#Little Rock Anime Fest

[nikkitodd]

Comic-Cons: Building Cosplays & Communities

[honey-milk-depresso]

Request HC for Dorm Leaders at Karaoke. Would they sing, what would they sing, how good are they at singing? Thank you~

I’ll be doing requests for a while, head on to my pin post to see!

TWST Dorm Leaders in a Karaoke

Riddle Rosehearts

I feel that he has a soft, angelic voice but would be shy to sing in front of everyone, probably passing the mic to all his other dorm mates.

He’s more piano-equip than singing-equip, so singing techniques might be a bit amateurish. I don’t think he’ll try to sing classical opera songs though, more of like soft pop songs that he can sing to and don’t embarrass himself in front of everyone.

Leona Kingscholar

Living Aggrestuko

Sleeping in the day, but at night when the beast is awoken for karaoke night (I’m sure Savanaclaw does often-)…

Yeah- beside him is Ruggie-

Azul Ashengrotto

He might be the best singer out there, I mean he used to run a band before as lead singer so-

He’s got a smooth, elegant singing voice that can sometimes go sultry if he sings a love song but he’s not gonna do that in front of people-

Azul has some flair to his singing, swaying his hips slightly but honestly it’s pretty subtle. You gotta show that ✨pizass✨, but not too much you know?

He’s NOT gonna stay in the karaoke room for too long though, otherwise he’s gonna suffer through Floyd’s weird ass playlist he’ll sing or worse, Heavy Metal Rock-

Kalim Al Asim

Great karaoke singer!

He’ll mostly sing pop songs but one thing about this boy-

He

d a n c e s-

He might pull up a Just Dance session and sing along (and that’s hard to do ngl-) since Just Dance lets you sing along too while you’re at it and he might as well do a whole ass concert in front of the Scarabia Dorm

Also pulls Jamil in to do a duet with him-

Vil Schoenheit

Another good singer, and this time he’s the most normal one like Riddle.

He has a delicate yet pretty deep voice he can go down to, but it’s usually light and pretty, perfect for singing slow songs and all.

It’s just that he might go first to excuse himself to leave later because he is NOT gonna sit through to listen Rook going crazy af over the love song playlists-

Idia Shroud

Mostly anime songs. He’s singing voice is actually not bad, it’s just that he’d rather not, and maybe he’ll only have a karaoke session with his brother Ortho.

Family Bonding Time 👍

Idia can sing all kinds of anime songs, and I mean ALL KINDS-

It can go from sad ones too downright fast and upbeat and Ortho would be having light sticks raised for his brother and cheering him on.

If he’s particularly grumpy for the day it’ll just become:

Malleus Draconia

I’m sorry, when I imagined him at a karaoke session I saw him bringing a violin and scoresheets and lyric sheets💀-

Because all Lilia told him was “it’s a singing fest”.

Anyways, he might be rather stiff in holding the mic, but his voice is deep and soothing so yeah.

Lilia might tease him a little to sing pop songs for fun and oh my god it’s hilarious-

He’s having a lot of fun though, maybe he can invite his favourite magicless student too to have fun~

Reblogs help! ^^

[historia-vitae-magistras]

I'm curious on your take on the Ratman and ratlings' relationship with animals. Do you think they'd keep any and risk becoming attached? I feel this would outwardly effect Jack the most considering his love for all the weird shit they got in Australia but I think Arthur is also the type to be really hurt by the loss of a pet. But in a dad way. Like he'll begrudgingly take in the fucking cat one of his kids brings to his home out of the rain and the animal ends up being his partner in crime. He's stone-faced when it passes away and it takes a while for the pain to subside but he doesn't let it show for even a second. I don't imagine Matthew could handle the mental load of losing a beloved pet. Alfred is too fucking busy to properly care for one. Zee probably has a few birds whose babies she cares for for generations maybe a kiwi lol

TW for pet death

Alfred has had horses his entire life. He's got a ranch in his name somewhere where the descendants of the pair of horses, Liberty and Justice, that Matt gave him during the Civil War live. Justice got shot out from under him in 1864 but he went full Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie, dropped dead of idk, the shits and when he was feeling better Liberty was getting her hump on with a local stallion so he just made a ranch there and their descendants still fuck amongst the grasses or however the prairies work. Liberty is immortal because fuck I already killed one horse this post and I'm already emotional.

Matt... He just kept trying. Nations have semi immortal pets. All he wanted was a goddamn friend. François gave him a lap dog when he was little. It died in its first Canadian winter as was often the fate of anything smaller than a terrier. He tried a newfie. It drowned. Finally, around the 1780s he had a little black and white working dog he named Sel et Poivre who lasted a decade. But eventually he got ripped up by a wolverine and Matt was damned to eternal loneliness until Arthur had mercy on him and got attached enough to the wee fat house lion he named Flufferton he didn't die. Matt's best friend for awhile and favourite heat source at his father's. Cue 1980 with Canada finally getting it's full independence and Jan dropping him like a hot rock and Alfred got him a Samoyed puppy in the aftermath. I've called this dog Kuma, Bud and Buckwheat before. The neighbor backs over him by accident! and Matt low-key has the worst mental breakdown of his life like he's 20 seconds from getting the axe and ending up in grippy sock jail. Then the pupper pops up licks him and Matt has the happiest sob fest for like a solid week. Finally! Immortal pupper. No more perishing.

Jack is a fun example because he's very in tune with the circle of lire and his favourite pet was a tortoise named Harriet he's had on and off since 1830 when she died in 2006. So when she finally died of natural causes he was absolutely fucking devastated. Didn't get out of bed for a week after the funeral, cried his eyes out every time he saw a turtle or tortoise for years. She was his baby since he was a baby. Closest thing to losing a childhood dog a nation can express. He had plenty of snakes and spiders and dogs that passed on and they made him sad but oh Harriet 😭.

Zee has a budgie named Pavlova that Jack got her when she finally dropped the family name. Just so she can say she owns Pavlova. It spent a week with Uncle Matt during hockey season and went back to Mum telling everyone, "Give your balls a tug, tit fucker" and making nondescript sobbing sounds. And the singular devotion with which New Zealand intervenes in its bird's well-being? Oh yeah, they're her children. Entire genomes of Kiwi-birds and Kakapo and Kea. She personally hunts rats that threaten their population like it's 1916, flashlight between her teeth, knife in one hand, Arthur sweating like mad somewhere. Bird watching is something she and the old man have in common so he probably does jokingly call them her grandchildren. Zee gets beat in the shin by a screaming kiwi-bird, and he just picks it up like, "Now that's no way to treat your mother, lad! Mind your manners." Before it toddles off and any on-looker is just pure, what the fuck.

[soopsiedaisies]

potter, james potter

@roalinda @lovelymasks

“Potter, James Potter” is basically a Spy x Family au. A super-spy from a country that is vaguely based on Berlin Wall!western europe (Westalis) has to go undercover in a country that is vaguely based on East-Germany (Ostania), in order to ensure there’s no new war starting. He has to assume a new identity, acquire a child, enrol the child in a prestigious school, and make contact with the Main Guy who’s a big danger to a new war starting, Abraxas. He also has to get married. It’s a found family but an actual family, basically.

