#&&. Animation Screencaps is having a time and a half pulling up his movie

[storybounded]

I chuckle at myself, because when I think about Bolt in the universe of ‘The L.ast Wish’, I imagine him being a hero/bounty hunter who is also a magical talking dog. And although he goes after all sorts of bounties, cats with wanted posters on their shoulders are his favorites to go after.

[iloveschiaparelli]

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: My Love Letter Part 1

Okay okay okay SO Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes longpost time just my whole opinion/analysis/love letter for the whole film beginning with my Wes Ball backstory so skip to the Ruin screencap if you want to skim past all that.

I haven't talked about it on tumblr yet but I'm actually like a huge fat fan of the Maze Runner cinematic series directed by Wes Ball. Really I'm just a fan of Wes Ball. It not only singlehandedly got me through my first year of high school but also became the reason I ended up entering the film industry. I've watched all 3 movies at least 4-5 times each. Probably like 20-30 for Scorch Trials at this point because it's my favorite. I can quote probably at least half of it from memory. I've watched all of the BTS content that was on the DVDs + the bloopers on youtube like i was obsessed ok.

2019 was like the second worst year of my life so imagine my distress in january 2019 when I found out about Wes Ball's next movie, Mouse Guard, got Super Hyped Up for the multimillion dollar mice-with-swords movie (I eventually read some of the comics btw it's insanely good) And then within the same week found out Disney pulled the plug on the project after acquiring 20th Century Fox. TWO weeks before production was scheduled to begin. I was livid. I'm still bitter about it. Wes Ball then released the demo reel for the film to the public which iirc also had temp music.

So anyway yeah that was awful but then! I think it was later in 2020 that it was announced that Wes Ball was going to be directing the 4th POTA movie. This kicked off me seeing the original 1968 film and then the trilogy and wow did doing so increase my excitement. In my opinion Rupert Wyatt/Matt Reeves' directing styles and Wes Ball's were/are very compatible. I also took the time to get caught up on as much of Wes Ball's old projects as I could get my hands on at the time, including his animated short Ruin (screencap below). Which is fantastic BTW and apparently was purchased by Fox for a feature film that was never made (???) I swear, filmmakers have their past works splattered all over the internet like body parts after a landmine explosion: Good luck finding everything.

Now, Finally Finally FINALLY!!!!!!!! Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is out. I meant to see it on the premier night but my boyfriend broke up with me 2 days before so I forgot. I saw it tonight instead! So now with the backstory out of the way I can finally talk about the actual movie.

First of all, the beginning of the film absolutely WOWed me!!!! It honestly feels like a callback to Ruin, the way that the buildings are overgrown and the post-apocalyptic setting is super evident and feels so delightfully reclaimed by nature. It's also really neat to see how far VFX has come since Ruin was released if you compare the opening shots of the movie with the wide shots in Ruin. Wes Ball himself is also a VFX artist, so it's really neat to see how that affects his work especially since Planet of the Apes is by nature a very vfx-heavy franchise. This movie absoutely popped off in that area but we'll get to that.

Secondly, I forgot how much I missed Ball's directing! Oh my goodness, the performances he gets out of the actors are always so authentic. I still have yet to see a performance by Dylan O'Brien that was as raw and believable as in the Maze Runner movies, and I'm like halfway through Teen Wolf already. In the action scenes especially, I love how characters in Ball's movies, you can really feel their pain. Since pain and physical discomfort aren't communicated directly through film, we often forget just how hard it is to get back up again after getting kicked down, but with Wes Ball you never forget. Ugh, when Noa was getting beat up on top of the bunker at the end of the movie, I caught myself catching my own breath when he coughed up blood. Like, yeowch!

Additionally, everything this man makes is just, like, a masterpiece? On a technical level at least. That's really the mark of a good director, whose job is not only to evoke a performance from the actors, but also to tie together the whole crew. And KOTPOTA really showed off how well the team worked together. Just the establishing shots alone in a lot of these scenes! Oh. My. Word. You can clearly see the fruits of labor of not only the concept artists, but also the VFX artists and production designers, and how they worked with the DP and actors to get the shot. Here are some examples of what I'm talking about:

There are more that I'm thinking of, but unfortunately without a digital release available yet there's a limit to the screencaps that I'm able to obtain. The shot where Noa is walking up the escalator following Raka and you see the plane in the background indicating that Raka lives in an airport is one of them. There's also one or two establishing shots in nature that just show off the setting. The opening shots, of course. And then the shot where it pans up and you see Eagle Village for the first time. There's also an aerial of Proximus Caesar's camp, but I'm unable to find that one as well. The main one I want to look at is the telescope.

Just, like, Hello???? It looks like an art piece. This screencap is a little closer in than I'd like, but in the full frame you can see the absolute mastery of composition that it is, you can totally imagine it as a painting. Which in my experiences usually means there's a painting behind it somewhere in the process, lol. Let's go concept artists!!! But then you see how the colors are just, perfectly balanced, the plant growth is realistic and accentuating the set, and so on and so forth. It was just absolutely breathtaking to see for the first time. I'm pretty sure I audibly gasped. I did a lot of stimming during this movie just to stay quiet and not start babbling about the film pipeline to my father in theater auditorium.

Even more magic happens when Noa steps onto the set, and starts messing with the telescope. Suddenly it's real, it's tangible, it's touchable. Transforming what was likely a matte painting at one point into a set that the actors can interact with, and then into a shot where almost everything is overlaid with VFX, and having it look so real like that is truly magic.

The ship also had me dumbstruck, but slightly less so because we saw a similar setting in The Maze Runner: The Death Cure in 2018. Although it was slightly different for sure. What had me going even more in this movie was how much the characters interacted with the ship, moving in and around it, and trading glances with one another from on the ground and up inside. In TMR:DTC, you really only see the decrepit ships in the background, and one is referenced as a plot point but the characters never actually physically interact with any of them. So it's much easier for our brains to categorize the ships as gimmicks to help us believe the scene.

It's when props like these are woven into the scene as tangible objects that our brains start to shut up about the CGI and really start to believe what's happening onscreen! and KOTPOTA did an amazing job at this. Please bear in mind like, I literally have zero specialization in VFX, it's not my field and although I draw, I've never done concept art for film. I honestly believe that I'm simply in an appropriate level of awe for what this film accomplished.

