#also watched abridged because. yeah

[half-a-life-left]

rewatched hellsing ultimate

[hunxi-after-hours]

oh the TGCF ad is so good it's actively upsetting skdjdkjdd

[bazoonga-bazinga]

watching tua s4 knowing fully how its going to disappoint me rn and something that keeps bothering me is just how awful it is that they dont show what happens during the 6 year time skip.

like in season 2 we get to see an abridged version of how everyone got to where they are. this allowed for me as viewer to at least undertsand the reasoning behind the siblings' actions and conflicts. but in season 4 there is just none of that.

instead we only get to see the after of the timeskip. Whatever bits we do hear abt the time in between are extremly limited because they are things that are told to us from biased/flawed/one-sided perspectives. I as a viewer do not get a clear idea of why any of the 8 charcters of the main cast change the way they do becuase i am never shown how this change ocurred. its more i am told things and have to accept because of the 6 year gap.

lila and diego's strained marriage is actually i think the only they showed without telling to an extent. but it still would have also been nice to see thier struggles transitioning to suburbia and would also aid me to better understand why neither of them tried to find an adequate balance in the 6 years. also like why is diego working as a delivery driver? in my mind it makes more sense for him to be a mediocre private investgator or something like that? idk just some more context behind the tension and thier decsions (especially lila dear god dont even get me started) would have been wonderful

viktor's journey to Canada and his distancing from the others sounded interesting and i would have loved to see that on screen. he clearly is unable to form long lasting intamate relationships and showing his life in the time gap would have been a great way to show his journey of accepting the loss of sissy.

allison was definitely hit hard by the lack of explanation. i understand the scheduling issues with raymond's actor but it truly was a heavy blow to season 3 allison actions when they just said he left with no other explanation. most of her conflicts in season 3 were motivated by the loss of claire and raymond and you are telling me she just lost 50% of that a year afterwards? and like this doesnt get mentioned until episode 3??

i actually enjoyed klaus's shift to a risk averse person and it did make sense to me after losing his immortality to become more aware of not only his but his loved ones mortality. the biggest glaring issue is the one everyone has talked about: the lack of dave. i think if they had shown klaus trying to find info on dave and/or even visiting his grave in the timeskip it would been fine with me that he wouldn't mention dave that much. but the dog tags being on screen and him not saying anything is actually inasne??? also it sounds like there was definitely more to his sobriety than what they have told sad that we didnt get to see that storyline....

everyone has said thier piece on how luther just mentioning sloane and then no other explanation is actually awful. like a simple flashback fo luther searching and finding sloane living a different life would have been better than them giving us nothing💀

ben i actually have nothing to say...it would have been silly to see the crypto scam ig. also an explanation of why they even showed the other ben the post credit of the s3 finale i think is warranted. like even a mention of yeah there is probably another ben who belongs to this universe walking around would have been okay ig

five oh where to even begin.... first of all how tf does a person who isnt even in thier 20s even get a gig at the cia. i know they said some bullahit abt five being a part of a relative young group/recruit (cant remember the exact wording) but like a person who is younger than 19 getting a job at the cia is a bit much. also i actually refuse to belive that five wouldn't have figured out his boss was part of the keepers there is just no way. after the handler and reggie i refuse to belive that five would lose his suspicion towards authority figures. i think the only authority figure he has ever listened to was the founder version of himself and even that took time. like if you want me to believe that bs then show me how five turned his brain into mush in the 6 year time skip. either that or show how me his loneliness in those six year because from what i have right now five worked at the cia and that is it nothing else. like from what i have been told by the show nothing else happended to him besides working. which if thier implication is that he was only working and drifted apart from his siblings that message was not clear enough to me as viewer and would have been alot clearer if i was shown such as thing.

[textfromthelookout]

Did you hear of the news?

I have. :(

Everyone else has their tributes so, here, a summary of my experience with Dragon Ball.

I was in fourth grade art class. A kid had the February 2005 issue of Shonen Jump, back when Shonen Jump was still physically printed here. I recognized Atem on the front cover because the Blockbuster around the corner from our house had DVDs (I think they were DVDs and not VHSs then since I distinctly remember it having a menu and special features) of some of the later episodes of Duelist Kingdom and my brother and I watched them on repeat. So I was like oh, hey, what's this? They make books of that stuff? I don't remember the conversation but the kid ended up giving me that issue, and I took it home with me.

There were a LOT of significant, groundwork things happening in that issue, now that I think about it. We were just beginning to see Sanji truly in action against Pearl. The Dark Tournament was in it's early stages still with Roto fucking around and finding out against Kurama. Sakura shears off her hair in a move that rearranged sexualities the world over. The reason Atem was on the cover was because Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World was just debuting its first and second chapter. Bleach wasn't even serialized yet. And Dragon Ball, of course, was also there, about a hundred and fifty chapters ahead of everybody else.

Keep in mind that this was my first experience with manga, period. So my very first experience with Dragon Ball opened on this:

and ended on this:

Yeah. Truth be told, at the time Yu Yu Hakusho piqued my interest more than Dragon Ball (a guy fighting with plants? how creative!) but I never did forget these chapters. I thought the art style was so different from the others.

