#so instead of their story ending after like one episode it just becomes a 10 seasons slow burn romcom
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dorlene au where they're both professors (thinking linguistics for dorcas and maybe something in stem for marls) and they're rivals!!!!! dorcas makes her yearly presentation on descartes at the beginning of term? the stem kids are all talking about it because professor mckinnon keeps shitting on it in class instead of actually teaching. marlene has a big science thingy experiment she's trying to convince investors to fund? oh you bet your ass dorcas is presenting why the experiment will fail and pulling out articles from the depths of jstor when they're meant to be presenting coserius theories (oh, marlene has so many opinions on coseriu even though she doesn't even speak any romance languages).
everyone is just waiting for them to fuck it out of their systems so that kids can actually learn shit and not just evil plots to bring the other down. the faculties have bets going on for how long the whole circus will run (so far remus is in the lead with his winnings).
now there are some who believe that oh they're married, this is their weird form of foreplay, but nope. they're not married. they're divorced (something something they got married too young and were both bad at communication) and they're still very much in love with one another :)
#dorlene#dorlene au#dorcas meadowes#marlene mckinnon#dorcas x marlene#marauder era#the enemies profs is inspired by my actual linguistics prof who said how much he used to hate his now bestie (the literary theory prof)#first class in my first year of uni and i was already unlocking profs lore#now dorlene however are just so stupid and theyd for sure be completely blind to one anothers feelings EVEN THOUGH THEY KNOW HOW THE OTHER#ACTS WHEN IN LOVE#but noooooo how could she be in love with me were divorced????#james bless him doesn't have the heart to tell marlene shes stupid and she needs to open her eyes but reg has no probleme insulting her#but thing is he doesn't tell dorcas this bc he loves to cause chaos#so instead of their story ending after like one episode it just becomes a 10 seasons slow burn romcom
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I know plenty of people have already made a version of the "Jinx is alive" theory post but I've also seen so many of you mourn her death that I decided to gather all the evidence and make another post, turning this theory into a fact.
Because Jinx is alive. It's not a speculation. It's literally there.
The first thing I'm going to mention are the context clues Jinx gives herself. First, the last thing the ghost of Silco tells her. I think the cycle only ends when you find the will to walk away. Then, the realization she comes to when Vi hugs her in the cell. You're never gonna give up on me, are you? What she tells Vi after she leaves her in that cell. You don't need to worry about me anymore. [...] And yes, her initial plan is to kill herself, because she thinks the only way for Vi to move on is for her to be gone. And Ekko gets there just in time to stop her but it looks like he doesn't convince her to abandon her plan, just change it.
And later, when she joins Vi in the final fight. What does she tell her? Still don't get it, huh, sis? I'm always with you. Even when we're worlds apart.
Everything that happens after is constructed specifically to let us and Vi believe that Jinx died. Until we get to this scene:
Caitlyn is studying the Hexgates designs.
She's looking through the pages depicting the place where the final fight happened, specifically focusing on the air vent shafts, while toying with a monkey bomb head - the same monkey bomb that Jinx used in her supposed last monents.
She looks down at the monkey...
Watch the eyes. The realization hits her...
And she smirks, knowing. Jinx used one of the air vents to escape before the explosion.
I've studied the explosion frame by frame. First, a small yellow explosion goes off - Jinx sets off the monkey bomb.
As it becomes bigger, she shoots out of there
this is still the beginning of the blast when we can still see her, and the big boom that destroys everything starts 10 frames later
Last context clue is a reference to the very first episode, which is clearly depicted in this gifset here, so instead of explaining, I'll just send you there to check for yourselves.
One thing that is speculation here is, how exactly did Caitlyn come into possession of the monkey bomb head? I doubt she found it there because it would have been turned to dust. And I'm thinking, Jinx took it with her and left it for Cait to find as a clue. She didn't want Vi to know but maybe she wanted Cait to figure it out. I imagine her sneaking into her house and maybe leaving it somewhere for Cait to find, like her desk or something. It gives Cait an idea, a gut feeling she needs to check, and that allows her to figure it out. Just like we are supposed to figure it out on our own.
Bottom line, Jinx is alive. She escaped the explosion through the air vents, then boarded the airship and left the city, convinced that the only way to give her sister a happy ending is to take herself out of the equation. The glitching closing shot saying The End in Jinx's colorful handwriting is a sign that she is telling us that this is where this story ends, like she's saying "don't look for me. It's over." That's also probably why we aren't shown what Caitlyn does with the information she now possesses.
I hope this helps take away from the grief 💙
#arcane#arcane spoilers#arcane season 2#arcane season 2 spoilers#vi arcane#jinx arcane#caitlyn kiramman#jinx and vi#vi and jinx#mundi gifs#®mundi
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I'm gonna be so serious, y'all are remembering POWDER and Ekko and not JINX and Ekko when screaming about how much you "wanted Timebomb endgame over Caitvi"
shoving JINX in a relationship with her current mental state is not a good writing choice whatsoever, because Ekko literally had to keep rewinding time because she kept trying to kill herself. If Anything, That relationship would be rushed and fanservice because they would have jumped the gun in 2 episodes vs the 2 seasons it took for Caitvi and showing their ups and downs throughout their whole relationship.
The alternate universe works because Powder doesn't become Jinx and the two don't separate, unlike this universe where the two have been at odds for 7 years and almost kill each other back in Ep 7 of S1.
"But Cait never said sorry!" she didn't really have to, because Vi never stopped being in love with the girl that she Knows Cait is at heart, the Cocktail Molotov scene in Act 2 makes that VERY apparent. Cait saying that she was waiting for Vi to recover to address Jinx is the start of it because Act 1 Cait wouldn't have even Considered doing that, because she was so gung-ho about putting a bullet into Jinx that she Demanded Vi move out of the way for her to do so. She holds herself accountable with the mistakes she's made ("We can't erase our mistakes. None of us." that wasn't just a line targeted at Jinx to prove a point, there's deeper meaning behind it), and moving the guards out of the cell proving that she trusts Vi and her judgment on Jinx is that apology, Caitlyn has always been an "acts of service" kinda person over being a "verbal" kinda person; it's all over the place in S1 but Especially here in S2. But even after she takes Vi's shirt off, you could tell by her eyes and body language that she was most likely going to stop herself again to apologize for hitting her because the wound was in the same spot she initially hit, which was part of the lead up for This wound to even happen, but Vi's the one that just pulls her back in instead.
I'm also gonna add on that Vi thinks she made the wrong choice in trusting Jinx and thinking Jinx's changed because Jinx locked her in the cell and ran away again. So why in the Hell would Vi go chasing after her Again to be met with the same result time and time again? Vi isn't responsible for Jinx's mental health and y'all saying that are just weird. And I think it's apparent that Stillwater probably wasn't even in the top 10 things in her head being with Caitlyn, she was just running wild on emotions that she hasn't allowed herself to feel like-- Ever. And even if it Was Vi probably would have said she wasn't comfortable being in a jail cell of all places.
What was I talking about? Oh right, Timebomb.
Like Yes, it's shitty that Ekko doesn't get a happy ending considering he's the most unproblematic in the entire show. But people tend to forget that at the end of the day, Arcane is a TRADGEDY. It's not She-ra, it's not The Owl House, it wasn't going to be wrapped up in a neat little bow where everyone gets to smile and walk into the sunset with their loved ones, especially considering the fact that this season's being used as build ups to other stories, it's relatively clear that this isn't the last we're going to see of a lot of these characters. When they come back into play? well... who's to say?
But also, let's address that a lot of the Caitvi hate is just straight up homophobia at this point because a lot of people can understand Mel's admission to manipulating Jayce as an apology but Cait's actions we're suddenly braindead and need shit completely spelled out. like good lord I'm so tired of this. Y'all would NEVER have survived Catradora let me tell ya...
