#the animator knows what they're doing when they added this original anime filler

[mj-ackerman]

THE WAY THEY'RE ACTING LIKE A REAL MARRIED COUPLE 😭😭

Bonus:

Them catching up with the bus, Loid carrying Anya while Yor carrying Loid's briefcase 🥹

[alexanderwales]

Game Review: Final Fantasy 7 Remake

I'll try to keep this one short.

In theory, I am the sort of person that this game was made for. I played the original Final Fantasy 7 on the original Playstation around 1999, when I was thirteen years old. I have a lot of nostalgia for it.

Unfortunately, it's been 25 years.

Doubly unfortunately, the game, in spite of its name, is not actually a remake.

I go into a lot of games very blind, mostly because I tend to play them either right when they come out (when there's not yet any discourse) or years after they come out (when I've missed everything people are saying). And then I also don't tend to seek out discourse for things until after I've experienced them anyway, which means that I don't have a lot of priming.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake does some alternate timeline fighting against fate things that are supposed to be in conversation with the original game, a path of destiny that they're deviating from in a diegetic way. This did not at all work for me, because my memory of the original game was far too fuzzy: the game covers just the Midgar section of the original, which was a scant four to six hours that I played an entire lifetime ago.

The story sort of works without the context of extensive comparison to the original, but there's a lot that was confusing and was clearly meant to have an impact that was lost on me. The whispers seem to show up when the game threatens to diverge from canon, and ... you know, even when I had made that connection, it was just totally lost on me what canon event was being dodged. If I had known that this was one of the conceits of the game, I would have played the Midgar section of the original first. If I had done that, maybe I would have liked the game better.

Setting all that aside, how is it as a game?

I have two major gripes. The first is that this is a game that just completely disrespects my time with long, repetitive animations and significant portions of playtime that are just "hold left stick forward". Some of this is probably to hiding loading as I was repeatedly squeezing through cracks, but I don't care why it happens, only that it happens and is annoying. The game also liked to give me slow-moving cutscenes that are communicating nothing, and likes to slow Cloud down to a trot, and in general feels sluggish in a way that I kind of hated.

The other major gripe is the combat, which is a weird hybrid of real-time and turn-based. The original was kind of turn-based, and here they gave Cloud a dodge-roll, guard, and basic attack. I personally did not feel like this worked basically at all, but it might be because the dodge roll screams "Dark Souls" to me and then the actual combat has poorly telegraphed attacks with incredibly difficult wind ups and undodgeable stuff. The combat really seems to love long "get back up" animations, interrupts, stunlocks, and other things that take away control, which I despise. I wouldn't say it was hard, but even toward the end I wasn't sure I was playing it "right". In Dark Souls, taking damage is a sign that you're doing something wrong, but this game seems to just assume that you're constantly being whittled down and will need periodic heals. Very possibly a skill issue here, but if it was, then the game's too easy, since I never really had much trouble.

In terms of my overall enjoyment, I think the game was at its best when it was driving forward and being big and ridiculous. Cloud has his huge sword, Barret has his machine gun arm, Midgar is class struggle incarnate, Sephiroth has his angel wing, and it's very fun when it's over the top. Where the game was at its worst, it was giving me busywork and adding in filler. There's a thing a lot of games do where they put their money into the huge set pieces and then skimp on everything else, and for this game, I could really tell, not just in the texture and animations, but the writing. I think I did about half of the side stuff, and if I had to do it over, I would have done less. When I was tearing through Shinra dudes going up the tower? That was great. When I was fighting endless enemies in the lab for not that much reason? Much less great. There was lots of stuff that could have been cut to improve the experience. The ending goes on for far, far too long, with way too many battles, some of which seem like they were added just to have another setpiece.

Since it's been so long since I've played the original, I was getting reintroduced to the characters. Tifa is still the best, Cloud is much more of a nothing character than I remembered him, I think they gave Barret more clear politics, and Aerith ... I still feel like I don't have that much of a sense of her, maybe because there's so much she's keeping to herself for so much of the game (I had never liked her much, for reasons that are still kind of unclear to me). Aerith and Tifa are a great pair though, which I don't think I remember from the original. The love triangle thing doesn't work for me, however.

I'm not sure I'm going to play Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Remake was just way too slow for my tastes, roughly 30 hours of what could have been a 10 hour story. My enjoyment of the combat went from "merely okay" to "hate this", with the one highlight being the one-on-one fight with Rufus on top of the Shinra building, maybe because it felt more controlled. Another thirty hours does not really appeal to me, at least right now. I probably will play the Midgar section of the original, especially since that should only take a sliver of time. Maybe that will retroactively make me like this game more.

I was hoping that Remake would make me feel like I felt when I was 13, which I've found remakes and remasters can sometimes achieve, and I only got a few flashes of that.

