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wondereads · 8 months

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Review of The Absinthe Underground by Jamie Pacton

Summary

Sybil and Esme are best friends, roommates, and maybe a little bit more. They are also poster thieves, though Esme only reluctantly plays lookout. One night, they are caught by Maeve, the owner of the Absinthe Underground, the premier nightclub in the 1920s-inspired city of Severon, and she offers them a deal; the funds to do anything they want with their lives in exchange for stealing the jewels of the Moonshadow Queen, Mab. And who could resist such an offer?

Plot 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Unfortunately, the plot of this book, while it boasts an intriguing presence and beautiful setting, is very rushed and never really takes the time to build tension. Throughout the book, Sybil and Esme must steal three items to then help them steal Mab's jewels. There's a lot of potential for each of these heists to be a clever, hair-raising scenes, but each of them lasts maybe five pages each. While Sybil is portrayed as a daredevil poster thief, she definitely doesn't have the skill set for these high security heists, and Esme absolutely doesn't. They get through these situations far too easily, and it causes the tension to fall flat.

The worlds of Severon and Fae are very aesthetically pleasing, and there's nothing really major excluded in terms of worldbuilding. However, there are some questions I just generally wish were answered, like some things concerning Sybil's family and what the actual power of the jewels is; if there is anything.

Characters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The characters are definitely the saving grace of this story. Esme and Sybil have greatly distinctive personalities and pretty decent development. Esme in particular learns to stand up for herself, and their relationship, even just platonically, grows a lot. Despite the lack of plot tension, there is good romantic tension, and the romance is very cute. It was probably the most enjoyable part of the book for me.

There is also a good side romance and some good side characters, but I will say that there are some side characters that really aren't well developed. Their personalities are flat, and their motivations seem to be curated just for the main characters to have aid in their quest.

Writing Style 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I'd say the writing for this book is pretty average for a YA novel. The descriptions of Severon really hit that 1920s, art noveau aesthetic, and, like I mentioned, there are quite a few scenes with some good romantic tension. Unfortunately, there is a general issue with telling instead of showing, especially concerning the main characters' thought process. There are many times when the characters explicitly explain why they think something or their reasoning for doing something instead of trusting the reader to draw their own conclusions.

Also, as I discussed in the plot section, the pacing is way too fast in this book. I don't often say this about a book, but it needs an extra 100 pages or so. The story would benefit so much from being taken more slowly, getting more spread out, especially the individual heists.

Overall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed by this book. It has a great premise, the aesthetics really come through, and it's got a cute sapphic romance. The execution falls short with just the lack of space for the story. Things happen far too quickly when there are many scenes that really need space to breathe. It affects the tension and doesn't give much room for the side characters to show their personalities. The writing tends to tell instead of show, which may contribute to the rushed nature of this book. This book could have been quite good, but it ends up being somewhat mediocre.

The Author

Jamie Pacton: American, also wrote The Vermilion Emporium and The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly

The Reviewer

Hi, I'm Rose, this is my blog, Wondereads, and I review, discuss, and recommend books! You can check out my pinned post for more info :)

#books #reviews #the absinthe underground #jamie pacton #ya #fantasy #art nouveau #fairies #fae #heist #1920s #speakeasy #sapphic #wlw #lesbian #friends to lovers #lgbt #and they were roommates

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gorgeousgalatea · 7 months

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You know what I'm trying to finally write again and anywhere is a good place to start so here are some bite sized reviews of my bite sized YA binge (including two other books I read a few weeks earlier):

The Narrow, by Kate Alice Marshall: This was a book I borrowed after skimming it with a strong impression I would enjoy it, and thankfully I was right! The main character is the daughter of two well off but neglectful parents who spend way more time on her deeply troubled brother, to the point where she doesn't find out they forgot to pay for her final year at boarding school until she's already arrived. Fortunately the wealthy parent of a sickly student is willing to cover her tuition, as long as she rooms with and takes care of that student for the year. Pity she's pretty sure she's the reason that student is sick. Oh, and their dorm room is haunted as hell.

The Narrows deals a lot with the subject of abuse--both romantic and familial--while couching it in an atmospheric ghost story. I liked the tone and the characters, and one thing I really enjoyed is that it used its first person narrative to paint a very familiar romantic fiction picture of the main character having no one else to relate to or rely on other than their new love interest who is ~the only one who understands them~, and deliberately made that the product of her own insecurities. The ghost and possession element also explored sense of self and identity in a way that pinged pretty hard with my ozqrow days. Bittersweet ending, but would recommend for anyone into sapphic ghost stories.

Before the Devil Knows You're Here, by Autumn Krause: Ehh this was the mediocre apple story. I loved the summary--the main character's struggling single father passes away suddenly, and before she even has time to mourn, the monster her father has been warning her about her entire life shows up on their doorstep to steal away her brother as well, so she sets out to find the monster and save her brother. I dunno, the problem could be me, that summary had me expecting Guillermo del Toro style Labyrinth--which I am now realizing someone could say "don't you just mean Pan's Labyrinth" and no, I mean the relationship with maturity and sexual awakening where the monstrous is outwardly monstrous--and that's...really not what it was at all. It was "what if Johnny Appleseed made a deal with the devil," which kudos, I have not seen before, but wasn't really into in its execution. I do appreciate a heroine with guile, though, and she does have that.

I Fed Her to the Beast and the Beast Was Me, by Jamison Shea: The premise of this one is pretty straightforward--a talented black ballet student makes a deal with a dark entity to have the opportunity to actually make it into the prestigious Parisian ballet troupe she's been chasing after her whole life, and discovers that being part of a cult with monstrous powers is actually less toxic than being a girl of color in the Parisian professional ballet scene. I really liked this one, it wasn't afraid to have its leading lady be monstrous and cruel and wrong, and it also made it clear which parts of her mindset were just the product of spending so long in a cut-throat industry that spent every moment rejecting her. The ending was a bit too neat for me, but overall the atmosphere was great. Genuinely almost anything with a title like that is probably something I'll end up enjoying lmao

What Stalks Among Us, by Sarah Hollowell: Two best friends get stuck in an evil corn maze! This wasn't my favorite, but I still enjoyed it a lot; the main character's habit of self-censoring even among friends was very resonant with me. The story hits the ground running and has good momentum on exploring the mystery of the maze and how it came to be. The nature of the maze is ultimately rooted in [womp womp] trauma, so that's a major element of the story, and unfortunately there is greater focus on the main character's trauma with her best friend supporting her, but I guess that's to be expected in a first person narrative. It still is ultimately about their friendship! Which is portrayed as valuable as is without developing into anything else.

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth, by Andrew Joseph White: Ultimately the most brutal of the books but I think that was what I liked about it. The main character is a trans boy in an 1882 London where mediums are a hot commodity but the women are only prized as potential baby makers for male mediums. The main character is caught trying to escape his conservative family and inevitable impending marriage, and sent to a corrective boarding school designed to turn mentally unwell spiritually sensitive women into demure brides. This boarding school is run about the way you would expect, and most of the story is the main character realizing just how bad it is and figuring out what can be done to escape. The exactly one way he's gotten lucky is that he and his future betrothed turn out to be t4t and are really quite cute together, but the main character is an aspiring surgeon and that means the story is not afraid to get visceral. Which really elevated the tone; there's room for a sequel in the ending to this one that I wouldn't mind reading.

#I did it! I wrote the thing!#don't mind me just nattering on about stuff

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a-bucket-full-of-feels · 4 months

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Thoughts after watching BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! as a former Bandori fan

I used to be a rather active Bandori fan back in the day, actively playing Girls' Band Party (Garupa), listening to their original music and covers, and I even watched all 3 seasons of the anime. However, I eventually stopped playing the game, because I no longer felt compelled to keep up with the events, and following that I eventually lost interest in the music they've put out, both old and new. That was shortly after Morfonica was added to the game, so when MyGO!!!! was announced, I was already quite far removed from the fandom, though I did see promotional materials and briefly thought it was an interesting band concept at first. The reason I decided to give the MyGO anime a shot was because I had seen discussions mostly on Reddit on how good the anime was, and also how MyGO interestingly became extremely popular in China, which is fascinating because usually newer bands or members would never reach the same level of popularity as the OGs (take the Love Live franchise and AKB group for example). And after watching the anime, I could totally understand why it's so highly raved about.

Having read several band and event stories in Garupa (I played on the JP server so the only way to understand the stories was to rely on dedicated fan translations), I have seen how the Bandori writing team is able to craft great character development arcs and drama through the in-game stories, and these band and event stories are integral parts to each character's development, since a 13-episode anime can't possibly do justice to their massive cast. In contrast, the anime plots I have always found to be mediocre at best, mostly focusing on light drama and finding ways to showcase performances (though I remember the season with RAS as one of the main bands did flesh out the drama in RAS' backstory pretty well). In a sense, the anime was more of a companion piece to the game stories. So when I watched the MyGO anime, I was surprised at how well written the anime was, sufficient to be a standalone piece, and how gritty and realistic the drama was.

