#it's because the writers tried to make him a player insert and character simultaneously

[autistic-sidon]

The way that a decent chunk of the Zelda fandom still insists on denying one of the most classic and easiest to spot forms of fandom misogyny annoys me to no end. Often in their quest to prove that the way they act about Yona isn't based in misogyny, they unknowingly prove my point. Popular retort being, "she's boring/badly written" even though Link is just as boring and poorly written due to reasons that are worse than Yona's, as well as Sidon's writing being pretty bare bones. I never ever see anyone hating Link and Sidon, nor any other characters who also "came out of nowhere." This, whether people like OR INTEND it, shows misogyny because of the double standard. Male characters are allowed to have bad writing and come out of nowhere, female characters are not.

In fact, another character who came out of nowhere and gets in the way of a ship is Tauro! Nobody and I mean NOBODY complains about him being new, nor do they complain about him getting in the way of Linpaya. (Do not lie to me and say Linpaya isn't as popular as the other ship. Do not.) I hope the reason is obvious. Yona is doomed to be torn apart by the fandom, because she is a newly introduced female character that gets in the way of an androcentric ship. Even if it weren't an mlm ship she got in the way of, people would still be awful of course, but the fact that it's 2 men instead of one, it's completely androcentric and results in people being 200% more awful about it. Because a woman who gets in-between something that is focused only on men is automatically the devil.

If you want a quick example of this same misogyny but instead with m/f ships, a good example is how the fandom treats Mipha. She also "gets in the way" of a ship, Zelink. People constantly call her a groomer, and basically any other evil word you can think of despite the fact that she literally cannot get in the way of Zelink. Because she's dead. And their relationship is still written as unrequited even when she's not dead.

People also like to say that the people who ship Miphlink and Sidyona are evil, which confuses the hell out of me because I've never met a mean Miphlink shipper, and the only evil Sidyona shipper is me. So where do we go from here. I'd also argue that hating a ships fandom because of it's misogyny and making such known isn't evil but I digress. Some people get called evil for simply saying they don't like the ship so idk what these people's qualifications for evil even are.

#loz botw #loz totk #sidon #prince sidon #lady yona #discourse #fandom misogyny #Sidyona #miphlink #zelink #you can see which group of shippers has harassed me the most by which one I refuse to say haha #sucks because I do really want to tag it so some of them can see it and MAYBE change their minds...maybe #and be normal about Yona for a change #but it's not worth the harassment risk 😭 #and if you're curious as to why I think Link is badly written #it's because the writers tried to make him a player insert and character simultaneously #and the main plot suffers because of this decision #it's very hard to read Link's character and to relate to him because the writers made him so distant from us

[byfurries4furries]

The Smoke Room (Horror Western Visual Novel)

So I talked about Arches and Echo, so I might as well talk about their prequel, the Smoke Room. Unlike the other games in the Echo series, aside from the side games, the Smoke Room is primarily made by writers who aren't Howly, who wrote most of Echo and all of Arches and Adastra. In this case, the main writer is GeorgeSquares. Howly did write the prologue and Redd, who's one of the main writers for another VN called Glory Hounds, wrote part of one of the routes, which was eventually partially rewritten by George anyways. There's also more artists working on it than there was for Echo.

In the Smoke Room, you play as Samuel Ayers, a gay prostitute in 1915 in Echo in furry Utah and/or Arizona. Sam falls in love with one of his clients, Jack. Together, the two hatch a scheme to use some hidden away gold in the mines in order to leave Echo and start a new life somewhere else. Jack is, however, tricking Sam and tries to kill Sam in the secluded part of the mine where he pretended there was gold. Sam miraculously survives the murder attempt and ends up killing Jack in self defense. Unfortunately, he's a gay prostitute in 1915, so he knows better than to try and report what Jack did to him and especially the killing. However, several weeks later, somebody drags Jack's body into town and the mine workers riot over the news. When the riot happens, Sam is stuck in the brothel with three potential clients and another on the way, one of which is a miner who saw him the day of Jack's killing and another of whom is the sheriff of the town.

The four clients are:

William Adler: The coyote sheriff who plays by his own rules, specifically the rules that allow him to plow Sam's ass

Nikolai Krol: The badger miner who's a big softie and great cuddler. However, he saw Sam the day of the murder

Clifford Tibbits: The chipper and naïve stoat who's on an anthropology trip to study the nearby furry Navajo

Murdoch Byrnes: The witty fox who happens to be the town's only photographer

The Smoke Room excels in a lot of respects. Its protagonist is very interesting, the branching narrative is very divergent, it's surprisingly historically accurate, and the supporting cast is very filled out. Let's go over each of those. Unlike many VN protagonists, there's practically no attempt to make Sam even resemble a player-insert. He's a prostitute who's simultaneously ashamed of his job and proud of how good he is at it. Even when he's off the clock, he's a very service-minded person with those he cares about and although he's pretty lost and out of his element with most other work, he's very confident and sure of himself when he's providing sexual services. But this also applies to his ability to be a good romantic partner as well. He also knows how to be patient and caring even when he's allowed to take the lead as he's very respectful of other's boundaries when it comes to sex. Unlike most dating sim protagonists, it takes no suspension of disbelief to see why he'd be able to romance so many characters. He's genuinely a great romantic prospect for any of his clients and if he were an option as a love interest himself, he'd probably be quite popular.

