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#but it blends in even better on my screen its so funny lol
queeriboh · 1 year
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ku-creep-oh
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battleanimrpg · 5 years
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Fire Magic: Final Fantasy
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Fire - Final Fantasy VII (PSX) - Simple, interesting in that the animation is pre-rendered in the particle, which is a good solution for their first foray in 3D.
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Fira - Final Fantasy VII (PSX) - Really reminiscent of FF5′s? Kind of FF6′s as well. I like how Final Fantasy keeps this language of “tier 2 fire magic involves a pillar of flame” very consistent throughout the franchise.
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Firaga - Final Fantasy VII (PSX) - The flashing and particles are both very effective. The flame orbs that linearily expand, not so much.
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Flare - Final Fantasy VII (PSX) - Still don’t like the linear animation. But the contrast between red and blue really gives this one an intense feel. The only one so far to have a glow texture for the floor, too.
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Flamethrower - Final Fantasy VII(PSX) - Creative little way to recycle the Fire spell textures.
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Beta - Final Fantasy VII(PSX) - This one is just so random lol. It looks cool, once again nice use of the subtle hints of blue. The flashing, camera panning and sheer scale look imponent and ominous. Meanwhile, this one is very cheap, despite the little particles.
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Fire - Final Fantasy VIII(PSX) - Love the attention to detail in this one. Main fire particles, black smoke particles, small magic / fire sparks, and a floor lighting texture mesh. Classy, simple and effective.
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Fira - Final Fantasy VIII(PSX) - This one even more faithfully recreates FFV’s Fire Pillar concept, simply because of the floor mesh particles that spawn between caster / target. Really nice. Fire texture on the cone, smoke still checks, fire particles...
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Firaga - Final Fantasy VIII(PSX) - A real improvement over its past iteration in terms of timing and motion of the explosion itself. Still, I miss some of that knack of the flashing particles. But see? Good animation easing is sooo important.
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Flare - Final Fantasy VIII(PSX) - Reiterating on the concept of concentrated heat, this spell uses a really interesting zoom out zoom in effect on the character model. The orbs of fire that stay put before zooming out and dissipating really play into that concept too. I’m not a fan of the particles in the beginning of the spell, though, but otherwise really good.
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Fire Breath - Final Fantasy VIII(PSX) - Really improved upon the previous iteration, even if you ignore the flashy Limit Break intro. The most obvious downgrade is that the flame particle is no longer animated or randomly positioned, which makes it look very artificial. But the use of the flame rings in the spawn point, and the collision fire effect are both great.
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Fire - Final Fantasy IX(PSX) - This game’s animations vibe a lot like a mixture of FFT/FFX. Kinda miss the little fire sparks, though.
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Fira - Final Fantasy IX(PSX) - The fire pillar got a LOT larger. (The animations actually scale organically to the enemy this time around, by the way.)
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Firaga - Final Fantasy IX(PSX) - I don’t like the timing very much. Very pretty and detailed.
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Flare - Final Fantasy IX(PSX) - I had to make SEVERAL takes of this because the animation is just so large and the gif gets so heavy. Needless to say, this one’s amazing. Very good screen shaking effects, the sparingly used flashes really drive the point, multiple explosions, the few frames when it gets color-inverted... Pretty amazing. May be my new favorite Flare.
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Fire - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - I’m shocked. Realizing how similar this is to FF7′s is, wow. It kind of is similar to FF1′s (WSC-onwards) too. They all use these pre-rendered wisps of fire in “random” spots, FFX’s two changes to the formula are way higher quality animation for these individual wisps, and the obvious smoke. Also, there’s subtle heatwaves, too. Classy.
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Fira - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - Iterating on the Flame Pillar concept again. Notice how swift and sleek it is, though. Masterful timing! The blue accents are subtle but really accent the animation overall, too.
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Firaga - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - RAINBOWWSS. I LOVE RAINBOWS. i’m gay
the sound effect for this is really good, too, it really does justice to the motion there -- energy sucking in then exploding in one fiery blast. This is once again another iteration on the common Firaga you’ll see through the series. Don’t understand why this one doesn’t have a floor mesh when Fira does though, I feel it’d do wonders to hide the parts where the billboards meet the floor.
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Flare - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - Surprisingly underwhelming. Almost monochromatic, the timing isn’t as good: The colors are better on FF7′s, the intense heat trapping effect on FF8′s was engaging and FF9′s was just superb, if too lengthy. By the time you get this spell, it’s mostly useless anyway and you’ll be spamming Quick Hit...
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Flame Thrower - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - Really simple, but effective. A mix of fire and smoke particles, with the former on additive (?) and the latter on subtractive (?) blending modes. the motion and timing is real good. The subtle impact flash and particles add the last bit of polish.
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Meteor Strike - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - It’s funny that it’s called Meteor Strike when he’s launching what’s depicted closer to a fireball. It’s entirely billboard-based, too. I really like all the alpha masking and layering they got going for the FFX animations (not used a lot on the Fire spells)
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Fire - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - This game went quite simpler since so much was happening onscreen at the same time. Sleek and effective though. Gone are the multiple fire wisps and a single pre-rendered fire billboard appears, though it spawns simple fire sparks on impact. I don’t know if hardware limitations are at play, but FFXII had to deal with way higher information density and a player-controlled camera.
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Fira - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - Boom, screen shake. Take that, FFX’s Flare. I think the fire animation might be played in a cone-shaped mesh? also, the initial fire animation only plays once. EDIT: No, it does play for every target as Firaga shows. It’s just hard to see here because of the angle.
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Firaga - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - It’s just Fira, but 3x more fire. And about 1.2x hotter. Very readable, although it raises the concern of indistinguishability to the player.
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Flare - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - She’s GONE. Gone Girl. A movie I just know of because of one Ben Affleck scene. This one once again iterates on the concept Flare has throughout the series - heat that concentrates, cooks the target, then explodes into a fiery blast. This one I think is a maximum Effect Capacity spell -- a spell that, except on the modern remaster, needs to pause the whole battle system to play by itself, due to hardware limitations. You can see it really goes to town with all the particles. Amazing use of contrast, and that darker frame before the intense explosion just enhances everything. Also, notice the hue variation and subtle blues and purples.
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Ardor - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - The most powerful Fire spell is blue. I’ve heard that blue flames are the hottest, but the wikipedia article contradicts this. It’s 5 AM and I can’t digest text so I wouldn’t know. Still, an interesting choice.
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Firaja / Pyroclasm - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - I don’t know even if I should put this here as it’s more of a cutscene. The fire is simple but the motion and flames themselves are great. Awesome heatwaves.
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Fire/Fira (+Ruin?) - Final Fantasy XIII(PS3) - This one is really weird to capture. I’m kinda tired, too, may get back to it later -- It’s 5 AM and I have to sleep. Still, fun to see they came back to the FF7-styled fire wisps for Fire, and the fire pillar for Fira.
Resources used: FFVII FFVIII(1, 2, 3) FFIX(1) FFX(1, 2, 3) FFXII(1, 2) FFXIII(1, )
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tamersa · 5 years
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I’m thinking  about W and OOO a lot lately (writing fics rewatching some parts etc) and I like OOO as a series more. Still I wanted to know why so I made this VS battle for my own amusement:
MAIN RIDER: Battle between Eiji And Shotaro: Its hard one, both are interesting, have good plot twists, their characterization so nicely made and they both likable. Yet it is Shotaro win here: so relatable, and his range of emotions is great to! The Thing is Eiji was made to be”dried up” and thats the reason why his mental and emotional behave is like it is. First round winner : W THE ONE NEAR MAIN RIDER (LOL): So now it is Ankh and Philip: This one is bit easier. Ankh has way more screen time and is it written so much better. They do have some similarities: both are mind power of the dynamic duo, have some issues with the previous families, crazy hair style and have doubts about their Rider ( or other half) intelligence. The thing is Eiji takes almost no shit form Ankh when he cross the line too much. The Birb man has to pay for his mistakes and sometime the price is huge. Philip on the other hand has his  tragic background but his mistakes are sugarcoated by his partner and not addressed at all. Because of that with more modest screen time his character is not as fleshed out as it could be. Mor rant on Ankh below hehehe Second round winner: OOO FEMALE CAST: In OOO we have: Hina, Chiyako and Satonaka, while W give us: Akiko, Wakana and Saeko. I like Hina I really do, but they didn't use her gimmick as good as they could. She should have throw more barrels or something! Also bit too passive sometimes? Chiyako is spot of supporting chara, funny warm energetic. Yes, good. Satonaka has her good points too: taking no shit from anyone and treating her work as well, work and not some life mission. But then we go to W side and oh boy, Akiko, my love! She is just the best  Rider lady I even saw! Funny, dorky, has more to do, has the slipper, is actually useful even if not have special powers. Well thats debatable too, that wand made from slippers did work lool. But yes even if she is mostly comic relief, because of her Xtreeme was possible! Also She found that devil's tail. And got that name in her dream. She has guts has flaws also but really. I love her to bits. Wakana is interesting too: spoiled princess who suddenly has responsibilities. And Saeko: the dark lady with twisted desires, helping her hated sister in the end. Undoubtedly this round has one Queen:
Third round winner: W SECONDARY RIDER Terui Ryu vs Date Akira and Gotou Shintaro. Well its two vs one and  it shows. Terui has that tragic background, and his bitterness fades away so he could be true city defender. Yet for me it was done bit clunky. There could be put more emotions and struggle into it. He looks cool in the red leather tho. Also he and Akiko are cute together. On the other hand Date and Gotou dynamic is so pure. Also Date is hilarious as hell! Both him and Ryu use Rider suit for other purpose than defend others at the beginning ( well money and revenge), but Date is somehow nicer since the beginning. And Gotous is cute guy who has his own little expansion ark. So yes, sorry red boy, those housbandos  win this one. Fourth round winner: OOO VILLAINS On one side we have Sonozaki's and X foundation, On the other well Greeeds. It looks like one side  have more villain types so it would  win but... Sonozaki family makes Gaia Memories to make super humans and then let only them to live on this planet because some Earth tears or something. Experiments, no one knows who will live. Ryubee  is just laughing old man wit terror, his older daughter is psycho maniac with bad taste for men, younger one is spoiled and doesn't know whats going on at all. It works somehow but not as smooth at it should. Some things are not explained enough some are over explained. And then suddenly some X foundation. Bit messy. For OOO we have Greeeds : incomplete beings who want to be complete but it is impossible so they will destroy everything  to try it anyway lool. They have  different approach to it and later have Dr Maki as weird hybridish psycho who wanted to end the world while is still beautiful. Sounds as messy as W but it is so much better. It is more consistent, we see the twists and dynamics between Greeeds, and the m Maki. I don't like him as a chara but he is made that way to don't like him: sociopath who killed his sister while still a kid, but have issues with her, creep who talks to a doll on his shoulder. He is both comic relief and terrifying at the same time! What a wonderful blend! Also his and Date dynamics are so hilarious I just couldn't stop laughing. Psychodelic af XDXD So because he is consistent in his doing, is a creep is funny dangerous and interesting even if you want to kick him in the balls. Fifth round winner: OOO PLOT Both have interesting stories, not too complicated on the surface, with some twists, with some plot holes and mistakes. OOO has however less of the plot holes ( most of them are from the past stuff like from 800 years ago), the story is more fluent, so fluent that it is hard to see chara development without going 10 episodes behind for a moment and the realization hits you), also there are none “new villain at the end!” no, we know who will be the  ultimate baddie and want to know how it goes. One of the main twists was Lost Ankh. It was interesting and heart breaking. In W main plot is Philip past, his connection to the Gaia Memories and Sonosakis. Plot twist can be predicted quite early but it is still fun. But because of little screen time for Philip and his actual development some moments feel weaker or bit rushed. Yet Shotaro reaction to those are top notch!Still, Eiji and Ankh dynamic story  flow etc is just better in OOO for me. Sixth round winner: OOO OPENING Music is important too and opening is the most characteristic piece of audio for most series. Here you can be biased and I will be. W is more pleasant to the ear, I like the video for it more too. And I mean both what you see in the series and official one. The vocal is more clean in W opening for me too. What to say more? Seventh round winner: W FAVORITE CHARACTER A war between half-boiled and angry birb. I love them both character wise. Are complicated have their flaws as good sides fleshed out, are interesting... but the birb... ah the birb! His story ark! His struggle,  his ambiguous state towards other up until the end. His mannerism (his bird like movements and way he eats lool, he drinks tea with soup spoon! XD), way of thinking and all the changes. They way he goes from treating Eiji as and accessory to fight to having him precious enough to help him fight Maki at costs own existence/life. And he is so relatable. Not for literal stuff ( I don't think any of you is greeed) but  in general: the feeling of not fitting into a group etc. Shotaro is very relatable to don't get me wrong, but his character development is not as deep as Ankh. Both have great  clothes yes! Eight round winner: OOO
