#there might still be a chance that i get hyped af once the show airs

[pharawee]

I've been thinking about it for a while but I decided that I probably won't gif or even watch Only Friends. No special reason. The show is fine. The trailer looks good. But I need a break (from gmmtv shows especially).

I'll still watch and gif other shows but cutting out the biggest/most hyped show of the bunch seems like a good opportunity to get some rest.

Plus, I need all my energy to gif every frame of I Feel You Linger in the Air. 🤡

[onf-headcanons]

Driving out/Road trip with ONF

(3rd Anniversary Special)

Yes including Minseok in this one cos why not

Headcanon list below

Lemme know who/which members do you wanna share a car with! My choice is Hyojin, Jaeyoung and Minseok😉

Sorry in beforehand if its messy

I will just assume they all don't have their licence yet. So is either you driving or their manager driving

Or you sharing one car with some members and the others hop on to another car. So there is a lot of members combination possibilities.

It will surely be noisy in the car/mini van if everyone is there while manager hyung is driving so RIP your ears beforehand lol

Also RIP your braincells + oxygen level because you are also going to be gasping for air from laughing too much. To the level you thank God that you are not the one driving. And how the hell Mr. Suho can bear with these chaotic dorks.

They will start out quiet, minding their own business playing their phone or even napping. But when 1 starts to trigger the chaotic braincells of the whole team, its basically welcome to the circle of chaotic dorks

Definitely gonna play games in the car no matter how many of them are in there. And they keep switching games too, just to keep themselves occupied should the journey is long. Even if 1 or 2 members start to play their phone, it does not matter. As long as there are 2 members who wanna play, they still can play and be loud af.

Loud laughs loud screaming and occasionally members nagging at each other.

Mafia game, weird sound imitations attempt, rock paper scissors

The neverending Minkyuns membership testing game. (See their vlive on 200709 for better understanding of this hc) Doing phrase poem with random words.

Cues in them screaming if they qualified and them laughing at the ones who is in denial of joining the membership lol

They might even coax you to try to test if you are a Minkyuns too lol

Cues in Hyojin coughing due to laughing too much,

Jaeyoung and Changyoon nagging and retorting the weird antics,

Seungjoon rolling his eyes or glaring at his teammates (swearing with his eyes),

Yuto losing his sanity while giving into laughter,

Minseok just ☺👏and their manager trembling while trying to compose himself because he is taking the wheel.

Another chaotic scenario that might happen would be Minkyun starts playing and humming to a trot song and then Hyojin and Seungjoon starts hyping everybody up with unnecessary adlibs.

Jaeyoung follow suit with his iconic : "Bwa bwa bwa bwa---!" .

Changyoon clapping to show mental support, and then both maknaes basically lost themselves in the void of laughter.

At first Yuto be like ok imma start vibing but chill because he doesn't know the song but then when Minkyun and his hyungs starts their antics Yuto burst out laughter.

I think they might even vlive in the vehicle too

But, once in a while they start singing, its beautiful. I personally thinks Jaeyoung and Seungjoon might be the ones who initiate with singing

Hyojin and Changyoon will always the very supportive elder brother and keep encouraging other members to sing more. Especially Jaeyoung, Yuto and Minseok

Whereas Minkyun is just random madeup 1 phrase of melody

And with all those chaos, cues in Minseok looking at all of his hyungs with this expression: ☺ or 🙂. While giving compliment to his hyungs. He is the baby that really likes watching his hyungs going crazy and being funny.

If you all are not in a same car...

If its Hyojin, Yuto and Minseok be in the same car with you, then its less chaotic for sure, I think the whole car will be more quiet. Minseok might keep talking everyone from the back seat catching up on events and sharing his views. His hyungs just listen to him attentively. Yuto mostly nods while Hyojin giving acknowledging responses.

Also if you are with Off team, it won't be noisy too. The one who talks you would be Jaeyoung and Seungjoon while Yuto just timidly sit there and looking out the window while giving responses when the conversation relates to him.

Bonus of you can converse in Japanese or stayed in Osaka before, Yuto will open up. And even Hyojin and Minseok at beside giving out small reactions when they gets to know more about their teammate.

If Yuto's the one in charge of GPS, he would be very very careful guiding you. But his hyungs rarely made him do it because he is babied.

If you are with On team, its quite extreme? One second they are blessing your ears by softly singing ballads and R&Bs but another second if Minkyun starts his weird antics and triggers his hyungs it defo going to be noisy lol

Also it won't be ON TEAM if them three did not take the chance to sing the song that they covered the most, Tears.

So i can totally see Minkyun or Changyoon out of nowhere, takes out the Bluetooth karaoke mic and the whole car starts vibing lol

If there is Hyojin and Seungjoon in car (regardless of any which members joining the group), it is going to be noisy too. One second there are just quiet because they have known each other for so long. Another second they would be bickering with each other just to piss the best friend off. And then the other member who was with you would be dying from laughter.

Probably when Hyojin was talking about food when you pass by a board mentioning a place or a restaurant signboard, and Seungjoon just down right attack him by calling him pig or reminding him he is on diet. Hyojin won't back off and he will roast Seungjoon for sure lol.

Another quiet combination I think would be Hyojin, Jaeyoung and Minseok

Changyoon is the extreme type. He could not stand awkwardness quiet so he always will try to break the ice. So regardless of any group combination, with Changyoon he will bring up proper conversation, but his buffering will take affect too.

Minkyun alone is actually quiet or if he is with Minseok. But similar to Changyoon, he mostly try to break silence.

Jaeyoung if he is with Changyoon and Minkyun, rip him if the other 2 starts their gagman agenda. He would be sighing and nagging and retorting the other two. Even get speechless when the two giving weird logic that kind of make sense.

