#final thoughts

[its-chelisey-stuff]

Marry My Husband's ending really was like a mexican telenovela:

The bad guy and rich, crazy ex-fiancee ended up dead

The female antagonist ended up crazy/in jail

a beautiful wedding between OTP closed the drama

The stern rich grandfather who only wanted the best for his grandson ended up welcoming female lead into his family

OTP ended up having a lovely life with their children

Side couples had a happy ending as well

[yen-sids-tournament]

Original or Remake pt. 1: Summary

The Stories we tackled were: The Little Mermaid, Dumbo, 101 Dalmatians and it's sequels, Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, The Parent Trap, Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent, and Cinderella

Thank you to everyone who voted in the polls, shared and liked the polls, and added their own personal accounts! Below is a bit more detailed de-brief of the nine polls.

The top three stories most people voted on were Alice in Wonderland with over 500 votes then The Parent Trap and The Little Mermaid with over 300 each!

All of the Animated versions out preformed the Live Action. What is unique is the 101 sequels: Patch's London Adventure was the stand alone winner, but when adding "mostly" and full preferences together, Glenn Close's 102 takes the crown. The only remake which outright won was the Lindsey Lohan Parent Trap--perhaps that's because so few people knew there were two????

Looking at the numbers, 4 of the polls had a plurality winner: 101 sequels, The Parent Trap, Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent, and Cinderella. (Meaning none of the options surpassed 50% of the votes)

Pretty much all of the stories were loved in one form or another. Which makes sense because our sample size is biased. The most beloved story was Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent--only one person voted against them! However, the least liked story was Dumbo, with 15% of votes against it. Not even an hour after posting people called out the casual racism of 1941.

Aladdin and The Little Mermaid also have stage adaptations which a small percentage of y'all prefer. Guess we'll have to get Broadway tickets for whichever Disney productions we can if we ever get to NYC.

And speaking of Aladdin...The poor Live Action! We very rarely have a poll option no one votes for. We would like to assume that the preference for the Animated version is testament to Robin Williams and the other great performers instead of a general active dislike of the live action. Side note: "The Animated!" on this one was the highest percentage (82.9) any of the options got while the same option for Alice in Wonderland was the most individual votes (275).

We also wanted to note: we kept tabs over the week on the percentages for some of these polls. And what is interesting is that after the initial few hours, the polls would fall into their pattern. Like the Animated Little Mermaid kept around 66% the whole week. And almost a quarter of people liked both 101 Dalmatians movies the same through out. Although, we are happy to say Hayley Mills managed to grab a bit more vote share in the second half!

We are planning to do a second part of these polls in a few months as we gather submissions for the next big tournament we host.

[doodlesdreaming]

Shin Megami Log 4(After Game Thoughts)

Finished SMT V during Christmas, and I have THOUGHTS.

I'm gonna put all that under the 'Read More' bit, so if any of you are interested in this game, then scroll past and no peeking.

Right then, final thoughts:

Brief history lesson first, I knew very little about the SMT series or the spin-offs like Persona. Of course, with how incredibly successful Persona 5 is, it's hard to miss any sort of info. But even then, my knowledge of the entire franchise was very limited. All I know is that it's basically the "Dark Souls" of RPGs with character driven stories that have of ingredients than a Final Fantasy title. At least, that was the vibe I was getting.

But even then, I never have been interested enough to want to give any of the games a try. I did get Persona Q2 back when I first heard of the 3DS dying out, but it mostly because I didn't want a Persona game with Joker's face on it to be forever lost. Weird I know, but that was my train of thought, at the time. But after clearing the first boss(and realizing that prior knowledge of Persona 5's story is an absolute must) I got bored and haven't touched the game since.

Fast forward a few years later, when Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne was announced with a HD port to current gen consoles. I was genuinely excited by the announcement. This meant that if I ever decided to give Nocturne a try, it'll be alot easier for me to do so now. Then after that came the biggest surprise of all; Shin Megami Tensei V.

Now this....this caught my attention. Though I can't really explain why. Was it the character designs? The gorgeous looking world? "D" all of the above? All I can say is that something 'clicked' and I was very interested. Even though it would take two years later until I actually got it.

And I'm so glad I did.

I was invested right from the start. From the silent "show don't tell" protagonist, all the way to Lufcier himself, the story, even with its swiss cheese holes in plot at some points, had me hooked from start to finish. The combat never got boring. I was constantly thinking of strategies and building up my demons that suited my needs and my playstyle. The world was incredibly fun to explore, even though the lighting choices, in some areas, made my eyes strain a bit. It would take me up til the big boss of the area for me to finally adjust.

And the bread and butter of it all, The Law and Chaos mechanics. A stable, I've come to understand, in the SMT series. Yet an important take away from all this is that nothing is as black and white as it seems on the surface. SMT is a franchise that makes you think. It makes you question yourselves and you inner most thoughts. And SMT V had me rolling in so many thoughts, that when I reached the 'alignment lock' of the game, I had to take a break because I was starting to get overwhelmed.

Of course, this could very well be a really weird quirk of mine. But when I get into a really good story, I REALLY get into it. And the choices I make would impact the ending I would get.

