#wow the demons which are one of the consistently evil forces in these games did something bad

[himbohimhoe]

Holding out hope that the writing in veilguard will get more bearable but rook saying to lucanis that it's "not nice that Spite hurt him" and he "shouldn't accept that it’s fine bc it wouldn't be ok if a person did that" like. That is a demon. Built off a single emotion called SPITE. Rook I am finding it really hard to believe that u have lived in thedas for more than 30 seconds.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: The League of Evil Exes

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is one of the greatest cult classics of the 2010s for a wide variety of reasons: it had great performances, it got a video game adaptation that didn’t suck, it had an awesome soundtrack, and best of all, it apparently ruined an entire generation of women! What couldn’t this movie do (besides make a profit at the box office)? Of course, more than anything, this movie delivered on the promise of its premise by having Scott Pilgrim fight against the seven evil exes of his manic pixie dream girl Ramona Flowers.

That’s right: There’s not one, not two, not three, but seven villains to talk about in this movie!

Thankfully, this massive amount of villains makes it a lot easier to talk about them, because each of them basically gets only a single scene with which to establish their characterization and deliver a fun, exciting battle. Still, it’s pretty interesting to look at them, especially since not all exes are created equal. As a note, I’m obviously not doing a “Best Scene” for these guys because... they basically have one scene each. It would be redundant.

Motivation/Goals: The League of Evil Exes has a very simple goal: to control the future of Ramona’s love life. As Lucas says during his battle with Scott: “The Seven Evil Exes? Coming to kill you? Controlling the future of Ramona's love life?” This is especially funny because Lucas is probably the least evil of the lot. While this is an incredibly simple motivation, it fits with the tone of the movie; this is a sort of a Bowser-esque motivation, one that perfectly fits a movie that is so steeped in video game culture.

Performance: Lets go one by one here:

Satya Bhabha is the first of the evil exes, Matthew Patel, and he really eases you into what to expect for the rest of the evil exes, though here “eases you into” means “grabs you by the balls and swings you over the head like a chimpanzee.” Despite his meager screentime, he makes the most of it, delivering a Bollywood-esque musical number complete with fireballs and demon hipster chicks and generally just hamming it up. This right here is just a warmup, though, because things get crazier from here – just like in a video game, really.

Lucas Lee, the second evil ex, is a big-shot movie star regarded as a pretty good actor by all who see him. Unfortunately, they got some unknown weirdo named Chris Evans to play him, but casting this obscure indie actor certainly paid off, because Lucas Lee’s smug, over-confident portrayal combined with his affable nature make him one of the most enjoyable characters in the movie. He really comes off as a cool, cocky guy who just happens to be going up against our hero as opposed to being an actual antagonizing force.

Todd Ingram is the other best evil ex, and much like Lee it’s mostly because he’s a pretty nice guy. However, the key difference is while Lee was cocky and affable, Ingram is just kind of a ditz. Played by one-time Superman Brandon Routh, he opts to go for the more subuded route, a cold ham as opposed to a large ham, and he definitely makes it work; I did call him the OTHER best evil ex, after all.

Then we come to Roxy Richter, played by Katara herself, Mae Whitman. She’s a very angry, tomboyish lesbian who gets in a lot of great lines and shows off a very jaded, irritated personality in her limited screentime. She’s definitely a lot of fun, though apparently she has a lot of elements of Envy Adams due to being combined with an early idea to make her Ramona’s evil ex in the movie.

The Katayanagi Twins. Ken and Kyle, are… nothing. Because Keita and Shota Saitou (Kyle and Ken, respectively) did not speak English, the twins have no lines and don’t really get to establish much of a presence before dying. It’s a bit unfortunate, because it becomes really easy to forget these two are here as a result.

Gideon Gordon Graves is a smarmy, smug, condescending jackass. You have met a man like him before, and you have wanted to punch his face in. Jason Schwartzman really amps up the sleaze when playing this creepy, controlling bastard, making him a fitting final boss.

Final Fate: Each and every one of them is defeated by the end of their scenes, bursting into progressively larger amounts of coins, with Patel being pretty meager in terms of value and Gideon literally making it rain when he’s defeated. It does kind of feel weird that the twins are worth more than a beloved actor like Lucas Lee, or that Roxy is worth more than both Lee and a musician like Ingram, but frankly this isn’t really a movie where you should be overthinking stuff to begin with.

Best Quote: I don’t think I can really say Patel or Gideon have amazing, quotable lines to the extent as some of the others, but I’d be pretty remiss to not mention Todd’s legendary “...Chicken isn’t vegan…?” and Roxy’s equally legendary “Well honey… I’m a little bi-FURIOUS!” here. Lucas Lee has a lot of good lines but he’s quite frankly too consistent for me to pick one; Chris Evans really just went all-out for this one.

Final Thoughts & Score: Once again, let’s go one by one:

Matthew Patel

Matthew is the definition of a warmup boss, at least by the standards of this film. He brings a lot of insanity to the table all at once, what with his demons and Bollywood musical number and sick dance moves, but the fact he’s probably not the most insane and baffling character in the film really tells you something. He definitely makes the most of his screentime, and while his fight is relatively short, it’s a lot of fun. This man deserves an S-L-ICK 8/10.

