#the anime episode that it's adapting is really weird though honestly like. we just not gonna address the fact

[oh-meow-swirls]

i knowwwww that i talk about the jibanyan's secret quest from 2 like constantly but it is seriously just like. peak writing i think. i love yo-kai watch writing but i don't think any line can ever hit as hard as jibanyan's line of "i would die nine times to keep amy safe" like. especially since at that point he still thinks amy called him lame for dying and yet he's STILL willing to die for her even when directly given the opportunity to not die and to be able to be a regular cat again. it's just so sweet to me.

[ladyloveandjustice]

List of "Does it Like Women" Results and whether I agree

I find the "Does it like women" blog fascinating, as y'all have probably noticed. I always tend to think deeply about this topic when I consume media, so I wanted to make a list of results I disagree with, because it interests me! I'll likely be updating this through reblogs if my interest doesn't wane, I'll make a note in the replies when I do!

Loves Women

I agree with all of these so far! Well, loves women might be a little bit of a stretch for the first Spiderverse movie (on the other hand...doc ock...hnnn), but I think the second does so yeah basically agree.

Likes Women

Kill la Kill- Man it's 2013 again and I'm seeing tumblr make powerpoints about how klk is deeply feminist and it's actually a super deep critique of harassment that Ryuko has to wear the ugliest outfit ever and Westerners Don't Understand (person making this argument is inevitably a Westerner).

Yeah, based on the part I've seen and everything I've heard, hard disagree. But I have not seen the whole thing, just those three, I do know the part I saw included rape jokes a plenty, a weird victim-blamey take on "not being ashamed" of being forced into a skimpy outfit and how if you're bothered by men ogling you that's your weakness, and a vagina wedgie. I'm not as mad about it as I was back then,and I can appreciate the show has it's good points later on. Not having watched it also means my knowledge is incomplete. However, I have listened to really in depth breakdowns of the series (mainly Anifem's podcast), so I know exactly what happens, and yeah, the treatment of women doesn't impress me. I'm on the dislike side, (holding back on hates because again, haven't seen all of it)

...could understand mixed feelings though, I guess

Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 anime- nahhhh man, it doesn't like women, treating them significantly worse than the manga it adapted. I have a lot of issues, from how thoroughly it shafted Winry, to how it gave Riza nothing, to Dante being every cliche about a female villain they could fit in here, the treatment of Rose leaving a horrible taste in my mouth (I see arguments of what happened to her being a critique of imperialism, however I have yet to see anyone justify why the show had to continue to have her kidnapped and assaulted and treated as an afterthought after that) and some truly rancid one-off episodes.

I break down my problems with it at the end of the little FMA 2003 liveblog I did, though it's phrased super obnoxiously because I wrote it...oh my god twelve years ago oh god I'm crumbling to dust as we speak. But I break down the basics with the "top gross things" post I did (ignore any thoughts on race I had no place writing bout that tbh). The tag anime: turn your zombie mom into ethanol also goes into more of my thoughts, though again, very obnoxious and the deeper you dig the more ancient and obnoxious it will get lmao.

I have several ancient posts on how it treated Winry in particular, as she was my fave and was done so dirty, and I think they hold up fairly well. Here's a post I made about the Winry-Roy plotline, and a good response by another user. Then we have this post, ignore horrible art.

(Please don't try to spark a debate with any of this stuff, it's years and years old, I went through so much drama and legit panic attacks, and I'm not committed anymore. Love 2003 and think it likes women if you want, that's fine! I'm just trying to illustrate what I mean in saying imo it dislikes women).

The Handmaiden- This poll reminded me to finally get around to watching this movie, and I'm so glad I did! I'd go with "loves women" for this one actually,The nos must either be misclicks or people who don't understand that two women having sex on screen is not the same as the male gaze.

Madoka- I'd definitely go more towards mixed feelings honestly (especially if we're counting Rebellion) but I get the people who say "likes".

Yuri is my Job- it loves women, it loves messy women, it loves women who love women, it loves them so much, idk why it got a sizeable no vote. People who only watched the first ep? People who think yuri is "bad"?

Mob Psycho 100- Someone in the notes says "accidentally likes women" and that's the only answer in the "likes women" area I'll accept. It has 10 million prominent male characters and like three prominent female characters. ONE really really obviously has a hard time imagining women as powerful or action heroes. (this is reflected in One Punch Man too) (One Punch Man actively hates women and queer people though, Mob is infinitely better) Only one who ever gets to fight and play with the boys, and she's a low level mook, and we have to spend 75% percent of her limited screentime on whether it's actually okay to fight women, with her winning argument being "Well you're literally a child so I guess it evens out" (???) The little girl with the evil dolls gets even less screentime.

I do like that the series examines how Mob idealized Takane and how people not caring about the real her made her tired, as well as how it allowed her to reject Mob and was basically a lesson in the importance of accepting rejection. But her screentime is also really limited, and I feel like we could have dove into her a lot more. Tome is a wonderful weird girl and I liked her little arc, and I hear she gets more in the Reigen manga, but still not a TON of screentime, and even with her there are a couple jabs about how she doesn't "count" as a girl due to not acting traditionally feminine we're clearly supposed to find funny. Emi is...there I guess. There's that sweet scene with the writer girl, and the bully girl, but they're like, not reoccurring at all, as evidenced by how I can't remember their names.

And uh. the girls school episode.

Anyway. Hot take but I don't think "they're barely in the story but when they are two of them are treated pretty decently and have some depth, though there is some weird stuff about whether women can even fight men or whatever" really counts as "likes women". I'd go more mixed feelings.

Life is Strange-out of the two options I chose dislikes, but my feelings are a lot closer to "mixed feelings". I go into why here.

Gushing Over Magical Girls- lol. lmao even. The anime about middle school girls who look 8 sexually assaulting other middle school girls DEFINITELY doesn't like women. I go into more detail here.

Cowboy Bebop: Mixed feelings, probably. I chose dislikes because yes, Faye and Ed are great (you could def read Ed as nb though), but Faye also is repeatedly damsel in distress'd and treated as incompetent in her field when I don't think she should be, she can be a failgirl without being the sole woman in the action side of the group and also the least capable (there's also That Scene in the movie). also i just. it's fine that she's sexy but I hate her outfit. give her something nicer looking, it's so ugly. But my main reason for a dislike vote is the treatment of Julia. Girl is a textbook example of fridging. They really gave her so little. But yeah I could see mixed feelings.

Also do you remember that one scene during Faye's tragic backstory where she's hospitalized and the camera requires us to look down her super (painful looking? like idk how she's not screaming about it) squished boobs during this tense and important moment god that took me out. whenever anyone acts like Faye always owns her sexiness and the camera never does anything I remember that scene.

Ranma 1/2: I've seen read a good chunk of it, and this result is...surprising. Maybe by the standards of 80's manga though, who knows.

Better Call Saul- I did vote yes on this one, but I'd put it more at mixed feelings. Kim is a fantastic character, but there aren't enough women on the show at all. She's a major part of the show, but basically the only one of any note. I only voted yes because I finally remembered Francesca was a reoccurring character and she's all right, but the fact I had to think to remember...

Undead Unluck: I know it gets a lot better later but I'm not sure if a work that has it's female character continuously and comically sexually harassed for the first few chapters can ever get liking women privileges. I don't know enough about it but it might be a mixed feelings situation.

Akiba Maid War: tbh I'd probably give this 'loves women'.

Ducktales: For the second season specifically I'd say "loves women". The first season leans more towards 'like women' though, so it evens out.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend- Should be "loves women" but people are ridic and voted based on the title.

Mixed Feelings

Dracula- IIII definitely think it dislikes women, sorry guys. Mina is a great character and you do have to take it in the context of when it was written. But there are surely contemporaries of Bram Stoker that wouldn't have randomly gone out of their way to scoff at the "New Woman". Not to mention again, really random sidebars about how men are so much smarter and cooler and women should be grateful to them. I could go on about Lucy and how Mina is treated and whether that's a critique of sexism or just playing into it and how it's so open to interpretation but I'll stop here.

also the book is hugely anti- Romani, immigrant etc and I think that ties into disliking women since some women are those Romani and immigrants

It really really felt like a case where a lot of people in the Drac Daily tag just wanted it to be super feminist because they liked it (you can like things without having to make them feminist! it's fine!), and the way they scoffed at feminist scholars who had "surface level readings" of the text (aka they dared to say it was sexist) still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The Lego Movie: dislikes women. what are y'all on. Even it's own sequel calls it out for disliking women. Wildstyle is basically the only woman with real characterization and she's the purest concentration of "hypercompetent woman must play second fiddle to Average Male loser who is the one who actually saves the world and also she falls in love with him because of course she does'. Then Wonder Woman got one line (in literally the first theatrical move she got to even be in) and Superman and Batman a lot of screen time.

