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madraleen · 5 months

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The Promised Neverland - Season 2 The “...Why Though?” commentary of a manga reader (*manga spoilers)

tldr: me, starting s2: this isn't as bad as i've heard! me, finishing s2: *screams in rage* *kicks a wall* *wails in the darkness*

-i know s2 has a really bad rep, so i'm here to be amused, not angry. we'll see how that goes

-mujika <3 sonju <3

-i hope that third empty spot with emma and ray in the op gets filled with norman when we find out he's alive

-i'm on ep two. it feels like we're on a speedrun, but nothing ~bad so far

-why are the cookies moldy...? did they leave out yugo...? i don't like that. i don't like that at all. yugo raised them and they raised him for so long.

-my god this place feels so empty without yugo. but for an anime-only, i guess it's fine

-excuse me, what about the seven walls? :)

-why did you not let them have the shelter's clothes...? what about their individuality?

-i'm sorry, you had time for an entire new sequence of slimees, but not other important things...?

-excuse me, why are we not going to goldy pond? :)

-wow, the raid holds so little weight, both struggle-wise and emotionally

-THIS RAID DOESN'T MAKE SENSE! they found this place but didn't scout it?! they didn't know about the extra exit?! KIDS BEAT THEM WITH A MUG AND A PUSH?!

-excuse me why is this demon promising isabella freedom, where is peter ratri? :)

-the goldy pond people disrespect

-i'm on ep 5 and so far i don't think the anime is bad anime-wise. rushed yes, not looking at things too closely yes, but bad? no. adaptation-wise it's terrible, but if you haven't read the manga, will you think "wtf?" i don't think so. it's just that anime-onlys are truly, truly missing out

-a demon went near them in the temple and they didn't flee? AND THEY DIDN'T FLEE?! on what, good faith?!

-all of the children being near/in demon town is fundamentally the opposite of the manga logic

-lol the exposition via prayer. okay.

-NORMAN'S PLACE IN THE OP, I CALLED IT!

-the emma-norman-ray reunion doesn't pack the punch that it does in the manga. emma and ray and us haven't gone through all of those things that led them to norman, that made you feel the time passing and the struggle and norman's absence.

-it's an understated reunion isn't it

-i see the lambda group escaped the erasure rampage

-i never thought i'd say this, but damn i miss minerva!norman. the sus. the uncertainty. the coldness. the facade. the "what now." the vibe that made him distinctly separate from ray and emma.

-low-key hate the "now that norman is here, we can move forward again" vibe. norman made the escape plan; then things moved to a standstill; now he's back and things can happen again. as though the others are just going through the motions.

-there's no emotional weight, they just say their lines and we move on, no time to breathe, no nothing

-here's the thing. having placed the kids in this situation, you're truly honestly saying that THE FOUR OLDEST KIDS are gonna just leave their young siblings alone near demon town to look for mujika? seriously? are you sure

-there's no pacing, and because there's no pacing there's no personalities, everyone just says what they have to say, one thing after the other, and there's no time for them to transition smoothly from one emotion to another

-at least they kept the essence of norman's arc...? but the norman-less arcs weren't fillers, they had a point!

-i am so sad, the lambda facility part is so good, why did they mess up so much with the rest

-far be it from me to comment on the VAs, buuut... norman's VA kinda stands out, ngl. she shines, even in this awkwardly paced dialogue

-HOLD YOUR HORSES, NORMAN'S VA IS FISCHL'S VA?!?! HOW?!?! H O W?!?!

-norman's "i'll gladly become a god or a devil" IS SO BRUSHED OFF, oh my god, this should be A Moment!

-the wild demon looks bad, but who cares

-JESUS, THERE'S NO TIME GIVEN TO THE CHARACTERS TO PROCESS INFORMATION AND EMOTIONS! THE SPEED WITH WHICH EMMA GOES FROM NEUTRAL TO WEEPY TO HAPPY WHEN SHE SEES MUJIKA, ARGH!

-emma coming in with the telepathy, immediately knowing that the sound is the bang of norman's lies...

-THESE ARE THE GRACE FIELD KIDS, OF COURSE THE THOUGHT OF NORMAN HAVING LIED WOULD HAVE CROSSED THEIR MINDS! IT’S NORMAN! THERE'S PRECEDENT!

-but norman's plan and character in the manga had SO MUCH MORE DEPTH OH MY GOD! HE HAD HUMAN BLOOD ON HIS HANDS! HIS PLAN WAS MORE REFINED! and yes, i know "farms were attacked" here too, but the fact that norman actually had to make the choice to let humans die is not addressed or even hinted at

-there's really no time to breathe. one minute norman declares annihilation, and the next he's like, "no never mind :'(". the VA is the only anchor keeping him grounded

-these are the enhanced lambda group... which doesn't matter because they don't actually do much...

-the op song is nice tho

-OH SHUT UP NORMAN CAN'T AIM

-no, vincent, the real peter ratri wouldn't have believed you so blindly, but. we make do what we can here in anime land

-it's a shame that peter hasn't really had a Presence as the Enemy

-but why do all the kids who know nothing randomly agree to play tag on shipment day?

-so uh. why is sonju fighting with the kids on the farm in this scenario? bc last time he said he wanted to eat humans... and now he's here...? because we're... friends? that's it?

-lmao the queen and the nobles make an appearance in the last ep. sure okay

-ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME YOU'RE GONNA SUM UP THE EXISTENCE OF *** AND THE PROMISE WITH EMMA WITH A STILL?!?!?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAVE IT OUT ALTOGETHER?! FFS!!!

-YEAH AND MUJIKA IS CROWNED QUEEN IN A STILL, WHO THE FUCK KNOWS WHY OR HOW!

-lmfao, most underwhelming return ever??? of emma and co in the human world???

-goldy pond and norman’s kids gave up their existence so that emma could keep her memories, isabella could keep her life and cislo could keep his leg. sacrifices were made. i'm not mad, why would you even-

-okay okay okay. as an adaptation, it sucks. had i not read the manga, would i still consider it a bad season 2? well... i would consider it a downgrade. i wouldn't sweat the basic premise, but the execution would probably disappoint me. the dialogue is perfunctory. they say their bit, change emotions and thoughts in an instant, there's no weight, depth or consideration. things get resolved almost as soon as they're touched upon. i would have no idea who most of the new characters were as people, and i would have learned very little about the ones we already knew. everything is incredibly rushed, and whereas s1 was full of tension and obstacles, s2 was handing the kids everything on a platter, including hot air balloons, mujika randomly spotting emma's necklace, the old demon randomly having that one part of the pen etc (i usually don't mind random coincidences for the sake of storytelling, but this a "compilation of too many issues" situation). the powerpoint presentation in the end would have left me confused and underwhelmed, and the emma-tachi return is incredibly lackluster for a closing scene. i don't think i'd consider it a disaster, but definitely disappointing.

but it is an adaptation and i have read the manga and it's all very sadge.

#the promised neverland #the promised neverland anime #anime #anime commentary

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libraryofbaxobab · 1 year

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I posted the short version yesterday, but here's the Long version:

Maybe it's just me. I've read like, twenty of this author's books, and so his writing style is rapidly wearing thin for me. I used to find it all very exciting, but now it all seems so meaningless. I thought a new fantasy series was just the thing to get away from the Michael Bay vibes of all the guns and technology and explosions and action for action's sake. Unfortunately, the series can't get by on novelty alone.

I just figured out why I keep thinking "this 600+ pages could have been an email": There is no discernible emotional arc. There was for sure an arc in the first one; it was a coming-of-age story in which a young disabled girl rises above her peers and embarks on a dangerous quest for truth. It was fun to see Nyx gain confidence and find her voice. This second installment has... well, to be fair it has her budding sexuality going for it. But there's nothing for her to really struggle internally against, it's mostly go here, avoid danger, defeat this, go there. A lot of the core relationships are already established, so they don't do much developing.

I think this also suffers from too many characters. I like being able to check in with different people in different places all over the world, no complaints there. What I mean is there are often too many characters in one place. Good lord, there are so many long conversations where like six or seven different people chime in, and there are still more characters who are there and apparently just standing still in the background, doing nothing. Even action sequences have an objectionable amount of dialogue because we have to hear from everyone. And splitting the party doesn't help this problem, because we have to catch everyone up to speed when they get back together. I was there for that part! The characters may need a recap but I don't. What I do feel I need a recap for is who the hell are all these people. I can't remember that many names, and so when something dramatic happens to Jormathan (name I made up) who's been in the background this whole time, I don't feel emotionally connected to it because I don't remember who that is, what they've done, and who cares about them & why. Maybe that's intentional; maybe the overwhelming number of characters are just redshirted cannon-fodder for future installments. That's so disappointing. That's creating an entire person just to be a waste of my time to get to know.

To address my main complaint in the short version, I will have to get into minor and unspecific spoiler territory, be aware. What annoys me is, the author has given his character a proverbial hammer, and has made every problem that arises in this story a nail. Obstacles get defeated so easily with no downsides. This does the cliche anime thing where they're like "Oh no, Character has used all their energy and doesn't have any left!" but then the power of friendship gives them the strength to do one last thing. Quite literally. We are told in no uncertain terms that the characters' magic is completely used up, in its entirety, and to use any more would actually literally kill them. They go on to use that same amount of energy four more times in a row and I'm not kidding. And then later they go somewhere else and use a life-draining amount of energy again a couple more times just for good measure. It completely ruins the impact of their "sacrifice" because it's not even hard to save them. What was the point, then? I mean it's cool that they're supposedly willing to die for the cause, but that seems kind of cheap when it doesn't put them in any actual danger because another character decided it shouldn't. No clever skirting of the rules, no dramatic rescue, no finding another way. Reminds me of an asshole kid claiming that actually, he has a laser that can melt through all shields and a shield that blocks all shield-melting lasers.

Conclusion: I can only hope that these problems are just second-in-the-trilogy syndrome. I have no reason to believe this is a trilogy rather than an ongoing series, but it definitely has a clear overall problem that has to be resolved sooner or later. It would absolutely suck to try to continue past that point with no ending in mind. So assuming that there is a planned outline for a finite number of books, most likely the last one will have more meaning, better emotional beats, a firmer grasp on its own rules, a satisfying conclusion, and, frankly... fewer characters. The only question is, do I feel betrayed enough by this one to not bother getting there? Time will tell.

#fantasy #james rollins #whatskenyareading #reading #books

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kitkatopinions · 3 years

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[1] I don't what point they're trying to get too, but CRWBY is going too fast. I mean I know the overall point they want to get for the series; stop Salem (and hopefully no further than thag). But the pacing is so off and that really shows in V7 & 8 particularly with Ironwood. They wanted Ironwood to be an evil dictator that would willingly bomb a city, but the thing is they did it in such a quick flip that is jarring.

When you're right, you're right. RWBY has always had a pretty bad pacing problem, whether it's 'fixing' Weiss's problems with Ruby in one episode in V1 or rushing Yang's V4 recovery arc, the show has always struggled to figure out how to prioritize and take its time. But, this problem has gotten a little more obvious in the last two seasons.

Hazel's redemption and Emerald's redemption were absolutely horribly done, partly because they rushed through them at the speed of light, while they contrast the 'fall' of James Ironwood into a villain role that went from zero to a hundred within the span of two to three in-universe days without the show taking the time to put much proper focus on it or give it the emotional depth it deserved. The Hound was in and out too quick, despite being one of the better concepts to come out of the eighth season. And that's the same with the Cinder/Neo/Watts team up of the century that a lot of people were really interested in and were calling it actual character development and a good change, and then had to put on clown paint when it ended an episode later with everything returning to the status quo. I'd say Ozpin's 'make up' with the team was rushed, too, but honestly that's the least of my concerns with him returning to the team. Qrow and Clover was so rushed that I was seriously weirded out and confused when Qrow's reaction to Clover's death was so big, because to me they seemed like they barely knew each other. I've never understood why both the show and a lot of the FNDM decided that Clover was so important to Qrow, and Qrow jumping to 'kill Ironwood' was also really weird, since we'd been given plenty of reason to believe that Ironwood was Qrow's trusted friend, and very little reason to believe that Qrow hated him, until the guy he'd known for like two months and one season died and suddenly Qrow didn't care about Ironwood at all.

On top of this, Blake and Yang's relationship was rushed in V6 and then stagnated, and the writer's attempt to make them 'fight' in volume eight was so stupid and ridiculous that it was comical (and very frustrating.) Them making everyone drop concerns they have with Ruby within a short while is - like you said - another example of everything going too fast. Weiss 'reconciling' with Whitley and Willow was done too fast and with very little depth, leaving it feeling lackluster and leaving Willow's affection for either of her children feeling fake as hell. Robyn Hill's entire character is a product of rushed and badly done 'growth,' and despite her and Qrow spending episodes together in prison with nothing to do, they still charged ahead with "now these two are friends" too fast and it fell totally flat. I liked May Marigold, but the HH were in the same boat as Robyn, not given enough development and feeling forced into important roles they didn't earn, and the same can be said for the Ace Ops. Salem herself, the main villain, came and went in less than a volume and the terrible way they thrust her into the story only to hastily try to find a way to make her not a threat made her seem so unscary that I can't take her seriously at all anymore.

I was literally shocked when I realized that they weren't spending another season in Atlas, and I even theorized that maybe RWBY was getting cancelled soon, and that's why they were rushing everything so fast in V8. But tbh, with the lack of faith I have in these writers, it's very possible that they just failed, that they just suck.

They didn't take the time to develop almost anything in Volumes seven and eight, and what development they did give us in volume seven seemed to fly out the window in volume eight anyway, or didn't matter anymore.

RWBY is a show that has always struggled to develop story beats and character arcs and dynamics and I and a lot of fans have 'filled in the blanks' on a lot of what they left empty or hastily glossed over, but that gets harder and harder to do the more they get sloppy and overconfident. The fanbase shouldn't have to do this. The fanbase shouldn't have to look at characters who are meant to matter to each other and sighingly try to headcanon up most of their relationship and/or dynamic. They shouldn't have to look at a Very Important arc that the writers are so proud of and then go "okay, time to figure out how to force this to make sense."

There's a certain amount of that in every piece of media, fleshing out characters and their pasts or their relationship is a fandom past-time no matter what fandom you're talking about (heck, I've seen it in the LOTR fandom,) but after a certain point, it starts to feel like we're putting way more work into it than the actual show writers, and that's weird and it's also tiring.

I've seen this argument from RWBY simps that RWDE posters are mad we "have to think about things" and that things aren't just handed to us on a silver platter, but I don't think that's true. We're willing to play a little catch up and flesh out dynamics here and there. I've been doing that in fandoms for forever. There's a difference between doing that, and needing to do a lot of work and a lot of re-writing and world building to make most of the show actually make sense or feel emotionally significant.

RWBY wasn't always like this. I was more than happy to fill in the blanks for seasons of it and get by on vibes and concepts to match what meat and substance we did get. But now I feel like almost everything is so rushed, underdeveloped, forced, or badly handled that trying to 'fill in the gaps' has turned into essentially writing a fix-it fic in your head. So I'd rather just put my mental energy into actually writing a fix-it fic instead of trying to force myself to put in the work that the writers don't for the show proper itself.

#rwde #rwby hate #rwby bashing #anti rwby #rwby criticism

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degenerate-perturbation · 3 years

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Viv Reviews: Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

As part of my quest to read every edgy Harry Potter knockoff, I read Wayward Son.

I liked it much better than Carry On. Carry On was a confusing mess and I don’t really remember anything that happened in it. Wayward Son is a much more tightly plotted, emotionally coherent book, with many good ideas.

Is it good? No.

But here are some things I liked about it:

The plot construction. Checkov’s guns are ably placed in the first act, and fired in the third. The twists make sense, without being telegraphed. The story clips along at a reasonable pace and there is a consistent sense of motion and dynamism throughout that made me want to keep reading.

The Americana. I love all magical Americana. However, it is possible to fuck this trope up (see: CW’s Supernatural.) Wayward Son does this trope without fucking it up, and I’ll give it credit for that.

The inherent hilarity of British people interacting with America and being completely befuddled. For the duration of reading this book I felt about 4% more patriotic. There is a scene where the main characters are gearing up to fight the villains with magical spells but this is America and the villains brought guns and they just shoot them. This is hilarious and exactly what would happen.

