#why is the animation so bad and the stories so one-dimensional?

[cottoncandy-cult]

I feel so old

So, I was born in 97 raised by a single father born in 78. Just to set the scene for understanding. Now, I knew the movies I was watching growing up were a little older you know because they were all on VHS. But I never realized how old until now... So, I was thinking about an older movie I watched that I loved called secret of NIMH but couldn't remember how to spell NIMH, so I decided to look it up on a whim. Guess when that movie came out. 1982.

This got me curious, so I started looking up some other movies, the first Balto movie came out in 95, not bad. Brother Bear came out in 2003, not bad either. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron came out in 2002 and Spirited Away in 2001. Not bad either. But then it got to the others...

The Last Unicorn: 1982

Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul school: 1988

Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant werewolf: 1988

Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers: 1987

Grave of the Fireflies came out in the US in 1989

The Sword and the Stone: 1963

The Dark Crystal: 1982

Labyrinth: 1986

I feel like my father raised me in a pocket dimension I swear. I'm a Gen Z raised by a Gen X to be a Gen X, like that is the best way to describe it. I remember reading the Dragon Lance books with my dad for my mandatory reading assignments from school, we watched a lot of early 2000s comedy central and MTV. Just about every standup comedian I watched with him was from his generation, I grew up with the rock, metal, rap and pop music of his generation. My old man literally just hand-me-downed his childhood and teenage years to me the moment I was smart enough to understand something more complex than Barney.

[a-driftamongopenstars]

alright, i finally finished Dragon Age the Veilguard.

tldr; 3/10. I didn't like it.

If you enjoyed the game and would rather keep enjoying it, please don't click the read more section as what follows is rather critical.

I can finally sit down with my thoughts and put them together in a more cohesive structured review, touching on most things that I wanted to address. I'll start with positives and then focus on the negatives.

Warning, this is VERY long.

Overall, I had a neutral to negative impression of DatV, which got worse by the end of the game. It had some good moments, but they were entirely unexplored and underutilized, suffering from bad writing. While the game itself is rather pretty, it didn't outweigh the dialogues, the stories and the lore butchering that took place.

1. Environment and visuals. 8/10.

I think Veilguard is a very beautiful game. I enjoyed exploring the corners of this new world, the little bits of environment design and storytelling that it had. It felt magical, certain locations were mesmerizing! I couldn't stop staring at the valley where you go to with Harding, the carcass of a titan.

2. Combat. 9/10.

I love flashy combat, I enjoy hack and slash, so until the very end of the game I was having most fun in combat. Yes there was repetitiveness but I tried to combat (hehe) it with changing my abilities and weapons every now and then. I liked combos and I liked timed parries. Enemy tactics got a bit boring by the end, but a few enemies still surprised me and challenged me.

.... That's where positives end. Now on to the negatives.

1. Characters. 2/10.

I don't understand what happened. Almost all the characters in this game were tuned down to a two-dimensional personality, "good" and "bad" - and absolutely no nuance. This happened not only to the villains, but to the different NPCs and even our companions. Their interests got narrowed down to single points of interest (Lucanis and coffee being a prime example to me), their motivations got watered down.

This is not what I expect from a Bioware game. I want to be challenged, I want to dislike characters or approve of their choices. I like characters who are messy and complex and don't always have their shit together.

I like villains who may have other reasons for their choices, other than "ba ha ha, I am so evil and I will do evil things". Where is Alexius who sold himself to the Elder one, just so he could save his beloved son? Where is Samson, forsaken by the Chantry and turned to red lyrium with his addiction? Where is Calpernia, misguided in her choices, just to free the slaves of Tevinter?

Where are the slaves of Tevinter anyway?? That's another topic.

2. Rook. 4/10.

On one hand, I liked playing Rook. They were stoic but with a humorous side, ready to get the job done, compassionate to other people.

The problem is that it's the only Rook you can really play. The protagonist is set in their ways and their dialogues and there is very little to roleplay. Rook really does feel like a gentle manager, trying to get everyone to play along nicely, while providing therapy every now and then, and is excluded from the majority of friendly interactions with other people. That awkward glance everyone gives you after their banter is embarrassing. The way you can third wheel people, the way the game actively offers you to leave a couple of animated conversations between other people - why even include those? Why not make Rook a part of the 'team'?

I did like Rook's dynamic with Solas. They got to see a different side of him, one that's not presented heavily in Inquisition. But like everything else, it felt surface level and underexplored.

3. Story arc. 2/10.

I am left unsatisfied with the story. The pacing threw me off so much nearly every quest, it was hard to stay on track. From "we need to solve this NOW" to "actually, let's all slow down and deal with our problems", the plot's priorities were all over the place. We kept hearing about the gods and their destructive oppression, but we saw surprisingly little of it. Yes, there was the Blight, yes there were Venatori and the Antaam, but they felt more like a video game fodder and dressing rather than a part of the story.

Not to mention that all of those things made little sense to me. Why would the gods align with aforementioned factions? Why would the aforementioned factions align with the elven gods? In-game explanation was not enough for me, it did not make sense. Not with the established lore in the previous games.

I also did not enjoy the ending. While the idea of Solas binding himself to the Veil is good and does make sense, what was suggested as the good ending (inviting Mythal to deal with Solas essentially) actually left me feeling awful. I sent a man, full of regrets and self-loathing, on a lonely journey to figure himself out. That... did not sit right with me at all. Neither did the fact that Northern Thedas, supposedly the point of the gods' attack, gets to live and flourish, while Southern Thedas is dying of starvation and blight. That is UNHINGED to me.

4. Music. 1/10.

There was no music. I remember one track. It was not memorable whatsoever and I can't believe they hired Hans Zimmer to do exactly nothing. Just wow.

5. Lore. ???/10.

And here is the worst offender. What was done with Dragon Age lore is unacceptable. I was doing a head-in-hands every five minutes. This was a slap in the face of so many fans who enjoyed the three prior games and delved into deep, interesting lore of various races, countries, cultures and religions. Veilguard showed a big middle finger to all that.

Everyone has already touched upon the sanitization of different factions. From the suddenly slaveless Tevinter to found family Antivan Crows, everything has been scrubbed clean and made sweet and palatable and "good".

The Dalish clans have been removed from existence as we know them. The Antaam left the Qun? Don't even get me started on that. The Chantry has no influence in this game? Really? The Chantry? The biggest religion in Thedas? The one that we know has heavy presence in the Anderfels, the Black Divine in Tevinter? That Chantry?

I think it really hit me how disrespectful the game is during the quest of saving the Dalish elves, where apparently Elgar'nan's Venatori, uplifted to be his servants and chosen people, were trying to sacrifice them. It's a gross and oddly telling idea that the ancient Elven god turned to a faction of racist mages to sacrifice elven people. I actually can't believe I'm writing this. Just how much are you going to shaft these people? Mindboggling.

There is a lot more I have to say on this specific topic, and I probably will later, but the idea is this.

6. Romances. 2/10.

Whoever said this is a game with romance lied so hard. So hard. The romance was atrocious. From the badly written flirting to the lack of romantic scenes (I romanced Davrin), to the poorly timed and awkward 'final' romance moment... It was atrocious. I felt no connection between Rook and Davrin beyond what game was telling me. My actual companions got more screen time with their romances than me and my LI.

Damn, even Evka and Antoine, my single most beloved NPCs in this game, had more romance going on that my Rook.

---

All in all, Veilguard was a massive let down. After having enjoyed the first 3 games many times over, with multiple playthroughs, I was so excited to see how the story of the Inquisition, of the elves, would end. When I saw the first trailer for VG, I knew I would never get to see it. When I played the game, I was left with disappointment and disdain.

I'm glad there are people who enjoyed this game, genuinely. I'm sure there's something to find for anyone, but it was not for me. Nor was it for many other people. It was a let down. I feel like I'll never get the conclusion I wanted - so I'll have to write my own I guess.

I have more thoughts on this game that I might be sharing, but for now this is the review I wanted to write. Thanks for reading!

[beevean]

https://x.com/adishankarbrand/status/1844916313363448166

Friendly reminder that this guy has read Berserk and wants to animate it

Oh sure he says he's trolling in other tweets but after seeing his take on Dracula I ain't convinced

Yeah no this is 100% consistent with his take on Dracula that he released on interviews:

“The best villains, in general, are the heroes of their own story and the trick to making Castlevania resonate was this idea that Dracula isn’t a bad guy, he isn’t a villain, he’s just a person consumed with darkness," Shankar told us. "That first episode in Season 1 we start to see why he wants to eradicate humans. He’s not just this mustache-curling, one-dimensional villain. What Dracula is doing is not really a war against humanity. It’s more a suicide note.”