SUIT AND MERCH ASCETICS As for looks of  suits of the Riders and gimmicks it will be short: I like  standard double more over TaToBa OOO, but I don't like Extreeme much but I love TaJaDor. Bike looks better in the W animal robots are cute here and here too. Second rider suit is good enough, but henshin gimmick is more interesting in OOO (the medals and  mixing them) So a draw! ENDING
OOO doesn't have that 49th episode and it shows. But with that we have 2 very different vibes endings and both are so good. OOO is bittersweet but gives hope, W I just... god I'm so happy for Shotaro, this soft man deserved the ending. And somehow Eiji deserved his too: you should talk to your birb more Eiji! And shipping aside W should have proper hug and  not that weird thing at the end. Both give satisfaction both are great and not disappoint! Another draw!! BONUS ROUND: BACKGROUND STORIES I could write about all support cast etc but those are equals and we don't need another draw. So I'll will do one more thing as a bonus: background of the charas. Especially our main Riders. In W we know a lot about Philip and what he did in the past yet some thing are presented in chaotic way, we are not sure about important things ( like if his family was dysfunctional before or after Philip's accident), but about Shotaro? Almost nothing. Just that he was bit deliquentish in high school (we are not even sure if it wasn't middle school lool) and that he was with boss  some time before Begins Night. And thats sad because Shotaro is developed in interesting way and his past should be show more to understand better why he was like that. On the other hand we know what we should about Eiji, what made him as he was, why he is living this way. It wasn't long exposition but good enough to understand his ways. For Ankh its bit more messy (because what we hear and what we see on the screen doesn't add up well) but still it is all understandable. Winner of eleventh round : OOO So in all OOO won but not by that much. W is still very good series and both deserve to be watched (and then cried over, and made 1245643 chapters and one shots and drawings to them GAH)
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graykaren333 · 5 years
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Dramas I’ve Rewatched
So I’ve been watching kdramas since 2012.  We’re talking compulsively, obsessively at times, usually exclusively, consistently watching kdramas.  (Because they are way better than American/Western TV shows/entertainment but that’s another post for another day; besides, if you’re reading this I’m sure you already agree with me on that point).  So bottom line is I’ve watched over 175 kdramas (I’m not quite at the 200 mark yet) and I’ve kept accurate lists of which dramas I’ve finished and liked or finished and didn’t like (or in this case finished, and then eventually went back and rewatched).  When your sites are always set on trying to watch new dramas that are coming out or trying to make sure you’ve watched old classic ones for the first time, it can be hard to convince yourself to take the time to rewatch ones you’ve already seen.
That being said, the following 20 kdramas are ones that I have gone back and rewatched at least once, in some cases multiple times.  These dramas either had fantastic plotlines that were so tight and consistently moving that it was just fantastic to see all the pieces fit together even when rewatching OR there were anywhere from one to four characters who I became so invested in that I loved watching their character development.  Do the characters create the plot or does the plot create the characters?  Sometimes it’s hard to know which is more prominent but I will try to highlight which stood out for me.
NO SPOILERS: the following are reviews have no spoilers as to specific details, they just contain an assessment as to why I believe I could go back to them and rewatch them.
WARNING: for some of these dramas I have skipped watching some subplots, even when I went back and rewatched it, because I was either too obsessed with the main characters’ interaction or else I was so minimally invested in the characters in the subplot that I just didn’t care to watch.  I will let you know with a WARNING message as to which dramas that happened for.
Everyone has their own opinions on what kdramas are good or not and everyone has their own thoughts on what constitutes a good kdrama and why, but for me, here is the crème de la crème of the kdrama world:
Shut Up Flower Boy Band (slice of life/coming of age)
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Unique elements: In my opinion this is hands-down the golden standard of slice-of-life/school age dramas (and I’ve seen most that have been made in the kdrama world!).  The plotline basically follows a group of high school age guys and if you look at them from the first episode to the last episode, there is no doubt that it is a coming of age drama but without year-long jumps in each of the last six episodes (*cough, cough* Reply/Answer Me series *cough*).  The plotline is fantastic in that it gets us to invest in every one of the group of guys and then the plotline keeps up a brisk pace and never gets bogged down in any one plotline.  Plus, the male lead does have a love interest which is so adorable and I get particularly obsessed with that plotline but I really love the whole entire plotline. Because the male lead, especially as portrayed by Sung Joon, is simply fantastic.
Reasons why I rewatch it: fantastic plotline!  The characters are really great too, let’s be honest.
Assessment: should be a cult classic but isn’t
Heartless City (action)
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Unique elements: This drama originally aired on a cable channel in Korea so it is really unparalleled in its hard-hitting action and suspense as well as its willingness to show, well, violence.  But the violence always serves a purpose and moves the plotline forward, it’s not just meaningless violence (I’m looking at you, Mr. and Mrs. Smith movie).  It is filmed a la film noir and pulls it off to a “t”.  Literally all of the characters have so much moral ambiguity as to their decisions and behaviors.  So many twists and turns, the bad guys turn out to be good and the good guys turn out to be bad that is there really even a line between the two anymore? And this is much more highlighted than with any other kdrama I’ve ever seen.  Think 24 in intensity meets the mafia. It’s kind of my guilty pleasure.
Reasons why I rewatch it: Other than the fantastic plotline as detailed above, the male and female leads are so fantastic!!  Jung Kyung Ho’s character is so dark and brooding yet fantastic and smart and calculating, yet not always, especially around the female lead’s character. While their scenes together are few and far between, the scenes are always electric (we’re talking sparks coming off the computer screen).  The way Jung Kyung Ho acted out this complicated character with all the character’s nuances is just a delight to watch and the character is easily in my top five favorite characters of all time.  I am convinced that no one else could have played the character so well.  Plus, we slowly get more and more of the various characters’ backstory as the plotline progresses and I always love that kind of plotline.  How obsessed with this drama do I get?  When I rewatch it, it usually only takes me three days to watch it.  And it’s 20 episodes long.
Assessment: should be a cult classic but isn’t
Mrs. Cop 2 (action)
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Unique elements: Nothing particularly unique except for Kim Bum’s character.
Reasons why I rewatch it: Kim Bum’s performance is one of my all-time favorite performances and his character is one of my all-time favorite characters.  His female foil is moderately appealing at best in general but she is always able to hold her own as a character in her scenes with Kim Bum’s character. Kim Bum’s character makes this drama and on that reason alone it is a good enough performance to watch the drama.  He inherited his family’s business but he is the first kdrama CEO that I’ve seen who hasn’t acted all entitled when facing the police…but he might also be a serial killer?  This drama is another guilty pleasure of mine.
WARNING: there are numerous subplots that I did not watch (female lead’s home life interactions) or rewatch (all of the rest of the scenes that Kim Bum wasn’t in, lol, even including other police scenes)
Assessment: stunning performance by one of the actors
Two Weeks (action)
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Unique elements: Nothing except for the incredibly tightly written plotline.
Reasons why I rewatch it: The reason for this one is plotline, all the way.  I love the characters and am invested in them but I am invested in them because of the particular situations that they are thrown into because of the premise of the plotline.  Jang Tae San is a small-time gangster who more or less grew up on the streets and has had to figure out life on his own.  He is set up for murder and has to survive without getting killed (by either the police or the people who set him up) for two weeks until he can give lifesaving surgery for his daughter. Every episode is a day except for the first and last episodes.  Let me tell you, this drama is so tightly written that no scene is wasted.  There are a surprising amount of characters and they are connected in often surprising ways.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  Also, we more or less get thrown right into the plotline and slowly get the backstory as the drama progresses.
Assessment: terribly underrated
Suspicious Partner (action and romance)
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Unique elements: Nothing overly notable
Reasons why I rewatch it: I’m a sucker for kdramas that blend both action/suspense and romance. And this drama does that to a “t”. So the first couple of episodes are rather crazy and you’re just sitting there wondering where in the heck the plotline is going but then it finally settles in to a bit of a procedural courtroom drama with the male and female leads both being lawyers.  But wait, there’s a serial killer who is after them so they are trying to figure out who it is and bring the person to justice before he, you know, kills them.  There is also a consistently developed romance plotline between the male and female leads that is very intense at times and the characters just have fantastic chemistry.  The plotline rarely drags even during the procedural courtroom episodes, the plotline swiftly moves through the cases and doesn’t get bogged down.  Ji Chang Wook plays the male lead and is stellar.  I absolutely love the character.
Assessment: terribly underrated
 Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (action and romance)
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Unique elements: Nothing overly much; action and rom-com with a slight twist of sci-fi
Reasons why I rewatch it: So, Do Bong Soon comes from a long lineage of incredibly strong women (we are talking she can lift a car as though it were a paper clip) and her strength cannot be lost as long as she doesn’t use it for evil ends.  Along comes the male lead, a CEO of a company, and when he finds out about her powers she becomes his bodyguard and hilarity ensues, as does a serial killer which is decidedly less funny.  The scenes between the two of them are absolutely fantastic and it is simply a great romance plotline with gradually less comedy and more thriller/suspense, but just as much romance if not more, as the plotline progresses.  The male lead is also quite a complex character as the storyline unfolds.
WARNING: there were some workplace subplots that I just didn’t care enough to watch as well as scenes between the female lead and the second male lead (he’s as interesting as a pile of snow if you ask me).
Assessment: terribly underrated
Oh My Ghostess (action and romance)
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Unique elements: This is the only drama I’ve seen that starts out almost completely as a rom-com and then slowly ombre’s into an action/thriller (with decidedly romance elements) by the end.
Reasons why I rewatch it: The premise of this show involves ghosts (surprising I know, based on the title) and it’s different in that most dramas that are supernatural like that either progress on the premise that ghosts are more or less harmless and it’s just comical with inhabiting people OR all ghosts are purely evil and we should be terrified at the thought of what they can do.  Well this drama said, “You are going to force us to choose one premise over the other?  No thanks, we’ll take both” which is how you can start with a rom-com and end with a suspense/thriller.  The overall plotline is fantastic.  No particular character overly stands out in my mind.