The villains. The concept of a bunch of Silicon Valley techbros becoming vampires as like a biohacking project is brilliant, because I know so many people who would do that. I would do that. Las Vegas being run by old-school vampires and the two groups hate each other for Vampiring Wrong is also brilliant.

I really enjoyed the new muggle character. Shepard is a muggle who knows about magic and just really likes it and wants to be around it as like, a hobby. I would totally be this guy. Between him and the Silicon Valleys vampires I feel like the American characters in this book are spot-on as types of people who would exist in a setting where magic is real. So few urban fantasy books get this right, and Wayward Son kind of does!

Most of the characters do have coherent, detectable emotional arcs. They aren’t well-executed. But they exist! This is more than I could say for the previous book. Draco/Baz struggles with existing as a marginal vampire in mage society, or abandoning humanity to exist in vampire society. Hermione/Penelope takes a long series of L’s and comes to realize that she can’t actually do everything herself and should really have asked for help. Harry/Simon is depressed about not being a main character anymore.

The fact that Draco is a vampire for no obvious reason doesn’t seem as weird in Wayward Son as in Carry On because vampires are a major element of this book’s plot.

Harry and Draco’s relationship in this book is on the rocks, and it starts out seeming like they are going to break up. They still bicker a lot, despite being boyfriends, which makes perfect sense for people who disliked each other for most of the time they knew each other. This creates a fine thread of emotional tension throughout the story (I love conflict!) that, unfortunately, goes nowhere.

Here is what I did not like:

THE POV CHANGES.

Oh my god, the POV changes are fucking intolerable. Do you guys remember those old fanfics where there was a POV change literally every paragraph and every event got described from 4 different characters’ point of view? This book does this so egregiously that part of me wonders if in fact Rowell is making the book bad on purpose to fit with the fanfiction thing--because her other books are fine! I know Rowell can write a perfectly respectable love story, so really, what gives?

This is really just one thing because I think all of the book’s flaws boil down to this supremely irritating structure. Here are some issues that I feel arise from it:

Characters do not really develop their relationships to each other, because all of their emotional turmoil happens in their first-person internal monologue. Simon and Baz never really work through their relationship issues because they do not talk to each other until the very end of the book. They live completely inside their own heads, straightfowardly telling the reader how they are feeling, without having to tell each other.

Similarly, I thought Penelope and Shepard were going to be a developing couple. They would make sense as a foil to Simon and Baz’s established (and crumbling) relationship, they interact quite a bit, Penelope gets dumped at the start of the book by her boyfriend for traits that Shepard explicitly values, and on a meta level, it is sensible to pair the most magical mage with a muggle. But they don’t really interact much on the page. I think about how much more interesting this relationship would have read if Penelope had worked through some of her issues with this guy, but she didn’t.

As a result, the character’s arcs do not really go anywhere satisfying, because they are all so inside their own heads! Without playing off each other, they don’t have opportunities to develop in a natural way. She just privately thinks her to herself that she’s in over her head, and that’s the end of it. We don’t see anyone challenge Penelope on her overconfidence or see her confess vulnerability to anyone. We don’t see Simon and Baz argue about their relationship; we just see them mutually, separately worry about it.

The other problem I have with Simon and Baz is that their relationship takes place entirely in terms of dramatic overwrought romantic inner monologue. The one time they interact with each other romantically on screen--we don’t actually see it! We just see ping-ponging POV of “He means the world to me” and “I only ever wanted him," which is wildly inconsistent with how they actually interact with each other, which is mostly tense in petty bickering. And that would have been perfectly fine if, say, it had lead to a break up and subsequent make up. That would have been a good trial-by-fire for this relationship! But it doesn’t happen. I’m left asking over and over again, why do these characters love each other? Why does he mean the world to him? Why should I care?

This is related to another issue with the book is that, like a fanfiction, it seems to require the context of “canon” events in order to make emotional sense. Simon and Baz keep referring back to their dynamic as roommates that hate each other to contextualize their present love for each other. But we never saw any of that happen! I don’t feel attachment to their pre-existing relationship because the pre-existing relationship is an informed quality.

And this is the problem with Simon himself, as a character. His arc in this book is about overcoming his depression and the burnout of being an ex-main-character. He and Penelope keep referencing adventures they’ve had that we weren’t there for, so how am I supposed to feel a sense of bittersweet nostalgia for then? It’s like hanging out with a group of friends who keep making inside jokes I don’t get. It’s alienating, and does the opposite of make me relate to these characters.

If I was reading about Harry Potter’s ex-main-character depression, this would read totally differently, because I would have already read seven years’ worth of Harry Potter’s wild adventures. A fanfiction about Harry’s post-traumatic stress about all those events would be perfectly suitable fanfiction subject. A book about Crypto-Harry-Potter’s post-traumatic stress over events we weren’t present for does not work nearly as well.

Finally, the dynamic of this trio does not work. What really worked for Harry, Ron, and Hermione is that each one of them was the awkward third friend. In Wayward Son, Penelope and Baz both have a relationship with Simon, but not really each other. And since the characters stay in their own heads, a new dynamic doesn’t really have space to develop.

Also, the prose just, isn’t very good. J. K. Rowling was not a master of prose, but Harry Potter felt magical. It felt like a fairy tale. With Wayward Son, I am Once Again reminded of this Ursula Le Guin quote, from her essay, “From Elfland to Poughkeepsie”:

Many readers, many critics, and most editors speak of style as if it were an ingredient of a book, like the sugar in a cake, or something added onto the book, like the frosting on the cake. The style, of course, is the book. If you remove the cake, all you have left is recipe. If you remove the style, all you have left is a synopsis of the plot.

This is a recipe for a book. A good recipe, with many good ingredients, but it utterly lacks style, making it just good enough to disappoint me.

Apparently there is going to be a threequel. Obviously I am going to read it.

#viv reviews #extended speech act #wayward son #rainbow rowell

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ladyloveandjustice · 4 years

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Winter 2020 Anime Overview: Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

Ok, so let’s get this out of the way first, 1. I adore this story so much and 2. Toilet Bound Hanako-kun has a horrible, horrible English title that is not actually at all representative of the story’s content and I have no idea what happened when it came to the team choosing that name. To the average English-speaking viewer/reader, this name 100% implies gross stuff and bathroom humor, and there is none in this show.

A Japanese reader on the other hand, would be more likely to recognize the name Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun as a spin on the classic ghost story “Hanako-san of the Toilet” only A BOY THIS TIME WHHHHA?” Basically, the story goes that a girl named Hanako in a red skirt haunts girls’ bathrooms in Japanese schools and if you knock on the third stall and call “Hanako-san” three times, she’ll appear. She might grant you a wish or pull you into Hell or something else, it varies.

(Her Wikipedia image, aww.)

Anyway, I dunno why the English title didn’t at least go with “Toilet Ghost Hanako-kun” or something that would have gotten the premise across even a little better (HE NOT TECHNICALLY BOUND BY THE TOILET EVEN, HE CAN GO ANYWHERE IN THE SCHOOL GROUNDS THE BATHROOM IS JUST HIS HOME BASE), but our boy Hanako haunting the girl’s bathroom only leads to broad jokes about our heroine being tasked with cleaning the bathroom and “dude you really shouldn’t be in here” comments, it’s pretty incidental.

Now that THAT’S out of the way, let’s talk about my LOVE FOR THIS STORY

Hanako-kun tells the story of a “regular” high school girl named Nene Yashiro, the mischievous and mysterious school ghost she befriends, and all the other weird monsters, exorcists, spirits and curses they encounter. It’s got a gorgeous, colorful bold aesthetic and art style that combines gothic and cute! It has a great mix of humor, intrigue, angst and fantasy action. basically if you love ghosts, monsters, Japanese mythology and legends, supernatural-human relationships, supernaturally fueled angst and drama, stories about trying to fix an unfair system the world has set up, wistful romance, a good shoujo manga with a Lot of Feelings (yes this is a shonen technically I’ll explain that later), weirdo dorks becoming friends AND MUCH MORE...this story will have something that will resonate with you. It’s got a lot going on, and it’s a ton of fun.

Hanako-kun is really one of those surprising stories that fits right into a hole in my story-loving heart I didn’t realize was still there, or that I’d actually been carrying since childhood. I love ghosts, see, and have since I was a kid!!! I knew this, but I kinda forgot how intensely I love them until this show reminded me again??? That’s because regular ghost stories/mysteries/whatever- I like them, but they don’t quite do it for me in the way more character-driven ones exploring the nature of being a ghost and humans and ghosts trying understand each other etc do. Stuff that really gets into the tragedy AND the fun fantasy aspect of ghosts, and plays the long game with it- and Hanako-kun scratches that itch perfectly.

Getting a little bit deeper into the premise of Hanako-kun, Nene is a very brave and sweet but not-all-that-bright girl (or, to put it more bluntly, she’s an idiot in the best way) who has a lot of romantic fantasies and insecurities and is VERY focused on them. After hearing a rumor at school that “Hanako-san of the bathroom” will grant wishes, she wishes to be able to confess to her crush and finds out its actually a weird ghost boy her age named Hanako haunting the bathroom! A lot of things happen, and she ends up cursed and bound to Hanako-kun, but also ends up slowly forming a friendship.

Turns out Hanako is the ghost in charge of the “seven mysteries/wonders” aka seven powerful supernatural entities that haunt this school (he’s number seven). These apparitions only supposed to terrorize students a LITTLE, because apparitions need to have rumors spread about them to remain in the human world.

(‘HAVE YOU HEARD?’ Oh hey shadow girls from Utena see you’ve moved to a new school.)

The rumors also generally dictate how powerful and dangerous the apparitions actually are- but SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS is changing the rumors around the school and making the apparitions go berserk and actually harm humans. So Hanako needs a human assistant to change the rumors and help him calm and seal the apparitions! That’s where Nene comes in.

Hanako himself is a very fun character- he’s very chaotic and revels in his whole “ gremlin ghost” persona, and is upfront about being a bit of an asshole. BUT he also makes his kindness, often good intentions and the fact he’ll have his friends back when it counts obvious from the beginning. B U T! He’s also got darkness and hidden depths to explore, and a lot of his persona is affected and masks deeper issues!

Our ghost boy is genuinely A TAD unstable deep down (as in he straight up has several untreated PTSD symptoms and that’s as disastrous as you’d expect) and packing some serious tragic backstory, as you might expect from a kid who died young and carries around a butcher’s knife, and it’s gonna come back to bite him and and all who care about him hard.

Especially when an overly enthusiastic exorcist named Kou Minamoto shows up! Kou is another one who’s very dumb and very good, a wannabe-shonen-protag with a heart of gold and strong sensitive, domestic side. He rounds out our main trio. Also he gets a tragic, emotionally intense relationship with yet another ghost boy that sings to my heart.

(Yes Hanako’s helping Nene to do the thing)

You may be able to tell, this story has INTENSE good-shoujo vibes despite technically being a shonen in a way that I love- it’s story very driven by big emotions, a variety of fucked up and tragically complex relationships, teen hormones running wild, etc, and it’s just delicious.

Nene is the normal-person-audience-surrogate-girl in a way that is more common for a shoujo protag, and the way her emotional connections to everyone, her sweeping romantic fantasies and her interiority are consistently in focus when she’s there- yeah, she’s definitely a plucky shoujo protag, 100%. And I’m all about that!!!

One thing I especially appreciate (though this comes across more strongly in the manga than the anime thanks to the anime rearranging things) is when Nene finds out about Hanako’s Heavy Baggage, she actually takes some time to herself to consider whether she can handle dealing with someone with these intense issues as a kid who’s never encountered stuff like this before- it’s not assumed by the story that the Sweet Girl is Obligated to help the Tragic Boy. I go into more detail about this part in this part here, but it’s that kind of attention to Nene’s needs that makes her role in the story work. Hanako and Nene and everyone’s struggles to get the hang of and properly navigate honest communication and mutual support in relationships are often really great and real-feeling

The story has a lot more things I love packed in to it- a dorky-but-still-deeply-unsettling villain gang who’s screwed up interactions are just as fun as our protagonists, yokai, A CURSED LIBRARY, some great ladies in addition to Nene, meditations on the nature of life, death, themes about fighting nihilism, and so on...I could seriously go on forever. It’s good stuff, and there’s lots of good weird supernaturals to meet.

The story’s also got tons of intrigue! The overarching plot and Hanako’s Mysterious Past is still in the process of unfolding, but it’s been great drama every step of the way! As mentioned before, the story also really relies on funny character dynamics, interaction and development to carry the whole thing and balance the drama.

The anime itself does have some pacing issues bc they crammed a lot into the first season and rearranged some stuff- an entire two chapter arc was skipped and was unlikely to be covered in the anime and some parts are noticeably rushed. I still really like the anime and it’s a solid adaptation. I love how much of the manga’s detailed aesthetic it managed to keep as well as the amazing voice acting and it made a few small but important additions. But there are some notable bumps- of course this just led me to go binge the manga (up to volume 12 is legally available digitally) and BOY DO I NOW LOVE THIS STORY EVEN MORE.

Now obviously, just because it is Exactly My Shit in a lot of ways doesn’t mean Hanako-kun is the much quested for “unproblematic fave”, there’s several caveats you should probs be aware of- its shoujo vibes also mean some classic shoujo ~Problematic tropes~ and a couple shounen ones.

THE LIST:

-Just as a general content overview thing: if this wasn’t clear the show deals heavily with death, body horror and other horror aspects. There’s heavily implied suicide and abuse and so on- as mentioned, the main character is traumatized and shows a lot of symptoms of PTSD, and Nene has to struggle to navigate her relationship with him because of this, as does Kou.

-Hanako himself has the whole ~loveable pervert~ and ~slightly possessive shoujo bad boy~ schtick going as part of his mischevious persona. In the anime so far, he never actually gropes or comments on not-in-his-naughty-mags-people’s breasts or anything of that level thankfully, but he’s very flirty, clingy, will loudly bring up porn, fond of the ol’ *says something that purposefully sounds sexually possessive* HAHAHA U THOUGHT I MEANT SOMETHING DIRTY RIGHT LOL ACTUALLY I DIDN’T.”

(My unnecessary ‘this part is kinda interesting!’ ramble: Nene always lists “sexual harassment” among Hanako’s flaws (she loves listing them), but doesn’t get visibly uncomfortable with his flirtiness or seem to mind it most times, which at least makes the whole thing more tolerable for me.

(since she doesn’t seem to mind that part and its clear he does it bc of actual affection for her, it’s actually p. cute how huggy he is.)

The one time it does cross the line and genuinely upset her, it’s treated seriously, Hanako is genuinely regretful and apologizes. That’s one of my fave moments in the story and the way it’s handled is well done.

This incident that he’s honestly pretty socially clueless as kid who died young and a lot of his bravado is to cover that up and keep people at a distance- this is a trope into itself that can use unpacking but I do at least appreciate that this is a considered character trait that’s part of his whole messed up package rather than something that thrown in there Just to Be a Fanservice Trope. (Especially since the manga confirms he never acted particularly pervy while alive, further cementing this is an affected persona).

-There’s a running gag around Nene’s insecurity over her thick ‘daikon shaped’ ankles and boys treating her badly for it.

One one hand, her body image issues are relatable, on the other, it feels cruel and annoying just how much the show finds ways to bring it up and humiliate her over and over again.

(My unnecessary “this is part is kinda interesting” ramble:The one thing i did realize that despite bringing it up constantly, we at least have no “i’m going to do this to lose weight” or “go on a diet” rhetoric,like this is just part of Nene’s body type and she knows she can’t change it? Which is kinda interesting. And I’ve spotted what might be foreshadowing something plot relevant’s going to happen with her ankles (I DON’T KNOW HOW, BUT GOD I PUT NOTHING PAST THIS STORY) so uh yeah??? either way it’s not good tho)

-”Obsessive and twisted love” is a running theme in this story, and while it’s generally acknowledged as unhealthy, it can be played for comedy in a way that could make viewers/readers uncomfortable. There’s a couple characters who’s entire thing so far is “obsessively in love with this one person” (and the one only focused on in the manga so far is one of the least interesting characters tbh ugh)

-The antagonist of the show is a member of a main character’s family, and the manner he acts towards pretty much everyone, including (and really especially) his family member, verges on seductive. This is presented as deliberately unsettling and treated as a marker of how unstable and scary he is- and though the backstory between them hasn’t been fully delved into, it’s pretty much all but confirmed he abused this family member physically and emotionally.

