#I mean even the sequel only got three episodes and then girl never posted anything again

[the-halfling-prince]

Just saw a post from an agtuber on Instagram from 2016 saying "this year id like to finish filming season 6 of [show that never got a season 6] and season 2 of [show that never got a season 2]" I feel like I've discovered records in the ruins of a once glorious city from right before it fell.

[nat-the-cat-123]

(this will be a VERY long post)

✨Time to criticize Yashahime ✨

First of all:

I will only criticize the writing aspects, so don't expect me to say anything about the animation since I barely know about that stuff

Because of this I also won't address anything of Sessrin or the discontent because of Moroha's and Inukag's separation because that's more of a fandom thing

And this is only the opinion of someone who isn't any kind of expert in writing or something like that

Uff, Yashahime finally ended and it was... Interesting.

So let's criticize it :)

So first of all let's tell the ✨the good things✨ because even if there are more bad things, infact there are very little good things, we have to give credit where credit is due.

Good things :D

The girls' originality

Something that I saw other fandoms have complained in their own "next generation sequel" (like in boruto) is that the kids were just a "copy paste" of their parents, and when Yashahime was just announced I saw the same concerns (specially with Setsuna and Moroha)

But in the end I think any of them ended up being just female Inuyasha/Sesshomaru, and all were able to be their very own character.

Half of their relationship

Ok, I'm specifying that only half because sometimes the twins would be a little unfair with Moroha, but then be her "new family"(?), But then they proceed to leave her behind, and then AGAIN being like bff's so there is no consistency.

But in the first episodes Sunrise got it right and we could see a pretty good and functional dynamic between the 3 that was consistent and made sense.

Each one had a defined role that worked, Towa was the "moral" one, Setsuna the "cold" one who took more drastic decisions, and Moroha intervenes mediating both and brings information that may help please both sides. (At the beginning)

Moroha

I'M SORRY, I'm sorry, I can't help it, it's just that she has so much charm and is so lovely and innocent. And you can totally ignore the fact that she's InuKag's daughter and still love her just because her personality brings so much to the story.

It's such a shame that they didn't really use all her potential but I'll get to that later.

Aaaand that's all ;-;

Now let's go to the interesting part...

The bad things D:<

Towa

This point I actually want to explore it further in another post, because there's a lot I want to talk about her to specify what exactly went wrong and how I would have managed her but here I will leave it simple.

Towa in any way possible wasn't properly used, and even if almost every character suffered of bad writing, she was the most affected one.

She honestly isn't interesting, everything that could have been done with her according to her backstory was completely wasted, because even if she was the one with the least tragic story, there was a lot to work with (I mean, just look at Kagome's case and still most of the fandom loved her)

She kept changing her personality and ideology according to what the story needed, and at some point her only trait was "Setsuna's protective older sister"

And don't even get me started with how overpowered she is without any kind of training (I get she knows how to fight with bullies, but clearly that isn't the same as fighting demons with demonic energy)

Phasing

When people argue if the phasing is too fast or too slow, I think it's both, but in the worst way possible.

They waste so much time in scenes that aren't really that necessary or could be much shorter, and rush at incredible speed things that should actually be worked slowly and carefully.

The fights

I only can remember two or three that I actually liked because most of them were just exchanging hits with the sword, sometimes an special movement and that's all.

Half of the battles didn't affect the story in the least, and the worst of all was how the villains were defeated wether because they were lame as fuck or because Towa's random power up appeared out of nowhere.

Meanwhile in Inuyasha even if we didn't always had the best fights of all anime, we did get some pretty interesting choreographies and some villains really had an impact on the characters in a natural way.

Talking about villains...

Naraku is laughing from his grave

You know? I'm not a Naraku fan, but he was a bastard that you loved to hate, he maybe wasn't the most powerful character when we talk purely about his strength, but he was intelligent as fuck, he was always one step ahead, he had some pretty interesting abilities and plans, with him he brought other AMAZING villains (or anti heroes) like Kagura, Kanna, Hakudoshi, the weird baby, or even Sesshomaru back at the beginning, and the best part was how he was written being a complex character (like when he struggled with his human feelings for Kikyo)

But on the other hand we have Kirinmaru, Zero, the four losers (I mean, perils), probably my boy Riku, and who knows what other random villains.

First of all, ONLY RIKU would be a good villain (maybe I should have put him in the good things ;-;)

But then we have the four perils who, out of them the only one who seemed to know what he was doing was the green guy that did weird witchcraft, but the rest? They are just randomly bothering people because they have nothing else to do and honestly they didn't seem to be that powerful.

I'm not sure about Kirinmaru because I don't see anything clear with him, I mean, I'm not even sure if he's a villain.

And Zero... *Sighs*

I don't get what the hell she's trying to do. Anything that she does makes sense. She's just alive because of Riku, without him she can't do anything.

Like seriously, half of the world was after Naraku's ass, even his allies, and still he could get away with it. Zero can't even get her army in order to take care of 3 fourteen years old girls.

(Sorry for letting myself go with this one ;-;)

Not using half of your characters

I guess the best example is Moroha because even with an interesting backstory, mysterious abilities, and most of the fandom's love, they just used her as comedic relief for most of the series instead of developing her character or explaining better her spiritual abilities or Beniyasha.

And not only her, Hisui and the rest of the demon slayers were more of a background character. For example, in Hisui's episode we should have gotten to meet him, Gyokuto, and Kin'u better, but they preferred to focus in the twins AGAIN and not work the MirSan family. (Guys, first season and I still can't tell Hisui's definitive personality)

Same Takechiyo, Kyubi, Yawaragi, Kohaku, the villains, some past characters, sometimes even Riku. Basically every character who isn't Towa and Setsuna are walking tools for them to use whenever the plot needs it.

And no, I'm not saying "The twins shouldn't be the protagonists", a I'm saying "SIDE CHARACTERS AREN'T JUST PLOT DEVICES, THEY ALSO DESERVE DEFINED PERSONALITIES AND CHARACTER ARCS TO MAKE THE WORLD RICHER, OTHERWISE IT FEELS LIKE THE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND THE PROTAGONISTS"

Inuyasha knew when and how to dedicate an episode to a character, Yashahime doesn't.

Lack of character development

No one, except for Setsuna who is learning to rely and trust more on the girls, has any kind of development (sorry Moroha (･ัω･ั)).

I see Towa exactly the same as in the first episode, and because of how they've barely put attention to Moroha, she has barely shown any growth as well.

And I guess Hisui learnt how to trust his dad, but again, I can barely tell which is his personality, and the rest are background characters.

Powers / Abilities / Weapons

Here they neither explained ANY of the characters abilities properly or made them more powerful making sense.

Towa, just randomly learnt how to concentrate her demon energy in a sword and just keeps getting new abilities without training, and any of them seem to have any effect on Towa like (idk) having the risk of running out of energy. And at the beginning I liked how she struggled with her other demon abilities like smelling things but then they just forgot ;-;.

Setsuna's stick just produces wind and lasers without explanation, and her sealed power doesn't really work naturally.

And Moroha... EXPLAIN BENIYASHA BETTER. SAME FOR THE SPIRITUAL POWERS, that was supposed to be impossible!!! And again they recognized that at the very beginning, why did they forgot about it later???

There barely has been any "world" expansion

Something that Inuyasha never really got into was the "demon society", because with the exception of some tribes they never mentioned anything related to that BUT...

With that thing of Inu no Taisho and Kirinmaru apparently being "royalty" I thought they would talk more about that "Demon hierarchy" or if "Setsuna's courage trial" was something like a demon tradition (damn, that was honestly pretty interesting) but NO.

The topic has been barely mentioned and let's keep saying over and over again what the audience already knows for 24 episodes.

Weird Exposition

The way they threw information at us was pretty weird, like it didn't feel "organic" because instead of the girls getting into whatever situation where "x" character tells them certain things because it is related to what is happening, again, they chose pretty weird ways.

There were like 1,000 different options to tell us what happened to InuKag and Sesshomaru and all of them, like the girls talking with Myoga or Kaede...

BUT THEY CHOSE TO BREAK THE FOURTH WALL.

Comedy

I'm not saying Moroha is a bad comedy relief, she actually came with many good jokes, but you can't leave only ONE character to take care of the comedy. Towa and Setsuna also came with some good funny moments, so why would they only reduce the comedy to Moroha????

(In Inuyasha EVERYONE gave amazing comedy moments, even Sesshomaru)

And the worst part is that they only use the same joke with her most of the time! Losing her bounty and being poor.

"Atmosphere" (?)

I Promise I don't want to sound pretentious with this one ;-;

Those scenes where we were supposed to feel sad because of someone's death, intimidated because Kirinmaru appeared or excited because of a fight didn't work out.

I don't know exactly why but I think that it is because of a combination of lazy animation, bad selection of soundtrack, weird dialogue and the characters' lack of reaction.

So now that I think I've said all the points that they got wrong, let's get to the conclusion.

They stablished side plots or mysteries everywhere and didn't really do anything with them.

The girls never advanced with the story, they just kept running in circles around the same point during 24 episodes. (And no matter how long or short a story is, you can NEVER do that or you'll lose the audience's attention).

And with or without a second season, they made terrible mistakes that won't be able to be fixed. If it is only one season, TERRIBLE, they left way to much things uncovered, and if they plan another season, ALSO TERRIBLE, they rushed essential things and if they work them again they'll repeat one of their biggest mistakes.

And honestly I really tried to love this sequel, almost up to episode 12 I really tried to appreciate the small good things but they just kept slapping me with disappointment every single episode, and if they release a second season, I'll watch it but this time only expecting the worst of it.

In resume, yo can only truly enjoy Yashahime if you completely turn off your critical sense, and expecting nothing from it, otherwise you'll only keep asking yourself "why?"

[imagines-r-s]

that magic moment

a/n: i love my boy pope and i honestly haven’t written enough for him. this was for day 1 of @popeheywards​ pope appreciation week (just posting on day 2 to be the rebellious teen i am)

taglist: @mdlyncline​ 

wc: 1.0k

summary: after doing something to surprise your best friend, both of you realize that you might be more than just friends

“y/n, I don’t know what game you’re playing at right now, but I don’t want anything to do with it, ok?” Pope said to the girl pulling him by the arm closer to Figure Eight. Even if it was one of the Kook Princesses taking him, he was still in danger.

“Heyward, calm down. You sound like my mom when I’m driving,” you said, rolling your eyes at the behavior of the boy in front of you. 

“Maybe you shouldn’t be driving then? Ever thought of that? Here I thought you were top of your class?”

“Bro. I told you to stop bringing that up.”

“Awe, you don’t like people to know that you’re smart?,” Pope smirked.

“No. Now, c’mon, we have places to be.” You quickly pulled on his arm to get him to follow you. After finally crossing the barrier between the Cut and Figure Eight 

As the pair entered her house, he looked around in awe at not only how big the house was, but also how empty it looked. He quickly came to the assumption that your older brother was out with his friends like usual. “C’mon, this way. Hope you brought your swimsuit,” you said, leading him towards your backyard.

“This keeps getting weirder and weirder. If you’re trying to drown me or something then I don’t think it will work out, I can swim. I’m actually a pretty good swimmer, you know, there have been way too many times where I’ve fallen into the water or JJ has pushed me into the water. Actually, John B has more than anyone, but, uh, yeah. Please don’t drown me, I’m way too young to die-”

“Pope, chill out, I’m not going to drown you. Just take a look for yourself, please,” you smiled at his rambling, pointing in the direction he needed to go. 

Pope hesitantly walked out towards your backyard, looking around in astonishment at how far you had planned this out. There were the usual string lights that were always hung in your backyard, but in addition to that, you had brought out your projector, a sheet, a bunch of blankets, and a bunch of snacks. “What’s all this, y/n?”

“So, uh,” it was your turn to ramble,” I figured since we haven’t gotten a chance to hang out recently and you got so mad, well not mad, but like disappointed, when I said that I hadn’t seen any of the Star Wars or Marvel movies, I figured we could watch some. And of course, if you would rather watch something else, then you have free reign over the remote, I don’t really have a preference. Also, don’t feel obligated to stay if you don’t want to-”

You gasped when you felt strong arms engulf you in a hug before hearing a muffled thank you. “Aw, bub, it’s no problem, c’mon there are movies to be watched.”

The two of you finally decided on started with The Phantom Menace, going with watching all the prequels tonight, and then you would watch the originals and the sequels another night. 

The two of you had gotten comfortable by the grass near the edge of the pool, somehow ending with your feet dangling into the water. “Y’know, no one has ever gone through all the stops just for me. My favorite movies, my favorite food, my favorite girl,” he said. 

You smiled after hearing how happy he was about tonight, but your smile grew even more when you saw that he was already looking right at you, his eyes flicking from your eyes to your lips. 

You kinda assumed that Pope wouldn’t act on what he wanted to do, so using that ounce of confidence you initiated the kiss. Pope clearly shocked by your actions, froze, but when he realized what was happening he quickly kissed you back.

The next sequence of events seemed to have happened in slow motion, once the kiss broke apart Pope had tried to stand up, forgetting he was still in the pool, causing him to fall in. You tried hiding your laughs at the fact of your best friend falling into the water, “uh, Pope, you ok?”

“Stop laughing, it’s not funny,” Pope said, holding onto your knees. “Pope, you fell into the pool, that’s always funny.”

“You’re not going to laugh when it happens to you,” before you could move, his hands had moved to your ankle, pulling you into the water. 

“Pope,” you groaned to the boy laughing at you. “It’s not funny.”

“Oh, but you fell into the water, that’s always funny,” he mocked.

“No, no, no. I was pulled into the water, that’s not as funny,” you pouted.]

Shortly after the two of you left the water, laying closer to the projector, starting an episode of The Clone Wars, so that way you could watch the original trilogy next time you did this. 

Pope stayed sitting up, enjoying the series that he had watched so many times with the girl of his dreams laying in his lap.

“Did you like the movies?” Pope asked drawing shapes on your shoulder as he looked down at you.

“Yeah, I see why you love them so much. Like omg, Anakin turning to the dark side in episode three, with the build-up from episode two, all the foreshadowing, the way his actions led to who he became, Pomegranate, or whatever his name is, manipulating him. Oh my god, I loved it.”

“Pomegranate? You mean Palpatine?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Wait, so what happens to Obi-Wan? Or like the twins… Oh my god the twins,” you yelled quickly standing up,” What the fuck is going to happen to them? Like- brooooooo, literally, are they Jedis? Are they just going to be thrown off one planet? Are they going to die? Be killed?”

Looking back at Pope, you only saw the dopey grin on his face,” what is it? Did I say something stupid?”

“No, no, no. Love, you didn’t say anything wrong, I just never realized how much I loved you before today.”

[xsecretblastsx]

2x01 Summer Kind of Wonderful

SEASON TWO HERE WE GO.

I was dying to get here, this is one of my favorite episodes in the whole show. It’s also the episode were I really turned into a Chair shipper, so there’s that too, also The Hamptons!! Honestly was not to love about this episode.

I think this is the longest recap I’ve done in a while. As usaul recap under the cut.

Thoughts I had while watching:

I’ve watched this before and yet I’m still surprised our first taste of S2 is Nate going at it

After the super promising tease on Nate and Serena on the S1 turns out... she’s covering for him while he sleeps around... 😒

Chuck being Chuck, still a womanizer, still obsessed with Blair and as always ignoring Serena’s disgusted face. Also hilarious his enormous basket with cuttlery and such.

Look Joe Goldberg!!! Or is it Dan Humphrey? This bookstore setting is making it even more confusing.

Hi Jenny! And her never ending disatisfaction with her place at whatever she’s trying.

This scene between Chuck and Serena is so underrated. Her mocking face is hilarious. Pimp all you want Chuck it’s useless. Good luck in your suicide mission indeed.

What’s a Jitney? 😆How about where Blair returns to the Hamptons with a new beau. On your face Chuck Bass! On the words of GG: ain’t karma a bitch? We know Blair Waldorf is.

“A hot lifeguard is like Kleenex: use once and then throw away, you couldn’t ask for a better rebound” so says Blair 🤔

“The only thing lamer than dating Dan Humphrey is mourning Dan Humphrey” speaking words of wisdom Blair Waldorf

Of course all the wisdom goes out the window when Chuck appears. With the most extra polo ever and the shortest shorts in the history of menswear

Not that Blair wasn’t transparent with all her talk about James but oh my god Serena’s is so bad a going along with it.

“You’re lying. Your eyes are doing that thing were they don’t match your mouth” Chuck Bass: a walking manual on Blairisms

“I bet you’ll like him as much as I do” “If by that you mean I won’t like him at all then you’re right” meanwhile Serena is trying to pretend she’s anywhere else and not there silent witness to that verball pin pong

I always wonder how Jenny and Dan end up being like that with a Dad like Rufus

So this is “Jenny admitting she was a bitch and that Eric didn’t deserve it” first season.

“A honk instead of a knock? Did someone order a townie?" Blair’sn lines this episode are hilarious

I feel bad thinking that Nate’s main contribution so far is looking really good without a shirt.

Chuck Bass: a walking encyclopedia on everything Blair Waldorf.

If only the show had given us more Chuck and Cece interactions.

I feel I should have kept a score for all the Chuck and Blair jibes to each. That pin play on Blair’s part was check mate though. Auch. I almost feel bad for Chuck. Almost

In terms of cinematography that scene were they talk about the pin is gorgeous probably my fave in the show only behind that scene in Paris in S4. The matching outfits, the colors and the scenery are sooo good. Also the acting.

Knowing her like he does it’s interesting Chuck doesn’t realize Blair only gave that pin to James to hurt him. But the fact that it works is very telling on Chuck’s insecurities and feelings.

Nate being kicked out so the husband won’t catch him wouldn’t be half as hilarious if it wasn’t for Serena’s “no effing way face”

“Damn that Motherchucker” a novel by Blair Waldorf

I love Blair’s summer dress by the way

“All I could see was that Chuck Basstard” the sequel novel, also by Blair Waldorf

What a difference a summer makes: Nate and Chuck talking about Blair. I do feel Nate’s like “thank god it ain’t me anymore”

“And unlike you I don’t lose something if I let it out of my sight” Blair strikes again, this girl is on fire.

This episode is kind of proving that I barely care for any other storyline that doesn’t have the original four. After those two side by side arguments, getting back to Dan is really annoying

I kind of love it when Rufus points out to Dan how he never stops talking and doesn’t let anyone else said anything. Is kind of boring already how he only seems to write about Serena and the UES.

Chuck’s cricket outfit reminds me of how I should enjoy the crazy outfits while they last.

Ofc Chuck’s has a PI on speed dial Eric, duh. Gotta love him though: “i know that face, that face is not your friend” sorry Nate

I’m still trying to come up with the reason why the show let the fake dating storyline between Nate and Serena be such a waste. Whyyyy????

Just in case I forget: this white party was sponsored by Vitamin Water. For real there’s product placement and then there’s this.

The constrast between Serena looking like a greek goddess next to Nate’s I didn’t bother of an outfit is making me dizzy.

Chuck’s outfit for the white party kind of deserves a post of his own. Then again is probably my fave outfit of his on the whole show.

James calling out Blair for using him, while mentioning charade feels kind of overplayed now. Anyway he’s already pointing out how Blair and Chuck are the same and that’s why they deserve each other.

