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turtlycute · 4 years

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do you have an anime watch list for beginners like the best animes of all time

Hello Nonny, thank you so much for your question. This is going to be a long post so get comfortable.

Like any anime lover, I have my own ideas of what some of the best animes for beginners might be. Unfortunatly, a lot of the "best of all time" type anime is not really the best for newer viewers. Like for so many others, my first animes were epic series like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sailor Moon and Inuyasha. These all hold special places in my heart and are all fun nostalgic or first watches.

The anime genres I tend to gravitate towards now are slice of life, comedy, drama, romance and shoujo with some sports, supernatural and mystery animes thrown in. So, keep that in mind as you read this list. If those are not your kinda things, then this is not the list for you. A lot of shows on this list are classics or highly popular in these genres. I've also choosen anime that comes in both English sub and dubbed versions because, for beginners, dubbed is sometimes easier to follow and enjoy. Subbed or dubbed, there is no judgment here as long as you are enjoying what you watch. Finally, I tried to stick to anime with mostly 1-3 seasons only. There is nothing wrong with the more epic long running series and many of these fall under "the best of all time" heading but seeing that an anime has 100+ episodes can be kinda daunting for a novice viewer. Now to the list...

First of all, if you are just wanting to try anime but, not wanting to commit to a whole series, I would recommend starting with a movie or two. Some classic films I would recommend would be Totoro, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle from Studio Ghibli. Some more contemporary films like, Your Name, Weathering With You, A Silent Voice and Wolf Children, would also be great anime starting points. These films are staples for any anime collection.

Now, as for anime series, here is just a list of 10 that I think quality animes and would be great beginner watches.

Ouran High School Host Club:

Haruhi Fujioka is a scholarship student at the elite Ouran High School. One day, Haruhi becomes accidentally indebted to the school host club. Now she must work off her debt by playing the role of a male host to the female student clientele. Hilarity ensues.

This reverse harem show is a much loved modern classic for a reason. It's full of fun characters and lighthearted comedy moments with just enough drama and romance to keep you coming back for more.

Maid Sama:

Misaki Ayuzawathe is the first female student council president for a previously all boys school. Now, her life is busy with maintaining top grades, keeping the male students in line, recruiting more girls to the school and keeping her part-time job at a maid cafe a secret. When one day Takumi Usui, the most popular boy in school, discovers her secret job, Misaki finds herself doing everything she can to keep him from revealing the truth to the whole school.

This shoujo has enough of comedy, romance and drama to satisfy anyone's appetite.

Fruits Basket:

After finding herself orphaned and homeless, high schooler Tohru Honda makes a new home with classmates Yuki and Kyo Sohma along with there guardian Shigure Sohma. But the Sohma's have a dark secret, they are under a curse that causes them to change into animals from the Chinese zodiac when hugged by members of the opposite sex. Now, Tohru must keep their secret as she learns more about this family and their curse.

There are actually 2 different versions of this show. Many people would recommend that you start with the completed classic 2001 version but, I'm going to say it's okay to skip that for later and dive into the 2019 reboot and ongoing series. The newer series is so beautifully animated and has a more detailed version of the story than its predecessor. This shoujo is full of drama, comedy, romance, supernatural mysteries and inspirational moments. You'll definitely need a kleenex box when watch this one.

Kamisama Kiss:

One day high school student Nanami Momozono finds herself abandoned by her father, penniless and homeless. After she saves a mysterious man in the park, he offers to help her by giving his home to her. She soon discovers that this gift home is really a rundown shrine and she has magically become local land god. Now, she must learn to juggle her school life and her new position as a land god. Luckily for her, a reluctant fox familiar named Tomoe comes with the shine and has to give her assistance with it all.

This classic is part shoujo comedy and part supernatural adventure. I definitely recommend this in the English dub if for no other reason than to enjoy J. Michael Tatum's voice work as Tomoe.

The Morose Mononokean:

Hanae Ashiya spends his first week of high school with a mystery illness that has left him feeling increasingly weak. He eventually discovers that the cause of his illness is a large fluffy creature that has attached itself to his back. When Hanae comes across a flyer advertising an exorcist who expels youkai, he decides that exorcism might be just the thing to remove the creature. The flyer leads him to the Mononokean and a magical tea room which suddenly appears. The Mononokean turns out to be a fellow classmate, Haruitsuki Abeno, who reluctantly helps Hanae but, demands that Hanae work as his assistant to repay him for the exorcism. Now, Hanae spends his free time working to learn about yokai spirits and how to best help the yokai that live in the mundane world.

This supernatural comedy is just fun to watch, with enough drama to keep you interested. It really has that classic Saturday morning anime adventure feel but, for a slightly older audience.

The Devil is a Part-Timer:

Just as Demon Lord Satan, a.k.a the Devil has nearly conquered the world of Ente Isla and destroyed his enemies, a hero named Emilia corners him and forces him and his top general to escape through a portal to modern day Earth. Emilia, of course, follows him determined to finally defeat the Devil. But now they all find themselves on Earth with no powers, they must discover how to survive even if that means the Devil must get a part-time job at Mc Ronald's just to pay the rent.

What can I say about this show... It starts out with an almost stereotypical supernatural action/adventure anime feel only to turn into a comedic slice of life with a little romance and the ocational fight sequence thrown in. This show is one of the best examples of how versatile anime can be and a great way to get a little taste of a lot of genres.

Death Note:

High school student Light Yagami stumbles upon a supernatural notebook that allows its owner to kill by simply writing someone's name down. Light soon sees the death notebook as a way to reform society's ills by killing criminals and undesirables to create world without crime. Once the police discover that a mysterious serial killer is targeting criminals, they bring in the worlds greatest detective, L, to find and capture this serial killer. This begins a epic battle of witts between Light and L.

This classic anime is a lot darker than anything else on the list but, it's definitely worth mentioning. It was one of the earlier animes I watched and I'm still a fan to this day. It falls mostly into the categories of thriller, supernatural, mystery, horror and crime drama. It is also another one that I'd strongly recommend the English dub over the subbed version. So, if you want to take little walk on the anime dark side, this is a good place to start.

Yuri On Ice:

After a disastrous performance and coming in last place at the Grand Prix, ice skater Yuri Katsuki is thinking about retiring. That is until his skating idol and living legend Victor Nikiforov shows up to his home offering to be his coach. Now, with Victor's help Yuri works to rebuild his career and fight his way to a gold medal at the Grand Prix Final.

Yuri On Ice is my all time favorite anime so, of course it's going to make the list. So much about the struggles and perseverance of the characters in this sports anime is inspiring. Then, when you add in a little romance, flashy skating routines to a great original soundtrack and the drama of competition, everything about this show gets a gold medal.

Free!-Iwatobi Swim Club:

Haruka Nanase has always had a strong connection to the water and a passion for swimming. As he starts high school, Haruka is reunited with childhood friends from a youth swim team, Nagisa Hazuki and Makoto Tachibana. The three decide to start a school swim team. Now, they must recruit a fourth member and train to be able compete in their first swim meet. Watch to see these guys bond as a team and friends and as they pursue their goal to compete at Nationals.

There are a lot of great sports anime out there but, this one is a good one to start with. Free! exemplifies so many standard tropes within this genre and does in an engaging way with an easy to understand sport. There are multiple seasons and movies for this series but, the first season, Free! -Iwatobi Swim Club, is satisfying enough as a stand alone.

My Roommate is a Cat:

Subaru Mikazuki, an introvert writer with social anxiety, adopts a stray cat after a chance encounter. Together they both learn they are not as alone as each of them believed.

This slice of life anime is sooooo relatable, cute and funny. If you're looking for something that's low key and will make you feel all warm inside, than this is the show you should start with.

Here are some honorable mention animes to also consider: Toradora, ReLife, Princess Jellyfish (I just love this show and think everyone should watch it), Black Butler (if you're willing to sort out the correct viewing order it can be worth it), the classic Avatar: The Last Airbender (yeah, yeah, yeah is it anime or isn't, doesn't matter it's a great gateway) and Kakuriyo- Bed and Breakfast for Spirits

So here are some of my top favorite anime for beginners recommendations. A nice mix of classic standards and a few newer shows that really show off specific genres. These are just my opinions, I'm sure there are many other animes that should probably make this list. As always, if anyone wants to add to this list or make some different suggestions please feel welcome to add your own favorites in the comments or as a reblog. Thank you Nonny for the ask and I hope you find this list helpful.

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medea10 · 4 years

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My Review of Trigun

How did I get into this anime? Let’s just say this was one of those animes that used to air on Saturday nights back in the day that I would every now and then come across while waiting for either Full Metal Alchemist, InuYasha, or Cowboy Bebop to air. But I never did watch a full episode or know a damn thing about this anime. So I’m just jumping into this anime blindfolded. All I know is that this was Johnny Yong Bosch’s first anime role.

Who is Vash the Stampede?

A frequent question that comes up throughout the series! Rumor has it that he wears a long, red trench coat and sports a Mohawk hairstyle. Some say he’s a notorious lecher. Many recount him shooting up their villages to a pile of rubble just for the heck of it. He has quite the reputation as he has a $$60,000,000,000 bounty on his head and is often known as the “Humanoid Typhoon”.

In reality, Vash the Stampede is…a bit of a dingus. He just happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and things kinda get out of hand. But that doesn’t stop two insurance agents (Milly Thompson and Meryl Stryfe) from following him around to confirm Vash’s identity and keep his actions to a minimum. At first, it’s hard to tell if he’s a stupid-genius or just flighty and gets lucky one too many times. But when shit goes down, don’t be surprised when you see this doofus get serious.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Okay, what sad company did this use to belong to, Geneon, Bandai, or ADV Films? Oh, Geneon! That means good voice actors from L.A. put in really shitty roles. On the contrary, this was a fairly decent English dub. And on a severely positive note, this was indeed Johnny Yong Bosch’s very first anime role (and a main role at that). This was like fresh off his time as a Power Ranger! And I gotta give props for giving this guy a chance at voice acting. This role was the launching point to what has been a very successful career for Bosch. As for the sub, let’s just say I’m happy any time I get to hear Hiromi Tsuru in something besides Dragon Ball. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Vash is played by Masaya Onosaka (known for Bill on Pokemon, Isaac on Baccano, Jadeite on Sailor Moon, Kero on Cardcaptor Sakura, Leeron on Gurren Lagann, France on Hetalia, and Spandam on One Piece)

*Meryl is played by Hiromi Tsuru (known for Bulma on DBZ, Ukyo on Ranma ½, Yubel on YGO GX, and Mika on Gravitation) [R.I.P.]

*Milly is played by Satsuki Yukino (known for Kagome on InuYasha, Mion/Shion on Higurashi, Tae on Gintama, Amakata on Free!, Hiiragi on Natsume Yuujinchou, Mutsumi on Love Hina, and Yoruichi on Bleach)

ENGLISH CAST: *Vash is played by Johnny Yong Bosch (known for Ichigo on Bleach, Lelouch on Code Geass, Makoto on Free!, Izaya on Durarara, Artemis on Sailor Moon redub, Koizumi on Haruhi Suzumiya, and Yukio on Blue Exorcist)

*Meryl is played by Dorothy Elias-Fahn (known for Kaoru on Rurouni Kenshin, Naru on Love Hina, Tomoe on Rozen Maiden, Hakuei on Magi, Houki on Fushigi Yugi, and Amane on Tenchi Muyo GXP)

*Milly is played by Lia Sargent (known for Dorothy on The Big O and Judy on Cowboy Bebop)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: Milly! I don’t need a reason, it’s Milly!

SHIPPING: I didn’t really start thinking about shipping until more than halfway into this series. I thought there might be something between Vash and Meryl, but then again maybe not! Then I saw the backstory of Vash’s “younger days” and falling for the one woman who showed him compassion.

Yes, this is the same woman we consistently see in Vash’s flashbacks, Rem. Ooh boy, it’s one of those stories! So yeah, never mind my thinking with Vash x Meryl ever happening. I feel like Vash will mourn Rem’s death for a long time that I don’t think the whole thing with Meryl will ever work.

And as for Wolfwood x Milly…

FUUUUUUUCK! WHY DID YOU RUIN THIS CUTE COUPLE?!

MILLY WAS HEART-BROKEN!

…At least she got to have one night of passion with Wolfy-boy before the unthinkable happened.

THAT DARN CAT: If you watched this series, you might have noticed a little black cat spotted in nearly every episode. It’s there in the opening theme. It’s there in random places throughout the series. It’s there in the ending theme. What’s up with this cat? Well, there are a lot of theories surrounding this particular cat (or Kuroneko). Some say it’s really Rem inside that cat since you see it in literally every episode around Vash. Others say it’s because the creator of Trigun wanted to just mess with your minds with the kitty walking around in random places and towns. Seriously, it will always appear in every new town Vash and the gang comes across! As an avid cat enthusiast, I’m fine with whatever the result. Just as long as no harm comes to the little Kuroneko.

HALFWAY POINT: Halfway into the series we notice something more when it comes to Mr. Vash the Stampede. First of all, those horrifying scars all over his body! Second, that mysterious girl he often thinks about. I mean, we see flashes of her in the opening sequence. And third, the reason why he never kills. Vash has the ability of causing so much damage when pushed to a breaking point. One of the many reasons why he’s known as the “humanoid typhoon”! And that was perfectly shown when Vash chases the residents out of a town (so there would be no casualties), totally demolished the town during a fight, and made an indent on the moon!

But the story takes a sharp-left turn into WTF territory when we learn about WHAT exactly Vash is. Vash is a plant. Vash also has a brother named Knives. And while Vash has a mentality that all beings have a right to live, Knives has a “kill them all and let God sort them out” point of view. Now the existence of Vash and Knives came with a lot of controversy, especially in the ship that they were on. But that girl who Vash cares for, Rem cared for them regardless of what they were. Rem had high hopes for a peaceful world with coexistence. Too bad Knives had other motives and killed her.

ENDING TO TV SERIES: Vash has tried so hard to keep Milly, Meryl, and Wolfwood out of harm’s way. He knows there are some pretty bad people after him, including his polar-opposite brother, Knives. Vash hates death and wants to save as many people as humanly possible. He doesn’t want to see any more needless death. Probably from his flashbacks and losing Rem! Unfortunately, this doesn’t go so well.

I can see how iconic this death was now after witnessing it. Wolfwood, the priest who would hook up with Vash every now and then when they’re up against some ruffians, now finds himself in a crucial decision. He gets orders that he must eliminate Vash. And Wolfwood ends up dying instead in a very dramatic death scene. God-damn! And just that scene where Milly is sobbing freakin’ eats you up inside.

At least she had one night of passion before the unfortunate happened!

Vash hates the thought of having to kill anyone. But he might not have a choice if Knives is coming after him and even hires a powerful foe from a previous episode and the guy that killed Wolfwood to take you out. Once Vash met up with Knives, he winds up having some pretty sick flashbacks of Knives. But our homeboy was able to take out Knives, the desert area gets water, and…

I’m gonna have to read the fucking manga for more, right?

Tap dancing fuck!

BADLANDS RUMBLE: 12 years after the series ended, Japan decides to release a side-story in the form of a movie, bringing back our favorite characters like Vash, Wolfwood, Milly, and Meryl. And yes, reuniting the cast…in Japan.

By 2010, Geneon was as good as dead and FUNimation licensed Trigun. In short, they managed to get Johnny Young Bosch to reprise his role as Vash the Stampede. But everyone else was replaced. And surprisingly, the people they got to do Wolfwood and Milly were pretty freakin’ close to their original voices. Meryl’s voice, come on I know Luci Christian any-damn-where! Vash helps a young lady take out a big-bad guy (who turns out to be his father). And it has the feel of the original series where it’s set in a western town with lots of booze and shoot-em-ups! It’s an interesting side-story to the Trigun trilogy.

Trigun was a pretty good anime. I mean, not one of my favorites, but I can definitely see a lot of people sticking by this classic. Maybe you can chalk up my blah attitude to the fact that I’m not fond of westerns and I kinda took it out on Trigun. Or the fact that there was so much more that the anime could have covered before the end and the ending kinda felt off to me! Like I thought I was expecting more. But I suppose that’s what mangas are for. To be honest, the stories that really grabbed my attention were the back-stories with Vash and Knives and Wolfwood’s final episode.

*sniffles* At least Milly got one night of passion before he died!

If you would like to check out Trigun, all the episodes are available through FUNimation and Hulu (in both Japanese and English). And if you really like the anime, why not purchase the hard copies? Both the series and movie are available for home video.

Okay, that took me a while, but I’m glad to finish Trigun. What’s next on the FUNimation list?

EEHHHHHEEEHHHE

Fuck is that supposed to mean? What is that? Is that even in English?

YOU WILL BE HORRIBLY MUTILATED: The Isekai

Do you mean Re:Zero? That’s great…but that review’s not ready yet. And it probably won’t be until after April 2021! So let’s cast caution to the wind and pick another FUNimation licensed anime.

You’re watching Sarazanmai next. It’s best if you don’t ask questions.

Sarazanmai? The fuck does that even mean?!

OH. MY. GOD.

#trigun #vash the stampede #meryl stryfe #milly thompson #nicholas d wolfwood #knives millions #anime review

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chucklegigglechortlesnort · 4 years

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Meet Me on The Dance Floor

A/N: literally no one asked, but here you go. This is self indulgence at its finest. If you haven’t watched Kekkai Sensen already, I recommend it - both sub and dub are gold - it’s one of my very favorites.

I’m finally done with school, so I’ll be back on the fanfic grind.

Word count: 3.5k

Warnings: kissing, mentions of alcohol (legal drinking)

. . . . . . . . . .

“Hey, do you wanna go out tonight?”

It had all started with those seven simple words.

It wasn’t unusual for the two of you to hang out on weekends, in fact, it was one of the few things that Leo had become accustomed to while living in Hellsalem’s. However, typically the two of you usually spent that time lounging in your pajamas, eating junk food, and marathoning old true crime shows.

Going out was different.

Zapp had teased him relentlessly when he found out - god knows how - but it’s not like it was really anything new. It was obvious to everyone that the two of you were close and despite how that may have appeared, it never transcended beyond friendship. Even after all the obnoxious prodding that Zapp had subjected him to, Leo just couldn’t bring himself to make the first move.

“Out?”

The volume of Leo’s voice nearly made him wince, but he cleared his throat instead, face slightly rosy. You recoiled slightly, breaking eye contact in favor of the tiled floor of the common room. Leo inwardly cringed at the look on your face, regretting his outburst, but if you were hurt you didn’t dwell on it.

“Well… yeah! I mean, I know the owner of the club and I’ve heard good things.” You shrugged, glancing back up to meet Leo’s gaze. “I know going out isn’t really your thing, but I promise it’ll be safe. If anything happens, we’ve got each other. Besides, I think all these snack-filled movie marathons are starting to get to me.” You grimace as you jokingly pat your stomach.

Normally Leo would’ve laughed and shared the sentiment, or told you that you still looked pretty good to him, but instead he was just… silent. What did this mean? Were you asking him out as a friend? Were you asking him because you wanted more than just a friendship?

“I- I mean, you really don’t have to if you don’t want to, I can just ask Chain if she wants to- “

“N-no! I’m, I mean- I would like to go out with you!” Oh god, this was pathetic, “I mean, yes I would like to go out with you to the club! Yeah, the club-”

Once again you recoiled from his sudden outburst, but this time, after a few seconds a happy grin stretched across your face and you laughed. Oh, thank goodness.

“Alright then, I’ll see you at my place after work. The venue isn’t too far from my building so we’ll meet at quarter to ten and head over then. Sound good?”

“Yeah… sounds good!”

Leo waved you off as you happily turned on your heel and out of the room to run an errand. Not long after, Zapp came sauntering into the room like usual, dragging Leo off to do who knows what.

By the end of the day, Leo had almost died twice, a record all-time low considering what his norm was.

He had rushed over to your apartment having lost track of time after the long workday and despite wanting nothing more than to drown himself in the unreasonably soft pillows covering your living room, he began to psych himself up to go out. He knocked on the door of your apartment, slightly out of breath. This was going to be fun right? Just two good friends going out together for a good time, nothing more nothing less-

Your door swung open and Leo’s jaw hit the floor.

Your hair was slightly messier than normal, but he could only assume it had been done on purpose as you normally came into work looking neat and professional. It suited you. Your eyelids glittered with a subtle shimmer and your skin looked practically flawless, lips coated in a layer of gloss that he couldn't tear his eyes off of.

“Le- oh.”

“Huh?” Leo returned, snapping out of his hypnosis as he glanced back up at your eyes, “What?”

