#super reviews anime soul eater

[pyreofsunflowers]

jupiter family media taste hcs

this is stupid but idrc. my blog.

David listens to like, classic 90s rock. Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins - that whole lot. He also really likes classic, OG 80s metal (metallica, judas priest, dio, etc.). He developed his music taste from 95 to 99 and never really got into stuff after that. Hes a grumpy old man about his music and will never stray from his ol reliable stack of dusty CDs. Where he's a grandpa about his music though, this man will watch basically any movie that comes out and say "that was pretty good" in his opinion cinema peaked with 2001 a Space Odyssey and Saving Private Ryan. Hal tried to show him Akira or Ghost in the Shell and he got wayyyyyy confused. He doesn't really watch TV other than blankly staring at history channel and animal planet "documentaries" and manly man reality TV shows when there's nothing better to do

Hal has a really eclectic collection of music that is constantly changing. However the most common thread of music he likes is 80s New Wave and synth - The Smiths, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Joy Division, Duran Duran. That kinda stuff. However his playlist went on to be full of vocaloid songs, neo-synthwave, break core and he got into more experimental stuff as he got older (even then he never fully dug deep, just started listening to Bjork and Kate Bush yk?) He also loves soundtracks and *loves* lofi hip hop. We already basically know Hal's taste in movies/tv so instead im gonna say his favorite anime movie is Akira, his favorite non-anime movie is Brazil and if you ask him his favorite anime he'll go on and on and on about a super obscure mecha anime from the 80s. I think hes a massive cinephile and huge nerd about his movies and shows but it's literally only for anime and sci fi and occasionally action stuff. Ask him about the complexities of Apocalypse Now or the symbolism in Blue Velvet and he'll just give you a blank stare.

Sunny ended up with like. The weirdest combination of her parents tastes. She LOVESSSSS vocaloid and LOVESSSS anime but in a tweenager in the mid 2010s way you know. This girl was in the Black Butler, Attack on Titan, Fairy Tale, Soul Eater TRENCHES. She also got into a lot of alt music but it was. you know. Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco and baby's first alt band stuff. What a crazy lil gal.

Raiden was a nu-metal kid big time. He was always bumping Korn and Slipknot and System of a Down. He was also really into 90s industrial like Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails, and KMFDM. He kinda grew out of this but not really, just mellowed out and got into more 'mainstream' alt like Radiohead and Elliot Smith. As we know, Raiden is a canonical filmbro (getting into fights with random women about pointless details in movies). I think he lovessssss neo noir and crime thrillers. Anything dark and gritty he just adores. Taxi Driver, Fight Club, Fallen Angels, Clockwork Orange, Crash, Prisoners <- whatevere this genre is he just eats that shit up. Hes a total snob, but not like. In a french film school way in a over 500 entries on letterboxd way. He's subscribed to like evry major movie review channel and it's impossible to take him out to any kinoplex because he just starts ranting on the state of modern cinema. He still maintains this snobbery and its only gotten worse lmao

[restingobject5757]

Hey!! Just wanted to say that I really love your art!! And I found the "hope eater(im so sorry if i spelled it wrong)" disease in the Prison au really creative and interesting, so I wanted to learn more: How do you get it? Is there a cure to it? Sorry if those are too specific, I just really love this concept!!

OMG HI HI HI, sorry I’m new to the hole answering questions but you’re the first one I have ever answered. So I’m super nervous and excited. So, hello! So again, this au is from Prison Au from @llamagoddessofficial. For this ask I’m going to be providing my takes on it, as well as made medical pages for both. Just to be clear my words are much truer then the pages. The pages are to show the different perspectives. Hopefully it’s not too much info at once. If its too much to read, there’s something in MS word That will read it to you. Its in review tab.  but again sorry for it being long.

 And yes, the disease.

It’s on paper name is “Mangeur d'espoir,” however it translates into “hope eater”. The story I have for the name is that Asgore when he came to the surface, he was given the job to name everything. And as we know from the game Asgore struggles with naming things. So, when he learned different languages was a thing, he started using google translate to make the simple names sound cool.

However, the sickness came about when humans and monsters meet. Just as a little history fact when the British came to Canada for the first time, they accidently brought there’s body’s sickness with them.  This spared to the natives who had not built an immunity that they had. Without the knowledge and tech, we had today hundreds of natives died. This also happened with the surfacing. Humans and monsters alike were getting sick and human Docters were desperate to find cures for things like Monster pox/Rainbow Spots, Monster flu/Sludge, and even some of the more worrying was Magic fever.  Little did everyone know that sum of the sickness was more dormant and deadly. These were more in the vein of mental health. This vein of sickness would latch themselves onto people with ptsd, mpd, or bpd. Upon discovery they were given 3 classes, Cancer, Parasite, Virus. More is still to be learned but onto the one at hand.

Before I start how it effects Monsters and humans is vary different. So, in the book of “Monstros,” A book of Monsters sickness, that has been updated to include modem knowledge on how these sicknesses affect humans.  

Let’s starts with Monsters. Its appearance is a dark spot in the soul, where this be many spots, or a mass lump always depends. The texture feels oil; however, it absorbs all light. When and if removed, (Not advised) it will leave a void/ chunk out of the soul leaving it weak. The symptoms are people going from active to being sluggish, lack of energy. The problem with identifying is that its slow. Like cancer it starts small and grows. However, this can take years to develop, so constant soul checks are important to soul heath. It also depends on the kind of Monster we are dealing with.

Plant Based, leaves will wilt. Slimes will have a hard time keeping form and feel as if there falling apart. Animal based can find fur, feather, or scale loss. Elemental based will find that they slowly losing their temp. Hot will be cold and cold will melt.   Some other base effects may be loss of weight, or yellowing of horns, teeth, and nails.  Also, it can’t spread, like at all. All these perobloms are caused by the lack of access to the soul. Light, food, and love, can’t get in or out. Thus, trapping there Hp, at what ever it was. And slowly over time eating away at it until there’s nothing left. Until the Hp is 0.

Now this can be cause by many things, however, to sum it up anything that can cause depression can cause this to grow. But like I said before it can’t spread, so a parent can’t give it to a child. As for a cure, there have been many attempts to cure it. Cutting it out is viable when its little but not when its big. As said before it will leave the soul weak. When it is big there are 3 things that can be done, 1 cut it out, again not the best, 2 love method, this involves you to live in a highly loving environment (IE family, friends), 3 and this is very dangerous, is burn it out and not with fire, Eco shrooms extract mixed with aloe vare and acid. Yes acid, citric. So, lemons or oranges. And that might not sound so bad but put onto a soul is a different thing. The prosses is extremely painful and the monster needs to be knocked out or strapped down.  

Now for humans, this takes on a host of new perobloms, you see the lights that happen in a human’s brain are closer to magic this cancer is used to. So instead of effecting the soul it affects the brain feeding on the electricity between nerves. Effectively becoming a new strain of the cancer. It was this strain that caused the name change from “Soul eater,” to “Hope eater.” (Yes, this wasn’t an accident it was on purpose that’s just to show old that page is.) Its appearance looks like a brain lesion, or black spots on a CT. Limbic brain is where it will constrain most of the times.  To human doctors it looks like common depression, however Monsters know different. This being the smell, and radiation. This leads into the symptoms.  This is lack of sleep, depression, or inconsistent apatite.  The human body has never experienced this kind of sickness before, but the human body is smart and will try and expel this sickness anyway it can. This being leaking from breasts, fainting, puke, and if left for too long, seizures. However, your body will also start to try and sweat it out. This smell will be picked up by sensitive noses and comes across as B.O. to others.

Again, the cause could be anything that causes depression, however unlike the monster strain this one can be spread by genetics because of its location. It has full access to the important cells, like blood cells. This gives it access to the circulatory system. However, it can only live in the brain and can’t spread to the rest of the body. With, if a woman was to conceive a child, unfortunately there is a large chance of the child not making it.  The cancer would smother the brain and, in its attempts, to try and grow.  

Now humans being the physical creatures that we are, means that the cancer has no choice but to do the same. So just removing it is a viable option. Nonetheless this doesn't mean that it's a walk in the park. We are dealing with a vary delicate human brain. One wrong move and its no more walking for you.  So that is an option. However, if you were to ingest the monster concoction called assassino di-ombre (it means shadow killer, again Asgore sucks at naming.) you could start to experience the same benefits but vary slowly. However, the love method is also viable, but Human and Monster family run differently. So, a loving environment depends on the person.

But misinformation is rampant among human doctors about Monster health. Some chose to ignore it all together, some listen to Monster health facts made by humans, and more commonly the doctor’s medical knowledge is too old. So, this leads to people miss understanding and just make it as nothing. This is why mc has it as bad as she dose.

