#(if i was not already like 10 degrees too warm and suffering with the sheer Volume of Humans that had been in my business all day. id have

[vcrnons]

what a time to be alive🥹

[equestrianwritingsstuff]

For this, I did all 60 prompts. They will be posted twice a day. Some are shorter, some are longer, some are combined and some have multiple parts. Some are rushed and others are nicely done (in my opinion)

Summer of Whump #1: Freezing

"The Torture of Cold"

It was not meant to be 10 degrees out during the summer.

Villain was huddled in a corner, hugging himself. His jaw was clenched to keep from chattering. He was cold, much too cold. The thin shirt he wore did little to protect him from the drafts and chills. The most it did was prevent the artificial windburn that threatened to irritate his already raw skin.

It had been two months. Two months of everlasting torture by Hero, but he refused to give into her feeble attempts to get him to speak.

He was actually surprised that he was able to hold on for this long. Everyday, he would have to endure either a beating or eating poisonous food. He loved the days when he was forced to eat the bad food. He wouldn't talk, so Hero would be forced to care for him. It annoyed her, and him, but it was the easiest torture ever.

Things were so easy that Villain was even able to contact his henchman to get him out of here. Of course, Hero's security was top notch even if she was an amateur torturer. The five carefully planned escapes were basically thrown in the trash.

But now? Now, he was thrown into a room that was below freezing. He had an ice bucket thrown on him ahead of time, so he was ten times colder. After five minutes of sitting there (he was restrained, so he couldn't move to warm himself), his body had gone numb and then the ache of cold began.

The metal cuffs around his elbows and neck made things worse as they sapped up his body heat. He wished that the pain would leave him be.

Villain leaned back as far as he was able to. His eyes squinted against the oncoming wind. He tried to focus on it, not the fact that his body began to shiver mercilessly.

The shivering continued until Villain wanted to scream in pain. It rattled every joint, every muscle. He thought of the warmth he would receive- whether alive or dead- if he just told Hero about Supervillain's plan. Warmth was all he could imagine and he stuck with it. He just wished that Hero would barge in, her obnoxious voice and all and end Villain's suffering. He tossed around two scenes: one where he told Hero the information and being allowed to warm up, and the scarier one of refusing to speak and having to die in this freezer.

Villain squeezed his eyes shut. Was he finally breaking? After all of the pain he previously endured, he was breaking under a little bit of cold. Deep down, Villain knew that the outcome of this new method was far from great; he either died, or would be scared of getting food from a freezer for the rest of his life.

"S-stop... that," Villain stuttered breathlessly. He was concerned and surprise about how weak he sounded. Why was Hero doing this? Villain felt a strange new pressure in his throat. It puzzled him for a moment before realization struck him. He, Villain, was going to cry. A tough, defiant criminal like himself was going to break down in tears.

He actually hoped that the cold would freeze his eyes in place so that they wouldn't commit that treason.

But, of course, the cold did not do the work that Villain willed it to. A single tear slipped out of his right eye and streamed down to his parted mouth. He gulped. Crying was a new sensation. An action that he never allowed himself to do before.

And he hated it, but stopped resisting the almost instinctive urge.

He began to rock on his feet, his neck pressing against the collar and back until exhaustion started to dawn on him. He knew about hypothermia to some degree. Villain froze in his place, hypothermia? The thought did not cross his mind until now. He tried to stop thinking about it, but it proved impossible.

Atleast the shivering stopped, Villain thought gleefully. The aches he earned were still present, but weren't getting worse. Villain looked down at his fingers and tried to move them, concerned about the sudden lack of movement and the cold that came with it. Sure enough, when he tried to wiggle his fingers, they disobeyed.

Villain shut his eyes and let his lips droop. His chest rattled as sobs tried to escape him, but none came out.

Villain's relaxed against his restraints, suddenly very tired.

"Don' slee'," he mumbled, unable to properly form the words, but his body was beginning to shut down. Sleeping, suddenly felt so good that he didn't care about the dangers it would bring. Sleeping meant death, but wouldn't death be warm?

Villain cracked open his eyes. He wouldn't die... wouldn't. Not without a fight. Even if fighting seemed impossible.

But to Villain'a horror, exhaustion had other ideas. His vision began to dim and waver. He shook his head trying to clear it, but the effort made it worse. His breaths were also getting shallower and shallower. He was going to lose consciousness soon and he knew it.

Stop fighting, he told himself sadly. It's not worth it.

Surprisingly, warmth came. Villain didn't know if it was due to a final rush of adrenaline, or if his mind imagined it, but it was there, comforting him. With one last sigh, he allowed unconsciousness to take him.

Little did he know that it was Hero, holding him as his head fell limp into her arms.

"What have I done?" She whispered. Her fingers gently brushed Villain's wet hair off his forehead. He was cold to the touch like a dead corspe. He looked like a dead corspe.

"We need a medic," she spoke into her earpierce. She could hardly look at Villain's face. The red cheeks scratched from the unnecessary windburn she made him go through, the blue lips, and frozen tears and eyelashes.

Hero did not have much experience when it came to doctoring, but she knew that she had to take the wet clothes off. She unlocked the cuffs around his elbows (she already took the collar off previously) and laid him against her chest. Her heart lurched, he was hardly breathing.

"Stay alive for me please," she whispered, unsure if he was able to hear her or not. She doubted it. She took her knife out of her pocket and cut his shirt down the middle, revealing waxy, yellow skin. She looked away, feeling the guilt all over again.

Shortly after her encounter with the frostbite, a team of doctors entered the cell. They immediately took Villain's limp body away from her and wrapped him in blankets. They whisked him away without another word to Hero.

Hero was left there, sulking in the bitter cold room. She didn't know if she wanted to make sure that he would be cared for properly. If he died, then she would not have to do through the guilt of seeing him.

He almost died, under her orders.

It took a while for Hero to muster the courage to visit Villain in the hospital. When she did, she nearly left. Villain was attached to many monitors and IVs. He wore an oxygen mask and didn't seem to be awake.

Hero forced herself to go to his side and take his hand. It was warm, which was good, but it did not help the guilt that coursed through Hero's veins.

And it did not in any way prepare her for the look of sheer terror on Villain's face when his eyes fluttered open.

[justjessame]

Babysitting Butcher Chapter 32

Life as a human guinea pig is a strange thing. First of all, there's the questions. The same questions over and over, to the point where the machines and medical doodads and the noise that became almost normal for me, but the questions became the irritant of the day.

"How are you feeling today, Dr. Taylor?" As I'd squint into the bright light being forced into my marrow it seemed. A muttered reply from me, and honestly the same answer in varying degrees of annoyance or acceptance depending upon the day and how many times I'd been asked it so far. "Uh huh, and are you feeling warm? Is there tenderness in your abdomen?" While they poked and prodded, testing skin, muscle, bone and eventually blood.

