#since especially during the last arc i forgot a ton

[trixibebe]

Damn the final pages of Noragami made me cry.

[popculturebuffet]

Final Space Season 3 Reviews: The Ventrexian

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to my reviews of Final Space! This week was a damn good one but before I get into that I have a bit to get off my chest first. I’ve been struggling a bit covering the show. I’m not going to stop, I decided against that, but I felt opening up about it might help a bit. 

I chalk it up to a number of things. The first is that the show went back to Season 1′s style of storytelling. To compare season 1 was basically one long, four hour film. There were plots within the episodes but it was one complete story. Season 2 was also one complete story, but had a more relaxed pace to it, with the episodes feeling more like indvidual bits of media and less part of one big operatic season long story. Neither approach is bad but so far the shows i’ve covered, both on a week to week basis and indvidually for varoius reasons, have taken the approach season 2 did, more episodic adventures with the plot still moving right along. And with Season 2 being you know, the second season, I didn’t expect the show to return to Season 1′s storytelling, if with some embeleshments from season 2 like the cold opens that really help it flow better, so I was caught off guard. 

The second is that I hadn’t reviewed a “new” show week to week in some time and thus forgot their was an adjustment period, and combinging that with the fact Sunday used to be a catchup day or a break with reviews before Final Space started, I was caught off guard and thus struggled a bit. I seriously considered ending these reviews.. but eventually realized why I did, that I had more to say and I don’t HAVE to be as in depth with the recap portion of the review every single time. A review should be as long or short as it needs to be. Not TOO short mind, but I don’t have to provide a detailed synopsis when you can usually , by the time I get this show’s ones out anyway, see the episode yourself or go to the wiki. 

TLDR: Reviewing this show has been a bit of a learning experince, and a re-learning experince but I realized I shoudln’t give up because it’s hard, and if I did that EVERY TIME that became a problem, I wouldn’t of lasted a full year of reviews. So join me under the cut as we dive deep into Avacato’s past, Gary and Quinn’s intamcy issues and cosmic god swordfights. 

As it’s been our heroes are mostly seperated into their own plots, same lineups as last time, though this time Bollo and Gary’s plots come together at the very end. And I will say before I get into each one while this isn’t a bad storytelling engine, and Final Space has used it well in the past... I REALLY miss the interaction between the characters. It’s something the show got REALLY good at in season 2. The friction caused by Gary and Clarence jockying for control, Ash’s weird sorta relatoinship with LIttle Cato that I miss as I still lowkey ship those two, Fox and LIttle Cato slowly growing from enimies due to their respective race’s centuries long war to friends, Nightfall having to deal with the fact our Gary isn’t hers, HUE’s relationship with AVA, EVERYONE hating KVN.. there was just a LOT of good stuff int here that I miss. I get why it’s gone, the stakes are really high right now and we still have gotten some of it like the whole Feel Me sequence.. I just hope we get some more back as we go , especially since Ash and Fox, whose unique deisgns got me to catch up with the series for season 2 in the first place and whose personalites made them instantly adopted children of mine, have been pushed to the side during these first three episodes and hopefully we’ll get a bit more soon. It’s just something I hope we get back as we go, especially with two new members joining the Team Squad this week for the old guard to bounce off of. And tha’ts not even getting into the fact there’s a lot to unpack for Gary with his mom trying to be a good mom after decades of bullshit. But we’ll see, I can’t predict the future. I can break down this episode soooo.

Team Avacato: Butcher

This part was easily the highlight of the episode. To start us off the episode begins by flashing us back to when Invictus grabbed a seemingly dead Lord Commander last season. Turns out he wasn’t QUITE as dead as Nightfall thought. We also find out that LC.. has no idea who Invictus is. This tracks when I think about it:  He had, and still has, a worshipful reverence for the titans, wanting to become one and gain the power of a god and clearly thought they were at the top of the food chain. If he knew someone else was behind it.. he would’ve brought them up sooner, especially since he has a love of giving manical speeches where he hot dogs and grandstands for a bit before choking someone to death. He was also suprised the titans just ignored him. 

But now he knows.. but even when confronted with a horrifying demonic entity who just swiped him from near death, he’s still as egosticial and cold as ever. But invictus has a tempting offer: They can give Lord Commander what he wanted: they can MAKE HIM A TITAN. We don’t know if htis is true or not of course, but given the sheer scale of invictus power and the fact they’ve had an army of titans under their thrall for centuries, if anyone can do it they can. 

All invictus wants in return.. is Mooncake. I do love Lord Commander’s “Oh for fuck’s sake’ reaction to finding out he has to seek him out again. His tone just screams...

Invictus needs our little buddy though: Turns out, ironically enough given Bolo’s situation until the end of last season, Invictus is imprisoned and needs Mooncake’s power to break the seal. And given the sheer power this thing has displayed WITHOUT being at full....

Yeah it’s not great. Invictus restores Lord Commander to normal.. and as seen last episode and confirmed here, his powers are no longer destroying his body to use, so the one thing keeping him from killing them all and ending the show in 5 minutes is now off the table. 

So with our heroes all nights of wundagory, Lord Commander zeroes in on the Catos. Which makes a ton of sense: He dosen’t KNOW Ash, Fox or Sheryl. At all. Lord Commander isn’t just a bastard he’s a SADISTIC bastard. While he could work on the rest of them it’s just no fun for him as he can’t add a personal touch. You can see how much he enjoys this, he never avoids this, because buddy he’s a diffrent breed, this is his calling, and though i’ts applaing, he loves making people bleed... emotionally and physically. 

So our own personal antichrist spends the episode forcing Avacato’s backstory out of him. Sure he could just tell it himself but as I said via refrence .. he ENJOYS this.

While we got part of Avacato’s backstory in season 1, he worked for lord comander, did the worst shit imaginable, knows he’ll never be able to ballance those books, and the one line he ended up drawing was his son, who LC decided to use as a barganing chip. that was towards the END of his life as Lord Commander’s right hand monster. This is his origin.  After loosing his first son, Avacato, a loyal solider of the ventrixian army, kept fighting despite having nothing left to fight for. What happened to his first son and all that we don’t know yet.. but he was just left a souless killing machine fighting a war that had been going on so long his people forgot it, the same one brought up last season. Yeah Fox and LIttle Cato’s fued comes off a bit more horrifying in hindsight. 

So one day he was outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered and outplanned... when Lord Commander showed up, murdered EVERYONE in the opossing armor and asked them all to kneel, with Avacato taking his time. Later that day Avacato apporached the Lord Commander... who saw right through him. He was a warrior, but the war he was fighting was hollow.. he was a butcher, a murderer with no real purpose or direction... and Lord Commander was all too happy to offer him one, bettering the universe and all that crap.. though how much he belivies it remains to be scene. I must say David Tennat is at his peak this episode, giving his best performance as the green asshole yet, full of gravitas and cruelty as you’d expect and showing WHY people followed him: He gave the purposeless purpose and easily could talk people into following him. Looking back Superior Stone probably GENUINELY belivied that he was doing something good. Lord Commander’s just that good at his job. 

So he just had one favor to ask, kill the king and queen who Avacato had served loyally and he’ll give him something real to fight for. And he did so. Naturally LIttle Cato is horrified and Ash TRIES to help sooothe his concisne pointing out his mind was twisted up and all that.. but Avacato solemly notes “I’m the one who pulled the trigger”. Ash means well.. but Avacato knows the truth: what he did there was horrid: a horrible betryal of two people just to feel something. No matter how much good he’s done since or how much he’s changed... Avacato knows what he did was horrible and no matter how hard he tries that ledger can’t be ballanced. He does good.. but it’s because it’s the right thing, not because he ever belivies he can be forgiven or work past what he’s done. And the show dosen’t make the case that he should or answer the hard questions.. it just leaves it there and given Olan’s outright said this arc is going to span seasons, if hopefully we get more mind you, I feel it’s going to be a long road to exploring that. 

And.. one other thing about the incident. As it turns out, and as Avacato left out of the story, and Lord Commander likely let him both because he’s out of intergation time and because he can use that later: Avacato was the son of the king and queen. Avacato murdered his parents, and then adopted him, even if Lord COmmander wasn’t happy about it. And now he’s stuck holding onto something THIS bad knowing it’ll destroy his son and their relationship when it comes out.. and that’s the problem. It’s not an if.. it’s a WHEN. Also everyone’s being dragged towards invictus. Uh-oh. 

Team Gary and Bollo: YAY BISKITS BACK... I think Yay still deciding Meanwhile on the DragonHawk 5, i’m going with Gary’s Name because as much as Quinn’s growing on me the galaxy 2 is an objectiely lazy name, but Gary picks out a room for them.. only for Quinn to suggest seperate rooms and Gary to clearly and understandably be bothered by it. This is a mixed bag. On the one hand I feel for him as he spent months trying to save quinn, she’s only doing this because she’s hiding something horrible from him, as we find out the infection we saw in the first episode has spread through her body, and he just wants to be with her. But on the other hand.. they’ve dated what.. a month and a day? It’s a bit much. The only reason this works is that that part isn’t really dwelt o and the actings good.. it just takes me out of it at times when my brain reminds me of this, and it’s something the show REALLY needs to explore at some point instead of just treating Gary and Quinn as JUST some shakesperian romance across all time.. I mean it is, but it’s also an awkard but loveable dork and a stralighaced woman whose been through hell who both really need to know one another bette.r 

So naturally this conflict dangles over them, but they have bigger issues: i.e. a new crew member! As mentioned Biskit is back, having snuck aboard and being entirely deranged. I don’t know what to make of him yet as while he was adorable last time this time his entire attuide is essentally 

No really he asks why they aren’t banging and interupts gary ALMOST getting Quinn to open up. But unlike say Tribore, it’s clear BIskt isn’t all there, and clearly has no frame of refrence for how creepy he’s being, so i’m willing to see how it plays out. 

So our heroes arrive at Bollo. Bollo spent the episode hunting down Orekis.. he’s sitll bitter about the whole stealing his girlfriend and giving her an std thing. Just a tad. So we get a truly EPIC battle including the two throwing each other THROUGH planets and one really cool bit where Bolo slides on the ring of a planet. So fucking awesome. Eventually he wins, though he now has an infection of some sort, that can’t be good, and Mooncake headblasts him.

Things aren’t great though as Gary isn’t happy when he finds out Bolo lied about his and quinn’s deaths to use Mooncake, with Bolo admitting he got clouded by revenge. But it’s clear theirs a divide in goals: Gary just wants to get the hell out and Bolo wants to stop invictus. And.. neither are wrong. Gary is understandable: He didn’t want any part of this shit to begin with, only going with the key quest to save Quinn. All going to final space has done and dealing with it in general has done has cost him people: Avacato (He got better but stillc ounts), Nightfall.. and his dad. It’s understandable that after ALL of this he just wants to find his surrogate family and LEAVE. 

But Bolo.. is right. his methods aren’t great and he needs to be more honest with Gary... but Invictus isn’t going to go away magically if Gary ignores him. He’s not Tucker Carlson. He’s right to go after him and ther’es no easy answer here. As we’ve seen iwth Quinn staying in final space fucks you up.. but if Gary dosen’t all of space my die.. or worse. It’s a decision he’s going to have to face soon: his family.. or everything. 

Final Thoughts: This episode is truly excellent. After a rough start to the season and a decent episode last time this episode is just out and out brilliant, filling in some more blanks with Avacato and progressing things at a nice clip. Really great stuff. Hopefully this pace continues. Until next week join my patreon, follow this space for more and see you at the next rainbow. 

PS: I forgot to mention Cookie Robot.. as ther’es now a cookie robot. 

[silver-wield]

I’m sorry in advance. This is a long rant. I think the main reason I can't accept this "SOLDIER!Cloud loves A” thing is because I've always felt that the whole love triangle nonsense was introduced solely to make the players invested in A. Let's face it, the biggest reason people were devastated when she died is because they were invested in her potential romance with Cloud. It was the easiest and cheapest way to make sure the devs achieved their goal. (1/5)

But in their desperation to reach that goal at any cost, the devs ended up damaging other things along the way. Having Tifa in the background until A was out of the picture was such a dumb move. It’s obvious they didn’t want any other character to outshine her. Creating this illusion of Cloud loving A served no purpose in the story. And Aerith herself didn’t bond with anyone save for Cloud. These among many other things. To me, all that wavering thing was so unnecessary to the narrative. (2/5)

Things felt rushed, and A was put on a pedestal and shoved in the players’ faces along with the potential romance with her. It was clear to me that the devs just wanted people to like her so that they’d be devastated when she died. But I guess you can’t ask for too much of games/stories back in 1997. I’m sorry, but I just can’t accept people saying that SOLDIER!Cloud loved A. They hadn’t known each other that long, and 95% of the time, they had other things on their plate than romance. (3/5)

It’s not like they were dating or getting to know each other during the brief time they spent together. Also, I don’t mean to offend anyone, but saying the LTD is now ending because A is stepping out and pushing Cloud onto Tifa sounds so insulting. Like Tifa can’t win unless her competition steps out and hands her the man on a silver platter. This time around, I feel that the devs are trying to do things properly. A is finally taking the time to bond with other characters, especially Tifa. (4/5)

Her world doesn’t revolve around Cloud only anymore. Tifa is not in the background anymore, so now people can get to know her and get attached to her even early on. The romance with Tifa isn’t something that feels like it’s come out of the left field about 2/3 of the way in. There might’ve been hints but they were too subtle. Among many other improvements. Whatever the devs do, I just hope they give us the best version possible of the story this time around. Thanks for listening to my rant.(5/5)

Death to the LTD 1

Death to the LTD 2 (dialogue evolution)

Death to the LTD 3 (soldier Cloud’s acceptance)

Cloud’s hyper vigilance

That would be because the concept absolutely was introduced to make the players more invested in Aerith, so her death had a harder hit when it happened. It was a new thing back in 97 to have a love triangle and pretty much everybody was starting to do it. There’s tons of movies, tv series and books out during that time that showcase the trope.

And having 2 heroines, Aerith and Tifa, and having the hero waver between them, at the time that was something new. ~Kitase,  FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania pg. 11

I think everyone forgets the difference in technology between FF6 and FF7, not just graphically, but narratively, too. Back then, everything was new and everyone was still trying to find their feet and figure out evolving technology. I mean, it’s still evolving now, but those building blocks that form the base are still the same. Just because there’s now millions of polygons involved doesn’t take away the fact they’re still polygons. 

FF7 was Square’s first foray into using more sophisticated methods of game development and that impacted how the story came across. In previous games, the optional content or hidden story arcs that had to be found to be appreciated made the game more fun. The player had to wander around more and talk to everyone to get the full picture and since it worked before, they thought it’d work again. That people would replay and swap party members around to trigger the other scenes and gather the rest of the puzzle pieces for the fuller picture.

But, they forgot they were trying to make everyone love one specific character, which meant the best way to do that was to keep her in the party over everyone else. Which meant people cared less about the others until the point she leaves the party for good. And by that point, when these people replay they just want to spend even more time with her, so they still miss the other dialogues and scenes with other characters that build their storyline alongside this other character they’ve pressed everyone to care about.

And that’s how the LTD got started because they chose not to play the game fully and only focus on one character, they didn’t see the entire picture. And the guides out at the time didn’t help much on that side of things because they didn’t give narrative canon party suggestions so that players got the most out of the story in each location. 

Soldier Cloud loved Aerith?

Really? When they’ve been saying for years that soldier Cloud didn’t even exist or that we said he was really Zack and that’s why he’s into Aerith? It’s funny how the moment the devs confirm that real Cloud emerged to embrace Tifa they decided they could claim the dominant persona for their own, even though they also said that it was soldier Cloud who complimented Tifa, despite real Cloud not being the dominant persona. We even see visible evidence of the two aspects at war with each other in the honeybee inn scene before Cloud dances. That eye movement back and forth and expression of “fine, for Tifa” is an internal argument with the two aspects that soldier Cloud isn’t aware enough of to realise that’s what it is. If we take Soldier Cloud as the only personality then there’s no way he’d do that because it’s not cool, and soldier Cloud is always cool. He’s being made to dance because of real Cloud’s desire to rescue Tifa. 

Aerith steps out...

Yeah, I wouldn’t phrase it like that, but the overall sentiment is that Aerith is refusing to do what happened in OG.

More importantly, though, and the thing I focused on in my death to the LTD, is Cloud’s behaviour and reaction and feelings. Because he’s soldier Cloud. Real Cloud isn’t part of the LTD because he already chose Tifa. Soldier Cloud is the focus of the LTD because he’s the one who misinterpreted real Cloud’s feelings and focused them on the wrong girl. This time, we see clear evidence throughout all of his interactions that he is also choosing Tifa.

In the train tunnel, while it’s real Cloud’s motivation to protect Tifa, Soldier Cloud is the one who carries out the roll. Then, it’s Soldier Cloud who kisses her cheek, the same as it’s Soldier Cloud who calls her beautiful. Because he’s the one flirting. Real Cloud’s desire is the motivator for him to do it, but it’s Soldier Cloud doing the thing.  Same with every single flirty interaction. Real Cloud’s emergence is only confirmed by the devs twice in the game and both times relate to Tifa. Real Cloud’s hand twitches with the urge to comfort her and then real Cloud hugs her. 

Everything else is only motivated by his love and desire for her, which means everything else is Soldier Cloud acting on those feelings.

The single moment of wavering from him is literally within the LTD nod scene in the train graveyard when Aerith grabs his arm. He doesn’t react when she does it, stays silent, leans away. He’s not showing her a preference. Then, he looks at and agrees with Tifa, which is showing a clear bias towards her. 

Then right before Tifa grabs Cloud’s arm, his eyes start to shift towards Aerith. This is the reference to OG Cloud wavering, but then before he can even look at Aerith, he spots Tifa’s hands in his peripheral vision, gasps, then looks at and smiles at her. 

That’s the result of Cloud’s wavering. He chose Tifa. After that, there’s zero LTD scenes and in fact, there’s a humorous shot of Tifa looking towards the camera after Cloud leaps on her to save her from the falling train carriage and Aerith thanks him for saving both of them. He didn’t save both of them. Didn’t even try. 

I don’t think there’s gonna be anything to worry about going forward because one thing Nojima learned from letting things be “open for interpretation” is that his work gets butchered. 

Since FF7, other FF titles he’s worked on -

FF8: Squall and Rinoa kiss.

FF10: Yuna and Tidus kiss.

