#they're not even being shy about the revenge spree

[sorinethemastermind]

The Fallen Star has returned -- and his vengeance will bring eternal night.

[may-bonne]

Assignment anon. I'm shy 👉👈 lol. Looking forward to 2nd fic!

-A nervous duck going for a handful of cheerios is the perfect way to describe that kiss lol. I also like the uncomfortable shifting and loud awkward sniff when he meets Johnnie in the diner a second time. The way he leans down super far to sip his coffee too

-The "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" is so funny. Imagining myself as the person who heard that coming through the walls and complained

-I know Frank is supposed to be tough or whatever but I wish we could've gotten a few tears while destroying the room. Not actual crying but just wet shiny eyes from the anger and distress. I mean he did suddenly wake up with tits he didn't ask for and his dick gone

-I think another good part of the accent is when he calls Johnnie and goes "Ya wanna meet for a CAWFEE?" There was serious emphasis there

-Frank is 100% not the type of guy to wear a real binder (idk maybe somebody could convince him to wear the kind that look like undershirts) but why does he have to do the sloppiest binding job known to man with that tape. Why not use ace bandages at LEAST

-He slipped into acting like he was willing to show creep assistant his rack too easily. I really needed him to seem more awkward. You know he's a shitty actor

-There should have been more scenes of people not recognizing him or generally being all ummm...

-What year is supposed to be if they're using flip phones and pay phones? It doesn't feel y2k

-I cannot blame the curly haired doc for seeming like he hated his life when he had to listen to Doc Jane ramble

that's okay anon i'm grateful for you anyway <3

since yesterday i've had 1000 more thoughts about this movie. i had to save this as a draft and switch to computer 'cause my thumbs started aching

the breast grope/fingering/darth vader NOOOO sequence is honestly the best part of the whole thing. egregious she didn't get an oscar nom but the academy snubbed girlfight too so what can you expect, really

the accent is consistently rough but there's not a single pronunciation as ridiculous as the way katarin bloodrayne says "my FAHthuh" so i'll let it go. i just commented this somewhere else but i think a director thinking mrod is a good choice for convincing accent work is a strong indicator that some other questionable choices will be made

the tape made me wince. that skin is already stretched THIN. he's gonna rip his nipples off. also i think it's kind of funny that because they were working with mrod's real breasts it looks like the doctor really exercised restraint. yeah maybe it was more conducive to her experiment to give him something realistic but if i were her i'd be giving frank fat fucking tits just for the hell of it

yes there was WILD vacillation between him being supremely awkward with johnnie and then seeming very chill about being a chick in literally every other situation. i'm glad this movie exists just because i think it proves that maybe portraying convincing sexual chemistry is just not mrod's strong suit no matter who she's playing against and it's not just a guy thing. except when she rested her forehead against johnnie's. that was cute

related: i would love to know what the fuck frank said to johnnie the first time they met considering he seemed to think "i want to take off your clothes" was a compelling offer

also related: i guess that first scene with johnnie was supposed to establish frank as some kind of suave womanizer but i CANNOT imagine he was that great at sex before. when johnnie tells him that she prefers being eaten out or whatever to just having that thing rammed into her it's going to knock his fucking socks off. i'm going to write that into the next fic actually

no idea when it comes to the year. it doesn't look like 2016. i thought maybe they were using flip phones for crime reasons but in my head it's maybe like 2009

anyway: to me the core problem with the plot is that it's not clear what the point even is of the whole revenge spree!! i understand killing honest john and jin tao but what the fuck did earl and joe and vladimir and the nicaraguans whose names i can't remember have to do with anything? they had no part in actually getting frank to the doctor. and frank can't have been that opposed to dogfighting or pimping or whatever because he was working for those guys! killing them just to get back at honest john barely makes any sense either because it's not like we saw them all having a family dinner or something. when frank finally confronted him, john didn't seem cut up at all! if the plan was to cripple him financially or intimidate him i don't think it achieved shit because she straight-up killed him like a week later and also i can't imagine that the result of just murdering the top brass was that all the girls and dogs got to go free. i'm not saying she can't just be acting irrationally but that's not how a movie is supposed to work. we're supposed to have some reason to care

