#this show had potential to be so great and its completely squandered

[spirit-meets-the-b0ne]

House of the Dragon was built to fail

Which the greatest shame of that is, I truly believe they got an incredible cast of talented actors, it's distressing to see them largely wasted. I've been an HBO fan (in a Stockholm kind of way) for the better part of two decades and even some of their usual pitfalls were accelerated here. While it's easy to just blame Ryan (5 spits for an enemy Condall) it still feels like there's more than just writing or directing so this post won't focus as much on the characterization follies but more on the story's infrastructure. While budgetary concerns with a show like this are obvious considering the dragons cost a great deal of time and money it is odd to me that this is a series rather than a mini-series. By that I mean, HBO for most of their big productions had seasons ranging from 10-15 episodes (Sopranos S1 13 episodes, True Blood S1 12 episodes, The Wire S1 13 episodes, etc) so this is exceptionally short of a season for House of the Dragon. Game of Thrones original run was largely a 10 episode format until the later seasons which were also notably shit.

This structure was never designed to give the characters or an audience time to breathe. While this is something that is continually brought up across the cinema/film community these days it seems especially important here. It also seems very easy for an audience to decide against investing time and energy into a series that only holds you for 8 weeks and then takes another 2-3 years of production. As most of the audience knows, it isn't like there is a shortage of materials for the show to incorporate. It's an active choice to not dive more into the lives and circumstances of these character and their relationships. Now, I'm not expecting Lost 2.0 where every character will get an episodic focal point and backstory. Still, you have plenty of non-dragon riding characters whom you could spend time with that don't require maxing out your VFX budget for. Because as of right now from the posts I've been seeing it's clear that most of the general audience at this point is more invested in the dragons than any human character in the show save for some Stans. I can't say I blame them. Most every character at this point is barely tolerable or straight up deeply unlikeable. That's a failure of the writers and directors explicitly. I think the actors are genuinely doing the best they could with the material they're given.

It's frustrating because while I was expecting this show to disappoint (both because of GoT's outcome and HBO's late game losing streak shout out to True Blood for getting so bad I never watched the final episodes) this production is hitting that wall way sooner than expected. If there was another 2-4 episodes to actually develop the characters and their relationships (even with piss poor writing) it might have helped tremendously but this structure is going to leave an audience wanting more and not in a good way. If there is a season 3 I can't imagine in 2 years that a lot of the current viewership would return. So even the "fix it" episode rewrites fans make don't seem like enough, to me you genuinely need more material, more for an audience to invest in or feel a part of. If this season was even 10 episodes there would have been so much room for improvement. The Last of Us was able to deliver a satisfying plot and character arcs with 9 episodes and there's a huge difference with the way that was received by audiences vs. HotD. The obvious difference is the amount of time they needed to tell that story vs. the amount of time you rightly needed to tell this one, which is case in point why HotD needed more time. So, while a short season can deliver satisfaction in some cases, I don’t believe as a rule it should all be common place to condense stories and characters. Especially considering HotD's compression is coming largely at the expense of the women in the show (Rhaena, Jeyne Arryn, Helaena, Nettles, Rhaenrya and Alicent's respective character assassination, etc). That's to say even if these character plots deviate from the canon they have the room to grow and develop a character completely to an audience. If you're going to change a character from the source material at least make them a well-developed different person.

[bengiyo]

We are headed into our final Drama Shower show of the season. How do you rank the shows we got this season and how are you feeling about the direction of the project?

What is Drama Shower and Why Does It Matter?

Before we get into rating these shows, I want to do a breakdown of what this is. To give you a sense of how big a deal Drama Shower is, fans are regularly updating a Wikipedia page for it with relevant links to follow the project. Also, there is a dedicated MDL page for it.

Drama Shower is a dedicated half-hour programming block on MBS, a Japanese broadcaster that is over 70 years old, in conjunction with Kadokawa, a Japanese publisher and holding group, that plays BL content at 1:30 am on Fridays. The project's main producer is Kaoru Azuma, who is a self-described long-time BL fan. He wants to show that BL can do a variety of stories in genre, and has recently stated that he wants to produce original content through the project as well.

We originally had six shows air through year one: Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss!, Senpai, This Can't Be Love!, Takara-kun to Amagi-kun, Eternal Yesterday, Candy Color Paradox, and Jack o' Frost.

I originally reviewed these shows as overall a mixed bag, but showing great promise. I liked that they got more comfortable with depictions of m/m intimacy over time. I thought Mr. Unlucky was legitimately funny (9), Senpai never found its footing (6), Takara and Amagi mildly squandered their premise (8), Eternal Yesterday was extremely poignant (10), Candy Color Paradox had ambitions that exceeded its talent pool (7), and Jack o' Frost was a really strong finish (9.5).

MBS seemed to enjoy the performance of this project enough to continue it for another year.

For me, I think it's very significant to give BL itself a time slot to see how audiences are responding to BL as a concept compared to the pitch of individual shows. I'm really encouraged by MBS doing this. Even if you don't care about the name MBS, you have interacted with their content, because they are also behind Full Metal Alchemist and Haikyuu! anime adaptations.

Rating Year 2

I actually liked the way year 2 started, even if I'm a bit mixed on the end. I really loved opening with Tokyo in April is... I liked that they had BL trying to be topical. I think the show unfortunately conflates some things it shouldn't, but I loved TIAI and I loved Ren and Ryunosuke's experience being gay men. I liked the changes they made to the source material. This show was dark in a way that it owned, and I really like that. I gave it a 9.

We then moved to My Personal Weatherman, and that went over well for the people who like to see really hot people go at it with each other. I actually enjoyed how much Yoh and Segasaki actively misunderstood each other even as they were speaking to each other. I don't know that they exactly completed their story, and I suspect that there may be a future outing for this show. Despite enjoying it, I think it didn't get all of its pieces together fully and gave it an 8.5.

We then crossed over into uncertain territory with One Room Angel. Despite enjoying a lot of what was going on in this show, I don't actually think it's a romance. It's my understanding that the angel character is a lot younger in the source material, and so they may have been a little shy about how much they did with these characters on screen. I also don't think the storytelling was balanced between the leads. However, because I am susceptible to complex stories about grief, I gave this show an 8.

Now, we have Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun. I hated this show so much. I think it makes the unfortunate mistake of asking me to care about how homophobia and public perceptions impacts people through its flashback drama, but then does nothing with that in the front. It sucked so hard, and I'm really disappointed because I thought this show had some of the most potential, and I thought Toki was one of the most watchable characters Drama Shower had produced. I ended up giving it a 4.

Our next and final show (I think) for this outing is called My Strawberry Film. This one will also be in a high school, but I know little about it, other than we may have a GL plot in it.

So, overall I'd give Drama Shower an 8. I think fans of BL, and especially Japanese BL, should continue to show up and support it. The fact that we have a dedicated programming block is important. The fact that none of these shows has felt like a retread so far is super important. Drama Shower is varied. There is something in here for almost everyone. Drama Shower is the biggest commitment to BL we've had from a distributor other than GMMTV's ongoing BL slate. Taiwan has Vidol doing is four projects, but Drama Shower is the first time I know of that a Japanese distributor has focused on BL in a meaningful, ongoing way. We should stick with it.

[willowser]

Oh angsty love island yes pls! My personal imaginings involve bkg doing something dumb (maybe he couldn’t give you some emotional reassurance when you were feeling vulnerable and really needed it idk) and you’re genuinely upset with him. Imagining this bc I like thinking about the friendships that develop on this show!! Mina, jirou, ochako etc are quick to comfort you as genuine friends would. I love thinking that the relationships we develop with the girls are just as solid ❤️

yes !! 🥺 omg the friendships that grow on this show are so cute !! and i like to think — bakugou's biggest "red flag", i think, on a show like this, would be his hesitancy to open up ?? because i think if you genuinely didn't know him (and you wouldn't, right, at this point), it could easily be misconstrued for something scary ! and i would think your gal pals would want to help you keep from getting tunnel vision, would want to be a voice of reason for you 🥺

but the angst !! i will post it in response to this ask he he

i think the tension reaches its peak when kirishima comes in and pulls you for a date.

bakugou's pissed. livid. can't even believe this is happening to him—well, he can, because you're incredible and kind and funny and gorgeous, but everyone has been pretty respectful of his couple thus far, and now some new dickhead is coming in to ruin it.

of course it comes at an odd time in your developing relationship, when bakugou is struggling to open up completely to you, and in turn you're struggling to understand what that means for your potential future. he knows that you're wanting more from him and he's trying, he is, in all the small ways that he can. the tiny ways he hopes you notice.

it's nothing outright or too forward, nothing explicitly defined — and so when you sit down with kirishima for your rooftop date and the first thing out of his mouth is how gorgeous you look — you're not going to pretend it isn't nice.

and he spends the whole dinner like that: complimenting your smile and even your laugh, blushing openly if you look at him too closely, saying he's been watching every episode and that you were his favorite from the start. it's a lot, someone who is so open with their feelings, and he's big and huge and handsome — but at the end of it all, he's not bakugou.

the honesty and openness is attractive, has you aching just a tiny bit from the space bakugou won't close with you, but you tell kirishima that you're happy with him and that it would take a lot, genuinely, in order for you to be swayed completely. but the point of the show is to meet people, get to know them, and while you warn him that you're not interested in leaving your couple — if kirishima calls you to chat, you won't say no.

bakugou's sick at the sight of you smiling, coming back with a big meathead following behind you with an even bigger grin. the only thing that he can find relief in is that you're not holding hands, but he watches you, forlorn, as all the girls squander you away to the couches. as you laugh and smile at their teasing.

"it was great!" kirishima says to the guys, after a round of introductions. "we had a really nice time, she's gorgeous. can't wait to get to know her better. no hard feelings, man." he flashes his shiny teeth at bakugou, unaffected by the icy, lifeless glare he's at the end of.

if he gets into a fist fight, it'll get him kicked off the show; that's what bakugou has to keep in mind as kirishima lists off his ideal partner — which is you, in all but the name. and he's got his arms crossed and his leg won't stop jiggling and his teeth are about to shatter when he feels a hand softly toying with the hair at the nape of his neck.

he sees it's you and wastes no time; bakugou just grabs your hand and steers you away from everyone, back to the lounge chairs so you can talk quietly, and the fear in his eyes is so noticeable that you can't help but to pout at him, give him a kiss to try and make him feel better.

it placates him a little, but he's still all serious, watching you carefully as he murmurs, "so, how'd it go?"