FFCC: Aerith and Zack hug

FF13: Snow and Serah kiss and get engaged.

FF15 (when it was originally vs): Noctis and Luna kiss.

If anyone learned their lesson from this LTD mess, it’s Nojima, but he’s been restricted when it comes to 7 by the suits - which is one of the hidden graffiti meta messages in the train tunnel that refers to why Cloti was never made more explicit. 

“They tell you to go with the flow so they can keep the status quo.”

Since this is the last of the FF7 compilation the suits have relaxed the reins on the LTD, so that Nojima can write the story as he sees fit, which I would guess is down to the fact they did sales projections and figured out that FF7 would be massively successful and has in fact also boosted sales of PS4 consoles because people specifically bought the console to play FF7R. With the new mysteries and twists to keep fans talking about the game until the next installment is out, they don’t need to hold onto this outdated LTD concept that everyone hates and isn’t anything the company wants to associate with because of how toxic and nasty it is. They’re a Japanese company having to hear these so called fans talking about how Tifa is a “typical Asian girl” or whatever tf they call her. It’s disgusting. Square yeeted the guys behind Genesis because of the controversy around them, so to have fans like this associated with one of their most popular and iconic titles? Yeah, that ain’t happening. 

[mysterylover123]

Does Bones have a BKDK ‘agenda’?

mysterylover123 

The speculation I’ve seen so far about why Bones cut the flashback from the TodoBaku scenes in Chapter 164/Episode 79 is because they were ‘so preoccupied with BKDK in the new movie that they forgot about Bakugou’s development with Todoroki”. Which does raise the question, does Bones indeed have a BKDK shipping agenda of some kind?

The idea of an anime studio preferring a pairing and adding in tons of extra material to bias fans towards it is an absolutely founded suspicion. Clamp putting out official homoerotic art of Suzaku/Lelouch, that foot wash scene Madhouse added to Death Note between L and Light, Pierrot pretty obviously liking SasuNaru and Naruhina and throwing in tons of extra material for both; Studios do do this. They prefer certain pairings and they play them up. So does Bones have a BKDK agenda? 

The answer I’ve found on examination is a resounding “YES”, but Ive preserved my ‘let’s find out’ tone of writing for the rest of the examination.

Well, let’s start with the OPs and EDs, the first original contributions Bones was able to make in the adaptation. “The Day” does indeed have a long sequence focusing on them, but it’s not unreasonable given the content of S1. “Peace Sign” doesn’t include anything in particular, nor do ED1 or 2. ED 3, “Sora Ni Utaeba”, does have a scene of Kacchan meditating about Deku and getting mad, then blasting towards him at the end and the match-cut with his eye. But this is pretty minor, and fits episode 2.24. ED3, “Datte Atashi No Hero”, is the first time an OP or ED appears to have an agenda of shipping these two, hardcore. LiSa’s song is, according to her, about their relationship, and the Fantasy AU ending has the mutual understanding shot at the end. But it also has smiling prince Shoto, Dragon Kiri and Uraraka greeting Deku, so other ships get a nod too.

“Odd Future” has very little, though one could interpret the snow behind Deku as meaning something romantic. “Update” does include the lines ‘love’ over and over again in the final shot where they stand together watching the stars, but others are there as well, like Shoto and Ochako. Aside from the symbolism of DVK2 in OP5, the rest of S3’s ops are pretty light on BKDK, as was Polaris and ED6, and our current OP too. However, ED7 did have those mirror shots of them brooding in bed, and growing up.

So yes, the OPs and EDs do have a lot of emphasized shots between them. But nothing too crazy. Let’s get into Filler, movies and changes to episodes now.

Season 1 features no filler and no overt tweaks to any episodes; the only bit of added on BKDK I can think of is Deku blushing as a kid during the flashbacks in DVK part 1. Nothing too dramatic in Season 2 either, as the filler ep is about Tsu and nothing is particularly altered from the manga, besides throwing in the Kabe-Don in Katsuki Bakugo Origin. OK, that’s a big besides, given the sexual implications of that in anime culture. Season 3’s filler ep has Bakugo challenging Deku to a swimming contest, but there’s also a bit of TodoDeku and KiriBaku and IiDeku extra teasing there, so again, nothing like a pure bKDK-based agenda.

The 2nd filler ep of S3 has a little BKDK, as does the film, but nothing overt. The film has a bit of KiriBaku agenda, given all their scenes together, and throws in extra TodoBaku (the first bit of extra TodoBaku, alongside Episode 58, that they tossed our way). S4 gave us Deku’s soft smile at Kacchan’s antics, and contemplating on the retake arc last ep, indicating that Bones is indeed including little nods. And now there’s Heroes Rising, though that one was Hori’s idea.

My theory is that Bones does kinda like the ship, but that they have started including more and more BKDK because of how popular it’s getting. Winning the Tokyo Tower contest for the film, the 12,000+ fanfics, the unceasing winners of the Popularity Polls….my guess is Bones knows how popular BKDK is, so they’re adding in more fan service of it. But they were adding in little bits since Season 1 (The cherry blossoms, the smol Deku blush), so saying they have a bit of a BKDK agenda might…not be inaccurate. They do throw in a bit of Fanservice for other ships too, like Izuocha, KiriBaku, Tododeku, and even TodoBaku a little.

But aside from the popularity of BKDK…I think it’s also the key relationship of the series. Everything at it’s core is about them, they’re the main characters and the main focus, so it doesn’t seem too silly to slip in lots of them. But they’ve never had trouble tantalizing other pairings before this, even if they always added more to BKDK than the others. So I don’t think they cut TodoBaku’s scene just because they like another pairing better. I mean, that wouldn’t make much sense anyway.

But that is what started this discussion, so now we come to the real main question. Is Bones downplaying TodoBaku for BKDK? Certainly, BKDK is the only platonic pairing in canon that they’ve slipped quasi-romantic fanservice into in the anime (the blush, the cherry blossoms, the kabe-don, all things that have more romantic implications than anything done with Tododeku or Kiribaku). This needs another closer look.

In Season 1, Bones doesn’t especially play up Todoroki, or his future significance. No extra glances that aren’t in the manga, no closeup shots on him when he’s not the subject of a scene, etc. S1 is pretty much a straightforward adaptation of Chapters 1-21, no filler added, no noticeable agenda either way. In S2, that remains the truth for most of the season. I did notice that Bones makes some small changes in season 2 to the framing on Bakugou in a few scenes, like In Episode 25 where he’s made to look especially menacing Pre-last match, or Episode 27 where Jeanist physically restrains him (not in the manga). I’m not sure what agenda that might push, if any, as far as the ships go.

The season added in a scene of Bakugou tutoring Kirishima, which is in one of the Light novels and not the manga. They also, of course, as I mentioned above, added in the Kabe-don in Katsuki Bakugo Origin, as well as that entire alleyway sequence. The filler episode has a small scene between Deku and Todoroki that could be read as shippy. But yes, in S2, Bones doesn’t add in any extra, non-manga Todobaku.

The drama CDs and Smash, interestingly enough, do. Neither seems to have a lot of Todo/Deku, but they sure like slipping in TodoBaku subtext. There’s 2 drama CDs where they get stuck together by villains who want to scandalize them with compromising photographs, and multiple Smash comics joking about how their heated interactions come off as sexual tension. Of course, Smash has fanservice for pretty much every ship at some point.

In S3′s filler ep, Bakugo does yell at Todoroki “you too” after challenging Deku. It’s pretty minor, but it’s new stuff. Everything for the rest of the Training Camp arc is manga-canon and straightforward, as is the hideout raid. No real playing up of any one pairing over the other. The PLE arc adds in some filler that does seem to be hinting at a slight Todo/Momo agenda, since it has her wonder ‘what would Todoroki do’?, and indeed if Bones has a Shoto Ship leaning in any direction, it’s probably that one. But nothing extra added to BKDK or Todobaku that wasn’t in the manga already.

Episode 58 and the movie, however, do add in TodoBaku scenes. Their same usual dynamic from before, of course. Bones seems to see TodoBaku as essentially, how a lot of the fans see them: Bakugou antagonizing Shoto and Shoto’s reaction being an unbrideled ‘meh’. They do depict them working together in the film, and having a secret grin - though that grin has to do with BKDK a little. In context, Baku is being soft that Deku and All Might won, Shoto sees it, and smirks, making him tsun-tsun. 

S4 did add an extra scene in Filler ep 3 where they talk about their future plans. There’s an adjusted reaction from Deku in the next ep, where he smiles fondly at Katsuki. The new OP also doesn’t show Todoroki and Bakugou together, alone in any of the shots of them; they’re always separate, brooding about their own problems, when this OP could’ve been a good time to show them together.  Outside of crowd shots, they don’t share the screen.

So yes, all in all, the conspiracy theory idea might not be so far off. Bones definitely does include little nods to BKDK that make it even shippier, and does seem to be downplaying TodoBaku a bit, at least more so than the Drama CDs. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, since at least unlike Naru/Hina vs Naru/saku, it’s unlikely to actually influence the series’ content - there is no actual love triangle here to be played up or played down, just fanon ships. Still, it is noteable.

[ahatintimestorybook]

A Royal Problem Chap. 10-Welcome Back to Mafia Town

Here is the next chapter/arc of the story: The Mafia Town arc! I’ve been waiting to do this arc to the story since I was planning it in its outline stage. I also realize that the last story I updated also featured the Mafia, and this one too also features the Mafia as well. A Mafia Feature fanfic from me!!!

This story is also a way for me to bring in more headcanons especially for Vanessa as well as getting a good laugh out of me. Seriously this chapter is funny!

Also BIG thanks to ReaderDragon for being my beta reader!!

Other than that Enjoy!!!

Hat Kid slowly opened her eyes and got up from bed. She looked around her room and saw it was still early. She looked to her left and saw Snatcher and Vanessa still asleep, with the latter hugging one of the pillows. Hat Kid gave a quiet chuckle as she got out of bed. She made her way to the main hub of her ship to get a drink of water before going back to sleep, but paused as she saw the Time Piece.

The hat wearing child forgot she was supposed to be collecting the Time Piece shards to fix the Time Piece and get Snatcher and Vanessa back to normal. She has been wanting to go back to Subcon and find the rest of the shards, but after what the kids experienced she never did go back to Subcon. Whoever that thing wanted with the royal kids was enough for Hat Kid to not bring the kids back. Even leaving them alone on the ship would be a bad idea after Subcon and Conductor’s train.

Hat Kid sighed and glared, she didn’t want to do this, but she had no other choice. She got dressed out of her pajamas and into her regular clothes, grabbed a quick snack and made it back to her room. Hat Kid went to the telescope that would teleport her to Subcon and pointed it to where she left off. Hopefully, she could quickly make it back to her ship before Snatcher and Vanessa wake up.

“I’ll be back soon.” Hat Kid whispered before teleporting to Subcon.

Not long after Hat Kid had left, a recently awoken Vanessa was frantically looking about the room before shaking the young prince beside her.

“Lucas!” Vanessa yelled in a low whisper.

Snatcher groaned, turning to his side. Vanessa shook the young prince again trying to wake him up.

“Lucas!” Vanessa yelled again, a bit louder this time.

“A few more minutes mama. I’ll have my bacon sandwich later.” Snatcher replied in his sleep.

Vanessa rolled her eyes as she grabbed a pillow and lifted it up. “I said wake up!” Vanessa shouted, slamming the pillow down on Snatcher’s face.

“Gah!” Snatcher screamed. He glared at Vanessa and removed the pillow from his face. “What was that for?!” He asked, hitting Vanessa back with the pillow.

Vanessa snatched the pillow from Snatcher and threw it to the side. “Hat Kid is gone!” She yelled.

“Gone?” Snatcher asked. “Did you check the entire spaceship?” He asked. Seeing how big the kid’s spaceship was, Hat Kid could have probably gone to another part of the ship. “Did you check the entire ship?”

“Yes!” Vanessa replied.

“Are you sure?”  Vanessa growled as a chill was felt through the room. Snatcher put his hands in front of her to protect himself from an oncoming chill. “Okay. Okay I believe you!” He shouted. Vanessa calmed down and sighed.

“I didn’t look. A flash woke me up, and I thought it was nothing so I went back to sleep. I just woke up and Hat Kid was not in bed.” Vanessa explained.

Snatcher sighed and got out of the pillow pile and took Vanessa’s hand. “Come on let’s look around.” He sighed.

“You mean you don’t believe me?” Vanessa asked, upset that Snatcher still doesn’t believe her.

The young prince sighed, “look it's not that I don’t believe you. If you went back to sleep when that flash happened, the kid could have come back and is somewhere on the ship.” He explained. Vanessa understood that and left Hat Kid’s bedroom towards the main hub.

The main hub where it was quiet and dark, the only light coming from it was the buttons on Hat Kid’s ship and planet from outside. Rumbi was asleep in a small charging station till he felt a tap on his head.

“Good morning.” He beeped.

“Have you seen the kid around?” Snatcher asked.

Rumbi beeped and gave an X, knowing Hat Kid wasn’t around here and went back to sleep. “Wake me up later.” He beeped before powering down. Snatcher sighed rolling his eyes.

“I don’t understand technology." He sighed. Snatcher took Vanessa’s hand again and continued to look for the kid. They looked in the Machine Room, the Kitchen, the Mailroom, everywhere but no sign of Hat Kid.

Vanessa groaned in disappointment, “Where can she be!?” She whined.

“Calm down Vanessa. Kiddo will be fine. Trust me.” Snatcher reassured her. “I put this kid through all my contracts and she survived without a hitch.” Vanessa crossed her arms and glared at the former ghost. Snatcher nervously chuckled knowing Hat Kid did get hurt a few times because of him, but not killed.

“Lucas, I’m serious.” Vanessa replied. “What if Moonjumper took Hat Kid? Or what if she went to Subcon and right now Moonjumper has her hostage?” She asked, her mind conjuring many random scenarios that featured Moonjumper hurting their friend.

Snatcher tried to speak up, but Vanessa was right for once. With their powers weakened, and how dangerous Moonjumper is, Hat Kid might not stand a chance against the moon ghost. Though Hat Kid did take on tougher challenges, so there is a chance she could be alright. Still, he did worry for the kid. “You could be right Vanessa.” He said.

Vanessa smiled hearing she was right. “What did you say?” She asked, wanting to hear her prince tell her that one more time.

Snatcher sighed knowing he should’ve kept his mouth shut. “You could be right for once.” He repeated.

The princess giggled and got closer to the young prince. “Again?” She begged. Snatcher glared at the princess, who stepped back with a nervous chuckle. “Sorry.” she apologized.

“Anyways,” Snatcher started. “You are right about Moonjumper, but kiddo could handle anything. She defeated me and took down poisonous flowers in the Alpine, I’m sure Moonjumper would be a piece of cake.” He explained, hoping to reassure the princess.

“You sure?” Vanessa asked. She was still skeptical of the young prince's claims.

Snatcher nodded. “Plus, if she did leave the ship. She’d be back soon before breakfast.” He told her.

“What if she doesn’t show up?”

Snatcher sighed, knowing Vanessa would keep asking questions 'till someone gave her the right answer. “Then we’ll look for her after breakfast.” To Snatcher, these were the magic words to calm Vanessa down and it relieved him that Vanessa stopped asking him questions.

C.C came to the ship and cooked breakfast for the royal kiddos, but as breakfast was ready Hat Kid still hasn’t shown up. Vanessa and Snatcher were starting to get worried for the kiddo that their breakfast was getting cold. C.C turned towards the kids seeing them stare at their breakfast then eating it.

“You two lost your appetite or something?” C.C asked. “You two would be scarfing down your breakfast right about now.”

“Sorry C.C were just wondering where Hat Kid is.” Vanessa replied.

C.C gave a mewl, which formed into a chuckle. “There are days where Hat Kid always goes off during breakfast.” She reminded them.

“Do you know where she goes?” Snatcher asked.

C.C thought. “Most of the time she visits Subcon,” Snatcher rolled his eyes knowing that’s where she could be right now. Also the fact that Hat Kid once came to visit him at 4 in the morning. “However, she is also seen in Mafia Town trying to find her best friend.” C.C added.

Vanessa paused from eating her breakfast hearing C.C telling them Hat Kid has another best friend on the planet. “I didn’t know she had another best friend? I thought Lucas was her best friend?” Vanessa asked.

“Well it's not a crime to have more than one best friend.” C.C noted.

“I-I didn’t know that.” Vanessa replied, sinking down in her seat. As much as Snatcher wanted to yell “I told you so.” to her, he kept his mouth shut. The princess never thought people could have more than one best friend. Her only friend was Snatcher, and only Snatcher while the soul stealing ghost had a ton of friends at his law school and in Subcon. Though after the entire incident Snatcher decided not to make anymore friends, that is until Hat Kid came into his life.

C,C frowned. “Did you have any friends Vanessa?” She asked.

“Y-yeah.” Vanessa lied. “I-I am the queen of Subcon after all, and a queen had a ton of friends.” Vanessa begged C.C to believe this lie, then the siblings lie that Hat Kid told her not too long ago.

C.C didn’t believe it, but didn’t want to tell the young girl so she gave a small smile and ruffled the little girl on the head. The cat cook then continued where she left off over Hat Kid’s whereabouts,  “Well, those are the only two places I know Hat Kid goes so after breakfast you guys could check there and find her.” She explained.

“Okay.” Snatcher and Vanessa replied. Snatcher and Vanessa ate their breakfast, and once they were done they headed to Hat Kid’s room and use the telescope to point the path where Hat Kid could be. “Got the coordinates for where kiddo is?” Snatcher asked.

Vanessa nodded. “Yep. We can go now when you're ready.” She replied. Snatcher nodded back and clicked a small button on the telescope they were teleported to the planet.

However, they didn’t teleport to Subcon.

After Mu’s plan of using Time Pieces to become the justice, Mafia Town hadn’t changed a bit, except for the fact most of the Mafia have been hunting Mustache Girl, or Mu as she’s called while the latter still keeps on fighting the Mafia back. However, she strikes out of nowhere. There are days where she disappears from the Mafia and when she does, she’s nothing then a red blur to them.

The royal kids finally landed in a small ally, but their eyes widened as they didn’t land in Subcon Forest, but rather a dark alley on an island. “This isn’t Subcon!” Vanessa shouted.

Snatcher looked around and saw they had teleported to Mafia Town instead of Subcon. “No it's not, Vanessa.” He replied to her statement. “Are you sure you got the right coordinates?” He asked.