By all accounts, the Law ending would naturally mean the good ending, right? Well sure...if you can live with a Law that discriminates all other forms of thinking(a.e. free will), will not hesitate to punish they see as 'unfit' and the willingness to become corrupt yourself, just to prove a point. Sure. Law is the way to go.

The Chaos ending usually entails victory for the bad guys. And yet, there really isn't a clear "villain" in this case, other then the absolute obvious ones(f you Lamau). In Chaos, there is diversity, the freedom to choice your fate, to be yourself. And yet with so many possibilities, there will be disagreements, arguments of what is right and wrong, and power competing against power. No one really wins, and there is constant strife. But hope is just as abundant, with the capability that anything is possible.

The Neutral ending is well...the Neutral ending. You don't pick a side. You're that little kid that asks, "Why not both?" A balance of law and chaos. So understandably this would the best choice. Yes...except the neutral path follows a man who has been brought down low by both law and chaos. He lost everything precious to him, to the point where he belittles his fellow man if they show any sort of weakness. So the solution? Make humanity the leading power of the universe, but take away every viture and sin that exists in the heart and soul. And by extension, all the angels and demons in existence. Never to be even a story told by campfire light because it would never be allowed to cross through the mind. Humans would be free of woe and fear, and grow abundant in their everyday lives. But will it truly last?

You could probably guess which ending I ended up getting. And quite honestly, I'm satisfied with it. Plus it lines up perfectly with my ever growing headcanons of the Nahobino. So I'm taking it as a win.

I honestly can not recommend SMT V, especially if you're like me who enjoys a good rpg that I can sink my teeth into. It has it flaws, yes. But they feel so small that it doesn't really bother me. Some of them I can just 'fix' with good old imagination. And it's definitely inspired me to play Nocturne next, for sure. But first, I want to see if I can beat the Demi Fiend himself in combat....

There's so much more I'd like to talk about, but I think I rambled long enough.

The main takeaway? I LOVE THIS GAME. Definitely gonna be alot of fanart for sure. And I'm gonna get my hands on some merch when I can. It probably won't exceed my growing Darksiders collection, but it might come close in time, lol.

The other main takeaway from all this is that I get it now. I get the appeal and why this series is standing as strong as it is. HEE-HO!!!

[hopeinthebox]

with his solo project FACE, Jimin has created a coffee shop soundtrack that evokes the feeling of being hunted for sport. five stars.

[bookishfae]

so nico and libby are a matching set. cant have one without the other. but gideons future belongs to nico. and libby and tristan but also tristan and callum but also tristan and parisa BUT parisa is determined to solve/save dalton who might be splintered into many pieces??

meanwhile reina literally just wants to read books and atlas is a madman?? trying to destroy the world and create a new one??

thats not even getting into ezra?? i-

[ecargmura]

Bucchigiri?! Episode 12 Review + Final Thoughts - The Final Showdown Between The Genies

I’m not sure if Bucchigiri’s ending is either good or bad. It’s not bad because everything ends happily, but it’s not good because there are still a lot of unanswered questions despite the rather joyful ending.

The battle between Ichiya and Senya was actually really good in terms of animation. I feel like MAPPA was going all out with the sakuga for the finale, but Ichiya’s reasons for wanting to fight Senya felt a little asinine. He contracted a disease and wanted Senya to kill him before it could kill him. Ichiya, why didn’t you say this before you died? Maybe you didn’t have to fight to the death for this; maybe Senya could’ve found a way to cure you? All this sudden lore about these genies feels shoehorned in because for a story that revolved around these two genies, so little is known about them. Even towards the end of the story, the stuff about the war, why they became genies and how their story and the Honki people legend becoming a thing in Arajin’s hometown never gets explored and I feel like it’s a waste; all of this could’ve been explored earlier, but no, we had to focus on the fighting and Arajin.

I can’t believe it took 12 episodes for Arajin to get an awesome fight sequence that doesn’t revolve around him punching someone really hard once. That’s crazy. While it’s nice that he finally wants to help Matakara, his word choices make it seem like he’s not doing it out of true concern and he’s just doing it because he had no other choice. The fact that what pulls him out of his funk towards the middle of the fight, the part where he thinks he’s dying, is the the power to lose his virginity with a chibi Mahoro fairy. That seems a little stupid because he did call out Matakara for projecting onto him, but not once has anyone called him out for doing the same thing with Mahoro. Also, his concern for Senya doesn’t seem too genuine to me as he did spent the entirety of the show not wanting him around and tolerating him at best and suddenly, he misses him. I feel like I’m side-eyeing the writers hard for this.

I do wonder what the deal with the black shadow thing is because it did take over Ichiya, causing Matakara to be the sudden final boss of the story. While it is stated that it’s Matakara’s fears of being alone, it does feel like a cop out moment. Like, when could you do this? How is this possible? The fact that Ichiya seems to be okay after this ordeal to makes this thing feel like it’s not worth it in the end.