At some point after this, probably between several months and a year and a half, the TV happened to be on one evening when Toonami was airing Dragon Ball Z. Oh hey, I said, I recognize that art, I know those characters. So I hung around and watched some of episode 281. Two things about watching that episode stick with absolute crystal clarity in my mind to this day. Firstly: Buu choking Vegeta out with his arm freaked me the FUCK out as a child. I could not tell you why I had a fear reaction to it but hey, there you go. The second is this:

Specifically I remember 'You died once. If anything happens to you now, you won't exist anymore. There'll be nothing I can do to bring you back.' Not precisely word for word over the years, but Schemmel's tone of voice on this particular lineread. If I had to guess I'd say it was because at that point in my life, uh, death was kinda permanent? So wait, what do you mean died ONCE. Doesn't that apply to everyone?

This still wasn't enough to get me super invested in it though, it just didn't seem like something that would appeal to me that much. So a couple years go by, I don't think about it all that much, and then of course, TFS hits the scene and drops DBZ Abridged. So you know. As a shithead middle schooler with a shithead sense of humor I thought it was the best damn thing since sliced bread. (My biggest character flaw is that I still think a lot of Season 1 is genuinely funny)

And that was really the extent of my interaction with the franchise for the next several years. Say what you will about DBZA but they did manage to put it all together such that someone who had a nonexistent concept of what the original context was could grok it with not a lot of effort. Some time in high school, I think I was around 15, I decided to bite the bullet and read all the manga, as much to increase the funny factor of DBZA as sheerly for the sake of being able to say I had. Stick it to the other weebs, y'know. Now they can't say I didn't know anything about good anime. This was unfortunately at a time when all that was available online were dirty poor-quality scans and questionable translations, but read it I did. I went 'yep, that sure is about what I expected', and proceeded to get on with my life. GT came and went, I looked up and saw Battle of Gods coming out and went 'oh hey that's still a thing huh', kinda was peripherally aware of all the divisiveness of Super as it was happening, didn't really pay it much attention, just stuck to DBZA and quite a lot of wiki-ing.

And then, this time of year about three years ago now, in the middle of conversation with @prophecydungeon, Dragon Ball somehow came up. Something to do with 'Even though I'm not hugely into DBZ's story or whatever Toriyama does have some great character designs' (yes I was referring to Vegeta and Future Trunks at the time, no i will not stop being predictable, yes i am a parody of myself). They eventually brought up the DBS Broly movie and said, and i quote: 'that was a solid 1.5h of unbelievably fun and wacky animation'. Having seen the Gogeta vs Broly part of it on twitter and been like 'damn that animation's kinda off the hook actually, good for them good for them', my response was to be like. Oh word? I've got a spare hour and a half to kill, sure, fuck it, why not, time to watch DBS Broly.

I think that movie was precision crafted to hit me in the hyperfixation, if we're being honest. Opening on a solid 20 minutes of Lore and Worldbuilding and then having most of the rest of the runtime being mindless slobberknocker fun by way of some of the hardest animation flexes ever? I was done for.

In summation. I have been aware of Dragon Ball for a lot of my life, in that its presence was pervasive and enduring as I grew up. I may have been late to the game of actually wholeheartedly enjoying it, but enjoy it I do. Dragon Ball is the roots of a vast tree of anime, and in reading it I began to understand why that is. I respect it for that, and I love it for that. My current fixation may have shifted, but as far as time devoted to one individual thing goes... it took me a year and a half to watch my way through all of the anime and read all of the manga. ALL of it. So there's something good in there, I'd say.

[valtharr]

So. Which Ultraman series would you recommend for starters? Also would Shin Ultraman be a good starting point if you have never seen anything Ultraman related?

Honestly, those are both kinda tough questions 😅

Let's start with the Shin Ultraman one:

Shin Ultraman is a great movie, probably my favorite kaiju movie (sorry Pacific Rim and Final Wars), and you need no prior knowledge of Ultraman, mainly because the movie is basically an abridged version of the original 1966 series. So, as a movie, I recommend it, but I'm not sure about it as an introduction to Ultraman. Mainly because - just like Sentai and Rider - Ultraman is primarily a kids show, while Shin is aimed at a more mature audience, which is why I don't consider a great representation of the franchise as a whole. Don't get me wrong, it totally gets the themes and everything right, but the vibes are just different. So, I recommend watching it, but not necessarily as an introduction to the main franchise.

As for which actual series I recommend for a newcomer... well, I should preface this by saying that I've only really seen New Generation series (late Heisei and Reiwa era). The main reason for that is honestly that those seasons are shorter (about 25 episodes instead of the Showa and Heisei 50). But yeah, my recs are gonna be New Gen only.

I think the safest bet in my eyes would be Ultraman X. It doesn't really call back to any previous seasons, and it's pretty "vanilla" in its setup: The Ultra and his host are distinct characters from each other, the host works for an anti-kaiju defense force, etc. It sticks to the "formula" pretty closely, closer than any of the other New Gen shows I've seen... with the exception of one:

Ultraman Z is also pretty by the numbers, and has the distinct advantage of being fully legally available one Youtube, both subbed and dubbed. The main reason I recommend X over Z is that Z leans a bit more into the greater universe of the franchise, with appearances from old characters, one of which actually ends up playing a major role. That said, it was the first Ultra season I watched in full, and it wasn't like I was totally lost, but I would recommend watching Orb and Geed before jumping into Z. Speaking of which...