The other thing that amazed me was how stylized the setting was. The greenery was so green, the ocean felt like a painting, the ship was red, the telescope shot is very, very blue. Several of the shapes used in the ape's costume design are simplified. And yet, despite the stylization, it never feels cartoony or polygonal, it still feels completely grounded in reality, and I could really believe I'd see it in real life. I think this owes partly to the fact that we rarely inspect any of these simplified items at a close distance, aside from Raka's necklace which appears to be made of either bone or whittled wood. It also owes to absolute geniuses in color grading that kept the stylized colors realistic enough for our brains to believe. Overall I'd take the visual style of the film to be Impressionist. I love impressionism.

My main interest in filmmaking is writing/directing. However, most of my experience lies in costume design (Student films rarely need costume "design" so its usually coordination) and production design. As a result I spent a good deal of my time watching KOTPOTA zeroed in on the production design.

I love post-apocalyptic science-fiction/fantasy worlds like this partly precisely because of how much you can learn from the production design alone. When Mae enters Trevathan's room for the first time I swear I was eating it up. Every single prop in this movie was carefully thought out by the PD, which is why his room absolutely stood out from the rest of the setting that we had seen up to that point. It was distinctly "human-centric" as opposed to the rest of the movie. I remember seeing it in the theater earlier today, laying eyes first on the bed by the door, thinking that it must be something they set up for Mae, but then wondering why or how the apes would know or want to set up a human-style bed for Mae when we're so many generations removed from human-dominated society.

Next it was on many miscellaneous table objects, thinking to myself "That looks like how a human would treat a space. Apes are generally too big to decorate at that scale." and then my eyes roved on to the furniture, seeing a human-sized table, human-sized chair, human-sized junk everywhere! Slowly, by observing the room, I gained a stronger and stronger sense of "there is another human here," which upon observing the rows and rows of books became "a smart human like Mae, who unlike her can read" (Remember at this point we still believed that Mae and her mother were the only smart humans that Mae had known growing up, and that she had been pursuing the opportunity to meet other smart humans and join them).

It was only upon the instant of realizing that this was a smart human that Trevathan spoke and appeared on the stairs. It was absolutely perfect timing. THIS, guys, is exceptional production design. It was honestly my absolute favorite piece of production design in the entire film, especially because of how much it contrasted what we've become used to seeing in the series as humans have diminished in population and apes and nature have taken over the space instead.

That exact sense of change or "otherness", that noticeability of contrast upon seeing what is honestly a pretty "normal" human space if you look at it in the context of our existing society, is only present because of how well PD treats the rest of the movie. In order to make a completely normal space feel strange, you have to change literally every other space to something alien but consistent with itself. And KOTPOTA does just that. The job was begun in the original trilogy, with the decline of humanity depicted across decades, nature taking over the gas station and the dam and even the city. But this movie had the biggest challenge because of simply how many years had passed before the story even began. Society as we know it today is completely and totally obliviated in KOTPOTA's setting. In every set that the characters interacted with in any way, PD had to fabricate a space where humans had been but the virus, decades of decay and post-apocalyptic living, and ape encroachment had transformed it.

This also brings me into the subject of the rich culture we see emerging in the world of the apes through this movie. The original trilogy, especially the first and second film, was all about the ape's identity. In the first film Caesar wonders whether he is human or ape, and whether apes are pets or equals to humans. He eventually comes to the realization that humans are never going to look out for apes the way that apes will and decides to become that person. In the second film, Caesar and the other characters involved have to figure out what being an ape means. Does it mean strength is power? That humans are always an enemy to defeated? Or a similar species to live alongside? It's about establishing what the ape race's relationship is to the human race. The third film I didn't get to rewatch before seeing KOTPOTA, but iirc it was about whether humans and apes could ever coexist, which is a theme we see continued in this movie, albeit in a slightly different way. Either that or more likely it was about whether apes will repeat the same mistakes as humans.

Anyway, I digress. In the script we already see a rich culture emerging in hints, right from the start of the movie. It's in the hunt for the eagle eggs at the beginning with mentions of some kind of coming-of-age ceremony, followed by Noa reminding Anaya and Soona that they must "leave one egg always. It is the law." Already in the first five minutes we've established that this particular ape civilization not only has cultural traditions surrounding youth and coming-of-age, but also rituals and laws surrounding their relationship with and the conservation of nature. And through dialogue we extrapolate that these apes have bonded animals (eagles). It honestly felt like a crossover between Native American Indian hunting practices and How To Train Your Dragon, which is wild I know. (Also can we talk about how the eagles in this movie actually made eagle sounds???? And not falcon sounds! Finally we're breaking the bad habit of making up animal noises to sound cooler when the original already sounded super cool by itself.)

So in just a few minutes guys!! We already have so much. Then the trio heads back to the village and has their first encounter with the Echoes (Ekos? If anyone could get spelling on that for me that would be fantastic) but are too afraid (or law-bound) to get too close to or cross through the tunnel "into the valley below". So through these we establish that there is a taboo around not just humans but also around leaving the village. The clan has taken an isolationist approach wherein they not only forbid their young clan members from leaving but also withhold information about the outsiders from them until they've come of age. Guys the cultural system arising here is absolutely wild. Like sorry not sorry but I eat this stuff up. (Screenwriters-- this is prime example material of "show don't tell")

There's also all of the ape social communication rules that we've already gotten used to, mainly a variation of the palm-up/palm-down gesture as a means of showing respect (submission) and asking for permission/approval.

In this movie however the hands are mostly closed and the palms are down for the sub as well as the ape they're seeking approval from, as opposed to the trilogy in which the submitting ape always had their palm up. At first I chalked this up to cultural differences among clans since we learned that this clan is not the clan descended from Caesar's apes in the trilogy, but then Caesar's descendants were doing it this way too? So I don't really know what to make of it but I'm going to decide that it's just global cultural evolution (at least, as global as the real-world evolution of Old English into modern English).

Through the production design of the beginning sequence in Eagle Village, we see that the eagles catch fish and then the vast quantities of fish and the smokehouse indicate that fish caught by the eagles are the main source of food for the Eagle Clan. We also see feathers as a motif throughout, worn especially by the parents and the elders as a sign of social status (we know it's social status bc Sylva rips it off of one of the elders as an intimidation tactic and everyone audibly gasps, indicating it worked). That last bit is honestly more costume design, they popped off too but one thing at a time or I'm going to become incomprehensible. I will repeat myself. It is inevitable.

Then throughout the film we learn that not only do they adhere strictly to the "law", but that that law is set by the elders alone. We also learn that they primarily relate to their eagles by singing to them which!!! is just!!!! so!!! metal!!! I love it. The way it plays into the end scene with Proximus just AGHRGHJHRHGR GROWL BARK BARK FERAL NOISES>

ahem

Also we see them building nests at home for their eagles and they've figured out falconry tools for the aerie and everything on their own like??

