#to be fair it's not COMPLETELY wacky there is actual drama going on

[egophiliac]

What do you think of Rook's savanaclaw card? <333

I didn't get him (and I need to save my keys for Silver's birthday, sob) so I looked up his groovy, and I'm not over how incredibly dramatic and epic and cool it looks in direct contrast to the absolutely ridiculous context. just look at that dynamic action and his majestic sparkling tears and keep in mind that this is pretty much right after a bunch of characters have been dance battling for his soul.

and then even the actual moment of the groovy is just like

this is NOT a negative in the slightest, I love it all, this truly was an incredible update in so many ways

[venator-signum]

I've fallen back into the EAH rabbit hole so I have some thoughts (mainly hcs) I will be sharing unprovoked and unasked for:

no wonderlandian is straight let's be clear here

also none of them are neurotypical thanks

anyways chase redford my beloved I would die for you

he deserved to come back cause he's an angel but also the tired mum friend who is trying to keep his idiot children maddie and kitty from blowing something up for the 20th time today

all wonderlandians will drop what they're doing for tea time no matter how important

they survive off of tea and will go into lengthy rants on the proper way to brew, the best kind of tea cup, the best food to have with what tea and of course, the best tea flavour (especially Maddie)

Maddie is very steampunk with her clothing but adores jackets with coattails and she loves her wacky top hats

the three most likely to kick your ass with a smile on their face are lizzie, maddie and chase

bunny is too sweet but she's got a mean roundhouse kick and she's super fast

bunny is also albino idk if it's hc or canon but that means she now has red eyes and super pale skin

she hates being late and can get quite frazzled when it happens so don't steal her watch unless you want to die

Alistair will follow small creatures (particularly rabbits) or insects (ie. blue butterflies) and he does need to be snapped out of the trance he goes into when it happens

also he cries a lot (cause that's practically all alice does for like half the animated movie) and if something is labelled 'eat me' or 'drink me' he will do it it's an instinct

avid waistcoat wearer, he dresses like he's from whenever it was set so like 19th century or whatever but also dresses lowkey like a pirate there's no inbetween - it's either british nobleman straight out of a period drama or a pirate

kitty can turn into a cat just like her mother and will chase Earl Grey and bunny (rabbit form) around

any hooded items of clothing she owns have got holes cut out for her ears cause both she and her mother have proper cat ears now and like a tail

every wonderlandian would kill for Raven cause she saved them and she's always been kind to them, even when they were ostracised or told they were "too weird"

chase is best friends with darling and yeah he's probably hella gay

that being said when I first saw wtw and the reveal I shipped him and darling and lowkey still do but it's MY BRAIN so unless you wanna take it-

anyways every charming sibling is at the very least bi

daring is in denial abt this and so continuously dates girls cause he won't admit he thinks that a guy who could beat him up is hot

dexter has a preference for girls and so does darling good for them ig it's a twin thing

the darling/apple ship is kinda eh to me idk why I just don't vibe with it but that's okay

DEXVEN ON THE OTHER HAND

these two are completely and utterly head over heels in love with each other and I go crazy at aus where dexter is raven's "good king" (without the wack ass snow white parent thing whatever we ignoring that)

dexter deserves much love because he is wonderful

okay very early on, apple was incredibly selfish cause she wanted her happy ending at the expense of others' and it felt like she didn't really care so...

I also feel like apple, if she was so self-conscious abt her hair, could have died it to fit the story (it wouldn't be hard considering her hair colour) but she didn't give in so good for her ig

briar and ashlynn my angels - I love these two cause they're were like the first instance of what everyone in their world to be hardcore royals like apple but are actually quite rebellious and I love it

raven adores her dad very much

also I think that if she doesn't have slight anger issues (which I can see) then girly just has a short fuse which is entirely fair

(lizzie has major anger issues)

her magic mostly manifests as fire and when she goes apeshit, her eyes turn into flames

there's like stages to her magical anger ig and it goes: 1. irises glow bright and things start to float (including her hair) 2. she begins floating and her eyes go purplish tinge like in that present room scene 3. flames from hands 4. finally she's encased in flame that follows as she moves (I'll try draw this one day)

okay evil!raven is my shit and I'm in the process of writing a fic that started as evil raven but the way I'm writing her makes her more of an anti-hero basically she's like pre-auradon mal

anyways bad!raven, after signing cause she gave in and didn't see Giles yadda yadda (further explained in the fic when I eventually write enough of it) becomes very very petty

anyways evil!raven aus. where are they. send me links pls.

I'm gonna push the raven and hunter childhood friends agenda

hunter and cerise are also childhood friends but she was super apprehensive towards him at first cause her dad is the big badwolf and he's the hunter but they chill now (she still hasn't told him abt her family situation tho)

cerise is a bad bitch you can't kill her she'll mess you up

I would fight milton grimm and win he has weak person energy

my hc of lancelot/story of king arthur in eah universe is that the original tale was actually bbc Merlin but then somewhere along the line they scrapped that and got rid of any evidence it existed

(more to come if I ever think of anymore)

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 74 Rundown

Code Geass: So we’ve got another one of those “wacky bullshit student activities” episodes, though this one seems to ride the hardest on “shit is going down, the world is ending but haha Shirley romance drama” though admittedly it does have a nice character arc for Milly so that’s cool. Lelouch is worried that the Knights of the Round are here to investigate him until he realizes both of them only have one braincell between them so it’s fine. Cornelia’s also murdering her way through religious fanatics so that’s cool. And last but not least we have Shirley and Lelouch finally getting together right before Jeremiah Geass Cancels her amnesia so she knows Lelouch is Zero and killed her dad and presumably the other stuff that Charles put in the whole school’s brain somehow. I’m sure this will end well and their romance will survive in a way that isn’t insanely tragic.

Inuyasha: We’re still in fillertown and it’s another SangoxMiroku episode. Man we get a lot of these in filler huh? I kinda don’t remember which Sango/Miroku moments are canon at this point. I’d kinda laugh if it was just all filler and some manga-only fans were bewildered when they ended up together in the end. Anyway, Feudal Lord has a thing for Sango because he has great taste and Kagome ships Sango/Miroku so she doesn’t want her to go, Miroku’s like “Hey it’s her choice, she’s been through enough, she can choose her own life, I’m not gonna get involved” which is pretty mature but the girls still hate on him for it. Sango’s just like “Dude even if I wanted to stay I still have this Naraku-slaying quest to go on and I’m not about to sit around all day and be royalty while my friends go kick Naraku’s ass for me.” Which is how most love confessions in this series go. Also Sango suplexes a demon bear the size of a building with her bare hands and it’s pretty great. In the end the lord doesn’t give up going after Sango but they finish the bear stuff and are on their way. I like how they don’t go out of their way to demonize this guy in the end to prop Miroku up, he’s still a good guy, Sango’s just got shit to do and is more the type to like a warrior who’s got her back. There’s some really cute shipping shenanigans here and all in all it’s fun filler.

Yu Yu Hakusho: We’ve got a three for one deal here as Yusuke and Kuwabara assblast their way through the Dark Triad in one episode, continuing their power play of beating villains with little effort while the boss man bets that they’ll completely wreck his guards which is still a pretty interesting dynamic. We’ve got cringey 90s trans commentary, an invisible dude that gets blindsided easily and a hostage ogre that gets beaten by Botan taking off her coat. Honestly for these guys being supposedly minibosses they kind of went down easier than some of the grunts. But now Kuwabara’s in contact with Yukina because his bullshit power of love connection actually works for some reason and they’re in on the final fight with the Toguro brothers. With this many people betting the GDP of countries on the fight there’s no way this isn’t rigged. I really like how YYH basically makes shonen fights just part of stupid black market deals for a large part of it, just like in real life everything’s decided by some old rich guy.

Fate Zero: Kayneth’s still fucked up and has Rock Lee syndrome and can’t use jutsu anymore so his wife’s like “Yo buddy you can’t give Lancer the magic cummies anymore anyway, lemme take control of your hunky knight manslave or I swear to god I’ll rip your arm off and jerk him off with it” which since she asked so nicely he just kind of does. With Lancer still kinda being uppity about Kayneth having dibs on his soul and Sola-Ui being weirdly horny and increasingly yandere for him I’m sure this’ll end well. Saber and Kiritsugu are still pissy with each other because Saber wants to go after Caster to stop the child murders which is fair but she’s also injured and shit and she’s mad at Kiritsugu for not teaming up with Kayneth to just take down Caster right there and I mean I don’t think he really had time to suggest a truce while getting attacked with Terminator 2 goo, he’s not really the asshole here. Meanwhile and more importantly, ISKANDAR HAS PANTS! Nothing can stop him now and they crash Caster’s child murder party and are jumped by Assassin’s Forty Thieves (they aren’t named yet but I’mma just assume) and Iskander’s just like “Yeah no I’m not fighting five ninjas knee deep in child guts.” And they just burn the whole place down.

Konosuba: So in a bizarre Interspecies Reviewers/Food Wars crossover, Kazuma goes to a succubus house and instead of just getting sex they do dreams and shit which seems more complicated but I guess it’s less morally gray. Anyway, naked Darkness and contrived hentai plots ensue. They sprinkle in some good character stuff for Kazuma which is nice, it’s always kind of hard to pin down where his principles lie. Like he’s generally a scumbag and will take the easy way out of anything but he’s not evil and will give Darkness an out on their encounter if she wants and will get his ass kicked to protect his local sex worker. The Principled Scumbag approach is kind of neat for him, I wish a few more of these moments didn’t feel the need to immediately undercut themselves with a joke but that’s the nature of the series. I feel like one or two more genuinely sincere moments throughout a couple episodes would do wonders but either way it’s still amusing.

Sailor Moon Crystal: We pick up right where we left off with Tuxedo Mask throwing himself in front of the Kamehameha for Usagi and then she goes Super Saiyan and cries pokemon tears to bring him back to life. But the bad guys are somehow like ‘yoink’ and steal him from her lap through a barrier somehow (that still kinda pisses me off) and for some reason the crystal that booped its way into his chest isn’t there anymore and Usagi still has and and Usagi’s going through a lot of shit right now between processing the trauma of a millennia-old kingdom falling that’s partially her fault, working through her romantic feelings and having a Steven Universe identity crisis about how to process her identity as a reincarnation of someone a lot cooler than she is, so most of this episode is Usagi crying, as most episodes are, but at least she has a good reason.  Then we get a Girl Squad Roll Out montage because fuck it we’re going to the moon somehow.

Durarara!!:  Apparently everyone knows about where Celty’s head is but her because she visits Izaya’s office where the head is just kinda behind some books on his bookshelf and she doesn’t know but Shinra’s dad has enough time to mug Namie after telling Shinra and Celty off for their weird interspecies relationship and tell Izaya to have fun fucking around with the head. Also people have shifted from being worried about the Dollars to being worried about Saika and ALSO being worried about the Dollars maybe being at war with the Yellow Scarves. Celty’s looking into it and Shinra shows some character development in just coming out with it that Saika was the sword that severed her connection with her head… I don’t know how you cut the soul of a head that’s already cut off but okay, at least Shinra’s not hiding shit from here anymore. Also Saika’s about to seriously chop up Anri and Masaomi comes to visit his girl in the hospital finally.

[jamboreeofsurprises]

alright, so forgive me the most typical question in existence, but: thoughts on rose of versailles now that you're done? and have you seen the anime? (also don't worry about the side stories, they're quite different from the actual manga both story and art-wise so skipping them is totally fine)

it’s not typical actually, i had no idea anyone cared to hear my thoughts XD;

Also no i’m not gonna skip the side stories because there’s still a whole other volume to come out and my collection-crazed self needs all 5 to feel a sense of completion and peace

!!So spoiler warning of course for The Rose of Versailles!!

really, what a stellar work of historical fiction this is. it manages to showcase riyoko’s insight on the events she is depicting (being a historical essayist herself on top of artist and writer) in a way that intrigues even me, someone who didn’t know jack about the French Revolution, enough to want to genuinely read more/engage with other media depicting this chapter of history, while also weaving its own, new story into the drama in the form of Oscar and how her life intertwines with Antoinette and Fersen’s. I don’t know how it read in the 1970s when it was published but reading it in the 2020s, it manages to portray the complex nature of class struggle and all the factors that lead people both rich and poor to do what they do in an empathetic manner. we both love and hate Antoinette for her actions as queen, but regardless, feel a pang of sadness at the life she has been thrust into by fate.

