#spoilerless review

[mythoughtsandrandomcr4p]

back from a huge break 😅

anyways, Starfield finally released recently and I can't get enough of it 🤩

It was well worth the wait. there's so much to do, the characters are great, the quests are engaging and the soundtrack....it really blows me away.

I bought a series X and a new 4k UHD tv for this game and I'm so happy I did!

anyone wondering to give it a go or not, ESPECIALLY Bethesda fans, GO AND PLAY IT, you won't be bored for a good while!

...and of course, I've already married Sarah. had to be done 😅

[davidthephoneguy]

Have you ever seen Scott Pilgrim? It feels like something you'd like :3

wanna know the funniest thing? I literally rented and watched it yesterday and you are correct I loved it. I also watched the tv show one too, both were definitely my style. I enjoyed the characters and their growth and the fighting was very nice to look at and flowed pretty well. The editing was also so good 9/10 movie and tv show /pos

[janet-the-interplanet]

it has Begun

[wehavekookies]

How are you finding Baldur's Gate 3? Turn based games aren't really my thing but I've been watching clips and reviews of it, and I really, really want it for the story and the companions.

Hooo boi. I'm not even halfway through (even tho i have over 100 hrs on the counter already, someone help me lmao XD), but I will write some (spoilerless) words.

So, my opinion is heavily biased because: • i was extremely invested in BG1 and BG2 back in the days and have tons of fond memories from these two games, so revisiting this world (and meeting some characters again even) has a big sentimental aspect for me on top of everything new;

• i've played campaigns set on the Sword Coast (including Baldur's Gate) and in Avernus, so seeing some locations and characters I recognize either from earlier computer games or from tabletop is super fun;

• i really enjoy 5e mechanics so this is also a big fun factor for me. I recreated a build from my current Curse of Strahd campaign (Cleric of Knowledge Domain / Divination wizard) and having this comparison - I am super satisfied with how the mechanics have been translated (and in some very minor aspects - changed) into a computer game, fantastic work on this;

But all these personal things aside - I think it is objectively a fantastic crpg. I haven't been so invested in a story and in characters from a computer game in a loooong while, i both laughed and cried, I feel my decisions matter, every detail (and there is A LOT of details) feels like it's there for a reason, there is something intriguing / exciting / surprising literally around every corner, zero (0) repetitive quests, and you can feel tons of love and care put into this monster of a game.

As a fan of turn based games and board games and 5e fights and all that I also have to also say- the design of battle encounters is fantastic, and the further you go the more fun / surprising they get.

Also the music is excellent.

Also also this game is extremely horny.

To sum it up: I think it is an excellent thing, beautiful, engaging, fun, made with care and respect for player's time, and I already feel I will be doing another playthrough after i'm (one day) done with this one.

If you are worried about the battle aspect: there is a game mode that allows you to focus more on the story and presents less challenging encounters - haven't tried it but maybe something to look into, I'm sure some reviews cover it.

All that said: I'm done with work for today so back to the game lol.

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

spoilerless review for the little mermaid reboot:

[fnaf-movie-countdown]

My spoilerless review of the movie; IT WAS SO GOOD! Even my father, infamous stick in the mud, enjoyed it! There were so many awesome little details! My one complaint was that my favorite character wasn’t in it beyond one sorta kinda reference, real close to the beginning, oh well, I live, the movie was great you will all love it!

God I’m so excited to see it tomorrow WAAAA

[drawnaghht]

Yuichi Usagi - what's in a name?

I read "Senso" over the end of March and the last week and reviewed a bunch of interviews again and man i dunno how to post abt it but it seems that Yuichi Usagi is actually intentional as naming? And yes, Yuichi can be a last name also, but is still mainly read as a first name.

Like specifically it seems that it’s a reference to the ending of “Usagi Yojimbo: Senso” in a similar way to how the rest of the show is also intentionally an homage to that story as it’s main source of inspiration.