The branching narrative is another positive. Every route is extremely different with very few overlapping events. This makes sense as unlike with Echo, the main characters aren't a real friend group yet. Nik sometimes plays poker with Will, Murdoch sometimes does crime scene photography for Will, and Cliff doesn't know anyone at the beginning of the game. The only reason they came together at all is they happened to be trying to book Sam around the same time. Now, depending on the route, they can become closer. Will's route especially works for this, because it's the only route where Sam isn't trying to avoid Will, who's basically the connecting thread for everyone else. However, each route goes in its own direction and has basically its own side cast. Nik's side cast involves his fellow mining union members and his bosses/supervisors as they clash over labor disputes while Nik tries to help find enough gold to get Sam out of Echo. Cliff's side cast involves the expedition crew he acquired and furry Navajo members he meets along the way in his journey to investigate the troubling conditions of the nearby reservation. Murdoch's family as well as his childhood friend make up his side cast along with a star student at the school Murdoch's sisters work at who blackmails Sam into helping her solve the mystery of her classmate's disappearance. And Will's route follows him investigating the mysterious death of Huxley, an abusive drunk with a wife who might have killed him, but the details just don't seem to line up, and that's on top of Will's ex-wife and son moving to Echo without warning. So you can be sure that you won't see any route repeating itself too often.

The historical accuracy is the last point I want to go over, because it does go to a lot of lengths most westerns won't even mention. For example, as was actually the case in the Wild West, brothels are not considered dirty or debased. In fact, the brothel Sam works at, the Saguaro Hip, doubles as a saloon and it's considered an upstanding place for upper middle class families to socialize. Also homosexuality is not THAT frowned upon. It was sorta treated the way marijuana was and still is in some areas. It's illegal for sure and being too brazen about it can get you arrested or beat up depending on the company, but keeping it private would more or less be doable under certain circumstances and letting it slip occasionally isn't the end of the world. Also, it wasn't uncommon for working class guys to be brazen and open about it when not around decent folk, especially in the West. A lot of care was taken to try to accurately depict queerness before WWII.

A positive I want to mention compared to other Echoverse games is that there's no solid expectations of paranormal stuff. The hysteria in Echo is not common knowledge in this era. Murdoch is the only one in the main cast who's lived there long enough to at least know for certain that there's a uniquely high amount of paranormal stuff going on, but even if he does know about the hysteria, it's clear that it's not common knowledge to residents or outsiders, unlike in Echo where there's at least one well known case of it or in Arches where the town is actually famous across the country for at least two cases of it, one of which happened less than a decade ago. And because the routes diverge so much and there's no clear timeline, there's no frame of reference for when it might be coming. The only clear indication is in Nik's route, but you would only know of that if you played the prologue of Echo AND connected the clues set up by the inaccurate summary of the events of the Smoke Room within the prologue of Echo. Otherwise, all bets are off and there's no telling when it will happen, which is further helped by the fact that unlike Echo, the Smoke Room doesn't keep explicit track of days and isn't afraid to do timeskips that throw off the chronology of events.

Although the Smoke Room is not really that close to complete (it's suspected with pretty good evidence that it's barely halfway done), I do highly recommend it. It is however the first VN I've recommended that really isn't close to a satisfying pausing point for any of the routes. If you have a high tolerance for incomplete visual novels, I'd say it's definitely worth the cost, even though it's free. If not, just check out other games in this series like Echo and Arches. Until next time, keep on yiffing.

Links

itch.io

#furry game #furry media #echo project #furry #visual novel #gay furry #furry visual novel #the smoke room #echoverse #bf4f

[generallypo]

“I heard your voice, so I came... Aoba-san.”

Hooo-boy, if that doesn’t get me emotional every single time. Call it my bias for eccentric bundles of sunshine and softness, or my crippling weakness for the secretly-handsome-and-devastatingly-earnest type, but you can’t change my mind: Clear is, hands down, DMMD’s best love interest. Character development-wise, thematically, romantically, he nails every trial thrown at him, gets his man,  and proceeds to break your heart in the tenderest, sincerest way possible. I am hopping with Huge Fan Energy, so this post is gonna be unapologetically long and self-indulgent and grossly enthusiastic. Yeeeee.

———— 

Look, DMMD meta analysis has been done to death, I get it. This game is old. But I think it stands as testament to its excellent production that it’s still a game worth revisiting years later — especially during these times when social contact is so hard pressed to come by and we all rabidly devour digital media like a horde of screeching feral gremlins. (Have you seen Netflix’s stock value now? The exploding MMO server populations? Astonishing.) It’s pure, simple human nature to want to connect, to cling to members of our network out of biological imperative and our psychological dependency on each other. As cold and primitive at that sounds, social contact also fulfills us on a higher level: the community is always stronger than the individual; genuine trust begets a mutually supportive relationship of exchange and evolution. People learn from each other, and grow into stronger, wiser, better versions of themselves.

Yeah, I’m being deliberately obtuse about this. Of course I’m talking about Clear. Clear, who is a robot. Clear, who is nearly childlike in his insatiable curiosity regarding the human condition.