[ecargmura]

Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise From The Shadows- Episode 3 Review - Return To The S-Rank Dungeon

It feels like Jinwoo is on a side quest mission after finishing up the Red Gate incident…or was the Red Gate incident the side quest and that the S-Rank Dungeon is the main story? Sometimes, it’s hard to tell what is the main story as this story is not a linear one. Why I think it’s the former is because it feels as if there’s plot building up for a major arc as Jinwoo’s father Il-hwan is found alive. The things Jinwoo do in this episode feel really fast-paced like he first goes raid dungeon crawling with Jinho and afterwards, he returns to the S-rank dungeon and camps there for a week, but only progresses like 75% of the way in.

The difference from his first visit to his current one is so drastic. Last time, back in Episode 7 of Season 1, he ventured in alone and had a hard time defeating the Cerberus. In his second visit, he now has his shadow army who helps him with the tougher enemies, which is super nice—it’s nice that he finally got some allies in battle. I also noticed that Cerberus does not respawn upon Jinwoo’s return. I assume the same applies for all the monsters he defeated when he returns in the future. I wonder how long it’ll take for him to reach his goal of creating that Elixir.

Though, it was nice seeing Jinho again after a while. He is conflicted about his role and that he doesn’t want to be deemed useless. He does look up to Jinwoo and wished he was his older brother as he doesn’t get along with his own biological one. It was nice seeing Jinwoo feel more human in this episode and not be some emotionless power-fantasy MC. You know this story is Korean when you see two people bonding over K-BBQ and alcohol—that’s a very Korean thing to do. Another thing with Jinho is that his goal is to be a guild master and to be worth something to his family, hence why the additional scene of him dining with his father is present because it’s to show that Jinho is slowly getting his father’s respect, but also to warn him that the White Tiger Guild is also looking to recruit him.

Jinwoo’s father Sung Il-hwan makes his debut and he seems to be an extremely formidable opponent who knocks out Hwang Dongsoo like he’s some scrub. I honestly can’t wait to see what daddy’s deal is because why was he stuck in a gate for ten years and why couldn’t he get out? What was he doing? Will he ever see his family again? Speaking of which, if you’re watching the Japanese dub, he’s voiced by Rikiya Koyama, which is a crazy casting choice. If you’re not familiar with him, he voiced several anime dads like Shinigami from Soul Eater and Ging Freecs from Hunter x Hunter.

This episode feels like a buildup of future story arcs with the Sung Il-hwan thing, a third visit to the S-rank dungeon and now the stuff with winged ants as shown in the Cha Hae-in segment. I honestly wonder what’s next. Where will the story go after this episode?

[just-absolutely-super]

Soul Eater Episode 39 or “The Tell Tale Heart...But With Madness!”

Disclaimer: Even though Crona is given male pronouns in official English translations, the mangaka has stated that Crona does not have a gender, so I feel inclined to give them They/Them pronouns. Sorry if it’s a little confusing.

So Asura’s been holing himself up in some temple in the mountains. Not as exciting as the moon but less confusing in terms of the laws of physics.

Interesting how Arachne decided to actually get off her ass and go to the Kishin and make herself an offering. Makes you wonder how she’d have reacted in the manga...y’know if she had known where he was...

I’m a little meh about Asura joining Arachnophobia as Asura isn’t one to cut deals and just does whatever the hell he wants, but if AMVs have told me anything he eventually betrays(?) Arachne (or at least eats her soul) so it’s just as well.

And now it’s time for another segment of Maka’s Mother Is Not That Great™ And Here’s Why

I remember watching bits and pieces of this episode back in the day, and I remembered the part where Crona and Maka have the conversation about Maka’s mom just kinda taking me aback a little bit. As a 15 year old I didn’t really know how to process it because critical thinking? What’s that?

Now that I’m an adult...WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ONLY GET THE OCCASIONAL POSTCARD?!

DOESN’T THAT WOMAN KNOW WHAT A PHONE IS?!

WHY DOESN’T SHE CALL YOU MAKA?!

I’M SURE THERE’S AT LEAST A REFLECTIVE SURFACE THAT SHE COULD CALL SHINIGAMI WITH!

AND SHE SAYS SHE’S FREAKING MISSING LIKE IT’S NO BIG DEAL! GEEZ THE ALBARN FAMILY IS AS SCREWED UP AS MY HEADCANONS FOR THE EVANS FAMILY!

“Warm, kindhearted, loyal.”

A LOYAL MOTHER WOULD HAVE PROBABLY TRIED TO CALL YOU MAKA!

I’m with Crona here, Maka’s mom’s kinda fucked up. And Crona has the most fucked up mother of all!

Like, I get the circumstances with Maka’s mom. Her husband cheated on her and she probably had a job with the academy that involved out of country traveling. That’d be all well and good if the woman actually existed outside of a mention or two!

I’m not saying Maka isn’t allowed to love and idolize her mother. She’s 13 and seeing her mom step up and divorce a womanizer for a husband was probably a big deal to her. Maka’s got these rose tinted glasses on right now and she probably won’t understand that there’s a bit of a Y I K E S factor with her mom until she’s older.

But that doesn’t mean I have to like her. Nor do I have to like how the anime shills her.

(Sidenote: Maka’s mother is barely mentioned at all in the manga. There are no postcards, and there’s not even a mention that she’s missing. She’s just...not there. And not important.)

Moving on to what I thought was the better part of the episode (and arguably the best part of the anime only content):

Crona

Crona and the handling of both the betrayal of the academy and the dealing of their guilt was written pretty well imho. My heart went out to them during the desert scene and Maka hugging Crona to give them comfort after Crona confessed to their sins.

I thought it was a good way to show how victims of abuse and manipulation can find happiness, even if they think it isn’t deserved. Granted, Maka’s protest against a punishment for Crona seems kinda dumb (I mean, even though Crona knew better and is sorry, they still did a very bad thing), but I do appreciate her loyalty to them.

And just so we’re clear, I also like manga!Crona. Manga!Crona is really fucked up and could have used a couple more ass kickings, but I like how Ohkubo made them go off the edge.

I just enjoy comparing both Cronas because I feel you can point to each one to determine how an abuse victim could turn out in their future.

Anime!Crona is a victim who did bad things because their abuser told them to, but loved the new people in their life so much that they tried to right their wrongs. If accepted and the victim is given the chance to grow and change, this will eventually lead to proper healing and the extraction of the abuser.

Meanwhile Manga!Crona is a victim who did bad things because of their abuser, but because of the constant anxiety that if they told someone what they did they won’t be loved anymore it led to a downward spiral where their character just kept getting worse and worse.

I just find it very fascinating.

Well that got a little ramble-y, so I’ll just leave it as this:

It’s a good episode, better than I was expecting (except for Maka’s mom...I swear I honestly don’t hate her, I just hate how the anime thinks she’s hot shit)

[invizdable]

I posted 1,426 times in 2021

64 posts created (4%)

1362 posts reblogged (96%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 21.3 posts.

I added 1,275 tags in 2021

#bugsnax - 1072 posts

#gijinka - 36 posts

#soul eater - 24 posts

#deltarune - 24 posts

#slayers - 24 posts

#body horror - 22 posts

#peasks - 20 posts

#peart - 18 posts

#pokemon - 18 posts

#bugsnax ocs - 17 posts

Longest Tag: 126 characters

#like! i really felt shelda needed the character development im so happy they picked some good characters to represent this dlc

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

it’s been roughly... a few damn months since I’ve drawn anything??? so I decided to jump back into it. Here have a few lil filbos I doodled.

96 notes • Posted 2021-09-25 00:24:01 GMT

#4

so I may as well throw my attempt at “drawing grumpuses in my style” into the ring.

as you can tell the anime influences are.... well blatant.

I def wanna do the rest of the cast but for now! here they are! all slightly based off different animals (very slightly, I can say I based Gramble off  fancy, long haired, guinea pigs.) 

This game owns my brain help me...

118 notes • Posted 2021-02-03 22:37:25 GMT

#3

LOOKIE THAT finally I made another magical grump! But I have to thank @z-doodle for giving me the design sketch for Beffica here! It was such a cute design and saved me timing coming up with an outfit idea. (I came up with the magical camera idea tho, it comes out of her necklace~)

I really like how she came out she may be my favorite so far <3

119 notes • Posted 2021-04-10 18:39:54 GMT

#2

𝐻𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝒲𝒾𝑔𝑔𝓁𝑒 𝒲𝑒𝒹𝓃𝑒𝓈𝒹𝒶𝓎

Based off this meme:

137 notes • Posted 2021-04-01 03:43:55 GMT

#1

Also one thing I love about Bugsnax that a lot of game media messes up is how the cast is comprised of ALL adults of varying ages.

People argue Beffica doesn’t act like she’s in her late 20s but I HIGHLY disagree, have you SEEN drama bloggers/writers? A LOT are in their late 20s and older and act like that!

Like, Wambus is nearly 50! But isn’t a tottering old grandpa which a lot of media treats people in their 40s! Literally the one person who acts old is Shelda who IS 70 and even then she isn’t like a senile old grandma. Just it’s so cool when a cast isn’t just super young 20 somethings or teens when dealing with stuff MOST teens/young adults would not know how to deal with.