“Yuichi” commonly has the meaning "heroic first (son)" (雄一) and in the japanese subtitles, Yuichi is spelled as both 雄一 and ユウイチ - Yūichi. So let's take the japanese subtitling as additional canon as that’s how the character’s introduce themselves. (I'll link this Japanese-Names website as an online source for now since I'm not fluent in it myself.) The subtitles are based on the english dub of course, but it seems the japanese dub is similar on the name introductions for the most part (not a native speaker myself so I can only guess).

Spoilers for Senso if you haven't read it. I recommend you do, if really nothing else. It’s a really nice mashup of sci fi in Usagi Yojimbo, in a very “War of the Worlds” type clash. I really loved the foreword comic and the illustrations before the story. It's a really good story. Here’s a nice spoilerless review of it.

So from interviews we know that the Samurai Rabbit crew was inspired by and drew influences from six-issue book Usagi Yojimbo: Senso - you can see it in how the Makkine were designed and episode references (S2, ep 9 "Eggs!" - the falling martian ships are called eggs in “Senso”) and mainly the story outline of aliens invading edo-period japan.

So why give Yuichi Usagi a first name as a last name?

We see this backstory in "Willow Branch" in season 2.

The sword was lost. That is a storyline they included to make an interesting story out of it but to also connect the show and og comic in a different way. A "passing of the torch" in some sense, but also literally what the comic tells us about og Usagi and his swords. In Senso: "They are my soul. Pass them down to your firstborn… then to his [...] then down the line…” And in the show we see that Willow Branch is found and recovered by Yuichi and the sword accepts him as the next in line. The firstborn son.

So from this we can make the fan-theory that perhaps in the show canon, Miyamoto Usagi’s family maybe named their next firstborn in line Yuichi, to honor their forebear Miyamoto Usagi's last wish, again if we're going by the thought that this was inspired by "Senso". (Jotaro being his last surviving member in this verse possibly, we don't know here bc it's intentionally left vague to not spoil series-only viewers + keep the mystery open for anyone who decides to read the comic after the series for the first time). It could even be a possibility that they just kept that as a surname for sentimental reasons, because the family had women as first-born children for so long (if we assume based on Usagi's auntie and missing parents), but they wanted to keep that memory going for as long as possible, since the sword was lost shortly after Miyamoto saved Edo from Kagehito’s plan a 1000 years before Yuichi’s time. But that’s already just speculation from me as a fan of the cartoon.

And before die-hard comic readers swoop in, yes, in Senso the swords are not lost, but again, it’s an alternative universe story situation for the people making the show, and I find what they did was interesting.

The comic’s ending is tied into the world of “Space Usagi” as well, without spoiling it too much, which is a storyline Stan did in a space opera setting. The connection between being inspired by Senso which is tied to this story may also be why so many interviews and articles call Usagi Chronicles as inspired by Space Usagi directly, since both are spin-offs that take place in a distant future.

Or you know, it could also just be that they wanted an easy-sounding name for their main character to call that wasn't only Usagi, since they have two in the series: their own and the original.

But all in all, whether the name comes as a reference to the original comic, or from simple use of a common name, it can’t be ignored that this is just how the show calls it’s main character.

But you can still call him Yuichi, as that is what both the crew (his creators) and Stan Sakai call him when talking of both tbe Usagis. (Or, in the case of Stan, "my Usagi" and "Their/Samurai Rabbit/the show's Usagi") It could be that out of respect for the work the crew put into his series, Stan didn’t suggest more naming conventions for the character because he already liked the work and story the crew did. It could be that they put a pin in it at first and then got used to it as pre-production continued. Could even just be that he loled it right away. But I don’t find it that useful to speculate on that as much, because the cartoon we have is already made and finished how it is and well, we don’t know the exact authorial reasonings from the show crew side much, so Yuichi Usagi it is.

Though also, the way that his names are used in the show (Auntie mainly calls him Usagi and family usually adress via 1st name, Yuichi is never used mich beyond introductions) and how it's used in the interviews when talking about Miyamoto Usagi as well, it feels like they meant to give him two first names, and couldn’t decide on a surname-sounding last name so, Yuichi Usagi was left in the final script. But that's just my guess as a fan and viewer again.

