Listen I’m not actually attracted to Goku but.. WHY IS UI SIGN GOKU MORE HOTTER AND MORE COOLER THEN MASTERED UI GOKU I LITERALLY LOVE WATCHING GOKU AT UI SIGN MORE THEN MASTERED

Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13 Abridged Review

Originally posted August 4th, 2016

Team Four Star shows off their effortless mastery of clever comedy.

On a purely structural level, Super Android 13 is probably the strongest of the Dragonball movie source material that Team Four Star has yet to work with. The androids themselves don’t require any convoluted explanation; they’re just the leftover scraps Dr. Gero has to rely on now that Android 17 and 18 have turned against him, and they kickstart the conflict immediately by attacking Goku in a public place, forcing our heroes out into the arctic to deal with them (which for all of Trunks’ mumbling, is a nice change of scenery from the usual desert wasteland).

These androids are a real threat too, forcing Goku, Trunks, and Vegeta to all go Super Saiyan in order to defeat them, only to find out that even a Super Saiyan can’t stand up to the fully powered Android 13. The conclusion to this fight is excellent as well, with Goku defeating 13 through a creative combination of his two most powerful abilities, rather than simply “punching him harder.”

Team Four Star even manages to avoid the stereotypical characterization of the villains used in these movies, imbuing each of the antagonists with a personality that goes beyond “the one with an accent,” “the one with a weird power,” and “the dumb one.” Android 15 is an homage to protagonists of classic Blaxploitation, walking, talking, and fighting with a near Super Saiyan level of swagger as he drinks himself into oblivion to numb the hollowness inside. Android 14 on the other hand is a quiet, introspective warrior, who from what we see seems to simply be trapped in the wrong crowd.

Both of these characters have fitting ends as well, with 15 being taken down by the prince of Saiyan swagger and utterly humiliated in the process, as Vegeta throws a dog treat at him right before he explodes. 14’s end is fitting as well, as he and Trunks clash and he realizes his impending doom, ending his life by observing that metal has both given him life and taken it away.

Android 13, the primary antagonist, is fairly shallow by comparison. After all, there’s not too much more to him than a funny southern accent, an obsession with trucker hats, brute strength, and a little outright racism.1 It’s not exactly a deep character, especially when compared to the depth Team Four Star has achieved with characters like Cooler (who originally was literally just Freeza by a less clever name).

There is a part of me that feels it would be unfair to southerners to not criticize this shallow portrayal of their culture, but honestly, I had too much fun watching it to really care. RicePirate’s performance is incredibly charismatic, and even though 13 is shallow and kind of terrible, you can’t help but be endeared to him a little. KaiserNeko’s editing and sound design certainly helps here as well, as he makes sure that watching 13 beat the shit out of our protagonists is fun and impactful.

The rest of the movie’s strengths are pretty simple: Team Four Star jam packs these twenty minutes full of really smart jokes, making nods to the fraught relationship Vegeta and Trunks have when it comes to androids, joking about the length of time it takes the Saiyans to actually go Super, and poking fun at themselves in a series of brilliant fourth wall breaks at the end, wherein a narrator walks out and another steps in to criticize the lack of effort he’s perceived in the series since season 2. He may well have a point, not because Team Four Star has gotten lazy in season 3, but because they pull of making Super Android 13 so entertaining, compelling, and funny that it looks absolutely effortless.

Rating: 4.5/5

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Stray Observations

113’s racism is actually kind of interesting, given that he calls out our protagonists for thinking 15’s defect is his color, but talks down to Piccolo later on due to his color. I’m not quite sure what it says about him, but it’s definitely the most nuanced part of his portrayal.

No quotes in the Strays today, just because this episode is so chock full of funny dialogue that quoting everything I like would fill up a full page.

Dragon Ball GT Episode 03 - Super-Greedy!! The Merchant Planet Imegga

Air Date: February 21st, 1996

Our first scene seems to demonstrate how this team is going to play out for this adventure. Trunks, playing the responsible decision maker, intends to return Pan home due to her not befitting such a journey, also intending to calm her worried parents. Pan, the troublemaker, has hold over the main control key, doing everything possible to prevent Trunks from getting hold of it. She’s entirely focused on herself, mainly on proving her worth in the future (though these actions don’t help). Goku, the optimist, isn’t intervening at all. Sure, this turn of events isn’t ideal, but Goku’s not gonna get mopey about it. Sadly, it feels like Goku won’t be taking any charge here, but I assume this is to further link up with the first Dragon Ball arc. Though, I really do hope Goku demonstrates some agency over this adventure. It’ll get boring quickly if it’s just Trunks making all the calls.

Back on Earth, Chichi mentions that it’s already been a week since the gang has blasted off. It seems like Chichi isn’t too concerned about this whole thing, likely because Goku and Trunks are there to take care of Pan. I just find it really interesting that she’s not too concerned, considering how dangerous this adventure could be (and soon proves to be) and the fact that Earth could blow up if this isn’t accomplished on time. I mean it’s completely understandable. Goku’s pulled everyone out of worse situations (with everyone’s help, of course. It’s never a job done alone), so I get it. 

Well, unfortunately, things aren’t going so well for our gang. An integral piece of the Capsule Corp ship has fallen off in the middle of space. According to Bulma, this has something to do with another piece that fell off during blast-off, a small segment of the course correcting rockets. I guess it’s only fitting for an arc calling back to Dragon Ball’s first arc to immediately involve conflicts revolving around transportation troubles. This obviously establishes early Pan’s troubling involvement in this adventure, considering this whole situation wouldn’t be an issue at all if the ship was fully prepared for blast off. If Pan hadn’t prematurely blasted off, this wouldn’t be an issue. Then again, it’s not like anybody knows this besides us and maybe Bulma. 

What you’d expect happens, Pan feigns maturity a bit but really just acts more like her childish self, putting herself first stuff (I’m not complaining or anything, character flaws are cool). Trunks takes charge and attempts to land on what we will come to know as Planet Imegga. Goku sits back and lets it all happen because he’s not one to be scared over this kind of thing. I know I’m kind of stating the obvious here, but I want to focus a lot on the dynamic of the team because this is our first actual look at the structure of it. Details like these should be important to be fully aware of in case anything changes along the way.  

The rest of the episode is dedicated to learning about Imegga itself. It’s simply done but it’s rather effective. We don’t get the full rundown until much later, but we know immediately that Imegga is a heavily economic planet, to a fault. Immediately upon escaping the ship to the lively streets of the marketplace, The gang is hounded and essentially forced to spend their cash (Will money be important later on in the journey? Is Earth zeni acceptable on Imegga or did they convert to Imegga’s primary currency? It’s whatever, just some random things that came to mind). This Civilization’s fixation on acquiring currency is pushed even further at the hotel, where literally every utility in the room has a fare on it. We know now that every person works to steal as much money as they possibly can for some unknown reason, and considering the gang are essentially tourists, assumed to know nothing of how Imegga works, it’s easy to see why they were hounded. From the TV program, we see at the hotel, we can see that Imegga is some sort of dictatorship, but we don’t know anything about the relationship between the dictator and the regular civilians yet. However, we can assume that this relationship is tied to why the people of Imegga act the way they do.

Later, Pan, Goku, and Trunks literally fall into a conversation with a poor, struggling family while their house is taken away. Everything you can infer from the previous scenes is spelled out and further elaborated on. I’m usually not a fan of things just being spelled out, but I don’t really care that much here. We had a fine opportunity to piece it all together ourselves, and we still learn even more about Imegga anyway, so the whole scene has more importance than just letting some viewers catch up. 

Either way, the scene is done very well. Having this elaborate discussion of the struggles to live in Don Kia’s dictatorship and the incapability of truly owning anything against these robot debt collectors tearing apart this family’s home was a great idea, and it really emphasized the struggle. However, what really drove it home was that the family didn’t seem to care that much. They discussed the debt collectors as if they knew fully that this was going to happen, and that displays that on Imegga, this can happen to anyone. I’ll be honest, I’m not crazy about this place as our first look into this adventure, but it’s pretty good setup work.

Thankfully, Goku finally steps up and shows some agency over where this goes. He insists on fighting against Don Kia and the debt collector bots for what they’re doing to the people of Imegga. I’m personally not a fan of the fact that Goku hasn’t really done anything other than this in this episode, but I assume we just haven’t gotten to a point where Goku can properly lead the way like I want. It is definitely in character for Goku to be as carefree as he has been thus far, so I won’t get pissy about it, especially when I’m talking about the first stop on this journey. 

Oddly enough, I often see people in the Dragon Ball fandom act like Goku isn’t heroic at all. This moment of Goku insisting that he help these people reminded me that Goku is heroic. Goku’s heroism is what makes him such an incredible character in my opinion. He’s not your average superhero who goes out of his way to find and stop trouble purely to assist others. He’s also not purely doing things based on what benefits/satisfies him. Goku is the perfect blend of altruism and egotism, a man who will gladly assist people in need when he finds them, but also a man who will do what he can to satisfy himself in these endeavors. It’s moments like these that really highlight what kind of person Goku is when it comes to injustice. He doesn’t search for it to solve it, but he’ll right wrongs when they show themselves to him. Goku can make mistakes along the way which puts people in danger, sure, but he always works to right his own wrongs and to keep people safe even when satisfying his desires. It’s this wrinkle in his character between altruism and egotism that really makes him stand out against other protagonists, and I always felt that this was underappreciated. Goku really is an incredibly well-constructed, lovable character, and it's the little moments like this that really show me that. 

Well, as troublesome as the situation on Imegga is, it seems that the gang just doesn’t have the time to right wrongs. I’m a little uncertain about the truth behind this. On one side, it’s true that we only have 1 year to get this done, and we don’t yet know how long this is going to take. It’s safer for their mission to just focus on the mission. On the other, about 15-20 years before these events, it took Goku 6 days to get to Namek, a planet that’s in a different quadrant of the universe. We could possibly assume faster modes of travel have been developed during this time, but we don’t know for certain. Hell, we don’t even really know what this new Capsule Corp ship is really made of in comparison to this older ship. I’m pretty sure the older one from the Namek arc is developed from the remains of the Saiyan pods left on earth, so a lot of that speed could be from the pods (you could go against this by saying it took Vegeta and Nappa 1 year to get to Earth, but we don’t really know where the planet they departed from is in comparison to Earth and we don’t really definitively know the size of the Dragon Ball universe, at least within the original text, I’ve never read any of the supplementary guidebooks). Additionally, it’s taken 1 week to get from Earth to Imegga so you could argue space travel has not gotten any faster, but again we don’t know yet where Imegga is in the universe against Earth. Oh, whatever… this is clearly going nowhere… 

Anyways, upon checking to see if there’s a Dragon Ball on Imegga, a small robot eats up the radar. After chasing and capturing him, it turns out that the ship has been towed away! And that’s where our episode ends. I can’t really go further into a discussion on who this robot is, despite its later importance, since not much is given to us here. We know that it consumed the radar out of a need for energy, and we can assume it’s not malicious. It’s not a surprise that we’re gaining additional characters to our adventure, considering this was done all the time in the first Dragon Ball arc, but the quality of said addition may or may not measure up to the past. 

My impression of the quality of this episode as a whole is… rather mixed. I by no means think it’s bad or incompetently crafted, I just don’t find myself all that thrilled. I assume part of this is just the first Dragon Ball arc being one of my lesser favorites, but this still isn’t really measuring up to that arc. Then again, we’re still only beginning. This is the first stop. I assume it’ll pick up soon. If I had to give this episode a grade, I’d give it a 6/10. It’s good, sure, but it’s not really that exciting. Though the next one looks to be more fun, seemingly wrapping up this Imegga chapter. I hope that one really closes this segment off well if my assumptions are correct. 

NEXT TIME - Dragon Ball GT Episode 04 - Wanted!! Goku Makes the Wanted List!?

Sorry this one took a while to write. I'm approaching the end of the current college semester, so the work has been really piling up, including various essays, movies, tests, books and coding projects diverting my focus from this project (I'm a CS major minoring in Japanese and Cinema Studies so I certainly end up with a wide array of different homework assignments). This is a project that will take quite a while to complete, but I'll do my best to not produce Tumblr's Yandere Simulator, complete with spaghetti text. Also I stopped working on this over the weekend because I really wanted to watch Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and it's mind blowingly good! Easily one my favorite anime, even one of my favorite TV shows period! I'll definitely be writing about it in the future, so if you see me writing about Scott Pilgrim instead of Dragon Ball one day, don't be surprised, okay? I'll at least finish the Baby stuff before I get to that, so no need to think about any of my future writing endeavors yet. Well, see you next post! Next episode looks really exciting! Can't wait to watch through it and start writing about it! As always, feedback and criticism is always appreciated!