The first 2 episodes kind of started off slow at first, setting up the premise for the formation of the band - the breakup of a previous band which wasn't a completely original idea, given that Saaya also had a similar backstory in the Popipa anime. But what made this plot point shine in MyGO is how tangible it made the trauma of CRYCHIC's breakup feel through the lens of different characters. Episode 3 was an excellent demonstration of this storytelling through the lens of Tomori, from how she used to be an awkward kid who was detached from her emotions, till Sakiko brought the band together which gave her something to love, and then abruptly taking it away from her by disbanding CRYCHIC. Likewise, we're given equal opportunities to step into the emotional turmoil of the different characters, like how Taki struggles with her inferiority complex when she faces the task of composing music for the band (which Sakiko used to handle); or how Anon struggles with running away from challenges that are too daunting for her; or how Raana has been drifting around, unable to find a band or place she wants to stay put in; and then there's Soyo.

Holy shit, I know I'm not the first person to recognise it but Soyo's arc really was something else and I really loved how they executed it. She seemed to be a nice, friendly girl at first (as compared to Taki's brash attitude to the "outsider" Anon, owing to her over-protectiveness towards Tomori), but here and there little hints are dropped, like how she repeatedly approaches Mutsumi about joining the new band and contacting Sakiko, to the scenes where she constantly looks at her old CRYCHIC photos. And then she snaps at the end of episode 7 and we find out her true intentions - she wants to re-form CRYCHIC all over again and is willing to abandon the "new" members Anon and Raana so that the original members will be together again. Beneath that well-mannered mask of hers is a possessive, manipulative girl, and also a desperate and lonely girl who cannot let go of her memories of CRYCHIC - that scene when she literally goes onto her knees to beg Sakiko felt so raw, I was impressed that Bandori was willing to write such a morally complex character for their series, I literally thought she was just the rich girl version of Imai Lisa at first. And what's interesting is at the end, Soyo doesn't completely "get over" this - she still holds on to the trauma and memories from CRYCHIC'S breakup, but still moves on with her activities in MyGO.

And speaking of morally questionable girls, I also want to talk about arguably the antagonist of the series, the one who caused all the trauma, Sakiko. In the final episode, we're given a plausible explanation to why Sakiko abruptly quit the band and joined Haneoka High instead of staying in rich girl's Tsukinomori - due to her family's sudden financial downturn and her father turning to alocholism to cope (that would explain the latter, but it may not be the only reason for the former). And similar to Soyo's arc, there were also little hints dropped like how in the present day she is always seen outside her former home rather than indoors, and how she only plays Haneoka's music room piano instead of her own, and Nyamu's comment about coming to an expensive place which could be beyond her budget. Though, it seems like the full development of Sakiko's story would occur in the Ave Mujica anime, but nonetheless, I really appreciated this touch of realism in Sakiko's character - because in "idol" series and Bandori included, most of the time the character drama is developed around less heavy topics, like maybe their lack of confidence or failing at something once and not wanting to try it again for fear of failure. It seems like the Ave Mujica anime will be even grittier so I'm quite interested in how it will play out.

In terms of things I think could have been improved, definitely one thing is that they could have developed Raana's story a bit more. Given that she's the granddaughter of the old lady who ran SPACE in S1 before it closed, it would've been interesting to learn about her relationship with her grandmother and why she clings on so dearly to her old guitar, and why she spent all this time wandering around by herself without forming a band despite her technical prowess. Though she does serve her purpose to lighten the mood in an otherwise heavy show, so perhaps her character will shine more in the Garupa stories.

Overall, I really enjoyed It's MyGO!!!! and can see why it fared excellently as a standalone anime, while also working as a piece part of the larger Bandori universe (especially with all the cameos and references). Will I play Garupa again just for them? No, it's too much time commitment to restart Garupa at this point. But will I listen to their music? Hell yeah I will - I really like their style of music, which to me is reminiscent of artists/bands like Atarayo and Minami, so I'll definitely follow the music they release. (IMO, they're the aesthetic I was hoping Afterglow was supposed to have but somehow I never really got into their original songs that much...)

#show reviews #lots of spoilers btw

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valhala90 · 1 year

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Shall we date? Love Tangle, Dean's story review

Dean is a brave cop, and his story didn't look appealing at first glance, while Wylder seemed more compelling since I dig the artist-eccentric vibe they were going for in the common route. My expectations tanked, and both stories are meh at best.

Let's get straight into Dean's route because I have a lot to say.

I gave Dean's route 3 out of 5 stars because I liked some parts, and I guess I liked the possibility of what it could have been rather than the mediocre execution. Dean's survivor's guilt was not handled well, and that's my biggest issue. The author(s) addresses parts of it in the last two chapters, which totally fucks the consistency of the story. Maybe you never watched Lethal Weapon, but in that movie, you have a character named Martin Riggs (played by Mel Gibson). I won't get into the history of the character and will just address the first movie where he's introduced as a depressed cop driven by the grief and pain of losing his wife in a car accident, so he regularly puts himself and others in danger, hoping that he will die or that someone will kill him. This total disregard for his own life makes him completely fearless, turning him into a "lethal weapon." I didn't mention this just to promote a great movie, rather, Dean's story was supposed to be similar to the above-mentioned character, but they completely and utterly failed.

I understand that the writer(s) wanted to keep his history a secret in the common route, but you could tell right off the bat when watching Riggs that something was wrong with him, while with Dean, you don't get that impression since most of his statements and dialogues are fine.

When I read it for the first time I was like, this guy is super brave and passionate about his work and wants to save people at all costs, but in the last two chapters they turned it into: he does that because he doesn't value his life.

He thinks he should have died with his family in that accident and feels guilty because he stayed home.

Couldn't you introduce that a bit earlier in HIS story? Like making him reckless when he didn't need to be? Because both times when he risked his life, MC was in serious danger. He pulled Wylder out of the fire and tried to protect him, so what the fuck? Isn't that what most police officers do in real life?

Another thing that annoyed me is that the author of the story gave Dean, a man in his prime, sentences of a 70-year-old man.

The background plot is as ridiculous as ever, with so many "lucky" coincidences. When the moment comes for Dean to tell MC about his past, it's done so unnaturally that you lose interest because the story is like a written report rather than engaging storytelling, and MC is there to take notes and try to resolve shit. I must say that the elements of this story are good, but the writing goes from mediocre to bad and cringe as fuck.

Dean's speaking again like this:

The scenes that should be the best and let me down the most are the lab scene and the hospital scene.

So the whole premise of the story is MC finding some magical bullshit plant that can cure diseases, and she's researching it for the leopard's sake and for the sake of future achievements in medicine. She's warned a few times that a big pharmaceutical company is after her findings and that they will stoop at nothing. The big culmination scene is some goons coming in at her workplace to take away her research and are called "Mafia 1 and 2" I shit you not.

Julia is all defiant and shit and quickly pieces together that the p. company has to be behind it.

No shit Sherlock.

While they aren't paying attention since they came out of a cartoon, she slams the alarm and one of the goons wants to shoot her.

Dean appears in 0.5 seconds and hits the guy who held her at gunpoint. The other one grabs Julia as a hostage and shoots Dean in the abdomen. Is this what is supposed to hint to us that he's an unhinged cop wanting to die? I think not. I see him as someone wanting to protect the girl he loves because he was in the area since he mentioned he will be patrolling around her workplace. However, Dean quickly disposes of him and shoots the guy in the shoulder. He then tries to interrogate him when Mafia 1 sets off the sprinklers in some dumbass way because of the plot and escapes, while Dean collapses due to his wound and makes the death speech but it holds no emotional weight since we know he'll survive because this ain't that kind of game.

The hospital scene was where the game made me pause and return a couple of days later. So, Dean is in the hospital, Julia is by his side and so is Wylder. After guilting MC into thinking that Dean will die if he constantly risks her life for her, Wylder also attacks Dean when he wakes up.

He says that he should think about the suffering of the people who he saved, risking his life, and I'm like:

The next idiotic moment comes when Julia and Dean are alone in his hospital room. They hug and Julia tells him how worried she was for him, and he replies if it meant saving her, he would gladly give his life. I'm like: aww dude, you really care about her, huh? MC is like: no dude, I want you alive, don't throw your life away for me.

And here is the moment that I mentioned. I get what they wanted to say but the writing doesn't support it. It comes off as if she was telling him that risking his life for civilians is throwing his life away, which is ridiculous given that he's a police officer. It's not a coping mechanism, it's just their bravery and selflessness, and kindness.

