#24.2.19

[1ddenisels]

Beautiful Zaynie

[madridistaforever]

Benzema celebrates scoring vs. Levante | February 24, 2019

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Rebellion Isn’t Perfect

(literally just gave it the clickbaity title so I’d have something to call this when I link to it in my write-ups page - sorry)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Rebellion Story is pretty good imo, and while I can confidently describe it as a worthy successor to the TV anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica, I feel I should elaborate on why I gave Madoka a 10 while Rebellion is locked to a mere 9.

Simply put, I think Rebellion struggles to be accessible in the same way Madoka is. I think pretty much anyone can go into Madoka Magica and come out thinking “well that was hecking great” and give it a 10 even without reading the hundreds of like, college theses and stuff that I’ve read on it. It’s a super easy watch so you can just watch it and turn your brain off and enjoy it but even if you go into it super critically and analytically, you’ll have a good time.

Rebellion meanwhile, well, there’s a reason it’s so divisive. A great deal of people come out of Rebellion thinking the whole thing was visually way too hard to follow and view the plot and Homura’s actions as completely nonsensical. And while I’m at the point where I disagree with that, I did agree at first. And even to this day, I can still find Rebellion somewhat tiring in some of the scenes - the massive witch battle at the end may have loads of thematic depth and stuff, but visually, it’s pretty hard to comprehend and it can be hard to see it in any light other than “oh I guess this is happening now”. In being such a uniquely ballistic and balls-to-the-wall movie, Rebellion can be exceptionally hard to follow, and even if you come to understand the movie to a level like my own (which isn’t even the most “I understand Rebellion” level anyway), it can still feel a bit exhausting compared to the much more easily digestible TV anime.

So that’s one of my biggest criticisms of Rebellion - even though I’m on the side that thinks Rebellion is good, I still feel like it’s a bit too divisive for its own good, and I probably shouldn’t have had to read as far into it as I did in order to see it as good in the first place, especially compared to the TV anime where I could just watch it once and be like “yeah that was absolutely incredible”.

However, it’s arguably not fair to criticise the movie for being divisive, especially if I’m on the side that thinks it’s good anyway, and complaining about how it’s hard to follow and can get exhausting in some sense is a bit of a lazy criticism especially since it’s not entirely reflective of my own current opinion of the film anyway and also might make me look like an idiot who didn’t understand Rebellion.

Thankfully, those aren’t my only problems with Rebellion. Or not thankfully because I wish I had no problems with it and could give it that easy 10 but the fact that I think it has problems justifies this posts’ existence sooo

Anyway, with the exception of Homura and someone I’ll touch on more in a moment, most of the cast in Rebellion are woefully underutilised, and some just feel “there” for the sake of it. Now I get it, Homura didn’t get the ending she wanted in the anime and it can be argued her character arc didn’t even get a conclusion. It’s very necessary for Homura to be the protagonist of Rebellion in order to give her arc the conclusion it deserves. And beyond that, the rest of the megucas had their full character arcs in the anime anyway, so they don’t really need to do too much here either. But like, when all Kyouko really does is talk to Homura a bit and crush on Sayaka and all Mami does is exist for a cool fight scene, it makes me feel like they could’ve done something better with them. They managed to balance Madoka as the protagonist with everyone else getting solid development in the anime very well, so it’s weird how they struggled to do that quite as well here with Homura as the protagonist as well.

This isn’t the “someone” I was alluding to earlier by the way, but I feel the need to criticise Nagisa Momoe for her entire existence. Despite showing us her human form in this movie, she somehow has as much personality as she did when she was just “Charlotte” before Rebellion was a thing. All she really adds is a bit of plot insurance as Ultimate Madoka’s secretary in case something goes wrong with Sayaka as well as a witch for Homura to briefly interrogate, but I think they could have worked around that and not waste the sacred 6th meguca spot on such a nobody. I think if you’re going to seriously introduce a new magical girl they need to have a lot more going on than being a cute loli for Mami to bounce off of  as well as sell Nendoroids and other merch. Nagisa Momoe is the epitome of “just there” and I really don’t like her for that.

But it’s time to talk about that someone I was alluding to. And what is actually my real biggest criticism of Rebellion - the Incubators.

See, there is, in-universe, one reason Rebellion actually happened. The Incubators - upon hearing Homura’s story of the old world - decided to isolate Homura’s Soul Gem from the Law of Cycles so they could, with a few steps inbetween, take control of Ultimate Madoka and refresh the universe to the way it was before Madoka made her wish. And I’d consider this massively out of character! Because the Incubators in the anime appear to follow some utilitarian principle that values, above all else, counteracting entropy and extending the life of the universe. Their end goal is technically a good thing - it’s the fact that they sacrifice the girls to so that makes them the “villains”. However, I think it’s important to remember one thing about Kyubey before labelling him a true, full villain - he gets the girls’ consent first. Now please don’t mistake his idea of consent for actual consent - he sure as hell omits too much information to be seen as the good guy in all of this, and while he never tells direct lies, his lies of omission are manipulative as all hell and push the girls to do things that they shouldn’t do - but I think it’s an important part of Kyubey’s character that he does get their consent - even if he manipulates them into doing it. It’s definitely way more interesting to see this weird emotionless alien hive mind be masterful manipulators than it is to see them be generic evil nobodies.