Ultraman Orb is actually the most recent season I fully watched, and I really like it. The main character is just really cool, and while the supporting cast starts off as kinda annoying, but they grew on me a bit over the course of the show. It's also pretty serialized, with some mysteries that slowly get revealed throughout the story.

Ultraman Geed, like Ultraman Orb, is a bit of a fan favorite. Now, technically, the main villain of the show is a major villain in the greater Ultraman lore, which at first might seem like this would be a bad entry point, but the show provides you with enough context that you can just treat as backstory. I also like that it kinda gives you a bit of "best of both worlds" when it comes to Ultras: The main character is actually an Ultra in human form, but there's also a secondary Ultra who does the more classic "bond with a human host" thing, so you get both common flavors of Ultraman in one series. Also, for what it's worth, I once commissioned a Youtuber who knew basically nothing about tokusatsu, let alone Ultraman, to review Geed, and he ended up liking it.

Finally, I'm gonna shout out Blazar and Arc, the most recent seasons, with Arc's second episode having just aired the same day I'm writing this. Blazar has some Ultraman staples, like the defense team and the human and Ultra being separate entities, but also does some new stuff with those tropes, like the Ultra not being able to properly talk, and the host actually being the head of the show's main defense team. Obviously, I can't say much about Arc yet, but it seems to go in a bit more traditional direction. Both are also available on Youtube, with Blazar having two audio tracks (Japanese and English) that you can switch between, and Arc having separate uploads for its sub and dub

Also, I should mention: Every Ultraman season prior to 2020 is available on BluRay via Mill Creek Entertainment, and from what I can tell, they seem to be region free. At least I had no problems watching them on my German PS4.

[princess-of-the-corner]

SAO Abridged compensated for Kirito's canon Gary Stu status by making him be an absolute LOSER in the real world, to the point that GETTING TRAPPED IN A DEATH GAME is referred to as the best thing to ever happen to him, with Season 2 exploring what kind of home life he'd need to actually LONG for the death game he escaped from as much as his canon counterpart apparently did (I've not watched it).

Also, instead of his skills in the game translating to skills in the real world, his muscles have realistically atrophied over the two years he spent with his mind in the VR world, meaning his younger sister wipes the floor with him when they spar in the real world.

And abridged!Kirito himself is a pretty big jerk in Season 1, because the parody series ALSO asks "What kind of person would ENJOY being trapped in a death game?" and gave us someone who is like a reverse harem protagonist. Whenever they adapt an episode where one of his auxillary love interests falls for him, the episode is about them STARTING OUT having superficial attraction to him, only to fall out of love after getting to know the real him.

(Oh yeah, SAO canon gave Kirito a harem for some reason.)

Honestly that makes sense.

[iamafanofcartoons]

r/RWBYcritics/comments/17ol6je/at_this_point_is_there_a_universe_rwby_can_even/

I honestly hate when people try to power scale Team RWBY to other character from other series. All they do is downplay their strength and call them weak. I bet if Team RWBY was all men, they would be calling them strong.

Well, that's not it, actually.

These people, when they "criticize" RWBY, they may watch the show, but they completely ignore what the show is about, its themes, what the writers are trying to do.

Here, I'll give examples. Star Trek vs Warhammer 40K Sailor Moon vs Dragonball Z/Naruto The former: women as protagonists or at least equal to men both physically and mentally, LGBT Themes, skill over strength, exploration of psychological and societal concepts, the women in the show can do amazing things that the guys cannot, you have to turn your brain ON to enjoy the show or at least think.

The latter: Women are lesser than men physically/mentally, fanservice, retcons, strength over skill, power solves everything, talking down women and telling them they suck, you turn your brain off to enjoy the show, and of course plot armor.

RWBY at the end of the day is not a shonen show....and many people hate on it because they want it to be. They WANT the men to be greater than the women. They want there to be power levels. They want women to be talked down to and made lesser. They want the show to "not be woke" Ironwood is only powerful because of his guns. Adam is a one-trick pony whose only a threat because of his semblance. Both are defeated using approaches that don't rely on screaming and power levels. The women win using skill, not strength or power levels. The theme of the show is about optimism not mary/gary stu stuff. The RWBY characters don't get plot armor, unlike shonen mcs. They suffer loss. People will scrape from the bottom of the barrel to find a reason to hate on RWBY, including somebody making a video claiming that Jaune wearing the dress was apparently offensive and bad writing.

RWBY still has cool fight scenes, but those fight scenes also mean something. Watts was nearly able to defeat Ironwood using brains, and Ironwood only won by powering through something, permanently losing an arm that he immediately replaced with a prosthetic. adam was nearly able to defeat yang and blake, who had to use brains and teamwork to win. Let me quote Vegeta from Dragon Ball Abridged "Power levels are bullshit"

You should watch Dragon Ball Abridged by Team Four Star, they recently wrapped up the Buu Saga.

