#and even the osts are not even close to being my favorite compared to other souls games
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Sonic the Hedgehog CD Part 1: Sonic CD is sponsored by Marty McFly
Oh boy, now we’re getting into some spicy territory!
My history with CD is...complicated
Unlike the other Classic titles, while I was exposed to this one at around that same time thanks to the Sonic Gems Collection, I never played it quite as much due to...reasons that will become quite clear in future parts. It’s only with the release of the Whitehead version years ago that I truly dived into this game
So let’s start with the best and most obvious parts
Firstly: the opening and closing cinematics are literally some of my favorite pieces of animation ever. (Well the uncompressed versions anyway, ‘cause the Sega CD was what it was). Not just because they’re animated beautifully but because they feature what is, to me, the gold standard of Sonic’s body language.
This Sonic is quick, adventurous and fun loving when he’s zooming around, but dead serious and determined once he notices Eggman’s effect on Little Planet
But most of all: he’s cool. He’s effortlessly cool in the way he runs around and toys with badniks, while at the same time still retaining a cutesy side to him to remind you that this is still a light hearted and fun loving cartoon character
While I’m not one of those people who thinks that Sonic should never talk (specifically Classic), there is a case to be made on how in just a few minutes’ worth of animation CD is able to tell us literally everything there is to know about Sonic’s character without having him utter a single word while the Storybook games had to devote hours long narratives to get the point across. It also further lampshades just how backwards Sega’s recent handling of Classic as a character has been, focusing completely on his cutesy side while completely neglecting his cooler one, or at least downplaying it, while one of the main reasons for the switch to Modern was because they feared that Classic was being perceived as too cute by fans at the time, but whatever that’s a topic for another time
From a graphical standpoint...yeah this game is above and beyond the best of the classics, both in general spritework (though bosses in Sonic 3 actually look better, but that might just be due to that game having actual bosses that look more imposing in general), color variation, level of detail and artstyle, which is without even mentioning the way that the game manages to tell a simple yet subtle narrative through its backgrounds but I’ll focus on that at a later time
But personally I’ve...actually never been head over heels for these graphics unlike everyone else, mostly due to a personal thing, since Sonic game move so quickly it’s usually hard for me to really focus on background details and whatnot, which isn’t helped by the one thing you’ll be looking at the most, Sonic’s sprite, pretty much being ripped straight from Sonic 1 and looking so out of place compared to the rest of the game. But again: it’s not a knock against the game, it’s just me
Musically I...think it’s good, it’s certainly the most varied and smartly utilised soundtrack in the Classic games (or even in the whole series) due to how each track ties very well to the feel of not only each Zone but also each era, but personally? When it comes to Sonic music I tend to prefer more upbeat, fast paced tracks. CD’s OST is much slower and usually pretty calming and atmospheric, which works very well for what it’s trying to accomplish, it’s just not what I personally prefer to hear in a Sonic game (and yeah I’m talking about the JPN score, it’s been ages since I’ve listened to the US tracks)
On the other hand however I like all of the vocal tracks
Sonic Boom was the first I was introduced to and it still sounds great, but over time I also gained a lot of appreciation for You can do anything. The lyrics are really cheesy and are bordering on nonesense half the time, but I like the energy it has
My absolute favorite however is Cosmic Eternity. I really wish more people would talk about this one because this is, and I’m not kidding here, one of my favorite Sonic songs in general. Right up there with the likes of Open your Heart, Live and Learn and What I’m Made of. It’s just so upbeat and uplifting, it fits both this game’s happier aspects and Sonic’s character like a glove, the latter more in the sense that it sounds like something that Sonic would sing someone to cheer them up
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Writing Year Wrapped (2023)
Ooh, thank you for the tag @sallysavestheday!
3 Favorite Fics You've Written This Year:
Of course we have to go with my current obsession, And In The Darkness To Unmake Them, an as-canon-compliant-as-possible Fellowship-AU that asks, what would happen if Celebrimbor got himself re-embodied and came back to Middle-earth to try and make up for his mistakes by helping to destroy the One Ring (and brought all his unhealed trauma with him)? Plus a slow-burn romance for Legolas and Gimli, a whole lot of delicious world-building for Mirkwood, and a more active role for Arwen too!
Five Times Gimli Died (and One Time He Didn't) is, I think, despite the simplistic and trope-y title, one of the most elegant things I've ever written, and I am very much in love with it. It's the story of Gimli and Legolas's romance, from beginning to end (well...not really end, because the joy of them is that they're a story that doesn't end—Gimli Immortality Agenda, you can't stop me!—but the story ends with the beginning of their happily-ever-after, which is a sort of end, no?), told in a series of scenes that takes place from Moria to the Undying Lands, and could almost slip right in between the pages of canon if you squint enough to overlook a little bit of meddling from Mahal on behalf of his new favorite dwarf (don't tell Durin).