259 notes • Posted 2021-05-18 01:51:43 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[hazukashi-yui]

The Summer Season is starting so I am going to continue with what I will be watching this season. I am still reviewing titles so I might add additional anime later. Also, give me recommendations if you're watching something I’m not. 

Summer 2019 Anime

Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e

During a civil war between the north and the south,  the outnumbered Northerners used dark magical arts to create monstrous super-soldiers. After the war ended the sacred beasts must learn to live a peaceful life or be hunted by monster hunters.

Tejina-senpai  

The MC is required to join a club and stumbles upon Tejina-senpai practicing magic. However, Tejina-senpai has stage fright while performing in front of an audience. Which creates interesting situations. 

Uchi no Ko no Tame naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru kamo Shirenai.

One day on an adventuring job deep in the forest Dale finds a little devil girl. Unable to live her there to waste away, Dale brings her home as his adoptive daughter. This looks so adorable!!! 

Joshikousei no Mudazukai

Out of boredom, Tanaka decided to give her classmates nicknames based on their traits. Pretty standard slice of life following three girls. 

Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo.

Starting with the question “ What's one thing you want to do before you die? “ one girl answers “sex” and with that one word it pushes each of these girls, with different backgrounds and personalities, onto their own clumsy, funny, painful, and emotional paths toward adulthood. 

Enen no Shouboutai

Shinra Kusakabe, who gained the nickname Devil's Footprints for his ability to ignite his feet at will, joins the Special Fire Force Company 8 which composes of other flames users as they work to extinguish any Infernals they encounter. This is from the same creator as Soul Eater so I am excited. 

Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note

When Lord El-Melloi II, gets asked to claim his inheritance over Adra Castle, he travels there with his apprentice Gray to do so. But they are not the only ones called that way. I’m not a fan of the fates series but the art and voice cast got me interested. 

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san 2

Second season!!! If you haven’t watched the first season you should if you like cute romance. 

Bem

Bem, Bela, and Belo, are youkai who fight for justice. They live among humans and protect them from evil youkai. The three find themselves ostracized from both humans and other youkai, but the three continue to fight in hopes of one day becoming humans themselves. Everything about the pv makes me think this is going to be really good. 

Kochouki: Wakaki Nobunaga

Following the life of Oda Nobunaga. I love historical dramas. 

Vinland Saga

Thorfinn, the son of one of the Vikings' greatest warriors, spends his childhood in a battlefield enhancing his skills in his adventure to redeem his most-desired revenge after his father was murdered. HYPE

Given

Ritsuka Uenoyama started to feel that playing the guitar and playing basketball, both of which he liked very much, was becoming boring, Then he meets Mafuyu Sato. After hearing Mafuyu sing it leaves a deep impression on him. I love music based anime plus with the added shounen ai what could go wrong. 

Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka II

Second Season of DanMachi. 

———————————————————————————- 

Ongoing from Spring 2019

Carole and Tuesday

Kimetsu No Yaiba

Fruits Basket 2019

Not as long this time (lazy) So far these are the shows I will be following this season. As always feel free to share any recommendations or tell me what you rare watching. I will try to be active with reblogging these shows when I watch them. Thank you for all reading through all of this.  (´• ω •`) ♡

[ask-sweetest-devil]

12, 13, 17 and 29!

12. anime that should get more attention from others

Higurashi When They Cry.

I don’t love the art style (as it is from the area of big heads and huge eyes) but it is a SOLID horror anime (for the first two seasons, the initial story ends there and it really loses the horror aspect past that point). Seriously, just listen to the opening theme from the first season, it is CHILLING. Its seriously freaky and a bit of a mind bender that plays off of paranoia and it has solid chunks of comedy in between the horror and gore. It was, unfortunately, not dubbed very well, so I’d suggest watching the sub if you can.

It was actually the first anime I ever watched (not counting the old 4kids dub of tokyo mewmew)

13. funnest anime you have watched

Definitely Monster Musume. Its an ecchi anime so there’s a lot of boobage but the comedy is really good.

17. biggest anime crush

At this point, it’s a tie between Centorea, Lala, Rachnera, Draco, Tionishia and Manako from Monster musume.

I am a huge lesbian, I can’t help this.

29. anime that deserves another season

I mean, surprise surprise but I’m gonna have to say Monster Musume. There’s only one season but there’s SO MUCH MORE in the manga! Also Ishuzoku Reviewers (another monster girl ecchi, I apparently have specific tastes) It only got like 12 episodes before funimation dropped it but it was great and had really good audience reviews too. I also wouldn’t mind more Soul Eater (my all time favourite) because the anime ended BEFORE the manga was finished so it has a SUPER DIFFERENT (and much more boring IMO) ending.

Also adding here, the dub of Monster Musume is god awful, don’t bother with it.

[burnouts3s3]

Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid, a review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP): 50 USD Digital Copy (MSRP): 17.99 USD How much I paid: 50 USD. Animation Studio: ARMS Licensed and Localized by: Funimation Entertainment Audio: Japanese Audio with Subtitles and English Dub available.   English Cast: Kayla Hardwick as Mamori, Morgan Garrett as Mirei, Brittney Karbowski as Meifon, Janelle Lutz as Akira Hiragi, Monica Rial as Charlotte Scharsen, Roseanne Palmer as Kasumi Shigure, Tia Ballard as Rain Hasumi, Jamie Marchi as Lady J and Cynthia Cranz as Torino. Number of Episodes: 12 Episodes Length per Episode: 25 Minutes on average. 21 Without Intro and Ending song. Number of Discs: 4 Discs in Total. 2 DVD Discs and 2 Blu-ray discs. Episodes per Disc: Episodes 1-7 on the 1st DVD disc. Episodees 8-12 on the 2nd DVD disc. Episodes 1-9 on the first Blu-ray disc with Episodes 10-12 on the second Blu-ray disc along with the special features. Does this come a digital voucher to redeem?: No. This only has the Physical DVD and Blu-ray discs. Also on: Amazon Video, Funimation Now, Funimation’s streaming service that requires a subscription. Bonus Features: Textless Openings, Textless Ending and Trailers for other Funimation Licensed Shows. Episode 3 Commentary. Notable Localization Changes: Meifon, the smuggler character who wears a pink cowboy hat, is given a southern accent by her voice performer, Brittney Kowbalski.   My Personal Biases: I never really invested in the Valkyrie Drive franchise before and never played any of the games the anime is adapting. Sorry. My Verdict: Trashy, lurid, gaudy and with enough fanservice to make even the most perverted of us blush, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid is sure to give its intending audience the happy ending they want. It’s too bad that in 12 short episodes, there’s just not enough there, emotionally or lore wise, to get invested in unless you’ve already have backhand knowledge of the games. Wait for a sale. A/N: Okay, since I don’t want the moderators to flag this post, I’m going to have to put an explicit warning here. So while I won’t post any nudity, I will have to Age restrict this post just so I don’t get any flak. Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid. a review 

Girls from all over the world have been infected with a mysterious virus known as the A Virus (Armed Virus). These girls are divided into two classes; Extars, who can transform into weapons when sexually aroused, and Liberators, who have the power to wield an Extar's weapon form, known as Liberator Arms, through a process known as Drive. These girls are brought to separate islands to spend their days completely isolated from the rest of the world until the islands' Observers, authorized by the government Organisation AAA, ostensibly deem them ready to rejoin society again. Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid follows an Extar named Mamori Tokonome who forms a partnership with the Liberator Mirei Shikishima on the island called Mermaid.(For our friends not fluent in Japanese, Tokonome shares a very similar writing as the word ‘Virgin’ in Japanese, which Togonome is.). Mamori and Mirei are caught between a conflict between the Wärter, the island’s government that lives the castle, Veste, and those fleeing it. With Governor Akira (a supposed male Liberator that’s actually female) trying to be fair, Charlotte getting delusions of grandeur and wanting to rule with an iron fist and Kasumi attempting to be fair to the girls, the Wärter is in constant conflict. Those attempting to flee join up with Ms. Torumi, a kind soul who offers shelter for girls looking for freedom. Meanwhile, a sneaky smuggler by the name of Meifon is trying to earn a profit from the war. Along the way, Mamori and Mirei meet other Liberators and Extars, such as the team Lady J and Lady Rain in which one transforms into a ridable motorcycle. Other liberators, such as Charlotte, have their own harem of Extars and arouse multiple ones to form a multi-part weapon. Let’s get this out of the way. Yes, it IS in fact Soul Eater but with Lesbians. And the show isn’t afraid of being explicit about it. We are talking full-on nudity with lots of exposed breasts flopping around, bouncing and lots and lots of shots of nipples erecting… and hardening… Christ, this makes fanservice driven series like Kannazuki no Miko or Strawberry Panic look like the chaste Maria-Sama ga Miteru. On the technical side, everything is very well done. The animation for both the action and fanservice scenes is well animated, the music flows scene to scene (even if I couldn’t really remember any pieces that stood out) and the voice acting for both the Original Japanese and English dub is well-done. So, if you’re looking for lots and lots of scenes of girls kissing each other, breasts flopping around with the viscosity of jello and scenes of action with naked girls, have I got a show for you. Story wise, I found the series rather lacking. Seasonal shows really need to be careful with their pacing. With a limited 12 episode run, VD:M is already bursting at the seams with an overly long 4 episode prologue establishing the characters, the setting, the divide between the girls going along with Charlotte and Akira’s lawful order, Kasumi’s wavering allegiance and Torumi’s group of rebels and Meifon’s smuggling between the 2 sides. There’s a sense of urgency that the peace can’t last and conflict is unavoidable. But, not so urgent that we couldn’t have two light-hearted episodes involving one girl becoming Kaiju sized and another episode with a beauty contest in a cultural festival.

