#shes entertaining & sometimes i kinda feel bad for her (due to the backstory thing)

[watermel0ns-dumb-cringe]

i want to put ocean in a jar and study her... why was she like that all the time . What made her like that. was that music she listened to so weird she got converted to weirdo freak religion

She must be studied why is she like that /silly

[gongustheawsome01]

Some cannon relationships for Vicky and stuff ( Pretty much just what she thinks of each character )

More info on Vicky here! ( Backstory )

Vicky Backstory

Peppino -

The first introduction she had to this man was him breaking into her house thinking it was another one of pizzaheads plans and almost beating HER up before he realize she wasn't pizzahead and was indeed a vampire ready to rock his face in.

He was so pathetic and sad though that it would just be absolutely miserable to kill him so she let him go.

So yeah she doesn't really like him all too well! She often pranks him a lot not like water bucket but in a spooky way like jump scarring or putting one million trillion spiders in his room. She still however isn't as annoying as the noise

Gustavo -

Oh they're sworn enemies. He hates her because of her constantly pranking Peppino and making his life more miserable than it already is. Vicky however sees Gustavo as a total joykill and that it's just some silly fun.

He often sends brick to scare her off he is pretty bad at being scary though so she just runs off most of the time or fly's off if she decides to transform into a bat.

Mr.Sticks -

She ALMOST killed him when they first met because she thought he was just another annoying door to door sales man that was gonna be her next meal ( I mean she WAS right on one of those parts ) but due to the pairs GOD AWFUL taste in fashion she actually really liked his outfit and asked about it.

They then talked for hours about a lot of things until Sticks realized like after one whole hour he was talking to a vampire and bolted out of the door screaming like a girl.

They then kept running into another until Sticks accepted she wasn't going to suck his blood out. They are now best friends because of the power of being failures, bad fashion taste, and being annoying!

Burton -

She met him when she was hanging out at Sticks insane apartment and they both heard a knock at the door sticks went up to get it and Burton was there! Paying a visit because he realized he was passing by.

He then looked over to see Vicky just kinda standing there like a statue because she didn't know this guy so hypothetically he COULD be a vampire slayer but he was also a friend of Sticks so was he chill?

Burton then turned over to Sticks and asked him. "..Scott is that a vampire?"

She then stopped overthinking for a moment to say. "YOUR NAME IS SCOTT??" Anyways now they're pretty content with another I feel as if they talked to each other more than they would become friends.

Brick -

he's working with Gustavo and y'know sometimes DOES bite her. So like I'd say they probablyyyy don't like each other..

Noisette -

She found her cafe one afternoon when she was just wandering about. She wasn't looking for anything to eat or drink but just thought she'd have a quick look.

Noisette herself seemed pretty nice of a gal. She insisted that she at least try one of her foods but just looking at the menu said she'd already ate. They talked for a bit well Noisette mainly did the talking..

But she was alright in Vicky's terms at least. Vicky actually ended up becoming a regular there mainly to pass the time though and Noisette can be entertaining. So in the end... Good friends! ( Also yes they do gossip sometimes. )

Noise -

NOISETTE IS TOO GOOD FOR HIM AND HE DESERVES THE GUILLOTINE!!! In her humble opinion..

Pepperman-

While she does actually fancy his artistic talent and owns maybe one or two of his paintings. Holy hell is he INSUFFERABLE to her.

When it comes to Noisette the appeal with her is that while she doesn't mean to sound rude Noisette is a little.. empty headed and kinda just goes on tangents of whatever! Which can be really entertaining.

BUT THIS GUYYY MAN!!! She spends five seconds around him and all of a sudden it's "himself", or "something pretentious here", OR EVEN "so like why do you wear red anyways? For the vampire look or is it a sort of metaphor for-" before he could even finish that one though she hit him over the head with a wooden chair.

Vigilante-

She can't interact with this guy. He reminds her too much of her sister.

Fake peppeino-

She met this THING ONCE and she decided never again and doesn't even bring it up you mention even the slightest bit of it and she just goes "SHSHSHHSHSSHHHHHHHSHSHSHHHHHH"

Aka she may or may not have actually felt fear for the first time in forever for her thousands of years alive.