The one who non stop singing by making up weird melodies -> Minkyun

Also Minkyun would bring his guitar into the vehicle for sure

The one that has hyper playlist and won't stop hyping -> Minkyun, probably plays Monsta x songs too

The one who has a playlist literaly for any weather (be it rainy or sunny or snowy) -> Hyojin

Btw if its rainy day your ears are blessed by Hyojin's beautiful vocals as he sings along with his playlist. Other members either follows him a bit or just sit there enjoying their leader's vocal.

The one who is the playlist himself (MTL) -> Hyojin, Jaeyoung, Minkyun and Changyoon

The one who helps you with GPS -> Jaeyoung, Hyojin, Yuto, Seungjoon and Minseok

The one who will be on their phone the moment the journey starts -> Seungjoon (gaming) and Yuto. Occasionally randomly other members if they feel like watching drama or TV shows.

The one that keep talking about food when you drove pass by restaurants signboard -> Hyojin

The one who will definitely ask you to stop at some market or convenient store or highway stops to have snack time -> all of them, but mostly hyung line will be the ones to voice out

The one to fall asleep in the car if they are at back seat (MTL) -> Jaeyoung, Changyoon and Hyojin (if he had trouble falling asleep last night)

The one that will feed you/manager snacks if you are busy driving -> all of them, even if you are only up for one bite, they still ask you if you need more

Should you pass by a beach and its ahead of schedule, they are definitely gonna ask to stop by and want to feel the windy beach.

If its snowy, at highway stops, they are going to have a snowball fight for sure.

Thats all for now, feel free to drop more ideas and let discuss if you want😉

[miss-musings]

The Good & Bad of NBC: or, Why “The Blacklist” is everything that’s wrong with TV, and “The Good Place” is everything that’s right (SPOILER EDITION)

(Written Oct. 2018… pre-S6 of TBL and mid-S3 of the Good Place.)

NOTE: THERE WILL BE MAJOR SPOILERS OF BOTH SHOWS. DO NOT PROCEED UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN THEM BOTH!!!!!!!

In case you haven’t, there is a spoiler-free version of this post here.

(Author’s note: So, if you’re reading this you may or may not have read the other version first. If you have, I’m basically going to be going over the same material with the same structure, with some of the text basically copy/pasted from the first version. But, where I held back on the spoiler-y details before, I’m now going to be going all out. I’ll reiterate: PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS VERSION UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN BOTH SHOWS!!! Thank you.)

For any of you unfamiliar with my content, I’ve been analyzing different aspects of The Blacklist for the past few years, including calling attention to what I believe are flaws in its plotlines and characterizations.

This April, I happened upon The Good Place on Netflix and absolutely gobbled it up. I watched all of S1 in pretty much a single day; S2, in a similarly short time frame. Now, I’ve probably seen every S1 and S2 episode at least four times, and I’m watching the S3 episodes as they air on NBC before The Blacklist returns in January for its sixth season.

Now, it’s definitely not fair to compare The Blacklist and The Good Place. The former is an hour-long (44 minutes/episode) crime drama procedural that has had 22 or 23 episodes per season in five seasons. The latter is a half-hour (22 minutes/episode) ‘genre’ comedy set in the afterlife that has 13 episodes per season in three (ongoing) seasons.

So, TBL has an approximate 4,840 minute run-time, and TGP’s is approximately 858 minutes (including all of S3).

That means that The Blacklist’s overall runtime is almost SIX times the length of The Good Place.

Even so, both of these feature prominent TV actors, including Emmy Award winners James Spader and Ted Danson, respectively; both center on a relationship between a 30-something white woman and an older white man(whether that relationship is romantic, platonic or pseudo-familial is debated by fandoms of both shows); and both of these are NBC shows.

So, while it might not be exactly fair to compare these two shows, I’m going to do so anyway, because I feel like where the Blacklist struggles, The Good Place shines as a quality television program.

Now, don’t think for an instant that The Blacklist is a completely worthless show or that The Good Place doesn’t have its flaws. There are good and bad aspects of both shows, but I’m going to be comparing the two by focusing on three key things that make a TV show compelling:

Plot Progression

Character Interactions

Character Development

1. PLOT PROGRESSION

I think anyone who’s seen the Blacklist will tell you that this show’s plot is convoluted AF. In S1, it seemed like the show was setting Berlin up to be the show’s overarching Big Bad. But, then he gets killed off in S2 while the Cabal takes the forefront. The Cabal kinda hangs out until the end of S3, really, and then gets mostly forgotten until Ressler kills Hitchen in S4. And, Mr. Kaplan becomes Red’s enemy because she was once Liz’s nanny????

This show is so fucking weird.

It continues to frustrate me that all of the show’s major plot developments/revelations come during a mid-season or season finale, or a season or mid-season premiere. The Blacklist’s plot structure continually revolves around the idea of ‘sweeps week,’ when the network tries to boost its ratings by promising major reveals and developments during certain time frames.

Why not space some of these things out more instead of giving us what is essentially filler? We go along for the ride week after week, hoping to get clues or developments to the overarching story, only to be frustrated at the world’s slowest drip ever.

I feel like the first part of S5b really fell into this trap. It reveals to the audience shortly after Keen’s return that Ian Garvey is a dirty cop. And then we wait like 4-6 episodes (I don’t remember exactly how long) until Liz realizes this too. Jeez. Why drag it out so long?!?!

Now, I will say that the decision to kill Garvey in 5x19, rather than the season finale was a good idea. As it breaks the mold of having to wait until the (mid)season finale for the Arc’s Big Bad to finally bite it.

But, while that might’ve been a small victory, it still doesn’t make up for all the times this show has thought it was pulling the rug out when all it was doing was being predictable AF.

Between Liz “dying,” Kaplan helping her, Kirk being her stepdad, Mr. Kaplan being the one coming after Red, Tom dying, Liz trying to trick Red into revealing his secret by playing like she’s in danger and needs him to rescue her, the bones being the Real Reddington, etc...  it continually frustrates me that folks here on Tumblr predict everything that’s going to happen with pinpoint accuracy. It makes the show boring and rote. (Not the folks on Tumblr; more the fact that this show’s plots are so predictable.)

