#the season 1 theme song is so inferior

[dorothygale]

a single mom who works too hard who loves her kids and never stops

[thoughtfulchaos773]

Fishes, Water, & Dreams Part III

Exploring the shows biggest symbolism- water based on Jung's Archetypes.

"Water is the commonest symbol for the unconscious. The lake in the valley is the unconscious, which lies, as it were, underneath consciousness...'" - Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, Paragraph 40.

Water Symbolism 1- The Unknown

Season 3 has a big focus on water, but we can trace the water symbolism to Season 1, Episode 3. The episode begins and ends with Carmy near water, lost in his thoughts.

This is the viewers experiencing the first of Carl Jung's symbolism in explaining the unconscious—it’s the fear of the unknown, the uncertainty Carmy has—a sense of dread that follows. As he looks into the water, it’s Carmy going into his psyche into the unknown. "Let it rip" reminds him to face his fear of exploring those hidden parts of himself, of his emotions.

Dreams involving water—like Jimmy’s dream of driving to a lake with Carmy’s father or being submerged in a pool—add depth to these themes. Donna’s mention of a fish tank with fish swimming and the glass breaking ties into these concepts as well, exploring emotions and the unconscious.

Water Symbolism 2- A Sydney & Carmy Reflection

A reflection - when water is still, it can serve as nature's reflection, and its surface can mirror our true selves. But reflections also remind us of Sydney and Carmy- like Carmy, Sydney stands by the water to reflect on her innermost thoughts in 3x09- she's mirroring Carmy. As the song sings, choose to enjoy one's time by the water.

When Sydney and Carmy reflect their true selves emerge to the surface. There are often scenes of Sydney and Carmy mirroring each other, but the scene where Sydney stares into Lake Michigan is one of the more potent moments of reflection.

In a moment of openness, of rawness, and experiencing the loss of his brother, Carmy reveals his true self—the rebellious, unbound, spontaneous artist. This is the true Carmy that brought Sydney to him in the first place. The blood orange dish itself is also connected to water—it's a fish with blood flowing, like water, like life itself.

They reflect each other, and by being paired, when one connects with their true self beyond the facade of the world, they discover a path to wholeness.

Water Symbolism 3 Life & Birth

Another note—to visit @whenmemorydies, who explains it so much better than I do—but the water represents birth.

It can represent life itself and the process of being reborn based on spiritual beliefs - think baptisms and life in the womb.

In 3x08, Donna talks about the prolonged process of Mikey's birth, suggesting that it seemed like he didn't want to leave. Water is again associated with Mikey, as he takes his own life near the Chicago River, almost as if he wants to end where he began.

The process of being reborn, besides spiritual beliefs, can also connect to our psyche. The character's inferior functions, which are the unexplored aspects of themselves, come to the surface. Exploring those parts of themselves can lead them to be reborn and whole after such tragedy, to start a new life.

To be reborn, one has to die. I think grief plays a role in water. Not only is it our source of life and a representation of the mother, it also signifies the source of our demise - the cause of death. In a moment, characters can drown in their dark life like Mikey and never come back again.

Fun Fact: Natalie and Mike share the same astrological sign (Mikey’s DOB is 11/15/1979, and Natalie’s is 11/10/1988). Scorpio is considered one of the three water signs in astrology, which are associated with deep emotions and transformation. I wouldn’t be surprised if Carmy and Donna are also water signs, like Cancer or Pisces. This family is stuck in inherited patterns of not exploring their emotions to reach fulfillment. The only person to break this curse of not exploring their thoughts and emotions is Natalie (and crossing my fingers for Carmy).

Water also symbolizes emotions and the flood of repressed feelings, which can be triggered by anxiety and stress.

By grief.

Water & Grief

However, as the energy of my grief expanded, it became titanic, unmanageable. My inferior function was overwhelmed by the unconscious forces making themselves known. - link

Grief, too, plays a role in water. There's imagery in quotes such as:

"Grief is like the ocean; it comes in waves, ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim." – Vicki Harrison

There is also the concept of being overwhelmed by grief, and as grief becomes more intense, our less developed coping mechanisms might come to the surface. Death is a universal human experience, a part of our collective unconscious. For Carmy, thoughts of Mikey lead him to Lake Michigan. We see the water washing over the expo station, and right after that, Carmy takes a moment to himself while cleaning. Marcus also struggles with loss, taking a moment to look at Carmy. Both continue to push themselves while grieving.

Drawing a parallel to Mikey, and recalling episode 1x03, we witness Carmy going through a grieving process. The imagery of water is associated with Carmy once again as rain lingers on his windows, and he stares at his scar. Thinking of Mikey.

Water is not just connected to Mikey but Water is the characters' connection to their true selfs- to experience this connection they have to go through exploring their emotions, and after grief - the most rawest form of emotions comes rebirth - life continuing to flow after death.

[the-one-where-casey-watches-tv]

9-1-1 episode 6.14 "Performance Anxiety"

You know what? I love this show. And I’m not embarrassed about it. But what is it about a network procedural that makes me feel the need to say that? Yeah it’s kinda silly and most of the things that happen seem pretty unrealistic, but it’s fun and heartwarming and genuinely diverse and unique. I’ve been watching this show since it premiered; I was drawn in by Peter Krause’s captain Bobby Nash (I’ll do anything for Peter Krause) but the quality of the show itself is what’s kept me along for the ride. I’m always impressed by a bold pilot, and I was enamored right away by the 118 pulling a newborn out of the wall after a secretly pregnant teen gave birth on the toilet and flushed it.

We’re now nearing the end of season 6, and this show is still taking me by surprise. Its characters, tone, and theme have remained consistent, but part of that tone includes zany 911 calls with twists I never see coming. What endears me to this show over say the Chicago franchise is the way it’s kept itself from descending fully into nighttime soap opera territory by maintaining a healthy balance between serious character-driven episodes and its trademark lighter, feel-good emergency episodes.

This week’s “Performance Anxiety” is a classic lighthearted episode that also capitalizes on the time we’ve spent throughout the series really getting to know the characters. It’s performance review season in LA, including at the 118. In between a dramatically heartwarming review at a bakery and a father-son breakthrough at a bodybuilding competition, Bobby gives the team evaluations of his own.

Of course, the 118 is a dream team, so the reviews are really a thinly veiled vehicle for Bobby to get evaluated himself- as Athena says, “the man craves feedback”. But Bobby is still wise, kind, and playful as ever in his dad-energy way and finds ways to help the team grow in ways beyond the job. Through his encouragement of Eddie to let himself have a life beyond Christopher and work, genuine no-notes praise of Hen, and gentle treatment of Buck post-lightning strike, we get a fun, rapid-fire sub-plot that lets us reap the benefits of the character development the show has been building from day one. And all through Bobby who, true to his own character, knows them better than anyone.

Despite Chimney’s near-perfect review, Bobby notes a lack of leadership and, in an ambiguous display of tough love, sends him back to the academy. There, Chimney is forced to step up as an instructor alongside Ravi (remember him?) who seems to be stuck in a rut of his own. They process some things together, and Chimney reveals that he started firefighting with his best friend, who he encouraged every step of the way. The friend died putting out a house fire, and Chimney vowed to never pull anyone into danger ever again. As he and Ravi talk through things, Chimney realizes that Bobby sent him here to do a little more than lead, and the end of the episode finds the two of them walking triumphantly back into the 118.

One could argue that Maddie’s split screen musical number with a panic-stricken caller was a little much. But if you don’t like that, I think the show’s already lost you. Would a 911 dispatcher get a round of applause from the rest of the call center after bursting into song with a nervous college applicant? It’s another one of those times where the answer is no, but isn’t this fun? And that seems to be the mantra of the whole show.

There’s not a ton of meat to 9-1-1, but I don’t want to sleep on these kinds of shows. It’s the only first responder show I know of to feature dispatchers so prominently and create such a well-rounded depiction of emergency response. And finding creativity within the procedural format is a different kind of creativity that I don’t think is inferior to the deep, heady streaming shows that I also love. Without procedurals, there’s no gems like House or Medium, and I think 9-1-1 is doing a solid job keeping the format alive and even doing it justice.

What do y’all think? Do you watch or are you too good for it? Have you seen the spinoff? As much as I love it, I will not set foot in 9-1-1: Lonestar, but if you’re obsessed with it maybe you can change my mind!

[nitw]

book 3′s theme of growing up vs escapism, and what that says about grace and simon’s fates

infinity train book 3 is as much about empathy and morality as it is about maturity. grace and simon deal with the same obstacles in very different ways, and with the last 2 episodes coming out soon, i wanna make an analysis of what we’ve seen so far, and how that might correlate to the ending of each of their arcs. this is gonna be a LOOOOONG post.

the way the first episode opens up blows my mind every time i watch it. implementing the “when i look at you, i see me” song jesse mentioned in book 2, which is all about accepting each other’s differences, in contrast to the chaos of the apex onscreen? amazing. keep in mind that this was a kids’ song that jesse was taught in school, which makes it even better/worse considering the apex is full of small children.

this is where we get our first proper looks at grace and simon this season. let’s talk about grace first:

grace herself was probably the one who turned the fitting room into her personal throne. she dances around cheerfully as she gears up for her mission. it’s already obvious at this point that grace has quite the superiority complex, but to quote the cat much later on; “she’s very full of herself”.

we get a deeper insight on this in episode 3, when she talks to hazel about her loneliness due to difficulty making friends as a kid.

grace tends to pin the blame on others for her problems to ignore how insecure she really feels, which is likely one of the reasons she ended up on the train, and leading the apex sure didn’t help.

she’s also shown to be very manipulative. she’s a smooth talker who knows how to twist her words to make her seem more trustworthy, and can be very controlling of others to get what she wants. as the leader of the apex, she’s learned how to talk to kids, especially.

now let’s get to simon. THESE are the first shots we see of him:

in contrast to grace sitting proudly in her throne room under spotlights, simon spends his time alone in a small, poorly lit toy store which he’s revamped into a workshop for his miniature figures.

this whole opening sequence shows us, in a short amount of time and without dialogue, how different grace and simon really are. initially, grace feels on top of the world and wants everyone else to view her like that too. while simon isolates himself from the apex to focus on his own little hobbies when he’s not going on missions. he doesn’t feel the need to flaunt himself, because he doesn’t have the highest number and he’s not the leader, that’s grace. their individual surroundings paint a good picture of how they feel about themselves.

so what is there to say about simon? for starters, he’s very hot-headed and loses his temper easily when things don’t go his way...

... he has major trust/abandonment issues...

... and he collects miniatures.

why is that last part important? because from the very first shot of him and then several times throughout the season, simon is painted as the more immature and childlike of the duo.

let’s get a few things straight:

grace and simon are both 18 years old, the oldest members of the apex. 18 is usually considered the confusing midpoint of adolescence, not REALLY a kid anymore but not REALLY an adult just yet. but according to themselves, they don’t feel like adults (”never trust an adult passenger”).

they both arrived on the train when they were around 10, aka they’ve been stuck here for roughly 8 years.

IN those years, they’ve been totally misguided and didn’t know the true purpose of the train, which led them to their “this is our personal playground, and if you don’t play along, you’re weak” mentality. this is why they don’t trust denizens/nulls, they don’t see them as anything other than toys.

what i’ve talked about so far is pretty much how we’re introduced to the two: one has a superiority complex, the other has an inferiority complex, but they’re both equally willing players in the apex’s childish game of chaos and destruction.

... and then hazel and tuba happens.

this is in the second episode. what’s the first thing grace does when she initially meets the two? she acknowledges hazel’s bond with tuba and greets them both, despite her dislike towards nulls. she knows she’s good with kids and uses this to her advantage, because she doesn’t want to lose a potential addition to the apex, but the point is that she treats tuba with respect out of consideration for hazel.

meanwhile, in comparison, simon wants absolutely nothing to do with tuba. he doesn’t speak to her once in this scene and only comments on it to grace. the only thing holding him back from fighting tuba is his fear of losing.

this conflict goes on between them for several episodes. grace wants to get rid of tuba as much as simon, but she wants to take the most harmless approach possible for the sake of hazel’s feelings, while simon couldn’t care less about anyone’s feelings but his own:

but as grace naturally begins to question everything she thought she knew, and grows fond of both hazel AND tuba...

... simon becomes more frustrated and impatient, and lets his blind rage overpower him.

and simon knows this.

aside from fear of abandonment, there’s nothing he fears and hates more than being underestimated.

being looked down upon.

being ignored.

being treated like a child.

every season of infinity train is about change, personal development and self-reflection. book 3 is the season of coming to terms with adulthood and maturity, and this goes for both grace AND simon. they’re just on opposite ends of the scale.

grace’s number is high. it’ll take a long time before she manages to leave the train. but she’s made an active decision to be the bigger person, to open up to and trust even what she doesn’t fully understand. and now she’s finally headed in the right direction.

simon isn’t stuck on square 1. he’s falling further and further behind, because he’s too stubborn to grow up and accept the reality of his circumstances.

this show doesn’t really have any heroes, because the goal of our protagonists is to save themselves. but simon is too self-destructive AND destructive towards others, and the path he’s taken is leading him to the closest thing we have to a villain...

... and the events of the most recent episode may have been the last straw.

[dokidokivisual]

Gochiusa BLOOM episode 6 impressions

Previously: 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1

Oh no, we are already halfway through the season! Time sure flies fast, doesn’t it? Anyway, let’s see what the episode 6 had to offer.

