video many times, but no matter how I try to evaluate his scenes I am at a total loss to pinpoint what the intention behind his character even was or how he was supposed to fit into the story. I’ll get it eventually I guess.

Season 4 suffers from many things, but I think what if suffered the most from was a general lack of vision. I don’t think anyone had any idea of how to end the story; there’s no buildup to anything in the finale, there’s no real resolution to Carmen’s crusade against VILE, and the plot is everywhere. And that’s honestly why the Mindwiper exists in the first place—it’s a deus ex machina that only serves to alter the characters and story to whatever the writers want, even if it doesn’t make sense. There are zero rules for how it works, it’s mere existence is so overpowered you’d think it would play a role in the greater espionage plot (but it doesn’t), and the rules we DO know get retconned when the show feels like it.

The writers wanted Evil Carmen for shock value, so they made it so VILE could completely rewire her brain to be whatever they wanted, and the Mindwiper is the perfect tool for doing that! Never mind that it did absolutely nothing to explore her character, her memories, or her relationships (in fact, I daresay it actively sabotaged a lot of them).

It could have been a really interesting element if used correctly, but it became such a writing crutch towards the end that I genuinely wish it wasn’t in the story. Not having it would have forced them to actually write a complex, well-developed relationship between Carmen and Grey with no “easy outs” (and actually decide what they wanted to do with him early on instead of having him hang around forever doing nothing), and it also would have made them come up with an ending that confronted “the darker side of Carmen” without depriving her of all agency.

Now, with that being said, I feel like there were many points at which you could at least salvage parts of it-- I kept waiting for the Faculty to get monkey’s paw-ed by making Carmen so ruthless that she overthrew them, which would have at least been entertaining. Or you could have had it so Carmen only lost her memories, creating a situation that asked if she would have stayed in VILE if they had accepted her from the beginning and offered her a sense of community. But that would have risked letting Carmen make mistakes, so…nah lol.

I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I also think that Zack and Ivy are really weakly written characters overall, which may have contributed to their treatment. Of course, the writers are the ones that wrote them that way in the first place, so it becomes a chicken and egg argument rather fast, but my point remains. The concept of them is fine and I obviously don't hate their characters, but I think if I were to rewrite Carmen, I would spend a lot of time retooling them into something that captures the audience’s imagination as much as Carmen does.

I think it’s fairly obvious no one on staff had any passion writing for them -- the racecar backstory is so poorly researched that no one, in a show about geography, even bothered doing a five-minute google search to see if car racing even happens in Boston (spoilers: it doesn’t). NASCAR is a sport that began during the US's prohibition era, when people selling illegal alcohol began to hotrod their cars to escape police patrols, and it’s almost exclusive to the American South, not New England. Again, you would think that a show about history and culture would take advantage of this historical fact, as it could not be more relevant to the premise of the show, but no one cared!

[doorbloggr]

Sunday 25/9/21 - Media Recommendations #19

Contents:

Twilight Princess (Manga)

Dr Stone (manga/anime)

Lately, I have had a lot I want to write about on this blog, but lack that activation energy to actually start writing an article. Ideally I will at least word vomit more onto the blog in the coming week or so, because I have the topics in mind, just unsure how to start any of it.

Media Consumption has also slowed to a crawl, but I'm getting back into it. This week I wanna discuss a manga series I've been reading slowly as it has released, and an anime I have long been reading the manga for.

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess (Manga)

Akira Himekawa

Zelda fans have a unique schism between their fans that many other longer running series may not experience. Because most games star a relatively unique cast of characters, a unique spin on the world, gameplay, and even artistic style, what your favourite in the series is will throw you into a hard debate against fans of other games. There's this post i saw somewhere(?) once where it was said your favourite Zelda game is the one that came out when you were 12, presumably because this is the one you experience first, or at least earlier in your Zelda journey, and I can completely relate to that.

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess was the first Zelda game I played, and it has been my number 1 or 2 in the series consistently. Compared to the games that came before it, it was darker, had a richer world, and just a grander scope. But today I'm not here to explain the game, I'm here to talk about the manga.

Akira Himekawa is a pseudonym for a pair of female manga artists that have been writing manga together since the early 90s, and I know them well for their Legend of Zelda adaptations. They have covered most of the main games everyone knows, Ocarina of Time, Majoras Mask, A Link to the Past, and even a couple volumes of Four Swords Adventures. Their most recent work has also been the most long and in depth adaptation, my first Zelda game, Twilight Princess.

Like all of their Zelda adaptations, Akira Himekawa's Twilight Princess follows all the same plot beats as the main games. The order places are visited, the main characters Link encounters, the dungeons and their bosses, but the mangaka add... more to the world. Link has a deeper back story explaining what led to the start of the adventure. What in the games are essentially blank slate NPCs become characters in their own rights with personalities and arcs and motivations. The Twilight Realm, which is essentially just a dungeon in the game, is fleshed out as its entire world, with society, and lore.

In the game, Link is cool, and a bit of a himbo, but the manga's take on him is so much more interesting. He's a brooding edge lord, with a damaged past. He's a do-gooder, but he's also flawed and suffers from caring too much. Link is a character full of regrets who constantly bounces between "become a hero to prevent the atrocities of the past coming back" and "give up so that you don't make things worse". I understand that the games leave Link as a blank slate so that players can fill in their own ideals, but seeing Link as a fully fleshed character with his own motivations is cool as hell.

The supporting cast is similarly fleshed out compared to the game's take. Zelda, Illia, and Midna have complex motivations and evolving personalities. Midna was already a great character, but the manga truly does not skip out on making her deep and interesting. The "Resistance", for those who've played the game, are all multilayered characters now, all with arcs that are actively explored as they actually go help Link on his adventures, instead of just telling him info and leaving him to it. The dungeons do not take nearly as much plot time as they do in the games, essentially minimal theme building and then boss, but this works better for the format in my opinion.