Lucas Lee

Lucas Lee is probably the second best evil ex in the movie. He’s just so cocky, arrogant, and hilarious, and he still manages to come off as a bit polite. Its like if Captain America and Ransom Drysdale had a baby, Lucas Lee would be it. The fact he’s played by a pre-superstardom Chris Evans really is the icing on the cake here though, because his battle is fun and ends with Scott defeating him by playing into his arrogance. Ah! But he didn’t get his autograph… Oh well. Lucas Lee is an easy 10/10.

Todd Ingram

As much as I love Lee, I have to say that Todd easily has the most impressive fight in the entire film, in large part due to his awesome psychic powers he gains from being a vegan. I gave one of his legendary quotes up there, but frankly, the entire battle is awesome and quotable, the fact that at least half the battle is a rock-off is great, and the fact Scott tricks him in the most stupidly amazing to defeat him and put him at the mercy of the Vegan Police is just amazing. There’s also just the sheer novelty of how, with the power in hindsight, we got to see Superman (Routh) dating Captain Marvel (Brie Larson portrayed Envy, Scott’s ex and Todd’s girlfriend and bandmate). Todd is just a perfect, lovable idiot villain, and deserves nothing less than a 10/10.

Roxy Richter

Roxy actually gets to show up twice in the film, getting a brief scene with Scott a while before her identity is revealed. While her screentime doesn’t really amount to much, it really is incredible how much characterization they managed to pack into her limited screentime, her dialogue really selling how she is easily the most bitter and angry off all the exes. She seems genuinely hurt at some points that Ramona left her and considers her just a phase, though this of course doesn’t stop her from trying to ruin her life. In a weird way, I’d almost call her the most complex of the exes, and Mae Whitman does a great job at selling her. I will say though, despite her fight scene being filled with some of the best dialogue in the film (which is saying a lot, mind you), the overall fight is a little lackluster, and Ramona getting in makes it reek of “designated girl fight.” Still, there’s nothing so egregious about her that I’d give her anything less than a 9/10.

The Katayanagi Twins

These two, quite simply, suck. They get absolutely no characterization, they get no dialogue due to the actors not speaking English, they get no personality. They are, quite simply, just there, and they are just there because Scott needs to fight a fifth and sixth ex. There’s really not much to say here except that their fight scene is admittedly pretty cool and it’s fun to imagine how the hell their relationship with Ramona worked. Did they date her one after the other? Were they in a weird poly relationship? Did they both just spitroast her on the weekends? For those two things I’ll save them from the very bottom of the barrel and give them a 2/10.

Gideon Gordon Graves

Gideon is a smug, evil, controlling creep for sure, and he is the final evil ex Scott must face. But the thing is, he kind of doesn’t feel any more wieighty than any of the others? Gideon is for all intents and purposes the final boss, and while he does get a little buildup, it all comes in the final acts of the film. It certainly doesn’t make him a bad villain – he actually manages to temporarily kill Scott, and puts up more of a fight than any of the others – but considering how awesome Todd, Lucas, Roxy, and Matthew were in style and personality, Gideon kind of comes off as underwhelming. Yes, he is definitely the most evil of the exes, but he just doesn’t really have the “WOW” factor the others do. He’s an 8/10 for sure.

Well, I guess that’s it, that’s every villain in the mo-

Wait?

What’s this?!

Psycho Analysis: Nega Scott

…

[hoshigomi]

THUNDERBOLT FANTASY/AMAZING STAR☆KILLER ROUGE - Hoshigumi, 2018

Disclaimer: I can’t call this a review. I don’t really speak Japanese, and what I understand is sort of limited, so I don’t think it’s fair for me to put my thoughts and opinions out as a REVIEW. I absolutely did not grasp the entirety of this show and will not pretend I did.  I’m just someone who really loves Takarazuka, knows some Japanese, loves Hoshigumi more than air, is enthralled with Thunderbolt Fantasy as a show in and of itself, and was privileged enough to see this production four times. Here is a (very long) collection of thoughts!

THUNDERBOLT FANTASY~

This entire experience was a blast from start to finish.  When Thunderbolt Fantasy was announced as Hoshigumi’s tour show, I think a lot of us were rightfully CAUTIOUSLY CURIOUS about the entire situation, especially after we looked up the source material and found a PUPPET SHOW. I remember watching the first episode with a friend, having only the tentative top/nibante/top musumeyaku casting and thinking “wow that’s uh ambitious and confusing but I kind of love it.”  Well, reader, I can personally confirm that in the end, I more than kind of loved it.  I’m currently nine episodes into the TV series and what I can say is the Takarazuka production MOSTLY follows it so far, up until about episode seven, where they start making some sacrifices in order to fit a 13 episode TV show into an hour and some change stage production. Names are a bit confusing, and even the Takarazuka main website put up a glossary of terms, so you know you’re getting into Something before you even start. 

The BASIC, BASIC, BARE BONES PLOT is as follows (I am using the JAPANESE CHARACTER names for consistency):  

THE PLOT: 

Tan Hi (Kisaki Airi) and her brother, Tan Ko (Toudou Jun) are part of a clan that is tasked with protecting a sacred sword. Obviously, A Group Of Bad Guys™ led by Betsu Ten Gai (Tenju Mitsuki) followed by Ryo Mi (Arisa Hitomi), Cho Mei (Amahana Ema), and Zan Kyo (Ooki Makoto) ALSO want the sacred sword. Tan Hi and Tan Ko are ambushed and attacked by Zan Kyo, and Tan Ko (Airi’s character’s brother) is killed. Tan Hi escapes with the hilt of the sacred sword (hereafter: TENGYOKEN), but is in pretty bad shape. 

