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moon-swag-tourney · 1 year

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please tell me about your blorbos/myshows i have questions

these are all the series/characters i want to hear more about,,, don't fret if your blorbo isn't on here, some of them i just don't want spoilers for, and others are from things I'm already a fan of!

this is. kind of long bc im curious about a lot of things. but if you spot your guy in here feel free to send me an ask or respond to this!! also this is just in alphabetical order lmao

The main things I'm looking for are:

About the character

The premise of the series theyre in

Please assume this has spoilers, btw!

Aruru Otsuki - Revue Starlight

tbh I don't understand what kind of franchise revue starlight is so that's my first question. But I also see that a lot of people love her and i wanna know what's up with that!! i heard a lot about her experiencing potential found family trauma and that's always interesting to see

Bayonetta

this is kind of a weird one bc tbh bayonetta is rlly popular as is, and it's something i've been wanting to get into for awhile, so my main question is: is it inappropriate for minors or could i watch it and if so what's the best order/sequence to watch the games in??

Cure Moonlight / Yuri Tsukikaga - Heartcatch Precure

tbh im just gay on this one. but I saw a lot of love for her even when she had zero propaganda so i wanna know what makes her so beloved by the precure fans?? and tbh if the precure she's in isn't too long i'll probably watch it

Hisoka Mikage - A3!

I'm gonna let you guys on a secret. this dude is the reason I wanted to make this. he only had one submission but on top of being a long one the amnesia storyline just appeals so deeply to me please tell me how I can absorb info about him and/or watch canon events of him oh my god

Judith - Tales of Vesperia

i think i mentioned it in the ask about her but she's seem interesting!! and im always down for some sapphic storylines!! a lot of it is just that ive heard the tales of vesperia name but never really knew what it was, but off of the descriptions i do have i could enjoy it and wanna hear what exactly it's about?

Moonlight Cookie - Cookie Run

i've. tried to get into cookie run before. but i just couldn't bring myself to care. so i guess my question is can you guys please tell me about how she's a lesbian, as someone who has zero bias whatsoever (lying i am a lesbian) and also just what appeals to you about the story so i can maybe give it a second shot?

Sigma Klim - Zero Escape

listen im all for mastermind plots, even if I know the plottwist going into it. ive seen fanart of 999 from an artist i've admired for awhile and it looks like it could be interesting but i don't know what the series is about so please tell me if you don't mind,,

Sirius Gibson - Witch's Heart

im a sucker for games with different endings, and also a sucker for small indie games that have a lot of passion put into them. i'm not actually sure if that's what this, but that's what i assume it is, and it looks interesting enough to give a chance either way? but i don't

Ursula Callistis / Shining Chariot - Little Witch Academia

so uh. fun fact. one of my siblings actually tried to get me into little witch academia once! and then we never continued bc i guessed the plot twist of the teacher being shining chariot, but that was very early on before i'd really gotten attached to anyone. what im trying to say is if you can pitch the writing and/or characters of this that would be epic sldkjf

Vanitas of the Blue Moon - Vanitas no Carte

i honestly can't remember what appealed to me about em off the top of my head, but it mightve been that one post with the gifs going a bit more into the lore of the story? as of now im just a sucker for the aesthetic but i wanna hear more about the premise to see if its my kind of story sdljf

Yue / Yukito Tsukishiro - Card Captor Sakura

i actually have friends who are fans of ccs! well. friends of friends im not super close to but it still counts! i wanna hear more about them bc tbh i both think he could be interesting and im sure said friends would appreciate it :'D i also just don't know a lot about ccs premise though, if you'd like to offer that instead!

#mods questions #i don't. want or know how to tag this :'D

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algernoninwonderland · 1 year

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I think that the presence of male characters in Utena was a significant part of what prevented it from having a significant otaku dudebro fanbase

(also it was Too Fucking Weird for many of them but that's not the point of this post)

The absence of male characters in so many contemporary anime, from K-On to Revue Starlight (arguably Madoka also fits that definition because who even is Kyousuke?), really is a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, not having hetero romance thrown at you can be refreshing, and it may allow for some truly good character writing for these girls, sometimes (not always) it allows for Gender Stuff to happen and that's all well and good.

On the other hand, that absence of male characters allows (predominantly heterosexual) male viewers (and otakus in particular) to be much more possessive of these shows’ characters.

Since there’s no male character standing in the way between them and the characters, that possessiveness is much easier. Of course you also find that in Idol culture and Love Live! and all of these other shows come to mind.

If you ever look for doujins for any of these shows on a site other than Dynasty Reader (and I don’t understand why you’d ever want to do that), the quantity of faceless reader-insert male characters (which makes projecting oneself supposedly easier, I guess) truly is astounding. This is what so many of these fans want.

The people producing these shows, these franchises, are all plenty aware of that absence of male characters and what it implies for its audience. It’s not just a creative decision, it’s a business practice. It makes selling your product to adolescents and adults with disposable income that much easier.

Utena has boys and men. It tells an uneasy and oft uncomfortable story. You, as an audience member, are not really invited to possess these characters, the show has one or two things to say about possessiveness, too. I'm guessing that acted as some sort of repellent for a certain crowd. I am glad that it did.

It's been fascinating, watching people like Naoko Yamada and Tomohiro Furukawa walk that tightrope between selling a product and actually telling an uncompromised story about girls (and the tensions in Furukawa's work are much more salient in that regard).

The Bloom into You anime has a more diverse cast of characters and features plenty of homosociality, but since it is more grounded and some of its characters happen to be male, since Yuu and Touko are in what is explicitly a relationship, since they are not very moé, the BluRay sold well but it never made Bocchi money or RevStar money (which isn't to say that these shows are bad, they are really quite good, but they are also much easier to market to an otaku audience). Also yes, the anime landscape and its market have obviously changed significantly between Utena and K-On, I'll get back to that point in a later post.

#anime #otaku culture #reading hiroki kazuma again #also the galbraith article on skrs #utena #shoujo kageki revue starlight #k-on #moé #pmmm

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puddicure · 1 year

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I’m not tacking this on to the yuri post bc i won’t further bother OP with my additions but I wanna take a minute to address some tags from @doctorskeltal real quick -

For sure Sulemio is 💯 married, undoubtedly, but I can understand how my wording wasn’t entirely clear.

That particular paragraph/statement was talking about some people’s attitudes towards yuri as a Whole, not just Sulemio-

I was especially addressing the types of (exhausting) fans who say stuff like “this couple did not explicitly kiss on screen or explicitly say the phrase ‘I love you’ so it is not Definitively Real Gay.”

There was a yuri panel at a con a friend of mine attended last year where the presenter was cosplaying Madoka Kaname. During the panel the presenter called Revue Starlight and Lycoris Recoil “yuribait.”

That’s the type of shit I’m referring to here. The moving goalposts of “well if they didn’t say/do XYZ, then it’s not Really Gay. I didn’t watch it, but they don’t kiss so it’s not real” BS.

But yeah Sulemio is 💯 married

#pudditxt #replies

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bitchoftruth · 1 year

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re: revue starlight— have you watched the movie? i liked the anime well enough but it wasn’t until i watched the movie that i really *got* revstar. also idk ur familiarity with takarazuka but imo having an understanding of at least the basics really helps when it comes to interpreting the show. obviously not everything has to be for everybody but revue starlight is close to my heart and it’s one of those shows that does require a fair amount of cultural context that non japanese audiences don’t necessarily have. anyway if nothing else definitely watch the movie, it’s a masterpiece

Hey, thanks for the reply first of all. A lot of people I follow do like this show but no one I am actally friends with. So I kind of wanted to talkto someone about it, but i don't want to go to someone I barely know like "i dont like that thing you love explain yourself " I will be watching the movie, we literally finished the show less than 24 hours ago. I'm not familiar with takarazuka beyond just knowing what it is (I watched like, one play), but that makes sense. I actually read the manga (the live), which seems like a more direct adaptation of the stage play, and some things clicked more there for me. I then went on to watch like 25% of the stage play (I stopped, because I think the anime movie uses the same songs as the play?), and I think I prefer particularly the characterization there. Even though technically there is less of it. Honestly, a lot of my problems with it probably aren't fixable, and id argue that the anime does at some level need to stand on its own, to me it doesn't, but people clearly disagree! And generally people who I feel I would otherwise agree with, and when I read peoples meta posts about it im like, I want to get this out of the show that they are getting. That's why I am trying to look at the stage plays etc. I guess. I hope the movie will work better for me , not sure when we'll get to it.

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clacing · 2 years

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What's your opinion on Karen/Hikari and Mahiru/Karen/Hikari ?

