#idk its just always been so hyped up for me only for the disappointment to always hurt more

[iliterallydecepticanteven]

My boss asked if I could come in and work a few hours on my birthday next month (it's on the weekend this year and my normal work schedule is just weekdays) because we have a very time sensitive and expensive two day experiment lined up and ngl as someone who doesn't really like her birthday or has the best memories associated with it, getting paid time and a half for a few hours to fuck around with super expensive shit sounds pretty fun.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP, am really really interested to read your thoughts on Seven!

*

Ask 2: Hey bpp, can i be honest?? Ive been checked out of the fandom but still keep track of any music releases. So i didnt know abt any rumors abt 7. Imagine me being kind of disappointed that it’s another english song from jk when i watched the mv😅 it feels like his most promoted songs since last year has been all eng song… idk i wanted & expted something diff… i didnt like l&r, dreamers and now 7… it’s back to back lol. Tbf i didnt like My You too and thats in korean. At least not enough to listen!again after the first listen.

Im happy that still with you is finally on spotify tho. I’ll still be waiting excited for his album whenever it comes out. Hopefully ill find something i like in it!!

**

[BPP Note: Both asks above were sent before my "I don't like it..." post. The asks posted below were sent afterwards.]

**

Ask 3:

Same here

All the hype didn't matched with the song

1. rest members songs had so much depth and substance to it while this was the cliche boy chasing a girl song. Like we always dont need deep songs but the quality could be so much better. This was like just another pop song.

I think I'll put this on same level as BAD DECISIONS. But for bad decisions, atleast the chorus was staying on my mind while for this nothing was catchy enough for us to humm. Just because it's JK it will get hype but otherwise it's so generic. I think I liked LEFT and RIGHT way better than Seven. Even the rap portion felt so unnecessary and boring.

2. MV was kinda nice because of the production but concept was too shallow, the stalking and chasing was so outdated. In my country we have like 9293928843837 MVs in this same concept that not many make the same theme songs again.

3. The choreography. We haven't seen the full version. But for tiktok they do the highlight portions if that's so mediocre idk how rest will be. It was again giving the same mediocre showing off choreography and for me backdancers ruined it with their awkward moves.

4. they wanted this song to be played everywhere around the world. But there was nothing catchy enough to attract gp or go viral on tiktok, even if we sped it up. The only way to make everyone listen is to shove it down their throat but doing payola. But idk if investing in payola is worthy for the song. I also doubt the longietivity, as for me it was boring after 2 listens. I'll rather listen Like Crazy or wildflower or closer 20 times than listening this once.

5. I HOPE he'll bring something fresh to the table for his album and don't involve this mediocre producers who uses the same formula and same superstar persona to make a song successful. He is so much talented to sing a song which is so rich in melody and lyrics. And he can produce way better songs by himself.

Prolly a 4/10 for me

*

Ask 4: troye sivan's rush (which also came out last night) is exactly what I wish Seven was. I don't mean that in a 'I expect the things JK to make to be gay' way just in the way it's a fun, very danceable, sexy summer song that doesn't pull its punches. Something about seven feels too run through a commercial sanitizer a few times, even with the explicit lyrics.

***

Hi Anon(s),

Jungkook likes to fuck.

Rather, Andrew Watt likes to fuck and thinks Jungkook can relate.

JK has been talking about wanting to show more mature and explicit sides of himself for a good long while now. So I’m glad he’s finally gotten to do that, confirming for us why he keeps getting noise complaints from his neighbours since the mattresses all over his apartment don't help.

BTS has made songs explicitly referring to sex before (though it's been mostly the rapline doing so). So it's nothing new but I guess it's cool JK gets to share with us that he too has sex.

The question I posed to my friends immediately after watching the MV is, “Do you know who's been doing A&R for BigHit since 2020? I really need to know who is doing A&R for BigHit in America because they’ve been doing an appalling job lately. I'm starting to wonder if it's an inside job cause this song is kinda ass.”

That was me ~11 hours ago.

I didn’t like the song.

I’ve streamed Seven about 20 times since then I think, took a break from the song for a few hours, watched his GMA performance, caught a few minutes of the Wlive, then listened to it again just before writing this post and…

I still don’t like it.

Jungkook did a good job on the song, Latto's verse wasn't terrible, and while the song itself isn’t bad… the song isn’t good either.

It’s painfully, and at this point it’s a pattern so I have to add, predictably, mediocre.

Reserving judgement for the album, but Anons, I agree with you for the most part. The suits at BigHit are trying but they are woefully out of touch with the reasons BTS blew up in the West in the first place. I don't even feel like spending any energy doing a review or even trying to explain what I mean. So I'll just ramble on for a bit but try to keep it brief.

---

I have to give BigHit some credit because I can see what they're going for here. Andrew Watt is a very celebrated producer in the US, he won the Grammy award for Producer of the Year in 2021, he's got A listers in his portfolio. So, he's not a cheap name to book and I can see why the suits at BigHit thought he's the genius to gift them a song clinically designed for American radio.

But that pandejo phoned it in. There isn't a lick of creativity to be found anywhere in all 3 minutes and five seconds.

It reminds me of VIBE by Jimin and Taeyang, as the closest analog to the vague dissatisfaction morphing into annoyance and then pragmatic rationalization I experienced in that same sequence when listening to it the first few times.

The song is disappointing because we've all heard it before. Too many times, and we're bored of it. We've heard JK sing this sort of song for years, as covers mostly. So on one hand, while I guess it's nice JK gets to have an American summer JB-reject pop tune of his own, it's not good enough to be the track that introduces him to the world as a solo artist.

It's fine for any white, blonde, blue-eyed heartthrob that can ride on a pretty face and implicit bias to rack up accolades, it's not good enough for Jungkook.

And BigHit needs to start using whatever leverage a US$10.6 billion market capitalization buys you in Hollywood, to insist for songs that are at least as good as the songs made by BTS members and produced by their in-house team. It's a waste of money and everybody's time to fly a battalion to LA just to record 2014's summer hit in 2023.

In my opinion.

Still With You > Stay Alive > My Time > Stay > Left & Right > My You > Dreamers > Seven

*

All that said, I can't ignore JK has a taste for songs like this, and it's not his fault the song is shit (he didn't write, compose or produce it), so technically he shouldn't be punished for it. And the song is made for radio, while it's not my personal taste a lot of people really like the song (one of my friends likes Seven the most out of all the BTS releases so far), and it will catch on with some support. So, ARMY will support it including me, just to a lesser degree than I've done so far. Fingers crossed JJK1 has something solid on it.

[lev1hei1chou]

jjk 236 spoilers

Have you seen the official translation? Now I heavily believe he still alive but the official translation are giving me doubts but in imo if he’s really dead then it will be bad writing because how come the hero can’t be “overpowered” because it would “ruined” the story/plot but one does a terrible death like that for such a great character two how come the villain can be overpowered and get a random power up without it “ruining” the story/plot three considering there’s only like 5-6 important characters left the ending will not be great imo (sorry for the long rant/ask)

Yes, I've seen the official translation and just replied to someone regarding that. Theres a small bit of hope and ive typed it there. I also hope he spawns out of nowhere like toji or as a cursed spirit- that would be interesting.

Moving on, we've already seen bad writing with whats going on between meimei and uiui- like dont even get me started on that monstrosity. But this is just going to push the bad writing narrative further, because you cant just create a character so overpowered (in words, atleast) hype him up so hard, just to give an unsatisfying ending. Its not bad to kill off characters imo, but atleast make it make sense. To kill off a character who's been called the strongest all along, off screen and not actually explain properly is terrible writing. Gege already kinda fumbles around with explanations about techniques, doesnt follow the powerscaling that they created and now this. Its pretty disappointing.

Couldve atleast given him a proper death, if that is the case. Considering the popularity of Gojo this wasnt the right call to make either.

The villain having the power up could just be an example of gege either hating gojo as always and trying to get rid of him, or he's trying to fasten the pace of the story. Not the best way to go about though.

Ending not being great is kind of a given imo. If gojo is gone and Nobara- a long story, i believe he'd prolly finish off megumi and go with what he said in an interview “Among Yuji, Megumi, Nobara, and Gojo, one will die, or all but one will die."

It seems to me that we're heading towards the latter. He doesnt have a proper concept of female characters. Maki has accomplished what she wanted to, Toge well idk, Panda cant do much with his father figure and teacher gone. Yuta and Yuji are left in that sense with all others being characters who wouldnt get their big moments. I wonder where the story would head with this.

AND, dw bout it being long lol, i love reading your thoughts!

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers: Battle of Adventurers

Eh...gotta be honest, I found this pretty underwhelming. It had its moments, don't get me wrong, but the plot felt pretty generic and the ending was rushed. Still had fun, but the emotional investment was lacking.

Notes:

Reddit told me to watch this after episode 18, so I got the timing a little off, but I felt like it'd be good to watch prior to the digiworld episodes. The only timeline wonkiness is that this takes place before Culumon's kidnapping, which I've already seen, but that's fine.

In another moment of ~fate~ the movie begins with Guilmon dying of heat (not literally lol) and it was "feels like 101" where I am today so...can relate.

I was a pretty sheltered kid, so IDK how I would react to my parents making me travel by myself at 10...not that I'm against that, I just know 10 year old me woulda been a big crybaby about it.

Kinda weird that they gave us 2 title screens for this, one of which was just ripped from the TV show. The whole vibe was kind of a mixed bag in this, sometimes the animation felt pretty much the same quality as the show and sometimes it felt like they were stepping it up, not super consistent.

"Battle of Adventurers" is a pretty uninspired title. I feel like they could have either put something about Okinawa or the v-pet virus in the title instead so it would stand out a bit more...

Speaking of the V-Pet, I thought it was super charming with its crappy CGI lol. I totally would have fell for it in 2001. Kinda hard to believe that literally everyone downloaded it though (doctors, pilots, etc.) Or was it more like that one U2 album that was automatically distributed to everyone?

Guilmon begging to get out of the suitcase was stressful! How did he not suffocate? D: (do digimon even need to breathe?)

They really did the movie-only character (Minami) dirty this time. She had to be re-traumatized about her dead dog so many times! Just felt cruel...

All of the Okinawa cultural stuff was fun, especially the Okinawa-inspired digimon. If Digimon Go was a thing, you know they'd be region specific.

When Ruki's mom was like "oh, it's so comfortable flying on the plane!" I was like "okay, rich." That's the only explanation because flying economy is always a bad time.

Although a lot of the character animation was kinda meh, the battle animation is where this movie really shined. It was like little pockets of hype and there was a really good variety of enemy digimon. I was especially excited to see Anomalocarimon cuz it's been a minute and there was a lot of attention to detail with his bit.

Siesamon's design was really pretty, but I don't like his resting angry face. I wish they would have made his face more emotive because it kind of diminished some emotional moments...

There was one scene where it showed some buildings blowing up (because of the virus) and one of them suspiciously looked like a power plant...hopefully I'm wrong cuz oof...