Dean states that he thinks he's atoning for the death of his family by saving people, so it feels off to me? Is it just me? Nah, it's the writing. You see, Dean's deal is, and I grasped what they wanted to say only when I read it carefully the second time, not because I missed something but because they are that incapable of getting their points across - he doesn't value his life at all and doesn't hesitate to expose himself to danger, that's why he jumps in front of a knife, gun, etc. That's a whole different matter than doing your duty as a cop, and I mentioned Riggs as an example of that. The part with Wylder needs to be rewritten, where he would clearly state that although Dean saved him, he had no intention of saving himself or something.

For example, he pushed him out of the way to safety and froze there looking at the fire because he remembered his family or something similar and stood there waiting to die, and Wylder's shouts snapped him awake or whatever. Would make much more sense, especially the thing Julia said at the hospital. And this should have been introduced earlier on in the story not at the end.

I mentioned this in some of my other reviews, both lovers need to learn something from one another and work together towards a goal of some sort, in this case, Julia helping him value his life and overcome the trauma of the past, while he helps her get the needed courage to persevere through the corrupted world and pressure around her. It could have been so wholehearted.

Everything gets patched up and resolved in a matter of seconds, without proper mental and emotional healing, since Dean is like I found you MC, and my problems are gone, leaving you with what the fuck did I just read and gave money on? (Bought premium route) Apparently, on good tropes that were ruined by shitty writing with the abundance of cringe.

#shall we date love tangle #love tangle #otome games #otome games android #otome review #otome rant #dean prince

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marinsawakening · 1 year

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Reading Round-Up June 2023

Books Read

An Unauthorized Fan Treatise by Lauren James

Described as "a serialized murder mystery novel set in a fictional fandom, formatted like a shipper's conspiracy theory", which is very accurate. It can be read in full (for free) here. I have mixed feelings on this novel. On the one hand, it's really clever in a lot of ways, I love Gottie and Rob and their parallels, and it absolutely nails the fandom atmosphere. The first half of the book feels just like reading unhinged fandom discourse, which, if you're a nosy bitch like me, is fantastic. The second half, however, plays the (murder) mystery a lot straighter, and that's where it kind of lost me. I don't feel like the mystery is quite strong enough to work without the gimmick. I do think the novel uses its chosen framing device really well, but the ultimate mystery was such a let down for me it left a nasty aftertaste. I would still recommend this novel, though, because at the end of the day, it's a unique piece of writing with a lot of thought and effort put in. And besides, I am difficult to please when it comes to mystery novels, so others might enjoy this more than me. (PS for the best experience, make sure you know the story of the MsScribe drama.)

The Call of Cthulhu, The Curse of Yig, The Man of Stone, The Horror in the Museum, The Thing on the Doorstep, The Tree on the Hill, and The Shadow out of Time by HP Lovecraft

This month I finished Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos stories. I still hate this guy's writing and am relieved that I'm finally able to leave it behind. From this month, the ones worth reading if you're interested in Lovecraft's worldbuilding are The Thing on the Doorstep, The Shadow Out of Time, and The Call of Cthulhu. This man's writing is never not racist but I'm specifically warning for racism in The Call of Cthulhu, in particular in regards to mistreatment of voodoo, racism against Inuit people and repeated usage of the esk*mo slur, and repeated usage of the word 'mongrel' to refer to a diverse group of people of colour.

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee (Did Not Finish)

I bought this book about three years ago for my birthday but never got around to reading it. Finally decided to pick it up because I was in the mood for something lighter, and unfortunately I did not enjoy it. I read up until about halfway through the book before deciding I did not care. The premise of this book is absolutely killer (giant mechanical dragon powered by magic paint does revolution against an imperialist nation), but unfortunately the writing/execution is just not every good. The worldbuilding's pretty interesting, as is the actual dragon, but the author does not seem to have a good grasp on how to distribute information, leading to either over- or under-explaining, which ended up being the death knell of this book for me. It's incredibly difficult to care about the plot when you barely explain the rules of the magic system your plot hinges on. This, combined with a small slew of other minor problems (the prose is mediocre, the pacing a little-less-than-mediocre, and I find a few of the narrative decisions this book makes to be annoying/baffling) made me frustrated while reading more often than not, and unlike what my Lovecraft adventures would have you believe, I am not a completionist and I do not make a habit of reading through books I don't like.

The Murderbot Diaries: All System Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Currently listening through Network Effect. Picked this series up in a bundle of audiobooks sold for charity basically on a whim because it was an insanely good deal (less than 20 euros for the whole series + a lot of other books). I'd vaguely heard of the series but went in pretty much blind. Delighted to announce that it's great and I'm enjoying it immensely. Murderbot is a fantastic protagonist/narrator, and tbh it's hard carrying the series, because while the rest the narrative (worldbuilding, other characters, prose, etc) isn't bad, I feel like thusfar the only other stand-out elements are ART's character and maybe the portrayal of the Company. But Murderbot is just such a compelling character it's impossible not to be charmed by these books. They're funny as hell too. Favourite book so far is Artificial Condition.

Shows Watched

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

Finished season one, on episode two of season two. Having an absolute blast watching this show; I really enjoy most of the characters and I'm interested to see where all that political intrigue goes. However, I do think that the school setting works against the show (it feels unnecessary most of the time and is boring compared to alternative options imo) and I feel like the transition between season one and two was pretty poor. It also has intermittent pacing issues. In addition, this is my first ever Gundam show and though I'd heard this was accessible to newcomers, and that's probably true bc I'm following along fine, I really do feel like I'm working with half the information most of the time. How exactly Gundams work is very underexplained in the show. I assume this is background knowledge long-term viewers are expected to have, but maybe it's a flaw in the worldbuilding, I can't say. At the end of the day though, most of the issues I have with this show are nitpicks and don't affect my enjoyment.

Games Played

The Great Artists

A game with minimal gameplay elements, in which you follow a group of phantom thieves and a detective right before and after a painting gets stolen. You can jump back and forth through time, allowing you to follow different people who are doing things simultaneously, which is the only interactive element. It's cute and interesting, plus I love the art, but I found the lack of interactive elements a little boring. You can get it here on itch.io.

#my posts #reading round-up #writing wise

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zel-shadedreviews · 4 days

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People love to say on how It’s one of DreamWorks’ most overlooked films, yet I see the opposite where after many years, it’s receiving one of the largest cult followings. This film received quite the high praise upon release, but at the cost of achieving a bad opening of box office. Not only that, but the film was also being compared to another film of the same premise, The Ten Commandments, known as a cinematic epic where many argue that the animated version was its mediocre clone.

Another criticism this film received was how it’s a straightforward and preachy adaptation of the Bible. Well, say what you want, but I’d be that guy and congratulate this movie as my favourite of the company.

If you don’t know the story of Moses; set in Ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh is concerned that the Hebrew slaves will rebel so he has the population decreased by getting rid of the newborn boys. A mother sends her baby boy in a basket across the River Nile where he’s found and adopted by the queen, who names him Moses. Throughout the years, Moses lives in the Pharaoh’s palace and spends time with his brother, Rameses, who is the heir to the throne. However, Moses finds a horrible truth about his true heritage and finally runs away from a nasty accident, before accepting who he is and follows his true destiny.

With the story said, it followed the story of Moses, while omitting some characters from the original story such as Moses’ son and Ramses’ wife, but didn’t fall from being a serious adaptation of the Bible story. Since that this counts as a family film, I am talking about some forced comedic moments, which had a jarring tonal shift within the dark imagery and friendlier moments. This wasn’t a huge problem to have with the intentions of the makers, since these moments were delivered to echo the main character’s development.

To repeat my way of the animation telling the story, we’re given dedicated screen-time towards the slow brutality of the slaves, the upbeat nature of the desert village and the majestic appearance of Moses’ important figure. The way how they managed these frames presented pure effort from the artists, adding life to the priest’s magic and a haunting story shown within the style of hieroglyphics. They also experimented in computer animation by the way they managed to execute the fantastic display and size of the separating ocean.

One special technique was how they took advantage of the facial expressions of the characters, showing what they’re personally feeling throughout the movie’s downfalls. One scene that grabbed me featured Ramses reacting towards Moses’ disapproval of his ways, transitioning from a shift of anger, bitter sadness and rough betrayal.

The characters I really liked and they served the story well; Moses started off as a wise-cracking mischievous young man at first, but this made way for his development with the traumatising struggle to see the truth about himself and then faced with the largest choice of going against the people he once loved. He also grows to be a sympathetic character near the end, where the role of announcing the Plagues, especially the last one, takes a serious toll on him and dissolves him into tears of regret. I felt that they would have glossed over his feelings to the aftermath but they never dreamed of it, as with the position of the announcer, was a person with a role that he couldn’t like. Val Kilmer captured the development, not making him sound like a typical sitcom main and sharing a great amount of passion from the serious scenes.