“Don’t you see? We’re the same? Stop trying to fight it” “I will fight it to my last dying breath because any resemblance to you is something I would hate about myself” this whole dialogue feels like a premonition.

Serena and Nate kissing and being totally into it while paparazzi plays is the background is just one of those moments. This is the kind of content I’m here for. Only to be ruined by Dan Humphrey.

And here we are again Dan getting mad when he doesn’t have a right to, thankfully karma is a thing in the form of drinks poured all over him

And somehow is Serena the one busy cleaning that suit, useless Dan is useless

Chuck’s “I’m so screwed” face when his PI tells him Blair’s guy is actually a british Lord is priceless.

THREE WORDS EIGHT LETTERS SAY IT AND IM YOURS.

Epic scene aside they both look so good here. This episode is gift in matching outfits.

Dan, Serena and fireworks. 😪 here we go again

I loved this episod the first time I watched it and I think I love it even more so now. It’s really good, full of funny lines, great outfits and epic moments. Season two is as of now my fave season (i think this is also true for many people) and it starts with a bang. Quite literally actually with the opening scene being Nate going at it with an “older” woman, which I guess was meant to be shocking in part because we ended last season wondering if something was going to happen between Nate and Serena.

Sadly it didn’t and that’s my biggest complain for this episode because how on earth did they thought it was ok to waste all that set up, and to add insult to the injury they are like so Serena and Nate are secretly dating... but it is just like a throway line because except for that amazing kiss at the white party we never see them fakee dating and I honestly want to pull my hair out of frustration. Just imagine the possibilities that weren’t, granted fake dating is one of my favorite tropes but it could have been quite the storyline imagine: Serenate fake dates and that sparks the feelings that were pushed aside on S1 but that were always there, and now there’s nothing that can stop them to act on it, except Serena has feelings for Dan too, and she struggles because of it all the first half of S1 until eventually she picks Dan and breaks Nate’s heart, combined with all the other pressures in his life, he wants something easy and this happens to coincide with Blair’s downright spiral and that’s how Nair happens again in the second half of S2.

My point being you could add so many more moments in the Serenate saga, also give more force to the idea the show always tried to do: that Serena can’t really let go of Dan, because Nate and her are quite something and yet... and still have almost the same story on the second half which was important because it gave closure to Nair and also had both Chuck and Blair realizing a couple of things. Alas one can only dream and be happy that at least we got that kiss at the white party

So back to the episode, we learn that Nate is having and affair with a married woman, Serena misses Dan a lot and basically mourned him the whole summer meanwhile he was being an asshole in the City fooling girls he met at his intership and Jenny is working and trying to stand out in her own internship at Waldorf desings. Which reminds me Eric is such a gem of a character, he’s always have good one liners but whe’s also a nice counter balance to all the manipulation and bitchery going around him. Anyway all of these storylines are barely a tease of what’s coming, and they really take off in the next episode, so I’ll get into them then, so at the end of the episode Nate manages to keep the affair goin into the city, Jenny earns a bit of respect from her boss and Serena and Dan see each other again (thanks to Cece which is another character I wish we had see a bit more) they meet at the beach ready to see if there’s something to salvage between them. We’ll see.

The real star of this episode are Chuck and Blair. This episode belongs to them. I’ve seen comments that claim this is the season that made them epic and really take off and I quite agree, and this episode in particular sets up the stage for it, touching on a lot of the aspects that are going to be their arc for this season and even beyond. So at the end of S1 Chuck stands up Blair and she goes alone to Tuscany and he doesn’t goes after her the whole summer. Instead he spends the summer in The Hamptons being Chuck Bass, she ends up in France. We soon learn that while Chuck  enjoyed himself during the summer Blair wasn’t far off in his mind:, the minute she’s back he goes aftet her, roses in hand only to find out she came back with a new guy, and she does everything in her power to rub that fact in his face which Chuck should have expected, it obviously bothers him but truth is they both know this is just Blair trying to get back at him for abandoning her, he hurt her, she obviously doesn’t tell him but he ruined his summer and she couldn’t stop thinking about the motherchucker

Shenanigans ensue but there are bits that really stand out: first of them the heart pinn. That's a telling bit about Chuck’s feelings, when that pin make its first appearance on S1 it was the beginning of the end for Chuck, the meaning of it was what got her to accept going to Cotillion with Nate  and now she has gave it to James and Chuck buys it because I guess part of him couldn’t believe she would go as far as to use that to hurt him, that’s a low blow and she also didn’t gave it to him that week they were going out after the wedding, even though it went really well but most importantly he believes she can’t really feel that way about him because he’s just not the kind of guy someone can feel something for, but specially someone  like Blair Waldorf, who dreams of finding her prince charming and such, and to his utter horror it’s revealed that Blair’s new guy is actually a british lord. Just his luck.

He’s anything but that, therefore not for Blair. He tells her as a much later in the episode when he let’s her know that he basically stood her up because he was afraid of her getting to really know him and see he was not good enough nor someone she could be with. And this is something that’s going to be quite the struggle for him for a long time, more than once during the show he’s going to remove himself from the picture because he believes she deserves someone better who can actually make her happy, and this season this happens quite a few times.

Thing is nothing is ever that simple, and this is the other bit that really stands out for me: when James calls her out on how she just use him to make Chuck jealous she justifies herself by pointing out Chuck’s an awful person, who lies and deceives so he kinds of deserve it, and James points out the fact that well she’s sort of the same, and they deserve each other. She lashes out at Chuck because of this and blames him for her argument with James, it’s his fault she played with James, and Chuck’s point out that no one force her to do anything she did it because they’re the same, meaning they scheme and manipulate to get what they want, so she should just stop fighting this thing between them, she rejects him claiming she would hate any resamblance to him. This whole argument is honestly quite interesting, because variations of it are going to keep popping up the rest of the show, and depending on who you ship you either take literally as if  Chuck is the root of Blair worst tendencies or rather see this argument as representation of Blair struggles not with Chuck, but with herself.

Blair struggles in accepting herself, at her core she’s an insecure person, and the fact that she has a dark side that she can’t exactly change because it’s so deep roothed in her bothers her even before she and Chuck were anything, to me it bothers her not because she really wishes she was nice & good person, but rather because Serena is  nice person, who’s regarded as literal ray of sunshine at times, and Serena got two things she wanted for the longest time: positive atention from Eleanor and Nate’s interest.So that fight within herself was always there, it didn’t appear the day she started dating Chuck, is just that in the same way they brought out the best in each other, when things go bad between them the opposite sometimes happened, and even then when they blame each other for something half the time it was to share some of the hurt and to avoid dealing with their own shortcomings and mistakes. Truthfully Chuck and Blair did something for each other no one had really done for them they accept each other fully, Blair’s able to accept and love his darkness, and for Chuck there’s no darkness in Blair she’s the way she is and that’s what makes her wonderful. It was easier for them to love each other than to love themselves. 

Finally the biggest stand out of the episode is that iconic scene, the one that really puts into place the dynamic they will have for the rest of the season: Three words, eight letters are brought to the table, and they won’t move forward until the words have been said. It makes sense, because they tried this twice before, the first one came out of nowhere and it ended with Chuck getting dumped in favor of Nate, and that burned him badly, the second one Blair was the one who got hurt, and both times this pretty much happened because they aren’t able of telling each other how they feel, particularly Chuck. The first time he didn’t let her know he actually cared and wanted to be with her, the second one he didn’t tell her he was afraid, and all of this was too much too soon. So Blair wants, needs some kind of reassurance, and it makes me wonder how that week after the wedding really went, what happened? how wonderful it must have been that even though he abandoned her a that helipad she still had hope in the fact that he may love her. He doesn’t say it, and yet I still love this moment so much for  because jus by asking him to say it is in some way an admittance on her own feellings, and he fails to saythe words  but he did try, and the fact that he did try is also a form of admittance and as such  from here on no matter what happens, how much they fight and toy with each other there’s always an undercurrent of love behind their actions,and this is (borrowing a phrase from a certain popstar) the most amazing unspoken dialogue ever. 

Random bits I’ve noticed

Chuck has a bouquet of yellow roses for his intent on getting Blair back. If my memory serves right, those were his mom favorites

I’m such a sucker for the little backdrop details like the Van der Bass house having all these background pictures of the wedding

Thanks to Chuck for giving us the rank on Blair’s favorite films: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Roman Holiday & Funny Face (even if he said Charades to prove a point)

I’ve read somewhere I think it was on twitter that Blair’s crying in the garden scene was unscripted, Leighton did because she got really caught up in the scene particularly by Ed’s acting. I’ve looked it up but so far I haven’t found anything on this.

There’s a bunch of miniature cyclists under the mirror where Cece’s doing the final touches to her hair, looks sort of weird.

that vitamin water is even on the invitation, agust 30, 2008.

[theoceanswaves0]

SPOILERS AHOY (ISH)

It’s been like four years since I did a post like this, so here’s me dumping my thoughts on various, random things I’ve been into/thinking about lately.

I’ll be covering Miraculous Ladybug S3, Fire Emblem Three Houses, My Hero Academia, The MCU, Chocolate/Zen: Warrior Within, Pokemon SwSh, Victorious, BtVS/Angel, and Star Wars: RoS so just a warning for potential spoilers. Also, there will be salt and gushing, so proceed with caution.

Victorious

--> Ok, so this show came out when I was already in high school, so I think some of my opinions and takes on the show are going to contrast with the general consensus.

--> But I’m firmly in the pro-Tori Vega camp. Do I agree with her kissing Beck in the pilot? No. But considering that Jade humiliated her in front of her class for a small misunderstanding that could have been easily cleared up if Jade took five seconds to hear Tori out, I find it difficult to feel bad for Jade. Plus, Tori gets called out for this a couple of times in later episodes anyway. 

--> As for Cat’s BF, yeah, that was shitty too but A. He was originally Tori’s BF and they only broke up a year prior to the episode and B. Not only does Tori feel immediate remorse for what she does (spraying Cat with cheese and then kissing her bf in front of her), but she apologizes and never does anything like it again for the rest of the show. BTW, these are both season one incidents, so clearly Tori grows out of this.

--> Plus, I can relate to some of Tori’s awkward traits, like being kind of annoying, not having the best verbal comebacks and feeling pretty average.

--> On the other hand, I can’t stand Jade. Her attitude reminds me of a girl I used to be on and off friends with in middle school. She ended up embarrassing me in front of the cast of our fall play in eighth grade and never apologized for it. Plus she would say or do things that, in hindsight, made it clear she didn’t want me around.

--> But I mean, at least that girl didn’t steal a pint of my blood meant to be used in a mutual friend’s operation, so...

--> Although clearly, Rex the Puppet is the worst character on this show. Jade at least does stuff, why do we need to have Rex around...?

--> My ships are Tandre (Tori/Andre) and Catrina (Cat/Trina)! Tori and Andre always look like they have fun performing together or just hanging out, and their friendship is just so precious. I wish Cat and Trina had more scenes together, because I loved their road trip in “Tori the Zombie” and they’re both dysfunctional in their own ways, but trying their best!! 

BtVS/Angel

--> Nothing new really. But my Tandre feels reminded me how much I also loved Gunn/Fred and wished that they stayed together. Even their ship name, Funn, is precious and gahhhhhhh breaking them up was a mistake!

My Hero Academia

--> It took me like 3-4 years after watching the first episode, but I finally watched it.

--> I’m surprised by how much I really like Izuku. Like, I normally like the protagonist fine, but Izuku just really stood out to me. He’s socially awkward, but in a pretty understandable way, intelligent and passionate without using any of it to put other people down, and ofc he cares about his friends and saving other people because what shonen protagonist doesn’t? The only thing I don’t like about him is his hero worship of Bakugo, but that’s just my bias.

--> Oh, yeah, I don’t like Bakugo. 

--> Relating to Aizawa the most, and realizing that it’s because I’m getting older hukjdshfaskdnfj 

--> I don’t have a ship I’m the most invested in, but I like Izuku with both Todoroki and Uraraka, and I also like Uraraka with Tsuyu. Erasermic is also really good.

--> Not a fan of Eraserjoke. I don’t like the way she continues to ask Aizawa out and then plays it off as a joke when he rejects her like. Like, it’s such a high school thing to do, it’s so weird seeing two grown adults do it. Just take the L and move on, Ms. Joke. Not only is it creepy to continue asking someone out when they say no, it’s annoying to pretend that you didn’t really mean it because it makes it difficult to read you in future scenarios. 

Fire Emblem Three Houses

--> Love it love it love it.

--> Like Fire Emblem has always been more of my brother’s thing, but with Awakening, Fates and Three Houses introducing easier difficulty options, I’ve found it much easier to get into the series. Like, I’m a pretty casual gamer so I’m not looking for anything too challenging most of the time.

--> Ofc I knew going in I was picking Golden Deer, and I was not disappointed. I love everyone every single student in there. The atmosphere was so chaotic, that I just knew recruiting everyone that I could to make it more so just had to be done.

--> Claude and Hilda are the best lord and “retainer” respectively, don’t @ me.

MCU

--> Uh, I haven’t really kept up with MCU stuff since Endgame (which I didn’t care for tbh). I just wanted to remind everyone that I hate Tony Stark :)

Miraculous Ladybug S3

(me @ this entire season tbh)

--> I don’t really post much about ML on this blog anymore because I ended up making a side blog (for salt mostly tbh). But in case anyone doesn’t keep up with what happens over there, I basically hated this entire season lol.

--> Ok, I loved Silencer. Best episode in the season period, no questions asked. I also really liked Kwamibuster and Startrain. Desperada grew on me over time, while Bakerix was... okay, I guess. And Felix was entertaining, even if I felt that the message that they were trying to get across was forced and meant to shut the fandom up. Oblivio was good until that ending, and once Silencer came along, I quickly learned I had no use for it anyway. It being an amnesia episode did it no favors, either.

--> Just as I feared, the season revolved more around humiliating or putting Marinette in really embarrassing situations for the same of “drama”. The Puppeteer 2 is a really good example of this. And it’s upsetting, because none of this actually does anything for Marinette’s character. She’s not even allowed to breakdown or be upset about anything that goes wrong for her until the end of “Heart Hunter” and even that only lasts, like, ten seconds.

--> Also, I don’t ship the Love Square anymore. Lukanette all the way, baby.

--> Let’s be real, Marinette/Happiness should be the real OTP of the show.

--> The fact that every episode of season 4 is supposed to be as dramatic as Chat Blanc does not leave me hopeful for the future. Like, really, you’re going to use an episode in which an entire timeline’s worth of events gets erased and leaves everyone with no memories of it as the basis of your emotional impact going forward? Um, thank you, next.

Rise of Skywalker

--> Haven’t seen it and after seeing the spoilers, I don’t plan to. I really liked TFA, and was excited to see what they did with the Rey-Poe-Finn dynamic. I was not here for Kylo Ren or Reylo. I guess Finn/Rey is joining Tandre and Funn in my “missed opportunity OTPs” corner. D:

Chocolate/Zen: Warrior Within

--> OMG one of my fave movies of all time. Like I appreciate it more and more with age. It’s basically everything I want in a movie.

--> The scene where Zen discovers that her mom’s hair is falling out and she blames herself for it always gets me. Like I always forget about it, so when I see it again, I can’t help but nearly breakdown myself, because I know exactly what Zen’s thought process is without her even having to say anything. I feel just as overwhelmed as she does in the moment and nearly cry every time watching it.

--> One of the few movies that I wish actually got a sequel. Like I have so many questions that could be answered. How do Zen and Moom adjust to living in Japan? How does Zen’s father try to relate to her and Moom? Do they make any other friends? Will Zen get access to resources that will help her? Will they be further ostracized because of their status as outsiders? As someone who already struggles verbally, how will Zen adapt to living in a country that primarily speaks another language? 

Pokemon SwSh

--> Multiplayer is so much fun and wayyyy more accessible than in the past imo. A bunch of people at my martial arts school would do raid battles before classes, so I would always leave to get there early and play with them. 10/10 experience, and it makes me excited to get Animal Crosssing to do the same thing.

--> But on the other hand, I feel like this game has a lot less going for it than SuMo. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it feels like too much is missing. Like I still enjoy it, but it’s more for the gameplay and less for the story. I’m also not nearly as invested in my team like I was last time (I loved my Sun team so much, I basically kept it the same for US, minus one or two changes). I’m trying to change it fits a “Psychedelic Ocean” vibe (Water/Psychic), and then do an “Earth” themed team for my Shield run but I just haven’t picked it back up since beating the game.

--> The characters were alright. I wasn’t as attached to any of the rivals like I was in SuMo. Leon is my bro though.

[mia-cooper]

Fanfiction Questions

from here

Fandom Questions

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

Involved as in ‘frantically read every book I could get my hands on, daydreamed about being part of that universe and wrote stories/made art inspired by the books, if not actual fanfiction’? Mm, probably The Chronicles of Narnia when I was six or seven. The next great obsession was The Silver Brumby when I went through my horse stage around age 12, and then Sweet Valley High when I was 15. Hahaha.

2. What is your latest fandom?

Marvel! I’m not into comics and I’m definitely not interested in consuming every last bit of canon material or memorising the variations of every universe, but I love (most of) the movies and Agents of SHIELD is pretty cool.

3. What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in?

Star Trek Voyager. No contest. I venture to suggest that the older fandoms, the ones that are all about defunct shows, are a hell of a lot more chilled. Maybe because we’ve come to terms with our shitty canon endings and learned that liking the ship you hate doesn’t make someone problematic, unlike some newer fandoms I could name (Yes I’m talking about you, Game of Thrones fans. What the fuck.)

4. Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms?

I’ve dipped a toe into one or two fandoms for shows or books I’ve really enjoyed and backed the fuck out when the vibe gets weird (oh hey, it’s GoT again), but nope. No regrets.

5. Which fandoms have you written fanfiction for?

All the Star Treks except TOS, and a Trek/MCU crossover. I’d like to write more for MCU someday. Plus I’ve written longhand entire notebooks full of teen romance shit that bore an uncanny similarity to SVH, and my first short story was a fantasy fic that featured a girl whose guardian was a wise talking lion who led her into mystical secret worlds, which is kind of familiar.

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Wow. I’m going to define ‘involved in’ as ‘cared enough about to have an OTP’, but I’m guaranteed to forget a ton. In no particular order:

Voyager: Janeway x anyone who can get her off

Discovery: Lorca x Cornwell or Pike x Tyler x Burnham (or any combination of)

DS9: Kira x Jadzia Dax

TNG: Picard x Vash, I guess? I don’t really have any TNG ships

ENT: T’Pol x Trip x Hoshi (or any variation therein)

MCU: Cap x Widow

AoS: Coulson x Skye... no May... no Skye... I don’t know

CAOS: Madam Satan x Zelda

Timeless: Garcy

The Good Place: Eleanor x Tahani

The 100 (shut up): toss up between Clarke x Bellamy and Kane x Abby

Veronica Mars: Veronica x Leo (first run), Veronica x Logan (s4)

Orphan Black: Cosima x Delphine

BSG: Apollo x Starbuck

SG1: Sam x Jack

Arrow: Olicity (so over the show now though)

This Life: Milly x Egg

Yeah you know what... I’m drawing a blank. I can’t think of any other shows where I’ve been invested in The Romance that much.

7. List your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in.

I’m too tired to do every fandom, and besides, I can come around to almost any ship if the headcanons (or fics) are convincing enough. I do have a few hard no-gos, but they might be someone else’s OTP so I’ll shut up about them.