Boy, this season of Attack on Titan got WEIRD. When the main big bad does rear her head near the final 4 episodes, the show does a good ‘enough’ job establishing the backstory between her and Mirei, but you get the sense that maybe, had the show paced itself better, it would mean more. Yes, the final battle with all the girls joining together at the end is impressive to look at, but emotionally, I just wasn’t feeling it. If the show were as committed to giving me emotional turning points as it was fan service, I would’ve been more impressed. The characters are also rather lacking (writing wise). While Mirei is certainly admirable and one of the most likable of the cast, Mamori doesn’t really change much (character wise). Granted, the show pays lipservice (no pun intended) to the idea that the more courageous Mamori is, the more powerful the weapon she becomes, but there’s never that moment where Mamori ‘saves’ Mirei or gives her the comfort Mirei needs like the way Himeko comforted Chikane at the end. They instead fuse to one super being. It feels like at one point Mamori was supposed to have the final turning point and be the one to rescue Mirei, but Mamori just ends up being captured and put into the damsel role again. I also liked Kasumi and her dubious allegiance with the rebels as well as Meifon, getting into all sorts of trouble for some cash. I’m told by fans of the franchise that in peripheral media, some of the other couples get more character development. For example, the team of Lady Rain and Lady J were actually on opposite sides of a war but intentionally got themselves captured just to be together or that Governor Akira actually has a female lover back on the mainland and longs to be with her. Again, I am not here to judge what’s in an appendix. What’s in the show is in the show and it’s clear the TV producers weren’t interested in those stories to begin with, so why should I?   Funimation Entertainment did the localization for the show. And for the most part, the dub script stays as close as it does to the original Japanese version. Granted, Funimation has always played it loose with dubbing scripts and this is no exception. The English script contains lots of innuendos and sex jokes to make the English viewers chuckle (i.e. “I caught and she pitched.” “Let’s go digging for treasure” “I’m gonna let it all hang out!”) Karbowski adopts a southern accent for Meifon so thick, I thought I was listening to Nico Robin from the 4Kids dub of One Piece. (I’m aware that localizers tend to translate those with Kansai dialect and give them a Southern accent and Karbowski seems to be doing this accent winking to the audience and having fun with it). Special credit should go to Janelle Lutz as Akira Hiragi, managing to perform dual roles as both masculine and feminine variations of the character. The rest of the cast does a good job voicing their perspective roles. Monica Rial does with she can with Charlotte and Cynthia Cranz as Torumi seems to especially fit the role of a motherly caretaker for lost girls. (Yes, I find the fact that one of the characters is voiced by the same performer as Chi-chi and Botan very disconcerting). THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE AUDIO WITH SUBTITLES IS AVAILABLE FOR THOSE WHO PREFER IT. The package includes the OVAs (Original Video Animation) which are short videos of each of the girls revealing motivation and backstory as well as a lot of nudity with nipples becoming more and more erect. Lots of them. What’s weird is that the OVAs are also dubbed with the cast members. Funimation didn’t even dub the OVA for Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid. CAVEAT: It’s very strange that the series suddenly wants to take a more dramatic turn with emphasis on character development and history, but still plays out in a very fanservice driven anime. In some ways, I was enjoying the show more when it wasn’t really about anything and just amped the fanservice up to 11. With the exception of a few characters, I wasn’t invested in the goings on and 12 episodes is too short for me to have nostalgic feelings for Mermaid Island. For 50 USD, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid is a bit on the steep end. While the animation, music, fight scenes and… PLOT are all well done, emotionally, it doesn’t have much to offer. Then again, I don’t expect emotional substance out of show where half the teenagers become sexually aroused and transform into weapons. Those looking for a happy ending (in both senses of the term) will enjoy this. Verdict: Wait for a sale or rental.  

[vidaflxwer]

hello! i’m the anon who sent you a message about hanako-kun so long ago! sorry i haven’t messaged earlier, i’ve been so caught up in school. anyways, i am VERY open to any suggestions you have for me! the anime i’ve watched are pretty mainstream so i hope that doesn’t put you off (naruto, fmab, tpn, kny, mob psycho, watching haikyuu right now, more i forget) but i will literally try anything. i think some must haves for me are good writing, good character development, and good OSTs are a bonus!

anon i knew you and i would have so much in common in terms of what we love in anime, i’m such a sucker for good character development and writing! and i’m the same way with good OSTs actually! oh and don’t worry about watching mainstream? i honestly respect mainstream anime a whole lot, since it’s where most of us start out, you know? my first anime was soul eater, and that’s insanely mainstream, so no worries there! 

but as for some suggestions... 

death parade is my personal favorite anime of all time, and it essentially revolves around this bar where, when two people die at the same time, they come there to play a game and have their souls be judged to either be sent to heaven (reincarnation) or hell (the void)! it has insanely interesting commentary on morality and human nature in general, but also how our lives intertwine with those of other because, more often than not, a lot of the people who died at the same time were connected in some way. or their deaths somehow paralleled each others! either way, it’s super interesting and made me cry a whole lot so fair warning there! i will say though, because this is an anime that does cover such dark topics, a whole lot of the deaths aren’t pretty and can be very painful to watch so please be wary going into it!

comic girls is another one of my personal favorites and i know, by the title, you’d probably laugh at it like me and my sister did when we found it on the first day that it started airing, but it’s so much more than the synopsis or the title might imply. it’s a slice of life about a girl named kaourko moeta, or kaos who is a struggling manga artist that has very low self-esteem and is about to give up on manga all together, thanks to the constant lack-luster reviews she gets on any of her works! however, her editor suggests that instead of giving up, she joins a female manga artist dorm! and it’s there she becomes friends with three (eventually four) other girls who each draw different types of manga! now what seriously surprised me about comic girls was truly how much character development each of the main four girls went through. comic girls didn’t shy away from showing how painful it can be to have your work shot down time and time again, to struggle to pull yourself back together enough to continue working despite that constant agony of failure, and i connected really deeply to kaos’ struggles. but there’s so much more they cover than just that in the twelve episodes and honestly, it deserves so much more credit. i wish it had been more popular back when it first aired, but i’m thankful that i, at least, had the pleasure of watching it in real time. (by the way: please look up the translations for the opening and ending after you finish the series because they will make you cry, especially the ending, they’re such good lyrics and i connected to even them so deeply so that’s another thing!)

if you haven’t watched carole and tuesday yet, that’s another one i’d highly recommend! carole and tuesday seriously surprised me in the character development department, specifically with one character whose growth brought so many tears to my eyes and i still can’t believe they actually managed to make me feel so empathetic towards her when i absolutely hated her in the beginning! but essentially, carole and tuesday is about these two girls who meet one day when tuesday’s decided to run away from home on a bridge where carole is singing along to the tune she’s playing on her piano. from there they basically become best friends and decide that they’re gonna be the next big thing in music, essentially, in a world where most music is written by artificial intelligence based on the knowledge of what we, as humans, gravitate towards in terms of music! the songs are all in english and they’re beyond stunning, i cried almost every episode whenever one of them would come on because there’s so much soul and emotion put into every single one of carole and tuesday’s songs, and it really does differentiate them from everyone else! it’s absolutely amazing and i can’t praise it enough!

dusk maiden of amnesia is probably another insanely underrated series that i still cry whenever i think about because there’s truly no other word to describe it than beautiful. it’s about this boy named teiichi who, one day, meets a ghost named yuuko! only she has absolutely no memories of her life before she became a ghost, hence why it’s called dusk maiden of amnesia, and she asks him to help her find out what her life used to be like! thus he decides to become the founder of the paranormal investigations club, where a few other girls join him in his quest to find out what exactly happened at their school, all those years ago when yuuko died! what’s interesting about dusk maiden is that it’s considered a horror series, though i don’t really think it’s honestly that scary in my personal opinion, especially if you’re already used to the promised neverland. it’s more like death parade in the sense that it’s dark and more of an exploration of yuuko’s character and the darkness within her, which i really enjoy! there is some romance though so fair warning, but it’s actually a romance i can stand because it’s a rather sad romance instead of over-the-top romantic comedy style stuff so yeah!

a few more i’m just gonna mention are yuru camp, new game!, and possibly kuzu no honkai (or scum’s wish, is the english translation) because this post is getting way too long but those are also very good! please be warned that scum’s wish is very sexual but it’s actually one of the most depressing anime i’ve ever seen in my entire life and i more like it despite the sexual content! the other two are just slice of life series so no worries there with anything i need to warn you of, i think! 

god i am so sorry i didn’t mean for this to be this long but i really wanted to give you more a more specific synopsis of each and what aspects they really shine through in since, like i said with comic girls, these series are kind of? very misleading? and i think that might be the fault of slice of life and horror as genres not really accounting for the different facets of said genres so i hope my descriptions are able to help!