About Deku: a criticism that i had seen used againts him is that he never morally struggle about his decisions and that he always does the right think, do you think that this is a flaw of the story, or just people having different personal tastes regarding the main characther.

for me, I definitely wouldn’t call it a flaw, if only because it’s completely intentional. the main character always saving the day in the end and never wavering from their convictions (which are almost always admirable) is a part of the genre. pick just about any other mc in shounen -- Luffy, Naruto, Goku, etc. -- and you’ll find the same.

now, that’s not to say that the criticism isn’t valid. but the thing is, to me it’s like criticizing horror for being too scary, or criticizing comedy for not taking things seriously enough. shounen mcs are supposed to have those idealistic convictions. they’re supposed to have strong morals. it’s a part of the genre. it’s a feature of the genre, in fact. it’s one of the reasons why people gravitate to these stories, because it’s comforting and dependable.

these mcs aren’t perfect, of course, but they almost always have strong, incorruptible moral cores, even if that sometimes makes them a bit less relatable. because the thing is, they don’t necessarily need to be relatable to everyone, but what they do need is to be someone that the average person will root for to succeed. not necessarily role models, but someone who the average person will side with and support. hence why the strong moral backbone is so important. shounen mcs are supposed to reflect all of those shounen virtues like hope and courage and determination and justice and empathy and compassion. all that heroic shit. they have to embody that. it kind of comes with the territory.

and it’s fine to dislike that, because a lot of people see it as overly preachy and unrealistic and boring to a degree, and that’s understandable. it is predictable, and that predictability can be a double-edged sword. it’s familiar and reassuring, but it can also be dull and lacking in suspense, and there isn’t always a way around that. and this does mean that the mc won’t always necessarily be the most complex or interesting character in the series. they tend to be characters you look up to and admire, as opposed to characters you relate to personally. which is fine of course, but it’s a big reason why mcs often rank second or third in popularity polls, because the characters that are the most popular tend to have a bit more moral complexity. but again, that’s just part of the genre though. it’s not the mc’s job to be relatable; their job is simply to be someone that we can root for.

so to get back to your question, as I said, I don’t think this is a flaw of the story, because to me that would imply a mistake in the writing, which this isn’t. it’s very deliberate, and anyone who’s read or watched enough shounen knows that this is par for the course. so while you might disagree about whether or not it should be, imo that becomes more of a general argument against the genre itself than against BnHA or Deku’s character in particular.

and for what it’s worth, while I do understand the criticisms against him, for me at least, Deku is a very interesting character. like, just speaking from a strictly personal and totally subjective standpoint, I like him. I find him interesting. I find his personality, character, and story interesting. I find his struggles interesting. and he does have them, even if they’re not always of the “right vs wrong” variety. just because you know the right thing to do doesn’t mean it’s always easy. just because you ultimately wind up making the best decision doesn’t mean that the struggle is meaningless or boring, at least not to me. Deku often finds himself in situations where there is no easy way out. that’s interesting!! even if he does figure out a solution in the end, that doesn’t make the conflict any less interesting while it is going on. it’s just that it’s more of a “how is he gonna manage to get out of this one” suspense than a “will he make it out” suspense. that to me is the interesting part. when you’re reading about Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot solving a mystery, there’s never any doubt of whether they’ll solve it, because that’s not the focus of the story. the story is about how they will solve it. you’re not supposed to doubt whether the mc in shounen will succeed in the end, because it’s never been about that. the question isn’t will they. the question is how.

and I personally find the how of Deku’s story to be fascinating. this is a young boy who’s had heroic ambitions all his life, but who sometimes questions his own worthiness to fulfill them. he has a power that might be the world’s best hope against the strongest evil the world has ever known, but he’s inexperienced and has trouble controlling that power. he has an admirable need to save and protect others, but that same need makes him reckless, and occasionally puts him at great risk. he has a tendency to be short-sighted, and to make decisions that save others in the short term, but make things more difficult in the long term (take the current status of his arms, for instance -- using them against Tomura was a gamble that didn’t pay off, and in doing so he may have damaged them beyond repair).

and even though it’s the job of a shounen mc to bring all of the other characters together, this is the one thing he still hasn’t personally grasped yet, as he’s still stuck in the “I can’t put anyone else at risk so I’ll just have to do it all alone” stage of his development, and is going to need help in order to finally progress to the “everyone else is aware of the risks and prepared to make those sacrifices just like me, so I’m going to have to trust them and let them help me because it will take all of us in order to succeed” final, Enlightened stage. this is shaping up to perhaps be his greatest personal challenge, and it’s something that for my part I find very compelling. all of these flaws are compelling to me, actually. I don’t know if they count as “real” flaws to everyone or not, but frankly I don’t care. they’re interesting to me, and I could read about that shit all day.

and so for me personally, it doesn’t matter as much whether he’s morally conflicted or suffers too much from What A Good Person syndrome or whatever lol. because so far at least, that hasn’t affected my fondness for him at all. there are plenty of other things I find relatable about him, and the struggles he does go through have plenty of weight to me. ymmv! but to me he is extremely likable, and I enjoy reading about him, and I’m invested in his story and want him to succeed. and those are all of the character metrics I care about. I think that objectively, he’s a good shounen mc, and subjectively, he’s interesting and I like him. and I don’t really have a good, clever/punchy way to end this meta lol, so I guess I’ll just leave it at that.

The ending of Attack on Titan: a shallow analysis

(I don't think I should have to put a spoilers alert on a blog about the ENDING OF AOT, but in general if you mind being spoiled on a series, I advise you to refrain from attending discussions about the body of work until you've finished it in its entirety/come up to speed on the current chapter/episode. Screw hype dude, do you like being hurt? Also for the TLDR, it’s that Attack on Titan explores the cycle of hatred (Eren’s journey) AND love which is why Mikasa and Ymir become relevant at the end of the story.)

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PREFACE

Since the newly added panels of AOT’s ending have been likened by some to the ending of Naruto, I'd like to say that Naruto's end truly hurt me; the way it flows into Boruto is so contrived it burns. A story that's always centered around powerful ninja bloodlines fighting political wars suddenly introduced aliens that harvest planets for energy as the super antagonist, and additionally they're the source of all our characters' powers as well as the jinchuriki and tailed beasts themselves. Then when you look at the plot of Boruto which heavily relies on the Otsutsuki clan as an antagonistic force, their whole existence feels like the transition from Dragon Ball straight into the first DBZ arc with Goku learning he’s really part of an alien race that was meant to destroy Earth.

I didn't detect so forced a role in the ending of AOT, but it's absolutely plausible to speculate that the alternate ending was influenced for this reason, as we know Attack on Titan wasn't produced through Isayama's involvement alone. Certain compromises are made when operating as a team, though it would be wonderful if the original intent of authors were more absolute in the world of production than they are known to be.

And as much as I don't enjoy half-hearted continuations of series for a royalty check, I ALMOST can't blame them for doing it...it creates (many) happy fans, more jobs, and Isayama gets his royalty check. The rest of us suffer but hey, artists need money I guess... 🥀 Moving on. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#1. Eren's development as a character

I never saw Eren's goal steered in the direction of breaking the cycle of revenge or hatred. He was acting wholly in his own interests. He's intensely selfish, doesn't want to change his views, and exists in the story to further the cycle itself. According to me, Chapters 129 and 131 perfectly explain his motivations for the rumbling.

Now before I go on, I'd like to bring a particular scene to mind. I do remember him saying this once (to Historia who had just told him killing the rest of the world is unjustifiable and wrong):

Yes, he said that, but I don't think that is what he ever intended the rumbling to be used for.

After he stated that 80% of humanity was wiped out so Paradis will be safe for the time being, he neglected to answer Armin's questions in 139: "Did you really need to go that far? Are you sure you did all of this for our sakes?" We may also consider the thoughts he chose NOT to share in chapter 131:

That combined with this excerpt from 129 is pretty much all there is to Eren's convictions.

Those are the same words he said in Chapter 2 after his mother died.

So despite his brief period of self-loathing when considering 1) the countless lives in survey corps sacrificed for his sake, 2) being confronted with his and his father's involvement in the Reiss family, 3) everything he learned about his enemy--that all titans are formerly human, that the titan shifters were just children deceived by their world--he even admits to Reiner during Tyburn's speech (Chapter 100) that they are indeed in the same boat--and on top of that, admitting that the rumbling will do nothing to fix the course of history, he settled with the same conviction he held the moment he decided to do something to change the world.

Again, here's his words from 139 showing us just how angry a boi Eren was.

This was Eren Jaeger...he didn't even really know what he was doing.

As a human being, Eren was very much in the cycle of revenge as much as everyone else was. His course of action never deviated too far from that path. He knew better, but he lashed out at the world to protect the few people he cared about anyway. He took freedom away from the ones who threatened him. He was a mass murderer, and so were the other soldiers in this series fighting for their own reasons, since titans were people. Survey corps were always slaughtering these people whom they saw as monsters. Marley viewed Eldians as monstrously and with as much hatred as Eldians viewed the titans. Eren did not try to justify his actions to everyone. He simply stopped seeing the value of life in others not important to him, as humans often do.

So what did he sacrifice 80% of humanity for? From 129 again:

Them meaning his immediate friends.

No, he didn't care about their children's children and beyond because there's no way to control what happens when you're gone from this world. It wasn't his problem. Eren had 4 years at most left to live, and he wanted to do what he could to ensure his friends were happy before he left.

And as jarring as it was to see Eren become undone in the last chapter, I didn't find it completely out of character, because for one he was talking to his closest friend moments before his own death, and secondly, Eren was just a stupid human like the rest of the people in this series. Obviously, most people just want a normal life that they can spend with people whom they love. Eren was the same way, but was denied that future (and happened to be able to do something about it). Very selfish goals, but those chosen few were his world. Along with a general distaste for humanity, that's how I understand his character motivations.

*Which is to say in relation to the extra pages, Ymir's curse returning a generation or two after the events of AOT doesn't entirely void his actions. I’m assuming the power of Ymir apparently exists as a force of nature on this version of Earth period, so I suppose this points us to an endless cycle of humans eventually finding the power and using it as they see fit *

#2 Why is Romance Relevant to Attack on Titan?

I wasn't expecting a romance factor to be relevant at the end of the story, however considering that Mikasa's affection for Eren WAS her most prominent personality trait as a character, then the events that followed, I was forced to look back to a few moments in the series that could lend light to why, in the end, a romantic subplot ended the curse of Ymir. My conclusions are as follows:

1. Quite literally, the cycle of hatred never ends. Humans will always have a reason to be unkind to one another. We are animals after all; this trait cannot be reasoned through with logic, bred out, or defeated. We are a self-aware species (Eren's even aware of his own hypocrisy in Chapter 131). There will always arise those who take what they want for themselves because they decide in the end they don't care about others as much as they care about their own interests.

2. To make this second point, I'm stealing these words out of a certain machine lifeform's mouth, but bear with me here:

"But the humans...? Now THEY are interesting. Because they are an enigma! They killed uncountable numbers of their own kind, yet loved in equal measure! It's fascinating, don't you think? What could possibly drive such behavior? We have dedicated ourselves to unraveling this riddle of humanity..."

--Adam from NieR:Automata

AOT uses Eren and Mikasa as a case study of humanity. Humans hate and love in equal measure.

In Ch. 129, Zeke's piece here foreshadows the significance of those two for the story, I guess?

Now everyone reading this series as well as the characters in it had noticed how much fondness Mikasa always had for Eren, and how aloof he always was towards her in return...that's something for them to work out.

Despite never really reciprocating Mikasa's feelings, Eren told Armin at the end of the series that yes, he enjoyed receiving her attention; he would have liked to live a happy life with her. So, Mikasa just liked Eren, Eren liked her... And similar to Mikasa, Ymir just liked King Fritz. It doesn't matter whether we think these feelings were sound or not; they did what they wanted with themselves. I suppose that explains the reason she was a mega simp for Eren in the whole story. Yes, this turn in the story reads like a different plot now, not one about war and killing monsters, but I'm pleasantly surprised that this trait taken as a flaw of Mikasa’s actually served as a necessary condition to end the conflict of the titans.

Eren wouldn't let go of his hatred of the world for his own satisfaction, Ymir wouldn't let go of her love of King Fritz for her own satisfaction, and Mikasa is the only one who decided to let go of her convictions in the interest of someone other than herself. That's what moved the curse.

I think Isayama used the characters of Ymir and Mikasa to demonstrate that while there is a cycle of hatred and revenge running rampant in humanity, the cycle of love doesn't stop either.

In closing, and I truly apologize for such a lengthy post; I hope I didn’t reiterate my point too often here...I didn't think about any of this until I heard so many readers upset with the way AOT ended. I'm not personally left with any disappointment in where the story went. I didn't know where it was going to go in the first place, and I think it could have been much worse for us in different hands. 

*shrugs*

AOT is a story about the nature of humanity.

*And in regards to Jean, if that is supposed to be him with Mikasa in the new panels, all I can say is dude likes his girl. He was a simp for her and she was a simp for Eren, but the fact that they shared their lives together means a lot even if Eren was never completely buried in her heart. He meant a lot to her man, idk...

Jujutsu Kaisen

“Morning...so which one are you right now? (…)

…I’m not sure you should be worrying about others...

…Itadori Yuji…

...It’s been decided that you are to be secretly executed…”

No one expected what it’s about to happen. Itadori Yuji was just a normal high school student, taking care of his grandfather in hospital, also enjoying his school life and time with friends in their club…Occult club. Well, it’s nothing unusual, teenagers have many hobbies. However, he made one mistake after which he couldn’t go back anymore, and all because of this one finger…

Yuji found a treasure and brough it to his club without knowing what it is. Unfortunately, it was a cursed item which leaded to disaster and meeting strange people who were calling themselves sorcerers. He was told, after swallowing the finger you will gain the power of Sukuna Ryoumen, the owner of that finger. Powerful cursed soul. King of all curses.

So, he did…in the middle of the encounter with powerful curse he swallowed it and became Sukuna. Not for long time but it was the beginning of this story.

Later he joined the sorcerer’s school. He was a target for many, became a family for others.

And the story unfolds…

Characters (only my favourite which I feel they are worth mentioning)

Yuji Itadori – main but not the only one hero. Little dumb, hyperactive, everyone’s friend… well unless you will hurt his friends or someone weaker…. His grandad said: “You’re a strong kid so help people”, those words became Yujis philosophy. Personal opinion:  the fact that his behavior is very similar to Goku from DB is making me like him more. Very strong and positive figure.

Gojou Satoru – Adorable sweetheart but sly and his story is like a mystery. Who is he really? Why other cursed souls and sorcerers are afraid to conflict him? I am writing this as an anime watcher, haven’t read the manga. He is one of my favorites so far. Personal Opinion: he reminds me of Urahara from Bleach, just younger and hotter 😅

Megumi Fushiguro – quiet person, loyal.  His story rented room in my heart for him. His shikigamis selection are unexpected, I understand the dogs, I got used to Nue but the elephant and frogs was a big surprise. I just love how his domain expansion work 🔥

Ryoumen Sukuna – king of the cursed souls and the main reason for all affairs in this story. His powers are incredible. His personality is like a mix of all the badasses from the best series. Friend of foe? Whoever he will be at the end, he is already added to my all-time favourite list, and I will follow 🤩 Big bonus -Seiyuu: Suwabe Junichi

Inumaki Toge- He don’t talk…or should I say, he talk only in “tuna mayo“ language. It’s because of his power which is cursed speech. To not hurt anyone, he is using only chosen words. In fight is really amazing however each of his spells are affecting health condition. I found his power very interesting, personality very pleasant and I demand more on screen time for him!❤

Zenin Maki – if you are looking for a real badass female, here you go, she’s the one. I won’t say much but after so short time on screen I demand more story for her as well.

Panda – when I first saw him my brain start to create a long drama action novel with him as a main cast 😅 I thought he was a human and due to some circumstances, he became a panda…unfortunately it didn’t happened, however I never expected he will be Abrupt Mutated Cursed Corpse created by Masamichi Yaga.

Suguru Getou – he is the type of villain I love and can’t wait for his full story. He doesn’t need to do much – his seiyuu is Sakurai Takahiro, that’s big already 😅❤

Summing up: In a time when all titles are copying themselves or making remakes because it feels like the best ideas were already used, we have Jujutsu Kaisen. Watching this anime makes me think – mangaka definitely said: OK,  I will cut all the best from all the most popular titles. Paste it and put in my order with adding my own colors. Yes, it worked! While watching I found characters, powers and situations based on very well-known Dragon Ball, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, Jojo, Naruto, Tokyo Ghoul etc. HOWEVER! It was presented in very fresh way which is making that title enjoyable. I wish to high 5 the mangaka, Gege-sempai for bringing this to life. Also, I love the way she gave 5 minutes to every character and their backstories.