Does not like

Scott Pilgrim- Don't get this result, I'd put it at likes or mixed feelings? It's literally about how Scott has weird issues with women where he doesn't see them as to full people they are, and it calls him out on that hard. The whole sixth volume is how he made up a damsel in distress scenario for Kim and always took her for granted, how he put all the blame on Envy for the end of their relationship when he played a huge role in that, Knives finally getting over him, moving on, and telling him he needs to grow up a little (highlighting how his grossness towards her was him refusing to accept that he was an adult now, and that he was horrible to her, and yes he does apologize), and accepting that he and Ramona are both messed up people and she's just as flawed as he is, taking down the pedestal he put her on. And having Ramona triumphantly confront her abuser. Scott acknowledges he has a lot in common with Gideon, the supervillain!

Roxy is a sticking point, the whole 'it was a phase thing' and her and Ramona's relationshipbeing unexplored was annoying (fixed in Takes Off) but even she had some moments of pathos and was definitely the (Ramona's) ex the story seemed to sympathize with the most.

I dunno. this seems like a tumblr lacks media literacy thing again. Did you think the narrative agrees with Scott. Did you only watch the movie.

Succession- I'd go more mixed feelings? Dislikes is fine, I think it doesn't have enough women and often privileges male characters over them, but sometimes it's examination of the sexism Shiv faces is really incisive, and she's a complex character. But she should have gotten that abortion.

Watchmen: hates women actually. Pretty much anything written by Alan Moore does.

Persona 4: I think it hates women actually. But dislike is fine too.

Merlin: Everything I've heard about the show puts in in the hates camp rather than dislikes, but i never watched it (I did watch this video on it, and the bootlicking is out of this world if it's accurate) so I can't really comment

Fables: I cannot fathom how this did not get "hates women". Not just the fact it's written by a known misogynist. I will always remind everyone that I was literally there to see Bill Willingham say the female fans protesting the misogynist treatment of Stephanie Brown were annoying and he wishes he could shoot them. I was there. I heard him. This attitude completely shows up in his work. On top of that, his conservative, women hating idealogy all over this comic. Do you not remember all the random abortion soapboxes and how hard Snow White got sidelined????

And when I refreshed my memory, I discovered the reason Snow White had kids when she didn't want to was because a spell made her have sex with the male lead and she didn't even remember that happening. I also forgot that her backstory was the seven dwarfs raped her (but then she murdered them! Girl Power!) This is only the tip of the iceberg, I rediscovered way too many screwed up things he did to his female characters. Plus blatant Zionist propaganda and a ton of racism.

Like Snow White's backstory was some dark and edgy rape revenge and she's an Empowered Woman now, only to have her be raped by the man she will marry (in a mutual rape) but we don't call it that, and now she has kids she doesn't want, she can't get an abortion because It's Evil, time to quit her job she's proud of and move to a farm to have six kids.

iCarly-- It hates women! Dan Schneider. That should be all we need but some people in the comments insisted on separating the art from the artist despite the fact the artist is ALL OVER the art, and said art directly tormented Jeanette McCurdy! There was so much content in the show that was there to specifically torment her-- the fact her character has a food addiction/eating disorder while she had a real life eating disorder and they had to have known this, the fact after hearing she had a crush on an actor then they wrote it into her character to humiliate her, the fact they continually sexualized her while knowing her discomfort with it and with her body-- I have also watched the exhaustive basically minute-by-minute breakdown by QuintonReviews. Some gross shit happens on that show.

Hates Women

Agree with all of these so far!

[spiraphobia]

Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre (2023)

From the mind of horror manga maestro Junji Ito comes a spine-tingling selection of some of his most bizarre, disturbing and terrifying tales.

Some thoughts ahead:

When this anime adaptation came out, I wasn't particularly excited knowing it was from the same studio that gave us Junji Ito Collection. And honestly, I'm disappointed that they didn't even bother to step up their game from the last series. Once again, they kick things off with The Strange Hikizuri Siblings as the first episode, just like they did with Souichi in JIC. If I were launching a horror series, I wouldn’t start with these kind of stories - they're practically a guarantee to give viewers the wrong impression of the entire anthology.

Really, I wish there had been more effort put into the details and the overall mood. You don't have to perfectly replicate Junji Ito's art style, but the dread and atmosphere should be there - those are some of his greatest strengths. And when I say that, maybe they could have used thicker lines, deeper shadows, or more unsettling sound design. The pacing could also be slowed down to build tension, letting the horror linger just a bit longer before revealing the unsettling visuals. Take The Bully, for instance. That manga panel had me seriously freaked out, but in the anime, it just feels flat and almost laughable—why does she look like a clown? Ugh.

Now we have viewers thinking, "What's so scary about these weird stories? There's nothing special about this author." I don't believe his works can't translate into anime - even Yami Shibai manages to nail the dread with nothing but cut-out pictures.

A few things did stick with me, though. They threw in a little revenge scene at the end of The Long Hair in the Attic, and I have to admit, that was brutal but oddly satisfying.

Also, The Mold wasn’t one of my favorite stories, but in the anime, it grossed me out enough to become my favorite episode in the whole series. This really confirms that the use of black and white suits Ito’s atmospheric works best.

Would I recommend it? If you're a die-hard Junji Ito fan, you might still want to check it out for the sake of seeing his stories in animated form. However, if you're new to his work or looking for something truly chilling, this adaptation might not deliver the atmosphere and dread that makes his manga so compelling. I'd give it a 6/10 - it's not a total miss, but it doesn't do justice to the source material. But hey, the opening and closing music are truly bangers though no lie.

[seekerbr]

One thing I was thinking about today after reading a few fanfics is Seto Kaiba and school, and how that is portrayed in fanfics.

In canon, we have very little of Kaiba in school: in the manga we have his introduction chapter, and then the first episode of DM and his introduction on Season 0 adapting it, but after these he kinda just… never goes to school again. We don’t even have him graduating on DSOD, so I guess we are supposed to assume that he dropped out of it sometime after losing to Yugi (or ending their game on a draw in Season 0’s case). 

But honestly, I think what i find interesting is how he’s portrayed as in fanfics: obviously I haven’t read every single YGO fanfic in existence, and sometimes different people will have different takes on it, but what i’ve seen on a lot of them is he still going to school after his first duel with Yugi, where he’s a pretty popular guy who’s known as the owner of a big company; also, he usually either works from school or skips classes a lot to work. The minor details then are kinda muddled, like if he’s considered a good student or not.

I put the detail of people knowing that he’s the owner of a big company because that isn’t actually the case originally? In his first chapter there’s nothing really implying that he’s even rich (though he does have that briefcase full of cards) and in the beginning of Death-T both Yugi and Joey are surprised that he’s the owner of Kaibacorp, so that’s obviously not common knowledge.

I guess you could just say that this is a retcon or use the meta excuse that Takahashi hadn’t thought about him being the owner of Kaibacorp yet, but I find interesting how that implies that he isn’t the big rich popular kid in school, seeing how the average person doesn’t know that he’s the son of the owner of a big company. Maybe he was really antisocial? Also, Kaibacorp still hasn’t created the Duel Boxes and Duel Disks at this point, so they might not be as popular at this point.

