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jumpstreamer · 10 months ago

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MASK MONDAYS EPISODE 2: PROSPERA MERCURY

Welcome back to week 2 of Mask Mondays! You thought I wouldn't do it, but I did. And when I say "you" here, I mean "me."

For any tag browsers, I have recently resolved to analyze a different mask, helmet, or headgear-adorned fictional character every Monday until I quit this website forever. I'll be real: Returning to Tumblr after two years' break has been quite the balancing act. It's addictive in a particularly draining way, and reconciling that has taken a lot of energy I would rather have spent on research. Therefore, this week I'll be discussing a character who I already have strong and well-informed opinions about: Prospera Mercury, the principal antagonist of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury.

Okay, folks, let's be on the level here. What the fuck? Why does no one ever talk about Prospera? I know the show is popular here, it's what pushed me to watch it in the first place. Everyone loves posting fanart and talking about how endearing the protagonists are. But there's NO ATTENTION PAID to Prospera Mercury? Compelling arc and presence of character aside, I would've assumed the tall evil lady in the business suit would've been enough for a ton of people. Something is certainly amiss.

What bothers me most about this situation is that Prospera Mercury is arguably the most well-realized character in her show. As a text, the Witch From Mercury has strong opinions about Gundam, The Tempest, and the world at large, and all of them are brought together by its antagonist. Prospera Mercury is an absolute well of material, far more than can be covered in a single post. So while I'll be returning to her later, I want to spend this week laying down foundations: If you'll allow me, I'll be trying to prove once and for all that The Witch From Mercury isn't just using The Tempest as set dressing.

Named after Gundam 0079 antagonist Char Aznable, the "Char clone" is perhaps the most ubiquitous concept in its franchise. Almost every Gundam show, film, and OVA contains a morally ambiguous masked antagonist who challenges the hero's moral principles while maintaining a complex and terse relationship with the villainous faction. The Witch from Mercury too adopts this concept, but twists it to say something truly controversial. Prospera Mercury, the text argues, is not a Char Aznable clone. Char Aznable is a Prospero of Milan clone.

It's no revelation that The Witch From Mercury is loosely based off William Shakespeare's "The Tempest," but understanding why this choice is so important requires a summary of its principal antagonist. The antivillainous sorcerer Prospero is a natural talent and skilled manipulator unjustly exiled from his place of birth. As he grows in ability, he is overtaken by resentment and dedicates himself to exacting revenge. He executes a grand plan that goes off nearly perfectly, but when on the verge of total success, Prospero has a change of heart. Realizing that bettering the future is more important than staying in the past, he steps down, relinquishing his power to the new generation.

To dispose with subtlety, Char's character arc in the original Gundam series is nearly identical to Prospero's. There's a reason Prospera is closer to Char in terms of motivation and role than any other Char clone before her: She's channeling the primordial Char from which they all descend!

Insane as this sentence sounds, Prospera Mercury's position as Char clone manifests Prospero's flaws in ways other adaptations couldn't possibly emulate. Take Prospera's willingness to shatter personal bonds in service of pointless revenge, a quality unmistakable in Char, but quite well-hidden in Prospero. Prospero treats Ariel (yes, telling the names apart will get annoying) as an equal all throughout The Tempest, yet takes for granted that Ariel's freedom comes second to punishing Antonio and Alonso. Similarly, despite the two sharing a strong platonic bond if not a romantic one, Char is more than willing to send Garma to die if it means twisting the knife in the Zabi family's side. Robert Egan's "This Rough Magic: Perspectives of Art and Morality in The Tempest," a woefully undercited article despite being over fifty years old, summarizes the magician's moral perspective as follows:

"[A]n acknowledgement of evil as part of the natural condition of man is unacceptable to Prospero. His years of seclusion in his library have instilled in him a moral perspective rooted not in the real world but in the ideals of his art... In short, he rejects the sinner with the sin" (176)

In this lens, the actions of both Prospera and Char make perfect sense; any who divert from their morality deserves punishment by default, and any who agree would readily give their all to strike back at the wickedness in the world.

Prospero, Prospera, and Char all also share a deep hypocrisy that is literally worn on the latter two parties' faces. Yes, after who knows how many paragraphs, it's finally time to talk about the mask. Despite being well aware that the system she participated in does not value human life, Prospera rebels against it not by joining forces with its opponents, but by acting as a model citizen with the goal of dismantling it from the inside. Char, obviously, embraces an identical practice, as does, I wish to argue, Prospero.

Intriguingly, Gundam's interpretation of "working within the system" does not hinge upon a pragmatic argument, as so many real-world political treatises have done, but an ethical one. Char and Prospera successfully co-opt Zeon and the Benerit group to suit their needs, but in doing so, adopt the practices that made these so abhorrent in the first place. When given the chance to ally with the Earthians or the Mercurian working class that took her in, Prospera instead embraces the mask of the corporate elite and becomes the usurper she despises.

After so bluntly accentuating Prospera's hypocritical and egotistical tendencies, The Witch From Mercury almost demands the viewer to interrogate its source material in search of parallels. And indeed, Prospero's most academically well-treaded moral failings (most of which involve Caliban) without exception find their origin in his resolve to serve as a king and judge on the island where he could not in Milan.

I have a lot more to talk about with Prospera (I have been intentionally avoiding discussing her relationships with Eri and Suletta), but my ass is running out of time and I'm not risking another three-paragraph tangent. I probably won't make another Monday post for Prospera anytime soon, but the Mask Mondays exercise will continue, whether I like it or not!

Link to "This Rough Magic:" https://www.jstor.org/stable/2868575

#gundam #mobile suit gundam #the witch from mercury #mask mondays #long post

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jecklinnjadisart · 14 days ago

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Did someone already say something about Ronalds glasses? I mean... Look at those... They chanced from Campania Arc (2010) to Blue Revenge Arc (2019).

I do like the "new" ones more i have to say. 🤓 More slim, a little bit bigger just like mine.

(Ronron beeing more handsome as a side effect.)

I kinda would headcanon it is because of the scenes in campania arc with Undertaker or William (manga release 2010) ... Maybe he needed new ones after that. They looked okay but how knows? What do you think about that, party people?

(Picture from Book of the Atlantic OVA in 2017 - with the "new" glasses. They stayed like that until today. In manga you could see them first like that in 2019 Blue Revenge Arc if i'm not wrong.)

#black butler #kuroshitsuji #ronald knox #black butler reapers #black butler ronald #black butler theories

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laurarolla · 29 days ago

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So, shorter game this time, and thank goodness for that. Gunhound has been the most frustrating gaming experience I've had in this year of playing new games, and it really feels like a few little tweaks to the game could have prevented a lot of that frustration.

First, a few things that would help with gameplay. First off, there are a few points where screen scrolling, even from just turning your mech around while standing still, can push you into a position where you take damage. A lot of this would be mitigated if either unit momentum or mercy invincibility were adjusted slightly. You can get torn to shreads be environmental hazards in seconds due to a combination of knockback and very short mercy invincibility. Additionally, I don't know why there's even an option to disable armor purging, as it's an extremely valuable and smart mechanic that is encouraged by the overall design. Another problem is that two bosses seem to have very hard to dodge attacks that trap your unit by grabbing it, and it would be nice to more easily get free of the grip so you could avoid the heavy damage follow-up attacks. Lastly, new weapons should be unlocked with stage completion, not total score. Without the score unlock mechanic, I wouldn't have had access to the absurdly overpowered beam cannon for the last bosses, which would have made the last fight an actual challenge. I was grateful to be able to avoid banging my head against that brick wall, but it is still pretty clearly a mistake in game balance.

I suppose that its fair that I'm so ambivalent toward most of this game since it has clear influences from the 1983 anime Armored Trooper VOTOMS. Narratively, the game is much more generic than VOTOMS, which was a more politically minded war/post-war story following a veteran with PTSD getting wrapped up in some messed up conspiracies and ending up learning the truth of who really runs his universe. It's a series with great themes and a unique vibe, but it falls off hard after the Kummen arc in the original series. The various OVAs in the franchise are mostly better, with Pailsen Files and Big Battle both being really enjoyable in very different ways. Armored Hunter Mellowlink has a vibe akin to Metal Gear Solid mixed with a solid revenge story and both acknowledges AND discounts the importance of the conspiracy narrative. Mellowlink is easily my favorite of the VOTOMS stories.

Anyway, this kinda became a rambling thing, but the most important point is that emulating the feel of using a mecha from an anime I like isn't enough by itself for me to just recommend that game. If you do end up like VOTOMS, you're better served playing Armored Core or the PS2 VOTOMS game. I feel like the Assault Suits franchise might do this 2D shooter/platformer arcade game better, but I haven't played much of those games. Gunhound was disappointing, but I'm not particularly good at these kind of games so I don't have much interest in them normally as is.

#backlog resolution #armored hunter gunhound ex #video games #pc games #armored trooper votoms #anime #mecha

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canmom · 2 years ago

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Animation Night 144 - Gundam Thunderbolt

144 is 12 squared. Squares are kinda robot like. Ergo we’re watching Gundam. Impeccable logic I’m sure you’ll agree.

Check it out, it’s an Itano circus.

Gundam! Over the course of Animation Night I’ve gone from being someone who doesn’t know the first thing about Gundam (back when I wrote Animation Night 88 on the history of robot anime and Animation Night 94 on Tomino’s “New Anime Century” and ‘anti-war’ fiction) to someone who is developing a fondness for its particular brand of scifi melodrama.

Gundam Thunderbolt is set in the core Universal Century timeline, but it approaches it with a mind towards changing and dismantling; the author of the manga, Yasuo Ohtagaki, even spoke of ‘always trying to identify which parts of Gundam must be destroyed’ - destruction and subversion being what he considers the original spirit of Gundam.

Gundam Thunderbolt thus begins in a time period concurrent with the original Gundam TV series, with the Federation and Zeon battling on Earth in a ‘Thunderbolt Sector’ littered with space debris. On the Federation’s side are survivors of one of the destroyed space colonies wishing revenge; on Zeon’s is a special unit of amputee pilots. Before long, however, the conflict develops a third faction with the Buddhist radicals in the ‘South Seas Alliance’, which declares its secession from the Federation.

But it’s Gundam, so the focus of the story is on a handful of characters caught in the middle of it. On the Federation side we have Io Fleming, an ensign with a passion for music, and his lover Claudia Peer, a spaceship captain deeply depressed at the long war. On Zeon’s side comes Daryl Lorenz, double leg amputee, and Karla Mitchum, a caring scientist specialising in prosthetics. Early on in the conflict, Io causes Daryl to lose yet another limb - but rather than pack up and leave the war, he volunteers to undergo a further amputation for full integration into a brain controlled Gundam.

