#and then in a week i'm watching ep12 and after that i'll be completely done

[airenyah]

oh FUCK it's happening in the eclipse too....

you know that first time we get a flashback to aye with his uncle? when aye is sitting in his room looking at the dictionary, remembers his uncle, and then cries?

the music that starts in the flashback and continues to play while aye is crying is called what i can't foget

[airlock]

well! that's all the jellyfish couldn't swim. might as well write my thoughts on the finale down here from the top of it. maybe sometime in not very long I'll see what the thing looks like watched all at once, the way I usually do this

so first of all: I went in without raising my expectations for yuri too high, so I'm not burned as hard about that as folks largely seem to be. that said, I did go in with a lot of other expectations, and came out underwhelmed

the escalator scene was cute, and I did really want to see mahiru and kano back to being cute and physically affectionate with each other -- but god, what a weird way to build up to the resolution, and what a weak resolution. they really couldn't have had one conversation until after the big show? mahiru couldn't even tell the gang herself about the performance arrangement? and did they really not have more to say to each other than "oops I said something thoughtless" "whoops I may have done a few inconsiderate things" "[in sync] BUT MOVING ON--". like, on the one hand this is totally how some conflicts I've had in real life ended up, but on the other hand, this conflict was gnawing at the core of the plot for three episodes, and spoke to the central character motivations of both characters involved; how was the conclusion of it not supposed to be the main event today?

I guess that's where I really set myself up, because I'd spent the whole week dreaming up what a good resolution would've looked like, what sort of stirring words would've been exchanged then. maybe I'll just have to write that myself sometime.

and speaking of conflicts that were just glided over! I didn't want to believe that the Yukine situation was headed to the old "forgive and forget because they're family" scrapyard, but I guess that's also where I totally set myself up. I'd been waiting for things with Yukine and Mahiru to sour even a little; I'd been waiting for Kano to actually really find her way outside her shadow; and most of all, I'd been waiting to find out about the last depths of her character. and today, for a ghost of a moment, I thought they might actually have Kano choke off a show in front of her, see what something like that would bring her to do. but nope! the gig goes smoothly and all is forgiven. kano ugly-cries at just being called her damn name by her mother, like we're supposed to find that touching. turns out Yukine's just reeeaaaal all-business-like, y'see, and there was nothing deeper than that to when she tossed her daughter to the fucking wolves. remember when this show was good at organically developed drama?

(and while we're at it, anyone find it super weird that Mero just gets to have a "look up at the motivating sight" moment with Kano? out of nowhere? like I'm not strictly opposed to it happening at all, but maybe it should not have been the second thing to be said or thought between them since The Punchening.)

all of it coalesces into the culmination of what'd been really bugging me for much of the back half of the show: weird pacing. things getting glided over that could've been whole episodes, missing chunks, and just the general sense that we went from a superproduction straight into a rushed mess. I wonder what happened in the back end. I wonder if this would've gone better, or just been more of the same, if this weren't a 12-episode standaloner.

at least Kano did finally find a reason to sing that doesn't completely revolve around one person! it was a bit cheesy, but it was one of her matters getting a good, satisfying conclusion. more than can be said for Mahiru, unfortunately.

I guesd that's the other thing I'd been expecting of this chapter that didn't pan out. ep9 centered on Kano; ep10 centered on Mei; ep11 centered on Kiui. but ep12 had like one really good Mahiru scene (the negotiation at the beginning) and that was it for her. not a great comeback for our out-of-focus protagonist! she delivered the final jellyfish speech that I'm sure we all knew was coming, but it felt totally unearned. wish you could've really shined on your own today, sweet jelly

Mei and Kiui got very good slices of epilogue for themselves, at least. Mei gets to be the inspiration she once needed! Kiui wasn't going to have much new to do, but she's already starting to put her dreams into practice!! those two I could walk out happy for, at least!

the graduations and the new mural painting scenes were cute, but they really just kind of happened, despite how much more of the episode they took up; again, weird pacing. and y'know, for how inportant the bonds between those four had become, I wish they'd had more to carry into the future than "maybe we'll still hang out sometimes". still, I suppose I would've been less sour on all of that if this hadn't had to be the episode that so much else was riding on, and crashed down upon. I guess that's also something I'd noticed earlier about this half of the show: the downtime scenes are ending up sort of carrying the emotional core where the main plot keeps letting it down.

oh well! much as all the unmet expectations hurt, and much as I'm not going to be able to say that yorukura actually surpassed a lot of my existing favourite anime, it's been a fun ride up to here. and I'll be carrying the better moments of it forward in my heart

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (31/03/24)

there's still 3 shows that haven't finished yet and next week the new season is gonna start already at least I will only be watching a fraction of what I was this season so that's gonna give me a lot more time to catch up on some stuff and play some things I've been putting off for a while (hopefully)

blue - finale/completed

Anime

Gushing over Magical Girls Ep13 (Finale)

surprisingly the best looking showed out of the 3 ecchi ones I watched this season, despite being the lewdest by far but anyway it was alright. the only thing I knew about it going in was that it was about magical girls and lewd. turns out it's just the author's thinly veiled fetishes totally out in the open with a thin coat of magical girl on top to have an excuse to do stuff like MOTW there's not much else to say about it really, everything that happens including plot developments are just an excuse for more and lewder scenes. not sure about reading the manga anymore after having watched it but I'll probably watch a s2 if it ever gets one

Mashle S2 Ep12 (Finale)

there's not much to say really. I had hope it'd be better than s1 and while it was due to the source material being better it still wasn't that much. was hoping for a lot more sakuga cause of one of the pvs they showed but there was barely any. even the best fight in the series which I had my hopes up for only had 1 cool moment and the rest was just the usual quality. which mind you, isn't bad at all, but still not as good as it could be. out of all the things that aired this season too I expected this to get another season announced since they can finish adapting the manga with just 2 more cours (3 at most) but they haven't yet. they announced an event in may so if there's a s3 announcement it'll be there but don't hold your breath I guess

tl;dr: everything I said about s1 applies here. you're better off reading the manga instead since the anime doesn't really get the vibes right

Pokemon Horizons Ep45

this episode marked the end of the second arc and the first year of the anime (basically). next episode we start a more scarvi focused art with the main characters going to the school from the game and a ton of npcs showing up or making a return (rika and nemona 🙏)

but anyway this arc was just alright. it was all about searching and getting the six hero pokemon but there were more random eps about other stuff than that. we also have the explorers who are supposed to be the antagonists and they barely showed up despite them revealing the designs for a bunch of them. two of them are gonna be a part of the school art so maybe they'll have a bigger part in the story but I doubt it. they'll prob just be there to give the mcs a hard time and be comedic relief like team rocket.

anyway, considering how it's gone I don't have very high hopes for this next arc BUT I'm stoked to see rika and nemona, they're some of the best things to come out of those games by far

Manga

Ruri Dragon Ch11

today marked the last chap of ruri on WSJ, going forward it'll be on jump+ and run biweekly, tho the next chap will be on the 21st so I guess it's taking a week off. kinda weird to make the transition on an incomplete part like, could've very easily done it on last week's chap it felt like a more natural stopping point, but oh well. obviously tho she's gonna join that committee thing and the other girl that doesn't like her is gonna be a part of it too and they'll make up and become friends too anyway it was nice having ruri back, it's still as good as before it left. it's a shame that it's going biweekly but hey, the author's health is more important