Conversely, the Good Place – per the show’s creator Mike Schur – centers on the idea of subverting expectations. Based on the pilot’s premise, you might assume that the finale will be Eleanor revealing that she doesn’t belong in the neighborhood. But, Schur and his writing team have said multiple times that they focus on trying to make each episode end with a cliffhanger, and doing those big reveals or developments earlier in the season than the audience expects.

As Schur (or maybe some other writer or exec) recently said on the Good Place podcast, 2x09 “Best Self – where the crew leaves the Good Place to head to Bad Place HQ – feels a little like a season finale, despite the fact that there were three more episodes left in S2.

The Blacklist, IMO, also suffers from overdramatic promotions that sometimes make it seem like each episode is going to have some shocking development, when in fact, you could probably skip it and not really miss much (unless it’s a premiere or finale).

I feel like I remember the S2a promos about Liz hiding Tom in the boat, which of course, everyone predicted, really hyped up that reveal so that it was a real let-down whenever we finally got the truth.

TGP, on the other hand, doesn’t really have episodic promos like The Blacklist does, which might work in its favor. (Although, I will say that I was pissed the NBC Thursday night comedy line-up promos ruined the 3x01 Trevor reveal before the actual episode ended.)

I mean, compare how TBL handled the Boat Door Reveal in S2 versus how TGP handled the Michael-sacrifices-himself-to-save-Eleanor development. If TGP had done it like TBL’s, we would’ve known a week or two in advance that someone was going to sacrifice themselves to save Eleanor. It would’ve been these dramatic promos going like “Who! Will! It! Be?!?!!” with like pictures of all the cast members flashing by. And, of course, everyone would predict it would be Michael and/or Chidi, we would all be right and subsequently disappointed.

Also, while I feel like TBL tends to play things safe – very rarely breaking away from the crime drama procedural vibe – TGP doesn’t mind taking chances, so long as whatever they’re taking a chance on fits within the ‘world’ of the show.

If you haven’t seen my rant about TBL’s S5b, I was so excited after Liz woke from a coma to see how the show might tackle that plotline. Would Liz be traumatized? Would she be reluctant to rejoin the Task Force? What if she decided to give up her life with the FBI altogether and raise Agnes? What if she had PTSD? etc.

And, the show went the very predictable route of not showing much, if any, of Liz’s physical therapy or psychological trauma, and having her get back ‘out in the field’ (proverbially speaking) pretty much right away. She pawned Agnes off to Scottie and then kicked it in the woods for an episode.

Whereas, with The Good Place, we got to see major glimpses of Eleanor’s year after her near-death experience in 2x12. Granted, not much of it, but given the show’s time constraints and break-neck speed (in terms of plot development as opposed to TBL), it was nice that we got to see Eleanor become a better person, backslide, and then make a decision on whether she wanted to try to make progress again or whether she was going to stay in her rut forever.

Clearly, you can seen how one’s plot progression is preferable – as a viewer – to the other. It’s also helpful, I imagine, as a writer, to let the plots unfold organically, as fast or as slow as they need to… instead of having to either rush them or drag them out to reach a certain point in the season’s schedule.

2. CHARACTER INTERACTIONS

As said above, both shows focus on the connections between its male protagonist and female protagonists. While ultimately it’s the female protagonist’s journey, the male protagonist is a guiding force in her journey, helping her along and pushing her to make decisions (whether good or bad).

(Although, I guess you could argue that Chidi is really TGP’s male protagonist, but considering that Ted Danson is more heavily promoted, I’d argue Michael is really TGP’s male protagonist.)

And, for both shows, its two main protagonists are part of a six-person main cast.

For The Good Place, the cast is Eleanor and Chidi, Tahani and Jason (two other residents in Eleanor’s neighborhood), Janet (the neighborhood’s anthropomorphized mainframe/help desk), and Michael.

The Blacklist’s cast, as of the end of S5, is Reddington and Keen, her fellow agents Donald Ressler, Samar Navabi and Aram Mojtabai, and their task force director Harold Cooper.

Now, the Blacklist primarily focuses on the relationship between Reddington and Keen; he doesn’t interact with the other cast members very frequently and Keen’s interactions with them are pretty basic and often work-focused. There aren’t very many crucial interactions between non-Reddington/Keen pairings, especially in more recent seasons of the show. While S1 and S2 tried its best to have Keen interact with Ressler, Ressler interact with Reddington, Cooper interact with Reddington, Keen interact with Navabi, etc., S3-5 have more focused on the Reddington/Keen dynamic at the expense of everyone else.

Granted, I like the Reddington/Keen dynamic (in some respects), but giving it more weight in the runtime unfortunately means that the remainder of the cast has to tackle the more procedural aspects by trying to track down the Bad Guy of the Week while Reddington and Keen get to have more of the character-driven serialized moments and developments.

Compare this, though, with TGP and its interactions outside of the Eleanor/Michael dynamic.

Throughout different points in S1 and S2, we got significant interaction between almost every single possible pairing of characters on this show. (And I mean pairing in a non-romantic sense.)

We see Eleanor fall in love with Chidi, become ‘mates’ with Tahani, become bros with Jason, and try to kill Janet and then later give her relationship advice. Meanwhile, Michael has his falling out with and subsequent heartfelt apology to Chidi; he admits to Janet that she’s his most loyal friend; in S1, he seeks out Tahani’s help; and in S2, he seeks out Jason’s feedback. Tahani and Jason’s romantic connection is explored, as is Jason and Janet’s. Chidi and Tahani have an important bonding moment in S1, and even the dynamic between Chidi and Jason is touched on some.

So, while TBL’s cast feels a little separated and almost cliquish, TGP’s six castmembers feel like a cohesive team where any two or three characters can be trusted to carry a scene and have an emotional connection/interaction. The former comes off as weak writing and show structuring, while the other is far preferable to watch.

3. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

As I’ve said in several other TBL posts, THIS is probably my biggest grievance with the show … even more so than the weird-ass plot structure.