What about the whole concept of redemption arcs? That I’m totally on board with. Because let’s say, let’s say Dracula had been a cartoonish villain, then you wouldn’t have had in season one. You wouldn’t have had that entire backstory of trying to get in touch with this humanity and all that stuff and why all of a sudden his war against humans in the show is justified. So without that backstory, he becomes this like cartoony villain. I just I feel like, it’s important to kind of get across that the bad guys are really the heroes of their own narrative.

So when he insists on saying things like this?

You don't get to jump up and down yelling "I'm kidding! I'm just kidding! Haha I was just pretending and y'all fell for it, sike!" when we have proof, including a whole season of an acclaimed show (and I'm not talking about the whole show because I don't know how much input Shankar had on S4, I don't think much) of you exposing your views that a monstrous, genocidal villain who was willing to exterminate humankind and let vampirekind starve to death did actually nothing wrong and he's just a sad little bean.

Also, didn't he also call Sephiroth an anti-hero?

“It’s true,” he tells USA Today. “I’m drawn to anti-heroes with a strong point-of-view. Sephiroth is from an era where ‘bad guys’ felt one-dimensional across all media and in video games they felt especially mustache twirly. From a style perspective, I feel like the Final Fantasy series in its futurist dystopian entries had amazing fashion that I would – and do – replicate with my own spin.”

I think Shankar deadass thinks that anti-heroes are villains with a tragic backstory. He really would, unironically, propose that Griffith did nothing wrong because he was tortured.

I know why he's doing this: he thinks he's crafting some deep, morally nuanced narratives. But by insisting that destructive villains are just poow widdle meows meows and really Not So Bad After all, while relegating "villainy" to what he describes as "mustache-twirling" (basically the older stupid games), he's flattening the narrative. Evil can come from anyone, even from those who we find sympathetic. You can mean well and still do harm. You can have suffered more than you deserve and still not have the right to inflict that suffering back. His narrative in NFCV was heavy handed and forced me to sympathize with a lethargic monster who is in some verses even more callous than his game counterpart just because wife died, instead of simply allowing me to come up with my own conclusions.

I'm sorry, DMC fans. Good luck.

[epickiya722]

I don't understand why it's so hard for some people to accept that Bakugou is someone close to Izuku and vice versa. It's always the same bullshit that's been in this fandom since ages

"Bakugou needs someone who can handle his violent attitude" "Bakugou needs someone who stands up against him"

Um...the whole damn manga starts with little Izuku standing up against him. Calls him a jerk but someone who is also worth admiring because of his strength and determination. An idiot but someone whom he's looked up to.

These people are just annoyed that Izuku doesn't see him from a one dimensional lens.

Please stop reducing Izuku to a complete doormat just because he's not beating the shit out of bakugou all the time but has always been the one to understand him.

I hate this selective crap they do where they think xxxx character yelled at Bakugou or made fun of him and therefore the ship makes more sense. But Izuku shouldn't be shipped with him because he's not being hard enough on Bakugou.

MHA ran for how many years? Ten, right? A whole decade and still the same old "Well, Midoriya doesn't do this and Midoriya doesn't do that when it comes to Bakugou" and "Bakugou is a bully".

He was a bully, yes. He admitted he was a complete ass to Midoriya and he doesn't force Midoriya to forgive him or expected him to. He just went about trying to make it up to him.

From Midoriya's end, it's not like he gives Bakugou a pass. He is aware of Bakugou's treatment of him while they were getting older and for a good portion of the story, he did keep his distance.

Midoriya was a victim, but he's not a doormat that these people like to treat him as.

I hate it now when people say that Midoriya is "too forgiving". He's not vindictive, but he has, as you said, stood up to Bakugou.

If Midoriya was "too forgiving" he would have still hung out around Bakugou instead of distancing from him. If Midoriya was "too forgiving" when the class was digging into him about his attitude, Midoriya would have been like "oh, it's not really that bad". No, instead he was shocked because he hadn't witness people actually call out Bakugou's behavior before.

People want to point out constantly how bad Bakugou treated Midoriya, but don't say anything about everyone else who mistreated him. They had whole teachers, whole adults that mistreated Midoriya. It was a whole class that discriminated against him. Oh, do they not deserve some heat?

At least, Bakugou admits to his faults. What is a good reason for a teacher to mistreat a student?

Again, Midoriya isn't a doormat. He cares about Bakugou, but that doesn't he forgave him so quickly. They were childhood friends, they admired the same Hero, they played games together and they wanted to be heroes together. Of course, Midoriya will grow to care for him. But that doesn't mean he approved of Bakugou's behavior towards him or anybody.

And look, I like other ships, I do. Some I favored a lot when I first got into MHA. But there are some depictions of some Bakugou ships I have seen that makes it clear to me that they just don't like Bakugou and see him as an animal to be tamed and not a person who has the room to grow and be better.

That seems... off? Like, you don't like "unfairness" between Bakugou and Midoriya but turn around have a ship where Bakugou is with someone who is "taming" him?

They are selective, very much so.

[tempestmothstorm]

I’m thinking about the whole "you are not your feelings" theme the side stories have and how that contrasts with the main game

Like the two talks in reflection where Sayori and Monika tell the others about how their emotions don’t have to define who they are and don’t make them bad people. This theme of singular traits not defining who you are/not controlling who you want to be is backed up by the rest of the side stories, which exist to show how the characters are multifaceted and human. They aren’t tropes or defined solely by their thoughts or actions. They aren’t perfect nor pure evil, only people trying their best. They’re real, complex people, and the ‘you are not your feelings’ phrase is proof of that.

The side stories’ goal of presenting these characters as human go directly against a ~certain someone’s~ goal of flattening and dehumanizing them in the main game. Its clear Monika here doesn’t really learn the ‘you are not your feelings’ thing in this world, something that happens with a lot of the lessons learned in the side stories (i.e. the ones in each title). Due to the whole disillusionment with reality thing, her attitude to the rest of the club is pretty dismissive, seeing them as one-dimensional characters tropes, making whatever flaws they have as their defining trait.

I'm going to focus on the CANYOUHEREME.txt though cause it pretty easily sums up her feelings so I'm just gonna put it here

Beneath their manufactured perception - their artificial reality - is a writhing, twisted mess of dread. Loathing. Judgment. Elitism. Self-doubt. All thrashing to escape the feeble hold of their host, seeping through every little crevice they can find. Into their willpower, starving them of all motivation and desire. Into their stomach, forcing them to drown their guilt in comfort food. Or into a newly-opened gash in their skin, hidden only by the sleeves of a cute new shirt. Such a deplorable, tangled mass is already present in every single one of them. That's why I choose not to blame myself for their actions.

All I did was untie the knot.

This poem is interesting because it does make them out to be more human compared to the anime tropes Monika says they are in the act 3 talks, but replaces the empathy found in the side stories with disgust, painting the club as gross, immoral, and everything the girls fear themselves to be. Monika sees the stuff they hide, all the complex feelings and less savory traits, and sees it as their truth, their whole being. Their feelings define them, what they think is their worst is all they've ever been, and that these things make them awful people. When Monika forcibly brings these things to the forefront, it's their fault alone when act out, because their darkest thoughts are all they'll ever be.

She knows they’re more than that, but she’s actively in denial about how much she actually cares, and the epiphany absolutely destroyed her ability to see her friends as actually complex people beyond their programing.

I think that's part of why comparing her to side stories Monika messes me up so much because she's like!! So nice!!! Mature!!!! And understanding!!!!! And she sees her friends faults and all!!!!!! And she loves them anyways and understands their goodness!!!!!!!!!! But main game strips that away from her and makes her cynical!!!!!!!!!!!! And she can't see the goodness in her friends anymore because they aren't real and they're scripts made to appeal to a dumb dating sim and she!!!!!!!!!!! Can't see them as people anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So their flaws turn into THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

. . . And that concludes today's Monika analysis.

[glisteningreverie]

There’s something about Kimi to Idol PreCure that feels so nostalgic. Feels like I’m back in 2018, discovering PreCure for the first time. It could be because the character writing has been really strong so far, and I’ve missed that in newer PreCure seasons. It could be because of the idol theme, and two of the first seasons I watched in full were Suite and Star Twinkle.

