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transsexualhamlet · 3 years

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tg anime vs manga *sighs*

i have the power of hyperfixation and anime on my side! AAAAAAAA

Ok now that we’ve gotten the sins of re post out of the way we need to discuss this. And I just feel that this needs to be covered because I can’t ever get away from constant discourse on this, mostly fueled by manga readers who feel entitled to always think they’re superior for reading the manga, that the manga is the only real canon, that it’s more complex or better, I’m so fucking tired of it. I am also a manga reader, and I tend to get like that sometimes too with many series (for example no. 6 and the promised neverland.) I get it. It can be really annoying to see something butchered on screen to what the original is, changed or represented differently or given a different message or simplified. But just. Some people like the anime and it’s not a goddamn holy war for y’all to fight. It only makes anime fans not want to read the thing even more yknow cause manga readers are pretentious assholes, and I am aware of this as one of them.

(again ok i’d like to mention i know this fandom is basically dead but a certain p*nterest is always like 4 years behind on fandoms so i keep fucking running into Discourse that’s like, still current, whenever i want old random ass content) (and youtube, why do i look at youtube comments, because I personally enjoy being offended? yeah probably)

And that brings me to the point of this anime vs manga.

This is a lot harder to compare than a lot of other series, because there are just... so many more differences not just in the style and vibe but the story itself.

Disclaimer, I’ve never watched the anime for :re and i don’t intend to, because I honestly have no earthly clue how tf you can get from the highly diverged tokyo ghoul root A to re and make it make sense, and I don’t really want A ruined for me. So you can call me biased towards the manga in the case of re, i guess (which makes my eventual conclusion even more strong I’d say) Honestly I just see them as two completely different stories, the manga’s version connecting with re and A just like... ending there. So how we’re drawing the lines is basically tokyo ghoul A versus the manga and :re. God, I know this isn’t a fair fight because I already hate re so much, but I feel like the manga’s story is much more intertwined with :re than the anime’s is, so that’s what we’re going with.

oh god also another disclaimer this opinion is coming from the biggest fucking kanehide whore, you can disregard anything i say if you ship The Straights and/or do not care for my boi hide

To be honest, if I can take my own conclusions and liberties to the story, I like both versions, each have their pros and cons and kind of a conflicting message. They can’t really coexist. Usually I’d consume all versions and then create one consistent canon in my head for what I accept as the true events (for example my main owari no seraph, first season of the anime is canon but after that we only follow the manga since those can come together and make sense.) but it’s very hard to do that in tokyo ghoul, since I must confess... I really like root A. Like of course, it’s a lot different from the manga, but tbh I think it’s super valid. (unlike most Fans TM like this Fan TM who i’m sending this post to just to spite their singular Youtube Comment Section Discourse, yes I did write this post for you and many others like you) But the ideas that make up root A conflict a lot with the ones of the manga, so I just have to accept that they’re separate things and treat them as such.

Now to break it down so people can understand where I’m coming from I guess? God this is already so long here’s a read more

The Case for The Manga (including :re manga)

More Lore + Plot Shit: One of the main reasons that manga readers are pretentious little bitches is a valid reason, namely that, as is the case with most manga, there’s simply more to it than people can fit into an anime. (Although people need to understand that’s because,,, it’s simply a different medium, so it will have different pluses and minuses, such as for example a soundtrack, color, moving pictures,,, you know, all that. Anime onlys don’t say that the anime is better by stating these things that a manga won’t have... because they’re fucking obvious. So manga readers should stop acting like an anime is inherently sub-par for being less in depth, but we digress.) I can understand that reading the manga is kind of important for wanting to understand the lore (though there are like so many other reasons ppl might want to watch it other than to get the lore) and without the explanation of how all this came to be and how it works, everything tends to be really mysterious, confusing, and seemingly random. It’s really nice to know what’s all going on, of course, and stuff like the washuus, rize’s backstory, the explanation for like, kaneki in general, all that- if you’re looking for like, plot shit, manga is definitely your go to. But like, sometimes, you like, don’t actually care about those things.

Haise: Of course one of the most important things about well, including re is that I fucking love Haise. Like he is my favorite Kaneki. He’s just so wonderful, look at him in he glasses and he floofy hair and he striped pants and he energy boxers and he s p i c e and he MOM. And I really like how they took Kaneki’s character and developed it more with Haise, you can see his turnaround from innocent--> Emo--> Trying To Be Innocent Again But Failing and I think that’s really sweet tbh. I rejected that at first because I didn’t understand it but once I actually read re I thought it made a lot of sense and was a logical thing to do with his character. (though, uh, moving forward, after his hair changes again i disagree with it, haise 1.0 is a good take and i love him and i want the best for him) I could go on I’ve already written a post of what I think is wrong with :re so if you want to hear my take on kaneki’s 37 pokemon evolutions that’s in there

Good New Characters: And of course there are my favorite bitches such as quinx squad, oh my god, there was a terminal lack of dumbass squad vibes in the original and ishida fucking gave it to us, I love them, I love them with all my heart and I think that if I wasn’t attached to them I’d probably just cancel all of :re but like this is just my personal problem. God I love them. Ishida always pulls through with characters I’m now too attached to.

Vore Lmao:Ok like hear me out. I just get a laugh out of it every time the manga has to remind me of this little fucking fact. Like ok I just. Cannot get over it. It’s so serious about it too and like I realize it’s a serious deal but o h m y g o d

Ok and now that we’ve got that little rant over I do want to say that it is like actually really important past the “lmao that’s pretty gay” bit, like??? In some ways it’s more fitting than the anime because well, ishida’s point always seems to be “what would mentally and physically hurt kaneki the most right now” and does it because that’s who this bitch is. But it just?? Kind of makes a bit more sense for the storyline if we’re being picky here, it’s so,,, painfully on point? Like the entire reason he gave in to Being A Ghoul and all was so he could save his friends and shit (i actually do not remember if this was a thing in the manga but like? when he was being tortured and he like imagined hide being really mad at him and getting killed by jason and shit?) LIKE AND THEN HE GOES AND HAS TO BASICALLY BE THE PERPETRATOR OF THAT HIMSELF, FUCK, it’s a lose/lose situation of “don’t do the bad thing and watch your friends suffer” or “do the bad thing and watch your friends suffer but like, later” ishida please

The meaning of Hide being alive: Ok this is just me crying over chapter 75 still but like. Instead of in the anime, where hide’s point seems to be that instead of letting kaneki sacrifice anything more he’d be the one to give his life up and such, and save kaneki, in the anime tbh he just really wanted to be with kaneki right then?? and like ouch but understanding that in the manga he wasn’t just planning on dying and leaving kaneki to deal with it afterward he wanted to go on and continue to try to help the guy no matter the shit he had to go through, no matter if the dude just like forgot that he existed for two years and all- LIKE UH CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW HIDE DOESN’T EVEN EXPECT ANY APOLOGY? like kaneki’s like “OH MY GOD I’M SUCH A TERRIBLE PERSON” and hide’s like lmao nah it’s cool i’m thriving- that his big motto was “live” rather than “peace out motherfuckers it’s been fun”. Cause. Fucking. Ishida. Can’t kill off characters well but like at least he made keeping this one alive justified.

The D e t a i l s: Ok well I feel like this is something everyone knows but the anime is missing a lot of really,,, crunchy details that the manga throws in there, like, well, kaneki’s fucking,,, bones thing, and other assorted details, g o d like those are missable if you want to never understand half the memes but also like,,, sometimes you just gotta read that shit. It also like, makes more sense when you do but sometimes it’s just stupid things that aren’t important but are fucking hilarious.

The Flavor: In general I’d say the greatest difference between the anime and the manga is the general flavor of the thing, the vibe in the manga is a lot, to be frank, darker and grosser and bloodier than the anime, which is a lot more focused on being pretty and Tragic than “HOLY SHIT WTF” but like. That’s valid. With that comes it being a lot more, real, and although the art may not be as polished as the anime’s, sometimes that’s exactly what you need, and the really gritty sketchy shit that’s in the manga sometimes is exactly what it’s supposed to be for the manga. (in the anime, i’d say that the colored and polished style fits it better, so we’re good there.) It’s a lot more real, in the manga, when the anime hesitates to “go there” a lot (and well, sometimes that’s welcome, but sometimes it’s like y o u g u y s c o m e o n r e a l l y maybe i DID want to see that did you ever think of that)

So like, to sum it up i’d just like to say it’s more detailed, sharper and darker and is simply So Much. There is just More Content

The Case for Root A

ON THE OTHER HAND, (buckle up fuckers)

Depth of Emotion (that Ishida was too much of a pissbaby for): God like you know what I mean if you read the last post, we spent a whole episode on these gay fucks in root A, with backstory and dreams and drawn out suspense and emotion and GUYS LOOK AT THEM NO REALLY OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS whereas hide’s limelight in the manga is a whole... two pages, oh whoopee, and that’s mostly due to the fact of ishida putting himself in a spot of “oh fuck goddamn if i drew that in i’d get flagged for gay porn” but that’s his own fault, so he downplays the whole scene and really keeps it in the dark, whereas in this anime it’s understandably a lot less,,, like that, but how it plays out here is simply... really nice and makes you cry and shit, whereas in the manga I’d go “oh god oh damn oh fuck” *laughs my ass off because i really can’t take this seriously*. You get just... more here.