If you like high fantasy manga, or are just a Zelda fan, I highly recommend this series. I haven't finished reading it, but Book 9, which I think is the final in the series, has recently been released in English. Obviously playing the game first is a good background, but I think you could 100% enjoy the series without it.

Edit: Finished book 9 and there's definitely at least one more book to go.

Dr Stone (anime/manga)

Inagaki, Boichi; TMS Entertainment

Ok so must I remember wrong because I thought I recommended this one, but apparently I never talked about Dr Stone before, which is a complete travesty. But now I am both up to date with the manga and most of a season deep into the anime, and I have A LOT to talk about.

As those who have also read my dinosaur blogposts will understand, I am a big science nerd. Biology, palaeontology, space, chemistry, it's all so interesting, and sometimes I struggle to understand how a passion for science is not a universal human experience. I share that in common with the main character of a manga I've been reading for maybe a year now, Dr Stone.

In Dr Stone, the world of 21st Century humanity is brought crashing to a halt when a bright wave of mysterious light blankets the entire planet, and everywhere on the entire globe, humans have been turned to stone. 3700 years later, a young man who has kept his mind active within the stone forces himself awake and breaks out. Around him, nature has reclaimed the Earth and millennia of human progress has been all but buried.

Senku is a young man of science, and spent years obsessing over every scientific domain he could comprehend in order to one day travel to space. In this stone world, armed with this wealth of science progress in his mind, Senku begins efforts to restart the scientific age, and free every single person frozen in stone. He starts with a mysterious acid that breaks down the stone. Then he develops tools, machinery, electricity, and eventually, he wants to push humanity back to the space age within his lifetime. Senku may be a know it all, but knowledge only gets you so far. Thanks to the allies he makes, a wealth of expertise will be harnessed to bring his dream to fruition.

Dr Stone is a must read for anyone who enjoys Scifi. Although the rate at which progress is made seems absurd, every single scientific process the kingdom of science works on is real science. Although post apocalyptic themes establish the base for the story and the supernatural force that turned humanity to stone is the main adversary, Dr Stone is a very scientific story based on real Earth and its just... exhilarating!

The scope of the story begins on the small scale in primitive villages, but the story eventually reaches a global scale. There are adversaries at each step, those who wish to rule the Stone World with might, free of the tyranny science had in our age, and there are also those who wish to use science as its own form of might, but Senku and his allies want to use science for the benefit of everyone. So that one day, all of humanity will be restored, and that eventually, he will get to moon.

I will refrain from speaking any further on story specifics because you really should experience the plot for yourself. So I will end with the presentation itself. The art and format of the manga are beautiful. Character designs are rugged, stylised, and exciting, it's very easy to determine what a character is all about just by their unique appearance.

In the last week, I have begun watching the anime, as it has been long enough since I started reading that I can experience parts of the plot anew. The anime is very beautifully made, the world is lush and beautiful, and characters move in such a fun and interesting way. I'm watching the English dub, and characters sound exactly like the voices I had for them in my head.

If you have even an inkling of interest in Dr Stone after reading what I've said today, you should definitely experience the story for yourself, 1 billion percent.

[melis-ash]

have you watched elite's season 4 finale already? what are your takes on caye and phillipe? no judgements here tho, just want to know your opinion on them

 Hello, nonny! Yes, I did. My opinion about Caye and Philippe has several different aspects (which a litle bit conflict with each other).

Lets write long post.)) Sorry for mistakes and typos, English is not my first language and I`m not really good with grammar.

1) Caye and Philippe story is feminist retelling-reverse of the Beauty and the Beast, where main characters didn`t became couple and The Beauty left her Beast not for Gaston other romance, but for her own path. And their relationship helped the Beast to realize his past mistakes and make to want to fix it, even if it`s too late . Comparing with many other things in that season that storyline was not bad. Really. There MANY problems with s4, I think the best stolyline had Rebe and Mencia, it was really good, and in my personal opinion, despite many flaws, Caye and Philippe storyline is second one for me. Kinda it was not really good, but it had plot, idea, composition and message. Writers knew very clear, what they tried to say, and despite obvious lack of screen time, they handle it, and this story, despite it doesn`t connect with main plot, resonate with main storyline on the level of their ideas. (About it later.) I know, Georgina is feminist, so I wonder, could she give some advice writers? Kinda “it can work better if...” something like it.

2) Personally I`m very disappointed how OOC was Caye in that season and how few screen time she had. For me Caye from s4 feels like too much different person than in s2-3. I wanted character development for her, but something more slow and realistic. S4 Cayetana feels like all her character development happened between s3 and s4 (and partly in special, which really was very good), and I don`t believe in it. Caye from s4 is good character, but there is no real connection with Caye from s2-3.

I knew, she was very upopular character in s2-3, so maybe creators afraid to gave her too much screen time. But also they still wanted she was part of story and write redemption arc for her. And honestly, anon, these two thing can`t work together well. When you write redemption arc for well written nuanced character that Cayetana was in s2-3, you need give character enough screen time and nuances. But it seems, s4 writers don`t care enough about writing S1-3 characters in character. In s2-3 Caye was bad girl, but also she was comedy relief (but s4 has very few comedy moments), she had family (where the fuck her mother and granddad now? We know only that her mother cannot work in Las Ensinas, but don`t know, why), we saw, that she did`t sleep almost, because she learn in Las Ensinas, worked as janitor and still hung out with rich kids. (I think I began feel compassion for her, when realized it). It that seson she almost has not other scenes than with Philippe. OK, she was pariah in school during previous year, but if writers began that things with Caye and Rebe friendship, can they continue it. Rebe and Caye both had problem with their love interests and they never discussed it. Only time they speak about Philippe was in 402. Also Benjamin fired Azucena, and wanted to expel Samu and Omar, but Caye still works there? And Benjamin still protects her even? Why? I mean, after whole thing with scam in s2. Maybe it because protection of Polo`s mothers, but it never was said in s4 even. It seems, Benjamin knows things about her story with Polo (like he knows about Philippe`s past), and it could be really interesting possiblity to bring on scene that aspect of situation and Benjamin`s character and him and Caye interaction. 