The episode opens with the titular “fluffle of rabbits” (which supposedly is an actual term for a group of rabbits in parts of Northern Canada, but honestly that just sounds completely made-up. I mean rabbits don’t even live in Nothern Canada, or are they? but I digress) surrounding Sharo.

Sharo’s costume and her holding a flyer is a direct callback to a scene from season 1 episode 7 “Call me Sister” where Sharo has encountered Wildgeese while distributing fliers for Fleur du Lapin. It’s not really explained in the episode, but this time Sharo is on the job to pass out fliers as well, but is tolerating the rabbits for the sake of Chino.

The fact that rabbits (other than Tippy, Anko and Wildgeese) kind of avoid Chino is also a previously established trait, namely in season 1 episode 6, but it’s not mentioned very often. However it’s interesting to rewatch that part of season 1 episode (06:00 - 06:30 and 08:20 - 09:00), because it establishes a metaphor which is crucial for understanding the current one.

Basically the rabbits rejecting Chino symbolize her lack of sociability (called komyusho  コミュ障 or “communication disorder” in Japanese). While Chino thinks that the fact that the rabbits don’t run away has to do with Sharo being present, it’s actually explained by her personal growth over the last year or so.

In fact the theme for the entire episode can be summarized as “growth”. It’s fitting that rabbits are also a symbol of growth... in numbers at least.

After the OP, the story suddenly switches to Chimame’s middle school as they decide on a natural look for their graduation photo album. It’s another reminder of the passage of time, and the fact that Chimame-tai are about to become high schoolers in a few months. But it’s still October, and at least the manga takes its sweet time to get there.

By the way this pose is similar to Chimame “victory pose” from season 1 episode 5.

Megu decides that her hair type resembles Sharo’s and decides to ask her for advice. It might be hard to notice with their usual hairstyles, but if you look at Clockwork Rabbit Sharo you can see the resemblance. Coincidentally Sharo is getting a haircut right outside her home, so Megu hides behind a fire hydrant. In the manga she hides behind the corner of a building which I guess didn’t make sense given the geometry of the location. Then again, how large is this fire hydrant that Megu can easily hide behind it?

Sharo and Chiya eventually do spot her, and start fighting over who gets to do Megu’s hair. It turns out that they both cut each other’s hair, even though they’re not particularly satisfied with the result. The point of contention seems to be them cutting the bangs in a straight line, which is called pattsun ぱっつん in Japanese. Koi has previously mentioned this concept in volume 3 chapter 2 titled “Pattun Horizon”, which was adapted as part of season 1 episode 10. In that chapter Cocoa has a sleepover with Chiya and Sharo, and gets a matching pattsun to commemorate the occasion.

By the way there is an entire character song about Sharo having her hair cut by Chiya and it’s called  空色サロン (”Sky-colored salon”). It’s a really good song from the recent Blend of Letters album so check it out.

In the end, Megu gets her hair styled by Chiya’s grandma, using the same “thing” (probably a brush) she grooms Anko with. This also includes perming her curls straight. Unfortunately we don’t get to see how it went, and the scene switches to Maya right after. By the way, this manga chapter is called “Megu loses her tornado” (メグ、トルネードを失う).

Meanwhile Maya goes to a hair accessory shop to cover up her ahoge (”idiot hair”). Rize also happens to be there (implying that she might also be preparing for a graduation album photo) and tries to help Maya. She seems to carry some sort of hair conditioner with herself, although Maya’s ahoge is too strong for it. In the end they decide to buy matching hairpins.

Even though Rize holds a yellow hairpin and Maya a purple one, the back of the packaging is identical for both and indicates yellow color (黄). This is probably a mistake. The barcode number 8/08 140 2/14 160 indicates Maya and Rize’s birthday and height respectively (similar to Aoyama’s bounty in episode 3). I wasn’t able to read the QR code but maybe it encodes something as well.

Later when Rize scolds Maya she flicks a finger at her forehead (called dekopin でこピン in Japanese) while calling her DekoMaya (でこマヤ). Rize is basically implying that Maya has a big forehead, however it only got exposed because of the hair decoration she put on.

Finally it’s Chino’s turn. Apparently Chino usually cuts her hair herself. However this time she notices Tippy looking unusually fluffy and it turns out it was Cocoa who trimmed his fur (which is normally also done by Chino). Since angora rabbits were bred for their wool, it grows very fast, so unlike most other rabbit breeds it’s necessary to regularly trim it.

Chino becomes resolved to let Cocoa cut her hair, which makes her quite surprised and happy. Like Sharo and Chiya before, Chino is willing to put her trust in Cocoa, which shows how much their relationship has progressed. Cocoa tries to imitate a hair salon beautician, in particular the phrase “kayui tokoro wa gozaimasen ka?” (”does it itch somewhere?”) seems to be a staple phrase among Japanese hair stylists. This might be how Mocha used to cut her hair back home. Chino comments that Cocoa’s hair has grown longer, however it doesn’t look much longer than in previous episodes when in manga it was obviously longer:

The theme of growing hair corresponding to growth of a person is explored here. Mocha has very long hair, and Cocoa is thinking of growing her hair just as long to overcome her sense of inferiority. However regardless of hair length, we still see Cocoa being as immature as ever. For example she offers to hit her with a pico-pico hammer (pikohan) in case she makes a mistake. This toy is commonly featured in Japanese variety shows, and even in videogames, in fact it was invented in Japan by Masudaya toy company in 1968.

As I mentioned in episode 4 review, in the manga Cocoa only finds out that Chino has decided to go to her school at the end of this chapter. In this scene Cocoa doesn’t know it yet, and Chino when asked about it says she thought about joining Megu and Maya in Sharo’s school. This causes Cocoa to inadvertently cut Chino’s hair wrong. In the anime the dialogue is changed completely, but the end result is still the same. Chino learns that it’s inappropriate to joke around in certain situations, and Cocoa learns that longer hair doesn’t necessarily make you a good oneechan.

In the end Cocoa and Chino cut each other’s hair and Takahiro reassures them they did a good job after all. In the manga this hairstyle was labeled as つるてーん (tsuruten) which I think comes from the expression つんつるてん　tsuntsuruten which is used for clothing which is too short, for example pants being so short that lower legs are exposed. Perhaps it’s implied that they cut their bangs too short and too much of forehead is exposed.

In the end we get to see Chimame-tai’s final form. Megu’s change is the most radical as she did get a straight perm after all.

Now onto part B. It’s based on the same chapter as the opening scene with rabbits and Chino, namely volume 6 chapter 4. In the manga this scene follows directly after, which explains why Sharo is still wearing Fleur uniform there.

The original bread festival happened in season 1 episode 7 and was also advertised via distribution of leaflets. Here’s the original poster for comparison:

Compared to the original poster, Rabbit House is now spelled correctly, and “Welcome come on” is now written in English. Also Tippy is now singing a weird jingle (papan-pan-pan-pan-matsuri) which brings to mind Cocoa’s bread-themed Rabbit House theme song from Sing For You as well as Cocoa’s character song パンパカパンのパンのパーティー which features “welcome come on” and I guess was inspired by Cocoa’s bread festivals.

Soon, Aoyama and Rin turn up, still chasing each other since the previous episode. However the previous episode omitted an important detail about Rin from the manga chapter, which is that she doesn’t really like coffee. In the anime it’s revealed later, but it explains why nobody seems to care about Chino’s “special blend”. In response Chino turns into delinquent mode, with Wildgeese on her head instead of Tippy. 

The way Chino speaks changes too. Normally Chino always speaks in polite register, using desu and -masu verb forms at the end of the sentence. This is one of the defining characteristics of Chino since she’s the only character in the series to do this even in informal situations.

In this scene Chino switches to plain register, ending her sentence with da ze, which is a plain copula da followed by ending particle ze indicating forcefulness. This sentence ending is well known from the catchphrase yare yare da ze of Jotaro Kujo from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

When Wildgeese is replaced with Anko, Chino goes into a stupor. In the end it turns out Chino was playing along, and it was another of her “pranks”. Rize comments that Chino became just like Cocoa, perhaps recalling Cocoa’s breakdown in season 2 episode 10.

The bread festival is about to begin, and Chino still seems to be upset, even though Cocoa praises her (too late). Cocoa herself also seems to be unsure of her bread’s quality (especially compared to her sister).

For some reason, Sharo is in the mood for some coffee and orders Chino’s special blend. This causes everyone else to order it too. Maybe Sharo felt bad for Chino in the earlier scene and took one for the team?

Anyway, Chino’s coffee is very pretty and features a flower made from whipped cream (for which there’s an official tutorial how to make it). I guess this ties into the theme of BLOOM, however in the manga it was also a flower and it was probably written before the season 3 title was decided.

Sharo tastes Chino’s coffee and ends up in “paradise”. You might notice, with the field of flowers and flower wreaths it also fits into the BLOOM theme.

Seeing this reaction, Rin also decides to order coffee. Rize responds with “but you said you don’t like coffee”, but she never says this in anime. Unless it was supposed to be an off-screen conversation? Anyway, Rin also enjoys Chino’s coffee, and the “warmth” she put into it. Chino, who originally had a rather cold personality takes this praise to heart.

It turns out that there were many customers other than the regular characters (which doesn’t happen often in Rabbit House). Lots of children too, who seem to particularly like Chino as has been previously established. Chino shows them how to make latte art, promising to make a “fluffy rabbit” which might be a reference to the rabbit she draws in the ED of this episode.

Cocoa also has a self-reflection moment when she decides she doesn’t have to be like her sister because Chino looks up to Cocoa anyway. Cocoa explains that can’t distinguish Chino’s blends of coffee because they’re all similarly delicious to her. Considering she misidentifies one of Chino’s blends as instant coffee in the first episode there are reasons to doubt this confession. It works on Chino though who can hardly contain her happiness.

Despite all the praise heaped on her, Chino is still not sure if she’s changed. However as she comes out to take down the signboard, a lone rabbit approaches Chino and doesn’t run away.

Under the warm sunset colors, Chino gives a “warm” welcome to the rabbit, referencing the episode’s title (though it was just one rabbit, not a “fluffle” of them) and giving a conclusion to this arc. As I explained in the beginning, the rabbit is a symbol of Chino becoming more approachable over the past few episodes. She is also now seen as a grownup by those who are smaller than her, such as children and, well, rabbits.

So that was a “growth” episode of Gochiusa BLOOM, and the next episode (which is Halloween-themed) promises to be quite important as well.

Oh, and poor Rize’s pasta... Nobody seem to have ordered or even mentioned it. I’m sure it was delicious as well. Can we get a Rize appreciation episode please?

[just-a-gay-toku-girl]

This chapter comes to a close

As you’ve seen by my posts I’ve recently been watching through Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, and just last night at the time of writing this I watched the final episode. This is significant to me because it was the first sentai I watched all the way through that was from before I became a sentai fan (Which was around the halfway point of Zyuohger). Why did I pick Shinkenger as my first? Partially because I like the suits, partially because the opening theme is a bop, and partially because I had seen parts of power rangers Samurai and I was just curious. So having finished the series (still having some movies to watch) I thought it would be fun to give my thoughts on the show and its characters, no note just talking about my thoughts on the show as a whole(Beware as I won’t shy away from spoilers). Starting with...

The Villains 

Arguably the villains can be just as important to the success of a show or movie as the main characters are. They need to be intimidating and powerful to make them seem like a real threat to the team, and I think the Gedoushu manage to accomplish that well enough. The suit designs for the main generals are ok, very intricate but not overly so (The exception to that being Dokoku who just has a bit to much going in his design IMO). One of my favorite things about this group is their main goal: raising the level of the Sanzu river so it’ll flood into the human world, To do this they have to create negative emotions in humans. It’s not often that bad guys in these shows actually have a goal besides just world domination. This actually gives the individual monsters more purpose than just attempting to destroy the rangers, plus it means that whenever they attack their scoring at least a small victory as the river will raise ever so slightly. Another small thing to mention before I get into the main villains as individuals is that despite being evil there seemed to be a bit of comradery between at least the main 3. It wasn’t brought up too often but a scene that stuck out to me was at the end when Dokoku and Shitari seem to be just the least bit saddened by Dayu’s death. Granted that could just be them being thankful that her death made Dokoku stronger but I digress. Onto the individual villains from least to most favorite

Shitari

There’s not much to say about Shitari since I can’t actually remember him doing much throughout the show. He may have helped with the plots of a few filler episodes and commanded a few monsters but that’s about it. Really the most notable thing about him is that his actor also plays Brook in One Piece so part of me was always expecting him to ask to see Dayu’s panties.

Dokoku

Surprisingly the big bad of this season just barely escapes being the worst villain. Much like Shitari he doesn’t actually do much throughout the season, what places him higher than Shitari is two things: 1. he has a reason for being idle throughout the show being that unlike other Gedoushu he can’t stay in the human world for more than 3 minutes without drying up severely and being out of commission for the next week, though we never are really told why that is. 2. When he eventually DID actually do something he was damn powerful. Easily walking through the shinkengers in their first battle. Not to mention it was clear even with monsters that seemed more intimidating than him they still were afraid of him and his power.

Dayuu

Honestly I don’t have much to say about her either. Most of the villains were decent at being villains but for the most part kinda unremarkable. What puts Dayuu and Juzo is just the fact that they had backstories and pretty interesting ones at that. Dayuu after finding out the man she loved had married another woman was consumed with jealousy and burned him and his wife to death. That is friggin metal as hell and I love it. In a series like this where full scale invasions from aliens are common place in rare to see something so small scale like this to be treated as serious as it is. It really makes her feel more human as a villain, which I dig.