And it’s a classic literary tactic, using non-human entities to question the intangible constructs of a concept like ‘humanity’ — think Frankenstein, or Tokyo Ghoul, or Detroit: Become Human, among so, so many works in various media — all tackling that question from countless angles, all with varying measures of success. What does it mean to be human? To be good? Who are we, and where do we stand in the grand scheme of things? Is there even a scheme to follow? … Wait, what?

Jokes aside, there are so many ways that the whole approaching-human-yet-not-quite-there schtick can be abused into edgy, joyless existential griping. Nothing wrong with that if it’s what you’re looking for, except that we’re talking about a boys’ love game here. But DMMD neatly, sweetly side steps that particular wrinkle, giving us a wonderfully grounded character to work with as a result. 

Character Design — a see-through secret

Let’s start small: Clear’s design and premise. Unlike so many other lost, clueless robo-lambs across media, Clear does have a small guiding presence early on in his life. It takes the form of his grandfather, who teaches Clear about the world while also sheltering him from his origins. It means he learns enough to blend sufficiently into society; it also means that Clear has even more questions that sprout from his limited understanding of the world.

Told that he must never remove his mask lest he expose his identity as a non-human, Clear’s perpetual fear of rejection for what he is drives much of his eccentricity and challenges him throughout much of his route. As for the player, the mystery of what lies underneath his mask is a carrot that the writers get to dangle until the peak moment of emotional payoff. Even if it’s not hard to guess that there’s probably a hottie of legendary proportions stuck under there, there’s still significance in waiting for that good moment to happen. And when it does, it feels great.

His upbringing contextualizes and affirms his odd choice of fashion: deliberately generic, bashfully covered from the public eye, and colored nearly in pure white - the quintessential signal of a blank slate, of innocence. Contrasted with the rest of DMMD’s flashy, colorful crew, Clear is probably the most difficult to read on a superficial scale, not falling into the fiery, bare-chest sex appeal of a womanizer, or the techno-nerd rebel aesthetic that Noiz somehow rocks. Goofy weirdo? Possibly a serial killer? Honestly, both seem plausible at the start.

And that’s the funny thing, because as damn hard as he tries to physically cover himself up from society, Clear is irrepressibly true to his name: transparent to a fault. He’s a walking, talking contradiction, and it’s not hard to realize that this mysterious, masked stranger… is really just an open book. By far the most effusive and straightforward of the entire cast, his actions are wildly unconventional and sometimes wholly inexplicable. But given time to explain himself, he is always, always sincere in his intentions — and unlike the rest of the love interests, naturally inclined to offer bits of himself to Aoba. It doesn’t take the entire character arc to figure out his big, bad secret — our main character gets an inkling about halfway through his route — and what’s even better is that he embraces it, understanding that his abilities also allow him to protect what he cherishes: Aoba. 

So what if he doesn’t fit into an easily recognizable box of daydream boyfriend material? He’s contradictory, and contradiction is interesting. Dons a gas mask, but isn’t an edgelord. Blandly dressed, but ridiculously charming. Unreadable and modestly intimidating — until he opens his mouth. Even without the benefit of traversing his route, there’s already so much good stuff to work with, and sure as hell, you’re kept guessing all the way to the end.

Character Development — from reckless devotion into complaisant subservience, complaisant subservience into mutual understanding. And then, of course: free will, and true love. 

At its core, DMMD is about a dude with magic mind-melding powers and his merry band of attractive men with — surprise! — crippling emotional baggage. Each route follows the same pattern, simply remixing the individual character interactions and the pace of the program: Aoba finds himself isolated with the love interest, faces various communication issues varying on the scale of frustrating to downright dangerous, wanders into a sketchy section of Platinum Jail, bonds with the love interest over shared duress, breaks into the Oval Tower, faces mental assault by the big bad — and finally, finally, destroys those internal demons plaguing the love interest, releasing the couple onto the path of a real heart-to-heart conversation. And then, you know, the lovey-dovey stuff. 

Here’s the thing: as far as romantic progression goes, it’s really not a bad structure. There’s room to bump heads, but also to bond. The Scrap scene is a thematically cohesive and clever way to squeeze in the full breadth of character backstory while simultaneously advancing the plot. In this part, Aoba must become the hero to each of his love interests and save them from themselves. Having become privy to each other’s deepest thoughts and reaching a mutual understanding of each other, their feelings afterwards slide much more naturally into romantic territory. They break free of Oval Tower, make their way home, and have hot, emotionally fulfilling sex or otherwise some variation on the last few steps. The end. 

That is, except for Clear. 

Clear’s route is refreshing in that he needs none of these things — the climax of his emotional arc actually comes a little after the halfway point of his route. When Clear’s true origins are revealed, he comes entirely clean to Aoba, fighting against his fear of rejection but also trusting that Aoba will listen. It’s a quiet, vulnerable moment, rather than the action-packed tension we normally experience during a Scrap scene. 

That doesn’t mean it’s prematurely written in — it simply means that he reaches his potential faster than the other characters. Because of that, he’s free to pursue the next level of his route’s development much, much sooner in the timeline: he overcomes his fears of his appearance, he confesses his love to Aoba, he leaves the confines of a largely dubious master-servant relationship and allows himself to be Aoba’s equal. Clear’s sprite art mirrors his emotional transformation all the way through, exposing him to the literal bone — and Aoba’s affection for him doesn’t change a single bit. Beautiful.