“You look like you just got jumped, no offense.” You reply, moving aside to let him in. He lets out a tired sigh, trudging through the doorway and flopping onto your couch.

“None taken.” He uttered through the cushion fabric, it was more or less what had happened anyways.

“Well, I was just about to get dressed, but are you still up to go out? We can always take a rain check and go out another night you know. We have an emergency snack supply and a new true crime show to binge so we’d be totally set.”

Leo kept his face pressed into the pillow and weighed his options. As nice as your proposal sounded, he knew he’d feel guilty if the both of you ended up staying in. He didn’t want to go back on what he said either, even though he knew you wouldn’t hold it against him.

“No, it’s okay, just give me a minute.”

He heard you snort and his head shot up from the pillow, “What? What’s so funny?”

You shook your head, trying to force down giggles at the way his hair stuck up at odd angles.

“Don’t worry about it,” You answered, disappearing into the hallway and to your room which wasn’t far off. “Oh, and Leo?”

“Yeah?”

“Is that what you’re wearing out?”

Oops.

With all the commotion of the last day, he’d completely forgotten to bring a change of clothes, though he wasn’t really sure if he had anything that suited the venue, to begin with. After a little while of no response, you stuck your head out of your bedroom to see what the hold up was.

Leo had sat up on the couch, rubbing the back of his head bashfully, “Uh, it's all I really have, sorry.”

“Hey, don't worry about it then. Come here a sec.”

He slowly rose from the comfort of the couch, shuffling apprehensively over to your room. It wasn’t that he’d never been in your room before, but it still felt oddly intimate, like he wasn’t supposed to be there or something. When he reached your doorway, he saw you going through your closet, tossing items of clothing haphazardly onto the bed behind you.

You glanced over to see Leo awkwardly standing in the doorway, looking mildly unsure, “Come in come in, you’re not going to get scolded,” you joked, dragging him further in, right next to where you stood previously.

You motioned to the items of clothing splayed across the comforter, “See anything you like?”

“Aren’t these all your clothes?”

“Yeah, but a lot of the things I buy are actually ‘men’s clothing’.” You say, putting air quotes around “men’s clothing.”

Leo glanced down at the pile of clothes, completely lost. Sighing, you reached down and grabbed an over-sized, white t-shirt, a pair of solid, black dress-joggers, and a maroon bomber jacket that, funnily enough, matched his hair.

“Here,” You tossed the bundle of clothes into his arms, skirting around him to your vanity. You picked up a simple silver chain and handed it to Leo. His eyebrows rose slightly and you shook your head.

“Just, trust me.”

He only sighed and shrugged, mumbling, “Alright,” under his breath.

As you exited, you turned to pull the door shut, catching a quick glance at the way his shirt rode up his back as he pulled off his sweatshirt. You knew Leo never was one to boast, but despite all the claims that he was weak, he was actually quite… built. Heat rose to your cheeks as the image of a shirtless Leo flashed through your mind and you were thankful he hadn’t caught your eye when you had closed the door.

Not long after you had shut him in, Leo popped his head out of your doorway, once again looking mildly unsure.

“Well? Let me see!” You exclaimed impatiently.

Tentatively, he stepped out into the hallway, revealing your handy work. The t-shirt that would have normally swallowed you whole hung slightly loose around Leo’s torso, the bomber jacket fitting surprisingly well around his shoulders. The black joggers and chain pulled the look together, making the outfit look slightly more expensive than it actually was.

“So…?” Leo didn’t know quite what to make of his outfit. He rarely ever wore anything other than his staple hoodie, which eas beginning to wear down after all the wash cycles it had been through, so it was… nice to dress differently than he usually did.

“Perfect,” You stated, clasping your hands together in front of you enthusiastically, “Now all I have to do is change and we can head out.”

You were in and out in record time, and you looked absolutely stunning.

You had shed the over-sized sweatshirt and replaced it with a cropped leather jacket, a lacy maroon bodysuit peeking out from underneath it. A high wasted mini skirt met the jacket as it stopped just below your ribs, slits strategically placed on either side to show off a little extra skin while providing a little extra mobility without the risk of your skirt riding up. The whole look was pulled together by a pair of Dr. Martens.

Leo was at a loss for words for the ‘nth time that day.

Luckily you didn’t waste any more time as you brushed past him, calling over your shoulder, “Ready to go?”

“Y- Yeah! Just let me get my shoes on!”

He stumbled after, regaining his footing by the time he made it to your front door. He thanked the gods that he had chosen to wear his new shoes today. His last pair had been absolutely totaled by the last monster he had encountered the other day and these ones went much better with the outfit than the previous ones would’ve.

By the time he had finished tying up the laces, you were already excitedly waiting with the door open. He quickly exited the apartment, waiting for you to shut and lock the door before following you out of the building.

The walk to the venue was short, Leo having internally debated whether or not he should just grab your hand the whole five-minute walk. It was too soon that you had arrived at the entrance and with a wave of your hand you made your way past the bouncer, announcing that you had brought a plus one with you. Disgruntled bar-hoppers protested against your bypassing of the line but were swiftly silenced by one growl from the alterworlder guarding the door.

Bass blasted through the speakers surrounding the dance floor and off to the side was a large bar boasting a plethora of liquors and fine wines. You grabbed Leo’s hand, pulling him straight to the bar.

“Two Blue Moon’s to start off the night please!” You shout over the music. The bartender nods, grabbing two bottles and sliding them down the counter. You pass one of the already cracked open beverages off to your companion, clinking the drinks together before taking your first sip.

Three beers and two shots later, you began to feel the familiar buzz setting in. Leo had finally begun to loosen up halfway through his third beer and you were currently boisterously laughing at his recollection of the day’s past events - something about zap nearly getting his dick blown off by one of his crazy one-night stands.

You were mid-laugh when the song suddenly changed and your face lit up with recognition. You turned to Leo, a hopeful look on your face.

“Hey! I know this song, wanna go dance?”

He glanced up from his beer, looking slightly shocked. His cheeks were already tinted rosy from the alcohol but he could feel the color rising to his cheeks at your suggestion.

“Um, yeah, sure.”

Your face lights up at his words and butterflies swarm around in his stomach, despite the alcohol in his system. Hopping down from your seat at the bar, you grab his hand once more, this time intertwining your fingers with his as you lead him to the dance floor.

You expertly wove your way through sweat soaked individuals gyrating to the beat of the music, ending up somewhere not too far from the edge but far enough that you were surrounded on all sides by other people. Once you seemed satisfied with your location, you pulled Leo towards you until there was less than a hair’s width of space between the two of you, placing the hand you held in yours on your waist, encouraging the other to follow suit. Your arms circled around Leo’s shoulders, bringing him impossibly close as you gently swayed to the beat.

Leo felt as if his whole body was on fire. Not a single part of him was unaware of your closeness and his intoxicated mind could barely fathom how much had changed in that single moment you had decided to pull him against you. One moment he was buzzed without a care in the world, the next he was close enough to kiss you if he wanted to.

And he really wanted to.

Feeling oddly brave, Leo brought his forehead to rest against yours. It may have just been him being too hopeful, but he thought that maybe he saw your gaze flick to his lips for a moment before glancing back up at him through lidded eyes. And maybe it was just his poor depth perception from the alcohol running through his veins, but it was almost as if with each sway of your bodies, your face was inching closer to his.

Fuck it.

Mustering all of the courage he had, Leo closed the distance between you, gently slotting his lips with yours. It only lasted a few seconds before he pulled away, wanting to make sure he hadn’t overstepped his bounds. His heart pounded in his chest as he waited for you to push him away, to tell him that you didn’t see him like that, or maybe even slap him, but none of those happened. Instead, he was pulled back towards you, this time your lips crashing together. With newfound confidence, Leo pulled your body flush against his to deepen the kiss. Hands slowly traveled up his shoulders and threaded themselves into messy maroon curls as you sucked his bottom lip into your mouth and softly bit down. Leo let out an embarrassing whimper at the sensation, suddenly thankful that the music had drowned out all other noises. His grip on your hips tightened reflexively when your tongue glided over his lip to soothe the bite, before slipping past his lips and tangling with his own.

Suddenly you broke away from the kiss, panting heavily as the song came to an end.

“Let’s go back to my place, yeah?” you asked breathlessly, intently searching his face as you waited for an answer.

The two of you hadn’t been out for more than an hour and a half, but despite this, Leo found himself nodding in response. Fingers laced themselves through his and he allowed himself to be lead off the dance floor through an obstacle course of swaying bodies and to the club’s exit. The sudden gush of fresh air did little to sober the two of you up as you insistently tugged along a stumbling Leo, who wondered how on earth you were able to walk so effortlessly despite the alcohol in your system.

As soon as you made it past your building security you were practically dragging him up the stairs and to your apartment door where you hastily unlocked it, barely making it inside before your lips connected again.

Who really initiated, neither of you knew, but it hardly mattered. The heady mixture of alcohol and pent up sexual tension had overriden any inhibitions that previously lingered in your minds and the only thing your inebriated brain could focus on was how good it finally felt to be doing this.

Your back was flush with the wall while your front was pressed completely against Leo’s, who’s hands had found their place back on your hips. Your arms wrapped around his neck, hands threading themselves into the curls at the nape of his neck and tugging. This time Leo let out a mixture of a whimper and a moan, muffled by your tongue slipping past his lips and into his mouth, tangling with his own.

You pulled away shortly after, trailing your lips first over his jaw before coming to a halt over his pulse. You hovered over the spot for just a moment, before firmly placing your lips on his skin and softly sucking. A sharp intake of breath could be heard and almost immediately Leo’s arms snaked around your waist, holding you tightly to him and completely closing the distance between you. His lips found yours once again, this kiss just a little bit needier, just a little bit sloppier than the last.

Your right hand gently de-tangled from his hair and slowly trailed down his arm before slipping between your bodies and underneath the fabric of the loose, white t-shirt. Your hand trailed up his abdominal and just about reached his rib cage, lifting the hem of the shirt along with it.

Your fingertips had just about reached his upper chest when suddenly-

“Hold on.”

Leo abruptly tore away from you, gazing down at your face which was tight with confusion and borderline hurt. He hated it, and he hated it more that he was currently the reason for it, but he couldn’t go any further without knowing.

“I don’t- I wouldn’t… do this, with just anybody. And I, um- I don’t want to- wait, no. I do want to, but only if, you know, the feeling is… mutual.”

There was a pregnant pause as you contemplated his words, and suddenly your face was flushed a deep crimson red, the alcohol in your system doing nothing to subdue the embarrassment overtaking your entire body at the moment. You buried your face in your hands, trying to will away the intense blush that painted your countenance.

Oh jeez, you were such an idiot.

“Well. You see, I had a plan.”

“Huh?”

“I was going to start asking you out on more… date like outings, and somewhere along the way you’d hopefully get the message or I’d build up enough courage to, you know, ask you out,” you explained. “I certainly wasn’t expecting this to happen, and I just thought, well-“

“-that I got the message.” Leo finished.

“Mhm.” You nodded, “I definitely got a bit carried away though, I’m sorry.”

Another pause settled over the two of you, and after a little while you slowly peaked from behind your hands to gauge his reaction. To your surprise, his face was covered in a blush of its own, his normally squinted shut eyes drawn open in shock.

“Leo? Are you-”

“A complete idiot? Yes.”

“Well, that’s not what I was going to say, but if the shoe fits.” You cracked, trying to ease the tension that had settled over the two of you. Leo only blinked in response, and you thought that maybe you had made the wrong choice until-

“Pft-“ The both of you burst out into a fit of giggles, marveling at the ridiculous situation.

You gently shook your head as the giggles quieted, but the smile on your face remained. You glanced over to the time displayed in bright, green numbers on your microwave, taking note that it was only half past eleven.

“You know, it’s still pretty early and those snacks aren’t going to eat themselves.” You concluded, settling your gaze back onto Leo.

His own countenance was decorated with a soft smile, the blush still present, though it had subsided to a slight flush just underneath his eyes.

“I’ll go throw on the true crime documentaries.”

. . . . .

Early morning sun streamed through the curtains that covered your windows, a strand of light hitting Leo right in the eyes. He groggily cracked an eye open to find foreign surroundings.

He wasn’t in his apartment? Oh, right.

Memories of the previous night came back to him and he felt his cheeks flush. A soft groan came from just beside him and he nearly yelped in fright before realizing it was just you.

You.

He smiled to himself as he gazed down at your peaceful face, letting out a soft laugh. You cracked an eye open to see him staring down at you. You let your lid shut, snuggling deeper into his chest.

“What’s so funny?” You asked. Though it was more of a statement than anything.

“You’re drooling.”

“Am not…” You retort, voice scratchy as you brought your hand up to make sure, “Whatever you jerk, go back to sleep, it’s too early to be up on a day off.”

You heard another soft laugh as Leo readjusted himself so he was out of the line of light, wrapping his arms around your waist to bring you closer. He pressed a gentle kiss to your hairline and you buried your face deeper into his chest to hide the blush creeping up to your cheeks. He certainly was more bold when he was half asleep.

You’d have to tease him about it later though, you noted, drifting back to a content slumber.

#kekkai sensen #blood blockade battlefront #kekkai sensen imagine #blood blockade battlefront imagine #leonardo watch #leo watch #leonardo watch x reader #sfw #fluff #friends to lovers

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sailormoonandme · 4 years

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Moon Tiara No-Action

I re-watched Sailor Moon episode 51 (that’s Sailor Moon R episode 5 btw) on a whim recently. It’s an episode that always left an impression on me due to Usagi’s triumphant return to action, complete with a new transformation sequence and attack (the Moon Princess Halation).

However, upon rewatching it something chaffed in the storytelling for me.

For context, at the end of episode 46 (and Sailor Moon Classic) Usagi used the Silver Crystal’s power to resurrect herself, her friends and Mamoru with no memory of their adventures throughout the season. In effect they were reset to how they were in episode 1 as Usagi wished to just be a normal girl, not a warrior.

In an earlier episode Sailor Moon’s iconic tiara based attack abruptly failed, a problem she continued to have in this episode when she tries to rescue her friends.

The monster of the week consequently retaliates, Usagi’s transformation broach shatters (reverting her to normal) and she is dragged down into a kind of void by the monster’s power. Luna tries to help but is dragged in herself.

Through Luna’s exposition we learn that Usagi’s tiara and transformation have failed because deep down she still wishes she could be a normal girl. So long as she feels that way she cannot become Sailor Moon.

This leads Usagi to desperately question how then she is to save her friends.

The scene then cuts to a different location with Usagi cradling Luna.

Now, I’ve consulted 2 subtitled versions (neither of which are the new official Viz translations) along with the Viz dub for this scene so there are some nuances but I will try to give you the gist of the rest of the scene.

Usagi looks down at the (seemingly?) unconscious Luna and essentially comments on how loyal/vulnerable (it is different across translations) she looks and how she gives her a hard time. She apologises for dragging her into this. Due to the context of the scene, the season and the series logically ‘this’ is referring to the specific situation of this episode, i.e. Usagi and Luna being lost in a void or possibly dead.

Queen Serenity then appears and informs Usagi they are in her mind/soul/heart (again…translations…). She gives Usagi the Silver Crystal, integrating it with her broken broach. She explains her desire to save her friends has essentially made it possible for her to have the Crystal. In the Viz dub this is explained as Usagi’s desire has formed the Crystal, implying it’s been formed for this specific moment. In both the subs I consulted she simply says her desire to save her friends has ‘protected’ the Silver Crystal, opening up the possibility that she was referring to the end of Season 1/episode 46 when Usagi initially used the Crystal to resurrect everyone. I suspect this was a mistranslation or something and the intent was more episode specific.

Anyway, the point is with the new broach Usagi can transform again (and is presumably more powerful), returns from the void with Luna and saves the day with her new weapon and attack.

So what’s the problem here?

Well, at face value there is at least 1, arguably 2 deus ex machinas in play here. I’m not that concerned about those because frankly…that’s just kind of the nature of this show. Story resolutions like that occurred before episode 51 and oh boy did they occur afterwards too. Deus ex machinas are arguably baked into the internal logic of the Sailor Moon show.

What had me more bothered was the resolution to Usagi’s internal conflict. The notion that her powers would fail her because deep down she didn’t want to be a warrior is fine, I get that. But it’s the idea that this is resolved because she very strongly wants to protect her friends. The problem with this is threefold:

In the first episode of Sailor Moon R, Usagi’s memories were restored by Luna and she was very much upset over that, and yet her powers worked just fine when she was rescuing Naru

In episode 50 when her tiara initially failed she was trying to rescue Mamoru along with her brother and father

She was trying to save her friends when her powers failed her in episode 51

The last one just doesn’t seem to add up on face value. But collectively all three seem to imply that Usagi cares more for Naru than her father, brother, lover and millennia long friends which is rather ridiculous.

Is this bad writing? Perhaps. But in the case of points b)-c) I think it’s bad due to a failure of communication rather than the writers just not bothering with logic. Allow me to propose some explanations for the above. And with point a) I think it’s possible to offer up some logical explanations.

Usagi’s initial ability to save Naru might’ve just been a case of the ‘heat of the moment’ combined with disorientation and Usagi’s presumptions in that episode.

Between the animation and the voice acting in the original Japanese version it’s clear that having her memories restored was not unlike awakening from a dream for Usagi. And she had her energy drained twice, which we know takes a toll on your mental faculties.

Additionally upon ‘awakening’ Usagi was IMMEDIATELY told by Luna that there was an immediate crisis at hand that urgently needed Sailor Moon.

Not to take the Sailor Soldier thing too literally, but in terms of Usagi’s mental state this not unlike a soldier in a combat zone being abruptly awoken to deal with an immediate danger. Whatever dreams or insecurities were plaguing their mind would get pushed down or (temporarily) cast out entirely as they enter ‘combat mode’. Or if you like, this is not unlike a fire fighter awoken by an emergency. Only in this case the fire would be right on the doorstep of the firehouse. Forget thinking, forget feeling, it’s time to act.

But it’s more than that because in context, Usagi didn’t know the exact nature of the threat she was facing in episode 47. I don’t just mean the exact type of monster-of-the-week. Rather she had no idea she was now dealing with another evil group with a host of monsters she’d have to deal with. In her mind she might’ve believed she just had to take out this one creature and then it’d be back to normal. In fact she didn’t know she was dealing with that until episode 48.

By episode 50-51, she’d met Ail and An and faced enough Cardians to know she was in for another ‘long haul’. So any optimism she might’ve held about this being but temporary would’ve been gone. Of course she continued to transform during these episodes*

What gives.

Well…the human mind is a weird thing. What is at the back of your mind can be brought closer to the forefront under certain circumstances. It’s not the case that you feel just one way or another and this neatly determines how you act. If Usagi’s transformations are linked with her emotions, it’s entirely possible that her desire to protect innocent people and her friends in the heat of the moment was enough to prompt a transformation. But her desire to be normal was ultimately restricting her powers from working 100%.

As the Cardians continued to grow more frequent the ‘melancholy’ over her lost normalcy might have in turn grown stronger and thus restricted her powers yet more. Noticeably in episode 50, when Usagi’s tiara first stops working, she’s trying to protect her father, her brother and a (amnesic) Mamoru. The Cardians are in essence violating her normalcy in a MAJOR way in this moment and she’s not ‘dazed’ in any way as she was in episode 47 when she first dealt with a Cardian. In the context of that episode she was clear headed, aware that this was just the latest in a string of Cardian battles and there would inevitably be more to come. And they have not just interrupted her civilian life but the single most personal parts of that life, her family.

Psychologically it’s not impossible for this to all coalesce into bringing Usagi’s desire for normalcy to the forefront of her mind, hence her tiara first stops working.

Equally, in episode 51 Usagi’s civilian friends (Naru and Umino) were attacked by a Cardian and everyone’s plans for a nice day out were ruined too. Combined with the failure of her tiara last time, it’s easy to grasp why Usagi’s subconscious was interfering with her powers in this episode.

This then brings us back to the biggest inconsistency.

Usagi wants to be a normal girl and this holds her back from functioning as Sailor Moon and saving her friends.

However, wanting to save her friends is what resolves this problem and lets her function as Sailor Moon.

…Wut…????????????

Okay, well the first thing to consider is who is directly in danger here?

It is the Inner Senshi. Of course Usagi loves them dearly, they are her closest friends. But they are more than that, they are her comrades. Her fellow Sailor Guardians/Warriors…Soldiers.

In a sense they are living reminders that she is not a normal girl like she wants to be. Her friendships with them can function like normal people of course, but they were primarily forged through being super heroines.

