#four episodes worth of side character fights

[bizarrelovesquare]

Dan posted this video that gave us a HUGE peek into Martin's notes about episodes they're working on...

Screenshots (with about 90% ID of what's visible, bless his handwriting) under the cut! Fair warning, it's long, but there's a lot going on here, and it's so much to think about!

picture 1: ????? chicken head funnier

picture 2: (first page) Reactionator

? Speakers all over town People's phones Therapist Doof & Candace

Therapist thinks she is crazy but is tactful

The shrink is delusional ? ? exercise that is the catalyst for Cand. being delusional

Candace "It's A Wonderful Life" -- After actual bust C sees everyone doing much worse she feels sad

Family - I think you discuss it Cruise Ship - P&F Van/Doof Last chance to Candace A / Perry back

(second page) Doof's DEI W/A C's Therapist

Doof same therapist

Ferb is next a speech therapist

Doof trauma-dumping on therapist

Therapist "The real self-destruct button is in your head"

Therapist does ex(?)nemesis - therapist

Therapist sees - "WAIT, I GET IT, what Candace is doing gets taken away by what HE'S DOING--"

(note going down side of page) GUEST ON DOOFENPUSS

Doof ? regular ? ? - but she can't ? this because of C ? Confidential ALL DANVILLE Doof and Vanessa on cruise ALL CHARACTERS ? Reactionator blackmail secret I ever tell you w/Lindana whose solved mysteries

picture 3: (script on the table) (our first potential season 6 title?) PHINEAS AND FERB

"VANESSAY"

Written by Martin Olson & Olivia Olson

picture 4: Vanessay

Change tennis to playground

Roger & slushy guy not zapped

Rog. - reflects ray w/ his teeth - set up teeth first Doof: strong jaw -

Agent T thumbnotes "Up the chimney is a weird visual pun" Stacy: "You know we have a front door."

C & Stacy w/ambient sounds joke sequence - cut down?

Mono - "Four seasons of this show" Why did I ? ? ?

To Liv for Vanessay Playground - see how ? ? trap sets scene - a handled window box

Stacy: "Hey ? I ? ANIMAL NOISES!" CUT TO BLACK

Stacy pushes ? out of doorway

Dimin: after "Shorty" - No prize is worth this!

picture 5: T For Teen For Liv - SC 916 Perry leaps into air & does triple flip & lands ready to fight

Pitch n buttons for each

Exec note - Thurs - T For Teens 1:48 end of C/Stacy annual ? sudden cut to end ? w "napkins"

MEAP - PT2 S&P CONCERNS

(I cannot make this bit out to save my life. Martin what in the world my dude)

picture 6: Meap pt 2 - thumbnotes

22 to Meap - "Uh-uh! An ship ? us away!" (clumsy)

Fix pronunciation "St. Lois" joke C is shushed by Meap

Tidy up - don't have everyone say "Don't forget to flush"

C pressing red button to explode ? ship sucks

Brenda joke sexist "No one tracks you through the universe more than your wife"

picture 7: 501 PT1 Exec notes - bigger intro of Doof instead of him on yearbook 10:27 Buf. throw away Constitution Irving beat #2 too quick to nerd

Deconstructing thumbatic

Instead of "psychosis" "phantasma"

607 - Isa hair - 704 OWCA shredding SC

C feels good - "? ? that every day"

12 min: Viewers see The Murder Board

Biblio Blast anim. notes Perry incompetent - smashes into Doof's roof Cut down - plants surrounding/attacking Cut down Doof/Per table start w/Doof "We have to HIT SELF DESTRUCT"

picture 8: (page 1) song by the paver the wind makes love w/each other again

around us - it all seems so real meaning confounds us - cuz nothing's revealed we're SW in love w/each other again

Middle 1: From nothing we hustle Towards each other again Our love seems to circle Without any end

V3: The cloud of unknowing has such beautiful colors But where is it all going ? towards one another? we're SW - in love w/each other again

Middle 2: We seek out each other Every time we appear Sometimes we find another Before we disappear

INSTRUMENTAL W/DANCING SKELETON

(page 2) Middle 3: The breeze says to hug her And show how we feel Slowly healing each other Every turn of the wheel

Repeat V1: So basically - We're SW Along by the river We sit on a porch and The wind makes us shiver We're SW in love w/ each other again We're SW in love w/ each other again

JOSH - The paver of

picture 9: While Dance

says to hug her how we feel healing each other turn of the wheel

Repeat V1: (So basically)

We're SW Alone by the river We sit on the ? and The wind makes us shiver We're SW In love w/each other again

picture 10: Swampy

is trapped

back build something

element

State Triangle

"It's like the Berm[uda Triangle] totally different

(Teen lounge) & P&F build

too much like

Dan wants PLANE to

Doof is the ship

Jon said we turn strong where Doof is in the clouds - there's

picture 11: It's a whole new summer Perry (reblog if u cried)

Earthquake

Mom is laughing so hard she can't look

Staring contest - Try not to laugh

Candace has to be ? at Jeremy's larping tournament but she laughs

picture 12: Perry sick, "Can you take

Candace P&F canoe race

Laughtrack-inator Start ? - reveal Doof hits them w/a Doof keeps cranking it up

Doof rises wall of ? behind at ?

Laugh-inator Cut to surgeon heart

Norm: Good mg. sir Doof: But I programmed you to

picture 13: (this is another view of the page in picture 2, but this one reveals slightly more at the bottom, nothing too noteworthy added except for this)

LINDANA 80'S COP MOVIE - GUEST ON DOOFENPUS

[cyberbun]

Sell me on love with the villainess if you like it so much

What starts as a silly romantic comedy about a girl trying to romance her favorite side-character from an otome game gives way to one of the most beautifully written romances I've read in my entire life, about two people learning to find worth within themselves through each other and fighting the world to love one another.

It's a story, fundamentally, about healing from the damage the world does to you through love - for one is healing from the trauma of being abandoned and never getting to say goodbye to someone you love, for the other from bigotry. It's about finding oneself in another and building something greater than the sum of its parts. Once it stops being a horny comedy it just hits you back to back with some of the most heartwrenching romantic narratives I've read without going full into tragedy territory.

It also helps that Rei and Claire are some of my favorite romantic leads ever, even if it takes a good chunk of the story for their romance to really kick off for good. The manga does a better job of giving them some more romantic development before they get together for good at the end of the second novel, but either way, I'm just such a sucker for undying devotion like that. Rei's early characterization of just being surrendered to ensuring her beloved is happy, even if she is not, just hits such a strong chord with me personally.

The manga does a good job of showing the growth of their relationship a little bit less one-sidedly, compared to the light novel. There's some wonderful moments that are added or mixed in just through aonoshimo's wonderful art excellent facial expressions communicating a lot of internality for both characters.

Definitely read the manga, but also check out the light novels - the first two are fantastic, third is my favorite, four is kind of mediocre but still fun, five is the author choosing to take a silly isekai premise and see how far she can run with it, such as "let's make it so it's not an isekai anymore".

The anime, so far, is really surpassing my expectations, especially with its visual direction. I fully expected it to be kind of a throwaway project, but they're really putting everything into it! They even condensed the worst parts of the story into just one episode this week.

Oh also the story also constantly grapples with the inherent maliciousness of capitalism and provides some pretty scathing commentary on being gay and trans in japan - nothing new, but it's refreshing to see something this mainstream get so overtly into the topic. Next week's episode, if they don't coward out of it, should be the one where they have one of the most iconic conversations of the story regarding the latter.

I hope this rambling mess of an answer is what you wanted, anon.