James Potter (code name: Prongs; most talented spy of the Order of the Phoenix, the intelligence agency; professional liar) is a psychiatrist who adopts a little orphan boy called Harry. Harry can read minds. James does not know this. Harry’s also four, not six; James does not know this either. But he’s ‘papa’ now and he takes this task very seriously.

In order for little mind-reading Harry to enrol in the super elite school, James also needs to be married. His informant Franky Franklin Severus Snape tries to help him with this but Severus doesn’t make a convincing woman (to Harry’s amusement). Enter Sirius Black, code name ‘Padfoot’: a regular guy who is terrified to be seen as a spy, and who needs a boyfriend/husband ASAP. He’s also one of the best Assassins in the country, but nobody knows this. They get engaged in a very beautiful scene filled with dead criminals and an exploding grenade. It’s all very romantic.

Anyway then they’re a family and it’s a whole fluff fest. The whole family loves each other to pieces (“For the mission” - Agent Prongs) but They Do Not Know about the secret identities. An idyllic family of Liars. Harry (very advanced for his actual age) hates studying but needs to in order to advance in school. Harry also punches Draco (very annoying; son of the guy James needs to stop) on the first day of school. He’s one step closer to expulsion every time he enters the school and it stresses James out So Much because Harry needs to remain in school because the mission would fail otherwise. Sirius is mainly stressed about being a Good Husband (he doesn’t know how). Snape is a reluctant fun uncle. Also Lily is like the Head Spy of the Order.

Regulus (raised by Sirius and obsessed with Sirius) also has a secret identity: he’s part of the secret service. He Hates James so much. Despises him, really. James is not worthy of Sirius. He’s got a bit of a brother complex/daddy complex.

Also James figures out that Regulus is part of the Secret Service the moment Regulus tries to ‘get to know’ him. James cannot, for the life of him, figure out that Sirius (the husband he’s with for several hours every day) is an assassin. James panics when he thinks Sirius is mad at him (for the mission). Love makes blind, I guess.

Here’s a snippet:

James Potter walks past bags of rubbish and through rotting, rusted gates, approaches the doors of a rather dilapidated building without a hint of anxiety. Wool’s Orphanage isn’t exactly the height of luxury, but it’s for the best: these children are scarred and quiet and likely hardworking, easy to forge a background for. He would know.

The Matron, an older woman who calls herself Mrs Cole, is drunk. The children may be fed and dry and clean, but they all look miserable and frightened. Prongs—James asks for the smartest kid of the lot, one who can at least read and write. Matron doesn’t seem to have to think for long before leading him to one of the many cramped little rooms, and then gestures at a little boy who can’t be older than four.

“I’m six,” says the boy immediately, rocking back and forth on his feet. He’s cute, in that way a ragged animal with torn ears is cute. His eyes are massive and green, his black hair is a mess, his features are sharp. “I’m Harry.”

“He doesn’t look six,” says James. Can he even read yet?

“I guess.” Mrs Cole sniffs. “Smartest of the lot though. Can do the crossword—”

Harry procures a puzzle book and a pencil from somewhere, sits down, and begins to scribble. It’s not a particularly hard crossword for a trained spy such as himself, and Prongs can answer several hints correctly with nary a glance; but then Harry holds the crossword up, triumphant, and Prongs sees it’s all filled in correctly.

He does not goggle. Spies do not goggle.

“I’ll take him,” he tells the boozed-up Matron. The wording does not leave a bad taste in his mouth. That’s been trained out of him.

“Brilliant,” says Mrs Cole. She looks sickly pleased to have Harry taken off her hands. “I’ll get the papers ready.”

[sciatu]

Palazzolo Acreide -Festa di San Paolo, Licata -Festa di Sant'Antonio, Scicli- Festa di san Sebastiano, Piazza Armerina-Palio dei Normanni, Mondello - Festa in spiaggia, Ragusa-Festa San Giovanni, Castelbuono-festa Rock, Aci - Festa San Sebastiano, Trapani-I Misteri, Fiumedinisi-Festa della Vara

Il mondo è fatto di uomini soli di donne che nessuno ama di ragazze che non hanno amici di ragazzi messi da parte di vecchi che nessuno ascolta. Eppure gli uomini amano le feste grandi banchetti pieni di risate balli in piazza per tutta la notte cantare, con mille altri se stessi. Eppure gli uomini amano amare stringersi di notte con un cuore coprirsi con coperte di tenerezza per scambiarsi le anime in silenzio Allora di chi è la nera colpa? Chi costruisce i muri invisibili che nel silenzio ci imprigionano? Chi ci chiude in tombe senza fiori o in giorni senza sorrisi rendendoci fiumi senza acqua. Qual’è il male che ci infetta? quale morbo ci avvelena? quale virus ci distrugge chiudendoci in un angolo? chi nasconde i nostri domani chi ci fa odiare ogni voce ci fa fuggire ogni sguardo Senza essere poi salvati da un piccolo lieto fine da un semplice amore da una rima baciata? Il mondo è fatto da uomini soli li vedi camminare in silenzio scrivere versi sui muri sbrecciati sognare nelle notti senza stelle danzare soli nelle piazze vuote, amare senza sapere chi e come senza sapere fino a quando solo perché amare è l’unica salvezza che conoscono

The world is made up of lonely men, of women that no one loves, of girls who have no friends, of boys pushed aside, of old men that no one listens to. Yet men love parties, big banquets filled with laughter, all-night square dancing, singing, with a thousand other selves. Yet men love to love, hug each other at night with a heart, cover themselves with blankets of tenderness, to exchange souls in silence. So whose black fault is it? Who builds the invisible walls that imprison us in silence? Who closes us in tombs without flowers, or in days without smiles, making us rivers without water. What is the evil that infects us? what disease poisons us? which virus destroys us by locking us in a corner? who hides our tomorrows who makes us hate every voice, makes us flee every glance. Without being saved, by a little happy ending, by a simple love, by a rhyming couplet? The world is made up of lonely men, you see them walking in silence, writing verses on chipped walls, dreaming in starless nights, dancing alone in empty squares, loving without knowing who and how, without knowing until when, just because loving is the only salvation they know

[catastrophic-crisis]

The Steam Next Fest for June 2023 is live, so here's some potential game demos to check out this weekend!

Sea of Stars | Press Kit

Turn-based RPG Sea of Stars offers a pretty polished looking package, using dynamic lighting to shade and light detailed pixel landscapes that offer a surprising amount of verticality and traversal options, inhabited by denizens animated with a delightful amount of character. In combat too, the game adds a surprising bit of interactivity to the turn-based combat with the option to react in real time to boost damage output or minimize incoming damage on top of the strategic "locks" and "combo" systems. What we've seen so far reflects the game studio's mission of "retro aesthetics, modern game design", with Sea of Stars building upon the traditional turn-based RPG formula to give it that little something extra.