Did you know the average human adult has around 1.2-1.5 gallons of blood which equals roughly 10 units? I know this because I wanted to be certain that I'd have enough after all the blood testing. Research would either be the way I kept sane or what finally pushed me over the ledge into complete madness, mark my words.

Billy visited, as often as he could, and every single time he'd greet the head poker in residence with his own version of the repeated question game. "How is she? What's the bloody progress?" At which I would inevitably check the arm that seemed to be their favorite vessel for bloodletting. "How much longer?" And then he'd meet my gaze and focus his attention on ME, rather than on my medical condition.

Yes, I was calling it a condition. If I let the reality of my situation fully grip me, then I'd scream. And I had moments of it, trust me.

How would you feel if every single time the man you loved walked in and spoke about your person as though you were a petri dish experiment before reminding himself, through sheer force of finally SEEING you, that you were in fact the woman he loved?

Now take that feeling you just got from that scenario and add the annoyingly taunting voice of the caped asshole who caused this whole fucking irritating bullshit situation reminding you that you fell in love with a man for whom hatred of supes is as natural as inhaling. Feeling just a hint of discomfort? Just add the sound of beeping, buzzing, and dripping to remind yourself of the fact that this was all happening while I was being held hostage as a "let's see what happens if we try this mixture to counteract the demon juice flowing through her veins" was tried over and over.

Strained. My nerves, body, and brain felt strained. Even after the feeding tube was gone and Billy could kiss me. Even after I was given the go ahead to work from my hospital bed. Frayed would be a kind way to say how absolutely on edge I felt.

And the worse part? I felt like I was missing something. Something important. Something paramount. Just out of reach and as though, even surrounded by my laptop and notes, something that was keeping me out of an important loop.

The longer that I stayed in the 'undisclosed medical' location, the more that I wanted to be anywhere else in the world. Literally anywhere. I started to yearn for Bolivia and the Black Ops team that had gotten caught up in the web of a rogue agent and 'died' implicated in a massive fuck up of epic proportions.

When a rational woman who knows how the inner workings of other people's brains and behavior follow reliable patterns starts thinking fondly of the heat of a tropical place where she had to wade through more red tape than most people would assume humanly possible to unravel the truth, all while hearing the type of rumors about the men she was trying to clear and resurrect from faked death, then shit has hit epic levels of horrible. It did remind me to contact that team to see how their return to their former lives had worked out, and wonder if their leader had gotten over his own tragic ability to attract murderous women.

I wanted to go further than the small courtyard deemed safe enough for me to explore, and near enough to make them taking me off the dialysis machine after another fun round of 'clean her blood again' reasonable. I wanted to sleep in my own bed and watch television at my discretion without interruptions for another round of the questions and poking I wanted, in short, to be back to normal already.

I might have been empathizing with Billy's urge for the Vought wankers (his word, I swear) to find the magic solution so life could go back to the routine we both wanted a return to. Or I might have been trying to only see the positive outcome, since there was a creeping feeling that maybe, just maybe there wasn't an easy fix or a fix at all.

A month passed, with my cabin fever slowly increasing by the day, and with it my internal and external temperatures. Oh yeah, that's right, I might have forgotten to mention that while the steaming was at bay, now it was just my actual body temperature that would fluctuate and freak every single fucking person all the way out. When Billy said I nearly went "nuclear" he hadn't been joking, apparently I could have fucking exploded like a goddamn human time bomb and I didn't want to consider just how fucking messy that would have been for the janitorial staff.

Finally, maybe because I wanted some type of control about the questioning, I started asking some probing ones of my own. And what I found, when they would meet my eyes and answer me as fully as I wanted, was that that creeping feeling was growing more likely.

The issue wasn't simply that they didn't know which variation of Compound V that Homelander had me infected with, it was that as they broke down the components and addressed each one, my body didn't simply fight their attempts, it attacked itself. The asshole, it would appear, had basically chosen the self destruct version, and it was trickier than any puzzle these 'real doctors' had ever come across. I was truly feeling the confidence of having a toddler performing my brain surgery with this knowledge.

Oh and that wasn't all, even IF they figured out how to 'neutralize' the formula inside of my bloodstrain, then there was a probability that I could pass it on to any future children. Isn't that some kind of amazingly poetic bullshit to hear after you chose to evict a foreign invader from your uterus? That the one stabilizing agent I'd had scraped and dumped was the ONLY one that I would ever get to actually be allowed to experience. Remind me to send Homelander a HUGE fucking thank you card, would you?

Early into my first true consciousness, before I found out just how fucked the pompous dick had made my entire existence, Billy had told me that my parents had visited while I was knocked out. Apparently near death experiences make even the weirdest of families reunite. And mine was no different.

Mom became a regular visitor and I was shocked by how much I started looking forward to her visits. She was strangely comforting, and tried to keep my spirits up, she even made peace with Billy. Dad was less frequent in his contact, but Mom told me it was difficult for him to see me look like a shell of myself.

And I did. I looked like a ghost that's haunting what was left of my body. The feeding tube had kept me nourished, but my muscle mass had suffered from the amount of time I was forced to spend in bed. I was constantly tired, my work hours going from nine to six to an hour here, a few minutes there, and the amount of napping I did would make most house cats jealous. The gowns that I wore hung from my frame, my appetite was scarce and I felt like this was the LONGEST goodbye letter ever to be written.

As the days passed, one merging into the next without me taking stock of how much I missed, how much that puzzle of what I was missing had bothered me early on, the negative ideas started creeping in. Homelander's voice grew louder. His smug question about Billy and me and what my condition would mean for the two of us in the end kept pushing through my attempts to distract myself.

I was sitting in the soft chair they'd brought in for me by the window, staring out and thinking of my options when Billy came in for his visit. I heard him, in the background noise of beeps and whirls, ask his questions. I felt him when he was nearer to me, but my eyes stayed on the 'view'.

He started to greet me, but my mouth opened and the question came out without me thinking about it. "How will you do it?" I watched a leaf, one missed by the obsessive groundskeepers, dance in a breeze I wish I could feel. He was confused, his reflection showed that much. "When you kill me, how will you do it?"

"Veronica," I could hear the pain in his voice, the fear hiding behind it. "I wouldn't-"

"Frenchie then?" I tilted my head considering. "MM? Hughie barely managed to make the choice with-" I stopped and took a breath. "Kimiko?" I sighed and pulled my legs up onto the chair, hugging my knees. "I hear she makes quite a mess of her prey." My voice wasn't loud and it didn't sound anything more than resigned, and I was a little curious. "If you can get Starlight to do it, you could make it seem like self defense? Or," I sighed, and bit my lip, "it would finally give you a reason to take her out too."

