#verdict? I LIKE IT

[nuisancehelicopter]

my thoughts after watching Slam Dunk episode 60

 Ep 60 is not the end of Slam dunk but it is more or less the last episode of the first season.

My History

i first started watching slam dunk around march last year but i stopped because Sakuragi’s character was really hard to get used to. After recent events I finally got the courage to continue watching the series from where i left off in ep 40ish. 

At this point of the story the other members of the main team are starting to shine. Sakuragi’s improvement are already showing results. The main team had very rough beginnings in the earlier episdes but they have slowly come together as a team.

Episode 45 is where the real sports anime that is Slam Dunk manifested for me. For the first time, I actually had fun watching basketball in anime.

General Impressions

Slam Dunk is a really good sports anime. Because the main character is a real newbie, viewers who are non-player/non-enthusiasts can easily understand the concepts. Especially when they are used in the official matches.

Compared to other sports anime like Prince of Tennis, Haikyuu, Hanebado and Kuroko no Basket, Slam Dunk rival schools aren’t villainized and made evil. This is partly because Sakuragi, the main character is actually a former delinquent. He is still mostly disrespectful and a jerk.

 Almost all Slam Dunk opponents shown at this point were good teams in their own right. They had admirable, competitive aces and kind members. This made it a heartwarming anime to watch. It is also very easy to like the other teams despite only knowing their names and capabilities.

Maybe because I never liked KnB that much, I really appreciated how at least 3/5  team members of rival teams were given their own time in the spotlight.

A lot of sports anime tropes can be found in Slam Dunk. It is really a precursor to most modern sports animes. (this makes me want to watch Captain Tsubasa and Knockout someday too)

The Girls

The girls are also vital to the success of the story. Haruko, Sakuragi’s love interest, is a real basketball nut and a kind person at heart. Even her own set of friends soften up as the series goes along. Ayako, the team manager is intelligent, vocal and strong willed. A rival player’s girlfriend was also helpful to the story in her own way. Reporter Aida is an expert and has a real eye for talent. All in all, the ladies shine in this series. They are not fanservicey and they command a lot of respect. Many of the other girls are portrayed as rabid fangirls, but hey who could blame them tbh.

Technical Stuff

Another thing is that the games are structured the same as USA College ball.  This means that each game last for 2 halves each lasting 20 mins each. Total play time is 40 mins. NBA divides the game into 4 quarters, each 12 mins long for a total of 48 hrs. -->Kuroko no Basket follows the NBA rules.

This means Slam Dunk characters play non-stop for 20 minutes, then go for a 15-min (or 20 min, im not sure) halftime break, then play non-stop again for another 20 minutes. This doesn’t include the times when the watch stops due to a shot, referee calls, time outs and overtime. This kind of basketball is generally more exhausting  and requires more stamina and endurance.

This is something I had to keep in mind while watching. This is not the basketball that I am used to seeing on TV. The players are stretched extra thin in a different way.

Comedy

This show is funny as heck. Sakuragi is comedic relief all by himself. His best friends who are part of his delinquent gang also provide pure comedy. Even more so that all of them love to come up with nicknames with different people. Slapstick comedy is used excellently. The joke timings are down to a pat. Rukawa is different entity by himself. He provides smartass quips that make you guffaw in no time. Rival characters also have their funny moments too esp with snapbacks that will catch you off guard all the time. 

Hopes

I really don’t remember much about Sendoh Akira because i didn’t watch the first practice match properly. I look forward to seeing their team play once more. Also I hope to find an existent Slam Dunk Fandom somewhere. On tumblr, it’s pretty dead but i’ve read good fics on AO3 recently. 

Actually at this point in the story, Sakuragi will get better so I look forward to watching that, and reading the manga and any more materials I can find.

I still don’t like Sakuragi. I don;t know if i’ll ever do. There is fondness as I say this though.