To elaborate on this, in the anime, as a gay fucking bastard, I can get practically an endless amount of content from episode twelve, and endlessly stew over all Those Things about it, every hard hitting line, the expressions, the music making it even sadder, the ways the VAs say the words, the cinematic beauty of the blood dripping on the floor and like how it’s supposed to make you think it’s kaneki’s, GOD I COULD FUCKING GO ON, but if we want to get that in the manga...

we get three incredibly basic lines, a blackout, and then a “QUICK LET’S MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE BEFORE ANYONE NOTICES THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT HAHA”

So if we want to have more, we need to write it. (sadly) None of it is ever played out canonically so like,,, all we can do is infer and make shit up. It’s like, I am a writer so like that’s my whole job but I really would rather have more content, and have the content that’s there get to be emotional instead of *blank face* “this is plot that is happening, sadly” but like maybe it’s just bc i’m gay

Really Fucking Beautiful (aesthetically as well as story-wise): This kind of just goes hand in hand with the depth of emotion bit, and I think it can’t really compared to the manga here because I’m gay so I see pretty colors and cry so the anime is understandably appealing for me, but I’m also talking emotionally, yeah. There’s a lot of plotlines and implications of the story that are really well played out, I always love to watch the original because it does a very good job handling a lot of the harder topics and stuff that makes the whole thing worthwhile- like the whole point you’re supposed to see that the ghouls and humans are both just as monstrous when you break it down, that there are good and bad people on both sides, everyone just wants to live and feel good in their own life and perspective, everyone has reasons that justify their behaviour in their mind, sometimes you just can’t win no matter what, all that... they’re all really important messages and make the whole story, and they were handled much more delicately and with more expertise in the anime.

It’s hard to pin down, but I feel like the manga was just based more on Fight Scenes Characters OoH Fake Science and kind of just gave kaneki infinite power ups after Trying Harder no offense, obviously those things were there and they were still very good in the manga it’s just sometimes they were cheapened a lot by ishida really not keeping track of what he’s trying to say with his story and sacrificing it a lot for “BUT WHAT IF KANEKI’S HAIR AND IDEALS CHANGED AGAIN” instead of making it a whole cohesive work. (and yes, I am VERY aware of your “well aCtuAlLy the hair represents his sanity” thing i know i know and i’m about to rip it to fucking shreds so)

Understandable Character Development And Staying True To It: Which brings me to this point, character development. This was another thing that was just... handled with more expertise in the anime, whoever was in charge of it. Mostly this has to do with Kaneki, since like, no offense but he’s the only one who ever gets much character development other than like, juuzou (asmr you only get character development if your hair color changes) oh and i guess there’s tsukiyama but he’s someone who shouldn’t have gotten character development. Touka gets character development only before re for some reason, and like tbh that’s kind of it. I do think Juuzou’s character development was valid, because well... it made sense? I complained about it before because I was like “well he just turns into spicy L” but i’ve since changed my opinion, he’s best boy. But Kaneki? They went way overboard with him in the manga, and generally? Calm tf down ishida.

Breaking it down, one of the main things that most of the tried and true manga stans seem to hate about the anime the most is Kaneki going over to Aogiri in root A. Since they’re much more acclimated to the manga, they don’t understand why he would do that (quoting a particular ‘probably made sense in the manga!’ yes i know that whole thing was poking fun at the show and i felt it lmao) and they just pin it to “ahaha he has now become Edgy for the fans ehehe time to make fun of him” and TO BE FAIR YOU’D BE COMPLETELY RIGHT. I love to make fun of Kaneki when he does his edgy bitch thing because that’s what he is. A basic edgy bitch who is just,,, such a main character. But like. He does actually have his reasons despite popular opinion and to be honest I think they’re a bit more valid than in the manga, where he’s just like “well I’ve been tortured, that was not pleasant and i kinda did a bad thing, let’s go back to anteiku but i’m just gonna Try Harder To Fight this time”. I can understand that, but like, it seems like in the manga every Character Development of kaneki is some form of “i will now be stronger” except for the singular “I will now be a different person” which, well, we’ll get to that.

In the anime though, even if it seems like more of a basic edgy bitch move, it’s like?? It makes perfect sense to me, and to be honest more than the manga does? Obviously he doesn’t wanna be best bros with Aogiri, he realizes they’re all bad people who have done really terrible things, but the fact is he now sees himself as the same thing, he now understands their motives because in his mind he is also now Bad TM. His whole character development of being tortured was that peace wasn’t an option no matter how much he wanted it, he couldn’t live being a pacifist and the world was forcing him to give the “i am the only one that understands! we need to stop fighting!” bullshit up because there was no way to achieve it. He realized if he kept himself the way he was more people he loved would be hurt like they already had because he couldn’t, so he doesn’t just Decide To Become Stronger, he gives up his humanity. And that includes basically letting himself defend his own actions and try to do “the right thing”.

Him then joining aogiri makes sense because well. They’re the people who are the strongest, who have the power, who are the same as he sees himself. He still wants to protect the people he loves, he just also realizes he can’t do it by working with them since he now understands that their more peaceful ways will by definition get them fucking killed. His understanding is flawed, of course. He’s not really right. But this is his understanding and from that it makes perfect sense for him to join up with aogiri and try to still do as much as possible from that standpoint, realizing that most likely the people he’s trying to protect will hate him for it. I think that makes sense to me, what do you not understand about it? (I also understand that may make some people mad because he’d Doing Bad Things but I point to you he’s so soft, remember when he was really nice to naki when he was literally the one who killed the guy naki was crying about? remember when he was doing a raid and he saw that guy hiding and he never mentioned it? remember like the seventy times he Cried TM, yeah he’s problematic obviously but if you want problematic I’ll point you to a certain fucking black reaper. Shironeki has nothing on that asshole.)

I think what Kaneki did in the manga was fine, but in general the anime (again) had more depth of understanding and emotion versus a steady Try Harder Get Stronger shonen deal, which, well, fair, but like, nah. Continuing why I think the anime dealt it better is the ending of A, which was a lot more well rounded then *kaneki gets stabbed and then there’s a lot of random plot shit going on in the background*. Here Kaneki then got to round out the end of his character development by realizing slowly through the second half of this season, him becoming a kakuja and then basically deciding like, not to

((kakuja kaneki was dealt with again different in the anime and manga because he basically stopped trying to use it in the anime bc he realized it was a bad fucking idea but this goes along with the ‘his character development of “i’m gonna do bad things for good reasons” --> “actually no wait that was a bad idea” was actually done in root A instead of being dragged out into :re and it’s appropriate for its own medium and the messages it’s trying to get across so manga loyalists hate it’ but we digress))

So in root A we got to see him actually develop and realize himself through the second half of the season starting with cochlea, his interactions with Amon, and ultimately through Hide, that he’d been doing the wrong thing by becoming more monstrous/fighting harder because what he did was ended up forgetting the most important thing, *smiles in gay* HIDE.(well, his humanity. yeah. i cite the terrible opening for root A with the fun ‘the hands taking off kaneki’s mask are hide’s’ bit.) He then remembered again why he wanted so bad to stop the war between humans and ghouls, he wanted to be able to live in peace and not have to be a monster- something that was not dealt with in the manga (though for understandable reasons of We Need To Fuck With Him In Re More, they then didn’t deliver on creating something like that later so I take this.)

That’s most of the difference between the original manga and anime, but I’d also like to discuss (briefly, I’ve already yelled about them) the ridiculous amount of hurdles ishida went through to fuck with kaneki in the manga, Of course there is the fact that well, the slower transition of his character does make some more sense for the manga because if you take :re into consideration, his eight billion character changes are more tolerable when they haven’t like, already happened before in the manga (just the anime). It makes more sense there for Haise to be tormented by past kaneki telling him He’s Too Weak because in the manga he hasn’t already had that development prior to “dying”, and he lost his memories still believing he had to be strong even if he did bad things, whereas in the anime it doesn’t track because at the end like i just said he kind of gives up his ghoulhood on purpose because he realizes that joining aogiri and fighting and shit was really wrong because, hide. So I can see why those character decisions were not made in the original when planning for :re, but... the fact remains that those previous decisions do not make up for how absolutely weak :re’s game ended up being with kaneki.

So tldr this entire section, All the manga’s defense of how they handled Kaneki’s development is basically void because all those choices were buildup for development in :re which ishida then COMPLETELY fell down on. So the alternative is better.