Rameses is a perfect villain presented just right where we see his anger from his father’s harsh words and his decrease into villainy, repeating the same insult to maintain his position as the new Pharaoh. Fuelled by the raising of his heritage, he chose to go down the path of tyranny, seeing all beneath as mere cogs of the machine. Despite his position, he wasn’t above family, accepting Moses back, before he had to bare witness to his new path. I’ve always loved the part where he clenches the ring he gave to Moses and we see his shift of moods with anger and sadness.

It’s a really powerful scene that I feel is overlooked. The connection and dynamic between these two was deeply intriguing as you really wouldn’t want them to be separated due to their wholesome relationship; they may have been relieved to finally reunite but once their destinies clash, you know that they couldn’t turn back.

I also really liked the side-characters as fun and likeable as they are, baring the right amount of screen-time with some having good character development. Tzipporah isn’t a typical love-interest, where she’s shown as a captured bride at first, despising Moses at first, but warms up to him once he leaves the palace and chooses to stick by his side. That part where she gets her own back by pushing Moses into a well and flicks her top in a sassy way; I can’t tell you how many times I cracked up. She was voiced by Michelle Pfeiffer, amping up the angered and concerned tones. With her was her father, voiced by Danny Glover, a fully-welcoming priest that’s over the moon to have Moses by their side.

There’s also Sandra Bullock as Moses’ biological headstrong sister, Miriam, firmly desiring to have him remember his own true heritage and even Jeff Goldblum as his brother, Aaron, who sounded distracting at first but fitted the sarcastic and exhausted type.

The Pharaoh’s not primarily shown as entirely villainous, as there’s a moment of slight humanity behind his actions, before he lets loose the words that affects his own son. Patrick Stewart’s own delivery of the infant victims presented as slaves sent shivers down my spine.

You also have Helen Mirren as Queen Tuya, a maternal queen who refuses to see Moses as any different from her own heritage. The Pharaoh’s two priests, who are so obviously voiced by comedians, Steve Martin and Martin Short, were out of place but aren’t featured ad much throughout the whole picture. You could tell that they’re mainly there as comic relief, which does throw a spanner in the works of how the comedy can work in terms of the story, but not in the way how they were presented.

The songs I remember far too well, where like the animation, gave the story a palace full of substance;

Deliver Us was one pure way to incredibly kick off the movie’s dynamic, presenting the Hebrew slaves, down on their knees and gathering far too many beatings, as the ones who chant their daily materials and wish for a way out. This was then followed with a lullaby by Moses’ mother, who was voiced by Ofra Haza, fully captivating the melody of the song. A fun fact but her voice was lent for seventeen translations of the movie.

All I Ever Wanted was a short but uplifting song, featuring Moses questioning about his own placement of whether he’s of real royalty or Hebrew heritage, before his mother would sing about his own place in their family alone. I can say the same about Through Heaven’s Eyes as another pick-me-up, but this was conveyed as a way for Moses to move on into the village and assume a new life and family of his own.

I would count as Playing with the Big Boys as a villain-styled song as all we were given are two priests who list down all of their Gods to outmatch Moses. I wasn’t the biggest fan of their presence or their voice-actors, but they gave us a great song number.

Personally, I would count the Plagues as one, where they used the vocal talent of Ralph Fiennes to attempt control of his position, while ignoring the constant punishments of the titular dilemmas. The way how his voice combines with the hero’s, portrayed by Amick Byram, and their faces presented in opposite colours of the warm red and cold blue perfectly belong in this montage of God’s own way of showing his warnings.

Not only that, but the music was beyond beautiful, where even Ofra provided her vocalisations during the moment where Moses leaves his family behind. Every piece of the track fits the movie with an upbeat race across the temples, the transitions towards serious moments, the main theme of the movie and the overall music of God’s presence.

Now, let’s talk about the big guy himself, God, where you’d expect his booming voice to spawn from the clouds; here, he’s animated as a bush with blue flames surrounding itself. The calm tone of his voice showed how loving of a God he’s featured here, as well as a louder shift to he announces his past doings towards Moses. How he explained to him about his destiny was nothing more than captivating. This portrayal of God I liked the most as they didn’t have to show him as a humanoid or an unseen sky being but instead with a simplified design of a burning bush and then expand the flames for bigger impact.

Not only that, but he’s voiced by the same actor behind Moses in order to show a connection between the figure of religion and his one person of deliverance.

I would say that the makers don’t hold back during the seriousness and story-accurate parts, which may be jarring for the faint-hearted. To this day, I do wholeheartedly appreciate how the film never kept an anchor down on these depictions, especially with the Angel of Death which they could have easily glossed over.

Every moment shared with the last and most powerful Plague of all represented the brutality of its deliverance, from the swirling appearance to every door, its stone-cold and regretful narration of how to avoid it and then the final exhale of Egyptian firstborns. All of this was done without any musical impact whatsoever, only to follow with a great cry across Egypt from the grieving parents.

I firmly disbelieve that a movie adapted from the Bible can only appeal to people that are religious. I find that statement to be false as someone who isn’t religious at all, I find this to a movie that I’ve watched many times and will so gladly view all over again.

Final Rating: A

10/10

#zelshadedreviews #dreamworks marathon #dreamworks animation #prince of egypt #prince of egypt review

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dorothydalmati1 · 1 year

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Obscure Animation Subject #18: The Chicken Squad

Originally posted on Twitter on January 18, 2023.

Loosely based on the book of the same name by Doreen Cronin, the show is developed by Tom Rogers. It premiered on Disney Junior on May 14, 2021, and 29 half-hours have aired, though its rumored to be cancelled.

The latest episode aired on April 22, 2022, and follows the adventures of Coop, Little Boo and Sweetie, three chicken siblings with their mentor Tully, a retired rescue dog who has heterochromia. The series is a problem solving show with critical thinking and teamwork.

That sounds innocent at first, but looking deeper into it there’s actually a lot more, and its not good I will tell yea. Every character in this show are stereotypical assholes! The main protagonists we follow, the chicks, we got a nerd, a strong Mary Sue and an egotist!

Their mentor, Tully, is a filler character whose wasted potential all around. She could’ve been great representation of a retired rescue dog, especially due to her unique condition, heterochromia iridium (two different colored eyes), but the show did absolutely NOTHING to her!

We also have other characters like Frazz, Dr. Dirt, Dinah and Lt. Scruffy, but their nothing but plot devices, with some of them having stereotypical traits. Also, except the Blue Booted Baddie, the show can’t decide on making villains since the show has them redeemed by the end.

The pacing is awful with scenes lasting way too long (surprising for an 11-minute show), or too short and can’t gasp you attention. The "humor" is horrid for its target audience, just mostly gross or dumb jokes. Some of the jokes are also unsuitable for a preschool show.

I haven’t read the book, but I’ve also heard that its unfaithful to it, with this show being a lot different from it. The show also has an identity crisis because it doesn’t know what it wants to appeal its audience to. Sometimes it gets mature, but sometimes really childish.

Most episodes follow the same formula, with the cliche "the group has a problem, they do it the wrong way, but they do it right the 2nd time" story. As a result, many episodes range from mediocre and bland to just mean-spirited and atrocious. No wonder why its rumored cancelled.

But that’s not all! At times there are bad morals like in the worst episode Honey Bee Boogie Woogie, where it teaches kids that going around bees is fine, but in reality its very dangerous as bees can sting you. The tone is also very childish and treats the audience like idiots.

And now the animation, its awful and terribly rendered. It looks dated for 2021 standards and is even by the same animation service as Kamp Koral. The show has good qualities like passable voice-acting and an interesting premise, but its not gonna save the show at all!

I recommend to watch it if you want to see how unexpectedly bad a preschool show could be. The first season ended on a random episode and it may not get its second season anytime soon. Good riddance, wait most of the crew moved on to a Star Wars preschool show oh god!

(NOTE FROM COMMENTER JusJarBro: The original book’s author, Doreen Cronin served as a consultant on the show, and did mention about Andrew Beaty, the author of Ada Twist, Scientist! (which got adapted to a Netflix series and which she executive produced) where she said: “The book and animation worlds diverge a bit. But the heart is the same.” While yes original creators can have involvement, it doesn’t automatically mean its good. I haven’t seen Ada Twist but from looking at some clips I thought was cute and harmless unlike TCS. Bro also wants to know why TCS show ended up as is, and I said that no one probably didn’t care. I even assumed Disney themselves hating the show, and I can officially confirm that it is cancelled and no second season is planned, with the company even removing the show on their streaming service, but is still available to purchase on other digital outlets.)