Juzo

Juzo was easily my favorite villain in Shinkenger. And no not just because he was played by my favorite character from 555. Like Dayu he had a really interesting backstory that made him feel a lot more human (Despite the whole point of his arc being that he wasn’t human.) Basically he found out he was dying and decided to take a couple people down with him which led to him becoming a Gedou. In the earlier episodes he seemed to be sort of an anti hero, not necessarily working for the Gedou and even saving Shinken red’s life on a couple of occasions just because he wanted so desperately to fight red himself. That is until close to the end of the show when he basically said “I don’t care if my family’s souls are suffering because of me, let them suffer.” to show there really wasn’t a shred of humanity left within him. Not to mention he had an amazing death scene that I won’t say anything because it’s best seen for yourself. 

Now with the bag guys done I’m gonna move onto the actual shinkengers. like before it’ll be least to most favorite

Shinken Green - Tani Chiaki

In this case saying Chiaki is my least favorite really just means I didn’t like him as much as the others but I still did like him. Admittedly there wasn’t much to Chiaki in terms of an arc, just that in the beginning he had an inferiority complex that made him not want to follow orders but that kinda went away after one episode. What I liked more about him was his personality, very happy-go-lucky while still taking his role as a shinkenger seriously. He’s also very friendly, being the first to make friend’s with Genta when he joined the team as well as having a good relationship with every other ranger and even Jii. He really is fun to watch but not much else.

Shinken Pink - Shiraishi Mako

Mako is a very kind person and wants to help those in need, however she only helps those in need and as soon as they don’t need her she leaves them. She’s one of the older Shinkengers thus earning her the affectionate nickname of “Big sis” from the rest of the team. However that’s basically all there is to her. She doesn’t change that much and overall has the lowest amount of character focus episodes. But she’s cute so that puts her above Chiaki.

Shinken Blue - Ikenami Ryunosuke

Ryunosuke is easily the most dedicated to his role as a samurai,he’s kind, hardworking and he’s loyal to a fault which ends up creating an internal debate for him when he discovers the person he’s pledged his life to isn’t the actual Shiba head. Being that he was a kabuki actor his movements and mannerisms are very lively and wild, it’s really just a joy to watch how his actor portrayed him. He definitely carried the show’s energy for the most part. I also loved watching his interactions with the others and when he’s forced to work with them. Some highlights of his include the episode where him and Chiaki get glued together and the episode where Genta tries to follow him around to learn to be a samurai.

Shinken Red - Shiba Takeru/Shiba Kaoru

I lump both of them together mainly because we didn’t see enough of Kaoru for me to really make a judgement of her yet I still wanted to mention her. I’ll say this, I did like her. She was definitely worthy of being the first female red ranger. I appreciate that despite her recognizing herself as the strongest she never tried to put the others down for being weaker than her, even berating her retainer for doing just that. I’ll admit the thing at the end with her “Adopting” Takeru was kinda weird but it showed she recognized the team was stronger with Takeru.

As for Takeru himself I really enjoyed him. Stoic, intimidating, and cold at the beginning but as time went on and he developed relationships with the rest of the team he slowly began opening up to them more and more. So much so that by the end he was joking around just as much as they were. And the twist of him not actually being of the Shiba household I thought was executed pretty well, I would’ve been genuinely surprised by it had power rangers not done the same thing. He was a really solid character and easily one of my favorite red rangers.

Shinken Gold - Umemori Genta

Genta was a unique 6th ranger in that he was mostly comedic relief, but a damn good one. He had me genuinely laughing out loud a few times. despite being a comedic character they managed to have a few serious plots with him that turned out alright. Not much more to say about him, he’s funny and (as the show called him) an extraordinary good boy

Shinken Yellow - Hanaori Kotoha 

Easily my favorite of the shinkengers, Kotoha is the youngest and therefore least experienced of the team. Originally her older sister was meant to take the role of yellow but fell ill before the events of the show leaving Kotoha to take her place. This of course makes her feel inferior to the others and ike she isn’t a real samurai, just a substitute for her sister. Eventually though after Jii learns of her insecurities he helps reassure her that everyone thinks of her as a real samurai. Although this part of her character isn’t really seen until close to the end, it was that which made me love her character, hell I even shed a tear or two during her last character focus episode. Plus she is downright adorable so there’s nothing not to love about her.

Final thoughts

Overall I think Shinkenger was a really good show, easily in my top 5 sentai (although that’s not saying much since most of the sentai I’ve seen have been pretty Meh). As I mentioned the suits are really well designed, and the opening song as well as the fight songs are just badass. The characters are all really good with the weakest of them just being the ones that were under developed. The story while not necessarily ground breaking it was still enjoyable to watch and I wouldn’t mind coming back to it pretty soon, but for now I need to move on to a different sentai.

I contemplated for  a while what sentai to watch next, between Goseiger, Goonger, Dekaranger, Magiranger, Bioman and a few others. Ultimately tho I decided that since one of my favorite things about sentai is the crossovers I should go back and watch all the crossovers, so I’ll start with the season that made these team ups an annual thing. So if I ever make another Long ass post like this, then you’ll be hearing of the fight to protect earth against the evile Baranoia army in Chouriki Sentai Ohranger

[simpsonsnight]

Episode #662

WHAT THIS?

Crystal Blue-Haired Persuasion Season 30 - Episode 23 | May 12 2019 Wow, this might easily be the most self-referential week’s worth of episodes that I’ve ever covered. Very special. But first I’ll talk about the episode. Marge gets into healing crystals after losing insurance for Bart’s ADD meds. It’s funny to see season 11's “Brother’s Little Helper” come full circle: what was once a fertile subject for satire is now a just a fact of life. Makes you think! I guess! Illeana Douglas, famous for appearing in a Chasing Amy deleted scene, plays a healing crystal store owner who joins a cult and allows Marge to sell off the rest of her inventory. Marge becomes rich, Homer becomes a house husband, Marge feuds with another healing crystal store, and then I guess it ends. This one isn’t particularly good, but I still maintain that the technical quality of these HD shows is rather good. There are some fairly lame bits, like when Marge is reeling off a list of side-effects of some inferior ADD drug she has to put Bart on it keeps cutting back to Bart exhibiting those effects in rapid succession. It’s fairly groanworthy. A Simpsons sequence that relies entirely on the strength of it’s animation is usually a dud. If you find yourself wondering how a scene like this is any different from Homer going through the stages of grief in season 2 it’s because that scene is sold by a combination of the animation, the vocal performance, and the true characterization of Homer who is an impulsive, easily-manipulated oaf, going through each stage of grief merely from the power of suggestion. It’s a much stronger joke because of that! Okay, so here’s the part where I marvel at how connected this week’s episodes have been. Basically, everything flows backwards to Homer the Heretic. Season 8′s El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer) features “Short Shorts” by the Royal Teens, also used in Homer the Heretic. Season 12′s New Kids on the Blecch features backwards talk. Nelson laughs backwards in Homer’s hallucinatory state (okay this is the one that’s a bit of a stretch but otherwise New Kids on the Blecch is the lone hold out) Season 17′s See Homer Run is father’s day themed. It also features a couch gag that shows the Simpsons in a human zoo on Kang and Kodo’s home planet. Season 21′s Moe Letter Blues is Mother’s Day themed. It features the song “I’ll Always Love My Mama” by the Intruders at the end. Season 26′s The Man Who Came to Be Dinner features Kang and Kodos kidnapping the Simpsons and putting them in a human zoo on their home planet, expanding on See Homer Run’s couch gag. And finally, this episode, which I watched with baited breath looking for connections. There are two! A reprise of “I’ll Always Love My Mama” in one scene, and a non-speaking cameo from the Space Coyote from El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer during a dream/fantasy sequence. Amazing. THE B-SODE:

Rick and Morty: "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat" Season 4 - Episode 1 | November 10, 2019 *SIGH* okay I picked a B-SODE that I actually want to/have been meaning to watch. Morty goes nuts this time dawg. Rick does stuff. Season 4 premiere broh. I was pretty up on Rick & the Morties for season 3 but season 4 has so far completely passed me by. I think because I thought I wasn’t supposed to watch it without my wife who is the actual mega Rick & Morty fan between the two of us, but SHE let it slide citing that she wanted to watch all 5 episodes. I honestly have no idea if she ever did watch these. I had a friend who said the premiere was underwhelming but I gotta say, this episode was hilarious/great. You gotta watch Rick and Morty, Morty!!!!! ! Oh yeah I should say what happens in this. Morty gets himself a death crystal, which tells the holder how they’ll die if they start doing a thing or not doing a thing. And he becomes obsessed with one particular outcome where he dies as an old man, being comforted by Jessica, his crush, and he lets the crystal guide him towards that outcome, creating mayhem everywhere. He does some “Van Damage” as Jeremy Renner said in National Lampoon’s Senior Trip. Remember that movie? Kevin McDonald is in it! NOTE: I was trying to get a very good screen shot of this episode but for some reason the hi-res version of it was password protected on some blog, so I clicked visually similar images and got this screen shot from DOUG and it made me laugh so I’m using it instead. Sorry!

[louderthanthedj]

Long Character Survey - Hope Gallant

Get ready for a whole post about my god damn fuckin seLF

Below the cut

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Hope Gallant

NICKNAME: None

AGE: 22

BIRTHDAY: 20th Sun of the 6th Astral Moon (November 19th)

ETHNIC GROUP: White

NATIONALITY: I would say Gridanian because current affiliations but she wasn’t born there

LANGUAGE(S): English, with my own accent despite the European accents FFXIV defaults to

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Asexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Demi-romantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Taken

CLASS: Economic? Middle. FFXIV battle class? White Mage

HOMETOWN / AREA: Mor Dhona

CURRENT HOME: Technically Mor Dhona, but has spent the last four months on Norvrandt. Obviously

PROFESSION: White Mage, Scion

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: White/Purple (Still not sure if it’s naturally white or glamoured)

EYES: Violet

NOSE: Small, straight

FACE: Round, chubby

LIPS: Full, terribly chapped/scarred

COMPLEXION: Pale

BLEMISHES: N/A

SCARS: Chewed up/Picked apart lips

TATTOOS: None

HEIGHT: 5′1″

WEIGHT: 200 lbs

BUILD: Short, stocky, chubby

FEATURES: Beauty mark under lips

ALLERGIES: None

USUAL HAIRSTYLE: Short with long bangs, artificially straightened. Bangs always cover right eye, generally also cover the left

USUAL FACE LOOK: Never wears makeup. Sometimes wears dark lipstick

USUAL CLOTHING: Hoods, soft jackets/sweatshirts, leather jackets/boots, tight pants

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR(S): Bug monsters. Fucking hates fighting wamouracampas

ASPIRATION(S): uh

POSITIVE TRAITS: Excitable, friendly, empathetic, funny (?), determined

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Reclusive, possessive, impulsive, moody, lazy/unfit

ZODIAC: Scorpio

TEMPERAMENT: Melancholic

SOUL TYPE(S): Performer, Spiritualist

ANIMALS: Chinchillas, cats

VICE HABIT(S): Sweet-tooth, glutton, constantly sleepy

FAITH: The Twelve

GHOSTS?: Yes

AFTERLIFE?: Fuckin better be

REINCARNATION?: Hopefully not

ALIENS?: Yes

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: WOULD SURE AS HELL BE LEFTIST

ECONOMIC PREFERENCE: Eat the rich

SOCIO POLITICAL POSITION: Take a guess

EDUCATION LEVEL: FFXIV equivalent of finished college

FAMILY.

FATHER: N/A

MOTHER:  N/A

SIBLINGS:  N/A

EXTENDED FAMILY:  N/A

NAME MEANING(S):  N/A

HISTORICAL CONNECTION?:  N/A

((Hi, I have NONE of this as a concrete as she is a self insert and the name is an homage to a past Final Fantasy character and a bassist respectively))

FAVORITES.

BOOK: Not creative enough to think of a lore-friendly answer, but doesn’t read for fun

MOVIE PLAY: See above, but LOVES theater

5 SONGS: ((I’ll link my class playlist when I make that post))

DEITY: Rhalgr, Nophica

HOLIDAY: All Saint’s Wake

MONTH: November/6th Astral Moon

SEASON: Autumn

PLACE: Lakeland

WEATHER: Sunny and brisk

SOUND: Heavy music, gentle breezes

SCENT(S): Lavender and Tea

TASTE(S): Chocolate and savory spice

FEEL(S): Leather jackets, warm blankets

ANIMAL(S): Chinchillas, cats

NUMBER: 6

COLORS: Purple, Black, White

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Singing. Singing singing singing okay this is my one fucking thing

BAD AT: Physical exertion

TURN ONS: Kindness, empathy, communication (the explicit turn on y’all literally all already know)

TURN OFFS: Right-wing, untempered haughtiness

HOBBIES: Singing, going for walks, napping, sketching, ???

TROPES: Don’t know the specific name but that one punk/goth girl in a media friend group, usually paired with the weak/warmhearted nerd or comic relief

AESTHETIC TAGS: Gothic, witchy, punk, autumn, hooded figures, scythes, leather boots

FC INFO.

MAIN  FC(S): Myself

ALT FC(S): Myself

OLDER FC(S): Myself

YOUNGER  FC(S): Myself

VOICE CLAIM(S): My dAMN FUCkin self

GENDERBENT FC(S): eh

MUN QUESTIONS.