“Y-yeah.” Vanessa replied, rubbing the back of her head. “I mean I hope I did.” She gave a sheepish smile and a nervous laugh that quickly died out.

Snatcher groaned, rubbing his temple. He would yell at Vanessa, but C.C did tell the two that Hat Kid could be here or in Subcon. Since Subcon would be a last resort, it was best to start in Mafia Town than waltz right into Subcon and bump into Moonjumper. “Well, we can start here first, but then we best find a way to teleport back on the ship and teleport to Subcon, okay.” He explained.

Vanessa nodded. “Okay.” She replied. The royal kids carefully looked at their surroundings and once the coast was clear they went off in search for Hat Kid.

From behind, the red hooded child, Mu, had her eye on the royal kids since they landed in Mafia Town. Giving a glare she followed right behind the royal kids.

The two looked around Mafia Town and were saddened by all the graffiti, broken homes, and destruction done to the island was just awful. It even made Snatcher feel bad for Mu. Not that he would admit it, Mu did do bad things, not as bad as Vanessa, but still bad.

“What.” Vanessa spoke up. Snatcher turned towards the princess as she continued to look in horror at the broken neighborhood. “What happened here? It’s just awful.” She complained.

Snatcher sighed, having to tell the young princess, who before all this spent her days inside her manor and only knew bits and pieces of the outside thanks to him sending these people to her manor or rather people hiding in her manor to hide from him. “From my knowledge, an evil group of thugs called the Mafia took over this island, everyone escaped or died, except for one or two survivors.” He paused and smirked at Vanessa. “Sound familiar.”

Vanessa growled grabbing Snatcher’s vest and pulling him too close to her. “Don’t start with me Lucas or I’m gonna-”

She was cut off when a gruff voice spoke up. “Well, well, well...Look what the Mafia has found.” Vanessa and Snatcher gasped and turned to see three Mafia members standing right in front of them. Vanessa gulped seeing the tall men. Sure, Vanessa  ran into them before when she was a freaky ice witch, but now that she’s a 7 year old little girl they look like giants compared to her. Despite how tiny she is, she wasn’t going to let some brutes pick on her. Vanessa quickly let go of Snatcher and walked up to the men with her hands on her hips.

“Excuse me sir, but me and my friend are having a personal meeting. I suggest you go bother someone else.” Vanessa said using her royal snooty voice. The Mafia looked at one another and laughed seeing another little girl was tormenting them.

“Looks like Mafia got another nuisance in Mafia Town.” The Mafia laughed as one of them pushed Vanessa away with just their finger. Vanessa yelped as she fell on the ground, making the Mafia laugh more.

Snatcher glared and marched up to the Mafia. “Hey leave her alone!” He shouted. The Mafia stopped laughing and faced the young former ghost. “You don’t get to pick on Vanessa like that!” Vanessa smiled, blushing that Snatcher was standing up to her. “Only I get to tease her and push her around!” He continued making Vanessa glare at him.

“My hero.” Vanessa grumbled.

The Mafia glanced at one another and smirked seeing that Snatcher also liked to talk back to the Mafia. The other Mafia glared and cracked his knuckles. “So a wise guy huh?” The Mafia Goon asked. The goon then responded by punching Snatcher in the gut.

Snatcher fell on the ground holding his stomach as tears fell from his eyes. It really hurt him, and...He paused feeling the tears falling on his face. Why...why was he crying again. Snatcher didn’t want to but was forced to let out a sob.

“Ha! Little boy is crying.” The Mafia goon scoffed.

“Guess he isn’t like the other annoying brats we took care of.” The other Mafia goon laughed. Soon all the goons were laughing at the young boy.

Vanessa went over to Snatcher and gasped in shock seeing how hurt he was from the punch. She growled and glared at the Mafia, a red glint appeared in her eyes for a split second. “Hey! Apologize to him!” Vanessa yelled.

The Mafia stopped laughing as they saw Vanessa march back up to them. Her eyes were glowing red walking up to them. “What?” The Mafia chuckled seeing the young girl come up to them.

“Apologize to him now.” She ordered them.

“Why should Mafia listen to little girl?” Mafia asked. Then in a flash, Vanessa kicked the Mafia hard in the shin. The Mafia sinked down holding his knee. The other two Mafia looked at their fallen member, then each other before glaring at the little girl. The first Mafia ran towards Vanessa who summoned a snowball and rolled it on the ground causing him to slip. The second Mafia was about to grab Vanessa, but she stepped aside and he fell on the other Mafia member.

Snatcher looked up and saw the fight, shocked how skilled Vanessa was. Vanessa smiled over her victory, and went over to Snatcher holding her hand out. “You alright, Lucas?” Vanessa asked. Snatcher looked at Vanessa’s hand and up to the young girl, and smiled taking her hand as she helped him up.

“I-I didn’t know you could act like such a badass.” Snatcher admitted.

Vanessa giggled. “Hey I might be a princess, but I do know how to fight.” She told him. Though she blushed, rubbing the back of her head. “Though I refuse to show it in case of an emergency.” Vanessa’s giggles then turned into laughter.

Snatcher laughed as well. They laughed so much they didn’t know one of the Mafia goons got up and was marching right behind them.

Vanessa then felt the Mafia grab her from the back of her dress collar, making her yelp. She trashed and tried to remove the Mafia’s hand from her dress, but he held onto her dress tight. “Hey let her go!” Snatcher yelled.

The Mafia ignored him. “I thought dealing with two brats that mess with Mafia was enough, but a third is just a salt on the wound.” He growled. Vanessa struggled to get herself free, but no avail. The princess’s eyes widened as she saw the Mafia’s hand go into a fist knowing she was about to be hit.

Vanessa closed her eyes and braced herself for the hit. She could hear the evil chuckle coming from the Mafia, and Snatcher’s screams begging the Mafia to let her go. Suddenly, she felt time stop and opening her eyes she saw the Mafia’s eyes rollback as he dropped to the ground. She jumped off before she could fall alongside him and then saw a red flash knocking out the rest of the Mafia.

Soon enough the red blur was on top of the Mafia and in a flash she grabbed Vanessa’s hand. “Come with me!” It was Mu, here to save the day. Vanessa then grabbed Snatcher’s hand and the three went off in a flash.

“Thank you for saving us!” Vanessa beamed. “I’m Vanessa by the way and this is Lucas!” She introduced herself and Snatcher as they were running.

“I’m Mu.” Mu replied, introducing herself too. “Also no problem, I’m not going to stand there and have the Mafia mess with more kids.” She explained. Vanessa smiled as Mu led the two kids in a dark corner somewhere safe.

Mu stayed quiet as the Mafia ran by and stopped near their hiding place. “Where did the red hooded girl and other brats go?” Mafia asked.

“Keep searching, she couldn’t have gone far!” The second Mafia grunt commanded as he and the two other Mafia goons split off to look for the kids.

Mu sighed seeing they were gone. “That’s a relief.” Mu then turned to Snatcher and Vanessa, the former giving a small glare to the girl. “You two okay?” She asked.

Vanessa smiled and nodded. “We are! Thanks to you!” Vanessa cheered.

Mu smiled and rubbed the back of her head. “It’s no biggie. I don’t like it when the Mafia picks on kids, and well they’ve been a bit stiff towards new people in Mafia Town since…” she paused a bit trying not to spill any secrets. “since recently.” Mu paused talking as she looked at Snatcher. Looking into his eyes he looked familiar to her.

She walked up to the young boy and got a good look at him from front to back and top to bottom. “You look familiar. Have we met before?” Mu asked.

Snatcher realized, while Mu never saw him in his prince form or his kid self she seemed to recognize him. “Uh maybe. I have passed Mafia town in the past before.” He replied and he wasn’t wrong.

Mu kept her eyes on him, which made the former ghost a bit uncomfortable. Luckily, she stepped back giving Snatcher some relief. “So what brings you two in Mafia Town?” Mu asked.

“We’re here looking for a friend. Have you seen another kid around here?” Snatcher replied, asking if Mu has seen Hat Kid around, without saying her name.

Mu shook her head. “No.” She answered. Snatcher and Vanessa sighed knowing Hat Kid was in Subcon after all. “Is this kid you're talking about a young girl, ponytail, purple basic top hat and clothes?”

Snatcher and Vanessa’s eyes widened and looked at one another before looking back at the mustache girl. “Yeah. That’s what Hat Kid looks like!” Vanessa answered. Snatcher gulped and turned towards Vanessa in fear before turning towards Mu waiting for the other girl to flare up and reject them to the Mafia like fish food.

However, the former ghost got a different response from Mu. Mu sighed, removing the hood from her head. “Listen, if you are friends or family of Hat Kid from her planet, let me just say I’m really sorry for messing with the Time Pieces. I just wanted to take down the Mafia and got too carried away. I’m really sorry.” Mu apologized.

Snatcher was taken back with how sincere the mustache girl was. He wondered if this was the same girl that was ready to call him a bad guy and probably use some sort of exorcism on him. This girl however, just saved their lives and just apologized for everything she’s done.

Before Snatcher could speak up Vanessa was the one to speak up. “I don’t know what you did, but I forgive you.” She said, giving a small smile. Mu and Snatcher looked up at Vanessa in shock. “I just feel like you deserve a second chance.”

Mu smiled and hugged the young princess. “Oh thank you! Thank you!” She beamed. Vanessa blinked in shock before hugging the other girl back.

“No problem.” She replied. Vanessa looked back at Snatcher hoping if he had anything nice to say to Mu in hopes to cheer her up. Snatcher shook his head not wanting to apologize to Mu, but Vanessa glared at him which made him sigh.

“I forgive you too.” Snatcher grumbled.

Mu looked up at Snatcher and smiled. “Great!” She beamed. Snatcher and Vanessa, mainly Snatcher, were surprised with how quick her emotions were. She grabbed the royal kids and dragged them over to a beach where a cave was. “Welcome to my hideout!”

“You live here?” Vanessa questioned seeing the small cave. Inside were three rocks, one of which had a blanket and pillow, a treasure chest, some drawings and markings all over the cave wall.

One drawing in particular was with Mu and Hat Kid holding hands.

“Yep the Mafia doesn’t know I’m here, so you're safe.” Mu told them. Vanessa sat on one of the rocks, which felt uncomfortable for her to sit on but having no choice for a seating arrangement in the cave she just had to deal with it.

Snatcher sat on the next rock as Mu sat on the rock where her blanket and pillow were. Now that they were away from the Mafia, Mu had a chance to talk to the royal kids. “So I saw how you fought princess, and I never knew anyone kicked butt like that! Especially in a dress!” She commented.

Vanessa blushed at the compliment and for a brief moment bashfully moved her head to the side. “Well I’m not much of a fighter, but something just came over me seeing Lucas hurt and,” She paused punching the palm with her fist, “BAM! Just like that I had to do something.” She explained.

Mu chuckled and nudged the young girl on the arm. “Oho! Another fighter I see.” She laughed. “I was the same way after day seven of the Mafia’s arrival!” The girls shared a laugh before Mu turned to Snatcher. “String bean can you do something?” She asked.

“String bean?” Snatcher thought to himself, feeling insulted by that nickname. “Of course I can fight!” He snapped. He then looked at his hands and smirked. “In fact I can do THIS!” He shouted, summoning a small flame on the ground. Mu was shocked over the fact Snatcher had powers, but like Vanessa was unimpressed by the small candle sized flame. Vanessa then put the flame out with a snowball.

Snatcher glared at Vanessa, but the young princess gave an innocent smile and giggled. Mu also laughed too, “is that all you can do, string bean?” She asked, mocking him.

That’s it! “Listen, I can do more than just flames!” Snatcher shouted. “And please, stop calling me string bean!”

“Sorry, but you have such a small height and you just have that string bean look. You're a string bean in my book.” Mu explained.

“It’s true.” Vanessa pointed out.

“Well,” Mu started getting up from the rock. “Now that I know your skills would you two like to help me take down the Mafia?” She asked.

Snatcher and Vanessa turned to each other and back at the girl. As much as they wanted to help her, they needed to go back and find Hat Kid. “Well, you see we’re in a bit of a hurry to find Hat Kid.” Snatcher started explaining the situation. He continued on that she disappeared this morning and hasn’t been seen after breakfast. They were told she could be here or Subcon.

Mu frowned and rubbed the back of her head. “Well, I haven’t seen my buddy since our fight. She never came back to Mafia Town and I guess she hates me that much she never wants to see my face again.” She complained pulling the hood to her face.

Vanessa frowned and walked over to Mu, and put her hand on her shoulder and rubbed it gently. Mu turned towards the other girl and gave her a small smile. Soon the touching moment was cut abruptly when the three kids heard a familiar voice in the distance.

The three Mafia goons from earlier were talking as one of them held a jar in their hands. “So the mustache brat has two other kids by her side?” A gruff voice asked. The voice was coming from the jar.

“Yes and one girl has ice powers. Makes mafia feel cold.” The Mafia goon holding the jar replied, shivering a bit. Vanessa glared at that comment but Mu and Snatcher held the girl back so they wouldn't get caught.

The jar then jumped up and down in anger. The jar was none other than the Mafia Boss, who Mu turned into mush after his battle with Hat Kid. “Well keep your eyes peeled! I want those brats right now!” The Mafia Boss  yelled.

“Yes sir!” The Mafia Goons replied to their boss. The kids quickly took a peak to see the Mafia leaving the beach giving them a sigh of relief.

“That was close.” Vanessa sighed.

Mu then looked at the chest and went up to it. “Looks like you don’t have a choice.” Mu spoke up. “You two have to help me.” She then opened the chest and grabbed two nodded capes from inside. They looked like the one Mu wore, but in different colors. “Wear this!” She yelled throwing the hooded capes to the royal kids.

Snatcher had the purple one while Vanessa grabbed the green one. The royal kids put on their new hooded capes impressed with how it fit them well.

“Well now, I’d say it looks perfect on you!” Mu commented.

“You think so?” Vanessa asked, her eyes sparkling with joy. Mu smiled nodding in response.

“You two ready to take down some Mafia?” Mu asked.

Snatcher and Vanessa smirked and smiled. “Ready!” They both said at the same time. Soon Mu and the royal kids left the cave and were ready to mess with the Mafia. Once the Mafia were away from the beach Mu found an empty soda can on the ground and threw it at one of the Mafia goons.

“Ow!” The Mafia Goon yelped. He looked down and picked up the can, crushing it in his hands. “Who threw junk at Mafia?” He asked looking around to whoever threw the soda can.

“I did.” Mu said. The Mafia turned to see Mu with her arms crossed and a determined look on her face. Right next to her were Snatcher and Vanessa also having the same determined look on their faces too.

The Mafia glared seeing the three kids together. “That’s them boss!” The Mafia Goon shouted pointing at the kids.

The Mafia Boss growled and jumped up and down in anger. “You mustached brat! You're gonna pay for what you’ve done to me!” He shouted.

Mu and the royal kids chuckled not taking the Mafia Jar Boss seriously. “You know I was scared of you when you were a big dumb brute, but I can’t take you seriously when your a bouncing jar of mush.” Mu replied. This in turn made Vanessa and Snatcher giggle.

The Mafia Boss growled in rage. “That’s because it was you that made me like this!” He yelled back.

Snatcher snickered. “Your right I can’t take him seriously like this.” He added.

“Same here.” Vanessa replied.

After the Mafia Boss calmed down he glared at Mu. “Now that you three are here, the Mafia can take you down. One by one.” He growled.

Vanessa scoffed. “You and what army, jelly jar?” Vanessa asked. On cue, a few mafia goons surrounded the kids, and later they were captured and tied up hanging inside a large building.

Snatcher then mocked with what Vanessa said before turning to her. “You know when you tell a group of thugs you and what army, 9/10 they would group up and catch us!” Snatcher snapped.

“I was trying to be more threatening.” Vanessa defended herself.

“There are more ways to show these goons threatening!” Snatcher shouted back.

“Silence!” The Mafia Boss shouted. Vanessa shivered at his shout. “Now I was only supposed to capture the mustached brat, and the Hat Brat for this, but two extra brats is good enough for me.” He began. Snatcher and Mu glared at the Mafia jar. “But since I have three choices for a new body I can reveal, THIS!” Soon two Mafia goons revealed a machine that Mu knew all too well. “Remember this machine Mustache brat? This is the same machine you threw me in and turned me into what I am now!” He yelled.

Mu gulped and struggled to free herself from the ropes. Snatcher tried to set fire to the ropes hoping for them to escape, but how tight his hands were with the ropes meant two things; He’d end up burning Mu or Vanessa or the flames would burn all of them.

“Now, which one of you three would like to be mush first?” The Mafia Boss asked. Mu and Vanessa looked at each other in fear, Snatcher on the other hand had to hurry and use his fire powers as soon as possible.

Soon enough, Snatcher saw his fingers glow and was soon heating up the ropes, but it wasn’t fast enough. He had to burn the ropes before the Mafia turned on the machine and he ended up making the Mafia’s plans a lot quicker.

The Mafia Boss waited for his answer, but since none of the kids were replying he’d already know what their answer was. “Well, that settles it! Mafia! Turn the machine on!” He commanded. However, he didn’t hear the machine turn on. “I said, Mafia! Turn the machine on!” He repeated. The Mafia Boss growled and hopped to face the goons. “What’s taking so long to turn on a machine-” He paused seeing the Mafia goons were knocked upside the head with something.

“Ooof!” Another Mafia goon grunted as he fell on the floor. Behind the Mafia, was Hat Kid twirling her umbrella before giving a smile.

Mu and Vanessa smiled seeing the hat wearing child here to save them. “Hat Kid!” Vanessa and Mu shouted.

“Kiddo!” Snatcher shouted. When he did the flames on his hands burned brighter causing the ropes to burn and snap off. “Uh oh.” Snatcher said in realization as the last of the ropes snapped off and the three kids started falling from the sky.

Hat Kid quickly ran and caught Vanessa and Snatcher, while Mu landed gracefully on her feet. “You guys okay?” Hat Kid asked.

“Were fine.” Snatcher replied.

“Thanks for saving us.” Vanessa thanked hugging Hat Kid tight. Hat Kid giggled and hugged the little princess back.

Hat Kid then looked up at her former friend who didn’t want to look at her in the eye. “Hey Mu.” She said.