"uh," you nod and look away, like you're thinking even though he knows you've just been recounting it to the girls. "it went good! he's very nice, very friendly, and i'm sure he'll find someone to couple up with in no time!"

and it should make him feel better, it should, but he can feel his hands starting to sweat in yours, his stomach starting to turn. you're all adults, and he shouldn't be bothered by you being honest — that this shitty-haired bastard is some nice guy — but his ugly insecurities want you to be more convincing.

"well," bakugou frowns, shakes his head before glancing back over his shoulder. "he's over there fuckin' sayin' he can't wait to get to know you, and shit." and — you don't really say anything to that, just stare at him, because you don't know what to say, and your silence only coils his nerves further. "y'told him—y'know, about me and you, didn't you?"

"well, yeah," you smile at him, gently, in an attempt to lighten his cloudy mood, but his eyes only darken. "of course i did."

"so why's he over there thinkin' you two are about to couple up or somethin'?"

you frown and glance over at kirishima — who further pisses off bakugou, because he's just watching. "did he say that? because i certainly didn't make it out to seem like i was—"

"i mean, look at 'im," bakugou snorts, openly pointing at him across the yard. "fuckin' cat that got the cream. what's he so smug about?"

and — you've never seen him like this. so angry, jealous to a point that it's a complete turn off. all your worries flare up, and all you can think about is how difficult it can be to talk to him regularly, much less now, when he's mad; is this how fights will go, in the future?

"i don't know, katsuki, i mean," you shrug as he frowns at you, his eyes narrowing. "we're here to meet people, so i told him that i would talk to him if he wanted, but i didn't make it—"

"oh, so that's why," he drops your hands as his eyes turn hard, like you've betrayed him in some way. guilt stings, sharp, as your eyes start to water. you're not blind to the fact that everyone is watching now, as his voice raises and he interrupts you every time you open your mouth. "because you're tellin' him—"

"can you let me speak, please?" your face twists and then bakugou's does, when he sees it, and instead of listening, he only runs a hand through his hair and shoves off the lounge chair.

he knows he's being a total dick, especially as denki and mina and ochako all dart past him on their way to you, but his fear has turned into something hideous he can't control, and if doesn't cool off, he'll say something he'll really come to regret.

kirishima comes to check on you, too, when your makeup starts to run, and it only makes bakugou feel even worse. you take your time getting ready for bed, are in the room with the girls for a long time as you change and brush your teeth. denki tries to talk to him once, but it only results in bakugou storming out of the house, slamming the back door behind him as he sits in front of the pool, alone. like always.

back turned to the remnants of something he's single-handedly ruined. like always.

[foureyes802]

hiiiiii 💕 <- for ask game not just random love

ohhhoho favorite character time to spread the good word about the worst x-man, Angel

I think Angel/Warren is one of the X-Men characters who is chronically squandered. My belief is that when people adapt the Archangel plot they often do it as a last resort because they don't know what else to do with him, and once it's resolved (or even before then) they go back to not knowing what to do with him so the whole thing just fizzles out. But I have thoughts and ideas and I see his potential. This is code for "most of what you are about to read is headcanons, because I have been putting off reading the comics and rely heavily on the X-men cartoons right now." More under the cut :3

The whole thing about Warren is that his character conflicts are almost completely internal. He's got a ton of internalized anti-mutant hangups because his dad in most iterations is the billionaire CEO of a pharmaceutical company that's trying to develop a mutant cure. He's anxious, angry, even severely depressed, but he doesn't let that show to any of his teammates. He feels the need to rely only on himself (something something, child neglect) and by putting on a flirty rich "bad boy" front he is able to get away with it for a long time. That is until he loses his wings.

This is how the Archangel arc starts, usually. Warren gets severely injured in some kind of freak accident and ends up in the hospital, where his wings are amputated without his knowledge or consent. FTR this is not even close to the most extreme case of medical abuse in this soap opera ass series. A villain, usually Apocalypse, promises to be able to get his wings back and coerces him into a contraption that brainwashes him and turns him blue and gives him wings made out of metal blades and it's all very late-80s edgy. The X-Men come to stop him and they knock him out of the brainwashing and he leaves forever because now that he's not evil I guess he's no fun anymore. What I'm doing is standing on the rooftops and screaming ARCHANGEL IS NOT A CHARACTER!!! HE IS A NARRATIVE DEVICE!!!!! Yes his knife-wings are very cool and more fun to write and draw combat scenes with but Archangel is a corrupted version of a character we know who has been overtaken by rage. Archangel is REVENGE, Archangel is GRIEF!! He had an integral part of his identity, a literal piece of his body taken away from him and he turned to a very dark place to try and get that back and it changed him permanently. THAT'S INTERESTING! If you work backwards from that it can also make normal-style Angel really interesting too. Does he snap at people? Is he directing his self-loathing outwards? Does he grow at peace with his mutant identity and reject fully the prejudice of his family, content with the family he has found in other mutants, and THAT'S when you strike and take his wings away? MUCH TO THINK ABOUT!!

Wolverine And The X-Men is not a good cartoon, being especially notable for its sidelining and disempowerment of the women X-Men, but it gets the closest to understanding Warren. He's not super present in the show prior, but in "Guardian Angel" he gets the spotlight and this single episode tackles the becoming Archangel part of the arc so well that it's the reason I'm obsessed with this B-list white man. Weirdly it's Mr. Sinister who turns him and not Apocalypse, which doesn't *not* make sense in context unless you remember that if they got a season 2 they were gonna do Apocalypse. But that's a tangent in itself. Anyway the episode is really really great as a somewhat-standalone. The stuff about a mutant cure is an interesting take on fantasy eugenics and Warren is so queercoded it's insane. He's so queercoded that Storm is his girlfriend for no reason and it never comes up again in any other episode. The show also drops the ball on following through with anything Archangel does; see the aforementioned Apocalypse thing, they were probably going to resolve it in season 2. Honestly it's a tossup whether that would have been satisfying had it gotten to exist. WATX is weird, don't watch it.

That's a lot of my thoughts on Warren. It's not all angst, I also think the moments where he's a prankster bastard are really fun. It's just clear to me that so many writers see him as the guy whose boring power is "having wings" and nothing more and that's really disappointing to me, the world's number one enjoyer of arrogant pricks who secretly hate themselves.

[nickjunesource]

its so disappointing what they've done to the nick/June love story ( I know it happens all the time in shows) this season they basically made it mean nothing to lift up June and Luke. and now knowing season 6 is going to be about June fighting for Luke AGAIN its just a bummer that they are proving June never really cared for nick inthat way.

We totally understand, it has been disappointing to see what they've done. The first two seasons and season four were absolutely beautiful, while seasons three and five were horrendous to say the least. Really sad to see a show drag a wonderful ship around like that. It does happen all the time, but Osblaine is particularly special and so it feels even worse to see their love and all its potential squandered.

While the post season 5 interviews were not great and did emphasise that point, we do want to really stress that those interviews were done long before they even began outlining and writing the sixth season, so they weren't talking about anything that would be set in stone. Look at the interviews from after the seasons from s2 onward- the following season is typically very different from the preceding end of season interviews. That gives us every reason to hope that Osblaine will have a strong comeback in this upcoming final season.

It is a major bummer that s5 really deemphasised June's love for Nick and had her focus on Luke and live a fairytale life. It was clearly a filler season with a completely unnecessary plot between June and Luke. When June said "give me 5 minutes and I'll go" at the end of 4x10, it should have meant to leave and go join a Mayday group, not have pancakes and mimosas with the squad before heading home. All that time in Luke's house made for a really bad season that few enjoyed. This show is strongest when June's love for Nick is most visible, like we saw in s1, s2, and s4. We do think though based on how things ended in 5x10 that the show has no choice but to have June and Luke be apart for an extended period of time as their stories are clearly set up to go in vastly different directions. And with that comes the everlasting hope that Nick and June will have a good number of scenes together. Their stories feel like they're bound to intersect with how things were set up at the end of s5. Both enmeshed in the resistance, both effectively ending their marriages, both in extremely dangerous positions that will eventually force them underground. It really feels like the perfect building blocks for them to have a strong season together, similar to what we got in s4.

[littlestarxmilkyway]

I think FFX/!! is a great game with a lot going for it. The OST is nice. The art direction and graphics are superb, and have held up wonderfully over time. The combat is amazing, the party AI is good and the zodiac added systems sell it all more. And then there's the story.

I understand why it's lauded for its story, but it also feels like it's given so much grace and credit when it sometimes doesn't deserve it. As much as I enjoy the cast generally, there's so much wasted potential that actually frustrates me.

Va/an and Pen/elo are basically children that are quickly and forcibly having to accept adulthood early while being so in over their head once they're out in the rest of the world, and they both represent that in such interesting ways. He in trying to escape and hold on to some whimsy and identity, and her in trying to be responsible and stay grounded, but also sacrificing so much. She especially is a very familiar story, even on a more simple level. (How many girls are always forced to grow up and take care of everyone around them, and sometimes, while watching those same people shirk responsibility and be given room to hold on to their youth a little more.) It's fine that the story doesn't actually want them to be the central protagonists, but I can't take the story as seriously and completely as a political story because it refuses to engage them deeper as characters.

Even Fr/an could have had a deeper story, and more connected to the world-building and lore. Instead she's relegated to the most convenient plot device, on top of varying the heaviest burden of fanservice. (And the annoying joke at her expense concerning her age, even if it was to make Va/an look bad.)

But then there's As/he. I think I can tell where she's written by Shoda, Miwa. And then there's the parts where her writing is simultaneously weak and annoying. At times it feels like she's growing with the rest of the party, and she understands where she sits in position to those around her. And then they snap their fingers and she's an annoyingly, entitled princess again. Which is frustrating because it feels like she never comes to terms with or acknowledges the struggle of her people, only herself! And I can't stand that they squander her like that, because she has a fairly unique role and backstory as a game character!