And now comes my yelling about how exactly Ishida fucked it up: hair colors and kaneki’s 80 kanekis. If black is supposed to represent sane and white is supposed to represent insane or, whatever, i dunno, who tf thought black reaper kaneki was sane? Who tf would think kaneki in the end isn’t? I haven’t looked into this really, and I’d really love it if someone explained it to me the way ishida was going for bc I do not understand it. Like that tracks with Juuzou, and with Kaneki up to Haise Original, but they don’t really make a cohesive sense seeing as after Haise’s hair color changed again that whole deal kind of goes to shit. Not to mention... I just... they completely failed to make those character changes actually part of the story, I’m mostly complaining about black reaper haise, none of him makes any sense. What’s his deal? He wants to protect who he loves? Tracks with the ghouls but fun fact he abandoned his kids? He actually cared for them? What then, he wants to be the strongest as possible? Sure but then?? Why?? I don’t understand his motives at all.

We also didn’t get to see him get his memories back either, which I was actually very much looking forward to, it just,,, like all of a sudden he’s talking with eto about yoshimura and i’m like bruh when tf did that happen? It’s bad, and although chapter 74-76 is super valid, and his change back into white hair kaneki makes sense, I also have the complaint about how haise basically disappeared just like he was worried he would. I think that was bad and I’ve said that already, it doesn’t make sense, he just literally throws those entire two years away to go back to the way he was before he was with the CCG and just forgets everything he’s wanted for the last few years? Fiction logic test fucking failed, and you’ve also broken my heart. Love Haise. You got rid of him. I love kaneki too but like. Why don’t they just. Like. Merge. He is one whole complex person, not one and an imposter, god.

This is a big negative for re and the manga, so automatically a positive for root A where I simply Do Not Have To Deal With That Bullshit and the character development actually makes sense. I can understand the decisions in the original manga could have set up for good development in :re, but they completely failed to deliver.

root a didn’t fast forward to re at the end god damn let us process this shit first before you try to connect it to something else: The thing with this point is that it’s really difficult to separate the original manga from the continuing story in :re because the thing intertwines so much and immediately moves us forward with a ton of plot points for the next part of the story before we’re done with this climax and the end of this story. Sometimes that’s ok and I can see doing that from an author’s perspective because you want people to continue reading your story instead of taking that as the end but it’s really annoying on a reader’s end, because I’m picky and I want to be able to just be able to enjoy my original canon without it like, metaphorically touching :re on a plate. It’s something that I don’t even do with my own longer stories, like for example I have like a trilogy of >100k fics that like, well i’m technically not done with them but like.

People really like the first one because it’s more focused on a more popular ship and basic elements people like about the thing, and then by the second book it moves on to talk more about the plot and lore and brings in more secondary characters. And so I knew that a lot of the readers of the first one wouldn’t want to have to deal with a lot of the “oh well stuff is happening elsewhere that will effect stuff later!!!” random plot shit that none of my readers actually cared about. So I kept it to wrapping up the points of the first book and then leaving the introduction of new characters and plot for the people who actually wanted to read it. Ishida didn’t do that, and of course it’s within his right to like?? Want to promote the next series but I’d have enjoyed it more if we ended it at kaneki’s “death” and wrapping up the deals with the rest of the characters instead of quickly shoving in the beginning of seventy more plotlines before the book ends. Like honey I simply do not have the reading comprehension for that. In the anime we get something that... makes sense.

In the anime, however, it’s quite the opposite, for example the reveals like Eto=owl=takatsuki sen were pushed before that and they saved episode twelve for, well, the end bit. Like what was actually the ending. There were detriments to this I had to say (LIKE GUYS I GET IT HE’S CARRYING HIDE HE’S CARRYING HIM I GET IT YOU’VE BEEN DOING IT FOR HALF THE EPISODE NOW OK I UNDERSTAND CAN WE MOVE ON) But like, I prefer the concept of a simple idea with as much emotion squeezed out of it as possible to a ton of confusing and contradicting ideas that are touched on for a second before moving on. So the *cries for half an hour* ending was much more appealing to me, and I can keep that separate in my head from any of the ideas that :re creates, letting me pretend it doesnt exist and imagine that’s the end and there’s nothing else to worry about. If we want to move forward and hear more, then we can, but it isn’t necessary like it is with the manga.

No Bad Takes that are hard to pry apart from good plot and characters:This is basically the downsides of the new characters, which is well, if I had to make a whole ~keep reading~ post about how problematic everything in re was that does have to count as a downside. I love the new characters, but they also come intertwined with a thousand really bad takes on like, everything, and of course I can ignore it and just act as though they were written in like, to be perfectly honest, a non transphobic way, it’s a real downside when the original anime was pretty pain-free in the way of their takes on their characters. They fucked everyone up in re and I will not elaborate, we’ve talked about this, it’s just the anime, and which i mean season 1 and root A, don’t really have any bad takes I need to try to get rid of, it’s surprisingly something I have little complaint about at all and I ALWAYS have complaints.

Hide!!!!: Obviously, you can tell that a lot of my opinions are going to be hide based because he’s the only thing I ever think about. But we have to take into account just how... hide???? This goes a lot into the depth of emotion bit but it also offers the other side of the argument for Hide’s part in the :re manga, which well. Was mostly chapter 75 if we’re going to be perfectly honest here. He doesn’t get any other limelight. Even in the chapter where Kaneki meets him again he gets a whole what, three pages? In the manga, he has an extremely valid deal about basically, living, keeping going no matter what, and that is a fitting part for the manga, considering the rest of the points there ride more on Keep Fighting instead of Think About Your Emotions And Morals, but honestly chapter 75 was really valid. So why do I still think the anime’s version where he like (ok I don’t know about the re anime we’ve discussed this, i don’t even know how they choose to explain that) he like, dies in kaneki’s arms is better overall? Again, I would have totally accepted that deal if it was made a part of the story because it made me cry, it was super valid, and if they’d continued in that way I would have agreed with it completely over that. But the fact is again that they failed to deliver, and Hide got largely ignored, suffered so much with so little outcome. There was so much buildup and it was incredibly valid, but when the time came for them to meet again and basically show... why it was important that Hide lived in the end?

They didn’t. They straight up didn’t. Kaneki’s like “oh sorry bro... glad you’re alive and all...” *goes off and fights* and like? Honestly? @everlastingspiral is right, if that’s all they’re gonna do with him what’s the point of keeping him alive? I love every single panel of him and I wouldn’t have read re if he didn’t, but hide gets absolutely NO payoff. For letting kaneki literally vore his entire mouth off, leaving him disfigured and unable to talk, then kind of disappearing for two years and doing seemingly nothing but trying to help kaneki even though he’d forgotten the guy existed, risks his life like a thousand fucking times, eventually gets back to him and the dude’s running a fucking anti-human organization, helps him like Not Be A Volitile Pile Of Flesh Anymore and then what should have been a very important moment of them meeting again gets completely overshadowed by touka and random plot shit and more fights and they barely interact, they don’t even hug or anything, they barely talk, and at the end hide is still there but to be honest he’s gotten absolutely no thanks for all he did and ishida acts at the end as though he’s done very well with hide and gives him a tiny bit at the end throwing in a tragic backstory for fun (which hot take he really didn’t fucking need on top of it all) and... there’s no real hint that Kaneki is better off with Hide there, even though there should be. In 75, in his dream, kaneki is sobbing and crying and all like i’m so lonely without you but when they actually meet each other again? “yo” “hey” “uh sorry about,,, the thing,,, you know” “nah man it’s ok” “let me talk about myself for a bit” “yes you always do do you want to hear what I’ve been up to” “not really” “that’s fine i’m only here to support you”

...So you can understand why I’ve gone a bit sour on that. If that’s all you’re going to give him? Hot take? Let him die. Hide deserves better. (and i will deliver that in writing, but for the purposes of canon.)

In the anime, however (not counting re again... although he still gets the short end of the stick just in the original manga too compared to the anime) he’s properly dealt with! he gets his proper limelight and he gets acknowledged for what he’s done thusfar in the story, which is already so much. Kaneki then realizes that, but it’s already too late (or it isn’t, and they like negotiate with the ccg and then they get to live happily ever after) either way he gets appreciated and he gets hurt, but it’s properly acknowledged. And after all that, after saving kaneki and getting him to the cafe and doing it all while bleeding the fuck out, he gets to spend that time with kaneki and die in kaneki’s arms. And frankly? That’s all I think he’s ever needed. It’s really poetic and pretty and brings kaneki’s character around full circle, and even if it’s overly sappy, cliche, drawn out... he gets the attention he’s due and he gets a fucking break. He wanted to show Kaneki he wanted to do something for him and save him instead of the other way around, but then HE GOT ACKNOWLEDGED FOR THAT, instead of just well, tirelessly working towards it forever and having to be content to be a background character with practically no value to Kaneki anymore.

Keeps The Same Vibe: The big thing about this is that with the manga and with re, shit just goes all over the place, and I feel like I’ve amply showed that already through this essay or whatever this is. Again about the consistency and the professionalism, It’s a concise story that makes more sense than the manga while also being simply neater and more deep, making sure all the points, themes and messages work together and make sense to create a cohesive deal even if it’s not as long. (the manga is like ishida had a TON of good ideas for an essay but then fleshed out the thing ten minutes before deadline and managed to completely lose what his original thesis was even if the thing was 10 pages long.) Basically. yeah. That kind of sums it up, my last point concerns the ending.