[everynicorobin]

Rank the Straw Hats by the most interesting relationship with Robin?

Ooh I like this! From least interesting to most interesting:

9. Sanji

Why I think it's interesting/not interesting: I'm not going to lie, I was disappointed when I thought about Robin and Sanji moments and realized there's very few that don't involve Sanji acting like he does around every woman. When they do have talks where Sanji isn't being a weird idiot, there's usually nothing remarkable about them, probably because it's taking Sanji 100% of his concentration to not be a weird idiot.

What I like about their friendship: It's nice that Robin is kind and polite to Sanji even when he doesn't deserve it, like complimenting him after his Davy Back Fight with Zoro, and asking him to make her coffee when she was thawed out after Aokiji's attack, which I interpreted as more her giving him something to do to feel helpful and less to do with her own desires at that moment.

8. Chopper

Why I think it's interesting/not interesting: Unfortunately, I don't think their friendship is very interesting. Since Chopper never interacted with her when she was an antagonist, he accepted her with no qualms, and their friendship hasn't had much development since the beginning. However, it's nice that despite his immaturity (being the youngest and the most naive), they get along very well as intellectuals.

What I like about their friendship: I know I just said their friendship didn't get much development, but the anime added a very nice filler episode in between Alabasta and Skypiea that showed them bonding a bit, where Chopper was suspicious at first, but warmed up to her by the end. Having watched the anime first, this endeared me to their friendship. It's also really cute that Robin gives him sweets she doesn't want, and the bit in post-Enies Lobby where Chopper is very proud to have not lost sight of her is adorable.

7. Nami

Why I think it's interesting/not interesting: Like Chopper, I unfortunately don't think their friendship is very interesting. It feels like a very stereotypical "We're the only girls here, we have to stick together" relationship, with both of them enjoying shopping, sunbathing, and generally being "the smart ones" on the ship. One thing I do think is interesting is that Nami was originally bribed into accepting Robin with stolen jewels, but later came to like and accept Robin of her own accord. In addition, both grew up without a mother for much of their lives, and I imagine that Nami has latched onto Robin in part because she misses her own sister.

What I like about their friendship: Despite that I don't think it's very interesting, I like that they get along well. It's cute that Robin calls her Nami-chan sometimes, and I like that Robin, being usually more accepting of Luffy's actions, has the ability to calm Nami when she gets too annoyed in those situations.

6. Brook

Why I think it's interesting/not interesting: Robin was the only crewmate who didn't have an extreme reaction to Brook upon meeting him, and seemed more intrigued by him than anything. Brook, having been adrift and alone for fifty years, was the sole crewmate who had heard nothing about Robin's dark past, and saw her only as a beautiful woman with a macabre sense of humor. They're connected by their shared determination to live, both brought on or encouraged by Luffy; what's interesting here is that while Robin wants to live, Brook is happy to be alive, and I wonder if Robin still struggles with the happiness part.

What I like about their friendship: I like that Robin is willing to play along with his skull jokes, even though she found them annoying at first. They made a great team fighting Black Maria and her group, and I thought it was really sweet that Brook carried her to safety after the battle. It's also weirdly nice that they bonded over their trauma after being shown visions of their past during that same fight.

5. Usopp

Why I think it's interesting/not interesting: Like (most of) the others, Usopp was suspicious of Robin at first but accepted her pretty quickly. The two of them make a surprisingly good pair, playing the straight-man funny-man duo with Robin as the funny one and Usopp scolding her or panicking over her grim predictions. Even though Usopp had left the crew, he was willing to risk his life along with everyone else to help save her, even declaring war on the World Government.

What I like about their friendship: They bounce off each other really well, with Robin teasing Usopp pretty frequently and probably deliberately by bringing up the possibilities of death and injury. Usopp might think he's with a more level-headed person if he teams up with Robin instead of Luffy, but the fact is that Robin will go into dangerous situations with little regard for their own safety just as often as Luffy; she simply won't cause as much destruction on the way.

4. Jinbe

Why I think it's interesting/not interesting: Robin and Jinbe seem to have hit it off right away. They're the more serious/less silly members of the crew, despite that they enable Luffy at every opportunity. Much like the other Strawhats, they made a good team working together for the first time in Onigashima, and they played off each other really well when still disguised in the crowd. I would love to see more of them interacting in the future.

What I like about their friendship: It's really cute that Robin calls him Boss, and I like that she explicitly stated that she finds him handsome, which I feel is something she doesn't normally do with crewmates (of course, Jinbe hadn't yet been invited to join at that point). On the other side, it's unclear what if anything Jinbe knows about her past, but he seems to greatly respect her strength and wisdom, and this mutual respect and admiration means they get along very well.