I will admit, in this final volume (4) the way André and Oscar get killed off so early on felt a bit unceremonious to me; i almost even lost interest following that not just because they were gone but because I was shocked it seemed over so fast, especially given the very melodramatic tone of the series, i expected more sentimentality over these deaths. but nope, they’re both just gone. unfortunately, i had it spoiled for me a long time ago that they both die, which I guess shouldn’t be that surprising given it’s a story about the French Revolution and most of the important characters die during it but something about it still felt weird. however, it picked up not long after as we settle on the final fates of the french royal family, the ending we all knew was coming from the beginning. i was a little surprised they actually showed the aftermath of louis xvi’s beheading, LOL. it wasn’t that prominent but I was like “wasn’t this published in a magazine for adolescent girls??”. METAL.

the drama is really terrifically done even if i understand it’s going to seem way over the top for people who aren’t used to oldschool shoujo, and that’s fair. But the way these emotion-focused pages are composed is just really gorgeous. ikeda’s artwork really accentuates the grandeur and ornateness of the period, and these freeform breakaways where characters express how they feel are standout moments to me.

my only big complaint with the rose of versailles at least with the manga is there’s sometimes tonal wackiness. tezuka did this too, part of me wonders if it’s just a matter of manga still being primarily seen as a kids’ medium in the 70s, but i feel like it was mere pages after a major character death that a few side characters were goofing off and i was like ‘not NOW guys....’ . it doesn’t happen often during the series but the couple of instances of it in this final volume made me like noooooooo...

I am watching the anime concurrent to where I am in the manga so now that I’ve read this it’s time to catch up and finish. I think the anime is a stellar adaptation if slightly abbreviated due to being only 40 episodes and the original text being quite rich. you can see how its directional style would be super formative to future anime, and the animation is quite tight and consistent for a show from 1979. i’m excited to see how it wraps up and what the differences will be from the manga’s conclusion!

so i overall really loved it. it’s a very engrossing read and not hard to see why it was/is so culturally significant, I can’t believe it took nearly 50 years to be translated into english. oscar is a true heroine for the ages. thanks for asking :)

[septembersghost]

if supernatural was more mainstream, the emmys for the past like 5 years would have been jensen ackles and four other guys

totally. i mean, you could easily say past ten years, if not more (let’s talk about that dual performance in The End, kripke’s comment about that being award-worthy was right), you could go back even further to What Is and What Should Never Be. On the Head of a Pin. there are a lot of extraordinary episodes where he turned in devastating, nuanced performances, and sometimes he gave us those in one-off motw episodes when he didn’t even have to (which is not a slight to motw episodes, i love those, and we get a lot of the best moments and character development in them because they don’t have to hinge as much on arc plot).

i defy anyone, in any show, to have put as much care, craft, and dedication into a character as we know jensen did with dean.

this isn’t to take away from actors who’ve been recognized, it’s difficult to even compare anything because spn has such a malleable form - they didn’t only have to do the heavy drama and the psychological complexity, they also had to do surrealistic hijinks and wacky comedy and fight scenes and whatever other challenge was required from episode-to-episode, which jensen just...rose to the occasion of and made look effortless. 

to be fair, i 1. am biased and 2. have watched many shows, but have admittedly only seen a small portion of anything that’s been nominated (much less won) in the past decade and a half because i love trash some of it simply wasn’t for me, which is fine! spn had factors holding it back - being a genre show perhaps is the biggest, because genre shows are unfairly overlooked (catch cassie and me talking just yesterday about actors who deserved acclaim for amazing work in genre shows!). the other was the disregard for the network, unfortunately. the cw has gotten critical acclaim for certain shows over the past few years, and even then, the emmys didn’t recognize them in main categories (see: jtv and cxg, where the lead actresses both received well-deserved golden globes, and then the emmys went, “i don’t know her...”). also, the landscape of television has changed so, so much in fifteen years. if you look at the shift from broadcast network series still being nominated, to being completely shut out by cable/premium/streaming networks, that happened during the course of spn’s run. it was never a cultural phenomenon in the way that something like got or brba were (and those shows themselves have nothing in common), yet spn outlived countless other series with a comparably tiny audience. (and a predominately female audience, despite being centered on male protagonists, because of its use of archetypes and deconstruction/Romantic horror/emotional bonds/etc, and i think that’s another factor, but that will get me into the weeds of a whole other discussion where i address the fact that shows which are perceived as especially high caliber - even the ones like brba that are legitimately excellent - are more stereotypical male-driven power fantasies than spn actually ever was, and those are taken more seriously). putting aside any issues, including the finale, that was always remarkable to me, that this show grew such a loyal, devoted, diverse fanbase, and lived so long, despite metrics like ratings and budget. and a huge part of the reason it lived as long as it did was, imho, because we cared SO much about those characters, we let them into our lives, hearts, families, we truly loved them, thus they kept telling stories. idk this is devolving into another post in my head where i talk about how spn was often unironically very good and achieved its purpose in its genre better than most, but i digress... 

other shows may be more lauded, but i’ve personally never seen the outpouring of emotion and love and palpable grief that i’ve seen over dean, which, at the end of all things, is thanks to jensen. he embodied him, made him come alive. we believed in him so deeply that dean transcended page and screen to become a part of us and important to us. you can’t mourn someone unless that love is real. 

so maybe he doesn’t have a shelf full of the shiny trophies he definitely deserves, and the widespread recognition that i wish we could have given him, but that legacy? is impressive and stunning and emotional, and ultimately has more significance and meaning than awards ever could. it’s going to live on and be remembered.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Grey's Anatomy: Give a Little Bit (16x18)

I knew Andrew was gonna be right... ugh... poor thing.

Cons:

I really cannot get a read on how I'm meant to feel about Teddy right now, but I basically think she's the worst. She's hurting Tom, she cheated on Owen, she seems completely selfish in all of her motivations. She thought Owen might have gotten another woman pregnant before they were even together, and because of that she slept with another man multiple times. Like... how am I supposed to feel sympathy? This whole plot thread is attempting to paint Owen as this super sweet, super good guy who is being hurt by those around him, but let's be real. Owen has the most terminal case of Nice Guy syndrome I've ever seen in my life, and he gets away with being emotionally unfaithful by giving puppy-dog eyes to everyone. I think he's boring and I think he's scummy.

The hospital is having a pro bono surgery day, and things are chaotic and way too busy, so Meredith extends the day, and says they're going to have pro bono surgeries once a month. This is after she finds out that the billionaire dude from last week's episode gave an insane amount of funding to the hospital, and she learns about Koracick's unethical practices to get that money. I agree that the American healthcare system is bonkers, and it's nice to see the show tackle that in a more meaningful way this season. But all of this just seems wacky to me. Can Meredith really make a promise like that? Wouldn't you think that doing something so ostentatious would draw attention to the hospital and make it more likely that Koracick's crime would be discovered?

Okay, so, the DeLuca situation is that he suspects a woman of human trafficking who comes in to the ER. He's been acting erratic, though, so people don't believe him until it escalates. Turns out, as we see when the woman and her victim leave, DeLuca was right, and they got away. I don't mind the idea of DeLuca having some issues and also being right, but the problem is in the way he couldn't get a single other person to take him seriously. Even Bailey only did a cursory once-over before deciding that DeLuca was delusional. If any other doctor had raised that concern, everyone would have taken it more seriously. I guess I just wish for a bit more balance on this kind of thing, and I hope Bailey feels like crap for doubting him when the truth comes out.

Pros:

Jackson had this cute little subplot where he goes around trying to find someone to go to a basketball game with him. Vic was supposed to go, but they've broken up. He asks Owen, who turns him down. He asks Jo, who is offended at being a backup choice. He asks Hayes, who says it's not really his thing. Jackson has been pissing me off this season, so I'm always on the lookout to be frustrated by the plot threads he's given. But I like how his loneliness and feelings post-breakup have led to him seeking companionship in this sweet way.

He and Maggie have a totally civil exchange as they talk about Richard and Catherine's divorce, and it turns out Jackson has been trying not to take sides, but of course Richard doesn't know that. With guidance from Maggie, Jackson asks Richard to go to the basketball game, and he gleefully accepts. I thought that was really cute! It's nice to see Maggie and Jackson acting like adults around each other for once, and Richard and Jackson finding ways to stay close is something I didn't know I wanted to see until I had seen it.

So... Levi and Nico have broken up. This has been the way the wind was blowing for a while. There's a part of me that feels frustrated that Nico didn't get a fair shake from the writers. We didn't get much time to actually learn about him as a person, separate from what he meant to Levi. But that said, if we take Nico's behavior at face value, Levi really needed to get out of that relationship. Just the fact that Levi wanted to talk, and Nico said "what now" is enough of a red flag for me on its own. What the hell, Nico. And I think Levi is in this strange position of feeling a special connection to Nico because he helped him realize who he is, and come to terms with his sexuality. And yet honestly, Nico has not treated him well recently. At all. And Levi is learning how to be in a relationship, learning how to ask for what he wants. It's not unreasonable to expect to be at least a consideration in Nico's mind as he contemplates taking a job that will keep him on the road half the time. The fact that Nico doesn't take Levi into account is proof that they're not on the same page.

Jo's struggle this week is about what people should call her. She's not Dr. Karev anymore, and she doesn't like Dr. Wilson either... so for now she'll be Dr. Jo. Obviously I'm going to be frustrated about the Alex thing for a very long time, but if this is what we have to work with, I'm glad Jo is doing alright in the aftermath. She's sleeping on her couch instead of her bed, but at least she's sleeping. She's grumpy about going into work, but at least she goes.

My favorite exchange in the whole episode goes to Jo and Levi, actually. As they both lament the ends of their relationships together, Jo offers to let Levi come stay with her for a while. He replies: "Jo, that time in my mom's basement was a one-time thing, I'm a gay man." Jo lets out a peel of her infectious, joyous laughter, and says: "That's why you're getting the invite, dummy!" I've always loved Jo's laugh, and it was really heartening to see her in a place where she could be cheerful like that. I'm all for Levi and Jo being weird roommates for a bit!

The ongoing saga of Owen/Teddy/Koracick/Amelia/Link drama will never fail to piss me off, but it does appear that one "branch" of the drama is officially over. Last week I hoped that Amelia would tell Owen right away that the baby's not his, so we could knock off at least one cause of stupid angst. And lo and behold - right at the start of the episode, Amelia marches into the room, and tells Owen and Teddy both: "the baby is Link's!" I was so happy about this, even as I continue to be pissed off at Teddy for trying to use the possible paternity of Amelia's baby as an excuse for her infidelity.

Tom Koracick really is a good man. He talks about how he's slept with a lot of women, but he has a code about it, and he's not going to sleep with Teddy if she's married. He basically lets her go, and tells her to go fix things with Owen. See, despite all of this stupid shit with him basically accepting a bribe, I still really like this character and I want him around more. Teddy doesn't deserve him, frankly. Maybe Owen does. Have I mentioned that I'm not a fan of Owen?

While there's something ridiculous about the whole "pro bono days every month" thing, and I wish we could get more into the ramifications, I will say that I love the way the broken healthcare system is being demonstrated, by showing all of these patients that the system has failed. Particularly, a black woman in extreme pain who has been turned away by several doctors, and a veteran who has severe PTSD and has been lashing out and having seizures. Both of these patients are having to advocate way, way too hard to get the help they need, and Meredith responds to this, vowing to do what she can to help. These stories really worked to highlight the situation. They were memorable and they made me want to see success!

I think that's where I'll stop. There are things about this show that will always frustrate me, but there are also always thing to enjoy. That's my mantra when it comes to Grey's Anatomy!

7.5/10

[letterstothemidnightsociety]

It’s week three of my Global-Pandemic-Induced decision to rewatch all of Supernatural, and so I’m still attempting to make this watch more productive than the last show that I binged.

So I’m on disc two now - that’s episodes 5 - 8 for those of you watching on Netflix. By the time we get to this disc, we know the basic formula for Supernatural as a series - Two Hunks + Fighting Evil to the Power of Acceptable Levels of Gore x Missing Dad = Ratings Gold. Or at the very least, good enough ratings that we’ll give you a season (or fourteen). And then...well...then.

Episode five is “Bloody Mary”, easily the scariest episode of this first season and, based on the nose dive that the formula takes after season 1, probably the entire series. Maybe it’s that the Bloody Mary legend was one that really got me as a kid, maybe it’s just that I don’t do so hot with ghosts, but guys this episode still made me turn on all the lights and avoid all my mirrors. I accidentally turned this episode on at 9pm and regretted it immediately. I walked away at one point to go clean my kitchen to strategically miss some of the spookier points and I walked back in during an even spookier point. I was mad that there were no commercials at the commercial break cut-to-black! The first time I watched this episode, I’m pretty sure I watched it through my fingers. This most recent viewing, I ALSO watched it through my fingers. Guys, THIS EPISODE. 

I will say it a-hecking-gain: This episode scared the SHIT out of me.

AND THEN, THEN! Then this show has the gall to go ahead and drop a major season/character plot point right there in the middle of all this content that I am actively trying not to look at: SURPRISE! Sam has premonition powers and sorta kinda knew that his girlfriend was gonna die a terrible death weeks before she dies. Because sure, why not? 

Ohmiglob the DRAMA.

I’m gonna take a moment to say that, yes, technically this piece of plot gets dropped within our first six episodes, so we can still safely say that, you know, they’re still setting up the story for the rest of the series. It’s not like a sudden twist they drop half way through the season, it’s being laid down as ground work. And I know that this turns out to be a MAJOR issue for the next four seasons at least, but can I just say: Kripke, you’re really throwing a lot at us. I mean, OK. here’s what we’ve got - 

The Winchester’s lost their mom at a young age to some evil thing. Cool, got it.