And of course, it has fishing. The game is set to release August 29th, 2023.

Sea of Stars is a turn-based RPG inspired by the classics. It tells the story of two Children of the Solstice who will combine the powers of the sun and moon to perform Eclipse Magic, the only force capable of fending off the monstrous creations of the evil alchemist known as The Fleshmancer.

In Stars and Time | Website/Press Kit

RPGmaker-style time loop adventure In Stars and Time combines rock-paper-scissors-inspired turn based combat with plentiful party banter, creating a fun fantasy world to save from freezing time and capturing the feeling of having a bunch of friends all repeating the same phrase on Discord. This lightheartedness may be needed, if the crushing time loop shenanigans ahead are what they sound like.

But what seems like a handy trick to ensure victory quickly begins to weigh on Siffrin as he experiences the loop over and over with no end in sight. Unwilling to open up to their friends and companions, and with the literal weight of the world on their shoulders, can Siffrin find a way to break the loop before it breaks him?

El Paso, Elsewhere | El Paso, Elsewhere Is A Supernatural Take On Max Payne Shooting To Its Own Rhythm by Kurt Indovina for Gamespot

There's no dancing around it: El Paso, Elsewhere, the new action game from Strange Scaffold, is an unabashed homage to the 2001 seminal pulp-noir action classic Max Payne. It's an obvious influence that writer, director, and voice actor Xalavier Nelson Jr. isn't shying away from, but is hoping to elevate for a modern audience. During my hands-on preview of the game, he told me, "I'm not interested in recreating Max Payne; I'm interested in seeing what Max Payne could be next." And for eclectic developer Strange Scaffold, that means a supernatural neo-noir blood-stained journey through a dimension-shifting motel to stop the world from being overrun by vampires.... It's a sentiment that can be heard in the dialogue of El Paso, Elsewhere. A mantra that rings true to the studio's preceding outings in the medium: "So let's take it from the top, like a jazz standard, played in our own time, as loud as we dare," all of which is intersected with the sounds of guns being loaded, and hammers being cocked. It feels like Strange Scaffold is playing to the beat of its own gunfire with El Paso, Elsewhere. We'll have to wait and see how it all jams out when it releases in Fall 2023 for PC and Xbox Series X|S.

Loddlenaut | Press Kit

A relaxing yet satisfying game about cleaning a polluted ocean planet and taking care of the axolotl-like alien Loddles, Loddlenaut is a thesis-project-turned-commercial-release estimated to drop on Steam in 2023. Loddlenaut has you experiencing the satisfaction of blasting away grime and picking up garbage like gameplay out of something like PowerWash Simulator, but with a more relaxed style that streamlines cleaning and resource management in little ways. And the occasional cute swimming potato!

Loddlenaut takes inspiration from early-2000s pet-sims like Tamagotchi and the Chao Garden as well as more recent aquatic games like Subnautica and ABZÛ.

TOBOR no.2b | Website/Press Kit

You are a successor to a previous spy robot, tasked with surveilling and gathering intelligence on an abandoned underground kingdom.

Your dreams are filled with colorful nightmares, and your predecessor was terminated via what one might call "head explosion". Make sure to watch, record, and deduce in order to not meet the same fate.

Active Agent: TOBOR no.2b Mission start date: Immediately Assignment: Gather intelligence of Undercroft using our top of the line surveillance system. You are now an active agent of RA. You're a very important asset to the company. Rule one, DO NOT EMPATHIZE with any subject or event inside the surveillance camera. Rule two, DO NOT INTERFERE with any subject or event inside the surveillance camera. Rule three, DO NOT BETRAY RA CORPORATION. EVER. The outcome of a betrayal has always been consistent. TERMINATION.... Remember: Spying is the future, the future starts with you.

[saltminerising]

i think everyone knows that the fest terts are meant to match their element's primal eye but the thing with brightshine is that's all it does. it's just light primal in different sizes and rotations across the dragon. flameforger and thundercrack were probably much easier to get creative with if i had to guess, since fire and lightning primal are pretty basic representations of. well. fire and lightning. so getting them to look nice while still resembling their respective elements was more doable than light's anime eye shine. i get why it ended up looking like the little graphics used in comics to indicate someone getting their shit rocked

[almightyrayzilla]

CONVENTION SCHEDULE (as of 1/23/24)

Little Rock Anime Fest Feb 3-4; Little Rock, AR

Missouri Comic Con Feb 10-11; Springfield, MO

White River Fan Con March 1-3; Batesville, AR

Planet Comicon March 8-10; Kansas City, MO

Hope to see you there, and be safe, friends!

[mcalhenwrites]

hmm...

So I'm kind of in love with Coral Island, and I wish I could play it more... (But I need to edit Geckos and finish my library books first.) It has some quality of life stuff that I so wish games like Animal Crossing took into consideration. Like, crafting isn't perfect, but even though my seaweed is in my storage box at the farm, I can craft it while I'm diving or in the cavern. Buuut if I want to get a remodel or update equipment, I have to have those items on hand/in my bag. (And I don't really love that they keep the tools for 1+ days. So far I've never waited more than 2 days, but... well, we'll see. I'm hard pressed to part with my net for a couple of days when I use it religiously lmao) Another one I really like is that it tells me if I've donated or offered items when I glance at them in my inventory, and it'll even show that something can be donated/offered. This is super fucking helpful for me. I love bulking up my museum, but it's nice to just drop it in the donation box after checking that I haven't donated it already. No ten fucking dialogue boxes from Blathers. (I love Blathers, but goddamn, AC is really bad about characters not shutting the fuck up over little things. GULLIVER.) This game is massive and gorgeous and the music for diving especially gets me so wrapped up. I gotta thank a game that lets me dive without being terrifying for me. I freaked out about some of the aquatic stuff about the cloud sea in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, especially the tunnels through the cloud sea that had the fish swimming above my head. For the record, I have a rather bad phobia of fish that sucks bc fish are pretty! It's irrational af, it's a phobia duh, but it bums me out that I can't appreciate fish IRL or in most games. But in Coral Island, I find it really calming and diving is one of my favorite things to do. Catching sea critters and exploring and cleaning up the trash is all very soothing. (Did I mention the music?) I don't seem to be keeping up with the farming much bc I'm so busy trying to dive and catch things and forage and break rocks and I love the little sea dragon Naga and omfg the spirits are so cute, I could squish 'em. Oh, and the merfolk designs? A+ Love the diversity of the farming aspects, love the wild seeds tbh (they're so fun and nice little suprises come out of them!), and I just... I'm in love with everyone, including people who are not marriagable. Oof. It's unusual for me. In Rune Factory and Story of Seasons and other farming games, I usually don't really go, "I want to date you!" I just pick a favorite character. (Okay, lies. In RF4, I wanted to fucking marry Ventuswill, and it wouldn't fucking let me. And yes I wanted her dragon form, we're not gonna talk about the loli form.) (I might date Raj, I'm super into them and got a scene where they were talking about barely staying afloat, so now I keep trying to buy something daily whenever I remember, even though I'm sure it doesn't make a difference. I want them to be happy, also they are so hot. ;A; ) I could ramble forever about the cute little sea critters... I suck at fishing in this game, I updated my fishing rod finally (didn't realize where I needed to go, I'm really bad about socializing and checking out the shops on the regular) so hopefully that makes it less painful... XD; Okay, time to go work on my library books so I can return them asap (esp since I may have treated myself to some indie spanking erotica books with my Trans Lives Fest money...) :')

[falmerbrook]

Warm Blood

For @tes-summer-fest Day 6: Blood. It's sort of a stretch of the prompt, but I wanted to write this little OC interaction and then realized, oh hey, that kinda fits, so here we are.