-The story has like, A LOT of queer subtext and pretty-heavy queer coding for one character especially, but the few times queerness blatantly comes up in the story, it’s played as a joke in the “haha that’d be kinda weird” way (aside from the rando boys who have a crush on Teru, handled pretty neutrally). It’s not as malicious as a lot of animanga can get (ONE MANGA INCIDENT ASIDE), but it’s something to Be Aware Of, and it makes it clear we’re unlikely to see subtext rise to text and makes some moments feel baity.

-And probably more I might have missed! The manga also has Some Shit in addition all the Good Shit that hasn’t been adapted yet, an early arc has Hanako crossing a serious line etc.

BUT despite how messy it is, I think it’s clear I have a lot of love for this story. In fact, I wouldn’t trade away a good chunk of its messiness (DEFINITELY SOME JUST NOT ALL), it kinda works for the characters and works in the “this story really feed my inner teen” way. Some of the trashy parts are exactly My Trash, basically.

So, I knew I’d ramble on for a while when I talked about his show, but if you’ve read this far, thanks, and I hope that means you’re gonna check out and maybe enjoy this story, bc i need more people to join me in Hanako Hell.

#toilet bound hanako kun #jibaku shounen hanako kun #jibaku shonen hanako kun #winter 2020 anime #anime overview #hanako kun #nene yashiro #yashiro nene #kou minamoto #minamoto kou #yugi amane #amane yugi #my reviews

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reachexceedinggrasp · 4 years

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Fated to Love You here reaffirming my long held conviction that no pure romance drama should be 20+ episodes.

This show is... really something. It is, in the fullest possible sense, A Lot. It starts out as an all-out screwball comedy wrapped around a troperiffic romance fluff plot. Wall to wall clichés, but not in a bad way; in a meta, self-aware, peak performance, finest Velveeta way. And if you’re not familiar with screwball comedy, think ‘light-hearted crack fic with slapstick and farce’. There is nothing believable or grounded about any aspect of it, it starts at Bonkers Level: Platinum and it only climbs higher as it goes on.

(On a side note, this results in the leading man being possibly the most memorable love interest in romcom history. His introduction scene is nothing short of batshit insane and you can't reliably predict how he will respond to anything. I have never seen a main character like this, he is all over the shop and utterly singular. Your first reaction to him is ‘wtf?’, your second and third reactions are ‘really?! this guy??’, your fourth reaction is ‘okay he do be mad hot tho’, your fifth and final reaction is ‘I cannot believe this performance exists, I have no idea what he is doing, but it is amazing.’

Appropriately(?) the actor who plays him is an uncanny Korean doppelgänger of Johnny Depp and- between the resemblance, the mannerisms, and the fearless total commitment to a bold as fuck acting choice with the very serious chops to back it up- I’m not convinced they aren’t half brothers separated at birth.

They do sabotage my happiness several times by starting to randomly style his (long, beautiful) hair very weird, fixing it right when the plot is rapidly circling the drain so he looks his hottest just as the show becomes briefly unwatchable, and then ruining him for the entire second half of the series by shearing it all off. WHY, my anguished cry goes up. Why do you do this?! Why does he have like seven hairstyles over the course of the show? Much later they even briefly give him that ubiquitous Kdrama Second Lead haircut with weirdly forward combed fringe in a solid straight line across the brow all the way back from the crown. It looks terrible on everyone and I hate it so much. This version was less bad than most but it is still bad. Anyway.)

So it’s an incredibly fun time to start but there are some problems with the tone and plot even in the first 9 episodes, including when the lovers start getting along really well right away and they’re both thoroughly decent people so there’s nothing keeping them from having a lovely time together making the best of the circumstances (forced/fake marriage). And, instead of introducing new conflict or advancing one of the dozen conflicts previously established and actually moving forward, there is a painfully contrived rehash of something they already dealt with which is then just never resolved. They make the hero leap to a conclusion his wife is nefarious after he’d already decided once that she isn’t (though it was completely reasonable for him to think she was- the fact that he decided to trust her so quickly just speaks to what kind of person he is), never try to find out more or talk to anyone about it, start pushing her away because of it, and have all this come to absolutely nothing. It only exists so he’ll stop being so incredibly nice to her and they won’t fall in love too fast.

You’d think they would have to eventually clear the air before the romance advances right? No. It wasn’t a real plot point, it was just a reset button to get them estranged and hostile again after they connect over their kindred spirits and we’ve spent a bunch of time showing how profoundly supportive and honourable our hero is. He’s being beautifully mature and selfless because he’s a really good dude (unusual for a romcom drama, right? for the main guy to be nice and considerate? to accept responsibility even if he doesn’t have to? Gun’s weird but he’s wonderful), but the writers need him to be cold and standoffish, so they just make him act like an unreasonable idiot for a while. He’s been thus far hugely proactive and direct and honest about everything, it’s one of his most prominent character traits, but suddenly he’s going to avoid confrontation in favour of being super passive aggressive?? Then the writers never solve it. Never! It just goes away. He got over it, I guess? He decided he doesn’t care if she’s a gold digger who deliberately trapped him? God forbid we have motivations that make sense and organic character drama, right? It's not like he didn't have totally valid reasons to be suspicious that could have led to legitimate conflict our heroine would struggle to vindicate herself from.

But anyway, apart from that kind of lazy bullshit, it’s a fine romance plot with extremely endearing characters who have great chemistry. They are fun and well-rounded and incredibly human despite all the silliness and OTT antics. Their relationship is hugely, hugely engaging and the dynamic is perfect, they really complement each other as characters and organically drive each other's arcs. There's the genuine depth and warmth and quiet pathos so often lacking from this kind of show. Things progress at a semi-reasonable pace. They work up to confessing their mutual feelings and get into some cute shenanigans before making out. It happens soon enough that you are not frustrated, but there's still plenty of build-up. Then- uh oh! We’re only 9 eps in and we have another 11 hours to fill with this fluffy plot!

Time for a bunch of absolute fucking nonsense. Time for our show, which has been so goofy and removed from reality it occasionally resembles a Monty Python skit, which has been so light it asks you to ignore the frankly incredibly fucked up implications of its premise for the sake of comedy (they were both drugged and proxy raped resulting in a pregnancy- the FL was a virgin prior to this and Gun had a girlfriend he wanted to propose to- and it was the FL’s family who did this to them: SUPER FUCKED UP), so farcical that it makes Some Like it Hot look like a gritty crime drama, that show to cover a bunch of serious heavy shit.

First, the rankest of melodrama. The families and the world all turn on our couple, but their love is true and will conquer all- UNTIL, he randomly collapses and gets convenient Soap Opera Amnesia. He’s forgotten their entire relationship and a series of coincidental pieces of misconstrued evidence, the machinations of his scheming ex girlfriend, the Soap Opera Doctor’s advice, and his closest confidants all going along with this conspire to make him believe (AGAIN) that his wife just wants his money.

This whole terrible episode is mercifully brief, but it just gets worse after his memory returns. This is where we get into the Noble Idiocy. The ‘pretend you don’t love them to “save them” from getting hurt by hurting them and making their important life decisions for them as if they don’t have a basic fucking right to decide that themselves’ kind. Which goes on for three FUCK years in the show. He wastes three years of their lives they could have spent together because he’s worried he might die young (in a terrible way) and doesn’t want to put her through that. And, of course, they inevitably get together later, so all he did was make it infinitely worse for her either way. To say nothing of how he thus couldn’t be there for her through the loss of their child. Possibly my most hated fucking trope of all time when done this way.

And, yep, you read that right. This show that has the single most batshit bonkers over the top slapstick I have ever seen in a kdrama, this show has a storyline where the fluffy romcom trope accidental pregnancy ends in massive trauma. Because she was standing around in the street after realising he does remember her (he continued to pretend he had amnesia after his memories came back, it’s all part of the stupid noble idiocy so I glossed over it) and gets hit by a car in the middle of their angst staring.

It is nearly Meet Joe Black levels of hilariously abrupt and incongruous.

so, blah blah, they lose their baby (there’s a very stupid whole thing about her telling everyone to save the baby instead of her- the baby is not far enough along for this to have been remotely viable. She is like 3 months pregnant. They all act like there’s a choice to be made between them and she’s mad at her husband for choosing to save her, but there was NO CHOICE. Either she lives or they both die! ffs I’m so irritated about this) and then he dumps her ~for her own good~~ because he loves her too much to make her go through losing him? So she loses him sooner?? right after their baby died???

Why do people in these stories always think being betrayed and abandoned for no reason and being incredibly angry at someone you love while also not getting to be with them is somehow less painful than making the best of your life together and then losing them against their will? ‘I will make her hate me and then she won’t be sad we broke up/I died!!!!’ is such a fucking galaxy brain take and I despise it with the heat of ten thousand suns. Fuck you, Spider-Man. You aren’t protecting anyone, the villains still know you love MJ and will still use her against you, you clod. Emotionally torturing the person you love is not going to make them not a target because the villains are not as fucking stupid as you two. Anyway.

Amnesia was right where I started fast-forwarding and skipping around (because I couldn’t bear it), but it only goes downhill from there. Maybe I would have toughed out more of the wretched middle part plot twist if they hadn’t cut all the hot guy’s hair off. If I’m going to watch total nonsense tedious melodrama, I need it to at least be pretty. I understand it was a Symbolic Haircut but damnit! Let me have this!

And it ultimately does the thing that kdramas seem obsessed with and which makes me want to claw out my own eyeballs with frustration. There’s a giant time skip, the female lead gets a personality transplant, all narrative momentum is lost, and the characters who eventually (at ENORMOUS length) get together permanently are essentially completely different characters with a completely different dynamic than the couple you were shipping for 90% of the story. It is so FUCKING unsatisfying and it is EVERYWHERE.

Not so much with this one because this one still had a lot of very romantic scenes late in the game, but most that do this, it’s also like all the romance is sucked out of the post-time skip episodes and the ending is a consolation prize instead of a triumphant culmination. Inevitably, the heroine abruptly cools off and is suddenly wary of the hero and wants this Important New Career she never mentioned until the penultimate episode but is now her one true life’s dream. What the apparently irresistible appeal is of these contrived separations and demure conclusions is I CANNOT FATHOM. I’m here for the fucking romance guys, you have not made Citizen Kane, please just indulge me with a big schmoopy finale.

And if not that, it’s frequently that there’s been so many random mood swings and so much shitty behaviour by the end that the relationship doesn’t make sense and you don’t know why they even bother to get back together.

I’m not inherently against all misunderstandings (they are the bread and butter of low stakes romance let’s be real) or attempts at noble idiocy from misguided characters, but the duration and seriousness of the drama these generate needs to be in proportion to how ridiculous they are. If your entire plot can be solved by a thirty second conversation there is NO REASON not to have and the continuation of the misunderstanding is a result of someone just NOT SPEAKING UP when any functional human being would have spoken up seven times by now IT’S BAD.

Do little cliff-hangers, whatever, but don’t draaaaagg out silly misconceptions into Shakespearean tragedy, it’s just wearying. It makes me hate the characters for acting like emotionally constipated toddlers with terminal stupidity. If there is so little trust, so little understanding, and so little basic patience between these people, they probably shouldn’t be dating, so try fucking harder, writers. And noble idiocy that is more than an impulse they fairly quickly see the error of is just insulting. You are not helping the other person, you are being domineering and selfish. I have a whole complex about wasting time and seeing endless parades of characters flushing years down the toilet for literally no reason gives me hives. Especially when the whole issue is about time!

(And, btw, so much of the plot is about how desperately the family needs an heir and everyone still wanting them to have kids the second time they get together- while the ~dilemma used to keep them apart is a GENETIC DISEASE which could STRIKE AT ANY TIME. Do you SEE THE PROBLEM WITH THIS WRITERS????? NO, I KNOW YOU DON’T. ommmmmmmmggggg that’s awful! So they’re just dooming more kids to Soap Opera Brain Disease? And maybe growing up without a father just as Gun did? And no one even considers suggesting adoption??? He never considers that he shouldn’t have biological children despite thinking he shouldn’t have a wife?)

ANYWAY. Please do watch the first nine episodes and the last three, it’s bananas. They are cute as fuck, Gun is The Best, and the tropey romance scenes are top quality. You don't get those things executed so well, it doesn't happen, so you need this in your life. The acting is of a calibre you never usually see in modern romcoms; these are people at the top of their game committing utterly and taking these characters completely seriously. In that way it is pure wish fulfilment for me as someone who loves romance and is almost always disappointed by popular romance media, and thus the show is incalculably special. But skip the middle. Just skip it. It's not worth the suffering. I find the tone whiplash honestly just this side of crass.

I’ve been thinking about it for over a week and I truly love the main characters so it did plenty right, but I just cannot with wedding the two things this show is trying to be together, especially when it goes so hard in two mutually exclusive directions. but also the Meet Joe Black sudden car accident device is not redeemable under any circumstances. Can we never do that again, please.

#fated to love you #kdrama #jang hyuk #writing

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sternbilder · 4 years

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Camille Has Many KDrama Thoughts

As some of you have possibly noticed, I have recently fallen into a KDrama hole and I can’t get up, and I have just finished my 10th drama, which seems like less of an accomplishment than I thought now that I say it out loud, but anyway,

As a checkpoint/thinly veiled plug of some shows I love very much, here is a very long post with some of my thoughts on all the KDramas I’ve seen so far, as well as what’s next on my list, in case you too were interested in joining me in nonexistent fandom hell!

So firstly, all of the dramas I have watched to completion, in the order of how much I like them. First, my top five:

1. Sungkyunkwan Scandal (2010). My #1 favorite drama to date. I’ve probably watched it in full 4-5 times, and it’s still an absolute treat every time. Is it the best drama I’ve ever seen? Probably not. But it’s so fun and charming that it’s just gotta be at the top of my list.

The best way I can describe this drama is Ouran High School Host Club, except in Joseon era Korea, and instead of flirting with girls the main characters learn about Confucianism and solve mysteries and play sports (twice) and end up accidentally involved in a complicated political scandal. Also, that one text post about how Shang from Mulan is bi because he falls for Mulan while he thinks she’s a man...This drama has that, except actually canon. And while I won’t pretend this is show is a shining beacon of representation, there are multiple main characters who are explicitly not heterosexual and several others with very plausible queer readings, which earns it a very special place in my heart.

As for the actual premise of the show, it’s basically about a wonderfully determined and kind and clever but lower-class girl whose writing skills catch the eye of the most stubbornly strait-laced but idealistic aspiring politician-type on the planet. She ends up getting a one-way ticket to the most prestigious school in the country, except she has to pretend to be a man the entire time because women aren’t allowed to be educated at this time.

It’s a bit of a silly, cheesy show, and here are many wacky shenanigans, but the main cast is full of incredibly highly endearing and multifaceted characters, there is a lot of sexual confusion, the slowburn roommate romance has an incredible payoff, and it’s also full of deeply moving social commentary about class, privilege, and gender roles. This drama is a blast and I could go on and on about what I love about it, I absolutely adore it to pieces.

2. Six Flying Dragons (2015-2016). I debated between this and Tree With Deep Roots (next on my list, to which SFD is a prequel) as my #2 but I do think I want to place SFD higher just because it's the drama that I keep thinking about even after finishing it. of course, it has the dual advantages of 1) being released chronologically later (and having better production value, etc., because of this) and 2) being twice as long, but there’s just so much stuff to unpack with SFD that it makes me want to keep coming back to it.