The manga is still ongoing, but the first arc was written with the intent of being adapted into a movie, and indeed Sunrise did just that. The first form of Thunderbolt was an eight-episode ONA series released on the web from 2015-2017. Concurrently, this was recut as a pair of compilation movies, titled December Sky and Bandit Flower.

(look it has girls and robots!)

Gundam has gone through many hands since Tomino’s day, and the principle factions of the Universal Century setting have been interpreted in a number of ways - something that anituber Pyramid Inu discusses nicely here. At the time Ohtagaki was writing in the mid 2010s, the mainstream Gundam airing was the Unicorn series (OVAs and then a TV show), written by Harutoshi Fukui, a writer who began his career writing Tom Clancy-like stories with a nationalist bent. He toned this down when he took over Gundam, describing himself as a ‘JJ Abrams’ type figure; nevertheless his Gundam presented a heavy-handedly war-on-terror inspired story in which the Federation is cast as America fighting Muslim militants.

Ohtagaki’s vision also emphasises religion, but instead puts the focus on a more familiar Buddhism, taking aim at what he sees as unreasonable suspicion towards religion in modern Japan (source)...

If you depict people who believe in Buddhism in a manga, people call that a cult. He points out that that way of thinking is already biased and feels that it points out people’s ignorance towards religion. He laments that if you look at it from a global perspective or even consider the history of humanity, the lack of religious beliefs among Japanese people today is quite unusual. He says that it’s a significant problem for Japan today to accept and tolerate other people’s beliefs, so much so that just because someone appears chanting sutras, they’re branded a cult.

He says that assumptions like that are far more dangerous. He’s not out to portray the South Seas Alliance as an ally of justice, nor their religious beliefs as righteous, it’s just that Japanese people close their eyes and try not to see them. He’s illustrating all this because he wants people to realize that it’s strange to think there is no such thing, that it’s more than a little unnatural that there were no religions in the world of Gundam in the first place.

Ohtagaki aimed to sidestep Gundam conventions in other ways: an adult protagonist, a stronger emphasis on chain of command. On the matter of ‘anti-war’, he takes a more fatalistic, small-scale stance:

In anime, the side the protagonist is on always ends up looking like the side that’s in the right. But both the Federation and Zeon are just countries, so it shouldn’t be about wrong and right. I don’t think there’s any point in inserting your ideologies in a manga. For people with normal lives, nations and wars are the ultimate kind of violence, and I want to draw the best ways to handle being in a war in order to survive.

So I’m not anti-war either. Wars will continue to happen, and I don’t think we’ll ever be rid of them, so the most important thing is to know how to handle them. But there aren’t that many people in Japan who think about things in that way. It’s correct to say that you’re anti-war or that there shouldn’t be war, so if you look at things as though war is inevitable, people think that you’re pro-war and you’re a bad person. But I think that’s a very narrow way of thinking, and it actually shows a lack of historical knowledge.

What do I think of that, eh? Right now, mostly ‘hmm’. Ohtagaki is correct to recognise that ‘will wars happen’ and ‘should wars happen’ are different questions; there’s also the question of ‘if war shouldn’t happen, how can it be prevented’. To say ‘war is inevitable’, even if is true, is not to commit to any particular war being inevitable. But it’s also true that there’s no need for all fiction about wars to try and take them on!

I can’t entirely comment on this until I’ve seen the movies, so put a pin there; but given the morass of ‘what does it mean to make true anti-war fiction’, deciding to sidestep the issue entirely is perhaps an understandable move. I’ll be curious to see what focus this approach gives the films; if previous Gundams have approached ‘anti-war narrative’ through focusing on the futility of going to war and the hope for some kind of new-age transcendance (original Gundam), the tragedy of civilians caught up in the middle (War in the Pocket), or the story of a soldier who tries to avoid killing (08th MS Team), what will a story that’s more about just trying to survive look like?

Anyway, so far we’ve focused on the writer and the manga. Let’s actually talk about animation.

Thunderbolt was animated at Sunrise Studio 1, known as one of the bastions of the gradually dying art of 2D mecha animation, as well as character animation with an impressive sense of space. More recently, they impressed everyone with Gundam Hathaway (Animation Night 124).

So Gundam Thunderbolt abounds with complex shouts and detailed designs moving through space, leaning on the talents of e.g. Nobuhiko Genma and Kazuki Ito who animated this incredible POV shot, or Shingo Tamagawa of Puparia fame who provides this splendid character animation. In the late 2010s, we are firmly in the digital compositing era, and glows, flares, gradients and high contrast backgrounds abound, but even though this isn’t entirely to my taste I can’t deny just how splendid the underlying drawings are. The character designs are on the realist end of the scale, and they float around with the classic Sunrise sensitivity to 3D space.

Mecha destruction is given a particularly impressive level of flair, with beam swords and lasers slicing up robots and splattering hot metal all over to the point that it starts to feel like a gory samurai movie. All in all it looks intense and compelling: the product of decades of development by some of the best in their craft. It manages to retain clarity of very complex designs even as they move around wildly. It’s even got some cool oldschool lighting effects...

A question that may be asked is, if mecha animation is mostly about animating complex, rigid 3D shapes, why not do it on the computer, which excels at exactly that? One answer is that there’s a certain quality of movement that comes from planning everything out in 2D. Low framerates can be used to create a sense of weight and avoid the ‘toyetic’ feeling that comes from overly-smooth CG without considerable effort put in to avoiding it.

Another is that 2D gives you a different approach to composition, which allows you to subtly exaggerate and stylise or just frame things in a way that puts the layout in the camera first without constraint - the reason that Houseki no Kuni planned out its action scenes in great detail in 2D before animating them in 3D. Then there’s just the ‘feeling’ of 2D, the slight errors and roughness giving it a more lively, organic feeling. Finally we might add the effect of limitations and constraints as structure.

That said, the ‘2D feel’ of a digitally composited series like Thunderbolt is not the same ‘2D feel’ as a 90s OVA like 08th MS Team. Working digitally makes some aspects of the workflow easier - you can easily preview a motion and scroll through the timeline - which makes some of these extremely complex shots possible. But conversely it is associated with faraway objects becoming indistinct blobs - this is I believe what is referred to as ‘douga melt’. Thunderbolt in all these clips looks very ‘2010s’. Which makes me wonder what the characteristic look of 2020s anime will turn out to be...

I think that will suffice for an introduction/study log/whatever these posts are! Animation Night 144 will begin at 8pm UK time, about two hours from this post! Movies will start at about 8:20pm. It will be at twitch.tv/canmom! Hope to see you there~

#animation night #gundam #gundam thunderbolt #anime

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anotherblblog · 11 months ago

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2023 Review - Shows

okie okie, well, I'm not the most consistent poster but I did wanna join the look back at 2023 with some top hits (and misses)

Top Shows

1. Utsukushii Kare s2/Utsukushii Kare Eternal

I literally flew across the world and then proceeded to fly back and forth between Thailand and Japan I think 4 times to watch all the Utsukare stuff happening and it was very much worth the miles and hectic sleep schedule. Utsukare s1 made me love bl's again after I had gotten burnt out on them and when I saw the trailers for s2 and the movie, I fully let myself have hope and both of them delivered. Utsukare s2 did more with 4 episodes than many many many many shows do with 12-14-18 episodes. And this was the second bl movie I saw with no subs because I couldn't/didn't want to wait and similar to Gameboys the movie, this was the right decision for me. ITSAY was my longtime number 2 favorite bl show but Utsukare s2 and the movie and the hope for a 3rd season let it get the leg up my overall rankings.

2 - 5 the best of the 2023 GMMTV suite Moonlight Chicken Only Friends My School President Midnight Museum

I think the one I had the fewest critiques about is Moonlight Chicken and the ending of Only Friends still makes me unhappy to pissed depending on the day. It's hard for me to settle on a ranking for them because there's something about each of them I would desperately want to change/see done differently. Actually thinking more about it, my Moonlight Chicken critique is this should be one of the shows GMMTV has 12-14 episodes of. So sure, Cheating McChicken, Nightly Nuggets, McInfidelity is my favorite of the GMMTV shows I watched. My School President was really strong but I think the cast could have been culled a bit. Tinn's mom's arc was so damn compelling for me, really stands out. And I am a Gun simp and him playing multiple characters again and being evil gay Jesus and Tay Tawan also being evil gay Judas or whatever, sign me the fuck up.

6. Jack o'Frost

I wanted to watch this one because I saw a picture of Kyoya Honda and said "oh she's pretty" out loud to myself and then watching this series and then Me, my Husband, my Husband's boyfriend, Kyoya is pretty and can act. Amnesia plots aren't my favorite but I do think Jack o'Frost is the best executed of the ones I can remember (pun intended?).

7. The Campfire/My Universe

I felt nearly contractly obligated to watch this one because Turbo told me directly he was proud of his acting in this one and that he and Kaow did really well and he was right. I was engaged and affected by the gayest campfire horror short story. "I (M) like him but he liked you (F), so I (M) dated you (F) to stop him from getting a chance." And then comes ghostly revenge. Hilarious comedy and gay rights and gay wrongs galore.

(Dis)/honorable mentions:

8. Our Skyy 2: Bad Buddy X A Tale of Thousand Stars.

I would not have bet my worst enemy's money that we would see Ohm and Nanon together again. So them getting an Our Skyy episode was definitely a surprise. I didn't dislike their episodes or the crossover execution but I do think it could have had another 2 episodes or something so it could have had more room to breathe. I considerd the Our Skyy premise to be kinda like OVAs in anime, it's semi canon material, mostly just letting the cast and crew "do a silly one" as it were, so I wasn't necessarily looking for anything as powerful as Bad Buddy and AToTS but seeing them together again, just made me want more than what I was given.

9. Shadow

Well, you gotta swing to hit some shots. Singto and Fluke are two good actors who have had.... some odd projects they've done that I felt didn't let them really act - looking at you Oh My Sunshine Night. Shadow at least let them act and the premise/first half was really promising. The ending was a bit botched in my opinion but I do think the potential and the performances from Singto, Fluke, an Fiat were all really strong.

10. Love Syndrome 3 Uncut

When the trailer said this would be the erotic thriller of the year, I knew we were being threatened with maybe a good time. Then the show started and I was like all the softcore dry humping can't execuse whatever the fuck is supposed to be happening onscreen. Then halfway? through the airing, they started airing the uncut version which had more high heat scenes and also made the story more coherent (not necessarily a better story mind you but at least somewhat more of a coherent one). What a trial that was. But I wanted to see Doctor Kok in something again and the show introduced me to my 2023 Mark Pakin Babygirl Award winner Rossi, so I won't be too mad at it.