Also there is something with Georgina`s acting in s4, in most of scenes she acts as different character, so maybe it was and her (as actress) decision too. I wrote before, she is feminist, and maybe she wanted to bring more feminists vibes in s4 Caye, because it makes storyline works better? Given how few connection with previous seasons on script level her s4 story had, it make sense even, it`s just feel OOC for me, because Caye is not feminist at all. She is strong and ambitious, but she is not type of women what call themselves feminists, and when she said “I became my own Fairy Godmother” in s2, she meant that she was forced to do it. Caye was girl who wanted to be princess from old school Disney animation. In s3 she wanted to live and study on Polo mother money in London and was fully OK with it. When she refused their proposition, it was because thoughts, that Polo could be alive and even more or lesser happy in other school without those her messages, haunted her. Plus when Polo died, he thought Caye was with him more because his money than because Polo himself. I remember, in her first scene Caye read  The Second Sex, but it was spectacle for her schoolmates. And when she spoke with them about her fake rich life, it always was “look how rich and glamour I am”. Partly she spoke in this way because she knew very few about rich people`s life, but also there were some of her dreams. She wanted to be rich and and be part of this glamour life. In s3 she became in some way, and she had a lot of possiblities to understand how many shit, pain and tragedies can hide for glamour facade. Theoretically she knew it before. But she was exctremely poor, so it was a little bit difficult for her to think about it too much.

3) So I think more mention of Caye`s story from s2-3 could make her and Philippe story better. Philippe himself have same problem as Polo in some way: he is rich guy, and his mother indulged him too much. Caye saw how Polo`s mother indulged him and saw where it ended. Not good for Polo and many other people. Marina and Polo could be alive and Samu`s family could live with him in Spain, if Polo`s mothers raised their son better. Even if Caye don`t care much about Guzman or Samu and she never knew Marina, she had enough time between seasons to reflect of situation. So with more s2-3 reference that “matter of education thing” Caye says to Philippe`s mother could sound not only as sort of feminist  slogan, but as something very personal and painful for Caye. She was in love with boy, who was spoiled too much by his parents (like Philippe), and it brought a lof pain him, his friends, Caye. I don`t say there are not at all attempts include previous Caye experience in s4. For example, when Caye does google research about Philippe and finds nothings, she is still suspicious because she know, how easy money could erase some thing.  Also that thing with Pilippe`s mother. I think after conversation with her,Caye realized that Philippe`s and Polo`s promblems had very much same roots. But such moments really have not enough space. Guzman had at least one scene, where he speak about his reflection on s1 evens (where he compares Mencia and Marina). I would like to see something like it with Caye.

4) Many things in Caye and Philippe storyline feel offscreen. We know they regularly talk in school, but see very few of it etc. Actors have good chemistry, and since they both like fashion design, it feels enough for beginning of communication, plus Caye had crush on Philippe long before they met, plus she was first who was really friendly with him in new school (in some way it`s repeat of Caye and Polo story, but with more positive vibes). But I want to see more illustration, why Philippe fell in love with Caye so much.

5) Now about Philippe himself. I saw many hateposts and hatecomments about him, and it`s really funny, because I constantly see how many people in this fandom love Polo and think he deserved better, despite Polo is murderer. Yes, he killed Marina out of emotion, but she is fucking dead. She will never resurrect. Guzman will remember till grave that his best friend killed his sister and then was killed by Guzman`s ex-girlfriend, because policy failed to handle their job well. Samu`s brother was forced to left Spain because it. But it took 2 seasons for Polo to understand he needs go to policy and confess he killed Marina. Caye didn`t understood how wrong her actions were till Polo`s death. I don`t know how long was Elodie`s rape, but at least Philippe didn`t need someone`s corpse to realize his mistakes. Inside standart of this show that guy isn`t hopeless. “Everybody deserve second chance” was important point in Caye`s story in s2-3, so now I wonder how writers will play this card in s5 in relationship between Philippe and Caye. 

Also I want to say I was wrong, when doubted in Pol Granch acting, he`s good additon to Elite cast.

6) Caye x Philippe storyline and main storyline. In that seson Elite brings of scene, in additon of another murder and drug traid, sex crimes. Prostitution, rapes. It`s interesting, that connection here takes place through Ari, girl, who has serious problem with sexual behavior, when she`s drunk. She`s know it`s perfectly, but also she knows, that when woman says “no”, it`s means “no” and end of story. I really like her role in Caye and Philippe story and I hope in s5 there will be at least some scenes with her and Caye. Also interesting point were Ari`s word that she never report to the police without prove. It feels ambigous. She knows, Phillippe is not angel at all. But also there is other side of coin. I think, she also knows, reputation can be ruined very easy. During s4 there was subplot with discussion club. And Samu speak that ex-criminals cannot become somebody else, even if they wants. Their reputation in society was ruined. In final of Philippe story he sent Elodie his confession. So maybe writers tried to write about theme “can criminal, who admitted his mistakes, to became somebody else?” through season and I think they will continue it in s5.

Sorry if this all sounds muddled and too long. Maybe later I will make some additon into reblogs to this post, I don`t know.

[holycow99]

石田お寿司 19/7/21 stream translation Part 1

This is not the full translation of the stream. I only translated the parts I could understand & interpret or parts I found interesting/important. I’m still a beginner in Japanese, so the translations may not be accurate. If you want to repost, please repost at your own risk. 

