#my art style is unbearably anime I know

[le--fruitcake]

In the meantime while I anxiously await your plentiful truths, might I ask for what cartoons you might recommend my humble self?

Ah, my vassal! I am neariy finished writing that essay, I promise. Just a while longer, I need to be sure my sources are accurate.

I will say you should watch Samurai Rabbit, despite it being almost painfully cringeworthy at times. It's surprisingly well-written, though! It's only on Netflix.

In terms of TMNT, the only one I can recommend with my whole chest is Rise of the TMNT. I like the others (mostly— 2012 is on Thin Fucking Ice with the Donnie/April thing), but Rise is the best by far! I am Extremely Biased and am going to say you should watch the Usagi crossover episodes of 2003 (S2E23-26, S3E01 [does not contain a whole lot of Usagi, but he and Leo uh. Exchange swords], S3E22-23, S4E13, and S7E13 [no speaking lines, appears as a background character only]) and 2012 (S5E15-17). The 1987 ones (S3E32/34) aren't as good, but you do get to watch Mikey slap Usagi in the face with a pizza. Fucking LMAO. All the TMNT is on Paramount Plus, but far be it from me to tell you not to hoist the colors, matey.

The Amazing World of Gumball... exists! It sure does. I really like the way they play with animation and art style, and it has some honestly amazing physical comedy, but it's very, um... 2012. I think it popularized a lot of tropes you see in more modern cartoons that make them borderline unbearable, but I found myself watching the entire thing and kind of wanting more! It's pretty good if you just want some batshit insane cartoon nonsense, but it has no story to speak of, really. The episodes are both startlingly interconnected and purely standalone. Anais is my favorite character, followed by Nicole, and honestly the men in that family are trash lmao. I think I watched it on Hulu, but it might have been HBO Max.

I like Star Wars, too, specifically Visions, Clone Wars (both 2003 and 2007), and, though I haven't finished it, Rebels. (I like the movies, too! Real shame they never made any past Episode VII. Had so much potential. Smh my head.) Visions S1E8 is my favorite thing Star Wars has ever done btw. Very Heavily Biased. All of this is on Disney Plus.

I have of course seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Legend of Korra, and recommend Avatar if by some miracle you haven't seen it, but tbh I don't know if I would recommend Korra. It has very interesting concepts, but the execution is um. Bad. Watching the Straights™️ frothing at the mouth over Korrasami was an Experience! "we poppin' the biggest bottles when Makorra happens tonight" is a regular part lo my vocabulary. Both are on Netflix, I think.

I like Teen Titans! I used to have the first two seasons on DVD. There are a lot of jokes I didn't get as a kid, and so rewatching it as an adult was interesting. I also didn't appreciate Cyborg enough as a kid, man has the best jokes. Robin was always my favorite, but on rewatch, I really can't say who's my favorite. I like Beast Boy's power the best, but Raven is p cool, and Starfire is wonderful, and Cyborg is funny. This is available on The Max Formerly Known as HBO.

I also watched all of the original animated Batman. Batman: The Animated Series, I think it was called? I really really liked that one, it was the perfect mix of edgy and funny, and is my favorite Batman iteration. Mark Hamill Joker also! That interpretation of Two-Face is my favorite, and made him my favorite Batman villain. I still want a silver dollar btw! I already have a $2 bill and several dollar coins, so if I get one of those and a half-dollar, I'll have one of every kind of defunct American currency. I think. I believe this is also available on The Max.

If you count anime as cartoons, Bleach and Fairy Tail are good, if you skip the filler. My Hero is... Pretty good. Mirko is of course my favorite character, and I am now only invested in the show for her sake. Crunchyroll is kinda the go-to for anime, but Hulu also has all three of these. I think Bleach might not be on Crunchyroll anymore also? Very Odd if so because it's one of the Big Ones, but I couldn't find it when I looked last.

Little Witch Academia is adorable! Lesbians abound, and features a surprising amount from actual Celtic lore. It's also quite possible the only anime featuring high school girls that doesn't make any blatant attempt to sexualize them, which is a breath of fresh air. The official anime is a Netflix original, but there apparently exists an OVA that I have not seen, and a movie, that I have, also on Netflix.

Castlevania is extremely good, but I guess it's technically an anime? It's originally in English and has some of the best lines I have ever heard come out of someone's mouth, ever, but it is heavily gorey, and S2 has some Unfortunate Rather Graphic Heterosexuality. Fortunately, one of the characters is confirmed bisexual! It is also a Netflix original.

This was a doozy to answer! I don't watch too many cartoons, per se, because I wasn't allowed watch most of them growing up. Never seen Spongebob, Powerpuff Girls, Phineas and Pherb, etc. etc. Despite that, I am a fan of animated shows over live-action shows, generally speaking, due to the liberties one can take, and the fact that you aren't limited by what you can achieve with human actors and such. The same goes for video games— I prefer heavy style to realism, though the GameCube/PS2 era games had the best of both worlds.

[hapuriainen]

Now that I've played at least one game in every Pokemon region, it is of course time for a ranking. Though note that the criteria is less based on how "good" I think the games are objectively and more on, like, vibes and such and if I have good memories of playing.

10. Sinnoh - This was the only gen I skipped when it came out because I didn't have a ds and didn't know how to emulate one, and when I finally did get one, Black & White were already out and Gen 4 was old news. But a while ago I did play Brilliant Diamond and really didn't have a good time at all. At that point everything felt extremely by-the-numbers and dated and I can't think of anything that this game offered that I didn't already get from the other titles. Some of the Gen 4 Pokemon are nice but it also has so many legendaries, which I really don't like as a concept (I mean I don't like it when the game tells me which Pokemon I'm supposed to find special and interesting). Also not a fan of the art style in the remake and I find Barry incredibly annoying.

Almost all of the BDSP customisation options were S-tier and Cynthia made for a great boss, but that's about it.

9. Kanto - I was there for the first anime episode so I have a lot of nostalgia for the early days for the franchise, even though I didn't get to play the original GB games. And when I did get Yellow on an emulator I already had Gold, which already covered Kanto so why bother? By now I've played Let's Go Eevee though and didn't really enjoy myself. The Kanto story is so nothing, and the motion controls just kill the whole thing for me. Also Trace is the worst rival character.

Most of my apathy towards Kanto is its overuse though, like the franchise has done interesting things beyond the original 151 but always when there's new forms or a major character hails from a different continent or whatever, its always Kanto and I've grown sick of it.

8. Galar - There are some characters I really like, but otherwise the Galar games felt pretty hollow. There's a lot of cool looking locations but there isn't any substance to them and you can't do anything in them, and the open area was a great concept but you can't do anything in it either. The giant forms don't do a lot for me either since I tend to prefer small and cute Pokemon so making them bigger and more ""badass"" usually doesn't work for me.

Out of all the Switch titles I like the Galar art direction best (as in how the characters look) at least.

7. Alola - I remember there being a lot of talk how the Alola games supposedly shook up the formula because they didn't have gyms, but, like, they totally had gyms, they were just outdoors and had a different name. My main memories of playing Moon are about being constantly interrupted by handholding and the unbearable Rotom Dex, and even with the setting being something completely different from usual, I barely remember anything about it. The customisation was surprisingly boring too and I couldn't care less for Z-moves or Ultra Beasts. Lillie is super cute though and Team Skull was a lot of fun and regional forms are an excellent idea, even if it was wasted on Kanto only in this generation.

6. Hoenn - I had Sapphire on an emulator and later a Alpha Sapphire, and I must say I didn't manage to finish either (I think I didn't even make it out of Mauville in that run), which is why I debated if I should put the Alola games higher just because I made it almost to the end there. But in the end I think Gen 3 did a lot more for the franchise, the berries, contests, secret bases, abilities and double battles are great. I don't have a lot of motivation to go back and finish Alpha Sapphire, all the surfing really doesn't sound inspiring, "too much water" isn't just a meme! Though maybe I should try at least.

5. Kalos - Now we get to the games where my feelings are a lot more positive. I remember being super stoked for the 3d graphics, and somehow for the fact that your character could sit down on a bench (???). The customisation is also great and roller skating was a fun way to get around. The story was pretty weak though and I really don't like the bland rival friend group. I dunno man, the more I think about it, the harder it is to think about things that actually matter to the gameplay experience that I really like, but regardless I have pretty good memories of Y.

4. Unova - White was my first game on an actual console (and not an emulator) so that alone makes it special to me. It's hard to come up with anything specific about the gameplay this time around either, but I remember having a good time, the world was fun to explore, N was a great rival and the story was good too. And the Big City of the region was amazing (and so was Kalos' for that matter) and the changing seasons made for beautiful graphics.

3. Paldea - The graphics were ugly and the performance was a mess, but I like nonlinear open world games okay? And honestly even that didn't work properly since the gym levels didn't scale and I unintentionally did the easiest gym fourth so I was stupidly overleveled, and the world wasn't that interesting to explore either. But I still had a decently good time and also the game had been patched by the time I got around to playing it so I didn't encounter that many bugs.

Also points for making the friendly rival and box art legendary into something I actually liked for once, the school stuff was fun (would've liked even more), the Arven story line is one of my favourite Pokemon stories, and the Area Zero part was great. And overall the game managed to make the overused "beat 8 gyms and deal with the evil team and local legendary" plot feel somewhat fresh.

2. Johto - The Kanto nostalgia pandering doesn't work on me, but Johto sure does. Gold was my first Pokemon game and I have so many good memories playing it, especially the nighttime Goldenrod city with the 8-bit music is my jam. I would also say that for its time it has been the best improvement on what came before, and of course it's the only time we get two games (or maybe 1,5) for the price of one instead of the other way around with the inclusion of Kanto. Then there is HGSS which contains still the best implementation of follower Pokemon. The story and characters will improve from here and the old gameplay jank doesn't really motivate me to revisit the games but they will always have a special place in my heart.

1. Hisui - There really isn't any contest here, the gameplay is simply so much better in LGA than in any of the others. Catching and battling Pokemon is so streamlined, the HM equivalents are useful and make exploring more enjoyable rather than being glorified keys, and the story is different for once. And I said I like nonlinear open world games but this is fine as well, when you get a huge area to explore at once, even when they're unlocked in an order. Like what I have an issue with is if you can't take three steps without running into an unskippable NPC scene or some arbitrary roadblock.

I do have issues though, the Pokemon box and Pokedex menu fiddling is atrocious and a way bigger issue here than in any of the other games since there's a lot more incentive to catch and use different Pokemon, I don't really like the art direction, and the customisation options suck and I had to use 90% of the default look for the whole game. But regardless I would really like it if the franchise went into this direction in the future.