Top New Characters

Boston (Only Friends) Boston was me in my early 20s. Boston was a lot of my friends in their 20s and some now in their 30s. Boston is an actualized gay af drama queen horndog icon legend he's the moment and if you don't get it, you don't get it. For all that Only Friends was poised to do, it fell flat on its face when the narrative wronged Boston. Neo acted his ass off following a strong performance in the Eclipse and this rocketed Neo up my radar for someone to watch. I have to excise ep 12 from my mind but Boston is easily my favorite new character of the year and would make my top 10 overall. Boston is my young galvanized gay praxis.

Nick (Only Friends) As I was a Boston in college, boy did I have a Nick and lord jesus did my BostonNick college relationship end POORLY. I have a Mark Pakin stan since he was Teh's hot roommate in IPYTM and seeing him get more and more promiment roles has been the biggest "we're so back" of the last year and a half for me. Only Friends also did Nick a little dirty in the final arc but not as bad as Boston but damn did it hurt having Nick walk away from Boston and out of the story like that. Regardless of how bad the end of OF was, almost everytime Nick was onscreen, it was instantly on the highlight reel.

Photjanee/Tinn's Mom (My School President) A parent in a BL having their own growth arc, unprecendented (don't fact check me too hard). Mrs Ma'am here went through a full ass soap opera arc about her gay child and did the vast vast majority of it on her own without adversely affecting her son. Just masterfully done and really healing and refreshing to have in the bl pantheon.

Gaipa (Moonlight Chicken) "Is it possible for me to be the right one for you?" girl, get the fuck out, that scene was so damn brutal and nearly every Gaipa scene was like the systematic destruction of this poor lil twink. Also the fact that Khao went from Ayan to Gaipa to Ray within a year and half. That's a fucking actor.

Boeing (Only Friends) He's sexy as hell. Don't think I've seen a character drip this much sex appeal hell maybe ever. Idk. This is a ranking based soley on Mond making me wanna hard and nasty [REDACTED].

Li Ming (Moonlight Chicken) An contextually sensible angry character. This little hothead had me rooting for him the whole way through. We were promised a healing love story and Li Ming and Heart and Li Ming and Jim and Li Ming and Jam delivered.

Night (Love Syndrome 3 Uncut) Rossi is my background babygirl of 2023 now that Mark is getting prominent roles. Night was a breath of fresh air in a sticky and dank and confusing experience.

Dan (Shadow) There are protagonists who refuse the call and then there's Dan who straight up was so fed up with the fuckery and mysticism and spoopy oogy boogey shit following and haunting him that he would have rather stayed in limbo than deal with more of that fuckshit and honestly BIG MOOD. Honestly, I would have loved him being aroace (and have that not be a trauma response or at least done well if it were) because his non-reaction to Nai's kiss and affection was hard to watch.

Dome/The One/Evil Gay Jesus (Midnight Museum) If I stumbled upon Gun in a boat and got to live exclusively with him alone, I also wouldn't wanna give that up.

Top Lines/Moments/Scenes

Delicious pure camp. Also the fact that relatively baby faced Earth is playing an almost 40 year old man. More camp. Then his sister, Li Ming's mom joins the cast and we're supposed to believe she and Earth "grew up together," heehawlarious.

Gonna bullet list the rest of this

Kiyoi: "sorry, I won't let you have a one sided love anymore" (Utsukare s2/eternal) [could have been number 1 favorite line]

Kiyoi's jealousy and possessiveness at and after the actor's party (Utsukare s2/eternal)

Anna's waterfall photoshoot (Utsukare s2/eternal)

Kiyoi's photoshoot (Utsukare s2/eternal)

Hira starting off s2 by admitting he lied about his end of s1 confession (Utsukare s2/eternal)

Koyama taking Kiyoi to task (Utsukare s2/eternal)

the bathtub scene (Utsukare s2/eternal)

BostonNick's like 4-5 episode fuck spree (Only Friends)

Nick: "you destroyed my happiness" (Only Friends)

Nick: "Boston was about to love me" (Only Friends) [could have been number 1 favorite line]

Boeing just being sexy and chaotic and at times menancing af (Only Friends)

Ray vs Boston at Sand's impromptu bday party (Only Friends)

Rock & Star performance (My School President)

Gun: "would you like to tell me what to do Mister President" (My School President)

LISTEN (ฟัง) (My School President)

TiwPor non school outfits (My School President)

Li Ming throwing the pad and demanding Heart write out the truth about who broke the alcohol bottle (Moonlight Chicken)

Heart taking his parents to task about them failing him (Moonlight Chicken)

Wen's love stares (Moonlight Chicken)

Nick being a true chaos gremlin and instigator (Love Syndrome 3)

all the raunch and high heat scenes (Love Syndrome 3)

the slow motion pool hall fight scene (Love Syndrome 3)

Night: "Let's let the past be the past" (Love Syndrome 3)

The wife being like "you're not gonna stop fucking this twink so I'm going to ask him to move in with us and we're gonna figure this out" (Me, My Husband, My Husband's Boyfriend)

#2023 recap

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curestardust · 1 year ago

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Dust Watched: The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2

Genres: Isekai, Fantasy // 13 episodes // S01 (x)

Zzzzzzz.....

✧ story ✧

The first season of "Shield Hero" pissed me off to an insane degree and this one almost put me to sleep multiple times.

I actually was interested in this season. The last one ended with the most interesting characters showing up, some stakes, whatever. But then the 1st episode doesn't even mention that. Naofumi is back in his village with some of his party members, doing nothing, preparing for the next wave.

Despite this season being 13 episodes long, they managed to force 2 arcs in here, both of which could've been a 1 cour by themselves with some padding. The first one is the Spirit Tortoise Arc. It's some legendary creature and that's as much as I remember. It woke up for some unknown reason, is on a rampage, the other 3 heroes besides Naofumi decide to peace out immediately because they know the outcome, which they decide to not tell him because???

Anyway they fight it, it's quite boring. There's a sprinkle of interesting lore in one episode I guess. Here we meet Kyo, an unhinged idiot who came from the other world as L'Arc and gang. He also holds a Vassal weapon. Anyway, after a really shoddy ending to the Spirit Tortoise Arc which lasted like 4 episodes, Naofumi and gang decide to follow this dude because they want to take revenge for a character they've known for about 2 days.

Second Arc plays out in the other world which frankly looks much more interesting than the cookie cutter "European Medieval Fantasy Land" we've seen a million times. I actually read some posts on the forum and apparently they cut out and reorganised a lot from the original Light Novel making it somehow... worse? An incredible feat considering how low the bar was.

The only thing saving this arc is the new characters, otherwise it's incredibly rushed and disjointed and soooooo booooringgggggg.

✧ characters ✧

The worst and best part of the season. Kyo, the main villain, is the MOST stereotypical villain. He just laughs. Evilly. Oh and there's another dude who has the exact same personality.

Middle ground is Ost, who really could've used some more conflict with her character and definitely more time so we could get more attached to her.

Best is the heroes of the Other World. Kizuna is fun and so are the other Vassal Weapon holders (not Kyo) even though they really don't get to do much. More important is the way Naofumi can bounce off of these characters.

Filo was done dirty and at first I thought Raphtalia had some highlights but hearing how much better the source material treated her, I changed my mind.

EDIT: I completely forgot that Rishia was even in this anime despite her having the most screen time after Naofumi and I think that by itself explains everything you need to know about her. She had one cool scene.

✧ art ✧

Abysmal. The art was one of the only positive things in Season 1. This looks like literally every generic isekai out on the market, sometimes even worse. You could say they were saving for the "final big battle" and while it looked better, it also was just 2 characters standing in one place then a building blowing up.

✧ sound ✧

OP/ED are bangers. The VA's were obviously struggling with the script, especially Kyo's, the poor dude. The OST is really weird because by itself it's good... but it doesn't fit with the scenes? I don't know what that was about.

✧ overview ✧

I know *some* of the quality drop is due to COVID. But the rest? Just bad. Unsalvageable. Boring. If the source material for this was so bad that they had to butcher it, just make this into an OVA or short movie or something.

My Rating: 2/10

#dusty reviews #Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari #The Rising of the Shield Hero #i'm not proofreading this. i just wanna be done with this already

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lordelmelloi2 · 2 years ago

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I was just thinking like...

It's just such a betrayal of his values for him to ignore everything in his life for the sake of Iskandar, to be so obsessed with him that he's trying to replay or relive his trauma for the sake of feeling special in Iskandar's eyes... that's not love, that's obsession. That's Desire for Validation, which goes against what Iskandar was trying to teach him... If the whole point is what Iskandar was using his "qualities of a king" thing was + his declaration that a king guides others and lives for no other, then Waver trying to live on in desperate search for Iskandar's approval goes against what he was trying to tell him...

But even more than that I feel like... the idea that the classroom, that Gray and the others would all come second to Iskandar, that Anyone else who comes into Waver's life seeking connection or friendship would be pushed aside as long as Iskandar was there... I feel like that plays right into Waver's fatal flaw. Like that's not what he wants either. That's not even what Iskandar wants for Waver either. Waver has to have friends and connections and meaningful relationships outside of Iskandar; it just genuinely isn't feasible for Waver to not only expect Iskandar to be everything for him, given Iskandar's very nature as a person, but I feel pretty greatly that the last OVA was also showing us that... Waver himself isn't too happy about his missed connections! Or that he failed to build a meaningful relationship or even friendship with somebody who cared about him, and because of the circumstances he can't rebuild it into anything more anymore -- not Just because Camus' obsession with the past Waver was part of her own self harm, but it was Waver speaking and saying he had grown from the way he was back then, too, and that he wouldn't be able to be that person again.

So FGO frustrates me. Because the third ascension is his younger form. And in an event in FGO Arcade Waver says something like, "I can't deal with [Iskandar] unless I'm in this form!" in that King's Battle event, and I just feel like that's not Right. It doesn't align with Waver's values to willingly age regress like that unless he's explicitly maladaptively coping -- WHICH, mind you, that's actually what the entire event is about, is Waver arguing with Gilgamesh about who the strongest King is and fighting alongside Iskandar to "prove" once and for all, I guess for himself, that Iskandar should've won.

I feel like.

On top of that, that doesn't make any difference for Iskandar, either.