Meanwhile in the woods, Shou Fu Kan (Nanami Hiroki), a wandering swordsman, is trying to escape the rain and does so by taking an umbrella from over a Buddha Statue. Enter Lin Setsu A (Kurenai Yuzuru), a VERY CANONICALLY MYSTERIOUS AND VAGUE guy who immediately starts giving Shou Fu Kan grief for taking the Buddha’s umbrella, to which Shou Fu Kan replies, “If the stone Buddha gets wet, it will be fine, but if I get wet, I will catch a cold.” Touche, cute swordsman. Enter Tan Hi, still being pursued by Zan Kyo. Tan Hi is in very bad shape, and Shou Fu Kan fights Zan Kyo, Zan Kyo severs his own head.  After, in the land of evil, Betsu Ten Gai receives Zan Kyo’s severed head (really) and accesses his memory, the last of which is Shou Fu Kan giving his name immediately before Zan Kyo is beheaded. Betsu Ten Gai now is targeting Shou Fu Kan who obviously has something to do with the Tengyoken. Betsu Ten Gai sends his lackeys after Shou Fu Kan and co. 

I won’t go any more into the plot (and unfortunately Wikipedia can’t really help you), but if you’re interested I really recommend you watch the TV show, because it is INTERESTING. From there, Ken San Un (Rei Makoto) enters and joins the party because he is a classic cocky charming young boy protagonist who wants to make a name for himself, along with Lin Setsu A’s old “friends”, Shu Un Sho (an archer, played by Kizaki Reo), Kei Gai (a NECROMANCER played by Yumeki Anru), and Setsu Mu Sho, (a LITERAL SERIAL KILLER who wants Lin Setsu A DEAD, played by Mao Yuuki.) Every one of these characters has a complicated and not overtly stated motive, and NONE of them agree on any tactics which is further complicated by the fact that half of them aren’t even human and Demon Motives Are Different. The one thing they have in common is that they all want the Tengyoken out of Betsu Ten Gai’s hands. 

THE PLAY ITSELF:  This was an anime stage play. If you like anime stage plays, you will LOVE Thunderbolt Fantasy. If you have ever loved a video game, an anime, a fantasy story, or THOUGHT you might love a video game, anime, or fantasy story, this play is going to be FUN for you. I felt like I was INSIDE a game in the Final Fantasy series. The technical aspects of the show BLEW ME AWAY. The coolest lighting effects I have seen in my life are in this play. The set is effective at getting across where we are, and projections are used to pretty cool effect this time around, in my opinion. There are LITERALLY only three and a half sung songs in this entire musical, one being the title song sung by the main players, one being another T.M. Revolution song sung by Kurenai Yuzuru to introduce the rest of the characters, one beautiful sweet little half song sung by Kisaki Airi, and one being just something they gave Rei Makoto at the start of the show because she’s technically Hoshigumi’s nibante but you wouldn’t know it just from watching this show.  Which brings us to the cast!

THE CAST: PERFECT and weird. Kurenai Yuzuru as Lin Setsu A was honestly genius. I saw this production with a friend who knows only a little about Takarazuka, knows Beni tangentially, has seen one episode of Thunderbolt Fantasy and she said “that role was made for Beni.” He is sly and manipulative and FUNNY and his motives are ENTIRELY unknown. Beni sings what she sings fantastically, and it’s VERY good to see her slinking around the stage with a sly fox smile all the time.  Nanami Hiroki as Shou Fu Kan. I wouldn’t normally list her second, but in this case, she was the nibante role. I have NO idea why this didn’t go to Rei Makoto, except maybe because Kai can play a disgruntled but good natured adult man better than she can play a like spunky sixteen year old boy. Shou Fu Kan is the protagonist of Thunderbolt and they did NOT change that even ONE BIT for this play. The story directly relied on her action and without spoiling anything, the coolest stage magic and ridiculously anime moment I have ever seen in my life involved her center stage in the final battle, Making It Happen. She has pretty much The Last Moment in the show. She has one-liners and dry humor and handles stage combat INCREDIBLY. Shou Fu Kan is just a morally good guy who doesn’t want trouble and does want to Do The Right Thing. This role was AMAZING for her (I am biased.), and I can’t wait to see how the tour audiences take it. 

Kisaki Airi as Tan Hi. This is my favorite role I have ever seen Airi in. She was the best at stage combat in the entire troupe, and she acted her pants off. Her character goes through a lot of unecessary bullshit and suffering and she remains wholly likeable through it all. Her motivations are clear and her relationships with the other characters are believable and specific. She also has some really lovely comic bits.

Rei Makoto as Ken San Un. Coto was playing a spunky kid and honestly Coto was born to play spunky kids (but what wasn’t Coto born to play?) Ken San Un has an ego that IS backed up by skill, and he really just wants to Make A Name For Himself, Impress A Girl, and do the right thing. Her voice is as usual, killer, and her character is INSANELY charming, especially when interacting with Tan Hi. There’s a lot of complexity in this role too, and Coto handles it fantastically. They padded this role out a lot, which worked well and didn’t seem forced whatsoever, but even so, it was a solidly supporting role. Hopefully Coto got some well deserved rest in the process.