The show is about the founding of the Joseon dynasty, and six individuals (half of whom are based on real historical figures and half fictional) whose lives are closely tied to the fall of the old regime and the revolution that brought in the new. It has an intricate, intensely political plotline based on the actual events that happened during this time, and though this may sound kind of boring if you’re like me and not super into history (admittedly, the pacing in the beginning is a tiny bit slow), it quickly picks up and becomes this dense web of character relations and political maneuvering. Though none of the major events should come as a surprise if you’ve seen TWDR or if you happen to already know the history it was based on, the show adds such a depth of humanity and emotion to every event and character that nothing ever feels boring or predictable. As a matter of fact, there are several events that were alluded to in TWDR that, when they actually happened in SFD, left me breathless--because although I 100% knew these were foregone conclusions that were coming up at some point, I still had a visceral moment of, “oh no, so that’s how that came to happen.”

But though I really enjoyed following the story of SFD and learning about the history behind it, the highlight of the show for me is definitely the great character arcs. I loved TWDR’s characters, too (especially Yi Do, So Yi, and obviously Moo Hyul), but with double the episode count SFD just has so much time for rich, dynamic character development, and I absolutely loved seeing how these characters grew and changed over time when their ideologies and fates collided in this turbulent and violent age: How young and ambitious Yi Bang Won eventually spiraled into a ruthless tyrant, how the naive and kind-hearted Moo Hyul struggled to retain his humanity in a bloody revolution that challenged his values and loyalties to the core, how the fiercely determined and idealistic Boon Yi grew into a pragmatic and capable leader who comes to realize what politics and power mean for her and her loved ones.

SFD was also everything I wanted as a prequel to TWDR--I loved seeing the contrasts between some of the TWDR characters and their younger selves in the SFD timeline: The hardened and ruthless Bang Won as a passionate and righteous adolescent, the cynical and resigned Bang Ji as a cowardly boy who grows into a traumatized and bitter young man, and my personal favorite character, the comically serious bodyguard Moo Hyul as the very model of the dopey, lovable himbo archetype. And though the ending was controversial among fans (particularly those who watched SFD first), I loved how it closed all the loops and tied it back to the events of TWDR, both providing that transition I wanted but also recontextualizing and adding new meaning to the original work. I think it's still a very good drama on its own, but this hand-off is what really sealed the deal for me personally, because it was not only super emotionally satisfying to watch how the stories connected, but it elevated TWDR to something even greater (suggesting that Yi Do and the events of TWDR was the culmination of everything the six dragons fought so long and hard for), which is exactly what I expect from a good prequel.

I’ve already talked so much about this drama but I also do need to mention that the soundtrack to SFD is A+, and the sword fights are sick as hell. There is also some romance, though it’s not really a focus--and all the pairings that do exist are extremely tragic, which is exactly up my alley. Overall, this is a hell of a historical drama, coming of age, villain origin story, and martial arts film in one, and I highly recommend it.

3. Tree With Deep Roots (2011). The sequel to SFD, though it aired first chronologically. Although this show isn’t one of those shows that I could rewatch once a year like SKKS or keep ruminating on like SFD, TWDR (much like Les Mis, or Fata Morgana) is thematically the kind of story that just makes my heart sing.

The story centers around the creation of Hangul, the Korean alphabet, by Yi Do (a.k.a., King Sejong the Great, who is the son and successor of Yi Bang Won, the main character of SFD) as well as two fictional childhood friends whose backstories and ambitions become central to the story of how and why this alphabet came to exist. Not only is the actual process of creating this alphabet absolutely fascinating from a linguistic and scientific POV, but the show dramatizes Yi Do’s motivations in a way that’s so incredibly touching and human--portraying the king as a soft-hearted and extremely charismatic yet fundamentally flawed and conflicted figure who tries so desperately to do right by his people.

The show explores both a number of personal themes like redemption, atonement, and vengeance, as well as broader societal themes such as the ethics of authority, the democratization of knowledge, and the power of language and literacy. Though the show never forgets to remind the audience of the bitter reality of actual history, it’s still a deeply idealistic show whose musings on social change and how to use privilege and power to make the world better are both elegant and poignant.

Romance definitely takes a backseat in TWDR, even more so than SFD, though this isn’t something I personally mind. There are, however, a lot of interesting politics surrounding the promulgation of the alphabet, including a string of high-profile assassinations--if SFD is historical/political-thriller-meets-action-film, then TWDR is historical/political-thriller-meets-murder-mystery, and it’s an incredibly tightly written and satisfying story whose pieces fall into place perfectly. Though not the sprawling epic that SFD is, TWDR is an emotional journey and an extremely well-written story with a TON of goodies if you’re as excited about linguistics as I am.

4. White Christmas (2011). My first non-sageuk on this list! White Christmas is, in a lot of ways, an odd drama. It’s an 8-episode special, and featured largely (at the time) new talent. it’s also neither a historical work nor romance-focused, but instead a short but intense psychological thriller/murder mystery.

The premise is this: Seven students at a super elite boarding school tucked away in the mountains receive mysterious black letters that compel them to remain on campus during the one vacation of the year. The letters describe various “sins” that the author accuses the students of committing, as well as the threat of a “curse” as well as an impending death. The students quickly find that they’re stranded alone at the school with a murderer in their midst, as they are forced to confront their shared histories and individual traumas to figure out 1) why they’ve been sent the letters, and 2) how to make it out alive. At the center of the survival game the characters find themselves in is a recurring question: “Are monsters born, or can they be made?”

If you’ve been following me for a while, it’s easy to see why I was drawn to this drama. In terms of setup and tone, it’s Zero Escape. In theme, it’s Naoki Urasawa’s Monster. It’s Lord of the Flies meets Dead Poets Society. or as one of my mutuals swyrs@ put it, Breakfast Club meets Agatha Christie. The story is flawlessly paced with not a scene wasted. There’s so much good foreshadowing and use of symbolic imagery, and though I’ve watched it at least 3-4 times, I always find interesting new details to analyze. The plot twists (though not so meta-breaking as ZE) are absolutely nuts, and aside from the somewhat questionable ending, the story is just really masterfully written.

Above all, though, WC is excellent for its character studies. Though I typically tend to stay away from shows that center around teenagers because I don’t find their struggles and experiences particularly relatable, WC does such an excellent job of picking apart every character psychologically, showing their traumas, their desires, their fears, and their insecurities. We see these kids at their most violent and cruel, but also their most vulnerable and honest. Their stories and motivations are so profoundly human that I found even the worst and most despicable characters painfully sympathetic at times, as cowardly and hypocritical and unhinged as they became.

Like I said, it’s only 8 episodes long with probably the best rewatch value on this list. My only complaints about it are its ending, as well as its relative lack of female characters, but otherwise I would absolutely recommend.

5. Signal (2016). Okay, this might be the recency bias talking because I just finished this series but I'm sure but I'm still reeling at the mind-screw of an ending and I feel like it deserves a place on this spot just for that.

Signal is a crime thriller based on a number of real-life incidents that happened in Korea in the last 30 or so years. In short, a young profiler from the year 2015, who has a grudge against the police after witnessing their incompetence and corruption twice as a child, happens to find a mysterious walkie-talkie that seems to be able to send and receive messages from the past. on the other end is an older detective from 2000 who tells him that he’s about to start receiving messages from his younger self, back in 1989. Through the seemingly sporadic radio communications, the two men work together to solve a series of cold cases, which begin to change the past and alter the timeline.

As they solve these cases, expose corruption within the police department, and correct past injustices, the two men (along with a third, female detective who has connections to both of them) also begin to unravel the mysteries of their pasts, as well as why and how they came to share this connection.

Like WC, the story and pacing of this drama were flawless, reminding me of an extended movie rather than a TV series. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and the 16-episode run went by in no time at all. I always love timeline shenanigans and explorations of causality and fate and the consequences of changing the past, and this show has oodles of that peppered with the heartbreakingly tragic human connections and stories that the main characters share. The main pairing has great chemistry and gave me exactly the pain I crave from a doomed timeline romance, and the cinematography and soundtrack were also beautiful, which also contributed to the polished, cinema-like feel.

My only complaint is that I wish that the ending felt more like an ending, such that the drama could stand on its own. I do realize this is because there’s a second season coming, but right now the show feels somewhat incomplete, ending on a huge, ambiguous cliffhanger/sequel hook and with several loose ends. I obviously can’t give a final verdict until the entire thing airs (and I typically don’t like multi-season shows, so I will wait for the next season to come out both reluctantly and begrudgingly), but even where the show leaves off I still did enjoy it immensely.

...And now, some brief thoughts on the other 5 shows I’ve watched, because I ran out of steam and have less to say about these:

6. Healer (2014-2015). It’s been a few years since I’ve seen this show, but I remember being really impressed by this drama at the time, especially the storyline. Unfortunately though I don’t remember too much about the drama itself, which is a shame. It’s a mystery/thriller, I think, and there is hacking and crimes involved? The main character is a very cute and sweet tabloid writer and she falls in love with a mysterious and cool action boy who helps her uncover the truth behind a tragic incident that relates to her past, or something. Judging from my liveblog it seems like this was an extremely emotional journey, and I enjoyed the main couple (who are both very attractive) a lot, and it was just overall a cathartic and feel-good experience. I feel like I should rewatch this drama at some point?

7. Rooftop Prince (2012). It’s also been forever since I watched this show but I remember thinking it was hilarious and delightful and I definitely cried a lot though I do not remember why (probably something something time travel, something something reincarnation/fated lovers??). I do remember that the premise is that a Joseon-era prince and several of his servants accidentally time travel into modern-day Seoul and end up meeting the main character who is the future reincarnation of his love (?) and he is hilariously anachronistic and also insufferably pretentious, which the MC absolutely does not cut him any slack for, and they have an extremely good dynamic.

8. Coffee Prince (2007). I watched this around the same time as Rooftop Prince and I remember really enjoying it! it’s basically just SKKS, but the modern cafe AU, and I mean that in the best way possible? It definitely shares a lot of the same tropes--crossdressing/tomboy female lead, sexually questioning male lead who falls in love with her despite being “straight,” very good chemistry and also extremely charming secondary characters.

9. Shut Up Flower Boy Band (2012). This show...Was just OK. I enjoyed it at the time, but I can’t say I found it particularly memorable. As I said, I don’t typically find stories about high school students particularly relatable, and the battle of the bands-type plot was interesting enough at the time but didn’t really leave a lasting impression. As expected, the music was pretty good. I kind of watched this mostly to hear Sung Joon sing tbh?

10. Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People (2017). I wanted to like this show. I really did. I wouldn’t say it was bad, but the beginning was painfully slow, and I only really enjoyed the last 10 episodes or so, when the vive la révolution arc finally started kicking off. The pacing was challenging--the pre-timeskip dragged on about twice as long as it needed to, and I just wasn’t really interested in the Amogae/Yiquari storyline very much. I also really, really disliked all the romances in the show, especially the main pairing, since I didn’t particularly love either the male or the female leads until pretty late in the show. Overall I think I would have enjoyed the show more if the first 2/3 of it was about half as long, and it either developed the romance better or cut it out altogether.

What I’m thinking of watching next:

1. Chuno (2010). Mostly because the soundtrack to this show is so goddamn good, but also because I’m craving more historical dramas with good sword fights after SFD. I was kind of hoping Rebel would fill that need but I was a little disappointed tbh?

2. Warrior Baek Dong Soo (2011). Same reasons as above, honestly. also has a very good soundtrack, and Ji Chang Wook, who is a known nice face-haver, doing many very cool sword fights.

3. Mr. Sunshine (2018). Late Joseon era is something I’ve never really seen before in media so I’m pretty intrigued? Also Byun Yo Han was one of my favorites from SFD and I definitely want to see him in more things.

4. Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung (2019). A coworker recommended this to me and the trailer looks delightful. first of all it’s a sageuk with the gorgeous and talented Shin Se Kyoung in it playing a smart and plucky female lead, which have historically been extremely good to me, but also it gives me massive SKKS vibes, so how could I not.

5. My Country: The New Age (2019). This caught my attention because it’s based on the same historical events as SFD, so it features some of the same characters. I am very very interested in Jang Hyuk’s take on Yi Bang Won, even if he is less of a main character here compared to SFD, and he’s already an adult so he’ll already be well on his way to bastardhood. I also hear it’s very heartbreaking, which is instant eyes emoji for me?

6. Chicago Typewriter (2017). It’s about freedom fighters from the colonization era, which I’m very intrigued by after The Handmaiden and Pachinko, plus a reincarnation romance. I am very predictable in my choice of tropes. Also, Yoo Ah In is in it.

7. Arthdal Chronicles (2019-). Ok, it’s a gorgeous-looking historical fantasy set in Korea written by the same writers as TWDR and SFD, plus it has not just one but TWO Song Joong Ki characters, one of which is a pure, doe-eyed soft boy and the other an evil long-haired fae prince looking asshole who I hear is a complete and utter Unhinged Bastard Supreme. Nothing has ever been more Camille Bait than this, but unfortunately this show hasn’t finished airing, which does pain me deeply. speaking of,

8. Kingdom (2019-). It’s a fantasy sageuk with zombies, is about the extent I know about this show. The fact that it also hasn’t finished airing turns me off a bit but it looks absolutely gorgeous and I also just found out it was written by the same writer as Signal, so,,,,,,,,,

9. Gunman in Joseon (2014). I honestly don’t expect too much from this drama but I just enjoy its premise a lot? From what I understand it’s just Percy from Critical Role, but make it Joseon era.......Like, they just straight up took a Shadow the Hedgehog, “let’s make a sageuk, but guns,” approach, and I kind of unironically love that. Also the soundtrack kicks ass, which like...you can really see where my priorities lie here, huh,

10. Misaeng (2014). I don’t remember at this point why this is on my list but I found it in the Keep note I have of all the media I want to watch?? I have no idea what this show is about, except that it takes place in an office. Apparently Byun Yo Han is also in this one? I’m sorry this is the only non-sageuk or sageuk-adjacent show in this list, I know what I’m about, and it’s fancy old-timey costumes and cool braids.

#/#//#///#////#/////#cam thoughts #KDrama #this is the most self-indulgent thing i've written in a while but it felt good to shout my many thoughts into this void of a blog #also i typed most of this out a few days ago since which i already started watching misaeng #so far it is very good but also the exact opposite of what i was expecting..whatever that is??#long post /#Television

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writer-or-whatever · 4 years

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@paris-geller-was-straightwashed tagged me to name ten characters I like from ten different things! So it’s happening (after it spent many many days sitting in my drafts half finished, whoops), Yeehaw! Also thanks for the tag, pal! :)

They’re not really named in any order other than the order they came to mind in (and also I’m taking a page out of @paris-geller-was-straightwashed ‘s book and do little descriptions Bc why not). I hope you’re all ready for me to type incompressible nonsense about some of my favs!

1. Alec Hardison (Leverage)

He fits my “brilliant but a dumbass who is also a smartass” character type. Literally any character who has a genius level IQ, not a single ounce of common sense, and a witty one-liner for any occasion is automatically my favorite. (And, okay, Hardison has a bit of common sense, but he’s still a bit of a dumbass. Plus, a witty character who is a part of my fav OT3? Of course). Also he (and the other four main characters on this show) is such a well developed character and there’s a reason I’ve seen this show for what is going to be the fifth time once I finish the last one and a half seasons left of my rewatch.

2. Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

He’s awkward, struggles with his desires, emotions, and morality, and has one of, if not the best, redemption arc that I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. He encapsulates repressed confused teenager and I used to relate to him big time (trying to figure out whether what you want is worth it, if you want what your parents want for you, and if you’re willing to sacrifice parts of yourself or people who are important to you to reach a goal that you feel like you’re supposed to want. I have a lot of feelings about zuko and I’m not sorry about it). Also I’m pretty sure he’s a disaster bi, thank you very much.

3. Timothy McGee (NCIS)

Okay, I’m only on season seven on NCIS, but I highly doubt I’m ever going to not like Tim. McGee is simply babey and that is all. He’s brilliant, he’s a published writer (!!! Ain’t that the dream) and he only does it in his free time, and he’s had some of the most character development since his introduction and his entire arc is like very nice and gradual and realistic and I just love him, alright. Every found family has a youngest sibling, and Tim is NCIS’s.

4. Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)

It’s a hard choice between Rory, Paris, and Jess for Gilmore Girls, tbh (a lot of sometimes angry book nerds, whoops). But something about Rory just speaks to me. She’s smart (and sometimes really dumb but mood) and driven and a little awkward and well-read and open minded and witty and well spoken and gahhh. She was also a small bit of my bisexual awakening so 🤷‍♂️ what can you do.