[ecargmura]

Bucchigiri?! Episode 4 Review - An Unwanted Gang War

From what I’m seeing so far, Arajin is Hiroko Utsumi’s weakest MC by far. There’s just nothing great about him. He’s a simp for a girl who isn’t into him at all and he doesn’t even know he’s being played a fiddle. He’s mean to Matakara for undisclosed reasons; he’s also mean to his mom. He’s whiny and doesn’t want to involve in fights and when he does, toilet humor happens. Like, he’s only interesting because Senya is hilarious as heck. It’s been four episodes and there hasn’t been ANY redeeming qualities about him.

Annoyances aside, this episode is a build up of a war between Minato Kai and Siguma due to the recent mysterious attacks last episode. Both sides are nervous for what’s to come. The thought of a third party being involved does NOT come across their mind. Zabu, the teal-haired guy, is the only one who knows the truth, but only reveals it to Matakara towards the end. I do wonder how brutal these gang fights are that the lackeys are terrified of them.

I think the real star of this episode is Matakara who has been pining for Arajin. Good boy deserves BETTER than him. He’s the one who believes that Minato Kai didn’t do anything wrong and he’s been doing whatever he can to try and stop the war from happening, but his attempts are futile. In acts of desperation, he goes to Arajin who tries to convince him to get everyone to stop but Arajin acts all cranky and kicks him out of his house. Matakara, he’s not worth it. He then goes to Mahoro to have her get Marito to stop the war. Because Marito has been infatuated with Arajin lately, he has been ignoring her; to that, Matakara then asks for her to get Arajin to ask Marito. While Mahoro was a bit rude and was going to scream at him again, he stops her this time. She then complies with his request after learning he also has an older brother. The fact that MAHORO of all people can be reasoned with and not Arajin kind of shows what sort of character he has; Mahoro would make a better MC than Arajin (just saying).

Akutaro makes his true debut in this episode. He’s prim, proper but also kind of sadistic as he fights with a whip. True to Utsumi fashion, he’s a very pretty character. He’s from another school as he was banished from Minato Kai. I do wonder how an outside force will affect the gang wars. Also, he’s the only character to have withstood Senya’s punch. It turns out that the reason Akutaro had been mumbling to himself in the previous episode is because he is possessed by the blue djinn, Ichiya! I saw that coming, but I was surprised nonetheless! I’m convinced that Utsumi is a fan of Tales of the Abyss in a way. Guy Cecil and Jade Curtiss’s voice actors voiced Joe and Adam in SK8 and Luke fon Fabre’s voice actor is Akutaro’s. Not only that, she casted Chihiro Suzuki a second time as his first Utsumi role had been Kisumi from Free!

Matakara’s brother Mitsukuni intrigues me. Not only is he a stunner, but I also sense something rather ominous in that soft aura he radiates. He used to be Minato Kai’s previous leader but was sent to juvie. The fact that he’s returning soon can change something within the story. Why was he sent to juvie? Is he a good person? I’m quite curious on what’s going to happen when he makes his official debut. I’m on my toes with this character because I don’t feel positive vibes from him at all.

Will Arajin ever get better as a protagonist? Who knows? As far as I know, the other characters are far more interesting. I’m seriously only here for the characters that aren’t Arajin as they stand out more than him.  What are your thoughts on this episode?

[o-uncle-newt]

Cabin Pressure Advent Day 8: Helsinki

OK, so Helsinki doesn't get the ultra-enthusiastic "HELSINKIIII" that I've been giving to episodes like Fitton and Gdansk because, well, it's just not a favorite of mine particularly. It's been a while since I listened to it, and there were a BUNCH of things that I noticed that really surprised me on relisten.

Like, it's significantly nastier than I'd remembered! I was expecting Ruth to be horrible and Kieran to be an annoying little shit, but I didn't expect Martin to actually hit Kieran (I remembered a contretemps and Kieran beating Martin up but couldn't remember Martin's precise role) and I also, less flashily, didn't expect Douglas to directly call Arthur an idiot while addressing Carolyn, and her basically being okay with it. I guess in the context of a defense of Arthur's zealousness in trying to find Carolyn a present for her 63rd (that very significant birthday...) she let it go? But I feel like that's a lot.

(Also, as one of four children... Arthur is the onliest only child I have ever heard of. Like, everything about every one of his plans and interactions this episode... wow.)

I was also kind of surprised that the plot felt a bit weaker than usual- it's hard to really understand why Carolyn was okay with paying for a whole flight largely on the strength of Douglas's ulterior motives. I can't decide whether the Northern Lights viewing is meant to have been one of those ulterior motives and is therefore worth it for her... which is sweet, but doesn't really explain her taking him at his word for what would seem to be, on the surface, literally no reason with every reason to reject him (the cost, the fellow passengers...). Maybe this is me not being subtle enough or something, but I was really surprised when she agreed to do the flight, it felt under-justified. Idunno, YMMV.

It's interesting- I REALLY can't decide whether I think that the Martin and Kieran scenes work better alphabetically or as aired. Is it funnier to listen to it in Helsinki already knowing that Martin isn't paid, or is it funnier to take this scene for granted as written and then only the next week in Gdansk have it be suddenly retroactively funnier? I'm not really sure, and I welcome all opinions on the matter.

The episode as a whole was definitely on the darker and bitterer side, and I can't decide what I think about it. Martin hitting Kieran is pretty insane, though of course after Arthur LITERALLY MANSLAUGHTERING A GUY it's tame relatively speaking, and while Kieran is annoying as fuck the storyline is fine. I did feel, though, like I would have liked just a bit more of a throughline for the Carolyn and Ruth storyline. It's SO vitriolic and angry, and I feel like, in order to be entertaining and not just discomfiting it needed to either have a clearer emotional throughline OR to just be funnier/sillier. Them leaving Ruth and Kieran behind, and Philip hiding away on the plane and turning out to not be deaf, is very funny, but it doesn't really change, for me, that their fight felt very bitter but in a bit of a pointless way. We learn a bit about Carolyn and her past and some of her sore points, but Ruth herself as a character is basically just there to be nasty and I wish she could have been there for just a bit more than that. (NOT that I think that they should have reconciled or whatever- just that their interactions felt kind of pointless except for the sake of being mean. And she was right that the fact that Martin hit Kieran is nuts, and ideally to be funny a character like that shouldn't be right about anything...)

Helsinki has some super funny bits (obviously- the fact that I keep saying that feels a bit redundant at this point- it's Cabin Pressure, obviously there are funny bits- so I'll point out that Arthur celebrating his numbers winning the lottery is precious), the birthday celebration at the end is sweet and a sign that they're simpatico with each other by now, and of course this is the episode that launched a thousand and one Douglas-centered ships. So it's fine- but not really the kind I go for.

Unlike tomorrow... when we go to IPSWICH!

[neonain]

Title: GASTLIGHTING HAH!

Fem!Reader!Eustass Kid! x Killer! (LIGHT!)

First off, Reader is Female Eustass and you and Killer's relationship is only mentioned here in the one shot

And also, I like Oda's design of female Eustass but it lacks the rugged or built look the original Kid has, she may have a sleeper's build but I headcanon female eustass to be still her original height and be a built woman and honestly fanarts with this concept of him is lacking :((. References of Fem! Eustass that I like would be here! (1) (2) (3)

Okay. . . First. Let's commence a background check

Okay {Name} got isekaid as Eustass Kid but Female.

It started when you visited the country of Japan, you have learned their language, their culture and their transportation for four years straight through the help of online tutors and vlogs.

Only to be wasted, the moment you set foot on the streets of Japan.