To Live In Undying Lands is a series of snippets set in Aman after Legolas and Gimli cross the Sea, focused on both their new life there and that of our beloved Hobbits who went over before. And I went back and forth several times deciding whether to swap the placement of this one and Last Temptation... below, but I ultimately think that was a bit more of a stretch than this one, despite the fact that I Never Write Hobbits and am writing quite a lot of Hobbits for this one, and also I Never Write Snippets Without An Overarching Plot—and because I'm such a sucker for Gimleaf that if I have to pick a favorite between any two comparable stories, it's always going to be the one with them in it! (Also: Gimli Immortality Agenda, always!)
3 Fics That Stretched You the Most:
Dead Faces In The Water; Dead Faces Everywhere - I don't write present tense, I don't write modern AUs, and I don't write zombie stories...but here I am, writing all three at once! (Thanks, @katajainen! This story is 1/3 your fault, 1/3 @roselightfairy and @deheerkonijn's fault, and 1/3 Mira Grant's lol. And you were the inciting incident, so you get first blame!) And somehow having a great time doing it! (So much world building! I'm in paradise!)
The Last Temptation of Narvi of Khazad-dûm - probably one of the most overtly ambitious stories I've ever done. It's likewise in present-tense, although that's considerably less daunting now after almost forty chapters of zombies; but there were a lot of other balls to juggle on this story, including my first time properly writing both of the main characters as well as anything set in Ost-in-Edhil; and of skirting right up against the line of how close it came to all ending differently and making that (hopefully) feel almost like it could have gone differently and avoided all that tragedy in a way that, hopefully, both satisfies and distresses the reader.
And (I suppose this is a bit of a give-away, but it's not like I tried very hard to hide anyway; the anonymity is mainly designed to make people feel more comfortable offering con-crit, which I have no idea if it actually helped or not but I did get some lovely and helpful feedback on it, so I'm going to say the tactic has been a success) definitely Cliffside Revelations, which has the honor of being my very first explicit smut fic...even if most of the smut is an excuse for world building, which I'm sure shocks all of you lmao!
(And sneaking in an honorable mention of On The Far Side of the Sundering Sea, because my name isn't on the previous one so it probably doesn't technically count...which means I can slip in an extra story as a technicality, right? Right. Shhh, it's fine!)
3 Favorite Lines You've Written (loosely interpreting "lines" as sallysavestheday has cleverly demonstrated):
Oh this is difficult. Most of my best lines are only their best because of the context around them; and it's hard to remember them as distinct lines after their sections have been finished and posted. But this does at least save favorite and not best, so that helps; let's give it a try, then.
First, from Five Times Gimli Died (and One He Didn't) we have a moment of a revelation on Gimli's part, as he discovers that his heart might not be as alien to his Maker as he feared it was:
He stood in silence, staring at the unseen form of he who had made all Dwarves; of the Maker of stone and rock and mighty mountain. Mahal, who had made the Dwarves…Mahal, who loved the green.
This is one that definitely needs the context to make it work, so we're including the whole preceding paragraph from Blows Uncounted, a little AU-take on Helm's Deep where either the uruks are stronger or Gandalf is slower, and the battle has a darker ending.
For Legolas was not simply any elf: he was an elf of Mirkwood. Taur-ne-Fuin, the forest under nightshade; Taur-e-Ndaedelos, the forest of great fear. These orcs and uruks of Isengard, used to preying on earnest horse-lords and forthright farmers, had never met an elf of his sort before. Their northern kin could have told them stories of what befell orcs beneath the black boughs of Mirkwood…but orcs did not often come alive from those dark woods, not at least without Nazgûl to guard their travels.
And there were no Nazgûl here.
And taking a complete one-eighty in tone from the previous, I am quite inexcusably delighted with this one from Honeysuckle and Cider, and still giggle to myself whenever I re-read it:
"Uh," says Aragorn, son of Arathorn, King of Gondor, first of the House Telcontar.
(The line after it definitely qualifies as a runner-up, but I do think this one beats it out. Sorry, Faramir!)
Actually there's one other line I really wanted to put in here, even more than the one about the Nazgûl, but I'm not going to, because it's the very last line of the story it appears in, and reading it before you read that story would suck all the wind out of its sails, I think; so if you want to know what that is, you'll have to go read The Last Temptation of Narvi of Khazad-dûm for yourself.
