#i may be exaggerating a bit. but i just finished one that had a protagonists called Sarah Hamilton. dont remeber the games name. but it was

[tears-of-boredom]

Why is every mystery point-and-click game I play german

[crystalelemental]

I keep trying to post something interesting about this and failing, so forgot it: general thoughts now that I've finished all the I'm in Love With the Villainess light novels.

Overall, pretty fun! I enjoyed it quite a lot. Rae and Claire are very cute, and I love them. To the surprise of no one, I really like Claire, very much my character type. I was surprised how much I wound up liking Rae, though. I find her very...relatable. Like, the tendency to respond to anything serious and therefore uncomfortable with goofs, the desire to just be apolitical at all times, hiding insecurities by over-exaggerating things and avoiding disappointment by self-sabotaging. There's something about how she is that just connects.

The rest of the cast is generally good, but far less significant. Which is a weak point overall, I think. I found myself wanting a lot more of some of the side characters that don't do as much directly. For as right there as Misha always is, she doesn't contribute much, which is hindered all the more with her relationship with Yu, which doesn't get a whole lot of development. They get like two scenes. It's a bit disappointing, because I would've liked more of their dynamic. Similar situation with Lilly, who is my girl, and who not only doesn't get many scenes, but also is Possessions Georg, being mind controlled or otherwise possessed by every entity capable of doing so. Poor girl.

I think Book 3 was when, character wise, I started to lose a bit of interest. Like, we already had multiple side characters I really liked who weren't getting substantial play at this point, and now we're going to introduce a whole new set that are...frankly not as interesting to me? May and Aleah are adorable, I love the kids, but the rest aren't quite as interesting despite how many there are. It's not even that they don't get a lot of time; Philine, Hilda, and Dorothea get as much time as any other side character, but I don't really connect with them as much. Couldn't entirely tell you why. ...well, I might be able to in part.

I think Book 3 is when it became a bit much that every character was interested in either Rae or Claire. Manaria was excusable as the one hidden route in the original game, so like sure, that checks out in the same way as the princes. Lilly, sure, I'm willing to accept that, since Manaria kinda backs off even if feelings are still there. But then Philine's interested in Claire, and Lana's interested in Rae, and at the point Rae and Claire are basically married it gets to be a bit much? I'm not saying I wanted nothing but cute domestic wives like the first chapter of Book 3, but also maybe that's what I wanted. Because I do legitimately love that dynamic through the rest of the series.

For what it does do, I think it does well. The story's fun and engaging and there were multiple points where I was squealing with excitement over the recent developments. I think if there's one thing they did well, it's building tension. Which is impressive for an isekai where the protagonist knows, more or less, what's going to happen in advance. And it's nice that every twist isn't another stomp against the protagonists. I think it's pretty common for the twists to build tension being things that work against the protagonists, but just as often the story sets up some hint at Rae being up to something that isn't revealed until later, and it's a fun little hook. The quickest example I can think of is when May and Aleah are kidnapped, and they reference May having a bag as their trump card, but not revealing what that was until near the end of that encounter. Related: Ralaire is hilarious. Like it always shows up to save the day, at like the perfect interval that I forgot it was there.

The Book 5 reveal is...a mixed bag for me. I generally don't love the kind of switch from hard magic (barring the isekai, which I think counts) into a more sci-fi "it's basically the real world adjacent" narrative. But I think it's relatively unobtrusive? Like, once it's out, they never stop talking from that angle. But I think the way things work out for characters is still interesting. I love that initial Rei's whole deal was that all these cycles wore down her affections until it didn't feel right anymore. I love that they have an AI that's focused on keeping humanity going at all costs, willing to fuck with everyone here to achieve that goal; very Etrian Odyssey 2 of you. I like that, in the re-written world, Lilly has no idea what's going on but still wants the best for Rae.

I think if there's one thing I expected to matter more, it's tandem casting. They made a huge deal of this, and about how it links to the secrets of the world, and it...doesn't really do much of anything. It's pretty unexplained how this was so linked to the hidden truth of reality, or why it works at all. Or how it's associated with the ring that Torrid made. There's a lot of gray area on that one. Which is a shame because I do love me some magic systems. Related note: I love how the initial explanation for wind is "yeah it's like support I guess, don't worry about it," and then it's easily the most overpowered element, being able to project or silence sound, power up physical attacks, be used offensively, create a shield, dispel certain kinds of magic, and goddamn manipulate time. Like oh okay, wind just does everything. Water and Earth have some stuff, while Fire is just...fire. You do damage. That's it. I do like that overall proficiency is secondary to skill, though. Like, Salas' hypnosis magic is super powerful and dangerous, and he's only like mid-proficiency as I recall. I think the applications of the system are more interesting than the system itself.

The only odd bits from magic that slightly bug me are Dark magic, and the void. Dark bugs me just because it's better than all of them by default, and also because they designated Earth as the color black, but Final Fantasy rules say that should be yellow and Wind should be green and yes this bothers me. The void is just...what Dorothea and Aleah have going on. Like oh, sure, they can completely negate all magic used against them, or absorb that magic to create their own attacks. Don't get me wrong, big fan of Spellblade Aleah, but it feels hysterically overpowered for little reason, and kinda undercuts the significance of their whole discussion with the kids about how not having magic won't make them any less important.

As a last note, I don't think I'm legally allowed to just...not mention that yes, as many others have pointed out since episode 3 of the anime, there are a lot of discussions around sexuality and gender identity. It's very direct in calling things what they are, and it is nice to see things discussed so openly. I do think it sometimes comes across a bit heavy-handed, but then you kinda need to for people who don't have a baseline understanding of these things.

I think I'm running out of things to talk about. The short is, I had a good time. They're fun books, would recommend.

[pusheenhat]

Backlog Review: Procession to Cavalry

The Procession to Cavalry is another game which is made almost entirely to facilitate a joke or a bit. Thats sorta a theme among the games I've been reviewing here, but that will not last I promise. Say NO! More was built on a bit, Later Alligator was built on a bit, and The Procession to Cavalry is the finale of our joke game trilogy. Not that the games themselves are a "joke" or not worthy of respect or analysis, just that when I think of the game, I think of the joke that the game is telling. Unfortunately, TPtC has my least favorite bit so far. It's a game that sort of tries to exaggerate an idea of a Renaissance era Crusades-y vibe? The games environments and characters are constructed from what I'm going to call "Renaissance paintings" (even if thats not exactly accurate, thats the idea). At one point you can actually view an in world gallery of all of the paintings used to construct the game. The joke isn't necessarily bad, or not funny. The truth is that at about an hour and a half in the bit had kinda run its course with me. This isn't exactly a problem though. I had played Say NO! More through the point that the joke had completed. The main issue I had with this game is that it's closer to the point n click game that I thought Later Alligator would be, and not too long into the game I had hit a puzzle wall. Honestly I could've probably figured it out, but if I'm not playing the game for the joke, and I'm not playing it because the gameplay is fun, then why am I playing? So really what I'm saying here is that I dropped TPtC after I hit that waist high wall. That isn't necessarily a knock on the game or anything, its just a testament to how quickly the joke wore thin with me. Your mileage may vary on that front. If you like the joke enough I could imagine someone playing through whatever kind of puzzle that would be placed in front of them. Same for if you just like the Point n Click style game play. On a positive note though, the visuals of the game are unique and have a lot of character. The way the player character flings their limbs about as they traverse these painted screens is full of whimsy. As someone who has a passing knowledge of some of the paintings they used in the game it was neat to find one and recognize it. My favorite was "Girl with the Pearl Earring" by Johannes Vermeer. It was actually when I realized that the game was constructed from real paintings rather than original pieces created in the style of the time. The music is also perfectly picked for the environment and vibe of the game. At the start of the game there's a band playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa and juxtaposing that with the image of a war hungry protagonist begging for someone to become a target for their sword while standing in front of a town ravaged by the war was a lovely way to start the game. With that as well, as you progress you can always click on the bands playing on screen to see what songs the creator has decided to put on the moment, which is a feature that I quite like. All in all while I ended up not finishing TPtC I would still recommend it to anyone who enjoys an eccentric or exaggerated sense of humor. I only stopped playing because my brain was too tiny in the moment that I was playing and looking up a solution isn't exactly my style. Thanks for reading :)

[meandmyechoes]

A little-late 2022 anime roundup, all seasons were SO good.

I’m just catching up the Fall/Oct slot and I STILL have a couple more on the watch list. Looking back and at the upcoming shows, I’m glad I got to catch along with some wholesome and story-rich shows last year. I gravitate towards comedy with anime and I gotta say 2022 was brighter because of them.

January started with My Dress Up Darling. I was drawn to its dressmaking/doll setting and it turns out a very charming puppy love story. I’m in love with both of the protagonists. It’s a very sweet and (drawn) beautiful anime, albeit bit on the fan service side.

In a similar vein is April’s Love After World Domination, a romeo-and-juliet with a tokusatsu twist. I’m being FED at two seasons in a row of tokusatsu-themed anime, after January’s Ms. Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department. Neither of them have a “high-budget” but enough to deliver a heartfelt play on the genre. As a tokusatsu fan, I like Kuroitsu better she’s easily “one of us”, and for its spotlight on local heroes. The characters play off each other well in Love but the permise of fake not-dating can only go for so long before it turns stale. The anime hence takes direction off from the battlefield and paints a even greener high-school first love, then delivers a suited finale to maintain status quo. I’ve finished the rest of manga since, the quality still keeps up. The world could’ve been expanded but it’s not a bad ending to leave things there as well. I would miss it though.

Three anime active per season is about as much as I can handle (plus nitiasa and your week sw release) so I naturally watched the two biggest anime in April as well, Spy x Family and Paripi Koumei. Given Spy’s overwhelming popularity, I was just watching it like a 8pm sitcom, a familiar, cheerful presence. Koumei on the other hand, was wild as it was moving. This kind of insane permise is exactly what I look for. The brewing storm as Eiko and  Nanami face off is tense and when they sing! It may be a little dragging in the middle but overall a memorable show. Look forward to a S2!

During the July season I actually didn’t watched much? Oh wait, it was THREE seasons in a row of Tokusatsu anime because W is back!!!!!! I’m so excited for Fuuto Tantei. I remember looking up the manga just to see how the story goes after the first episode. The mysteries were good. Besides nostalgia, it was so refreshing to see the fantastical exaggerated in the animation format. Look forward to a S2 as well!

Another two lighter shows I watched in the summer was Isekai Ojisan and Kamikuzu Idol. Ojisan had me clapping and expectant, but I lost the motivation to finish it since their schedule conflict. Kamikuzu shares the same review from the next paragraph.

Onto Fall. On the slice-of-life side, The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting was a bit slow, but decent enough for a weekly lunch companion. The overall setting with its cast of handsome men feels very target audience so I’m not too attached to it.

Somehow tagged along to I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss. I’m  not into Isekai but I saw Katarina last year and that was interesting enough. I started watching because it was conveniently on Youtube. This one has an interesting plot, and I like the tease between the two protagonists, but it was so rushed. People say the light novel is better but I’m not sure I like it enough to read them. They are nice as thee short movies, especially that the finale is most evidently harmed by its rush pace.

Another light novel adaptaion is Koukyuu no Karasu. I eventually watched it when I had some time. It was more episodic than I expected and more detective than fantasy. It has some decent lore and as opposed, I am a little interested in reading the light novel as I don’t think this show performs good enough for a second season. (That said the probability of me actually picking one up is close to 10% only)

4nin wa Sorezore Uso wo Tsuku is a gem. I was laughing and clapping to it every episode. Plain as in nothing dramatic happen, but maybe that’s just because the set-up is about as absurd as it could get. I could watch this for hours. By the way, Tsubasa/Tsuyoshi’s older sister is MVP.

Akiba Maid War is so good. Yes, it’s a yakuza story wrapped under a maid costume but that in itself was good? The worldbuilding is rich and even side characters are memorable. It’s not as good as group character building like ZLS but the main characters (Ranko and Nagomi) stayed strong. I saw a review saying it was ‘using a formula on the wrong question yet still gets the correct answer’. Yeah, that’s what it was. The technical aspect is fantastic. Situation comedy top notch. It’s 90% how I felt the first time watching ZLS, it’s crazy it’s funny it’s moving it’s reflective it’s unexpected. Likewise, somehow wish I was there every week but also glad I now finished it in 24 hours.

It could be recency bias but I really do think Akiba Maid War is my favourite anime of 2022! I thought it was gonna be Marin even though I don’t thing it the objectively ‘best’ anime of 2022 but I enjoyed experiencing those characters very much. Then in the end AkiMaid is the only original anime on this list? Then it has to go to them! (LycoReco and Bochi is on my list but I don’t think I have time to watch them until March) The simple fact tha I remebered plot to every episodes and immediately want to rewatch it after the binge is no small feat, as is its comparibility/compatibility with ZLS.

P.S. Pick-ups!

I finally finished WEP after more than a year 😅 Episode 13 wasn’t... bad? It wraps up some plotlines but as a finale, the impact of Episode 12 was better with the metaphorical death of an “immature” Ai. It’s almost like 13 was necessary to tell a complete story but supplemental to an art piece. The show left a lot to interpretation in its beginning/building but the last few episodes with Frill feels like it took a swift turn into packaging it as a proper science fiction story that just seems, out of tone? with the coming-of-age metaphor aspect of it. It was like the egg hunt was an a dream space, a self-exploration journey that doens��t matter if it was real or not, and they took the veil off of it, but instead of clarity it’s just an ugly haze? Well maybe not ugly but, imbalanced. I’m not, disappointed in it, because I think my age right now has limited how I see the show, and I couldn’t turn back the clock and ask myself at 14 or 16 how I would feel about it. Overall just a little bit of a shame it wasn’t as good as it can get. But just the visuals and questions were a good worth of my time.