Karen and Hikari are all I think about these days so I'm sorry anon but you just opened the floodgates

I need to stress that I went into the show pretty much entirely blind and I had no idea Karen and Hikari were characters at all, much less that they were the main characters and main ship. Going off the fandom I seriously thought Nana was the main character and that Maya and Claudine were the main ship. (Un)fortunately all you need to do to get me to ship something is to give me childhood best friends reuniting after being separated for years and having a fuckton of angst between them so uhhhh let's say I was invested right away and only got more and more invested as the series went on and right now I feel like exploding 'cause I expected there to be a lot of fandom content about them but there's only like. 10 posts total which I already reblogged. The Revstar AO3 tag has 2k+ fics and only 116 or so are about Hikaren. They're the least popular ship despite being the main one and I. don't get it. Where is the art where is the meta where are the rambling posts I am alone with my thoughts and I hate it

I guess the one thing I will say about them is that they feel pretty. Derivative. I don’t really know how to explain it but it’s like someone scoured my brain for everything I like in fictional ships and then just built upon that without really adding anything new, so it doesn’t feel like it has its own unique character or like there's anything it does better than other ships.

But still they hit especially hard for me because watching them felt like watching scenes out of my own life (which I realize now is also what Karen and Hikari felt watching Starlight, so there are Levels there). What got me curled up in a ball though was Hikari telling Karen that she was leaving because Karen was becoming too dependent on her (which she was) when actually it was Hikari who was scared she’d grow to live in Karen’s shadow if she stayed and that’s why!!! That’s why!!! The end of the anime means so much to me!! Because Karen took this system where only one person could stand at the top, took this tragic story that inevitably ended in parting, and changed it so she and Hikari could be together. That’s incredibly powerful and ngl I am just a bit upset at how much the movie walked it back.

I absolutely adore the movie. I think it’s a genuine cinematic masterpiece that everyone should watch. But I am slightly slightly miffed that the ending it gave Karen and Hikari feels almost entirely antithetical to the one they got in the series. The series said “Our story doesn’t have to end in parting” and the movie went “jk it totally does”. The series said “Us being together makes us stronger, and it’s what saved us” and the movie said “Actually you need to let go of all your bonds if you want to be successful, which is the only thing that matters”. And believe me I know I’m underselling it and it’s more nuanced than that but at the end of the day it did feel very bittersweet to me.

I understand that so much of Revue Starlight is about letting go and moving on and most of the time it did make sense - Futaba and Kaoruko breaking up was very much needed, Junna and Nana needed to go their separate ways for both of their sakes (but especially because Nana had to face her fear of change at some point), Maya and Claudine are. Well they’re physically in different countries now but their lives are very much tied together forever. But Karen and Hikari have already been apart all their lives, so I don’t get the point in separating them again. “They need to learn to be without each other” They already did!! For twelve years!!! And being with each other again made them better!! Hikari regained her lost brilliance and was saved from her own personal hell, Karen found her motivation again. The idea that all that is just a slippery slope to becoming too reliant on each other and dying as stage girls so that they can never really be together for too long is just. kind of upsetting? Given the note the anime ended up on?

I also despise that Karen is made out to be “obsessed” with Hikari because she fell apart while Hikari was gone but like. Hikari keeps leaving her with little to no explanation for months to sometimes YEARS at a time. Obviously Karen can’t stop being a stage girl just because Hikari isn’t there but also I??? can’t really blame her for having abandonment issues?? She found her best friend again after twelve years and fought the narrative to be able to keep her and then Hikari just dipped the moment they were done with Starlight. Of course Karen didn’t just roll with the punches and move on with her life. That’s not being obsessed that is a normal human reaction 😭

I could rant about my problems with the movie forever but the bottom line is their separation scene was done way too well so I can’t even be mad at it. Like ideologically I disagree with it but they just had to make it the most fucking insane scene I have ever watched. Everything from the direction to the music to the symbolism to the animation and voice acting just goes way too hard. “It’s Hikari [the light] that burns your eyes”?? The little choir that starts when Karen erupts into Position Zeros as Tokyo Tower breaks in half?? I am not the same person I was before. I will forgive them anything for this one scene

Okay FINALLY getting to Mahiru/Karen/Hikari: I really like their trio dynamic but I don’t ship it romantically, and yes some of it is out of spite lmao ‘cause there’s already so little Hikaren content and sometimes I’ll scroll down, find something that seems to be Hikaren fanart, only to then see that Mahiru is also there for some reason. And I mean no offense, the art is great and everyone is free to ship what they want, it just gets frustrating at times. But yeah I just think it’s clear that Karen doesn’t like Mahiru back and that she only has eyes for Hikari. I do like the idea of Mahiru and Hikari though ‘cause the few interactions they’ve had were so fun. Imagine being Mahiru and just chilling with the girl you have a crush on and one day her childhood best friend who she’s clearly in love with turns up after twelve years and decides she’s going to move in with you two. She also keeps catching you pining for your crush and trolling you about it. I would have ended it right there. But Mahiru does grow to enjoy Hikari’s company a lot and she seems supportive of her and Karen so I’m glad! I think Mahiru deserves happiness I’m just on the fence about it being with Karen and/or Hikari

#the way it took me two full days to type all this up lmao #also to be clear i'm like. only jokingly angry about most of these things #and i know i'm misconstruing some stuff i'm still in the bargaining stage

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pippenpaddlopsicopolisthethird · 4 years

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Top 5 anime you think are criminally underrated!

This is a really good question, and it was VERY difficult to keep myself to only 5. These are all anime that I think deserve a much wider viewership! (Plus five more!)

I ended up spending waaayyyy longer on this than I thought, I can’t imagine how much I would have written if you’d said top 10. I can literally talk about anime forever. Here’s some I wholeheartedly recommend.

1. Shojo Kageki Revue Starlight (Action, drama, romance)

This is my newest love, as of yesterday, when I binged the whole thing. The best way I can describe it is by mashing up other anime. Take Revolutionary Girl Utena, iron out about three layers of metaphor, and trim off all of the dark themes related to the Rose Bride. Then throw it in a blender with Madoka Magica and Love Live!, add half a cup of Gay Concentrate, and serve up the result: A character-driven drama about girls at a performing arts school, who settle their differences in magical-girl-fantasy duels styled as impossibly gorgeous theatrical stage-combat musical numbers. Beyond the flash and high concept, there’s a well-written cast, solid emotional core, and really engaging plot.

2. The Eccentric Family (Drama, comedy)

This show is my favorite genre of fantasy; mythical creatures living in the modern world, right under humans’ noses. In this series, humans only know tanuki as the cute little raccoon-dogs, but tanuki are really sentient shapeshifters whose goals are to outsmart the humans who live in the cities, pester the tengu who rule the heavens, live a life of freedom and trickery, and not end up on the inside of a hunter’s trap. The story follows a family of a mother and four sons whose widely-respected father was killed to end up in a human’s hot pot, as they try to enjoy their lives, live up to his imposing reputation, and unravel the increasingly suspicious circumstances of his death.

I have called this one “deceptively light-hearted” when describing it. My friend got halfway through the first season and came back to me with the verdict, “consider me fucking deceived.” This show has weight and does not pull its emotional punches, but neither does it ever stumble into becoming grimdark. Its worldbuilding is solid and the characters are all fantastically developed. Plus I wrote a whole post about one of the main antagonists(?) who I hadn’t even mentioned here.

3. Dennou Coil (Mystery, sci-fi)

Dennou Coil is a masterclass in worldbuilding, in my opinion. It’s a near-future sci-fi world, basically if Google Glass had taken off and become as common as cell phones are today. Many people don’t see the real world, they see the virtual textures of the world as they’re rendered through the glasses. Kids in one city have learned to mess around with codes, collecting tradeable fragments that break off the edges where the system glitches, chasing viruses that hide in pockets of obselete code in abandoned areas of the city where the software doesn’t get updated often. They spend their time after school saving virtual pets from being accidentally deleted by the city’s antivirus, trading tall tales about kids who get caught by the antivirus and get their glasses bricked, and spinning urban legends about ghosts waiting just behind anything that’s visibly rendered, waiting to steal kids when they least expect it. Every detail they introduce is critical to laying the foundation for the mystery that forms the show’s plot.

Everything about this world feels real in a way I’ve never seen in a sci-fi anime. It’s all grounded in a clear understanding of programming, and lives by show-don’t-tell. The stakes aren’t life-and-death; the kids tagging glitches like graffiti to distract the city’s antivirus software are only at risk of ruining their glasses, at least at first. The plot and escalation is perfectly-paced, and the mystery is so satisfying to piece together as it unfolds.

4. ID:Invaded (Sci-fi, action, thriller, murder mystery)

This show is like Psycho-Pass meets Silence of the Lambs. To catch a serial killer, you need to think like a killer, and nobody does that better than killers. A contraption called an “id well” can manifest an uncaught killer’s unconscious mind as a bizarre, unique, deadly terrain driven by stream-of-consciousness, and convicted murderers turned “detectives” dive into these wells to try to solve the mystery each well presents and discern the identity of other killers before they can strike again.