(My next post is gonna be a long winded rant about Maddie so stay tuned for that...)
#arcane#arcane season 2#caitlyn kiramman#vi arcane#ekko arcane#jink arcane#caitvi#timebomb#league of legends#yall are weird#and hypocritical#to say the least#arcane discussion#im rambling again#but i have a point#making timebomb canon would be fanservice not caitvi#im just saying
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anyway, my hot kenzaki take is that a lot of people misunderstand him pretty fundamentally, and its all in the specification of him "sacrificing everything for his friends". cuz .. i mean. he doesnt.
so kenzakis story starts age 10, when his parents die in the house fire. regardless of ""realism"" or the immediate kneejerk reaction people have of "you were 10", kenzaki takes the fact he could not personally protect the people he loves hard, and then is isolated for the next decade. inshow, he says koutaro is his first friend. not his newest, not his most recent, not his first in a long time. koutaro is his FIRST FRIEND. tachibana is his senpai and he made no friends at board. hirose doesnt become his friend until after koutaro does. tsubaki himself confirms in the final episode interview that "Kenzaki was in a situation where he had no friends, lost his parents, and was all alone." no matter where he went after he lost his parents, he was alone.
its not to say kenzaki doesnt care about people, or humanity, or whatever, even as a chronic loner. because he clearly does! he loves people. he chose protecting people as a job because he didnt ever want to feel powerless again, he wanted to help others, he doesnt want people to die. these are all noble reasons, but its evident there is a hierarchy in his heart and it becomes clear when he gets attached to hajime! kenzakis biggest problems are about Protecting The Ones He Loves, specifically. HIS people. his parents were what started it all, and he didnt get attached to anything to that significant of a degree again until he fell in love with hajime. and. i mean its obvious
i cannot stress enough that the moment kenzaki decided he believed in hajime he stopped listening to literally anyone elses advice about their situation. his senpai tachibana expressing concern about a real danger? hes not only fine, but if anything happens, i am the one who will handle it. koutaro not trusting hajime around his family because of the chance he Killed Haruka's Husband? but i believe in him, there must be a reason. mutsuki being concerned? well hes mutsuki. sorry mukki. anyone else? no, its fine, i trust him.
Kenzaki believed in the possibility of a sliver of a sliver of a chance, and he risked everything and everyone else he ever knew and loved for it. Kenzaki let the darkroaches rage on Japan for WAY TOO LONG just because of his belief in a miracle for one single person. Tachibana was injured, Mutsuki was in the hospital, and literally every single other one of his acquaintances was in mortal peril. It would have killed all of them if he did nothing, but instead of the single most logical action, and the only path to the end anyone else could see, Kenzaki gave up his humanity to keep Hajime alive!
Above the world, Kenzaki will choose the one he loves.
this is part of how kenzaki and hajime are mirrors - hajime never had the opportunity to make friends, because he was bugmode/not really a "person" up until a little while ago (and even then, chalice had a friend?), but kenzaki just never made them. hajime attracts people like... darkroaches, from amane to haruka to jin to kenzaki onwards, and kenzaki stumbled into his housing situation and kotaro and was otherwise alone. hajime loves deeply and protectively, instinctively, selflessly, even if he didnt understand what the feeling was, and kenzaki was so isolated from other people that despite being human all of his emotions seem "weird", the way he interacts with the other humans at first is "weird", etc. kenzaki likes People, but individuals have always been beyond him. hajime doesnt like people, but he loves Persons. hajime is willing to give up his life for the world, and kenzaki is willing to give up the world for hajime (and when it crosses the edge, he is willing to give up himself... for hajime.)
-functionally, kenzaki is set up as less ""human"" than hajime in quite a few ways.
(i am honestly inclined to think at times it is not just that kenzaki saw that hajime was capable of love that made him believe in him, but saw that hajime was capable of love in a way kenzaki wasnt, a way that seemed more noble, natural, and human.)
and this is obviously controversial because on the surface kenzaki is very kind! kenzaki does obviously care about humanity as a whole and people as people. but that doesnt mean hes not selfishly selfless. that doesnt mean he doesnt have his own priorities. that doesnt mean hes perfect, or that hes a typical hero type, when in all ways he is extremely Weird right from the beginning. hes tall and gangly and a bit awkward and kind of moody and sort of unsociable and a huge sweetheart yardstick.
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i was caught super off-guard by the reveal that the wondergirls will in fact return to the white tower at the start of s3, because i'd long assumed there surely wouldn't be time for that. my gut reaction was to be Not Thrilled about it, due to worrying that it would mean spending too long rehashing s2 territory rather than moving on to the next phase of the girls' stories, but having mulled it over, i now see many reasons to be excited about it! naturally, lots of them are gawyn-related <3 and "letting characters spend precious time together before they're separated for the next 10 books"-related
GAWENE!!!!!!!!!! gawene gawene gawene!!!!!! it was always a point of sorrow for me that my prior s3 structure theories couldn't fit in any gawene time beyond "maaaaaybe they could have a brief meeting in caemlyn if the waste-bound gang makes a pitstop there", but now they might get to have multiple scenes across multiple episodes! they might have a chance to build a solid initial emotional connection before the story takes them apart for a while! i am literally overjoyed at the prospect!
in addition to this being good for me, it's also good for the story and for rand's future romantic endeavors. egwene ALSO showing sparks of interest in a new person (especially if said new person is a cute prince who worships the ground she walks on - yes this is the truth of who gawyn is, you all don't know him like i do) will do wonders to sell show-onlys on a Final Randgwene Breakup. we need to see that egwene and rand are BOTH moving on from each other and BOTH ready to leave their romance in the past and start new relationships.
it's also important for later, because gawyn's future storyline hinges on him feeling emotionally attached enough to egwene to be willing to desert his own army to help her
guys imagine egwene meeting gawyn for the first time AFTER all her damane trauma instead of before........i could totally imagine her feeling uneasy or stifled around nynaeve and elayne for a little while because they look at her with such pity and guilt over what happened and being with her old friends reminds her too painfully of how much she's changed as a person after what she's been through, but gawyn is a brand-new post-trauma friend, he doesn't know any version of her but the one before him now, he doesn't know what happened to her, he doesn't feel sorry for her, he's not constantly trying to apologize to her or ask if she's okay or tiptoe around her, and thus spending time with him allows her to just feel Normal again. i'm emotional!!!!
anyway
more tower time will also allow proper wondergirls trio time! we didn't really have it in s2 since nynaeve & elayne didn't become close until after egwene was captured, and we won't have much time for it in the future since they'll be split up for a lot of the story, so getting a couple episodes now with them as a full trio will be wonderful.
and more specifically, more time for the egwene-elayne friendship! they were so sweet in s2, but didn't get a TON of time actually together, and they might not see each other in person much for the rest of the series (though TAR zoom calls might be plentiful), so i'll be thrilled to see them get to hang out a little at the beginning of the season. and especially to see egwene's end of the friendship and see her affirming how much she cares for elayne, after the back half of s2 treated us to a lot of elayne's end of it and her devotion to egwene.
trakand siblings!!! another big point of sorrow for me in my previous theorizing was that elayne wouldn't get to actually interact with her brothers except for perhaps in a flashback cold open (i'd imagined elayne would go straight to tanchico from falme & the bros would show up at the white tower looking for her). but now, we will get to see all three of them together! we'll get to see the full sibling dynamic! and considering that they might never be all three together in one place again (depending on how the show maneuvers people around), this will be invaluable.
