The Continental Kickboard

This show started off super strong imo, but at the climax of the 2nd ep I already started to feel the cracks in the foundation.

And now, unfortunately, ep 3 continues this trend of leaving me feeling "huh? eh?" with... well basically the entire 2nd half of it.

The scene where D fights Tokita in the storage room felt a bit claustrophobic, makes sense, it's in an enclosed space. But as soon as he gets to the roof and fights Red there... nothing changes. Nearly the entire fight is done with the same sort of closeups, making it feel like this was a cropped upload to insta or tiktok, or one of those old anime rips on yt where they avoid copyright by fucking up the footage as much as possible. It made the fight not only incredibly hard to follow but it killed the action and tension, there was no room to breathe visually.

Speaking of no room to breathe... in the latter half of the ep it really felt like they started to run out of time. I think my brother worded it very well, they were having what he called a "yapfest". They never. stopped. talking.

This is a problem that's been plaguing another show airing this season as well; Shuumatsu Train. It was especially bad in episode 1 but it's been getting better with each one but man do they rarely have pauses between the dialogue it's incredibly exhausting to listen to just like how this sentence deprived of it's commas and periods must be to read. ^ That's genuinely what the dialogue is like, and I wish I was exaggerating.

So yeah, final showdown with all the rangers on the roof was a claustrophobic fight followed by a yapfest, which bummed me out extremely. The art itself was still quality stuff, but it seems like they're allergic to using any shot type besides "close up" and "extreme close up". The first episode seemed really compelling, but I might've been paying too much attention to that instead of the cinematography and the pacing. This show really has some hiccups in that department.

I hope the next episode is better. I feel like they're either rushing through this because they want to spend more time on other scenes, or because they want to end the season on a certain part. Whatever it is, it's a damn shame.

Hi! I wanna preface this by saying this isn’t a request for a liveblog, but just a recommendation for some light reading. There’s a comedy-action series currently running called Mashle: Magic and Muscles. It’s basically just taking the piss out of Harry Potter (mocking the house system, blatantly unfair classes, and just general story structure) in a sort of ‘One Punch Man’ way. It’s a lot of fun and doesn’t take long to get through at all.

I may check that out some time, but from my point of view, taking the piss out of Harry Potter is like shooting fish in a barrel. I shot the hell out of that barrel years ago, and I'm not sure there's much more appeal to be had in seeing it done again. Mashle is probably really good, but I'd probably have enjoyed it more in 2010 than in 2021.

Part of what sucked the wind out of my sails was when JKR went full-transphobe a few years ago, and it started to realize that all the pathetic asshole characters she wrote were a reflection of her own character. Snape was ultimately on the good guys' side, but he still betrayed Lupin just to be a colossal dick. Umbridge was more concerned about sorting her doilies and imposing order on others than in any sort of compassion or moral ideology. Gilderoy Lockhart was a narcissist social climber, desperate to hijack any conversation and make it about himself.

Fans want to compare JKR to Hermione, mostly for lack of any prominent female characters, but Hermione's no saint either. She spent all of Book 3 using time travel to take all of her classes, but she still talked shit about Trelawny for daring to suggest that a person could magically see into the future. Never mind that Trelawny had actually done it before, and got tenure teaching it as a recognized subject. I'm not saying Trelawny was good at her job, but you've got some girl saying "Um, actually, I think I know a little bit more about your life experiences than you do, so I'm going to do everything in my power to discredit you."

Sound familiar?

I'm sorry for going off on a tangent here. You're just recommending some manga to me, and I appreciate it, but I've had this on my mind for a while. Here's the thing I can't get out of my head: Nick Gage robbed a bank.

Let me explain. Nick Gage is a professional wrestler, specializing in "deathmatch" wrestling, where weapons are legal. One time he was pronounced legally dead during a match, because there was broken glass everywhere and he got hurt and I'm not sure I know or want to know the full story. But he got better and he's still alive today. Somewhere in between, he had some hard times and ended up robbing a bank and going to prison for five years.