Not Cheap Ending: If you want to hear my take about how absolutely terrible re’s ending was, check out my The Many Sins Of Tokyo Ghoul :Re post, and we’ve discussed how the original’s manga ending was bad and well not really an ending, it just leaves you unfulfilled and takes you into “well I guess I have to start a whole nother sequel series ig...” but root A like? Actually ends it? If a reader didn’t know that there was any content after that, they could pretty much infer that hide’s death or almost death whatever you inferred out of that ending (again we’re ignoring re) allowed Kaneki to finish his character development and realize they needed to stop the war, which basically tracks with what’s going on in everyone else’s perspective- eto’s problem with the world because of what happened with everything, is basically like, all of aogiri, juuzou and shinohara, amon and akira and kaneki and they can realize all they have to do is just sit down and fucking stop it because none of them want to be fighting, hide is the catalyst for that because the CCG can see how Kaneki cares for him? And it’s so open ended that you could just like literally believe that and there’d be no way for that canon to tell you otherwise, or you could go onto re and whatever if you wanted to. I think that’s the best thing.

In conclusion, both have valid points, and in general I’d say that the manga goes better with :re and the anime is better as a stand alone but if I had to choose overall, this particular anime is better (taking into account only seasons 1 and 2), for mostly the reasons of favoring a simpler story taken with much more care and depth versus a more complex story with many, MANY imperfect elements, and I am aware I will get shot on sight for this opinion. So sue me.

#tokyo ghoul #hideyoshi nagachika #kaneki ken #tokyo ghoul :re #essay post #god i've been writing this for so fucking long #but i'm right #y'all fuckers asked for a fight? you're getting a fight #rowan's hyperfixation essays

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klausbens · 4 years

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ok i said i would do this and my body won’t let me go on with my life until i do but i feel like there’s so much to say about each episode that i cannot make a comprehensive post so i’ll just do separate ones for each one. i am only halfway through the show but here’s my absolutely not required opinions on tua 2x01

i have to say when i first started watching i wasn’t sure i liked any of the situations the guys were (are,) in and i am still not positive that i do? going by number order so it’s easier:

luther... well, actually not much to say about that, what a start. but him and five are probably the ones that left me the most neutral, in the sense that i was just happy to see him and i didn’t think much of anything — the situation he is in might be a bit weird but that’s obviously tied to his inability to exist without a father figure of sorts despite how fucked up said father figure might be so like... classic luther

diego... i mean. it’s just that i don’t really get it? like, not him being in a sanatorium — that, all things considered, i get — but his obsession with saving kennedy. okay, he has a hero complex and i always did know he’s a bit on the dumber side (sorry diego) but the volume of his idiocy is astronomical now like what does he expect to even do doesn’t he understand he should interfere as little as possible with historical events and why is he running around telling people kennedy is going to get shot i mean you’re just BEGGING to get hospitalised aren’t you,,, plus don’t uh... don’t sue me but i don’t really like the whole subplot with lila, she is an interesting character and i already have my theories about her so obviously she’s going to be more than just a possibly romantic plot for diego but at the same time way from the trailer they pushed so much on this and on them being sexually attracted to one another so there’s a lot of... unnecessary bits that honestly i would’ve lived without (especially considering patch existed and wasn’t this collective fever dream) but of course that’s how tv shows work so whatever

allison... yeah i mean. i don’t. i don’t really get her marriage as well, lmao. i like that she is a civil rights organiser and i do think what’s happening in her storyline is important and has to be shown in such a context but, even though she does explain she thought everyone was dead and that five would take years to get back to her, i have. so much trouble believing she would move on THAT quickly. not from luther i mean, just in general, from the fact that she has a daughter in another timeline and all. the LAST thing i would think of in her place would be marrying someone and possibly starting yet another family i won’t necessarily be able to keep and for some reason i have serious trouble believing anyone would think differently but i do get it’s subjective and she needed something to latch on so idk, i can’t really like this but i will try my best to understand it i suppose?

klaus is... a mess. that’s just. that’s just klaus for you,,, he is sober but he doesn’t seem to have changed much because his main problem is being a dickhead and he still hasn’t grown out of that phase so honestly i wasn’t expecting much from him and i can’t be disappointed if i wasn’t expecting anything (: NJFGESRGNESK i do love klaus a lot but what else is there to say

five is five and he’s doing his classic five thing so apart from him being a genius comedian which absolutely cracks me up i am just happy to see him in his little shorts again with his funny old man walk and his threats to anything that moves

ben. ben. absolute love of my life light of my eyes my sweet baby angel... bitch. NFEJRNGJKSERG i knew that, since he’s going to have way more space this season, being a regular and all, his sassy remarks were going to multiply, and i do love that he gives shit to klaus all the time considering klaus has been doing the same exact thing AND WORSE for years on end but i have to admit when he told him “nobody wants your shit, klaus. that’s why you’re always alone.” that felt like a bit much to me. i know klaus deserves to be called out on his bullshit to hopefully grow a bit, and i know ben just said this as a spur-of-the-moment sentence and then they were back to being the funny bickering duo who hamster fights on the street, but i just... it hit me just how genuinely tired ben must be. because he’s always been nothing but supportive, and he did always call klaus out but he never went that far and always said the complete opposite actually, which is things like “there’s nothing luther wouldn’t do to save your scrawny little junkie ass” and “you can do it” and “you don’t have to do this alone, i know how important this is for you”. so, yeah. i felt a bit meh about it, i will admit this. i also felt like i was overreacting and got over it pretty quickly but it did sting, also because as much as i’m always on about klaus being an idiot i still do love him a lot and i was like okay... okay please settle down now,,, the “unfinished business” thing i’ll mention later on because there’s a whole paragraph i need to write about it

i absolutely love that vanya has lost her memory in a sense, because this does really give a blank slate to a character that was so far gone i’m not sure how recovery could’ve taken place. i do think when things will start to resurface we’ll have to deal with that, but also vanya seems so much more... at peace. and assertive. and sure of herself, or at least not so... i don’t know how to phrase it. not so much of a passive bystander. she doesn’t know who she was, she doesn’t know what happened, but she seems to know who she is now in a way and — even though no powers were used in episode one yet — the control this gives her over her powers is amazing. without even knowing she has them, she can control them better than she ever did, just because of how much more calmer she is in general. i love that for her. i love her so much ): she is the cutest bean ever i just want to kiss her on the nose i am In Love and i love that she’s so good with harlan and that harlan seems to get things about her she probably doesn’t even get herself yet. i am more invested in her bond with harlan than i am in her bond with sissy, if i have to be honest. i guess i just don’t care much about romantic relationships in this show lmao

yeah i? think episode one was pretty much it? just getting to know where the characters are at this moment in their lives and familiarising with new elements and as i said i expected to be a bit less... meh with it all but it’s episode one so it’s not a big deal

OH YEAH I AM so sorry for hazel i loved him so much and i had no idea this was going to happen so i was so shocked when he suddenly died feels like shit just want him back

i do love the swedes a lot i know they’re some of the bad guys (though honestly i doubt they’re the main villains) but as i mentioned already they’re just so interesting both visually and in how they operate and i wonder if they’re some of the other kids born the same way as the hargreeves because they call them twins later on but they look nothing like twins + one of them drinks this weird thing at some point which definitely wasn’t milk so i’m wondering what exactly are they but i’m sure there’s plenty to unpack there

#tua #the umbrella academy #tua2 spoilers #tua spoilers #and in this essay i will #when i said i don't care about romantic relationships i hope you know harcest ships weren't included #but this is just another reason why i ship them between one another #i think it's just way too complicated for them to maintain relationships outside considering the shit they're always surrounded with #so it's either... no relationships or like a leftovers recipe you know use what you find home kinda thing #im going to jail for these tags #it's been real you guys

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miasswier · 5 years

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miasswier’s ultimate glee ranking: no 25

25: Diva

Written by: Brad Falchuk Directed by: Paris Barclay

Overall Thoughts: The entertainment value in this episode is fantastic. Part of why it’s so high up in my list is because I genuinely feel it’s one of Glee’s strongest episodes. Something you will already know if you’ve read my previous reviews is that something I greatly value in an episode is how obvious it is that Glee is an ensemble show. Here, we get four fantastic storylines, all of which are given equal screen time. I love when Glee does this, because 1) it means the show isn’t entirely focusing on Rachel and 2) it gives every viewer a little bit of something. Don’t like Kurt and Rachel? That’s okay, because they’re only 25% of the episode. Tired of the Blaine/Tina stuff? All good! It’s just 25% of the episode. Plus, from a subjective point of view, I enjoy all the storylines this episode. Also, no newbies, and no Finchel drama. So extra bonus for that! Oh, and also, the music is fantastic.

What I Like:

As already mentioned, this episode is divided up into four stories, and they all get equal screen time (or, at least they do a good job of making it seem that way). Unlike “Dream On”, though, which also followed a similar format, this episode manages to include many of its protagonists throughout the stories. I mean, Blaine, Tina, Kurt, Rachel, Brittany, Santana, Sam, Emma, and Finn all get the spotlight, and Sue, Artie and Unique get some moments too. Compare that to just Will, Bryan, Rachel, Jesse, Tina, and Artie with a little bit of Shelby in “Dream On”. It just makes for a stronger episode.