THEN they have daddy issues with C-minus Single Dad John Winchester. Alright, that seems logical. 

The brothers hunt bad guys looking for the thing that killed their mom. Ok still on board. 

There’s family drama, relatable. 

Dad’s gone missing and we gotta find, ok ok ok. 

Also Sam’s girlfriend dies in a fire, alright, so we’re looking for that thing now too. 

OH! And now Sam has magic powers. 

I mean, it’s a lot, right? We got a lot of layers here. That’s all I’m sayin.

So “Bloody Mary”, right? Big episode, big bad guy, they kinda loophole their way into defeating her but I’m not mad. Big reveal at the end, so kind of an important lore episode. And then...well...then we get the following episodes:

“Skinwalker” - gross-out fx, establishes Dean as a lonely asshole with a lot of APB’s out on him

“The Hook Man” - takes the Urban Legend angle of the show and dials it up to 11

“Bugs” - Does what it says on the tin.

Now to be fair: all three of these episodes have at least ONE shining moment that reveals a little more about the characters we’re working with, and that character development plays out in important ways in the rest of the season/series. But all three of them are arguably---

FILLER EPISODES-ODES-ODES-ODESSssssssss. 

Alright, maybe that’s unkind. Maybe we should call them standalones or self-contained. A Filler is an episode designed to “fill out” your season. It doesn’t necessarily move the overarching story of the season forward, although it may contain some concepts or revelations that are important later. I’d argue that Supernatural has only ever had two kinds of episodes - Series Arc and Filler. Not that that’s a bad thing -  I like a filler episode now and again. Depending on how heavy your season gets (and by all accounts Supernatural gets pretty heavy), they can be a nice breath of fresh air - also known as a Breather Episode. Or they can be just for fun. I’mma reference “Once More with Feeling” again because sure, why not throw in a musical episode in season 6 of a show about vampire slaying, that’s fine. I wanna reference something from Community here too, but honestly anything after season 2 could probably be called filler or self contained, so who even knows. I’ll point at the Voltron episode where they spend a day in the mall to gather some unobtainium for the ship and wacky shenanigans ensue. Point being, they can be times to break the mold and experiment and have fun with what you’re writing. Or they can be ridiculous nonsense. Mileage may vary. 

The crazy thing about these episodes is that they most closely resemble what Kripke intended the show to be in the first place. Kripke wanted a show that revolved around characters investigating American urban legends. What is more quintessentially urban legend than Bloody Mary, the Hook Man and curses from ancient Native American burial grounds? These were stories that I as the viewer was already sort of familiar with because I’d heard of all of them before. What I appreciated, specifically about the Bloody Mary episode, was that they a) acknowledge the fact that these are Urban Legends (capital letters and all) and then b) acknowledge that the legends vary wildly so a part of their job is figuring out what is true and what is rumor. I guess you could also call that a cop out but when I was a kid, I was told that Bloody Mary was the ghost of Queen Mary of England who was sister to Elizabeth I and was also violently anti-protestant. WHERE did I get this story? I have no idea. But I also have no idea where Sam got the “mutilated bride” story from either. 

In an old article I found circa season 2, Kripke actually talks about preferring standalone content to mythology/lore episodes in television. Both as a creator and as a viewer, he wants a show where people can jump in at any time and “join the party” wherever they are. That’s the beauty of procedurals - you don’t need to start from the beginning to enjoy them.

But what really got me personally hooked on the show was the mythology, was the season long arc to find John Winchester and whatever killed their mom. Those mythos episodes were where the meat of the show was for me - it usually involved a lot of feelings and a lot of character development which is still mostly my jam. If I’m obsessively watching a show, it’s because I’m connected to the characters and watching them struggle through the challenges in their path, not because I want to see what monster they kill next. 

And again, I’ll reiterate that each of these episodes contains an important nugget of character. In “Bloody Mary”, easily the least likely to be called Filler, we find out that Sam has weird magic powers that are the real source of his guilt over Jessica’s death. 

In “Skin”, we find out a lot about Dean’s inner landscape from the DopppleDeaner, who reveals that Dean is probably most afraid of people leaving him (be still my 19-year-old heart). 

Wasn’t mad about this bit...

Coulda done without this bit tho...

In “Hookman”...alright, you kinda got me on “Hookman”, but we do get the first appearance of the rocksalt shotgun and Sam talks with a girl about her dad issues which is really Sam talking about his own dad issues in the language of tv shows. Also, he maybe starts to move on from Jessica???? It’s unclear, and also a little weird but I guess he’s only 22 and that’s not that far off from 18/19. 

Really, WB?? Sneaking into sorority houses?

And then in “Bugs”, yes, even in “Bugs”, we get juicy little bit of tension between the brothers as they advise some teen boy about family dynamics. The fight shows a lot about what each character feels about their own experiences growing up the way they did, how they manage the expectations from their own father, and how they believe those family dynamics should exist. I mean I guess you could also argue this is the episode that plants the seed for Wincest, but I don’t really want to go there, let’s not talk about it.

This kid’s like, “This is...not a conversation about me and MY dad, is it?”

So they could be worse. I mean the last two definitely aren’t great, and we’ll see how they measure up to the Monster Truck episode later in the season, but they’re not bad episodes. 

So let’s flash forward to Now again - have we seen the end of Filler Episodes?

As I have mentioned in previous posts and will probably continue mentioning in future posts, the 22 episode season is not the norm anymore. A lot of articles I’ve read point to Breaking Bad as the first American show to really break that mold. Breaking Bad released only 7 episodes in it’s first season in 2007. When you’ve cut your story down that much, there’s no room for filler - you’re basically producing a 7 hour movie. 

Now notice I said American TV show. I’m pretty sure for most of the rest of the world, 22 episodes is way outside the norm, but really I can only speak to UK TV. Seasons in the UK do not last as long as seasons in America. Doctor Who, one of, if not the, longest running show on BBC, aired its first season with 42 episodes, which is mind boggling. But since the series revived in 2005, it hasn’t had more than 13 episodes in a season. Spooks/MI5 never had more than 10 episodes. The IT Crowd only aired 6 episodes per season. Broadchurch had only 8. And because I must complete the Superwholock trifecta, Sherlock seasons were only 3 episodes a piece. These are the shows that spring to mind while I’m writing this, but you get the idea.

So why does American broadcast TV have such long seasons? Well, the answer is: moneymoneymoney.

We live in an age of “prestige” TV. Some throw around “Golden Era”, but there’s been like, a Golden Era of television every 10 years since tv’s became household commodities, so that phrase basically means nothing. TV today is more similar to long-form film making than it was a decade ago. We associate terms like “film” with other terms like “art”, and sometimes we forget that television is, and always was, a business. It’s a business that’s making a lot of money entertaining you for hours on end, but a business nonetheless. I’d argue that it doesn’t mean it’s not art, but I don’t think we can separate the art and entertainment value of tv from its actual monetary value. 

Strategically, the 22-episode season was to get a show to a magical number of total episodes - 100. Once you hit the 100th episode, somewhere around season 5 (thanks math), then you can sell the show in syndicated reruns. This is also referred to as second-run syndication or off-network syndication. When a show is syndicated, that means the production company that produces the show can now sell the right to air episodes to other channels. Think channels like TBS or TNT or even USA Network - they don’t really dabble in producing their own content, they just repackage content from other networks to plug in to empty slots in their programming. And because these channels can air episodes 5 days a week, 365 days a year, that means the production company can actually make more money by selling the show in syndication than when they sold the show to the primary network. The more episodes you have in a season, the faster you get to syndication, and sometimes that means a show that’s on the brink of cancellation due to poor numbers may still get greenlit for another season or two if they’re closer to that magic 100th episode. For a show like Supernatural, that has a very procedural, not-super-heavy-mythos, structure, you can do very well in syndication. Just cuz another network agreed to air your show doesn’t mean they agreed to air it in order, so procedurals work better in syndication than your season-arc shows do. And that’s why we have episodes like Bugs, that have nothing to do with the overarching plot of the season and also phone in some questionable CGI. 

Apparently they DID use real bugs to shoot this scene and everyone got bit to hell but the bugs didn’t show up good and they went with CG anyway?!?

But these days, you don’t have to hit 100 episodes. Sometimes only 80 episodes will do. Sometimes, you run a streaming site and you don’t have to worry about reruns at all because your revenue isn’t generated from air time or even ads, but from subscription prices. Honestly, when you think of it that way, it makes way more sense to greenlight shorter seasons so that you have the budget to buy more and more diverse shows that will appeal to a broader audience of viewers. 

So if Supernatural was produced today, would we get these off-shoot, self-contained episodes that have little to do with the plot of finding Sam and Dean’s dad? It’s hard to say. Knowing what I do about Kripke’s original plans for the show and his thoughts on procedural standalone episodes in general, its possible that he’d still try for a traditional season aired on a traditional TV network. But in that same interview I quoted above, he also mentions that the only way to get into a show with a heavy mythos is to buy the DVDs. We don’t need DVDs anymore - we have Netflix. And Hulu and Prime and any number of other streaming services that pick up any show they can get just to have a larger library of content and attract new viewers. I think a good indicator of what Supernatural would look like if it aired today is Hulu’s Helstrom - a show about two siblings with a childhood marked by strange and terrible happenings, who spend the season trying to defeat an evil demon. This show is a Hulu original that dropped all 10 episodes on October 16, 2020, and damn if that doesn’t sound familiar. I told a friend, “it’s like Supernatural but more emotions.” (Her response was, MORE emotions?!?!?) And before you dive down the rabbit hole, the characters in Helstrom made their debut in a Marvel comic back in the 70’s, so you can just chalk it up to nothing new under the sun. 

Big Mood, guys. Big Mood.

I’ll close this one by reiterating I don’t mind a filler episode. Some fillers can be weird and great and wonderful. I’d say “Tales of Ba Sing Se” (Avatar the Last Air Bender, Season 2)  is a great example - with the possible exception of Appa, the vignettes presented in “Tales” are basically side quests that have nothing to do with the main quest of season 2 and only serve to develop characters. The stories are sweet and touching and also light and fun.

I’m not crying, YOU’RE crying! It’s ok, I’m also crying. 

 And the longer a show runs, the more likely you are to run into these fillers - episodes that take a break from the main action to bring something that’s new and out of the box and possibly/probably writers getting bored with the every-day formula of the show. I think season 1 of Supernatural does a decent job of balancing the two styles of episode so that neither gets boring. In fact, I’m pretty Supernatural was what taught me the difference between the two episode styles in the first place. And the first time around, I was hyped for those season arc episodes, because back in the late 2000’s, I hadn’t seen a lot of TV content like that. Now, 15 years on and mired in a sea of seasons that stick mainly to a season arc story with little to no room for breathing, I think that if all TV became nothing but season arc episodes...well, it’d get pretty boring. 

[deltaengineering]

Winter Anime 2019 Part 3: High on Concept

If you wait long enough, you’ll find something good to say.

Doukyonin wa Hiza, Tokidoki, Atama no Ue / My Roommate is a Cat

What: Misanthropic mystery author picks up tough stray cat, both get healed.

✅ The cat acts like a cat, the misanthrope acts like a misanthrope.

✅ The approach of telling the same simple story from the perspective of two characters that can’t really communicate effectively is interesting.

✅ This is very basic, but it works. I like both characters, and it's generally inoffensive. Pretty much Barakamon with less of a focus on telling you exactly what to feel. Might watch more of this.

❌ I see we’re now at the point where shows get localized titles that sound like lazy translations of bland Japanese names even when the Japanese title is not that bland to begin with. Lovely.

Dimension High School

What: A bunch of kids press XXX and YYY and are sucked. Wooow.

✅✅ The wraparound segments look extremely realistic. If there was more lensflares and shots of feet I’d almost say someone has finally beaten KyoAni in making anime look like a cheap, egregiously overacted J-Drama.

❌❌ Sadly, the puzzle dimension they end up in just looks like homemade MMD animation, because it is. I mean, at least it’s mocapped, but apparently with a Kinect.

❌❌ E.g., they make jokes about clipping and they kinda have to because everything clips into everything else all the time.

❌❌ Did I mention that all they actually do is solve lame puzzles and fail to be funny about it? It’s really getting to the levels of the dreaded “barely animated voice actor improv podcast” at these points.

♎ Suwabe’s in it, and that’s never an outright bad thing. He’s voicing the quizmaster, in the process proving he’d do anything for a paycheck. I wonder if he has a fiverr acocunt.

Domestic na Kanojo

What: Highschooler loses virginity to one night stand, finds out that it was the sister of the teacher he has a crush on. Incidentally, the mother of both also just married his father. Zany!

✅ This is presented like a low-key, slow drama, and it’s not even bad at that. Some good directing going on here, at least in the beginning.