8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

Reluctantly. The MCU movies are not something I ever thought I’d enjoy beyond a dull evening’s entertainment. I never expected to get attached to the characters. And yet.

9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

Voyager is my forever fandom and the only one where I’ve really interacted with other fans. The best things about it? In general, everyone is just cool, accepting, open and basically awesome. And talented. I love my Party Bus people.

10.  Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

Sure. The 100, Veronica Mars and Agents of SHIELD are the ones I’d dip into more frequently. I really enjoy crossovers between Trek and BSG or the Stargate variants, too.

Ship Questions for your Current Fandom

11. Who is your current OTP?

Janeway x Chakotay.

12. Who is your current OT3?

Janeway x Chakotay x Paris.

13. Any NoTPs?

A few.

14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

Janeway & Tuvok! Also Torres & Chakotay, and I’d have killed for more Janeway & Torres in canon. (If they kissed sometimes that would be okay too)

15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

Yeah. Paris x Seven. There are like two fics in existence, and yet ... the potential! (Sorry, B’Elanna)

16. Are there any popular ships in your fandom which you dislike?

Nope.

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

Janeway x Paris. And they’re still way up there, but not quite at the top.

18. What ship have you written the most about?

84% of my fics feature Janeway x Chakotay as either the primary or secondary pairing... holy shit.

19. Is there a ship which you wished you could get behind, but you just don’t feel them?

Paris x Torres. I mean, I feel them. I just don’t generally feel the need to write about them.

20. Any ships which you surprised yourself by liking?

Chakotay x Seven. In another universe, it could’ve been beautiful.

Author Questions

21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

Actual story that was clearly fanfic? A farcical drunken romp told in the 24th century equivalent of email format called PADDemonium (see what I did there?)

22. Is there anything you regret writing?

Lol, a few things that should probably have never seen the light of day for various reasons, some of them leola related. But I’ve only deleted two fics that I can recall.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

Relieved. It’s a 30k AU Chakotay moral dilemma backstory that brings in DS9 characters, Section 31 and his longstanding history with AU Janeway. I did so much research for it (way back in the days before memory alpha and chakoteya.net) and I’m really proud of how I wound in canon stuff across series but changed a few key bits and pieces. Only problem is, it’s a sequel to ...

24. What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

... Pressure, which I can’t even read without cringing. My characterisation of Janeway, even Angry Maquis AU Janeway, is way over the top and there are moments that verge on Mills and Boon and give me first, second and third hand embarrassment. God, I’d love to rewrite it. Actually, that’s a lie. I want someone else to rewrite it so I can read it without covering my eyes and moaning.

25. What’s your most popular fanfic?

Desperate Measures, by about 70,000 light years, lol. Although Fragile Things beats it on bookmarks.

26. How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

You know what? A fair percentage of the time, I think of the title first and come up with a plot second. Aside from that, I prefer shorter, punchier titles that clearly tie into the story (Flight Risk, Speechless), though sometimes it’s song lyrics (Burn Our Horizons, your body like a searchlight) or a literary quote (Required to Bear, All the Devils are Here) or a turn of phrase from the story itself (The Prisons You Inhabit). Hey that was fun. Thanks for letting me pimp the shit out of my stories.

27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?

Ugh, it depends on the day. Summaries are harder, I think. I never want to give away too much of the plot, but there has to be enough there for people to know whether they’ll bother clicking. Funny story: I actually ran the stats on this a few months back. Here they are for your edification:

Fics with a one line plot summary = 54%

With two or three line plot summary = 18%

With a short snippet directly from the fic = 16%

With a snippet + a one line explanation = 3%

With a one line plot summary plus a line to date the fic (eg "set in season 3", “episode tag to Worst Case Scenario") or the fic prompt = 7%

And finally, a quote from something other than the fic = 2% (that's only 3 fics).

28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

Ooh. I’ll say the final scene in Explosive.

29. Do you have a beta reader? Why/Why not?

I used to regularly ask @jhelenoftrek​ and @littleobsessions90 to beta for me, and both of them are brilliant at it. Lately I’ve been posting without sending my stuff off for editing. This is partly because I’m impatient to get stuff out there, partly because I don’t have as much time to write/edit, and partly because I’m a little less focused on improving my writing and more on enjoying it for its own sake.

30. What inspires you to write?

Little bits of episode dialogue I haven’t noticed before, other people’s fanfiction, stray conversations, fic prompts, song lyrics, random headcanons, fever dreams, dares ...

31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

I’ve been really lucky with comments on my fic. The least helpful comment I’ve ever received was on one of my early 30k fics and all it said was “Did you have to take the name of the lord in vain?” Which is kind of funny. The nicest thing anyone’s ever said? I’m very partial to the feedback that starts “I don’t even like this pairing/genre/trope/show but you made me love it”, and particularly “I’ll read anything you write, I don’t care what it’s about.” But all comments are gold. The little heart button is cool too.

32. Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you? If so, which band or genre of music does it for you?

I’m not someone who can tune out music I love, or leave it in the background to inspire me. If it’s on, I’m fully invested in it. I’m that annoying person in the car who flips radio stations every three seconds until I find something I like and then it’s on 11 and I’m singing along to it. I’m also really picky but extremely eclectic, although there are genres I can’t stand (anything with autotune makes me stabby). That said, sometimes I find a song that I can’t stop listening to for weeks and often that perfect combination of music and lyrics will inspire me to write a fic. For example, I just plotted out an entire J/C story because of this song.

33. Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics or huuuuuge epics?

All of the above. Although I’m not sure if my longest epic is huuuuuge or just huuuge.

34. What’s the word count on your longest fic?

101,467.

35. Do you write drabbles? If so, what do you normally write them about?

I have two drabble collections. One is all J/C, full of responses to random prompts and I add to it sporadically. The other is episode additions set on Kathryn Janeway’s birthday (May 20) and added to annually.

36. What’s your favourite genre to write?

Angst, definitely. Sometimes it’s smutty angst or fluffy angst or hurt/comfort angst, but often it’s just fucking unrelenting angst. And I’m okay with that.

37. First person or third person - what do you write in and why?

I did the stats on this once, too, haha. Pretty sure I came out fairly even on first and third person with a smattering of second person in there. I’m probably even-ish on present vs past tense, too. I make it a point to mix it up to avoid my writing getting stale or same-y. And sometimes a fic doesn’t really click for me until I try it in a different POV or tense or from a different character’s perspective.

38. Do you use established canon characters or do you create OCs?

I mostly write for canon characters - the fun is in all the different ways you can interpret and imagine them - but I’ve been known to throw in the odd OC, or focus on a character who only got a brief cameo appearance, or write about someone who only appears in beta canon, or who only rates a mention on screen.

39. What is your greatest strength as a writer?

Oh, wow. I’m not sure. I guess the thing I value most about my own writing is my willingness to try different styles, characters, pairings and so on. The thing I strive for most is characterisation that feels true, and I really love it when I get comments on that. Exploring a character in a way that rings true with a reader is the best thing ever.

40. What do you struggle the most with in your writing?

Overly long sentences and adverb abuse, haha. No, truthfully, there comes a point in most of my fics, particularly the longer ones, when I really just want to scrap it because in my heart I know it’s dreadful. Usually that passes once I slog through the ‘I don’t wanna’ stage because I’m a bloody-minded bitch, but sometimes fics do get left in the dust half-written. Honestly, though, they’re the ones that probably should stay there.

Fanfiction Questions

41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading:

This is hilarious because I was just talking on discord about my problematic ‘to read’ pile. My unread AO3 subscription emails currently number 29 and my phone browser has 71 tabs open. So here are 5 random picks from that list of exactly 100 fics I should be reading:

Sex on the Beach (E, Janeway/Chakotay) by @traccigaryn​

The Ruby Ring (T, Janeway/Chakotay, Janeway/Tighe) by @trinfinity2001​

Earth is But an Idea (T, Janeway/Chakotay, Carter/O’Neill) by @caladeniablue​

Home (E, Janeway/Chakotay) by Cassatt

Wise Up (E, Janeway/Chakotay) by KimJ

42. List and link to 5 fanfiction authors who are amazing:

Only five? Shit. Okay. In no particular order, these are five of the writers I keep coming back to:

quantumsilver (also here)

northernexposure

LittleObsessions

Helen8462

Cheshire

But there are so many others. My chosen fandom is chock full of amazing talent.

43. Is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

All of the authors above for various reasons, but also august because her writing is so spare and delicate and devastating, and runawaymetaphor because she writes the most delicious Janeway/Paris, and @seperis​ because I read In the Space of Seven Days literally 20 years ago and I still haven’t recovered, and I could be here all night raving on this topic but there are still many questions to get through.

44. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

Janeway x Paris. I’m so happy there’s been a little bit of a resurgence in J/P fics lately. Thanks, @curator-on-ao3​, you’re doing the lord’s work.

I’ll also take Janeway x Johnson content any day of the week.

45. What is your all time favourite fanfic?

What the hell? I can’t pick just one! Ugh!

... but okay, here’s the first one that came to mind when I tried to think about this: if you came this way by tree. I’m not sure I’d call it my favourite, but it’s one I revisit often. Ugh, there are so many other fics I’m thinking of now that I really want to list.

46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

Oh, that’s hard. I should probably pick an angsty smutty J/C because that’s a fair proportion of what I write and it’s good to let a new reader know what they can expect. But honestly, I think the best fic I’ve written is The Uncharted Sea. (It’s safe for work. Maybe not for makeup.)

47. Archive Of Our Own, Fanfiction.net or Tumblr - where do you prefer to post and why?

The Archive, of course. Where else can I find ad-free hosting on a stunningly user-friendly interface with absolutely no moralising content restrictions and the world’s best tagging system? That Hugo award is well deserved.

Tumblr is good for headcanons and meta and gifsets and a few other formats that I’m less likely to post on AO3 because I’d feel like I was pissing off people who subscribe to me by giving them some random garbage.

I also have my own website, but I’m not really sure why. Sometimes I post fic there that doesn’t make it to tumblr or AO3.

48. Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why/Why not?

I try to. Honestly I do. I love it when I get reviews, so I figure paying it forward is the least I can do. I’m less scrupulous about leaving comments when I’m busy or reading on my phone.

49. Do you care if people comment/reblog your writing? Why/why not?

I mean, I love it when people reblog, but I certainly don’t expect it. @arcadia1995​ is amazing for reblogging stuff *blows kisses*

Nobody owes fanfic writers shit, but I feel like there’s a tacit agreement that if you like what you just read for free and you’re on a platform that makes it easy to do so, you leave a review or at least a kudos, because I’m not gonna lie, posting a fic you’ve worked super hard on and seeing it get very few kudos or comments is a bit deflating. I’m sure a lot of us have been there.

50. How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction?

During Voyager’s original run I was trawling the internet for Endgame spoilers (I don’t know why; I usually love surprises) and I guess I googled (or whatever the 2001 equivalent of googling was) something like “how does voyager get home” and somehow I stumbled across Revisionist History. At first I had no idea what I was reading - was this a lost story pitch that somehow got leaked? A professional novella commissioned by the showrunners?

Then I started following links and discovered yahoo groups and webrings and Trekiverse and fanfiction.net and all sorts of incredible things I’d never guessed at, including the now defunct ‘archipelago of angst’, a collection of Voyager writers who focused mainly on a darker Janeway than most of the other fic writers I was encountering, and I was hooked. So I wrote a few of my own pieces, and then I lost interest for 15 years. I’m still not sure how I got dragged back in.

51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

Honestly, in what other way can I indulge my obsessions, hone my skills and talk about it endlessly with like-minded people? Where else can I instantly find a plethora of fiction about the exact topic I feel like reading about on my mobile device and for free? Fanfiction is fucking amazing and I’m so glad it exists in my life.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z Movie 10: Broly -- Second Coming

The tenth DBZ movie premiered on March 12, 1994 at the Toei Anime Fair, after the airdate of Episode 220, and before 221.   So presumably there was some kid in Japan who watched Dabura turn Piccolo and Krillin into stone, and then this movie, and then the episode where the Saiyans enter Babidi’s spaceship.  

The original title was “Dragon Ball Z: Dangerous Rivals” or “Dragon Ball Z: Dangerous Duo!   Super Warriors Never Rest.”   When Funimation dubbed it in 2005, they simply named it “Broly -- Second Coming”, emphasizing that this is a direct sequel to Movie 8.

For my part, I didn’t wait for 2005 to see this movie.   Cartoon Network had finished airing DBZ way back in 2003, and I was getting sick of waiting for Funimation to release the last few movies.    I think Movie 8 and Movie 9 were released a year apart, to give you an idea.    So I downloaded the fansubs of Movies 10-13 and watched those.   I didn’t watch them in order, though, because 12 and 13 were of greater interest to me, and I was curious about 11 because I knew nothing about it.    Turns out Movie 11 was the third part of the Broly trilogy, so I kind of goofed on that, but we’ll get into that later.   If anyone from Funi! is reading this, rest assured that I legally purchased all four movies once they became available.   As a matter of fact, I bought them again on Blu-Ray around 2009, and again in 2019 because your shithead streaming service doesn’t have them, and I can’t take screencaps from the Blu-Ray editions.   So I think we’re more than square.   Support the official release, kids!

So let’s cut to the chase.   This movie is about Broly coming back to get revenge, kind of like how Movie 6 was about Cooler coming back after losing in Movie 5.    The difference is that Movie 6 at least tried to explain how Cooler survived certain death in the previous film.    Movie 10... doesn’t do this.    At all.    When we last saw Broly, Goku punched a big hole in his abdomen, and I’m pretty sure he exploded (!!) and then the planet they were fighting on got hit by a comet.   Movie 10 just stone cold doesn’t care about any of that.    It opens with a Saiyan spacepod drunkenly heading for Earth, and then it crashes on a mountain.

And here’s Broly, still glowing green and muttering about Kakarot.   He’s badly hurt, but he looks a whole lot better than he did at the end of Movie 8.    So I guess he just didn’t explode after all?    How did he heal his wounds?    Dd he heal himself, like Cell?    Where did he get the pod?    We only saw three spaceships on Planet New Vegeta in Movie 8.    Paragus had a pod, as well as a larger ship, and Broly destroyed them both.    Then there was the Capsule Corp. ship Piccolo used to join the battle, and all the good guys rode home on that.  

To be fair, it would make sense for Paragus to have had a few extra spaceships handy, except the whole point of his scheme was to keep Vegeta (the prince) on New Vegeta (the planet) long enough for the comet to hit it and kill him.    This is reflected in Paragus’ final scene in that movie, where he tries to make a run for it and leave Broly to die, and Broly catches him in the act.    Paragus claims that he wanted them to leave together, but Broly knows that there isn’t enough room for them both in the pod, so Paragus’ betrayal is clear.      The tragedy of the movie is that Broly kills Paragus, who he had once saved, and then he dies in the same trap that Paragus had intended for their enemies.   

Only Broly didn’t die, because he’s here in Movie 10.    There was a spare pod on the planet, and Broly somehow crawled into it and escaped before the comet hit.   Then he rode it all the way to Earth, and somehow survived the trip.    To be sure the only part of this that really adds up for me is that Broly wound up on Earth.  Paragus planned to conquer it after killing Goku and Vegeta, so it makes sense that the coordinates would already be laid in.   And Broly would want to go there, because he wants revenge on Goku.

But then the crater around the pod gets filled with water and freezes.   How did Broly not drown?    How did he not freeze to death?

I mean, I get that they were going for this Captain America thing, except they show the crater filling with water, and then they cut to Broly gasping for breath as the water freezes around him.   

And here’s the title screen.    Okay “A Pair in Peril” makes a lot more sense than “Dangerous Duo”.    I never understood who the duo was supposed to be.    Goten and Trunks?    They’re hardly dangerous at all in this movie.    But they are in danger, so maybe this is a big translation mixup.

The story picks up seven years later, with Goten, Trunks, and Videl gathering the Dragon Balls.   Continuity-wise, I assume this movie was intended to be set after the Babidi crisis wrapped up.     It couldn’t be set before the 25th Budokai, because Videl and Trunks hadn’t met yet, and they’re awfully chummy here.    We never find out how Videl learned about the Dragon Balls.    For that matter, how did Trunks and Goten know about them?    I think Toei just assumed that they would find out about them eventually, which is fair. 

The big thing that disqualifies this movie from canon (other than being a sequel to Movie 8, which also wasn’t canon) is that Videl doesn’t know very much about DBZ stuff yet.   She can fly, and she know about ki, but she still doesn’t know about Super Saiyans, etc.   But she gets a crash course in all of that over the next fifty episodes of DBZ, and by the time it’s all over this movie just wouldn’t make sense.   The post-Buu Videl has seen Gohan and the others transform, she’s been on a Dragon Ball hunt and seen Shenron, and she’s died and come back to life.   But no one knew all that would happen when Movie 10 was written, so they made due with what they had.  

As far as wishes go, Videl just wants to see Shenron, while Trunks plans to wish for his own amusement park so he won’t have to wait in line for the rides.   Goten wants to wish for infinite chocolate, and he hasn’t seen that gif on Tumblr yet.

One sidebar on their quest are these naturally forming crystals that Videl finds in the area near the final Dragon Ball.   Trunks and Goten don’t care, and I’m not really sure why it’s supposed to matter.    Videl remarks that the people who live in this place could make money off of the things, but their village looks very poor, so something doesn’t add up.   And there is something afoot in the village but the crystals never seem to have anything to do with it.  

The trio enters the village to check it out and maybe get some food, but they find a ritual human sacrifice taking place instead.   This is sort of the same deal as Oolong’s first appearance waaayyyyy back in the Pilaf Saga, where the townsfolk would hand over a bride to Oolong to save their community.    Only here, the monster is supposed to eat the girl instead of marrying her.  

The sacrifices are organized by this dude, who never gets a name in the story.    The subtitles call him “Prayergiver-sama”, and I think the dub called him a “Shaman”.   The Dragon Ball wiki identifies him as Maloja, but I have no idea where that name came from.   I’ll run with it, though, since I need to call him something.   

Basically, the deal here is that things were pretty cool in this village until about seven years ago (hmm...) and then the climate became harsher, which apparently caused the emergence of some monster from the mountains.    When the local wildlife became depleted, the beast started attacking the villagers, and Maloja convinced them that the only hope for their survival was to appease “the mountain god” with these human sacrifices. 

Videl dismisses the whole thing as superstitious nonsense, which is kind of rich coming from a girl who used ki energy to fly to this place so she could summon a magic dragon.    I mean, she’s right, but for all she knows Maloja’s plan is perfectly sound. 

The kids offer to defeat the best and save the village from having to do any more child sacrifices.   Specifically, Trunks demands Maloja’s ceremonial necklace as payment, which seems kind of random to me.    There’s a big orange sphere on the front, so when I first saw this I assumed it was the Dragon Ball they were looking for, but that shows up later.   Maybe it was originally intended to be a Dragon Ball in one of the early drafts and they ended up changing it but keeping Maloja’s design.    But now you have Trunks asking for the thing for no apparent reason.    Does he really like it, or is he just looking to humiliate Maloja by taking his stuff?

So their big plan is to hide in the buffet the villagers left for the beast, and then whenever it shows up to eat, they’ll jump out and kick its ass.   Videl seemed to think she could handle this alone, but Goten and Trunks wanted to be there to see her get eaten, or so they say.   