Mu slowly turned, a guilty expression on her face. “H-hi Hat Kid.” She nervously replied. To reassure Mu, Hat Kid quickly walked up to Mu, who in return stepped back from her former friend. Soon, Mu was surprised when Hat Kid pulled her into a hug. Mu froze wondering why Hat Kid was hugging her.

“I missed you.” Hat Kid whispered.

Mu blinked and soon her mouth formed a smile. “Me too.” She whispered back. The two stood there hugging each other, as Snatcher and Vanessa gave each other a smug smile. As the two older girls reunited the Mafia Boss tried to escape by jumping away from the four.

As the Mafia Boss was jumping away, Snatcher picked up the boss in the jar, “And where are you going?” Snatcher asked.

“P-Please leave me alone! I’m already in a sticky situation, please don’t make it worse for me.” The Mafia Boss begged. It was funny to see how a big scary boss, who was now confined to a jar, now acted like a coward.

“Hmmm…” Vanessa started. “No.” She answered with a smile as her hand started to form ice on them. She then touched the jar making the Mafia Boss whimpered as he was about to be a slushy jar then a mush jar. The royal kids laughed evilly as ice started to form on the Mafia Boss. Before the Mafia Boss could be nothing but ice, Hat Kid removed the jar from Snatcher’s hands.

The Mafia Boss was halfway frozen, but could still move his eyes and mouth. “Oh thank you kid with the hat. Thank you.” He said joyfully that he wasn’t going to be frozen.

“Look I know the Mafia Boss is a jerk, but is freezing him worth it!?” Hat Kid shouted. Snatcher and Vanessa gave a sheepish smile, not responding to Hat Kid’s question. The Mafia Boss sighed seeing how reasonable Hat Kid was out of all the kids. However, what Hat Kid said next surprised him, “If it were me I say putting him between two slices of bread sounds like a better punishment.” She continued giving a smug smile.

“You KIDS are EVIL!” The Mafia Boss screamed. The kids laughed seeing how scared the Mafia Boss was.

Hat Kid wiped a tear from her eye as she continued to talk to the Mafia Boss. “Now don’t worry, we won’t torture you.” She reassured him. The Mafia Boss sighed, “yet.” The Mafia Boss shivered at what this kid had in mind for him.

Soon the four kids teleported back to Hat Kid’s ship. Hat Kid threw the Mafia Boss into another room, not caring if the jar broke or not. She then glared at the royal kids, “Why were you two off in Mafia Town?” She asked.

“Hey, you were gone all morning and we went looking for you! So don’t blame us for leaving!” Snatcher yelled in his defense. “We were in Mafia Town because we thought you were there, that’s what C.C told us, but you were in Subcon!” He continued.

“Hat Kid, what’s going on?” Mu asked, stepping in. “Why were you in Subcon Forest?”

Hat Kid turned to the royal kids, and started to calm down. “Mu, I’ve got something to tell you.” She said.

[jess-the-vampire]

Quick question why did you like Tom in the beginning of the series, I understand liking the character as we get to know more starting season 3 and forward (considering that he wasn’t an important character and especially not at the beginning of the series) but he was and asshole.

Anonymous said:Also, why do you treat Tom as if he were a relevant character that needed tons of recognition .I have seen post showing you being a huge Tomstar fanboy/girl being angry with how the show treated Tom and even though is ok in liking a character, don’t you think you like him too much which clouds your judgment. Because Tom was treated fairly, maybe it would have been cool seen him happy with someone else, but he got his happy ending

You make it sound like people can’t enjoy characters who are jerks and act like jerks, those are pretty popular and fun characters for some people, after all, why do you think villians are so beloved despite being evil?

regardless, tom’s really not the worst at all in the first 2 seasons.

He’s not as great as he is now, but he’s not abusive and it really doesn’t take long to feel bad for and be attached to him. Literally by his second episode he’s already becoming more mature and trying to fix his mistakes.

Tom’s not one of these characters that has no moral compass, he feels awful about things all the time that are his fault, takes little pleasure in hurting people he cares about, and his entire motivation is to feel loved.

he doesn’t go about it the best of ways and he’s not perfect and he still did really dumb things, but he’s mostly harmless since the crew was at least careful enough not to make tom so bad he couldn’t be redeemed.

Tom never ended up truly doing any serious damage to anyone or anything, so it’s a lot easier to want him to be better then say…mina.

I just found tom fascinating because he felt a lot more like a character, i could understand why he felt the way he did, why he did what he tried to do, and why he was the way he was.

and without the show always needing to spell it out either.

he’s one of the few characters i think in this series where you can easily tell why he thinks and feels certain ways and when stuff happens in episodes with him, the impact actually CARRIES.

Marco’s talk in Mr Candle causes tom to stop bothering star, which causes tom to stop bothering her during CS because he learned he needed to respect her wishes, which leads to tom being mad and confused when star is like “No, bother me!, you’re being a total jerk for ignoring me now!”, which then leads to them warming up to each other, which then-

Tom’s a really fascinating case and one of the few times in this series where his emotions feel actually valid and natural (outside of the later half of s4b which was the only case that it didn’t)

I love seeing characters go through these kinds of growths, and i was really rooting for tom to earn true happiness from his character growth and have friends that love him because that feels like the true end for the arc of a friendless character who constantly feels like a failure and alone.

dude, i swear to god if you’re the guy who went on my other blog to insult me for not liking the end of tom’s arc and saying all my criticism was invalid, without actually providing any evidence….

my god, i really don’t wanna have to repeat myself but here we go

Tom’s not relevant? He’s been around since s1 and was on BOTH the posters for s3 and 4 (Over eclipsa, might i add?), tom is VERY relevant because of how prominent he was in the show and how much of a reoccurring character he was.

He wasn’t like janna who was mostly for comedic relief and didn’t really play a role in too many plots in the series, Tom was given so much screen time in most of the important episodes of the series.

This dude, had an actual ARC, an arc they dedicated episodes towards.

No, there is no happy end for tom, in what world is a happy end for a character to be constantly mistreated by their girlfriend and have them almost immediately leave them for their best friend, and then completely forget about them in another dimension….and then not even receive any actual sendoff in the finale at all?

Do you really think making tom feel inferior and unloved and him being OK with it is somehow fair at all? There’s nothing uncomfortable about that?

It’s just ok for our main lead to make him feel awful about himself? Not even apologize to him for kissing his best friend?  That’s fair to tom?

This ain’t even a tom only thing, most of the cast in the series didn’t feel like they got a proper goodbye, the only end that felt fitting for the most part, was ludo.

Most of everyone else’s ends were them kinda saying they’re doing fine after being gone for ages, and that’s about it.

I’m gonna tell you this again, it’s not enough for tom to just “Get better”, it actually needs to AMOUNT to something for TOM, he needed an end that made up for all the clear and obvious pain he’d been going through.

Zuko had this, his arc amounted to him changing roles, fighting his sister and becoming the next fire lord.

Characters like Lena from DT have this, where their shift causes them to overpower their fears and superiors and and find a real family that actually cares about her.

What did tom have?

Well, he’s friends with star and marco….but that was something he had a season ago before the last one…..so…what did he get in the finale because of his growth? Nothing, he loses his girlfriend and his best friends completely forgot about him.

You made tom suffer for so long, something the show makes very clear, and….he gets nothing, in fact they just made him suffer more and his anger management really didn’t end up amounting to anything or any relief at all at the end.

He just gets completely blown to the side by the end even though he’s supposibly one of star and marco’s close friends and he really ends up with nothing that fits all the pain he went through.

who in their right mind wanted to watch this happen to tom after last season? After conquer? where tom sacrifices himself for his best friends and it’s shown how much he cares about and loves them? 

After all that, star and marco just completely blow him off without even considering him? And that’s fair to tom? Are you serious?

By how these arcs normally work tom’s arc should’ve ended with him feeling confident in himself that he’s not inferior to marco, but that never happens.

by how it works he should realize his friends do value and care about him, but that doesn’t happen.

by how these arcs work tom should’ve found true happiness, but that doesn’t happen.

none of this is shown.

So it’s not satisfying.

This is like if ludo’s arc lacked dennis staying with him at the end or his family helping him rebuild his castle as he gets his band back together, he grew past his issues but….he’s unfinished….it feels like he didn’t get anything deserved to him.

star and marco were dang important to tom’s growth, they’re the most important relationships he has in the series, and he doesn’t even get an end with them, they both almost entirely forget about him.

and you cannot go around telling people their criticism is somehow invalid because they like a character as if none of that criticism is relevant at all because they like a character.

if anything, shouldn’t the fact someone was so knowledgeable about a character make the criticism more relevant?

i told you this before, you can’t just say everyone’s wrong “Because they are”, you say it’s satisfying for tom but don’t give a valid reason. it’s amounted to “ because it is” or “Tom’s not important enough to have a proper end”.

I’m sorry you don’t think tom was important but he was a heavily prominent character and a big favorite and this is such a horrible end to his story and it’s so unsatisfying to watch his end be to get shafted like this after everything he was put through.

people tend not to like watching characters who try so hard suffer time and time again and then end up basically alone and abandoned by their friends by the end.

[jordm]

Heartland 13x03 - Rearview mirror review

Previously on Heartland... Lou told Mitch she loved him & oh yeah almost forgot about that whole saga of events.

Lyndy is also talking and giving high fives and it’s real adorable. 

AND we get a “wife” aka Cassandra mention not once but twice! Once when mentioning her doing acupuncture and second when Caleb mentions getting the wife’s approval. If only we saw her (RIP Amy's friends)... but one can dream.

AND a Scott mention (so clearly Ty is still somewhat working with Scott, or at-least using his equipment) so clearly his business is still thriving. Did Ty go back and work with Scott since his own personal side business went downhill?

JACK

IT’S LITTLE JACK (played by actual little Shaun aka Shaun’s son)! 

Anyways, Jack is acting off. He’s yelling at Luke when he accidentally stumbles across his sister, June’s suitcase of things and doesn’t let Georgie help bringing in the hay-bales, even though she helped last year. Through flashbacks, we see what could possibly be the route of it; memories of June and himself from when they were teenagers (even if no one else except him or the audience realize it).

My guess is that Georgie reminds him of June, with the way she wants to help out around the farm and everything, and with Luke unearthing his memories, with Georgie reminding him of June, he doesn’t want her to do anything that brings up good - or bad memories.

Like for example, June saying her dad let her ride (knowing how her riding the horses turns out) and then his hesitantcy to let Georgie ride the cart during the hay bale even though it clearly makes the most sense

or when Georgie loses control for a second, and then gets things back on track, Jack refuses to let her take the reigns again due to what happened to June way back when, when she lost control, accidentally rode over a rock and ended up being dragged by the cart (and DIES; this is why they created the quick release thing right? Like if you get thrown off a jet ski it auto clips off). He doesn’t want Georgie to be rocked off and end up the same even if it’s a totally different situation.

But guys, this is how June dies.. DIES. Which is heartbreaking because not only was Jack not there, but she was only driving because he wasn’t there.  Jack said the reason that he pretends she didn’t exist, is because its his fault she died, but it wasn’t. I do think that this is some form of survivors’ guilt and back then, perhaps it wasn’t ‘normal’ to talk about his feelings with his family, so he never got a real chance to grieve. 

Did his family blame him since him going away caused her to be in this situation, when really it was one mis-placed rock’s fault? Or perhaps the other team members should have been close together to help her OR even better, someone should have been on the bugey with her like Jack was with Georgie (I know it was just sticks but STILL) just incase something happened? Or maybe this was more than a two person job?!?! POINT IS, it wasn’t his fault, even though he blames himself and I believe this story arc is going towards Jack finally finding closure... or some semblance of it because time doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll ever be 100% over a traumatic event.

KATIE

Guys, I’m totally on Katie’s side. It’s totally unfair that Katie has to share her room with Lyndy, while the foster kid gets the attic to himself. This is why this current arrangement to me, didn’t make much sense, and honestly, still doesn’t. Because either way they put it, let’s face it, they are one room short no matter how they put it.

Not to mention that she came home from Europe to find the entire family dynamic different, with Georgie in the loft, Tim in his trailer and Amy/Ty back in the main house. Lou may have said alright to the new arrangement but did anyone ask Katie about what she wants?! Anyone can see why she’s a little pissy at the new arrangements especially since Jack could easily move into Fairfield.

Luke: “Can you ride?”

Katie: “I’ve grown up on a Ranch, so plenty.”

I mean, it’s true; have we ever seen Katie ride? She’s may have grown up on a ranch but lately (as in the last 2 seasons) she’s been in Vancouver, Europe, a friends, grandma/grandpa... how much time has she really spend at the ranch?

Anyways, I think that Katie has been away so much that when she came back to find that Luke was here semi-permanently, the rooms have changed... and now Luke can ride better than she can - she just feels out of place. Maybe taking horse riding lessons with Georgie again will help her find her place in the family again.

RINGO (with Jade/Caleb/Amy/Ty... it’s an all hands on deck type)

So, apparently Amy hasn’t been working with horses for the past while due to the online troll aka Kirk constantly posing negative reviews, so when Jade asks her to look after her new horse Ringo, Amy is thrilled. Add to the fact that, apparently Jamie Wilcox sold Jade a horse with a broken vertebrae (and was beat while in auction?) and has a history of doing this with other horses. 

SIDE NOTE: How much time does Kirk have on his hands like damn man, get a grip. At what point will he ask himself, “Am I taking this too far?”. We still haven’t seen the Maggie confrontation, so clearly this storyline will be going on a bit more. 

Ty wisely says no to Caleb’s suggestion to lie that there was no Bute in his system to get Wilcox to admit that there actually was. But oh wait - luckily he has another horse up for sale that has been acting up and Caleb has a plan!

Amy: “Just don’t do anything stupid?”

Ty: “Me, Caleb? Never!”

They never got into mischief... never ;) and I miss their mischievous adventures, especially when they work out and give justice to the bad guys.

So Caleb’s plan is to “pretend” to be interested in buying in the new horse, while Ty secretly gets a blood sample. This works, and as long as Jamie doesn’t drug his horses anymore and gives Jade her money back, they won’t tell anyone. And since Jade and Amy (this pairing!) won the buckle, everyone wins! 

I actually genuinely enjoyed this storyline; seeing Caleb and Ty / Amy and Jade working together again was a nice change of pace, reminding me that there are other people in the universe besides the immediate family. Jade giving Amy a glowing review to counter the bad ones probably helps a ton too, especially since she can say “she helped the Ringo and me win a buckle”.

LOU AND MITCH 

Lou is baaack and is hiding her relationship with Mitch from Katie (much to Amy’s amusement), to the point where he is creeping in and out of her bedroom through the window. Like, are we in high school again? Why doesn’t she just go to his place? Doesn’t Katie love Mitch?

Anyways, Lou isn’t fooling anyone with these early nights... okay except maybe Jack because he gets his gun when he hears someone “breaking in” and it’s Mitch just crawling into Lou’s window.

This storyline was basically “kids aren’t as stupid as you think” because Katie knew all along and I still hate that Mitch is being defined by his relationship with Lou but what can ya do? But the result was that Mitch asked Lou to move in with her.  MOVE IN. Y’all how long have they been dating for? I can’t help but think that this is such a bad idea, esp given their history, even if it would solve the bedroom problem and would let Katie have her own bedroom (either at the new place or at the ranch).

SONGS IN THIS EPISODE

Dreamer - Jen Grant

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S3 Ep 12: Seto Discovers Hostile Takeover Tactics

For April Fools, I’m actually going to update this blog. I know, right? It’s been a little while.

I’ll have you know that, if I had more time, you were *this close* to getting a recap of this hot mess movie.

Buuuut it turns out that movie is a lot longer than I thought. Soooo many bad wigs. Maybe another April Fools.

Anyway, back to Yugioh, are you ready for MORE BUSINESS?

Cuz if you wanted to watch a kid’s show with stocks in it well, I had no idea it would be the one about the playing cards. Really didn’t see that one coming. Stocks are going to be traded in a little bit, but currently, all we have to worry about is that Tristan is a monkey and Kaiba’s about to die.

He seems cool with it, both with being “dead” (still unsure if Tristan can be human ever again) and watching Kaiba become dead.

This is some high level freaky sci fi thing just stuffed into a side plot? Like...what purpose is the weird monkey robot?

(read more under the cut)

Joey has completely run out of his thimble full of patience, and he’s taken over the part of Den Mother in lieu of Tristan being too horny/monkey to manage it himself. Watching Joey slowly become more and more too frustrated to Even Deal With This Right Now has been his character growth this entire arc.

And the team’s somewhat amusement and concern that one of their best friends--who they saw...pretty much die--and is now a very horny monkey is like how you would notice that your engine light is on. Like they just have so many other problems right now. They’ve decided they will get around to deciding what to do about this...later.

They’re definitely going to deal with the monkey later. Eventually. So they just tied him to the truck and continue driving.

Like that’s what they actually did, they actually just tied him to the truck and kept driving.

Eventually, they do make it to the scene of the Kaiba card crime in their 3 wheel pickup truck, but unfortunately, so does the weird satellite laser, so once again our team does not make it in time to really make any difference. The Yugi team is consistently like...3 minutes too late. Should be their team motto.

So Noah’s big plan is to make Mokuba watch Leichter--the hard to spell Big 5 with the very Dixie accent--explain in great detail all the ways Seto screwed Mokuba. And it was...something that I don’t think most kids would get. Last week it was a .com analogy, this week we’re straight up jumping into hostile takeovers. Seto decided to use the Big 5 to buy up a majority of the stock and fire his Father, but realized that Gozaburo would absolutely not let that happen.

So, Seto set up a whole plan to make it appear like he was losing the stock race, by leaking the whole plan that they were secretly buying allll the stock straight to Gozaburo but while pretending to be Mokuba (I assume by pinching his nose while shouting through a telephone) and then driving Mokuba to Gozaburo by attacking him point blank.

Did any children watching this show understand this? Did any of you?

Anyway, for some reason Mokuba is shocked that this happened.

And then we get a flashback to remind us that yes, Mokuba was here when this happened. Maybe didn’t understand it at the time, but overall, should know by now that like...this happened. Noah revealing this to him really shouldn’t have been such a shocker, right?