[turnsbouts]

AA4 had the right idea about Phoenix actually, I've played as him for long enough and now I just want to watch him be a weirdo and also a dad as a supporting character

[maythray]

so like a while back i made a bunch of satirical shrimp tsp designs cause i love shrimp breeding but um. then everything spiraled from there. so anyways welcome the stanley parable shrimper (employee #432)

[hecksupremechips]

It’s so funny cuz before people started jumping on the 2020 atla bandwagon like not a single soul was out here thinking of zuko x sokka it was always that zutara shit and then all of a sudden people liked the gay ass zuko shit and me, who never considered this romance ever, was just like. Yeah okay cool :)

[allgremlinart]

watching a Gotham Knights playthrough cus im bored and oh nooo “took three years to convince Alfred to take a vacation and when he finally does Bruce ends up dead” ohg NOOO thats so mean :(

[egoarc4de]

oh the absolute whiplash i got going to the quarry tag .

[marklikely]

listening to the meth bay arc again and bill close was literally so funny. 'i didnt think willy would send my son to jail' says man who voted for the 'willy bringing jail-level charges against my son' plan

[askjerrydandridge]

(( I am so proud of Johnny right now, hate all the fucking bullshit people are putting out there supporting Amber. She can stick her statement right up her ass ))

[killmebythebeach]

Just finished today's jrwi and WHATS THIS?! ******* ******** WITH A STEEL CHAIR?!?!

[i-just-want-to-destroy]

stories that are set in one room from the beginning to the end and its just people talking and arguing the whole time >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[bluffing-badge]

[lokilickedme]

I’ve been thinking about this for the last three days and it’s really bothering me how women are guilted, pressured, and shamed into spending outrageous amounts of money to stay young looking or “reverse aging” when aging is literally what we’re meant to do as living things.  I don’t mean dropping twenty bucks for a decent moisturizer to keep your skin hydrated and healthy - everybody should do that, it’s good for you and your skin needs it no matter your age, especially if you live in a dry climate like I do.  I’m talking about cosmetics companies aggressively preying on our fear of getting (and looking) older.  A completely natural process, turned into something horrifying and grotesque by a group of people who just want to sell you something.

(continued under the cut for length and pictures)

Little and I were walking through the mall on Friday afternoon, headed for Hot Topic where he was hoping to get a collectible toy from his current favorite franchise before they sold out.  As we passed a big, brightly lit, completely mirror-enshrouded boutique with a fancy name in shiny silver script, a ridiculously young, ridiculously handsome, ridiculously perfect-skinned man literally stepped in front of us and forced us to stop.  He pushed a sample packet into my hand and gripped my shoulder to turn us toward the boutique, and as we sidestepped to avoid him he had us skillfully diverted into his place of employment within two steps.  “You’re so beautiful Miss, just lovely, can I ask what you use on your skin?”

I’ve been accosted outside this boutique before, so I knew what was coming.  Long spiel, gushing praise and flattery, and then The Big Sell.  But I always walk away with a nice sample of a very expensive product that’s nothing special but kinda nice, so I tolerate the long script if I have the time.

But this guy...he was something.

He kept telling me how beautiful I was, but that I “could look better. Don’t you want to look better?”

I told him no, not particularly.  This shocked him, I could tell...and from that moment the game was on.

He asked how old I am, looking down at Little, who is 10 but very small for his age - people generally mistake him for a six year old, so this guy likely thought I was younger than I am based on my kid (I had him when I was in my 40′s, which always throws people for a loop) and it was obvious his assumption was that I was maybe in my 30′s and looking a little on the haggard side.  I smiled at him, because this is where I always get them.  “I’m definitely old enough to be your mother and possibly old enough to be your grandmother.”

He looks at me incredulously, shaking his head, glancing down at Little again like he must have misjudged his age.  “How old?”

“How old do you think?”

He looks a tiny bit scared, like he knows he’s walked into a trap.  I’m hard to guess, nobody ever gets it right.  I’m short and small and don’t act my age and he’s regretting stopping me now, I can tell.

After several long uncomfortable seconds I tell him I’m 54, and he looks taken aback for a second, and I can see him shuffling his script cards in his head.  “You look lovely, incredible, so beautiful” he gushes.  And then he goes in for the kill.  “But you have signs of aging, do you see them when you look in the mirror?”