This show is a tightly-written, perfectly paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller. The two layers of mysteries inside and outside of the wells balance high-octane, big-screen action with tight, tense realism. Plus the soundtrack is an absolute banger.

5. Ping Pong the Animation (drama, sports)

Imagine if I told you that there was a show that, in 11 episodes, unpacked how patterns of relationships are repeated across generations, how the tradeoff between talent, practice, and who you are outside of your achievements can scar the spirits of kids, and what it feels like to wrestle with the tension between your core understanding of yourself and how others expect you to be. Imagine if I told you that every major character goes through massive restructurings of their fundamental sense of self and how they see others, and that every single arc comes to a well-rounded and satisfying end. Imagine if the animation style pushed the limits of both realism and absurdity, landing somewhere between rotoscoping and caricature, pushing the impact of action and stretching the character’s expressiveness without betraying faces that are animated like real human people. Imagine that it had a dub so fantastic that it sits next to Baccano and Cowboy Bebop in my mind, shows where the cast threw themselves into their roles with their whole hearts.

Now imagine that I told you that this story is told in the context of high schoolers playing ping pong, and that it’s arguably the best show I’ve ever seen. Go watch this show.

#my posts #my asks #anime recommendations #shojo kageki revue starlight #the eccentric family #dennou coil #id:invaded #ping pong the animation #i understand that the obvious answer includes baccano but everyone who follows me knows abt it by now #ones that almost made the cut:#acca-13 and Sora no Woto and Stars Align #and Princess Jellyfish and Sarazanmai and Kakushigoto #yupuffin

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mono-blogs-art · 2 years

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hi mono! I was hoping you could help me with a revue starlight question that’s been bothering me. So, who exactly knows about Nana and her time loops? I know Junna for sure, perhaps Karen and Hikari if I remember the anime correctly, but anyone else? I know that there might be discrepancies between the different media, but I’ve always wondered this because I’m curious how the others would handle this info/how Maya feels about being beaten for the position of top star some sixty-ish times lol

Dear anon! This made my gears turn in all the ways as I frantically tried to remember every instance of Nana's timeloops being mentioned. Anyone is very welcome to add to this post or to correct me. I also got input from trusted mutuals @butchlesbianfumiyumeoji @flibbityflob and @middsummmer who especially know their starira lore better than I do, but it's very possible we still missed something.

The short answer is: Yes, only Junna knows.

The longer answer is: ... shrug? It might be possible that other characters have caught on?

You're absolutely correct in saying that there are discrepancies between the different media of the franchise. For example, in the OG media of Revstar AKA the stage plays, Nana doesn't timeloop at all. She does allude to maybe wanting to manipulate time in some way, and expresses anxieties towards growing up/not being able to relive her most treasured memories, but the revues we see in #1 are the first ones she goes through, AKA she has never been Top Star before. Re:Live the game takes place after the events of the main anime series, so at a time after the timeloops have ended but have definitely existed. However, it's weird connecting anime and game because the timelines don't match up at all (especially not after Gekijouban came out). So I think it's a bit questionable to make conclusions about "canonicity" (???) for the entire franchise based solely off of the game, or any other media for that matter. In short, Revue Starlight's different media, though they may overlap and sometimes reference each other, mostly have their own forms of "canon".

These disclaimers out of the way, let's look at some characters who do or may know about the loops.

Junna: The only character who canonically, in text (anime episode 9), finds out that Nana used her Top Star powers to trap everyone around her in an actual timeloop. (The fan theory that Nana's loops lasted for around 60 repetitions is derived from someone (I think on reddit, but I can't find the original post on short notice) who watched episode 7 frame by frame and counted the amount of lines that quickly fly by the screen, coming out to a number between 60-70, and then concluded that that must be the exact amount of times Nana relived. I don't personally think this is true, I think this is probably just an arbitrary number of lines put in there to show that she timelooped for a fucking long time, and at the end of the day the exact number of loops is irrelevant, though it is funny if the number is higher.)

Hikari & Karen: Both have direct confrontations with Nana (ep 8 and 9 respectively) in which Nana mentions her reenactments. However, the both of them don't really ask any further, it's just kind of vague if they understand what Nana is really saying. IMO, they don't manage to put 2 and 2 together, so it's a no from me.

Maya: Maya is interesting, and this is where Re:Live comes into play.

This does imply that Maya may have caught on, but we don't know to what extent. It's still kind of a no from me.

There might be other characters, especially Mahiru who also has a direct confrontation with Nana in the Arcana Arcadia story arc, but IMO it all just... stays kind of vague? And just saying "reenactments" or having an edgy line about "no matter how many times we do this" isn't necessarily enough for me to conclude that the other characters know the full extent of what Nana did. Unless it's Junna, who gets explicitly told to her face that Nana repeated that year over and over again and later discussed it with Nana, I wouldn't assume any other character would just come to that conclusion by themselves.

Sorry if this answer is kind of unsatisfactory, I'd also love if we got some more explicit reactions to characters learning of the timeloops because... gestures at JunNana that shit fucks you up and I love drama <3 Especially for Maya, it would be soooo fucking funny lmao she already threw the most hilarious hissy fit over being beaten by Hikari once so. I think we missed out

#asks #revue starlight #answered #anonymous.#daiba nana #big angsty banana

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vanquishedvaliant · 4 years

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The sidedish is scrolling your blog and not finding you talking about new anime

I must not be hip enough to recognize precisely what you’re getting at by ‘sidedish’, but I just don’t usually post it much on tumblr unprompted anymore because writeups are a pain, they don’t usually get much traction, and I’m more than satisfied talking about it in discord with people that are actually going to listen and respond.

I DO have thoughts on new anime I can serve if it’s that in demand, though.

Here’s what I’m watching this season with some initial reaction ratings based on the first couple episodes

New this season;

Wonder Egg Priority 10/10

UraSekai Picnic 10/10

Kumo desu ga, nani ka 8/10

Kemono Jihen 9/10

Hortensia Saga 7/10

Soukou Musume Senki 7/10

Gekidol 6/10

Sequels;

Cells at Work 9/10

Cells at Work: Black! 9/10

Uma Musume Pretty Derby 10/10

Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken 8/10

Log Horizon 8/10

Dr Stone 10/10

Continuing from last season;

Higurashi ... Gou 10/10

Hanyou no Yashahime 6/10

Jujutsu Kaisen 10/10

I’m also watching the original Higurashi in between off days to catch up to where Gou is, since I’d never seen it before and it’s clear I’m not getting the full story in Gou anymore without it.

Deeper thoughts under the cut.

Wonder Egg Priority and Urasekai Picnic are the clear AOTS contenders. Both are at once extremely superficially similar but very different in practice, and both bring something unique and charming to the table.

Urasekai is extremely notable at being a well executed supernatural adventure anime that is also a yuri; as much as I love pure romances like Bloom into You or Adachi and Shimamura, it’s very rare that we get anime with lesbian main characters or WLW romance where the romance itself isn’t the focus, that includes a serious, intriguing plot alongside the elements of romance. You know, like straight people get without a question every single story ever.

It’s got this very classic cryptid / SCP / otherworld adventure feel and has the right comedic and tension beats to be quite good, though its long term impact will be determined by what kind of further message it has.

Wonder Egg Priority immediately comes off with extremely powerful vibes in the vein of things like Flip Flappers, which I mean in the highest compliment. A surreal, metaphor-filled story of dreams and desires and well laid subtext, with colourful, exotic action and a snappy pace. This one’s extremely interesting to me, and its first episode was masterfully efficient in setting up its premise both aesthetically and thematically.

The real test for Wonder Egg will come with time; this is a story that trades heavily in meaning; so it’ll have to run longer and come to a conclusion to really test what kind of impact it’ll have. For now, I’m VERY interested and cautiously optimistic.

Spider Isekai is a charming twist on the typical flood of fantasy game / isekai stories placing our protagonist at the extreme low end of the power curve, and quite UNLIKE Slime Isekai or most others on the market like last season’s Kuma Bear, this one seems intent on keeping her there rather than immediately granting her insane godlike powers and thrusting her back above the curve.

The parts of the show that focus on the spider herself are lovely; there’s a real tension and sense of stakes in her struggle to adapt, slowly getting used to her new body and gaining levels and abilities, making even simple conflicts against frogs or lizards seem life threatening and serious, giving us a real reason to root for her.

On the other hand, the show frequently switches focus to... the entire other classroom of isekai’d children which is by far less interesting. There’s potential in there somewhere for a story about mass isekai’d kids adapting, but other than some details like one girl being gender swapped, and another being the class pet, there’s just really not much interesting about them at the moment and these sections just feel like a waste of time while waiting for the Spider to come back.

I don’t doubt that they’ll eventually meet up and have their stories intertwine... but at the moment, I don’t think I actually want that to happen. We’ll see where this one goes.