Also there's a little companion art piece at the end!

-----

Summary: An ashlander boy wakes up early and gets a lesson on Argonian physiology and what it means to have warm blood.

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49071244

-----

Chanu, despite his recent run of sleepless nights plagued by disturbing dreams, had made a habit of waking before his family and the rest of the tribe. It meant less sleep, but it was the only time he was allowed to wander off away from the camp and explore lately—well, he explicitly wasn’t allowed, actually, but rather it was the only time he could get away with it. It’s not like he would be able to sleep much anyway. His nightmares had made Nibani Maesa strangely nervous, and she had ordered him to stay within sight of someone at all times and remain within the camp. Whatever. Bad dreams didn’t mean bad things would happen in the waking world. She was just stressed, and justifiably so with the recent commotion in the tribe and the strange outlander having recently been living among them.

With carefully placed steps, the boy slipped from his family’s tent and into the crisp early morning air. The summer sun had already risen slightly over the horizon, and its rays cast yellow streaks over the hills guarding the shaded camp. Chanu paused, pulling his shawl tighter over his shivering shoulders, and took a moment to survey around the camp and figure out his adventure of the morning. Despite the chill, the air was still, and visibility was low, with an ashy haze obscuring the lands around the camp. In the distance, a silt strider cooed, but there were no intriguing sounds close by. The only unusual object within Chanu’s view was the outlander’s meager tent south of the camp, although at this point it had been there so long it was starting to feel usual to him. Of note, though, was the flap at the front hanging open. Bingo—adventure.

The rest of the tribe had wanted very little to do with the outlander, let alone his belongings, but Chanu was fascinated with him. He talked weird, he walked weird, he acted weird, and he looked very weird. But despite his weirdness, and the fact that the tribe regularly reminded him of it, he insisted on sticking around. Chanu enjoyed his presence though. He had been one of the few sources of relief from Chanu’s boredom during the long summer days, playing games with the boy, and more than once intercepting Chanu from one of his sleepwalking bouts during his nightmares. There was no way the boy would miss out on the opportunity to dig through his stuff.

Chanu slithered over to the tent, taking a glance to the left and right as he approached, and peered within. Inside was a simple sleeping matt, a pile of cheap furs belonging to animals Chanu had never heard of, a backpack, and a haphazard mess of random junk strewn about. Slowly, Chanu pulled the open flap to the side and reached his free hand towards the backpack.

“Are you not tired, kid?”

The voice echoed from Chanu’s right, and he nearly leapt out of his skin. He whipped his head in the direction of the sound, only to see the outlander peaking his snout from over the edge of a rock at the top of the hill looking over the boy. He seemed relaxed, but Chanu could only stare up at him with wide red eyes and a guilty stiffness.

“You can barely sleep through a night, and you get up this early? Where do you get all that energy you always have like that?” His voice was uncharacteristically slow and lethargic, raspier than his usual Argonian growl.

“No, I'm not tired. I mean, a little. Kinda. But I’m fine,” Chanu replied with a shrug, realizing the outlander wasn’t mad. Change of plans: his new adventure was figuring out what the outlander was up to. He stood and wandered up the hill with an energetic curiosity so he wouldn’t look as tired as he felt.

“Are you not tired?” the boy teased, “Why are you awake? You told me two days ago you also get nightmares and don’t sleep well too.”

Chanu had reached the top of the hill to the rock the outlander was lounging upon. His clothes had been tossed beside him, and he was laying on his stomach with his arms folded under his chin and his legs and tail sprawled out behind him.

“What are you doing?” Chanu asked, moving to sit next to the outlander’s head.

“Sunning myself,” he mumbled, eyes closed with a relaxed expression, “I do this every morning.”

“No, you don’t. I’ve never seen you do this before.”

The outlander laughed lazily at Chanu’s incredulousness, “Well, maybe if you were a bit more observant you would’ve. I’m always up here. It’s a good place to do it.”

“Well,” Chanu paused, searching for a retort, “you haven’t noticed me every morning either!”

“I have. You’re not very sneaky about it. It’s a miracle your sister hasn’t noticed yet.”

Chanu’s teasing attitude switched off in an instant, “Please don’t tell her!”

The outlander just smirked at his pleading, “I wasn’t planning on it.”

The morning silence filled the space again for a moment, but Chanu, in all his young boy-ness, was not going to tolerate it.

“But why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you ‘sunning yourself’? What does that mean?” Chanu’s questioning was growing increasingly exasperated.

“If I don’t warm up first thing when I wake up, I’ll be too tired to do anything for the rest of the day. Since the nights get so chilly here, I gotta use the sun.” The outlander opened his eyes and sat up on his elbows, facing Chanu.

“I don’t get it. We can get you some more blankets if you need them. I’m sure Shuri wouldn’t mind making you one.”

The outlander shook his head, “Wouldn’t help enough. Don’t worry about it, kid. It’s just a thing I do. It doesn’t bother me.”

Chanu was just growing more confused, “But why? I don’t know anyone else who needs to ‘sun’ themselves every morning. Why do you have to do it? Is there something wrong with you? Are you sick? Do you have some weird mainland sickness?” he interrupted himself with a gasp, leaning forward into the outlander’s face dramatically, “Oh no! Do you think you have corprus?!”

The outlander laughed, voice clearer than it had been earlier, “I’m not sick. You don’t know anyone else who does this because you don’t know any other Argonians.”

“Oh. So, it’s a lizard thing?”

“It’s an Argonian thing, yes.”

Chanu paused for another moment, thinking, but evidently nothing came of it.

“But w—”

“Why, why, why! If you shut it for half a minute, I can explain. So, you mer have warm blood, which means your body can keep you warm even when it’s cold.” The Outlander shifted onto one of his elbows, gesturing to Chanu with his other hand.

“But I feel cold when it’s cold. Am I not really a mer?”

“Well, obviously there are limits. But you didn’t need to wear extra layers in the shade down there compared to up here, yeah?”

Chanu thought for a moment again, hands reaching up to feel the woven shawl around his shoulders. He felt comfortable now in the sun.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Well, us Argonians don’t have warm blood, so it doesn’t keep us warm when it’s cold or chilled when it’s warm. When the air is cold, I’m cold, and I don’t have the energy to do anything when I’m too cold, y’know. So, I have to get myself hot in the morning so I can deal with the chilliness later in the day.”