But the boys are hungry, and there’s food sitting right outside of this pot they’re in, so Trunks reaches out and swipes an apple.    When Goten tries to do the same thing, Videl smacks him in the face, and then he starts throwing a tantrum.

Eventually, Videl gives up and hands Goten a roll or something to shut him up, because she’s worried that Goten’s cries will give away her trap.     Trunks tells her that Goten was only pretending to be upset, and she fell for it.    I don’t want to give the wrong impression here.   I’m not big on this movie, but Goten and Trunks are pretty awesome.    I love these little shits.  

But Goten’s wailing has unintended consequences.    Somehow Broly heard him from all the way up in the mountain.    Even though he was unconscious.    And submerged in a frozen lake.   Sigh...

Of course, as we all remember from Movie 8, Broly was traumatized as a baby when he heard Baby Goku crying back on Planet Vegeta, and just being near Goku as an adult was enough to drive him into a murderous rampage.    So it does kind of make sense for Goten’s crying to be the one thing that disturbs his hibernation.

Moreover, Goten’s cries also remind Broly of when Goku wrecked his shit in Movie 8, so if anything, Broly’s original trauma was compounded by the events of that movie.  

So Broly busts out and goes on another rampage, right?     Wrong, first we gotta wrap up this “beast” subplot.    Turns out it was just a dinosaur the whole time, and Goten and Trunks kick its ass. 

Then they... eat it?   Savage.   I thought Trunks was only trying to punish the dinosaur and scare it away, but unless the villagers had some other dinosaur already curing in their smokehouse, they must have killed it and brought it back here for the victory feast.   

Ok, this place is called Natade Village.   Good to know.  

And Trunks has Maloja’s necklace.  See, I’m pretty sure this guy didn’t have a name in Movie 10 or 11, because Trunks refers to him by the chant he was doing during the sacrificial ritual.

But by the next morning, Maloja’s at it again, begging for the mountain god’s favor, because there’s some other disturbance in the village, and when Videl goes to check it out, she runs into Broly.   

And they just star throwing down.    Okay, so here’s where the movie really starts to get stupid.    I like both of these characters, but it makes zero sense to have them fight like this.    Broly spends much of this movie in Super Saiyan 1, as opposed to his jacked up “Legendary” mode.    But that’s still strong enough to kill Frieza with one blow.    Videl just learned what ki was a month ago, so how on Earth is she able to survive a hit from Broly?

To be fair, Mr. Satan took a hit from Perfect Cell and survived, but I think it was clear that Cell had no interest in killing him, probably because he wanted to terrorize him later.  But Broly’s a deranged lunatic.    He never showed mercy before, and he’s even more unhinged now.   Even if he wanted to spare Videl here, I don’t know if he’d have the self-control to hold back.   

Then Goten and Trunks show up, and Broly immediately goes after them, because he notices Goten’s resemblance to Goku.  

So you might be wondering, where the hell is Gohan during all of this?   Well, the movie doesn’t know either.   We just cut to him in some far-off location, and he senses Broly’s ki and heads off to investigate.    Did he just not want to join Videl on this Dragon Ball hunt?   That seems a bit weird.   

As for Goten and Trunks, they seem to do okay on their own, at least starting out.   Their attacks have no effect on Broly, but they’re agile enough to stay one step ahead of them, at least while they’re in their Super Saiyan form.  

But then Broly starts using stronger attacks, and the boys quickly find themselves outclassed.   They land in this abandoned mine, which I guess was for those same crystals Videl found earlier?  This is never explained.    Did the villagers operate this?

The thing is, Broly clearly has these boys dead to rights, but he never bothers to finish them off.    This is the same problem I had with him fighting Videl.    If Goten and Trunks are in base form, Broly should be way out of their league while he’s in SSJ1.    And yet he keeps tossing them around like ragdolls, and they never die and he never bothers to try harder.   Is he just screwing around?  

So then he just starts walking menacingly towards them, and the boys notice the seventh Dragon Ball lying nearby, so they devise a hasty plan.   Trunks moons Broly to distract him, while Goten grabs the Dragon Balls and wishes for Shenron to defeat Broly for them.  

So there’s a few problems with that plan, but besides all of that, Goten loses the ball in a pile of spherical crystals in the mine, so it takes him a while to find it again.   During his search, he stops to take a whiz.  

Meanwhile, Trunks does surprisingly okay fighting Broly alone.    I guess the conceit here is that Goten and Trunks can hold their own against SSJ1 Broly, but they lack the stamina to maintain the form the way Broly does.

Eventually he has to take cover in a cavern behind a waterfall, and I guess Broly can’t sense ki or he would have found him a lot more easily than this.   While he waits for Broly to leave, Trunks considers how his father would react to him hiding like this.    So where is Vegeta during all of this, anyway?   I used to think this movie might have been set after his death against Buu, but that hasn’t even come close to happening yet in the anime, and I’m fairly sure the manga hadn’t gotten there either.   Are we supposed to believe that Vegeta just doesn’t know this is going on?    He sensed Trunks was in danger in Movie 9, and he showed up in Movies 6 and 7 without an invitation.

Look, if they just didn’t want Vegeta to be in the movie, that’s fine, but they should have at least explained why he isn’t here.    It doesn’t make any sense for him to sit this one out, and I have a hard time believing he would have no idea that Broly’s running amok on Earth.   

Anyway, Goten finally tries to make the wish, but nothing happens.   I don’t know if he just isn’t summoning Shenron correctly or what.    Goten decides that he needs to move the balls out of the cave so that Shenron will have more room to manifest, and I guess that makes as much sense as anything.

So that leaves Trunks in the same bind he was in before.   Broly starts doing... whatever this is supposed to be.    Seriously, was this the most lethal manuever he could come up with?   Even if he’s trying to hurt Trunks before killing him, there’s got to be better ways to go about it.   Besides, why did he let Goten leave a minute ago?  He’s the one Broly really hates right now.

Also, this screencap gives us a good look at the scar tissue on Broly’s chest.    This is maybe the silliest thing in the movie.   I remember in the Budokai 3 game, there’s a mode with a Red Ribbon Army theme, and Commander Red is there to introduce it, and he has a little bandage on his forehead, covering up the spot where Staff Officer Black shot him.  That was a cute little joke, but this is supposed to be somewhat serious.    Goku ripped Broly open in Movie 8.   The scar tissue runs all the way up to his clavicles for crying out loud, and we’re supposed to believe that it just healed over like a hangnail?

Anyway, Trunks breaks the hold by peeing on Broly, and no, that’s still not as dumb as Broly growing back half of his chest.   

Broly finally gets fed up with the boys and tries to finish them off, and then Gohan finally arrives to save them.    Gohan’s surprised to see they lasted so long against an enemy as terrible as Broly.    No, it’s not that amazing, Gohan, this movie just really sucks.   

He tries to fight Broly... in his base form.     Why?   Why would that be a good idea?    Then Videl shows up and kicks Broly in the head.    Okay, so here’s why this movie is stupid.  

To me, the whole point of bringing Broly back was to show how he’d fare against Gohan as a Super Saiyan 2.    Movie 8 couldn’t deliver on this idea because it was made before SSJ2 was introduced.   Then Gohan dominated Cell as a Super Saiyan 2, and he did the same thing to Bojack in Movie 9.   Broly only lost in Movie 8 because the Z-Fighters donated their power to Goku, which made him strong enough to turn the tide.   

But in this movie, it’s seven years later, and Goku’s dead and Future Trunks is gone, so it’s basically up to Gohan, with a lot less backup.    But that’s okay, because he’s a lot stronger than he was in Movie 8.   Sure, he’s slacked off on his training, but he still knows how to turn into a Super Saiyan 2, so maybe that’s all he needs.   And Broly’s been out of action for a while too, so maybe the playing field is more even than it looks.  Of course, Gohan would have to win against Broly, or the movie couldn’t have a happy ending, but most of the battle would be this suspenseful thing.    Both Broly and Gohan have forms that surpass Vanilla Super Saiyan, but which one is superior?    That’s what this movie should have been about.   

But instead, Toei tried to do the battle from Movie 8 all over again, only it doesn’t work because most of the guys who were in that fight aren’t here for this movie.   Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, and Piccolo have been swapped out for Goten, Trunks, and Videl, and they can’t look credible against a monster villain like Broly.   That’s why they spend most of the fight doing comedy spots with him, and that’s why Gohan has to skip the first leg of the battle, so that he can rescue them here.  In Movie 8, that was Piccolo’s job, but Gohan has to do double-duty because there is no Piccolo this time around.  

The whole fight strains Broly’s credibility.   He has to be at Super Saiyan 1 most of the time just to keep it from looking too ridiculous, and even that’s pushing it too far.   If Videl can kick this guy in the face, why was he ever a problem in the last movie?    You had four Super Saiyans fighting him at the same time and they couldn’t do anything to him.    This movie has Videl survive his attacks and Trunks peeing on him.    What was the point of bringing Broly back if they were just going to make him look like a joke?

So then, finally Gohan turns Super Saiyan 2, prompting Broly to whip out his Legendary form.   I’m pretty sure Toei recyled the animation from Movie 8, since Broly’s clothes aren’t tattered like they are through the rest of this movie.    But whatever, we’ve finally gotten to the part that I wanted to see.

And Gohan still can’t win.   I wouldn’t have a problem with Broly being stronger, but Gohan can’t even get in some decent offense, which is all I wanted out of this stupid movie.   If I wanted to see Broly clobber Gohan, I could have just watched Movie 8 again.   I realize that this is kind of Broly’s deal, but thewhole point of doing a sequel set seven years later is to change things up.  

Is Gohan using Super Saiyan 1 or 2 in this movie?  You never see the lightning arc around him, which is kind of the tell or SSJ2, but the movies seem pretty inconsistent about this.    Personally, I think this looks like SSJ2, but it’s open to interpretation, to say the least.    My thing is, why would Gohan not use his strongest form in this fight?  He knows how dangerous Broly is, and it’s not like he can’t use SSJ2, so why wouldn’t he?   And this should have been clarified in the movie.    This is where another character should have said “He’s gone beyond the Super Saiyan, just like he did against Cell!”   Or if he’s not using that form, then someone should have made that observation instead.  

Likewise, no one knows if Broly is stronger or weaker in this movie than he was in Movie 8.    If he can dominate a Super Saiyan 2 like this, then maybe he’s gotten stronger.    His power was out of control seven years ago, so maybe now that he’s finally recuperated from his injuries, his ki is increasing again like before.    Or maybe he just got a zenkai boost from Goku nearly killing him.   

On the other hand, he might be weaker.    Look how lethargic he was against Goten, Trunks, and Videl.    Movie 8 Broly would have slaughtered them without a thought.   Maybe Movie 10 Broly is still suffering from the beating he took, and that’s why it took so long for him to ramp up to his Legendary form.    And while he is dominating Gohan, it’s still a one-on-one battle.   Broly never had this much trouble against a single opponent before.   

I’ve lurked on message boards where fans tried to argue both sides of this, and I used to have opinions on the matter, but now I realize that it doesn’t matter.    We shouldn’t have to ask these kinds of questions, because it’s the movie’s job to communicate that information.   Nobody had to ask how strong Broly was in Movie 8 because they showed us.   Here, it’s ambiguous, because no one bothered to go into detail.  

I mean, this shouldn’t be so complicated.    Each movie villain is supposed to be stronger than the last, mainly because the heroes get stronger as the story progresses.    Logically, Broly ought to be stronger in Movie 10 than he was in Movie 8, and the selling point should be that Gohan is stronger too, but will it be enough?   And then it is enough, because that’s what the fans want to see.   

The closest we approach to this is when Gohan escapes a hold by kicking Broly in the face.   I think this is one of the few times Broly actually experiences pain from an attack.    From here, Gohan realizes that he can beat Broly by luring him into a river of molten lava, which was brought to the surface by one of Broly’s prior attacks.

So it seems to work, but then Gohan passes out on a patch of land right as it’s about to get swallowed up by lava...

And then Piccolo shows up to rescue him.    Well it’s about time.

Only it’s not Piccolo, it’s Krillin disguised as Piccolo.   Okay, that’s cute and all, but why isn’t the real Piccolo here?    This stupid movie would have me believe that Krillin was sitting at home, sensed Broly’s ki, went upstairs to get out his custom-tailored Piccolo costume, put it on, and flew out here, but Piccolo and Vegeta have no idea what’s going on?       This is bullshit.  

I don’t want to give the wrong impression here.    I’m pleased with Krillin’s cameo here, but it just raises more questions than answers.   Broly’s kind of a big deal, and this movie seems to revel in the notion that less than half the cast would notice if he showed up on Earth.   Where’s Tien?    Yeah, he probably wouldn’t be able to help much, but he’d be one more guy for Broly to knock around.   It’d make more sense than having him fight Videl.

Anyway, Broly survived, because he has the same force field he used to survive Planet Vegeta’s destruction as a baby.    For that matter, Gohan used a similar force field earlier, so maybe this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to him.

So then Broly catches Gohan in a bearhug.    Why are there restholds in a cartoon?   Seriously, it’s like Broly suffered a career threatening neck injury after Movie 8, and he had to tone down his style so as not to aggravate it.   Only that’s dumb because he’s an anime character who doesn’t exist.     Just punch the kid already.

Then Videl wanders over and tries to help by throwing a crystal shard at Broly.   Well, I can’t fault Videl for being all heart, but that’s not enough to save this turkey.

Broly swats it away, which gives Gohan an opening to escape.   But why?    Wouldn’t Broly just let the thing hit him?   It’s not like it could hurt him anyway.    This guy took a Kamehameha to the face.   

So Gohan decides to end this now with a Kamehameha, and Broly decides to do the same with his.... Gigantic Meteor?    Omega Blazer?   Gleaming Sagitarius?  The video games had all sorts of stupid names for Broly’s moves, even though they all look the same.   This one is, “Toss some more green shit at things.”

So then we get to a halfway decent part of the movie.  Goten runs over to help Gohan, and they do a beam struggle with Broly.    Cool.

But it doesn’t look good, and in desperation, Goten prays to Shenron for help.   

Then Goku shows up.   Is this because Shenron heard Goten’s wish?  That’s the general idea here, but the movie refuses to say for certain.    What I do know is that Shenron never actually manifests to grant wishes.    The Dragon Balls just glow, and then this happens.  

Also, Goku doesn’t have his halo, so I have no idea what this means.  

Meanwhile, Trunks gets up from wherever he’s been laying, and he fires one last ki blast at Broly, for spite’s sake.    This turns out to intercept one of Broly’s attacks, which seems to give the Son family an opening.  It’s basically like how Vegeta attacked Cell right before Gohan finished him.

Actually, now that I write all that out, this all seems pretty derivative.   We saw a Father-Son Kamehameha in the Cell Games, and a lot of this “Goku returns to help” stuff was covered in Movie 9.   Even so, I dig this version a little better, because Goten is here.   I still would have preferred it if Gohan had just beaten Broly on his own, without all this overbooked nonsense.  

So the triple-Kamehhameha manages to break through Broly’s bullshit armor and it sends him flying into the sun, just like how Cooler lost in Movie 5, only all this green crap spews out of Broly as he dies.

Then he explodes, and the blast comes out of the other side of the sun, so maybe that’s enough to finish him this time?  

Then the sun turns green for a second, like it has to burn off the last vestiges of Broly’s Gary Stu ki. 

After the fight, there’s no sign of Goku, although the Dragon Balls have scattered, indicating that a wish was granted.   Then Videl starts questioning how Gohan beat Broly, and she chases after him, demanding a full explanation.  

As the movie closes, the narrator asks how Goku appeared during the battle, but claims that no one can ever know for sure.    That’s horseshit, frankly.    We know how the Dragon Balls work, and we know they couldn’t bring Goku back to life, so none of what happened makes any sense.   Goten didn’t even say the wish out loud.   He just thought it and Shenron heard that?     It’s dumb.   You had the whole movie to explain these things, and you blew it on piss gags.

Oh, and Krillin’s still embedded in the rock where Broly hit him.   

So yeah, this movie isn’t very good.    Team Four Star ranked it near the bottom of the list of movies and specials, and they often talk about how everyone says Movie 11 is the worst, but they actually dislike this one more because it’s more boring.    Personally, I think 11 is worse than 10, but I’d hate to live on the difference.  

I’m pretty sure Movie 10 is the main reason people dislike Broly.   That’s not to say that Movie 8 would be universally loved if Movie 10 weren’t around.     But I think Movie 10 cemented a lot of the worst aspects of Broly’s character.   He comes back, surviving what should be certain death, then he survives several other predicaments, and he just says “Kakarot” over and over again for the entire movie.    The only other line he speaks is when Gohan gets ready to Kamehameha him, and he’s about to fire back.    Otherwise it’s all grunts and “Kakarot!”    

In Movie 8, the guy at least had a personality, even if it was twisted and cruel.   In this movie, it’s like they were trying to imply that he suffered some sort of brain damage.    It’s just so dull watching him fight.   He moves like he’s in slow motion sometimes, and he never seems interested in actually defeating his enemies. 

And this is a complete inversion of how they brought back Cooler in Movie 6.    Remember Cooler?    He came back as a cyborg with unlimited spare bodies, just so he’d be strong enough to cope with fighting Goku and Vegeta at the same time.    Movie 6 is far from perfect, but at least it understood the need to raise the stakes.   Movie 10 brought back Broly and took a bold step backwards.

But at least Broly was actually in this movie, and I think that at least puts it ahead of Movie 11.    I’m not sure that should be the only criteria for rating Broly movies, but I think it should be a major one.   

[venus-says]

Round of Randoms #1 - Shorties

The one with the skeleton, the cat boys, and the card game.

Look who's back!

After a much-needed break to cool off from the Aikatsu marathon, here I again to delight the world with my unnecessary opinions. XD

You may be asking yourself, what is this? Well, I was thinking of what to do to come back to the blog, but still on my break mindset and I didn't want to get back to my regular stuff. So I thought about it and decided to get back to my roots and one of the reasons why I created this blog in the first place and went down on my anime list and see what was there that I could watch and bring to here. I've made a huge list of things, divided them into categories, and I'm planning to watch them in between the regular shows I comment here. I was lazy and pretty much only picked stuff that came out this year, but is still a somewhat diverse range of the usual things I talk about here.

Since I wanted something quick and easy to do at first I went with my "shorties" category that is composed of shows with a run time of 15 minutes or less per episode, and "one-shot" OVAs, in other words, things that I could watch on a single day with not much trouble. These are "reviews" of the entire season so they won't be as detailed, but that was never the point of these to begin with, If there's a show on my list that I have a lot to talk about I'll probably do it on a separate post.

Anyway, let's begin.

MYSTERIA Friends

Starting off is MYSTERIA Friends (or Manaria Friends in the original). This wasn't a show that was on my list actually, but once I saw that it was only 10 episodes of 15 minutes each and that both Yoko and Nana were voicing characters on this show I was "okay, I need to watch this now". I had no previous knowledge of anything related to this show and I was kinda excited to see what it was about, I don't know what I was expecting from it, but in reality, I got really disappointed.

Like, the show technically is gorgeous, I think that because of the shorter airing time they could pay more attention to the drawing and animation and you get stunned by the visuals. The soundtrack is also pretty decent, there's nothing exceptional aside of maybe the insert song Nana's character sings in one the episodes, but the general background music is pretty effective on putting yourself on that world.