Kemono Jihen took me by surprise, and I wasn’t planning to watch this one unti l saw some screencaps. But the first two episodes have been outstanding, giving us a fantastic supernatural mystery detective agency plot and characters with real emotions, eye catching action scenes, and a compelling mystery.

Definitely looking forward to more of this one.

Hortensia Saga seems like a fairly typical fantasy war chronicle RPG story. It feels very in the vein of early to mid era fire emblems, and I happen to like anime like this that are solidly executed, like Grancrest Senki a while back. It’s doing a good enough job so far to keep my interest. Nothing game changing here, but a decent offering.

Soukou Musume Senki; this one also comes across in the standard seasonal fare of superpowered teenagers fighting aliens, this time with power armor and mild isekai elements. The monster designs are good this time, and the second episode brought us some nice moral / political dialogue showcasing some level of self awareness and depth. It’s fun so far.

Gekidol this show wants really badly to be compared favourably to Shoujo Kageki Starlight Revue. They’re hamming up the theatre tropes, putting out specials, sliding in secret background lore. First episode was fairly interesting, but the second seriously dropped the ball with its half assed Idol episode, and incredibly tone deaf play at a heartwarming moment.

I’m gonna keep watching this one for now, but it really needs to prove to me it has some meat and isn’t going to just keep borrowing tropes from other shows to lend it superficial “deep” merits.

For sequels,

Cells at Work is as cute, wholesome, and info-taining as ever. I think the OP this time is missing a little oomph, but the show itself is still going strong.

Cells at Work: Black! is offering a new take on it with a slightly darker and mature setting with a stressed out alcholic smoker at risk of contracting STDS, with a little bleaker tone and harsher stakes. It relies on the background of the original Cells at Work to work both tonally and narratively, but with that support it provides something quite interesting and unique.

The usual Cells at Work metaphors and humanization of bodily processes are just as excellent as always, and I’m giving special credit to the sketch about alcholic liver damage being compared to drunken abuse of host club employees, displaying a perhaps obvious if natural juxtaposition of the physical and emotional damage the substance abuse is causing to both the body itself and others around them.

Uma Musume; Horse girls! Racing! Just as surprisingly excellent as last season, giving us a fantastic sports story anime with charming characters and balanced stakes, with a good helping of humour. Easy recommend.

Slime Isekai: This one’s still going strong but has diverged from it’s original premise quite seriously. There’s nothing intriguing about this being an isekai about being reincarnated as a slime anymore; and he’s way too overpowered for any of the combat to have any stakes. What it DOES have however is a fascinating look at the birth of a fantasy nation of monsters, politics, science, and social development of a varied and multicultural monster nation. And THAT I’m still in for.

I will seriously never forgive them for making Bobcut Lizardgirl into a regular ass human though. It has a serious problem with de-monsterizing its character designs and seriously reducing their appeal.

Log Horizon the true king of MMO isekai is back after 7 long, long years, and it’s jumping STRAIGHT into the depth of its political intrigue and deep understanding and development of the socio political issues inherent to its setting. Somewhat dry as ever, but truly fascinating for those looking at a more serious exploration of what the concept of living in a game actually means.

Dr Stone: I don’t have to hype this up, do I? Mad science speedrunning the development of human culture from the stone age up! This time they’re going to war! They made cell phones and cup ramen out of rocks! It’s heartwarming, emotionally rich, entertaining and informative, and funny as all hell. A classic for sure.

Higurashi. Everyone knows higurashi. Thing is, I just never watched it. We thought Gou was going to be a remake, but then it ended up being Rebuild of Evangelion, so I stopped at episode 12 or so and went back to watch the original. Classic horror mystery.

Yashahime. Yikes. This one’s... well. I don’t have any especial nostalgia or affection for Inuyasha like many people, but Yashahime is clearly a very middling approximation of it. There’s things to like here, the main trio of characters are all great designs, Moroha standing even head and shoulders above them as a truly endearing goblin child, and it really does feel in ways like 90s toonami fare. But there’s some lack of depth going on here, and I just don’t even know what to say about the Sesshoumaru pedophilia thing. Extremely questionable plotting.

#Anonymous #TFWI #anime #anime recommendations #seasonal anime

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animebw · 4 years

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Binge-Watching: The Tatami Galaxy, Episodes 4-8

In which a million trains of thought collide all at once and I do my best to piece together the fascinating puzzle this show presents me with.

Connection Chaos

I try to keep a fairly measured pace while writing for this blog. I only have enough time to watch and discuss so much material in a day, and there’s a fine line between not having enough to talk about and having so much to talk about that I waste the entire day getting a post out. For some anime, that line is thinner than most, and some shows are just so densely layered that I can only get through a small chunk of episodes before I start feeling like I have too much to talk about at once (Hello, Revue Starlight). And, of course, some shows are just so damn good that I don’t mind spending hours on end organizing my thoughts and working my wrists to exhaustion on doing them justice (Exhibit A, every other Gintama post I wrote). But it’s the rare show that makes me keep watching well beyond what should have been my stopping point, not just because it’s good, but because I just can’t stop wanting to know more. Five episodes of The Tatami Galaxy is way too much to talk about in a single chunk; it’s too damn complex. By all accounts, I should have stopped myself from going past three. But the more details this chunk of episodes revealed to me, the hungrier I became to see more of the complete picture, and the further I pushed myself to keep revealing it bit by bit. Hell, part of me still isn’t satisfied by stopping here and wants to keep going until I can piece together the entire damn mystery. But I gotta stop here, or else my brain’s gonna burst trying to figure out how to write a coherent analysis of literally everything going on here.

Point is, The Tatami Galaxy is the kind of riveting puzzle-box that’s almost impossible to put down, where you can so easily get lost in trying to solve it that common sense falls by the wayside. It really does remind me of Higurashi in that way, especially considering the similar ways it builds connections and recursions between its time loops. But whereas Higurashi was a fairly slow-burning affair that revealed information at a deliberate pace, The Tatami Galaxy never stops bombarding you with new clues, new objects of interest, new morsels of meaning to chew over. To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure what I make of it as a show; with how many different things it has going on, I’m spending all my effort just to understand its instruction manual. But it is god damn fascinating trying to unravel all its twisting threads. This is easily the most purely intellectual anime experience I’ve had in a while, and if nothing else, it’s a reminder of how rewarding it can be when I tackle a show that seriously challenges me. So let’s dig right into the gristly meat and see just how much of this puzzle we can piece together thus far. Here’s hoping we don’t explode our brains in the process.

Proxies All the Way Down

The most concrete information we have on what’s really going on here comes in episode 4, as we finally get some information on what’s going on with the big-chinned god Higuchi. Apparently, he’s one of the latest proxies in a way that started long ago, handed down through generations of master and student to settle a score that’s long since been forgotten. His rival? None other than the asshole director Jougasaki from episode 2. They’ve been butting heads for quite some time now, and they’ve both begun the process of finding a new student to replace them as their proxy. That’s where Akashi comes in; she’s one of Higuchi’s students, possibly preparing to take up his pointless battle. And Ozu’s the student planning to succeed Jougasaki, although he’s currently acting as a double-agent undercover in Higuchi’s camp. But his actual goal’s far more ambiguous; whoever he’s fighting for, he seems happy simply to cause chaos in his wake. And for as much as he’s been dragging Watashi down, he seems equally dedicated to helping him along his way. He rescues Watashi from the smiley honeybee death cult in episode 5, he covers for his escape right afterward, and he helps him out after his near-disastrous experience with Hanuki in episode 6. He doesn’t even carry on the pen-pal prank to the point where Watashi becomes trapped in it; Akashi was the one who kept it going after Ozu got bored with it. It’s even implied in episode 6 that Ozu might... be in love with Watashi? Possibly? Certainly, his invisible presence wasn’t reacting to positively to Higuchi’s girlfriend spilling his secrets to Watashi. And it would explain why he’s so obsessed with the idea of them being bound by the black thread of fate, sinking to the bottom of the ocean together.

And that’s where things really get interesting; how many agents of change are influencing the loops? The more loops we go through, the more it seems to indicate that the events taking place across them are mostly the same. There are constant references across these episodes to things that happened in previous loops, but discussed as if they took place in the current one. Ozu always hits Jougasaki with that expose documentary, Akashi is always working on that Birdman plane, Jougasaki always has his love doll, and so forth and so on. Events play out in-universe exactly the same way every time; the only different is what path our POV character takes through his rose-colored campus life, and thus, what part of these events we’re able to see at any given time. Watashi’s choices are ripples in the water that make subtle changes in where exactly everyone ends up and how. He’s like a fish swimming through a stream; the stream goes its own way, but his presence influences its flow. Ozu and Akashi, for example, always seem to find their way into Watashi’s life, no matter what path he goes down. So perhaps Watashi isn’t just an agent of change, he’s the particular agent of change Higuchi is looking for? And Ozu and Akashi, as Higuchi’s disciples, are always adjusting their own lives to fit in with his, in hopes they can influence him down the path their master desires? I dunno, it’s a theory, at least. Because whatever the case may be, it’s probable that Watashi’s the locus for why this surreal situation is even occurring in the first place.