Both of the anime adaptations change this when they adapt his introduction: Duel Monsters has Joey asking why he is visiting grandpa’s shop since he’s the owner of a big company, so that’s common knowledge there, and Season 0 has him everyone immediately knowing who he is after first hearing his name, having the other student see his fancy car, letting people visit his mansion… Funny enough, his fandom self is closer to this version in a way, with him making it obvious how rich he is (though this version of him also still has Gozaburo being alive, so I imagine it changes his deal a little… Season 0 is weird sometimes)

BTW, I’m not complaining about how he’s treated in fanfics: it does make some sense seeing how boisterous he acts in later story arcs, and most people know the animes better; this is just an interesting detail i was thinking about

[anime-chick]

YYH live action - disappointments and highlights!

disappointments:

off the bat - it's five episodes and the pacing and storylines are squished, but you just have to accept these limitations and embrace this for what it is - MOVING ON

the music - it was generic and had some weird choices and overall didn't feel very cohesive?

hiei's zoomies - the sound effect when he's going fast is a bit cartoony in a bad way

3 times the cgi was noticeably iffy: genkai's younger face, when yusuke and kurama went into the mirror of forlorn hope, the blooms coming out of karasu

skipping over hiei and kurama's backgrounds - this is what made me think this series is more for yyh fan than anyone else, at the very least i would think there would be some exposition about youko kurama or hiei being a thief

bui - he was flat and really just there for hiei to show off his dragon (which isnt a bad reason! but in comparison to karasu, he didn't have much of a personality, even after taking off his armor)

highlights:

fucking everything i loved it askldjhsdfg

SMILE BOMB!!!!

but really - kuwabara's introduction, yusuke's flying drop kick, it perfectly captured their dynamic

kuwabara in general, he was everything i hoped he'd be

the costuming: while there wasn't as much variety in what yusuke and co. wore, there were lots of details that made everyone's clothes stand out (the chains and lining on kuwabara's uniform, yusuke's cropped uniform top, everything hiei wore to the buckled strap for his sword in the back, kurama's magenta uniform with the gold lining that IS NOT his school uniform but just - something he wears i guess?? which makes it even more insane and i love that)

THE FIGHT SCENES, they put so much effort into each fight and you can tell and it makes the show stand out SO MUCH in comparison to other live action adaptations

the way they, despite having to condense so much of the story, managed to tell a very interesting and entertaining twist to the story without losing too much

hiei and kuwabara arguing - hiei going out of his way to tell kuwabara to get away from yukina <- i'm still laughing

speaking of - THE HUMOR, it was serious! it was funny! it did a great job of balancing out the two

the dynamic of the group is just like in the anime/manga (though we didn't get as much of them interacting as i'd like, we got some and i enjoyed every bit of it!)

karasu. he was creepy. he was gay. his eyeliner was sharp. his attacks looked awesome. his fight lived up to his anime counterpart

the toguro brothers. while we didn't get as much of a lead up, they were perfect. older toguro was straight out of a horror movie. younger toguro managed to be complex and not just a big muscular villain. there was depth to him that felt very authentic.

hiei diving off the tower, i really enjoyed seeing his demonic abilities on display (though where were his fire powers???)

YOUKO KURAMA. i was so worried he'd look terrible in live action but he was just pretty and fluffy and aslkdjhsdfg

hiei and yukina's reunion. awkward. sincere. sweet. sad. the fact that hiei was surprised yukina even spoke to him. i wanna squish the two of them

everyone was beat to hell, their clothes were crunchy and gritty and i like that no one was left 'pristine' like in so many other shows - these boys got nasty

everything honestly just everything i watched the entire five episodes grinning and having a blast

controversial opinion:

i like kurama's wig. i said it. yeah. i do.

[room-surprise]

Dungeon Meshi Anime Review, Season 2, Episode 17 review

OH GOD OKAY here we go...

Once again, I am a broken record: good episode!

My two major complaints: The bit where Laios and Kabru stand around talking next to an off-screen, roaring, screaming monster seemed kind of silly in animation. In a comic it works, but they really should have animated them walking or stumbling away while delivering those lines, having them just stand there until the monster attacks them again is really goofy.

ALSO, something Trigger keeps doing that I am NOT a fan of, is throwing animated speed-line backgrounds behind characters when they're reacting to something. Sometimes these were in the original manga, other times they are NOT... and they break the immersion of the anime completely IMO.

The coloring in DM is so moody and wonderful, the aesthetic is generally grounded, so when suddenly the background is bright blue or lime green or pink and strobing, it's VERY jarring... and the joke DOES NOT NEED these effects in order to be funny! In fact I think it leeches some of the humor out of the jokes. Imagine if every time someone had a strong emotion in a classic Disney movie you'd get this:

This type of sudden background color change, strobing and speed lines are artifacts of older, cheaper anime, tricks that used to be done to hide the lack of budget, as a way to make a quick joke. It's now used as a shorthand to tell people a joke is happening.

But Trigger doesn't NEED to use these tricks, they're using them because "that's how you make sure the audience knows a joke is happening", but the jokes in Dungeon Meshi are so well written, you don't need to cue us with a visual laugh-track, Trigger!!!! ESPECIALLY when Kui didn't do it in the manga!!!

They've done it in other episodes, but I felt like they were particularly noticeable and bad in this one. Makes me sad because I feel it's dragging the anime down from the genuine peak of artistry that it's otherwise achieving.

As always, animation is fantastic. The stuff with chimera falin is obviously top notch, brutal and fast and amazing... But I also have to say that the Toshiro and Laios argument was animated INCREDIBLY well, with a lot of loving detail given to what is, ostensibly, just talking, something Trigger normally hates to animate.... But they put movie-quality work into that argument and it really paid off.

Honestly can't think of much to complain about. It's a solid adaptation of this part of the story, one of the biggest, coolest action sequences that we've all been waiting for.

Vocal performances were all great in both English and Japanese. Kabru's English voice actor did a great job, despite my misgivings about him in previous episodes. I hope he continues to improve.

A dub script change had Kabru think "He's excited" about Laios instead of "his pupils are dilated"... This isn't a terrible change, but a bit baffling. Saying his pupils are dilated tells viewers HOW Kabru knows Laios is excited, and indicates that he is using some kind of scientific criteria to measure it, it makes him sound smarter and more detached from what he's doing. Just saying "he's excited" doesn't tell us how Kabru knows... and it's a thought, not dialog, so it's weird for them to change it in the script, since there's no need to match mouth-flaps.

The sequence where Kabru strips off all his armor and does a surprise attack on Falin is still fantastic in this, though I am a little bit sad that they didn't find any ways to add any extra emphasis for it - in the manga it's drawn out a bit, to the point where you might miss what was happening on your first read... I think the amount of shots we got in the anime was the same as in the manga, but somehow it felt less impactful to me. Maybe pacing?

At any rate, it was an incredibly solid episode.

I already liked Toshiro, but seeing this part of the manga animated really made me like him more, I hadn't realized in the past just how damn romantic the twin bells thing was, but damn. Toshiro really has forgiven Laios by the time they part ways here, it's easy to forget that since Toshiro very much takes a back seat after this.

[petz5]

I hope you keep sharing any thoughts you have on the remake, even if they feel like repetitive statements! I’m someone who’s favorite version of Ranma is the manga, so the fast paced tone is more familiar to me. Hence why I’ve been loving the remake. But there’s something about the original anime’s atmosphere that I still love, and I’m glad people like you are touching on it. I really enjoy hearing other people’s opinions and I respect you as an artist so hearing your takes on it is something I look forward to, even if it’s not always positive! Which is good. I think it’s pretty important to acknowledge that not everything is perfect and all. You don’t gotta reply to this or nothing, I just wanted to say I appreciate reading your criticisms/thoughts in general a lot! It’s helping me understand more about some other perspectives.

THANK U!!! This means a lot honestly 😭

I do love the manga best but it never felt too fast for me- i think with that medium it's different bc you can spend as much time as you want on each panel, while an animated adaptation has to make a definitive decision. The original anime, season one specifically (i like the other seasons but s1 is the best and most accurate and i enjoy nearly every new scene they added in) was masterful at this and was a perfect showcase of show-don't-tell. The remake doesn't have the runtime to do this and unfortunately my brain just struggles to keep up with everything when we don't get any slower moments to take in everything we just saw. Idk i don't wanna blame kids these days and their tiktok storytime + family guy funny moments + subway surfers + slime video combos but its really been hard the past two episodes for me to keep up, ESPECIALLY the last one...

i thought 1 and 2 were well paced, though i wanted more time with tofu.. i mean akane's long hair is gone, he's about to become irrelevant, and we don't know anything about him. I'm not confident if i were a first time viewer if i'd remember his name when he appears on screen again this saturday

There is so much to love about this series and i could praise it for days on end too but i feel like i'm gonna have to rewatch it and pause frequently to have time to react and feel things before it just jumps directly to the next high energy scene :( i wish this one complaint i have didn't bother me as much as it does. I hope this is just a weird episode and the rest feels more like 1-2 and not 3-4

[louiesselfshipramblings]

Secret Level mini-review!!! Because!!!

Not gonna go over EVERY episodes, just the ones I wanted to see.