Anyway! It was long but anyone who reached end of this post - I really hope you like it! And please leave a heart if you did ❤

Krillin for the character ask :)

Give me a character and I will answer:

Why I like them: It’d be easy for me to say “he’s just a good dude” and leave it at that.   I think people would agree with that statement, but I think it runs deeper than that.   The thing that stuck with me about Krillin was when I was checking out the bonus features on the Movie 6 DVD I bought in 2002 or whenever, and they had an interview with Sonny Strait where he explained that Krillin only got into martial arts to impress girls, and that was the same reason Sonny got into voice acting.    Maybe I’m misremembering that, but it always stuck with me.   

Krillin wants things out of life, and unlike a lot of the other characters, he’s not looking to get them by wishing on a magic dragon.   He wants to become worthy of the things he wants, and he may not always be sure of how to get there, he knows that he has to become more than he is.  

Recently, I’ve been seeing excerpts from Barack Obama’s book, where he talks about reading up on subjects to try, unsuccessfully, to get girls to like him in college.    I think the idea was that he was trying to be self-effacing, but it hasn’t gone over very well.  I’m not sure if the problem was that he wasn’t being self-effacing enough, or if there’s something more sinister about reading Karl Marx just in case it helps your odds of getting noticed.    I’m not going to wade into that controversy, except to say that it reminded me of Krillin.  

Is it shallow to have self-serving reasons to improve yourself?   Did I just answer my own question?   The point I’m making here is that it’s a useful motivator.    Krillin has self-esteem issues, and he joined the Orin Temple and then Kame House to try to overcome them.   He thought “If I just get really good at this one thing, then people will like me.”   And we can say “Oh, no, it doesn’t work that way, Krillin, people like you because you’re a such a good person, and besides, it doesn’t matter how good you are at martial arts.”  

Okay, fine, let’s assume that’s true, and Krillin deceived himself by training in martial arts.    Oh no!   He put in all that work, and all he got out of it was... being the strongest human on Earth.   Shoot.    He made himself a better person for nothing.

The reality is that I don’t think he would be as well-liked if he hadn’t gone down this road, simply because people wouldn’t have gotten to know him.   That’s really what it’s about.   It’s easy to say that you’re liked for “who you are on the inside”, but what people really want is to be noticed long enough to be liked for who they are.    And sometimes you gotta take a long look at yourself and say “I need to do something to grab people’s attention.”

And sometimes, in order to motivate yourself into that kind of work, you have to play that trick on yourself.    “Just think, if I put in those extra reps in the gym, the ladies’ll be all over me!”   And it never actually happens, but it gets you through that workout, and the next, and the next, and the next.  

I think we can all relate to that.   I’m writing this because three people asked me to, and I’m sort of hoping a few more will see it and like what I wrote.   I try to get better, because I like the rush of validation that comes with it.   And if I don’t get it, well, boo-hoo, I wrote a few hundred words about Krillin, a subject I enjoy writing about.   It’s a no-lose situation, and there’s some non-zero chance that attractive single women might see this and decide to slide into my DMs.    It’s a tiny chance, hardly worth mentioning, but it’s a lot higher than if I just sit in my apartment and stare at the wall.   

Why I don’t: Ocean Dub Krillin really rubbed me the wrong way, because they wrote and voice directed the character to be really nebbishy.   That wouldn’t necessarily make him a bad character, but it definitely conflicted with what you see on the screen, where he’s stepping to Nappa, Vegeta, Dodoria, and everything else he has to deal with.    Once Sonny got the role, everything turned out cool.  Mondo cool, if you will.

I suppose I should point out the flip side of what I wrote above.  Krillin’s so focused on being worthy that he fails to recognize his achievements.   That’s admirable in its way, but it also makes you worry about the guy.    Like, he knows 18 is crazy about him, right?   Wait, does Obama know people like him?   Do I?  Oh I might have made myself sad there for a minute, excuse me.

Favorite episode (scene if movie):

Probably the moment he tries to take on Super Buu all by himself.   One of the cool things about Krillin is that he’s taken on every major villain from Piccolo Junior to Buu, despite being outclassed.    I think the Super Buu thing is the best one, though, because in that situation there’s literally no chance of anyone jumping in to save him.    His entire plan is to hold off Buu for a few seconds and maybe buy a few minutes for the others. He’s doomed and he knows it won’t even work as a diversion, but he still jumps in anyway.    It proves that this is who he is.    When there’s literally no one left to impress, and nothing left to gain, he’ll still play things out the same way.  

Favorite season/movie: The Androids/Cell Saga is probably his best material overall, just because of his conflicted feelings regarding 18, and the difficult choices he makes because of that.   You can make a strong case for the Namek Saga, where it’s literally just Krillin and Bulma and Gohan, so he has to take the lead by default, but I’m just not that into the Namek Saga.

Favorite line:

This is really more from one of the video games.   I think Budokai 3, but I’m not sure.   Piccolo demands custody of Gohan and Krillin’s like “No way, you’re probably gonna eat him or something!” and I’m pretty sure this wasn’t in the Ocean Dub, so it completely caught me off-guard, like it was the last thing I expected Krillin to say.   And then Piccolo comes back with “I’m not going to eat him!”  like he’s offended at the very suggestion.   As a runner-up, I dig that part in DBZA 54, where Trunks and Vegeta are both reeling from their losses to Perfect Cell, and Krillin reminds them that they don’t have to posture around him, because it’s just him... “Krillin.    Everyone’s friend.”

Favorite outfit: That’s easy.

Yeah, the Frieza Soldier armor looked mighty good on this dude, and the cop uniform does too, and the classic Turtle Hermit outfit is a signature look, but this, right here, is the Krillin for me.    My man’s got the blue shirt under his orange shirt.    No more of the Yamcha slipppers.   Those look great on Yamcha, don’t get me wrong, but Krillin needs those big chunky Goku boots, because they’re perfect for stomping those pesky girlfriend-exploding remotes.   Fellas, this is the ideal male body.    You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.   

OTP: Maron HAHAHAHAHAHA oh wow.   No. It’s 18, obviously.

Brotp: Clearly Goku is his bro, but it’s not surprising at all how effortlessly he gets along with just about everyone else.   He’s bros with the entire world.

Head Canon: I’m pretty sure the Maron/Marron thing was just a coincidence in real life.   Maron the girlfriend was a filler character, and Marron the daughter was introduced in the manga some time later, and both used the same naming convention to end up in the same place.   However, I choose to believe that Krillin actually named his kid after his ex, and he somehow convinced 18 to go along with that idea.   

By that, I don’t mean he had to sweet talk her into it or promise a bunch of stuff in exchange.    I mean he must have discussed what to name their kid, and 18 was like “Your ex-girlfriend?   Seriously?” and he was like “Yeah, I know she’s a ditz, but you gotta understand I was in a really low place and she helped me through it.”   Or something like that, where once he lays out the whole reason 18′s like “Yeah, you know what?   Okay.” 

Or maybe Maron helped deliver the baby or something.   Or she was the surrogate mother?   Holy shit I might be onto something.

Unpopular opinion: Krillin clanks when he walks, due to the solid brass balls he’s got.

A wish: They should do a movie where Krillin just fights Frieza and wins.   Decisively, undisputably, irrevocably.   Krillin is stronger than Frieza from that point forward.    I don’t care if that means nerfing Frieza or godmodding Krillin, but I just want it made plain that if they use Frieza from here on, it has to be with the understanding that Krillin can whip his ass at any time.  

That might sound silly, and I guess it is, but you see what this accomplishes, right?   It forces Frieza into a new character dynamic, so it’s not just the same old shit with him.    Or Toei collectively admits that they can’t use him anymore, which was what they should have decided in 1995.   I’m fine either way.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Don’t grow his hair back, okay? 

5 words to best describe them: Qualified to sell real estate.

My nickname for them: The Kriller.

The real problem with the show.

Look: I’m not one of those idiots who is going to constantly shit on the show for this whole thing, nor am I one to blindly praise the show for doing the bare minimum.

But I am someone who is going to try to put this into perspective.

Our main issue that’s going to be talked about is the fact that this show doesn’t really address the issues from previous volumes.

Take Weiss’ racism for example. They didn’t want to have to address her developing. The whole issue with Weiss is that the whole thing got resolved off-screen. There’s no reason to have the conflict on-screen if the whole thing was going to be resolved off-screen. The big problem is that this show didn’t want to tackle heavy subjects that they weren’t comfortable or capable in tackling. And like, I get it. There are some subjects that people aren’t that well-versed in, and truth be told, there’s a hard way to determine if something that is wrong is worse than something that isn’t there at all. They didn’t want one of their main characters to be a racist.

But the problem here is that that’s okay. Especially when the characters grow and learn from that. I’m sure that everyone has pointed this out already, but Sokka was a sexist in the early episodes of A:tLA, but he learned his lesson and started regularly chugging his Respect Woman juice happily and regularly. Weiss’ whole racism thing was kinda… dropped. That’s not really interesting.

Your characters should have flaws. Real flaws. Ad real character traits. Character quirks that could make for some really interesting moments. I think I mentioned this somewhere on an earlier post, but Ruby being a weapon nut could have been a really good and natural way to explain everyone’s weapons. She could brag about hers, hype up Yang’s, pester Weiss about hers, or even ask about Blake’s, and boom! Everyone’s weapons are explained. Their names, what they can do, and how they work. And maybe even whether or not they made them (I imagine that Blake made hers with help from others, while Yang and Ruby made theirs on their own from scratch, and Weiss got a hers commissioned). This could have even extended to team JNPR too. We already know that Jaune’s is an heirloom, but what about Nora? What about Ren? How about Pyrrha? The thing about that quirk being dropped is that it takes away something from Ruby. HBomb talked about it in his video, but an arc where Ruby helps Jaune forge a new weapon or even add to his existing one would have been so awesome. But no. The upgrade comes from a never-will-be-seen-again blacksmith in Volume 4, and the best it can do is… Become a bigger sword. Then it gets another one in Volume 7 where it’s Penny’s creator that delivers the upgrade. These aren’t emotionally significant in any major way. Sure, the first upgrade is combining Pyrrha’s stuff with his, but it would have been more emotionally impactful if he had saved those things, did his damnedest to bring them to Pyrrha’s family, only for them to now say something like “Pyrrha sent us letters about you. She would want you to have them.” And then and only then, would he incorporate them into his weapons. Imagine how impactful that would have been! Imagine how heartwarming that moment would have been! I’m the resident Jaune hater of the rwde tag, and I’m pretty sure that I would love that scene. I might’ve even called it my favorite.

Like… These character moments get dropped for no real reason. A lot of character moments are just rendered insignificant because of them wanting to advance the story. But a story takes time. It takes setup. Let’s take Dragonball Z for example. There’s a lot of buildup to Gohan being Goku’s successor before he eventually gets upstaged again because the fanbase wanted Goku back. He had those bursts of power that made him stronger. It was built up to. It was hyped up. There was a lot of foreshadowing. Pyrrha’s death… Didn’t really have any of that. Outside of her name, she wasn’t really set up to die. Especially since she hardly had any interactions with the characters outside of Jaune. Because of this, Pyrrha’s death doesn’t hit as hard as it could. Why exactly is Ruby going ballistic? We never saw any major scenes that would indicate them as anything beyond classmates. Like… Moments where Ruby and Pyrrha bond over having high expectations for them. Ruby’s supposedly the daughter of a famous huntress, so everyone seeing her as basically another “Summer Clone” would be a really awesome move to go with. Ruby’s quest should not only to be to save the world, but to also prove that she isn’t a carbon copy of her mother. Have characters like Yang ad Qrow point out what Ruby does different. Maybe one of them is encouraging of being different, while the other doesn’t like it because they want Summer back. I guess Yang would encourage Ruby being different while Qrow would discourage it. A major theme in Volumes 6 ad 7 seems to be how the previous generation kinda screwed things over for the next one. Couple this with Oscar also trying to separate himself from Ozpin (and then immediately trying to talk down Ironwood in a way that Oz would try to do (seriously… WTF?)), Ruby could do something different.

Something that Ruby could do different is something in regards to her plan to stop the end of the world. Instead of trying to defeat Salem, she could try understanding her. I mentioned that Salem was effectively gaslit into being the villain, so the characters trying to help her recover would be an awesome moment. As of right now, everyone (even the fndm) wants to demonize Salem, and doesn’t want her to be redeemed. This is despite all the shit she went through. If anything, Salem was restraining herself when all she wanted was freedom and a life with Ozma. She could have very well have wanted to get back at the world that wronged her. Salem shares so many traits with the titular team that if anything, the fact that she is named after an event where women were killed for false prosecutions should be an indicator as to how much more sympathetic Salem is. Stopping Salem isn’t the answer. All that will do is delay the inevitable until an even worse and less sympathetic version of her comes along… Probably Cinder, but I think I’ve covered her already. The main point I’m trying to make here is that Ruby and her relationship with her mother is something that should be touched upon more. In fact, Ruby and Yang should have this subject brought up. The problem is that these writers don’t want to do anything that doesn’t lead to a fight scene because they’ve come to the conclusion that people are only here for the fight scenes.

And really, they should go to DEATH BATTLE or One Minute Melee if they just want a cool fight scene. People are ultimately here for the shipping and fight scenes. When it comes to character moments, that’s forgettable… Unless it’s something to mock the characters for like Yang’s singular burnt item in the comics automatically making her a bad cook. Why is that capitalized on, but Ruby’s “It’s also a gun” line hardly gets brought up anymore? Is it because people can mock Yang for it? Like… I know that I’m biased because I’m a Yang fan, but come on! COME ON! Yang had to take care of Ruby. This is something explicitly stated in the canon show. Unlike Raven’s up to interpretation line about her killing OG Spring, which has a lot of ambiguity to it, Yang’s whole taking care of Ruby thing is explicit. Ruby even states in Volume 1 that Yang read her fairytales when they were kids.

And this all ties back to the dropped character traits and/or moments. These are important moments for the character. Yang is a Mom Friend for a reason, and Blake is the Rebel Aunt friend for a reason too. Blake has shown that she has a lot of resolve when it comes to her beliefs. Weiss can be treated as the “Deprogrammed Karen” friend. The one that used to have some prejudices, but ultimately was able to move past that. Ruby could be the “Young and aspiring hero” type too. But these initial traits are forgotten because instead of them having their personality traits clash with the world around them, they are forgotten so that they don’t. These characters don’t grow on-screen. They don’t learn their lesson on-screen. They don’t even have it implied on-screen. We just have to assume that Weiss learned her lesson off-screen. We just have to assume that these characters worked and trained hard together off-screen. Like… Was a montage too expensive?

All I’m saying is that these characters are deep. But that deep characterization is never explored or used to its fullest extent because the writers don’t know how to keep having a character grow beyond that. Once a character is finished growing, instead of having said character help others grow, or show how that growth impacts others or themselves, they are forgotten.

