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ashintheairlikesnow · 3 years

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*DASHES INTO THE ROOM, STRANGELY PHYSICAL HEARTS SPILLING OUT OF MY ARMS*

I HEARD ASH NEEDED LOVE TODAY AND I’M HERE TO TELL YOU 25 REASONS YOU ARE INCREDIBLE BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT. SO HERE WE GO, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, 25 SUPER COOL AWESOME ASH THINGS THAT MAKE MY DAY BRIGHTER

1) your blog name is just!!! Really cool!!! To this day, I don’t know why, it’s just a daily source of giddiness. Love me a blog with a really cool play on word name and hey howdy hey look what we got here, a super cool blog with a super cool name

2) you are so amazingly kind??? And incredibly involved with your readers??? You are the sort of writer I thought existed when I was a smol sheltered bean and lo and behold one of my first outings I find a super awesome cool and interactive writer who cares??? So much about what she’s putting out into the world, and how it affects others??? You are both an inspiration and a gift??

3) thanksgiving lives in my head rent free, day after day, minute after minute. Catch me sweeping up popcorn at work and all of a sudden my brain is starting my cinematic presentation of stuff being spooned onto a pitifully empty plate, and the warmth of the holidays being stolen away by the things that lurk in grey eyes :)

4) you and your blog have (has? Grammar. Bleh) been such a source of wisdom, and it’s just wonderful. I know I can’t be the only one. You share so many wonderful resources, and you *care* so much I just. Yeah. You’re incredible. I cannot even begin to explain how much I’ve benefited from running across this wonderful place.

5) I cannot speak about the amazing things that comprise ash without going absolutely bonkers about your w r i t i n g. I just. You are so good at layering meaning upon meaning upon meaning into your works, until they become this beautiful, colorful sedimentary formation of gorgeous intent and heartbreaking subtext.

6) and beyond just subtext, IMAGERY, ASH. IMAGERY. I COULD WANDER DOWN YOUR SPRAWLING CORRIDORS OF DESCRIPTION FOR HOURS. GET LOST IN ALL THE LITTLE NOOKS AND CRANNIES WHERE DETAILS LIE AND MY HEART GOES TO BE FULL AS WELL AS TO SHATTER

7) just about any time I’m up early I see a happy little green discord bubble that makes my heart go ☀️❤️ and I’m not a morning person, but it always puts me in a happy mood to start my day

8) hello random point here!! Just for me to say you’re amazing and I love you!! I’m allowed to do that cause I made the rules :P

9) you are taking a break!!! A well deserved, wonderful break to rest the ash head!!!!! Take care of the ash brain!!! For inside it are many wonderful things!!! Many amazing gifts to this world that you bless us with!!! Take care of the ash!!!

10) now I will sing a song: *clears throat* OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH HOW I LOVE THE ASH OC’S, THE ASH OC’S, THE ASH OC’S! HOW I LOVE THE ASH OC’S THAT BREAK MY HEART IN TWO

11) you were the first whump writer I ever really came into contact with! That’s not to say I hadn’t read whump before, but I had never interacted with anyone before. And nervous little me stuck my head in and you went HELLO WELCOME WE’RE ALL VERY FRIENDLY HERE HAVE A SLICE OF HEARTACHE PIE AND JOIN THE FUN and I cannot thank you enough for that

12) your profile picture. Please. It gives me so much serotonin

13) stop I’m already gay. This comes with no context but it doesn’t even need it. You know who this is about.

14) Chris owns my entire heart and also my soul 🥺 so does Kauri, come to think of it 🥺 and Jake 🥺 and Krista 🥺 and-

15) I FINISHED THE BAD ARC RECENTLY AND HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME. HOW DARE YOU DO SUCH A FANTASTIC JOB RIPPING MY HEART TO PIECES IN SUCH A BRILLIANT MANNER. HOW DARE YOU MAKE SOMETHING SO gOOD HURT SO BAD. HOW DARE-

16) Teach me to write pls you are a goddess of prose and I bow at your altar

17) HEY GUESS WHAT IT’S ANOTHER RANDOM BLURB WHERE I JUMP IN AND REMIND YOU THAT I LOVE YOU IN CASE YOU FORGOT WHAT THIS WAS ALL ABOUT! YOU ARE FANTASTIC! YOU ARE SPLENDED! KIND! IMPORTANT! TRULY MAGNIFICENT!