Dungeons & Dragons: The Queen's Cradle—This was a good start! It was short, maybe a lil TOO short, but it was a nice lil glimpse into the classic fantasy world with fun characters both in design and personality. Hope we see more of them somewhere! Weird a non-video game got in but eh I don't mind.

Unreal Tournament: Xan—This episode led me down a rabbit hole of finding out the Unreal Engine was based on an old game made by pre-Fortnite Epic Games, and it's apparently delisted everywhere? Sucks, but cool it got an episode! I love robot uprisings.

Warhammer 40,000: And They Shall Know No Fear—I know nothing about Warhammer except everything kinda sucks and the giant church mechs. This was a fun episode! There's a simple pleasure in watching a group of guys effortlessly tear through mooks. I suppose I'd get more if I specifically played the Space Marine games, but hey as is I liked it.

PAC-MAN: Circle—Dares to ask the question, what if "Pac" and "Man" were two separate guys? But for real though...I actually liked this one? It's horror, but not over the top, gorey but not for the sake of it. Does it use next to none of the Pac-Man iconography? Yeah. But it kinda works as its own, messed up sorta thing. I wonder if that Shadow Labyrinth game came first, or if the short did. Also, the robot is named Puck! Cause Pac-Man's original name in Japan was Puck-Man but in American they could scratch at the P and make it...ya know...Scott Pilgrim reference.

The Outer Worlds: The Company We Keep—I kept forgetting The Outer Worlds had an episode here...or that the game existed at all. Which is a shame! Sure, I heard mixed things about it, but nice to see Obsidian still making original stuff! Plus that sequel, could be better! For this episode...it was fine. A solid example of tragedy. The ending puzzled me, but in a good way. Coulda felt more connected to the vibes of the game, but def has that humor style in place!

Mega Man: Start—It was alright. Rock and Dr. Light had good VAs. Bomb Man had a cool design. Nice lil easter eggs like the "Dr. W" emblem or the DLN serial numbers, and Rock defeating Bomb Man with an ice power was clever. But MAN...this coulda been so much better if it was longer! It's only like, five minutes! I suppose its good they gave each short a variable time so they had space to tell their story, but I would have loved to see more of this world! The other Robot Masters, Roll, WILY, for god's sake! But that MM2 Wily Castle theme for the credits...oh MAN that's good! Please, make another Mega Man short for season two! Or an animated series in THIS style! Mega Man needs more good animated adaptations after Fully Charged and Ruby-Spears.

Spelunky: Tally—Very cool to see an indie game here, and for one of the OGs! Even if this one takes after the sequel...but still! This one was fun, especially since it seemed to really embrace the idea of being a video game. I'm not super familiar on the Spelunky lore, but the interpretation of the randomly generated caves and the curse that revives them were neat tidbits, and the overall message was very nice! One of the shorter ones, around the same length of the Mega Man and Pac-Man ones, but it's to its benefit. Any longer and it woulda felt dragged out. Honestly, the best way to adapt a rougelike imo.

Concord: Tale of the Implacable—Okay, ya gotta understand I HAD to see this one after Sony's blunder! And, to be honest...this may be the best one between all I've seen??? Like, genuinely!! It's one of the longer ones at around fifteen minutes, and is paced pretty well. Idk if any of these characters show back up in the game, but they were all pretty good for the brief time I saw them? The framing of this being a retold story passed as legend, with an ambiguous fate for the crew was neat and I liked the ending??? I was joking about this episode being so good it might redeem the game, but...well I wouldn't go that far, but damn, this might be my favorite behind the Mega Man and Pac-Man ones??

Playtime: Fulfillment—The last episode, and the only one not based on a specific game, instead being based on PlayStation as a whole. This was a nice closer, tbh! The ending left me a touch confused on what exactly happened, but it was a fun ride, all things considered! Seeing the Helldivers run around and shout about democracy, one of the Colossi from Shadow of the Colossus, Kratos smashing down, and SACKBOY!! I honestly just wish there was more of it! (Or that God of War got its own dedicated episode but that's besides the point). Kinda hope they do this "company" based episode as a season closer for season two, maybe for SEGA or Capcom! That'd be fun!

Overall, a pretty good series! I'd say it's worth my while, plus most of the episodes are under twenty minutes if that, so you could binge it reasonably in a day. Looking forward to that second season. Some sequels would be cool (mainly for Mega Man), but if it has to be only new games...mmmm. God of War, for sure. Mass Effect. Destiny? Donkey Kong, but that's a pipe dream. Nintendo never does cool stuff like that.

[atlur]

Anime 2024

I barely played any video games in 2024, but I did end up watching quite a bit of anime, both old and new. I did specifically make a push to watch a lot of current anime in 2024, and it was a lot of fun to see what all was coming out that I might not normally check out. I'm going to give my top 3 series that I watched in their entirety, and then cover shows that I only got partway through.

Top New Anime of 2024:

3. Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian The art style is unique and exceptional. I found the characters in this very charming, and that really carried this show for me. I did also find the general story of it engaging. I'm looking forward to more of this show.

2. Gushing Over Magical Girls Hear me out. Yes, it is incredibly lewd and horny, but it also handles its themes in a very genuine manner. It covers a wide array of fetishes and clearly cares about giving them proper representation. The characters are a ton of fun, and the story is really about a love for the magical girl genre and being true to who you are. It is far better than it had to be and I am looking forward to season 2 (though I have already read all of the manga up to current so I know what is coming).

1. Whisper Me a Love Song Hands down my show of the year. It combines my two favorite things in anime, girl bands and yuri. I watched this show with my wife, and we really connected and related to the characters. It is sweet and wholesome and just makes me happy. Plus, the music is great! It is a shame that the show had production issues, which stopped the last two episodes from being aired for months. Because of that, my wife and I both read the entire manga because we needed to know how the season was supposed to end. And honestly? The manga is even more amazing! I am glad we watched the show first though because actually hearing the songs really makes those scenes hit on a whole different level. The final two episodes did finally release just a few days ago, and I'm so glad they did, because it was really special to see those final moments animated.

Also watched all of: Days With My Stepsister - amazing characters, didn't like where the plot ended up. An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride - Actually a lot of fun, if a bit simple.

Top Anime of 2024 That I Started and Want to Finish: Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines - I really enjoyed the first 2 episodes, it seems like a neat premise. Jellyfish Can't Swim in The Night - The first episode is beautiful and the themes of it really spoke to me. Pseudo Harem - Seems like a really cute concept that was done well in the first episode. VTuber Legend - As someone who watches vtubers I've gotta watch more of this, it felt very genuine.

Other Anime of 2024 I Checked Out: Dan Da Dan - First episode left a bad taste in my mouth. Astro Note - Didn't connect with the characters or vibes. My Deer Friend Nokotan - Seems fun, might continue. Ranma 1/2 - Seems like a faithful adaptation, might watch more. Shoushimin: How to Become Ordinary - I am very intrigued by this, will probably continue. 2.5 Dimensional Seduction - Seemed fine. Kaijuu No. 8 - I hate the OP/ED but the series seems interesting. Viral Hit - Interesting premise, maybe? Wind Breaker - Action was very good, do want to continue this at some point. The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio - Very interesting first episode, strong characters. Train to the End of the World - Weird. A Condition Called Love - Didn't grab me. Bartender: Glass of God - Has potential, I want to watch this with Phoebe. A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics - The plot seemed interesting, may return to this. Gods' Games We Play - Kinda whatever.

Top Non-2024 Anime I Watched in 2024: Higurashi: When They Cry - LOVED this one, it's one of my wife's all time favorites and it was very special to get to experience it with her. Bocchi the Rock - Absolutely amazing in every way. Apothecary Diaries - Wonderful characters, really looking forward to the new season coming out.

[crehador]

winter 2025 is upon us and i have very much not finalized my list of things to watch for the season. i might try a bunch of first eps at random and see what sticks, but the ones i'll definitely be following are:

slf s2, ao no hako, and chi - all continuing from fall 2024, so not technically winter shows, but really looking forward to another cour of all of these!

yohaji and touhai (and possibly ao no miburo? don't see an episode count for it listed yet) are also rolling into winter, reasonably entertaining but not as hype as those three up top

if haigakura is resurrected from the dead i will continue with that too and hope it gets ummmmm better. yeag

anyway. new stuff!

first and foremost...