The rest of the roles were similarly well-cast. Hoshigumi’s focus on ensemble casts like they did here and with Another World REALLY do them all some favors. Tenju Mitsuki made short but crucial appearances as the MAIN VILLAN and got to show off the unhinged wildness that made her Mercutio so fantastic. Amahana Ema and Arisa Hitomi were good henchmen, Arisa Hitomi has a cool little fight and a costume with neat slits that make her movement interesting. The characters could have dealt with more development, but they’re also fairly one-dimensional in the show. Mao Yuuki as a serial killer was hard to buy, but she did what she could with a role that in the TV show is like stoic and, well, literally a puppet. Yumeki Anru kind of absolutely SLAYED being a hot demon with a whip, her interactions with fellow demonic entity Beni were true to the show, and she sings fantastically. Kizaki Reo is actually insanely handsome as the really gruff archer with (surprise) also dubious morals. Her voice also SHOCKED me in all the right ways. Other characters were played by everyone else, and the smaller cast meant that a lot of the kids got little moments in prolonged exposition scenes as storytellers or townspeople or evil henchmen. This troupe is in good hands with the younger ones, I think. Shoutout to EVERY ONE OF THE MAIN CAST (and Ruri Hanaka and Sumika Amane, playing TINY roles) for balancing weird puppet-inspired physicality and quirks from the show with like, actual human acting and movement.

AMAZING STAR ☆ KILLER ROUGE~

More of us have seen Killer Rouge, so this doesn’t need as much from me.  This production, as a tour, has gone through some changes. Notably, the postman number sung by Seo Yuriya/Honoka Kozakura/Seira Hitomi was cut (and literally none of those three were in this because of Bow Hall/injury (get well, Honoka ♥️ ). Solos sung by Toa Reiya/Hanagata Hikaru/Seo Yuriya were mostly distributed to Amahana Ema/Tenju Mitsuki/Kizaki Reo/Amato Kanon etc. The Nippon Seinenkan stage doesn’t make ANY sense for this revue, which originally made pretty nice use of stairs/the ginkyou/the SPACE they had in Mura and Tokyo.  Mask of Rouge got ANOTHER wig option and Nanami Hiroki seems to just be rotating through them entirely at her own chaotic will, which creates a really high stakes Russian Roulette Situation in terms of how Hot Mask Of Rouge Will Be.  The Rose of Versailes/Disgaea/Wonder Rouge section of the revue was SOLIDLY the most charming thing I have ever seen in my life.  Mao Yuuki has joined the Wonder Five audience participation bit in place of Seo Yuriya and Tenju Mitsuki is up there in place of Hanagata Hikaru. This troupe can ad lib like NO ONE’S BUSINESS or more accurately, Beni and Airi can ad lib like no one’s business, Coto occasionally has some bursts of inspiration, and Kai can’t begin to keep a straight face when put on the spot.  There are a lot of new numbers, and all of them are in my opinion, really Good. There’s also a LENGTHY Beniko/Aiko/Reiko ad lib section always beginning with some discussion about studying Chinese and always giving away the fact that Coto and Airi are working harder at that than Beni seems to be.  That said, Beni does have a REALLY BEAUTIFUL AND SIMPLE AND CLASSIC solo kuroenbi situation that is in Chinese and to my (English speaking ears) it sounds really good. We’ll see I guess.  Coto/Airi/Ema have a HEAVY METAL ROCK NUMBER that’s kind of hot and totally in all their powerhouse ranges.  The pegasus/everyone in multicolored outfits is really satisfying to me and would be to any other Hoshigumi fan despite the fact that I don’t love Toa Reiya’s taidan solo going to someone else (which I admit is just maybe because I loved Toa Reiya.)  There’s a cute little number (Timing) with Airi, Minato Rihi, and Yuunagi Ryou. Yuunagi Ryou is CUTE. The number is cute. The kickline was a little different and also involved some girls who weren’t in it originally because it’s not just the whole 104th class anymore and they needed to make up for THAT in a fierce way. Shoutout to all the girls who jumped in and killed it. ♥️ Ruri Hanaka specifically caught my eye and also had a nice solo in the whole costume party number.  Jounetsu no Arashi was replaced for whatever reason but the number thats in it’s place now is equally as hot and like involves some counting in Spanish and a lot of rowdy otokoyaku energy which is my single greatest weakness. 

For me, as a Hoshigumi fan until the day I die probably, Killer Rouge was incredible. So many people got little chances to shine, and the fun the actresses were having with it was PALPABLE. I loved the vast majority of the costumes and set pieces and little themed moments, and I loved the new numbers, and I did not miss the numbers that were cut (save for Jounetsu no Arashi because Coto licking her lips was pretty good.) I got to see the people I love most doing a revue that was so joyful and energetic and group-focused. I could not have asked for more. 

I’d give Thunderbolt Fantasy/Killer Rouge a 100/10, which will surprise no one who has ever met me. 

Thanks Hoshigumi, and good luck in Taiwan!