3. Zoro

Why I think it's interesting/not interesting: Zoro was the sole crewmate not swayed by her charms or bribes when she first joined, but just a few days later, he gave up his code of not fighting for revenge when Enel attacked her (as he did with Chopper earlier). Later, in Water 7, he was willing to find her and hear her out, despite that he had initially wanted to leave Nami behind when she abandoned them in East Blue. I don't have much to say about their friendship beyond this, just that Zoro's development on his end is nice.

What I like about their friendship: Zoro's change from suspicion to acceptance is lovely. I like that Robin never cared that he didn't accept her at the start, and treated him the same as all the others. Zoro can be smart when he wants to be, and usually catches on quick when Robin's explaining something he didn't know before, making them good conversational partners.

2. Franky

Why I think it's interesting/not interesting: Franky's first introduction to Robin was a wanted poster with her name on it and a warning that she was a very dangerous person. Despite this, and despite not knowing her personally at all, he threw himself into the Enies Lobby rescue mission, sacrificing himself to separate the train cars to help her get away. He was so furious seeing how she was treated and how she saw herself that he ended up being the first person to tell her that her existence alone was not a crime, no matter what anyone said, and continued to encourage her throughout Enies Lobby. Since then, they've worked well together, tag-teaming to take down zombies in Thriller Bark and having nearly always interesting conversations.

What I like about their friendship: Although Franky is weirded out by her dark imagination, he has a "That's our Robin" attitude about it, not freaking out about it like others. I like that he supports her artistic ability (of which she has very little), and I like that Robin is one of the few people who doesn't call him a pervert or seem bothered by his choice of dress. It's funny that she commented that he hasn't changed a bit when she saw him post-timeskip, despite the obvious changes to his body, and it's nice that Franky, like with other women and unlike Sanji, is more or less respectful when he compliments her.

1. Luffy

Why I think it's interesting/not interesting: Even when she was their enemy, Luffy never once showed hostility to her. Sure, he yelled at her a bit when she took his hat and revealed that she blew up Igaram's ship, but despite that he always seemed firm on the idea that she wasn't a bad person. Likewise, Robin was intrigued by him from the start, and even though she could have easily gone off on her own again after leaving Baroque Works, she chose to join the Strawhats. Despite their apparent opposite dispositions (serious and book-smart vs. silly and not-so-smart), they get along very well and trust each other implicitly.

What I like about their friendship: I like that they both can be singularly focused on a task when they want to be. It seems like they wouldn't mesh well, yet it feels very natural to see them in action together. It's like their personalities balance out.

Unranked/Bonus

Vivi

During Alabasta, Robin blew up Vivi's friend's ship in an apparent attempt to kill him, she taunted her for trying to save her kingdom against the powerful Baroque Works, she easily defeated her and then mocked her before taking down yet another friend, she kidnapped her in order to take her to Crocodile and eventually leave her to drown, and she later tortured her father by stabbing wooden stakes through his arms and then kidnapping him as well. But despite all this, Vivi was not at all horrified to see that Robin had joined the crew, trusting Luffy's judgement as much as any other Strawhat. I would love to see these two meet again so we can get some non-antagonistic interactions between them.

[chibivesicle]

Dunno why you're harping so hard on the "muh mystery" aspect. A feature literally only existent in the 98 anime, because they added a shit ton of filler to make up for so little manga material at the time. The actual source material tells us this is all Knives's fault volume ONE! We know super early on why they're stuck here and who is at fault. The actual mystery the manga and stampede are setting up is not "who did it" but "why did knives do it"

Hello hello,

Yes, I'm one of those people who isn't happy with Stampede revealing a lot of information out from the get go. I 100% admit it. I think that this is going to be an issue for a lot of viewers, especially for people who have a high fondness for Trigun.

I think this comes from a lot of different places and combines in the general feeling of 'meh I don't like this as much'.  I’m surprised how quickly I saw the new series and was like ‘Noooooo!’ but didn’t even know why my immediate reaction was like this. 

1.) What was available at the time you watched the anime. When I watched the anime, it was on a fansub. The DVDs were released between 2000-2001 and the box set at the end of 2001. Therefore, this was all you could go on. If you wanted the manga it wouldn't be out until 2003 via Darkhorse in North America. You could have bought the current tankobons and then found a website where there was a text based translation of the speech bubbles. This was before the common use of fan scan translations. The ability to find a manga before it gets an anime was really freakkin' hard in the 80s and 90s. It was almost the reverse - you'd see the anime and then quest for the manga and hope it got picked up by a publisher who'd then publish it over several years.  They’d only gamble on a title if it already had a strong anime fanbase.