3 Characters You Enjoyed Writing (that surprised you):
Anntar (Sauron), actually! I got to play with him as more than just a Menacing Presence in The Last Temptation of Narvi of Khazad-dûm and oh, he was so much fun! This was Sauron in full-on seducing-the-Gwaith-i-Mírdain mode, with maybe just a hint of how he actually wanted to be stopped, so that he could let the schemes for world-domination go and just be happy here with his smith-lovers...or maybe that was all wishful thinking on Narvi's part. Regardless, it was great fun to play with both failed and successful manipulations here, as well as to actually write something with my new favorite OT3.
Boromir may have come as even more of a shock to me, actually. I very quickly went from "distant fondness but very little interest" in Boromir to taking great delight in him, thanks in largest part to Dead Faces in the Water, Dead Faces Everywhere (and a little bit to Two Fell Into Shadow, although most of that was written or at least sketched-out earlier; but I'm counting it, because I don't think I realized how much fun he was fifteen years ago or so when I was writing it initially). Also, of course, his part in And In The Darkness To Unmake Them, although I haven't gotten to the point of posting any of his Grey Company chapters yet (shhh). He's such a wonderful sort of "I did not sign up for any of this; I have no idea what's happening; but I Am Participating Anyway!" sort of character, dragged out of his element commanding Minas Tirith's armies (where he's an extremely competent and confident fellow) and tossed into this baffling world of weirdness full of elves and magic and nonsense, for which he is so ill-equipped and ill-prepared. And yet he gamely goes along with it, because it needs doing! Whatever the fuck it is! He has no idea!
And last but certainly not least: Gimli, although this one may be less of a surprise; but it was a surprise to me how often I ended up writing from his perspective. I did not expect that, because I'm much more interested in elves (especially Mirkwood elves) than I am dwarves in general, and I've done a lot less world-building (a lot less) for Erebor than I have Mirkwood; but it's so much fun using Gimli as "the sensible perspective" (as well as an excuse to get really flowery with my wording sometimes, shhh!), not to mention an extremely astute and observant one, that he makes for a very addictive viewpoint character. I actually ended up having to make a conscious effort to switch to Legolas's pov sometimes, in fact, because it was so easy and charming to fall into Gimli's head and stay there! That was definitely a surprise to me.
3 Unexpected Inspirations:
This fucking dream! I still don't know what the hell happened to me that night, but it sure was unique and extremely unexpected!
And quite startling was the time where seeing the Legolas-always-looks-back-for-Gimli gif-post from the LotR movies cross my tumblr dash right to an Orpheus-and-Eurydice poll basically popped this whole-ass story fully formed into my head in one big rush of inspiration. Although the same thing happened with this post and And His Hands Ran With Gold and Shadow, so maybe I should stop thinking "random post on tumblr" is unexpected inspiration...
And uhhh....this XD
3 WIPs You're Excited About in the Upcoming Year:
And His Hands Ran With Gold and Shadow which I swear I will get back into working-on as soon as I get some of my other ongoing stuff finished, because I absolutely adore it! and I definitely want to write more on it! very much so! but the vibes required for writing it are so different from the other stuff that it's hard to switch back-and-forth between it and them (same goes for the zombie-fic).
An As-Yet-Untitled story set many, many, many years after the end of the War of the Ring in the Undying Lands, where our three beloved Hobbits (and one Dwarf) living on those timeless shores discuss their mortal lives, and decide when and whether to let them end.
The sequel to The Dark Reborn, because I am at some point going to drag my brain back into the galaxy far, far away enough to start reading and writing Star Wars fic again, and I fucking will finish this fucking awesome sequel trilogy fic I started, kriff it!!!
3 People Tagged to Share Theirs:
Tagging with zero pressure: @babybat98 @bifuriouswaterbender @katajainen
#if you've already done this and i just tagged you again forgive and ignore me#i haven't had a chance to look at my dash yet today (i was at work and then reading the new murderbot ahhhhhhhhhh so good!!!!)#or! if you'd like to take the opportunity to talk about even MORE stories! feel free to make a second post with the runner-up fics lol#writing year wrapped#my writing#my stuff#ask meme#lotr fanfiction#gigolas#gimleaf#silvergifting#legolas#gimli#celebrimbor x narvi#silverdoorsgifting#that's right i'm MAKING UP MY OWN SHIP NAME for this ot3 and NOBODY CAN STOP ME
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20, 22, and 32 for the Engage Ask!!
20) Are there any ships that you like, whether popular or rarepair?
Alear/Yunaka is the one I actively ship and it's sadly less popular than it should, but another one I really like is Chloè/Merrin because not only they're this close to making out in their C support, there's this one artist that just constantly makes gorgeous art about them.