5. Harry Potter (Harry Potter)

My favorite disaster bi from my favorite series in the history of ever (at least so far). Harry Potter (both the series and the boy) is what I come back to a lot, and so of course he had to make it onto the list.

6. Chandler Bing (FRIENDS)

Sarcastic, smart, smartass, dumbass, need I say more?

Also, a king of existential despair and big same, bud.

7. Leo Fitz (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D)

He’s awkward and a genius and a smartass (tho he does have some common sense, usually). He has so much character development and one of the few canon relationships I really adore. He has so much happen to him and yet he’s just... fitz. And he grows and evolves but he’s still the same fitz that he starts as and I’m just love him a lot.

8. Peter Parker (Marvel)

I love the MCU Peter Parker but, tbh, I love most adaptations of Peter Parker. I used to watch the old cartoons when I was a kid (and I think there was a more recent cartoon as well) and I have several Spider-Man video games and I just love him a lot. He was my first favorite character and also brilliant but a dumbass who is also a smartass, so that’s even better.

9. James Maguire (Derry Girls)

(This is from a show I hadn’t even watched yet when I started making this post, whoops, and now I love it) But honestly James is just my favorite idk. He’s in possession of the groups singular braincell the most (other than probably Claire) but he’s still kind of a dumbass. He’s the outsider of the group but also he’s definitely a part of the group and also we love a found family arc kind of situation and he had it.

10. Cirilla (The Witcher (the TV show))

Again, another new show. But Ciri is my favorite out of a cast of characters that I really really love. She just has, in my opinion, one of the most emotionally interesting arcs I’ve seen in a while because she goes from being a princess to being on the run and tries to fend for herself and figure out her destiny and I just love her and want good things for her. Plus, there are some found family feels and therefore found family fics and that’s very Yeehaw.

#wow okay great #i finally fucking did it #pals #tag games #(that i finally finished doing)#whoops #favorite characters #rose speaks

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ayankun · 4 years

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yalright let’s do this

AGENTS OF SHIELD SEASON ONE REWATCH COMPLETE BREAKDOWN MEGAPOST

hella spoilers for the entire canon up through season 5, but not 6 because I only saw it the once and am having a hard time remembering ANYthing about it.

I cannot determine specifically what it was about this season that caused to be branded “literal garbage” in my mind-hole for seven years.

Best guesses:

there’s some cheesy stuff that probably didn’t sit well with me at the time, and, at the time, there was no way of knowing that that kind of stuff was going to be ultimately eradicated

there’s some good stuff, like character stuff and plot stuff, but it didn’t successfully implant positive emotional responses in my brain-hole, leading me to be frustrated/offended at its own self-importance

there’s some stuff that just Doesn’t Work. I won’t call anybody out, but there are some main side characters whose casting, in my opinion, leaves much to be desired. when it comes to acting ability, I feel that it’s important to have the ranges of your entire cast match each other. if you’re gonna hire B-listers, at least make sure they’re ALL B-listers. if you’re gonna splurge and get some S-tier talent, pleeeeease don’t embarrass the B-listers by thinking you’re doing them a favor by including them on your project. Understood, this opinion is highly subjective and I can’t expect everyone in front or behind the screen to buy into it, but it’s definitely a pet peeve of mine that causes strong reactions in me*

some of the plots are tired and/or straight up boring. I got through them easily this time through because I was able to focus on the things I like, which is largely character interactions and re-learning the backstory for stuff that I know will continue to be important later on. imagine listening to your grandpa’s stories about his life, but instead of telling you the cool stories about going to the moon or whatever, he’s telling you in great detail about the time he got his shoelaces stuck on like, a rusty nail sticking out of a fence. It’s not a great story but it does explain why his mom only bought him velcro shoes after that and one time when they were trying on shoes in the store a couple of years later, some other kid started making fun of him for having velcro shoes and long story short your grandpa’s relationship with that kid is what got him interested in astrophysics and also he married that kid twenty-five years later -- but right now the story is specifically about spending forty minutes trying not to get tetanus.

Now that I’m older and wiser, what really surprised me throughout, though, was that not only was I not having any type of reaction that validated my “literal garbage” classification, I was noticing that there was A Lot of stuff that ticked a lot of boxes.

I’m talking technical stuff, the textbook basic filmmaking stuff, the stuff that I subjectively find objectively “Good” because it means that creative decisions were made with intent and were also executed proficiently enough to make that intent clear.

I’m talking SYMMETRICAL NARRATIVE which has to be one of my all-time favorite techniques, one that I personally use a lot, and I’m very biased in responding favorably when I see it, so I think ultimately this is a huge reason why this season cannot be classified as garbage this time around. Because it shows that they cared! It shows that they had A Plan! It’s an emotionally satisfying technique that can be used to great effect when tipping the audience off to how far we’ve come from where we started. It creates this nice tidy structural loop which I find very appealing.

Just real quick, you see this in individual episodes or even scenes, too. Here’s a classic A+ example from episode 2:

Simmons has given Skye a bottle of water as a gag because that’s what happens on planes, and that bit is a set up to this bit, where Coulson is talking about how he rebuilt the Bus from the “studs up” and it demands to be treated with kid gloves; ergo:

Only to have the thing completely wrecked over the course of the episode. In the denouement, “just starting to warm up to this place,” Coulson says ruefully, righting a broken glass as if that will put the plane back together; Skye immediately tosses a coaster down and moves the glass on top of it.

As a callback, it juxtaposes the starting-state and ending-state in your mind and highlights the contrast between the two. And it’s also a nice character-building beat where you, the audience, get to observe Skye’s character in that she remembers a trivial detail that happened to be important to Coulson. You also get to see Coulson observing the same, and you understand a little bit more about both of them. *chef’s kiss*

So this is a pretty powerful and common technique, and I guess you could say that any well-resolved narrative is by definition going to recall you to the specifics of how it started. Like ep 1 we start with Mike and Ace, their call and response “what are we/we’re a team,” and an understanding of Mike’s desire to be his kid’s guardian and hero and his desperate search for the tools that will allow him to become that. In the finale, we see the pay off where Ace (via Skye) reminds Mike of this motivation, and Mike is finally in the position to protect his kid by taking out the Big Bad.

But I don’t want to go through the list to demonstrate that everyone’s character arcs likewise left them in a thematically resolved position relative to where they started. Obviously this is an expectation of all (well structured) narratives.

(And I don’t really mean to talk about callbacks themselves, such as Fitz’s obsession with monkeys or May’s repeated demand of “don’t call me that.”)

Stuff that only comes up at the beginning and the end. Here’s the kind of symmetry that I mean:

Skye’s use of GPS encryption and the location of the diner where she first meets Mike. Both topics come up in ep 1, and are revisited in ep 20 when she’s stalling for time against Ward and brings him to the diner by telling him that it’s the GPS coordinates necessary for decrypting the drive. It says, last time you were here, Skye, you were living out of a van and fangirling over people with superpowers; now you’re an official agent of SHIELD (fun while it lasted, anyway) and you’re currently doublecrossing your own doublecrosser who was directly responsible for transforming you into the competent spy you are today.

Same thing: the only time we see Lola fly is at the end of ep 1, when Coulson and Skye are heading back to the Bus, and in ep 20 when Coulson rescues Skye from off the Bus.

Ep 2: 0-8-4. We’re introduced to the very first object with the titular designation, and Simmons idly wonders “imagine what it would do to a person.” Ep 22, it’s used to evaporate Garrett. Same ep, we also meet the little, what even is it, that dendrotoxin EMP (??? I don’t recall whether the gadget is named) that Ward uses, and Coulson uses it in ep 17 to incapacitate Garrett.

Similarly, all the cool alien gadgets we spent the first few episodes gathering and locking up, including that first 0-8-4, are all broken out into the wrong hands in ep 18.

Also in ep 2 we are introduced to the idea of being thrown out of the airplane and Skye & co specifically prevent Ward from being sucked out. We’re introduced to the concept of Coulson’s cellist! Fury also makes a cameo (”talkin to me about authority”) !

It’s a little later on, but ep 6 has Simmons jumping out the plane, and Ward proving his Good Teammate status by jumping out after her (while Fitz is struggling on his way to do the same). Ep 21, Ward boots FitzSimmons out the plane, and in ep 22 Fitz finally has the chance to properly save Simmons himself.

Ep 19 Coulson has a chance to save his cellist (again)

Ep 22, Fury comes back all Deus ex Machina and relinquishes authority of SHIELD directly to Coulson.

There’s also some dialogue recycled on purpose to make a point, like Fitz-Simmons introductory scene is recreated almost verbatim in ep 21:

Ep 2, talking to Skye about his mission vs ep 18 talking to Raina about his mission

(gotta admit, the man took this role seriously. check out that cheekbone game he achieved in such a short time)

And again, Ep 1 Ward vs Ep 18 Ward. They even framed it the same!!

All this to say, Season 1 is Structurally Sound and it has my blessing.

Now let’s move on to the list of things I liked that surprised me:

It’s pretty well polished, visually. Joss Whedon’s veteran control of the director’s chair is readily apparent in the pilot, setting the visual tone for the series. There are some made-for-tv shots over the course of the season, sure, and the least impressive compositions tend to involve CGI backdrops, but they do make the most of their interior sets and work hard to dress up various LA locations to, er, inspire the idea of the international scope of the show. In my last update, I talked about ep 8 The Well in the context of Quality Directing, so it definitely goes above and beyond the basic shot-reverse shot when it wants to.

Ward. Just for the record, I think Brett Dalton is great at his job and really brought exactly what they wanted to this character. Eps 1 and 2 are a little shaky and stiff, but everyone’s performances are, as they let these characters coalesce around them. I remember not liking Ward when I was watching this live, and honestly I think this was intentional. He’s that character that you expect that you’re expected to like, you know, the traditional cocky savior type that lots of those fancy heroes are. But because he’s so tropey in his characterization, you’re just ... over it? And then when they flip the script and you’re supposed to hate him -- WOW. It’s like two Christmases at once. They took something you were already doing and rewarded you for it.

I’m not unaware of the “redeem grant ward” phenomenon. I’m aware that the character had fans who were honestly drawn to and appreciative of the character before that persona was revealed to be a lie.

And honestly, it’s not that I like OR dislike Ward at all. As a person. It’s annoying that he’s a cocky bad-boy. But it’s sweet when he plays nice with Simmons. It’s embarrassing that he and May have “a thing.” But it’s cathartic when he opens up to Skye about his past. And Then, the sequence where we know he’s Hydra but Skye doesn’t. And Then, the sequence where Skye knows he’s Hydra but he doesn’t. And Then, his weird yucky confusion where he still wants to pursue something with Skye or doesn’t want to put down puppy-dog-eyed Fitz.

As a character, Ward is a great character. His set up is so bland that the twist does appear to come out of nowhere, but on a rewatch all the groundwork is there. His characterization as a baddie is enthralling. I’m forecasting into season 2 a bit, but you want to follow his nefarious exploits just as much as you want to see his ex-friends smash his face in. Brett Dalton played it right, A+ good job. It makes Framework!Ward just that much more of a beautiful thing, to get to see what it would have been like if the Season 1 persona had actually been the man.

Also as covered in the last update, I was really very pleased to see how much character work was being done in this season. Because I only watch and rewatch starting from the second season, there are important plot points that I’d been grudgingly attributing to this season about which I’d forgotten the specifics, such as, what’s the deal with Gravitonium, howcome we hate Ward so much, where did they get that memory-torture-machine, why are you acting like I recognize Titus Welliver’s character? What surprised me was how much of a focus there is on character development as well. A lot of good origin story stuff, like how green FitzSimmons is and how soft and good-hearted Skye is and all the reasons we respect and trust May and all the reasons we would follow Coulson to the ends of the earth. Watching a found family start to put down roots is worth it, too, ten times out of ten.

The tie-in stuff wasn’t as overstated and stifling as I remembered it being. They were allowed quite a long leash even this far back. Centipede is based on Extremis, but helms a a unique narrative. The Asgardians-of-the-week are just MacGuffins for driving character stories. Turns out all of SHIELD has been Hydra all along! Sucks to be you, a show about the Agents of SHIELD ... oh wait, Daddy MCU’s insane twist is mirrored in the DNA of your team’s composition AND baked into your overall season arc? Well then. Carry on!

Engaging with Season 1 explicitly as a prequel is a powerful thing. First time through, I had the distinct realization that “too much of a good thing” was at play regarding Coulson. He’s everybody’s favorite MCU character in 2013, hands down, but ... getting intimate with him for 40 minutes a week really waters down his mysterious G-man appeal. BUT. After spending six+ years with the man, Season 1!Coulson is a precursor to the 3-dimensional Director you’ll fall in love with, rather than a distortion of the one-liner MCU!Coulson you thought you wanted.

So what’s next! Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and here all all the things I associate with AoS that were not present in Season 1:

Robot hand.

DaISy JoHnsOn

AGENT/DIRECTOR MACK where is he I need him

Fitz’s facial hair

Their underground SSR base with the exposed brick, I miss that place all the time

Hive, Bobbi*, Hunter, Kyle MacLachlan, Maveth (everything** about Seasons 2 and 3, really). Robbie Reyes. Aida and Kasius!! I know these things are temporary, but they’re so important to the best bits and I love them.

Getting to see episode after episode where there are scenes at a time containing a majority (up to 100%) of women and/or POC characters with executive agency, and none of those characters are token or temporary but were placed there with intent to normalize a diversified cast.

My absolute favorite episode of all time, 4x15 Self Control.

Things I am not looking forward to:

**Lincoln. I’ve seen these seasons four times and just now I had to google his name because I wasn’t sure it wasn’t Logan. He’s garbage and I’m glad he’s dead. Other opinions are available.

Misc. Thoughts

*I said I wouldn’t name names but Adrianne Palicki is a C-lister who can swing a B+ if the stars align. I love Bobbi, though, especially the way the character’s reputation precedes her, how her adorableness complements her badassness. In fact, the character’s a great foil to May, who is also a badass lady and S-tier agent but has a completely different approach to being those things. Bobbi’s a reminder that badassness and aloofness are not correlated at all. Also there’s a headcanon out there that she’s non-binary (one of the reasons she prefers Bobbi over Barbara) and that is a concept I can get behind. Bobbi’s perfect and I’ll fight you if you don’t agree.

Poor Trip!!!!!!! When you always start from Season 2, he’s really just a flash in the pan, there and gone. I’ve always been like, “well, he didn’t really have a home here, no carved-out niche, so I guess getting Coulson’d and becoming something to avenge is the best a character like him is gonna get.” But now that I see that he comes late to the game as a literal stand in for Ward, his story is that much sadder. He was never intended to BE a character. He’s introduced with Garrett as a pawn/distraction during this arc’s who-is-Hydra shell game, he’s kept to demonstrate what kind of friend and agent Ward should have been, his defining character trait as a gentle flirt only serves as a catalyst for Fitz’s coming to terms with his feelings for Simmons. The poor guy is just a walking plot point, up until the bitter end. :<

I had entirely forgotten and/or never tracked the fact that Fury put together Coulson’s team specifically to monitor him after project T.A.H.I.T.I. I’d forgotten the distrust Coulson has for May after he perceives that she has betrayed him by being a part of this. It’s a season-specific reveal that is literally never mentioned again. It’s important to the fabric of the narrative of that particular arc, offering up May alongside Ward and Trip as fodder for the aforementioned shell game, but the true inciting incident of this entire show just gets swept under the rug and ceases to matter. I’m kind of :/ about that.

When you’re bi and non-binary, you’ll get a lot of mileage out of wanting to be/be with Daisy and/or Fitz, don’t judge me

In conclusion, Season 1 is the opposite of literal garbage, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is my favorite show and my favorite MCU movie, Daisy Johnson is my favorite Marvel superhero (not related to Season 1 but still true), and nobody had better spoil Season 7 for me pleaAAASE don’t let it happen.