Loved Mephismon's design, but with Gulfmon they did that thing that they did with VenomVamdemon where he has a second face by his crotch area...don't like that (although he is a centaur, so not technically his crotch)

There were some legit scary moments in this! The car crash scene was pretty violent and Minami screaming as she ran from the lasers also felt pretty intense for a kid's movie. (I haven't peeked at the dub yet, wondering if anything was cut)

I thought the final battle was weak as heck. Phase 1 took like 2 seconds and then phase 2 just felt kinda arbitrary like we were going through the motions. We did get a new attack though (trinity something or other). It felt kind of weird for them to just show that without any acknowledgement, but oh well. I'm sure it'll come back at some point. I was a little disappointed tbh because I thought they were doing some sort of 3-way jogress fusion

The shot with 3D MegaloGrowmon and 2D Rapidmon and Taomon was a glorious 2000s moment

IDK why but it gave me Power Rangers vibes

Yeah so this felt pretty disposable, they tried to kind of tie things to Digimon Adventure with Omegamon and Apocalymon, but the connection was pretty vague and forced. I rather Tamers just be separate without the callbacks

While I'm a big fan of short runtimes, I do wonder if this one could have benefitted from being a little longer, just to let things breath more

[lizthinspo]

i keep thinking to myself just make it to the end of the year and then ur free to do whatever you please but until then we are crying and screaming my lungs out. isn’t it so funny how the only way i can feel ok is through being myself and driving around, bc that’s how i clear my head probably bc i wish there could be a reckless driver in my path that can pls kill me so i don’t ever have to go back home. i can’t go home. it’s like im not even wanted there, i know when im not wanted somewhere. it’s summer, MY summer, im supposed to be living, instead im crying thinking about ending my life, i feel like im losing control. the things that i used to make myself feel ok are being taken away from me daily. i feel like im going insane bc everything i do is somehow wrong or not what was needed of me and it hurts so much bc how else am i supposed to be alive and happy and ok if im not loved by myself and i hate myself inside and outside i feel like im not good enough for anybody, i feel like im the one person ppl always forget abt like when we’re in a public setting and with a bunch of ppl, i feel like im always the one to have been forgotten or left out. its a horrible feeling honestly bc I WAS THERE. i feel like i don’t deserve anything and i really don’t. but since ik these are my last few memories i want to make the most of them but im also scared of my mom and what she’ll say of me when im happy. and yes i smoke and drink and cvt but honestly i love smoking bc it takes away all of my pain and im left feeling nothing, ik it seems crazy but it makes me feel like im going to make it out alive and ok even for a split second but thats why im always smoking. bc you most def don’t help me feeling ok, you’re the reason why i never feel safe nor ok nor alive nor happy. i enjoy drinking bc im not gonna make it to 21 so im just getting to still experience it and also it makes me feel happy and danceful and full of joy but you always seem to take it away from me always and it truly sucks so much because sometimes i do really want to be happy w you bc you’re my mom. and i wanna be good for you but no matter what i do you can never truly appreciate anything i do. that’s why ive given up, bc you’re never gonna open ur eyes and actually see how much im trying. this summer i had so much planned! i was so hyped and excited abt it, you should’ve heard me all of senior year, talking abt how happy i was gonna be bc im free from school and im finally gonna be able to be me. idk what else you want from me, i wanna go out and have sleepovers and have friends and be out w them for hours on end and stay out late. you say i can’t go out bc im drinking but maybe if i went out more often without ur fucking mf bitch phone call on my ass every single minute. i wouldn’t be out drinking and smoking everyday as you probably think i do now bc i could actually experience happiness. and ykw my #1 rule is to never cvt myself for anyone else’s problems but i truly think that this one deserves one bc i think if she takes my car im actually gonna lost and idk what to do. i keep saying and telling myself to keep pushing for jared and jensen and misha but i don’t think i can bc im so tired and over everything i don’t wanna live anymore. i wanna slit my wrists or hang myself to my death bc i cannot bear the thought of you saying that you’re disappointed in me bc that shattered my heart and to just continue to tell me these awful things that i wish i could respond with just fucking kill me already FUCKING KILL ME! i’m sure that’s what she wanted to do either way. she says she’ll be here for whenever you need me but i don’t need you i’m fine without you in fact i’m better off without you. ik that my intentions are good for others not for myself bc everything i’ve heard come from your mouth i believe by the amount of times that you’ve told me the same things so much so that i start to believe it myself and that translates over to me hating myself constantly and not being able to experience having real friends and have a relationship and to just experience any from of love

[thatgirlwithasquid]

tag game: stranger things edition 👻

tagged by @ratbastardbilly and @intothedysphoria (ty guys xx)

1. ride or die ship (your otp): CUNNINGWAY!!! They’re my girls. Chrissy and Heather my beloveds. I have never been so hyped for a ship before and this is the first time I’ve put this much effort into one, but if I don’t advocate for this rarepair then who will? (the answer is bambi. bambi will. but whatever, you get the point)

2. most annoying ship: there isn’t really a ship i find WHOLLY annoying. stancy maybe. i also think jancy and mileven have ran their course and jopper gives me a lil bit of the ick. obvi no hate to the ships or those that ship it!!

3. second favourite ship: ima have to say harringrove, but there are others i like a lot too!!

4. favourite platonic relationship: heather, chrissy & billy. the chaos trio. more should be done with them <3

5. underrated ship: there are so many!! argyle/chrissy (which i am lovingly referring to as pompompinapple, just try and stop me)? byergrove (billy/jonathan)? calicheer (billy/chrissy)??? how can i possibly choose????

6. overrated ship: uhhhh this feels dangerous. but steddie. dont get me wrong, i love this ship, but the boom in works for them was INSANE cause i dont think they have TOO MUCH chemistry in canon (tho there 100% is a good bit and it makes sense)

7. one thing i would change in canon: the blatant lack of care the main cast have for characters outside their group. no empathy for billy, barely anyone looking into heather, characters dying that no one mentions again…

8. something canon did right: I really liked steve and dustin’s dynamic. like, a LOT. they cocked it up a bit in s4 for the sake of ‘haha, dumb steve’ but yeah. theyre sweet :)

9. a thing i’m proud of creating for the fandom: my sideblog @poolsidepanic . i know that its a niche ship but i hope i help other people who love them as much as me actually be able to enjoy their ship and not just… be disappointed when they come up empty handed. the art and little fics and such i make over there make me so happy <3

10. a character who is perfect to me (wouldnt change a thing): heather. sassy, bitchy, yet kindhearted lifeguard? yes. the only thing id change is the DISSERVICE THE DUFFERS GAVE HER WHEN THEY KILLED HER AND IGNORED HER EXISTENCE.

11. the character i relate most to the most and why: steve. just how he responds to the offhanded comments the people he cares about make to him, that they never seem to realise hurt.

12. character i hate most and why: neil, karen, brenner. no explanation needed

13. something ive learned from the fandom: idk. ive always wanted to be a positive person but seeing some of the toxicity in the fandom has made me really want to keep my little blog as positive and safe as i can for everyone. some things we see SUCK but if i can make someones day a lil better id like to? so not really a learn but an encouragement to be nicer wherever i can

14. three tags i seek out on ao3: i dont read a lot of st fanfiction, actually. i havent been in the mood for it for AGES!! but in general im a slow burn, hurt/comfort, angst kind of person. i love the occasional, agonising right person not enough time or some character bashing for the sake of compelling suffering (if done right!!!)

15. a song i strongly associate with my otp/favourite character: ooooh fun!!! ‘Groan’, ‘Wet’ and ‘Maggot’ by Dazey and the Scouts are so Billy. ‘Drunk Walk Home’ by Mitski gives me Chrissy vibes, and ‘Maggot’ again for her tbh (billy and chrissy, my sad beloved blorbos). there arent any songs i associate with cunningway yet tho 😔

tagging: @bigdumbbambieyes @hargrove-mayfields @billyhargrovesupsidedownshadow @every-dayiwakeup and anyone else interested in sharing :)

[shoezuki]

This is exactly why I just got uncomfortable watching Dream Every time. He is so proud of himself of figuring out the algorithm that he genuinely doesn't see the negative effects in his own thinking. Like, I always want to give the benefit of the doubt for everyone, and I'm sure dream wanted to show his face to his friends because he genuinely cared about their reaction first, but the fact that he actively asked them to record it, went around to other youtubers to reach more corners.... he has a company mindset. Which is never good if you are an individual. That is when you don't realise how fucked up some of your choices are (e.g. the whole dream USB with childhood pictures and emails that only exclusive shop members could buy) - nony (also hi how are ya egg)

genuinelyyyy like i kept seein ppl talkin bout it on twitter w like 'wow he knows how to build hype' and 'this is an insane marketing campaign' n like. technically yes

but thats his FACE. he was sellin his own appearance like its a product. he consistently does this shit w intrinsically tyin his own identity and self w how his fans consume his content. like this has essentially been him advertising himself as content similar to the baby photos. n its uncomfy as fuck to me like.

its jus way too fuckin much. he has no distance between himself and his identity as an entertainer. there was definitely gonna be so much good n bad shit round him face revealin regardless but he really dug himself a fuckin canyon w it. like he dragged it out over days had so many ppl hype up how handsome he is he built up ppls disappointment. n idk how he could possibly emotionally distance himself from his fuckin face

idk this really is jus the cumulation of his weird relationship w his audience n his job. like the dash of narcissism gettin ppl to talk bout how hot he is paired w how fuckin looong he drew this whole thing out n now how im mostly seein ppl roast his ass into oblivion. this is exactly how this was all gonna turn out

[emberphantom]

Seeing all the Ryan Reynolds stuff is really scaring me that Rob is just going to start having famous recognizable faces on the show and distract us from what we actually care about. RR only really plays one character afaik? (I mean, good for him, whatever, but it's going to feel like Celebrity Cameo and iasip is very good about avoiding that?) Am I the only one with this anxiety? I know RCG clearly protect sunny like hell, but all the positivity online about this might sway them and I scared...

Oh I feel you. Personally for me, I think a lot of my worry comes from them wasting the storyline and potential of giving Mac a boyfriend on the show. Obviously we all have this lofty (and CORRECT) expectation that Mac getting a BF is gonna result in Jealous Dennis (bc where else would that go like BE SERIOUS). But I'm afraid that it's gonna end up being this one-off throw away cameo that is just like "See we did the thing now shut up!" Idk--I haven't been personally keeping up with the podcast but hearing that they're "Out of ideas for s16" makes me uh, Concerned. Maybe they're just bluffing or being self deprecating. I hope. Otherwise. Yikes. I also think the hype is less around Ryan himself and more of the collective Sunny Hivemind losing their absolute shit bc since Rob became close with Ryan we were like So make him guest star as your BF on Sunny, you won't. And then Rob was like BET. And we're now all like oh shit this is happening. TBH I think Ryan will be fine but it's how they're gonna write the rest of them that could skew this from good to cringe. I also don't think it's gonna be a long term or even multi-episode commitment. Bc Ryan Reynolds is Ryan Reynolds and he's got shit to do. Also Ryan is just super fucking mainstream which is why it seems like EVERYONE is talking about it and it's being covered everywhere. Sunny will fade back into its comfortable oblivion soon enough.

TBH I don't think you have to worry about a flood of special guest stars coming in and turning Sunny into something it's not. First of all, Rob's only famous friend is Ryan Reynolds lmao (all shade Rob no one likes you). If anything, Charlie and Danny are the ones who could've gotten the pull from some big celeb cameos over the years and if they haven't done that already, I don't think RR is going to be the thing that makes the levee break, yknow?