It’s a huge difference from WanPre, where, sure, I liked the characters well enough. But only one of them really had a hobby, and the story never really gave that much focus. You didn’t really get to know these characters beyond their surface character traits. Iroha loves animals and wants to be friends with them. Okay, what else? Becoming friends with Zakuro and Torame was important to her, but we didn’t go that deeply into that conflict. There was some good stuff there! Stuff that would have been interesting to touch upon! Remember the emotional devastation of episode 44? That came out of NOWHERE, but the follow-up on how the thought of losing a friend impacted Iroha wasn’t very strong.

How would have the series changed if Komugi had begun to develop her own interests outside of Iroha? What if she got really into soccer and decided she wanted to pursue that? That’s a big what if, but Komugi did not feel like a main character in the season she was treated as the “leader” in. There were, once again, bits and pieces of interesting story, like Komugi hearing the wolf howling in her dreams. That reminds me of the way Hibiki heard the Crescendo Tone calling out to her back in Suite. But with Suite, the follow-through was a lot more impactful. There were stakes there, with the Fairy Tones getting sick. In WanPre, the plot kind of goes “well that was weird. Anyways.”

All that to say… WanPre felt very aimless. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing! Smile was very character driven and a lot less focused on the plot, and I love Smile! There’s nothing wrong with a slice-of-life story which wants to teach kids about animals. But in the plot and character department, that aimlessness made it difficult to care. Komugi only cares about the Niko Garden because saving the Niko Garden… kind of matters to Iroha? I guess? The stakes don’t feel well-defined.

But with Kimi to Idol, suddenly the stakes are there again! The mascot is FROM the location that is currently in danger. The looming threat of a known villain is back. People that the Cures know and care about are in danger. And the Cures already feel like three-dimensional characters. Uta loves to sing, wants others to smile, but can be a bit airheaded and goofy. Nana is skilled at the piano, but struggles sometimes with courage. She makes a mistake, completely freezes up, and is afraid to try again until she receives encouragement and remembers her love of the instrument she plays. Kokoro is excitable and creative (I’m willing to bet she made those standees and posters herself), and she prefers to carry her troubles alone. She dances to take her mind off of things, something that can be very real for someone with performing arts hobbies. Already the main girls have multiple, specific traits you can list off to distinguish them from one another, and I’m excited to see where this season goes. I hope they can keep delivering on these good character beats, because THAT’S a big reason as to why I watch Pretty Cure

[theliterarywolf]

So, a few weeks ago, a good friend asked me for some book recs.

I also got a few asks regarding book recs.

So, I just decided to swaddle two birds with one stone and make a large post to cover both bases. Though, for full transparency, a good portion of the books on here lean pretty heavily into 'currently reading' with a decent portion of 'oh my God, I love this book to ribbons!!'

I say that to acknowledge that some of the books or series in this collect, while I will recommend them, I myself have not finished.

Okay? Okay.

Read More because this got so long that I'm going to need to break it into parts that I will make a masterpost for when it's done.

Part 1:

Lily Mayne's Monstrous series.

So, when I first got gifted a Kindle Fire, after I had the dismaying realization of 'wow, barely any of the software I use works on this thing unless I jailbreak it', I figured 'may as well hit up the Kindle bookstore'. And this series is one of the first that stood out to me after scrolling and scrolling and scrolling.

It's set in a modern post-apocalyptic United States where dimensional rifts has torn in several areas of the world, allowing for all matters of hellish, otherwordly monsters to seep in and absolutely wreck our shit.

Each book in the series centers around a human MC and how they've survived up to this point before meeting their monstrous sweetheart. For example in the installations Soul Eater and Edin (my personal favorites of the series out of what I've read), Danny is a young man who, after the loss of his mother, joins the military in a desperate attempt to survive and maintain any semblance of connection while Hunter, the MC of Edin, is a more weathered soldier who excelled in military service even after losing his leg to a monster attack and is on a deadly journey to save his kidnapped friend.

But, of course, it wouldn't be a series garnering my interest if it didn't include some manners of monsters. Soul Eater has Wyn, a death-like figure who has become the nightmare of the destroyed United States due to his cold deadliness in snuffing humans out at random. Or is there something going on behind these killings..? Edin has... Well, Edin: a lovable, giant, purple brute with a heart of gold and a penchant for fighting.

The chemistry that both monsters have with their respective human MCs is definitely what kept me reading, with the eventual smut being a bonus feature.

Now, you will remember I said that this is a series. I actually have six books from this universe: 4 out of 7 from the main series, two of the spin-offs. Some of the series' offerings are definitely better than the others. Honestly, the execution of Gloam, the fourth book in the main series, kind of dragged in a lot of areas which is why I haven't completed the set.

However, I would definitely recommend the first two books at least for a simple romp in a post-apocalyptic hellscape with feels and erotic moments sprinkled in.

Matsuri's Phantom of the Night

Which... I really need to start over. This manga series is currently my 'Complete Set Wanted' in regards to collecting and while I did manage to buy the first five volumes... I haven't finished volume 3.

Not to say that the series is bad, I would not have collected as much as I did if it was. I just need to sit down and get back into it.

That being said, what the hell is it?

Well. Imagine Petshop of Horrors but instead of selling animals, a mysterious young business owner runs a hotel where he bargains in 'secrets' from his guests.

… Actually, wait a minute: both this manga and Petshop of Horrors are written by artists named 'Matsuri'!! What the hell?!

My mindblowing realizations aside, the art and the 'Pretty Horror' of this manga along with it being a mysterious horror anthology is definitely what drew me in. Again, I have been waiting a decade for either a new Petshop of Horrors anime adaptation or for Matsuri Akino to reappear and finish the story. I am desperate for this kind of manga.

The characters really stand out here: we, of course, have the owner of the hotel who I would best describe as if Ai Enma from Hell Girl had a twin brother who was raised by Count D (Petshop of Horrors) and Yuko Ichihara from xxxHolic. But he himself has two assistants in the form of a stern, no-nonsense spider-spirit and a forgetful, lecherous corpse who has been reanimated by the spirits of butterflies.

All in all, fans of that 'Pretty Horror' method of story-delivery would definitely benefit from giving the first volume of this a read to see how it wets your whistle.

Hubert and Kerascoët's Beauty

The first of two books from this husband and wife duo, I actually have this one digitally because I could not find a physical offering nearby for the life of me.

The story follows a young woman who is seen as smelly and homely by everyone around her. However, after saving a fairy from a curse, she is given a wish. To which she immediately asks to be the most beautiful girl in the world.

The wish is granted... With a twist of course.

Did I forget to mention that this is a cautionary tale? Whoosie~

I know this write-up is shorter than the other two but, really, as with all of the works by Hubert and Kerascoët, this is definitely a work that tastes better from a first-hand exposure rather than someone else's review.

C. Rochelle's Not All Himbos Wear Capes series

As many who know me or have followed me for a while remember: I hate most superhero media due to the field just becoming so oversaturated over the years. So, it stands to reason that for me to recommend a series centered around superheroes, it must be something pretty darn special, right?

Well, C. Rochelle has crafted a world full of snark, heart, and sex with her collection of superheroes trying to mend the scars from their broken families through love from unexpected places.

The first of the series, the titular Not All Himbos Wear Capes, follows the sardonic marine biologist Xander (villain handle: Doctor Antihero) finding his unexpected other half in the form of the embodiment of golden retriever energy Butch (superhero handle: Captain Masculine) after being setup on an impromptu booty-call thanks to his interloping 'bestie'.

While, on paper, the story would promise nothing but superhero trope deconstruction, what we actually get is a series that acknowledges the bombastic, ridiculous nature that makes up the genre with some genuinely heartwarming moments here and there. A progression that continues on into the second book of the series Gentlemen Prefer Villains, which follows Xander's older brother Wolfgang and his new assistant.

Now, similar to my write-up on Monstrous, I have not read all the books in this series. However, it's because the third book's synopsis didn't really interest me and I think the story works just fine with the first two books. However, give the first book a shot and see how it treats you.

Rafael Nicolas' Angels Before Man

Is... the first in the 'Books I highly Recommend Even Though I Myself Have Not Finished Them' category. Because what Nicolas has crafted with this novel is a beautiful, decadent world adorned with the vines of interpersonal dilemma, identity, and the nature of desire: not just sexual or romantic, but the desire for what we as individuals really want from our lives.

… All found in yet another reimagining of Lucifer's fall from Heaven.