((Where my answers get short))

Q1: IF YOU COULD WRITE YOUR CHARACTER YOUR WAY IN THEIR OWN MOVIE, WHAT WOULD IT BE CALLED, WHAT STYLE WOULD IT BE FILMED IN, AND WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?:

God listen FFXIV is already perfect, add in me fucking up shit with purple magic and my scythe, and romantic/comfortable couple content constantly with Alphinaud and I’m made

Q2: WHAT WOULD THEIR SOUNDTRACK / SCORE SOUND LIKE?:

Non-lore friendly: Punk music. I post a lot of theme song bullshit and I have a whole playlist of songs that correspond to each battle class

Lore friendly: Think Skyrim and Vindsvept on Youtube, very VERY different from punk music but like. Help me find lore friendly punk music?

Q3: WHY DID YOU START WRITING THIS CHARACTER?:

I don’t write her

Q4: WHAT FIRST ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS CHARACTER?:

She’s me

Q5: DESCRIBE THE BIGGEST THING YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOUR MUSE:

Uhhhh I mean lore wise she’s really incapable as an all rounder due to her physical lacking despite being a completionist. She’s also explosive and tries to learn from her mistakes but doesn’t and absolutely doesn’t deserve the friendship she has

At least I don’t think I do. I don’t know why all of you take such an interest in me and support my ship with Alphinaud or why he’d even like me in the first place so I guess despite all of my self growth over the past three years I’ve still got an inferiority complex. She’s very grateful though.

Q6: WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN COMMON WITH YOUR MUSE?:

She’s me

Q7: HOW DOES YOUR MUSE FEEL ABOUT YOU?:

She’s me

Q8: WHAT CHARACTERS DOES YOUR MUSE HAVE INTERESTING INTERACTIONS WITH?

Aside from the obvious, I like to imagine Hope’s at least a bit more sociable than me, or able to actually get herself out as the story would kinda be a bit impossible if she wasn’t active. With that, she spends an interesting amount of time with class quest characters, especially antics with Sanson and Guydelot, and visits with Alka Zolka

Despite how pissed I am with him over shadowbringers I would really like to think her and Thancred spend a lot of time together just for company’s sake. Same with Arenvald but maybe a bit more close considering their much more similar ages.

She got very attached to Ardbert during their shadowbringers interactions. That was definitely something she had to mourn, and still does, despite absolutely knowing his ending was entirely fitting

Q9: WHAT GIVES YOU INSPIRATION TO WRITE YOUR MUSE?:

I don’t write her

Q10: HOW LONG DID THIS TAKE YOU TO COMPLETE?:

An hour, maybe. These are fast for me cause my answers aren’t in depth, I’m just reminding ya’ll all about myself. Except for the temperament stuff. Those I had to go retake or re look up cause I forgot

I got tagged by noone but @pugsleybro showed me @spotofmummery‘s post and encouraged me to do it so he’d have to and I want to see his

So I tag @pugsleybro, @rhymingteelookatme, and @amandafullmetal

[hora-vespertina]

Possible Foreshadowing in Kuroshitsuji S2 OST?

Okay so. I apologize if this seems kinda reaching but I was looking up the lyrics to Bird by Matsushita Yuuya , an ending song from Kuroshitsuji’s second season and I think there might have been some foreshadowing for the latest chapters of Kuro in them. In this post I’ll be breaking down why I think that way, let me know what you guys think about it!

(lyrics and translations taken from animelyrics) 1: “How can I live without you?”

When I saw the translation of the lyrics years ago, I thought that this verse was an allusion to Sebastian, considering what happened in the season. Some lines in the song describes humanity’s futile efforts in achieving what they yearn for, not so different from some of Sebastian’s comments in the series. However, with recent plot revelations, I thought that this verse might also be applicable for R!Ciel, being formerly inseparable with his twin and having to be separated by a cruel turn of events. The lyrics suggest someone’s return, though, which was exactly what R!Ciel did in the latest chapters.

2. “The Blue Sky”

“Blue Sky” could be a reference to Ciel’s name. The lyrics here suggest of O!Ciel’s and R!Ciel’s losses and their yearning for each other, and that everyone, like Ciel, has their own “blue skies” that they’ll never catch in their grasps. These verses further support the possibility that these verses were in fact written in R!Ciel’s point of view, or of his Soul after he was killed in the summoning ceremony:

 “Under this night sky without even a single star, unable to see my destination, I simply wander about. There hasn’t been anything scary at all, just that there’s nothing for me to protect.” The use of the word “scary” strongly suggests that it was written in the point of view of a young boy, and of course this is is probably an allusion to R!Ciel’s loss of O!Ciel, someone he always felt the need to protect.

On of the line mentions “star”, or in its French analogue “Astre”, one of the most popular theoretical name for O!Ciel in the fandom. Also, as I have mentioned before, the song in general was describing humanity’s futile hopes and efforts in trying to grasp at the sky, which might be a reference to Ciel’s despair at being considered inferior to his twin, and his wishes of being his equal.

3. “Freedom”

Yearning for freedom is a common theme for the twins. R!Ciel seemed pressured for having to become the Earl of Phantomhive, while O!Ciel perhaps yearned for his independence. We can see that the “someone” is conveying his regrets for attempting to escape his “cage” and possibly losing the other person in the process, so much as he was willing to return to the cage if the person would return to his side. 

4. Just a small thing, but the “someone” in the song seems to use the Japanese first-person word “boku”, which seemed more fitting to describe one of the twins instead of Sebastian.

So yeah, that was my interpretation of the song! Tell me what you guys think about it :)

[junker-town]

Mark Cuban is standing up to patriotism for profit in sports

Photo by Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images

Playing the national anthem before sporting events is no longer a way to heal and unite.

The Dallas Mavericks quietly made the decision to phase out playing the national anthem before games this season at the request of owner Mark Cuban, according to a report from The Athletic. The Mavericks won’t be playing the anthem moving forward. The move comes after widespread action during the anthem swept through the sports world as a way to protest social justice and systemic racism towards people of color.

The blowback from Cuban’s decision began as soon as the story broke. Pennsylvania congressman Dan Meuser said it “disrespected” the country. Conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro suggested the league play the Chinese national anthem instead, in an attempt to be witty. Actor Antonio Sabato Jr, most recently known for his roles in Little Women, Big Cars and Little Women, Big Cars 2 said the Mavericks owner “belongs in the trash can,” which is coincidentally where you can find his 2009 reality dating series My Antonio, which was cancelled after one season.

There has been a calculated effort to push conformity by making athletes stand for the anthem and hope everyone else emulates them. This isn’t a tradition that started with the founding of the nation, but rather one that began in the 20th century to raise national morale during World War I, and occasionally used to mark major events before being coopted by the federal government to perpetuate patriotic displays by using taxpayer funds.

Here’s a brief history of the national anthem in sports.

When did we start playing the Star Spangled Banner before games?

There is historical evidence that occasionally the song was played in the 19th century. It was common the the late 1800s for live military bands to play before National League and American League games, but at the time Star Spangled Banner was one of several songs in rotation. Hearing it was fairly uncommon.

The ethos of the song in sports changed in 1918 during the World Series. The Cubs and Red Sox were playing in Chicago, and it was an incredibly difficult time for the nation. World War I was raging, the federal government called for the baseball season to end early, announcing that baseball players could be drafted immediately following play. There were threats players would strike and skip the World Series due to lack of interest, and the tension-filled finale to the season was punctuated by one moment.

During the seventh inning stretch of Game 1, the band played the Star Spangled Banner. Red Sox infielder Fred Thomas, who was playing because he was granted a furlough from the Navy, turned to the American flag and saluted during the playing of the song. A country in dire need of morale, applauded raucously following the song in appreciation of Thomas’ service.

From that moment forward the song and sports were inexorably linked. The Star Spangled Banner became the national anthem in 1931, but it still wasn’t played before games despite the iconic moment in the World Series 13 years earlier.

The NFL starts the patriotism snowball

Once again patriotism led to the resurgence of the song, but there was a considerable gap. It wasn’t until the conclusion of World War II that there was a push to integrate the anthem into sporting events. Then-commissioner of the NFL Elmer Layton believed it was important to continue the theme of patriotism even after the war was over. Layton mandated that the anthem be played before NFL games, saying:

“The playing of the national anthem should be as much a part of every game as the kickoff. We must not drop it simply because the war is over. We should never forget what it stands for.”

So here we have one sports commissioner seeing a need to instill pride in the nation after a devastating World War making a unilateral decision to make the national anthem a staple of the league’s pre-game routine.

Players being on the field for the anthem is a much, much more recent rule in the NFL. Up until 2009 players could choose to be on the field, in the locker room, wherever they wanted during the anthem itself. Make no mistake: the change wasn’t because the league saw the anthem as necessary, it’s because it was an opportunity to make more money.

Forced patriotism became a cash cow

Already ingrained as part of the NFL’s pre-game routine, the federal government quickly saw value in using players who were role models as tools to promote patriotic values. In 2015, a senate report by John McCain and Jeff Flake noted that the department of defense had spent an average of $2.26M a year on “paid patriotism,” which distributed funds to the NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS and NASCAR in exchange for codifying the anthem and having players stand on the field for it before prime time games.

No firm rules were written into collective bargaining agreements that required players be on the field, or stand for the anthem outside of big-money, nationally televised games. Rather this was a business deal between the department of defense and leagues directly.

When Colin Kaepernick began his protest to raise awareness for systemic racism and social justice issues, the NFL was happy to step back and force him to take the heat rather than standing with him. The threat of Kaepernick’s protest to the NFL’s bottom line was so vast that the league colluded against him. Kaepernick went unsigned for years, while vastly inferior players found jobs. The case went to court, before the league finally settled in 2019.

What began with good intentions was quickly corrupted

There’s no doubt that the roots of playing the national anthem began in good faith. The Star Spangled Banner was seen as a source of unity and comfort during two of the darkest times in American history following the first and second World War. At the time there was an inherent need for people to pull together for the good of the country, unite, and be proud of the stand taken against invasion and oppression overseas.

The anthem further made sense after the terrorist attacks of September 11, when sporting leagues took a stand against fear to present strength and unity that the American way of life could not be stopped by attacks.

That said, things changed. The inherent need to play the anthem dissipated, particularly in the last decade without a grand act like a World War to rally around. The act of showing pride in the nation carried implicit approval of policy decisions, whether that meant supporting foreign wars many deemed unnecessary, or conflating support of the armed forces with approval of law enforcement, which found, time and time again, to have devastating problems with systemic racism and justice equality.

Some individuals in the NFL and NBA, where players are predominantly people of color, felt that participating in forced patriotism like the anthem made them complicit in supporting a status quo for marginalized people who shared their background. That standing for the anthem was no longer about showing support for their country, but re-affirming the concept that everything was “fine,” when in reality mammoth gaps in equality remained.

Playing the national anthem before sporting events was no longer a way to heal and unite, but to further divide. Mandated not out of admiration for the nation, but a love of the money paid patriotism brought sports. Mark Cuban ceasing the anthem being played before his games isn’t about showing disdain for the country, but support the freedom for players to find their own paths to improve a nation they see as flawed, and broken — but worthy of repair.

“True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.” — Clarence Darrow

[tearasshouse]

Mostly vidya ramblings - Part 3A cont. . .

Part 1 of Ze Finalists

The final 2 of 2020.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PS4 -- also on XB1, Steam, GOG, Linux, macOS)

I’d put this off for way longer than I should’ve, but end of 2020 seems apropos given that its *the other* cyberpunk themed game, and at least this one isn’t fundamentally broken. Say what you will about the long standing jank in the DX series, or that Square Enix hacked bits off the game for a convoluted and entirely shitty season pass upsell, or that the augmented apartheid metaphor upon which the game’s fiction hinges is stupid, or that MD lacks a 3rd act and will likely never get a sequel, etc. What you get here is a great game, in certain respects inferior to Human Revolution (one of my favorite titles in recent memory), and in others quite different and possibly the better entry.

Look, I’m just glad immersive sims are still a thing and though they’ve always kinda reviewed well but sold like shit, they’re still in somewhat decent health. I’m not fan of the DX series as a whole, but Human Revolution felt special when it came out in 2011, as a near perfect incorporation of old yet solid design principles but reinvigorated with a new sense of purpose and polish. It’s the rare soft reboot / much delayed new entry / prequel that does its originators justice while being a supremely confident game in and of itself.

What strikes you when you try to play the older DX games (recently tried but gave up half way through, using the Give Me Deus Ex mod), is how much Eidos Montreal’s efforts feel like the old games, but with most of the niggles ironed out, making for a far more approachable experience. In fact, they could’ve perhaps gone even further in sticking with the depth and complexity of the OGs, but then I’m not sure the game would be as fun. If say, Jensen’s ability to use weapons should were determined by his character stats, I think that would make the game insufferable, but the first game was definitely more of a CRPG than anything else. 

What I mean to say is that I found MD ridiculously easy, even on the 2nd hardest difficulty, because if you play stealthily (I maintain that this is the so called “intended” approach), then none of the enemies pose a challenge. If you’re thorough about hacking, collecting things, doing side quests, conserving supplies, then you end up being a walking NPC vendor yourself; Praxis and resources overflowing from your person. This is compounded I think by the level design which is superb, but again, far too eager to make this a mainstream AAA experience, so there’s one too many ways to progress and you’re never truly locked out (unless of course you go out of your way to screw your save file over). 

As Yahtzee so succinctly put it (much of this review is cribbing from his videos), you’re not so much roleplaying a character by making tough choices as was sort of the case with the original game, but merely picking what’s most expedient to progress beyond a challenge, and then if you so choose, going out of your way to hoover up the other loot and exp when and if it strikes your fancy. There was one Witcher 2-esque decision the game forces on you in the late game, along with a few others which are less consequential, and I appreciated that kind of explicit branching. But really, the game lets you have your cake and eat it in as many ways as you so choose, is what I’m saying, which removes the necessity for repeat playthroughs (this can be a good or bad thing depending on your free time and personality) and again, weakens the roleplaying roots of the series somewhat. 