You got unexpectedly murdered from behind and you woke up as a familiar Child Character

You noticed it the moment you knew your name as Eustass Kid, and the sudden surge of memories flooded your brain that put you through a coma for 2 days and thankfully Killer had taken care of you.

You also fairly watched some episodes of One Piece and can't follow thoroughly due to your busy schedule but you managed, and Kid became an interesting character for you and now, you're in his body- The name sounds manly but hell your keeping it.

Now you and your crew are sailing to Sabaody, you managed to recruit atleast some canon side chracters due to the story and the world seemingly forcing some of its canon lines into you through any means because of your non-Kid-like actions.

You fixed up your hooded cloak and jumped in excitement with Killer sighing besides you

"Oh cmon they call it as the element of surprise!" You snickered and patted your best man's shoulder

Killer sighed once again at your antics and just went along with your 'plan'. Its isnt really a plan, its just a fun thing to do. Make the whole world believe your a man and pretty much your height, body structure and name made it more believable, although the world thinks your mute since Killer had always been speaking on your behalf

Its time for you to change this character's fate, Making an Alliance with Hawkins and X Drake will be good enough. Fuck Apoo. Even though you know that you wouldn't survive the fight with Red haired Shanks but hey, you're curious on how Kid lost his arm

Your ship docked on one of the Islands of Sabaody, you immediately jumped out of your ship and went to explore with some members of your crew behind you

You all explored everywhere, some of your crew buying well- stealing merchandizes of Soul King. It really shocked you when they revealed they're a fan of Soul King

You walked around aimlessly, you really dont remember what Kid did in the show while in Sabaody but you atleast need to be present in the auction house. Then music made your ears perked, You heard a very familiar and hateful voice.

Seems like you have some shit to take care of, you're not really mad about Apoo but the body your in is filled with raw anger and its apparently itching for a fight and who are you to betray it?

You smirked, Already forming a bulk of scrap metal with sharp nails on your right arm.

A revenge for Kid

Apoo was having fun with his crew in the town square, bass boosted speakers loud enough to shake the ground.

His thrill soon broke down when he dodged sharp claws that tore through his equipments and man was he bewildered and upset! Those were worth millions!

He dodged away when the Mysterious Captain Kid stood up from his broken speaker,"What a party pooper you are Eustass!" He groaned out and set himself in a position, double jointed arms already ready to attack and defend.

Although he immediately knew that half of his crew will end up injured if they fought them now and unprepared, suddenly being yanked to suberhood is rude and he doesn't really appreciate his groove suddenly being cut off. Before he could speak up to ask why the man did it, Basil Hawkins and X-Drake came tumbling in, fighting with their devil fruit powers

That gave enough time for Kid to go for Apoo's throat, The musician danced away from the dark blades and now started to fight seriously. There will be no exchange of words in this battle

It maybe lasted 20 minutes or longer when Apoo escaped, leaving the whole town destroyed and in chaos. Slaves escaping and rushing off and civilians running off to safety. You groaned in frustration as your magnet turns off, the metals dropping in a pile below you, You almost killed the guy

"You alright Kid?" Killer asked besides you

"Yeah. . . lets go" you muttered and went your way towards the auction house, Your crew following behind.

Now there you are with your crew at the very back, people rather ignoring your presence and any other pirates in there. Law of course gave you the middle finger, you only scoffed and looked away. Being middle fingered in your own experience is offending asf but not to close friends. You waited and waited, One of your crew wanting to leave since it was boring but the entry of a very familiar people made you smirk. Its near

You only leaned on the wall and just watched how the scene will behold itself. Right on cue, The Mermaid, Camie was brought on stage. Many nobles bidded for the mermaid until all went silent when a Celestial Dragon bidded

You watched the scene when the fishman got shot, you watched as the ceiling fell down, you watched as Monkey D. Luffy punch the Celestial and chaos insues. You chuckled, Your hair standing on end, Witnessing this with your own eyes is something to be greatful for

You and your crew just watched with the Heart Pirates, you watched when Rayleigh came. He glanced towards your way for a little and chuckled, talking to Luffy right after. Did he noticed your a woman?

The scene unfolds quickly, Now the three of you are walking in the hallway of the entrance, You walked silent with your hood up while the two bickered on whose going first. When you were near outside, you slapped behind their heads as you walked pass by them and smirked "Just sit back and relax, and let me do this shit you dimwits"

You stroded forward when both of them paused for a bit, Luffy quickly zooming right past you laughing "Nope Me!". While Law just smirked in amusement behind you

And shall Chaos be welcomed, You three fought off the marines, buying time for your crew to exit in the backdoor.

You dodged and took all metalic weapons of the marines, slammimg them to the ground and let its sharp shards shoot out towards their owners.

The moment you landed on the ground, you didn't notice someone had sliced off your hood from behind making it fall to the ground. Some marines stopped to double check and immediately be confused that Eustass Kid looks rather feminine

You punched the frozen marine on the nose and groaned out "That was my favorite hood dammit!"

Law whistled besides you while Luffy laughed out loud again, A midst from the fight Luffy shrunked after using his third gear mid air

You swooped him up and throwed him up the air "Times up kid, fall back!" You watched as he popped back to normal and went running towards the way your crew went with the Marines chasing from behind him

You ran besides Trafalgar with his crew "Neh, Kid-ya. I propose an alliance" he asked

You hummed in confusion "Huh?!" This wasn't suppose to happen??? What??

"Nah" You laughed after recovering quickly and ran down another road that lead through under a bridge, you heard Law merely chuckle before you were faced with explosions from the front

"CAPTAIN KID!" You looked besides you and found the Victoria Punk already sailing, you grinned and immediately dodged when another bomb bullet went through you

You looked infront and groaned out again, they were handling bazookas

You rolled your eyes and raised both your arms as another wave of bullets were shot and swerved its destination back towards the marines, the men and women yelled in a panick as the bullets went back and exploded right infront of them. You laughed aloud and immediately went to ran along side your ship as a rope got thrown down its sides and you quickly jumped on it and start to climb as the ship drifed apart from land

You grinned as you pulled yourself on to the deck and immediately barked out orders "Alright, lets loose this shits ya guys hear!?"

You were met with cheers as they run around the deck as you and Killer went on the top deck to outlook the marine ships that were starting to chase you "Oh this will he fun" You chuckled as your abilities pulsed on your arm

--

You groaned in relief as you leaned on a box of rum

It was late night on an Island somewhere, you all lost the marines after submerging most of the fleet and you all managed to escape to an Island, and it was a day before entering New World

You sagged your weary bones on the box as you watched the crew drunk around and go wild on the beach, eating and drinking and having fun celebrating before going through the most angsty shit that will happen to them once they entered the Lion's den

"Unusual of you not drinking" You heard Killer say as he sat down besides you with two bottles of rum

"Already have lots behind me" You chuckled but still took the one Killer had handed you

You sighed after gulping down half the bottle and let out an unflattering burp "Oh that hits the spot" you slurred

Killer chuckled and wrapped his arms around your shoulder and you leaned into his arms "I know your thinking, wayy too uncharacteristic of you-"

You laughed and jabbed him in the side with your elbow making him let out a yelp , both of you soon simmering down with a chuckle

"Dont worry about it, the sea will turn bad if I told you" You shrugged and drank down the bottle and threw it back once it was empty, Killer; again handing you the other

"Thanks" you muttered and drank it down again, sighing as your body relaxed more and leaned against Killer's shoulder

You both sat down in silence as you both watched the crew go crazy, staying warm through both the alcohol and eachother

And soon enough, new bounty pictures of 'The Mysterious Captain Eustass Kid' were set up, instead of a man covered in a dark hood, it's now a woman with fiery red hair

[thewanderingmask]

oh hey is it time to go watch old media until the writer's strike is over

welp here's my list, i highly recommend adding onto it or making your own

sit-coms

Better Off Ted (office comedy about a pretty decent guy who manages the R&D department of your standard big capitalist (evil) company. absurd, sincere, and blessedly not nihilistic.)