The whammy of incredible moments doesn’t just stop there, though. I don’t exactly recall the order the routes DMMD is ideally meant to be played in, but I believe Clear’s is meant to be last. And if you do, I can guarantee that it becomes a hugely delightful gameplay experience — in order to achieve his good ending, you must do absolutely nothing with Scrap. It doesn’t just subvert our player expectations of proactively clicking and interacting with our love interests; it grabs the story by its thematic reins and yanks it all back to the forefront of our scene. 

In every route besides Clear’s, Scrap is a tool used to insert Aoba’s influence into and interfere with his target’s mind. Using his powers of destruction, Aoba is able to prune whatever maligned thoughts are harming his target; in any conventional situation, using Scrap is the right choice. 

But one of the central problems in Clear’s route is his conflict between the impulses of his conditioning and his desire to live freely as a human would. Breaking free of Toue’s programming is what initially made him unique; growing beyond the rules imposed by his grandfather is what makes him human. In the final conflict scene, Clear’s decision to destroy his key-lock is an action of true autonomy, made with perfect understanding of the consequences and a sincere, selflessly selfish desire to protect someone he loves. In order to receive his good end, you have to respect his decision. It doesn’t matter which option you pick — by using Scrap, Aoba turns his back on every positive choice he made with Clear and attempts to exert his authority over him. This is Aoba becoming Toue; this is Aoba trying to reinstate himself as ‘Master’ right as he approved Clear as his equal. That’s blatant hypocrisy, and it doesn’t matter if Aoba is trying to do it for Clear’s ‘own good’ — that’s not Aoba’s call to make. If you truly wish to respect Clear’s free will, you will stand by. This is the truth of the moment: Clear has no emotional blockages that Aoba needs to fix. Believe in him, just as he believed in you.

The path to his heart is, and always has been, clear. Scrap was never needed from the start.

While Aoba might be the main character, Clear is undeniably a hero in his own route just as much. Tirelessly earnest and always curious, he leaps headlong into the unknown and emerges with his newfound enlightenment. He’s unafraid of weathering trials, even to the point of accepting death, and returns anew from oblivion to a sweet, cathartic ending. That’s about as textbook hero’s journey as it gets — if that doesn’t make him unquestionably, certifiably, unconditionally human, then I will scream.

And only finally… there is the free end. The final CG is like a throwback to our first impression of him: indistinct, purposefully obscured from proper view. But this time, we know better — and so does Aoba. Looks were never what mattered in Clear’s route. If you were patient, and you were open-minded, and you listened… well, what we realize now is that Clear was doing the exact same thing for you, too.

From a carefree, aimless robot-man with only the gimmick of “eccentric ditz” to carry him forward, we get a supremely more interesting character by the end: a man who has graduated from the well-intentioned but claustrophobic conditioning of his childhood; a weapon who has defied the imperatives placed on him by his creator’s programming; a wanderer who has, through unconditional patience and empathy, discovered love, and striven to become a better person for it. Who was it that ever doubted Clear’s character? He’s the goddamn goodest boy that ever wanted to be a real boy. Of course Clear is human. And in fact, he does it better than every single one of the actually human love interests. You can’t change my mind.

The Romance — kindness is really fucking attractive, okay.

Like I’ve said earlier, I have my Big Fan Blinds stuck on pretty tight. I might be conjuring sparks from thin air. But I think every choice was a deliberate creative decision on the writers’ part, and they deserve all the kudos for it — I’m just the lucky player who gets to enjoy it. But aside from Noiz (who I also think is a perfect darling as well — I could go on and on about him), Clear’s route is a model example for consent and healthy relationships in VN storytelling. This is reciprocated on both sides: never does Aoba infringe on Clear’s boundaries, and neither does Clear. They’re sensitive to each other’s needs and concerns; they ask for permission and stop when it isn’t granted (and when it is, boy do they get frisky — I’m not complaining!) I don’t need to say much more, because I think that consent is both fantastic and yes, incredibly hot (the scene in DMMD is tons more sad, go play Re:connect!). Good writing shows off the massive erotic potential enthusiastic consent puts into intimacy, and Aoba’s and Clear’s relationship is honestly a dream playground. The point is, I think Aoba and Clear genuinely do find equal balance in their relationship by the end of his route (and certainly through Re:connect). If you follow through Re:connect’s storyline, there’s even more thematic richness that comes through in the form of Clear’s greatest asset: communication. The couple get to discuss the long-term implications of them being together; they both offer concerns, points, and assurances to the other, and it’s just a soft, honest moment not so unlike the worries of a real relationship. Hearing is kind of Clear’s motif sense, but it’s really great to see that Aoba also subtly picks it up, really flexes his own communication skills to better engage with Clear. 

Point is, Clear’s route spoke to me on a lot of little levels. Design-wise, he’s already got a ton going for him, and his story builds upon it rather than against it, enriching his development and grounding him a little more solidly in the DMMD universe (and in my heart). His route, aside from being emotionally ruinous, carries a pretty solid chunk of world-building (only beaten out by Mink’s and Ren’s, probably), and the romance feels organic, healthy, and realistic. He’s not the only one with an excellent route, but he’s my favorite. If you read through all of this, you’re a real trooper and I’m extremely impressed. Thanks for tuning in. Peace.