Still, well worth a play. Absolutely so if you’re a fan of the prior DX games or other immersive sims / ARPG stealth hybrids like Dishonored, Prey 2017, the Elder Scrolls / Fallout games, etc.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (PS4 -- also coming to Steam & Xbox)

I’m super glad the Yakuza series is blowing up, though I suspect largely in part due to the memes with maybe a huge proportion not having actually played the games themselves. It’s one of the rare games that both lends itself to great passive consumption material (all you kids with your Twitch or those who consume traditional YouTube LPs), and are also a blast to play yourself. 

I’ve been playing these in a sort of Western release order, that is: watching the 2BFP LP of Yakuza 0, then doing Kiwami 1 and 2 for myself, and now this (and I also watched their Y4 LP ages ago). You could pretty much go into any entry point and be fine, what with the self-contained stories and generous flashback movies, and from what I can gather fans weren’t exactly super impressed with Kiryuu’s send off here (even I could sense that something was off and it seems most agree Y5 is probably the most fitting end to his arc, with 6 being a kind of meandering epilogue not unlike Toy Story 4 I guess?). But, judged on its own merits and not as a culmination to the Dragon of Dojima’s tenure as RGG’s main protagonist, this is a very solid Yakuza title.

The substories are every bit as good as the best in the series. What was lost in fighting styles, equippable weapons, explorable environs, or mini games is made up for with what has actually remained. The celebrity cameos are well acted. The big plot turn is every bit as dumb and inconsequential as you’d come to expect. Kiryuu still hasn’t aged a day despite everyone calling him an ossan and really? Dude is in his late 40s. If this is truly representative of Japan’s ageist culture then that is just... not good.

Anyway, Onomichi is great! The baseball substory wasn’t bad! The purportedly downgraded Hostesses were actually quite lovable! The Haruto babysitting section is every bit as bad as they say, but thankfully its short. Live Chat was excellent (and you can totally see the liberal ideas/asset reuse in Kiwami 2 where the photo shoot is basically just a rebrand). Clan Creator is a complete waste of time and I’m glad Y7 seemingly dropped it for good. The Dragon Engine’s first incarnation here is rough, esp. on a base PS4, but it’s fine. This game is like what, $10 now at regular price? And likely going to Game Pass for free? Do eeeeet.

[recentanimenews]

5 Reasons Why Death Note Is Such A Great Starter Anime

  If you asked a bunch of people what anime someone should watch if it's their first exposure to the genre, you'd probably get a few different answers. Many would recommend Cowboy Bebop, considering that it's slowly become the Casablanca of the genre, a series that showcases many of anime's specific strengths while also being comfortable for anyone who's only watched Western animation. Others might suggest My Hero Academia, as it's fairly new, super popular right now, and a great introduction to the Weekly Shonen Jump catalogue. But my choice for a "starter" anime usually tends to be Death Note. 

    Coming off the recent Death Note one-shot, I've seen a renewed interest in the series. So if you've never watched it (or have never watched any kind of anime and have somehow come to Crunchyroll thinking it's, like, a sushi recipe website or something), by all means, start it today. Shirk your responsibilities, cancel all your plans, and tell your friends that you just don't need them anymore. Death Note is a great series for both seasoned anime fans and anime fans to-be, and I'm gonna tell you why:

  1. It's Exactly The Right Length

  Look, if you're getting into anime for the first time and decide that you want your launching point to be all 720 episodes of Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden, I say go for it. Your power level surpasses us all. But if someone was playing a video game for the first time, I wouldn't recommend one of those "FIVE THOUSAND HOURS OF OPEN WORLD GAMEPLAY" games and if they were just now discovering that movies are a thing, I would keep my 216 minute Criterion Collection copy of the artsy cowboy movie Heaven's Gate at a distance. 

  But 37 episodes of Death Note is not a high mountain to climb. It presents a world, a mythology and a cast of characters that is fairly condensed, so if you're not used to keeping up with some of anime's more sprawling storylines, you can get a grip on them with this. You also don't have to worry about explaining what "filler" is, because for the most part, Death Note is a pretty streamlined adaptation and never gives us, like, an episode where Ryuk goes to Wendy's or whatever.

    2. The First Episode Is Nearly Perfect

  The first episodes of long-running anime are usually really good teases for what's to come. Like Dragon Ball Episode 1 includes Goku meeting Bulma, but it's mostly just Goku beating the crap out of the local wildlife, foreshadowing Goku beating the crap out of nearly everything in the universe. But it's definitely something that pays off the more you watch it. Meanwhile, Death Note Episode 1 includes Light Yagami finding the notebook, testing its powers, meeting Ryuk, and basically deciding that he's gonna become a god. It includes both a hearty plot and part of the show's hook. You don't have to worry about just getting a taste for what's to come. It throws you in head-first.

  3. Light Is Fascinating To Watch At Times

  The thing that made Walter White in Breaking Bad such an intriguing character wasn't his "I AM THE ONE WHO KNOCKS" quotes or his YEAH SCIENCE moments, but his flaws - his pride, his angry "It should've been me!" inferiority complex, his inability to be satisfied. And the same goes for Light Yagami.

    Light isn't a great main character because of all the times he manages to stay one step ahead of everyone. I mean, those moments are cool and all, but what makes him one of anime's top leads are the things that hold him back. He gets frustrated, he has a huge ego, he can be too intense, and as you see in the first episode, he's really quick to turn something that he should've thought about a little bit more into a grand scheme about saving the world. And all of this is super cool for people that kinda cluelessly think that anime is just buff, loud men punching in space.

  4. The Rivalry Between Light and L Is Historic

  I love cat and mouse rivalries just as much as I love big "Eventually, I'm gonna beat you!" shonen action rivalries. However, in most Hollywood films, we barely get a glimpse of them before the credits roll. The detective gets toyed with, discovers the killer, gets toyed with some more, and then comes out on top. You get maybe an hour of high stakes drama before the film wraps up its wannabe Silence of the Lambs storyline and sends you off to the bathroom. But the "duel" between L and Light lasts over twenty episodes, without ever really giving us a breather and also never really slacking in intensity. 

    5. It's Got A Great Theme Song

  Yep. It does.

  Overall, I think Death Note is a great starter anime because it's just a great show in general. And if you haven't watched it yet, or you have someone begging you to drop some sweet, sweet anime recommendations into their lives like worms into the open beaks of baby birds, pull up Death Note. It's on Crunchyroll!

  What do you think of Death Note? What would be your choice for a starter anime? Let me know in the comments!

  -------------------

    Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

  By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[ms-m-astrologer]

Transiting Mercury exits Rx Zone

Timetable (current events in bold): Monday, July 24 - Mercury enters Rx zone, 28:25:28 Leo Tuesday, July 25 - Mercury enters Virgo Saturday, July 29 - Mercury’s Greatest Eastern Elongation, 4:24 Virgo Saturday, August 12 - Mercury Retrograde, 11:38:24 Virgo Saturday, August 26 - Inferior Conjunction, 3:47 Virgo Thursday, August 31 - Mercury Rx into Leo again Tuesday, September 5 - Mercury direct, 28:25:28 Leo Saturday, September 9 - Mercury re-enters Virgo Tuesday, September 12 - Mercury’s Greatest Western Elongation, 1:54 Virgo Tuesday, September 19 - Mercury out of Rx zone, 11:38:24 Virgo Friday, September 29 - Mercury enters Libra

Goodness gracious, that’s over with. It’s now full speed ahead with Mercury/Virgo, finally breaking new ground in our quests/missions to be skillful, efficient, and effective learners, thinkers, and communicators. The temptations and challenges (based on the aspects to come) will be found when we prematurely abandon hope, are hyper-critical, and/or fail or refuse to focus. We know how powerful our minds can be, and we know that it’s our duty to use them as best we can!

Check out those houses for where specifically you need to focus. 4th House? Time to figuratively rearrange the spice shelves, as you consider the effect of  your environment on your ability to think. 9th House? It’s going to be so useful for you to learn about other, different ways of thought. (Learning a foreign language, for example, shows you an entirely new thinking process based on the different ways the same concept, e.g. “What’s your name?”, is phrased.)

Tuesday, September 19, Neptune Rx/Pisces opposite Mercury/Virgo, 12:26; Uranus Rx/Aries (27:38) sesqui-quad Mercury/Virgo (12:38)

The necessity of improved brains is forcibly brought to our notice. And, I regret to have to inform you, it’s a prominent feature of the Virgo New Moon chart. The main theme is that our older patterns of thought will be proven obsolete; depending on how we did the work of Merc Rx, we either will or will not be “up” for learning new tricks and stratagems. We need to acknowledge, too, the value of intuition (Neptune and Pisces), and find some way of working it into our thought processes (Uranus sesquiquad).

Planets/Points affected lie between 11:26 and 13:38 of the mutable signs Gemini*, Virgo*, Sagittarius*, and Pisces*; and between 26:26 and 28:38 of the cardinal signs Aries*, Cancer*, Libra*, and Capricorn*.

Wednesday, September 20, Pallas Rx/Taurus trine Mercury/Virgo, 13:56

Pallas has been retrograde for about nine days, and this is the first aspect made to the Lady Asteroid after her reversal. Hot on the heels of the above two messy aspects, then, comes the acknowledgement (or not) of the need to retrain. Trines bring benefits, but we often overlook them because they seem uninteresting. My advice is to keep a sharp lookout, and welcome any blessings that fall your way. Look especially for mentorship, either as a mentor or as a mentee.

Planets/Points affected lie between 12:56 and 14:56 of the yin signs Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces.

Friday, September 22, Pluto Rx/Capricorn trine Mercury/Virgo, 16:51

Any Mercury-Pluto contacts deepen the mind, and here - exactly two hours before the exact “moment” of Mabon! - we have the chance to adapt a powerfully practical “mindset” to help us into this new holiday season. We’re especially good at perceiving structure, and at integrating many parts into a productive, substantial whole. Just remember to stay human!

Planets/Points affected lie between 15:51 and 17:51 of the yin signs Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces.

Monday, September 25, Saturn/Sagittarius square Mercury/Virgo, 21:57

The signs Virgo and Sagittarius are equally idealistic. The difference is that Sagittarians can be too prone to just babble about their ideals, when it’s the Virgos who actively work to achieve them. On the other hand, Virgos are too prone to get overwhelmed by the humdrum details of everyday life; it’s the Sags who stay optimistic and focused on the bigger picture. Under this square’s influence we may be tempted to throw in the intellectual/philosophical towel. Try a little bit harder to stay both focused on and committed to The Promised Land.

Planets/Points affected lie between 20:57 and 22:57 of the mutable signs Gemini*, Virgo*, Sagittarius*, and Pisces*; and between 5:57 and 7:57 of the fixed signs Taurus*, Leo*, Scorpio*, and Aquarius*.

Wednesday, September 27, Chiron Rx/Pisces opposite Mercury/Virgo, 26:09

When I type these forecasts up, occasionally a song will cross my mind as I “ponder” the aspect. Right here I’m hearing a Rolling Stones song called “Let It Loose,” off Exile on Main Street. (Link here.) The tune is addressed to the singer’s friend, expressing a depth of passionate concern and regret over the friend’s destructive behavior. (The friend is probably Brian Jones, though my beloved Keith Richards could also be a candidate.) I think its relationship to this aspect is “merely” the title - let it loose. Oppositions work through other people, and there’s going to be a certain someone we can’t save. Bless them and set them free.

Planets/Points affected lie between 25:09 and 27:09 of the mutable signs Gemini*, Virgo*, Sagittarius*, and Pisces*; and between 10:09 and 12:09 of the fixed signs Taurus*, Leo*, Scorpio*, and Aquarius*.

[doramaticbites]

10 Representative Jdramas of the 2010s (so far)

This post is inspired by, or rather, is a reply to this excellent question posted by an anon to @jdramaconfessions. I meant to reblog the post with a reply but then this post got MASSIVE so I decided to just make a new one.

Of course, the best answer to that question of what are the representative dramas of this current decade can only be written in about 2025, when there is enough time to look back and take stock of what dramas actually stood the test of time. As it is, there are still 3.5 years left to the decade – and if 2013 and 2016 was any indication, one fairly good year could give us a couple of hits. That being said, I’m going to try.

I think the best place to start, when trying to curate a list of representative dramas is first to ask – how exactly does one define representative and what are these dramas supposed to be representative of?

The word ‘representative’ is tricky to me because it implies something different than ‘favourite’. When asked for a list of ‘favourite’ dramas, it’s definitely personal, and there’s no need to try to choose something objectively. But the word ‘representative’ implies that there has to be some sense of objectivity to one’s choice, even though I agree with the admin of jdramaconfessions that at the end of the day, personal preference still comes into play.

I define representative in three ways.

Firstly, by memorability. We are still living this decade out, so it’s hard to say which dramas will stand the test of time in the next decade or so. Still, I’m sure that there are a number of dramas from the early 2010s that cling on to our minds and are still referred to often.