They do a lot of trope inversion and deconstruction in their parody. And of course they're very respectful to the original show. But yeah, RWBY ain't a shonen show...it HAS shonen elements, but its more like a magical girl show with shonen elements mixed into it. Honestly the thing about RWBY is that its unique, you can't find anything like it anywhere...and that's part of the sad thing.

[as-i-watch]

To answer your question about the reaction of non-fans regarding the show’s tone, I watched the first 3 episodes with people mostly unfamiliar with OP, and their verdict was that it was fine. These were their impressions:

They didn’t have a problem with something mixing cartoonish action with violence (if anything they thought the biggest issue with the tone was that it wasn’t consistently weird/stylized *enough*) BUT they did have a lot of moments where they’d go “wait why did that happen” during scenes, mainly having to do with the character development. One asked what Nami sewing the straw hat at the end of episode 2 had to do with the rest of the episode because she and Luffy were separated for 3/4 of the runtime and all of Buggy and Luffy’s conversations were about Shanks abandoning Luffy and being an outcast. And all of them were just as confused you were about Zoro’s development.

Another friend similarly thought it was weird that the setup for episode 2 had Nami saying she hated pirates and disliked Luffy, but then the episode itself was more about Zoro and Nami bonding and proving their loyalty to Luffy instead of the other way around.

They hated the flashbacks. Mainly because they felt the editing and segues into those flashbacks made the backstories feel tacked on at best and intrusive at worst - not helped by how they thought the pacing in those flashbacks was clunky and way too fast; even started laughing in disbelief when Usopp’s mom died just because of how it happened in less than a minute.

Got REALLY restless and bored whenever Garp and Koby were on screen.

One friend also thought that the Den Den Mushi were meant to signal that a person was a villain because the expressions on the animatronics read to her as *In Constant Pain* and therefore were meant to be seen as animal cruelty, and because so far only antagonistic forces have used them. She was VERY surprised when I showed her what they look like in the anime/manga and went “wait but those are cute”

All are in agreement that Buggy is the highlight of the entire show so far. “Surprise shithead” and Buggy punching the glass got the biggest laughs of the night.

Do enjoy the action (think the sword fights were the best) and enjoy the sets. They did start to notice a lot of those sets didn’t get a chance to shine because of all the closeups though.

Episode 3 left them kinda cold. Not just because of the flashback, but at the end one friend went “Did this Usopp guy just leave his sickly friend alone in a mansion with 3 murderers just to run *all the way* back to town to ring a bell, even though Luffy and Nami are much closer? What an asshole” So I think on that front the show kinda failed to capture the essentials of Usopp’s character in the abridged timeframe.

One friend also said at the end of the night “This is fun, but it’s not really *about* anything...” He later elaborated that he thought that the episodes we saw were more like a string of Things That Happen, and the character’s actions all seemed to either just exist in a vacuum with no connection to other characters or parts of the plot, or they make choices that don’t make sense unless the characters have read the script.

So yeah, overall my friends unfamiliar with OP said they enjoyed it well enough, certainly had some laughs, but also weren’t in a huge hurry to finish the series. But it’s hard to say if the sentiments they held are common since I haven’t had the chance to talk with many other people talk about it in person. As for me, I’m just kinda letting it digest and waiting to see how I feel about it a few months from now.

Ohh this so interesting!

I share most of that. Specially in ep 2. I absolutely love LA Buggy and it was the best part of the ep but the rest of that ep was so off. It was an exposition episode and i agree the actions of Zoro and Nami were out of the blue, they barely shared any screentime together and suddently they were already so loyal to Luffy just bc. If onlynif was the one thing that actually annoy me, particulary Zoro's development (in ep 3 they madenit right tho) I wasnt sure if it was just me and bc the comparison with the anime or like an actual thing so thank you for that input

The sword fights i love, i really really really do

That read on the den den mushis gave my whiplash but i so get it

Garp and Koby are really interesting to me but bc they are new and i want to see the direction they take, but is mostly curiosity, so that to me is a new way of seeing it too

But mostly your friend is right, im also at ep three and if you strip away all the world building we know from the anime it does feel a bit like a succesion of things happening, but also like a check list of thing that happened in the anime and that must be covered. I get it tho bc run time and all, but its a shame thats the read for a first time watcher that doesnt know about what couldnt be fit in the ep and that helps understand a charecter or a scene better.

[candychasse]

Since there's a lot of controversy around the game, I wanna know why you like it sm? Is it a thing where you like separate the game from game dev? I don't mean to sound mean or angry in any way, I like the game too, I'm just really scared/nervous about being public Abt it since it comes from such an awful creator

Yeah none taken anon, I've honestly been expecting this question since I first posted yansim stuff.

I've been a fan of the game since I was a kid, it was one of the first fandoms I was ever in and helped me feel joy in a childhood with so little. I've also been in anime fandoms for even longer than I've been a fan of yansim so I tend to have a higher tolerance for the problematic aspects of the game. (Not something to be proud of but still.)

As for Alex, I never really cared much for him. Sure I watched the YouTube videos back in the day, but otherwise he was nothing of note until the controversies. As a kid I was super into internet drama so back when the first wave of Alex drama was happening in 2018-ish, when it still was just drama and not possible crimes, I knew he was a questionable person but didn't know the full extent.