Mokuba describes it as “the worst day in his life” which is kind of a lot since two seasons ago Mokuba was chained in a castle cell for several days (possibly weeks), turned into a playing card while his body was a zombie that did dishes for Pegasus, died in a VR game because his brother couldn’t play nice, then last season, got abducted and then was suspended from the bottom of a flying helicopter by one single rope tied around his waist, was imprisoned in a box warehouse where he barely escaped, found out one of his good friends is pretty sure he’s an Egyptian Pharaoh dont-think-about-it, only to find all of his other friends were now attached to torture devices and about to be drowned in the bottom of the sea or squashed by a couple tons of cargo container. And then the next day, 3 people got sent to the hospital during the tourney he’s the manager of and only one of those people isn’t still in a coma, and now there’s at least one serial murderer on board his blimp and there’s nothing he can do about it.

But sure Moki, this is your worst day.

Convinced that Gozaburo (I will never spell his name right, PS, my apologies) thinks Moki is on his side, Kaiba decides to do the deed. In his school clothes. Not entirely positive that baby Kaiba has any other outfit than his school clothes and that purple coat.

Like did Seto get off school early to go and do this, or did he honestly clock in at 8 AM, harass Joey and Yugi for a bit, maybe take a test, turn in his diorama of mitochondria that he made out of twizzlers or whatever, eat lunch while making fun of the skater kids who botch it on the stairs, scribble some art in art class until 3 PM, and then take the bus back home to do THIS?

And so although the Big 5 were still majority shareholders, they couldn’t really control Seto Kaiba--which leads me to think that at some point he managed to get their stocks away from them...somehlow...probably more insider trading, he seems really into that.

Anyways, long story short the Big 5 really screwed it on this one. I mean the company has to be run by a Kaiba per the Kaiba rule that we learned in S1 (kind of a weird rule this family enforces, when all of the Kaibas are SO BAD at romantic relationships that they can only date trading cards, or can’t stop getting abducted long enough to even go on a date with a real human ((Reminder that Mokuba and Serenity are the same age, but he’s 1/millionth as horny as any of these High School Juniors that are into Serenity)))

Leichter (who is the light purple font here, I uh...forgot to cap Leichter’s face so it’s somewhat confusing) decided to just continue explaining, mostly for Mokuba, I assume, because...everyone here already knows what’s happening.

And at this point he reveals that he does have a Blue Eyes.

Again, very surprised Noah gave him that card but youknow...the power of...whatever the hell is going on there between Kaiba and that paper card.

Anyways, the Blue Eyes gives him a win, so I guess he’s figured out somewhat how to use this card? Like it’s significantly less bad than it was in the previous seasons. Maybe that separation between him and the paper card in S2 was good for him. Got his relationship back on track.

So like, something that is kind of vogue right now in more adult TV is this tendency to try and make all your characters relatable by making them realize and obsess over how they messed up to the point that they can no longer make any moral choices.

And that was the thing I was worried about in this arc, I was worried that the one guy on the writing staff who SUPER stans Seto Kaiba would make Seto into some sort of Bojack Horseman, who becomes so obsessed with his guilt that he kind of becomes a victim of what society did to him rather than a guy who ever made a choice. And Bojack’s not a bad show or anything, I did watch all of it, and it’s supposed to be more about society than the characters. But, as his problems from his youth compounded, he loses all of his agency as a character. If you are forced to be an ass then...well you can’t be one, by nature of what it means to be an ass.

Does that make sense? I see that more and more in shows these days, just a constantly apology fest whenever writers do a villain background episode.

But yes, Seto was trained to be a shark, but he was already a shark from day 1. He was always like this from the moment he was put in that orphanage. No apologies on behalf of the writing staff are needed and I’m glad they didn’t make any. It was somewhat refreshing that Seto never once apologized during this entire episode. He is awful, and he is completely fine with that.

And like, Bro hates it when you do this type of parallel comparisons between characters, but I freakin love it because he might be an English major but he majored in technical writing, and I was minoring in film for a hot minute so I love analyzing stuff and he can just deal. So lets dive in. We just came off of a whole arc talking about Marik’s tragic backstory and it’s really interesting that Seto’s tragic backstory mirrors Marik’s a great deal (especially since Kaiba was the one who was supposed to inherit the magic rod) but the two of them have a very different response to it.

Marik’s background gave him absolutely no agency. Even when he did lash out against his father--that was the rod rather than Marik himself. He lost his nut because he got tortured by his Father and lived a very shelted life underground, there was no choice there. He even has a brother that he threw into the coals (well, stroke of lightning) for his own ambitions.

Seto, on the other hand, was also tortured by his Father, but lived a shelted life so far above everyone else, that he never really left that lifestyle. But, unlike Marik, when he got the chance to make a choice, instead of getting out of the Kaiba house to save his Brother, he decided to freakin destroy it, even if it involved torturing Mokuba (momentarily) in the process.

Both are destroying their Father’s legacy while also trying to rule the world at the same time, two different villains, two different ways, one isn’t necessarily better written than the other, but it does feel like Seto has a lot more control of his own life than Marik, who is currently bumming around in Tea’s brain.

But I dunno, maybe Seto will have a big moment where he will feel an ounce of guilt and we’ll find out that everything he did was secretly a good thing or The Only Way something. I might eat my words later and be somewhat disappointed. We’ll see.

If you just got here, this is a link to read these recaps from S1 Ep1, in case you felt like reading a novel’s worth of Yugioh, since we are on S3.

[folklorestv]

Hamilton London: Review (Oct 2018)

I saw Hamilton in London on Oct 4, 2018 (matinee show) and I decided to write a little review; I was located in the stalls, row K, seat 40 (scroll further to the bottom of the post to see where my seat was exactly). I’d been wanting to see Hamilton for about two and a half years and I bought the tickets eight months ago, and it feels so surreal that the moment I’ve been looking for is over at last. I flew out to London on Wednesday, the show was on Thursday (two show day). We got to the Victoria Palace Theatre at around 1pm and by that time, a small queue had already formed outside. We got in pretty quickly as the paperless ticketing system works great! The redeveloped theatre is absolutely beautiful, not to mention fancy as hell. They let us inside the actual stage room at 1.45pm, there’s different entries and they let us know beforehand which one to take, so we were at our seats in no matter of time. Fortunately, my seat had plenty of leg room and sitting was not uncomfortable at all. Being in 11th row, I was super close to the stage. Like, for real, I was really close. You can’t tell on the photo, but when the actors were on stage I could see every single tiny facial expression. Let’s just say that I could always see clearly whenever the actors spit while singing/rapping.

I’ve written a review on each actor which I will put under the cut (it actually got really fucking long, I doubt anyone will read all of it). You will be able to tell that I actually prefer the West End company over the OBC! I only have the OBC to compare them to, anyway. One thing I want to mention beforehand (because I don’t want to write it multiple times) is that you could actually hear the cast’s British accents here and there, but overall they did a solid job at faking an American one! I rather enjoyed it whenever a bit of a British accent slipped through at certain words.

Jamael Westman as Alexander Hamilton: I honestly don’t know where to start. Jamael is absolutely amazing, in my opinion a lot better than Lin! He is a perfect Alexander Hamilton and I can’t praise him enough. I’m glad he extended his contract and hopefully I’ll be able to see him again next year. He is great down to every micro-expression, like I said, he definitely beats Lin. His voice is awesome and very lovely to listen to, he hits all his notes, and he speaks clearly which made the rapping fantastic as well. He has a wonderful gentleness about him that is beautiful in That Would Be Enough and Stay Alive (Reprise); his Hurricane and his verse in The World Was Wide Enough are breathtaking. Moreover, Jamael nails the role in both acts. He has that certain playfulness in the first act and I enjoyed watching him so much. In the second act, he plays the fatherly and slightly more serious role really well, too. In contrast to the serious part, he is amazing during the Cabinet Battles and earned a lot of laughs from the crowd! Opposed to Lin (in my opinion), Jamael just fits the role a lot better physically, too. He’s young, fresh and handsome and that is mirrored in his portrayal of Hamilton. To sum it up, Jamael’s energy as Hamilton is out of this world and I’m at a loss for words.

Rachelle Ann Go as Eliza Hamilton: She didn’t particularly stand out for me, but she is still an amazing Eliza! She brings the necessary eagerness in Helpless and you could see her go through a real character arc as she grew more mature. She has a phenomenal singing voice and her acting is great, too. She’s genuinely crying in Burn and you could feel all her disgust towards Hamilton, it was amazing. Furthermore, her scream in Stay Alive (Reprise) is heartbreaking. She’s an excellent emotional singer. She’s also a lot shorter than Jamael which just made them look cute as a couple on stage.

Giles Terera as Aaron Burr: I have mixed feelings about him. I had to get used to him first for a couple of songs as his lisp annoyed me a bit, particularly at the start with the spoken narration. I wasn’t a big fan of his voice but I soon realised that he’s an incredible performer! He can sing really well which he definitely shows in Wait For It and The Room Where It Happens, so as the show progresses the lisp became less noticeable and you can focus on his excellent performance and acting. Overall, he plays a different Burr than Leslie Odom Jr, and at the end I actually adored his portrayal since it’s fresh and new. I still preferred him in the second act, though. He does a great job of making Burr a victim and The World Was Wide Enough - especially the end of it - was simply beautiful.

Rachel John as Angelica Schuyler: Oh my lord, she is absolute perfection. She might have beat Renée Goldsberry for me just because she has that certain something, she is a lot more fierce. Her voice is badass and she killed Satisfied! You can see her gentle side in It’s Quiet Uptown which she plays really well. She can sing, rap, act and get all the right emotions across. I’m so glad I got to see her as Angelica! I would’ve loved to see her sing Congratulations as that song seems to be written only for her. As you can tell, I’m literally speechless when it comes to her. She definitely owns the stage whenever she is on it.

Obioma Ugoala as George Washington: Definitely one of my favourites. He was unreal. Imagine Chris Jackson but even better! He has a really powerful and super deep voice along with amazing vocals. He was full on yelling a few times in Right Hand Man and you definitely feel intimidated by him. He plays the comedic part in the Cabinet Battles well, which is something I haven’t seen with other Washingtons. He gives the role all the aspects that were missing and I was completely speechless after his performance! He gets the loudest applause after One Last Time as he does a particularly fantastic job during the song! His vocals are simply incredible and he dominates the tricky role of George Washington. Fun fact: He actually forgot his line “Remember, my decision on this matter is not subject to congressional approval / The only person you have to convince is me” in Cabinet Battle #2 while saying it and just changed it up quickly to “Anybody else’s opinion doesn’t matter”. I just thought that was funny, it just proves what live theatre is like.

Jason Pennycooke as Marquis de Lafayette / Thomas Jefferson: Absolutely loved him! I wasn’t immediately a fan of his Lafayette because I got caught up in how different he is to Daveed Diggs. But in reality, he brings completely new energy to the role, which I enjoyed a lot. Guns And Ships is flawless, so he is really likeable in the first act. He is sort of this small, young guy who comes out of nowhere and saves the day. The second act blows everyone away! His Jefferson is perfect, probably better than Daveed’s. His version is again different but he is so funny and gets the majority of laughs! Next to Jamael as Hamilton, he does perfect comedy in the Cabinet Battles - they both do. I am basically in love with his portrayal of both characters as he brings a lot to them each. He does a stand out performance and is a true joy to watch. Although he is so very, very different to Daveed, he is very talented and awesome in his roles! Again, the second act had me completely amazed. His rapping and singing is on point and he is really flamboyant and confident. I also met him at the stage door and he’s very lovely in person. He genuinely appreciated when I told him how much I liked his portrayal and he took tons of time with everyone.

Tarinn Callender as Hercules Mulligan / James Madison: Personally one of my cast favourites as I’ve been enjoying his Instagram stories (and Cleve’s) for a year now. I was super excited to see him on stage and he was perfect! His portrayal is quite similar to Okieriete’s, but I still enjoyed it! He brings a booming energy to the group as Mulligan in the first act and he morphs perfectly into Madison in act two. He kills his rap in Yorktown and I was in love. He has this  wonderful “I’m so done with this shit” attitude about Jefferson which is funny and he gets a lot of laughs as well. Tarinn is a wonderful performer and has an amazing comedic timing! He is awesome alongside Cleve in act one, and then alongside Jason in act two. He lifts the scenes and picks up the pace. He was the nicest person ever at the stage door (I had been dying to meet him) and he took a lot of funny photos with my phone! It was a blast to see him that day, definitely my favourite part of my London trip. (I’m putting the photos he took with my phone at the end of the post.)

Cleve September as John Laurens / Philip Hamilton: My other favourite besides Tarinn! Cleve and Tarinn are an amazing duo, on and off stage. They put a lot of comedy into the first act and bring new energy to the characters’ beliefs. It is absolutely heartbreaking when John Laurens dies (right after Dear Theodosia) and Cleve is able to bring the sadness and the pride across at the same time. He is absolutely fantastic as Philip, too, I probably prefer him over Anthony Ramos. Take A Break was sooo funny, I wish everyone could see him in it! His portrayal differs from Anthony’s while he still stays true to the character. He’s so scared during Blow Us All Away and he’s genuinely shaking before the duel. Stay Alive (Reprise) is absolutely heart wrenching to watch. Cleve’s acting is flawless during the conversation between Philip and Alexander (”I did exactly as you said, Pa / I help my head up high / Even before we got to ten- / I was aiming for the sky”). He actually screams out in pain while talking and my heart shattered into pieces. He does an awesome job! Definitely a bummer that I didn’t meet him at the stage door as Cleve is such a lovely and funny person as well.

Sharon Rose as Peggy Schuyler / Maria Reynolds: She is the only understudy of the main cast that I saw but she really kills her role! I had heard recordings of Christine Allado as Maria before and thought she was amazing; therefore I was really curious to see Sharon. She is really fun-loving during The Schuyler Sisters and her portrayal as Peggy is everything it has to be. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her and she is adorable during Helpless and Satisfied. She also kills her performance as Maria during Say No To This and it reminded me more of Christine Allado’s version, rather than Jasmine Cephas Jones’s. Sharon hits every note and plays that helplessness and state of being devastated well, she’s definitely an amazing emotional singer, similar to Rachelle!

Michael Jibson as King George: I wasn’t sure about him first but afterwards I can say that I definitely like his portrayal more than Jonathan Groff’s. I prefer Jonathan’s vocals as I felt like Michael was sometimes struggling with the high notes, but he absolutely owns the stage when he was on it! All of his mannerisms are superb; he might have got the most laughs and cheering from the audience. The British definitely love to make fun of themselves and poke at the Royals, it was awesome! Michael adds a lot of tiny tweaks to the character which is really creative. He changed several things about the performance as King George that make the whole portrayal a lot more fun to watch. You should definitely go see him in his role if you ever have the chance. I also met him at the stage door where he seemed like a really laid-back and nice guy!

Jack Butterworth as Samuel Seabury: Now, this is a super minor role but I thought I should mention it anyway. Jack Butterworth is a pure joy to watch as Samuel Seabury. Completely different energy compared to the OBC; Jack seems a lot more innocent and playful. Also, he is standing on a podium and Jamael is almost taller than him without a podium, just a funny thing I noticed. Jack was definitely the right casting choice (as are all the other actors involved).

Gregory Haney as Charles Lee: Another really minor role that I want to mention nevertheless. Charles Lee is usually played by Leslie Garcia Bowman so it came as a bit of a surprise to me that Gregory played the role that day. I’ve been following him for several years as he was part of the Broadway cast before and I was really excited when he starred as Charles Lee in Stay Alive! He did a really good job in both Stay Alive and Ten Duel Commandments. His “I’m a general, whee!” sounds different than the Broadway one and earns many laughs.

Ensemble - Jade Albertsen, Curtis Angus, Courtney Mae Briggs, Jack Butterworth, Jon Scott Clark, Kelly Downing, Gregory Haney, Leah Hill, Walyon Jacobs, Miriam-Teak Lee, Chris Tendai: The ensemble are the true stars of the show; they bring beautiful harmonies and mind-blowing choreographies. Leah Hill stood out for me as the Bullet and she did a beautiful job. Miriam Teak-Lee is another one who stood out in all of the dancers, I’ve heard recordings of her as Angelica (she’s actually an alternate for all the Schuyler sisters!) and she definitely has potential to rise up. Kudos to everyone in the ensemble, they’re doing an amazing job every night.

Like I said, I was pretty close to the stage. My ticket was £100 while the ticket for the seat to my right is already £250. This is because my view of the stage was slightly obstructed to the left side which didn’t matter at all. The only thing I missed was Washington’s “Me, I trusted him” during Alexander Hamilton and I couldn’t see Hamilton standing on the staircase during Satisfied. Both of those are, however, very minor things that didn’t bother me. I felt extremely close to the actors in 11th row, and it was definitely worth saving £150 (the rows in front of me are £250, too).

Aaaand here are the photos Tarinn took with my phone!

[opalgelance]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT BATTLE OF HEART AND MIND WAS A LITERAL MIND FUCK

- WHITE DECOLORING GEMS

- THE DIAMOND FAMILY WAS REALLY FUCKED UP

- WHITE FUCKING BROKE STEVEN AND PINK LOST HER FUCKING MIND

- ROSE CAN NEVER COME BACK

- EVERY CRYSTAL GEM HAS A NEW OUTFIT I HAVE NO FAVORITE BECAUSE I LOVED THEM ALL

- EVERY CG + STEVEN FUSION WAS STUFFED IN HERE AS WELL AS MY TIED FOR FAVORITE WITH OPAL FUSION, OBSIDIAN

- FUCKING LAVA FUSION I LOVE HER SO MUCH THE CRACKS IN HER HAIR AND HER MAGMA SPIT THAT BECAME A FUCKING SWORD KILLED ME

- RAINBOW FEELS VERY FAMILIAR WHO VOICES THEM???

