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livrosencaracolados · 8 months

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"A Princesa e a Tosta de Queijo"

Sɪɴᴏᴘsᴇ Oғɪᴄɪᴀʟ: Lady Camembert quer viver a vida nos seus termos, sem ter de casar, ou melhor, sem ter de casar com um homem. Mas a lei impede as mulheres de herdarem, então, quando o seu pai morre, ela disfarça-se de homem e muda-se para a capital do Reino de Fromage para recomeçar a vida como Conde Camembert. Mas é difícil manter a discrição quando a bela Princesa Brie, com o seu ativismo feroz e grande sentido de moda, chama a sua atenção. Cam não resiste a conhecer melhor a princesa, mas à medida que os dois se aproximam, será ela capaz de manter o seu segredo? Uma comédia romântica em forma de novela gráfica, de temática atual e inclusiva, sobre identidades trocadas, amor verdadeiro e muitas tostas de queijo.

Aᴜᴛᴏʀᴀ: Deya Muniz.

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ALERTA SPOILERS!

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O Mᴇᴜ Rᴇsᴜᴍᴏ: Há meses que a Lady Camembert e o seu pai se debatem sobre a questão do seu casamento, "Tens de te casar" diz ele; "Não quero marido nenhum" responde ela. Cam rejeita vários homens semanalmente, aparentemente sem consequências, mas a situação rapidamente muda quando descobre que o Conde tem pouco tempo de vida à sua frente, e que a sua morte, mais do que uma perda emocional, pode significar uma perda de tudo à sua volta, deixando-a na miséria. As mulheres não podem herdar, a lei está convicta no que diz, e tendo a teimosia de Cam arruinado a opção de arranjar um marido que assegure a transição dos bens, resta apenas uma opção: Cam tem de se tornar no filho que o pai nunca teve para sobreviver. Inicialmente contra, ela acaba por ceder ao último desejo do pai e transforma-se no novo Conde, deixando tudo o que conhecia para trás e mudando-se para a capital, onde ninguém a conhece, com a única pessoa que sabe que não a vai denunciar, a Feta. Passam-se semanas, meses, sem que Cam saia da nova casa para proteger a sua identidade, mas irrequieta como é, a sua paciência chega a fim e, sorte a sua, na única saída que faz, ouve falar do baile real controverso que a Princesa Brie vai realizar no palácio e decide ir. Espalhafatosa como é, Cam decide causar logo impacto e, estupidamente, garantir que todos reparam nela (para que consiga partilhar o trabalho inovador de uma casa de moda, vá lá), chegando a um baile que proibe o uso de peles, com uma estola de pele falsa. Isto evoca imediatamente a raiva, e depois a admiração da Princesa Brie, que a convida para um chá no palácio, onde debatem ideias para o próximo evento e onde Cam conhece as suas amigas mais próximas, Lady Ricotta e Lady Gorgonzola que, olhem a coincidência, é a dona da marca que Cam publicitou e nativa de Gougère, a cidade de onde Cam fugiu depois de o pai morrer. A partir daí, Cam e Brie vão-se aproximando cada vez mais entre bailes, desfiles e chás acompanhados de tostas de queijo, até demais, começando a desenvolver sentimentos que podem arruinar a protagonista. O peso da decisão que tomou começa realmente a afetar Cam nessa altura, impedindo que esteja com a Brie como quer, e a Princesa, sem contexto sobre a situação, assume que a sua contenção tem a ver com a grande diferença hierárquica entre as duas, decidindo então que se quiser estar romanticamente com o Conde, tem de ser ela a pedi-lo em casamento. Mas depois as patilhas falsas de Cam descolam-se e vai tudo por água a baixo. A única coisa mais assustadora para Cam do que ter a identidade descoberta e ser presa é desiludir a Princesa, felizmente, ela tem muita mais raiva a descarregar do que tristeza então Cam nem consegue imaginar o que a espera. As coisas parecem não poder piorar ainda mais, Cam atingiu o fundo do poço, mas, oh, pioram, porque Brie aparentemente está prestes a ficar noiva do Duque mais aborrecido do mundo e não há nada que o nosso Conde possa fazer contra isso. Pronto a fugir outra vez, o Conde concorda em atender um último baile antes de abandonar a capital e tudo o que lá viveu. Será preciso um milagre para as coisas se reverterem...felizmente, a receita para um, não é um mistério: Gorgonzola + Gouda + Feta = Tosta de Queijo/Milagre. Agora só é preciso comer a tosta a tempo.

Cʀɪᴛᴇ́ʀɪᴏs ᴅᴇ Cʟᴀssɪғɪᴄᴀᴄ̧ᴀ̃ᴏ:

Qᴜᴀʟɪᴅᴀᴅᴇ ᴅᴀ Aʀᴛᴇ: A arte é DESLUMBRANTE, ADORÁVEL, ah... e TÃO COR DE ROSA, oh meu Deus (agradeçam todas à Brie, vamos). Mas a sério, é literalmente um mimo para os olhos: a palete de cores é felicidade pura, os designs dos personagens são perfeitos, a arte em si é consistente mesmo quando se altera por motivos cómicos...dá para ver que houve um esforço real em fazer algo que dá vontade de olhar durante horas. Ah, e para quem gosta da estética da Disney e de literalmente qualquer programa sobre raparigas com poderes, isto é para vocês.

