#i really am just reading the most angry reviews of this show

[tempestaurora]

like idk. im reading on twitter people mad that ted and rebecca didnt get together and that they were set up for it and the “morning after” scene in the finale was a middle finger and like. idk. at no point did i read the show that way. they were clearly platonic throughout and although occasionally i was like, they would make a good relationship, the story spent its time placing rebecca with sam and ted with (other than a fling) no one. i thought that “morning after” scene was hilarious, a little poke at what the fans wanted but also a nice joke to say, sorry, that’s not how this plays out

#ted lasso #ted lasso spoilers #i really am just reading the most angry reviews of this show #which is a shame bc i liked the finale and thought it could've been better but had really great moments #like im ok with the ending even if i wished for a different one ya know??

[daughterofruins]

This isn't proof read and definitely not perfect, but do leave reviews because they mean everything to me.

_________________________________________

POV:

Lets get one thing straight- I am THE best debater in my school. I love going to debates. But I don't like being forced to go to debates, especially where there are people like him.

Him with his annoying wannabe disney prince hairstyle and him with his annoying flirting glance and him with his annoying signature playboy smirk. He should be renamed Mr.Annoying.

And yet, here I was running on my way to the auditorium for the semi finals, crashing into people and muttering hurried sorrys so they knew that Pristine Academy girls were "lady like" and "well mannered".

I made it through the door just as they said Pristine Academy.

"We qualified", my co debater whispered in my ears.

"Of course we did. We have me in our team."

That was my greatest weapon right there, my confidence.

6 academies had made it to the semis, only 2 would make it to the finals. They called one speaker from each school to come and collect their motions. I rose to go.

We made a queue and headed for the tiny room at the back of the hall, where 6 students could barely fit. I was the second last in the line and there was no way I could see who was behind me since movement there was impossible. I could only smell the mango flavoured shampoo of the girl infront of me. As she got her slip and left I took two small steps and dug my hand inside the bowl placed before me.

I got my hands on one slip and turned to leave, but my foot crashed with someone else's foot and I leaned forward, readying myself for the most embarrassing moment of my school life. Yet, I did not fall.

After something like an eternity and a second, I looked up and found two strong hands gripping my arms, the blue shirt rolled up to the forearms, showing well muscled forearms. My eyes traveled up a muscular shirt into two brown eyes and that was when I realised.

I was in the arms of the debater from Wellstone Academy.

I was in the arms of the winner of the last MUN i had attended.

I was in his arms.

The thought made me puke.

"I see you've fallen for me, Ms.Pristine"

I jerked him off me the way an angry cat dries herself, hissing and meowing loudly.

"I see you've qualified, Mr.Wellstone"

We didn't know each others names. All I knew was his school and the fact that the boy who was assisting him had a huge crush on me.

Both of us stood there for what seemed like an eternity, till he said,

"I've got to collect my topic."

"I'm not stopping you," I replied.

"But you're in my way"

"I'm trying to get out, if you'd be kind enough to move to the side and let a lady pass"

He moved just enough for my to pass by, and when I crossed him I looked up on an impluse, our faces inches away from eachother when I moved to the other side.

"We've got the same motion your grace. We're on the same team, lady" he said, over emphasising the last word.

I looked at him, and all I could smell in that closed room was my rose scented perfume and his manly cologne.

"We won't just make a team, Sir, we'll make a winning team" I said before I walked out, the blood pulsing in my veins.

At least I got the last word this time.

_________________________________________

Guys, the schools mentioned are completely fictitious. They're not real and if they are, then the real ones haven't been mentioned here at all. Thank you for reading:)

Tagging because it's my first time and I need reviews:-

@tumhari-bhairavi @tumharimummykibahu @mainapnifavouritehoon @bookish-alone @misssclumsy @after-dark-shine @oh-munda-kukkad-kamaal-da @alhad-si-simran @trashmeowcan @satanicallysatanicchild @om-is-ok @chanda-chamke-cham-cham @sanskari-kanya @vellibandi @appki-adrak-wali-chai and anyone else really.

#desiblr #desi #desi tag #desi academia #desi tumblr #new poets society #female writers #writerblr #povs #imagines

[mitchipedia]

Attempting to talk about the movie “American Fiction” without using the word “woke.”

We watched “American Fiction,” a 2023 movie which opens with a blank screen and the unmistakable squeaking of a marker on a whiteboard. We pull back to see a college professor addressing a class, but we cannot see what’s written on the whiteboard behind him. A student says the word on the whiteboard is wrong. The teacher says he’s pretty sure he spelled it right. The student says the word is offensive. The camera pulls back to show what’s written on the whiteboard: It’s a title of a story by Flannery O’Conner. The includes the N-word.

The professor says, “This is a class on the literature of the American South. We’re going to encounter some archaic thoughts and coarse language, but we’re all adults here and I think we can understand it within the context in which it’s written.”

“Well, I just find that word really offensive,” says the student.

“With all due respect, Brittany, I got over it. I’m pretty sure you can too,” says the professor, who is Black. The student, who is white, exits the classroom upset.

I am going to avoid using the word “woke” in this review because I hate that stupid word. But it’s hard to avoid because “American Fiction” is in part a movie about wokeness.

The professor, we learn, is Thelonious Ellison. Most people call him “Monk.” He’s not doing well. He’s unpopular with students and colleagues; following the N-word incident, he’s suspended from teaching at the school. He’s bitter and angry, and turns that anger inward, expressing it outwardly by witty insults aimed at the people who bother him, which seems to be most people. The comments are funny and entertaining to us, the audience, but you can see how being around a person like that would be toxic in real life. Nonetheless, as a fictional character, he’s likable and fun. And when he turns off the nastiness, he’s a warm and loving person.

He’s a novelist, and his books aren’t selling. He blames it on a kind of racism. He’s a literary writer. His agent explains to him that publishers don’t want that from someone like Monk. They want a Black novel. “This IS a Black novel.” Monk says. “I’m Black. This is my novel.”

Monk spontaneously decides to write the kind of novel publishers want. Violent, semi-literate, about angry Black people living in the ghetto and shooting each other and being murdered by police. He calls it “My Pathology,” and then changes the title to “My Pafology.” To show his contempt for the publishing system, Monk has his agent submit he novel under a ghostname, “Stagg R. Leigh,” with a persona that “Leigh” is a fugitive from prison. Monk does interviews and meetings as Leigh, affecting a deep-voiced terse grunting speech. “My Pafology” and Leigh are cheap ripoffs of “The Wire.”

And Leigh’s book, unlike Monk’s literary fiction, sells. It becomes a bestseller. Monk was trying to ridicule white guilt and wokeness (ugh, that word), and instead he’s feeding it.

Monk lives and teaches in L.A.,but he returns home to Boston for a literary conference and to visit his family, from whom he is estranged. Monk’s mother is advancing into Azheimer’s and Monk finds himself with the duty of becoming primary caregiver. His family is affluent—both his late father and two siblings are medical doctors, and they have a live-in maid—but not as well off as they once were. What’s shown and not quite said explicitly is that Monk is appalled at the ruse he’s perpetrating as Stagg R. Leigh, but he needs the money to get his mother the best possible care.

We also see Monk’s attempts to overcome his emotional isolation and connect with his family and a pretty neighbor.

The whole thing reminds me of a Richard Russo novel, and I love a Richard Russo novel.

What ties the two plots together is a comment by Monk about Stagg R. Leigh’s novel, and books like it, “My life is a disaster, but not in the way you’d think reading this shit.”

The movie stars Jeffrey Wright as Monk and a solid cast of names and faces that I didn’t recognize, although I did recognize Leslie Uggams as Monk’s mother. I remember her turning up a lot in the 70s on game shows and second-tier talk shows like Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin. Then she surprised me with a starring role on “Roots,” paired up with Sandy Duncan—I remember thinking, holy shit those two can actually act. Then she fell off my radar until she reappeared as Blind Al, Ryan Reynolds’ roommate in the “Deadpool” movies.

Also featured is Sterling Brown, from “This Is Us,” as Monk’s brother, Cliff.

The screenwriter and director is Cord Jefferson, who previously worked as a writer on “The Good Place” and “Watchmen,” making his directorial debut. [imdb.com]

Jefferson talked in an Esquire interview about a scene where Monk is writing a sequence from Stagg R. Leigh’s novel. [esquire.com]

The scene in the novel features a young criminal confronting an older criminal. The younger criminal is brandishing a gun. Jefferson chose to cast two first-rated actors to play the two characters—Keith David, known to me as Childs, one of two characters who lives to the end of John Carpenter’s “The Thing” (1982) and Okieriete Onaodowan, known to me as Hercules Mulligan in “Hamilton.”

Jefferson said:

We’ve all seen that scene of the writer pounding the keyboard frantically, then taking a big sip of coffee and getting back to it. That’s how you depict somebody intensely writing. But I thought, ‘We can’t have that. It’s tropey and silly, and it doesn’t get the audience’s minds going.’ So why not have these characters manifest in front of him? When I wrote that scene, I wrote the language to be very silly. It had to be ridiculous so that everybody could see how stupid this book is and what a sham it is. Then we got Keith David and Okieriete Onaodowan, who are both such tremendous actors. All of the sudden, it wasn’t silly anymore. They made it seem like the book might be good. I love what the scene became in their hands: suddenly you’re questioning whether or not the book is good, which is evidence that something as ridiculous as this book could become a hit.