Then in contrast we see what's left of Caesar's clan, it's descendants. Proximus Caesar, we learn later from Trevathan, has gone completely fangirl over the ancient roman empire and decided to emulate it because "he likes it" and it makes him "feel good" (yeah he's probably the most textbook tyrant I've ever seen in media), choosing to morph Caesar's teachings into his own new worldview rather than adhering to them properly.

So the culture of Caesar's clan is very heavily roman-influenced, often copying practices outright such as the insitution of slavery, a lot of the fashion choices and even the way that banners are put up around the camp and the way that Proximus dines at a low-set table filled with an overabundance of food. And he has a throne and crown, and there are roman numerals inscribed on both his and Sylva's necklaces. But we still see influences of Caesar's original society, most noticeably the persistence of the window symbol and the architecture of the dam. The architecture wouldn't be significant at all, instead being noted as a stylistic choice for the whole series, if it weren't for the fact that it's different from Eagle Clan's architecture.

If Eagle Village resembles those spaghetti bridges that engineers build for class, with thatched roofs, then the dam at Caesar Clan's camp is much more brutalist by comparison. Eagle Clan was very spindly and focused on height and lightness of building materials: many of the logs were thinner and longer, more spaced out, and sometimes rounded at the ends. By contrast, Caesar Clan's dam is built with stumpier logs, closer together, and spiked at the top. The dam is also shored up with soil and other materials. Which yeah, is typical of beaver dams but is also typical of the structures in the original Caesar's village in the trilogy.

Unfortunately, there's only one image currently available of Eagle Village and it's after it was burned down. But you can still see how it differs from Caesar's village, instead of being chaotic it's more organized, allowing for a more lightweight structure.

This (below) is the closest I could get to having a picture of the dam's architecture, but you can still tell how it's more similar to OG Caesar's architecture than it is to Eagle Clan's, even though it's using a completely different building material (scrap metal instead of hewn trees).

Eagle Clan's architecture is also a further effect of how their society revolves around making a life bond with eagles, which are flying creatures. So of course they would be inclined to taller structures, especially ones that are more lightweight and have structural patterns, imitating the way that birds are built (see above).

I'll continue in part 2 as a reblog because it's 1 am and I'm running out of steam but YALL I need you to understand: It's been 6 years since the last time I had a Wes Ball film to overanalyze and rave about. I have SO MUCH to say about this film.

[tammyhybrid21]

THybrid’s Mummy Rant(pt 1)

ALRIGHT!

Sooo…

I kind of said I would be organizing a big giant analysis and rant on this character-- Because I have many, many feelings. Buuut I think this is probably going to be something that just ends up diving into a lot more for the context I do have. Both in terms of the movie, and the research I've been rolling around in--

So-- before I put this under a cut/readmore, can I put some context into this?! And by context--

I mean in general I would not be here if Mummy hadn't been the one Netflix had for the Movie's preview. Mummy is why I'm here, just because whoop. That's a character design that CALLS ME! So yeahh-- that out of the way…

First Impressions:

Sooo… in the first movie Mummy is… only in the last third, roughly of the movie. Which is a crying shame in all honesty because for me he steals the show from that point. AND we get to see SO MANY Sides. Like, just… there's a bit to unpack here, and it also leads into more of my Autism squee talk--

But I don't think I could even really articulate everything in a straight cohesive manner so I'll sort of sum it with the most important screencaps.

Soooo, I have a lot to say… and a picture says a thousand words… but especially here and okay, so those screencaps are… not exactly all the story, but they say a lot for what they say. And then you can compound that specifically with the research that I have… again, been just rolling in. Because GIMME!

Sooo anyway, let me talk about these screencaps while my brain is turned on. Because I feel that all of these are important! Including that first glimpse! Because like-- what you need to understand is-- Do you know how hard catching something like that is?! And how did he notice it. Which like, that's probably a sensitivity thing, but specifically! That would whistle on the way down!

Then!

LET ME TALK ABOUT MASKING!

Like just-- all these next pictures and moments! They bring up Masking. Because look at him when he's first approaching, first seen in full. He's threatening, intimidating(up until Tadeo spots him and it's just scream for them both) BUT THEN IN PRIVATE! Clapping, flapping, and well, we can watch Movie 2 with a very specific lense based on a piece of WoG I found…

But even those next few screencap moments--

Like, Mummy is important, BUT there are rules of how you're supposed to present yourself. Like look at him! Look at him in front of the guards! How Paititi is revealed and even the lead up, like, he has a good shift from the slight goofball to commanding and then to intimidating and just…

Snap fingers and the guards respond(which then with movie two… boyyyyy I want to know what happened). And as much as we think that hug is intense…

And then look at the shy nervous child. WHICH I'm going to bring in a moment or two from the Series, Descubre con Tadeo(which is a fun watch even if I only get like, maybe a fifth of the content).

He's insecure and nervous… and we related it to being like… first day of school jitters. BUT THEN he-- also has a perfect shift here as well.

Put on your professional voice! And like, I suppose some things could be argued in terms of Mummy's antics in the second film. But I just… have too much more to say that the whole movie kind of feels like.

"FIRST TIME I AM FREE!" in terms of how Mummy is running around and just having fun! You ever just want to cut loose mate?! Scream, or go wild… but like… with the second movie I have other places to just go, WAIT?! What happened?! And also just analyze moments that are… well…

But like, number one is a background moment actually(and I hope so muuuuch that it means something in movie three please)

LOOK AT TADEO'S CONSPIRACY BOARD!

Like I'm just here like, Mummy?! What did you do?! On his trip over, which for all is kind of implied/feels like a B-Line, and I have… other thoughts and feelings on that. But like, the conspiracy board! Mummy! Also considering that the English Localization has Tadeo in Chicago(and I want to know if that's true for everywhere--) As an aside in this moment, can we just appreciate the jump of quality in the animation between the movies?! Like ahhhh the details! I just hng-- And some things in the whole animated series as well…

Edutainment.

