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shizukateal · 4 years

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Madoka Magica Is Not Good Because It’s Edgy, Part 1: Homura and Madoka’s First Conversation. (SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE SHOW)

Don’t you hate it when a piece of media you like becomes popular for the wrong reasons?

If you haven’t watched Madoka Magica there’s two options: either you know nothing about it but your friends keep recommending it to you, possibly in between evil snickers, or all you know about it is that it looks cute but it’s secretly fucked up and edgy or “a SuBvErsiOn/DeCOnsTruCTion of the magical girl genre”. A part of the magical girl anime fandom hates this. Anyone who has seen more than 2 magical girl shows can tell you that the genre is not nearly as flat and formulaic as everyone makes it up to be, so to some the popularity that Madoka gained simply by subverting the expectations of the people thinking it was another sailor moon ripoff is undeserved.

Thing is, Madoka Magica is legit one of my favorite animes of all time. I say that as someone who has other 3 magical girl shows in that particular list. So while I understand the complaints from the community I also think some of that hate is somewhat undeserved. It’s not the show’s fault that people on the internet don’t know how to sell it to others except by deriding the whole genre because they don’t respect it. The point of these posts is to highlight some of my favorite moments that I think deserve commendation on account of how well written they are, so if you don’t want spoilers then this is the sign I’m giving to you about wether you should watch it or not: you should, because it is well written and directed.

With that said let’s dive into this scene from the first episode and how it’s crucial to the rest of the show. SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT.

If you have watched the whole thing, then you already know about the foreshadowing. The dialogue of the scene is constructed in such a way as to mislead an inattentive, likely trope-minded viewer about Homura’s intentions without outright lying to them about what’s really going on. It gives the first episodes, which are the more subdued so to speak, replay value.

However I also think this scene is important for what it says about Homura’s character beyond what we will eventually come to find out about her intentions, because it also says a lot about her personality.

First there’s the fact that she initiated the conversation at all. On a first viewing this tells us that Homura is proactive, she’s getting to the heart of the matter as quickly as she can. On a second viewing the conversation reveals the hints of desperation in why she wants to do that, but also the tension in how much she’s allowing herself to reveal here. She is certainly trying to be somewhat open to Madoka, both out of the pain of not being recognized but also in a display of sincerity, hence telling Madoka to call her by her first name. Sadly this also introduces us to one of Homura’s main flaws: her inability to properly communicate her intentions and feelings. Part of it is due to her self-imposed façade of composure, part of it is the trauma genuinely forcing her into the façade of composure, and part of it is probably her loneliness. The point is, while Homura knows how to project the ethos of the arguments she presents -”Don’t turn into a magical girl, you will loose everything”- she never quite gets the pathos needed to fully convince the other girls -”I’m telling you this out of concern for you”-.

There are exceptions, however. In their conversation after Mami’s death, Madoka picks up on Homura’s loneliness when she says that Mami will be lucky to have someone remember her and quickly tells her that she will also remember her. Homura decides to leave aside whatever mixed feelings this causes in her to give her another vague warning, which is a wrong call since something so vague can’t really stick in people’s heads. Sayaka is also perceptive (and at the moment also cynical) enough to get through the heart of Homura’s frustrations when she’s in her lowest moments, but I’ll talk more about that particular conversation in another post. Mami is sadly way up her own ass, no offense, to even conceive of Homura’s true intentions, which isn’t helped by her general attitude, but you can’t blame Homura for not telling her the truth outright considering that she witnessed first hand just how dangerous her frail mental state can be. Her approach of cagey interests really only works to convince Kyoko, the only non-idealist in the rooster. Lastly there’s the moment when she bullets Kyubei in front of Madoka to prevent her making a contract, when her emotions are afloat and she means exactly what she says but still doesn’t trust the situation enough to blurt out the whole truth and also Madoka is too preocupied with Sayaka at the moment to be there for her. It truly is the saddest moment in the show in retrospective.

Going back to the matter at hand, Homura’s desperation is also shown in the timing and change of scenery throughout the whole thing. The conversation only last like, barely a minute and a half. Throughout it we see close up shots of Homura’s angry face, which increase when Madoka starts praising Homura’s name, and also as the scene changes from the warm clear well illuminated yellow of the classroom section to the dark stark cold blue of the hall. The tension reaches its climax and it is also implied that Homura had been walking even faster at this point, given the distance between her and Madoka. Then the tension keeps as Homura asks Madoka if she values the people around her, and it stays dangling while Madoka gives her answer. Finally it eases a bit with Homura’s response, but leaves with a punch with her final warning, which in turn warns us that the conflict, thematic and otherwise, of these two characters isn’t over. It’s a brilliant display of what Akiyuki Shinbo and Gen Urobuchi can accomplish working together.

That’s all I have to say about this for now. In the next post I’m gonna talk about Mami and her three spectacularly written episodes.

#puella magi madoka magica #pmmm meta #homura akemi #madoka kaname #madoka magica #sayaka miki #tomoe mami #kyoko sakura #part 1

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animebw · 6 years

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Binge-Watching: Akame ga Kill, Episodes 10-12

In which we take a bit of a breather, I praise this show’s smart pacing, and Esdeath is shaping up to be one hell of a fascinating case study.

Take a Breather

There's a part of me that wonders if I'm being too kind to Akame ga Kill. I mean, even from the first episode, the flaws in its storytelling are relatively easy to notice. It has a poor sense of logic, Tatsumi is a confusingly written protagonist, most of the other characters can't help but feel like fetish bait (side note, did the show really need to shove Akame's ass right into the center of the frame as she's lying on the ground writhing from poison? No. No it did not.), and it seems categorically disinterested in exploring the truly darker elements of its bloody storyline. All true, all problems. And yet, for all those faults, Akame ga Kill still has one thing going for it that really goes a long way into making it a surprisingly enjoyable ride: its pacing. This story is always moving, always pressing forward, never taking too much time to slow down and let its less salient aspects catch up to it. It knows exactly what it wants to be, and doesn't waste time trying to be anything else, and as a result, there's a real charm to how briskly it keeps chugging along, not so much keeping you hostage to its whims as offering you a pleasant sideshow of setpieces and silly moments to keep you entertained.

At any rate, these episodes offer a bit of a breather from the bloodsoaked intensity of our recent losses, taking a step back to shuffle the playing deck and add a few new pieces to the board. Esdeath's Jaegar team is starting to coalesce as a quasi-foil to the camaraderie of Night Raid, showing the people in the empire still willing to fight for this regime. We've also got one hell of an emotional atom bomb set to blow with the confirmation that Kurome, the Jaeger with a suspiciously familiar fashion sense and love of food, is, indeed, Akame's sister, and would like nothing better than to pound her traitorous brood into the earth. Meanwhile, we’ve got two new recruit to replace our brothers in arms who fell too soon: Chelsea, who bribes Akane with candy during their first interaction, and Susanoo, who was literally engineered to be the perfect husbando. So they’re cool in my book. We’re halfway through the show now, and whether or not it will be able to sustain its lightweight mischievousness to the end remains to be seen. For now, though, I’m enjoying how easily this goofy, schlocky romp is going down.