2.) The unique nature of the source material lead to an unusual but clever adaptation of that limited material. Studio Madhouse didn't have enough material for a full 26 episode run. They were brilliant to focus on a new point of view to introduce the viewer to the world. There is nothing wrong with a show that can be episodic, sure, we want stories with a plot driving them forward but episodic shows allow for more character development. The same situation happens, but characters behave differently and Trigun does this well. Having Wolfwood show up and hang out with the group from episodes 9-11 gives him more time to get to know them. The manga has Wolfwood and Vash as close friends, but before the Fifth Moon Incident they only rode on the bus together. Episodes 9-11 gives us more time for them to be dorks together and makes for enjoyable antics. 3.) The air of mystery fits in perfectly with the 'Western' genre. In the classic American Western, you frequently have a drifter who comes into town. He's a skilled gunman who never stays in one place but tries to stand up against injustice against the locals. He might be genuinely good. He may be on a redemption arc. He might be doing this for penance due his past deeds. Hell, he might just be bored.  What he does have is a mysterious past.

Trigun used this concept its advantage for the slow reveal of events. It went for a stronger ‘show, don't tell’ than either the manga or Stampede. Vash looks like a goofball drifter, why isn't he? What type of pain has he been through? How has he survived? This also worked for Wolfwood who won't reveal his full mystery either and the bits here and there in 9-11 add to it.  What is this traveling clergyman doing with a giant 100kg cross that he literally carries? Why would he accept carrying such a cross?  Why would he lie about being able to shoot a gun when he’s excellent at it?

4.) Meryl and Milly vibed with a Western audience more. I'm appalled at how Roberto is currently treating Meryl in the anime. It is setting up a different trope that didn't exist in the original anime or manga. I think a lot of women will not like this as much, the manga didn't have romance since Yasuhiro Nightow said he couldn't write it. But it means that the anime easily passes the Bechdel test which is good for female representation and motivations. I agree with the idea that Meryl and Roberto are written to be a much more culturally Japanese dynamic.  It honestly would make a lot of sense if they are trying to make this more of a domestic success than the original.  We’ll give it the gritty realism of the Japanese office culture!  That will resonate with people!  Maybe this brings in more Japanese women who sympathize exactly with Meryl now? 

I had no idea that Badlands Rumble was released in the States months before Japan.  It seems Trigun is like Escaflowne.  Saw great success outside of Japan but locally was a bit of a flop.  23 year old Meryl is just starting her career, but remember, women over 25 are ‘Christmas Cake’.  Past their best buy date and should be married.  And this is a term that exists in the present, not the past in Japan. 

Other people have hypothesized that Milly was eliminated due to her rare role as a canonically large girl who could take you on.  Other than the fact that she uses a non-lethal weapon, is the youngest child of 10, and the sweetest person ever.  I always loved her dress shirt, tie and suspenders look but it isn’t very ‘cute’ in a moe sense.

5.) Having a fresh comparison of the anime and manga.  With the Stampede hype, I watched the anime.  And then binged the manga.  Overall, I like the anime better.  It is more character driven, the pacing is right and the twists and turns work well.  The only weakness is the manga background lore is lacking but they more than compensated for it for the most part. 

I don’t generalize that I like a series based on a manga that the manga is inherently better than the anime.  Golden Kamuy was an anime that would have benefited from more of the manga chapters included for the first three seasons.  Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood was better with the full background from the manga.  Gintama messed around with content all the time deciding to move plot vs comedy.  Honestly, it always just depends on which one you ultimately prefer.  And I make this on a series by series basis.

6.) The power of nostalgia and a less saturated anime environment of the past. Now, you can essentially watch anime every day or read current manga for an entire year and not overlap with series other people are reading.  The 80s, 90s and very early 2000s were a sparse anime/manga ecosystem.  The internet wasn’t quite at your fingertips.  This then resulted in a more cohesive fanbase.  You all saw the same things due to limited titles to choose from.  Distributors in the States leaned hard into releasing more obscure OVAs since they were cost effective.  OVAs had more adult content than conventional titles so a bunch of us were exposed to some rather mature things likely before we should have.  A lot of 90s anime had that gritty feeling which I don’t think was an accurate representation for it across the board in the 90s but what made it internationally.  The first con I went to was full of Deedlit cosplayers. Why?  You could rent Record of Lodoss War at Blockbuster and it was a well known fantasy anime with a hot elf chick.  The hardcore people were the Inuyasha and Utena cosplayers since they’d not had a domestic release yet and were fansub/text only translation at the time.

With less titles to choose from, you spent more time on the limited series and really dug into them.  Thus, to the western fanbase, Trigun has risen to an important point on a lot of people’s lists.  Or it was the introduction to anime for a lot of people when my introduction had been series like Macross/Voltron/Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2.  Were these ‘pure’ versions - nope but it was what slowly sucked me into more series. 

This also means that in this supersaturated environment, there is more competition for eyeballs.  Do you want to reboot a series that had modest niche success in Japan that was a blockbuster hit in the States?  You have the advantage of the series being complete now; you can draw from all the source material.  But it is a product of its time and the look can be easily dated to the mid-late 90s. 