(NOTE: SOME OF THIS CAN AND MOST LIKELY WILL CHANGE IN THE FUTURE. )

[i0990]

Piofiore no Banshou -ricordo- - Review

Since I finally got a Nintendo Switch I decided to try Piofiore no Banshou, what with 1926 recently released and all. I know the English ver (Fated Memories) came out earlier this year, but I played the Japanese one so I won’t be commenting on quality of translations and such.

What actually caught my eye for this game was the art, especially the number of different outfits and hairstyles Liliana had. I’m neutral about the mafia setting. Most of the reviews I read were positive, especially the ones for the eng ver, so I decided to give it a shot. Overall I had a decently fun time with it, but I wouldn’t say it’s one of my favourites.

Piofiore is real pretty to look at, but suffers from poor writing at parts. The personalities of the guys tend to flip-flop depending on the route. Liliana, while very cute, is not what you would consider a ‘strong heroine’. The plot wasn’t that interesting to me and the finale route was underwhelming. Still, the characters were for the most part entertaining enough that I didn’t consider this a waste of my time and it didn’t bore me.

If you love this game to bits you might want to stop reading here.

*spoilers after the cut*

Plot: The heroine, Liliana, is an orphan who grew up in the church. The city has 3 mafia gangs(Falzone, Visconti, Laoshu) each controlling a diff part of the city, as well as a neutral area. A mafia controlled Italian city in 1925 sounds liked a fun setting yeah? In each route she basically gets attacked and is rescued/taken in by one of the gangs and spends time helping them with their stuff. We learn that she’s the latest in a line of chosen maidens who supposedly act as the key to unlocking a holy relic, which is why various parties want to kill/protect/possess her for their own agenda.

The overall plot is to... actually idk because there is no overarching goal common to the routes except maybe to not die. Liliana herself doesn’t seem to have any of her own goals to achieve. Therein imo is where the story writing gets a bit bland. Dante’s route is where you learn more about Liliana being the chosen one since the Falzone family are the guardians of the relic, but in the end it was just sth like “If a Falzone and the holy maiden sleep together you can unlock relic” -.- Nth wrong with it being so cliche, but it also makes this rather irrelevant in the other routes. In the other routes Liliana being the chosen one just becomes an excuse for the game to pile all sorts of abuse on her.

Regarding Liliana... If you are the sort who really wants a strong heroine you’ll probably hate her. She puts up with a lot of nonsense and abuse, especially in Yang’s route. Admittedly at times it’s a matter of suck it up or die but she’s still rather lacking in personality. The producers designed her to cater to the self-insert player base so her backstory and character are left as vague as possible. Her being the holy maiden also comes with zero special powers so she literally is just a helpless damsel in distress. I personally wasn’t too bothered by it but just find it a waste given how they had such a potentially good setting to work with.

What mainly bothers me with the writing was how characters tend to change personality depending on the route, as well as them making pretty stupid decisions when they should know better. I think Orlok’s bad end is a well known example of this for Dante. Nicola’s goal in his route makes zero sense, and also poor Robert who suddenly goes yandere. Jozef is suddenly a good guy in a couple of the routes. Yang is pretty much the most consistent guy, except that he is consistently an arse. When the route with the guy who abuses the heroine the most is the most entertaining route, you know the writing is messed up. 

The finale route was also pretty meaningless and felt a bit lazy since it branched off from Gilbert’s route when there was no real reason for it. I mean, if you want to have a secret love interest can you at least give the guy some decent development and his own route?

As for the plus points, I’d say the game is still pretty entertaining to play through. It’s mostly carried by the art and characters themselves rather than the plot. I also like the darker and more mature feel of the game since I’m not a huge fan of fluff games most of the time. There really is a lot more violence and sex in this game than you’d usually see, although sometimes it feels a bit forced just so they can have the shock factor. It’s not super long like HnK or super boring like the KBO fd so that’s good. It’s actually remarkable that despite the poor writing the game was still rather fun. Maybe that’s the true power of the holy maiden hmm.