Despite supposedly being major characters, Ressler, Cooper, Samar and Aram get very little in the way of growth or development. I can barely describe them, their personalities, their desires, their moral codes, etc. in maybe a paragraph for each character. And these are people who have been on this show for FIVE FUCKING YEARS!!! How is that possible that they’ve gotten so little development in so much screentime?

Again, remember, TBL’s runtime is SIX TIMES that of TGP. And yet, I feel like any and all of The Good Place’s major characters get way more development simply in the first season than TBL’s peeps do in five.

I could definitely describe Jason, Tahani, Chidi and Janet’s personalities, desires, moral codes, etc. in like a page for each character.

Now, granted, I suppose the show’s structure lends itself better to that. The characters have to do a lot of soul-searching, so to speak, in almost every episode. Whereas, the Blacklist’s cast has to chase down the week’s bad guys, which takes up at least 20-30 minutes per episode.

Okay, okay. Maybe it’s not fair, considering that TBL clearly doesn’t care about its non-Reddington/non-Keen characters. So, let’s focus on both shows’ two leads and their character arcs.

Let’s look at Reddington’s character development versus Michael’s.

Despite having much more screentime and weight within the show, Reddington’s arc PALES in comparison to Michael’s. Granted, Michael started out as a literal demon whose entire purpose was to torture people. But, over time, we saw his genuine curiosity about humans transform into a genuine desire to understand them and want to be one of them. Yes, he only seeks them out after 802 reboots because he feels he has no other options (thanks to Vicky threatening to blackmail him). But, as he learns ethics alongside the humans, he realizes he needs to become a better ‘person’ (read: demon) to better care of them. Because he OWES IT TO THEM.

Reddington’s character development, meanwhile, seemed to come more in the latter half of S4 when he was trying to deal with Mr. Kaplan coming after him and he was trying to confront this spectre of death that seemed to be looming over him.

Yet, even after all that bullshit with Mr. Kaplan, where he called him out for keeping secrets from Elizabeth that she had the right to know, he still held all the cards and kept his secrets to himself and killed anyone who got in the way.

If Red had really grown, the way Michael did in S2, he would’ve confessed to Elizabeth at some point that he wasn’t the real Reddington, that he stole her father’s identity, and he’d been keeping it from her all this time because of “x.”

While Michael has learned and grown as an individual, Reddington has stayed relatively static in terms of personal growth. Not to say we haven’t seen different sides of him, what he would do when he faced difficult scenarios, like Liz’s death or losing his criminal empire… but the Reddington in the S5 finale is too much like Reddington in the pilot episode. Which is absolutely ridiculous, given how much screentime and emphasis he’s gotten over FIVE SEASONS!!!

Michael has learned to admit when he’s been wrong, apologize and become a better friend to his humans, while Red still has yet to do Liz (a woman he loves immensely in some capacity or other) the basic kindness of telling her that he stole her dad’s identity.

Alright. Now let’s look at Elizabeth Keen versus Eleanor Shellstrop.

Both characters have suffered from character regression, where they start at Point A, then develop and grow over time to reach Point B, and then – for whatever reason – regress to Point A again.

Elizabeth Keen started out happy and bubbly in S1a, went to dark and gritty in S1b-3a, then went back to happy and bubbly in S3b to S5a, then back to dark and gritty again in S5b.

Eleanor started off as an Arizona dirtbag, then became a good person to the point where she decided to sacrifice herself by going to the Bad Place... then got rebooted 802 times... then started as an Arizona dirtbag again, progressed to the point where she was the only one of the four humans who passed her test from The Judge ... then was sent back to earth and was saved from death, so she decided to change her life, backslided and now is AGAIN trying to become a better person.

Now, while Eleanor’s character regression fits within the confines of the show, Keen’s makes no sense. She’s confronted and overcome so many challenges over the show’s the five seasons… so, why hasn’t she learned from them? Why is she still relatively the same, especially considering that x-number of seasons ago, she was so completely different?

Why is she back to being all angry and hateful and dark, etc., when it’s like... she has a young daughter who’s lost her father, she lost 10 months with her after being in a coma.... and she just wants to go beat up dirty cops??? I feel like if they wanted us to see an Elizabeth Keen that had learned from her experience, she would’ve given up her life with the FBI, saying that it’s put her in danger, severed ties with Red (or tried to) because he’s also endangered her (via the bones), and spent time with her daughter, whom she claims is more important than anything else in the world.

And, whereas Eleanor was not a very likable protagonist at the outset but she becomes more likable over time, Keen started out as somewhat likable but has become more annoying as her character continually regresses.

All in all, to quote (or at least paraphrase) some other Tumblr user, “I can’t believe The Good Place literally invented character development.”

TL;DR

Again, just to reiterate, I think there’s good and bad in both shows. But, there’s a reason why I’ve seen every episode of the Good Place at least four times and why TGP S1-2 is currently #4 on my list of All-Time Favorite TV Shows.

The Good Place pushes the envelope by subverting expectations and having major developments earlier in the season than expected; it makes sure that almost every character has significant moments with every other character; and it ensures that each of them has a major character arc that works within the confines of the show.

The Blacklist, in comparison, does what too many other shows on TV do: it treads water plot-wise; it focuses too much on some characters at the expense of others; and even the characters it focuses on don’t show any significant or organic growth.

And, that’s why, IMO, The Blacklist represents everything that’s wrong with television now; and The Good Place represents everything that’s right.

[thejpfdude-blog]

The Spring 2017 Shows Awards

Hello friends and welcome to the annual INSERT SEASON HERE Shows Awards! It’s the end of a season, which means it’s time to look back at just why this season was so bad. Just kidding, except only partially.

Before I get into the rankings and awards, I want to talk a little about this season. If there’s one word to describe the season, it’s underwhelming. Not that that means it was a bad season, but that it just felt... unmemorable. None of the shows here caught my attention, and I feel like a few months from now I’m gonna forget about most, if not all of them. They aren’t bad (otherwise I would’ve dropped them), just something about them doesn’t resonate with me. We’ll see if the two shows below that are 2-cour get better as time goes on, but for the others gg.