Assessment: it was not what I was expecting going into the drama but I absolutely loved it and it is terribly underrated
Healer (action and romance)
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Unique elements: Not really anything in particular
Reasons why I rewatch it: Ji Chang Wook is at it again!  He plays yet another fantastic character as the male lead and the audience becomes very invested in seeing him accomplish his goals.  The female lead is sweet and adorable but also bad-ass in some aspects.  The romance elements between them are consistently developed throughout each episode in parallel to the action elements.  
WARNING: There is a really intricate and complicated and interrelated backstory of several of the characters that feels very melodrama-ie and really bogs down the plotline at times including many subplots that I’ve never bothered to rewatch after the first watching.  
Assessment: accurately rated very high by many people, and maybe even slightly overrated at times given how it gets bogged down at times, but still well worth watching
Descendants of the Sun (action and romance)
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Unique elements: a special ops guy as the male lead and a doctor as the female lead?  Yeah, that’s pretty unique!
Reasons why I rewatch it: I honestly kind of want to marry the male lead.  He’s so bad-ass at his job, yet so down-to-earth yet suave in his personal life; his job gives him this aura of secrecy and danger yet he is honest-to-goodness a fantastic guy.  The female lead character is good but doesn’t always hold her own in her scenes with him.  It is rather fascinating to see them work things out as a couple when they are so obviously attracted to each other and really have fantastic chemistry together but view the idea of helping people from very different ideological viewpoints based on their respective jobs.  The action elements come from the missions it shows him doing but the plotline focuses much more on the progression of the romance.
WARNING: I was so obsessed with the leads’ romance story that I had a really hard time not skipping over all other subplots.  
Assessment: accurately rated very high by many
City Hunter (action and romance)
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Unique elements: not too many except that it is perhaps the oldest action drama that has consistent and good action scenes throughout the plotline.
Reasons why I rewatch it: Lee Minho’s character is SO fantastic and he gives an excellent performance of it (his eyes are so expressive); it’s a complex character and he really does it justice.  The action and romance plotlines are developed nicely in parallel but through most of the drama are separated by a thin veil that is Lee Minho’s character’s mask. The female lead is adorable though a bit ridiculous at times given her job as a bodyguard, but her chemistry with Lee Minho’s character is still quite good.  
WARNING: Upon rewatching this kdrama, the plotline does really drag at times when it gets into all the politics of the specific men that he’s going after.  Still, a must-watch.
Assessment: accurately rated very high by many
The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry (romance)
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Unique elements: Minimal if any
Reasons why I rewatch it: Kim Bum. Kim Bum.  Kim Bum. His character is fantastic and of course he is fantastic in how he portrays it.  His character is in his early 20’s and he’s a musician who plays the guitar and piano and the character just has a fantastic presence about him especially in his scenes with the female lead who is easily one of my favorite female leads of all time.  She is in her mid to late 30’s single, and rocking out her career, but she’s been through some pretty rough stuff on and off the job, too.  Their chemistry is fantastic.
WARNING: An oversized amount of screen time is devoted to exploring her on-the-job struggles and strife and I really don’t care about all those details especially when there’s a fantastic romance story to be told.
Assessment: rewatchable even if you have 30 kdramas on your list to watch that you haven’t even seen once yet
Personal Taste (romance)
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Unique elements: Nothing much
Reasons why I rewatch it: Lee Minho.  Enough said. I constantly go back and forth as to whether or not my favorite character of his is in City Hunter or this drama.  This is one of those dramas that I first watched years ago and every time I go back to it I think, “it can’t possibly be as good as I remember, especially with all the dramas I’ve watched since then,” and then I watch it and am reminded of just why and how it is so good!  Lee Minho’s character is just so fantastic. The female lead is kind of cliché and dopy at times but they have really great chemistry together, they both have really good backstories that make you invest in the characters, and it has so many funny elements.
WARNING: No matter how many times I rewatch this drama, there are some characters that I just can’t get invested in so there are a few subplots that I have never watched
Assessment: while it is a classic kdrama and gets mentioned on lists fairly often, it doesn’t get nearly the recognition it should
One More Happy Ending (romance)
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Unique elements: nothing in particular
Reasons why I rewatch it: Jung Kyung Ho is at it again! This is kind of a slice-of-life/romance about a group of people in their mid-30’s who are killing it at their jobs but not so much in their personal lives.  The romance plotline between Jung Kyung Ho’s character as the male lead and the female lead is really riveting and fantastic.  I just end up getting obsessed with their plotline.  It was one of those dramas where you look back on it at the end and you can’t really remember anything specific or noteworthy that happened yet it was all just so fantastic; you can’t really remember why you were so obsessed with it yet every time you go back to rewatch it, it is just as fantastic.
WARNING: There are a lot of secondary leads with the female lead’s group of friends and I can never get really invested in her friend’s subplots.
Assessment: rewatchable even if you have 30 kdramas on your list to watch that you haven’t even seen once yet
My Secret Romance (romance)
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Unique elements: Even though the leads have a one night stand in the first episode, the female lead is able to act cool like it didn’t affect her but the male lead character can’t really get over it and it’s obvious to everyone who’s close to him
Reasons why I rewatch it: At 14 total episodes, this kdrama is almost exclusively focused on the main leads’ romance plotline – and what a plotline it is!  The whole dynamics of him ending up being her CEO are just so much fun – it’s such a good premise.  No matter how many times I’ve seen it, I always get obsessed with this drama when I watch it.
Assessment: terribly underrated
Legend of the Blue Sea (romance)
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Unique elements: The premise itself is highly unique. (Also, Lee Minho!  Lee Minho!)  Each episode begins with a few minutes of a storyline of a relationship between a magistrate and a mermaid in the Joseon era.  Then it jumps to present day and we end up meeting a lot of the same actors from the Joseon era plotline and basically everyone is reincarnated from that era and are very similar to who they used to be in their past lives.  The male lead (Lee Minho’s character) starts learning more and more about his Joseon era self after he finds out just how much they look alike and he also starts having dreams from his past life in the Joseon era. Does history have to repeat itself entirely or can he change his fate for himself and the woman he loves?
Reasons why I rewatch it: The characters of ok on this one, but it is the plotline and the premise that really carries this one.
Assessment: terribly underrated
High Society (romance)
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Unique elements: First of all, the female lead has all the sociopolitical clout and backing coming from a very rich family while the male lead grew up in a very poor family and he has always strived to make great gains in the business world.  I especially love the ambiguity and mystery found in the male lead (who is fantastically portrayed by Sung Joon).  Second, it follows the romance journey of two couples: for the male and female leads, their characters focus on internal strife, conflict, and angst – internal difficulties as they both wish to be raised as the other had; the secondary male and female leads are both simpler and less ambiguous characters but there romance plotline is no less compelling as they face mostly external, not internal, pressures regarding their relationship.  
Reasons why I rewatch it: The plotline is fantastic and I am obsessed with all four characters’ relationships to each other.
Assessment: terribly underrated
Coffee Prince (romance)
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Unique elements: nothing in particular
Reasons why I rewatch it: Another drama that is a classic drama because of how old it is, Coffee Prince has strong comedic elements, especially towards the beginning, and also has a slice-of-life feel with following subplots for several of the workers at the coffee shop, but presents them in a slow enough way that we are invested in all of the characters.  With the female lead pretending to be male for most of the drama, this is certainly a gender-bender drama.  I usually find myself questioning if it really is as good as I remember it to be and then when I rewatch it, it confirms itself to me that, yes, it has stood the test of time.  Plus, Gong Yoo’s performance as the male lead is impeccable – he’s not just acting the character, in those moments he IS the character.
WARNING: Some of the subplots with the various supporting characters can slow the drama down at times so I have been known to skip some of these scenes, especially when I’m feeling particularly obsessed over the male and female leads’ interaction.
Assessment: accurately rated very high by many
Boys Over Flowers (romance)
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Unique elements: literally zero, haha, but it is one of the most classic and well-known kdramas of all time.
Reasons why I rewatch it: Before you roll your eyes, let me just say two words: Kim Bum.  The reason why I’ve rewatched this drama multiple times is to solely watch only the scenes that Kim Bum is in, because I’m kind of obsessed with his performance in this drama, honestly.  He was the original “bad boy” character I became obsessed with and was the first character that went on my favorite characters list. I love seeing his character development, especially in regards to his female love interest (I honestly think his character has more character development than the male lead, or at least just as much, and he has a forth as much time devoted to his subplot).
WARNING: Because it is such a freaking long drama, it can tend to easily drag, even for scenes pertaining to the male and female leads.
Assessment: stunning performance by one of the actors
Cinderella and the Four Knights (romance)
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Unique elements: not too many, really, if any at all
Reasons why I rewatch it: In some ways it feels similar to Boys over Flowers in that there’s one female lead who is interacting with several male leads, all of whom have significant screen time.  But unlike Boys over Flowers, the plotline rarely if ever drags and I pretty much feel equally invested in all the characters and especially with the romance triangle between the female lead and the male lead and secondary lead.  It’s one of those dramas that at the end of the drama you just think, “what was the plotline even about?  I don’t know, but I was obsessed about it!”
Assessment: terribly underrated
Another Oh Hae Young (romance)
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Unique elements: very unique premise.  Basically, the male lead keeps having sudden, short visions of the future that all revolve around chance interactions with the female lead and he’s trying to figure out if he has the ability to have an alternative future from what he sees, especially when he sees a vision of himself getting violently hit by a car! But the female lead has struggles of her own: her life continually gets thrown into chaos over mix-ups with another person named Oh Hae Young.
Reasons why I rewatch it: the plotline is so fantastic.  I also really love the chemistry and tension between the male and female leads.
WARNING: there are a surprising amount of scenes dealing with the male lead’s, and especially the female lead’s, work environments that can really bog down the plotline at times – I’ve never bothered watching these scenes.
Assessment: terribly underrated
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camimoo · 5 years
Text
So, I watched the Heathers episode of Riverdale
K, so I’ve never watched Riverdale before (well like half an episode on tv once) but I heard there was a musical episode themed on Heathers.  
So I watched it…and accidentally started writing a really long play-by-play analysis:
Oh we’re really just gonna turn on a boombox and go. Ok.
Is KJ’s voice that high all the time? is that just the line they gave him? It’s so babie
Tiny girl  :((( so much autotune.
Oh gosh, that “whyyyyyyyyyyy” is too low for him. Otherwise the Kevin guy is probably their best guy singer.
Weird disorganized sometimes-choreography for background peeps. Like this row of desks will move, but the one next to it will be completely still
“Are all of you this miserable”  lol
The hair wooshy noises…this is only for this episode right? That can’t be in the regular run of the show right? It’s so loud
Oh heck, no harmony on Candy Store :( also weird bad cuts
Is veronica’s house always lit with crappy eerie blue lights?
Is every character selling drugs?  Like every single one?
Also is the plot that these kids have to stop their drug dealing moms?
“What are you gonna do?” “ I’m gonna take a bath.” *starts crying* lmao
Co director girl is so over acting.  Is she a regular character on this show?
Aw man lowering the big fun notes :(
Also can the Ram Sweeney guy actually act? Cuz based on what I’m seeing, imma go with No.
So, frequently, a disembodied voice is just singing and matches nobody on screen, like they don’t seem to concerned with getting the right person on screen lip-syncing at the right moment.