#agents of shield #aos #so I guess this is what I ended up doing today #v productive

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makeste · 5 years

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BnHA Chapter 121: New Semester

Previously on BnHA: After an intense shounen throwdown, Kacchan emerged victorious. Then All Might showed up and revealed he had been spying on them. He explained to Katsuki why he chose Deku to inherit his quirk, and told him what happened at Kamino wasn’t Katsuki’s fault. Then he gave him a mini hug, no big deal, I didn’t cry or anything. Anyway, he told Deku and Katsuki that heroes need to have Katsuki’s strength and Deku’s spirit both. And he told them that if they could recognize each other and raise each other up, they would both become the best heroes. At this point that was more than good enough for me, but then to cap it all off, Kacchan was officially inducted into the Club of People Who Know Deku’s Secret, and the circle of trust was expanded. Ugh, this whole little mini-arc has been incredible. Where do we even go from here.

Today on BnHA: All Might lets Kacchan in on The Whole Deal with All for One and all that stuff. Kacchan and Deku become Official Rivals™. Aizawa grounds them and sends them off to bed. The next morning the rest of class 1-A (i.e. the actual good kids who don’t cause trouble and don’t sneak out to beat the living shit out of each other in the middle of the night) heads off to the opening ceremony for the new term. Kacchan and Deku have an actual conversation with no shouting and no crying and no one is getting punched or dying or whatnot! It’s less than ten sentences long but MY GOD PEOPLE IT’S A START. Class 1-B shows up for two seconds to remind everyone that they still exist. Rat Principal gives a long and boring speech and mentions the word “successors” exactly once. All Might is all, “successors, eh?” and has a flashback to when he was first hired by U.A. prior to meeting Deku, and Rat Principal was all “hey we got someone for you here.” WHO COULD THIS MYSTERIOUS PERSON BE.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 151 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

I wonder if I’m emotionally prepared to continue this shit. well here goes

haHA WE’RE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS SCENE OMG. IT’S STILL GOING. SURE, WHY NOT. I LOVE IT, LET’S CONTINUE

All Might says he’s sorry Bakugou ended up learning his secret. not in a “why does this asshole know” way, but in a “that’s a huge burden to have been carrying” way

so basically All Might understands how heavy that was for him along with everything else, so he’s apologizing

Kacchan says it’s no big and it’s too risky to tell anyone else anyway. yeah no shit

OH MY GOD

HE’S GETTING THE SAME TREATMENT AS DEKU. THE FULL STORY ABOUT ALL MIGHT AND ALL FOR ONE

which, yeah. seeing as Kacchan actually met All for One face-to-face, he knows about that part of it even more intimately than Deku

and also if he understands the whole thing and knows how long it’s been going on, it might ease some of his lingering guilt just a bit more. because All Might’s right, it really was something that was going to happen eventually no matter what

you guys I’m just really enjoying Kacchan being part of the inner circle so much. this means he gets to be in on all important plot-related things from here on out. because you can’t very well trust him with this and then not keep him in the loop moving forward

(ETA: although I’d like them to do a better job of this! granted I’m still like 60 chapters behind, so they might have caught him up on the specific thing I’m thinking of by this point. but if not, I’m officially launching Keep Kacchan in the Loop 2019 dammit. who do I need to get in touch with. what’s Horikoshi’s email)

anyway, obviously they’re not showing the whole scene because IT WOULD TAKE SO MUCH TIME!! but please show me Kacchan’s reaction now

okay good they’re showing it

lol now that he knows, he’s even more annoyed that Deku went and blabbed to him on their second fucking day of school lmao

(ETA: to be fair, it’s only because he went and challenged Deku and practically blew him up and then had a meltdown after. on their second day. and now we have this shit happening at the start of their second term. they still have two more terms and then two more years of this. will they survive?? will we survive?! stay tuned!!)

and All Might’s telling Kacchan again -- because yeah, he already did, but this is important for him to understand -- that it wasn’t his fault

and obviously words alone can’t make that kind of feeling go away completely. but he understands it in full now and knows the whole story, and to hear All Might tell him so firmly should help a lot

and now there’s a character development moment happening! no big. it’s just Bakugou having possibly the single most important and defining moment in his life which is going to change his entire course from here on out haha. it’s cool. I’m cool

(ETA: even higher. implying that Deku is now the one to beat. the goal post. the watermark. just casually acknowledging it. “chosen one.” no bitterness, no jealousy, and no underestimating him or chalking him down as not worthy either. even as he declares that he’s going to surpass him, he simultaneously recognizes that Deku is still going to be right up there with him at the top. of course. he’s the one All Might chose. how could he not be.

yeah, don’t mind me. I’m just gonna bask in this moment for just a sec. I fucking love rivals, guys. I really, really do.)

how fucking great is this. how fucking perfect is this. they hashed everything out and it didn’t wreck their dynamic or make it stale or boring. on the contrary, it now has more potential than ever before. they’re still rivals. they’ll still push themselves to become better while setting each other as the benchmark. and thus pushing each other to become better as well. but the confusion and hostility and resentment is gone. this is healthy rivalry. they’re not going to all of a sudden become buddy-buddy, but they understand each other now, and there’s a balance there that was missing before

YOU SEE, THEY CAN STILL SQUABBLE AND ANNOY EACH OTHER. but it’s so much purer now

THANK YOU ALL MIGHT. THE REAL MVP

can I just say, in hindsight, Kacchan’s emotions were going to come bursting out of him at some point no matter what. you could see during the fight how hard he was struggling to control them and to clamp back down on them, but he kept losing that battle and breaking down. but All Might is the reason he and Deku were able to resolve things so calmly and healthily in the end. he took full advantage of the fact that they both respect him so much lol. he’s such a good dad and I want him to take both of these kids out for ice cream

-- oh my god

speaking of good dads

well actually this one’s more of a mom

children you’ve interrupted this man’s beauty sleep and I’m afraid you must pay

also

can we just stop and appreciate it for a little bit. why does his hair look better in his off hours than it fucking does at work, honestly. were you just bored and wanting a change of pace. I guess it doesn’t really matter does it

does Aizawa’s ponytail have a fanclub you guys. asking for a friend

All Might’s telling him to hold up a sec and that it was his fault! wow taking one for the team

also can we take another moment and appreciate how fucking cute lil Deku and Kacchan are, being sat down and scolded like the troublemakers they are

now we’re having a quick flashback to All Might meeting Aizawa outside

Aizawa’s telling him about the fight, and All Might is all “I think I know what’s going on, can you leave it to me?”

and yes, just a reminder that even though Aizawa always seems to know everything, and even though he’s a trustworthy guy, he doesn’t actually know about One for All (even though I’d argue that he should, since Deku is his student too)

so now he’s confused and asking what this has to do with All Might, and

I fucking love so much that Kacchan gets to be a part of these moments now omfg

good thing All Might is a smooth fucking operator

fucking look at this master at work, though? he sticks to the truth enough to keep the whole thing plausible, and manages to let Aizawa in on the fact that Bakugou’s mental health has been shaky lately, so now he knows about it too and can be on the alert for it if it becomes an issue again. and he even helps make it so the boys will hopefully be in less trouble

so Aizawa looks a bit more understanding now (but like. still Aizawa though), but he says “nonetheless, rules are rules” and that he’ll dole out an appropriate punishment

fifty points from Gryffindor. but at least he won’t fucking expel them lol

who do you fucking think

Kacchan’s owning up to it because he’s a good, honest boy who owns up to his shit and doesn’t try to weasel out

and Deku is also just such a good fucking kid because he immediately adds that he fought back. yeah, after about a whole chapter’s worth of Kacchan diving at you trying to blow you up, and only after he broke down and started fucking crying and you realized it was a therapy fight

anyways. so they’re grounded

TWELVE YEARS DUNGEON. EVERYONE, DUNGEON. SEVEN YEARS, NO TRIALS

lmao this is why he’s the mom. the strict disciplinarian these kids fucking need

I want to read Bakugou’s written statement of regret so bad

(ETA: I imagine it being a single page with giant font containing only two words: “I REGRET.” he feels it’s sufficient. Aizawa just stares for a moment after Kacchan hands it to him. and then he just shrugs and he’s like, “eh. okay.”)

Aizawa’s also yelling at them to go to the infirmary if they need to. because yeah they beat the living fuck out of each other. Bakugou’s face got folded in on itself, and he slammed Deku into the concrete from like three stories up lmao

buuut, he says to “heal your selfish injuries by yourselves” and not to bother Recovery Girl. yeah as if they want to be chewed out by anyone else tonight

what are you going to do with these kids I swear. omgggg I love this

so now it’s morning and news spreads fast

lollll I love it!! so much!! the best!

GIRL YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW. IT WAS A WHOLE THING. BUT LONG STORY SHORT, YES

Deku says... it’s hard to put into words. ffff

now Iida’s telling them off. because he also thinks he is their dad. poor BakuDeku dealing with dads scolding them left and right

Shouto’s asking Bakugou what he’s going to do about the provisional license supplementary lessons and Bakugou says it’s none of his business. sorry for caring

but really Shouto don’t worry. he just likes to go about his character development the hard way is all

so now everyone’s leaving

AND WE’RE STICKING WITH THESE GUYS

I have no idea what’s going to happen but I’m loving it so much

BAKUGOU IS INITIATING CONVERSATION!?!?!?!

(ETA: nope, Mangastream got it wrong. it should be Deku asking Kacchan what he thought of his shoot style. I would have just posted FA’s scan here instead, but then my reaction wouldn’t have made sense)

NO I DON’T KNOW, WHAT ABOUT HIS SHOOT STYLE

there’s a really long pause, which it turns out it just Bakugou not knowing how to do this without being awkward about it

nothing to see here, just Bakugou fucking Katsuki giving free advice to his rivalfriend Deku because they have a healthy rival relationship. just a little thing we like to call Character Development. it’s how we do things here in BnHA. we develop our fucking characters

so Deku’s asking him about it, and Kacchan’s like, ‘how can I make sure this is still surly’

heeeeee

:))))

(ETA: and now I am going to post the correct translation though because I love this part.

:))))))))))))

I now have a headcanon of Kacchan following through on his vow to adopt Deku’s “observe everyone else and learn from them in order to get stronger” philosophy by starting his own stalker notebook (in secret. obviously. no one can ever know). because if it works for Deku then he should at least try it, goddammit. only his notebook doesn’t work at all because his observations mostly consist of things like “fuck this asshole” and “her quirk is such bullshit” and “when he punches it pisses me off.” one day the others find it and they’re just like “holy shit Bakugou I can’t believe you have a burn book.”)

I expect we’re going to see a lot of the back of Bakugou’s head during these moments in the future lol. I don’t mind. LET HIM KEEP HIS DIGNITY

so now we’re cutting to U.A.

they’re heading to one of the training grounds and Iida is telling everyone to move swiftly and DON’T BREAK THE LINE!!!

IIDA FUCKING TENYA YOU’RE A PEACH

(ETA: he wakes up at night in a cold sweat thinking about this)

ah, interesting. Ochako says Aizawa wasn’t at the entrance ceremony either

(ETA: so far this doesn’t seem to be plot related that I can recall, so I’m going to assume he just wanted to skip out on the boring speeches and have a nap instead)

here comes Monoma. I was wondering when he would hear this news

what are the odds he failed his own damn self

lol Kirishima’s asking the same thing

but Monoma’s laughing

oh snap

oh yeah!? well! our kids had character development! so

lmao Todoroki can’t handle the shame

HE’S LET YOU ALL DOWN

oh my god finally it’s that pony girl from before! I definitely looked at those bonus pages too soon lol

she has a weird accent. it’s cause she’s American, I remember that from her bio

anyway she says that their two classes will have a class together during second semester. like a one-time thing? or like a regular class. because that’ll be nuts

(ETA: I think that maybe this is either happening right now in the manga or just wrapped up, because I feel like there was a lot of class B stuff making the rounds on tumblr over the past couple of months)

Monoma’s whispering something to her

omg

NO DON’T STOP. TEACH HER MORE

oh shit look who it is!!!

Sero says he seems a little “rougher” now. does he? idk

he should have been put in the hero course after the sports festival. and since they’re showing him again and it’s the start of a new semester, can I dare to hope that they’re about to rectify that?

so all the students are lined up for the opening ceremony, and the Rat Principal (whose name I finally memorized in spite of my best efforts. but to me he’ll always still be Rat Principal, so there, Nezu) is waving at everyone

he’s rambling on about how everyone needs proper sleep. wow what a captivating speech

this is followed by a page of All Might and Thirteen, which I’m going to post because it does a great job of showing something I was trying not to get too excited about during the BakuDeku fight

namely, the fact that All Might has finally, FINALLY started wearing clothes that actually fit him omgggg

and the fitted shirt/vest/rolled-up sleeves combo looks damn good on him, I gotta say

anyway, so yet again an authority figure is lecturing everyone about the effects of All Might’s absence and how they’re going to face great difficulties moving forward

honestly, by this point they fucking get it. we all get it. shit’s tough

he’s mentioning hero internships that the second and third-year students are engaged in, and I figured it was just more of the same that the first-years did in the previous semester. but Mina and Tsuyu are whispering to each other, and it seems like they don’t know what this is about, so that’s interesting. maybe they do longer internships in the second and third years since they have their provisional licenses by that point

Rat Principal is still talking. I’ll just post the rest of the speech so I don’t have to paraphrase it

yes, everyone is very invested in making sure the new generation of heroes is prepared for the new post-All Might society. it’s great, but we covered this exact same thing less than ten chapters ago at the end of the provisional exam arc. so this is kind of a retread now

now RP is finally stepping down from the podium and bragging about how he kept thing short and sweet. ahaha. funny. jokes

and All Might is reflecting on RP’s use of the word “successors”

and remembering what Bakugou said to Deku the previous night

and he’s flashing back to, I guess, his job interview with RP when he agreed to come teach at U.A.

flashback!RP is sliding a piece of paper toward All Might

and now All Might’s thinking that U.A. used to contact him every once in a while regarding his search for a successor

oh my god

I’m almost positive that this is the guy with wings that I’ve seen in fanart and shit. oh my god

(ETA: lmao it is not. however, now I’m for reals almost positive that I’ve been spoiled on who the wings guy is, which was bound to happen since it’s been two and a half months since I read this chapter, and I’ve only gotten 30 chapters further in that entire time. and also because once I caught up with the anime I gave in and started reading fanfic. so basically I have only myself to blame)

so Rat Principal thought this guy was worthy of being All Might’s successor, huh. well, he might not be wrong about that. in fact, even though Deku is officially the one who inherited One for All, I’m gradually becoming more and more certain that the next “Symbol of Peace” won’t be a single hero at all, but rather multiple individuals, and possibly a whole new generation. but at the very least, I envision Deku and Kacchan being at the top together, the same way Batman and Superman lead the Justice League and Iron Man and Captain America lead the Avengers. and I can just see the other students from U.A. forming a team just like that, and that team being the new Symbol of Peace that keeps evil at bay and brings hope to the world

so yeah. successors. a whole lot of them. at least I hope so

haha and that’s the end of the chapter but I guess we have to skip the bonus content since I already posted it! Tsunotori Pony, who has horns similar to Mina and seems to have nothing to actually do with ponies whatsoever, and who is from America. and is adorable

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ggdeku · 5 years

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Iron Blooded Orphans broke my heart [SPOILERS]

I finished all of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans last night, but the show I once loved made me feel hollow and unsatisfied.

I quickly fell in love with IBO and that feeling persisted through the whole first season. The journey of Tekkadan from Mars to Earth, and that amazing conclusion in Edmonton had marked it solidly as one of my all time favorite Gundam series ever. The strength of IBO to me was it's characters and world building. I was invested in the group of kids taking control of the private military company CGS to help fight for the betterment of their lives while forging deep family bonds. While most of the members of Tekkadan didn't get all that much screen time, I really enjoyed the personalities of the primary characters. Mikazuki and Orga's longtime, co-dependent relationship was really compelling, you could really feel the longtime emotional bonds between them. Kudelia's lofty goal of independence for Mars, combined with Tekkadan's underdog nature made it a group I was really engaged with and emotionally invested in. The antagonists weren't the most compelling, but the dynamic between McGillis, Gaelio, and Carta gave the opposing side some more depth beyond their immediate goals. You got a good sense of what each of those three Gjallarhorn officers were like as people. I also really enjoyed the political struggle of the series, the fight for independence from Earth is a common theme of Gundam, but I thought it was portrayed well here.