There are two ways you go with this.  1.) The CLAMP approach - who cares about current styles and trends, we are gonna keep our chara design pretty standard for the original and that will give us our visual advantage.  2.) Adapt it to the current look - which I think is a gamble.  You lose your visual pop factor by making it look more current but it would appear how current series look so people might be willing to give it a shot not knowing the source material. 

With such high saturation, you end up with so many series with characters that all look similar.  I find this to make it hard to distinguish the isekai/fantasy/school set series and they just keep coming out.  I’ll watch a new anime and be like, ‘It was fine.’  but it will quickly blur into the next series that was just as ‘fine’ as that last one. 

In conclusion, I think all of these factors and likely more are why many fans who watched the original anime (and may have even read and enjoyed the manga as well) are so bummed out by this choice to put so many things up front.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that they will have time to fit in more characters and they may instead be swapping out characters for manga specific ones that weren’t written yet and dropping other manga and anime ones.  I have a gut feeling Midvalley will not appear.  If he does, I will be pleasantly surprised.

I think the reason why so many people love the slow reveal is that it rewards you for your time getting to know Vash.  And with other characters meeting him and wondering why he’s so weird it helps you to focus on it as well before the reveal of his origin.  From a narrative perspective it worked well and I think that contributed to why so many people love the anime and are fine with it if it was the only Trigun media they knew.

[ordinaryschmuck]

Why I (Want to) Love Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

Salutations random people on the internet who most likely won’t read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

When I heard Disney was making an animated series based on Tangled, acting as a continuation from the original movie, my initial thought was, "Why?"

Sure, Disney is infamous for its unnecessary sequels of the story after happily ever after, with the many, many, many failures that follow suit. Even then, though, most of these continuations were movies that kind of have the potential to tell more of a story. But what more could be said about Tangled? Sorry to spoil a movie that's over ten years old at this point, but by the end of it: Rapunzel lost her golden hair, was reunited with her parents, fell in love, and lived happily ever after. Her losing the golden hair is the most essential part of that list because how can you do a series based on a Disney princess when her most iconic feature is gone? Then I found out that the series forced a way for her hair to come back, and my new initial thought became, "Oh man. This is gonna suck, isn't it?"

Despite the hesitation, I decided to give it a chance anyway. After all, I've been pleasantly surprised before. Things like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and even The Owl House (yes, really), were shows (and a movie) that I didn't think would be that special. Only to find myself enjoying nearly every minute. So after watching Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, I can certainly say I was surprised...but it was entirely for the wrong reasons.

And to explain how requires spoilers. So if you haven't checked the series out yet, I highly suggest you do it to form your own opinion. Just keep in mind that it's a bit of a mess, but it can be an enjoyable mess...sometimes...let me explain.

WHAT I LIKED

The Animation/Art Style: The series swapping from 3D to 2D might have been the most brilliant decision anyone could have ever made with this series. Usually, when an animated movie gets turned into a show, the most noticeable downgrade is always the animation. Whether it’s not as detailed or not as fluid, it's always subjective that the movie is better animated than the series. But by switching up the styles, the contrast becomes objective instead. 2D and 3D animation each have their pros and cons, so deciding which one is better is nothing more than a matter of opinion. So by changing the style, Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure avoids getting complaints of being a downgrade from the original movie. It also helps that the art style of the series is really unique.

The best way to describe how the show looks is that it's like a coloring book brought to life. At times, everything looks like it was drawn and colored in with crayons, which sounds like an insult, but in actuality, it's one of the best features of the series. As much as I love most animated shows nowadays, I will admit, they all look a little too similar at times. Then here comes Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, which tries to incorporate a whole new style that successfully sets it apart from most shows.

As for the animation itself, it's really well-made! It's remarkably expressive when required, while the movements are really fluid during the correct scenes. Sure the fighting can be a little floaty during some action set pieces (yes, those exist here), but the dialogue and comedic moments are really where the series shines with its animation. I may have problems with the series as a whole, but I give credit where credit is due for the perfectly executed effort that I see in every episode in terms of animation.

Rapunzel and Eugene’s relationship: This was not something I was expecting to enjoy from the series. In the movie, Rapunzel and Eugene were fine. They were the typical Disney couple that worked off of each other enough that it was always entertaining, even if it was unbelievable that they fell deeply in love with each other after, like, two days. They weren't bad, but they weren't anything to go crazy over.

But the writers for the series said, "You know what, let's make these two adorable in nearly every scene they're in." And they are!

Even though I don't believe in their relationship in the movie, I fully believe it here. Both characters have a large amount of faith in one another on top of having endless love for their partner. Like how Eugene knew Rapunzel would be fine when taking out an airship or how Rapunzel couldn't bring herself to say a bad thing about Eugene when making Cassandra a sparring dummy of him. It's legitimately pleasant to watch, to the point where I put Rapunzel and Eugene in my top ten list of favorite fictional couples. They're that good to me, and it's one of the reasons why I don't jump on the bandwagon of shipping the two main female characters together. I'm all for LGBTQA+ representation, but give Cassandra her own girlfriend. Rapunzel's taken, and most of my enjoyment of this show comes from her and her man. So, you know, keep things as they are.