Hɪsᴛᴏ́ʀɪᴀ: Já falei bastante no enredo, mas essencialmente ele conjuga a leveza de um conto de fadas romântico com a seriedade da viagem que é descobrirmos quem somos num mundo que não é propenso a aceitar-nos. Além da belíssima arte e dos momentos hilariantes (porque há muitos) a história segue uma protagonista que continuamente se encolhe e se contém devido às normais sociais, porque mesmo num mundo de anacronismos onde existem Nintendos e pijamas modernos, o sexismo e a heteronormatividade prevalecem com toda a sua força. Pode parecer que não, as cores distraem, mas todo o aparato que a maioria das personagens faz, especialmente a Cam, não é simplesmente comédia, muito é compensação pela falta de liberdade de expressão que têm nas áreas onde realmente importa. O livro vai introduzindo situações diferentes dentro do mesmo contexto, como a da Zola, que se opõe à experiência da Brie, e menciona como deve ser para as pessoas nas camadas sociais mais baixas viver num reino que se assenta num sistema tão limitante para as mulheres em particular. Se quisermos abrir os olhos, as mensagens estão todas lá, mesmo as que não são ditas em diálogo direto, e é realmente maravilhoso que se possa incentivar a conversa sobre tópicos tão importantes numa narrativa tão acolhedora como é a deste livro. O final acaba por não ser tão perfeito, apesar de ser o que todos queríamos (e merecíamos), foi apressado e as ações que a Brie teve de tomar para chegar lá foram demasiado abreviadas, fazendo parecer que todos os riscos mencionados a história inteira eram apenas problemas inventados e sem importância, o que acaba por desvalorizar a própria história e as suas intenções.

Pᴇʀsᴏɴᴀɢᴇɴs: São todas feitas para ser adoradas, nem dá para contrariar. A Cam é uma bola de energia e entusiasmo, uma conhecedora de moda e um espírito livre que tem a tendência a ignorar a imensidão das suas emoções pelo máximo de tempo possível. Enquanto o humor poder mascarar os seus problemas, a Cam evita-os. Depois perde todos à sua volta e é deixada com a Feta, uma mulher com demasiados instintos maternais, paciência e amor por Cam para o seu bem, que funciona sempre como a voz da razão na sua vida e a puxa a ser a sua melhor versão, desde que essa versão se mantenha nos limites do aceitável para a sociedade. Não é que Feta não adore quem a Cam é, mas sabe que há pouco perdão para pessoas como ela. Durante metade do livro tudo o que vemos da Cam são piadas, excitação e corações nos olhos então parece que a sua vida se encaixou e a perda do pai foi resolvida, mas depois a sua relação com a Princesa complica-se e a Cam perde a maior distração que tinha do seu tumulto interior, obrigando-a a olhar para dentro. Aí percebe que não está tudo bem, que sem a Brie tudo o que sobra é alguém que tem de se mascarar, mentir e comportar de uma certa forma todos os dias até ao fim da sua vida, só para não ser castigada por tomar medidas para sobreviver. Mesmo quando as coisas melhoram, é tarde de mais, a ilusão que a Cam criou dentro de si quando começou a nova vida foi quebrada e por mais que tente já não pode fingir que está feliz, que aceita as condições de nunca se puder apaixonar ou agir como lhe apetece para continuar em frente com uma charada que parecia muito mais simples do que é. Aí vemos lágrimas, raiva e humanidade na Cam, que como qualquer pessoa, começa a questionar a justiça e o sentido das coisas. É nesse momento, em que a fachada cómica cai, que a nossa protagonista começa a crescer, que se permite lidar com o que sente e, depois de ser incentivada pela aceitação da Brie, decide ficar e lutar por uma oportunidade de ser quem quer ser ao lado da Princesa em vez de seguir o primeiro instinto e fugir. Mesmo com as minhas críticas ao último painel da história, ver a Cam num vestido mesmo ao estilo dela com um ar confiante à frente de toda a gente é poderoso, ela parece uma nova pessoa e de certa forma é, conquistou-o. A nível da Brie, também é fantástico ver como evolui do lugar de medo onde acha que tem as mãos atadas em todas as matérias importantes para uma posição de poder onde, depois de processar o conflito interno vindo das crenças que lhe implementaram, percebe que tem de usar os seus privilégios de nascença para o que interessa e defender não só a sua felicidade, mas a de mulheres que possam estar em situações parecidas à sua mas com menos agência. (Ah e ela tem um closet igual ao da Barbie dos filmes antigos, é euforia pura) Ambas as mulheres têm jornadas muito completas de crescimento, o que eu não sabia se ia acontecer numa novela gráfica. Por último, a Zola é uma das minhas personagens secundárias favoritas de sempre: tem uma lealdade incrível, sabe guardar um segredo como ninguém, funciona à base da empatia sem precisar de o exibir, tem os pés na terra, é um génio inovador que lutou por tudo o que queria e não tem medo de colocar os que ama no seu lugar quando é preciso. Ela é complexa, icónica, e estou já a pedir uma novela gráfica sobre ela que fale um pouco mais do seu passado, mostre a sua perspetiva durante esta história e depois lhe apresente um interesse romântico que seja tudo o que ela merece e mais, não para a completar, mas para a complementar, porque não há nada que eu goste mais em termos de romance do que dar a uma mulher fortíssima que batalhou por tudo o que tem alguém que finalmente lhe mostre que ela não precisa de continuar a fazê-lo sozinha e ofereça um ombro para se apoiar. (Porque ser forte não significa não precisar de ninguém) Ah e claro, o Gouda é icónico também, ele também precisa de aparecer na novela sobre a Zola.

Rᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ: O que posso dizer? A Brie e a Cam são de sentir borboletas na barriga, de ficar com cáries nos dentes e de querer abaná-las para perceberem que gostaram uma da outra desde o início. Encorajam-se a serem o melhor de si e são as maiores razões por trás do crescimento uma da outra. Têm o romance que todos queremos.

Iᴍᴇʀsᴀ̃ᴏ: Eu li o livro de uma ponta à outra, não o pousei até chegar ao fim, e isso deve dizer alguma coisa. A única coisa que me retirou do que estava a acontecer foi a dúvida sobre a temática do queijo, que apesar de adorável, não é explicada de todo e parece que a autora não se compromete totalmente a ela porque para algo tão presente, eu esperava que houvessem literalmente edifícios em forma de queijo ou feriados nacionais dedicados a tipos dele. Mas isso é algo pequeno. (E não gostei do ataque às couves-de-bruxelas, porquê associá-las com alguém aborrecido quando, e isto não devia ser controverso, sabem bem como tudo?)

Iᴍᴘᴀᴄᴛᴏ: É a minha primeira novela gráfica e sem dúvida o livro mais bonito da minha biblioteca, duvido que o esqueça ou que deixe de pegar nele com o máximo cuidado possível. Além disso, tenho um lugar especial no meu coração para a temática do conto de fadas, então arte maravilhosa e a ideia da troca de género em nome da sobrevivência estilo Mulan tornam este livro um vencedor para mim.

Cʟᴀssɪғɪᴄᴀᴄ̧ᴀ̃ᴏ Fɪɴᴀʟ: ⭐⭐⭐⭐+ ½

Iᴅᴀᴅᴇ Aᴄᴏɴsᴇʟʜᴀᴅᴀ: Não há nenhum tema particularmente forte nesta novela, mas tem mensagens importantes então a partir dos 12, 13 anos é uma leitura maravilhosa.

Cᴏɴᴄʟᴜsᴀ̃ᴏ/Oᴘɪɴɪᴀ̃ᴏ Fɪɴᴀʟ: Este livro deu-me uma fome imensa por mais novelas gráficas, se forem todas assim, não consigo imaginar como é que conseguirei voltar a adorar um livro normal outra vez. É quase como ver uma animação em papel, RECOMENDO.

Pᴀʀᴀ ᴏʙᴛᴇʀ: A Princesa e a Tosta de Queijo, Deya Muniz - Livro - Bertrand

Assɪɴᴀᴅᴏ: Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ 𝐿𝓊𝓏 Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

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sailormoonsub · 1 year

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I LIVED IT: I sat down with the intention of watching a few minutes before moving on with my day and now we're almost done with the jadeite arc

#ok sailor moon on youtube may be the best thing to happen in a long while #the first opening and ending sequences are god tier #i'm in a manic state of energy like WOW I SHOULD JUST REVIEW EVERY SINGLE EPISODE OF SEASON 1 WHY NOT #this series is carved into my brain with a chisel

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curecraft · 1 year

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Tumblr Year in Review 2022- Magical Girl Addition

Top 22 of 2022

Ships

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historyhermann · 7 months

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My Adventures With Superman Season One Spoiler-Filled Review [Part 1]

My Adventures with Superman is animated superhero series which mixes the romantic comedy, action-adventure, and sci-fi genres. It's the latest adaptation of Superman, a DC Comics character. DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation produce the series. Studio Mir was contracted for animation services. Studio Mir, a South Korean animation studio, is known for its work on The Legend of Korra, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Dota: Dragon's Blood, and Harley Quinn season 3. Jake Wyatt, Brendan Clougher, and Josie Campbell developed the series, with Campbell as producer. Wyatt and Clougher are executive producers along with Michael Ouweleen and Sam Register. This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, My Adventures with Superman being reviewed here wouldn't exist.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-ninth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on September 21, 2023.

The first episode begins with a bang. As a little kid, Clark Kent (voiced by Jack Quaid) discovers he has superpowers. In the present, he tries to be "normal." He and his his friend Jimmy Olsen (voiced by Ishmel Sahid) go to The Daily Planet. Along the way, he meets Lois Lane (voiced by Alice Lee) and develops a crush on her. As it turns out, Lois is also applying to be an intern. All three get the job. Their boss, Perry White (voiced by Darrell Brown) shoots down Lois' ideas for stories. Lois ignores this. She meets her "source," a newspaper girl named Flip Johnson (voiced by Azuri Hardy-Jones). The reality is more terrifying: Livewire activates robots which Clark barely defeats. He only survives due to his powers and Lois's quick thinking.

At the end of the episode, Lois declares she wants an exclusive interview with Superman, where she will expose all his secrets, terrifying him. That's only the first episode! In later episodes, Clark tries to find out more about his past. He talks to Jor-El (voiced by Jason Marnocha), who speaks Kryptonese. Despite the fact he is Superman, he works with Lois and Jimmy on an investigation into Superman. He even has a magical transformation sequence. Some said it was inspired by magical transformations in Sailor Moon. Other fans argued it resembled Pretty Cure.