[drink-n-watch]

I just looked over last week’s gallery post and boy this show is pretty! I need to go over all the gallery posts after the season is over. I bet there’s a lot more to the images than I can pick up from simply watching the episodes.

In the meantime though, I have a gallery for this week’s episode but before that, I have an actual review over at 100 Word Anime.

I remember as the episode opened, I immediately thought to myself “those are the wrong colours”. It was beautiful but it just didn’t look like Fire Force at all. I think the show is actually colour coding Konro with light purple which is a great choice. The colour is associated with wisdom and the lighter shade makes it kinder. This works well with the character we’ve gotten to know so far. It’s also supposed to be dignified, even regal. Also a match!

I’m having a bit of trouble judging proportions. Half the time Konro seems visibly bigger than Benimaru, the other half they seem about the same. I wonder if it’s in my head.

OK’ now it looks like Fire Force. Moreover, it’s happening in darkened scenes so we know there’s going to be some action!

Even though I’m not a fan of the twin loli archetype, I really love Hika and Hina’s designs and even if just for that, I enjoy their scenes. Their stylized little fight was so much fun to watch.

That Evangelist character looks like they could have been designs specifically as a Halloween ghoul. I gotta say, the designs are not helping with that feeling of flatly evil characters. Then again, that arrow iris reminds me of (Soul Eater’s) Medusa who was also a plainly evil character but so evil in fact as to become somewhat interesting. Maybe we’ll be lucky and get that again.

And here’s the fight with super illuminated powers. You know, it’s nice that the show is so dedicated to visual consistency. It really creates a sense of individuality. You all know what I have to say about these types of scenes.

Doesn’t that middle left image look just like a jack-o-lantern? Maybe  I just have Halloween on the brain. This entire episode looked super seasonal to me.

There were a few scenes in that alleyway (top, right). It’s a really nice composition. The darker parts of the image are fairly warm closer to brown than blue as in a lot of the other night time city scenes which sets it apart and makes it feel more intimate. Then you have either sides of the alley coming in to create a thin slit of bright red (almost hellish) beyond. It makes the alley feel like a little oasis of calm and safety. And it also creates a great sense of depth. It’s really good framing in my opinion and I’m glad the director insisted on it.

I mentioned it in my review. Shinra and Arthur are just another example of the red oni, blue oni trope. Even though it’s really obvious I love how it was illustrated this episode.

This scene also served as the episode’s comedy relief (as is usually Arthur’s rile) with a lot of art breaks and silly backgrounds that broke up the more detailed fight scenes. It did a pretty good job at really highlighting how polished Fire Force usually looks by comparison. It was also just fun to watch.

I leave you on another beautifully composed scene. The flash of fire in the distance is a focal point while the large blue irises in the foreground create scale and interest. You can barely make out Benimaru so when he moves it’s surprising. It’s also a rather pretty bridge and the central foundation separates Benimaru and the infernal on either side very symbolically.

  Fire Force Episode 13 – Stoking the Fire – Gallery I just looked over last week's gallery post and boy this show is pretty! I need to go over all the gallery posts after the season is over.

[sokumotanaka]

Last train home: An ode to Rwby

It’s over...it’s finally over.

Prepare for a long and tired final post.

Look, let me say this;

RWBY volume 6 is a mess and I think that's the most charitable thing I can say after spending several years of being invested in it’s crumbling world.

Maybe it was laziness, rushed or sheer incompetence that made this season crumble, so in my final review on rwby as a whole I may have to do some guess work at points; and after several wasted years, I’m not in a position from this point on to be charitable.

I gotta tell you, volume 6 tricked me, hell from what I seen it tricked alot of us, it started off good, we learned thing we should of learned volumes ago. But then I soon realized that this volume was; damage control. We learn of ozpin origins with salem only to not get to absorb it cause we soon learn through obvious reasons that maria was a silver eyed warrior and when ruby finally starts training, we meet one of jaune’s sisters, also pyrrha’s statue is there, but also neo is back, but so is adam and cinder, also mercury has no semblance, tyrian has a new tail-

see what I mean? before you could absorb one thing, two more pop up in its place and there’s such a lack in structure in the world, characters, their growth, development and their dimensions. The magic and power system that rwby has is just a mess that gets increasingly worse as it progresses, they take one step forward only to stumble several feet back and fall on their ass. And maybe one of the problem is I listen to writers commentary; to someone who doesn’t they won’t see as many problems as I do with the series, but when you actually listen to it you see the many problems it has with how this series is handled.

A reboot is at this point completely necessary and needed for this series to make even a semblance of sense. Semblance, Aura and Dust are so poorly handled and explained that they changed at several points to the point of being contrived.

Semblance was originally something you could use when your aura was completely depleted before requiring aura to use.

Except when it’s not but also when it can be, it changes at the drop of a hat, we see yang use her semblance with no aura in her vol 5 trailer, then sun in vol 4 loses his semblance when his aura is depleted.

despite miles changing it almost instantly afterwards...

When I started rwby I was optimistic it could be a great show probably not spectacular or amazing but great, and while it had it’s flaws and potholes at the time they were relatively small at first, but they just kept growing and more issues popped up and...christ if you like rwby and notice it’s flaws that’s fine, but I can’t say the same for people who outright ignore the flaws people critiquing the series bring up to get mad and preach about how only positive criticism can save the show.

Look as a person who started off with positive criticism I’m not saying it has no place, but you also can’t say critics be it negative from your perspective, is objectively bad or unneeded. Sometimes a firm but fair hand is needed.

Ruby’s issues are like a small flame building up, you can close your eyes and ignore the problem but sooner or later if something’s not done your house is gonna be completely on fire, and you don’t know how that may affect your surroundings, for all you know ignoring the issue caused the trees behind your house to catch fire, maybe one toppled over and landed on a neighboring house and now it’s spreading. The bottom line is weather you can get past the issue to find the things you like isn’t the problem, it’s ignoring them in the first place, if you aren’t willing to help something growth and change for the better with non rose tinted criticism then you’re not offering any help at all, you’re hindering it because you yourself refuse to change and that can be just as harmful if not worse to coddle something.

Rwby increasingly became more unhinged as a series, the flaws turned into overlapping problems, this went from a world that felt had love and care crafted into it to a plot and world with more holes than swiss cheese, which is why so many people felt disappointed and rightfully annoyed, could you sit there and tell me if I made a series and told you one thing yet showed you another only to tell you “yeah that’s not what I meant.” in post that you wouldn’t feel even the slightest bit of cheated, lied to or had your time wasted? If not do I have a camel to sell you among other things!

As a person who sat through so many lovely crafted media; I sat through paper mario and it’s whimsical tale, I watched avatar and fell in love with it’s amazing characters, world building and music, same goes for things like steven universe, final fantasy 6 (a game ironically about togetherness) ff9, the persona series, hunter x hunter, soul eater, gravity falls, Disney flicks, the dragon age series every super giant game, all these and more were handled with so much love and care and hold their structure throughout.

I.  LOVE. MEDIA.

I spend most of my time absorbed in their stories worlds and characters, laughing and crying and growing with them to the point I studied it, twice to get two separate degrees in it because I wanted to write at a time. So when I critique rwby, call out it’s flaws and so on, it’s not a personal attack on you if you like it, but I also can’t be satisfied with where the series has gone, not because it’s not ‘my’ take but because I enjoy narrative flow, I find interest in the characters if the plot isn’t too good and vise versa, media can touch on so many amazing things and I felt at a time...that miles and kerry could do well if they tried, if they applied themselves, before becoming such mean spirited, greedy and unwilling people, and this was long before I came into the picture, long before rwde no matter how much you disagree or what to place blame.

Cause trust me I seen rwby stans (fans unwilling to hear criticism out and will display many hypocritical and messed up tendencies over a cartoon)  not only ignore issues, tell people to kill themselves over a typed critique of a series they like, be irrational, sexist, racist or just plain stupid at times, you realize soon that the rwby tag is a cesspool of horrible people mixed in with a minuscule amount of fans willing to discuss the issues offer fixes and healthy non annoying chats on what they like and dislike.