Secondly, by popularity. I don’t mean to say that every popular show that has come out in the past decade is automatically memorable or representative drama. In fact, quite the contrary. Every season will inevitably have its own popular drama. But there are a number of dramas that have exploded in popularity and I feel that it is then valid to give them a spot on the list. After all, to an extent, popularity indicates a show’s ability to resonate with a wide audience. I will also try to choose dramas that are popular both domestically and internationally. Making popularity a criteria is also why I sadly exclude excellent dramas like the Oguri-led BORDER and gothic drama Karamazov no Kyodai – both were insanely memorable and unique to me, but perhaps not commercially popular enough to make them ‘representative’.

Thirdly, by innovation. This is also a way to address the question of ‘What exactly are these choices supposed to be representative of’? Jdrama is a big umbrella of many sub-genres. A representative drama of one sub-genre (say romance) may not always be representative of the entire group. Though to be sure, there are times when they overlap. So what I mean by ‘innovation’ is any given drama’s ability to give fresh life to their genres, and bring something new to the table. It’s a drama’s ability to be either be excellent within the constraints of its genre, or conversely, its ability to push the boundaries of the genre.

With that being said, I’ve got chosen a couple of dramas I think fit the bill – In no particular order after the cut!

1)     Hanzawa Naoki

I’m putting this one first because @midnightrain910 brought it up. Yes. Personally I didn’t think Hanzawa Naoki was THAT great, but boy was it adored by repressed salarymen all over Japan. I literally had 2 of my (Japanese) managers come up to me to ask me if I’d watched it – on separate occasions! I mean shame on any 2013 Japan enthusiast who didn’t know the “bai-gaeshi” catchphrase. It also cemented Masato Sakai’s reputation as a credible and commercially viable actor.

2)     JIN 2

I thought JIN 2 was inferior to the first season, but I included it anyway because I wanted to somehow squeeze JIN into this list. JIN is the historical, time-travel, medical drama OF DREAMS. It was so well-acted and so unexpectedly good. Just last year my Turkish colleague was raving about it to me. In that sense, I think it is an internationally accessible jidaigeki with a lot of heart.

3)     Strawberry Night

Ok so, if you were to compare Strawberry Night with the MANY other Japanese crime/detective dramas, you wouldn’t find it definitive or groundbreaking. But still, it was GOOD. Sure I may be biased, but look, it lasted 2 SPs, 1 full season and 1 movie. If that’s not a testament of its popularity I don’t know what is. It managed to weave a bit of romance into it too. Also I think this is the series that threw Nishijima Hidetoshi into the limelight. He’s been around for ages, but I don’t think he had done anything since Asunaro Hakusho that was really popular until Strawberry Night. 

4)     Juhan Shuttai!

Juhan Shuttai! never set out to be critically acclaimed or sold itself like it was a precious gem filled with top actors. Nah, it set out to be a feel-good show but boy was it that and MORE. It just goes to show that great characterisation and a solid plot will bring a show far. That’s not to say that the actors weren’t good. A few of them were excellent, some of them were serviceable. I just wanted to point out that unlike some shows (cough Triangle, cough Rich Man Poor Woman, cough MOZU), they didn’t overpromise and underdeliver. Also, oftentimes well-written dramas happen to be so serious. I would really love to see more in the vein of Juhan Shuttai! (And Legal High, if I might add).

5)     Quartet (2017) - Not to be confused with the other jdrama of the same name

Putting this in despite not having watched it because all the reviewers that I trust to give an honest opinion found that it lived up to its hype. THANK GOOD HEAVENS. After giving the couple of examples above of how a good cast doth not a good drama make, I’m glad that Quartet can now live on as the drama which BROUGHT IT. Also I wasn’t about to make this list without Mitsushima Hikari (If Quartet hadn’t made it I would have put in Woman). She’s one of most excellent actresses to have surfaced this decade. It’s so odd because I remember her from Folder5 days – and who would’ve known she’d be here today.

6)     Marks no Yama

To me this must have been the drama that put WOWOW on the map. It was that drama that made everyone sit up and realise that WOWOW wasn’t just a second-rate channel airing foreign shows. It had a good strategy going – a very strong understanding of its niche, and the willingness to ignore popular models and idols and go for gritty, well-written fare instead. Because I’m ultimately quite a frivolous drama fan, I must have to say most of WOWOW posters (and shows) don’t really attract me, but the couple that I have watched have wow-ed me (pardon the pun).

7)     Itazura na Kiss ~ Love in Tokyo

Ok it was a toss up between Good Morning Call and this one, neither of which I watched by the way. Well I did attempt one episode of GMC but I just….couldn’t. The truth is, now that I teach Japanese high-schoolers, it’s very hard for me to watch dramas with them in it. Though in a sense I’ve outgrown the genre, it’s more of a ‘this hits too close to home’ thing. That being said, high school dramas are a staple of drama world and it’d be weird not to include at least one. So I just went with which one I heard about the most.

Admittedly, the early to mid 2000s were a heyday for high school dramas to me. I’m hard-pressed to find a Stand Up! or Nobuta wo Produce among the current lot of dramas. They just don’t make them like they did anymore. That’s not to say it has been bad. I thoroughly enjoyed Narimiya Hiroki and Niigaki Risa trying their darndest to act like teens in Yankee Kun to Megane Chan. I was impressed that Piece managed to build itself into a dark mystery cum social commentary despite having pretty weak actors. I heard Sprout was cute. THAT SAID, none of them could be considered representative in my book.

As such, Itazura na Kiss stands out for being one rare remake that actually became as popular as its predecessor – and which was one teen drama to capture the hearts of international tumblrites.

8)     Saikou no Rikon

Not only was this the show that introduced me to the genius that is Ono Machiko, it was the drama that turned the romance drama genre on its head. Its dialogue was witty, it was unapologetically real. And I think it made more writers sit up and realise that it’s the 2010s and they should really be challenging romcom stereotypes, not mindlessly rehashing them again and again.

9)     We Got Married as a Job

@repinipi brought this up and yes, HOLY SMOKES this was THE romcom of 2016. It took Japan by storm. Till now theme song Koi is still on the top 10 of karaoke charts. My kids went wild when we teachers danced it at grad party. People still talk about the drama and Hoshino Gen is capitalising on it. Solidly written, it managed to be realistic, though the circumstances were obviously way to fictional to happen in real life. In 2020, I think this drama will still be looked upon fondly.

10) HiGH & LOW

I thought about this. I thought about this long and hard because, should H&L even be considered on the same plane as other dramas? At its core, it’s more of a promotional vehicle. But it just threw the delinquent/gang genre and shook it up into it’s own visually brilliant spectacle. It will probably never find its place among mainstream audiences in Japan. But it has grown its own dedicated fan base. If anything I’d compare it to Tokusatsu and Takarazuka fandoms. They are niche, but there are there, they are proud, and they are ready to throw some bills. LDH took J&A’s ambition and promotional ideas, then stepped it up a couple of notches. If anything, the business savvy of this company puts the entire series on this list. 

Final Thoughts

I am just one person who simply hasn’t had much time to watch as much jdrama as I’d like. So its inevitable that I would have missed some out. Also, to make the arbitrary number of 10, I was unable to put some other picks on (trust me I would put either SPEC, Yae no Sakura, or Sanada Maru in in a heartbeat). Well, it wouldn’t be representative if too many made the list eh? Lastly, please remember, objective as I try to be, feel free to agree or disagree. Let me know your picks! :)

[knightofbalance-13]

Boss Battle: Vs. Dudeblade 2

(ttp://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/160665858330/vol4-gripes-primarily-about-the-finale

Yep, More Dudeblade bullcrap. And my god, is this going to be a trial on par with Hercules’. So i hope to the people who read this: Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi34XJx35ZE

Volume 4.

Oh boy, are you a subject that is a pain in the ass to handle.

Sometimes it feels this volume was made just to be hated.

So much time spent on setting up for future volumes that you forgot about the volume in front of you most of the time.

And yet throughout this review.critique you will constantly be shown to manipulate facts and be either deliberately vague with your complaints as so you can’t be directly contradicted or you will and I’ll do a better job of understanding the sources than you. This shows that you are not unbiased and professional in this but rather out for blood to insult and attack what you personally don’t like to try and manipulate the show into what you want. And I’m here to knock down the pillars you have built up. Let’s go.

A vague and convoluted timeskip that raised more questions than avoided it (like seriously? It took WeissSIX MONTHS to decide to leave her broken home? - (And no. If anyone says “Weiss’ arc took place at a different point in time than the timeskip.” Then that basically validates my accusation that Yang recovered overnight. You can’t say that about one character, and then claim it was completely different for another)).

That’s your only example? That example doesn’t even work here because parents, not matter how much a child hates them, holds a very strong psychological hold on them to the point that the idea of straight up defiance takes a lot of power. Weiss grew up with a man who is able to keep a business afloat despite rampant racism and mistreatment of workers due to his ability to persuade people so it would take a lot of Weiss to rebel against him, especially if it means she’ll have nowhere to go. This is especially egregious because you have directly compared your own mother to Jacques Schnee (http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/158279625962/more-beef-with-taiyang-xiao-long) so you should know better than to act this way. Your lack of empathy and understanding is disturbing honestly. Not to mention your one exasmple with the timeskip not only fails so the point is mute, you display a lack of empathy and understanding here, showing you are just hating on the show, disregarding logic and facts to do so thus this entire post is useless.

And you treat the timeskip as actually happening for the rest of the critique but argue it didn’t happen here, showing an inconsistency in criticism and thus showing a bias against the show. So your argument here is useless on two fronts.

Questionable decisions that make the plot even more confusing than that vague timeskip already did.

Dudeblade, you clearly show you are capable of giving examples in the previous point and even an incorrect point is better than no point since you just expect us to agree with you blindly without any proof. If you don’t have proof, why should we listen and how can the writers get better if you don’t tell them what went wrong: Vague criticism like this is worthless.

A PTSD recovery arc that was so fast-paced, that the song at the end of the season had to basically say, “Yes. This character has now recovered.”

Dudeblade, you just said that there was a six month timeskip thus meaning Yang had six months to recover from the PTSD so it wasn’t as immediate as you say. Not to mention even if you take that away, Yang had been directly working on recovery with her father for weeks within Volume 4 (https://youtu.be/rox3yphzLy4?t=1m46s) so it wasn’t as fast as you say. Could there have been more shown? Yes preferably but that's not your argument and thus you don’t get the benefits of that. 

Characters appearing out of nowhere, and plot points that were never planned so it feels as if they were shoehorned in.

No example so again, no reason to listen for any reason. Next.

A finale fight that was so underwhelming and overhyped that it felt as if the Spawn vs Alucard DBX was more interesting. I’ll prove it!

Ignoring the fact that the purpose of DBX is too have quick, easy to make fights so the creators can evaluate what their potential animators can do which is completely different than what RWBY is about, I completely removed anything knowledge of Alucard and Spawn I had except what is given in the fight and I felt nothing for the fight. It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t exhilarating, it wasn’t emotional: it left no impact on me. i knew nothing about these characters in the video’s context and thus had no impact on me. Doesn’t matter how pretty it is, unless I care about the people, I won’t like it. Contrast this with the Nucklevee fight which had foreshadowing, build up from before hand, a personal connection to the heroes and defeated in a symbolic way that reinforces the theme of moving beyond the past that is present in Volume 4. You don’t take any of this into account and judged two entirely different things as one being superior or inferior.

Seriously. The fight took less than a minute, and it was better-paced than the fight of RNJR vs. Nucky the straw hat grimm.

I honestly felt more tension in the fight made with sprites, than I did with the fight that was 3D animated.

Once again, this is because you judge two entirely different things by the same standards. DBX has around three minutes to do their thing at best whereas the battle with the Nucklevee took so much longer because there was a lot going on with the characters personally and not in battle. Are you saying character moments cannot happen in the middle of battle? Because that is very close minded and moronic.

Also, due to your derivative nickname, most people will brush this off as blind hating and thus, this is useless. If not for this then how you never say what slows down the battle, it just is.

Seriously.

Look, this is a grimm that is years, if not decades old, and four kids who didn’t even graduate their first year of Beacon could beat it?

- Either this undermines the ability of the Hunters, or this wanks the ability of RNJR significantly. Both of these options are bad, and neither are desirable. Pick your poison, I guess.

I want you to take a look at the cave of the Nucklevee (https://youtu.be/QjBtT4uCWpI?t=17m1s) Notice how it has not unique weapons in it, thus meaning no Huntsman has fought it. This means that the Nucklevee has only fought normal humans who are said to be incredibly weak to the weakest of Grimm and two children who say their home destroyed thus they would have a rational but misplaced fear of it. Just as well with Jaune and Ruby, who have never seen a Grimm like this every before and thus this is the fear of the unknown controlling them. But as at least partially trained Huntsman they are capable of killing it, especially as they have three talented huntsman on their side (and Jaune).

You are aware of Tv Tropes and are aware RWBY ahs apage: This has been noted in the Fridge tab (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fridge/RWBY Under the Volume 4 folder of Fridge Brilliance). There is no excuse for this lack of research.

How is it that a hammer to the backside deals little damage, but a rusty old knife is what kills it? I mean, as impractical and absurd as Jaune’s sword is, that also didn’t do much. But a rusty knife is what puts it down. I mean, I hate Jaune. His character has been done to death. There have been so many characters who wield swords, are constantly told they are important (without having earned it),and get to be the designated good guy even if they can’t take ‘no’ for an answer.

1. Symbolism. The knife is a handime down from Ren’s father who taught him and saved his life from the Nucklevee and him holding it is him understanding what he must do and how he cannot let his emotions control him, be it fear or anger. By killing it with his knife, Ren is putting that in the past and moving forward with his life, fulfilling the theme of the Volume.

