#i dont watch beef all that much but i jumped around some of his eps before landing on ye ol classic

[aliferous-ly]

Beef wouldn't say he'd been possessed by TCG. It was a silly thought anyhow - how could someone be possessed by a card game? Anytime someone expressed concern, he waved them off. Yes, Hermitcraft had a tendency to seep into it's players minds like untrimmed vines, crawling along, fed boundlessly by their games and blood. But Beef kept cool. He was chill.

So no, Beef wouldn't say he'd been possessed. But he'd be lying if joining season 10 hadn't felt like jumping into a crystal cold pond with its invigorating freshness. And he'd be remiss if he implied that becoming a reaper hadn't felt comforting.

Whispers touched at the edges of his mind.

It felt a little like coming home.

[stanharu]

beastars episode 24 thoughts!

this post got kinda long i have Many Thoughts on this one

Overall I had fun watching this ep but I could really tell it was rushed and there was so much that got cut, which makes me super sad. our fears about the finale having pacing issues due to all the added scenes & rearranging were confirmed & it rly sucks, but i'll elaborate more on that in a bit.

this week's ep covered the end of chapter 92, chapters 93-97, and included small bits of chapters 98 & 99.

so the ep starts with the ED and the latter part of the tunnel scene with ibuki and louis. i liked the visual effect they used to show that they were in the dark. louis' voice acting was also On Point. for the most part i think this scene was done pretty well but I can tell it's being rushed also. I really wish we got more buildup and narration instead of just jumping straight to ibuki telling louis to shoot him. the way it is in the anime feels less impactful imo.

also im sad we didnt get to see this in the anime

before i move on, i wanna talk a bit about louis and his relationship w/ the shishigumi and ibuki. i feel like in the anime quite a few of the lil moments that really endear you to the shishigumi and also ibuki were either cut or kinda glossed over, which is strange to me considering how much effort and care went into the ED. it's very emotional and good but i feel like maybe anime onlies are missing out only seeing the anime and the MV. but idk.

legosi and riz's fight was quite rushed as well. there's so much narration and dialogue missing from it and that really rubs me the wrong way. It wasn't all bad but compared to the manga I just don't think it's as good. I will say tho that I really liked the sequence w legosi and the moths. I thought it looked really nice and was pretty well done.

also i liked how the backgrounds had some anti-yahya graffiti, its a nice touch imo

it says "high quality horse meat"

I was happy to see legosi do the "tell me more" pose but I'm honestly disappointed that the anime took out the whole exposition about why legosi did it. like i feel like without that it's just legosi being weird when he has a reason for it!!! This is just one example of the anime taking out crucial narration during the fight.

I also think it's kinda weird how they changed how louis shows up at the fight. im not sure how i feel about riz just charging at him like that, but i liked how legosi kicked him before they ran lol.

i dont have much to say about pina's small scene but I did wanna say that during my first watch thru of the ep i was too distracted trying to read the graffiti behind him that i didn't notice him getting his phone out of the dumpster and calling the cops lmao

it says "devour yahya"

and now... here we are... the predation scene.

overall i thought it was pretty well done but, like the rest of the ep, i could tell it was also being kinda rushed. some important beats werent given enough time to really sink in, and there's a few bits of narration taken out of this part as well that i find disappointing :^(

tho i did like how the anime called back to this scene in s1 when legosi mentions utilizing his strength.

also this part where louis is remembering ibuki had me like😭

I also really liked seeing louis cry. I was crying too sjdflskjdflsjkdf. i thought that scene was really good, its prolly my favorite part of the ep tbh. getting to hear the whole predation scene voiced made me kind of a mess lol. i really liked louis' expressions throughout this whole ep too. studio orange used their whole louis expression budget on these last 2 eps lmao.

seeing legosi instantly get all beefed up was great too. he looked a little ridiculous but i kinda loved it lol. he's so huge and poofy. i love him.

big pomeranian

anyway, im also sad they took out louis' line about being reduced to a flashback character lol. instead he tells legosi "be a hero" again which... im not sure about that change. i liked the part with riz thinking back about tem tho. tho imo the way riz realizes he's in the wrong feels pretty sudden. again adding to how rushed the whole ep feels.

before i move on again i just wanna say legosi looks so cute. even all puffed up and covered in blood. how does he do that

baby boy baby. i wanna ruffle his cheek floofs.

i think one of the things im most disappointed about from this whole ep was how the fight got wrapped up. i really like how the cops show up and totally shift the tone in the manga jslkdfjskljdf. im also really sad we didnt get this interaction

tthe anime really took out most of the sillier moments from the finale, which makes me pretty sad to think about. i know the anime and manga have different tones but pls let the boys be silly sometimes!!

the next part where legosi and louis finally establish their friendship was really cute tho ❤️ even tho it was pretty different i enjoyed it a lot.