[twstedbeauty]

Just found your blog, and I love it! May i ask for headcannons of Riddle, Vil, Malleus and Idia watching their designated Disney movie with their s/o?(akin Vil, Snow White, Riddle Alice in Wonderland, Malleus, sleeping beauty)

I’m going to assume that they would have the movies in this world since they canonly have The Little Mermaid adaksdjaksdjas

Riddle Rosehearts 

Riddle is still getting used to relaxing and having fun, so watching movies is still rather new to him. 

He sits rather stiffly on the couch at first, not really sure how he should sit, but he’ll slowly relax once you join him. 

 On the whole, I think Riddle would actually really enjoy Alice in Wonderland. It’s very colorful and whimsical and there’s something about it that gives him an almost nostalgic feeling. 

He’d appreciate Alice as a protagonist, but I do think he’d find her a little annoying with how she thinks and does things at times. 

“Who in their right mind just chases after a rabbit into a hole in the ground?” You hear him mutter and you can’t help but smile to yourself. 

The Cheshire Cat immediately reminds him of Che’nya. 

Riddle is immediately impressed by the Queen of Hearts entrance. She comes on screen and has this air of intimidation and power. 

He points out some parts of the movie that reflect real life Heartslabyul rules! Like the rule about painting the roses, the rule about no cats at parties.

I think the part with the court scene he would find a little silly and quite exaggerated, however. 

"So, it was all just a dream?" Riddle watched the credits roll with a rather confused look. "That wasn't satisfying at all!" You couldn't help but giggle at that.

"It's explained at the beginning! She wanted a world of her own, so she made one up herself~" Riddle just blinks owlishly at you at that, which just makes you laugh again.

He'll have to go and have some time to himself, probably having a mental crisis over what is real and what isn't.

Vil Schoenheit 

Vil loves watching movies, so when you suggest watching a movie from your world, of course he’s all for it. 

Knowing him, he’s no doubt seen the movie already, but he’s not opposed to watching it with you. 

The Beautiful Queen summoning the spirit of the Dark Mirror scene makes a proud smirk come to Vil's face. He can't help but feel a bit of pride for his dorm watching it.

But immediately after, when Snow White comes on screen, his face drops into a scowl and he rolls his eyes.

Right off the bat, he comments about how annoying Snow White is. 

“I just don’t understand why they gave her such a grating voice...” He grumbles, shaking his head. “It’s so irritating.” 

Vil would point out how Snow White's dress and makeup, along with the Beautiful Queen's, is a reflection of the fashion from the period when the movie was made. (And if you pointed it out to him first, he'd be VERY pleased and impressed with you~)

"Oh, so THAT'S why they gave the Beautiful Queen pencil thin eyebrows?" You teased and Vil shoots you an unamused look.

"Of course. She's a product of her time, a staple for beauty and fashion from that era."

The dwarves do amuse him when they come on screen. He'd never tell you, but Dopey is his favorite.

He voices his admiration during the Queen's transformation scene.

"The lengths that she was willing to go is truly admirable..." He watches as she dips the apple into the poison. "But even the greats are capable of making mistakes. She should have ensured that Snow White could never be revived from the sleeping death."

He doesn't have much to say towards the ending, but he does look a little put out by Snow White being revived and getting a happily ever after.

"Such is the fate of villains..." He sighs. "Destined to die in the shadows while the heroes get their happy endings."

"Or is this case, getting struck by lightning and falling off a cliff." You remarked, grinning at the deadpan expression he gives you in response.

His rating for the movie is 9/10. The only reason it's not 10/10 is because of Snow White and the ending.

Idia Shroud 

(I apologize in advance, Idia is one of the characters I'm still trying to get a handle on writing ;v;)

I feel like Idia and Ortho watched the Hercules movie as children and it was Ortho's favorite movie.

So watching it again with you was something nostalgic for him, even if he remarks on it being a kids movie. (You can argue that some of the anime he watches is also for kids, but that will upset him and he'll go sulk under his covers and you'll never finish the movie.)

"Uwehehehe...what a clumsy idiot." He's got that sharp smile on his face as he watches Hercules swing the column around and basically destroy his entire village.

Honestly, he's not really interested in Hercules' tale and he's not really a fan of musicals. The only parts that interest him are when Hades comes on screen.

The only commentary that he gives is to make fun of Hercules.

"It's not possible for people to get THAT muscular in such a little amount of time..." He mutters as he watches the training montage with a bored expression. "It's not scientifically possible." You shrug in response.

"He's part god, so maybe that's part of it?" Idia just snickers with a sharp smile.

"He looks like a car test dummy in a toga."

Idia admires how confident Hades is and how fast he can negotiate things. I think he secretly wishes he had that confidence too.

How does he feel about Megara? Mmmm, I don't think he's interested in her character either. She's the main hero's girlfriend and a pawn to Hades, that's it.

If Ortho is watching with you guys, he's really the only one that enjoys it besides you. Idia goes right back to what he was doing before you suggested watching the movie as soon as the credits roll.

Malleus Draconia

Of course, Malleus knew that there was a movie made about the Thorn Witch. He and Lilia showed it to Silver and Sebek when they were children. (Lilia had thought it would be good for them to learn the history behind the tale!) So when you bring up watching it with him, of course he wants to. He loves spending time with you and the fact you want to learn a bit about his culture warms his heart.

He does like the aesthetic of this movie. He finds the music and the hand-painted backgrounds to be charming.

He can't say he understands how animation works, but it's nice to look at nonetheless.

Malleus likes the three good fairies. He finds their antics and the way Flora and Merryweather butt heads to be rather amusing.

"You know, I've always wondered what the third gift would have been if the Witch of Thorns hadn't come in when she did," He muses as Maleficent makes her entrance. You hum in thought.

"Some people theorize it would have been eternal happiness." You look over at him with a slight smile. "You know....never needing to feel blue?" That makes him chuckle.

"Eternal happines....Yes, I quite like that idea for a gift."

If you remark on Maleficent being petty for cursing an infant, Malleus is going to pout.

"Well, quite frankly, I understand how she feels. It's rather hurtful not being invited to events." You look over at him and raise an eyebrow.

"Fine! Then curse the people who didn't invite you. Don't curse the infant child who had nothing to do with whether or not she was invited." Malleus just hurumphs and crosses his arms.

"In a roundabout way, the king and queen DID suffer for their actions. Having their baby cursed to die." A slight smirk breaks across his face. "I'm sure they'll think twice next time."

He doesn't say it, but he quite likes Aurora as a character and he loves the sound of her singing. He finds it very enchanting and relaxing to listen to.

Flora and Merryweather fighting over the dress color reminds him a lot of Silver and Sebek. Fauna's baking strongly reminds him of Lilia's cooking.

During the part where Aurora is being hypnotized, you suddenly gasping and clamping your hand on his arm startles Malleus. "OH MY GOD. I JUST REALIZED THAT THE CREEPY NOISE IS ACTUALLY SAYING HER NAME."

You both pause and listen again as the eerie note that played in between the music stings creepily called "Auuuroooraaa~" in a beckoning manner. Malleus blinked in surprise.

"Oh my. That would explain her expression as she walks up the stairs." He mused, putting a finger to his chin. "How clever. I've watched this film plenty of times and I never noticed that."

The part where Maleficent casts the thorns around Stephen's castle and turns into a dragon are Malleus' favorite parts.

"None of the other members of the Great Seven can do what she can do." He says with a prideful smirk. "She is truly supreme in her ranking."

Watching Maleficent back Prince Phillip onto a cliff and trap him with no protection is VERY satisfying for Malleus. But once the fairies bless the Sword of Truth, he pouts again.

"If it weren't for them, he wouldn't have been able to defeat her." He says. "It wasn't a fair fight." You raise an eyebrow at him at that.

"She turned into a huge, fire-breathing dragon. You call THAT fair?" His little pout in response just makes you laugh.

Overall, Malleus enjoys watching the movie with you and he'll gladly watch it with you again whenever you want to.

[edwardslostalchemy]

I finished reading 1984! Okay so I've wanted to read this book for a long time. Since my critical thinking class made me aware of it, as well as the book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman, I became aware of the importance of this book. I heard it was even prophetic, which I admit frightened me a bit. There's spoilers of the book ahead.

My first impression of the book before reading it was that it had a utopia where everyone was happy with their environment, but they were blinded by this happiness and didn't realize there was something insidious going on. And when I started reading it, I though "Oh, this is a dystopia." And it is, in the eyes of Winston Smith, the protagonist. But to everyone who is blinded by this false sense of happiness and ignorance, it is a utopia. There is a problem with this world and Winston has realized this. But this puts him in danger and he is very aware that intellectuals and rebels don't stay alive. I was correct to assume there would be something insidious, but I was wrong about everyone being happy with their utopia. Several characters are not, Winston being one of them.

I remember mentioning to my friends that I found the book to be unnerving. It made me aware of just how close we can come to having this kind of environment. The book even talks about how capitalism is the enemy, which in our society, it is. That's what makes it more frightening. It talks about capitalism in the worst light. And perhaps at the time, it may have been absurd (I certain think the descroption sounded a little exaggerated, but not because I support capitalism. I don't.), but in all honesty, it rings too close to reality. Capitalism IS absurd. The government in this book is totalitarian, and it is very controlling. Everyone who is part of the Party is monitored 24/7, they must obey, and they must not show any sign of displeasure. They work for the Party whether they like it or not. The aspect of how controlling this society can be is part of why this book is so unnerving. You can't even THINK about thinking because that in itself is considered a crime.

Another reason why the book is unsettling for me is how human Winston is and honestly, his thoughts even go into murdering someone. It is just a thought. He doesnt do it. But it is a thought. Who hasn't thought about killing someone? Its not like we'll do it. Its only a thought that'll fade with some time. He has other immoral thoughts as well. We aren't supposed to sympathize with these thoughts. I wanted to beat him bloody tbh. Winston has a lot of flaws. However, he could be relatable to the everyday, common person. We all want to be free to do what we want, to love who we want, to think what we want. But one of the slogans from the Party is Freedom is Slavery. What do you even do with something like that?

I personally liked this book because of how unnerving it was. It kept me on edge. I was excited to read it. I think every word was especially picked out for this book.

My one gripe with it is that there are pieces of text from a book in-universe that appear in the book and although it is relevant and it gives us more context to understand this world, I was not fond of reading this particular section. In my book, it is 40 pages long, so it took me 4 days to get through it. Chapter 9, section 2, why are you like this.

I give this book a 9.5/10. Its beautifully written and there are multiple quotes that can be used to relate to our world today, I even found myself hoping Winston would make it in this universe that is honestly uninhabitable imo. I also loved Julia, she's great. I would fight O'Brien in a parking lot outside Wal-Mart, though. As for Winston, give this man a weighted blanket and some quality rum please. Orwell really came for our throats with this book. I highly recommend reading it as it helps to make us aware of where we stand as a society. This book is not just some allegory for Stalinist Russia and communism. We would all benefit learning from this book.

[chrisjake-cp]

History 3 Trapped Filming Diary (full English translation) - Days 61-66 (final part)

Masterpost here.

I don’t own the book so I can’t post my scans of the pictures that came with it. So I posted some other pictures of the scenes that were being filmed. These pics belong to LINE TV or Choco Media, or I’ve taken screenshots.

Read days 61-66 (final day) under the cut. 

Day 61

In the final days before the end of shooting, we were finally scheduled to film in Zhaozi’s house. 

Zhaozi’s house basically only exists to let him and Jack be able to court each other. Every scene is just sweet and unbearably cute. In the drama, Zhaozi’s house is one that his late grandmother had left him. Mounted on the wall was a small framed picture of an older lady, and the protagonist of this picture was really Tingxuan’s [Kenny’s] living (maternal) grandma. His grandmother is already over 90 years old but she keeps in very strong health and can walk around in the park without having to use crutches. Kenny has a good relationship with his grandmother. When he took this photo out and introduced her to us, his eyes were full of happiness that we didn’t see at other times.⁕ 

An apron-wearing Jack is like the embodiment of a handsome chef coming to your house. Even if what he prepares are only super simple instant noodles, he could flirt with Zhaozi (and the hearts of many girls). 

I don’t know if Zhaozi’s grandma, looking on from the picture frame, would be satisfied with this young idol wearing her apron though. 

⁕ Kenny, why so cute? 😭

Day 62

That’s right. Today was also a whole day of kissing, hugging and rolling on the bed (I’m flustered) in Zhaozi’s house. The Sanzhi Little White House B&B has featured as the location for many famous commercials and idol dramas. The inside of the house feels warm and sweet, which is why it was selected as this drama’s setting for Zhaozi’s house. 

Zhaozi’s room is located on the second floor. Young people have good physical strength, because they had to kiss from the first floor all the way up to the second floor (if I’m not careful almost all of today’s pictures will be kissing pictures, hahahahaha), then in the room on the second floor they were rolling around in the bed and then back to the first floor to roll on the table. 

When you look at the pictures of the table scene, maybe it was cut to a short moment in the show, but the positions and the movements for this scene were rather complicated.  The two needed to first practice the chemistry between their positions and the camera, and many different camera angles as well as bloopers happened during filming. The two of them lingered at the table half the night, their rolling around started from dinner and went on until they had a midnight snack. We really can’t but admire the two’s good core strength. 