Maybe other fans have had similar or better discussions about it? It would be interesting to know if the show has more japanese fans and how they find this, for example. What they think about how the show introduces him as Surname-Given Name, but then every other character switches to just calling him Usagi right away. In japan, people usually use last name+ honorifics when they have just met. But both Usagi's new friends and Usagi himself switch to first-name basis after their first day meeting each other and going through a few fights. Is it just because the show has a mostly western audience(my assumption), and we're meant to use his given name as an audience to be more familiar with him... or is it only because he's a rabbit and some of the characters (like Lord Kogane) don't really care more? Perhaps a 1000 years into the future, they've partially lost the use of some traditions?

In any case, it doesn’t feel like the show made that big of a faux pas naming Yuichi the way they did. Ould be that my guess is wrong and it wasn't as deliberate a reference to Senso. It seems a much higher possibility that they thought of that, thought it sounded nice and then kept it because it was an easy way to call him differently from comics-Usagi during production itself, but still getting to call him Usagi in the show-proper.

This is just me basing this on official interviews and the Senso book, but this just seems more likely than them picking a random name with no meaning to it. Of course, I could also be wrong, but based on interviews along, the showrunners and creative team seem so genuine in wanting to give the comic a good show that it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't research it. Or at the very least, ask about it from Stan himself or even just get a note from him about it, since he reviewed everything else. Candie and Doug (showrunners) even mention (in Comic Book Couple's Counceling podcast interview) how they really wanted to go deeper with research this time and art director Khang Le mentioned how they took a lot of cues from modern japan as well, from their research trips there.

I know this probably won't put any future discussions/rambling about this to rest among other fans, but well, just some thoughts on this. While I think it's probably kind of silly of me to be writing long essays abt a cartoon show I like, I do think it sort of warrants more discussion abt how we talk about characters and how we refer to them. For another show i'm a fan of for example, the character has an official name and a nickname, but the show itself consistently only used the nickname to let the reader be familiar with her. While characters like teachers and enemies might refer to them with their given name, even her full name, their family and friends mainly use the easier nickname. But it seemed that the reverse happened with that show's fandom, as the more unique given name became more used than the nickname the show itself gave us. And this was sorta the same thoughtprocess I had here with Usagi Chronicles.

Anyway, this has been a post x3 I meant to make this shorter and just about Senso, but I sorta started rambling more after the auntie and generations of female Usagi descendants theory x3

edit 5.05: fixed some grammar and sentence logic mistakes! added clarifications where ref was missing (CCBC podcast)

edit 13.06: I looked up the spellings for Yuichi as a last name and while it's similar, based on how it's written in the show, this supports my previous reading still. It still seems like it's meant more as a title almost, the same way naming would have been in old norse for example "Ivan's son" would become "Ivanson" or in english-language names, "Miller's son" would become "Millerson" (patronymic). So again, maybe Yuichi is meant as "first son" as the first name, but Usagi is his namesake because the family still wanted to honor their common ancestor, Miyamoto Usagi. That's the possible in-world reasoning, but with how much this crew put into the show, I wouldn't be surprised that they thought the same thing, that it's a nice way to reference the book Senso they were insired by, but also Miyamoto Usagi the character, who they were inspired by.

[queer-and-nd-coded]

i was folding some paper tags when he came out of the the office and just stood there, looking at me.

i gave him a small smile, which i think he reciprocated. i don't quite remember because my heart immediately started to beat faster. i had to do something to distract me from it.

so i asked him if he had watched oppenheimer, which he did. he liked it a lot and was dumbfounded when i told him i haven't watched it yet. he gave me a quick spoilerless review of it before having to head back to the office.

the whole day i kept thinking about how he went to me for no reason. i know i shouldn't dwell on these things, that the chances of him even liking me that way are close to zero, but... i just can't help it.

