#this show leaves so many tiny questions unanswered and it drives me insane but i love it

[shittyeyelinerbisexuality]

but like. what was the OBJECTIVE, DEFINITIVE reason for this face.

kieran culkin you bitch im in your walls

[hollandsmoose]

cat and mouse (part 3)

A/N: This is the final part! It’s been so amazing seeing how much you guys liked this story, and I love you all so much! So here you go, babes, here’s 2.7k of angsty fluff with bad boy!Shawn!

part 2

A month and two weeks into your relationship is when the first trouble comes. Everything’s fine up until that point. He’s been for dinner with your parents. You’ve been to dinner with his parents. You hold hands in public and sit together during lunch. All is well.

That lasts until the first party you attend as a couple. Fearing that your friends are starting to find you a little boring now that you’re in a relationship, you and Shawn decide to go to a party Brian is throwing. Parties at Brian’s house are nothing new, but he is Shawn’s best friend, and it seems like a good place to make your debut as a couple.

Shawn has committed to driving you home, making him the designated driver. Of course, as soon as your friends got wind of that, he was suddenly in charge of bringing at least ten different people home. The usual beer in his hand has been replaced with a can of soda tonight, and you admire how he isn’t even the tiniest bit annoyed about it.

You’d insisted on just having your dad come and pick you up, but Shawn had also been adamant that he should be the one to bring you home. It would look good, he had said. Though your parents seem to like Shawn well enough, he still feels that he has to prove himself to them - kind of like he’d proven himself to you.

Deep in your thoughts, you find it hard to focus on the conversation you’re a part of. Your friends are talking about something which you could not honestly care less for, so when you see the opportunity to excuse yourself, you seize it instantly.

You hate to be predictable, yet you still do the predictable thing and go to find your boyfriend. Boyfriend. Even thinking about it makes you blush. That blush is wiped off your face in a matter of a few seconds, though. It doesn’t take you long to find Shawn, and when you do, you’re not pleased.

He’s sat on of the couches in the living room, and two girls sit on either side of him, his arms behind them on the backrest. They’re obviously fawning over him, flirting with him, but that’s not necessarily the worst thing. The worst thing is that you know that he’s been with both of them earlier this year.

It awakens a fear in you that you have been trying to subdue since the start of your relationship. The fear that you won’t ever be enough; that you can’t satisfy him. It’s just intensified by knowing that he’s been intimate with those two girls in a way that you have yet to be with him. You don’t want to move too fast, and Shawn says he’s fine with it. Is he really, though?

Turning around, you set your course for the upstairs bathroom, needing some space. You practically run up the stairs, sprinting to the bathroom which is thankfully empty, locking the door behind you.

There’s a part of your brain that screams at you to shut up and calm down. You believe Shawn; you trust him. Unfortunately, there’s a much bigger part that tells you to consider the facts - even the unpleasant ones. In all the years, you’ve known Shawn, he’s never been one for settling down; he’s never had a girlfriend. It makes you wonder if it’s because he’s not one for monogamy. He’s never felt about anyone the way he feels about me, you think to yourself, that’s what he swore. The fear has settled, however. No matter what you do to push it back where it came from, it has reared its ugly head and won’t go.

After a few minutes, you decide to go downstairs again. This time, Shawn spots you when you enter the living room and excuses himself to the girls who give you rather dirty looks. He’s none the wiser, smiling brightly, placing a kiss on your forehead when he reaches you.

“I’m gonna go home,” you say, unable to return the smile. “I’ll get my dad to come and get me.” Shawn stares at you for a couple of moments, his head tilted to the side.

“Are you okay?” he asks, concern lacing his voice. You only nod, and you can tell it doesn’t convince him, but he doesn’t press for more. “I’ll take you home, then.”

That’s really not what you want. “No, no, stay! You gotta take the others home too,”

Shawn shrugs. “I’ll come back here, I guess,” It has your heart sinking when you realize that he’s going to be on his own here either way. You can still see the two girls out of the corner of your eye, and they’re practically glaring at you.