❌❌ Really just too bad that it’s impossible to take seriously with a setup as contrived as this, not to mention taking it as seriously as it apparently wants to be taken. It’s also not exactly original.

❌ I’m not gonna say that sketchy relationships can’t work (it worked fine for KoiAme, for example), but embedding your suddenly also incestuous pupil-teacher affair in the setting of a harem comedy, complete with other sister walking in on attempted drunk blackout kiss, is not giving me confidence that this has the chops to pull it off.

❌❌ The show this reminds me the most of is Love and Lies, and that’s a real bad calling card to have.

Girly Air Force

What: Girl-shaped fighter jets fall in love with a dude.

❌❌ It’s just another military-hardware-is-cute-girls-actually show in the vein of Strike Witches, the kind where they think that having a few plane CG models is already thrilling content.

❌❌ But then it doesn’t even turn out to be that in practice, because most of the episode is taken up by lame “worldbuilding” (i.e., coming up with excuses for why your fanservice show has to be the way it is) and trying to make your bland harem lead interesting, which is a futile endeavour.

❌ The most interesting part is still the CG dogfighting, such as it is. It’s not great either. Also, girly planes are pink.

♎ Honestly got a laugh out of them randomly picking a Gripen as heroine unit  in addition to actual JSADF hardware, because that’s a sleek-looking plane. The biggest prank the JSADF ever pulled on the otaku industry is buying the chubby F-35, which is nowhere to be seen here.

Go-toubun no Hanayome / The Quintessential Quintuplets

What: Empoverished highschooler is hired as a tutor for some rich quintuplets with large breasts.

❌ This is a blatant harem setup that would make a 2003 bishoujo VN blush.

✅ However, in practice it’s much better than it sounds. It knows it’s a wacky romcom with a dumb premise and it does not pretend otherwise.

✅ So it’s lighthearted, but it’s also surprisingly classy. In fact, it’s classier than Domestic no Kanojo, which is a show that’s actually trying to look respectable and failing.

✅ The relationships are also very feisty, with an energy that a comedy needs. There’s a lot of sass to go around here. Probably the best of these I’ve seen in a while, so I’ll give it three eps.

Kemurikusa

What: After getting pulled off the sequel, the Kemono Friends crew made their own version. Presumably there are blackjack and hookers in this show’s future.

❌ If you are a fan of KF’s “charms”, fear not, you would not be able to tell these people made another anime before. It's still total amateur hour.

❌❌ It’s not even the “looks”, though those certainly are not a highlight. The design is okay and the animation is bad, but I’m not incapable of enjoying shows with bad animation. What really kills it is the editing. I usually don’t comment on editing because that’s almost always competent and only very rarely great, but Kemurikusa has uniquely lazy and badly timed editing. Every shot being seconds longer than it needs to be is already an annoyance in low-key dialog scenes, but the alleged action is laughable and allows you a long, unblinking stare at every frame of bad animation. I really do wonder why they even bother with it when it’s so terrible.

✅ The setting seems alright, even though it’s just a reskinned Kemono Friends. At least it’s not gijinka nonsense this time (which makes one wonder where the gimmick characters are supposed to come from, but I digress), and it’s more upfront about what it actually is too. I’d call it mildly intriguing.

❌ I don’t mind mystery and certainly prefer it to exposition bombs, but instead of that this episode quickly establishes the most basic facts... and then repeats them over and over and over some more. Combined with non-editing, this makes for horrible pacing. 

♎ I had no opinion on KF’s longer-term qualities, because the first episode was so boring I never got any further. I won’t have an opinion on this show’s long-term qualities for the same reason.

Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka

What: Magical girls are tragic, shoot gun’s.

❌❌ Yo bro, what if magical girls but dark? Surely such a thing has never been attempted.

❌ The particular source of grim here is that these girls are war vets and fight with semi-realistic weaponry, so there’s a fair bit of the ol’ milwank in this one as well.

❌ The best part of the entire show is that the enemies they originally fought looked like cute teddy bears. Of course, this is dropped in favor of just slicing and dicing some random terrorists in the main narrative. I guess “dark magical girl” is still too outlandish a concept, gotta go with ripping off The Punisher again.

❌ The characters so far are nothing special, you got your PTSD Rambo and the generically cute tomodachis she swears to protect. Such contrast!

❌❌ If you must make these 80s action movies with some otaku gimmick pasted on top, would you mind making the action look good at least? Because I don’t care how many gallons of blood you paint in your dramatic but conspicuously non-moving pans.

Meiji Tokyo Renka

What: Spiritually sensitive lonelygirl gets kitsuned to the Meiji era, which is full of delicious beef and some handsome men too I guess.

✅ This isn’t an outright comedy, but it goes all in on everyone’s fabulosity level to a degree that it’s really already three quarters to Dame x Prince.

✅ Similarly, the lead is not quite as unimpressed with these hams as Ani was, but she certainly has a lot more interest in roast beef than in these guys always trying to pull her into sparkly chin-holding poses &c.

✅ Meiji Tokyo Renka doesn’t seem to be anything special, but it gets the tone right and is expressive enough to not become boring.

♎ While certainly watchable right now, with these there’s always the chance that it decides to launch into real drama in the long run, which in turn almost always goes wrong.

Yakusoku no Neverland / The Promised Neverland

What: An orphanage’s happy daily life gets upended by the realisation that they’re just pizza rolls for some demonic entities.

✅ I watched this right after Kemurikusa and let me tell you, it sure helps if you’ve got professionals on the team. This is a highly competent show as far as cinematography and editing is concerned. While there isn’t any reason to go all out on the action sakuga, this show looks real good.

❌ I’m not feeling the character design, to be specific I think everyone’s chin is too big. This sounds like a real assholy nitpick, but be aware that this will impact around 90% of the time you watch this. 

✅ The premise is workable for a shounen manga, even if hardly original (remember Owari no Seraph?) At least it’s not kids with superpowers spamming beams at each other while discussing the nature of heroism, and seems to be going for a more mindgames-based approach in the vein of Death Note. The characters are just barely good enough so far. In the end it’s not so much the premise, but how well the production values are able to sell it. And that’s what Neverland is good at.

❌ It’s specifically a Weekly Shounen Jump manga, and that is huge red flag. Sure enough, while the visuals and mood deliver, the dialog writing justifiably assumes the reader is a moron. Almost every line in this is either straight universe exposition or someone reading someone else’s character sheet back to them. It’s insane and not even necessary because their actions establish all of this just fine, but hey, WSJ readers amirite?

❌ Also, since it’s a successful WSJ property, don’t expect an ending or be prepared to watch this show for years. Most likely both.

♎ This seems like it could be entertaining once the exposition is out of the way and the real meat of the narrative starts. Then again, at that point pacing would come into play, which is yet another achilles heel of WSJ-style shounen manga. Against my better judgement, I’ll probably have a look how this develops, but I don’t expect much.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Spider-Man: Life Story #4 Thoughts Part 3: Pathetic Parker

Aaaaaaand finally....let us discuss you know Peter Parker.

Or the stand in for him in this mess of a mini-series.

Positives should be gotten out of the way first. I like the new Spider-Suit’s look. I’ve liked all the suits’ looks so far.

Okay cool we’re done now with positives.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo...Peter is dating Jessica Drew huh.

Hahahahahahaha....fuck off.

Jessica Drew technically speaking existed in the 1960s but only because Bendis picked a random girl from a Ditko issue and decided he would make her his new original character (who was a rewritten Jessica Drew stand in...) Jessica Jones...which happened in the 2000s.

Remember how I said the Stark thing was remixing stuff from the 2000s and how this probably references the Ultimate Clone Saga?

Well between that stuff, the inclusion of Parker Industries, a obvious reference to Slott’s ‘No One Dies’ buzz word, and now Jessica Jones Zdarsky has entirely collapsed the ONE consistent thing about his writing in this series.

You can read my past posts on this series for more detail, but in a nutshell, this series is utterly convoluted in it’s premise and confused in what it wants to be.

However the ONE utterly consistent thing about it was the fact that it remixes elements from Spidey stories that happened in the decade each issue was covering.

Until now.

Now in fairness Parker Industries was a 2010s thing that debuted in the 1980s. I let that one slide a bit because I guess the idea was if Peter age 30 had money and time he could have a company by age 37 which would be in the 80s. Okay I guess.

But with all that other stuff...this issue isn’t remixing 90s stuff it’s remixing 90s and post-90s stuff so what the fuck is the conceit of the story again?

It’s anything Zdarsky wants whilst mostly remixing stuff from every decade per issue oh and Spider-Man ages in real time I guess and mentions various wars.

I (and others) have talked about how this series is fanficion. A time honoured tradition of fanfiction is the wacky indulgent ships that occur.

In professional works though these are best avoided, see MockingSpider.

That’s what Jessica Jones and Spider-Man being a couple is. Yeah she had a crush on him in high school.

Now tell me anything else that’d serve as a basis for their relationship instead of her being with Luke?

How the fuck did this even happen? At least with Peter and MJ you have canon as a roadmap. In this series...nothing. Peter and Jessica just hooked up somehow in the last 11 years!

What’s so insultingly asinine about this ship is that it emphasis another person who is conspicuous via her absence.

So...where the fuck is Felicia!

I know that the important life events of Spider-Man can be debated up to a point.

That point doesn’t cover though whether Black Cat is relevant of a mention or not across his ‘life story’.

No shit of course she is!

But she wasn’t mentioned in the 1970s when she debuted. She wasn’t mentioned in the 1980s when she became a regular. She wasn’t mentioned in the 1990s.

Surely in a world where Spider-Man’s marriage to MJ falls apart and he’s dating a private eye that should be fucking Black Cat not a character who wasn’t even invented until 10 years later! I mean c’mon Black Cat BECAME a private eye in the 1990s!

And wouldn’t that have been way more dramatic too?

In the 1980s instead of Peter being allegedly addicted to a costume or neglecting his family to clean up radiation or asking his wife to kill him if he turned into a brain munching alien the root of their break up involved his affection for Felicia?

I mean c’mon the symbiote was framed as a response to a mid-life crisis, a sexy platinum blonde who actually wants to hook up with Spidey not Peter isn’t prime real estate for a story about a superhero’s mid life crisis? Even the Incredibles did that!

And wouldn’t that have been more worthy of drama in this issue than literally 2 panels of Jessica Jones establishing they’re shagging but also he’s neglectful and she dumped him. I mean at that point you might as well have just had her be a private eye he hired and dropped the romance completely it served no purpose at all.

One aspect of the story that I will praise Zdarsky for even if I think he got it right by accident is that without his family Peter couldn’t keep on going as Spider-Man.

MJ, May, etc, they keep him together, he needs people, he’d fall apart without them.

Running out of gas as he did in this story could be seen as a reflection of that depending on future issues. Or it could just be he’s old and tired and don’t you know all superheroes would feel that way at age 48.

Too bad that seems rather at odds with issue #3 where he was a neglectful jerk.

Another problem inherited from issue #3 was the issue of Peter’s diminished prowess in his old age.

Remember how he wanted the symbiote to stay ‘relevant’ because he was slowing down.

Okay so it’s been 11 years later, he’s held onto Parker Industries and...he’s just accepted he’s gotten slower and weaker.

Remember how issue #3 implied he had a nano-weld suit.

Okay so he’s had 11 years to improve on that tech and...he hasn’t.

In fact his current outfit looks less high tech even.

Now brace yourselves because I’m about to do something nuts and call upon Dan Slott continuity as reference material.

In Slott’s run Peter with HORIZON labs and Parker Industries tech was able to whip up a variety of costumes for himself. These included nanotech.

In fact his MAIN suit in ASM volume 4 was nanotech armour that came complete with all sorts of gadgets.

Are you telling me that a Peter Parker with even greater years of scientific knowledge and experience, with even more time and resources, across 11+ years NEVER made technology like that?

He NEVER invented tech that could offset his diminished powers?

Seriously?

IRON MAN had strength enhancing armour in the 1960s and that technology got illegally distributed to countless people, hence we got Armor Wars. Even that aside there is countless inferior technology that could increase strength, speed, agility, etc, let alone protect from knock out gas.

But Peter in LF is such a jackass he...never employed this. He never considered this. He just let himself grow weaker and more vulnerable?

Either he’s stupid or he’s a sellout on Ben and May’s morals of responsibility because he had a death wish hence he never upgraded.

I mean Jesus Christ the Hobgoblin found a way to make the Goblin serum SAFE. Peter couldn’t investigate that avenue as a way to spike his power levels? Friggin Norman Osborn was in his 40s when he got the formula and it made him almost on par with Spider-Man.

It gets even stupider when you consider Peter hands over his mantle to Ben Reilly.

Ben is physically the same goddam age as Peter. In fact considering he clearly doesn’t crime fight as much as Peter does or else ‘Red Mask’ would be more famous, Peter if anything would be in better shape. So Peter is giving the mantle of Spidey to a less experienced, weaker 48 year old man who’s ALSO got diminished strength and speed.

But it gets worse.

He doesn’t just hand the mantle of Spidey to Ben. He hands Parker Industries over to him. You’d think this is a case of him passing it on to his relative Ben Reilly right?