Also one of the jock dudes is suuuuper tone deaf
Again terrible edit cuts in the song.
I do appreciate that they are all indeed doing jello shots.
So we have the 3 heathers, and then we have … 3 more dark evil heathers?
Also this sometimes using riverdale-veronica as heathers-veronica but also not is confusing
Doing some Grease hand jive dancing?
There are some ridiculously loud sound effects in this. Archie’s jacket for one
I thought the neon lighting was just for promotional photos of Riverdale. But no. literally every scene is lit in neon red and blue (and maybe some yellow)
Ooh I like the “anything to share veronica”, that matches the musical where she has to blurt something out at the assembly
“my family’s always been unconventional.” Lol yeah your family is unconventional, (from the 5 seconds I’ve seen of them) your mother whose face never changes and she just wafts around, and your gravel-voice dad
Off-brand hostess cupcakes!
“He’s a real class act, that Sweet Pea”  how do y’all deliver any of this dialogue with a straight face when your characters have COMIC BOOK names??
“cuz your parents are splitsville” lol, way to be gentle
“I AM RED” and snaps and two replacement heathers come to back her up.  How many heathers are there in this show? We’re up to like 8
“Faux pink lady”.  So we are intentionally making these Grease references. Got it.
Lol she said Westerberg.
What’s the point of saying the one tiny girl is Veronica if Topaz(?) is gonna sing her songs
All hope is gone. Apparently these are the Highschool lyric changes.  Hmmm
I feel like they are mix and matching characters together willy-nilly.  I pick…you and …you! Yep threesome now.
Nuh uh.  Her name is PEACHES?!
The loud sound effects are killing me.  When you pat your thighs that doesn’t usually echo through a whole auditorium peeps.
Also why are we in the auditorium, you all clearly have neon lit mansions to go home to, why not use a more believable setting for seducing your friends?
So Tony/EvilHeather/Veronica is seeing visions of Cheryl/ActualHeather telling her she’s beautiful???
Oof that was a terrible record scratch noise.  Also whiplash! “Let’s make this beautifuuuul-STOP.”
Lol Fang.
What is ThE GaRgOyLe ChaMbEr?
Finally some harmony, it’s altered but still decent. :) Our love is god.
Are they having a secret gay cult wedding in a dungeon church?
The weird kinda half choreo the background cast does every once in a while.  Also specifically its only like the first row of extras in every case.  The back or outer rows never move..?
Do boxers really punch the air for practice by themselves in empty boxing rings?
k. I kinda hate the tiny girl’s voice,
so everybody is Veronica. Huh. Just takin turns.
I guess that’s just what KJ’s singing voice is. Ok.
Also when making cuts, why still have her say “well whoa you can punch real good.”  Just cut the “well whoa” and it will fit your scenario better.
Ok I actually super like the new harmony at the end of fight for me.
Principals are susceptible to cults. Got it.
Meet me at JUNKYARD STEVE’S??
Red scrunchie!
WAIT- did evil-heather and heather-heather used to be in love?
Wait they found the drug lab that quick?  Is this like a once-an-episode kinda thing? just gotta shut down the daily drug lab and move on
“and serial killer fathers” said in a comforting tone.
What even were those terrible piano chords as an intro to Seventeen?
But actually this song seems like a good fit for these traumatized children.  Help these babies :(
The voices of Cole and lilli (and most of them) sound like they were recorded so separately and in completely different ways, ones more breathy, others are echoey, some have autotune…hmm
Also someone pointed out that when you get to the “your eyes can’t we be seeeventeeeeeeen” line, Cole’s voice changes so drastically it has got to be somebody else.  I totally agree.
Sometimes the background music (not heathers) sounds like a western movie.  Like somebody just got challenged to a show down at high noon.
I want to crack an egg with a tiny egg hammer! And he didn’t even get to eat it.
Her dad sounds like a gravellier version of Misha Collins
She does really good at Lifeboat.
“I thought I was captain” diff lyrics.  Ok.
“drugs…terrible…what a nightmare”  delivered practically deadpan devoid of emotion. wow what quality dialogue.
“what is all over your faces?”  oh that’s just the drugs soot. No worries. Trashing meth labs always leaves me covered in soot.
Oof. “Martha are you free tonight?”  nobody answers. They all kinda glance around awkwardly.  Really? Why leave the name in at all if you aren’t including Martha, just change it.
When you burn down a building, shouldn’t you flee the scene of the crime? No? does being in the snake gang make him immune?
Also the pan out to make sure we saw the gas can in the back seat, cuz yanno I couldn’t’ve pieced that bit together on my own.
Also I’m assuming they’re drinking big gulps right?
Weird music edits
HOLD UP, is Tony dressed as Martha??? Wut.
Also none of their vocal styles go together, the transition from the others to tony is jarring. Tony is all sexy breathy poppy.
Hmm, interesting minimal interpretive dancing choreo
Ack, please blend in the tiny girl’s vocals.  Pls I beg you. At least I think its her.
Everyone else: *taking off clothes and jackets*
Jughead: *putting on his hat*
Hold up, I feel like from seeing the rest of the ep I can guess who most of the audience members are that are getting close ups/reaction shots, but I swear they added a new lady, heavily made up, and not Cole or Veronica’s mom...who…?
Oh and now we get creepy cult flash mob with hypnotizing claps. Ok.
 Overall:  pretty messy. No one really plays a specific character so it’s hard to gain any of the character growth that they get in the actual musical.  No one’s vocal style matches like at all.  The new lyrics and tons of edits were odd. The sound mixing was bad I think, like everything stuck out and didn’t match. This show is hilariously broody and they all have such funny names. Camilla whatshername is a good singer, actually the main 3 girls are p good, and the Kevin guy.  
Huh.
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eorzeasntm · 6 years
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Eorzea’s Next Top Model Tumblr Cycle Ten 
Round 1 Results
Round One is over already!  For last week’s challenge, I asked the models to go out and fight something cute.  Many cute things were slain, but the model who did some slaying of her own was:
Lily Lycoris
Congratulations!  You’re the winner of the first round of ENTM Cycle 10.  That cactuar didn’t know what was gonna hit him.
For the models, our judges have some critiques for you below the fold!  This week, I asked the judges to do a bit of overlapping to ensure each model got two different perspectives.  (Starting with Round 2, we will drop down to one critique per model, but from different judges than this week.)
Judge Kai
Week One, and here we go! Good luck to all of the models, and I can’t wait to see what you do with the challenges to come!
Azalea: This is a nice image, but I’m not sure if it fits the overall theme of fighting. It, more so, looks like they snuck up on you and gave you a shock! That said, the outfit is cute, and I like that you make it match the little Mandragora color theme. The pose is a little awkward, and I wish you’d pulled yourself a bit closer to the camera so we could see you better. The layout and your set up of the image are very nice and my eye went straight to you when I first saw it. But, be careful of brightening an image, it is giving your dress a very white glowy look and could make an image look a bit overexposed. Overall, good job!  
Chee: First off, great job choosing to use a dark outfit against such a bright background. It makes you pop with my eye going right to you, and even though the background has taken on an overexposed quality, it doesn't affect your character’s darker theme. I love that you kept your character up front and highly visible, but a little sad you cut off the sword since this is a battle shot. The bright flash in the center is a little distracting, so just keep an eye on that. You don’t want the effects being used to upstage you! Overall, I think you did a great job for the first week so keep it up!
Haila: I will admit, I am not a big fan of backshots unless it actually adds something to the image - which (to me) doesn’t seem to happen often. In this case, awesome job! It gives me this overall sense of you being backed into a corner and this is truly a fight for your life. Very well lit and you were smart to pick the outfit you did because it doesn’t really blend in and makes you stand out in a… very crowded situation lol. Those raptors are out for your blood, and I don’t see you going down without a fight. Though, I’m unsure if I would consider them a -small- friend. But in this case, I don’t really care because this is a very well set up image!
Lantis: Good image and you did a good job lighting it. It looks like you’re taking quite a beating there. These Mandies are not happy with you, and I will admit that this image made me smile. Reminds me of one of those people taking hits to find out how tough they are, lol. I do wish you were a bit closer and dominate in the shot, there are a lot of Mandragora’s to compete with and they are very bright and it did draw my eye to them. That said, the outfit (paired with your skin tone) makes you pop out against all of the green in the background. You got great ideas and I like them, just remember you’re the star! 
Rymm: So I am guessing these are the type of cat’s with a very ‘a typical’ personality and don’t appreciate pets lol. This is a nice shot and I love that you made it a tall shot to get the other flying cat in the shot as well. The sunset in the background is lovely, and I like the outfit you picked out. The top matches the colors of the sky without being to blendy. The outfit as a whole makes you stand out against everything going on around you. It does feel like it’s a bit underlit - but, like me, you’re a fair skinned character so we have to be careful on lighting. A trick I use is full on light set at good a distance. It still lights up the surroundings and yourself but doesn’t make us glow. If you need just a little extra light on you, good old sun minion! Good job!
Judge Vederah
Chee:   I absolutely adore the coloring of the shot. That bright light in the center along with the beams emanating from that point gives off that feeling that something really powerful is about to happen to that little monster. My only issue is that same pro also ended up as a little bit of a con. I am so drawn to the center of the image that I almost didn't pay attention to the deep eye because he was on the farther edge of the image. James: There's a visually interesting contrast between cool and warm colors happening here. I like that the only warm toned parts of this picture is the graphic of the lance as well as the attack animation around the Korpokkur. I just wish it was a little more well lit around your character. The dark shades of your glamour are starting to blend in with the background. Lily: The DoF in this picture is perfect. The cactuar is slightly blurred- but not so much that you miss those lines and dimples of its skin.All the while the Miqote draws our eye by being crisp, in focus, and may I say quite well dressed. My only half-hearted critique here is that I keep going back and forth on whether or not I'd like this image to be zoomed out a touch more. I'd love to see the rest of the look and a bit more of the "monster". Ni'ko: I'm a sucker for pink, and the heavy concentration of pink towards the left of the photograph and how it's also faded out into the sky as we move farther to the right in the picture really works in your favor here. I love how both characters in this shot look like they're in motion to attack-- but the challenge was to be fighting each other. The fact that your character is facing away from the Moogle makes it appear more so that you're fighting along side him. Ysildor: I love how warm this image is- especially now that Autumn is finally starting to come around. While I love the tone of the image, I just wish it was lit a bit better. The shadows in this picture are really dark and we lose some of those little details of both your character and the Kidragora. That being said, I do like the camera angle this image was taken with. It makes the Kidragora seem a little larger and more intimidating of an opponent
Judge Rongi
Adam, for this week’s battle shot you were smart to use effects to help guide the viewer’s eyes, since the background isn’t visible. The lightning bolts on either side of you guide our eyes up and down the center of the shot showing off both you and the monster. I like how each mandragora is a different color (green, orange, and purple) as it gives a little more variety. Your subtitle made me laugh as well. My idea for this photoshoot, would be to have you over on the left and the mobs more on the right, in the exact same plane they are in now, but instead of how this photo is so centered, you’d have a really nice diagonal going across the image, giving it more depth and filling out the empty spaces on the sides. For next week, don’t be afraid to take a non-centered shot, and really work to fill out the whole image. Good luck!