18) never has someone ever managed to make me so worked up over a roomba, I swear to god I am more invested in Kiera’s well-being than I am in my own, PLEASE TELL ME MY FUNKY LITTLE VACUUM MAKES IT

19) Vincent! Shield! Breaks! My! Heart! Someone! Please! Help! Him! For! The! Love! Of! God! Please! Just that whole...kauri’s whole....and Owen and....😭 you have such good concepts and they break me to pieces and the (minimal though it is) comfort stitches it back together and ASHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

20) five more left! Five more left! Cause I can only fit 25 in! But there is! so much more! About the Ash! Of that I’m sure! Look out. Here comes the Ash love!

21) this is specifically a me thing, but in following some of the discourse that passes through your blog, I have learned a *lot* about the world, and about myself. I won’t give specifics, but you actually encouraged me to talk with someone, and secure a diagnosis that I’ve been holding off on for a long time. And it has opened up so many pathways, and helped me see the world in such a different light and I just. I can never really thank you enough for that?

22) I can never get enough of how amazing you are at flipping the usual narrative on its head, and drawing out such crucially important morals from it? God I just. Ash

23) you’re still here! You’re still going! The world is a crazy place, and the internet even crazier, but look at you! You’re here! In spite of it all, it’s still you! And I thank my lucky stars every day for it!

24) this is just a fun fact but you are one of (5) blogs I keep post notifications on for, constantly. Tumblr and I are very fickle friends, but I cannot tell you how much it gives me a little rush of glee (or terror or sorrow or fear depending on the content) whenever I get that little banner pop up on my phone and it says ASHINTHEAIRLIKESNOW POSTED:

25) Number twenty five is simply, truthfully, and completely that you are Ash! You are wonderful, and brilliant, and a light in a world that gets pretty dim, every now and then. Even when your light feels a little grey, never let it go out ❤️ you are loved, and you are so very special, and you deserve tenfold of the goodness you put out.

ANYWAY, IN CONCLUSION: WE LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK ASH!!!!!

Anon, I have no response that can possibly match what I was sent here. This was delightful and it made me feel the same way I felt when I first saw the ‘boom da yada’ commercial for the Discovery channel, which is to say... awesome. Thank youuuuuu for this list!

#also sorry I didn't reply right away I went to bed I think right as this came in and stopped checking my inbox #eeeeeee #my anons are the best

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nordic-capitals-inc · 3 years

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Please I need y’all to see my bonkers design process for Stockholm and Helsinki. I went into this with the intent to draw Helsinki as a mix of Fin and Sve, because of course I did, and came out with two whole girls. I’m gonna ramble more under the cut about my thought process because I think it’s funny.

Ok so it starts at the top left and goes right in a backwards “S” shape down the rest of the page

The first two were Nyo!Sweden rips but a little softer because she is Fin’s daughter

Then I thought “What if I made her like...handsome? Handsome in a soft way?” Then you get that weird swoopy hair look in the top right and I HATED it

Then with the short hair I really went “Nyo!Finland but shorter hair” and that wasn’t it either

I really tried to make it work if You couldn’t tell

I got frustrated and went to piccrew to goof around and see what I get. That’s how I ended up on the ponytail with the braids being pulled into a bun/ponytail with bangs

Then I slapped on some glasses and a longer face because I thought I was leaning too far away from Sweden

But all that mentioned above was too much, her face felt crowded (and too much like Czech) So I split her hair into braids, because I don’t have many characters with braided hair and I thought it’d be good practice, and kept the long-ish hair from Nyo!Sweden

I don’t remember how it happened, but I sketched out the drawing of Helsinki at the bottom left and just completely lost it. I thought she was cute and resembled Fin enough but not too much. I took the remaining traits from the design above her (ie the side part and longer face) and slapped them onto another girl who is now Stockholm

