#this was a much better attempt overall so good work on adapting too
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I can't tell if you're stupid or just naive. Saying a supreme Court offical stating his plans isn't 'evidence' of a plan? Should we just ignore school shooting threats then? Jesus.
But since you think it only matters when things are in action, here.
https://texasscorecard.com/state/texas-gop-announces-priorities-for-2023/
Texas GOP has announced their plan to succeed in 2023, with clear written documentation that they'll make gay marriage and being gay/trans illegal.
https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/tennessees-anti-gay-marriage-bill-sparks-bipartisan-criticism-rcna23840
Tennessee bill proposes marriage should exclude same sex couples.
https://whyy.org/episodes/the-wave-of-anti-lgbtq-legislation/
And the countless laws and bills already against LGBT. There's many more if you just fucking used googles.
Maybe use your brain before you post dumb shit from your privileged perspective.
This is a good list of sources but you’re only distracting from the og argument. Which was anonymity online.
But I’ll explain it this to you as well because you are at least improving the arguement. I’m also putting it under a read more bc it’s a wordy response and you’ve bother enough people I know with this today.
When I say gay rights aren’t on the chopping block, I mean it in the extremely specific context of Roe v Wade. Which was a well documented effort and goal for ten years.
A sort of peusdo control in US government is using time and red tape to wear people down. For example, when applying for a permit for a demonstration at a local park, I have to take to from not only city hall, but to the parks department, the fire department, and the public utilities department to have it cleared. They need to know: How many people will be there? What we’ll be doing? And when we’ll be doing? In case smth goes horrifically wrong.
The Supreme Court has a similar system. Currently, there at no threats to gay marriage on the DOCKET, which is probably the word I should have been using instead of chopping block.
Judge Thomas has been complaining about gay people since he was born. But his position on this holds little water in the actual courts because, as I said, there are no bills targeting gay marriage or gay rights on the Supreme Court Docket. Meaning that it’s unlikely gay right are going to be judged and decided on in this country for awhile.
Any more of your anons will be deleted and ignored until you can learn to be polite while disagreeing on something as strange as Anonymity on the internet.
For the last time: You are an impassioned speaker and you can do good. Write this down, screenshot it, w/e and refine these arguments. I’m hardly the last person who’s going to barely challenge you and your beliefs.
Please be mindful of the energy you present when you are an impassioned speaker because it can cause fear and anxiety to those around you. Even when you’re right, the truth is, You rarely have to deal with the consequences of your words. It’s the glory of the internet. But they DO have consequences and they DO effect other people.
When I post, I try to be as rational about the next 24-72 hours to follow. These are critical times in both the movement and in people’s psyche. Keeping them moralized and not panicked and rational is important. The only reason I’m being the open about the logic behind this is because I think you could do to understand why organizers do what they do, when they do it. Even if you personally disagree with it.
For the final time: Please do not insult me. I know it’s hard bc I’m such a condescending asshole, but imagine how much harder someone who isn’t on your side is gonna be to talk to. Consider me practice well done and move on, baby. I don’t matter that much in your life or in the grand scheme of things.
#baby used affectionately in an older black woman way#I know it’s demeaning to some so I wanted to clarify#this was a much better attempt overall so good work on adapting too#politics#weird anon#see anon?#that’s the tag you get when you act weird to people
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Fitness update time baybeeeeeeeee! I once again had to gather the balls to post the photos here so uh. Ye. :D
Like the last one, more details will be under the cut, but for the TL;DR crowd:
Last Update Here
Current: 177lbs | Estimated BMI: 24-26% | Push Pull Legs split at 6 Days a week
Notes: Training stimulus for this block focused on lifting basics and intensity: establishing a stronger mind-muscle connection and knowing how training to true mechanical failure feels like. Additional challenge: Finding maintenance calories and maintaining weight in the general range of 175-180lbs before re-attempting 1st Lean Bulk attempt.
Results: All lifts have seen an increase in working weight. Noticeably more muscle definition overall over the course of the last two months. Weight largely remained the same; assume maintenance calories has been accurately found.
Sooooooo the last two months have been kinda crazy. I took a look at my past lifting logbooks and found that despite my PRs being higher than the last recorded attempt, my overall working weights for all of my lifts hadn't really moved much. Partially out of fear of injury, but mostly due to the noticeable lack of real intensity in the training.
On top of that I found that my weight wasn't going down or up at the calories I was eating at, but my energy had begun to drop and recovery was suffering. Originally I was meant to be in my first bulk, but my weight never moved, and that ultimately resulted in me switching strategies for my nutrition too.
Basic idea: dial up the intensity, RPE of 8-9.5. Find true maintenance calories.
For nutrition: I used the TDEE calculator for my calories this time. It's supposedly more accurate than most other calorie calculators including MyFitnessPal's calculator, which gave me 2200 calories as my "bulk". Welp, turns out that's wrong; 2200 is my cutting number with my current activity level. And given how long I've been in a cut, it explained why, even in the deficit still, my weight never moved: it's too low to gain weight, and with how long I been in a deficit up until then my body was adapted too much to continue losing fat. So I instead switched focus onto finding my actual maintenance calories by immediately bumping my calories to the number the TDEE calculator gave me (2600 cal) and adjusting based on how my weight trend.
Result is, over the course of 2 months I gained 2 pounds but I'm certain this is almost entirely muscle (based on look, measurements, and performance in the gym); I've otherwise hadn't changed weight wise. This is good to know; it means I can eat more than I initially thought and gives me a stronger baseline for when I do actually go into a real bulk.
For training: First thing I focused on was my legs, which was arguably my weak link. This is largely due to an old injury in my left knee made it hard to reach full range of motion, and the strength discrepancy between my left and right leg because of it was pretty noticeable. Correcting it is one of the reasons why I switched to PPL training split, with Legs being trained first every cycle.
For both my legs and my isolation exercises I utilized unilateral versions of all my exercises; working each limb separately instead of together. I also incorporated a different set program: 2 working sets of 6-10 reps, 1-2 sets taken to true mechanical failure. The failure sets were meant for me to get used to the very uncomfortable sensation of training the muscle to- and past - it's actual limit and not my mental limit while maintaining proper form technique. That shit is rough, but it ensured that I was training with actual intensity and I was taking the muscle to true failure for growth, which in turn would help with building better muscle-mind connection with each muscle bilaterally and unilaterally.
For compounds I didn't take any of the lifts to true failure due to the higher fatigue and recovery toll. Instead I focused on building strength skill, so the set program was: 1 Topset (heaviest set of the exercise) 1-3 reps, 2 working sets for 5-8 reps. Any hypertrophy work for these lifts were always done with machine accessories for stability and safety.
Results thus far has seen my overall strength increasing, my knee is much stronger and stable (tested my squats and I can safely squat my own bodyweight without pain or wobbling, which is a feat due to being unable to do that months ago), and I confidently can say I have better form and idea of intensity.
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SO! With all of that said I'd say this block was overall a success after much trial and error. Now that I've gotten a better idea of a few things, my next move right now is to take a deload week for some much needed rest, then structure my next block for a more strength focus alongside my 2nd attempt at an actual lean bulk. The goal is to gain at least 4-5 pounds of muscle by the beginning of next year and make a new maxout for my PRs, so I might look a lil soft the next time I do a progress report but hopefully I'll be much stronger and ready for my second cutting phase.
This shit is hard, but I'm loving it to death man. I'm having a lot of fun learning and going through the journey and now I can confidently say that I'm at the Intermediate stage of lifting! I also think I know the type of weightlifter I am now. I've heard the term "powerbuilding" a few times now and I feel it fits; primarily lifting to build strength, but also throwing in some bodybuilding rhetoric for aesthetics.
Like I said a while back I'm seriously considering recording my workouts and posting those as I go on my Instagram, and I've actually bought a lil phone stand to practice recording and being more comfortable in front of the camera. We'll see how that goes I suppose!
But uhhhhh YE! That's all my yapping for now. Thank you for listening, and if you have any fitness goals feel free to share them with me! :)
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💮Gepard x Reader💮Arrangements
Looking at the fruits of his labor before him, Gepard realized that perhaps, he would’ve been far better off purchasing some flowers from a Belobog florist. Weeks, no, months of hard work had netted him plants that were only barely suitable as filler in a backyard arrangement. He couldn’t understand just how they did it. Gepard researched countless guides and followed the instructions on the seed packets as closely as possible, but they did not blossom nearly as beautifully as he hoped for them to.
In fact, they barely even blossomed at all. The few droopy buds of color could barely pass as flowers, with some buds never even opening up. The blossoms weren’t suitable as a gift for anyone for that matter, especially not a close friend whom he admired so greatly. The fawn lilies didn’t even bloom fully, and the crocuses were underwhelming, blooming far smaller than he expected.
Was it even possible for him to salvage this disaster? Perhaps he could cover his blunders with a variety of exotic grasses to hide his original intentions of constructing a flower bouquet. Unfortunately, the result would be more akin to a bundle of weeds than a bouquet of flowers. Buying flowers from a florist at this point was an option, but it didn’t quite convey the same meaning that a handmade, self-grown bouquet did. Regardless, Gepard wasn’t sure if he would be able to face them himself out of sheer embarrassment due to his lack of talent.
He was a Silvermane Guard captain. Gepard had gotten himself into far worse situations than this before.
Growing flowers was a tad bit different than combat, but regardless, he must adapt regardless of the problem at hand. He refused to throw away the countless weeks of work he spent on such a heartfelt gift.
Perhaps the solution was not to accent it with grasses, but rather, some leaves could salvage these scrapped plants and turn them into a beautiful work of art? Adding in a few twigs with leaves still on them could make for a luscious, tree-like appearance. Top it off with a few thick blades of grass to fill in any gaps remaining.
The end result was a rather full bunch of various plants arranged as precisely as his hands would allow him to. With a spare purple ribbon from Serval’s knick-knack collection, Gepard tied a bow around the bunch as tightly as he possibly could. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, resulting in the bow being rather small, but he viewed this as a rather positive result. A small bow wouldn’t overshadow his…masterpiece, if one could call it that.
Even with Gepard’s attempts at salvaging his mess, the entire arrangement was overall rather messy. Rather than a floral arrangement, it appeared to be more of a wrap of grass with twigs and the occasional large leaf sticking out in an ultimately pathetic attempt to hide the failures of Gepard’s gardening. He shifted the trimmings around as much as possible in an attempt to make his craftsmanship a bit less of an eyesore, but despite his best attempts, it could not compare to the professionally tended flowers that he could find at the florists.
He was far too stubborn to scrap his plan, especially after dedicating so much time to it. After staring at the completed “bouquet” before him, Gepard wondered if they would focus more on his failure to execute a simple task rather than his commitment to his hobby as a whole. He wanted to tweak it further to perhaps patch up a few remaining flaws, but he decided that any further attempts at salvaging his work would only hurt the final product further.