Golden Girls (four older women living together. openly touched upon topics like gay people are human beings actually and so are people without houses. and this was in the 80s.)

Murphy Brown (Reporter/news presenter workplace comedy. i like eldin)

WKRP (set in a radio station, this one is a pain to find unedited anywhere because of music licensing nonsense)

Designing Women (i haven't actually watched much of this yet but i heard it's pretty good so i'm listing it here in hopes i'll remember to check it out)

british panel / comedy shows (ok so they're like game shows, except the prizes range from useless to nonexistent, all the contestants are comedians, and nobody really cares that much who wins. ,fair warning though, these are british. so you're just gonna get a certain amount of jokes that are like "yup an old cishet white dude sure did write that")

Would I Lie to You (contestants make ridiculous claims and the opposing team has to guess if it's real or not)

8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown (not "8 out of 10 Cats". not "Countdown". specifically "8 out of 10 cats does countdown". yes this is important)

Taskmaster (five contestants perform a series of increasingly silly tasks to try to score points)

Big Fat Quiz of the Year / Decade (a series of long quiz specials where comedians often fail, intentionally or otherwise, to answer questions)

crime/detective/spy shows (cw copaganda. bc that's the entire genre)

Columbo (did you know it's ALL on the internet archive? for FREE?)

Simon and Simon (private investigators who are also brothers, a bit more on the fun side. pretty good for the 80s, but be warned you're still gonna get some dopey tropes like ableism in certain episodes.)

Rockford Files (ex-convict PI. doesn't like guns, friends with his dad. cynical but can't help helping people most of the time. we love to see it. like the two above, it's older but it holds up)

Brooklyn 99 (much like columbo, everybody already knows this one)

Burn Notice (recent ex-spy stuck in miami tries to get his job back. an unfortunate amount of ogle-y filler shots. I liked the first 4 seasons and low key recommend stopping after it, but everybody's mileage varies.)

and finally, because i know who i a:

cartoons

Motorcity (what if the only answer to an oppressive conformist society was UNDERGROUND TEENS WITH CARS and it looked AMAZING and it was KILLED AFTER 20 EPISODES BECAUSE THERE IS NO GOD)

Storm Hawks (what if the only answer to a returning evil empire was SKY TEENS WITH AIRPLANE MOTORCYCLES, side note this is like the only time i've ever seen stylized 3D animation in a way that just looks? good?? i would love to see more stuff try this kind of direction instead of aiming for anime or realism)

Generator Rex (a teen with TRANSFORMING MUTANT MACHINE POWERS fights alongside a kinda sus organization to try to save others who have transformed into dangerous mutants. i haven't finished this one and im not a fan of the monkey character but dam this show kinda slaps)

Teen Titans (TEEN SUPERHEROES. i have a soft spot for this show. it was my first superhero show as a kid and still mostly holds up as good fun)

Spectacular Spider-Man (spider-man has a lotta cartoons by now but this is up there near the top i feel)

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (it's PRETTY it's CUTE it's FUNNY and only has a few episodes i would outright skip. i stopped enjoying it by the last couple seasons but i still think it's worth a watch if you haven't yet)

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD WATCH THIS SHOW DEAR GODS IT LOOKS INCREDIBLE IT'S SO MUCH FUN AND I LOVE MY IDIOT SONS SO MUCH AND THEN IT PUNCHES YOU RIGHT IN THE EMOTIONS WHEN YOU AREN'T EXPECTING IT-)

and Bluey. watch Bluey.

AIGHT THAT'S IT FOR NOW honestly i could add more to this but my memory ain't that good

✨enjoy✨

[harborpointeblvd]

I watched every GMMTV BL series (so far) in four months for science or whatever

I had never seen a single GMMTV drama before 2024 and now I know the ages of all the actors. So I'm doing great.

I'm gonna talk at you about some shows for a while, starting with 2016/2017.

2018 2019

Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey* - 2016

*Not technically a BL, but I included it because it got an episode of Our Skyy.

Fourth year veterinary students, Porsche (Kang Korn Sirisorn) and Pick (Off Jumpol) belong to an animal rescue club that is at risk of termination. In order to save it, they hatch a plan to convince the dean’s niece, Emma (Cherreen Nachjaree), to join their club. The only problem is that Emma is deathly afraid of dogs. Pick enlists the help of Emma’s best friend Rome (Gun Atthaphan) to change her mind.

This series was boring, but at least it’s only six episodes. Porsche and Emma are fine together, although the climax of their story is a tad melodramatic and the drama is pretty avoidable. Pick and Rome’s relationship doesn’t develop much. Their dynamic is basically: Pick picks on Rome and Rome likes it. They do have the most ridiculous water fight scene I’ve ever seen in my life, so there's that.

How to flirt.

SOTUS - 2016

All first year engineering students are subjected to the SOTUS system before they can be recognized by their faculty seniors. First year student Kongpob (Singto Prachaya) challenges the hazing team’s methods, making him the target of third year hazing leader Arthit (Krist Perawat). Through their repeated encounters, the two start to understand each other better.

I guess this is worth watching for the lore or whatever, but seriously, this series was so over-hyped. They’re very sweet once they get together, but I thought Kongpob chased Arthit for too long. Whenever a romance starts off very one-sided like this one did, I always wish the pursuer would just back off. As for the hazing plot, there were clearly cultural differences that factored into my enjoyment of the series. College hazing is illegal where I live, so I wasn't sold on the "there are good intentions on both sides" narrative.

The lore.

Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey 2* - 2017

*Still not technically a BL

A continuation of Puppy Honey. Porsche (Kang Korn Sirisorn) has taken an internship in the countryside, leaving Emma (Cherreen Nachjaree) feeling neglected. She finds comfort in her brother’s childhood friend Night (Krist Parawat), while Porsche finds companionship with Friend (Namtan Tipnaree). Meanwhile, Rome (Gun Attaphan) knows that Pick (Off Jumpol) has feelings for him, but Pick is in denial, until their former club member Din (Sing Harit) steps in as a love rival.

This series was a chore to get through**. I thought Emma was really selfish for guilt-tripping Porsche about taking the internship, but Porsche is treated like the selfish one for taking the internship. I ended up watching most of their scenes in x1.5 speed. Pick and Rome’s story was cute, although Pick is a dick throughout most of it and a lot of his bad behavior is never addressed or blamed on other characters. Emma and Rome’s friendship, which gave the first season a lot of its charm, was practically non-existent, which was disappointing. Also, the title sequence is absurdly long. Did no one tell them they don’t have to use the whole song?

**No one was making me watch this, I did this to myself.

Emma's brother hiding inconspicuously behind a tree.

Water Boyy - 2017

Waii (Earth Pirapat) is the captain of his college’s swim club, but refuses to compete because of a strained relationship with his father, the coach. He is forced to share a dorm room with Apo (New Thitipoom), a new club member who is a longtime admirer of his father. Pan (Piglet Charada) makes fast enemies with their new club tutor, Fah (White Nawat), but tries to play nice with him when she discovers that her new crush, Namkhaeng (Ciize Rutricha) is his childhood friend. Min (Victor Chatchawit) transfers to the swim club from the track club after an injury and must prove his loyalty to his new teammates. But this proves difficult when he starts to develop feelings for Wan (Fon Sananthachat), a girl with a vendetta against the club.