Day 63

Actually, the fighting scenes in the car and after they get out of the car after Tang Yi and Shaofei are being seized were filmed on different days. Therefore, what was filmed today was after Shaofei pulled the handbrake (right, I use this as the dividing point [between the scenes]) and the two of them rushed up the mountain. The weather that day was really cold, so it was also a test for the crew to go shooting in the mountains. 

That same day we also shot the plotline of how Shaofei fantasizes about how to get off the mountain. The crew used branches to make a scarecrow for Tang Yi and Shaofei to hang their clothes on. But during the filming process the art team made a total of three scarecrows. When asked about it, it was not because they wanted to have a back-up prop, but because one of them was snatched away by a dog from the mountains to use as a toy.

The art crew went: “Doggie, you bastard, come back here” (in Shaofei’s elevator voice)⁕ 

⁕  When Shaofei was cuffed to the handrail and Tang Yi stepped out of the elevator, Shaofei said almost the same thing to Tang Yi. (”Tang Yi, you bastard, get back here.”)

Day 64

It’s two days before the end of shooting, and I already can’t think anymore about how many times these two have kissed. And today was another whole day of kissing. I’m not exaggerating. Early in the morning we filmed that Shaofei grabbed Tang Yi’s hands when they got to the courthouse. When Director Qingrong arranged the scene, she figured that the plot allowed for them to kiss again, so a kissing scene was added on the spot. 

In the afternoon we switched sets and went to the balcony at the hospital. On the balcony Shaofei confessed his feelings and also stealthily kissed [Tang Yi]. How could someone confess like that and kiss straight after? Our boss Tang hadn’t even responded [to the confession] yet! Counting on my fingers, one camera angle takes 8 takes on average, and for one scene we would approximately change angles four or five times. So for all the scenes from morning until in the afternoon, they at least kissed 70 times, and that’s only today. ⁕ 

⁕ Listen, I need to see aaaaaaaallllll the taaaaaaaaakes.   

Day 65

Tang Yi and Shaofei have finished filming! 

They spent 68 days of wind, sun and rain together, they went through being chased by men in black and hit by bullets, together they spent [a night] in an abandoned cabin on fire, the two went from being strangers at the acting and martial arts classes to gradually developing a deep connection with each other and hand in hand, they overcame all kinds of difficulties. 

Different from the other “HIStory” series we have made before, <Trapped> was the first story to break free of having a school campus as its setting. The plot was much more complicated and the actors were faced with more and bigger challenges. Regardless of whether it were psychological challenges concerning their acting, or psychical challenges of being involved in numerous fights and constantly sustaining injuries, it was all very tough on them. The last day of filming, with good weather, was also spent in a fight. They fought 8 hours straight, from 9am in the morning until the sun set in the mountains, which was a major test of physical strength. The sun shone brightly, there were high temperatures and the rays of the sun dazzled the eyes. Tang Yi fought bravely in a suit and leather shoes, and Shaofei’s left eye was hit during the fighting process. He immediately returned to a state of readiness for war after a quick break to apply some ice to it. Thank you, all actors, for your dedication and the beauty of each frame that you presented, and thank you to the crew members behind the scenes for their hard work. You can leave the rest up to us now. 

Boss Tang was finished with shooting a little earlier than Shaofei, because in the evening, Unit 3 continued their scenes in the restaurant. Unexpectedly a group of people arrived earlier at the restaurant and waited for our arrival. It turned out to be our senior colleagues from <Crossing The Line>, Yanze (Zach Lu) and Menglin (Nick Yang) who were visiting the set. When they saw their younger ‘brothers’ working hard to film this show, and them being riddled with scars from filming, the original mood of being there to supervise softened. Senior Zach patted junior Jake on the shoulder, saying, “Seeing you taking this so seriously, I can pass the baton to you guys with an assured mind.”

Day 66

On the last day of shooting, the crew was divided into two groups to carry out the work. One group was responsible for returning to the international conference office and for going up the mountains to shoot some more final material to fill up some gaps; the other group in turn stayed behind at Zhaozi’s house to shoot scenes for the final episode, namely the fight and bed scenes after Jack took Zhaozi home on his motorbike (or should I say ‘transported’ home?). The evening’s bed scene called for Jack to do a lot of push-ups. Each time after “Action” was yelled, Jack huffed out sounds like “Ah” and “Huh” while doing his push-ups, which rendered the crew at the scene unable to stop laughing. After shooting the ‘official’ scenes, to increase the sound effects from under the covers, the two actors were asked specifically to use the blanket to create some more needed sounds for the show. After confirming that the sounds were okay, Director Qingrong yelled “We can pack up! <Trapped> has finally finished shooting.” Because there were other houses in the neighbourhood of Jack’s house and it was night time, everyone cheered a little bit but immediately said “shhhhhh”, reminding each other to be quiet. 

To be frank, practicing how to say goodbye is definitely not a simple thing. When you continue doing the same thing for 21 days, it would slowly become a habit. But with <Trapped>, from when shooting started until we finished filming, we went through 66 work days together. We were used to getting along with everyone, we were used to getting up early and eating breakfast together, or eating a snack in the middle of the night. Meeting with this whole team every day had become a kind of habit. In these 66 days, we experienced Yilan in 10 degrees and 30 degrees, we climbed mountains together and jumped into swimming pools together, we may have accidentally slipped on the mountain and gotten injured, we were shot at by airsoft guns (BB guns), and the thick smoke in the abandoned cabin made our nostrils turn black. All of that will become memories now. Finishing shooting [a show] is like the feeling of attending a graduation ceremony when you are a kid: you look forward to it, but the closer to the day it gets, the more you feel like you don’t want it to end. We hope that everyone who reads this diary will feel the warmth brough by the crew of <Trapped> and we also hope that these memories that left a deep impression, will forever remain in everyone’s hearts.

[frightfurtabby]

Himikiyo Week 2021 Day 5: Anniversary Party

// Cute and fluffy, make-up smearing kissies, slow dancing, and awards... enjoy~

Word count: 1434

Links

AO3- https://archiveofourown.org/works/34196977

Amino-  (coming soon)

I need to catch up on cross-posting to amino so I’ll be doing that too.

//

The anniversary party was an important occasion. All actors from the danganronpa franchise were coming together for this event. 10 years ago was the release of the first series starring Makoto Naegi as the protagonist, since then there have been 3 further series and a spin off that took place between the first 2, though it had aired afterward. And they were all gathered together.

There were already plans for another spin-off that was summer camp themed and would be finished later the next year. It was really big but sometimes there were years of waiting between new productions and that led to a lot being covered by tabloids and other media outlets. Korekiyo moved up to a small town in Aomori prefecture with Himiko to stay as quiet as possible, keeping in contact with certain people from among their castmates.

The couple were sitting together in a backstage private dressing room once again, Himiko taking time to brush Kiyo’s hair. Most of their outfits were already in place, a puffy purple dress for Himiko, her matching magic hat sat on the table in front of them.It was so pretty and only a little bit difficult to move around in at first before she was getting used to it. The anniversary celebrations included a dance in the ballroom and awards for the newest batch of fan popularity polls.

“Babe are you sure you want to go for that hat, I don’t know if it fits with the rest of what you’ve got going on.”

Kiyo was wearing a white button-up long sleeved blouse with a burgundy vest, a green coat over both and a long black skirt. Near Himiko’s hat was their own for this occasion, a black fedora which was what she was referring to in her comments..

“I personally think it looks nice.” Kiyo gave an exaggerated pout.

Touching up both their make-up was all the couple needed before they got to head out to the event proper. Kiyo hadn’t decided on lipstick before they had to go to avoid running late. They could do without that but not without eating, which they had to finish on the way out.

When she was finished brushing she helped gather their locks together and band it to make a ponytail.

She chuckled. “Of course you do, well since you insist. Here, have this one, I think this color will compliment everything nicely. Now come closer!” She grabs a nice dark blood red shade. Kiyo had used it plenty of times, including the year they dressed up as a vampire for Halloween, so it was a classic go-to.

Kiyo leaned in like she asked. Puckering their lips out to give her a more complete canvas for her to work with. However, before Himiko touched the tip of the lipstick onto their lips, Kiyo stopped for a moment.

“I wouldn’t want to smudge this so soon, so please give me a kiss?”

Himiko giggled. “Alright, okay. But first…” Her free hand extended and her pointer finger booped them right on the nose.

The former Ultimate Anthropologist feigned shock. “What did I deserve that for?”

“For being cute, ya silly goose.”

They were gearing up for a follow up joke but they were pulled in by the collar and smooched. They leaned into and savored it. Even if it did ruin the set-up, it was fine. Any time was a lovely time to smooch Himiko.

“Okay, now we can do it.” she chirped.

Kiyo re-assumed the proper position and reached out, gently caressing Himiko’s cheek. A deep look into her eyes. “Alright, go ahead.”

She reached up to hold them still with one hand and eased the lipstick close. Drawing it, focused as close as she can on the precision. Even though they had just kissed, she was tempted to ruin it again.

So she did.

They giggled as soon as she let them go. “God I’m so lucky wearing a mask is my trademark. I’m sure people would have a field day if they actually saw how smudged you always end up making this.”

“Yeah well, I’m lucky to have you.” She said, making cute faces in their direction.

Kiyo pulled their mask up and put the fedora on, taking Himiko’s hand as a way to get up out of the chair.

They turned and exited the door. Upon entering the hallway they met up with Shuichi and Rantaro, spending time catching up. Talking about how the cats were doing, how busy it was lately, more recent gigs they’d lent their talents to, that kind of thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Upon entering the ballroom, the couple noticed there were danganronpa themed decorations all over. A big banned reading “Happy 10th Anniversary'' went along the rafters. It was certainly doing its job of seeming like a mix between prom and a high school reunion.

At least this one was full of people both of them liked better than most people who’d been at either of their actual proms from back in the day. Even with personal problems here and there it was still more tolerable than that.

A slow waltz tune echoes around the ballroom. All the couples were paired up, most having stuck together pretty much the whole time up to this point regardless, but the Junko was making a big deal up on stage about how  “If you’re not already, couple up and dance!”

Kiyo’s hand was around the back of Himiko’s head. They took time to pet her and look into her eyes as they performed slowly just like they had practiced. It felt nice and warm. Both could close their eyes for a bit and had a good amount of space to nuzzle up.

“I love you dear.”

“I love you too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few dance tracks later, Junko Enoshima got up and did a little bit of MC’ing. “And now everyone, having a good time? Well, it’s time to announce the first batch of winners from the polls! And here to read those names is someone we all know and love. The mysterious…”

She started getting a head count of all the danganronpa alumni, dragging it on for comedic effect. “The mysterious 40-somethingth student that was lying hidden somewhere in this very building… Mukuro Ikusaba!”

The crowd of students clapped, Himiko and Kiyo included. As Mukuro took time to further introduce the concept, showing off the envelopes for good measure, the lovers had a small conversation.

“Do you think we’ll win anything this year?”

“I hope we do. I’m not sure though, since competition is very stiff in all categories.”

“It’d be really cute if we won the couples one” she smiled, holding their arm close. “We may not have won it yet, but there's always a chance.”

“I’ve seen a little bit of buzz online telling fans to vote for us. So we might pull it off.”

It came time, the third category: the cutest off-screen couple. The options were always more open, as there were very few canonical on-screen romances in the show. Mukuro cut open this envelope, like she had done the previous two.

The MC cleared her throat. “Ahem. The winners are… Shinguuji Korekiyo and Yumeno Himiko”

The V3 cast members hooted and hollered. The other 2 main series had just picked up 1 win each and usually SDR2 would sweep these anniversary award contests. Picking up a surprise win would hopefully be a sign.

Escorted by several classmates like they just scored the winning points in a sport together, Himiko and Kiyo went up, and had to make up a speech off the cuff. That’s how much of a last second blindside actually pulling it off was.

Himiko took her spot close to Kiyo’s side and they both stood in front of the mic. Kiyo gently taps it and clears their throat.

“Thank you all, I’m… surprised. I thought for sure it would be another year of us being passed up.” they said

She added “The fans really pulled through!” She raised her award and held it up to clink it with Kiyo’s. “I’m not sure what else to even say.”

“We are grateful for the nomination, and thank everyone who cast a vote.” Asked if they had anything more to say, Kiyo finished with “As difficult as some fans can be, it's always good to feel appreciated.”

Everyone went back down, further winners were to be announced. Neither cared much, but would support friends who could get it. For now all they wanted was to cuddle up together on the bleachers. The rest of the night was for relaxing.

[residentlesbrarian]

The Second Book I Read In the Dark: Another YA superhero novel for me to squeal over forever...YES, Please! Gimme Gimme!

Dreadnought by April Daniels

So Day 1 in the dark continues onward and I have already finished 1 of my 3 library books with still so much day left so what else to do but soldier forward and continue without pause. Well there was a short pause for delicious chicken soup cooked on a blessedly gas powered range (never gonna live in a house with an electric range; I swear this thing has saved our butts in so many power outages), but I digress; I was ready! This time I was taking a break from the whimsical and witchy and diving head first into all things super with an extra heroic twist. 

I had heard so many good things about this book for so long but again it had fallen to the wayside of other distractions (a rainbow montage of movie and TV show gays runs back and forth through my head like the migrating fandom flamingoes). What finally made me make the decision to buckle down and do the thing was a video review done by one of my favorite YouTubers, Dominic Noble (Video Linked below). I love his series Lost in Adaptation, because as an avid reader I too find myself appalled by what Hollywood often does to my favorite books. Hearing him talk about Dreadnought was just the push my flighty brain needed to say, “Fine! Alright! We haven’t utterly obsessed over a teenage superhero book in like 6 months since we near bludgeoned our girlfriend with Not Your Sidekick! Fine! Let’s do it!” So...yeah if this intro is anything to go by this should be a fun one! Let’s dive right in shall we!