Except for Jaune. Jaune’s more shallow than a puddle.

Bardock for the character ask meme!

Give Me A Character and I Will Answer:

Why I like them: 

When I was little it was definitely predominantly because I thought his design and voice (bless up Sonny Strait) were super cool. Now that I’m Older I love to think about how he interacts with his family (Z vs. Super, really) and watching him fight was always So Cool; since he wasn’t a reoccurring character his fight scenes were given more attention and I Always Love Some Fun Choreography. Not to mention he can just be hilarious sometimes with how blunt and aggressive he is lmao.

Why I don’t:

This is more so about Z Bardock but I’m not really a big fan of how dismissive he is of his family, especially how he treats Raditz (and ESPECIALLY especially since Raditz seems distraught at Bardock’s apathy in X2 but that’s a rant for a different day), so I’m glad they made him more of a family man in the Broly movie!

Favorite episode (scene if movie):

You know Bardock only shows up in like. THREE things but he’s so Radical there’s just a lot of scenes I love of him. But if I was held at gunpoint I guess I’d have to say I love the scene where he goes Super Saiyan and just thrashes Chilled around like a ragdoll- shit’s hilarious AND pretty cool.

Favorite season/movie:

Can I say the Broly movie? I can say the Broly movie I love Bardock in Super even if he does have a screen time of like ten whole minutes every single frame he’s in is Pure Perfection.

Favorite line:

God I have two lines because they’re so hilarious when compared with each other but anyways first one:

“I don’t know... Maybe it’s because I’m constantly fighting- destroying, that I’d actually like to save something for once. Especially someone who was judged to be a lower class warrior: like my Kakarot.” - Dragon Ball Super: Broly,  Bardock to Gine after being questioned about his sincere care for Goku

Like I said Bardock is VERY brief in the movie but this quote is just so revealing about his character? This whole SCENE really was just eye opening for how his personality had changed so much since Z and I adore the implications of it.

As for the second quote:

“I don’t know, why don’t you beat the answer out of me?” -Xenoverse 2, Bardock to Tien when questioned about his identity

LIKE WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM WHY IS HE LIKE THIS LMAO HONESTLY A LOT OF BARDOCK’S X2 QUOTES ARE MY FAVORITE BUT THIS ONE JUST SENDS ME EVERY TIME

Favorite outfit:

His classic look is Just So Iconic and branded into my brain BUT I can’t lie I also like his Masked Saiyan armor too!

OTP:

Bardock and Gine- mans loves his wife so much dude I’m going to lose it

Brotp:

Bardock and Tora/Toma!! There’s nothing I love more than One Friend being a Prick while the other’s constantly pushing their buttons.

Head Canon:

In Super, Bardock’s squadron was kind of nullified; they aren’t shown on screen hanging out together (which I can understand due to time constraints and changes in the script). But I love to imagine that Bardock is not only still captain of that team, but he loves to talk about his kids to The Team when they’re all on the downlow after a mission, Fasha being a proud aunt on top of that. Yes they bully him about it sometimes but they all can’t deny they love being a part of Bardock’s family too.

Unpopular opinion:

I’m not a fan of the love for Distant Father, Emotionless Bastard Bardock. If he’s going to be distant, I want him to be conflicted about it.

A wish:

I’m not sure to be honest; I’d rather Bardock stay dead since his origin story would kind of just like. Not Matter if he was brought back, not to mention By In-Universe rules that’d be impossible/hard to do. But I would love to see maybe an OVA of Bardock’s time before death, whether that was the month before Frieza blows up Planet Vegeta, or even something simple like life Before and After meeting Gine and having Raditz and Goku.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen:

Please don’t bring Bardock back I swear to everything holy let him stay dead he’s perfect the way he is I don’t want Toei to ruin his character.

5 words to best describe them: 

Revolutionary and conspiracist belligerent grandpa

My nickname for them:

Pops!

My Hero Academia Chapter 211 Review

Ummm, Early chapter this week. But were on break next week soooo... I guess this is fine. (Note: there has been an edit made to this review to respectfully not spread any misinformation) 

So w e oddly start this chapter with a little character background from Monoma. Apparently he always wanted to be a hero, but due to the fact that his quirk can only copy others, he will have to depend on others which is not what an active hero should have to do. I actually really like this cause its something we ever got from any other 1-B student, the motivation behind their path. It always made them feel a bit more shallow, so I appreciate Monoma getting a scene like this.

Also he now compares himself to Shinsou. How the two are the same is the fact that their heroic aspiration were denied based on their quirk. The difference though is Monoma still made it into the hero program and not Shinsou.

Now this scene, of Monomaa saying that doing unhero like things to those who are more gifted is okay, is likely reflective on the fact that being a hero is also a popularity contest in this world. To stand out and inspire, you’ve gotta be the best, and sometimes to do that, you do some things you might not be proud of. And with a mentality like that, its easy to see why someone like Stain is so pissed at society when it churns out heroes that will willing do un-heroic things. But then you can’t blame Monoma and Shinsou who are just trying to do their best, but given their genetic lottery they have to work harder than most.

But enough of this flashback, we need to cut back to the present where Deku is slowly losing control.

So Deku’s new black energy is emerging from his arm and Deku is quite literally fighting back against is. Monoma wonders if this is a new power to which I’m gonna save my thoughts on this till later.

Yeah Deku, its almost like the plot decided to fuck you over for the sake of this twist that I’m pretty sure no one wanted and that we could just keep to the usual flow of this arc, but no, we had to veer off in this direction because-Okay okay, I’ll save that for later too. I should really speed this up.

So its turns out that black stuff isn’t actually lightning, but more tendrils. Yeah cause that’s what One for All needed, tentacle hentai. Actually with theses black tendrils, now every fan fic writer who made a Deku as Venom AU (yes those exist) has just been justified.

Anyway, Deku releases what looks to be a beam of energy (I honestly can’t tell) and fires it off at Monoma who Deku at least warns to run.

Okay so, first off, good job Monoma. I’m glas we did make a joke out of Monoma being arrogant enough to think he could handle this. Second, what the fuck is wrong with class 1-A. I’m not saying they should act like they just watched a puppy get shot, but their classmate literally seems to be destroying everything. Now you could say that Todoroki did the same thing when he cranked up the heat, but the difference is that fire is a part of Todoroki’s quirk. Black tendrils has never been apart of his power. I know that not every kid in a classroom has to know or care about all their classmates, but I’d be concerned.

Third thing, So it seems OfA really is sentient as its jittering and moving around like it has some sort of self awareness. And finally, Yup. Can’t control your power. After we had come such a long way, you somehow are forced back to square one. I’ll talk about it later as the darkness begins to overflow.

Gotta feel bad for 1-B who just came here for an exercise, now they might die by black energy.

We see the darkness start sticking to objects (wow it really is Venom) and hoists Deku into the air. Yeah, I don’t now is this is something a user of one for all cold do, but boy its a little goofy. Uraraka and Shinsou seems to be the only people who now gives a shit about how this darkness is surging.

We now see this darkness is actually fighting against Deku, smashing him into a wall. All Might, makes a good fucking call and wants Aizawa and Vlad to shut this down. Which I’m sure Aizawa is perfectly fine with. Vlad has also had like no lines this round, like I’d love to hear his commentary.

(Yes, I realize there is an eye looking thing in the darkness, but it took me so long to find that I’m honestly might not even be sure that it is an eye.)

This scene... Breaks my heart. This in a nutshell was why I’m so opposed to this twist. After 200 chapters, Deku finally, FINALLY, doesn’t have to worry about hurting himself. He can now catchup with everyone else and it was finally time to show it off, but now. Now its fighting back. One for All is literally making him lose control when there should be no reason for him to. Has Deku master One for All? No. So there was still a chance things would go wrong, but not like this. Why? did it have to be the moment when finally the first year is coming to an end does One for All show that Deku is still not ready.

And Deku’s reaction to this is perfect for this. He’s not thinking about how he should be strong enough to resist this, showing he grew to arrogant and this is teaching him a lesson. No, Deku is sad. He’s upset that after all this time people didn’t have to worry for him. He was now strong enough to fight like Bakugou and strong enough to make 1-B actually consider him a threat, but now... Now he’s lost control.

Now it is possible that this is do to quirk singularity a topic that I’m doing a post on later, but in short it was brought up about like 50 chapters ago and its when a quirk becomes something that humans can’t control anymore. But again, talking about that later.

I’ve heard the possibility that, this darkness is actually One for All in a sentient state. Much like the previously mentioned before quirk singularity. That this is like genes being passed down so long and growing complex enough to the point that they are no longer controllable. Now there have been plenty of theories that have come out about this, but out of all of them, in general they likely relate to this. The darkness is literally fighting back against Deku as sign of his lack of more than 20% control and thus the quirk seems to quite literally be swallowing him whole. It feels like if this is the case, then Horikoshi realized that he made it so Deku was now fully protected from damaging himself thanks to his quirk. But he could just make it seem like Deku was just arbitrarily growing stronger without having any difficulty, so he developed a way for Deku to quite literally fight himself in his struggle. It was no longer limb destruction, Deku is literally fighting so that he has the right to use this quirk to its fullest extent.

If that is the case, I can’t say I agree with it. Look, I’m sure anyone could say that this doesn’t bother them. That this makes it so Deku and One for All are like Naruto and the Nine-tails, Ichigo and the hollow, Asta and the demon, etc. And those aren’t things I’m opposed to and are things that I enjoyed. But this isn’t the same. The monster inside that gives you more power worked for those series because that was their power system and world allowed for that. But MHA, quirks are more similar to Goku and Luffy. Their abilities are what is to be heightened and their second release: Super saiyan and gear two, are derivative of their competence of their biology and their power. And Deku was like that. He has a quirk that has nine generations worth of power in it and to use that power he had to learn how to take more in. His super saiyan was him at one million percent. It would destroy his body, but for a time he could use all that power. But I guess this new problem has occurred and we’ll have to see where it goes.

Anyway, the chapter isn’t done as Uraraka floats up to him.

So Uraraka is holding down darkness Deku and calls out to Shinsou and that’s where our chapter ends. Now, if people remember my FT reiewing days, they’re probably to call this a BS ship moment that defies reality and serves to pander a single fanbase. Well, no. Cause that’s not what this is. Uraraka is doing what a hero should do. She’s trying to save someone in danger, and this isn’t presented as this overtly romantic moment like say Sakura hugging curse mark sasuke, no this is actual danger that isn’t stopping so Uraraka is at risk of getting hurt here.

Now, I’m not saying you can’t take this romantically, I mean there is a lot of evidence that the two like eachother, I’m just trying to say, power of love, isn’t what’s stopping this madness, hell its evident that Uraraka needs Shinsou and his power to try and stop it. So this trope is still being done, but there is some logical weight to the solution.

Post Chapter Follow Up: So I wanna first say, this chapter is really short. Like its about 13 pages and it has very, very little dialogue. I did almost felt like I was reading a Bleach Chapter, but in fairness, this had a lot more detailing and was clearly used more as a way to show the sheer scale and weight of what the hell this thing is. Plus more detailed art, so I don’t thing the bleach comparison is entirely fair.

I am disappointed with the page count, given the break next week, I would’ve really appreciated we ended on more of bang than this. All its done is left me wanting more, but not in a very good way.

In terms of negatives, this chapter has pretty much confirmed team Deku vs team Monoma has gone off rails and that our conflict is going to actually be how do we solve this darkness. Last week, I talked about my thoughts on why I’m not a fan of that as this seems like a transparent way to make deku lose as well as seems to imply that Horikoshi had no real intent on making this fight actually work with their combatants. This not only makes this exercise feel like it will ultimately be pointless, but as I said, it screws Deku out of getting to go plus ultra while everyone else got to show how far they’ve come.

One could say that seems like bias and that the point was to get shinsou to help with the vestiges, but that doesn’t fully work cause there had to be other ways than this to make it so Sjhinsou would have to work. I mean, this was that same problem I had with the overhaul arc at the end. It was gong fine until Ryukyu dropped in with a powerup for Overhaul and then deku had to use Eri like a power-up and it just became a cluster fuck. I’m not against twists mind you, all arcs need them, the one he did with Gentle was great in my opinion, but these twists overall hurt the story cause the story was going great up till now and we’ve entered cluster fuck land.

Now look, I’m not gonna let my own opinions impede my objective view point. This twist was built up to. As we saw with the mark on Deku’s hand as he used One for All in his sleep. The fact his quirk has been feeling funny, and the fact that All Might seemed curious about this. So I can not in all good conscious call this a bad twist, but it is still one I don’t agree with.

Other positives are definitely the characterization. Aside from us getting Uraraka getting to act like a savor, we get some great development for Monoma. My only issue would have to be the timing of it. He doesn’t do much this chapter. You’d think that this would’ve been used before Deku went all darkness on us.

So what will the final verdict be. Initially I was thinking of giving this a below average, but maybe because the more chew on to this, and the more I see others reactions to this, it seems this hits that uncomfortable spot of being up to the reader to tell if they liked it or hated it. And those are always hard because there is a fair amount of good and nothing I can call really bad, but that good really isn’t enough on its own so there is an enjoyment factor that can’t be accounted for. Kinda like Aquaman. So where do I stand on this? well I have to be honest with myself as this is my review and I gotta say.

Final Verdict: 5/10

This is something you need to experience yourself to really tell if you enjoy this twist or not

There is some good action and good character development

The pacing feels rushed and there isn’t enough time to fully show this off satisfyingly

I do like the ending

Build A Better Buu Saga

Oh, the Buu Saga...from initially getting passed over in Kai to almost getting passed over by TeamFourStar, it’s almost as if the collective understanding of all corners of the Dragon Ball community is that this is a saga that just...didn’t. It didn’t give a proper cap to the overall series, it didn’t stick the landing even on its own terms, it didn’t have the best fights or villains or character moments...it just didn’t.

For myself, the Buu Saga actually has my favorite beginning of any storyline in Dragon Ball. Gohan being my favorite character in the series, I was happy to see him take up the mantle of Series Lead (a fact that the manga pointed out in asides multiple times), and the huge shake-up in the status quo made for some exciting possibilities. Videl and Goten were wonderful additions to the cast, the current timeline’s Trunks was quite the contrast with his future self, I think the Great Saiyaman was amusing, and the lead-up to the World Tournament is some of the best material out of the entire series. The middle section of the saga, while uneven, is a fun and wild ride too, with Majin Buu being a very distinct villain from his immediate predecessors and concepts like the fusion dance giving a jolt of new energy (no pun intended) to battles. Gohan’s development as he tries to regain the power he’s lost since the Cell Games during this part of the story doesn’t get enough credit either.