Nope.

He wants Ben to...literally become him.

Peter wants Ben to literally pose as him forevermore and run his company.

This is the most gamebreakingly stupid thing in the entire issue.

Ben having Peter’s notes doesn’t mean he’ll be able to pose as Peter.

He doesn’t know the in jokes Peter has with people. He has 0 experience of running a big company.

He has less scientific knowledge and experience.

He will be way worse in business negotiations because he hasn’t got the measure of people.

And he’ll be seriously stressed out because unlike Peter who just knows this stuff Ben will have to study for a lifelong performance as Peter Parker every moment of every day.

Not to mention is no one going to notice the sudden disappearance of Ben Reilly?

Didn’t he have friends or colleagues of his own like Lori from the start of the issue?

Peter starts the comic determined to not allow Parker Industries to fall into the hands of the war profiteer Tony Stark but by unloading his entire company onto Ben Reilly he’s placed it in a hugely vulnerable position that makes it MORE likely that it will be absorbed into Stark International.

Oh and of course there the teeny tiny problem of PETER AND BEN NOT LOOKING ALIKE!

Now realistically Peter and Ben Reilly, having lived such different lives, would look similar yet different, like identical twins. Identical twins might look the same at age 1 but they really wouldn’t at age 30 if one of them was a desk jockey and the other was a soldier.

But you know artistic licence and suspension of disbelief can bypass that.

What cannot be bypassed is when Mark Bagley is drawing both characters on the same page in the same panel and you can tell that they clearly look different to one another. Their faces, hair colour and hair styles are not the same.

Did Peter’s notes include the correct shade to dye his hair too?

But the biggest aspect of this which is betrayal pornoigraphy for Peter’s character is between handing over the reigns of Spidey and P.I. to Ben...how...the...Hell...is...that...at.all...responsible?

He claims that he can’t give up his responsibility but he can ‘shift it to where it matters’.

What a crock of shit. That’s some lame ass lawyer talk for giving up and letting someone else do your job for you.

In the 90s Clone Saga Peter’s retirement was justified. He had impending parenthood as a responsibility and he and his wife had nearly broken in recent months. In Spider-Girl he got his leg blown off and had a 2 year old child to care for.

In this? His ex-wife and children are doing just fine without him as far as we know but the city still needs Spidey and P.I. still needs Peter Parker.

So no, retirement under these circumstances is irresponsible and utterly unjustified.

Not to mention wouldn’t BOTH Peter and Ben being heroes be more responsible? Or at least have Ben take over hero work and Peter runs P.I., possibly training Ben up.

There is also this bullshit that because Peter is so loud and public Ben could never live up to his potential.

I’m sorry but what is it with the Spider-Man fandom’s obsession with the idea that success = owning your own business.

As if that is the one and only way Peter or Ben could fulfil their scientific potential. Why not work for Reed?

Why not work with a Think Tank?

Why not start up a company in a different country and establish that Ben is indeed Peter’s relative. He already had his last name in issue #2!

Hell the argument that if they both started up companies and 2 Spider Heroes showed up it’d raise questions doesn’t consider the ideas that:

a)      Ben could WORK for Parker Industries, thereby allowing Peter to be in the lab as he wants or Ben handle the lab work

b)      They could SHARE the Spider-Man identity, which if anything would help maintain their secrecy

 Finally this issue (and the last one) on the recap page and at the end of the story pushes some toxic, dated, bullshit narratives regarding MJ:

a)      That it was grief alone that hooked up Peter and MJ

b)      MJ is Peter’s Plan B

c)       Peter cannot be married/have kids and be Spidey

d)      MJ wouldn’t stay with him if he’s Spider-Man, hence he only regains his family by retiring from Spidey

 I’ve seen an assessment of this story that argues that issue #3 as the halfway point was the low point from which the character will gradually fight back.

In a sense issue #4 goes along with this idea. Peter is at his lowest in issue #3 and his happier by the end of issue #4.

But the narrative structure of this series, wherein each issue is a snap shot of his life in each decade leads me to think that we’re unlikely to have 2 more issues of ending on gradually happier and happier notes.

Rather I think this issue is giving a pretence of happiness before it comes crashing down next issue and then in issue #6 we will get our happy ending or a bittersweet exit.

Regardless writing these long ass posts has actually soured me even more on the issue.

It’s another shit show I’m afraid.

P.S. The solicit read:

“THE REAL-TIME LIFE STORY OF SPIDER-MAN CONTINUES! Spider-Man’s life enters the 1990s! The COLD WAR is no longer cold as PETER PARKER returns to a world gone MAD! But will he let that madness infect HIM and his family?”

Where the fuck was any of that in this story?

Peter didn’t have a family, Peter didn’t return from anything, and the only madness to be found was in Ben and Otto.

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Fruits Basket 2019 Ep1: “See You After School”

The first episode of Fruits Basket 2019 Season 1 has finally dropped, so now I can finally start making posts about it. I’m almost certainly gonna talk about every single episode of this, since I have a lot to say. I’m also gonna use this as a chance to talk about the manga and the original anime in addition to this reboot, so I’m not gonna hold back on spoilers.

Anyway, I’m gonna put the rest under a cut. [TL;DR: It’s absolutely great, but if you’re really attached to the specific brand of zany comedy hijinks that the original anime had, you might be put off by the more subdued tone of this reboot]

I have no idea where to even start with this since there’s so much to say, but right off the bat, this already feels like a near-perfect adaptation of the manga. I’m already liking it a lot more than the original anime [which I saw for the first time a few weeks ago in preparation for this].

One of the things I was most worried about ever since they first announced this reboot was how they were going to handle the pacing, since the manga’s 23 volumes long, and thankfully they seem to be doing a great job thus far. As we knew from the theater pre-screenings a few weeks ago, this first episode covers chapter one of the manga, and the second episode will cover chapters two and three. At that sort of a pace, I think it’d work really well if they split this into three 24-ish episode seasons, but we’ll see how it goes.

We at least know that there’s going to be multiple seasons, and it looks like season 1 will be split into six BD/DVD volumes, with the first two currently being listed as containing four episodes each, so this first season should be at least 24 episodes. I’ve seen some rumors lately that season 1 will be 26 episodes, but we haven’t gotten an official number yet.

It also sounds like this reboot has a healthy production schedule, with them already having a fair amount of episodes pre-produced. Which makes sense, since the promo material we’ve gotten has a lot of animation and voiced lines from what’ll probably be the first twelve or so episodes. The animation studio behind this reboot has a lot of history doing long-running/multi-season anime, so it sounds like they know what they’re doing.

Anyway, onto the episode itself, it’s really interesting to compare this to the first episode of the original anime, since they cover basically the exact same material, but they’re handled really differently, in a way that really reflects how they’re from two very different eras of the industry.

I’ve been thinking for a while now that one of the most divisive aspects of the reboot is actually just going to be the differences in tone and atmosphere between this and the original. The original anime ignored a lot of the story’s nuance and the set-up for future drama and plot points, and filtered what was left through the director’s personal style of wacky comedy hijinks. The reboot still has comedy in it [more than I expected it to, actually], but it’s handled in a more subdued way that both matches the manga’s tone a bit more, and feels more like something that would actually air in 2019. Going by the reactions I’ve seen to this first episode, I really think that there’ll be a bit of a schism between people that are really attached to the specific brand of comedy that the original had, and people that thought it was obnoxious and didn’t fit the series at all. People will probably get used to the character design changes and stuff quickly enough, but the reboot is going to just get more and more heavy and dramatic as it goes on, so I think that might become a deal-breaker for people who really liked the original and don’t like the more subdued/heavy tone that this is gonna have.

The reboot is clearly leaning more into subtle comedy, with lots of scenes where the joke is about stuff that characters are saying in the background to each other when they’re not the main focus point of the shot. There’s also lots of moments where there’s hand-written notes on the screen like there were in the manga, which add their own bits of background comedy. It’s fun and silly in it’s own way, but already notably different from the comedy in the original anime.

Personally I thought that Akitaro Daichi’s brand of comedy didn’t work well in the original anime at all, and I’m glad that it’s gone. At least just going by this first episode, I’m glad that the reboot didn’t try to do anything like the whole Yuki fan club dance sequence thing from the original. I’m actually a little surprised at how the reboot handled that whole scene, though. In a good way. I hadn’t put much thought into it, but it makes a lot of sense that they’d change it a bit so that Motoko’s actually there from the start. When I was rereading the manga a while ago, I thought it was kinda weird how she doesn’t actually show up for a while, even though she then becomes the only important character in that club. So it just makes sense for the reboot to include her from the start. I’m also really surprised that they’re having Rika Aida apparently be a regular part of the club from the start as well, since in the manga she only shows up in one chapter in volume 8. But either way, I liked the little changes and additions they made to that scene to make it more consistent with the rest of the story.

I thought I heard people say on twitter after the theater screenings that the reboot didn’t have the part where Hana threatens the Yuki fan club and the screen goes all static-y, but that scene’s actually pretty much exactly the same. And I still like it just as much as I always have, lol.

Having Yuki be in the cooking class along with Tohru and her friends was a nice little addition that helped make their whole conversation about him a bit more natural than it was in both the manga and the original anime.

In general there’s a whole lot of parts in this episode where they really flesh out the material in both minor and major ways, that overall make it feel much more consistent with the story as a whole.

The biggest example of that is the scene at the very start of the episode that shows off God and the original banquet without really going into detail about what’s going on with it. It’s one thing that the reboot’s, like, introducing some side characters a bit earlier than they were in the manga, but that whole intro part was taken directly from the end of volume 22 of the manga, so that’s a pretty big change. I really liked it, though. Some people might think it’s too much of a spoiler, but I think it worked really well. They didn’t really explain what was going on so it mostly just served as a teaser for what was to come. It also makes it clear right off the bat that the story is going to have supernatural elements in it, and that there’s at least some kind of grander story/world-building going on, which I think does a good job at letting new viewers know that this isn’t gonna just be a silly rom-com.

I also really liked how they fleshed out all of the flashbacks and made them feel more like actual scenes and not just vague slideshows of Tohru’s memories. For the most part it’s all lifted straight from the manga, but there’s some really neat little additions like the red butterfly wind chime in Tohru’s old apartment, and the shot of Tohru as a kid doing taxes. And as a lot of people have also talked about, the shot of Kyoko’s blood pooling into a street gutter was way more heavy than how either the manga or the original anime handled that whole part. It’s a good example of the sort of heavy moment that might put off some people that liked the original anime’s comedy, but I liked it a lot. Tohru’s grief and trauma over her mother’s death is a really major plot point that gets explored and fleshed out across the entire series, and is pretty much the core of her character development in the long run, so it works really well to have a lot of emphasis on how big of a deal this all is to Tohru.

And, of course, there’s the hat. I already know that episode two is also gonna have a small original scene involving it, but I’ll talk about that next week when episode two actually comes out. Just in terms of this episode, it was mostly just in the background, but I liked how they handled it. Having it be right next to Tohru’s picture of Kyoko in her tent was a really nice way of subtly putting it there for people to see without drawing attention to it specifically, and I liked how it actually looked kinda old and worn down. We also got to see the flashback to her first getting it as a kid, which was neat. I liked how they shadowed out Yuki’s face so that we don’t know exactly who gave it to her.

I understand why the original anime completely cut out the hat and everything to do with it, since the manga hadn’t even gotten to the point where we really find out what the deal with it is, but it’s one of the little details in the story that makes it clear early on that there’s gonna be some overarching mysteries and plot points that’ll slowly get explored. It makes the story feel like it has more going on with it behind the scenes, and the original anime felt a bit more flat and shallow because it ignored those parts.

One of the few things that I actually wish the reboot could have ignored was the whole plot point of the zodiac members being able to communicate with their respective animals. It’s really not a big deal one way or another, but this is like the only part of the story where it’s actually relevant at all, aside from maybe like one scene with Kureno waaaaay later on. It’s one of those things that basically just gets immediately abandoned in the manga, so I think it could have just been cut out and nobody would have noticed, but oh well.

This isn’t necessarily a complaint, but I feel like this is the sorta thing where you need to watch at least two or three episodes to really get a feel for what it’s actually about. This episode spends so much time on introducing the main characters that it ends right when the whole zodiac thing first comes into play, and the actual explanation of the curse won’t happen until the next episode. But this is an issue that I also have with the manga, so it’s not really the reboot’s fault. It’s a really minor nit-pick, but I think that new fans might be kinda confused about what the actual story and focus of this is going to be in the long run. Though this is one of the reasons why I really liked how they added in the banquet scene at the very start of the episode. It helps tease at the supernatural elements of the story right off the bat, so the scene at the end doesn’t come completely out of left field.