[phantomtownx]

my name is [ SAMUEL MILLER ] … and i am from [ HELLTOWN, OHIO ] and i’m a [ BARISTA AT ROOK COFFEE ]. i lived in helltown for [ 27 YEARS ] because [ GREW UP HERE ]. i am [ 27 ] my pronouns are [ HE/HIM ]. i also hear i look a lot like [ MIKE FAIST ] but, i don’t know if i see it. i’m here because [ CAN'T SEEM TO LEAVE ] but, maybe there’s more to it than that. you never know with helltown.

FULL NAME: samuel miller

DATE OF BIRTH: december, 16, 1996

HOMETOWN: helltown, ohio

ZODIAC: sagittarius

SEXUALITY: straight

EDUCATION: ashevere highschool, helltown community college but dropped out after a year when he realized it wasn't for him

OCCUPATION: employee at rook coffee

MOTHER: viola miller

FATHER: henry miller (deceased)

SIBLNGS: n/a

PETS: orange tabby named milo

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: single

physical.

HEIGHT: 6'0

HAIR: dirty blonde

EYE COLOR: blue with brown flecks

TATTOOS: a ghost on his forearm.

PIERCINGS: n/a

MARKINGS: a scar above his lip from getting bit by a stray dog when he was young, which now looks white.

FASHION STYLE: botton ups, vintage sweater vests, skinny jeans, hoodies, either looks too formal or too casual

MANNERISMS: nervous habit scratching the back of his neck, has trouble keeping his hands still, always bouncing a knee whilst sitting

personality.

POSTIVE TRAITS: jokester, independent, adventurous, compassionate, courageous

NEGATIVE TRAITS: impulsive, sarcastic, envious, dissociative, anxious

FEARS: being forgotten, abandonment, wasting ones life

LIKES: keeping his mind busy, thriller movies, black coffee, exploring, music, being heard/listened too, animals, nature, the smell of rain, live concerts

DISLIKES: the ticking of a clock, keeping completely still, the sound of styrofoam, white chocolate, bullies, being ignored, feeling invisible, confrontation

HOBBIES: reading, taking walks in the woods (yeah not the best idea) exploring abandoned buildings (not a good one either), sketching with charcoal

AESTHETICS: rain on a gloomy day, charcoal covered hands, the smell of expresso and coffee beans, indie-alternative music, exploring abandoned buildings, insomnia, spending the day at the museum looking at art, doing something impulsive and rushing into danger head first, storm clouds and thunder, the color blue-GREY

GOALS: do something new everyday, lest he go insane

MOTIVATIONS: to feel something again

BIOGRAPHY.

it was easy to feel like a ghost in a place called helltown. born and raised here, sam isn't sure if he's ever experienced an ounce of normalcy. a shy kid, and maybe even a little bit of a late bloomer, sam always felt like he was a step behind everyone else especially his peers. while he was intelligent he didn't utter a single word until the ripe age of six. he never felt the need too, nor the urge. he liked observing, absorbing and taking the world in with wide eyes. it wasn't until his mother worried like a sick hen that she finally sent him to a speech therapist. it was only then he began to speak even if he didn't necessarily want too. Because of this Sam was labeled as the weird, odd kid at school. who sat alone at lunch and was picked last for dodgeball. sometimes his father joked that he came into the world upside down. that instead of happy bubbly bouncing baby that they expected to get they received a child who seemed emotionless and quiet which was the farthest thing from the truth. in fact sam felt things too much, too deeply at times. friends and family would call him sensitive, but it was more to it than that. his heart worked just fine, as a healthy one should. blood pumping regularly, the valves opening and closing; everything functioning as it should. But Sam feels something has always been wrong, when moments of joy register as brief but ecstatic, and moments of pain stretch long and unbearably loud. His mother tried to comfort him and tell him that everything would be fine, that this was just the highs and lows of life but sam couldn't believe it, knew that no one understood. When his father passed from a bad case of ammonia as a teen thats when things really started to go downhill. the grief was maddening and never-ending. his once loving mother turned cold and sour--dealing with her own grief she turned inwards and isolated herself, especially from her only son. maybe because he looked too much like his father for his mother to bear, or maybe because he had always felt like an extreme disappointment. it didn't matter because sam convinced himself that both statements were true.

from that day sam lingered through the world like a ghost. invisible and unnoticed. he didn't attempt to make friends at school or interact with people beyond that. it was lonely of course but he didn't know what to do with himself, all these feelings that seemed to pour out of his heart. everything felt like a massive boulder caving into his chest. once he graduated he moved out of his family home and still stuck around helltown. he wasn't really sure why. he figured he could start a new life somewhere else, find somewhere he truly belonged but he was beginning to believe that didn't exist for a phantom like him.

he landed a job at rook coffee on a whim that they were just low on staff. his life went on as normal and while a coffee shop wasn't what he dreamed of doing as a career he can't find himself quitting. he actually enjoys being a barista even if he remains invisible behind the counter. at least he has some sort of daily interaction even if it's meaningless. as an adult he has made a few lifelong friends--ones who accepted him and all his damaged goods but he still has a hard time with keeping in touch with them on a regular. a flaw he acknowledges that lies somewhere between his upbringing and genetic dna.

growing up he was always surrounded by the peculiar and deranged, and like most grown ups they ignored the towns strange happenstances, and he too at a certain age began to ignore them too. every year there seemed to be a missing person or thing--to the point where sam started to lose count. it was hard to care after a certain point especially when you felt misplaced in your own birth place. however as he got older and had more time on his hands than he knew what to do with he started to look into these unsolved mysteries finding himself wrapped up in these stories like a ball of tangled yarn. it's a hobby he's not exactly proud of but he can't help but to deep dive into helltowns conspiracies.

[redstringraven]

// kicks down door

15 and 16 - Gwyn

*shambles over to start re-attaching the door* THANK you >:J!!! 💜

edgy/misc OC ask meme

15) does your OC have a faceclaim? if so, who?

nah. i just have my own art if you mean drawn faceclaims. hard no if you mean an irl faceclaim. i tend to be very averse to irl faceclaims; i prefer characters who're initially drawn to stay drawn. (this is absolutely due to my general frustration toward animation being made live-action. and after being in RP spaces for a while, watching some folks say "they NEED an irl faceclaim"--like they won't be taken seriously if they use icons/imagery from the cartoon or anime or comic or whatever--i find myself bristling a bit.) everyone's, obviously, welcome to engage with the concept as they please--especially folks who don't draw--but i don't know if i'll ever be fully on board for my own stuff. and no existing drawn characters, as far as i know, line up with how i picture her. so, my own art, it is. that being said, though, i do love seeing gwyn in a variety of art-styles. i guess my "faceclaim" outside of my own work would be if an artist i loved drew her. >xD idk.

16) what is your OC's pain tolerance like?

while not as high as nyxram's, i'd still say impressively/concerningly high. nyx's is due to natural physical fortitude and training, gwyn's is due more to necessity. she often has to push through or past the pain in order to keep herself alive and moving, so she can get somewhere that will allow her that time to actually tend to the pain or injury. she won't handle it with as much tact or grace as nyxram might, but she'll do it. gwyn's mindset is often "even if i can't, i have to" and that's where she is when it comes to withstanding pain. even if she can't and it's unbearable, she has to. so, she will. doesn't matter if she's gritting her teeth, screaming, and clawing her way through it. she will.

[sammiethelattie]

Tom and Jerry (Singapore) Series Review

So a few hours back, I watched all seven episodes (pilot included) of the Singapore-based Tom and Jerry cartoon released so far. I won't go into details for each episode, but I will voice out my general thoughts on the series overall.

STORY AND SETTING

As the title suggests, this take on the titular team of troublemakers is set in the state of Singapore. As a result, various references to Singapore's history, culture and national landmarks and locations are sprinkled throughout this mini-series. These settings serve as set pieces for with the cat and mouse carnage is carried out. While I am not Singaporean myself (far from it), I do know for sure that Singapore is represented quite well. However, while prevalent, the references are not overbearing and share centre stage with the stars of the show quite effectively, giving Tom and Jerry both fresh and familiar settings, situations and props to play with.

As for the stories, while not exactly far removed from the Tom and Jerry formula (some episodes even bringing to mind scenarios from the classic era), there's enough of a fresh spin on it to keep it from just being a retread of said classic scenarios. And while the 3 minute of runtime does mean that the pacing is a bit more frantic than in most other versions of the series, this also means that the episodes don't outstay their welcome. Think the earlier episodes of Paul Rudish's Mickey Mouse shorts.

ART AND ANIMATION

Okay, now for the aspect that will most likely draw the most ire of the fanbase, as well as perhaps slight confusion from the average casual viewer. Let's start with the Elephant in the Room: The character designs. They're fine. Sure, they are markedly different from what one normally associates with the franchise, but it's far from bad. The titular characters, as well as Spike who appears in about two episodes in minor roles, are rounder and cuter looking, but also highly expressive and with enough of a wacky edge that can play into the comedy aspect of the show; AND they're still recognizable as who they are supposed to be. As silhouettes together, you can tell the art-style is different, but it's still Tom and Jerry (less so with Spike, who is proportioned a bit more like an actual bulldog). Their colors are also brighter and more saturated; Tom has never looked bluer (and Jerry has never looked more orange. Spike is still gray though.) The characters are also (almost) consistently shaded, unless the situation or setting permits otherwise, which isn't often.

The backgrounds in this series are rich and vibrant, much like everything else in this series, but they somehow find a way not to overpower or compete with the characters that inhabit them. And now the animation: which is most likely the best thing about the show from a visual standpoint. It is definitely not cheap looking at all, and is consistently fluid and snappy when it needs to be. Clearly, a lot of love was poured into this aspect of the show. As for the actual slapstick being animated, it's serviceable. There are points where I actually found myself audibly giggling or laughing, or at least quietly acknowledging how well put together some of it is. Clearly, whoever choreographed the slapstick at least understood Tom and Jerry enough that this aspect was done so serviceably.

SOUND AND MUSIC

Ah, now for the more mixed aspect of the show: the audio.