[theinfinitedivides]

i am not well today one of my favorite film reviewers just put out a spoilerless piece on Pathaan talking about how well done it was and halfway through i started f*cking sobbing

[battleaxeproficiency]

updates on my locked tomb read: finished gideon the ninth

wjat the fuck ? spoilerless review under the cut (copy and pasted from my goodreads [3 stars])

On the whole, I enjoyed this book. The characters are fun, the world in interesting despite being a bit messily thrown together. It was good!

My biggest problem is that I feel like it took forever to get going. The first half of the book was boring, conversations that did not matter and didn't tell us anything about the setting or the characters or what was going on broadly. It wasn't until chapter 18 that I really started feeling engaged and interested in what was going on, but at that point I did start to really enjoy it and have a fun time.

Muir's writing style is not my personal favorite, it feels a bit too tumblr-y for me to take seriously a lot of the time. I wished the writing took itself more seriously and didn't undercut its own plot and world building with smug comments and unfunny quips. Gideon was a fun protagonist to follow, but she was also unbearable to listen to sometimes.

I'm told that a lot of my problems with this book are improved upon in the sequels, so I'm looking forward to reading those later on :)!

TLDR: It was good! The writing style irritated me at times

[thehiphopunderground]

Power Book IV: Force Season 2 Episode 9 SPOILERLESS Review

Power Book IV: Force Season 2 Episode 9 SPOILERLESS Review

[yuri-review]

Welcome to Yuri Review!

I think it's about time to open up this blog! This is my personal blog for giving out thoughts on and recommendations of various yuri series, both explicit and subtext, anime and manga!

Come along for the ride, submit some reviews of your own, and maybe find new yuri to enjoy!

How it works:

I'll rank each series based on various criteria depending on the series and its aim, such as overall writing and plot, humor, emotional moments, and of course overall yuriness. Each of these criteria will get a small segment and a grade of 1 to 5, and the overall grade will be based on them! (0/5= bad. 1/5= not good :/. 2/5= meh. 3/5= Decent! 4/5= Great!! 5/5= Life-changing <333)

Each review will be tagged by how much I recommend it, the genre, and the yuriness of it. They will also be tagged with #yuri review! Non-review posts will be tagged with #yuriposting

I ask that submitters also follow this format somewhat, to keep the coherence of the blog!

ALL REVIEWS WILL BE SPOILERLESS! If a more in-depth discussion is what you wish for, come send a message!

[thedenofravenpuff]

Did you watch this week’s episode of SU?

I just did and I’m still screaming.

Oh boy, oooooh boi

Is a fun mix of things going exactly as a lot of people have theorized based on the hints and patterns of the story so far. Yet still surprising with HOW it goes by the story and with its own twists.

All these things Steven is going through, the irony isn’t lost on me that he’s having such a hard time during an era of far much less attempts on his life than in the first couple of eras.

The twist of the latest episode’s ending is both a surprising development... and not so surprising. It makes perfect sense, based on the characters and how they are, and how the story has build up to this point.

Oh boi

[inqorporeal]

Saw Atomic Blonde last night.

It has its issues, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Better than most Bond films.

Had a bit of a surprise moment at the start because the trailers never suggested it took place in 1989. Figured the plot twist out 20 minutes in. Still loved it.

[universe-resound]

By the way, I went to see Morbius two days ago.

It’s another “fun as long as you don’t think about it” kind of movie. The best part is the special effects and CG.

The main villain’s motivation is not explained properly. Because of that, the main conflict feels contrived. The romance between the two leads felt a little bit forced, as very little interest is shown from the male lead before the first kiss.

The characterization is a bit flat for the side characters as well. The most interesting character is Morbius. You can feel how the other characters are just there to be either motivation or obstacles for Morbius and the main villain, so they feel kind of hollow.

But if you just want a vampire movie that’s filled with lots of action, a bit of thriller, and cool CG/special effects, I can recommend it for that.

[maxedout-hp]

Defenders was street level Avengers for 8 hours. Take of that what you will.