Which confuses me as an individual cause I feel personally you can and should review rwby without threat of an anonymous person telling you to die over your opinion or one of the writers telling people to...enact physical violence on fans who don’t watch the supplemental material they hide, don’t promote to a casual audience and contradict and retcon on a constant basis. And sometimes it’s through a panel or a tweet, a casual rwby fan wouldn’t even catch unless they constantly follow the writers around or have someone dedicated enough to do so.

And all the stuff I mention and want isn’t impossible or asking too much honestly, I’d like the writers to be honest and fair to their fanbase, like anyone would, I’d like them to listen to actual critique and hire someone who can guide them so it doesn’t turn into one big “damage control” arc, The characters need more substance and need more screen time to grow as characters and fighters, when your fans excuse character growth with “Well animation is hard, not everything could be onscreen it could happen offscreen.” you have a problem, can you imagine ed just showing up with alphonse and it never being explained and I go “well animation is hard.” yeah that goes without saying but at the same time there are writers, creators and so on who get paid less, have smaller teams and sometimes just teams of two people to work hard on their craft, amazing teams with money, production and care like supergiant games get overlooked, so never EVER excuse jump cuts and lack of characterization, structure and development when better writers are out there busting their asses.

Do not be that guy.

*sigh* I been sitting here thinking how how I could end this, how after several years of a fast decline in quality, what’s something I could possibly leave this on? What can I say past this point? I been actually sitting in stunned silence trying to mull it over. I guess all I can say is, if you like rwby fair, fine, despite the major holes I discuss fixes with the series, I draw characters, try fixing the crumbling road of rwby trying hard to understand it, make no mistakes that when I critique it it’s not coming from a place of contempt for the series, but of disappointment in how far it’s fallen and how it could have been good if miles and kerry took the hand offered, it wouldn’t lead them down the most comfortable road, but they’d gain experience from it and could fix the series possibly for the better, and if you again like rwby, do not allow rose tinted goggles to blind you from the issues of the series, the ever growing problems with the series and the unwillingness for the writers to change and grow, do not allow more writers to turn into david cage, M Night Shyamalan, or stephenie meyer.

If you want the best for the rwby series and the rwby brand then you cannot accept mediocrity, you need to be vocal otherwise the writers won’t be incentivized to do better. And it doesn’t have to be straight up criticism, you can word it your way as long as it helps the writing grow, but at the point we’re at and how nice or not miles and kerry take current criticism rwby will continue to plummet and honestly that’s a disappointment.

To all fellow rwde and non rwde who have supported me thus far? Thank you, this has been a wild ride and while we possibly haven’t seen eye to eye I enjoyed and learn alot from watching you over the years, and now I think it’s finally time for the vet to retire and give the reins to new people, I received alot of kind messages from this and they touched my heart, take care rwby critics, it’s been real.

-A past fan of rwby

[medea10]

My Review of Zombieland Saga

[natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk]

Mental Health in Anime - Rant + Vitamin (Manga) - Thoughts

Sorry for the random capslock. I do that when I’m really livid.

Trigger warning: This post mentions mental illness including depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and eating disorders. It mentions suicide and assault that may make some readers uncomfortable.

I wanted to keep this safe for the guidelines, but I also didn’t want to shy away from these topics because I know how hard these things hit sometimes, and I don’t want to shy away from things like these anymore. These topics all have a huge place in my life which I advocate for, and I wouldn’t want to downplay it.

For the first time in a VERY long time, I read a manga series. Series meaning three chapters. I have commitment issues. Lots of them. Anyway, I read it thinking, “I want to read a series that addresses mental health in a more realistic way”. Why do I say that? Well, for now, I’m going to rant about anime and mental health as a whole. After that, I will get to the manga I just read. It won’t be a review as much as it’ll be the thoughts I had on it.

Well, shounen anime I’ve watched and the stuff that’s directed towards me definitely doesn’t touch mental health often. You can see below that shounen manga will do ANYTHING ELSE BUT THAT. Usually, it’s shoujo manga that gets into emotional territory, and sometimes, I watch it for stuff like that. I don’t want to watch something that tells me to man up all the time or that friendship is everything or that I can have superpowers and be admired by people out there all the time. When it comes down to it, sometimes I want characters that I can relate to on a more intimate level. I want to feel like I can have a heart-to-heart with them without someone out there laughing at me. I don’t want to cry tears that are laughed at. But even then, a whole lot of the time, I don’t see mental health interpreted well in anime.

Well, let’s see... as a general overview, let’s see what I’ve seen in depictions of shounen and shoujo anime/manga:

Shounen manga: 

CHILDHOOD TRAUMA IS NORMAL. DEAL THE F**K WITH IT. HAD YOUR PARENTS KILLED? ME TOO. BEEN MURDERED? ME TOO. I’M DEAD. IN FACT, I’VE MURDERED PEOPLE. Mental health? They can barely keep their regular health in order. The only treatment you need is friendship speeches and training montages. Trauma makes you stronger even if it breaks you with no one there to help you. It’s alright until you’re dead.

Examples: - The entire cast of Naruto ~ Yeah, Naruto’s an orphan, his village hates him, he was bullied, he made through his childhood struggles by making it through mischief. Sasuke had his entire family killed by his brother. I can go on. - BNHA Class ~ Attacked by villains? Who gives a f**k, you’re aiming to become heroes. Please, we already spent the budget on those costumes. No one needs help. Hell, we spent our health budget on Deku’s bones. No complaints.  - Mirai Nikki ~ I know it’s like all other manga where they give it the excuse that it’s the point of the series, but we all know both Yukki and Yuno are not healthy.

Shoujo manga: 

Your beloved what’s-his-face will come running in to save your butt because we know that real help is an illusion. Issues can be solved if you fall in love... obviously.

Too many examples to list. Let’s move on.

Bad Examples:

This is just my opinion. Maybe you think this series interpreted it well, but for at least the first part of the series, all of these did not.

Soul Eater: Death the Kid

I know it’s supposed to be funny, but come on, the guy needs help. No one addresses it. It bothered me the whole time I was watching the show. I think you can make me laugh without making fun of OCD. 

I think you can leave Crona agender WITHOUT forcing pronouns onto them. Seriously, some people think that Crona’s gender is a joke. I’m still not over the fact Funimation thought that “he/him” was the most gender-neutral they can get.

Literally Watamote’s existence

It’s about a person with social anxiety? See? It’s funny. Because... they’re socially awkward... and anxious... I don’t get it.

The Beginning of Watashi ga Motete Dousunda

NOW, THIS. THIS IS THE REASON WHY I DIDN’T WANT TO EVEN TOUCH THIS ANIME.

How is “losing a ton of weight randomly” healthy? Or even more beyond that, her dreams come true once she does? Uh... for a comedic reason? Hmm... that’s not a very good reason. I think we ought to deal with eating disorders in a better way than this.

Bungou Stray Dogs: Osamu Dazai

There are many reasons why I was uneasy with Bungou Stray Dogs for a while. Dazai was practically the sole reason. I get that Asagiri (the creator) wanted to dodge the interpretation of real-life Dazai’s suicidal tendencies but his anguish came from literal turmoil and struggle. We learn that Dazai’s does too, but it’s portrayed in such a superficial way, and while I do that too as a coping mechanism, I completely understand when people say they will never touch Bungou Stray Dogs because Dazai sets a bad precedence. I personally do not like the way that they chose to go about this. It’s one of the reasons why I actually don’t like Dazai as much as others do.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

I understand that this is a weird Studio Shaft series, but joking about suicide to this extent made me find it a bit distasteful. 

Good/Better Examples:

These ones tried and did a slightly better job than the ones before. I didn’t comment on the ones I haven’t watched.

A Silent Voice

This story is about a depressed and suicidal man who tries to atone for his past deeds and sins. It’s a beautifully adapted movie, an arguably better manga, and it’s just a masterpiece.

Yuri!!! On Ice

The main force working against our protagonist is himself, or more specifically, his anxiety. As an older figure skater, he has a tough time with his self-image, handling his nerves, etc. I relate.

School-Live!

Yuki lives in a lie and has problems facing the truth about her reality. This is arguably played off as a horror trope, but I found it pretty well-done.

Your Lie in April

The character deals with past trauma with the abuse of his deceased mother. 

Tsuritama

It properly and accurately interprets social anxiety as a kid who keeps moving has to introduce himself over and over again. He feels like he’s drowning and gets pulled up into fishing with his friends as he tries to learn how to handle his stresses with the people around him.

Anohana

The cast has a ton of problems dealing with their past trauma and has no choice but to face it by all means necessary. They didn’t get proper help even though they should’ve.

Monster

Orange

March Comes in Like a Lion

This boy overcomes past trauma and stress by relying on those close to him.

Psycho-Pass

Fullmetal Alchemist

This deals with everything from our characters’ past trauma to post-partum depression (the first time I have ever seen it interpreted in an anime and a SHOUNEN anime at that). 

Vitamin - Thoughts (BELOW)

I read this manga knowing that it contained content to do with mental health, and honestly, I don’t think it had enough time to fully flesh out its capabilities. Its THREE-CHAPTER run was super fast. And it was heavy. And I mean HEAVY. The art was done powerfully. The contents of the story weren’t filtered; it wasn’t held back.