Unicorn Rating:

Blurb: She just wanted to paint her toenails in peace but then a superhero had to go and die and give Danny the one thing she never thought she’d have...her proper body. Now if only everyone else felt that way too. Life just got awesome and really really complicated all at once! Oh yeah and she can fly now. Bonus!

Disclaimer: I will try my best to not spoil anything from the book, but my book loving rambles may give more away than a traditional review. Here we go! Ramble time!

Review: 

Holy crap! After the last book this was exactly what I needed! This book was just...so good! The plot...the characters...the world...everything about it just pulls you in and doesn’t let you go. Now I may have felt that way because I didn’t have anything trying to pull me away from this book but I don’t think I would have been easily pulled away if there had been distractions. And so many facets of this story were things I didn’t expect because I had never seen them portrayed before. Like the fact Danny having to deal with the rampant day to day sexism of being a woman now that her appearance matches who she really is. I’ve never seen that in a book before and I absolutely loved it! I was so dedicated to Danny’s story from page 1 it’s ridiculous, and look at that, a perfect segue into the phenomenal characters of this book...look what I did there switching it up going out of order on ya...gotta keep ya on your toes.

Our protagonist Danny is such a phenomenal example of a genuine kind caring person who is also deeply scarred and angry. It was so amazing to read a character that was flawed and struggling and doesn’t see how much a hero she really is and the small moments when others take that double take and go, “You’re the real deal, huh?” But those moments just confuse the living hell outta Danny cause she’s just Danny, she got super powers as a fluke. She is also hilarious and courageous and smart but knows she isn’t perfect and has weaknesses. She may be the strongest person on earth physically now but she acknowledges that that isn’t everything someone needs. Danny is such a good bean, but she has issues and that isn’t glossed over which is so rare. Now the next thing I want to touch on is a very tough subject but is very prevalent in the book so I wouldn’t be a very prudent reviewer if I didn’t bring it up. Danny is, without question, an abused child. This isn’t even really a spoiler, it alludes pretty heavily to it in the blurb, but what I’m gonna touch on next does dip into that territory so I’m gonna break it into a new LONG paragraph so just scroll on by if you don’t want to read this bit.

So at one point in the book Danny mentions a health screening at school that revealed she had hearing damage in her right ear that has now been healed by the mantle of Dreadnought. At the time of the screening she didn’t realize why until her dad had another Mount Vesuvius day and she assumed her usual position of curling in on herself and turning her head to the left so he would yell into only her right ear. Now how loud and how often do you have to yell into someone’s ear to cause permanent hearing damage? I don’t know and honestly I don’t want to know. Why am I highlighting an overall tiny moment...because for me this moment jumped out and gut punched me. Brought literal tears to my eyes. Tears of pain. Tears of rage. Tears of hate. I’m a weepy bitch when I get emotional. I’ve read a lot of books that try and portray abuse and how Daniels wrote Danny’s abuse from her father took my breath away because it felt so real. There weren’t really any good days, there were bad days, there were really bad days, but most days were just anxiously waiting for the next bad day, because Danny knew there would always be a next bad day. Something that did surprise me was my feelings about Danny’s mother. I knew going in I would hate her father, before even meeting him I hated him, but her mother, that was a hate that lay dormant until it exploded onto the scene and froze me to my core. I’m not gonna get into my own demons here but there is one thing I cannot abide by and that is people turning a blind eye while someone abuses another. Danny’s mother is the textbook definition of someone who “goes along to get along”, she will do just about anything to keep the peace, but at what cost? Instead of protecting her child from someone who literally screamed so long and so loud at her child that it damaged her hearing she just sat back and let them. That’s not the worst though, no, after Danny’s transition her mom seems to be understanding of the fact she is happy being a girl and is buying her things she needs like bras and undeniably feminine shoes, only to reveal it was all to keep Danny docile so she wouldn’t cause more fights with her dad. That to me is unforgivable. Not worse than the abuse of the father, but still undeniably selfish. She never cared about Danny or listened to her and what she was really saying. She just didn’t want there to be anymore fighting. Well I’m sorry, but sometimes, as a mother, you should fight to protect your goddamn child when someone is hurting them. The last thing I’ll say before going back to the more spoiler free and fun part of the review is that the fact Danny can never make herself say she is being abused hits so close to home for me. As a reader looking in from outside, there was a scene with a member of the Legion that I felt like, as an abuse survivor myself, I was standing there begging Danny to accept her invitation. To get out of that house. To get away from her father. To see what he was doing for what it was. But I knew she wouldn’t, she wasn’t ready, and it broke my heart to watch her fly away.

Anyway moving on from all that heavy stuff lets talk about other things like some freaking superheroes and one particular vigilante. We have the Legion members: Doc Impossible, Valkyrja, Magma, Graywytch, Chlorophyll, and Carapice. Now How do I want to talk about these characters...in what order...hmmm...how about from best to worst. Okay? Okay. Great! 

I freaking love Doc Impossible! She is a character that from the moment I met her she gave me ‘kookie grandma’ character vibes and I get DOWN with kookie grandma characters. Now I know she isn’t a grandma character nor is she particularly crazy in the way she acts; it's just a vibe I get from her that I love. Now one thing I do want to say without spoiling anything is how Doc is one of the few characters that never tries to take away Danny’s agency in everything that happens around her in all this superhero craziness. Danny can always be her own person and most importantly a kid around Doc, and I feel Danny really needed that. I will stop myself now because I could go on for hours about Doc and how much I LOVE HER!

Next up we get a two for one, Valkyrja and Magma. We don’t see much of them but what we do get is pretty good. They are adult superheroes who have their own priorities surrounding what is going on with Danny, but aren’t mean or cruel and seem to genuinely care about Danny. Valkyrja is funny and surprisingly down to earth even though she is basically a scandinavian goddess of sorts. Also the hilarity of her being Danny’s long time celebrity crush never gets old. Oh Danny, you useless little lesbian. Magma is a precious big hot boy that seems like he’d give good hugs. Yeah, that's about all I got to say about him that won’t spoil anything. 

Now we have another two for one with Chlorophyll and Carapice. These two I'm between dislike and indifferent on.  They weren’t outright mean to Danny but they treated her more like a means to an end or down right refused to acknowledge she was the new Dreadnought whether they liked it or not, but we didn’t really get to see them enough to really learn more about their motivations. 

Finally to round out the Legion we have Graywytch. Excuse me while I get this out. *Exaggerated throat clear.* First of all, Imma slap that stupid robe of ya stupid head. Then Imma stab you with your stupid fancy atheme you like to wave around all the time. And don’t even start on your “Typical male, always resorting to violence” shtick, cause guess what, I’m a ciswoman and I still wanna stomp a mudhole in your ass. And for that...Imma slap your dumb bird too. *Deep breath in. Looooooong exhale.* Sorry about that. Mama had to express some rage. I have never had a hate-sink character that made me feel the fiery flames of rage quite like Graywytch...obviously. Her treatment of Danny had me gripping the book tightly and growling about slapping birds and “shanking bitches” more than I should probably admit. She is one of those characters that I love how much I hate her. She served the exact purpose she was meant to and it was never cast in a light that she may be right in her treatment of Danny, we are always aware that her mindset is ridiculous. Like the fact outside of her parents Graywytch is the only character to blatantly deadname and misgender Danny. To go off on a small tangent here I may relate too much here because I have a younger brother who is trans (don’t worry he is fine with me discussing it in reviews and such) and I went to a graduation party when my best friend graduated medical school and he was out to the family but not extended friends yet. After only referring to him by the proper pronouns for so long at home hearing the wrong ones caused legitimate eye blinking record scratch cognitive dissonance for me. I had the same feeling anytime Graywytch opened her stupid mouth and blatantly misgendered Danny. Because the way this is written Danny is Danny, she is exactly who she is meant to be. Suck it Graywytch!

Okay, I know you probably want to hear about the plot I know, but we have one more character we have to talk about and that is Calamity, the rootin’-ist tootin’-ist vigilante that ever did come through these here parts. Sorry, I have to talk like this now, it’s part of the persona, you have to commit to the persona. But real talk, I absolutely love Calamity as a look into “graycapes” and the real dive into the world of superheroes beyond the big heroes. We get to see how someone who doesn’t have the backing of the Legion goes about helping people, the little people, those that maybe the Legion way up in their tower can’t see from so high up in the clouds. And y’all know me, I love a morally gray vigilante with a heart of gold.  She had me at “You wanna go capin’?”

Now obviously I couldn’t get enough of the characters but the plot was pretty darn good too. It was so intricately woven in with Danny and her inheriting the mantle from the previous Dreadnought that she had no choice but to be an integral part of it. Now I obviously don’t have as much to say about the plot as I did the characters but know if you come for the plot you won’t be disappointed. It kept me guessing and threw me for an absolute curve ball at the end that I did not see coming! You won’t be disappointed.

So final thoughts...there isn’t much more I can say without going on an hours long squeal fest about how much I freaking loved this book and the characters and the intricacies of how Danny’s powers work and how she was written and how she interacts with different characters and just everything that would mean massive untakebackable spoilers! So I will end on this note; Danny is a character that it would have been easy to lean into the superhero aspect and let the reader forget that she was trans, but April Daniels didn’t want that. Danny was gifted the easiest transition in the history of the world. What takes most people years of HRT and surgeries and therapy Danny did in the passing of a mantle, but it never took away the fact she is and always will be trans. It was a unique reading experience that I have only been blessed with once before but that’s a story for a different review on a different day.

Queer Wrap-up: I would give my left kidney (that’s my good one btw) to give this book five unicorns, but alas I cannot, a one off conversation in an elevator hinting that a certain improbable doctor may have a one sided thing for a particular sadly straight scandinanvian god being is just not enough to count as additional rep. As much as I love this book, and I love it A LOT! We only have Danny as our queer rep and she is fantastic rep and our protagonist so a 4 unicorn rating was a no brainer on this one. Danny is the kind of trans rep I want to see more of in the world of books, YA and otherwise. Being a trans lesbian is a huge part of her character but she gets to do so much more than that in the breath of the story and that’s what I look for in great representation, so Danny easily earned these 4 unicorns on her own merit just being her amazing self.

Links: 

Goodreads

Dominc Noble’s Review

Alright so...this one got long. Ah hell, I ain't gonna apologize for it! This is a damn good book and I wanted to get my fangirl squeal on y’all. 

Oh no, I think I’ve been thinking about Calamity too much I slipped into the persona without meaning to! This book was just far too much fun to read to the point I started reading it out loud with a full cast of voices (hint: the Calamity parts were my favorite) because it flowed so well and was genuinely so funny at parts and heart wrenchingly sad in others and so action packed the next moment. I finished this book in less than a day and if I had been more present and not under a pile of blankets and wearing a headlamp I might have thought to keep a timer to tell you the exact number of hours it took me, but alas know it didn’t take me many. 

So the adventures reading in the dark continue on to the next review after this one but as always if you want to read this but don’t want to spend the money without knowing for sure you are going to like it, go to your local library. You’d be surprised what they have on their shelves just waiting to be discovered. Trust me, I’m a lesbrarian.

[adrischrv]

REGNUM [L.H] - Chapter 7

Summary: In a dystopian future, a tragedy leads Prince Luke to become King of Gardenstone. From her neighboring kingdom Maredale, our protagonist Amberly must choose between King Luke and King Ashton of Lauxwell to close the alliance that the three kingdoms are destined to make. In the process and after, Amberly will encounter mysteries, a love triangle, and betrayals that will define her future. (Basically, enemies to lovers)

Word Count: 2,611

MASTERLIST.

I admired the distribution of each blanket along with the front garden of the palace. Each one with a basket full of fruits, a small cake from the bakery at the foot of the palace, and a bottle of wine accompanied by its corresponding glasses. Even with the perfect organization of the picnic finished and the satisfaction of having finished everything on time, the matter of the glove was still hanging over my head.

"-L.", they signed. I had three options in mind: Lidia, the most obvious, she could be thanking me for what had happened - which I prevented from happening to Julia. Lauren, I did, after all, tell her about my work at the greenhouse. And the least possible, Luke; I thought about including him in the list since I started working, I really couldn't think of a reason why I would have done it if he was the one who left me without gloves in the first place; however, I didn't rule it out. Whoever it was I owed them one.

Michael's first task had been the easiest and no one had ever stopped my work. In the best-case scenario, Luke had decided that I was a person capable of organizing events. At worst, he was saving his ideas with malice for later. 

I watched people start filling up the tablecloths; gardeners, cooks, stable people; everyone had come to enjoy themselves as they should after the hard work they were doing at the palace; everyone with a smile on their faces.

“Blue suits you perfectly, your highness.”

Behind me Ashton approached slowly, admiring the scene. I think that years could go by and I would never cease to be surprised at her bright hazel eyes.

“And as far as I can see, you did a magnificent job with the picnic," He added. “Everyone seems to be enjoying what you prepared.”

“They are. Come with me, I have an extra basket," I invited him to hold his hand and stand on an empty blanket. “You should have seen how their eyes lit up when they heard they had the afternoon off and the food was ready.”