Storyboarder Diana Huh confirmed that Superman's transformation sequence was based on the part of Kaido Minami's transformation into Cure Mermaid in Go! Princess Pretty Cure, "specifically the part in her transformation when her back ribbons and hair were formed." She noted that she watched it on "repeat for inspiration." As for Clark, he grows closer to Lois. In fact, she even gives Superman his name. Clark's adopted mother puts together his superhero costume. All the while, those who call themselves "good guys" torture people.

This focus on identity is not unique to My Adventures with Superman nor is the relationship between Lois and Clark. The latter is key in many Superman series, including Justice League Unlimited. In that series, their romance is even known by other superheroes. They never kiss in that series, from what I remember, but the closeness between them is apparent. Another difference is that Jimmy is a Black man and Lois is a Korean woman. She also calls Clark by the nickname "Smallville."

Clark struggles with his powers. In other depictions he is older and fully aware of his superpowers. In this series, his identity struggle is complicated when Lois calls Superman a liar. It weakens Clark's resolve to tell her the truth about himself. Clark continually tries to cover his tracks that he is Superman, even ripping out a key piece from the tabloids. After she tells him that she hates being lied too, he chickens out, again, in telling her the truth. Their relationship development is better paced than dragging it out across the season. It gives them more time together.

The push-and-pull between Lois wanting to find out about Superman, and Clark's determination to ensure that Lois doesn't realize the truth defines the early part of the first season. Both have identity crises. In fact, in the second episode, he is traumatized by his adopted parents almost being killed when he visits a spaceship which is supposed to show his origins. They face challenges along the way. They fear that The Daily Planet's star reporting team (Steve Lombard, Cat Grant, and Ronnie Troupe) will scoop their story. These characters are voiced by Vincent Tong, Melanie Minichino, and Kenna Ramsey respectfully. Even so, Lois is persistent. She swipes the keycard of the warden (also voiced by Minichino), allowing them to see a prison cell.

At first it seems that the fifth episode might not be the big confrontation between Lois and Clark. He shows Lois his "murder board"/investigation board, and plans to say he likes Lois. She even goes to the extreme and chains herself to him, but he breaks free. This is dashed quickly. Later, she falls off a building to see if he will catch her! While this generated some online discourse about how she was "wrong" and Clark was "right," the truth is simple. Clark was lying to her and her reasoning makes sense. At the same time, Clark understandably held back, as he was afraid.

Social media has a key role in the series. Jimmy has a secret YouTube channel named Flamebird which covers conspiracies in Metropolis and beyond. This comes to a fore in the fifth episode: Jimmy gets a response video for every single video he has posted. Some internet troll attacks him, and it turns out that star reporter Steve is behind it all! This focus also gives Jimmy character depth, as a sort of social media influencer, and makes you sympathize with him when Lois and Clark leave him behind.

There an interesting secondary plot in My Adventures with Superman. Mist/Kyle (voiced by Lucas Grabeel) and Rough House/Albert (voiced by Vincent Tong) break out Mist's sister, Siobhan/Silver Banashee (voiced by Catherine Taber), the leader of Intergang. They accomplish this thanks to weapons Livewire (voiced by Zehra Fazal) and are able to escape. Using these weapons, they rob Metropolitan City Bank. Superman saves them all when one of their machines goes haywire. This is interlinked with the tech plan of Ivo (voiced by Jake Green), the founder of Amazo Tech. He creates a super suit named Parasite and markets it as something which turns people into their own personal Superman. Of course, this doesn't work, since the prototype is unstable.

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Superman takes extreme risks to protect those he cares about and support justice. Often, he saves people across Metropolis. He fights villains like Heat Wave (voiced by Laila Berzins) and supposed "good guys" like Agent Wilson (voiced by Chris Parnell). The latter only stops at the urging of Amanda Waller (voiced by Debra Wilson). The General (voiced by Joel De La Fuente) wants Agent Slade Wilson / Deathstroke (voiced by Chris Parnell) to eliminate Superman once and for all.

While writing this review, I can't avoid comparisons between My Adventures with Superman and previous series, like Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. The latter's end marked the end of the DC Animated Universe (DCAU). Some fans call DCAU the Timmverse, after animator and director Bruce Timm. It comprised eight animated series, four feature films, four short films, and two digital series between 1992 and 2006. While I haven't watched all the series within DCAU, I see some similarities, especially with the two Justice League series, when it comes to Amanda Waller. She's a Black woman who's continually skeptical of superheroes. She even partners with Lex Luther to fund a research center supporting a superhero-hating metahumans.

In this series, Waller gives Task Force X one mission: to take down Superman. This differs from the two Justice League series, where her goal is broader. She intends to ensure that Earth can defend itself if the superheroes go "bad." Waller, in this series, along with the General and Agent Wilson, believe that Superman will bring the end of the world. They remember how someone like him killed many during an event they call "Zero Day." This military slang means a day in which a Basic Combat Training company "picks up Soldiers." I think The General meant it to be equivalent to a D-Day or "Invasion Day." The General is misguided. Superman is not like the marauding Supermen he (and Lois) sees on a record from the League of Lois Lanes.