"Ronnie, love, that's not gonna-" I turned and he flinched when he saw that I was serious and not the least bit upset. "Ronnie?"

"Billy Butcher, I wrote the book on you." My smile felt wrong to me, but right at the same time. "I know you inside and out, or at least I think I do." I had the research on the flash drive that was hooked into my laptop on the bed. "You are single minded in your focus and your focus has been on eliminating supes from the world for a very long time." I turned back to the window, staring past the view and at the reflection of the room behind me. "It was one of the things I found the most attractive about you, I think. That you could see a goal and pound away until you master it." He sat in the chair close to me, but at a distance far enough that he'd have to work to touch me. "So, how will I die, Billy?"

"You'll die safe and sound, of old age in our bed, Veronica." I smiled sadly at this pipe dream of a fairy tale he wanted so badly to believe. "When you're sick of me, remember?" I could hear how badly he wanted it to be true, how much he wanted to hold me and it to all be a terrible dream.

"Never took you for a nursery rhyme and fairy stories fan," my eyes were still on the window. "This isn't going away, Billy, what he put in me isn't going away. And you will start to look at me like you look at him." My eyes found his, and face to face I wanted to force him to see it. "You will. And then, just like you, Frenchie, and Hughie brainstormed about Translucent and the best way to end him, you'll start to consider my pressure points." I gave a harsh, humorless chuckle. "And the funniest part is that Homelander built mine in for you, all you have to do is take me off the blood cleanse for a day and my own body will do it for you." His eyes tightened at the reminder of how many close calls I'd had. "Oops, I guess I just planned it for you."

"Please don't." He was begging me to let him pretend it wasn't the truth, that he wouldn't lose me too, and because of the same supe as Becca's cause of death. "Don't do this."

I smiled sadly, knowing he knew, even without me telling him, what was going to happen next.

[moonlightxarcher]

Selene’s Log, Day One

Update, 7:40 pm. 

“The flight from Sinnoh to Alola took over twelve hours. It was supposed to take eight. Given the shaking in my legs, the unconscious balling of my hands into fists, and the sheer degree of negative thoughts entering my mind, it appears that I may have been more frustrated by the delays than it appears. Further research may be needed to examine the extent of this effect.” Nonetheless, she continues.

“It was past sunset when I touched down in Alola, leaving the bureau on Melemele Island in the middle of the night. Normally at these hours, I would want to take a long bath, enjoy a warm mug of tea and read a good book. However, this flight has left me... now what was that word. Ah yes, restless. Relaxation is not what I need this moment. As such, I have found it wise to begin my studies.”

There is a muffled sound of items being shuffled through a bag and the tell-tale zing of the edge of a spiral notebook rubbing against something hard. “Professor Kukui has recorded data on these nocturnal Ratatta that call this region their home, and I should like to observe them for myself.”    

---

Update, 8:30 pm. 

“Though it may seem odd, I feel a need to apologize to this audio log for not adding to it earlier. It would seem that Alola is as active at night as the city dwellers in Unova. It was not an Alolan Ratatta that I discovered on Route 1, but a Yungoose. These tan and yellow furred mongoose Pokemon are diurnal, so one of them appearing active at night was surely indicative of something gravely wrong. The look in its beady eyes- it seemed frantic, scared. Something capable of scaring even a Yungoos would be trouble. And that something I learned rather soon after was a flock of Spearow. While nature’s course would normally have led to the consumption of this Loitering Pokemon, I fear I could not let it perish, not when I had interfered already in the chase.” 

“As luck would have it, my bow was within easy reach, Drawing its sleek wooden form from its case, I took aim at the lead Spearow, hoping to knock it out of the sky and scare off the others, but I need not have. A determined squawk cut the tension like an Air Slash. A small, screeching, ball of owl careened into the lead Spearow, kicking it in the beak.”

“Between that owl’s attack and the warning arrow I loosed, it sent the flock packing. Though the Yungoos appeared to be scared off as well.”

“Professor Kukui then found me, a bit embarrassed that the surprise had been ruined prematurely. See, he had been intending on giving this owl- Rowlet, to me as a gift for my help in the last paper we wrote together on Grass Type Moves.” A few taps and beeps are heard as an image flashes up on her recording device’s screen.

Name: Strix

Gender: Female

Nature: Bashful

Characteristic: Quick tempered

There is a muted sound of hooting in the background and a dull thud of something weighted landing on a shoulder. “I am sure Strix and I will work well together. She seems to line up well with my sense of justice, what with how she handled the Spearow.” The owl hoots in agreement.

“On Professor Kukui’s advice, we are heading up to Iki Town to talk to the Kahuna-” Her words are briefly interrupted by the dulled sound of an excitable male, happily calling out to the girl and her Rowlet. It would seem that he and the blue sea lion Pokemon walking with her know this owl. Their conversation is muted, but a few small remarks are caught, namely the mention of a battle and a rivalry between the Rowlet and Popplio.

“Leafage, Strix-” comes Selene’s voice clam and clear, just as the recording cuts out.  

---

Update, 9:00 pm.

“Once again, it seems I must apologize. I must admit I accidentally bumped my thumb against the end recording button. I will take measures to ensure that this does not happen again, moving forward.” She pauses a moment to clear her throat. “Having listened back, it appears the recording cut off during my battle with the boy and his Popplio. Hau is...” There is almost a sense of hesitation in the feminine voice, as if trying to find the word that best applies. “...excitable. Perhaps too excitable. But he seems to be a good-hearted kid.” Says the girl only two years his senior. “His attacks left many openings and were poorly planned, but he did pack a punch. The kid has potential, I will give him that.”

“Professor Kukui ran into us not long after our battle ran to its natural completion. Entering the town together, it became quite clear to the locals that the Kahuna was not here. In the meantime, Professor Kukui suggested I head along Mahalo Trail to the shrine of Tapu Koko, to introduce myself to the Island Guardian. It is a custom I am unfortunately not familiar with, but one that he had educated me on prior to my arrival. It seemed more than reasonable, and the walk has given me time to recount the previous-”

The audio recording stutters, the device clacks as it hits the ground. Two different feminine voices mutter apologies to each other, their words unintelligible at first until the device is picked up and handed back to Selene. Both girls suggest that it was her own fault for not paying attention to where she was walking. The distant, tinkling cry of something small, a Pokemon perhaps, is also audible. 

As is the increasingly loud screech of a flock of Spearow.  