The side characters’ antics were interesting. Arajin’s mom was hilarious as always as she believes Arajin is sleeping over at a friend’s house and becoming a man; while the context of her words means intercourse, the actual meaning is different in the context of the current situation. The part with Mahoro trying to wake her brother up was funny because she chained Kenichiro to his hospital bed. Girl, was that necessary? The Zabu and Komao parts were sweet because they were looking for Matakara even though Zabu was injured and cannot move well, so Komao spent most of his time being his horse. The other Siguma Squad members felt like they were just there because they needed to be; by the way, Jabashiri’s first name is Nagare, so why is Hagure calling him Ryu-chan? The part with Arajin’s homeroom teacher stealing Jasmine was funny; we all knew Jasmine was a cat. It sucks that she essentially became a stray afterwards. Also, I called Mitsukuni being alive! I knew he was alive from the moment his dead body and funeral weren’t shown on-screen. Utsumi won’t kill off characters at all unless it’s Banana Fish. Look at Senya; he came back!

The little epilogue was cute, but a little irritating on Arajin’s part because he’s still simping over Mahoro who’s still not giving him a millisecond of her time. Good. The fact that he wanted to mimic Marito in hopes of winning her heart is also sort of weird because Mahoro would actually despise him if he did that. While Matakara didn’t get punishment for his actions, at least he, Zabu and Komao became friends again. The part where Minato Kai and Siguma go to the Tomoshibi restaurant and Arajin’s mom becomes a Marito fangirl was funny; the fact that Mahoro got jealous was even more hilarious; she officially hates the Tomoshibi family now.

Overall, I find the finale a bit flat? Like there were good stuff and Arajin did show some growth, but the epilogue sort of backtracks it with his thing with Mahoro but at least he isn’t avoiding Matakara anymore. I wanted more lore on the genies and for the other characters too, honestly. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either.

FINAL THOUGHTS

With how much I enjoyed Utsumi’s other works, I did tune in to Bucchigiri, hoping for the same excitement I felt watching her previous works, but even Utsumi has her off days. Bucchigiri is that off day. Out of all of her works so far, I can honestly say that this is her weakest work so far. I’m actually amazed because the combination of Hiroko Utsumi, the director of known shows like Free!, Banana Fish and SK8 The Infinity and Taku Kishimoto, the screenwriter of the Fruits Basket remake, Haikyuu, Blue Lock and Millionaire Detective, should result in something good, right? WRONG! A positive and a positive actually came out as a negative for once. The math you learned in school had been a lie all along.

Bucchigiri is a work where the other characters shine more than the protagonist Arajin. Arajin starts off a bit interesting but as the weeks pass by, the more insufferable he becomes without any redeeming qualities until the finale. Imagine writing a story where the protagonist only experiences bad qualities and only grows at the end. What kind of story is that? The side characters certainly shined more than Arajin, but that’s just my bias. It sucks that some of them have to be one-dimensional in order for Arajin to shine, but Arajin doesn’t really deserve it. I feel like this show would’ve been better had Matakara or Marito been the protagonists.

It’s a unique spin on the delinquent story as it’s mixed with genies, giving it a more supernatural flair. Unfortunately, the genie aspect is underutilized as the story likes to focus on the fights more. The fights aren’t bad—they’re good, but if you’re going for a story about genies, maybe try to use them and not be plot device for the inactive protagonist or as a sudden surprise villain. With Ichiya, we don’t even know how he got to be with Akutaro and why they haven’t fused. In fact, the genie lore itself was heavily undermined because I don’t know anything about these genies. They had a past together but where did they live? Why was there a war? How did they become genies? I still need my answers!

The music was surprisingly good. The opening and ending songs were really addicting and it sucks that they had to be used for an anime like this. The animation was amazing, courtesy of MAPPA. Despite MAPPA being overworked, they did a great job producing quality sakuga scenes for the fight scenes.

The voice acting was really good too. Utsumi knows how to cast quality voice actors. I love that she likes to use a mix of lesser known names with veterans. The only role I knew of Genki Okawa before Bucchigiri was from Yugioh Zexal, where he voiced Mizael. Despite Arajin not being a great character, Okawa did a great job voicing him. Matakara’s voice actor Yusuke Hoshino is a relatively new face, but he did a great job voicing Matakara from the cute and sweet side to the colder side. Masafumi Kobatake has been a name I’ve been seeing recently as he was in Frieren as Dunste and here as Senya. He was hilarious. I love the gap in his deep voice with his higher pitched gremlin voice for the chibi form. The side characters are all known names mixed with rather new faces, but they all did a great job. My favorites were Nozomu Sasaki as Marito and Chihiro Suzuki as Akutaro. They both did a great job doing the crazy sides of these two characters.

In all honesty, I wanted to like this show. Maybe if I wasn’t an anime reviewer, I would’ve had higher praises for this show, but as an anime reviewer, I can’t help but to be critical. It’s not a bad thing to be critical—to me, that is. I feel like I’m at the point in my life where I need to be more expressive and be more honest about my likes and dislikes. I dislike this anime. There, I said it. I just feel like it wasn’t the delinquent, hand-to-hand combat show I was expecting. I don’t recommend this show, honestly. If you want to watch a better Utsumi show, you’re better off watching SK8. I’ll be here watching Wind Breaker for my seasonal dosage of delinquent anime now. What are your thoughts on this anime as a whole?