THE MUSIC. I’ll talk about that more later.

Kurt calling Rachel the fuck out, and putting her in her place. As I’ve mentioned before, it can be exhausting sometimes watching Rachel just get everything handed to her time and time again, so its nice to see her lose every now and again.

Rachel is the one who apologizes to Kurt, and not the other way around. Although I do have issues with that final scene between them, I do really appreciate that they didn’t make Kurt apologize for making Rachel see she is not the only talented person in the world. Even though the scene completely revolved around her and making her feel better, Rachel was still the one who said she was sorry, therefore admitting that Kurt was right to knock her down a peg.

In a similar vein, it’s refreshing to see Rachel acknowledge her flaws, and for once actually vocalize that she has a serious problem of putting her ambition before her friendships. It sucks that this doesn’t stick and that by the time she does achieve fame she becomes exactly what she was so afraid of becoming – and unapologetically so.

Kurt is so epically sassy in this episode oh my god. One of my all time favourite Kurt Hummel episodes. The way he so easily destroys Rachel, and her legion of sycophants makes my life.

There’s only like, one scene with them, but I always thought Kurt and Adam were cute.

I really appreciated that they included Rachel telling those two guys that Kurt earned his spot at NYADA just as much as they did. Like I already said, it’s nice when she actually manages to put her friendships above of her ambition.

Emma’s giant-ass wedding to-do list.

“I know Will trusts me, but I’m a Libra. I can’t do this.”

Finn helping Emma out with her wedding stuff, and Emma helping Finn out as well. They make a good team, those two!

The scene at the end where Brittany tells Santana that she isn’t going to break up with Sam. Glee has a really serious problem when they write love triangles, and that is that very often they take away the agency of whoever is being “fought” over (Exhibit A: Jake, Ryder, and Marley). They do that here, but they do include a scene where Brittany takes her agency back. She makes a decision, and she stands by it. Even though season four Brittany drives me up the fucking wall, you can already see the hints of maturity she will gain by season five.

Although most of her actions are questionable in this episode, it is cute that Santana wants to take the job with Sue just to be closer to Brittany.

Sam sticking up for Brittany and their relationship (even if I don’t really understand why given how the events in “Naked” unfolded).

Blaine is the fucking cutest. Don’t even talk to me. When Tina calls him a “precious Tiger Beat shrinky dink” I almost died because what a fucking accurate description of Blaine Anderson.

His little smirk after “Don’t Stop Me Now”, plus his continuous repition of “um, guys can be divas” is the fucking best.

Sam saying he won’t hit a girl always makes me laugh cause like, lmao, bitch thinks he can beat Santana fucking Lopez in a fight.

Tina’s sassy “Don’t even worry about it” after absolutely killing “Hung Up”.

Tina winning the Diva-Off and Brittany shouting “She never wins anything!”

I actually think the Emma and Finn kiss made for excellent shock value.

Tina is in both my likes and dislikes of this episode. As you may have gleaned from past reviews, I’m basically the only person on the planet who actually enjoyed Tina’s take-charge attitude season four onward, and in a lot of ways felt it very merited. I mean, her reaction to seeing Santana show up yet again? It’s fair. She sat in the back of Glee for three fucking years, watching Rachel win solo after solo (and the few she didn’t get go to Mercedes, Santana, and Kurt), and barely complained. Now, it’s her turn. It’s her senior year. And who keeps getting the spotlight? A fucking sophomore, and a girl who doesn’t even attend the school anymore. It’s totally fair that she’s annoyed. It’s fair that she wants to be the girl who kicks down the door and gets what she wants. I think she was completely in her right to act the way she did in this specific regard. However…

What I Don’t Like:

… I hate that the thing she is taking charge of is her desire to be in a relationship with Blaine rather than her desire to be the star of the glee club. Again, I am probably one of the only people who wasn’t annoyed when they first introduced the Tina crushing on Blaine storyline, but by the time I was finished with this episode, I was done. They turned it from “this is something that happens so we want to showcase that” into “I deserve the love of this gay man because I did something he never asked me to do”. Blaine didn’t ask Tina to look after him, and therefore its kind of ridiculous that she would be so upset that he didn’t fall into her arms because of it. Also, she’s acting like he told her to go fuck herself once he got better, which isn’t what happened. He thanked her. He helped her pick out a song. He can be seen very clearly enjoying her performance of “Hung Up”. So why the hell did Glee make Tina act like she somehow deserved his romantic love? She knew he was gay. He literally just reminded her that he was gay and would never be interested in women in this very episode. I hate that they went in this direction with this story, because honestly? It could have been one of their sweetest, most relatable storylines. I mean, who hasn’t fallen in love with someone who can’t love them back? But instead they acted as though Blaine was the bad guy even though Tina literally rubbed vapo-rub on his chest while he was fucking asleep (to this day I have to look away when that scene comes on because it makes me genuinely furious). So like, on one hand I can appreciate what they were doing with Tina’s character, but on the other hand I simply cannot support her behaviour in this episode. It’s absolutely appalling, and the fact that Blaine not only apologizes to her, but asks her to be his date to Will and Emma’s wedding, effectively rewarding her for her terrible behaviour? God, it pisses me off. I’m so glad he blows her off to make out with Kurt in the next episode.

On top of all of that, Tina also makes both homophobic and transphobic comments in this episode. It’s so annoying to dislike Tina in an episode that I otherwise enjoy so fucking much, because she’s legit one of my favourite characters. I just really hate how they dealt with this whole thing.

Sue’s racist comment about Santana’s mom.

Santana and Sam basically taking Brittany’s desires out of the equation by fighting about her via song, as though Brittany dating Sam wasn’t enough indication of who she was going to chose.

While what I said in the above section about the Kurt/Rachel end scene still stands, it has always annoyed me that Rachel threw such a massive fucking pity party after losing literally one competition to her best fucking friend that said best friend – whose entire goal in this episode was to knock her down a peg – has to build her back up and basically say “fuck everything I said before, you’re the most amazing person ever and the world should revolve around you always”. At least he didn’t apologize.

That comment Rachel makes about all of her confidence being built on beating Kurt in “Wheels”. See, this is why I have such a hard time with Hummelberry. What kind of fucked up friendship is built on the foundation of “All of my confidence comes from the fact that I am better than you” like what the literal fuck?!

This isn’t a huge one, but I think the episode would have had stronger shock value if the Finn/Emma scene came after “Girl on Fire”. I think ending on that note would have left the audience with the biggest shock. Having a whole other scene and musical performance after just kind of softens the blow.

Songs:

Diva: Starting off strong with a fantastic group number. Unique kills it, of course, as does Tina. When they first revealed who would be singing this song, I thought Brittany was an odd choice to include, but she honestly sounds fantastic. My only wish is that you could hear Blaine more than you can. Also, I find Kitty and Marley kind of hilarious in this performance, because it’s so obvious that they are not on the same level as the other four. I don’t actually know why they felt the need to include them.

Don’t Stop Me Now: An awesome song, and an awesome cover. It also makes me incredibly happy that Blaine chose this particular song to prove that guys can be divas. It’s not just him that’s the diva, it’s Freddie Mercury as well. Such a fantastic choice.

Nutbush City Limits: This is the only song I’m not so crazy about. I think Santana sounds a bit odd in this song, like its just slightly out of her range and she’s straining a bit too hard to reach it. Also, I know this song is technically considered Rock, but it has a bit too much of a country vibe for me.

Make No Mistake (She’s Mine): I’m not a fan of the actual lyrics of this song, as the two singers are literally fighting about someone who is clearly cheating on both of them. That being said, Sam and Santana sound absolutely fantastic together, and I really enjoy the flow of this song.

Bring Him Home: Another strong song. I think Kurt was way better than Rachel, but that’s just me. My only frustration is that Rachel gets the final note. It feels like she always gets the last say in these things.

Hung Up: This is probably Tina’s strongest solo in the entire course of the show. She absolutely kills it, and the performance is amazing. It’s too bad that there’s such shitty motive behind it, but seriously, this song is amazing.

Girl on Fire: A really strong vocal performance, with a mediocre visual performance. Why was Glee so obsessed with having people sing in the auditorium and in the choir room? The end of it is good, with her finally leaving McKinley behind and going to New York, but the beginning is so lackluster. It’s disappointing considering what an amazing cover of an already amazing song it is.

Final Thoughts: I know there seems to be a lot of negatives in this review considering how high up this episode is on my list, but honestly, its one of my favourites. Obviously there’s stuff I don’t like, but the stuff I do like far outweighs the stuff I don’t. Plus, it’s just a strong episode, even from an objective standpoint.