Of course, I’m not trying to suggest Usagi secretly resents her friends or anything. Rather I’m saying that if Usagi is weakened by her desire to be normal, that desire would be more prevalent in her mind when she has to be a soldier to fight an enemy to save her fellow soldiers. The whole situation is hitting her over the head with the fact that she is a soldier i.e. NOT a regular teenage civilian.

This then brings us to the second factor. In real life, soldiers forge extremely powerful emotional bonds with one another due to their shared experiences. I think the falling into that void and realizing she had truly failed essentially made Usagi begin to re-evaluate her priorities.

She wanted to be a normal girl, but now she was seemingly lost and her beloved comrades were soon to die to her desire to save them overpowered the former.

But the dialogue across all translations is clear. It’s not enough that Usagi simply develop a new stronger desire, but outright lose the desire to be normal.

And the key to that I think was in fact Luna. When Usagi saw how vulnerable she was, when she realized how difficult she made things for her and how apologetic she was for prompting Luna to share her doomed fate, I think Usagi’s desire for normalcy dissipated.

I say dissipated. I doubt it was ever really gone per se. Rather, I think Usagi came to a moment of acceptance. She accepted she wasn’t normal. She accepted she wasn’t going to be. She accepted she was a soldier. She might’ve liked to have been normal, but she was no longer subconsciously resisting her situation and grieving what she’d lost.**

It’s no coincidence that when Usagi admits she gives Luna a hard time and apologises for dooming her that Queen Serenity appears and gives her the crystal.

To sum up:

Usagi always wanted to protect her friends, but was subconsciously grieving her lost normalcy, a loss her friends were embodiments of.

That grief compromised her power thereby causing her to be lost, totally fail her friends, including Luna.

This failure was the push Usagi needed to reaffirm her affection to her friends and accept her lost normalcy.

Her grief no longer blinding her to her desire to protect her friends, she gained access to the Silver Crystal and was able to fulfill that desire in that episode and all the ones after.

I won’t lie to you, a lot of this was rationalizations on my part, especially the stuff prior to episode 51. In truth I think the writers just came up with the idea of Usagi’s tiara not working the episode before to justify her upgrade in episode 51. This explains the apparent discrepancies in episode 51 compared to earlier in the season.

However, I do feel that the ultimate resolution to episode 51 is narratively justified within the episode itself, just not as clearly communicated or as built up as it could have been.

* But noticeably she never used her tiara implying it might’ve failed even earlier than it did.

Additionally episode 51 makes it a bit ambiguous as to whether being able to transform is strictly speaking linked with Usagi’s mental hang-up, or if it only affectets her tiara. It wouldn’t be illogical if it was just the latter. Transforming is akin to turning a switch, she just takes the broach and says the magic words. Actually using her abilities though, i.e. actively fighting, would demand she put more heart and soul into what she’s doing.

For the sake of argument though let’s say that yes, Usagi’s mental hang-up could affect her ability to transform as well as her tiara attack.

**We could extrapolate this all the way into the end of the series in fact.

In the final moments of the very last episode Usagi is a civilian, evil has been vanquished and for good this time. She even knows the Black moon clan in the future are destined to fail.

To all intents and purposes she really is JUST a normal girl…and yet she internally refers to herself as the soldier of love and justice, Sailor Moon.

#Essay #Sailor Moon #pretty soldier sailor moon #pretty guardian sailor moon #bishoujo senshi sailor moon #bishojo senshi sailor moon #naoko takeuchi #usagi tsukino #tsukino usagi #Sailor Senshi #Sailor Soldiers #Sailor Scouts #My Essays

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thecleverdame · 5 years

Text

Control and Release - 11

Series Masterlist

TEDTalk!Sam x Reader

Summary: With the rest of the staff caught in a snowstorm, you find yourself acting as a personal assistant to the notorious Sam Winchester.

Warnings: Dom/Sub, humiliation, embarrassment, sexual objectification, mutual masturbation, spanking, cum play, fingering, anal play, orgasm control, dub-con, nipple clamps, breath play (more warnings as the story continues)

Words: 5.6k

Beta: @ilikaicalie

Parts Twelve and Thirteen (Fourteen coming tomorrow) are currently available on Patreon for a monthly pledge of $2.50. This includes early access to all my stories and Patreon exclusive content. >> CLICK HERE <<

You sit there naked as the shower turns on. There’s a part of you that knows you should leave, it’s the safest way to ensure a clean division between sex and, well, everything else. But the truth is all the logic in the world doesn’t stop you from getting up and joining him in the shower.

He turns toward you as you open the glass door and step inside, his hair slicked back. He moves out of the way for you to wet your hair before switching places. He doesn’t touch you, instead he watches as you lather your body with the hotel provided soap. His eyes follow as soapy hands move between your legs, then over your breasts. He waits for you to finish and then steps out, wrapping himself in a fluffy white towel, handing one to you before wordlessly disappearing back into the room.

You follow him, toweling dry, trying to act casual as he stands stark naked, rubbing his hair with the towel and slipping into bed. You do the same, walking to the other side and crawling under the sheets as he reaches over and turns off the light.

“Good night,” are his last words as he turns onto his side, facing away from you and settles in.

There’s a hand rubbing up and down your back as you lie belly down, still in the depths of sleep. Slowly you blink awake, the early morning sun shining through a crack in the curtains, cutting like a knife through butter into the dark of the room.

While you don’t know what time it is, it’s still early enough that no part of you wants to move. It’s Sam’s voice that brings you back into the land of the living and the realization that you’re still in his bed.

“You have to get up.” A big, warm hand spreads wide across your back, fingers fanning out. The feeling of his hands on you, skin on skin is a simple but rare pleasure.“It’s almost six and Pepper will be here soon. Our flight leaves at nine, and you need to pack.”

“It’s too early, just leave me here. I’ll live on the West Coast now.” you whisper, rolling onto your back. He’s hovering above you, propped up on one elbow looking bright eyed at this ungodly hour. “Do you ever sleep?”

“Rarely.” He pushes a strand of hair back from your cheek. “Really, you need to get up.”

“I’m moving.” With a final push, you force yourself to sit up and get out of bed. You're naked and it’s cold as you hop around the room, trying to find your clothes and get dressed. Still half asleep you walk to the door in a daze and he follows you. “Last night was...incredible. Really, I’ve never felt anything like that.”

He seems to enjoy your early morning confession, grinning as you yawn into the back of your hand.

“Go on,” he opens the door. “You can sleep on the plane, you deserve it.”

Five Days Later - Tuesday

You’ve spent the better part of two days staring at lists of phone numbers and calls. The computer does most of the cross-referencing, all you’re left with is a spreadsheet full of names, dates and times. Thousand of them.

It’s early afternoon when you realize that something’s wrong.

Before you were assigned to the endless pit of phone calls, Max had you sorting through and categorizing depositions, ensuring the transcriptions were correct. You know this case inside and out. You’ve heard every word of testimony a dozen times and that’s how you know that Kurt Jablonski, your client, swore up and down multiple times that he never made direct contact with a private investigator named Lea Hammond.

And yet here you are staring at a number identified as one of Lea Hammond’s burner phones making and receiving calls from an office line that only Kurt had access too. His calls are normally made through his security so it’s possible he’s naive enough to think that there wouldn’t be a trace, but you’re staring at the proof of their connection.

You’ve got no idea what this means, but it’s a huge case. Sam’s had teams flying back and forth from Florida for months.

Now comes the hard part, you have to tell Max.

You never returned his texts and he’s been giving you the cold shoulder. But you report to him, at least for this case, so there’s no way around it. You write down the names and dates on a post-it and head to the conference room where Max has set up shop with half a dozen other junior associates.

“Excuse me,” you knock lightly on the door frame and they all look up. Frank Walenchecz looks from you to Max and grins, which piques your interest but that’s not why you’re here. “Max, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“We’re kinda in the middle of something here.” He rotates his chair, eyeing you up and down. “I’ll find you later if you need me.”

Everyone in the room chuckles and your cheeks flush hot.

“I think you should look at this, I found something-”

“I said we’re busy.” He’s emboldened now, his condescending tone laced with an underlying hostility that you pick up on in a second.

“Max, this is serious,” you insist. “It says on the schedule that the team in Florida is going through final prep with Mr. Jablonski but-”

“Why don’t you worry about your filing and leave the thinking to the big boys, huh?” He tilts his head, making no attempt to hide as he stares at your breasts. “I’ll find you later, sweetheart.”

You can hear snickers as you shut the door, humiliated.

You wait. And wait.

It’s nearly six when you walk back down the hall only to find the conference room empty. He’s left for the day.

Wednesday

You’ve only been in the office for an hour, sorting through a new stack of documents when Lance Barton saunters up to your desk. He’s not exactly a friend, but the two of you are friendly per se. He’s a junior associate and just as full of himself as every other lawyer working at W & S, they all know how good they have it.

“Good morning,” he perches on your desk, shoving a paperweight to the side to make room for his ass.

“Hey,” you look at him, offering a genuine smile. He doesn’t say anything, just sits there staring at you with a shit eating grin on his face. “Did you need something?”

“Actually, I came to ask you that.” He chuckles, biting his bottom lip. It takes you a minute to understand exactly what he’s implying. When the realization finally dawns you’re so taken off guard that you don’t know how to respond.

“I-” you start, sitting back, staring at him in disbelief. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”

You turn back to your work, trying to ignore him, but he doesn’t move.

“Come on,” Lance leans down, placing his hand over yours on the desk, you jerk it back in response, unprepared for actual physical interaction. “We’ve always gotten along, haven’t we?”

“Please stop.” You pull your hand away, clutching it in your lap.

“Max said you liked to play hard to get.” He whispers, now close enough that you can feel his breath on your cheek. “But he also said it was worth it, that you’re a wild little thing.”

You look at him wide-eyed, mouth falling open as nausea sets in. “Max told you that?”

“Don’t be shy.” Lance smiles, his eyes trailing down your body. “You just let me know the next time you need an itch scratched and I’ll take care of you.”

He saunters away, looking smug, leaving you gutted. You’d already guessed from Max’s reaction yesterday that he’d greatly exaggerated his relationship with you, but this is a whole other level.

Greg Smith from IT walks by your desk, eyes lingering too long and you know it has already grown into something you’re not going to be able to control.

Thursday

“Everyone knows your dirty little secret.” Pepper pours herself a coffee looking up at you. “I mean, you probably think you’re hiding it but I can see right through you.”

You almost choke on your spit, stopping to stare at her, swallowing hard.

“What are you talking about?” you stammer and she smirks, sipping her coffee.

“Oh stop it. The whole office knows about you two.” She shakes her head and you want to melt into the floor.

“You’re talking about….Max?”

God, you hope it’s only Max.

“Who else?” Pepper is always a bitch but she’s really enjoying this. “I knew there was something between the two of you.”

“There was and never has been anything going on between us.” You correct her, holding your head high.

“I could have told you he was a snake. They’re all wannabes with too much money who think they’re going to be Sam Winchester some day. It’s pathetic.”

“Whatever he said, it’s not true.” You want to ask for more details but you’re not sure you could handle it.

“He told everyone, might as well have sent out a newsletter. Every nasty detail, how you suck cock, how you begged him to fuck you...everywhere. He told Colin you’re too slutty for him. Too much of a whore for Max...that must be a new low.”

“Why are you telling me this?” you whisper, fighting back tears. There’s a swell of anger and humiliation rising in your chest.

“Because you should know. I might be a lot of things, but I’m not afraid to say things to someone’s face. I know you’re Sam’s favorite right now, God only knows why. But that doesn’t mean anything in the real world. Outside of his office, you’re just a small fish, fighting for room in the pond with the rest of us.”

She turns on her heels and walks away, leaving you stunned.

The last thing you want to do is see Max face to face, but you need to show him the information you found. While you’d love to see him crash and burn, it could affect Sam and you won’t let that happen.

You knock twice on the door to his small, windowless office and he looks up. His face hardens when he realizes it’s you. “Back for more? Can’t stay away huh?”

“What are you talking about?” You shrug, stepping inside and shutting the door. “It’s just us now, stop the act. I thought we were friends, Max. Why are you doing this?”

“What am I doing?” he asks, picking up a stress ball and squeezing it in his fist. “I haven’t talked to you in a week.”

“You’ve talked to everyone else. Telling stories about things that never happened.” Stepping closer to his desk you search his face for some kind of understand. You didn’t see this coming. Are you this bad of a judge of character? “Why are you trying to hurt me?”

“Why are you such a cock tease?” he spits, crushing the foam ball in his grasp.

“You know,” you back out the room, defeated, “the sad part is that I thought you were a good guy.”

“Why don’t you go find someone else to play your games with,” Max calls out as you leave and you hear the ball hit the wall with a soft thump.

Friday Morning

Sam waits outside the door to the conference room as Pepper hands him the latest update on the case. He opens the folio, reading through the documents. He’s always fully prepared.

“Do you need me?” Pepper asks, “Because I need to finish the notes from your call with Mr. Takahashi. You’ll need the final proposal before your one o’clock.”

“No,” Sam shakes his head without look up. “I should be back in my office by eleven. We’ll have time to review.”

She wanders off and Sam’s flips through page after page, scanning the notes. He’s not really listening, it’s your name that pulls him out of what he’s reading, moving closer to the open door.

“I’m telling she was practically begging for it,” Max explains.

“If Y/N was so into it then why are you so hot and cold?” Another voice asks. “You’ve been after her for months.”

“Because every other guy has already been there.” Max laughs. “I mean she’s a real whore, let me fuck her ass the first time. That’s how you know she’s been open for business.”

“Shit,” someone else grunts. “If you don’t want her, I’ll damn sure get in line.”

“Go for it man, two drinks and she was all over my dick like she hadn’t been fucked in years. She was starving for it.”

Friday Afternoon

“What is it?” Sam snips, looking for up for only a second. You haven’t seen him since you got off the plane in Boston last week. You know he’s been busy but you expected less hostility.

“I need to show you something.” You inch into his office.

“Can it wait?” He sits up, pulling off his glasses to stare you. He normally looks you up and down but right now his eyes are boring a hole into yours with an unwavering stare. “I’m busy. I don’t have time for you today.”

Jesus.

You take a breath, holding back with everything you have, you’ve wanted to cry for forty-eight hours but you didn’t think Sam would be the one to push you over the edge.

“Um-” you stutter, words getting caught in your throat.

“Um?” He raises an eyebrow. “Pull yourself together, use words like an adult.”

You swallow hard, tears brimming, as you try to swallow the thump in your throat.

“There’s something I came across when I was sorting through phone records for the Jablonski case.” You manage stable words, masking your looming breakdown.

“And you’re bothering me with this why?” He asks plainly as if you’re some low-level employee he’s never laid eyes on before.

“I just thought-”

“What did you just think? That because I fucked you I would suddenly have time for whatever this is?” His eyes are on fire and you wished you could melt into the floor.

“Jesus Christ, you’re a real dick, you know that?” you whisper, a tear running down your cheek, mouth trembling. “What did I do?”

His eyes light up, rage threatening right there under the surface. “Why aren’t you giving this to your project leader? Max has time for you, I’m sure.”

“I tried. He won’t listen to me.”

“Why?” Sam’s jaw locks, seething with anger. You’ve got no idea where this is coming from but you’re fully prepared to leave this building and never come back. “Stop crying, it’s pathetic.”

“Because,” you close your eyes, fresh tears falling, you’re really crying now. You stare at the floor, unable to take any more of his glare. “Because he’s mad at me.”

“Why is he mad at you?” He pushes as if he's waiting for some lurid confession.

“I wouldn’t sleep with him. He’s been an absolute asshole. He’s successfully made my life a living hell. I’m pretty sure he told everyone in the building that I’m a whore. I’ve got people I don’t even know whispering about me in the halls. I tried to show him but he won’t listen to me. I found something. I think it’s important so I came up here to tell you and now you’re...whatever this is. Please just take this so I can leave.”

You hold out a folder, wincing as he steps forward. He takes the folder out of your hands, but the next thing you feel is both his hands cupping your face, thumbs pressed into your cheeks.

“Calm down.” His voice is softer now, less commanding, more soothing.

You look at him, and gone is his threatening stare, it’s been replaced by something gentler.

“I haven’t done anything, to anyone.” you offer, stripped bare of pretense as you look up at him. “I’m just trying to help.”

“I jumped to some conclusions, I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.” It makes sense now, he’s heard the rumors. One of his hands moves from your face to your chest, placing his hand wide over your heart, resting between your breasts, guiding your breath. “I’m sorry.”

While it doesn’t excuse his actions you’re fairly sure Sam Winchester rarely apologizes, if ever.

“Okay,” you whisper, unable to dive any deeper, not right now at least.

“I’ll look through what you brought and take care of the Max situation.”

“I’m not a snitch,” you gulp, “I didn’t tell you to get him in trouble.”

“I know that. But you did tell me and I can’t have one of my employees talking about another like this. I won’t allow this kind of hostile environment for anyone.”

“He’s going to know I told you.”

“He’s going to know you told HR, because that’s how we’ll deal with it.” He sets the folder on his desk and picks up his phone.

“You’re done for the week. Go downstairs, I’ll have my driver take you to my house. You’re going to spend the weekend with me.”

“The weekend?” You look up, wiping tears as your mind tries to shift off of Max and into whatever this new territory is. “I don’t have anything with me.”

“You won’t need much.”

Sam’s house is a huge, modern home in Newton, Massachusetts. You know from listening to Pepper that he has a loft in Boston but this sprawling architectural wonder is his real home, far outside the city.

Dealing with him on a more intimate level it’s been easy to forget that he’s filthy fucking rich. He’s made more money than most people can dream of and this house is a jarring reminder that you’re in his world now.

The driver walks you to the door, punches in a code and ensures you’re inside before leaving. The floors are dark wood and everything else is stark white, it makes the place feel almost antiseptic. You take your shoes off and trail down the hallway that opens up into a generous living area, twice the size of your entire apartment. There is a couch, several chairs, and a coffee table. The walls are bare, save for one huge painting hanging on the wall, it’s all dark colors and strange shapes.

You continue exploring, wandering down a narrow hall to the right and find the kitchen. It’s just as devoid of personality as the rest of the house. He could feed a small army and you wonder if he’s ever lonely being one man with all this unnecessary space.

There’s a labyrinth of empty bedrooms, filled with furniture and not much else. At the end of this hall is his room, it’s unmistakable. In contrast to the rest of the place, there are splashes of color. The door to his closet is open and you slip inside, flipping on the light to find hundreds of suits, pressed and hung with meticulous care. There’s a second closet filled with his casual clothing, sneakers, and gym clothes. It sparks a lot of thought about what he’s truly like outside of the professional world.

Is this it? Is all this naked space his life? It seems...unfulfilling.

At the end of the closet, there’s a dresser with two pictures sitting on top. You pick one up and examine it. It’s a family, mother, and father, a young boy and a baby. It’s easy to guess that the baby is Sam, this was a life that was taken from him.

The second photo is unmistakably Sam with a mop of wild hair hanging over his forehead. He looks to be in his early twenties and he’s smiling bright and happy, eyes lit up with joy. He’s got his arm around a beautiful blonde who’s pressing her lips to his cheek. This Sam looks alive, warm and inviting. Another version of him from a happier time.

There’s a faint sound and you set the picture down, shutting off the light and scrambling out of the room. You find him in the living room, slipping his suit jacket off and laying it over the back of a chair. He looks up, a half-smile crossing his lips.

“You,” he points to you, shaking his head. “Just saved me from an utter disaster. I have twenty lawyers on that case, five paralegals and you’re the only who caught the phone calls.”

“It was something?” you question, moving closer.

“More than something. Kurt hasn’t been telling us the truth. If we had moved forward with our current strategy he would have ended up in jail and our reputation would have taken a massive hit.”

“Well, I’m glad I could help,” you offer, still reeling from the rollercoaster of a day you’ve had. “Before you say anything else, there’s something I need to say.”

“What is it?” he asks, getting closer.

“I know you have a lot going on. You’re busy and you don’t always have time for me. I understand that you’re blunt and like to get right to the point. But I can’t handle the way you spoke to me today. I enjoy what we have, but I won’t be around someone who treats me like that.”

He waits for a beat, eyes honing in on you, his head tilting as his tongue darts out. You can practically see the gears turning.

“I overheard a rumor and took it as truth. I, of all people, should know better,” he offers. “I don’t share. I’ve never played well with others and when I heard what I did, I reacted. I am sorry for that. I asked you to trust me and I need to trust you in return. It’s the only way this works. I trust you to keep your word, make good on your commitments. I will never speak to you that way again.”

“Good.” You gulp, feeling suddenly small in his living room. “Let’s not talk about it anymore.”