[local-art-kid]

so, just finished the playthrough... is this how people felt when they first played Undertale? like, i feel gutted and depressed and im actively crying as i write this but... i also feel kinda happy? like, the thought that these stupid little fictional characters could be doing better in my absence, makes me feel good. dalv is getting out of his shell, martlet is focusing on better and brighter things, axis is probably on a romantic date with his girlfriend, starlo is reconnecting with his family and ceroba is hopefully moving on... it's a nice thought.

sappy bullshit aside, i absolutely loved the game! character writing is amazing, art and animation was top tier, the boss fights looked especially challenging (ceroba's boss fight was absolutely painful to watch, the dude i was watching died like a million times lol) and overall was a beautiful game from start to finish.

10/10, im gonna go cry myself to sleep now :)

[invisiblegarters]

Pit Babe - Final Thoughts

This show.

You know, I kind of love it that most of the reactions to it that I have seen including my own are "if you had told me that I would like this so much I would have laughed at you."

But I liked it so much. This silly little show had heart, dammit. And also dangled the possibility of mpreg at us, and I for one am happy assuming that Charlie did indeed find a way to knock Babe up at the end, and Babe couldn't be happier. Don't bother fighting me, in your heart you know I'm right.

In all seriousness, somehow this show that I decided to watch purely for cracky entertainment somehow became one of the best things about Friday for me. Was it objectively a great show? Nah, not really. Sometimes the acting was clunky, the plot was often a bit of a mess. Subjectively though it was amazing. This show really said "we're just gonna go ahead and run with this concept," and it did. And good for it, I say.

I really enjoyed myself. I enjoyed watching Pavel chew the scenery and Nut be very pretty (I still say that the attempted SA scene was one of the most visceral things in the show - very well done and fairly horrifying because of it). I know some had their issues with Pooh as Charlie but I enjoyed him. Daddy Tony was despicable and sexy. And Alan and Jeff had my entire heart.

The one quibble I have is that we got no Pete/Way, Pete/Kenta, or some improbable Pete/Way/Kenta threesome. Robbed, we were (and on a slightly less tongue in cheek note, I did dislike a little the way that Kenta's story wound up. I was hoping for a little more, but what can you do).

Final Verdict: 8/10. If you know, you know.

[overthinkthis]

I will make this one post criticising The Sign because there is one criticism about it that I think is worth sharing and that's about why the story kind of falls apart for me. (honestly not sure if posting this is a good idea but... yeah, anyway, tw for discussions of rape)

I wasn't really disappointed by the finale, I was actually really happy that no one died, but one of the main reasons is that I didn't expect much from it. I knew very early on that I wouldn't be overwhelmed by the ending because to me, this series is a perfect example of art that sets up a conflict it isn't ready to resolve because the people making it aren't ready to resolve it in real life.

A lot of this show is based around Tharn's struggle for agency. He's stripped of his autonomy by Chalothorn, who puts Tharn in a position where going for what he wants endangers the people he loves. He cannot decide freely, he's always bound by the fear of losing someone, of causing the people around him pain, and Tharn has been through so much he doesn't dare to fight back anymore.

And this is just my personal view, I know other people have different reads on this story, but for me the only satisfying solution would have been to actually give Tharn his agency back. Really make it his decision how to end the story - and not in an 'oh, he talked Chalothorn into letting him go' kind of way but in a real 'he gets to choose his life no matter what the others want for him, no matter how dangerous it is' kind of way. In a way that makes it clear that he gets to make his choice even if it hurts others.

And I pretty much knew I wouldn't get that from the show after their first police case, because the people who made the show obviously don't share my believe on how important giving back agency to abuse victims is. They didn't really care about the (re-traumatised) victims at all, they stuck to the idea that catching the bad guys is the most important thing. That rape can be prevented or solved by more control from outside.

And this is not surprising because it's the common opinion when it comes to rape. It's a power fantasy, really. To be able to protect the innocent by punishing the bad guys. It's the only solution most TV shows have when it comes to sexual abuse. Even The Warp Effect, which did a really good job talking about consent on the whole, kind of threw up its hands in the face of something like rape and said 'guess the only solution is to turn back time so it never happens'.

And I personally think that this is because the real solution - fighting to give people back their agency - hurts. It means giving up control and accepting that there is no way to always protect those we love.

Tharn should have got the chance to decide. Even if it meant someone dying. Even if it meant him leaving Phaya forever. He should have got the chance to make that decision actively and with Phaya accepting it.

Anyway, I'm gonna go back to thinking about how much I still love this show now, because it brought me such an immense amount of joy and I still have a lot of gif sets to reblog.

[spaceyhiyyihlight]

FINAL TWINKLING WATERMELON POST but i just have to say, as much as i fucking loved this show, three main things made me mad

the female characters seemed like an afterthought. Chungah, Sekyoung, and Eunyoo all had such interesting stories and i WISH we spent more time with them. Chungah literally stole everyone's heart immediately and had all the makings of a main character: she's the quiet daughter of an absent but kindhearted rich CEO complete with family, school, and boy drama, and her SON FROM THE FUTURE is there?? but they barely spent any time with her, and her family storyline wrapped up entirely too easily. ntm what even happened to Sekyoung and Eunyoo? Eunyoo basically had TWO moments the entire show where she actually did something that would help Sekyoung, and then we never even got to see Sekyoung in 2023 to see if her life changed. they had ONE scene together in 1995 and it was so fucking good, i wish we saw more of them. there would've been time for them, too, if there wasn't so much time spent on the fuckass love triangle and Yichan flopping at creating the band. PLUS Chungah and Sekyoung's friendship was the cutest thing ever and i miss them 😖