Haila, for this week’s shot you brought a little pop culture into the competition, and it’s a really great shot. I love the balance you have between you and the 3 mobs, and the background is great. I love how we can see some depth in between the left two raptors. If you keep producing shots like this, I think you will be a force to reckon with over the next 8 weeks. I want to bring up two things though. While this is a beautiful shot, and one of the strongest this week, I feel like it isn’t a battle shot. This may be where the pop culture reference hurts you because in this scene of the movie, they are trying to calm the beasts…not fight them. That scene, plus your pose (again, a great pose and perfectly balanced with the mobs) really makes this seem like a “scene” instead of a “battle.” The second thing is, my idea of a little monster is something at least smaller than you yourself. For me, these mobs are not small at all. So while this shot is absolutely gorgeous and shows that you are definitely a seasoned screenshotter, I feel like it misses the mark on the theme itself. For next week, I hope you can take your skills and really match them to the theme 100%. Good luck! I know you can do it.
Lantis, this weeks shot is a great example of layers! I love all the mandragora piled up in the corner and all the layers we get between them. Looking from one to the other is entertaining and fun. Your subtitle is funny and makes me think they are attacking you saying “one of us! One of us!” haha. I am sure you already know what most of the judges are going to say. There is a lot of open space on the right side! An easy fix would have been to turn your camera to the right, filling the entire left side with mandragoras and the right side with you. Plus, youd be closer to the camera which would block out the background and bring more focus to you. While I definitely love the depth we get from your background, it feels forced instead of natural (like Haila’s depth for example. Your pose feels a little less battleshot than some of the other model”s shots for me. Next week, I want you work on not centering yourself in your shots and filling out the whole screen. The layers we got this week on the Mandys, I want to se stuff like that throughout the whole screenshot! Good luck!
Nadede, this shot is really gorgeous. I love the color scheme. Not only did you match the oer all colors between the mobs crystal and your effect, you also chose an outfit that really matches the adventure theme of the shot. It’s definitely a battle shot, but its also a great model shot as we can see so much of you. Because you aren’t looking anywhere in particular, I do feel a little bit of disconnect between you and the monster though. Had you been looking at the mob, I think we would have got a nice profile shot (I love profile shots!). You are definitely a pro and know what the judges are looking for. The hard part this cycle is going to standing out against so many models. So far, you are doing it. For next week, continue what you are doing matching all the elements and I think you have a good chance at taking the crown. Good luck!
Ona, this shot is a rarity indeed. It is perfectly centered!!! I love how little the background is seen, limiting the empty space that we do see in a few of the other shots this round. I think you know what most judges are going to say. It works as a battle shot, and centering it was definitely a good choice, but we cant see you or the mob very well at all. I think you were going for a silhouette shot, but the lens flare in the center makes you unbalanced and darker at the bottom than the top. Next week, watch you effects and how they limit your visibility as a model. Good luck!
Ysildor, this shot is balanced wonderfully. The sunset with the filter choice give it a really warm color that just looks really nice. Even your outfit color is a nice brown that fits the woods setting and filter color. The location of you and the mob are perfect and fill out the entire center of the image giving us very little empty space. The tilt and the horizon line guide our lines across the image quite nicely. While your screenshot is gorgeous though, I do feel like it is less of a battle shot than others this round. It’s a little bit too stoic. From this shot, I can tell that this isn’t your first time taking screen shots. If you focus on matching the theme 100% you could definitely be Eorzea’s Next Top Model. For next week, keep doing what you are doing and I think you will rank really well this cycle. Good luck!
Judge Kusuh
Azeala: The torn frame on this, alongside the bright filter and your outfit, really make this look like a scene straight out of a storybook! Though, the high camera angle plus the mandragora in the foreground draw my attention away from you and more towards what you're fighting. Having the camera profile between both sides or being closer to the camera with a slightly lower angle (so it's like the mobs are looking up at you about to destroy them!) would take this picture to the next level. Cowbot: The Wall Frame in gpose is one of my favorites, and I think it's used really well here! With the placement of the mandragoras it looks like this is something straight out of a comic book or a dramatic freeze frame in an anime. Unfortunately, though, the brightness of the spell you are casting totally erases your face, which actually makes it look like you're the one losing this fight. Lily: This shot feels like it's straight out of a modern-western movie! The look on your face plus the raised arms of the cactuar really are nice touches that really give off a sense of tension and anticipation. I think what would take this combat shot to the next level would be to have the gun actually firing for the shot, I feel that would give a more "active combat" feel. Ni'ko: Personally, I'm such a sucker for dramatic lighting, and this really delivers the feel of a very charged encounter. The position of the moogle in relation to yourself is something that gives me pause, though. From the way it's set up, it more looks to me you two are both fighting on the same side, as opposed to against each other. Having either yours or the moogle's back to the camera would be a good way to remedy this! Rymm: Oh no the cats! This shot really looks like you don't want to be harming these mobs, which I can tell is your intent from your description, so good on you for that! Having the second cat high above you in the air also adds to the comedy of this shot! My main suggestion for you is to play around with the placement of your lights in gpose. You're pretty dark in this shot, and feel like some cooler (temperature-wise) lighting would brighten you up a bit more! Wren: The ladybugs may not be a fan of your outfit, but I am! I love how you managed to catch multiple ladybugs in the middle of attacking, which really makes this feel like a combat shot. Personally, I would zoom in the shot slightly with the gpose camera zoom so that you are more central to the shot and conflict.
Judge M'Telihgo
First off, to everyone, welcome to ENTM.  It takes courage to put yourself out there in front of your peers and other and let them judge away at you.  Regardless of anything else, be proud of having that courage,
Adam:  I like the lightning in your screenshot, it definitely sells that you are combat.  I like the coloring from the lightning, it is a dark shot and their color adds an easy focus.  I do feel that the darkness does make it hard to see any background however, I like that area and would have loved to have seen more of it.  While many people picked Mandragoras, I think they added to your screenshot as you could get many of them into your screenshot and line them up.  I really liked your entry this week.
Cowbot: Welcome back to another round.  While most people would not like the split frame effect, and I understand why, I like that you tried anyway.  I do see how you put yourself in the middle frame and the monsters in the sides.  Your spell effect is hiding your face however, we want to see you too, not just the monsters!  I like how I can still your background clearly and I still think the choice of mandragora is appropriate.  Well done!
James: This was one of my favorite screenshots of the week.  I like the contrast of the white leaves with the darker background, they almost make me think of a spooky ghost in a haunted forest.  More on that another time.  I like how we see both the effect on the monster that looks like you have sliced it in half as well as your pose would match, well done.  A little more light on the trees would have been nice, but not a major point.  Also, you did not pick a mandragora, so good job by you!
Nadede: Also, welcome back to ENTM.  I like this screenshot from you.  I like how your shirt and especially the talisman stick out from the dark background.  I would not have thought about doing a Spriggan for my own entry if I was competing, so I like your choice of monster very much.  However, I do think that the darker creature on a dark background, especially at an edge, makes it blend in a little too much, an effect may have helped with that.  Even with that, I still like it.
Ona: Wow.  I am not usually a fan of silhouette shots, but I like this one!  While I like the starburst behind you, I do not see a monster in there.  Is there one there and I can’t see it or is the Sylph next to you the target?  I also would not have done a Sylph myself, so thumbs up from me on your choice of foe.  I do think a little more light in the background would help it come out more but I think this screenshot does very well even without that.
Wren:  I love the Black Shroud, I hated it in 1.0, but the new version is much, much better, obviously, a plus from me on your choice of location!  I like the contrast of both you and your target with the background, makes you and your foe really stand out.  If I were to try something different, it would be the angle.  I like your battle effect, but I think a little different angle or timing to line it up better could be additive to your screenshot.  Even with saying that, I do like your choice of ability and your choice of foe.  I look forward to seeing more of your screenshots in the future.
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xtremedespair3d · 5 years
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Anime Winter 2019 Final Impressions + Plans for Spring 2019
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(I’ve seen Screen Rant and Crunchyroll using this shot as a thumbnail for news posts when the second trailer dropped, so I might as well use it too 😂)
The very first anime season of the year ends and we’re moving on to the next one, and it appears that this season is going to be the best one yet, before I discuss why with what shows I’m going to watch, let’s go back to the Winter season to rank every show I watched this season!
(Just don’t expect to see Kaguya-sama on this post, I haven’t really watched it at all, sorry. (but I will binge it eventually))
1.- Mob Psycho 100 II: Mob Psycho 100 continues to be a sakuga wonder and powerful storylines, I always thought the first season would be much more memorable for me, but I think this season definitely tops the character development and plotlines.
As for the sakuga wonder, this proves why Mob Psycho 100 is being held at better hands unlike One Punch Man, it went from Madhouse to JC Staff which is utterly disappointing, but Mob Psycho 100 being adapted by Bones and continuing to work on it is the best thing the series ever has.
I still haven’t read the manga but I can probably tell this is not the series finale, I wonder if there could still be a third and final season so it can adapt the final volumes of the manga, since it has ended recently, that third season would come in a quicker time, maybe like a year, a year and a half, or two, I don’t know, but it’s not impossible for that to happen anytime soon.
10/10 - Rank: S++ - 100% - AOTS #1.
2.- Kemurikusa: This all-new reboot has completely lived up to my expectations and it delivered some neat changes to the original and some big surprises.
Part of my experience was a bit dragged by the uncultured assholes that is 4chan with “Kemono Friends 2″ is better and such (Since it’s 4chan, some of them could be trolls, some of them could tell the truth, can’t really tell for sure), but it didn’t completely ruin my enjoyment of Kemurikusa, this is no big deal. And then there’s also the janky animation, but it’s Tatsuki’s quirk, so I’m not completely bothered by that and let him have it.
There are still some plot holes around the universe and everything else that raises questions after witnessing certain moments, but I think it’s best to leave things as it is, I wouldn’t expect Tatsuki to answer every single question, or even touch the world again.
I wonder what's next for Tatsuki now that Kemurikusa is finished when it comes to a new TV project, another remake of his classics or a completely original series? He would probably continue doing shorts for now. Either way, I totally need more Tatsuki TV projects since Kemono Friends. But for now, I would expect to see shorts being posted by parts on Twitter and then the full compilation on YouTube and NicoNico.
I almost forgot, I needed to address something: For the longest time I’ve been hyping up to watch the original 30 minute series before watching this reboot, I realized that you don’t really need to watch the original, but you should at least acknowledge its existence. But if you want to compare this to the original that badly, then you do need to watch the original. (We’re back in square one lol)
And for all the haters, please read this thread, and when you finish doing so, apologize and go take the L, conche tu madre, thank you.
10/10 - Rank: S++ - 100% - AOTS #2.
UPDATE - April 4th: Okay, a week after the finale’s release (Wednesday), Tatsuki out of the blue released a brand new 12.1 short video! (So far it raises so many questions)
I genuinely did not expect to see more Kemurikusa content, sequels even, but this is quite a surprise. I don’t know how long this is going to be but I’m sure it could be a weekly release. Anyways, this is really neat.
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Smiley Riku is best Riku.
3.- The Promised Neverland: This was a pretty solid adaptation and the suspense has kept me on the edge of my seat constantly.
I’m so happy to see that a second season got announced for 2020. I wonder if it’s going to be a My Hero Academia situation, where it started with 13 episodes (in TPN’s case, it was 12 episodes long) and later seasons have two-cours.