TOXIC WIZARD YAOI SEASON LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO disclaimer this is not even an image from the anime adaptation but i will always and forever take any excuse to post this owen, disclaimer 2 (electric boogaloo) despite my affectionately calling this toxic wizard yaoi all the time it's not actually bl just to be clear

anyway i've been avoiding all trailers for the anime since i want to go in and be surprised by everything. i do know we're going with f!akira here which seems fair enough since iirc we had m!akira in the stage plays

i don't know anything about if we'll be following the game story or if the anime will be doing something new. my hopes are for following the game, and if it does, i'll be curious to see how far we get (i'm not entirely caught up on the game main story myself... should really get on that lol)

but anyway besides the voice actors. i mean i'm mostly here for the voice actors. for asnm. but besides that and the beautiful card art and the adorable chibis. i just love mahoyaku for its complete and utter mastery of the toxic situationship. these wizards are so fucking weird about each other it's great. can't wait to see them more in motion

i will be very biasedly loving the shit out of this whether it is good or not lol

moving on! the sequels i'll be picking up this season are watakon, ishura, and uniteup (and hanako-kun but rip i can only put three images in a row)

looking forward to more peak romance from watakon, s1 really surprised me by how enjoyable it was. uniteup is really just a standard bog idol anime but it's pretty good as far as standard bog idol series go. it's no idolish7 but it's perfectly serviceable. hoping for some more bangers from this season, though in all honesty i didn't listen to much of the music from the first season besides anela's stuff... should probably check out the other groups

ishura... idk. i think it was fine/fun enough but my main little meow meow is already dead so we'll see how s2 goes i guess

and now for the brand new stuff!

sakamoto days looks like it's going to be a ton of fun, really excited for that one. bathhouse vampire one seems like it has the potential to be really funny too. momentary lily i'm picking up because honestly i like gohands. i'll just say it. i like gohands! they've made some real shit but i like their style! however. if this is named momentary LILY and turns out to not be yuri so help me god

zenshuu and hanashura are, interestingly, kind of complete opposites. i'm giving zenshuu a shot because visually it looks really good and i do love media about making media. the mc being an anime director is deeply compelling to me, but the actual premise is just... not

maybe it will surprise me in a good way, but i'll keep my expectations low

hanashura on the other hand just sounds lovely, i haven't taken a look at the visuals yet, but it seems like it'll be a quaint little school club series. and i love a good school club series

and then there's this isekai one... which i'm not enthusiastic at all if i'm being honest. like i recently binged tondemo skill and it was basically perfect so in terms of isekais where the guy has an online shopping power, i'm good. this one just seems superfluous to me. however... they got suwabe so. i will unfortunately be watching lol

there are a whole bunch of other series that i'll check out when the season begins in earnest, but i'm really hoping to keep my planning list to under twenty this season... so... well that's probably a lost cause. we'll see lmao

but. anyway. these uhhh seventeen? there are already seventeen?? jfc yeah alright these seventeen are on the list for sure

[miraculoustails]

I finally finished NATLA. I was very excited at first, having heard positive reactions. By two episodes in, I couldn’t stand it, and was writing an episode by episode analysis of the show. So here it is, my honest and detailed review of the show:

Episode 1: Feels like an adaption! I enjoyed it and it was fun! I like the way they showed the horrors of the genocide against the airbenders. I didn’t like how they had Aang fly the moment we were introduced to him. It completely eradicates the need for the glider. He also doesn’t look like some outcast idol to the airbender kids, like he does in the cartoon. I love the relationship between him and Gyatso. It weirded me out though how Aang says “no one’s ever fought for me before” when the entire first half of the episode, Gyatso is fighting for Aang. I like the way they handled the awakening scene, and how Katara reacted. But also, why didn’t she react to everything violently shaking? It was weird. I didn’t love the southern air temple visit. They removed all the feeling from it, and explained everything ahead of time. It ruined the shock for Aang, and him pulling himself out of the avatar state was very upsetting. Overall, great episode. I rate it a soft 7/10.

Episode 2: The best episode by far. I love the way they handled the Kyoshi warriors and their attitudes. The changes to Suki’s character were so fun, but at times felt a little weird. Like the scene where she’s eyeing Sokka, or the moment in the woods. Kyoshi herself was harsh and intimidating, she was perfect. I WAS weirded out that they made Aang shapeshift into her? I hope they don’t do that with the other avatars. That was really weird and bad. I wasn’t a fan of how little damage to village took, but Suki handing Sokka the fan and kissing him was cute. I’m definitely curious how that’ll change the dynamic between him and Yue though, since she was supposed to be his first kiss/love. It didn’t show Aang’s immaturity however, by involving the Unagi. I understand cutting the scene, and i didn’t think of it honestly, but it is another missing character development moment. I rate it 8/10.

Episode 3: YIKES. They combined one of the first few episodes, an episode from the middle of the book, and an episode from the end of the book. I get the time constraint, and it wasn’t too bad in the end, but it was majorly upsetting. They worked it together well, but they missed important relationships that developed because of it. And the whole moment of Aang getting his hopes up, and traveling to the air temple, getting completely scrapped, is disappointing for sure. The Zuko moments felt weird, and it was another thing added to an already crowded episode. I’m really upset by the fact they removed Aang’s character arc. He’s supposed to show the trio how he and Bumi had created a fun game using the mail delivery chutes, and keep acting childish, instead of accepting his responsibility as the avatar. Instead Sokka “has an idea”. This completely nerfs all the introductions to Bumi, and makes him just seem like a really shitty king. 2/10

Episode 4: I like the Iroh and Aang interaction, not a fan of Katara and Sokka having to break in. Especially because they take the tunnel of love episode from book two, a very important episode, and they add it to the middle of season one? The two lovers story animation was so cool though, and the actors got the troupe perfect. Katara and Sokka’s fight in the tunnels feels so forced and scripted. It doesn’t feel natural at all, and just like they were trying to be edgy. However, the tunnel deepened their characters and relationship immensely. The badgermoles aren’t supposed to be monsters, they’re the first airbenders and shouldn’t be portrayed that way. Teo standing up was in character and great. Bumi immediately calling Aang out, and revealing himself was… yea. Not great. The moment Katara finds the water skin was so simple and a fun, quick easter egg. Jett’s actor went off! Katara being able to suddenly freeze water was completely out of nowhere and not a good choice. I like the moment of Zuko having to choose between his dream and family. Bumi testing Aang, while Aang knows his identity, it just hurts. His old and dearest friend is saying all these out of pocket things, and he doesn’t understand why. Bumi’s “games” comments were unprovoked, since aang has shown nothing but dedication and slight nervousness to being the avatar, rather than immaturity. None of the tests, other than the fight, hold any weight, since Katara and Sokka aren’t there. Bumi crafting the whistle was cute! The scenes between the guard and Iroh were so good. It shows how much wrong Iroh did, and contrasts his current nature. We never really got to see people this angry at Iroh in the cartoon. There was moments sure, but this is the real rage of war and it’s so good. It shows the two sides of the after effects of war, anger and forgiveness. It’s a great buildup to show why Iroh changed, and how Zuko’s been manipulated since childhood, yet still has a good heart. It really makes it set in that Zuko went from good to bad, and Iroh went from bad to good, yet both had goodness in them the whole time. 5/10, a very mid episode, saved by the flashbacks.

Episode 5: Katara’s using earthbending techniques! We completely skip chapter 6 :( The automatic knowledge of the spirit world and how to protect Aang is unsettling. Katara and Sokka slipping through is also weird. Background characters mention the pirates, which is chapter 9, and the volcano, from chapter 14, but neither of those have episodes. It’s a nice reference, but upsetting they cut them out, and then mention them when they don’t even happen. June, from chapter 15, suddenly appears. The owl spirit from the library is randomly there??? And Sokka and Katara hearing hooting is so bad. Why are they bringing book two episodes into season one! Sokka’s flashback was messed up and unnecessary. His father was not like that. The creepy clowns are unnecessary as well. The face stealer is randomly there too?? From the final episode of book one. What the hell? He goes to the fire nation and Roku’s shrine. Completely skips saving the forest, to follow a plot from the last chapter, then i guess resume the plot from the middle two chapters? Aang’s just abandoning Sokka and Katara in a random forest?? Going super far on his glider, completely alone, and somehow managing to make it in time to save everyone. Yup, makes sense… 0/10

Episode 6: Young Zuko is so heartbreaking, Iroh being a father figure is such a good addition! June randomly finds a scrap of threads that she magically knows leads to the avatar. No warning of Sozin’s comet, and June appears, instead of Zuko, causing chapter 13/15 events to occur. They did the blue spirit really well though. Zuko and Aang’s heart to heart was so good, and the way the word compassion triggered Zuko’s anger hurt. Going straight into the agni kai? That was true pain. I think this is the one thing they did better than the cartoon. The ship scene was so heartwarming. Aang somehow makes it back, days? later, to save Katara and Sokka, whose bodies have been left in the woods this whole time. The face eater just lets everyone free for the statue? Everyone’s magically returned and no one was eaten. 6/10, solely for the Zuko scenes.