WHICH features BOTH Mummy and Tadeo just special interest dumping. And it's A++

He also hums the theme song in his take over episode, and dances and is just ahahahahah

Which, this is one of the two Mummy just-- yanks the show for himself moments… The other has him playing with everyone else as dolls and I just--

Yes

Gender

Which look, I've been going off some level of fluidity for him! Since I watched the second movie and he just-- STOLE THE SHOW! And the credits sequence, I have… a lot to say about his around the world trip but most of that ultimately amounts to disorganized screaming about the fact that he starts the travel with only one dangling earring and ends it with two to speak to the guards--

And that then goes into--

ANYWAY--

Genderwise, I've been informed that there's a WoG confirmation of nb, which… Good Representation! Even if I have personal… bad, yucky, awkward feelings about the term, if that's the confirmed canon term. Well. My personal dysphoria with the term specific aside.(Non non, it always feels like--) NO WONDER I HELLA RELATE!

For those not caught up-- I myself identify as Agender. Which is a nb-spectrum gender, or as I refer to it as when trying to explain. "Gender, yes". I have a gender, and that gender is yes it's something and exists. But like, I'm not tied to the binary of Male-Female, not really. Sooooo--

If Mummy is confirmed nb, which, I will be source hunting for sure.

Well, his relatability to me just skyrocketed EVEN MORE!

Like I'm sorry, you don't understand! That's super important on MANY levels. Not just for the rare gender to be highlighted. BUT!

Mummy is very Autistic Coded. More on the female stereotyped Autism as well-- and then FOR THE BIG THING! He's Inca!

Like, do you people even have a scale for the important points that he's hitting here?! (And if we add apparently spoken about Asexuality?! Excuse me!)

Like I don't know how much I could say on how important this is representation and character wise…

Sooo

Moving on.

Inca

Sooooo… this is probably something dumb to tack onto the end but. I'll be the first to admit it. I'm… coming from a culturally blind/naïve perspective but-- it's something intrinsic and important to understanding Mummy as character. He's from a cultural background I honestly don't yet know enough about. (Can I ever know enough though?!)

He's an Inca. And more than that-- WoG seems to have implied, he's Royalty, whiiiiich puts into perspective some of those screencap moments and brings about a host of interesting research topics for me to just gleefully dive into and roll around in.

BUT

With that contextual framing.

This dork, and this moment-- and thinking about how he's got the pull in the first movie to boss the guards around. Just like-- Make decisions and call the shots… and more to me…

Who put the cufflink there?! SPECIFICALLY?!

Because like, all he said was "keep it safe"

I also really, really want to know if there's some cultural significance and nuance I'm missing here, because hooo boy. As far as I have, this is basically just subtle nods and confirmations that he's royal, possibly even the recognized Auqui of their set up here(which as of movie two, possibly no longer the case).

I also have a lot to say about THIS:

In terms of the half a dozen or so resources that have STUFF to say about Handshakes to the Inca(albeit there is more than just a handshake buuuut). But this is already 11 pages in word and honestly, I don't think I could explain things in a nice and tidy context for all my FEELINGS that I have.

Sources:

Screenshots taken by myself and a friend

Tadeo Jones & Tadeo Jones 2: El secreto del Rey Midas

https://www.telecinco.es/tadeojones/descubre-con-tadeo/16940/ For additional character screenshots, albeit had to find some of it on Youtube.

WoG on Mummy's implied Royalty: https://www.animum3d.com/blog/animacion-3d-tadeo-jones/ (And English translation C&P feat. Google Translate: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DPhIuurqtx7QJm1df31cviHsqDEgKH5t9MVstJZHpRw/edit) Point of NOTE

With the designs and the script in front, you start to shuffle ideas, by his golden dress, his hat and his cape you imagine that he is someone important within his clan, that should give a sublime aspect to his behavior, as if he belonged to royalty, someone with a refined attitude and manners, are ideas that do not have to be evident or definitive, but in some way help to set parameters when shaping your personality.

WoG on Gender & Sexuality: Still on the hunt, right now more fandom news(please gibe me the source!) FOUND: https://elcultural.com/Enrique-Gato-y-David-Alonso-El-reto-ya-no-es-sorprender-sino-crear-empatia-con-los-personajes & https://www.ecartelera.com/noticias/41656/pelicula-aventuras-definitiva-tadeo-jones-2-equipo/5/

My son asks me many times if Mummy is a boy or a girl and it's all at once. It's absolutely ambiguous and that also makes it a lot of fun.

“For us he is asexual and we really like playing with it.”

Conclusion:

WATCH THESE MOVIES PLEASE!

And get the culture being represented by one of the characters RIGHT!

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Cyberverse Season 2 episode 3 & 4 & 5 watch!

This is going to be a doozy, I can feel it already

Episode 3

YO IT’S WHEELJACK!!! Everyone’s fun weird wild uncle!!

“See, it works great!” *CRASH*

Man it’d be so sweet if Brainstorm was in Cyberverse, he and Wheeljack would get along so well (or they’d absolutely hate each other and they’d be rivals lol. One or the other)

Optimus is so supportive, aww

THE OPENING IS STILL SO GOOD AHHHHH

RATCHET!!! RATCHET!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH

Bumblebee: Hey I saw a weird cat on the moon

THE AZTEC ASTRONAUTS???? 

A BANANA, TELETRAN PLZ

HOT ROD!!! MY BABY

PROWL!!!!

DEADLOCK!!!!

CYBERVERSE YOU GOTTA STOP HAVING CHARACTERS I LOVE POP UP EVER 3 SECONDS IM GONNA DIE

ARCEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

CYBERVERSE WHAT DID I JUST SAY IM GONNA DIE!!! I DONT CARE IF THEY ONLY GET ONE LINE IM GRINNING SO WIDE MY FACE HURTS

GOSH I LOVE CYBERVERSE

ARCEE AND A GIRAFFE 

SHE TOOK SELFIES WITH ALL SORTS OF ANIMALS SHE’S SO CUTE!!!! I LOVE YOU ARCEE

GRIMLOCK NO DONT DRINK THAT

BUMBLEBEE IS SO CUTE...I love his VA so much, he’s so cute, Bumblebee sounds so sweet

LMAO GET FRICKIN REKT PROWL

Way to scratch up the Ark Grimlock

Bee: Your hyper-fuel is way more hyper than your mega-magnetizer is mega Me, tears streaming down my face: You’re such a dork Bee, I love you so much

OH NO HOT ROD NO

WINDBLADE YES

AW Hot Rod and Windblade are so cute and SUCH dorks, they’re so casual and relaxed about this

LMAO WAY TO GO BEE

OH NO HOT ROD

“See you on the other side!” HOT ROD NO!!!!!!!!

LMAO naughty Dinosaurs get confined to the bubble (and Windblade too)

CHEETAH BOY!!!