Timerra/Ivy is another neat one even though I don't actively ship them and- oh, right!
In the last Engage manga chapter Rosado calls Alcryst cute and, you know. I can see those two making a pretty good pair <3
22) What is your favorite song on the OST?
Oh, it's got to be Determined Journey. Such a good song and it fits the mood of the maps it plays in so well.
32) Was there anything you disliked in the game, whether it came to gameplay or story, from a major dislike to a minor nitpick?
Compared to, uh, another Switch Fire Emblem game, I don't have any major dislikes in Engage, but that said I do have a bunch of minor grievances.
Like Alear's first encounter with the Corrupted being accidentally goofy through awkward dialogue (luckily the manga and later scenes make it clear their fear of the Corrupted isn't just "ooo scary undead!", it's straight up PTSD), the whole thing about Veyle's draconic instinct being a load of garbage in my opinion because they don't apply to any other dragon in Elyos so why is she the exception (that's the reason why I go with an alternative explanation for her evil self's origin being a personality crafted from her intrusive thoughts exacerbated by Zephia's magic).
Alear still being an Avatar thus unable to be called by name is quite frustrating given their whole character arc has a major component in wanting to be approachable despite being the Divine Dragon and, you know. I just hate the way Switch FE Avatars are handled.
And Zephia may be probably the most interesting example of the archetype, but at the end of the day she's yet another evil sorceress in skimpy clothing whose majority of the character relies on being beautiful and/or motherly. And I say this while still liking her and thinking she's underrated.
(Personally I appreciate that her wanting to have a child with Sombron and only Sombron is not out of any romantic interest but out of a coldhearted desire to have the most powerful servant possible all to herself. (Note that Zephia begins being interested in the idea of a child only after Sombron expresses his whole, um, philosophy on family) Also she is absolutely not interested in Alear in any way which not gonna lie, it is so refreshing to see.)
Also I hate Veyle's ankle chains and think they're stupid.
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legacy dropped several videos today on their youtube channel and with each one named after the trainee, i was curious what these videos were about. but after watching through all of them, i realized that some of the boys were performing similar songs which got me thinking… is this legacy’s way of testing the waters to see how we think about the trainees?? with legacy confirming recently that future dreams season 5 is happening, i think they wanted to hype the show by giving us an idea of who might be joining… based on my observations on the videos, this is what i figured out:
cameron vs maximilian ( wonderland )
dowoon vs parker ( look )
indy vs jiahn ( the eye )
keeho vs tee ( dramarama )
there are a few trainees that we’ve seen in the past… like tee has been previous family concerts and vlive shows so we know he’s a dancer ( a really good one to add ). then there’s jiahn who i remembered as one of jaehyuk’s backup dancers from the last family concert ( his performance there really impressed me the most! ) indy and cameron both made their appearances with the truth untold osts so we know how good they are as a rapper and singer respectively… so it brings me to this question, will all of them be a part of a new boy group??? idk, someone please share me their thoughts!! i’m curious if anyone is noticing what lgc is doing with them dropping all of these videos!! ㅠㅠ
[ + / - ] another group?? ㅋㅋㅋ i don’t think they can do that when they can barely keep some of their members in their groups… i’m looking at you, type zero and v&a 👀
[ + / - ] song jiahn??? omg he’s sooooo underrated! i don’t get why he doesn’t get that much hype and seeing his performance in here, you can tell he is the trainee to look forward to!! i was so mesmerized during family concert and seeing him perform the eye here is just…woah…
[ + / - ] tee has been in legacy for so long as a trainee that i’m wondering if he’ll get a chance to debut?? he seems like a decent dancer, but his years of experience doesn’t quite show in this video?
[ + / - ] while watching max and cameron’s performances side by side, i felt that max’s hair stood out too much… and not in a good way… ㅠㅠ it made his performance so lackluster… ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[ + / - ] parker… he seems like a fun guy based on what i saw on the variety shows but he surprised me a lot when i saw his performance video. tbh it’s hard to compare parker and dowoon’s performances because they showed their strengths so well. i guess we’ll find out in future dreams who is the better one since it’s a close fight that’s for sure!
[ + / - ] i know cameron’s vocal capabilities thanks to the truth untold (which is worth the listen!! ♡) and seeing this vid, he’s not that bad?? sure his rapping isn’t the best but he makes it up by giving us such a fun performance.
[ + / - ] i was certain that indy was a good rapper, but dancing??? WOW!!! 😍 he’s probably one of my favorite dancers! fighting, indy!! noona will support you in future dreams!