#ultimate glee ranking

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groundramon · 6 years

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Homph I finished tri and I wrote down my thoughts as I was watching because I had too many funny shitposts and nobody to share them with bc charlie hasn’t watched tri yet

PS i wont be reblogging tri spoilers (besides MINOR stuff like, digivolutions of already confirmed digivolution lines or non-spoilery shitposts, but I’ll try to tag shitposts as #tri spoilers anyways [digivolutions specific to tri ill tag as well but not ones that were already basically confirmed]) for a while so ur safe here! I’m just gonna like everything/most things because then I can rb em to hisyaryumon lmao (also u should check out hisyaryumon....its me n charlie’s digimon blog)

EP 1:

- ok. alright. ok. good. they’re dealing with kari’s emotions now instead of just. nothing. ok. alright. cool. Still dont like how obscure/”artsy” they’re being with it, this is digimon not kagerou project, but ok.

- Also. I stand by tk and kari being one of the few good straight ships in digimon. just saying.

- kari: this is my fault... me: god damn it shut up you little brat also me: god relatable ALSO me: ill take whatever display of emotions i can get

- I love how nobody believes tai is dead like. They’re upset and worried but they’re also like “nah. he cant be. that fucking asshole just left us in our time of need” (actually only matt is the last one)

- Gabumon i would die for you also im crying and I think that’s the first time tri managed to make me fucking CRY

EP 2:

- I had thoughts but then the 02 kids happened and I entered another plane of reality. I don’t feel real right now

- the only one I can remember is evil!gennai being a dumbass and being like “SUFFER AND SQUIRM YOU PATHETIC HUMANS AS YOU FIGHT OVER THE LAST SEAT” 1. humans are KNOWN for their ability to care for others you dumb obvious fuck and 2. is. is the entire tube going? because that tube can fit too people if they squish. This isn’t a joke I’m serious it can.

- oh yeah also when i saw whomstever the fuck his name is (adult guy who i love but fuck names) and he was all bloodied i was like “its a cold day in hell when i see blood in digimon” (I think there was blood in an earlier ep but shh idc)

EP 3:

- didn’t nishijima start off as a fucking life coach to these kids. What the fuck he was supposed to help them find a career not emotionally scar them by bloodily dying in front of one of them

- im realizing that the reason hackmon was always in his cloak, in the shadows, standing still is that they cannot animate him in any normal position for the life of him. I drew him with better anatomy when i was 14 and didn’t have a tablet. No seriously, look:

I didn’t say it wasn’t bad, you guys are just underestimating how bad the anatomy on this poor creature is. Why cant ppl draw dracomon or hackmon correctly imma cry

- ordinemon has the best reaction faces

the best part about these two screenshots is that they literally cut one to the other, first the first one to the second one and then it cuts back to the first one. They were really proud of these stupid ass expressions.

- I started overcoming my dissociation shock from the second episode and my hypercritical mind was analyzing the shit out of everything that happened (it is Not happy) but then evil!gennai called kari and evil goddess and idk if he’s exaggerating to make her feel bad or if she’s literally a fucking god of chaos and destruction and either way im like

she did kinda like. Watch wizardmon die, watch tai die, watch gatomon get absorbed. The dark ocean is just a metaphor for depression and honestly if 02 wasn’t all over the fucking place I think Kari would’ve had some pretty decent development in it. Actually you know what, I’m using that as an angle to approach Tri at now, wish me luck bc i might actually give it more leeway now

EP 4:

- I’m not dissociating but I forgot to say anything again and I already forgot what happened

- Cant believe mei is fucking dead

EP 5:

- I like to imagine that Tai got there like a few minutes ago, but he was like “well damn guess yall figured it out without me. alright ill just. see if I need to do anything” and then meicoomon was Still Bad so he waited for when she struck just to make the most badass entrance possible. Fucking extra ass bitch

- I forgot to write anything again but uhhh I wasn’t satisfied so anyways lets just get into the Juicy Details

Originally I was actually planning to be kinder to Tri than I expected. Was very invested during it. ‘Round the end of the last ep I realized hmmm no this isn’t working out. Where are the 02 kids. You should’ve brought them in to save the day. That would’ve been SO cool and SO fun. Fucking cowards.

god I’m kinda tired so I’m going to address a couple things I still had problems with, note that this isn’t everything it’s just everything I felt comfortable yelling about without rewatching past eps. Like I forgot nishijima was all bloodied and presumably died in the last part until they brought it up and I was like “????” ALSO DID THE LADY WHO WAS HIS PARTNER OR W/E KILL HERSELF WITH THE GUN SHE FOUND, I JUST REALIZED LITERALLY AS I WAS TYPING THIS THAT SHE FOUND A GUN AND THEN I THINK IT CUT TO BLACK AND I’M

DID SHE FUCKING KILL HERSELF WHAT THE FUCK

anyways my problems:

1. They did joe. really dirty. I’ll write a more proper rant on this sometime later (mostly bc charlie is MUCH better at talking about joe than I am) but basically I can tell you that his character development in the movies squandered his OG character development. He’s basically an entirely different person. Like Tri joe isn’t bad, besides being largely neglected (yes he has a whole half a movie to himself, no that doesn’t make up for it all), its just...not OG joe. He’s a fine character just not the same character, and its NOT fine when you put the two together.

2. THEY DID THE 02 KIDS EVEN DIRTIER IM SO BITTER sorry you nostalgia-blind, money-hungry fucks at bandai, but the 02 cast is PART OF THE ADVENTURES UNIVERSE. The only people who hate 02 are ones who like the characters but hate the mess of the storyline at the end, or are completely irrational and elitist about their love of the digimon series and would greatly re-evaluate their opinions if they watched the original series and 02 back to back. They couldn’t even show them in some kind of group montage at the end??? Standing in the background when they call Mei??? Why couldn’t they call mei from a home phone also, but that’s a less important problem idc that much. It was a cute scene besides the lack of 02 characters. Whatever. AND THE PROBLEM IS LIKE kari and tk? This entire time??? Were like “oh they disappeared. oops” instead of being frantically searching for their lost friends??? Like i get tk and kari probably have fucking ptsd and can’t express any emotions because they watched important people die in front of their eyes at an incredibly young age but also 1. they didn’t address the ramifications of ptsd, so fuck that theory/excuse and 2. THAT??? WOULD ONLY MAKE THEM LOOK HARDER??? and put on a brave face as they look, but inside they’re so scared and so worried. Not just “oh sweet, they were found/saved, theyre in the hospital but that’s fine” like WHAT theyre fucking assholes if that’s what they’d canonically do lmao. God I am SO bitter over the ENTIRE thing with the 02 kids, it would’ve been BETTER if they were deleted from the fucking canon entirely. Would I have still been bitter? Yes. But at least I wouldn’t be madder at TK and Kari too.

3. I stand 100% by the notion that Digimon is not and will never be cut out to be an adults’ franchise. It wasn’t designed for adults, and it can’t be skewered towards adults. These particular characters were designed for kids to relate to and find entertaining. They do not work when placed into an adult setting. Like, can you imagine a character like Ed from FMA going to the Digimon world? I guess in a way that’s just Marcus but like. Just imagine the FMA cast in Digimon Adventure. It doesn’t work. Digimon Tri is basically that except real. Also Data Squad was darker than Adventure so my joke doesn’t even work.

I guess my primary point is that Tri isn’t mature enough of a setup for an adult audience. It puts a focus on being “complex” and “philosophical” instead of working within Digimon’s constraints and making something good and adult out of that. Like! Digimon is a fucking TOY COMMERCIAL. Don’t give me messages about the futility of human life. I want bad puns and emotional characters. That’s what Digimon has ALWAYS been, and ideally always will be. Tri could’ve made itself more mature by dealing with the ramifications of the Digital World’s events, how it affected the kids psychologically and dealing with healing old scars. It would’ve been a more mature take on a story we loved and would use things we loved about the story already - the fact that it took so much time exploring characters’ emotions and was surprisingly mature for the time - to make itself better. You need to take the aspects that drew adults to the show and amplify them, not just slap on a complex story and unfunny dialogue and be like “oh this is fine, right?”

It’s not that Digimon can’t exist as an adult property, its just that if it repeats what Tri did, it’s got no merit and in my eyes the franchise is dead. If it survives I guess I’ll be happy that people can still enjoy it but I find it unsustainable and unsatisfying to fans of the older series. Tri is just a fuckfest of highly specific nostalgia that tries too hard to appeal to old fans without capturing what made the original series so magical, and in part thats because the original series WASN’T FOR ADULTS. I don’t know about the Digimon Story games, bc they’re T-rated so perhaps they’re a better take on an adult Digimon story than Tri? But you either need to make your own characters and lore specifically for an adult-oriented Digimon season, or perish. Also, please make it a series and not a group of movies. Getting four eps every 6-9 months was hell.

I stand by saying Appmon is a more faithful Digimon season than Tri to Digimon’s original spirit. I believe it holds more potential for success than Tri and better embodies the spirit of the older Digimon seasons. It’s dumb, its corny, it has horrible puns, but I LOVE it because it also has a deep dark story and emotional moments. If you dislike Tri and you agree with things I said that make it unlikeable, I highly recommend giving Appmon a chance - if you watch a few episodes and think “oh yeah, I guess this is decent” you’re going to like it. It’s everything Digimon has always been and hopefully always will be, just with a different concept. And hopefully the end of the series doesn’t leave a sour taste in my mouth and I have to redact this statement haha since I’m not done with it yet, but I’ve heard good things about it so I’m hoping not so.