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 11/13/17

Anne Happy, Vol. 7 | By Cotoji | Yen Press – It’s sports festival time, and out heroines are doing their best to at least survive the events, though in Botan’s case that may be difficult. The volume consists of what you’d expect—everyone’s quirk is in full force, the Unlucky Class ends up very very far behind in the rankings, mostly as they’re up against a sports class that compete in national events. Sayama continues to attempt to get over her terminal shyness, and makes small strides. Small strides is in fact the point of this series, as the class in general is doing OK but not well enough to make it in the world. This may become more important later on. In the meantime, Anne Happy is unassuming and cute, with minimal ambition. If you enjoy cute girls falling over, you’ll like it. – Sean Gaffney

Black Clover, Vol. 9 | By Yuki Tabata | Viz Media – We wrap up the Battle with the Midnight Sun here, and our heroes spend some significant time recovering—though for Asta, that time may end up being far longer than he’d really like. We also end up seeing Yuno again. Remember Yuno? Asta’s rival who we saw at the very start of the series? He’s back, and of course is ridiculously strong. The rivalry between him and Asta has ridiculous amounts of BL tease, because this is a Jump manga, but I’m fine with that. There was also a nice non-reveal with a masked captain of Yuno’s unit, who turned out to be masked for different reasons than we’d thought. In any case, new arc should start soon, as we try to figure out how to heal permanent damage. – Sean Gaffney

Demon King Daimaou, Vol. 3 | By Shoutaro Mizuki and Souichi Itou | J-Novel Club – There is one reason that the jaded light-novel fan should give this book a try, and that’s the appearance of the villain, Mister X, who is over the top crazy and in his desire for villainy and despair that is “Art!” reminds me of nothing less than an evil Great Gonzo. Other than that, it’s situations normal at Daimaou, Inc. We get a bit more depth for Hiroshi, Akuto’s fanboy, but it doesn’t really work nearly as well for me, as the characterization feels off from the prior two books. And there are the heroines, with Korone getting a nice fakeout “I am going back to be executed” moment, Keena being Akuto’s conscience, and Junko being, well, Junko. Daimaou is a perfect buy for those who have to buy everything. – Sean Gaffney

Dreamin’ Sun, Vol. 4 | By Ichigo Takano | Seven Seas – This was a super shoujo-riffic volume of manga, even though there are some funny bits too (particularly the bonus comic). Shimana encourages Zen’s brother, Ken, not to give up on his boxing ambitions, and in gratitude he shows her Fujiwara’s high school yearbook, which only brings up more questions. In between, there are Christmas presents and bittersweet longing and earnest conversations about dreams. Also, there are at least three and probably more scenes that involve Shimana tearfully running away from a conversation and slamming a door. It’s repetitive, yes, but at least she doesn’t ever spend very long in a sulk. I enjoy Asahi stirring the pot and Zen being a good, sweet friend, but I’m not sure I want Shimana and Fujiwara to get together. He’s right—she is still a kid. Maybe Zen will win her over in the end with his panda wiles. – Michelle Smith

The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 3 | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – The beginning of this volume is super tense! Shiva’s aunt has come for her, accompanied by several of the soldiers that only recently were trying to kill her, and Teacher does his best to rescue her, to no avail. One particularly impactful page-turn, revealing Teacher struck by many arrows, made me realize that because this series is so unique, there’s no variations-on-a-theme template to rely upon and, as a result, I really believed Teacher could actually die. He doesn’t, but what happens when Shiva gets back to the village is dramatic enough, along with a cliffhanger about her real origins. The art continues to be a delight, as well—I particularly love the panels that emphasize Shiva’s smallness and the nonverbal depiction of Teacher’s devastation after she’s gone. Now to manage the four-month wait for volume four! – Michelle Smith

Girls’ Last Tour, Vol. 3 | By Tsukumizu| Yen Press – The odd finally manages to win out over the cute for this volume of Girls’ Last Tour, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We see again and again how depressingly apocalyptic this world the girls are traveling through is, and on more than one occasional it almost leads to their horrible deaths. They also meet someone in the final section, though this is a robot rather than a human—but the essential story beats remain the same. And there’s even some fanservice for anyone interested. I’ve said before that this reminds me of Strawberry Marshmallow, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was Miu’s bizarre self-insert fic with her and Chika—though I suspect it’d earn her a smack or two. Oddly compelling. – Sean Gaffney

Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear, Vol. 6 | By Masume Yoshimoto | One Peace Books – Well, I did ask for more of the bear, and I certainly get that here. Unfortunately, I also get another bear, who’s painted as the obsessed female stalker of our main bear. The humor that follows, showing a tsundere bear trying to be seductive (and failing), only works about one third of the time. It doesn’t help that the series already has a tsundere, Hibiki, and we get an amusing chapter devoted to imagining what might make her actually confess. Honestly, though, the highlight was the final chapter, where the bear tries to get Machi to take a train as part of his “make her a functioning adult” plan. It doesn’t work—she gets on the wrong train, and is now at the ocean. Will she die? Probably not. – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 4 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – This series continues to play to a very limited audience, the sort who likes lesbians and likes sociopaths, and REALLY likes the combination of the two. If that pleases you, this volume will too, though be warned another sympathetic cutie is butchered horribly. As for Kuroko, she’s actually out of commission for part of this, having been brainwashed by the head villainess of the book. Fortunately, we needed some more characterization for Chiyo, Kuroko’s yakuza girlfriend who’s in a state of constant rage from, well, dealing with Kuroko’s tendency to bed anyone female. Spoiler: she’s badass. As for Rinko, the child killer from last time… well, I don’t want to spoil it. Suffice to say I laughed, but it was rueful. Murcielago is hilarious and you will feel bad. – Sean Gaffney