Iskandar -- rather, Alexander the Great, was undefeated in battle as he lived. But when Iskandar was defeated by Gilgamesh, he accepted it. He did not vow revenge, he did not say anything other than "You keep bringing out one oddity after another", but he passed on with a smile. He says something heartbreaking like "Ah, I see... The pounding of my heart... was the sound of Okeanos' waves..." and fades into gold dust. While Gilgamesh himself offers the opportunity to challenge him at any time.

A lot of Iskandar's arc in F/Z that we don't get to see is actually about... not winning. But enjoying the ride. It's about not dragging people off to their deaths for something that doesn't exist. He regretted marching people to the deaths for Okeanos, and he's not about to do that again for a Grail he can't confirm is real. But he still wants to fight. And he especially wants to fight Gilgamesh more than anything -- really, for various reasons. So what does Waver starting a war to have Iskandar fight other kings to prove who's strongest really have meaning for? Sure -- Iskandar loves to fight, he loves the event, he enjoys fighting everyone -- but I don't think he's as emotionally attached to the aspect of winning as Waver is. Waver wants Iskandar to win. Iskandar is wiser and doesn't care. That's probably why Iskandar comments on Waver's immaturity all the time tbh.

But it's just weird. Because at least within Sanda's writing, Waver has matured quite a great deal. To the point where, to be honest, although his decision to stop teaching is a painful one, he's doing it for Gray's sake to full time research a way to fix her Saberface-unaging problems. And on top of that a lot of his personal relationship to teaching is explored, as well as his empathy for others throughout Case Files and adventures, as well as his relation to Iskandar and how all of that meant for him as he approaches his 30s. Waver's maturity does lapse sometimes, but whose doesn't? Waver values his students' lives and does a lot of things to help them. And a point is made between Waver and Meluastea that Waver has compassion for others whereas Meluastea does not. I feel like CF and Adventures really express that introspective, integrative Waver who Has perspective of what's important in his life and the relationships he's built, whereas some FGO writers keep going and defaulting back to Team Rider obsessive Waver who can't let the past go. THE WHOLE POINT OF CASE FILES IS THAT HE IS LETTING IT GO AND MOVING ON! SO WE HAVE TO GET TO THE POINT WHERE HE HAS STORIES THAT ARE HIS OWN AFTER HE MOVES ON 😭 It doesn't mean that Iskandar is not an Important person in his life, it just means he's no longer the All Encompassing God, the end all be all goal, or his one and only true love or whatever... as much as it pains me to write it since fundamentally I don't really believe Waver is Intrinsically in love with him, even if he was, I still don't think he'd be happy like this. If he ignored every other person in his life but Iskandar.

I think that's probably why Iskandar did so little to acknowledge him in the end of Case Files -- because he saw that his dreams were still so small -- because he saw he was still lacking perspective, and not thinking about his whole life, about the people he'll meet, the places he'll see, everything.... To quote Iskandar, "No one said the Holy Grail War was going to be the most important thing in your life."

I do genuinely believe Iskandar told Waver to be his vassal as a failsafe against Waver killing himself. Waver, being young, still suicidal, and now desperate that the only person who ever guided him or protected him has disappeared, took it very seriously. Those complex emotions bubbled up inside of him and he was forced to confront them in the climax of Case Files. But even now he could be swallowed by that obsession again, if he becomes desperate for Iskandar's validation and the feelings he had before without branching out and experiencing new parts of his life again, like Iskandar urged him to do... to gain new perspectives.

That's why lately sometimes I feel crushed thinking about a Waver that cannot grow like that. A Waver who just continually relapses, over and over, trapped in a cycle of ignoring people who care about him truly for the sake of his own blind emotional drive, who starts to become closed off to anything but the prospect at "Seeking happiness by being with Iskandar", even against Iskandar's advice or feelings. I don't think Iskandar ever intended for their relationship to become all consuming like that, no matter your interpretation of it... I think, to be honest, if Iskandar found out that Waver was doing that, he would call him a fool and reprimand him in a harsh way, and depending on who's writing it, Waver might not take it very well... but there's a chance he might stop and think about what he's done. It depends on the author. And how much the author personally desires to depict the immature Waver. Because many people really enjoy when he's like that! ..... I just feel depressed anymore when I see it to be honest. I want the Waver who has grown and has a life outside of Iskandar, who has interesting stories, and who isn't about to let himself get swallowed up in the romantic ideal of Alexander...

I don't want a Waver who puts everything in his life second to Iskandar. I think that's the whole point of Case Files

#character analysis #I think? Idk

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giggly-squiggily · 2 years ago

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Headcanons To Dabbles Are Open!

UPDATE: Demon slayer and MHA prompts are closed!

UPDATE: Prompts are temporarily open again until July 31, 8:00pm EST

It’s been a hot minute but here we are!

Hello everyone! I hope y’all are doing well as of late! I’ve been in a really good writing mood lately, so I figured why not jump on that and play a game with you all? Awhile back I did a poll for either Sentence Starters or Headcanons To Dabbles; I said whichever won that time I’d do the other for the next game :D

The game will be open July 22 and will close July 29 8:00pm EST I will post when the game is officially closed! The dabbles sent in will start coming out July 25

So here we are! I hope y’all are as excited as I am to play! :D

~Rules and Fandoms Below~

Rules

- Send me a character/characters (Up to 2-3) with a headcanon and I’ll write a short dabble for them!

Multiple prompts allowed! Limit is 5 prompts :)

- Can be fluff, angst, romantic, platonic, familial, etc.

- Can be tickles or non tickles!

- SFW only!

- Ships are allowed! (platonic or romantic)

- X-reader is allowed but headcanon must be for the character in question (ex. Gen/Reader- Gen cuddles in his sleep and uses reader as a human furnace when he get’s cold)

- I will try my absolute best to write for all of them, but if I do turn any down, I’ll be sure to let you know!

Fandoms

Please check pinned post for what characters I won't write for! Thanks! :)

- Black Clover

- Bungo Stray Dogs (Up to the end of Season 2 + Movie)

- Code Realize

- Collar x Malice

- Danganronpa

- Demon Slayer

- Dr Stone (Including Ryusui OVA, Anime only)

- Fire Force

- Fire Emblem Three Houses

- Food Wars (Up to the Season 2)

- Fruits Basket

- Free! Iwatobi Swim Club (Limited to the end of Season 2, Take your marks, and Starting days)

- Haikyuu!! (Anime only)

- Heartstopper

- Hunter x Hunter (Up to just past Greed Island Arc)

- Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime and Movie)

-Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (Parts 1 and 2)

- Komi Can’t Communicate

- My Hero Academia (Anime and Movies) Limited: 10 Slots

- Spy x Family

- Tokyo Revengers

- Yu Yu Hakusho (Up to Martial Art Tournament Arc)

#headcanons to dabbles #squiggily does a thing

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pistachi0art · 3 years ago

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Ok I’ve got a rough plot summary (possible changes can happen) told through the 8-point story arc

Stasis: Lupin & Co. are in Greece to seek the 7 mysterious (macguffins) “The Celestial Crystals” each one pertaining to the known ancient celestial bodies at the time (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) as well as each being linked to the God of their respective planet. This all began when Lupin stole a transcript describing when each are all put together “the great gates will open” however they only have half of the transcript leaving whatever the rest means in the air at the moment.

Trigger: As Lupin steals the Crystal of Mars (mirroring the original ova’s opening) at a party, Zenigata shows up pulling in a hot pursuit. However his traditional methods seem to be out the window as it seems he’s trying to kill Lupin (Here he doesn’t use any super fancy tricks, there needs to be more build.) Lupin manages a quick escape realizing that the man who was chasing him was not Zeni, and he tickles the possibility of a returning foe. (Callback to Enma Falls.)

The Quest: As they regroup Lupin talks about how many crystals they currently have (that of Mars, Mercury, and The Moon.) and plan for the next, being the Crystal of Venus that is to be revealed at a museum’s new exhibition opening. As Lupin & Jigen make a move and attempt to steal it Fujiko intervenes. Just when she’s about to make her escape “Zenigata” shows up and attacks her, fighting for the crystal. Then the real Zenigata shows up which is when Pycal reveals himself setting the museum up in flames. Thankfully Lupin, Jigen, & Zeni make it out safe but Fujiko, Pycal & and the crystal are gone. Lupin considers why Pycal would want it but can’t ultimately conclude anything without the missing texts as the two are chased by Zeni yet again. (At this point we swap to Fujiko and Pycal, he has taken her to his hideout.) She remarks on how it seems he’s been hiding there for awhile and he only gives that he plans to kill her after he gets revenge against Lupin. He seems collected but when Fujiko mentions certain things about the day he “died” he seems to freeze and lose his composure, talking about how much pain he had endured and how long he’s plotted to get back. It seems that he’s gonna kill her then but Fujiko takes in the fact Pycal has now the three other crystals (Saturn Jupiter and Venus) and offers an alliance to get the last one. He caves (-albeit reluctantly, having his own motives) with Fujiko quoting that “All’s fair with love and war” in the end. Now there is one crystal sought for at this point, The Sun and it’s the odds now are even on both sides.

I’m gonna get to the rest but this is what I’ve got so far. Comments, Criticism, and Questions are welcome.(1/2.)

#lupin iii #lupin the third #rewrite #return of pycal #return of the magician

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energon-with-a-curly-straw · 3 years ago

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Energon’s Watchlist: Spirit Powers and the like

The definition of spirit powers is admittedly a little loose on this one. These shows have spirits and/or powers that may or may not be connected. Looking for more recommendations? Check out my watchlist tag! The series are not based around romance, are not harem, and have been personally watched and enjoyed by me.

Noblesse (13eps + ova)

The ‘Noblesse’, Raizel, is awakened after 820 years of slumber. His servant, Frankenstein, enrolls him in high school (of which Frankenstein is the director) for a chance to learn about the modern world and stay hidden from the mysterious organization The Union. The series is a mix of everyday life blended into fighting and supernatural abilities.

The series is good at using humour to make the tension not feel overwhelming, and because of that, could heighten tension when needed. Most episodes end with a post-credits gag scene. The show had characters you could like, some you learn to like, and a few you actively want dead. There’s actually an OVA that’s a direct prequel to the series called Noblesse: Awakening, but I didn’t notice this until later, so I just thought it had a really interesting method of storytelling. A good show with plenty of pretty men to look at.

Dr. Ramune -Mysterious Disease Specialist- (Kai Byoui Ramune, 13eps)

When odd ailments— something between a rare disease and a supernatural phenomenon— occur, it’s a job for the childish and foul-mouthed, Dr. Ramune, and his stoic, high school assistant, Kuro. A medical supernatural comedy about illnesses caused by emotional distress.