Ho ly shit. All aboard the Hot Mess Express. If I had tried watching all of these shows in the order they aired, I probably would’ve quit after this one. This review is gonna contain some spoilers. And TW for sexual assault.

So Waii sexually assaults Apo in the fourth episode. It’s very blatantly assault and is never addressed, and they still fall in love. Also, Waii has a girlfriend who he just strings along for the entire series.

Waii had a falling out with his father after he got together with Waii’s former team member and best friend, and everyone tries to force him to forgive them and accept the relationship. Like, Waii is wrong for a lot of things, but not for that. It’s also shown that the affair negatively affected the whole team and caused them to waste school funding that should have gone to other clubs, but Waii is the selfish one for being mad about it. Am I supposed to agree with what they’re telling me or what I’m seeing?

Next, Pan is stated to be a lesbian in the first episode. She chases after a girl throughout the whole series, then ends up with a guy. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, because I’m not Thai and things get lost in translation. It felt like lesbian erasure nonetheless. And for what? For Fah? I could not tell you a single thing about Fah. Who's choosing him over Ciize? Smh.

Honestly, the show would have been better if they got rid of the three main pairs and just made it about the side characters Kluay and Achi.

Cannot be disproven.

My Dear Loser: Edge of 17* - 2017

*Not a BL, but included because it got an episode of Our Skyy.

Oh (Nanon Korapat) is tormented daily by a group of bullies led by Copper (Plustor Pronpiphat). The only thing that makes school bearable is Oh’s neighbor, Peach (Jane Ramida), who also happens to be Copper’s girlfriend. New student Sun (Chimon Wachirawit) becomes a new target for the bullies on his first day when he stands up for Oh. But when Copper’s friend In (Pluem Purim) has a falling out with the gang, he quickly grows close to Sun.

This series started out pretty rough. For the first couple episodes, Oh is just stiff walking and strained grimaces. Not to mention, he’s creepy. He does get better as he comes into his own, and I actually found myself rooting for him, especially after his breaking point when he fights back against Copper. The bullying that leads to said breaking point is pretty horrible to watch and the punishment is definitely not doled out fairly, so it really made me feel for Oh. The BL in this series is sparse. There’s a whole love triangle between Sun, In and their friend Ainam (who is the best character in this series) which didn’t feel completely resolved by the end. Both actors did a great job, but it still felt like a one-sided romance. Overall, I didn't hate the series, and even enjoyed it at times.

A true love triangle goes three ways, otherwise it's just a love V.

SOTUS S - 2017

A continuation of SOTUS.

Arthit (Krist Perawat) has graduated and has just been assigned a new position in his company. While he wants to support Kongpob (Singto Prachaya), who is now in his third year and the new leader of the now reformed SOTUS hazing team, the demands of his job start to take a toll on their relationship.

This was okay as a sequel. They brought back almost the entire cast, which is nice, but they kind of wasted them. I think it was a mistake to focus so heavily on the hazing team in the first few episodes, just to drop them entirely halfway through the series. Episode six felt too far into the series to introduce a new character and side pair. If they wanted to add another side pair, they could have just used one of Kongpob’s friends. Like Prae? Give Prae a girlfriend that we actually get to see for more than twelve seconds. I’m glad they gave Tew some focus, because I liked him in the first series, but the guy they paired him with was annoying. M and May were really cute in the first series, but now M is telling May not to wear shorts and to gain weight so other guys don’t look at her and it’s fucking weird. As for the main couple, a lot of their drama just stems from lack of communication on both parts, which is annoying, but I kinda liked the fallout from it. (But that’s just my mental illness speaking. I will sometimes return even to shows I didn’t like just to watch the penultimate episode breakup. It’s cathartic.)

OffGun fanservice.

I'm putting all of these series on a tier list. It will get better later. I promise I'm not always this negative.

Soulmate - The One. Like he was created for me, specifically. Sugar Daddy - He may not have it all, but he knows how to spoil me. Friend With Benefits - Despite my better judgment, I went and caught feelings. Second Lead - All my friends love him, but I don’t feel the spark. Overeager Pursuer - Tries to be cute but just gets on my nerves. Vindictive Ex - It’s like he’s punishing me for knowing I could do better. Love Rival - Literally what did I do to deserve this?

[neonanima]

berserk is one of the queerest anime i've ever seen. like queer in a way bl/shounen-ai usually has nothing to do with. first of all, there are all these scenes where guts clutches his sword at the hilt near his crotch, dialogue emphasizing how big guts' sword is and how much he loves swinging his sword—which could be visual-metaphor-for-kids type imagery, but once is a nod, twice is a wink, three times is a theme, four times is a critique. or something.

and then! there is so much gender commentary in the characters of casca and griffith. casca presents in personality and appearance as masculine, but the visual cue of her lip color hangs like a barbie-pink asterisk throughout until her more vulnerable side is eventually explored. meanwhile, griffith is prettier than a girl but has all the qualities prescribed to the ideal, hypermasculine man—power, influence, battle skills, confidence. whenever there are two main characters flanking the central main character, i tend to see them as representing different sides of the central character—casca being guts' desire to be strong but vulnerable and sympathetic, griffith his desire to be admired yet detached.

the last few episodes i watched had me thinking about how pining is queer. desiring, defining others and the self through that desire, fixating and imitating and misguidedly idolizing based on who you're attracted to—queer as fuck! i love the ways casca and guts have grown closer in the last few episodes, based on shared outsider-ness and an admiration for griffith's determination to succeed despite his outsider-ness.

there are so many bits of dialogue you could ruminate on for days. like "the battlefield is a man's sacred ground and you, a woman, have desecrated it!" or charlotte giving griffith the male half of a trinket that's designed to "be attracted to" its female counterpart and "bring him home," defining femininity as the beloved domestic thing that makes masculine fighting/death worth it (which griffith REJECTS, oh damn). in a setting where gender roles are rigid opposites, the show attempts to show the ways people try to define and justify themselves, while focusing particularly on the ways these three main characters attempt to carve alternative paths, knowingly or not.

[jacquelinemerritt]

Dragon Ball Z: Abridged Episode 21 Review

Originally posted on November 6th, 2015

Friendship is magic.

When I reviewed “Namekimania 2011,” I said that it was my favorite episode of Dragonball Z: Abridged. As it happens, “Stop! Celebrate and Witness, Goku’s Back from 100x fitness!” is also one of my top three episodes of Dragonball Z: Abridged. It takes this high position for two reasons: it’s incredibly funny and perfectly paced, and it cleverly defines Jeice and Burter, revealing a level of comradery and friendship among them that is not present in the original show.

Jeice and Burter’s friendship’s greatest strength is just how natural it feels. Team Four Star began hinting at their friendship in early episodes, of course, and those hints combined with the gradual revelation in this episode are what make it feel as right as it does.

They approach Goku in tandem, Jeice requests support and Burter delivers a stream of wonderful compliments, and near the end, when Burter begins to question his own worth, Jeice steps in and reminds Burter that his value doesn’t lie in his status as the “fastest in the universe,” it lies in the relationships he’s forged with his friends. These progress perfectly into each other, revealing a pretty wonderful friendship with give and take on both sides.

And then Vegeta kills Burter. After we’ve been shown that these “enemies” are actually fairly good and caring people (which invites comparison between their comradery and the comradery of Goku and his many friends), we’re forced to watch as Vegeta effortlessly destroys that friendship, committing an act that is arguably more evil than anything we’ve seen the Ginyu Force do.