Follow the Funky Flow

Speaking of going down easy, another aspect that’s really helping keep this show’s sense of fun afloat is just how punchy and creative its battles are. I’ve already praised the over-the-top inventiveness in just how much razor edge it lets its characters express, and that trend continues in force as we see what the Jaeger squad is capable of. I mean, Doctor Style literally turns himself into a giant science titan with syringe tentacles. I don’t care who you are, you have to admit that’s pretty freaking cool. Also, I just love how literally everybody just has weapons grafted into the insides of their body waiting to pop out unexpectedly and blow a cap in someone’s ass. It’s exactly this kind of confidently stupid madness that makes this show so fun: I live for how well it captures the spirit of an edgy 13-year-old’s idea of creativity. But honestly, I think the real secret to the combat’s success is the editing; everything just moves so fast. I’m fairly certain this anime’s based on a manga, and it would be so easy for the battles to get bogged down in expository dialogue as every character explains their complex power sets and super moves before rushing at each other. But that’s not the case here; everyone’s always moving, blows and retaliations come incredibly quickly on top of each other, the camera snaps like a whip to follow the flow of action, and as a result, every punch lands with a real impact and reverberation. This is far from the most engaging combat I’ve seen in anime, but it’s definitely got a really strong handle on how to use its medium to tell the story of its battles.

Esdeath, Considered

The one downside of watching these kinds of “good enough” shows for this blog is that it can be tricky to find deeper avenues of thought to explore. I mean, these anime are defined by purposefully not reaching for any great meaning or purpose, keeping things simple and streamlined to not get in the way of the fun. Not exactly the most conducive environment for deep textual analysis. And yet, for as straightforward as it, there’s one aspect of Akame ga Kill’s narrative that’s becoming an increasingly fascinating topic to puzzle over: Esdeath. Simply put, thinking about this character, her place in the narrative, and the thought that went into her creation leads down avenues of thought I never would have expected. Esdeath fascinates me in how she informs and is informed by everything around her, and I’m sure I still haven’t really figured her out yet. Why? Because Esdeath is simultaneously a pandering cliche so nakedly fetishistic it’s almost funny and perhaps the most nuanced, textured take on that chiche I’ve ever seen.

Let’s not mince words, Esdeath is a fantasy. Between the slutty military outfit with massive cleavage and penchant for domination, she is very clearly designed is meat beat material for people who enjoy that particular archetype. That’s why she falls in love with Tatsumi, despite him being a kid and she being a very mature adult: Tatsumi’s the viewer self-insert protagonist, and the show would like the viewer to imagine being lusted after by an older, more experienced woman ready and willing to share the secrets of the world with him. Seriously, it’s worth taking a step back and remembering that Akame ga Kill fully expects us to by into the sexual tension between this lusty, vivacious woman and a twig of a protagonist whose voice is still cracking from puberty. Realism is clearly not the operating principle we’re going on here.

At the same time, though, there’s a level of agency and clear-headedness in Esdeath’s thought process that belies a much more interesting, complex character than her outer shell would lead you to believe. She’s not paralyzed by her lust or smitten to the point of stupidity with this dork; she is constantly in control of the situation when they’re together, articulating her desires clearly and confidently. And when Tatsumi is a complete idiot and blurts out his revolutionary tendencies to try and seduce her to his side (seriously, how did he possibly think that would work?), Esdeath confronts him head-on instead of brushing him off or treating him like a kid. There’s a clearly established logic to her interactions with him, how both of them have very different ideas of how the world should be but see the potential in the other to change and see the world through their eyes. Esdeath isn’t an ice queen with no knowledge of love and sex: she’s a determined woman who has little experience with those matters as of yet, but is eager to figure them out on her own terms. She questions how Tatsumi makes her feel, yes, but there’s a clear curiosity to how she approaches these new emotions. And honestly, there’s something kind of quietly subversive about that. She’s a fetish icon, yes, but one who feels like she’s actually in control of her own narrative.

There’s a hell of a lot to unpack there, between conversations of male gaze and demonization of female sexuality, who gets to say what’s empowering and what’s degrading, and I am nowhere near confident enough in my own thoughts on the matter to parse out any sort of conclusion. We’ve still got twelve episodes with her, after all; who knows how her story will develop? If nothing else, it’s going to be a fascinating element of this show to keep an eye on.

Odds and Ends

-ARE YOU KIDDING ME THIS THIS LITERALLY BITES HER ARMS TO GIVE HER MASSIVE FUCK-OFF WEAPONS THIS BITCH SO EXTRA

-Bols is married? This show keeps throwing me for loops, I swear to god

-kjasghdasdh poor Wave doesn’t deserve this shit

-”I run a manga bookstore!” That has no right being as badass a statement as it is.

-”How amazingly stylish!” Even the bad guys have to appreciate an entrance as effortlessly cool as riding in on a giant flying manta ray.

-”I’m here to cheer you up!” Wave is just a perpetual master of his own undoing, isn’t he?

-”He was an excellent general!” alksdjakdsj welp rip everyone

-”The image of a conflicted adolescent boy” Okay, you win this round, show.

And so, the battle continues. See you next time!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #akame ga kill #esdeath #akame

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jooshthepunished · 5 years

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Spoilers!

I didn't realize there were so many episodes of Love, Death + Robots, it's already taken me hours to watch 7 and a bit episodes (I also pause to unpack information, as I do with everything), so I'm gonna limit my general complaints and praises to what I've seen so far.

Firstly, I've noticed a trend in these stories. It's not in all of them but so far it's been in most of them. I'll expound on this later.

I'm going to list these in order.

Sonnie's Edge put me off right from the start by injecting a hard political statement in the first five minutes that influenced my perception of the piece as a whole. If I were to watch it again, or perhaps a few times, I don't think it would bother me quite as much. I can brush it off as a character quirk that adds depth or perhaps even shallowness to the characters. It is a little hard to shake that the ultimate antagonist is a man literally named "Dicko" who at one point is talked about with very general and possibly metaphorical language (which, perhaps ironically, is a failure of the Bechdel test). The odd way that the female characters are... Displayed... For lack of a better term, is quite hilarious to me. Throughout the piece Sonnie wears a practically see-through wife beater tank top and her nipples are perpetually erect. One of her cohorts merely wears an open leather jacket as a top. I don't personally see how either of these wardrobe choices adds to the story beyond the world's aesthetic, so they're just kind of there. Even more on this later.