I always want to give RCG the benefit of the doubt, s15 kinda restored my faith in them...a little. Cautiously. And it seems like them watching old episodes and remembering what they liked about the show has given them some inspiration to bring Sunny back to what is was. Honestly? I'm not getting my hopes up either way. I don't think this is gonna change a lot, if anything. But it might not live up to the hype of Mac having a BF in our heads. And I don't see a world where big celebs come on to Sunny for the sake of doing RCG a favor. Rob seems to save that for Mythic Quest tbh. Which I feel like it's more fitting on.

But i GET you. Always expect the worst from Sunny/RCG and you'll never be disappointed. Sometimes you might even be pleasantly surprised.

[formulaorange]

2022 Summer Anime Reviews

Man this season has felt like an eternity. Even though there were a couple solid series nothing has really stuck. Maybe since 90% of them are sequels (which have become the bane of my existence).

Made in Abyss - Season 2 - 12 Episodes This has been a long awaited sequel. I only recently watched the first season a few weeks before this aired so I don't have the long term hype of some fans but I found I was still kind of disappointed. The story was cool and the art of course was amazing but I just found that the adventure aspect from the first season was missing this time round. Likely since the whole story was around the village and didn't progress deeper into the abyss. It made it feel like this was more of a detour than part of the original story and I wasn't really a fan. I also felt that they really tried to hard with the gore in the second half and a lot of it felt unnecessary. This season just wasn't it for me, but then again, I never felt like I would drop it either. 7.5/10 - Good+

Call of the Night - 13 Episodes This series had a lot of hype from the manga readers. And I just don't get it. The animations were pretty and there were some solid vibes but in the end I felt that the plot wasn't enough for me and I wasn't really attached to any of the characters. Maybe the manga has a different appeal but the anime wasn't for me. 6.5/10 - Fine+

Lycoris Recoil - 13 Episodes It feels like a special treat when we actually get a new concept for a show. I really loved Chisato's personality and the action was always interesting. While I don't feel that this show stood out a whole lot, I still genuinely enjoyed watching it especially as the stakes started rising in the latter half. Also - If you're curious about the animation studio that'll be in charge of Solo Leveling, this is a good show to reference the quality of their recent works. (A-1 Pictures) 8/10 - Great

Links for the top series of the season: Summer Time Render Aoashi

The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting - 12 Episodes This show was honestly so wholesome. I love the character designs with all my heart and I wish we had more content for this series. 8/10 - Great

Isekai Pharmacy - 12 Episodes I actually didn't start this series until all the episodes were out but I was honestly surprised. It's actually a really decent isekai. The focus is much more about medicine and patient care than the isekai factor. I enjoyed the scenarios that happened in each episode and the series ended up being a super easy going watch. 7.5/10 - Good+ Vermeil In Gold - 12 Episodes This series wasn't half bad. I liked the general idea and the characters. I just really don't understand why they couldn't make Alto, idk, not a child??? It really wouldn't be that hard... Just very uncomfy with his age.. 6/10 - Fine Shadows House - Season 2 - 12 Epsiodes It's been a while since we had a decent "horror" or dark series and I think its a really nice change of pace from other series airing this season. Not sure what it is about second seasons though, it doesn't have the same appeal and it doesn't feel like there's a significant amount of progression this season. Still a decent show and concept but nothing that stood out too much. Also ended on a really weird note. 6/10 - Fine

Orient - Cour 2 - Final 12 of 24 Episodes The first half of this series wasn't great. Really didn't stand out at all, but I did feel that this half has been more interesting. That being said, I still put off watching it and wasn't really invested. (That being said, I really enjoyed the last episode.) 6.5/10 - Fine+ Danmachi S4 (Is it Wrong to Try To Pick up Girls in a Dungeon) - 11 Episodes This is somewhat of a guilty pleasure show for me. I know it's really not all that great but I can't help but feel invested in the characters, even now that's it's completely moved away from the whole greek god familes concept. In the end though, this was yet another sequel season that felt that it didn't really progress the story very much. They're still on the same floor and it ended with a massive cliffhanger but I felt that I'd be ok leaving the show where it is and not watching another season if it continues. 6/10 - Fine

Couple of Cuckoos - 24 Episodes I can't believe I even watched as much as I did for this show. I had such high hopes for the first episodes, literally until the last 3 minutes where it became a sis-con harem and my faith in romance series was shattered again. That kinda stuff just isn't my vibe and I'm getting real sick of it. That's 2 for this season alone. I watched 17/24 episodes. It's just not that great. Unfortunately everything else this season was also mid so I kept watching this but with the new Winter anime season coming, I'm giving up on this so I don't burn out. 5/10 - Average Uncle from Another World I had a hard time with this show. I liked the initial idea of using isekai powers in the real world but it started turning to just looking at how the Uncle constantly fucked up and struggled in the isekai world. It ended up being pretty cringe and the story didn't really evolve past the initial appeal - I made it 7 episodes in and it doesn't look like it's ending until the winter season so I'm dropping it. 4/10 - Bad Black Summoner - 12 Episodes I dropped this after episode 2 when the cgi came into play. I'm just not a fan. Continued it after all the other shows ended. Story was mid, animations were standard isekai. Never got attached to any of the characters but for some reason the battle music went hard. 4/10 - Bad

This season had a lot of brutal shows on it too that I didn't end up completing. Here's the list and a quick reason: My Isekai Life - Nothing special, just another standard isekai My Stepmom's Daughter is my Ex - Just not into that kinda thing When Will Ayumu Make his move - Watched 4 episodes and got bored. The Maid I hired Recently is Mysterious - Real yikes... that's it Classroom of the Elite S2 - I wasn't a huge fan of the first season and didn't make it past 1 episode of the second. Devil as a Part-Timer S2 - I enjoyed the first season but found the animation quality and the overall story really deteriorated in the second. Made it 4 episodes in. Link to the Fall 2022 Watch List

[notjanine]

i did not make my reading goal of 69 books this year. life was crazy and my brain was bad. but i did read 53 books, and of those, i liked 50- good hit rate! favorites--in no particular order--under the cut

The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez - black lesbian vampire period piece starting in the 19th century (iirc) through the 20th and into the future. good compelling stuff.

Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer - a delightful natural history of mosses. they're more interesting and cool than you think they are. i can't wait to go out and look at some with the loupe i was given for christmas.

Sorcerer to the Crown and The True Queen by Zen Cho - british wizardry stuff, but good. if i hadn't already known, there is no way i would have guessed that these were written by the same person who wrote Black Water Sister. darling she has the range. Sorcerer was surprisingly hilarious and they are both such fun. whimsical, but not overly so. i hope she writes a third, but either way, she's got me, i'll read anything from her.

Rocks by Jan Zalasiewicz - yes, this is about literal, actual rocks. i read it during a little geology phase early in the year. it's rocks. yes. but... it reads like a fairy tale? idk. i usually tune out when it comes to geologic timescales, but this guy made even that interesting to me. it's surprisingly lovely. and very short.

You Feel It Just Below the Ribs by Janina Matthewson and Jeffrey Cranor - i had mixed expectations for this one. a podcast spinoff book could never be good, could it? if it's my favorite podcast, is it more likely to be good or more likely to be extremely disappointing? but a title like that... visceral, pulling you in (YOU feel it, YOU FEEL it), all phonemes spoken at the front of your mouth like it's meant to be whispered... oh. oh it's good. i think this is the only book i read all in one sitting this year. the alternate history in this fictional universe has been worming its way into my brain for years, and finally learning more was so compelling and satisfying. (note: read this book with Stephen Rennicks' score for the little stranger as background music, would recommend.) and i love that the stories told within this universe are all able to stand alone, including this one, but there're always enough details (big and small) to tie them together. gosh. i haven't listened to the new season of within the wires yet, but i look forward to it emotionally destroying me when i do :)

Provecho by Edgar Castrejon - vegan mexican cookbook that fuuuuuucks. the writing is so straightforward and warm, the photos are plentiful and gorgeous, and the recipes are mostly very approachable. however, there were a few surprises that made me gasp out loud. amazing

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner - this is one of those books i was reluctant to read because i didn't think it could live up to the hype. it does tho

Certain Dark Things and Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - i do not like noir! and she made me like it twice!

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie - i had only seen the 2010 tv adaptation of this (bonkers cast). the original ending is way funnier

The Bone Ship's Wake by RJ Barker - last book in the tide child series :( i will definitely read and enjoy the whole trilogy again someday. fantasy pirates on ships made of dragon bones and also there are freaky bird creatures who control the weather. plus like politics and war and stuff. interesting subversions of typical white western cultural norms. and cool monsters. a lot to like in these books. (playlist for reading this series is heavy on the assassins creed black flag score, and daniel pemberton's for king arthur)

Beast at Every Threshold by Natalie Wee - when she said This body isn't a trial run for your real life... Make your hands useful or you'll be sorry....

The Library of the Dead and Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by TL Huchu - i don't understand why these aren't classified as YA, but i'm glad they're not, or i wouldn't have read them. street-smart teenage girl in near-future edinburgh talks to ghosts and solves mysteries. sometimes it's gross. sometimes it's silly. there's a vibe and it's enjoyable

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones - he does one thing i really, really hate in this book. but i understand why. other than that thing, it is a blast. a literary take on the slasher genre. gets meta, but not annoyingly so. it was just the right level of scary for me (i.e., i had to stay up late to finish it so i could be DONE with it, but the scariness didn't persist past that).

plus some honorable mentions:

I'm Waiting for You by Kim Bo-Young - short story collection bookended by parallel stories about a couple separated in time. the first half wrecked me. the second didn't. i fell out of love in the middle. this book will always remind me of that.

A Marvellous Light and A Restless Truth by Freya Marske - victorian (?) era fantasy that's like 30% smut. not bad. but i mostly like them because i read the first one very soon after Sorcerer to the Crown, and in my head, they are in the same universe. delightful.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers - the usual Becky Chambers stuff. thinly veiled personal philosophy with a veneer of sci-fi bullshit. it's pretty sweet tho

ngl my book completion rate steadily decreased as the year progressed; most of these are from before i started my internship in august. i have no idea what to expect in my life next year, so i'm not even going to make a reading goal. i will, however, keep my self-imposed rule that no more than 25% of the books i read in a year can be written by white men. (i have read wayyy fewer mediocre and shitty books since implementing this policy.) i might even try no more than 25% white authors full stop. we'll see. i'm excited to see what books i'll find next year! i wonder if i'll knock out all of the unread books in my apartment before i move...

[multiplefandomsblog]

your roommate hcs are so cute, can i request for naib, demi, tracy, andrew, kurt, patricia, and victor?

:0 holy crap yes! I’m so glad you enjoyed the roommate hcs!! Me and the other mods hope you enjoy these! Thank you for requesting :))

(i added melly because why not? lmao hope you don’t mind.)

Part 1!

Naib Subedar

This man deadass didn’t know you were living with him

Even when people told him about it, he wasn’t rlly paying attention and didn’t rlly care

Your stuff in his room? He thought it was his or someone just broke into his room and left it there

When he saw you on the toilet however, he just freaked out.

“Why the hell are you shitting in my room!?” “Your room? I’ve been living here for 2 months!”

Once he found out you lived with him, he made sure you knew what was his and what was yours

also, since he’s very protective of his things-- you being one of them-- he would totally get jealous if he caught you tallking to someone that wasn’t him.

he would probably give you the silent treatment and act like a pissy baby

He hates it when you touch his stuff

especially his photos, the photos were special to him because they were of him and his army friends.