Three Ways to Purgatory

Which brings us to another all-important question: how aware is Watashi of all the things he experiences across the loops? Because it’s really starting to look like he doesn’t just reset to zero at the beginning, completely unchanged by his latest trials. He has brief memory flashes of things that happened in other loops, such as setting off fireworks at happy couples out of spite. He even seems to recognize that he’s been to the old fortune teller multiple times, and that their repeated conversation is growing more and more abridged so as to not be repetitive for the audience (one of many winking moments that made me chuckle across these episodes). But more importantly, regardless of how much direct memory he’s transferring across the loops, he actually does seem to be learning from his misadventures. When he opens episode 5 with his usual demand of asking who’s responsible for his sorry situation, he acknowledges, for the first time, that it’s his fault. Well, okay, he says it’s probably his fault, and just this once, but still, that’s progress! And then, he starts the very next episode with his biggest step forward yet: not hedging all his bets on one damn club. For the first time, he recognizes the danger of pidgeonholing himself into a situation that might not pay off, and he diversifies his interests between multiple pursuits to try and figure out what suits him best. That’s a huge fucking step forward, and it gives him enough options to actually repeat the loop he’s in for three iterations until he once again runs out of options.

On that same topic, Episodes 6 through 8 provide a decent guide for figuring out all that continuity stuff I mentioned above. However the perspective shifts between the events of this threefold loop and whichever side of Watashi’s life is in focus at the time, Jougasaki still gets his perversity thrown up on screen by Ozu, who’s still doing it as part of Higuchi’s proxy war with the dude, and Akashi’s still on that same team. It’s not just the same events from multiple perspectives across these three episodes, it’s the same events from multiple perspectives across the entire show. And it’s further evidence that no matter what situation Watashi ends up in, he just keeps running into the same problems. All three of his would-be love interests in this trypitch are unrealistic fantasies for him; a “loose” older classmate he could take advantage of while drunk, a literal lifeless doll he can project any desires on to, and a pen pal who he can present himself to as far greater than he really is. They’re all so attractive to him precisely because they’re so unreal; they’re perfect fantasies that he can imagine himself excelling in, with no risk and no consequences. But the instant all three of them present him with the opportunity to make them real, they crumble into pieces, because they’re dreams he could never live in reality. He could never take advantage of a girl drunk, an inanimate object is a poor receptacle for perverse desires, and his pen pal was nothing more than a prank that got too far.

It’s a pretty revealing series of failures of Watashi’s part, because they all lay bare the root of his issues: he’s scared to make his dreams reality. He can happily indulge in the fantasy of being popular, beloved, the most eligible bachelor on campus, but actually pursuing any of those goals is too scary. There’s too much risk of failure, of embarrassing yourself, of coming up short and regretting ever trying at all. So he half-asses everything and waffles his way through campus life over and over again, devoting himself to singular pursuits in hopes they’ll fill the void of an actually meaningful life, claiming that no, of course he’s in this for the art, really, he couldn’t care less about the beautiful girls he’s sure to meet, but if they were to throw themselves at his feet for being so talented, well, who is he to stop them? It’s the most cowardly way he could possibly live his life. Even his attempt to retreat entirely into a realm of non-threatening niceness only reveals itself to be one more imperfect reality, even before they turn out to be a smiley honeybee death cult; when you’re obsessed with never rocking the boat, you create a space where nothing can truly move forward.

And in the background of all that turmoil? Who other than Akashi, a flesh-and-blood woman who gets along well with Watashi in person and seems like she wouldn’t be opposed to the idea of them becoming a little closer. She’s the realest chance at a real relationship Watashi has... so, of course, she’s the one interest he can’t even begin to pursue. By the end of episode 8, even he has to acknowledge what Ozu’s always needled him about; the problem’s him. It’s his inability to take a stand, to reach out and try to make something concrete out of his life. Whatever path he takes, as long as he keeps making those same mistakes, he’s just gonna keep ending up at the exact same place.

Seizing the Rose

Still, for all the shit I’m giving Watashi, I’d be remiss to pretend he’s not compelling in his screw-ups. We were all young and dumb once upon a time; hell, I’m still young and dumb, and I’m only a couple years older than Watashi. It’s hard as shit to figure out who you want to be, and there’s a lot about Watashi’s hang-ups and uncertainties that hits pretty close to home for me. I can have so much trouble figuring out how to join a conversation where everyone else is on the same page, what are the rules on when it’s polite to add your voice to the chat? When is it okay to stake out your own identity and when is it better to let the flow of the groupmind carry you along? Heck, as someone currently learning Chinese, Watashi’s difficulty speaking English while his classmates converse around him was hilariously relatable. My mind just cannot keep up with the speed of spoken foreign language sometimes; I’m too busy try to mentally finesse every last bit of grammar and syntax, all but ensuring the conversation moves on without me. But as Hanuki rightfully points out, sometimes, you just have to leave the second-guessing behind and jump right into the think of things. Whether it’s learning a foreign language, forming a relationship or friendship, or simply pursuing something you enjoy doing, the only surefire way to make progress is to try. No matter how awkward or embarrassing or painful it is, all you gotta do is keep moving forward until you’re experienced enough to get it right.

And it looks like Watashi might finally figured that out for himself. Because when he triggers the loop’s reset at the end of episode 8, he’s no longer whining about how it’s all Ozu’s fault or he’s certain he would have had better luck if he just chose his clubs differently. This time, his statement of purpose is that he wants to reach for life and grasp it with his own hands. This time, it looks like he’s finally ready to throw his pride to the side and play the goddamn game. And with Ozu’s leering face projecting from the clock as it turns back, it looks like we might have finally reached the definitive loop. This is gonna be the moment of truth, when we finally figure out exactly what’s going on and Watashi finally figures out how to steer his life the way he wants it to go. And I can’t wait to see how this madness shakes out when all is said and done.

Respect the Greats

And now, since I couldn’t figure out a way to naturally weave this in with the rest of my analysis, let’s close out this post with another tribute to Masaaki Yuasa’s incredible sense of style. This show may be the best use of his talents I’ve seen yet, with some of the most audacious, dynamic, cleverly realized uses of his surreal, stoner-vision visual tics out there. Here, in no particular order, is a list of moments from across these episodes where his magic really shined through:

-The blackout/blue face outline aesthetic to convey the darkness of Higuchi’s hideout in the beginning of episode 4.

-Higuchi’s mesmerizing song sequence, a masterwork of dynamic movement and momentum.

-The perfect smiling drones of the honeybee death cult going all multicolor and electric-shock explosive when they let their defenses down and spill the ugliness in their hearts.

-English being so disorienting to Watashi that he pictures his fellow classmates blasting the language out of their mouths almost like they’re firing it from a gun.

-The wild and wibbly animation when Watashi gets drunk with Hanuki. Really, is there any better use for Yuasa’s talents than animating the world as seen through the eyes of someone absolutely tripping on drugs or intoxicants?

-The black of Watashi’s attempted escape with the lifeless doll punctuated by stark white flashes of lightning.

-The turning pages of a book treated like a stormy sea.

Odds and Ends

-...those are Legos in the hotpot. Sure. Why not.

-”Rock-Paper-Scissors!” GOD FUCKING DAMMIT THAT WAS A PERFECT DIFFUSAL OF TENSION I’M CACKLING

-”I was constantly on the verge, like the Cuban Missile Crisis.” SURE.

-Hold on a second: the personification of Watashi’s ideal black-haired beauty has a last name of Kohinata? Hibiki, somebody’s macking on your wife! Show him your determination to fist!

-”Thanks to health food, my life became more and more unhealthy.” Unfortunately accurate.

-What the- WHERE’D THE GHOST COME FROM?!

-”Quit it with the pretentious monologues already!” I never thought I’d be saying thank you to an anthromorphisized penis, but... thank you, anthromorphisized penis.

-”English is more about feeling than grammar.” I feel called out.

-Oh my god, the book Ozu gives Watashi in episode 8 is “The Night is Short, Walk On Girl,” which is not only by the same author as the guy who wrote Tatami Galaxy, but was also turned into an anime by Yuasa almost a full decade after he did Tatami. It’s all connected, y’all.

-Watashi’s idealized hero form looks like Papyrus from Undertale and I don’t know how to deal with it.

-Woah. Hold the goddamn phone. The old lady’s price just went down. For the first time.

-WELP SPOKE TOO SOON ASKDJHASKDHKADSH

Wow, that was a heck of a post. One more session to go now, so I’ll see you next time for the end of The Tatami Galaxy!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #the tatami galaxy #tatami galaxy #tatamiigalaxy #masaaki yuasa

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himboholhorse-moving · 5 years

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oo!!! 1 2 4 5 8 10 11 13 15 17 21 22 29?