But Gage is a folk hero, and I admire the man, in part because he appreciates his fans for supporting him. All of his fans, including the LBGTQ+ ones. On July 7, 2020, he cut this awesome promo declaring that trans rights are human rights. He's not sitting on a golden throne, spewing a bunch of bullshit pseudo-biology to millions of followers. He's just speaking from the heart. I think this was one of those deals where you pay someone to do a video greeting, but he went on to add that he would have said this for free, because he believes it. Here's another video where he explains why this is so important to him.

Rowling, and a lot of her characters, they always seem to "punch down", taking shots at people in worse circumstances than themselves. Nick Gage doesn't do that, probably because he's been about as down as it gets, and he knows what that's like. He knows other people have it tough and he has enough empathy to respect what other people are going through. I heard JKR was an unemployed single mother once, but it's hard to tell if she remembers any of that.

This is why I get a little nervous when I hear people talk about things being "wholesome" or "family friendly" or whatever. Because what they usually mean is that they want things to be sanitized, uncomplicated and unchallenging. I never liked the way people put Harry Potter on a pedestal of literature, perfect for young children and college classrooms alike. It carries this broad appeal, and I fear that's because it doesn't really have anything to say, no bold demand that would upset anyone. I mean, there's an implied message about the evils of classism, but Rowling doesn't seem to believe it if she's willing to turn against some of her most vulnerable fans for TERF clout.

Then they made some Harry Potter video game for PS5 or whatever, and all these fans are like "Gosh, I'd like to stop giving this hateful woman more money, but I'm afraid I simply cannot help but answer the call to Diagon Alley once more." It's gutless. You've got generations of people reading these books and the books aren't even that good, and nobody learns anything from them except how to spend more money on this shit. Nick Gage wrestles in broken glass for a living and he gets it, so why can't anyone else?

I'm sorry, I sort of hulked out there for a bit. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Mashle is probably a lot of fun, but it probably doesn't operate on this level, where all the characters are jerks and society is worse off for their introduction into Western Canon. But I might still check it out sometime.

Plans After The Promised Neverland

Alright, now that I’m caught up on TPN, I have a some other series I’m interested in checking out. So recently on a Discord server I reacted to the first chapters of five new series that started in Weekly Shonen Jump recently, this was my opinion on them after their first chapters:

So, as you can probably tell, the two series I have the most interest in would be Zipman!! and Guardian of the Witch, so I plan to liveblog those two, thought it’d be interesting to go through some relatively new series. As for the other three, I might go back to them depending on what I hear about their future (so far I’ve been hearing good things about Mashle and Undead Unluck after their first chapters, so that’s exciting). Once I do start Zipman!! or Guardian of the Witch, I’ll screencap images of my reactions of the first chapters from Discord and post them in the same liveblog format I’ve done here, might even be fun to add some additional comments if I feel like it.

Now, those two are pretty short as of right now (Zipman!! has ten chapters now and Guardian’s only just released its third), so I don’t mind hearing some suggestions for liveblogs, though I will say I’ll probably just stick to manga series for now, not sure if I could handle a TV series or VN. So, send me an ask, or reply to this post with a series suggestion if you feel like it, I will just say right now I’m caught up on One Piece, My Hero Academia, Detective Conan, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Berserk, Hunter X Hunter, Vinland Saga and Dr. Stone among others that I can’t think off the top of my head. So, I won’t be liveblogging those if you suggest them. I’ll let you know if any other suggestions you put forth I’ve read either all of it or a decent amount. Anyway, thank you for reading, I’m going to look for a nice looking TPN avatar to use for this blog now that I can look up things without fear of spoilers.