Chanu had become enraptured, “Wow. You lizard folk—”

“Argonians.”

“—Argonians sure are weird. How do you deal with that all the way out here.”

The outlander shrugged, “I don’t have to eat as often as you. We’re from Black Marsh too, where it’s hot and humid all the time and this is less of a problem.”

 Chanu wrinkled his nose, “Ew. Sounds gross.”

“Maybe to you, elf,” the outlander scoffed with a smile, poking Chanu’s arm, “Sounds like paradise to me.” Chanu squirmed away from the attack and giggled.

“Well, if it sounds so nice, why don’t you go there instead of here?”

The outlander’s mood changed suddenly, his smile slipping from his face as if the warm sun had melted it off. His gaze shifted away from Chanu’s and to the rock beneath him. For a few moments, he opened and closed his mouth as if trying to form the words within it, but before he could speak, a voice rang out from the camp behind Chanu.

“Chanu!”

“Crap. I’m gonna be in so much trouble,” Chanu groaned.

“Well, you better run back then,” the outlander said, his smile returning as he ruffled Chanu’s hair, “You can tell them it’s my fault. They’ll probably find a way to blame me anyway.”

Chanu hopped up from his sitting position and ran down the hill, waving to the outlander as he went. The outlander watched as he disappeared among the tents but could still hear the scolding the boy received from the rock.

[dweemeister]

Best Documentary Short Film Nominees for the 96th Academy Awards (2024, listed in order of appearance in the shorts package)

This blog, since 2013, has been the site of my write-ups to the Oscar-nominated short film packages – a personal tradition for myself and for this blog. This omnibus write-up goes with my thanks to the Regency South Coast Village in Santa Ana, California for providing all three Oscar-nominated short film packages. 

If you are an American or Canadian resident interested in supporting the short film filmmakers in theaters (and you should, as very few of those who work in short films are as affluent as your big-name directors and actors), check your local participating theaters here.

Without further ado, here are the nominees for the Best Documentary Short Film at this year’s Oscars. The write-ups for the Live Action and Animated Short categories are coming soon. Non-American films predominantly in a language other than English are listed with their nation(s) of origin.

Năi Nai & Wài Pó (2023)

Rarely do both sides of one’s family ever meet. You might expect them to mingle at weddings and funerals. But cohabitation? Such is the case with Taiwanese American director Sean Wang’s two grandmothers in Năi Nai & Wài Pó (paternal and maternal grandmother, respectively), available worldwide on Disney+ and Hulu. Wishing to live closer to family, Wang moved in with his grandmothers Yi Yan Fuei (Năi Nai) and Chang Li Hua (Wài Pó) in their California household during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. His grandmothers rarely leave the house, even for groceries, and keep their heavy curtains drawn at all hours. As thin beams of sunlight barely stream through the interior’s earthy colors, both grandmothers continue to read the newspaper, sing traditional Chinese music, do their own cooking (I assume someone drops off groceries for them), tease each other about farting in bed, and reflect on their families and their pasts. They know that there are fewer tomorrows remaining, but that will not stop them from living joyously and with love for their grandson, who, though off-screen, they converse with throughout the shoot.

Qualifying for the Academy Awards by wining Best Documentary Short at SXSW in 2023 (in addition to the equivalent prize at AFI Fest), Năi Nai & Wài Pó freely admits that its subjects are playing up their act for their grandson. Observational cinema this is not. But in their sense of exaggerated play there exists a twofold acknowledgement. First, as Năi Nai states, “the days we spend feeling pain and the days we spend feeling joy are the same days spent. So, I’m going to choose joy.” And perhaps most meaningfully to Wang, their playing for the camera is one of many ways they express their love for their grandson. It is an elevated home video, a loving portrait, and a reminder to cherish those who loved us into being.

My rating: 7.5/10

The Barber of Little Rock (2023)

People Trust in Little Rock, Arkansas is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). In other words, it is a non-profit – partially funded by the American federal government – to address issues in creating economic growth and opportunities in some of the most underserved communities in the nation through loans, emergency financial assistance, and housing subsidies. People Trust and its President, Arlo Washington, are the subjects of The Barber of Little Rock (available for free online through The New Yorker), directed by John Hoffman (2021’s Fauci) and Christine Turner (2021’s Lynching Postcards: 'Token of A Great Day'). The film, Oscar-qualified by winning the Grand Prize for Documentary Short at Indy Shorts International Film Festival (Indiana), requires a wealth of context to the issues that it raises, but does not always provide enough – especially how municipal, state, and regional history impacts racism in banking, and vice versa.

Arlo Washington is a fascinating, wonderfully-intentioned person, but the movie spends too much time with him directly stating the piece’s thesis about financial equality and generational poverty to the camera. Most compelling of all were some of the individual appointments at People Trust of regular people simply looking for financial relief or a loan to kickstart a business or make their rent payments. So too Washington's barbering training school – especially a scene when two students are asked to look intently at the other’s faces, to understand the other’s struggles simply through quiet observation. Arlo Washington figures in many of these scenes as well, and those scenes reveal as much, if not more, about the lives of People Trust’s clients than any of his brief lectures can accomplish. Hoffman and Turner clearly had deeply cinematic material to work with that could empower their messaging, and it is a shame they are unable to fully utilize it.

My rating: 7/10

Island in Between (2023, Taiwan)

Ten kilometers away from the Chinese city of Xiamen lies Kinmen, a group of islands under control of Taiwan (the island of Taiwan is 187 kilometers away). Directed and narrated by S. Leo Chiang and distributed by The New York Times, Island in Between is Chiang’s meditation on not only Kinmen’s precarious geography and its political status, but his own identity of being American, Chinese, and Taiwanese – three separate identities that interconnect, but are forever distinct. Like many viewers, I was unaware of Kinmen’s existence before viewing Island in Between. This film is most valuable in introducing audiences to a place in some ways frozen in the mid-twentieth century, not so much capturing the spirit of the place and understanding its history.

During visits to mainland China in the late 2000s, Chiang, Taiwanese-born and American-raised, was struck by how vibrant the mainland was – something unrecognizable from “the communist wasteland [he] learned about in school.” In the years since, the crackdown on Hong Kong’s democracy, the COVID-19 pandemic, and increased political tensions between China and Taiwan have complicated his feelings towards the mainland. As a Vietnamese American, I easily saw parallels between how the younger diaspora views our so-called “motherland”, what we are taught, and how older generations perceive their original home. Even among generations, there are divisions in how we feel about the motherland. But Chiang has the additional complication of being caught between three nations important to his being. If anything, his mentions about his parents and their views feels far too cursory, as they are the ones most responsible for shaping his views about American/Chinese/Taiwanese tensions. One hopes this film is not a harbinger of things to come, as beached tanks rust on the placid Kinmen shore.