A character named Sintara Golden is both Monk’s nemesis and inspiration. At the outset of the movie we see she is already fabulously successful playing the same game Monk plays: She went to Oberlin, got a job in publishing, and then made a success for herself writing a book affecting illiterate victimized Black voices. Her book is titled “We’s Lives in Da Ghetto.” But unlike Monk, she’s doing everything in the open. Despite this, Monk thinks she’s just as cynical and pandering as he is. We come to see more of her, and learn that she’s playing a more sophisticated and sincere game than she first appears to be.

In an Esquire interview, Jefferson says he sometimes agrees with Monk and sometimes agrees with Golden.

The actor who plays Sindara Golden is Issa Rae, who apparently first become prominent on YouTube. [imdb.com]

About that first scene: Monk is right to push back against banning the N-word even in discussions of racism—even when used by Black people. But he didn’t have to be such a jerk about it to his student, “Brittany.” She’s just a kid. He’s being a bully.

Monk’s punishment for using the N-word has a parallel in real life: Black writer Walter Mosley, author of the Easy Rawlins novels, quit a job as a writer on “Star Trek: Discovery” in 2019 after he was chastised by the studio human resources department for using the n-word in the show’s writer’s room. Mosley was quoting someone else’s use of the word; he was making a point about racism. [hollywoodreporter.com]

Additional reading:

Cord Jefferson Wants You to Argue About American Fiction [esquire.com] That’s the Esquire article I mentioned earlier.

Did You Catch the Meta Nod of Sintara Golden’s Current Read in ‘American Fiction’? [themarysue.com]

Director Cord Jefferson was formerly a jouranlist, who often wrote articles about race and racism. Here’s his 2014 essay: “The Racism Beat.” [medium.com]

[queenofmalkier]

So I've read the WoT series three times now... I've tried to watch the show twice and I just can't get past the first ten minutes of the first episode... Is it really worth watching or am I just being a book purist asshole?

Listen, I fully respect people who love the books and dislike the show. Fandom is varied and the show is different enough that it's not going to be everybody's cup of tea - and that's okay!

I'm able to still enjoy it because for the most part things still feel like Wheel of Time, even if they've made a lot of changes. I don't remember who said it, but they mentioned that the show is just a different turn of the wheel, and that really clicked for me. It's not the same, but it's still my boy Rand, and angry Nynaeve, and babygirl Egwene.

It's still home, just different.

The only people I consider book purist assholes are the ones who review bomb and throw tantrums, getting angry that anyone likes the show at all. We gotta respect eachother.

#wheel of time

[1800duckhotline]

https://www.tumblr.com/1800duckhotline/748414044204154880/i-seriously-think-this-show-was-created-in-a-lab?source=share

hi! im not able to send you dms but i really want to know what you think about hazbin. i downed the entire thing in a day out of morbid fascination of seeing how that artstyle animates, but the quality of the script and handling of the structure of the show are so dogshit that the show has been lodged in my mind. and my friends who i can rely upon for their thoughtful analysis are not people who would watch it.

basically Hello Send Help

Honestly you summed up most of my plights within the show already, its just dogshit all around flaming and whatnot and i cannot believe there's 30 years old who eat this slop up. i can forgive teenagers for liking it (i am very self-aware as someone who read fucking homestuck when i was 13) but i cannot forgive fully grown adults for thinking this show has any sort of nuanced or well-written story

i finished watching the show feeling less aggravated by the designs and visual dev of the whole thing (though obviously its still really bad), and instead more by how insultingly and exhilaratingly bad the writing was.

i could literally take out my blocknote review of the whole show starting from ep 1 to ep 8 but i want to spare my friends who dgaf about hearing about this show. so ill just try to resume concisely my thoughts using my notes as crutches

this will be a very long one and again to spare people of pain ill put it under a readmore

vivienne medrano does not care about the female characters in her own show. idk about helluvaboss and i honestly dont want to watch it unless someone watches it with me, but from what i hear hazbin hotel was supposed to be the show "focused on the girls" while helluva boss was supposed to "focus on theboys". you'll never guess what happens in this show. the main 2 girls, who are supposed to be protagonist, are completely flat characters, that are given the slightest margin of spotlight THE LAST TWO EPISODES OF THE SEASON, and no 8 episodes isnt a justification for the dogshit writing they have. vaggie is the "angry mean militaristic lesbian of color who also coddles her white girlfriend" and charlie is "goody two shoes who doesn't use her powers as literal PRINCESS OF HELL because it's 'too mean' and who is babied and is also written like a baby that doesnt know how to act besides being 'positive and whimsical'". they are literally a ship trope shipped together because idk.

most of the development in the show is handed onto the guys, obviously, as they get the most songs, most exposure to their backstories, and most interactions that are somewhat written less one-dimensionally than the girls. (not to say the guys aren't also walking ship tropes for fanfic purposes). like you can't spin this in a way that doesn't sound bad, the men just get more spotlight and that's a fucking fact. so much for "focus on the girls". fucking SIR PENTIOUS GETS A SONG AFTER HIS DEATH, GUYS

none of the angel vs hell lore makes any fucking lick of sense, and i dont mean to say it needs to be biblically adjacent, it just doesnt make fucking sense even in the "original" lore it is constructing. how is hell supposed to be a threat to heaven when hell denizens dont have access to heaven?? this question alone makes anyone question what the hell the exterminations really are for. also, like, i really fucking hate adam, he's literally the most annoyingly written villain, like he's not even funny in a trashy way. if you want to make your main villain a hypocrite who's also a massive misogynist and sexist, writing him like a frat bro makes sense if your story is set in a college campus. this is HEAVEN AND HELL. all of his lines are just stupid and senseless for the context this all takes place in (also like lute being essentially a tradwife for him is literally such a stupid choice, if you want to make a meaningful commentary about misogyny among women this isnt how it works)

all of the sin and pure shit and repenting deal is like... literally awful. for a show that prides itself on owning the bigots who think gay sex and doing drugs and doing crimes is all inherently evil, the writing really does not do itself a favor of subverting this real-world bigoted way of thinking. as unintentional as it might be it kind of just reinforces it when the character they decide to 'repent' is fucking angel dust, a literal sex worker stuck in a cycle of abuse with an abusive rapist pimp and who does drugs as a way to cope in his life. because obviously sex work (and bdsm) is inherently sinful and disgusting and the only way to repent is to give up disgusting gay sex and sinful drugs and just stick it to the abuser that has you literally by the leash! i dont think this was intentional but it comes off as hilariously stupid and straight up tactless. (also we don't talk about how the storyboarded for the song poison apparently also drew rape comics of angel dust and valentino before as a kink thing)

oh on the topic of valentino, i dont fucking get people liking him. he is literally shown to be abusive and a rapist. people will see a thin man who's not straight and hump his legs like their life depends on it. at least he isnt white but i'd actually say this makes everything worse because vivienne medrano LOVES making the characters in her show of ambiguous ethnicities/backgrounds and ends up making most of the awful ones, of color. again dont think this is INTENTIONALLY done but it still comes across as horrid nonetheless. whew!!!

also i hate alastor in all types ways sauces and forms. he exists to attract fangirls and rabid fans who love tumblr sexymen. other than his design being tremendously aggravating, he's literally just fucking useless, and i hate that the show tries to shoehorn in halfway that he's supposed to be a "dad figure" to charlie when he literally never has done anything dadlike for her in the whole show (and yes i watched the pilot, i still dont think this counts). the only saving grace for alastor is his voice acting. everything else needs to go. there is no saving this one

and, on the topic of alastor, i'm not the first one to point this out but something about him owning husk's soul (the one character being voiced by a black VA, who coincidentally also has a design that is conveniently ambiguous with him being a fucking. winged cat furry demon ig) has like some really bad vibes about it that i can't quite put my finger on. i'm not entirely qualified to like dissect the issues this whole show has with like... the way certain implied characters of color act within it (i say implied because vivziepop is allergic to giving the main characters of her shows actual dark skin colors that arent grey, except maybe some one-off side characters) but it was just so jarring i had to mention it

i also hate lucifer because again, made for purely fanfic ship tropes and rabid fans who are obsessed with 'pathetic sopping wet cat men' with that signular character trait. his persnality is: Depression and Dad. I literally hated every fucking moment in this show where he was in a scene and was treated as "just some guy". same with charlie. Like the lack of authority they have for a supposed KING AND PRINCESS OF HELL is just... i dont know? stupid?

conclusion is that i hate the show, i will however bee seeing season 2 just because at this point im in it for the long run, its just like, other than the visuals being awful; it was legitimately the least aggravating part for me (THIS DOESNT MEAN I LIKE THEM, I DONT, I HATE THEM TOO) but the whole writing is just... wow. i just don't understand how they got a24 to back this up. like you cant make this shit up this bad even if you tried. and im sure there's a trillion other things other people have more eloquently explained in how and which ways they are bad; these are just some of my thoughts.

my concluding statement is that i also feel really bad for people who do entire rewrites of this thing as 'fans'. i dont get it. like i get doing redesigns because it can be an exercise and because lets be real, like, everyones design is bad, hardly anything is salvageable or makes sense. but rewriting... guys please just make your own stories from scratch. at the cost of being told "omg this is just like hazbin hotel!" you have to persevere and just write your own shit. because doing the redesigns means unpacking heaps of 'lore' that doesnt make any whatsoever sense...