He must have noticed that they were fawning over him. He must have realized that they were flirting with him. It didn’t seem much like he was turning them down with the way he was sitting - arms around them and everything. It makes you a bit sick to even think about.

When you snap out of it, Shawn is still looking at you expectantly, and he’s obviously waiting for a reply.

“Fine,” is all you say.

You and Shawn have already perfected the art of comfortable silences, but the one in his car on the way to your house is far from comfortable. It’s awkward and strained, questions hanging unanswered in the air. He tries to put a hand on your thigh, but when you tense and recoil from his touch, he removes it again. When Shawn pulls up in front of your house, you’re quick to unfasten the seat belt, and you’ve just grabbed the car door handle when he speaks again.

“Wait!” he blurts out, and you comply, sinking back into your seat, but keeping your eyes away from him. “Baby, something’s wrong, right? Did I do something?” You sigh as you finally establish eye contact with him, and it’s a heavy sound, weighing down on the atmosphere even more.

“You seriously don’t know, do you?” you ask, your tone accusatory, and it almost angers you when he just raises his eyebrows and gives you a dumbfounded look. “You really can’t see anything you did wrong? Not even with those girls?” It seems like it dawns on him what you mean, and he closes his eyes for a moment, leaning back his head. “They were all over you, Shawn! I swear, one of them was even like… touching your chest and shit!”

He waits for a few seconds before he answers. “Nothing happened,” Simple as that, you suppose he thinks.

You scoff. “Maybe not tonight. But it has before,”

“That’s in the past,”

“Not for them, obviously,”

“Well, maybe not for them,” Shawn says, and you notice how his voice has gotten just a tiny bit harsher, a bit more annoyed. “But it is for me. I’m done with that shit,” You feel the tears starting to press, but you fight to keep them back. “I thought we’d been over this.”

“How do you think it makes me feel?” you begin, your own voice cracking. “They were flirting with you, and you didn’t even reject them!” A solitary tear manages an escape, and soon your cheeks are wet with the flood from your eyes. Shawn is lost, perhaps not knowing what to say. That only makes it worse. “I’m gonna go.” Before he has time to react, you’re out of the car, slamming the door behind you. As you walk into your front yard, you kind of wish he’d come after you; show you how much you mean to him. He doesn’t, though.

You don’t get much sleep. You spend the night crying in fits and doubting your choice to confront Shawn. Your phone buzzes continuously with calls and messages from him that you don’t answer or read, but they stop coming at one point too.

In the morning, you force yourself to go down and eat. Of course, your parents notice your puffy eyes and inquire about the reason, but you’re not willing to share it with them. Thankfully, they don’t start an interrogation, just letting you eat in peace. You return to your room and crawl into bed again.

You're not entirely sure how many hours pass before you're woken from your sleepless daze, the doorbell going off downstairs. You can't help but wonder who's at the door, but as soon as you've started pondering, a possibility pops into your head.

Jumping from your mattress, you rush to the window, and your suspicions are confirmed. There's a car outside that you know quite well at this point. Shawn. It isn't long before you hear footsteps on the staircase, and you know who's coming. Making a quick effort to at least look a little like you haven't bawled your eyes out, you pinch your cheeks to draw some colour to your face, and you straighten out your clothes. You do wish you didn't have to do this in an old, worn sweater and leggings, to be honest. There's a knock on the door, and you take a deep breath.

“It's me, Y/N,” Shawn calls out, so you tell him to enter. The door creaks slightly as he comes in, a careful and hesitant movement. You watch while he closes it behind him with as little force as possible. You can't be sure why he acts that way, but you interpret as a peace offering - him letting you know he's not angry. “Hi.”

“Hi,” you say, keeping your distance, still by the window on the opposite end of the room. “Why are you here?”

He takes a step forward. “To talk. Explain myself,” You nod and walk to your bed, and you sit down so your back is up against the headboard.