Now, all that was left was for him to face you in person. Arguably, he would much rather defend the entire city of Belobog solo than go through with this. The excitement of a battle made his blood rush in a good way, and more importantly, gave him an all too familiar rush of emotions. A supposedly simple and honest exchange of words was not one of his strengths. Just the thought of doing so made his heart race in an unexplainable way. His thoughts became scrambled against his attempts to retain his composure, and he felt himself becoming warm enough to be used as one of the city’s heaters.
All he had to do was hand you the bouquet of flowers and say what was on his mind…if he could even put what was on his mind into coherent words able to be spoken. With a strung together bundle of leaves and grass, he couldn’t help but feel as if the chance of embarrassing himself was far more likely than even a decent outcome. He kept thinking back to all of the struggles he had endured attempting to grow these plants only for such a lackluster outcome, but he took a deep breath and steadied himself. Gepard managed to calm himself and straighten out his thoughts, but your expected arrival immediately threw him off track. All of thinking and bracing for his confession? Absolutely for nothing, as he lost track of where to even begin with his words.
“Gepard? You said you wanted to talk to me about something,” you said.
“Ah, y-yes I do. There is an important matter that I must bring up with you,” he said.
Gepard seemed to have forgotten that a formal tongue is not necessarily appropriate in every situation. He held the hodgepodge arrangement behind his back.
“What is it, Geppie?” you asked. “You seem weirdly stressed.”
He cleared his throat, attempting to calm himself before speaking further. “It’s nothing detrimental, but it has been lingering on my mind for quite some time now.”
“And what would that be?”
Gepard stood awkwardly quiet for a moment as he debated his next course of action. He could give a heartfelt speech about everything he felt towards you, but to him, it felt as if it would drag on for too long, boring you for eternity. On the contrary, blurting out his feelings in a short and sweet manner seemed to be the more painfully rushed approach.
Gepard said absolutely nothing as he looked away and handed you the bouquet of flowers, or arrangement, to be more specific. He could neither bare to look at his mess nor the disgusted reaction he expected from you. Improper, it was, but Gepard felt as if his own emotions backed him into a corner.
There was no denying that his handcrafted arrangement was rather rough. What did survive his typical disastrous attempts at gardening were rather dull, and the leaves and grasses he accented the piece with could be found just about anywhere in a planter on the side of the street. Regardless, whether Gepard produced flowers fit for the royalty or the compost bin did not matter to you. He really went through time and energy to grow and arrange plants just for you, even when he could’ve given up and bought a premade arrangement from the florist.
All this time that he had to prepare and Gepard was still left without any words. He turned his head even further away in an attempt to hide his blush, but his entire face was turning red at this point. He quickly snuck a glance to see how you were reacting to the flowers, then immediately looked away, hoping you didn’t see him sneak a peek.
You took the thick arrangement out of his cold, metal-clad hand and gently brushed your fingers through the different leaves, observing every single leaf and blossom that had survived his wrath. The quality of the disheveled bundle was of none of your concern, as you could tell that Gepard clearly put his heart and soul into it. Gepard sighed as you observed it, as if he was awaiting cruel words of mockery.
“You made this, just for me?” you asked.
“Indeed, I grew these plants by myself, though I worry that the end result is not up to your standards.”
“Standards? Who do you take me for?”
With your free hand, you nudged Gepard’s face gently to face him towards you. A brief flash of fear filled his eyes, as he was still convinced that you were absolutely disgusted with his gift. However, that could be further from the truth, and rather than waste your words on a man clearly inexperienced with them, you instead showed him your appreciation for his kind gesture.
Catching him off guard, you stood on the tip of your toes to steal a quick kiss on his cheek, causing him to bury his face into his metal gauntlets. That was one way to charm a Silvermane Guard, though perhaps you had a hold on his heart with far less than that. The flowers he spent ages growing for you was proof of this, and was more than enough to show you the amount of sincerity and dedication he harbored for you.
#honkai star rail#honkai star rail fanfic#gepard#gepard x reader#gepard landau#hsr x reader#hsr fanfic#fanfic#fanfiction
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41 and 12 for the ask game?
41. What are some lines from musicals you really like?
Don't be afraid of death, Winnie. Be afraid of not being truly alive. You don’t need to live forever, you just need to live - tuck everlasting
Try to walk all over us, we'll stomp all over you - newsies (this makes me wanna bang my head against the table/pos)
To the world we dream about, and the one we live in now - hadestown
You're not good, you're not bad, you're just nice. I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right - into the woods
How can you soar when you're nailed to the floor? - tick tick boom
But when you’re gone, who remembers your name? Who keeps your flame? Who tells your story? - hamilton
12. Worst stage to screen adaptation?
Short answer: Dear Evan Hansen, no one asked for a movie why didn’t they give us a proshot with the obc
Long answer:
Oh boy, ohhhhhh boy *crack knuckles*
It has to be Dear fucking Evan Hansen. For a show that has the og team in the writing room I don’t know how on the fucking earth they missed the whole story completely.
They did not realize the original plot has already walked on the edge of That Is Fucked Up and was on thin ice from falling into the Problematic Cringe Theatre Hell. They were like oh it’ll be fineeeee we can totally remove these import parts and it’ll be fineeeeee. Like bro. BRO.
A huge part of the story relies on a) Evan’s connection towards Connor, and b) The story acknowledges how Not Okay Evan’s actions are. And what did they do? Butcher the script until it highlights the worst possible part of the story. I don’t even give a flying fuck about Ben Platt being too old for the role or whatever, I can’t tell people’s age anyway, but not even the most talented and 17-years-old actor can save that monstrosity of a script, and that’s the same guy that wrote the musical one! Like how👏did👏you👏not👏see👏it👏
The thing that motivated Evan to do all the stuff in the story is that he saw himself in Connor, and you can see a lot of his action was based on “What if I’m the one that was dead, what would I want people to do”. You got Anybody Have a Map, Disappear, and ghost Connor, you cut those, you cut the connections between the two characters and Evan’s inner struggles. And they made Alana the one to suggest a Connor Project as an attempt to make Evan looked more blameless in the whole ordeal. I can’t believe I need to spell it out but it did😑not😑work😑like😑that😑, you just make Alana looked manipulative, and the whole thing can be avoided if you didn’t cut Disappear. And there are Jared and Good For You, without someone that is boinking Evan on the head like “Dude please stop”, it just looks like the story is excusing his actions.
In conclusion, they thought it’ll work better if they make Evan more out of control of his situation and overall more “Opps shit happened around me and I just went along with it”, I saw a post somewhere that said that making the character directly responsible to the thing that happened makes them more sympathetic (or smt) and it applied to this situation so much. In the musical we see a teenager that make terrible decisions as an attempt to make things better, but in the movie we just see an opportunist that is manipulative and did all of the stuff to get into a girl’s pants
#and cut!!#that got out of hand#do send me askes about how much deh movie fucked up#I need motivation to talk about that#ask game!#cam :)#tuck everlasting#tuck everlasting the musical#newsies#hadestown#into the woods#tick tick boom#hamilton#dear evan hansen#deh movie
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Ah, yes, the del Toro Hellboy movie; it’s much better than that other attempt at making a Hellboy movie that came out in 2019. It’s a very del Toro movie, which means it’s not that faithful an adaptation of the original comics. Still, it’s close enough, and it’s a pretty good movie in its own right.
In World War II, Professor Broom leads an American military in thwarting Rasputin’s Nazi experiment to open a portal to the Ogrdu Jahad, the seven gods of chaos (just roll with it). They defeat Rasputin and his forces, but something does come through the portal: an infant Hellboy. He’s adopted by the Professor and the newly-formed Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense (the BPRD). Aging much slower than an ordinary person, he of course becomes an agent of the BPRD and something of a cryptid to the general public. As he doesn’t really get along with his coworkers/handlers, Professor Broom hires FBI agent John Myers to work with him, and help introduce the audience to the world of the BPRD.
Except! Ohes noes! The Professor is dying! And Rasputin and his minions are back, raising up unkillable monsters and hoping to force Hellboy realize his destiny as Anung Un Rama, the Beast of Apocalypse.
There are several noticeable differences between Mike Mignola’s comic characters and del Toro’s versions of them. Hellboy being a grumpy young adult, rather than a serious investigator at this point comes to mind, as well as him being romantically interested in Liz. Abe is psychic now (a change which I actually kind of prefer?). Most of all though, the biggest change is that the BPRD is a secret organization, and Hellboy must hide from the public’s view, causing a lot of angst and conflict.
These are the hallmarks of a Guillermo del Toro picture: a monster who wants to be accepted by humanity, and can’t because humanity sucks sometimes. That’s not A Thing in the Hellboy comics, and it makes me understand why some comics fans don’t like these movies as much. That being said, apparently Mignola went into the the adaptation giving del Toro his blessing to do his own take on the world and characters. Also, this was my introduction to Hellboy (and I suspect that for many that’s the case as well), so I can’t really hold it against the movie too much.
Supposedly, according to TV Tropes at least, there is a Director’s Cut out there, and it develops the characters better than the theatrical cut. I have never seen anything about that, and I don’t know where I’d track that down, but let me know if you see that floating around!
There are some changes in the worldbuilding as well, like how the Ogdru Jahad are slightly different from how they appear in the comics. This is kind of excusable–the backstory and full explanation of their nature were things that Mignola knew, but hadn’t shared yet when the movie was in production. He actually decided to explain all of those in a comic story (“The Island”) when on set for this movie. So I can’t fault the movie for changing some of that.
Then again, there’s also the 2019 film, which tried to include a lot of the comics story and ended up being an overcrowded mess.
The special effects are… well, it’s a mixed bag. The practical effects, of which there are a lot, generally aged pretty well. You know you’re looking at something real when you’re looking at practical effects. The other effects are a little more hit-or-miss. It looks like del Toro realizes that the CGI wasn’t always as strong, as some of those weaker CGI images are in quick action shots, or in dark places, so that you don’t see it on screen for too long, or can’t make it out on screen, so it still works. Other things, like Liz’s flames, or when Hellboy electrocutes Samael–those are weaker effects and don’t hold up as well today.
Still, it’s overall a darn good movie. Even if it’s only a loose adaptation of the comics, it’s a solid, memorable story, with really good visuals and great scenes. Every action sequence is memorable and well-done. The characters are likable, the Plot is easy to follow, and the movie is loads of fun to watch.
Also it’s about a half-demon that’s been raised Catholic, which is a darn interesting premise by itself.
And Hellboy punches a robot ninja Nazi in the face. That’s pretty great.
So I suppose you should watch the movie.
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Ok so with Denis Villeneuve's Dune films fresh in memory I decided to watch the 1984 David Lynch adaptation of Dune, because I hadn't seen it before, and I'll be honest, I fucking hated it. Man this movie is awful.
The film somehow manages to be far less comprehensible to uninitiated viewers despite having a shit ton of unnecessary exposition, including through very stupid narration. By the time that Paul comes into contact with the Fremen, it gets so bad that I struggled to follow along even as someone who has read all six dune novels. In spite of the overreliance on narration, key information is never explained, like why Paul's eyes turn blue, or even who the fuck the Fremen are.