In another major difference, My Adventures with Superman depicts Cadmus more positively. Lois and Clark go through the forest to save Jimmy. He was kidnapped by Monsieur Mallah. The latter is an intelligent ape, voiced by Andre Sogliuzzo. He is working with Brain (voiced by Jesse Inocalla). Like the two aforementioned Justice League series, Cadmus is a secret government project. In this series, it was begun 20 years before. It is where Mallah and Brain fell in love. However, Task Force X came to eliminate them. The Task Force believed that no one survived the unstable Black hole.

The reality, obviously, is very different. Mallah and Brain are almost trapped. A nearby minefield, drones, and a protective bubble stop anyone from leaving, or reaching, Cadmus. Task Force X wanted to ensure that no one could discover Cadmus. At one point, Lois and Clark are chased by robots. They are only saved when mutants, created by Mallah, attack. Thanks to Clark's actions, the black hole maintains its power and a containment field stabilizes it.

In a heart-felt scene, Mallah and Brain step through the wormhole, wanting to reach a world where they can live freely. The Brain warns them that once the person who is trying to get Superman (The General) sees him as a threat, they will never stop. This is clear from a final scene, in that episode. The General asks Ivo to help him figure out where the technology is, and to help him take down Superman. The Brain nor Mallah is evil. The former is exclusive to the continuity of this series and is an adaptation of a character which first appeared in Volume 1 of the comic book Doom Patrol.

The sixth episode of My Adventures with Superman is one of the strongest not only because of the action-packed sequences or the romance between Lois and Clark, with Clark saving Lois from dying. It shines because Clark tells Lois the truth. He admits to her (and Jimmy) that he didn't want to reveal his true nature due to a fear that Jimmy and Lois would see him as an "alien" and treat him differently. Instead, he wanted to be "normal." Jimmy, who already knew Clark was Superman, reassures him they are friends because of who he is. Lois says they want to be open with him. In the next episode, he declares there will be no more secrets, so he brings them to a spaceship, the same one which brought him to Earth, which surprises Lois and Jimmy.

By the seventh episode, it seems that the romance of Lois and Clark, is moving forward. Both lose their minds over a date, having charts, maps, and other ways to ensure it goes perfectly. These plans never come to pass. A so-called international "peacekeeper," Mxyzptlk (voiced by David Errigo Jr.), asks for Clark's help and declares that Clark is a Superman is in every universe. Meanwhile, the aptly named League of Lois Lanes, peacekeepers tasked with saving the Multiverse, come to save Lois. They declare that Clark is in danger, and Jimmy comes along. In the process, Lois and Jimmy become skeptical of the League. Clark realizes that Mxyzptlk lied to him and only wants chaos. Clark tries to do the right thing and stop Mxyzptlk from stealing.

The episode focuses on what Lois sees on a computer screen: a restricted file about Superman only accessible at League headquarters. Not only is this suspicious, but the centrality of a classified record drew me into the story. I say this is a person who indexes such records for my day job and someone who has written about archives and archivists in popular culture for many years. I liked how Lois even works with Mxyzptlk to get to the League headquarters, despite being wary of him. While there, she accesses a mainframe and gets the restricted record. Of course, her temporary ally-of-sorts is only there for his own benefit. He gets what he wants, allowing him to villainous "again." On the whole, the episode is so absurd, it's a bit funny.

The League sees Superman as evil, shooting him with guns filled with kryptonite. In some ways, the episode ends well. Lois, Jimmy, and Clark work together to take down Mxyzptlk. However, he later escapes prison. He sees Lois looking at the file which has the "truth" about Superman. He soon leaves, declaring it will be "more fun" to watch her figure it out. Lois doesn't consider possible manipulation of the record or that it only shows one "truth."

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The eighth episode goes a different direction. It begins with Ivo collecting former villains and saying they need to fulfill their "debt" to society. Lois and Clark both face villains of sorts. Lois meets a reporter she idolizes, named Vicki Vale (voiced by Andromeda Dunker). She soon sours on Vale. It is revealed that Vale has an anti-Superman bias. Clark becomes obsessed with finding The General, thanks to his new power of super hearing. He ignores the pleas from Lois and Jimmy, going off on his own to face "the evil." In a local park, he takes a beating. He is kidnapped and The General calls him the "end of the world." Due to the splintering of the typical friend squad (Lois, Jimmy, and Clark), the ending sequence is different. It features the cityscape and none of the characters.

In the ninth episode, everything goes off the rails. Lois and Jimmy enlist the help of the Newskid Legion to find Superman. In actuality, he is in custody of The General. Falsely, The General believes that Superman is the enemy. He tortures him with electricity and declares that he won't let any more of "his kind" invade Earth. While Superman tells him what he knows, this isn't the "right answer." There is a powerful scene in this episode in which Clark sees what happened on Zero Day, 22 years before, as The General terms it. Many of Superman's kind come through, attacking people on Earth, until a light shines and the attack ends. Due to this incident, it makes sense he, and Waller, created Task Force X, and used the tech left behind to create new U.S. government weapons.