With that being said, this is probably where the positives end. The show has no plot, which in itself it's not a problem, most of this short shows are episodic anyway and that's one of the charms of this type of anime, but in this case it's a problem because it just seems empty, the show seems to be trying to talk about inter-species relationships, but it actually never touches on that what gives this "empty media" vibe. This ties in with another problem that is the fact that this fantastic, magical setting has no purpose of being there other than aesthetics, I feel that the excuse of going "magic medieval" was we gonna show how this human and this half-demon can get along and bring peace and harmony to this world, but they never touch on the topic and it becomes pretty obvious that they only went with that route because the author has a thing for girl dragons.

Which ties in with my biggest problem, the useless ecchi. Honestly, the amount of ecchi they got to put in such a short amount of time is unbelievable, like, right on the second episode Grea is pain because she's molting, but the scene is shot as like she's having sex and the moans are more like pleasure moans rather than moans of someone who's in pain, and is just so uncomfortable, and to add more into this weirdness Anne steals the shed skin of Grea's tail and in the final episode she's smelling that like those pervs smelling on panties and IT'S SO AWKWARD. This threw me off so much, I think I only got through because the show was very short and I know the suffering would be very low, otherwise I would definitely have dropped it right on episode 2.

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san

Honda-san was that show that I had always seen people commenting on and was very interested in watching since the beginning, but I never did because I'm lazy, so when I decided to do this I knew I had to put the show on the list and finally watch it, and that's a decision I definitely don't regret making.

Honestly, this show is so good. It's not that comedy that will let you laughing your pants off, but it doesn't mean that it ain't funny. It's mentioned in the show that the manga that originated from this anime was written by Honda-san himself about his experiences working on a bookstore, I don't know how truthful the stories are, but is this sense of "damn this really happens irl" that makes everything way much funnier and it is a true joy to watch. The anime isn't ambitious, I don't think it's trying to convey a message or make a commentary or anything, but this doesn't come as a detriment for the show, this anime didn't need any of that and they don't try to make it be about something big. It's just a wholesome show about life that is really comforting, especially if you're an adult that already had some experience with retailing.

What else do I have to say? I love the style, I love the soundtrack, I love the weird situation that happens, and the characters are just amazing, aside of Honda-san I love manager Armor she's lots of fun, and Chief Pestmask (who's VA is, look at that, Hikasa Yoko once again) who doesn't appear a lot, but when she comes she sure leaves an impression on you. This show did crush my fantasies of working on a bookstore someday, but I loved every second of it anyway. XD

Hey, Your Cat Ears Are Showing! Season 2

So when I heard Hora Mimi was getting a second season, I was both excited and apprehensive. This one of the rare short shows that have an episodic narrative but that has an overall plot to the whole thing, and I was quite satisfied with the ending of season 1, it was sweet and heartwarming as the rest of the series was and I really didn't think a second season was needed, thus I really didn't watch it while it was airing. But this was the perfect opportunity for me to finally watch it.

And this season was a very good surprise, it expanded on what the first season had built and it became three times gayer by giving Dong Dong and Jin Zhu partners, Jin Zhu partner being an Ear People but from another species, which made this season even more fun and cute. The final arc of this season where they established that Da Shu and Miao had met each other before the events of season 1 is probably the only thing I don't like about this sequel because on my eyes it looks silly, but I wouldn't call it a negative that renders the show. Hora Mimi remains a very adorable, heartwarming show that everyone definitely should check it out.

The Girl From the Other Side

Totsukuni no Shoujo was never on my radar for mangas so I wasn't aware of its existence. A few months back I saw someone reblogging gifs from this OVA on my dash and I got really intrigued by it, the aesthetic was kinda similar to Ancient Magus Bridge but it was darker and it had this antique style to it that made me fall in love instantly.

Since I don't know the manga, I'm not familiar with the characters and their stories, but even though I was in the dark I could grasp the concept without major difficulties because the characters are very expressive, and the music is very well used on passing to was what is going on with those characters. I thought an anime with no dialogue would be boring, but this OVA was very captivating, not just by its visuals but also by the narrative and the music that got me hooked from beginning to end. I feel like this is a very shallow review of the thing, but I don't think I'm smart enough to elaborate more on what to say about this show.

I'm not familiar with the manga and I don't know how things work there, neither I know if such style could hold up for an entire season, but I definitely wanna see more, and I'll definitely look up the manga if I can make my tablet work again someday.

Zenonzard THE ANIMATION - Episode 0

And to wrap up we have Zenonzard, which was another show that I wasn't aware of until I decided to do this thing and it's only here because the poster looked cool, and it was officially available on youtube with subs and no region locks so I thought, "why not?"

This is probably the weirdest of the bunch since it's a show based on a card game, and I haven't watched one of these in ages, and it's weird, but I was kinda into it? Like, I don't like that most of the girls in this show have ginormous breasts and this thing of a female coming to an apparently normal boy saying "I choose you" seems that it's going to backfire and will create a huge mess in the future, but as the episode was progressing I was getting more and more into it?

The plot doesn't seem as good, if they even have a plot. It does a crap job at explaining what this game is and how it works, and also the CG used for the monsters is horrendous. But it got me interested, it had some great music playing and I think this is what caught me the most, even though there's one song, that I believe is sung by Nanase who did voices for Aikatsu, that I feel like it was very misplaced. I also like the futuristic aesthetic, I'm a sucker for these things and I was pleased for the most part of it.

I don't know if this will become a thing, but if they actually release an anime and if they publish it on youtube like what they've done with this ONA/Special/Prequel? I may keep watching it. Which comes to as a surprise to me.

And this was the first Round of Randoms (provisory name) of this blog. I quite enjoyed doing this thing, I think I'm gonna keep doing it to always have something different and new around here. What did you think of it? Have you watched any of these shows? What are your opinions about it? Is there any show you have to recommend? And what's a good name for this new thing I'm trying to do? Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end, and I'll see you guys at another time.

[thecartoonuniverse]

Currently Airing Cartoons to Watch: 2019 Edition Part 1

You may remember my list of upcoming cartoons to look out for last year, but this time around I would like to do something different! I am personally recommending cartoons that are currently airing (or are confirmed to get more seasons) and give my opinions on each of them. There may be other good cartoons out there, but if they are not on the list, it means I was not a huge fan of it, it’s a super popular show like Steven Universe or Star vs. the Forces of Evil, or I have yet to watch it. If you are looking for something to watch, this is the list!

Currently Airing:

The Dragon Prince

Summary: The Dragon Prince is an epic fantasy series by the head writer and director of Avatar: the Last Airbender. In the magical land of Xadia, magic comes from six primal sources. But when human mages create a seventh kind of magic, Dark Magic — they begin capturing and harvesting the unique magical creatures they need as ingredients. This sparks a catastrophic war between Xadia and the Human Kingdoms. Three kids from opposite sides of the conflict — two human princes, and the elven assassin who was sent to kill them — discover a secret that could change everything. They decide to join forces and go on an epic journey that may be their only hope of ending the war, and restoring peace to both their worlds.

Opinion: This is probably my favorite currently airing show right now, mostly since I am a huge fan of fantasy shows. Dragons, extremely hot elves, and magic- what more could you ask for? Every one of the characters is complex and likable (well most, depending on who you ask). But even the antagonists are compelling at there are always shades of gray present. Season 2 truly blew me away with how much the stakes were raised and the number of surprises that occurred. There is even going to be a AAA cross-platform video game coming soon set in the same world! The company that creates The Dragon Prince, is doing a fantastic job on their social media (it’s hilarious, trust me), and I cannot wait to see what else they create. A quick warning, the animation from season 1 will take a little while to get used to, but for the most part, it has been improved for Season 2.

Also, there a lot of memes, so get ready for that.

gen:LOCK

Summary: In gen:LOCK, Earth’s last free society is on the losing side of a global war, and recruits a diverse team of young pilots to control the next generation of mecha—giant, weaponized robot bodies. These daring recruits will find, however, that their newfound abilities come at no small cost. As Julian Chase leaves behind his life as a fighter pilot to become the first candidate for the program, he finds his endurance, as well as his very identity, will be tested beyond anything he ever imagined.

Opinion: For any current/past fans of Voltron: Legendary Defender- WATCH THIS SHOW! If you are a fan of mechas, you will surely enjoy this. But if you were more a fan of the character interactions from VLD, this show also has you covered. It has an amazingly diverse cast and even has a canon genderfluid character. It is a show made for adults, so the stakes are real and dark subjects are treated seriously. Even the romance is done very well with the characters acting like adults instead of arguing over each other like teenagers. Even from the first episode, you can tell that the show is willing to take risks and is sure to become one of the greatest shows of the decade. The animation is also beautiful, and is definitely the best looking show Rooster Teeth has created. The fan base is super small right now since the first season just aired and is RT First exclusive. But trust me, it is worth a watch.

Carmen Sandiego

Summary: Carmen is a modern day Robin Hood traveling the globe and stealing from V.I.L.E. and giving back to its victims. Carmen is publicly perceived as a criminal by most law enforcement agencies – correction, make that a master criminal due to the sheer scale and theatricality of her heists. We will follow her escapades and get to determine not only where but WHO in the world is Carmen Sandiego?  

Opinion: This show really caught me by surprise- I was fully expecting a kiddy edutainment show, but what I got was something much more complex and intriguing. Carmen this time around, as the summary suggests, is an anti-hero, and not an antagonist or villain like she was in the past. While some may not want to watch it due to this, I think this take on her is done very well, and once you get past the two-episode backstory, you will find the show is fun with a diverse cast of characters from all over the world. This GIF doesn’t quite do it justice but trust me when I say this show has some one of the best looking art styles I have ever seen. Surprisingly the weakest aspect of the show is the educational factor, which is puzzling as it was very much promoted as a show to teach children geography. In some cases, I have seen posts/tweets pointing out factual errors the show made! Normally it wouldn’t be the biggest deal, but this is a show that prides itself for its educational value. Also, some of the characters have pretty flat personalities or are just straight up incompetent, but hopefully that will change as the show progresses further. The finale was amazing, and I am patiently waiting for the next season!

Tangled: The Series/ Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure

Summary: Set between the events of the feature film and the start of the 2012 CGI short film, Tangled Ever After, the animated series unfolds as Rapunzel acquaints herself with her parents, her kingdom and the people of Corona. Her irrepressible spirit and natural curiosity about the world drives her to the realization that there is so much more she needs to learn before she can truly accept her royal destiny. She boldly puts her crown and impending marriage on hold to seek out epic adventures, much to the dismay of the King who, after missing out on Rapunzel's childhood, must accept that his daughter is now an independent young woman. Accompanying Rapunzel on her journey will be Eugene Fitzherbert; the plucky chameleon sidekick, Pascal; the no-nonsense horse, Maximus; most of The Snuggly Duckling's pub thugs; and newcomer Cassandra, a tough-as-nails handmaiden, who becomes Rapunzel's confidant.

Opinion: This series is truly a delight, and definitely exceeded my expectations for a television series based off a Disney show (I did not expect much as most of those types of shows from my childhood weren’t the best). But I was truly wowed, and this is a must see for any Disney fan.The series does not ignore anything that happened in the movie, far from it. Events that occurred in the movie still impact Rapunzel and are treated seriously. The cartoon mixes comedy, adventure, lore, and mystery quite well. It is also very beautiful, much like Carmen Sandiego (both have similar styles but I like CS’s lighting a bit more). The show can even get quite dark, as is evident with the season 1 finale. This show deserves a much biggest fanbase, so give it a watch!

Hilda

Summary: Hilda follows the journey of a fearless blue-haired girl as she travels from her home in a vast magical wilderness full of elves and giants to the bustling city of Trolberg, where she makes new friends and discovers mysterious creatures who are stranger –and sometimes more dangerous– than she ever expected. Based on graphic novels by Luke Pearson, who storyboarded for Adventure Time.

Opinion: Hilda is definitely a comfort show, and if you liked Gravity Falls there is a good chance you will also like this show! The art style is simply adorable, and Hilda is a delight to get to know. I love the way that the show not only has magical creatures, but it goes in depth into how these creatures live and survive in a modern world. Having read all the comics, I personally enjoyed the addition of Hilda getting some human friends. I know some people did not like this, but she seemed quite lonely once she moved to the city, and I liked seeing her interact with children her age. Season 2 is coming out next year, so there is plenty of time to watch the first season! If you love a feel-good show with mystery and magic, this is the show for you!

Star Wars Resistance

Summary: The series is set between the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, in a time when the Resistance is still learning about the growing threat of the First Order. It centers on the character of Kazuda Xiono, a young pilot in General Leia Organa's Resistance who is tasked with spying on the growing threat of the First Order.

Opinion: This show was one I was not expecting anything from at all, but as the show has progressed throughout the first season I have begun to enjoy it more and more. This show, like many on this list, features a very diverse cast (including some aliens, of course). Probably the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that the main character, Kaz, is 20 years old! I feel like that is not something you see with action shows these days, as they usually make the protagonist 16 or 17 years old. I really like the animation style, as I always felt that without the big budget, the Clone Wars style just didn’t look that good in Rebels. Resistance is so... shiny! As for the plot itself, it is sad that most of my favorite aspects of Star Wars are missing, namely the Force, Jedi, and Light Sabers. But since it may eventually tie in more with the sequels, there is hope to see more of that eventually! It’s definitely not at Clone Wars level of good, but I am finding it more enjoyable than Rebels (excluding a few episodes and the season finales). It may never end up being as serious as Rebels, but I am sure it will get darker as time goes on and the stakes get higher.

Young Justice: Outsiders

Summary: Young Justice: Outsiders is the third season of Young Justice. The backdrop for the season is one that will touch on “all corners of the DC universe,” and this time the team is tasked with stopping a metahuman trafficking ring, as well as dealing with the “intergalactic arms race for control of these super-powered youths.” You can also count on new heroes Arrowette, Spoiler, Thirteen, Halo, and many more joining in the fight.

(^I can’t recall if this is the exact line from the show but this whole episode is the best)

Opinion: If you loved the first two seasons of Young Justice, it is easy to say that you should give this one a watch. But now that it is on DC’s streaming platform, DC Universe, IT IS DARK. Seriously, this is no longer a show for children. And that’s pretty great. I truly love that the show can now explore darker themes and have some adult jokes from time to time. However, unlike the first two seasons, I feel constantly confused about new characters or things that have happened to returning characters offscreen. Unless you are very knowledgable about DC characters, there is a good chance you will feel this way. So, it is sadly a bit more unwelcoming to those unfamiliar with the comics. I still love the show’s characters and superhero stuff, in general, is always a lot of fun. There’s also LGBT characters apparently already in the show (and some that were LGBT in the comics have appeared, but nothing in-show is confirmed), so hopefully, there is also that to look forward to in the second half of the season when it airs in June.

Big Hero 6 The Series

Summary: The series continues the adventures of 14-year-old tech genius Hiro and his robot pal Baymax. Joining the pair on their journey is control freak Wasabi, scientist Honey Lemon, fanboy Fred, and no-nonsense Go Go Tomago, whom together form the Big Hero 6 superhero team. As the new prodigy at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, Hiro faces daunting academic challenges, not to mention the social trials of being the little man on campus. The stakes are also raised for the high-tech heroes when they must protect their city from an array of scientifically enhanced villains.

Opinion: Another very well made series based off a Disney movie. Once again, this show stays faithful to the source material. The art style is very interesting, and while not my favorite gives the show a very cool feel. Once the main villain is introduced, I was glad to report that he became a major threat very fast. And the season 1 finale was pretty great as well. My biggest issue concerning this series so far is that is still really hasn’t developed the side characters at all, despite them being in almost every episode. These are college students, so their families should still be quite important to them. But besides Fred, we have yet to really learn about them, and with that, a potentially important part of who they are as a person is missing. After a movie and a whole season, these characters should not seem as flat as they are, so I hope we learn more about them too. But we also get flashbacks of Tadashi, so for that alone the show may be worth a watch.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Summary: Deep in the sewers of New York City, four mutant turtle brothers lurk. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michaelangelo are in their early teen years, and the brothers go on new and exciting adventures. They tap into their mystic ninja powers to learn to work together as a cohesive unit and become a team of heroes as they navigate the modern world and other hidden realms. The brothers get a whole new look, new weapons, and new powers as they discover the hidden city beneath New York and find time for a slice of their favorite pizza.

Opinion: Okay I will admit this is one I haven’t actually seen all of yet. But the art style is just so cool I had to include it and will likely update this entry when I catch up. This show may be a worthy successor to the 2012 series, which I know a lot of people loved.

So that’s the end of my list. If I remember any other good shows airing, I may update it. But, if I got you to watch any, let me know and tell me your thoughts!

Shows to Look Foward to: Glitch Techs, Amphibia, Owl House, Twelve Forever, Hazbin Hotel, Villainous, Infinity Train, 101 Dalmatian Street

Shows Omitted due to being super popular already: Steven Universe, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, RWBY, Bojack Horseman, OK KO, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Duck Tales

Join my Cartoon Themed Discord: https://discord.gg/cartoonuv

And give us a follow if you enjoyed the post! We talk about cartoon related stuff a lot! I will probably do a part 2 later in the year when more of the cartoons to look forward to have aired. And I might even add some shows omitted or other shows I may have forgotten!

[arcaneranger]

Premiere Impressions - Winter 2019

ZI still haven’t even finished 2018, but I knew that if I waited any longer I’d never get through any of this, so let’s dive right in!

Winter is usually a light season for me - I can’t spend all my time watching, and I’m much choosier about what I do watch than in other seasons. This is pretty much how I skipped a lot of deserving stuff last year - I was burnt out and totally skipped over Gakuen Babysitters, for example - and looking down the list...Only 29 full-length shows made their premiere this season, and of those, 8 are sequels, 9 if you include the Boogiepop remake. That’s pretty sparse these days, and it made it pretty easy to make a lot of early cuts, made up for by the fact that I’m gonna be spending a lot of it watching the shows from last season that are still going (of which there are a strangely high number).

Before I get too into this, though, I want to clarify my rules now that I’ve nailed them down and it’s a new year.

Lists will be divided into Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, Multi (any show lasting more than thirteen episodes and ending this year) and Netflix (any show picked up by Netflix, because they don’t simulcast and because they have enough original titles now that it’s easiest to rank them against each other). For the sake of these bigger posts, “Multi” impressions will be placed in the masterpost for the season they premiered with, but they’ll be sectioned off.

That means that, for example, Sword Art Online Alicization will be ranked for 2019 even though it started last year. This makes more sense to me than waiting a whole year to write the 2018 wrap-up just for the sake of one show, and Forest of Piano 2 and Kakeguruixx won’t be appearing on this list, they’ll go on the Netflix one at the end of the year.

With that, the numbers!

28 shows premiered for simulcasting that should end this season and last 13 episodes or less.

8 shows were skipped entirely, for the following reasons:

* Date A Live III, Kemono Friends 2, B Project: Zeccho Emotion, BanG Dream Season 2, and Real Girl Season 2 because I didn’t watch/finish the previous seasons. Techincally W’z should be here too, but I wound up making a post about it.

* Wataten! because I don’t give attention to that crap.

* VIRTUALSAN LOOKING because I don’t understand why Crunchyroll even picked up a show that relies entirely on virtual youtubers in Japan when Americans might be familiar with Kizuna Ai.

* Bermuda Triangle because I forgot it existed right up until the end and had no indication that it was worth my time anyway.