Everything before the encounter with the Fremen feels like a parody. It's the same series of events that I loved from the novels and the Villeneuve films, and yet they are conveyed so soullessly that I am completely uninvested. The Baron is gross and weird (as he should be) but his tone is more like an Austin Powers villain than a genocidal dictator. Feyd-Rautha (whose name is listed as "Feyd Rautha" in the credits) is played by, and this is not a joke, fucking Sting, of "Every Breath You Take" fame. Also all the Harkonnens have red hair, which is true to the novels but makes them all look like fucking Weasleys.
One of the reprieves is Patrick Stewart, who plays Gurney Halleck. While clearly not given great direction, he tries his hardest to give a good performance anyway. The first scene we see him in he's mostly obscured by the godawful shield effects though.
Oh, and Max von Sydow is here, playing Liet Kynes. Yeah, the knight from that one Bergman film. He's alright too, I guess.
Other than that, every performance in the film is stiff and uninspired. I kept watching this film and going "wow this scene was so much better in the Villeneuve film" or "man that exact same line was in the Villeneuve film and yet it was great there and awful here."
Despite the same series of events being portrayed, somehow there is no buildup or tension at all in the Lynch film. The scene where Paul puts his hand in the box of pain has a cool effect in Lynch's film, but the acting is meaningless, and you don't get the powerful moment where Paul stares defiantly into the Reverend Mother's eyes, or any sort of dynamic at all really. There's no real sense of directionality to the scene at all, nor the movie at large.
The wormriding scene is even worse. In the Villeneuve film, Paul struggles for his life on a titanic monster that moves cubic kilometers of sand like it's nothing, and every single moment is a fight for his life. In this film he just climbs onto it and saunters around on top like it's a sunday promenade. Every single thing Paul does in this film is done completely without struggle.
Speaking of the worms, I suppose the one nice thing I have to say is that the three-lobed worm design fucks. I think I like the Villeneuve worms more simply because of the overall quality of the special effects, but yeah, anyway, that's the last and only nice thing I have to say.
And before I get to the things I hated the most, a brief mention of technology: the special effects for the shields sucked. That's all. Also there are no ornithopters in this film, for some reason, which sucks. Also House Atreides has secret sound based weapons technology, which is stupid. It is eventually revealed that the Fremen use the name Muad'dib to cause destruction with this weapon, which I suppose was Lynch's attempt at Themes. It didn't work and it was stupid.
Anyway, time to talk about the Fremen. God I hate the Fremen. The first warning sign is that Doctor Yueh is just Some White Guy. Then, after Paul and Jessica have crossed the desert after the attack on Arakeen, they meet like, 20 white guys. Why are the Fremen white? What? This sure is a film made during the Reagan presidency.
Here is what Stilgar looks like. He barely says anything in this movie. The Fremen are all non-characters. Stilgar is not a desperate man clinging to belief because he needs it. In fact he is nothing at all. Man I hate this Stilgar so much.
Every moment after this point is a chaotic, stupid mess as well (spoilers for the second half of the dune novel and for dune part two). They go to Sietch Tabr, and immediately are shown the giant pool of water, with no explanation. There is no Jamis and no fight nor burial of Jamis. Immediately they ask Jessica to be the next Reverend Mother, she drinks poison, something something, now Paul is leader of all the Fremen. Within like 5 minutes. Not a single scene showing any of the Fremen's culture or values is preserved. We move on to the recapture of Arakeen at lightning pace, barely explaining what the wormriding scene or the water of life scene even mean.
Paul storms in on the Emperor, duels Feyd-Rautha in a completely unexciting duel (the choice by Villeneuve to remove the poisoned blades was the correct one. That made the duel feel so much more costly and tense) and makes a short Messiah-esque speech before the credits roll.
Actually, the final thing that happens is that it starts raining. Sure. Yeah. Whatever. I've suffered for two hours. I don't care anymore. I guess Lynch understood that there was never going to be a sequel. Paul uses magic messiah powers to summon rain. Needless to say that doesn't happen in the books. I don't even think they've explained that the Fremen want Arrakis terraformed in this movie because, again, they are just "the natives" in this film.
However, I've saved the final insult for last. This could have just been a bad adaptation, but what made it awful is the fact that David Lynch did not get Dune at all. How can you tell?
Because there is not a single point in this story where you are led to doubt Paul. The ambiguity, the creepiness... it's all gone. Basically none of the characters have much personality in this film, but that's the thing that takes the cake. This is just a Lawrence of Arabia movie. Paul is the savior. He does nothing questionable and saves the day in the end. For that, I say, go fuck yourself David Lynch.
Oh, and did I mention that the soundtrack was done by Toto? It's not bad but it's used completely ineptly. Every single action scene comes out of nowhere with zero tension, so it feels completely undeserved whenever the super epic Toto electric guitar epic hype song starts playing, which it does every single time there is a meaningless action sequence. The soundtrack could probably have been good if the movie didn't suck.
I can say, with confidence, that David Lynch did not understand Dune at all. He didn't get the vibes, he didn't get the tone, and he barely understood the themes. He clearly did not care much for the world.
Whatever. I'm tired. I'm noting this film as a 1/5, where 2 is average. That means it is a painful film not worth watching. Avoid.
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lost in the forest - part 5
Masterlist
Summary: Both leaders take classes with the unwilling teacher, and she is reminded of her current state.
Pairing: Senju Tobirama/Original Female Character
Tag: #lost in the forest fic
posted on ao3
Word Count: 2k
So... this part was difficult to translate, considering how the original was written. The next chapters will contain more two-language conversations, so I will try to translate the expressions and figures of speech as best as I can
Overall warnings: canon-typical violence, adult content, time skips, angst, kidnapping
She wants to murder these people, she is sure of that remembering bitterly how difficult it is to teach people without being an educator. That is why she chose marketing! There you only see numbers, statistics, market research... purchasing behaviors! Not a couple of adults quite frustrating.
Karen wants to throw in the towel.
She glares at those red eyes that return an intense discussion of few learned words. How can she explain the grammatical rules? The gerund, the subject, predicate and even worse the tenses... It’s difficult. She would have been better off opting for German or Spanish.
It’s easier than her native language.
She hates her past self who thought it would be good to speak to them with this language. She purses her lips at who continues to question as a very intense logical person. Tobirama turned out to be the worst student when he questions the rules so much. Hashirama is less intense and natural.
This guy is structured, conventional... hateful!
So it all comes down to her usual room with more papers scattered on the walls in her attempt to be a teacher who gives her ideas and a better understanding of her language. Of course there is progress, she does not deny that it is surprising how quickly they both adapt when she struggled so much when learning Spanish. It took her years... after that the other languages were easier.
Because by throwing yourself into work of that style you are forced to learn hard.
“Look, the subject is the person of the statement...”, she begins slowly. At least he has stopped frowning and although slowly he gradually to understand her. Of course that is what she wants to believe when she knows that both their bases are different.
She bitterly curses Master Tanaka. Why aren’t the Eastern root languages easier? She snorts indignantly.
“Not understand,” the man simply says in his rough tone, not at all friendly and without any type of conjugation.
How did she learn Spanish? Ah yes... first she spoke then she understood the basics.
Something that Hashirama skillfully applies.
“You do not have to understand the rules first, you know?”, she bites in her simple tone. It’s confusing to be in the same room. Her things are scattered. There have been hard days of confrontations over things so stupid her head hurts.
She wants a coke. Too bad there isn’t one here.
“Not understand,” the man insists crossing his arms. “Not explain well.”
“I’m not a teacher,” the woman now sitting says without any care. “Although I have to admit that there are better students,” she sighs keeping to herself the ease with which they have adapted.
“Mmmm...” Tobirama doesn’t say anything and looks at the papers. “Exercises,” he gives her a blank parchment, typical of someone who is unkind and doesn’t know how to ask for things.
“At least say please,” Karen points to one of her drawings where the basic manners that were tattooed on her soul as a child are expressed in a basic way.
“Mph...” The albino does not comment. “Not have,” he throws shortly with an insolent arch.
“Despicable,” Karen simply sighs reluctantly taking that sheet. “Dinner?” She ignores the intense look of someone who wants to decipher her lines with so little. The man is usually better at writing than his partner... taking this as a personal challenge.
Although she swears that Hashirama has more fun since his brilliant idea or learning.
Why did she choose to teach them? Ah, yes... she needs more to communicate... such as, for example, asking exactly where she is.
She snorts again, gives some verbs, short verses and conjugations that she remembers, and sighs. Basic education is essential, but she learned it a long time ago and she forgot so many things that it is very difficult to explain. “Look, do this.”
“Mmmm...” The man doesn’t say anything.
“Dinner?”, she asks again seeing how she was ignored.
“Usual time,” he simplifies with short comments, turning his back on her and leaving without any kind of extra expression. He is cold, rude and intense. Tobirama is still not her favorite person, but at least now he is more passable.
Although he continues to look at her like a lab mouse.
She looks at the door again, not wanting to take another important step outside. Hashirama indicated that she could leave but not go beyond a certain perimeter for some reason that they simply couldn’t explain, although an internal voice was more of not wanting to... She still feels kidnapped, but she receives a bath and more humane treatment.
She could complain more but she doesn’t ask for much when she sees that life is rustic. They are distrustful and observant. She doesn’t know what they do, but she thinks it looks like something military, always looking over their shoulders and exchanging whispers that she doesn’t understand.
She does not want to ponder too much on her little analysis, it is better to rest before the mean because her pain increases as she focuses on deciphering the type of culture beyond the oriental one that she has captured. She settles and closes her eyes to think about her bad luck.
She misses her family... She denies to fall into depression again, because this progress is already done... and what is done, is done, so she tries not to see the negative in the matter.
The kidnapped girl simply settles in... she no longer wants to think.
If not, she will cry again.
──
She has discovered that the house is lonely at all hours. She brightens up and goes out one afternoon on the fourth day of the week when none of her annoying visitors have come. They have plenty of time and she refuses to accept that she feels alone, depressed and missed by such absences.
Hashirama’s only. Tobirama is irritatingly calm.
Not even her usual escorts have come to take her to take a bath. Something is happening and she is bothered by the discomfort of missing out on whatever is going on beyond the thick forest. She stands on the edge listening to the birds in the distance and her nose fills with the clean aroma of nature.
This is very different even from her destination travel place, now that she thinks about it... How did she get here? She has gone through so many crises that being calm gives her anxiety. She shouldn’t feel like that, she should fight, search and locate herself to be able to return home.
However, she has confirmed that the constellations are not the same. She does not want to ask for a map to prove the stupid theory that has been going through her head since she first saw them. Those absurd ideas of fictional stories that her sister loves to watch...
She misses her family, her friends, even her job...
“You should not be here.” Someone scares her. Tobirama gives her a rather strange look that makes her more uncomfortable than normal. Light bandages are visible under the simple yukata.