I'm not sure if it's the print I watched that had a compromised mix, but well... that was just it. The audio mixing was 60% of the time good and 40% of the time kind of iffy. While previous versions of Tom and Jerry have grappled with this hurdle to some extent (what with combining archived audio from William Hanna and Mel Blanc with more modern sounds), this is probably the worst it's gotten. It's not unbearable, but it is distracting enough when certain sounds and vocals either don't fit, stand out too much, or are simply missing. And it's like that for almost all seven episodes. And as for the character's yelps, laughs, screams and gasps, mostly original, new clips are used. But as the episodes go on, more and more classic screams are heard in the episodes. Normally I don't mind this, especially if it's handled masterfully, but this is one of those instances where I wish they stuck to a lane, and I note that the lane more suited for this cartoon's presentation is the lane of new screams and yells. Though they can have one or two classic "̷̢̦̩̋̔̌Ạ̴̉̽Ă̸̧̜̬͑̏Ä̸̯̥́̅̓ͅÀ̶̪̺͝ͅĀ̴̝͌̂A̴͕̅A̴̝̺̒̈́Ȃ̸̼Ą̶̤̠̏͛A̸̢͓̿̃̅A̶̛̯͂̌Ă̵̰̥͠A̸̰̳͆̎Ạ̸̥͖̀A̶̞̦̩͌̾́H̴̛̻̬̿̏Ḥ̸̟̙̀H̵̛̛̠̙͌"̴̠̲̓̂'s. Just as a treat.

Now, the music on the other hand is pleasant to listen to. Some instances and phrases of it are even evocative, or even outright reference certain notable stings and melodies from the classic Tom and Jerry series; even down to the tempo becoming more frantic to match the actions of the characters. That aspect, I admired. Unfortunately, sometimes that too falls victim to some of the questionable mixing that runs through this series.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Nothing beats the classics, that much is true. In fact, this wouldn't be here if not for it. But you cannot go wrong with giving this mini-series a try. It is a well made, well put together (for the most part) labor of love, or at least respect, for both Tom and Jerry and the world they inhabit. So if you're a fan of Tom and Jerry, or at least just want something well made for the kids, or you always asked yourself "What if Tom and Jerry lived in Singapore?", then this series will do you no wrong.

FAVORITE EPISODES (SO FAR)

Sky's the Limit - A fun little romp with kites and drones.

Count on Merli - Features a cute iteration of Merli, Singapore's Mascot, who just wants Tom and Jerry to get along. But they don't seem to wanna listen. Poor Merli.

Colorful Chase - Simple for the plot point that they used, while they could have done more with the concept, it was only three minutes. And for three minutes, they did good.

LEAST FAVORITE EPISODE

What's that Smell? - The pilot. Passable on its own, but isn't as Tom and Jerry as the other episodes. Also it's the pilot. Things are bound to be weird.

[lepurcinus]

What do you think of the three watership down adaptations?

This is probably very unpopular or strange. But here I go (W VEEERY long text/rant)

The 78 movie: Ehmmmmmm how to say it, I like it but not that much????

The animation style and this one itself I love, very beautiful captures the natural environment very well and the designs of the rabbits are impeccable even though they can be somewhat similar at times. I even appreciate that each warren follows its own details and even each rabbit has a unique part.

On the other hand in terms of story...it is the most faithful adaptation and follows everything almost to the letter, failing due to lack of time and thus having to cut things out. And it shows. I don't feel any kind of depth or charisma for the characters like their written version, they are just there existing (Except Bigwig and maybe Fiver) and the important scenes that should identify them are no longer the same (Ahem Dandelion saying he will tell the story of his journey to the youngsters when we never see him narrate a single story). Also new characters that only exist to die and also don't give me any kind of impact and even ruin the other characters in passing (Violet/Blackavar). And yes I definitely hated with all my being the focus on scary, violent and so on. Look, the book also has its moments and the presence of death is constant, but here I just see rabbits bleeding gallons of blood and dying at every corner and bad rabbits just because, Watership Down isn't about that. The scenes concentrate on horror and not terror as it should be (they are different things). Although read I will give points on the setting for the scenes of Fiver and the black rabbit. Actually that more ethereal part was very good, the way the visions of him in the art were presented was amazing too, very intriguing.

I'm still reeling from the pain of having the lettuce story scene removed.

The 99 series: Passable, a middle ground.

Some additions are a bit weird but it follows the line well, changes like Blackberry's gender don't bother me and I'd say it's even exaggerated the hate they gave it at the time (Because surprise it's not violent like the woooh movie).

In other terms, let's say that certain things didn't fit me. The personalities of the characters while I appreciate that they aren't talking rocks like the movie it bothers me a bit that they feel so generic/stereotypical/one trick. More than anything I have this problem with Bigwig, I don't know if it's my problem but seriously his version here I don't like him I feel very annoying and bloody to an unbearable level. He's naggy but not in a fun and understandable way like in the book. Something like that happens to me with the others.

New characters like Hannah and Kehaar's treatment eh, I don't hate every minute of his presence but yeah, they are not my favorite. The idea of having Kehaar abandon his people in favor of the rabbits is kind of missing the point of his character? Then they kind of backtrack and decide to give him a mate to leave and then replace him with a baby voiced hawk.

Although I found characters like the Yona's, the mole or Bark to be likable and cute.

The third season is a hit or miss. The change of style is not too bad although some designs look ugly (On the other hand Woundwort and Campion look very badass like that). The implementation of magic as something straightforward and affecting the world it seemed ridiculous and unnecessary. They detract from the fact that the Watership Down rabbits won by their cunning and teamwork and that Woundwort fell by his own stubbornness. Here they brought out a mouse with powers taken from a wizard turtle to summon fucking death itself to take everyone down???? Seems like inle needs to be summoned to do his job lol. (And yeah, I didn't like his characterization here, especially that edgy voice with filters ugh).

Other more additions like the new warrens and the El-ahrairah stories I love them but i wish they would have delved into them more. I really wanted that chapter on Inle's story had been done. The concept of Darkhaven and its rabbits, although it seems to be taken from a Fanfic with ocs the truth I found it interesting and I liked several characters a lot (I love you Granite). Also this version includes my favorite characterization of Woundwort and Vervain (and Campion I understand why many like this version) they are not 100% villains and they have their background and seeing their rise and fall is worth it. Although I feel that outside of them and characters like Moss Efrafa contributed almost nothing, there were not all those characters that helped us to understand how life was there and there were only brute and aggressive rabbits without more, it all felt very wasted. And again Blackavar is used as a rag because apart from being half secondary then completely forget about him. Wanting to take advantage of a person

Wanting to take advantage of characters like Silverweed was good, the truth I liked him outside of his oc superpowers.

The overall art style is not bad but looking at the concept art I would have wished it would have stayed that way. I can't help but see them as colorful Wallabies instead of rabbits and other animals that don't even look like the species they are.

I could add more but these are the most important thing to say.

Netflix miniseries: Well, here we go. I'm sure some will already want to flame and crucify me for this, but fearlessly I'm going to say it's my favorite adaptation of the three.

And look I FULLY UNDERSTAND your annoyances (Except for the stupidity of complaining because it's less violent than the movie). I agree that the animation leaves a lot to be desired and that the bunny models could have been better (besides the pawpads and constant digitigrade posing). And yes, I can see why several changes in moments and characters don't generate the same impact as in the novel. I read the thousand and one reviews everywhere that talk about that and I've noticed it myself.

However, even with all that I dare to say that it is my favorite and I'll tell you why.

I really like to enjoy it as a different version of the story, it's a different vision and unlike their other adaptations here I can't force myself to understand it as a super watered down and flat version of the novel nor as an episodic series with new additions. It's a new form of Watership Down. Get my point?

Here I really see characters changing and with personality. While it's true that some are still driven by being somewhat repetitive like Hawkbit and Dandelion, but here I didn't feel them overly heavy-handed like in the TV series. They are fun to watch, they are charismatic.

I've seen several complaints about how Bigwig here is too aggressive and pedantic but personally I didn't feel him in that way?? I mean yes, he definitely lacks that softer, more sympathetic side but I think his character comes across well. And yes, I can see why one would be upset with him being treated more like a stupid strongman here instead of the strong but knowledgeable and analytical bunny.

Other characters. I see the annoyance with the more insecure Hazel and a bit Simp, on the other hand I like that he has a couple of flaws that evolve as he progresses. I certainly don't think it was done in the best way and I feel him still very emotional and driven to danger by his own lack of judgement, however the fact that Fiver is the one who complements him with being the one who backs him up and makes him understand is something I appreciate.

Fiver is actually my favorite characterization and I don't know if I would say the boldness of it made me love him much more here than even his literary version. He's neither a hypernervous anorexic bunny driven by trauma nor a calm possessed child. He is a balance, he is sympathetic, level-headed, intelligent, though he can be intimidated he is also not afraid to speak his mind and is true to his ideals and takes his views seriously but at the same time fearful because of how unfamiliar and perplexing they are, sometimes even leading to blame himself for not wanting to understand them if it allows him to help others. To me that's a good way to look at Fiver.

Added as doe Strawberry and Clover, let's see. Again the gender change I could care less about, Strawberry active cheerful and helpful I thought was great, she is very cute and cuddly. And her complement with Bigwig doesn't seem bad to me (some say it didn't make sense because they didn't interact but actually they did, she even defended him when they were arguing and come on even in the book the rabbits who are a couple at least even spoke to each other??).

Clover on the other hand, again the idea of her being a more active character I thought was great. Although the fact that they try to focus on her being a caged rabbit and her unfamiliarity with the wild is handled, I see the flaws in this as well. She gets used relatively quickly and even though it was precisely because of her naivety that she got into trouble it doesn't feel as much. About his romance with Hazel, look, I see it cute but I understand why some things get messed up. The fact that it has to be her instead of Fiver who ventures out to find Hazel after being hurt, because true love, was definitely an egregious change. They could have had Fiver go and Clover impatiently try to follow him only to get lost on the way and get captured instead.

Kehaar though definitely very grumpy and rude compared to his version who though defiant and brave is also helpful was a bit ehh. I still find him charismatic in his own way and his "rivalry" relationship with Bigwig I feel worked well considering.

What their personalities are like here.

Efrafa and does. Uffff how to say it, the change from being a super populated den due to its oppressive environment as a derivative of the desire to hide it as much as possible from man is lost. Here it is an oppressive and evil place because yes, Woundwort has his background but he is entirely corrupted and what he does he does out of sheer power and desire. It's not such a bad take but it still loses its depth, I would have liked to see that concept where Woundwort's brother was still alive and together they created it while he looks with sorrow at his brother's corruption, it would have been great.

Looking at it this way then, well it definitely captures that terrifying and oppressive aura very well, these rabbits do look powerful, terrifying and dominating. Vervain and especially Orchis looked great to me, most of all the latter. I have a thing for these charismatic and intelligent villains who know how to use words well instead of force to get what they want. Sainfoin and Campion were also good, in a way that they tried to go with a similar path to the TV series with the latter I saw it great, more in this context. Also we see something more about Efrafa's life and although the idea of Bigwig being presented as a narrator instead of a member of Owsla was somewhat rare, the more I appreciated his interactions with the other characters watching him with intrigue, training him and interacting with him as comrades in storytelling.

