#we'll call it a

[front-facing-pokemon]

[boinin]

Twitter is a mess. People in the English-speaking bllk fandom have been commenting on one of Nomura-san's posts that the anime is bad. Like...?

I shouldn't have to explain how not cool that is. What do people get from bringing their discontent to the mangaka's attention? I'm astounded by the entitlement and lack of basic etiquette.

Things are better here, despite the disappointment in how S2 looks so far. It's fine to voice disappointment. It's less fine, in my opinion, to write everything off, trash the whole thing and only focus on the negatives. Particularly in spaces where people are trying to engage positively with the anime. Particularly when your choice of soapbox is in a creator's notifications.

I shitposted about this already, but I'll elaborate seriously for what it's worth. Here's the tl;dr:

Media doesn't have to be objectively good to be enjoyed.

Does the manga deserve a more considerate adaptation? Of course it does. This post is not an apology for what appears to be the result of a rushed production schedule.

Is the anime a complete write off, unwatchable, without merit, a failure that we should all condemn?

No.

If you disagree, please go watch the full first episode of Ex Arm and come back to this post.

That's a rough time, right? The animation has close to no redeeming factors. Yet it's funny for the mishaps alone. It has less than three stars on MAL and only a single work on AO3, but, y'know. The crappiness provokes something. It's been meme'd. Would I willingly watch more of it? No. But there's some enjoyment to be derived from Ex Arm, even if it's a car crash of an anime.

Blue Lock is not unwatchable. At worst, it's an average production. It's not going to win any awards for animation quality, but it's still got plenty to offer. Here's a quick list of merits:

The voice acting.

The music.

As manga fans, seeing everything in full colour.

The anime-original content and Additional Times.

The insane levels of fanservice, particularly for those who ship characters.

The dodgy PowerPoint slideshows and the CGI running scenes.

No, the last one isn't a joke. I complain about them myself. But they're also hilarious. When watching, slip-ups like that often get the biggest laughs from me. The panning shots of PNGs? The dumb stink clouds in season 1? Chigiri's CGI run in s2e2? The bit where lil Nanase was superimposed on top of the football? No, it's not great animation, and it's a shame that the studio didn't get more time to bring the manga to life. But laugh, and roll your eyes, and move on.

This perspective on media—acknowledging the flaws, while embracing the good things on offer—is balanced. There's no ban on being disappointed, and sharing thoughts to that effect. But, if you can't say anything positive about a show and want to vent, fine, share criticism—but to a smaller audience and not within a main fandom space (e.g. the main bllk tag). That's good etiquette.

But if nothing else, then please. Please please please don't dogpile a mangaka or writer or artist with Opinions on something they have a peripheral at best involvement in.

[gothghostiie]

price with reader who never got much attention as a kid/growing up??

very self indulgent but hear me out. price is a lover man. he takes his time for his partners, gives them what they need, even if he's busy. you on the other hand are simply used to being put aside, people only listening to you half heartedly, not looking at you and getting distracted when you talk, other things were always more important than you and you felt that. you got used to it, it's normal to you.

but when you're with price he's the total opposite. he looks at you intently when you talk (if not hes leaning his head towards you so he hears you better), putting things down when you ask him something - hes attentive. he listens. and its absolutely strange to you, it makes you feel flustered, kinda watched. at some point you ask him why hes looking at you like that, the tv running in the backround. he furrows his eyebrows at you, with a confused chuckle. "what do you mean, love?"

"you're starin' at me." you accuse him, your cheeks getting hot.

"you're talkin' to me. where else would I be looking?" he jokes with a soft chuckle, wondering what the hell you're on about.

"your show's on." you say, gesturing to the tv. he looks at you like youve got three heads.

"I'm listening to you, love."

[siggiedraws]

curious

[egophiliac]

Final manifestations for Book 7?

I'm trying REALLY hard not to build up any solid expectations, because I wanna go in ~fresh~! they're already so far away from anything I thought would happen (not in a bad way, I'm just accepting that I'm on Miss Yana's Wild Ride at this point and we're seeing this thing through 'til the end, by gum). so it's nothing too major, but:

they've been handing new crying expressions out like candy lately, I want to see some delicious Malleus tears.

honestly I want everyone to cry buckets. their tears sustain me. the more Silver angst specifically I get the happier I am.

SILVER!!!! 👏 VANROUGE!!!! 👏

just let him have this. the poor boy's been through so much. let him have his big "I'm proud of you, son" moment with Lilia.

I'm 100% expecting Grim's arc (and probably whatever's going on with Crowley) to be its own episode, but a nice hook to leave us hanging on would be good!

a nice hook though, please, I don't think I can take another "Grim is attacking us! now wait eight months to find out what happens :)" cliffhanger...

some Meleanor? as a treat? just a little bit, a tiny quick flashback or something, please Twst I just, I just want to see her again. let her have a little ghost cameo like Dawnathan Knight got. Lilia and his kids are all having their big group hug or whatever and she can gently fade in to be all like

(turning asks off until I'm done playing, SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE Y'ALL)

[sophsun1]

Bobby + calling Buck kid

[keferon]

HEAR ME OUT

Jazz is a human pilot of an Evangelion-type mech who anime-adventured too close to the sun and accidentally teleported himself (with his mech) to an unknown and very dangerous part of space.

Prowl is a Cybertronian. And one day he meets this very weird but funny guy that looks (and talks) nothing like any kind of mechanical form of life known to Prowl.