10 shows were dropped after the first episode. In no particular order:

* The Price of Smiles, Meiji Tokyo Renka and Pastel Memories because the ending twist wasn’t as compelling as the show thought it was.

* W’z for being a passion project from a director and producer whose only talent is wasting the potential of their staff on this story concept.

* Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka for not having enough original ideas to prop up incredibly lackluster execution.

* Grimms Notes the Animation for not having the execution to make its original ideas work in the show’s favor. (see what I did there, they’re parallel)

* Domestic Girlfriend for giving me a melodrama without an interesting lead. (This is the one I’m most likely to give another chance, should I drop too many of the shows I picked up.)

* Dimension High School but only because I don’t want anyone to think I’m recommending it because it’s good or anything. Would still be perfect for a good drunk weeb night.

* Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho for being the worst-looking show of the season and staining the name of a long-standing franchise.

* Kemurikusa for proving that its director didn’t learn much from the success of his previous work, including how to make his shows look better.

9 shows were picked up after the first episode, 2 of which I was unsure of:

* Kaguya-sama: Love is War because I love the direction and characters but can see myself growing annoyed with the concept.

* Girly Air Force because my judgment of its quality will be based heavily on the female cast, and we didn’t get to see much of them in the first episode.

And 7 of which I was more confident in:

* Mob Psycho 100 II and The Morose Mononokean II for obvious reasons (they’re sequels to shows I enjoyed).

* The Magnificent Kotobuki for being the only decent-looking CG show of the season and providing an excellent (and lengthy) action sequence in the first episode that totally sold me on watching dogfights.

* Endro! for being incredibly charming and creating a fun fantasy world that doesn’t get bogged down in RPG details.

* My Roommate is a Cat for giving me some much-needed accuracy in the field of cat-based anime.

* The Quintessential Quintuplets for being a harem show that looked like it might have an interesting plot and non-excessive fanservice.

* The Promised Neverland for having a ton of creative verve put behind a show that follows the current trend of kid-based horror.

3 shows premiered that are already confirmed to have more than 13 episodes, 1 of which I dropped:

* The Rising of the Shield Hero for just being okay right up to the point that it gave me blinding, seething fury.

And 2 of which I picked up, 1 of which I was cautious of:

* Boogiepop and Others, for being interesting but possibly a little too slow on the burn and very lazily made.

And 1 I was much, much more confident in:

* Dororo for being a very cool-looking interpretation of the work of Osamu Tezuka and having the coolest fight scene out of any of these premieres.

MOST IMPRESSIVE PREMIERE: The Promised Neverland

Maybe I’m predictable, but come on, when the first thing I can think to compare a show to is Made in Abyss, it’s doing something right. The Promised Neverland was probably the most-hyped show of Winter, and it gave us a premiere that demonstrated exactly why by tantalizing us with its mysterious setting before the big twist turned the atmosphere from “weirdly muted” to “complete horror”, and pulling off the only good bait and switch in a season that was fucking full of them.

Speaking of which...

WORST PREMIERE: The Rising of the Shield Hero

I’m not putting a GIF here because the first three pages of GIFs that Tumblr offered me for Shield Hero were all of Raphtalia, who appears to be the designated best girl of the season despite the show in question being easily the worst of the bunch and a strong contender for worst of the year already. My problem with this show is already known (and surprisingly, I only got one comment with the word “triggered” in it) and nothing besides Saintia Sho enraged me this much, but at least Saintia Sho just revealed itself to be poorly-made schlock instead of well-produced propaganda! Fuck this show.

And that’s it! The last lists for 2018 are coming soon, I promise, and I probably won’t be doing updated impressions this time around (because the season is already nearly over anyway), so stay tuned for my thoughts on the last few things I haven’t covered yet. Catch you guys soon.

[natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk]

Anime Highlights of 2018 (SO FAR!)

I haven’t watched all of this year’s anime because I have a ton of other stuff on the “watch later” list, but I wanted to get my two cents in. I know it’s just the start of 2019 (when I started this post, it was 2018).

If you don’t see a show on here that could’ve been on the list, scroll to the bottom and click “Keep Reading” because it might be included in the shows I didn’t get around to watching!

For this list, I will be ranking the shows into categories:

Raisin Cookie: Low-Tier

Sugar Cookie: Mid-Tier

Chocolate Chip Cookie: Top-Tier

No sequels allowed! No shows that are continuing from the previous year.

Honestly, there were a lot of good shows this year. Even this summer (which was considered the weakest by many) still got a lot of good shows in. 

This video covers a lot of this year’s good anime.

Raisin Cookie:

Conception 

Read the synopsis. Do I really need to say why? I watched one episode, cried on the inside, then asked why I was even born. 

Goblin Slayer

The first episode was gruesome and horrifying. It was seeping with edge, but I couldn’t figure out why they would make that the first episode if the rest of the anime was just an ecchi harem. We knew this would be a disappointment, but we didn’t know it would be a disappointment because of that.

Bakumatsu

I watched the first episode and wondered why I even tried watching this. You can’t carry a show with just voice casting and arguable fujoshi-baiting. 

Mahou Shoujo Site

This rivals Goblin Slayer’s edge. Mahou Shoujo Ore takes the magical girl genre and makes fun of it through comedy. This makes fun of it through gore. Think of it as an extremely poorly done, awfully written, badly executed attempt of trying to recreate a show like Madoka Magica.

Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes 

For a mystery show, this show was sure full of bullcrap and nonsense. I watched the first few episodes and found myself disliking this anime.

Kitsune no Koe 

I watched nine episodes before giving up. The music is subpar. The acting is subpar because the story and script are so poorly done. I would even argue the casting is all wrong.

Akkun to Kanojo

I just don’t like relationships where people are overly tsundere. I get the whole getting flustered thing, but resorting to violence and bullying over it is not my thing. This guy is so mean to his girlfriend, and sure, some people might enjoy it (which is why it’s the top of the trash pile), but I didn’t enjoy it at all.

Sugar Cookie:

Mahou Shoujo Ore

This show was supposed to be stupid. That’s the point. But the jokes get overused and stale after a while, and I found myself wanting it to be over near the end. It got me to laugh once every couple of episodes, but that’s about it.

Devils Line

This was a cringy vampire romance. That about sums it up in a nutshell. Miyuki Sawashiro deserved a more badass character, and so did Yui Ishikawa. Still better than Twilight.

Satsuriku no Tenshi

This was edgy like Mahou Shoujo Site and Goblin Slayer, but this show didn’t take itself as seriously. For the video game fans, they pretty much followed the story of the game. There were little to no discrepancies. But if you are only watching the anime, you’ll find this show so cringy and awful. Kudos to Nobuhiko Okamoto who took on this role knowing that it would strain his vocal cords.

Ani ni Tsukeru Kusuri wa Nai! 2

The charm of the first season was just lost. They had a lot of hit-and-miss episodes where I was either going to like it or think it was a waste of time. I want more sibling antics and fewer love triangles, but it was still a solid season.

3D Kanojo: Real Girl 

I watched three episodes of this, and as much as I wouldn’t mind watching more, I couldn’t build attachment to any of these characters. I felt nothing for the story either. Okay, so a pretty misunderstood girl gets into a relationship with an otaku... what else?

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai

I watched this because the OP was so darn good, the art looked nice, and it gave off the same vibes as Gekkan Shoujo, but it ultimately disappointed me with the ending and the whirlwind of “Wait... what just happened?” The relationships were not developed enough and came out of nowhere like the truck in Zombieland Saga.

Phantom in the Twilight

Giving this the benefit of the doubt... this didn’t make it past this category because the art was so poorly done that I found myself wondering what the budget even was. The story wasn’t even as poorly done as other otome game adaptations (actually, this one is an original I think?) A Kana Hanazawa lead bumps this show up a notch though.

Nil Admirari no Tenbin

This is probably right beside the previous entry, but this one had better character designs. It was another otome game adaptations... why do I even try? It was okay. It’s more episodic than one would think because you have a “guy of the week” or something. It was just meh... but I’m saying this as someone who doesn’t like guys all that much.

Sugar Cookies With Icing:

Dame x Prince Anime Caravan 

This is separated from the other two otome anime because this one made fun of itself. It was openly wondering what the heck happened to itself, and it was a lot more fun to watch because of that. It was kind of like Konosuba in a way because none of these guys were all that desirable. Picking “best guy” would be tough with a cast like this. It was a lot more enjoyable than the others because I found this cast more likeable because they were so over-the-top.

Gakuen Babysitters

I don’t like kids. This show... tried to change my opinion. I still don’t like kids.

Pop Team Epic

Yeah, you’re probably wondering “WHAT THE--??” That’s normal. It's basically parodying with famous voice actors. You won’t like it as much if you have a normal sense of humour. This anime is really strange, and like a lot of comedy, it will be hit and miss.

Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet

This show was okay. It was well-animated, and I liked the cast a little. Okay, I liked Hasuki. Besides that, you are basically watching the whole “Romeo and Juliet” stuff again with anime cliches. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie:

Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens

This was a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting this show to be good, and the art was subpar, but the cast (despite a huge lack of female characters) found itself being oddly good. It’s crafty and gives off the same vibes as Durarara but with hitmen. Who will hit the hitmen next?

Grand Blue

Let’s ignore the romance elements. This is a comedy, and while this is a bit ecchi, I found myself tolerating that part. This show had me laughing at least once per episode, but if you were looking for a diving anime, you have to look somewhere else.

Banana Fish 

I watched the first six episodes of this one, and I found myself liking the cast. It was pretty good. The animation is great, the voice acting is good too, and the story is riveting. I just jump around series a lot.

Asobi Asobase

Same with this one. Six episodes have been watched. It has a very odd sense of humour, and it gives off the vibe that “this is going to be a cutesy anime” with its opening then screws you over with their antics. I found this anime oddly charming despite me not being so excited about its art style and watercolour palette. 

Hataraku Saibou

I never thought that the least questionable ship out of the summer 2018 anime I watched would be between two fricking cells. This anime was great, it was cute, and it was educationally entertaining! It was a very solid series. Plus, a Kana Hanazawa lead is always a bonus!

SSSS.Gridman

This is an amazingly animated series by Studio Trigger that can excite even non-mecha fans like me. I just started it, but it’s turning out great! This might even go all the way to triple cookie status by the time I reach the end.

Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san

I never thought a skull face bookseller could be so entertaining, but it is. This series is charming, and even though it didn’t have the greatest animation budget, it uses it in all the right ways. The relatability that retail workers will feel is astounding, and even non-retail workers like me can find this enjoyable.

Violet Evergarden

Kyoto Animation can make anything look good, and they made this look amazing. This story is oddly touching, and a lot of people got emotional. I wasn’t really one of them, and I found them reaching a bit too much sometimes. I feel like I was supposed to feel stuff, but I didn’t. That’s kind of my fault though. This series is stunning and beautiful visually. The soundtrack was well-written, but it was sometimes misused by the sound director. The stories are pretty solid, but I found the development a little rushed at times. I would recommend it still though.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii

The otaku jokes resonated a lot with me, and I found this story to be cheesy in the best of ways. The cast is so likeable and pure, and I found myself looking forward to a new episode every week.

Hinamatsuri

This anime had be laughing so hard to the point where I couldn’t watch it around other people, and I had to conceal my laughter as I watched it during the middle of the night. I never thought such a wholesome father-daughter relationship would occur between an OP esper and a yakuza. If you like Mob Psycho 100, you will like this one and vice-versa. This, to me, was the best comedy of the year.

Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai 

This anime was so darn misleading. I was about to skip this because I thought it was going to be some tasteless edgy show, but I found this to be a weirdly pleasant show to binge-watch, and it was a much more easy and arguably better take on the Monogatari series and whatever genre that is. The girls are likeable, there isn’t a lot of fanservice that is shoved in your face, and the writing got me attached to a lot of the characters.

Zombieland Saga

This anime sounded so stupid at first, but after watching a couple of episodes, I started really liking the cast. These are all relatively new seiyuu minus Mamoru and Risa Taneda. Honestly, words cannot describe this show besides surprisingly amazing. You thought this would be a stupid idol anime? Instead, we go an intriguing, touching, and oddly inspirational anime with great music, art, and everything.

Let’s announce the stuff that I’m excited to watch later! 

These are the amazing shows that I’ve heard about that I haven’t gotten around to watching.

Sora yori mo Tooi Basho (Winter)

Also called “A Place Beyond the Universe”, this anime is about this group of girls taking the journey across Antarctica. I heard it’s a lot of fun.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san (Winter)

Her forehead is as big as her face. I’ve heard this is funny, and I’ve watched clips of it. Rie Takahashi and Yuuki Kaji have the main roles in this anime, and they do a fantastic job playing the trickster and her victim.

Megalo Box (Spring)

This one is probably one of the biggest things I’m missing out on. If it weren’t for one of my anxiety triggers being sports, I would’ve jumped on this. Yoshimasa Hosoya does an amazing job as the protagonist in this well-animated boxing series.

Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken (Autumn)

I’ve watched one episode, and yes, tsundere dragon is the best girl. Besides that, it just looks like a lot of fun for a show that sounds so weird.

Yuru Camp△ (Winter)

Cute girls doing cute things while camping. That’s pretty much what this is about. Whether you like that kind of show will determine whether it’s worth watching for you.

Golden Kamuy (Spring)

This another big thing I’m missing out on. It already got a second season, and it looks like a fun action series. Minus the bad CG, it looks good. I heard the lead sounds just like Hosoya, but Hosoya is in the show too! Along with a new score composer with a lot of new series under his name, I’m excited about this one too!

Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru (Autumn)

I’d be more excited about this series, but I haven’t finished Haikyuu yet, and I have a really bad history with track and field.

Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara (Autumn)

This series looks beautifully animated, and this is one of Kaori Ishihara’s big roles besides Aladdin from Magi which was years ago. 

[killian-whump]

OUAT 2x05: Rewatch Blog

Heeeeeeeey, everybody! Welcome to my liveblog of episode 2x05 of Once Upon a Time - “The Doctor”! This one’s about Dr. Whale aka Dr. Frankenstein. Or... something like that. I think that’s what it’s about. To be honest, I just call this one “the one where he’s tied to a tree” because I’m... me.

Anyway! Let’s get things underway, shall we?

Oh, look. A complete and utter massacre. That’s a lot of dead people.

Aaaaaaand here’s Blacksmith Hook :D Gosh, have I mentioned yet today how much I love it when Colin’s voice is all broken and trembly? ‘Cos I really, really, really love that.

Okay. I have some serious-ass questions about this decor right here. Number one: Did they NAIL those gourds to the front of the fence posts there? And, even more importantly...

In other news, that was a wonderful suckerpunch and David should be proud.

“Regina! Are you here to see me?” Umm. Does Archie get a lot of people knocking on his door to... like... NOT see him?

What’s up with all this testosterone all of a sudden? Geez. *sees Regina’s expression* SAME, GIRL. Same.

OH MY GOD, her sweet and innocent, “There, I did it!” T_T

Gosh, she’s so pretty, and this is one of my favorite outfits of hers.

“What’s holding you back?” I dunno, bro, seems like she straight up told you she didn’t want to kill the dang unicorn.

Hallucinating isn’t really a great sign, I’m just saying.

Hey, look! It’s David’s truck. Did you know his truck has a cameo in The Words music video by Christina Perri? It does! :)

OH MY GOD, HENRY IS SO SMOL. Sorry, I just joined the rewatch last episode, so this is the first time I’ve seen him this smol in awhile. Gosh.

Dave, pal, you’re a total buzzkill kinda. Let the kid ride the horse T_T

GRAND THEFT DEAD BOYFRIEND

You know what would really help this episode? Bucky Barnes.

I mean Jefferson. Yes. Jefferson.

These guys are such terrible actors. The characters, I mean.

I don’t know why, but Rumple’s “Nnnnn- Yes.” makes me laugh.

...but not as hard as Jefferson’s 1000x extra “pardon me” does. Honestly, one of the funniest moments in the whole dang show.

Aw, my baby <3 The angst is totally fake, but I don’t even care. Look how traumatized he is, and Colin’s doing the shaky voice thing again and... and...

*happy sigh* True Love’s knife to the throat! <3

Oh, you need a heart? Buddy, why didn’t you SAY so?? We got all kinds of hearts on this show. Big hearts, little hearts, red hearts, black hearts - ALL kinds of hearts for sale!

Always a bad sign when you find someone’s arm well before you find the rest of them.

“He’s a monster!” Okay, but just as long as he’s not a zombie.

“Whose hearts are these?” HAAAAAAAAAHAHAAAHA HIS FACE

I really wish Jefferson had stuck around on the show for longer.

Hospital scene! But it’s only Whale :/

Hahaha, David. “You have hearts here?!” Sweet, summer child. Of course she has hearts here. She has hearts everywhere else, why wouldn’t she have some here?

It’s a good thing I’m never around horses in real life, because I’ve seen so many scenes on television and in movies where they get frightened and it means there’s a ghost/werewolf/vampire/zombie around, like, I don’t think I could ever see a horse in real life act even the slightest bit anxious without immediately thinking, “WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIIIIIIIIE”

But, you know, I’m sure it means nothing here. Definitely not a zombie.

Oh, great. ALL the horses are scared. WE’RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIE D:

...or get clobbered by a horse. I mean, that’s better than a zom-

ZOMBIE!!! IT’S A FUCKING ZOMBIE!!! \o/ RUN FOR YOUR LIVES

In other news, I’ve just found Regina’s stolen dead boyfriend.

IT’S THE ONE WHERE HE’S TIED TO A TREE, GUYS.

And the son-of-a-bitch is so fucking happy about it, too <3

You know, I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t have done the entire next 6 seasons’ worth of episodes with him tied to various things. Trees, beds, chairs, playground equipment, car bumpers, fences, park benches...

I should probably pitch this to one of the networks. This is gold.

Okay, serious question: Why is Henry so terrified of this dude when he literally just walked in the door? Is Henry part horse?

Ohhhhhh, Henry knows about the horse thing, too. Savvy kid. Always trust the horses, Henry. Horses know true evil. And zombies.

Mmm... David takin’ charge and loadin’ his gun and bein’ smexy.

AHHHHH, Regina’s pain hurts me T_T

Hey, Dave, don’t shove my girl, okay? I do like this scene, though. I love Charming and Regina as a kinda sorta BroTP. Aw, heck, I just like Regina’s relationships with everybody. Ah, but David having sympathy for her T_T

Wait, I thought they got trapped in the vault and had to use magic to get themselves out? I guess that was a deleted scene I forgot was deleted. Oops. It was a good scene, though.

AHHHHHHHHHHH OMG THIS IS SO SAD T_T

AHHHHHHHHHHH OMG THIS IS SO SAD T_T (the sequel)

Great acting, though. Awesome acting <3

IT’S THE ONE WHERE HE’S TIED UP WHILST HIKING, GUYS

I mean, they don’t really need to tie him to things. This is good, too.

I don’t know what it is, but crying always seems sadder somehow when someone’s doing it while driving. Is that weird?

I also like this outfit. Black leather, yes.

Lana’s acting in this episode is super great, though. And I love how she even uses her vocal intonations to indicate her level of innocence/evil. Nice.

Archie, take care of my other baby, okay? T_T

These three little shits...

“Sure you’re not. Good luck.” Hahaha :D

Don’t mind the suspicious-looking dude with one arm and a cooler covered in blood. Don’t mind the even more suspicious dude who owns the pawn shop. Don’t mind anything or anyone in this entire show, actually.