[ + / - ] i watched lgc style and ended up being a fan of keeho but seeing his video, i want to support him even more! if he’s going to be in future dreams, i’m going to vote as much as i can for him! he’s such a skilled performer and has the personality too! ♡♡♡
[ + / - ] out of all of the performance videos i’ve seen, dowoon is the one that i’m most interested in. if he joins future dreams, what will he showcase? if this video gives us a glimpse of his skills, i feel as if he has a lot more in store that we’re unaware of… but i’m worried too that he might not meet my expectations either if there are other trainees who are talented... ㅠㅠ
[ + / - ] legacy is so blatantly obvious with their favoritism… ㅋㅋㅋ they will put ALL of this effort towards their male trainees but what about the girls??? i want to know more about them!! 😤 if crystallis and fabula are the superior groups in this gen, then imagine how the female trainees are!!
▷ load next 15 comments?
( A/N: this article was curated by the lgc team to help give everyone some insight about what the public thinks about some of the trainees. the order of the comments were done randomly, so they do not reflect what the current rankings are in fd s5. on a positive note, this article is to reward all of the evaluation boys for completing their eval requirements. they will be awarded +3 NOTORIETY and you can include this post in your point pages for reference! )
#lgc:netizens#lgc:staffcurated#lgckeeho#lgcxmax#indylgc#lgcxcameron#lgcdowoon#lgctee#lgcjiahn#lgcparker
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Oooh character ask game:
Kendal or Anakin (specifically from swtcw) ?
(I know this is over a week old eep but I'm answering it now)
Kendal
favorite thing about them: He's friend shaped your honour
I'm only half-kidding, he seems like (and is!) a really good friend once you get to know him - by which I mean, have a conversation with him for more than twenty minutes which probably involves existential philosophy because he's like fifteen days old??? Who has had all of one awful nap in his life???
least favorite thing about them: Tbh I enjoy Kendal as a well-rounded character, and while he does have reasonable character flaws they're not really things I dislike
favorite line: "At its heart, law and justice is about serving and preserving the people it defends. If [Zuurith] really wanted to be a god of law, he'd have become a god that cared about people." (1.13.13)
brOTP: Alinua and Dainix! I love the gang in general but these two in particular hold a special place in my heart <3
OTP: I would maybe, MAYBE, be alright with Kendal and Alinua as QPPs, otherwise it's a massive NOPE.
nOTP: Everybody!
random headcanon: I like to imagine that he really, really likes spicy food but vastly (Vash-tly) overestimates his spice tolerance - while he does inhabit Vash's body now, he forgets that he didn't inherit everything from him. So Kendal is slightly disappointed by the fact that he has to build up to it (again, technically).
unpopular opinion: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
song i associate with them: "Moving to a New House" by Joe Hisashi from the Howl's Moving Castle OST! Aside from the title, it's got a very sweet air going on with some level of drama, which I love
favorite picture of them: [ID in alt text, source]
Blue Kendal is the best Kendal, but this was a close tie from the last panel of 1.15.32 ft. Dainix, which is an incredible fighting pose.
Anakin
Note: As asked, I'm working with the main perspective of TCW!Anakin, but his arc in this show is a part of his greater arc in the prequels, so there's no way I can avoid touching on some aspects of his character from the movies here.
favorite thing about them: His ability to be chill under (literal) fire. He's a good Master to Ahsoka too, knows when to call her out on her mistakes and teaches her well in a very Jedi-like way, even if he doesn't always follow those lessons himself.
least favorite thing about them: His possessiveness. Being around him as someone close to him must be utterly exhausting, and especially since he defaults his expression of negative emotions to anger. Aside from it being one of my least favorite romance tropes, he keeps doubling down and not working on his issues (which is understandable! it's HARD even with resources to admit to need help!) but rather completely avoiding the fact that they exist.
favorite line: All of his wisecracking, especially in TCW, but mostly "General Grievous, you're shorter than I expected." And also his super dramatic love confession in Geonosis in AotC, which one of my professors has called "Shakespearean" in levels of drama. I can't say that I disagree.