Three Robots was a fun little short with lots of charm. Its ultimate political message was still underlying as the catalyst for the setting of the piece, while also being played off as a joke, but it didn't bother me much because personally I think no one will have the last laugh on the matter of climate change because regardless our descendants will be too busy trying to survive whatever ills either nature or their form of society brings to them. Good luck with that, kids.

The Witness was the most like an episode of The Twilight Zone, but instead of being broadcast on a public access channel, it's on fucking Pornhub. It had a really interesting premise of this sort of infinite loop with alternating roles, but all the extremely graphic nudity and sexual themes are really distracting from it. But more on this weird theme of completely gratuitous sex and nudity later (I promise I'll get to it, and I feel I have some very good points to make). I somewhat enjoyed it, but Jesus someone just tone it down. Not everything has to be Skinemax. It really does injustice to an intriguing story to compound it with needless flash.

Suits was so far my absolute favorite. I thought it was fun and exciting, with several bagsful of charm. It was so good that I don't have a lot to say about it except that I wish it had been longer. But it kind of speaks for itself in that regard, so if you watch anything at all from this anthology series based on my recommendation, make it this one. It also doesn't suffer "the theme."

Sucker of Souls was... Interesting... It had lots of fun violent action and it's portrayal of Vampires is extremely cool. It thankfully only has one bit of graphic nudity, and it isn't sexualized, it's more just benign. What is sexualized, however, is cats and dialogue. And that's a shame.

When the Yogurt Took Over was stupid and I don't care what anybody says. It was pointless. Something something man, something something arrogance and hubris, something something save us from ourselves, blah blah blah shut up. I hated this short so much that I'm not giving it the courtesy of a proper analysis. Also, tits in the Thumbnail.

Beyond the Aquila Rift was pretty good, despite some bizarre slipping accents. There was literally no reason for the primarily English cast to nebulize their accents for this one, and hearing a slip kind of takes me out of the story a little. It's a personal nitpick that doesn't apply to everyone's experience, I know. Not everyone can pull a perfect accent for multiple full-day sessions on a Mocap stage or in a recording booth. I get it. That's a me problem, not an it problem. Anyway. Like The Witness, Aquila Rift was very reminiscent of The Twilight Zone. And it did have it's own problem with gratuitous sex and nudity, and I PROMISE I'M TRYING TO GET THERE BEAR WITH ME PLEASE. The story could absolutely have been told without the graphic sex scene, and I find the implicit to be a far better storytelling tool than the explicit. Overall, I thought it was an interesting sci-fi mystery with a good (if somewhat predictable) climax (heh ignore that).

I'm still in the process of watching Good Hunting, so I think I'll wait until later to give my opinion on it. Though so far the furry vibe does not inspire much confidence. At the very least it can be justified in the plot.

Now I think I'll get to my thoughts on how some of these stories are linked.

It's this sort of sexual gratuity that I've observed Feminist-leaning Hollywood giving us whiplash over for a long time. Gratuitous sex and nudity in Hollywood exist as tools which males use to objectify females, and as female empowerment symbolism simultaneously. It's very selective and arbitrary to the point of being confusing. They seem to either worship or vilify sex, particularly the naked female form. Aquila Rift did turn it on its head by intentionally using it as a story point to distract a character (and by extension the viewer) from the insufferable reality around him, but again, I feel like the implicit rather than the explicit would have been a better choice for the story. In Sonnie's Edge (which indeed was very, very ow tha edge kind of edgy) there's a clear and obvious sapphic fetishism which tells me a lot about whomever wrote it. Personally I tend to think of lesbians as fellow human beings that I share a planet with, and not as golden fucking calves that can be exploited through marketing, posturing, and signaling, but what do I know? I have a penis.

I'm tired of everything in media being turned into softcore (or in the case of The Witness, practically hardcore) pornographic posturing. It's a dull storytelling tool that they formulate to keep the idiots interested, then they come up with a justification for it later (typically a metaphorical one, something something symbol of male gaze, something something symbol of empowerment, something something symbol of vulnerability, take your pick, there's a whole deck here). I'm not advocating that they be censored, I just wish they'd lift some of the pressure off of this particular visual crutch. It's becoming vapid.

I do want to say that I feel like we've come very very far in terms of sheer visual quality with computer animation. The photoreal graphics are slowly becoming almost indistinguishable from live action. It's very impressive, and I see it as a net positive for entertainment and only entertainment.

It does flicker a crazy conspiracy theorist switch in my mind that mankind has the capacity to use this technology for its own ends, be they political or otherwise. It scares me a bit that animation might one day become so good that we might never know what's actually going on when we watch the news media, not that we know much from the news anymore anyway. It's just frightening to me that the media could fake political statements from powerful people just to cause and stir controversy, or to cover up unsavory comments made by whatever party controls the prone-to-bias media at the time.

Deep existential dread aside, I've enjoyed much of what I've seen so far. Sorry for the long post, Tumblr hasn't added Read More to mobile. It's the most egregious of their crimes.

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outofoxygen · 6 years

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An Critical Analysis of HOME

“I’m mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.” -Space Funeral; derived from Network

HOME is an OFF fangame made by Felix, may his soul rest in peace. His work is one of the most well-known OFF fangames, and is generally one of the most well-loved. I don’t like it, at all. So I shall eviscerate it. (Oh, and I spelt CONFINIUM wrong.)

Part One: Characters

The first character I shall start with is the Judge. Now, the Judge is one of the most well-loved characters in OFF, for good reason. He is witty, intelligent, enigmatic, mysterious, and knowledgeable. He’s altogether one of the best characters in OFF. However, he makes for a poor protagonist. How? Well, the main the problem with having the Judge as a protagonist is that one of his main attractive features is his enigmatic and mysterious behaviors, which are enabled mainly by his knowledge and intelligence. Whilst you can write the Judge as a intelligent protagonist, the main problem with making him a protagonist or even mainly playable is this: You remove his mystery and enigma. A protagonist, by nature, reveals their thoughts and knowledge to the observer, and even more so in games. The Judge is a mystery because he has knowledge that you don’t, and a whole story to him you don’t know. He’s altogether mysterious because he’s opaque, whilst Felix made him transparent with HOME. This kills his allure as a character. At least he’s still somewhat verbose.

Another major point is that he’s not that good in combat. The Judge is lacking in competence power, with only physical and special (or magical) attacks; yes, you can argue this allows him to engage both physical and spiritual enemies, it limits his ability to the party damage-dealer, when there are some characters better at doing immense damage per turn.