I love how Hot Rod does a somersault to transform, he’s SO CUTE 

Hot Rod and Bee are chasing after this cat and my first thought was “Same”

UH OH THERE GOES HOT ROD, OFF ON HIS MAGICAL ADVENTURE

Episode 4

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE

STARSCREAMGATE

“Who’s storescream?” GUYS PLS

Oh yikes one of those names had kind of a bad word in it??? I wonder if the cyberverse crew caught that

Me, pointing to Soundwave in the background like that one Spongebob meme: THERE’S MY SON

LMAO THEY’RE REALLY OUT HERE ACTING LIKE THEY’RE HONORING STARSCREAM, MEGATRON YOU JERK

Megatron, sounding choked-up with fake tears: Starscream was my closest friend Me: *LOUDLY GAGS*

Megatron’s such a frickin loser I LOVE THIS MORON BUT ALSO BOY YOU’RE REALLY OVERDOING THIS

"Wow, Megatron is really good at lying” 1) HE’S REALLY NOT... 2) YOU’RE LITERALLY NAMED THE DECEPTICONS WHY IS THIS A SURPRISE

“Fail me, and I WILL destroy you” Good ‘ol Megs

Megatron: I need someone to replace Starscream at my side Soundwave: *literally Right There, ready to please, loyal to a fault* Megatron: *walks right by him*

OHOHOHO DANG THAT CONVO MEGATRON HAD WITH SLIPSTREAM WAS SO SO GOOD, I LOVE ME A SCARY MEGATRON!!!!! “See that you don’t waste it” GOOD STUFF

Oh man that little scene where Megatron sits down in his throne and the photo of Starscream automatically gets pulled up and Megatron turns away and dismisses the image is So Good for a variety of reasons, I love the little expressions and emotions the Cyberverse crew puts into scenes where the characters have no dialogue

WHY! ARE! YOU! SO! PRECIOUS!

“Your dramatics are useless, Soundwave!” LEAVE MY BOY ALONE SHOCKWAVE!!!

Wint your boy is bullying mine!!

Gosh I frickin love seeing Shockwave and Soundwave interact THANK YOU FOR THIS CONTENT CYBERVERSE STAFF

Soundwave: I will be the one to bring back Optimus Prime’s head! And then Megatron will finally notice me and love me! Shockwave: For the last time, please stop telling me about your relationship problems

Soundwave: I will be the one to bring back Optimus Prime’s head Shockwave: A highly unlikely conclusion, given your flair for inefficiency Me: IM GOING TO SHOVE SHOCKWAVE INTO A LOCKER, HOW DARE YOU—

Soundwave my sweet boy please kick his butt

I love you Shadow Striker

Shockwave: Sabotage Soundwave’s shuttle Soundwave: BLOW UP HIS FRICKIN LAB

LMAO GOOD LUCK SLIPSTREAM

HOT ROD!!! MY SWEET BOY YOU’RE IN A BAD SPOT

“Oh hey, I’m chasing the moon cheetah, have you seen it?” YOU SWEET BOY!!!!

“Hey this isn’t fair! There’s only two of you!” HOT ROD PLEASE

GOSH when Bludgeon showed up for half a frickin second I was worried they were using Bayverse design for Drift, BUT THEN I REMEMBERED WE ALREADY HAVE DEADLOCK WITH A GOOD NON-BAYVERSE DESIGN AND I’VE NEVER IN MY LIFE BEEN MORE RELIEVED

Man what a good show

THUNDERCRACKER YOU’RE ADORABLE

Hot Rod: Yeah, not everyone may think I’m a genius, but I make up for it with my good looks Me: You sure do buddy

THEY’RE SO CUTE WHEN THEY POUT

*FLASHBACKS TO MTMTE RODIMUS AND MEGATRON BICKERING*

Megatron: HAIL THE ARK! I need to tell Optimus I’ve kidnapped his son

Megatron: It would appear you’re missing an Autobot Hot Rod: Hey Optimus! :D Optimus: *fatherly sigh of disapproval* B/

noOOO THIS IS JUST LIKE THE MOVIE, STOP WITH THE PARALLELS CYBERVERSE YOU’RE STRESSING ME OUT

OMG HOT ROD YOU LITTLE SNOT, I LOVE YOU

Slipstream: THUNDERCRACKER! What’s going on? Thundercracker, mentally: Quick! Play dumb! Thundercracker: Who’s Thundercracker? Thundercracker, mentally: NOT THAT DUMB

Oh shoot are they rebuilding a new body for Starscream or something

Once again, I’d like to state that the explosions in this show are REALLY pretty

THE CHEETAH 

Megatron: BRING ME THE KITTY

OH SHOOT Episode 5 is up already?? GUESS I’LL WATCH THAT TOO

Ohh so they’re saying the Allspark caused the ground bridges? Interesting!

I wonder what would happen if someone walked into a groundbridge the same time as someone else walked out.

Uh oh they’re going to run into some problems, they both know where the All Spark is now

UH OH it only took Optimus and Megatron??? HERE WE GO This’ll be fun

I love that the All Spark looks like a giant dnd die with the Triforce on it

YESSSS I LOVE THESE MEGATRON / OPTIMUS PRIME FIGHT SCENES

OH SNAP KITTY CAT KNOCKED OVER OPTIMUS

Oh no they’re going to have to go through trials HOOO BOY THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN

Shockwave: Utilize your seekers Slipstream: Uhhhhhhh right I’ll do that yup I totally know where they are

LMAO Cheetor’s about to do some couples therapy on Megatron and Optimus’ relationship

Cheetor: Before you met Optimus Prime, he was a file clerk. What files was he in charge of?  OH SHOOT HE REALLY IS GOING TO PUT THEM THROUGH COUPLES THERAPY, I WAS KIDDING

real talk though, what files WAS Optimus in charge of, now I’m curious

MEGATRON LOOKS SO CONFUSED AND SLIGHTLY OFFENDED, IM CRYIN

IM FRICKIN SCREAMING THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING

Cheetor: Before you met Megatron, he was a celebrated gladiator. In his most famous victory, who did he defeat? Optimus: Oh shoot am I a bad husband???