#dramatical murder #dmmd #aoba seragaki #clear #dmmd clear #long ass emotional screeching #lOL I FORGOT TO DRAW IN THE UMBRELLA HANDLE ahA #fixed

[arlingtonpark]

Winter 2020 Anime Round-Up

I decided to do a round-up of all the anime I’m watching this season because, turns out, most of the shows I was interested in were bad!

I.D. Invaded.

This is a psychological thriller sci-fi mystery type show. It’s about a police unit who uses this sci-fi technology to detect a killer’s murderous intent and create a sort of virtual reality projection of the killer’s mind.

They then take a special agent and insert him into the projection to hunt down clues and find the killer’s identity and whereabouts.

Enjoying this show is not cheap. It asks a lot of you.

1. Don’t laugh at how ham-fisted the exploration of how a killer’s mind works is.

2. Don’t laugh at the special agent’s official designation being “The Brilliant Detective.”

3. Don’t question the ridiculous premise of the show; they use a killer’s particles to create the projection of their mind to hunt for clues, but are later shown using those same particles to pinpoint the killer’s location.

4. Don’t laugh at one of the police unit’s agents being a teenage girl.

5. And, of course, don’t notice all the expository monologuing for the audience’s sake.  

The show is silly, but there’s some intriguing stuff in it. The conflict between the unit’s field squad and the desk workers can be good, though the locus of that conflict being about what seems to be a bureaucratic oversight is pretty weak.

The teenage girl is the most bald-facedly ridiculous thing about this show, but she is unironically the best character. She does some daring, crazy shit in this show and I was legitimately shocked by it.

Oh, yeah, I forgot.

6. Don’t laugh at the OP using recycled production materials and footage from the first episode.

Signs of a quality production right there.

 Plunderer.

>.<

This. Show.

I feel bad for Sarah Wiedenheft. She voices the main heroine in the dub. The in-over-her-head, naïve, helpless heroine, Hina.

God, help us!

Hina is a woman with a mission. She is bubbly and naïve, but stubborn and she gets in over her head by the end of the first episode. Why?

You know why, fool! So she can be rescued by the hero.

This show puts a creative spin on the typical shonen formula. Many shonen shows are designed to be wish fulfillment for teenage boys, with Mary Sue main characters for them to project onto.

The crazy spin on the formula here is that it’s wish fulfillment for sexual predators.

That’s not a joke.

The show takes place in a magical world where everyone is branded with a “count,” a number that increases whenever they complete a task specific to them.

Hina’s count goes up whenever she walks 100 km. Another’s count goes up whenever her food is complimented.

The count is denoted by a number that’s branded somewhere on their bodies. Hina’s count is located on her inner thigh, just below her crotch.

Meanwhile, this is what the hero does to Hina the first time they meet:

This is them at the end of the episode after he rescues her.

You know how in Dragon Ball, Master Roshi was this old pervert? The hero here is like that, except he’s young, not old, and a predator rather than just a pervert.

Licht is the hero; his count goes up whenever he dates someone, I guess, but the thing about him is that he’s a predator, so his count is actually -999. If your count reaches zero, you’re Kylo Ren-ed off into an abyss never to be seen again, so negative counts shouldn’t even be possible.

The reason the hero isn’t dead is because he’s actually.

Wait for it.

The Legendary Ace!

A badass fighter spoken of only in legends!

Who is this show even for?

It’s clearly supposed to be a wish fulfillment kind of show, but the only people I can see projecting onto the hero are, like, really, really pathetic people who fantasize about sexual assault.

(Another female character’s count is located on her left breast.)

The heroine is looking for this legendary ace, but even though she’s lived in this world her whole life, and has traveled throughout it her whole life, she knows nothing about how the count system works.

That was necessary, you see, for two reasons: so the system can be explained to us in monologue, and so the heroine can be made helpless and in need of rescue.

Those with a higher count have a high social status. This could have been a cool exploration of how luck is underappreciated as a factor in one’s social status, since how counts are determined is completely arbitrary and some are easier to increase than others, but no, we don’t get that.

People with a lower count must obey people with a higher count. But you’re in the military, there is an appeals process: if you have a lower count and are ordered by someone with a higher count to do something, you can challenge the high count to a duel and if you win, you can ignore their order.

You can then take the loser’s count and add it to your own.

These duels are called “star stakes.” >.<

Hina, naturally, is suckered into one of these duels and is about to lose everything when Licht saves her by agreeing to duel Hina’s opponent on her behalf.

And just to emphasize how infantilized Hina is in this show, Licht not only saves her physically, he even provides her with some emotional support, but phrased in a way that totally talks down to her.

 Asteroid in Love.

I’ve already seen the first episode three times, and I have no shame!

Doga Kobo is the Kyoto Animation of the past few years. Just as KyoAni made a name for themselves with a string of shows about cute girls doing cute things, Doga Kobo have sort of taken on that mantle.