“Nebby! Please, can you-” That second feminine voice is heard once more before it is interrupted by the rough squawking, which is in turn interrupted by the hoot of a Rowlet smashing into the side of the smaller bird. Sounds of battle ring out, the device shaking as it is roughly stowed away in a pocket. The clattering sounds of sandal-covered feet clacking against wood can be heard, as well as the telltale flutter of leaves released like darts from the wings of her partner. From amidst the clashing sounds, a whining cry cuts in, and the deep thrum of a shockwave rocks recording, staggering multiple times. 

A shattering snap, like that of splintering wood, and a sudden shriek of fear are all that can be heard... until the ethereal hum of another creature cuts in, sounds of sparking lightning quite nearly cutting off the recording then and there. 

“T-Tapu.. Koko?” Selene’s voice comes in clearer now, though it seems that the damage the device had suffered was making it sound more mechanized. She is left panting, out of breath at the sight of such a lovely creature. If only her device could record video, then she’d really be able to keep a perfect record of sheer beauty of this legend in the flesh.

The device fizzles out.

---

Update, 10:45 pm.

“...And there we go, all fixed up. The device should be picking up my speech clearly enough now.” Selene’s voice seems tired and slightly crackly, but she isn’t wrong; it was far better than the mechanized voice from earlier. “Our encounter on the bridge left the recording device damaged. With the spare parts I had on hand I was able to repair most of the damage, but it may not hold for long. Further investigation into another option to record my experiments or find more parts may be needed.” She clears her throat a moment, seemingly distracted by the onset of sleep.

“Right. An explanation. According to Professor Kukui and Kahuna Hala, it was in fact Tapu Koko that has saved me and that strange space cloud Pokémon Nebby. But before I could say a word to it, much less thank it for saving my life, the legend was gone. But it did leave a gift of sorts. Kahuna Hala refered to it as a Sparkling Stone, and with its smooth black and intricate colored markings, I can see how it would sparkle when held at the right angle in the right light. I have given the stone to the Kahuna, as he has stated that he can make something for me out of it.”

“But I digress. The other girl accidentally recorded on this device is Lillie, she works for the Professor as his assistant. I have spoken with her once or twice, but she had not known that I was coming to Alola in person. It was...” She stops a moment, seemingly thinking better of it, but continues anyway. “She thought it was ‘cute’ that I was making an audio diary. I tried to explain to her that it was to record my research, but she did not listen...” A short pause, the ruffling off hair can be heard. “But I suppose she is not wrong. Alola is a region rich with culture, mythology, and variant Pokemon. Perhaps recording even my daily life could reveal something interesting with further study.”

Now, where was she? Lillie’s words had thrown her off a bit. “Ah, yes. The Spearow that attacked were without a doubt the same ones as before, so I tried to explain to Lillie the fact they all very nearly got hurt was my fault, but... Lillie refuses to let me take the blame. She really is a kind soul. I am not sure I would have been able to say the same. When we returned, Lillie explained what had happened to Kahuna Hala, and that was when I showed him the stone. I am not sure what he could be doing with it, but the thought intrigued me enough.”

“It was rather late by then, so the Kahuna sent us all off. Professor Kukui had prepared a bed for me in the basement of his lab, so I walked with him and Lillie. I had asked why they had not already converted the basement into a larger room for Lillie, but it seemed like the girl actually enjoyed her little loft area. It personally seemed too small in the video footage I had seen, but if it worked for her, I cannot argue.”

“Back at the lab, the Professor was happy to present me with another gift. He would have given it to me earlier, but it had not been ready yet: A Rotom Pokedex. I had read about them in a recent tech magazine, but I have to say they are far more impressive in person. The Professor went all-out in this, I will give him that. He had modified the Pokedex to include a proper camera for taking pictures and video, and the Rotom placed inside it to act as the AI was very well trained. I was able to speak with it briefly before it had to enter a shutdown mode to properly update and install all the programs.” She pauses, the light sound of fingers tapping as she mentally trails off a bit.

“I wonder... Maybe once he is up, I will ask the Rotom if he would help me with my logs...” A longer pause, for a moment it seems like the recording has died, but then she picks it up again. “Fatigue appears to be setting in. I ought to sleep, there is a long day of science and research planned for tomorrow.”

End Day One.

[gongorawork]

Endings, in search of happy endings

Endings 

In search of Happy Endings

By Anthony Gongora

How do we find the end?

More specifically the end of systemic dysfunctions?

Dysfunctions, which manifest in every form of oppression. 

When we look at racism, poverty, gender inequality, LGBTQ discrimination, corporate greed, political corruption, cradle to prison pipeline, global warming, white supremacy, hunger, the decimation of the rain forest, addiction, false information, testing regimens in early education, which only measures the excellence of people who are good test-takers, or the huge debt incurred pursuing higher education, religious dogma, and war we can measure oppression. 

Each of the above systemic forms of oppression was started by men which means that they can all be ended. 

But how?

How do we end societal structures that no longer serve humanity in terms of becoming our best possible example of what human life can be?

How do we find and create endings?

Looking at life as an example for endings there is a clear cycle of - birth to death. Every single living entity on this earth, irrelevant of the span-of-time, lives then dies. And so too, everything that humans make, we can unmake. Nothing is permanent. Nothing.

If something appears as fixed and unalterable, question it, and remember that a human-made the illusion of its permanence, which thankfully can be undone.

A symptom of systemic dysfunction is choosing consciously or unconsciously to forget.

For myself, forgetting comes from sheer exhaustion. I’m guessing that this could be true for others too. 

Being active and present to fight the good fight requires a lot of energy, which after working 60 - 80 hours a week is hard to come by. 

By the way, nobody that I know works the mythical 40 hours a week. 

American culture has reduced the human experience to work, eat, sleep, and consume. 

We are being worked to death physically and psychologically. 

This is not accidental.

Being forced to stay in a nearly constant state of mental and physical fatigue builds a society that is numb. A passive society makes it possible for the people in power to keep power. 

The gatekeepers - the ultra-rich, create and cultivate a culture that demands that people work constantly.

The few people at the top live for life. While everybody else works for life.

I'd like to share my life as a worker as an example. As an Artist/Educator and someone who was raised in poverty and within the welfare system, I have always lived in what I have labeled as “survival mode,” which means living from paycheck to paycheck with nothing extra. No savings and no emergency funds or family monies or inheritance. I have, from the age of 10 years old, always had multiple jobs at once. 

As a child, I sorted returned soda bottles at the convenience store and I also worked on an Ice cream truck. I was paid with products, not money. When I shared my candy rewards with my mom, she said, “next time get milk or bread”. I did. 