I shall now go to Alain. Alain is probably one of the better-written characters in HOME, and he generally conveys the idea of an churlish, starved cat. He is practical and has the ability to keep himself rather calm, but he also lacks strong morals and clearly doesn’t concern himself too hard with his fellowship’s opinions or worries. However, his backstory is painfully edgy, and his meeting and dialogue seem to convey an general ‘grimdark’ feel for him, though he thankfully drops this motif later on.

I can sing the praises of Alain’s potency in combat any day. He is, luckily enough, one of the most powerful characters you can obtain, rivaled only by Valerie, The Batter, and Alpha. He possesses one of the greatest utility competences imaginable in the form of Leeching Palpate, which allows him to continue absorbing health from the opponent whilst his party dies around him, along with the only Neutral attack in the game, thus ensuring that Shredding Palpate (which reduces enemy resistance to Claw attacks) is effective against mostly any opponent, except those already resistant to Claw (which their resistance will get degraded anyways).Thus, he is possibly the most versatile fighter in the game.

Valerie. He is mostly notable as The Judge’s brother, who dies in-game due to Japhet. In HOME, you can save him... after Japhet gets to his 2nd phase. At least it’s not the phase where Valerie is completely gutted, but I’d like to know something. Can anyone explain how he’s supposed to be alive after having his throat and innards mangled by a bird? Also, Mortis Ghost stated that Valerie was shy and soft-spoken, whilst in HOME, he keeps talking. Talking and talking and talking.

Oh boy. Valerie’s combat prowess. Aside from a death rate rivaling Epsilon, he’s obviously a glass cannon. He has one of the best potentials for damage, practically converting him into a nuclear warhead just through spamming a Break, then using the correlating Aneurysm to lash at the opponent with immense power, rendering them lying bloody and brainless on the ground.

On to Jozlyn! Now then, let me immediately ruin all potential to beat around this bush: Jozlyn is an annoying idiotic mess that makes me want to strangle her and myself. She is basically what happens when you grab an funnel and force the whole ‘LOLrandom!’ archetype and a stock ‘girl’ personality into a cat. She is the token female character of the cast, which OFF didn’t require or use. Not only that, but her ‘quirk’ of constantly adding ‘:3′ to every single damn line that the world had the misfortune of existing is disgusting and disturbing, at the very least.

Jozlyn might be forgivable if she is at least usable in combat. Maybe she can one-shot something? Is she an massively useful quasi-enemy targeting character, like Epsilon? No. No to both of these hopeful dreams. I almost gag thinking of having to use her in combat. Her main skills makes it evident that Felix couldn’t even THINK of making her slightly strong. Whilst Epsilon had rather weak multi-target attacks, not only could he not run his mouth 24/7, but also he had the advantage of something called ‘buffs’. Jozlyn just stole Omega’s ability to use curing competences and ran off.

The Batter. I’d imagine everyone who has played OFF has a strong opinion of him. Is he a mass murderer? Is he just someone trying to end an broken world before it can get worse? Is he a child murderer? Well, ignoring these questions, you can say something: He’s a stoic, dedicated, pious man, who is short-sighted, doesn’t care about the means, and is too blinded by his goal of perfect purity to care about the harm he causes. Of course, his personality is wiped in HOME. How, you might ask. Well, consider the following: Given that we’re playing from the Judge’s point of view, he’s the enemy. However, it seems that Felix ignored that he has a personality, he’s got goals, and he’s not just some thoughtless mass-murderer. He is at the very least morally ambiguous, yes, but just having him be the dedicated typical evil archetype dilutes the narrative of OFF heavily.

Now, you might wonder, how can you state the mechanics and ability of an enemy as I have with the playable characters? What, are you going to say he’s too easy or strong or something? Well, the Batter is playable in the later part of Zone 2 leading up to the boss fight, and OH YESSSSS. He’s immensely strong, tears down enemies quickly, and comes with Alpha, who has the ability to endlessly heal your party. The downside is they’re AI controlled, but still, he’s not awful, he’s a LIVING GOD. Now then, time to move on from characters.

Part Two: Themes and Genres

HOME has some pretty obvious themes and genres, like OFF. They’re both quirky, surrealist role-playing games that have dark themes, like death. OFF pulls this off (haha) well, and OFF is, in my opinion, able to prime itself off of dark humor. Whilst yes, you can disagree with me on this, in my eyes, it is consistent of dark humor: it subverts some of the darker parts with comedy, such as Enoch is an absolutely detestable, merciless, and evil potential-metaphor-for-capitalist-businessmen, but he has an hilariously small face and an very notable way of speaking that highlights some of the humorous prospects of him.

Dedan is able to abuse his Zone’s denizens/elsen, but he is not only rather hilarious to read the lines of, but his incessant swearing and vibrant expressions of speech give him an obvious personality, and adds some comedy to him. As such, I rest my case that OFF involves dark humor heavily.

Now then, I don’t think HOME is good at this at all. The first thing I don’t like is that most of both Dedan and Enoch’s lines are torn right out of OFF, and it’s very heavily notable. I didn’t like the fact that Dedan and Enoch just use butchered versions of their canon implementations, and it’s absolutely awful.

HOME is even worse at adding in black comedy, with its general tendency to seem pretentious (with the whole forcing-you-to-walk-through-purified-zones and having The Witness, or Edna, try to tearjerk you for things the Batter did, not you), and even worse, it takes itself too seriously. It’s annoyingly haughty, and it tries to leave an impact it can’t. What’s even worse in my eyes is the fact that it has to include an credit song that’s supposed to be sad, just because one was in OFF.

OFF made it so I can’t listen to Judy Garland without bursting into tears, but HOME didn’t have that impact. Another, more severe problem, is that in the true ending of the game, the world gets fixed again, and everything’s happy. That’s too sappy, it’s not the dark game I came for. OFF seems to be able to point out the fact that if we don’t stop a destructive force, then it will ruin everything to the point where we can’t repair it. HOME undermines this with the whole damn happy ending sludge that tosses away one of the most profound parts of OFF.

Yes, it’s nice to have hope, it’s nice to have games that end with hopeful endings. I know that barely anyone can handle continual barrages of hopelessness, sadness, and misery, but it’s OFF! We’re talking about one of the more dark indie games you can find out there! We are not talking about some damned happy-go-lucky good funtime game. We’re talking about Unproductive FunTime’s greatest, most recognized work, not some damn stupid romp-in-the-fields-of-happiness-and-sunshine by an AAA developer!

Part Three: Plot

HOME has a simple plot: basically, it’s OFF but you’re the Judge. You’re not purifying anything, just wandering around casually and killing spectres, ghouls, and burnts. You fight the Guardians, then wander into the purified zones, before entering an semi-trippy area, before reaching towards the end. So... what’s wrong with HOME? Well, guess what! It tries too hard!