You’d sometimes catch him looking at the photos with a longing in his eyes, it was highkey sad.

having you live with him meant lots and lots of training

he made sure you were always prepared for matches and that you don’t get downed early

when you got downed early however, He would scold you but he would still rescue you anyways because he’s soft

“You’re such an idiot, you’d better do better next time! Or else I’ll kick your ass.” 

one time he got cocky while kiting because you were watching him

he forgot to turn on his elbow pads and face palmed into the wall.

“...You saw nothing.” He turned around, a bit woozy from hitting his head on a wall. He flipped the hunter off before stumbling wooshing away

When you first get to know naib, he’d probably come off as intimidating and menacing

but once you get to know him--the real him--, you start to understand that even though he may be tough on you, its because he wants you to be the best

he has good intentions

During matches he’d let you handle yourself and made sure you didn’t rely on him too much

One time you needed to shower but you ran out of your shampoo so you used his.

When he questioned you, you simply responded “What? You don’t need it anyways, you’re bald!”

He didn’t rescue you the next round.

should’ve seen that coming

though he forgives you when you braid his luscious long existent hair for him

Kurt Frank

The amount of times you almost stepped on this man is astronomical.

he would constantly be in his tiny form because he would lose a lot of his things

his tiny form helped him find his things easily

Though when you first moved in with him, you had no idea what his ability was

so when you first saw a tiny version of your roommate you thought he was just a weird doll

until you heard him say a tiny, “Hey can you move your ginORMOUS foot? You’re stepping on my book.”

You fucking screeched and took off your shoe to try and kill him

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”

After he explained to you about his ability you calmed down a bit and spared this tiny man but only this time!

Frank loves books, he probably filled your shared rooms with stacks on stacks of books

You’d often see him tiny, waving at you while you’re decoding

Once you overhead Kurt arguing with First Officer over who was the rightful owner of some sort of treasure map

They fought for days,

kurt would constantly complain about it to you

turns out it was just a game on the back of a Cereal box.

sorry this is short like kurt

Tracy Reznik

Would be a little awkward at first, but the awkwardness slowly fades away when you both make bad jokes

she gives me childhood best friend vibes

Has her doll sitting in the corner of your shared room room, it’s lifeless eyes scare the living shit out of you in the dark you try not to make eye contact, afraid it’ll curse you or smth

if she was mad at you she would move the bot in a way that looked like it was flipping you off you off in your direction before you went to bed.

Always making little robot things that are super fun to play with

Loves sharing her things. Has no problem with it

you wanna wear her clothes? sure

you want to wear her underwear? evEN BETTER-

Pulling all nighters, trying to get her machines to work like how she wanted it to work.

Would live off of kraft Mac n cheese and junk food in the modern day

Pretty hyper, chugs pink monster energy drinks while pulling all nighters, also, in the modern day

would probably be a bruh girl

Her room is a mess, covered with blueprints and scrap metal

her room is practically a safety hazard

Sometimes she dresses her doll up a bit, putting wigs or her old clothes on it (which scares you half to death)

Once she made her doll dress up like her

and you almost went up to it to ask what it wanted for dinner.

Has a photo of her and her dad

You never wanted to bring it up, worried it might make her upset :(

Sometimes she’d feel really guilty about being downed in the first 30 seconds

please comfort her, she feels super bad

She always relies on you to rescue her

She gets really happy and thankful when you body block for her but she still gets a bit concerned when you do it randomly

“i wasn’t even kiting-” “Protecc the mecc.”

Demi Bourbon

Always out at the bar

Smells like alcohol constantly

tipsy 24/7

she’s never 100% sober

You have to hold her hair out of her face when she comes back to your shared room to hurl

Likes bringing back hard vodka or weird flavoured alcohols back for you guys to get wasted try together

Room is bit cluttered, but she doesn’t have much in her room since she’s always out in bars or matches

Usually latches onto you like a parasite when she’s drunk.

it gets a bit awkward when her face is a bit close to yours,

“Are we about to kiss right now-? BLeurghgrhgherrgh.”“...*audible sigh*”

You’d go to her expecting her to heal you like a normal person but no

instead she shoves dovlin down your throat

She likes to do your makeup, and always adds a matching beauty mark

unless you don’t wear makeup, then she’d ask you to do hers 

always loves how she looks afterwards

more than sometimes demi would get into bar fights, 

so you know she’s about to throw hands when she starts takes off her earrings-

10/10 would fight for you <3

She’s gives me cool wine aunt vibes

Probably a lesbian too (check out our Demi smut fic ;))

Or bi, idk

Just straightn’t

She’s really good at hyping you up, especially when you’re taking shots

“CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG-”

Andrew Kreiss

Would be very shy at first, opens up a little when you get to know him

Totally a night owl, can’t sleep at night from all the guilt and “what if’”s

if you see this baby awake at night, hug him, he really needs it

You’ve never seen the other side of his face

How does he see with hair in his eyes?

He’s albino, which is super dope

Sometime you fear he’s thinking about burying you

You always see him thwacking Luca with his shovel

Barely talks

Room is moderate

He doesn’t want you to find out too much about him

He may seem bland, but he loves sweet food

You’d bake him cookies and other sweets

He’d act as if he’s not embarrassed and brush it off

“Are you blushing?”“No, I-I’m sunburnt.” “On your face?” “....I stare into the hot red sun sometimes because it eases me.”

to keep his lie going, every time he catches you staring at him he would fry his eye balls by staring into the sun until you left

partially the reason why he can’t see well

When he’s not looking, you stare at him while he’s eating the stuff you made because he looks so happy :’)

One time you found him down in the dumps so you made him a cup of coffee, and when you handed it to him you said-

“Depresso espresso?”

*sniff* ”..are you oka-” “IM NOT CRYING, YOU ARE”

he actually cried

it was such a nice gesture(?), that he started ugly crying

You’d ask him if he wanted hugs during matches when you see him get stressed

He’d be flushed and kinda confused

hug... him? why tho lmao

he’d definitely agree tho, to be fair, with some hesitation 

if y’all ever cuddled in bed, i feel like he’d be a little spoon

poor boy needs the comfort, he wouldn’t mind if you wanted to be little spoon tho

he just wants to be close to you

Victor Grantz

You love playing with his dog, Wick

Super nice and polite, but a little guarded

The type to be too afraid to call people out when they do something wrong but would totally trash them in his head

You write him little letters everyday and leave them on his bed to make him happy :))

He’d a be a little spoon

Wick would always join you guys while cuddling

Kisses would be soft and gentle

Usually sends you the first letter in matches

Loves to cuddle

He bb 🥰

You always get him a birthday present AND a Christmas present

You also get a gift for Wick

He loves giving you surprise hugs

Likes to read with you while cuddling

Literally a cinnamon roll

Once he was eating a cinnamon roll

And you whispered

“C a n n i b a l i s m .”

He was very confused

and kind of scared- were you going to eat him?

Patricia Dorval

Room always smells like herbs

She could literally smoke weed and you’d think it’s some magical healing herb

it magically makes you feel better

Always there to stun the hunter when you’re ballooned

The mature one

Her room is organized, with boxes labeling what herbs and magic stuff that are in them

You were cooking dinner for the day and you accidentally used one of her fancy herbs in your soup

She didn’t realize until she tried the soup

She wasn’t mad just disappointed

She lectured you on how you shouldn’t touch her stuff or use it for cooking

Gotta admit tho, the soup was pretty good

she acts like the mom everyone wishes they had

totally the type to be like, “dude we should think this through.” before doing something risky

and then five seconds later, “cowABUNGA MY DUDES”

one time she caught kreacher leaving the mens washroom without washing his hands

seeing as she was the mother of this manor, she had to protect her children from diseases

so she yeeted her monkey skull at kreachers head, cleanly knocking him out

and everybody cheered.

Melly Plinius

When you heard melly was going to be your roomie, you couldn’t have been more excited.

you finally had a victim for the many insect pick up lines!

So you decided to make some good first impressions by waiting for her in your room.

so when she arrived to your room and greeted you, you happily greeted her back, and slipped in the pick up line.

“Hello, my name is Melly. I believe I will be your ro-?”“Yeah nice to meet you too, say, what do bees make?”

She kinda thought you were a bit rude so much for first impressions

“...Erm, honey?” she replied hesitantly

“YES DEAR?” 

... okay maybe you weren’t thaaaat bad.

after that she kind of developed a teensy crush on you 

so it was hard living with you because of her crush, since she was constantly flustered 

you loved her reactions, she constantly got red.

it was funny watching her try to keep her cool and fail.

[bpdanakins]

okay i haven’t really been Talking about it here bc all of my word vomit is on twitter (or towards my poor friends who probably deserve a Break) which really it shouldn’t be i do NOT want to become a fandom twitter but that stupid algorithm...... i need to get off anyways

i’ve had so many thoughts about this season - both good and bad - and i could go into a whole thing here and that’s the point to this blog but i ALSO know lots of people are so over hearing about this show (and tho, tbf towards myself, i am a star wars blog and that’s already tragic and embarrassing on its own LMAO) so idk. I’ve just felt weird.

I also suppose I feel weird about people’s reactions to people who enjoy the show? Like it’s this whole “well, what did you expect, idiot?” which is just. Not necessary. Like, for myself, I went in knowing something would bother me bc that’s been a constant for all the seasons and it became so uncomfortable and upsetting and worst in s3 (I will never forgive the absolute assassination of Hopper’s character). So personally I went in not being as hyped for this show as for Kenobi, but then I watched the first 8 minutes preview and it got me excited as it felt like we were going back thematically to the mystery-horror shit of the first season, which is exactly what I wanted.

And honestly tbf I am surprised that for some reason my brain has grabbed onto this show so much bc like. Kenobi’s right there. Giving me all I ever wanted. And there was only one episode that really bothered me, so? Whatever. Not the point.

But yes, I did get attached to the new character who I knew from the beginning would be offed. And so I was unsurprised it happened. But honestly seeing the reaction of people going “It’s a bad show with bad history, what did you expect?” to people is just. Mean? Yes, there’s a lot of bad but some really amazing things too, and in this day and age where a lot of media is disappointing, do we really need to kick people for trying to enjoy something? lmao

So like. I feel odd bc I knew going in there’d be disappointment (super surprised and glad there was still a lot I enjoyed) so I didn’t expect a lot, but like. Does that mean I should be rude to people who are really upset by things? No. And we have to remember not everyone consuming media is a millennial and that some people are attached to it for a variety of reasons, including growing up with it. (Nvm all the queer people with genuine reason to be interested in it.)

And yeah, like I said, I knew I’d be bothered by something. The fact that that something also happens to be caused by something I knew was going to happen seems silly, and Yet. That doesn’t make a difference? Feelings don’t care about shit like that, and yeah, originally bc I expected it I wasn’t as bothered - like I cried a lot for this season - but actually. Now I’m more bothered as time went on bc I feel like, once again, a story did a character (many characters tbh, don’t talk to me about how annoyed I am with what they did to my other blorbo) dirty, and poorly. And it feels weird bc I have this knowledge of “what did you expect” which is. Yeah, I did expect it, doesn’t change anything? Still feel upset, like genuinely upset now.