Yeehaw !!!

1) If someone wanted to really understand you, what would they read, watch, and listen to?

How many showtunes can one listen to before being driven insane. But I’d say Falsettos and Fun Home. “Last Podcast on the Left” is what really drove me to get my podcast on campus. I’d also say to watch like, a TON of old movies because those are a Big hyperfixation of mine. In particular I love Peter O’Toole and James Stewart, as well as Malcolm McDowell. I’d also say Milk and The Times of Harvey Milk. “M*A*S*H” as well is really big to me, ofc. Mmmmm as far as reading I can’t really think of anything. I love the Romanticism-era poetry tho. I also really love “Hamlet” and “Macbeth” and “The Things They Carried.” Watching and reading Ordinary People is also very big and close to my heart.

2) Have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? if so, who?

I probably have but I can’t think of any rn h a. I CAN say that the symmetry of Wes Anderson films is intensely pleasing to my OCD ass. (Shoutout to Prozac btw.) Like, that shit is just SO good to me and I’m like Mr. Anderson. You Get It.

4) Do you like your name? is there another name you think would fit you better?

I quite like my name and also like Sheridan, which was almost my name, whether I was born male or female. Would have gotten named after a tank tho so. We All Have To Make Sacrifices. Feel free to call me Hawkeye too!

5) Do you think of yourself as a human being or a human doing? do you identify yourself by the things you do?

Bro I’m just existing. I’m just kinda here doing shit and being shit and being perceived by others and not liking being perceived differently than how I see myself. But for like, my WHOLE life my identity was based around my academic achievements which blows so I don’t like to identify myself by anything academic now. I’d like to be identified by my kindness and passion for things.

8) What musical artists have you most felt connected to over your lifetime?

I grew up listening to the B.B. King and Eric Clapton album “Riding With The King” and I have a very vivid memories connected to that album, like ones of a better time in childhood. All Time Low as well, I’ve been listening to them since my freshman year of high school. Anything classic rock really but Journey has just been a big thing around me since middle school. MCR and FOB were also bands I listened to growing up, as well as Panic!. Franz Ferdinand I started listening to 2 years ago but I love their stuff. I also have a soft spot for classical music but can’t name any people in particular. I’m a big fan of Dvorak’s “New World Symphony”, the 4th movement specifically. It slaps. “Adagio for Strings” by Barber as well! I’ll also say Shura.

There’s a video of the 4th movement of the “New World Symphony” being performed for the Pope I believe and that conductor is just OFF THE SHITS it’s so good.

10) Do you have a creed?

Not really, not that I can think of. I just try and believe that I should give people the benefit of the doubt or at least, consider other emotions and reason why people are acting a certain way and not just immediately dismissing them. I try and keep an open mind about most things, just taking everything into consideration before I pass judgment or judgments.

11) Describe your ideal day.

Oooh, I’m going back into the brain bank for this one.

Bringing back “Riding With The King”, a cool summer day, doors open and letting the air come in. My favorite music played loud, I’m hanging out with my friends and loved ones, having drinks and eating good food out in the backyard, playing in the old inflatable pool by the back deck that made jumping in real easy. Having grilled shish kebobs, watching the sunset and looking at the stars in the night sky, chasing the dog around in the backyard, looking at the fireflies.

Another later memory was getting up at a good time, the windows are open and it’s a crisp spring morning, I’m at the desktop computer playing The Sims 2 loaded up with custom content from the now-defunct Sims 2 website exchange. My dad makes a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs, English muffins with apple butter. He probably found a war movie on TV. I’m making plans with my best friend Kim to come over the next weekend or the weekend after. I just get to act like I’m a regular kid with a regular family and things are good.

13) Inside or outdoors?

INSIDE... unless it’s cool out, in which case outside. I’d love to have a screened-in porch someday. I hate bugs.

15) Five most influential books over your lifetime.

HOO okay let’s think. The “Shiloh” series and the “Warrior Cats” series. “The Things They Carried” as well as “Ordinary People.” I’d also say the “Harry Potter” series because that was really big for me growing up. I’m gonna fudge this and add “Twilight” and “Vladimir Tod” because I loved vampire fiction. “Frankenstein” as well, and “Hamlet.”

17) Would you say your Tumblr is a fair representation of the “real you”?

I’m a lot dumber in real life. Beez pucciverse just saw a video of me last night eating a stick of butter. I’m just an impulsive idiot and y’all should be thankful and grateful I don’t post EVERYTHING going thru my mind because I have to weigh if it’s better for Tumblr or Twitter HSKDFHSKJF. But I’m very Not Smart.

21) Do you love easily?

I have a stuffed animal right next to me that I’ve had since I was 5 so I’d say so !! Cheer Bear has. Seen A Lot.

22) List the top five things you spend the most time doing, in order.

OOO okay... Sleeping, watching YouTube videos/movies/TV, playing Revue Starlight or other games but that’s about tied with YT/movies/TV, listening to music/podcasts, and writing a podcast script!

29) Three songs that you connect with right now.

Mmm “What’s It Gonna Be?” by Shura, “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John, and “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie!!

Thanks for asking all these questions !! It was a lot of fun

#proteuslindo #asks #ask games #i'm essentially a human garbage disposal there's many videos of me eating things I probably shouldn't consume JDSHFDKSJ

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docholligay · 6 years

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Revue Starlight

Hello! Here is a very very long post about my impressions of Revue Starlight Thus far. Please note I have only seen to episode 8 and please don’t spoil me! We are finishing the show tonight, February 20th, at 7 pm Mountain time. THis entire thing has been sponsored by @moonlight1130 and @sailorsunspot, so please thank them if you’re enjoying or have enjoyed!

They are also sponsoring a full day of questions/prompts/etc about Revue Starlight next week!

Please know also that you can hit me up to analyze the things you love! I have liveblogs on my Patreon, but I also do one off things, like watch a movie and write a post about it, or do anime streams like this one. Contact me for commission prices and information!

I have seen plenty of anime cross my dash over the years,and most times they aren’t something I’ll take to, even if I give an episode or two a try. It is, by and large, not a format for me,especially Magical Girl Shows, which, stripped of the nostalgia and history Sailor Moon has for me, don’t tend to work for me by way of their conventions.

If I hadn’t been sponsored to watch Revue Starlight, I probably never would have seen it, and this would have been a shame. Because every so often, an anime can be something I really enjoy.

I think the best part about it is, it’s enjoyable before it ever gets into the twist. Long before. I enjoyed my first chunk of watching episodes 1-4 without having the slightest clue that I should even be looking for any sort of twist, though the exchange student thing really should have tipped me off more than it did--even I can forget the most common anime conventions. But I don’t think knowing about the twist,or that there’s something else going on, is necessary to enjoy what the anime is up front.

I found it delightfully written, with an understand of what young teenagers are like that far surpasses any anime i can remember watching. It’s the first anime in memory where I’m not thinking “anime ages are so fake” the whole time. They essentially act like fifteen year olds, with not much more drama or more war-weary knowledge than any other fifteen year old I know. I also intensely appreciate the show’s commitment to not showing panty shots, and while that sounds like a joke, it is not. There are moments they literally forget about gravity to avoid it, and I genuinely appreciate the lack of fanservice so much.

And the costumes! I love the girls’ outfits for the duels, the dramatic cape and the Utena-like construction of having to knock the cape off instead of stabbing someone. The henshin is really fun to watch, and I like how there’s so much emphasis on the construction of the costume itself, not only because it helps avoid too much naked young girl screen time, but also because I think it ties back into what I THINK is one of the underlying themes of the show (More general themes I see below)

The songs are fantastic even just to listen to, and seem to make way more sense than the Utena ones. I could be talked into go back over the songs after I’ve finished the show and doing some real analysis of them, but I think they’d be enjoyable even without.

The girls themselves I think are largely well-written and individual, with a personality of all types of people who need a character to love and hate. And it’s FLATASS WILD. I think one of the best ways it keeps you watching is the way that it has this ridiculous premise with the goddamn giraffe, and to a point you’re watching out of out extreme curiousity. By the time you’re like “This is just weird, I guess.” the personalities of the characters have sucked you in, and it holds you until you hit episode 7 and the twist.

But WHAT a twist. You’d think I’d be more or less used to “It was time bullshit the whole time” as I have watched an anime, but apparently I did not learn my lesson, because I was totally shocked. Completely taken by surprise in episode 7, had no idea that I should be looking for it or even thinking about it. AND WHAT A CHARACTER TO DO IT WITH, and I think it speaks to the writing of the show that I didn’t roll my eyes and go “Oh, the nice character turned out to be the villain” because I think the show doesn’t try to work in absolutes. One thing I like about it is a feel very free to like or dislike any of the characters. I DID (and do) like Nana, I thought she was a precious bean to be cherished, but I think part of the reason I could indulge in that is she wasn’t written as innocent and woobie and shy like a lot of times those characters are--she was fucking around with scripts and roles, and while she was very kind none of it was obsequious or pathetic. ALSO I don’t feel they really consider her a villain (I don’t,) but a girl who got caught up in the idea of things never getting better than they are now. Two of her friends left school because they couldn’t take the heat. She didn’t want that again, and what better way than to keep everyone safe, under glass?