I feel like the decision of separating art from artists depends on one question, what do you think of when you think of the art? When I think of yandere simulator I don't think of Alex, or the panty shots, or the eight year wait for a rival, I think of the voice actors who put their heart and souls into their roles, the youtubers who practically raised me, and the endless creativity of fan artists and writers who are the beating heart of the fandom.

So why do I like it now? Honestly I like watching dumpster fires, especially when it's basically my dumpster that's on fire. I also enjoy the trope of yanderes since the idea of doing anything for love is quite compelling. As for why I write for yansim, that is a fairly easy one to answer, because of Alex's bad writing all of the rivals are basically just anime stereotypes. And stereotypes are easy to write for. Also since a rivals week is only well, a week, I get to make the characters my own in a way.

So Anon my advice to you, and anyone reading, is to do whatever you want to. If you want to start a whole fandom blog dedicated to a gender swap au of a game that'll probably never be finished, go for it! Or if you wanna separate yourself as far as possible that's okay too! Not to self promote but if you enjoy my writing but don't like yansim, I'm down to take requests for legit any fandoms, whether personified fast food franchises or an abridged version of an anime character. Nothing is too niche lol.

[icejinlov3r]

Can you rank ur 4 fav dragon ball boys or do you love them all equally? and why you love each one?

Ooooh what a fun question!!

Okay, well, I certainly love them all to death! But, I think I can rank them all:

Frieza and Frost

Zamasu

Cell

The only reason Cell is at the bottom is because technically I haven’t watched very many episodes with him yet (I’m been watching DBZ Kai and took a break right after the episode Mecha Frieza died 🥲). So why do I like him so much?

TeamFourStar. I watched the entire abridged series and absolutely loved it - and definitely fell in love with Frieza and Cell as well. Specifically Cell’s hilarious smug attitude, snarky comments, and his unexpected sex jokes. And I even liked him more when watching the HFIL series (Kami I want more episodes 😭). To get not only all of that, but also see a more relatable side of Cell. Seeing his intelligent insight on people, his casual attitude, and even the occasional moments of him looking back on his actions. It made me realize he had the potential to be a big softie, and I loved it.

Now, Zamasu is pretty special to me. Honestly, I think I lot of the Kai characters are pretty boring, except for Shin, so I usually don’t bother. But Zamasu is different. Honestly, I was fascinated by his conflicting feelings towards mortals, and what’d be the best way to preserve the multiverse. It was one of those things for a villain where they wanted to do the right thing, but in the wrong way - in Zamasu’s case, it was the very, very, very wrong way. He went all Kira on the multiverse (Death Note reference).

However, I wish that DBS did something different with his character: specifically, I think they could’ve somehow taken the present Zamasu, and instead of straight up erasing him, could’ve just tried to lead him down a better path. Maaaaybe keep him locked in up in a temporary jail. But I think there could’ve been a great chance at a redemption arc there. To finally open his eyes to the importance of mortals.

Ironically, though, while I LOVE Zamasu - I actually really don’t like Goku Black. Almost hate him.

and before someone says “they’re the same person”, no I’m not accepting that explanation because Black is technically from a different timeline. And as we’ve seen with several other characters, they can be a completely different person in another timeline. But Black just felt more cocky, more arrogant, and overall wasn’t likeable to me. If you like him, awesome! I don’t judge. I just don’t care for him.

Now, I’m sure it’s no surprise Frieza and Frost are at the top. And for awhile, I thought I liked Frieza a bit more. But now I can never think of one without the other, so it’s safe to say I like them both equally.

Similar to Cell, I fell in love with Frieza in DBZA first, and even more in Super and Kai. I fucking loved his voice actor, Chris Ayres (creepy fact, he died on my birthday 😱). It was SO awesome to see a character like him, and have everyone be utterly terrified of him. He always presents himself with a terrifying presence, and I love it. But again in the HFIL series, I also realized he had the potential to be more. A lonely person who in truth just wants to be liked and appreciated.

As for Frost, I naturally took a liking to him in Super, but it didn’t intensify until I saw one particular scene - the part where Hit recruits him to TOP. Seeing Frost on the run, paranoid and fearful, and desperate to preserve his life….oh man did the angst ideas come flowing. Usually when it comes to any show, game, etc, there’s one character I cling onto as the “precious baby I need to protect”. And yeah, Frost filled that slot rather quickly.

But of course, I also just really enjoy his character overall, including his unique use of poison needles.

Also, I just really loved both their character designs. I’m always, always drawn to inhuman characters, simply cause they’re more interesting than humans. And somehow, the way Frieza and Frost were made just feels like perfection, especially when they look so alike and so different at the same time. Especially their tails, I love the tails!

….crap, that ended up being way longer than I expected. Oh well, hope you liked this answer!