It sucks to have creators who do things that feel unnecessary or even mean-spirited towards something you enjoy, esp something important to you (whether you want it to be or not), but it’s also kind of really crappy that, just bc someone isn’t enjoying the media and thus is like “Well, it’s been bad this whole time!” that they’re comfortable just. Being kinda rude. Like yeah, we know. And I get it’s just a joke and yes, it’s fair, but also just. Kinda crappy. There are blacklists and block buttons and muting you can do y’all. idk

I woke up in a weird funk I suppose. Also I feel bad for become an ST blog rn, I’m sure my brain will latch onto something else in time. Like always, I tag everything so, you know. Use the blacklist lmao

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Season in Review - Spring 2021

Your text here

Pretty Boy Detective Club

When this got announced I laughed at the title then I saw Nisioisin for original creator and Akiyuki Shinbo on direction and it went from being a total joke to like, one of my most anticipated shows of the season.

And yeah no it totally lived up to my unexpected hype. I don’t think I had any specific expectations other than hoping the dialogue was fun and it was visually interesting. It was both of those things to the max.

There’s just a lot of entertaining wit to all of the dialogue, especially since Mayumi Doujima – our perspective character – is a bit of a sassy fucking asshole, she’s a real treat to listen to. Strong vocal performance helps her too. Trust me to latch the most onto the one girl character in a show called Pretty Boy Detective Club, huh. Note that the boys are all pretty great too.

And then as for visuals, I really cannot even fucking begin to describe how amazing this show looks. It’s probably the most visually interesting and exciting anime I’ve ever seen? It depends on your tastes to a large extent – certainly the show is more impressive for art than animation even if that animation is still pretty great – but if you’re into shows that are as fucky and experimental and crazy as they can possibly be, finding new art styles every episode and with direction that’s constantly keeping you visually engaged, yeah this show’s for you.

And just to top that all off, the music is also absolutely amazing. There are so many memorable and fun tracks for every occasion and hearing these compositions is the absolute cherry on top of the rest of its strengths.

I don’t even feel like I have too much else to say tbf. The themes are fairly spelled out for us but they’re far from what I was enjoying the show for even if they’re still nice, the plots are generally always really creative and enjoyable even if I didn’t feel like they were worth that much as mysteries, and the last episode functioning as a soft recap was kinda disappointing – but again you fall in love with this show because it’s an audiovisual masterpiece and the rest if just cute bonus fluff for the hell of it.

Funimation’s subs for this show were abysmal so looking forward to rewatching whenever a good group picks it up.

Zombie Land Saga Revenge

Season fucking 2 baby!!!! It’s only been 3 years.

I haven’t read my original review of ZLS in ages and have no idea how it holds up at all, so while most of what I’m gonna say will probs be in relation to how this holds up against season 1 I have no idea if my season 1 thoughts are particularly well documented.

But anyway season 2 is both better and worse than season 1, wildin. Obviously looks a lot better, especially the CGI has had a great glowup, and a good amount of the songs are probably better than season 1 as well, idk I’m so exposed to s1’s music that it’s hard to say atm. Plus we have a clearer focus this season in theory, and particularly the last few episodes work really well compared to how season 1 approached its ending.

Guess the problem though is this season has quite a lot of fairly mid episodes? Episode 1 was a nice return to form but some moments down the line make it odd in retrospect; episode 2 was just kinda eh that didn’t do loads for anyone’s character, particularly its “focus” character Saki almost feels untouched in it; episode 3 is an okay setup episode but still eh; episode 5 doesn’t do a lot for Lily’s character despite being the focus; 8 and 9 are a Yuugiri “focus” arc that spends more time on some forgettable fucko than it does Yuugiri and what happened in them only needed an episode; and episode 10 is almost a recap out of nowhere? Like it’s not a recap but it almost just retells episode 1 from a very drawn out perspective that’s not in service of anything ig. Idk.

Most of those episodes were still at least good tbf tho and the season still has a lot of real banger episodes – 4 cemented Junko as my absolute favourite and had the best actual live show in the series; 6 was just hilarious and endearing as all fucking hell; 7 was probably the funniest episode of anime I’ve ever seen and did an excellent job introducing us to a brand new character, completely endearing us to her, and giving her a great sendoff that’s in service of the main cast as well; and then 11 and 12 are a really great end to the season that do well by every character.

Season 2 does a lot of work in service of making Saga itself feel like a very living place. Lots of season 1 minor characters return in different situations having had nice off-screen arcs and there are plenty of new faces that are instantly endearing as well – what Saga means to the people living there is actually explored which feels fucking great and I really appreciated being actually invested in their specific goal.

The whole “Revenge” part of the title was… meh. I like what they’re going for – give a clear narrative and thematic goal for the sake of the sequel season – though despite mentioning their EFS failure a bunch and how much they want their revenge, it feels kind of undercooked. Like, it’s mentioned but that’s it, it doesn’t really feel like it informs their actions much though. Not really bothered by it but it did feel a bit wasted.

Iffy on how indulgent in the supernatural this is getting. “Ever seen a zombie movie?” was enough for me – immortal old bartenders bringing back the dead and predicting disasters such as alien attacks is like… it’s not like I can’t suspend my disbelief or anything, guess I’m just too idolpilled? There was a s3 hook and I imagine it sold well so maybe I’d end up enjoying where it goes and eat my words here.

Guess a TL;DR really is just what I said near the start of both better and worse than season 1. Kinda disappointing since you obviously want a sequel to be even better, but happy to be able to say it’s not just straight up worse.

Junko best girl.

Odd Taxi

Pretty quick and easy show to sum up the appeal of. Odd Taxi sits within the ranks of such shows as Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood for being a narrative consisting of basically a massive interconnected web of different characters with different personalities and different motives interacting with one another and shaking up that entire web with every exchange and decision they make.

I actually don’t even feel like I have loads more to say than that. That description of what the show fundamentally is kind of just is the key appeal for me. Every single character is engaging to watch and they all have very realistic behaviours and reactions to everything that goes on. We get a pretty thorough understanding of who every individual in the show is and how they operate and how they influence one another even though half of them don’t even know each other.

It’s also very good as a mystery anime, obviously has loads of moving pieces to begin with and seeing and hearing people theorise throughout was satisfying. Probs will rewatch – potentially more than once – just to catch it all.

Episode about gacha guy was one of the best written things I’ve seen in anime. This show has pretty fucking godly dialogue but this episode especially, god damn.

When I saw Odokawa’s design I had no idea how Natsuki fucking Hanae would do such a character. Feel bad underestimating the dude – he killed it.

OP was cummable.

Ending is sorta eh? It’s a good end point for sort of the main plot and I think it does its big reveal moment well. But for lots of the characters it’s basically just “they have a happy ending now” even if it doesn’t feel like their arc reached that point. I still enjoyed it but I guess it was kind of underwhelming compared to the rest of the show.

Slime Taoshite 300-nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level Max ni Nattemashita

Hence just Killing Slimes.­­­

I watched Spider Isekai for Aoi Yuuki. It was shit and disappointing and she wasn’t in it enough. This was looking to be my Aoi Yuuki fix to fill that void. It did so much more than that.

In terms of Aoi Yuuki I’ve got loads of her in here. She sings the OP and it’s great fun - I could never get enough of it. And beyond that she’s the protagonist – Azusa is a super endearing character with a mad respectable approach to life, she encourages everyone to commit as hard as possible to a good work-life balance, overexerting yourself is not a fucking option. Based. And of course she’s a treat to listen to. Not quite as chaotic or loud as I tend to favour from Aoi Yuuki but tbf this performance fits the show like a glove.

On that note this show is basically just Yuri Harem Family Iyashikei: The Animation. There are only girls, all the adults are very in love with each other, all the kids are just the most innocent adorable fuckers ever, it’s got a huge constantly expanding cast and I felt like I had a brand new favourite character every episode, it was fucking brilliant.

Tbh right, art style isn’t quite the cutest in the world. But the show’s overall tone and presentation and concept and vibe is so fucking adorable and happy and comfy and fun that the show feels cuter than it actually is? I’ve seen shows with cuter artwork than this that feel less cute anyway because they just don’t hit that vibe as well. It’s wild.

Btw don’t take what I just said as a slight against the visuals at all – this show actually has more than one choreographed fight scene with like, pretty fucking good animation. Again not the most impressive in the world but directed so well as to really feel the action and excitement – Azusa taking on like a dozen dragons actually gets to look fucking badass, it’s great.

I mean if feelgood yuri harem/family sounds appealing to you you’ve already seen and loved this show. If that’s not for you, get the fuck out my life.

Godzilla: S.P.

Despite enjoying all like, 2 other kaiju anime I’ve seen, I’m not really a kaiju guy at all. And I was initially gonna pass on this for that reason. Like, I don’t care about Godzilla lol.

However, the combination of a Bones and Orange production alongside primarily me seeing a visual with all the character designs persuaded me to give it a chance. Do not regret it whatsoever.

To get the execution of what drew me in out of the way – this show looks absolutely fucking fantastic. The art style is deceptively distinctive and extremely easy on the eyes + animates really well on the 2D front; and the 3D is as high quality as you’d expect from Orange – high quality models with really clean and natural animations that still befit the kaiju we’re seeing. I do think when you see the 2D and 3D in the same shot they don’t feel completely in the same environment – but the execution is still better than a lot of other shows and hey tbf you can blame it on the kaiju being otherworldly anyway lol. Also the character designs are just absolutely fucking amazing. Every single recurring character of which there are many has a very distinct design – sameface doesn’t exist – and so much is communicated about everyone via their design, they’re all hella aesthetically pleasing, just makes it a very lovely show to look at.

Then in terms of narrative and pretty much the remainder of the show feel since this is a very dialogue driven experience – the main thing I can say is the same comparison I use all the time. Have you ever found yourself reading wiki pages for stuff you know nothing about, or watching several YouTube videos for a topic you otherwise had no interest in? Going down a suggested videos rabbit hole and learning a whole bunch of shit you’d never learn otherwise but just these videos are so good in their presentation that you become engaged anyway? Yeah you forget or can’t even truly process the info because of how complicated it is, but you really enjoyed the ride anyway? That’s what watching this anime is like. The dialogue is so informed by a bunch of scientific – particularly theoretical physics – jargon that I never actually felt like I totally knew what was going on. And yet I loved every single second of everything I was watching regardless. You may not understand anything about this wild ride but it’s so fucking fun that who gives a shit? That’s what watching this show is like.

I genuinely don’t have much else to add lol. I watched this with Moyai fansubs and they were really high effort – since I know them from Mewkledreamy anyway I was excited to see how they’d manage this and they did swell.

Mei best girl.

I even found the kaiju shit genuinely cool, particularly when the titular big guy himself appears there are lots of really striking and memorable action shots. Cool time.

SSSS.Dynazenon

Hey our second kaiju show of the day! And some sort of loosely related Gridman follow-up too – that show was a completely unexpected treat for me so I was really looking forward to seeing what Dynazenon would have in store.

Right off the bat I want to clarify that I’ve not seen Gridman since it aired and didn’t rewatch at all so I can’t deny my memory being a little fuzzy, and everything I say in relation to it should be taken with a grain of salt.