Three Leaves, Three Colors; Gabriel Dropout; New Game; Senko-san; and now Asteroid in Love are all shows with good characters with good design work and animation better than they had any right to have.

This show is about a girl named Mira who meets a boy named Ao during a camping trip. He has a thing for astronomy and Mira is completely won over by it. They promise to discover and name an asteroid together.

Tragically, that one camping trip was the last they saw of each other.

Comically, they happen upon each other at the start of high school and wouldn’t you know it? Ao was a girl the whole time!

She was very tomboyish at that time in her life, so Mira mistook her for a boy.

But whatever, Mira’s friend still ships them.

They’re both passionate about astronomy, so they reconnect and become good friends real quick.

The friendship between Mira and Ao is by far the best part about this show; unfortunately, everything else is very generic.

High school club? Check.

Club member who’s boisterous and excitable? Check.

Club member who’s serious and down to earth? Check.

But in spite of all that, I could watch this show all day.

The presentation is excellent. The character designs are lovely and the direction and animation are amazing.

 Magia Record.

A spin-off of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Magia Record takes place before Rebellion, but in an alternate universe where the events of Madoka Magica haven’t happened yet. There’s a new cast, but the main cast of Madoka Magica will be back as major characters.

InuCurry, who did the artwork for the witches’ labyrinths are back, this time as series co-directors and co-writers.

The Magica Quartet, the brain trust of people who created Madoka Magica, Gen Urobuchi, Akiyuki Shinbo, Ume Aoki, and Atsuhiro Iwakami, are back too. The four are collectively credited with coming up with the story.

Shinbo, who co-directed Madoka Magica, is back as an animation supervisor. Aoki is back in her role as character designer. Iwakami is co-credited with series planning.

Yukihiro Miyamoto, who co-directed the original series alongside Shinbo, is back as assistant director.

This show…it’s just good to see it all back. The character designs are a bit different from the original series, but they nailed the aesthetic otherwise.

Magia Record draws heavily from plot elements first used in Madoka Magica, but it’s not what I would call uninspired. Anyone who’s seen Madoka Magica will notice the callbacks, but they’re fun, not cringeworthy.

It reminds me of how The Force Awakens brought people back in to the Star Wars universe by heavily echoing A New Hope, but Magia Record is much more creative in its echoing than Force Awakens was.

Everyone who likes the OG series should check this out.

There’s already much intrigue in the story. A magical girl whose wish was granted, but also apparently simultaneously erased from existence, rumors of a city where magical girls can be “saved,” and a Kyubey who is a separate entity from the others.

The show is an adaptation of a mobile rpg. This is from a cutscene.

Iroha Tamaki, the main character of Magia Record, and Homura Akemi. 

Get excited.

 Bofuri.

This show is like Asteroid in Love, in that it would be totally boring if it weren’t totally charming.

This is the type of show that takes a silly phenomenon in the real world and makes it the premise of the whole show. Maple is a girl who’s just gotten into video games. Because she’s a newb, she puts all of her points into defense at the expense of even basic stuff like speed and strength.

Thus ensues hilarity.

There’s not much to talk about here. Maple is endearing as a video game noob. The artwork is great. The writing is legitimately funny in a subdued way.

A+

 Darwin’s Game.

I watched this show because the premise reminded me of King’s Game.

For those who don’t know, King’s Game is widely considered to be the worst anime ever made. It sucks.

King’s Game is about a death game administered over the phone and it the point is that everyone dies. It tries hard to do horror and it fails hard. I watch it every Halloween. :D

Darwin’s Game is about a mobile app game that pits players against each other in death matches. You win by killing all the other players.

With some shows it’s clear the writer can’t decide what they want to do. This show can’t decide if it wants to be trash or legit good.

Immediately you can tell this show is going to suck because the artwork is terrible. This is an ugly show to look at.

The show opens with a cold open clearly made to make the audience ask questions. It succeeds too well.

The opening depicts a random person being chased through the streets and then killed by an invisible furry.

Seriously.

By God, the fanservice in this show…

This doesn’t even fully capture the shamelessness of it. If you watch the episode, you’ll notice her dress has frills from the waist down.

Except for when we see her kneeling down, when her dress is suddenly a single piece of cloth. So we can better see her ass outlined through it.

Things temporarily get good when the main character has to fend off the furry from the opening. It really is thrilling, but everything goes back to crap when the mc has to fight the dress woman in the above picture.

He doesn’t kill her though. Oh, no, he doesn’t.

She becomes smitten by how strong he is and the episode ends with her asking him to bed her.

-barf-

#anime #winter 2020

[drink-n-watch]

Zwischenzug

: An “in between move”, where a player, instead of playing the expected move, first inserts a move which the opponent must answer, before making the expected move..

I finished episode 11 of The Promised Neverland about 12 minutes ago It’s taken me this long to start writing the post because I had to sort through the unreasonable amount of screencaps I took. It’s like I wanted to hold onto the moment. I was anxious, scared, angry and then… But I guess I’m getting ahead of myself.

First once again, all my thanks to Crow for agreeing to take this strange and powerful trip with me. This is a series I’m sure glad I had a friend to watch with! A BOLD friend at that! I always have a mix of dread and excitement when Thursday comes around as you never quite know what The Promised Neverland will put you through next, but I always love talking it over with Crow.