[Next]

[catnippackets]

I think the next clinical therapy speak term we need to start taking away from people is "sensory issues" because if I hear one more person talking about how they have to shave because of their "sensory issues" I'm gonna scream. does it make you spontaneously burst into overwhelmed tears? do you feel like screaming and kicking a wall to escape it? do you want to maim your own body to destroy the part of you that's processing the sensation just to feel a shred of relief? are you instantly having to exert effort to fight off the instinct to harm whoever is causing the sensation to make it stop? or do you feel kind of uncomfortable

[maiko-coy]

I don't see any angry, vengeful Dogday in the ppt community so I'll provide for myself beCAUSE IM STARVING FOR THIS, HE DESERVES TO BE ANGRY-- ahem. Anyway, heres an AU where after there is still fire in Dogdays eyes and him being saved fueled the fire and now he wants to keep fighting.

[lili-home-to-embraces-and-hugs]

Steph and Jason start an illegal 3 a.m. podcast called “Robins After Dark”

No script. No laws. No Bruce.

Why they did it:

Because Tim wouldn’t let them into his conspiracy board livestream, and also they were bored and loud and unmonitored.

Jason: “We already trauma bond at weird hours. Might as well monetize it.”

Steph: “We’re not actually monetizing it.”

Jason: “Yet.”

It’s recorded exclusively on a stolen Batcave mic and uploaded using Tim’s Wi-Fi.

Tim doesn’t know.

Tim absolutely knows.

He’s just given up.

Episode Titles Include:

“I Died and Came Back Sexier: A Memoir”

“How to Rob Crime Lords and Emotionally Distant Fathers”

“Ranking Gotham’s Criminals by Vibe"

“The Great Batarang Debate (ft. Cass as our silent judge)”

“Live From the Batmobile Trunk (We Locked Ourselves In)”

Episode 6: “Gotham: Hot or Not"

Penguin? Not.

Riddler? Hot if he shuts up.

Scarecrow? “Listen. The vibe is there.”

Batman? “Emotionally constipated, but in a tragic Shakespearean way.”

Nightwing? “Too wholesome. Like a himbo golden retriever. We respect it.”

Red Robin? “Gremlin. Cursed. Needs sleep.”

Robin? “Baby knife. Scary. No comment.”

Cass occasionally appears.

She never speaks.

Just stares at the camera with godlike judgment.

Leaves cryptic sticky notes.

They treat her like a cryptid co-host.

Alfred is aware.

He makes them tea halfway through episodes and refuses to explain why.

Fan Questions Segment:

Q: How do you deal with trauma?

Jason: “Gun.”

Steph: “Sarcasm and glitter bombs.”

Jason: “Also crime. We do a little crime.”

Steph: “Justified crime.”

Jason: “Bat-approved crime.”

Steph: “Okay, B doesn’t approve, but like… he hasn’t stopped us yet.”

One episode ends with them breaking into Penguin’s club mid-recording.

Jason is out of breath.

Steph is still narrating.

The mic is crunching.

Steph: “This is field reporting, baby.”

Bruce finds out.

Bruce: “Take. It. Down.”

Jason: “What if we made you a guest?”

Bruce: stares

Steph: “Too spicy? We’ll get Alfred instead.”

The steph jason bond will forever remain sacred. FIGHT ME

[jinglebunns]

happy 3 yr anniversary to Kirby and the Forgor Land!! this game rewired my brain and cracked my life like a glowstick and i love it dearly

[calitsnow]

[A journey to seek the meaning to live...]

(Click for better quality)

[wikiipediabf]

twinkclaren vs brocedes is literally hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby cause i don't think you guys understand how much more intense and insane those merc title fights were compared to whatever mclaren has going on right now. it doesn't even come close. the lore isn't as deep. the stakes don't feel as high. the guy leading the championship would give a thumbs up if he wins and the guy who is the championship contender has daily crash outs about everything. the only thing that's vaguely similar is that they're being bullied by a 4x redbull world champion.

[ofswordsandpens]

it is a little funny, a little ironic, because as much as the Ember Island Players episode wants to be like "see?? you're silly for thinking zuko and katara's dynamic is romantic" it doesn't quite think through the in-world implications of the play because, conceivably, this play is built largely upon rumor, right? biased or purposefully distorted first, second, or third-hand accounts of the gaang and their journey? (and then of course, whatever artistic liberties the playwrights want to take)

Because that all begs the question - why do the playwrights think zuko and katara are together?? Like literally lmao was it just for the Drama of it all? Or do enough people in the avatar universe perceive Zuko and Katara to be a couple for it to be a far spread rumor?? Is June gossiping in taverns like "oh the fire nation prince? yeah he hired me to find his girlfriend. he had her betrothal necklace and everything"??

And how did the playwrights (or anyone for that matter) even know that Zuko and Katara had shared a Moment with one another in the crystal caverns? Were there like, Dai Li Agents spying on them from afar? Watching katara huff and stalk around and yell at zuko then like five seconds later they see her cradling Zuko's face and they're just like "bro" "bro" "no way" "there's no war in ba sing se but we've got to tell people about that."

Then isn't it also implied this play is fairly popular in the fire nation? Like how many years after the war is the average fire nation citizen convinced that Zuko and Katara are an item?

[sunnystrikerz]

Mac and his scary titan privileges :]

[wernerherzogs]

if we're being honest. bobby should've died on a somewhat ordinary call Like Real Firefighters do. without any obvious Mortal peril present. maybe in a fire. and then it would have Hit.