Superman empathizes. He realizes that not all Supermans are good, and asks why Supermen would do this. His responses takes The General back and makes him realize that he is making the wrong call. He begins to ask if Task Force X is wrong. Arrogantly, Waller shows her commitment to the task force: she claims that it is never wrong. As The General even admits, Superman was too young to be part of Zero Day and implies he is innocent. To make matters worse, Waller deactivates a camera, encouraging the villains to get out of their cells, including Ivo, who wants to "finish off" Superman, in revenge for what happened in the past.

He somehow escapes in a weakened state. He makes his way back to Lois and Jimmy. Thanks to assistance from his two friends, he defeats the Ivo Kaiju monster, which is attacking Metropolis. They call on everyone in town to turn off their power so that Ivo cannot suck in any more electricity. As a result, Superman is victorious. Jimmy lets Lois and Clark have time alone, together. Clark proceeds to carry Lois into the sky and kiss her. The General stands against Waller. She relieves him of his duties. Waller becomes head of Task Force X. The General gets a new mission: to track down and terminate Superman.

The season one finale of My Adventures with Superman goes further than showing Superman as the immigrant, "the adoptee living in a world that says being different is bad." He embraces his differences every day, with his weirdness and strangeness as his strength, as Campbell put it. Everything comes full circle. Clark becomes a full-time reporter with Lois and Jimmy. He dreams about being an evil Superman and learns something about The General: he is Sam Lane, Lois' dad! While Clark is, understandably, nervous about telling Lois this reality, Jimmy pushes him to do the right thing, causing Lois to come to his aid.

This all happens during Thanksgiving. There's family drama between The General and Lois. Clark's adoptive parents are also there. This all falls to the wayside when kryptonite inside the record weakens Clark. Although none of them are entirely sure what kryptonite is, Jimmy rightly realizes that the rock is causing the problem and puts it back. The entire scene echoes part of the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power series finale. Clark risks his life to ensure that the portal can be closed. He puts the kryptonite on the ship core, causing it to explode, and Jor-El saves him. Lois also saves his life, after he ensured that she (and everyone on Earth) wouldn't die. She stands in front of her dad, stopping him from killing Clark.

While The General listens and follows the pleas of Lois, he does not stay for Thanksgiving. It is only Lois, Jimmy, Clark, and his adoptive parents. In a funny scene, Jimmy announces that he sold Flamebird to the Daily Planet for $5.6 million and is "super rich now," surprising them all. The series ends with one final scene:, a kryptonian warrior declares they have found a new planet (presumably Earth). One commander tells him that it doesn't matter whether they destroy the ships and close the portals, saying they will kneel ultimately. That sets the stage for a season 2, which Campbell confirmed.

My Adventures with Superman somehow survived corporate fuckery. It had an uncertain future through various corporate mergers, the pandemic, and a thin budget. But, the passion of the writers and crew showed through, as Campbell noted. Such a message can't be more apt, considering the continued twin strikes by writers and actors, regardless of efforts by some to break the strike and fill their fat pockets with wads of cash. Previously, Drew Barrymore withdrew her plan to restart her show after intense criticism. Bill Maher sneered at the strike by writers. Thanks to backlash, he decided to put his show on pause. He has made Islamophobic and anti-Chinese statements, supports NSA surveillance, dislikes critical race theory, and opposed accepting Syrian refugees into the U.S., in the past.

A second season will include more moments between Clark and Lois, shipped by fans as Clois, generating fanart and fanfics. In fact, many of the over 130 stories on AO3 focus on this ship. In the words of Campbell, the second season will "blow people's minds." It will consist of 10 episodes, like Season 1. It is likely that the Kryptonian warriors will attack Earth. Spider-Man, Lux Luthor, and Lana Lang might appear. Hopefully, a second season has more outward LGBTQ+ representation in the main case. In this season, there is only, directly, a lesbian couple helped by Superman (he returns their child) and a gay couple (Mallah and Brain).

Fans who enjoy Clois are undoubtedly looking forward to another season. As for others, they may believe that the second season will reveal the truth behind Clark's birth father or infuse strong sci-fi elements "with heart," and make viewers love Superman all over again. Whether viewers see Lois as adorable, enjoy the fluid animation, humor and character designs; see Superman for gays and girls, or compare Lois with Luz, there are many reasons to enjoy this series, especially for those who like shonen action or shojo romance. Furthermore, it is relatable that Superman has been training, but doesn't have hold of his powers.

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My Adventures with Superman is very animesque, from opening and closing credits which resemble anime series in more ways than one. Clark's voice actor, Jack Quaid, described it as "some anime influence...that is just so fun." Along with the aforementioned magical transformation of Superman, some said there was a reference to Ouran High School Host Club opening sequence ("Kiss Kiss Fall In Love") in the title of the seventh episode: "Kiss Kiss Fall In Portal."

As part of a thread on X/Twitter, producer Josie Campbell confirmed this. She noted other influences on the series from Pokemon's Team Rocket, the anime Gurren Lagann, and many other media. While Sailor Moon likely didn't influence the series, the fact that a Pretty Cure transformation influenced Superman's transformation has caused interesting results. For instance, some social media users called on people to watch series within the ongoing anime franchise.