“Your conjugation is correct,” she focuses better when she sees that she should not be interested in the man’s wounds. She pretends not to see them, not to notice them so she can sigh.
“You should not leave the house,” he warns without changing his cold tone. Karen crosses her arms frowning. A voice advices her not to play hard to get... she sees the features of the man’s white face so strangely tense.
“I wasn’t going to go to the forest.”
“That is not what I said.”
“Mmmm... someone is being mean, more than usual.”
“Karen,” the man warns with his neat tone in an austere touch, crosses his arms and watches his steps seriously without bothering to explain things. He never does but today it feels different.
“Well... dinner?”
“There will not be any.”
“No?”, she frowns. She doesn’t like the company, but she doesn’t complain for now. She feels she shouldn’t.
“No.”
“I can make something.”
“No.”
“But...”
“...”
Karen tenses up and swallows a strong lump in her throat because of whatever the look transmitted to her with a quick shiver, very different from the first time. She doesn’t say anything, so she turns around with her heart racing because of such a strange emotion she has felt. She walks swiftly and quickens his pace not bothering to see if the company is following her.
She closes the door and goes to bed automatically not wanting to reply. The person remains expectant.
Karen has to admit that it was uncomfortable. She didn’t sleep well without wanting to face that person’s murderous harshness.
Reminding her that she is still kidnapped... and not everyone is Hashirama.
──
She doesn’t say anything. Karen stays locked up for the next few days with no desire to go out... There is silence, almost like the first days she was there. She hasn’t bathed and although her hair is tough, she has managed to tie it to a messy bun.
Mikami hasn’t come. Tobirama hasn’t shown up either, thank God, since that annoying night and without asking about Hashirama.
She remains alone. There has been no food other than bread and rice as always. There is no meat like the last few times. Although it lacks the flavor or softness of the seasoning of her land, she ate it, today conspicuous by its absence.
“[...]” Someone opens the door. Karen does not turn around, not wanting to face somebody that gives her the murderous coldness of Tobirama. She hears the voice as it approaches her which makes her curious enough to turn around and frowns at not being known.
“Mikami?”, she asks for her usual companion. She was austere, a rather suspicious lady who always treater her since she arrived at this place. Hashirama had told her her name as soon as she understood her language a little more.
She doesn’t smile at her. She looks young compared to the former escort, which makes the newcomer at the question.
She doesn’t say anything. She speaks in her native language with foreign touches, her gaze is dead but not aggressive... just like Tobirama she has some wounds that she simply ignores.
She presses her lips together. “Are you okay?”, she makes gestures. Not that she was in the top of her favorite people ranking considering how rude she was during her first bath and the judgmental looks she gave her every time she talked to one of the men who visited her.
But she is a regular person. She understood her fixations a little but more and she was not that difficult to deal with after several days of coldness. She was passable... and this one is completely strange, almost hostile.
She shakes her head. She hands her a towel and stands by the door.
She frowns. “[...]”, the stranger continues with a dry order that lacks the flat touch of her precious visit. She purses her lips, looks at her state and sighs, leaving the topic for now when she understands that they will be taking her to the bathroom after not letting her go out.
She wants to ask so many questions, express her annoyance and perhaps throw a tantrum. The latter not so much. She is not a little girl not to understand that, despite the language barrier and the absence of her only two possible translators, she can sense that something serious happened.
The woman walks behind. She feels her intense gaze as she walks down the hallway. “Tobirama? Hashirama?”, she asks continuing to walk with her and feels a slight chill that she ignores until she reaches the point where more ladies were looking at her. They are all different, although one or two she can see have light bandages under their rustic yukata.
She sighs... she tries not to give them too much trouble so she undresses easily, removes the annoying bra substitute and the strange panties that she’s gotten used to, and gets into the bathtub with a trained ease.
Usually the women talked among themselves, they judged her as they rubbed her or poured things on her body whose reaction they no longer caused her. Today there is silence, almost funereal that makes her remember the death of her grandmother.
It doesn’t mean that this is... or is it? But she can’t really talk to anyone... not when his two apprentices don’t come, but at least they respect their routines.
What exactly are they doing?
A/N: As you will see, I will try to put more of her point of view, who is the focus of attention of others. Even if she doesn't want to she fails as a teacher, but she fights and is oblivious to the fact that the two people she teaches are prodigies... I always considered that both Senju were the best of their clan even after years.
Their learning ability is almost envious and she curses the fact that she did not choose Spanish as the base language in this place, but she felt comfortable with her mother tongue...plus she has more experience than with the others, forgetting the grammatical rules and other things. She now understands why they said that English is not that easy to learn.
Not to mention the slang or synonyms we pull out of our sleeves, a valid complaint I hear from those who learned English.
So poor thing. However, something happened... something that keeps the girl oblivious, in addition to causing a step back from the social progress she had had in the place, which, although null and still feeling like kidnapped, made her remember her position at this point.
They are not friends at the end of the day... many seeing her as a burden, the annoying pet of their clan leader.
Something Karen doesn't know... gaining enemies without knowing it.
Thank you for your comments. For now this is the only thing I can add: this woman will have a hard time…. easy, I don't know, we will discover it little by little.
Author-chan out!
#lost in the forest fic#warring states period#angst#senju tobirama#tobirama x reader#tobirama x oc#ocs#hashirama senju#naruto#naruto shippuden#naruto fanfiction
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We got a spin-off episode! And "spin-off" is very apt as it's all brand new scenes not found in the manga. As much as I wanted to see the manga's epilogue adapted, the show's had a pretty good track record in terms of adding new scenes and elevating the manga's plot. I'd even say it's one of its greatest strengths, so how does this attempt fare?
Here are some thoughts and ramblings on Our Dining Table's spin-off episode:
I'll start with my favorite part: A new bento box is 500% the best gift Yutaka could've ever thought of to celebrate the anniversary of them meeting up. Sorry to the matching Christmas scarves but this takes the cake. There've been a lot of posts made about how deliberate the choice of items are in this show and I look forward to reading about all of that with this bento box. I also have to mention the utter sweetness of Yutaka wanting to commemorate the date where he first ran into the Ueda brothers - that's definitely the mark of a year of character growth.
Ueda-san continues to be the best dad. Sure, he isn't as prominent here as in the finale, but he continues to read the room so well and know what to do before Yutaka and Minoru even realize it. Love the Minoru teasing at the beginning too - it reminds me of how he was when he was witnessing Minoru's blatant pining. (That tidbit about how Minoru being antsy reminding him of his wife was both really funny and really sweet.)
Glad to know that they've recognized that Tane is the one keeping this whole thing together. (Half-joking but really, how they've made this child not only relevant to the main dynamic but also his very own character is one of my favorite things about this series.)
Ok, I have to be honest: I wasn't feeling the conflict. It's not helped by the fact that the misunderstanding trope is a bit tired for me - one of my favorite things about the manga, actually, was how it generally avoided this and actually made it a point that being open about their issues was a prerequisite to them getting together - but I think my biggest issue with it was how it seemed inconsistent with the characters? Minoru especially, and I haven't been shy with my overall praise for how the show had not only expanded his character but elevated it from the manga because of how well they executed his plot. But him getting jealous over a text he doesn't know the full context of seems a bit much, even if you anchor it to his fear of Yutaka leaving him just like Nao and the rest of his friends did. And even then, that anchor wasn't really brought up, as how he acted over it seemed quite possessive instead of insecure. If anything, the insecurity came from Yutaka, which I do think is consistent with his character, but it's the sentiment I expected from Minoru instead?
I think the closest thing I can compare this to is the bonus Valentine episode of Cherry Magic (spoiler warning if you haven't watched it), where Kurosawa finds a Valentine's gift in Adachi's desk drawer and panics over who could've given it to him. He's seen to be pretty jealous of the mystery admirer and laments over how he's no longer the only one who's noticed Adachi's charm, only to find out that the gift he found was actually Adachi's gift to him. It's a similar misunderstanding situation, but I think what made this one work better for me (aside from how Cherry Magic is a comedy while Our Dining Table's tone is a lot more serious) was how it was very consistent with Kurosawa's character, as he's shown to be quite possessive and easily jealous over Adachi several times throughout the show.
I can't say the same thing for Minoru at all, as while as a boyfriend he definitely has the right to feel jealous over a potential threat to their relationship, this is the same person who, in last week's episode, told Yutaka that if there's anything bothering him, they should talk to each other, especially if it's about their relationship. Why wasn't he following his own advice until the very end of the episode? (The actual answer is to prolong the episode but still.)
I don't know, I feel like they could've executed it a lot better if they wanted to stick with this conflict. The misunderstanding could've come from how they communicated, as I think that would not only be consistent with the takeaway from the previous episode, but it would also be quite realistic as Yutaka has shown to not be the best with words. I'm not saying that how Minoru acted was invalid - he absolutely has the right to feel jealous about a misunderstanding, especially with how rocky his experience with relationships had been - but I think they could've showed this insecurity in a way that didn't make it seem like he was moping over Yutaka having friends who weren't him. (If anything, shouldn't he be happy that Yutaka now has other people he regularly talks to? He was quite literally traumatized from eating with other people.)
(And yes, I absolutely think that if Ohata just showed up and explained everything herself, the episode would've been much better lmao I'm gonna miss her character so much.)
Bit random but the balloons showing "bad day" tripped me up a bit because I was genuinely confused since there's only one 'D' in "Happy Birthday" until I realized that they used the same 'D' balloon for both shots lol.
Sorry if those bullet points were a doozy, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on if you agree or disagree. But like I said in my previous post, I'm glad that the show has things that I don't necessarily think highly of, as a 100% perfect show would be quite boring. I may have some gripes with it, but I still enjoyed the spin-off for what it was - and more Our Dining Table content is always welcome.
And honestly, despite these gripes, I'm still gonna rewatch this show so many times and never get sick of it because I think it's such a fantastic adaptation. They absolutely knocked it out of the park with it and I hope that the team gets their hands on other titles. (I would love a Koimonogatari adaptation but I would very much prefer new chapters instead lol.)
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okay. there have been many many takes out there on the new netflix persuasion “adaptation” and while I’m on board for a lot of what people are saying, there’s one thing that’s been glaringly omitted from most of the reviews and that is:
it’s not actually that good of a movie.
plenty of people are talking about how it’s not a good movie because it’s not a good adaptation, but it goes further than that. it’s just not good overall. the characters, regardless of their book inspiration, don’t have internal consistency in the movie. the plot, regardless of the book’s, (or maybe in spite of?) is oddly laid out. the scenery, while lovely, is let down by costuming.
so let’s take a look at it as a movie on it’s own merit, shall we? for the rest of the post I’m going to pretend this was a movie dreamt up by a couple of writers, with no ties to any existing work.