Episode 7: The change with Zuko running away was very different, and out of character, but I actually kind of like it for the live action. It fit in well, and created a lot of tension and emotion. The bond between Jee and Zuko is actually really nice. The gaang’s arrival to the northern water tribe felt like very forced acting. None of it felt real, and the whole scene was highly uncomfortable to watch. I think the only performance i liked was of Chief Arnook. Aang not knowing any waterbending by the time they reach the north is such a terrible choice. We go nearly the entire series without seeing aang doing anything other than airbend??? That is not very avatar-esq. The scene between Iroh and Zhao was very manipulative and pretty good acting. It was a nice break. Azula absolutely slaughters in all her scenes. The minute facial expressions really showcase her rage. Pakku sympthizing with Katara is so wrong. He’s supposed to be the epitome of sexism but immediately starts being friendly to Katara and talking about bending?? Even tells her to go to an instructor? “Water is the element of change” sir, you’re the last person who should be saying that shit. Sokka’s one sided longing for Yue is so awkward. This is the worst acting we get from him, and it’s disappointing. He’s one of the best in the gaang. He gets better when talking to her luckily. Yue being able to bend is a TERRIBLE choice. It goes against her entire character. She randomly starts expositioning to Sokka, who she just met… And her personality is very off. She’s too down to earth. She’s supposed to be more gentle and reserved. It humanizes her, but it’s not her. Pakku scolding Aang for showing up, not knowing any other bending, is so relatable. We get a whole three seconds of Katara bending water through a wooden doll, and she suddenly knows how to heal someone? Then the sexism comes in, and she immediately leaves, instead of at least learning healing for more than a few seconds. Yue not being engaged to Hahn is a choice that i hate and like. It means she’s not cheating when she’s flirting with Sokka, thank gods, but again, it’s against her whole character. Avatar Kuruk being the only decent avatar to give Aang advice is interesting. Them disabling him to fix a plot hole they created by having Kyoshi do all of Aang’s fighting, is so stupid. Just have Aang learn bending, instead of him doing some stupid tour to meet all the avatars. Yue randomly revealing she was the fox was so weird and out of place. The whole moment just takes up unnecessary time. The romance between Yue and Sokka was so uncomfortable and severely forced. There was no real moments between them, just lots of explaining the plot and backstories. Aang being sexist and pushing his anxiety about Katara into season one, is so so wrong. Azula rebelling against her father is wildly out of character. Also, I can’t find when she first lightningbends, but i’m pretty sure it is NOT this early. And she would never dare to attack her father. Why is Katara explaining herself to Sokka, her fighting Pakku’s supposed to be a rash decision based on her frustration with the constant sexism she faces. Instead, it’s a thought out plan she feels the need to defend. Why on earth is she doing hand to hand in the battle? Finally, waterbending looks actually dangerous here. Every single time she’s caught she’s randomly out of breath. Girl, how are you out of breath from being held in place by some icicles? It’s such a disappointing and short fight, and Katara looks so weak during it. Aang’s so insistent on “protecting” Katara and Sokka, but can only do some weak airbending, and has no offensive moves. “The legend of aang” being an attempt at some cutesy easter egg for legends of korra is so cringy, coming from someone who hates cringe culture. I rate this episode a 1/10, for terrible acting and for no understanding of the characters at all.

Episode 8: Aang still knows no waterbending, Katara has learning nothing from the north. Why are the firebenders surprised to be under attack? They should all be prepared and on guard, being so close to the northern tribe. Sokka is a good leader, yes. But why is he commanding the gaang out of nowhere? He’s not supposed confident in his leadership skills until they attack the fire nation, because his dad finally pushes him. A whole ship gets destroyed and everyone’s just chilling on the other boats? Zuko’s supposed to be playing dead, but is just hanging around with no mask. Iroh’s getting the respect he deserves from Zuko, but thing is, Zuko’s supposed to be a disrespectful little shit. And this is not Zuko. The firebenders are using the war balloons, which completely changes the dynamic of the battle, and there’s no way the waterbenders should win this. The woman who was extremely offended when Katara asked to fight, is out of nowhere standing up to Pakku, asking to fight. None of these women know fighting techniques. Momo nearly dies?? The way Sokka hugs him is so awkward. Zuko shows up in the temple, instead of the oasis, and has to fight Katara. This gives her a moment to finally look badass fighting, but is so random and doesn’t work with the story. Zuko getting mad about her finding a master, when Pakku didn’t give her a single second of training, eesh. They’re making comments about stuff that happens in the cartoon, without doing the stuff from the cartoon, and it’s so bad. Why does everyone know it’s Zhao, and know his name. It’s so offputting. The red makes it so hard to see, and it genuinely was hurting my eyes. They decided to put a red filter on everything, instead of doing red lighting, and it just looks bad. They show the horror of the moon’s death so well. The one thing they’ve managed to be consistently good at is show how terrifying the fire nation is. This parallels really well with the beginning scenes of the air nations being destroyed. Aang doing nothing when the moon spirit dies… He turns into the water spirit! But still cannot actually water bend. Aang dies doing this, and somehow Iroh knows. Zuko’s meltdown at the truth was embarrassing and yet again forced. Iroh telling Zuko not to kill Zhao, then killing him… the people in charge of this show truly cannot decide what they want to do. At least it’s in character, since he was protecting Zuko. Yue can still bend somehow. Finally Katara does a speech to bring Aang out of the avatar state. Pakku tells Katara she reminded him water changes, and so should he, like that wasn’t one of his first lines to Katara. He gives Katara the oasis water, but never explains its healing properties. 3/10, the only points being for the amazing portrayal of the terror of the fire nation.

Overall rating: 4/10. The main cast all has acting quirks that started really bothering me before i could even finish the show. Almost every character had at least one moment where the acting pained me. The only good looking bending was ice bending and earth bending. Or when fire was destroying something. It feels like the creators didn’t actually watch the OG ATLA, but instead got handed a piece of paper that had bullet points of what happens in the cartoon, and decided to make their own show from that. This is not an ATLA remake or even a love letter. This is someone trying to copy the success of avatar, by poorly copying the plot and characters. The play scene from the cartoon is really showcasing the irony of the remakes situation. Azula, Iroh, and Sokka were the most in character, and even then, they all had at least one moment where they weren’t right. I loved Zuko’s portrayal, but it just got too much by the second half. He turned completely good, and all his moments where he wasn’t good, felt very out of place. They extended scenes that were unnecessary and awkward, and cut important scenes that were vital to the characters’ or story’s growth. NATLA had its moments, but overall it was just bad. I honestly hope it doesn’t get renewed, because i can’t stand hearing about or watching it get any worse. Aang didn’t learn a single drop of waterbending, and this was supposed to be the water book. He was supposed to MASTER waterbending, but never even started. I could barely finish the show and had to take a two day break, in which i used all my willpower to watch the last two episodes. If you read through all of this, you can watch my joy quickly get smushed, and it turn to exhaustion and disgust. I understand why the original creators left, and it’s so frustrating to have yet another opportunity at seeing a childhood show get re-loved, only for it to crash and burn.

[spacevixenmusic]

What's your opinion on the subject of filler and episodic television? Is it "dying" as some have bleated on about? Are stories that keep up plot momentum better or worse?

By "episodic," I don't strictly mean that there's never any continuity so much as the Myth Arc across a given season is flexiable enough so certain episodes can be ordered a certain way with enough care. By contrast, any given Netflix series may be episodic but with a set order that cannot be flexible.

First off, we have GOT to clearly define the word "filler" so people can stop misusing it. "Filler" occurs when a show is being adapted from a different original source (typically manga, games, or visual novels), but the studio ordered more episodes than are needed to complete the adaptation, and writers must create additional episodes full of stories NOT included in the source material in order to "fill" the episode quota. You can usually spot this in extremely long-running anime series when the plot catches up to source manga (Dragon Ball, One Piece, Bleach, etc) and the writers have to get creative while they wait for a new volume of source material to be released.