It’s not pictured here, but I tried to give Helsinki a longer or more pronounced nose like Sweden and Stockholm more of a button nose like Fin

I thought the contrast between Helsinki’s softer design and Stockholm’s sharper design with their noses would be fun...if that....if that makes any sense

One thing I do find funny is how consistant I was with giving Helsinki the choker. Literally all of them have it. I guess I got super attached to the name meaning thing I found while researching the city

It’s not colored so it’s not as obvious, but Helsinki has those soft blue eyes because of Sweden’s more blue-ish eyes. Although, I just really didn’t want to give her purple eyes because SO many characters already have purple eyes, especially in the Nordic family

Like, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Oslo, and Rey all have purple eyes. I wanted to mitigate that as much as possible

Oh, and that drawing to the right of Stockholm’s design at the bottom is just a concept sketch of her when she was younger and had longer hair

Also because my hand writing’s atrocious and I was scrawling like a maniac, here’s what all the notes say

“Absolutely not” in ref to the swoopy hair design

“OSLO LISTENS TO GIRL IN RED <-- Crucial” That was just a random thought I had because I found out Ms. Girl-in-Red is from Norway

“Y E S !!” I think it’s pretty clear what this means

What I really love about this, it that the “Final designs” at the bottom of the page aren’t all that close to hw they look now. That what I love about character design, they change so much through the process that they become different people

Anyway, I love character design, so I guess if y’all are interested to hear more about my thought processes for these girls I can make more of these

They went through so much both design and character wise

#aph nordic capitals #aph helsinki #aph stockholm #design process #My design process is so bonkers #I bank on figuring out the hair and face before anything else when designing #usually I have an idea of their personality #but once the face and hair are refined enough #they REALLY grow into a character #capitalia

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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 4 years

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tuesday again no problem

it sure has been a tuesday

reading: nobody here wants to read planetary science papers. i don’t even want to be reading planetary science papers. i do not care about geology i am not even sorry

watching: snow trail (1947) bc I am very fond of Toshiro Mifune. baby’s first movie! he looks VERY handsome! he does a really good job! non-spoiler highlights of this movie include Can’t Go Tell On Us To The Cops If You’re Naked, Holy Shit This Phonograph Is Great, and Mountains Can Sense Intent. it is a very fun way to spend an hour and a half, especially if you’re an outdoorsperson. why anyone would or does climb mountains is beyond me, but it is fun to watch a dramatized version. there’s a fucking BONKERS avalanche scene in the first twenty minutes.

listening: this breaks my Cover Theory, the theory in which i posit that the only good covers are very spare acoustic versions with one person and a guitar in their bedroom (extra bonus points if they’re interrupted by some sort of animal) or totally different arrangements that alter the whole mood. this is just a solid less synthy cover by a gay lady! i love it! i immediately put it onto four characters’ playlists! i am not immune to new jersey nostalgia, a state in which i did not have a very good time and have very few positive memories of but which is definitely warmer than this freezing hellstate!

youtube

playing: i have many and complex feelings about Dead Money, @morrak has mostly been the recipient of these late night ramblings. this Fallout: New Vegas DLC is a very good, very focused study about the concept of letting go in general and also letting go of all the terrible things about the lost pre-apocalypse world. mostly, it is almost as satisfying to kill Dean Domino as it is House. also, you can hold this character’s hand and it’s a very important very emotional moment of gay solidarity. all i have to do is the last boss battle and i’m dragging my feet bc it’s genuinely stressful.

making: haHA I HAVE FRESHLY LAUNDERED THINGS TO SHOW OFF, READY TO GO IN THE MAIL!!! two out of these three people are on this hellsite but check it very infrequently so I’m rollin some dice here. i love making the FUCK samplers bc they’re very small and stitch up very fast and they’re funniest when u find the most elaborate frames possible. the patches are more working QR codes that go to Never Gonna Give You Up. not quite as fast to stitch up, and way more finishing work involved (not entirely happy with how well i finished these, but they’re done), but also very satisfying.