The feeling’s mutual! Even more than usual, I was dying to read what you’d come up with for this episode! It’s no exaggeration to say that I spent half the episode with my jaw hanging open. I’m pretty sure my cat’s questioning my sanity!

I’ll be bold… but you already told everyone that! So let’s see where this leads!

this episode was entirely dark blue or blazing orange yellow. The rare full colour scenes really stood out

It’s been a tough couple of months for Emma and Ray but this week was a non nonsense, take no prisoners, leap forward in the narrative.

First we got the confirmation that neither Ray nor Emma had given up or changed their plans in any way after Norman’s…*departure*. Did you have any doubts Crow?

After the end of the the last episode? No. I trusted completely in Emma and Ray’s resolve. Looking back, though, I realize that I gave them too little credit. And I’d given them a lot!

yeah!

I liked how they used Ray’s tactical recap and explanation to Emma as a nice little cover to bring the audience all back on the same page before the final sequence begins. Once again we are truly reminded who Ray is and why he is such a great character. Ray has been planning this escape for years. And it was always meant for someone other than him. Once again, he calmly tries to talk some reason into Emma, but he gives up quickly. He does love her and his siblings, he just wants what’s truly best in a difficult situation.

We also get a glimpse of the petty childish Ray. Of the kid who’s been living in fear and oppression his entire life. Who’s buried countless brothers and sisters in his heart and carried it all by himself. The child who had to grow up way too fast so he held onto his resentment until the bitter end. Even his paltry lashing out is tactical and carefully planned!

we wouldn’t dare!

  Ray who is lazy and uninterested in studies. Worked, studied and exercised all his life just so he could get this moment of tiny vengeance. Just so he could buy himself more time to plan out his siblings’ escape. It was simultaneously naive, silly and grand!

Seeing Ray’s will crushed by hopelessness put me in mind of Denethor, Steward of Gondor, broken by despair yet still powerful among mortals, as he stood in Rath Dínen, Faramir dying of fever behind him, and said, “‘Better to burn sooner than late, for burn we must. … And I? I will go now to my pyre. To my pyre! No tomb for Denethor and Faramir. No tomb! No long slow sleep of death embalmed. We will burn like heathen kings before ever a ship sailed hither from the West. The West has failed. Go back and burn!’

Yeah, last week I compared The Promised Neverland to Dune. This week, I’m comparing it to Tolkien’s The Return of the King. I really don’t have any higher praise to offer! Don’t forget Buffy! We did Buffy as well!!! Excellent point! Buffy for Emma, Lord of the Rings for Ray, and Dune for Norman. Solid combination!

wait…no…

I was devastated for Emma here. Watchin Ray stoically readying to sacrifice himself for the greater good, after giving her a picture of herself and Norman. How many friends does she have to lose?  What was your read on it, Crow?

It was only in retrospect that I was able to think enough to realize what I was feeling. I realized I was saying “No no no no no” on Emma’s behalf, for exactly the reason you just said. She’s suffered enough; she can’t witness one of her best friends burn right in front of her!

And she acted just as Emma would act. But we didn’t know until later. This show…

Emma, I…I don’t know what to say…

It’s night time at the farm, we see Mother watching over the little ones before going to bed herself. We once again see the smallest child and I’m reminded how much she looks like Emma. I figure there aren’t that many breeders out there, maybe this kid is genetically related to Emma. The children all look rather different but a few could be blood siblings. Not that it changes anything but it still makes me wonder.

And she was so gentle to the kids! Just as a mother should be! Talk about feeling conflicted! Me, that is. She seemed completely at peace!

So the clock chimes in midnight and Ray bids his final goodbye as the orphanage is set ablaze. A devastated Emma is screaming her guts out for Mom who comes rushing in. Just as Ray had planned, she sends the children out while she tries to figure out a way to salvage Ray’s brain. Se yells for Emma to get out as well but Emma i already gone. What did you think of this scene Crow?

This is another scene that I can talk about only in retrospect. In that moment, all I could hear was Emma’s agonized scream. All I could see were the flames. Yet when Isabella turned to tell Emma to evacuate as well and Emma wasn’t there — that’s when I started to become aware of myself again. There was hope! There was yet some plan that I didn’t know. I hoped something would be all right, because right then, things looked really dark.

RRAAAYYYYY!!!!

Like you my brain was too engrossed in the moment to properly think. I sort of thought something was odd. It’s unlike Emma maybe or…something was off. I was morbidly staring at the screen fascinated and disgusted. But something felt uncanny. Obviously there’s more to the story. They can’t just kill all the kids here (although, respect if they have the guts for that downer!).

Respect, yes! But everlasting fury…

Well, maybe not everlasting, but I’d be quite cross for days.

I couldn’t put my finger on it right away. Mom’s tracking device showed Ray in the fire and Emma just around the corner but no one was there. Of course Mom soon found Emma’s ear in a bucket. But why do that, they have the device to disable the emitters. Why bother???

Talk about guts! Emma’s a kid! And yet driven by need, following a plan we only dimly perceived at the time, she freaking sliced off her own ear!

who cares about one ear – you have two!