About Hyzen and the does. Again in this context they work. They are in a really horrible place with thousands of horrible eyes on them. Even with that Hyzen and the others are still girls trying to overcome whatever happens to them, she still wants the best for her teammates even if it leads her to be much more distrustful and bring her to the brink of breakdown. I wish her ability to be like Fiver had also been added but I still like her.

Also I appreciate finally having Thethuthinnang and Nettle's involvement as a Nelthilta equivalent, maybe I would have wanted Vilthuril to also be part of the group to equally give her a role and then her bonding with Fiver. How Thet wants to be that force of encouragement for everyone with his songs is a beautiful thing to me. And Nettle's betrayal as an attempt to want to do his best without knowing the damage it meant was very painful.

And yes, Holly's involvement and her relationship with Hyzen seemed appropriate to me. Despite this Holly lacking a lot of the veteran side and knew his original counterpart, I saw him as nice collaborative and challenging and how in a way his mistake in not listening to Fiver made him pay and reflect on being better to then tell Campion great!!!. Others say it's kind of weird but consider that all along Hyzen and Holly interacted and knew each other in Efrafa as well as being a link for her to trust Bigwig. Although their interaction was little it's actually a possible scenario to see. Then he sacrifices himself and mourns his death, gosh, I prefer that over Blackavar's unnecessary and weightless death in the movie. This one at least does have weight and reason.

Plus they finally make Blackavar justified, I love him so much here as a wise old veteran but hurting, capable of being tough. He really participates in the story! And I loved his role along with his line "your plan doesn't make sense but if you pull it off and we remember it I want to be able to say I was part of it" (It wasn't like that as is but you know what it is.).

And lastly, I really missed the lack of stories. Despite being told secondarily, I would have liked to hear this version of Inle's story. And speaking of which, love this version of her, so serene, good and kind but at the same time mysterious and creepy. My favorite without a doubt.

Anyway, here's all my chatter, there would be more but I've already overdone it. Answer me what you want about this and argue, even if there are new points that I'm happy to hear my general opinion will remain the same :P

[2n2n]

Chapter 101

*dies in the street like a dog* aaoaoaouuouu *swings body from the rafters* aaorurouoouu no rest for the wicked no rest no rest... aa aa aa ach ach ack ack agh agh

there could not be a more earth-shattering opening... the first real peak into living, middle-school-aged Tsukasa... pictured in the rafters of the theater, singing. Singing, like he does---! I'm not ready I'm not ready ...

It's not set in stone, but he might be doing a little vocalization (like a coloratura....?) of Over the Rainbow.... ah you know, I get emotional, as his VA, Megumi Ogata, can sure as hell sing....! So can Nene's, who sings the ED of the anime... it might be rather beautiful....

I hope someone super into music can properly confirm the song...

please, Amane... what do you want... ? you can't stay quiet and obtuse forever... can we hear it out loud?

overwhelmingly full of love... Aida is an unbearable master of expression....

I really love ah... this simple interaction, it's so full. Amane knows there's better things for Tsukasa to do, that it's not fun or interesting to stay here, that there would be other people wanting his help... it's not the responsible thing, to ask Tsukasa to stay. But what do we care about that? We only want to know what Amane himself wishes would happen... if he could have anything, if it was only up to him, if we disregard the students, if we disregard what is responsible or proper to want, what would he really want....?

the most exciting image to ever see... aahhh. Living twins together in their first year of middle school... Amane isn't yet covered in wounds, bandages, and bruises... no rope burns. He's a bit dirty from messing with the clock, is all. Tsukasa's pose is sublime... also, how incredibly small Aida makes the boy's asses in the modern day is wondrous, lol. There was a short period in her art where there was more going on there, but she returned to the stick-thin principle from ye olde times (early JSHK is so ah... 'filled out'? but Snow White is sssooo sticks ... I prefer her more extreme styling, I really love how young and gangly the boys feel....). Tsukasa's shirt isn't tucked in, while Amane's is .... ♥ Such tiny little hips they have... I could really drink in these panels for a century..

you know, Aoi is always describing Akane as so helpful and kind and always doing everything for everybody, but I feel like we constantly see him being mean and fussy wwwww it's either such a 'tell and not show' situation, or Aoi has way too kind of a view on Akane wwww...

oh yeah! My husband wondered if maybe Aoi can't tie her hair so easily anymore, after losing the feeling in one of her hands.... maybe she'll wear it down more often, as a result.

Anyway Hanako being all whiney left out sad boy is always my favorite... I love little sulking boy. I'm glad Nene is so kind with him. She really does her best for her little man. I love his overly specific ideas of what to do, lol.... Ah... he's very cute isn't he... yabai...

GETTING TO THE MEAT OF THIS ALL, though. Haha .. uah, I dunno... was Amane a Clockkeeper, is that the implication....? Clockkeepers are indentured into servitude in their first year, and serve for the duration of their time at Kamome...

on the first day no less, the Clockkeepers nab they boy. The Clockkeepers stage something to make a kid desperate... in Akane's case, they endanger Aoi, right in front of Akane..

is it possible...? Well at least, I don't see why not.... maybe yes maybe no...

if Amane has been trapped in this system for so much of his life, how miserable that would be... Akane was targetted by the Clockkeepers surely because of how devoted to Aoi he was, while Amane is naturally protective of his little brother....

I wonder if this is kinda 'moments before disaster' then...

We'll have our whimsy for now, imagining it, at least. Amane wouldn't have Teru there to make him special enchanted glasses, which are what allow Akane to live a somewhat normal life. Amane would have to see kaii everywhere! His power meanwhile, could only stop time for short durations... ah, I've always thought of him as so ignorant of the world of mysticism, so this would be such a shift....

I wonder what sort of measures are taken to keep Clockkeepers in line? Akane is a dutiful boy and even outside of Aoi, does as he's asked in most situations, easily cajoled into anything, as Aoi describes him... but Amane was a difficult boy who is often enough, defecting responsibility, by 2nd year (age 13) anyway....

I'd imagine there's a kind of mind-wiping of your Clockkeeping career post-serving in order to preserve mysteries... as much as the mysteries erase things suchas memories of missing students.

well, I would love the resentment and betrayal this would give Amane to recall! Feeling messed with, feeling manipulated, even after all of these years working as a mystery, mingling with No. 1.... aha, really made a fool of, every day, right? Again and again ... And just in time, if the Broadcast Club is angling to snatch the Clockkeepers....

whatever the case... let's get those damn Clockkeepers!! Whether you ruined Amane's school life or not... ! Aha, sounds like a good motivator to me, and even a good reason for Tsukasa to want to unpack some things to Amane.. what if all the mysteries have done, is ruin the Yugi's lives, ruin Amane's life? We really should tear the place apart then... and as often as possible, use those within the system suffering from it to do it....

uauuuhhhh I'm so worried Amane won't be able to keep his promise for any reason, and will again be too caught up in the mysteries world to enjoy a festival....

I wonder if even Nene-chan would prefer to miss the festival, than be without you, just like Tsukasa ... wouldn't your girlies always prefer to be with you, even if it means no rainbow cotton candy, no snacks, no plays.... ahhhh.

Nene-chan being so cute... Amane being so romantic.... them being such goons.... all so healingly precious... enough healing preciousness to balance out the looming dangers....

I hope you two get to do something wonderful and fun, at some point...

ugh...acting so handsomely....

acting too handsomely....

me too. Nene-chan.

its too much when he's being charming.... please spin him and send him to the ground, over and over and over, OK... I can't handle him like this.... but also, let's do everything in our power to give him everything he wants and appease his every ounce of neediness, OK? So that he can become an even greater monster of charisma, and then we can just die about it forever.

[regarding-stories]

A Matter of Style and Skill (Re: Zero, Sword Art Online, Grimgar, Isekai Uncle)

So, I watched a lot of anime lately, especially around the Isekai ("from another world") and LitRPG (inside a game) topics. I like fantasy stories, and I like those genres. Last one I watched was Grimgar - Ashes and Illusions (novel title: Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash), a series that lulls you by a more subdued, subtle pace and then crushes your heart... I love it! It was very well executed, and where the art style veered into water colors, that was just beautiful. Sadly, there's only one season and it's unlikely there'd ever be a second.

For each of the four shows that stole my heart over the last few months - Sword Art Online (SAO), Uncle from Another World, Re: Zero - Starting life in Another World, and Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash - I grabbed the original material, be they light novels or manga (in Uncle's case) to read on. For Uncle I actually grabbed the whole manga run because it was so delightful to read. By now it should also be clear that I grabbed everything I could possibly read from Sword Art Online and related series.

The experience of grabbing the original material ranged from smooth to jarring:

Uncle is almost the same in the manga from which the anime clearly takes all its style, cues, and humor. What I noticed is that the anime overdoes the "misleading situations" that are so common to this comic. Still, very faithful, absolutely smooth transition, both are a delight. If you like one, you are bound to like the other.

SAO was a bit of a surprise there. If you read the earlier materials you will start to notice how the story has been rewritten for the anime adaptation. If your starting point is the Aria of a Starless Night movie, you'd find that Mito only exists in the Movie and Argo plays an actual role in the story, nya. In general, the anime adaptations tend to introduce inconsistencies that don't exist the same in the story - and the novels are a delight to read, beating the movies or anime series by far. There's a few moments (mostly Liz/Rika) where the anime does better than the book and feels more consistent. The transition between books and screen is not the smoothest but absolutely worth it.

I've just started to read Grimgar and can already tell that the anime chose to rewrite some characters for the better, or to put it the other way round: Ranta is even worse in the novel (sigh) and Yume is a complete, utter ditz. For shame! So that was a disappointment. But we'll talk more about Grimgar in a moment.

At the bottom ranks Re: Zero, which is odd, right? Re: Zero is a fantastic multi-season anime, engaging, great characters, dramatic, as full of suffering and existential despair as Steins;Gate (the anime), it reels you into its world like SAO does, and it got an unique premise that it executes well. So, picking up volume 16 of the light novels seemed like a no-brainer... For reasons I will also explain I haven't come very far yet.

So kindly follow me on another tangent...

Characters, characters, and their mouths

What Grimgar does well in the anime adaptation is focus on its ensemble cast. You really get to know the group... in some ways. It becomes easily apparent for example that Ranta is an unbearable blaggard (which makes it almost funny that he's some sort of black/dread knight if you think about the word root) and sexist foul mouth. So much so it would be easily understandable if anyone left the series right there once he opens his mouth for any considerable length of time. The fact, however, that he's an unlikable character that nobody really gets along with is well established even in the short season this anime got. It's unclear why he choses to behave this way as he clearly knows better underneath, at least one tends to notice so in the final episodes.

