reactionnonsense

[reactionnonsense]

From the official Shangri La Frontier YouTube channel - Lyric video (in Japanese) from THAT scene .

(Below the Read More to minimize thumbnail spoiler.)

#shangri la frontier #anime and manga #Youtube

[reactionnonsense]

Anime: Shangri La Frontier

Spoilers for:

Episodes 3 + 4

It amuses me that Sunraku was so nervous around the bunny boss.

The giant, unique, nightmarish monster wolf? Scary, but I’ll do my best!

A big, yakuza-like bunny? SWEATING BULLETS 😨

Granted, his worry after calling him “Aniki” 兄貴 could have just been worry of messing up the unique event, but he seemed very intimidated even before that.

I’m not sure of all the social implications of 兄貴, but it’s apparently like respectfully calling him an elder brother, his senior, and/or an older man.

It’s also supposedly used in Yakuza (criminal organizations) to address senior members (based on a quick search, I is not an expert).

I’m not sure if it could be taken offensively, but given age is an implication of it, and maybe the bunny doesn’t see himself as a crime boss? Probably. 🔫🐰

#shangri la frontier

[reactionnonsense]

Game: Starfield✨

Spoilers for:

Early United Colonies Vanguard questline with Sarah Morgan as your follower.

Sarah Morgan (regarding the potential elevated spread of terrormorphs):

"It would be the end of us as a species."

Also Sarah Morgan (when you want to open up archives with information that could be critical in stopping the spread of terrormorphs):

"It doesn't matter if it can be weaponized or not. The archives need to remain sealed for now. There's no reason to rush into a decision of this magnitude."

Me: "Why are you like this?"

Seriously, I want to like these characters. I really do. The problem is they keep being terrible.

Not only does Sarah say this, but SHE WAS THERE when we first talked about opening up the archives. She waited until we were literally in the middle of presenting our arguments for opening up the archives to say anything!

Like, if you've got an argument against doing this, Sarah, THE TIME TO SAY SO WAS BEFORE NOW 🤦‍♀️

She doesn't even say why they need to remain sealed. Just "they need to remain sealed for now." Why? What is your argument? Use your words, Sarah. They help convey why you think things.

#starfield #starfield spoilers #sarah morgan #video games

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Possible Connection?

Anime: The Apothecary Diaries Book: Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of Four

My awareness: Seen the first four episodes of Apothecary Diaries, don't actually know a lot of Holmes mysteries

Spoilers for:

First two episodes of The Apothecary Diaries, Chapter 1 of The Sign of Four

Holmes is introduced in The Sign of Four doing quite naughty things with drugs. This was done out of boredom, and his arm is described as having been "dotted and scarred" by the practice.

Maomao, meanwhile, has a bandaged left arm, not from recreational nonsense, but from testing chemicals, medicines, etc. on herself.

This could be coincidence, but Sherlock Holmes is world famous, and I'm wondering if this is a form of intentional homage.

#drug usage #cw: drugs #the apothecary diaries #sherlock holmes

[reactionnonsense]

To clarify, this blog is essentially for me to react at length to stories in ways that require spoiler warnings.

Almost every post will be structured as such:

Media of series: Title of Series

My awareness: How much of the series I've experienced (to help people not spoil me in replies). Might be left out if I'm not worried about spoilers, or if it would be a hassle to specify.

Spoiler warning that specifies what part of that series might get spoiled past the "Keep Reading" button.

If it's not a post that's getting structured like that, I'll probably just post it on my main blog.

Also, I'll use the "dan shive says stuff" tag if I'm posting something here that isn't structured like that.

#dan shive says stuff

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Anime: The Apothecary Diaries

My awareness: First four episodes of the anime

Spoilers for:

Episode one (I don’t think I mention anything not known by having watched the first episode)

This anime was recommended to me, and I wound up watching the first four episodes.

The first thing it did was surprise me by not being an isekai. For whatever reason, this strongly defied my expectations when I was looking up the series, and I watched the OP thinking “okay, so where’s the isekai bit?”

Something similar happened to me with murder mysteries once. There was a show some people I knew were watching that wasn’t a murder mystery, but since murder mysteries were what were so commonly watched, I assumed it was one. I was utterly perplexed after minutes of no one dying.

Anyway, the second thing it did to surprise me was take place in a country modeled on ancient China (according to Wikipedia, at least, it’s not actually supposed to be ancient China, but some unknown, “legally distinct” country?).

It not being an isekai, I knew before I started watching, but it being modeled on ancient China didn’t sink in for me until there was talk of eunuchs.