I know I’m really caught up in Utena shit right now, and so I’m sure that’s why my mind is leaning this way, but it really echoes that to me, the idea of not going forward but being trapped in cycle after cycle. That she’s stagnant, refusing to grow or change. What would happen to Nana if she never broke it? The giraffe brought Hikari forward, I think to some extent, because he was fucking bored with the same “show” over and over again. But I love it, I love that she keeps winning because no one really wants it bad enough. No one wants to be a star as badly as Nana wants things to never change, and I think that there’s something so beautifully human in that, to cling to an enjoyable moment we had and keep trying to recreate it. But it’s never enough, it’s never really recreated, it’s just a hollow shell of its own self.

It’s really interesting to me that we harp so much on the idea of Hikari and Karen, and the show they saw together when they were children, and how this is all of Karen and Hikari’s motivations, when I feel like we’re being warned against the same thing with Nana. That to tie your life to a single moment is a mistake. It might just be me taking the story in a way that maybe the writers didn’t intend, or maybe it’s Not That Deep and I’m just trying to make it that deep.

WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT, The play within the show, Starlight, I assume is sort of about the girls themselves, being that I only know it as a story about eight women (Now nine, since Hikari fucked up the numbers) and I assume if and when we discover anything about the play itself, that plot points are going to be revealed, or plot points we haven’t even seen will be shown. THey keep coming back to it in the same way that we kept coming back to Utena’s story about the prince, so either the play has relevance beyond ‘the play they are currently doing’ or I’m going to beat the writers over the head with Chekov’s Gun. I also assume that Hikari and Karen are going to be our leads for it, in whatever way we end up reaching it--I have, in fact, seen an anime, and I do know how endings tend to go in them.

MY THEORY ON THE SHOW IS THAT IT IS ABOUT THEATER AND CELEBRITY.

So what I was talking about earlier regarding the transformation and how I love that it focuses so much on the costume. Part of what I think the show is trying to talk about is this idea that when we are on stage, we are someone different entirely. Who “we” are ceases to matter when we put on the costume, when we step onto the stage. And so it makes sense that more attention would be paid to the role Karen and the other girls are taking on when they steps into the Revues, than we would to Karen herself.

I’ve thought a lot about this show as I’ve been watching it, even though I didn’t have a chance to rewatch it before tonight’s conclusion (I will rewatch the whole series before next week’s Revue Starday) And the giraffe is such a weird thing, but it’s a weird thing among weird things. So I thought about it for awhile, especially after Episode 7, where the giraffe tells her he does this because he loves the spectacle, because he loves the shine of stage girls.

The giraffe is the audience. When we watch all of this with great interest, when we cheer and we boo, we are enjoying the stage that has been set for us just as much as the giraffe. It is the audience who set stage girls against each other and only allows for one top star. What got me thinking about this and on these lines, is the way that the giraffe always looks directly at us, and tells us “I understand.” I’ve thought a lot about that, and I think what that’s meant to say is that the giraffe knows what we want as an audience and is giving it to us. The audience wanted Karen to win in the beginning, and we were given it. The audience didn’t want Kaoruku to leave, so she didn’t. The audience cheered for Nana, and the giraffe said, “Oh yes, we do love her, don’t we?” ANd THAT is why I think we will get a happy asspull of an ending, and I think I MIGHT be okay with that in the context of this understanding that the giraffe is meant to stand for the audience. (Obviously not all audiences want the same things I never asked for some of this, BUT A GENERAL AUDIENCE)

Which is, like I said above, why the giraffe tries to find a way to change up the Revues. No matter how dazzling and sparkling Nana’s revue is, and it is, I laughed my ass off about the goddamn Nana fight, after awhile an audience gets bored. The audience wants something new. You can watch a spectacle 87 times and then want literally anything else, even if its just as amazing as before, it will no longer catch your heart in that exact same way.

My endgame theory is that they will find some end-around way to make it so Hikari and Karen can stand on the stage together, and I would GUESS that Karen is going to wish for the stage of life or something, so they can escape from the loop they’re in. Because remember, we want a happy ending.

A RANKING OF THE GIRLS, FROM LEAST FAVORITE TO FAVORITE (YOur mileage may vary, offer void where prohibited)

Kaoroku: I REALLY do not like her. She’s all of Usagi’s selfish baby nonsense with none of the genuine kindness. She treats Futaba horrifically, and I think this is part of the reason I buck up against her so hard, is that I HAVE KNOWN THESE GIRLS. I have seen little butch girls like Futaba being treated so badly by their significant other, and it’s so hard to try and be like, “You know she’s not allowed to treat you that way, right?” And there’s a lot of stuff that goes into that which can be another conversation for another time. So there’s extra-universe stuff that makes it really hard for me to tolerate her. Can’t do it. Would say she’s the only one of the girls I actively do not like.

These next three could leapfrog each other pretty consistently:

Karen: I like Karen plenty, but it’s a tight race between the girls and I’d say Karen is a little “anime protag” for my own personal tastes, so she gets quite a bit lower on the list. I do really like how she’s written as a classic anime protagonist in a much more real and relatable way though, and I think this is why I actually quite like her, even when she’s being an idiot.

Hikari: I actually didn’t realize how difficult this ranking thing was going to be until I’m sitting here staring at the faces of all the girls, who all have different things going on. Hikari hasn’t quite connected with me, I think between her “distant studied duelist” thing and the fact that everything centers around her and Karen I haven’t gotten to find an appreciation for her beyond broad strokes. EXCEPT THAT SMILING BEAR WITH KNIFE IS THE ONLY EMOJI WE NEED. I never love the main characters, it’s fine ahaha.

Mahiru: I would have put her lower in the first four episode chunk I watched. I have a quite good memory for names and could only really call her “friend-chan” after the first bit. Her main purpose seemed to be getting trampled by Karen when Hikari showed up. But she’s a farm girl! And she’s precious! And she shares her potat! So she’s bumped up for me in the last watching.

The next three are ALSO in a hot heat with each other:

Junna: I really, really love Junna’s whole thing, THe idea that she works her ass off, so very hard, but she doesn’t have the natural talent to carry it, and she knows that, and it kills her. But it doesn’t stop her from trying, not with everything she has inside of her, and I think that’s really lovely and I want the best for her.

Nana: I actually would have ranked her lower before the big reveal, but now she has such an interesting tragedy that I find her fucking fascinating. She’s the reason that all of these girls have to keep fighting each other, in this way, she is trying to save her friends by setting them up for combat over and over again. The idea of her having to live with that and her struggle to carry on when she’s forced to move forward make her so much more interesting than I was assuming.

Maya: One half of the femme betta fish, and the one that plays slightly less to my personal loves, but I do love her snobbiness, her complete fucking assurance that she is better than anyone in the room, and the body language to carry it off. She’s great.

MY TOP TWO GIRLS:

Futaba: I want to gently hold Futaba to my chest like a resisting cat and find her a nice girlfriend who treats her with respect. Like yes honey, protect and serve is the butch motto, but the femme motto should also be protect and cherish. She’s such a cute and kind little thing, my heart melted when she gave Claudine all the snacks for helping her out, I love her.

Claudine: Claudine was written for me. High femme, half-French, talented and snobby, annoyed when she is not the princess of all things, it’s all my favorite fucking anime girl tropes packaged into one. I love every moment that she is on screen, I think she is brilliant perfection. I am not super given to shipping in this show but if I were, it would be Claudine and Futaba.

Rin: This is cheating because I basically came up with Rin but lbr she’s great.

PLease join me tonight for the finale! Also, my ko-fi and my Patreon are what allow me to keep doing this! I judge a lot of what people are interested in by those two metrics. (COming up on Patreon: Jillybug’s corner, a non-fiction piece, and fresh recipes)

#Doc watches Revue Starlight

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wcnderfulrush · 5 years

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* Roleplay history

The rules are simple! Post ten characters you’d like to roleplay as, have role-played as, and might bring back. Then tag ten people to do the same (if you can’t think of ten characters, just write down however many you can and tag the same amount of people). Aside from that, please repost instead of reblogging!

— CURRENTLY PLAYING.

@wcnderfulrush | Kotori Minami / Love Live! - School Idol Project | Active

@youngbxker | Lillian Elise Marchand | Multiverse OC | Low Activity

@shymaidxn | Diantha / Granblue Fantasy (GBF) | Active

— WANT TO PLAY.