2. You go on a tangent about Jaune in the middle of the illogical fighting and continue on as if this is the focus of the point. This just reinforces the fact you are doing this to attack and hate, especially as most of what you complain about Jaune has no correlation with what you said before. And you cannot deny this as you acknowledge in the post this was a tangent and do nothing to edit it out, showing your intent. 

3.You have a self admitted bias against male characters. (http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/160161209960/rwde-theory-reactions-to-everything) and considering the jaune point, you have shown that you are incapable of removing your personal bias from critique and is thus useless.

I’m getting off-topic here. Look, this fight makes little sense. Aside from the animation errors of buildings and trees moving around, no impact feels as if it has any real weight to it. Like when Nora hits the back of the thing, it doesn’t feel as if it had any real impact.

It just feels as if the old magic is just… gone.

I mean, I get it. Monty (god rest his soul) isn’t around anymore. But if they hadn’t booted Shane, the magic could be recaptured. - The only fights of note were Qrow vs. Tyrian and RNJR vs. Tyrian. And both of thosefights had unnecessary breaks that disrupted the flow of the action. Animating combat 101: Don’t disrupt the flow of the battle to do something dumb.

You don’t explain why the battles seem to lose impact and thus the writers cannot improve on what they have done wrong thus your “critique” fails at your job. Had you said that the animation isn’t fluid enough or the sounds are muffled or the characters move awkwardly you may have had a point but now, this is a waste of space.

And you take the Shane problem out of context: Shane resigned, Shane was causing problems and even shane himself noted that only Monty could work the system they set up and thus it was useless after he died. It would have not worked one bit even if Shane stayed: probably would have gotten worse as Shane’s mental state deteriorated.

I have a good example. When Sun got hurt, a lot of people wanted to know if he’d be okay or not. Then, we get a WoR. That disrupts the flow of tension that was already built. This causes a disruption that makes people less inclined to have concern for Sun because we get some exposition.

Don’t disrupt action for exposition. Exposition is dumb. Especially if the exposition has nothing to do with the situation at hand.

Again, you take this out of context. Due to the complexities of 3D animation and an inexperience at Maya, RT cannot complete every episode in time so they use WOR to fill in an airspace hole as they polish an episode. Demanding that they do not do WOR is demanding to go a week or more without any RWBY content which would be an even bigger upset. 

And tension does not work the way you say it does: spands of time increase tension instead of lowering it so what you are saying is the opposite of what actually happen i the time frame. And you saying Exposition is in and of itself dumb as exposition is narrative talk for “info” and thus you are demanding each show go into their conflicts without context or info, killing tension. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWnS8iKYnbQ

Also, Qrow getting better undermines the situation that they were put in. It amounts to cheap tension, and now, when another character is placed in a similar situation, very few people will have concern because thelast time, there were no lasting injuries (or at least, none that the audience is informed of. Seriously, Qrow? You were treated for poison, and not only are you not in a hospital recovering, but you’re also allowed to go right to the bar?)

Sun getting better undermines his situation as well. Look, I didn’t want Sun to die. The Bumble/by shipper in me would bemoan the fact that this would simply make Yang the rebound, and the storyteller in me would bemoan the senseless loss of a character that was likable (even if his character got derailed for this volume).

I did not understand how Qrow getting better from a non-fatal injury to be a tension killer and undermines a situation. Going on from my first part, Qrow could not die because his narrative purpose was not yet fulfilled, scorpion stings are not fatal for the most part and Tyrian tried to sting Ruby, who he was ordered to capture alive. All factors pointed to Qrow surviving. The only reason why people were worried because of the true basis for death in RWBY: Volume 3 where three characters where injured seriously and died. That is the true basis for judging death in RWBY which you ignore. because so much happened in Volume 3, they couldn’t kill anymore character or else risk something similar to what happened to Akame ga Kill and the audience becoming detached from the show due to the continuous deaths so it was in fact the correct choice to not kill Qrow so people know that others can get hurt but still survive, giving hope and thus maintaining tensions.

As for your Sun point: Sun joined Blake as supposed backup against the white fang, exactly what he did with Blake beack in Volume 1 and Volume 2. This  is oefectly in character for him as well as the rest of his actions such as interrupting Ghira and Blake like how he barged in on Team RWBY in Volume 2 (https://youtu.be/mj3jfqPwJEk?t=2m43s) thus his actions are the same: What has changed is the circumstances and this is good writing showing the complexities of situations through circumstances and context and how even we normal people do not always get it. You simply ignore it for the sake of complaints and fault mining.

Yang suddenly getting used to the prosthetic overnight undermines her trauma as well. Seriously, she wakes up, puts on the prosthetic, and she’s suddenly a master with it. Almost as if she never lost an arm to begin with (Follow-up question: How did Tai sneak out of Vale to get that arm from Atlas for Yang without her noticing? Are we supposed to assume that Ironwood had it delivered? - Because then how did he know the length it would have to be? How did he know the shape? How did he know what the functionality would have to be?) Not only that, but the prosthetic itself also undermines the trauma Yang went through. There were a lot of people who wanted to see Yang kick ass with just the one arm, and then get a new one (myself included).

1. She does not get the prosthetic overnight, it took six months for her to get it, an unknown amount of time between Episodes 3 and 4 to put it on and weeks afterward as said in Episode 9. So you are misrepresenting her time frame what happened in the show.

2. You ask for details that you would not ask for in any other show that would be classified as “nitpicks” and thus are not worthy of attention. Just as I ignored how you you said she got it overnight when it was evening or how she was not an immediate master at it. Or how she mentions that she did not expect it to be so easy to wield the arm nor how her moving like she never lost it is the point as a replacement. I do not believe you want to get nitpicky with me. 

3. Fighting with one arm is far different than fighting with two and she would need to relearn her entire fighting style in order to fight properly. She would need to be out of teh show for months more and thus would have no involvemnet with the plot whatsoever for months, especially as Taiyang has two arms and thus wouldn’t know how to teach her such a style. And the new prosthetic would undermine all that in the end and cause another split. Hence simpilar to have her take the arm before training.

4. An actual amputee has priased Rooster Teeth over their depiction of Yang ( http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Awesome/RWBY Under the meta folder). You are not an amputee so their word is more reliable about such a subject like this than you, as little as that means as I will explain latter.

- And while I could rant here about Tai, and his comment, I have a better thing to ask: “Was anybody expecting that comment (or something similar), and actively wanted to hear it?” if we’re being honest with ourselves, I doubt that a whole lot of us wanted to hear that kind of humor from Tai of all people. I get it, he also went through depression, but depression isn’t the same as PTSD. If he can go out with plans to get Yang a new arm, then he should be able to afford a therapist. Hell! given that the literal embodiment of the consequences for having negative emotions is supposed to be a major threat, you’d think that people specializing in psychology and emotional therapy would be more valued than hunters at this point.

You say you will not rant about Taiyang then spend half of the post ranting about him, thus this is no different than the Jaune tangent before and shows off your hate. I will not address it here because there is a better instance coming up in which we see your hate on Taiyang so i will conserve myself for that.

As for the expectation of the joke: In hindsight, yes it should have been see. Taiyang is friends with Qrow, who also has the sense of humor as seen when he says “Nope” at Ruby’s greeting as well as Yang’s where she is shown to be sarcastic while she freaked out over the stressful thing happening in episode 8 of Volume 1. Rooster Teeth treat one another much like Taiyang and insult one another as well, espeically in their products (Camp Camp, X Ray and Vave and Red vs Blue) And Rooster Teeth characters do take after their voice actors and Taiyang is voiced by Burnie who voices the snarkiest characters in RT series (X Ray and Church). all in all, you have no one to blame but yourself for that.

- - Look, that joke was cheap shock humor, and cheap dark humor. Don’t go for the cheap jokes. Hell! the laughter that Ruby had in the first episode was more forced than the Bruce/Nat romance in Avengers 2. The uncomfortable forced laughter just feels as if… it’s out of place. - Unless that was the point, in which case, good job.

Subjective comparison, potshot at another event which is also subjective and misunderstanding of the joke’s genre and purpose. Next.

A lot of trauma and injuries were undermined in their severity here, and it pisses me off. I myself, have a disability (I’m blind in my left eye), and I feel as if most of this is basically telling me that I should have been over it from the start. I adapted to my injury. I adapted by getting used to using only my good eye, and I think that Yang should’ve done the same until she felt as if she herself was ready to put on the arm. She shouldn’t have had to feel as if she wasn’t worth her father’s time if she was missing an arm, she should have gotten used to it.

And yet, you are contradicted by an amputee who should be logically more offended seeing it was their type of disability that was being “underminded” and yet they praised RT for it. 

The problem with you is that you don’t take into account the circumstances of your disability and Yangs as well as the fact that you and Yang are different people. Your disability is something you were either born with or deteriorated naturally, your eye was not gouged out while trying to protect your friend. Just as well, your eye prevents you from seeing, Yang’s arm prevents her from living her life the way she wants too. And just as well, your eye could not have caused PTSD.

And even if your arm was taken off in the exact same circumstance, it would only be applicable if your experiences, environment, loved ones and base personality is exactly like Yang. Fundementally, you and Yang are different people and thus would operate in different ways. Yang adapted to her arm just fine, just as you have with your arm. All she did was do it her own way and expecting her to do it any otehr way is not smart.

And here I will address the Taiyang hate: you say that yang felt like she needed to put on her arm to feel like she was worth her father’s time when Taiyang directly states that he would help her when she was ready, ( https://youtu.be/GaB62PeuFwM?t=7m31s) meaning that Yang had shown herself to unready for his help, shown by her inactivity towards recovery and her defeated acceptance of her PTSD and depression. The mere fact he is there looking after her and he looking her is proof that she cannot feel that way because if he did give off that vibe, he would have acted exactly like Raven and left to find Ruby. You misrepresent what he said just so you could have a justified reason to hate.

- Also, what does it feel like for Yang to take off the arm? - We never see. Does she have a brief moment of anxiety from the sudden loss of a limb? Does she have a panic attack because she can no longer feel the arm? Or was she lying when she said that it felt natural? - We don’t know! I mean, Yang is good at hiding her emotions (see: Her opening up to Blake about what eats her up inside) so she obviously isn’t that emotive of a person.

If Yang is good at hiding her emotions: How did she lose her arm in the first place. a person in control of their emotions would not have rushed Adam so foolhardy, would not have let Neon toy with them, would not have counter attacked Mercury and would have not lost to Neo. This is a direct contradiction to what we see of Yang and only exists to justify your feelings. 

All injuries feel as if they were placed there for some cheap tension. It’s hard to see it otherwise. This basically means that you haven’t prepared your audience for when the stakes get raised again. As a critic, this means that when a character does die, there will be uproar. You haven’t prepared your audience for this, because the characters who have gotten major injuries managed to recover and get better.

A character has already died: Three of them. you act as though Volume 3 never happened, you act as though you live in RWBY chibi. It has already happened and those are the basis of tension surrounding characters in RWBY. You failing to take this into account shows you are not a critic but indeed a hater (or complainer, whatever.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkwLHDx-zzc

From what I’ve seen around various critique tags, Volume 4 goes into either one of two categories for most (if not all) fans:

1. Great volume, with some moments that were bad.

or…

2. Bad volume, with some moments that were good.

If this were true then the raitings for RWBy would have dropped significantly seeing as critics would give it around a 3-6 out of 10 instead of the usual 8 out of 10. But the ratings have not been hit: they have stayed mostly the same at 8.3 out of ten (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3066242/). Thus showing this split is due to you staying mostly in the rwde tag where things are slanted negatively.

I fall into the latter category, because I enjoyed the Ren and Nora backstories, and liked the development of Weiss and Blake’s families. Other than those, however, the whole volume was… bad. I couldn’t enjoy it (Although, all the writers had to do was say that Blake wasn’t an orphan, and her parents wouldn’t have felt as if they came out of nowhere. - Just sayin’).

you ignored the nucklevee’s point in their past, you are about to comapliant about Weiss’ family and her plotline and you just complained about Blake’s so your actions do not match up with your words at all. This seems more like trying to appear like a critic than actually being objective so you don’t get called out.

I totally respect anyone’s opinion that if it was a good volume to you, and that if you did like it, but I myself could not enjoy it.

hence why everytime you have been confronted about this, you treat your subjective opinion as fact and call everyone else “Rt Whiteknights.”

The opinion aren’t black and white though. Much like the characters in the show. Qrow is not the definitive hero, Cinder is not the definitive villain, Raven isn’t a complete monster, and Jaune isn’t a precious cinnamon roll that needs to be protected at all costs (and if this were a Jaune hate post, I’d make a quip about how Miles seems to favor him over other characters… Wait, does this count as making that quip? - I’m so confused.)

Once again, your actions don’t match your words. You have complained about the White Fang conflict in the show being black and white, you have defended Raven only and anything you say about male characters can’t be trusted due to a self admitted bias, reinforced by an out of nowhere potshot at Jaune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4_qFrc6704

Then the decisions made by the characters make little sense. Even the decisions that they didn’t make also make little sense as well.

Like Weiss wearing LOUD OBNOXIOUS HEELS WHILE TRYING TO BE STEALTHY! Seriously Weiss? -THAT was your definition of stealth? The freaking HULK is stealthier than that! I swear, the universe bent over backwards to make sure Weiss wasn’t caught. Characters shouldn’t be bailed out by bad writing.

Weiss is never shown to own any shows outside of heels so it is entirely possible that she had no other option, reinforced by the fact that even in casual attire she has high heels. Also, you are not allowed to talk: You made up a nonsensical curse, made up a reason why it affected Yang to excuse her being OOC, acknowledged it was cliche and got her out of it because of another cliche you admittedly stole without understanding why it worked in the source.