So for our first Gridman comparison I’m not fully confident in – I think Dynazenon is probably better on average. I think Gridman reaches higher highs overall – particularly with regards to how Akane’s written – but it didn’t always use its time amazingly and could get pretty repetitive, alongside Yuta not being much of a character. Dynazenon opts for a more consistent tone and story structure; and with gradual status quo shifts and character development as well it puts great work into feeling as good on the last episode as it did the first.

Kind of the key area in which it’s beating Gridman for me as well as being a really strong show in general is in its character writing – Dynazenon has perhaps some of the most down to earth, relatable and human characters I’ve seen in anime. Every single recurring character (sans poor old Chise) is very thoroughly explored and extensive depth is given to their characterisation. We know exactly what makes everyone tick and what pushes them forward or holds them back. They’re all pretty damn flawed individuals but not even all of them want to improve – it’s really grounded despite the odd denpa atmosphere and uh, giant monster shit going on.

Helping said cast is what I’m just gonna describe as the best all around cast performance I have ever heard in a show. Every single word delivered by all these VAs for even the most minor characters is so specifically and carefully delivered and just feels so, intimate and human? Like you can fully feel everything going on in a character’s mind at the same time as whatever front they’re projecting just based on the strength of the deliveries alone. And it’s a genuinely constant feeling of this – it’s not a show with voice acting normal enough to not notice until the big explosive moments where you’re like “wow that was great” – it is literally 12 straight episodes of a show where you hold on to the sound of every single delivery because of how masterfully delivered they all are. I really can’t overstate how fucking fantastic these vocal performances are – it’s a really huge part as to what makes this show’s characters so fucking impressive. It’s gonna take a lot to surpass this for me.

I do think there are some areas in which Dynazenon needed improvement though – it kind of ends too quickly with some resolutions feeling sped up in a sense – particularly Chise’s arc basically just stops early on and then she’s given an ending anyway. And it’s a weird issue since like, the show could remedy it if it didn’t spend so much time just kinda doing repetitive mecha stuff. But I actually adore the repetitive mecha stuff – it’s a show for which the deliberate and slow pacing builds atmosphere really well. And yet it’s also at the expense of some arcs. I don’t want the show to change the pacing for those arcs but I don’t want those arcs to stop. Guess I just wanted a few more episodes, maybe?

I pretty much liked everything else, lots of “holy shit giant robots are cool” moments which are quite difficult to get out of me, music was really great, show as a whole has a real great style and episode 11 especially is beautiful, some other praises. Watch Dynazenon.

Super Cub

I kinda meme got excited for Super Cub in a server based off of nothing specific, though the very washed out colours of the PV had me curious about what sort of show Super Cub was going to be. I think I just expected “cute girls doing cute things but on motorbikes”. What I got was something so much more unique than that.

Super Cub is a very specific breed of iyashikei. The classical piano soundtrack is grand yet simple, the colours muted, dialogue exceptionally minimal. It’s lonely. Minimalistic. Devoid of gags. For much of its runtime Super Cub genuinely is just getting simple satisfaction from seeing a lonely girl find a small bit of happiness with her brand new Honda Super Cub.

It shouldn’t need to be said just based on the type of person I am, but yeah I was absolutely in love with this.  Super Cub is a show that finds so much comfort in solitude and to that end it’s an absolutely perfect show to just put on when you’re just vibing by yourself. You know, the shit I live for.

Super Cub also benefits from being a show where the gimmick of “colour coming back into my dull world” trope thing isn’t done horribly. Every show I’ve seen do that tries to always be the most beautiful colourful show ever and only shows the washed out stuff as like POV for its MC only whenever it’s relevant. Super Cub meanwhile is near permanently washed out and only gains more vibrant colours whenever Koguma is happy – sometimes it’s only just for a few seconds. Lots of thought and care goes into the direction and the vibe the show wants to convey, it’s really great.

Helping Super Cub further is that it’s not just Koguma the Adorable going on bike trips or whatever. Like it’s predominantly that but it works in service of giving her genuine character arcs – like the show actually has some 3 episode arc structures and I’d say for a good majority of the show those arcs are actually fantastic.

Where Super Cub starts to go a bit more wrong for me though unfortunately is with the introduction of Reiko. She’s kind of the opposite of what I loved about the show. She’s loud. Bombastic. Constantly quipping. Good for Koguma getting friends ig but it feels like the first 3 episodes were the start of the show being a 10/10 for me and Reiko being the start of that score going down. Despite this, the next 3 episodes are still really solid.

Where it goes even more wrong for me is with the introduction of girl 3 – Shii. Shii basically exists to shill some weird westaboo foodie café jokes and have someone simp for Koguma for no real reason. She’s genuinely annoying and since this is also the part of the show where Koguma turns into a bit of an asshole (which I don’t not like but she was better before so) by this point I’d felt like the Super Cub I fell in love with was being replaced with some kinda boring iyashikei full of café scenes. Shii also gives us the one straight up bad episode with episode 11 – which is melodramatic unrealistic tasteless garbage.

For all that though I do want to say that the majority of the show is just lovely OST, minimal dialogue, beautiful background art cute girls with great expressions and a really distinctive yet cute and appealing art style being iyashikei. What made Super Cub so special is lost tragically quickly, but most of why it’s still very good is retained for the bulk of its runtime. I wish it had been more consistent, but I’m very glad to say I’m still not disappointed by how Super Cub turned out.

Mini Dragon

Mini Dragon isn’t a thing that lends itself to too much discussion. Pretty much 60-ish second episodes of Maid Dragon – a show with kind of a skit structure anyway, so this doesn’t feel like too little time or anything.

What actually else do I say about this lol. I love Maid Dragon. This is Maid Dragon. It’s fantastic.

Shadows House

I’m not gonna lie – of everything that survived the great dropping of this season, this seemed to be the show that was hanging on by the thinnest thread. I found parts of the first 4 or 5 episodes interesting, and I like the vibe of the show – good visuals and music at all times with nice character designs too. But I was also pretty bored a lot of the time, and found myself only holding on because of faint hopes that it’d turn into some cool show about uncovering and dismantling a big corrupt system thing. I do like that type of thing so.

Fortunately from like episode 5 or 6 onwards – basically whenever the debut started and characters began taking direct action and actually being thrust directly into its systems, I started having fun. Cool mystery, cool character dynamics, cool reveals, the systems being propagated are realistic and not cartoonishly evil within the confines of the world and the young revolutionaries rising against it feel just in doing so as well.

I don’t actually have too much else to say about this show – it got off to a slow start hinting at greater potential, and then just worked to realise that potential in a fine way. It’s not the most impressive show in the world – like I’ve got it at 7/10 for a reason – but it sure was fun enough to convince me to keep watching in a season where I dropped the overwhelming majority of what I was watching. I’d say that’s pretty worthy of respect. I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it but if somebody asked if it’s worth watching I’d be very happy to tell them “yes”.

Emilico is cute.

Yakunara Mug Cup mo

I also got meme excited for this – except unlike Super Cub this show stayed a meme for its entire runtime.

Mug is bad in a really specific and fascinating way. It appears to be a cute girls doing cute things show – its gimmick being pottery to shill its town. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Mug is a sports slice of life drama and character study, - about a girl who gets into a hobby where everyone outclasses her and she’s constantly failing to live up to the expectations placed on her due to her prodigal mother, who’s long passed away. The person she most wants support from is her dad but he struggles to give it to her for the simple fact that she’s just not great at pottery. The support from her friends doesn’t do anything from her because she can see with her own eyes the skill difference between herself and them. It’s honestly a deeply tragic narrative. Other than the part where it’s uh, so fucking hard to care about lol.

Mug is boring beyond description, like other than the occasional really good shot and also that one episode where they dream some funky fantastical Japanese mythos shit, it’s basically only appealing in so far as viewing it as what I described above, that sports tragedy thing. But it still kinda wants to be a cute girls doing cute things show first? But the other girls are so forgettable and barely even have character traits. They just… exist.

I do think a combination of my meme hype for this show and the tragedy angle are what keep it as high as a 4 for me, but yeah no I wouldn’t recommend this unless you very specifically want to see something exactly like this.

Season 2 got announced the instant the show ended and you already know it’s in my Fall ptw lol.

Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Churutto

It’s Yuki Yuna chibi shorts.

80 second episodes.

Characters from across all the various Yuusha de Aru series – suffice to say as an anime only I did not know who anyone was.

Some VAs I really liked.

Jokes were actually okay sometimes, and hey episodes didn’t drag that much.

Still not really for me lol.

Mewkledreamy Mix

Man…

“oh yeah I loved season 1 I’d totally watch another year of this” I managed 6 episodes.

Mix is just boring. It’s not funny, it dials up the stock animation by tenfold, it also has a lower target age range by about a tenfold as well, Akki’s fucking annoying, my darling Yuni-sama was barely in it, I just found extremely little to appreciate here.

Fumetsu no Anata e

Yeah so I and lots of others were really looking forward to this because it’s by the Koe no Katachi manga originally and has a damn appealing sounding premise. Think I expected it to be a traveller show at some point but I did have the fact that it’s more arc-driven told to me in advance, so it’s not like I went in with the wrong expectations, but… it was just real fucking boring lol.

Made it 3 episodes in? I thought the first one was about the best possible execution of what a fairly standard first episode it was, but it was still kinda eh for me. Technically flawless but didn’t exactly grip me.

Next 2 episodes just kept that feeling up but with like 3 minutes of recap at the start of each episode, and being even less engaging than that already meh first episode was. I really was in “fuck anything that bores you” mood this season so just stopped wanting to put up with this.

Ijirinaide, Nagatoro-san

Tbh the one episode of this I watched was like, decently fun. I guess I’m the type of person that can enjoy seeing a kinky simp get bullied to shit by some asshole girl. Except I don’t think I’m enough of that to want to watch 12 episodes of said content.

People will move on from this show very quickly so fuck the culture currently surrounding it lol.

Hige wo Soru. Soshite Joshikousei wo Hirou.

I actually greatly enjoyed the 5 episodes of this I watched. It’s a refreshingly optimistic show that preaches self-love, self-respect, and recovery above all else, which are principles I can hardcore get behind, so I appreciated that a lot. Also main dude’s insistent on the fact that he’s not a good person and Sayu’s just had her standards warped by lots of bad people, and yeah I respect that humble normalcy of his as well.

Thing is I kinda think I got all the good I was going to get out of the show at that point – everything I liked was already happening and how thy were going about that didn’t seem to be changing. But they set up a love triangle! And I fucking hate those. So basically just dropped because yeah, don’t need to see more of the good, don’t enjoy what I’m already expecting to be bad.

86

God tryna remember how I felt about this show even.

I finished episode 1 and basically decided that nothing that it was setting up or doing interested me even remotely, I guess?

Also they tried to make MC moe and have her uwu anime girl uwu moments which felt real tonally jarring from what seemed to want to be a serious military drama with some real basic allegories huh.

Found it dumb that MC was the one and only not racist person in this city wow.

Everyone having white hair got me a bit excited though.

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song

Yeah I made it 5 episodes into this?

It was doing a setup episode -> payoff episode structure I got bored of real fucking quickly. I forgot details from setup episodes and then had zero interest in any of the happenings in payoff episodes so, really was nothing for me there.

Also found Vivy and her teddy’s dynamic unbearable, they have zero chemistry or banter, she hardly feels like she’s even talking to him, there’s some timeskip real early on that glosses over some interesting things this show could be doing, and apparently a recent thing happened that basically cancelled out everything the show already did so by god am I glad I dropped lol.