As an adult with a terminal degree, and as a full-time professor, to make ends meet, I had to supplement my income teaching adjunct at another university. I worked constantly. Though I have done everything prescribed by our society to get ahead, and I have done it well, I still have not achieved financial security. At 54, I still live hand to mouth in survival mode. 

Something is broken and it is not me.

The myth that if you work really hard you will get ahead is not true. 

The myth is kept alive because if the workers don’t go to work the ultra-rich can’t stay rich.

Myths that cause dysfunction need to end.  

Do you ever wonder why the accumulation of wealth is the dominant measure of “success” and why are we all encourage to pursue that singular end? 

My thinking goes like this, if we make money, a lot or a little, we tend to spend what we have to buy the newest object, which we believe will make our lives better. To reinforce this nearly every surface that we glance is selling us something. Through savvy marketing - pretty pictures, alluring words, and now algorithms that convince us that we have to have the object of our affection, we spend our money.

We spend our hard-earned cash to get the things that we don’t necessarily need. 

Why?

Because we have been manipulated. 

In the end, we are left cash-poor all the while making the rich richer - it is that simple.

In our minds, the thought of making more and more money is a constant tick. 

Do you ever wonder who placed that tick in your mind? 

The kooky part is that we make the money and then we give it right back. We temporarily feel successful and fulfilled because we own the object. However, now that our cash is gone we have to do more work to get more money to buy things that we don’t necessarily need. 

Truth be told at the end of the day, having been overworked, and underpaid most are too exhausted to deeply question anything. 

And if we find ourselves questioning our present state of being we quickly defend our status, answering ourselves back with, “I’m doing fine, I have a roof over my head and food on my table.”

FYI, African slaves had the same provided by their enslavers. I’m just saying. 

Advertisers are paid a lot of money to get us to spend our cash and their work works.

Is that power?

What is power?

Artist, Lauren Hill killed it when she penned the lyrics “If you can get the money you can get the power.” Truth. But, who has the power, truthfully, our politicians and government leader?

No. It is the ultra-rich who uses extreme wealth to influence and manipulate politicians to move and act in ways that favor their potential to accumulation more wealth. 

Excessive wealth is Power.

Ultra Rich’s point of access to power is in the wallets and purses of our politicians and government leaders. Why else do you think the super-rich give huge sums of money to specific politicians as they run for office. 

Believe you me it’s not out of the generosity of their hearts. It is to be able to pull the strings of their puppets and to wield their power. Otherwise, they’d give equally to each party.

This practice of giving is called being a donor, which seems to make it okay. 

It is not.

Whenever an ultra-rich person gives a donation to a politician in order to tip the scales in their favor, specifically to accumulate more wealth, corruption is happening. 

Why does and should this matter to every American?

Because, if the ultra-rich are manipulating our elected officials to represent their causes then nobody is there to represent the rest of us.

I’d like this to end. 

I’d like the corruption of our politicians to end.

I want my elected officials to represent all Americans not just the Ultra-Rich. 

Do you ever wonder why the collective cultural and possible global mantra, for all, starting from childhood is, “get a job?” 

Remember, as a child, being asked over and over again, “What are you going to be when you grow up?”

Are you making the connections? 

If not, here is how it goes. From day one we are being programmed to be workers. 

Look at the trajectory of life that we all prescribe to, first-day care, then preschool, elementary school, high school, then pay a lot of money to learn a trade or go to college - start your adult life in major debt. Get a job. Make money. Spend everything to fulfill your dreams (does this ever happen?). Teach your children to do the same. Die. The End. 

All of the above my friends is systemic cooperate greed realized through

our bodies, our labor, our spending/consuming. We are the fuel that keeps corporate greed running.

Whether we intend to be or not we are complicit. What makes us complicit is that we do not collectively make it end.

Cooperate greed is a byproduct of Capitalism, which we know is the pursuit of constant growth, which we know is an impossible reality to continue to strive towards. 

And why would we want to? 

What “growth” means - really means is the accumulation of more wealth for the already ultra-rich. 

You can not have a constant growth of anything forever especially when all of life is contained on one planet and that planet is not limitless in its resources. There is x amount of atmosphere, x amount of landmasses, and x amount of sea. There are fluctuations but for the most part, what we have is what we got.

We have to learn to see the earth not as limitless in its potential to serve our desire for more-more-more. But rather as a miraculous grouping of ecological systems that balance off of one another. The balancing mechanisms may not be invisible to our eyes but they are there non the less. When we level mountaintops for coal, or clear-cut forests, or pollute the seas with plastic, or cause catastrophic oil leaks - we the humane race are tipping the balance.  

COVID-19 is a perfect example, somehow, somewhere the balance tipped and something stable became unstable. More than likely the destabilization was caused by man.

If we do not change our mindless and greedy treatment of this planet it is not the planet that will suffer it will be us. The Earth does not need humans to survive. Humans need the Earth to survive. If we continue to unconsciously pollute and deplete the earth's natural resources we will end. The earth will still be here but we will not.

Governments are, in part, formed to help manage the complexities of life here on Earth. Our current government's miss-management of COVID-19 is the perfect example and evidence of a government that is not doing its job. 

In a time when our elected government leaders should be focused on protecting all life, they instead choose to keep the cash flowing to the rich.

This is how it's going down:

First, the economy crashed. And, in only three months. Due to shelter in place orders from the top. The ultra-rich stopped making their vast amounts of money. For them, that was not acceptable. The economy had to be reopened. Our top government leaders, specifically the one at the tip-top, who also happens to be one of the ultra-rich, then passed the buck, laying the responsibility and discission making upon local governments. 

Mind You, all of this is being done while trying to navigate the deep and murky waters of an unprecedented GLOBAL Pandemic. 

local governments are now tasked with the dilemma of prioritizing life or money. And it is not money for me and you. It is money for the ultra-rich. Workers are putting their life at risk, but it is ok according to our current leaders because our life is less important than their continued accumulation of wealth. The wealth that they use to hold power. If you are not in the 1% club your life is disposable. This is where our present-day democracy has arrived - Money versus Life. 

All of which, by the way, is a horrific loop back to our beginnings. Starting with the genocide of America's First People and then the enslavement of Africans. So in a tragic way we are back to where we started. The sacrifice of life for the profit of the white man.

I don’t know about you but I would like to END this version of reality.

Remember as a child questioning everything? It is from that state of mind that a new form of society can be born. There are other ways of being and it is up to us to create them.

Pause here and think about this - a Pandemic stoped a huge portion of the “working” world. People were able to step off the hamster wheel of life. Many had the time and space to relax. We could do this because we were not being worked to death. Then within that same time frame, a single action, the brutal murder of George Floyd, by a police officer - ignited a collective global reaction. 