Cassandra (Seasons One and Two): Seeing how I've already mentioned her, let's talk about Cassandra, shall we? Because when making a series based on a movie that had only four prominent characters, with two of them being comedic animal sidekicks, you're going to need to introduce more members to the main cast to write more potential stories. And Cassandra, in Seasons One and Two (I'll get to Season Three), is a worthy addition. She acts as a strict straight man (I know the irony) who interacts well with Rapunzel and clashes perfectly with Eugene on occasion. She was passably entertaining in Season One and developed amazingly in Season Two. Her growing frustrations with Rapunzel's actions lead to a slow build-up that made her betrayal heartbreaking but somewhat understandable. And as for the results in that betrayal...yeah, I'll get into that later. For now, I'll just say that Cassandra was a pleasant addition to the main cast, especially when she was a part of the main trio, and she's yet another good surprise that the writers supplied for the series.

The Songs: The songs are...not going to be for everyone. Most of them are passable yet kind of generic, while others sound like they belong on Disney Junior (Looking at you, "Bigger Than That"). But when Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure makes a hit, MAN, it is a home run. Numbers like "Ready As I'll Ever Be" and "Nothing Left to Lose" are sung phenomenally, orchestrated well, and are songs I can listen to on repeat multiple times. And "Waiting in the Wings" is not only something I consider to be the best song in the series, but it's also something I'd place as high up on Disney's best due to how f**king incredible it is. "Waiting in the Wings" is a powerful ballad that manages to be both tragic yet inspiring on top of how well it sums up Cassandra as a character. The writers may not always be on top of their game when it comes to music, but songs like these prove that they know how to earn that Disney name.

And that’s all I have for the likes...Oh boy. That’s not a good thing is it?

WHAT I DISLIKED

It Peaked at Season One: It did. It really did.

Season One felt like the writers had a grip on what type of show they wanted: A slice-of-life series with Rapunzel dealing with the issues of her kingdom with a meager threat of these black rocks growing in the background. It was all cute and well-balanced for the most part, but that all disappears in Season Two. Because now it's sort of about this adventure, but because Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure set itself as a slice-of-life series, there need to be these small-scale stories that intertwine the grand narrative being told. The issue is that the story comes to a grinding halt one too many times as fans are forced to sit through these filler episodes that, while not all of them are bad, still feel like a distraction. And by Season Three, the series does feel more focused while having some slice-of-life episodes added to the ongoing story instead of distracting us from it. But the writing isn't as strong, there are several plot holes in the narrative (how did Rapunzel's sunstone get into her dress?), and there is way too much time going back and forth on Cassandra's morality. They claim that she's a villain while arguing that there might still be some good in her, and they continue this train of thought for nine episodes when it really could have been settled in two. For me, it's a bad sign for a series when the first season is the best one. Because if it's all downhill from there, what's the point of even watching?

It Tries to be Epic: This might have been the worst decision the writers could have made.

Now, here's the thing: I don't mind grand epic tales of adventure and battles against demons. If anything, I'm all for them...when it's appropriate and fits with the tone of the series.

Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure suffers a similar problem Frozen II has, in which the writers felt like a big, life-threatening adventure was the perfect continuation of a meager, personal story about the relationships of characters. It isn't. If anything, it's completely missing the mark about what the original story was about. And sure, sometimes writers can succeed in telling personal stories through grand adventures. Just look at The Owl House and parts of Amphibia. But with those shows, it's established within the first few episodes that action and peril will be a series staple. With Tangled, while there was some action and peril, it's all very subdued compared to how high the stakes got raised in later episodes in the show. Especially in the series finale.

And, I mean, c'mon. You're making Rapunzel an action hero?

Judy Hopps? Yes.

Moana? Maybe.

Raya? Most definitely.

But Rapunzel? The character who’s all about optimism and seeing the best of others. That's the character you're going to morph into a hero that fights against an evil demon laid dormant for years? Did you even watch the original movie? Yeah, sorry, but I just don't buy it.

If you want to tell an epic story that gets the blood pumping for fans addicted to adventure, go for it! See where the wind takes you. But make sure to set that tone as early as possible while also making sure that it fits with the characters. If not, the end result is a series that feels like it's trying to be something it’s not.