Anyway, what was the question again? Oh right, episodic shows.

Serial vs episodic: neither is better or worse, they're two different types of storytelling, and they work to different ends. I'm a fan of both honestly!

Episodic shows only seem to be "dying" because there's been a huge rise in the popularity of serial shows lately. If watching reaction channels has taught me anything, it's that modern audiences have started really undervaluing episodes that don't drive the plot forward or reveal new Lore or Character Development. And y'know, it's fine to have a preference for serial shows, I get that, but I don't understand the sheer disdain for light-hearted episodes or self-contained adventures that don't lead into something bigger. You can blame Marvel movies if you like, but I blame TVTropes and CinemaSins and Youtube comment sections personally. These places have fostered and created a generation of people who LOVE feeling they're somehow "smarter" than the show they're watching, rather than just, y'know, watching the show and coming to their own conclusions all the same.

I have a special fondness for episodic shows that take on a mini adventure every episode. A staple of my childhood was a show called Mighty Max, about a kid who fell into the possession of a magic baseball cap that could open hidden portals that took him all over the world. Every episode, he and his two semi-immortal guardians would be tasked with saving people from weird B-movie sci-fi and horror creatures, which required them to travel to foreign countries on the regular. Max would get a message that the world was in peril and have to find a portal located in some completely random location, - for example, the frozen food aisle of a local grocery store - that would drop him off in the middle of the wilderness in Sumatra or an ancient castle in Scotland or wherever. By the end of each episode, the world would be saved and Max would try to get home before curfew so he wouldn't get in trouble with his mom, and before the credits, would take a moment to talk about the geography and culture of the place he visited in that episode. No overarcing plot (just some occasional recurring villains), just a classic case of Putting A Guy In A Situation, and it played a huge part in my love of travel and culture and geography, which then led to my love other multi-cultural media, like Cowboy Bebop, The Fifth Element, and Adventure Time.

^ That's the sort of thing modern audiences seem to dislike though. Episodic shows aren't "dying" so much as people are just less fond of them than Serial ones these days.

[sayakxmi]

[Magi reread; special edition] Episode 1: Aladdin and Alibaba [Part 1]

Lmao, yeah. Ofc I'm also rewatching it. Btw, you'll proobably see some Polish subtitles, sorry in advance. Usually, if I cut some pic, it's because I tried to cut out the subs.

Starting off strong with Aladdin screaming his throat dry (I feel that rn, but also, man, that's some good screaming, I give it to the VA, you can really feel how he's seriously losing it here).

Also, I didn't remember the animation being this pretty. Like, my mind is still on that scene with Ja'far attacking Cassim, and the dart being a bit too slow, which made it look kinda awkward ngl. But, well, first three episodes tend to look best.

He protecc.

But also, in the manga it was less breakdown-y. I actually like how the anime shows more desperation in Aladdin than the manga does, in which he's pretty chill about it all (unless we're shown him losing it in some later flashback, in which case I don't remember.).

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE Magi OST? Well, I'm saying it now.

Me: Is it Notre Empire playing? (compares to yt) Yes.

Bro, do you ever get so invested in the OST that you can tell the song right away?

Far, faaaar more despair. He's saying "I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life here." (I cut it). Damn.

Also, man, making screenshots is so goddamn annoying here. It keeps just. Not working for some reason. I hope somebody appreciates my commitment to adding some visuals here.

Ugo has such a low voice. It's almost weird. I always imagine him having it a bit softer. Also, kickstarts Aladdin's "who am I?" dilema earlier.

Also, man, Ugo does come off as kind of an ass here.

The shining planet looks so cool.

More of the shining planet.

Man, I feel like I'm going to divide these episode-posts. It hasn't ben 1.5 minutes, but I'm on 4 pics, with that stupid 30 pic limit. It's going to be annoying.

I like that we don't find out what's Aladdin's wish until later. But also, you know what? That was such a good way to cut it! Ugo tells him he'll grant his wish, and Aladdin repeats "My wish...?", and is IMMEDIATELY cut by V.I.P.'s "All my wishes are finally within my reach". Say what you want abt the anime adaptation, but that was an awesome choice here.

I'm kinda skipping the OP, I'll probably go about it in another post.

Workign hard.

Overall, there's a bit more interactions with some random people. You get the general impression that Alibaba is pretty well-liked here.

Also, something I meant to point out - I know it's not some ground-breaking discovery, but in the anime you very much get the feel that Alibaba is the protagonist instead of Aladdin, and, yeah. You very much do. Aladdin might've got the first scene, but for some reason you do feel like Alibaba's already got more focus. Though that might be because we learn more about him faster. In the manga Aladdin had an entire chapter to be established as a character first, but here we've got that one (1) scene, and then we have Alibaba working, interacting with others (they comment of how hard he's working), chatting about Budel, and him having a "I'm working to reach my goal" moment, like, that's a lot of information compared to what Aladdin's got. Aladdin meanwhile has only got that breakdown scene, which, honestly, tells us very little about him. Just that he's ectremely desperate to get out, so he was probably stuck there for a long time. Like, it does kind of play well to Aladdin's general mysteriousness, but also makes Alibaba steal the spotlight a bit. Which will be a bit of a trend for at least the first few episodes.

So, a small thing is that Alibaba comes off as a bit more confident here, at least regarding the Dungeon thing. In the manga it looks more like him daydreaming a bit, while here he's like >:/ I'm serious.

Take a moment to appreciate the camels, they're very cute.

Hm.

The face of a man who's about to get into debt, and is fully aware of that.

A classic.

"Hi, I'm Aladdin, a traveler!" You're a thief.

I do agree with him, tho, watermelons rule.

Smol.

Lmao.

Also, yeah, I'm definitely dividing this ep into several posts.

Very cute.

Also, yeah, watermelons instead of wine. Like, there's so fucking much changed to make it Sort Of work, though also not really, cuz you just end up ??? at times. But it could've been worse (it will be, I haven't forgotten Al-Thamen attacking Sindria for no fucking reason, like, that kinda defeats the purpose of being a secret organization??? and also since Al-Thamen is part of Kou, they borderline started a war...)

Alibaba being unexpectedly cat-coded here.

He was yeeted just like that.

What are your teeth made of? Steel?

"I am in so much trouble" face.

See? That's what I was referring to. In the manga he doesn't throw Aladdin on the ground like that.

Again, what I was talking about. I didn't cut it very well, but he's holding Aladdin's head. In the manga he pushes him back, and takes the punishment on his own.

Also, now that I think about it, it's another case of the focus being shifted from Aladdin to Alibaba. In the manga in that scene you're watching Aladdin freak out behind Alibaba, whereas here you can actually see Alibaba's expression a bit (not on this photo, sorry), and you can't really see Aladdin's face at all.

Mood.

And now he steals apples.

Also, can we take a moment to appreciate the ridiculousness of this situation. Aladdin just. Followed Alibaba there. Just like that. They don't even know each other's names. He just followed Alibaba into his house, and ate his apples.

And Alibaba doesn't throw him out for it.

Instead he started to monologue about dungeons, lmao. That's actually another difference - in the manga Aladdin doesn't care about the dungeons and Alibaba's monologue, but here he's actually curious about them, and listens to Alibaba's explanation.

Cool af imagery. I need this as my wallpaper.

Pretty, but also. Alibaba just. Faints, I guess. Lowkey lmao. We don't even know why exactly. He might just be tired from all that work or sth. But still kinda funny.

And Aladdin's like, welp, guess I'll go to sleep, too. In this random guy's house. They still don't know each other's names.

Aww, he's telling Ugo that maybe they'll find his friends ;w;

Welp, next part soon, cuz I hit the photo limit. Also, I need you to now that it hasn't even been seven minutes of the anime. And I skipped the opening.

[lomappreciationblog]

Thoughts on the Legend of Mana: Teardrop Crystal Episode 12 (Director's Cut)

In short form - this director's cut fixed most of my issues with the initial final episode released last year!

Here's the video on MuseAsia, which thankfully was uploaded with English subs.

For anyone who hasn't watched this anime adaptation, I beg you, spare yourself from the pain and watch the director's cut instead of the one they initially released. The director's cut shows crucial character interactions and a smoother fight scene that was missing in the initial released episode.

Spoiler thoughts below:

The first thing I noticed was that, thank the Mana Goddess, they removed the very awkward moment they shook Sandra's frame up and down to indicate her moving because wow, that was an early indication of how bad a janky mess the final episode was without its scenes.