My Monster Secret, Vol. 8 | By Eiji Masuda | Seven Seas – I suspect it’s going to be harder and harder to drag out the “we’re not really dating” card after the ending of this volume. Which is fine, as I will freely admit that the relationship between Asahi and Youko is one of the two best reasons to read this book. The other is the humor, and there’s plenty of that on display as well, as we see angel feathers that make people act out the Seven Sins; Koumoto-sensei celebrating another birthday of being a single woman, as no one will let her forget; and Nagisa getting turned big (as opposed to being in her alien suit) in order to once again fire up the love triangle. There’s stuff that doesn’t work (anything with Shimada), but this series still has more hits than misses. – Sean Gaffney

Requiem of the Rose King, Vol. 7 | By Aya Kanno | VIZ Media – Wow. And also “holy crap.” I’m going to completely forego any spoilers this time, because the surprises in this volume need to be experienced as they come. Suffice it to say that Richard does not handle the revelation about Henry’s true identity well, and Henry doesn’t handle captivity and his lusty feelings for Richard well, either. All of these sad, broken people being crushed by… well… the game of thrones. Although a smidge of me still dares to hope Richard will find happiness by the end of the series, the ending of this volume suggests otherwise. I actually had to look up whether the series was concluding in the next volume, though that doesn’t appear to be the case. I should have known better than to choose something else for pick of the week, even if it was my beloved Chihayafuru! – Michelle Smith

Toriko, Vol. 40 | By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro | Viz Media – Still counting down towards the end of this series. At least Toriko gets to add another item to his menu, meaning he only has two to go. But unfortunately, this one is more about the ridiculous fights than the ridiculous food, and whenever that happens it’s never good news. The author is better at food porn. He’s also better at ho yay, as the reunion of Toriko and Komatsu is loaded with an absolute ridiculous amount of subtext—I would not blame readers for forgetting Rin exists. As for the evil plot, it creeps incrementally forward, leading to a cliffhanger as Toriko and company finally challenge God. I’m finishing the series as I’ve already read 40 volumes, but it’s only for the hardcore now. – Sean Gaffney

By: Michelle Smith

[chroniclerwabba]

it’s 5AM and i’m pissed about warcraft (mostly lore) again

I have a personal chip on my shoulder against Overwatch for reasons that might not be wholly valid. Project Titan (original OW) was started, and Blizz started to shift people around. Jeff Kaplan switched from working on WoW to Titan, and the game eventually got cancelled in 2014. Cataclysm’s released heralded a downturn for the quality of the game, not just in terms of lore.  The xpacs had a few good things in them (MoP is one of my favorites, the pandaren have great lore), but there was a lot of shit in there too. WoD was barebones as shit in terms of content with a completely nonsense storyline that took a huge shit on the lore. Titan was cancelled and recycled into Overwatch, a move that divided developers and even caused Metzen to quit.  I don’t blame or hold anger at Metzen for quitting (the guy had a fucking baby on the way, he needed to be a dad), but when he announced he was retiring, that’s when Warcraft really lost its magic to me and when I fell out of love with it.

So I blame Overwatch for what happened to Warcraft, which isn’t necessarly fair. Overwatch is fun and well made (in terms of art style that is, everything else is debatable). Maybe it makes more sense to blame the writers for losing their touch. But I still hold that slight disdain for Overwatch, even if it’s unfair. But enough about that; let’s talk about shitty lore.

Cataclysm is where the game just became bogged down with bad lore decisions, consisting of forced conflict and characters acting against their established selves to make said forced conflict happen.

Garrosh being made warchief was the first in a long laundry list of bad decisions. There was no reason Thrall would’ve logically made him leader even when being Grom’s son. It was evident he was not suited for this position and someone like Vol’jin or Saurfang should’ve taken the reins. He would’ve either kept him as a high ranking general like Nazgrim or waited until he matured a bit more and mellowed out to give him the mantle. It’s such a bullshit promotion that exists only to force conflict and have lore why PvP is still a thing (because it’s not like we can just have pvp be noncanon like bungie did with classic halo jesus fuck blizz you’re not 343 you don’t need to give pvp lore validity of fucking course the racial leaders aren’t really dead despite me killing them smh)

Garrosh is a bumbling inconsistent mess. In the books, Garrosh is smarter, but in the games, he’s a goddamn idiot and a brat with no sense of responsibility who blames Thrall during their fight in Nagrand (despite the fact that thrall literally left eitrigg, vol’jin, saurfang, and cairne behind to help him deal with shit and he tells them all to fuck off. also blaming thrall for him having to pick up the pieces is bullshit when he almost broke the horde because he literally kept trying to push the other races down into subservience, to a point where he tried to assassinate vol’jin). So Garrosh had no accountability as a leader. His whole plan to establish orcish supremacy and “make the horde great again” shows he has no fucking clue about orcish history despite his dad being IN THE SHIT. Orcish supremacy was all a lie concocted by Ner’zhul to fearmonger the draenei as evil invaders. Before the Horde, all the clans did was just live separately and fight the ogre empire who just wanted to enslave them. The Horde only exists because Kil’jaedan manipulated them into becoming one to wipe out the draenei. Garrosh doesn’t even know his own people’s fucking lore. Oh, and an extra special fuck you from when he said Thrall is no longer an orc. Nobody in the entire Warcraft lore has any right to tell Thrall he isn’t an orc. Thrall was a literal child soldier raised by Blackmoore to fight like an animal in his colosseum (his fucking name literally means SLAVE). The only human friend he had during his childhood was raped and beheaded and even lets Blackmoore’ men go free after he kills him in honorable combat.  Thrall has the most validity out of anyone in the Horde to be against the Alliance, but he just wants to give his people a home after the Legion stole it all and turned them into murderers. So anyway Garrosh can go fuck himself (except none of what I said actually matters because warlords of draenor established that all orcs are evil murderers even without demon blood so everything warcraft 3 was about means nothing i guess fuck you blizzard). Also, miss me with that bullshit about honor™ when you use a bomb to vaporize your enemies and not fight them by yourself on the fields of battle like your dad would’ve.