- SUNSHINE IS LEGIT A LOVE YOURSELF COMMERCIAL FROM THE 90S IN A CORPOREAL FORM

- FUCKING PINK STEVEN STILL SCARES THE EVER LOVING SHIT OUT OF ME HOLY FUCK

- WHITE HAS A WHOLE CHARACTER ARC IN 5 MINUTES

- SO DO BLUE AND YELLOW

- JASPER NEVER FUCKING TALKS BUT

- WE SEE A WHOLE FUCK TON OF GEM DESIGNS INCLUDING JASPER, BIGGS, CENTIPEEDLE, THE BEETLES, THE PUFFERFISH, AND A LOT MORE

- IM STILL NOT OVER THE PINK STEVEN THING IT WILL LEGITAMaTELY HAUNT ME FOREVER

- EDIT: I forgot to add how mindblowing the animation is in the Pink Steven scene?!?! I was just so stunned by the scene itself that I didn’t mention that the lines are SO clean and crisp, and the animation literally looks 3D, and that seems to be because the legendary James Baxter did it, and from what I saw from his work on the Adventure Time episode, he’s an absolute master in the art of animation, and I feel like I’ve been blessed seeing that animation with my own damn eyes

Ok, now that I’ve calmed down a bit, I have to say it felt really REALLY rushed but I still enjoyed it a lot! I do have a few gripes with it though:

- I wish we could have seen Sunstone, Rainbow 2.0, and Obsidian before this, or at the very least seen Sun and Rainbow before, with Obsidian being this big stressful event because as we’ve seen 4+ Gem fusions like Alexandrite can be very hard to keep stable, and they had one chance to fuse and keep it together

- Steven said one sentence to Pink Pearl, and White didn’t recognize CG Pearl, which is really weird. Pink didn’t even react to Steven, or realize that he had Pink’s Gem. We don’t learn what happened to Pink Pearl either. Steven seems to already have connected that White’s Pearl was once Pink’s, and when talking to White, it seems like he is understanding what his Pink dreams really meant, which is weird bc it seemed like he didn’t understand that they were memories before.

- I felt like with the exception of the Pink Steven scene, the Diamond fight at the very beginning and the confrontation between all 4 Diamonds, it didn’t really feel like the characters were reacting as much as they should have? Like, it takes a second for Pearl to figure out that she and Steven fused, and her reaction is kind of cut off, but Garnet doesn’t really react to fusing with Steven? I also feel like Obsidian should have been a bigger deal to everyone, but it felt like Garnet was like “ok, lets form obsidian then” like they’ve done it a thousand times?? Yeah, they’ve fused with Rose before, but Steven? And Alexandrite has always been a big deal, since she’s so unstable, while on multiple occasions in season 1 the Gems were pretty clear that fusion was for emergencies only. Obsidian is literally a White Diamond only level emergency, but while it was a big deal for the audience, the CGs (including Connie, Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot)  weren’t as shocked by this as I would have thought? Peridot says “they’re huge!” or smth like that, but not much else. For me it was really frustrating when Blue and Yellow, and ESPECIALLY Amethyst, Garnet, and Pearl, were drained of their color, it felt like it SHOULD have been a Keeping It Together level of horror, but it wasn’t on the characters’ faces, which was disappointing. It took me out of the action on my first viewing because it looked like the CGs weren’t that bothered by it. WHITE IS LITERALLY MIND CONTROLLING THE DIAMONDS AND YOUR FAMILY STEVEN WHAT THE FUCK I have to say that the Pink Steven scene was legitimately disturbing, and I applaud the storyboarders for that, I just wish it could’ve continued throughout all of the horrifying scenes.

- Steven didn’t tell anyone about his Gem being ripped out, possibly because there wasn’t any time left in the episode, and that was really weird to me. Like, you got HALF OF YOUR SOUL RIPPED OUT STEVEN. Like, White and Connie HAD to have said something, right? Was it just not shown?

- That brings me to how ridiculously rushed the ending was, because here’s what happens in the last 5 or so minutes (seriously, I’m looking at the time the ending starts)

      - Steven gets home while Sadie’s having a concert on the beach

     - WITH THE FUCKING DIAMONDS

    - Lars also gets home with the Off Colors

    - Sadie and Lars say hi for an awkward amount of screentime

    - THE DIAMONDS HEAL THE CORRUPTED GEMS INCLUDING JASPER, CENTIPEEDLE AND A LOT OF THE GEMS WE’VE SEEN OVER THE SERIES AND THERES NO DIALOGUE BC STEVEN IS SINGING A SONG OVER THIS WHOLE PART

     - The Diamonds leave, seriously, after less than a minute of screentime on Earth

    - The CGs are on the beach, with NO recently cured corrupted Gems to be seen, and it’s kind of like the theme song, with Greg grilling hot dogs, and the CGs sit on the beach with Steven (just Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl now) and Steven sings a song. The End.

It just felt really rushed? So were the Diamonds’ “redemptions”, but this was insane. Every plot line in the whole series is supposed to be solved in 5 minutes? I mean, there’s a lot left unanswered, but it felt like they were trying to tie everything up with a nice bow, and it was rushed. Also, you know how everyone said that the Gem designs at the ball were lazy and that we only saw a few new Gem types because the crew didn’t have time to design new Gems? (I personally really liked the cog Gems bc I love gear designs but I know a lot of people didn’t like them and that’s valid) BULLSHIT LOOK AT ALL OF THE UNCORRUPTED GEM DESIGNS THEY LOOK AWESOME. But why could they not have done that before? They designed at least 10 new Gems for a minute or two long scene. Yeah, they were based on the already done corrupted Gem designs, but that’s fine! We could have easily seen Ocean and Biggs Jaspers at the ball, or even at the Zoo, in a flashback (like We’re Only Falling Apart, the war scene in Single Pale Rose, Your Mother and Mine), the ending of Legs From Here to Homeworld, but we didn’t, and I can’t understand why. Now it’s strange that we didn’t see any uncorrupted counterparts on Homeworld. What, is every single corrupted Gem part of a super rare Gem type? Yes, we’ve SEEN Jaspers before, and we HEARD about Nephrites, but even at the start of this episode we had some cool silhouettes of Gems, just like in The Answer, and they were never fleshed out into actual Gems. It’s just kind of strange that they had all of these templates but never used them. Plenty of fans have used the silhouettes and corrupted Gem designs to make Gemsonas, but the crew couldn’t? Just paste the color palette of Biggs or Ocean onto a Jasper base and you’re good! That’s essentially what happened this episode but I STILL LOVE THEM SO MUCH I will protect Ocean, the Beetle, the Centipeedles and the waterbear Gem with my life, BUT they could have appeared MUCH sooner as background Homeworld Gems

- EDIT: Since I’m always criticizing the animation and character models, I feel like I have to note how impressed I am with a majority of the animation in this episode. I felt like during the Blue vs. Yellow scene in particular though, Yellow’s expressions felt... odd. LET ME EXPLAIN FIRST PLEASE. See, for me, while I don’t like exaggerated facial expressions most of the time, I can get past them as long as it’s for comedy relief or to express raw emotion. The problem for me was that Yellow’s expressions were drawn as if she was supposed to be in a comedic scene instead of a heartwrenching, emotional outbreak uncharacteristic of Yellow, where you are supposed to feel with her, to feel her pain. But for me, it felt like she was pulling faces like she was trying to make a crying baby laugh, and I felt like Patti Lupone’s expressive, heart-wrenching voice acting didn’t match up with what I was seeing on the screen. 

  - As I said above, James Baxter’s Pink Steven animation slayed me, I’m still dying haaa

   - OBSIDIAN WAS THE BOMB/COM THO her hair is so amazingly detailed, it had to be hard to animate that.

  - Most of the lines were crisp. One of my main criticisms is how starting in season 3, while the animation and art quality went down, both were hindered further by the blurry lines, which I KNOW is because they resized the art. When I’m resizing an arm, or the head when it’s out of proportion, the resized lines become blurry whether you’re shrinking or expanding a section of a piece. But in this episode the lines were pretty crisp for probably 80% percent of the episode? And I’m counting all 44 minutes, and considering how bad it usually is, I’m very pleased.

tl;dr I LOVE THESE EPISODES TO HOMEWORLD AND BACK but there are a few issues I just can’t see past and some of these issues just threw me out of a great episode to ask myself why??? But also I’ve rekindled my love for Steven Universe and FOR ONCE I can see past some of the bad character models and animation because this episode was just so good!!! 

[chopperpirate]

subject: Tony Tony Chopper!!

Easy subject right off the bat. I love Chopper, always have, and always will. I’ve always related to characters with low self-esteem and who feel isolated from those around them. As such, I loved the character from the instant he distanced himself from Luffy and Sanji, misinterpreting them calling him a monster as a bad thing.

I’ve always admired the fact that despite being mistreated by humans and reindeer alike, one human’s kindness toward him was enough to make Chopper devote his entire life to becoming a doctor. Not just to cure diseases, but to enhance the spirits and happiness of people’s lives. His backstory is easily one of my favorites in One Piece. If I were to make a top 5 right off the top of my head, he’s definitely still in my personal top 3.

Despite loving the character, I hate how he’s overlooked nowadays. Oda seems to have tossed Chopper aside ever since the timeskip, and it’s kind of insulting. I don’t just mean “He hasn’t gotten a good fight,” since you could say the same thing about Nami, Usopp, Robin, or Brook. My problem is that Chopper hasn’t gotten to do anything cool since the timeskip, even in the Whole Cake Island arc where the crew was halved, seemingly to allow more moments for the cast to shine without feeling bloated.

Aside from the standard healing people after their battles, Chopper’s two big moments were capturing Brulee (which he not only did alongside Carrot, but also took over 12 hours to accomplish) and defending the Sunny from Big Mom on her hunger rampage alongside the others. While I love Brulee’s character, especially the depth she was given with Katakuri, in terms of combat ability she’s a joke. There’s no reason at all that Chopper couldn’t have defeated her on his own fairly quickly. Compared to the other crew members’ moments in that arc, Chopper was practically forgotten about.

Nami got to subjugate homeys with the vivrecard and eventually gained Zeus as an awesome power-up, Brook got a rubbing of the Road Poneglyph, destroyed Mother Caramel’s picture, got to fight Big Mom on his own (easily the highlight of the character’s career) and played a pivotal role in defeating Zeus and Prometheus toward the climax, Sanji got tons of things to do that I’d classify as “The truly important thing while everyone else is fighting,” and Carrot got to kick ass in her sulong form. Chopper, on the other hand, gets wasted a lot this arc.

It doesn’t help that Chopper is going through what I’d call “Tien-syndrome.” Not only is he relegated to the background a lot, but when he DOES fight, he often goes straight for Monster Point. For those who don’t remember, Monster Point was always a last-resort, even after Chopper learned to control it. It only lasts 3 minutes and afterwards, he’s too exhausted to even move for the next hour. As such, when he’s using Monster Point to, say, fight some homeys in the forest or fight Brulee and Diesel in the Mirror World, it kinda feels like Oda forgot exactly how big a deal Monster Point Chopper is supposed to be.

I could just be overlooking this, as Oda has relegated crew mates to the background before. For instance, Sanji didn’t get much to do between Arlong arc and Drum Island. However, back then, arcs were only 10-15 chapters long. Maybe it’s just that when I say “this character hasn’t done anything in the past 2-4 arcs,” these days it means 3-5 years.

I’m sure Oda has something in mind for Chopper during the Wano Kuni arc, and hopefully it makes up for mistreating the character in the Whole Cake Island arc. I don’t need a huge fight or anything, just some moment that reminds the audience of why he’s worthy to be in this crew. 

[callie-the-snarky-geek-blog]

RvB16 Episode 2 Review: Incendiary Incidents

(Old Blog Repost)

Last time, not a lot happened other than going out for food, Donut unlocking his true potential as a contortionist, and alien Norse Gods are a thing that exist. Nothing that unusual for this show. We got the setup, so what’ll they do with it now as the pizza quest continues? Lets find out!

Overview

To the shock of no one, Grif crashed the ship. He rushes everyone through the insults and sidenote to Kai’s… so does she actually have regular contact with their mom? Makes me really wonder about where Grif stands with his family. Anyways, good news is the pizza place isn’t far off! They just have to go through some ominous woods! Grif however opts to go through the less than ominous woods which would take longer, but isn’t… well, ominous. This gets Simmons attention. Enough that, as they make their way through, he pulls Grif aside to find out what his deal is. My shipping heart is happy to see Simmons noticing that something’s not right with his not-boyfriend and getting to the bottom of it… please tell me I didn’t accidentally write an innuendo,

So you knwo that ‘new science’ Grif mentioned last episode? Well here’s that new science: laziness… sort of! So when stuck on the moon (I THINK he called it Iris? So… after Michael and Lindsay’s daughter/Geoff’s goddaughter? AWW!), Grif found a book that Jax left behind about story structure. He found out about ‘incendiary incidents’, which are incidents that jumpstart a plot essentially I tried to look it up to see if that’s an actual term… and all I got was a bunch of fire safety websites. But I’ll take Joe’s word for it and say it’s an actual term. So Grif cutting off Jensen before, crashing the ship deliberately as it turns out due to a message from Locus, and avoiding the ominous woods is to avoid getting into an incident that would jumpstart a plot, and therefore lead them into another adventure. IDK if this is clever fourth wall breaking but… wow. WOW. Even Simmons gets chocked up about how much effort Grif put into doing nothing. It’s counterproductive when you think about it, but still!

Unfortunately for Grif, he IS in a webshow with plot structure and the powers to be aren’t going to let them get out of it that easy. Caboose discovered a glowing lake. And a figure emerges form it. Now the episode summary describes a thought to be deceased team member returning. Oh my Gd, that… that’s crazy! It could anyone! But why?! Tex? Flowers? Shelia? Church? Alpha Church? Yellow Church?! The guy who got killed during one of those 360 videos?! The possibilities are endless! It could be anyone! Who knows what kind of shocking twist it cou.. it’s Donut. Who we all knew was alive. Yeah… well I’ll give them this, it had me hyped for the episode.

So Donut… Jesus Christ. No, seriously, Donut is now Jesus. He walked ont he water for crying out loud! Donut says that he had been taken through time and that they have to go into the past to stop a great danger… and absolutely no one buys it. Now to be fair, Simmons makes a good point later. They already went through a time travel story and it turns out it was just a simulation. So them being skeptical about this happening again, especially since only Caboose saw the body horror last episode and I imagine that he forgot by now, is pretty understandable. But yeah no one buys it and Grif feels relieved about avoiding the story bomb… until Simmons points out that refusing the call is an actual story trope. See Grif? There’s no escaping!

So the Reds and Blues make it to ton and… yeah, it’s been totaled. After talking to Jeremy Dooley… I-I mean a cop… no, I’m 90% sure that was Jeremy. Anyways! After that, Donut tries to convince them of time travel again, and this time has actual proof. He has this new gun which he uses to open a portal to a few days earlier. How did he get this? Well to put it simply, after he got hit by Loco’s machine he got sent back in time and his body got wrecked, but God found him and fixed him. IDK if he means the Christian God or one of these alien Gods, but they’ve picked the Reds and Blues to be his time traveling warriors and has sent back four more guns for them to use to go back in time with. The portals can also only fit two grown humans at once.

Unfortunately, things go downhill quickly. So you guys remember the four armed guy from the trailer? Well the sky goes dark and he appears… oh sorry, typed that wrong. I mean that SHE appears. Yes everyone, we have a legit female villain at last!! I couldn’t get her name, but part of it sounded like Callie… which is my name… UGH… anyways! Yeah, she starts causing chaos and destruction. Donut uses a bubble shield, telling the others to use the portal guns and get away. They comply with everyone pairing off: Cabbose and Lopez, Tucker and Sister, Grif and Doc, and Sarge and Simmons. Donut remains behind, though I assume that he’ll follow them later. Huggins, who has been following the group, chases after Grif and Doc by going through their portal. We follow Sarge and Simmons as they land in… what looks like ancient Egypt. Could be wrong, but we’ll have to wait and find out cause that’s the end of the episode!

Review

Well all of that escalated quickly!

So… gonna talk about Grif first! Cause yes, he’s getting a character arc! I mean I guess it could have ended here since his plan failed, but since Huggins went after him and Doc we could get something on that front. Anyways, so I was right and Grif is actively trying to keep them out of getting into adventures. To the point that he’s putting effort into maintaining laziness… that’s the kind of logic I expect form this show. It wasn’t how I expected it, but I expected it. It’s also good to see that he does still have some hangups from the moon. He seems a lot more… what’s the word? High-strung than normal? He’s also still talking in pretty large bursts compared to normal. I don’t know if that’s just me reading into it too much, but it seems like Joe is trying to show that Grif still has hangups from his self-exile. Which hey, if it means more Grif focus, I am not complaining!

The episode is more about plot than the last one. Last week was the setup, and now the payoff is here. So first, Donut. He was written SO WELL. One of the issues last season was that Donut was pretty much a background prop and they even forgot to put him in scenes. Joe must have realized that this was a problem cause he’s already fixing it BIG TIME. Donut’s had shit happen man! He comes off as slightly mroe serious and competent in a sense that he actually knows the gravity of the situation. But he still feels and acts like Donut, which is good! It shows that he CAN be useful and competent, but without sacrificing his personality. Heck he only spouted out one innuendo and it was just to prove that it was really him. I am digging this new direction!

So turns out that the four armed guy si a terrifying alien goddess of death… I dig it! So someone pointed out that this character is similar to Hela from Thor: Ragnarok. SO it REALLY seems like Joe is basing the villain off Norse mythology… or just the Marvel Cinematic Universe verisons of them. Either way is fine. So I’m not sure if… Kali-Ra I think is her name? Anyways it doesn’t seem like she’s with the same group as Huggins cause I imagine that she would have reacted. I also don’t think that this chick is the main villain since DOnut referred to a ‘devil man’, but still she is terrifying and badass and I LOVE it. We finally got a female main villain guys! Joe is the hero we’ve waited for! Yay! Also Sarge asking he rot marry him, Of course he’d want to marry a violent death goddess… I’ll totes ship this!

Alright, time travel! SO ever since Joe mentioned it in that post a while ago, I’ve… been skeptical. Time travel in pretty much every show tends to be confusing and create tons of plot holes. It even happened in RvB before with Season 3 before Burnie retconned it as a simulation. Didn’t save my head from imploding, but still that’s a fair excuse. Hopefully Joe has a VERY good idea on what he’s doing with this, but I’ve been warming up to the idea since then. It’ll be fun to see the guys in different time periods at least! Form how it looks, Sarge and Simmons may go tomb raiding it it really is Ancient Egypt. I mean Sarge vs mummies, there is no way that cannot be epic!

So the gang is being split up, and the pairs are interesting! Sarge and Simmons sin’t that much of a surprise and tbf it’s been a long time since they had some one-on-one time. Simmons has also grown out of being a kissass quite a bit, so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes. Caboose and Lopez are together… so I’ just going to assume that in every animated RT production, Burnie is just meant to be stuck with/get annoyed with Joel in one way or another. Cause that is the impression I’m getting. Tucker and Sister are together, so I imagine flirting… okay I’m good with that! Hopefully Sister gets some focus to herself that isn’t just Tucker trying to hit on her, but still I’m good with this!