Yeah, admittedly, there are a lot of these out and about in the world right now, but Angels Before Man stands on its own in being a more... mature look at reimagining the account. Not from a matter of 'uwu, baby the poor li'l bean' or 'ha, this raunchy comedy sure is funny' but more 'oh, he is literally just living the best life he can given his circumstances and duty but it is going to hit the fan and when it does it is going to HURT'.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this rec list... Hopefully tomorrow!

[themattress]

The Evolution of Yu-Gi-Oh! Villainy

Thinking back on this post from @ultraericthered, It's interesting to note that Kazuki Takahashi developed in how he wrote villains as the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga progressed.

Let's look at how he initially wrote villains, shall we?

They're all the same type of one-dimensional, psychotic, horrible person. It gets old fast.

We then get a pair of two-parters with a slight step up.

Kaiba and Hirutani respectively are still one-dimensional, psychotic, horrible people, but they actually feel dangerous. Yami Yugi has been owning every other shmuck with relative ease; he honestly came off as more frightening than they did! Kaiba and Hirutani, meanwhile, show a more calculating and intelligent side to them that allows them to pose a genuine threat.

Then there's Takahashi's first attempt at a "Big Bad": Shadi.

And Takahashi himself has admitted that he sucked. He tried so hard to make him mysterious that he just ended up being confusing and bland, with no charisma or even an identifiable motive for antagonizing Yugi and his friends. Takahashi himself hadn't actually thought of any concrete plans for Shadi or the story's lore beyond vague details at this point, so much of how Shadi is presented here and the things he does end up feeling contradictory to how the narrative develops later. So after this failure, Takahashi went back to making one-note assholes before bringing back one of the best of them and elevating him to Big Bad status.

Now with the first name of Seto, Kaiba worked beautifully as a Big Bad since he had a clear motivation, established history with the protagonist, and we already knew he was a threat, with the new additions of just how rich and skilled at games he is plus a backstory explaining why he is the way he is cementing him as the series' best villain to date without question.

However, he was still lacking a key element: charisma.

"What?", you may be saying, "The Hell do you mean; Kaiba's super charismatic!"

Kaiba post-Mind Crush is super charismatic, yes. He's even charismatic in the 1998 Toei anime adaptation, where he has green hair and is more of a classy, scheming supervillain.

But originally?

He can pretend to be charismatic, particularly when he's playing for a crowd, but otherwise Kaiba is still the same charmless thug as before, and the actions he takes in this arc reach truly vile territory. Again, he's a wonderfully effective villain, but it's not because you love to hate him - you just hate him and want to see him brought down. You don't enjoy his villainy.

Once again, the arc is followed up by a few more one-off forgettable baddies, although at the end of that run we get Hirutani making a return appearance, now with a ratty sidekick named Nezumi who I feel like more could have been done with. And after that, he finally debuted.

Yami Bakura, while a step down from Kaiba in DEATH-T in terms of scale (feeling more akin to Kaiba in his debut two-parter instead), was when Takahashi finally managed to crack the charisma code. Yes, he's a psychotic asshole, but he carries himself with such conviction, schemes and plays games in such a meticulous way, and has such a sense of theatrical flamboyance and gallows humor that it's impossible not to be entertained by his twisted Dungeon Master antics. And unlike Shadi, he is mysterious the right way; you can tell there's a lot more to him that you don't know yet, but the arc foreshadows much of it impeccably, and as he goes on to be the main overarching antagonist of the whole series it's great to see him only become more dangerous until he successfully pays off all of his long-term planning.

And then...

Maximiilion J. Pegasus (Pegasus J. Crawford in the Japanese version) is the apotheosis of Takahashi learning to write villains. Like Shadi, he has crucial and mysterious ties to the overarching narrative, but like Yami Bakura it's done correctly. Like Kaiba, he's a large-scale corporate rich guy whom Yugi and his friends must fight through a dangerous game tournament to reach after he does something bad to Grandpa Moto, all while he monitors everything from his stronghold, and at the very end fully reveals a tragic backstory that explains but does not excuse him. Like Yami Bakura, he is insanely charismatic and you enjoy watching him even when he's doing the most dastardly things. And to take things a step further, he is directly connected to all of those prior Big Bads: he got his Millennium Eye from Shadi personally, he is colluding with Kaiba Corp which only became possible because Yami Yugi defeated and Mind Crushed Kaiba in DEATH-T, and he ends up killed by Yami Bakura!

I won't be talking about Mr. Clown, because ultimately he's just a decoy while Yami Bakura, under the guise of being an ally now, makes crucial progress in his big overarching evil plan.

Then we get the disappointment that is Marik Ishtar.

No, not that Marik Ishtar! He's actually great! A slight step down from Pegasus but a major step up from Mr. Clown, Marik is a different sort of villain: a distant, shadowy evil mastermind behind a criminal organization engaged in a conspiracy across Domino City. Marik is threatening, charismatic, and interesting: increasingly so as we learn his backstory, discover his blood ties to Ishizu, and see him enter a deliciously sinister alliance with Yami Bakura.

But then...

Not only does Yami Marik come out of nowhere, but his character can be summed up here:

Now, these kinds of crazy, evil-for-evil's-sake, "I wanna destroy everything" villains can be done well. But I'm sorry, I just don't think Takahashi knew how to do so. Yami Marik is boring. He's not remotely charming or engaging in his vile villainy, he is overpowered to an irritating degree, and he only serves to further complicate and elongate what was already a very complicated and elongated story arc. It feels like Takahashi was going to carry Marik all the way through but then gave him such a dark and sad backstory that he felt sorry for him and wanted to redeem him, but couldn't think of a viable way without inventing this even eviler alternate personality to serve as a scapegoat. So I am absolutely not a fan of Yami Marik....

...in the original manga.

Yes, for all that the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters anime adaptation screws up, it can sometimes fluke into improving on the source material, and Yami Marik is one of the biggest examples. Animation and voice-acting single-handedly change him from a boring villain to a wonderfully entertaining one; devouring the scenery and coming off more feral monster than serial killer.

Finally, we have Zorc Necrophades and Akhenaden.

Zorc is the standard Final Boss villain who has been built up to for a long time, and he serves that role very well. But Akhenaden is where the real interest lies. He's essentially Takahashi writing a Shakespearean tragic villain: a complex man both loathsome and pitiable, whose understandable desires and conflicting emotions lead him down a dark path that ends with him losing his humanity and becoming a hollow vessel for Zorc's soul, fueled only by hatred. Additionally, he has deep connections to all prior Big Bads and to Yami Yugi himself. He is worthy of Ultimate Villain status (which the Duel Monsters anime sadly took away from him).

My ranking of the manga's Big Bads: Shadi < Mr. Clown < Yami Marik < Marik < Kaiba < Zorc/Akhenaden < Bakura < Pegasus (would've been Kaiba < Marik if not for Yami Marik).

[unnecessary-dinosaurs]

*Long, exasperated sigh*

Ok. Chaos Theory season two review.

Spoilers below the cut. This might be a long one.

When this show was first announced, I was thrilled. The characters that meant so much to me would be coming back in a new series. I almost cried once after the first teaser leaked because I was just so excited to see Darius again. I was admittedly a little nervous too. Camp Cretaceous ended on such a good note. Did we really need a continuation? Going into the first season, I was cautiously optimistic.

Then it came and went. I liked it fine, but it wasn’t the same as Camp Cretaceous. In the following months I felt the years long grip JWCC had on me start to loosen. So by the time this season two came around, I was the least excited I ever had been for a new season.

For all of its run, Camp Cretaceous was so good because it simply refused the flaws of the current Jurassic movies. Where the JW trilogy prioritized action, JWCC prioritized the characters and their bonds. Where JW treated dinosaurs like scary monsters, JWCC treated them like animals. Where JW didn’t know when to end, JWCC ended when its story was finished.

Chaos Theory feels like this side story finally adhering to the rules of the franchise. The characters take a backseat to convoluted plots and mature dinosaur action. The story continues even though it doesn’t need to.

I’m not saying the season is horrible or even bad. I just feel like this show, despite its many strengths, hasn’t yet justified its existence to me. If you’re going to uproot the amazing ending of the first show, it has to be for good reason. And I’m just not convinced yet.

First, what I liked about the season:

-The first episode was genuinely so good. Like seriously amazing stuff. Great atmosphere and tension and sets up the rest of the season nicely.

-Brooklynn!! My least favorite camper in JWCC was my favorite this time around. Her flaws were layered and interesting and her motivations were compelling. Her flashback episode was my second favorite. Her relationship with Ronnie was good, and I consistently found myself drawn more to her side of the story.