I’m curious how many obvious signs I missed (other than architecture and clothing) in the first episode before eunuchs were mentioned.

I don’t know a lot about ancient China, but I’m aware of a tiny number of things thanks to The Romance of The Three Kingdoms, and videos I’ve watched related to that. That’s why things finally clicked for me when eunuchs were mentioned.

Anyway, the anime is very well animated, I love the protagonist (whose personality I find very relatable), there’s plenty of funny moments mixed with quite serious ones, there’s a melancholy to the whole situation in the story, and it made me ponder societal structures, how they’re formed, and how they persist.

So yeah, I’d say it’s really good.

#the apothecary diaries #anime #tv show #historical fiction #drama #comedy

[reactionnonsense]

Game: Starfield✨

Spoilers for:

United Colonies Vanguard questline

Constellation companion reactions post-questline

I didn’t think my first “reaction” on here would be to a video game, but here we are. Click “keep reading” if you don’t fear the spoilers.

In the UC Vanguard questline, you learn the secret of the Terrormorphs.

I enjoyed the questline quite a bit, in part because I didn’t see parts of it coming, and because, frankly, I want to fight more things like Terrormorphs.

MORE MONSTROSITIES, PLEASE.

Anyway! In the quest, you can choose to use engineered microbes to take down the terrormorphs, or reintroduce a natural predator into ecosystems already shown to handle them.

I chose the natural predator , because I had concerns about artificial microbe mutations over countless generations, and how that might unpredictably affect the ecosystems of basically every human-settled planet 🦠

I also chose to preserve something that could trigger the sudden creation of terrormorphs (when combined with something specific) for study, because not understanding it seemed like a bad idea that could backfire in the long term 👩‍🔬

So the UC asked for my feedback, and acted based on my suggestions, because why not trust these things to the person who runs around and shoots good?

Anyway, I noticed later that I had activities to speak to people at Constellation, annnd they all hated my choices.

They began with “you’re GREAT! Amazing! You’ve helped humanity!” Immediately followed by “you don’t trust releasing lab-made microbes into a multitude of ecosystems? What are you, a simpleton?”

And “You kept something like that for study?! Why didn’t you burn it all into ash?!”

Constellation, the group that’s gathering artifacts that, for all we know, will implode the universe once gathered, and doing because curiosity is neat, is universally judging my choices in this matter 🤦‍♀️

And frankly, I don’t know if future space microbes are foolproof or not. I was presented with the warning “these could mutate,” it’s post 2020 in our reality, and I thought “if I was forced to choose, and I am, I’m choosing the thing that’s less likely to cause ecological collapse and/or plague.”

I’m less indignant about them judging the idea to hang onto the plants that could make bad things happen, but still. The plants are on one quarantined planet, we can’t 100% know if they’re the only thing that can result in sudden terrormorphs, and I thought it made sense to study them to figure out what EXACTLY was happening.

But what do I know? I apparently don’t trust “the science” because I didn’t trust artificial microbes to not cause one or more apocalypses. I’m sure everyone in the lodge is an expert on it.

Even if it was the wrong choice, ye gods, the UC asked my opinion and ran with it. They didn’t have to do that if I was wrong. They presumably have actual experts, get THEM to weigh in on this. I haven’t even taken the chemist OR zoology perks!

If they want to be critical of someone, they should be critical of the UC irresponsibly deciding things based on the opinion of their latest rookie.

Part of my annoyance is the limited speech options. I can’t express anything but what the game allows, and that’s frequently not what I’d say.

Regardless, Sarah Morgan once again managed to alienate herself from me. “Dana disliked that.” YOUR affinity with ME has decreased!

I’ll rant about the first time she did that in another post. I’d need different quest spoiler warnings at the top for that one.

#starfield #starfield spoilers #video games

[reactionnonsense]

A Reaction Side Blog

Dan Shive here. I've created this blog because I hyperfixate on things I've watched / read / whatever, and that can be a huge distraction 🙃

I want a place where I can regularly share my lengthy, possibly rambling thoughts, hopefully releasing some of the tension on that hyperfixation.

I'd also like all of these reactions to be in one place, because Tumblr search can be a nightmare.

Also, since these are about stories, they will frequently be a "this is what I'm talking about" followed by a "Keep Reading" button to click to see more.

I don't want my main blog (danshive) to have a bunch of posts that look like that all the time, hence the side blog. Plus, anyone following this knows what they're in for.

#dan shive says stuff