What I failed to notice that much in the anime and what became immediately apparent within the first chapter of Volume 3 of the light novel is that Yume is an absolute ditz. Mind you, I watch with subtitles (and German ones in this case, no other available) and the translation hides the fact how Yume speaks ... a lot. So I was surprised by the English light novel and how every sentence basically uses "Yume" instead of "I." I revisited the anime and indeed this is the case in the spoken dialogue. You could say the translation of the book is rather on the nose (and it is). But on the other hand, the dialogue as presented in the subtitles obfuscates a lot about the character this way.

Now, this is one aspect of it. Volume 3 starts with yet another fight within the group, or better - one of these typical verbal altercations triggered by Ranta "who goes there." In his typical style of going for an immature confrontation he suggests to Yume (wait for it) that her breasts would get bigger (already groaning) if she squeezed them (this boy needs to suffer). A suggestion that Yume actually considers!! As I said, had this happened in the anime (which stops beforehand) there would have been no doubt that this character is as ditzy as they get... and that I would have stopped watching.

You see, Yume here is presented as somebody where I don't believe they're stupid as such but... she does seem clueless, naive, innocent even in some ways, I guess. Somewhere between naive and ignorant about some topics, maybe? But this I only really noticed once I read the light novel (volume 3). Within a few pages. (After the first battle is over.) It's on the nose, it's right in your face, you can't miss it. Whereas in the anime Yume might come across like her name suggests - a dreamer. She tends to babble on with what is on her mind in a way that doesn't necessarily imply she's a deep thinker, but most of the time we see her (eventually, like all of them) as capable, and her personally as dedicated, daring, fearless. Not in a "I suppress my fear" way. Outright without fear. (Making her the perfect scout. If you can instill some caution in her...)

Since I have not read the first two volumes I don't know for sure, but I get already the feeling that Yume would have come across as a ditz more than in the anime. And frankly, I enjoy Anime Yume way more than the other one.

Regarding the quality of the translation I have to wonder. The language is more like the terse style the Japanese supposedly speak. (Japanese sentences omit pretty much anything you can derive from context.) I found a mistake already that's apparent from the English ("it" instead of "he," misplacing the subject of the sentence altogether). I also think that rendering "メリイ" as "Merry" is a mistake by the translator, but maybe it isn't. (Could be "word of God" as well.) You can read this as "Mary" or as "Merry" as far as I know, the original "Merii" allows for both given how Japanese transliterates words in Katakana, emulating English by similar-sounding syllables (like "Smith" turns to "Sumisu" and can sound surprisingly similar). I think the makers of the Anime or at least the subtitles made the right call to call her "Mary." But I won't die on that hill.

Given the way characters were portrayed in the anime, I was definitely shipping Yume and Haruhiro, but I knew that wouldn't happen as soon as Mary/Merry called Haruhiro by a nickname, almost as first sign she connected with the group. It becomes pretty obvious after that. But before it was Yume who reached out to Haruhiro, and while "first past the gate" doesn't always apply, the two seemed to be both kind-hearted, complemented well in role (both stealth/scout style characters)... Well, and there were only two girls to begin with, LOL! (And later there were hints of shipping Ranta with Yume, and I sure hope that doesn't happen and stays one-sided. That was just insulting.)

The anime does a great job of depicting the group dynamics, their bickering, their attempts at dealing with their situation, the slow burn in general, but also in depicting the world and how they adapt to it. What I wasn't prepared for is the amount of changes the anime really must have done!

I had to stop reading volume 3 of the series yesterday. Almost all dialogue has Ranta screeching over it, you get pages of dialogue full of his BS to just get what's going on. If the dialogue was pleasing to read, fine. But it's just utterly annoying. Moguzo, who is just the quiet type in the anime, gets enlisted into Ranta's schemes way too easily. Both Haruhiro and Merry have the habit of correcting Yume - but while in the anime it seemed like that's done with a bit of sigh, here they come across as annoying sticklers. Haruhiro's inner monologue is an endless deluge of self-depreciation and reasons why he shouldn't talk to others. Oh, and when he described Merry as "a goddess" in his mind, it gave me a virtual gag reflex. Reading his stream of consciousness makes it also clear that he's way less nice than you might think - he fantasizes about backstabbing Ranta. Understandable, yes. But less likable.

All in all the anime chose to downplay the traits assigned to them by the author. You could see that's the same character when you read the book, no major change to the contrary. But bad bits have been toned down, made less obvious, or reduced to a more acceptable manner.

So in the end, the Grimgar book actually delivers dialogue and characters, but the end result leaves a lot to be desired. After reading the novel I feel like somebody who projected on these characters, seeing them in a more positive light because I saw less of them than in the books. In this sense it was a disillusionment of my own projection. The anime, however, is quite okay.

Prose from Pros

Where Grimgar does okay is the prose itself. You can read it, it's not the best, but you can go with the flow to follow Haruhiro's thoughts which speaks of a modicum of balance in the writing itself.

The first light novel I ever picked up was Sword Art Online Progressive Volume 1, and Reki Kawahara's writing style took me in. Not like Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London) who completely had me after one paragraph with his wit and execution. But Kawahara is comfortable to read, for reasons I will come to further down. He crafts good prose.

The translation of Re: Zero suggests that its author doesn't. I mean, translation always loses something of the original writer, but I'm assuming a translator is charged with translating with what is there, they don't tend to add or remove stuff. A sentence might be broken into several where necessary, or they might be combined, but overall you would expect the same amount of sentences even if one language is more verbose and another is more terse. What a translator would certainly not do is invent descriptions that are not there in the original - that would make them co-authors or editors.

And in Re: Zero's case it shows!

It had really high hopes for this. Realizing that the plot continued past what we have in the anime felt like getting a third season. I would get to read into another series of light novels! Re: Zero the anime was hard to watch (because it's emotionally challenging) but you could tell the source material had been carefully crafted. So I came with high expectations to this one, expecting a masterful author.

I had best braced myself.

Practically the moment I started reading my heart dropped. And I have barely picked it up since. There they are, the characters I cared about, right? On to have more adventures. And I can't muster the willingness to go... because it doesn't read good.

The reason is hard to put into words, but I'll try my best. There's for one a bad balance between description and dialogue, and what would have fitted well in the description of the scene ends up badly shoved into the dialogue. There's also no good separation between dialogue and conversation and inner thoughts. It just reads like a mish mash. But it's probably better to compare it with its opposite.

We're at the beginning of another volume, so if that were a Kawahara book he would in some form recap where we are and how we came to be there. But not as a mere blob of exposition - it would be weaved into the thoughts and the dialogue, but also appear as some straight exposition. If a character was musing about something, it would often sit in its own paragraph(s), and dialogue (or action) would continue after it concluded. This sometimes leaves you with a feeling that way too much time passed, but it gives you the chance to digest the thought process of the protagonist and understand the reasons behind their actions.

Kawahara will ensure that you as reader are on the same page as him as the author when setting a scene. He conveys the images he wants you to see, he conveys the information he wants you to know, and he's truly masterful at crafting the things that weren't said. Oh, his dialogue is good, no doubt. But he's at his very best when interrupting dialogue, characters biting their tongue, and at implying things you as the reader have to read between the lines. That's skill. But not in an universal skill, more of a particular set of skills that contribute to why his books are such a joy to read. He crafts good prose, dialogue, he sets scenes properly, he never leaves you behind. He sometimes overdoes the reminders, but he communicates to the reader everything needed to follow along and adds many charming details. His characters not only speak, their actions speak as well, especially small ones, details, everything.

When Re: Zero #16 reintroduces Mimi in the second scene, I can barely follow along. I can picture the scene only because I saw the anime and remembered her from the hints given. But I have to pause the reading to do so. Then I can work my way backwards to what has transpired in the scene. The way the scene is described obscures what is going on - we are told the character has figured it out, but we can't. We have to wait for him to say it. It seems like everything has to be said aloud here.

And what is said is mostly just chaining up dialogue from which alone we have to infer the mood of the speaker. There's no description of the speaker, no laying out the part we're meant to picture, no description of their voice or tone. The dialogue just comes at us, description might follow. Frankly, as prose this is unpleasant to read. It quickly soured on me.

It's a less obvious example for what most people would describe a book as "horribly written." And I bet this isn't the translator's fault. They're not meant to reorder sentences or add details. This prose lacks craft in the source as well I would assume. Grimgar definitely does better, it reads normal. The cringe comes from the characters. And it can hold no candle to anything Kawahara ever wrote - when it comes to crafting the prose itself.

The Plot Thickens

But it's not as if Kawahara's writing is perfect. If I compare SAO to Re: Zero then the latter has achieved mastery in maximizing dramatic escalation while also knowing a way out. Allow me a spoiler: Re: Zero is a time loop story. So we see the same events unfold multiple times to different outcomes. (You would be aware of this at the end of the first episode of the anime, so I hope it's not too big a spoiler. Go watch it, it's good!) It's not only up to the protagonist to find his way through the problems he encounters, the same is true for the author. Both seasons of the anime encompass 15 books in total - and IIRC three different time loops. This means the author clearly had a well-crafted plan if he can split each loop into multiple iterations over multiple books, each interesting to follow along. (He was apparently also involved quite a bit in the anime - says Wikipedia.)

SAO has been accused to be lacking in its resolutions. While dramatic, they seem at times quite "Deus Ex Machina." This is true of the ending of the first novel where a formerly unwilling Kirito kills the big bad after technically dying (for added drama), or for the Alfheim story arc - where we can take "Deus Ex Machina" literally! The SAO Progressive series also leaves an aftertaste. All the bosses of the later novels require an NPC and a gimmick to be beaten - which means they were basically unbeatable as is. The 6th floor boss is extremely gimmicky, the 7th too strong. Each is played for drama - and each situation could have also wiped the "Clearers" or "Frontrunners" out. Mind you - we're not even at floor 10 at the current pace of the series. Imagine another 68 levels like that. It would be suicide. There's a lot about this that doesn't work if you think it to its logical conclusion. In the end, it might follow that the game is unbeatable as is if you can't die and try again. (Which contradicts what the characters express about it - until floor 75 that is.)

Of course Kawahara made his own trap and got caught. He wrote a finished story that he ever since stuffs new content into, increasing the inner inconsistencies. But that's only half the problem. The other half is that Kawahara struggles with dosing the escalation. He revs up the drama for each individual book in an attempt to be satisfactory, but each series he writes as books following in a defined order actually risks crumbling under the over-escalation (SAO Progressive, The Isolator, Accel World) and breaking the suspension of disbelief.

A series stretching out over multiple volumes needs to dose its escalation in a way that future escalations are possible. The Lord of the Rings starts small and builds from a scope as small as The Hobbit towards a finale (or rather multiple finales) that include major battles and resolutions. But if you blow up a Death Star each time, it gets old... leading hack writers to create in the end a fleet of 10,000 Star Destroyers rising from underground of one planet that each has the destructive power of a Death Star. If you can't dose your escalation and scale, that's what you end up with.