Ashton took a seat on the blanket as soon as my knees touched it. I took the basket I'd left for me as a personal reward and placed it between him and me. I took out the fruit while Ashton poured the wine glasses.

“I can imagine. You did an excellent job for a Queen's task... but it's something innate in you.” The last thing he said was so honest that I felt my chest shrink.

“In a way it is," I admitted, offering him a piece of bread which he accepted and exchanged for my glass. “I would have liked to have done a task...”

I shook my head in search of the word I needed while eating a fairly juicy piece of apple. Ashton pulled out a napkin and wiped the side of my mouth.

“...that suited your job?” he said, in a new closeness that took me by surprise and limited me to nodding. “Maybe Luke thinks it's too soon for that. Besides, whatever you do, the tasks on your level will come to you.”

“My "level" is... simple, then?” I asked, taking a piece of crusty bread for myself. 

“No, no, no, not at all," said Ashton, "I mean tasks for a Queen. Luke is lucky to have someone with your potential organizing events like this picnic.”

I laughed at how quickly he had corrected himself. “Luke is lucky to have anyone at all.”

As if he had been called out, Luke came out of the main gates of the palace and with a steady pace approached our blanket. I left the bread half-eaten and got up immediately, shaking the crumbs off my dress just as Luke stood in front of me with furrowed eyebrows and a tense jaw. 

“Your Majesty-”

“Save the formalities," he ordered, pausing his words as he noticed Ashton's presence. “Can we talk for a moment, Amberly? Alone?”

It took me longer to nod than he did to hold my wrist and take me with a quick step in another direction. 

“Ouch!” I shook my free hand from him as I stopped the pace away from the others. “What's your problem?”

With his hands on his waist and his chin up, enjoying the difference in height between us, he laughed as short as he was sarcastic.

“What´s my problem? Is the question serious?” He asked the seriousness on his face indicated that he didn't need an answer. “You organized the picnic without my permission! In answer to your question, you are my problem!”

“I'm sorry?”

“You should be. When I told Michael that he could do whatever he wanted, I didn't mean to leave the event in your hands," he interrupted. “And you... Of course, you wanted to organize it and show off your skills as the loser of the year.”

I took my hands to my waist just like him and I approached him now enraged.

“At least I have skills, your majesty," I answered. “At least there is a picnic and at least there are people who are grateful for it. You should stop acting like a little child," I corrected myself, "-even a little child has more manners than you do.”

In a clean move, Luke grabbed me by the waist and pushed it into a vine-covered palace wall. Dangerously close, he pressed his chest against me to stop the effort to get out of his grip. 

“Manners, Princess? I have enough to keep you from saying goodbye and sending you back to your sad kingdom after the disrespect you have just committed," he took my chin and raised my eyes, forcing eye contact, whispering in my ear. “This is what you'll do: you will say goodbye to that Ashton idiot, go up to your room and not set foot in the garden until the event is over. Do you want to help the servants? Perfect. You'll clean up all things you put on my lawn without any help.”

The more he talked the more I felt the vines burying themselves in my back. Even with the slight lack of air that was increasing, Luke's fragrance filled my lungs.

“Don't come for me, princess, cause you forget you are in my kingdom, in my palace..." He added, "Are you planning to stay? I'm afraid you must adapt to my rules.”

As he let go of my chin, he asked, "Any questions?”

I went through the buttons of the red shirt I had chosen today with displeasure, but willing to play along.

“Actually... “ I said, opening the shirt a little more by removing a button. Luke didn't refuse the strange move he seemed delighted, which made me even angrier. “Something was not quite clear to me, your majesty.”

He raised an eyebrow without saying anything else. I moved a finger at the height of my face asking him to come a little closer, and it wasn't until I was at the height of his ear that I asked, "At what point in all this did you say you were going to hell?”

With that I used closeness in my favor and finding momentum in the wall behind me I pushed him, freeing myself from his grip and getting a gasp from him.

“And leave you here alone?” 

I heard him ask aloud as I turned the corner of the palace and headed to my room.

¥

I entered the palace again through the kitchen door. I climbed each oak wood step with great effort, not knowing how I had reached the floor of my room without crawling. I was exhausted. The idea of taking a bath with bubbles and scented candles had kept me sane while cleaning. Now all I could think about was collapsing in bed and not waking up for a week. 

The sight of a male figure in front of the door made me discard all of the above. 

Ashton, as flawless and handsome as ever, was the only thing standing between the soft, comfortable bed in my room and my exaggerated exhaustion. 

“Amberly, you look..." he looked up and down at me, smiling sideways. “Tired.”

“I am.” A bone in my back had cracked as I straightened up, I was sure, I put what was left of my energy into a smile. 

“Go ahead," I invited him into my room, leaving the door ajar to avoid rumors. “Make yourself comfortable, I'll go clean up.”

I went into the bathroom and rubbed soap on all the places in me that were covered with dirt. 

“I see that you have gloves now," I heard his voice a little far away. “The ones on your dresser.”

I wiped the soap off my face with water and a towel, hoping to get rid of the smell as soon as possible. 

“Yes, they were a gift," I said, spraying me with perfume. 

“My sister said that before she left she met you in the corridor and you told her about your work in the greenhouse.”

A part of me was relieved, it seemed that the gloves had been Lauren's gift, not Lidia's... or Luke's. 

I returned to the room after applying the light pink lipstick I used in the morning. Ashton entertained herself by sitting on the edge of the bed. Once he realized I had returned, he touched the mattress at his side, an invitation to sit down that I did not refuse. 

“When She comes back, I'll thank her... When will she do that, by the way?” I asked noticing our legs rubbing a little bit because of the closeness. 

He let out a sigh, running a hand through his shiny black hair. A simply lovely gesture. 

“A month, exactly. She will be very busy with meetings, business, implementations... who knows, she may even be back engaged before I am.”

"Amberly Sarah Campbell of Irwin, Queen of Lauxwell," Lidia's words went through my mind as fast as a breeze. Which reminded me of the necklace. 

“The necklace," I spat, without first ordering my thoughts. “Forgive me, I... “

Stealing my attention, one of his hands covered one of mine placed on my lap, his thumb caressed me. I didn't push him away, I didn't feel like it. 

“I heard what you did with it, it's the purest and most humane use anyone could have given it..." his other hand wandered across my chin, connecting our gazes effortlessly. “Of all the things you can ask for as a result of your noble act, do not ask for forgiveness. There is nothing to forgive.”

I smiled, his gift of words could stun me again and again. 

“What else could I ask for? It was for the good of others. No offense, but the last thing I thought about was the negative consequences of giving him to Luke.”

The thumb on my chin traveled slowly to the edges of my mouth, so did his eyes. If I wasn't sitting down my knees would be failing from the weak they felt. 

“A reward. For having such a good heart, Amberly.”

I didn't think I would like so much to hear my name coming out of his mouth in the proximity we were in, a proximity that we disappeared the next second.

It wasn't clear who approached who first, I didn't care. His lips felt soft against mine at first, shy and delicate. The hand that was now on my cheek slipped subtly to the back of my neck to deepen the kiss, intertwining some small locks of hair between his fingers. My hands remained on the sides of his face, his beautiful face. My right leg, on the other hand, was threatening to get into his lap. He got permission from the hand that moments before had caressed mine, which positioned itself in the hollow of my back holding me tightly against him. 

“Amberly..." he let go so exquisitely as he took a breath. 

Finally, I slid my fingers through his hair. All the regret that accumulated in my body disappeared with each little kiss that he left from the crescent of my lips to my neck. His hands shook as they went up to my back. I kissed him behind his ear, gently biting his earlobe which caused a brief sound to come out. 

Then another sound interrupted us. Knocking on the half-open door interrupted the trance I had entered and I had trouble getting out. 

I jumped out of his lap without calculating the distance between the bed and the chest of drawers by throwing my gloves in the process, picking them up and leaving them in my grip as I walked out the door. I didn't bother to look at Ashton, I felt my whole face burn with shame. I walked out into the hallway through the half-open door space with my hands behind me holding the gloves. 

“Amberly, sorry to bother you at this hour…”

Luke, again. His presence replaced all happiness in me with anger. I still felt the displeasure of looking at him…

Necklace. Lauxwell. Ashton. Focus.

Ashton was still inside the room. 

“I hope you enjoyed cleaning up the garden.”

“I didn't know you were so worried about coming to see me. A note would have sufficed, Your Majesty.”

I spoke quickly, stumbling over the words. I was never good at lying, the pressure in moments of desperation helped me work and think but lying about such simple things made me nauseous. 

“Don't be so disappointed, I might think you don't like me. But really, I wanted to know if-”

“Your Majesty, what a surprise... “

Ashton opened the door by leaning against the frame, crossed his arms and I could tell he didn't worry about fixing the fuss in his hair or removing the lipstick marks from his face. Luke noticed it too, it must have been that which made him change his carefree posture to the one where he was walking around his office, ready to make you beg for forgiveness. 

“What a surprise, I agree with you.”

I was probably still in Ashton's trance, but I could swear that what was behind those blue eyes was anger. The kind of anger you get when one of your friends cheats at a card game. Funny. 

“Ashton, this is not the time…” I turned around trying to get him back in the room. I stopped. I had the gloves on my hands. 

Luke saw them. I held my breath, nothing could have been worse. 

“The gloves…” He spoke again. 

“They are a gift from Lauren, aren't they, Amberly?” Ashton interrupted him again.

Luke did a bad job of hiding the confusion on his face. 

“Yes, I... Can I keep them? I'll need them for when I start the greenhouse," I asked Luke. He blinked a couple of times, then nodded. 

He looked at Ashton from head to toe. I wondered if he would scold us since it was clear what was happening before his arrival. 

“I need to talk to Ashton," he pointed to him with his chin.

Ashton walked out of the room completely looking at me with a hint of mischief. 

“Amberly, it occurs to me that tomorrow you can switch the greenhouse assignment with the boy you forgot to save. I took care of him and in exchange for overtime, he will go back to work. First thing tomorrow morning you have an appointment with the horses in the stables, no one else will work, you will be alone... “

There it was, the anger again. 

“And no gloves.”

[grey-eyed-menace]

So!

I'm coming straight outta left field with this one, but hey, some of the best things in life come from spontaneity!

Er... Maybe.

Anyway, here's my Pokèmon AU!

Featuring the Female Protagonists I played as, their names, general differences from canon, and personal headcannons I came up with during my first playthrough of each game!

...and how they fit into the wider world! Maybe. Kinda.

I'm only doing the main series females in this post, with potential a potential sequal in the form of the side game females!

I do know that the main series male's will have their own post though! Mostly because I legitimately cannot control myself, and it's already halfway done!

So, without a further ado...

Arden Forrest!

Childhood friend of Red Audra, and the maternal cousin of the one and only Blue Oak.

Chose Charmander as her starter, named the little guy Flare, and is extremely defensive of the nickname. She is/was ten! Sorry if her creativity wasn't up to par!

Ended up having to travel with Red because her mother absolutely refused to let her leave Pallet otherwise.

Simply stick with him out of convenience after Viridian Forest, mostly because at that point there really wasn't anything to gain in separating from him.

In this continuity she's the older sister of the Sun and Moon protagonists. More on that in Jericho's section.

At the end of her journey, her team consisted of Flare the Charizard, Lenz the Jolteon, King the Slowking, Knott the Vileplume, Skye the Pidgeot, and Blue the Raichu.

Raichu is a stuck up little shit, and pampered, the nickname was obvious. To her at least. Oddly enough, Blue the Raichu hates Blue the human.

The only reason Giovanni remembers her is because she straight up decked him across the jaw when he threatened to kill one of her Pokèmon.

Somehow ended up acquiring Silver as a travel companion for three weeks, Red was bemused. He was also incredibly confused when that feral eight year old showed back up three years later in the news.

Ended up hanging up her battling career shortly after she lost the championship to Lance, and handed over Flare to Red to battle on a more permanent basis.

She still trained the rest of her team, and still does, she just realized that despite her talent in the profession it just... Wasn't her calling. She wasn't as quite as in love with it as she was at the start of her journey.

Bounces around the world for a bit during the three or so years between the Blue/Red and the HeartGold/SoulSilver storylines, and after Lance wins the championship back from her. Trying to find herself.

She participates in the Galar league around the same time as Leon, Raihan, Sonia, and Nessa, mostly as a curiosity, and maybe as a way to try and reconnect with her battling roots, but jumps ship after Opal because fucking hell is their League a killer for self-confidence.

Her jersey number, for the record, was 069. She deeply regrets keeping the uniform years later.

She also finishes the Unova circuit, but doesn't challenge the Elite Four or the Champion, and she tries to do something in the Ferrum Region for a bit before packing up and returning home.

Perpetually pissed off that no one can remember her fucking name.

And no, it isn't about the Championship thing, she was fine with that, really, it's just that the moment she introduces herself ahead of Blue or Red people tend to either treat her like a commodity, or like she doesn't exist.

Made it through the Elite Four and beat Blue before Red.

So yes, she is the official record holder for the shortest Championship. Which, if you're wondering, is exactly thirteen hours, seven minutes, and thirty-three seconds.

She and Blue played Go-Fish for two hours while Red finished up with Bruno.

The ensuing eleven hour battle with Red both traumatized and bored Blue in equal measures.

Blue had the title for a week. Red bolted to Unova shortly after winning and declined the position, turning it back over to her. She proceeded to hold it for another six months before a match with Lance turned it back over.

Actually ends up as one of Professor Oak's lab assistants once she ends back up in Pallet, and... Eventually finds her calling in research.

She throws herself into her education with everything she has. And... Never really loses that passion and drive.