HOME added an Fourth Zone. Whilst this is no problem normally, (in fact, the fangame CONTINUUM does this rather well with 3 zones! And yes, I just gave a shout-out to CONTINUUM.) HOME makes Zone 4 (or Bordeaux) grimdark and edgy to the point it makes Alain’s semi-edgy appearance in the beginning look happy-go-lucky. It’s a GRIM SAD WORLD that has elsen committing suicide left-and-right, gun-elsen, and, worst of all, an wannabe guilt-tripper true guardian who is rather annoying, and lacks an personality. Or a reason to be, just like Bordeaux.

Then, afterwards, HOME basically takes a fat ol’ hit, and announces: “Dude, like, what if you had to wander about those purified zones? That’s, like, deep, man.” So that’s what it does. Yep, you have to stroll through those zones you didn’t purify, fighting transparent shades of guardians. Yay. Whilst grinding through actually good-looking plague doctors. Yay.

Finally, skipping to the end, HOME gives you the Judge either interrupting the Batter at the switch-point, or him about to slaughter Hugo. Of course, you get either to the bad end or the good end, respectively, so it depends whether you get the ‘hooray yay happy’ ending or the OFF-style ending. So, you don’t really get the choice of siding with the Judge or not.

Part 4: Supporting Cast, and Main Enemies

For any OFF fan, Zacharie is one of the most notable supporting characters, given his mercantilism and natural charisma. HOME adds a new merchant. Oh boy. They keep Zacharie, and the new merchant, Viola, isn’t purely awful.

Now then, on to my FAVORITE part. The notable bosses. Dedan is still an loudmouth that has a tendency to hit elsen, whilst Japhet is rather new. Japhet is now, instead of being an mainly tragic character, just an insane evil douche who wants to kill Valerie. Oh no. Enoch, my favorite OFF character, is luckily untainted by any filth, due to his small screentime.

The Queen still uses the monologue style that was interesting and new in OFF, but predictable in HOME. She still has original and new dialogue, but instead of fighting someone who destroyed her world, she’s just angsty about the fact that the Judge kinda softened in up for the Batter accidentally. At the very least, the Queen has interesting dialogue at the end, now. You even get a choice at the end of it, and that’s beautiful.

Sadly, I don’t think there’s really any opponents left, but there also isn’t really any supporting cast. So I’ve got to wonder: What else do I have to list for this short section? Nothing. So, on we go.

Part 5: HOME’s Basic Enemies, and Combat

HOME, for the most part, uses OFF’s combat system due to having the same engine. HOME, however, has different enemies and competences, obviously striking something new (just like how CONFINIUM has new competences, that are also good!) and original. The enemies are interesting to observe, and truly help to build a feel for the game. They have interesting-sounding and looking competences, and they have great designs, as mentioned.

HOME is not only superb at this, but even excels to a point it should be looked at for an idea of how to make competences for OFF fangames, and for looking at good designs for monsters that fit in with OFF’s aesthetic and feel. Given that I’ve spent quite a bit insulting HOME, I can still announce that it gets OFF’s enemy and competence feel right.

Part 6: Did Felix get OFF’s Feel Right?

Hell yeah. HOME does feel like an OFF fangame, and it does things that are unique and interesting, like any good OFF fangame. HOME conveys OFF’s feel with the ability Felix had to not only draw OFF’s style of art, but he sometimes even nails the quirky writing that OFF had. The music of HOME fits in remarkably with the game, and it sounds like Alias teamed up with someone else to produce music for the game.

HOME also has the good luck to have been made by someone so creative, as Felix was truly able to design new areas. The maps for Zone 4 fit in well with the areas Felix made, and so do the new book pictures. HOME just has an excellent feel, and I can see Mortis Ghost actually announcing it as the spiritual successor to OFF. There are, of course, other fangames that are also equally beautiful and appreciable, such as CONFINIUM, which I wholeheartedly recommend, and even plan on analyzing later; DOLL, which, despite its anime-style and strange characters, is appreciable; Continue Stop Rise is enjoyable, and is fun to play; and Play Ball is a humorous game intended as a joke game, but it isn’t finished, like CONFINIUM.

But, Felix had a good sense of feel and lore for OFF, and applied this to HOME. However, I do believe it’s time I head to the conclusion, no?

Part 7: The Conclusion.

HOME is an enjoyable fangame. The characters (especially Jozlyn) are not the best (except Alain), and the plot has an ending that tosses OFF’s main point out, but it’s playable, and Felix definitively knew how to write rather well. He was able to write excellent lore and establish an nearly perfect feel for his game. HOME has unique monster designs, and nice competences. You can enjoy the game, and you could potentially cry at some of the turns in the plot.

It’s a lovable fangame, and it seems to actually strike its way out well in the general nice lineup of fangames, especially given its general acclaim in the fandom. HOME could’ve done quite a lot better, and some of its characters and themes were poor, but it was never truly awful. I’ve seen worse games, you’ve probably seen worse games. It deserves its place among the lineup of good OFF fangames, and I must say that you should play it if you haven’t.

Either way, HOME is still good, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to play an OFF fangame. CONFINIUM, in my eyes, is a good fangame for an OFF fan who loves the style of OFF’s storytelling a darker themes, but HOME is more suitable for a general audience.

All in all, my verdict on it is that HOME is good, and I’d recommend playing it. It’s beautiful with its general feel that truly rivals OFF, and it’s got select dialogue that’s excellent.

#off fangame #critique #analysis #watch some random guy rail against a popular fangame #HOME #OFF #fangame #okay so it's spelt CONFINIUM

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teaanddonutsbooks · 6 years

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Comic Review: Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Book synopsis here. Original review here.

I am fully aware that this comic is loved by many, many people. I know that it has the appeal to reach wide audiences. I also know that it's not the worst comic to ever have been created. This review is here to point out the reasons why I, myself, did not connect with it as a reader. However, I am in the minority here. Loads of people love this comic and if you love it, too, that's great! I just, personally, found some problems with it that kept me from fully enjoying the comic.

I'm sure I don't have to talk about what the story of Saga is about. So many people have talked about it enough that, at this point, it's redundant to say its plot. Put briefly, it's a Romeo and Juliet type story where two different, warring alien species fall in love, have a baby together, and must flee their home worlds since their love is forbidden. That premise sounds pretty good. It's a classic tale of forbidden love with aliens and space thrown in! I really like the idea of that. However, I was not a fan of the execution.