So far Kawahara has managed to deliver, but if you look at the release schedule of the Progressive series you'd notice that it took Kawahara a 3 year period to craft book 5/6 (written together) and book 7/8 (same). While it was not the only thing he was doing, The Isolator closes in on a four year hiatus by now, and with horror we can watch on as Kawahara started a new series (Demon's Crest) instead. I personally wonder if it is tiresome to play one-upmanship with oneself. These ever more convoluted escalations aren't needed, but are not the only case in point where such escalation takes place. The same is true for the love story arc. But I will now gloss over it since I enjoy it too much!

Skills that pay the bills

There are many skills that an author needs to craft a satisfying book. I've mentioned the prose, the basic interweaving of description, dialogue, inner monologue. Then there is how you weave necessary exposition into the story. Characters need to be fleshed out and ideally grow and change in some way. Dialogue needs to convey us something about the speaker and seem convincing and true to the character. Descriptions paint a picture of what we are meant to see and hear were we in the world

There needs to be pacing. Good pacing balances action and more quiet passages. It builds suspense and resolves it in a release, over and over. But good pacing also alternates what happens "on screen" by offering us a variety of scenes, not just "battle" and "break," over and over, for example.

Then there is the drama, the misunderstandings, the emotional challenges, the conflicts. How they come about, how they defy resolution initially and how they resolve eventually. And how they are set up - oh, setup is ever so important. A character can die on page 1 and we will care very little, but if a character has been made central to the story and features in its dynamics, if the character leaves a big hole when they go - that's all in the setup. And it pays off so well.

Same for humor. The best kind of humor flows naturally from the characters themselves, their interactions, but it can also come from the situation. But it can also be poorly executed, and boy is anime full of poorly played humor... oh Handyman Saito, how often have you failed me! Not to speak of the downright juvenile. I sometimes wonder what separates some authors from the teenage boys they write for...

If we're talking fantasy or Sci-Fi, you also need to build the world, make it come alive, make it interesting, engaging, and gradually impart its workings on the reader. So it needs to be built and it needs to be conveyed, and the latter needs to balance with the rest of the story.

Even good authors need to learn this - and might publish their mistakes. I personally consider Alicization such. To me, the world was ultimately unlikable and I couldn't fathom why I would care about saving its disgusting society. The story paces poorly - after the protagonists actually get going, they immediately get stuck in a sort of boarding school story that is poorly related to their goal - to save Alice. Completely sidetracked at times, not interesting. Then we get into the Cathedral and it's battle, battle, more battle. Each chapter is homogenous to a fault. And the resolution drags out endlessly... I consider Alicization as a skill-building exercise for the author, but watching the two seasons to finish was a chore and nothing else.

Or take for example The Dresden Files. The stories are well-crafted, but it became soon apparent that every book follows exactly the same template. And each book will resolve one set of problem the character has and replace it with the same amount of new problems, so you never get a feel there is a breathing space for the character. There will be always be someone breathing down his neck, he always will be out of resources, outmatched, and he will still win somehow. And each book escalated over the previous one in exceedingly dubious ways. I just stopped reading.

Oh yes, resolutions! How you get from A to B in a consistent way, how the ending fits the story, how satisfying the ending itself is. Does the ending follow from the forces set up in the story? Is it logical? Does it seem forced or contrived? This goes for any arc, any change in how characters relate to each other, book finales, season finales, or outright finales altogether.

Or what's at stake. Why should we care? Do we care? Are the characters important to us? Do we relate to their suffering? Do their victories feel like victories to us?

Keep improving, not "more of the same"

All of these are skills an author can possess and you will likely find they do differently on some, or there are some of their works where they are still practicing them. Or they get stuck in what they do okay and never improve - which is the worst. Nothing like a "good enough" mindset author to tire of. What I hope for in an author is that they will improve and keep delivering satisfying stories.

Or these series die an ignominious death, if not commercially, then in your own willingness to read them. Piers Anthony crafted a great many really good Xanth novel that I enjoyed in my youth, but eventually he just kept writing them to be formulaic and too full of puns. Yes, the puns played a role in the original books, but they were balanced with the story and the world-building, and the drama, characters, and puzzles were well-crafted. Eventually he just cobbled together books involving a lot of reader-provided puns. Ugh.

As I keep exploring anime, manga, and light novels, I hope to find more of these jewels. More authors - or teams of authors - that keep evolving, keep crafting engaging stories, and keep building their skills. It's so rewarding when they do.

[kustas]

Please feel free to ignore this if you don’t want to go into it hahaha, but as an FMA agnostic I saw that comment and had to ask: what’s your take on the series?? Have a great day!

I read it twice, once when I was in middle school, and then rather recently! My take is that while I understand why it is popular it's an overrated series that suffers from serious issues.

As a kid? I loved it. I've always been into science and fantasy worldbuilding and old timey stories with fights, so it was my shit. I had just discovered manga and was obsessed and even tried to copy the art style. I was especially fond of the parts about the ishbalan civilization as well as the chimeras, probably early signs of my still ongoing interests in ancient west asian archeology and uncanny valley furries. It's a story that importantly, while having a target audience of teenagers and catering to that, doesn't take its audience for idiots and offers, compared to other stories, more emotional punch due to that, with topics of life and death, and a story with a lot of traumatized characters.

Rewatching it as an adult, I'm just...not into magic anime battles anymore. I also am not keen on the art style nowadays, I get the charm but the chibi stuff is unbearable to me and a lot of characters are too samey for my liking, especially women. My one good surprise was learning about the gender neutrality of Envy as a character, a design I always liked as a child - but when I originally read the series I had known nothing of it because the character had been translated to male.

The huge elephant in the room however, is how it deals with its sensitive topics. A lot of what I will say are criticism you could forward to many popular series, yes, I know, but FMA is constantly hailed in "progressive" fandom spheres for diversity which upon reread shocked me. Politically, FMA talks about topics with serious IRL ties and does not have a stance I like on them. Most of the plot revolves around a cast of military who went to war before the story and exterminated a people there, who are fantasy-styled west asian and make up the majority of brown characters you see in the series. While the manga isn't afraid to say genocide bad or show the consequences it also makes you sympathize for the soldiers who carried it out because...they feel bad? Which is just not something I can agree with. In the modern times of the series it leads to uncomfortable discussions of fantasyworld racism that aren't my place to talk about. When the plot ends, it's a good ending for those soldiers, the only change is that you learn some anime evil was behind it all, and the "bad evil man for killing the actors in genocide of his people" gets redeemed quick but not in a way I agree with either. There's also the theme of disability which the series does touch on in a way that I cannot say much negative about, but on the other hand (no pun intended) do not feel is worth hailing as much as I have seen by fans. Last thing I see people hail it for is female characters and while yes, the series is not plagued by the usual misogynistic (if not pedophile) type of fan service anime usually has, that bar is underground... The main characters remain all male with the exception of one girl who's not really there and ends up a love interest. There's some cool female side characters but they remain just that. It's scraps & I am happy to find better elsewhere.

TLDR: Tumblr regularly rightfully tears a new one to avatar the last Airbender for how it handled colonialism, genocide and portraying fantasy cultures heavily based on real world ones, so why has FMA constantly slipped through that net, with a fanbase who is incapable of handling criticism?

TLDR 2: Honenheim's character and backstory remain to this day my favorite thing about FMA can we take this guy to a better manga

[vitos-ordination-song]

Having listened to interviews w David Foster Wallace and looked into what eventually gets around to happening in Infinite Jest, can I just say, he has to be one of the most insufferable authors of all time. I actually agree w him on almost everything, but god, he was so annoying with how he went about things.

The central conceit of Infinite Jest is good, but its style undermines it. For instance, the idea of a video that’s so entertaining people can’t stop watching and then die is potentially good. Could work for satire. But the book is so unbearably overwritten that every single flourish like that just becomes irritating. The “sponsored years” too—so many of these gimmicks could work for a short story, but for an incredibly long-winded and verbose book, they’re just painful. Like Kafka if he was trying to convince everyone he’s smart.

DFW was concerned about how life lived for entertainment and consumption was draining us of our humanity. I’m worried about it too. But what exactly did he accomplish with his book? I mean, no one’s gonna read it except people who already agree with him. I was also shocked to hear him say he was trying to write a “sad” book and was surprised anyone thought it was funny. The whole book feels like it’s trying desperately to be witty. Some of it actually is witty, but did he actually not know how he was coming across?

As to sad, well, I’d say there was pathos in one of the chapters I read, but that was about a throwaway character. And even that section was repetitive. DFW was good at capturing the mindset of an addict, but he did it so many times in the first 200 or so pages, with nothing new added each time, that I just got bored. Aside from that, I felt the book was devoid of feeling. It’s too up its own ass for most of the characters to feel like people.

I decided to drop it after a passage where Hal thinks about how the “defecatory posture” is “religious.” A single passage like that might be interesting or funny, but I have to stress how often quirky little musings like that were included. Nothing is ever phrased normally—it’s always trying to be as Clever and Unique as possible. Frankly my impression of DFW is that he was a pretty arrogant person who neurotically tried to pretend he wasn’t, so his writing turned into this mess of superfluous show-off moments which then undermine themselves. Frankly he should have just written a couple silly short stories or an essay and left it at that. I don’t think long-form fiction is ever good when it’s written exclusively to Make A Point About Society—there’s got to be some grounding and humanity to it.

In an interview, DFW discussed the issue of entertainment, saying that someone interested in making art these days either has to be anti-entertaining or entertaining while still critical of entertainment, which is paradoxical. He went the anti-entertainment route, which won him kudos with people who think Challenging Art is good regardless of actual quality. I can think of several auteurs who handled these issues better than DFW, though.

First is Ikuhara, who’s said that his goal is to “create a new value for entertainment.” I don’t think he set out to make avant garde anime—he just can’t help himself. He is uninterested in empty corporate entertainment. He works within the current paradigm of anime, essentially taking genres to their extreme. Rather than creating simple parodies, he instead finds the radical potential that does exist within entertainment and then uses it to create narratives about liberation from the alienation of modern society, along with other profound issues. I like Ikuhara more than DFW because, rather than self-denial, Ikuhara deals with his ego with unforced humor, acknowledging his dark side without apology. Skeptical of all human social behavior, he nonetheless also has a very earnest and authentic streak. I think that that stance is a lot more subversive than DFW’s interminable over-intellectualization and regressive ironic distance.