brOTP: Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Rex! The found family vibes are off the charts in TCW and I love it so much
OTP: Padme, but in like a healthy relationship kind of way and not the dumpsterfire it is in canon (don't @ me, they're more in love with the idea of loving each other than they love each other - which they do! they love each other very much! but padme, at least, is more captivated by the fantasy - otherwise she would have shut him down in aotc to maybe revisit the thought at a later date and be a properly cute couple after anakin deals with his issues. love them both but they need couples counselling)
nOTP: Ahsoka and Obi-Wan. Both are hard nos, Master-Padawan relationships are routinely compared to parent-child and/or sibling-esque relationships in both Canon and Legends, and I'd appreciate if people stopped tagging my GEN Obi&Ani sets with the ship tag, thanks
random headcanon: Bi Anakin! I'm fairly certain in the comics he loves theatre, so I hc that he got a horrible crush on two lead actors of a play he really liked and made a fool of himself meeting one of them on a mission, before proceeding to do his best to repress that memory. It doesn't work, but only because Obi-Wan a) told Padme about it and b) they never let him live it down.
unpopular opinion: I don't like that he changed the colour of Ahsoka's sabers - we see the ritual aspect of the Gathering in TCW and know that Ahsoka choosing the crystals of not one, but two sabers must have been a deeply personal thing for her, so the fact that he changes them seems like he's kind of stepping on that. There's a post that articulates it better but I can't really remember where it is so ehh
song i associate with them: "Bleeding Out" by Imagine Dragons. For obvious reasons.
favorite picture of them: [ID in alt text, GIF by me]
Character Ask
#velli answers#Anonymous#thank you for the ask!#i've answered something similar for kendal before so sorry if my answers are repetitive!
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Just watched and read Tower of God
Aka Tower of Scandal
There is a so-called The Tower that can grant anything to anyone who ever set foot on its top. Among people climbing it is a girl who wishes to see the stars and a boy who has nothing but her.
When I saw the original author's name in the anime, I was like "Hm, cool but does it stand for anything tho?" When I found out, it's "Oh. No wonder they use the shortened version."
Imma make a general opinion here. See the reblog for Webtoon Season 2 and 3 as well as the deeper stuffs. (Although it's just gibberish in it)
The Webtoon is still ongoing, right now already hitting 3 seasons with 450+ episodes (chapters). Good lord that's a lot of chapters, and each of them is pretty long.
To put it in perspective, one chapter can fit 2 separate fights plus exposition, while usually 1 chapter of standard weekly manga has like 1 fight and side exposition. It took me a full week to read the webtoon and that already cut a lot of my sleep time.
One of the vivid experience reading the webtoon is the art improvement. Sure the earlier chapters are kinda amateurish, but overtime it gets better and even better. By the time it enters the later part of Season 2, every flashy fight scene is spectacular and the art style is solid A+.
The worldbuilding is amazing. The power system and lore of the world are explained really well and they are really interesting. The floors and sites that the cast visit have amazing visuals and stories. As for the tests, I can get by without actually reading the rules lmao. It's like a real adventure.
Lots and lots of characters. For Season 1 only, I love the dynamic between everyone in the batch, some friendly, some hostile, some mysterious. The ones that are really close are heartwarming. For Season 2 and 3, well let's say it gets rowdier and crazier.
Great character designs. Like, everyone looks different from various distinct races and with physical attributes. So many characters I'd like to draw. They also dress differently. Even their attires differ from arcs to arcs. Tower of Fashion, indeed.
I love the story about The Shoes in the King's Display Case. It really tells the problems with the Jahad princesses system and by extension the government of the tower. It’s one of the first signs that being in the tower, on a high position at that, doesn't sound all that glorious anymore if you're more on the humane side. The narration right now starts with Anaak Jahad, but later this is constantly explored from various perspectives with various motives.
Also btw this is one of the few media that realistically shows what will happen if you fight in a pair of high heels.
Look, I went here just for the girl-with-dream and boy-with-only-her story. I just thought hey that's an interesting storyline. Like it'd be cute, romantic, and maybe will be angsty after a while. Who knew the whole thing would be played like that.
This is like a shounen manga, except that there are more complicated political thriller, power abuse, and humanity issues in it. Many protagonist traits, among other things, that usually are viewed as good in other comics are now being questioned and deconstructed so thoroughly and mercilessly.
A lot of people say Bam's boring but let's be real, he's basically a baby. He literally lives in an underground cave alone until Rachel comes along. He does know nothing except her. Watching him getting to know the world in the tower and meeting new friends - essentially learning about the world outside that cave - is really fun to me.
Get yo self a boy like Khun, who will lie, cheat, beg and bribe to make you well. Not to mention kill and die for. Your name has to be The 25th Bam tho.
What is it with local smug light-haired boys being really close with the shy brunette boys???? The funny thing is, the chummy, attached-right-off-the-bat, no-personal-space atmosphere between them is pretty much anime original, compared to the webtoon. Now imagine when the anime reaches the webtoon Season 2 and 3, where even I went "Dude. Holy. Shit."
Rak best boy. Everyone and their mother loves Rak.