Anyway, let’s start off this thing with the rankings as always, featuring the least amount of shows I’ve watched since I started watching anime seasonally:

Rankings:

1. Tsuki ga Kirei (7/10)

2. Ani ni Tsukeru Kusuri wa Nai (7/10)

3. Boku no Hero Academia 2nd Season (7/10 ONGOING)

4. Sakura Quest (7/10 ONGOING)

5. Aggressive Retsuko (7/10 ON HOLD)

6. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭ (6/10)

Awards:

Best Anime: Tsuki ga Kirei (HM: Ani ni Tsukeru Kusuri wa Nai)

Out of all of the seasons of anime I watched, this was the hardest season to determine a AOTS. On the one hand you have one of the best romance shows to come out in a while, and on the other hand you have one of the best shorts I’ve watched in a while. I flipped back and forth while writing this post, but in the end the romance edged out the short, and it’s because... well I mentioned it a sentence ago. Tsuki ga Kirei is probably one of the better pure romances to come out recently, and it does it by pure execution. Storywise it’s the tale of two lovers meeting and the scenes during their time in their final year of middle school; in other words, not an amazing plot. But who cares about the plot when you get an established couple by episode 3, a kiss by episode 6 (or so), and a canon ending with them together! Like, that’s some pretty rare stuff in anime. Gotta cherish it while you have it. The reason why I don’t have this rated higher is that even with the nice romance, the characters themselves were super forgettable. Even now I’ve already forgotten most of the stuff from the show. So yeah, that’s really the one thing that this show didn’t have for me: impact. Sure, those final scenes in episode 12 were some good stuff, but woulda been nice if it was longer (or at least not crammed into a 2 minute montage). Still, it was a nice watch at the time.

Shoutout to the short above whose name I still don’t know off the top of my head. It was a nice little story with cute art and funny antics. And also some romance. And the best part is it didn’t drag on for a million episodes unlike a certain short whose name is...

Worst Anime: Nobunaga no Shinobi S2

Wow that transition was smooth as a baby. Yeah, I technically dropped this show, but I don’t like putting Saekano S2 as my worst show of the season when I at least enjoyed some of it, which is more than I can say about this show. It’s unfortunate really: when it first aired I loved the comedy and the artstyle was pretty cute. But as more episodes aired, the jokes didn’t change and got stale, they introduced characters that were annoying and eventually there were too many of them to keep track of, leaving me confused and saying “who was this dude again?”. I started to dread watching it, so I just ended up dropping the show about a few weeks ago. I will say though if this show ends next season (can’t be this season because apparently episode 14 came out), I might watch the rest of it, seeing as it’s only 3 minutes per episode. But no more: once I stopped watching it I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Truly, bad anime is bad.

Best Surprise: Tsuki ga Kirei (HM: Ani ni Tsukeru Kusuri wa Nai)

Well would you look at that: same order as the AOTS category. Yeah, I don’t think I expected anything from Tsuki ga Kirei coming into the season. Even going into the season too: I dropped the show around 2 episodes in because there was no couple and I found it boring AF. I picked it up again after hearing there was an established couple, and haven’t looked back since. If that’s not a surprise, I don’t know what is.

Shoutout to the short above for not even being in my radar until a friend of mine pointed it out. Thank you friend who shall not be named.

Worst Disappointment: Saekano S2 (HM: Sakura Quest kinda)

I mean I wouldn’t say I didn’t expect it, but it’s still kinda disappointing nevertheless. Seeing as how I heard Saekano would turn up the drama in season 2, I was expecting drama. Just... not Oregairu S2 levels of drama. Everything I liked from the first season was de-emphasized for the drama, and it left a show that while most people enjoyed, I didn’t enjoy much. Well, happens.

Shoutout to a show that most people thought would be akin to Shirobako but hasn’t shown much in its first cour.

Best Girl: Megumi Katou (Saekano S2) with HM to all the wonderful girls in Boku no Hero Academia S2

Even with all of the shenanigans that happened in the show, Megumi still ended up being my favorite character of the season. Her relaxed mannerisms juxtaposed with the trope-y characters made her stand out more, funny considering she’s the laconic type.

Shoutouts to literally all of the girls of BnHA. They all have their different quirks, both power-wise and personality-wise, that make the show fun to watch when it isn’t focused on the power of friendship and stuff.

Best Guy: Tokoyami Fumikage (Boku no Hero Academia S2) with HM to all the wonderful guys in the same show

I mean there were at least 5 different characters from BnHA I could’ve chosen for this, but I like Tokoyami’s calm personality. Plus his power’s pretty frickin awesome. But yeah, I coulda chosen anyone from BnHA because similar to what I said above, their quirks make the show fun.

Worst Girl: The one glasses girl from Renai Boukun

I really had to reach for this category and the next one, because I didn’t watch much shows and I couldn’t think of a girl I could definitively say was the worst. So I went into my dropped shows and got the sole reason I dropped the show above. Mini-shoutouts to literally every girl from Eromanga-sensei: I would give them the award, but I didn’t even watch an episode of the show so it didn’t feel fair.

Worst Guy: That one general dude from Nobunaga no Shinobi S2

Similarly to above, here’s one of the main reasons why I dropped my worst show of the season.

Best OP: Don’t (Warau Salesman New) with HM to Hitorigoto (Eromanga-sensei), Peace Sign (Boku no Hero Academia S2), and Morning Glory (Sakura Quest)

From a show I didn’t even give a chance towards comes the best ED of the season. The song’s hippin and boppin and the visuals are top notch as well.

Shoutouts to Hitorigoto (even though the show sucks, the OP’s song is great), Peace Sign (a song that grew on me with hype visuals to warm you up nicely for the episode), and Morning Glory (a fun song with visuals taking you through the life of the five girls).