My rating: 7/10

The ABCs of Book Banning (2023)

As of the publication of this omnibus write-up, bans and challenges to books in libraries and schools have spiked since 2021. These book challenges, often taken up by parents and certain religious organizations, have disproportionately targeted books by and/or about LGBTQ+ and non-white (especially black) people. Stepping into the debate is MTV Documentary Films’ The ABCs of Book Banning (available on Paramount+), directed by Sheila Nevins, Trish Adlesic, and Nazenet Habtezgh. Unfortunately, the film advocates against book challenges in the most stultifyingly artless way. Early on, a title card reveals that the filmmakers will ask about book banning and restrictions from a group that we have heard little from: children. An honorable approach, but the interview snippets found in The ABCs of Book Banning are repetitive and seem rehearsed – children, aghast at the notion that a selected book is a target, offer reasons why book banning is a terrible idea. Nothing Americans have not heard before. Breaking up their interviews are images of book covers, followed by a brief quotation from said book, and an amateurish “BANNED” or “CHALLENGED” banner in red over the book. Sometimes, cheap animation depicting that book’s passage appears; the placement of these animated sequences has no rhyme or reason.

Damningly, this is a film in search of a structure. A handful of authors whose books have been banned from libraries or schools show up to introduce themselves over what appears to be an interview over Zoom. They say a few sentences about why book banning is terrible and we never hear from them again in the film – a complete waste. I suspect these authors recorded longer interviews, but there is almost nothing that remains of those interviews in the final product. This is a film for those who agree with its premise, have no cinematic taste, and are tediously self-satisfied in how they express their political views.

My rating: 4/10

The Last Repair Shop (2023)

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the last major city school district in the United States to offer free musical instrument repair to its students. From the Los Angeles Times and Searchlight Pictures comes Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers’ The Last Repair Shop (also available on Disney+ and Hulu), which takes us to LAUSD’s repair shop. Just short of the 40-minute limit for short films, The Last Repair Shop curiously tells the viewer preciously little about the shop itself (what are the challenges it is facing, and why is the last of its kind?). Proudfoot and Bowers – both previously nominated in this category for A Concerto Is a Conversation (2021; also available online thanks to The New York Times) – adopt much of the same style as their previous nominee. Both films share talking heads in shallow focus and snappy editing. These aspects sometimes made A Concerto Is a Conversation incohesive, but they work immensely better for The Last Repair Shop. It also helps that The Last Repair Shop, which slowly reveals itself to also be a portrait of a rarely-seen side to L.A., has a clear structure that the viewer can discern early on.

What carries The Last Repair Shop are the life-affirming conversations we have with the four principal interview subjects, all of whom work in a different department at the shop – Dana Atkinson (strings), Paty Moreno (brass), Duane Michaels (woodwinds), and Steve Bagmanyan (pianos; also the shop supervisor, and who inspired the film as he tuned pianos at Bowers’ high school). Whether they play an instrument or not, all four recognize music’s ability to better understand ourselves and others, and as “one of the best things that humans do.” The addition of student voices to the film – especially when one realizes that the repair shop employees almost never hear back from the children whose instruments they repair – strengthens a connection, however distant, through music. The Last Repair Shop’s final minutes provide it that final cinematic touch you might have anticipated, an affirmation of why those who speak the language of music hold it so dear.

My rating: 8.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog. Half-points are always rounded down.

From previous years: 88th Academy Awards (2016) 89th (2017) 90th (2018) 91st (2019) 92nd (2020) 93rd (2021) 94th (2022) 95th (2023)

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

[stevensavage]

One Piece: Long Live The New Flesh

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve's Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

Unless the rock you’re hiding under doesn’t have streaming, you know that Netflix did a live-action season of the famous anime/manga One Piece.  I found this a curious choice because of the cancellation of Cowboy Bebop.  Ditching a retro space adventure for an over-the-top tale of superhuman piracy felt like choosing a pretty heavy lift.

Of course, I had to check it out, if only for morbid curiosity.  To get me invested One Piece would also be a heavy lift.

One Piece is something I tried to get into several times, across several dubs, and through an issue or two of the manga.  Despite its popularity - and my own love of fun weirdness - It never reached me, and it’s hard to say why.  One Piece should have checked several of my boxes, but apparently left its pen elsewhere.

So, I sat down, watched a few episodes - and found myself really enjoying it.  I dare say I was charmed by it, enough I was disappointed when I had to stop watching.  What was it that made me appreciate this show but not other incarnations?  Beyond, you know, having over two decades of episodes and a wallet-endangering amount of manga?

I realized it was the fact it was live-action and the actors were into it.  There were other reasons, but over and over I kept coming back to the cast.

Iñaki Godoy’s take on Luffy, the ever-cheerful elastic protagonist is charming and sincere - you aren’t sure how much he’s acting.  Emily Rudd’s Nami is relatable, the sane woman among a demented piratical sausage fest.  Jeff Ward’s theatrical pirate Buggy the Clown steals every scene, a sort of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia take on the Joker.  Everyone in the cast does great, embracing their roles with a gusto that suggests a scenery-intensive diet.

I realized that, for me, One Piece worked better live action.  No offense to the fine voice actors associated with it, nor Oda’s manic creativity.  The manga and animated One Piece didn’t connect with me on a human level.  I suspect it was a mix of the art style and over-the-topness were a barrier to me feeling connected to the work.

The live-action One Piece was different.  Gody’s little expressions and accents made Luffy a person.  Mackenyu’s Zorro, the I-hunt-pirates-but-these-are-my-friends bounty hunter projected amusingly straight-faced deadly cool mixed cold befuddlement.  Jacob Romero cries a single tear in a scene that says more than his motormouth character Usopp could say with words.  These weirdos were alive and I was enjoying it.

There is something about a good actor whose voice, expressions, gestures, and postures let them become a character.  The cast seemed to be channeling the characters, making them flesh.  For me they became people.

I’ve often wondered how different media work when translated to others, but would argue animation is perhaps the easiest medium to transfer a creation to.  Seeing One Piece I’m left wondering if that’s always the case, and find myself rethinking assumptions about what form fits what kind of works.

I’m only a few episodes in.  The show has room to disappoint me - but the cast and characters certainly didn’t.

Steven Savage

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

[firebuug]

13, 14 and 31 for the uncommon oc questions? for whatever ocs come to mind first

(also A and B for the creator questions for whoever comes to mind too :> )

before i look at the questions UHHH ill choose eva and centi because theyre bouncing in my head (eva bc brainrot centi bc hes my icon).