Yep - the Buu Saga, in my books anyway, is a solid arc full of fantastic characters and moments...in its first two thirds. The moment Super Buu becomes Buutenks, the story rapidly deteriorates, as Akira Toriyama decides to arbitrarily reject or ignore every bit of set-up and development he’d laid down up to that point and goes on auto-pilot, ending the conflict with tired retreads of old ideas while using characters whose story this has not been. It’s not even that anything in the ending of the saga is all that bad; it’s just such an about-face, such a divorce from everything in the story up to that point - material that I really liked - that it feels more disappointing (to me, anyway) than if it had been more poorly produced.

I’m not the first, or the last, to think about how the Buu Saga might have had a stronger ending, and more coherence overall. Over on the Kanzenshuu forums a few years ago, I even wrote up some my thoughts on what I would’ve liked to see. Thanks to TeamFourStar’s release of their “Day of Fate” remix, though, I’ve been thinking about this more lately, and my ideas have changed quite a bit from the last time I wrote them down. With that, I figured I’d lay out my outline for an alternate Buu Saga, one that I think would’ve given the series a stronger cap and paid off its initial set-up.

Before we get started, I’ll make three caveats plain:

- Goku isn’t here. This isn’t out of any dislike of the character. I'm actually quite happy with Goku serving as a supporting figure, and a mentor to Goten and Trunks, in the middle third of the Buu Saga. But I think it’s ultimately detrimental to a story that purportedly follows the successor protagonist to have the original hero pop up as early, and for as long, as Goku ultimately was in the saga as-is. To see what Gohan and the others would make of a world totally devoid of Goku is a more interesting idea to me anyway.

- No Old Kai. He may be fun, he may have unique abilities, but Old Kai and his powers offer too many cop-outs. Which is not to say that there isn’t a place for a mentor figure like Old Kai in the saga, but...well, keep reading.

- I don’t care about post-manga interviews. Yes, I am aware that Toriyama retconned Buu’s origin, among other things, in interviews he gave after finishing the manga. I am ignoring these, and I’m ignoring anything from Super. What was in the manga, and the anime, back in the 90s is all the material I’m drawing from.

- You know the story, right? For brevity’s sake, I’m just going to point out where I would’ve made changes, not writing up the full series of events. I assume anyone crazy enough to read this knows at least the gist of the Buu Saga anyway.

All that said - here we go:

There isn’t much I’d change about the very beginning of the Buu saga. Gohan’s high school days and Great Saiyaman antics are both a great change of pace from the heavier material preceding them. If I were to change anything, it would be to have the manga expand on this section slightly - no more than the anime did, but just that little bit extra to mine the concept for all it’s worth.

Assuming that expansion happens, then the impression can be given that a significant number of months pass - let’s say an academic year. Thus, when Videl learns the truth about the Great Saiyaman and blackmails Gohan into competing in the World Tournament, they’re right at the start of summer vacation, with the tournament set to begin at the end of summer. This provides three months of training, not one.

Removing Goku from the story doesn’t require as big an adjustment to Vegeta’s character as you’d think on first glance. Remember that in the saga as-is, Bulma tells Gohan early on that Vegeta wants to make Trunks stronger than him, Vegeta chides Gohan for not training during peacetime, and when news of the tournament reaches him, Vegeta’s keen to enter to fight Gohan, before he knows that Goku’s coming back. Just push all this a little further, and you get a Vegeta who’s transferred his great rivalry with “Kakarot” onto Gohan - whose lack of interest in combat for its own sake or in feeding that rivalry really gets under Vegeta’s skin. The tournament, in Vegeta’s mind, is his first chance in seven years to compel Gohan to duke it out.

The extra months for training gives real opportunity for Videl. In the series as-is, her ability to learn to fly in a day is considered remarkable, and she expresses an interest in learning more about ki. With more time, she actually could. It’s straining credulity to expect her to be at Krillin or Tenshinhan levels by the time of the Tournament, but she could at least pick up the Kamehameha. As I would like her to stay action-relevant once the real conflict emerges, however, I’d go ahead and give her some unique ability too, to off-set her limited raw power. Perhaps something akin to re-directing lightning in Avatar - she could figure out how to channel and re-direct ki attacks aimed at her. I don’t think that’s too ridiculous - again, the series as-is has her figure out the basics of ki control and flight in a single afternoon, so using that as a springboard for her demonstrating unusual ki manipulation is a fair expansion on that IMO.

Videl’s curiosity about ki (and the cute dork she’s learning from) could also lead to her learning about the dragon balls during her training. This could amount to a brief, lighthearted ball hunt that doubles as as a more active training regimen, with Goten and Trunks coming along as well. It would be the four members of the new generation off on a fun-filled adventure, like the opening of this saga seemed to promise. Gohan and Videl’s bond is strengthened, Goten and Trunks’s friendship is shown off, and the dragon balls are conveniently collected and ready for use later on. And this would also be the way that news of the World Tournament spreads to the other Z Fighters - assume that each of them holds onto one of the dragon balls as a safety measure. A tad more time could be spent at Kame House and the Lookout, and through the eyes of Videl - the new human character and a great candidate for a reader/audience stand-in - we could be introduced to the new status quo for all the old cast in a (slightly) expanded way.

The World Tournament would play out largely the same, with the odd minor to adjustments due to Goku’s absence. The senzu beans would get delivered via Mr. Popo and his carpet, for example. Probably the most significant change I would’ve made would be to have Gohan’s anger at Videl’s pain cause a flash of power that, while brief, tells Vegeta that Gohan’s potential remains as boundless as ever even despite his lack of training, feeding into Vegeta’s frustrations with Gohan.

Without Goku, Yakon would be cut from the line-up of Babidi’s warriors; we’d go from Pui Pui to Dabura. Vegeta’s anger at Gohan’s sloppiness would remain, though he’d be shouting at Gohan directly, instead of at Goku about Gohan. In this case, Vegeta gives in to Babidi not to acquire sufficient power to defeat Goku in a limited time frame, but because all the preparation for the World Tournament, Gohan’s “unworthiness” as a surrogate rival for his father, and disgust that someone uninterested in fighting has the potential that Gohan has, all fuel Vegeta’s midlife crisis about finding himself settled on Earth. Basically, the ticking clock of Goku’s 24 hours is replaced with a slow burn of identity conflict and irritation.

Of course, this means that instead of a Goku/Vegeta rematch, we’d have Gohan vs. Vegeta. I would leave the immediate set-up for it largely untouched in the broadstroke, but of course the details would matter. I can’t imagine Gohan feeling so determined to fight that he’d be prepared to blow Supreme Kai’s face off, for example. I would have him ask to be brought back into the ship, to give Supreme Kai a better chance at getting at Buu’s pod. It would also give a backdrop for the fight other than Generic Wasteland #47. The fight itself would naturally have a different character. I imagine Vegeta being more unstable and manic while Gohan remains evasive, trying at all times to minimize the energy released. As in the series as-is, Vegeta’s words spur Gohan to realize the price to be paid for not staying prepared for danger in the seven years since the Cell Games, but in this case, Gohan’s evasiveness keeps shooting Vegeta’s anger and irrationality higher and higher, and it’s through this process that his motives come out. At a moment when Gohan’s pleas to look at the big picture fall on deaf ears, Vegeta calls Gohan “Kakarot.” Hearing that name, and fully appreciating how much Vegeta has projected his old rivalry, Gohan snaps for a second, gets the drop on Vegeta, knocks him out, and heads deeper into the ship to help Supreme Kai.

From there, things would largely play out as they do as-is, with minor adjustments. Vegeta would come to inside the ship, get a sense of what’s going on up above through ki detection, and have a quiet moment of realization of what he’s done before he heads up to try and make amends. And when he sacrifices himself...that’s it. That is the end of Vegeta’s character. This is a point I feel strongly about, because nothing that’s been done with Vegeta since justifies undercutting his sacrifice here IMO. To fully appreciate what he’s done, to recognize the one tactic he has left to try and set things to rights, and to be aware (thanks to Piccolo) just how total the price to be paid will be, and still go through with it for the sake of his loved ones, is as fitting an end to Vegeta’s character as I can think of.

Instead of Bulma summoning Shenron, she collects the balls from Chi Chi’s house with the intent of summoning Shenron, until someone in that group - possibly Yamcha, possibly Videl, possibly even Master Roshi - perceive that they might be needed for an even greater emergency, and the decision is made to retreat to the Lookout to try and get news of what’s been going on. They bring the balls with them, sparing the need for the radar incident later on. Piccolo and Krillin are tasked with filling everyone in.

Without Goku, how is the Fusion Dance brought up? Well, Namekians practice a form of fusion (more like assimilation), and Piccolo has (in the anime, at least) demonstrated knowledge of Multi-Form; what if it’s a technique he and Dende have devised in the seven years since the Cell Games, making use of natural Namekian abilities and Earthling ki manipulation techniques? “But wait!” you say. “What about Piccolo’s embarrassed reaction to the dance in the series as-is?” Simple - don’t have him be embarrassed. I never found that “gag” to be all that funny anyway - it’s not like the dance looks that ridiculous. To whet Buu’s appetite for the fight the way Goku did, Piccolo could just communicate the promise of a fighter telepathically.

So, we still have the Z Sword, but no Old Kai. What to do about Gohan’s power then? Well - what if the Z Sword was sentient? Similar to the Byakko from Dairanger, it can talk once drawn. I imagine it having a cantankerous and impatient personality, but in addition to being heavy enough to serve as a training tool, it can also bond and manipulate Gohan’s ki, letting it serve as a power-up device and a mentor. Part of that mentorship involves helping Gohan through his hang-up at not keeping his strength from the Cell Games. As Old Kai does as-is, the Z Sword could feel that the strain of transformations isn’t worth the power boost, and could also conclude that relying on saiyan rage and battle lust isn’t the best course for Gohan. So as they train, the Z Sword works to rearrange Gohan’s ki to bring all his power into his base form - so yes, there still is an Ultimate/Mystic power-up.

The Z Sword could also suggest a strategy for defeating Buu, and here’s where it becomes necessary to ignore Toriyama’s later statements. To go just off of the original manga, Bibidi created Buu. So if Buu is a magical creation, a force of chaotic evil energy - roll with that. Don’t treat him as a flesh and blood creature who can be killed. Treat him as negative ki manifested, that can be manipulated and dispersed. Videl’s ability helps Gohan grasp the concept, but it’s the Z Sword that will be key to him being able to pull the same manipulation on Buu.

The process of Gohan’s training would involve taking a look inside his own head. Imagine scenes where, while Gohan’s body performs fencing maneuvers, his inner self communes with the Z Sword and reviews and experiences these concepts in visually interesting ways. Besides being more dynamic than sitting on the ground while an old man holds his hands out, this could also sell the idea that this process would take a while.

Things on Earth would play out largely the same once Goten and Trunks are taught the dance. My one change would be to have Videl unaccounted for along with Dende during Buu’s candy attack.

Nothing against Goku, but when Gohan returns to Earth, I’d have him keep the Kai get-up; I really like that costume on him. Gohan’s demeanor would be more cold and silent in fighting Buu than brash, and instead of just treating Buu like a punching bag, he’s focused on catching Buu’s attacks with the Z Sword and turning the blade on Buu. When he does this, the wounds don’t regenerate. Buu finds this horrifying, and it’s this realization that triggers his self-destruct feint.

Videl’s with Dende. They got away together. Why? I’ll tell you why: I like Videl. But there is actually a reason, that we’ll get to in a second.

Buu absorbing Gotenks and Piccolo is less to do with getting stronger than Gohan (though there is that); it’s on the calculation that, if Buu absorbs people that Gohan loves into his being, then Gohan can’t channel ki to disperse Buu. Remember, that isn’t the same as being killed, so who’s to say the dragon balls could revive them? Gohan essentially has no choice but to get into a conventional fight with Buu - a much more even fight, but one he knows is ultimately fruitless. To make things worse, the grouchy, insensitive Z Sword keeps insisting that they finish Buutenks off anyway, and Buutenks keeps targeting Dende and Videl. That’s partly a distraction tactic, but he’s also looking to neutralize the dragon balls. Dende is protected in part by Gohan’s efforts, and in part by Videl’s redirection abilities. This would also open up comic moments, with Mr. Satan gaping in shock at his daughter’s skills. But a hard limit on those abilities becomes quickly apparent, when dealing with that much raw power at her level starts to destroy her body. Eventually, it proves too much, and saving Dende causes Videl to pass out - and in the second that Gohan is distracted by that, Buutenks seizes the Z Sword and breaks it.

The heroes look screwed now, but when the fusion runs out, Buu starts to react strangely, as if he’s getting beat up from the inside. Cut to inside of his body and, sure enough, the fusion running out has caused Goten and Trunks to be freed from Buu’s control. They wreak havoc inside of Buu in an attempt to find away out, and end up finding Piccolo and Fat Buu. Severing Fat Buu sets off the chain reaction leading to Kid Buu, and the kids make it out with Piccolo just in time.

Kibito teleporting in is how the heroes get off of Earth once Kid Buu decides to blow it up. And he actually saves everyone. Without Goku there, that bit of faux drama and guilt is even less justifiable, so don’t bother with it. The entire planet being lost is enough of a gut-punch to the heroes as it is.

As Kid Buu rampages through the universe, Kibito restores Videl and Piccolo. As bleak as things look, a conversation happens that triggers memories of Namek, and Gohan and Piccolo quickly devise a plan. They ask Kibito to bring King Kai to the Sacred World of the Kais, to facilitate communication, then send him to Namek. Those dragon balls (which cannot suddenly revive as many people as you want and still grant three wishes) are gathered. Gohan wants Porunga to restore the Z Sword, but that is a feat beyond the dragon’s power. Instead, he restores the Earth (and other destroyed planets) and, with the second wish, assembles Earth’s dragon balls at the Lookout. Kibito returns to the heavenly realm, takes Dende back to the Lookout, and Shenron is used to revive everyone (who Shenron can still revive) killed by Buu. Shenron also can’t mend the Z Sword, but Gohan and Piccolo expect that Babidi was revived with the first wish. They have Kibito track Babidi down and bring him to them. Both dragons are kept on stand-by.

Gohan wants Babidi to cast a spell to get rid of Kid Buu - not seal him up again, but to decreate him entirely. Unfortunately, Babidi doesn’t know any such spells - if they ever existed, they went to the grave with his father Bibidi (again - forget the later interview retcons. All we’re told originally is that Babidi was Bibidi’s son.) What Babidi can do, however, is reforge the Z Sword with his magic. Not unlike Buu’s awakening, it’s a spell that requires a tremendous amount of energy be released, and meanwhile, Kid Buu is laying waste to worlds. To gather the energy, and to keep Kid Buu from destroying anything else, Gohan, Goten, and Trunks all power up to lure him to the World of the Kais. While Piccolo stands guard over Babidi and the others watch, Gohan and Gotenks keep Kid Buu occupied. The effort doesn’t go as smoothly as Gohan and Piccolo had hoped - partly because Kid Buu is so violent and unpredictable, and partly because Gotenks gets carried away yet again, resulting in far more damage to the planet than necessary.