Another example would be Satoshi Kon’s Paranoia Agent. A lot more harsh and unforgiving than Ikuhara, Kon presents modern people as incapable of taking responsibility for anything. Immature and selfish, they entertain themselves until they reach a breaking point, at which time they explode, hoping a breakdown will get them out of all the troubles they’ve been trying to avoid. Inherent in this is self-victimization. Kon posits that some people are able to see through the system and retain a grasp on reality, but that society as a whole likely will not be able to get through the nuclear age.

I could go on about the many layers of social critique presented in the show, but that’s not really the focus of this post. I’ll finish by saying that Kon only needed 13 episodes to accomplish all this. I really question the type of artist who equates length and difficulty of parsing a story with quality. Now, I’m not saying that long and challenging stories are bad—I just don’t think they inherently make something good. Infinite Jest feels like an amalgam of writing flourishes which are considered to be elevated by today’s critics—multiple storylines, etc.—rather than a story someone wanted to tell from the bottom of their heart. Paranoia Agent is primarily social commentary, rather than straightforward narrative fiction, but it is still “entertaining”—as in, it tells a story I care about. Infinite Jest wasn’t boring, but it was annoying, because I couldn’t figure out what in the hell I’m supposed to be emotionally invested in. That’s fine for a short story, but doesn’t cut it for a novel that’s over a thousand pages long.

[dragongirldg]

I like to keep an open mind. Different iterations of a cartoon, I’m willing to give a chance to.

Unbearable art style like Adult Animation…. Not naming one but some look too gross to watch.

Kids cartoon? I’ll try watching it if it’s a genre I’m into.

I’m not into syfi but I can make exceptions.

I don’t actually like horror unless it’s watching someone’s let’s plays. Or looking at art and the occasional comic. But I really hate horror movies.

Romantic comedy is my favorite genre to pair with fantasy or action adventure.

Idk stuff I guess.

I’m picky.

A genre I’m interested in is horror romance. I do t know how that’s work, but I’m curious.

Everyone else is dying but that’s got nothing to do with you and your date? Neat.

Like… background death. Wither or not mc is targeted is optional.

Optional, but it’s either mc or love interest is doing a killing.

Maybe a betrayal but no one is mad, their too in love for that.

[nekromanika]

i finally found the courage to show lily... lol

she's a lawrence fucker for those of yall who do not know

some misc facts for her under the cut :3

MISC FACTS!

- her full name is actually lilith, but she prefers to go by lily and introduces herself as such.

- works at a comic book store

- codes in her free time, but is genius with it and is a very notorious hacker

- is a smoker, but isn't addicted. lights a cigarette sometimes out of habit but doesn't actually smoke it. also partakes in weed on occasion lmfao. but it takes her FOREVER to get high so she doesn't do it often.

- rarely leaves her house other than for work and sometimes to go out and grab a drink at the jackalope.

- she socializes sometimes out of "necessity" but for the most part she just kind of keeps to herself. she's an introvert by nature but sometimes she's gotta do what's she's gotta do

- can appear nice and friendly when needed as a result. shes a bit of a social chameleon in that way i think.

- inwardly though she would obviously prefer to be at home by herself. but i think she enjoys getting to know people. but not in the normal way. i mean in the way where she talks to you, and she is immediately curious about all the dirty laundry you might have lol.

- she definitely prefers to observe and listen when talking to someone. she finds superficial and surface level conversations like small talk mind-numbingly boring, though

- if she finds a person she likes or thinks is interesting she will absolutely be obsessed with them. im just saying

- is guilty of mostly eating take out. she can't cook to save her life.

- is a weeb on the dl

now time for some actual LORE

- she's a succubus so she's actually immortal lmfao

- so because of that shes quite old! she was probably born during the middle ages or something. unsure of her exact origin but i keep picturing her in the 1700s so maybe around that time period?

- made a contract with a demon rire after she died for the sole purpose of getting revenge on those who wronged her before she died. she lived a very fucked life. her own death was also quite brutal so its no wonder she couldn't just let things go and move on

- so because of that she has indeed seen the river 👍 but she was so full of rage she was determined not to pass on she was desperate to get out of there no matter the cost

- in terms of her actual abilities as a succubus, i still have yet to figure that out? but i remember writing down being able to fuck someone dry jejfiv

- i mean that in the sense that they die because she drains their life force that way lol. its how she keeps herself alive really. hence why she needs to socialize bc she needs to find someone to replenish her energy

- funny enough i feel that her libido is quite average? when she first turned her thirst was basically insatiable. sort of similar to a vampire when they first turn. over time its just dulled down a lot so now she only ever gets the urge when she's "hungry" i guess.

- her libido increases around people she likes, though.

- she can control herself pretty well though and absolutely has sex for funsies when the mood strikes her.

- she rarely kills people actually unless they're like jerks to her / absolute scum of humanity. her definition of that varies though lmfaoooo

- when she goes to the jackalope 80% of the time it's because she needs to stock up on energy it's the most low effort place to hook up with people

- sometimes its kind if dead though so when that happens she just hopes she'll pick up someone on the way home.

- usually her pheromones are "enhanced" during this period to help her lure people in, but it's a double edged sword because the opposite partys pheromones are enhanced as well. since she's a succubus, her scent always changes to fit her prey's preferences. :)

- different people have different scents though! some people smell absolutely foul to her and other people smell really nice. beastkins, demons, and other non-humans have their own unique scents, as well.

- in true succubus fashion, she can probably manipulate a person's dreams. usually she can just influence others to have erotic dreams about her, but it can sometimes extend to daydreams as well. daydreams are more difficult to manipulate since the person is conscious, though. but if they're weak-willed she can do it pretty easily.

- also the best way for her to regain energy is for her to consume cum. cuming inside her is also the key. it is also her favorite. once you're in you can't escape. for the girlies its a bit different but as i said before she just needs to consume it. she will literally have a feast lol

- on that topic yes she loves everyone <3 love is love

now... for her and lawrence :3

- i think she mostly just wanted to know wtf was wrong with him at first

- she saw him for the first time and immediately felt weird vibes from him. but strange people are the people she finds deeply intriguing so she wanted to get to know him

- he complimented her on her name and she took that as a bit of flirting, so she naturally flirted back. i feel like she sensed he was mildly uncomfortable and embarrassed by it so she left him alone

- she did turn up her pheromones though just so he'd keep his attention on her. so in my silly brain lawrence just kept glancing at her the whole time and ren felt like he was third wheeling djjfic.

- their canon ending would definitely be the "you both know the truth" ending. their whole thing is both of them seeing the river and because of that i think they'd understand each other very intimately.

- lily reached for and took lawrence's drink purely as a show of dominance and that is the only reason law was able to get the upper hand on her.

- knockout drugs don't have a strong effect on her though so she honestly lets herself get kidnapped just to see what would happen. she's curious to see what someone like lawrence would do in that sort of situation

- so when she 'wakes up' and sees him kind of panicking she's inwardly amused and reassures him that he's the one in control.

- probably teases him a lot throughout her captivity but knows when to stop before she takes it too far. she tries to be calm when she can too because he's most receptive to that kind of temperament. plus she is the queen of knowing how people feel, and how to get along with others in general, so its mostly smooth sailing.

- lawrence has his moments where he reacts and behaves unpredictably, though. lily is at a loss during those times but she can usually bounce back fairly quickly. and she's more pleasantly surprised than anything.

- I believe that lily finds a sort of comfort in the way he talks about mortality and life. she doesn't think she's met anyone like lawrence in her life, and she's lived a pretty long time. she really loves his introspective side quite a bit, and finds herself empathizing with him as well. :]

BONUS: her and ren?

- ren has always been a big fave so in a world where lily does not pursue lawrence for whatever reason i firmly believe that she would be enamored with ren

- like he's so cute... she saw him at the jackalope for the first time and had heart eyes. it was probably her urges enhancing his pheromones to the max but she wanted him then and there lol

- she flirted with him and he reciprocated and lawrence was just there third wheelin.

- he smelled so unique too... it made her even more curious about him. so when it was time to leave she followed him home♡ or at least that was what she was planning on doing but then law chased her down so she had to get outta there lawl

- things worked out in her favor when ren ended up kidnapping her though, so hooray? she wasn't really a fan of being a captive of his though

- i think her canon ending for her and ren would probably end up being the "you took ren for yourself" ending. or the love one lol. both can exist simultaneously though so perhaps a bit of both.

[skenpiel]

im so fuckin pissed my art blocks still preventin me from doin any actual drawings but heres a doodle of my new sona anyway!!!!!!!

[hellokittysasuke]

all the mystery and terms that are just dropped around and youre waiting for some reveal or something... until half of it is never expalined and half is just dumped in exposition episodes by the scientist Ritsuko.

the first impact is literally never explained in the main series or end of eva, i stumbled upon it on the internet.

kaworu, a fan favourite character that youve been lead to believe has a very deep and impactful relationship with shinji... literally only appears for 20 min before he dies.

tge scene where his toji gets roped into being a pilot and gets stuck in a berserk eva is one of those occasions where you actually feel dread for the characters. when shinjis eva is literally ripping the other eva apart and crushing the entry plug in half with his friend inside and all he can do is watch...and thats when he thinks its just a human inside. thrn he finds out it was toji, his friend.. its genuinely horrifying, its shocking.

and then he somehow survives. it kind of ruins the impact

though in defense rei surviving wasnt really impractical because she did die..they just got a third clone to replace her and made it look like she survived.

and the last two episodes...a beast of their own. i liked the abstract animation and the various techniques used to represent the mental state of the characters. but they explain jackshit.

after kaji dies you really have no idea whats going on with the plot anymore. they show you shinjis mind but you dont know whats happening with the characters outside. and it ends like that, shinji accepts his existence and everybody congratulates him and its very wholesome but youre clueless as to what actually happened to the characters.

then it turns out youll have to watch end of evangelion for that, which again is superbly animated, the visuals are intense and haunting, the aesthetics are on point but nothings really explained.

i could really only get through the whole thing because i the overarching themes, the soundtrack, i.e. the creative choices, the artistic liberty resonated with my taste. its kind of impossible to get through it otherwise.

but you have to say certain parts are very well made. like asukas deterioration arc. very superbly put together for maximum horror.

the starting episodes are very structurally similar. repetitive. an angel attacks about quarterway through, they fight, fail, devise a plan, fight, win etc. with one or two variations thrown in. the angel possessed an eva, is capable of hacking into the magi, it sucked shinji in, it can split apart etc. even the animation sequence felt identical, alarms would blare, a repeated voice announcing an angel sighting, code blue, megaphones blaring for citizens to go into lockdown, an animation sequence of gates inside nerv locking down with red alarms as a background. ritsuko orders maya to analyze something, misato asks where shinji asuka and rei are etc. i liked that though. it was very...simple. combined with the 90s art style and the slice of life parts it gave it a certain charm.

evangelion is not very strong on plot. its not very clear and well planned out, and budgets and censorship and deviation from the manga make it kind of incomprehensible. as a whole its not very coherent, more to do with aesthetics and cool soundtracks and what looks the best just thrown in.

it endeavours to deconstruct the human psyche and the mecha and religous symbolism is just a way to get there. the daddy issues, the dead mothers and the psychological repression and denial can get a tad repetitive. and yeah...the characters never really mature. But personally their immaturity is what i like about them, i dont find them that irritating or unbearable and instead seem like relaistic tennagers with Issues tm.

this is just for the anime series though, which is very different from the manga. the anime is the original and more well known though, so much that fans only mention it and the rebuild movies in discussions. im reading the manga and i like it so far, its also supposed to flesh out characters like rei a bit more.

no lies this is actually a pretty good analysis. even if he hated eva all his points are valid and he did his research. anyways ill make a post about the parts i liked soon

[wastelander997]

Most anticipated movies of 2022

What it says on the tin, these are the movies I'm most looking forward to this year.