The Black Lives Matter movement awoke the globe. Let this sink in, because of the pandemic, most people were out of work and because of this, we all had the internal space and time to process and question the status quo. 

We can at any time and in any place begin to compose endings. And, orchestrate new beginnings. We do this by constantly questioning and adjusting and updating our understanding of reality. Present-day reality is not fixed. Nothing is permanent.

Just think, inside the brains of some amazing beautiful humans is the design for change. Change that supports all life - all life meaning the planet and its oceans, nature, wildlife, and humans alike. 

Don’t be fooled by those that say change takes time. Change can happen instantly. Think of 911 and Hiroshima. Change does not have to take hundreds of years to fulfill itself. Change can happen instantly. Sadly, these two examples are violent ones. However, on the other end of the spectrum, there is non-violence. Change through non-violence can happen quickly too. 

Systemic Racism, Capitalism, corporate greed, and all the above-mentioned inequalities, which perpetuate oppression can be changed for the betterment of all of humanity and the planet. 

How?

By holding our elected officials accountable. 

By being sure that democracy is working for all people, not just the minority - the ultra-rich.

As a gentle reminder to all, Democracy is defined as government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. 

“Supreme power is vested in the people,” say that again to your self ten-time and see if it feels like the democracy that you are living in now or ever.

This is why it is so very important to be informed and to vote. When you vote you are exercising your supreme power. 

Democracy only works when every citizen participates.

Another reason why our democracy is challenged is that we have not stood in the truth of our inception and then worked rigorously to make right the wrongs that we have done, we remain trapped within a 240 - something-year-old self-deception loop. Stuck repeating ourselves over and over and over again. Which we will continue to do until we make our wrongs right, which is a holistic way to end things that need to end. 

As we think about endings can we please add war to the list of things that desperately need to end.

The United States of America was formed out of a War and we have perpetuated war ever since. We claim to be making peace but war can never bring about peace. Never not ever. Because war is peace’s opposite and the two exist as a polarity. It’s like asking night and day to flip flop. They can’t. 

As long as we perpetuate the illusions that war makes peace, reality can not be altered. If we want to live on this planet in harmony as a peaceful nation we have to discover new ways to solve war-like issues without going to war.  

Come on people, honestly, at this stage of the game why is anybody still at war. Nobody wins everybody loses. 

Whose bodies are sacrificed in war? 

I’ll give you a hint it is not the rich.

Believe it or not our brains hold alternative ways to solve global crises. 

How about using our minds to solve war generating problems rather than spending billions of dollars to perpetuate senseless death and the illusion of being peacemakers. 

Food for thought - our government spends billions of dollars teaching people in our military to kill. 

Funny. But not, we charge college students hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn a profession that serves the betterment of humanity. 

If you want to be a medical doctor (save lives) it cost about three hundred thousand dollars.

Let this sink in. Really sink in.

Human life should not be disposable especially when it comes to financing someones’ helicopter or yacht purchase, their fourth home, tenth car. Do you get it? We stay at war because it is a billion-dollar industry that lines the pockets of the ultra-rich.

How do we end such a long split tong tale?

By being inquisitive again. Re-Awaken your child-like mind and ask why. And then ask why again until some depth of understanding is ignited and your curiosity guides you to new and different realizations. The place where your knowledge exists within your being derived from a place of deep contemplation and consideration, which is the opposite of being told what to believe. The full comprehension of any given idea not only expands your mind it opens your heart. And nobody can do this for you. We are each one of us responsible for expanding and opening our minds. 

While we are at it can we stop teaching our children a one-sided history? The history we presently teach needs to be updated. History needs to be holistic and inclusive, including the ugly shameful parts. We can only repair what we know. It’s the bad parts that keep us stuck and spinning. Repeating. 

In the vacuum caused by a one-sided history, nonsensical conspiracy theories rise to fill in the void. 

Why do Conspiracy theories easily replace reality or trump history? 

Because following and attaching to conspiracy theories entertain. One gets to weave their own possible outcomes, which is far more fun then dealing with a past wrought with anguish and suffering.

No work is required to be entertained. To be entertained is to have something done too and for you, one has to simply receive entertainment.

To untangle and make transparent a history that has erased the history of others who coexist within that same history is hard work. And, with so much time stretched out between the tale

telling, forgetting feels easier than remembering. One might hear their internal voice say “I’m not responsible for what others did so lone ago.” 

When one attaches their thoughts to the phrase, “I’m not responsible…,” a profound intellectual disconnect occurs. The potential of participating in making what is wrong - right, ends. By disassociating one takes the passenger seat on a motorcycle side-car zipping along the stream of interconnectedness. It is irrelevant if one chooses to tag along, rather than jump in the mud, because life is going to do what life does, with or without us.  

All of life - everything on this planet is connected. We do not choose to participate in interconnectedness - or not. The planet Earth, by its nature, connects every element of existence. It is that simple. Interconnectedness happens with or without our participation. 

Remember nothing is fixed or permanent all of like is in flux.

COVID 19 and The Black Lives Matter movement might be the forces needed to realize the beginning of the end of oppression. And if not, at the very least, we are witnessing, participating, and hopefully learning what creating endings looks like. 

Inevitably. Everything on this earth man-made or otherwise does eventually end.

Let’s make endings by our design and not leave it up to chance.

[thejpfdude-blog]

The Week in Anime (Christmas Edition!)

Salutations and welcome to a special edition of The Week in Anime! With my winter break starting, I’ve been able to catch up on all of the anime and now I have stuff to say about them, both good and bad (fortunately this time, it’s mostly good). Because there’s around 3-4 weeks of stuff to write about, I’m gonna revert back to my old style of TWiA for this week. That is, I’m gonna write a blurb for every show, and not give out any awards. And since most of the shows ended this week, it’s also kinda nice since I can talk about the show as a whole. Thus, there will be spoilers. That’s kinda self-explanatory, plus I usually use spoilers in my posts... but no matter, still nice to have a warning. So let’s start off this show with the usual...

The News Corner

Since it’s been a while since I had one of these posts, there’s bound to be a lot of anime news that I can talk about. Maybe important stuff like Shokugeki no Soma getting a “fourth season” in Spring, Boku no Hero Academia’s third season airing during the Spring, etc. But here’s what I think is the most important anime news of the past few weeks:

http://moetron.news/post/168065646960/back-street-girls-tv-anime-has-been-announced

Yes friends, Back Street Girls. Read the synopsis for yourself, since I don’t think I can do it justice by describing in my own words. Truly, a pinnacle in anime.