So what did the director's cut add back in? Quite a lot, actually! But most especially transitions between certain moments in the fight, so Shiloh wasn't actually just standing dumbly when Sandra attacked him.

There are still a few narrative snarls: How did Serafina defeat Blackpearl unscathed? They did Blackpearl very dirty.

And what exactly happened to the Lord of Jewels remained unexplained, but it's sad that he became...a bit of a loser who couldn't really do anything. He was such an intriguing character in the game, too.

And for the life of me, I still couldn't understand exactly why Sandra chose to sacrifice herself to be the last core when Elazul offered his. According to Serafina, she understood it to mean Sandra wanted Elazul to be Florina's Knight, but honestly that's really weird to me. Sandra loved Florina, so why would she let Elazul take her place? The only explanation I can think of is, Sandra knew Elazul's core was damaged and offered her own because it would be more successful. And possibly, she was impressed that Elazul declared he would rather die for Florina than for no reason, but it's still a weird thing to me.

If I were to fix this episode, I think it would have been better if the Sword of Fate wasn't wasted on some Jewel Beasts. I would rather that after Sandra offered her own core, the Lord of Jewels did assume his 1000 form. Shiloh would then be forced to use the Sword of Fate on Lord of Jewels to defeat him, and Serafina attacked him afterwards for trying to ruin her and Sandra's plan. But as it is, in the director's cut there was a smoother flow of dialogue and interaction between the characters. Say, it is actually explicitly shown here that Serafina reacted so poorly to Shiloh pleading with her to find another way, because Serafina already knew Sandra had tried other ways and failed, things like that.

Oh, and we actually get to see Esmeralda reunite with her sisters, too! With the exception of Marina (poor girl), all the other major Jumi characters get a moment in the finale, and thankfully even Sandra as well, who is shown mourning for Serafina, which really adds to the scene - it is still strange to me that Sandra would adopt Serafina, but it is clear they loved each other and it must have been incredibly crushing for Sandra to find out, her previous efforts of slaying the Jumi was for nothing, and what saved them in the end was love - but in the process, she lost Serafina, or so she thought. See, it's just one scene of Sandra crying for Serafina, but it adds so much to the character and the story.

I do think Serafina is still way too easily forgiven, but at the same time, Shiloh is a soft heart so I can't say it was too out of character for him to forgive her even after she betrayed him.

This review is messy, but all I can say is, HUGE improvement over the one they initially released, and a much more satisfactory ending!

And - maybe even a tease? For a brief moment, the ending sequence showed Larc and Escad, so maybe they'll go on to animate the Dragon and Faerie arcs, too! But please, no more releasing episodes even though they're unfinished. Apparently, Episode 12 was released the mess it is because of pandemic reasons, which is completely understandable, but I wish they had pushed back released that episode and released this version rather than the initial episode 12.

[animehouse-moe]

In/Spectre Season 2 Episode 2: The Value of Flesh

Well, I'll just say it: you're probably better off going to read the manga. They're going for a very weird structure with this second season and I'm unsure as to whether it'll work out.

To explain a little, between the end of Season 1 and the start of Season 2, in the manga there are interlude volume(s) with side stories. They're fun and interesting and can even take up a bit of space, but they are somewhat removed from the mainline in comparison to something like the Yuki-Onna. It's not much of an issue if they didn't use them, but thanks to stuff in the opening we can assume they are, which messes with the structure and overall pacing. For reference, the contents of season 1's story ended at Volume 6, and followed the structure of the manga pretty well. In comparison, this episode is plucked from Volume 12, a 6 volume gap from where the first season ends and the second season picks up. So yeah, there's a lot missing that could end up remixed or dropped completely.

Regardless of that though, my heart does go out to the work on the soundtrack and the voice actors. The people working on that end of things are trying really hard to make the experience work, and to a degree they do. Makoto Furukawa and Yuuki Aoi both give really compelling performances that mesh really well with the very melodramatic and aloof writing style that In/Spectre can have that gives it that unique feeling. Also, Yuuki Aoi as a Yuki-Onna is just plain fun and I can't help but think whoever casted her did so intentionally because of the connection/similarity between the names.

In all honestly however, if you found this episode compelling and interesting, now that we're into it I don't think there'll be any major curveballs. We'll settle in for a little bit as they work away on solving this mystery, and hopefully keep a decent enough structure after it's done. If you're not hooked or interested on where this may go, I'd really just recommend the manga, there's quite a few volumes of stories and mysteries to sort through before we even reach this one, so unless they backtrack a great deal or entirely restructure the flow, they won't end up being animated which would be a shame.

I think I feel better about the overall quality of this episode when compared to the first, since there's a measuring stick for it, and having adapted manga content you can tell the difference. But, and it's a pretty big but, the fact that they've skipped so much material and that they're rearranging it as well is a pretty big red flag. We're still only 2 episodes into the season, but they're giving viewers a lot of cause of concern and caution, so we'll see what they do with the Yuki-Onna mystery and where they might go next.

[sylvarantii]

Boy, I'm really on a ball with these reviews!

Detective Conan Movie 9: Strategy Above the Depths is, summed up, a movie that probably could've been made into 2 1-Hour episodes.

But the good part is, I would've made for a fairly interesting and somewhat enjoyable 2 part special if it had.

I don't want to tear this movie apart because it really is not a bad watch and I would actually say to still go in and give it a chance because if nothing else, there's some good parts to it. And, who knows? Maybe you'll love it more than me.

Being a big ShinRan shipper, there were more adorable moments. I liked that it explored on the fact Ran is a good hider when it comes to hide and seek and Shinichi is the only one that can find her. That was pretty dang adorable.

Kogoro actually fucking having a really good moment of solving a case was really a nice thing to see too. I know he's supposed to be a bit of incompetent for the sake of Conan/Shinichi solving the cases, but I don't know, like, I was really happy for Kogoro to kinda get the spotlight and put the whole thing together. Good for him, honestly.

But then we had to get that classic 90's/early 2000's "I don't hit girls" and I...I get it, I guess I do see Kogoro as the type that wouldn't want to hurt women, but it also just kind of bothered me. I get it, the character is supposed to be chivalrous, but damn, as a woman growing up on anime since she was a kid, this does get a little old and tired. I didn't really feel much satisfaction from Kogoro getting punched around either.

Really, they would have done so much better if they just had continued using the likeness of the lady to Eri and him being like, "Well, I don't really want to hurt someone who looks like the woman I love." THAT I can understand and I feel like has more impact, but you know, it's a small thing I shouldn't spend much time grouching about.

Uh, other than that, I think they were...sort of going for a twist murderer ending? I mean, I guess it was a tad surprising, but also I don't know. Feels a bit weird to have the main antagonist have a lot of the attention drawn on him and in the end it's someone else right about at the very last second? It's just...very odd. But it did kind of make sense too, to be fair. I mean, the clues were still there, after all

I feel like the last half hour of the movie or so was really interesting, but also felt like the writers were kind of bsing it a bit as well.

One final note, this movie makes me laugh because I can't help but think they were going for a sort of "Titanic, but Detective Conan!" The end credits of the girl throwing the necklace into the sea feel like they even confirm this a bit, but it's very obviously a VERY loose adaption. Still amusing, all the same.

I love how this is the most I've rambled about a movie and yet I'm gonna end up rating it so low. I guess when I really like something, I have less to say, but maybe that's just because I figure it can speak for itself? I have no idea. Anyway, moving on!

1.) The Fourteenth Target (2nd Movie)

2.) The Time Bombed Skyscraper (1st Movie)

3.) Magician of the Silver Sky (8th Movie)

4.) Captured in Her Eyes (4th Movie)

5.) Crossroad in the Ancient Capital (7th Movie)

6.) The Phantom of Baker Street (6th Movie)

7.) Countdown to Heaven (5th Movie)

8.) Strategy Above the Depths (9th Movie)

9.) The Wizard of the Last Century (3rd Movie)

I really do feel bad for Wizard of the Last Century, this movie still beat it out due to it being a bit more memorable for me, personally. For the time being.

It's going to be funny going back to these in the future and having drastically different opinions on these (if I do).

I feel like the issue is also going to be that some movie plots are going to feel similar to certain episodes I've seen and that's going to cause some confusion on my end. Guess that's bound to happen though when a series has been running so long, has over 1000 episodes and...I can't remember...are they up to around 30 movies now? Might be more like in the 20s. I don't recall.