I vaguely remember being impressed with the melodrama building up to the “big reveal” on first watching, but now I’m just seeing Shirin-level heavy-handedness and I want to throw popcorn at it.

THE END ~ PEW PEW! PEW PEW PEW!!!

[metalandmagi]

December End of the Year Media Madness!

It’s a new month and a new year! And what a crazy month it was what with Tumblr imploding and all. But I’ll still throw this on here just because I’ll be on this site until it literally boots me out. But I do have a twitter now…@metalandmagi where I’m also barely active at all.

Anyway, why make top 10 lists for the entire year when I can just ramble about all the media I consumed this month? There’s only a marginal amount of holiday things on here by my standards!

November media

Movies!

Give me some credit there’s only four Christmas movies on here.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?: A documentary about Mr. Rogers starting with the birth of the television show to his death. This is the fluffiest most heartwarming thing I could have possibly picked to watch on Christmas, and I encourage everyone, even people who hate documentaries and/or never grew up with Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, to watch it. There’s a lot of important messages about acceptance, dealing with tragedy, and mental health that people can learn from and feel good about. Not to mention how he completely revolutionized children’s television. So yeah, he was awesome.10/10

Spider-man Into the Spider-verse: When a rip between dimensions is opened, a bunch of different spider themed superheroes from every comic fan’s wet dreams all get together to close it. Guys I’m not that big of a Spider-man fan, but dang this movie was a ton of fun. I came for the amazing visual effects and stayed for the amazing...everything else. The music, the performances, and the story were all top notch. Also I now have a new favorite Nick Cage role. If you thought the trailer made the animation look interesting, it was just the tip of the iceberg because it is the most visually interesting movie I’ve seen in the last three years. I strongly suggest any fan of animation...or even any fan of great stories and movies in general go see it even if you’re not that big on Spider-Man. Now I’m demanding a Spider-verse Aunt May movie because I have so many questions! And the post credits scene was the best out of any Marvel movie. Period. 10,000/10

The Wiz (2015 musical): I should start making a section for musicals or plays instead of just lumping it in with the movies. It’s the Wizard of Oz...but cool. I’ve never seen any iteration of The Wiz and it seems like I’m constantly hearing about it. So I watched the 2015 version of the 1975 Broadway musical that NBC aired. And yeah it’s good. There were some great performances. But I wasn’t very impressed with the songs themselves, and it’s not really the same without a dog along for the ride, but whatever. 7.5/10

Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle: The surprisingly fun reboot/sequel thing of Jumanji where four teenagers get stuck in a video game that follows every “stuck in a video game” trope you can imagine but actually does it well. It’s a sweet, funny romp through the jungle with some great comedic performances. I really don’t have much to say about it except that this movie is better than it has any right to be. 8/10

The Christmas Chronicles: Two children stow away on Kurt Russell’s, I mean Santa’s sleigh and go on a dangerous, balls to the wall adventure throughout Chicago trying to save Christmas or something. After everyone started talking about how crazy this Netflix movie is I had to watch it to verify if it is indeed as wild as they said. And yes...yes it is. It is so laughably ridiculous and questionable that it’s impossible to actually hate. The elves are some unholy mixture of minions and gremlins, one of the children is a literal felon that no one is concerned about, and Kurt Russell is super into the role but has some sort of thing about fat-shaming Santa. I just...have so many questions! But it was certainly a trip, so I’d have to recommend it just so you too can witness the insanity. -10 “savvy, straight-talking St. Nicks”/10

Arthur Christmas: No, it’s not a Christmas special related to the aardvark cartoon! This is the 2011 animated movie that no one remembers exists. Santa’s clumsy but enthusiastic son Arthur must deliver a forgotten present in less than two hours while the rest of his family deals with some Arrested Development style family drama. This is by far the most underrated Christmas movie of all time; even I didn’t realize it was actually good until I watched it for the first time in 2016! The fun road-trip style plot and the entertaining characters were victims of bad marketing. Arthur is hilariously endearing, and there was so much heart and effort put into it that I can find new things to notice every time I watch it. Not to mention the amazingly animated opening spy sequence! And also Mrs. Claus is secretly a total badass and Bryony the elf is the coolest female character in a Christmas movie ever. The movie’s message of old vs new is nothing we haven’t seen before, but I really don’t care because at the heart of it all, it’s about making people happy on Christmas. If you’re like me and just assumed this movie would suck...or didn’t know it exists, please give it a chance. It’s not perfect, but it’s worth seeing. 9/10

Neo Yokio Pink Christmas: Yes, it’s the Christmas special for Neo Yokio. No I cannot accurately describe it with mere words. There’s a rich bachelor gift exchange, demon possession, and pompous French aunts slinging insults at each other. It is unironically my favorite holiday episode of a show ever, and to me it’s the best Christmas special ever made. I thought I was prepared for the absolute bat-shit ride I would go on, but no...I wasn’t even close. At this point I don’t know if it’s written like this on purpose or if some divine twist of fate made the executives believe this is truly brilliant television. Either way, it is a masterpiece in its own right. There’s even a somewhat intriguing plot and a message about gift giving and capitalism under all the crazy! If you haven’t jumped down the rabbit hole yet, I implore you to watch the insanity that is Neo Yokio and follow it up with Pink Christmas because it will truly make your holiday season. 100,000 demon DNA drugs out of 100,000!

Die Hard: Nothing says Christmas like terrorists taking over a skyscraper and Bruce Willis having to take them all down by himself. Yeah...so I’ve never seen Die Hard before, but this is one of those movies that is so famous that I felt like I’d already absorbed everything important through cultural osmosis. And even though it’s pretty good, I would have liked it better if I didn’t know what was going to happen. My only real complaint is that I think it goes on way too long. More than anything it just made me sad to remember that Alan Rickman is gone. And it bothers me so much that John McClane goes through this building that’s under construction WITHOUT SHOES! 8/10

Books!

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis: The 4th/6th book in the Chronicles of Narnia, in which Eustace Scrubb and his classmate Jill Pole go to the underworld to find King Caspian’s long lost son. Even though my children- the Pevensies aren’t in it, I actually think this book is my favorite of the series so far. Jill and Eustace are both sassy enough to play off each other, Puddleglum absolutely hilarious, and the book actually has a clear cut plot! It reads much more like a Greek myth than a children’s fairy tale since there aren’t nearly as many of Lewis’s trademark author interjections, and you know...it’s a literal journey to the underworld. And can I just say that it’s super refreshing to have an author write two main characters WITH ZERO ROMANTIC INTENTIONS! Especially since they’re freaking children! Now I just wish Disney had continued the movies even more! 9/10

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare: I’m going to do this with only minor spoilers. It’s the final book in The Dark Artifices trilogy. Will Emma and Julian break the parabatai bond? Will the reflection of the modern day American government- I mean the Cohort/ the Clave fuck up the relationships between Shadowhunters and Downworlders forever? You’ll have to suffer like the rest of us to find out! In my opinion, 99% of this book is amazing, but in the last 50 pages there are some...bullshit ways of solving problems. Like everything that went down with the Cohort in Idris. Not to mention we’ve been so invested in the parabatai curse and how Julian and Emma’s bond would go down and...let’s just say the resolution was way too easy. And if you thought Clare’s other finales were jam packed, you ain't seen nothin’ yet. My copy is 880 pages and there was still more stuff that I wanted to happen...like any sort of scene between Dru and Ash...or an ending between Kit and Ty that doesn’t make me want to cry (the Wicked Powers is going to be brutal). But the rest of that 99% is mind-blowing! There’s so much good I can say that it mostly outranks anything I didn’t like...I mean we finally got a Malec wedding and a proper polyamorous relationship for the Angel’s sake! It may be my least favorite of her finales by default but it was still a fun ride! 9/10

TV shows!

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018): An elite soldier finds a sword that can transform her into a super buff magical girl who helps princesses take down the forces of evil. It’s a reboot of the 1980s cartoon, and holy crap it’s AMAZING! I have a whole new group of children to adopt, each episode is entertaining in its own way, and there’s so...many...good...ships! And it gives Steven Universe a run for its money with the care that went into making every character a different kind of warrior, which I love because the cast is 99% female. My only real complaint is that I never warmed up to Catra because she wasn’t particularly sympathetic to me from the beginning. But I understand why some people love her. If you love well crafted adventurous character driven cartoons and haven’t watched it yet WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?  10/10

Nailed It Holiday: Yes, my favorite baking show (and by that I mean the only baking show I watch) has a holiday season out on Netflix, in which newbie bakers are tasked with making incredibly professional desserts with a very short time limit. And whoever makes the best treat gets 10,000 dollars. I’ve talked about this show before in my June media madness, and I don’t know what it is but I’m so addicted to it. 10/10

Brooklyn nine-nine (season 5): Come on we all know the cop sitcom. It’s the best sitcom. Just in general it’s the best. Great characters that subvert expectations, great humor, and a lot of heart. I’ve known that this show is supposed to be amazing for years, but I only started watching it a few months ago. And since I couldn’t find season 5 anywhere...I got a Hulu subscription just to watch it before season 6 comes out. That’s how good this show is. 10/10

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (season 2): Our favorite underdog comedian is back, and she’s slowly gaining popularity and doing...stuff. Like going on tour. And hanging out with Zachary Levi. Yes, this season is great, but my problem with this series is that every character aside from Midge and Susie are the fucking worst, especially the parents. Midge’s parents suck, Joel’s parents suck, Midge and Joel are appropriately neglectful parents for the time period...I could go on. And it’s not even in a funny way; like it’s just disgusting to watch these power dynamics. Not to mention how old the comedic bits for the parents get (how many times can we hear about Joel needing to date or Midge needing to get married?!) Yes, I realize that we’re supposed to be annoyed AND YES I realize that this is a product of culture and how society was, but none of the parents have any redeeming qualities. In episode one, we’re led to believe that Midge’s parents will grow and change through the season and they never do! At least there are moments where Joel can kind of be redeeming and expand on his actual character before he reverts back to being an asshole. Anyway, my thoughts are pretty much the same as the first season. It’s funny and interesting to watch, but it can be ridiculously frustrating when you hate almost all the characters!  8/10

Fuller House (season 4): Yes I do watch the ridiculous Netflix reboot of Full House. And yes, it is absolutely terrible! I really really hate it! But will I stop watching it? Let’s just say you can pry this pile of garbage from my cold dead hands. I don’t know if I’d call this a guilty pleasure or a hate watch type of show... it’s certainly not so bad it’s good territory like Neo Yokio...but Full House was pretty much my entire childhood. And yes, the original show is also not great. I loved it as a kid, and it was my first real exposure to a non-traditional family in live action, but yeah it doesn’t age well. What I’m trying to say is...I have no good reason for watching this.

I don’t mean to say that there’s nothing good about it, especially this season. They really back off on the more cringe-worthy catch phrases, Stephanie being aware of how stupid the writing is and constantly pointing it out is actually funny, their Christmas episode was surprisingly genuine, and they impressed me by actually make two female characters try and work through their difficulties instead of pitting them against each other for laughs. It has its moments, just like the original but definitely not enough to make up for the worst of it. Maybe this generation of children will like it the way lots of my generation used to like Full House...but yeah it’s awful, I hate it so much. -1 missing Tanner child out of 3

Voltron Legendary Defender (season 8) SPOILERS: It’s the final season of Netflix’s Voltron, and boy it was...something. I didn’t want to make this a big rant/defense of the show...but I feel like I have to highlight some things because this fandom is a shithole that refuses to see the good in anything.

There is so much good and so much...not good I can say about it, so here’s a couple things. I know this show didn’t go the direction anyone wanted, but that doesn’t make it bad. In addition to the stunning fight scenes and music, the performances this season were just amazing! I literally wanted to cry every other episode even though sometimes I didn’t know why the fuck something was happening. I don’t know how I feel about Honerva’s plan. I understand her motivation, but I was constantly questioning how we got from point A to point B... so yeah the plot and writing could be...weird at times. Also everyone seemed to have super pointy chins this season...

Spoiler alert: Not many of us wanted Lance and Allura to happen, but I truly believe it wasn’t done in a half assed way. At the very least, I appreciate that they had a genuine bond that developed over so many seasons. BECAUSE YES IT DID! Anyone who says they had no development or that it felt forced never paid attention. I wanted it to stay platonic; I wanted Klance to happen, but...I can’t be too mad at the writers because they at least tried. I still believe that Klance was endgame and the creators were forced to change the outcome of the show later on. AND YES LANCE DID GET A CHARACTER ARC! It may not have been the one we wanted to see, but I’m baffled that people think Lance living with his family, surrounded by people he loves-which is what he wanted all along- is not a happy ending. I just wish his relationship with Keith wasn’t pretty much ignored all season. But I believe Allura is his past that taught him to genuinely love and Keith is his future who will make Lance his “first choice”. And I’m not even gonna try to explain how I feel about Shiro and Allura’s endings because everything I feel is so complicated and layered. There is good and there is bad.

TLDR: This show teaches us that we’re stronger together, and I think the “fandom” completely missed the point because they do nothing but tear others down and refuse to look at things from other perspectives. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO NOT LIKE IT, BUT YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO TAKE AWAY OTHER PEOPLE’S ENJOYMENT AND BE A DICK ABOUT IT. It may not have been everything I wanted, but I’m glad I went on this ride. Besides, there are canonically infinite realities so there’s got to be a reality where all your dreams for the show come true. As a season, I’d say it’s a 7.5/10.

Honorable Mentions

I watched Avengers: Infinity War again. And yes it’s still great.

I’m watching Superstore because when another sitcom comes on before The Good Place, why not? Also since I finished season 5 of Brooklyn 99 I had to use my Hulu subscription for something.

Camp Camp has a holiday episode...so naturally I watched it...several times. Please watch Camp Camp.

Hellsing Ultimate Abridged finally ended, and I feel obligated to shout this out because, hey when you put out one episode a year it’s a big accomplishment to finish it!

Super Smash Bros Ultimate is finally here!!!!!!!!!!!

ALL THE WINTER ANIME IS ENDING!!! They were all so amazing! So shout out to Iroduku-The world in colors, Bloom into You, Hinomaru Sumo, Dakaichi, Banana Fish, Jingai no Yomen, Golden Kamuy, Skull-faced Bookseller Honda-san, Tsurune, AND RUN WITH THE WIND even though they’re not finished yet.

[aomoviegeek]

Why are filmmakers and fans more concerned with plot twists over quality stories?

This is gonna be a long post, so get ready.

Let’s look at Star Wars. Personally, I really enjoyed The Force Awakens and Rogue One. I thought they were some great, fun movies with a lot of action, humor, drama, etc. in them. I thought the actors & actresses were great. The musical score was amazing. Rogue One also did a fantastic job at tying the prequels and originals together, bringing in Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Bail Organa, Grand Moff Tarkin, Mon Mothma and, although he was a Clone Wars character, Saw Gerrera. 

I thought both stories were well done and even though it seemed odd regarding the Skywalker/Solo family (Luke running away, Han & Leia separating and Kylo Ren turning to the dark side & idolizing his grandfather Darth Vader), I thought there was potential to expand upon it in Episode VIII and IX and give a realistic-enough explanation as to how these characters ended up where they were as well as find a way to include Rey in there, potentially as the secret daughter of either Luke or Han & Leia.

However, I am not a fan of The Last Jedi. I didn’t like it. And before you go off and say “Well that’s only because your favorite fan theories didn’t come true” or whatever bulls--t is said to TLJ haters, no, that’s not the case. There’s a lot of different reasons to dislike the film. All these different plot twists and surprises, most of which are completely unnecessary and they even destroy the characters we love from the original trilogy and The Force Awakens.

For example, they had Luke Skywalker - a Jedi Master who was the only one to believe there was still good in his Sith Lord father despite everything that’s happened in the original trilogy - try to murder his nephew because he could sense darkness in him but he wasn’t even fully dark yet. Luke could have tried to save him somehow. Maybe kill Snoke instead? After all, he was the one seducing Kylo to the dark side. Maybe bring Han & Leia over to spend more time with Kylo (since it’s been said Kylo feel neglected by his parents)? Maybe try to get in contact with Anakin’s Force Ghost so he can talk with Kylo (after all, Kylo idolizes his grandfather)? 

But what they did was absolutely stupid and an absolute disgrace to Luke’s character. Not to mention what a horrible plot twist it was. Why are filmmakers and fans so much more interested in plot twists and surprises than good, quality stories? Why? Why? WHY?!!!

Star Wars fans are usually like “Well I don’t want Rey to be a Skywalker because it’s so boring and predictable! I want her to be related to this character because it’d be so surprising!”, “I don’t want Snoke to be revealed as some other character because it’d be so dumb! He should be his own character!”, etc. But why are these fans - and the filmmakers as well (e.g. Rian Johnson) - so interested in plot twists and big surprises? Why can’t we focus on good stories?

If you ask me, had Rey been revealed as a Skywalker or a Solo instead, I think that would have made a terrific story and a great way to push forward the story of the sequel trilogy. It would mean she is the granddaughter of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. She now knows why she is so powerful. She was destined to learn the ways of the Force. Not only that, but if she was Rey Skywalker (daughter of Luke), it would create an interesting, emotional, heartwarming story-arc for Luke & Rey as father and daughter would reunite. The same would also apply for Rey Solo, the daughter of Han & Leia. Rey’s grief over Han’s death would increase, knowing he was in fact her father, and we also would have gotten to see a heartwarming mother/daughter reunion between her and Leia.

It would also create an interesting story-arc for Kylo Ren as Rey would be his cousin or sister and as a matter of fact, her being left on Jakku may somehow be connected to how he turned to the dark side. Maybe he felt guilty for what happened to her (thinking she was dead) and blamed Luke, Leia, Han and himself. Snoke used this pain within Kylo to manipulate him and turn him to the dark side. And when watching The Force Awakens, it definitely seems that Kylo has a familial connection with Rey. He Force-chokes a First Order officer when he brings up how a girl helped Finn and BB-8 escape Jakku (”What girl?!”), he took his helmet off for both Rey & Han and he noticed how strong she is with the Force, as strong as he is if not stronger. In The Force Awakens novelization, when Rey picked up the Skywalker lightsaber from the snow, Kylo looked at her and said “It is you”, so it seems he had come to the realization that this girl in front of him was in fact his long-lost cousin or sister. He even offers to teach her the ways of the Force during their duel. He wants the other grandchild of Darth Vader by his side to rule the galaxy. Just like how Vader wanted Luke (and later on, Leia in ROTJ) by his side to rule the galaxy.

And there was also potential to create a story-arc for Snoke that would connect him to the Skywalkers somehow. My personal favorite theory is (or rather was) that he is Darth Plagueis and the creator/”father” of Anakin. There’s already some pre-sequel trilogy information about him in that scene in Revenge of the Sith where Palpatine and Anakin are talking about him. It’s said that he was able to use the Force to create life and it’s even hinted that Anakin’s miraculous birth could have been caused by Plagueis. Maybe Plagueis used the Force and impregnated Anakin’s mother in an attempt to create the Chosen One himself. Then when the time came, the Chosen One would be found and Plagueis could seduce him to the dark side, making him a very powerful and very worthy Sith apprentice. It’s possible he may have even wanted to treat Anakin as his own son since he technically did create him.