Overall, if you watch Tri, don’t get your hopes up. It resolves everything okay-ish but it’s a pretty forgettable anime on its own and simply doesn’t work as part of the Digimon franchise.

I am, however, pretty interested in what evil!gennai said at the end about Diaboromon and Daemon. It raises interesting questions about the timeline too. We know Daemon is in the dark ocean, so perhaps that’s a hint at a future project? (They did confirm a future project btw, in conjunction with tri being over) But what about Diaboromon? I dont believe that Our War Game (I think thats what its called?) took place after Tri, based on the outfits and ages and stuff, but I also don’t remember the movies that well. Could Diaboromon still be out there too? It’s interesting.

However, because of the lackluster performance of Tri, I don’t have my hopes up and I really hope that this “next project” goes in a different direction. Although I guess if they include the 02 kids, I’ll be somewhat less salty...

Side note, did they ever explain why the gennais went evil? Like ? That’s a pretty important thing. The gennais helped SAVE the human world in 02. And I get that apparently Tri is ignoring 02′s ending but still. It’s shitty, because Gennai was still a good guy in the original too (and also they cant just keep is younger look and act like 02 never happened) MAYBE its something I missed but I dont think so. God there’s just. So much wrong with Tri. I’m very displeased and very bitter and I wanna get back to Appmon asap.

It’s got good moments, its got bad moments, I dont know, I don’t care. There’s nothing wrong with you if you like it, there’s nothing wrong with you if you don’t, and there’s nothing wrong with you if you flip flop and are split like me. I just wish Tri fulfilled its potential instead of becoming a boring mess.

#stormy speaks #digimon

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xmydaysinmilanx · 7 years

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1 to 75 because why not xd

1. First console you’ve ever owned? PS12. First game you played? Possibly Tekken or Spider-Man for the PS13. Favorite childhood game? I cannot choose one!4. Longest consecutive hours you’ve played a game? I honestly have no idea. Maybe 6 hours approx as I would have dinner and bathroom breaks etc. 5. Game with the best soundtrack? I adore the soundtrack of Final Fantasy X but I think the 13 series was composed beautifully.6. An underrated game from within the last few years? The Jak series. Jak 2 and 3 are excellent games.Think of a hard edged Spyro combined with Grand Theft Auto and you get Jak 2/3. 7. Most disappointing game you’ve played? Final Fantasy 12. The visuals are astounding but I could not take to it at all.8. The game with the best atmosphere/scenery? 7 has a lot of potential in the remake. X has beautiful scenery with plenty of places I’d like to visit in game. I adore Macalania Woods!9. Last game you played? FF XIII. 10. Prefer PC or console? Console, never owned a desktop.11. Have you written any fanfic or made any fanart? Fanfic ‘ideas’ yes but have not branched out into the writing world yet.12. Most bizarre game you’ve ever played? Non strike me as being ‘bizarre.’ There are elements in FF 7 and 13 that are quite strange. Oh and Necron in FF9 - okay.13. Scariest game you’ve played? Abe’s Oddysee freaked me out, must say lol. 14. Do you watch playthroughs online? If I am really stuck on configuring strategy. 15. Favorite animal in a video game? Donald Duck, Kingdom Hearts series.16. The best year in gaming you’ve experienced? The 2001-2006 era. I was younger and so it feels more nostalgic. 17. Have a video game themed background or lockscreen? Of course.18. Worst game you’ve played? I find games such as Call of Duty quite the yawn fest.19. Hardest game you’ve ever played? Lightning Returns on normal mode is pretty challenging due to the time constraints. Also many of the enemies in XIII are tough nuts to crack. Not really sure though.20. Favorite publisher and/or developer? Square-Enix21. If you had to play one game for the rest of your life, what would it be? FF722. If you could turn one game into movie, which would it be? X would be an awesome film. 23. Favorite genre of video game? RPG24. Ever cried because of a video game? Which one(s)? Only one. The ending of XIII. Games do impact me emotionally but I just don’t necessarily cry over them.25. Proudest accomplishment in gaming? Training the golden chocobo in FF7, I managed to win a game of Blitzball (which I hate lol) ONCE by pure chance. Oh and Anima in X. I did pretty well in GTA Vice City come to think of it and I was only 12. 26. How often do you play online? Co-op? Never really played a game online but FF14 ARB intrigues me. 27. Have you gotten any friends into gaming? I do not believe so.28. Who got YOU into gaming? My mum’s boyfriend at the time introduced me to Spyro/Spider-Man games before gifting me X. I’ve been hooked since.29. Watch cutscenes or skip them? Watch unless it’s imperative to progress in the game. I’ll skip if I am re-doing a mission/boss and I can’t be arsed to watch a scene over again. 30. On average, how long does it take you in the character creation screen? Very little time.31. Game with the best theme song? Kingdom Hearts Simple and Clean is a classic.32. Do you cosplay? I wish but I do not have the confidence.33. Favorite female npc? Maybe Yunalesca. Kinda hard to decide haha.34. Favorite male npc? Maybe Axel from the Kingdom Hearts series.35. Best protagonist? Cloud Strife although, it’s really hard to pick. I also admire Serah Farron and Lightning.36. Best antagonist? Sin/Jecht is pretty ‘up there’ isn’t he? I also love Sephiroth.37. Ever been made fun of for playing video games? Nope, only other things haha.38. Have you tried a game, hated it, then tried again, and loved it? FF XIII really bored me then I tried again a year down the line and have loved it since.39. Do you play for achievements/trophies? Nope.40. Favorite voice actor? David Gallagher (Riku), Adam Croasdell (Ignis), 41. Gone to a midnight release before? Nope.42. A game you will never forget (in a bad OR good way)? FF7.43. Favorite sidekick or companion? Ignis44. Do graphics matter? Nope.45. Do you like funny or more serious games? Elements of comedy and seriousness in one. 46. Always, sometimes, or never use subtitles? They’re always on.47. First person or Third person? Third.48. A game you’ve always wanted to play but have never gotten to it? FF14 A Realm Reborn. Oh, also World of Final Fantasy and some DLC’s for XIII-2.49. A game you haven’t played in forever, but want to replay? 7 but I always hold it off because I want my experience to be magical each time.51. First character you’ve had a crush on? Tidus.52. A game you will always stand behind, and support no matter what? FFXIII and 13-2.53. Your most immersive game? Eh none of note.54. A sequel you really want? FFXV-2 >_> Ignis as lead!55. How much time, on average, do you play in a week? Depends, sometimes none at all sometimes an hour or two 6 days a week lol56. Do you tell people irl that you play video games? Yep57. What is an overrated game you’ve played? FF8/FF9/FIFA/COD58. Ever have someone walk in on a sex scene between you and you LI? Nope59. A game you are looking forward to this year? Not sure if they’re out this year but KH3 and FF7 Remake!60. The game you are best at? Fairly good at X and 7.61. A game you know everything about? FFX/7/13/13-2/KH1/KH262. Would you want to work with video games when you are older? Voice acting lol63. What’s a game that has inspired you? They all have in their own way64. Describe your favorite video game using only three words? Nostalgic, Intriguing, Haunting.65. Any favorite screenshots of games? Check my page haha.66. Game with the yummiest looking food? FFXV - I’VE COME UP WITH A NEW RECIPEEEEHHH!67. Most violent game you’ve played? GTA lmao68. An older game that you’ve just recently gotten into? I’ve already played games over a decade old or more!69. Your first LI? Is it bad I am unsure what these initials stand for?70. Do you play any mobile games? Nah71. A game you can’t stop talking/thinking about at the moment? FFXV72. Have any guilty pleasure games? Not really guilty pleasures lol73. A game with the best fandom? FFXV and KH or sure74. Which game has the best lore? X75. Do you focus on main storyline/quest or do sidequests first? I do all.

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nothingneverforever · 7 years

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Remember Me (2010)

Hmm

It would be accurate to say that I hated this almost wholeheartedly until the last and extremely rushed act when there was some actual, on-screen emotion that didn’t leave implied connections to be made by the viewer, but then this emotion was still very thin anyway and hinged totally on the viewer’s own associative understanding of the 9/11 attacks and less so on loss in general, so perhaps it is better to simply say that I hated this, period.

I remember avoiding this back when it was first released (on DVD at least, I didn’t go to the cinemas for anything besides crap back in 2010. Not that this film isn’t crap….cos it is) for some reason, I think maybe it was rated M18 or something and strangely for an early teen I did usually dutifully avoid such rated films because I didn’t (and still don’t) like explicit scariness or sexualness in any form. And then later on when I had lost interest in the genre (drama/romance?) but gained interest in Robert Pattinson, I still avoided this because it looked dumb. Anyway, we’ve made it here today and I sit eating my nice lentil dinner having just finished the film. So let’s go !