(t/n: Sorry for the late update. I had so many distractions these past 2 weeks. This translation may have a lot of mistranslations as I couldn’t really catch what he said since the bgm was super loud. I tried my best to separate the voice and the bgm so that the voice would be clearer, but I didn’t manage to do that.)

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I: Hello. You guys, are you ready for Ghosts n Goblins? I am.

C: You’re in high spirits tonight.

I: Of course. I’ve been busy with the rough sketches. I’ve spend the entire day fixing the sketches for chp 5.

*Fixing the sound

C: Contrarily, won’t you feel stressed playing this game for a change of pace?

I: I’m already used to this game.

I: I’m stuck in the same place so I’m gonna play this game from the start.

*Choosing mode.

I: I’ve played this game before (referring to the old ver.), so I’ll choose the harder mode.

*Choosing stage.

I: I haven’t progressed at all. I haven’t seen the other stages yet. Graveyard, execution chamber. I played the execution chamber stage for a bit during the stream with Ms. Towada. I progressed a little only. Should I play the graveyard stage?

*Playing the stage.

I: The armour used to get destroyed with just one hit. The armour has a ranking. If you collect a lot of armours, it’ll become a bronze armour. This one is probably a metal armour.

C: Fighting!

I: Kamsahamnida. Is it Kamsahamnida? Thank you.

(t/n: Kamsahamnida means thank you in Korean. He’s talking in Korean.)

C: Have you decided on the date for Kagoshima trip?

I: That’s right. What should I do with the trip? Looks like I can secure 20 buses.

(t/n: Ishida had been jokingly planned on a trip with Japanese fans.)

C: Is the stage different from the old one?

I: It looks similar, but I think it’s a completely different stage. Yeah, it’s completely different. What’s this creature? What’s his name again? Everyone said they didn’t like this boss. I like it. He’s like a friend to me.

C: Russia loves you, sensei.

I: Really? I heard that illegal uploading of manga is widespread in Russia. Haha. I have a grudge against Russia. Haha. Spasiba (thank you in Russian).

C: I like Russian girls. They’re cute.

I: I don’t think it’s because they’re Russians. I heard that their nose tends to be taller due to the climate effects. This isn’t considered as discrimination, right? That’s why they’re good-looking. The same with their white complexion. People adore those with tall nose because their noses are small and cute.

(t/n: I’m not sure about the translation of this part since I couldn’t hear him clearly. He said something more but I couldn’t catch it. Sorry.)

Y****: Are you about to snap?

I: Ah, Y****?! You’re here. You weren’t in the prev. stream, right? I’m not angry.

Y****: I was busy with club.

I: What club are you in? You must be busy. What club are you in as a middle schooler?

Y****: Theatre club.

I: Theatre club?! You’re kidding, right?! Really?! It’s so unexpected, hahaha. Theatre club? I thought you’re in a sports club, like soccer or something. So cool. That’s nice. Seriously? Do they have theatre club in middle school? Amazing.

*Ishida struggling to kill the monsters and then died.

I: I was looking at the comments, waiting for Y****’s to show up, then I became like this.

*Someone commented that they did vocalisation training in theatre club.

I: Vocalisation training? So they do have that. Wait a min, did Y**** say something? Wait, tell me when I die again.

Y****: I’m a high-school student.

I: Eh, Y****, you’re a high-school student?! Didn’t you say you’re 13?! Were you a high school student all this time?! Wait, can I talk to Y**** for a bit? Hahaha. Eh?! Have you been a high-schooler all this while?!

*Continue playing.

I: Hurry up and tell me. I suddenly become interested in human world. Y****, hurry. Did he say something?

Y****: I’m in my first year.

I: I see. A first year student. So, last year you’re 13? I remember you said you’re 13. You’ve enrolled to high school. Congrats for your admission! It must be hard with the COVID-19 situation. Y**** has further modified. His DPS (Damage Per Second) has increased to 1980.

C: I envy the youth.

I: Well, you can become anything as a high-schooler. If you work hard, you can become an actor or a playwright, though I’m not really sure. (inaudible). I think it’s a very good career.

C: What club were you in?

I: I was in volleyball club. I was in the badminton club for 3 months. I joined because of similar reason I joined volleyball club.  I joined because I wanted to be good at smashing. Then, I quit the club after I’ve mastered it. Same with volleyball. I wanted to master spike. I had other stuffs I wanted to do. I wanted to play games all day long. I didn’t wanna go for club activities. I skipped club activities and played Smash Bros. I was a boarding student, after all.

C: Have you read Look Back? (t/n: Look Back is a one shot manga by Fujimoto Tatsuki, author of Chainsaw Man.)

I: Yes, I have.

C: Which console is this?

I: This is switch. I play this because I was tired from fixing the rough sketches for chp 5.

C: Did you go and watch Yamakasa? (t/n: Yamakasa refers to the float carried by men during Hakata Gion Yamakasa festival. You can google it up for more info.)

I: I watch when there’s one. Ms. Towada went and see it. Where did she recently visit?

*Ishida having a hard time defeating the monsters & passing the stage.

I: This is harder than RE. RE is way easier compared to this.

C: Sensei is getting tired!

I: Actually, I should be resting at times like this. It’d be better for me to rest after I did the rough sketches.

*Someone commented they had to work that night.

I: It must be hard to work at this time. Night shift? Nurses and… is it correct? I’m not so sure though, but caregivers also have night shifts. Well, good luck on your job. Take care of your health, eat a lot of delicious foods, and don’t forget to wear an armour. You don’t know when you’ll be absorbed into this game.

C: I need to do excel as my assignment.

I: Must be difficult. I copy pasted the stuffs I found on the internet for my assignments. I wasn’t the only one who did that. Everyone else did the same too.