Of course I have signs of aging, I just told you I’m 54.  He gestures toward the giant mirror to our left.  I smile at him and shake my head.  “I’m fine with aging, it doesn’t bother me.  It happens, why worry about it?”

He gives me a smug look, obviously thinking he’s got me now, and says “Yes, but don’t you want to look better for your husband?”

You mean my husband who is 30 lbs overweight, bald, and farts in front of me?  I actually start laughing and say “Nope.”

“That’s not good,” he says.

“It is what it is,” I say back.  Judgemental fucker, making calls on my life?  You wanna meet my husband?  I can arrange that.

I let him go through his presentation, because I’m here to teach him a lesson now.  Through the entire conversation, which is mostly one-sided, I repeat over and over that I’m happy with the way I look, that I don’t feel the need to “look better” for someone else, that I’m comfortable in my own skin and don’t subscribe to any beauty ideals presented to me by the media and cosmetics companies like the one he’s pushing.  He’s aggressive and starts touching my face, telling me to look in the wall-sized mirror we’re standing in front of.  “You see these lines?  You see this redness, this sagging?”  I nod and smile as he’s pointing out all the things about my face and skin that prove I’m a human being living a life full of joy, sadness, happiness, stress.  The physical proof that I’m alive.  He’s going on about them as if they’re bad things.  I just keep smiling and shaking my head, and he gets frustrated because I’m not agreeing that I should be fighting this natural process with his expensive creams and serums.

I eventually have to ask him to cut to the chase because the store Little wants to go to will be closing soon.  I outright ask him the price of the stuff he’s been dabbing on my face through the duration of the upsell.  I already know - I’ve been handed the brochure before - but I want to see his face when he says it.

$1200.  Another $400 for the moisturizer that goes with it, and $250 for some other add-on that’s “essential to the regimen”.  To convince me he asks how much I spend on the product I currently use.

With a smile I tell him I spend $12 for a high-concentration no-name vitamin C serum from a wholesaler.  He’s speechless for a few seconds, and I can see him searching my face for some way to disparage it.  He obviously can’t, so he pulls out his calculator and starts hitting numbers.  “It’s tiny, right?  How many bottles do you buy per month of it?”

“One bottle lasts me 6 months.  So I buy two a year.”

He acts like he doesn’t believe me, then launches right back into his high pressure presentation because the numbers obviously aren’t on his side.  You should spend this on yourself, he says.  You’re a good mother, you do everything for everyone else - he points at my child, who is bored to tears at this point - you deserve to look better, you need to be doing this for yourself.  And then he starts negotiating, asking me how much I think I should spend to look good.

“$12 twice a year.  Works for me, don’t fix what isn’t broken and $1200 is insane.  The car I drove here in cost less than that.”

“Isn’t it worth it though?  Don’t you want to look better?”

“Why?  Didn’t you say when I walked in here that I look beautiful?”

“Yes and you do but you could look better!”

“Why do I need to??  I’m 54, I’m supposed to look like this!”

And around and around we went, until finally he threw his hands up and made an exasperated noise that made Little laugh.  “What can I do??” he asked in frustration.

“Nothing at all.  All this - “  I made a circular motion around my face -  “I earned it.  It’s me.  It took me a long time to get to this and I’m happy with it.”

“How about if I do this - “  He starts to write a price on a piece of paper.  I don’t bother to look at it.  Because I wasn’t lying - I’m at a point in my life where I’m genuinely happy with the way I look, and no $1200 product is going to give me anything more than I’ve already got.  I’m a human being.  I’m alive.  I laugh and I cry and I frown and I smile.  Life leaves wrinkles.  Who the hell gets mad about that?  The only way to stop aging is to freaking die, and I’m not into that.

“Thanks for the sample” I say, waving the little packet in front of his face.

And then we left, Little and I.

I’ve been sort of stewing over this ever since.  This man who couldn’t have possibly been a day over 25 years old with the smooth perfect skin of a young person who hasn’t experienced life yet, shamelessly shaming women into believing they should look better when there’s literally nothing wrong with the way they look.  Telling them that aging is gross, that the natural process of getting older is shameful and they should throw crazy amounts of money at it to “fix” it, that they should be willing to do anything and spend anything to make themselves look better for someone else.