BABIESSSS 🥺😭❤️❤️

the wrap-up for this arc and this episode gave me whiplash sdjlfkjsdf. it literally speedruns thru legosi's predation conviction, being released, louis & haru's graduation, and legosi deciding he's going to drop out of school. that is SO MUCH AT ONCE. also i was holding out hope that legosi would have his new years call with haru after the fight instead but that didnt happen!! so it just got cut!!! kinda mad about that tbh. legosi and haru having a lil scene at the very end made up for it a lil bit but that's still one of haru's few moments in this arc that's just not included.

we didnt even get the part wher legosi learns he can't marry haru bc of his conviction.

ive been really hoping for a season 3 announcement once this season ended. with all the background allusions to yahya, the added plot point of someone stealing elephant tusks, and sebun and melon's lil cameos in this season, it seemed to me that studio orange was kinda teasing a 3rd season. but now, with the dismissive way the anime ended, and paru's note from earlier today, im less sure about the possibility of a 3rd season. i'd still like to see the rest of the series animated, but i guess we'll just have to wait and see if more anime is announced in the future.

if we do get another season in the future i just hope that we swing back around and actually address the things that got completely glossed over in the last couple minutes of this episode instead of charging forward w/o touching them again.

i really think the finale for this arc should've been two episodes at least. not including the tunnel scene. i think then things wouldn't have felt so rushed. people have been saying this season really would have benefitted from at least 1 extra episode and i cant help but agree. some have even suggested a whole 24 episodes just for this arc, but i think that this arc couldve been done properly with 12 or 13 episodes if there was some better prioritizing on what to include and what to cut.

like i dont mind not getting the parts about legosi's family if they can be addressed somehow in a future season (or if theres no more future anime seasons thats a plot thread that doesnt have to be worried about). i could have lived w/o seeing sheila & peach's chapter animated if it meant more time for the focus of this arc. and was the kangaroo red herring really necessary?

adaptation wise, i dont think this season was as good as the first. i still think it did fairly well, but i know that it could have been much better. ive been excited to watch this season with my friends once the dub releases, but now im wondering if i should just tell them to read the manga instead. sighs idk. perhaps it comes thru better as a bingewatch, or perhaps im being a bit too harsh. idk. at some point ill do a rewatch and see how i feel about the season as a whole, but that wont be for a while.

if you've read this far, thanks for reading my ramblings!! it's been fun to make these posts every week and im gonna miss getting new episodes every week.

[abby-something]

bit of rambling and personal shit below the cut about samjack i wanted to get off my chest

one of the things that i really appreciated/yet almost want to gripe over from last nights ep was the clarification of what ghost jack was (jacks extreme anger and grief) and how jack dealt with it

this past year ive been going to therapy and one of my therapists main goals for me was relearning that it’s ok to feel things, to recognize and then acknowledge those feelings, and then to express them. anger has long been one of those emotions that i rejected acknowledgement and expression of unless it was with a group of people against something else, and even then only in small doses. its a terrifying emotion for me for several different reasons, not the least of which is of course the stereotypical “anger is bad, anger is scary, angry people are inherently violent, etc” attitude that i saw and heard all around me growing up. for the media and for most people, its easy to jump to that conclusion and spread that idea, because anger is a very powerful and intimidating emotion that we dont really spread a lot of safe knowledge on, especially in how to express it helpfully. and for many people that have had bad experiences with anger, whether from or directed at them, it’s even easier to keep and spread harmful ideas about it.

that madjack ep of the original run is interesting, because while watching it i fully expected to see that attitude pushed. but instead they make a point that jack was merely unbalanced, and he recognized he needed to reel himself in. jack still gets angry or upset in the series, but he doesn’t let it consume him. and thats pushed in this ep too, albeit in a slightly more subtle (?) way. that unbalanced anger and grief is what has led jack to lose his way, show symptoms of depression, and evidently had influenced him to stay stuck in a rut, even if it did also help him survive without the sword (whether or not that’s totally true i doubt we’ll ever see, as we know jack is completely competent to fend for himself as a warrior). and yes, the ghost jack is scary (...sorta imo), but that’s because he’s the reflection of jacks escalated and warped feelings, and not just anger inherently.

those emotions have effectively consumed jack, resulting in a vicious cycle of blame, guilt, and isolation that slowly spiraled him into a worse and worse mental state, yet he never really confronted them or, to a degree, never expressed them. and for many people such untapped emotions, or emotions that go for long periods of time unrecognized/not expressed, often do develop depression.

jack has every reason to be angry, to be sorrowful, about his situation. it is a depressing one for him, and the frustrations of feeling stuck in the future, unable to fulfill the One Quest he’s been trying so hard to accomplish and having to go through what he went through, obviously could cause anyone to feel such emotions. and jack doesn’t completely eliminate those emotions, he simply recognizes them for what they are, and reels them back in to maintain an emotional balance. that specific portrayal, especially after we’ve fully seen the state he’s been in this season, really kinda...is nice. it’s a breath of fresh air to see the subject handled like that, at least for me personally.

and while i do sorta take issue with jack “dealing” with it by effectively shoving his emotions back under the rug like he did in the madjack ep, i understand why they did that move. when his anger and grief controlled him, they kept him going but they prevented him from wanting to try and continue on the path of dealing with the very things that were causing them to skyrocket. jacks unable to completely confront and deal with the things that are the main source of such emotions, namely going back to the past, but he’s going to keep at it, and that’s whats important. he’s recognized them, confronted them, and trying to deal with their source in the best way he can (even if it may not be going back), which is what helps him keep them in check again, and gives him hope once more. and thats a damn powerful message.

or yanno im reading too much into this lol BUT that all kinda lets out what i felt i wanted to say about the ep. thanks if u read the whole thing, now go get urself some beef jerky and pls cry with me about how much we love this show again