the big lesson Eungyeol spent all his time and effort to learn was... he shouldn't tread his family like a burden? are you fucking kidding me? Eunho could've gotten that through to him in one deep conversation in 2023. it was ridiculously anticlimactic that that's all he learned from that whole experience. i was HOPING he would learn to stop seeing his dad as a pitiful little puppy dog that was wimpering after being shot in the eye, but NO! he spent the entire fucking show obsessing over Yichan's hearing as if his life would be completely ruined once it was gone. i kept waiting for him to finally see deaf Yichan as a HUMAN. it felt like every time he had an eye opening moment that humanized Yichan it was specific to things he didn't do as an adult anymore: he's talking 🥺🥺 he's singing 🥺🥺 he's playing guitar 🥺🥺 that's an 18 year old kid! what about your actual dad?? he also experiences joy and feels emotions and has interests. i wanted him to learn to accept Yichan as he existed without Eungyeol's meddling, but i guess he had to be a cool, wealthy rockstar to have a happy ending for whatever reason.

what the fuck happened to THE BUTTERFLY AFFECT?? i thought it was adoreable that Yichan and Chungah fell in love even in a time before Yichan was deaf, but everything else just pissed me off. no fucking way EVERYTHING that made the structure of their futures sound just happened. Eunyoo was right, Chungah and Yichan would've had kids earlier if they met younger than they were meant to. Eunho and Eungyeol probably wouldn't have existed, and even if they did, NO FUCKING WAY Yichan and Chungah named their son "Ha Eungyeol" after having a friend in their youth who habitually called them mom and dad, and then watched that son grow up to look EXACTLY LIKE that friend and never talked to him about it. ntm the other band members finding him vaguely familiar as if Eungyeol wasn't a band member and a pivotal part of their origin story. and they had pictures together. ouuu this made me so mad

[houseofzoey]

What might a better version of this series look like? I don't think it needs to be 12 books long - not even close. I think, if we were to tighten things up, the series could look something like this:

Book 1:

This is essentially Marked, Betrayed, and Chosen condensed together.

The first act is Zoey being Marked, arriving at the HoN, meeting all the important players, and starting to see the core pieces of the plot: Aphrodite's corruption as leader of the DD, Neferet hiding something, undead fledgling sightings, and trying to date two guys at once without them finding out (Loren can be completely omitted).

The middle chunk of the book would be Zoey navigating the discovery of her affinities, trying to oust Aphrodite from the DD, and Stevie Rae's sudden death. When Aphrodite has a vision implicating Neferet, Neferet declares her visions false and plays at the idea that she has been listening to Zoey's accusations all along, even though she plainly hasn't. Aphrodite reluctantly turns to Zoey, since her vision involved Neferet resurrecting Stevie Rae. Her description of undead Stevie Rae matches the other undead sightings Zoey has experienced, and the two realize that no one else will believe them unless they find proof.

When Heath gets taken, Zoey is able to trace him through their Imprint, leads her friends to where the undead fledglings are hiding without explaining what they're doing, and realizes too late that a bunch of lies and secrets are about to converge in a way that looks bad on her: cheating on her boyfriends, not disclosing the sightings of undead fledglings, secretly working with Aphrodite after ousting her, and knowing Stevie Rae is alive. They're able to heal Stevie Rae through circle magic and a (willing, intentional) sacrifice from Aphrodite, but Zoey loses both her boyfriends and the trust of all but Aphrodite and Stevie Rae in the process.

Book 2

A condensed version of Untamed and Hunted.

Zoey actually works to make reparations with her friends. Trust and honesty would be a throughline in the book.

She meets Stark, knows him for a few days, and part of the reason she becomes so attached to him so quickly is because she's lonely after losing her boyfriends and the trust of her friends. This is compounded by Aphrodite not being campus after losing her Marks and Stevie Rae not being on campus because she's still supposed to be dead and they don't want Neferet finding out what they did. This closeness makes it actually devastating when dies.

The ravens on campus are becoming increasingly volatile and vocal, Aphrodite has her vision, they learn who Kalona is and that he's on the path to being freed. (I would argue that Kalona and his attachment to ravens could be maintained, but there's no need to root it in bastardized Cherokee mythology and history. Like, just change his name.) There could also be something about the ritual to free him almost failing because Stevie Rae is herself again and refuses to obey Neferet, but Stark's magical aim means she can't actually hide or flee.

When Kalona is freed, Zoey and co. flee to safety in the tunnels where they recently found Stevie Rae. Zoey brings Heath with them because, boyfriend or not, she can't risk him getting hurt. However, their stay is brief, as Zoey realizes that they abandoned everyone else on campus to endure whatever hell awaits them. Zoey returns to campus of her own volition and works to save Stark like she saved Stevie Rae, and to banish Kalona and Neferet. Her determination to protect others at her own risk is what finally wins her friends completely back to her side.

When Neferet commands Stark to shoot Zoey's heart, he non-lethally shoots Heath. Though the wound is not immediately deadly, he is still bleeding heavily, and they can't reach the hospital because of the ice storm, so Zoey closes the wound with her saliva. That small taste of his blood reforms their Imprint.