[monpalace]

@july-angel-wings

full disclosure, i haven't touched skyward sword or first's story ever in my life aside from secondhand fanfic knowledge and tauberpa's abridged vids more than 8yrs ago,, 😁

(this turned into informal general romantic hcs with first im sorry 🗿)

anyways, i imagine first would be more than apprehensive when it comes to you rescuing him. out of survival instincts, he doesn't know how you managed to find him? how'd you break in? why were you here in the first place? were you someone else who had been imprisoned, or did you want him for your own purposes?

he's thankful, don't get him wrong, but a man questions all intentions once you've put poison in his food, even the hand that heals.

following his rescue (and the establishment that you were friend and not foe), first would likely be more open to you assisting him in his goddess-given duty. most certainly to the point that there are no secrets between you.

time would feel as though it went in the blink of an eye when it came to defeating demise— and, in a sense, it did. it could have been months, or weeks, or hours, or seconds, and he wouldn't know any better.

first wouldn't be ashamed to admit that he's romantically interested in you. he'd be normal about courting you after he grows out of the "crush formed via trauma-bond" phase and evolves into the "okay, yeah, i actually like-like you" phase.

but me, personally? i think he's really fucking stupid and doesn't know how to properly court someone. i think he's seen people court each other to many times to count in his home village, but he doesn't have fond memories of the village so it kind of murks and muddles everything to the point he's confident enough to say "yeah, that wouldn't work at all."

assuming this is first after his character development, i feel he wouldn't be ashamed to act like his old self if that makes sense? like, less of a seasoned veteran and more of just some guy on the side of the road you drive past.

pushing my "most links are illiterate" agenda to say that link courts you by asking you to read to him, sometimes teach him if he's confident enough. he says it's because he likes watching you become so invested in the story if it's good enough (and hearing your voice if you're able to speak).

uhhh,, this is where my bullshitting abt skyward sword lore comes in,,

anyways, i imagine first is able to travel between skyloft and the ground using the ancient equivalent of a skywing made specifically for him by hylia because 1.) triforce of courage, hylia's chosen hero, and protector of skyloft be damned, he is afraid of heights and 2.) he already built a house for you and him he's not moving it.

yeah, that last part was def a surprise to you.

"why don't you want to go live on skyloft permanently again?"

"we already have a three bedroom, four and a half bathroom, full kitchen, full dining room house with an entire backyard and amazing view waiting for us? why would we want to live there?"

"we?"

"🧍🏼idk what you want me to say.. it's kind of like a gift? you didn't notice how i've been disappearing the last few months?"

"i thought you were out taking care of monsters?"

"i mean, yeah? i was taking bounties so i could work up enough funds to get the stuff to make an engagement ring?"

"who are you proposing to?"

"you? who else do i tolerate enough at this point of our lives? we can turn the house into a honeymoon spot, or a vacation house if you want?"

iirc after everyone and their mother moved up to skyloft, monsters started spawning more often and dangerously, so i dont think first would mind putting in more of an effort to protect you if they were to surround the house— but i also don't think that he'd be dumb enough to not make protective measures like a gate n whatnot.

(i'm being so fr when i say he probably dug out a moat.)

anyways, yh no first is def happy to surround himself with you and whatever animal companion y'all managed to find like you're in "i am legend" or whatever.

let me stop 🗿

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Jesus Armys are so embarrassing...

But then I look at other kpop stans are they look legit demented. Stupid and hive-minded doesn't even begin to cover it.

How have you survived in this fandom for ~10 years?

***

I mind my business, focus on my faves, watch Jimin fancams, and vibe to good music.

Which reminds me...

Zico's new track with Jennie isn't bad at all.

Zico once again shows he's one of the best artists k-pop has to offer, and Jennie can be amazing when she puts her mind to it and is in an environment where her talent can flourish. Also, someone sent me an ask about the How album from Zico's rookie group, BOYNEXTDOOR, as well. To that anon, your ask is buried somewhere in my inbox and I honestly can't find it so here's an abridged answer: I prefer the songs on Why to the songs on How, but How further establishes BND's sound identity and that's kind of impressive given how young the group is. Zico is doing an amazing job with them. My favourite song on the album is So Let's Go See the Stars.

Other good music I've been streaming recently is Bubble Gum by NewJeans.

I'm down for NewJeans' soundscape. It's effortless good music, which stands countercultural to the dominant characteristic of k-pop, where everything is valued according to the perceived effort expressed in it. It's why most of the music in this industry is maximalist, most of choreographies are elaborate, most of the styling and music videos are bombastic, etc. It's all about being as big and loud and 'impressive' as possible. And NewJeans is... kinda like the antithesis of that. It shouldn't work, they shouldn't be popular, and yet NewJeans/ADOR/MHJ is able to distill the essence they create into a format that can succeed in this industry.

They operate like an alien or foreign object in the k-pop system body. And like an infection in a body, the immune response is to counter it and eliminate it, or contain it so it can't threaten the system, and that's the response we've been seeing to NewJeans from the wider k-pop fandom and industry since NewJeans debuted in 2022.

Fast Company published an interview with Min Heejin three days ago and I suggest anyone interested in how she thinks, read it. I've linked it here. The interview was done in November 2023, so right when all the discord with HYBE was starting to escalate though there's no direct mention of that conflict in the interview. One of my top takeaways was to learn her favourite artist is Astrud Gilberto - who just happens to be my partner's favourite artist alongside Wynton Marsalis, so that was nice to see. MHJ mentions The Girl from Ipanema in the interview, so here it is for your reference:

*

Anon, you didn't ask for song recs but since I've already started, I'll end with Backslide by Twenty One Pilots that also came out a couple days ago, and Veridis Quo by Daft Punk because that just came up on my playlist.