Keep an eye on Shibisu. Yes, that joke character with a purple tracksuit. You won't regret it.
*prostrate in front of Yuri Jahad* YOUR MAJESTY!!!!!! The shits that she pulls in the entire series *chef kiss till I die*
Tbh I am confused which ones are the correct spelling of the characters' names?
Convoluted multi-layered plot twists drama: *exists* Someone somewhere: All according to keikaku.
I really went 5 episodes thinking that is just Khun's multicolor hair instead of his bandanna what the fuck.
Mr. Lero Ro I admire you and your sensible ass.
No I won't say anything about Season 2 and on from the Webtoon here because the whole thing is a giant spoiler. But just a very important heads up: David Hockney is mine.
I knew Kpop boyband Stray Kids exists but this is the first time I listen to their works. The OP and ED songs fucking rock. They feel modern yet at the same time kinda ethereal. That high pitch <33
Also I like the OSTs in that I don't actually have a favorite track, but every track is suited well with the scenes. Apparently the guy, Kevin Penkin, is also the one who composed for Made in Abyss. No wonder I got the same vibe.
The anime adds lots of extra scenes but also redacts a lot of the webtoon scenes and exposition. As far as this writing, I personally don't think it's a major problem.
Tl;Dr: I was looking for a cute boy-girl story how did it become like this.
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Why Both FMAB and FMA03 are good and should be treated as Independent Stories:
I will go on the record of saying that Appreciate and Love FMA as a whole and love both series for what they are. And while it may sound like a broken record saying things like this... there’s still hateful words against those who like one over the other. So, I’m here to make this post addressing that both FMA2003/03 and Brotherhood are great in their own way and should be respected as their own individual stories.
Also warning there will be obvious spoilers.
What I liked about the Original (FMA03/2003) Series:
I watched 03 before delving into Brotherhood, and even before reading the manga. Now, I know Brotherhood and Manga fans are the small minority of the fandom, while 03/2003 fans make up the majority. That being said, many of these people simply can't get used to 03 after watching Brotherhood.
However, for me, I was happy because: A) I got more FMA to watch, and B) The differences in 03/2003 simply made it even more fun to watch, so for it was no trouble getting used to this anime.
But if I were to be specific of what I liked, I’d say I liked the following about FMA03/2003:
Characterization of the Protagonists and all the 'good' guys: The show heavily focuses on the relationship and tragedy of Elric Brothers, and 03/2003 portrays it much better with such a deeper level. The relationship between both brothers is intimate, and it feels like a genuine sibling bond. I also enjoy the fact that the anime shows that even if Ed follows his ideals, he, like any human, can break away from them under severe pressure, which was beautifully shown in the 5th laboratory arc. As for other characters: Scar in this version is a total opposite of his Brotherhood counterpart. He is written realistically in the 2003/03 anime. His absolute hatred for the military is more legit, and he feels morally grey in this anime. Izumi Curtis for me was also portrayed better in this version. Meanwhile, other Characters like Roy, Winry and Alex felt the same to me throughout both versions--so, not much change there.
Worldbuilding: The 2003/03 anime does a fantastic job at portraying the widespread effects of war and politics, Alchemy, etc. and how it has affected the people of the FMA World. For example, in Episode 16, “That Which is Lost”, Ed meet, a guy who had lost his limb while working as a soldier and was reluctant to use an automail prostetic because he wanted to “retain his wound”. Now, this episode itself was more so filler and didn’t really matter to the main plot of the story in itself; however, I feel that it was added to series to portray the depth of the FMA World, and how everyone has different reactions to the events that happened in the 2003/03 anime. Also, many of the events and how they unfold in this anime seem to parallel the middle east, which just makes all this feel realistic and provides some occasional social commentary which is quite nice. I also like how the first few episodes take their time to slowly and, with great subtlety, develop their world.
Thematic Depth: FMA2003/03 is dark, grim and kind of realistic--more so compared to Brotherhood. While, both versions of the anime deal with some important and mature themes, FMA2003/03 takes it to the next level. The 2003/03 series focuses on the Law of Equivalent Exchange, and shows how putting blind trust in it is a terrible thing to do. The show also focuses on how obsession, a denial of reality, and the inability to move on can be a bad thing. Moreover, sometimes life just simply isn't fair, and we should accept it; however, always try to improve what we have. All in all, we have to understand the consequences of our actions. That life is uncertain, and sometimes we don't get everything, and even we pay a price for it. All of these themes mixed in with the meaningful dialogues and the dark tone, made me appreciate this anime. For example, in episode 48, when Roy and Ed talk for the last time, that’s the pivotal point that brings all these themes together.