1. anne
the old film adage of show, don’t tell, is rolling in its grave. we went so far the other side of showing that this has actually become a radio play. the movie consistently tells us that anne is a kind woman. multiple characters remark on how kind anne is. but the anne we are shown is an anne who makes sarcastic remarks constantly and is doing so in a way that makes her sound judgemental and borderline bitter. she talks, in front of company and strangers, about how her brother-in-law asked to marry her first (embarrassing to everyone). she lists the bad qualities about her family with a smile to the audience, giving the impression that she is delighting in their flaws because she’s better than they are.
wentworth says in his conversation to louisa that anne is judgemental - when she’s sitting quietly in the back she’s not being introverted, she’s laughing at everyone. louisa disputes this, saying anne is kind and that wentworth just doesn’t know her. from an audience perspective, I’m inclined to believe wentworth. I’ve just seen half an hour of anne snarking at and judging others. I know that wentworth and anne are engaged, which should bring a deep understanding of another person. and yet, the way the story is set, we’re supposed to believe louisa.
even at lyme, captain harville comes to anne and asks her to speak to captain benwick. shouldn’t anne, the caring and kind person they make her out to be, instead be aware of the captain’s low spirits and seek to comfort him out the kindness of her heart? why does she make a joke about him being sad? it just shows a different character than the one they tell us she is. I don’t find myself rooting for her, which isn’t a great thing for a main lead.
2. speaking of main leads...
why does anne love wentworth? why does louisa love wentworth? why is wentworth a lead in this movie? what charm and presence does he bring? the movie is so busy having anne spell out every minute detail that it kind of forgot to show us any of wentworth’s qualities besides...he rescued a beached whale? which they tell us about, of course, because showing him to be a gentlemanly intelligent man is too much, I guess. he’s the desired lead because the writers said he should be, not because his personality merited it.
3. what was going on with the romance?
no, really. this is supposed to be a romance, right? from the beginning, we know that anne is still hung up on wentworth. she’s tried to get over him, but she holds onto a shred of hope that he’ll come back to her. she explicitly states that there’s been no marriage announcement for him, so she can hope. and yet, when they finally meet and louisa is begging them to get together, anne gives him the cold shoulder constantly. she refuses to sit next to him, she appears to make every attempt to avoid him even though he’s given no indication he doesn’t want to be around her. shouldn’t a person who hopes she could get back together with her ex be taking every opportunity to do so? but she doesn’t. because that’s what book anne does - but those actions don’t make sense with the narrative of the story.
and what was happening with that beach conversation? it made no sense, plotwise. only a few scenes before, wentworth had talked about how anne is judgemental and prideful. anne’s been avoiding wentworth at every turn and not being subtle about it. then, out of nowhere, wentworth starts telling her all about how he values her judgement and he would think about what she would do when he was making decisions on his ship. and like, wentworth, buddy? you mean, the woman who broke off your engagement? the woman who to all appearances flip flops on her decisions? who is prideful and judgemental? that woman? you asked yourself what she’d do and then you’d do it? this isn’t just a problem of wentworth and anne talking too much and so undercutting their will-they-won’t-they tension (though it does that too), it’s a problem of adding book thoughts in to a place they weren’t in a way that undermines the character you created!
and yes, it undermined the tension too. to hear wentworth frankly admit, halfway through the movie, that he admires anne’s judgement and considers her a friend really throws off the groove of the story. because they could just...continue to be friends? and see where it goes? it shouldn’t be the huge deal anne makes it out to be. she was accusing him of being cold to her (where was that in the visuals, I wonder) at the beginning of the conversation, so she should be leaping for joy and having hope blazing up when she learns that he isn’t at all, that he cares about her, that he thinks about her, etc. instead she takes a swim.
even when they are traveling back to uppercross together wentworth is talking about he doesn’t like louisa that way. and since we’re in a modern period drama, no one has made any comments about expectations, about him acting in a way that shows society believes they’ll get engaged, literally nothing about the movie makes us think that he would be forced to get married to her for any reason! and then he says he’s not into her! so where is the tension? it becomes more of a “oh, that was quick” when louisa’s marriage is mentioned later but since anne appears to have moved on as well you’re happy for them all. oh wait, anne hasn’t moved on, and now they’re together.
4. antagonists
who or what are the antagonists in this movie? what is the conflict? what drives the plot forward? lady russell could have been, as someone pressuring anne to get married later in the story, but she apologizes for her actions right off the bat so they spend the rest of the time as besties. sir walter and elizabeth could have been, but they’re quickly dismissed as too vain and beneath anne to really have any affect on the plot. mr. elliot could have been, and I guess was, in a way, by proposing to anne while being into mrs. clay? he’s slimy, but not really an antagonist. he even comes right out and explains all his motivations so there’s no question about what he’s doing there. which means it’s all down to internal conflict. but there doesn’t appear to be internal conflict (see point 3). any conflict in this story exists solely because that’s the general plot of the book, but has no relation to the characters or actions that have taken place in the movie.
5. modernizing
I don’t think modernizing, updating, so on and so forth is bad as a concept. I don’t think the winking at the camera is bad as a concept. I do think they far overused the fourth wall narration at the beginning of the film (especially with show don’t tell), especially as it almost always visually was anne turning her head from profile, giving a line, and then smirking. at least shake it up. have her straight on. have her say a line and look sad. make it visually interesting. anachronisms don’t really bother me. I don’t super care if the clothing is period accurate or not. but for goodness sake, do some proper costuming! if you’re going to set as a period piece, enjoy going all out with lovely dresses! give people notable accessories! do something with the visuals to clue the audience in to the characterizations! they didn’t do that!! they just decided “elizabeth bennet wore this plain brown dress at the beginning of p&p 05 and everyone loves lizzy so everyone should get plain brown dresses!” (I had to come back in and edit this because I forgot about anne’s hair. I mean, there are plenty of people who are going to talk about the costuming so you don’t need me to go too in depth, but GOOD LORD I WANTED TO YANK OUT HER BANGS BY THE END JUST LET HER PUT HER HAIR UP)
the same can be said for the updated language. make it have a reason and a purpose. mary almost always was anachronistic in her dialogue, so as a character she felt cohesive. she was an instagram influencer stuck in a period drama. at least she didn’t waffle back and forth between eras. the infamous “if you’re a 5 in london you’re a 10 in bath” line is awful because people don’t talk like that, but it could serve a purpose! it could show how mrs. clay is out of touch with the upper class of the elliots! she’s more lowbrow, she doesn’t fit in, she’s clearly not at their level. you can use it like that. until you have anne talking to lady russell about 10s and then it’s just that you’ve thrown the line in there because that’s what the cool kids are doing these days. or all of anne’s narration could be more modernized, while everything else is less so. if you actually put thought behind the script, it can work. less octopus. more intention.
6. but of course, the audience can’t think
there is very little to say to this point. the script talked down to the audience so much, spelling out every single possible thing it could, that it must have been tailor made for tumblr. the writers clearly believe the audience doesn’t understand anything if it hasn’t been laid out. (aka the cinemasins effect.)
obviously, as a stand alone movie it’s...fine. it’s not good, but it’s not awful. it can entertain for a few hours. unfortunately, the writers decided two things: 1) the characters jane austen wrote needed a facelift and 2) the plot didn’t. by changing the characters, but keeping the plot, the writers made an incoherent movie that doesn’t know what it’s trying to be. if they had changed the plot to fit with the new characters, it could have been a good movie. if they had decided austen actually knew what she was doing it could have been a good movie. but instead it straddles the regency world and the modern day, trying to have both, and failing at either.
if you’re interested in reviews that go beyond “adaptation bad” these two have been my favorite so far
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okokok I was gonna talk about the structure, but gonna say smthin about ethos instead with structure folded in I guess, which isn't going to be coherent
for me, I can say that ted lasso is not a perfect show (and then I can go on a tangent about there being no perfect shows) and also that actually comedy isn't my favourite genre anyway and include there that I think that it couldn't always balance the comedy, sincerity, and the reality it was attempting to challenge, especially in s3 -- I think an egregious example was rebecca talking about the love of football to a bunch of billionaires, it just stretched too much disbelief and therefore came off less as a natural development and just out-of-nowhere preaching
but then I was having a good time peeking into a little of rupert and rebecca's past relationship when it did work, and it being a scene that makes her able to let him go entirely (and generally I am fine with taking the good out of the bits that don't overall work for me)
anywhomst, there are things, and it also plays into the oddity of s3 not being two seasons (which I had been so sure was going to be the structure, and I was right to think it might not work out and seriously, are they covering up that it was cancelled, conspiracy unlocked)
there were a few things that happened very quickly and weren't explored in the writing (ex. jamie's dad going to rehab, nate making up with his dad after one talk and generally some nate things in s3, part of keeley's narrative in s3, etc.), which was a problem of structure rather than ethos in my opinion. there's story to be explored there, as there is in a fair few things that came and went too quickly on this show, which tbh I'm sure fanfiction can cover (except for the womens team feat. trent crimm show, that needs to happen On My Screen!)
it has gaps in how it can make the points it wants to make -- I've mentioned that in terms of romance too -- but it really really wants to make them nonetheless, flaws and all. it wants to tell the story about a man with mental health issues, who's scared that he'll fuck up his son in the way his dad's suicide affected him, who runs away and finds himself coaching a London football team of men who grow to be better with each other and the world beyond, and its vehicle is football, an intensely international and adaptable sport, with so much fluid potential for expression!
along the way it comes across limitations (either in the amount of time it has to tell the story or in the lack of in-depth knowledge I presume the creators have in radical kindness and community healing politics and philosophies and how they intersect with queer intersectional concepts), but it's made the story despite them, with all its messiness and it ends well. characters heal, start their attempts to heal, continue their journeys to help others around them
I cannot stress enough either how messy league football is, the level that this fictional team plays on. as someone who's been directly affected by the exclusionary ideals that are promoted by the FA it was good to see this fantasy, it was exhilarating to imagine this kind of change happening at that level in the way I have experienced it happening at grassroots levels. its subject matter is so in need of more of this, I hope it inspires more stories with the same core ethos, and I hope these go further and further with its radical ideas
colin kisses his boyfriend at the end! would I have loved to have seen more time to get to there, to have seen it folded into an arc about challenging homophobia in football at an institutional level, to have also had him apologising to nate for his bullying as part of toxic masculinity masking his homosexuality? all of these yes. do I appreciate what the show wants to do here about something that is barely beginning to be properly challenged in reality? yeah yeah yeah!
any of the gaps I think one can play with in fandom, and if that show about the women's team gets made we gently slide them some bell hooks and get megan rapinoe involved somehow
#ted lasso#im watching ted lasso#it's a kind show it really is#doesn't always get it right on a storytelling level but it's operating with some heavy ideas
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Ok just to give everyone an idea at the disparity:
Try giving both IDW Sonic and Netflixvania overall scores:P
If you wish you could also specify certain elements,like writing, art, characters etc
I don't even know where to start...
Well, generally speaking, I like this chart:
And following this guideline, NFCV would get a 2/10 and IDW a 3/10. Even NFCV has redeeming qualities and some nice potential, but, well, you know how much it has hurt me :') IDW doesn't have those genuinely offensive bits, the worst it ever got was with the Whispangle drama, so in that it's a little better.