The dynamic is similar to Mob Psycho 100, if Reigan had some kind of actual ability and it was Ritsu instead of Mob. This makes perfect sense when you watch it. Most of the diseases involve things turning into food, and aren’t particularly gross or icky. Worst one is a guy’s dick turns into a chikuwa. It’s an easy watch that seems light, but occasionally delves into more serious topics. It’s a good pallet cleanser and easily the least intense of the list.

Blue Exorcist (Ao No Exorcist, 25eps + Kyoto Saga 12eps)

Okumura Rin is a normal— if rebellious— teenager. At least until he discoverers he’s the half-demon son of Satan. Suddenly he has new powers, everyone wants him dead, and Satan just killed his adoptive father. Vowing revenge, Rin decides to become an exorcist and heads to school alongside his twin brother Yukio.

Ah yes, that little known anime Blue Exorcist. That first Aniplex jingle was like a gut punch of nostalgia. Similar to Full Metal Alchemist— both in style, and in being humorous while maintaining a serious plotline. Rin really feels like 16 year old, in a way that many teenage protagonists don’t. But with everything Rin goes through sometimes I really had to stop and holy shit this is a kid. No romance— if you ignore whatever tf is going on with Rin and Suguro. I can’t stop thinking about the hairclip. Rin is an extremely expressive character who’s very likeable (and notably can’t lie for shit). Anyway, I want to talk about this anime and that’s why it’s here.

Bungo Stray Dogs (Bungou Stray Dogs, 37eps + Dead Apple + Bungo Stray Dogs WAN! 12eps)

Kicked out of his orphanage and on the verge of starving to death, Atsushi saves a suicidal man from drowning and becomes entangled in the Armed Detective Agency— a group that deals with the cases the police and military won’t touch. A supernatural mystery series with humour and a lot of action. When you’re finished you get to watch WAN!— cute and hilarious episodes of cartoon shorts involving the more mundane life of the Agency and Port Mafia.

This has been on my to-watch list for a long time, but I probably wouldn’t have been in a good enough place to have watched it back then. There’s a running gag about a character wanting and trying to commit suicide— it’s not at all subtle and I ask that everyone with a history of depression assess whether this is the right time to watch this show for themselves. The first arcs of season two and three are both flashbacks, a little darker than the rest. You technically could skip them, but they add a lot of understanding to the characters and the some plot aspects. Watch an episode of WAN! after as a treat.

I genuinely really enjoyed this series! Very few primary and secondary characters actually die, but it will absolutely tear apart anyone else. Fight scenes don’t go on too long, which I’ve had problems with in other things. This series is the basically traumatized characters found family trope, but if your family was also your super dangerous workplace. The main character, Atsushi, is realistic and personable. Not some optimistic, happy-go-lucky, ‘I’ll make it through the power of believing in myself!’ protagonist— he’s a traumatized 18 year old trying his best. I could write paragraphs about Atsushi, but to summarize: he has panic attacks, and he’s not a golden prodigy trope— doesn’t excel at everything and isn’t expected to.

#Energon’s Watchlist #Anime for Aromantics #what to watch #noblesse #dr ramune mysterious disease specialist #kai byoui ramune #blue exorcist #ao no exorcist #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #anime #watchlist #this is just my personal opinions #the ‘romance’ in the blue exorcist anime is all inferred and even that’s one sided #energons watchlist

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eternal-echoes · 3 years ago

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Hi there! I've been looking at your posts about Rurouni Kenshin and I love reading your thoughts about it especially about the couple Kenshin x Tomoe. They are not only my fav characters but also my OTP. I would love to hear more of your thoughts about them as a pairing. It's so hard to find people who actually loves the couple as much as I do. I admit the KenKao pairing is good but nothing tops KenTomo imo. Just the way thier story is so heartwrenching and beautiful. Wish there was more content

Ah thanks for reading my blabbering. I started Rurouni Kenshin as a way to de-stress from grad school and because it's one of the classic but it's been taking over my life. I've watched each episode twice except the fillers which were just painful to watch.

Honestly, Kenshin x Tomoe is probably the saddest story I have ever witnessed. I like how her deep questions somehow penetrated through Kenshin's hard exterior and despite knowing he was the killer of her fiancé, she still fell in love with his gentleness. I think Tomoe was one of the few people in Kenshin's life that was ever curious about his soul so that's why he fell in love with her as well. And the fact that she was also one of the few people who wanted to take care of him, by putting a blanket on him while he was sleeping.

I'm a bit iffy with the execution of the story. In Trust and Betrayal OVA, it was Katsura who asked Tomoe to be a sheath for Kenshin. When I first watched it, I wasn't sure at that time if Tomoe knew it was Kenshin who killed her fiancé so it made me think that because she lost her fiancé she didn't really have any will to live her own life so she just took whatever people around her told her to do. And them spending together at the Otsu village just created an intimate personal space for them to bond as a result of their loneliness, not just because the village is so secluded but the directions of their lives haven't really made them encounter many people to connect with. But Katsura asking Tomoe to be a sheath for Kenshin kinda didn't make sense to me because why didn't he provide one for Makoto Shishio (if he had maybe he wouldn't have wanted to take revenge against the Meiji government). In the manga he implied to Tomoe not to blunt his sword (ok I got this from the live-action movie since I watched it first before starting the Jinchu arc but it's not so far-fetched because Izuka was saying how Kenshin's blade was getting dull). But in a way, it was still logical for Katsura to ask Tomoe to be his sheath because Shinsaku was talking about how making Kenshin a manslayer is ruining his life. But this does take a way from how Tomoe was falling in love with Kenshin.

I think it was a better storytelling when Tomoe said she was going to stay with Kenshin to be a sheath to hold his madness. It shows a gradual step to how she was falling in love with Kenshin and he to her. I think this was an essential point for Kenshin to realize how wrong he was to use the Hiten Mitsurugi style for the sake of the new era. Because he was only killing under orders. And Tomoe volunteering to be his sheath means she knows the danger she was getting into by staying at Kenshin's side. It was more evidence of how she understood his soul and how much she was willing to make sacrifices for him. I was thinking it was out of character for Kenshin to actually marry Tomoe when Katsura suggested that he and Tomoe pose as a couple so they can better hide his identity since he is such a cold killer he wouldn't have any romantic attraction toward her, but thinking about that scene when Kenshin almost tried to kill her while he was sleeping when she was only putting a blanket on him and instead of running away she pointed out he needs a sheath for his madness, that was probably the only time someone really touched his soul and as smart as he is, he understood right away how special that was.

I also wish that they added in the OVA the scene when Kenshin was protecting Tomoe from drunk men at the pub because it would have showed a change in Tomoe's heart from plotting to destroy him to falling in love with him. I guess the OVA wanted to keep audience guessing about Tomoe's true motives. But still, it would have showed more on why Tomoe decided to be his sheath - it was because she realized he wasn't a ruthless killer as she initially thought.

In OVA and the live-action film, the directors and screenwriters decided to go the route of showing them farming rather than have Kenshin play with young kids around the area as it was in the manga to make Kenshin realize the happiness he was trying to establish in the coming of the new era. I think that was a better choice because the kids were complaining about how sad Tomoe is (seems like the kids are just plot device to show how dark Tomoe is) which seems illogical when Kenshin says to Tomoe "And now, after half a year of living with you... I truly understand the happiness I'm trying to protect." That sentence makes more sense in the OVA when Tomoe and Kenshin have been farming together and when they were having dinner, she pointed out how much he was enjoying his food, and saying how farming could have been his alternative life if he hadn't picked up a sword to kill people. That was the warmth of people's heart that she taught Kenshin that was beautifully executed in the OVA. But in the manga, to show that she said she likes the children because they made him smile. She did say that even though she was happy with her fiancé her heart is so dark it was hard for her to express how happy she was when he asked her to marry her so I guess totally not illogical but the peace and warmth that came with farming and how intimate that was for the two of them to spend their time together like that really demonstrated how their souls intertwined.

Usually people don't like how anime take liberty with the manga tells the story but I think the OVA was way better. In the manga, it was after he accidentally killed Tomoe did he find out that he was also the one who killed her fiancé.But the OVA did the better job of delivering the emotions Kenshin felt and how it affected him: how after reading Tomoe's diary and finding out he had killed her fiancé and how she was actually plotting with others to kill him, the inner turmoil he was feeling while he was trudging along in the forest as he was fighting the ninjas for the shogunate really resonated from across the screen to the audience. And then how she died protecting him pretty much hammers in him that she was truly in love with him which remedied the pain he was carrying as he dragged himself through the forest upon learning that he once took the happiness of the woman he loved and deducing from that fact that she was plotting of revenge when just last night was the most intimate their souls ever met. It wasn't in the manga when Kenshin was mourning over cleaned-up Tomoe's body but was longing to be with her even as she laid there in her death. He was holding onto the intimate piece of that otsu village right up until he burned it down.

Two of my favorite moments in the live-action is when Tomoe was blaming herself for Kiyosato's death so Kenshin was comforting her, saying "enough," and when Tomoe was yelling "I will not let you kill him!" She was yelling that to one of the trained assassins planning to kill Kenshin who is much stronger than she is and yet she was willing to put her life on the line for Kenshin and she did. And that was the ultimate confession of her immense love for Kenshin.

This is also probably the first time that a second love was really romanticized since that's usually done for first loves (and even posit that the first love is the true love). The way Tomoe was watching Kenshin finally sleeping peacefully on the floor without a care in the world instead of sleeping on his back clutching on his sword, witnessing that he finally achieved peace in his heart, and her saying he was her second love who gave her new happiness just melts my heart a little bit. I guess it's because with Kenshin he loved her even in her darkest moments and I don't think that was the case with Kiyosato.

What I like the most about Kenshin x Tomoe is that they loved each other at the saddest moments of their lives and that they were willing to protect each other despite seeing the darkness in each other's souls. And that they inspired each other to change for the better: Tomoe making Kenshin realize his disturbed conscience and Kenshin helping her letting go of revenge. Tomoe could have at least wound Kenshin in his vulnerable moment but instead she willed his good by being a sheath to hold his madness, the same madness that killed her fiancè. She could have hold onto that hate but she loved Kenshin instead. And Kenshin taking the vow never to kill again is her legacy.