13. What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?

eva was raised as a little nestie boy and in my mind very fancy rich colors are always light and pastel like marble and stuff and my brain always sees him dressed in white. i think he thinks he looks most dapper in white. maybe even gray. monochromes mostly because its hard to coordinate an outfit when your hair is fuckin Blue and you don't want to look like a stupid clown.

i however am in the impression that eva would look nice in red. and golds. and pale greens. and black. i just like eva

centi does NOT CARE in fact he HATES UNNECESSARY HUMAN CONSTRUCTS. what do you MEAN i cant go out to the supermarket in the human's PAJAMAS eva you are an IDIOT a FOOL a DOG to abiding to such STUPID human standards i am CONSERVING MY ENERGY . he doesn't care....but i guess he'd like colors that help him stealth or that he's had on him as a centipede bug

14. What animal do they fear most?

i . have never thought of this. UH. man i feel like animals are weird in PMworld. do they have zoos. obviously they have animals bc a lot of abnos are animal based but like. are they frequent. do people go to the zoos and see lions anymore. man. anyways i think if Eva met a chimp he would be scared. i feel like if he saw a hippo he'd be kinda scared. i dont think he'd be scared of horses he'd think theyre beautiful. i think, to a city dweller, animals arent as scary as the Daily Horrors you face, but at the same time, eva is a nestie what animals is he seeing? birds?? white eye crust dogs??????? lizards????? i think he'd be scared of snakes. oh my god he'd be scared of snakes. OH MY GOD HIS BOYFRIEND DISTORTS INTO A GIANT SNAKE BUG i think he'd be scared of snakes. i don't think he'd like bugs but he is fine with taking bugs out in a cup or throwing a newspaper at them but i think his parents kept his childhood house as bug-free as possible

centi is scared of anything that is scarier than him because it usually means it is a stronger devil than him. he is a predator bug outside of his fiend form and eats other bugs that are weaker and is very scary but he'd know his fucking place in front of Spider Devil or some shit. also he would probably not like dogs and cats. anything that poses a threat to a little centipede. however. as a human somehting like a bird? he laughs at now. dogs and cats? those can still fuck him up and put him in his place (owww scratches)

31. Who are they the most glad to have met? 

theres very obvious answers here. but genuinely even if they annoy him sometimes or make his work harder eva does appreciate meeting his friends and his future bf at lobcorp because, if he had worked here for this long without making friends with ANYONE. no matter what he tells himself he would have been so much more miserable. having friends isnt what he came here for but its what happened and hes grateful that his friends somehow didnt get tired of him and put up with his rocky beginnings because he doesn't know if he wouldve ever found joy in this work without them

he is also, as expected, very glad to have met julian because otherwise after the wing fell he probably would have no other reason to be on this earth other than "maybe make weird art until you run out of money and starve". jules kind of rocked his mindset too and helped him realize the people around him at the corp Arent just dumb npcs who are expendable, they are Human and Mortal and Will Die. they experience emotion just like him. and even if they ar einsufferable they are human and you will ifnd yourself crying when they die even if you only knew them as the guy from info team who made your life worse. he cant fester in hatred and hope someone innocent eats shit because one day theyll die and he'll be stuck with those emotions, and not everyone comes back like jules did

centi.... well. this is mostly just inner oc stuff with my friend and i's ocs hehe. but he is happy to meet another bug devil like him. because well...i like to think theres SOme sort of solidarity in being a scary bug. maybe hes a bit jealous. but then theyre just..homies. he doesnt have to face the isolation of feeling like an eldrich monstrosity living in some dudes apartment and getting yelled at for being an eldritch monstrosity and being Different and being Caged in a Stupid Inferior Human Body God FUcking Damn It alone. he has another bug guy going thru the same. we must imagine the bug fiends happy

also despite how much he despises eva at first he eventually realizes this weird as fuck THing is actually. not killing him. this is a devil hunter yet he's making me a grilled cheese. whats wrong with hinm. i can throw his stuff around and he can get upset but he will still let me sleep in his house and stand up for me. whats wrong with him. eventually he will slowly warm up to him...but he'll still bother him. thats what fiends do

A) Why are you excited about this character?

for eva? I DONT KNOW . I DONT KNOW!!!!!!!! HES JUST SOME DUDE!!!! BUT I GAVE HIM MY LOVE FOR MUSIC MY LOVE FOR FISH AND GAVE HIM MULTIPLE NEUROSES AND NOW I LOVE HIM . THE FUCK. i also really love his distortion. just. grips heart. a lot of my ocs and stories have this theme of isolation, i guess it's something i like to explore a lot, and considering eva is a (count with me) autistic transgender mentally ill born-rich kid who was raised kind of sheltered from the full extent of horrors and Forced to go down a pre-determined path from birth . and not only that but he becomes even more of a fish out of water post-lobcorp and literally experiences the isolation of not even having a true god reach him through the metal walls of the corporation. idk. i think he's pretty isolationcore and neurosispilled and his distortion is fun because YES WE CAN FINALLY GO APESHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! CATHARSIS!!! BUT PAIN AND GRIEF MANIFESTED INTO A PHYSICAL BLIND RAMPAGED BEING!!!!!

centi because he is a fucking BUG!!!!!! AND HES EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND HES SILLY!!!!!!!!!!! CARTOONISHLY EVIL FREAK WHO USED TO BE A LEGIT THREAT!!!!!! I LOVE THOSE FUCKERS!!!!!! and not only that HE SHARES A BODY WITH THE POLAR OPPOSITE AND IS A HORRIBLE MONSTER BEING FORCED TO LIVE AMONG HUMA---god damn it its another isolation and not fitting in story. BUG DYSPHORIA

B) What inspired you to create them?

nothing crazy here- eva was randomly generated employee number 2 in my lobcorp facility, i grew attached to him thru keeping him alive and also i liked his grumpy little face. survived to the very end of my playthrough, and juleva started as a crackship but i did like their dynamic a lot..................... things just escalated from there

centi because ummm i made a csm au of my ocs and i wanted julian to be the Centipede Fiend to reference his distortion but i created a whole new personality for the Centipede Devil inside of him and went oh my god i love them, i need them to be a new person, i love them, oh my god

thanks so much for the opportunity to ramble! if you made it this far im marrying you.

[gamerdog1]

Bocchi the Rock Season 1 Review

I’m just gonna come out here and say it right away: I’m not a fan of the ‘Cute girls doing cute things’ subgenre. I know it’s got it’s fans, and not everything someone else likes is going to be something I like. Still, when it comes to picking out a new series to try, I’m quick to dodge all series where the main characters sit around and basically do nothing. Good media, to me, is about things that don’t happen in real life, so something like K!On is too mild for me. 

So, color me surprised that this month, I found a ‘Girls do nothing’ series that actually got me engaged and entertained. This month, I was assigned the series Bocchi the Rock by my friends at my university’s anime club, and what I initially expected to be another snooze-fest hyped up by legions of diehard ‘moe’ fans, turned out to be a heartwarming story of overcoming Social Anxiety Disorder through the power of friendship.

Bocchi the Rock stars Hitori Gotoh, a 15 year old with crippling social anxiety who has a passion for the guitar. Hitori, (who later gains the nickname ‘Bocchi’, a pun on the Japanese word for loneliness), spends her days in her closet, posting covers of popular songs on Youtube and dreaming of stardom. A chance encounter with other musicians her age thrusts her into the world of underground rock bands, where she becomes a guitarist for an indie band, and faces her anxiety head-on. 

What struck me immediately about this series was how often Bocchi’s anxiety was brought up, and not always just for a gag. Her social anxiety makes even the smallest interactions a struggle, from trying to join a conversation with classmates, to making plans outside of school. Yes, the series uses some of these moments to lighten the mood with a little bit of comedy, but overall, its clearly not trying to minimize her struggles or make fun of her. 