If I wanted to break them down...
Story: NFCV starts off as a relatively passable adaptation of CV3 + the CoD mangas, before crashing sideways and trying to focus on too many plotlines, resulting in things like Isaac getting all the best scenes while you might as well remove the Trevor&Sypha bits from S3. IDW is still ongoing, doesn't even try to adapt the games (although the first arc has similarities with Heroes lol), and it really depends on the arc: the best ones are the fluffier ones like the Chao Race Arc, but it has some real stinkers such as the Metal Virus Arc and the Imposter Syndrome arc, with the former having some of the worst character moments in the series and a disappointing ending, and the latter wasting away all of its cool potential for angst reasons. Speaking from a purely structural standpoint, NFCV is overall stronger, although I don't know how fair it is to compare a show with a comic.
Art: NFCV wins again, by the benefit of some impressive animation, and a much more consistent artstyle. IDW used to look good, great even, but before it had many different artists working on it which caused a wildly inconsistent (:P) artstyle, and now only two people are working on it and while Stanley is pretty good, ABT is clearly doing the bare minimum.
Characters: dear mother of god.
I hate them :( I hate them all :( every character is OOC or straight up an OC in all but name :(
What do I choose: an adaptation that swears up and down to be canon, or an adaptation that doesn't even care to be faithful, but gets called as such?
Hell they even have the same problem of characters simply not reacting like real people do in similar situations D:
... fuck it. Point goes to IDW for only one reason: it may disrespect some of the characters, such as Eggman and to a lesser extent Tails (hell, even the OCs aren't spared, just ask Starline and Surge), but it never reaches the levels of outright malice of NFCV.
Villains: IDW wins. Its villains range from tolerable (Rough and Tumble) to dripping with potential (Starline, he should have stayed a simp :( ) to seriously annoying (Surge). Oh, and then all the other ones are forgettable. Eggman doesn't count because the comic sure as shit doesn't count him.
NFCV has Dracula, who is pretty cool and tragic in S1 but then becomes That Depressed Guy in S2... and he's the best one. What's next? Carmilla the #girlboss? Death the Redditor? St. Germain the incel? Lenore???? :^)
Morals: IDW. IDW WINS. FUCK IT IT WINS SO MUCH.
THERE IS NO RAPE APOLOGISM IN IDW SO IT AUTOMATICALLY WINS
OH YES SONIC IS AN ABHORRENT BASTARD WHO'D RATHER GASLIGHT AND GUILT TRIP HIS FRIENDS THAN ADMIT HE'S WRONG, AND SERIOUSLY THINKS THAT BRAIN DAMAGE SHOWS YOUR TRUE MORALS
BUT THE STORY DOESN'T SHIP A PRISONER WITH THEIR ENSLAVER
fucking hell i will never get over this, how isn't the whole lenore plotline treated as the equivalent of bella attempting suicide i will never understand
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Hello there, Charity! First of all, I'd like to thank you for your sharing your insights on mbti and enneagram, they definitely have provided me with a new perspective upon them. I have been typed by someone as an ISTJ 9w8 sp/sx, and I'd like a second opinion regarding that, in order to either confirm it or look for something else that might suit me better. However, as a warning beforehand, my self awareness may not be the best.
Regarding my cognitive stack, I am fairly convinced that I may have Te-Fi/Fi-Te in my stack, due to the fact that I am often focused on specific rules and limitations in order to avoid trouble and gain control over my situation and environment. I do not understand and often hold a disdain for those who do break rules, as that means getting into trouble and making my situation a lot more difficult ( not even mentioning thwarting my plans that I've made beforehand ), which I am not fond of.
That does sound STJ, yes, and super-ego (abide by the rules).
I think that I lack Fe due to the fact that, although I can try placing myself in somebody else's shoes to attempt to see their situation from their perspective, I may not be able to know how to approach a sensible situation properly. I also have a really hard time talking about feelings or anything of the sorts. If I am particularly upset, I'd rather prefer to be left alone than comforted, so I can deal with those feelings myself.
Yeah, that is consistent with low Fi.
I am not so sure that I am a Si dom. Even if I can get nostalgic about certain things at times, memories of the past can end up being haunting than being treated as lessons to learn from or to guide me/be used as a reference for the future. I don't hold family or other similar structures in a high regard, and I often despise viewpoints which I perceive as too conservative or limited, as I think that they're a bit outdated and need to evolve in order to adjust with our current times. Although I can enjoy a certain nostalgic moment, if there is too much of a routine regarding that, I will get bored soon enough.
This doesn't rule out ISTJ, IMO. ISTJs are the most logical of all 16 types and the least sentimental; Te is all about using what works and that means being modern, setting goals, and adapting to some extent to the outside world as it progresses and moves forward. Si does want to hold onto what lasts / matters, however, which brings in a sense of pragmatism (for example, "family" is often important to SJ types in general, because it's through family that you connect to your ancestral roots and ensure your future). SJs are not necessarily conservative / traditionalists (some are, some aren't; it depends on if the Si users CARES about those things as an individual or not; it's not automatic "oh, we've always done it this way, this is good enough for me"). But it could also mean you are ETJ.
As for my weak point, I think that I may have Fi/Fe as an inferior function. Even though I do have an internal moral code I hold myself up to, I can hardly understand the depth of interior feelings, and if I focus on them or introspect too much, I can spiral down into depression and ruminate on all of my emotionally negative experiences. Although I may enjoy the adrenaline and physical sensations that some negative emotions may provide, sometimes it's a bit too much.
Yes, that would be consistent with inferior Fi.
And finally, for my enneagram, I have been thinking that I may be a 3w4 sp/sx. I do enjoy impressing people by acting a certain way, and obtain certain reactions from them to make sure that they grow fond of me. I do act a certain role depending on who I am with in order to obtain what I want or to adapt to them/the overall environment that surrounds them. I can appear drastically different depending the setting (for example, work me is much more different than me with my friends ). I am also heavily competitive, and I dislike it when I see someone doing better than me or being better than me in any way, and I do have a strong urge to imitate fictional characters/people which I admire in order to succeed and form my image the way I'd want it to be.
That does sound more 3 than 9. Would ESTJ 3 fit? I also don't see sp/sx. Sp/so is more likely. (You clearly care about competing against people and making people like you, so you have some awareness of the social realm/your reputation/how others see you.)
This is a lot to read, so I'd like to thank you if you do take your time to take in all of this and provide your own opinion/insight regarding it. I also wish you a nice day, and be sure to take care of yourself, Charity~
Thanks, you too!
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let's say you've been put in charge of a new thg adaptation, whether it's a new film series, a miniseries, or a tv show. you get complete creative control. what's one scene you would definitely make sure to include that did not make it into the movies? @anonymousinpanem
Hmm, I will say it like this: I really enjoyed the movies for what scenes they picked to show and which ones not. I wish they had shown Madge and Haymitch’s Games and Bonnie and Twil as much as anyone else—and I wish they had shown Caesar’s hug as much as few are as obsessed with this man as me lmao—but overall I think they did well with the time they had. Yes, I disliked some things they settled on such as Peeta’s character and the higher focus on the love triangle without showing it’s symbolism well with the dandelion, but they did what they could.
IF THG were to be remade, I would want it to be a television series. They are more popular nowadays anyhow and for a good reason: More time spent in the world that they are showing and that’s only a positive for book adaptions.
I would grant more focus to District 12: The first episode would solely be about Katniss’ life there. We see Madge, we see her hunting with Gale (because imo, their relationship could have been elaborated on more), we could see her family dynamics better and the town dynamics as well. Some of Gale’s family. Seam people as people of colour vs. merchant people as white people. Some clear distinctions, some clear tensions. Same goes for CF, I really adored the training scenes early in where they got fit for the Games.
I would not stick to Katniss alone: One thing I really enjoyed about the movies was showing different scenes from different people, such as Seneca, Snow, and Plutarch. I want that, but more! Show me Haymitch early on when he tries to get himself more to drink in 12, show me Cinna seeing Katniss on screen and deciding to join the stylist team last minute, show me Plutarch falling into a punch bowl but looking at Katniss as if a light bulb just came up on his head. First person narration is hard to translate on screen and I think that room can be filled with new information that—in working with SC together if possible—can greatly add to a TV show experience.
I would make the series/Games more graphic: Honestly, majority of us fans are grown up now and a possible new adaption doesn’t need to stick to a low rating. Part of me feels as if the errors of the books and Collins’ attempt at brutalising the prequel come from there being too many people who forget the deep meaning of the Games. I don’t mind SYOTs or OC tribute centred fics, but almost too often too many fans don’t see the lack of humanity that’s in those Games. This isn’t another Fortnite; the arenas here have meaning, they aren’t meant to be fun little games and I feel like a new and more mature adaption could show the seriousness they entail. I don’t want to scare anyone away, but I don’t want death to be romanticised or even be trivial. Overall, though, I want the entire series to be more graphic. I want to show the poverty and terrible lives. I want to make the ridiculous wealth the Capitol has gathered more obvious. I don’t think 2022 is the time to sugarcoat what is going on there, and with a more graphic tale I think the series can be more relevant than ever.
I would place the seeds of rebellion from early on: Show Haymitch talk to (maybe from behind, so the actor doesn’t need to be cast yet) Finnick mentoring during the first season/book adaption. See Plutarch plotting. See some 13 hints. See some hints of Cressida and Co./general Capitol rebels. See a reaction from District people upon the berry incident—albeit I’m on the fence with that; maybe not too strongly as to still live in Katniss’ assumption that all is well now that they both won. Either way, I know this adds to the second point I made, but I really want to have more foreshadowing in the series that wasn’t possible from the start. In the same vein, because this is me and my adaption :) I want Caesar to be on the rebels side as I always pictured him: recruiting victors to the cause while Plutarch does the broader plans and recruits Capitol people. No one better than Caesar who is close with the tributes/victors anyhow to convince Finnick, Johanna, and Co. of the plan for the 75th.
A good/better cast: I want native Katniss, Gale, Haymitch. I want my preferred Caesar actors, I want an overweight Plutarch. I want to see more racial diversity. Some of the previous actors were iconic, so I wouldn’t even mind recasting them if I were honest. If we cannot find someone who even exceeds their abilities, why not re-invite Julianne Moore or Donald Sutherland? As long as they are still acting I want them back, lmao. I wouldn’t even mind a cameo from the original trio: They are all too expensive nowadays, but maybe they would agree to a cameo: As parents of children who weren’t reaped, as District 13 officials, as mentors in the background. I would even enjoy seeing JLaw play Mrs. Everdeen, though I think that would kill the budget real quick.