The Alliance hasn’t been written as morally grey or written to have flaws since Warcraft 3. Aside from Arthas’ and Jaina’s storylines, the rest of the Alliance is a bunch of assholes. Grom is forced to drink from the demon pool because the night elves started murdering them after they went to Ashenvale to cut down trees so they can build settlements to protect the orcs and their new tauren allies. The same allies the night elves just up and abandoned to be fucking murdered by the centaur almost to extinction despite how Cenarius himself blessed Huln Highmountain for his bravery for the tauren helping fight the legion alongside the kaldorei ten thousand years ago. So big fucking lore oversight, right? Also, since the kaldorei can just grow trees everywhere, why is there a logging crisis with the Horde? They can literally replace the trees right there. In fact, they could literally have solved the Horde’s famine crisis, but they don’t because they’re a bunch of stingy fucks who never get their shit called out. When people complain about Alliance favoritism, this is what they mean. The Horde always has to be the villain in some way, and the Alliance are always the good™ guys who never do anything wrong ever™. The closest we’ve gotten to the Alliance being somewhat morally grey was Camp Taurajo (which is swept under the rug with the biggest bullshit handwave by baine saying ehh it’s okay because that’s a realistic reaction). Jaina just straight up lets her men burn down and kill a bunch of native farmers whose race has lived here for years and never has to acknowledge this directly.

Jaina is almost as mishandled as Garrosh was. In the early days of MoP, they screwed up her being the anti-Horde character but could’ve salvaged it. Now they’ve just made her near irredeemable trash. So after Garrosh blows up Theramore and kills all her men, she’s pissed and out for blood and justifiably so. You want her to kill that motherfucker, but Blizzard doesn’t know about this thing called “moderation” or “reasonable chracter development” so they just decide to crank her up to 22 and have her be a stone cold murderer. She’s just gonna drown Orgrimmar and kill all sorts of innocent civilians inside, including an entire fucking orphanage of children she knows good and well exists since she’s visited the city many times before. Completely missed her the first time (because someone who watched her ex-fiance burn down an entire city including the children would be okay with killing children i guess). Thrall shows up and tries to tell her “hey, child murder is fucked up” and she doesn’t bother listening (apparently thrall isn’t allowed to be upset by children being victims of war despite having been a child slave himself but it’s somehow his fault because he made garrosh warchief even though there was no way he could’ve known this would’ve happen but whatever conflict i guess). So Kalecgos then shows up (who apparently is just her token love interest now and will never show up in the game to do anything useful so all that development he had in cataclysm is now moot. like fucking aggra at least helped thrall at the echo isles kalecgos didn’t do shit) and tells her “hey, child murder is bad” and it finally clicks in her head (so it took three times for her to figure out that she shouldn’t let small children die). Then we flash forward to Legion where Blizz has just decided they just don’t give a shit. Jaina shows up to Stormwind Keep and is pissed that the Horde abandoned the Alliance at the Broken Shore. So a grown ass woman in her 30s proceeds to be condescending and talk shit to a seventeen year old boy who just LOST HIS DAD about not wanting to fight two wars at once and risk crippling the Alliance (because apparently kul yiras no longer exists so she just can’t fund her own damn war i guess. also jaina apparently possesses a teleportation spell established since wotlk to exist that would’ve allowed her to save varian wrynn before he died so thanks a lot for the pointless death that could’ve been avoided for lore reasons, blizz. also we’re just supposed to forgive her racist piece of shit dad for wanting to commit ethnic cleansing and kill little orcish children because jaina needs to angst). Then she gets written out of the plot so Anduin never gets to call her out on the bullshit she tried to pull and so Blizz can shelve her for another forced war conflict. So Jaina has literally developed backwards to the beginning of Warcraft 3. Thanks, Blizz.

Sylvanas has angsted since WC3 that undeath is a curse and nobody should be subjected to it, only for Blizzard to keep turning her into Lich King 2.0 when we get Warlords of Northrend™ eventually (undeath is bad and i angst about it 24/7 so let me use all these chemicals to raise these people into zombies and plague the land but it’s okay because i think slavery is bad at least. also she’s afraid of going to hell to be tortured forever when it’s like “hey you dumb bitch maybe you wouldn’t go to hell if you didn’t keep raising people into zombies after establishing it’s a LIVING HELL TO BE A ZOMBIE”). So Sylvanas has also developed backwards. Thanks again, Blizz.