Book 3

A condensed version of Tempted and Burned.

Zoey learns that Neferet had already been speaking of heading to Capri before she was banished, so she and several members of her circle head there in hopes of preventing her from swaying the High Council. Stevie Rae goes with them in this version, and Kalona has summoned some of his strongest Raven Mockers to his side in secret, including Rephaim.

Stark doesn't want Zoey to leave and tries to swear an Oath to her, but she doesn't immediately accept it because she's still torn about him shooting Heath even if it was to save her, plus her reformed Imprint makes her feel like she shouldn't entertain anymore intense, magical bonds with other guys right now. She has learned her lesson about cheating. Seeing two people at once is a serious commitment that needs to be considered and talked out carefully, which they don't have time for. Stark instead swears to wait for her as long as she needs, a binding oath in its own right because of the intent behind it.

Heath goes with Zoey because their Imprint means both will experience intense emotional distress and psychic pain from being so far apart, and Zoey needs all her faculties when facing Neferet, Kalona, and the High Council.

The turning point in this book would be Kalona killing Heath and Zoey's soul shattering in grief. Neferet is triumphant and quickly moves in as High Priestess to tend to Zoey's body, returning her to Tulsa (the banishment spell is broken because Zoey shattered) and holding her in guarded isolation where her friends can't reach her. Kalona, meanwhile, feels unexpected grief at her pseudo-death, partly because of his attachment to the woman she is reincarnated from and partly because of the truths she spoke when he invaded her dreams. His loyalty to Neferet and Darkness begins to waver, though he continues to guard Zoey's body.

Stark feels Zoey shatter because it breaks the oath he swore to her, and makes it his mission to get her body free from Kalona and the Raven Mockers (whose true forms are hidden by a glamour cast by Neferet), which is part of how he proves himself truly on the side of good. As Stark repeatedly fights and falls, Kalona spares him, feeling an old mercy return as he recognizes some of his former ruthless loyalty to Nyx in Stark's determination to get to Zoey.

Where Stark resorts to repeatedly fighting and almost getting killed by an immortal, Stevie Rae tries to appeal to the hearts of the Raven Mockers. Rephaim is the only one swayed. He finds himself intrigued by Stevie Rae and increasingly looking forward to their conversations.

In the meantime, Zoey has been trapped in the Otherworld, chasing Heath's fleeting presence while fighting the disparate pieces of herself and contending with Darkness trying to corrupt her grief into malice. No one enters the Otherworld to save her; Zoey has to learn to accept her grief and all her broken pieces before she is whole enough to see Heath and say goodbye.

She returns to her body, and Neferet is primed and ready to murder her with her own bare hands. Kalona and Rephaim, however, have been brought to a precipice, and they both make their turn at the same time, fighting together to protect Zoey. Neferet is forced to flee.

Book 4

A condensed version of Revealed and Redeemed. Awakened, Destined, and Hidden can be completely cut because Jack doesn't need to die and Aurox is a completely superfluous character.

Furious that Zoey survived and Kalona betrayed her, Neferet lets go of all restraint, murdering an entire church congregation in the White Bull's name. The volume and holiness of this sacrifice of innocents is enough that the White Bull grants her temporary, conditional immortality: She needs to keep innocent blood flowing in his name. Neferet accepts these terms, but is also reticent to remain under his control. She knows there is more than one way to be a goddess, and that true worship will grant her power and immortality in her own right. Thus, she takes over the Mayo, shrouds it in impenetrable protection, and balances routine sacrifices to keep her current power and psychological manipulation to craft hostages into worshippers.

Thanatos feels the disturbance of mass death as a sacrifice to Darkness and rushes to Tulsa, bringing with her an ancient artifact from a sorely missed old friend named Sgiach: the Seer Stone. The stone will allow Zoey to wield Old Magick, but it also has a connection to Nyx's realm and the Otherworld. While trying to learn how to use it, Zoey discovers that she can see glimpses of Heath's spirit watching over her. Though she has accepted her grief, she still hasn't moved past it, and grows desperate to see Heath in whatever way she can. She starts using the Seer Stone obsessively, making demands of it instead of allowing it to show her the natural flow of energies and spirits, and the intensity of her grief and misuse of the stone leads to her downward spiral and slow corruption. She starts going to places where she and Heath used to spend a lot of time, hoping it will make his presence more potent. When she's interrupted by two humans and loses her connection with his spirit, Zoey lashes out, and the Seer Stone responds, making her magic far more volatile. Zoey immediately calls an ambulance and surrenders herself to the police.

Kalona recognizes this corruption for what it is and intervenes, persuading Zoey that if he can turn from the draw of Darkness after centuries, then she can resist the allure of grief and Old Magick. Zoey reluctantly agrees, but wants time away from the Seer Stone so she can feel like herself again.

Stark tells her he was afraid he would lose her again, and offers her his Oath. She accepts.

They work in earnest to find a way to stop Neferet, and Zoey tentatively begins dipping her toes into Old Magick again, always with supervision of someone she trusts. Before they have anything figured out with confidence, however, Neferet descends on the HoN, intent on killing Zoey once and for all. During the fight, they quickly discover that Neferet is unkillable because of the constant, feverish worship of her hostages. Kalona knows the only way to stop an immortal, and offers himself up as bait. Zoey realizes what he's doing. Kalona drags Neferet back into the broken tree that covered his earthly prison, and Zoey invokes Old Magick to bind them there indefinitely. Kalona's body remains trapped but his spirit ascends, reuniting with Nyx; Zoey and all her friends complete the Change; and Rephaim is granted a human body by Nyx.