Sometimes it's a bit hard to ship Kenshin and Kaoru after learning about Kenshin and Tomoe but at the same time, there are people you meet that you don't necessarily spend the rest of your life with but you meet them because they have a role to play in your life and you have a role in their life as well - you help each other become the better version of yourselves. I believe that was the case with Kenshin and Tomoe. And I think Kenshin deciding to start a family with Kaoru is a testament to how he has made peace with himself, with his past, and that he values his life enough to start a future with someone. And Kenji is really adorable.

#now if I can channel this same energy in my homework #it's a bit cheesy in some parts which makes me cringe #rurouni kenshin #samurai x #trust and betrayal #kenshin x tomoe #asks

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duhragonball · 4 years ago

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Hellsing Ch. 70-76

I guess anything I say here is a spoiler, so yeah, this is “Heart of Dreams”, “Relics”, “Heart of Iron”, and the arc “Finest Hour”. Oh, and “Lunatic Dawn”. Gotta lotta ground to cover. Treacherous ground.

Not a whole lot to say about Anderson’s death. He tried to become a monster using one of the Holy Nails from the True Cross, and then Alucard defeated him anyway, once Seras gave him a little help and a reason to go on living. Alucard was pretty upset about Anderson’s demise, but Anderson says a few soothing words, and reminds him that Al only became a vampire because he couldn’t stand being a human, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense for him to cry now.

So yeah, as determined as Anderson was to kill Alucard, he’s a pretty good sport about losing this fight, and he seems to genuinely pity the man. He wonders how long Alucard will go on living with his regrets, and Al replies “Until my expansive future shatters my expansive past.” So, if we want to take that literally, I guess he’s trying to find redemption by being a good guy to make up for his years as a bad guy. Well, he’s been a vampire for 523 years, and a servant of Hellsing for 101 of those years, so I guess maybe he figures if he trucks along for another 321 years that’d balance the scales?

And maybe I’m finally starting to appreciate some of the complexities of Alucard’s character. The Team Four Star Abridged series spent some time on his desire for redemption, but I couldn’t tell if it was based on the original material or something they came up with for their own version. For instance, the Abridged!Alucard rejected the forgiveness offered by God himself, but later Anderson spoke of his desire for redemption and Alucard didn’t dispute that. It seemed contradictory to me at the time, but the manga does seem to support that. As Vlad Tepes, he refused to ask God for anything, preferring instead to fight and drive himself and his followers to the limits of endurance and decency as proof of their faith.

I find that idea heretical, because it suggests that a person can “earn” God’s favor, or God’s forgiveness, or a place in heaven. Arguably, Anderson tried to do the same thing, but I think he was coming more from a place of doing zealous deeds out of gratitude for the Lord’s grace, rather than trying to earn anything he didn’t already have.

The difference with Alucard is that he seemed to be really wrongheaded about his faith, trying to use violence to become a good person. Then it didn’t work, and he became a vampire, devoted entirely to his own selfish desires, and I guess he’s spent the 20th Century realizing that he’s back where he started, trying to fight his way to redemption, only now he has centuries of red in his ledger instead of mere decades.

Oh, anyway, while this is going on, Integra takes a sword and stands it upright so it looks like a cross to mark Anderson’s death. It’s like this quiet sign of respect. I’m not sure whose sword that is, but it looks like the one Alucard was using in his Dracula persona.

Anyway, fuck all that, because Walter finally shows up and stomps the ashes of Anderson just as everyone was having their final farewell with the guy. Rude.

Young Walter just looks kind of stupid to me. Why is he still wearing the monocle? He’s trying to be 14 and 69 at the same time and failing at both.

Seras asks what Millennium did to him, but Walter makes it clear that this isn’t some brainwashing trope. He’s doing this of his own free will.

He also doesn’t consider himself loyal to Millennium. They turned him into a vampire, but he’s doing this for himself, and he’s only cooperating with them because their goals are in alignment.

Yumiko Takagi tries to kill Walter for... Was she mad at him for stomping on Anderson’s remains? I mean, Alucard’s the one who actually killed Anderson, so shouldn’t she be mad at that guy?

It doesn’t matter, because Walt just slices her into pieces with his magic filaments. Now Heinkel Wolfe wants revenge, because she was her long-time partner in assassin stuff. The TFS Abridged series implied that they were lovers, too, which seemed authentic at the time, but I’m not sure there’s any confirmation to be found in the manga itself.

But before she can take the shot, the Captain shows up and shoots Heinkel in the face. Like, through one cheek and out the other, and the only thing saving her from serious injury was that she happened to have her mouth open at the time.

Side note: I caught myself referring to Heinkel as “him”, which frustrates me because I’ve known she was a woman for like five years now. When I first watched the OVA, I was confused, becuase I could tell it was a female voice actor, but maybe that just meant he was really young, like with Schrodinger. But the Hellsing Wiki set me straight, or so I thought. I didn’t think I’d still be making this mistake.

On the other hand, Yumiko sometimes looks a lot like Goemon from Lupin III, so her wearing a nun’s habit isn’t as heteronormative as it might seem. I’m getting off-track.

You’d think this would be leading up to some big double-team on the Hellsing group, now that the Iscariots are out of the picture, but the Captain’s only stopping Heinkel so Walter can have a clear shot at Alucard. That’s the sole reason Walter turned traitor, you see. He wants to fight Alucard and win, and for the last 55 years they’ve been on the same side.

But is that all it is? I never got to read or watch “Hellsing: The Dawn”, the prequel manga Kouta Hirano created after Hellsing. I’ve heard that it never got finished, but also an anime adaptation was released with the home video release of Hellsing Ultimate Episode VIII. All I really know about it was that there was this time where Alucard and Walter were fighting the Nazis, and the Captain showed up, and Alucard ran away because he didn’t think he could beat that dude. Presumably, he left Walter to fend for himself? But all three of them survived until 1999, so I’m not sure what the outcome of that was. I always wondered if Walter held a grudge over that. But maybe I’m reaching.

There’s also a suggestion of professional jealousy. Walter was a rockstar vampire hunter in his youth, but he’s been overshadowed by Alucard, who is--let’s face it-- a living legend. This would be doubly true in the 90′s, when Integra reawakened Alucard, and Walter having to step back even further from the spotlight. The only way for him to reclaim his former glory would be to challenge the greatest of all vampires and win. He’d go down in history as a traitor, but at least he’d be cemented as the absolute best.

Or... or, you can go with the TFS version, where Walter hints at his motives, only for Alucard to take the wind out of his sails and announce “because you wanna fuck me!” And I love that theory more than any other explanation, because it just brings everything together a lot more neatly. I guess you don’t need Walter to have had a crush on Alucard for 55 years, but it’s a lot more compelling than revenge or professional jealousy. Those things have weight, sure, but they work better as distractions, the things Walter might admit to because they hide the deeper reason that he can’t bring himself to say out loud.

And it’s not entirely rejected by the manga. Alucard remarks on how much more beautiful Walter looked in his old age, compared to this treasonous knockoff vampire look he’s sporting now. The last time he spoke this way, it was when he flirted with Queen Elizabeth II. The next time he does it, it’ll be with Sir Integra when she’s in her early 50′s.

Speaking of QE2, she’s safe and sound, because the Secret Service evacuated her to a fortified location in Dover before Millennium attacked. If things get really hairy, they’re prepared to send her to Canada, and if London can’t be secured, they’ll nuke the whole city, though the Queen is certain that Integra and Alucard will win the day. The vampires acting as Millennium agents outside of London are being contained and destroyed, so things seem to be getting under some semblance of control.

However, the Royal Order of Protestant Knights, also known as the “Round Table” is down to just three surviving members. Integra’s in London, but here we have Rob Walsh and Hugh Irons, reflecting on the death of their fellow Round Tabler, Penwood.

This whole scene struck me as a complete non sequitur when I first saw it in the anime. Walter’s betrayal seemed to sudden and poorly explained that it felt like the author was just winging it by this point, and now we have these two dudes struggling to provide some justification for the twist. But reading this manga in 2021, I find that it makes a lot more sense. We’ve already seen tons of Britons in rather lofty positions, all willing to sell out their principles for a chance to become a vampire. Walter is no different from any of them. It’s just more personal when he does it because we actually know the guy.

But as Walsh discusses the utter debacle of this Millennium invasion, he deduces what we’ve just learned back in London. There must have been a traitor in their ranks, because that’s the only way Millennium could have made it this far. I mean, they just flew a bunch of giant blimps full of rockets right into British airspace. That only worked because they had traitors sabotaging the U.K.’s defenses and communications, and Hellsing was especially vulnerable at the same time.

The only thing Walsh can’t figure out is who the traitor was, since it had to be someone at the Round Table, but they’re all dead now, except for Integra, Irons, and himself.

But Irons fills in the missing pieces. It doesn’t have to have been one of the Round Table’s members, but someone close to one of the members. Years ago, Irons warned Walter about Richard Hellsing. Irons knew that when Arthur died, Richard would try to make a play for the Hellsing estate. But when Irons’ fears came to pass, Walter wasn’t there. It’s like he wanted things to play out the way they did.

But why would Walter want events to play out that way? On her own, Integra had no choice but to unseal Alucard to defend herself, and she’s kept Alucard active ever since. And now, lo and behold, Walter reveals that he turned traitor just so he could take on Alucard. It’s like he arranged for all of this to happen years in advance. But how many years? Fifty-five, Irons wonders.

It’s never explicitly confirmed, but Irons’ reasoning makes too much sense to ignore. Earlier, the Major said that he decided back in ‘44 that Walter “Angel of Death” Dornez would have been a good “get” for his side. Now, Irons is suggesting that Walter might have agreed in the same year. So maybe Walter and the Major made a secret agreement even then. It’s possible that they might have done it later, but why not in 1944?

I mean, the whole backstory here is that Millennium is a continuation of a secret Nazi Vampire project that Walter and Alucard destroyed in 1944. Except they didn’t destroy it at all, which sure makes Walter and Al seem very bad at their jobs, unless Walter let them escape and covered it up.

Meanwhile, the Captain tosses a first aid kit to Heinkel, kind of like he’s saying that he doesn’t want to kill Heinkel, but he can’t let her interfere either. We’ll talk about the Captain later.

As for Alucard vs. Walter, Al wants to check with Integra before he goes through with it. He asks for orders, repeating his big speech from when he killed all those cops in Brazil. Yeah, Walter’s a traitor, but he’s been a close mentor and advisor to Integra for all these years. Does she really want Alucard to killerize his ass?

Yes, she does. If Walter stands against them, then he’s the enemy, and Integra has already ordered Alucard to destroy the enemy, no matter who (snif!) they may be. Integra doesn’t relish this command, but she refuses to compromise over sentimental feelings.