Characters: Due to the writing being all over the place and the flip-flopping personalities I have no true favourite for this game. If I had to say I’d pick Dante, because he likes cats and for the most part he seems to care about Liliana even when it’s not his route. Gilbert is a close second because he just seems like a fun guy to hang out with and yay shopping. Orlok seems more like a younger brother. Yang, while very entertaining, has an absolutely rubbish personality. Nicola’s route ruined the character for me :/

I’d usually spend some time here talking about the heroine’s personality but she doesn’t really have one. Pretty standard nice, likes baking, will take a bullet for her guy kind of girl. But yeah, no goals of her own.

The sub characters in this game are so-so. My favourites are the Laoshu twins because of how they somehow make every scene they are in more interesting. Emilio is just there to conveniently make things better for the characters involved. But hey, everyone looks great! 

System/Interface: It’s nice and suits the setting. Not much to complain about. I would have liked a ‘skip to next choice’ option for this game. The newspaper clipping style main menu is kinda cute. No trophies to collect since it’s on the Switch.

Art/Music: RiRi’s art saves the day. Even if the characters do stupid or mean stuff, at least they look good doing it. Tbh this is the first game RiRi has done so far where I really like the art. Also kudos for Liliana’s multiple hairstyle and clothing changes. I would have liked more CGs featuring the characters interacting with one another and not just Liliana. Overall the art was prob what I liked best about the game.

Music wasn’t too bad. I enjoyed it while playing but nothing that really impressed me enough to want to buy the soundtrack. I like the various faction themes and they do a decent job of conveying each gang’s mood. OP/ED didn’t stick in my head.

Overall. my main feelings about the game would be... mild disappointment? I was expecting a more action packed, dramatic game. I don’t regret it though because it was fun enough and there’s lots of eye candy. It’s mostly the wasted potential that annoys me. Sorry if this came across as more of a rant than a review. I know a lot of people love this game lol. If you’re interested in darker and edgier games this is still worth giving it a shot. I also have the FD so I’m hoping it will improve my opinion of the series. Will probably start on it after the new year ^^

[wolfqueen-is-here]

Rating ASoIaF POVs

Don’t come at me, these are my personal likes and dislikes (also I’m bored and I had a bizarre fandom encounter yesterday which made me almost consider being too old for Tumblr :P).

If you want to give me yours, I’ll be more than happy to read them!

The order is number of chapters in all the books combined, not my personal favourites. To make it more fun, I’ll also rate them in a scale from 1 to 10 (my least favourite POVs to my best-loved ones).

Here we go!

TYRION - 6/10

Even though he’s not my favourite character (and that’s a huge understatement), I enjoy his chapters in both AGoT and ACoK. I feel kind of “whatever” towards his ASoS chapters, but the real deal-breaker are those from ADwD. It took me nearly two years to finish that book, simply because whenever I stumbled upon his POV, I went into a coma. For me personally it presents his least likeable portrayal, least insightful journey, least understandable motivations. Moreover, he used to constantly objectify women, while judging them by THEIR potential willingness to overcome their prejudice towards him in order to sleep with him. Like get over yourself, ma boy.

JON - 8/10

He started out as an underdog, his chapters in GoT were kind of boring and whiny, nothing ever happened. But boy oh boy, I can’t get enough of him since he ventured out and started hanging out with the wildlings; and his Lord Commander chapters? Probably my favourite ones in ADwD.

ARYA - 8/10

I preferred her hanging out in Westeros, I feel like crossing the sea slowed down her story a bit. Other than that: great read!

DAENERYS - 8/10

People often complain that her chapters were kind of a bore, but for me it was quite the opposite. For a long time she was our only window into Essos, she’s also quite observant and resourceful, so maybe she’ll help Tyrion’s POV become interesting again once they finally meet.

CATELYN - 10+/10

I ofter say that Sansa’s chapters are my favourite, but if I really had to make a choice, it’d be Cat. Her POV is captivating from the very beginning, and she takes us on such a journey! She’s our first window into the Vale, into Renly’s camp (where we meet Brienne and the Tyrells), into Riverrun and the Twins! We follow Robb through her eyes, we mourn Ned with her... She never stops being an interesting character with an eventful background, thrown into situations we wouldn’t be able to witness, weren’t it for her POV. You may like her, you may dislike her, but I’d say that the importance of her chapters is indisputable.