Fin.

Now, my version is still kind of a mess because I'm trying to stay reasonably true to the source material. But I think even this rough rearrangement is leaps and bounds better than what we actually got. It honestly is pretty upsetting how much wasted potential this series has.

[yen-sids-tournament]

The most interesting things to us from the first half of Round 1 were the MCU polls.

We did not intend for them to play out as they did, but we think it was kinda a fun civics lesson.

Thor v Guardians 3 v Guardians 2 played out like a split party vote. When there are three candidates but two of them draw from the same voter base, in a plurality system this leads to the other candidate getting an advantage. As we saw in the poll, because the GotG people didn't rally behind one movie, Thor ended up winning despite the reasonable assumption that at least one of the other two is generally more preferred in a ranking. Kinda like the 1912 US Pres. election with Teddy Roosevelt splitting the Rep. from Taft and giving Wilson the win.

Spider-Man NWH v Capt. Amer. CW v B.P. Wakanda Forever as if there were three equal unique parties. No two parties were drawing from the same base of equally electorally powerful voters. This resulted in the three movies dancing around the 1/3 mark for the whole week voting was open. This could (in theory) happen on an Ideological scale if there were enough room between the extreme parties for a third party with popular policy stances to pop up.

two party systems (where the structure/electoral rules are set up to encourage two parties) do not like either of these because the split shows the one party was more popular they were just disorganized and the other shows that if a party could observe one of the others it would be at a much greater advantage to win.

[goat-yells-at-everything]

Final Thoughts: Hell House LLC Origins: Carmichael Manor

Ho

Lee

Shit

Na fam. Na.

Just watch it.

Just fucking watch it.

[asm5129]

Dragons: the nine realms—final thoughts (Full series spoilers ahead)

Genuinely, I’ve become quite fond of this show over time. It definitely needed to grow into what it actually wanted to be, and with only 7 or 8 episodes a season it took half the show to get there, but even so I think it really found it’s footing as it went on—some somewhat forced-feeling team drama in the penultimate season notwithstanding.

In terms of the characters, I grew quite fond of Tom, Alex and Jun, and even managed to come around to D’Angelo later on—probably later than the writers intended though, haha. Eugene less so but they surprised me by giving him some genuine emotional moments , particularly in the last two seasons, and most of them hit right. It never felt like the show was just repeating what people already saw, Tom isn’t Hiccup, Jun isn’t Astrid, and D’Angelo isn’t Fishlegs. The closest direct parallel would be Eugene to Snotlout frankly, and that’s about it. These characters feel like their own characters, not a cheap attempt to continue the popularity of what came before.

Also, Alex is pretty autistic coded, but never confirmed. Jun kinda is too honestly. I appreciate that the things that we might call their special interests are never devalued within the show, both turning out to be incredibly useful many, many times. Alex is an introvert who spends most of her time on her tablet, and even as she makes friends and socializes more that never changes. Jun has interests many dismiss as “weird” and she has genuine trauma around being referred to as such that is taken seriously.

The supporting cast of parents and other crew members of the research station the majority of the show was based in or below were pretty strong, with even some much less significant cast members getting fun moments, and also add a nice sense of diversity to the world.

The bonds with their respective dragons also always felt well established and strong, and I was genuinely sad when the riders had to let their dragons go in the last episode.

Dr Sledkin and Buzzsaw as villains never hit the heights of Viggo in RttE but actually think I prefer them to the human villains from HTTYD 2 and 3—definitely liked them more than Drago from 2 at least. And i actually felt like Buzzsaw’s change of heart at the end of this final season didn’t come out of nowhere. We had seen, in particular last season, that he is a man starving for genuine connection, so when his dragon—the only creature, dragon or human that it could be argued ever genuinely seemed to accept his presence—was actually at risk it makes sense his ability to put up a bold front would crumble.

World-wise, while the titular realms themselves couldn’t be realized as the kind of beautiful environments we got from the films or even RttE, I think there was some really great usage of the modern day setting for the conflicts that drove the characters and the story alike. There was also great use of the established stories from the HTTYD series. Even though we as the audience knew a lot about Hiccup and co, imo they managed to make Tom discovering that history meaningful. He is a direct descendant of Hiccup, yes, the finale makes clear the fact that Tom being very much a blend of Hiccup’s ability to connect to Dragons and love of exploring and Astrid’s more blunt, action-focused impulses was always very much intentional. I think that’s a smart play, and the legacy of Hiccup proves a source of very compelling drama for Tom’s expectations of himself.

I’m also particularly fond of how the final two seasons really reconnected to the Norse mythology that has almost never been brought to the forefront outside of aesthetics by introducing the World Serpent who has a name I’m not motivated to look up how to spell right now. Regardless I think the way they tied the world serpent and ragnarok into the story was quite well done, and the built in fear of the world serpent being the reason dragons freak out at snakes is a fantastic bit of retroactive lore.