#i REALLY dont want to tag this #i hope the shartbin fartel fans dont find me not bc im scared of them but because i have shit to do now. i gotta work ok? #asks #almost forgot to disable reblogs omfg

[my-jokes-are-my-armour]

The witcher S3 volume 1

Oki this is my "detailed review" of S3 volume 1. Or should I say thoughts and comments.

Here is the short version so you can choose to step away : I really liked it.

Why do I feel like I need a shield ? Well, because out of my bubble here, the sound of the masses makes my opinion seems like an very unwanted one. It seems very important to dislike this season by all means.

As always I share mostly a gray opinion. Meaning : I have my feelings and within those, I say both what I find good or bad without shitting on everyone and everything. "I like this because... but... I don't like this because... but...". This are my basics. And I try to stay as neutral as possible in the way I say things.

But I won't lie, this time I have some difficulties because there is too much toxicity around and, what I thought was impossible, it finally affected me while watching the show in a very bad way. And for that I am angry. You can tell as I recently put an almost agressive rambling against some review.

I try to stay away from comments or reviews and stuff but sometimes I tiptoe into just just to see another reality. And although I found constructed things in the bad comments regarding S2 (even in BO), although this time this is more a game of pure destruction. And as much as I am angry, I will try not the play the same game that only lead to hatred. So I will try my best to illustrate what I am saying and not just throw feelings at your face.

To be clear also, I don't defend blindly the writers here, I am taking the final product as it is in my analysis.

Spoilers of S3 vol 1 under the cut. I won't speak about what would probably happen in vol 2 though. So if you have seen vol 1 but not read the book, this is safe.

First of all I will say it.

- No, the show doesn't follow stricto sensu the books but more in the S1 way. Though it has many scenes almost taken from the pages, or in the spirit of it.

- Yes, there are some plotline additions and more twisted ones but for me it helps building intrigues more than running to the opposite of characters from the books, giving more relief to some of them and link stuff that needs pages and pages to get through. So I don't see them in a bad eye.

My point of view.

The first sequence with Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer is an example. For me this corrects a lot of bad done during S2. It is not like in the books at all, even if it uses the "dear friend" letter as a trope, but it lands on a relation more in phase with the books. We have trust and tension. And Geralt and Yennefer reconnecting. Of course, this shouldn't had to be necessary at all in the first place but seeing their relation building up put a smile on my face.

My only complaint will be that we still just have glimpses of how magic works in this universe. In the books, Yennefer teaching Ciri magic is THE moment we learn the most of it. So just having crumps is frustrating me.

For Geralt, I had a great time with the fight sequences and the relationships he has with Ciri, Yennefer and Jaskier. The feeling is closer to the book version for me. And I have to say, I really liked the whole sequence in Anika's hut where he learns about his mother. This and the fact that he discovers the false Ciri and the experiments are a twist from the books but it connects a lot of further plotlines. Also when he learns that his mother has died and he has still ressentiment for abandoning him leads to a great emotional side of Geralt and builds the fact that this is the reason why he will never abandon Ciri in return, whatever the coast. And I was missing those kind of vulnerabilities in Geralt that were so nice to read on a "brute" stereotype. So it gives depth to the character. It was not what I was waiting for but I take it as well.

For Yennefer, I connected less with her this season but I loved the growth and the parallels with Ciri. She has learnt from her mistakes found her purpose. So while normally it's not her to prepare the conclave, from where she is coming from in S1 and S2, it is almost the only way to reconnects the dots. I really wish we didn't need this to repair everything, but all considering, it was OK. From her part I mostly liked the journey with Ciri to Aretuza and the humorous parts with Geralt.

For Ciri, I connected more with her this season. Like she finds herself more at ease in a witcher (male) version of her world. That speaks to me a lot. Although I gender myself as a woman my brain doesn't work usually like the "typical" woman. Or at least those I met in my life. I have the typical you are a "garçon manqué" (which I don't know how to translate in English) said about me very often. I was with more men during my student years and at work so learnt to navigate them more than groups of women. I was a bit like Ciri at Kaer Morhen. I have experienced the more frontal, direct approach of men vs the shady, smile in the front, stab in the back approach of women during conflicts, especially at work, too many times so I can relate to Ciri when she can't bare the company of the sorceresses, who are all facades. And I love what she learns from that, in the end.

For Jaskier, I am very pleased that the trauma of the torture was addressed and became a motive of certain "bad" decisions he made. He still has heart to protect those he loves and do what thinks is good for them. Which is basically what he does all the time in the books, especially in the Baptism of Fire, so we kind of see this trait ealier. I liked the honesty between him and Geralt and his relation with Ciri is heartwarming. Now the development of his love life is something I could talk all day (and I probably will later). The Radovid plot, I was nervous at first but I loved it because it has layers and some speaks to me a lot. Basically the whole plotline of Jaskier is a mixture of inventions and scenes from the books but it is coherent with the character in his whole and connects efficiently the dots from Redania politics to the found family.

In a way, I find the spy element of this Jaskier more grounded here than the one in the books, where it has like no explanation except "i am a patriot" 🤷🏽‍♀️.

Then, am I going to address the elephant in the room ? The pansexual Jaskier. Yes I am gonna do it, but I want to finish with the characters and the bits that I want to talk about first.

I liked the interactions between Philippa and Dijkstra which helps building the politics from Redanian side while enveiling progressively some leads to the final reveal of who is the bad guy. The only sequence that bothered me was the bdsm thing. Except to re-enforce the dominatrix trait of Philippa personality, it adds nothing more to what was shown before, except this face 😬 on me lol.

Speaking of the leads to the final revelation, I liked that this was made within different characters' journey, connecting the dots step by step. So sure it shifted some narratives but it was fluid and paced the whole thing without having big revealing time, except the whole episode 5 where they tried something in the structure, to make it more digest. But for me this is the episode I liked the least because of this artifice exactly. The loop was too repetitive in its first iteration and it made my attention drop seriously for the next part. But it was interesting on a technical point of view. They like to play with past and present a lot in this show and here it was well done as it was treated like a rendition of Geralt and Yennefer side of the event, confronting what they learnt from the people they talked to. And they mixed it with some "hot" moments, that I think may have pleased a lot of people.

Well, for me the complicity and complementarity was more rewarding but I don't see it as a bad thing. That echoes their relationship in the books but overall I am not very interested in that. The playfulness between them during the ball was more attractive to me. But I am aware that this is a very personal take of it as I tend to loose interest the more I see "love" scenes lol. The shorter, the better 😅.

For the other characters, I was not convinced by Fringilla plot, but I dug more into Cahir's whose faith is shifting badly.

The White Flame had little exposition but help filling the blanks a little bit for his story and I am surprised they are seemingly running down the hill of this incest plotline from the books. It will be certainly different, but the first hints are there.

On the brotherhood side, I don't have much to say for the moment. I think I will elaborate more after vol 2, especially on Vilgefortz. Just I note that Istredd connects some things with BO. This is very short and maybe confusing for those who having seen it but it makes sense within this version of the story. And I like that Stregobor that is set up to be disliked from the bigining is just a false thread to find the real bad guy.

From the elven side, I feel this is rushed. The jumps from S2 to S3 isn't hard to understand but the struggle connecting with Nilfgaard is due to the strange plotline of S2 again. Gallatin helps connected things together but it shouldn't have been so convoluted in the first place. Yet I understand where it leads later for Francesca.

I have like the use of certain minor characters like Aplegatt who had a running gag with the arrow until the futur Ciri foretold happened which leads to consequences we will see in vol 2. I didn't like the "professor" though who had the trash mob treatment. You recognise him and seconds later he is dead.

And I found Valdo Marx hilarious. His song his catchy and even if it is not subtle for the plot it gives a real rythme to the ball iterations.

This is pretty much my global thoughts on the volume 1.

Now what's in the books ?

Here is the resume of each chapter of Time of Contempt to the point it stopped for the show :

- Aplegatt is doing his job being the messages between kingdoms. He meets on the road Yennefer and Ciri who prophetised his death and more things. Geralt visits Codringher and Fenn to have informations about Rience. A lot of political stuff and schemes are discussed and bits of False Ciri. Aplegatt dies from an arrow.

- Yennefer and Ciri are in Gors Velen. Yennefer goes to the dwarven bank (politics politics schemes schemes). Ciri visits the city with Fabio and... kills the wyvern in the monster show. While she tries to escape she bumps into Tissaia and Margarita Laux-Antilles. Politics and schemes at the baths. Ciri flees to find Geralt. The wild hunt appears in the sky. Ciri rushes toward Geralt's position who is with Jaskier. Yennefer saves her. When reunited Geralt and Yennefer are arguing. Ciri watch from afar with Jaskier explaining they love each other.

- Jaskier babysits Ciri while Geralt and Yennefer go to the Thanedd ball. A lot of dialogs there that set up everyone's position. Hot scene between Geralt and Yennefer.

- In this chapter the only thing I can take is Codringher and Fenn killed and burned by Rience minion.

Well everything seems here, with changes of course, but I guess we covered it all. But there is more. So what's more that are in the books also.

Here is what is from The Last Wish incorporated in S3 (what I remember)

- Belleteyn

Here is what is from of Blood of Elves incorporated in S3 (what I remember)

- Shaerrawedd story, even if the set up is twisted.