When a smiling Emma reached the kids, short one ear, I felt the edges of my mouth strain a little from smiling. Of course, and then I saw Ray flabbergasted. For his plan to work, Mom had to believe he was in that fire, his emitter had to keep sending a signal from right there. Emma could probably have disabled hers but we are also reminded that who Emma is. She wouldn’t let a friend suffer alone and she would not hesitate to lose an ear to buy them a few extra seconds. And then the clock chimed midnight. I loved that audio cue for the flashback transition!

Even more, if Isabella saw a tracker disabled, she’d know instantly that they were escaping. Now, she had to spend the time to find the ear — minutes only, but precious minutes!

we didn’t see you much but good job Gilda!

Emma was at her most Emmaest this week. Catching the match mid flight with a quippy line at that. Calmly explaining to Ray that neither he, nor anyone else was getting left behind. Emma was a paragon of joyful strength and indomable hope. Even cynics like Ray and me couldn’t help but believe! I like this Emma!

“Emmaest?” I love that! She was definitely in Momma Bear mode.

Of course Ray was shaken, but a nice sharp slap brought him to his senses and then we got one of the best lines I’ve ever heard in response to a death seeker: Norman’s final message for Ray: – “You can die anywhere, it doesn’t have to be here. I’ll show you something cool so shut up and come with me!”

Remember in our last review when you said “Why do I ever doubt this kid?” No lie — that’s the first thing I thought of.

look how focused they are!

This is when The Promised Neverland played a particularly dirty trick by reminding us how awesome Norman is. Ray is strategic and determined. He learned and probably knows more than any of them. Emma is quick witted and flexible, she can adjust to any situation and seize it up in an instant. But the smartest had to be Norman. He had seen right through Ray months ago and just like I thought, he left something: Answers to most of my questions!!! I miss you Norman!!!

Norman is a genius, even compared to Ray. Not only that, he didn’t despair. Even after learning of the cliffs, even after foreseeing that he had to go to the gate to buy them time, he stayed in the game, thinking of their next moves, staying ahead of all of them. That’s what heroes do!

So we learn that not only had Norman figured out pretty much exactly what Ray was planning, but also how to play off that to make their escape plan work. We found out the kids DID KNOW the secret of the house and that’s why they were so incredibly sad to see Norman go. And he knew that they knew so… way to play it cool!

Remember back in episode 6 when you pointed out Emma, Norman, and Ray’s hubris for keeping the secret from Don and Gilda? Looks like the writers agreed with you! Finding out the other kids were in on the secret was an amazing moment!

and then?

Yay me! Norman left Emma some pretty detailed instructions, including faking her depression and staying away from Ray which allowed her to get everything ready completely under the radar. He even showed us what was in Krone’s box. A key (it looked exactly like Isabella’s, but I wonder whether it might unlock the side room Norman was led into) and a scalpel pen. She did find it in the hospital after all.

I have to say, Norman’s god-like intellect is straining credulity here. I was left as slacked jawed as Ray but I also didn’t care. I was happy to see him again, even if it was just a memory.

In the words of the immortal Miles Lane, “I’ll allow it!”

So the kids make i to the wall. We get a nice scene of Emma feeling Norman’s presence at her side and then I was sobbing a bit too much so I went to get some water which somehow ended up being wine…

Samuel Adams for me. Purely medicinal.

how?

All along, Ray is still in shock. And in this shock he suddenly notices that someone is missing.

PHIL!!!!! Was I right, wrong? Did he stay with Mom out of loyalty? Did Emma not notice him missing, cause you know she wouldn’t have left him behind no matter what…. What is going on here Crow? I miss Norman and I want Ray to be o.k. and I’m so proud of Emma!

Emma ruled this episode.

Of all of the astonishing moments in this episode, the instant that Ray realized someone was missing was probably the most impactful. My guard went up instantly when Ray asked who wasn’t there. Then we see Isabella maniacally deciding she would save her children, and just as she’s about to dash off, there’s little Phil. Grabbing her skirt. Effectively pinning her in place.

And my mind immediately went back to The Lord of the Rings, when Sam faced Shelob in Cirith Ungol, alone except for the still figure of Frodo. Armed only with a tiny sword, Elvish thought it may have been, against an ancient and dreadful power.

How much time can Phil buy for them? And at what cost?

I don’t know!?!

And how can there only be one episode left??? We just barely got out of the orphanage!

I’m half afraid to look forward to next week! Okay, more like 3/4s afraid…

For all the anxiety and grief his show has put me through, this episode left me with cold, raw and sharp hope. I’ve rarely felt this aggressively optimistic! And yeah, I’m scared too!

The Promised Neverland Episode 1

The Promised Neverland Episode 2

The Promised Neverland Episode 3

The Promised Neverland Episode 4

The Promised Neverland Episode 5

The Promised Neverland Episode 6

The Promised Neverland Episode 7

The Promised Neverland Episode 8

The Promised Neverland Episode 9

The Promised Neverland Episode 10

You know how I start taking unreasonable amounts of screenshots when I get really wrapped into a story?

The Promised Neverland Episode 11 – Zwischenzug Zwischenzug : An "in between move", where a player, instead of playing the expected move, first inserts a move which the opponent must answer, before making the expected move..

#action #anime #Collab #drama #episodic #Promised Neverland #suspense #wow