Man, fuck you, Walter.

Then the Major lands his airship near the battlefield and invites Integra to come aboard and fight all of his remaining guys. Alucard orders Seras to join her while he deals with Walter. I can appreciate Seras’ concern here, because the last time she watched Alucard fight alone, he took a flaming bayonet to the face. She probably doesn’t care for Integra and Alucard splitting up like this.

Before she goes, she thanks Walter for all of his support, which disarms Walter for just a moment. Man, fuck you, Walter. Seras is so nice and grateful and polite and cool and you just go right ahead with your 55-years-in-the-making Nazi Vampire Jilted Lover scheme. Fuck you, Walter. You don’t deserve to be in Seras’ life.

So the gals go on board the airship and Schrodinger’s there and Integra just shoots him right between the eyes without bothering to slow down. This is maybe my favorite Integra moment in this thing. I sort of wish Kouta Hirano had done a spin-off of Integra and Seras doing cool shit like this for 30 years.

Alucard taunts Walter with the fact that he no longer gets to be a part of Inegra or Seras’ lives anymore. It sounds kind of petty, but when you think about it, it’s a pretty sick burn. Walter may have been planning this for 55 years, but he still had to live that double life, and it’s not like he can just say he was faking it the entire time.

So they fight. Walter’s magic wire powers seem to be amplified, either because of his restored youth or maybe the boost offered by vampire powers, or maybe he’s always been this strong but now he no longer needs to hold back anymore. For instance, he can make mesh screens with his wires to deflect Alucard’s bullets. And when Alucard summons that dog creature he used to dispatch Luke Valentine....

... Walter just bisects it with a flick of the wrist. You really begin to see why he was “The Angel of Death” back in his heyday.

I never understood what this dog familiar was supposed to be. Walter refers to the Hound of the Baskervilles, but as far as I know that’s just a legend confined to the Sherlock Holmes novel of the same name. But apparently that concept was based upon “black dog” folklore of the same region. There’s a whole laundry list of “black dog” apparitions in Britain alone. Black Shuck, Padfoot, Hairy Jack, Bizarro Snoopy, and so on. So I’m not sure if Hirano is saying that Alucard was the source of these legends, or if they were all based on a single creature which Alucard eventually defeated and absorbed into himself.

Al tries to use the Jackal to kill Walter, but that’s kind of stupid, since Walter designed the gun in the first place. In the anime, I thought Walter somehow triggered a bomb he had planted inside it, but maybe he used his wires to make this happen. It doesn’t really matter, because we already saw that the Casull was useless against Walter’s defenses, and not because it had smaller ammunition.

Then Luke Valentine emerges from the black dog’s body. This part never made any sense to me, but I loved how the Major recognized him, but barely. “Oh yeah, it’s that guy from Volume 2! The guy with the brother.”

The doctor suggests that when the dog was killed, this allowed Luke to reassert himself from inside the dog. Something about a “control ratio”, whatever that is. Like, he was absorbed into the dog’s mass, but now that the dog is no longer conscious, he can think for himself again. Notably, only half of Luke actually makes it out . It’s like he’s half-Luke, half dead dog monster.

But before he can do anything else, Walter puts his wires into Luke and starts controlling him like a puppet, mostly so he can use the dog half to attack Alucard.

Alucard seems more impressed than threatened. Keep in mind, Walter was doing pretty damn well against him early on. You’ll notice Alucard’s missing his right arm along with one of his guns. This is better than Anderson managed to do. So why does Walter even need this Luke-dog puppet thing in the first place?

Well, it’s because Walter’s body is giving out on him. Earlier, when the Doctor was performing the procedure to turn Walter into a vampire, he spoke about how rushed the operation was. I mean, he had to finish the whole thing in one night, after all. And Walter’s a lot more powerful than Dandyman, whom the Doctor considered his finest artificial vampire work. So maybe Walter’s just too powerful for this, and he can’t sustain this form. The Luke-dog-thing is just to keep Alucard busy while he coughs up blood.

The Major sees this development, and likens Walter to a high stakes gambler who’s mortgaged everything for a single hand at a high stakes table. Walter’s risked everything just to tangle with Alucard, and it still isn’t enough.

Alucard does manage to finish off the dog-Luke thing, and this sets him up for Walter’s next attack, and then he goes to finish him off, so things seem to be going Walter’s way...

But Alucard used a decoy, disguising Luke’s severed torso as his own, all so he could sucker-punch Walter in the face. As it turns out, Walter’s physical breakdown is making him younger, which amuses Al to no end.

So Alucard follow suits and assumes the form he once used when they fought the Nazis in 1944. Yeah, say hello to “Girlycard”. I’m not sure why Alucard looked like a 14-year-old girl during World War II. I’ve heard this form described as a Japanese 14-year-old girl, and I can’t dispute it, but it also makes Girlycard seem even more random somehow.

I mean, I guess the idea here was for Walter and Alucard to be able to move inconspicuously through enemy territory. No one would suspect a couple of kids until it was too late. I’m imagining a similar scenario to the ones presented in “Cross Fire”. Heinkel and Yumi would play innocent bystanders, then whip out their guns and swords and go ham on the bad guys. Knowing Hirano’s style, maybe Girlycard and Young Walter operated the same way.

And this further supports the Walter-had-an-unrequited-crush-on-Alucard theory. He might have understood that Girlycard was a disguise. On an intellectual level he might have known, but maybe he still carried a torch, and told himself that there was some way that they could be together. Was he just in love with this disguise, or does he love the real thing? Alucard says that he told Walter the truth decades ago, and claims that this is the reason Walter turned traitor, so yeah, it sure feels like Walter couldn’t handle Alucard’s true nature, one way or another.

I mean, let’s assume that this isn’t just about Alucard not being a cute girl. Maybe Walter fell in love with Alucard in all his forms, whatever that means for his sexuality. The bigger issue is that Alucard’s a vampire, and he’s just fundamentally different from Walter, and maybe that was the problem all along. It’s interesting to think about, but the point here would be that there was some kind of problem, and Walter couldn’t let it go.

Meanwhile, Seras and Integra are busy looking like total BMFs. Just HBIC’s. What’s better than this? Two gals bein’ pals.

Hell yeah!

Bad ass!

The vampires on board this airship are happy to meet their doom, and Integra recalls what her father once told her about how vampires want to die on their own terms. Seras doesn’t get it, because if they want to die so badly, they could have just died in the war they were already in fifty-odd years ago.

So the Major gets on the PA system and explains to her that they want more than just a glorious death. They want bigger, better, more perfect battlefield, so as to make their deaths as meaningful as possible. That’s why I don’t understand that airship captain from a while back. Everyone else in Millennium seemed to understand that they weren’t necessarily fighting to win. Britain is prepared to nuke London if they have to, so it’s hard to imagine anyone in Millennium surviving past today, even if they won.

Anyway, as the Major explains all of this, the Captain appears before the gals. It looks like he’s here to stop them, or is he?

#2021hellsingliveblog #hellsing #alucard #seras victoria #walter c dornez #alexander anderson #heinkel wolfe #yumiko takagi #the major #the captain #warrant officer schrodinger #sir hugh irons #lt general rob walsh #luke valentine #really? luke valentine?

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hichandesu · 3 years ago

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Thoughts on MDZS S3 episode 26

I just thought I needed to release these mix feelings I have stored inside

⚠️⚠️⚠️ SPOILERS AHEAD especially to those NON VIP watchers and haven't watch the episode at all proceed with Caution

This episode really felt rush for me the YI city cast designs felt wasted for me due to lack of screentime. I need more 😭 this arc deserves an OVA for better understanding on why we love YI city arc even though it's not really a Wangxian focus arc.

I mean with Song Lan he just appeared out of no where, he already found Xue Yang. How did he figured that XY has been deceiving Xingcheng and it didn't properly explain how he got his eyes back. Also wish the donghua could have elaborated more about his deeper friendship with XxC.

Next Aqing I love her to be honest one of the rare female cast in the show. I wish the donghua could have elaborated more on how clever she was into figuring out XY identity and exposing him to XXC.

Also going back with SL I thought he should have delivered the final blow to XY to exact his revenge?

Then Shizui I've always love his scene playing inquiry and then the moment of "the person behind you" then boom enemy revealed. Why did the donghua omitted that scene T_T

yeah I love the filler Wangxian moments they added it felt like the production team wanted to make it up for the lack of bolder Wangxian moments from the first 2 seasons but this is what I love about MDZS it actually balances the plot and romance part (be it daring romance part or subtle romance hints due to censorship) but sadly due to limited episodes they have to rush things out to get to the climax arc *sniffs* still MDZS is SUPER POPULAR so if they consider making more episodes I'm sure it will not hurt the production team and will still get a return of investment from the donghua.

These feelings I have were the same thing I felt when I first watch MDZS I couldn't understand what's going on coz it's super rush and they just drop more characters out of nowhere can you imagine, it took me like 6 or 7 episodes to realize that ep 3 onwards were flashbacks like what 😵 that's why LZ is cold towards WY compared to episode 2 and why WY seems closer with JC, didn't he just got whip by Zidian. I thought when LZ dragged WY to Cloud Recesses he was force to become a student haha I had a hunch that I'm watching a flashback arc until I could not take it anymore and I googled the show.

Anyways on the bright side what I love about this episode was WY BADASS scene when he summoned a lot of puppets the BGM and how the scene executed that's sooo COOL. I rewatched it several times, you wouldn't think his body is weak coz that's hella powerful it reminded me of his first appearance as YLLZ. And it was worth it that I watched The Untamed at least I have an understanding on what was going on with the YI city arc in the Donghua.

And I'm so glad english novels will come soon coz honestly I've watch the donghua and live action, read the manhua and listened to the audio drama BUT I haven't read the novel at all YES never coz I'm too lazy to read a bunch of paragraphs. I prefer visuals than a bunch of words that's why as a kid when I'm force to read pocket books so that my english will improve I hated it coz pocket books makes me sleepy. I'll just read comic books in the newspapers to learn english. So with the novels coming let's see if with MDZS maybe I will grow to like novels plus detailed understanding of the story.

I guess that's it I didn't expect that this post will be longer than expected at least I can release all my emotions I felt. Not really disliking the show, despite the rush nature of season 3 I still love it I live what they did for MDZS S3 it was worth the 2 year waiting 😍 it's just that with how the animation quality really improve and awesome BGM I think each cast deserves a proper screentime.