Eugene is Kind of an Idiot at Times: It should be noted that Movie-Eugene and Series-Eugene are practically two different characters. In the film, Eugene was more or less the straight man, as he often questions the wackiness in the world around him and keeping Rapunzel grounded in reality. For the series, most of that personality got transferred to Cassandra. Thus making Eugene's new role in the series act as the egotistical imbecile. Sure, he had those moments in the film, but not as frequently, and it really pains me when the writers really lean hard into a minor aspect of his personality. Sometimes there are moments when Eugene acts like his original self. But it's all small scenes that are spread apart with entire episodes where he has half a brain cell. I'm sure some people didn't mind this change to the character, but as someone who adores the movie version of Eugene, I can't help but feel disappointed.

The Villains are the Worst: Now, I don't mean the one-off villains that show up, cause some chaos for a bit, and disappear at the end of the episode. Those are characters with fun personalities, occasionally cool designs, and do their job as villains of the week. It doesn't matter if their motivations are laughably simple, as their purpose is to be enjoyable characters above anything else. So I actually enjoy those villains...it's the ones that act as season-long antagonists that really grind my gears.

The purpose behind these types of foes is to build up how evil they are throughout the season. The issue is that the writers try to give these characters, or at least two of them, a point. To be fair, this can work. Just look at Killmonger from Black Panther and sometimes Karli Morgenthau from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. You understand and probably even sympathize with the logic and reasoning these characters have. It's just that their actions couldn't be farther from what you would do. The problem with Varian and Cassandra is that they have the motivation, but it's not written suitably for the story.

Cassandra is a whole can of worms I'll get to in a minute, but Varian is someone I can easily discuss for a brief time. Because while I can comprehend his pain for having his father frozen in yellow rock, I don't think turning evil is the best decision to go with that character. Because A. Everything is his fault. He blames Rapunzel for not helping him, but even if she didn't have a crisis to deal with, there was nothing she could have done to stop it. His frustrations are not only unjustified, but given the fact that this wouldn't have happened if he listened to his father in the first place, it feels like him becoming evil is too drastic of a turn. And B. Varian worked much better as a supporting character rather than a primary antagonist. He was just this hopeful, if not a clumsy scientist who wanted to prove himself, who causes minor catastrophes due to not thinking ahead. Turning a character like Varian into a villain is a bit of a misstep because if the guy acts hilariously incompetent as a good guy, it makes little sense to have him be intelligent and ten steps ahead of Rapunzel when being evil. If he were to become more serious and careful when helping the rest of the main cast, I'd consider that character progression done properly. But becoming a villain is just an overreaction.

However, none of that compares with my issues with the main antagonist of the series: Zhan Tiri. This goes back to my problems with the series making itself too epic. Because if Zhan Tiri existed in any other show, I probably wouldn't have any problem with her. She's built up well throughout all three seasons and is kind of threatening at times. But she doesn't belong in a series based on a movie that dealt with a small, personal issue where it wasn't even the character who killed the villain in the end. It was her love interest and animal sidekick. Even if Zhan Tiri works well as a character, the fact that it doesn't feel like she belongs in the show makes her too distracting to enjoy. And that's why these villains suck. If not poorly written, they don't belong in a series that should focus on small-scale issues. And if you can functionally write an antagonist that appears for only one episode but flounder with ones that show up in several, well, that's just embarrassing.

Cassandra (Season 3): OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH BOY, do I have some words to express with this character. Like with Movie-Eugene and Series-Eugene, Cassandra from Seasons One and Two is frustratingly different from the psychotic IDIOT from Season Three. Basically, just take the issues I have with Varian, multiply them by ten, add them with some bafflingly stupid decisions, and you still wouldn't get how much Season Three-Cassandra frustrates me!

First off, her motivation...what the f**k were the writers thinking? The big reason why Cassandra betrays Rapunzel and motivates all of her misdeeds was that Cassandra's mother was Mother Gothal...EXPLAIN THAT LOGIC TO ME?! Because Cassandra should know what type of woman Mother Gothal was. She should know what Mother Gothal did to Rapunzel in the first eighteen years of her life. So how is Cassandra being abandoned by Gothal the central motivator to cut ties with Rapunzel, who is probably an even bigger victim in this scenario!? Seriously, Rapunzel was cut off from the rest of the world and treated as an unknowing prisoner because she was beneficial to Gothal. Cassandra was adopted into a household with mutual love and got to actually live her life. In no way does it make sense for her to be angry at Rapunzel.

Nor does it make sense that the writers try to play it off as a good thing in the song "Crossing the Line!" Sure, it sounds nice, but thematically, it gives across the opposite feelings that the audience should have. Because if Cassandra cutting ties with Rapunzel is meant to be tragic and awful, why is the music suggesting it's the best possible thing that's ever happened for the character? If you like the song, fine, but even you have to admit that it's thematic nonsense.