I’ve written this twice before, but Illidan is the biggest load of bullshit ever. In Warcraft 3, he was a great antihero. Kind of a dick, but you admired that he was out for himself. Now he’s the greatest™ hero™ ever™ that did nothing wrong™. He’s like a worse Anakin Skywalker.

All of WoD

anyway i’m going the fuck to sleep and then wake up in 5 hours to write wow fanfic to fill the hole that blizz’s nonsense created

[little-drops-of-happiness]

My Chilly Opinion on Blizzard Story Telling

I recently picked up the book Starcraft Evolution. I’m not sure what possessed me to do so, since books based on video games have rarely been anything more than a cheap popcorn book. To be fair, it was mildly entertaining, if somewhat hollow. More importantly, it made me want to replay Starcraft 2…or at least the Protoss campaign.Around this time I was also resubbed to World of Warcraft, as well going back and replaying Diablo 3. So here I am, neck deep in Blizzard games, and it made me really realize something about them as a company.

I should preface this by saying that I love Blizzard. I’ve put countless hours into Warcraft 2, Warcraft 3, both Starcrafts, and have been subbed to Wow since 2005 (although granted I just unsubbed again but my point remains.) They produce gorgeous games, with wonderful character designs, incredibly deep, intricate gameplay, and they have produced, without a doubt, the best looking cinematics in gaming history. That being said, they tell some of the most bland, generic stories since Bubsy 3D.

Playing all three of these games around the same time really showed me just how lackluster the stories are. In the original Starcraft, you had a number of interesting, diverse, and multi faceted characters. Mengsk may have been a bastard, but he was a man on a revenge mission who would do anything to right the wrongs done to him. The Protoss were an enigmatic race, and while they were xenophobic and prejudice, but they also had a side of honor and strong sense of justice. We had varied characters and races with their own motivations. It was interesting and it was fun.

Beating Starcraft 2 was a very melancholy experience for me. Firstly, with all three campaigns, I would say close to half of the missions felt like filler. They did little to actually push the plot along, and I couldn’t find myself invested in the objectives. I wasn’t placing a Psi Emittier to wipe out a planet, I wasn’t protecting a chrysalis that housed the soon to be queen of blades, I wasn’t hunting down the traitor Tassadar. Each mission in the sequel may have made sense in the frame of itself, but in the overall picture, they were very flat.

My biggest problem however, comes at the end of Legacy of the Void. Gone are the intricacies of character growth, development, and motivation. Instead we are greeted with a very generic “big, bad, powerful guy wants to destroy the universe” plot. I remember the emotion that went into the final battle of the original Starcraft, and while the Overmind may have been similar in it’s motivations, looking deeper it did go beyond the destroy the universe trope. In addition, we went from Starcraft to Magiccraft. It felt like we had gone beyond the loose science that the universe had established to something much more steeped in magic and fantasy. I like fantasy as much as the next guy, but this is not where it belonged. Science Fiction is, in my opinion, not the place for prophecies and chosen ones.

Next I’ll take a much briefer look at Diablo 3. The game is fun as Hell, pun absolutely intended. They story however, after a full playthrough, leaves much to be desired. Let me start by saying that I’m not asking for Diablo to have a tragic backstory where his mother never hugged him, and a stranger stepped on his favorite flower, but when every villain in the game spouts the same “I will destroy you! I am Evil!” rhetoric, they all blend together, and the threat becomes that of a whimpering child. The story boils down to little more than, “here are these totally evil people who say generic evil things, go kill them.” It gets old. I may be over simplifying parts of the game, but this, I feel, encompasses the majority.

World of Warcraft. Man, I could write thirteen articles about this game alone. I’ll try to keep it brief and focus on, what I feel, is the major problem here. Lack of tonal stability. Lack of consistency. Lack of following its own rules. The game and it’s story was fine up through Wrath of the Lich King, and even parts of what I consider one of the worst expansions, Cataclysm. I, more than anybody, am all about character development. It’s what makes a good character, and a good story. But the Blizzard writing has been so inconstant, that you can’t wave it off as development but just bad writing. This is most prevalent in the characters of Jaina and Garrosh, both of who follow similar arcs. The key point is that they change characteristics drastically and suddenly. Yes, I understand that Jaina had to deal with the bombing of Theramore, but to see her fight so hard for peace between the two factions through thick and thing, only to have this be the turning point is frustrating. Not only that but the extent to which she changes spectrum felt very out of character and very forced. Garrosh too, went from a coward, to a leader, to a homicidal, xenophobic maniac very quickly, with seemingly little provocation.

The feel of the story itself has changed drastically. This is a story that started off as Orcs versus Humans. Then it went to fighting the undead, then to demons, old gods, extraplanar beings, entire worlds. It exploded too big too fast. The problem with telling a story through and MMO medium is that the developer may feel the need to make bigger and badder threats, but by doing so in the way that Blizzard has, the story, I feel, has suffered greatly. We don’t feel like heroes on the battlefield anymore, but rather super powered laser Jesuses flying through space. As I said, tonal change.

I could say much more about each game and their story failings, but I don’t want to beat a dead horse, or I may take a more in depth look in future articles. I just want to repeat that I by no means think that Blizzard produces bad games. I love their games. They make some of the most enjoyable gaming experiences available today, and I hope they continue to grow and flourish. I just hope that as they do, they work on bringing their stories to the same level as the rest of their experiences.