You pat in front of you. “Then talk,” Shawn listens and sits where you want him to, still maintaining a respectful distance. He crosses his legs underneath him like you have done too, and then there’s a short silence while he’s finding the right words.

“I’m sorry,” A pause.

“Is that all?”

“No, no!” Shawn exclaims, shaking his head wildly. “There’s more. Much more,” He shifts in his seat and runs his palms up his thighs, and you see the stain it leaves on his black jeans. Sweaty hands, you realize, he’s nervous. You can’t be sure whether his nervosity is a good or bad sign. “I’m sorry that I behaved like an asshole. When you called me out on it, I just got offended, and that’s not right.”

You glance down at your sheets. “No, it’s not,”

“They were flirting with me, and I knew that,” he admits with a sigh at the end. “I just… I didn’t know what to do! That’s a fucking terrible excuse, but it’s the truth,” You can’t say you disagree with him. It’s an insanely bad excuse, yet you believe him. “I’ve never had a girlfriend before. I don’t know how it works or what you’re allowed to do. I swear, nothing would’ve happened with those girls. I can’t do that to you.”

You fight a smile. “On your sister’s life?” He nods, taking your hand in his.

“On my sister’s life, baby. Never gonna do that to you,” Shawn continues. “I really like you, remember?” There’s an attempt from you to suppress a chuckle, but it slips out anyway. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make you feel safe. If you want me to stop talking to girls at all, that’s what I’ll do.”

“No, Shawn,” you protest, grinning at his devotion. “I’m not gonna be that type of girlfriend. You’re allowed to talk to girls!” He nods and honestly reminds you a bit of a puppy, eagerly following orders. You really have him wrapped around your finger. “But maybe don’t act like that with girls you’ve fucked before? And who you know want to fuck you again?”

He nods again, making you laugh. “Of course. Anything for you, baby,”

A smile spreads on your face, and you lean in, pressing a kiss to his forehead. He reaches out for you and pulls you into his lap, but he only wants to hold you. In this close proximity, you get a chance to really take in his face. He looks tired. Bags under his eyes and everything. In concern, you retreat a little, staring into his weary eyes.

“Have you slept? Like at all?” you ask Shawn, and to your horror, he shakes his head. It’s of course a bit hypocritical of you to be so horrified, considering you haven’t slept either. It brings an idea to mind, though. “Wanna nap?”

“Only if we can cuddle,”

“Anything for you, baby,”

It’s almost dark outside again when you wake. At first, you wonder what’s woken you up, but a quick glance at your phone on the nightstand tells you the answer. It’s lit up, signalling a new message or call.

You don’t want to move, though. You’re snuggled up to Shawn’s chest, his arms secured around you, holding you close. Not only are you under the warm covers, but his body is much like a furnace beside you as well. You are so comfy.

Begrudgingly, you wiggle your way out of his grasp, trying to be as careful as possible, not wanting to wake him. He looks adorable when he sleeps - almost angelic. His light snores are almost comforting to hear, and that’s not something you thought you would ever say about snoring. He’s got you wrapped around his finger too. You rise from the bed and grab your phone, moving to the window so to not disturb him with the light from the screen. It’s a message from your mom.

Mom: Does Shawn want to stay for dinner? Making lasagna! :D

It warms your heart to read it, and you can’t really figure out why. Maybe it’s just the absolute nonchalance your mother has about asking. No planning beforehand, just asking your boyfriend to stay for dinner. Nothing fancy to impress him, just… lasagna. It’s kind of hard to explain why it makes you feel giddy.

You hear the duvet shuffle behind you, and when you turn around, Shawn is sitting up, supporting himself with his right arm. With a sleepy expression on his face, he looks out the window to see that the sun is nearly gone. It’s early in the month of November, but it is already getting darker faster and faster.

“Mom wants to know if you’ll stay and eat,” you say, and he gives a nod along with a lazy smile, letting his free hand rub his eyes. “I’ll text back, then.”