But, sure. Cassandra's evil now, and she considers it a good thing. Whatever. I'll take it as long as it leads to good stories...but here's the thing: In the penultimate episode before the three-part series finale, Cassandra asks a question. A question I would have never expected her to ask, despite everything that has happened in the last season. A question that was so baffling, I had to legitimately pause the episode to process the fact that she asked something so stupid. Because Cassandra, the character who is intelligent and grounded in reality, asked, "Am I the bad guy?"

I was honestly shocked to find out she was shocked! How, in the flying, everlasting, cock-a-doodle-doodling F**K does a person like her not pick up that maybe, just maybe, she isn't the hero in this story!? Call me crazy, but endangering the lives of people you once called friends and family, dressing in black, AND HAVING A GIANT EVIL-LOOKING TOWER MADE OUT OF F**KING SPIKES aren't qualities I would give to a hero!

If Cassandra was like Thanos, a character so wrapped up in his ego that he can't even notice how evil he is, I would understand. But she doesn't have an ego. Anger, yes. But for the most part, her personality is based on having logic and reasoning. So turning her into a villain and having her unaware that she's a villain is an act of lunacy that I am incapable of understanding. I don't know who's idea this was, but whoever is to blame...you've got issues.

>Sighs<...This series isn't good, is it?

IN CONCLUSION

I like the animation and some of the characters...but that's not enough. Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure is a mess of a show that tries to do too much for a story that should have so little. Meaning that it's a D+ for me. I want to enjoy it and give it a higher grade, especially with how much I hear people praise this series. And if you do enjoy it, all the power to you. Your opinions are valid, even if I highly disagree with them. Because for me, this is a show that I won't get myself tangled up in again in the future.

[snailor-bee]

ehh, of course i want to send some OC asks, too! if you feel like it, maybe: 🌌💥🎵🌪️ and 💗? you can answer for whoever you want, i'm interested in all of them!

Ahhh Lale you're so kind! Thank you for asking, I really appreciate it!

🌌what was the inspiration behind your oc? what was the first thing you decided about them?

For Carys, I just had a specific idea of "mermaid" with Marco. However, I wanted her to be able to freely swim through the oceans, which I felt like OP very much sets up as something "mermaids can't do." So I thought about Sea Kings instead and figured I could do half human/sea king and make it work that way. :)

For Solomon, after I had decided on Carys' backstory, I knew I needed someone who was her friend that could explain 'human' concepts to her. Since I had a character that was largely raised by 'animals' and had very little interaction with the human-world, Solomon would be able to bridge that gap. I didn't expect to fall in love with him so much. ;u; But I first decided I wanted to make him a chill, surfer-ish dude.

💥what emotions do they have trouble dealing with?

Carys - Has a problem with feeling weak. Her culture puts strength above all else. She gets very difficult to deal with during those times, however it's only physically weak that she cares about. Emotionally she doesn't really think about.

Solomon - When he falls in love, he falls hard and fast. So if that love doesn't work out, he has a hard time getting over it and takes him a VERY long time to do so. Pining lil boy.

🎵what is their playlist like? their favourite artists? do you associate a particular song with them?

GASP! I do have an answer for this, yes. I have a longer playlist for Carys, that features a lot of songs that are either referenced in her fic or she personally sings.

Carys - My song for her is "Siren" by Joan Shelley. She doesn't have a favorite artist as she only listens to 'songs' that the ocean has heard before. I doubt she really understands what an 'artist' is compared to just...random people who sometimes come together to sing music.

Solomon - "Harvest Moon" by Lord Huron. I also have a playlist for him but it's not as long. It's very pining, I think after meeting Umi his taste in music would get a little more cheerful lol.

🌪what is the biggest change you've ever made to them? how have they changed from their original version?

Hmm idk what happened to the emoji but moving on.

Carys - After getting some art for her, I changed her tail shape! Also added some little details here and there. But besides her physical appearance, her actual personality/backstory hasn't changed much since I began just been expanded upon.

Solomon - Has gone through a couple of redesigns as well but all very small. However, his personality/motivations has gone through the most change! As I originally meant him as best friend/wingman filler he's gotten more and more of his own personality + story that is outside of Carys.

💗if they have a crush, is it noticable? what changes when they're in love?

Carys - Yes and no. Carys had never been in love romantically before, so it took Solomon telling her that she was for her to realize. (on the ace spectrum) after she realized that, she didn't waste any time in deciding to court Marco. Carys is loyal regardless, but the expectations change drastically compared to a friend/family to a mate. It's tradition expectations that she holds from her sea king side.

Solomon - He tries to play off having a crush, but yes it's pretty noticeable. He's just a little back and forth, as he falls hard and he knows that about himself. But once Solomon starts dating? He's in it to win it, overall eager to please and super happy to just be around his partner. He is, at his core, still a little lazy lol. So I think that could cause problems but overall Solomon in love isn't to different from him any other time but he DEFINITELY bends over backwards for his partner, more than he would for a friend. (Whipped, I would call him whipped.)