We deal with a character who’s on top of the world with friends, a boyfriend, good studying habits, but it spirals out of control fast.

This anime deals with many untouchable topics such as the risk of suicide, mental illness, (I swear I’m gonna get flagged) s**ual assault, eating disorders, drug abuse, and probably a few other things that I missed.

This hit me and had me having feelings like the little bitch I am. Holy cow cakes. I was reading this with my mom in the same room just trying to not look like the little poop I am. That stuff hit so hard and so close to home. 

You think it’s too out there to really be true, but I don’t think so. At my old school, we definitely had stuff like that.

The growth of this character was rushed, and even if it’s slightly exaggerated, I empathized and felt her pain because bro, I’ve kinda (not to that extent) been there too. It dealt with her attempt, drug abuse, assault, bulimia, and everything. It was blinding, hurtful, and it tears open wounds like no tomorrow.

This isn’t even this mangaka’s first time at it. She has written quite a bit of heavy shoujo stuff.

The ending felt so satisfying. This manga wasn’t eye-opening in ways that it might be for some people. I have been to places like those. I know how it feels. I know other people have been there too, but to see it so rawly interpreted into a manga-format for people to read, that was unexpected. Overall, it was a really well-done manga. In a way, I wish it was longer so it would be a bit more realistic in some ways, but at the same time, I’m not sure how much longer I would’ve lasted. 

[just-absolutely-super]

Okay final episode let’s do it LET’S GO LET’S GET THIS BITCH OVER WITH

Soul Eater Episode 51 or “*MUFFLED FRUSTRATED SCREECHING*”

So the epic final conclusion to the fight with Asura...ends with a punch in the face

...

*long suffering sigh*

That’s just so...STUPID!

MAKA ACTUALLY GOES FULL WEAPON ON US AND YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE THAT BE OUR ASSPULL DEUS EX MACHINA?!

JUST SOME PRETTY WORDS ABOUT BRAVERY AND THEN A PUNCH?!

THIS IS FREAKING ASURA WE’RE TALKING ABOUT! IF A FUCKING TECHNIQUE THAT WAS MADE TO KILL KISHINS COULDN’T BEAT HIM, HOW WAS A PUNCH GOING TO DO THAT?!

NO I’M REALLY ASKING HERE. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!

Ugh did Bones just not know how to conceive a better idea on how to defeat someone as insanely powerful as Asura? Because that’s the impression I got. And they were right, how could some 1 Star meisters defeat a demon god?

Well it’s simple...they can’t

No I’m serious, they legit couldn’t have defeated Asura as they were in the anime. In the manga they were 2 Star leveled (with Kid becoming a mature Shinigami) and all of them were hyped up on some form of madness. And Asura was still giving them a rough time (the aforementioned breaking of B*S’s bones from a previous post). That’s how much of a big ass deal Asura is in the manga and Asura in the anime is a fucking wuss compared to him!

Other than...that...do you know what really burned me up about these last 3 episodes?

How everyone was pretty much relying on Maka and Maka alone to defeat the Kishin

Never mind about Black Star who is basically the strongest human on the planet or Kid who is a fucking Grim Reaper, we just care about Maka

Don’t get me wrong, I love Maka. She’s easily my favorite character and she’s a Grade A Badass.

...But she’s not supposed to work alone.

I don’t mean that in a malicious way though. I mean this as a reflection of the story of Soul Eater and its characters.

Who is the main character? A newcomer might think Soul given the series’ name, but the more you watch the more you find out Maka is more prominent.

And they’re right...both perspectives.

Maka and Soul are both the main characters. They’re partners, they’re supposed to share the limelight.

But it’s not just them.

Black Star and Death the Kid are just as much main characters as Maka and Soul are.

Soul Eater doesn’t begin with a chapter 1, it begins with a 3 part prologue

Maka, Black Star, and Kid are supposed to all 3 share the spotlight

Yes, Maka is important and is most consistent with being our main heroine of the story, but it’s not just her story; she shares it with B*S and Kid.

They started the story together and they ended it together

As they did...in the manga

Here in the anime it’s like, “Oh let’s push these two guys aside to give Maka all the attention. It’s really her who should defeat Asura.”

And I’d be all well and good with this...if they had also included Soul

Like I mentioned before, Soul and Maka are partners. They complement each other and balance each other out. They’re quite literally soulmates gosh dangit!

There’s also the fact that neither of them do well when they’re separated. And yes, this include Maka. It’s a major plot point in the manga. Maka is too reckless without Soul’s level head, and she often needs him to lead her in battle despite being the meister. With Soul, he’s not very good at solo combat. He has to have someone wield him and often has issues with hesitation. Maka gives him the courage to fight and trusts her the most to wield him in battle.

Having Maka defeat the Kishin alone just feels like a slap in the face to me because this isn’t just about Maka. It’s about her and Soul and Black Star and Kid and their respective weapons and their relationships with one another.

And that’s why I need a better anime adaptation so badly because you can’t grasp these characters and their relationship with each other with just the barely halfway point of the story. You need all of it. Anime Soul Eater is too rushed and clumsy and weak to capture the magic and downright batshit insane story that Ohkubo told us.

Also, Maka’s mom doesn’t do shit and no one cares about her so that’s also a plus. I refuse to believe her letter means so much to Maka that it’d give her the literal power of GOD to kill off a fucking kishin like Asura

What bullshit

I must ask again WHERE IS MY SOUL EATER BROTHERHOOD AT BONES?!

[tehstripe]

I HAVE TOO MANY STEAM GAME KEYS PLEASE TAKE THEM OFF OF MY HANDS

As usual, I have forgotten that I get Humble Bundle Monthly and now have too many Steam Keys that I do not know what to do with, so I am giving the following game keys away for free to whoever would like them. 

If you see any game keys you’d like, drop me a tumblr message, and I’ll send it your way! You can claim up to two for now. I’ll cross games off of the list as they’re claimed. 

EDIT: THIS POST IS OLD AND I AM NOT CURRENTLY OFFERING THE REMAINING KEYS ANYMORE.

Sid Meier's Civilization VI - It’s Civilization with new graphics and new city building mechanics!

Life is Strange Complete Season (Episodes 1-5) - This is a story-based game where you can rewind time and make decisions and solve puzzles. There’s girls who are in love with each other. 

Black the Fall - Looks to be a minimalist puzzle game where you’re... escaping from Communism in a robot? 

Snake Pass - A physics platformer puzzler where you are a snake. It looks cute!

The Norwood Suite - A first-person adventure game where you explore some wacky looking hotel. 

Dark Souls III - fuck man its a dark souls game idk what else to tell you. It also comes with some expansion called “Ashes of Ariandel.”

Overgrowth - Looks like a combat oriented game where you play as a bunny. 

Lost Castle - An action RPG with rogue-like elements and up to 4-player co-op. 

Splasher - A 2D platformer where you have to use ink jets or something to help you get through levels.

Last Day of June - I guess this is supposed to be a really emotional cinematic experience about love and loss? 

GOD EATER 2 Rage Burst - An anime-style hack and slash where, according to one of the reviews, “you can make your own waifu.”

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - An Action Sci Fi game where you’re an augmented human.

Mafia III - I guess it’s a game about you getting revenge on the mob and making a new mob. It takes place in 1968 New Orleans. Also comes with an expansion called “Sign of the Times”

Outlast 2 - A scary horror game where you gotta film all the scary stuff happening to you. This time with less mental asylums and more weirdly sexual religious cults.

Lara Croft GO - A little puzzle game where you get to be Lara Croft, solving turn-based puzzles.

Laser League - Looks like some fancy multiplayer game with lasers?

Kerbal Space Program - Manage a space program and try to launch a rocket TO THE MOON.

Dead Rising 4  - Open World Zombie Game

RUINER - A brutal sci-fi action shooter

Crazy Machines 3 - A game where you can build crazy machines I guess???

Jalopy - An exploration survival game involving you trying to keep an old car running

Running with Rifles - A top-down tactical shooter which has open world RPG elements according to the Steam page 

NBA Playgrounds - A basketball game where the heads of the people look like bobbleheads, so that’s fun.

Styx: Shards of Darkness - A stealth-based game where you get to play as a goblin assassin

Bear With Me - A noire mystery adventure game where a girl is trying to find her brother with the help of a teddy bear detective

Acceleration of SUGURI 2 - It’s an... anime shoot-em-up/bullet hell game? I think? It looks weird.

Hearts of Iron 4 - Looks like a super intense military strategy game where you can play as any country in World War 2

Blackwake - A multi-player naval battle game

Forts - Build a fort and destroy other people’s forts

Titan Quest Anniversary Edition - A hack and slash with some sort of ties to mythology? Also comes with some DLC bundled in.