(as a side note i feel like that syndicate should have consolidated its operations. i'm imagining one of those problems where you have a prostitute, a machine gun, and a pitbull on one side of a river and you can only fit two of them in your boat or whatever. and what the fuck even was that "dry goods store." why were we suddenly in a spaghetti western?? i guess i find it vaguely plausible that they have those in san francisco but in that case it couldn't just operate as a front. he would actually have to be selling organic granola and shit)

okay i know you didn't ask, but here's how i would fix all of that. first, at the start, frank should ONLY be trying to kill honest john and the doctor. second, i think johnnie actually should be an ex-prostitute! i'm not saying it would be the greatest most realistic portrayal of sex trafficking, but i think it would make a lot of narrative sense. she can still be a nurse; frank just has to find out that in the past, she was pimped out by one of the guys under earl. then we would get to see frank realize that he's not honest john's only victim AND he would have an actual reason to start with earl! and then once he kills earl he can think critically and come to the conclusion that every arm of this gang is hurting people and THEN he can decide to pick off the leaders one-by-one. obviously he would understand that in the abstract because he's not a moron, but if johnnie's the first person he's ever really cared about (which is what i think they're trying to imply with the ward-of-the-state thing), it would make it tangible for him. right now i think the dog is kind of clumsily serving that function, but by the time frank gets the dog he's already killed four people. also for ~parallels~ he could "rescue" johnnie from earl (symbolically, through love and sexual healing or whatever), a gun from the nicaraguans, and pancho from vladimir. then he could use that gun to commit all subsequent murders, get his revenge as originally planned on honest john and the doctor, ride off into the sunset with johnnie and the dog, and in that way build a new life from the results of all this killing. then it would feel like it was all building to something. i'm not a scriptwriter or anything but i think that would be a much better movie

(also being a sex trafficking victim would help explain why johnnie needed money so desperately. san francisco is expensive but i'm not convinced that nurses living in studio apartments must resort to crime)

and i would just cut joe entirely. i don't know why the fuck joe is even there. i would also shorten the doctor's monologues by at least a hundred percent and replace that lost time with scenes of frank and johnnie in bed together

christ that was a lot. anyway send me any thoughts you have about this dumb movie anytime <3 <3

[popcultureoverdosed]

Youthful Dystopia of Narutaru

Narutaru was beneficial enough to have been made in an era where deconstruction series was gaining traction. If it were to made now, it'd probably be labeled as edgy without any mention of the actual quality of the story. Notably, the genre being deconstructing is the Mon( Digimon, pokemon, etc) genre. Unlike magical girl and mecha shows of today, Mon anime are still generally fluffy and childish so a darker take on the genre was definitely in order.

To give a little backdrop on the creator Mohiro Kitoh, he's pretty much a nihilist that rivals gen urubuchi in cruelty. His other works include a giant robot that steals the life force of children to destroy the multiverse and a psychic teen whom mass murders anyone who drives irresponsibly. He's that type of guy.

The main appeal of the story comes from the interactions between the children and their shadow dragons, rather than actual plot progression. Shadow dragons are mysterious creatures who bond to the characters with a psychic link, sharing their pain and inner thoughts. The names of the shadow dragons are often reflective of their user's psychology. For example, Norio's dragon is Vagina dentata representing his feminine appearance and inability to become intimate with the man he loves.

Our first real look into the world of Narutaru comes in the form of Tomonori Komori. The first few chapters spend time lolly gaging and establishing a vaguely foreboding mood, but, Komori establishes how this world operates. He a textbook level sociopath. A charming young boy who is revered by those in his neighborhood. All that charm is simply a facade he puts on to hide his true sinister views. He wants a Darwinistic world where all of the educated and well to do members of society are killed off, leaving the world in a survival of the fittest state. " Those who are weak and can't fend for themselves deserve to die," he says despite having a sick mother to take care of. He's ironically killed off by hoshimaru, one of the weaker dragons.