The worst part is how much emphasis characters like Ga/branth and Vay/ne are given. And I say this as someone who likes both, in different ways. The game spends too much time showing me the former's dilemma, and I can't take that seriously because as much as he too was a victim, he's also an oppressor of the state now. And my ultimate issue with the writing is how much it loves to focus on all the more privileged parties of the story, instead of the more oppressed and/or othered characters.

All this because I was thinking of how trash Ar/ise is about its themes, but I still think X/!! is an infinitely better, political story with more levity. (Some of its humor is equally poor though.)

[deepestfestglitter]

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[venomous-with-headphones]

OK K.O! Let's Rewrite the Show

Hello there! Yess, as the title of this post suggests, I’ve decided to take over OK K.O! Let’s Be Heroes and completely rewrite it!

So I recently got around to finishing the original series, and what can I say? I LOVED EVERY MOMENT OF THAT. However, I was also left with a bittersweet feeling of dissatisfaction, (geez, don't know how to describe it), but it's the kind that puts you in an extreme debate where you think the show could have had better development…

if they hadn’t cancelled it

But it’s also quite understandable the reasons of the scripwriters and its own creator to conclude it that way...

tho you still think it could have been better.

Now don’t get me wrong!

I seriously fell in love with the show and its dynamics, humor and animation style, but let’s be honest, they squandered the great potential they had to give an amazing dramatic arc to all their characters.

And I’m talking more specifically about my two favorites:

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐑 𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐒 & 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓

Ah, shit. Here we go again

I know... I know what you'll be thinking: "damn, boi, it's been two-three years since the brother theory was thrown out, fuck, just accept that they're the same person and stop making drama, you fucking drama queen".

And you're absolutely right, I could...

But I don't fucking want to~

That's why I decided to create an Alternate Universe!

And all thanks to the power of the wizard Warlock and my endless obsession with every TV show I watch. Seriously, I can't believe this is happening, this is gonna be epic, you guys!!

▌𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐒.𝐂𝐎𝐌!

Most of the content will be written, and sometimes, sketched by me. Now, I'm know I’m no pro (at least in the doodling part), but I'll do my best to give you an experience in quality and quantity.

As for the development of the series itself, there are several aspects that I will change from the canonical events to give a better focus to some of my ideas (family issues, multiverse, space adventures, Shadowy Figure and the glorbs arc, and a few others).

Basically what OK K.O would have been like if I’d gotten to write it.

( Voxman & Lasersparks implied! )

To mention:

I write as a hobby, and in my free time. Also, it’s important that you know that when I write, I do it in Spanish and then I translate, so there may be some mistakes (I need a Beta Reader, HELP).

All of my stories are Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Funny in some cases (I'd love to write more of this, but first I want to establish a bit of this dark theme for my own AU, just a little bit), and Fluff.

Oh! Another thing to add: COMMISSIONS are OPEN! If anyone wants to leave me some quotes for a particular fanfic or just wants to know more about this AU, I'll respond right away, and if you ask, I'll try to illustrate it as best I can.

(Will not incest, pedophilia, hate art and writing, and massive gore. But I can accept nsfw for 18+ individuals)

I also write Headcannons, One Shots & Incorrect-Quoutes!

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

I Finished 5Ds (OLD, SUB AND ONLY BASED ON FORTUNE CUP AND DARK SIGNERS)

Well, I finished the Dark Signer arc that is. I mentioned a while ago that I had no interest in watching the rest of 5Ds but would officially decide whether or not I would skip it once I finished the Dark Signers arc and well… I’ve made my choice. These first two seasons are actually able to stand on their own as a complete story, kind of like Zexal 1. However, that definitely had more solid hints of what would come in Zexal 2. Meanwhile, the only thing these seasons of 5Ds really leave up in the air is the status of Jack and Carly’s relationship, one of the few things I was deeply invested in that I know the second half shits all over so I really don’t see a point in watching it. I might watch it later but since a lot of people seem to consider the first two seasons separately from the last three seasons of 5Ds, and the series was originally going to end with the Dark Signers arc from what I understand, I figured it would be okay to at least put off watching the second half for now, as I really want to watch the newer shows. Maybe if I’m starved for Yugioh content sometime or the rest of 5Ds catches my attention I’ll pick it up again but for now, I’ll give my overview of this first half.

So into the meat of things: I hate to say that this is the first Yugioh series that I was overall disappointed with. Not the ending, the ending is mostly fine (besides Carly forgetting everything, which was definitely just to set up her joke character status in the later seasons), this series as a whole just didn't grab me as much as the other ones did. Even when the main story started, I didn’t feel as invested as I felt I should have, because I wasn’t very attached to most of the characters. I found myself not caring much when Yusei was in life threatening situations because a) I knew he didn’t lose a single duel in his whole series and b) I just didn’t like him very much. Sure, I didn’t like Yugi or the Pharaoh from the original much at first either but that show was just more… well, fun to watch, even in its early episodes when not much was going on. 5Ds wasn’t fun. Not until the introductions of people like the twins and Carly. I watch Yugioh because it’s fun and silly so maybe the dramatic tone/genre shift threw me off a bit. I will admit the story overall is well written. It’s set up early on and has a nice flow to it, like even if the pacing lags a bit at times, there’s faith that it’s building up to something epic. However, some of the plot beats were… well, frustrating.

The second duels of both Aki vs Yusei and Aki vs Misty are good examples of this. Aki was a character I overall loved but they really squandered her potential in these duels, her final two duels besides some mild involvement in the finale by the way. The Yusei one that involved her being forced to forgive her abusive parents and being told she's wrong for not wanting to reconnect with people who hurt her is something I've discussed in length but to put it simply, the framing of that duel sends a toxic message and was a bothersome conclusion to an otherwise brilliant arc. It brought the whole thing down a bit in my mind, which really sucks. 

Then her second Misty duel barely involved Aki, the real Aki, at all. The idea of Aki coming to terms with the horrible things she did in her past, realising her actions hurt and even killed people, was a great idea. Unfortunately, the responsibility is immediately taken off of Aki with Divine's return: mind controlling her to be the way she was before and admitting that he killed Misty's brother, who Misty and Aki both believed Aki killed. Misty turns her vengeance on Divine and Aki gets off scott free. Yes Aki was 100% a victim of Divine’s manipulation and couldn’t fully control her powers but that is the understanding the characters should’ve come to at the end of the duel. How much harder would it have been for Misty to see Divine controlling Aki and realising that he was the reason Aki killed her brother? Or just not have Divine there at all because he suffered the exact same fall that killed Carly so him being alive makes absolutely not sense whatsoever.

But no, Aki and Carly can’t have consequences for their actions. I know murder is a big deal and all but neither of them were in full control of their actions during the murders they seemed to have committed, the narrative straight up tells us this. Aki didn’t even know she killed people, she lost control of her powers in something the narrative literally calls an accident. Meanwhile Carly accidentally became a dark signer, the power of which has been shown to change the way their host thinks and even completely control them at times. When Carly regained awareness, she couldn’t remember what she’d done and then when she found out, she was horrified that she’d just killed someone and broke down crying, despite him killing her first.

So erasing these deaths does nothing but take away from the impact. It doesn’t destroy the plot but it does cheapen it a bit to me.

What does destroy bigger chunks of the plot to me is Yusei.

Okay, I’m gonna try to tread carefully here, because I know Yusei is a fan favourite. I don’t think he’s a bad character but honestly, there are times in the show where I absolutely cannot stand him and want to punt him across a room. I already mentioned him pushing Aki to forgive her abusive parents, something he has absolutely no right to be doing as he’s only heard about the situation from the ABUSER’S PERSPECTIVE.

Okay, I have to sidetrack for a second because this gets worse the more I think about it: please for the love of god don’t ever tell a victim of abuse that they’re bad for not forgiving their abusers. That should never be an obligation, even if the abuser expresses regret, because that could easily be them faking their emotions to take control of the victim again. We know that wasn’t the case with Aki’s parents but Yusei had no way of knowing that and Yusei had no right to even speak about this situation, not to mention being as involved as he was in it. And this isn’t the only time he does crap like this. There’s also Bommer. He thinks the Signers killed his entire family and destroyed his village and Yusei’s response is basically “bro you gotta chill” then he never thinks about it again until Bommer pops up again AS A DARK SIGNER.

Characters express very justified anger throughout this series and Yusei shuts it down with his bullshit friendship talk, even to characters he has absolutely no connection to. He acts like he has the moral high ground over everyone he meets and the show frames him as the good guy in these situations. He’s framed as always right in every situation he’s in, and the very real flaws he has are never treated like flaws by the narrative. Yusei never grew or changed and according to the narrative, he never had to. Maybe this is different in the second half. Like I said, I can only judge the first half as all I know about the second half are some rumours and I’ve heard no rumours about Yusei in part two (besides him and Aki being almost confirmed?) but I can pretty confidently say that in the first two seasons (which was originally all 5Ds was going to be), Yusei is not a good character. One bad character doesn’t destroy a show but if the character you don’t like is the main focus of the show, you’re not gonna have a good time.

Also, this isn’t a knock against 5Ds itself, but it was such a prevalent issue I feel the need to bring it up: Crunchyroll, what the fuck is going on with these subtitles?

There’s so many typos and weird phrasings and so many wordings that don’t make sense and it actually takes away from the story. The Zexal fansub I watched did a better job than this and the other official subs on this same website, GX and Arc V, didn’t have this many issues.

Anyways, I want to make it clear that I don’t hate 5Ds. Trust me, if I saw no merit in it, I wouldn’t have stuck with it as long as I did. Like I said, the story does flow well (besides the social inequity/poverty issues in Satelite being mostly ignored in the second season and eventually resolved by a fucking bridge) and honestly, this animation is peak. I make fun of the CG blending in every show post GX but really, 5Ds doesn’t use that much compared to Zexal and Arc V and it doesn’t look awful like some of the early Zexal animation did. *shudders* Also, I do like a handful of the characters. The twins, Leo and Luna, Lua and Luca, Rua and Ruka, Lua and Luka, who knows what their names are. They’re fun characters. I don’t care for Luna’s spirit world shenanigans but she and Leo are good as characters. I also love Crow, which was to be expected after how much I latched onto him in Arc V. And then there’s the three characters that were basically my reasons for watching this show: Aki, Carly, and Jack. While Aki’s potential was squandered somewhat, I still found her narrative very relatable and tragic. She’s also really really really hot. I mean look at her, oh my god.