it will also help the brothers' characterizations & storylines to see how they interact with elayne and how that later results in desperation to keep her safe & get answers on her whereabouts leading them towards some questionable decisions
egwene taking her accepted test early in the season (potentially even in the first episode?) could be a very handy vehicle for showing the audience where her headspace is at in the wake of all her s2 trauma. i'd imagine her test scenes will be Accepted Test: Abridged Version since we already dove so deeply into it with nynaeve, but something like the seanchan as her past trauma in arch 1 and romance with rand as the piece of home she needs to let go of in arch 2 could be done as quick but effective scenes to show us what she's wrestling with internally at the moment.
and getting more egwene-siuan interactions will be very fun! seeing how the wondergirls might feel about siuan after hearing of her Attempted Randnapping (if they do hear about it from rand and moiraine, two people who are famous for not telling anyone things) would be interesting.
possible elayne accepted test giving us insight into her character? i won't bank on it since 3 onscreen accepted tests might be excessive, but at the very least we might get a scene like the books where she and egwene are both shaken after their tests and nynaeve comforts them, and perhaps elayne tells them a bit about what she saw in the arches.
also! if mat is also involved in some early-season tower shenanigans, then of course this means getting the mat-gawyn-galad fight, which means i can finally realize my long-held dream of putting the text post "guy frantically looking up 'i think i like men' on his phone immediately after losing a fight with another man" onto a relevant screencap of gawyn. this is crucial stuff, people! and i will in general be delighted to see any potential mat-gawyn interactions. soon it will be time to prepare my Unexpected Ships bingo card for s3!
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But that is the magical joy of Be My Favorite, isn’t it?! That Kawi learns how to choose himself and joy instead of what Kawi thinks will make him happy because it’s what the world values. And then he’s told Pisaeng about the time travel but Pisaeng doesn’t quite believe him until Kawi is sick and maybe dying and tries using it. And Pisaeng wonders if Kawi is compromising his dreams for Pisaeng’s happiness, but they’re just choosing their own happiness. And I want to cry just thinking about it.
This is from a Be My Favorite post I made last month that still makes me emotional.
Like!!! One of my favorite parts of the series in terms of the writing choices Waa made is that Kawi doesn't actually see dozens and dozens of potential futures. As a writer, I think that would be tempting to play with. But instead, the story is framed so that Kawi doesn't know how many times he can use the crystal ball, so he has to be extremely cautious. Structure-wise that heightens the stakes, but that also means that Kawi as a character has to think very deeply and thoroughly about everything he does that might have repercussions.
Which, as we see in the series, drives him into Panic Mode about possibly fucking up everyone's lives around episode 10 after seeing The Worst Timeline in episode 7.
I love love love that he and Pisaeng don't actually talk that much about Kawi's whole time-travel experience because 1) once Kawi has what he needs (a loving relationship and found family), he doesn't want to look back, and 2) it leaves Pisaeng to grapple with his own insecurities about their relationship.
Like, the Pisaeng we see in episode 12 who offers to be a Dirty Little Secret if Kawi wants to pursue a publicly famous life is not the same Pisaeng from any of the Terrible Futures that Kawi saw. He's the fortunate one, the one who crushed on Kawi for a few months in their first year of university, confessed to him, got an initial rejection followed by a reciprocation a few days later, and then dated Kawi consistently for the next twelve years.
What I love about that is that the Pisaeng in episode twelve, the one who won by all possible metrics, still has the seeds of self-destruction in him. He would closet himself and their relationship for Kawi, and Kawi knows from experience that 1) he really doesn't want the fame, but also 2) he's seen Pisaeng destroy himself for his sake before, and he promised never to let that happen again.
And he doesn't tell Pisaeng that either!!! Adult Kawi who has Learned Things from time travel doesn't want or need credit for the person he's become. He doesn't tell Pisaeng how horrible fame was on both of them, how selfish it made him. He doesn't want to relive it for himself for sure, but I also think he wants to spare his Pisaeng any sliver of the pain he put another version of him through in another life.
So what we get is that Pisaeng sees Kawi put aside singing professionally, which he seemed to love, and become a lyricist instead. He thinks Kawi could have a better life and he's denying himself for Pisaeng's sake. …WHICH IS WHAT PISAENG DID FOR KAWI IN THE WORST TIMELINE.
And when Pisaeng goes back in time and limits changing the past to just correcting their terrible amusement park date and nothing else, he does so without all the information Kawi could have given him. He only has Kawi's word that he's happy with the life they have, and he doesn't want any more than that. And he trusts in Kawi, because they've been together for twelve very happy years. :')
I'm never gonna get over this show.
~The End~
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Molly,
Apparently most reviewers agree with you that the season/writing is just awful. And a LOT of people are furious over losing Michael. Did the writers not read that book? All Franny ever wanted was a quiet life and children. You cut her story at the knees if you make her love interest a woman. She can't have a child in the 1800s without a husband. What are they going to say she had IVF? 🤦♀️ I agree they get an extended season next year for Benedict and Eloise combined (10-12 episodes) and then its over. They only were renewed one more year anyway and Netflix (which cancels everything) isn't going to be happy with a new season every two years.
Okay here’s the thing now that I’ve had time to organize my thoughts about Michaela Stirling being introduced.
I’m not opposed to her. Initially when they introduced her immediately after Eloise asking to go to Scotland I was like “Ohhhh Eloise is going to fall in love with Michaela and Francesca and John will ride off into the sunset (sit quietly and not talk)”
But I think Francesca’s reaction to Michaela, and her reaction when she kissed John at their wedding makes that unlikely.
So to my mind there’s two ways this goes now.
1) John dies. Michaela and Francesca grow closer. Etc etc. the exact storyline just with a woman instead of a man. They end up adopting children because Francesca still yearns for a baby. Sweet. I even like it. Michaela being a woman does introduce difficulty in the fact that were John to die there would be another Earl of Kilmartin who is not her. And so we cannot assume that this Earl would allow Francesca so many liberties. Michael did because he was in love with her. This new Earl likely won’t. But the show will likely… conveniently send them to India
2) John does not die but senses the attraction between his cousin and wife and allows them to be together while staying married to Francesca. Their marriage basically becoming a beard. This makes me a little sad to think of because I think there was power in the subtlety of Francesca and John’s relationship. That’s what he all thought was sweet the first time round. To have her so thunderstruck by Michaela I think makes it seem a little that Francesca mistook the companionship she felt with John for with love.
My issue with Michaela Stirling is mostly that, and I’ve said numerous times that this was a story I was concerned about the show tackling, I don’t think the show is capable of portraying the subtlety a story like this deserves. I would love to be wrong though.
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what the fuck. what the fuck.
SPOILERS FOR AGATHA ALL ALONG EP 8 AND 9
I was so fucking hyped for this shit because I thought maybe my little lesbians would get a happy-ish ending. Instead, Agatha gets killed in her own show and becomes a side piece to Billy, the one male in a female dominated show; Rio just walks away after Agatha dies???? Huh??? Mf that's the love of her life right there, she wouldn't just walk away; the whole point of the road was to get what you're missing, and Agatha needed to learn to move on from her grief, she was missing peace, but instead of accepting death and Rio and Nicky, she just stays as a ghost???? I don't find that satisfying at all; they teased a Tommy return but didn't actually give it to us and I was kinda disappointed; Rio wasn't in the last episode at all besides the flashback, and she didn't even say shit; we got agatha and nicky's story but no agathario?? Rude but okay; and ik she's like crazy and shit but you're telling me Rio was actually going to kill Agatha?? And also in the beginning they said Rio couldn't kill her so wtf; IM SO TIRED OF THE BURY YOUR GAYS BULLSHIT IM AT THE END OF MY ROPE
But on the plus side that kiss was fire AS FUCK and Agatha pretty much said "if I'm dying I'm going out with style and kissing this hot mf" and I love her for that. It was hungry and it was raw and so them. I did love that the Ballad was just Agatha and Nicky together tho 🥲 Rio definitely stayed with them for at least some of those 6 or 7 years. Wondering how tf Agatha got pregnant cause I know for a fact my girlie ain't getting with a man
Also I see why Agatha kinda hates Rio, even if she loves her, but idk why Rio has such hatred for Agatha. I need answers, Marvel 🫵🤨
Overall, 6/10. I expected better, but I doesn't look like their story is over yet so I'm holding out hope.