9/10 - Rank: S - 95%
4.- BanG Dream! season 2: The first season heavily focused on building Poppin’ Party, this season features all of the bands and some episodes were focused on each band, which I was really interested, definitely looking forward to the 3rd season in Fall. (which I genuinely forgot it was coming out too)
Speaking of season 3, I recently researched that Rokka is a member of RAISE A SUILEN, and I wonder if S3 might get a storyline with Rokka becoming a member of RAS.
This looks way better than Monster Strike, I like that the characters have more like shading/lighting than being pure cell-shaded anime-like, but my common complaint with Sanzigen, or maybe even CG anime in general, is that they tend to make some background characters completely hand drawn which doesn’t blend well with the CG characters, it’s just horribly noticeably bad and inconsistent. You can add hand drawn effects and such, but for the love of god, never do hand drawn background characters and even main characters in flashbacks. (like Lay and Tae)
The third season was originaly going to come out on Fall but it got delayed to Winter 2020, which is a bummer, it could have been like BBK/BRNK three years ago but time is always needed.
9/10 - Rank: S - 96% - AOTS #4
5.- Ikki Tousen: Western Wolves: After spending an entire week binging everything Ikki Tousen, I couldn’t wait to see what Western Wolves had in store given on what I last saw with Extravaganza Epoch (even though I kind of forgot already), with 3 episodes for 3 months, this was a solid series with good fan service.
I hope I won’t wait for another 5 years or so for another series.
8.5/10 - Rank: A+ - 88%
6.- Kakegurui XX: Now I’m worried if this was a worthy follow-up given MAPPA’s track record of making crappy second seasons, best example being Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul.
Occasionally I was less motivated to watch an episode when it came out raw and rewatch that episode with subtitles by whatever group and sometimes I also felt like this series was way over-the-top than I previously felt like the first season
Anyways, I thought it was a decent follow-up.
7.5/10 - Rank: A- - 76%
7.- Manaria Friends: Decent series, but the most important thing I want to talk about is, this was supposed to come out on April 1st, 2016, but it got on hold a month prior its release. Since CygamesPictures was founded in 2016, perhaps they took the series and reworked into what it is now, after 3 years of reproduction and release, I wonder if it was even worth the wait. I’m also surprised the show is 15 minutes long, I’m not sure if this was part of the original version, but it’s that kind of short.
For some strange reason, I wish any footage of the original version of Manaria Friends would be leaked somewhere. 😁
Now with Manaria Friends released, and with the upcoming Princess Connect! Re:Dive anime series (and maybe they even took Granblue Fantasy: The Animation (that’s right, it’s confirmed that it’ll get a second season) away from A-1, that’s my theory), let’s see what does CygamesPictures have in store when it comes to anime based on their IP and maybe even original projects of their own (which has gotten me more curious since I’m an original anime fanboy).
Also, the show’s English title is called “Mysteria Friends” for some reason. (Well, not really “for some reason”, there’s definitely a reason why, but I’m not that big of a Rage of Bahamut person)
I never knew the show was going to be 10 episodes long, since it premiered late in January, I thought it would run for 12 episodes which it could be in April, which is way late to the Anime Winter 2019 closing party, but closing the series at episode 10 feels like a good time.
7/10 - Rank: A- - 74%
8.- Boogiepop wa Waranai: Not much to comment on this one, and I haven’t really read the LNs, but this one seems interesting. The only thing I’m not a fan of is its own style of character designs, it just looks weird and doesn’t really respect much to the original artist’s style, which lead to this whole thing with this Twitter rants and Kadokawa apologizing for the miscommunication (Can’t stop talking about this), so I guess the damage control wasn’t worth it to get used to the anime’s designs. At least the animation and visuals look good, though.
7/10 - Rank: B - 70%
9.- Lupin the 3rd: Goodbye Partner: After Part 5, I didn’t expect a new OVA special would appear right away, it’s a self-contained OVA special, it doesn’t have anything to do with Part 5 at all, though.
The only thing I’m super dissatisfied is that in 37 minutes, it seems like there was a huge skip, we jump to a crazy situation right away, after a conflict Lupin and Goemon had with Jigen minutes prior, we see that they’re working together again, like, what? It’s just feels so random...
7/10 - Rank: B+ - 72%
10.- Mini Toji: This franchise continues to give less of an impact in my life and to consider it to be on the range that of Kancolle and Touken Ranbu (you know, those games I always joke about that Toji no Miko is their baby), one year later after the base anime series, they decided to make a short spin-off series, I couldn’t turn down the offer to watch it, I was curious on what’s it going to be, and the show overall is alright, it is funny at times and I had some laughs but it’s not too hilarious.
As for the chibi style, it just looks so weird. Seeing the image below which I found in 4chan when episode 8 came out just makes me wish they could have chose this style instead of the one from Mini Toji because the current style just looks so wrong.
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And there’s also the most painful, if not, the worst running gag ever, Kaoru is always getting mission jobs from her boss, every episode we see her tired and it makes me feel super bad for her, let her rest, let her suffering end. ;_;
Not to mention the show has a very sluggish pace, everything happens so fast I don’t even have time to understand or even laugh at what the fuck is going on. For a 3 minute short series, the best thing they could have gone is make a shorter opening or don’t feature an OP at all, just feature a title card to open the show and that’s it. Or maybe they could have extended the run time to 7 minutes (a la Sugoiyo!! Masaru-san) so I can enjoy the pace better.
Unlike Manaria Friends, I did know but then I forgot this series was 11 episodes long, but at the same time it threw me off thinking there could be an 11th episode but then I realized episode 0 counts.
6/10 - 60% - Rank: C-
And now... time for the top 3 worst anime of the season!
11.- W’z: I’ve probably never paid a lot of attention to the trailers (and even vaguely remember it), I thought it would be a stand-alone and different kind of series with a lot more music themed or something, but when the series premiered, it revealed itself as a sequel to Hand Shakers... THAT’S RIGHT, A SEQUEL TO HAND SHAKERS NOBODY ASKED FOR.
Despite being surprised that W’z is a sequel to Hand Shakers, I’ve grown to really like the series overall in a short amount of time, it makes me like Hand Shakers more than I previously could.
In like 3 or even 4 episodes, I couldn’t stop fanboying out constantly seeing the characters from Hand Shakers who look so grown up after the 10 year time jump after the series happened.
I mentioned that I thought that W’z was self contained, there are some moments and characters that are barely self-contained because the plot is all heavily linked to Hand Shakers (not that I’m complaining, though). I genuinely didn’t care much for the new characters, except Yukiya because he’s the adopted son of Break and Bind (Real names: Reijiro and Yukine Araki, respectively) , and he’s the McGuffin for accessibility to the Ziggurat to find Nagaoka and Mayumi. The one character I was the least satisfied for their lack of development was Midori, at first he’s had a couple of interesting moments, but the rest he barely appeared in the series and only in the previews, but in episode 9, they finally gave him plenty of screentime and even dropped some good info bombs on what the Ziggurat can do and stuff, so that redeemed my feelings on the character.
Another complaint would be the DJ Nielsen character, he’s got interesting motives and he’s the one who gave Reijiro baby Yukiya in a flashback, but his rapper-kind of voice can be so annoying. He and CHU2 from BanG Dream S2 would make a great team, or maybe a contest on who speaks the worst. (SPOILER ALERT: It’s a draw, they’re both so bad in different levels)
Then we get to episode 10 where the most important thing is that NAGAOKA AND MAYUMI FINALLY SHOWED UP. It actually took so long for them to appear because there was like a lot of stuff in the way, but whatever, I was so happy to see them... albeit with a caveat. Since the goal was to get Nagaoka and Mayumi out of the Ziggurat, it turns out that the duo themselves can’t get out because they want to live a normal life and Nagaoka was sick, as Mayumi said. It’s a little sad and it sucks that they can’t get out, but at least Mayumi had a phone call with Koyori after all.
I thought episode 12 with a Midori/Seba episode (it wasn’t an episode dedicated to those two) and to be on par with Hand Shakers with the 12 episode total, but I’m glad there was a 13th episode to have a good conclusion, and boy, this episode delivered some good surprises: The biggest moment is where Nagaoka told Yukiya how much he has grown and then Yukiya himself straight-up called him “Dad”, like three episodes prior, I had theorized that Yukiya would be Nagaoka and Mayumi’s true biological son but I backed off because I thought it would be disturbing (maybe not really, Mayumi must be old after the 10 year gap and she and Koyori don’t look like they have aged at all), BUT IN REALITY, HE REALLY IS, GOHANDS THE FUCKING MADMEN. The second thing I was happy to see was Makihara, at long last the man finally shows up, he always narrated the first few episodes and I couldn’t stop saying “Show yourself, Makihara!” or something and then there were a couple of namedrops, they took so long but maybe they wanted to save Makihara’s appearance in the flesh for last.
This may not be the biggest deal, but since every single character from Hand Shakers appeared in W’z all grown up and such, the one thing I really wasn’t happy with is the absence of Hibiki and Kodama. Sure, they both got namedropped once (though Kodama was namedropped twice) and mentioned their current careers (Kodama being a singer and actress and Hibiki being a costume designer) but I never got to see them at all, maybe they weren’t the most popular amongst GoHands’ staff. They weren’t my bigger favorites of the Hand Shakers cast (and I don’t mean it in a negative way) but seeing them how they have aged would have been really worth it, come on, GoHands!
Despite the hideous visuals GoHands has grown to have in recent years, I really liked W’z, it makes me like Hand Shakers more than I previously could. If I really liked the show so much, then why it’s in the top 3 of my worst anime of the season? Well, mainly for the aforementioned hideous visuals, while they don’t bother me much, it’s for the sake of people who can’t stomatch it. (Says the guy who put Kemurikusa on second place and gave it a 10/10, Rank: S++, 100%).
Like Kemurikusa, W’z also has a couple of plot holes, which I don’t really expect they could get answered that much, but some parts certainly raise a lot of questions, most notable, this Composer character, we never got to see who was this Composer Senri and Hana worked with. (They both don’t have in common, but they both made me ask questions about the plot and lore.)
Regardless on how you feel about the visuals nowadays, I still want GoHands to continue doing projects, one day they’ll return to their former glory with good visuals like the K franchise and they’ll win their old fans back, but the more important thing is that I still want to see them creating interesting stories.
I’d like to see more stuff taken place in the Hand Shakers universe, just don’t make sequels with every 10 year gap because I don’t want to see all the characters from Hand Shakers and W’z grow really old and die, prequels would be fine to explore more on the Akutagawa/Okuike families and/or fill the 10 year gap between said series. If GoHands decides to make completely different IP that’s not set in the Hand Shakers universe, being its own self-contained universe, I would be totalyl fine too. (I previously thought W’z was a self-contained series before it premiered after all.)
You can call me a lunatic or tell me I’m high, and say whatever you want about Hand Shakers/W’z, I’ve grown to like the franchise and I got the balls to tolerate the visuals unlike you. Besides, It’s not about the visuals anymore, it’s about enjoying the story a lot more.
By the way, I made this meme ages ago and I’m so proud of it. 😂
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5/10 - Rank: C - 52% - (AOTS #5 :^) ).
12.- Virtualsan - Looking: This got announced and released a trailer simultaneously out of nowhere, but when I saw the trailer (though it was focused at introducing the main VTubers) and the opening preview, I always thought the show was going to look half-assed, and indeed it did. And speaking of the opening, this series should have been hand-drawn so it would have been cooler to see the VTubers that way.