Has to be physically dragged to Passio during the Master's tournament/festival. Dragged. And no, that's not an exaggeration, Blue physically throws her over his shoulder, books their shared flight, and well, he basically kidnaps her.

If it makes you feel any better, he pretty much did the same thing with Red, only it was a private flight that was prearranged.

It makes her feel better, anyway.

She spends the entire tournament/festival in borrowed clothes.

She takes solace in mock-poker matches with Red, Grimsely, Lina, and, oddly enough, Cynthia and Steven Stone.

She does eventually end up becoming a professor in her own right, with a focus on Abilities and how they affect a Pokèmon's mental and physical growth, and also ends up with an engineering degree as well.

In her late thirties I see her taking over Professor Hasting's job for the Ranger association. Mostly because, in my head-cannon at least, Regional Professor status isn't all that it's cracked up to be, and at that point in her life the only reason she would even take over for Oak in any capacity is out of sentimental value for the Pallet Labs.

That, and it's a cushy job, plus she gets to see small children scramble around for over jumped flying tops. So really, it's a win-win.

Teases Jericho relentlessly over her relationship with Gladion.

Not that her romantic life is much better. Someone idly points out that Red is romantically pursuing her when they're nineteen and she proceeds to have a minor breakdown.

Or, you know, she just remains forever oblivious, and Red remains extremely passive in his pining.

Completely blind-sided by Blue's wedding, and honestly doesn't know what to think of his wife, but plays the role of doting aunt pretty well once they have their first kid.

Shows up in the White 2 storyline in a rental tournament, wrecks Rei's shit, comes back a day later during a Team Switch Tournament, and proceeds to destroy the battlefield.

Then, once Rei is the Unovian Champion, she comes for an actual vacation, and actively, and willingly, participates in the Cross-Region Tournament, makes it to the finals, wrecks Rei's shit again, and then destroys the Stadium when she goes up against Red in the semi-finals... Yeah, I'm not sure what storyline to put to the whole rage vent thing, but it's there. It exists. And Red pays for it.

I'm thinking Blue just gets in over his head a week or so before the tournament, and she quietly simmers all the while.

I think if I were to make a fic about her journey/life, I'd call it 'The Trials And Tribulations Of A Run Of The Mill Pokèmon Trainer'. Because... Ya know, against Blue and Red, she's actually a pretty average trainer.

Compared to Red, who'll have participated in over thirty league circuits in his lifetime, (and plowed straight through the champion in a pretty good chunk of them), Arden has only actively participated in maybe five, mantled a single Championship, and completed two other circuits, with the last three or so having her jump ship due to pressure, having to put it aside for prior commitments, or a simple lack of interest, (the incredibly vague Greece based region I have an idea for is incredibly interesting history wise, in universe, it's Gym and tournament circuit on the other hand... Lacks pretty much anything to make it even remotely interesting).

Red will be a living legend once all is said and done at the end of his career. While Arden has a single legal achievement to her name, the famed recognition of being one of three people to take down the Pokèmon equivalent to the Mafia, and a pretty average badge count for a career trainer.

Also, Lina loses to Red on Mount Silver. She knows, she was drafted as the referee because when she came to drop of Red's food for the week. She's pretty much payed off to say otherwise though.

And she doesn't know why.

She's convinced it's a conspiracy.

Fades into relative obscurity around the time of the Sun & Moon storyline, but her damn if her tiny fan club isn't dedicated.

Doesn't show up in Alola for the battle tree because Blue couldn't find her for three solid months.

No one knows what the fuck she was doing.

...she may or may not have been the Gates To Infinity protagonist.

There's a tiny aside to a Snivy named Leaf in article concerning Overgrow and how it affects the Snivy population at large though.

And that's Arden Forrest, a bit clunky, but hey, they're randomly ordered facts, not a character sheet. Next up is the Crystal heroine!

Marie Smith!

Traveled through Johto about three or so years before Arden, Red, and Blue began running around Kanto.

Older than her sister, Lina, by seven years.

I actually don't have all that much on her because I got to the third Gym on Crystal before my brother destroyed the Device I was using to play the game on.

What I do know, from this information, though, is that she disappeared around said time.

No build up, no cries for help, nothing. Just up and gone. She just cut contact with her family, things happened, and she's absolutely infamous for nearly killing three thousand people. Somehow, she's officially recognized as someone who completed the Johto Circuit though.

She got recruited by Cypher.

Again. Shit happened.

Oak blames himself for an incident in the Kiro Region, (Egyptian Region), pertaining to her.

Lina's entire journey is an event and a half because of her.

If I were to make these little things into a fic series, she'd get... Like a seven chapter mini-fic told from seven different people's perspectives throughout her journey.

Those people, in order, would be... Her mother, Whitney, Naoko of the Kimono Girls, Giovanni, Clair, and Oak.

With an extra chapter detailing her death during the Kalos invasion.

She shows back up in the Kalos storyline in this and traumatizes the ever loving fuck out of Serafina.

She chose a Chikorita. Who she loves dearly, even when she's pretty much gone off the deep end, and then some.

Lina Smith, local trouble maker, owner of a perpetually terrified Feraligator, and the best friend of the very weird Ethan Aurum, and the only person who seems to be on Silver's good side. Vaguely.

Oh so vaguely.

Youngest out of three children, her older brother, Gregory, is an incredibly average guy who's extremely confused as to what the fuck happens on her journey, and never NOT worried about her.

Parents died in a car accident some two years before the start of the storyline, is cared for by Gregory at this point in time

Don't ask why Greg is a thing. He just is.

Like Arden before her, Lina takes a very proactive approach to dealing with Silver during the Radio Tower Incident. Which involves decking him in the jaw.

Surprisingly, this is the part where there relationship improves.

Chooses a Totodile and names him Reyne, and is fiercely protective of him. The little guy could put a Sobble to shame... This also means Silver ends up with the incredibly overly energetic and affectionate Chikorita, all for my personal amusement, (said Chikorita is named Lyra, and no, he does not spoil her, shut your mouth Aurum!).

Her entire story isn't so much focused on her gym challenge or the reappearance of Team Rocket, as it is finding out what the fuck happened to her sister.

Ethan starts tagging along after Goldenrod, and starts to reveal he knows a lot more than he's willing to admit about the situation.

Gets caught up in a lot of nasty things, and nearly ends up dismantling an operation to kill Red, Lance, and Cynthia.

(Where are our favorite colored duo, and supporting tree, during all this you may ask? Why, still recovering from trauma of course! Like reasonable, sane, run-of-the-mill people. More specifically, Blue's officially taking over Viridian gym before the start of the Kanto gym circuit season, Red's fucking around in Hoenn for a good bit before coming to Mt. Silver just two months before Lina gets there, and Arden's in that vague Greece based region getting therapy.)

Her journey is just a really long incident report, and Looker has half a mind to slap her at the end of it.

A good portion of it is Ethan's fault though. Ethan, by the way, nails the looking right through you stare.

And a girl named Sarah Morgendy comes up a lot, although it turns out she's just a kid trying to protect her adopted brother from the shit shoe she got them involved in illegally.

The only two problems with that is she's about eleven and emotionally compromised.

Gets recruited by Interpol after everything is said in done.

Gets the code name Agent Lenz.

Demands therapy for herself, Ethan, and Silver. She gets it.

While she's training as an agent, Ethan and his mother move to Unova so that he can attend an Academy meant 'rising stars', and Silver becomes Elm's apprentice.

...somehow ends up married to Blue years down the line. They have two kids between them. Maria and Reginald

[ravens-shadows]

I guess I’m updating my rant on Tom Riddle to an actual essay so be patient with me

I don’t even remember what I wrote last time lol but I wanted to do my full analysis now that I’m not in rage if that makes sense.

Let’s go by parts.

First, his parents.

So we are given Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Sr., and they tell us this woman just straight up drugged her crush and then expected him to stick around and love her? Like, she literally raped him. I can’t fucking blame him for just going back home and abandoning her, because that would be so traumatising. And what angers me the most about this, is that Rowling makes it seem like he was the bad guy because he ‘abandoned’ them. But all my issues with Rowling will have to wait for another day.

When Tom is born, he is raised in the orphanage, and it’s stated early on that he ‘does not have emotions’, and is ‘naturally evil’. But the thing is, was he really incapable of love just because he was conceived under the influence of amortentia? If he really had no love inside of him, by basic logic he wouldn’t have any other emotions, because is utterly ridiculous even by the standards of a magical world. In other words: he was capable of loving as much as any other child, the thing is, he wasn’t given the opportunity to learn how to love, which is precisely the whole basis of his character!

Growing up, he was looked down as the weird, abnormal kid, bullied both by the other kids in the orphanage and the adults too. And what the fuck are you supposed to do in the situation? There was no one to really explain how wrong the actions of those around him were, and kids absorb everything like sponges. In his eyes, their behaviour was normal, and therefore the way to avoid getting hurt was hurting them even worse. And let’s entertain for a moment the idea that love is the only emotion he didn’t have, which yet again, is portrayed ridiculously! Love had nothing to do with the situation he lived in. He could still felt fear and anger, and even guilt, but we were never showed that because, oh no, he’s the villain and he’s absolutely evil.

Dumbledore walks in. This. Fucking. Bitch.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, who could have ended the war before Harry even started Hogwarts but didn’t because a stupid prophecy said so.

Dumbledore takes a look at this kid, after hearing a very biased opinion on him, and in that second he decides that this child is too far gone and can’t help him. And, of course, Tom is not stupid and he can see that Dumbledore doesn’t like him and he obviously will avoid him from now on and in consequence won’t trust any other adult.

And here is the worst part: even in a world where his magic isn’t rare, no one cares. The adults give a fuck about him, they never offer help. They know about the abuse he’s suffered for years and are doing nothing about it, so he starts making himself stronger. If only he was stronger, no one would hurt him again.

Then we get to the worst fuck up Rowling did with this wonderful character, because why, why in friggin hell, would he be afraid of death?

It doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t add up to everything that’s been building up in the background. He is sixteen at this point, asking about horrocruxes so obviously he is already looking for ways of staying alive, but it doesn’t make any sense! Sure, if he was an adult it would make more sense, but in this point in time there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for this ridiculous thing to pop up.

It doesn’t make sense that he wants to kill his father because he abandoned him, he would be angry and bitter but Tom is smart and being sane at this point would know that there is absolutely no point in doing it. It doesn’t make sense that he is afraid of an abstract construct that he probably doesn’t understand completely like any other teenager. It doesn’t make sense that he has plans of becoming a dark Lord at all, because in this point in time, he is in the middle of the war with Grindelwald, a war that started before he was even born, and wouldn’t finish until he was nineteen years old in 1945. Nothing makes sense (but hey, what can I expect from J.K. Rowling).

Anyway, let’s get going. Let’s imagine this makes sense despite being absolute shit, and he makes his horrocruxes.

Is should be widely known that he was fucking insane at this point. An horrocrux splits the soul in two, so he would have just have half of his soul before making the second one and so on.

From here on, his actions make more sense because he is not human anymore by any means, and he is completely bonkers, let’s face it. Mass homicide was expected to happen.

Now let me tell you why he is one of the best characters despite the author butchering him. Important to note that most people look to Harry as a survivor of abuse and I’m a 100% on board with it, but let’s not pretend their situations are in the same level.

Proof 1: Tom is an abuse survivor too, and in many ways I think it was possible he would have been killed if it wasn’t for his magic, a magic he knew he had and used. In other circumstances, he would have ended up in a similar situation to Credence. His actions are seen to be evil, but the main point of his whole character and this is stated, is that he acts in anger, pain and fear. He is afraid. And in the correct way of telling his story, his fear is justified. He is afraid because despite being ‘special’, people still cast him out. His fear is not the fear of death that was sold to us, is the fear that no one will ever feel the slightest empathy for him, that no one will ever understand how it feels like. His pain comes from being treated like a monster, by not receiving any kindness in his whole life, because even after Hogwarts he had no friends, just followers fascinated by his natural power and talent.

Proof 2: Tom’s ‘inability to love’ is simply the fact that he does not know what is love. How could he? He’s never been shown what it is. And later on, mental disorders can be developed, specially in cases like this, when the child eventually starts rejecting any kind of affection (a condition that doesn’t have a cure). The way this whole thing comes down would have made an even better character, and he wouldn’t even be the villain. I wholeheartedly believe that if he had been written correctly, there would have been a real villain, Dumbledore (not to say he is evil, but you don’t have to be evil to be a villain), and Tom would have been more of an antagonist. This may have given the opportunity to have a special interaction between him and Harry when he realises this teenager isn’t that much different than him. And Harry could have found too someone who understands how it feels to be a freak. This two have the potential of a great relationship that doesn’t necessarily have to be on good terms, but they would have naturally developed mutual respect by still being able to dislike each other and it would have been more logical, more natural.

Proof 3: Tom is, in reality, a good person. He is a little bit of a sociopath, as a matter of fact, but he is often described as quite a genius (?) child. He is smart, brilliant, and clever. If we ignore the nonsense of dark lords and horrocruxes, Tom would have fought to change the magical world for all those who are outcasts like him. While the ministry has laws against magical creatures, Voldemort is constantly making alliances with them, not only because is convenient, but because he genuinely does not care what they are. His hatred for muggles is exaggerated but understandable, but if he truly believed in wizards supremacy, he would not trust nor ally himself with werewolves, giants, etc. Tom is so brilliant that, even when Dumbledore suspected him when young, he got away with the things he wanted because he was so careful as to not leave any evidence of his plans, until it was too late. Once having this redirected, he could have perfectly fit in politics or similar places. He is charming and can easily make people do his bidding. He would have used this to get justice. Maybe not in the most peaceful way, but his intentions wouldn’t have been bad.