Dialogue wasn’t very good but I’m glad the bear spoke quick enough to not test my patience that much.

The animation is pretty great and the pretty shots are real pretty, but tbh the pretty shots worked against the show because they’re just so high detail compared to the normal look of the show that it becomes fucking jarring.

I don’t remember anything else worth saying.

Osananajimi ga Zettai ni Makenai Love Comedy

Made it 5 minutes into this. It was painfully bland and uninspired. I hated it.

Mars Red

Yeah so episode 1 of this show, right. Was fucking brilliant. Just a masterfully directed tonally excellent visually distinctive and appealing piece with fantastic voice acting and a really top tier execution on a seemingly standard premise. Other than that one vampire boy being real generic and dull I had zero problems with this episode and was thoroughly impressed. If it was just that it’d have been like an 8 or even a 9 out of 10. Realise that was just a bunch of positive adjectives in a row but like, man I enjoyed that first episode a lot.

Episode 2 was probably the hardest episode to finish of anything this season. I wasn’t even tired when I started watching it yet it nearly put me to sleep several times, like I was fucking fighting to stay awake during it. It was nightmarishly boring and a gigantic disappointment after how much I loved the first episode. Pretty easy drop then.

Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood

Dropped after 2 episodes.

Tbh was really looking forward to this because it looks cool as fuck and also all the Raise A Suilen involvement, but me oh my this show was hard to watch.

Tbh it kinda felt like starting a 24 episode show from episode 13. The show acts as though everything’s already been established and we already know what’s going on, so we should appropriately be surprised at all these twists and turns and double agents and whatnot. But we just don’t.

There are a lot of shows that are very much fully indulgent in their own world, and it can work out for the better. This was not such a case.

Sayounara Watashi no Cramer

Well documented fact about me is that I fucking hate Your lie in April with a passion and it is uncontested in its position as the worst anime I’ve ever seen. Cramer comes close!

So yeah naturally hating YliA so much I tried to hatewatch Cramer as well – I mean hey it has my literal first and second favourite seiyuu as its lead characters, that’s at least something?

I think in the 2 episodes of Cramer I watched it managed to do literally zero things well and literally everything else at just about the worst level imaginable, holy shit. It’s transcendentally bad at everything to a degree to where I’m at a loss for words in even describing it.

TL;DR one of the worst things I’ve ever had the misfortune of watching and not even funny bad enough to get beyond episode 2.

Blue Reflection Ray

I was excited for this because of magical girls but it was boring and ugly :(

Half-respect this show anyway, primarily because I have a friend who likes it but I also feel like it definitely feels like something from a different era without necessarily feeling dated? Like there was risk in letting this show happen but staff wanted to make it happen anyway.

Didn’t pay off because nobody in the west cares and nobody in Japan cares and the BD’s production has been cancelled which isn’t something you hear every day.

Tbh I could hypothetically see me picking this up again, if only for that one friend, but yeah nothing about it compelled me to enjoy it.

Anyway yeah that’s anime so

Anime of the Season - Pretty Boy Detective Club

Feel like I said just about everything I love about this show so, yeah.

Girl of the Season - Mayumi Doujima

Actually kinda tough choosing between her and Koguma but Mayumi’s a lot more likeable for a lot more of the show so.

Boy of the Season - Hiroshi Odokawa

Tbh I like him for similar reasons as I do Mayumi - it’s the wit, the demeanour, though in his case he’s like 40 and jaded and cynical. Both are fun all the same.

Anyway that’s it! My Season in Review for Spring! Took longer to make than any other oops, not for any specific reason other than just me taking my sweet time lol. Hope y’all enjoy the read uwu.

[just-a-fangirl13]

Why s5 *might* be the season MacRiley happens

Okay so...Hear me out! I'm not crazy I promise!!

Firstly, after 5x03 (and probably 5x04) it may seem very unlikely that MacRiley could ever happen. But I thought of a few reasons why they might actually happen by the end of s5 after all.... (it gets a lil long winded and kinda complicated but just stick with me till the end!)

1. All the MacRiley moments including the ones in 5x03.

[this Mac smile could not be an accident or something that slipped through both production and post-production right?! that in itself is a whole reason!]

Every Macriley moment we have ever had- whether it's the hugs, Riley saving Mac, Mac saving Riley, the ultimate show of loyalty when Riley went after Mac during Codex or even just the looks exchanged between the two- to any outsider it would seem pretty obvious that they are dating or at least in love. Keep in mind the writers would have written each of those scenes and Lucas and Tristan have acted them out with a specific build up in mind aka MacRiley.(think about the date episode: Riley just got dumped but was still thinking about how Mac might be hungry. She didnt have to do that. She could have just shown up at his place..) I mean how can they write two people so perfectly in sync and so perfect for each other and not have them end up together? It would just be a waste of all that tension and slow burn. (not to mention all the hugs and glances)

2. They know we exist. 

The MacRiley fam is very active on twitter with the writers and while they were writing 5x01 they knew we were around. They know we are a huge group. They would not want to risk pissing 90% of the fandom off by not making MacRiley endgame.

[P.S.yes 5x03 was a bait and switch but if you were paying attention you would have noticed that neither Lucas not Tristan live tweeted or hyped up the episode. They knew we would probably hate it so they didnt publicise it too much! so in the future if you have doubts about the episode being a MacRiley one just check their stories or posts on twitter/intstagram]

3. Yes 5x03 happened. 

I really think it was an episode they HAD to write. Ok so after 4x13 they had 7 more episodes planned and were filming 4x20 (aka the finale) when the pandemic struck. So they have these 6 episodes but no finale for it. [Idk if anyone else has noticed but in 5x01 there were clearly some parts cut out. For example the conversation between Desi and Riley towards the end seemed a bit jilted. Riley asking Desi to forgive her but Desi replied with yeah we are cool (still no apology ofc) I feel like something happened during that which ended up getting cut out so it could fit with the final story.]

This makes me think that they have rewritten a few bits to tie into the new finale episode. In 5x03 when Mac asked Desi to come fishing with him which was clearly something very personal to him she was like no do better.. then we see Mac's disappointed expression. She could have easily said okay but maybe not for our first date? Or its not really my thing? Or just about anything else rather than laughing in his face like that. Eventhough MD is together they still arent compatible. Mac’s final words in 5x03 was him being desperate. I truly think he is so broken and lost that Desi is the only safe thing left, the only thing he feels like he can fix right now. Once he finds himself again and heals...then it's going to hit him like a pile of bricks!!

4. But Riley doesn't have feelings anymore...WELL doesnt she? 

When it comes to Mac, Riley is always in denial. We saw it in s4 when she tells Bozer not to make her say it. I think s5 will show her finally accepting it. Finally accepting that she is in love with her best friend and that it definitely isnt Codex adrenaline because she caught the feels when Codex wasnt even around. While Mac's arc would include realising he and Desi are never going to work and that he is unhappy and that RILEY is the one for him.

[why else would they give Riley feelings for Mac? Something has to come of it.]

5. The slow burn rule.[this point is a lil complicated] 

Now season 5 is rumoured to have 13 episodes. So here’s what I think: If MacGyver follows the pattern that most shows do when it comes to slow burns, then technically MacRIley should have happened at the end of season 4. But since the season got cut short and they didnt get to air/finish their final episode the writers had to improvise. 

From what I know, 4x19 which is 5x04 for us is the episode where Mac meets Desi’s parents and 4x20 was supposed to be the finale that was left unfinished.(they are definitely moving the timeline ahead if a pre finale episode is suddenly a mid season one.) There might have been a 4x21 or 4x22 but I haven't heard anything about those....EVER.

So what I think they have decided to do instead is extend the MD storyline a bit longer just so they dont end up scrapping all their s4 episodes where they would be together and write a new finale that ties everything together, aka MacRiley.

If you think about episode counts, s4 and s5 together would have 26 episodes which is a how long a normal season runs. Basically what im trying to say is if we follow the ‘slow burns end by s4’ and take season 5 as an extension of 4 then MacRiley should get together in the season 5 finale or maybe the episode just before. (IM REALLY TRYING TO GET SOME LOGIC INTO THIS)

This would be a typical TV thing too where the couple finds out about each other’s feelings while the main arc of the show is also at its peak, which perfectly sets up a future season where fans are hyped but still has a satisfying ending.

6. So what about MacDesi?

So far the macgyver writers have given us characters we love. Think of every character on the show apart from maybe Desi... Mac, Riley, Bozer, Jack, Matty, Leanna, Samantha, Russ and even Murdoc. WE LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. So then why is Desi such a strange character? I think shes purposely been written as an opposite to Mac or even Riley (I get she’s supposed to kinda replace Jack but Jack is really irreplaceable). 

It's not necessarily a bad thing its just not a great thing to do or have great execution. People have said things like Desi is a badass and shouldnt have to apologise or say I love you back to her boyfriend because she is a strong woman...I'm sorry but your opinion of who a strong woman is, is EXTREMELY skewed. A strong woman is someone who can make mistakes and when she does, she is ‘strong’ enough to own up to it, she is loyal and fierce and also caring while being a badass who can take down bad guys. And for GODS SAKE, RILEY DAVIS IS A STRONG WOMAN...people have called her mushy and feminine on twitter and I'm just very confused by that.....

Anyways before I go off on a rant, it seems like Desi is intentionally being written this way. Every opportunity they get to redeem her and make her more relatable or just a better person they just dont take it. While Rileys character arc is one of the best I've ever seen. Either its intentional or they’ve forgotten how to write characters...which is worrisome but ill give them the benefit of the doubt.

The writers also know we dont like Desi. The amount of times we've tagged them in the toxic posts or pointed out problematic things we can be sure they've seen at least half of those. So theres no way they dont know. RIGHT?

So why then is MD still a thing you may ask??

Well for one they cant break them up again off screen because of those unreleased s4 episodes. (not to mention the other parts of the audience who arent as invested in mac’s love life would probably be very confused.)

Secondly Mac has to be the one to pull the plug, not Desi. 4x13 made it seem like Desi was the annoyed one not Mac. He apologised to her which meant he wanted to fix things. 

Thirdly, they are opening the chpt one last time before they permanently close it. MD is going to be a stark contrast to macriley(it already is in every way possible). Every issue Mac and Desi had can be used to show how amazing macriley really is as two people who arent even dating yet.

Fourthly, MD being together is a sort of commentary on Macs mental health as well. We can see how happy he is with Riley but around Desi he becomes some one else. If the writers are doing this on purpose or subconsciously still remains to be seen.

And Yes keeping MD around for a few more episodes seems like a necessary risk right now but I have a feeling its going to be worth it later.

[I know we have had like 4 desi entered episodes already but I really think 5x04 will be the last of it since 5x05 is the Jack episode and 5x06 is Mac+Riley+Bozer episode with no mention of Desi at all!]

The writers know we are a dedicated bunch and they know that once MD breaks up for the last time the entire fandom will be waiting and watching. That's when the show will be at its peak. That will be the perfect moment to bring in MacRiley’s arc to a new start!

Congrats if you stuck with me through this whole thing! if you agree/disgaree with any of these or have other reasons why they could be endgame in s5 let me know!!