The bigger problem is that there’s no Kizuna AI at all, which many people aren’t happy with, I’m not worried too much since I like seeing the other VTubers (people should at least watch other kinds of VTubers, not just Kizuna AI alone). Even if Kizuna AI sings the first opening theme, it won’t make up for the fact that she’s completely absent. (At least try to learn to like other VTubers the same way you have your many normal YouTubers/Let’s Players you like, you dumb fucks)
The weirdest selling point of this show, Hideaki Anno was involved in the series. Yes, you read that right, the very same guy who did Evangelion and Shin Godzilla. No wonder why there’s this one sketch where we see the main cast dressed as the girl school uniforms from EVA.
The title of the show, Virtualsan - Looking has given a lot more meaning as I kept watching, it turns out that it’s actually referred to the VTuber Baacharu always watching, he always pops up at the very start of every episode and he’s a recurring star in “Listen Sister!” (forgot the name already, oops) where he always get thrown by Tokino Sora in order to confess to Sister Claire herself [Tokino]. Then he occasionally appears at this Siro segment where some VTubers take a seat and Siro gives a lot of trivia about different topics (then Baacharu became the last guest to star in this segment). It all makes sense now, but for some reason the subtitles called Baacharu “Virtual”.
Speaking of localization, for some reason Crunchyroll decided to license the series a week after its release, but guess what? The episode release schedule was behind, they simulcast the previous episode before the new one aired in Japan, that is until with episodes 5 or 6 which made things even.
There’s no real reason for me to hate this series, I quite enjoyed it and had a lot of laughs throughout the series but the half-assed special effects and stuff are not for the faint of Western audiences’ heart.
Though, I gotta say, this has the potential to spawn more genuine VTuber anime, I’m really optimistic to see more of them in the future.
4.5/10 - Rank: D+ - 48%
13.- Kemono Friends 2: *sigh* Oh boy, trying to write a series review on this one is going to be really tough, but to make it short, it’s as expected, Kemono Friends 2 is a soulless cash grab of a show, a shadow of its former self, definitely the WORST of the season. There’s just so many problems the show has:
Recycled storyline from the first season with a new human character nobody asked for.
Boring ass opening theme song that isn’t memorable and isn’t singable like WELCOME TO YOUKOSO JAPARI PARK.
Having two characters who serve the Raccoon and Fennec-type of roles. (despite having them featured in the OP numerous times and started to appear on episode 10)
Ceruleans look like unfinished CG mess compared to every character and heck, even the Ceruleans from the first season.
Occasionally inconsistent framerate from character movements, most of the time is a bit slow but there are a few times that it goes really fast.
Completely wiped out Serval’s memories of the events from the first season
etc.
Let’s go part by part:
The biggest crime of this season is of course not following the To Be Continued teased at the end of the first season and they decided to soft-reboot the series with a totally new human character, Kyururu.
Then, enter Armadillo and Pangolin, two characters who are looking for Kyururu for reasons [that is from the beginning of the series, later it was explained why they did it, it was to bring Kyururu to Domestic Dog], sound familiar? That’s because their roles are very like Raccoon and Fennec from the first season... when Raccoon and Fennec ALWAYS appeared in the opening (and then finally appeared on episode 10).
Speaking of the opening, the theme is a boring jazz earrape and it’s certainly not memorable or even singable as the first season’s opening, WELCOME TO YOUKOSO JAPARI PARK, those days are over.
I mostly didn’t even care for literally every character in the series. However, there are characters I do care, Kaban-chan (which I’ll discuss about her in a bit) of course, I will always care for Kaban-chan, and Domestic Dog, she’s the one Friend I’d definitely protecc because she’s a doggo and I feel bad for her in episode 8. The characters I’d definitely least protecc are Kyururu, nobody asked for a brand new human to take the Kaban-chan role, and Serval, because she doesn’t remember shit about the first season, they kind of ruined her character.
Serval was the worst change that has ever happened to her, as I stated, they basically wiped out all of her memories of the first season (or so it seems). Caracal told Serval that she had traveled with a human before and there was a small flash with Kaban-chan’s silhouette, this is one of the many things this season broke my heart very badly.
As for Caracal, the chemistry between her and Serval this season didn’t absolutely work here. Her character is depicted kind of a tsundere compared to her Welcome to Japari Park version which, gotta be honest, I definitely prefer the Welcome to Japari Park version and voice way better than the Kemono Friends 2 one. Without disrespecting the VA way too much, her voice for Caracal didn’t work for the character.
Rewatched a small portion of the first season, despite Serval having the same VA, she sounds a little different in Kemono Friends 2.
Speaking of Welcome to Japari Park, there’s the finale coming up in two weeks, so I hope it has a better conclusion than Kemono Friends 2 (which I’ll talk about later).
Now... let’s talk about Kaban-chan! If Serval wasn’t that of a poorly written character enough, Kaban-chan has definitely suffered the most! At the end of episode 5, a paper plane with a flame on its tip was flying out of nowhere, just to drive the Beast away, I heard a voice and IT WAS KABAN-CHAN!!! I was so happy that she finally appeared and I was eager to see more of her in the next episode, then the next week came and... she had plenty of screentime but... SHE DIDN’T DO SHIT! SHE DIDN’T DO A LOT OF SHIT, LIKE, SHE COULD HAVE INTERACTED WITH KYURURU A LOT MORE ABOUT WHAT DOES SHE WANT AND EVERYTHING, I CANNOT FORGIVE THIS EVER!
Well, it’s not like I wanted her with Serval to be like “Hey, Serval! Do you remember me?”, I understand she had her reasons and she must have been aware on Serval’s memory or something, but at the same time, she didn’t do a lot, though later in the episode, it was more focused on Kyururu talking to the owls about the origin of the Ceruleums, Kyururu theorized that the Ceruleans must have been spawned from the sea, and they all decide to test this out, which I don’t really blame too much that it turned out that way because they need to focus more on the overarching story of Kyururu’s search for her house, but come on...
At the end of the episode, Kaban says goodbye to the main trio, but most importantly, to Serval, as she asked Caracal to take care of her, she was downright sad.This episode was completely unsatisfying that I went so far to make a review out of it.
But that’s not the end of Kaban-chan, as she did appear in the final episodes, which I’ll talk about them in a bit...
But I gotta say, I really dig Kaban-chan’s new design. She has indeed grown up given by her height and her matured voice. 👌
There’s something I haven’t discussed very often and that is the NicoNico ratings. I haven’t seen these very often but I’ve seen two screenshots of two random episodes of the ratings, and guess what? Japan definitely voted for the “I didn’t like it.” option! Here’s a screenshot of episode 6:
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This is the exact same episode with the underwhelming reunion with Kaban-chan, it deserved it.
This is very funny because, two years ago, Pop Team Epic also a lot of dislike ratings, but it’s not because PTE is bad bad, I think it’s because it’s a kuso anime and people would follow the gag that it sucks or something, but in the case of Kemono Friends 2, it’s plain bad.
Moving on, episode 9 came by, the PPP episode, and there was no Crunchyroll-Hime cameo from the first season, wow, the disrespect. Then we get to see Crested Ibis again! Though she was not a main Friend of the episode (as it is a PPP-centered episode), she has become more of a minor role, just doing auditions, she even name dropped Alpaca.
Next we’ve come to the one episode where Armadillo and Pangolin finally captured Kyururu and brought to her master, the master appeared to be a Friend called Domestic Dog. She started talking to Kyururu that she has finally met a human after a long time, she brings Kyururu to her house and OH MY GOD, SHE MADE DOG SOUNDS, DEFINITELY PROTECC, I’M BEING SERIOUS, PROTECC.
Then comes the scene where Doggo was protecting Kyururu from the Beast, the moment I saw her full of scratches and dirt, my god, I cannot unsee that, that was horrifying.
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(Yes, I couldn’t resist bringing John Wick jokes)
Then when doggo let go of Kyururu, to come back to her friends, I felt so bad for her. I saw a comment on Crunchyroll where someone said “Oh no, she’s Seymour from Futurama” and things couldn’t be any more painful.
Right at the end of the episode, these two Friends from a promotional poster I saw a while before the series premiered finally showed up.
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They’re purpose was to give Kyururu some sort of existential crisis (well, not that much) by asking her if her house really exists, why did she made her drawings, etc.
Now we’re finally in episode 10 where Raccoon and Fennec finally appear after being in the OP literally every episode ever (Maybe I was asking for meaning or pay-off way too much), then KABAN-CHAN REAPPEARS and that time she was hella serious because she, the professor and her assistant, found out that there were Ceruleans being spawned from Kyururu’s drawings. Kyururu then made a drawing of literally every Friend she has met, including Pigeon which she just met but wanted to include her, and that immediately screamed maximum danger, as I thought there would be a huge army of Ceruleans shaped like the Friends, this is where things got interesting.
Episode 11, comes this war of Friends vs Ceruleans shaped like them, blah blah blah...
Episode 12 came and NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT THE ENDING!
THE ENDING, I.... TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!
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Then there’s the post-credits scene:
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My face during the very end:
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................................................................................................................................................................................................can somebody explain to me what the fuck just happened?
That Kaban-chan and Serval scene........ how could they do this to me.... and I don’t mean it in a good way.... Then that drawing with Mirai and two other Japari Park workers...................
THEY JUST MADE KABAN-CHAN SUFFER!!! ;_;
AND THEN THAT JAPARI PARK FRIENDS DRAWING, WHO ARE THE OTHER TWO WORKERS, MIRAI GETS TO CAMEO, EVERYTHING AAAAAAAAAAAAA
FUCK... THAT!!!
Sure, these moments should bring hype and I should be happy that they did this, the Kaban-chan and Serval scene and the drawing, but it won’t work for me, Kemono Friends 2 tries really hard to redeem itself with hype-worthy moments like these, they just won’t make up for this irredeemable garbage.
Now, I wasn’t a douche on watching the entire series, there are some moments that I found genuinely interesting, had some laughs and made me smile (probably out of confusion, I have problems smiling even on inappropiate shit), the models perfectly capture Mine Yoshizaki’s art style, but without disrespecting Tatsuki, at the same time the models feel lifeless compared to the first season’s.
One thing I don’t understand about the designs is that I’ve seen people in 4chan blaming Tomason for the lazy designs and stuff, or something like that because I’ve seen them use “they” and I don’t really think they’re referring to Yoshizaki, they must have been really referring to Tomason, and that’s not true, Mine Yoshizaki does all of the Friends’ designs, and please don’t call some of them lazy, don’t disservice the man.
Then there are also the next episode previews made by Kikuchi Milo featuring the characters from the first season. Because of Crested Ibis’ minor appearance in episode 9, now I kind of wish the Friends from the first season to show up in the series, not just the next episode previews.
There were also two ED themes, which I find it bizarre that a one-cour series changes theme songs.
We never got to learn more about the Beast character though, she was like an underdeveloped Friend and she behaved more like a genuine tiger animal or something, we never get to learn her origin, or even her race.
Boy, this review turned out way better than I expected, I had a lot of fun writing about this soulless pile of trash. I hope the Welcome to Japari Park finale will help me forget this shit, let’s see how it would build up to the first season of Kemono Friends given that it’s a prequel and this is really old footage, I’m sure there must be how the future of the series got set up or something.
This might have been the most brutal anime review I’ve ever written but it’s the truth.
Watch Kemono Friends 3 get announced but inb4 it could be an adaptation of the mobile/arcade game of the same name instead of following the anime’s overarching story.