In a strange coincidence, this series is airing at a time that a character, Sora Harewata-ru, in Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure, transforms into Cure Sky in a manner which resembles Superman's transformation. Cure Mermaid's transformation likely inspired both. The My Adventures with Superman ending sequence is meant to resemble "old anime EDs with the softer palette and slow pan while time passes." In Crunchyroll News, Briana Lawrence wrote an article about the similarities between Usagi Tsukino in Sailor Moon and Clark. Others pointed to Dragon Ball and Kill la Kill references, and anime tropes.

The anime influence isn't the only factor influencing My Adventures with Superman. While fans have pointed out that some of the Crew-Ra, the name for the crew of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, worked on the series, this was more limited in reality. Campbell, a co-producer, was a story writer and staff writer on She-Ra. Writer and co-executive producer of one episode, Brendan Cougar, was a storyboarder on She-Ra. He also storyboarded on Young Justice and on The Legend of Korra. Storyboarders Jasmine Goggins, Karen Guo, Diana Huh, and Jessica Zammit all worked on She-Ra.

More of an influence on this series could be, in some manner, Harley Quinn. 17 crew members of this series worked on that series, including animator Yew Yung, writer's assistant Sari Cooper, production executive Audrey Diehl, and executive in charge of production Jay Bastian. In addition, nine crew members did work on Young Justice, including prop designer Austin Reinkens and storyboarder Chris Palmer. Another eight worked on DC Super Hero Girls. The latter included effects animator Jason Plapp and storyboarder Michael Nanna. Other crew members worked on Dogs in Space, The Casagrandes, Glitch Techs, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, and the Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part 1 film.

The co-executive producer for My Adventures with Superman, Jake Wyatt, was a background designer for Steven Universe. Art director Jane Bak was a background designer on the same series. Bak did the same on Steven Universe Future and Adventure Time: Distant Lands. Animator Edward Artinian worked on Steven Universe too. Online listings show that some crew members were part of the crew of Pantheon and Final Space. Series composer worked on Nomad for Nowhere. Others contributed their time and labor to series ranging from Chicago Party Aunt to Invincible, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal to High Guardian Spice. The title sequence animator, Yves Bigerel, better known as Balak, is the director and writer of Peepoodo & The Super Fuck Friends.

Continued in part 2

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girldraki · 3 months

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unfortunately the decision to rewatch rick and morty has led to the very predictable situation that someone pointed out the obvious parallels between the daydreamers’ whole (gestures) deal, which they started doing very soon after initially watching rick and morty*, and well. the premise and themes of rick and morty. and now four keeps loudly and emptily threatening suicide every time someone brings it up

#*we got it recommended off an anime review blog idk man this was fresh off our sailor moon spin #we were twelve lol #txt #they are empty threats because none of the daydreamers can die or even really be hurt #and even if one of them died the other two would immediately res them. sad

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chocolaspring · 7 months

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Shining Moon

Tsukino Hikaru was a perfectly normal boy, just starting his second year of high school. He was perfectly normal, until confronted by a talking cat who told him he was a warrior.

Taking upon the mantle of Warrior Moon, his duty is to defeat monsters, find his allies, and secure the safety of the prince…if the enemy doesn’t find him first. Like out of a story, the fate of his world depends on it.

But Hikaru quickly learns that being a warrior, being a hero, is nothing like the fairytales and stories he heard as a child.

Life is no fairytale.

As much as there is glory, there is also pain and bloodshed - and not all of it belongs to the enemy. Enemies are not always easily defeated, and sometimes innocent people can not be saved.

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^ I made this cover on Canva and am ridiculously proud of how it turned out.

#sailor moon #bishoujo senshi sailor moon #genderbend #genderbent #genderbending #One day I will actually write a non-Genderbent fic #But not today lmao #How do you tag your own fanfiction?#Seriously #someone help me #Shining Moon AU #If you visit the fic and review please be kind #ao3 fanfic #fanfic

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jeremy-ken-anderson · 5 months

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Sailor Moon is Real Good

I'd forgotten how on-point the comedic timing in this show can be.

S2E1 our introduction to the dysfunctional relationship between Ali and En has her telling him off for his infidelity and that - that moment - is when Mamoru walks by and En falls for him instantly, leading to a bit where Ali is attempting to swear he'd never cheat on her only to see that she's wandered away.

Is it subtle? No. It's a kid's show. But it's clever, and it's really funny.

#sailor moon #anime #review #it's good!

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no-more-lullabies · 9 months

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No More Lullabies tastes Ocean Bomb Sailor Moon themed sparkling water (mango)

#no more lullabies #ocean bomb #soda review #sparkling water #sailor moon #sailor moon soda #sailor mercury #sailor venus #sailor uranus #sailor saturn #sailor jupiter #sailor neptune #sailor mars #nu emo #emo #myspace #spacehey #emocore

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krissiefox · 1 year

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The 3D Adventures Of Sailor Moon (PC) (Game Review)

Sailor Moon is one those franchises that is an exception to my general revulsion to anime nowadays, because it holds nostalgic value and it's female-centric cast was a comforting form of escapism for me when I was a closeted baby-gay back in the late 90s/early 2000s. (A friend once drew me as Sailor Venus in middle school - as a joke - and I ended up loving the idea of it! ). It also helps that the characters aren't floppy water balloon-boob monsters who are constantly trying to show their panties to the camera (in general, I find the visuals of older anime shows much more pleasant to look at). Looking back on it as an adult, I'm bothered by the anti-queer censorship the show faced in America, and as adorable as all the Sailor Scout uniforms are, it's a little off-putting that these gals in tiny miniskirts are all supposed to be 14. But I can appreciate the show's colorful visuals and it's intended message of spreading love, being good to your friends, and standing up to up evil jerks. That leads me to the discovery of this obscure little computer game. It's more of one of those old "activity center" pieces of software than game, but it does also contain puzzles, action elements and and end goal!