This screencap is killing me, HE’S LIKE “I REALLY DON’T KNOW” and comparing it to the cap above makes it even funnier, they’re both like “Who the hell is this guy and why is he psychoanalyzing our relationship”

Megatron: How could you not know this??? FRICKIN HELL THIS IS COUPLES THERAPY, OPTIMUS IS ABOUT TO BE LIKE “WELL AT LEAST I DIDN’T FORGET OUR ANNIVERSARY”

Cheetor: What have you learned about leadership from Optimus Prime?” Me, dragging my hands down my face, torn between utter delight and second-hand embarrassment: This is the best episode ever, thank you Cyberverse

MAN for half a second I seriously thought Cheetor dragged Starscream’s body out in alt mode, I WAS ABOUT TO SAY “THAT SEEMS PRETTY DARK”

Oh boy they’re about to get their mandatory “we need a new toy for these guys” armor upgrade, hoo boy

Cyberverse: *Does a close-up of Optimus’ face* Me: I want to kiss the robot

CHEETOR PAY ATTENTION FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE

STARSCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh thank Goodness, thank you for taking their hideous new armor off Starscream

Optimus: I should’ve expected this from you Megatron. How could you bring your new boyfriend to our couples therapy session??? You know how important this was supposed to be!

Lmao Megatron you’re such a hot mess

YEAH I figured the Seekers were fixing Starscream, that’s sweet

OH IT WAS VECTOR SIGMA THEY WERE CARRYING EARLIER, I DIDNT REALIZE THAT

Optimus: I’ve found us a new ally Bumblebee: YOU BROUGHT US A KITTY!!!! Optimus: Uh

OH THERE’S MORE EPISODES UP??? I GUESS I”LL WATCH MORE but I’m making a new post for them, hold up

[cupofsorrows]

Howard Lovecraft 5: Yes, This Is The Last One

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Alright chums, let’s do this, home stretch!

- Alright everybody, welcome back to Eldritch Wipeout!

- We’ve had a pretty uneventful day so far, but that might turn around with our next contestant! Standing three feet tall and hailing from Rhode Island, let’s give it up for Howard “Hard R” Lovecraft! *air horns*

- He’s gonna need to keep a level head for this, Tim.

- That’s for sure, Jack. Always keep your wits about you!

- That is, if you haven’t already lost your mind from revelations no man should bear!

- Looks like he’s already running into some trouble with the first trial- And they’re past it already!

- But let’s see how well they do in the second trial!

- We pulled out all the stops on this one...

...and by “all the stops”, I mean ‘ripped the hell off of Indiana Jones’!

Don’t forget Howard...in the Aklo alphabet, ‘Jehovah’ begins with an ‘I’!

- Pretty straightforward, Bob, just gotta find the right tiles to step on --

- Ooh! Do you think he realizes that the words “my father” in that inscription DON’T refer to his father?

- I’m sure he does, John. If the inscription had meant that, it would have said “your father”!

- Appears he does NOT understand this, Rick.

- You know kids these days, Bill, they just don’t got the grammar too good.

- Wait, looks like he’s got another idea...could it be?

- I think it is!

- Looks like he’s spelling out ‘Azathoth’ which IS the correct answer!

- Terrible animation as always, of course.

- No argument there, Dick.

- Just the worst.

- Anyway, it’s on to the third and final trial! This one’s gonna require a lot of creative thinking...

- Looks like he’s planning on reflecting the light from his glowy blue friend, definitely an unconventional solution!

- I’m not sure that’s how physics works, Fred...

- Well, it’s working, Don!

- Well, fuck me in the ass with a Honda, Paul, so it is!

- Just goes to show you can’t trust physics in a place like this.

- No you can’t, Ron.

- I think our boy Howard might just be home free - OH! LOOK at that! A mob of Deep Ones!

- Copy-pasted, by the looks of it!

- Earl, this might be a pickle they’re in now.

waaait a minute...Deep Ones don’t blink!

- Actually, Mark, it seems like they’re cool! They’re just letting him walk out of there.

- Come to think of it, Ted, I think those might just be some set technicians. They’ve been waiting to start disassembling the course, I think.

- Well then, that’s our cue! We have a winner, ladies gents and assorted entities! Thanks for tuning in!

whew, doing those voices was murder on my throat. Now back to the hostage situation:

Nothing much to say here, badguy seemingly wins, activates the ritual, yadda yadda.

oola ooh couchez avec moi, c’est soi?

You can’t really tell from the screencap, but at the crucial moment the book stops working because...

...yeah. I’m not sure ‘deus ex machina’ is the right term for a situation involving actual elder gods, but it sure is a convenient development that in no way hinged on the protagonist’s actions, isn’t it? (also wow. They...just did not bother to give that book any texture here, did they?) Anyhoo, the evil plan fails, miserably,

(I think this was Pepsi’s slogan back in the ‘90s.)

Abdul has finally Outlived His Usefulness™, although he manages a few more lines after being set on fire so I wonder whether that dorky outfit was actually flame retardant.

And there’s Dagon, just standing there awkwardly because this is his place and he actually has people coming over tomorrow so if you all would please hurry up?

The goodguys actually left before Nyarlahotep had even begun soliloquizing back there, and now they’re back safe and sound (except for Ma Lovecraft who is still dying).

Oh, look who it is! Yeah, they’re safe, no thanks to you. Hope you had a nice cup of tea while everyone else was almost dying.

He binds the three journals together into The Necronomicon, which is the only thing that can save Howard’s mother (apparently that requires a higher level of magic than awakening freaking Cthulhu).

Speaking of Mark Hamill, that new Dark Crystal show has been pretty good so far (he’s one of the skeksis in that). Anyways sorry I called you useless, Doc.

lol that bitch is FADED!

*ding* Turkey’s done!

Howard reads from the book to save her. BUT WILL HE BE IN TIME?

My God, she looks like she’s made of vinyl! SHE’S BACK TO NORMAL, EVERYBODY!

There it is, the ONE GOOD BIT in this whole sordid affair. And I’ve capped and posted it, so now you can safely not watch the movie without missing anything.

So Spot (...is he Cthulhu for real now? I don’t think so but...) Must Go Back To His Home Planet Now, His People Need Him. By the way, I am increasingly sure that this is supposed to be R’lyeh:

(sorry, Ruh-LAY)

So the baddies didn’t kill these guys. Ah, too bad, I guess.

Howard shares some meaningful last words with Armitage:

- And they return (via portal) to their home. Yes, their quiet, peaceful home, with its cozy beds and its tranquil garden and their little cat, Ni-

...why, who could THAT be?

I will say this about the animation: it stayed shitty right up to the end.

...

So...not Nick Fury, then.

Right now, I feel, the joke is very specifically on me.

Roll credits, including this bit here about how this was actually adapted from a graphic novel:

Notice that director/producer/voice of Spot/father or husband of half the cast Sean O’Reilly is there, but notice how many other people there are who seem to have had little or nothing to do with this movie. Wonder what that’s about?