Though I think if Kemono Friends 3 happens, it could still be a continuation of the anime's story and it has nothing to do with the mobile/arcade game of the same name. It could be a similar situation with Welcome to Japari Park where there's a manga and a short series and they're both totally unrelated.
To conclude this series review, let me just say this:
Kemono Friends 2 is the Pacific Rim: Uprising of anime.
0/10 - Rank: E - 0% 🔥 🔥 🔥  Hail Hydra (or in this case Hail Kadokawa) No Tatsuki, No Tanoshii
Fuck you, Kadokawa. 🖕
Fall 2018 ongoing:
At last, ongoing anime from the previous season, I wasn’t having this streak lately and it was about time I had it.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind: JoJo Part 5 continues to be strong. There’s not much to add but I got some small things to say: When I’m 4chan threads, seeing screenshots of Part 4 makes me realize that Part 4 is the WORST looking and poorly produced part out of all the rest, thankfully Part 5 looks way better.
Since I was so accostumed on how the characters sound like in All Star Battle and Eyes of Heaven, the new voices have definitely grown on me now.
Also, how does King Crimson work?
Ace Attorney season 2: I genuinely had this post written with JoJo as the only ongoing Fall 2018 anime alone and somehow I have forgotten about Ace Attorney despite still watching the series. I feel like I enjoyed the Bridge to the Turnabout episodes a lot more.
I felt like this second season has genuinely given me a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth unlike the first season, which it definitely lead me to drop the series, but I didn’t drop it completely, I have picked it up again around episode 10 because I felt bad.
Now, let’s start talking about the Spring season, and why is this going to be the best anime season yet? Well...
1.- Kimestu no Yaiba - April 6: I’M SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS ONE! Ahem, well, to tell you the truth, I just love being wowed by Ufotable’s fantastic visuals. I’m definitely checking this one blindly, I feel like this is something I should read the manga because I’m starting to feel like it could be an unfaithful narrative mess, and it’s already making me sad. But is Ufotable the type of studio to go off the rails and completely butcher the story? (Probably God Eater as people say but I don’t really see what’s with the hate and why is it offensively bad, I played God Eater Burst long afterwards, though. Call me an Ufotable stan if you want, but I really don’t see any problem with God Eater even when I binged it years ago, aside from a bit of animation hiccups (probably the/my first with (modern) Ufotable having a bit of hiccups) but I don’t mind it, I just enjoyed the way it is; people are gonna tell me this too and I’d be like totally disagreeing their opinions, refusing to seek the reality; I’d love to rush my ass off and read the manga like I did with One Punch Man, My Hero Academia and Monster Musume but I’m just so lazy to do it now, and I can’t read manga with over 100 chapters long.)
I always watch a lot of anime without even reading the manga first, even I don’t read JoJo (Even though I know some of the biggest spoilers from every part through the games) and Mob Psycho 100, but for some reason Kimetsu no Yaiba feels like a huge deal for me, I wish I couldn’t let the opportunity of reading the manga first go to waste, yet, I’m here about to watch the anime. I wish I could have realized this sooner.
Anyways, enough of that insane talk and wouldn’t boost hype confidence, I’m still going to enjoy it regardless how the story goes and the music might be something worth praising because the composers are fucking Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina, animation and visuals are no surprise worth of praise , I’m just ready to watch Ufotable’s next big TV project since Katsugeki: Touken Ranbu. (yes, there was 2018′s Emiya-san chi no Kyou no Gohan but it was a monthly series and each episode was 12 minutes long, so it’s not kind of a big deal; then there’s also the Heaven’s Feel movie trilogy (loved the second movie (even though I’m an anime only, I’m legit scared of Gavin and other kinds of elitists now; even though he unfollowed me)), but like I said, TV project)
As of March 27th, I read some news that Ufotable is under investigation over tax evasion and now I’ve grown way concerned than I was. It may not affect the releases of Kimetsu no Yaiba and even Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel III but I just don’t want to see Ufotable close. After Kimetsu no Yaiba come out, let’s see how Ufotable will do.
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Quick update, I HAVE read the first three chapters, it’s relatively solid and given on the scenes I’ve seen in the trailers, I do believe Ufotable is going to make a pretty good job on adapting the series faithfully narratively.
But most importantly so far, I hope Ufotable will do justice this panel! Which I had posted this on my Kemono Friends 2 series review.
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Bones disappointed me with the anime version of Mina’s “NO WAY” scene from My Hero Academia, and I hope Ufotable won’t do the same, I want a perfect recreation of that Tanjiro face.
Here’s the comparison below:
Anime:
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Manga:
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Do you agree on this? (If you don’t, it’s fine, don’t worry about it)
UPDATE - April 13th:
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UFOTABLE, YOU FUCKING BLEW IT!!! GET BANKRUPT!!!
I changed my mind about Bones with the Mina “NO WAY!” part, it actually looks faithfully recreated, UNLIKE UFOTABLE.
(Alright, I gotta stop updating this post constantly with what’s happening right now)
RELATED: What will Ufotable’s final release be?
2.- One Punch Man season 2 - April 2nd: I’ve said this before and I will say it again, I’m NOT expecting OPM S2 to be any good and I’m NOT looking forward to it, even if I say that, I’m still going to watch it, regardless, but I’m not very hopeful for the visuals (Man, all I ever care about in anime is the visuals, I don’t give a crap of the story, I just want good animation!).
Since the release date is revealed to be April 2nd, which is Tuesday, I’m going to miss the good old One Punch Man Sundays when the first season came out, but Tuesdays are a good day for anime, so it’s worth it.
Well, I wrote that sentence literally like a day or two, and a new visual got revealed, it looks clean but it’s already not gonna look like that, very S1-like, given the first teaser trailer released. That aside, Viz Media confirmed that it will be premiered on April 9th on Hulu (RIP Daisuki.net), which that’s on Saturday, so that’s close on the good old OPM Sundays 4 years ago.
Actually, I’m pretty split on that information, in one hand, the official Twitter account tweeted the visual with the April 2nd release, but in the other, Viz Media tweeted that it comes out in the 9th and calls it “the same day as Japan” and “ Details and availability regarding the April 2nd special programming in our territory are currently unavailable.”, I’m so confused.
(Sorry, this post has been in progress for the entire Winter season and I’m writing stuff I was currently experiencing at the time)
March 18th, the second trailer dropped and somehow I’m kind of alright with it, still not super impressed but at least it’s kind of something. But the biggest let-down is the new opening theme by JAM Project revealed in the trailer which it’s not as great as THE HERO. I’m a bigger fan of the way THE HERO is, I’m probably the more upbeat type of person, and with this? I don’t want something calm, I wanted a more action packed song! I hadn't payed a lot of attention to the editing of the trailer with the black screens, but yeah, it's so bad.
The more I think about the trailer and seeing people’s reactions, I’m starting to think it’s really looking like absolute ass than I previously mentioned, so I couldn’t agree more. But hey, at least I love seeing some of the jokes and memes related to the trailer.
I thought I had to wait until AnimeJapan to drop the trailer but they decided to do it now.
I now understand what’s with the April 2nd and April 9th releases. The April 2nd release is going to be more like an special of sorts and next week is when the series for real starts. It’s the same issue I had with Kemono Friends 2, but that was unpredictable at the time, so with One Punch Man, I can totally wait for next week. (At the time of posting this, the day has come)
3.- Attack on Titan season 3 second cour - April 28th: It’s seriously been like annoyingly forever after the first cour ended in Fall 2018, but I’m finally it’s going to continue.
I still don’t know what took so long, but whatever.
4.- Isekai Quartet - April 9th: From what I see now, this is going to be more like a show with different isekai projects focused as sketches or something, I randomly thought it would be a crossover but apparently it’s not the case. Regardless, I’m still going to watch and enjoy the way it is.
By the time I saw its announcement, I immediately went to binge Re:Zero, I have seen Youjo Senki, Overlord and Kono Suba, so I needed to watch Re:Zero so I can be complete or something.
Since I write this post as time goes on, the trailer for Isekai Quartet has released and indeed it is a crossover like I wanted!
5.- Girls’ Frontline comedy anime short - ???: It appears that we’re getting our first Girls’ Frontline anime and it’s a comedy which it’s even cooler.
The trailer was first revealed on a BiliBili livestream on January for Chinese audiences, then a few days later, there was another livestream taken place in VTuber Nekomiya Hinata’s channel for Japanese audiences, where they showed off the same trailer but one frame of new footage and then there’s a new trailer for another Girls’ Frontline anime, that’s right, we don’t have just one, but two different Girls’ Frontline comedy anime, this one’s focused on the AR Team and 404, and the other one has a variety of T-Dolls featured, but the former is the bigger focus here.
What I find rather surprising about this short anime is that ever since they showed the trailer on said livestreams, there’s no official upload of the trailer, not a whole lot of news sites reported about this, and not even a full release date after two months. I thought there would be more information on AnimeJapan 2019 but there was nothing in sight.
So I guess I’ll have to wait until April to see if this will indeed come out, it could be a surprise release not everyone is going to notice or it might be delayed to Summer. Nevertheless, I’m excited to see this one, and the other one too but I prefer this one with the AR Team and 404 the most.
By the way, thanks for tagging me twice on these Girls’ Frontline anime, Moetron. I’m happy that I let you know these trailers exist. Here, have this powerful image of G11 meditating.
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6.- Fruits Basket remake - April 5th: I never watched the original Fruits Basket and I’ve been seeing a lot of announcements about returning English voice actors and stuff, I dunno why but I’m thinking the remake could be overhyped with all this stuff, but I’m sure it’s still going to be enjoyable for the people who read the manga, who watched the original anime series and newcomers alike.
Speaking of the manga, I wondered why is there a need for a remake now, one of my friends told me that there could be an actual ending of the series since the original anime prematuredly ended when the manga was still going at the time, so I believe the remake might add the manga’s ending or something, I don’t know anything about it but it sounds like a likely thing to happen.
7.- Miru Tights - May 11th: There isn’t much to comment on this one, but it’s interesting because it’s basically Yom the anime. Yep, the man of the thights is getting an anime. Who would knew one day this would happen? Also, it comes out on May 11th, it’s kind of an unusual date even for a web series.
8.- 四月一日さん家の (Watanuki-san Chi No) - April 19th: After Virtual-san wa Miteiru, it seems like the anime industry wouldn’t give up on start making anime with VTubers now.
Unlike Virtual-san wa Miteiru, this one’s not really classified as “anime”, it’s more like a drama as its official Twitter account says or something. Well, at least this show stars Tokino Sora as one of the three leads, so it’ll be interesting. Though I’m not sure anyone would really like to torrent this but at the same time it’d be a waste not to.
9.- Bungou Stray Dogs season 3 - April 12th: I’ve watched the first two seasons of the show in December 2017, then watched the movie in my cinema with my older sister on her birthday, I’m definitely quite a fan of the series, not completely hardcore as I need to read the manga, but I’m fine for now. Anyways, I’m glad there’s a third season happening and can’t wait to see it.
There was originally going to be a Chiitan anime this Spring but it got delayed to Summer. And yeah, you read that right, a Chiitan anime.
HONORABLE MENTION (Since that just happened): Pop Team Epic special: I genuinely forgot a special was going to occur on April 1st (being April Fools), but I’m glad I watched it and still loved it like the base series and now I want season 2.
Thanks for reading this post, this must have been the longest post I’ve ever made yet for so many reasons. What’s your most anticipated anime of the season?
Twitter: @HKomaeda.
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