Of course, much of what I’ve said can be biased but I’m not here to be totally fair, I’m here to proclaim my love and devotion for what Tom Riddle could have been.

There is so much to this single character that deserves his own series of books because there is a lot of wasted potential. Harry and Tom are such parallels and yet, their whole dinamic was simple and vague, with good points but had as much significance as it would have been with any other protagonist with a totally different backstory.

Tom Riddle is this traumatised yet strong character, even if he isn’t good, but... cartoonish villains I guess.

Thanks to coming to my ted talk... if you managed to go through the whole thing.

English is not my first language, sorry for all my fuck ups

[Shameless side note: I do have a fanfic where Tom is the chosen one, and it’s not very good because I suck at everything but if you wanna check it out is here]

[welcometothebookreport]

Red Queen Series

by Victoria Aveyard

This review covers both Red Queen and Glass Sword. If you loved this series, that’s great! I wish I could say the same. I hated this series, and won’t be continuing after Glass Sword. I’m returning my box set because I know I am not going to read them. Kind of sad about that because I really loved the covers, but oh well. 

 Warning: this post contains spoilers for the entire series, not just book one and two. Click keep reading at your own risk.

 At first glance, the summary of Red Queen gave me Hunger Games vibe. It’s set in a world where Reds are considered lesser to Silvers, and while so far the only similar thing is it’s dystopian style setting, I haven’t been able to get that out of my mind either. 

 ^ I wrote that on day one of reading Red Queen. I had my reservations about this series after some fandom friends commented that they did not like the second half of the series. I’m going to preface this with a few things.

      Dystopian Novels are not my favorite, but I’ll read them if they’re well written. I can totally lose myself in a new world. That did not happen here.

      I saw a spoiler on one of the books that led to me knowing at least one tiny thing that would happen. I think it probably tainted the experience a bit, but to be honest, I don’t think I would have enjoyed this anyway.

      I really tried to get into this series, but I don’t understand the hype for it.

  Let’s start with Red Queen.

 I’ve started writing my thoughts in a journal as I read. I like to tab favorite quotes, scenes, and anything that involves the romance between two characters I like. I had quite a few tabs for the first book because I love Cal. Out of the two books I read, I love Cal and him alone. I’m not sure if that would have changed in the second half of this series.

 I didn’t like this book until the final twist. Reading hundreds of pages only to enjoy the final 70 pages was disappointing, but I hoped the sequel would hold my attention better.

 Things I enjoyed:

      Cal, obviously. Mare dancing with Cal. Cal taking Mare home to see her family, which was thanks to Maven. (I am a very simple fangirl. I love Cal, but I feel that might have changed later in the series.)

      I really liked Julian.

      I loved Maven and Mare’s friendship, but we all know how that turned out. It’s worth saying that I liked Maven much more than Mare though.

 Things I Did Not Enjoy/Fell Flat

      Evangeline vs Mare. I really hate the mean girl trope. I have for years, but from what I skimmed later on in the series, this may have turned into more than just one girl being terrible.

      I might catch flack for this, but I couldn’t get into the world-building. It’s probably my fault because I couldn’t stop comparing it to other dystopians, and also because I don’t love dystopians.

 The writing wasn’t bad, but I hated Mare’s perspective. Still, I liked her POV more in the first book versus the sequel. I’ll get to that.

 Despite not liking it much, I still thought this was 3.5/5 because of a) the ending b) I really love Cal and c) I decided to read book two anyway.

 Onto Glass Sword

Both of my friends are enjoying this book series. I tried to keep an open mind, but I’m a picky reader. I wanted to get through it for book club, but my notes show that was not going to happen.

      It felt like Mare had this ridiculously inflated sense of self-importance even though book two began literally two fucking minutes after the end of book one. So, I deeply dislike her perspective still.

      At page 114, I decided I hated the Colonel more than Mare but then he’s not around for long so that didn’t matter.

      I enjoyed Mare being sealed in with Cal because she thinks Kilorn has betrayed her. Always a fan of oh-no-we’re-locked-in-together.

      I was glad Kilorn didn’t truly betray her, but I don’t like love triangles. It was resolved nicely though, so I liked that.

      While locked in together, Mare and Cal agree that they need to stop making mistakes for each other. I’m sure that will work out. (It doesn’t.)

      During book one, I thought the moniker ‘the Lightning Girl’ was nice. I hope that it would turn into a cool thing like the Boy Who Lived. Sweet fucking hell, I felt like I was being beat over the head with this title. It drove me crazy. Multiple times a chapter in Glass Sword, this was said. (That could be an exaggeration, but it felt like every other page.) I made a joke to a friend that I would just start taking a shot every time it was said. Don’t do that.

      Page 137: “Anyone can betray anyone, and Cal is no exception.” No. Not Cal. Leave my boy alone.

      I would have liked to have seen more action from Cal than I got to see.

      Okay, I never like to write bad opinions of books because authors are still people. I hope that Victoria Aveyard is deeply proud of her accomplishments with this series. It was not a series for me, but that does not mean it was terrible.

Mare felt like a spoiled brat and an unintelligent protagonist. Someone told me they were glad Mare didn’t feel like a ‘Mary-Sue’ kind of character, but I wasn’t able to relate to Mare. Everything is about how Mare is special, how the rebellion can’t go on without her, and the narrative is centered on her to the point that I honestly have no idea who else was in this book.

We met a lot of characters. None of them were memorable. Throughout the book, it feels as though the same things are being repeated, but nothing ever happens. I was so bored the entire time, and at about half way, I started reading as quickly as possible. I wanted to know what happened, but I wanted it to be over as soon as possible.

I hate that I couldn’t get into this series and I plan on googling what happens to Cal because I did like him.

Immediately after finishing, I went to my shelf, pulled out War Storm, and read the ending. I’m glad I did because if I had read two more massive books for that ending, I would have been even more disappointed.

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Dino Watches Anime (Jan 13)

With the snow outside and cancellations everywhere, I have more time to kick back, relax, and not do anything. Seriously, playing out in the snow and being an absolute bum is my specialty.

Dropped

Darwin's Game 

It just seemed like Mirai Nikki but updated to smartphones instead of flip phones and with a new interface and system. Seriously, it’s like someone watched Mirai Nikki and went “I can remake this and rake in the money”. The animation wasn’t good (according to our local sakuga geek, there were less than 10 animators who worked on the 40 min premiere because of the inhumane conditions of the studio which adds to the yikes), the soundtrack was great (but I won’t watch a show just for the soundtrack/seiyuu cast), and overall, I felt like I didn’t want to put myself through a show like this.

Uta no Prince-sama

I couldn’t do it fam. I watched two episodes and nearly cried on the inside because it felt like Kiniro no Corda but with a new bland face with new bland characters. I never watched either of these fully. I tried to watch just for the seiyuu (*ahem* Miyuki Sawashiro), but imagine having your life hobbies made into an absolute joke by a character who can’t even read music and is in the composition department while her main song of choice is “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and the ikemen around her and swooning over it and writing their own songs for her. The guys all have the same faces too! They’re triangle heads that can only be differentiated by colour palette. I’m telling the difference based on voices at this point. I don’t want the ikemen, but I would like people to be into my music too ya know! You may think that I’m dropping this anime purely out of spite for the story and characters, and you’re damn right I am. 

Seasonal Stuff

Pet

This is this close to being dropped, and I don’t mean for the strong BL vibes. It’s a little cringy but not that bad (I’ve watched a lot of cringe straight romance and to me it’s all the same). It just feels so poorly constructed right now. The universe just hangs by a thread with characters I feel ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for. Everything in this anime feels so cheap. I’m giving this one more week before I give it the axe.

Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita 

Okay, this anime is stupid, but we all went in knowing it was going to be very stupid. You’ve seen the screencaps. You’ve seen the cliches. Now get ready to have a pretentious science spin on it as if you haven’t seen these scenes a million times before elsewhere, and the characters (at least one of them) know it. The art... it’s present. I mean, character designs are giving the guys of Reddit what they want (especially with Sora Amamiya being really popular and singing the OP along with voicing the main character). Yuuma Uchida is also there. Nothing really worth noting here except “stay in school kids so you can become a pretentious science kid with no people skills!”

Dorohedoro

I might just watch this anime in place of “Pet” because this anime has a much brighter outlook and despite being CG genuinely looks better anyway. It’s the horror that I wanted to fill the void with (since Pet genuinely isn’t scary or innovative). Everything was pretty good with the first episode! I’m looking forward to seeing more!

From here on out, the rest of the seasonal list are the ones I look forward to the most! Get that head lizardman!

Runway de Waratte 

At first, this doesn’t seem like something that would come out of Shonen Weekly, but it inspires a good message about being who you want to be even with limitations if front of you. You have a girl too short to be considered a model and a guy who designs fashion without having the money to pursue it further. I know nothing about style, but I do know things about being short! Maybe that’s why I have such a soft spot for it...

ID:Invaded

This anime gets more interesting as we go along. I’m all into murder mysteries and things like that, and with the sci-fi mixed it, I checked to make sure I was up-to-date with this one. Each episode gives a new mystery with more details outline our jaded and imprisoned detective’s motives and backstory. I wasn’t sold on the character designs at first, but once you get over that hurdle, it’s all good. I like the psychological aspects of it too!

Kyokou Suiri 

Ever wish you had a female protagonist who was upfront about her romantic motives? Ever wanted to watch a show involving youkai? Here’s the show for you! Plus, her character design is so cute. Mamo sang the ED for this anime too. The animation is great, the story looks amazing (read ahead a few chapters in the manga), and this is one of my most highest anticipated anime for the season!

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun

Here’s one of my favourite pilot episodes! This anime left such a strong impression on me that I went straight to my non-otaku friends going, “You’ve gotta see this guys”. The art style is consistent with the manga, and according to the not-so-quiet manga readers, we’re in for a really good anime. 

All the characters in this anime are also adorable and really simple-minded on the surface. Hanako-kun being a boy is a really funny twist on the local urban legend (I’m one of those kids who never dared to say “Bloody Mary” in the washroom so what can I say?)

Recently Completed

Hana to Alice: Satsujin Jiken

Remember Aku no Hana? This is what happens when rotoscoping has a bit more budget. This anime was slow, a little cringy, but it felt really real. The voices felt real, the characters felt real, and the story felt... mostly real. I don’t regret watching this movie art style and all because I think it captures a bit of the exaggerations of being a teenager (rumours blow up like balloons)

Sennen Joyuu

Satoshi Kon really has a certain way of telling stories. I’ve watched Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent, and Tokyo Godfathers, and while this didn’t have as strong of a punch as the latter, this film was still strong. It shows a story of a young maiden’s resilience, perseverance, and undying love... all things I can’t relate to... but it was good!

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo

This show was a trip. You thought it was a fanservice anime until things got really heavy. This anime was funny, it made me feel things with the themes it took on, and it made me remember that the best girl doesn’t always have to win to be a good anime. The art was cute and sweet, the voice acting was so fricking funny (according to the cast, the improv wasn’t always included but the ones that were left along with the dialogue were pure gold), and the story was exceptional for an anime which seemed to have no base whatsoever. And plus, this had something a lot of anime don’t... A CONCLUSIVE ENDING. Give this anime a watch if you haven’t. It’s melodramatic comedic romantic teen drama at its finest.

Orange

Speaking of melodramatic romantic teen dramas, here’s another one that fits that bill! Minus the comedy, more suicide, and far less cohesive plot. Imagine throwing letters into the Bermuda Triangle and having your 16-year-old selves really reading those letters. I was wondering how they were going to explain sending their letters to the past, but they should’ve come up with better BS than that. Aside from really bad plot holes, this anime was alright. It was slow... really slow. I finished this whole 13 episodes plus the movie in about 2.5 hours after trimming the slow recaps. 

The art was alright. The story was slow, but near the end (excluding the last episode and the movie) it got really heavy. It hit close to home. I struggled with suicide for years, and I felt what this character felt. Certain lines of that dialogue just hit hard. It was depicted in a way that didn’t feel as romanticized. He wasn’t saved by just one person, his trauma didn’t go away just like that, it took a group of friends and planning to help him realize that there was more to life then just regrets.

Would I recommend this? I mean, it was recommended to me, but I’m not forcing this anime on anyone... not because of the themes but because it was darn boring and cliche 70% of the time.

Still Watching

Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha

Same things apply as previous entries

Hunter x Hunter (2011)

My brother expected me to finish this a while ago but I put it on the back-burner because the number of episodes seemed daunting. Everything else is good though.

Sousei no Onmyouji

I only watched the first episode.

Boku no Hero Academia Season Four

Same things apply as previous entries. It seems like the Overhaul arc will end in the next episode or two (depending on how much they milk this).

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu

Groundhog Day but isekai. Seriously, this is a pretty big staple in terms of big isekai. Everyone’s fighting over who’s the best girl meanwhile Subaru is trying his best not to die every five minutes. Seriously, Subaru is a champ and what I’d want out of a Mary Sue isekai protagonist. Get em Subaru. Prove to me you’re not a car.

This will be me for the next few days because it’s getting colder where I am so watch me slip on the ice and die!

[lostsummerdayz]

Sonic The Hedgehog Movie Review

“Blue Blur or Blue Devil, this speedy flick is very ‘Omoshiroi~!’ indeed!”