Ok seriously, this is... something. Something weird AF. But I’m not gonna lie, it got my attention. Obviously since I’m writing about it, but it did. So much so that I ended up reading the translated chapters of the manga. And I have to say... it’s not that bad. There definitely is the merit to the complaint that the three dudes have the same personality and thus would probably be better as one person, but they’re different enough that it wasn’t too much of a concern in the manga.

In its core this whole thing is a gag comedy. I don’t expect it to be deep with its topic, and neither should you whenever this show airs. Definitely gonna be an interesting show to watch when it does come out.

All righty, with that, let’s start the rankings/blurbs starting with my AOTS:

Rankings:

1 (0). Shokugeki no Soma S3 (8/10) COMPLETE

So when I heard that this show was gonna be one cour instead a standard two cour, I shared the same opinions as the thread commenters of /r/anime: “no”. But after watching the last episode, I have to say the season ended on a really good note. Soma sharing the info that Joichiro was his dad to Azami and Erina was a nice cliffhanger to the future events I don’t know much about, but heard meh things about.

Disregarding the future though, this season was miles better than the second season. It brought back the nice balance of intense cooking battles and relaxed slice-of-life moments that made the first season so fun to watch, something the second season lacked until the last few episodes with the Stagiaire Arc. The biggest issue has to be the animation, something I didn’t notice until I saw it being mentioned on discussion threads. At first I dismissed those claims, saying that all anime was like that and that people were being their circle-jerky selves. But I went back to the first season and yeah, I admit it got worse. There was a lack of action-y moments in the third season which were replaced with panning shots. Now I don’t think this is a huge issue, because let’s be honest the animation isn’t a big draw in Shokugeki: it’s the nice-looking food and the explanations about the nice-looking food. And this season delivered on those fronts, making it a super fun watch as long as I had something to eat/wasn’t hungry. Because otherwise I suffer from watching good food being made/explained while wanting said food, and that’s not fun.

Anyway, overall Shokugeki S3 gets a 8/10 from me. I would say I’m excited for the next season, but based on comments from manga readers I’m not expecting too much from the next season... though I would recommend the show if you haven’t watched it, since the first season is in my top 10 favorite anime and this season’s looking like my AOTY.

2 (+1). Just Because! (8/10) [11/12]

Mmm that’s good stuff. Most anime nowadays just are stuff that I watch and move on from. But with this show, it’s been both a really nice slice-of-life/drama/romance/kinda comedy(?) that’s brought out a lot of nostalgic and comfy moments. It’s rare for a show to get me so emotionally invested, but when it does you know something’s going right.

Since the last episode is airing next week, I don’t want to go too much into detail about the show in general yet. So I’ll just talk about this week’s episode. It reminded me a lot of the time I was applying for colleges. A painful experience, yet for some reason I felt a warm nostalgia through the whole time watching this. Plus it was a really nice set-up episode for the finale: we get Natsume passing, Komiya winning an award, and Eita maybe passing (it was kinda ambiguous). Who will win in this love triangle? Who will end up with who? Will anybody win? Why did I ask the same question three times? Find out next week in the next episode of Dragon Ball Z!

I have to give credit to Pine Jam (the studio making this): all of this is amazing when you think about how much delays the show’s been going through. It seems like every other week the episode is delayed on Amazon Strike even when it aired on time in Japan (a sign that they just finished the episode). Yet the animation hasn’t taken a nosedive in quality and it’s kept a steady consistency in all aspects. Hopefully the finale ends the show on a high note because so far it’s been a fun ride.

3 (+2). Net-juu no Susume (6/10) COMPLETE

If there’s one word to sum up this show, it’s AWKWARD. But you know what, that’s totally fine. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s that the last few episodes focused on the real life relationship of our two main characters, Moriko and Sakurai, who were some pretty awkward kids.

Before I go deeper into that, let me talk about the show as a whole. The first half of it was a nice “romance” with minimal interruptions. Towards the middle, the show faltered a bit for me with Koiwai become more of a presence and that weird gray area when Moriko and Sakurai were finding out the truth about each other and their online characters. Then we get that end with the awkward. The last episode especially, though I enjoyed how cute the whole thing was... minus the washing machine cucking (and the kids in the end to a degree).

I know that’s probably what most people were disappointed in: nothing definite happened between Moriko and Sakurai. I was a bit bothered by it too, until I realized it was probably the best ending for the two. After all, they’re two people who don’t have experience with love or people in general. Why would you expect them to suddenly confess their feelings or even straight up kiss? It’s a bit unreasonable to think that, and so the hand-holding thing at the end was a good enough confirmation that yes, they are in a relationship.

Disclaimer: I haven’t watched the 11th episode/special yet. I wanted to finish the show and write my blurb before doing so. So maybe something more might happen... though based on the MAL rating, doesn’t look like it.

If there’s one thing that did bother me, it was the number of sheer coincidences that had to happen for everything to fall into place. I mean I know it’s anime but still... it’s a bit too much. I can’t get over the fact that they met not only once, but twice in sepearte MMOs. That’s about as good a chance as me getting 5 UR cards in a single 10+1 pull in School Idol Festival. Which never happens. I think.

Anyway, overall the show was pretty nice, albeit a bit forgettable (since I’ve already forgotten a lot about it already and it hasn’t even been a week since I finshed it). 6/10, would recommend if you like a good romance.

4 (-2). Juuni Taisen (6/10) COMPLETE

“I mean it ended the way I thought it did.”

That’s if we’re talking about the battle royale aspect of the show itself. Because the actual anime didn’t end with just that, but rather spent its last episode with Nezumi’s wish, which turned out to be a pretty lackluster end to a show that in hindsight, wasn’t as great as I thought it was. Now that sounds harsh, but I had this show rated pretty highly for most of the season. Overall the show wasn’t bad, but there were some questionable decisions such as spending two episodes on the twins (whose backstories weren’t particularly interesting) and not having Rabbit’s backstory. Though I guess not having Rabbit’s backstory works with his personality. But I was curious to see why he’s like that, which is something we’ll never find out.

There were a lot of good moments in the show, though. Most of the backstories of the characters were pretty interesting, and made what sounded like a cliche battle royale into a more interesting study of characters with differing personalities and techniques battling each other. I love competitions as much as the next guy, so seeing how each warrior matched up against each other really triggered the inner sports fan in me. So much so that if I wasn’t into the competition, I probably wouldn’t have liked this show as much. Overall a solid 6/10, would recommend for those into battle royales and interesting character stories.

5 (+1). Love Live! Sunshine!! 2nd Season (6/10) [12/13]

You know at this point, I accepted that idol shows aren’t for me. Their whole focus of “the power of friendship and miracles” really isn’t my thing, and honestly it’s my fault for not realizing that sooner. Now don’t get me wrong -- I’m still very much in idol hell. Just... in different ways via the music and mobile game (which I should really stop spending money on...).