However, in Rebellion, in a world where we have a system that benefits both magical girls and Incubators, Kyubey chooses to force Homura’s Soul Gem into that barrier through unknown means and do all that villain stuff to restore the old system. Completely devoid of even an attempt at getting something from Homura that vaguely resembles consent. There’s no lies of omission that Kyubey did to do this - there’s no manipulation of Homura’s emotions while feigning to be working for the good of the universe. There’s nothing like that. Rather than being this massively fascinating and shockingly effective manipulator for something that doesn’t even truly understand the concept of a “self”, Kyubey feels kind of just reduced to “evil bad guy”.

And to go on yet another tangent, I wouldn’t actually conisder Kyubey’s desire to restore the old system in spite of the new one being better for everyone to be out of character. While this new system benefits everyone in a truly utilitarian fashion, Kyubey has repeatedly demonstrated that it values efficiency over utilitarianism - think back to the first time we see Kriemhild Gretchen. Kyubey may argue that in countering entropy, the Incubators are giving humans a whole universe to look forward to one day, but they still willingly doom the entire human race if it means Madoka will witch out and they’ll meet their quota sooner. In that sense, the Incubators truly have always been the villains of the show. That’s a whole ‘nother analysis unto itself though, so I’ll leave that for now.

So I don’t think Kyubey is being out of character for desiring the old system, but I think Kyubey’s methods of returning to the old system are both out of character for the manipulative little rat and just, not really very interesting in the first place.

So yeah, alongside the problems I opened with, the reduction of the Incubators from extremely interesting “villains” to uh, not that, are the reasons I can’t in good faith give Rebellion a perfect 10. Again I would like to mention that I gave it a 9 - so evidently I still think it’s really really good. Thanks for reading.

@leafbladie tagging you because you might find this interesting. I’m also gonna post this to r/MadokaMagica in hopes of creating an interesting discussion, and since discussion and feedback is way easier and more convenient on Reddit than it is Tumblr, please leave your comments on there if you’ve anything to add. 

[devonjwerkheiser]

nesswerk “Fraser Island... you were a dream! Thanks for showing us what you’ve got and for giving us all time together! We’ll be back ❤️✌🏻”

[loondonboy]

hey taylor, i exist.

[endometriosis-andme]

Back on my medication

I'm day 4 back on my medication now and I haven't cried or thrown a tantrum in almost 3 days! At first I was sceptical as I don't want to have to rely on medication to feel good, but I've accepted it, because I know it's true and I do know that I need it.

I'm a completely different person.

[thesilicontribesman]

Benwell Roman Temple, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, 24.2.19.

[foxscarf]

24.2.19 - 24.4.19

Always good when your cat helps you revise

[academiceve]

24.2.19 // Codex Anatomy

These lovely brain prints were gifted to me by “codexanatomy”! They do amazing anatomy prints in various different styles and I chose two, A4 size prints, both from the chalkboard collection! I also really liked their dictionary page brain anatomy print; however, I decided on these because they’re both dark and I think they will contrast my white walls!

Follow me on Instagram for more updates @academic.eve

[godsnameisjoy]

Easy Heart

Date : 24 February 2019

Duration : 23 minutes at bedtime.

Depth :

Look ! I am going to be honest. Am still a bit shaken over the rage I experienced within, at the beginning of the week that went by. It is a new week alright as I write this but I can still sense some residue from the outrage last week. Right now, I know that my mind isn’t open to the suggestion of ‘meditating all the time’. That’s the evidence to residue anger holding me from growing spiritually. Thankfully, the quality of last two meditation sessions is evidence enough to suggest that I am getting back on track to strengthen my meditation muscle.

The session from day before yesterday got me interested in the very same thing as yesterday’s session. My heart. The breathing stood still for a duration both these nights that made me curious about its effects. It sure seems that meditating has a short lived calming effect on my heart beats. It is short lived because the pace during meditation isn’t evident before or after meditation. Let’s put some numbers to that.

I have an Apple Watch strapped to my wrist. Assuming that it measures heart beats as accurately as any other gizmo, allow me to show you numbers from last night. At the hour before the meditating hour, the slowest my heart beat was at 74 beats per minute and the highest was at 88 beats per minute. The watch’s observation during the meditation hour ranges between 72-78 beats per minute. Lastly, the measurements during the first hour of my nightly sleep ranged between 77-88 beats per minute.

I could get into an involved analysis of figures from an app or I could simply tell you that meditating is definitely calming in nature. If not mentally, then at least physically. Thank God.

[madridistaforever]

Benzema during the match vs. Levante | February 24, 2019

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Why did I put Bunny Girl Senpai above Asobi Asobase in my top 10 of 2018

I liked both shows but a fun fact is that while I initially gave Bunny Girl Senpai an 8 in my Season in Review, I nerfed it down to a 7 like, the next day

I guess if I had to define one of my number ratings other than 10 and 1, a 7 is probably a show that I think was largely good but I wasn’t especially impressed with it and wouldn’t consider it a favourite or something I’m likely to revisit ever.

But then I’ve also seen some shows that I’ve given pretty low scores and yet want to revisit anyway, so idk if that even holds true.

[garden-days]

24.2.19. Daffodils joining the snowdrops.

[loondonboy]

ugh i just hope taylor knows how much she means to me

[havtza]

24.2.19

[dailytextprompt]

24.2.19

Estranged