I: I like summer. If I were to pick a season…but I prefer autumn. Still, summer is great.

C: I have test tomorrow.

I: Then, you should study.

C: I hate summer since there’ll be a lot of Terra Formars.

(t/n: terra formars is a manga about humanoid cockroaches. So, OP referred cockroaches as terra formars.)

I: Yup. They’re in the drawers the other day. They’re always there mostly. 

C: What are you drinking today?

I: Barley tea. I want to drink juice. Ginger ale as well, but I’ll gain weight drinking that. I drink it occasionally. Do you guys know root beer?

*Ishida constantly failed and died.

Comments: Are you getting angry?

I: This is pissing you off, right? I’m pissed off. Of course I’d be pissed off with something like this. The ones who made this game, show yourselves. I’m gonna bring this to court and claim for compensation.

Comments: Please calm down.

I: I’m calming down. Okay, I’ve calmed down.

*Finally progressing a little.

I: Yes, finally! I’m gonna do this calmly.

*Fighting a bunch of monsters.

I: (whispering) Calmly! Calmly!

*Dead again.

I: (whispering) Shit! Just now…It might be impossible without the armour. Let’s do this calmly.

I: This game is more of a psycho break than Psychobreak.

Part 2

[rainbowoverdragon]

Thoughts on Ryo

This is an analysis of Zane Truesdale/Ryo Marufuji, focusing on his mindset as well as his relationships with other people. As I am basing this off the original Japanese version for standardization, all names likewise are their sub counterparts.

When Sho obtains a rare and powerful card from his brother, he believes he has it made. After this, Sho finds the courage to confront his bully in a duel. So after he draws Power Bond, Sho thinks he has it made. He gloats to the bully, insulting him, making outlandish claims out of the arrogant belief that he can't lose. Before he can use it, Sho is interrupted by the very person who gifted him that card. "You aren't worthy to use that card yet. Until you have what it takes to be called a duelist, I declare that card off-limits.'' Devastated by this statement, Sho proceeded to view himself as incapable of dueling for years; unworthy of Power Bond. It’s an establishing character moment for both Marufuji brothers, setting Ryo up as an impossible standard to reach in Sho’s eyes. However, for Ryo, his intentions are revealed to be more well-intentioned than Sho is led to believe. In episode 8, Sho realizes that Ryo wished for Sho to treat his own power with respect: towards both his opponent and his high-risk high-reward cards. This constant cycle of good intentions and misplaced words leads to a negative feedback loop between the brothers that seems impossible to resolve. Ryo struggles to convey his own observations to others in a way that doesn’t come off as condescending. Sho cannot take things past face value, and places his brother upon a pedestal that he cannot surpass. After all, how can you beat perfection itself?

During his years in Duel Academy, Ryo is the embodiment of perfection. He is the opposite of his brother, never missing a single mark in any area. Everyone constantly refers to Ryo as “perfect”, from his teachers to his peers to even the Kaiser himself. He even soundly beats Judai in the first duel they have together, a feat seen as impossible by the audience. But it’s this very idea of perfection that haunts Ryo, as he believes that perfection implies stagnation. If Ryo has perfect scores in class, there is no way to improve them. If he reached the peak of his potential in one duel, that means it’s all downhill from there. His greatest fears are confirmed when he loses to Edo in the Pro Leagues, starting a chain of losses that ruins his career beyond repair. Ryo is perfect. He is so perfect, that during his school years he never truly struggled against an opponent (Aside from Judai in Episodes 51-52 however he maintained the advantage for the majority of the duel). In fact, he suffered from the opposite problem. As Ryo is too powerful, he’d purposely hold back until his peers could unleash their trump cards against him. Only then did he defeat them with just enough power to avoid humiliation. His first loss wasn’t only his first loss, it was the first time Ryo found himself in a disadvantaged position. His inexperience with failure led to him associating the mere act of struggle with the idea of loss. Ryo’s inability to move past this is his own self-fulfilling prophecy. Being afraid of failure makes people play to not lose. Playing to not lose instead of playing to win causes chokes, which results in losses. Unable to break from this cycle, Ryo is abandoned by his sponsors. Which is why the idea of Underground Duels, a place where he can start over and regain his bearings is so enticing. At least, until they reveal the condition.

And at first, Ryo despises the Underground. He appeals to be released, he states it’s not what dueling is, it’s nothing like he could ever imagine. And how could it be? Ryo’s life is on the line, and for no good reason. The shock collars are there to make things fun for the audience, not for any other benefit! In his duel with Sho, who says that 'this isn't dueling', Ryo even admits he thought the same thing. It spits on the very concept of respecting your opponent. The collars humiliate you, egging you on to forget about the other person. And in general, is amoral (as well as a human rights violation). Underground Duels are almost always life or death, because nobody fights harder than people who are convinced they are going to die. And Ryo is convinced that if he duels the way that he always has, if he clings into his morals, he will die. His opponent, Mad Dog, purposely created a deck to counter him. So why should he respect him? Why should he not aim to win? Why can’t he aim to survive? After crawling from hell, nothing is the same for the Kaiser. Because every duel is another reminder that he survived. He is unable to see any match he takes for fun, every duel to him is life or death. In the real world, there are people who lose and wither away, and people who win and thrive. And by god, he wants to feel alive. He spent so long losing, something utterly unthinkable for the Kaiser of Duel Academy. Ryo was undefeated before, now he truly wishes to not experience it again. If forcing himself to feel that every fight of his is to the death, literally or mentally, then so be it. He continues dueling in the Underground, continues to utilize the shock collars he once despised. No matter what cost, health or mind, Ryo requires victory.