I say bullshit.

This is the face he was trying to convince me needs to be “fixed”:

I have smile lines, laugh lines, frown lines, sun damage, crow’s feet, wrinkles, sagging, a fairly deep scowl crease, the works...because I’m 54 years old, and to tell me I should be trying to look 30 years younger is absurd.  Should I not laugh, not cry, not enjoy the sunshine and my kids’ jokes?  I have freckles in the summer and am pale in the winter, my skin does what it’s meant to do, and just like the rest of me, it’s getting older.  Yeah I could be better about using sunscreen and I often forget to wash the day’s grime off before I fall asleep on the couch at night, but I’m happy and if that angers the people hawking “youth in a bottle” products, they can just die mad about it.

[therobogoose]

Lickilicky uncovers the meaning of the phrase "regrettable decision"

[rustygateofme]

Ok, just finished the show and watched the movie right after. Freaking out about MORE things i missed upon my first three times of watching the movie. If you have time, try it for yourself, it’s a definitely a different experience! Also watching the show after the movie on Netflix can also boost up our chances)

Probably will do a master post of all of my favorite callbacks and character details tomorrow because WOW

Also both movie and show are in the trending collection!!!!!

[bblackamethystt]

https://mini-wrants.tumblr.com/post/685951993067552768/you-know-that-johnny-was-abused-too-does-that

If you can look at this, if you can read this, all which has proven to be real evidence, and still say you are HAPPY for Depp... you can't say you will stand with Melissa and with anyone who is being called a liar. Why? 12 out of 14 things Amber said were proven to be true, only 2 THINGS were "lies"...

If Marilyn Manson, if Blake Jenner sue Evan Rachel Wood and Melissa Benoist, they will also be called liars, maybe some of their testimonies will be called lies, and what will you do when that happens? Will you also turn your back on them? Will you be HAPPY that their abusers won the cases? Will you be happy that they lose their right to speak about what they suffered in search to share with other victims and encourage them to speak up?

You this this will give male victims the courage to speak up? This entire trial is only giving abusers the power to keep anusing their victims, you have a lot of abusers in the USA (pro ably the world) saying they are being treated like Johnny Depp. This doesn't give male victims courage, it only gives them the same fear female victims are suffering right now because THEY CAN ALSO BE CALLED LIARS, their abusers NOW HAVE THE POWER TO CALL THEM LIARS.

If you are happy Depp won, your support on Melissa, Meghan and Evan Rachel means nothing.

Anon this was a whole bunch of BS from start to finish. It's cute that you assume that because JD won that I would blindly support Jenner or Manson if they went to court. Second of all, I wish y'all would stop referring to the UK trial like it's the end all be all. Amber lied, point blank period. Her testimonies from the UK trial and the Virginia trial are different, which is why she is being looked at for perjury in possibly three countries (that includes Australia the continent). Plus, she brought in zero evidence of those 14 claims to court this time around. The injuries she said she sustained for those supposed attacks from JD are A) edited and B) simply don't add up to the severity of the attacks that she's stated. She had "mountains of evidence" to provide and ended up putting her foot in her mouth. I could go on and on about this like... The jury was present for HOURS of video and audio footage and looked at pictures in order to determine that JD was defamed. It also showed that he was abused rather than AH.

So in reiteration, it's naïve of you to assume that I would support Jenner and Manson because I supported Johnny. That's a herd mentality that I don't have, thank you very much. I have not even looked at Wood's v Manson's case in order to even get background on it, anon. C'mon buddy. This is defamation suit between JD and AH is good for male victims of abuse like I said in my previous post. I still support women like Melissa and Megan (I'm assuming you mean Stallion Megan over Markle Meghan, but it applies either way). Those two things can exist at the same time.

It's a tenacious process but I want you to truly take the time to go through the UK and Virginia trials and see for yourself the difference between the quality of the cases and to piece the two together and also find differences between the two.

[peterlorrefanpage]

“I guess I always get the bad ones.”

"Oh, but I assure you, Lottie, I'm very good."

Peter Lorre and Joan Lorring in The Verdict (1946). Watch it here.