Twenty One Pilots is right up there with Daft Punk when it comes to the most iconic duos in music, in my opinion. So yeah their music is on constant rotation. Here's a version of Veridis Quo as a mashup of Angèle and Daft Punk:

*

When ARMYs are being idiotic and the rest of k-pop fandom is self-immolating, the music makes it easy to ignore the noise.

[scarlxtleaves]

talk about dragon ball z!

𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐄 𝐀 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈'𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐈𝐓 / 𝐀𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆

Aside from Kimba and Mach Go!go!go! DBZ was really what got me into Anime like a lot of people, as a young boy it was all for the straight hands. I had no time for story..that and it aired spanish dub for us..I wasn't AS fluent in Spanish back then soo yeah it really was ALL about the hands for me back in the day until I got a bit older and understood more spanish and rewatched it again for another sitting and MIND BLOWN, it's like I was watching an entirely different. People don't mention it much but there's actually a solid story in DBZ...I mean is it perfect? Not at all but it's good enough to keep you entertained.

The saiyan saga being just a literal blood bath, I honestly think that's the most violent Toriyama's cooked in a saga. By the time the arc ended there were casualties, our heroes can BARELY stand up and Krillin comes up with this plan that's a BIG stretch but for his homies he T's up. ALSO this man doesn't get any respect and honestly I blame that shit on DBZ Abridged because of their Krillin Owned counter, making my boy the butt of majority of the joke in that series. (I'm not throwing shade I love DBZA it's just hsdhs little nitpick)

Let's not forget that DBZ is actually one of those anime that actually GROWS with you, I MEAN think about it. Peeps in japan started with it when Goku was a kid (12 or 13, hit me with the age in the comics) and look at him now, Not only a father but a GRANDFATHER too. DBZ Is just a different beast all together, and I'll make this one statement eventhough it's more Super related but I REALLY wished they'd just let gohan stick to his guns and just let him be a researcher or whatever he wanted to be. Giving him this BS with 'yeah you gotta protect your family' blah blah blah. The man's pops is literally the strongest man in the universe and his auntie has the God of Destruction in her back pocket, who's stepping up to run the fade?!

I always get off track whenever I talk about DBZ but in conclusion whilst there's tons of fighting in the anime that I love, there's also the concept of hard work, cherishing the friends we make along the way of our own journeys in life.

[pearl484-blog]

I've been reading Journey to the West for Fire Opal (its an old ass book that she apparently struggles with. My obsession with classical lit FOR THE WIN!)

Now, for background, we started off our knowledge from a summary given to us by Overly Sarcastic Productions. It's great. You should watch it.

Then, we watched Lego Monkie Kid, a TV series designed to be a sequel to the book with a lot of references to the series in a high energy action series with great animation. It's great. You should watch it.

But, if you're not familiar with Chinese folklore (or Japanese if you're a needy anime fan like me who liked Inuyasha and a few other series with Buddhist references (kinda did not realize how often those get in these shows, seriously)) you're going to miss a few jokes/references.

(The one about Mei, the dragon/pony descendant getting excited to meet her dragon/pony ancestor who must've been super helpful on their journey (He was FREQUENTLY forgotten by the authors of being a mother friggin DRAGON, they kept getting hung up on the whole acting as a horse thing) is HILARIOUS when you know how BADLY she's about to be disappointed.)

Anyway, back on topic, when we were checking out our book at the library, it was divided into several books (not surprising considering how big it is) and the first book was missing, so we picked up an abridged copy (only 700 pages. Yeah. Journey to the West is a door stopper at a whopping 20,000 pages.) It leaves out a lot of details, but even with OSP's summaries of each adventure, it was a LIFE SAVER.

Why?

Each friggin' character has like 8 names. You'd think the translators would give a quick rundown ahead of the book too, you know as a refresher for those who didn't have book 1, but NOPE!

The abridged version keeps each character with their easiest to recall nickname at all times and simplifies and explains a lot of mythology that English Speakers may not know as well.

Did you know that a winking wish is secretly a human? Because I did not. I've heard of talking carp, and wish granting carp. But not winking carp secretly being human.

Then there's the fact that the underworld can ask for bank loans from wealthy families on behalf of the emperor? What? Like, how does that work? Do you get a vision in a dream and your money's gone? Does a spirit collect it for you? Is it a blink and you miss it fortune? I am way too invested in these freaking underworld money lending deals.

Both are in Tang Sangzang's complicated backstory, and even with the abridged version walking me through it step by step, I can see why OSP shortened it into "basically He's the reincarnation of the Golden Cicada, former pupil of the Buddha and the goodness boy ever"

Anyways: a few comments

Why OSP did you call the spell that tightens the circlet on Monkey King's head a migraine spell? I mean, that is REALLY underselling the horror of that little do-dad. I was completely unprepared for the description of it squeezing Monkey King's skull until it resembled a vase as he begged for Tang to stop. That's a teeeeeny bit more than a migraine.

2. Also, why in the heck is Tamg so obsessed with his friggin' alms bowl?

For reference, Buddhist monks are not allowed to carry money, so to eat, they carry around a bowl you can leave food in to feed them, allowing you to support your local Buddhist monks and earn good karma. This is completely socially acceptable and is seen as a good thing to do. For this reason, most monks serve in urban environments so they can serve a large enough community to support this.