“I have to write to my dad as well,” Shawn adds, his voice raspy, and he reaches down under the covers to fish out his phone from the pocket of his jeans. “Tell him I’m not coming home for dinner.”

You climb back under the duvet, placing your phone back on the nightstand, before you cuddle into Shawn again. He puts down his phone too once he’s sent a message to his father, and then he presses a kiss to your lips. He intends for it to be short and sweet, but your hands are quick to pull him back to you, kissing him with more fervor.

Within a matter of seconds, you roll on top of Shawn, a new energy having taken over you. He hums against your lips in appreciation, and his hands wander down to your sides, squeezing ever so slightly. It evolves into that kind of slow, lazy makeout session, no worries or hurries, nothing to do and nowhere to be. After a while, Shawn does roll you off him again so you land by his side, and he snuggles into you this time.

“I’m falling in love with you,” he mumbles, his face buried in your t-shirt, and you can’t stop the giggle that leaves your throat.

“That’s good to hear, Mendes,” you say, grinning brighter than the sun, running your fingers through his curls. “‘Cause I’m falling in love with you too.”

@sauveteen @flickershawn @peachnpomegranate @infiniteshawn @muffinmendussy @wronglaneassholeshawn @me-a-hopeless-romantic @couple100miles @rishlo @wdwisperfect @shawnxmendesxo @shawnsmercy @justanotherfangurl272

[neriad13]

Best of the Best Media Consumed 2019!

This year I had a whole lot of focus on nonfiction, film and comics. Resolution for next year: read more fiction. Seriously, I read over three times more nonfiction than fiction this year. I read a little over one novel a month. But I really do love picking up a book on something I know nothing about and coming away knowing more than something. X-P

Anyway! The list!

Books - Fiction

Out of the 17 works of fiction I read this year, the best of the best is...

The Snow Queen, by Joan Vinge

The Snow Queen was one of my absolute favorite fairy tales as a child. The 2002 film adaptation of it was one of the things I watched endlessly. 

It was SO MUCH FUN picking apart this sci-fi retelling and discovering which characters are meant to represent the ones from the original story (of particular interest: the character representing the reindeer is human in this...and he has a one night stand with the character representing Gerta. Yes, I’m still cracking up about this. Yes, it actually was a pretty well written scene). 

But the absolute best part of it was the masterful characterization. Every single character has ulterior motives and often heartbreaking reasons for why they are the way they are - especially including the Snow Queen herself, whose final scene is horrifying, tragic and beautiful. 

I always like me some solid villain characterization.

Runner Up:

Fairy Tales: Traditional Stories Retold for Gay Men

I am not a gay man...but this very much spoke to me. It was at turns heartwarming and hilarious and the turns these fairy tales took felt so natural, like they’d been told that way all along. 

There are also many allusions to AIDS in the stories - sometimes as something a character is directly dealing with whether in himself, or a loved one and sometimes under the guise of a metaphor for inevitability. These ones were my favorites (aside from The Frog Prince, which was turned into a metaphor for accepting the process of aging with grace). 

Books - Nonfiction

Oh boy. There’s...definitely going to be more than one here. Of the 65 works of nonfiction I read this year, my favorites were...

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons From the Crematory

A memoir about the author’s time spent working as a crematory operator and her entry into the funeral business. This book was absolutely hilarious (it contains a story about the author getting absolutely soaked with corpse fat that wouldn’t stop flowing straight out of the incinerator), tragic (a 12 year old girl is cremated and her ashes are mailed back to her parents as part of a cremation mail-in program) and extremely poignant (the author talks openly about the time she was contemplating suicide). 

I love Caitlin’s youtube channel and I loved this book even more.

My Age of Anxiety

Partially the memoir of a man who has battled his extreme anxiety his entire life, a historical study of famous figures who have also endured it and a scientific look into why it exists at all. 

