#it's funny; as cool as i think slay the princess is the love story aspect of it wasn't quite hitting for me as hard as some mutuals

[agentravensong]

my parents asked if i wanted to go with them to see the new napolean movie this afternoon. i was not interested (espec after looking at the length and average ecritic scores) so i stayed home and finally got around to reading this is how you lose the time war instead. 1000% the correct decision, holy shit

[bigboobshaunt]

👑🐳👊🧚👍

This took me really long to respond because I am The Indecisive

👑 Favorite version of Zelda?

Honestly really hard to pick just one. I like BotW/TotK Zelda a lot because she has such a fantastic arc and you really feel for her and her story plus I find her very relatable...

Spirit Tracks Zelda is easily among my favorites too, her being a ghost and your companion makes her SO unique and she's really funny and cute and has one of the best relationships with her Link, and she also gets to shine in combat, too!

Skyward Sword Zelda also set the standard for her backstory and I think she's so likable but I do wish we saw more of her in general...

Ocarina of Time Zelda had such a cool story what with messing with forces she didn't necessarily understand while trying to plot against Ganondorf even though she was just a kid, not to MENTION the Sheik reveal which is just iconic tbh.

Both for Hyrule Warriors and Wind Waker I don't have much to say in general about them but I still really like their take charge, more active attitudes! I do hate how they lighten Tetra's skin color and remove her from being active in the plot when the reveal comes though... you hate to see it!

Twilight Princess Zelda... what can I say, she is an elegant sapphic icon and she will always be famous. I was a bit ticked off when they changed out her for ALBW Zelda in Smash because I think she is much more memorable.

I would be remiss not to mention Wand of Gamelon Zelda at least a lil' bit too... Idk she's cute and cheesy and I'm not sorry for including her. Maybe if Nintendo made her actually playable in their games I wouldn't have to do it but 💅

🐳 If you were a Zelda character, what race would you be?

Probably a Hylian boringly enough but I would kill to be one of those occasional enemies that does their own thing for some reason, like... I could be a wolfperson who can't eat their yogurt until you trade me a spoon for my boomerang or whatever.

👊 Favorite Zelda Villain/Boss?

Villain-wise, I love Hilda... she was clearly in the wrong but my god I can completely understand the desperation... Twinrova also I ALWAYS adore seeing whenever they pop up - I love me some comically evil grannies. Ghirahim and Yuga heard "slay" and said "this has multiple meanings and I'll do all of them," and honestly Ganon(dorf) is super cool always but I particularly enjoy his portrayals in ALttP, OoT, WW and TP. Shoutout to Veran and Onox too for variety's sake.

Too many cool bosses to mention but Koloktos is still my fave.

🧚 Favorite Zelda companion?

Uh-Oh... Here's the thing about me - I'm an Annoying Companion Enjoyer (tm) and I don't think I dislike any of them, even the infamous ones. Navi is my girl she was just trying to help and everyone attacks her and attacks her and attacks her... ungrateful behavior.

Tatl is so iconic and funny, I will always be mad they kinda toned down her mean girl-ness in the 3DS remake, even though I get that some of it was for accessibility reasons since a lot of her og comments just weren't helpful at all lmao... tho I think they could have struck a better balance.

Ciela is SO underrated, honestly. She had a good arc and I love her bickering with Linebeck so much.

Midna has the best story out of all of them and everything about her is excellence from her design to her attitude to her relationship with Link and Zelda... ugh she is so good, I miss her.

I've already said my piece about Zelda in Spirit Tracks BUT WHO CARES, HER AGAIN!!!

Fi is the only one who actually made me sob in real life from her last scene and I really enjoy her design and her dances and I genuinely think people forget how sassy she could be sometimes, not to mention being the actual Master Sword - I was ecstatic when they hinted at her existence again in BotW and TotK :)

👍 Favorite Zelda Headcanons?

The Triforce being in flux and changing aspects between its wielders in some games, like Zelda in BotW potentially holding Courage since her key scene was going up alone against Calamity Ganon and Link's usage of the runes and primary association with Blue could tie to him bearing Wisdom in them. If not just headcanon, I think it's a prime idea for fan content.

This one also maybe doesn't count as a headcanon per se but... the Zelda Timelines... I greatly enjoy speculating around them but I do believe taking it too seriously is generally just bunk. I don't think even the developers take them as a wholly 100% accurate and important deal and I think that's actually completely fine. I am an ALttP->Link's Awakening->Oracle Games truther btw.