But of course Palpatine had different plans and decided to seduce Anakin himself. So he killed Plagueis. Or did he? Perhaps Plagueis successfully faked his death and watched over Anakin/Vader, watching the rise and fall of the Empire and then once Anakin redeemed himself to save Luke and died, Plagueis saw it as an opportunity to come out of hiding and recreate the Empire as the First Order. If Plagueis wanted to treat Anakin as his son as much as he wanted him as his apprentice, then it makes sense: Plagueis/Snoke did it all for Vader. He did it for his creation/“son”. The Imperial officers, Stormtroopers, etc. He even seduced Vader’s grandson to the dark side and made him his apprentice. He created the First Order in Vader’s memory to finish what he started and rule the galaxy.

Then it would have all came full circle: Anakin Skywalker’s family (Luke, Rey, Kylo & Leia) had to face off against his creator/”father” and finally bring balance to the Force. You might not agree, but I think that would have made a terrific story. A great way to tie together the originals, prequels and sequels and a great way to end the Skywalker Saga so that Disney and Lucasfilm can make new stories about new characters. Three trilogies about the Skywalker family. A beginning, a middle and an end. Then it’s over. Time for new characters and new adventures in the galaxy to explore.

But unfortunately, that never happened. Instead, we got what The Last Jedi gave us. A bunch of unnecessary plot twists and surprises (some of which ruin the characters of both the original and new trilogies), the Skywalker bloodline is pretty much dead; the only survivor of the bloodline being Kylo Ren who turned to the dark side for pretty much no reason other than disliking everyone in his family besides his grandfather. Oh, and because Luke suddenly decided to kill him even though he didn’t do anything wrong yet and there were in fact ways to save him.

The characters were ruined, the Skywalker legacy has been destroyed, Snoke died without us finding out his backstory, Rey’s parents are nobodies (and we don’t even get a good enough explanation about them; it wasn’t something like “Your parents were students of Luke’s Jedi academy. The First Order attacked them and they left you on Jakku to keep you safe. They were going to come back for you, but they were killed in the fight before they could”. Instead, it was “Your parents were junk dealers who sold you for drinking money.”) And the new characters didn’t even stay there too long. DJ turned out to be a traitor and we’ll probably never see him again. Admiral Holdo (who was completely unlike-able during the entire film) sacrificed herself, so we’ll most likely never see her again. And Rose, well... if you’re gonna get rid of 2 of the 3 new characters, you might as well get rid of the other one.

And that last scene with the little boy playing with a broom and looking at the stars. WTF?! What is the point of that scene? Is that little boy going to be in Rian Johnson’s new trilogy? Is he supposed to represent the younger Star Wars fans who use toys, brooms, etc. and pretend they’re lightsabers? Is he supposed to represent that whole message people are passing along saying “Anyone can use the Force, anyone can become a Jedi or a Sith” (even though half of the people in the galaxy are actually NOT Force-sensitive and therefore they cannot become Jedis or Siths if they wanted to).

And besides that, if you really want a Force-sensitive hero who isn’t a Skywalker, there’s always Finn. Yes, it’s been hinted in The Force Awakens that Finn is in fact Force-sensitive and if he & Rey got together, they would not only make such an amazing couple but also a very powerful couple. Plus, if Rey was a Skywalker or a Solo, Finn could have married Rey and adopted one of the two surnames. Finn & Rey Skywalker or Finn & Rey Solo. So there you have it.

All these stupid plot twists and everything, all this unnecessary filler, etc. I’m sorry, I just really needed to get it all out of the way. They had a lot of potential with this movie and this whole trilogy. But they threw it all away. The Last Jedi was not worth the two years of fans arguing with each other over Rey’s parentage, Snoke’s identity, etc. It really wasn’t. It’s the worst Star Wars movie ever in my opinion. And it’s also sad that people don’t even care about good, quality stories anymore. They don’t wanna go into the movies and watch a heartwarming parent/child reunion or a well-written explanation as to why a specific character is on a specific side of the fight. They just want plot twists, surprises, etc. To them, it doesn’t matter if it changes the entire story for the worse. As long as their jaw drops, that’s all that matters to them.

[wendiuh]

Hey hey hey question! 😄 I've been wanting to start the fate series for awhile, and there was one I had watched some time ago, but I've realized there is multiple series? I've noticed you like it so I was hoping you could help me figure out where to start, what order to go in...? Thanks in advance dearie!

You have no idea how happy i was to see this ask omg girl I’m in Fate hell. This will get lengthy, so beware haha. If you have any other questions, feel free to come to me! If it becomes too much reading (I think it’s like 1.5k words oops) just scroll to the bottom for the summary XD. I’ll put my essay explanation under the cut:

If you’re completely new to Fate, then allow me to explain how the story is set up structure-wise. It is split into 3 separate routes that start off from the same point. Each route has a set heroine/love interest and explore different aspects of the story and characters. These routes are viewed in the order of Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heaven’s Feel. Fate focuses on the character Saber, UBW focuses on Tohsaka Rin, and HF focuses on Matou Sakura.

Now the first thing all faithful Fate watchers would say is to read the original visual novel. I, however, did not start with this, but it is easy to see why people recommend this first. The Nasuverse (the world of Fate and other related series, named after creater Kinoko Nasu) is a very, very detailed world that has so many aspects to it. Reading the original story will definitely provide the most helpful context. I am currently reading the VN now to get a better understanding of the universe, and it is pretty enjoyable, but can get pretty slow.

Fair warning, though. The original VN is an adult game, meaning it is somewhat gory and deals with adult themes (aka sex). There was a re-release of it without any sex scenes called Realta Nua. I wont provide any links on this post on how get the VN, but there’s definitely YouTube videos out there to help.

If sitting through 80+ hours of reading isn’t your thing, and I don’t blame you if it isn’t, then we must turn to the animes. That’s where things get complicated.

There are 3 currently accessible animes out there set in the Fate/sn universe. There’s the orginal anime from 2006 that “covers” the 1st route, Fate, and was made by Studio Deen. I’m going to refer to this as Deen/stay night. I put the word “covers” in quotes because many Fate fans view this adaptation as a disgrace. I didn’t watch it, but many say it tries too hard to cover the story of the visual novel and somewhat combines the routes. Basically, it tried to adapt all of the visual novel but under the cover of the route Fate. However, it does seem to serve as an okay introduction to the Fate universe in general since it is the first anime adaptation out there.

In terms of release date, next comes the famous adaptation of Fate/zero by ufotable. This is a prequel follows the events prior to the beginning of Fate/stay night, and is hands down a phenomenal series in general. Many view FZ as a classic and a wonderful story, but it does have a few spoilers in terms of some big revelations that happen in the Stay Night routes. If you want to watch an amazing series and you’re okay with some spoilers for the main series, start here. As for me, I didn’t start here because I wanted to save it for last because of how many people that praised it.

Finally comes the UBW anime (the series by ufotable. Not the movie!). Commonly known as Unlimited Budget Works for its beautiful animation, this series focuses on the VN’s second route. This was released after FZ, so I do think ufotable made this series thinking fans already watched the prequel. However, I did start with this series first. Though there were some confusing points, I was able to understand most of the anime and it was pretty good. It took a second watch for me to fully understand the plot, but that’s kind of how a lot of animes work. You never enjoy the full scope of the series until you rewatch it. Both this series and FZ got at least 3 times better when I rewatched it, and that is saying a lot considering how much I liked them the first time through.

So, which one do you start with and what order to watch it in? For the sake of chronology, watch Deen/stay night, then FZ, then UBW. If you want to skip Deen/stay night (which is okay to do), then it is up to you what you want to watch first.

In my opinion, watch UBW first, then FZ. This saves the more serious and dark series for last, which will make the transition to the tone of the upcoming Heaven’s Feel adaptation movies more smooth.

But I think either way you watch the series will still get you a good amount of exposure to the Nasuverse. It’s complicated to start, but once you’re in, it gets better. Heck, even if you don’t fully get immersed into the universe, the 2 ufotable animes are still stellar and carry heavy messages as well as are pretty much eye candy thanks to that animation quality.

But what about all those other things with “Fate/” stamped onto it?

There are a couple of other major Fate installments out there, but they are NOT taking place in the Stay night universe. They are AUs that overall expand the lore of the Nasuverse (and also give the creators some more money lol). These include:

Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA - A magical girl AU that is extremely different from Fate/sn. I think one should watch this after they finish the Stay Night series, but don’t feel forced to watch it, for it is completely non-canon.

Fate/apocrypha - This anime is currently airing as of my writing of this post. It follows a parallel universe “what if” situation. If this one certain event in history happened differently, then the events of Stay Night turn into this. This deals with completely different characters and set up. I only watched a few episodes of this anime and found it is probably most enjoyable to those familiar with the Nasuverse.

Fate/extra - Another parallel universe series coming out. Just like Apocrypha, this deals with new characters in general.

Fate/hollow ataraxia - A sequel Visual Novel to the original Stay Night story. Same characters and world, but 6 months later. It is another adult VN game, so it’s pretty much half-lore expansion and half-fanservice. 

Fate/prototype - This is a 1-episode OVA of Kinoko Nasu’s first envision of the series. There are some minor differences lore-wise, and the characters are mainly the same, save for a few design differences and gender swaps.

Carnival Phantasm - Ever watch those “crack” videos on YouTube? Like “Fairy Tail Crack” or “Boku no Hero Academia Crack”? These videos take an anime and make jokes out of its content and have many, many memes. Well, Carnival Phantasm is exactly that. It combines many series of the Nasuverse (mainly the Fate/stay night series and Nasu’s other work, Tsukihime) and makes it into a joyful, cute, hilarious, and downright amazing anime. It is filled with inside jokes of the universe and has some spoilers, so save this anime for last. I did skip the Tsukihime skits simply because I didn’t get the jokes, but there’s a montage of all the Fate skits on YouTube here. This series is the source of many, many fandom memes. You don’t have to watch it, but it is so funny.

Fate/Grand Order - A 1-episode OVA that adapts the first storyline of the famous mobile game with the same name. It is another parallel universe of some sort. New characters with some familiar faces of the Stay Night universe. The game is currently released in Japan and North America on the iTunes and Google Play store. It may be a waifu and husbando collector, but it is so addicting…

To conclude, there really isn’t a right answer that I can give you. But here’s my suggestion (aka the way I watched the anime):

1. Watch the Unlimited Blade Works anime by ufotable.

2. Watch Fate/zero.

3. If you want to rewatch then watch the first season of the UBW anime again, then watch FZ again, then watch the second season of UBW. Totally optional, but a fun way to watch the 2 series imo.

4. If you are okay with spoilers for Heaven’s Feel, watch Carnival Phantasm for the Fate sketches. By spoilers I mean there are some jokes from that series that rooted from Heaven’s Feel, but you may only catch them if you squint. It never explicitly spoils the story.

5. Watch the Heaven’s Feel movies. Only 1 out of the 3 is currently out/coming out internationally in theaters, so I guess just try to watch the first 1 if it is available to you at this point?

Feel free to start the visual novel if you want. In regards to the other series I mentioned, they are optional as well.

If you watch UBW and FZ and feel that there are a lot of unanswered questions, then expect Heaven’s Feel to address those issues. Remember that even though the 3 routes are all different stories, they are written in a way that you don’t get the whole picture until you have completed all three routes (too bad the Fate route anime is completely butchered and unreliable plot-wise. But I think you can manage without it. It’s more of an introduction to the story than anything else.)

Hope you understood what I was saying! Again, please message me if you have any questions or just want to talk about the series with me! I am in absolute hell with this universe so don’t hesitate to talk to me!

[aion-rsa]

The Handmaid’s Tale: How Will Margaret Atwood’s Book Sequel Affect the TV Show?

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Margaret Atwood’s Testaments, out this September, is a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. What is its relationship to the TV series?

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This article comes from Den of Geek UK.

As Game Of Thrones proved, when a TV adaptation overtakes its source material, problems can follow. Invention and expansion is required, but, even with the blessing of the original creator, on-screen continuation of a story is often treated by fans as unwelcome and non-canonical.

When Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale arrived in 2017, its first season covered the expanse of material from the very start to the very end of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel (epilogue aside, it closed on the same final image). For seasons two and three, the show expanded the dystopian world of Gilead, a fundamentalist patriarchal regime that, among other delights, forces fertile women into sexual servitude as 'Handmaids' to the ruling classes, and kept the story going beyond the reach of the book.

Now, with The Handmaid’s Tale renewed for a fourth season, and a sequel to the original novel arriving mid-way between seasons three and four, where does everything stand? 

What do we know about Testaments?

Publication date: Sept. 10, 2019

Published by: Penguin

Announced in November 2018, Testaments is Margaret Atwood's sequel to her 1985 modern classic The Handmaid’s Tale. It joins the story 15 years after the events of that novel. (A framing narrative for the original in the form of a fictional academic paper presented on the historical period of Gilead extends 200 years after those events, so technically, the sequel is filling in a gap instead of branching entirely out anew.)

Testaments' cover art (see above) was designed by artist Noma Bar, whose simplified designs contain hidden images, such as the ponytailed girl forming the collar of the cover star Handmaid. The back cover reverses the two images, with the Handmaid concealed among the ponytailed girl's clothing.

read more - The Handmaid's Tale: The Baby Nichole Crisis's Real-World Parallel

The new novel will have three different female narrators, Atwood has confirmed, though their identities remain under wraps. The sequel was inspired by everything readers have ever asked the author “about Gilead and its inner workings,” and by “the world we’ve been living in,” according to the Penguin press announcement. It will be unconnected to events in seasons two and three of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale (which makes sense as they take place in the time directly after the end of the original, and Testaments is set a decade and a half later on). 

When asked by the LA Times why she was writing a sequel, Atwood explained that she’d been asked questions about Gilead by readers for 35 years. “It’s time to address some of the requests.” 

The Trump administration too, was part of her explanation. Atwood described herself “like all Canadians” watching US politics and thinking “What kind of shenanigans will they be up to next? What’s gonna happen next? I’ve never seen anything like it, and neither has anybody else. On one hand, it’s just riveting, and on the other hand, it’s quite appalling.” True and true.

Testaments isn’t Margaret Atwood’s first addition to her original novel

In 2017, an “enhanced edition” of The Handmaid’s Tale audiobook - as read by Claire Danes in 2012 - was released. This version by Audible not only added snippets of music in between chapters (to represent the cassette compilation tapes over which Offred recorded her story in the original novel), but also extended the epilogue. 

read more: The Handmaid's Tale Season 3 Depicts a Seismic Shift in Gilead

Originally, The Handmaid’s Tale novel ends with the ‘transcription’ of a fictional conference paper presented by an academic researcher in Gileadean studies, 200 years after the events of the story. It’s a sly, satirical piece of writing that concluded with the line “Are there any questions?” In the 2017 edition, questions are asked. Audience members – one voiced by Margaret Atwood – ask speaker Professor James Darcy Pieixoto a series of points about his paper and the workings of Gilead. During the Q&A, there’s even mention of the historical discovery of Aunt Lydia’s logbook from the era, which turned out to be a hoax. The session ends with a tease for the sequel, as the Professor tells his audience “I hope to be able to present the results of our further Gileadian investigations to you at some future date.”

On September the 10th this year, that’s exactly what's going to happen.

What is Atwood’s relationship to The Handmaid’s Tale TV show?

Atwood is a Consulting Producer on Hulu’s TV adaptation of her novel, which doesn’t mean, as she told Toronto Life back in April 2017, that she has the final say in story or otherwise, but that she’s part of the conversation: “It means that the only person who knows what the characters had for breakfast is me. I’m the historical consultant.”

Showrunner Bruce Miller told The Hollywood Reporter in January 2018 that Atwood “plays a huge role” in the series as “the mother of us all.” 

“She was in the writers' room very early in the season,” said Miller about the second season. “We've been talking throughout, and she's been reading everything. She's very involved. She's our guiding star, and always has been.” 

The team’s goal, he explained, is to “make sure the "Atwoodness" of the show stays front and centre. Even though we're going beyond the story that's covered in the book, in some ways, we're still very much in the world of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.”

In the season one premiere, Atwood had a dialogue-free cameo as an authoritarian Aunt who strikes Elisabeth Moss’ June during her training at the RED centre, where Handmaids are prepared for their postings:

%u201CI even did a cameo%u2014I got to whack Elisabeth Moss over the head%u201D: @MargaretAtwood on The Handmaid%u2019s Tale https://t.co/l9tmnT3Oke pic.twitter.com/YvMuugvNRv

— Toronto Life (@torontolife) April 26, 2017

Speaking to The Independent in June 2019, Miller confirmed that he is is regular contact with Atwood. “She reads all the scripts. She sees episodes, and so she feels the same way, I think – that it’s a good extrapolation of her world.”

So the expanded Gilead of seasons two and three, which travelled to the Colonies and the Econovillage, locations only mentioned in passing in the original novel, will not influence Testaments.

Seasons two, three and four of the TV show continue to draw from the book

Though The Handmaid’s Tale TV show outran the novel by the end of season one in terms of timeline, elements from the book are still being used up by  the television series. In season two, the first “Prayvaganza” was staged, a Gilead ceremony from the novel in which girls as young as fourteen are married off to men in a mass ceremony. 

In season three, viewers first witnessed the act of “particicution” by hanging as described in the novel, in which multiple Handmaids pull on ropes joined to one set of gallows, as a form of “salvaging.” Also in season three, June discovers and records a message on a compilation cassette in the basement of her latest posting, as a reference to the tapes on which Offred’s original testimony was discovered in the novel.   

Speaking to The Independent in June 2019, showrunner Bruce Miller described how June’s season three inner monologue line about her mother always wanting a "women's culture" and Gilead has created one, but not the one she envisaged, was taken straight from the book. “We spent kind of three years teasing that quote apart,” said Miller. “We have quotes from the book up all over the place."

So even though the timeline has strictly run out, we can expect details from the novel to emerge for exploration in future seasons of the TV show, and presumably the same will apply for Testaments.

Testaments will make the TV show harder to write

Speaking to The Independent about the relationship between the original novel and the TV adaptation, showrunner Bruce Miller brought up Testaments. “But now Margaret’s writing a sequel,” he said, agreeing that would make it “interesting”. 

“The degree of difficulty was 10 and now it becomes 10 plus,” said Miller. Navigating the expanded world of Gilead he and his team have created while remaining truthful to the vision Atwood lays out in Testaments will be some balancing act.

How many seasons will the TV show go on for?

Season four of The Handmaid’s Tale is expected to arrive in 2020. According to a very early plan by showrunner Bruce Miller, there would then be a further six seasons still to go after that. Miller told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017 that he had originally “roughed it out to around 10 seasons”, but has since confirmed to Mashable that there is no exact target in terms of the number of seasons, more a narrative point he wants to reach.  

“The ideal for the show's longevity is that when it's done there's something kind of nice and perfect that you can put on the shelf next to the book as a companion piece, said Miller. “There is no number, and considering that seasons can get longer and shorter has made that even more meaningless.”

Miller told Mashable he wants to take the story all the way to Gilead’s own version of the Nuremberg Trials after the fall of the regime, when Serena and Commander Waterford are forced to answer for their crimes. “We can go on for a very long time,” he promised.  

Keep up with all our The Handmaid's Tale season 3 news and reviews right here.

Read and download the Den of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

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Feature

Books

Louisa Mellor

Jul 31, 2019

The Handmaid's Tale

hulu

Margaret Atwood

from Books https://ift.tt/310hK26