I deeply loved this show throughout all of the first season, but the direction taken in season 2 slowly beat me down until I could no longer pretend I was enjoying it. The last four episodes really kicked the wind out of my sails and felt cheap. IBO season 1 had one focused plotline that made sense and felt cohesive all the way through. Season 2 is a bunch of loosely connected mini-arcs with no clear focus, vision, or message. The way character death is handled in this season is one of main reason why I'm upset. It's not just because almost all of the primary characters are killed off, it's the way in which it occurs and the way the epilogue plays out. It doesn't lead to, or accomplish, anything. The ending feels stolen from the characters in a really sick way.

Biscuit's death in the first season had a ton of build up, and we really got to know him as a person and learn about him through his relationships to Orga and the crew. His death informed the decisions and actions of Tekkadan in a meaningful way. In season 2, it felt like the writers just wanted to kill everyone to seem sad or intense, but it doesn't work. By the time Mikazuki and Akihiro are killed in the final episode, I was numb to impact of their death. I didn't feel sad because of their circumstance, I felt sad that the writers drew out this whole series of characters deaths to the point where it felt formulaic and predictable. The deaths of Naze, Amida, and Lafter was unnecessary but drove the plot forward by having Tekkadan take revenge of Jasley Donomikols, which ultimately led to nothing.

Shino, Orga, McGillis, Hush, Akihiro, Mika. They all die losing. Tekkadan utterly loses, but is able to protect the lives of the rest of their crew. If through their sacrifice they were able to create the positive future for their friends, that would be one thing. But they don't and Gjallarhorn wins. Julieta holds the Gundam Barbatos' head on her sword triumphantly, and Rustal Elion maintains his power and influence through successful corruption, controlling the media message on the truth of Tekkadan and McGillis.

The loss and following epilogue really made me angry as I watched. For some reason, despite being shown to be a corrupt leader who crushes everything in his path, Rustal Elion decides to dismantle the Seven Stars system of leadership in Gjallarhorn and reform it as a democratic organization (he, of course, is elected to be it's first leader). Rustal lets Kudelia becomes the chairperson of the newly independent Mars Union and works with her to abolish Human Debris (slave) trafficking. The antagonist won and through his power let the rest of Tekkadan live, all knowing that he unnecessarily killed their friends and tarnished their names as a scapegoat to punish McGillis. The only reason they still live is because of Rustal and they just have to accept it. It's embarrassing and degrading. Yet, everyone seems fine with that (with the obvious exception of Ride).

Watching the epilogue made me to realize that much of the character work throughout the series really didn't make much sense. Rustal Elion specifically. As the main antagonist of the series, we know nothing about him or his ideals. We only see him act as a mustache twirling villain throughout the whole series, but for some reason he ends up enacting McGillis' idea of reforming Gjallarhorn. We have no reason as to why he has done this. It feels really unearned and like a desperate attempt to make a comment about there not being a difference between good and evil, just different pathways for change. This explanation feels extra hollow because the whole show absolutely depicted the different factions as good and evil.

Julieta and Gaelio's ending was ridiculous as well. These two awful characters get a "Let's go eat meat! Anime! lol XD" ending after a whole season of being half-baked uninteresting grunts. Julieta in particular has no character at all. "I need to get stronger" to the ultimate cliche degree. She is a consistently annoying presence that has almost no connections to other characters and offers nothing meaningful to the story through the entire season. While Gaelio wants his revenge against McGillis, their confrontation ends in a rather anticlimactic showdown. Iok Kujan is a ridiculous cartoon clown that only exists to ruin everything. His presence actively made the show worse at every turn.

McGillis' mysterious intentions were interesting in season 1 but once he started to realize his plans, and they started to blow up in his face immediately, he showed no signs of recognizing his failure and this rapid loss of control. McGillis was a frustrating idiot to watch every time he was on screen, an incompetent Char clone. We never really knew what his plan to reform Gjallarhorn was all about outside of removing the corruption from within. But as soon as he got his hands on Gundam Bael, he demanded that the entire organization follow his every order like a dictator. He didn't use his platform to expose corruption, he used it to gain power and forgot everything that led him to that point. He had no plan to counter Rustal, who was obviously going to oppose him. The show wants to portray him has some sort of scheming puppet master, but the writing consistently fails to demonstrate this in any way. Why is Bael some sort of icon of leadership? Why does McGillis think that as soon in as he pilots it everyone will obey him somehow?

With such a large focus on the Gjallarhorn side of things this season you would think we would get some sort of new insight as to the ideology or internal conflicts of the organization, but that doesn't happen. Everything presented is so shallow. Also the entire character of Almiria goes absolutely nowhere.

Tekkadan also saw some new recruits join the team this season, but they remain underdeveloped hangers-on in most cases. Hush, the most prominent of the new recruits, gets almost nothing to do and his relationship to Mika is not well developed at all. His death felt like it should have had a strong emotional impact, but because he was so underdeveloped I felt nothing. He didn't have that much interaction with the other characters this season, spending most of his screen time as Mika's assistant. He says he wants to learn from Mika, but we almost never see the two of them talk. We never get a chance to care for him or understand what he adds to the group dynamic.

The treatment of Atra and Kudelia was awful. In season 2, they are given nothing to do aside from fawn over Mika. Because it's not anime unless every woman in the show is somehow in love with our antisocial, quiet protagonist boy. Atra and Kudelia are most often seen talking to each other, and it is always about Mika. They only ever talk about him and about loving him. This does a real disservice to the characters who had so much potential. As the Founder/President of the Admoss company Kudelia could have been playing politics to help Tekkadan through the entire season. Atra could have actually helped out with the Tekkadan crew in person and had her own independent goals. Kudelia’s love for Mika was not convincing at all to me. Atra has the benefit of knowing him for most of her life and their relationship goes back the longest outside of Mika and Orga. Their romance wasn’t too out of place. But I don’t think IBO ever made a convincing case for Kudelia’s love for Mikazuki outside of his role as the “main character.” I think Mika and Atra having a baby and Kudelia becoming the step-mom after Mika’s death is a cool idea on paper, but it’s execution in the show was brutal to watch.

Season 2 felt like the writers did not know where to take the story so they threw everything they had on the page. It resulted in a muddled mess of themes and story lines with not enough time to give any characters their due. None of the deaths made much of an impact on the main crew at all. Everyone got over each death extremely quickly. You get one scene of brooding then you move on.

There is a part of me that's just angry about seeing characters I liked die, but it only serves to back up my opinion that death is often a lame way to create drama. The removal of a character is not interesting. You are eliminating a person from your story that (hopefully) had relationships, motivations, goals, and hopes. The interactions between your characters is what gives depth to your story and shows how they each grow individually and as a group. Removing all the characters removes possibility. You can show pain and suffering in other ways. Killing off almost every single one of the primary characters was a boring move.

And it makes me sad.

#gundam #iron blooded orphans #mikazuki augus #orga itsuka #kudelia aina bernstein #atra mixta #mcgillis fareed #anime #anime review #review #sunrise #crunchyroll #mobile suit gundam #spoiler #spoilers

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ljones41 · 5 years

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"SHAZAM!" (2019) Review

"SHAZAM!" (2019) Review I had been very surprised by Warner Brothers Studios' announcement to produce an adaptation of the Fawcett Comics (later D.C. Comics) character known as Shazam aka Captain Marvel aka Billy Baston. My only memories of the character came from the Filmation television series from the mid-1970s. Not being a fan of this particular series, I regarded this announcement with a leery eye.

The history of D.C. Comics' version of Captain Marvel is an odd and complicated one. Billy Baston aka Captain Marvel aka Shazam was created C.C. Peck and Bill Parker in 1939 and made its debut in Whiz Comics #2, published by Fawcett Comics. The character was an instant hit. Billy Baston was a 12 year-old boy who became a costumed adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight and other abilities; when he says the word "SHAZAM"! (an acronym for six "immortal elders" - Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury). By the middle of the 1940s, Shazam's popularity had surpassed Superman's. However, D.C. Comics also noticed that the costumed hero bore a strong similarity to Superman and filed a copyright infringement suit against Fawcett Comics in the early 1950s, ending the character's run for nineteen years. Then in 1972, D.C. Comics purchased the rights to Shazam from Fawcett. And in 1991, D.C. Comics required the rights of the entire family of characters associated with Shazam. Like I had said . . . complicated. The plot to this adaptation is a lot more simple. Basically, "SHAZAM!" is an origin story. Written by Henry Gayden and directed by David F. Sandberg, the film began in 1974 upstate New York with young Thaddeus Sivana arguing with his father and older brother during a car trip. Right before a dangerous car crash, Thaddeus is transported to the Rock of Eternity, a magical temple hidden in another dimension. He meets the ancient wizard Shazam, last of the Council of Wizards, who has spent centuries searching for a new champion who is "pure of heart" after the previous champion, driven by revenge, released the Seven Deadly Sins upon the world. Thaddeus is tempted by the Sins, entrapped in statues, and is deemed unworthy and returned to Earth by Shazam. Over forty years later in Philadelphia, foster child Billy Batson runs afoul of the law, while searching for his birth mother. He is placed in a group home with five other foster children, managed by Victor and Rosa Vasquez. Meanwhile, an embittered adult Sivana discovers a way to return to the Rock of Eternity, where he steals the Eye of Sin, becoming the Sins' vessel and besting the Wizard Shazam before returning to Earth. Later, he uses the Sins to murder his remaining family and the Sivana Industries' board of directors. Meanwhile, Billy saves Freddy (one of his fellow foster kids) from bullies and is chased into a subway. There, the wizard summons and chooses Billy as the new champion. By calling Shazam's name, Billy is transformed into an adult superhero endowed with the wizard's name and new powers. And the Wizard turns to dust, leaving behind his staff. While Freddy helps Billy utilize his new powers, Sivana searches for the new Shazam in order to steal the latter's powers. I do not know what to say about "SHAZAM!". It is probably the first D.C. Extended Universe (DCEU) film that I did not warm up to. I am not claiming that it is a terrible movie. I honestly do not believe it is. I thought Henry Gayden wrote a very straight forward narrative that introduced the character of Shazam, conveyed his struggles to control his powers, learn to be a hero and a faced a villain who wanted to steal his abilities. Very simple. Perhaps it was too simple. For me, the most interesting aspect of "SHAZAM!"was Billy Baston's struggles outside of the suit. Billy had to learn to put his past behind him and embrace his new foster family. The movie featured two very surprising plot twists in its narrative. One of those twists featured the other five kids at his foster home. Due to my unfamiliarity with Shazam, what happened in the hero's final battle against Sivana and the Sins at a local winter carnival took me completely by surprise. This first twist involved SHAZAM spell and Billy's foster sisters and brothers. But a previous plot twist not only surprised me, but in a way that truly satisfied. For a brief period, the movie featured a scene in which Billy not only discovered his birth mother, but also learned the truth behind their separation. I was very impressed by the ambiguous nature of this scene and how it helped develop Billy's character arc. I thought this scene was worthy of the ambiguity featured in the early DCEU movies and left me longing for them more than ever. The cast for "SHAZAM!" proved to be first-rate. The movie featured solid performances from the likes of Faithe Herman, Grace Fulton, Ian Chen, and Jovan Armand as Billy Baston's foster brothers and sisters. I could say the same for Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans, who portrayed Billy's parents. Djimon Hounsou gave a nice, dignified performance as the wizard Shazam, who granted Billy his powers. And it was nice to see John Glover, who gave a deliciously spiteful performance as Mr. Sivana, the estranged father of Dr. Thaddeus Sivana. But there were performances that I especially took notice. Caroline Palmer gave a subtle and skillful performance as Billy's biological mother, Marilyn. Jack Dylan Grazer was very entertaining as Billy's disabled foster brother, the nerdy and enthusiastic Frederick "Freddy" Freeman. Mark Strong's portrayal of the villainous Dr. Sivana really impressed me, for he managed to both sinister and emotionally pathetic. The movie's leading man, Zachary Levi, was also entertaining as the recently empowered Billy Baston in an adult body. But for me, the best performance came from Asher Angel, who I thought gave a very nuanced and complex performance as the adolescent Billy Baston, who is reluctant to accept his new foster family, due to his obsession with finding his mother. Despite these virtues, "SHAZAM!" proved to be something of a disappointment for me. Quite frankly, I thought it was a rather bland and conformist comic book hero movie. In a way, it reminded me of 2008's "IRON MAN", a movie that was saved from its mediocre or paint-by-the-numbers narrative by a volatile leading character. In the case of "SHAZAM!", it had a mediocre narrative and direction style saved by a leading character that was a boy in an empowered adult body. In fact, someone had dubbed the film as the DCEU's version of the 1988 movie, "BIG". Otherwise, I felt as if I was watching a comic book movie from the 1990s. I found it sad to watch a movie that had regressed a film genre by two decades. Actually, I found that not only sad, but disturbing. Despite Mark Strong's best efforts, the movie's main villain proved to be unsurprisingly one-dimensional. Dr. Sivana did not strike me as a memorable villain. Nor did his goal - namely the acquisition of more supernatural powers. He came off as a typical villain from the old 1998-2006 television series, "CHARMED". And as much as I admired Zachary Levi's performance, I also noticed that his portrayal of Billy Baston seemed to be at least half a decade younger than Asher Angel's portrayal. Levi's Billy struck me as less mature and more silly. Nor did it help that the one moment that allowed Billy to mature a bit more, happened when he was NOTthe empowered Shazam. It almost made Billy's acquisition of his new powers irrelevant to his character development. And for me, that is not a good thing for a comic book hero movie. I would comment on David F. Sandberg's direction, but frankly it seemed to lack any challenging or innovative qualities to me. Is "SHAZAM!" indicative of Warner Brothers' new direction for the DCEU franchise? I fear so. What a pity. It is not a bad film. The latter featured two interesting plot twists and a first-rate performance from one of its leading men, Asher Angel. But overall, I found both the plot and David F. Sandberg's direction rather bland. The film critics and many moviegoers seemed to love this. Needless to say, I do no share their feelings. And if this is the DCEU's new direction, it can keep it as far as I am concerned.

#Shazam #shazam!#shazam 2019 #dc extended universe #dceu #billy baston #david f. sandberg #asher angel #zachary levi #djimon hounsou #mark strong #megan good #jack dylan grazer #john glover #d.c. comics #fawcett publications #fawcett comics #Warner Brothers #Warner Bros

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ultimate-miles · 5 years

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Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man (2014-2015) - Not with a Bang, but a whimper

Post Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #19, Miles Morales’ written career as Spider-Man has not been great. After fridging one of the only central supporting female characters in his cast – Rio Morales, his mother – the state of the narrative became preoccupied with manpain, and framing the grief of a teenage boy as, in the words of Miles Morales, someone who “didn’t understand what it meant to be Spider-Man” (Ultimate Cataclysm: Spider-Man #1), which required his entire supporting cast to shame and emotionally manipulate him back into the job.

If there was any good that came out of the last five issues of UCSM, it was probably the introduction of Ultimate Cloak and Dagger and Ultimate Taskmaster.

Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man, unfortunately, offers very little in the way content improvement outside of one side story and its art direction. Otherwise, it doubles back in circles on subjects and issues that should’ve been laid to rest and ends on an inconclusive whimper.

Ultimate Spider-Man #200 + #Issues #1-7

Death in comic books means nothing, and holds no weight unless you’re a wildly unpopular (or non-white) character that any given publication is looking to get rid of in order to appease their narrow minded (and white) audience. When the Ultimate Marvel universe was created, one of the creeds it presumably lived by was that “death mattered”. When a character died, it would mean something, it would impact the narrative, and every character that died would remain dead.

It’s a shame, then, when they chose to stick their guns, they let Jeph Loeb decimate almost half of the Ultimate Universe’s roster in one of the uglier displays of wanton violence, sexism, and just plain shit writing, with the 2011 “Blockbuster Event” Ultimatum. Ultimatum more or less ensured, despite maintaining the promise that no one would return from the dead, none of the deaths mattered – a lot of it was just Loeb masturbating to his own cruelty if we’re being honest.