If it’s one of those guys that did this credit art - orders of magnitude better than the animation for most of the actual film - it’s nothing short of a travesty that not only were they not involved with the main project but also that we get to see their stuff now just to taunt us with what might have been.

I mean, LOOK at all that! Damn!

“Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental”, says the movie with the child version of a famous horror author as the main character. SURE, WHY NOT.

WELP THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE - well, all she wrote, maybe, but I still have a bit more to add. So yeah, this was on the whole pretty dismal. Not quite as bad as it could have been, I’ll grant, but it missed most of its major cues. I DID like some things - Doug Bradley played a decent Nyarlahotep, the stuff with Azathoth was neat, and Winfield Lovecraft’s character was actually kind of engaging - even funny - at times. AT TIMES. And I will say that, perversely, Abdul Alhazred’s lackluster character design actually kind of stood out - I don’t think you’ll find very many other depictions of him where he’s Just Some Guy (who happens to be a powerful sorcerer). If nothing else, they pretty diligently avoided racializing him (not even a turban!) - yeah, it’s still true that the one evil human is also the only one with any nonwhite identifiers whatsoever (really just the name, in this case) but considering the source material if that’s the most problematic it gets then we got off SUPER easy.

Bad news is, basically everything else about this blows. The animation only hurts if you have eyes, but even the blind can hold O’Reilly accountable for the decision to cast all his kids. Then there’s the fact that the movie tries to bait us with big names, even though two of the top-billed stars (Plummer and Perlman) have probably less than a minute’s worth of lines between them (and ‘lines’ is a bit charitable in Perlman’s case [no disrespect to Ron, you’ll always be my Hellboy]). Seriously, did you even remember Dr. West until I brought him up just now? Wait, no, don’t actually try to recallAAUGH

AAAAAAAHH!

And now the Nyquil’s kickin’ in so I’m gonna have to bow out - but fortunately I’ve said pretty much everything I could think of to say anyway. Perhaps one day, when the stars are right, I might recap the other movies, including Howard’s Mother Eats A Whole Chicken. The future is full of mysteries!

...OK, bye.

[mudakun]

The Problems of Creativeness

...also happens to be the title of a short, biting sci-fi tale by Thomas M. Disch; I use it as a half-ironic tag over on my blog but have been saving it as title. (in case you haven’t noticed or cared, I like to use old sci-fi story and movie titles as blog post titles as a sort of mood-setting thang over at heartsoffuriousfancies dawt com) I need to write -something- over there, if only because my (gasp) 10yr anniversary for the blog is approaching in September. I haven’t abandoned it, or even announced a formal hiatus. I do drop by and reply to occasional comments and sometimes, I run search+replace to fix terminology problems that might inadvertently position my ramblings as allied with odious netouyo.

So why have I not posted in 3/4 of a year? I lost my theory-moe-mojo. I think I blew it all on last year’s (or was it 2 years ago’s) big 4-parter on conventions of depicting intimacy in Japanese manga and anime. I am still proud of it but it became obvious that I wasn’t getting my point, my thesis or whatever, across. 

A similar thing happened a few years earlier when I examined 3 somewhat-lesbian-ish yuri works, ending in a detailed examination of the Bakemonogatari effort; Hanamonogatari (which, btw I lurv to death and Suruga Kanbaru is in many ways a far better lead than buddy boy, and I like buddy boy) Here for the record:  Too Het series: The “use value” extracted by straight-gaze works using queer characters is that these can do things that -by convention- straight charas are seldom shown doing. Lives of others: Tasteful, light queer desire is consumed for its iyashi feels. Hanamonogatari both lampshades and deconstructs the practice; it is a masterfully plotted tale. I then ran out of any “big” theory-ish thangs I wanted to grind on about. On a whim, I created an “imaginary friend”/ fictional interlocutor/ foil/ straight lawn mower/ OC? So I could do crummy dialogue-ish style grinds on smaller topics. It was either this, stop blogging or start doing new season anime reviews. Ack-chu-ally... The anime reviews ended up as meandering Twitter threads. Post screencaps, try not to be toooo slaggy, except for creeper shit that deserved a kick or two.

Even so, I generally just do a “nope, not for me, you may enjoy it, whatever” Why waste powder?

For instance, there are TWO summer 2021 high fantasy young lad hero isekai anime on right now; One is more “hard realism” and the other is already building a monster-girl harem. The latter is clearly more bullshit cliché than the former but I am enjoying it far more than the first -- which routinely slips in gratuitous child abuse shit to bolster its “realism” cred. ISEKAI, remember? FANTASY. Pleasant diverting escapism. If I want human scum acting scummy, I watch a video of CPAC.

Strangely enough, the monster girls in question are not shy about killing baddies, which is refreshing, even if they do pull their punches -most- of the time out of a sense of decorum towards their “young master”. The “realism” one could have used a few more dead baddies, right from ep1. Bhut Nooooo because our hero is... -something-. Bleh.

Even the Light Novel version of the Slime-taming Shed Builder Isekai from last year had him quietly, offstage, KILLING entre bands of bandits that threatened his forest cave home. Good on him. Do I have to endlessly re-watch Castlevania to see some obvious problem disposal? Which is not exactly a theory-moe-ish subject for one of my usual essay/posts. Which leads me to IRL. Obviously, a year -plus- of pandemic has not improved my outlook and I am sorely missing my special someone in Japan (she can’t visit me and I can’t visit her) and I really, really miss her. I DO feel better lately in that both of us are now fully vaxxed, and while we both have our share of “gettin’ older” complaints, we are healthy. So... writers block apologia post? There are a few other thangs that annoy/ get in the way but all in all, I like the way the last decade has gone in manga and anime. I have been watching casually for EONS and decided to fan out on it a decade ago and I will proudly state that I now will watch anime before I bother watching almost all live-action “movies” or shows. The overwhelming majority of them now provoke an almost-reflexive URUSAI/ STFU reaction.

The J-Drama “Camping Alone” was tolerable. Maybe it is the subtitles? Whatever. If worst comes to worst, I have 2 extra homebrew discoveries/ recipes/ tricks that I can post. One involves a novel use for grocery store Ginger Ale, the other a method for creating VERY hard cider. I can’t think of anything else.

[millennialdemon]

I wasn’t able to liveblog/screencap Romeo no Aoi Sora on account of watching it with my significant other (which was wild - I can’t imagine how a liveblog of it would have gone, it probably would have taken forever because it’s so dense) but I do think it’s worth doing a quick write up on as the first 1995 series I have completed!