While Vegeta’s action is unquestionably evil, it stands to reason that this kind of behavior goes against the moral standards that Goku and his friends hold themselves to. Yet Vegeta is only barely chastised, which begs the question, is Goku’s decision to allow Vegeta to remain in the group morally right?

Team Four Star never answers this question, of course, but it’s yet another example of the ways they’ve brought the muddiness of Goku’s morality to light. His ability to be a father for his child has been questioned, and his ability to choose friends of similar moral caliber has been questioned as well. By openly questioning Goku’s morality, Team Four Star has managed to make him an even more interesting and compelling character than he already was.

Rating: 5/5

If you liked this review, please consider supporting me on Patreon.

Stray Observations

Freeza: “Seriously, I’m surprised we didn’t hear banjos on the way in because everybody’s inbred and looks the f***ing same!”

Goku: “Sir, I will fight you in a minute.”

Super Kami Guru: “Na na na na na na na na Dende. Na na na na na na na na Dende. Dende. Dende.”

Jeice: “What the bleedin’ ‘ell? We were ‘avin’ a right rip-snorter ‘ere, and then this piker shows up and just like that it’s good night, Irene!” Krillin: “We get it, you’re from Space Aus.”

Krillin Owned: 13, thanks to Darude’s Sandstorm Seizure Procedure.

Goku sucker punching Jace is one of my favorite moments from this series.

Jeice: “Burter, support!” Burter: “Well, you’ve got very nice hair, you’re a beautiful shade of red, and honestly, you’re the only guy I can rely on on this team.” Jeice: “I meant punch him, you daft bastard! Oh, but, thanks, you know, that really cheered me up.”

Goku: “Stop. Goku time!”

Jeice: “I’m gonna get the Cap’n’, and he’s gonna beat you up!”

[wellntruly]

M*A*S*H - Viewguide, S5

Are you interested in the long-running anti-war situation tragicomedy M*A*S*H (1972-1983), but there are simply so many asterisks and so many episodes?

Well I can’t help you with the asterisks, but nor can I help myself: I started watching all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H, and bringing back for you my viewing selections, chosen for The Qualities.

— — —

This season overall I'd say feels kind of, mild? Less low lows and less high highs. Just middley. I nearly included one episode almost wholly for the appeal of being maybe 75% set at night (something I would do), and secondly for the appeal of Hawkeye sleepwalking, when he's not waking from nightmares. But it's very I'll say "Season 5" in that despite this, it's just, I don't know somehow milder than I might want, especially when this set-up naturally recalls the much odder and eerier 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' from Season 2, with (and possibly even because of) its spikier swings between the antic and traumatic.

But it happened that a lot of the stronger stuff here lent itself to putting together something of a more focused character collection. So welcome to our Special Issue!, highlighting the previously maybe somewhat under-served Major Margaret Houlihan, and Captain BJ Hunnicutt:

M*A*S*H - Season 5 Recommended sequence

5x03 ‘Margaret’s Engagement’ - So fun to me that Margaret & Frank transitioning from “secret” lovers to “secret” exes is somehow the exact same mood while having the opposite content. Ending comes out of nowhere and on a pretty weak joke, but when it's just Hawkeye & BJ lounging on each other on Margaret’s bed as she hops around showing them her goofy little engagement ring, that’s the Margaret & The Boys ‘Silly Mood’ vibes I've been missing, baby. Loretta Swit is back!

5x06 ’The Nurses’ - This one made me cry??? It was written and directed by women. It’s about women having complex relationships with each other. Bechdel Test smashed, only took us four seasons! 

5x08 ‘Dear Sigmund’ - It's the context here that really has me like, haha totally. This is the first episode they’ve let Alan Alda write all himself in three calendar seasons, and he's like great, okay: can I just get down nothing but a bunch of character meta and headcanons for everyone and put that up as TV? Yeah Victor Hugo that sounds wild, please do.

5x09 ‘Mulcahy’s War’ - Father Mulcahy goes out to the front to experience the horrors (more), but amazingly the real reason I'm including this one is that Gary Burghoff’s distressed little straight man hilarity here made me laugh so, so much, and then have a staggering realization: the character of Radar O'Reilly is absolutely the progenitor of Guillermo de la Cruz.

5x10 ‘The Korean Surgeon’ - Would be worth it for Hawkeye & BJ talking to Radar in the mess tent ALONE (Gary Emmy-winning year). But also I love their kind weary surgeon friend from ~the other side~

5x15 ‘The Most Unforgettable Characters’ - At 10 minutes in I'd thought, alright this is probably just another middle sort of one, and then at 10 minutes and 30 seconds, BJ (BJ, baby??!) spontaneously proposes that he and Hawkeye spend the rest of the episode play-acting that they're fighting to entertain Frank for his birthday, inspiring Barbara Kruger four years later to go, y'know what, I'm gonna have to comment on this.

5x19 ‘Hanky Panky’ - You tell me “BJ episode where he cheats on his wife,” and I’m going to say, “hm well that’s not the kind of character development I think I want,” but I would be wrong about that! A) love her, she's great in this, B) there is one particular revelation BJ shares here that is just, exquisite information. I will say no more at this juncture (Watch Notes: Coming soon!), but in light of oh, a lot: oh my god.

5x25 ‘Margaret’s Marriage’ - Let’s bookend this! One thing I love about long episodic seasons, is that after Margaret somehow ever more hilariously saying the name ‘Lieutenant Colonel Donald Penobscott’ for 22 episodes, the man finally appearing felt like forbidden Beckett. 

And also now say bye-bye, Frank [chorus: bye-bye, Frank!]

Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5 • To be continued

#M*A*S*H hours

[queenaryastark]

OK, so I just got a chance to start First Kill and the first few episodes. It has one of the best pilots I’ve ever seen. The world building took tried and true vampire/vampire hunter conventions and executed them in a fresh way. The set up for the two protagonists and their arcs were also solid. The CGI was crap, but that was easy for me to overlook while engrossed in the story. 

The premise begins with the typical YA heroine, Juliette, whose conventionally attractive yet socially awkward with trouble fitting in. What’s not conventional is that a) she is infatuated with a mysterious and beautiful loner girl, Calliope, rather than the typical  brooding boy and b) rather than discovering that the object of her fascination is a vampire/angel/werewolf/supernatural creature, Juliette is the vampire from a family of vampires. She has a right of passage she must complete before her vampire sense get out of control, which they threaten to do with Calliope: her first kill.

On her side, Calliope still gets her own supernatural reveal as a monster hunter who is not only part of a family and community of hunters, but from a long line of them. She’s a loner less because she’s the typical brooding type but because their lifestyle of moving from place to place, fighting various monsters means that she’s not going to stay in one place long enough for friendships to be worth it. Calliope is drawn to Juliette, not just because of attraction but because she can sense what the other girl is. And Calliope wants Juliette to be part of her own right of passage: her first kill.

Beyond the two leads and their dynamic, we get both of their families and communities broadening the world building and heightening the stakes. In addition to being vampires and monster hunters, both groups feel like real families with expectations, conflicts, and traditions.

It’s not perfect, but First Kill has better writing, world building, and characters than Twilight, which got five movies and four books, and The Vampire Diaries, which got eight seasons and two spinoffs. Yet First Kill only gets one season.

[consumeronionbulletin]

Moving (2023)

Take seven episodes of Korean X-Men fanfic, add four episodes of spy stuff, a pinch of Korean gangster nonsense, mix well, and you have recipe for a pretty good superhero show.

The final three episodes of janky CGI fight scenes let me down at the end, though.

What Worked

The high school story that made up the first half of the show was delightful. Just a fun mix of YA tropes and the good kind of mutant superhero nonsense. I also liked the whole secret agent assassin thing playing out in the background as well.