Best ED: Freesia (Sakura Quest) with HM to adrenaline!!! (Eromanga-sensei) and Dakara, Hitori Janai (Boku no Hero Academia S2)

Hands down, Freesia had the best ED of the season. The song is top notch and the visuals are pretty to look at.

Shoutouts to adrenaline (again, show sucks but the ED was catchy and fine I guess the dancing was cute) and Dakara, Hitori Janai (featuring the girls of class 1-A with a song that grew on me as the season went on).

BONUS AWARDS

The TheJPFDude Happy Show of the Season: Tsuki ga Kirei

The only bonus award this season (because nothing else stood out), Tsuki ga Kirei gets the award for happiest show for being a nice pure romance with some classic romance scenes. Not to mention the great ending putting a nice touch to a show most would say is a romance classic.

And that’s all for this season’s awards! Not much to talk about honestly, but at least next season looks promising. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next post!

[momtaku]

SnK Chapter 92 Poll

I’ll be closing the chapter 92 poll tonight so this is your last chance if you’d like to chime in. 

Take a Poll

I’ve received 406 responses thus far and 103 people have left comments. I especially appreciated this one

Did this very distractedly, watchin that Netflix show about OJ Simpson at the same time

Thanks, dude :P More chapter thoughts are below the read more

Reiner is getting hotter with each passing chapter. I fear we may rapidly be approaching a state of ultimate hotness that may be too much for us mere mortals to handle.

DA BEAST DADDY IS DA BEST DADDY.

Zeke's mid air transformation followed by a superhero landing is all I needed for my life to be complete

It's a boy!

I liked how much the new warriors look up to the older warriors How did Zeke drug Connies village if this is really required for his scream to work? And I wonder, are there eldians outside of Marly and paradis Island? Because the east sea nation don't have a high opinion of them as well. So, I wonder how they are treated in their society if they happen live there.

The reactions of the warriors reminded me a lot of how almost everyone reacted during Trost - most of them only knew how horrific it was, they'd never seen it. And it was HEARTBREAKING FOR EVERYONE. (But while Gaillard is agile, Ymir's titan didn't have the special jaw design, which would be weird AF if she really was the "Jaw Titan." So I'm pretty sure she's still safe).

I miss Erwin & Bert so much

Pieck's metal armour was rad

WHERE ARE MY LITTLE CHILDREN??

It hit me like a double-decker.

It was gucci

That chapter was well-done action-wise. It was cool to see the warriors of Marley in action. I'm still sad about Reiner's potential fate but I have to get prepared for him to die next chapter or in the chapter after. Poor boy only dedicated his life to an imposed duty since childhood without a break, on top of losing everybody he loved. If he dies I still have Zeke, but Reiner was my favorite warrior alongside Bert. Gabi and Falco warmed on me but not enough. I still want to spend the whole volume on Marley before moving on. no time-skips surprised me...

Zeke doesn't look he's aged a day. It was nice to see him again.

The only wow element for me was older Reiner. That's it.

I'm afraid Isayama will return to the main cast for the rest of the volume. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about Reiner and Zeke, plus now we have Falco and Gabi characters (and Pieck and Galliard on top of that). I feel there should be better a introduction for the new cast, and at least some update about Reiner\Zeke ( their worldview, their rediness to pass on their titans, their opinion on the candidats, at least some interactions with them). Also, I yet so see Mare's side of the conflict, and not oppreses Mare's Eldians, but actual Mare's people (military and civilians alike). So far we've met only two officers and they were jerks. Mare's still painted pretty black, I would like to see some gray areas as well.

Better than the last two

Where the fuck is Ymir!?

I'm getting a little tired of all these new characters, and while seeing Reiner again was quite nostalgic, I really wish Isayama would bring the story back to the original characters soon.

I think Reiner's not out for the count yet, but here's something I can totally see happening: we switch back to the Paradis people and the Marleyans attack them. Everyone thinks the Armored Titan is Reiner and they try talking to him only to discover it's one of the new people. OR, for some extra tragedy, they kill/capture the titan and THEN realize it isn't even Reiner. Bonus bonus tragedy if Connie finally gets his revenge and it's not even Reiner. :( Can totally see Isayama doing that.

It was really disturbing to realize that Annie, Bertolt, Reiner, and Marcel were once probably just like Gabi, Falco, Udo, etc. They might have been idealistic, prone to kindness even to their enemies (like Falco)... or not (since it's impossible to say for sure!) But seeing what actually fighting within the walls has done to Reiner--his trauma, etc. was an excellent contrast to the relative innocence the new cast gives off, and it's heartbreaking to consider that the Warriors we know may have once been the same way. Eren & co. please arrive promptly and save them.

It was boring.

I wish they would show why zeke was the holder of the key to the whole story.

Very intense chapter with stunning art.

Everything went south, but it's good to finally have some knowledge about what's going on outside.

Mule titan is the new best titan

I am sad that "Hot Dayum Daddy-o" Is not an acceptable answer for Reiner's hotness raiting. I also better see a warrior backstory before Isayama ties the noose for good on Reiner if he indeed decides to kill him off.

i have been giving this particular chapter a LOT of thought, and after looking back to ch. 51 of the manga, particularly at the picture of connie's mother in comparison to the drooling woman towards the front of page 2, i'm pretty convinced that the elodians were the people from ragako. that being said, i'm a slight bit skeptical that they were drugged and instead am starting to believe an older theory that just as zeke can turn people into mindless titans, he can turn them back into mindless humans.

Where's Annie

SCs better ally with the Mid-East Union or Eldians will be doomed by Marley faster.