Carly and Jack meanwhile never went downhill at any point WITHIN THE FIRST HALF. *glares at the rumours I’ve heard about part 2* Carly was adorable and sweet and pure and oh my god her turning into a literal demon was such a gut punch and in my opinion, Jack was the character who developed the most in my opinion. His personality is a little too similar to Kaiba but his story is its own and holy shit he and Carly are adorable. I’d love to write something about them if I have time.

Overall, 5Ds is an okay show. I wouldn’t have watched as much of it as I did if it weren’t Yugioh but I’m glad I watched what I did. It drags a lot but the good things, Aki, Jack, and Carly’s stories, are honestly downright great and were worth the journey. I wish the rest were as good as they are so I could see this show as the masterpiece everyone else sees it as.

[archies-litterbox]

You know... tonight I'm thinking about how I and much of the rest of the fandom had alot of positive feelings about Wizards, even though it had its share of imperfections, in comparison to ROTT, which had such an overwhelmingly negative response.

And I think it's because much of the criticism of Wizards was centered around what we didn't get to see, while criticism of ROTT is largely centered around what we did see (and what we shouldn't have seen).

Two of the most popular criticisms I saw of wizards when it first came out were:

1.) The story was so tightly condensed that there was alot that didn't get to be explored.

2.) Zoe didn't get to have a larger role.

And I think both of these criticisms share one uniting sentiment: we wanted more. The audience loved what we did see, and we wanted to see more of it. We wanted more of Douxie's time in the spotlight/more of Camelot explored/more of The Pink-Haired Girl And What She Means to Douxie. It's INTERESTING and WE LIKE IT.

Since the show only had ten episodes, there was alot that had to be squeezed down/removed to fit in the time allowed, but Wizards spent the time it did have giving us amazing characters, compelling dynamics, and interesting lore expansion that the audience was ENTHRALLED by, to the point where much of the criticism of the installment comes down to: the audience was so intrigued/fascinated by this content that the fact that there isn't more sucks.

Now... cut to Rise of the Titans.

With its runtime of nearly two hours, it theoretically had the chance to do more of what Wizards, as great as it was, couldn't fit in: more of Douxie in the spotlight, expansion on his other relationships (like Zoe & ADP), compelling lore expansion, and smart utilization of characters & completion of character arcs for a satisfying ending.

And... it didn't deliver.

Firstly, let's get one of the big ones out of the way: it used a good ~10 minutes (?) of its runtime, which it could have used for doing something like 1.) a scene of characters who didn't get to interact much in the trilogy 2.) showing us why douxie and nari stopped running/them running at all 3.) my personal favorite, a scene of human jim coming home to his mom - and used it to give one of its side characters with the best character development I saw in the series... one of the grossest "comic relief" subplots I've seen in a long time. I would have rather Steve not been in the movie at all (like perhaps he heard arcadia was in danger and went to make sure his step-dad was okay) than seen that.

...Moving on.

What Douxie was able to do in the movie was good: he was VERY enjoyable to watch on-screen, and his big brother/baby sister dynamic with Nari was simply too precious.

But, like Wizards... it wasn't enough.

After finally getting his chance in the spotlight in the last installment, Douxie was sidelined and kept losing the people he loved left and right for what seemed to be for the mere sake of making him suffer (Nari dying as she killed Skrael/Archie getting stuck in the Hong Kong Trollmarket) when he'd already had to grieve Merlin in Wizards. He also doesn't use his most iconic item from Wizards: his spellcaster guitar. Sometimes, honestly, it seems like all he was there to do was 1.) suffer 2.) do spells (guitarlessly) to help people out and 3.) scream "NARI!"

(But Colin's voice acting DE👏LI👏VERED! Everyone's did, really. There were honestly alot of other aspects to the movie like voicework/animation/music that were really good and it sucks to see it dragged down by all the staggering missteps in writing.)

And arguably the worst aspect of that? His sidelining wasn't even unique to him; to me, every protagonist from the subsequent series' post-trollhunters seemed to be sidelined for the sake of Jim's spotlight.

Which wouldn't have been a problem... if it was used for any other confliction/crisis than him doubting being the trollhunter without the amulet, a question that was already answered in Trollhunters.

Aside from the fact that Jim felt strangely out of character, the whole ~confliction~ he had over being an amulet-less Trollhunter was redundant and felt unnecessary (I sort of wanted Merlin's ghost to show up and thwack him and say "WHAT DID I SAY!? WHAT DID I TELL YOU!?" and dip back out). In my opinion, a better confliction to explore would have been his connection to his humanity, which he'd just gotten back, or coping with what he'd done as a beast under the order's control. But instead, it badly recycled an old aspect of his arc that was already discussed in Unbecoming.

Besides Jim being what I never thought he'd be, an irritating and honestly sort-of unlikable protagonist, other characters were greatly underutilized as well.

...Especially Nomura.

First of all, they made the ridiculous decision to send two trolls with Douxie to Brazil in the daytime, knowing trolls TURN TO STONE IN THE SUN. But THEN, just for the sake of showing how deep Nari is under control, she pulls Nomura into the sunlight and shatters her when she gets petrified. It happens out of nowhere for complete & utter shock value.

To me, it seems like they brought in Nomura for the sake of having Nomura, and then they didn't know what to do with Nomura, so they killed Nomura.

And honestly, not knowing what to do with the characters and deciding to just nerf/kill them was this movie's whole thing.

But it's okay, because we have... the COP-OUT-ENDING-O-MATIC 3000! 🥳🎉

Oh, wait, sorry... the kronosfere.

[underwhelming party favor noise]

There's really no need to repeat myself on what it did - if you watched R*TT, my condolences you know what I'm talking about, and if you've read this far along, you're probably ticked about it too.

So, because of this little ball of SHAME AND BAD THINGS combined with Jim's edge-brood OOC-ness, not only did the movie give us underwhelming/unsatisfying/devastating-and-not-in-a-good-storytelling-way plotline and giving us so much that was... bad, it took away everything that was good - everything we loved. It was the second worst thing introduced in the story (the first is the entire garbage heap that is 7 kisses = MPreg (even though akiridions are projections from CORES)), and to be completely honest I WISH skrael and bellroc broke Nari and Douxie's spell before nari could say "kronosfere will make right"

(...AND the ninth configuration thing too tbh)

So... while Wizards spent the short time it had giving us something amazing, Rise of the Titans, instead of continuing to deliver on what Wizards couldn't fit in, squandered the potential it had as a finale and used its time to give us gross subplots/frustrating once decisions/underutilization, as well as to take everything else down with it at the very end with the Green Shame Orb.

And... yeah. Technically, it's not exactly two months post-ROTT anymore, because it's like 2 am on the 22nd, but I thought about this a lot felt compelled to share.

[magicman111]

A Moth to a Flame - Chapter Three

Plumes of thick smoke billowed above the guard tower, blotting out the dusk sky with an ugly, brown smog. Burning red embers danced and flickered in the air, a single stray spark singeing Sasha’s right cheek.

Two girls stood, a dirt clod’s throw apart from each other. They stared each other down. The squeaky toy and Grime were already engaging in a battle of their own, leaving the two former friends alone on that tower. It did little to make the tension any less palpable.

Anne held her sword firmly in both hands, and the rage-filled scowl etched on her face made it clear she was itching for an excuse to ream the blade through her ex bestie’s chest cavity. The sheer hatred boiling inside her veins could not be overstated. Sasha, however, was a different story. She remained cool and kept both open palms raised, a sign of her peaceful intentions. Already a hard sell considering less than an hour ago, she’d ordered her flunkies to lock her and her family up in the dungeon after using and backstabbing her for the fifteen thousandth time.

She knew perfectly well what was at stake here. She knew the consequences not for them, but for this entire world if she failed. Convincing Anne to believe her now was going to be an uphill battle and the rematch she’d spent months prior fantasising about now seemed inevitable.

The irony surrounding both those things was not lost on her.

“Anne, I need you to listen to me!” she shouted over the hot gusts of wind whipping her face. “There’s something wrong with this Andrias guy! We should—”

Anne was having absolutely none of it. “You expect me to believe you?!” she asked her incredulously. “After all the lying and manipulating you’ve done?!” Sliding the sword back into its sheath, she turned her back on her in disgust. “Sorry, Sasha, but you’re out of chances.”

Why didn’t she take a photo? This would’ve been so much easier if she’d just thought to take a stupid photo! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Or maybe if she’d given Anne any reason to trust her.

The gates were now drawing close to slamming completely shut as Anne resumed pushing the lever. If Sasha squandered any more precious time, their fast-approaching army would be locked outside the city. She felt her twin swords weigh heavily on her hips; the tips of fingers twitched.

Whelp, in for a penny, in for a pound. She took a deep breath.

“I think Marcy’s in on it.”

“Yeah yeah!” scoffed Anne. “Blah blah bla—what?”

It was a hail mary that paid off. Anne froze in place and glared back at Sasha as if she’d caught her in the act of stomping on Domino’s tail.

“What... what did you say?” she asked, her voice fittingly ice-cold.

“Anne, look... I get it, okay?” Sasha gutsily stepped forward, closing the gap between them. They still had a glimmer of hope in ending this without a fight, so she knew she had to cobble her thoughts together and choose her next words carefully. “You don’t trust me a-and I don’t blame you, but I swear I’m telling you the truth. Grime and I found these—these weird pictures hidden in the throne room. They... one of them was showing the king with the music box. Th-then there was also something about Marcy’s family, I... I don’t know exactly what it all means...”

Amazing how they’d spent the past months going on wild adventures, escaping dozens of near-death experiences with the many monsters infesting the place, yet this was the one thing she struggled to make sound plausible. Of all the times for that natural charisma and confidence to falter. The way Anne was looking at her like she’d sprouted a third arm out her forehead told her it was going about as well as expected.