And every single character actor was fun and interesting, this was a show that made sure to treat its secondary characters well.

What Didn't Work

And then the secret agent nonsense started taking over the entire show, and the plot got pushed to the side in favor of five episodes of backstory for every single grownup on the show, and then it got frustrating. I still liked alot of it, especially the meet cute between Bong-soek's parents, but we needed half as many episodes of it.

Also, that gang war plotline was just completely drawn out and gory and unnecessary. It made me dislike Hui-soo's father quite a bit. At least the past version of him.

The show's worst fault, though, was that dang three episode long fight sequence at the end (intercut with backstories on every single person in the fight). This series only had about 12-14 episodes worth of story, and they squeezed out 20 of them.

The series just gradually gets worse after episode seven, to the point where I was skipping scenes by episode 10, and even most of episodes 13-14. It's a case of not enough story and also too much backstory. That kind of thing works better in comics and/or webtoons, but does not work for a TV show.

The Performances

There's too many characters here to cover all of them, but they did a good job of making them (mostly) interesting.

Han Hyo-joo as ("secret agent mom") Lee Mi-hyun. I loved her. The character was well written and the superhero abilities were at the level where they could do creative and interesting things with Mi-hyun. Han Hyo-joo gave a good performance, but she was given a darn good character to play.

Ryoo Seung-bum as ("super hero assassin") Frank. Another interesting character played very well. He somehow managed to feel dangerous even when his only real superpower was not dying. The action scenes with him just worked, which made the big janky stuff at the end of the series look even worse.

Lee Jung-ha as ("super hero / boy next door") Kim Bong-seok. For this series to work, you had to really like this kid, and the actor did a good job making me cheer for him. Which made all the episodes where he was missing harder to get through.

Youn-jung as ("strong girl") Jang Hui-soo. Another likeable actor with a great character. It's too bad they kind of pushed her to the side in the final episodes. And it wasn't a knock on the actor. Her character arc just finished early and then they made 6 more episodes and the writers didn't really give her anything. The bullying stuff she had to deal with at the beginning of the series was gripping to watch.

Zo In-sung as ("the amazing, flying") Kim Doo-sik. All of the scenes he played opposite Han Hyo-joo were great. The rest of his backstory was pretty good, but a little uneven.

Ryu Seung-ryong as ("human punching bag") Jang Ju-won. I liked all the stuff he did in the early episodes, and I disliked most of what he did during and after his backstory arc. His stuff with Hui-soo's mom was okay in execution though a little unoriginal.

Kwak Sun-young as ("Hui-soo's mom") Hwang Ji-hee. I've seen this actor before (notably in Hospital Playlist) and she did a good job here, especially some of the early romance arc with Jang Ju-won. But the plot itself was cliche, and they just kind of killed her off to make people sad rather than having it make too much sense. (Was the NIS behind it, or not? Does that really change anything?).

The Lightning Man / Bus Driver. Some of this was engaging in that "everyone has a story" kind of thing, but that guy should have been fired the first time he hijacked the bus to go on a rogue mission. For every cool thing they let him do, we had to slog through 4-5 uncool / depressing things, which is not a good ratio.

The High School Kids. They were mostly okay, though there was really no reason for the future youtuber and the grumpy bully to be hanging around those last few episodes. And they built up Class President kid in the start only to just have him be mostly useless. Even his dad's backstory was completely superfluous to the plot.

The High School Teachers. They should have just made them all straight up villains. It was kind of okay to make the one teacher somewhat redeemable, but we really didn't need as much of his story as we got. And what was up with that security guard?

The Gangster Crew. No thank you. Did not like. Completely useless and a little depressing, especially for all the episodes we got of them.

The South Korean Spy People. They were all pretty hate-able, and meant to be hate-able. There was some good material but they drew this whole plotline out so much that I stopped caring about them.

The North Korean Spy People. The writers did a good job of making them both creepy villains and somewhat sympathetic as well. But we got way too much backstory for what ended up being very little payoff.

TL; DR:

This is not a bad series overall, but if you feel like skipping episodes, or just leaving after episode 7, that's okay. If you go into the show expecting a webtoon / comic type story, and you actually liked that kind of thing, then you should be in good shape to finish it.

[astronova-00]

*Not HP related

Does anyone know this god awful show called Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir? No? Well good. Because you never never never want to be sucked into a hole of watching this cringe worthy, heart burning show. Trust me, I would know. I’ve been watching this show for almost ten years of my fucking life.

See seasons 1 through 3 are garbage. Basically episodes that are there for plot points and background. Just for you to have the lore of everything and get a ‘feel’ for the side (and main) characters. (Also there a bunch of funny moments in the show, that are awful-in a good way!)

Okay, now you may be asking- Astro wtf is the point of this post if you aren’t going to explain what the show is about. Well, I’m glad you asked-because frankly I’m still trying to figure that out myself (not really). Basically there are two main characters named: Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste. See now, Adrien and Marinette have alter egos? basically where they are superheroes. They gain these powers from these little floating creatures called Kwamis, which are named Tikki (for Marinette) and Plagg (for Adrien).

Tikki and Plagg were given to Marinette and Adrien from this old man named Master Fu. He was the guardian of the miraculous! Now Miraculous are these pieces of jewelry (each one is different/similar) which hold the different kwamis that possess different abilities/powers. Throughout season one and two, we see that the miraculous are kept with Master Fu, except for the earrings (Ladybug) and the ring (Chat Noir).

The whole show follows Marinette and Adrien around highschool and shows how Marinette has an obsessive crush on Adrien (yes this includes stalking as well). Adrien being the clueless dummy has no idea but only has his eyes set on Ladybug. YES GUYS THERE IS A LOVE SQUARE!! And it goes like this:

Chat Noir loves Ladybug who loves Adrien who loves Ladybug but Marinette loves Adrien.

And the best part? Adrien and Marinette don’t know their identities as Ladybug and Chat Noir to each other! Fantastic!!!

I could go on about this show (I cannot type it well enough to explain it, but honestly if you are in to watch a show about highschool lovers that’s a little cringe and the episodes have plot then a fighting scene and then ending plot, this is right up your alley).

I won’t get into season four and five as those are still new and people are still watching them, but it’s very worth it to want season 5, the newest episode (Protection? I think it was?) it’s actually really good!!

K. Imma go follow a bunch of miraculous accounts and become even more obsessed again!

[kidflashimpulse]

it really does blow my mind how phantoms didn't touch on how bart going missing would WRECK the flashfam. they've lost wally AND joan in the past four years, you can't tell me the possibility of losing bart wouldn't shake them so fucking badly. i know this season didn't focus on bart or the flashfam, but they went over two weeks not knowing if he was ALIVE, and we don't get to see any of it beyond the first few seconds of jay coming back to an empty house? seriously??? i feel cheated

SAME! honestly its ridiculous, like ik that some things go without saying and its a premise that YJ operates on quite a bit (which often I understand) but with Jays involvement in Rockets arc and Barts with the Legion, at least being shown something would've been nice.

Like, I get the impression that Greg and co feel that what they've shown with Jay coming back to an empty house and at the end Dinah revealing (very offhandedly lol) that hes going through mental difficulties speaks volumes to how he would've coped with Bart going missing especially with how they're not “the main characters” of Phantoms, but considering the ridiculously long Bug Love montage (no disrespect to Foragers they're cute but was that incredibly long exposé on their courtship necessary, lets be real, nah lol) or how they dedicated an ENTIRE episode to the Markovia plot which easily couldve been covered as a background thread of headlines throughout the season (without the need of abandoning all of the Halo/Brion/Fury scenes which would've taken up instead what, less than half an episodes worth of screen time instead), then honestly there was easily space for some indication of the mess that would've taken place with the Flash Fam, especially considering their history with YJ. (and whilst we r at it some proper outsiders plot too), so yeah its just wild that they didn't really touch further on the subject. 