[teababe27]

Notes From the 2020 Myanimelist.net Challenges - Part 1: Anime

You don’t need me to remind you how much 2020 sucked. It was definitely a hard year for me as well, especially since health problems (fuck cancer) pretty much kept me on the couch, in the hospital, and out of work for 6.5 months out of the year. Add to that the current events, almost daily anxiety attacks regarding the current events, and my main escapes being cancelled, 2020 was definitely a rough one.

That being said, when I was more cognizant and not suffering from executive dysfunction, I did watch some pretty good anime this year. 

I will now continue with my yearly post about some of the anime I watched and manga I read for this challenge, starting with the anime side. While I didn’t finish the challenge by the site’s deadline, I finished before the end of the year, which was better than last year’s attempt!!!

Like the previous 2 years, I will talk about some honorable mentions/anime I had thoughts on, followed by my favorites from the challenge.

Let’s do this.

Honorable Mentions/Other Notables:

Inferno Cop - completed for the task “Watch an ONA”

Inferno Cop is, well, a cop, whose family was murdered by the organization Southern Cross. Now, he is tasked with fighting that organization and keeping the peace in the city of Jack Knife Edge Town.

My reaction to watching this anime was pretty much this:

This anime was honestly kinda funny. I’m usually not into the stuff that’s bad/over the top on purpose (I guess they would call it Stylistic Suck), but this anime made me laugh really hard at points. I feel like it also helped that each episode was about 4 minutes each. 

My favorite part was honestly this:

Believe it or not, it makes just as much sense in context.

There are definitely worse ways to kill an hour.

Strawberry Marshmallow (aka Ichigo Mashimaro) - completed for the task “Watch any anime recommended to your Favorite Anime” 

The slice-of-life adventures of 6th-grader Chika, her friend and classmate Miu, 5th grader Matsuri, British transfer student Anna (who transfers to Matsuri’s class), and Chika’s college-age sister Nobue. Hijinks ensue, usually initiated by Miu.

This was recommended to me because one of my favorite anime listed on my Myanimelist profile is Azumanga Daioh. I feel like this one is a little more hyper (if that makes any sense, it’s honestly the only word I can think of for this), but still fun and not a far-off comparison.

Pretty much your basic Cute Girls Doing Cute Things anime with some zany hijinks thrown in. It was cute and funny, though I feel like this is one you have to be in the mood for, similar to when I watched The Irresponsible Captain Tylor for last year’s challenge. I still had fun with it and it made me smile. The last episode was actually pretty heartwarming, and the fact that I watched it on Christmas Day was a cool coincidence.

Canaan - completed for the task “ Watch an anime that began airing the same year you joined MAL” (2009, in this case)

Maria Osawa, a photographer, is on an assignment in Shanghai with her colleague, Mino. They end up in the middle of a conspiracy involving a mysterious virus, a deadly terrorist attack, rival assassins, and a white-haired lady named Canaan, who Maria apparently knows.

This anime actually came up for multiple tasks in the challenge, so I pretty much had to watch this one, lol.

This anime was a bit dark at certain points. There was a  bit of an interesting mystery, as well as pretty good action scenes, especially the fights between Caanan and Alphard, the main rival assassin. I honestly ship Maria and Canaan; I wish the anime just came out and had them get together, because some of their dialogue can get a little gay-baity at times, but it was still precious. Some lapses in logic and artistic liberties, but still pretty good.

Ginban Kaleidoscope (aka Skating Rink Kaleidoscope) - completed for the task “Watch an anime generated randomly using spin.moe”

Tazusa Sakurano is a figure skater who dreams of going to the Olympics. After a fall on the ice where she hits her head, she wakes up to find herself sharing her body with the ghost of Pete Pumps (yes, really), a Canadian stunt pilot who died during an air show. Tazusa has to get used to sharing her body with a ghost while trying to realize her dreams, and Pete helps her out, too.

I honestly thought this anime was kinda cute and heartwarming. Funny at times, too, especially when Tazusa is first getting used to sharing her body with Pete. I thought it was nice that Pete helps Tazusa with her skating later in the anime

Your Name (aka Kimi no na Wa) - completed for the task “Watch an award-winning anime”

Mitsuha is a high school girl who lives out in the countryside and dreams of moving to the big city. Taki is a high school boy who lives in the city and has a part-time job, living a pretty busy life. One day, they find that they’ve switched bodies! They then try to find out about each other and find an answer to why they temporarily switch bodies every now and then.