Ultimately, it offers no answers. As of the writing of the book, the author has found no treatment that helps him for longer than a few months. But what he has found over the course of his research is that he is not alone - that anxiety has historically been a factor in scientific breakthroughs and artistic accomplishments. And that perhaps most importantly, that anxiety has been a key part of human evolution from the start, which served a vital role in the survival of the species. 

Mental illness or evolutionary adaptation? Is there even a line between them?

Cassell’s Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit

This is the only book, period, devoted to queer mythology, that I have ever been able to find. But the good news is that it’s fairly extensive (though the authors themselves admit that they had trouble finding as much information about non-western mythology as they did for western mythology), is chock full of references and is extremely thorough in the information it presents. 

I’ll admit that it was a slog to get through at times, but what it’s provided has been invaluable to my conception of history and my own place in it. 

Also, I can now say beyond a shadow of a doubt that almost every culture on earth has at some point in their history had a tradition of transgender shamans.

Hope After Faith

This is the memoir of a charismatic Pentecostal pastor turned atheist. It follows him from teenagerhood and the beginnings of his dream to be a preacher to a little bit after his deconversion decades later. 

The eventual crumbling of his faith was something that spoke to me on a deep level. The scene that I still think about months later is the one in which he finally gives up his belief in the afterlife and accepts the finality of death by saying goodbye to everyone he ever loved who has died with the words “I love you, but I’m never going to see you again.”

I was not a huge fan of the writing style at first, but this one won me over totally and completely. It touched me immensely at the time when I needed it most.

Comics - Fiction

I read 52 fictional comics this year and 46 nonfiction. I absolutely raided my library’s graphic novel section for months. It was a good time.

Beautiful Darkness

A French graphic novel wherein tiny people survive and feud over the corpse of the child they came from. It’s...hard to explain. Kind of a fairy tale Lord of the Flies, but more subtly horrifying. It’s a story about decay and collapse - of society, of the physical form, of the dreams of a child. It has no single interpretation and different people may take something very different from it. The most inventive horror story I read this year.

My Brother’s Husband

A story about microaggressions and how their buildup over time can drive a wedge between people without them even noticing. I cried. Go read it.

Mis(h)adra

A semi autobiographical account of a college student learning how to live with his epilepsy. I also cried over this one. 

The art is stunning, the metaphors are amazing (the main character’s epilepsy is visually portrayed as a set of ghostly knives that follow him around) and the ending is extremely affecting if you’ve ever dealt with any kind of chronic illness. 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

The absolute most fun I had reading a comic this year. Gets extremely dark and incredibly sad but never feels overwhelmingly heavy, thanks to its great sense of humor. 

Edward Scissorhands: Parts Unknown + Whole Again

A series of adventures set decades after the movie, after Kim’s death, in a time when her granddaughter begins wondering if the stories about the castle on the hill are true. 

It deals with such issues as the difficulties Kim had with her daughter growing up, when all she would do is tell stories about Edward rather than give her the emotional support she needed, whether removing the thing that both makes you unique and brings pain is worth it and how to stop angry villagers from burning down your house (again). 

Also, seeing Edward be surrounded by a group of friends who care about him was extremely healing.

Comics - Nonfiction

My Solo Exchange Diary vol 1-2

A series of updates about the author’s continuing battle with mental illness and about how recovery is anything but a straight line. 

Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

Finally, some light reading!

It’s a memoir about the decline and death of the author’s aging parents. 

I found it...extremely comforting. Extreme old age, whether in one’s self or in one’s loved ones, is a scary and often obscured prospect, despite being a near-universal human experience. This book took the mystery out of aging and the fear out of taking care of aging parents. I’ve seen it done now. I’m more ready to do it myself.

The Best We Could Do

A memoir of the author’s family’s flight from Vietnam and their immigration to America, through the lens of the birth of the author’s first child. About how being a refugee changes a person in small, often unexpected ways, how trauma leaves its mark on families - and how, knowing all this, one can still keep living and raising the next generation.