-This kind of goes without saying but the art direction is still just so good. The lighting is so perfect, the models and the way they move are perfect, everything is just really nice visually.

-I liked the ending. I was worried that everyone would be happy and reunited by the end of the season and it would be too easy, so I’m glad they’re stretching out the conflict.

-The video call scene in episode three. It was just really cute. Good cute moment.

Ok. And now what I didn’t like so much:

-I feel like nothing happened this season? Like all the information in these ten episodes could have been condensed to five. Just really frustrating pacing. Felt like a lot of filler (a whole season of filler).

-I’m just really upset with how the characters were written. Why were none of them (except Brooklynn) interesting? Who even are these people? Why do they have the most generic dialogue ever? Like, I’m expected to care about Kenji, but that’s just literally not Kenji. He doesn’t look, sound, talk, or act like Kenji. Why is his character just being angry and making bad puns now? Why is Ben so boring? Arguably the most interesting character in JWCC is just some guy now? I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this but I can hardly be convinced to feel for these versions of the Nublar Six.

-The new characters were ok at best. They were all serviceable and likable, but I just couldn’t really understand why they were there. Zayna was completely fine, but I saw no reason for her to tag along the entire season. I really just don’t think she contributed much besides acting as a tour guide. The scientist guy was just completely one dimensional. Evil scientist. That’s the character.

-And the best new character from last season just never came back. Where was The Handler? She was such a highlight last season and she had one scene. Bummer.

-The Camp Fam finding out that B is alive was so underwhelming? It felt random and undeserved. There was little build up so what should’ve been a really important moment didn’t have much gravity for me.

-I get what they were trying to do with the hippos and lions but I just don’t really care, sorry. I’m watching Jurassic World, I want to see dinosaurs. I at least appreciate the thought though.

-I wish Brooklynn’s plot hadn’t been faking being bad to get cozy with Santos. It felt like a rehash of Darius pretending to be with Kash in season four of JWCC. A much better rehash, yes, but a rehash nonetheless. I just wish they’d done something more interesting there.

-There were several plot points from last season that were hardly/never brought up. Darius’s crush on Brooklynn, Ben’s girlfriend, Sammy and her family, etc. Why?

I have more stuff I could say but I don’t want it to seem like I think this is the worst season of tv ever. Or even the worst season in JWCC/CT. There’s a lot of genuinely good stuff in here, I just feel like it gets meddled with all the junk being in a franchise comes with. Camp Cretaceous avoided it to an extent, but eventually, it caught up. I know a lot of people like this show and I’m happy for them, but I’m just not one of them. I hope my complaints are addressed in future seasons, but honestly, I won’t count on it.

[neilgill]

Wish Defense I: The 'Complaints'

“Be to her virtues very kind, Be to her faults a little blind.” ― Matthew Prior

Disney's Wish was actually great and I'm here to defend it.

I'd like to start by negating most of, if not all, the 'complaints' this film's been getting. Please join me as I do this in 12 brief points:

Asha is a great protagonist. She is not just 'quirky' or one-dimensional: she's caring, strong, beautifully flawed, and doesn't solve every problem on her own; the movie makes a point of every one of these. I never saw her as a clone of someone like Mirabel or Anna. And she does have a character arc: she matures and learns to work hard for what she believes in. She learns that doing the right thing is difficult, but it's necessary. All this makes for a beautifully put-together character that gets through challenges and comes out stronger. Why aren't people talking about how great that is?

Magnifico is a great villain. He's an amalgam of familiar villains like Maleficent, Ursula, and Gaston, done in ways that seem fresh and unique. I've seen a lot of people say his motivation seems to change every few minutes or so, but I disagree. Him using his traumatic past is his excuse for his bad behaviour: that's what narcissists do. Just look at Mother Gothel and all her gaslighting. He was always a self-absorbed jerk who wants everyone under his heel, and whose darkness just got revealed more and more. And his 'villain shtick' is a cool and terrifying one: stripping people of their hopes and dreams to make them docile subjects who depend on him. He takes away their agency, essentially their souls and who they are as people. That is the bad thing he's been doing from Day 1, it's what makes him a villain: the film tells us that. How can people defend him? It's like people defending Gaston all over again. He's a great villain in that he goes against the values the story holds dear, challenges the protagonist in personal ways, is wonderful to hate, and is rightfully depicted as in the wrong for doing bad things. He's the selfish one, not Asha as the 'critics' are claiming. Why aren't people talking about that?

Star is a great secondary character. He is intentionally supposed to be a character that harkens back to those like Jiminy Cricket or Timothy Q. Mouse (I have a very personal connection with Dumbo, so this was important to me). People are REALLY misinterpreting that concept art of them: Star and Asha were never supposed to have a romance because Human Star would look like her grandfather. And 'Starboy' would just be a copy of Peter Pan or Genie, which people would definitely slam, thus I'm glad they changed him. See point 11 for more on Star and why his current form is the one they went with. People just care about having a Jack Frost clone (if they did go that route, they'd probably be slammed for copying Dreamworks, knowing 'critics'). The idea of a mute, magical sidekick, something that we haven't seen since Tinker Bell, is a pretty fun one that feels new and cool. And it's important to note that he never grants anyone's wish: he just helps out, letting Asha and others know that they themselves have to make it come true. Why aren't people talking about that?

I was really worried Valentino was going to be little more than a gag, but he wasn't. He helps out here and there, especially when aiding the Teens in freeing the wishes, proving his importance to the narrative. Plus I did find him pretty funny.

The Teens do stand on their own. I went into the movie knowing they were going to be new versions of the 7 Dwarfs, but each of them felt like their own unique person to me, especially Dahlia and Simon.

The animation is gorgeous: you have to watch it in HD or 4k, which people are doing for other films like Spider-Verse or Nimona, just not this one. It is far from 'lazy' or 'Disney Junior level': it harkens back to art styles Walt Disney himself loved. I can't believe they managed to replicate the feel of classic Disney backgrounds, like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, so perfectly with modern technology. It looks like a painting, or a tapestry. Disney movies are still beautiful. Why aren't people talking about that?

The music is great: I've caught myself singing every song at least thrice. Each song brings something to the table. 'This is the Thanks I Get' fits Magnifico's character, and is something in the same vein as Gaston's song; you cannot tell me that one rent line is worse than 'nobody spits like Gaston'. I still get chills listening to 'This Wish' and its reprise. I don't know how people online are starting to think it's a bad song, but now others are just jumping on the bandwagon. You can see Asha's love and struggles within the song, and it even has the melody of 'Part of Your World'; how can you hate that? I've seen so many people personally connect with that song, myself included... Why aren't people talking about that?

'At All Costs' was never a love song between Asha and Star: Julia Michaels just wanted a love song (find that Variety article), and now it can be used for all kinds of love. I actually did tear up watching that sequence for the first time, seeing Asha hold her grandfather's wish dearly in her arms. I've seen people say it reminds them of what a parent would sing to their child, like 'You'll Be in My Heart', and I think that's just so wonderful and heartfelt. Why aren't people talking about that?

I don't have the actual post, but I'd like to bring attention back to what an artist on the film said: every 'Easter Egg' is meaningfully placed, a tribute to what has inspired generations. Not one of them felt shoehorned in to me. This movie is a tribute, a love letter, a celebration of what people have loved for 100 years. Why aren't people talking about that?

Magnifico's defeat is far from silly. It makes sense given the rules the world of the film runs on: the fact that 'we are made of stars' is a good Chekov's gun that carries a lot of meaningful importance. Each of us is special, each of us has magic, and each of us has hope. And this is where evil dies and good endures: Magnifico cannot comprehend that anyone but himself is worth anything, thus why he cannot quell this and it is the reason for this downfall. He, the villain, loses because he lacks the virtues the heroes possess. Why aren't people talking about that?

The story of this film is special: as confirmed by the staff, the film is an allegory for Walt Disney's life, and the story of Disney overall. Asha is Walt Disney, Star is Mickey Mouse: a magical force of creativity and inspiration that lights up a dark time. Because of the special nature of this, even though I'm a die-hard Disney fan, I'm fine with there not being any romance in this film (even though I'd like it back someday). This was intentionally made as a simple film à la Snow White, which was meant to be a happy, hope-giving film for people back in the 1930s. Just like this film is supposed to be now. One last time: why aren't people talking about that?