If we by some force of nature do manage to get a Season 5, with the indication of Sanctuary plot being explored (a really messed up comics plot of Heroes in Crisis with huge potential but controversial execution largely involving Wally) then a lot of people are theorising that Jay would take on the role as (comic spoilers: skip to next paragraph if u don't wanna read ------------ Wally dying in the event or well something dramatically similar) and then Barry and Bart possibly being on the investigative/involved side of things (comic spoilers: skip to next paragraph if u don't wanna read ------------ turns out it was Wally who murdered a bunch of ppl, Flashpoint time travel stuff etc, u get the gist, though I am doubtful YJ would follow the exact premise, so they would loosely adapt some kind of alternative variation of the plot, especially considering speed force involvement) with the rest of the cast members too. 

Which leads to the premise that maybe they are setting up some kind of Flashfam plot for the next season, but I don't want to be the 100th broken record within the fandom (lol) where ppl theorise this every season lmfao, but who knows theres no harm in speculating/theorising/ coming up with stories. 

Entirely off topic but another way to gauge plots throughout the season is through voice actors, if one of the characters of the voice actors appears in an episode then theres a significantly higher chance their other characters would appear too. If we do manage to get a Season 5 where people think the fight with Apokolips/Darkseid will take a centre stage, then G Gordon Godfrey should appear quite a bit and he has the same voice actor as Flash in Outsiders, which would lead room to him being featured too. So...... who knows lol

[things-can-be-seen-here]

Kono Danshi, Mahou ga Oshigoto Desu.

THIS BOY IS A PROFESSIONAL WIZARD is one of the four short stories directed by Soubi Yamamoto. The stories each have around 30 minutes of screen time, and they tell a story that might just be deeper than what it really shows. And maybe not, maybe it's just a BL. You have to take what you want from it. As the story goes, we're met with Chiharu Kashima, a wizard, sitting alone at the bar, when suddenly Toyohi Utsumi comes in his life with a love confession that leaves our wizard boy puzzled. They start hanging out, have a cute date watching jellyfish swim, go out drinking... and when an accident happens, we get to see a different side of our professional wizard...

Do you love Kashima-san, the wizard?

I usually don't write reviews, but this anime hit a little close to home. In other words, the main idea of This boy is a professional wizard is You're your own worst hater, enemy. which can be also translated to You're being too harsh on yourself, take a deep breath and love yourself. I struggle with self love, and that's the reason I don't allow myself to love anyone and push away those, who try to love me. In the last episode, it was painfully clear that Chiharu Kashima fights with dark thoughts of not being enough, believing that only magic (and his skill in it) defnies him as a person,defines his worth.

But I'm nothing if I can't use magic!

Thankfully, Toyohi Utsumi is there to show him, that he is so much more than just that. I could relate to the feeling of being loved not for yourself, but for your abilities or something, that makes you worthy in the eyes of others... Even though the animation was... not quite bad, but it's hard to call it an animation and the story itself was divided between 4 8-ish minute long episodes. it carried a deeper message, and I am glad I gave this anime a shot. But given the anime itself... I did not care about the kiss or Toyohi Utsumi. I did not care about the backround and it did not made me want to read/see more. The art was beauitful, I liked the voice acting (the emotions didn't come off as cringey like they use to in BLs)... So overall, it makes for a show that is not hard to watch or finish.

I love you, for you.

That given, it's your choice if you want to give it a shot. I would not recommend it, but I would also not not recommend it. My rating for This boy is a professional wizard is 5/10. Points were given for story, art, music, pace, voice acting and voice actors and characters. But as it didn't leave the impression of something memorable, the score stays "low". That is just my opinion though, so if you liked it more or less, I understand both cases. For me as an amateur, this is all I can offer. It's strange how much emotion you can stuff in 30 minutes...

[pjstafford]

Halo Review

There might be some spoilers in this review.

Halo is a series based on the video game. The first season is available on Paramount. It has been renewed for a second season.

I have no knowledge or investment in the source material for this series. I watched it because I am a science fiction fan and seen buzz about it as it first came out. Steven Spielberg is an executive producer.

The series was easy to binge. Its 9 episodes of approximately one hour each. I watched it over four days, but it could be done in a weekend easily.

My over-all impression is positive, but the ending was disappointing to the point where it left me feeling unsatisfied. I am not happy about the investment of time. That said, I am likely to watch at least the first episode of the second season-not because of any investment in cliffhangers -but to see if my original pleasure is likely to return upon a continuation of the story.

What I most like about the series was the compelling characters. I became immediately invested in the story of Kwan Ha, a teenage daughter of a rebel leader, whose is the lone survivor of an attack against her village, not from the empire her father rebelled against, but from a race of aliens the empire is fighting. Her journey to assume the role of her father is an interesting tale. I, also, became interested in the story of Master Chief Petty Officer John. John is part of an elite military force trained since childhood whose emotions are regulated by an implant blocker to make them better fighters. His journey to discover the truth about his childhood is the best part of the series. The actor Pablo Schreiber is subtle, controlled expressions is one of two highlights of the series. The other is the performance of Natascha McElhone as the evil scientist. Her large, expressive eyes and subtle acting styles suits the character well.

The greater story is common in science fiction. It is the story of humanity and if what makes us human is our strength and weakness. What is the next evolutionary state for mankind? It is important that the characters rebelling against the empire are compelling because the empire (UNSC) is worth rebelling against but alien race, The Covenant, is trying to wipe out the empire and humanity which makes the rebellion secondary to survival. Therefore, we can only root for individual goodness as we cannot root for either of the warring parties.

I liked the strong female characters through out the series. I liked that they were distinct, nuanced, strong warriors or scientists and some evil, some good, some struggling to decide. I, also, thought some of the layering of artificial life forms was interesting. First, we are introduced to the Spartans which, when first introduced by reputation, seemed like a different race than human. In fact they are humans, memories wiped, trained since childhood, emotions controlled, and with great technology at their command. Then we have a human clone we meet only briefly before her demise. Her purpose being only as a way to create a human intellect to download into artificial intelligence. I fear that with our current advancements in A.I., this series and other science fiction portrayals of A.I., will become quickly obsolete. We are advancing too quickly to believe AI will not be more routine in the far distance future. For now, I can suspension of belief issue can be placed to the side to enjoy the series.

What I didn’t like, in addition to the ending, is that at some point the Kwan He storyline and the spartan storyline separated to the point where the episodes focused only on one or the other. Part of the unsatisfying ending is that they didn’t join up again. If the Kwan He story only exists to send Chief Petty Officer John on his duty, then why continue it and focus whole episodes on it? If they are joined in some greater way in the second season, that would be good, but that it didn’t occur in the first season is part of the reason the ending is unsatisfying. The second reason for the disappointment is that the plot includes that each of the warring parties had one part of a powerful artifact which when combined were supposed to be very powerful. In fact, combined, they didn’t seem to do more than what had already been accomplished by one. So, despite, the large battle scene at the end, I felt the let down of a big build up not leading to anything very interesting. Anticlimactic for me because battle scenes are not really something I enjoy. At the end there is a cliff hanger which is fine, but it didn’t save the rest of the last episode.

A good series, but, unfortunately, (to use a gymnastic sports analogy) didn’t stick the landing.