Speaking of which, as a former Effie stan before I became obsessed with my two mans: I don’t want her to be in District 13. Yes, it was fun, but it so much took away from her story that was vital to her character: Being mistreated in the Capitol isn’t fun that’s for sure, but there was value in that for her character that isn’t at all the same as her being (unwillingly) dragged to 13. She took away from two sets of characters at once: Prep team and Plutarch. Both make sense, but ideally with a new Plutarch actor not dying, I don’t want her taking lines from Plutarch, who is quite happy to be there (and Effie clearly wasn’t). At most, if she really has to be there, I would want her to replace the prep team entirely, including her arrest. I enjoyed Octavia’s character, but I understand if that isn’t realistic. But put her in the same overalls, don’t give her extra clothes that make no sense to be here. Effie shouldn’t be allowed all those weird adjustments that turn her into a punchline and lessen 13’s authoritarian pressure. In the same breath, the Hayffie romance was too much of a punchline that doesn’t suit the actual vibes of Effie and Haymitch. Like, yes, they make for a comedic duo, but the actress’ push for Hayffie ignored the real tensions that Haymitch should feel. Effie is literally coming from the society that oppressed him, that killed his family, and that made his life hell on earth. Most of us get the impression she didn’t really care before she met Katniss and Peeta. If they go for the romance, there needs to be enough screen time to address Effie’s change in a bigger nature and to have Haymitch realise that this woman means well—and genuinely means well. The older I get the more disappointed and weirded out am I by the movie’s portrayal of the ship when it could have been /so good/. Also, damn, I really think EBanks was a large reason for why this went the direction it did and please do not invite this annoying woman back. Ever.
#thg meta#inbox#anon#anon vc: one scene#me: okay this is my proposal letter to lionsgate#if it had to be only one i would remove my man caesar from the slander he experience in mjp2#and a little mjp1#:))))#the hunger games#thg
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New Post has been published on Harold Gross: The 5a.m. Critic
New Post has been published on https://literaryends.com/hgblog/3-body-problem/
3 Body Problem
[3.5 stars]
TL;DR: An interesting interpretation that isn’t all I’d hoped but which picked up aspects the previous adaptation didn’t. But I am hooked and want to see where they take it all now that they’ve set up what really interested them in the story. So, yes, you should see it. It isn’t an instant classic, but they’ve, ultimately, built some good bones.
Now the long version:
Dune, infamously, had all manner of attempts to adapt it over the years. From the unproduced Jodorowsky, to the Lynch attempt of the 80s, to the dual 200X SyFy Channel entries to, finally, the Villeneuve masterpiece. Like Dune, I think we’re in another decades-long saga of waiting for the person who can do this story right.
I have to admit, I am having a hell of a time getting the book and the Tencent adaptation of the same out of my head enough to give this a clean review. But suffice to say, neither adaptation really nails the full story. And both have aspects they do better than the other. If we could merge the them, we’d get a better overall experience.
The Chinese series excelled at taking its time, really sinking into the pace and structure of the books. Liu created a wonderful slow boil in the books that only slowly revealed itself to the reader. This new version rushes to provide answers, speeding past the suspense and shifts rather than mirroring the whole point. And this is where the latest adaptation reveals itself.
What interested the writers in the newer version is what comes up in the last three episode. Conversely, this is where the Chinese series peters out story-wise (despite one extraordinary moment that both series share). The Netflix version, however, is just getting its legs by the end. Weiss and Benioff (Game of Thrones), along with Alexander Woo, were most intrigued by what comes over the long haul of the story. And it is a great story (Liu got two more brick-sized novels out of it). But the series really compacted too much into the 8 episodes. We never got to enjoy the sense of mystery and the peeling back of the layers. 10 or 12 episodes would have been more appropriate.
But I was thrilled that they provided better motivations for the main instigator of the plot and were less jaundiced in their depiction of history. They also tackled the more complicated aspects of the response to the events of the tale around the world. The Tencent version sort of glossed and then dropped that thread, capturing the despair, but not the long vision of how to deal with it.
But this series also took some liberties with the plot to get it into present day as well as gender-flipped and splintered some characters to create a larger ensemble. Frankly, those changes mostly worked for me, though it was a bit confusing at first knowing the original material. Fortunately, it’s mostly a great cast. Rosalind Chao (Together Together), Benedict Wong (Raya and the Last Dragon), Jovan Adepo (Babylon), Alex Sharp (Living), Liam Cunningham (The Vault), John Bradley (Moonfall), and Jess Hong are all solid in their roles.
In fact, only Eiza González (Ambulance) didn’t work for me. And boy she didn’t work. Her character, one of the gender flips and splinters, didn’t seem at all to have the intelligence and presence she needed to be at the crux of world-changing events. Emotions, yes, but there was no understanding behind her eyes when she spoke about anything other than that. A cardinal sin in good science fiction.
All of that said, I hope they get to continue the tale. I can’t really give it the clean watch I’d have loved to provide, so I also am not able to properly assess it at the moment. But I am intrigued by where they’re going now that they’ve set up the foundation of what they really wanted to do. I do think they made some major mistakes building the season that way, but perhaps it works better for those that don’t know anything going in? I dearly wish I could combine the two series to get something that better captures the feel of the book and the scope of the story. However, like Dune I suspect we’ll have to wait for another attempt down the road. For now, this is far from bad…just not perhaps everything I’d have hoped. And the subsequent seasons may still succeed in ways I haven’t anticipated.
Where to watch
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February 3: Review of Curiosities
Now that I’ve watched all of Cabinet of Curiosities (encountered all the Curiosities, one might say), I want to look at it as a whole and consider the experience. Overall, I did enjoy watching. I thought the entries were pretty uneven and I did finish most of them feeling like my review was mixed, I had a lot of complaints, etc. But there was a lot to like, too. Each episode was very lush and visually interesting, and I thought that the series in general did a good job of balancing a certain necessary uniformity with a diversity in styles, narratives, and types of horror.
I don’t know if I can rank the episodes precisely 1 through 8, but I do feel like they fall into three categories: top tier, middling, and not-so-great.
A rough ranking:
Top Tier:
1. The Murmuring: 10/10, no notes. This one actually was perfect. Yes, you have to be into ghosts and slow-moving dramatic horror, but I like both of those things, in fact way more than I like the types of horror showcased in many of the other episodes. The only long ep that really earned its run time. A+ for the story, horror concept, cast, setting, pace, and ending.
2. Pickman’s Model: This one lost me a little at the end, where I felt like the thread of the story, at least as I understood it, just unraveled and it became quite arbitrary and a smidge too weird. But the majority of the episode was great: beautiful, creepy, engaging, well-paced. Really enjoyed Crispin Glover bringing his natural creepiness to bear in the role.
3. Lot 36: I feel like most of the reviews I skimmed put this one squarely in the middle, and I get that, but for me it was a standout. This might be partly where it was placed: I watched it, enjoyed it, and spent the next several episodes thinking ‘well Lot 36 was better.’ Still, I appreciated its compact story, the conceit (creepy thing in storage locker), unabashedly unlikable protagonist, and fitting conclusion. It was appropriately paced, without the self-serving sprawl of many other entries. I’m not a big fan of tentacles or eldritch horror, but that’s just a personal preference.
Middling:
Tied for 4. The Outside and Dreams of the Witch House. I really don’t know which of these ekes out over the other. They’re especially hard to compare because they’re just so different. Ultimately, I think I enjoyed them the same amount: they were pretty good, but not on par with the top 3.
The Outside has grown on me since I watched it. It stayed with me a lot longer than I thought it would, probably longer than any of the others if only because I was trying to untangle what it was saying or attempting to say or wanting to say. A part of me suspects there’s more to it than was apparent to me on a first watch. I don’t want to give it too much credit, though. It was too long, and, to my view, put its emphasis in the wrong places. I was quite unsure of its attempted #feminist message. Also, it gains some points for me simply by introducing me to the original graphic story, which is absolutely amazing and has haunted me since I read it.
Dreams of the Witch House: I’m not a big Lovecraft fan and so even though there were a lot of elements in this one that I liked, it was still middling for me. Many of the things I did like, for example the ghost angle, were made up for the adaptation. And this, in a way, was part of the problem: the story did not have clear lines and a strong sense of itself, that compact and well-crafted quality I look for in short fiction. In other words, there was a lot going on. Some of it definitely did work! But after it threw so much to the wall, that’s not really surprising; some of it will stick. The ending came out of nowhere to me, but I’m not sure if that’s my fault or the fault of the story itself.
Not So Great:
5. The Autopsy: This one ranks where it does because it does have a genuinely good beginning. I was very psyched for it based on the opening, the frame story, the atmosphere, the setting, the characters. But from the point where the autopsy begins, it just snowballed downhill for me. The alien conceit was not to my personal liking, and I think that type of alien-possession story could have been done way better. My biggest problem, though, was that from a certain point it seemed to rely entirely on gore for its raison d’etre. I listened to big chunks of it because I found it utterly unbearable to watch. Like pretentious torture porn, frankly. Rather spend that lengthy run time on really developing your alien story concept.
6. Graveyard Rats: Meh. It’s just not my thing. This ranks so low because it really didn’t have any redeeming qualities to me and because I found the main character so depressing. I also came into it with fairly high expectations, partly because it followed Lot 36, and partly because when I read the summary I misinterpreted it and thought I was going to watch something way cooler. I read the short story too, and while it had the advantage of not being unnecessarily long, or including any Eldritch Horrors, it was also nothing to write home about.
7. The Viewing: An interminable hour of my life I’ll never get back. The build up was intriguing and so was the set design but when I realized this was nothing but the most generic versions of horror tropes strung together on twine, I checked out. The only acceptable interpretation of this is that it was all a parody or farce, skin-melting and head explosions and all. Not even Eric Andre could save this one, though he made a valiant effort.
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The Summer 2022 Anime season is approaching it's end. It's been a twist of turns and surprises among what I decided to watch. Overall, it felt very weak, though recently, it redeemed itself to me somewhat with the debut to Tamami Galaxie's so called sequel The tamami Time Machine Blues.
There was disappointment, such as with RWBY: Ice Queendom. I recently became a fan of Shaft after watching Madoka Magica and Bakemonogatari, but was harshly disappointed with this one. It starts by going into so bad it's good territory with 3 recap-like episodes that rush through the story ridiculously fast, shamefully skipping a lot of scenes in the process. I don't even know the source material or previous adaptation, but I know this series managed to ruin a character named Penny early on because of this. The way conflicts get resolved are so rushed they feel nonsensical. The art and animation has it's moments where it can be good, though it's hardly ever the case, and mostly in these first 3 episodes. The amount of off model shots, ugly art, alongside weak CGI and terrible animation is the norm. The opening sequence is disappointing in that the song is terrible, in my opinion, and recycles the best looking parts of the first 3 episodes. At least with the ending sequence, they upgraded it with better footage eventually. Not with the opening, however. After 3 comical episodes, it goes into a new original story, and the pace slows down dramatically and painfully. Many of these episodes felt as if they were wasting a lot of time. It felt as if every two episodes were better off being condensed into one. The dream within a dream, and Weiss changing her dreamworld and the people in it by how she perceives them was a bit interesting. Overall, a disappointing disaster. At the very least, I enjoyed the end card Yoshitoshi Abe made from the series. He is known for working on Serial Experiments Lain, Hanbarei Renmei, Texhnolyze, and Ghost Hound, among other works.