SANSA - 10/10

What can I say? I like her insight, she’s one of the most observant POV characters in the books (maybe because she doesn’t really have her own agenda - not in a bad way, she’s a child and a captive), which makes her less self-absorbed (especially in the later chapters). Yes, her first chapters in AGoT were a bit dull, and that’s why I’d choose Cat’s POV over hers in general.

BRAN - 7/10

I know it’s the weirdest thing to say about one of the most supernatural POVs, but I kinda preferred his Winterfell chapters? He proved to be a great leader (and I’m sure he will be a good king), but some of his later chapters blurred for me into a tight knot of “I’m going north, but sometimes I warg into Summer and hunt”. I hope we explore more of his abilities in TWoW, that’s something I’m really looking forward to despite not being particularly captivated by the deep north’s charms.

JAIME - 8/10

Entertaining, insightful, arrogant - and I’m talking about both Jaime Lannister and his POV chapters. He’s an arsehole with a terrific backstory, but also a walking disaster of a character. Pure joy. The only thing I regret is getting his POV so late in the books. I know it’d ruin suspense otherwise, but still.

EDDARD - 9/10

I love going back to AGoT and reading his chapters, pretending that I don’t know how things end for him. There are so many “main hero” tropes in his chapters, it makes me laugh. Oh well, it was great when it lasted!

THEON - 6/10

HATED his ACoK chapters, LOVED the ones from ADwD. I know that writing him as a dick was crucial to making his further story more heartbreaking, but I generally can’t enjoy vulgarity, objectifying women, describing characters having sex for 15 pages etc. That’s why I hate many Tyrion’s chapters, and that’s why Theon’s POV annoyed me at first. But damn, his inner struggle, his identity crisis, going back and forth from Reek to Theon...  10/10. 

DAVOS - 6/10

Ah, good uncle Davos! I don’t know why I’m not rating him a bit higher, I do enjoy his chapters, especially because it’s through him that we learn more about Stannis and Melisandre in the earlier books. But... he’s such a boring character! :D (I know, I will have to whip myself later for writing this, feel free to send me strongly worded letters, I deserve it.) Davos’s POV works great as an exposition, but I just cannot force myself to care about him personally. Good dude, though.

CERSEI - 9/10

My queen, one and only. I think ASoS might be my favourite book, and that’s mostly because of her chapters. She’s vindictive, egoistic, jealous, unreasonable... and irreplaceable! I enjoy her slightly mellowed-down, cool-headed show version (one of the very few things that the show did right), but gosh, book!Cersei’s weak-arse schemes might be the most wholesome piece of literature, honestly. And the fact that her paranoia isn’t unfounded, that some of her frustrations are totally justified - all that makes her a character rather easy to sympathise with. She might not have the most insightful POV, but it’s certainly the most entertaining one!

SAM - 7/10

He’s a good boy, and an attentive character - his chapters are enjoyable, but not yet exhilarating. Looking forward to more Oldtown business to reevaluate.

BRIENNE - 8/10

I’m not even going to explain myself, her journey was the most enjoyable side-quest I’ve ever witnessed. Some people don’t like her chapters, and honestly, that baffles me more than liking Tyrion’s ADwD POV. :D

BARRISTAN - 4/10

For a famous white cloak, he really felt like a non-character to me. His POV was a-okay, but to be perfectly honest I was constantly paging through his chapters to check whether maybe Dany came back.

VICTARION - 4/10

I’m not a Greyjoy-stan and I probably can’t appreciate the nuance of some Greyjoy POVs, but both Victarion and Aeron read kind of flat. Don’t hate me.

ARIANNE - 8/10

I still don’t get how she was omitted from the show. Maybe she doesn’t become the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, but so many pointless characters from the books got shitloads of screen-time, and my girl Arianne got none? Are you serious? Freaking BRONN became the Master of Coin, and they decided Arianne shouldn’t exist?! And yes, I love even the almost universally hated “The Princess in the Tower” chapter.