#The Chicken Squad #obscure animation #disney junior

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wearethekat · 2 years

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February Book Reviews: Six Ways To Write A Love Letter by Jackson Pearce

Recommended by author Rachel Neumeier. I thought the premise was interesting to pick up. Remy Young's music career crashed years ago when his label dropped him. But now he's built a new life with his former addict brother and has hopes of being a music producer. An unexpected offer to tour with mega pop star Vivi Swan could propel him into a new career-- or sink all of his dreams.

The most interesting part of this book wasn't the romance (mediocre). It was the fantastic character work Pearce does in peeling away Vivi's facade. She's a very deeply guarded character, and most of the plot is Remy figuring out who she really is under the practiced act, which is excellently executed. Pearce has also obviously done a lot of research about the music industry. This is not something I know much about, but there's so many fascinating little details. I love hearing about people's jobs in specific detail.

Great character study, mildly interesting romance. Recommended if you like romance novels.

#my book reviews #february book reviews #six ways to write a love letter #jackson pearce

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forthegothicheroine · 3 years

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terribly sorry if this is a bother, but i would Love to hear your ranking of the Into the Dark movies.

Looking at the big list, it looks like I actually missed a couple, so this is my ranking of the ones I did see. Some incidental spoilers.

19. Treehouse

Man, of all the horror movies not to kill off the main character...

18. Uncanny Annie

Working with board games for a living, there is so much more you could have done with the idea of an evil board game than just giving it a creepy little girl horror host! Make fun of Arkham Horror and its intricate and convoluted rules system, where the players die if they forgot one stupid expansion special rule! Or do a low budget adaptation of LJ Smith's Forbidden Game, that would kick ass.

17. They Come Knocking

There's just nothing really to say about this movie, which is a shame because the Black Eyed Kids are very visually creepy, and the idea of them haunting an RV where you can't easily escape them has a lot of promise. It shouldn't be trite and boring. Alas.

16. The Body

This was apparently based on a short film, and that makes sense, since after we learn the genuinely entertaining premise it kind of devolves into padding. I will give it points for a hot villain, even if he's bargain basement Johnny Lee Miller playing bargain basement Patrick Bateman.

15. Good Boy

Great premise, mediocre execution. I love the idea that a dog can also be a werewolf, and I love taking the fact that dogs react when their owners are anxious to a deadly conclusion, but the movie just sort of petered out instead of going somewhere.

14. All That We Destroy

This should probably be higher up since it's very well made, but I hate the main characters. True, I am supposed to hate the main characters. Still, if I'm supposed to hate the main characters and I do hate the main characters, is that good or bad?

13. Down

I was conflicted about where to put this on the list since I love the first half and hate the latter half. Turning a romantic comedy premise into a bottle episode thriller is done really well, with the tension rising as we see the truth behind these characters past their sexual chemistry, but then it becomes a psycho chase movie, and just a meh one at that. Maybe just watch it until the reveal.

12. Midnight Kiss

This is just kind of a basic slasher (or a giallo? Maybe that's a better word for it, what with the black gloves and the fact that the killer has an actual motive), but I've rethought it upon reading reviews pointing out how cool it is to have a shlocky genre movie about gay people. They don't get killed because they're gay, the bad guy isn't a bad guy because he's gay, but the gay characters and setting are still vital to the plot, and that is indeed pretty cool. And even before considering these things, it's fun with a stylish bad guy costume.

11. A Nasty Piece of Work

This one is basically a worse version of the movie Cheap Thrills, but it has Julian Sands and is arguably less of a bummer, so that's not nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if evil rich people forcing their workers to perform increasingly fucked up things for monetary prizes becomes its own whole genre.

10. Pooka

This one is has actual ambition, artistry and a very creepy monster design, but I don't like movies that tell you two thirds of the way through that it was all a dying dream and didn't really matter. I don't even like Mullholland Drive.

9. Flesh & Blood

This one should probably be lower down since it's not breaking any new ground and you can instantly see where it's going, but I have a special appreciation for it because in my opinion, it handled its plot much better than critically acclaimed Hannibal handled the very similar Abigail Hobbes plotline. Flesh & Blood understands that a girl rebelling against her emotionally incestuous serial killer father figure is her goddamn story, not something to make some other man sad.

8. Pure

Very genuinely creepy! Even creepier knowing it's only barely an exaggeration of actual father-daughter purity pledges! But I actually think it might have worked better without the supernatural angle; all the most disturbing and striking moments were the mundane ones.

7. Crawlers

Am I the only one who likes this movie? It has bad reviews on letterboxd but I thought it was fun! I like the drug-dealing survivalist heroine, I find her narration very entertaining, and I was satisfied with the concluding 'spot the imposter' test with the shapechanging aliens. They could have done more with the pub crawl premise, though (I think the movie Grabbers is supposed to do that better.)

6. School Spirit

As soon as I saw that this was a slasher movie pastiche of The Breakfast Club I was fully on board. (The kids are arguably more sympathetic than their Breakfast Club counterparts!) The villain reveal gets a little silly, but I appreciate the Psycho reference, and the final girl's speech to the killer is absolutely iconic.

5. Pilgrim

The first one I saw, cheesy yet engaging enough to make me want to see all the others! I would watch a whole franchise about either the villain or the final girl. (I also want to mention that I like how Into the Dark's colorblind casting gives us a mixed race family with a black heroine, which adds some unspoken subtext to her conflict with the pilgrims.) I should request this for Yuletide one of these years.

4. New Year New You

This was a very good thriller riding on its very realistic villain; most of us don't personally know a Jason Voorhees, but plenty of us know childhood bullies and all of us know of loathesome influencers. Unfortunately, the realistic characters make the increasingly unrealistic easy kills and resolution harder to accept. Still worth watching. And it's cool that it has an all-female cast!

3. Culture Shock

I probably would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't spoiled myself for the twist, but it was still very good! It's very interesting how it turns from a gritty real-world thriller to a full on Twilight Zone episode. The way classic Americana becomes grotesque reminds me of the Fallout games, which in this case is a compliment. And it actually had something to say, which not enough horror movies do.

2. I'm Just Fucking With You

This one is the best actual horror movie, genuinely disturbing and scary. The line between petty internet trolling and cold-blooded sadism gets blurrier and blurrier. It lets you know that if you actually met the Joker you would fucking hate him.

1. Pooka Lives

This is probably not actually the best movie, but as a former reader of Slenderman blogs it warmed my heart. (You don't have to watch the first Pooka movie, though the tonal shift is artistically interesting.) It's such a funny take on the evolution of creepypasta, plus Rachel Bloom kills Will Wheaton! This is what I want from low-budget horror comedy.

#into the dark #horror movies

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smokeybrandreviews · 3 years

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Stop, It's Already Dead

I’ve been trying to watch Army of the Dead since it came out but every time i start, i end of bailing on it because it’s trash. Yeah, that’s it. This movie is trash. You can literally stop reading this review right now because that’s the verdict. Army of the Dead is shallow, inconsequential, zombie murder porn wit that trademark Zack Snyder, edgelord, spice. It’s f*cking ridiculous and i hated every minute of it. That’s it. That’s the review. Don’t watch this rancid spooge. Now, if you want to know why i hated it so much, read on. But it really is one of the worst things i have seen all year.

The Adequate

Dave Batista works magic with the material on hand. Zack Snyder isn’t know for having emotional bite or a realistic edge to any of the characters in his films but Batista was able to hone in on something and does a decent job of letting me tolerate this clusterf*ck. His Scott Ward is easily the best thing about this flick.

The carnage displayed while the opening credits rolled was almost as dope as Zombieland and i appreciated that. Literally the only time during the film where i didn’t feel like someone was standing on my sack and twisting.

Also, Hiroyuki Sanada is in this. I don’t know the name of his character and i don’t care i just genuinely enjoy Sanada’s work. He is an excellent actor and, similarly to Ken Watanabe, makes everything he’s in better, regardless of his role’s size or relevance.

The integration of Tig Notaro was kind of seamless. That sh*t was surprising because every one of her scenes was added in post. She had no interaction with any of the cast, not even in pick-ups. That’s just her, in front of a green screen, talking to herself. Of course, there are scenes where that is very apparent but the fact she was even able to replaces an entire actor wrapped month beforehand, is kind of a miracle and testament to the absurd technical skill Snyder wields as movie maker.

The Horrid

Zack Snyder. Literally everything i am about to unload, is Zack Snyder’s fault. This “film” is pure Zack Snyder. More so than the Snyder cut of Justice League. More so than BvS. Even more than f*cking Sucker Punch. Netflix gave this man a bunch of money and told he to go “create” and, to his credit, Snyder did just that. Unfortunately, he created hot dumpster water topped with soggy diarrhea.