#agathario#agatha all along#agatha harkness#rio vidal#billy maximoff#tommy maximoff#nicolas scratch#marvel#mcu
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The Coven + Thalia's Relationship w/ Them
Not really sure how I was supposed to set this out either, but I like it.
Also, Rio's low-key made me cry, so I might not touch on this AU for a little while (I definitely will, but in case I don't, you have been warned).
~~~
Agatha Harkness:
When they were younger, Thalia drifted more toward Rio, and Nicholas to Agatha, but once he died, and Rio had to take him to the afterlife, they immediately kind of latched onto the other, to like keep each other afloat/keep both Rio's and Nicky's memory alive (no matter how much it hurts), and grieve together.
In a way, once Agatha and Thalia like 'lost their person', they became a lot more understanding of each other, in a way (I can't really think of a way to explain this properly).
Thalia definitely had nightmares about that day, for a long time, and after a good couple weeks of Agatha going back and forth between both their rooms, she let Thalia sleep in her bed (which was also probably a comfort for her, too).
---
Pretty typical mother-daughter relationship, honestly, up until Agatha finds out about the Darkhold, and essentially becomes a loyal sidekick, on her quest to power/a way to get their old life back, instead of the little girl, whoever secretly looked up to Agatha, her entire life.
Which brings us to the WandaVision and Agatha All Along chapter(s), which will be linked on the navigation page (and here) when they're done, sooo :)
~~~
Rio Vidal/Death:
Thalia is 100% a mamí's girl, and I will die on this hill.
Literally, Thalia's been waving the "Team Rio" flag, since the day she was born; sporting the same doe-eyes her mother fell in love with, back in Salem.
When she was younger, 9 times out of 10, she would only ever settle for Rio, which confused both mother's for a long time; because how could anyone, especially somebody as innocent as a baby, find comfort in Death?
---
This pretty much carried on through the first like half of her childhood.
i.e. Thalia's first word being 'mamí', instead of 'mama' like most other babies (including Nicholas).
Thalia giggling at the voices Rio does, while reading bedtime stories to her and Nicky (and low-key Agatha, as well).
Rio teaching/coaching Thalia (and Nicky) on how to use her/their powers (since Agatha would end up accidently absorbing them, and cause Rio physically cannot be that badly injured) etc.
---
Then Nicky dies, and it's very much an incredibly emotional and traumatic (??) time for all of them.
Thalia instinctually goes to Rio, and because she's still young, doesn't understand why "He won't wake up", which completely tore her heart in two (no matter how black it is).
Rio then takes Thalia up to her room, to try and calm her down, while Agatha has time with Nicky, before they have to go.
She reads Thalia her favourite story 3 times over, because Thalia's cannot get enough (and also cause she has a sinking feeling she should make the most of it/I'm just making shit up about clairvoyance at this point).
---
In the end, they settle on snuggling in Thalia's kid-bed, while Rio sings the lullaby version of "The Ballad of the Witches' Road" (which is a memory they both deeply treasure), over and over, until Thalia falls asleep, and Rio very hesitantly has to pull herself away from the girl, with one final kiss to Thalia's temple (just to the left of the scar over the crook of her eyebrow, from one of their many training sessions, when Thalia wacked herself with a tree-branch).
Which again, brings up to the Agatha All Along chapters, that are linked above :)
~~~
Lilia Calderu:
Lilia's relationship with Thalia would very much be like "the grandmother she (Thalia) never had" (we hate Evanora Harkness, with burning passion, in this house).
When they first meet (in episode 2), Lilia can instantly sense the doubt (of if walking the Witches' Road will actually work), and guilt (that she's been carrying all these years, about not being able to bring back Nicky), radiating off the girl's body.
Very soon after she clocks it, is like- "Alright, that lonely little queer girl is mine; yes, she has a mother already, but I'm willing to back her up if she needs it" (she doesn't, but it's very much appreciated), you know what I mean?
But yeah, that very much radiates throughout the entire show (maybe aside from episode 5, cause there were definitely sides picked during that episode), until episode 7; RIP Queen.
~~~
Jennifer Kale:
Thalia's relationship with Jen is very much the same as Jen's and Agatha's, like they're not really sure if they can trust each other, but it's like an amicable, back-and-forth teasing, type of relationship.
Up until episode 6 (the version of it I'm writing/Thalia's trial), where the remaining members if the cover (lowkey including Agatha + Rio), see a more vulnerable, and kind of broken, side to Thalia (more on that to come).
Then after that, it's very much like "We both lowkey hate each other, but she (works both ways) is actually pretty cool, so we're gonna keep it mellow."
~~~
Alice Wu Gulliver (my girl <3):
Love of my life, Alice Wu Gulliver, was honestly such a breath of fresh-air for Thalia; like the older sister she never had.
'Protection witch' is the name, and protecting Thalia (and lowkey Agatha as well/RIP angel girl) is the game.
Thalia helped her (and Teen, but mostly Alice) pull Mrs Hart out of the mud at the beginning of episode 3, and basically from that point onwards, became best friends.
And then from that point on, Thalia's basically just jumping to Alice's defence a lot, after every little comment.
Especially the "Everything I touch turns to shit" (that part of the episode definitely didn't make me cry), and Thalia goes over to hug her, cause she knows what it's like to feel that way.
Almost always near each other, while walking the road + during trials, as like a "If anything happens to her (works both ways), I'll be the first one there, cause even though we've only known each other for a couple hours/days, she's still my bestie".
Bonus; Kojo is definitely Alice's best bud (it's literally fact that he's prone to face licking, when he can sense that people are upset or anxious), and was sat between her, and Thalia, during the last 10/15 minutes of episode 4, as well.
~~~
Teen/Billy Maximoff:
Eps 1-5 their relationship is very much a brother/sisterly bond.
Like yeah, they'll take the piss out of each other a little bit, but will still kill for each other, if someone even looks at the other (Billy or Thalia) the wrong way.
Then his true identity gets revealed (at the end of Agatha's trial/just before Thalia's trial), and gets a little rocky, but ultimately they still look out for each other (I'm just guessing, as the show's not 100% out yet, iykwim).
Like it's still very much a "I knew you/a version of you, a few years ago, and you reminded me of my brother, so we're chill, just as long as you don't try to (kind of) kill my mom again, otherwise I'll slit your throat, and you best believe I'm telling the truth, cause you know/will find out who my other mom is."
~~~
Mrs Hart/Sharon Davis:
~~~
Last, but not least; this legend.
Near enough the same thing as Thalia and Lilia's relationship, but more like soft; like instead of witchy banter (calling Lilia kooky, and shit), it's very much like typical grandmother/granddaughter bonding.
i.e. Thalia helping Alice and Teen pull her out of the mud at the beginning of episode 3.
Explaining what being a witch is (along with the rest of the group) in episode 3, and shit like that.
She didn't really have much screen-time for me to come up with much else, so RIP Mrs Hart :(
~~~
I'm actually obsessed right now. I haven't slept in the last 24(+1) hours, so if I'm still up, I might start planning out Thalia's trial + Backstory, since I've got some idea as to what it'll be, but it needs some tweaking.
-Harlow
#Harlow (AgathaRio's version)#original content#mine not yours#harlow speaks 🦒#mcu#marvel cinematic universe#marvel#agatha all along#agatha harkness#rio vidal#🔮thalia vidal🦁#nicholas harkness#nicholas scratch#🕸️atlas parker🧡#lilia calderu#jennifer kale#alice wu gulliver#billy maximoff#billy kaplan#teen agatha all along#mrs hart#sharon davis
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I want to find a new fandom and ship to be passionate about so bad but at the same time l also don't wanna be emotionally invested into any other piece of fiction ever again.