The dialogue felt forced. As if they were written to be in some poorly made sitcom for "edgy" people. There's a part where Alana, female lead, says "I was stupid to think we could ever outrun this retarded fucking war!" That doesn't sound like something a military official, an adult, would say. Yeah, I understand she's supposed to be your non-typical military official. She's supposed to be tough and a "badass," but I didn't get that by the way she talked. Neither did I see the "charm" to her lover, Marko. He's supposed to be the softer side to Alana’s rough and, yes, he is. But what bothered me the most is that he's still written as a "typical" man. Alana is capable of defending herself, or at least the narrative wants the reader to believe that, yet he still has to come to her rescue multiple times. But you can excuse it because Alana has just given birth. She is not in her top form. Fair enough. However, what I cannot forgive (and we're going to go into spoiler territory so skip the rest of this paragraph if you don't want to know what happens in this comic) is the fact that he's apparently engaged with another woman, even though he's married to Alana, and he never told Alana about this other woman, even though he's madly in love with Alana. Look, that is just shit you DO NOT DO! If you're not in a polyamorous relationship, you don't keep a relationship that's still ongoing a secret from your significant other. That's wrong! And Alana just forgave him! She questioned him a little bit about it, but she just let it go. What? Why? This is the father of your baby! Shouldn't you have a few more questions than that? Ugh... I don't know. The comic is fast-paced so I suppose you can't dwell on topics like borderline CHEATING for long. Still, it pissed me off to read about.

Not to mention I felt a lot of what they said was crude for no actual purpose. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind crude jokes or sex in the media I consume. But it felt like in Saga there was no purpose to it. I don't understand why, in an advanced society, we are reduced to slut-shaming, pedophilia, and misogyny--yet no one seemed to put a stop to it. It's all seen as very normal in this advanced, futuristic society. How is it that there has been no progress in that front? Yeah, this also goes for how they treat inter-species/inter-racial relationships, too. But it just irks me to read how the women are treated so poorly in this comic. And seeing a six-year-old girl being sold into being a sex slave really left a sour taste in my mouth. Yeah, it's somewhat "handled" but that doesn't mean I don't have problems with how this is apparently "normal" in this world.

Really the only good thing about this comic is the art. Fiona Staples did an incredible job bringing this world to life! I love how in some panels the colors are just so vibrant! And the character designs are amazing! I also loved seeing the different designs to various alien species. The backgrounds are fully detailed and really help you to visualize the type of universe these characters are in. Incredible art all around. I wouldn't mind buying a print from Staples, her art is that amazing!

As I've said before, these are just some of the things that bugged me about this comic. I know not everyone is going to feel the same way. If you really enjoyed this comic, I think that's awesome! I can see why it's gotten as much praise as it did. But for me, it left a lot to be desired. The premise was good but the execution was lacking. I am not opposed to reading other works by Brain K. Vaughan, but I think I'll be skipping the rest of Saga for now.

My rating: Don’t waste your time on it.

#Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples #Saga #Saga (Comic)#Brian K. Vaughan #Fiona Staples #.rm #.brev #.brevrm #.brevgraphicnovel #.brevscifi

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stranger-who-writes-fiction · 3 years

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Moooore Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow stuff, courtesy of another Tom King interview:

King was on the Supergirl Radio podcast this week, and while a lot of it is just a repeat of what was said in the previous interview on ComicPop Elseworlds Exchange, there were still some interesting bits, IMO!

They opened with some general questions--how did he start writing, when did he get into superhero comics, etc.

And then, the Supergirl portion!

The hosts asked where he first encountered Supergirl, and as before, he said that Supergirl is one of those characters that everyone just knows, like Batman and Superman. So he felt there was never a time where he wasn’t at least aware of her.

If forced to pinpoint something specific, though: the cartoons (Superman: The Animated Series and JLU) and for Kara Zor-El in particular, hardcover trades of the 70s stuff.

He had some AWESOME Carmine Infantino art, from the issue where Supergirl fights a bunch of mini-supergirls, in Daring New Adventures.

When asked if he used any of those stories for this new project, King again said that he went back to the ORIGINAL origin, in the Silver Age Otto Binder stuff.

Because he’s written Superman, the hosts asked if he thinks about the differences/similarities between the two when writing Supergirl.

He said that Kara’s more of a survivor than Clark, she’s been through more; he feels that Superman is always striving to be the icon that is Superman, whereas Kara can just be herself.

He describes her as harder, more cynical, ‘she’ll drop an F-bomb here or there,’ she’s ‘old and crusty.’

The hosts asked him how he came to be on the book and while it’s basically the same story he told on the other podcast, there were a few additional details he mentioned here.

He specifically said that editors were frustrated, because there is this. Thought? Among creators, that Supergirl is perfect, and there are no fun Supergirl stories to tell.

(Brief, opinionated interjection here: HOGWASH!)

He again brought up the idea that people can be precious with Supergirl; he said she is precious, but she’s also badass.

When asked if there was any particular piece of Supergirl mythology that he wanted/was excited to use, King said that this book isn’t really about that--he again used the expression of stripping off the barnacles that have built up on the characters over the years, really getting at the most basic, pure take on them.

He was like, ‘we keep the dog, maybe the horse if we can make time for him, because [Comet] is the weirdest thing in all of comics.’

Elaborating on the book/lack of Supergirl mythology: He put her in space, gave her a simple mission, and let the story be a thesis on why Supergirl is awesome.

Next question was about the comic writing process.

King said there’s no set way to write a comic script; he tends to write ‘full scripts’; they resemble movie scripts in that there’s panel descriptions for each page, as well as the dialogue for each panel.

His descriptions are light, though. For example, he’ll simply put: ‘Supergirl encounters a Space Dragon’, and leave the rest up to Bilquis.

Again had nothing but praise and excitement re: working with Evely and Lopes.

Said Evely adds such depth and emotion and storytelling to the artwork.

Then there was a question from the live chat; the listener noted that a lot of King’s work contains romance/is focused on romantic love. They asked if this book would also be about romantic love, or another kind of love.

King: This is not a romance. The love in this comic is a friendship love, between Kara and Ruthye.

When asked if other pre-existing characters would make an appearance: There will be shout-outs, but this is first and foremost a book about Supergirl; she is at the center of the book.

The goal is to make her one of the pillars of DC Comics.

On the subject of the ‘western’ part of the space western: Again mentioned True Grit, as well as The Searchers, and Red River.

Compared Kara to John Wayne.

Likes the idea of a character who has a simple mission, needs to go somewhere, and travels through various lands to get there, like the Odyssey.

Initially, he was going to have Kara be a sort of ingenue who learns to be tough as she goes on this journey, but his editor said, ‘No, she should be the teacher, instructing this young girl on how to be tough’ b/c Kara has the life experience. And King was like, ‘yeah! Let’s do that!’

And of course, because it is Supergirl Radio, they asked if he’s watched the show.