“All I know is we shouldn’t be giving either of them the Box. Not right now.” She finally lowered her hands back to her sides, adding, “Just come back to the throne room with me and I promise I’ll show you everything.”

A silence fell over the guard tower, punctuated only by the th-thunk of hundreds of armoured boots rising in the distance.

Now the ball was back in Anne’s court. She’d been rendered speechless by everything she’d been told. All she could do was stare the other girl square in the eyes. Dumbstruck.

Relief washed over Sasha as the tension appeared to simmer down, to the point she felt confident enough to move in closer, stopping when they were only feet apart. Tentatively, she reached out and brushed her fingers against her friend’s knuckles.

“Anne. Please.”

This snapped Anne out of her stupor. Reacting as if she’d been touched by something filthy, she broke her hand away from hers. Her expression turned on a dime from bewilderment to one of unadulterated hatred.

“... how dare you.”

Instead of withdrawing herself, Anne shoved Sasha away so violently it nearly sent her off her feet.

“I cannot believe I almost fell for that again! I mean, wow! Seriously, Sasha?! You’re gonna try and save your skin by throwing Marcy under the bus?! HOW DARE YOU!!”

Another jab to the breastplate silenced Sasha before she could respond. Anne was advancing on her dangerously, every step she took forcing her to back up. The only other instance she’d legit felt intimidated by her was back when she’d stood up to her at Toad Tower and even then, a secret part of Sasha was also impressed.

Now she’d touched upon what was already a frayed, raw nerve and it was scary.

“Let me tell ya something, Sash!” yelled Anne. A third strike nearly caught Sasha in the throat. “Marcy’s been more of a friend to me than you ever have! Marcy hasn’t lied to me! She hasn’t pushed me around! And she definitely hasn’t tried to kill my family! Unlike YOU!” She gripped the hilt of her sword, the menace in her eyes daring her to give her a reason. “She’s not only a real friend, she’s my best friend! And so help me, if you ever talk about her like that again, I will personally stick this thing right in your—”

The sounds of stomping boots and clattering armour had grown so loud they became impossible to ignore. Anne looked to her left to witness the sea of helmeted toads congregating outside the city walls.

How could she have let herself get distracted? They were coming. They were practically here.

“You were right; I am better off without you.” She hissed at her with so much venom it practically poured over her lips. “We both are.”

With that parting diss, Anne sprinted back to the lever. She had a job to do and she’d wasted way too much time and oxygen on this cretin already.

Sasha was left standing there stricken, feet glued to the floor. Anne might as well have slapped her across the face to achieve the same effect.

A determined scowl of her own soon spread across her features. You can’t say she hadn’t tried.

She drew the twin swords from her belt and assumed her dueling position.

“Anne, I can’t let you close that gate!”

“Oh yeah...?”

Anne roared, leaping through the air, sword unsheathed and aimed at Sasha’s head.

“JUST TRY TO STOP ME!”

Any swordsman worth their salt should know better than to leave themselves exposed like Anne just did. Sasha had a clear open to cut her in two instead of blocking her strike with both swords if she had so chosen.

To Anne’s credit, she wasn’t nearly as foolhardy as she had been when she first arrived in Amphibia. Right now, however, as they flew around the tower and did battle with the ferocity of dueling birds of prey, Sasha could plainly see it was Anne’s anger guiding her sword.

Anne was hostile, her moves unpredictable. Toad Tower didn’t have nothin’ on this. She wasn’t an exceptionally skilled fighter, neither of them realistically could be when you consider they’d both only first taken up the sword months ago. Still, there was underlying talent between them, and in Anne’s case, hers was currently being amplified by a seemingly bottomless well of passionate fury, which encouraged every last nerve to screw her courage to the sticking place.

She was actively going for the kill.

Narrowly dodging a plunge from her sword and, holding both her own in one hand, Sasha reached the other between Anne’s arms to grip her by the shoulder.

“Anne, stop this!” she begged through gritted teeth. “Marcy—”

“SHUT YOUR LYING MOUTH!!”

Anne freed herself by kicking Sasha in the chest with her socked foot. The collision of her unprotected sole against the metal breastplate hurt like all get out, but she wasn’t going to allow a trivial thing like pain stop her from taking a fatal swing at her opponent’s golden head.

Cat-like reflexes were what saved Sasha from getting scalped. If there was any hope in her mind that Anne couldn still be reasoned with, it was surely dashed now.

None of the paths leading out of this graceful dance of death were great. Simply keeping up her defenses and waging a war of attrition until Anne’s wild attacks inevitably tired her out wasn’t going to work. Whatever it was fueling Anne’s rampage, she didn’t look to be running out of it any time soon. Every parry, thrust and dodge drained a little bit more of Sasha’s stamina. She couldn’t keep this up for much longer.

Frog knows she couldn’t rely on those toads to drag their warty butts through the stinking gate already!

Unless she was able to disarm Anne and fast, the only other option was to meet her viciousness in kind with expectedly grime results. Her training with Grime had taught her that every sword fight was already a potential life or death situation, regardless if you lacked the intent to harm, but however much they’d literally been at each other’s throats, Sasha was not prepared to have Anne’s blood on her hands.

An idea hit just as she arched her back away from a swing that easily could’ve taken her head off. Muscle tissue developed over years of cheerleader practice kicked into gear and in those vital seconds, Sasha flawlessly pulled off a handstand and kicked the sword out of Anne’s hand. The blade plummeted to the city streets below.

That should have been the end of it. With her opponent disarmed, Sasha felt the adrenaline rush sustaining her crash. Her lungs were on fire. Pink and Green suddenly felt ten times heavier in her damp palms. She truly couldn’t have gone on a moment longer.

Unfortunately, Anne was nowhere near spent. In an act of near superman-levels of varsity athleticism, slid behind Sasha, grabbed the hem of her cape and jumped over her head.

Before Sasha was able to register what in the ever-lovin’ Frog just happened, Anne had already tied the cape over her eyes. She barely even had a chance to flail like a dizzy ballerina when Anne’s fist smashed her in the face!

It was a blow powerful enough to send her spinning across the tower. She landed flat on her face, not an ounce of strength left in her muscles to pick herself back up. It was miraculous she didn’t black out then and there.

All that happened around her next was a mad din of noise. She made out the slam of what must have been Anne finally closing the gate. Then someone somewhere sounded a horn, followed by a voice she dreaded to hear more than anything else.

“Royal Newt Guard! Assemble!”

Oh Frog! They’d already freed the king! Anne must’ve sent the rest of her frog family or worse, Marcy to free him from his cell. She’d been so focused on stopping Anne, she didn’t even factor in what the others were doing.

Anne’s smug tone reached her ears, “End of the line, Sash.”

Sasha crawled up to the ledge on her belly. She tore the cape off her head, scattering it to the wind.

What she saw only confirmed her worst fears. Sprig standing atop a knocked out Grime on the roof below. Newt guards were rounding up her soldiers left and right; the tadpole’s giant robot was holding a bunch of them in its mechanical arms.

Then she saw her, a perky smile plastered on her face, shooting a ‘mission accomplished’ thumbs up at Anne.

“Oh no.”

[xenosagaepisodeone]

ok 3.0+1.0 longpost -_-

it’s difficult for me to describe how I feel about 3.0+1.0 as a film because it’s artistic vision is just a 25 year cultivated response to the otaku fixation on nge. this film hardly feels like it can stand on it’s own feet as a coherent story -- it’s constantly introducing and reinterpreting symbols, contexts and concepts in order to lay down some kind of grounded world while also wanting to be evocative of the freeform flow of feelings occurring in EoE/Ep25/26. if this movie was it’s own thing and just living in the shadow of it’s predecessor, I could probably live with it and maybe even say that I liked it, but it’s flip flopping on if it wants the metanarrative to drive the story or if it wants to erect a new mythology of Eva altogether completely squanders maximizing the potential of doing either. what were left with is a very cowardly iteration of the message at the end of nge -- “human connections are important, even if they can be painful” becomes “ if we show you what you wanted to see for the past nearly 30 years, will you grow up now?”

"Defeated" feels like how I would describe the ethos of this film.

reiQ’s farmer adventures were cute, but in a way that felt bittersweet- because this character is not actually rei. not simply because she is not ayanami, but because she carries no actual development from her previous iterations like the other characters of rebuild. reiQ answers the question of “what if rei was actually as moe as she looks in official art” but forgets to pull the rug out from beneath you to unveil the depths of her turmoil. while Ayanami would say “I am not your doll to control”, reiQ has almost every aspect of her character dictated to her by other people - and this is depicted as fulfilling and human (because Anno wants you to get a job and have kids). not even her name is her choice. her sudden death only exists to serve as a motivator for shinji. I wanted to believe that this was some commentary on how a relationship without pain and loss cant exist, but it seems unlikely as rei (1, 2, 3, Q, Ayanami, lilith, etc) does not have an arc in this film. also the TV production quality of the village segment made it feel like I was watching a 12 episode sol as opposed to an actual film.

funnily enough, my feeling towards reiQ made me feel retroactive distaste towards 1.0 and 2.22. I’ve never thought rebuild was good, that much has never been a secret. 1.0 and 2.22 however carried enough over from the original series that it felt like the original characters were picking themselves up and getting better. I was happy seeing asuka, who had previously spent 26 episodes and a movie being miserable, open herself up to happiness. I was happy seeing rei connect more with shinji. even if the characters had to become simplified versions of themselves to find their own peace, it didnt feel thatbad. I didn’t realize until 3.0 came out how little this tetralogy had to it beyond puppeteering iconography and hoping that fans find meaning in it. 3.0 and 3.0+1.0 carried the same conviction of 1.0 and 2.22 of showing you characters you like doing things you wished they did, but with the support of the original series environment withering away to unveil half baked ideas, convoluted plots and meaningless regurgitation of every meaningful image this series has produced. seeing rei stripped even farther than her bare bones as reiQ put into focus what I thought I appreciated about 1.0 and 2.22.

there were a few times throughout this movie where I was trying to figure out what it was that anno was trying to say. as stated in my op paragraph, the film does carry it’s own simplified message about how important it is to grow up and face the real world, but this message largely betrays the framing. its cowardly. the pain that shinji experience does not come from the Other anymore, it is all self inflicted. learning to endure hardship simply became a matter of overcoming your own feelings, because now everyone else in your life effortlessly accepts you. there are 3 girls with who dont have any problems anymore and a solarpunk empire that would be all over you if you simply stood on your own two feet. there is no asuka experiencing hedgehog dilemma with shinji, there’s only asuka who exists so shinji can learn how to confess to a girl. there is no misato constantly subjecting shinji to a interplay of projecting her issues onto him and attempting to mother him (with varying degrees of success), there’s just shinjis step mom who accepts that she is responsible for him (which feels GREAT to see but feels bad when you think about what it sacrificed to get there). for a guy whose complicated relationship with otaku culture has bled into his work, you would think that idealistic fantasy of the real world wouldnt be the crutch of the delivering his message. when I say that “defeated” is the ethos of this film, I mean that it is so lacking in purpose compared to its predecessors that it wears itself thin trying to superficially have something for every conceivable audience while throwing out the meat of why people liked those things in the first point.