By Nay Holland

The Sonic The Hedgehog movie had quite the hype and history leading up to its eventual release. It was around this time last year that the general audience saw first hand what Sonic would look like on the big screen. Needless to say, they were not happy with the design choice. Several months later, a new design for Sonic was revealed to greater approval. The slated November 2019 release was pushed back to a February 2020 release due to the resulting backlash.

Sonic’s design was just the cherry on top for most skeptics at the time. Fans of the classic Sonic animated series will remember Jaleel White as the iconic voice for Sonic. Many of said fans wanted him to reprise his role for the feature film. Ultimately, that role fell on Ben Schwartz of Parks & Recreation fame.

Throughout the trailers, the absence of many other iconic characters from the universe wasn’t ignored. Many had thought that Jim Carrey’s role of Eggman Dr. Robotnik would be the only bright spot in this film of uncertainty. The reputation of video game movie adaptations in the past also preceded any major hope savvy fans would have as well.

However, with the release of Detective Pikachu, I had newfound hope for Sonic The Hedgehog. Detective Pikachu was a movie with an original yet at-times nonsensical plot fueled by star power. Ryan Renolds played the titular character as well as one would expect, though the supporting cast were passable.

Still, compared to the terrible era of horrific fighting video games to movie adaptations earlier on in the decade, Detective Pikachu was a breath of fresh air. It was a fun movie littered with references that fans of Pokemon will catch, yet it was never over-reliant on them. The movie was able to provide its own form of momentum from start to finish. It wasn’t perfect, but it got the job done.

It may seem like I was giving a mini overview on Detective Pikachu, but the same thoughts can be applied to Sonic The Hedgehog as well. It was a fun movie with an original, yet highly nonsensical, plot. I’ll excuse the plot on the grounds that it’s Sonic The Hedgehog. Sonic was never quite known for intricate stories.

I am aware that this game exists, but, this is the exception rather than the rule.

Look who developed the game guys. C’mon.

Whoever was in charge of the script could have watched the entire first season of Sonic X for all I know and based some of their ideas for the film.

My point is, while there is a reason for Sonic to arrive on Planet Earth via his backstory, it’s not the main attraction of the film. The fuel that powers this movie are two dynamics.

The first is the dynamic between Sonic and Tom, the human protagonist of the movie. Remember when I joked about inspiration from Sonic X? The punchline punches itself.

Okay I know I’m not being fair in comparing a kid to a grown police officer but it’s the same energy!

Oh, right. The human sidekick is a police officer from a small town in Montana. Wanna know the name of the town?

Green Hills, Montana! Get it! Green Hill? The introductory zone that will never

Ever

Ever

EVER

Go away in some way shape or form?

I’m not gonna lie I looked it up just to see if such a place exists in Montana. I was sad to discover that was false. Bummer.

Sonic and Tom share most of their screen time together and you have some classic tropes. The “we’re a family!” trope, the “trying to understand someone different than you” trope, and the classic “ROAD TRIP!” trope.

The cliches aren’t bad however. They only seemed to enhance the dynamic that these two characters have with each other. Sonic is filled to the brim and armed to the teeth with pop culture references for centuries. Any reference you can think of is there. 

Several speed puns involving his collection of Flash comics including the movie, Speed, itself? Check. References to The Fast and The Furious? Also check. References to modern gaming such as live streaming and...a certain dance that is honestly dated at this point? Checkmark.

Sonic’s personality is unique to this movie yet key components remain. He’s still very much so impulsive, adventurous, and bold as his other counterparts. One thing I feel the movie does right is his development. He doesn’t know the power of his own strength or his own powers. Sometimes he overestimates his abilities, which leads to trouble for both Sonic and Tom. Other times, he feels out of place and yearning for family. By the end of the movie, however, there are enough seeds planted to promote further growth in the inevitable sequel.

The human protagonist, Tom, was surprisingly as interesting. We’re introduced to his character as a wise-cracking police officer who would fit the role of a cocky protagonist in any other movie. At times he tries to play the straight man to Sonic’s antics, but after a certain part in the movie, he’s not that far from Sonic in terms of impulsiveness.

Marsden, who plays the role of Tom, is no slouch either as he delivers his one-liners, matching the same energy as Sonic. Most importantly, he is able to stand on firm ground with Jim Carrey’s Robotnik. I honestly loved seeing them both on the screen as they tried to show who was the bigger smartass.

Ah! Jim Carrey! The main reason why everyone’s interests were piqued to high levels. This leads into the second dynamic. The man with the master plan! He is the Eggman Doctor.

In trailers and in promotional images, Carrey never looked better. In this movie, it is my honor to say that Carrey looked in rare form. The quirky and zany antics of Dr. Robotnik portrayed by Carrey felt nostalgic, harking back to the days of Liar Liar and The Mask. The hair-triggering jerk reactions, the body language, and the endless amount of quips made Carrey a perfect role for the Egghead. I could literally fill this review with all of his one-liners and dialogue. That’s how subtle yet powerful they were.

Remember when I said that the plot was a tad bit diluted? I’d say that Robotnik’s introduction is where the movie begins to take flight and he’s introduced fairly early. If you look at the movie as an hour and some change of Tom and Jerry style antics, with Robotnik and Sonic respectively, then you’ll get the most mileage out of the film.

Finally I’d like to mention the miscellaneous. The attention to detail to Sonic’s design is amazing, from his fur to his beat-up footwear. The method in which he received his iconic kicks was also adorable.

The special effects were also spot-on. There are two moments in the movie where Sonic is using his speed to get himself out of a disadvantageous situation. In both of these scenes, the rate of speed is exaggerated by a still frame of his surroundings. 

For those familiar with “bullet-time” and “slo mo” effects in video games, these are how the scene plays out. Seeing Sonic manipulate the environment around him only for time to regulate into “normal time” was one of the better touches of the movie from a design standpoint. I honestly wished there were more scenes like that in the movie. 

As mentioned earlier with “Green Hills,” there are several in-universe references as well. I won’t mention them all, but my favorite had to have been the “Hill Top Road” street sign.

This obviously refers to Hill Top Zone from Sonic 2.

There are also references to his moves, from the iconic spin dash, to other niche ones such as his wall kick.

For a ninety-minute movie, Sonic The Hedgehog cuts to the chase, pun intended, with no filler. Post opening credits, every scene in the movie had a purpose for progression. Nothing ever seems to overstay its welcome. 

For a film geared towards the younger audience, it’s enough to keep their attention span with enough content to keep the fans of Sonic in their seats. For the parents of said younger audience, the appearance of Jim Carey in rare form is a treat in itself to see. It’s not a perfect movie, but it is far from the dumpster fire that everyone feared it would be. It is, however, more than good enough to check it out. 

Sonic the Hedgehog is now showing in theaters. This Valentine’s Day weekend, take your Amy Rose out on a movie date and enjoy a fun movie after dinner!

And park your butts in your seats after the credits for a surprise! Don’t leave the theater!

[mai-fanblog]

Review/Opinion of Angry Birds Movie 2

Warning!

Contains spoilers (but is to highlight some points)

The Good

Angry Birds Movie 2 in narrative themes is more structured in terms of story, is well posed and goes straight to the issue without so many detours unlike the previous one, in the main story is centered and does not lose its goal, which is well done.

The first and second acts are fine, but the best thing about the film was the plot twist of the third act that left me surprised.

The humour is good, the gags are good and there are some jokes better than others, but I'll specify it later; but I liked those tributes to the Looney Toons' humour.

The direction and the animation are good, has the added visual gags giving some personality and dynamism to the film doing something entertaining. The animation is good, nothing from another world, it is conventional, but effective.

The acting is quite good (mostly, there are some exceptions).

There are 3 important characters who shone brighter than others:

 First Red, who sees the most arrogant and proud side of himself, but who has a good justification for his attitude and seeing his greatest fear throughout the film, however his development was more than well learning to be humble and not be afraid to lose something that makes you feel good, because in the first if he was rejected by everyone for being an orphan until becoming the hero, in this expands that feeling of no longer being useful and execute well.

Zeta, the villain interpreted by Leslie Jones, steals the reflectors like a cynical villain, extravagant, thirsty for revenge and intelligently dangerous, giving an entertaining personality and enjoyable to see, giving quite funny and interesting scenes; if Leonard in the first cause chaos by stealing eggs, Zeta takes destruction and chaos to a new level that I quite like, and if that means killing birds and pigs that have nothing to do with her motives, she will do so without hesitation; giving to a good villain who has a good development at the end.

And surprisingly Mighty Eagle was also an important piece for this film, he let it be a joke to be someone who has an issue to resolve; in the third act this shows very well and leaves anyone satisfied. And having a direct relationship with Zeta further strengthened his participation and surpassed his expectations of these two.

Other characters that stood out the most were Glenn played by Eugenio Derbez who shines very well in both English and Latin Spanish and Debbie who has a very important role until the end of the story and is the most empathetic character in the film. And why not Axel...good dance there, and also Jerry and Carl as the bird version of Jasper and Horace (reference).

THE BAD

However, not everything is perfect, like everything, but I will say that some exaggerated some parts of the film.

Its strong point is its humour as several people have said, it is almost the same as the first, reducing the double-meaning humour and adult jokes, which is not bad, but it becomes childish; although it is a children's film, it does not mean that they should reduce some jokes and make them simple. Like the first is very over-saturated and only relies on the same humor several times. It's funny, but it gets tired after a few minutes.

There are characters that were very untapped; like Matilda and The Blues that if they had kept their original version, especially Jay (I don't say it as an offense, but it seemed very forced to me, only to be interpreted by JoJo Siwa and they changed their parents apart, what happened there?) would have been more useful for the mission.

(I don't like the reduction of Matilda's role from being the woman on the team who wants peace and helping the flock become Terence's "wife," but that's something personal that won't affect my opinion.)

Chuck and Bomb were reduced to just being jokes every time that they appear, although they still support Red, unfortunately they didn't develop it as much as the first one; Leonard still retains its charm, but also turned him into a joke even though he was a threat in the first movie almost finished with birds.

Courtney and Garry are very good characters, but unfortunately they didn't have much time on screen.

And characters like Pinky, Ella, and a few others had nothing memorable about them.

 Here it comes

Now the crux of the matter... "Silver", is intelligent and nothing more, offers nothing beyond solving the problem, if Zeta is also intelligent minimum showed something more than that quality. "Silver" is the "Mary Sue" and often contradicts Red, her attitude towards him at first was inappropriate, that is to say, he was also rude, but there was minimal context and if she was intelligent she would have let him go on the speed date without doing anything instead of criticizing him in front of everyone; she has nothing interesting in her being Chuck's sister and nothing more to tell about there. Her original version, being a falcon bred by pigs would have been more interesting and giving a much more powerful message.

Apart from that, "female empowerment" is very weak in execution and not very credible and makes the rest of the team act like fools, only Red questions her and agrees with her at the end and "toxic masculinity" doesn't convince me, as Red had a quite justifiable context in the first film.(if the latter, Rachel Bloom who plays her in the film, commented it in the premiere) Also that of "gender equality" which is highlighted every minute she appears is annoying, in the first where Matilda and Stella are thrown into the castle they simply do it and are not criticized for their gender.

(and I say that as a woman)

And the relationship between her and Red, already presided over it and I don't like it, as it fell into the cliché of the protagonist and the "empowered" woman end up together (even Zeta mocks that in a scene) and was also forced, if they didn't like each other at first and then suddenly like each other they're not convincing; "Silver" is the female character that helps Red (if we completely ignore that Matilda wanted to help him as in the first and it didn't work out for him), but she also criticized Red as well as the rest as the first , making her a hypocrite. If Red was also indifferent to her too, minimum there was context from the first film and it was understandable, different from "Silver" which only acts as the "intelligent".

In other words, with "Silver" is a character that only highlights a quality with nothing else to offer and that I do not generate any sympathy, it can be " cute " (apart from the fact that I didn't like the design, but that's personal), but it doesn't deliver anything new and that doesn't have a development in the story. If she had been a new and different character I believe her there (although I wouldn't have liked her too), but that wasn't the case and she changed to a character that was already established 4 years ago.

(I finally let off steam!!!!)

The story of the Hatchlings, obviously is funny, just like Scart of ice age, which only serves to make you laugh and then you have only one major participation in the end (like ice age 2), however it is unnecessary and I generate nothing, until only in the third act are useful.

Another thing that I don't like about the film is the reduction of the conflict between birds and pigs to a simple war of pranks; which bothers me a little bit, since the pigs tried to eat the eggs and reduce their subject matter which is a bit dark if one thinks about it to a rather ridiculous war of pranks, that doesn't concern the essence of the game, it's as if stealing and eating the unborn children of their enemies were in the background nothing important.

And their teamwork that presented us as something awkward for both sides, in the film they don't show us that, which is contradicted in the film's advertisements.

 CONCLUSION

Angry Birds Movie 2 is an enjoyable movie, but it doesn't have an essence of the game itself. It's fun, colorful and good gags, yet there's nothing extraordinary about it.

The director did a good job to get the film flowing.

Red, Zeta, Mighty Eagle, Debbie and Glenn steal the movie and the others are background noise.

It's a little higher than its predecessor, but only in the main story points and animation with good visuals.

Personally I don't consider it as the best movie based on a video game, but it's close to being one of the good ones, but it still has some notable flaws (since the best movies based on a video game are Street Fighter II: The Animeted Movie and Detective Pikachu, those are the ones that kept an interesting story and respect the essence of the game)

It is advisable, if you want to take the children to have a good time, as a fan of the franchise may be something bipolar, as there may be things that do not fit you.