When Ryo is told that his health is failing from his shock collars, he doesn’t seek medical attention. Because to Ryo, being alive is more important than living. He transformed into Hell Kaiser achieved the great power that comes from becoming a monster, at the cost of self-destruction. He flirted with death, and finally has to pay the price. And he doesn’t care. As long as Ryo obtains what he wishes, he is happy. And what the Hell Kaiser wants more than anything else, is one last duel to surpass all others. Ryo would rather reach the limit of his capabilities, and die meeting them than waste away quietly to be forgotten forever. Thus he seeks Yubel, the strongest monster spirit in the Universe. If he meets an opponent of his caliber and 'shines' during the mattle, then he’d have nothing to fear in death. But he does. After entering his long-awaited match, Ryo admits to not wanting to die. He wants to live, he wants to leave a mark that can never be forgotten. Yet he doesn’t want to die. Ryo has achieved everything he wanted, shown the strongest he has been or will ever be. Before he duels Yubel, he comes to a revelation. At first, Ryo wished to fight the strongest being to win. He doesn't care anymore. Ryo is dying, win or lose the result is the same. Since he turned Hell Kaiser, Ryo only respected victory. The joy he obtained by knowing he survived another duel is utterly meaningless against Yubel. What happiness does he obtain knowing he survived….when he isn’t going to live to begin with? He understands that the duel itself is what makes Ryo feel alive, doing the most with what remaining time he has with his life. As Ryo tells Judai, his death is the end of the road for people who glorify power. And thus it’s no surprise that Ryo is taken out by the card he is associated with most: Power Bond. A card that lets you receive unthinkable amounts of power, at the price of self-destruction.

Out of all the people who save Judai from himself, the Kaiser’s impact is one of the most apparent. It takes someone who knows the suffering someone else goes through to achieve empathy, especially in Judai's case. Judai struggles with sympathy, as shown with his interactions with Sho in Seasons 1-3. Whenever Sho asks for help with his confidence, Judai gives him the helpful advice of "Don't be anxious!" Judai cannot comprehend being insecure with one's capabilities, thus he cannot help Sho directly. In contrast, Judai is more receptive to empathy. Manjoume's crisis in Season 1 revolved around the pressure others placed upon him to succeed. Judai deeply understands his strife, and helps him fight for himself. This is why Misawa's speech about accountability fails to help Judai utilize Polymerization. Misawa has no fundamental basis to understand Judai's feelings. In contrast, Kaiser's duel with Yubel awakens Judai's character growth. Ryo is Judai's cautionary tale, a warning of self-fulfilling prophecies. During the Graduation Duel, Ryo tells Judai that he possesses infinite potential compared to himself. This rings true in watching Ryo's belief of his own lack of capability to change, resulting in his inability to change because he destroyed himself beyond repair. In contrast, Judai has not fallen to this path. Watching Ryo's descent as well as his late realization means everything to Judai: especially someone so responsive to empathy. This is because they are mirrors of each other, to the point their character’s arcs are entirely parallel to one another. Both are idolized for the power they hold over others, both of them experience the loss of the pedestal they once stood upon. Both achieve the sharpest fall from grace (against an opponent with ‘Mad’ in their title), which leads to them glorifying their own power and abusing it against others. Despite their friends trying to help them, it is ultimately up to themselves to self-actualize their shortcomings. However it is Ryo, who thinks he cannot change, who succumbs upon his own revelation. And it is Ryo, who always believed in Judai’s infinite potential even in the Graduation Duel, who changes Judai’s path. Without Ryo, Judai would be unable to utilize his power responsibly. Because Judai now knows what happens to people who push themselves too far, just like how he used to. Power is not something to be afraid of or abused, but to use responsibly.

The Hell Kaiser doesn’t entirely work for others; he even states he fought Yubel out of selfish motivations. However, Ryo is also constantly associated with lighthouses. To the people that mean the most to him, Ryo is a light that tries to guide others to safety. However lighthouses are far away from the people they try to save, and thus it takes the initiative of others to help themselves after seeing the light from afar. This is shown by Ryo’s relationships with the people he’s closest to remaining fundamentally the same from his own side: regardless of his actual guidance being positive or negative. Ryo’s actions and intentions around Sho remain the same across both his younger self and Hell Kaiser: each time trying to guide Sho to become the best version of himself. "Until you have what it takes to be called a duelist, I declare that card off-limits."", is the devastating statement Ryo told Sho as kids. But Ryo believed his brother needed to understand true power in respect, guiding Sho away from arrogance and towards the light of good. His brother's weakness required defending. This concept is twisted on its head once Ryo becomes Hell Kaiser, who only views power or meaning in victory. Thus he employs the same tactic, because Ryo does not see the difference between restricting Power Bond to teach respect, and having Sho experience the same pain he did to ditch it.

Both Ryo and Hell Kaiser sing the same song. Ryo intends on ‘protecting’ his weaker brother by teaching him right from wrong. Both times, Sho and Ryo misunderstand each other. At first, Sho doesn’t comprehend the real reason why Ryo forbade Power Bond. The second time, Ryo doesn’t understand how Sho can cling to his own beliefs of respect even if he loses because of it. However, the one time Ryo’s words connect is when he saves Sho in season 3. And even then, it’s an admission of distance between the two. Ryo sees Sho’s pain inflicted by Judai far outweighs what Ryo had done to Sho. Thus Ryo advises Sho to follow Judai, since it’s what his heart truly desired all along. He then leaves, to force Sho into walking his own path. Ryo cannot spell out Sho's wishes any more than he does. And if Sho is alone, then he is forced to swim instead of sink.