“Agreed.” He moves past you, reaching out to squeeze your arm as he heads off toward the kitchen and you follow. “Are you hungry?”

“Yea - Yes. I am. I was so worked up all day, I haven’t eaten anything since last night,” you confess, almost afraid of what kind of strange, kale-infused delicacy he’ll offer you.

“I’ll make something.” He opens the refrigerator, looking back you. “How do you feel about beets?”

“What I’m about to do is all about trust,” Sam explains as you sit naked in his lap, knees on either side of his thighs. His cock is thick and hard, trapped between your bellies.

“I know,” you nod, one hand on each of his shoulders. Your nails sink into his skin, holding on like he’s already begun. You look him in the eyes, searching for understanding. “I trust you, I’m just...nervous.”

“You’ll like it.” He nods, both hands holding your hips tightly. “It’s an incredible release.”

His hand wedges between your bodies again, finding your clit, rubbing a few last times before he gets started. He’s spent the better part of an hour getting you worked up, you're wet and throbbing, ready for more.

“Lift up,” he instructs and you rise up on your knees as he takes his cock into his hand and slips the head into your pussy. “Now lower down, take it all.”

You stare at him as you slide down his dick, not stopping until you’re filled to the brim.

“Jesus,” you gasp, eyes fluttering closed for a moment. He’s thick, a wonderful stretch that sends little jolts of pleasure up your spine.

“Hands behind your back.”

You comply, placing your wrists together at the base of your spine. He picks up his discarded tie, reaching around and securing your wrists. The fact that he doesn’t need to see to be able to properly tie you up, has you both excited and concerned.

Sitting back he looks at you, then down to where you’re sitting on his dick.

“Fuck yourself on my cock, slowly.”

Lifting up you hum with satisfaction, feeling the drag of him inside you. It’s only intensified when you sink back and find a rhythm, even and constant, as you stare at each other. After a few minutes he starts to breath faster, mouth clamped shut as he studies your face. One hand comes up and slides around your throat. His fingers nearly reach the back of your neck, thumb pressing into the opposite side under your jaw.

He squeezes, not hard, just enough to make you feel the pressure and you whimper, sliding up and down his shaft. Leaning all the way back in the chair, he reaches between your bodies with his free hand and begins to carefully rub your clit.

Your mouth falls open as the pleasure builds, everything between your legs slick and throbbing. His cock alone would be enough to get you off like this, you’re not used to the stretch yet, you doubt you ever will be, but it’s a wonderful challenge as you lift yourself up and down in his lap.

“Feels so good,” you whisper, biting your lower lip, his thumb moving faster over your swollen clit.

“Stick your tongue out,” he instructs. You blink, feeling the all too familiar shame creep in as you drop your jaw and stick your tongue out.

He keeps you just like this as the minutes tick by, your whimpers and moans sound even more desperate with your mouth wide open, tongue hanging out like some kind of slutty porn star.

Tugging at your hands you almost falter, only to have the hand around your throat grow tighter, holding you in place.

“You don’t have to ask permission to cum, just let it happen.” And with that his lips curl and his fingers clench and suddenly you can’t breathe. You knew this was coming, he’d prepared you for it but the first time you can’t help the panic, your heart speeding up.

For five seconds you are open-mouthed, fighting for air and then he lets up and you suck in a huge breath.

“Don’t stop fucking,” he reminds you. You’ve slowed down but you pick up the pace, sliding back and forth more than up and down. “Tongue back out.”

You comply and his grip tightens until you can’t breathe again and this time it’s longer. His thumb works faster over your bud, his hips rise up, keeping his cock moving inside you.

This time it’s ten seconds, and by the time he lets go your whole body is hot, sweat breaking out from head to toe.

You expected more pleasure, it’s not exactly bad but also not the pay off you anticipated.

After a few deep breaths, you stick out your tongue and ride him as his fist closes around your throat, tighter than the two previous times. His thumb presses firm, you feel your orgasm building as he squeezes the last breath out of you. You start to squirm, pulling at the restraints out of instinct. A desperate gagging sound leaves your throat and you’re getting closer and closer and then it happens at the same time. Your vision starts to go spotty and you cum at the same time. He eases up, but barely, still controlling the air supply as you jerk on his cock.

You’re floating and then there’s a rush of pure euphoria. It’s a tingling, weightless feeling that seamlessly melts into the pleasure of your orgasm and the whole world fades away. There’s nothing else, only the feeling of your body rolling up and down and an incredible pleasure between your legs.

Unsure how long you’ve hung in this transcendental state, you blink, vision clearing only to find Sam staring at you, both his hands cupped around your cheeks, holding your head up.

“Wow,” you whisper smiling like a fool, looking at him from under hooded eyes as an overwhelming wave of satisfaction and bliss sets in. “Thank you.”

“It looked incredible.” His eyes are lit up and moving quickly, searching your face.

“Untie me please,” you request softly, not entirely of sound mind yet.

He blinks, hesitates for a moment, then one hand leaves your face to reach behind you to free your wrists. Without thinking you wrap yourself around him, both hands sliding behind his neck as you rest your head on his shoulder.

His palms slide up your back, holding you as you come back down to earth, thumbs stroking back and forth until your breathing is back to normal. Once you’ve semi-recovered you sit up, inches away from his face as you look at each other. He’s even more handsome up close, the little wrinkles around his eyes and the pink of his lips are beautiful.

Wordlessly you lift yourself up, letting his cock slide almost of your pussy before sinking back down, finding a pace that makes your thighs burn as you ride him, desperate to give him the same release he’s just gifted you.

“Fuck,” he groans, head tipped back, the muscles of his neck straining. The two big hands on your hips pull you down onto him, holding you in place as he cums, spurting warm inside you until he’s finished.

After a few minutes, he lifts you up and off his semi-hard cock, rubbing his knuckles directly over your cheek, a tender caress that makes your eyes close in response.

“Now, get on your knees and suck my cock until it’s clean.”

“Sam,” you start, watching the subtitles on the muted TV as a newscaster talks about the upcoming election. “Why am I here?”

“What do you mean?” he responds, only half paying attention.

“I’m in your house, in your bed. You said you want to me stay all weekend. Don’t get me wrong, I want to be here, but I didn’t think you would want someone in your personal space.”

“I don’t mind having you in my personal space as long as it’s at my request.” He explains evenly, glancing up. “I’ve been busy this last week. My schedule is only going to get tighter. Weekends might be the only time we get to see each for a while. I won’t have time for the same interactions while I’m at work.”

“That makes sense.”

“Are you alright with that? Do you have a cat that needs to be fed?”

“No, no animals, no social life to speak of. We’re perfect for each other.” You smile and he grins looking back to the screen.

“What will happen to Max?” you ask, laying on your back staring at the ceiling of his bedroom.

“Do you care?”

“No. I’m sure he deserves whatever he gets,” you nod, the feeling of the last few days washing over you again.

“What happened to make him so upset?” Sam’s inquiry seems genuine.

“I turned him down. Some men are like that, for whatever reason they can’t handle being told no. Honestly, I had no idea he was that upset with me. I can only imagine what they all think of me. It’s so embarrassing.”

“You’re not the one that has anything to be embarrassed about.” His eyes go back the report in front of him, sliding the screen up but still talking. “Even if everything he said was true, it shouldn’t matter.”

He goes back to his work, reviewing some document that can’t wait until Monday and you lie there, pretending to watch a rerun of Frasier that comes on after the news broadcast.

“Sam, can I ask you something?”

“It seems like you’re going to regardless of my answer.” He glances at you.

“Are you happy?”

He stops, looking up and forward before turning to staring at you as if you’ve just asked him to hop on one foot.

“Is anyone?”

“I am.” You roll onto your side. “I mean, I’m not over the moon every day, but I’m content and I have moments of real, true happiness.”

“Why are you asking me this?”

“I was just thinking about you. I’m sorry if I shouldn’t have asked-”

“It’s fine.” He sets down the tablet on the nightstand and rolls onto his side, propping his elbow on the pillow. “No, I’m not happy in a traditional sense. I’m satisfied. I’m focused, I accomplish things no one else would ever be able to. There are a lot of things you have to give up to have the career I’ve had. I built something. I gave up happiness for success, it was a conscious choice.”

“Don’t you want more than your job?”

“No.” He shakes his head without hesitation. “When you add too much into the mix, things get messy.”

“Is that why you have me? I mean, you’re a pretty big deal. I can’t imagine you’re desperate for dates.”

“I don’t date, I have no desire for that. Having people in your life makes you unfocused, they’re distractions.”

“I’m not a distraction?” you inquire. A psychologist would have a field day with him.

“You are exactly what I need you to be. I’m not a robot. I have the same base urges as every other red-blooded American male, but instead of marrying the first pretty girl with long legs that liked my money, I decided to leave sex in its own category. My life is compartmentalized, things run smoother that way.”

“Do you have friends?”

“Not anymore.” His voices wavers, just a little but you catch it, trying your best to not let on. “For me friends are either a liability or a disappointment. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t fall into one of the two categories.”

“Geez, which one am I?”

“You’re not my friend,” he states, eyes narrowing. “You are a category all your own.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.”

#tedtalk!sam #Controal and release #sam winchester x reader #sam winchester smut #sam winchester fanfic

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mytwitterisdogtoast1 · 4 years

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Dragonball GT is the worst series of all the Dragonball series.

I recently watched a video created by Totally Not Mark about which series is better out of GT and Super when it came to the franchise in general and part of me remembered my huge dislike towards the series so I figured I’d get on my keyboard and do that good ol’ fashioned “post an opinion” onto Tumblr because that is what the site is mostly for. So Instead of posting about how I think super is better I’m going to just post why the hell GT is a horrible show to me and the things it gets right and why in general the show is horrible. Now before I get into that context I am in no way a super fan or the type of person who says that subs are better than dubs because we all love anime and shouldn’t restrict others from liking their thing because we fill we are superior to each other based on our willingness to read or because we think “that the voice actors in Japan are so much better and you lose the feeling you get when you watch Americans try and fail at it”. Look as a filthy casual who usually never gets angry or upset at most things my reasons for disliking GT aren’t going to be what most people would see as a bad thing or even say the reasons I like GT are the exact same reasons and if you can come to appreciate the reasons I give that’s cool and if you disagree that is fine as well as long as it leads to civil discourse because again, it’s anime and no one is superior in their likes to another just because of some arbitrary reasons. In the end, it’s all just cartoons. So before I get into why i dislike GT at every turn I see it show up I have to praise it for what it does right to me. That is the visuals of the how the characters looks. See I get that it’s like 10 years into the future or something like that and some people now look way too old like Krillin or just don’t show up ever unless it doesn’t matter but with who we got they look great and I would never take away how good they look. Also the villains as much as I will get into them are actually kinda cool in their own right and aren’t the worst ideas just implemented in such a poor manner that any real good they do is kinda mitigated by the fact that they are almost identical to some other villain in the end. So now with that out of the way I’m going to get into why GT is one of the worst anime of all time. At least to me. So what makes Dragonball so great is it is a comedy genre even near the final seasons. They either had shitty reasons to amass an army or in general did silly things like make a holiday after themselves when they finally succeeded in ruling the world but in the end the genre of action anime is pretty much parodied with how it is a child who goes in and defeats these muscle men. We have a child who was never really raised by a normal adult trying to fit into a world outside of his normal views and fights these villains who against normal people would lose but in the end they all end up losing to a little boy. It’s a nice adventure with laughs and enough action to really get people to enjoy it. As much as I like Dragonball I never really liked it as much as Z. Yes I do know that it is mostly just Z over here in the west but I don’t see them really being the same manga with the shift in tone that the two had and the styles of adventure they ended up having in Z is so vastly different in comparison that to me they are totally different series when compared to each other. Also I was growing up when Z first came over to America so I didn’t see Dragonball until after it made its first debut on Toonami. So again, totally different series to me. As for Z? Well Z is my favorite anime of all time. It’s by far not the best anime ever but I do believe it is the best action anime of all time for a couple of reasons. 1: I love how in the end they just fight better versions of the previous final boss. Vegeta? That’s just stronger Raditz who can transform. Frieza? That’s just stronger Vegeta who can transform multiple times. Cell? Thats just stronger Frieza who can transform multiple times, Regenerate, Use everyones powers, and also absorb people. You get the picture by now. Everyone else who comes after is just a “better version” of the last and that tickles my fancy. 2: It helped make certain parts of the genre of shonen manga via the introduction of tropes. Transformations weren’t really a thing before Z came along and pretty much every action anime since then has used tropes that Z has introduced. 3: It still holds up today in being a good anime and manga and in general the popularity of it was so big that even now when I’m a 30 something year old that it got a new series to continue even after GT finished it off in Super. These are the reason I think it’s the best action anime of all time but again, feel free to disagree if you want to. As for why GT is such a shit show to me it all comes down to the fact that it introduces absolutely nothing new when it comes to itself that even the villains and the characters are a little in general copies of other characters. That and no one matters compared to Goku. If we start it off sure we have people like Trunks and Pan and even “insert comedy character who is only here because plot that could just be ignored and even removed” A.K.A. Giru. See the series starts off pretty generic in that Goku is training Uub up in the look out. He just disappeared and is finishing his time in what I assume was a 10 year training session. We are introduced to our first “villains” in Pilaf and his crew. They are finding out about not only gods look out but they also find a new set of dragonballs. Convenient plot details that are either confusing or just there to set up the series. Firstly before I get into that why was this never said before, Why did Bulma never pick up on these dragonballs, Why did pilaf just now find them if he’d been searching his entire life after dragonball? So many questions in general but still. Not the point. The point is this, they don’t have a real reason except to introduce our first main villains. Pilaf and his gang. A little weird when you look at it cause Pilaf has been bested so many times that him succeeding now seems like a stupid thing to happen. Thankfully his success is only to again, push the story. Goku and his gang have to now search for the dragonballs. Which is exactly what happened in Dragonball. This time, it’s across the universe. This is where my ability to really in general compare the shows ends. That is until in general I get to the final stretch. See there are very few things I can equate to Dragonball besides the adventure of the day aspect. You have the obvious nod towards Oolong with Zoonama who both want to marry a girl and end up falling for a boy in drag. You have the fact of Goku with a tech savvy Briefs person as well as a spunky fighter. Goku is a kid. Maybe a couple other things if I looked it up and compared but the main thing is that first section of GT is based heavily on Dragonball in general. The final stretch part begins with the “Red Ribbon Army” copy in the General Rildo part with Dr Myuu who is just also a copy of Android 20. So after this part finishes it kicks into the saiyan saga of DBZ. Baby is by far a complete knock off of 3 villains in DBZ being comprised of Vegeta, Frieza, and Garlic Jr. Why is this so? let’s face it, If you compare those 3 with him its basically a one for one beat on what he does with someone else. Firstly he’s in the body of Vegeta and even when he starts losing he goes and just becomes a great ape. Pretty much what Vegeta does in the first saga of Z. As for Frieza they can both survive in space, Has multiple different forms and lastly he hates saiyans. Now sure the reason is different but the disdain for them is pretty much comparing blue to a lighter shade of blue that looks just like blue. We could even mention that Baby is like Cell in that they are both made by science but the comparisons end there. As for Garlic Jr Baby does the same thing in taking control of people and making them the same as with the black water mist. These are what make Baby pretty much a whole of 3 separate people. Next comes the Androids and cell. Super 17 is pretty much just perfect cell. You have past villains returning to take out Goku. Those of which are Frieza and Cell. Which funny enough Frieza comes back but dies by trunks who warns of 2 androids coming to fight against Goku and kill him. Which comes in the forms of Dr Myuu and Dr Gero. Both of which, are you know, not the main androids being talked about. In fact it’s actually 17 and hell 17. Both of which are going to fuse and make one super android who changes forms into basically cell in that he can absorb energy and also has infinite energy as well. These are basically the main parts except that the end takes multiple people to fight off and kill Super 17. To which they then wish back people with the dragonballs because one of the Z fighters died and they want to bring them back. Seems that it would be fine except for the small little detail of its an evil dark dragon who when after granting the 7th wish he creates these evil dragons. Before I get into those dragons lemme question this. If Kami and Piccolo fused and the dragonballs stopped existing for a bit and it took Dende a new person to create new dragonballs wouldn’t he know of the evil dragons as well as also in general start a new chain thus stopping 7 evil dragons from existing? Oh well, at least we get 7 different dragons for Specifically only Goku to fight against. I can see people saying how can you compare the evil dragons to Buu which it’s a lot easier than you would think. How many different forms of Buu are there? would you guess about maybe 7? Cause there are 7 different forms of Buu. 6 of which are different forms when he absorbs other people. So lets take it this way. Omega Shenron also absorbs 6 different “people” in the 6 different dragonballs that aren’t his. Sure, he only gets one more form in that he has now been transformed into Omega from Syn Shenron but still. Transformations are a check. So what are the 7 different forms of Buu? 1:Kid Buu 2: Buff Buu which is when he absorbs the southern Supreme Kai. 3: Fat Buu which he gets from absorbing the Supreme Kai. 4: Evil old Buu. 5: Super buu. 6: Super buu with Gotenks absorbed. 7: Super Buu with Piccolo absorbed. 8: Piccolo with Gohan absorbed. Now some of you might be saying “that’s 8 different forms of Buu and not 7″ But in the end Syn and Omega are both different “forms” thus making 8 different forms of dragons as well. The main part that gets annoying though is how they defeat Shenron. Firstly they use fusion and then don’t win even though they could have in the end. Why? Arbitrary reasons. See in Z it was because Vegito wanted to be fused to save the others. In GT it’s cause they needed to defeat him with the spirit bomb. Just like they did with Buu. Both spirit bombs are also involving a larger amount of people than normal. In Z it was all of earth. Every person. In GT it was the whole universe. That’s not even the final part of how it’s the same. At the end of Z Goku says goodbye to his friends and fucks off. GT does the exact same thing. The show is honestly pretty much a beat for beat of Dragonball and Z. It adds nothing to the universe and what it does add is half assed. Things like Vegeta having an epiphany that Goku is better than him twice at the final end villain or having Goku lose a tournament as a child or stuff like that fill in the cracks of the shit cake that is GT with more shit that doesn’t help or make it better. GT even fails to make what it had that was great good. The use of a new level of SSJ to defeat Baby was also used in the same ways of how Kaioken wasn’t enough to beat Frieza and then SSJ was also attained then. Everything is on a bigger scale while being comparable to the smaller scale before it. The reason I don’t compare this with Super as that even when it takes from earlier seasons of DBZ or anything else it is fresh in comparison. Goku and Vegeta doing their rivalry? not beat for beat. Older characters? They have use. Repeat villains? Frieza is almost a completely new person with his arc in that he now knows he needs to train and actually does and also does some good and even respects Goku. That’s why I don’t compare the two because they are incomparable. GT? It’s pretty much a shitty version of what came before it.

#dragonball #dragon ball #Dragon #ball #GT #Dragonballgt #dragon ball gt #opinion #anime

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duhragonball · 5 years

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Dragon Ball Z 278

Hey, remember the Earth? Well it’s gone now.

Goku’s worried, because he kind of left his kids there. Also Vegeta’s kid. And Piccolo.

I’m glad we have the Elder Supreme Kai, overseer of the entire universe, here to explain to Goku that people die when they’re on a planet and it explodes.

As for Mr. Satan, he doesn’t realize that he’s no longer on Earth, so he thinks it’s just fine. Of course, this is the Supreme Kai Planet, but how could he possibly know that?

One question: How does Mr. Satan think he got here? I mean, he doesn’t know that he was teleported, but he’s surely noticed that they’re in a completely different place where Majin Buu isn’t.

Dende tries to explain DBZ cosmology to Mr. Satan, and he asks why the Supreme Kais didn’t do something to stop Majin Buu.

It’s a fair point. When the Supreme Kais were first introduced, they were treated like revered figures, too holy to approach, let alone visit on their home planet. Now, they’ve been thoroughly exposed as jobbers to the stars.

Then Mr. Satan realizes this is all a dream, which is also a fair point, because look. I’ve been covering this anime from the first episode up until now. Let me assure you, none of this makes any friggin’ sense. And really, it started to make even less sense once Mr. Satan showed up, almost like Akira Toriyama was daring Mr. Satan to realize that this is all a ridiculous fantasy. Like Dumbledore said, of course it’s a dream, but does that make it any less real? And guess what, Dumbledore ain’t real either, so my point is that yes, none of this is really happening.

So Mr. Satan decides to control the dream and fly into space and kick Buu’s ass. Yeah, none of this may be real, but Buu still killed his daughter, so that has to be answered for. But then he falls and hurts himself.