After Game of Thrones final season, Anne with an E getting canceled, the Umbrella Academy going to shit and now the shitshow that Outer Banks ended up being, arguably my biggest heartbreak of all times, it feels like a waste and not to mention all the show I started lightheartedly and got cancelled . It always ends in disappointment anyway.
Streaming networks ruined tv shows forever, writers and producers either have no power or no spinal cord to decide when their stories should end.
Either it gets canceled before getting a conclusion or they keep going until the shows become unrecognizable just for the sake of keep going because the network is offering big money.
No writer has the guts anymore to say "it ends here"...and surely the OBX writers don't.
The show should've ended last season or this season with a different and ultimate ending to fix it all, instead they ruined the work of 5 years, a dedicated fanbase, the fan favorite character with the best storyline and the biggest and only slow burn ship they had, just to get paid for 10 more episodes.
Maybe I’m dramatic but sadly I mean it with my whole chest, Outer Banks disappointed me so badly (after being so passionate and dedicated for years) that it’s changing my entire approach towards shows. It’s turning me into a passive viewer.
If you end up not caring about the show you’re making and create a product with no soul just for mass consumption then that’s what you get back, a superficial audience who’s watching just for the sake of filling time and disinterested in the story.
God how I miss when show would be on tv, one or two episodes of 45 minutes per week for 20+ episodes a season, conventions where the cast and writers could witness and connect with the fans dedication, tv networks that were ok with renewing shows to the audience/producers desire and writers who knew when to end things.
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thinky thoughts on the rtd era:
when nine regenerated into ten, it was like he regenerated using rose as an imprint but he only got a rough imprint of humanity, the image of it - youthful, enthuastic. but it's just a facade because underneath is the cold, aloof, dark, mysterious alien - still. the image doesn't convince rose at first but through a act of heroism and bravery, ends up being so convincing rose doesn't see a problem with it...until she forgets that despite the youthful nature of the face, they are much, much older and thus have had a long life outside of her, before her and will after her. until the parts of her that are supposed to stand out like compassion and kindess blur in with the alien and instead turn into insensitivity, detatchment and inconsideration.
and rose now wants something that isn't real. the doctor isn't going to settle down with her. he never does. she would never say it but it's what she wanted. when she says the doctor isn't going to slow down so neither will she there is something so desperately sad in the statement. but either way after rose's departure, ten is the equivalent of the chick leaving the nest for the first time. or more like a chick who was pushed out of the nest.
enter donna and martha. and regarding the racnoss, it's like donna encountered the child in the middle of a huge meltdown. his safety blanket is gone. he needs to learn and grow. so enter martha.
like a long-suffering carer who gets little thanks she helps to scrub off the rough edges, teach him things, take care of him, protect him from danger, goes above and beyond. but as all care givers who are taken for granted or give care to someone who doesn't really want it despite knowing they need it, they are taken for granted. and they have to start looking after themselves because it's draining them.
then enter donna, who reaps the benefits of the advice she gave him. though i doubt when she said he needed to find someone to stop him, she meant to find a companion and use them like a stress ball, to put it nicely. he's not perfect but no one is, but this time, it's his turn to help grow someone into their best self. but donna's story is slightly different.
donna gets into a lot of situations with the doctor that are, well, terrifying for her. she does good in pompeii, because she does help save people. but when she sees the ood she's devastated and when it's revealed they were slowly poisoning someone to turn them into one of them donna doesn't know who's in the right anymore. with the sontarans, she's scared out of her mind and with jenny she is the one teaching the doctor to be more open minded ...but by the time the daleks move earth, donna is the only one out of her depth and plaintively terrified.
but then the solution is clear. to survive this she needs to be more doctor like...literally.
all of 10's companions are all doctor-fied to varying degrees. rose's doctorfication makes her cold and unsympathetic, and jackie comments she's starting to be less like herself and more like the doctor. rose thinks this is great. jackie is clearly doesn't. martha jones' doctorfication is major both metaphorially and literally, with her being a medical student and taking the reigns for most of their travels. donna noble is the companion who gets the doctorfication to the highest degree. she literally becomes him and it kills her.
but im racking my noodle as to what the takeaway is. because it appears that donna's self plus the doctor is exactly what they needed to sort the situation...but it's like an almost monstrous/frankenstein take on the balance between what the doctor needs in a companion and why the companion needs the doctor. it's not lost on me that the doctor and donna become hybrids in the episodes where they confront biologically engineered mutants revived from the literal chest cavity of their deranged creator.
so. what gives? and the moment, i don't really have an answer. it's all a bit bleak.
#doctor who#martha jones#tenth doctor#donna noble#10th doctor#tenmartha#the runaway bride#daleks#davros#analysis#rtd era#rtd1#not tagging her bc you guys dont kno#w how to act (though im sure you'll find it)
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Magnus Archives Relisten 10, MAG 10
Do we think Jonny Sims has read Twilight?
Spoilers ahead
Facts: Statement of Trevor Herbert regarding his life as a self-proclaimed vampire hunter. Statement given July 10, 2010.
Statement Notes: I just love that Trevor's episode is right after Julia's. It really lets you see the wheels turning in Jonny's head as he planned out the series.
On my first listen, this was one of the statements I truly did not believe was true. The combination of Trevor's traumatic childhood, cancer, and admission that he killed a "non-vampire" made the whole thing seem like a complex fantasy. But on the second listen, I realized that is exactly how the horrors work. They specifically target vulnerable people so that their experiences will be dismissed or explained away by more "rational" people. You don't believe Trevor because you aren't supposed to.
Jon says he can't find the "vampire teeth" in the Archives or in the "Secure Containment Room" (Btw both "Archives" and "Secure Containment Room" are proper nouns in the transcript). Is this an early name for Artifact Storage or a subsection of it? It would make sense for the Institute to have a separate facility for the dangerous artifacts, but this raises questions regarding how "secure" this facility is. Assuming this is where the real artifacts like Leitners and the table are held, Jon can access it fairly easily at the end of season 2, but he's relatively high-ranking at the institute. Would Elias ever allow an outsider into the facility like he allows them into the library? Or would that violate his desire to hoard knowledge?
Character Notes: This statement is a "photocopy of a photocopy," which speaks to Gertrude's organization. Something had to have happened to the original, whether she destroyed it or Elias took it, but she had a backup. Knowing that Trevor Herbert is still active in monster hunting, she made another copy to preserve the information. Presumably, she was hoping Sasha would find it and be able to access Herbert when she became the Archivist, but instead it was found and dismissed by Jon.
This episode also establishes that Martin was there when the statement was taken. Many fans assume Martin was hired to work in the archives, but this statement was given SIX YEARS before Gertrude's death, meaning that he would have had to work in research or another facility before the archives. Also, he's worked at the institute for at least 8 years by the time he reveals he lied on his resume, meaning he was TWENTY-TWO when this statement was given and was told that Trevor Herbert died.
The rumor of Herbert's death raises other questions. Why would that story spread? It seems to be another part of Elias' long game. If Martin--who he specifically selected to eventually be on the archival staff--believed Herbert was dead and told Jon so, then Jon would not seek him out and put himself in danger too early. Additionally, he would not be able to find the skin book and speak with Gerry before the time was right. Elias needed everything to run on his schedule.
Entity Alignment: With Trevor, there is a definite Hunt alignment. His whole life is driven by the desire to seek out and kill vampires. It's become the core tenant of his identity and drives him to forsake all personal relationships and attachments, centering his life around the fear of vampires and the need to kill them. The need to eliminate his own fear is what leads to him becoming an avatar of fear itself.