Ryo’s association with lighthouses in canon directly correlates to Fubuki. As much as Fubuki is associated with darkness, Ryo is quite literally the light that shines through to him. When Fubuki was overtaken by Darkness in the first arc, we later find out that Ryo regrets being unable to find Fubuki no matter how much information and effort he scrounged up. Fubuki then replies that the mere act of trying saved him, as he could see Ryo’s feelings in spite of the darkness that consumed him. To Fubuki, Ryo is the lighthouse that guides people through the darkness. And when Fubuki is overtaken by the Darkness in an attempt to save Ryo from it, Ryo’s feelings once again vanquishes Fubuki from the dark. However, instead of the Kaiser saving Fubuki, Hell Kaiser explicitly protects him from Darkness. Because the two are friends, even after everything Ryo’s been through. This leads Fubuki to a revelation that no one else understands: Hell Kaiser is not fundamentally different from Ryo. Fubuki realizes that even as Hell Kaiser, Ryo respected Fubuki. Why else would he save him from Darkness? Indeed, every interaction of Ryo’s major interpersonal relationships are fundamentally the same. It’s simply his worldview that shifted. As much as Ryo wishes to respect others, he doesn’t think he can in a world where everyone must take advantage of their life to the fullest extent.

And Ryo, who cannot change because he thinks he cannot change, stayed as he was until it was far too late to be saved.

[fangirlsovertoomanythings]

Dark - Netflix is such a good show but there are so few people talking about it, so I decided to ramble a little bit about what might be my favorite show on the platform, even topping Squid Game and Kipo.

Before we start, I'd like to put a warning for unreality since we are dealing with time paradoxes and multiple realities + suicide mentions, and say I will be getting into minor spoilers for the entire show, so if this is not your cup of tea, leave and go see my Sherlock Holmes YouTuber AU instead.

Dark is a german show that follows the life of Jonas Kahnwald after the suicide of his father, Michael Kahnwald, as he unravels what is truly wrong with his birth city, Winden. Along we way, we meet a vast cast of characters that are all connected to the issue, such as the mysterious priest that goes by the allias Noah, Jonas' girl crush Martha Nielsen, and so on, and The Stranger that shows up at times in Jonas' life.

The entire show is told unchronologically, but never loses it's beat. Every single character action makes sense in retrospect, and you get foreshadowing for many events as you go. The show doesn't talk down to it's audience and leaves some mysteries to be solved by the viewers themselves, such as the identity of the mysterious man who was killed by Noah in the mines around the 50's being Bartosz - the show uses it's flawless casting in it's advantage on that scene, I only recognized the character by how similar his jaw was when compared to teenager Bartosz and I absolutely adore it.

If you are used to anime characters going on tangents, then seeing these characters going on tangents is not as jarring: sometimes a conversation can lead into a more philosophical path, where it mirrors what is happening on-screen. The dialogue of the play on the first season mirrors how Hannah can be untrustworthy to get what she wants, for example. I find it a clever way to make exposition interesting!

Every character has their own personality, though they don't have much charisma or defyning character voice. The show may be about the characters, but they never stand out that much other than their actions and motivations - you don't get to see their charisma show in their personalities even if you do know them, that's what I mean. Jonas Kahnwald will talk in a similar manner than Ulrich Nielsen for example, and you don't get many characteristics that stand out all that much. That being said, you still care about these characters at the end of the day - I bawled my eyes off at the finale, like I would do for more charismatic characters like those in The Good Place. The show is just that good.

The soundtrack is amazing, I can't remember a theme song that matches more a series in my life. "For neither ever nor never, goodbye" makes so much sense after you finish the entire show, but I shalln't say how~

I need to add, though, the show has a bunch of accidental incest in it so if you get triggered by it, don't watch it. Fair warnings include:

1. Incest

2. Sex scenes

3. Unreality

4. Suicide

5. Alcohol/Drugs

So if you are under 16, do NOT watch it. To the minors following me, this isn't as traumatizing as Squid Game would be, but it can get to you. You may not be yet read to see these themes being treated on-screen, and if that's the case I would recommend searching for PG 12/14 shows or movies and since I am a good person, I shall name a few that you may like: Red Alert (2021) is a PG 12 heist movie, as well as Army of Thieves (14).

All of that being said, Dark does have it's problematic bits, in my opinion. It falls on that place where teenagers seem to be constantly talking about drugs, sex, etc, and there is even a scene where kid Claudia Tiedmann asks to see a boy around her age's dick. There is also the character of Bernadette being the only transgender character on the show and she is your local sassy sex worker, which I heard is a common trope to transgender women in media, who is not that relevant to the plot aswell (at least she gets a happy ending, but that's all the kudos I give to the team for that). At least, at the very least, the lesbians didn't get the short end of the stick: Agnes and Mrs. Tiedemann seem very wholesome when they are together. Still cheating though

In summary, I think the goods of the show compensate for the bads and I HIGHLY recommend it

[sylvies-chen]

From Song to Storyline: Comparing Lorde’s “Melodrama” Album to Hailey Upton’s Upcoming Journey

Ok I couldn’t resist, I made a comment about how Hailey Upton is in her Melodrama era (because yes, I’m an absolute Lorde fanatic) and my loving soulmate @sylviebrettsey mentioned Taylor Swift’s Reputation too, but ALSO how she was unfamiliar with Melodrama so you can thank her for this analysis of why I picked Melodrama as Hailey’s season 9 mood! It’s going to be VERY long so I’ll put everything under the cut but I hope you guys like it! (And Sky, I hope you find this Lorde knowledge to be helpful lol. This is going to be very long but I hope it’s worth it and convinces someone out there to give the album a listen)

Reputation is an album that feels inherently vengeful in all the best ways. Songs like “Getaway Car” and “Don’t Blame Me” fit Hailey’s predicament at the end of season 8 very well, especially in relation to Jay. Those two songs as well as the album in general make for a very intense musical journey and Hailey’s been through a lot of intense things so naturally, it seems like they’d fit together. But based on what we’ve seen in interviews, I picked Melodrama for Hailey Upton’s season 9 era because that whole album plays with the idea of what happens after.