GBF best friend OCs | Awhile ago a lot of people where making Captain OCs and a few of those types of blogs popped up. I plan on giving Kotori a GBF verse, but I also wanted a multitude of GBF OCs. Maybe as a small crew in of itself, or a small group that joins the Grandcypher; I haven’t decided which yet, nor exactly how many OCs I want to make in this group (there’s at least 3-4 ideas in my head sooo).

Revue Starlight - Relive multimuse | I started playing this game when it first came out (and accidentally put money into it while I was too tired to function, which means I’m keeping it forever now) and I got real interested in some of the characters. Most notably Tamao, Aruru, Hikari, Nana, and recently Junna and Maya have become a bit more interesting to me. I haven’t watched the anime, so I want to watch that first before I make a huge decision / take on so many characters.

Idolmaster multimuse | This is an idea I’ve grappled with for awhile. After I watched the CG anime I loved Uzuki and Kirari, after starting deresute I loved Yuka, Kanna, and Kumiko, after watching SideM and starting msute I loved Shiki, Hayato, Touma, and Saki! If I really got into All Stars / Million Live again, I’d probably be in huge trouble with having too many people;; This right now feels like a lot of muses, but I love them all a lot and would maybe want to try it out?

FGO multimuse | I’ve been lacking in my play towards this game, but I still love some of the characters here! Nero, Da Vinci, Beni-enma, Chiron, Nursery Rhyme, Xuanzang Sanzang, Frankenstein, Nitocris, and the recently added Ganesha are the favs so far, though the blog would probably only start off with Nero, Nursery Rhyme, Fran, and Da Vinci; I need a better understanding of some of them, but some of them won’t come to EN for a bit...

Yuki Yuna / Yuki Yuna is a Hero | A character that I love from my fav magical girl anime! Simple as that lol

Maybe some of the girls from Magia Record when the EN version comes out (though i need to check when that is)

Enstars and A3 are getting animes, so oh dear you never know, I might love them...

A plethora of OCs I might want to make in the future for any reason / any fandom.

— HAVE PLAYED.

Aisling Dempsey | Ghost OC | hiatus ( but maybe collab Lillian book..........one day )

Kathleen O’Conner | Modern OC | erased from existence because she felt real mary sue and her blog gave me anxiety for some reason because of that?

Aya Maryama and Misaki Okusawa | Bang Dream - Girls Band Party | indefinite hiatus ( gonna make their blog one of those multimuses I mentioned; gonna get started on it after Tuesday because that’s when my stats class ends~).

Hanamaru Kunikida | Love Live! Sunshine!! | hiatus because...Aqours rp kind of makes me uncomfy after long-going incidents with a person I used to call my best friend. The rp stuff was on twitter rp and wasn’t directly pointed at me, but I played a small part in it because at first I thought it was just angst threads, but then it turned into...Some real bad jazz, to put it mildly. I love Hanamaru to bits, but I deleted my twitter rp accounts because being reminded of that stuff still gives me anxiety, and even dabbled with deleting her on here but I can’t really bring myself to since nothing happened with this Hanamaru, you know? As such, her blog has just kind of...Rotted in a corner, whoops. I still have all of her icons, so maybe I’ll go back to that blog one day...

Shizuku Osaka | Love Live! - Perfect Dream Project | hiatus because...I keep forgetting she exists gdjcgfhgjv. Took over Kathleen’s whole blog; I did it up and everything, and then I did no threads. Whenever SIFAS or a PDP anime comes out, I may be convinced to go on her blog and actively seek out threads there.

Abel | Lion OC | never had a blog, but literally my first muse on this place ( I rped through anon with this Edward Elric blog I found and popped in with both Abel and Lillian-prototype; that mun and I are friends on twitter and tumbr personals and occasionally strike up conversations still~). A fond memory, but also a tad cringe, but also the mun encouraged my writing and said it was really good, and that helped make the mun I am today~ *fireworks*. I thought about making him kinda like a shapeshifter with a zookeeper job, but as of this post nothing has happened outside of a few ideas.

STOLEN FROM. technically @sappines but this has been sitting in my drafts for so long;; TAGGING. Hey you? You like memes? Then go take this one!

#;prompts

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jean-and-ali-liveblogs · 6 years

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POLL RESULTS

Ali: The poll is done, but, unfortunately, things got a bit complicated with it. This is going to be quite long report of the events (as I think everybody who voted fairly deserves to get full explanation of why I am doing what I am about to do) from last 5 days, so the summarization is:

Somebody - or a group of people - cheated the poll, either by using a bot or just by sitting and going through proxies 24h a day. They made sure that Made in Abyss stays 100 votes ahead of School Live and RWBY stays 100 votes ahead of Revue Starlight. It wasn’t this way from the start, but it was extermely obvious yesterday when I tested it. Due to this tempering, both Made in Abyss and RWBY are disqualified. (if you will scroll further down you can find screenshots and full explanation of events, but read through the whole post, please)

Which means that the true winners of the poll are School-Live and Re:Zero.

I was wondering whether I should try watching two shows by alternating between them and I decided it’s a cool idea to try out.

I am really excited for both of those shows, I know literally nothing about them, but I heard they are both really great.

I still feel kinda bad it came down to this. I wanted this to be a cool and exciting event, both for me and for you. Instead I ended up trying to desperately gather evidence through the whole duration of the poll. Not fun.

I understand this is really important for some of you, that you really want me to liveblog those shows you are the most excited about. Am I am sure that 99% of all you guys gave fair votes. I have no idea who decided it would be a good idea to cheat, but all I can do is ask them to never do it again, please.

STILL! Despite some sour notes in the mix, I am genuinely excited to start the next liveblogging projects and I hope many of you will go on this next exciting journey with me.

Thank you, to all of you who voted and did it fair. I truly appreciate the great response I got on this poll.

ONE MORE IMPORTANT THING:

I am sure all of you know that new episodes of Steven Universe are coming out. Since this blog was oryginally created for SU, those episodes are going to be prioritized over everything else. That means both School-Live and Re:Zero will have a bit slow start. But that also means you will get a lot of SU liveblogs! Generally, I am just stupidly excited over everything that I am going to have a chance to liveblog over next months.

And here is the long version (with screenshots as evidence):

From the very first day of the poll running, people kept telling me that certain shows are getting votes in very suspicious bulks. It reached it peak on the second day when during a very short period of time Made in Abyss and RWBY gained over 80 votes each while all the other shows got zero. It was still possible it was an coincidence, although it was highly unlikely. From there it continued this way, whenever something get ahead of Made in Abyss or RWBY, those two shows would get a huge boost that would put them on top again.

The thing is, I had no evidence of anything! I had people telling me that it seemed really suspicious and fishy and weird, but nothing to prove that there was any cheating really going on. So I basically spent last 5 days being anxious and worried, trying to figure out what the hell am I supposed to do. I even wrote to strawpoll’s support, but they could not do anything to help.

Even though it quickly got really obvious that somebody is tampering with the poll, I would feel like a total dick if I had to disqualify two shows without any solid evidence to present.

Luckily, yesterday I finally got an idea. I decided to run an experiment. I went to a proxy side and started voting over and over again on School Live and Revue to see what would happen.

Here I just voted on School-Live. That made the difference between Made in Abyss and School-Live go down to 99 votes.

About a minute passes and Made in Abyss gets new vote, once again getting 100 votes ahead of School-Live.

I vote on School-Live again.

And what a surprise, about a minute later Made in Abyss magically gets a vote too, making it 100 votes difference again.

Here I voted on both School-Live nad Revue.

Oh, look! Made in Abyss magically jumped to 100 votes difference again!

I put vote for School-Live and Revue Starlight again.

For RWBY it got a while longer and a bit more votes until it went to having 100 votes difference from Revue Starlight.

Further investigation clearly proved that there is some system in place that makes sure that Made in Abyss stays 100 votes ahead of School-Live and that RWBY stays 100 votes ahead of Revue.

I have even more of those screenshots, but I don’t think there is a point in making this post even longer. If you want to see all of them and unedited, I put them here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZWmM5Fg4tjHjkN6BoQhUk8s2G_DiUlrr

I honestly still can’t believe somebody would do something like that. It was just surreal to sit there and see Made in Abyss and RWBY go up every single time in reaction to my votes.

All they achieved in the end was making me stressed out and upset, so good job, whoever you are.

One thing I know for sure, I am never again doing a strawpoll on that side. I don’t know yet what I will do in the future, for picking next show, but I don’t want to repeat experience like this.

Also, I was honestly intriqued by Made in Abyss. Just because it’s getting disqualified now, it doesn’t mean I am going to forget about it forever. The show doesn’t deserve to be punished beacuse of somebody’s doings. Both Made in Abyss and RWBY will get a change to win fairly next time I will be picking a show to liveblog.

Aaand... I think that’s it? God, took me over a hour to write this.

Well! If you have any questions or doubts, send me an ask. I will do my best to give you the best answers.

#suggestions #the poll #results

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