- Geralt leaves Ciri with Yennefer so she can teach her magic while he is tracking Rience. The Dear Friend letter (but we know it is used differently) .

- Jaskier has some spy duties (the set up is entirely different). And some more politic stuff.

(The scene with Vespula is from The Sword of Destiny.)

So now, I know everything is twisted because they chose to tell the story differently. But all the bricks are here with some pretty close to the books moments and everything is set up almost properly for what's to come. That's the reason why I like this season and I don't find it outrageous.

My rambling.

Now... This is the part where I will be less tempered.

You may noticed that I have kept Radovid almost away from the equation. Well because... this is where I can loose myself because of the bad comments. Not just the ones on the divergence from the lore only. I includes what comes usually with it. The pan Jaskier and people of color kind of divergence from the lore comments.

Last week I lost my temper on a review using false book accuracy arguments to justify a rant about Jaskier been queer in the show. The person wrote incorrect things, stated them as truth, for their readers. So angry people could find examples of what was so wrong in the show using their anger to validate their lies blindly [x].

I don't go much to see the comments and the reviews because it hurts me most of the time. And I am someone open to critical stuff. But you know statistically if people were fair, I should find perfectly argumented rants about the show along with the blind rage ones. For S2 and BO it was the case.

Here, the vast majority of what I read are just "the show did wrong" without any argument. "They are not faithful to the source material" without any example. Some are openly racist or queerphobic. Some hide behind the things like the reviewer I was angry about.

I am sad to see an actress had to justify her portrail of her character because she doesn't look like what people expect, to say it politely, and because she made some artistic choices that are not european coded [x].

I have seen many comments with bollywood memes under the first twit of RI reporting that Anya chose to incorporate Indian dances moves to her magic. She wouldn't have said it, except for the battle in Shearrawedd, I am sure no-one would have noticed. And for those who are angry about those cultural inserts, please explain me what looks like a perfect european magic move. Show me then the problem in Anya's portrail.

I am sad to read bad things under the Valdo Marx extract, because the actor is black.

I am sad to read homophobic comments on Joey's insta (but extremely proud and moved by the Dear Hearts response to that).

And I am angry that people don't even try to understand what are the stories told. They are on a hate bulldozer and simply crush everything under.

Is the show perfect : NO ! Is the show deviating from the source material: YES ! I already said it. But this is still WAY closer than the former season (cf my preceding point).

I took time to say in my first point what I like and dislike, pointing purposely things that diverged from the books in their structure or narratives. And there is a lot as you can see, and I didn't say it all.

Maybe you miss Geralt hitting on many ladies, even while being officially with Yennefer, and hyperfixating on boobs sometimes (while they blinked politely at it in the show this time) ? The more classic family portrait adaptation doesn't hurt anyone's feelings apparently. Or that least THAT kind of divergence doesn't come front when it comes to book accuracy.

Why is it always the "race" and the queerness ? The real question is : where does the hypocrisy ends ?

The Radovid part and pretty much all of Jaskier's plotline this season are invented. It has anchors in the books in some scenes but, like the rest of the divergences, this plotline setup many things that are more a lot of dialogs in the books.

They use this Radovid and his relation with Jaskier to show the con games of Philippa and Dijkstra in a more easy way to absorb in a tvshow. But I guess you sure want 10 min straight of people throwing names and places you don't know about and learn about them 5h later. It is sure not easier to have the whole thing built slowly over the course of the 5h.

They also used Radovid to put some new layers on Jaskier with the romance. Those layers includes his pansexuality, sure, but there is more. Things that have been played but not said are out up front now. His extreme empathy that helps him read people. It is his superpower and his weekness. We see a more clever side to him too. We see him trying to navigate with Radovid to find solution for Rience and maybe safe conduit for Ciri. And this is a part of how he has now a place in the found family and how he connects with them, which was inexistant in both S1 and S2.

This is not just about sexuality. But apparently it overshadow everything else. So...

For those who found the kiss coming from nowhere, I invite you to listen and watch more carefully.

For those who found Jaskier too promiscuous this season, I remind you that Jaskier is known to have multiple affairs in the books, and this is mentioned in the show as well in S1, and teased in S2, so this is not new. This is just the first time it is shown clearly.

For those who simply cannot bare the view of two men kissing, just close your eyes, you have plethora of heterosexual book accurate relation in the next episode.

And you know what :

We know little about love. Love is like a pear. A pear is sweet and has a distinct shape. Try to define the shape of a pear.

Jaskier

#tws3 #tws3 spoilers #not tagged properly on purpose #long post #rambling #critical #review

[waitmyturtles]

Hi WMT it's Ranch!

What has surprised you most over the course of your OGMMTVC project?

RANCH, MY FRIEND! (Tagging you here to make sure you see this! @ranchthoughts)

What has surprised me the most in the Old GMMTV Challenge.... this is such an AWESOME question. I think I have a few answers.

I am oftentimes turned on by shows that many people dislike: I feel compelled to find out why, to dig into these shows, and to wonder what's missing by way of the popular dialogue around these shows. I was REALLY surprised by how much I liked -- nay, LOVED, OBSESSED OVER! -- Theory of Love. I heard it was misogynistic, that Third was a sad case that needed sympathizing, that Khai was a terrible person, etc. I think those popular reads were exactly what the show was skewering, and I was really surprised by how sophisticated and subversive the show actually was.

I was REALLY surprised by how much I LOVED Manner of Death. I knew it was a MaxTul vehicle, but I didn't expect the story to be so tight. It was written by the same screenwriter as He's Coming to Me, and once I learned that, I was like -- OHHHHHHH!

I was VERY surprised by the ending of Make It Right 2, and was insanely moved by Frame proposing to Book. When I saw Frame doing that, I was like -- OH WAIT, I HAVE SEEN THIS BEFORE, in backwards chronological order, because Bed Friend had ended the same way. And both Make It Right and Bed Friend are Cheewin Thanamin shows. I just -- gaaaahhhh, I LOVED that I saw that connection, and what Cheewin was communicating about queer love and joy in these two shows.

Speaking of Make It Right (which was early early on in my OGMMTVC journey), I was very surprised by how much I was loving the show when I started it, leading me to message @bengiyo in surprise, because the online fandom chatter previously had been that the show would give folks the jibbles for how young the actors were. And Ben gave me such perspective (that I wrote about in my first season review) so as to make me feel comfortable with moving forward. And it's a fucking brilliant show, so I was so happy to have the support in taking it on.

I was surprised by how much I loved Lovely Writer, because I had watched Step By Step before watching LW, and was really angry at Tee Bundit. And then I watched Lovely Writer and I was like HOW CAN THIS SHOW BE SO GOOD, LOL.

But I think my biggest surprise was in discovering Until We Meet Again. I didn't expect another show on the list to almost reach my He's Coming To Me and Bad Buddy echelon. I don't think UWMA gets THERE-there, but it's close. I just rewatched UWMA during a stressful life moment, and god, it is BRILLIANNNTTTT. It's a show I can just turn on, and enjoy at any random moment, wherever I start it. It was SO well done -- from New Siwaj, I did not expect such a perfect show, and I was DELIGHTED to get obsessed with it.

I'm sure I have more, but these are the highlights!

#thanks for the ask! #UPLIFTING DISCOURSE! #the old gmmtv challenge #ogmmtvc #until we meet again #bad buddy #he's coming to me #make it right #make it right 2 #theory of love #lovely writer

[fateinthestars]

Must be time to do another SCM Ramble/ Review post and to go with yesterday's two White Day special story sets here is the other one! This post contains:

White Day Treats for a Crimson-Lipped Goddess

The stories in this are set after the Valentine's Day 'To the Victor Goes the Spoils' stories and as such this set features stories for: Leon, Scorpio, Huedhaut, Zyglavis, and Aigonorus.

Spoilers under cut. Oh and maybe some gushing, cos Zyglavis' and Aigo's stories in this set? 🥰 (Hue? 🤦‍♀️ )

Leon: Flowers of Love Bloom in the Sky

I can't quite believe that from his POV chapter in this that it was technically Ichthys who planted the idea in his head to actually use his powers for once...

Anyway, Leon is actually internally very contemplative and trying his hardest to understand why human holidays matter so much. His internal monologue even admits he's just learnt something from Partheno of all people. Leon is still learning and growing and once again this story shows why it's so important to have these stories from their point of view.

One thing that did stand out to me when re-reading this is that Karno's gift in this is technically the same thing as he uses in the Victor goes the Spoils - presumably untampered with this time. No-one brings that up though... I wonder whether that's just Karno deliberately reminding Leon about Valentine's to make sure things run smoothly?

As to Leon's eventual gift in this one? It's really touching and thoughtful and calls back very nicely to Leon's main story.

Scorpio: Your Colour

Oh sweet Scorpio. Your vague questions in order to be really touching always seem to end up backfiring somewhat and you don't think before snapping if something unexpected throws a spanner in the works. Though, MC? I know you forgot it was White Day the following day but when the others mentioned that, could you maybe not have... yanno... put two and two together that maybe just maybe that was why Scorpio was suddenly interested in your makeup?

Oh gosh the stuff Scorpio blurts out to the sales assistant 🥰 I know you Scorpio you are not the angry irritated God you project there's far more to you than that. Also, talking about his POV chapter he actually makes it clear here that he's decided him and cooking don't mix. So I guess in my cooking post that moves him down a little (only a very little mind, his stuff you could still eat...)