#mdzs spoilers #wangxian #mo dao zu shi #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #hichandesu thoughts

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millennialdemon · 3 years ago

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Coming off of true trainwrecks the likes of Mars of Destruction and Skelter Heaven, I actually came out of Dark Cat with a sense of respect and gratitude for its competence.

For the uninitiated, Dark Cat is a notoriously bad OVA from 1991 that you will see listed in many Worst Anime Ever countdowns. It follows 2 brothers, “dark cats” Hyoi and Rui, who investigate supernatural happenings and purify evil with their somewhat undefined powers of shapeshifting and increased strength/agility. The majority of the story in the OVA is about a school girl named Aimi, who is pining after her childhood friend Koizumi, who since the rejection and sudden death of his crush, has been suffering a depressive episode and ignoring her. Hyoi and Rui sense dark forces are manifesting at the school, and they keep an eye on Aimi while fighting off the increasingly brazen appearances of demonic enemies.

A monstrous ex-dark cat named Jukokubo is revealed to be manipulating Aimi with his dark powers, and Hyoi and Rui fight him, but not before Aimi succumbs to the evil magic -- as well as her own violent jealousy and overprotectiveness of Koizumi -- and transforms into a horrific tentacle monster that kills seemingly everyone in the school.

In the end, Koizumi realizes that Aimi was in love with him the entire time, and doesn’t fight her when she engulfs him completely. Apparently this act of selfless love was enough to purify them both, and although they do indeed die, their souls are “light” and able to ascend. This throws a wrench in Jukokubo’s plan to prove that humans are The Worst, so he turns tail and leaves his boss fight against Hyoi, threatening to return again. In the epilogue, Hyoi and Rui reflect on the mission and wax poetic about the nature of humanity while crossing a busy street.

… Ehm… happy ending, yes?

Now then: there are actually quite a few things I enjoyed about Dark Cat, and they are all very simple things that I had come to miss after days of watching other entries from the Bottom of the Barrel.

It had a narrative, and was -- mostly -- comprehensible in its storytelling, as rushed as it may have been. There was an undeniable presence of an art director, something I’m not convinced was present in a few of the other similarly rated titles I have seen. Some of the shots were noticeably well composed and even clever, and required an artistic vision and some decent effort to create. The animation wasn’t awful, the designs ranged from serviceable to genuinely charming (I like the subtlety of Hyoi and Rui’s cat-like features!), and I liked that the characters actually emoted. It wasn’t as generic as I expected and took some risks, even if they didn’t pay off and left it with a reputation of being “too grotesque to be enjoyable”.

I can understand the common criticisms of the gore and body horror being poorly animated, but I won’t decry it for existing and “being ugly”... of course it’s ugly, it’s body horror reminiscent of The Thing from The Thing. (Now would be a good time to warn people not to look this OVA up, unless they are sure they are okay with body horror and gore of this calibre. Tentacles with teeth and spines rip out of people’s skin from the inside and deform their hosts, it is quite awful! I would also include a warning for trypophobia -- there are shots where the mutations form clusters of holes on the skin.) The body horror in Dark Cat being disgusting and making my skin crawl isn’t a fault -- I think it’s the intended purpose. Though I will concede that:

The phallic imagery of the horrific flesh mutations, particularly that of the teacher who attacked Rui, was… bizarre, considering that otherwise the OVA isn’t particularly dark in tone or otherwise sexually graphic.

Perhaps having grotesque body horror is completely unexpected in a story about two bishounen teens (?) who can turn into cats and fight ghosts.

Yes, Dark Cat, the OVA put on Worst Anime Ever lists for being a grotesque spectacle, is just as commonly placed on those lists for being a dumb anime about guys that can transform into house cats and who fight supernatural entities with not so amazing powers. This is a gripe I’ve seen in a few popular reviews, but there was no point during my watching experience that I thought, “Man, these teens are pansies, they don’t even turn into big scary lions or anything! What’s the point, it’s practically a power-down! cinemasins ding” because I don’t go into anime expecting every single male character I see to be Big & Strong & Cool, because I uh… don’t have brain worms I guess? I don’t know what to say about this criticism really, other than people who watch a lot of shounen have very strange hang ups about super powers.

Otherwise, it seems the biggest reason Dark Cat is lauded as One of the Worst -- perhaps even ahead of the silly concept and nauseating gore -- is actually because of the abysmal english dub. It’s my honour to say that I didn’t watch the dub, so it doesn’t factor in at all into my impressions!

So in the end, perhaps my only true gripes with Dark Cat are:

Despite having no particular issue with body horror and gore existing, the extent of destruction and graphic death gave the OVA a bit of a snuff film vibe.

The conclusion to the story was quite bad.

It could be surmised by the brief plot outline I wrote earlier that Dark Cat isn’t a very complicated story. Demons and ghosts exist and wreak havoc on emotionally vulnerable humans, and supernatural soldiers try to mediate between the realms by purifying tortured ghosts and saving those dragged into darkness by evil entities. These beats are common in the supernatural genre of anime, but Dark Cat’s handling of its tragic morality tale left me more confused than anything.

Koizumi didn’t do anything wrong -- he shouldn’t have had to die for the sin of not reciprocating Aimi’s feelings, nor for developing depression after the rejection and death of his classmate and crush. Aimi… did things wrong, but was nevertheless the most compelling character in the OVA. Throughout Aimi was kind, patient, and forgiving when it came to being treated badly by Koizumi. In the finale however, it is revealed that Aimi was the one responsible for Koizumi’s crush’s death, assumedly having murdered her out of jealousy or out of revenge on Koizumi’s behalf for hurting his feelings. Prior to this, the first students to be killed by the tentacle monsters just happened to be the ones that had bullied Koizumi in class earlier that day -- implying that Aimi was getting revenge on them, as well.

It was with these revelations that I started to wonder: Why not just let the flesh monster manifest as a direct result of Aimi’s negative feelings? Aimi confessed to murdering Koizumi’s crush before the events of the OVA -- would she have done so if she wasn’t being influenced by the malignant force set on her by Jukokubo? I feel that her arc would have been much more interesting without the introduction of a non-compelling and badly designed villain like Jukokubo, because then we would know it was all her. Even if she was influenced by forces exacerbating her pre-existing jealousy and rage, that is a more satisfying option than having a big dumb green cat of a villain to trace everything back to so neatly.

And really, what did Jukokubo do in the story beyond take the spotlight, and the blame, from Aimi? He had some previous relation to Hyoi and Rui, but it’s not developed at all, and his ideological rivalry with Hyoi was trivial. Hyoi could have come to the same conclusions about holding out hope for humanity without Jukokubo there to insist he be a guest to debate on his political podcast.

The lack of accountability regarding Aimi is a part of why the resolution to her conflict with Koizumi feels so wrong -- he succumbs to her feelings because he realizes the evil was born from her suffering, and he feels that he has to sacrifice himself to make up for unknowingly hurting her so much that she turned into a monster from hell. In the end she is absolved via being purified and getting to die with her spirit entwined with Koizumi’s, and he apologizes for having not recognized how he was hurting her.

Aimi kills his crush, kills his bullies, and ends up -- inadvertently, at least -- killing almost all of their classmates, because she was tilted about her childhood friend not realizing she had romantic feelings for him. And when Koizumi learns all of this, he apologizes and dies with her, and this is proof of humanity’s goodness? The dark clouds part and the rain stops and Aimi and Koizumi ascend in a heavenly ray of light, because he decided, while she was devouring him, that he was wrong to ignore his murderous best friend’s love for him?

I guess it’s fine -- it was probably mostly Jukokubo’s fault anyway, and everyone was just an unfortunate victim of his meddling… 😒

Other than the bad writing, the string of deaths that happen in the finale when the monster lets loose in the school are quite uncomfortable to behold. Deformed student bodies are splayed and strewn around classrooms, and the bullies are rendered into unrecognizable mounds of pulsating flesh in their homes. The violence of a fight against a monster like this, I can handle, but the graphic images of helpless death were difficult to stomach. And in this OVA, there is no miraculous reversal of the demon’s damage once it is purified -- there is no implication whatsoever that everyone who died isn’t still just as dead as Aimi and Koizumi in the end.

The main thing I was actually worried about when I watched Dark Cat was that there would be sexual assault, thanks to reviewers griping it for “generic hentai tentacles”. I am relieved to say that there is none, at least not insofar as deserving a comparison to actual porn. There is sexual content scattered throughout the horror scenes: The occasionally phallic appearance of the tentacles, shots of the tentacles coming down from under skirts, and there is one shot of nudity when Aimi’s shirt is ripped open as she transforms, though I would say it’s too horrific and ugly to be sexualized or otherwise considered “fanservice”.

What is the point of the hits of sex imagery in Dark Cat? I have no idea. This isn’t Alien, it isn’t about the horror of sexual assault or the violence of creation -- though the main horror of the scene where Rui is ambushed by the teacher seems to be that she uses magic to seduce him, only to reveal a very phallic tentacle from her mouth that she means to kill (or infect…?) him with, which can have multiple, potentially offensive readings… it is a one off, however -- and there doesn’t seem to be any moral posturing about it as is often seen in slashers. I couldn’t parse any sort of consistent STI allegory regarding the plague of tentacles upon the student body, despite how many summaries I have read that describe the tentacles as that, a “plague”.

… I realize I am probably the only person on earth to give any aspect of Dark Cat’s production this much thought. To sum up: It seems to just exist for the shock value. Considering the extent of disgusting imagery already present a la The Gore and Deformation of Human Bodies, I don’t think this OVA benefitted from featuring some explicit looking tendrils, beyond cementing its abhorrent reputation.

Is this all to say that I think Dark Cat is a good OVA? No, of course not. It’s tone deaf, and tasteless, and has awkward pacing and bad writing. But compared to the utterly soulless and artistically devoid works the likes of Skelter Heaven and Mars of Destruction, I would say the fact I was able to write this much about Dark Cat is testament to that fact that it at the very least, contains content -- and some of that content was like, decent! Skelter+Heaven was such a mess it was all I could do to understand the sequence of events, and Mars of Destruction was so bland I literally have no posts about it on the blog despite watching it more than once. Psychic Wars was a snoozefest I barely finished that similarly has no mention on the blog, and Hanoka’s production gimmick couldn’t save it from being a totally forgettable romance story.

Therefore, Dark Cat is the best worst title I have seen thus far, by virtue of being executed with an average amount of competency for an OVA from the early 90s, and for having a balance of good and bad elements that gave me something to hold onto and mull over after viewing.

3/10.

Oh, and I loved the bad 80s insert songs.

#:Dark Cat #dark cat #2138 words later the verdict is. It was ok

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