Seriously, everything i have a problem with, has Zack Snyder’s name on it. He was the director, the writer, the screenplay writer, AND the f*cking cinematographer. What the f*ck, dude? Like, you want to be an auteur director, fine. Be good at it. Be good at movies if you’re trying to wear all of those hats. Zack, as a filmmaker, is bad at ALL of them. At best, he’s pedestrian, so doing all of that, just infuses abject mediocrity throughout this movie and it shows.

I’ve seen a lot of cats haring of Snyder’s depth of field choices but I'll take it one step further; What the f*ck was up with the shot composition as a whole, in this film? It was bad! All of it was so bad! There was no substance, no dynamism in the camerawork or the way the shots were set up. I’m not going to sit here and say it was just a bunch of static work, like how someone would film a play for theatrical exhibition, but it wasn’t that much better. I was watching this sh*t and thought to myself, “Hamilton had better camera work than this. F*ck.”

The whole ass plot is paper thing. I’m watching these first few minutes and it’s readily apparent that the guv’ment knows zombies be doing a zombie and Vegas is lost. Why the f*ck didn’t they nuke that motherf*cker off the face of the earth. Straight up Raccoon City that b*tch. There is nothing, no plot contrivance or mental gymnastics that could make believe that Las Vegas wouldn’t have been scrubbed off the map, within a week of this outbreak. Not after seeing actual paratroopers floating in to their deaths and straight up napalm strikes on the Strip. Why did anyone think building a fence out of shipping containers was a good long term option for containment! And that’s literally just in the opening credits! It gets worse as the flick progresses, man! The actual plot is trash!

Now, the actual premise? Interesting. It could have been interesting. But then Zack Snyder snyder’ed it up with the f*cking execution. Look, in order to write a great zombie flick, you need a strong human element. That’s where the audience is going to focus. They’re going to try and find the humanity in a sea of despair. Every great Zombie flick has a laughably strong lead and fantastic supporting characters you come to care about, usually withing the first act. 28 Days later is a fantastic example of how to execute your Zombie disaster apocalypse. You do not give a sh*t about any of the characters in Army. Snyder tries with Batista, thus the father-daughter relationship, but that cliche sh*t was cookie cutter from a whole different movie, which I'm going to get into next...

Army of the Dead is Aliens. It’s just a popularization of Aliens. It’s the same f*cking movie, but worse. There are shot-for-shot recreations in this movie, with just enough changed so Snyder won’t get sued. Just, off the top of my head, the ending. It’s exactly the same as f*cking Aliens! Literally the same goddamn ending! Heroes survive a gauntlet of monsters, rush to the top of or roof. Pilot of escape flying contraption kissing. Hero curses pilot of said whirly dervish. Queen Alien or Zombie King shows up. Pilot returns at the last minute to save survivors. Same. F*cking. Scene. And that’s just one. There are SO many in this thing you’d think Snyder watched Aliens everyday on set and just stole sh*t from that flick to add to his. It’s real bad. Real f*cking bad, man. which exasperates my next point...

This movie is f*cking boring. i was bored. If you’re stealing the entirety of Aliens, how do you f*ck that it up so bad? The same movie, which thrilled and entertained me thirty years ago, sh*t the bed so hard, today, and i don’t know how that happened. It’s infuriating when i think about it for too long. Speaking of long...

Why the f*ck is this anal prolapse, two and half hours long?? Why did you need this much movie to tell so little story? Seriously, how the f*ck is there this much run time yet, no actual f*cking characters outside of whatever the f*ck Batista was able to save with his sheer screen presence? How do you have all of this time and still not craft a character in which to invest?? In a f*cking Zombie movie?!

Also, he hired a rapist.

The Verdict

This movie sucks. For all of the reasons outlined above. I told you that in the beginning. You didn’t have to rad this far. You knew i hated this movie within the first sentence. This sh*t was a waste of my life. Batista is good in it and that sh* Snyder did with Tig was pretty cool, but everything else is bad. All of it. None of this movie is good. It was boring. It wasn’t entertaining. There are no characters. The plot is dumb. The execution is worse. The run time is absurd. Did i mention how bored i was? Army of the Dead is garbage. This is a bad movie. This is what you get when you just let Zack Snyder do whatever the f*ck he wants with no limits or boundaries. Snyder is bad at movies and he keeps proving it. I have no idea why people keep giving this obvious fraud work.

#Smokey brand Movie Reviews #Army of the Dead

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wondereads · 8 months

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Weekly Reading Update (01/29/24)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

The Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce (9/10)

This concludes my reread of the Immortals Quartet! I'd probably place this series as my second favorite of the Tortall books; I feel like it gets overlooked, which is quite unfair because Daine's magic is just so interesting. This particular book completes the story very well, and it also involves the main romantic pairing getting together, which I enjoyed far more than I thought. Things fell into place a little too easily for my tastes, but it's overall a very good conclusion.

Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier (8/10)

This book started off very slow, so I wasn’t sure if I would like it. However, once we got into the meat of the story, I enjoyed it! I think there’s a particularly good plot twist in this one, and I actually really liked the main character. He feels like if the typical, tortured YA love interest were the protagonist instead, and seeing him be a little foolish or impulsive was refreshing. Like I said, it takes a while to get into it, I wasn’t even sure what the main plot was going to be for a while, but it’s pretty well-paced after that.

The Past Is Red by Catherynne M. Valente (9/10)

This was an incredibly intriguing novella about waste and global warming. It's a bit shocking and unique with the plethora of cursing and a very unreliable narrator. After I finished this book I felt hollow inside, and it makes you think about the issues of pollution and what it could mean for the future, especially the people who will live then and don't deserve that kind of world. The main character and narrator, Tetley, has a very distinctive voice, and she will often admit to lying to the reader about various things. The only thing I disliked was that at some points it felt like Tetley was going through terrible things just to make her go through terrible things.

Crystal Dark by Julie E. Kramer (2/10)

This is the lowest I have ever rated a book I finished. This is a YA fantasy romance novella, and it is self-published. It shows. I truly believe absolutely no editing went into this book. Most of the writing is either overly simplistic or worded in the most convoluted, backwards way that I simply could not tell what the author meant. There are basic grammar mistakes, typos, and a major side character's name is misspelled at one point. The plot is rushed to the extreme and makes absolutely no sense; why Ceia wouldn't use her magic to flee from an incredibly dangerous situation is never explained. The romance, if you could call it that, is forced and has no build-up, and the "villain" is so cartoonishly evil and defeated with a flick of the main character's hand. There is no explanation for the worldbuilding, and things are just spontaneously introduced to make sure the protagonists always have what they need. It is lazy, poorly constructed, and I can't believe someone put this into the world in this state.

The Absinthe Underground by Jamie Paction (6/10)

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor (36%)

The last Nnedi Okorafor book I read was Binti, which I wasn't a huge fan of, but I'm liking this one a lot more. Sankofa is a very intriguing protagonist, and I'm very interested to see where the story is going. It seems to skirt the line between fantasy and sci-fi, especially when it comes to Sankofa's backstory. This book is a whole 100 pages longer than Binti, and I think it's much better for it.

Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman (30%)

I'm really enjoying this so far. The way of storytelling, told through mission reports, chat records, and not-Wikipedia pages is very interesting and utilizes all kinds of unconventional, visual methods. There's some great humor in it too; the characters definitely feel like teenagers.

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas (19%)

I've been pretty lukewarm on Throne of Glass for the most part. I hear this book is where most people really start to like the series, so I hope it's the same for me. I will say it's moving at a good pace so far, and I really like where the plot is going. The rescue mission angle brings a lot of suspense, especially since it's a character I actually care about. On the other side, Chaol is being so annoying and it makes his perspective drag for me.

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natsspammityspamspamham · 4 years

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Dino Watches Anime (Nov 15)

BOI, I HAVE A MIDTERM ON TUESDAY AND TEST ON WEDNESDAY. SCREW THAT. I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE ANIME I’VE BEEN WATCHING IN BETWEEN STUDY SESSIONS! Yeah, the studying is like 2% while the anime and games are like 98%... I’m working on that, okay? Anyway, I’m going to cover mostly seasonal stuff with some other stuff.

Let’s go over the seasonal stuff first. Summer had so few anime coming out whereas Autumn/Fall came in like, “OPEN THE FLOODGATES! LET’S GO!!!” I haven’t even gotten around to all the anime airing this season that I want to like Yuukoku no Moriarty, Majo no Tabitabi, and Adachi to Shimamura. I missed some last season too like Deca-Dance which I just didn’t want to commit to if it was only for the good animation.

Taisou Samurai (DROPPED)

I dropped it after two episodes. MAPPA has two major series this season, but they clearly gave more time and attention to the one that was actually going to make money here (which I’ll talk about later). This one seems like a passion project without the passion in it anymore. It’s like opening a bag of chips and finding out they went stale long before you even reached into the bag.