And finally Grif and Doc… that one is gonna be interesting. Grif in particular seems very grudgey against Doc for the betrayal and we just saw Doc save Grif form getting crushed by tackling him into the portal. Which props to Doc for that BTW. Still with that and since they’re 100 on an adventure now, Grif’s not gonna be a happy camper. Also if O’Malley gets active and starts going into Grif’s past issues like in S13, I… imagine that’ll be rough for our favorite orange boy. Also Huggins chased after them, so I assume that they’ll be discovering her soon. Which if she pals up with them…t hat could be really cute tbh! I am all for Grif and Doc shenanigans with a a ball of light! But yeah, this could lead to a LOT of things and I’m very interested in seeing how this plays out.

Final Thoughts

It was great! Admittedly this is a lot mroe bizarre than RvB has been in a while but it’s also RvB where Grif still being alive after getting hit by a tank and having Simmons organs thrown into him improperly isn’t ever questioned. Alien Norse Gods? Ia m all for it! Donut being Jesus? Awesome! More setup for Grf having a character arc? HELL YEAH MAN. It was a well done episode, progressing the plot without wasting any time, gives us a glimpse at how dangerous our villains our, gives us a badass female villain, and sets up everything for the episodes ot come. There’s definitely a feeling of epicness compared to last time, so it looks lie Joe is taking the armature gloves off and giving us one Hell of a story. I am very excited to see where it leads!

[rizachan]

Everything about Aoyama Yuuga screams "TRAGIC PAST"

Aoyama Yuuga is a very underrated character probably only made for comical relief. But look here, his character is actually worthy to have some sort of backstory just like the rest of I-A and the other students of U.A.

Whenever I see characters who doesn’t seem like having any problems, I always look for signs of them actually having some sort of tragedy in their lives. Most of us should be aware that in anime, happy-go-lucky personality =  very sad past. Well, of course not generally, but mostly. 

I wouldn't be surprised if Aoyama has a very tear-jerking story behind his personality. Even I have a few headcanons:

- manga spoilers may be included. -

1. He has a terminally ill/deceased important person in his life 

(lowkey thinking about his mother who's probably not Japanese. I mean, come on, the headcanon about his mother being French is all over the place and it’s not impossible because it is stated in the wiki that he’s born in France however we can’t be sure that’s ultimately true)

Of course something like that would inevitably get someone sad, depressed even.

But since that person is optimistic, happy-go-lucky and confident, he wants to "continue their legacy". Or it could be because that important person likes heroes / wants Aoyama to become a hero someday, that he entered the hero course to make them happy.

He might have been very insecure about himself before but because this important person came to his life, he learned to love himself although it goes a bit too much but well what can you say

OR

2. A B A N D O N M E N T     I S S U E S.

Someone in his life abandoned him and it hurt him big time, so he constantly tries his best to receive attention, even if it means being really desperate to the point of being annoying. 

He doesn’t let it get to him because if he believes that if he did, people would forget about him and abandon him all the same and he doesn’t want to feel that way again.

Look at this: 

That laughing seems a bit sarcastic, and he finds it strange that someone wants to be left behind. Especially the last one he said, “What are you gonna do if everyone passes and leaves you behind?” 

He’s laughing because he might be thinking, “Isn’t he an idiot? Who wants to be betrayed and left behind?”

When Iida tells him how he feels, in a very straightforward way, he was visibly shocked. Why? I was thinking it’s because, when he got abandoned, he felt very upset, but there was actually someone out there who wishes someone to pass ahead of them and be happy about it?

OR

3. He had someone important in his life who suddenly got in a situation where he/she couldn't remember Aoyama's name anymore or have troubles remembering him.

It may be something like Aoyama has to introduce himself every time he visits that person or something along those lines. You get the point.

Aoyama thought that being a hero might help that person remember him constantly because heroes are famous and highly unforgettable, so he wants to be flashy because he wants to be remembered smiling and happy and shit.

He also puts extra effort into making a large impression to his classmates because ever since that important person forgot about him, he actually grew to fear the words, “Who are you?” It has this impact in him and just hearing it, even unintentionally, he freezes in his place. So he tries his very best to let his name known to everyone, even if it means getting annoying. 

But hey, annoying people are hard to forget, isn’t it?

Mineta that lil

Aside from that, there's this:

4. He had only misfortune in his life.

When I started analyzing Aoyama’s character for hints of a sad past, I always had some questions in my mind that I wanted to answer for myself. Like, “Why is he always smiling?”, “Why does he like beauty and elegance?” and “Why did he become a hero?”

So I went to observe that part in the Provisional License Exam.

His dream is to be equal with everybody else. Why? Look at the panel I emphasized with blue. I don’t know, I just had that vibe that that’s the moment he first got his belt, seeing that there’s a box and everything. He seemed to me that he was feeling as if he won a jackpot and he’s still not over it... like, he doesn’t know if he’s worthy to touch the damn belt.

Racking my brain for a little more, and for some reason I was reminded of Nami from One Piece. If you don’t know, she’s a thief that likes money, but it was because she was very poor as a child.

And then I had that idea: what if Aoyama actually came from a poor family?

It could go somewhere from having divorced parents (unlikely, since he did refer to both of his parents one time) or actually deceased parents (and the one taking care of him is his older sister or aunt). It could also be that his French momma is literally living in the hospital now and they’re legit broke because of it so Aoyama decides to be a hero to earn money like Uraraka. Or something like, his parents’ marriage wasn’t approved by their families (since momma is a foreigner and papa’s fam is like the ultimate Japanese family) so they run away together but have no one to support them so they’re working a shit ton to have something to eat at least.

Anyways, what I’m trying to say here is that Aoyama works hard to look “fabulous” just so he could hide the fact that he usually couldn’t afford shit. He wants to be equal with everybody else, and to do that he needs to look like it. Although his interpretations of a “normal confident high school student” gets a little too much...

As for why he’s always smiling, notice how he keeps that closed smile even when his stomach hurts or he’s suffering in general. Notice how he only does it when he’s in the public eye. During the School Trip arc, he was obviously afraid. You can’t see him smiling because one, he could have fucking died; two, he’s covering his mouth and three; no one could see him acting that way. His companions, Jirou and Hagakure, were unconscious. No one could have seen him acting so cowardly.

Now, it could be something like, all the people he sees are all happy people, so despite his misfortunes in life, he wanted to be like the others. 

So he smiles. So he could be on equal footing with everyone. With people who suffer the same, probably worse even, but chooses to smile. Those people.

bUT WAIT THERE’S MORE:

Imagine a young Aoyama saying this to his parents and then they have this Inko-Izuku moment where the parents cry and hug their poor child while saying sorry.

Feel like crying yet? Well...

Imagine a young Aoyama saying this in front of his parents’ graves.

Good luck, and thanks for reading.

Alright, so yeah, I got shallow proof for these headcanons but it was nice to do a little storytelling for this boy. I’m not even expecting any of this to come true, but if ever these do come true, well all I can hope for is salvation and prayers for his poor soul.

[ladyloveandjustice]

The Great Ace Attorney Replay: Apollo Justice finale

I pretty much plowed through the non-Phoenix-Wright-Depression-Power-Hour and Phoenix-and-Trucy-being-cute parts of the last case without bothering to livechat it or anything, but now that I’ve finished I will collect my thoughts on it and on the game in general.

I think I definitely enjoyed it more than I did my first playthrough because I knew how “eh” the plot was going to be and just paid attention to little character moments and ignored it. Also I wasn’t tormented by the “WHERE THE FUCK ARE MAYA AND MILES” question since AA5 and AA6 mostly answered that. I could also appreciate it was a very nice game visually and the mechanics were pretty good. 

But I do have to stand by my assessment of it as being very lacking in several ways. Like, Klavier for instance, had potential to be a way better character than he was. He was pretty amusing/ridiculous and it’s novel to have the prosecutor be pretty friendly and actually constantly blatantly flirt with you, but wow, they dropped the ball SO HARD on the storyline with Kristoph for both him and Apollo. And what’s too bad is there were hints of it’s potential to be a WAY better storyline. 

Like. Klavier was the prosecutor for the trial where his own brother was convicted for murder, and also discovered that his brother manipulated him into ruining innocent people’s lives. That is a BIG deal. 

The dialogue between Kristoph and Klavier during that trial was genuinely a little unsettling at first too- Kristoph saying stuff like “sorry, it looks like my brother’s lost the ability to behave rationally” and Klavier kind of freaking out sort of gave the impression Kristoph manipulating and seemingly gaslighting his brother wasn’t a new thing- but then all that tension is completely ruined by how easily Klavier is able to get over it. There wasn’t really enough build-up to make the turnaround where he asks Apollo to prove bro guilty meaningful. We didn’t get enough of a sense of their relationship or what this meant for Klavier for it to matter.

It was the same for Apollo- there was like, a single moment where he felt kind of intimidated by Kristoph and like he was still his boss, but then it was gone with the wind. They really could have gotten something more out of the dramatics of the situation- like how the hell did Apollo end up working for Kristoph in the first place? Why did he choose his company? Why did Kristoph hire him? How did they meet? What did he think of him before all this? The game wasn’t really interested in developing Apollo to make any of this matter for him or by extension, the player. It was way more interested in what it meant for Phoenix. (AA6 cared about exploring Apollo waaaay more than this game did, so it’s so weird for me his fans still don’t feel it did him “justice”)

This also extends to Klavier and Apollo’s relationship- like they do have a pretty fun dynamic- Klavier basically hitting on Apollo 24/7 and Apollo not really noticing/mostly being kind of annoyed/intimidated and like “UGH COULD U STOP BEING SO COOL AND PRETTY” is a goldmine for funny shippy fic and I can see why fandom runs so hard with it, but the reason I could never really get into it is there’s not much beneath the surface- and there really COULD have been a lot more of an interesting story between the two of them. Apollo was present for the part of Klavier’s life where he discovered everything he did was wrong and even was the one who finally exposed that to him- that’s a HUGE thing and a similar thing happened with Miles and Nick and is a huge lynchpin for their relationship- but it was just not at all treated with that level here.

 The one single moment where they seem to connect on something deeper is Apollo going “omg he’s being consumed by darkness i’ll pull that darkness out of him” but like with all the other examples, it’s just a single moment that isn’t supported by the rest of the text. I saw no other indication that Apollo was the only one who could pull the darkness out or even that it actually was in any way a big deal for Klavier. There honestly doesn’t feel like much of a connection between them and anything that could potentially be meaningful is glossed over. 

(I could grumble a lot about how fandom seems to be willing to do the extra work for these two and fill in the holes for that characterization and doesn’t at all do the same for female characters who have as much or more going for them and are even more neglected but i’ll spare you that rant.)

 (like i see tons of post lamenting Klavier disappearing from the games and it’s hard for me to care even though i don’t dislike him, because 1. he did not, he still shows up in both of them even if one was only an au ep in 6 that’s more than other missing characters have gotten. like yeah they didn’t bother to develop him with those appearances??? but they NEVER developed him IN THE FIRST PLACE, THIS IS NOT NEW??? and 2. meanwhile Franziska and Kay have legit vanished from the games why don’t i see 20 billion posts about them. They both genuinely have unresolved character arcs that were in progress and demand a conclusion, unlike Klavier, who just didn’t really have one in the first place because he instantly got over his problems, yet somehow they’re not getting stanned and lamented in the same way)

(ok so i guess i didn’t spare you) (but god I want to see if Franziska was able to become a prosecutor free from her dad’s shadow, if she was able to stop feeling inferior to Miles! I want to see if Kay was able to find her own path and what she chose to do with her life! these were legit goals they had and were striving for!)

This game had a lot of fun parts- Ema in particular was a highlight I forgot how much I love her in this game- and it excelled in giving us stuff that’s interesting the play with if you cared to- the seven year gap where Phoenix was a depressed hobo is angst central and there’s SO much you can play with there, from the twisted relationship he seemed to have with Kristoph to adjusting to being a parent to the idea of him even pushing Miles and Maya away since that’s the only explanation for them not being there- the fact that the stuff it didn’t bother to explain is the most interesting aspect of the game and not anything to do with the title character or what we saw onscreen is kind of sad, though.

One thing on screen that was interesting about the game I would have liked to see develop more was the jurist system, especially knowing this was meant to reflect the jury system returning to Japan irl and was meant to be a commentary on that. It’s weird how that was just dropped. I know it would be a hard mechanic to incorporate, but you could do SOMETHING with it. I wish it had been built up to and explored a little more in this game proper, and also stuck around for later games. 

Anyway, yeah. Apollo Justice: full of gaping holes, but at least there’s some fun stuff to play with if you so chose. I’ll be looking forward to see how I weigh DD and Investigations against it upon replay. Investigations is next! Then DD! Then I play the Professor Layton crossover for the first time! Look forward to it! Or don’t! I don’t run yer life!

also i do love these characters so ima gonna do an apollo justice mini-spam today in honor of my finished replay.

[haleyfury]

It’s an understatement to say that this March wasn’t the best. I’ve shared some more details below and in some posts this month, but March was definitely an adjustment to a new type of normal for me, having moved home from my last year of college two months early. I am very appreciative of all the people in my life during this time, but the following books and TV also were the perfect way to find comfort.

I’m so especially that I read so many incredible this month- at least five of these are favorites of 2020 and contenders of being my #1 favorite book of 2020!

Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett (ARC) | 5/5 Stars

I think I finished Chasing Lucky on the last day in February, but forgot to add it to my February wrap-up. I haven’t met a Jenn Bennett book I haven’t loved, but this May 2020 release nailed everything I love in a YA contemporary.

Blitzed (Playbook #3) by Alexa Martin | 5/5

Blitzed follows one of my favorite characters in the Playbook series, Brynn. I loved the romance and the recurring cast from the first two books.

break your glass slippers by amanda lovelace | 4.5/5

I know I’ll be revisiting a lot of the poems in this new favorite Amanda lovelace poetry collection of mine.

House of Earth & Blood (Crescent City #1) by Sarah J. Maas | 5/5

As expected, I loved everything about House of Earth & Blood. I didn’t fly through it as fast I expected because of the complex plot and details, but I loved every moment.

What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter (ARC) | 5/5

What I Like About You lived up to my expectations and more. Please give me every book about a YA book blogger who loves fandom and cupcakes and also every future book by Marisa Kanter.

Roomies by Christina Lauren | 4.5/5

I plan on eating up all of Christina Lauren’s books this spring and summer, including Roomies. This isn’t my absolute favorite book of theirs, but I still really enjoyed it.

We Are the Wildcats by Siobhan Vivian (ARC) | 5/5

Another very much anticipated book that surpassed my expectations, I loved the emphasis on team building and female empowerment in We Are the Wildcats.

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord | 5/5

There are plenty of must-reads YA contemporaries in this wrap-up, but absolutely everyone needs to pick up Tweet Cute (and a ton of baking supplies because this book will basically make you crave all the food mentioned).

Until the Last Star Fades by Jacquelyn Middleton | 3/5

Although I enjoyed the setting, I did not enjoy Until the Last Star Fades’ main two characters and its writing style.

The Honey Don’t List by Christina Lauren | 5/5

I know some people haven’t loveeddd Christina Lauren’s newer releases, but I have been LOVINGGG them, especially The Honey Don’t List. The home improvement reality TV premise sold so well and I loved the two main characters, Carey & James.

The Mandalorian (Disney+) – I spent some rainy days over spring break binge-watching The Mandalorian. I knew I was going to fall in love with the Child/Baby Yoda, but I loved the overall show way more than expected. I was really sucked into each episode and I am already crying for season 2- I’m hoping since Disney+ has pushed up some other shows and movies, S2 (and The Rise of Skywalker) will be added sooner rather than later. S2 is slated to start streaming in October.

You S1 & S2 (Netflix) – After getting many recommendations to watch it, I’m so glad You lived up to the hype. It reminded me of a darker and honestly more well-done CW show. I enjoyed S1 more than S2 because I liked S1’s main cast and setting more, but S2 was still addicting. I was definitely surprised by its ending and really don’t know what to expect from the third season coming next year.

Continuing On: Schitt’s Creek S6, Brooklyn Nine-Nine S7

Reality TV: Family Karma (Bravo), Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta and SYTTD America (TLC)

Reviews 

A NEW SJM FAVE: House of Earth & Blood Review

Adult Romance & Contemporary Love: March 2020 Mini Reviews

Bookish News Roundup 1: Cover Reveals & Upcoming Releases

ANTICIPATED SEQUEL: Girls with Razor Hearts Review

favorite poetry collection: break your glass slippers review

MUST-READ SPORTS ROMANCE: Playbook Series Review

A 2020 FAVORITE: Harley in the Sky Review

Renegades Series Review

Bookish & Fangirl Fun: 

What I’ve Been Fangirling Over Lately: Life Update, Books, & TV Recs

Funko Wishlist & Collection Part 2

Contemporary Romance TBR

Book Sleeve Wishlist Part 2

I gave a life update in a post last week, but it’s no surprise to say that life turned upside down in March. I am home, safe, and healthy, but I am also a college senior who is still bummed that her university had to go online for the rest of the semester. While I admit that I cried every day for the first two weeks I was home and still have an occasional stress cry session here or there, I’ve been feeling a lot better and more positive lately—also blame it on the online school, homework, and capstone project I still have to work and complete through the first week in May as solid distractions. I shared some bookish news that have cheered me up this month last week, but here’s some more updated fangirls news that have made my heart happy:

More Bromance Book Club – Lyssa Kay Adams is truly blessing us with all the Bromance Book Club books! It was announced that Lyssa Kay Adams will be coming out with three more Bromance Book Club books in summer 2021! If you haven’t yet ventured into this contemporary romance series just yet, you have plenty of time and books to do so!Book #2, Undercover Bromance, just came out this month, and book #3, Crazy Stupid Bromance, is slated for this October.

Yay! So excited to write more Bromance books for ⁦@KristineESwartz⁩ and ⁦@BerkleyRomance⁩ !!!! pic.twitter.com/tkNLffFMCQ

— Lyssa Kay Adams (@LyssaKayAdams) March 22, 2020

Love is Blind S2 & S3 – It was announced that Netflix will be renewing two of its latest reality shows for second seasons: The Circle and Love is Blind! My best friends, sisters, and I are all absolutely obsessed with the latter show, much like the rest of the world. We keep joking around that we’ll be nominating each other to get on the second and third seasons.