My only other experience with World Masterpiece Theatre is the Flanders no Inu movie which really impressed me - I found it to be a fantastically focused, coherent movie. That seems like a pretty modest compliment but it did cause and effect and the whole idea of Drama (action > consequence > reaction) so well that despite it being a “mundane” story based in realism, it had a ton of momentum that made watching it very fulfilling. It was like reading a good book, and its coherency was something that is rare from what I’ve seen in anime movies, particularly movies that are spin-offs or summations of longer series, which Flanders no Inu was.

That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the 52 episode Flanders no Inu anime series wasn’t as tightly put together as the movie counterpart, and had similar flaws as the Romeo no Aoi Sora anime. Comparing the Romeo no Aoi Sora series to the Flanders no Inu movie thus isn’t exactly fair, but the issues in Romeo no Aoi Sora are so minor (and quite subjective) that I don’t think I’m doing it a disservice by going ahead.

The first half of the series was great - and the second half (mostly the last ~10 episodes) was great too, but it seemed like it was more focused on emotional reveals and between/following those reveals were big action sequences (breaking into the castle, for example) or emotionally lighter episodes (Michaelo losing his mother’s necklace after the Grieving Episode) which aren’t necessarily bad, but I’m the type of heathen that doesn’t want anything paired with narrative climaxes. Don’t pull your punches, I love suffering, etc. What I liked so much about Flanders no Inu is that it was perfectly… formulaic isn’t the right word, but it had no loose ends and every line went somewhere meaningful that kept pushing the momentum and made each reveal and reaction just a bit more unbearable than the last. I was worried when I saw that there was 4-5 episodes left of Romeo no Aoi Sora after the series climax, and my worry wasn’t entirely unfounded when that climax and its effects went on for another few episodes.

Of course, that’s a pretty subjective criticism. People generally like relief and because it was a longer series with a larger cast, it makes sense time was allotted to see the effects on everyone and see how they regrouped afterwards and what the future held - and I do like that the issue of children being dragged away to work in the city for cruel adults wasn’t abandoned, and Romeo and everyone else did what they could as children themselves to help the new “hires”, and that it was stated that Romeo lived to see it become illegal for children to work that job.  

Speaking of that cruel job that is central to the entire series, my only other gripe and the one that is less debatable - I didn’t like the framing of almost all of the “non-villain” adults in the series. I think it’s one thing for the children in context to like and forgive them, but when Rossi becomes this almost dad figure who protects Romeo from his mean wife and son, I… can understand people are flawed, and can be flawed and still do nice deeds sometimes, but he was just as cruel to Romeo as his family was until Romeo convinced him to treat him like a human by being incredibly self-sacrificing and kind to Rossi and his family. Rossi still wastes the money Romeo works hard for on booze and had still bought Romeo as a sub-human nuisance just to work for his family. Romeo shouldn’t have had to literally risk his life to try and save Rossi, for Rossi to have realized “Romeo might be worth treating well”… it’s worse when you remember that Rossi and his family have “hired” children before Romeo and likely weren’t nearly as kind to them, and they will almost certainly hire more after Romeo had left.

That is just one instance where this happens - Romeo has to convince bitter, mean adults who are either exploiting him or being otherwise cruel to be marginally kind to him, and once they “see the light” a la Romeo’s infinite kindness, are “redeemed” and no longer Bad People, who come back later in the series to help Romeo and the others.

I totally understand it’s a TV show for children about children, but it’s difficult for me to rationalize hand-waving it as a mostly harmless cliche when in the first 5 or so episodes we explicitly see how cruel the “industry” of stealing children and ruining their families lives is. Pardon another comparison, but this perhaps too simple, too optimistic view made me realize another thing I like about Flanders no Inu - the tragedy is that the adults never do the right thing, and Nello never gets an opportunity to convince them to. Neglect and apathy is the enemy, and we see adults realize they were wrong and mourn, but it’s too late to be of any help to Nello, and too late to redeem them of their cruelty. By the time Alois’ father finally realizes he was wrong upon seeing that Nello selflessly brought back his lost money despite needing it so much more badly than him, it’s too late to be of any significance to his character beyond realizing his arrogance is a part of Nello’s sad fate, and thus only reflects on the tragedy of how Nello is kind and does not deserve that fate.

I have little interest in seeing Alois’ father and that nasty, nasty rent-collector realizing the errors of their ways and mourning Nello - in the same way, I have little interest in seeing Rossi and his wife realize they will miss Romeo. In one, it doesn’t happen and that’s great, and in the other it does and it feels jarring and unsavoury. 

I realize over a 33 episode series, it would be too much to see adults be continuously cruel and never let up, but Romeo no Aoi Sora did do the Children Being Kind to Adult Abusers thing well at a point. When Romeo risked his life to save The God of Death from drowning and he was vaguely humbled by it, he didn’t become a good person and wasn’t framed in an apologetic light at all, and Romeo was still quiet and cold towards him even though he was also more inquisitive and a bit more dependant on him (I liked the line that was like “he was the only other person the children knew in Milan” when they arrive at the place where they would be bought - the thought that Romeo is somewhat hesitant to leave him in the face of the unknown is a good touch that still doesn’t make The God of Death seem reliable or kind). He was still an evil man and in the last episode, we see him bringing in another batch of kids with that grin on his face. So to me, it seems possible that the adults can change, without becoming heroic or likable, and the children’s views on them can change/become more positive without undoing the fact they are mean and exploitative people.

I think it would have been possible for Rossi and his family to become less mean without a “Aha, Romeo is Good!” moment and without meaningful redemption (I’m fairly sure Rossi is supposed to be likable or at least forgiven by the end), and for Angelleta’s grandmother to be more easily redeemable if she wasn’t so extreme (she pulled a gun on Romeo to see if he was brave/telling the truth?!). That would have been my preference.

Overall though it’s still a great series! I would think it’s pretty easy to hand-wave these complaints considering the audience and cliches, and I don’t necessarily think it’s unethical go along with the story-telling. The apologism is still handled better than most other times I’ve seen it because changes are gradual, the adults’ behaviours are usually familiar (not okay, but familiar) and are not at the front of the story. I feel like the pros far outweigh the cons and the overall plot is classic and great, the child characters are charming and I love them, and the story-telling is well done particularly early on in the series! Solid 8/10 from me and I’m glad it’s the first birth year title I ended up finishing.