I was surprised to see that it was gendo who survived as the most introspective part of the film. i’m conflicted towards how I feel about a gendo redemption arc, but I feel as if his instrumentality sequence itself was decently shot (I hate having to compare it to ep 25/26 but it lacks the artistic flare for such a big budget film) and very well articulated. there’s a beautiful story in here about realizing your parents are people and parents realizing the responsibility they owe to their children, but I wish it could have been explored in a different film where characters are less held back by their established canon. honestly watching this whole sequence made me wonder if anno is still friendly with goro miyazaki LMAO

I was largely uninterested in the fight scenes, I think the only one that genuinely made me feel something was the one towards the end where asuka turns into an angel. the poor fight choreography coupled with weird shot composition and the overbearing usage of cg makes fight sequences overbearing and kind of difficult to decipher. cg fights are largely 1 eva vs a swarm of enemies that take up the screen, all of them having the same line weight which just ends up making all parties involved look like a mesh of colors. there arent real stakes for the most part either, asuka and mari tear through waves of enemies with effortless precision accuracy in a way that isnt visually or technically impressive.

believe it or not, I don’t actually dislike Mari. Mari enacts what Anno sought to do with the Rebuilds -- to destroy Evangelion. Mari (literally!) falls out of the sky into the story and is not gripped by the pain of the hedgehog’s dilemma as she exhibits her adoration for most things. her romance with shinji is intentionally analogous to how anno perceives his relationship with his wife -- that she saved him by encouraging him to live in the real world. the actual, textual ridiculousness in her character is softened when you realize that she’s just another component of his 4 movie long exhibition of telling everyone his life is better now that he’s successful and has a hot and talented wife.

is it worth complaining about all the crotch or ass shots. i think we all feel the same way about it. anyway i have more thoughts but these are my loose ones.

[muscatmusic18]

what you gave me (1/1)

Fandom: Fate: The Winx Saga

Pairing: Farah and Aisha

Aisha feels as though she's falling behind her peers. Farah goes out of her way to show her the power she possesses. 

Read it here on AO3, or below.

~

A loving thank you to my girl @alexusonfire for always making me feel like the best writer in the world ❤️

On her way back to her office from lunch, Farah looked over her recently completed file of paperwork, triple checking that everything was in order. Budget forms were her least favorite, there were too many places to make mistakes, too many people to get upset with them, and she always found herself pouring over them for much longer than any other paperwork that crossed her desk.

She reached the entrance of her office, opening the door while making one last check to the numbers proposed for next year’s operational cost. “Aisha, will you file—”

There was a squeak and the sound of splashing water, and Farah looked up in surprise to see a stunned Aisha, hands still raised over a copper bowl as she stared at the now soaked desk in front of her, obviously having lost her concentration at Farah’s sudden appearance.

“Headmistress, I’m— I didn’t— I’m so sorry, I—” Aisha stuttered. She grabbed at the files on the desk, realizing they were all soaked, and bent her head, looking as though she was trying to curl up and disappear.

Farah waved her hand, the water disappearing and leaving the files as good as new. Aisha tried to look busy, straightening the stacks and avoiding Farah’s eye as she spoke. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have— there was ten minutes until you’d return, and I’d finished everything, so I thought I’d practice— I should have waited until later but—”

“Aisha,” Farah interrupted, though not unkindly. “It’s alright, nothing was damaged.” The girl was still looking anywhere but her, so Farah continued. “I respect those who work hard and make the most of their time.”

Aisha huffed. “It’s not really hard work if I’m not making any progress,” she muttered, mostly to herself, but Farah heard, and furrowed her brows in concern.

“Hard work isn’t measured by the amount of success. Besides, you’re doing well in class.”

Aisha finally looked up at her, looking surprised that Farah had heard and remarked on her comment. “I—” she sighed and looked back down, toying with the corner of a file. “I don’t feel like I am. I feel like I’m falling behind. It’s getting easier for everyone to control their magic, but I feel like I have to work just as hard as the first day.”

Farah let out a small sigh, biting the inside of her cheek. She’d had students like Aisha before, and her heart always ached for them, wishing she could show them the power they possessed that they couldn’t see.

Though perhaps…

Mind made up, Farah set the budget file on the bookcase next to her and grabbed her coat from the rack, swinging it over her shoulders. “Come with me.”

Aisha looked up, brow furrowed in confusion. “Ma’am?”

Farah gave her a small smile, and gestured towards the door with a nod of her head. “Come.”

She lagged a moment while Aisha grabbed her jacket, and then she strode out of the office and made her way towards the grounds of Alfea.

Farah could feel Aisha’s confusion and trepidation as they walked across the lawn, and her shocked realization as Farah led them towards the dirt path that curved towards the river.

“Ma’am, why…” Aisha trailed off.

“There’s no better water to practice on then a source of it, yes?” Farah answered, continuing on even as the girl lagged behind a moment before jogging to catch up again.

She led them deeper into the forest, the smell of the pine and the damp earth nearly overwhelming, and Farah relished in its smell and taste as she took a deep breath. They were walking along the river now, but still she went on, aiming for a spot she knew by heart.

Finally they came to a low part of the bank, a spot Farah came to often when she needed solitude. She stepped onto the worn shore, mindful of her heels, and then motioned for Aisha to join her.

She shoved her hands in her coat pockets as Aisha came to stand next to her, looking at her expectantly before following her lead and staring out over the water. They stood there a minute before Aisha glanced over at Farah again, her confusion evident. “What am I supposed to do?”

Farah shrugged, giving the girl a fond smile before looking back out to the water. “Any sort of magic you’d like. The point of this exercise isn’t about the result of the magic, it’s about feeling the magic itself, connecting to it. So do what you’re most comfortable with.”

Aisha took a deep breath and then raised her hands, and Farah watched as a large ball of water rose out of the river, hovering. It grew, and then shrunk, and then lowered back into the water as Aisha gave a small sigh and dropped her hands.

“Miss Dowling, I don’t mean any disrespect when I say this, but my problem isn’t with doing magic, it’s… it’s the control of it. Big magic, like this, is okay because it’s stable and easy to get my mind around. But when I have to do smaller, more detailed magic, or I have to maintain it for a long time, I just… can’t. Not like the others can.”

Farah looked at Aisha, her heart aching for the girl’s dismay. “I understand why you might feel that way. But right now, I want you to forget about that. Don’t think of this as an attempt to fix your troubles with magic, or push yourself to do magic you struggle with. I want you to do something you’re comfortable with, because I want to focus on the connection you feel with the magic all around you. Let your imagination run wild — do anything you’d like.”

Aisha nodded slowly, then raised her hands again. Again, Farah watched as a large ball of water rose out of the river, this time accompanied by several smaller ones. They rotated around each other a bit, not unlike planets, before one wobbled and dropped back into the river. Aisha sighed again, this time tinged with frustration, and lowered the other orbs back into the water.

“I’m sorry, Miss Dowling, I know you’re trying to help. If I had more time to practice, maybe—”

Farah shook her head. “This isn’t about practice, Aisha,” she said gently. “This is about feeling that connection.”

Farah studied the girl, and a sudden pang of sympathy pulled at her chest. She remembered what it was like, being tested on the spot by her Headmistress, and all the anxiety and doubts that came with it. Not to mention with the embarrassment of the accident in the office, she couldn’t blame Aisha for struggling in front of her.

However, Farah was more stubborn than any student’s struggle.

A few steps away was a large, flat rock that jutted out into the deeper part of the river, and Farah moved towards it, motioning for Aisha to follow. Carefully stepping out of her heels, Farah climbed onto the rock and sat on the edge. She slipped her feet into the water, grateful she’d worn a dress that day, and again motioned for Aisha to join her.

Farah rolled her ankles in slow circles as Aisha pulled off her shoes and socks, marvelling at the way the water slipped by her so smoothly, barely a ripple as it moved past. The hypnosis of the water was broken when Aisha sat down, feet dangling next to hers, and Farah looked over at the girl, smiling.

“You’re a water fairy, so undoubtedly you have a connection to water, especially when you’re surrounded by it, yes?”

Aisha nodded. “It’s why I swim. That connection feels… comforting.”

Farah nodded. “Good. Now, focus on that connection.” She watched as Aisha’s eyes closed, feet slowly swaying in the water. “Feel it. Allow it to grow and surround you.”

She paused a minute, allowing Aisha to relax and find comfort in the river. The girl nodded, and Farah continued softly.

“Now use that connection to channel your magic. Don’t think about what you want the magic to do. Just allow it to flow from the water, into you, and back out again.”

All was still for a moment. And then ripples began to form on the water’s surface, little swirls and eddies bubbling up. They grew in number and strength, beginning to rise out of the river, and then, all at once, the water was dancing. Ribbons of water twirled out of the water, spiraling around each other in intricate, mesmerizing patterns. Waves formed along the top of the river, making little figures that ran, skipped, and jumped around in a playful manner that made Farah grin as she watched.

She looked over at Aisha, pride warming her chest at such a beautiful display of magic. “Open your eyes.”

Aisha did, the shock evident on her face as she saw the magic, her magic. The waves and ribbons wavered a little, a couple dropping back into the river, but Aisha took a breath and they resolidified, resuming their playful dance across the surface.