What books did you read in March? What did you watch? Any recommendations? Share in the comments!

March 2020 Wrap Up It’s an understatement to say that this March wasn’t the best. I’ve shared some more details below and in some posts this month, but March was definitely an adjustment to a new type of normal for me, having moved home from my last year of college two months early.

[recentanimenews]

THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH Relives a Whole Lotta Trauma in Episodes 169-175!

Welcome to THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH! I’m Danni Wilmoth and I’ll be your host this week as we barrel on through all 220 episodes of the original Naruto anime adaptation. After last week’s spooky search for a g-g-g-g-g-ghost in the Land of Birds arc for episodes 162-168, it’s time to flesh out some backstories and meet some less than savory side characters along the way in episodes 169-175. This time around we’re going a little bit back to basics with another Orochimaru-centric filler arc in the Land of Seas, but with a few things that make it stand out from the rest in a pretty positive way! Instead of another ultimately fruitless search for Sasuke, we get to meet back up with Anko -- Chunin Exam proctor and Orochimaru’s former student -- to learn a bit more about her and what it was like to be under Orochimaru’s command (hint: it’s not great.) Additionally, we get an after school special about the dangers of having money as well as an introduction to a new arc about, well, searching for a bunch of money. But before we can see how that arc plays out, we first need to dive in and see what the rest of the Crunchyroll Features team thought about this latest batch of Naruto filler goodness!

  Like Randy Owen used to say, you can’t keep a good power-hungry snake man down. Orochimaru is BACK...sort of...These first few episodes were kind of a return to form with the central conflict revolving around Orochimaru’s former associates, only this time more out of chance than a search for Sasuke. How did you feel about Orochimaru’s inclusion in this arc compared to in previous filler arcs? Joseph: I actually thought it was really cool to see Orochimaru more in the light of someone who used to be a teacher. It’s kind of heartbreaking to see the impact of his evil on former disciples like Anko, so it was nice to have a slightly different perspective on the sinister snake boi. Carolyn: I didn’t hate it. It was fine to step away from him for a bit. And it’s fine for him to be back for a spell. Seems like a natural way to sort of steer the story back to Sasuke. And to be honest, I really, really liked this arc, filler or not. Paul: Orochimaru's inclusion in the Land of the Sea story arc works better than in some previous filler arcs specifically because they used it as a means of fleshing out Anko's backstory. Amnesia can be a narrative crutch, but the horror imagery and the self-affirming conclusion were a strong combination, and it was striking to see how Orochimaru's influence still looms large over her. Jared: I think having that long of a break between him being in an arc really helped here. We get a good look at some of the really messed up stuff he’d been doing even when he was still technically with the Leaf, which I think helped make it feel less like filler and more in the style of the earlier arcs. Kevin: Despite my previous grievances with the filler arcs seeming to need to put Orochimaru in everything, I felt like he actually added something this time, rather than being shoehorned in, since he added to Anko’s development. So I liked him being here, probably because it’s not related to the actual mission, but instead is just a coincidence. Kara: As much as I grouse about all evil roads leading back to Orochimaru, I kinda liked this. I also like looking at more reminders of the fact that people didn’t always consider Orochimaru evil. There was a time when people trusted him—hell, the fact that he was a trusted teacher really drives home some of the emotion behind the Leaf Ninja dealing with him. Noelle: I think this was fine, mostly because instead of focusing more on the puppeteering aspect of Orochimaru in the present, this focuses on how he used to be framed. He is still considered part of the Sannin, and once held a lot of respect in the village, and him betraying them all was a vital blow and not just a random ninja running away. I liked it.

  Anko’s also back, y’all! She was an early favorite for me when we met her during the Chunin Exams, so it kind of bummed me out when the plot just kind of forgot about her. We also get to see more Ino and Shino in action with Naruto too. How did you feel about this group’s dynamic during these episodes? Joseph: I thought their dynamic was a little stronger than it was in previous filler episodes, but I’ll admit I was glazing over a little once again during this arc. At this point we’re so far away from the actual story of Naruto that I forgot what it’s like. I like Anko being back, though. Carolyn: I liked it. I was a fan of the arc and I was a fan of seeing an old character come back. We keep seeing all these new characters that we have to simultaneously learn the origins of and try to care for. I liked seeing the backstory to someone we already know. I felt like the dynamic was a bit of a return to form, as well. This felt like early Naruto to me. Paul: Bringing back Anko opened up interesting dramatic opportunities, and the showrunners did a good job taking advantage of them. As much as I enjoy Naruto teaming up with supporting characters from other ninja squads, I had a hard time justifying the combo with Shino and Ino here. The three of them seem like the worst possible combination for a naval mission. Amphibious combat doesn't speak to any of their individual strengths. Jared: I’d say the only downside to the group dynamic is they made Ino at times act too much like Sakura would, but other than that I thought it was good. Bringing Anko back in the way they did makes a ton of sense and should have been the case for a lot of other characters. Kevin: Their first reaction was mine, as well. What possible team combination could result from this group? As it turns out, basically nothing, since they fight together, but don’t really work off of each other in any way. It’s not as though I dislike them as a team, there’s just not much material in terms of character dynamics or fighting styles to work off of. The most interesting moments for me were Ino commenting on Naruto’s boundless energy. Kara: Anko’s back! She seemed really fun from the get-go, so I’m glad we’re revisiting her. Ino/Shino/Naruto was surprisingly effective, though I have to admit my favorite part of their team-up was when they were sailing away at the end, and they pan to Ino and Naruto in turn laughing and Shino’s just standing there like a stone-cold weirdo. A+ Noelle: I don’t think it exactly worked per se, but at least they’re trying out something different. If you have a massive cast of characters, then you might as well use them. The filler going this route, even through unconventional combinations of characters (especially since canon tends to keep the teams together), is still something worth exploring.

  We’ve talked at length about how filler is usually “plot-proof,” meaning nothing that happens is allowed to forward the plot or alter any characterizations outside of what the source material planned for. So it came as a real surprise to me that the Land of Seas ended up completely reshaping Anko’s established role in the story. In “canon” she’s established as Orochimaru’s former pupil who was cast aside and feels inadequate for it. Now, thanks to this filler arc, she realizes she rejected him of her own volition, absolving herself of the burden that’s defined her so far. Do you think this is a positive development, or did the writers take too many liberties with the characters? Joseph: I don’t recall if Anko is explored much further later, so it seemed like the writers were just able to slip this revelation in without pushing too many other important pieces in the process. I’m glad something positive came of the arc rather than it ending with Naruto farting and making everything that just happened completely pointless. Carolyn: It’s a bit of a cheesy ending, but I thought it was different enough and actually does progress the story to a mild degree. Naruto and friends could at least have a new ally. Paul: I'm not familiar with the manga canon and this is my first time watching the anime, so I can't comment on whether giving Anko a richer backstory feels like the writers are taking liberties. I'm glad that Anko is able to work through a past trauma in a positive way, and it was interesting to see her unconsciously mimicking some of her former teacher's mannerisms (sinister grins, licking her kunai, snake-themed Jutsu, etc.). Jared: Not knowing the actual canon, if they don’t actually go into her backstory at all, I think they actually did a really good job of establishing what happened with her and showing someone that could cast aside Orochimaru’s charismatic ways. When the arc started I thought it was smart that they were going into her backstory since it was brought up very early on, but never really addressed again. Given what we’ve seen with some of the filler thus far, they could’ve easily messed this up, but in all honesty, they really brought their A game here. Kevin: From what I remember of Shippuden, and knowing at least the early parts of Boruto, I might actually consider this the peak of her character. I quite like that they developed her further, and that they gave her younger self some agency in rejecting Orochimaru, even if it may end up contradicting some other character moments as a result. Basically I’m okay with retcons, provided that they result in better characters. Kara: Like a lot of the others, I don’t know the manga. But in general, I am all about characters discovering agency in hurtful and abusive situations. It’s kind of hopeful and encouraging in a way—not all of Orochimaru’s evil is limited to weird ninja magic, and some of his behaviors exist in real-world toxic people. So I love seeing positive examples of taking charge and growing out of that in anime. Noelle: From what I remember, Anko is barely touched upon in the manga and Shippuden, so sure, it’s fine that they manage to reframe her story here. Wouldn’t Kishimoto have to at least approve of these stories anyway? In terms of what was reframed, her original appearance had her more lost, as a victim wanting revenge, having her life stolen away from her. Trying to find the inner strength to regain that-- that’s pretty alright. It adds more depth to her, and I can’t say that’s a negative.  

  Of course, all good things must come to an end, and so we were introduced to surely the absolute worst character who has and will ever appear in Naruto fiction: a (literal) snot-nosed trust fund brat whose name I forget but detest too much to go look up out of fear that I will once again lay eyes on his incorrigible countenance. We talk a lot about our favorites in these write-ups, but let’s get messy for a bit. Out of all the one-note side characters we’ve met so far on these adventures, which one do you utterly despise the most? Joseph: Gosh, it might be this kid. This felt like some weird two-cent episode of Pokémon than a ninja action show, complete with our requisite moral at the end. The only thing I liked about him was the fact that his nose was so full of snot that the subtitles had him saying Darudo instead of Naruto. Carolyn: Yeah, he’s pretty obnoxious. I honestly can’t say that I’ve truly hated most characters, otherwise. Paul: Kunihisa is the worst kind of stock character, but even though the stereotypical rich kid with a chip on his shoulder feels like lazy writing, I can't work up the passion to despise him, because that would require devoting further energy to the definition of a throwaway character. He sucks, but at least Kunihisa didn't linger like Mizuki, who was poorly written in a way that dominated for several episodes and took the spotlight away from fun characters like Fujin and Raijin. Jared: What a weird episode that was. Even with the way he’s designed, I wasn’t sure if they were trying to be borderline offensive or what. Like Paul says, it helps he really doesn’t stick around past this episode so I think that lessens the blow of him, but oof. Didn’t know we needed to have an after school special about the dangers of greed. Kevin: Basically every character in the show, filler or not, has some kind of redeeming quality, even if it takes time to surface. And then there’s this kid. Kara: I did not like this child. I am having an extremely hard time thinking of another filler character I dislike as much as his child. Noelle: Dear god I hope we never see this kid again. Everyone else might not have clicked with me for various reasons, but this kid was one big nope.

  It looks like we’ll have to wait until next time to see the end of the treasure-hunting arc, so let’s set up a fun exercise in the meantime. Put yourself in Tsunade’s shoes for a few moments. You need to put a three person team together to search for some buried treasure to pay off your extreme gambling debts. You have your pick of anyone in the village. There are three catches, though. One: the treasure map is vague and there are probably lots of traps protecting the treasure. Two: you have to make sure it isn’t a team smart enough to figure out you’re sending them on a completely self-serving mission. Three: one of them has to be Naruto. Now, who will be your mission leader, who will be their subordinate, and who will be Naruto? Joseph: I’m gonna have to keep Kiba and Akamaru, because you just can’t kick a dog to the curb when you’re hunting for something. I’d probably go ahead and toss Ino in there as the leader, because she’d be smart about the mission but too annoyed at Naruto being Naruto to think about the true motive behind it. Naruto will be Naruto, naturally. Carolyn: Gosh dangit, they can’t be smart? Can I say Shikamaru anyway because he likely wouldn’t care to tell anyone what’s going on? He would be 1,000 percent smart enough to figure out that vague map. Rock Lee is a good boy and would be loyal and do my bidding and trust that I have good reasons for this shady mission. Naruto will be the leader, Shikamaru will be his subordinate, and Rock Lee will be Naruto. Paul: I hope that Tsunade isn't dumb enough to fall for a trick as blatantly obvious as a sinister dude showing up with a secret treasure map to a hidden cave full of fabulous wealth, so I suspect the real mission is to bust up this ring of face-stealing ninja. If the assignment weren't a set-up, I'd send Naruto, Neji, and Sakura. Neji would be the brains of the operation and he could search for danger with his Byakugan, Sakura would provide support and medical treatment if things turned pear-shaped, and Naruto would disarm traps by blundering into them face-first. Jared: Man, the caveat of the team not being smart makes this tough. I think Rock Lee would be a lock in that case, since he’d just go with whatever if Guy told him it was good. I think I’d cast Shino as leader since we’ve seen him be able to keep Naruto in line at times, but also he could use his bugs to help search in the beginning. That, and you need a straight man to Naruto and Lee’s goofy antics. Kevin: Team leader: Shizune. She already knows about Tsunade’s debts, so can keep quiet about the real reason for the mission, and is also a medical ninja, so fewer and less serious injuries should something go wrong. Naruto: Kiba. He’s good at tracking and knows the area, but is still a Naruto, so he won’t realize what’s going on (I’d send Sasuke as the Naruto due to his ninjutsu power and general competence while not caring enough to wonder about the purpose of the mission, but obviously he can’t really go at the moment). Subordinate: Realistically any combat specialist, but for the sake of team variety let’s go with Lee, since his insane strength could probably help with negating at least some traps, and the team doesn’t have much Taijutsu power yet. Kara: I think there’s actually a lot of wiggle room with the “not smart” caveat. Between keeping Naruto in line and parsing the map, even the most solid team leader won’t have time to question what’s going on. I’m actually going to go with my fanfic filler team from before: Sakura, Rock Lee, and Naruto. Sakura can take point, Lee can be her subordinate because he’s resilient enough to handle any traps, and Naruto will be too busy swooning over Sakura-chyen to have a random mid-episode Wisdom roll crit success. Noelle: Tough to say, but not being too smart would discount the obvious choices of Shikamaru and Sakura, so I’d say team leader would be post-character development Neji, who is calculating enough (and has earned Naruto’s respect at this point), to keep everyone together. It would help that he’s good in combat. For the traps, I’d say Tenten, because she’s a traps and weapons expert, and who better to get around those? Naruto for plot armor.

  I can’t think of any snarky ways to ask that haven’t already been done already, so let’s just get to it. Highs and lows? Joseph: My high was seeing Naruto using his shadow clones to play soccer with himself. Of course he’d use them for fun when he’s bored! The low was probably the snot-nosed brat episode. Throwaway Case Closed side character lookin’ turd. Carolyn: I actually really liked seeing Anko learn by identifying with Naruto. We’ve seen him identify with the villains time and again and learn some lesson or other in the process. “I was almost just like them!” I like seeing the other side of the coin. I have a feeling lots of low points are going to be the same here, but yeah, the snot-nosed kid. Paul: My high point was Anko recovering her memories and finding closure with that portion of her past as Orochimaru's student. Addressing past trauma with a healthy resolution that makes a character feel stronger and more in control of their life is always a positive, which is why my low-point is that Isaribi doesn't get a similar conclusion. She's an anime-original character from a filler arc, but couldn't we have a few seconds to confirm that she's got a happy, healthy future ahead of her? Will the townspeople finally accept Isaribi, or will they continue to abuse and mistreat her? Could she relocate to the Village Hidden in the Leaves instead? Give me something. I want to know that the fish girl is okay. Jared: That first arc was just real good in a way I wasn’t expecting. I also enjoyed Naruto’s attempt at playing soccer by himself, but he’s gotta seperate those teams better! Can’t have everyone looking the same! Low point would probably be the rich kid episode. What a weird episode. Kevin: High - Naruto and Isaribi’s relationship throughout the Land of Sea arc. Sure, she ends up being another of the “oh, we’re similar,” situations, but early on Naruto can’t say how they’re similar, so she doesn’t believe him until he’s pushed to the point of showing the Kyuubi’s power. Low - The kid who’s so annoying none of us are even bothering to look up his name. Dishonorable mention - “Sorry, no more ferries today.” “How else can we possibly get to Mother Island?” YOU CAN WALK ON WATER! Kara: High point is the return of Akamaru the Good Boy. Low point is existence of rich child. I don’t care if he learned the value of senseless beauty and hard work, I wish he’d sunk into that bottomless swamp. Noelle: I really liked Anko, because we haven’t seen a lot of her, and what ended up being delivered was pretty satisfactory! I will always happily consume good development. Low point, that kid. I swear, that kid.

  COUNTERS: This Week: Bowls of Ramen: 0 + 1 uncountable scene "I'm Gonna be Hokage!": 0 Shadow Clones Created: 22 + 1 variable scene Total so far: Bowls of Ramen: 171 bowls, 9 cups "I'm Gonna be Hokage!": 55 Shadow Clones Created: 683 And that’s it for this week! Remember that you’re always welcome to watch along with the Rewatch, especially if you’ve never seen the original Naruto! Watch Naruto today! Here’s our upcoming schedule: - Next week, JARED CLEMONS leads us to the Hidden Village of Star! - On July 19th, JOSEPH LUSTER is back to continue the Star Guard mission! -And on July 26th, KARA DENNISON returns to guide us through the end of the Peddlers Escort Mission!

CATCH UP ON THE REWATCH!

Episodes 162-168: The Tale of the Phantom Samurai

Episodes 155-161: Quickfire Curry

Epsiodes 148-154: The Forest is Abuzz With Ninjas

Episodes 141-147: Mizuki Strikes Back!

Episodes 134-140: The Climactic Clash

Episodes 127-133: Naruto vs Sasuke

Episodes 120-126: The Sand Siblings Return

Episodes 113-119: Operation Rescue Sasuke

Episodes 106-112: Sasuke Goes Rogue

Episodes 99-105: Trouble in the Land of Tea

Episodes 92-98: Clash of the Sannin

Episodes 85-91: A Life-Changing Decision

Episodes 78-84: The Fall of a Legend

Episodes 71-77: Sands of Sorrow

Episodes 64-70: Crashing the Chunin Exam

Episodes 57-63: Family Feud

Episodes 50-56: Rock Lee Rally

Episodes 43-49: The Gate

Episodes 36-42: Through the Woods

Episodes 29-35: Sakura Unleashed

Episodes 22-28: Chunin Exams Kickoff

Episodes 15-21: Leaving the Land of Waves

Episodes 8-14: Beginners' Battle

Episodes 1-7: I'm Gonna Be the Hokage!

  Thank you for joining us for the GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH! Have a great weekend, and we'll see you all next time!   Have anything to say about our thoughts on Episodes 162-168? Let us know in the comments! Don't forget, we're also accepting questions and comments for next week, so don't be shy and feel free to ask away!

------- Danni Wilmoth is a Features and Social Videos writer for Crunchyroll and also co-hosts the video game podcast Indiecent. You can find more words from her on Twitter @NanamisEgg.   Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

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