#tuesday again no problem

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thenerdparty · 5 years

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Us - Film Review

Written by Shawn Eastridge (@yayshawndorman)

With his second feature Us, writer/director Jordan Peele seems determined to avoid the dreaded ‘sophomore slump’ by any means necessary. Thankfully, the film affirms Peele’s status as one of our most exciting new filmmakers, serving as an excellent example of what a great director can do with a larger canvas. But while Peele’s ambitions are admirable, the end result is a bit of a mess - overwrought, sprawling and lacking focus. Us should leave horror fans feeling satisfied, but don’t be surprised if you’re left scratching your head wondering not only what it all means but whether or not it actually makes any sense.

The concept is Twilight Zone madness at its finest (and further confirmation Peele is the right guy to spearhead the new TV revival). During a summer vacation, the Wilson family, consisting of concerned mother Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o), wisecracking daddy Gabriel (Winston Duke) and their two kids (Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex), ends up being terrorized by a family of nightmare-inducing doppelgangers. As the Wilsons attempt to survive the evening, a horrifying plot begins to unfold, one with wide-ranging ramifications far beyond anything the Wilsons could possibly imagine.

Peele takes his precious time getting to the fun and games, sometimes to the film’s detriment. While the opening scene is masterfully crafted with hypnotizing, nightmarish imagery, the scenes in which we’re introduced to the Wilsons are less effective. There’s a lot of clunky exposition with characters detailing key bits of information in stilted dialogue exchanges:

‘Hey, **INSERT CHARACTER NAME HERE** Remember when you used to **INSERT CHARACTER TRAIT THAT WILL CLEARLY PLAY A BIG PART IN THE UNFOLDING STORY.**’

‘Did I ever tell you about the time I **INSERT TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE THAT WILL SHED LIGHT ON CHARACTER LATER IN FILM.**’

Yeah. It’s awkward.

Once the plodding first act gives way to the film’s centerpiece, the nail-biting home invasion sequence, the pace picks up tremendously. It’s during these moments that Peele’s talents truly shine. As with Get Out, Peele demonstrates a knack for striking and memorable imagery. He has a strong grasp on conveying the terror of things that go bump in the night and understands how to convey these elements to their utmost effectiveness. His ability to wring every ounce of suspense from each moment is on full display and he deftly balances the scares with expertly placed punchlines and payoffs.

But undercutting the film’s thrills is Peele’s unfortunate reliance on a number of cliched horror tropes and logic gaps. Characters behave in the most nonsensical of ways, wandering off on their own with a monster on the loose or back into a dangerous situation no intelligent person would dare re-enter. These lapses in reason fall in line with some of the genre’s worst tendencies and it’s odd to find them in a film that sets itself up as being more thoughtful than your standard horror fodder.

It’s also a bit of a bummer that we don’t learn much about the Wilson family beyond a surface level. Thankfully, Peele has assembled a wonderful ensemble to pick up the slack. Nyong’o leads the pack in full force, delivering not one, but two stunning performances as both Adelaide and her doppelganger Red. Everyone in this cast is great, but it’s Nyong’o’s work that will stick with you long after the end credits roll.

Thematically, there’s a lot to unpack. Probably too much. I have no doubt Peele has something important to say about the country’s current state, how social class affects one’s ultimate successes, how the dangers of turning a blind eye to past failures will be our undoing, etc., but it’s all too muddled and unfocused to come across effectively. It’s as if he made a list of every theme and idea he wanted to tackle, put them into a blender and dumped the contents out on screen without defining or refining anything. Upon further scrutiny, many of Peele’s twists and turns begin to unravel, as does the rest of the film. It’s puzzle pieces without a box to offer the ‘big picture.’

Maybe there never was a box, you say. Maybe that was Peele’s intention all along. Sure, maybe. But if he wanted to leave audiences in a state of uncertainty, why did he opt to include so many drawn-out monologues that over-explain certain plot points and character motivations? So much is carefully described to the audience to the point that it’s reminiscent of the classic Bond villains waxing poetic about their plans for world domination.