At a certain point, Videl has to re-direct a blast, and Mr. Satan yells at Kid Buu for endangering his daughter. Kid Buu targets them both, but can’t bring himself to attack, and expels Fat Buu. Just in time, too - Gotenks’ carelessness gets Gohan seriously injured, and the fusion wears off. Goten (and, after some hesitation, Trunks) continue to fight on with Fat Buu while Dende tries to heal Gohan. Babidi, meanwhile, has one last bit of treachery up his sleeve. He tries to take control of Gohan in a moment of anger. A lot happens all at once - a fierce blow by Kid Buu that puts Fat Buu down for the count, Gohan reacts to Babidi’s efforts, Piccolo slays Babidi - and the Z Sword re-forges. Kid Buu, recognizing the re-forged blade, panics, but Goten and Trunks keep him distracted, and Gohan is able to disperse Buu’s energy, finally ridding the universe of him for good.

Everyone returns to the Lookout, where unfinished business remains. Vegeta, Krillin, Roshi, and Chaotzu (and technically, all the people who were killed by Cell) are still dead, and for Krillin and Chaotzu, there's bad news: no dragon can ever grant the same wish twice, so even with Porunga around, they're still dead. Roshi sends word through Baba that he's ready to move on; Vegeta’s spirit has already met its final judgment. So, with the last Shenron wish, the memory of Buu is taken from the world; with the last Porunga wish, someone gets something stupid (Goten gets an ice cream sundae? Something comedic.)

Gohan has a conversation with Piccolo that basically summarizes his journey through the arc: that even if he doesn’t like fighting for its own sake, power like his carries a responsibility, and he has to be prepared for future threats. Fast forward to the same year that DBZ ends, only instead of another Tournament, there's a reunion at Capsle Corp. Some new threat comes, and the new lineup of Z fighters, led by Gohan, go into action. End of show/comic.

Getting Your Message Across

In today’s social media driven knowledge and talent economy everyone (supposedly) has a brand and a message that they’re trying to get out there to say “look at me, hire me, buy my things, I’m you!” (Some people are a lot better at it than others.) It didn’t used to be this way or at least it wasn’t as important. For writers, this trying to convey a message through words is something that we have been doing for hundreds of years whether we mean to or not.

And sometimes our messages in our books and stories gets through. And sometimes, the messages that are found in our stories aren’t the messages we thought we put in and that’s okay. Sometimes, we don’t think we have a message because we have a story we want to tell and that’s okay too. The story can be the message, something about that story is important to you even if you can’t verbalize what it is.

It can be okay to not be able to verbalize something. You might not know what you needed to get out of that story until it’s done and you’re finished and you can step back and evaluate and go “yeah, that’s it, that’s what I wanted to say.”

Writers most often come across this conundrum in the parallel problem of expressing emotions. Because emotions are things you feel rather than something you can touch, taste, see, smell or hear. Emotions are bound up in thought and many people don’t know what they are or how to express them properly. They’re ephemeral. And your message can be just as ephemeral.

Messages and emotions have to be worked around and expressed explicitly at times to convey them and have them hit home. Because your message serves absolutely no purpose if no one understands it or even gets that it’s there.

Other people are not in your brain.

Unlike the science fiction and fantasy worlds that I write in and that I love to read, people in our reality tend not to be telepaths or empaths or psychic or mind readers. Especially when it comes to the written word. They don’t know your thought process or that you spent hours of time agonizing over five variations of the same dialogue or how to convey character movement without making the characters appear like they’re fidgeting. (Unless the character is a chronic fidgeter.)

So, you, the writer, are going to have to convey your message in different ways. You’re going to have show it and tell it. (Throw that "show, don’t tell" advice out the window on this one. It’s show and tell time, ladies and gents. Just like back in kindergarten when you brought in that cool action figure.)

Comics are a great medium to study to learn about this. They are a very constrained medium. Many comics use four panels per day or week to get their point across. And there are a lot of different types of comics. There are funny comics. There are dramatic story comics. There are comics that are political and comics that are about life.

A really good comic that I love to read (because it fits my “brand”) is Manly Guys Do Manly Things at thepunchlineismachismo.com by Coelasquid aka Kelly Turnbull (a storyboard artist for Ben10 and all around amazing person tbh. I wish I had her health, seriously.) Those are the first two messages right there, the name of the comic and the website URL. I know instantly that this webcomic is about to revolve around beefy action hero types doing action hero like things.

The main original character is named Commander Rock Lobster Badass for goodness sake. You’ve got Canada Guy running around randomly killing moose. And everyone from Ganondorf to Duke Nukem popping their heads in and making commentary. (Riddick runs the occasional DnD session.) And then you’ve got Jared. And Jared is the everyman with limp noodle arms and a magikarp in this insane world to give a reason for the Commander to translate all this craziness for us to understand.

There are one off funny comics, there are story arcs, and there is the occasional political lampoon commentary, lots of bits about Overwatch, and then there are bits where the Commander explains the philosophy of Marlon Brando and his own version of actually very healthy masculinity. (Round pegs don’t go in square holes and square pegs don’t go in round holes. Do what works for you.) And there are other places where he shows healthy masculinity in being an all around awesome dad and mentor. (Seriously, don’t be Goku standing around screaming for hours.) I love the fact that Commander Badass is in a relationship with Jonesy that he refuses to pin down with labels. Because not all romantic relationships need labels!

And she does this once a week despite holding down a demanding job and breaking her limbs in motorcycle accidents and going off to Wasteland every year and keeping pigeons. (That inspired some adorable velociraptors.) Even her pictures reflect her brand!

And if that’s the type of content you might enjoy, I encourage you to check out Commander Badass. Or go read and analyze your favorite comic(s.) (I also recommend Girls With Slingshots.)

As a writer and a storyteller, you have to show your message and you have to outright tell people your message in your stories and through your stories. And some characters might not be quite as literal as Commander Badass there.

Say your story is based on the message of “Girl, you need that man like a fish needs a bicycle.” (See entertaining Sinfest Comic strip.) So, you’re story is probably going to open up with your female character thinking she needs the male in her life. Her friends and family don’t think so and tell her so and probably try to encourage her to be more independent. “You don’t need him!” “You’re better than that!” But she’s stuck in that thought pattern that she needs a man.

And she’s not going to change until she comes to the realization on her own quite possibly at her lowest point when he’s betrayed her in whatever way is the most important to her. (Or she’s done something that even shocks herself that she’d thought she’d never do.) Then she’s going to believe “Oh, I don’t need that man. “And no doubt, she’s going to think it and she might get angry about it. Now she wants to get free and be independent and she wants it badly. She’s hurt. She’s lashing out. And she may or may not lash out constructively! (Conflict! Angst! Girl Power! Boo Yah!)

Then you have to show you quite possibly kicking this man out of her life. And then doing whatever it is that needs to be done to be more independent and take care of herself. Then, the character is going to have to figure out why emotionally and psychologically she thought she needed that man. (Therapy is good people.) Or else, she’s just going to fall back into the same pattern and not learn anything or grow as a character. (Character growth is the best.) So that when she finds a new man, that man is nice and all and she likes having him around, but she doesn’t need him to fill whatever emotional or psychological need that the previous man was filling.

Give it a fancy title that reflects your message of freedom or breaking chains or independence and call it a day! (Simplistic example is simplistic.)

It’s the age old problem of show versus telling. But in this case you have to show and tell to get the point across. The point being that somewhere in your story that your main character or a character around your main characters in a not preachy way manages to say your message clearly and succinctly.

Because brevity, brevity, brevity.

People don’t come to a story for the message. They come to be entertained and yeah, the message or the theme may resonate with them. They want to see the message in action more than they wanted to be talked at about the message for a good hour or 300 pages. (Look, if I want a moral lecture I’ll go back to church.) If your brand is about romance, the story should focus more on the romance and answering the question of “why can’t they be together right now” than the message of “You don’t need that man, honey.” (Okay, contradictory to an extent, but um, not at the same time. Healthy romances, HEALTHY folks.) If your stories are like mine and are about adventure and explosions with a side of finding your place in the world, then the story should focus on action, explosions and finding your place in that world.

Your message needs to be clear and consistent and even though you as a person might not agree with something that a character is doing, it doesn’t mean that you endorse what that character is doing. You can always show that the character is wrong, that their methods are bad by giving them consequences.

And remember, just because your story has a message, it doesn’t have to be about the message. You can still save the universe and convey that being gay is okay or that racism is wrong or true love can strike twice. Stories are allowed layers.

The key being that if no one at all gets the message you wanted or the opposite message or no message at all when you’ve tried to put one in then you’ve failed as a writer. And that’s not okay.

Should the term “Mary Sue” be retired?

The original. 

I didn’t have any intention of posting my non-RWBY, non-MHA blog posts here, but here’s this one seems to be becoming important with the rise of the claims that Arya Stark is a Mary Sue. So here it goes:

In my walks through Dan Olson’s twitter, I came across this:

Which got me thinking: is the term “Mary Sue” completely pointless?

Before I wonder about this question, let’s take a quick journey through time. In the 70s, Paula Smith noticed a character pattern among the Star Trek fanfic and created a parody to point this out, “A Trekkies’s Tale”, whose protagonist was called Mary Sue. During the following years, the “Mary Sue” wasn’t necessarily considered as something bad, instead it was considered as a phase every writer will go through as it was intimately associated with self-inserts and was only applied to fan-fictions1;2.

In recent years, the term has left the fanfic and began being applied to original fiction too, losing its meaning along the way and gaining a pretty negative connotation. In fact, nowadays, “Mary Sue” is such an extremely subjective term that even TV Tropes admits:

“TV Tropes doesn’t get to set what the term means, the best we can do is capture the way it is used.” 1

Hell, I’ve even come across with this subjectivity, as once I called Orihime from Bleach a Mary Sue, on youtube, and one person defended my use of it by explaining she was liked by everyone, which wasn’t the reason I considered a Mary Sue to begin with and consider that justification to be pretty dumb.

Why is being liked by everyone not a good parameter?

Have you ever read/watched a shonen? Most of the good guys are on good terms. Even when there is some animosity between a main character and another one, it’s usually because of the other, like Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z, who dislikes Goku because he’s better than him, not because of anything egregious the latter did. In “My Hero Academia”, Bakugo hated Midoriya mostly because of pride and arrogance (they are now on good terms).  Yes, the Avengers may have not loved each other from the get-go, but, by the end of the film, they were ready to live happily ever after. And when the sequels even stop (they never will), they will end up being on good terms.

Another definition of what is a “Mary Sue” is it’s a character that is overpowered/great set of skills + tragic backstory, (sometimes even without the latter). So let’s take a look at:

Superman: an alien whose planet was destroyed, adopted by 2 humans, and has a set of skills that would make Goku turn… Well, he would probably just find it cool, but Vegeta’s head would explode for sure as he threw a temper tantrum. His powers include flying, super speed and strength (to the point of almost completely invulnerability), X-ray and heat vision.

Bruce Wayne: a poor (not literally) orphan who was raised by his butler and whose riches go beyond Taylor Swift’s wildest dreams, let alone poor (far more literal) little us. Thanks to it, he has access to technology that has little to no limitations, yet his money never ends.

Goku: an alien whose planet was destroyed, adopted by an old man who was killed by him in giant monkey-form. Not only he can fly, he is particularly powerful even for his people even though he’s a low-level specimen according to the planet’s hierarchic structure.

Ichigo: a guy who turns out to be part-Hollow, part-Shinigami, part-Vizard, part-who-the-hell-even-cares-anymore, even though some of them are pretty rare.

Harry Potter: an orphan raised by his aunt and her family, who all treat him badly, finds out he’s a wizard and finds out his parents have left him a mountain of gold (literally). Everyone either admires him or feels jealous as he is famous for “defeating” a particularly powerful wizard as a baby, without any damages besides a scar. He’s also part of a prophecy.

What about those self-inserts?

I guess we could still use the term as just a self-insert, but considering that most of the time we don’t know the writers, then we can only know their self-insertion if they tell us.

It also doesn’t justify its negative connotation. Writers are people, I presume, which means they have flaws. So why is a character based on oneself bad? Provided the writers are realistic and self-aware, those should be some of the most realistic characters. Now, I know there’s a trap in here, which is the tendency of favoring ourselves and make us just a bit (or a lot) more special than we actually are, but 1) this doesn’t necessarily happen to every self-insert; 2) that can happen whenever writers begin to favor a character for whatever reason, even if it wasn’t a self-insert, leading it to become more and more special or less flawed.

They’re the personification of perfection.

OK, except perfection seems to be kind of subjective, since what I like isn’t the same as everyone else’s. I mean I may like active characters and some may like passive characters. You may think perfection is pizza without pineapple, while I say “you are objectively wrong”.

Jokes asides, being different human beings, usually we end up writing “perfect” characters with our definition of it, which may not correspond to someone else’s.

For example, Bella Swan is called “Mary Sue” a lot for being perfect, but she’s deeply flawed. She’s co-dependent and suicidal. Edward Cullen is the one “Gary Stu” that actually stuck, yet he’s manipulative and a stalker. Yet, there is truth to the claim they are perfect, not to me, but to Stephanie Meyers as they are both idealizations to her, regardless of our opinions of them.

I suppose a character can be drop dead gorgeous, have all sorts of skills and being loved by everyone, but, eventually, he/she will make something that many will consider to be wrong. If that doesn’t happen, then there’s probability not a good conflict, which reveals that, maybe, the problem is in the story itself, not necessarily in the character.

Speaking of subjectivity in flaws and virtues…

“So why did you used to call Orihime a Mary Sue?”

Well, because I thought her flaws were inconsequential with Bleach begging me to sympathize with her for awful reasons and smart characters being really stupid, meaning causing unnecessary plot-hole or plot-contrivance for her. The few most glaring examples I recall (and I’ve read/watched Bleach at least half a century ago, so it’s possible there are a few lapses in my memory) being:

Her almost kissing Ichigo while he was unconscious. That scene is framed as if I am supposed to sympathize with her, instead of what it actually is: creepy as hell and also falls under almost sexual assault in many countries.

Her having an obsession for Ichigo to the point of only thanking him for coming for her in her mind, even though Rukia, Chad, Uryu and Renji were also there to save her. This again is framed as I’m supposed to empathize with her, instead of thinking she’s being narrow-minded and has an unhealthy obsession with Ichigo.

About others acting stupid: Uryu takes her to where Ichigo and Ulquiorra are fighting even though where they were before, Ichigo was losing cause he was holding back to avoid hurting her. Yes, the other place was bigger, but their powers were huge and Uryu taking Orihime should have been a stupid idea (and he’s supposed to be smart).