Komori is far from the only disturbed child in the series. The children have few qualms with murder and treat it casually. What sets this mon series from those of the same genre is that it treats its children character like actual humans. They aren't saints who only use their abilities for good. They're selfish and use these dragons to suit their own needs. It seems that being psychologically damaged is a requirement for having a dragon. Even upbeat Shiina has her hang-ups about her identity. This theory of trauma giving birth to shadow dragons is more or less confirmed with Hiroko.

She's a shy girl who's constant physical and emotional abuse from her bullies and parents allow her to awaken Oni. Her parents are representative of a common problem in Asian society. They only value their daughter for her academic status and chide her for being anything less than perfect. Her bullies torment her for being too smart and standing out during class. Both parties have opposite reasons for hating Hiroko, but, they both wish to strip away her individuality and turn her into a submissive slave of society. Awakening her shadow dragon allows Hiroko to finally get revenge on her tormentors, even if it means becoming a serial killer in the process.

The manga is definitely a character-driven tale that dwells deep into the psyche of highly disturbed children. You have Akira who has depression and suicidal tendencies, Aki Honda who raped a girl with a test tube and the girl in question who snaps and goes in a killing spree. You could say that all of this bleakness is a bit too much but honestly, it felt refreshing. Mon series are generally really cheesy with bland one-note characters and a story that only exists to sell merchandise. Narutaru breaks the mold and presents characters who are multi-faceted and lifelike. Contrary to popular belief, children aren't always innocent and they can be just as cruel as adults.

One major gripe I have with the manga is the art. Mohiro sure can write but his art isn't winning any awards, that's for sure. Character designs are bland and minimalist. I admit the military paraphernalia is drawn in extensive detail and the dragons have cool designs but that's about it. Other manga artists can do sketchy manga art perfectly but Mohiro isn't one of them.

I also wasn't too particularly fond of the second half of the manga. It drops elements of deconstruction and character drama to replace it with military affairs. I understand the writer is a military nut but having chapters littered with walls of text of JSDF members reacting to the shadow dragon was just so tedious. It would've been better if the plot focused solely on the children and how their actions affect their environment. The second half of the manga lost what made Narutaru so special. It started as a character study of how immature kids react to newfound power only for the story to get Monopolized by adults. some characters like Mamiko Kuri, Norio Koga, and sudo desperately needed more screentime and character development. Mamiko is the worst offender as she only exists to be overtly cryptic until the final volumes.

I highly recommend anyone curious to please read the manga. It's ultimately a story of children thrown into an adult world of violence with little room to grow up. It's a thought-provoking social commentary on the nature of humans and how far their cruelty can go. There's an anime adaptation that isn't as good but is still a fun watch. Even if it's unlikely I'd to see the anime get a remake with a bigger budget and completely adapt the manga. If it did get a remake, here's whom I'd want to work on it:

Studio Mappa/ Geno studio- They seem more willing than other studios to work on nontraditional anime. They also tend to have high production values, something the Narutaru anime desperately needed. Producer twin engine would probably need to be involved

Sadyuki Murai(scriptwriter)- His work on boogiepop Phantom and Juuni Taisen has shown he excels at character drama and psychological thrillers. His style would work perfectly with the narrative and maybe even give the side characters some much-needed development. Taku Kishimoto would be my second choice

Takahiro Kishida( Character designer)- He has a sketchy and rough art style that can perfectly encapsulate the feel of the manga. I'm sure he'd improve on the demure character designs and make them more dynamite.

Takahiro Omari( Director)- He directed Durarara and Baccano which tells me he knows how to work with an ensemble cast. He also directed Hell girl, which had heavy social commentary poised at Japanese society, something Kitoh would love.

Yugo Kanno(Composer)- This guy knows how to how to Composer dark and suspenseful tracks that can amplify the intensity of the manga.

Be sure to check out these two other blogs that went far more in-depth than I ever could.

https://hanagasaitayo.wordpress.com/2019/08/05/analysis-narutaru-mukuro-naru-hoshi-tama-taru-ko/

https://manymanytoes.wordpress.com/2018/10/17/narutaru-shadow-star/