(I wanted to be like Sailor Venus when I was a teenager. She was so cool and has awesome hair, too!)

It's all pretty simple as it was likely designed with very young fans in mind, but it was fun to look around at everything. It starts with an 3D animation of the Sailor Scouts dancing on the game's main map screen. I've seen a lot of people make fun of the character models, and they do have silly looking vacant smiles on their faces, but I'm sure they were trying their best with what technology was available at the time. The weirdest part of it for me was how strangely jittery the camera gets at one point!

Once you get to the main map screen, You learn that the game's winning condition is based upon finding an item in each activity center. Unfortunately it's not well-explained *how* you find these items, and I eventually gave up trying to find the two that I couldn't get to show up. Every time I "found" one, I only knew that it had happened because a sparkly sound played and I heard some lady tell me that I found it! (even though nothing showed up on-screen...?).

(And whenever I’d get excited, my mouth would get REALLY BIG!!) As for the activity center thingies themself, there are 6 in all. The first one I checked out was a video player, which was pretty charming as it showed a lot of little randomly chosen art images paired with little AMV videos you could watch, that had very cool music, and I actually like that the videos were clearly pulled from an old VHS tape because it gave them that "retro wave"/"Vapor-wave" feel that I've come to enjoy.

The next activity I tried was the puzzle game. This one does have actual game-play, and probably the best of all the activities in this regard. You can pick from 3 sets of increasingly challenging tile puzzles where you move the parts around to complete an image.

Next, I tried the "Crystal Fighting Arena". Oof. This was probably the least fun of the activity centers. It has a first person perspective and your job is to shoot a bunch of little objects that are floating around. The old-school 3D visuals are certainly charming, but the controls are awful and made me wish they were mapped out more like in Doom or Wolfenstein.

Next, is the "Galactic Moon Library". This starts you off with those same awful 3D controls from the last activity, but thankfully all you need to manage is to walk around a cute little UFO-looking room and activate a computer console. Here, you can read bios about the show's main cast, and see a bunch of screenshots form the shows too. Sailor Mars apparently loves vegetarian pizza, which makes me wonder if she actually is vegetarian? That would be neat. :) Also, when you look through Rini's image gallery, you get some nice artwork of the characters Artemis and Luna as well. Hooray for cute cats! Seeing Rini nowadays, I can't help but imagine her sounding like Sweetie Bell from My Little Pony. I think it's the floofy hair.

Lastly, was the "Moon fashion Salon". If you've ever played with paper dolls or tried out any of those dress-up flash games that were pretty common in the early 2000s, this is like one of those. You can actually have these kids wear some pants! ...But it sucks that Darien doesn't get the option wear any pretty dresses (laaaame!). It was fun to get through all the different clothing styles- I'm a sucker for any game that lets you customize your characters outfits. A lot of the garments had comically gaudy patterns on them, but some were kinda cute looking. It's kind of shame that the outfits you pick out for the characters don't actaully show up on the 3D models of them in the main screen. It also felt annoying limited that whenever you changed clothing sets, you'd lose your current outfit, making it harder to mix and match things. Also, why is it called a "Salon"? You can't change anyone's hairstyles!

(Thanks to youtuber jamcal for posting footage of the 3D City so I could get this screenshot!) Now, lastly, i you unlock all 6 mcguffin items, you unlock the final area! 3D City! This one I decided to just look up on YouTube, as sadly, when I went to try the game again later to see if I could finish it, I found out that it didn't save my progress...I won't count this as a point against the game itself because it probably has more to do with the fact that I was running it from a Windows 95 emulator that I've never used before, and I probably just did something wrong upon shutting it off. All that said, the 3D City was ultimately disappointing to me. All it is a 3D version of the game's main map hub, complete with an awkward floaty camera. Personally, the regular hub world map seems like it's a lot easier to navigate.

So, do I recommend this? Well, maybe as a novelty if you have a fondness for Sailor Moon and/or old-school Windows 95 aesthetics. There's very little game-play,but it could be a cool collectible for a Sailor Moon fan, and the puzzle mini-game was actually pretty fun and challenging on the higher difficulties! If you're wanting a physical copy, the game's pricing on ebay runs from about 20-90 bucks depending on the seller. However, if you're just casually curious and want to try it out first, there's a nice copy of the game configured for modern computers here: https://collectionchamber.blogspot.com/p/the-3d-adventures-of-sailor-moon.html This cool person is working hard to get old computer games running properly on modern machines, and I love to see folks preserving art like that! Kudos to you, Collection Chamber. The original development team for this game, 3VR Inc., shut down in 1998 so if you're the type to feel badly for not paying, you can be rest assured knowing that there is no longer any way to buy the game directly from the creators anymore, anyway.

#Sailor Moon #The 3D Adventures Of Sailor Moon #Windows 95 #vaporwave #old-school pc games #KrissieFox Game Reviews #anime #retro gaming #retro games #Activity Centers

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