If these characters were brought back aged up, with a bigger budget for new stories I would watch it. This is by no means a masterpiece of a show, but there’s a lot to appreciate.

[its-chelisey-stuff]

happy endings are my weakness

I know these two are gorgeous people, but I had to laugh at the drama expecting me to believe this is how they look first thing in the morning

lol why did this drama played so coy? you had no gays here!

okay, fine. Let's end on a positive note. But only because of these extras. If it weren't for them, and the ending was the one we got in the last ep, I'd be so pissed, despite it being technically a happy one. Because what do you mean I only get 10 minutes of them being happy and finally together without even a kiss?! At least on the extras they have the very obvious proof that they consummated marriage lol and it's heavily implied that they make out and have sex at all hours of the day, just because they can. You go, HanYe! I'm proud of you! You deserve nothing less!

another?? it's this a mistranslation? A true wonder they only have one kid after seven years, what sort of contraceptive methods do they have in this dynasty?

By their kid's reaction, this happens often lol My favorite extra for sure!

Okay, tbh I did enjoy ranting, laughing, crying and making posts about this. Not the drama I expected for 2 years, but I got what I got. This wasn't entirely a hate-watch or a torturous one, believe me. Can't deny I kept watching because of GJ and the little scenes that reminded me of the novel and what could've been though *sighs* Anyway, the ending was a happy one and after so much misery and angst without purpose (unless Ziyuan's breakdown was the purpose lol) I appreciate it. Wouldn't trust these scriptwriters again, that's for sure. BUT I melted with the ending, and I guess I would like to remember this drama by the first 10-ish eps (say what you want, those were good) and these little bits into their future and happiness.

HanYe, Ziyuan, yours was a crazy af ride and I won't miss you, but I'm happy you lived happily ever after! Drama said they reigned for half a century and for the time period, that's a long time and a very long marriage. Good for them and their many children, cause I'm sure they had lots!

Shoutout to the kind souls that uploaded the extras on Twitter (yes, I know it's not called that anymore) and YT! Didn't want to give another cent to Youku lol

[thecrazedpotato]

Bocchi The Rock Review!!!!!!!!!!

So overall, I really enjoyed this series. The entire time it has been entertaining and comedic, and the Kessoku Band are entertaining throughout the entire runtime. Especially Ryo, Ryo is awesome as heck. I do feel the ending could've been a bit better for reasons I'll explain in the spoiler segment, it didn't really feel all that climactic, but to be fair the climax of the season was at the beginning of episode 12 so the rest is falling action and setting up for a season 2, which I am very much hoping will get greenlit in the near future because it would be VERY disappointing if this anime ended here.

SPOILERY THOUGHTS BELOW YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!

So episode 12 started off REALLY strong with the concert, it was really fulfilling to see how far the Kessoku Band has come, and especially how far Hitori has come as a person, the girl who could barely make eye contact or speak when handing a drink to a customer is now playing in front of a huge live audiene, that part where one of her strings broke before her solo but then she improvised was really cool, it was awesome.

But then Kita made Hitori do a speech in the middle of the concert and it caused her to panic and do a stage dive because she had no idea what to say or do so she went unconscious and they had to call off the concert early. I feel like at this point Kita would know better than to put Hitori on the spot like that, and I really do think she should've apologized to Hitori since she pretty much caused that. To be fair Hitori had the courage to play in front of an audience so I guess Kita overestimated her confidence, and doing a stage dive was not really a good choice on Hitori's end, but still Kita should've apologized to Hitori after Hitori apologized to Kita for ruining the concert.

Anyway after that the rest of the finale is them getting a new guitar for Bocchi because the old one broke. It's definitely not bad, it's still entertaining Bocchi shenanigans, but I feel like there's way more of it than there should've been. Maybe have more concert time, like they play one more song before Kita pushes Hitori to do a speech (or better yet Bocchi gets so confident and excited that she does the stage dive thing herself and falls to the floor that would've been really funny), or maybe put the end of episode 11 where they get ready for the concert at the beginning of episode 12, though the drawback would be that 11 wouldn't have as much important stuff going on.

Speaking of, yeah episode 11 is definitely the weakest episode for me. I feel kinda bad because a large factor of it is that this episode shoves a bunch of fanservice animeisms in your face (everyone wears maid outfits, the swimsuit gag, etc) and that's not really my thing so it's kinda the weakest by default. The problem with this is that means there's less important stuff going on, which like yeah I know this is a slice of life show but the concert is about to happen I don't think we should be doing all this fanservice-y stuff in the middle of it. I don't hate this episode, it's still got that charm the rest of the show has and it's still very funny, that post-apocalyptic biker gang is probably one of the show's funniest bits. And I do like Ryo in a tux that was really cool. And fortunately there isn't a ton of this animeism/weird stuff in the entire series, like the only other major animeism is in episode 2 when Hitori is getting in the ice cube bathtub and it shows her in her swimsuit and that's literally just the opening of that episode that that's basically it.

So yeah, rad anime, it may have lost its balance a bit near the end but it still stood on the rope. Again I am SERIOUSLY hoping season 2 gets greenlit I will be very upset if it doesn't, I am currently debating on if I get a Hitori figure or a Ryo nendoroid or both from Good smile, you should totally watch it, "I think it's really good"/10