Ok more coherent thoughts now. I can already see how this ending is probably going to be divisive and to an extent I understand why. Before it aired, I wasn't keen on the idea of the show ending like this. People don't like endings where the found family go their separate ways, except that isn't really what's happening here. And I think the way they did it was perfect.
Alison has come in and completely turned these ghosts' unlives around. She's given them purpose, connections with the outside world and each other, and above all a lack of boredom. Boredom is one of the main existential challenges the ghosts face. Alison isn't abandoning them to what they had before she came - she's leaving them with the tools to actually live rather than just exist after her.
And she's not gone forever! Families don't have to live together to be family. She comes back and visit them regularly! Maybe it's just because I moved out from my parents' in the last few years and I'm back for Christmas, but her being a regular at the hotel, coming back and visiting them at least every Christmas (maybe more) was very moving to me. Just because she's moved out doesn't mean they're not still family.
Having it become a hotel is a nice bookend and I bet it's improved the ghosts' quality of unlife a lot. As I said, their biggest challenge has always been boredom. A hotel/golf course probably isn't at all boring. How many affairs do you think Julian has watched? It's perfect for them, with all the people coming and going. I bet they even stage the odd haunting for fun. A constant, varied existence is a great fate for them.
Ending the episode with the plague ghosts was PERFECT. Obviously, it was great to see them again and it was hilarious as they always are. But it struck me just how much this decision has improved their situation - they've gone from dingy cellar to sauna. And that's the analogy of how much things have improved for all the ghosts.
Change is scary. It's sad when things come to an end. But sometimes it's for the best. And an end doesn't always mean a closed door.
There are two things involving Shockwave and Elita-1 I’d really love to see in a transformers series (they are not compatible):
1. Them being absolutely enemies. Elita and Shockwave hate each other. They got like 4 billion years of extra war between them and they cannot stand even the sight of one another. Optimus and Megatron wish they hated each other as much as Shockwave and Elita do. They should get to be silly, terrible rivals at least once, please <3
2. Shockwave and Elita-1 ending the war on Cybertron and for a more crack version of this getting together too. Genuinely I’d be so into a series where like Optimus and Megatron establish communication back with Cybertron and the war is just over. Even funnier the war is over and their respective romantic partners are now married
shang qinghua deserves to be a) squeezed like a stress ball and b) a god who kind of but not really lost control
And now I want to talk about how cool it would be if like uh uh the system and sqh were having custody battles over who has more control over the world and obviously its the system the system is really wierd and thats an entire discussion but qinghua is the author and that's really really important to me he should write stuff into existence I think but also last week I had an idea that went like uh sqh loses more and more power as he changes things, so when he's transmigrated in as a baby he loses a lot of 'power' unintentionally and then when mobei comes in there's a thing and when sy comes in he literally just loses it all and he knows this inst really his story anymore
Aahahaha it's 2am I'm gonna stop yammering now good luck on your future endeavors
Mobei is always squeezing Shang Qinghua like a stress ball but affectionately
I, on the other hand, squeeze him and shake him around like a chew toy
Your idea tho!!!! I'm very interested in that!!!
CUSTODY BATTLE OF POWERS a fitting description
It's kinda like, yeah he was a God of that world because he wrote it out and can change anything on a whim.
But once you're actually a part of that world, well it's a little hard to change it since you're living in it.
I'm really interested in Shang Qinghua slowly but surely realizing he's not really in his own story. Yeah he wrote it yeah he made the character but when does the line between "I wrote this character" and "theyre an in depth person with feelings and lives and to me they were only written in a second but here they're actually someone " blur
He spent his whole second life clinging to everything to live and worrying about that characters future and using everyone around him to save himself
When did he really see these people as...people
A one off character becoming his friend
A minor character dying to advance the plot, does he see the grief? Does he say they're characters to help digest what he's done? He never meant for any of this to be real, so how does he handle it?
Does he finally see everyone as real, or does he simply become a character as well?
the “everyone is jin ling’s uncle” thing is funny but also that is the POINT of his character, like he is the catalyst. all the major players are connected to him, he is the unifying point that draws them all together. the dramatic confrontation between the leaders of the cultivation world is simultaneously a ridiculous family drama because they’re all related to this one kid
Funniest thing in the world is when someone like dissects the symbolism they perceive in something you made and you're like "Wow yeag I really did that. My twisted web of genius metaphors and subtleties" [INTERNAL] What teh fuck are they talking about!!!!!!
Wungouing on this fine wednesday ONCE AGAIN since this is also a Kajii episode and while I'm more normal about it than in the first season, I still wanna be weird about it.
(this ended up being more about the manga's version of the scene but shhh its fine)
Firstly his vocal fry in this scene is something spectacular. His vocal range in general is so beautiful and I think he needs to talk more
Next, diverging away from the anime and into the manga, here's my personal favorite panel from this scene, the Ominous Silhouette
Any scene of his where he's blacked out and only his smile and goggles are contrasted is the best thing to grace this earth. It's kinda creepy. It's kinda spooky. It's kinda really nice to look at. It's things like this that remind me that he's an Active Threat to Yokohama
Another favorite panel
Look at that award winning smile ✨
Also he's really good at acting. sure he started out with silly goofy “I’m clearly messing with you” stuff but
this looks like genuine fear, y'know? Get this man a damn Oscar because he's good at what he does. Making a fool of himself was a really smart play to lower their guard.
Anyways here's to hoping Kajii does more crazy shit in the future, ✨silly style✨
I very much know this is because Jessica Cruz's origin story was written by Geoff Johns in a shitty comic, but by God is there so much going on there. Like damn.
Like there's the really, genuinely compelling stuff, for example the presence of ring horror and loss of control w Jess and Power Ring/Volthoom + the implications of that (character wise, both before and after JL 50) which is just SO interesting (and angsty!) to me personally
But then there's also more plot holes than you can shake a stick at as well (where did Jess get her ring. Guys it just showed up who died where did she get it from GUYS-)
All interspersed between some of the worst character writing for other Justice League members in existence (Wondy fans you know what I mean) and crazy ass plots out there
books 2 & 3 in a military-political sci-fi trilogy
space empire setting where reality & technology relies on an enforced cultural belief and calendar system
the ghost general taken over Cheris’ body and gone rogue, the rest of the hexarcate is trying to assassinate them while they try to change the oppressive systems of the hexarchate
I don’t know how else to explain things in here without spoilers (if I even could explain..)
I know everyone likes to joke about Shu’s restricted access to social media and how he would be a menace about Valkyrie’s online presence but I also like to imagine him having an alt just to be incredibly defensive of Ra*bits. And specifically ibara finding out about it due to a suspicious number of French death threats sent to Ra*bits haters. Like the whole account is painfully obviously his but the only posts are replies to people saying mean things about Ra*bits. The conspiracy scene for fans in the Enstars universe must be insane.
We beat Spider-Man 2(the new one), and, of course, our first reaction was to draw(and do a very light redesign) of our symbiote sona/OC, Catastrophe. We're very happy with this and how it turned out.