Film - Fiction

I caught up on a lot of classics I’d not seen before and really got into Jidaigeki this year. Me putting only four of them on the list is a show of restraint. Of the 64 films I watched this year...

The Fall of the House of Usher 

Impeccable costume and psychedelic set design. The unanswered question that bounces throughout the entire movie: is it the curse or is it the fault of human belief in the curse?

Patch your walls, dude.

A Monster With a Thousand Heads 

A Mexican thriller about a woman whose husband is denied cancer treatment for seemingly no reason. The doctor gives her the runaround. No one can answer her questions. No one listens to her.

So, naturally, she and her teenage son spend a night kidnapping and holding at gunpoint every person she needs to get her husband’s cancer treatment approved. Wild and intense and timely.

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

I watched a couple of Kubrick movies I hadn’t seen before and of them...I died laughing at this one. The tight plotting! The inevitable buildup to disaster over something so insanely stupid! 

I did not live during the Cold War, but damn do I feel for the inherent ridiculousness of it now.

Seven Samurai

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAFGFTRTRNHUKIJUHNJNHHHHHHHHHHHHYHYHYHYHYHYHYHYHYXCVVGGERDSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!

...this movie is insanely good. I watched Citizen Kane this year. This movie’s better. 

It has a plot which can be described in its totality, in a single sentence - a group of samurai are hired to defend a village from bandits - but what they do with that premise is so much more than that. 

This movie is three hours long. It did not lag once. 

Hara Kiri

As the Tokugawas secure their grip on all of Japan, war ceases. Great houses are dissolved and their retainers, cast into the streets. The relevance of the samurai is ending and the cities are awash in starving ronin. 

Once, one of these starving ronin approached a great house, asking if he might be able to end his life honorably, in front of witnesses there. So impressed was the lord with this ronin’s resolve, that he instead hired him on as one of his retainers. 

Hearing this story, other ronin, having no intention of actually offing themselves, tried the same trick in the hopes of securing a job, or at the very least, a little something to eat. 

It became a common scam which, in the end, fooled no one. Most houses gave the ronin a handful of cash and sent them on their way. 

But one house, seeking to preserve their warlike spirit in these peaceful times, chooses to treat one beggar ronin very differently. 

This is the story of vengeance taken for that death.

Yojimbo

A ronin enters a town that is being torn apart by gang warfare and decides to play both sides in order to end the conflict. It contains such comedic gems as:

 - the ronin suddenly deciding not to take part in a street battle, leaving both sides evenly matched and extremely nervous about fighting each other, while he watches it all from the top of a watchtower, laughing his ass off

 - the ronin is critically injured and being smuggled out of town in a coffin. A fight breaks out while this is happening and scares away one of the people carrying the coffin. A less intelligent goon of the gang he just escaped from is cheerfully recruited to carry the coffin the rest of the way

 - standing up in the coffin, declaring that he’s fine and immediately fainting

Also, you should totally bring a knife to a gun fight. 

Ran

A jidaigeki reimagining of King Lear. 

A visually astounding, sweeping epic with amazing acting and a complex interplay of conflicting passions which might just be more bleak than the original play. 

The scene in which the main character goes mad and is cast out into the wilderness is especially haunting.

Jojo Rabbit

I don’t think I’ve EVER experienced such violent mood whiplash in a movie before. One moment you’re crying-laughing from a joke that hit with absolute perfection and the next you’re...actually crying. In the same scene. Within thirty seconds. Multiple times. It is the oddest feeling to be so elated by the best joke in the entire movie while every character we’ve come to know across the course of the movie is in the process of dying violently. It’s not a feeling everyone’s going to like, but for me it was completely new and fantastic. 

The best part of the movie is the main character’s relationship with Imaginary Friend Hitler. He’s wildly funny and relentlessly charming. I got excited every time he appeared in a scene and was, oddest of all, actually comforted by his presence. 