Not to mention, of course, she resurrects Ichigo by crying and yelling his name which was also major bullshit.

And yes, it’s time to talk about the gender-thing and to admit to my own prejudices despite being a woman, because Orihime isn’t the only character I know who has her flaws not being acknowledged or being perceived as good. Many male characters have all of those yet, I still don’t call them “Gary Stu” or any other male equivalent.

Sun Wukong from RWBY has pretty much all the same problems as Orihime: he stalks Blake for months yet faces no actual consequences. And his actions were framed in the show as “needed”, even though they weren’t since the entire Menagerie arc could be written without him with only minor changes. Creepy actions being framed as right and sympathetic – check.

He also abandons his team several times, which, again, was inconsequential (even if he confesses to being an awful leader in V6) and no way in hell a combat school would interrupt classes for an entire year. He’s completely oblivious of the Faunus struggle, though he’s a Faunus and goes to school in one of the most racist territories. And Blake goes from super paranoid to so relaxed she doesn’t even believe him when he says he saw a WF member wearing a mask for no apparent reason. If I had to guess it’s because if she kept being super paranoid, it would stand to reason she would be the one noticing Ilia spying all by herself, rendering him almost useless and without interrupting her talk to Ghira, which would have made Sun completely pointless. At some point, Orihime became all about Ichigo, Sun was always all about Blake (until V6).

Like I said, I have criticized Sun for being badly written, unnecessary and the contrivances his presence demanded, but I have never ever called a “Gary Stu”. Looking back, I think it’s a combination of a few reason:

I know “Mary Sue” is a term too subjective to be used without an explanation afterwards;

We just don’t tend to hold the same standards for male characters;

Even when we use them for male characters, it almost never sticks.

And I know I’m not the only one doing this.

Once, I came across an article that accused several characters of being a “Mary Sue”, including Orihime, but because she’s too perfect (are you sure about that?) and Sailor Moon, yet claimed Goku wasn’t one.  It’s particularly funny, because Sailor Moon is written to be more flawed than Goku (even if I much higher tolerance for Dragon Ball and DBZ to Sailor Moon).

Goku is an absent father and husband, yet his family never really holds that against him. His wife may complain about it a few times during the anime, but there’s no real strife between them and Gohan never holds it against him either. He gives Cell a senzu bean so that he and Gohan can have a fair fight, even though the entire world is at stake. It still is mostly inconsequential, until Gohan’s arrogance gets in the way.

Meanwhile, Sailor Moon is stupid, coward and petty many times, and it’s clear the writers knew it because they acknowledge those flaws within the show. She is mocked because of them, and her lack of resilience even leads to the death of one of the Sailors in a season finale, if I remember correctly (admittedly, I watched it 5 centuries ago, so I might be wrong). Yes, I know they come back from the death.

This is not an argument that Goku should be called a “Mary Sue/Gary Stu”, rather that the term is heavily gendered. It’s much more applied to female characters and even when used for a male one, it almost never sticks. Even in the example I gave, Edward Cullen, which was successfully labeled as “Gary Stu”, still feels like it was gendered-motivated. Not because of his own, obviously, but for the target audience’s: the majority girls and women. So there we notice another double-standard: the sex of the target audience also affects the claims to “Sueness”.

Ultimately, I have to agree with Dan, with the term “Mary Sue” being too subjective to actually have any validity and is deeply rooted in sexism. Explaining why a character doesn’t work for us  and why we think they’re badly written is far more productive. Let’s keep in mind, we aren’t supposed to like every character writers make, even the ones who are meant to be likable and relatable.

Note: Yes, I watched Overly Sarcastic Productions’ video on the subject. While I like Red’s take, I’d say almost no character in original fiction fits the mold. That in itself wouldn’t be the problem, but the fact that it will remain extremely subjective, I still find the term to be counter-productive, heavily gendered and it needs to die.

1 – https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue

2 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue

Okay I filled out that character thingy I reblogged

It’s a little unreasonable for everyone in a Middle Ages-esque fantasy to be perfectly literate, and writing with quills was considered legitimate labor! How well can your oc read and/or write? How detailed is their quest log/journal, if they keep one at all? Imogen took to reading quite readily. She can read high level material and is well read. Her vocabulary is decent. Her journal is fairly detailed, though mostly just emotions shes feeling.  Kalo has dyslexia, so reading can be tricky for him. He would rather read novels than textbooks, but it takes him a while to get through a book. He doesn't keep a journal at all. He just reads his sister's. How educated is your oc? Did their parents teach them, did they have a tutor or were they apprenticed to a master, or did they attend a university? What university? What are they educated in? How long did their education take? (Learned skills like blacksmithing count here too!) Imogen had tutors, and when she was old enough, she attended the Arcane University to study Conjuration and Mysticism. She will never consider herself good enough to stop learning. Even with the war going on, Imogen makes it a point to visit the Mages Guild to keep up with her studies. She also studies history and linguistics.  Kalo had tutors, but the war interrupted his studies. Behind his father's back, he took up swordplay, and he continues to practice. He is over confident in his skills, though he picks up how to fight rather naturally.  Does your oc have any kind of crafting skills that either aren’t in-game or don’t have as much importance in-game as they would in real life? (For example, can your oc sew or weave, etc? Are they skilled in any kind of art? Can they make jewelry or work glass? Are they musicians? etc) Imogen can sew, but not very well. Enough to patch holes. She learned to sing when she was younger, but she's too shy to ever do it in public.  Kalo is really good at making makeshift tools. Give him some sticks and some string and he's good.  What pantheon does your oc worship? If they worship the Cyrodiilic/Imperial pantheon, does that include Talos? If they secretly worship Talos, how do they justify hiding it?  How religious is your oc? Do they come into conflict with others over their beliefs? If their patron deity told them to do something extremely undesirable or against their moral compass, would they do it? Most iterations of Imogen worship the Daedra, but this one is fairly dedicated to Akatosh and Mara. She, however, questions her beliefs often and feels conflicted. Her mother was the head of a cult that worshipped Sanguine. It makes her wonder if Daedra are bad. would be tempted by Hermaeus Mora. But she holds to her moral compass. Kalo is agnostic. Mostly doesn't care about gods or things like that. Never really paid attention to it. But shows interest in some of the Daedra, much to his sister's dismay.   Does your oc have a family of origin? How many members of their FoO are still living? Do they have a good relationship? How much contact does your oc have with their FoO? How in-the-loop is your oc’s FoO about your oc’s being Dragonborn/HoK/Nerevarine? Well, Immy and Kalo are siblings. Their father is still alive but they are not sure where in the world he is because of the war. Haven't seen him since they fled to Glenumbra. Imogen never felt like she met her father's expectations. While he has a hard time showing it, though, her father does care for her. He tends to be colder towards Kalo, as he isn't convinced the boy is his.  Kalo tried to hide the fact he was the Vestige to Imogen. He didn't want her to know that he was soulless because she would have blamed herself. He's bad at keeping secrets though. What social class was your oc born into? Did they change classes at all? How?How politically active is your oc? Are they obviously influential, or is their influence more subtle? Mildly high. Niece and nephew of the Count of Leyawiin. Imogen tries to be politically active, but her emotions run too high. Kalo thinks politics are a waste of time. Especially now with the war. Blames political agendas on it.  What unplayable faction would/did your oc join, if any? Why? I'm still mad I can't be loyal to the empire... How trustworthy is your oc? Would they ever change opposing factions? Both are trustworthy. If they promise something, they mean it. Imogen is fiercely loyal to the empire, though meeting those outside of Cyrodiil makes her question it. She is learning that the empire might not be as good as she believes. Kalo is loyal to individual people. He allies himself with those he considers good.  What is your oc’s main source of income, if they have one besides plundering tombs and adventuring? If they’re mercenaries, are they part of a company? Does your oc own their own business, and if so, what is it?Is your oc good with finances? Bartering? How long can they keep the money they make? As the two take refuge in Glenumbra, they have no connections and no money. Imogen takes up odd jobs as a maid, scribe, bar wench, whatever to get by. Kalo takes odd jobs for people in town, which is how he gets roped into becoming the Vestige in the first place.   Does your oc have any particular rivalry or mutual dislike with any NPC?How well-liked is your oc? What is their reputation, if they’re well-known? Are they simply liked/disliked, or are they respected but feared, or personally liked but not taken seriously, etc? Do major factions consider your oc an important player? Imogen, surprisingly, has reservations on most of the NPCs you deal with in ESO lol. She doesn't trust anyone with the war going on. This makes her come off as cold, which probably makes her hard to get along with. She forms a small bond with King Emeric for helping out alongside Kalo (and for being the one to kill Septima oops). She sort of treats him as a father figure.  Kalo is definitely personally liked but not taken seriously by most people. He's young and reckless. But damn if he isn't loyal. I'd say the Covenant likes him for helping out.   Does your oc have a horse/other mount? A pet? How did they get this animal? If they were given the animal, do they have the money to maintain it? How careful/careless are they with their animal? What do they do with their pets while adventuring, especially on dangerous quests? Imogen has a shadow horse she conjures up. His name is Auferte. She has a stone that she uses to summon him.  Kalo doesn't have any pets but he would love a dog. Or a cat. Or anything really. Imogen won't let him. She doesn't trust him.  Does your oc take their time as they travel, or are they purposeful? How do they survive in the wilds, especially if they aren’t hunter-types? How dependent is your oc on civilized society? Imogen is purposeful; she feels like she's on a timer. Kalo takes his time unless he is on a mission. Imogen relies on her magic to protect her, and she doesn't do well outdoors. Gets tired easily. Kalo seems to be an endless bout of energy.  What does your oc like to eat? How much food do they eat? Can your oc cook, and can they do it well? Kalo eats like Goku from DBZ. Like dear god. Loves potatoes, meat, and bread mostly. Imogen eats like a bird, sort of picks at her food. Enjoys sweeter things like fruits...and actual sweets. Kalo can roast things over a fire. Imogen can't cook. It was not a skill she was taught, though now she's forced to learn to provide for herself and Kalo. She's okay at it, but she gets nervous while she cooks. Makes a mess. If your oc is a vampire, do they go outside in the daytime? Does the daylight affect or hurt them in any way different from in-game? If they interact with society, how do they justify looking half-dead and hating sunlight? How good is your oc at blending in? Do they even like dealing with society?If your oc is a werebeast, how much control do they have over their transformations? Have they ever lost control? What happened? If not, why do they have such strong control? Does Hircine ever call on them, and do they answer? NA What does your oc wear in the city/settlements? In the house? When travelling, but not adventuring or expecting combat? Do they vary their clothes depending on what hold/city they’re in? If they don’t, why not (e.g., if your oc wears the same outfit to tend their garden or lounge around the house as they did to meet Ulfric or Elisif, why?) Does your oc have a good or bad sense of fashion? How many clothes does your oc have?How picky is your oc about their gear? Do they have different equipment for different adventures, or is it the same suit of armor for everything (not counting upgrades like from steel to ebony)? How does your oc acquire their clothes, and from where/whom? While Imogen works in Glenumbra, she tends to dress the part. But once she joins in on the adventure she wears more Cyrodiilic clothing. Typically a tunic and tights. The sandals man. No matter what, she wears the sapphire circlet her mother gave her before passing away. She panics if she can't find it. She sold any other jewelry she had with her after they fled Cyrodiil. Occasionally, Imogen will wear Imperial armor. But that is rare.  Kalo dresses to match the domain. Not so much because he wants to but because he tends to destroy whatever he is wearing. As far as armor goes, he travels light. Prefers leathers to protect him.  Can your oc swim, and how well? Have they ever swam in the ocean, or only lakes/rivers? Remember, it’s much harder to swim in the ocean than in a lake! If your oc is an Argonian, do they take special advantage of it somehow (e.g., do they go diving for fun/for profit, do they instinctively hide in the water, etc)? If your oc is a Khajiit who can swim, how do they get their fur dry? Imogen has always felt a connection to water. She loves to swim in lakes and rivers. Kalo, surprisingly, is afraid of water (though he denies it). Poor dude can't swim. How easy/difficult is it to rob your oc? Pickpocket? Bribe? If your oc is part of one of the more morally questionable or outright evil factions, how do they justify it to themselves? Do they still consider themselves as morally good? How well known is their affiliation to these groups? Do they have separate personas (e.g. Dragonborn to some people, Listener to others)? Do their family/friends know? If they have separate personas, how do they keep their less than righteous activities secret? Imma be honest I'm tired and cant think for this one lol How helpful is your oc, and why? Are they helpful or kind even during difficult situations? Are they pragmatic, or do they have a hero syndrome? Kalo has hero syndrome. Imogen, while she considers herself a good person, has trouble agreeing to help others. Again, she is too cautious. Thinks people have ulterior motives. Will help those she cares about in a heartbeat

Why i don’t like Star vs Season 4 so far:

To get this s**t out of the way, yes i am a Starco shipper. My reasonings have NOTHING to do with shipper stuff though.

Now that that’s out of the way let me just commence with a f***in huge a** rant.

TLDR first because rant, explanation and reasonings will be under readmore.

So Tl:dr.: Marco is pretty much Marco from Season 1. And while i really love that his relationship with Star is back to Season 1 lightheartedness, i really REALLY hate that his character also seems to slowly but surely regress.

Now to the rant part

 Now i want to uphold my right to change my mind because english is my secondary language, hungarian being my mother language and to top that off  where i saw the episode the audio is the most crappy at  the most crucial parts, and i MAY have misunderstood or worse missed dialog between characters.

However from what i precieved so far from this- what...  6 episodes, is that Marco is regressing to the neurotic comic relief character, that in serious moments is the voice of reason, or you know Star’s angel figure of the shoulder demon-angel picture.

 Marco in Season 1 was Star’s voice of reason, for him being from Earth he knew more, but i also credit it to Marco being a HUMAN. 

Human meaning: You know, that creature that is the apex predator of a whole f***in planet SIMPLY because of their superior intellect.

While Star is from a society based on magic that’s FULL of senseless shenanigans, you expect her to be instinctual, feral, random, which she WAS.

Marco is from a society based on science. Everything has a reason, every problem has a correct way to approach it. Intellect, sophisticated, calculated, predictable, which he WAS.

The great thing about their partnership is that they gave a little bit of their society to each other, those bits that each respectively yearned for or atleast needed.

Star gained understanding, Marco gained something unexplainable by science, something new in his life, DIVERSITY from the norm.

Understandably, season 1 had them and them only in focus, in which case someone has to carry the story on their back(and that must be Star, she is the title figure after all) and someone has to carry the comic relief buisness(Marco and his neurotic illstarredness[yes that was a pun]).

More shortly: The stress and de-stress factors that’s mandatory for a show like Star vs.