Now to the actual show critique part. Taking the above statement into account, this was probably the better Love Live Sunshine season. But as of right now, I’m putting this as the lowest ranked show in the Love Live series. Something about the number of cheesy episodes just really got to me, culminating in the penultimate episode with the most cheese so far in Love Live.

Okay, I’m gonna stop talking about cheese and actually use real words. There were some really great episodes, which happened to be the character-focused episodes. My favorite definitely is the YohaRiko episode with the dog, with a close second being the Dia episode. Episodes like those still have good cheesiness to them, but the cheese is character-based and more relatable instead of “let’s shine” and other buzzwords. Plus it adds good depth to the characters: Dia went from my second-worst girl to right in the middle of the pack. Riko went to the top 3, and Yoshiko/Yohane, well she was already #1.

Speaking of characters, there were definitely a few that got shafted hard in terms of screentime and character development. You is definitely an example: even though the later episodes have focused on her relationship with Chika, I still wouldn’t know much about her if I didn’t read her profile-stuff on the wiki (I was bored okay). Like the fact she’s a Olympic-level high diver. Did you know that? I did. Maru’s another example of this, though that’s more getting reduced to memes which honestly a lot of characters in LL have been prone to. I do have to give props for developing the third-years though, because I can now see Mari as more than just “Shiny” and “It’s Joke”. We can all agree though: Chika least best girl. Everything the girl says is cheesy AF.

Having said all of this, if a third season were to happen (or a movie, given this season might be the last one), I’d still watch it no problem. Truly this is the power of idol hell.

We’ll see how the last episode goes, because it might just be the end of Aqours... :(

6 (+3). Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte kara (6/10) [12/13]

I think this is the first time a show I rated a 3 or lower rose back up to a good grade. But that’s what happens when you focus on not having your alcoholic main character be drunk, but rather have nice moments where they aren’t drunk. Because it feels cheap to me when they’re acting cutesy while drunk. Almost like it’s fake in a way. The last two episodes in particular were really nice because they were the backstory in how Chisato and Sora met, which was actually pretty cute. More episodes like that please.

7 (+1). Blend S (5/10) COMPLETE

Sigh... this was an interesting one. Let me just say this right now: the “relationship” between Dino and Maika was the one factor in ruining the show for me. Yeah, the fanservice was pretty iffy, but if the romance wasn’t a thing I would’ve enjoyed the show a lot more.

I loved the idea of different personas in a maid cafe type of thing. It reminds me a lot of my favorite channel on Youtube, Cow Chop. They play up their bits in a “role” for most videos, but in their podcasts and other miscellaneous stuff, they’re their real selves which is refreshing to see. Because their bits and roles, while funny in doses, would be horrible if it was their real personality. Which is how I feel about Blend S. If the characters’ personalities were actually their roles, the show would be annoying as heck. But because it’s just a role, it’s fun to see how different they are compared to their actual selves. How Maika unintentionally becomes sadistic. How Kaho is actually the nicest character in the show. How Mafuyu is actually the most savage character in the show. How Miu is... kinda the same actually. And how Hideri is... exactly the same.

...Oh. Never mind.

All that would’ve made this one of my favorites, but that romance though. It just really bothers me. Now I know it doesn’t bother a lot of people, and that’s fine. But I’m just not about the weird age gap. I’m not saying I hate age gaps in general, just that when the gap starts with a high school girl, it’s a bit questionable. This may sound shallow, but if Dino was a bit younger or Maika a bit older, I would be totally fine with it.

Speaking of that, having Maika be older (say 19 or 20) would make a lot of sense in the context of the show. A girl struggling to look for a job so she can study abroad: still makes sense if she’s college-aged, and relationship is ok-hands for me.

Disregarding the relationship, the characters were fun. Yes, even Hideri, though I think it really helps that the VA for the character is the same VA for Nico of Love Live fame. Really got the obnoxious idol character down pat, plus her deeper male voice was really well done. Sasuga Nico.

One last thing: the OP is pretty bomb. Yes, I know how meme’d the first few seconds of it got, but watch the rest of the opening. It’s very fun, reminiscent of the Working OPs (which this show shares some similarities with in other areas).

So with all this said, 5/10 would maybe recommend if you like moe shows. Also if you can disregard the Dino/Maika thing, which I see a lot of people are anyways... SMILE

SWEET

SISTER

SADISTIC

SURPRISE

SERVICE

WE ARE STILE

(expected the meme? Pls)

8 (-1). Animegataris (4/10) COMPLETE

So... what the actual baloney did I watch? Seriously, that went off the rails after a certain point, that point being the festival arc. I have so many questions that were left unanswered and just brushed under the rug with the explanation that “the anime world and real world are being combined”. Like... really?

Confusion aside, the show’s only nice aspect was the meta with its sick anime references, both with the industry and the fandom. A modern version of Genshiken in a way. The “namedrops” were pretty fun and the explanations for some of the industry norms were the best parts of the show for me. Unfortunately, that all went downhill after the first half of the season as the show went full meta and went towards the “combining worlds” plotline that just ended up confusing me. Though I do admit the finale of the show was nice, albeit a bit lackluster compared to the WTF-levels of the few episodes before it.

But just because a show is meta doesn’t mean it’s good. At the end of the day, this show just crammed references and meta without much consideration for the characters or the story, which were both somewhat underdeveloped.

Off topic: one thing that really bothered me was the whole thing with Yui fanservice right before the OP for the first nine episodes (which continued even towards the last scene of the show. So I was right that something would happen with that. It’s just that the thing was just an OP with only Yui (Just Yui). Now that would be fine if she had something to do with the events of that episode, but she didn’t. So... WHY. WHY DID THEY DO THAT. SERIOUSLY. I’M SO CONFUSED AND I’M SCREAMING NOW SEND HELP.

That’s basically how Animegataris made me feel during its latter half. The “wao how META” doesn’t work for me in this case, and so I leave it with an unsavory rating and a “don’t watch this unless you like sick anime references and meta AF plot.” 4/10.

So before we end, I know I said no awards, but there is a little one I wanted to mention:

The “Red Flags” On Hold Show of the Week: Pingu in the City

It’s not that the show itself is bad. But... I don’t know, I don’t really have the motivation to watch the show. That’s usually how these shows end up on hold: I lose motivation. Maybe I’ll watch it again sometime in the future. Maybe not. Maybe I get to the 100 other shows on my PTW list.

And that’s all for this week! Thanks for reading this extra-long post! Hopefully I’ll get my “What I’m Watching” post out soon: I’m around 40% done with it so far. Anyway, thanks again, and I’ll see you in the next post!