ASHA - 7/10

She’d be higher, but there’s a lot of vulgarity in her chapters, too, and I basically don’t care for that At All. Otherwise she’s a dope character and deserves the Iron Islands.

QUENTYN - 6/10

No offence to homie, but he was a bit of a bore. A nice one, but a bore.

AERON - 4/10

See: VICTARION. He’d get even less, but at least we could experience the Iron Islands through his POV.

AREO - 8/10

I don’t see how any Dornish POV (as in being IN Dorne, not being FROM Dorne like Quentyn) could get any less than 7 points. I still think we got too few Dornish POVs, I demand amends!

JONCON - 8/10

I don’t even care about the plot (although he was one of the only two insights into Aegon’s storyline, that should count for something), I can’t with the amount of gayness in his Rhaegar flashbacks. 8/10, would recommend. 

ARYS - 7/10

He was sweet, a bit naive, but I cannot go lower due to my Dorne principle (see: AREO).

MELISANDRE - 8/10

Surprisingly one of the most wholesome POVs of ADwD, pity it was just this one chapter. What with being a Red Priestess and all, you’d expect her to radiate more... numinous energy, but her chapter was one of the most iconic ones. I won’t give her a 9 just because I only have Ned and Cersei with those grades at the moment, and I think it should stay that way. (Oi, Ned/Cersei anyone?)

Prologues and epilogues not included.

What a trip. Care to share your favs? ;)

[violetlunette]

Ten Tropes/Cliches I Love

So while we all like to talk about tropes/cliches we hate, I don’t see enough lists where we talk about tropes/cliches we like, so I decided to make a list of ten Tropes/Cliches that I love in story telling. This isn’t a top ten list as these are out of order and I know that when I post this I’ll remember something I like better than these, so this is just a list of ten things I like, not top ten, but ten. Anywho, let’s begin!

Ten Tropes/Cliches I Love

Hero from a mundane world tossed into a magical one / Average Joe: Oddly enough this is my favorite trope; I love a hero from the mundane world being tossed into a world or strange oddities and whatnot. I then like to see how they react—do they excitedly embrace the magic, scared of it, determined to ignore it, etc. The issue I have is that the mundane hero is usually displayed as useless and just follows their companions around. Naturally the hero would—and should be overwhelmed, but they should have growth throughout the story and should have some skills that could be helpful, or a new way of looking at things.

Royalty / Chosen One: Everyone harps on these two, but I kinda like them—if done right. I admit they’ve been done to death, but it’s a guilty pleasure I suppose.

The idea of being someone special appeals to a lot of people and honestly I like seeing people react differently to their destiny, whatever it is. Some are like “oh hell nah!” or “YAY! I’m special—oh shit, is that blood?!” or just “WTF” and I like seeing them all.

And I like princesses. I like Queens too, but as a kid I liked princesses more because to child me princess= child ruler with power while Queen = dead parents and/or adult. Back then all princess were to me were just kid Queens who would become Queens after they were crowned and the parents were dead / unable to rule, or the whole journey was to become a queen. (Sort of a metaphor for going from a kid to an adult.)

There’s an argument princesses are anti-femenist, but I disagree. While there are a lot of mediums in the media that shows princesses as useless damsels there’s even more where the Princess is a leader who does just as much, if not more, as a hero. The only reason they’re not Queens is because a) they’re in a middle of a war so there’s no time for a coronation to officially crown them or b) a king or Queen is still alive. Sometimes they’re evil, but still they’re the rulers. Hell, if you ask me it the other royals who get a worse hand.

Think about it; Queens are dead, evil/insane, or not mentioned, kings are useless idiots, dead, or evil, and princes are just the reward who swoops in at the end and hardly even get a name. Princesses at least have a variety and are more well rounded than the rest.

Also I like pretty dresses and crowns (yes, I’m that girl. I like pretty outfits. There will be a list eventually).

Suave/charming eccentric sidekick/mentor: I just love suave, charming characters like Jack Sparrow (Pirates Of The Caribbean) and RGB (Property of Hate)—however I hesitate to make them the focus of a story due to the 4&5th of POTC (I don’t care for them). Nonetheless I like seeing these characters as a mentor and friend who helps the hero adapt to a new world. They’re fun to watch and they’re an entertaining way to show us the world and how they work.