Huedhaut: Tones of your Future

Oh Hue! Hue please!!!!!!!

I am going to forbid you from putting your forehead against MC's at this rate.

I mean honestly, Hue: You see she's crying in the future but you don't know why, or what, or whether it was definitely even you who caused it (though you seem to think it was)? Yeah you letting it slip to the other Gods and their comments probably didn't help your brooding but your conclusion as to what to do was to stay away from MC for a while? HUE!

No wonder Teo scolded him later. Yes it's Teo that gets Hue out of this funk, his actions seemingly shocking both Hue and later MC when Hue tells her who snapped him out of it.

Hue's actual White Day gift is really moving and no wonder MC cried. This story probably shows more than most why Hue's divine power is not one you want. He must be so stressed all the time.

Though... Hue? As it turns out that you ended where your vision was and it actually wasn't a bad thing at all, you could have actually had your White Day date as well.

Thank you for pushing him to go see MC, Teo. Though I think the wish he'd received also made him realise what an idiot he was being.

Hue you really are a worrier aren't you? In an attempt to make sure you kept MC happy and avoided anything potentially negative you actually made things worse.

Oh Hue... *hugs him tightly*

Zyglavis: Love Cannot be Planned

A massive change in tone here and oh my word this story. This story! It's not just one of my favourite Zyglavis stories, it's one of my favourite stories featuring Ichthys that isn't in his own route.

Ichthys hasn't forgotten about the Valentine's Day Punishment and now he's come up with A PLAN. A plan that all the others are trying to tell him not to be foolhardy about and don't even try it but nope Ichthys here is on a mission!

That mission appears to MC & Zig to be a battle of who can give the best White Day present but no... this is actually Ichthys trying to humiliate Zyglavis in front of all the others.

I can't help but feel having read this story that Ichthys is a million years too early to be able to get the upper hand on Zyglavis. Of course Zyglavis is so suspicious about what is actually going on he looks further into things.

Everything Zyglavis does here is wonderful. And even he admits because of Ichthys' ridiculous present battle he thought more about what to give MC and is happier with what he chose as a result.

Everything about this is PERFECT. This... this is everything I need from an SCM story. 🥰

Aigonorus: A Sweet Trap

Oh Aigo, I really do adore him. I wish Aigo had more content because he's so sweet, loveable, cuddly, and determined once he gets a clear idea in mind.

I love how once MC has explained White Day so he understands, he immediately drags her off to get her to pick something out. Aigo is so impulsive and impatient sometimes but in a really sweet way.

I'm also gonna have to include this screenshot from his point of view story when he's first trying to make what he finally decides on giving MC as a White Day gift because 🤣 :-

If anything shows how pure and kind hearted he is though is what happens after he sees an article saying that his gift has negative connotations and thus refuses to give it to MC even though he spent many days perfecting it...

Cos what he was gonna give her was what she has given him in the past and here he never once thinks that what she gave him could have been negative in any way. And yet he still worries that his would be taken negatively.

Aigo really is one of the kindest, sweetest, most caring of all the Zodiac Gods. And I hope in the routes other than his own he finds love from somewhere and realises that that Goddess was just a jerk. Aigo deserves the world.

Ranking attempt then? Oh gosh...

Zyglavis

Aigonorus

Scorpio

Leon

Huedhaut

#scm #star crossed myth #scm ramble #star crossed myth character review/rambling #star crossed myth spoilers #scm leon #scm scorpio #scm huedhaut #scm zyglavis #scm aigonorus

[carica-ficus]

Review: The Liminal Zone

Author: Junji Ito

Date: 13/02/2023

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

———————————————————————————————

While I am a big fan of Ito's work, I haven't had the time to pick up some of his newer works up until now (when I forgot to take a book of my own to read on my way home, so my boyfriend offered me a few from his collection). "The Liminal Zone" is another collection of short stories, featuring 4 of his works: Weeping Woman Way, Madonna, The Spirit Flow of Aokigahara and Slumber. He has worked on them during the pandemic and had been publishing them online before they ultimately got published as a physical book.

Ito's quite self-conscious about all his newer work, repeatedly saying how his stories aren't as good as they used to be, but compared to his older work, I'd say the stories in "The Liminal Zone" are definitely some of his best.

Weeping Woman Way is a story about a girl who suddenly can't stop crying after an encounter with a hired weeping woman on a funeral. In its core, it is a tale about the desperation of grief, sadness and depression women experience as they experience loss, not just of their beloved, but thousands of other people they have not personally known. Only the women are affected by the crying malady, and only other women truly understand the suffering it invites. Their sorrow becomes almost palpable through Ito's provoking illustrations. He has perfectly enraptured the pure helplessness that comes with sadness.

While Madonna was actually a really solid story with amazing Christian symbolism, the salt powers of the main antagonist take away from the fluidity of the plot. Ito's creative process for a story usually starts off with a specific source of inspiration that he decides to incorporate into his story, but he often doesn't have the right skills to blend it into the story properly, so some parts seem forced and unnecessary. Still, Madonna is a great read with some gorgeous, creepy visuals, especially of the statue of Mary crying bloody tears and the panels where the vice-principal shows her true angry and resentful nature.

The Spirit Flow of Aokigahara is the weakest story of the four, featuring a sick man who decides to kill himself somewhere deep in the forest, but finds some sort of cave from which spirits come out at night in the form of a raging river. The visuals are definitely unnerving, but the plot itself is quite shallow and somewhat silly.

The idea behind Slumber is nothing new, but it is nonetheless riveting. Ito took the famous The Killer in Me horror trope where the main character has no recollection of their crimes and spins it into a narrative where they have no obvious connection to the victims, but have memory flashes of killing them. There's a few minor issues I had with this story, mostly regrading Ito's explanation of the memories, but overall it was an exciting and compelling read. I'm a sucker for this trope and I am glad Ito decided to do his take on it.

The majority of negative comments regarding Ito's new work are mainly concentrated on his biggest weakness: mending plot holes. Ito's a writer who stays true to his ideas, so when they don't necessarily add up, he offers the reader a fairly simple explanation. In hindsight, yes, it negatively impacts his story, but I'd argue it's also his redeeming quality. A lot of his most impactful and well know work wouldn't even exist if he limited himself to completely drawn out ideas. If you prefer carefully planned out plots, his work might not be to your liking, but Ito definitely offers a truly unique and recognizable experience of horror that is worth to give a chance.

"The Liminal Zone" is an excellent choice for both old and new lovers of Ito's work. It features some great stories, it's filled with gorgeous, gory and horrific illustrations, and it's an interesting read.

#junji ito #the liminal zone #madonna #the spirit flow of aokigahara #slumber #weeping woman way #horror #horror manga #horror mangaka #manga #comic #reading challenge #book review #reading #rc2023 #2023 #moja recenzija #recenzija

[beans-and-shet]

TMMN Episode 8 Thoughts

I’m gonna give a full review for episode 8 here. I have a lot of thoughts. Don’t read if you don’t want spoilers.

The art was good, but after watching it a couple times and letting it sink in, overall I’d say this episode whiffed hard when comparing it to the manga. I came out of it disappointed.

There were 5 things in particular I was hoping to get from this episode (cat Ichigo + Masaya kiss, shit not hitting the fan in only one day, full Masaya transformation sequence, angry Masaya when he rescues Ichigo, good action sequences), and New kind of only delivered on one of them (the action sequences), and even that was me being generous. The action scenes were better here than in recent episodes, but that was mostly just for Quiche vs the Blue Knight. It still wasn’t anything I’d write home about, but definitely an improvement.

First of all, Quiche kidnapping Ichigo so early into the episode after what happened in the previous episode felt way too rushed and like a "not this again" moment. And it looks like they really did skip the iconic Masaya/cat Ichigo kiss scene rest in pieces. How can they not show him realizing she was the cat from that night in s1e10?? Even if they do it later (after the final boss fight concludes) it seems like it would feel out of place at that point. I really wanted to see his reaction and that scene was in my top 5 scenes from the manga. Also, given how much they wanted to cram into this episode, I am surprised they wasted the pre-opening portion of the episode on a recap from the previous episode. As it stands right now, I still think from a pacing standpoint that it was a bad idea to have the lunch date happen as late as it did. They needed at least one episode of buffer between Ichigo and Masaya’s reveals for the pacing to feel right. I would have preferred two episodes of buffer, which is why I was originally hoping the lunch date would be in episode 5. If it had happened in episode 5 or 6, they could have sprinkled a few moments in to make Masaya’s worried reaction about Ichigo being a mew mew feel more natural. And it also wouldn’t feel like such a clusterfuck of reveals happening right at the end. There was nothing major in episode 5 or 6 that chronologically needed to happen before the lunch date anyway. Also, in the manga, when he told her he didn’t want her to fight anymore, he hugged her from behind after subconsciously rescuing her from drowning (aka almost DYING) in his blue knight form and he also saw the injury on her arm. He noticed it right in the moment too, not a day or two after she actually got hurt like what happened in New. The execution of these particular events in new, like the Quiche kidnapping, was very clunky and too fast paced.