Vegeta’s all sore at Goku for saving that goofball instead of their kids, but he won’t be complaining in a few more episodes when Mr. Satan saves his life. Oh, uh, spoilers.

What happened to Buu? Well, blowing up the Earth didn’t hurt him at all, so he’s fine. More importantly, he can teleport to other planets now, using the teleportation technique Kibitoshin used to save Goku and the others.

I should note here that this is not the same as Goku’s instant transmission. I suppose Buu might have learned that power as well, since he fought Goku enough times to have seen it in action. I’m not sure that Kid Buu remembers anything the previous Buu’s experienced, though. In any case, Goku has to teleport by sensing ki energy. Kibito could teleport anywhere in the universe, although we never saw him use this ability except for taking people from Earth to the Supreme Kai Planet and back. I suspect that he can’t teleport over short distances. For example, he flew all the way to Babidi’s spaceship, instead of teleporting part of the way to save time. And he had to search for the Supreme Kai on foot. Wait, maybe he teleported to Gohan when they rescued him? I forgot.

Anyway, what Kid Buu is doing now is using his new ability to hop from planet to planet, destroying each one. This is what he used to do with Bibidi, only I think they used a spaceship to get from place to place. Now, Buu can wipe out hundreds of planets in a few minutes.

I always liked the look of this planet. Funimation’s streaming quality nosedived when I got to this part, but these alien structures look like skyscrapers, and this purple fog could be just about anything. We know absolutely nothing about this planet except that Buu chose to destroy it next, and they probably had no idea he was coming.

The Elder Kai suspects that Buu is searching for Goku and Vegeta. He knows those two have strong ki, so he’s searching for strong ki signatures and traveling to them. So that planet bought the dust because it had some above average life force, but it didn’t have Goku and Vegeta on it. Tough break.

Things look pretty grim, until Dende remembers that they don’t need the Earth’s Dragon Balls, which were destroyed along with the planet. They can just go to New Namek and borrow their Dragon Balls, and wish everyone back with those.

Okay, so what drives me nuts about this is that... Look was there anyone who didn’t see this coming when they watched it for the first time? The first 107 episodes of DBZ were about how there’s a second set of Dragon Balls on Planet Namek. When Goku asked to stay dead, he had to do that because the others were all set to go to New Namek and wish Goku back to life to get around Shenron’s no-doubles rule.

So as soon as things started to get really bad with Majin Buu, the very first thing I thought of was “Well, they’ll probably end up using the Namekian Dragon Balls to fix this.” Especially during the Gotenks episodes, because they made such a big deal about how Dende or the Dragon Balls might get destroyed during the fighting. Well who cares, when there’s another set?

But no one ever mentions it, even as a failsafe in case things get really bad. Not until this episode, when Dende remembers what planet he’s from. And then everyone is like “Oh wow, that’s right, good thinking, Dende!” while the audience is slapping their collective foreheads. I mean, Vegeta was the first one to deduce that the Namekians have their own set of Dragon Balls. Goku’s been to New Namek before. The Supreme Kais are the Supreme Kais. How is it that neither one of them was aware of this until now?

So Toriyama covers that one by establishing that Kibitoshin never heard of them before, while the Elder Kai simply objects to their use on general principle. I guess he was okay with using Earth’s Dragon Balls to solve an Earth problem, but he thinks that the Namekians shouldn’t use Porunga to interfere in other planets’ affairs. This is the same guy who literally took his own life just so Goku could have another crack at Buu, because he knew the whole universe was at stake.

So Goku tries to persuade him to look the other way on this, because Goku was going to let him kiss Bulma, but they can’t do that while she’s dead, so this is the only way to bring her back. Also, he promises to throw in lewd photos, which is dumb because the Elder Kai already told Goku that he doesn’t need porn because he can just peep on naked women anywhere in the universe, at any time.

Anyway, Vegeta overhears this and loses his shit.

While they argue about this, Kid Buu makes his way to the Grand Kai Planet, where Krillin and Yamcha are training.

Kibitoshin gives Goku and Vegeta his earrings, thinking they can become Vegito once again and defeat Buu with ease, but we already know Vegeta wants no part of that. But before he can object, Goku speaks up and says thanks, but no thanks.

For one thing, Buu is no longer fused or merged with any other being, so it wouldn’t be fair to use fusion against him. This didn’t seem to bother Goku when he first proposed fusion as a way to stop Buu, before he knew Buu’s situation, but I think you can make the argument that he’s considered what Vegeta’s had to say about fusion, and he’s buying into it.

What’s always stuck with me about this episode is how amazed and impressed Vegeta is to hear this out of Goku’s mouth. Goku, the man he accused of sandbagging during their fight in the Babidi Saga. Goku, the man who convinced him to use the Potara in the first place, because there was too much at stake to be “particular”. In the dub, Vegeta accused Goku of having no pride. Now, he’s seeing that Goku has more that he gave him credit for.

Let’s face it, fusion hasn’t worked out at all. Goku first suggested it as a lifeline, but it didn’t make Gotenks strong enough to win. The Potara seemed to make it easier to do, but Gohan still missed his chance. Vegito seemed like a slam dunk, except he didn’t beat Buu either. He let himself be absorbed, and then the fusion unexpectedly wore off.

And Buu’s power to absorb others puts a major crimp in the idea of fusing to make stronger fighters. If Buu gets backed into a corner, he’ll absorb you, whether your’re fused or not. At least this way, Goku and Vegeta can fight as themselves, without having to worry about time limits or unexpected malfunctions. And if they lose, at least they get to keep their self-respect.

And I think the unspoken respect between these two is based on this: Goku recognizes that Vegeta tried to play things his way. We did fusion, and now we’re here, so we’re gonna try it Vegeta’s way this time. Maybe they’re not friends yet, but this is the best they’ve gotten along, ever.

Back on the Grand Kai Planet, apparently only King Kai, Krillin, and Yamcha seem to have any idea that Majin Buu is in their midst. Pikkon and the others think Buu is just a new arrival at the training ground, except he doesn’t have a halo.

Fighting Buu is pointless. He overwhelms everybody, and when Krillin cuts him in half with a Kienzan, Buu just puts himself back together and decks him.

Seeing this in the Elder Kai’s crystal ball, Goku prepares to teleport over there, but Vegeta suggests that they lure Buu to this planet instead. It’s sturdy and nearly deserted, so they can fight freely. All they have to do is raise their power level, and Buu will sense it and come running.

Goku loves that plan, because it solves a problem with yelling, and that’s what this show is all about. Also teamwork and self-improvement, but mostly yelling.

So Buu’s about to destroy the Grand Kai Planet, and there a line somewhere in this episode about how if Krillin and Yamcha get destroyed after having already being killed, then they’ll just cease to exist. I don’t get that, since Buu can only destroy the bodies they got from King Yemma, right? Wouldn’t they just be reduced to spirits like Bulma and Chi-Chi? Or can Buu kill those as well?

Anyway, in this scene, Kid Buu says one of his few lines in the show. In the dub he says “Buu squash you like bugs!” and then when he senses Goku and Vegeta he laughs and says “Dum-dums!” I always wondered if he could really talk in the subs, but it looks like he did.

One teleport later, and Buu’s here on the Supreme Kai Planet, ready to rock. Most of this episode is filler, because in the manga, Buu just follows them directly from Earth, without Goku and Vegeta having time to even consider luring him here. I do kind of like this version, though, if only for giving Kid Buu a chance to show us a little more of what he’s all about.

#dragon ball #2019dbliveblog #kid buu saga #majin buu #goku #vegeta #mr satan #dende #bee #elder kai #kibitioshin #king kai #krillin #yamcha #pikkon

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amplesalty · 5 years

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Christmas 2019: Day 1 - Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

A burning Christmas tree!

And the angel said unto them, fear not for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day another marathon of Christmas related movies and TV specials. As is tradition, we start by saying what a tradition it is to start the month with a horror. As we shall come to see, a not as serious Christmas Horror movie this time. Well, having said that, Silent Night Deadly Night is pretty silly at times. My horror tastes have a tendency to lean towards the silly anyway and I did do all 31 days this year so there’s perhaps less of a need to make up for lost time by extending it over in Christmas. Look, stop going on about it, it’s Anna and the Apocalypse.

It makes for a fairly obvious choice to open proceedings, it’s a Christmas zombie movie. What more do you want? Well, how about a musical? Yeah, this is like Nativity crossed with Shaun of the Dead. Or more appropriately, High School Musical crossed with Shaun of the Dead. Or, as the marketing goes with, La La Land crossed with Shaun of the Dead. I think that movie is cursed to be forever associated with anything vaguely zombie related and comedic. It’s like the new ‘It’s Die Hard but…’

Anyway, we start with the eponymous Anna on her way to school with her bestie, John, and her dad who is the janitor at the school. This is meant to be a British film, I think you’ll find it’s caretaker, lousy Americanisation. I think this is more specifically Scottish made actually, whole bunch of English people around mind you but there’s a few Scots mixed in as well. I feel like there was a lot of Scottish made kids shows when I was growing up, I dunno if they just get good investment up there or if it’s like a tax or lottery thing or something?

There’s a total Michelle Keegan thing going on with the girl who plays Anna, not a bad thing since she is one of the most desirable women in the world.

The real star of the show here though is Paul Kaye as Mr Savage, a jobsworth assistant headmaster who we first meet warning off one of the students, Steph, who is running a piece on the school blog about the local homeless problem. Mr Savage points out that the local council set their budgets so it’s probably best if she drops the whole thing. When she threatens to go over his head to the more soft touch headmaster, we learn that he’s retiring next month and Mr Savage is taking over and things are going to be a lot different around here. Kaye is hamming it up a bit as Savage but in a more reserved way? He pretty much delivers every line in this very hushed but stern tone, it’s like he’s a villain in a cheap action film but he’s really just a teacher at a small school in Scotland.

We very quickly get our opening number ‘Break Away’, dealing with the problems that Anna, Steph and John are dealing with. Anna wants to get out of this town and see the world, John has an unrequited love for Anna and Steph feels abandoned by her parents who are on the other side of the world. It’s a powerful song that talks about wanting to be more and the girl playing Steph is really giving it socks and emoting. I don’t think they’re dubbing their voices or anything so fair play to her. They even work in some lyircs that tie into the whole zombie thing; “As I wake half dead in this same old bed at the dawn of another day”. It does catch you off guard though when you’re not expecting a musical.

This would work well as one of those deceptive genre bending movies you could trick someone into watching and be like ‘Boom, zombies!’ halfway through. At the very start there’s a radio piece that kinda spells it out before it’s cut off midsentence that talks about a supposed super flu that has now being discovered to cause ‘reanima-‘. But there’s little nods here and there otherwise that make it sort of cute like those lyrics or people theatrically clawing at a wall like a zombie.

The songs in the Christmas show don’t quite match up. They’ve probably got that whole non-demoninational thing to adhere to where they can’t sing about Jesus so instead they’ve got two break dancing penguins dancing to a fish rap. Yes, fish rap. “My favourite dish is fish, mother flipper, and I eat it for the hell of it!”

Then there’s Lisa’s song which is basically an attempt to seduce Santa. Think ‘Santa Baby’ but a bit more explicit. Like, she invites Santa over to ‘empty his sack’ at one point, that sort of thing. Then you have a bunch of backing dancers who are all topless and wearing short shorts. This is a high school production, right? Seems a bit risqué. Mr Savage seems to agree so too, though at first it just cuts to him saying ‘Filthy....salacious...’ whilst pulling these funny faces, almost like he’s getting some illicit thrill from all this. Thankfully he ends that thought with ‘and it must be stopped!’ before storming off.

Going back to the zombie movie in disguise thought, when we finally do get the zombies, the movie still plays dumb to the whole thing by having Anna and John walking to school whilst performing a musical number (Turning My Life Around) where they say they’re ‘miles away’ whilst being totally oblivious to the carnage unfolding behind them. This rather disturbingly includes a zombie eating the contents of a pram. It’s an amusing scene, the juxtaposition of this bright, upbeat song and these two cheery characters with no knowledge of all the death and destruction behind them. The song has a similar message to ‘Break Away’ but looked at from a slightly different perspective, much more optomistic and poppy.

Mr Savage’s breakout moment comes when everyone gets trapped in the school after the outbreak and they hear of evacuation plans that call for them to stay put and await the arrival of the army. The headmaster seems to be out of the picture and he revels in taking charge. But, when days past with no contact, everyone wants to head out and Savage has a bit of a run in with Anna’s Dad. Savage snaps before sulking off in a corner muttering that this is his school now, hearing zombies clattering at the door and seemingly having a ‘lightbulb above the head’ moment. I’ve made comparisons before to Dead Rising and how the proper movies based on it missed the ‘psycho’ characters. This right here is a psycho character, that sense of a rather mundane character being pushed over the edge in this apocalyptic situation. I’m thinking specifically here of the supermarket worker in the first game who thinks you’re looting and tries to run you down with his adapted trolley that has a bunch of pointy things stuck on it whilst screaming ‘THIS IS MY STOOOOOOOOOOORE!!!’.

Speaking of looting, Anna’s dickbag ex shows up to help her and her friends out of a jam with a trolley full of toys he’s ‘found’. Him and his friends arm themselves to take out a nearby hoard but I feel like only two of them are actually trying. He has his baseball bat and another guy puts knives in his hands like they’re Wolverine claws. I don’t know how useful knives are going to be, especially wielded like that, but at least he’s making a better effort than the other two who have a video game controller used like a mace and the last guy who has two watermelons. Okay, so we see a vaguely similar situation to this earlier in the movie in a bowling alley where someone squishes a zombies head in between two bowling balls so maybe that’s what this guy was thinking? Well, A) I don’t think that’s going to work with watermelons and 2) say it does, that’s only going to work once with watermelons because they’re going to explode. What’s your secondary plan once they’re done with? At least the guy with the bat can keep on swinging it.

This is the lead in to the ex’s song ‘Soldier at War’ which is really good as well. Between the delivery of the song and the way it’s acted physically, there’s this kind of sultry, seductive thing going on? Apparently Rocky Horror Picture show was an inspiration for this movie and I definitely get a Dr. Frank-N-Furter vibe from this.

They all eventually fight their way back to the school only to find Savage is just calmly eating his Christmas dinner. He points them in the direction of their parents, only to lock them in a room full of zombies. He even gets a villain song as they all struggle to survive, basically summarising that for too long he’s been held down but now it’s his time. There’s a fast paced energy to the song and, at the risk of making another Shaun of the Dead comparison, having it cut to shots of the kids fighting off the horde and the fact that it’s called ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now’ makes me wonder if this wasn’t a conscious nod to the big climax at The Winchester.

Things come to a head when Anna tries to track down her Dad, only to find him tied up with Christmas lights on the stage with Mr Savage waiting for some sort of final showdown. I say showdown, it’s more a duet with Anna fighting off zombies and Mr Savage prancing about on stage trying on top hats and wrapping himself in tinsel like they’re cheap feather boas and he’s a fifty pence tart. There is a bit of fisticuffs between Mr Savage and Anna’s Dad in the end though and there’s even a call back to a moment from the start of the movie to serve as the final blow which is neat.

I was a little taken aback upon the revelation that this was a musical but it turned out to be really good fun. Just a really cool mix of genres with some good songs that are complimented at times with on screen theatrics. For the zombie portion of it, there’s some creative kills in one portion of the movie in the bowling alley but otherwise it resorts to blunt force trauma in order to ‘destroy the brain’. But the kills can be suitably over the top with a lot of blood splatter so that all adds to the cheese factor it’s got going on. It’s a suitable addition to the Christmas Horror or even just comedy-horror sub genres.

#Christmas 2019 #Anna and the Apocalypse

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mysterylover123 · 5 years

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BNHA Rewatch Season 1 Episode 12 “All Might”

mysterylover123

Now to the climax for S1! I’m pretty sure this is the episode (or rather the moment) that made BNHA. The big scene from S1 that showed the world It was Here and the potential it had for the future.

All Might makes his dramatic entrance. I do love how much this series puts an emphasis on the importance, not just of physically saving people, but giving them reassurance that everything’s gonna be ok. The way he carries Aizawa here is very sweet (changed a bit from the manga, where it’s a little less delicate).

Tomura makes this speech that All Might confirms is just him bullshitting but is actually a really interesting notion. “Why do some people decide that some violence is heroic and others are villainous” is a line that pops into my head a lot when I’m watching other franchises. The whole “Protagonist centered morality” thing. It doesn’t really apply to BNHA that much, but there’s a lot of other narratives out there that could use a reality check in that regard.

This shot looks like a selfie. Deku is the worst at keeping a secret. Carolina is one of all Might’s attacks i really like, because it’s kind of creative and unique. I love the little setup of the fight against Nomu - how they lay out the conditions, and All Might still works within them to pull out a win anyway. That’s BNHA for ya.

Deku figuring out that All Might needs help...first time around I was waiting for Deku to do something appropriately climactic for the end of the season, and disappointed he didn’t get to.

But what we do get is pretty striking. On the one hand, we see Deku’s strengths as a character, the inability to ignore someone in need, that burning desire to help that he tries to reason himself out of. On the other hand, he charges in with no plan, and thinks mostly about how much he still needs All Might to teach him, thinking more of his own needs than his mentor’s...this isn’t the moment for him to save his mentor.

And look who’s pulling off his first Save to Win! Congratulations Kacchan, you did your first good deed in the entire series! While being a grump about it but still, thank you for saving Deku.

And also being badass AF. Kacchan, Shoto and Kiri making their dramatic entrances. Shoto is just so good at ice stuff guys. Bakugou being smart and outwitting Kurogiri. They’re just too cool for school. (also this angle makes Kacchan look like he has breasts. He’s oddly androgynous sometimes).

Tomura, of course, is not an idiot and recognizes this, telling Nomu to take Bakugou out so they can go home. I notice Todoroki gets this really panicked look on his face when they make that announcement (probably because Nomu is escaping his ice) but in my head it’s because he’s worried for Bakugo. Small Todobaku sideship here, ngl.

And Tomura’s full speech on heroes and violence comes in. All Might seems to indicate he’s just trying this philosophy out for size; while I still do remember this speech and find it fascinating in the context of other stories, for Tomura it’s obviously not what he thinks. He doesn’t care. He’s a villain without an ideology. Which is a big part of the diff between him and Stain, which Deku notices. There’s a lot to unpack with Tomura now, isn’t there, the light of the most recent arc? I guess I’ll get to that when I get to it.

YSR is swelling. All Might is going to go beyond. It’s time. We’re here. Thinking about it, this fight feels like the Camino Ward fight in a slightly smaller format. (the whole arc is basically just Baby’s first Camino). There are similar lines, but one bit that sticks out to me is that All Might begins this fight thinking about how he’s a symbol, and in the Camino Fight thinks “I’m not doing this because I’m a symbol” or something like that. Character growth!

And now the bit that launched a thousand memes. For some reason, every YSR Goes with Everything Vid I see uses this specific scene, quotes from it, inserted with whatever it’s being paired with. I guess this is the moment everyone associates with YSR, even though it’s in a ton of episodes. But yes, this particular scene does feel like it captures the whole YSR spirit quite well.

“Those aren’t just random punches either. They’re targeted. And everyone single one of them...is more than 100% of his power!” “You may have heard these words before, but I’ll so you what they really mean. Go beyond...plus ultraaaaaaaaa!!” (It’s basically the same ideas in the sub, but those are the specific words they used in the dub. They’ve become as much of a meme as YSR itself.)

And it’s so interesting as a way to beat the villain. It’s kind of both outwitting him and out-powering him. Like the appeal of FMA & DBZ combined.

Basically this episode is amazing. I think I kind of breezed through the whole USJ arc in a day the first time, so it didn’t stick out to me. But on a rewatch it’s a real highly. Very focused on it’s one subject and absolutely astounding to watch and hear. YSR + Fight is always a win. This one always puts a smile on my face.

BKDK Corner

Save to win. Win to save. Katsuki saving Deku is such a quiet moment here, you don’t really notice it, but don’t think I didn’t notice that the first time Bakugou ever saved anyone in the series, it happened to be Deku (and vice versa). The important thing to remember here is that Deku is the one who most consistently brings out the best in Bakugou, as well as the worst.

“Kacchan! People who aren’t as important because they’re not Kacchan!”

Deku’s little yell of “Kacchan” is just a small preview of the Training camp Arc-era panic. Dude’s protective. And also loves taking any opportunity he can to gush as well. (And Bakugou refuses to be complimented for something he didn’t do. I kinda admire him too for that) Speaking of the training camp arc, I get some of those “responsible for All Might’s end” vibes from him here.

Holy crap Bakugou is thin. Curvier than half the girls. Anyway, Deku observing him as always.