So yeah, maybe Peele bit off more than he could chew, but here’s the thing: I applaud him for doing so. He really went for broke and that’s something to be admired, especially in an era where original properties are getting short shrift in favor of massive blockbusters. Peele could have played it safe, but instead, he decided to make something kind of bonkers.

Us might not be a horror masterpiece, but at least it’s trying and I’m excited to see what else Peele has up his sleeve.

FINAL RATING: 3.5/5

#Us #JordanPeele #LupitaNyongo #Film #movie #review #films #movies #TheNerdParty

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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How Death Note Redeemed Itself In Its Final Episode

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This article contains major spoilers for both the manga and anime of Death Note.

There’d never been a manga (and later anime) quite like Death Note. A psychological thriller mixed with the supernatural, the series followed high schooler Light Yagami, who’s given a notebook with the ability to kill anyone whose name is written in it. The premise alone is incredibly enticing but it was the way Death Note evolved that made it a beloved and still talked about series to this day.

The funny yet dark interplay between Light and the Shinigami who gave him the notebook, Ryuk. The way Light was able to creatively use the notebook to kill. The absolutely bonkers ways he avoided getting caught, most famous of which utilized a bag of chips. Being forced to work with the frustrating yet tragic Misa. The absolute triumph of an episode where Light simply takes a walk with someone and desperately tries to figure out their name in order to avoid getting caught.

The series’ biggest draw, especially after it got started, however, was the mind game between Light and police consultant L, who had a strong suspicion of Light being the killer. Their back and forth, Light avoiding being exposed, L planting traps for Light to fall into, the friendship that may not have been for show on L’s side, earned the series much of its acclaim.

However, half way through the series, L was killed off. It was a major shock, the biggest twist yet. This changed everything. Who else could compare to the man who nearly exposed Light time after time? Was this the end of the story? Would it be possible to create a character not only beloved as L but also one that could keep the tension of the story as high as it had been?

For most fans, the series never recovered after this. Many jumped ship solely because L died. Others weren’t impressed with the attempts to replace L. The characters of Mello and Near had some potential but it was never properly utilized. Many of their attempts to apprehend Light fell flat in comparison to the first half.

This isn’t to say the second half doesn’t have some bright spots but it does drag in places and many fans gave up before the story ended. Which is a huge shame because the final story of Death Note, in particular the one that takes up the final episode of the anime, makes up for its entire second half. It pulls everything together for what is an immensely satisfying conclusion that makes a critical judgement call on everything Light had done up to that point.

By the time Death Note reaches this final episode, it seems as though nothing can touch Light. He’s killed millions of people. Yes, Near has turned some of his team against him (except the loveable idiot Matsuda), but Light is still in control. He has a man named Mikami killing for him, he avoids Near’s traps, kills Mello, and even boldly tells his team it’s okay for them to work with Near. However, Near manages to get Light to agree to their first in person meeting and the two, along with their respective team’s, meet up in a deserted warehouse. It’s there that the stage is set for the final episode.

Light has Near cornered. Near had made a plan to swap out Mikami’s notebook for a fake, but Light saw through that and, through a trademark Death Note convoluted plan, made it so Mikami actually had the real notebook hidden. He’s won. Mikami writes the name of everyone present besides Light. Light, his ego at an all time, desperately tries to hold back his laughter. He knows he’s won, that in moments everyone is going to die.

The final episode begins… and they don’t. Near had faked Light out and did manage to swap out Mikami’s notebook for a fake. Light is exposed… and finally brings to the forefront a core question the series had been asking but refused to give a definitive answer on, not even in the first half: Is Light justified in his actions?

Look, I love Death Note. It’s a really fun watch and, because it’s a piece of fiction, you don’t have to be totally disgusted by a guy murdering millions of people. The fact he uses a magic notebook to do it makes it a unique take on the thriller genre. The problem is a large chunk of the series is told from Light’s POV. He makes it clear he wants to kill criminals the police won’t. That killing criminals makes the world a better place. The fear of being killed by an unseen force deter others from committing crime.