But I struggle to find a clear connection to what fear the vampires are connected to. They could be Hunt avatars or aligned creatures themselves. They have a desire to find and destroy living things, mindlessly hunting. It would also make sense for a Hunt creature to draw in Herbert and turn him into a Hunt avatar, turning him into what he fears most. This tactic is seen throughout the series with multiple fears, but I am specifically reminded of the Hunt in MAG 112 as the book club turns against itself.
There is an element of the Flesh within the vampires, however. They turn humans into food, removing their identities and degrading them into their physical existence. A large portion of the Flesh is dedicated to removing any idea of a consciousness or soul and reminding us that we are meat, which the vampires seem to do effectively.
I also noticed connections to the Stranger in the vampires. While their ultimate actions don't match with the Stranger's modus operandi, their mannerisms are similar. The primary similarity is the fact that vampires don't speak, as if they "don't have a voicebox," yet they still manage to be understood. The Stranger draws people in with its apparently human attributes, and only when it's too late do victims realize something is off. So long as the vampires are understandable, victims don't realize the not talking is odd until it's too late. Furthermore, the first vampire Herbert meets offers him rotten fruit, and many Stranger-aligned creatures and avatars give strange gits as an attempt to form a human connection while still unsettling people (tooth apple, metal heart, etc.). The fruit made Trevor uncomfortable and afraid, but he didn't leave the old woman because he reasoned she was trying to be kind in a twisted way.
But I also wonder if the vampires are aligned at all. Trevor describes them as being driven only by the vague desire to feed. While this could signal a Hunt or Flesh alignment, they don't have a connection to the rituals of these entities nor their other avatars. In Mag 111, Gerry explains "What's out there doesn't care about blood," before correcting "Yeah, obviously except for the vampires." Again, the need to consume blood could align the vampires with the Hunt or Flesh, but they don't seem to be driven by the desire to cause fear. If the vampires are fueled by an actual, physical need to consume blood for survival, could they accurately be associated with a fear-driven entity? Or are they just another monstrous thing that exists in this universe?
#podcasts#audio drama#rusty quill#the magnus archives relisten#tma#tma relisten#jonny sims#jonathan sims#media analysis#analysis#the magnus archives#magnus archives#magnus archives spoilers#tma spoilers#the magnus archives spoilers#Gerard keay#gerry keay#trevor herbert#mag 10#Vampire Killer#the hunt#the flesh#the stranger#the eye#elias bouchard#gertrude robinson#entities#tma entities#smirke's fourteen#smirkes 14
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The Story of Minglan
Minglan, save me 😭
I have one more day of work tomorrow before I can take a couple of days off. I've been working 10-hour days for the past twenty days (well, 9, with a one-hour break in the middle) straight. I have so many non-work related things to do but I will probably do none of them and just sleep. I'm just so drained and counting on a c-drama to give my brain an extra boost to get me through tomorrow, though Minglan at this point in the show is probably a bad choice. The Empress Dowager and the stupid court politics just exhaust me and I'm just hoping for a miracle at this point 😭😭
***
Does anyone actually care about these random people and their manufactured drama?
We see so little of Molan and Changbai, Rulan and Hualan have dropped off the face of the Earth and instead, we are here debating if this rando raped that other rando or if he was set up over some dumbass scheme I couldn't care less about. If all this doesn't start becoming relevant with super speed, I will be very pissed off.
***
How convenient 🙄
So, was she murdered or did they pay her to kill herself?
***
OMG!
Is this the first time we've seen her with her hair down? She's so pretty!
***
Ah, so that's what we are getting at.
Honestly, I am not buying the whole contrivance. If the Emperor had simply said, "Gu Tingye, you go!" I would have been aboard at once, it would have made sense, it would have been what was expected. We really didn't need this whole mess with their army buddies. All it did was annoy me.
***
I am so looking forward to this baby because there will 100% be some drama like Madam Qin trying to smother him in his cradle or something and I need this drama to go back to being interesting ASAP.
***
LOL. LOL. LOL.
There is a reason the plot is pushing so hard to send him away right at this precise moment. Sorry, Minglan, but I am looking forward to your attempted murder.
On the bright side, at least they can't stuff him with another concubine while he's away on the pretext that his legal wife is pregnant, eh? 🤣🤣
***
Wait, where is Nanny Chang?
Why isn't she with them already?
***
Granny's back, at least.
Small comforts.
***
LMAO, drag her Minglan.
This aunt Kang is the most pointless villain on this show and it is about time Minglan stopped putting up with petty bullshit.
***
LMAO, shut up, bitch.
She has several, all of whom could eat your shitty ass for lunch and still walk away hungry.
***
What even.
Again, I ask. When does Minglan start murdering these people?
***
LMAOOOOOO 🤣🤣
Nanny Chang going out to murder people is fine by me, too!
***
LMAO, merchandise?
Is this a translation thing or do they really call it that in Chinese? Like bun in the oven?
***
LMAOOOO 🤣🤣
End her, Nanny!
***
Nanny is taking no prisoners today!
58 episodes into this drama and this is the first time I'm seeing someone openly tell a bitch to fuck off 🤣🤣
***
OH MY GOD, SHE JUST KEEPS GOING!!
***
Ah, so her true surname is Wang after all!
I keep wondering why they address her by her married surname when all the other women keep their maiden name even after they marry, including her sister.
***
LMAO, is she for real?
Bitch, Gu Tingye will skin you alive!
***
AAAAAAAAND SHE'S BACK!!
I AM LIVING FOR THIS CARNAGE!! 🔥🔥
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Seasonal Reflection: Fall 2024 Anime
I'm not exactly sure when I realized this year's fall anime season was shaping up to be a dud. It started out so strong, with one stellar premiere after another promising a stacked slate of excellent shows. But at some point, it started to sink in that I was only keeping up with most of them out of obligation, the initial spark they started with long since flickered out. I barely even finished half the shows I usually do, and a good half of those didn't feel worth the time I wasted on them by the end. On the bright side, this season's two best entries- Re:Zero's third season and the spectacular Orb: On the Movements of the Earth- are still ongoing, so I may end up feeling more positive on fall in retrospect. For now, though, I'm mostly left with disappointment. So let's say farewell to this mediocre end for an otherwise pretty solid year for anime and take stock of its few entries that are genuinely worth your time.
Mecha-Ude/Mechanical Arms: 4/10
The best way I can describe Mecha-Ude is that it feels like someone stole a rough doodle from Hiroyuki Imaishi's sketchbook. From the intensely angular, frame-dropping animation style to the breakneck pacing and constantly escalating sense of overstuffed Anime Bullshit plot mechanics, this sci-fi yarn about inter-dimensional arm-shaped biomechanical organisms kick-starting an insecure young boy's journey to manhood would feel right at home among any of Trigger's offerings. And at first, I was really digging it! The first few episode have such a wonderfully stupid sense of humor that sell you on its absurd premise effortlessly, and while the CG-blending mecha animation takes some getting used to, it results in some really damn expressive action scenes. Unfortunately, it's only a matter of time before the plot rears its ugly head, and the second Mecha-Ude tries having an actual story it pretty much falls apart. The story barrels ahead at a disorienting pace, rushing through plot beats too fast to understand what's going on or why we should care. And the characters are hit with some of the most contrived decision-making I've seen in a long time to justify the increasingly hackneyed drama of it all. Seriously, it's been a while that I've been this aggravated at the Obviously Bad Choices every single character makes in this show. And then they stop letting the cool action girl do cool action girl things on top of that. What a disappointment.
Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow (1st Cours): 4.5/10
I've tried my best, but I think I'm finally starting to lose my patience with Blue Exorcist. There's only so long I can watch a story I love slog through this subpar adaptation before it becomes painful to keep holding out hope for it to recapture the magic it once had. The huge, earth-shaking direction this season heads in just can't stand up to such weak production values, let alone the crushing weight of too much lore and backstory that, frankly, is never as interesting as the show seems to think it is. And it doesn't help that Beyond the Snow's introductory arc is easily Blue Exorcist's worst arc yet; in trying to bring some welcome depth to Shura, it instead face-plants into some of the most condescending and sexist writing I've seen out of shonen in a hot minute. Blegh. At this point Rin and Shiemi's romance is the one joy keeping me from jumping ship just yet. Let's hope that remains true.
Ranma 1/2: 5/10
Once again, we have a modern remake of a Rumiko Takahashi series that leaves me very conflicted. If nothing else, Ranma 1/2 is instantly a more credibly sincere love story than Urusei Yatsura ever managed to be; the way Ranma and Akane's prickly chemistry develops in the first arc is genuinely kind of lovely. But this is still very much in the mold of an endless will-they-won't-they that's going to live or die on the strength of its wacky supporting cast rather than actually developing its main couple in any sort of timely fashion. And it kind of stings more knowing Ranma and Akane are doomed to a nigh-endless parade of misunderstandings and wacky hijinks when I actually care about them, as opposed to Lum and Ataru who I never gave so much as a half-shit about. I dunno, maybe I'm just too much of an early zoomer for this show to hit the same way it does for the people who grew up with its particular cocktail of mind-expanding gender hijinks. Or maybe Mappa just isn't the best studio to adapt this kind of slapstick-based action gag comedy. Eh, whatever, I'll still check out season 2. Hopefully it'll click with me the more time I spend with it!
Magilumiere Magical Girl Inc: 5/10
This is one of those shows I like more in concept than execution. I've always thought there's loads of untapped potential in stories about grown-up magical girls (magical women?), and Magilumiere has an excellent approach to the subject: what if magical girls were an actual industry in today's business landscape? How would large and small companies differ in the hiring and training processes? How would it intersect with other, more mundane industries? What's the ideal way for a magical girl to carry out her mission and protect people in a world where they're as commonplace as pest exterminators? There's so much fun thematic and worldbuilding territory to explore here. Unfortunately, I think Magilumiere is a little too eager to explore all of it. Because it just can not stop making its characters turn to the camera and explain every last bit of subtext or nuance directly to the audience's face. It's like every time I was starting to form my own conclusions naturally, the show slams on its brakes and says "IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, THIS IS THE MESSAGE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARC." And it gets annoying very fast. Try trusting your audience, show, most of us are smarter than you seem to think!
Acro Trip: 5/10
For such a simple show, it's hard to know what to make of Acro Trip sometimes. It's a lighthearted magical girl spoof about Date Chizuko, a gloomy girl who moves to a new town and instantly falls head over heels for its magical girl defender, the peppy and radiant Berry Blossom. But upon realizing she has a knack for playing the bad guy, she teams up with Berry's current antagonist- a sopping wet kitten of a man named Chrome who just can't quite live up to the evil mastermind he wants to be- to give Berry the challenge she needs to show off how cool she is. So I guess picture Gushing Over Magical Girls if it was family friendly instead of, well, you know. Whatever the case, though, it's a janky-ass show, seesawing wildly in quality over the course of any given episode with a production seemingly held together with glue sticks and a prayer. At its best, it lets lead actors Miku Itou and Nobunaga Shimazaki flex some truly remarkable comedic chemistry; any time it's just Chrome and Chizuko fucking around, its a blast. But most of its side characters are forgettable, all its attempts to have any sort of grander story fall pretty flat, and it feels like there's a missed opportunity to develop Chizuko's relationship with Berry in her civilian life while scheming against her behind the scenes. Seriously, you had a perfect excuse for a villain secret-identity double-life between the protagonist and her Big Gay Crush/Rival, and you did nothing with it? Disappointing.
Blue Box (1st Cours): 6/10
To be honest, I'm a little surprised Blue Box has had so much trouble winning me over. On paper, it's got everything I could ask for; a grounded sports drama and rom-com following two adorkable teens pursuing their own inter-high dreams while developing feelings and pushing each other to do their best. Add a mostly solid production and a cast of high school kids that feel genuinely down to earth, and I feel like I should at least be enjoying this enough for a 7/10 on principle. But in execution, something about Taiki and Chinatsu's budding relationship leaves me cold. Perhaps in such a grounded show, it stands out so much more blatantly how Chinatsu has been constantly sidelined and objectified by the narrative, reduced to a gorgeous porcelain trophy we only ever get to see from the outside instead of a character in her own right. She clearly has some interiority, but the show consistently fails to explore her perspective, or focus on her struggles, or use her as anything other than a lodestone for Taiki's growth. That might be starting to change as of the last episode of this cours, but if Blue Box genuinely wants me to care about her and Taiki getting together instead of stubbornly rooting for Obvious Best Girl Hina to the bitter end, it better start treating her side of the story with the importance it deserves, and fast.
NegaPosi Angler: 7.5/10
If I said the feel-good masterpiece of the season was the show that opens on the protagonist trying to hang himself, would you believe me? I know it took me a second to re-adjust after that whammy of a first scene. But believe it or not, that contradiction between life's joy and its bitter misery is the beating heart of NegaPosi angler. Shackled by debt and struck with an illness that leaves him only two years left to live, it's no wonder college dropout Tsunehiro Sasaki isn't exactly in a great mental state when we meet him. But when a chance encounter introduces him to a motley crew of fishing enthusiasts, he finds himself drawn into their wake as he tries to make sense- or rather, tries to stop running away from the existential terror- of what his life means now that it's got an expiration date. It's a genuinely touching tale of self-discovery and self-redemption, and I love how it's not afraid to let Sasaki be messy and imperfect as he grows into a better person. At times, his short-sightedness and myopia are painful to witness, but that just makes his moments of clarity and change hit all the harder. And it helps that the supporting cast is all so lovable and diverse in their own dysfunctional ways. This show just gets the healing power of community, man. If you're willing to face the mundane misery of human existence to find your happiness within it, I can't recommend this show enough.
Dan Da Dan: 8/10
Listen, do you know how frustrating it is that I can't recommend Dan Da Dan wholeheartedly? Do you understand how much I wish I could sing this show's praises uncritically and happily suggest it to all my normie friends? It has everything I could possibly want! Gorgeously rendered supernatural action! One of the most infectiously adorable main couples in recent memory! Some of the most expressive storyboarding in the entire modern anime industry! A gonzo sense of imagination that makes each new dive into the occult and paranormal feel as fresh as the first time you learned about aliens and ghosts as a kid! The sheer badassery of Momo Ayase owning every single scene she's in! As a long-term defender of goofy, sincere anime nonsense where superpower teenagers punch demons in the face with the power of love and friendship, Dan Da Dan is one of the finest examples of the form I've seen. But I can't recommend this show without the one fucking caveat of that lurid attempted rape scene in the first episode that has no business being here and is completely irrelevant to the story moving forward. Literally just five minutes of an otherwise spectacular shonen thrill ride prevent me from sharing my love with this series as widely as I want to. Why do you do this to me, anime? Why???
DROPPED SHOWS
Blue Lock Season 2: Dropped at 2 episodes because of a catastrophic drop in animation quality.
Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions Season 2: Dropped at 4 episodes because I realized I just didn't care anymore.
#tabw#anime#the anime binge watcher#dan da dan#dandadan#blue box#ao no hako#mecha ude#mechanical arms#acro trip#ranma 1/2#kabushiki gaisha magilumiere#magilumiere magical girls inc.#magilumiere#negaposi angler#negative positive angler#blue exorcist#ao no exorcist#fall 2024 anime#fall 2024 sr
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I made my friend @killallyourfrendz watch Samurai Flamenco with me, and here's the highlights reel of their predictions and commentary:
Early Predictions
TV news guy is going to bankroll an evil organization of villains to get more viewers
Masayoshi goes full villain
Masayoshi is in a coma (from episode 7 onward--later changed to "from the end of episode 1 onward")
"Yeah, I'd beat this guy up, too."