Taisou Samurai, at its core, has a premise that I found really promising. I happen to like watching gymnastics sometimes, and the idea of an athlete who doesn’t want to retire is interesting. They went wrong with the execution. I don’t know what they were trying to pull here, but with unlikeable characters and a terrible run at it, it’s like they weren’t playing with a full deck of cards here.

Also, if you don’t know what a gyaru is, one of the supporting characters will look like a racist caricature. Also, this bird has no other point than to try to make up for this show’s lack of usable humour by using Kappei Yamaguchi’s range and going, “Please, save this show. I beg you.”

I didn’t even bother giving this show three episodes to drag me in because I just couldn’t see myself wasting another 20 minutes here. Maybe I’ll have a change of heart, but for now, I should be having better things to do.

Munou na Nana (WOULDN’T RECOMMEND)

I know everyone has made this joke already, but this is really just My Hero Academia x Among Us. I feel like if there was some more... budget put into this anime, they could’ve made it a lot better. The manga had a lot more detail, so a lot of the gruesome scenes with zombies or killings, etc. were muted and toned down beyond belief. Not to mention, I guess watching it after I read the manga just made me feel stupid. This is such a junkie show that pulls tricks that everyone knows is coming. Nonetheless, I can’t find some big reason to say “do not watch this” because it’s still a very mediocre show. It has its good points, but its presentation devalues it, the voice acting is meh (especially since Yuuichi Nakamura is playing THREE overpowered main cast characters this season), and the jig is up after the first episode, so the twists are just to make you sympathize more with the imposter. I haven’t seen a show like this for a while though, so I guess you can watch it if you want something refreshing like that. I don’t think you’re supposed to like this cast of characters, so I won’t say anything against not liking this cast.

Kamisama ni Natta Hi (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

Jun Maeda... the man who manages to incorporate baseball into every anime he does... seriously, every anime I’ve watched by him has it from Angel Beats to Charlotte to that unfinished Little Busters I just left on hold. Anyway, Kamisama is no exception. Jun Maeda has a reputation for building touching stories that start off strong then really lose their footing once he realizes that he’s not going to get 24 episodes and needs to squeeze all of those 16 episodes of story left into 4 episodes or so. It also doesn’t help that sometimes he goes off on useless storylines that pay no use to the story.

Hina is really funny sometimes (but can be annoying). Narukami is funny. Really, everyone has some valid point about them that makes the show better compared to the previous entries.

Seriously, some little kid comes up to you and goes, “The world is ending, I am God, and I’m going to stick by you.” Meanwhile, you’re just a simp that’s trying to get your childhood friend to fall for you.

Honestly, I’m still having a blast watching this. As much as Maeda’s writing can really suffer from tonal shifts (mostly in the end), I still wanted to watch this anime simply because I always like his storytelling in the beginning, and the laughs it brings can sometimes still muddle out the bitter taste that’s left in your mouth when the series finishes. I can already feel this train going down a slide and off a cliff. I already paid for my ticket though, so I’m obligated to stay on this shootshow until the end.

Seriously, I do not like where some of these relationships are heading.

Maoujou de Oyasumi (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

This anime is relatable. It can get stale fast for a lot of people, but every time I think I’m going to get sick of it, it pulls one of the same gags that makes me go, “This. This is why I’m sticking with this.” I’m not sure how much more there is to say. It’s just an abducted princess who couldn’t care less that she’s a hostage and instead, takes this newfound time to take some good ZZZs. What a life.

Oh yeah, this princess is also willing to commit murder, mutilation, theft, and assault to get the sleep she wants.

Tonikaku Kawaii (CONDITIONALLY RECOMMEND)

I’m not dropping this show... even if it makes no sense. The premise is astoundingly stupid, but it pulled a Zombieland Saga on me. It sounded so stupid, but once I gave it one episode, I found myself being entertained and almost rooting for the characters and their relationships.

Imagine this: You are about to get into the high school of your dreams when you see the girl of your dreams cross your path. You want to ask her out so you jump over the barricade and get hit by a truck. You’re on the brink of death when you realize you can’t die there without confessing your love. You chase her down with blood coming out of your head and confess. She says that she’ll only go out with you if you marry her. You then... somehow survive, drop out of school, then get a job to search for her. I kid you not. This is the setup. It’s as stupid as it sounds, and the anime knows this. It doesn’t try to fool you into thinking that this series is supposed to be anything but some highway fast-track way to convince you into watching a married couple. I think what irked me the most is that the character designs didn’t change from when they were in middle school to when they were adults. It wasn’t the being hit by a truck and not being sent to another world, it wasn’t this girl who stopped the truck without ruining her hair, it wasn’t anything else but their character designs staying the same.

Anyway, this anime is cute as long as you can jump some hurdles. It’s basically puppy-love marriage with anime stupidity through and through. I don’t know what about this series people, including myself, find charming.

Jujutsu Kaisen (RECOMMENDED - BUT DON’T COMPARE TO DEMON SLAYER TOO MUCH!)

It’s Shonen Jump. “Will it be the next Kimetsu no Yaiba? The next big Shonen Jump series? One of the next big three? Five?” No, I don’t think so. I’m not enjoying this nearly as much as I did binging KNY. The cast isn’t nearly as likeable, but I’m still having a good time. It’s not all that fair to make that comparison anyway. The cast for Jujutsu Kaisen is passable. I like some of the main cast, but I feel like they lack the same kind of depth with its main heroine. I know she gets more stuff done in the future chapters, but her backstory so far is, “I had a friend once... No, she’s not dead. She just left our small town.”

The fight scenes are actually so much fun to watch. MAPPA gave this series a lot more time and budget than say that first anime I mentioned. It’s fluid, the camerawork is amazing, the choreography is on-point.

The voice acting for this anime is spectacular among the main cast... when character dialogue allows it.

I feel a bit of imbalance, but Yuuji does offer a good protagonist template. Junya Enoki makes his lines so funny and gives this nonchalant approach that is the polar opposite of his performance in Tonikawa. This is definitely his season.

Junichi Suwabe voicing the main demon thing is amazing too. It fits so well, and he sounds so cool and evil. It’s great.

Gojou is also one badass mentor played by Yuuichi Nakamura. Overpowered, part of the main cast, etc. Insert your reverse Kakashi joke here. Just give him more Sharingan genjutsu, I dare you.

Yuuma Uchida is back playing another tragic character that’s serious and uptight. I can’t say much more about him.

The opening and ending are both worth listening to even if you don’t want to watch the anime. Lost in Paradise by ALI has been on repeat for me.

Besides that, I’m going to go over some other anime that I’ve been watching.

Hunter x Hunter (AS IF THIS HASN’T BEEN RECOMMENDED ENOUGH)

Slowly. Slowly but surely. 11/148.

I know this is going to be amazing... I just want to be in the right mood to full savour it. I don’t want to be consumed by stress and not pay attention. The reason why I like a lot of those seasonal anime is because I don’t pay the same kind of attention.

If you told me these characters’ ages, I probably would’ve believed everyone... except Leorio. The guy looks like a middle-aged money-hungry gangster.

What I would give to have the energy and serotonin of a Shonen Jump protagonist.

Haikyuu (YEAH, IT’S GOOD)

I’m watching this one with my mom and sister as they go “OMG OMG OMG” as we watch while I’m sitting there like -_-

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good show, but sports anime are made like shounen battle anime (because they are in a way) with different stakes. I’ve felt more “nervous” about some of the Haikyuu matches than I did with some of the Hunter Exam. Worst case scenario in Haikyuu, you lose the match. Worst case scenario in Hunter x Hunter? You die.

I knew what I was going to get into when I was watching Haikyuu, and it’s given me what I remembered (since I did watch 10 episodes of it a few years ago) and expected.

SKET Dance (HIGHLY RECOMMEND)

Unfollow me. Unfollow me right now. This is what I’m going to be talking about for the next month. I can feel it. I’ve had this show for like 3 days and watched around 33 episodes along with some of these other titles. I have a problem. I know that, but I don’t feel like fixing it. This show is just too good.

I get why people call this a poor man’s Gintama, but it’s not quite that. I can get the similarities, but it’s like eating an empanada and saying that it’s just like that dumpling you tasted last week. It looks alike on the surface... if you’re not that great at... telling the difference between things... but once you get to the meat of it (PUN HAHA), you realize that they are completely different, and you were a fool for thinking otherwise.

That’s our main heroine! Go go go!

Dude, episode 25 hit me out of nowhere, AND I READ THE SPOILERS! I won’t say any more than that.

The cast is one of the best that I’ve seen in a while. Their chemistry is basically the entire show. Without one of the main three, you wouldn’t have the show anymore. It handles its female characters better than some of its fellow competitors at the time, and it may have what some may call a “token fat character”, but the character never makes fun of her for being fat. They make fun of her for saying “Yabasu” every single sentence. It hurts that the manga ended with some loose ends, and this anime isn’t getting a season 2.