Was surprised by how much I loved this chapter, after I so hated the last one. Oh, how far we've come since the early days of the story. I can't even imagine this in an animated form. It's too many years away.

i hope reiner will not gonna die because of gabi , if isayama want to kill him no matter what i want him to die like a hero

Something that stuck out to me was Gabi's concern for Reiner, "Reiner... be careful." It's a bit odd, she wants his power (aka eat him) but is concerned for him? Is it because of his power? Or does she know and legit care for him, but she (and the other cadets) haven't been told that eating them (the titan shifters) is a necessity to gain the power? Wouldn't that be traumatizing to figure out... I'm also curious about whether or not the warriors backstories are going to be told. Since Reiner's been knocked out (again XD) it could be a good time for the next chapter to open up with a flashback and end with him waking up? He's been kept alive for a while, and there's obviously a reason for it. I also want to know more about the other little warriors, they seem neat :)

Maybe im in denial but Reiner cant die yet, hes the warrior that knows the enemy best and needs to teach someone to use the 3dmg (If he hasnt already in these 4 years)

Something that stuck out to me was Gabi's concern for Reiner, "Reiner... be careful." It's a bit odd, she wants his power (aka eat him) but is concerned for him? Is it because of his power? Or does she know and legit care for him, but she (and the other cadets) haven't been told that eating them (the titan shifters) is a necessity to gain the power? Wouldn't that be traumatizing to figure out... I'm also curious about whether or not the warriors backstories are going to be told. Since Reiner's been knocked out (again XD) it could be a good time for the next chapter to open up with a flashback and end with him waking up? He's been kept alive for a while, and there's obviously a reason for it. I also want to know more about the other little warriors, they seem neat :)

I wanna see my children they must be so grown up, im gonna cry

fans are making too much drama for the recent lack of the main trio and the 104th squad. I'm more happy to learn about new characters outside the island and see differents points of view about the world, it gives you a global vision. Also I wish we could learn more about Marley people not for the point of view of Eldians but for themselfs or I don't know maybe from other countries? for now they are bad bad very evil duh, but I don't think in a story that constantly makes us reflect on what its good and evil the idea of Marley as the supreme ultra evil enemies is just to simple ... and lazy.

I fell 50/50 about the probabilities of Galliard eating Ymir, but the agility he has is not a proof, i don't believe the "every titan has a unique ability" thing.

Really wondering whether or not reiner may survive this since he is close to running out of time like zeke

Mule Titan is best girl

I want answers, Isayama

92 was unique, i loved it! Seeing what's happening in the other side of the ocean.

I can't wait to see more of Gabi. Gabi is best girl.

I absolutely loved this chapter. It was action packed & the ending got me so fucking hyped for next months chapter. We also got some development on the new Warriors which was really interesting. I hope they will play an important role in this arc. I'm so fucking hyped to see what the SC have been up to for the past 4 years. They probably established a base on the coast or something. btw DID I MENTION IM FUCKING HYPED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!?

i will cry in ymir is dead

It was so short it felt like "heey you guys now you have anime so manga can be less interesting". This chapter was so unnecessary IMO

#FREEANNIE2K17 better happen soon

All in all, this chapter was way more in-depth than the last one and I liked how the warrior kids all got a bit of a personal touch to them. Reiners flashback scene was the most impactful moment in my opinion. It was so heartbreaking. Also, this chapter had a proper conclusion, so I hope we're getting the main cast again next chapter.

Zophia needs more panel time.

This was a cool chapter because of the action. I am not fan of the forced bullshit Isayama has been introducing recently like the convenient amnesia in the last chapter. Make the narrative more fluid!

I thought poop machine was bad, titan carpet bombing is even more wtf

GIVE ME ARMIN'S TITAN FORM GODDAMIT

Devastating. To see the Eldians being used as mindless weapons was severely disturbing. And Zeke finally realising that War is indeed a terrible thing. These chapters are hella intense and enlightening about the world outside. It's still really sick though. Totally sick I can't even. But the thing that really excites AND frightens me the most now is WHAT HAPPENED IN WALLED WORLD WITHIN THE 4 YEARS OF TIME SKIP. Now that we've seen what the Marleyans can and intend to do, I'm feeling really anxious about the 'final' battle between the Eldians and Marleyans. With our precious badass scientist Hange and badass fighter Levi and basically the entire badass scouts, I don't think the people in the walled world, particularly the SC just sat around and did nothing. I don't need a full flashback of their 4 years (though that would be nice as well), but I do want to see how they progressed and improved during those years. I'm imagining it in my head already: the ultimate war. And then we see all the upgrades that the SC did as well, and how Eren and Armin have mastered their titans. I'm even hoping to finally see Annie again, as a villain or whatever, as long as she's put back into the story. I'm expecting a huge twist, but please not something too nasty like Eren being dead already or something. Also, I've never really warmed up to the Marleyans, and after these past chapters, I don't think I ever will. I don't think Zeke is going to get eaten, not soon, at least. He's got so many plot points that require him (Eren, Levi wanting to kill him...), but I do think it's time for Reiner to go, since he survived three extreme situations. By the way, from Marley's perspective, giving Zeke's power to a new recruit seems like a terrible idea: if they are planning to get the Coordinate, they need an experienced war chief to start immediately. It's enough that one of their five titans will need a new recruit after Reiner's demise (if it's true he is going to die, of course, I could be wrong).

It was a good chapter, but i still have no clue about the direction Yams wants to give the story. I feel like he's going too far from what SnK has Always been. I am not happy to meet the main cast, the time skip looked like a stupid way to solve all the stuff he made and we was about to male, like ema's part. In 4 years they argued and maybe thery already fixed. Sooo stupid.

Let's go back to our main cast, please.

At this point many of us think it's unlikely the warrior cadets will inherit BT or AT...but what if, in some type of critical situation, jaws or cartman are injured or whatever, and the only way to preserve the powers is by eating them in a hurry? This way, we'd keep plot relevant Reiner and Zeke, and at least some of the more important new kids (i.e. Faloc/Gabi/Colt) could stick theoretically stick around too (by eaten the aforementioned plot irrelevant shifters)? idk just a thought

It's all well and good to introduce new characters but this late in the story, after all these very dramatic plot/character changes and massive mystery revelations it's a bit... abrupt, to suddenly be with all these new people. I feel like it's a different series and no one told me about it.