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom - An anime-style action RPG that I’m pretty sure is heavily catering to the furry community

Interplanetary: Enhanced Edition - A turn-based military strategy game where you have to build up your home planet in order to fire missles.... THROUGH SPACE.

The Escapists 2 - Try to escape from prison! A sequel to a game I’ve heard is good but haven’t played

Conan Exiles - An open world survival game set in the world of canon. Also one of the steam tags for this is “Nudity” which I think makes it more enticing.

The Surge - A sci-fi take on a Dark Souls game, though I have also heard it’s more than just that? Anyways you’re a dude in an exo-suit who presumably has to fight off other dudes.

Sudden Strike 4 - A military tactics game that has lots of campaigns I guess.

Forged Battalion - More military strategy, but this time you also get to play the role of engineer! 

Pathologic Classic HD - A remaster of an older game where you try to save a town from a mysterious plague. Looks cool, but is also apparently scary and niche, so I’m sure it could be better enjoyed by someone else.

[veganvan916-blog]

The Longest Year of My Damn Life

This has been the longest year of my damn life! Well... Not really but kind of! You see the year has been extremely informative and educational. It has also been tumultuous and rewarding.May 17, 2018 marked my 1 year anniversary in this vegan world and let me tell you, this shit is amazing. Side bar- The word vegan gets so much negativity attached to it, so I have started using the term “Earthly Eater” meaning that I eat what comes from the Earth. From now on I will refer to vegan as Earthly Eating. Okay! Good... 

 I have learned quite a bit of things over the past year and I know that I will only learn a ton more as the years go by.  In this blog I will take you through some of the most important things that I have learned over the past 367 days and give you an insight to what this “Earthly Eating” can do for you. I will break it down into sections and explain so that I can clearly paint a picture of what I learned as well as sprinkle knowledge onto someone who may be at the precipice of jumping into this Earthly life. I hope that these words find everyone who reads this well and sheds some light on to your lives. Let’s start with one of the main things that I have learned...

START SLOW

Not as in slowly ween yourself off the meat and dairy,however, if you need to do that, DO IT. But start slow as in, know that it is okay to eat processed foods at first. Know that you are NOT perfect and there may be a time where you eat something in this stage that upon further review, contains milk. Yes, you will forget to read the label EVERYTIME, but you will learn to. You will forget to eat before you go out or pack a snack for after your outting, but you will learn to.  All of these things will help you find your way in the world of earthly eating.

UNCERTAINTY HAPPENS

If you are uncertain, IT’S NORMAL! Not 1 person has jumped into this earthly lifestyle with all the answers.  Example.You may be asking, can I have marshmallows or gummy bears? No because of gelatin. What is gelatin? Pork fat! It’s not listed on the packages in bold lettering like milk or eggs. I didn’t know at first, but they MUST list milk and eggs on the bottom and in BOLD if they are used in the making of that food item. They also have to list other stuff like soy and nuts because of they are a part of the 7 deadly allergens, EGGS, TREE NUTS, PEANUTS, SHELLFISH, FISH, WHEAT & SOY. So ALWAYS READ THE INGREDIENTS and when in doubt put that shit back

 FINE TUNING HAPPENS

On its own, it happens, as long as you stay the course. You will learn things like which foods are processed and which are not. You will learn how to cook foods that you never thought you would even try... What you know about fennel or rhubarb. A funny thing happens when you actually dive into earthly eating without restrictions or limitations. You stop being lazy and start getting back to the basics. You start cooking again. Y’all remember what that is right? Pots, pans, seasonings you know shit like that. Not only that. You start challenging yourself and the cooking becomes FUN. You find new things to cook and develop in the kitchen. Now, that boring recipe for rice and beans becomes a curried garbanzo dish over cilantro rice, or instead of getting canned beans you get dry beans and go through the labor of letting them soak rinsing them and then finding out that, shit, if I add smoked paprika and a bay leaf to this it gives it a way better flavor than the canned beans. You get ideas in your head like, if I take these 2 bean types combine and mash them with some spelt flour, instead of regular flour, and seasonings I can make gluten free burgers! You start to fall in love with what you can do for yourself and your family in the kitchen and it is no longer cooking but it is an adventure.

 MENTAL CLARITY HAPPENS

At some point in your journey, if you are actually doing it and removing processed foods and other “bad vegan” foods from your diet, your brain opens up to a different level of ascension . For myself, this happened 7 months into my lifelong marathon. Once I removed the loads of processed crap from my life, I started to recognize something changing. Okay, I can’t lie… Potato chips have been the hardest to get rid of…. Damn chips! I started to see things that were happening around me in a light that I had never experienced before and it was BEAUTIFUL. I stopped using derogatory words to address myself and my friends, and started using uplifting and inspiring ones. I started to notice how, everyone knows this exists we just never fully pay attention to it and don’t understand that we are being affected, I started to notice how the media was DIRECTLY attacking the minds of our children, using beautiful colors and jingly ass jingles to shape and mold our youth into yearning for whatever product they were selling and or guiding them to whatever specific outcome they were seeking and it made me sick. I have children, and when I hear my son sing a jingle that has nothing to do with childhood, I CRINGE. You know, “When steak is really this good, you show it in slow mo”. Not saying that earthly eating puts up some magical shield against these jingles, just saying that I was clearly seeing the brainwashing and it sickened me. Instead of laughing at my kid for singing whatever jingle, I looked at myself and knew I had to do more to shape and mold his mind. I had to make the promise to myself that I was going to do everything I possibly could to combat the onslaught of brain washy ass uppercuts that they were throwing to make sure my children can formulate their own opinions.

 POSITIVITY HAPPENS

Not sure when it happened or why, but I got happy. I mean I got really happy. I started listening to motivational speeches and joyful jams, that’s literally the playlist I have on my music app. I started to smile more and enjoy the moment. I started to STOP complaining. I took a deeper look inside myself and decided that I would no longer let the small things bother me. I became filled with joy and with each passing day the joy that I had intensified. I stopped entertaining complaints, and whenever someone came to me with them, I would do one of two things, I would say “ok well, what are you going to do about this situation” or I just wouldn’t respond. I started to see something amazing happen. Other people around me were starting to catch the joy that was oozing out of me, and people were letting me know it. They would come up to me and say, Ian I don’t know what changed but you have been super happy on social media and in person and it is contagious. Not only that. Positive things started to happen for myself as well. I had been wanting to start my cooking business, as well as  start spreading positivity about this life, and just like that, I did. One day I just started doing things and I haven’t looked back since. Because I have been focusing on the positive and removing negative thoughts, great things like meeting new people with a mutual interest in helping each other has happened I have had complete strangers reach out to me and tell me that they love my energy, I mean I truly changed my ways and I was all the more better for it.

 HEALTH HAPPENS

I was pre diabetic, had high blood pressure and ached EVERYWHERE! Well……… Notice I said was! Yeah, that’s right, WAS. Since becoming an Earthly Eater, the aforementioned issues are null and void.  I noticed that I was able to work out now and I felt completely different than before. I also noticed that after the workout, instead of being completely gassed and wiped out, now I was actually good. Don’t get me wrong now, I can tell that I have worked out, but the aches and pain from all the inflammation that I had was gone now and the sheer exhaustion had left with it. My health completely turned around and I was all the more better for it.

 LIFE HAPPENS

The biggest and greatest take away from this is that LIFE HAPPENS. When you eat the way we were designed to eat, Life truly happens. I have lost weight, gained some back from drinking but that’s a different story. I have improved my health; I have cleansed my soul and gained a joy that was unknown to me. I have gained a higher level or thought and education. I have seen a light shine in others because of how bright the light shinned in me. All of this is life & all of this is love. In reading this I hope that you all will take away 2 things.

Number 1… Eat Earthly damnit lol

Number 2 and more importantly, because I know that even after me telling you that this has been the best decision of my life a bunch of y’all are going to go eat a damn steak, hell some of y’all are reading this with some form of animal product on your plate or in your hand, put down the drumstick man lol.

No seriously number 2, Be the love that you want to see. What I mean by that is, if you are someone who wants to see a better world, then be that “better”. If you are someone that sees mass shootings, unlawful police killings, crimes against children or any other atrocity and it makes you sick to your stomach. If you see these things and it makes you say NO! This isn’t right and it must change! If this is you, then I need you to BE THAT CHANGE.I want you to approach each day and opportunity with positivity. When the bullshit comes your way, sidestep it and get right back in your positive lane. I want you to remain in your positive space because I can guarantee you this. If the sun shines on you long enough, you can’t help but to warm up! This means, be that sun and shine your light on others so that they can’t help but to warm up. Be the love you want to see. Stay positive, smile, laugh and love life. After all… as far as we all know. You only get one. Till the next time… PEACE!

Ladies & Gentlemen I appreciate your attention and I appreciate your time. The fact that you took time to read this is extremely humbling and I want you to know that you are appreciated.

Please subscribe and follow my journey through this Earthly life on YouTube where you will be able to find weekly recipe videos, tips and updates.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5pwEWkm0qsPOzqU0pKHxPA