Call of the Night, to me, felt like a poor attempt to be similar to Monogatari. As a romance, I haven't been moved at all by the main duo. I felt bored at times, and confused who was who because the art looks all too similar at times. The constant bombardment of background art looked alright, though it was drowning me in the color purple. Regardless, it came off as annoying eventually. I rather the series do some world building of the town, the people, and more of the exciting night life, than vomiting background art devoid of people. It made me feel like it's a ghost town because of that.
Kou fits that mold of protagonists I have come to despise. Coward like main characters, who fight with friendship and who are awkward, and insecure about themselves. Anime needs better protagonists in general.
I don't have much to say about Nazuna. I find it amusing that the viewers can't stop arguing about her anatomy. The new characters have done nothing for me, and the plotless episode in the maid cafe didn't help at all, but to at least make Kou's character a bit better.
It's dialogue isn't interesting enough for me, and during the last few episodes, It almost put me to sleep. With 3 episodes left, I don't feel very motivated to keep watching. If I had not chosen this to review it, I would have dropped it weeks ago. If you are looking for a good romance, watch Kare Kano. If you also want vampires, check out Bakemonogatari instead of this.
My next disappointment is with Orient: Part 2. Part 1 I reviewed last year. It proved to be a very poorly made, bland, and hideous looking shonen anime. Part 2 started much stronger, though still carries over many of the same issues.
Part 2 actually showed some promise at the start that it may become decent. It expanded the world vastly, and introduced a lot of new characters. the funny part about this is that many of these new characters have completely outshined the main cast. Speaking of the main cast, Musashi has become annoyingly useless. I thought at first it was to give a different type of shonen protagonist that isn't all too powerful. Eventually, It became annoying out of how useless he became, and how he uses the power of friendship. Kojirou and Tsugomi have essentially been shafted to the side as background characters.
The powers in this anime at first seemed like it they could be interesting, as some of the warriors fight with all their energy combined into whoever is leading the battle. Their powers are determined by which color blade they are born with. Then, the swords became goofy laser guns. The worst part about the fights in this anime is how ridiculously overpowered some of the heroes and villains are. I like Shiro's character. This antagonist, who seems to have ulterior motives among his so called allies, is this sadistic, constantly smiling bushi who likes satisfy his own thrill more than the mission. He has the power to teleport the bottom of the ocean at you at will to crush you with it's pressure. It sounds ridiculous, and it is. There's no telling what is going to happen because of how random and overpowered many of the characters abilities are.
There is a decent section in the middle where Michiru has her moments with Musashi, though after a decent start, Orient fell off for me again, and it seems hopeless now. Near the end, it's been focusing more on character drama between the new cast. Orient that that annoying thing anime does during this where the monster just stands there as the characters talk on and on. I think Akihito is alright, though nothing amazing of a character.
Next, among the anime that isn't that bad, and more around average, is Tokyo Mew Mew New. Besides it's environmentalist message, it's about these two suspicious men who force animal DNA into 5 poor unsuspecting girls, thus turning them into magical girls. They make them work at a cafe, and fight aliens to save the world. It's a magical girl series. The only magical girl series I am really familiar with are Revolutionary Girl Utena and Madoka Magica. This is different, and nowhere near the quality of those two anime. This series feels too light hearted and happy to me. It feels like a kids show.
The monsters look laughably bad, and don't look menacing. The characters constantly, and annoyingly go off model. Ichigo does this the most. She can look adorable many times, as I have been very charmed by her thus far, and I think her debuting voice actor is doing great, but the series looks too bland and lowly produced. The villains are like team rocket. They try to appear menacing, but are useless and have the annoying formula of showing up, and pathetically losing each episode. There's nothing exciting about them.
One of the parts of this series I can praise is the music. It's well made, maybe even too well made for this series. I think this is has my soundtrack of the season.
The romance between Ichigo and Aoyama can be adorable at times. However, many other times, it comes off as annoying and dragged out. They make aoyama so oblivious and foolish it makes me want to yell. It's another romance that moves so much at the pace of a turtle, that I am nearly over it now, and want them to just start dating already instead seeing the writing make them both constantly look like fools.
There's a character named Lettuce, and though attempts have been made, some characters like Zakuro almost feel as if all they ever have to say is the same line over and over again.
Slightly above average is Summer Time Rendering. It's nearly done with it's 25 episodes. It tries to do what anime like Re:Zero does. It involves a character who discovers he can go back in time if he dies. He has limited chances and can't do it too quickly as a result, and there is also a threat from shadow monsters who are trying to kill everyone. It's a mystery series with a plot so convoluted and ridiculous at this point, that I can not take it seriously anymore. It's annoying when a character knows something crucial to the plot, and responds with "I won't tell you" the way this series executes it. It's annoying how too many of the twists and moments where character outsmart each other isn't cleverly written, but done by the writer making up ridiculous mechanics with the magic that come out of nowhere. The protagonist annoys me and feels like a copy of Subaru from said Re:Zero. He does learn to grow and mature, to the extent he becomes much braver, and an amusing tactician. The last episodes are intense, and very engaging, to the extent it reminds me of how Attack on Titan: the Final Season made me feel. I still have too many problems with it, however.
To build tension and to make dramatic scenes even more dramatic, this series takes this comical approach of hilariously exaggerating the characters reactions and facial expression. I cannot take this seriously when it happens and laugh every time. The gore can come off as too cartoony at times also.
The back and forth between the protagonist and antagonist is turning into tom and jerry. I can enjoy watching this story unfold, but have given up that it will be coherently done.
I have enjoyed Black Mio's character. It's nice to see a shadow try to become human, and not come off as another rei yanagi clone. Hizuru became another of my favorite characters, and has a special case regarding her and her twin brother that makes her more interesting. At this point, I think all I'll remember this for is it's first opening sequence. The song is very good, though the second opening sequence is a major downgrade, in my opinion.
Next, and with the same score, is Lycoris Revoil. Aside from how I feel about the series itself, this anime has produced one of the most annoying fan bases I ever had the displeasure of being a part of. Trying to discuss anything about this leads to people crying about the yuri question, destroying almost all discussion.
As for the series itself, there isn't much to say about it anyways. I don't blame them for spamming the internet because of the lack of meaningful discussion. It started out as this seemingly action packed "girls defeat villains with guns" type of series, but often deviates into the two main leads, Chisato and Takina, doing casual things together. It tries to be political, though it's attempts feel laughable with Majima, who's plan to stir up trouble feels pretty laughable.
Speaking of the action, there is a disappointing amount of it in this series, and towards the end it feels like it abandoned it and stopped trying. I don't really find any depth to any of the characters. The only real interesting part for me, personally, is the relationship between Mika and Shinji.
Chicato annoys me in that she has that problem protagonists have that irritate me to no end. It's the "killing is bad" mentality, even if it includes killing the bad guys. It's costed her painfully so far. Her personality is very optimistic to the point it has an uplifting effect, such as what the characters in K'on! can do, though her never being able to face reality and showing any real emotion has mostly gotten on my nerves.
With Takina, I appreciated that they developed her quickly. Then she just becomes completely devoted to Chisato . Towards the end, her, like almost all the characters, how almost no meaningful development of depth to them.
Visually, I have enjoyed the nice intermission art, though the series begins to shaft it's action scenes, disappointingly.
This used to be my anime of the season, but was surpassed by a lot of other anime towards the end, and ultimately disappointed me.
I'm Kodawa Kawashiri is a 24 episode series consisting of 2 1/2 episodes. Sadly, most of every episode is the opening sequence. As the series progresses, the audio quality of the opening song becomes more and more inaudible. Kodawa shows the viewers life hacks among her greasy, chaotic life. A fan of fried chicken and beer, the series feels as if it is showing her mental decline as she hilarious descends into degeneracy. There's a charm to the series with it's absurd style, and voice actor Aoi Yuki delivers a great performance. She also voices the sound effects and other characters. By the end, there wasn't much to this series, however. I was at least and amused to see Kodawa try to educate me with her lazy way of life.
The new Made in Abyss has caused me lots of disappointment. It leeches off the first season too much to the extent it feel as if it overuses season 1's OST and even recycles it's moments. One of the highlights of season 1 is the music, though with this second season, the new music has been disappointingly used and overall not that great. Instead of being marveled by a new and great soundtrack, it uses songs from season 1 too much, drowning out the chance for the new soundtrack to shine, which it hardly ever does anyways. Regardless, even the composer himself showed some doubt of it's quality on Twitter.
Animation wise, it's a major downgrade from season 1. Instead of the sinister and detailed shots of the monsters in season 1, season 2 is filled with jarring CGI. That's not to say that CGI can't look good. Instead, This is to say it failed in this case. Honestly, it was painful watching Made in Abyss become this bad after I was moved deeply by it's first season and third movie. The obvious Bondrewd clone does nothing for me, and it takes a while for the new season to get better.
It doesn't feel Riko has done much besides eating roasted testicles. The creepy things the author tries to slip into his work are present here again, also.
Story wise, the Golden City is interesting in what happened there, and continues to happen. Reg gets much needed exploration, and his past begins to slowly unfold. Fortunately, the more recent episodes have been much better, as the one hour finale approaches in two weeks.
The surprise of the season for me has been the second season of Shadow House. It's not saying much, honestly, though it has been inspiring to watch. The rebellion against the Shadow House gets more intense as Kate struggles to radicalize the shadows and living dolls that are willing to listen. Her own character's development has gone along nicely enough to show her determination and plans to expose the hierarchy. This time around, the mystery aspect is done much better than in season 1. The way the characters outsmart each other is written much cleverly than something ridiculous like Summer Time Rendering. Many of the characters get their own episodes and much more focus this time around. I don't particularly care about Emilico, but seeing John being funny and some of the recent characters like the mysterious one in the hood has been pleasant.
On the other hand, I can't help but feel the animation feels lazy with characters that are literally pitch black. the production isn't that impressive.
Last, and certainly not least, is what has quickly become my anime of the season with just 1 episode: The Tatami Time Machine Blues. This one I was really interested to start watching because it's a sort of sequel to Tatami Galazy, which is one of my favorite series, and the next directorial work of Shingo Natsume, from Sonny Boy.
The first 30 minute episode brought back many of the vague memories I have from the prequel. Watashi is always amusing to see talk about anything, as he has this bizarre but sincere type of way of critically looking at things. Ozu returns and reminds the viewers the type of troublemaker he is. This is even more interesting now because Watashi isn't the only who can go back in time. The music so far feels mostly reused from the older entry. The visuals are surreal and beautiful, and overall, a strong start for the series. The fast talking is there, though not as intense as before. All throughout, there is a lot of good, cleverly written humor that I can really connect with.
Overall, this is the weakest season I've covered. Despite that, it had some amusing twists and turns around the end.
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