And taking on the same poses in fear/awe.

Best Girl of the Ep: No new best girls this ep.

Ranker: Best YSR Uses

5. Deku vs Kacchan, Episode 7

4. The movie’s climax - Double Detroit Smash

3. Season 1 Episode 12 All Might vs Nomu

2. Season 1 Episode 2 Deku saving Kacchan

1. Season 2 Episode 10 - Shoto Todoroki Origin

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broanimekindasmacks · 5 years

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Laying the Foundation

There a number of streaming services that are available to watch anime on. Of course each on is going to have it's pros and cons so I would suggest trying out multiple ones until you found one suitable for your needs! Just to note, if you're looking to watch specific animes it's always a good idea to check if it's available on your favorite streaming service before paying for it!

Subscriptions (These ones are going to cost a monthly fee that is automatically charged to a debit/credit card.)

Crunchyroll -has a 14 day free trial -$7.99 + tax month -no ads and fast translation times from when new episodes are aired -has a dark mode -decent and large selection (recently expired funimation license) -link to titles leavings cr: https://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-1025862/update-to-the-crunchyroll-x-funimation-partnership A personal note: I've used my sister's CR account in the past and loved the lack of pop-ups or obnoxious ads. Also, the translations are done professionally and the video quality is HD, so I would definitely reccomend this to those who can afford it!

Netflix -has a 30 day trial -netflix has different prices depending on what plan you'd like and is as follows -basic: $8.99 for one screen in standard quality -standard: $13.99 for two screens in HD -premium: $15.99 for 4 screen in HD and ultra HD -no ads, mildly reliable translation -in constantly in dark mode -smaller selection as compared to cr, most aren't full seasons -definitely went more for variety than completion for anime A personal note: This is where I'd recommend newbie go! Almost everyone has access to Netflix and thankfully Netlfix has a wide enough variety to have some of the more popular shows. If these shows can grab your attention then you're more likely to venture to other streaming sites for other animes.

Hulu -has a 30 day trial/7 day trial depending on what plan you pick -plans are as follows: -hulu:$5.99 a month (has ads) -hulu (no ads): $11.99 a month -hulu + live tv $54.99 a month -has a good amount of english dubbed anime if you're into that -good balance of variety and completion A personal note: I'm ashamed to admit it, but I used to use Hulu. This was back when I was elementary school and I could actually bring myself to watch ads. Of course this was for the sake of Inuyasha so it was all good. Like Netflix, I would only recommend this to someone who already has Hulu and is looking to explore anime.

Free Platforms Anime Planet -is both free and not depending on what you watch, BUT a majority of the animes are free to watch -is a legal streaming service,,,,which is GREAT -uses different video streaming services (ie. youtube, etc) -doesn't have a dark mode A personal note: I haven't really used this platform but am planning to after doing this research. Will get back to you with feedback, but looks promising!

Youtube -i'm gonna be honest you're probably desperate if you're here -this is some subbed in a language that isn't english and 1 episode is cut into 3 parts type of thing -most animation/licensing isn't not gonna let a whole series slide on yt -sometimes little clips or the first episode to attract to you to new anime are here -otherwise...only for 2010's nostalgia and bad AMVs

...Sketchy...websites If you've more seasoned then you'll recognize the mysterious kissanime urls. KissAnime -are shapeshifting forms with endings like .ru,.in,.ws -defintely run smth fishy in the background of your computer -have to turn off adblock -require you to choose a picture before watching each episode -pop-ups and....intense ads -streaming services sometimes botched -BUT will have ANYTHING you are looking for anime-wise -great for when you're digging for some more niche animes A personal note: Ah, who hasn't used kissanime? If you're a seasoned anime watcher than any of the slight inconveniences that come with the site practically don't even exist because you're so accustomed to them. This is my last place to watch an anime because the way that it is. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who like my dad who doesn't understand how to close a pop-up, but otherwise it's there when you need it.

This is my masterlist so far as to the streaming sites you can use. I'll be adding any if I find anymore but for now, these are what I (and many others) use to watch anime. Of course if you have the luxury, then I would suggest getting a subscription service. Since not all of us (which is also many of us) can't we deal with what we can get.

I’ve attached an image of this information in table form and will also link to the google doc itself, which has clickable link to each official site!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vS4peS_XaFrxigUZ7TUbPAdDUqC72g2lPhPYQMNFib_8tTNxmtXQ59GTjmKifRQBqDokSMW6DHu-fic/pub

#anime #anime masterlist #where to watch anime #masterlist

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snkpolls · 5 years

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SnK S3E18 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 381 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!

RATE THE EPISODE 363 Responses

This was considered a very emotional episode for many viewers, but also highly praised. A majority 86.8% of viewers rated the episode 5/5, with only a few less thrilled viewers.

beautiful episode

Attack on Feels at its finest yet again

It felt slightly underwhelming, but I don't think it couldn't have been considering how great the previous episode was

I cried so much, but I liked it a lot.

Brilliant and excruciating

the most emotionally impactful episode for me so far. it was perfectly done

Awful, fast-paced, and just a statement that Araki wanted to get this out of the way before he could very probably put his eremika fillers. Him cutting out Reienr's tears is unforgivable. It lessens his relationship with bert when the fucking back-bump was a highlight of the OP.

Best of the season

Powerful episode with excellent voice acting.

It was absolutely perfect!

It was so emotional and dramatic, this show keeps getting better and better

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THE EPISODE? 371 Responses

A number of notable moments split the chart into several nearly even pieces. In fact, 16.2% of respondents could not decide their favorite moment. 12.7% did favor watching Levi make his final choice, with Levi and Hange saying their goodbyes to Erwin, Hange’s speech, and the 104th holding Armin in the 9%’s.

Shirtless Armin really waters my crops

This episode was DEVASTATING. OnoD had only one line, but even that one, all soft and weak that made the Commander sound so *human*... I was practically sobbing. And the look on Levi's face just. Just ended me.

Eren and Mikasa's pain was beautifully done. Kaji Yuuki is an absolute marvel, his voice is always dripping with emotion and Eren's pain brought me to tears, too. Not to mention Mikasa's wail...

WHICH SEIYUU WAS THE MVP THIS EPISODE? 366 Responses

Of course, such emotional performances should be credited to the talented voice acting. 36.6% of respondents believe all of them deserve equal praise. 25.1% thought Eren’s seiyuu, Yuki Kaji, was MVP for this episode, followed by 17.8% Yui Ishikawa, who plays Mikasa.

Thanks to the voice actors it had more impact than the manga. I cried for Levi, who had to make the hardest decision of his life.

Yoooo i made a post on reddit appreciating Zeke's VA but he didn't get included in the VA list ;_;

i am a hardcore dub over sub person and yuki kaji had me in tears. SUPER phenomenal voice performance in this episode, jesus christ.

Might’ve been the best ensemble voice acting I’ve ever seen in anything and that included movies. Eren’s, Mikasa, and Levi’s performances were phenomenal. Also, Erwin and Bertholdt’s voiceactors made their deaths that much more impactful.

Great VA work. Growing increasingly attached to floch character because his VA is so good.

Regarding the voice actors this episode, everyone did an awesome job and I expect EreMika to take top place. I chose Hange though because this episode showed new sides of her and it felt like she had a bigger variety of emotions to display. From the relentless wish to kill a titan, which was something uncharacteristic of her usual self, to the strong and determined ""It was my decision"" and then her desperate and vulnerable speech, and finally, her worn-out ""He's already dead."

I may have said all the voice actors were MVP this episode(they are tbh lol added a lot to this already emotional episode) but Mikasa's crying omg I FELT THAT

Hands down to the voice actors this episode, man. They deserve all the praise they can get. 🙌

THIS EPISODE HAD A PROFOUND LACK OF BACKGROUND MUSIC. DO YOU THINK THIS WAS THE CORRECT DECISION ON THE PART OF THE ANIME TEAM? 369 Responses

The majority of the episode had minimal or no background music. 71% of respondents were especially supportive of the decision, with 19.2% who were simply content. The rest would have preferred some more soundtracks or didn’t even notice at all.

It was a great decision, we could focus on what was the most important during those scenes - pure emotion in an outstanding performance by the VA's.

I feel like a track could've been placed during Hange's speech, but otherwise I liked the silence

thanksArminTitan ruined everything

It creeped me out so much. Awful yet good

It was great. But it could also have been great with music so I don't know if it was a good choice.

The silence made it feel eerie, you were able to hear the sizzling body in the background.

THE LACK OF AN OP WAS AN EXCELLENT DECISION. JUST HEARING SHIGASHINA BURNING? EXCELLENT DECISION.

This episode destroyed me! I was nearly in tears during the whole episode and finally shed tears once the music started playing at the end 😭

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT HANGE’S SPEECH? 371 Responses

Hange’s monologue about loss tugged a lot of heart strings. 35.8% of respondents preferred seeing the flashback of Moblit’s sacrifice. 33.2% liked everything Hange had to say, while 20.8% favored the hug between Hange and Mikasa.

WHO DO YOU FEEL WAS OBJECTIVELY THE BETTER PERSON TO REVIVE? 370 Responses

The decision between Armin and Erwin’s survival split the participants’ responses near evenly, though 47.3% thought the best objective choice was to revive Erwin, while 42.4% thought Armin was a better choice. (A small 10.3% thought neither were good options, you monsters!)

I want to say that depends on what sort of objectively we are looking for. Are we looking at it from an in character perspective? Then yes, I would've chosen Erwin. However, if we are looking at it from a story analysis/out of universe perspective, I feel Erwin should always have died, as Armin, in my opinion, has more potential for an additional narrative arc (though his character development would also have been perfect if he had died there) but also through Erwin's death, a lot more people gained new development (Levi, Hange, Armin obviously, Floche to some degree, to some degree the rest of the 104th) that I feel is much more important from a narrative point of view. This arc marks the moment where the status quo about the world is very violently shaken up, and Erwin's death does the same thing to the SC which I feel works best thematically.

OBJECTIVENESS ASIDE, WHO WOULD YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO REVIVE? 371 Responses

When it comes to personal preference, 70.1% of respondents would revive Armin, while 24% would have picked Erwin.

HOW DO YOU THINK ERWIN WOULD FEEL IF HE HAD BEEN PICKED INSTEAD OF ARMIN? 365 Responses

Had Erwin been chosen to receive the serum instead of Armin, 49.6% of respondents believe he would have mostly felt guilty. 25.8% believed Erwin would understand the final decision, while 15.3% think he’d be disappointed.

Accepting, but terribly sad, guilty and weary.

Happy to find out about the basement but once he confirmed his father’s theory, I think he would have preferred not being chosen.

Depressed. After the basement? Unmotivated and listless.

The first thing is he would want to go see the basement. After that, he'd continue to be crushed by his guilt and feel burdened with the responsibility of the titan power even though he no longer has a motivation to lead an army.

His speech made everyone go on a suicide charge with him, therefore after he would survive his guilt of fallen comrades would be unmeasurable. The charge was his final decision and his final redemption.

Erwin not only feel guilty at having been forced to live after coming to peace with his death, he would probably also come to resent Levi for breaking Erwin's trust by bringing him back.

Idk i feel he'd kinda be resentful like he was ready to die and he did value armin's skills so maybe he would view them killing off potential as a bad choice?

He would be suicidal like Reiner. Truth is Erwin wanted to die. And the basement reveal wouldn't make him happy. Like oh shit I found out the truth but now I have to worry about humans(Marley) instead of Titans now.

Very very tired. And saddened by Armin's death (cause the loss of potential, and I sorta feel Erwin does see his own younger self in Armin) but at the same time, it's also the same sadness over all the recruits that died. And again, that they died but he lived.

WHY DO YOU THINK LEVI INJECTED ARMIN INSTEAD OF ERWIN? 371 Responses

Multiple possibilities factored into Levi’s decision to pick Armin, though 45.8% of viewers believe it was mostly because Levi wanted to let Erwin rest. 42.6% believed it was a mix of all possible factors that played a role in his decision.

Erwin told Levi how he felt all his dead comrades were looking at him, Levi didn't want him to live with the guilt any longer.

I think ultimately, after Floch's speach Levi realized that Erwin was indeed becoming a monster and he didnt want him to go further down. But I also think that he cared for Armin and his dream enough that also played a part in his choice. He may have realized that he was being a hypocrite when he told Eren to set his feelings aside.

I believe that Levi wanted Erwin to escape this hellish world but also because he saw a more visionary future from Armin.

He realized Erwin gave up on his dream and made his mind to die but Armin hasnt and died while still longing for his dream. Plus he wanted him to rest from being a devil with guilt

Levi realized that Erwin had given all he had to give and that he’d only be bringing back an empty shell of who Erwin was. It would also be cruel to bring him back, as Levi explained.

He realized that Erwin and Kenny were both driven by the intoxication of their dreams, and wanted to set Erwin free from that.

Levi understood that Erwin's wish was to die there, at that moment when he was finally in tune with his words as a commander

Many factors influenced Levi's final decision. But I want to say something that suits better than simply saying "Levi chooses Armin". I mean, yes, he gave him the serum and the chance to be reborn to Armin, but I saw him more as if Levi chose Erwin as the best way for him, not for humanity. Both (and all) are slaves of a dream, a goal to achieve in their lives, and it is wrong to say that some dreams are more "good" or more valuable than others. Their lives cannot be measured by their actions, but by their souls. And Erwin soul was tired, full of pitty and guilt for how much soldiers and close friends died because "they gave their hearts" to him, their life and dreams for humanity, and every dead was a weight that fall in his shoulders, every mission, every year. And for Levi, Erwin is the most important person in his life, he knew all of his suffer. Erwin's death was the freedom for him, being freed of living in this hellsite and being called by the name of the devil. In summary, Levi decision was the most kind, empathetic and noble act in his life for Erwin. He loves this man so much, he needs to rest.

WHICH CHARACTER DO YOU FIND YOURSELF MOURNING THE MOST? 370 Responses

Three long-term character deaths happened in this episode. 58.4% of respondents grieved Erwin the most. Moblit was mourned by 18.9% of participants and 16.8% were more emotional for Bertolt’s demise.

Bertholdt deserved better 😔

I thought I got over Erwin’s death but haHA GUESS I WAS WRONG

RIP Erwin.

I feel almost cheated by having Bertl reduced to just titan fodder for the sake of pushing a protag’s story along.

F to Erwin

WHICH PART OF THE EPISODE GOT YOU CHOKED UP, IF AT ALL? 369 Responses

There were plenty of tearful moments that got viewers grabbing their tissues. Mikasa’s panicked crying when Levi was preparing to inject Erwin choked up 16.8% of participants the most. Levi’s reaction to Erwin’s death was the saddest to 13.3%, and 11.9% were emotional over Eren’s final plea to save Armin.

I teared up when Erwin died; I didn't realize the anime adaptation of Serumbowl would affect me so much. Kudos to the directors, VAs, animators, everyone for such an impactful episode

The episode was beautiful. It made me cry throughout most of it. The voice acting was amazing, especially Mikasa’s VA imo. Tons of respects for the VAs for delivering so much raw emotion and the animators’ amazing work on the visuals.

I'm not crying you're crying

Even if Eren and Mikasa were more demonstrative in their emotions, the one that made my heart broke is without hesitation Levi. His silent despair was much more poignant.

the "Which part of the episode got you choked up, if at all" made me insulted. I choked up the entire episode and this wasn't even a option.

I didn't cry like I did in the manga.

HOW WELL DID THE ANIME ADAPT THE CORRESPONDING CHAPTERS? 367 Responses

Overall, a majority of respondents believed the episode was very faithful to the manga with 80.4% rating at a near perfect score.

i wish the anime production team would realize that since anime ("film") and manga ("print") are two totally different media, you cant just adapt an anime episode "panel by panel" from a manga and have it be as good. it needs to be formatted for *anime*. such a lazy fucking way to go about adapting a show

Honestly this episode was emotionally exhausting, in a good way. The silence was a brilliant choice on the directors' part as it let the VAs raw emotion carry the episode. Character animation and expressions were also on point. Couldn't be happier with the adaptation of Ch.83-84.

IF LEVI HAD CHOSEN TO INJECT ERWIN, DO YOU THINK THAT THE CURRENT MANGA SITUATION WOULD BE AS DIRE? 370 Responses

It’s possible the events of the manga would have been different if Erwin were chosen instead of Armin. 24.9% of respondents the situation would be just as dire, 24.6% are not sure what would have happened, and 24.1% have faith in Erwin to come up with better strategies.

Armin will come through like he always does

His presence COULD have prevented a lot of factors, but this is just a guess, there is no guarantee he would change anything.

It would probably have been as bad, but Armin still has time to do something important.

Eren probably would've been a bit resentful over losing his best friend. Resulting in him going off on his own and being potentially more uncaring with the choices he makes

Would things be different if Erwin had been saved? I believe a lot of the shit that's going on in the manga right now is because cultists infiltrated the Survey Corps. I know Erwin is not perfect but his absence left a clear gap in their organization.

Hard to say. Grass is greener on the other side.

Just different. I don't think we can say that Erwin would've dealt with the current situation better because the current situation would not exist at all. From the moment of Erwin's death, the decisions became Hange's and her priorities shaped those. Erwin, from the start, would've made different decisions. Those may have led to the same situation occurring, those might have led to a whole different set of difficult circumstances. It is impossible to predict. Plus there is the Eren factor. We have Eren causing a lot of trouble for the SC right now, and that is an Eren who did get the revival of his best friend and his close companionship for a few more years. And Eren who lost Armin would've acted completely differently. Would he have resented the SC? Would he have even wanted to stay under the people who, in his eyes, killed Armin? Would anyone be able to talk him down. Would he strike out on his own more quickly and have another reason for potentially joining with Zeke? Maybe in a universe where Erwin was revived, sure, they would've had his experience and political savvy, but it is quite possible they would've lost Eren completely at a much earlier point. Does that lead to a better or worse situation? We literally cannot say.

I don't think there's a way to know for sure. Erwin stated that he wasn't sure what he planned to do after seeing Eren's basement, plus I'm not sure if he would have been able to handle any more guilt related to sending his soldiers to their deaths. Personally, I agreed with Levi when he said that Erwin deserved to rest.

No fucking Armin is useless as of now. That's what Hange was saying about leadership and insight. We could easily argue Isayama hasn't written anything for Armin, but you could also argue that attests to his lack of. Erwin wouldn't let Eren go rogue. The biggest question to ask all manga readers is whether Armin has done anything for humanity that Erwin couldn't have done thus far.

The situation inside the walls would definitely be a lot more organized, but when it comes to turning the tables on Marley, Armin seems to find the most creative ways to turn the tables on their enemies in a way that doesn’t leave a pile of corpses behind him the way Erwin does. The early part of this arc demonstrated what they lost with Erwin, but I believe it’s Armin’s turn to do something great again. And let’s be honest, it’s Eren’s fault that Armin hasn’t gotten the chance to do anything besides plan the Liberio reinforcements anyways.

EREN WAS UNABLE TO LET ARMIN GO, A SHOW OF HOW MUCH HIS FRIENDS ARE HIS WEAKNESS. DO YOU THINK HE STILL HARBORS THE SAME WEAKNESS TOWARDS THEM IN THE CURRENT EVENTS? 371 Responses

One of Eren’s biggest vulnerabilities is his attachment to his friends, although current manga events have displayed Eren’s less heartfelt treatment of his loved ones. 51.5% of respondents, however, still believe Eren harbors the same weakness for them now as he did back then. 25.6% aren’t quite sure, while 18.6% believe he has completely moved on.

He does care. He just isn’t weak about it. Or at least, he doesn’t show it. But he still wants to protect them.

I think only placing Armin or Mikasa in a deathly situation would descover If Eren still harbours feelings for them. In this point of the manga I believe Eren has forgotten all love and compassion and he needs a sparkle to remind them.

He grew up, so of course he has changed. But I still believe he cares about them, he just doesn't want them around rn and prefers to do this by himself.

Eren never really cared about his friends. He didn't wnat to let Armin go because he can't take no for an answer.

Some yes but I think he is influenced by so many previous titan shifters and the titans themselves it got kinda suppressed

Probably? Maybe he kept what happened here in mind in order to say the horrible things he did in Ch 112. I honestly hadn't thought of this before, that Eren himself would distance his friends because they were his weaknesses. :/

I don’t think Eren actually loves Armin, just what Armin symbolizes to him

Maybe a little but not as much

if we can believe what the message Isayama is making us read between the lines to see, yes, the 104th are his weakness and he is subjecting himself to be a terrible villain for their futures and freedom, 100%

HAS THE ANIME ADAPTATION OF THE SERUMBOWL™ CHANGED YOUR PERCEPTION OF EREN AND MIKASA IN THIS MOMENT? 367 Responses

When the Serumbowl chapters were first released, there were varying reactions to Eren and Mikasa’s actions. With years since then and the anime retelling, most viewers’ opinions remained unchanged, 69.5% of respondents say that they were always empathetic, while 10.1% are still indifferent, and 9.3% remain upset by their behavior.