1. The Batman

Everyone's already said it, but I'll add on: This movie looks like a Masterpiece. I love the tone and style (even if I am getting a BIT tired of constant gritty/grim Batman) the cinematography looks next level, and it just looks like a kick-ass movie. I'm looking forward to it.

2. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

I'm a massive Sonic fan so of course I'm looking forward to Sonic 2. It dosen't help that Knuckles is my favorite Sonic character, so Idris Elba playing him is something I'm extremely excited for. Plus, I like that the trailer was less "kid's movie" and more like the trailer you'd see for a legit action movie. Got me pretty excited.

3. The Bad Guys

Coming out the same day as Sonic, I believe, this was a surprise. I really like the art style and the animation (very Spiderverse esque), and the story looks pretty fun. A bunch of normally villainized animals on the path to become good guys despite a lot of people, even themselves, saying "the hell?" It looks pretty cute and fun.

I'm not looking forward to horny fanart, but that's already happened I think.

4. Across the Spiderverse: Part One

Speaking of Spiderverse, what else do I need to say? The first Spiderverse is a Masterpiece. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. So of course I'm looking forward to Across the Spiderverse: Part One. It dosen't help the Spider-Man 2099 is coming, and I LOVE Spider-Man 2099. So again, very excited.

5. Lightyear

I made a small post about this earlier this year, but I'm just gonna reiterate. I REALLY like Buzz Lightyear, as well as just the Toy Story franchise in general, but Buzz has always been my favorite character. So to have this cool sci-fi action movie MADE by Pixar be about Buzz, and sort of the "true story" behind his toy, is just super fascinating to me.

6. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Bit of a recurring theme for this list, but I fucking LOVE Nicholas Cage. He's that actor that always gives 110%, even when the movie is kinda trash. And this just sounds like a super fascinating concept. Nicholas Cage playing HIMSELF, and helping Pedro Pascal, his biggest fan, with a big problem? It looks really good and entertaining, really excited for it.

And that's my list. Some honorable mentions are Morbius (honestly the trailer looks good to me, but the stupid amount of delays makes me roll my eyes) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Sam Rami directing a superhero movie again is fantastic, and the trailer looks great, there movies just beat it out by a touch) and Mission Impossible 7 (I love the Mission Impossible franchise, and honestly it would be on this list if we had a trailer. But we don't, and I honestly have no idea how they're going to top MI: Fallout.)

Anyway, that's that. See you guys later.

[ja-khajay]

Stuff I read (and liked) this year

As promised, here’s a list of the novels, comics, manga, etc... I read this year, focusing on the ones I enjoyed and would recommend to people. Under a cut, this is going to be a little long.

-------- Books --------

Favorite book of the year: Stranger in the Woods, by Michael Finkel

Non-fiction. Based on the interviews of the man himself by the author, it is about a man who felt so unfit for society he decided one day to leave it, and spent the next 28 years as a hidden hermit in forest in Maine. The book details how he survived there, how he was eventually found, and some of his reasons for doing so. It’s a great reflection on the nature of loneliness.

Indian creek, by Pete Fromm

...Yet another detailed tale of living alone in the woods. This time, the diary of a student who spent a winter in the mountains to help tend for salmon hatchlings, and how he spent the rest of his days hiking, hunting, meeting the locals. It’s a fun little book who, being set almost the whole world away from where I live, was a nice way to travel.

Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

I don’t feel the need to explain this one since everyone and their mom has seen the movie adapted from it. The book, that I first read a decade ago before I actually watched the film, is a less romantized, more spirited telling of the same story. The writing is absolutely delightful and so is the world it paints, and it’s the first time in ages a book had me laughing out loud during my entire read.

-------- Comics (BD) --------

Favorite comic of the year: Monsieur Désire?, by Hubert and Virginie Augustin

A discreet young woman becomes a maid for a decadent, unbearable, byronesque young lord. Caked in the rigid and oppressive social hierarchy of the victorian era, you follow a mental and verbal joust between the two, as the lord tries his best to offend and corrupt his new unrelenting servant, to little success. The writing and especially the dialogues were stellar, drawing me into the tense atmosphere, watching this trainwreck of a character flamboyantly destroy himself. While there’s no precise content warnings that I can give, this is a mature and heavy story.

World of Edena, by Moebius

Anyone who’s followed this blog for over a month knows how much of a Moebius fan I am. Edena combines the vague, dreamlike, wordless storytelling from stuff like Arzach or The cat’s eyes with an actual plot. While I haven’t completly finished the story, the evolution of the main characters and how the story is told have been great to read through, and as always the art is beyond gorgeous. Unfortunately suffers from some good old sexism in the writing that even if minimal, tasted sour

Le roman de Renart, by Joan Sfar (book 1)

Sfar’s work always has a signature vibe of being dreamy and light without being light hearted, of being down to earth but drifting in the fantastical, and this one is no exception. It’s an adaption of a series of medieval folk tales I grew up with, who uses the same characters to tell an original story. If you’re familiar with icons like Renart as well as other mythological big boys like Merlin you’ll fit right in. There is something special in how the dialogues are written, who feel natural in a way that you’d overhear in a street corner and is very special to me.

The mercenary, by VIncente Segrelles

Another one I post about a lot on this blog. The mercenary is a king on the throne of fantasy cheese. The worldbuilding is interesting at times but the writing is a pretty pathetic display of glorious old time sword and sorcery sci-fantasy 10 years too late for it’s prime (warning for ye old sexism and orientalism that plagues the genre, cranked very high...) but you come and stay for the art. The entire thing is drawn in a series of hyper detailed oil paintings with an insane eye for technical detail, from the engineering of the weaponry, to the architecture and weather, to the anatomy of the fantasy creatures... Each panel stands out as it’s own painting which makes even flipping through it without reading the scenario a treat. Click here to see more of the art, in my Segrelles tag.

The ice maurauder, by Jacques Tardi

A short story about mad scientists entirely drawn like a 19th century engraving. In great Tardi tradition everyone is ugly and mean, it ends terribly, it’s both a hommage to the genre of late 19th cent. to early 1900s dramatic adventure novels and a critical eye on it, and it’s morbidly funny. Most people I saw online hated the way this was written but I’m not them and I really recommend this book. Die mad

-------- Manga --------

Favorite manga of the year: it’s a tie between the following two.

Cats of the Louvre, by Taiyo Matsumoto

Most wonderful comic I have read in ages. The story follows a bunch of semi-feral cats secretly living in the Louvre museum’s attic, and the small group of humans who share their life, walking through the museum as the night watch. When the cats are together, they are represented in a humanoid way, but still act like animals, and “become” cats again when a human is nearby. The plot is a sort of supernatural mystery centered around a kitten who walks around paintings. It’s a love letter to art, sincere and beautiful, with a unique art style and great characters.

Memoirs of amorous Gentlemen, by Moyoco Anno

A sex worker in early 20th century paris starts writing down a diary of the clients she meets, in a quest to cope with the troubles of her life. You follow her, her colleagues, and her bittersweet relationship with an abusive lover. I don’t have much words about this comic, but the art and writing both are amazing, it’s the perfect length and drew me in like little series had before. Obvious content warnings as this is an adult story that talks about sexuality, but also depicts both mental and physical abuse.

Hana, also by Taiyo Matsumoto 

A very short story, this was not made to be read as a comic originally, but served as storyboarding and visual development for a play, and the way it is written follows that. Hana is a slice of life story set in a fantasy world, of a young boy, his family, his village. Despite the setting being an original one, the character interactions are refreshingly... normal, and there is no huge plot to speak of, just a bit of the life of these characters. The art is beautiful, entirely black and white, with a scratchy style and an emphasis on contrast. Matsumoto is on a speedy road to becoming my favorite manga artist haha

Delicious in Dungeon, by Ryoko Kui

While not marked as my year’s favorite, I still consider this series among my favorite manga ever. The art and writing are amazing, and it’s both heartfelt, well concieved and plain hilarious. The story follows several parties of dungeon diving adventurers each on their little quests with a premise of our protagonists, on a panic rescue mission, surviving in the dungeon by cooking and eating the monsters they come across. From a DnD party turned cooking manual dinner of the week beginning, the plot creeps up on you and slowly thickens. I don’t want to spoil anything about the overarching story of this because it was a delight to discover for myself. While everything about DinD rules, I am especially fond of the design philosophy of the author, who puts great detail in the practicality and biology of what she draws, as well as the character writing. Everyone even side characters has so much charm and depth to them, the cast is so diverse and entertaining...! Each character is just a bit lame enough but endearing, and has their own little backstory that shows in the way they exist. It’s a delight

Chainsaw man, by Tatsuki Fujimoto

I went into CSM expecting a borderline campy hyperviolent dumb fun thing to read and was very surprised to find an uncomfortably well written story about a teenager being groomed. The hyperviolent dumb fun fights are here nonetheless and the series still qualifies as shonen for some reason, but the more mature character writing as well as some truly outlandish visuals make it something very special. If you can’t stand shonen, not sure you will like it, but if you don’t mind it, worth trying.

Witch hat atelier, by Kamome Shirahama

The oh so elegant fantasy seinen every cool kid started posting about this year, who I also succumbed to and fast. Witch hat is hard to explain, as most of it’s plot revolves around the rules of the world it’s set in, specifically the regulations around it’s magic and the social and historical reasons for them. It’s about growing up, learning, disability, making art. You follow a little girl taken in by a witch as an apprentice, her magical education, and learn little by little why her lovely teacher is so willing to break a lot of rules... While a bit too gentle and pretty for my taste at times, Witch hat has great worldbuilding and explores sensitive themes I rarely see in manga, much less in fantasy. And Berserk wishes it had art this good