[stanharu]

beastars episode 22 thoughts!

lots of exciting events in this week's ep!! i mention some spoilers for the finale so tread with caution.

overall, i really enjoyed this week's ep. it covered chapters 83, 84, 85, 87, 89, and a small part of 93. i feel like from that knowledge alone you can tell that the pace is really picking up near the end of this arc, which ppl have been kinda predicting since the beginning eps had a lotta new stuff added. there's 11 chapters left of this arc to be animated and only 2 episodes left to cover them, so like most everyone else im pretty worried about how the finale will be paced, but im still trying to be optimistic about it.

anyway, onto the episode itself. i like the way the anime is doing riz's scenes. being able to hear how he justifies devouring tem voiced really drives how fucked up his whole sitation is i think.

now, i feel like i cant really keep talking about my thoughts on this ep until i mention my biggest issue with it. similar to louis & legosi's meetup in the BAM, the moth scene, which is when legosi's fur grows back, was also pushed back much further in the anime than it happened in the manga. a lot of the scenes in this episode (legosi's talk with haru & his initial fight with riz) happen after the moth scene, and legosi is supposed to have his fur back in them, but since it was pushed back in the anime, he's still bald. im kinda disappointed by that. give legosi his wig back already!! lol

anyway, im always happy to see haru. so i really enjoyed legosi and her lil talk. (wish legosi wasnt still bald tho but i've already talked about this lol) they both care so much about louis it makes me 🥺 ot3 REAL!!!!

i really liked this part with their hands, and the way legosi dusted the stairs off with his tail for haru to sit was so cute 🥺

next... pina and riz!! i am a lil sad we the anime didn't give us this visual of riz sneaking up on pina but i also enjoyed the way the anime did it instead!!

"he's just standing there...menacingly." lol

also!!! pina finally delivers one of his most famous lines!!!

i really loved this part, and yuki kaji's performance was phenomenal. pina's expressions were also amazingg

i only wish that we got to linger a bit more on the shot of pina after he gave his big speech.

this next part makes me want to lose it if i think about it took long ajdflksjdlfjs.

idk why the anime decided to take this bit between free and ibuki out from the tunnel scene and put it before then. i feel like it's like telling the viewers upfront "Ibuki Is Going To Die" (tho maybe the ED already kinda implies that too sdjflskjdf). tho idk maybe since ive read the manga already my view is a bit skewed. but yeah, i dont really like this reveal got moved. i like that there arent many hints to the tunnel scene until after it happens and then it gets revealed that ibuki had known for a while that his death was imminent, i think it hits harder that way.

now for part 1 of legosi and riz's big fight. ive been so excited to see this animated and it did not disappoint. again, i wish legosi wasnt still bald lmao but otherwise i was hyped the whole time watching this. legosi has his face scars at last!!

tho i will say that this part being 2d animated while the series is generally 3d animated took me out of the moment for a bit sjdlksjdf

but having riz's silhouette appear through the blood was super cool

also riz looked so deranged during this whole fight i kinda loved it lol.

tiddy grab

lastly i wanna say im kind of obsessed with this shot. legosi covered on blood, riz being reflected in the mirror, legosis foot in his mouth lol.

based on the very end scene of this ep and the preview for next week's ep, it looks like it'll open with the moth scene, which im really excited to see. one thing i noticed tho is that it seems like in the anime it was gouhin's idea for legosi to eat live insects, while in the manga it seemed to be legosi's idea. idk how i feel about a change like that. it might not be a big deal or it might be significant but i can't find the right words as to why. im not really sure but its just a lil weird to me.

theres just 2 episodes left, im super excited!!!!!!

[it-sy-bit-sy]

The ending of Attack on Titan: a shallow analysis

(I don't think I should have to put a spoilers alert on a blog about the ENDING OF AOT, but in general if you mind being spoiled on a series, I advise you to refrain from attending discussions about the body of work until you've finished it in its entirety/come up to speed on the current chapter/episode. Screw hype dude, do you like being hurt? Also for the TLDR, it’s that Attack on Titan explores the cycle of hatred (Eren’s journey) AND love which is why Mikasa and Ymir become relevant at the end of the story.)

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PREFACE

Since the newly added panels of AOT’s ending have been likened by some to the ending of Naruto, I'd like to say that Naruto's end truly hurt me; the way it flows into Boruto is so contrived it burns. A story that's always centered around powerful ninja bloodlines fighting political wars suddenly introduced aliens that harvest planets for energy as the super antagonist, and additionally they're the source of all our characters' powers as well as the jinchuriki and tailed beasts themselves. Then when you look at the plot of Boruto which heavily relies on the Otsutsuki clan as an antagonistic force, their whole existence feels like the transition from Dragon Ball straight into the first DBZ arc with Goku learning he’s really part of an alien race that was meant to destroy Earth.

I didn't detect so forced a role in the ending of AOT, but it's absolutely plausible to speculate that the alternate ending was influenced for this reason, as we know Attack on Titan wasn't produced through Isayama's involvement alone. Certain compromises are made when operating as a team, though it would be wonderful if the original intent of authors were more absolute in the world of production than they are known to be.

And as much as I don't enjoy half-hearted continuations of series for a royalty check, I ALMOST can't blame them for doing it...it creates (many) happy fans, more jobs, and Isayama gets his royalty check. The rest of us suffer but hey, artists need money I guess... 🥀 Moving on. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#1. Eren's development as a character

I never saw Eren's goal steered in the direction of breaking the cycle of revenge or hatred. He was acting wholly in his own interests. He's intensely selfish, doesn't want to change his views, and exists in the story to further the cycle itself. According to me, Chapters 129 and 131 perfectly explain his motivations for the rumbling.

Now before I go on, I'd like to bring a particular scene to mind. I do remember him saying this once (to Historia who had just told him killing the rest of the world is unjustifiable and wrong):

Yes, he said that, but I don't think that is what he ever intended the rumbling to be used for.

After he stated that 80% of humanity was wiped out so Paradis will be safe for the time being, he neglected to answer Armin's questions in 139: "Did you really need to go that far? Are you sure you did all of this for our sakes?" We may also consider the thoughts he chose NOT to share in chapter 131:

That combined with this excerpt from 129 is pretty much all there is to Eren's convictions.

Those are the same words he said in Chapter 2 after his mother died.

So despite his brief period of self-loathing when considering 1) the countless lives in survey corps sacrificed for his sake, 2) being confronted with his and his father's involvement in the Reiss family, 3) everything he learned about his enemy--that all titans are formerly human, that the titan shifters were just children deceived by their world--he even admits to Reiner during Tyburn's speech (Chapter 100) that they are indeed in the same boat--and on top of that, admitting that the rumbling will do nothing to fix the course of history, he settled with the same conviction he held the moment he decided to do something to change the world.

Again, here's his words from 139 showing us just how angry a boi Eren was.

This was Eren Jaeger...he didn't even really know what he was doing.

As a human being, Eren was very much in the cycle of revenge as much as everyone else was. His course of action never deviated too far from that path. He knew better, but he lashed out at the world to protect the few people he cared about anyway. He took freedom away from the ones who threatened him. He was a mass murderer, and so were the other soldiers in this series fighting for their own reasons, since titans were people. Survey corps were always slaughtering these people whom they saw as monsters. Marley viewed Eldians as monstrously and with as much hatred as Eldians viewed the titans. Eren did not try to justify his actions to everyone. He simply stopped seeing the value of life in others not important to him, as humans often do.

So what did he sacrifice 80% of humanity for? From 129 again:

Them meaning his immediate friends.

No, he didn't care about their children's children and beyond because there's no way to control what happens when you're gone from this world. It wasn't his problem. Eren had 4 years at most left to live, and he wanted to do what he could to ensure his friends were happy before he left.

And as jarring as it was to see Eren become undone in the last chapter, I didn't find it completely out of character, because for one he was talking to his closest friend moments before his own death, and secondly, Eren was just a stupid human like the rest of the people in this series. Obviously, most people just want a normal life that they can spend with people whom they love. Eren was the same way, but was denied that future (and happened to be able to do something about it). Very selfish goals, but those chosen few were his world. Along with a general distaste for humanity, that's how I understand his character motivations.

*Which is to say in relation to the extra pages, Ymir's curse returning a generation or two after the events of AOT doesn't entirely void his actions. I’m assuming the power of Ymir apparently exists as a force of nature on this version of Earth period, so I suppose this points us to an endless cycle of humans eventually finding the power and using it as they see fit *

#2 Why is Romance Relevant to Attack on Titan?

I wasn't expecting a romance factor to be relevant at the end of the story, however considering that Mikasa's affection for Eren WAS her most prominent personality trait as a character, then the events that followed, I was forced to look back to a few moments in the series that could lend light to why, in the end, a romantic subplot ended the curse of Ymir. My conclusions are as follows:

1. Quite literally, the cycle of hatred never ends. Humans will always have a reason to be unkind to one another. We are animals after all; this trait cannot be reasoned through with logic, bred out, or defeated. We are a self-aware species (Eren's even aware of his own hypocrisy in Chapter 131). There will always arise those who take what they want for themselves because they decide in the end they don't care about others as much as they care about their own interests.

2. To make this second point, I'm stealing these words out of a certain machine lifeform's mouth, but bear with me here:

"But the humans...? Now THEY are interesting. Because they are an enigma! They killed uncountable numbers of their own kind, yet loved in equal measure! It's fascinating, don't you think? What could possibly drive such behavior? We have dedicated ourselves to unraveling this riddle of humanity..."

--Adam from NieR:Automata

AOT uses Eren and Mikasa as a case study of humanity. Humans hate and love in equal measure.

In Ch. 129, Zeke's piece here foreshadows the significance of those two for the story, I guess?

Now everyone reading this series as well as the characters in it had noticed how much fondness Mikasa always had for Eren, and how aloof he always was towards her in return...that's something for them to work out.

Despite never really reciprocating Mikasa's feelings, Eren told Armin at the end of the series that yes, he enjoyed receiving her attention; he would have liked to live a happy life with her. So, Mikasa just liked Eren, Eren liked her... And similar to Mikasa, Ymir just liked King Fritz. It doesn't matter whether we think these feelings were sound or not; they did what they wanted with themselves. I suppose that explains the reason she was a mega simp for Eren in the whole story. Yes, this turn in the story reads like a different plot now, not one about war and killing monsters, but I'm pleasantly surprised that this trait taken as a flaw of Mikasa’s actually served as a necessary condition to end the conflict of the titans.

Eren wouldn't let go of his hatred of the world for his own satisfaction, Ymir wouldn't let go of her love of King Fritz for her own satisfaction, and Mikasa is the only one who decided to let go of her convictions in the interest of someone other than herself. That's what moved the curse.

I think Isayama used the characters of Ymir and Mikasa to demonstrate that while there is a cycle of hatred and revenge running rampant in humanity, the cycle of love doesn't stop either.

In closing, and I truly apologize for such a lengthy post; I hope I didn’t reiterate my point too often here...I didn't think about any of this until I heard so many readers upset with the way AOT ended. I'm not personally left with any disappointment in where the story went. I didn't know where it was going to go in the first place, and I think it could have been much worse for us in different hands. 

*shrugs*

AOT is a story about the nature of humanity.

*And in regards to Jean, if that is supposed to be him with Mikasa in the new panels, all I can say is dude likes his girl. He was a simp for her and she was a simp for Eren, but the fact that they shared their lives together means a lot even if Eren was never completely buried in her heart. He meant a lot to her man, idk...