Episodes 8-10 (King Torture Arc)
The rest of the show will just be 10 episodes of “horrific clean-up” after the King Torture fight
King Torture will be Red Axe
Episodes 11-14 (Flamengers Arc)
It's a Truman Project situation: "they’re all in on the bit except for Samurai Flamenco and the cop”
"Mari should just become a villain"
"This is all shenanigans."
"We are just speed-running seasons' worth of content right now."
“All of these villains exist BECAUSE of them."
"I hope Mari gets her stride back and kills again. Or becomes a villain."
Masayoshi is in purgatory
Masayoshi has been sucked into a TV
Masayoshi is in a Jumanji situation
"How many decisive battles can there be?"
Masayoshi's grandpa put a curse on him and forced him to live out all the stories he'd ever written
"Is there even a girlfriend at this point? Is the girlfriend dead? Is he talking to himself?"
Red Axe is hiring people to fight SamFlam so that he can keep coming and saving the day
It's the Truman Show (again)
“This is a Pleasantville scenario, but instead of making the world better, they’re making it worse.”
Episodes 15-17 (Prime Minister Arc)
Mister Justice is just Red Axe in a new costume
The other Flamengers don't exist anymore: "They've left the Matrix"
I’d be like, “Isn’t it weird that this all started to happen after Samurai Flamenco showed up?”
They've reached a new circle of Hell
"Maybe… this is the police officer’s hallucination??"
“If you had just stopped being superheroes, we could have gotten out of this, but NO, you had to KEEP wearing the costumes and that’s why we’re IN THIS MESS.”
Episode 18 (Space Arc)
“This isn’t like a Matrix situation, is it?”
“He is in a hospital bed, unconscious.”
"OH OHHHH??? Oh no this is just, like, another fake out"
Episode 19-22 (Final Arc)
“Are we going to find out the girlfriend was King Torture this whole time?”
"This whole time Goto’s been living his own fucked-up Black Mirror horror story.”
"Masayoshi actually blew up his own apartment; he’s having a Goto moment right now."
“I thought we had just one delusional man to deal with, but really we have two.”
"Wanting to be a superhero: the original sin"
Masayoshi is the final villain (held onto this one right until the last episode lol)
“A middle school boy is trying to kill me, and the advice I got is that I need to fall in love.”
#I'm delighted that you called Goto's girlfriend so early and then were still shocked and appalled when you were right lol#you really filled out your samflam bingo card with some solid guesses#samurai flamenco
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My Read of Puhoy! :)
Hey pizza babies! Puhoy is an often praised Adventure Time episode, and I've seen a few analysis videos on it, but I've never really felt satisfied by any of them, so I wanted to put my own thoughts on the episode in writing somewhere. After all, the episode turned 10 just two days ago!
So, right away, I think this episode is about Finn letting go of the simplistic understanding of the world he had as a younger kid throughout the first few seasons. In the early episodes, Finn has an extremely black and white perspective. Stealing is always bad, everyone's problems can always be solved, and good and evil are clearly delineated categories
Puhoy opens with an establishing shot showing a knife storm raging outside the tree fort. This calls back to "Rainy Day Daydream," an episode where Jake's imagination becomes reality. Puhoy also plays with the line between imagination and reality, and, while this post isn't about trying to explain the pillow world lore-wise, I think the knife storm's appearance suggests that the pillow world was created by Finn's imagination, which is very thematically in line with the rest of my read on Puhoy
Finn starts the episode in a funk because he's convinced Flame Princess doesn't like him anymore, just because she didn't laugh at one of his jokes. I think this conflict illustrates that Finn doesn't know how to separate his feelings from reality. He imagines FP doesn't like him, and he's unable to conceptualize anything else. In the simple, ideal world in Finn's young mind, she would have laughed if she liked him. There isn't room for the nuance that maybe she just didn't get it
Jake is able to see that Finn is completely making up this problem, but his solution of ignoring his feelings, demonstrated by hurling his favorite cup out the window, is pretty unhelpful. In the end, even Jake can't let go that easily, and he fishes his cup back up
Fortunately, instead of trying to hurl his feelings out the window, Finn decides to crawl into the pillow fort to let his thoughts "fester," and Jake perfectly illustrates the difference between their approaches by telling Finn that festering is always bad. Jake wants to move on from things immediately, without having a moment to sit with or say goodbye to his feelings
The pillow world Finn ends up in reflects the simplistic worldview he needs to let go of. It represents the fantasy that he, until now, thought his life would play out like. He easily slays a pillow dragon, immediately wins the adoration of the pillow people, and wastes basically no time hitting it off with a pillow girl. Years pass and we see a strapping, idealized older Finn living a simple, cushy life providing for his pillow nuclear family
There's no horror to Puhoy. No dark turn, no sudden twist. Finn gets to live an entire, comfortable, satisfying lifetime in his idealized fantasy world, right up until he simply dies of old age, at which point he finally "wakes up" and finds himself back home
Puhoy feels, to me, like a twist on a common trope in fiction. Typically, like the island of the lotus eaters in the Odyssey, a world as cushy and idealized as the pillow world is presented as a trap of some kind, and the "right" choice is to resist the temptation. These stories usually suggest that there's something wrong with choosing a simple life, like it's ultimately unfulfilling or hollow in some way. But Puhoy doesn't moralize about Finn's life in the pillow world. He comes off as certain the entire time that he does want to find a way to go home, but as the years pass and he forgets what home even looked like, he ends up making the choice to stay, and it comes off to me as entirely reasonable. He has an entire life here, meanwhile he can't even remember what Jake looks like. Why should he throw all this away to return to the people from his past?
Puhoy is the ultimate wish fulfillment. It can be hard to let go of what the world looked like when you saw it through the eyes of a child. It can be hard to accept the complexities and terrors of the world. It can be hard to even understand why you would want to see the world as a difficult, uncertain, complicated place. If I were once again Finn's age and you'd asked me if I wanted to live out an entire, satisfying lifetime in the world I thought I lived in as a kid, I would be extremely tempted to say yes. Only then might I be able to move on with my real life without eternally mourning the honey-dipped worldview I was forced to outgrow, finally satisfied that I'd gotten to have my time with it
Once Finn winds up back home in his own time, he almost immediately forgets his life in the pillow world. Unlike Jake's cup, after living a full life there, it's truly gone and he truly doesn't care about it anymore, and so he's able to forget it entirely
FP calls Finn to tell him she finally understood his joke, which is a surprisingly convenient, external solution to Finn's internal problem, but he nonetheless comes off as if it never tore him up in the first place, as if, by leaving his simplistic perspective behind, he was able to develop a more mature perspective on his relationships with others
Thanks for reading!! :)))
I have an unspoken rule on this blog that it's strictly for the funny and only occasional self promotion, but I really wanted to write about this episode. Usually I write more analytical stuff like this on my devblog, but cartoons isn't video games! If I keep wanting to write stuff like this, maybe I'll make a sideblog to put that stuff in 🤔
By the way, I think of Puhoy as part of a trilogy with Dungeon Train and Hall of Egress. They're all important journeys along Finn's larger journey of growing up, and they're all framed by Finn trying to deal with rough feelings surrounding FP. The latter two are more overtly connected to each other, but Hall of Egress does have what I think is meant as a reference to Puhoy, where Finn emerges from the Hall by poking his head through the dirt on top of the hill it's under, the same way he emerges from the pillow fort at the end of Puhoy! Maybe one day I'll write about those episodes too. I have a lot to say about Finn's arc throughout the show in general, so I could even do a post about that :)
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