Family plays a Role in the Story: I love stories were family members are actually apart of the story (and not just they died, or are basically back ground filler.). I mean, they don’t have to be apart of the main cast, but I like them to be apart of the story.

Sadly, story lines like this are usually put on back burner or background in favor of “romance” or large fight scenes.

OUAT did this great at first where Emma doesn’t know how to react to her parents and was even mad that they chose to send her away to play hero (even though I just thought they did that to save her, destiny be damned). I especially loved how she had to build relationship with them and how they address the tragedy of how the Charmings didn’t get to be apart of Emma’s childhood.

However, this plot got sidelined by the romance arcs in later seasons, and not just Emma’s. (Btw, is it just me or did Snow grow distant from Emma once baby Neal was born?)

I also like seeing siblings work together, step, twins, etc—except younger siblings. Stories do not treat younger siblings well. They’re usually brats, antagonists, or hostages for later.

Magical world and creatures: Not much to say about this; I love dragons, unicorns, fae, and monsters and I like seeing new magical worlds like Wonderland, Oz, Narnia, and the Harry Potter world. Our world is boring. Unless Urban fantasy is involved and even then it’s the magical creatures that make it fun.

Villains that are actually villains and know it: Everyone hates villains who are just evil for the sake of being evil, but to me I actually LOVE these villains much better than the “gray” villains. The reason being is that they’re allowed to have FUN being evil and therefore memorable. My favorite Disney villains are Maleficent, Ursula, Hook, Jafar and Dr. Falcifer. Why? Because they’re allowed to be bad. They didn’t need a tragic backstory or complicated political views, they had power and they knew it. They embraced it and allowed themselves to have fun and be flamboyant. Hell. It even made villains like Maleficent more frightening because she had so much power she wanted to use she actively sought out excuses to use it for her own entertainment, such as not getting invited to a party.

I know it’s unrealistic and can make a character feel flat, but when a story gives a baddie a backstory it spends a lot of time trying to make us feel bad for the baddie instead of enjoying them AS the baddie.

Knight in Shining Armor: Guilty pleasure. But I like the drama of the Main character being captured, but being saved by their loved ones. And I know others do too because whenever someone starts a head canon blog one of the most common questions are, “what would the Ros do if their SO was kidnapped?” So don’t try to play that, ‘it’s not empowering’ card with me!

That being said, I only like it when the scenario is done right; Like, I don’t like how Mario always has to save Peach because we’ve seen her pawn Bowser so many times and she gets kidnapped often enough where she should get the hint to A) Get better security or B) Lock Bowser up for multiple kidnappings and conquest. I mean I like Peach, but still. That being said I do find it heartwarming to see how for Mario goes to save the ones he cares about and that’s why I like this trope. I love seeing how much the hero loves the person they’re saving and the lengths they go to make sure they’re safe.

The Masquerade: I like the idea of there being a secret hidden world under our noses and seeing how the magic people hide it. There’s also the appeal of being in on the secret. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel a lot of the fun’s gone from a story when the secret’s out.

Power McGuffin: I like shiny things like necklaces, rings, etc. And magic items? Gimmie! The best example is the One Ring from the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I love the lore and how it has a will of it’s own and how it manipulates minds—it’s just a ring, yet it’s also a conniving villain as well. Oh, and the power of invisibility and possibly more helps.

The Mystery/Journey plots: I like stories that ether have a mystery or a quest in them. Mysteries because of the feel they give and the pride when you solve it (unless the writer cheats), and the Quest as the journey is more about the character building and their relationships.

And those are ten (not top ten) Cliches/Tropes I like! I may do another in the future, but for now let me know your favorites tropes cliches/or what you think about this.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Summer 2018 Anime Overview: Cells at Work! and My Hero Academia Season 3 (Episodes 52-63)

Cells at Work!

Cells at Work follows anthropomorphic personifications of cells, all busily doing what they can to keep the body they inhabit running. Their surroundings look like a regular city, so yeah, a bit different from Osmosis Jones. The main characters are Red Blood Cell, a passionate courier with no sense of direction and White Blood Cell, a subdued fellow who nevertheless fights off invading bacteria with great gusto. But there are plenty of other cells to get to know as well.