But at its weird and mushy core, this show is about three people with heavy and complex pasts who simply want to help people work out their issues in their own... unique ways.

I don’t want to say much else, but I wish more people would watch/read it and create/post most content for it even if it’s a bit old because it deserves it. I’m almost a decade late, and this anime still holds up.

I gave Mairimashita Iruma-kun its own post.

#dino watches anime #seasonal anime #sket dance #haikyuu #hxh #hunter x hunter #tonikaku kawaii #tonikawa #kamisama ni natta hi #Jujutsu Kaisen

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tomeandflickcorner · 4 years

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Episode Review- The Real Ghostbusters: The Headless Motorcyclist

Okay then. Decent enough premise, but still a rather mediocre episode.

The Ghostbusters are at some fancy black tie soiree that they apparently got invitations to. During the party, Peter is finagling with some banker about year round ghost protection as an insurance policy. However, Peter’s attention is soon caught by a beautiful woman who happened to be walking by, so he decides to try and approach her. To Peter’s credit, he changes his mind when he sees the woman was clearly there with her boyfriend. Although, the boyfriend, whose name is Bud, is clearly the overly jealous type, and he begins lashing out at the woman because he’d seen her talking at length to some other guy. The woman, whose name is Kate, defends herself, stating that the guy in question was simply an old friend of hers that she hadn’t seen in a while. Bud, however, isn’t satisfied with that explanation. At this point, Peter decides to show his gallant side and steps in to help defend Kate. This results in a brief tussle to erupt between Peter and Bud, but it’s quickly broken up when bystanders physically separate the two. Kate attempts to diffuse the situation by suggesting she and Bud step outside to discuss the matter. Bud refuses that offer and angrily states he’s leaving without Kate. As Bud storms off, Kate voices her concern for Bud. Though from the way she’s talking, it seems as if Kate is expecting something bad to happen to him.

It turns out that Kate’s apparent prediction came true fairly quickly. As Bud is driving off, he quickly notices that he’s being followed by a single motorcyclist. At first, Bud fumes over this, complaining about how the motorcyclist has his high beams on, and how he isn’t passing him. But Bud’s annoyance turns to fear when he looks back and notices the motorcyclist was actually a headless apparition. Despite Bud’s best efforts at evading the Headless Motorcyclist, he can’t seem to shake him. Until he reaches a bridge. The Headless Motorcyclist instantly stops at the edge of the bridge. But before Bud can have a chance to think he’s in the clear, the Headless Motorcyclist throws his flaming decapitated head at Bud’s car, which explodes the moment the projectile head collided with the vehicle. As Bud stared in shock at his wrecked car, the Headless Motorcyclist vanished with a loud cackle.

The next morning, the Ghostbusters receive an unannounced visitor- Lieutenant Frump, who is a rather large and obese cop. Lieutenant Frump informs the Ghostbusters of Bud’s run-in with the Headless Motorcyclist, and at first, Peter seems excited about getting a new case. Until Lieutenant Frump reveals he actually suspects Peter sent the Headless Motorcyclist after Bud. After all, as Lieutenant Frump points out, Peter and Bud had an altercation shortly after the attack. Which means Peter had a motive to attack Bud. And he also had easy access to ghosts. Peter denies the accusations, of course, but Lieutenant Frump doesn’t believe him. Even when the other Ghostbusters speak up on Peter’s behalf, stating that he had been with them all night and therefore had an alibi, Lieutenant Frump points out they could have been Peter’s accomplices.

To try and clear Peter’s name, the Ghostbusters decide to catch the Headless Motorcyclist. To draw the ghost out, Peter heads out in a similar sports car to the one Bud had been driving and follows the same route Bud had taken, with the Ecto-1 following close behind. (Not sure where they got the sports car. Maybe it belongs to Janine?) Sure enough, the Headless Motorcyclist once again appears and begins to chase after Peter. Like before, the Headless Motorcyclist pursues Peter through the city streets, effortlessly dodging the blasts from Winston’s Proton Pack. And like before, the Headless Motorcyclist ends his pursuit upon reaching the edge of the bridge. Ray is immediately able to theorize that the Headless Motorcyclist is unable to cross the bridge due to the water below being a natural ionizing agent, a theory Egon is able to confirm due to how there was a drop in power readings when they got close to the bridge. In addition, Ray also notes that the MO of the Headless Motorcyclist was identical to the one utilized by the ghost featured in Washington Irving’s famous tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Remembering how Kate seemed to know something would happen to Bud when he stormed off from the party, the Ghostbusters decide to pay her a visit. How they managed to track her down is anyone’s guess, as they only briefly encountered her at the party and probably never even got her last name. Upon being questioned by the Ghostbusters, Kate breaks down into tears, explaining that her family was cursed. She explains that she is the descendant of Ichabod Crane. According to Kate’s tale, after the events that had been recorded in Washington Irving’s short story, which had famously ended with Ichabod disappearing with only his horse and some pumpkin fragments being found, Ichabod had actually survived and stared over in a new town. He’d eventually married and had a son, but twenty years later, the Headless Horseman had reappeared to chase after Ichabod’s son. Ichabod’s son had also learned of the ghost’s aversion to bridges like his father had before him, but ever since then, the Headless Horseman had continued to pursue the family and their friends, forcing the Cranes to constantly move. Over the years, the Headless Horseman’s appearance adapted to the changing times, and he now appears as the Headless Motorcyclist. Now Kate is the latest descendant. (Interestingly, Kate refers to her ancestor as Uncle Ichabod, which suggests she’s not a direct descendant. Though that always confused me. How can you be a descendant of someone you’re not directly descended from?)

In any event, the Ghostbusters decide to help Kate, which would help clear Peter’s name in the process. They return to the Firehouse in order to build some new equipment. Despite a brief interruption from Lieutenant Frump, who stops by to gloatingly state he’d uncovered some more incriminating evidence against Peter (he’d found out Peter was trying to sell ghost insurance at the party and Bud was an insurance investigator), the new invention is soon finished. This new gizmo is a helmet that could broadcast the wearer’s psychograms to the Headless Motorcyclist. They give this helmet to Kate to wear, telling her that it should lure the Headless Motorcyclist to her apartment. Peter would then switch on his own helmet and draw the ghost after him. The plan is executed and Kate, while wearing the helmet, reads from a script written ahead of time that instructs her to talk about what a great friend Peter is to her. As planned, this successfully summons the Headless Motorcyclist, who soon crashes into Kate’s apartment from through the window. While Winston distracted the Headless Motorcyclist, Kate quickly ran out of the apartment and hurried downstairs to where the Ecto-1 was waiting for her. Ray let her into the Ecto-1, explaining that the vehicle had been fitted with psycho-dampers, which would prevent the Headless Motorcyclist from sensing her inside. With Kate safely shielded, Peter switched on his own helmet and drove off, and the Headless Motorcyclist quickly gave chase.

Peter leads the Headless Motorcyclist towards the Queensburo Bridge, where Egon was waiting. As Peter and the Headless Motorcyclist draw near, Egon activates this large hologram projector, which cloaks the Queensburo Bridge by making it look like a normal city street. (Okay, two things. One, how did they manage to lug that large piece of machinery down there? That thing looks rather cumbersome. Two, they have hologram technology in this world now?) The ploy works, and the Headless Motorcyclist drives out onto the bridge, where he is immediately immobilized due to the water below. Because as Ray stated earlier, water is a natural ionizing agent. Egon tosses out a Ghost Trap, but allows Kate the honor of trapping the Headless Motorcyclist. Kate accepts the offer after directing a stern glare at the ghost that had plagued her family for generations. As they celebrate a job well done, we see Lieutenant Frump had been watching from a squad car nearby. He begrudgingly admits he’s been convinced of Peter’s innocence.

An undetermined amount of time later, the Ghostbusters appear at another fancy party, where Peter manages to convince the same banker from the start of the episode to sign up for ghost insurance. Peter then spots another beautiful woman and moves to approach her. Ray attempts to stop him, telling him it was too risky. But Peter is not deterred, simply stating he lives for danger before continuing on in going after the woman. The Ghostbusters respond by raising a toast to Peter, stating that he’s bound to get them all killed eventually.

While the whole tie-in to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was a nice idea, this episode seemed quite short and rushed, with thee prolonged chase sequences thrown in to ensure the full run-time. Even the animation itself seemed rushed in places. That being said, this is still a noteworthy episode considering it marks the first appearance of Lieutenant Frump. He becomes something of a recurring character in the show, appearing in two other episodes. And this was a decent introduction to him, establishing his character as a high-ranking NYPD member who harbors a strong dislike towards the Ghostbusters.

(Click here for more Ghostbusters reviews)

#the real ghostbusters #rgb episode review #ghostbusters franchise

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