Tang Sangzang is in the middle of a pilgrimage with DAYS of rural country where there may be no one to beg from around. And YET, he seems adamantly against foraging.

One of his detractors' major complaints is that he's so gullible and soft-hearted he keeps falling into obvious traps, but honestly. That's forgivable compared to sending your companions to scoure WHOLE MOUNTAIN RANGES for some rinky dink little cabin that may or may not be there and may or may not be willing to part with their food and may or may not be able to accomodate a vegetarian diet when they are living by themselves ON A MOUNTAIN.

Is foraging REALLY against Tang Sangzang's brand of Buddhism? Is it too much to ask for him to just...asks his companions to forage and make him a meal? He doesn't mind making them beg for him.

OSP keeps describing it as Monkey going to get him food, but I genuinely thought he was using his skills to forage, not cloud hop around till he found a house to beg from.

Granted, the group would have probably gotten attacked/tricked/captured/etc. another way, but SERIOUSLY?

3. OSP describes the fight against White Bone Lady as Monkey King just hits her and she dies, but Monkie Kid makes a BIG deal out of her. So, I figured this was one of OSP's jokes. NOPE!

Ivory white bone demon or whatever is literally one-hit KO-ed THREE times by Monkey King. Her special ability appears to be illusions and the ability to drop her body and escape into an immaterial form at the last second.

However, narratively speaking, her fight is what drives Monkey King away to leave the first time, so apparently adaptations love upping her abilities so she's more of a legitimate threat.

This DOES however make her line that she's grown stronger since Monkey King last fought her VERY funny. Because I don't think there's another major demon who gets KO-ed that quickly, especially one that has that happen 3 times! (You'd think she'd have learned and called it quits by the third time. Or at least distract the freakishly strong evil-detecting bodyguard somehow, but no.) So, yeah. You survived a single punch. You leveled up girl!

Honestly, rewatching her scenes knowing this makes all her talk of being powerful very funny. She's terrifying, yeah, but also it's funny.

Edited 9/25: forgot to add a read more line. Whoops

[notahorseindisguise]

hi im the anon 👍 i've kinda only watched z so far

OH THATS OKAY !!! HAIII yes so like . in my lifetime ive only watched dragon ball z abridged on youtube (which i do highly recommend if you haven't yet) and i really fucking enjoyed that so bad, its like a really funny retelling of dragon ball z but also with a lot of the really epic moments still kept awesome. and then that made me want to really watch dragon ball z. but because im a person who like. needs to watch ALL of something. i started with dragon ball classic. and so far im really enjoying it!!! its really silly and goofy and im in LOVE with the characters and the magical world thats been built. its really good!! vut yeah thats okay we can catch up in like 3 weeks when im up to z ajdnansn

[starcrossedkaiju]

From this post:

all the unrealized concepts I had for a Third Life novelization with pretty in-depth world building and backstory that I never really got to see through because of circumstances but. Yeah.

If you don't mind, I'd like to hear more about it 👀👀👀👀 (not forced)

Yeah ofc!

Slight disclaimer that I did most of this back in the olden days of 2021 when 3rd Life was the only life series installment, and it wasn’t known for sure whether or not any more seasons would be made. I also unfortunately have not watched anything after Last Life, so I don’t really know The Lore past what I’ve made up.

The general idea was to write a play-by-play of the actual Third Life events, except the timeline spans multiple years rather than days/weeks. With the characters all starting out in their late teens to late twenties and ending about ten years later. There would be heavy focus on the world before the borders went up. As in, there used to be a functioning society that fell into ruin and division after years of civil war, and as punishment (and to cover up their own crimes), the Administration of the server (the equivalent of a governing body irl) basically locked everyone away and threw out the key.

The events that happened before the borders would obviously inform the characters’ decisions throughout their time trying to survive in the 3rd life map, as they all came from different backgrounds in the somewhat dystopian world they used to live in. Mainly in that a few of them were much closer to privilege than the others, and prejudice against one another must be overcome from the very start if they want to live through the first winter, and then the rest of their lives.

I won’t go into the specifics of every single character’s pre-game lives because that would be entirely exhaustive (though I may on a separate post if there’s interest); but I will give a little run down of Scott’s deal since his is the most different and he’s also the one that post is about.

Scott is not actually from the 3rd Life server (servers would be kind of like planets or something). He’s from another world which was taken over by greifers. It is subtly implied that this world used to be the Origins SMP map (this dates me significantly, I was not lying about this all being conceptualized in 2021), but it is unrecognizable now. He was twelve when the world was destroyed and taken over, and as a powerful Origin, he had to hide his identity as to not be press-ganged into working for the greifers. Hence the veil and the modest clothing. Eventually, when things went even more to shit, his father “broke the game” and forcefully sent Scott out of the world; and in a stroke of cosmic unluckiness he landed in the Third Life map when he was sixteen. Although much to the confusion of certain characters, Scott actually seems to like it there better.

So that’s the abridged version! Tldr I guess I would advertise it as a survival thriller with some political drama aspects.