Now for the Quiche confession scene. The first half of this scene should have been at night. At least the dark blue polluted air came in for the second half to match the scene’s vibe a bit better. I did like how New really portrayed from Ichigo’s perspective how scary and awful this was throughout the entire experience. There was no blush and "does he really love me?" after her ass just got choked. I do think choosing to have Quiche choke her after he finished crying tho is gonna make his redemption moment come off as way weirder than it did in the manga (and this is coming from someone who never thought the manga executed it very well either). But we’ll see, that’s just how I feel about it right now.

For the Blue Knight rescue oh boy, there are several things. I did think it was cool that Masaya could harness some of his power in his base form. But for the most part, this scene disappointed me. They took out most of the emotion from Masaya’s voice that should have been in his final "I said let her go!". His expression was also quite blank. I wanted to see him mad, dammit. He’s someone who is typically very calm and collected, so that moment in the manga when he yelled with that furious face was awesome and very impactful! Idk how whoever directed this episode thought it was a good idea to take that away. Their hug after she got freed from the webs restraining her wrists was cute. And I loved how Ichigo blocked Quiche’s attack. But then Masaya prevented her from fighting anymore, saying he would protect her. The manga’s portrayal of this was much better. There, Masaya told Ichigo to go help her friends against Tart so he could keep her away from the guy who tried to assault her and also question Quiche further on what he meant. New right now is making it seem like Masaya doesn’t want Ichigo to fight at all, which isn’t quite right. He is worried about her, but if he is there to help and have her back, he’s generally supportive (case in point, the Zakuro mew aqua fight from the manga).

And we know in a la mode and re-turn that while Masaya worries about Ichigo, he won’t stop her from fighting (and even encouraged her to go back to Tokyo in a la mode) so there’s that too. Lastly, NO LEGITIMATE TRANSFORMATION SCENE FOR MASAYA, WHY WORLD WHY?!!! Like I guess I have to riot now wtf. I am so bummed about that.

For the fight at cafe mew mew, it was nice to see Tart not getting that into the fight cause he didn’t really like the idea of fighting Pudding anymore. At least his change of heart will feel more natural. Also, it’s an interesting choice to keep Mint restrained at home. Will she reveal her identity to her brother or find a way to sneak away? I know she’s gonna probably be the one to stop her brother’s air purifier.

I am shocked we are already getting Deep Blue next episode. The re-turn outfit is here and I’m sad his fancy pattern isn’t on the green part of his outfit. But otherwise, he looks good. Here’s hoping we get lots of crazy facial expressions from him. New really took my guesses for how the pacing would go and flipped them on their heads. I didn’t think we’d get Deep Blue until the end of episode 10. Since they are investing so much time into the final fight, I really hope they make it worth it and give some great drama and original action scenes. ESPECIALLY SOME DETAILS tying Deep Blue to the original alien society on Earth and how exactly Masaya came to be. Also, New please give me a good shot of this panel (tho that’s probably gonna be for episode 10) holy shit:

With Deep Blue being introduced this early, it also seems like it opens up episode 12 to have more room for cute moments in its second half. I know we’re probably gonna get that cheesy wedding scene for Ichigo and Masaya so I am looking forward to that.

#tmmn spoilers #tokyo mew mew new #tokyo mew mew #if anyone wants to chat about this with their own thoughts please hmu in responses or dms I need to talk about this haha

[haleigh-sloth]

I am done reading AssClass

Okay, let's see if I can type this all out without crying lol

This isn't a review, just my personal feelings on the manga, the things I liked, the things I didn't like (there really aren't much), things I wish I had seen more of etc., and my overall opinion on the ending (;--;)

Things I liked:

All of it. But seriously, the commentary on the education system. The way that it's "subtext" but like, Horikoshi-style subtext. It's not really subtext it's kind of in your face, unable to be ignored. While I'm fully aware that it caters to commentary on the Japanese education system, which differs greatly from what I'm personally familiar with, there are a lot of relatable aspects in this manga that I can relate to American education. For instance, all the "problem kids" getting hidden away from the general classroom, scapegoated, looked down upon, etc. All of that was super obvious. The way it emphasizes how individualizing teaching approaches to the student can produce amazing results that matter to that student. I work in special education currently, but I've been working with kids since I graduated college, and this manga felt very validating to me with how it shows what impact adults can have on kids if they put effort into their relationships.

Moving on....

It's a shounen, but I love how it managed to maintain its slice of life vibe by keeping it focused on their school experiences. Just the way the manga made sure not to dive into power scaling territory in any way whatsoever and mostly focus on demonstrating the way Korosensei was getting through to the students, which as a result really drove the ending home. It's kind of funny how the parts of BNHA that hold my interest the absolute LEAST were the parts of this manga that I wanted to make sure didn't fade away.

I also appreciate how it balanced its large cast without it feeling like cameo city. Everyone got the perfect amount of focus. Nobody felt like side characters who were getting more screen time than necessary to an annoying extent. It has its main focus characters but it truly is a manga about all of Class 3-E. I was impressed by that, as with large casts I usually get irritated quickly when characters I don't particularly care about (because the manga gives me no reason to seriously care about or be invested in them) are being given screen time SOLELY for the purpose of getting screen time. Just...things I generally don't like, but this manga didn't have that issue.

The characters of focus:

Korosensei- I knew his character would be the source of my tears at the end. The person who recommended this manga to me went ahead and told me he would die (which I appreciated because I think I might have been upset/angry at the manga if I hadn't been warned---I'm not good with tragedies lol). So--I knew what was coming, just not the how or the when. Korosensei is the best character in the manga and everything that happens in his arc I feel very reasonably warrants the ending. However it doesn't take away the devastation it made me feel lol. I knew early on, I could tell that he was going to be the source of most of the emotion dredged up in the manga. He didn't disappoint. I've never favored a mentor/teacher character this much.

Karma- My favorite, no surprise. I love how he's introduced as this deranged, violent, uncontrollable teen but ends up being the most go-getting academic in the class. He's bothered when his grades drop the slightest and he more than makes up for it later (so he CARES). He's pretty chill in personality but his unhinged-ness comes out randomly throughout and it's either hilarious or just really cool. He's really not what he's introduced as. He's goofy, and he drops his "revenge against teachers" persona pretty quickly after he's introduced and Korosensei picks at him a little. His friendship with Nagisa gives me life. It's hidden in the shadows but you know it's there, and it finally gets focus toward the end which I ate UP.

Nagisa- BEST MAIN CHARACTER. He feels so passive without actually being passive. His development happens subtly imo, it wasn't something I noticed until the summer vacation arc. After that I paid a lot more attention to him and he easily slide his way into top favs. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how his backstory tied into his skills in the classroom, and how that drove him to change his mind about being an assassin. God that was cinema at its finest. And I said this already but his friendship with Karma is just *chefs kisses* I love them both. They're melons.

Kayano- SHE SHOCKED ME. SURPRISED ME. BUT I LOVE HER. She really did stick close to the protag and hide in his shadow and then come out at the MOST unexpected time. Her backstory tying into Korosensei's backstory, making her closer to him than anyone else in the class ;--;

And that leads me into when I started sobbing and didn't stop.

Korosensei's backstory was rough, but the conclusion to his backstory was where the tears started flowing, and didn't stop until I finished the manga.

I was waiting for the kids to finally acknowledge what assassinating their teacher meant, and finally when the realization came I was emotionally unequipped for it:

These moments had me in a blubbering mess, and it's taking a lot of effort not to cry RIGHT NOW LOOKING AT THEM

And then of course:

....okay in order to avoid crying I'm gonna move on lol

Things I didn't like--honestly not much. I don't have any actual complaints. I just want to sue for emotional damages.

Things I wish had been different:

Things that aren't critiques because they aren't a flaw, just personal wishes I have.

I wish we had gotten to see more of Asano Jr. and Itona. I feel like Asano absolutely could have been used and explored more. Maybe I just wanted him to join class E. I knew it wasn't going to happen just due to the point I was at in the chapters and knowing it wasn't long enough to get into that. But Asano was a fav that I would have been very interested in seeing more. He felt like a side character who absolutely could have been lifted out of side character territory. Itona drew me in more when he was unhinged, and my liking for him didn't go away but my fixation on him shifted to Asano lol. I feel like Itona could also have been used more. But the way in which he was used wasn't bad at all.

Other characters:

I LOVE what happened with Principal Asano, absolutely love it. It made me forgive everything he was about throughout the story. I love his perception of Korosensei changing and how he offered him a job to come back later, I love his shift in thinking, his reuniting with his former students no matter how bittersweet it was. I loved Korosensei telling P. Asano that he was replicating what Asano had envisioned when he started his school. Tear jerking forreal.

Karasuma and Irina: Loved them. Loved how Karasuma kept a hard front almost the entire manga and slowly started letting it fade away as time went on. I love how the three teachers bonded and at the end, Karasuma acknowledging that all three of them raised that class. More tears flowing. Irina best girl. She was fanservice-y but it wasn't a stupid gag and was a part of her character (a legit seductress), and she as a whole was great.

I coud go on and on about the ending and how emotional it made me watching everyone clean the building and the mountain, and Kayano saying it feels like Korosensei and Aguri are still there with them, so they don't intend to make it a memorial site. I could go on and on but I'm legit tired of crying lol I really can't handle it anymore. So I'll end it here and say that this replaced Naruto in my top 5 LOL (sorry Naruto). 10/10.

#the way that i can barely look at some of these pages #psychic damage is real

[jaimehwatson]

1, 2, 10, 11, 15, 19!

Thanks Syb! <3

1.What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again?