Bonus:

An intro so wild even Finn forgot there is nothing but weirdoes in this manga

Reading chapter 66 all

Mashle: Magic and Muscles chapter 62 reaction and spoilers

So, people from Innocent Zero appear including the one called Father. Father says, “I looked for you, Mash Burnedead. You are so beautiful. I didn’t think I’d find you alive. The despair I feel when I thought I lost you, my dear, sweet son.” Father then goes on to say, “Once I've absorbed you, I'll be complete,” and after Professor Wahlberg confronts her, Innocent Zero goes on to say, “I wish only to become the perfect human – undying, forever beautiful, powerful – that’s all I want.” She then goes on to say “My family exists for my sake. Mash Burnedead is no different. He exists for me. He’s mine, so I’m taking him home.”

So it’s possible that Father is literally Mash’s biodad since we know the dad who raised him found him abandoned. Mash’s dad assumes it’s because Mash has no magic, but given this information from Father, maybe Mash was abandoned to save him from becoming part of Father.

We also know that those who cannot use magic are expelled, which could mean they’re killed or perhaps taken to somewhere outside of the magic realm. Perhaps Father consumes these types of people. Maybe he’s centuries old.

Wahlberg summons Uranus and Father summons Chronos, so it should be interesting to see what other deities and/or celestial bodies become summoning spells for various characters as we go forward.

Mashle: Magic and Muscles chapter 2 reaction and spoilers

Still don’t know how I feel about this manga. I think part of is, like with Samurai 8, we’re starting out with a kind of strangely stale feeling, and so Mashle is going to have to set itself apart from all the elements it’s drawing from or I’m going to get bored like I did with Samurai 8.

lol he made the moving text on the page stop moving by asking not so nicely. I like that he’s at least working with what he’s got unlike other similar stories in which the hero comes across some strange new power at a convenient moment

lol Mashle just powers his way through the walls of the maze. I’m pretty sure that’s cheating, but the headmaster Dumbledore looking guy seems into it, so Mashle will probably pass.

Mashle: Magic and Muscles chapter 1 reaction and spoilers

I wasn’t sure what to expect given the description, but I’m glad it’s got a decent vibe so far. Given that its premise sounds like magicless Saitama stuck in Black Clover, it’ll be interesting to see what it does to make itself stand out if possible.

State sponsored eugenics would indeed put a twist on what we’ve been seeing.

I can’t tell if it’s just Mash is that strong or it’s one of those a spell’s strength lies in belief and since Mash grew up without any magic around him, he doesn’t believe this spell should be anything but something he can just deflect. Which honestly might be why those that can’t use magic are cast out and/or killed, because they could just take over if the magic users aren’t careful.

So, Mash gets the offer to go to magic school and honestly? If he keeps getting to Saitama through life rather than get someone else’s power like Midoriya and Asta I think I’ll be more likely to stick with this manga than not. Also, while it is magic school maybe Mash will learn some compensation techniques and he’ll figure out how to remember if doors push or pull.

That said, I feel like this is like a school friend manga like Agravity Boys in which there isn’t really anything drawing me to the characters or situation, but I’m curious enough to keep going. So it’s possible even if Mash doesn’t get some weirdo power and just uses brawn to overcome magic, I might not stick around if it doesn’t hook me.

Mashle chapter 66 reaction and spoilers

I made a relevant meme

This arc is making me hope this manga lives long enough to see an anime because I really want to see this in color and motion

We’ve got confirmation that Mash’s dad is indeed Father’s child for the expressed purposes of harvesting and eating his heart to gain immortality. Which makes me want to know who risked their lives to save Mash when he was a baby even more so now.

Mash: So, I'm like the protein you need to build muscles? That's what I am? Huh. That’s heavy. What a bombshell. My whole life… Well…. [sets up a futon in the middle of the arena floor and tucks himself in] Time for a nap. (ilu Mash)

Mash: It doesn't matter whether my life has some deeper meaning or not. I’m still unstoppable. So gimme your best.

That’s a refreshing Jump protagonist outlook. Really excited to see where next week leads.