On top of the whole issue of the tonal differences between this and the original anime, I also really love the art and cinematography in this reboot, way more than in the original. The direction here feels way more cinematic and dynamic than the original anime ever did. I remember reading that the production staff used 360-degree cameras in different places to get detailed reference material for doing the backgrounds and scenery in this reboot, and you can really see that in how spacious and 3D it all feels. A lot of people have pointed out how the shot of Shigure and Yuki walking up the stairs in their house felt really interesting, but I also liked the scene of Tohru running down the stairs at school before walking home with Yuki. It all just comes together to make the reboot feel really detailed and down to earth, with environments that actually feel like lived-in, three-dimensional spaces.

I also think the character designs in this are really nice. It’s still gonna take me a bit of time to get used to them, since they’re intentionally different to how they were in the manga, but they look really nice. There’s a lot of die-hard fans of the original anime’s character designs, but I’m one of the people who thought they looked kinda awful for the most part. One of the things that really struck me about the reboot was how bright and warm the colour palette is, especially compared to the original anime, which felt kinda dull and muddy. The reboot’s just really soft and pleasant to look at, but not to the point where it detracts from the serious parts.

I was actually kinda surprised at how much of the visual comedy and silliness they captured. It never feels particularly jarring, but it still feels pretty light and fun. In particular I really liked some of the cuts where the characters had really thick outlines.

The animation staff are also clearly putting a lot of attention into animating the animal forms, and they look great thus far. I’m almost sad that after a while we basically never see anyone transform anymore, since they already look so fun and dynamic. Especially in the ED theme, but I’ll talk about that in a bit.

Even with the obviously intentional differences in style from the manga, I love how recognizable everyone is, and how they all just have the same core spirit that they’ve always had, if that makes sense. Although I do really like that Yuki in particular feels quite a bit different to how he came across in both the manga and the original anime. It’s kinda hard to explain why, though. A big part of it is that his new JP voice is just really nice, but that’s also part of the broader topic of how it comes across like the reboot isn’t trying quite as hard to make him ‘cool and mysterious’, and they’re also not trying quite as hard to make him seem feminine. He basically just comes across as a cool, suave pretty-boy in the reboot, which works really well. The original anime in particular made him unintentionally creepy and weird with how it portrayed him, though it also didn’t help that I really don’t like Eric Vale’s weird raspy voice for him.

I actually think it’s kinda interesting that they’re leaning heavily into him just being a suave pretty-boy who doesn’t come across as being particularly feminine. There’s not much to go off of, but it feels like they’re tweaking that aspect of him a bit, especially with the drastic change between his JP voice actors. Mostly I think it’s interesting because, especially after my reread of the manga, I think the whole running gag with Yuki being feminine really hasn’t aged well at all, and I think the reboot would probably be better off by just focusing on portraying him as a cool, princely pretty-boy. I at least think that it’d seem even more jarring in the reboot if it tried to pull the same jokes that were built upon the idea that he looks/sounds like a girl, since in the JP dub especially they don’t seem to be trying to make him sound like a girl at all.

I think that’s about all there is to say about this episode specifically, and this post is going on long enough as it is, but I wanna talk a bit about the OP and ED. Or, well, just the ED, since this episode didn’t actually have the OP in it. I assume they’ll just use it in the next episode onward. But anyway, the ED was amazing. It’s incredibly laid-back and chill but also poignant in a way that really fits the series’ tone. I was kinda surprised at how Yuki-focused it felt, though. It’s not quite what I expected, but it’s nice. I really liked the shot of him looking out the window as a kid while the other zodiac members are walking by and having fun without him. The split-second detail of Ayame turning to look at him before Shigure and Hatori pull him away was fantastic.

I also really liked the shots involving everyone’s animal forms. It really shows off how nice the animation for them is. It’s all super playful and energetic and dynamic. Especially the bit with Ayame trying to chase after Yuki and tying himself up in a knot, lol.

I was also kinda surprised to see Kisa and Hiro in this at all, since I don’t think either of them will show up until the second half of this season, by which point there’d probably be a new set of OP/ED themes, unless they plan on using these ones for the whole first season. I really like what little we saw of their designs, though. I love how fluffy Hiro’s sheep form looks in it.

Anyway, that’s that. Now I have to deal with waiting for the next episode to come out, lmao. I’ll probably end up rewatching this episode with the English dub, but I don’t wanna get a Funi subscription just for that, so I don’t know exactly when I’ll end up watching it.

[askjeeveshypno-blog]

What I know about consent violations from having seen a lot of them

Crossposted to Fetlife. 

*TLDR: This stuff is complicated, memories and stories are often flawed, and outside of a few sharp lines there is no consensus on what IS a consent violation to say nothing of what is the correct punishment for one. *

Hi, I’m AskJeeves.  I’m a “community leader” but please don’t blame my communities for what I’m about to say.  I literally ran this past nobody but my wife so the responsibility for my words would be entirely mine and indeed, it’s possible some folks I work with running organizations will be unhappy with me for my directness here.  FWIW, I also have never been the head consent person in any organization.  I’m just a board member of three different kink groups who has also been in the community for a really long time.

But anyway, in various kink positions of responsibility in hypnokink, regular kink and a kinky arts organization, I’ve seen quite a few complaints.  And here are some general impressions.   I’ve messed with some details for privacy but kept the spirit of the complaints intact.

1. Most of the scene likes to gossip and the drama around consent violations is pretty sweet gossip.  The chain of secrecy is almost never intact.  I’m good at keeping secrets.  When I hear about a consent complaint, I treat it as confidential and don’t talk about it.  But people who know I’m in a position to know VERY FREQUENTLY talk to me.   This puts me in this wacky position of “A complained about B, and everyone seems to know that.  A is talking about it and B is talking about it, and people want to talk to me about it, but I don’t 100 percent know WHAT A and B are saying and if one of them is leaving a detail or two out on purpose and I reveal it, I’ve seriously breached my responsibilities,” so I do a lot of smiling and nodding about consent complaints.  Also, “B and I are at the same party and B is recounting a romanticized version of what they did that leaves out a lot of facts and if I’m quiet it looks like I agree but I’m really not in a position to speak up,” which also sucks, but they way.

2. The vast majority of complaints we get are in gray areas, and it’s almost impossible to nail down what a “consent violation” actually is outside of what’s actually illegal or specific enough to be spelled out in rules we already had:

a. A guy wrote about kink stuff on his public facebook on the regular.  Somebody who was mad at him got drunk and posted something on the same facebook page about how much he sucked for not coming to her play party.  Said guy got drunk person banned from a dungeon for “outing her” in a place he’d already outed himself.  

b. I’m pretty judgy about JK Rowling retweeting TERFS, but should a con punish someone for retweeting a post that outs somebody?  

c. If someone steals someone else’s money without permission, is that a consent violation?  

d. If C and D make plans to play, and then C loses interest but never actually says “actually, I changed my mind,” and just puts off or ghosts D, how many times can D follow up, in what ways and getting what responses, without it becoming harassment?    (Soft nos are VERY complicated from a “trying to enforce consent rules” perspective.  In this situation,  C almost always says that D is ignoring a “no” and D almost always says that C seems really busy so D thought D would keep trying and they were eager to do the play C had earlier said they wanted.)

e. If E made a promise to follow a bunch of rules set by a group, and then broke one of them, and F, a member of the other group, complains to a my group that E consented to follow the rules and broke them and the complain to MY group, which has different rules, is that violating the first group’s consent?

f. Hypno-specifically, what counts as non-negotiated use of persuasive language and where?

g. The above complexities quadruple for trying to ban someone from an event or organization for something they did online.  Does this happen in rare circumstances?  Yes.  But the bar is quite high.  

h. Some of y’all who are black and white thinkers or just very decisive will feel like you can go down this list going “Yes, no, yes, yes, no” but suffice to say, even if one of these seems straightforward to you, it hasn’t to me in the past, perhaps because of further details I’ve left out for brevity or something I changed to make the situations less specific..

3. If you’ve been banned or whatever, threatening to bring in a lawyer never helps you.  Kink organizations are private.  We mostly have our own lawyers and know very well how incredibly legal it is to exclude someone from a private organization for a good reason, a bad reason or no reason at all unless it’s a discriminatory reason.  Proving “discrimination” is very difficult, proving “defamation” is too.   Suing a kink organization for not letting you in requires money up front that almost none of us have, so it’s an empty threat anyway unless the person making the threat is independently wealthy.  I write this under the assumption that if you ARE independently wealthy and are willing to sue us into the ground if you don’t get what you want, these words won’t stop us anyway.

a. Suffice to say that when you threaten to sue it indicates to me as a person in a position of responsibility is that “bringing in a lawyer to make threats” is something you’re willing to do when you don’t get what you want, and if my organization continues to deal with you, this will almost certainly happen again.  So why would we want you in our private organization?  Do you really provide so much benefit to the organization that this constant threat is worth it to us?

b. Caveat: If someone has sexually assaulted you, by all means, call the cops or a lawyer if you feel comfortable doing so.  I’m not at all saying that legal mechanisms have no place in kink when directed at the person who hurt you. But as fair as organizations are concerned threatening to sue, or coy letters about how you might threaten to sue if you don’t get your way, are counterproductive and have a strong whiff of bullshit, which is never a good thing if you’re trying to convince us you’re not lying about anything else.

4. Long relationships that end in one or both parties accusing one another of consent violations the moment they break up are a nightmare to deal with on the consent side.   Because abuse REALLY DOES happen in long term relationships.  But there are many ways  of being a shitty partner that are consent violations.  People who have just broken up last week can almost never tell the difference.  

5. People who talk about consent ALL THE TIME have a bad habit of setting their own rules about it in ways that benefit their own bullshit.  Such people are often so excited to talk about other people’s consent violations that they make a big deal without having investigated or otherwise gotten the full story.  So people who make a big public deal about rumors of other people’s problems have raised a red flag about themselves.  This is completely irrelevant if they never have a consent complaint raised about them.  But if they do, the red flag is there.  A red flag doesn’t decide anything, but people are going to notice it.

6. I get that Jeff Mach got paid.  Just about nobody else in kink does and if you’re looking to get paid, running a con is a terrible way to do it.  We’re volunteers throwing parties/events for the community. We want people to be safe but we also hang out at our own parties/cons and we don’t want to hang with jerks.  Nobody gets banned for being a jerk alone, but if you’ve yelled at us, been an asshole when you dumped our friend, been accused of minor things many times before, or otherwise caused a lot of problems, that’s not going to help you get what you want. Again, if I personally think you’re a jerk but no one ever complains about you, that’s fine.  Some of you ARE jerks and I demonstrably haven’t.  But if you’ve got what feels like a long history of being difficult or causing problems, that’s a strike against you.  My kid brother has a long history of cussing out cops and has been told he has the worst driving record in the county where we live. Most of the judges and cops in our county have met him and he was unpleasant every time.   If you think every new time he’s a defendant there is a clean slate and none of that prior stuff matters, you’ve been sold of a vision of our justice system, and possibly humanity, that doesn’t exist.  We are trying to be fair but it would be weird to expect a bunch of volunteer kinksters to be less susceptible to their own perceptions.

7. Rumors people have heard about bad behavior, complaints from unverifiable and likely fake scene names, or a friend making a complaint on behalf of an anonymous friend are simply impossible to investigate or do anything about.

8. Two years ago, a group of people got together to lie about an innocent person assaulting someone.  They were people the consent folks at the event liked and trusted.  And then the truth came out.  It is never impossible that this is happening.  And it ruined what seemed like a pretty solid kink organization.   There are mitigating factors here and there but the bones of it are an organization people put thousands of dollars and untold hours into that brought a lot of people joy was ruined, because like eight people didn’t get what they want on something incredibly minor and broke the consent system, and the con, on purpose.  Again, the consent folks didn’t handle things optimally either, but when eight people are willing to tell the same lie it’s tough to imagine that ending well for them, their victim or the organization.  Consent organizers never want that to happen to us, but it’s unrealistic not to accept that it could.  

This stuff is complicated.   And again, I’m only writing on behalf of myself.  But these kinds of issues are what folks who seriously work on consent face.   I'm happy to talk about them.  But if you think you have an iron-clad, one-size-fits-all solution, you probably don't?

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Deadpool 2 review

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS! READ PAST THE BREAK WITH CAUTION!

It’s about time I reviewed this.

I put off reviewing this movie because of some barely-worth-mentioning drama, and it has been on the backburner for months. But after finally watching the Super Duper Cut, it’s time to break my silence and talk about this year’s biggest breath of fresh air and its funniest comedy.

Deadpool 2 is the Aliens of superhero movies. It takes the groundwork laid out by an already fantastic first film and just amps up everything: the humor, the action, the character interactions, all of it is just fine tuned and perfected. Where the first film was an impressive work for a first-time director, blending a romantic arc and an origin story together while delivering all the fun and laughs you’d expect from a character like Deadpool, this movie features a lot more impressive action, which is fitting since it’s given to us by the man behind John Wick and Atomic Blonde, while still delivering all sorts of gut-busting laughs and wonderful character interactions.