He watched the 1st and 2nd seasons with his daughter, then they fell behind/stopped watching because she moved on to other things, but he loved it! Specifically loved that he could watch a superhero show with her; good bonding time.

They asked him about incorporating stuff from the show and he said that he opted not to do that, as it’s sometimes not done well/feels forced. The example he used is that it’s very hard to get something like Calista Flockhart’s performance from the TV show into the comics, both in terms of the actual writing, and also in terms of legal stuff like the likeness rights, etc.

Then they talked about KRYPTO! And King’s own dog, Roxy.

Because King is a dog owner, he said he found it very hard to write Krypto sometimes, because he never wanted to put him in danger.

He also said that you can feel like a dog is a family member, and that is how Kara views Krypto; he is not a pet, or a tool, but a member of her family.

Another live chat question: Does he think of Kara differently, now that he’s written her?

King said she’s a much tougher character, than he initially thought.

Compared her to Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark; you don’t see him become Indy, he just already IS Indy, and he’s done this stuff a hundred times over.

And then he shared a little bit of issue 2 to illustrate this point: Ruthye and Kara encounter a guy who has beef with Superman, so he decides to take it out on Kara, and Kara easily dispatches him; Ruthye (the narrator of the book) marvels at how this happens everywhere they go, and it’s just a daily occurrence for Kara, because everyone thinks she’s the weak link/a way to get back at Clark.

Final question was about what he hopes is his legacy/the takeaway of this book.

King said he wants it to do well, and convince DC/the editors that there ALWAYS needs to be a Supergirl book on the stands.

And now, SOME THOUGHTS!

As mentioned, a lot of this stuff was already covered in the prior podcast, BUT! There are some new details here that build on those points.

For instance: King is really committing to a harder, cynical Kara. Who knows if she’ll remain that way by journey’s end, but that’s the take he’s going with.

(And, as before: not my preferred/ideal Kara! But I am open to seeing this. Largely because it is rooted in like. Character backstory/history; he’s not being edgy for edge's sake.)

Also, NO ROMANCE.

*insert happy muppet flailing here*

I will admit that I had the extremely cursed thought that he’d bring back Comet, or worse, 90s Comet as some sort of guest star--and maybe he will, who knows! But I don’t get that vibe, really. Like, maybe as a fun shout-out, but not a full-on character in the story.

I do like that he repeatedly emphasized that this is a very simple book, with Kara at the center, and that it’s basically about Supergirl, and why she’s awesome.

Especially given how Future State whiffed that one.

That said, was a little dismayed to learn that Ruthye will be the narrator of the whole thing. It brings back horrible visions of Future State, and it’s harder for the reader to get into a character’s head when you’ve got someone else narrating the whole thing, but. We’ll see.

(What might take the edge off of this narrative choice is Evely’s art, since you can better determine Kara’s emotions/thoughts/etc.)

Interestingly, King didn’t want to comment too much on this book’s potential connection to Future State: Superwoman which...has me a little concerned.

(Please, never let that book be canon. PLEASE.)

The further details on the BTS stuff is disappointing, but not surprising. ‘Supergirl is too perfect/boring’ is a take that 1.) mirrors the same nonsense you see about Superman, and why everyone would rather be writing Batman and 2.) has existed FOREVER, and was particularly prevalent after the introduction of Power Girl.

(It’s also flat-out wrong, in the same way that ‘Superman is boring’ is wrong.)

Other little things: Love that King says Kara views Krypto as a family member (because he totally is), and the Camine Infantino art was SO COOL.

SO, OVERALL: Gonna have to get used to the idea of an old, crusty Kara.

(Honestly I can’t even be mad at that description because I kinda find it funny? I mean, what with the Superman Fortnite announcement recently, I’m feeling pretty old and crusty, ngl. XD)

But I like a lot of the stuff King’s said so far.

Some of it does give me a little pause--like the heavy emphasis on the Supergirl part of her identity, as opposed to Kara, and how she’s just this awesome badass, with no real mention of other aspects of her character--but.

As should be very clear by now, I’m not in it for the writing.

Rather. I am here primarily because of

*takes a deep breath*

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!

#stranger rambles #long post #supergirl: woman of tomorrow #comic opinions #comic thoughts

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sweetandunholy · 7 years

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“Remember this feeling. This is the moment you stop being the rabbit.”

A marvelous character exploration on a team composed of broken, angry people. Misfits in their society coming together to become one great, holy mess— with nothing in common with great passion for a sport and terrible pasts of crime coming to haunt them.

3.5/5 Stars Recommendation: This book is great but it is once more, not for everyone.

—First and foremost, I apologize for doing two reviews of this type of “good but for a niche crowd” books back to back, but I find out and binge read this book yesterday—

A book recommended for those who loved the Raven Cycle! Strongly character driven books with an assortment of original and complex characters taking the narrative along each character arc. This first book does not include a romantic subplot so those who are expecting that, at least in the first book, will find themselves disappointed. This is also for those who don’t mind a book that’s average in its writting style at best, and instead is fully worth it because of its plot. Unlike Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle, the prose is poor and non-existing, but it is what the book has to say that matter.

Let’s get something super straight: I only read this book because of the name. To the point that fact is, I only found out about this book when googling J. Maas’es A Court of Thorns and Roses and getting in return: Frequently asked questions “What is the Foxhole Court?”. My immediate thoughts went over to our lovable fox Lucien from the aforementioned series and the fact it had “Court” written on it. I did not look up the cover, I did not look up reviews or the summary, and I instead I got myself a digital version and began reading.

Boy was I wrong.

In fact, the Foxhole Court is one of those books that I simply have no idea why I kept reading or why it had me so enthralled and glued to it page after page, but the matter of fact is it did. Being honest, it might’ve had something to do with the fact that when I was halfway through the introductions, I realized two things: 1) This book was going to be about a sport 2) All of the main characters were men. Which may or may have not lead me to the conclusion this was going to be gay, and that pleased me very much (Again, I was wrong, though the book does include LGBT+ characters AND I keep my hopes up for the next two books). But the truth is, the book did keep me reading, and the book did keep me hooked from beginning to end. So let’s get to it now, shall we?

The Foxhole Court is the story of 18 year old Neil Josten who for years has now lived as a runaway. Changing his appearance, name, aliases, cities, schools, there is nothing left from the person Neil was before he began a life on the run from the criminal mastermind known as “The Butcher” that his father is. Nothing left but one thing, his passion for the fictional sport known as Exy. An Exy star in the rise as a child, Neil left behind an friend old friend and is haunted when he comes back eight years later, ready to recruit him into Palmetto State Universtiy’s Exy foxes. Despite having no idea who he is, Kevin insists Neil come play with them and for the first time in his life takes a decision for him and decided he won’t leave him behind a second time.