Bocchi’s anxieties often lead to catastrophizing, linking even the smallest perceived slip-ups with total annihilation. In one episode, we see what she thinks will happen if she tries getting a job: she gets flustered dealing with a customer and stumbles over her words, someone films it and it goes viral, she is called into court to testify for the crime of being weird, and then given the death sentence. Scenes like these are cute and light-hearted gags, but also can't help but make you feel bad for her. They give a greater insight into how her social anxiety affects her, and do a better job at representing social anxiety than your typical ‘shy kid’ archetype.

Bocchi’s fantasy sequences are also the highlight of this series, because of how experimental they can be. These scenes are probably the most discussed aspect of this series, and for good reason. There aren’t many anime out there that switch art style this often, just for a quick bit. Bocchi the Rock uses zoetropes, stop motion, clay figurines, live-action footage, and much more to break free from the monotony of cutesy style in order to convey the main character’s feelings. Its not every day when you see an anime girl revert back to her 3-D model and smash into a pile of untextured polygons. 

The animation in this series is also quite good. I was pretty shocked to see the girls playing their instruments in a somewhat accurate and realistic way, which you’d think would be a low bar for a series about a band. The studio behind this series clearly put in the extra time and effort to animate the guitar and drum playing accurately, and are clearly proud of it, with the amount of close-ups they show of the instruments being played. It almost makes you wonder why other music-centric series aren’t like this...

Bocchi the Rock’s weakest aspect, however, is it’s characters. In most ‘Girls doing nothing’ series, cuteness is prioritized over deep character writing, so main characters often lack any negative traits. These series are content with re-packaging simple character traits, knowing that giving the characters a chance to show any negative traits will take away from their perceived cuteness or ‘wholesomeness’. The same, unfortunately, can be found in this series, as the four main girls stick to the common character archetypes of the subgenre, and don’t make much of an effort to deviate from them.

Nijika, the blonde, is little beyond the peppy heart of gold, the face of the group. Kita, the redhead, is never shown to be anything more than the perfect, pretty popular girl that everyone adores. Ryo, the blue-haired one, has some level of character flaws, as she reveals herself to be terrible with money, and ends up owing her bandmates lots of money by the end of the season. However, beyond Bocchi herself, we rarely get to see the bandmates presented outside of their archetypes. Perhaps in season 2, we could get to see the characters reveal more about themselves, and struggle with things from their own lives?

The series’ story has a decent flow to it, following Bocchi and her band’s journey from obscurity to their first big break. At times, I felt a bit lost, wondering when the characters were going to move to the next big event instead of doing little thing, but that’s about par for the course when it comes to these types of plots. The plot revolves mostly around performances, interspersed with downtime in between, where we see the characters socialize, go shopping, or peek into Bocchi’s home life. While the show in general does little in terms of building suspense in these in-between moments, Bocchi’s internal monologue paints a clear picture of how important each performance is, making each one feel like a battle she must face. 

With a season 2 on the way, I can only hope that this series continues down the path its headed, and tries to improve where it lacks. Its a ‘Girls doing nothing’ series that isn’t afraid to give one of it’s characters crippling social anxiety, and lets her have flaws beyond just being clumsy in a cute way. I can only hope that the rest of the cast gets the same treatment in the future, which I believe will lead to a deeper story, and therefore, a stronger emotional core. Overall though, Bocchi the Rock is a funny and light romp that occasionally takes a detour into downright zany visuals, and we are here for it. I’m not usually a fan of cute girl-centric series, but perhaps I’ll make an exception, just this once.

[nataywrites]

A plea for the plight of the world.

Hello there, friend! I hope your day is a beautiful one. Here, the sunshine dapples the leaves of the trees and casts shadows on the grass and pavement. It is not yet time for the evening birdsong, but I can hear them occasionally chirping about two-legged intruders moseying around on their territory.

Have you ever thought about the effect we have on our environment? The effect that we have on our furry, feathery, scaly, exoskeleton-bearing, and mucus-encased neighbors? There hasn't been a day that I haven't thought about the climate and our encroachment on animals' homes. Every night there are deer in our neighborhood. Bees and other insects make their homes inside the bricks and wood of our tenement. Birds make precariously placed nests in the eaves and on the lanterns.

I recall a documentary made about the foxes that have made their dens in the backyards of suburban Madison homes. Fox Tales | About | Nature | PBS There was another documentary on bears. It said that the Black Bear, one of the nine species of bear in the world, is the only thriving species. Bear Essentials of Hibernation | NOVA | PBS

The year before last, our family went on a little road trip to Hayward, a town known for Rock Fest, Northwoods camping, and fishing. The main street is bedecked with seasonal restaurants and t-shirt shops. We traveled there to meet with friends and then go foraging in the beautiful forests surrounding the town.

On the way home, I saw a dead bear cub on the side of the highway. The wife and kids were dozing in their seats. Just me and that bear cub, bleeding on the gravelly shoulder, were party to the stars and the bright moon in the sky. I silently mourned that little bear for miles after I had passed it. I still do. I mourn the raccoon I saw on the road today and the deer I passed by last week.

I remember seeing a meme on Facebook about a woman that made funerary art for the dead animals she found while out driving. She placed rocks, flowers, and twigs around them in beautiful halos and also strategically on their bodies to hide the horrible wounds that the poor creatures endured in their last moments. Sometimes I want to do that too, but not for notoriety. It's my apology for being a human. For the part I play in the extortion of our planet, whether or not I had known about my complicity in the past.

I am still complicit, even though I do my best. I limit driving as best I can (I live in a rural community, so many things, like affordable groceries, therapists, and specialists, are in neighboring towns.) I don't use the air conditioner until it is truly needed and avoid wasting water. Whenever we go to visit forests and parks, we try to leave them in better shape than we found them. I challenge my kids to pick up as many pieces of trash as they can on our walks. We put them in a bag and drop them in the bin when we get home.

This isn't a hard and fast cry for change. The situation is too complicated for that. I just ask that we, as humans, think about the changes we are making. Our fellow animals do not have the capability of speech, but they feel. They react to our encroachment on their homes. This is a plea for compassion and understanding. I ask that you, my dear friend keep your mind open. In my heart, I believe we can make a change. I believe we can mitigate some of the damage we are doing. By making a change for ourselves, we are modeling that behavior to others. Step-by-step, person-by-person, we are making a healthier, happier world.

With Love,

Natay

[twsted-princess]

[NRC Corp] has donated $50.00: Ohapyon! Have a great one!

HSJSBS hopefully our beloved vtuber won't get into another screaming fest-

AAA HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEL!! Your gift may be delayed (soso sorry!! 🥺) But other than that, I hope you have a great bday! <33

- from your local friendly neighborhood manager

From Mayuu's apartment as she sends the donation and sips her coffee, she can almost hear something. Something akin to a mix of a dying rubber chicken and an anime girl yelling at the highest pitch. She's not totally sure but she has a feeling this person might be off their rocking just a little bit.

THANK YOU SO MUCH NEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!