This is the first of a few posts I'll make defending this movie, so for other Wish fans out there, please stick around. I don't care if I get dragged for this: I'd rather stick up for my beliefs and defend myself my way than let online bullies like Schaffrillas, Aldone, or Astor Rhymemaster stop me from loving something I really enjoyed. I really hope this movie gets the Atlantis treatment and becomes a beloved cult classic down the line. Until next time.

[valkirswrath]

For better or worse YouTube has realised I'm a sucker for clips of dramatic scenes from animes, fight scenes in particular. So it was that last night I spent a few hours watching clips of solo leveling. I have some thoughts.

Disclaimer; these are my thoughts based on clips of the anime and some wiki reading to fill in the blanks, if I'm completely off the mark I'm sure you'll tell me so.

For one, this is one insane case of same face syndrome. Ignoring that most female characters have the same thin body shape with minor deviation only being found in height and hair, there's at least three characters close to the protagonist with such similar faces I couldn't tell them apart at a glance. Jin-woo's sister, Jin-ah, Cha Hae-in and Lee Joohee. It was honestly absurd, there were scenes with Joohee that I thought were scenes with Jin-ah. At least Hae-in has short hair. But it lended itself to a feeling that these characters were interchangeable from a visual language standpoint, held together by their proximity to Jin-woo.

The bigger thing that really struck me again and again was how the story was just pure male power fantasy. I've been watching a lot of Jessie Gender recently so the hero's journey and it's issues are bouncing around my mind, which is why it stuck out to me. Ultimately this kind of power fantasy show is common, it's what a lot of shonen is. But I'll be honest this feels closer to harem isekai like in another world with my smartphone than it does I dunno, mha?

Gonna start approaching spoiler territory here folks, heads up.

Like okay, we've got the wimpy weak kid getting a second chance with an op system letting him grow in unprecedented ways. When he gets suddenly buff in the hospital he immediately has the nurses fawning over him. He's often portrayed as the silent protector type not wanting to tread on other group's turfs but still stealthily helping them out to not you know, die. But most often he's shown doing one of four things.

1) strategising (very video game nerd style a bit like Ainz in overlord? My pool of references is limited).

2) fighting through impossible odds with sheer determination and anger

3) badass ruthless killer mode fighting (I put the sparring match with Goto under this too)

4) protecting someone (usually women but not always).

It's a story explicitly about individualistic self growth, gotta get stronger, survival of the fittest kill or be killed. He literally raises his dead foes as shadows to fight with. Most female characters are sidelined in fights, or need to be protected, or are fawning over him, or fall in love with him over him not smelling bad (okay that's just Hae-in).

I do like that he genuinely does break down in tears when he manages to cure his mother's illness. Parental bonds in media are always fraught for me due to my own issues on the topic, but the way he let's the dam break and the pain and emotions and tears flow free at seeing his mother smile is good. Props for that. He's allowed to let the stoic facade drop and be vulnerable in that moment at the very least.

Overall though I am left thinking about how toxic the mentality and fantasy displayed here is. Toxic, and one dimensional. This is a pure power fantasy character, a male ideal for the presumably male reader to project onto. Strong, ruthless to protect his family, self sacrificing to support them, not overly attention seeking, always looking kind of fashionable in his modern clothing and beyond conventionally attractive without seeming to acknowledge it. I want to intuitively compare him to other op as fuck protagonists because the comparison writes itself. But how does he compare to contemporary super op protagonists like Saitama, Mob, Ainz?

Well, not particularly favorably imo. All these characters have flaws, some more than others. Mob psycho and one punch man are shows deconstructing ultimate power and the interesting parts of the characters are how they deal with that and what it does to their personalities. Mob is incredibly kind and empathic, he's anxious to the point of stunting himself emotionally cause he fears the damage his powers can do. Saitama is bored out of his mind and takes nothing seriously cause why would he, he's practically invincible. Even Ainz in overlord, a show that is a power fantasy isekai where the fantasy is being an evil overlord, is regularly shown to be insecure and posturing his way to success, thanks to his incredible power and the forces he commands. He's Mr impostor syndrome who, despite his now undead nature, still host an urge to play the hero and help people as seen in his alter ego Momonga, and he is prone to fickle fits of cruelty when what he cares about is threatened.

What is Jin-woo's flaw? Cocky overconfidence? Callousness? Those are shown to be positives in the context of the story. He ruthlessly cuts down and then raises into his service another human that's mad at him just to get a strong soldier in the fight. He has flaws sure, but they're never highlighted or confronted in the story at least not from what I've seen. And his callous disregard for other people is not even consistent! When he raises Byung-gyu as a shadow to heal Hae-in of her wounds, he has a powerful healing shadow in his repertoire. But at the request of another of the S-rank hunters he releases the shadow of Byung-gyu. It would have been so much more interesting if he refused. If they'd allowed him to ignore the request cause the shadow was too strong of an addition to his forces.

TL;DR Jin-woo is a boring character with no real flaws, the way the story treats women is reprehensible, it's pure male power fantasy glorifying the strength of the individual and a might makes right ideology. But fuck me if the fight scenes ain't cool as hell. Jin-woo vs Beru compares favorably to Saitama vs Boros to me.

[orvdiscrepancies]

What’s your opinion on the live action trailer? No pressure.

I don’t know how trigger warnings work on tumblr but this has a discussion about guns and why I think it was a bad story decision.

Oh do I have thoughts.

I just plainly don’t like it. Like I think the setting as far as we’ve seen is cool. They did well on set design, but also the story takes place in mostly real places so that does like half the work for them. I think it looks nice and I like the color grading they did.

I also don’t think they did too bad with the casting. Do I know anything about South Korean actors? No. I hardly know anything about American actors. But I looked it up so close enough.

I think Nana is a great choice for Jung Heewon. She absolutely fits the vibes. Ahn Hyo-Seop also looks great. Chae Soo-Bin looks great, I just wish they gave her a wig or something that more matches Sangah’s hair color. Her hair is pretty in the trailer though. I don’t know about Jisoo. I’m always the person that prefers teenaged/young adult actors for teenaged characters but oh well. Also her ponytail just looks weird for some reason. Lee Min-Ho is also good. Just make his hair better. It’s either too well maintained or too flat in the trailer lmao. Which yes, I know typically Asian hair is very thick and straight. Trust me. I have the really thick Asian hair. But have you see how Joonghyuk’s hair is drawn?? Give me back that fluff.

Now let’s talk about the guns in the room and why I don’t like them for various reasons:

1.

Why. Just- just why- why change it?? Like at all??? I know more about Japanese culture than Korean culture (it’s the anime obsession. I’d love to fix that though. I love learning about new cultures) but a quick Google search tells me that swords are very important in Korean culture too. I would assume so anyways cause they’re in the same region.

If it were Americans making this movie, I’d maybe say that it makes a LITTLE more sense they change it. Americans are stupid sometimes and don’t do the cultural research. However, these are Koreans! The director is Kim Byung-woo who I know nothing about but still!

2.

Due to the change in weaponry, it feels like they’re catering towards American audiences. Which like- again- why? There is absolutely no reason. Sure, there’s an American audience for ORV. How big is the audience? I’ve got no clue. But either way, just because stupid Americans wanna watch the cool Korean movie doesn’t mean you gotta dumb it down for us. We can handle cool swords. Hell we LIKE cool swords. Wanna cater specifically for American audiences? Shoot the movie in English!

3.

Yes, swords are cool. But there also tends to be a homoerotic undertone to two guys holding swords if yk what I mean. I know that’s not all it is. Plenty of other characters hold swords. But if you just look at Dokja and Joonghyuk- I mean-

Anyways, I’m not sure how LGBTQ+ content is accepted in other cultures. Philippines is pretty lax about it. Japan is conservative, but their anime/manga content doesn’t seem too concerned about exploring those topics. I’m not sure about South Korea. I’ve consumed exactly 2 pieces of Korean content not including the very little K-pop I listen to (It’s ORV and The Vegetarian by Kang for anyone curious). So it could be to further limit that, but I think it’s more likely to cater to American audiences. Don’t even get me started on Americans and minority groups.

4.

Guns are easily accessible in America. Like very easily. As in I have like 3 in my house right now and I could go down to Walmart and get some more if I wanted. I don’t. But I could. Not all Walmarts do this but I live in Texas around a bunch of woods so of course we’ll have guns in Walmart.

Logistically speaking, how would they get guns? Joonghyuk can MAYBE be excused. I think his inter dimensional coat regresses with him (which I’ll post a story discussion about that eventually), so maybe he has one in there. But where the fuck did teenager Lee Jihye get a whole ass AWP? And why is putting stickers on it such a badass move??