So what sort of mess has Wade gotten into this time? Well, after a life-changing event, Wade is down in the dumps and trying to figure out what to do with himself. In his attempts at straightforward X-Men style heroism he ends up being sent to jail alongside the superpowered kid he was trying to save, Russel. Russel soon ends up as the target of the time-travelling cyborg badass known as Cable, and after getting the shit kicked out of him Wade realizes his true calling: saving this kid from Cable. Armed with guns, katanas, a bigger budget, and his all-new X-Force team, can Wade hope to stop Cable from axing Russel?

The beauty of this film is, ultimately, how it manages to subvert expectations. A lot of movies lately have made being subversive into a big selling point; sometimes it works out really well and the movie is all the better for it - see Infinity War, a film that features the heroes failing miserably and ending on a shot of the villain contentedly relaxing after committing galactic genocide, the opposite of what you’d expect from a superhero blockbuster. Sometimes, it works poorly - see The Last Jedi, which features things going the opposite of how you’d expect due to bad writing and characters acting like idiots and trusting the shadiest people possible, the sort of idiocy we thought Star Wars had moved on from after the first two prequels. And then you have films like this, where everything is subverted for hilarity. And nothing in the world is funnier than how it subverts your expectations for Deadpool’s X-Force. Filled with unique and quirky characters like Shatterstar (who remains an alien from Mojoworld, meaning that Mojo is in fact canon in the X-Men cinematic universe. Put him in a movie, Fox) and big names like Bill Skarsgard as Zeitgeist and Terry Crews as Bedlam, not to mention the hilarious everyman without powers that is Peter, the film builds up and hypes their big skydiving scene, blasting “Thunderstruck” as they leap from the plane onto a convoy to save Russel from Cable…

...And then each and every one of them dies brutally, painfully, and horribly. And HILARIOUSLY, that’s the most important thing. I don’t think there is a funnier bit of black comedy in any other film, let alone a superhero film. Even funnier is that the invisible character, who has not spoken a word and who one could easily assume did not actually exist, has an amusing reveal right upon his death, which is the most hilariously wasteful use of an actor I have ever seen. The entire scene is just brilliant in its subversion of our expectations for a badass new hero team, helped for once by the advertising, which built things up so one would expect this team to stick around.

Of course, we have one survivor - Domino, played by Zazie Beetz, a mutant with luck-based powers. She’s one of the numerous highlights of this film, and she plays the character with the laid-back, rolls-with-the-punches attitude a character like Domino deserves. Frankly, I like her a bit more than her comic version. And speaking of new characters, let’s talk about the best new element of the film, Deadpool’s beleaguered badass bro-for-life, Cable. Played by Josh Brolin - complete with the requisite references to The Goonies and Infinity War from Deadpool - he is the ultimate straight man, his gritty, grim badassery contrasting to Deadpool’s zany, wacky bullshit. Of course, that’s not to say Cable gets no good laughs; there’s something to be said for a man who can growl “Dubstep is for pussies” with a straight face. I’m fully of the mind Cable is the best addition to the movie, and I’m praying we get even more of him and Wade interacting in potential sequels.

Then we have our special guest of the hour, the character we’ve all wanted in the X-Men universe, the one, the only, the unstoppable motherfucker to end all motherfuckers… IT’S THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH. And lord is he incredible, especially compared to the dipshit from The Last Stand. Sadly he does not utter “I’m the Juggernaut, bitch!” at all in the film, but he does rip Wade in half, confirm he’s Xavier’s half-brother, and threaten to turn Colossus into a cock ring, so it all evens out in the end. In this film, he actually FEELS unstoppable, and though he’s only onscreen in the third act, he definitely uses that screentime effectively, delivering the epic, ultimate smackdown between him and Colossus in what Deadpool helpfully informs us is the movie’s big CGI fight scene.

And speaking of Colossus, he’s even better here than in the first film. His interactions with Wade are hilarious and priceless, which is aided by Wade’s blatant crush on him - Wade at one point gropes his ass, and there is a romantic musical scene that calls back to a similar scene in the first film. He also gets a bit of character growth here, which is great and unexpected. Sadly I can’t say the same for Negasonic Teenage Warhead; she’s relegated to a bit part here, which is a damn shame since she was one of the highlights of the first film. On the plus side, not only is she revealed to be gay, but her girlfriend Yukio is absolutely adorable and charming… though, sadly, she also gets very little to do in the film aside from a cute running gag with her and Wade cheerily exchanging greetings.

Stuff like that is honestly the biggest problem with the film, and even then, the biggest problem is what amounts to a nitpick. Yes, it does suck that some of the characters are underutilized, but it’s hard to be too angry when the rest of the film is so gutbustingly hilarious and action-packed. One thing that did disappoint me a fair bit is Vanessa getting killed in the movie’s opening. Now, unlike many others, I’m not going to whine about “stuffing her in the fridge,” because I think that concept is so absolutely stupid and is used for literally every time a woman gets killed in a story, even if it makes sense for the story and progresses the plot meaningfully and in a well-done way. I don’t think this was awful or tacky, and regardless of anything else, the post-credit scene renders her death a moot point; still, I’m upset that she didn’t get to do anything in this movie aside from be a stand in for Lady Death. I would love if Vanessa got her comic book powers and fought alongside Wade, making them the ultimate power couple. It’s just mild disappointment, though much like with X-Force, it is a pretty subversive move to kill the love interest so abruptly and so quickly, especially when there was every indication Deadpool would get a happy ending… and then even more subversion comes at the end when Deadpool saves her (among many other hilarious moments) via the magic of time travel.

Aside from that, there’s not much else to complain about. The only other minor complaint is that the turn towards more serious elements isn’t always perfect, and some of the stuff with Russell could have been done better, but really, it’s just too hard to get worked up over the flaws. This is a fantastic, funny movie, and one of the best sequels I’ve ever seen. It’s bigger, funnier, flashier, and introduces so many more exciting elements into an already great series. This is how you make a superhero sequel, this is how you make an action-comedy, this is how you make one of the best movies ever. If you like Deadpool, if you like superheroes, if you like action-comedies, movies with great choreography, or love seeing a good subversive film, this is a movie you shouldn’t miss.

As for what version to watch, the Super Duper Cut or the theatrical cut… I have to say that the Super Duper Cut fleshes the story out a lot better and gives some much needed context, as well as adds in some new jokes that were cut from the original, as well as delivering callbacks a lot better and staying more cohesive… but I will say the theatrical cut had some much better jokes that were replaced with some less impressive takes in the Super Duper Cut. Still, the Super Duper Cut is the one I’d recommend watching, just because the story feels more fleshed out, and also because it features Deadpool trying to kill baby Hitler.

Also, I just want to say this: “Ashes” is a better Bond theme than the piece of shit theme song to Spectre.

[sebeth]

Legion of Super-Heroes #11

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

Legion of Super-Heroes #11, “Tenzil Kem Takes A Bite Out Of Crime”, by Tom & Mary Bierbaum, Keith Giffen, Craig Brasfield, and Al Gordon.

 The issue opens with an episode of “Mutal of Obsidian’s Wild Archaeology” starring Tenzil Kem of the Planet Bismoll.  Tenzil saves a fellow archaeologist from a mummy.

We switch to news bulletin from the Winathian Holocasting Corporation.  Citizens are urged to use extreme caution as Kivun Roxxas is thought to be in the area.

We receive an update on the wounded Legionnaires:

Believed Dead: Reep Daggle, Jo Nah

Extremely Grave Condition: Celeste Rockfish

Stable Condition: Bounty, Metk Ranzz

Allergic Reaction: Devlin O’Ryan

We return to Tenzil’s tenure as host of “Wild Archaelogy”.  Tenzil investigates the myth of “The Titan Presidents of Bismoll”: “Noble.  Dynamic. Loyal to their principles. Dedicated to democracy.  Evasive at press conferences.”

Tenzil and company are an archaeological dig in the Jersey District of Metropolis.

Tenzil claims they’ve discovered the “first known remnants of an Abraham Lincoln Manhole Cover” but is actually the giant penny from the Batcave.

Poor Tenzil has discovered a historical object of great value and has no idea!

Poor Bruce!  Mighty Gotham has degraded into a “district of Metropolis”.  I can hear Bruce’s “Nooo!” all the way in the 30th century!  

Tenzil’s team uncovers the giant playing card and the dinosaur that “confirms the Titan Presidents date back to prehistoric times”.

Professor Bob Finger heads up the dig – a nice nod to the creators of Batman.

Bob states Tenzil’s theory is “the most lame-brained, ill-informed theory I’ve heard in my entire professional life!”

Tenzil’s all “Eh, whatevs”.

Tenzil returns to the Bismollian Embassy where we discover he has a method behind the madness: He has received an encoded message from the Winathian contingent – ‘Operation: Popiscle” is a go.

It’s nice to see that the re-formed Legion, even with their limited resources, haven’t forgotten their imprisoned teammate on Earth.

The Calorie Queen, now Tenzil’s personal assistant, informs him that he has a stack of documents that still hasn’t signed itself and “the Archaelogists Society is screaming for your hide”.

Tenzil prepares for a new series: “a courtroom drama with stories that leap out of today’s headlines”.

Tenzil is one of the main characters that excelled in the “5 years later” series.  I love his dual role of wacky, bumbling fool but secretly an intelligent, scheming man.

Roxxas invades the Bloomfield Free Clinic on Winath to receive treatment for his injuries – much to the misfortune of the medical providers.

The “Fix It Brainy” list continues to expand:

The “Fix It, Brainy” List as of issue #11:

1)            Garridan’s Validus Plague

2)            Mon-El’s possession by the Time Trapper

3)            Mysa’s trauma

4)            Legionnaires wounded in Roxxas attack

Brainy has only resolved the second item on the list by this point.

We receive more extensive updates of the injured:

Mekt Ranzz:

Condition: Stable

2nd degree burns over 20% of body

Mild concussion

Right wrist fractured

Reep Daggle:

Condition: Critical

Massive blood loss

Shock

Recovery dependent upon resumption of shape-changing functions

Bounty:

Condition: Stable

Paralysis (believed temporary)

Moderate difficulty breathing

Cardiac arrhythmias subsiding

Unexplained scar tissue

No known patient records

Celeste Rockfish:

Condition: Extremely Grave

Severe cerebral lacerations and contusions

Note: Widespread cerebral hemorrhaging

Multiple skull fractures

Five broken ribs

Collapsed right lung

Massive internal hemorrhaging

No known patient records

Brainy muses over his patients: “Thank the Muses I convinced Reep to re-arrange his vital organs for defensive purposes.  Otherwise, he’d be an ex-Durlan.”

Querl wonders about Bounty: “What’s your game – what are you up to?”

Imra warns Querl that she told him to rest but now she’s going to insist.  She asks Querl if Celeste is going to make it.

“No.  I did what I could.”

Poor Querl – he’s the smartest man in the universe but not even he can overcome the limitations of the human body.

Tenzil meets with Shvaughn. We discover the reason behind Brek Banin’s imprisonment.

“And that’s why Brek’s been in jail for two years?  For holding a pep rally in a pizza hall?”

“Insurrection is a very serious crime.”

“You’re right, Officer Erin. The rule of law must be kept sacred in our pizza halls.”

Shvaughn and Tenzil use telepathic earplugs to have a secret conversation.  She warns Tenzil that Brek’s attorney and the judge are in Earthgov’s pocket.  However, Prosecutor Jakobi is fair and honest.

Circe has a fit because Tenzil has “accidently” thrown his jacket over the camera in Shvaughn’s office – preventing her from spying on the duo.

The Dominators inform Circe that they see no reason to fear “the Bismollian Buffoon”.

Shvaughn warns Tenzil to destroy the telepathic earplugs before he’s frisked on the way out. Tenzil solves the problem by eating the earplugs.

Shvaughn informs Tenzil: “They’re trying to establish the defendant’s mental competency.”

“Brek’s mental competency? Darn fool kid.  I warned him about wearing that purple costume with the fur in public.”

Brek is not thrilled with Tenzil as his lawyer.  By “not thrilled”, I mean he’s having a complete freakout.

“You?!  Represent me?  In court?!”

“I have my law degree.”

“But you’re trained in Bismollian law!  This is Earth law!”

“They’re basically very similar.”

“Really?”

“Just wherever Earth says ‘food’, insert ‘rocks’”.

Brek wonders if Earthgov will let him choose the means of execution.

Tenzil informs Brek: “Earthgov wants to put you away quietly.  My presence will mean big attention from the media – less chance of being railroaded.  Plus, if you act before midnight tonight, I’ll throw in an authentic replica Legion flight ring, absolutely free.”

Who can resist that offer?

Brek consents to Tenzil’s representation but muses to himself that the guillotine would be “kind of a classy way to go”.

Tenzil meets with Ms. Jakobi, Earthgov’s prosecutor.  In between the mutual flirtation, Jakobi warns Tenzil she can’t let Brek off unless Tenzil gives her a good reason.  And that Earthgov has moved the trial to tomorrow at 8 am: “Speedy trial and all that”.