Cells at Work is edutainment aimed at kids, but it is still entertaining as a narrative in its own right. It’s just....really cute. The dramatic ways the anime represents various crises in the body is good and the characters are largely charming. 

Considering that it is aimed for kids, it’s kind of hilarious how bloody it is (every time there’s a fight with bacteria expect it to basically rain red stuff). But hey, that proves the show knows its audience. I certainly loved blood and guts as a kid. And stuff like the sneezes being presented as missiles and whatnot is also pretty creative.

 The way each cell is personified is fun. From the adorable little platelets to the eccentric Memory cell, there’s a lot to love. I was at first a bit concerned that the “warrior” cells seemed to be mostly represented by men, but that concern is somewhat mollified when several fighting girl cells made the scene. I have great affection for the macrophages, because soft and sweet characters who are also KILLING MACHINES always have a place in my heart.

I also have to give a shoutout to NK Cell for owning my entire life with her badassery and muscular arms, I’m in love with a cell, this is what anime has done to me.

The one warning I do have about the show is there’s an episode that kinda presents cancer cells as some tragic doomed villain you should feel bad for and I can see how that would be uncomfortable and upsetting for people who’ve had their lives affected by cancer. I get what they were going for- (cancer cells should have been normal cells that helped the body, but due to circumstances they ‘come out wrong’ and have to be purged, if you humanize that its naturally a pretty terrible fate)- but it was a little...yeah, a little weird.

But other than that, if you want a cute and light show that also contains rivers of blood and near death experiences, all while teaching you about how your body works, it’s a solid watch. It’s by no means deep and complex and the narration can sometimes be a bit much, but its a good time.

My Hero Academia Season 3 (Episodes 52-63)

My Hero Academia continues as Deku and his classmates face the exams to get their provisional hero licenses.

Largely, this part of the season was nothing to write home about, especially compared to the awe-inspiring intensity of the arc that preceded it. It was a shonen exam arc and the stakes were pretty low. The flaws that dog MHA stood out all the more because of it- the girls being unnecessarily sexualized and underrepresented etc, you know the drill.

However, there were some fun character moments in there and also a couple  stellar episodes. “Deku vs Kacchan Part 2″ both looked great and was among the best in the series as far as writing goes- it was a big turning point and really bought the feels. 

This season has been really good for Bakugou, shedding light on what makes him tick. The journey with him in this series has been interesting- I went from feeling annoyed indifference in season 1, to finding him kinda hilarious at times in season 2, and now I feel like I genuinely find him to be an interesting, fully fledged character, even if he’s still an asshole. 

He’s been challenged a LOT this season and the fact he was finally open about his fear, guilt and vulnerability in that episode is a pretty big deal. He doesn’t have a tragic backstory to fuel his actions, but you can still see how he built up this weird toxic worldview that is starting splinter a bit. In contrast, Deku’s gotten a lot more confident and secure in himself and he really showed it in that ep. 

Other things I like about this season include the extra screentime given to Momo that apparently wasn’t in the manga, which allowed her to show how she’s developed as a leader (even if the fact she constantly compares herself to dudes is getting tiring). 

Unfortunately, the movie tie-in extra episode was not nearly as elegant anime-original material- it jarringly disrupted the arc with a non-sequitur and the whole plot and concept was just incredibly dumb (Apparently one of UA’s test is to see if you can guess ridiculous overelaborate romantic drama scenarios the teachers come up with off of basically nothing! And that’s important for being a hero...because! And Deku somehow, very inexplicably, managed to guess the whole stupid scenario! But still failed!). Oh well.

The new characters introduced in this season were also charming so far and I’m interested to see what their stories are. 

But yeah, overall, this was a fairly unremarkable arc. Aside from some good moments (like Todoroki returning to confront his issues again) and one really good episode, it was pretty standard stuff and I enjoyed it okay, but it definitely didn’t blow my mind. You can read my full recap for more details.

But ofc, I will be watching the fourth season. MHA is a deeply flawed series, but I adore most of the characters and want to see how their stories go. And when it’s good, this series is really good.