Yes, I gave in to the hype, and yes, I loved this movie. And yes, I cried.

This movie was honestly beautiful. The art looked great, the story was interesting, the plot twist was unexpected, etc. Not the best anime movie ever like everyone says, but I still loved this one.

Favorites From the Challenge:

Ping Pong the Animation - completed for the task “Watch an anime with a score of 8.00 or above and an episode duration of 16 minutes or more”

Makoto Tsukimoto, aka Smile, and Yutaka Hoshino, aka Peco, are childhood friends who are part of the ping pong club at their high school. Peco wants to be the best in the world, while Smile mostly finds ping pong as a way to pass the time. The anime shows them playing in and trying to win the championship, as well as them getting better and their various feelings throughout.

Might as well continue the tradition of watching a Masaki Yuasa work for the challenge. He most certainly did not disappoint here.

This made me think of how I felt when I watched One Outs  for last year’s challenge. A different take on sports anime than usual, focusing on more of the psychology of the players and their histories. The two friends weren’t together all the time, though their bond was still there. I honestly binged this one in a couple days, that’s how much I was invested. 

The art style is very interesting and unique, which was a major positive. I found this anime to be great overall.

Mononoke - completed for the task “Watch an anime that finished airing with 11 or more episodes and has a synopsis by MAL Rewrite”

A mysterious Medicine Seller wanders Japan to slay malevolent spirits called Mononoke. In order to do so, he has to figure out their Form, Truth, and Reason, along with psychological analysis and talking to the people caught up in the Mononokes’ schemes. Only then can he use his special sword to exorcise the spirits.

Unique art styles definitely seem to be a trend here, a complete coincidence on my part.

This reminded me a lot of the anime Mushishi, except on acid or some other drug like that. I like that this is an anthology of sorts, with the 11 episodes divided up into groups of 2 or 3 episodes per plot arc. The art style was unique and very pretty at times, and I found the psychological aspect very interesting too.

This anime isn’t for everyone, and it can get a little confusing at times, but I liked it a lot.

Silver Spoon (aka Gin no Saji) - completed for the task “Watch a listed Gourmet or Isekai themed anime” (Gourmet, in this case)

To get away from the pressures of home life and high expectations, Hachiken, on the advice of one of his teachers, decides to go to an agricultural high school, thinking it would be laid back. When he gets there, he has a bit of a culture shock and learns about farm and country life, including taking care of livestock and making fresh food.

I liked a lot of the characters in this one. I like the friendships Hachiken gets into with his classmates, especially a girl he meets on the first day and his assigned partners in rotations on the farm. This anime was also kinda relaxing too, and another one I was able to watch several episodes of without realizing.

Aggressive Retsuko (aka Aggretsuko) Season 3 - completed for the task “Watch an anime with a main character that is a professional in their field”

To pay off some debt that Retsuko incurs, she gets roped into helping out an underground idol group who is trying to make it big.

Honestly, this season hit me with all the feels multiple times. I loved seeing Retsuko take charge in several of the episodes. A lot of what I loved about the previous 2 seasons of Aggretsuko were here. Definitely made me laugh several times.  

Princess Jellyfish (aka Kuragehime) - completed for the task “Watch a Noitamina anime”

Tsukimi is a shy, awkward outcast who loves jellyfish and lives in an apartment building, Amamizukan, with a few other awkward outcasts. One day, while out at a pet store, she meets a confident woman while trying to save a jellyfish from improper care. This confident woman, who is revealed to be a guy, Kuranosuke, who likes dressing like a woman, plants themselves in Tsukimi’s life and helps her break out of her shell.

This wins Best Anime for this year’s challenge. I found myself relating to Tsukimi a lot, being a socially awkward nerdy outcast. To be honest, I found myself headcanoning most of the characters (especially Tsukimi) as being autistic. I loved the relationships between the characters and I found a lot of this anime really relatable. The two main ladies (I say that loosely because Kuranosuke isn’t technically a lady) were my favorite characters. 

This anime was so cute and so heartwarming. I’m planning on reading the manga now to see where the story goes. I’m glad I finally got around to watching this one.