I get where they were coming from, I still do. But I also still think they shouldn't have acted this way (neither of them, even Levi), but it was a tough and intense situation

It was badly animated and overacted so I cringed. But that’s not the characters’ fault

Eren was understandably sad but Mikasa proved her unlikability further with her need to resort to violence.

From their perspective, it was reasonable for them to feel that way. However, I felt disappointed that Erwin was going to die especially since I would have chosen him.

I understood their behavior, but they were in the wrong ( both versions)

Empathised before, but now moreso

It changed a bit from Eren side bc I was surprise by the ease he could have to rebel against someone he admire that much, but also Mikasa bc with a manga reader perspective, I saw that she wouldn't have killed none of Levi and Floch. But tbh I just thought "Oh waw, it's almost scary to see how well they get along when it comes to murder someone"

EreMika being emotional during the serumbowl. Well that is understandable but not excusable. I could argue that Levi was emotional too, his decision to revive Armin wasn't just because he wanted Erwin to rest but also because he thought Armin had a good, pure dream (otherwise he wouldn't have gotten all those flashbacks of Armin flailing about the sea). But EreMika only wanted their friend alive, with little consideration towards Humanity's chances of survival, and only after a long process of persuasion did Mikasa finally let go of Armin...while Eren still did not. That, coupled with the fact that Mikasa legit attacked their one and only best soldier because emotions...I cannot find their actions justifiable…

Eren action just screams childish and selfish just like a child who is throwing a tantrum and crying out loud when his demand wasn’t fulfilled. I understand he can’t helped it since it’s his precious friend but it just shows his immaturity and his inability to understand other people pains other than his own. I don’t see him putting his faith in Levi’s decisions nor others comrades’ when the decisions didn’t go the way he likes; he was angry, bitter, he even forced to take it away and threatening.

FLOCH HAS COMPARED BOTH ERWIN AND EREN TO A DEVIL. DO YOU THINK HE SEES THE SAME QUALITIES IN EREN NOW THAN HE HAD SEEN IN ERWIN? 369 Responses

Floch believes only a devil can defeat their enemies. With the current happenings of the manga, 73.4% of respondents believe Floch thinks Eren holds similar “monstrous” qualities that Erwin had, though 14.6% are not quite sure.

Maybe Floch in the Manga is trying to become the devil because he knows no one else will do it.

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SPLIT SECOND FLASHBACK OF ERWIN RAISING HIS HAND AT SCHOOL? 367 Responses

The anime added a brief transition scene of Erwin raising his hand at school. 52.9% of respondents enjoyed the addition and felt it helped show that Erwin was in a dreamlike state. 40.6% of viewers though it was a neat extra touch that added more impact to the moment. A small amount of viewers could have done without it.

I jumped when i saw that moment, that was a perfect decision, this episode is truly poetic cinema.

Essentially the second option, but I'd like to say that it wasn't just a "neat" addition, it was a heartbreakingly poignant one.

really makes you realize how much erwin was stuck in the past

I blinked and almost missed it, so if they were gonna add it, they should have made it a tad longer

Apparently this still wasn't enough for people to realize that this was Erwin hallucinating, and not him rejecting the serum.

I feel like Erwin overheard everything & willingly rejected the serum, but was just so out of it that he couldn’t form the right words to tell Levi his actual thoughts on the matter. I think it’s good writing, generally speaking.

I started sobbing

It was funny and silly actually

This scene was made in perfection. It showed Erwin’s hopes and dreams but also his big heroism and dedication to the cause.

iM NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING

NOW THAT WE KNOW MORE ABOUT BERTOLT, HAVE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT HIS DEATH CHANGED? 366 Responses

More information on Bertolt’s backstory was revealed later in the manga, which had 31.7% of respondents feel more pity for him when watching his death in the anime. 24.6% were always sad to see him die and 21% of participants felt more sad about it.

Didn't really change. On one hand i feel bad for him but i also really disliked him.

His death in the anime mirrored Marco's and seemed fitting

Nah, i didn't felt anything when he died, and even tho i am more empatethic and pit for with him rn, he still killed hundreds of people. It's good to understand the characters reasons (somethign wedon't have with Eren) but it's also a fact that his reasons don't erase what he did.

I felt bad for Bert's death before the Marley arc. But more of a disturbing pity way. Now I feel alot more sympathetic. However, he still deserved to die unfortunately.

In that moment I felt so bad and there are times when I do but in general I prefer Paradis to Marley. Though I understand what an awful situation they are in. The music and how it was carried out was heartbreaking tho.

His reaction just broke me, in the end he was left alone, with his own guilt and unfulfilment.

I am more sympathetic, but I still believe that he brought that onto himself.

I've always been ambivalent about Bert's death; I'm not happy to see him die but I'm not particularly sad either.

No, he's one of the characters the series could never get me to care much for.

Seeing Bertholdt’s death made me a lot more emotional than the manga. His reaction and voice acting really hit it home for me since I have a soft spot for him after reading the manga. RIP Bertie, despite the circumstances he couldn’t control he definitely deserved better :’(

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE ADDITION OF BERTOLT SMILING AS HE SPOTS HIS FORMER COMRADES? 368 Responses

The anime added a moment of Bertolt’s temporarily smiling when he saw his former comrades. 44.3% of participants thought the addition added more emotional impact to his death, and 28.5% of participants felt sorry for him. 14.9% were upset that Bertolt had the nerve to smile at all.

Dark as heck, I love it

After he clearly asked them to die, how could he think they would help him? (Granted, he was panicking and all but still...)

It was a good show that for a brief moment after regaining consciousness, he was back to thinking of his days as a solder and that his old friendship would save him, before realizing the gravity of the situation

Didn't notice until it was pointed out on Reddit; strange detail to add

It made the scene weirdly comedic

That moment of hope then realization did work emotionally, but I preferred the way it happened in the manga.

It wasn't a smile. More like a baffled-smile.

We all know that his actions were imposed, and the thought of them alone has traumatized the RBA trio. They have shown many times the guilt and need for forgiveness for everything they did. They don't deserve any of this, much less die in such a horrible way as being devoured alive! For me, Berthold was a background character, the boy who was always next to Reiner and that's all, but reviewing and watching more closely his evolution in the anime, even more his death, made me feel really bad for him. Berth deserved more attention in his life, more love and praise, because it is evident that his self-esteem was THAT LOW for all the comments that others gave, including Reiner, his best friend. Anyway, as I said in a post, the one who died was not the Colossal Titan, was a lonely, shy and noble teenager who just wanted to be loved.

I truly wish the survey corps were instead able to convert Bertolt and Reiner to their side instead of watching Bertolt die so brutally. The fact that he flashed a smile when he saw his former comrades really goes to show that he instinctively thought of them as his friends. Truly a sad addition to the anime. All he wanted was to be found.

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 366 Responses

From the preview scenes of the Basement, a majority 39.9% of participants anticipate the scene of Eren being unable to unlock the door with the key. 29.8% of respondents are most looking forward to Eren, Mikasa, Levi, and Hange approaching the basement. 13.7% are anticipating the scene where Armin learns about the sacrifices made to revive him.

I just need to see Eren's face trying so Hard to lift the bar that fell on top of his house and Mikasa and Levi just lift it like it is a feather.

Levi opening the basement's door with his foot is one of the best scenes of the whole chapter and no one will ever change my mind

THERE HAVE BEEN RUMORS ABOUT A POSSIBLE ANIME-ONLY EM FLASHBACK SEQUENCE NEXT EPISODE TO MAKE SURE THE EPISODE ENDS WITH GRISHA AND FAYE LEAVING THEIR HOUSE. THOUGHTS? 367 Responses

There are rumors that the new episode will have an extended flashback with Eren and Mikasa. 60.8% of respondents are fine with the addition as long as it doesn’t detract from the manga material. Others are very excited about the flashback, don’t want the extra scenes, or don’t care.

As long as it contributes to what’s currently happening, I won’t have a problem with it.

I don't think anime has time for filler

The anime direly needs a breather episode to let people process the events of the last few episodes, and that would allow for it while also leading to an ending that brings in the next part of the story.

I dont like filler but if it's relevant and faithful to the story, why not

I like when they stick straight to the manga, but this will be interesting?

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

The anime deciding to work both 83 and 84 into an episode solved my biggest issue with Serumbowl just like that. By having both chapters flow into each other, the sense of urgency and chaos of the event actually resonated with me, rather that having lost that in the monthly wait between chapters. And I really appreciate that.

I was crying like a fuckin baby, this was amazing.

Wonderful episode. So much emotion. I was only disappointed to see that it removed the close-up shot of a crying Reiner. I believe it was the only scene of him ever shedding a tear since he became a warrior..

Hange may have suffered the most by losing her close friend/assistant and her close friend/commander + physically losing her left eye. She also has to step up to the mantle of being the new commander to fill the impossibly large shoes that Erwin left behind.

All the emotions I felt while watching this episode made me realise how much i am greatful for those who matter to me the most, this is why this episode was just the best.

Erwin will live forever in my heart. Best anime character

Sad that we didn't see Reiner crying.

I find it great that Bert's death was done in such a great way where whether you are a Manga or Anime-only viewer, you have tons of different conflicting opinions regarding Bert's death.

This episode was splendid, brilliant in every way, I just have to give a round of applause to the voice actors and animators who did this great work. And maybe for that reason and to relive these feelings already believed buried years ago, I thought about what things would have happened and not if another path had been taken. The death of Erwin was the breaking of everything. In that time (years ago) when I saw that Levi chose Armin, it was sad, VERY SAD, but I had faith that he would be the future and the hope to guide us to a better destiny, one without big conflicts and wise and transcendent decisions, but no. Until now Armin has not done much, almost nothing. The current situation of the government, the "betrayal" from Eren and genocide on Liberio, Historia waiting for the time to pass so that her son born and immediately introduce her to the curse that cost so much to get out, ingesting the Beast Titan from Zeke. All these factors make me think that if Erwin was alive none of this would have happened, his leadership and conviction are more necessary than ever now. And seeing it as a whole, more than the fact that Erwin is officially dead (I mean in anime and manga), it gives me even more pain and helplessness than before to see that maybe Levi's decision was not the right one. This feel of desolation also falls for Levi (ofc), Hange, Armin, Eren, Historia, in everyone! Perhaps if the situation had been different, maybe everything would be better, I don't know. However, I don't want to stop believing in Armin, if he was chosen is because he has a purpose to fulfill, perhaps being the new "Helos" that will stop this great war, I don't know either... We'll see it soon, I hope so.

Some of the timing in the animation was weird and irked me a little

"I read the manga, I know whats gonna happen, I'll be fine" - BOY WAS I WRONG! Cried like a bitch pratically the whole episode holy crap what a masterpiece this episode was

It was so so so so badly animated. It looked worse than the manga. The amount of completely still frames was absurd.

It feels like the end of an era. I don't think I'll ever be able to watch the anime the same way. After this, everything turns upside down, and everything seems tainted by the truth of their world. When I think like that I'm glad Levi let Erwin go when he did. Erwin would have thrived in the current events, for sure, but he would've hated it and himself for his part in it. I have no doubt Erwin would blame himself thoroughly for Armin's death, if he had been given the serum then.

Best episode of season 3 thus far. I feel like the art in this episode is the best out of any of them, mostly due to the fact that they probably brought back some of the season 2 staff to work their Close-Up-Facial-Shot-Magic™️. There was a lot of detail put into the faces of the characters this time around and I feel like that’s been lacking ever since season 3 started. I hope they stick around for the rest of the season.

As someone who is extremely neutral about Mikasa, this episode made me shed tears at the expression of utter pain she had when she accepted armin's death, 10/10 animation, how heartbreaking.

The last 3 episodes are the greatest Attack On Titan episodes ever. I just can't decide which one is the best. I am leaning on Hero, but both Perfect Game and Midnight Sun could easily take its place.

omg it was so good I died and thanked God that snk exists kjnhbdhcbdsapozkd

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 353 Responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again in a few days!

#snk spoilers #snk s3 #snk poll #snk polls #poll results

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natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk · 6 years

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Interview: The Two Dekus

Here’s the whole interview with both the Japanese and English voice for Izuku Midoriya (Deku).

This Anime News Network interview features the two voice actors behind Deku: Daiki Yamashita (Japanese dub) and Justin Briner (English Funimation Dub).

I just wanted to bring out this interview. But before we begin, I’m just going to say that since I watch Boku no Hero Academia subbed, I hold a bit of bias. Since I did crop a few parts out, you will find that Justin Briner might have said a few additional things in the interview, so if you want to get a few more comments from him, check out the original article! I tried to keep it even for the most part though.

I will also be including some additional posts, sources, videos, etc. of things that relate to this interview regarding the Japanese cast of My Hero Academia. I tried to limit myself to put under ten links and failed... sorry about that! Hopefully, you’ll find something you might like though!

[...] = additional words in their answer that I felt wasn’t crucial

ANN: First, thank you both for your time, I really appreciate it. When you auditioned for this, did you know what you were auditioning for, and did you know what a big deal it was?

DAIKI YAMASHITA: Yes, I was reading the manga before and I knew that this was going to be popular if it was made into an anime.

JUSTIN BRINER: Yeah, we got our hands on it a little later [...] You can tell, spending a little bit of time with the source material, that it's something special. [...] And after I checked out that first episode I got hooked, so I figured a lot of other people did too.

Did you immediately see yourself as him?

BRINER: No, not necessarily. [...] I didn't want to get my hopes up for anything for this.

YAMASHITA: You auditioned for pretty much all the male characters?

BRINER: Yeah, Deku, Kacchan, Todoroki, Minari, Tokoyami. I wouldn't have been good as many of them.

YAMASHITA: You tried out for so many characters.

BRINER: Yes, uh uh. I just really wanted to be a part of it, it seemed like something special to me.

Now that you're in season 3 and you did the movie, how has your relationship with Deku changed since the beginning? Do you feel like you play him differently now as his character has changed?

YAMASHITA: I think the mental part of it has helped me. At the beginning of the show, Deku seemed to be very weak. Very soft. You feel like “oh, is he okay? Is he gonna make it?” as a viewer, you see that. But once he inherits the power from All Might, the mental part of his character, he's become so strong. As I play him more and more as the seasons went on, I try to gain that strength as well for myself. So when I play against the strong villains, in my acting I try not to back down – I try to convey that mental strength in my acting as well.

BRINER: It's essentially the same answer here. [...]He started out very weak and insecure. [...]you can tell that he's gaining confidence. [...] Just being able to incorporate a little more confidence, a little more heroism every time, that's part of Deku's growing up.

Do you read ahead in the manga? And if so, does it help you prepare emotionally for what's coming?

YAMASHITA: Yes I do, I do. I read ahead and then I regret reading ahead. I was like “All Might—ohhhh, no.” So when I read that All Might and All For One battle in the manga, I was like “oh my gosh, I saw it, I didn't want to see it… I regret it.” It was shocking to me, before I even received the script.

BRINER: Same. I do read the manga, and I feel like I'm pleasantly surprised by every new development. It's so smartly written that I can't find myself not reading it every week.

Do you have a personal favorite scene, or a scene that meant the most to you personally from this show? Or the film?

YAMASHITA: There's so many. It's very hard to choose one scene, but in particular the second episode, where All Might tells him “you can be a hero.” That scene, along with the most recent scene when All Might points to Deku on TV and says “you're the next.” Those two scenes are very, very memorable. For me, myself, as well as for Deku as a character, those two scenes are very pivotal moments for the character, and very important to both myself and Deku as a character. And I think that those two lines and those two scenes are going to stay with Deku forever, and that's going to become a core of his becoming a hero in the future.

BRINER: I love that. [...] there's a moment in the sports festival when Deku and Todoroki are fighting against each other, and in the middle of the fighting he says something to the effect, to Todoroki, of “it's yours, it's your quirk, not his.” That's such a wonderful moment of—because Deku isn't the most confident person of all time. His quirk isn't even necessarily his own, but he's learning to live with it and make it his own in his own way. So to be able to instil what little confidence that he's gained to a friend in need is really beautiful to me, I think.

Deku gets into some guttural screaming, just world-class screaming. How do you prepare for that? Do you have to recover from it?

YAMASHITA: I eat a lot to prepare. I don't do anything particularly to protect my voice, but I feel like if I don't do anything then my throat is gonna get stronger. Like, if you do more—so essentially for me, it's eat whatever I want when I want and sleep when I want.

BRINER: Yes!

So you're playing the main character in a giant, hit show that could potentially run years and years and years and years and years. Do you feel like you're prepared for that, and do you see yourself still relishing the role, if, say, a decade from now you're still playing Deku?

YAMASHITA: Yes. In a narration, where Deku says “this is the story of me becoming the best hero.” So I would like to see him become the best hero. I would like to see that, and I would like to continue playing him as he becomes a hero. So I'll try not to die in the middle, in the process. I might be a grandpa by the end, but I would like to perform this character until he becomes the best hero that he can be.

BRINER: I mean yes, I love Deku, I love the source material so much and so dearly that I'd love to be a part of it for as long as I can. It really means a lot to me that way.

As a brief follow-up, when you were starting your career, did you ever have the aspiration to be like “well, I basically want to be Goku in a series that's as big as Dragon Ball.” You're the Goku of this show. Did you ever see yourself in this position? And was that ever your aspiration?

YAMASHITA: Yes. When I started out, yes that was my hope that I would be able to encounter roles like this. I think that it honestly takes a miracle for this type of encounter to happen, to get a role that can be in a long-running show, and something like My Hero Academia is very, very rare. So I'm very grateful for the opportunity, and I feel like, as I said before, I'd like to stay with it until Deku becomes the best hero that he can be. When he becomes that hero, maybe that's the time that my life ends. That's how I feel, almost. So I would like to continue playing and breathe life into this character until he does, so…

BRINER: All I've ever known that I wanted to do was act or perform in some capacity. I never knew exactly what avenue that would be. But the world of anime has always been something that's been very important to me growing up. I watched Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon before I knew what anime was. It was just another cartoon that I would rush home after school to watch. To be part of something so pivotal and so prescient, especially nowadays, is really special in that way. [...]to be a part of it now is really incredible. Because it feels like I'm working my hardest to be a part of something that's much bigger than me. And I get a lot of satisfaction out of doing my part in that.

All right, I've got two short ones left. One, if you were playing any character in the show that was not Deku, who would you want to play?

YAMASHITA: I can't think of anybody else but Deku to play.

Fair enough.

BRINER: True, I love Deku too. If you make me answer, Froppy.

Perfect!

YAMASHITA: Kero Kero.

BRINER: Kero!

YAMASHITA: Maybe like a villain. One of the villains.

Last question. In your heart, who do you think Deku should wind up with in the show? As a romantic partner.

YAMASHITA: As far as I can tell for now, just by reading the manga and doing three seasons, it looks like Uraraka is very high on his list. But in the movie… I feel (original character from the My Hero Academia film) Melissa Shield has gained… she climbed up the ladder towards the top, the top of the list. So when you think about the future development of the story, there might be a chance that Melissa-chan comes back. In that case, there might be a battle between Uraraka Ochako and Melissa!

BRINER: [...] I feel like Uraraka is… they're just meant to be, somehow. Let me just introduce Tsuyu into the mix, Froppy. I don't know, I don't know.

It's a good pick. It's a good pick.

YAMASHITA: Isn't it that you like that character? Do you just like her—

BRINER: Uhhhh, maybe?

Everyone likes that character!

YAMASHITA: I think it's your taste!

Tsuyu Is Popular With Everyone [video below]

youtube

“Who is Best Girl?” [Cast Answer]

BNHA Cast Interview (Daiki Yamashita, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Masuda Toshiki) - Relationship between the characters

Cast Imitating Their Characters

Seiyuu Comic (Daiki Yamashita, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Yuuki Kaji, and Kouki Uchiyama) with additional details

Ayane Sakura’s Nickname Origins

Yuuki Kaji Interview on Shouto Todoroki Nobuhiko Okamoto Interview on Katsuki Bakugou Junichi Suwabe Interview on Shouta Aizawa

BNHA Movie Special Event Additional Cast Images

Recording Bakugou - Nobuhiko Okamoto

If you like content like this, I recommend checking out my spam blog! It’s where I post my voice actor, shitpost, fanart, and just about everything else!