I wrote erotica involving a trans character for the first time in A Proper Apology! (Well, technically he's not actually human and wasn't really assigned any gender at birth, but you know, basically I wrote him like he's trans.) As someone who's still in the process of figuring out a transmasculine identity myself, I often prefer to read and write fics where the characters are all cisgender because it's like, I'm here to have fun, I don't even want to deal with thinking about all that complicated stuff that affects my real life right now. But I'm happy to have given something different a try with this fic, and I hope it's something I'll be able to do more in the future as I get more confident in who I am. Shout-out to @glitterarygetsit for beta-reading that one and helping polish it!

2. How many fics did you work on this year? (They don’t have to be finished or published!)

Apparently I've published 16 (most of which are pretty short), and I also have my Yuletide fic about to be revealed and bring it up to 17! Then in my unfinished drafts I have at least 5 more, all of which are for Our Flag Means Death. The new season gave me so many ideas that I didn't finish all of them, but maybe I'll revisit some in the new year!

10. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

Probably my magnum opus, Tonight on Ring of Revenge! It's my longest fanfic and probably in my top 5 longest works of fiction I've completed in general, and it was really fun and satisfying to be able to gradually make a wild idea I had while watching wrestling work out. I'm really proud of it and it feels very unique to me - like plenty of other people are also great at writing the kind of horny one-shots I do a lot of, but no one else made the pirate wrestling AU, that's a Jaime Special

15. Rec a fic you wrote or posted in 2023

I'll do the same one I just answered - Tonight on Ring of Revenge! It loosely follows the overall plot of season 1 of OFMD but set in the modern era with the characters as pro wrestlers instead of pirates. Is that an extremely silly idea? Yes! Does it also actually suit the themes and characterization of the show really well? You bet! Are there ridiculous campy wrestling plots and choreographed fake violence and also sex? Hell yeah! I had a lot of fun doing research for it and I think there are plenty of details in there that wrestling fans will appreciate, but I also added plenty of author's notes explaining things for readers who are less familiar with wrestling. It's about 26k words and has a cute happy ending! Enjoy!

19. Share your favorite opening line

I think I have to go with this one from When You Like And Where You Like!

"We have three years of the past to discuss. Let that suffice until half-past nine, when we start upon the notable adventure of the empty house." As Sherlock Holmes leaned casually against the desk in my study, a self-satisfied smile on his pale and aquiline face, I was seized with a momentary urge to leap from my chair and throttle him.

The first line of dialogue is directly out of "The Adventure of the Empty House," and if I remember correctly, it precedes a bit of a timeskip to the story picking up later that night. The second line is me starting a little missing scene! I really enjoy writing stuff like this that follows canon closely and could arguably have happened in between without necessarily contradicting anything, and I think it's a solid opening in terms of how much it establishes in those first two sentences: if you've read this story you'll probably recognize that line and know immediately at what point in canon this is set, and you'll understand why Watson is angry and why this is something that deserves a missing scene to get into his reaction to what's going on more!

2023 in Review Fic Writer Asks

#asks #fanfic #my writing #our flag means death

[bronanlynch]

once again I've watched more anime than done anything else this week but I promise I also have other stuff to talk abt

listening (podcast):

Great Gundam Project: almost done with their 0079 episodes and it's so funny to hear how confused and surprised they are that Newtypes don't get mentioned until the last 10 episodes. also, once again, hearing them talk about Char reminds me that I miss seeing Char on my television screen :/

Palisade: once again it was crazy good this week. shout out to fucked up dream sequences/visions of alternate futures, gotta genuinely be one of my favorite storytelling devices

listening (music): MakeDamnSure by Taking Back Sunday, which is going on my Partizan/Palisade playlist for Balence reasons

reading:

Imperial Uncle: got to more fun reveals that make the main relationship a lot tastier and more fun. still having a good time with this one

The Death I Gave Him: part of the appeal of this book for me (other than that I love Hamlet & Hamlet retellings) is the romance with the sentient lab AI. this should shock absolutely no one (at least no one who knows me as the Sokrates/Integrity guy lol) but I'm real into stuff that explores like, how intimacy works when you don't each have your own separate bodies

A Power Unbound: also started & finished something I've been looking forward to, A Power Unbound by Freya Marske, the third book in a romance/historical fantasy trilogy (different main characters for each) set mostly in Edwardian England. I've enjoyed the other books in the series, and I enjoyed this one too (though I think I prefer the other two for reasons that probably don't have to do with the actual quality of this book and have more to do with what I like & don't like in a main relationship, and actually it's a testament to how strong the writing was that the relationship worked for me anyway, because it did feel earned in terms of both characterization & themes, even though it's the sort of relationship dynamic that I tend to be hesitant about because I often see it done very badly in fanfic in ways that do a disservice to the personalities of both characters involved). anyway. my actual review is that I love fucked up magic houses and there are several of those in this book so shout out to that, and one of the main characters is extremely my type (short, angry, hates the aristocracy, etc)

watching:

I'm in Love with the Villainess: we're caught up now, and I do love class conflict even if I'm sure it's going to be incredibly simplistic and silly because that's the show this is (which I am fine with, to be clear, this is a romance anime based on lovingly parodying otome games, I am treating it with the same kind of seriousness that I would treat something like Scum Villain)

Bakeoff: I'm glad that this year they seem to be better about not putting way too much weight on the showstopper and sometimes deciding star baker based on other challenges like. finally some respect for people who do really well in the signature!!

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: I mean. I've been posting through it about this one so I don't think I have any new insights here just. man. I love it when a major character death is done really well. what a show (positive)

Gundam Seed: you may, at this point, be asking why Seed is our next Gundam after finishing ZZ, especially when every week I talk about pining for Char. the answer is because my roommate watched some of it a while ago and wanted to revisit it, and also because we're saving Char's Counterattack for when we get really desperate for Gundam that isn't Seed. anyway. Seed is fun so far!

the above description of Gundam Seed was written a few days ago when we first started but before we got to the info dump about what's up with Coordinators & Naturals so I'm editing this to say: oof. it really is like what if someone took all of the parts of the original Newtype stuff that I was most skeptical about, took out all of the metaphorical stuff from Zeta that redeemed the concept for me, and then explicitly added literal eugenics. don't like that!

the other thing about Seed is the misogyny which like. god. at least the misogyny in Zeta felt more interesting to think about. at least it felt like Tomino was saying things about gender even if I didn't always like it. this is just peak early 2000s misogyny where everyone including the writers hates women so much that every man comes across as incredibly gay because their relationships with other men are treated so much more seriously

at this point you might be asking what I actually like about this show since I've been complaining for several paragraphs and the answer is I love it when childhood friends end up on the opposite sides of a war. also, a lot of Seed feels like it's trying very hard to Be A Gundam Show (for better or worse tbh, I can feel myself being marketed to, I can practically hear Bandai being like, hey remember how cool it is when a blue-and-white mobile suit fights a pinkish-red mobile suit, don't you want to buy some models), and I am not immune to classic Gundam shit like "oops these kids are involved in a war now because the military was developing a top-secret superweapon right next to where they live" and "your lives are at risk and/or you might get arrested for trying to protect your friends because the higher-ups are incompetent/selfish/do not care about you." I am also not immune to squads of edgy anime boys, or giant robots that each have their own special weapon/power, or whatever the fuck Le Creuset's got going on. I love him. I still miss Char and he's not quite filling that void but I do love him

playing:

another session of my Blades in the Dark campaign, based on the image below (from here). the crew was asked to get the sea serpent to go away and leave ships alone, and absolutely no one was surprised that the secret actual mission was to protect the sea serpent (a baby one) from the coast guard who were going to try to make it leave but more violently because we're playing Blades like it's a game about befriending creatures (see also: Missy is currently trying to resocialize a former fighting goat and Xiao Yun collects extremely fucked up birds)

Ace Attorney 5: not very far into the trial but man. sorry for falling for the trilogy nostalgia but I love to have Edgeworth as a prosecutor, I love the energy that he and Phoenix have, I'm such a sucker for defense attorney & prosecutor working together to find the truth and also they're in love

making: vaguely spanakopita-inspired stuffed pastry wreath. we made it once before and put too much extra vegetable in that released too much water while it was baking so the dough just straight up did not cook. we did it better this time! the dough is actually baked! (it's store-bought crescent rolls, we did not make the dough). anyway. there's spinach and mushroom and herbed goat cheese in there, and it's tasty

drinking: the grocery store had peppermint bark creme liqueur, and it's pretty good in hot chocolate

writing: continued to pick away at a zine fic, figured out what I want to write for my Nirvana in Fire exchange fic, and also did a little bit more on the Integrity fic that I've been working on. it has been a minute since I've written an action scene huh

The Principality knows how to contain divines, to leash them, to defang them and bend their powers to its will. And Integrity is an old divine, and never among the most awe-inspiring. Integrity is a small, quiet thing, precise and intimate and not suited for flashy displays of power like many of its fellows. But it is a divine nonetheless, and when it fights, it brings death. Orbit-and-Integrity steps into the corridor where the Princept fled. Orbit bares their remaining teeth, blood pooling in their mouth and seeping through the seams that begin to open in Integrity’s armor where it no longer has the focus to keep them closed.