They watched the water for a while, listening to the gentle sounds of the figures dipping in and out of the river, before Aisha slowly brought them to a stop, then gently lowered them back into the water.

They sat quiet for a moment, Farah looking to see Aisha staring out at the water in awe, and she smiled to herself, knowing the girl was just starting to realize the power and discipline she possessed.

“That spark you feel in your chest, that connection with magic that is amplified through positive emotions — that is where control comes from. It’s not something you can force, but rather a relationship that you must carefully foster and grow. No amount of practice will do you any good if you first don’t find that connection and use it to steady yourself and the magic inside you.”

Aisha was nodding, still staring out at the water, and Farah laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. The girl looked at it in surprise, but Farah continued on. “You have great potential, Aisha. Do not squander yourself in self doubt.”

Aisha slowly looked up to meet her eyes, and nodded slowly. “I won’t, Headmistress.”

Farah smiled at her. “Good,” she said, and lifted her feet from the water. “Solaria would lose a powerful fairy if you did.”

She stood then, Aisha following suit, and Farah had just smoothed the skirt of her dress when suddenly strong arms were wrapped around her in a fierce hug, Aisha’s cheek pressed to her shoulder. “Thank you, Miss Dowling,” she said, voice slightly muffled. “For showing me what I can do.”

Farah smiled to herself, heart swelling in her chest, and she wrapped her arms around Aisha, returning the warm hug. “We all need a little encouragement from time to time.”

Aisha slowly let go after a minute, taking a step back, and Farah looked her over, noting the subtle changes in her posture, her eyes, the line of her mouth — the assurance there that wasn’t present before, and pride warmed Farah’s body, tingling in the tips of her fingers.

Taking a breath, Farah smiled at Aisha, then stepped off of the rock and into her shoes before turning to the girl. “Good work today.”

Aisha beamed at her, sitting to put on her shoes, and Farah watched as her gaze drifted back towards the water, obviously remembering the magic she’d done.

“Come,” Farah said lightly, turning to step up onto the path. “You can come back later. I still have a few things for you to file.”

[unwiltingblossom]

Wow!! You love isekai too!! Here are some I think you'll like Moshi Fan Ren, Master of Ragnarock, Hataage! Kemono Michi, Gun x Sword, Citrus, My Sweet Sugar Life, Overlord, Magic Knight, Recovery of an MMO Junkie, Chaos Dragon, Arifureta, Mr Love Queens Choice, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. What animes do you like ? °.·~°·*.· ~ . *

Hello!

Lemme take a look at your list~!

As for Moshi Fanren, I’m not that much of a fan of zombies (I love post apocalypse for watching a world rebuild, but not much for zombies themselves)

I’ve actually already watched Master of Ragnarok - I remember there being a plot where his love from his life ends up getting isekai’d much later in the story, right? There was also a completely ridiculous and hilarious moment where a girl’s boob somehow just...came alive and knocked a piece of fruit off a platter she was holding. I don’t understand. it was surreal.

Kemono Michi was fun, though a bit strange.

I haven’t seen Gun x Sword before, but it reminds me of Trigun somehow from the description, I’ll give it a look when I get the chance!

As for Citrus and My Sweet Sugar Life, I probably wouldn’t enjoy them, as I’m not into yuri (or yaoi, I prefer gxb if it’s gonna be a romance anime) - that, and in the latter case I’m picky on thrillers

I really enjoyed Overlord season 1 and also 2, but season 3 really turned me off from the show, as Ains has started losing control of his villainous persona and starts doing harm to his own (human) followers. I do like Jircniv though.

If you mean Magic Knight Rayearth I really enjoyed that manga. It’s a classical isekai kind of format and I loved it. I never finished part 2, but that’s because my library didn’t have the rest. Anyone who likes isekai should try reading that, as it’s a precursor to modern isekai format

As for Recovery of an MMO Junkie - I absolutely adored that anime. I ship Moriko and Sakurai to death. They’re adorable, and I love Sakurai. Such a cutie. I really hope we get more of the anime.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Chaos Dragon before? I’ll have to give it a look.

As for Arifureta, I liked it at first, but his relationship with Yue speeds though at such a ridiculous pace it left be dizzy and completely disengaged with it, which is a problem because the rest of his relationships are dependent on the fact that his and Yue’s relationship is the most epic of epic. Also, Hajime is just a capital J jerk. It reminded me of Shield Hero if people weren’t constantly being like ‘Naofumi stop being a dick for five seconds pls’

I actually play Mr. Love Queen’s Choice! I’m caught up with the english release of the game and I know some stuff that happens in the future. Currently I’m trying to ease my father into watching the anime, since the story is so good but I won’t be convincing him to play a girl game any time soon, lol

I’ve never heard of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint before but the power sounds really cool, so I’ll look into it and see if I can find it, even though the genre isn’t really my favorite.

As for anime I already like, hm...well I might forget some but off the top of my head some of my favorites are:

Dragon ball (all of them except GT, which had potential but really squandered it hard. Super has its issues, but it’s still ongoing and hasn’t started randomly throwing away characters, nor given Vegeta a buzz cut)

Fushigi Yuugi - the manga, the anime wasn’t done very well honestly. I actually hate the primary romance and Miaka’s just...almost unbearable, but I love the whole concept and world and the characters so much that it’s one of my all time favorites anyway. I of course read all of Genbu Kaiden and am reading Byakko Ibun too.

Video Girl Ai - There’s an anime running now called Rent-a-Girlfriend, but Video Girl Ai did this already, first, and way better. Just not the anime. The anime only covers the first three graphic novels of like...10?

Naruto is a given, obviously, it’s probably one of the best battle shounen anime there are, especially at accomplishing things other ones fail to do properly.

I also enjoy Black Clover and I kind of liked Fairy Tail but it’s a little silly, and I don’t like Natsu. If you don’t like the protagonist of a shounen anime that’s gonna be a problem. Though to be fair I read literally two panels of Asta and went “Wow, I hate him.” but he almost immediately gets better, and is one of the smarter shounen leads.

Other anime I enjoy...hmm. Tenchi, of course - not Tenchi in Tokyo - Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2 though I never finished either. I really wish I still had the PSX Inuyasha game where you could pick who Kagome dated, boohoo. Seven Deadly Sins, though the latest season has been boring, My Hero Academia though probably not as much as most people would, Rage of Bahamut was great and Favaro needs to get back with Amira already. Fate Stay Night, naturally, though I don’t care for heaven’s feel. I need more of Kuromukuro to be made, so the samurai and his girlfriend can finally be reunited again. Despite its weird ending, I also liked Chobits

I also liked Orange, CLANNAD, Steins;Gate (and 0) and SukaSuka/WorldEnd because I guess I like suffering. I was there for when .hack//SIGN was starting out, so I’m always going to be a fan of that bizarre, convoluted mess of a mystery.

I started Fruits Basket but dropped it as soon as I realized who Tohru would end up with, because I hate a love triangle where I already know the result from the beginning. I just don’t like love triangles at all, honestly, partly because I never prefer the canon ending. (and thus if I can tell it’s a triangle but not who will win - which is rare - I still don’t enjoy it due to anxiousness). I liked Free! but the fandom is so annoying I got tired of the show and dropped it. I enjoy Bleach, but I feel like it peaked in the Soul Society arc, and the filler kills me.

I’m sure I’m missing some, but it’s what I can think of right off.

[jadelotusflower]

November Roundup

Some writing success this month - I finished and posted a new chapter for Against the Dying of the Light, and made progress on The Lady of the Lake and Turn Your Face to the Sun. I didn’t work much on my novel, but I did do some editing on the first third so that’s progress.

Words written this month: 6647

Total this year: 67,514

November books

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo - joint winner of the 2019 Booker Prize (with The Testaments by Margaret Atwood) this was an engrossing and interesting read. Stylistically unusual formatting and scant use of punctuation that is a bit jarring at first, but you quickly adapt as you read. There’s no plot as such - instead the story is formed by vignettes of twelve black women and their disparate yet interconnected lives. We have mothers and daughters, close friends, teachers and students, although the connections aren’t always obvious at first - we can be exposed to a character briefly in the story of another with no idea that she will be a focus later on. It’s very skillfully done, to the point whereupon finishing I wanted immediately to re-read (but alas, it was already overdue back to the library). There is so much ground covered that we are really only given a glimpse into the characters lives, but there is a diversity of intergenerational perspectives of the African diaspora in the UK, and I highly recommend.

The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett - after finishing The Pillars of the Earth I had intended to read the sequel, but this was available on the library shelf and I had to place a hold on World Without End, so the prequel came first. Set sixty years before the Conquest (150 before Pillars) it primarily addresses the growth of the hamlet of Dreng’s Ferry into the town of Kingsbridge, through the lives of a monk with a strong moral code, a clever and beautiful noblewoman, and a skilled builder, working against the machinations of an evil bishop. Sound familiar? This is Follet’s most recent work, and I do wonder if he’s running out of ideas as this covers very similar thematic ground.

Ragna is a compelling female character, but once again the romance-that-cannot-be with Edgar is tepid, Aldred is a very watered down version of Prior Philip, and there’s no grand framing device such as building the cathedral to really tie to all together (although things do Get Built, and it’s interesting but not on the level of Pillars). This is the tail end of the Dark Ages and it shows - Viking raids, slavery, infanticide - and while it seems Follett’s style is to put his characters through much tragedy and tribulation before their happy ending, I wish writers would stop going to the rape well so readily. But at least the sexual violence isn’t as...lasciviously written as in Pillars? Scant praise, I know. But Follett’s strength in drawing the reader into the world and time period is on display, made even more interesting in this era about which we know very little.

Women and Leadership by Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - I have a great deal of respect for Julia Gillard, Australia’s first female Prime Minister who was treated utterly shamefully during her tenure and never got the credit she deserved, perhaps excepting the reaction to her iconic “misogny speech” whichyou can enjoy in full here:

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was the first woman to be Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs in Nigeria, was also the former Managing Director of the World Bank, and currently a candidate for Director-General of the WTO.