I don’t know how to feel about her staying in her school uniform either. On one hand, it makes sense cause that’s what we first saw her wearing in the novel/webtoon. For any audience members not paying attention, it makes sense to have her wearing the same clothes if she’s not going to be explicitly introduced as Lee Jihye: survivor of that high school. But on the other hand, it also makes sense that she changed into something more comfortable. She probably had clothes in her locker or whatever and Dokja changed his clothes every few arcs in the webtoon.

I’d also like to talk about what I’ve heard about the movie. Since I don’t watch movies often, I don’t typically pay attention to the news surrounding them, but I know they took out the dokkaebis which makes absolutely zero sense. The dokkaebis are the inciting incident in the story. It’s like taking Mushu out of the LA Mulan movie (which I also didn’t watch). Without them, it doesn’t make sense at all. How does the streaming work? What about the constellations? How does the world end? So many questions and so few answers.

Also in the trailer, the subway looks like it’s being thrown around for no reason?? I’m glad they kept Gilyoung in there tho. I don’t know who his actor is but I half expected them to not include him considering how much else they’ve changed.

All in all, I probably won’t be watching it for various reasons. Including but not limited to: I don’t watch movies often, the guns are stupid, and I don’t wanna.

Now here’s the thing. My friend got me into ORV via a passing comment last year. She was like “oh yeah I’ve been into ORV recently,” I didn’t acknowledge the message for another SIX DAYS before I picked it up saying Gilyoung is my favorite character and I would cry if he died.

So obviously, I went to this friend and I asked her for her thoughts on the trailer too because this hyperfixation is her fault. Reap what you’ve sown @moonlitideals

[Conversation with my friend on Instagram. Her drama was too silly to not just post screenshots.]

And she’s right. This movie would be the introduction to ORV for a lot of normal people. That’s a horrible first impression and we know that I care a lot about first impressions!

So anyways, neither of us like it ( *^^)o∀*∀o(^^* )

On the other hand, my mom (who watches k dramas) likes it, so my friend isn’t too wrong about drawing in the k drama crowd. But my mom also doesn’t know anything about ORV. She just likes the action lol.

[superkooku]

Maomao's family is awesome (part 1 : the dads)

I just watched the final episode of the anime.

I loved this conclusion, as well as the series overall. That's why I want to talk about one of my favorite parts of the series. While Maomao herself is a great protagonist, I find that some characters also deserve to be talked about.

Overall, KNH's secondary cast manages to be interesting. Each character is tied to the story's central theme and are quite complex (the tertiary cast is more one-dimensional, but it's expected).

But my favorite part of the cast is Maomao's family in general. They weren't that present in the beginning and their inclusion surprised me a bit. It's a different side of Maomao that I enjoyed seeing explored.

Luomen :

Maomao's relationship with Luomen is so adorable !

It's actually great to see her (openly) care about someone for a change, instead of only poisons and medication. We see her trying to help him get customers (like when Lihaku caught a cold) and distraught to learn he was banned from the palace.

She's very grateful towards him and it's easy to see why. He's patient, understanding and very skilled. I mean, the guy could study abroad, that was considered a rare offer for the most skilled. He taught her everything and thus, it justifies her advanced knowledge.

Overall, Luomen is a sweet man who would surely be very successful if he was more business savy (could he borrow some greed from the Old lady ?). I hope his finantial situation will better itself in the future, maybe by returining in the palace.

More about him in this article I found on the net.

Lakan

Omg, I did NOT expect to like Lakan as much as I did. Initially a very mysterious character, the reader/watcher slowly gets to know more about him. He challenges our main characters in a playful way, hiding his intentions behind a smile.

Seeing how disgusted by him Maomao was, I thought he did some truly morally low act, so I was kinda weary too. But... these last episodes totally changed how I perceive him. I'm SO glad I didn't spoil myself this part of the story.

The best way I could express the difference between my initial impression and the new one is the way he sees people.

I initially thought that him seeing people as go pieces represented his manipulative side, that he saw himself as the chessmaster, playing everyone else as he pleases.

While that isn't completely false, as this talent in chess was closely tied to Lakan became such a good strategist (to him at least), it isn't showcasing any bad intention on his part. He geniuenly struggles to differentiate people's faces, it's a handicap, not an ego thing.

Ironically enough, Lakan seems to be a quite clumsy man at times. He's (almost) unbeatable in go and is very capable of coming up with complicated plans, but falls short on a lot of other things, mostly his personal life and loved ones... kinda like Maomao and her skills as an apothecary.

He even got to get around his handicap thanks to his passion for go, seeing faces as different pieces instead of blurriness. The series could've just gone with the first interpretation : "Lakan is a way better strategist than anyone else, the puppetmaster (or so he thinks)". But it didn't.

The parallels between these two are so interesting that I could make a whole rant about it. Their relationship is, ultimately, a bit tragical : Lakan, contrary to a LOT of fiction fathers, didn't die or just go to buy milk on purpose. He was forced to go. Maomao recognizes he's not that horrible either, but... it's just too late. She can't see him as a father since Luomen is the one who took care of her. A complex story behind a simple explanation.

And his relationship with Fengxian... wow ! That was touching ! I never saw Lakan getting so emotional for anything, really. He seems to sincerely love her. That made him sympathize for him even more.

Edit : got more stuff for Lakan ! I forgot when he helped Maomao to get past the guard !!! The death glare he gave at that time was really intimidating... that guard is fucked, isn't he? Getting both the strategist AND Jinshi upset is not a good thing.

Speaking of Jinshi, this little rivalry between them is, so far, very simple but efficient. Yes, the trope of the dad who hates the boyfriend is cliche, but since Lakan CAN'T take care of Maomao and can't win her love, of course he's jealous of the guy who she lets near her. And he probably also feels protective about her too.

(don't worry, dude, Maomao is not fawning over the local pretty boy 😅. She's way more into poison, sake and bezoar than Jinshi.)

It's fortunate he's not jealous of Luomen, probably because they're related and he knows how good that man is. No danger here.

I'll make a part 2 about Fengxian, the other courtesans at the Verdigris palace and some conclusion later.

Meanwhile, some pictures :

[inamindfarfaraway]

you said in tags once that you were thinking abt a Charlie and the chocolate factory animated series where the other kids get redeemed?? tell me more??? pls??

Gladly! I’m so happy that you’re interested in this! Sorry this answer took so long. I probably should have posted about my ideas sooner, I’ve been sitting on them for a while. But I only started actually consolidating them into a document after getting this ask and then I got really perfectionistic about making it good and finishing each section before I shared it (I am writing a full Season One outline because God help me). I will share the Chocument in its own post soon! The word count is currently over 25k! So look forward to that!

For now, here’s the show’s premise, backstory and some character notes. As concise as I can be (not very). It’s mostly the story of Season One, the book retelling, that I’m still ironing out.

Many thanks to my mutual @cornfieldsrambles for being my supporter and sounding board on this from the start. You’re the best, Corn.

OKAY SO

Premise:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but it's a 2D-animated musical kids’ show called The Chocolate Factory. The foundational twists are that the characters are three-dimensional and the narrative doesn’t always take Wonka’s side. As a result, the tour goes differently. Charlie still wins and the four naughty kids still make mistakes and suffer for them, but this time we actually see them learn; they have redemption arcs and recover from the bad parenting that shaped them. The adults are held more accountable, rather than portraying the kids as innately problematic. Charlie also has more agency, flaws and an arc. By the end of Season One, the Golden Ticket winners all apprentice under Wonka together as a team and start to become friends. My aim is to keep (a charitable, idealistic interpretation of) the spirit of the book intact while applying realistic psychology, dynamic character writing and a deeper, more nuanced approach to morality. 

Major themes: childhood and maturity, parenting, morality, responsibility, creativity.

The original story is so mean-spirited and many retellings escalate that even further. Why not try retelling it kinder and fairer?

Backstory:

It all started with my reblog of this post on the 9th of May, 2023.

The arguments were compelling, and inspired me to imagine a rough AU idea in the tags where the five kids become a team under Violet’s lead.

Corn loved these tags so much that they drew fanart(!!!!! ☺️🥰). Completely unprompted.

Then, after I gave some character design ideas, beginning to see this AU as my own continuity from the start despite the original post being specifically about the 1971 movie:

Their enthusiasm and our delightful DM exchanges are why just another one of my countless tag rambles grew into a large, prolific chocolate plot bunny. Many aspects of those character designs are now outdated, but I still like art style.