The entire situation is bad, the team is high profile and the sports broadcasts are slamming his face all over the news as a new rising star in the world of Exy. Things are turning bad for him in every angle… But Neil isn’t the only fox with secrets. The magic of the Foxhole Court is in its members, a team filled with misfits, broken people who come from pasts or homes equally as broken as them who are given a second, third, fourth or even fifth opportunity through the sport. A place right where Neil belongs… If only his past and Kevin’s wasn’t beginning to come running after them.

The Foxhole Court to some extent is an easy read, in the sense that it is only 260 pages long and reads like fanfiction. And no, it doesn’t mean the main character is a self insert, a Gary Stu or loved by everyone (in fact, almost all the opposite), fought for or wanted by all men/women all around the glove. I haven’t done too much research as to confirm, but the writting certainly felt amateurish. Most of the book reads like this:

He said. He asked. She said. She asked. Without much character interaction or emotion portrayed in the dialogue, for example. It isn’t exactly something terrible, but my point is there isn’t anything creative about the writing, or anything innovative and lyrical. However, Sakavic perfectly manages to write fully immersive characters and a great story that trails right behind them. If anything, the book only receives such a low rating from my part because of its quality as a book. It’s a great story, just not a greatly written one. Not to mention the book included more than a few incongruences that were nowhere near making sense, but that is a spoiler heavy rant I will go in detail below.

So without futher ado, spoilers below and my fanart sweet kids! (Click read more) and see you on the other side 😉

The Foxhole Court rants:

—The Amount of things that are just not doable, possible, or simply lack sense. This probably just adds to my earlier point of this reading like fan fiction. ➜ Bodies can not burn out with gasoline that fast, no matter how much you douse it in gasoline. Funerary homes need very, very powerful ovens to be able to reduce a body to ashes in a matter of hours. ➜ Niel would’ve never been able to burn that car and wait long enough for the body to become bones no less without any sort of authority finding him first. ➜ It’s extremely difficult wearing contacts for bed, or regular aesthetic contacts since they’re heavier and very uncomfortable. ➜ It is most likely impossible to make up a sport and have it played at university level, professionally and with that much media coverage and rabid fans in simply 30 years. It’s chill that Exy is a big deal but, there’s no way it could be that huge in not even two generations.

➜ Andrew doing drugs and still playing professionally, is barely passable and very much anti regulation, but even if I were to let it slide, there’d be no way drugs could be done so recreationally because of a little something called antidoping. ➜ May be because I’m not a fan of sports, but how Exy worked was very difficult for me to follow. I’m glad they didn’t sit down and gave us an info dumpy explanation on how it worked (since some parts of the book, specifically the beginning was very info dumpy indeed) but that doesn’t mean trying to get it throughout the story made it any easier. I was really thinking hockey the entire time, and even that, it was probably wrong. Sin on me. ➜ Professional players don’t actually train without their trainers but you know, pass because its YA and it isn’t really actually trying to take itself too seriously. But like, there’s no way a coach would allow players to not get sleep to train instead but. Whatever at this point you know. ➜ Strapping knives to yourself in a contact sport…? Why, just why. ➜ Letting your players get on fist fights would get any coach fired. Straight up, even while I very much liked that one paragraph about letting them do it and then punishing them with laps. Loved it in fact, but still gonna point out how unrealistic it is. — All the characters were thrown into my face way too fast in very little time. I’m talking about Andrew’s crew. The characters merged one into the other in the beginning, I had no idea who was who and I was very confused regarding their dynamics and why Neil seemed to know or not know some and I was just very confused throughout Neil’s entire arrival to the state. — The rest of the team was introduced correctly and I had no further problems with them though. — Despite the previous points though, the book rather felt like… A huge build up? To the rest of the series? Instead of like an actual book with a plot that you can say has an introduction, a knot and then a climax before ending. It’s sort of stuck in the entire introduction portion and laying basis. — No, I’m not counting the entire Riko drama or Yakuza fallout the plot of this group as that also simply counts as introduction and establishing pasts and dynamics. It was well done and I enjoyed it a lot, but that still doesn’t count for even little semblance of a formal plot. — The lack of research. Just- The overall, noticeable, and practically tangible lack of research. That’s like author’s homework number one.

Now let it be known, I absolutely love this book. I really do, and I’m certainly extremely excited to read the rest of the series. It doesn’t mean I am not entitled to be critical of it. I like it, a lot, it has flaws, many. It’s that simple. The admirable thing about it is that its mistakes are not making my like it any less and the author deserves kudos on that basis alone. Thank you.

The Foxhole Court PRAISE:

Now onto the less coherent and smart part of this review, I’m just gonna fangirl it out. Excuse me.

— I’m a sucker for psychopaths, abusers, bullies and specially when taken to a super edgy extent. I recognize he was unnecessarily edgy but that made me love him all the better. Andrew is my new book husband holy fuck. I can’t explain just how much I hate him and that makes me love him so much. — This book went from 0 to straight up 100 in no time and holy fuck was that was amazing. Specially considering I didn’t read the back part or any summaries and I had no idea what the book was about in the least. God fucking bless me. — I came in sure this was gonna be gays, give me my gays — I came in for the Kevin x Neil considering the set up, but I’m pretty fucking sure we’re currently leaning towards Neil x Andrew. I will hold this as my ot3 no matter how many people I offend 😎 — Halfway through the book I was mentally whining about how every character felt so faraway from Niel. I’m used to very pure and unbreakable bonds forming between characters, specially male characters, that I enjoy a lot and look forwards too, and it almost made me feel… Jealous. About how most other character received that but not Neil. It was then when I realized that was exactly Niel’s mindset and I just really want to praise the author for conveying his feelings in such a way. I was able to feel all of his pain in practically first person. — Neil’s meticulous point of view felt very real and raw, I found myself rooting for him the entire novel, and I usually have a terrible time doing that for such morally headstrong characters. — Andrew is literally a combination of Ronan Lynch and Joseph Kavinsky. My favorite Raven cycle character and my most hated Raven cycle character respectively. That drew me in like a moth drawn to a flame. Considering how needy I feel of said three book husbands. — What the fuck, Andrew is my new husband.

And last but not least, some fanart of my ot3 because no one will ever be able to convince me otherwise. Foot straight to the crotch for you, Neil. I headcanon the interactions between these three and my heart simply flutters. Don’t judge me, thank u

[Review] The Foxhole Court + Fanart “Remember this feeling. This is the moment you stop being the rabbit.” A marvelous character exploration on a team composed of broken, angry people.

#2013 YA Books #Book #Book Analysis #Book Review #Book Reviews #LGBT #Review #The Foxhole Court #YA #YA novel #Young Adult

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