It’s BRILLIANT for a starter Season, but you know there is something with characters that i like to call the “Snapping point”.

I use that phrase in the context of character vs episode or character vs tv show(or whatever else medium your character appears in, this appears in mangas a whole lot too)

To explain what a Snapping point is i must first introduce you to the Snapping characters. And then the different style of snapping point/snapping characters, but let’s come up with examples first.

(Interestingly enough in most shows/comics/mangas/whatever my favourite characters end up being snapping characters)

Examples.:

Beast Boy - Teen Titans 2003

Katara - Avatar the last airbender

Raphael - TMNT2012

Chopper - One Piece

Charmander - OG Pokemon series

Lucy - Fairy Tail

Now, the snapping characters most usually are from the main cast but they are not THE main characters of their show. They are important, but mostly to fill a role.

Let’s take the first two of the list as examples. Coincidentally they are two different type of snapping characters, so explaining each mirroring the other will help me explain it even in more debth.

Katara as a main character has a set characteristic, in which way the show itself interacts with her. 

Katara is a mothering figure and the show treats her as such, so much so that in one episode it’s even a conflict starter. Her motherly behavior is a very important, very magnified point in her character. However there is one episode in the whole series where she as a character goes againts this point and you as a viewer almost forget that she is the group’s mother-figure.

No, it’s not the blood bending episode, and also not the episode where she teaches the old man that women can be just as good students as men.

Both of those episode show us her strenght, and she gets angry yes, but you don’t forget her motherly characteristic because for the majority of those episodes she still acts like our dear, established mom character. An angry mom.

The episode where she snaps her role, where you might even say she is OOC(when she is indeed NOT ooc, it’s just we get a glance at how she looks like when one of her core traits is pushed WAY out of her mind) is the episode where she and Zuko go and find her mother’s murderer.

Ask yourself: when was Katara the scariest? Bloodbending is scary, but you still see her being true to herself and mourn her innocence, you see her cry, you don’t forget what she is like, you more like pity her, mourn with her.

But don’t tell me that when you first saw her STOP THE RAIN AROUND HER you didn’t s**t your pants, because you did. It was completely in character but you didn’t expect her to do so, because you were thinking of Katara as the kind character it’s just that she’s mad. Yes she was mad, but you still expected her to be toned down, quiet and loving and kind like she usually is. She SNAPS the expectation, the norm episodes usually put her in and pushes further because the show(from her perspective: life) just pushed her over that specific “border”.

Now Beast Boy is in a completely different position as a character, and has a different “border” that he was pushed over, but still he is a snapping character.

He had serious moments in previous seasons and episodes, but we can all agree that he is the comic relief of the bunch. Your usual underdog, gets pushed around, loser, weak (eventhough he got GODLIKE POWERS  FFS)

It even gets noted by Raven and Cyborg and sometimes even Robin that he seems to lose a lot of times. In the episode “Every dog has his day” his core personality is what causing the conflict even.

You expected him in the Terra themed episodes to behave the way he did eventhough he was far from being a comic relief in those episodes. He didn’t really break out of his role. He is still the one that gets beaten up, still the one making mistakes (although Terra made bigger ones so the real focus is on those) NONE of the Terra episodes is his snapping point.

My favourite episode of the whole show is The Beast Within, is where he reaches it.

The show puts BB in the loser position it usually does, but it is as if he gets self concious, he just SNAPS and breaks the “same old” frame, and for a whole episode he behaves OOC, which- again -isn’t OOC at all, it’s just what he looks like when he finally has enough.

Usually, Beast Boy doesn’t do too much in fights, the heavy lifting is done by Starfire and Cyborg, the style is Robin, the magic is Raven, Beast Boy is mostly a hole-filler. If none of the 4 can handle something, you can bet your behind that it will be BB who takes over(i’m looking at you Season 5)

The episode starts the same way, BB gets his butt kicked, but then he just... he just snaps. There really isn’t much of a catalyst, Adonis trashtalks and that’s it..., he isn’t the first to trashtalk and certainly not the last. The point is that Beast Boy DESTROYS Adonis in the start of the episode and even at the end, and beats up his own teammates meanwhile too, for good measure. I remember seeing this on TV the first time and i WAS scared of BB. I always knew he had monsterish powers but i not only got shocked because he breaked out of the norm, he VALIDATED my suspicion, that he is MUCH more than a joke. It’s almost like he deliberatelly lets the show kick him around because he just doesn’t care.

Now, both of these just happen to be aggressive show of the “Snapping point” but there are milder examples.

Like Lucy’s Snapping point (Fairy Tail) is when she saves Loki the Lion celestial spirit.

The Snapping point is not a show of power, but a break from their magnified characteristics to show that they are more. Most usually it’s shown with a powershow, that’s true, but Lucy for example up to that point was a damsel in distress stereotype with tweaks here and there. In saving Loki through stubborn spiritdoor opening she broke from that magnified characteristic of hers and showed that she is capable of much more.

Notably main characters don’t have snapping points, because as they are in the focus the majority of the show, they are shown in much more detail, much more smaller steps just how much they are capable of.

Aang shows the Avatar state in the very first episode.(The avatar state being a quite literal break from his normal characteristics, since he is technically being possessed by his previous lives)

Robin almost never loses a battle, he constantly shows just how much he is capable of.

And Natsu.... let’s not even go there. It’s like bringing up Son Goku. He is almost always on screen, roaring and getting more and more powerful as he goes, JUST because he’s the main character. You know he will never lose there is no border for them to be pushed over.(And as such they are boring characters to me. Well atleast combat-wise, i like them both as characters it’s just they don’t have “THE” big moment, they are constantly in it. If you are constantly in it, it’s like you’re never there.)

But back to Marco.

All throughout Season 1 and 2 and majority of Season 3 he was fine.

The things happening to him may not have been easy to watch as a fan, but they had valid reasons for happening. He had very small snapping points which i was happy for, but then it’s as if they were forgotten by Season 4.

You see the point of this whole “Snapping” buisness is demonstration, for the viewer to keep in mind.

After The Southern Raiders, the viewer never forgot how much controll Katara had, and what brute strenght. So in the fight againts Azula you were completely prepared for pure badassness. You KNEW s**ts about to go down when you saw Katara’s eyes drawn similarly as when she was about to make a pintcushion out of the dude who’s name i mysteriously just forgot... a few minutes ago i knew it... i’m getting sidetracked.

After The Beast Within you knew that Beast Boy knows exactly how to use his powers effectively, it’s more like you were aware now that he is constantly holding back. So when you saw him beat demon after demon up in the Season 4 finale, even his own evil self, EVEN STARFIRE’S EVIL SELF, you knew that he always had it in him, he’s just the pure character he is.

After you saw Lucy go to such lenght as to almost deplete her own magic to save Loki(which back then meant death but Mashima mysteriously forgot about that just like how i forgot that dude’s name that Katara scarred for life) you were not surprised that she all alone freed her WHOLE GD GUILD from that demon prison that absorbed living beings into it’s walls. (Including Natsu who we all know is OP AF) You knew she totally would no spare herself all her effort.

But Marco? Firstly, in the Season opening episodes, he had the role of comic relief again, which in itself wouldn’t be a problem IF RIVER WASN’T THERE FOR THAT VERY SAME ROLE ALREADY.

Secondly, he had MINOR snapping points which were forgotten already by crew and by fans... His dimension-adventures could have been such a massive snapping point but it ISN’T. He didn’t change AT ALL. He doesn’t have anything to show for it AT ALL. (Justanawesomedragoncicle) And that’s why i still stand by my fellow Starco shippers saying it’s not pedophilic because he quite literally has nothing to show for that 30+ years now. NOTHING.NADA.WE LEARNED NOTHING MORE OF HIM. HE IS SO VERY MUCH THE SAME, which is why we all say that this dimension-adventure stuff was for nothing but s**ts and giggles. Marco wouldn’t be any less if these episodes wouldn’t exist. He’s certainly nothing more with them. In the Season 3 finale he did show off his skills but just like that they were forgotten. *Poof*

SO FAR the show treats Marco with amnesia.

Everyone else is treated properly. I couldn’t be more proud of Tom from the last episode, really. Star-... *sigh* she seems to have taken a step back too but with all the bs going on around her and her family i can’t blame her. There is such a thing as “too much” storylines on one shoulder, which is so fken clear she can’t handle all at once, so i don’t really mind her not addressing the kiss nor her feelings.

But come OOONN, MARCO! My boy... shooting the same joke twice, pushing them even...

FFS you are a HUMAN from EARTH!! That Earth full of apex megaminds, and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see if the swimming trunks are too big or too small! And ffs if it stops circulation, use your common sense boi- TAKE IT OFF.

And i get that it was a joke, but that one joke was pushed ALL THROUGHOUT THE EPISODE. It was not funny...it was cringeworthy.

Rn i feel he is nothing more but a joke.  If he didn’t appear in most of those episodes it wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Yes there were times where he WAS the voice of common sense, but it was outweighted with sheer stupidity which was not funny nor de-stressing. 

The jokes with him were taking me out of the story, not allevitating Star’s serious buisness.

what are your thoughts on the most recent chapter of the manga?

Meh?

I’ll be honest, it was probably the best chapter of the tournament so far if only for the fact that it wasn’t ridiculously rushed to the point of spoiling every major development like all the others and the action was pretty decent. Last few chapters Toyo felt like he was getting a little sloppy with some of his art, but this one looked a bit better.

Seriously, the fact that only two minor characters who were already fodder got eliminated this chapter and that the story actually seemed to be taking it’s time setting up Kale’s power up almost gave me whiplash compared to the last chapter shoving in as many big eliminations as it could for the sake of rushing through stuff.

Again, fight was pretty good. Part of me feels a little miffed that so far Caulifla’s mostly been a punching bag for other characters, between Cabba easily slapping her around when he went super Saiyan in her introduction chapter and her getting wailed on by Golden Frieza here. By this point in the anime she’d eliminated a few people by herself already. But hey, at least she put up a good fight and actually seems competent here, so that helps. It’s more dignity than the Kamikaze Fireballs, 18 and every other woman in this manga has been afforded so far.

I’m a little unsure how to feel about Kale, honestly. I know a lot of people will probably prefer how her hulking out here was portrayed compared to the anime, because it was handled awkwardly there, but really I don’t know if this portrayal of Kale is actually an improvement yet.

The problem in the anime was that Kale didn’t have a backstory or anything much to explain why she was so painfully shy, depressed and emotionally… unbalanced, shall we say. 

The intent with her having an episode when she thought she was worthless and Caulifla would abandon her in favour of seeking training from Goku wasn’t a bad idea, but we only had minimal set up for Kale’s character and while there were some cute moments between them, I don’t think we the audience were given enough time or reason beforehand to get invested in the character and her relationship to Caulifla, so her breakdown came off as more of a narmy overreaction to a lot of people more than anything.

I understood the intent. Kale’s clearly a depressed young woman with severe self esteem issues and some self-loathing. Caulifla seems to be her entire support system, being the person who mentors, looks out for and encourages her, when Kale isn’t shown to have anyone else close to her. 

With this information in mind, it’s kind of understandable why she would overreact the way she did… she thinks she’s inadequate and a burden in a situation like the ToP, and given her clear mental issues it’s understandable that when she sees Caulifla ignoring her and having fun with Goku, she would get paranoid and assume the worst.

Kale’s momentary breakdown in the anime is actually fairly realistic and kind of terrifyingly depressing when you really examine and think about it… but again, we barely had time to know Kale or get invested in her, and we have no catalyst for why she’s like this and barely enough time to establish why Caulifla’s so important to her, that the whole thing just feels rushed and a bit laughable by the time she goes full Broly in episode 100.

If they had just had an extra episode before the tournament giving Kale a backstory and giving us more insight into her character, why she turned out the way she is, and fleshing out her and Caulifla’s relationship a bit more beforehand, we’d have had a much stronger character arc for Kale if everything else remained the same, because everything else done with Kale’s character in the anime was mostly fine the way it was.

In the manga so far… I’m not quite sure what Toyotaro is going for. A lot of her self-esteem issues have been downplayed and her meekness is barely there. Rather, she’s honestly just really strong and capable even in her base form, though she hides that fact because she doesn’t want to ever show up Caulifla given that she respects Caulifla for taking her and everyone else in Caulifla’s village in.

She might come off as less whiny to some people who found her meekness annoying in the anime, being more brooding than anything, but personally she just feels like she has less personality as a result to me.

I don’t quite like how her and Caulifla’s relationship is being written either. In the anime Caulifla was very supportive of Kale and clearly cared about her a lot… in her manga appearances so far, she feels borderline indifferent to her and seems to doubt her more than anything. It feels like there’s less of a bond between the two and Kale’s attachment to Caulifla is more of an obligation and sense of duty than anything, which is a shame because all things considered I liked how their relationship was handled in the anime and think it was a lot more interesting, despite my earlier issues I brought up.

I guess for what Toyotaro was going for, Kale going berserk here is handled well. It’s set up perfectly fine with a sense of rising tension as Caulifla’s fight with Frieza escalates before he goes gold and starts thrashing her and Cabba, and Kale going super Saiyan and beating him up for all that does feel cathartic, especially when I remember how many salty fanboys were calling for Frieza to torture her and Caulifla back when their episodes of the anime were airing.

It’s built up pretty well and I guess a bit less narmy than in the anime… but so far, I don’t really feel like there’s a lot to this version of Kale compared to what the anime was going for with her character. I don’t know, later chapters could develop her further and do a pretty good job developing her character, but I’m still convinced that her character development and the Kefla conflict were probably Toei ideas and there’s still a good chance Toyotaro’s just going to eliminate her following her rampage in her berserk form, reducing her to nothing but a Broly reference.

Which would stink because it would be a massive waste of potential, but who knows, maybe Toyotaro actually will take his time and actually flesh her out better than the anime… but from what I’m seeing, I’m not confident about the results so far, personally. She just feels blander, if anything.

I guess I could also complain about how Frieza honestly feels a lot less threatening and dignified now after that beating, even if I did kind of enjoy it. True, he got beaten up by Toppo in even more brutal fashion in the anime, but that was during the last leg of the tournament after he’d spent most of the tournament being seemingly on top of things and an intimidating presence. Seeing the beat down he got here less than halfway into the tournament supposedly and that his golden form apparently isn’t even on par with Goku at blue anymore, unlike in the anime, it kind of diminishes Frieza as a potential threat to me.

I guess other than that I don’t have any big complaints. I could nitpick stuff, like how Dercori didn’t get to show off any of her cool magic powers she had in the anime before being tossed out, but that’s a minor detail and it’s not really important.

Honestly as a set up chapter, it was alright. Wouldn’t call it anything great, but I think it mostly did it’s job alright despite some concerns and it was fun to read, but I think the next chapter or several involving Kale will be more telling of how her involvement in this version is going to be executed.