I have since reconsidered my dismissal of Charlie - the 2013 musical handles him really well, which inspired me a lot - he will be the protagonist of the series. He's also finally black, as Dahl wanted but his editor forbade! He is my precious little boy. I love him. (Though the show often basically has an ensemble cast, hence the title just being The Chocolate Factory because all the main characters are of similar importance and develop relationships with the factory.)

He and Violet are both foils to Wonka, reflecting the two main sides of his personality, the altruistic artist and the shrewd businessman. Each of the kids has something in common with him, but they have the most. Recognising himself in the naughty kids, having his expectations about how the tour will play out defied, seeing the good in humanity again and getting a support system who force him to deal with issues leads Wonka to improve himself to an extent; he never stops being a amazing, unsettling mad genius with an unconventional moral code, but he gets less cynical and self-righteous about it. I don't want to get into loads of detail here, but I'm trying really hard to do his iconic, captivating personality justice while somewhat deconstructing and then reconstructing it. He also doesn't have a backstory. He just Is. But he can Be a better version of himself.

The Oompa Loompas are fairies! Like, traditional folkloric fey. Creepy They're mostly controlled by the time of the story, because they have a deal/debt arrangement with Wonka and are directing their energy to working for him instead of kidnapping or cursing people, but they will cause problems if they're offended. Wonka Gets them. That should tell you a bit about him. Oh, and their magic has nothing to do with why his products are like that. While they use it for their jobs, the actual chocolate making and most of the factory's technology is all him and he says it's just science.

I'll save most information about the kids for later, but I will say that Augustus Gloop is very different. He's always the simplest of them, even across all the adaptations. Just a cruel fatphobic joke. So I'm pivoting his whole character away from gluttony. He does have issues with food, but they're more symptomatic of deeper problems and related to fatphobia and toxic diet culture's effects on mental health, and they're not his defining trait. His real fatal flaw is envy, and he might be one of the most complex and tragic characters? I just. I have to handle him with care, but my vision for him feels worth existing.

Thanks again! I hope that this taste of my project was a sweet one, and that I reach a place where I can share the Chocument soon (oh my God, is this a real pitch bible? What am I doing?).

[fanalisgyaru]

Wakfu Rant / Questions 

Same deal 2

So turns out that in 1990’s and early 2000s animated shows was at it’s peak whatevers out there now IT SUCKS no matter what country the animation is sooo bad it’s basically like a bit faster moving stop motion of.. well papers. But none hurt me as much as the degradation of the wakfu artstyle. In season 3 it’s flat & lacks any colors (also due to it’s setting) I hated that they made the characters look more 1 dimensional somehow also cartoonish and with those horrible versions of anime reaction faces from shows like totally spices and what not but they also removed everyones fangs that was a big NO for me, so then they finally come out with season 4 right okay I get it they had budget problems which was definitely made worse by changing up the story/plotline & lore all together all the time because of the ToTs weird own desire to create a Telenovela instead of you know what wakfu actually is ( you know he would make Amalia & Yugo do it onscreen if someone allowed it like I don’t know what to tell ya the mans obsesssed ). Look I could've ignored the flat, colorless, lifeless & jaggy animation and the less than half assed character re-designs ( Nora’s really killed me 💀) I would've let everything slide, could just swept it under the carpet IF HE JUST actually ended Yugo’s and the eliatrope/mechasm STORYLINE!! (those are cannon he can’t just throw away the whole reason they fled their home planet & the reason the eliacube exist) ”cough” then he could’ve gone on and created as Many horny cartoon characters and their seperate stories as he wanted the hell is he branding whatever season 5 is as wakfu who he think he fooling, see that’s what I don’t get who except him wanted this, people to my understandig wanted wakfu they waited for a long overdue ending to a beloved story/show at least that’s what people paid for and they were promised 2 ovas originally when they paid right? and one of those was supposed to be about the mechasms he could’ve just explained it there buuut noo mr. ”i wanna see 👽 🌸 shakalaka boom” scrapped it so he could expand on whatever the hell Oropo was which didn’t work because Oropo just doesn’t make any sense the Oropo and all them brothers plot thingys have as much volume as a McDonalds big mac you can pretend it’s as big as in the commercials but the truth hits ya when you set your teeth to take a bite, screw all them Oropos they’re hollow characters, also didn’t Oropo kinda lie/trick all his brotherhoodies just so he could get a chance to pluck that 🌸 ?

nobody needs ice dude resurrecting nah man f%ck that 💀. 

What I wanted to know/see was THE PLOT about Yugo the eliatropes their kingdom about the councils pasts like how was it leaving their only home, they didn’t know if there even was an inhabitable planet out there and how was their culture, how did they live, how did an alien race adapt to a whole new atmosphere. What was the last moments like when they understood their impending doom, that fighting would be futile and choose to sacrifice themselves to save their young ones? Now that’s a intriguing story, expanding or in this case explaining lore is one of the most enjoyable things about stories why do you think dragon ball got so many volumes people like knowing more about the universe they become interested in (and action fights) but you get the point.

It would still have villains (the mechasm/Qilby?) which could’ve been really cool exploring what/why they were doing things ?? what they did..? Why did the eliacube team up or whatever with Qilby. Because the story with the world of twelve in the wakfu era was basically over as was the Percedals story since ToT gave up on the whole demigod children thing and the other plots that could’ve been just so he could find a way for yugo&amalia to smash. He wanted angst? imagine what it would be like if the eliatrope council got resurrected, how could they or the remaining eliatrope people live with Qilby if they found out what he did in the past that’s your angst tortured Yugo right there, would he and Nora keep what they know a secret but for how long could that go on, speaking of Qilby what does he know exactly like that would really been worth expanding on? I’d like to know.

That’s a Telenovela for you. the possible drama between the siblings (the Amalia thing could’ve been a side thing or something i don’t know but she doesn’t have a reason to trust Qilby either so more angst for Yugo since ToT really seems to like that)

But a story like that needs a competent writer also reusing Qilby as a villan in a flashback would been better since that’s the main story, he’s reusing the same ice dude villan anyway again except he’s also Nox now for some reason also the plant kingdom is in a pinch again so Yugo he is gonna have to do something about that. The plant kingdom in a pinch has been the storyline of season 1 & the ovas & season 4 and most likely season 5…

[heterocaine]

Holy carp Senja… all of your stuff looks so cool!

Sorry if these questions comes off as unoriginal, but what mainly inspired your art style, and how did you come up with ideas for your stories (in the sense of a general outline of the plot and coming up with loose story beats)

Whenever you get a story idea, do you think of the characters first, the setting first, or the actual plot first?

Sorry if this is too much for you 💧^ ^

thank you ^_^ to be honest a lot of my stories started off as AUs of pre existing stories (children's heterotopia, crimson paradise) but then after a few weeks I turn them into their own things and give the stories a huge overhaul. while the other stories just naturally came to me (golden ichor, symphofanta, achtung baby) like.... Hey wouldnt it be messed up if you still have human-like struggles even though you're now technically dead? or for lighter ones, Hey I feel like writing a romcom between an alien and a human that's almost like a parody of cheesy YA stories and industry plant isekai animes.... something like that

I usually think of the characters first because laying out a set of characters, then creating the world they live in, then doing some writing to make them fit, makes storytelling much easier for me. the best I can say is that I like to play with parallels and cause-effect and make sure my main cast isn't one dimensional or Just There. take CH for example -- a character has a twin that works for the mafia that exchanges intel with her, another used to be cellmates with someone from a strong organization and they've been watching her for a long time, another was the childhood friend of one of the big bads of said mafia, etc etc. and they all live in 1950s california from a timeline that kind of deviates from ours. so then the actual plot comes in last because many of my stories are character-driven. the characters impact how the story goes, and they also impact each others' character development. that's why despite each story having the supposed main characters, I prefer focusing on the main cast equally because they have their own stories to tell too (this has been tons of fun considering the workplace buddies dynamic the sunset tribune of children's heterotopia has)!

as for art inspirations I've always been a big fan of works from authors such as shirahama kamome (witch hat atelier), naoki urasawa (monster, pluto, 20th century boys), and tatsuki fujimoto (chainsaw man). I think reading blue period by tsubasa yamaguchi years ago impacted the way I draw faces too. their writing styles are also very dear to me. there's also a lot of other artists I would mention but the list will be so so long!!! ultimately, I learn a little piece of something with every story I read, whether it's the writing, drawing facial expressions, angles, show-don't-tell imagery, etc.

once again, thank you for the ask! always excited to talk about writing stuff