Lorde mostly talks about the crash that happens after a party when referencing this “after” but it acts a metaphor for being on a high note (a relationship, life, careers, etc.) and then crashing down. It’s a gritty, heart-wrenching album that holds so many similarities to what Hailey’s feeling. Coming into season 9, we know she isn’t sleeping, she can’t eat, there’s guilt eating away at her over what she’s done and over having to be around Kim constantly while keeping her secret. We know she’s clinging onto Jay with this proposal, know she’s going to have this internal torment because she can’t tell any of them what happened but Jay’s starting to notice something’s wrong with her and catching on to what happened. So, without further ado, lemme just give you snippets of lyrics from various songs on Lorde’s Melodrama album that fit with different parts of Hailey’s journey— as well as the unit’s journey— going into the new season!

1. “Sober”

In Sober, Lorde writes and sings about her experience of getting a panic attack at a party (Hence, the “Oh God, I’m clean out of air // In my lungs, it’s all gone” line) but then having to act normal because of social expectations and adds the “Played it nonchalant” line. In relation to Hailey, this represents her covering her ruse even though it’s killing her inside. Then, when we move further down these lyrics, it talks about being alone with the truth and dancing with the truth— again, Hailey struggling with the truth of what she did. Then, at the end of this first verse it could almost be seen from Jay’s perspective. “I’m acting like I don’t see // Every ribbon you used to tie yourself to me” is SO similar to what Jesse Lee Soffer’s been saying in interviews about Jay not knowing if Hailey’s proposal was genuine, and also what he and Tracy have said about Hailey’s proposal being genuine but also a product of her clinging on to the one good thing in her life.

2. “Liability”

Ah, yes, finally! The best song on the Melodrama album and arguably one of Lorde’s best songs ever! She wrote this in the back of a cab about the struggle of trying to love herself and worrying she’s too much for her friends. If that’s not a Hailey Upton sentiment going into this season, I don’t know what is! Not only is this applicable to Hailey with the Roy situation but it could also be applied to 8x11 when she was scared that her baggage and trauma around being abused by her father meant she couldn’t be with Jay. Also, now that she’s done this huge, massive thing that she has to live with, it’ll make it even harder for her to love herself— and for her to consider the fact that maybe, if she was truthful about that night, her friends would still love her anyway.

3. “Homemade Dynamite”

Homemade Dynamite, according to Lorde, describes “the moment when you meet someone at a party and an explosive night follows”. Again, right off the bat you see motifs of lies vs. truth when she’s saying let’s let things come out of the woodworks. It also technically talks about being blind to rules and dreams which is perfect for the finale: Hailey was blind to her dream (because let’s be real, thinking she could stop Voight was a fantasy), and Voight was blind to the rules. And just like the song says, it’s all bound to blow up on Hailey sooner or later, like homemade dynamite.

4. “Sober ll”

I feel like I don’t even need to explain my thought process behind this one. Trauma, melodrama, gun fights, terror, horror. ALL OF THESE are key words for what Hailey’s been through and will CONTINUE to go through. “They’ll talk about us, and discover // How we kissed and killed each other” is also applicable to the synopsis about how the FBI is potentially getting involved in discerning what happened to Roy. If they do, it could launch an investigation into the entire unit which could uncover a lot— “kisses each other” being the relationship drama that happens within the unit and “killed each other” being what happened with Roy and Voight’s general track record of murdering criminals and covering it up.

5. “Writer In The Dark”

Ok this first line is pretty much the entire reason I put this section of the song into this post. “I am my mother’s child, I’ll love you ‘til my breathing stops” is very strongly representative of Hailey’s past. She was raised in a household where her mother loved an abusive man and continued to love him even through the abuse of her and her children. It’s traumatizing, sure, but it also explains why Hailey’s reaction to shooting Roy was to go home and propose to Jay. She gets that loyalty from her mother, to the point where she could even stay in situations that hurt her (like refusing to leave Voight in the warehouse). But Jay doesn’t hurt her, he loves her unconditionally too which is why Hailey would love him until her breathing stops— or until, as it proceeds to say, “‘til you call the cops on me”, which is applicable in a much more literal sense.

6. “Supercut”

Supercut is probably my personal favourite of Lorde’s songs. The buildup is beautiful and the come-down is slow and gradual. It’s the epitome of pop in my opinion. But Hailey most definitely plays that moment over in her head and in her head, she would have done the right thing that night. And maybe she’s hoping the unit (Jay especially) will forgive her for shooting Roy instead of letting it cause a fight. This whole song is about replaying moments of a relationship in your head and changing the scenario so that it plays out as if you did everything right. You won’t always do everything right though, because we’re human and make mistakes, but it’s more than plausible that Hailey’s trying to capture that feeling.

7. Liability (Reprise)

Last but not least, we’ve got the reprise for Liability! This one’s a little more generic because it’s just the general vibe of the song that fits Hailey and this PD angst so well but honestly “And all of the shit that we harbour // Make all the kids in the choir sing, “Woo-hoo” is very applicable to Hailey because she’s got a lot of baggage going into this new season. “And maybe all this is the party // Maybe we just do it violently” is another line that fits her situation so well. In addition, since Liability is one of the last songs on this album the outro of the song is almost like the absolute rock bottom reached in the journey the album tells. It could easily be compared to if/when Jay finds out about what Hailey did. (Seriously, just imagine Jay saying “you’re not what you thought you were” to Hailey and tell me that wouldn’t make you cry! In a good way OR a bad way!)

Anyway, IN CONCLUSION: Melodrama is a twisted, heartbreaking album that fits into Hailey Upton’s upcoming journey in season 9 with the Roy storyline PERFECTLY! If you have time to listen to the album— or at least the songs I mentioned— then please do because it’s SO worth it. But until then, we’re going to be in for quite the angsty ride this season when it comes to Chicago PD and personally, I can’t wait to see what they do with it!