With the “Death of Spider-Man”, Brian Michael Bendis added salt to an otherwise unhealed wound that was Ultimatum, which wasn’t even a year old at that point. To his credit, he made Peter Parker’s death matter – book ending it with the first villain that more or less was responsible for the creation of Spider-Man (Norman Osborn) – with reverberating consequences throughout most surviving series in the UM. Yet, following the introduction of Miles Morales – the new and Black Spider-Man (reportedly meant to honor Bendis’ Black children, whom I pity) – you could tell, in the years preceding the removal of Peter Parker as the protagonist of the Spider-Man title, Bendis was regretting his decision.

After a 160 issue run (where Peter made actual appearances and was the protagonist until his death), the questionably numbered Ultimate Spider-Man #200, once again sees Bendis fantasizing about what he might’ve done had he not killed Peter Parker and replaced him with Miles Morales. Most of the original cast of characters that were central to Peter Parker’s story – plus Miles and Ganke – gather together at the Parker House at the behest of May Parker and Gwen Stacy (who appears to be a creep perving on underage teen boys no matter what), to commemorate the life of the late Peter Parker. Considering the previous three iterations of “Memorializing Peter Parker” in the UM, Ultimate Spider-Man #200 brings nothing new to the table, but should’ve been a red flag to anyone paying attention to the declining quality of Miles’ title.

Miles’ final title in the Ultimate Universe, Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man, begins with the reintroduction of a supposed-to-be-dead Norman Osborn – in the custody of S.H.I.E.L.D. – and two generic Spider-Man copycats robbing banks. There’s nothing really of note to say about the first seven issues of this thirteen issue title. Bendis decides, with the Ultimate Marvel universe doing the death rattle, to undo the death of both Osborn and Peter Parker – with Peter getting a half-assed excuse for his being brought back from the dead (to sum it up: “because reasons”).

I don’t think a Spider-Man comic has made me quite as angry as this series has. In the moment I read the issue wherein Peter Parker tells Miles, “It’s time for the Original Spider-Man to get back into the game”, I could’ve torn the book into shreds and smote its ruins if I thought it was going to hurt Marvel’s sales and not be an even greater waste of my spent $3.99.

“I can’t believe we’re beating this dead horse again” was what I was thinking and I just stopped buying the book altogether. I think that the first step to mine ceasing to see Miles Morales as a legitimate character, but wasted potential in the hands of non-Black creatives. I only ended up reading the trades for the sake of reference and fact checking and it’s only this year, three-four years after the fact that I bothered to do that. The only thing worth noting about the first seven issues of this title is that it sets up the last four, which are even worse.

Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man #1-3 + Issues #8-9

Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man is one of seven miniseries titles part of the “Blockbuster Event” known as Cataclysm, which sees Ultimate Galactus (or 616 Galactus, I’m not sure which tbh. There’s very little difference between the two when you get to the nitty-gritty) attempting to destroy the 1610 universe and devour it all. You get the distinct feeling that, before someone came up with Secret Wars, Cataclysm was meant to be the true end of the Ultimate Universe – but someone upstairs changed their mind and rendered it to a mere false start. Long story short: The grand majority – if not all of – the Ultimates (the Avengers of the 1610 universe) are killed or sent into the void with Galactus by Ultimate Shadowcat – who is later hailed savior of the world. The All-New Ultimates are formed.

Das it.

But, within Miles’ slice of the Cataclysm story, Bendis finally decides to focus on the elephant in the room: Jefferson Davis and his open and his fantasy xenophobia toward superhumans and how it has literally silenced his own son from admitting to his double life as Spider-Man. Moreso since the death of his mother, Rio Morales, at the hands of Ultimate Venom. I’ll be perfectly honest – I don’t think Jefferson Davis is a great guy – I actually ended up liking his no-account brother (Aaron Davis, gone too soon) far more because he was upfront about his ideals and his mission statement. He never pretended or tried to be a better person. He was just rotten and enjoyed it.

For that one piece of sage advice Jefferson offered Miles in the earliest tenure of his first title, Jefferson is the perfect example of a man who expects his son to “do as he says, and as I do”, but expects no consequences visited upon him whenever he dehumanizes people. He’s a walking metaphor for the heterosexual Black father who spews homophobic slurs in casual conversation around their gay daughter or son and I’m sure as hell that was intentional despite the incompatibility of the allegory.

Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man doesn’t do much to repair his character, if anything it makes him thrice times worse. When Galactus starts wrecking all of New York City and Brooklyn, Miles, Bombshell (Lana Baumgartner) and Cloak and Dagger, struggle to save the people caught in the monster’s wake – all while recounting where they were when the Ultimatum event occurred.

In Miles’ flashback, we see Jefferson lose his head over the knowledge that the title wave was caused by a mutant (Magneto), all while loudly proclaiming everyone stuck in traffic was going to die. The most important nugget of information taken away from Miles’ flashback is the knowledge that his father more or less promised that he would abandon or disown Miles if he ever found out his son (then, probably only 11 or 12 years old at the time) was a superhuman.

I never had much sympathy for Davis (I tolerated him because of Rio), but the moment Miles tries to convince his father to come with him out of the city to safety, and Jefferson decides to blame a now fourteen year old Miles for the death of Rio and Aaron, I just outright hated him. Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man is not a bad read all things considered. It tells its story concisely and never loses focus of its characters in relation to the catastrophe. The downside is that you have to read the rest of the Cataclysm series to know what was going on. I’d probably recommend you read it, especially since it ties into two issues of The Ultimate Spider-Man.

The conflict between Miles and Jefferson is left hanging until issues #8 and #9 of Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man – also known as “The Only Redeeming Thing About This Comic Book Title”. The eighth and ninth issues of MMTUSM sees Jefferson Davis finally owning up to his past and basically just spilling the beans about his life as a criminal with Aaron and how he became involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. during the 80s – when Miami Vice, Jerri Curls, House Party Flattops, and ill-fitting suits with shoulder pads were all the rage – and how he met a young, already-at-it, Nick Fury.

The complete tonal and visual shift in the issues are a welcome respite from the Peter Parker nonsense of the previous seven. The story arc, “Miles Morales: An Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.?”, carries with it the kind’ve of visual flair I see a Tim Sale illustrated graphic novel (like Spider-Man: Blue or The Long Halloween), but it’s still David Marquez illustrating the story from beginning to end.

It’s got the look and feel of a pulp novel, or one of those old newspaper comic strips where the spots of the print were obvious through the inking and character sketches. The narrative, which sees Jefferson and Aaron working for smalltime criminals to Jefferson’s eventual graduation to protecting the Kingpin (with a minor explanation as to why he loathes mutants), is, in my opinion, the highlight of a story that could’ve worked as a full-fledged miniseries about the Jefferson brothers.

My only quibble with the framing of the narrative is that the early inclusion of S.H.I.E.L.D makes Jefferson look more like the unwilling participant of crime he was manipulated into thinking he had to do for “the greater good”, as opposed to some young blood who didn’t give much thought to right or wrong (which is how the early issues framed it) before he had an epiphany. I always assumed the crime came first, then S.H.I.E.L.D, then Rio. Honestly, if you’re at all interested in this storyline, just look for the single issues and don’t buy the trade. You’ll be doing yourself a favor.

#Issues 10-13

Marvel and its twisted, present-day romantic relationship with Neo-Nazism is a fairly ironic one, given most of its early artists were white Jewish dudes with alternate names designed to explicitly hide their Jewishness on account of antisemitism. But, I suppose the publications preoccupation with Nazism to begin with (even if it was denouncing it) would’ve inevitably steered its future publishers to romanticize it in the end. I mean, that’s what happened after all.

You know shit it bad when Marvel wants you to pity [white] characters like Grant Ward of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D for joining a Neo-Nazi group, despite the repeated and angry affirmations of protagonist Daisy Johnson, who flat-out reminds the audience, “You are a Nazi if you join Hydra”, who is undermined anyway by the narrative that continues to bleat, “pity the Neo-Nazi.”

Brian Michael Bendis, in all his infinite lack of wisdom, decides – the biggest way to differ Miles Morales’ love life from Peter Parker’s, is make an underdeveloped character, his girlfriend, Ultimate Kate Bishop, a member of Hydra. Miles’ white girlfriend rides on the agenda of the Aryan Ideal and white supremacy. Brilliant.

The Ultimate Spider-Man issues, #1-#4 and #7 prelude the last four issues with Miles deliberating whether or not he should tell Katie Bishop about his double life as Spider-Man. Instead of being supportive, everyone from Ganke to Cloak and Dagger warns Miles against telling her, thinking it would be a bad idea. He does it anyway, Katie panics and runs away.

The aforementioned issues give the reader a glimpse into Kate’s life with the Bishops, with one conversation with her older sister casually mentioning that “they” would have to kill Miles and the seventh issue concludes with her uttering the phrase, “Hail Hydra.”

If The Ultimate Spider-Man had something to say about the issue of Nazism, especially in relation to Miles’ life as a Black teen – or the cautionary tale of “you never know someone until…”, then I could maybe understand the decision to make Kate Bishop (a wildly popular Avenger in the 616 universe, be she an adult or a teenager) a Nazi.

But, it doesn’t, it basically does exactly the same thing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D does with the Daisy Johnson/Grant Ward dynamic. The narrative depicts a “Sympathetic Nazi” (Katie) trying to explain their position, and a furious significant other (Miles) outright declaring their relationship is over. Only, where AOS more or less dragged that subplot out to its natural conclusion (“Sympathetic Nazi” isn’t really sympathetic and dies),

The Ultimate Spider-Man did nothing to that extent. Readers barely have gotten to known Katie Bishop since her introduction in issue #23 of UCSM. She was given no time actually to be anything other than “Miles Morales’ girlfriend”. And when it comes right down to it, the Hydra subplot was nothing but an excuse to bring Dr. Doom into the narrative at the last moment. So, the “My Girlfriend is a Nazi” storyline just falls flat.

On a smaller note, the way the last couple issues decide to use Judge – the minor character from Ultimate Comics Spider-Man – is sigh inducing. It’s like Bendis realized his book was coming to an end and figured the best way to a handle a character that barely had any face time since the first twelve issues of the UCSM, is to just plop him in the middle of the story with his already knowing Miles is Spider-Man.

But, he does it in a way that, if you removed him from the story, nothing would change. It’s a superfluous addition and kind’ve discourteous, especially since Bendis doesn’t do anything with Judge later on in Miles’ new 616 title, the unfortunately named Spider-Man.

Outside of issues #8 and #9, Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man is a sad conclusion to Miles Ultimate Universe solo-title career. It reminded me why I stopped reading his title four years ago, and knowing that none of his recent stuff isn’t any good either kinda makes me glad I made the decision so early on.

#miles morales #spider man #katie bishop #brian michael bendis #david marquez #ultimate miles meta #1610 miles morales #1610 judge #1610 kate bishop #1610 jefferson davis #media: long posts

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seddm · 6 years

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Was Marco kinda useless in Season 3? He barely had any fighting skills/karate displayed. I don't like him taking a backseat on kicking butt. I mean. He suddenly becomes obsessed with Mewni for no reason despite how his only real experience with it is being locked up in prison. Not even Star, just Mewni in general. Bunch of wasted potential. And he is obsessed with all this squire stuff, which is actually mundane.

Marco had less screen time and focus during season 3 from Deep Dive, which kinda “concluded” the first part of his growth arc in the season (until Booth Buddies), ‘till the season finale, that’s true. Being “emotionally distanced” from Star caused lead to several episodes not featuring him, leaving him on hold until the Star-Marco situation was ready to boil over and get to the next stage.This being said, he was far from being useless: the whole deal with the season and with the squirehood was that Star needs someone who can support her emotionally and practically in her stressful life as a princess, and Marco is that person, from the silly and under-the-pretense-of-just-having-fun adventure at Quest Buy in Trial By Squire, to the explicit “I NEED SOMEONE I CAN TRUST” moments during the season finale,

going through him literally saving Star’s life in Night Life and Deep Dive.And this is far from being an exhaustive list, almost every Star-Marco moment in the season featured the latter helping the former in practical ways, since the realization of his feelings prevented him from being able to offer emotional support as well until the season finale, since it would have brought him too much pain.

Also, and sorry if I’m going to be a bit harsh, Anon, the notion that Marco moving to Mewni is wasted potential or a waste of time is hot garbage brought by an inability to accept that the calm, quiet Earth life that Jackie symbolized to Marco stopped being appealing and relevant to him... well, as soon as he met Star, and discovered that the world is much bigger than he thought. “Then why did he leave Mewni after the battle with Toffee?” because Marco is dumb and riddled by tunnel vision and it took his mother calling him a croissant girl and Jackie pointing out that he was just forcing himself to pretend nothing changed in his life and Tad pushing him over the edge of his feelings for Star to realize why he felt the call of Mewni so much, why he clenched so hard to the cape River gave him.While we are still not quite there the sum of the experiences brought into Marco’s life by Star’s arrival are what slowly allowed our favorite idiot to slowly go from stuck in life dreams highlighting his fear for the future and dread over a supposed inability to find his own way in life,

to taking the biggest step in his life, moving to Mewni, changing his life around to follow what he felt he wanted and needed. Note: this screen is just symbolic, obviously by the ending of Sophomore Slump Marco still had a lot of maturing to do, but it works as a standalone pic and it’s not like the episode ended on this “A NEW JOURNEY BEGINS” shot just for fun.

If the season portrayed Marco’s squirehood in a bad light at times it’s just because this show knows how character developments works, and the characters grow through hardships, so they had to show the dark sides to a good thing as well.Night Life, Marco is struggling with his natural call for adventure and responsibilities? Certainly this means that he’s not fit to “serve” under someone else, right? WRONG. Poor Marco just realized that he liked Star, and he couldn’t have fun with her as they used to anymore because being around her in a friendly, happy context just reminded him how much he wanted to crush his face on hers without being able to do so, and it took the whole segment with Hekapoo for him to decide that even without fun adventures he still valued spending time with his princess, and helping her, over mindless fun.Marco Jr., Marco gets obsessed with being a squire to the point of being cocky and neglecting his family. He’s falling back into the hole of tunnel vision and being a squire is an unhealthy obsession, right? WRONG. Marco was putting excessive focus on his new role as a squire because for a time it felt like the best option, compared to constantly feeling down due to unrequited feelings, but by the end of the segment he realized, through his family and through the incoming brother plot, that he has time for more than one thing at a time, and that he doesn’t have to put all his eggs in the squirehood basket to feel like he’s still worthy as a person, that Star and his parents still value him greatly even while he’s walking through a tough spot in his life.And lo, by the end of the season, after several episodes spent rebuilding Star and Marco’s relationship stronger than before, showing new sides to it and making it clear that any chance to go back to a purely platonic mindset died the day Star confessed her crush, Marco’s role as a squire shines in nothing but a positive light. He provides help to her queen when no one else in the castle could, buys her precious time (his failure at stopping Meteora is irrelevant and doesn’t diminish the importance of it at all in the context of his growth as a character). his dependability makes Star incapable of sustaining his intense gaze without blushing,

his role brings him respect from Tom and, implicitly, from the rest of the Marcnificent Seven.

(and this is not the first time in the season the show acknowledges his progresses through the mouth of a character)

To conclude: we’re still far away from Marco being like “Wow I’d sure like being Mewni’s knight and, in the future, its King along with Star. It’s something that brings me great fulfillment and makes my life feel worthwhile, a mixture of the adventures I love so much and the need to feel like I actually made the difference in something, that I left something behind”, and I’m sure there are going to be more obstacles and hitches along the road, but we're definitely getting close to it. Also stop for a moment and think: Star is the protagonist of the show, almost everything plot related has always happened on Mewni, despite the first two seasons taking place mostly on Earth, season three has been almost entirely on Mewni and made it clear that what matters is its story and that what came earlier was mostly a way to prepare Star to what was to come: then WHY would the show ever imply that Mewni is useless to Marco and that Earth can be the one and only answer to his questions about life and about himself? Why.

[Rude and Harsh Seddm Mode OFF, sorry Anon asker, I don’t hold anything against you, this post was just a long time coming]

#seddm answers #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #marco diaz #seddm ramblings #Anonymous

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