This is an interesting examination of women in leadership roles, comparing and contrasting the lives and experiences of a select few including (those I found the most interesting) Ellen Sirleaf, the first female President of Liberia, Joyce Banda, the first female President of Malawi, New Zealand’s current Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and of course, Gillard and Okonjo-Iweala themselves.

November shows/movies

The Vow and Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult - I’ve been following the NXIVM case for a while now, when the news broke in 2017 I was surprised and intrigued that it involved actresses from some of my fandom interests - Alison Mack (Smallville), Grace Park and Nikki Clyne (Battlestar Galactica), and Bonnie Piasse (Star Wars). Uncovered: Escaping NXIVM is an excellent podcast from that point in time that’s well worth a listen. There’s been a lot of discussion comparing these two documentaries and which one is better, but I feel they’re both worthwhile.

The Vow gives a primer of NXIVM as a predatory “self improvement” pyramid scheme/cult run by human garbage Keith Reniere, from the perspective of former members turned whistleblowers Bonnie Piasse, who first suspected things were wrong, her husband Mark Vicente who was high up in the organisation, and Sarah Edmondson who was a member of DOS, the secret group within NXIVM that involved branding and sex trafficking. Seduced gives more insight into the depravity and criminality of DOS from the pov of India Oxenburg, just 19 when she joined the group and who became Alison Mack’s “slave” in DOS - she was required to give monthly “collateral” in the form of explicit photographs or incriminating information about herself or her family, had to ask Mack’s permission before eating anything (only 500 calories allowed per day), was ordered to have sex with Reniere, and other horrific treatment - Mack herself was slave to Reniere (as was Nikki Clyne) and there were even more horrific crimes including rape and imprisonments of underage girls.

Of course each show has an interest in portraying its subjects as less culpable than perhaps they were (there were people above and below them all in the pyramid after all) - Vicente and Edmondson in The Vow and Oxenburg in Seduced, but what I did appreciate about Seduced was the multiple experts to explain how and why people were indoctrinated into this cult, and why it was so difficult to break free from it. This is a story of victims who were also victimisers and all the complications that come along with that, although I’m not sure any of these people are in the place yet to really reckon with what happened and all need a lot of therapy.

Focusing on individual journeys also narrows the scope - there are other NXIVM members interviewed I would have liked to have heard a lot more from. There is also a lot of jumping back and forth in time in both docos so the timeline is never quite clear unless you do further research. I would actually like to see another documentary one day a bit further removed from events dealing with the whole thing from start to finish from a neutral perspective. The good news is that Reniere was recently sentenced to 120 years in prison so he can rot.

I saw value in both, but you’re only going to watch one of these, I would say go for Seduced - if you’re interested in as much information as possible, watch The Vow first to get a primer on all the main players and then Seduced for the full(er) story.

The Crown (season 4) - While I love absolutely everything Olivia Coleman does, I thought it took a while for her to settle in as the Queen last season and it’s almost sad that she really nailed it this season, just in time for the next cast changeover (but I also love everything Imelda Staunton does so...) This may be an unpopular opinion, but I wasn’t completely sold on Gillian Anderson as Thatcher - yes I know she sounded somewhat Like That, but for me the performance was a little too...affected? (and someone get her a cough drop, please!) 

It is also an almost sympathetic portrayal of Thatcher - even though it does demonstrate her classism and internalised misogyny, it doesn’t really explore the full impact of Thatcherism, why she was such a polarising figure to the extent that some would react like this to her death:

But I suppose it’s called The Crown, not The PM.

Emma Corrin is wonderful as Diana, and boy do they take no prisoners with Charles (or the other male spawn). I was actually surprised at how terrible they made Charles seem rather than both sidesing it as I had expected (but perhaps that’s being saved for season 5). It does hammer home just how young Diana was when they were married (19 to Charles’ 32), how incompatible they were and the toxicity of their marriage (standard disclaimer yes it’s all fictionalised blah blah). The performances are exceptional across the board - Tobias Menzies and Josh O’Conner were also standouts and it’s a shame to see them go.

I was however disappointed to see that the episode covering Charles and Di’s tour of Australia was not only called “Terra Nullius” but the term was used as a very tone deaf metephor that modern Australia was no longer “nobody’s land/country”. For those who aren’t aware, terra nullius was the disgraceful legal justification for British invasion/colonisation of Australia despite the fact that the Indigenous people had inhabited the continent for 50,000 years or more. While the tour was pre-Mabo (the decision that overturned the doctrine of terra nullius and acknowledged native title), there was no need to use this to make the point, especially when there was no mention at all of the true meaning/implication of the term.

The Spanish Princess (season 2, episodes 4-8)- Sigh. I guess I’m more annoyed at the squandered potential of this show, since the purpose ostensibly was to focus on the time before The Great Matter and give Katherine “her due” - and instead they went and made her the most unsympathetic, unlikeable character in the whole damn show. (Spoilers) She literally rips Bessie Blount’s baby from her body and, heedless to a mother’s pleas to hold her child, runs off to Henry so she can present him with “a son”. I mean, what the actual fuck?

I’m not a stickler for historical accuracy so long as it’s accurate to the spirit of history (The Tudors had its flaws, but it threaded this needle most of the time), but this Katherine isn’t even a shadow of her historical figure - she’s not a troubled heroine, she’s cruel and vindictive, Margaret Pole is a sanctimonious prig, and Margaret Tudor does little but sneer and shout - the only one who comes out unscathed is Mary Tudor (the elder), and it’s only because she’s barely in it at all. It’s a shame because I like all of these actresses (especially Georgie Henley and Laura Carmichael) but they are just given dreck to work with.

This is not an issue with flawed characters, it’s the bizarre presentation of these characters that seems to want to be girl power rah rah, and yet at the same time feels utterly misogynistic by pitting the women against each other or making them spiteful, stupid, or crazy for The Drama. I realise this is based on Gregory so par for the course, but it feels particularly egregious here. (Spoilers) At one point Margaret Pole is banished from court by Henry, and because Katherine won’t help her (because she cant!) she decides to spill the beans about Katherine’s non-virginity. Yes, her revenge against the hated Tudors is...to give Henry exactly what he wants? Even though it will result in young Mary, who she loves and cares for, being disinherited? Girlboss!

This season also missed the opportunity to build on its predecessors The White Queen/Princess and show why it was so important to Henry to have a male heir - the Tudor reign wasn’t built on the firmest foundations and so needed uncontested transfer of power, at the time there was historic precedent that passing the throne to a daughter led to Anarchy, and wars of succession were very recent in everyone’s memory. At least no one was bleating about The Curse this time, which is actually kind of surprising, because the point of the stupid curse is the Tudor dynasty drama.

But it’s not all terrible. Lina and Oviedo are the best part of the show, and (spoilers) thankfully make it out alive. Both are a delight to watch and I wish the show had been just about them.

Oh well. One day maybe we’ll get the Katherine of Aragon show we deserve - at least I can say that the costumes were pretty, small consolation though it is.

[crusherthedoctor]

Warning: Another IDW Sonic rant, sorry D:

So we all know my biggest gripes with IDW Sonic at this point. Eggman getting fucked over after a promising start, Starline being reduced to Snively 2.0... also after a promising start, half the cast making one dumb decision after another, emotional moments falling flat due to how overplayed they are, yadda yadda yadda. But since IDW clearly hasn't grinded my gears for more than enough reasons already, there's yet another revelation that came to mind just recently, one that isn't brought up as much due to the popularity - or lack thereof - of the characters in question.

Basically, the current arc has done a disservice to the Deadly Six just as much as it's done a disservice to virtually everyone else.

I know, you're gonna say they never had any credibility to begin with... and maybe that's true. But hear me out for a second.

I was probably one of the people in the Sonic community, on Tumblr and in general, who defended the Deadly Six the most. By all means, I acknowledged why they weren't popular, and I agreed with a lot of the common criticisms, but I also stood by my opinion that they were NOT the worst thing ever, especially not when compared to other characters in the franchise, villain or otherwise. I also expressed the opinion that although Zavok's inclusion in certain installments were indeed shoehorned, narrative-wise, he wasn't any more shoehorned than certain other characters in the same games (mainly Silver, due to how willy-nilly his time travel schtick has become in order to justify his continuing presence). My Sweet or Shite review pertaining to the Zeti likewise concluded on a mixed note overall, rather than an outright negative one.

And why did I defend them? Because as one-note as their personalities may admittedly be, I felt that their traits still gave them the potential for greatness. Not all of them perhaps (Zeena is probably the weakest link to be honest), but with the likes of Zazz's craziness, or Zor's nihilism, you had something fun to work with, compared to the absolute nothing going on with Black Doom, Mephiles, and countless others made from the same cloth. I stood by that belief for years, against all the vitriol they received, even as it kept increasing with each time they were shoehorned and/or had their potential squandered in subsequent appearances.

But then IDW goes and does the impossible. Not only are the Zeti awkwardly inserted halfway through a story that's already got a full plate, and not only do they upstage Eggman and Starline and mooch their resources yet again... but what potential for memorable personality and interactions they had isn't even there anymore.

Oh sure, Zazz still acts crazy, and Zor still acts nihilistic, but very little of it is played in an interesting or entertaining way. It's all played completely straight now, nothing more than another means to show how evil, how serious, how oh-so-better than Eggman they are as villains... which means the one thing separating them from all the other subpar villains in the series is now gone. Instead of expanding on Zazz's status as a wacky type of loony, his comedic goofiness has been reduced if not completely expelled for the sake of playing his craziness straight, making him more forgettable in the process. Instead of giving Zor more hilarious depression-fueled zingers, his nihilism is treated as if it were unironically badass rather than just sad and pathetic, and now he's just another boring sadist in a franchise full of them. (Which is made even more redundant by the fact that IDW already had its own Not-Mephiles in the form of Mimic.)

It almost feels like Ian Flynn looked at all the criticism they received over the years, and learned the wrong lessons in an attempt to improve their reputation. Their inclusion was presumably intended to redeem them, and confirmed by the man himself to “raise the stakes”, but instead, what potential for interesting character and dynamics they had is now gone entirely, the fanbase hates them more than ever, even I'm throwing my hands up in the air now, AND Eggman gets cheated out of what was meant to be his big comeback. No one wins, flawless fatality.

At least the Hard-Boiled Heavies are still great.