Weiss not being caught is a coincidence. The writers cheated. This doesn’t teach the character of Weiss anything. Now she will believe that wedges are the footwear to wear for stealth. - Follow up question: How are those shoes combat effective? - They don’t seem practical. Like at all. RW/BY should set the trend of females wearing proper footwear into combat, it shouldn’t be following the trend of this sort of thing. It lookscool, yes, but practicality should be the main priority before style when entering combat. Magic users can get away with wearing heels because magic. But since it’s been established that semblances aren’t magic, Weiss has no excuse. Unless a secondary effect of those glyphs make it so that the user is able to fight in impractical heels, I have to call bull.

And you cheated in yoru work, ripped some one else soff and admitted it, on top of that you also didn’t understand what you were ripping off and why it worked.

And considering that RWBY is descended from Gurren Lagann which has characters going into battle damn near shirtless and it’s half sister Kill La Kill...speaks for itself, expecting such a thing out of RWBY is ridiculous as well as demands that the crew does what you want exactly or else it;s shit, showing that your critique is indeed you throwing a temper tandrum. Not to mention only Weiss and Blake wear heels (and Blake is a Cat fanus and cats walk on their toes) so only one character is impractical so this is yet another nitpick.

Also, Sun stalking Blake in a creepy hood doesn’t feel like something that he would do. It also wasn’t romantic, or heartfelt. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, I guess. But that doesn’t really excuse his behavior on Menagerie (Seriously, “Menagerie” means “Zoo.” why the hell haven’t the faunus changed that name yet? Were the humans all like, “You kicked our ass. Here’s an island, all to yourself. Call it ‘Menagerie,’ because we already named it, and you get no say in renaming it.”) - Sorry about that, I’m a little frustrated about that whole debacle. I feel as if was validated for stalking Blake and not respecting her personal space because of the events that happened. He barged in on Ghira an Blake (when Blake was just about to open up about what happened at Beacon, by the way), to tell her that he saw some White Fang members wearing Grimm masks? - Nobody wanted that interruption. Nobody asked for it. That was basically showing off a sandwich in front of a starving person, and then throwing it out. - I will acknowledge that Sun was in the right to be concerned, but the excuse he gave didn’t exactly seem to convey a sense of urgency. It just conveyed Sun not respecting Blake’s privacy.

Considering the fact that Blake is a self admitted coward whose tendency to run is greater tan a Romaning legendary on crystal meth mushrooms, this was Sun’s only option. Was ita  good option? no but you don’t always get that luxury. Not to mention the fact that it was a single day and not the months you make it out to be, showcasing a case of melodrama that extends to your starving metaphor (Delayed character development will not kill you, drama queen.)

As for the Menagrie thing: That si exactly what is. (https://youtu.be/uUwuZdbUzT8?t=3m) it is a zoo, why change the name when you can keep it as a reminder of hwo far you need to go for true equality? Just as well: fanaus make up 80% of the population on Remnant and judging from Sun, most Fanaus wouldn’t care about Menagerie’s name so there is nowhere enough people for a name change to matter. Not to mention symbolism again, Remnant isn’t our world and thus words might have a different meaning and this is a point less tangent again showing your hate.

“Didn’t exactly convey a sense of emergency”

Not like Blake directly said she was running from the White Fang or how such an oddity means that said White Fang is probably working for Adam (which is latter confirmed) AKA “I’ll destroy everything you love.” I do not wnat to know what you’re sense of emergency is if there is one at all.

Jaune also didn’t get called out on calling out Qrow. Qrow is Ruby’s uncle. And while Jaune has every right to be mad, it doesn’t excuse the fact that Ruby should have come to her uncle’s defense in that scene. The most Jaune gets to being reprimanded for his comments is some glares that are in the background.

Ruby is probably processing that her uncle was behind such a powerful group, had knowledge he didn’t share with her and general shock as shown when she asked him why he didn’t tell her. (https://youtu.be/g91qG3qTaXE?t=15m28s). I, a person with a social disorder who doesn’t get subtleties of human interaction, got it better than you. Shame on you.

- Yeah Jaune. “What did Qrow do to help?” - After all, it wasn’t as if he cleared most of the grimm out of the way, or saved Ruby while you were busy closing your eyes, or fight an experienced minion of Salem’s single-highhandedly fpr about 90% of the fight. Oh wait, he did. - I’m not trying to validate Qrow for using Ruby as bait, here. But Qrow has done more than Jaune story-wise, and trying to make Jaune sympathetic isn’t going to work in this situation.

He wasn’t being sympathetic, Jaune was treated as a pentualant child by his tone of voice and framing. He wasn’t in the right anymore than Qrow. You just got done admitting things in RWBY aren’t black and white: does the show need to hold up a sign for the shades of grey. Probably not considering this is just more Jaune hate.

Or how about the large amount of time it took for Salem to decide to send one of her lackeys after Ruby? - Follow up: Why not also send Emerald? I think that someone who can make a person see something that isn’t there (or make them not see what is there) would be useful in kidnapping someone. Why didn’t she send more people as well? - They should be aware that there would be at least one person trailing them, if Salem is supposed to know what her grimm are doing. Three major players against Qrow and RNJR (The latter of which are a team of newbies) probably would get overwhelmed.

Nitpicking with chosen ignorance over the fact that the dialogue between the team shows it is their first meeting a long time.Next.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE2DjF-ZON8

Characters that are thrown in that don’t even feel as if they belong anymore.

Like Oscar (actually, this entire section is probably going to only touch on Oscar, so I feel as if this is redundant (or, at the very least, it’ll primarily be about Oscar.)) Oscar is basically the new Ozpin. But his screentime could have been given to other characters. We could have waited the entire volume, and then have him say his line, and the Qrow says his, and then first episode of Volume 5, is a flashback to what Oscar was up to, how Oz is sharing a body with him, why he goes on this journey, and other exposition stuff. That screentime could have gone to Weiss, or Yang, or even Ruby. Heck! It could have even gone to Ren and Nora (Dust only knows that those two need more development about their backstory outside of “There was an attack. Everyone died, except us.”)

Oscar needed to be onscreen because you yourself said there shouldn’t be exposition so this is the show weaving him into the narrative. Just as well, people often say Oscar needed more screentime to show his conflict about Ozpin being in his head, something that is surprisingly absent from your critique. also: Demeaning Nor and Ren’s backstory and saying it was an enjoyable part.

Whitley was only made to give us an asshole to hate on, and the half of team WTCH basically have zero personality. And I’d just like to reiterate that if the writers had just said that Blake wasn’t an orphan, her parents wouldn’t feel as if they came out of nowhere (Though, how does an ex-terrorist faunus have luggage? - I can understand clothes and books, but I can’t understand stuff like a scroll, and basic school supplies).

Whitey shows hostile and broken her family truly is (which is why he’s a part of a part you say you like) and said team are the main villains so they will be in later Volumes, something you never take into account and thus should have stopped watching by the end of Volume 2. Ps: Point to where Blake said she was an orphan. because her being an orphan would have been just as unbelievable.

Klein was enjoyable though. Even if his caring nature brings up the question of why didn’t he call Remnants equivalent of Child Protective Services when he saw ho bad Weiss was being treated (unless Jacques threatened to raise the price of dust if they had done so, thus, De-stabilizing the economy… Actually, that sounds like a good idea for a fanfic. Someone should use it.)

Man, this just gets easier and easier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XixH7NMkOe8

The last thing I want to touch on is the four relics.

The whole “Four artifacts that can destroy/save the world depending on who wields them” is a cliché so old, that it’s probably written in stone somewhere.

So is 90% of RWBY with the Hyperactive Kid Hero who is a Grade Skipper, her Hot Blooded Unskileld But Strong  Bug Sis, the Rich Bitch Heiress with a Heart of Ice and the Mysterious Londer with a dark secret. I just reduced the main four characters into basic tropes: You should have quit at Volume 1 if this bothered. But considering you think heterosexuality is a cliche, I take this as another attack.

Much like the four maidens, there was no foreshadowing of this. But while the four maidens had potential to become something really awesome (Like Ruby being a maiden (Preferably getting it from her mom, so as to emphasize how little she knew about her to help develop that character aspect)). the four relics fell shoehorned.

I can even deal with the silver-eyes-machina. Did I want them to be planned from the start, so as to have proper set-up and foreshadowing for it? - Yes. But while I can think of different ways to make it better (and even turn it into a point for character development), the four relics don’t have that kind of flexibility.

The four relics are just… there.

and nothing more is known about them.

Fun Fact:The relics were planned since the beginning hence why nothing is known: it’s for latter volumes. The shoehorned in stuff was the maidens and Dudeblade knows this. Again, an attack.

Reinforced since his main compliant is that he personally cannot improve on it: He just wants stuff to go his way. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucyYfzbrYkQ

This will be the last thing I personally post in the rwde tag concerning Volume 4. I’ll still reblog other people’s stuff, and probably add my own two cents, but for now, I just want to enjoy Chibi. Even if every joke is hit-or-miss, there’s still a level of enjoyment to be had.

Maybe I’ll write a review at some point. Who knows? - But for now, my brain is tired. I can’t change the pat, and while I hate that, I have to accept it.

Maybe a theory post. I have one in mind that’s basically “Jaune lied about his heritage as well” floating around in my head.

Or maybe a “Hopes for Volume 5″ post.

See you guys when Volume 5 rolls around.

I think I got out most of my frustrations about Volume 4 anyways.

Here’s hoping.

This is all a crook of shit.

He said he wouldn’t attack Taiyang and broke that immediately. he said he was a critic but showcases inexcusable bias as well as fact manipulation and lies. Dudeblade’s word isn’t worth crap.

The instant a joke “misses” (because all comedy is hit or miss), he will be back bitching about the show once more, most likely Jaune or Taiyang.

The instant Volume 5 doesn’t go his way, he’ll proclaim it to be shit. 

Everything about this post, from the hate tangents to the fact manipulation to the hidden jabs tells me this. And I will be here to knock him into mud like the rest of us. 

If you want to stop that Dudeblade:

Come at me bro. 

[privileged-fucks]

Get to Know Me

I was tagged by @emeraldskulblaka Thank you!

I tag: @pazazzalil @cheshireelims @blaineandkurt @oh-my-dead-vicious-wizard-duck

1. COKE OR PEPSI? coke

2. DISNEY OR DREAMWORKS? Disney

3. COFFEE OR TEA? Coffee

4. BOOKS OR MOVIES? books duh

5. WINDOWS OR MAC? Windows

6. DC OR MARVEL? idk 

7. X-BOX OR PLAYSTATION? Playsation

8. DRAGON AGE OR MASS EFFECT? what?

9. NIGHT OWL OR EARLY RISER? early riser

10. CARDS OR CHESS? cards

11. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? chocolate

12. VANS OR CONVERSE? neither

13. LAVELLAN, TREVELYAN, CADASH OR ADAAR? again what?

14. FLUFF OR ANGST? Fluff

15. BEACH OR FOREST? beach

16. DOGS OR CATS? both

17. CLEAR SKIES OR RAIN? clear skies

18. COOKING OR EATING OUT? cooking

19. SPICY FOOD OR MILD FOOD? mild food

20. HALLOWEEN/SAMHAIN OR SOLSTICE/YULE/CHRISTMAS? Christmas

21. A LITTLE TOO COLD OR A LITTLE TOO HOT? a little too hot

22. CHOOSE A SUPERPOWER! being able to teleport

23. ANIMATION OR LIVE ACTION? live action

24. PARAGON OR RENEGADE? ???

25. BATHS OR SHOWERS? showers

26. TEAM CAP OR TEAM IRONMAN? idc

27. FANTASY OR SCIFI? fantasy

28. THREE FAVOURITE QUOTES: - “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all those who live without love”. - “ Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened” -”If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”  

29. YOUTUBE OR NETFLIX? YouTube

30. HARRY POTTER OR PERCY JACKSON? Harry Potter

31. WHEN DO I FEEL ACCOMPLISHED? never

32. STAR WARS OR STAR TREK? neither

33. PAPERBACK OR HARDBINDERS? Hardbacks

34. HORROR OR ROM-COM? rom-com

35. TV SHOWS OR MOVIES? TV-Shows

36. FAVOURITE ANIMAL: dog/cat

37. FAVOURITE GENRE OF MUSIC: showtunes, pop, r’n’b, hip-hop

38. LEAST FAVOURITE BOOK: omg Antichrista we had to read it in french it’s just so disturbing

39. FAVOURITE SEASON: spring 

40. SONG THAT’S CURRENTLY STUCK IN YOUR HEAD: Lost Boys Life

41. WHAT KIND OF PAJAMAS DO YOU YOU WEAR? T-shirt and shorts

42. HOW MANY EXISTENTIAL CRISES DO YOU HAVE ON AN AVERAGE DAY? at least one

43. SONG YOU WANT TO HAVE PLAYED AT YOUR FUNERAL: I didn’t even think about that

44. FAVOURITE THEME SONG TO A TV SHOW: Secret (Pretty Little Liars)

45. HARRY POTTER MOVIES OR BOOKS? books of course

46. YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OTP CANON; BUT YOU’LL FORGET THAT TUMBLR EXISTS. WILL YOU DO IT? Well, my OTP is canon so no

47. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE FLOWERS? I have allergies so none

48. A LANGUAGE YOU REALLY WANT TO LEARN: I did learn spanish in school for 3 years but I forgot most of it so I would like to re-learn it