#dreaming.txt #weekly media roundup post #sorry for always being like 'oh my god the misogyny' but in my defense. oh my god the misogyny #if i had known what was to come i might have complained less abt zeta & zz. didn't know how good i had it back then compared to this

[licncourt]

This might sound stupid, but as someone who watched the episode in what I could only extrapolate was a early morning no sleep haze, what was your feelings on the episode as whole days after?

Sorry if that is overly familiar, your post about it just made me laugh. 

Ahfsjhfklj by all means, be overly familiar in my inbox!! We are besties having a sleepover! I think I'll start tagging my episode thoughts as "#flora reviews".

Here are my (spoilery!) takes on ep 1 in no particular order, sober, rested, and having watched it a second time now:

I LOVE that they seem to going the route of bi Lestat and gay Louis. That's always how I've read them and definitely the storyline that rings most true for me in regards to Louis. I'm so thrilled to see that on screen. Anyone who's followed me for a while knows how much gay Louis means to me

I'm sorry but I like this Daniel. He's very different from the book, but I think this is a fun take on the character. I always enjoy Louis getting called on his bullshit. (AGAIN, this is an adaptation, not gospel. I'm reviewing this as a singular interpretation of the story, NOT a replacement for established canon).

That first kiss was MAGNIFICENT. It really blew me away more than I even anticipated. I love that Louis was the one to initiate the kiss (especially after starting to lose control earlier and reining it back in). I think JA did a great job of showing Louis' repression and then the unsettling beauty of that resolve finally snapping

Overall loved cinematography of the levitating scene!! It was beautiful and a perfect blend of bloodlust with erotic lust. (And SR has that white boy dump truck. Good for him)

I'm VERY sad that Lily died! I liked her character and Louis needs friends :(((

Sam Reid REALLY captured the Lestat that I wanted to see. He's so earnest and charming and almost boyish, but there's an intensity to him that wavers back and forth between sinister and passionate

The emotion JA showed when describing his turning to Daniel really got me. I love that breach of emotion through his very jaded apathy

When I read the script leaks months ago, I was unsure about the scene of Paul's death. It seemed very abrupt and anti-climatic, but after seeing it on screen and talking with friends, I'm coming around to it. The fact that they DIDN'T argue beforehand is a different kind of tragedy, making Louis live with the guilt of wondering where he went wrong or if he could've done more rather than the book where he wonders if he caused it.

"French white" was very funny, it's exactly the kind of inane Louis hypocrisy I love

On the other hand, "ass before absolution" was Too Much. Louis would never

I also found the thing about the opera to be a bit strange character-wise, but that's pretty inconsequential, as are most of my little Louis stan nitpicks. That's not the focus here so I digress

I think JA did a great job with hitting the emotional beats of the high-emotion scenes, especially the confession. I'm happy to see this side of Louis on screen, the one that beats up and murders priests and gets in drunken brawls and is so angry at the world. I'm looking forward to seeing more of his softer side too as we progress

I've always headcanoned Louis and his sister being very close, and I liked that the show went that direction!

SR nailed those heart eyes!! I can totall6 see why he was able to seduce someone as lonely and repressed and sorrowful as Louis with that kind of obvious devotion

The turning scene was a delight to watch!! It was so incredibly passionate and really showed their desperation, the ways it's the same and the ways that it's different. It was beautifully done and I loved the nods to the movie (which I am still a big fan of)

If I think of more to say later, I'll reblog with add-ons!!

#i intended to watch it that way the first time but it dropped too unexpectedly #i was unprepared #answered #vc #amc iwtv spoilers #vampire chronicles #vctv #flora reviews #interview with the vampire

[bimboarsonist]

I didn’t know how cool the model horse community was. I went out to Hobby Town today and I was amazed by these horses.

I’ll put up the photos I’ve taken and rate each of these horses.

This is a pretty basic horse and what I use as my starting point. This is the most normal looking horse and I like it. A simple black horse sculpt with a flying mane and tail, what more could you want of your basic horse. And as a bonus, it comes with reading material! Nice. 6.5/10

There’s also a girl version of this horse called Black Beauty who I’m not including here but is basically the same thing so I’m rating that horse the same.

Ok next horse! What do we have…

Ooh! A butch-ish unicorn! The mane, tail and feathering on the legs is beautifully sculpted and comes with glitter which looks nice on the all black horse model. I like the silver horn as well.

This unicorn would own a cool, bespoke leather jacket and go to gay bars on Friday nights. They look intimidating, but they’re really a sweetheart. 7/10 very good unicorn.

A water horse! This horse has the same sculpt as the black horse from earlier but a really radically different color scheme. It looks like the sculptor wanted the mane and tail to look like a wave but it kind of reminds me of glass a bit more. I love the effect anyway! The legs and hooves are also translucent, really leaning into the ocean theme which I like. The dappled silver and blue is pretty, looking like foam and ocean water. What a cool horse!

This horse would give me an hour lecture on different species of local fish and ocean wildlife and I would be delighted. 7.5/10 Good horse.

Peace and love on planet earth. This hippy unicorn looks tranquil, and the pastel color scheme is really pretty. I like how the body colors fade into the mane and tail, as though you are the one tripping out when you’re looking at the unicorn. The big ‘ol peace sign is gonna be divisive I imagine but it works for me. It gives it some fun and camp that I appreciate in a plastic unicorn.

This unicorn dodged the draft, protested the Vietnam War, and has done every psychedelic. 7.7/10 a good and lucky horse.

Oh I love this horse. I mean, you know that this is The Gay Horse. This glossy rainbow horse is rearing and ready go and the musculature really standing out thanks to the finish they applied to this horse. I’m immensely delighted by this horse.

I also know for a fact that Jewels is this horse’s drag name and that their name is Jules when they’re not performing. This is a gay drag horse that fucks other gay horses. The unicorn from earlier sees this horse at the gay bar all the time but is too shy to get this horse’s number. 8.5/10 great horse.

The 90s Throwback horse is ALMOST PERFECT. If they had dipped this horse in glitter then there was a good chance I would have adopted this plastic horse. I love the blue and purple leopard print with all my heart. I love that sassy prancing pose! I love the platinum blonde mane and tail with purple tips!! I love the blue hooves! This horse was made for people who love the 90s and maximalist kitsch. I just want them to cover it in glitter and it would be perfect.

This horse is the Britney Spears of horses. They own at karaoke. In 2001 this horse would be sold out. This horse has platinum pop records. 9/10 fantastic horse.

I feel nothing but loathing for the America Horse. I struggle to review it objectively. I am angry that such a pretty sculpt went to this horse. The mane and tail look like Art Nouveau sculpts which is appealing to me. The soft pink gradient on the muzzle is a nice touch, I guess.

But this horse is definitely homophobic. This horse tried to shut down a drag show and calls people groomers. I hate this horse -4/10.

I’ve saved the best horse for last. This was one of the only horses that came with accessories and my god. This horse has everything. A beautiful sculpt. Perfect winter colors. INCREDIBLE SKILL FOR ACCESSORIZING.

This horse has it all. This is the Beyoncé of plastic horses. Opulence. They own everything. I give this horse a 10/10.

#plastic horses #text #went to hobby town and I loved it

[momentsbeforemass]

Rejection

“How do you handle rejection?”

It was an honest question. Being the smart *ss that I am, I went for the laugh with my answer.

“Badly.”

Witty. Sarcastic. And completely true.

Because my standard response to rejection involves replaying it over and over. Trying to figure out why they rejected me, what I could have done differently, and why I always do this to myself (both getting rejected and replaying it).

Getting stuck in a moment that I didn’t like the first time. And (as an added bonus) making myself feel awful in the process. “Badly,” as it turns out, is pretty accurate.

Why? Because I’ve fallen for one of the classic life traps. Without really meaning to, I’ve chained my opinion of myself, my well-being, to what other people say and do.

What makes this trap easy to fall into is that it lies so close to one of the wisest things we can do in response to mistakes and rejections – giving ourselves an honest and compassionate review. So that we don’t repeat our mistakes. Making sure that we’re following the will of God, that we’re fulfilling our purpose.  

But instead of focusing on whether what we did actually should have been rejected (because it was a mistake, because we were off course), we get stuck in our feelings about it. Because rejection hurts.

So how should we respond? Jesus shows us in today’s Gospel, by how He responds to being rejected.

Jesus and the disciples are headed to Jerusalem. Jesus is following the will of God. Fulfilling His purpose.

When they’re rejected by one of the villages on the way? The disciples are hurt. They’re angry.

And they respond in a way that is all to familiar for most of us. They lash out. They want to get back at the people who rejected them.

But not Jesus. Jesus checks the rejection against what God has called Him to do. Using it as a moment to make sure that He is still fulfilling His purpose. Letting the rejection serve its only useful role.

And then? Jesus keeps doing what God has called Him to do.

Without ever responding to the people who rejected Him.

After using the rejection to check His course, to make sure that He’s still following the will of God. Jesus doesn’t get upset at the people who rejected Him, much less try to get back at them.

Jesus keeps His focus on where it needs to be. On God and God’s purpose for His life. And moves on.

Jesus even rebukes the disciples who want to bog down in the moment, who want to get upset about the rejection. Why?

The rejection has served its purpose. There’s no need to even remember it, much less get upset about it.

Because rejections are just mile markers on the highway. And nobody gets upset about mile markers.

Today’s Readings

#Rejection #Your Purpose #God #Jesus #Catholic #Christian #Church #Purpose #Mile Markers #Badly #Moments Before Mass