He was all of these things until, in the most terrifying scene in the movie, he was not.

This movie shows you the mechanisms through which fascism becomes an appealing idea for a lonely child by putting the audience through a version of the same process. It’s so clever, so funny and so sad. 

What do you do when your world is destroyed by absurdity and there is nothing left for you to return to?

You dance in the streets.

TV Series

Good Omens 

Wildly hilarious comedy, fantastic costume design, multiple androgynous characters for which NO ONE bats an eye and honestly?? the best queer love story I’ve ever seen in television or film. 

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

I am not sure if I have ever seen a production with so much love poured into it. The dozens of painstakingly crafted sets and characters, the sheer level of artistry on display - the next thing I saw was always more amazing than the thing I’d seen before it and the amazingness just kept coming with no end in sight throughout the entirety of the show.

And the story itself! The way it deepened and played with the lore of the original movie in the most perfect and unexpected ways! It felt like I was watching the most fantastic and labor intensive piece of fanfiction ever conceived, that was written by a person with a deep passion for and knowledge of the source material. 

Speaking of fantastic throwbacks...

Dororo

I’ve said a lot about this one already. While it ultimately fell kind of flat, what it did get right was phenomenal. The motherfucking FIGHT SCENES! The love between bros! The fascinating reconception of Hyakkimaru’s powers and its emphasis on a disabled character actually being portrayed as disabled! The journey of good characters going down the path of evil with good intentions!

Mwah!

Primal eps 1-5

Genndy Tartakovsky’s next big project after the completion of Samurai Jack! 

It is gory. Like, extremely gory. Do you know how much gore a thing has to have before I consider it ‘extremely gory?’ It’s a lot. Like...really a lot. There’s a thirty second (or possibly longer. time lost all meaning as I watched it) sequence in which the main character punches the intestines out of a horde of hominids in loving, exacting detail. It’s like Genndy’s letting out all the pent-up gore he was forced to keep in check during the years when he was working on Samurai Jack. 

But it isn’t just gore. It’s a journey about the main character’s grief over the sudden, horrific, unexpected death of his entire family. A story which is also mirrored by that of the dinosaur he joins forces with. There were parts during it in which I literally felt my heart being torn in two over the travails of these two, as well as wildly funny and completely adorable parts.

The settings, creature design and fight choreography are insanely creative, as is the decision to do it with no dialogue whatsoever.

And that cliffhanger, DAMN!! They’d better get the next five episodes out soon!

Honorable Mention:

Rick and Morty S4 eps 1-5

This one doesn’t entirely make the list proper because the latter two episodes...were rather subpar. But I can’t entirely keep it off the list because the quality of the first three episodes was off the charts. A particular shoutout to ‘The Old Man and the Seat’ and ‘One Crew Over the Crewcoo’s Morty’ - the former, which somehow managed to use toilet humor, of all things, to reach a crushingly tragic conclusion and the latter, which has a twist better than that of some of my favorite horror movies. 

Games

Shogun 2

I didn’t do a whole lot of gaming at all this year. But what I did do is have a fantastic time getting into the Total War franchise. Shogun 2 was my entry point and a FANTASTIC game. The ninja animations! The tiny, exacting animations of every single person running around on a sinking ship! The way Realm Divide changes the game into something much more dangerous and the way I learned to dance on the edge of it until I was good and ready! 

Plays

Love’s Labours Lost

One of two Shakespeare plays I saw this year, the other being The Tempest - which was also excellent (especially the part where it legit started raining when Ariel summoned the storm in the first scene and then that showing had to be cancelled. The second time was the charm). 

Love’s Labours Lost had some excellent comedy and the usual absurd web of misunderstandings you’d expect to find in your standard Shakespeare romcom. But the thing which pushed it over the edge for me was that...it had a sad ending. It goes against the definition of comedy and has a sad ending. Because it was so unexpected, it hit unexpectedly hard and made it that much more memorable.