Okay firstly… I am not surprised at all at its 27% rotten tomatoes rating lol

Maybe it’s personal to me, but I really hate playfighting couples. I talked about it <<here>> briefly, exactly 2 years ago in my Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) review:

This scene, of Clementine and Joel play-fighting got me rather angry. I hate hate hate it when couples, people, do dangerous shit for fun.

^Lmao, rather angry wtf? The writing sucks lol hate it…… But this still stands; in Remember Me the playfighting is not ‘dangerous’ as it was in Eternal Sunshine, but equally successful in making me rather angry in its annoying grossness. Is it unfair for me to find it childish?! Like the fuck??? Where’s the fun in getting each other wet and forcing each other into submission in the shower?! And as complained about to Jade, self-aware, intertextual, referential, whatever the term for it is, scenes, dialogues, films, are as annoying as ones done in earnest.

Okay this playfighting scene was a one off, but it is absolutely extrapolate-able and gives insight to why Ally’s character was so phony and wobbly. Ally ultimately stands for nothing, all her quirks don’t create a whole, and as a result we can anticipate nothing from her nor can we actually feel for her at all. That I have dessert before the main scene was shockingly out of place because its manic pixie dream girl brazenness and eccentricity don’t present itself anywhere else. Full transcript of her dumbass dialogue (re: why she has dessert before the main. Substituting their names with Girl/Guy cos that’s literally all they are, their chemistry is so absent and their connection so fucking blah that they are any and every guy/girl ever):

GIRL: I just don't see the point in waiting. What if l die eating my vindaloo?

GUY: Is that probable?

GIRL: It's possible. Embolism bursts, asteroid hits the restaurant. I'd die without having eaten the one thing l wanted most.

GUY: l mean, the odds are...

GIRL: Tell you what. Guarantee me, swear to me on your eternal soul that l make it through my entre, and I'll wait. Before you answer, if l die, you're gonna have to live the rest of your life knowing not only did you lie to me, but you denied me of my one last indulgence. My last wish. Are you prepared to shoulder that kind of responsibility to prove a point?

If you feel like that second bit (swear to me on your eternal soul etc etc ad nauseam) went on for far longer than its logical reach, you’re right, and you’re lucky you didn’t have to sit through it. “Are you prepared to shoulder that kind of responsibility to prove a point?” - eh, i don’t remember anyone but you having a dumbass point you were desperate to prove, unprovoked?? I don’t know, I don’t think this is specific to the film’s storytelling or scriptwriting, I just generally am averse to such people in real life (same with the playfighting issue I guess). Like Jade said when I complained about this scene to her, it reminded of her Zoe Kazan’s character in What If? (2013) which we barely emerged from alive. Fuck that film lol seriously. Sorry I made yall sit through it… But Daniel Rafcliffe is so nice :’( Okay but how should I best describe these increasingly commonplace female characters? Manic pixie dream girl doesn’t suffice anymore (lmao I googled MPDG just so I could get ideas of other prototypes and wiki lists Belle from the 1991 Beauty and the Beast as one?!), and I feel that they do belong to a specific type. Just reading the dialogue above, don’t a handful of other annoyingass “””not like other girls””” girls from film come to mind? I don’t know, does ‘fake-witty’ cover enough ground? Like Jade says, why do people even enjoy these characters? Just because they are different from what is commonly shown doesn’t make them more endearing or likable or even remotely realistic surely?

In general, MPDGs are dangerous because their blinded male lovers don’t seem them in any real measure, more as designs of their own, existing to imbue their own lives with all they are missing. But in Remember Me, we don’t even get to see how Guy sees Girl, much less see her for our own selves. Guy and Girl barely share a meaningful eyeline, I can’t recall a single intimate or perfectly honest conversation, which leads me to……

UGH I’m tired of big screen romances having their highs shown almost exclusively through physical intimacy, because this message is completely toxic, and this is not just me spreading my asexual agenda honestly? Seriously, how much of a copout is it for the connection to be, you know, ambling on just fine, nothing special or sparkly, until that one kiss or that one morning-after with a camera pan of the girl’s bare back kissed with soft dusty morning sunlight and the guy looking at her from the window with some kind of stupidass serious contemplation? Can we not be led to believe that this is how connections are formed, that you know someone when you know their body? It’s like that song, Suzanne by Leonard Cohen , that Leila used to play over and over when we sat alone at the pagoda every Tuesday, an hour early for our organic farming sessions, which I now love because it reminds me of those nice sunny times and nice sunny Leila who I loved so much, but bleghhh this line plz stop: And you know that she will trust you/For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.

I know, it’s obvious, Guy and Girl here are each other’s safe places in a world where so much is messy and dark for them, etc etc etc, but we don’t get a sense of the warmth at all, we don’t see how much they love/need/appreciate each other or why.

Conclusion: I do not ship Guy and Girl because there was literally nothing to go off on and therefore the entire emotional premise cannot stand and we cannot love anyone or anything we see on screen.

Moving on~

Okay it’s unfair to compare the two just because of the 9/11 relevance, but seeing this reminded me of When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman that I read in 2011. It remains one of my all-time favourite books, and I remember liking it so much I lent it to Rebecca, and then later Nichole, and Krysia, and maybe some others. Lol cute memories, being in school, with girls, nice girls, wearing a uniform, sitting outside the class on the steps by the grass patch…2011 was chill as hell. ANYWAY the book changed my life and I remember sobbing in my bed when I first read it, because 9/11 being woven into the storyline felt authentic and necessary and actually helpful to our understanding of its characters – what little I’ve read of the critiques of Remember Me from Rotten Tomatoes decry its opportunist, ‘piggybacking’ of the tragedy. I’m sure everything I feel about the cheapness of the 9/11 insertion has already been written about, and my arms /shoulders hurt from my heaviest clean and press sets ever last night, so let me look for something that speaks what is in my heart.

Okie, found something close enough:

I hate this movie. I hate it a lot. And I want to spoil the ending right here but I won't. I want you to go feel the same feeling of being sucker-punched that I anti-enjoyed in the final minutes when THE BIG SURPRISE ENDING takes place. Because it's cheap. And shallow. And manipulative in a way that's not heartwarming or cute or moving. It's just gross and infuriating. It's also pretty easy to predict: a rug-pulling, emotionally pornographic climax of tragedy-kitsch that will come to you early if you're willing to pay attention to small details here and there, things the movie just puts in the background or touches on briefly, creating a timeline and an inevitable outcome that it finally shoves in your face with a big, "TA-DAAAH! TIME TO CRY EVERYONE! DO IT! NOW!" (source)

Ah this doesn’t fit in anywhere else so here is an important stand-alone comment: fuck the opening of the film! Honestly is it naiveté that I don’t believe something like that would happen? Okay not that it would never, but it’s certainly not probable? Who the fuck shoots the individual, a mother to a young (and present!) girl no less, they successfully rob and are getting away comfortably from? I don’t wanna be this person but………..it seemed damn racist lol

Okay so obviously it’s the cheapest technique in the book but I am a sucker for voiceovers, especially ones that open and/or close films (I’m sure there’s a technical term for this, but whatever). Okay well not all, the dumbass fake deep quotes that the Twilight series open with are, well, dumbass. But the film series still rocks :-) fight me if u disagree :-) But okay the point is that Remember Me ends with Tyler (whose life we know to have just been taken by the 9/11 attacks) and this stupidly moving voiceover narration:

Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it's very important that you do it, because nobody else will. Like when someone comes into your life, and half of you says, "You're nowhere near ready," but the other half says, "Make her yours forever." Michael, Caroline asked me what l would say if I knew you could hear me. I said l do know. "I love you. God, l miss you. And I forgive you."

Sorry but…………..that is just truly so stupidly moving. :’( I need my inspiration spoon-fed with zero subtlety, and this did just that. I will indeed do all I want to in life! Nobody else will! I’m gonna make her mine forever! And I truly miss and love everyone who has ever been in my life!

Since we’re on the positives now let me also generously add that there was in fact a lot of potential in the film. Which…naturally….only made it all the more disappointing. But, okay, there was a lot of richness in the subplots. Maybe too much, because it was slightly stifling, how little space they were given. But that’s only realistic right? That one guy and one girl should have at any time a hundred other things going on in their lives that aren’t played out on centre stage. So that’s good, yay. Robert Pattinson’s sister’s narrative especially was quite unique, subtle, engaging, and all in all a nice character to follow. It taught me things about the various ways in which mettle presents itself in different people, and made me want to know how to stand my ground more convincingly. I have a long way to go in denouncing cowardice. Again, I think the voiceovers helped in this respect. Pushes the viewer just enough while holding them back in the right ways, deepening roots while inspiring upward growth. Nice!

Okay I think I’m done……..gtg eat lunch

No offence but Miley Cyrus’ new song Malibu contains and inspires ten times the emotion that this film did. This being said, I did cry in one of the final shots, of Pierce Brosnan bringing his daughter round (presumably) the Met. Only cos he’s a good actor though. Like everything else in the final act of the film, his character’s growth was very heavy-handed and traditional but he played it well. Also Malibu rocks. Also I need to stop listening to pop music :’( save me!

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