I could be interesting if we saw the Marley politicians, or how do they choose the new shifters. But seeing again the Survey Corps could be great as well. Oh, and I was surprised that Reiner was still alive after their lose of multiple shifters titans. And I hope Ymir isn't dead not just bc she's my bae, but bc, contrary to Reiner to who I don't see relevant to the story anymore, so, Ymir is still I think useful too the story. She is still very mysterious and it would not be logical for the Marley government to make her eat and not Reiner and Zeke ? Or maybe it is in fact bc she could refuse to work for them ? I dunno. Still hope she's alive. Btw, is Historia going to be married in the next chapters (for political reasons...) 

Why would they make Galliard eat Ymir when they could make a recruit eat her. Giving two titan powers to one titan doesn't make sense strategically speaking. And that's if she is on the Marley side which we don't know for sure.

I may have misinterpreted the chapter due to wonky translations, but I was hoping those opposing the Marleyans would have held out more. I thought the secondary conflict was leading to something the Eldians could use when they needed to confront Marley (not a direct alliance, if literally everyone outside the walls hates Eldians, but something *waves hands*). Otherwise... the Titan drop method is awful and I know Isayama doesn't like to hold back on the atrocities, but I'll admit it did mess me up a little after reading.

I'm really hoping to see Galliard and Pieck's human forms soon. Since there were many parallels between RBA and EMA and Zeke is said to be like a warrior Levi, I'm hoping for Galliard and Pieck to be like some warrior versions of Erwin and Hange.

I want to see more backstories; Zeke, Ymir Fritz, The First King. I can't wait until Eren re-unites with Zeke.

Well, Zeke saying "war ia a bad thing" after enjoying so much killing the Scouts was quite...incoherent? Wtf lord of the ponies?

I'm completely lost as to what the story currently is

I do want to see Galliard and Pieck's human forms but not if it means we get another Marley chapter. It's time to go back to the real protagonists.

This plot twist is weird and has yet to sell me in the new direction it's taking

Locate my position and land on me Daddy

I hope the story of new warriors won't turn into another Grisha files.

I hope Paradis invasion will be told from the Warriors perspective. We already know how underprepared and unexpected Paradis is so it'd be fresh to see the story unfold from the other side. This will also give more time to develop those fresh recruits' characters? Most of them still feel like folders to me and we weren't given enough time to form emotional attachment with them yet.

I miss my Vets...

I'm terrified there may be another timeskip before we get back to the main cast i'll fuck up isayama and his editor for giving me this timeskip-phobia Having BRYH as your favorite characters really fucking sucks.

back to eren, please

All I hoped for was to at least see Reiner and Zeke again. But I'm ready to see my children again next month. :')

Im so nervous

I preferred this chapter over 91 because we got to see familiar characters. I am surprised at how quick this war ended for the viewers and hope we get to see the fallout from Marley's perspective. Maybe the changing of titans if that is going to happen before we switch back to the main cast.

4/10 There was no Grisha in this chapter, but it brought back my intense sadness for Reiner

What kind of brainwashing techniques the Marley used on the Eldian

What happened to this manga!?!

I know the new characters are all going to die so I just want to see how this story ends already.

I really don't want Reiner and Zeke to be replaced, as I don't see how that would add anything to the story and many conflicts would never be resolved. Also I loved the scene with the drugged eldians turned into titans. Very poignant. I love how the situation is cruel and inhumane yet really really believable

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

This chapter has a lot of really good emotional moments (Falco saving the Middle East Union man was a personal favorite). The way the Eldians are treated was genuinely horrific. Isayama is doing well building up the tension and the threat level in his manga. But, he's also now, thankfully, investing time into the emotional gravity of this situation and this new world. This chapter was much better at establishing what this side of the wall is all about than the previous chapter. But, the main characters need to come back because I doubt most of us will ever care about the new characters nearly as much as we do the old ones. Also, Reiner is back!!! And he's so hot but everything is so sad! Seeing Reiner again is like trying to eat ice cream while you're sobbing your heart out. And honestly, if Reiner is supposed to be "dead"... all I can say is that it would be pretty lame.

The story has become way more interesting that I initially thought. I really love the new perspective shown of the tragic young warriors. The hopelessness of the Pradise situation now that we saw Marly's power. I'm scared to think of how more complicated it will be. Love how isayama is never scared to leave the main cast behind whenever he wanted to express more thoughts or story. good job.

The chapter was great. We finally have an idea of what the military prowess of Marley as well as the rest of the world is like. We know how Eldians are treated by Marley and viewed by other nations and honestly the situation is grim for Paradis. I truly hope they achieved massive strides in weapon and warfare or found an ally of sorts otherwise they are completely at the mercy of the coordinate.

god this is going so fast to somewhere i never thought this would go and idt i like that very much

I've waited so long to get the Warrior perspective on things, these chapters are a delight (while also being horrifying). Seeing how idealistic these kids are, oblivious to the reality of their monstrous nation, breaks my heart.

I have no idea what's going on anymore.

all these new characters confuses me and i think its messy that we are presented to so many new people when the manga is almost done. also a fucking four year time jump??? i just dont feel like this is snk anymore all these new characters confuses me and i think its messy that we are presented to so many new people when the manga is almost done. also a fucking four year time jump??? i just dont feel like this is snk anymore

I can't wait to see Eren & Co! \>o

I think it was kinda satisfying to see Gabi's view on the world change since she seemed so cocky before hand.

I just want to see the main cast again.

Interesting to see all the technologies/evolution the middle-east clan: they can destroy Reiner's armor !

I hate 2 last chapters

Tbh i dont mind if they do a couple more chapters from marleys pov but at the same time i want then to go back to our mian cast just to see how after the horror shitshow of 92 ; how paradis is preparing for attack

YAMS my man dude bro I wanna know the dealy-o with Ymir ASAP thx

It confused the heck out of me but I got by