#daiki yamashita #bnha seiyuu #justin briner #bnha interview #boku no hero academia #mha #my hero academia #seiyuu

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medea10 · 4 years

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My Review of 22/7

How did I get into this anime? Fuck it! I picked a random anime to watch for the winter line-up. Let’s hit it!

22/7 is an idol group for real in Japan with one hell of a fanbase. LET’S GIVE THEM THEIR OWN ANIME!

Okay!

So, eight total strangers are picked by random to become part of an idol group. That’s essentially it! Eight girls who don’t know each other are told to meet some gorilla producer at a zoo and told to drop everything in their lives to become idols. What the literal and actual fuck?!

First of all, the concept of having all of these young girls being eyed and taken to some underground penthouse has Jeffery Epstein AND R. Kelly vibes ALL OVER THIS MESS! Although, I will give this anime some credit that these girls are at least high school age or older (but not by much)!

We’ve got a shy, introvert named Miu. Then there’s the blonde, cutie from America, Sakura. Nicole, the only one with an interest of becoming an idol. Junko, the spunky girl with butt-loads of energy. The no-nonsense and let’s get down to business, Akane. Miyako, the girl with sisterly love. The practical one, Reika. And Ayaka...she’s also in the group! These eight girls make up the group, 22/7 (a group name to this day I’m not sure why it’s called that).

They are then told to obey a wall…

OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE! A wall? Seriously?! A God-damned wall?! These girls and the people promoting 22/7 are to obey plates that are shit out by a wall! I know idol animes are notorious for fucked up storylines, but…I can’t even here! Becoming idols because it’s been your life-long dream like in Idolm@ster, that is fine! Becoming idols in order to save your school from being shut down like in Love Live, that is fine! Becoming idols because an eccentric necromancer brings you back from the dead like in Zombieland Saga, fucking awesome! A wall that must be obeyed when giving decisions on an idol group…what the literal and actual fuck!

Here’s what most episodes are set up like.

1. The Wall gives out an order. 2. One of the girls doesn’t want to do *insert activity here*. 3. Flashbacks play off and on for girl of the day. 4. You must do what The Wall says. 5. I don’t want to. 6. BITCH, DON’T GO AGAINST THE WALL. THE WALL IS GOD!!! 7. Pout, contemplate, and more flashbacks play. 8. Fine, I’ll do it. 9. Play the ending theme!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: This anime is licensed by the good folks at Aniplex (and possibly FUNimation). Crunchyroll added this one month after the initial release. If you’re all wondering why that’s happening to a lot of Crunchyroll-picked animes, yeah keep wondering. Sony has control over Aniplex and FUNimation and as a result Crunchyroll has a delay on several animes (including this one). It’s an inconvenience and just raises the rates of people downloading the episodes illegally. Once again, thanks for nothing, Sony! Give Crunchyroll some credit as they do give people in other countries streaming benefits. FUNimation is primarily U.S.

With that rant off my chest, on with the cast! Now this might just be first episode jitters and all, but a lot of the voices here seemed very bland. And you know it’s gotta be that bad if even I am riffing on the voices…FROM JAPAN! Well, much like many other idol shows like Idolm@ster and Love Live, the voices for the girls are only going to be known for their Idol group work. With the exception of two girls, this is everyone’s first official anime role. Here’s everyone!

*Miu is played by Nagomi Saijou

*Sakura is played by Sally Amaki (known for Betsy on Kaguya-sama)

*Jun is played by Ruri Umino

*Reika is played by Chiharu Hokaze (known for Silvia on Fate/Grand Order)

*Akane is played by Kanae Shirosawa

*Ayaka is played by Reina Miyase

*Miyako is played by Mizuha Kuraoka

*Nicole is played by Mei Hanakawa

FAVORITE CHARACTER: Miu.

Prior to episode 11, it was more of a me connecting with this particular character due to having many introvert connections. But after Nicole’s flashback where Miu beats the crap out of a bully, Miu is best girl.

IDOL TROPES: So let’s see if 22/7 has the usual tropes normally seen in many other idol animes.

* A shy, introvert character (right from second one) * A bitch who thinks she knows all about the idol world (not as bad as Dia, but heavy on the bitch part, yes) * Shotty CGI for the dance scenes (right in the fucking opening) * Bikini episode (check) * One of the girls has a fuck-ton of siblings and is one of the most eccentric of the bunch (oh yeah) *A robotic character or IS A ROBOT (Akane is not a robot, but she’s monotone for like 96% of the series excluding flashbacks)

ENDING: It’s been close to one year since all eight of these girls were chosen for this “project” We’ve already seen back-stories/flashbacks of almost all of the girls (except for Nicole and Miu) and now 22/7 is about to prepare for their one year anniversary as a group. But then the wall gave out an order! And the plate simply read, “Disband”.

Could you be any more cliché?

Maybe it wasn’t obvious for you, but for me I knew that was coming. And no, this wasn’t a joke! There wasn’t smudge on the wall’s platelet. These girls are to disband, lie their way through a press conference explaining the disbandment, all the people a part of this experiment are out of a job, and the girls are to go back to their regular lives before any of this happened.

Can they though?

These girls just spent a whole year being thrust into a position they never expected to be in and leaving their families and future plans behind. These girls are late-teens; they’re trying to prepare for work or college! A lot of them even had to work through a lot of baggage weighing them down (particularly Jun, Akane, and Reika)! Then all of a sudden, the wall shits out an order and says to disband. There was nothing wrong with the higher-ups or the group. Everyone was now enthusiastic about doing everything possible to make 22/7 a household name. But because a fucking wall gave the command to disband, everyone’s gotta drop their shit, lose their income (which some people like Reika, Ayaka, and Miyako could use), and just pull-out of already planned events.

THEN, you make the girls lie their way through a press conference by giving vague answers to the media about the disbandment! In my opinion, the girls could have lied and said there was fall-out at the top and it was out of their hands. I know the girls can’t simply say, “the magical wall told us to disband and we can’t go against the almighty wall”.

Well, we’re about two episodes away from the finale and it’s about time to see the backstories of Miu and Nicole. Believe it or not, these two have a history that goes back a ways (though it seems like Miu doesn’t remember Nicole). Would you believe that Nicole was once a shy introvert with a stuttering complex? Yeah, it’s true. The character who was seen as a bitch from episode one was once a shy, introvert.

It wasn’t until Nicole was pushed to do something against her will and a little help from Miu that she was able to come out of her shell. But enough of the flashback!

It’s now one month since the girls were told to disband. And for one reason or another, all eight of the girls made their way to the old production building. I guess they were all feeling nostalgic for the one year they spent as idols. They have a good cry. And all of a sudden…

The wall spoke?!

The wall pretty much said that this was merely an experiment and when the girls asked to reunite, the wall denied them. So then Miu goes savage on the wall…

Okay, Miu is best girl of this series!

The other girls follow suit and break the wall, making an opening.

Once inside, the girls stumbled upon something quite disturbing. These girls have been tracked, not only throughout their idol careers, but before then too! There were shots of the girls when they were children! What kind of freakshow, One Hour Photo, Truman Show, fucked up shit is this?! This is all sorts of WRONG! How is this fucker not in jail? WHO IS THIS FUCKER?! No, I will not be quiet about this! Everything about this is so fucka wrong I can’t even! Who follows little girls secretly for most of their lives taking pictures of them? Let’s think about that…

*Perverts *Fucking perverts *R. Kelly *Oingo Boingo levels of perversion *State of Florida levels of perversion *Jefferey Epstein

New theory that goes along with old theory! Jefferey Epstein was killed in prison when his neck was snapped because AG Bill Barr sat on it. And before the devil sentences him to a lifetime of misery and woe, he gives him one last chance to atone for his actions. Instead, he stalks little girls in Japan. HOLY SHIT, THIS IS STARTING TO MAKE SENSE!

Medea…the review?!

Oh right!

The girls leave the disturbing room (never to be seen or talked about again) and I guess we’re never gonna get a clue on the identity of our pervert that hides behind a wall. They walk away and end up on a stage. And in the audience, were all their loyal and devoted fans. You see, they happened to gather on what was supposed to be their one year anniversary and their fans held out hope that they would still perform on their anniversary like they promised before the disbandment notice hit.

They performed. I guess 22/7 is back together. I guess we can disobey the wall just this once.

The wall shits out a new platelet saying add 3 more members.

We end seeing those three new girls that we may or may not see again. It depends on whether 22/7 was good enough to warrant a season two.

If the Jeffery Epstein rants weren’t an indicator, I was not fond of this series. Maybe I was just turned off at the concept of eight total strangers being told all of a sudden they’re idols because a fucking wall commanded it. I’m pretty sure it’s because of the storyline involving a wall and having to obey it. The songs were just okay, whenever we got to hear them. Unlike a lot of other idol animes, we really didn’t see a lot of performances from 22/7 outside of the opening and ending themes.

The one thing I was really invested in were surprisingly the flashbacks from all of the girls. A lot of these stories do lay on the drama really thick. But you really wish that everything’s gonna work out in the end. Like you really wish Miyako could see her biological father again or want a happy ending for Akane and her family. But then you get a back-story like Jun’s. Oof, that one was a gut-punch! I’m no fan of this show, but episode 7 is the go-to episode.

Now, I’ll watch 22/7 if it gets a season two. I try not to give up on an anime, no matter how much it annoys me. I like to see things through to the bitter end. But as for recommendations, there are far better idol shows to choose from.

Yes, I see that it’s a stretch to say there are GOOD idol shows. I know the stigma and hate that they get. But I am not one of those people. I thought Idolm@ster was okay. I liked Love Live just fine. UtaPri amuses me (and yes I count it as an idol show). Zombieland Saga, fuck yeah! This, not so much!

But if you want to watch, FUNimation has all 12 episodes available for streaming. And Crunchyroll has…a few as of this date and time. Again I point out that Crunchyroll couldn’t even get streaming rights to this until a full month after it began airing. Thanks again, Sony!

#anime review #22/7 #nanabun no nijyuuni #miu takigawa #sakura fujima #nicole saito #jun toda #reika satou #miyako kouno #akane maruyama #ayaka tachikawa

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mysterylover123 · 5 years

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BNHA Rewatch: Episode 27 “Bizarre! Gran Torino Appears!”

mysterylover123

The Internship arc starts off with a bang! Let’s see that Full Cowl, Deku!

SORA NI UTAEBA! While the song in this intro is kinda meh to me, the visuals are amazing. I love the symbolism for all the events of the ep - tho not gonna lie, this core’s ED is better than the OP. Anyway tho, go punch that wall Deku!

We start with Gran Torino pretending to be crazy. I’ll admit, I’m kinda eh on this bit, though I love Gran. It’s probably because I found it annoying when Yoda did it, so I find it annoying here as well. (It’s really just my inner fangirl talking. Nobody makes Deku unhappy except Kacchan. Who can get away with it.)

But actually, this sets up an interesting difference between Deku and Luke, though admittedly situation isn’t the same because Deku knows Gran is Gran. But Deku’s response to this is to call All Might to tell him Gran’s gone senile. He’s so empathetic Deku why aren’t you real? (no shade at Luke there,e I love him too. Just not as much).

“I don’t have time to mess around.” Deku did not come to play.

New costume! It’s incredible how much better it is than the old one. Like, not even funny how much better. Day-um, Deku.

Pfh Gran knows exactly how to piss off Deku: Insult All Might. You clever little scoundrel.

So onto Deku’s character flaws: 1. He’s overly analytical. Deku doesn’t know how to act quickly, partially due to circumstance, but partially that’s just how he is. Hesitant. Over-cautious, over-thinks things. He needs to learn how to take action - and in this arc, he does indeed do so without hesitation, and saves Iida’s life by so-doing. Box 1 checked off.

2. Deku admires All Might too much. Like every MC in BNHA, his Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Tragedy (insert me telling you to read that essay again). It’s a problem because he doesn’t believe in himself. So he needs to learn not to imitate All Might and be his own hero. That one doesn’t really sink in until the PLE arc. But check.

3. Deku is insecure. He has a massive inferiority complex (which fits nicely into his foil’s inf-sup complex, wouldn’t-cha-know) and doesn’t believe in himself. So he needs to learn to be more confident. (Is it wrong that I want this to end with him breaking through Instrumentality to a chorus of his friends saying ‘Congratulations’?)

Gran is my favorite Teacher, as a teacher, in BNHA. I’m a teaching-major, and I kinda aspire to his techniques. What I love the most is helping students figure it out themselves. Just telling someone the answer doesn’t help them. It’s so satisfying seeing a student make that breakthrough thanks to your guidance.

Now we’re cutting away to Iida’s internship to remind you Iida Wants Revenge. This is a little exposition-y, let’s cut somewhere else.

OK good, the villains! Right off the bat, we’ve got some great Parallels with the Heroes, as Tomura decides to basically Intern with a Pro-Villain. He even calls Stain a pro. Tho Tomura really needs to work on his recruitment strategy. “Stain join us. Cause.” “Bakugou. Join us. Cause”.

I want Deku and Tomura to build a grand Hero-Villain rivalry. Tomura basically hates him for no real reason right now, and I want there to be a good reason. Other than “He’s All Might’s successor”. I want them to be the Joker and Batman of BNHA with a real complex hero-villain rivalry, where one reflects the other. They’re getting there but I want more.

“Bloodlust without conviction is meaningless.” Ooh I love me some Stain. He really elevated this series’ philosophical side with his ramblings on heroism and villainy.

OK am I creeped out by the fact that All for One just said the same thing I did about learning? A little.

Deku is so brilliant and such a fast learner tho. It doesn’t take him long to put it all together. And Gran actually really admires him for that - I enjoy their mentor dynamic a lot, since Gran has some real respect for Midoriya in a different way from All Might.

Bakugou with Best Jeanist! OMG the comedy gold of this. Though I just want to take a sec to gripe about a change from the manga to the anime: Manga! Bakugou does not charge at Best Jeanist and yell at him. He’s not dumb enough to try that on the #4 Pro Hero and his teacher. He sits still and listens to Jeanist’s lecture. The only Bakugo line here that’s from the manga is “Didn’t you make an offer for me?” This completely changes the way we perceive Bakugo in this scene, and in general. Bad change.

But in Good Storytelling-ville, I like the continuing parallels between the Wonder duo this creates: Izuku interns in a rundown neighborhood with an unlisted hero, Bakugo in Tokyo with a top pro. Izuku needs to learn to control his power and believe in himself. Katsuki needs to learn to be kinder and more humble. Izuku learns his lesson her, Katsuki doesn’t. Parallels!

Kirishima and Tetsutetsu again! 4th kind is ok. He’s probably the least memorable of the internship pros, since his gimmick is simple and his design kinda dull.

Uraraka and Gunhead! I love how well they get along. He’s kawaii and she’s a hardcore badass. Don’t you forget it!

Now for more of Momo’s arc. The Uwabami internship is usually dismissed by fans as Just Fanservice, but think about it in context, and it becomes really interesting. One, the Hero Killer arc is about Stain protesting the commercialization of heroism, so we do need to have a Pro-Hero demonstrate the problematic nature of that commercialism. Uwabami does just that. Two, we need to have Momo’s internship be unfulfilling to her, to complete her downward trajectory (before the Final Exam arc can bring her back up), so it’s useful for further embarrassing and developing her character. 3, it sets up Momo and Kendo’s future rivalry.

I’ll take more about it in future eps where it appears.

Izuku practicing and constantly hitting his face on the wall is one of those things that makes me wonder if either a) he has a secret endurance quirk or b) OFA just naturally ups your durability. How does he still have a face after that.

Here’s a hot take: Izuku with his face smashed up from spending a night with no sleep training in garbage all night is still prettier than any other guy in this series.

One of the reviewers I follow made the comparison between All Might vs Deku’s using of OFA and Korra vs Aang’s role as the Avatar. You know, All Might and Korra, both master the power pretty quickly so they get to be strong fast but lose out on the spiritual connection a bit, while Deku and Aang take their time learning ofa/the four elements, but get as a tradeoff more of the spirit-y side...(ATLA & BNHA. My 2 favorite shows, alongside FMA. I swear these are like, three sides of the same show).

While I’m watching in the Sub this time around, i wanted to note a dub-ism in this scene: it’s localized to ‘hot pastries’ instead of taiyaki. There’s a lot of bits like that, where they take Japanese food and translate it for us dumb Americans. But well, maybe that made sense in the 90s, when there maybe wasn’t as much cultural crossover, but...even I knew what mochi were before watching BNHA (Uraraka’s fave, and the dub always localizes it to ‘sweets’) and everyone has google if they’re confused so why not just say ‘Taiyaki?’ Ah well, it’s a stupid nitpick but still.

Gran’s metaphor here is so great. As a teacher I aspire to learn from this man. Teach me your teaching ways.

“THIS TAIYAKI IS ME!!!!!” Another dub-ism has him say “I’m not really a dessert” I saw a reactor once comment on this ‘Yeah, but you are a snacc, Deku.’ I wholeheartedly agree.

FULL COWLLLLLLL!!!!!!! FYEAH!!!!!

OK so there are a lot of reasons I love Full Cowl. it’s one of the series’ finest moments, emblematic of what makes it cool. And what makes Deku cool. He’s smart, and has to work his way around problems, and this solution was just...it was there, for us and Izuku the whole time, to finally sit up and take notice of. It’s about applying power in a different way. About taking what you can do and doing the best you can with what you’ve got. A big central theme for the series.

Also dayum that slow pan up Deku’s entire body as he activates it...he just looks good in this arc. Actually, post-cavalry battle Deku in the sports festival arc always looks weird and odd (because he’s beat up and in pain, duh) and prior to that he was mainly just adorable...this arc, however, is his official transition into Best Boy for Reals. He’s just...swoony. and also really cool, smart, and all sorts of great fangirl-y things.

We end on a confident Deku smile and Daiki’s adorable ‘hai.’ Basically, i really enjoy this episode. A little slow at the beginning, maybe. But that conclusion is amazing and so worth the payoff. It’s even got this amazing rhyme and rhythm to it, cutting back and forth between the different students and teachers and just having themes echo between each other like poetry. It love it.

To close off: ED4, AKA BEST ED EVER!!!! This is seriously, no sarcasm, best ED. So for those of you who don’t know, the story behind ED4 Datte Atashi no Hero is, 1: The Fantasy AU theme comes from the second popularity poll, which came out around Chapter 120/Episode 61 (yes, THAT one) and for which Horikoshi drew the top 10 in fantasy garb. 2: The Song was written by LiSa and was explicitly stated by her to be effectively about Izuku’s feelings towards Kacchan. I wrote a post analyzing it. It is, basically, the anthem for...

BKDK CORNER

“Loose…” Guess who the first person Deku thinks of to create Full Cowling is? If you sad Kacchan, ding-ding-ding!

On an analytical note, I think it’s very, very significant that the first real breakthrough Deku makes in handling his power comes by observing Kacchan and imitating him. This is one of my Top 20 Favorite BKDK moments, even though it’s completely indirect, because of how important that is in the long-run. But what about the Imitation theme? Why is it OK for Izuku to imitate Katsuki, but not All Might? Well, first of all, he does use Gran Torino’s moves as well, but mainly, I think the series is saying with this distinction that it’s OK to imitate someone if you see their flaws and acknowledge them, but if you hero-worship them and see them as perfect, you’re only going to screw yourself over. This is why Iida imitating Ingenium, Shoto imitating his mom, Deku and Kacchan imitating All Might, and yes, Uraraka imitating Deku, are all so bad for them. If you see someone as perfect, and want to imitate them, you’ll never achieve that in your mind, because you already view yourself as imperfect. So Deku can imitate Katsuki because he thinks he’s a jerk, but also an amazing fighter, and Gran because he thinks he’s weird, but tough.

Also Deku just automatically thinking of Kacchan first is so damn shippy.

BEST GIRL OF THE EPISODE: Uwabami!

RANKER: Ranking the Internship Pros, least helpful to most.

10. Uwabami

9. Mt. Lady

8. 4th Kind

7. Endeavor

6. Death Arms

5. Manual

4. Selkie and Sirius (anime only)

3. Gunhead

2. Best Jeanist

1. Gran Torino! (Deku lucked out)

#my hero academia #episode 27 #season 2 episode 14 #bizarre gran torino appears #midoriya izuku #gran torino #katsuki bakugou #momo yaoyorozu #katsudeku #bakudeku #be prepared for lots of gushing #my deku bias is strong with this one #everyone has their fave #i'm glad mine's the mc #sometimes anyway #come s5 he's gonna be like #barely around for a whole damn season #anyway so glad to be at the Hero Killer arc #let's go!

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