This wouldn’t be an issue if the show made it clear from the jump that this is still wrong, but it actively plants seeds of narrative doubt that maybe the authorities shouldn’t even be trying to catch Light. His actions are extreme, sure, but aren’t they needed to make the world safer? It makes viewers or readers ask the question: Is Light committing mass murder making the world a better place?

This is a dangerous topic to play with. I’m all for using fiction to explore hard concepts but the show needed to come down hard on his actions. They couldn’t condone them; it would be the show telling its audience, “Hey, mass murder is legit!” Even if the show left Light’s action as ambiguous that also would have been a problem. It would leave too much wiggle room. Too much of a chance for Light’s actions to still be seen as viable. At first, it seems like this is exactly what the final episode is doing. After Light’s finally discovered as the serial killer he is, he goes into full ego mode. He declares himself god, the only hope for mankind and explains that because of his actions, “wars have stopped and global crime rates have been reduced by over 70 percent.”

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Light doesn’t even frame this as an evil action he needed to take in order to make the world better. No, instead he sees himself as good! He tells everyone that someone has to do this… but no one would have gone as far as he did. The world needs him to fix it. He needs to keep killing. This could have been the show’s only statement on Light’s actions. That he had a point, flawed as it was. It would have been so easy to leave the door open, to make the series as edgy as possible and have Light be sympathetic right to the end.

But it doesn’t.

In the most critical moment in all of Death Note, right after Light gives his big speech, Near shuts him down: “You’re just a murderer, Light Yagami. And this notebook is the deadliest weapon of mass murder in the history of mankind.” He goes on to say that Light has confused himself with a god when in fact, “you’re nothing more than a crazy serial killer. That’s all you are. Nothing more and nothing less.”

Light is not justified in his actions. This is the concluding statement of Death Note. It’s ultimate answer to the question of Light being justified or not. It isn’t entertaining the idea of Light’s actions. Any reason the show has given you to sympathize with him goes out the window. He’s completely in the wrong. There’s nothing noble about what he did. He’s a murderer and simply killing all criminals without any kind of oversight is wrong. He thought he was god for doing this but in the end that was what did him in.

Light’s fall from grace and ultimate rejection by the series is further driven home when Matsuda, the clown shoes of the series, shoots Light in the hand. Light tries to appeal to him but he refuses to listen, shooting Light four more times. He’s only prevented from killing Light by the other offers. Light manages to get up after this and run away and Near lets him. He knows Light is about to die. This was yet another moment the show could have tried to make you feel pity for Light. That yeah, he was wrong, but he at least had good intentions and isn’t it sad he’s about to die?

Nope. Ryuk comes along and writes Light’s name in his own notebook. Light has truly lost. Before Light dies though Ryuk reminds both Light and the audience of what Light said early on in the series when asked why he was passing judgment on others: He was bored. For all the grand posturing of being god and making the world a better place, this was all because Light was bored. He’s no hero. His philosophy shouldn’t be looked upon as something noble or horrible but necessary. He’s just a horrific person who dies alone.

Even the short manga sequel to Death Note drives home the point that Light was wrong. Another human, Minoru Tanaka, is given the Death Note years after Light’s death and Ryuk wonders if Light is considered one of the greats of history. Minoru explains that while some consider Light god, it’s actually taught in ethics classes that Light is evil. He was also taught in world history classes that Light was, “a mass-murdering terrorist, the worst in recent history.”

The story actively refuses to give Light’s actions any justifications. He was committing mass murder. If the story had simply ended at the half waypoint, L’s death, it would have been deeply problematic. It wouldn’t have answered the question of whether Light was justified or not. It would have left open the idea that maybe he was, at least from the perspective of the narrative itself.

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This is what makes the final episode so important. It not only answered that question of whether Light was justified, but also took a very hard and definitive stance against it. It refused to entertain any notion that Light was in the right and Death Note was all the better for it.

The post How Death Note Redeemed Itself In Its Final Episode appeared first on Den of Geek.

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