We switch to a UPV Channel 4 News Bulletin.  We discover Khfeurb Chee Bez, aka Antennae Boy, is now a newscaster at UPV.  Antennae Boy debuted in Adventure Comics #305 – he was a failed Legion applicant.  A nice Easter egg if you recognize the character but the knowledge isn’t needed for the actual plot.  Khfeurb announces Roxxas has murdered the occupants of a medical clinic on Winath.   Roxxas’ recent spree has led to over three dozen deaths.

Tenzil’s defense of Brek is part of the new holo-series: “Tenzil For The Defense Starring Senator Tenzil Kem of the Planet Bismoll.”

Tenzil asks for a delay: “What’s the big hurry?  Polar Boy certainly isn’t going anywhere.  And if we wait, we won’t have to go head to head against the yodeling championships.  Which do very well in the ratings, as you know.”

The motion for delay is overruled because the judge has to rule on “whether Green Lanterns should be barred from Earth on Monday.”

“Strange that they’re only barred from Earth on Mondays, your honor.”

Neither the judge nor Brek appreciate Tenzil’s wit: “I don’t care what he says.  This is not worth the authentic replica flight ring.”

Tenzil’s defense consists of improvised chicanery consisting of costume changes and pie throwing.

Dirk, watching the case on a holo, feels Tenzil has no idea what he is doing and is simply stalling.

The Dominator assure Circe that the “Bismollian is useless”.  Circe’s not sure.

Tenzil confounds the judge into admitting Brek’s been denied his basic legal rights.  Prosecutor Jakobi states she has “no choice but to drop all charges”.

Tenzil, Brek, and the Calorie Queen head immediately to the Metropolis Spaceport – getting off planet is of the highest priority.  

Tenzil’s pleased they creamed the Yodeling Championships in the ratings.  Tenzil shares a kiss with Jakobi before fleeing Earth.

It’s too bad Tenzil and Brek couldn’t have kidnapped Dirk and dragged him off the planet – the man clearly needs some sense beat into him.

Holo Scene, “A Critical Look At This Week’s Entertainment”, reviews “Tenzil For The Defense”.

The issue ends with Jo being hurled through space.  Jo thinks he’s been transported to the other side of Winath – but a sign reveals he’s at the “Lyme Fields, Malden Precinct, Khundia District, The Dominion.”

Khunds and Dominators? A very bad place for Jo to be.

[tyrannuspitch]

hmm okay. thoughts.

i enjoyed it! but they’re trying to do a lot at once and it’s not entirely... coherent? lots of pieces that don’t quite fit. i mean to be fair (gestures to the state of the world) but still... slightly unsatisfactory. and just a bit too wacky all round. like they’re trying to compensate? ://

(the time jump might be part of the problem, i know they like to keep up with real time but. hm.)

everything abt jerry felt insensitive. i know the entire premise of the show is insensitive but... :/

similarly... hi writers yes hello i like your drama with about ten caveats but i do not want to hear your Actual Opinion on the police system. no one does. it’s not going to be good. that one scene in fear response was embarrassing enough

also wish we’d had more ainsley but i guess they might be keeping us waiting deliberately... i like the idea that she doesn’t know she did it, i rlly hope that’s what’s happening

otherwise! i like how dani can tell Something’s up and i like how ainsley seems like she doesn’t even care what’s happened. like, she’s either chill with murdering people, or with malcolm murdering people, or just... completely out of it on unprecedented levels. any of those could become v interesting character-wise

the conversation at the end was good. martin still doesn’t see ainsley as an equal and that will come back to haunt him. and whatever malcolm’s done... okay. so i’m not convinced by the thrill thing - we know malcolm is reckless but we also know he’s constantly walking the line, bc he’s obsessed with not crossing it but he regularly gets close, and i don’t think he’s going to just start ignoring it now - but the more basic idea of knowing something indescribable that most people don’t, of your perspective changing from having been through that, and of feeling like you’re now undeniably One Of Them (not that i think us/them is even a good mindset for this)... that’s interesting. i hope they go deeper with that

and malcolm’s definitely still grappling with that. like... trying it on, almost. testing his sense of identity? kind of embarrassing like he rlly sees any serial killer or witness and goes “is this a therapist” BUT seeing him go “i could be a killer” and trying to work out if he believes himself... interesting. but again, i hope we get to see that go deeper

oh also. pretty sure that the handshake at the end is the first time malcolm and martin have touched... god idek. maybe since the arrest??? (not counting the stabbing of course) (and they weren’t touching during the arrest itself, so it could be as long ago as the camping trip... could even literally be martin trying to get malcolm to stab someone... no i’m not letting this go)

[zeke-exiel]

“So Fuckstick™, where ya been the last 8 months?”

Fair warning this is probably going to be a bit cringy/sappy/stupid/over-the-top but fuck it dude there’s like maybe two people that follow me who are still active.

Life kind of took a pretty bad turn earlier this year due to a car accident I was in and I got into a pretty bad rut, which caused a lot of struggling with unemployment, socializing, and a fear that I was pretty much fucked for life. This kinda made me stop enjoying most things, and I could only think in the negative sense; and while I've always had my insecurities about Zeke I grew to hate pretty much everything about him. I know this is pretty normal in the RP scene, everyone’s got doubts about their characters but I just... couldn’t see anything good about him and started to fear talking to anyone on here because they probably hated him as much as I do/did. Long pauses between replies just led to me overthinking about what I typed and how I was just not wanted, I grew anxious and nervous about even having people see anything I had written and just completely shut down; the only viable option was to just run away from my problems like a coward and let them rot. Basically what i’m saying is I was far too concerned about my image and decided that no one would miss me if I left. Yeah I know, pretty stupid stuff, it’s like something you’d expect out of some high school drama. What I didn’t think about was that even though there’s maybe one or two people reading this at best, I still let them down and probably impacted some of their plans they might have had; or if i’m lucky, they might have missed me. People don’t like being abandoned and yet I just up and fucked off without a word; so i’m sorry if I wasn’t there to help when thing may have gone wrong. Moral of the story: I’m an asshole.

Yeah I know that “it’s just a fucking website calm down drama queen” but still, I made some friends on here along the way and in what little time we’ve probably actually talked I’d like to think that they considered me a friend; and you shouldn’t just leave people hanging.

Life may still be somewhat shitty and I don’t know where i’m going to end up, but recently I’ve tried to look on the bright side and that means it was time to give this another shot; start over fresh and just, ya know, have some fun writing about wacky kids with superpowers and scream about some cartoon on the internet.

[reviewinganything]

Reviewing Shows: Bungou Stray Dogs

I sure watched Bungou Stray dogs! Why did I watch Bungou Stray Dogs? Because, well, It kinda sucks, but in a fascinating way. Or at least in ways that seem like they might be instructive.

The thing about Bungou... the thing about BSD is it has poor tone control. It tries to blend a hyper-real grim mafia story, irreverent comedy, and cool action together. It does not manage this well.

Spoilers ahead, even though spoilers are a fake idea.

So BSD follows a sadboy orphan weretiger (Atsushi Nakajima) who helps out a drowning man (Osamu Dazai), then is in turn helped by the un-drowned man by being a little-bit press-ganged into working for the “Armed Detective Agency,” a para-governmental organization with a rare and valuable permit to operate with use of members’ super powers.

The premise set up in the first two episodes seems to be that we’ll be joining this wacky cast of characters in the detective agency as they solve crimes involving strange powers with their own strange powers. This is not the arc the show winds up following. Instead the show winds up involved with the Port Mafia (why is it the Mafia and not Yakuza anyway?), the local super powered criminal organization, and their open conflict with the detective agency. Then, in the second half of the show, it introduces a foreign criminal organization called the Guild which the Mafia and detective agency team up to fight.

Oh, I haven’t had a chance to mention that the show’s large cast of characters are mostly named for famous authors from the early 20th century. Every character with a super power — simply called abilities — is named after an author, and their ability is named for their most famous work. The allusions have only a superficial relation to their power, and virtually no impact on the themes of the show. The man named Hermin Melville can summon a spectral whale that can be cladded with iron to become a ship, because, well, Moby Dick was a whale, I guess, and the novel takes place on a ship. The character Mark Twain has two doll friends named Huck and Tom who help him to aim guns really good because ??? There isn’t much else to say about the use of these names because it really has little impact on the actual story; it’s just baffling, one set of arbitrary decisions among many.

As I said, BSD tries to blend moments of absurd humor, dark psychological drama, typical shonen action, and the flavour of a mystery or crime procedural. Audacious, though similar things have been done (Cowboy Bebop comes to mind, blending humor, drama, suave action, and ambiguously moral characters with former ties to criminal organizations well), but BSD bungles it.

For example, at the end of episode three Atsushi and two of his detective agency friends have a run in with the main muscle of the mafia, Akutagawa, and all three are impaled, if not also dismembered, by Akutagawa’s generally sharp darkness powers. The show spends a good several minutes emphasizing the desperation and panic Atsushi feels, along with fanning his “I cause nothing but trouble for people around me, and shouldn’t live” flames. This causes him to black out and go were-magical-tiger, fight evenly against Akutagawa for a bit, then their fight is cut short by Dazai’s ability to cancel abilities. Akutagawa calls off the attack, and has an amicable chat with Dazai over the lead in of the cheerful credits tune. Then the next episode reveals that the fatal wounds of Atsushi’s friends can be healed by the detective agency’s doctor, whose ability fully heals people, but only from the brink of death. Her sadistic enjoyment of hurting to heal is played for laughs.

On paper this doesn’t necessarily not work. But the show plays the drama so dead serious, and the humor so absurd it doesn’t come together as a gestalt. It forever feels like disparate elements being stitched together in one high contrast package. The grittiness of the psychological fear section doesn’t mesh with the empowerment and adrenaline of the super-power action (Atsushi heals himself and becomes invulnerable to things like bullets when a weretiger). Trying to portray the mafia as a ruthless villainous organization doesn’t gel with them also calling truce and chatting for a little while before walking off. Trying to raise the stakes and suspense of an action scene doesn’t gel well with a character who can magically and comedically heal people from fatal wounds.

Speaking of the Port Mafia and wanting it both ways, BSD tries to play this morally grey area, and it winds up breaking the show. The Port Mafia are clearly evil — they extort, they assassinate, they’ll nonchalantly kill dozens of innocents in their way —but we spend a good chunk of the show following their members escapades, and we’re clearly supposed to empathize with them.

There’s a hard break from the main story at the beginning of the second half of the show. For four episodes we watch a new character, Oda Sakunoske, as he follows an apparently traitorous member of the mafia. We’re introduced to him drinking in a classy bar with Dazai (back when he was in the mafia). He is the lowest ranked (yes, singularly low ranked, I guess) member of the mafia because he refuses to kill. Then at some point the enemy organization he’s looking into murders five orphans Oda had taken responsibility for after some other mafia killing spree.

Clearly this moment is supposed to make us feel sad, and sympathize with Oda when he makes it a suicidal quest for vengeance. But we spent all of a minute with the children, and Oda is already a man compromised by working with the mafia. Again, on paper there’s space for this sort of morally dark story telling. But the sheer earnestness with which it shows Dazai scream-mourning for the kids by the flaming wreckage is embarrassing. "Do you feel sad for this man? Are you sad five children are dead?” Nah man, not when they’re being used as a cheap emotional beat with 60 seconds of set up, dude.

So then after Oda’s four episode arc we enter the phase of the show where the Guild (all named for western authors) shows up and threatens to take over their city and the mafia and detective agency begrudgingly work together against them. I suppose the theme of Japan working together to fight off foreigners who want to profit off them is fair enough, even if it’s some sort of cultural allegory since they’re all named for authors, but I don’t get what associating half of the Japanese authors with an the bloodthirsty mafia really gets you. It doesn’t seem very well thought out.

The theme the show overtly ends on is one of wanting/needing acceptance of your friends/peers/cohort, and of trying to be a good person even if you’ve killed dozens of people. Which, huh. For the 13 year old whose power was used against her will by the mafia to assassinate 23 people, okay, I can understand where you’re coming from. It was against her will, she’s very young, she deserves a second chance. But when applied to Dazai, a man who apparently willingly worked for the mafia, and quit only because his friend died? Not to mention that Akutagawa, the mafia guy who kills several dozen dudes on screen throughout the show is the one who’s arc is completed when good-guy senpai acknowledges his strength. Uh???

Once again, it offers this sort of retribution with a hopefulness and clarity of intent that feels very out of place for the content of what’s happened. The denouement is a party at the detective agency. It’s all very fun and full of several gags, and it’s a tone that doesn’t fit the themes they’re trying to discuss. It’s like they either don’t trust the viewer to appreciate a show that settles in a mood for a while, or they don’t even know how to control the tone.

Ultimately Bungou Stray Dogs is lesser than the sum of its parts. The animation and music and sound are fine, parts of the plot are fine, some jokes are funny, some drama works, some action is cool, exploring the need for acceptance and of trying to do good despite your past are good, and using a dozen famous authors as loose jumping off point for characters is a bit high-school but fine enough in concept, but the parts wind up detracting from one another. Ah well, it was at least interesting enough for me to watch through.