A Good Start: The Show had a better start than Brotherhood, simply because 1). We have more time with Maes Hughes and Shou Tucker, and 2). The Liore arc. Despite BONES studio and it’s tendency to create anime too early *when the mangaka is barely halfway through their series), they made it work, and, with the material they had, the 2003/03 series was given enough time to bloom. The 2003/03 series was simply immersive and very emotional, especially during The Curtis Arc, as an example.
Soundtrack and The Art Direction: I feel like both are equally good. However, I will go on the record of saying that I don’t think “art style” is what makes a series, nor is it an important factor. It’s nothing more than glorified “eye candy” However, for the sake of argument (especially since the “art style” is the first thing that “03 Stans” mention) I’ll be adding it in here. Both the 2003/03 and Brotherhood series have some amazing and beautiful orchestral OSTs in their respective soundtracks; thus, it added to the immersion of their respective series. In FMA2003/03, the color palette is very unique, sometimes it feels dull but it just suits the dark tone of the series.
All in all, I am impressed by a lot of aspects of the 2003/03 anime series, but as much I love and respect it, there are lot of things this anime messed up and I will note that as well.
The antagonists were... Meh: While I really love and enjoy the direction and depth BONES Studio added to the Homunculi... some of the other antagonists could have been better (or just not added at all imo). For example, Frank Archer... he has no reason being there except for convenient plot device to the point it feels forced. Though, him becoming that weird cyborg always makes me laugh just because of how dumb of a character he became because of it. Speaking of which, him becoming a cyborg was just... weird. It was like the Studio staff were trying to make him “cool” by making him into some crossover of The Terminator and Two-Face from Batman, but it just failed. As for Zolf Kimblee... He is still sadistic and likes making things explode, much like his Brotherhood Counterpart. But... that was it. Other than that, he was just boring. Him and Archer were both just the staple 90s Kids Cartoon Villains; not much to them except “Muahahaha I’m evil”. Now Dante... I’d say that she’s a good villain to an extent. Her as a villain is very subjective within the fandom, depending on who you ask. While I believe that she could have been just as great a villain as Father, her character was rushed and her goals were a bit vague and unexplored. I like how, like with Father, she had ties Hohenheim; however, that backstory and those connections were introduced a little late. So, in the end, she just came across as more of the generic Vindictive Ex-Wife, and just a generic female villain. As for the Homunculi... I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I LOVED their portrayal in 2003/03. They were the “saving grace” of the entire team of the villains within the 2003/03 series. My favorite of the bunch were Lust and Greed--namely Lust, because of her ties with Scar. Envy came at a close second, but only seemed so because of a way to back up Dante as a villain, and the other Homunculi seemed a bit more underdeveloped as characters.
The Plot's quality drops after episode 35- Okay don't get me wrong. The first 35 episodes for me were 100/100. After that? a 60/100. Why? Because everything after that point feels contrived and feels forced. It's as tho, they are trying to do everything they can, even if it doesn't weave in, to make the brother's life miserable. Archer doesn't die and pops up, with his automail? Alphonse is there to be turned into a bomb, and become a philosophers stone. Okay, but why does this feel so forced? Also, can we talk about Nazi Shit? Now, I feel the brothers being separated is the perfect ending to this anime thematically and I have nothing against it, but A Nazi gate? Why? It was so sudden and pointless. It was never foreshadowed. They just showed it to make it as tragic as possible, because they didn't know of any other way to twist the plot, without convenient and totally forced plot devices. Also, How can Dante make Gluttony Mindless? Why is Juliet Douglass's Secret so obvious, when it can be fatal if leaked? Plot- Holes, Also, why are the Homunculli named the way they are? It just doesn't make sense. Also, FMA's Plot has an air of mystery to it, but it doesn't execute properly. I don't hate the end, I just felt disappointed, because the buildup towards it was terrible.
Now, I give a bit of grace concerning how the plot sort of dropped off and felt rushed halfway through, as well as the characters being underdeveloped and rushed. After all, Studio Bones was making up the majority of the material and took it in their own direction. Some factors to all of these cons in FMA2003/03 could be because of the Studio’s lack of a budget to flesh the characters and plot out more. Or, they had created so much additional material for this series that it became overwhelming.
As a writer, I can attest to the fact that “Character Overload” or “Element Overload” can either make or break a series, depending on how you handle it. That being said, there need to be a balance when it comes to these factors.
However, FMA2003/03 ended around 2004-05, So what we got is what we have.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s get on to the analysis of FMA: Brotherhood:
Characters: There isn’t a single character in this version of the series that I can choose as a “favorite”. Because, honestly? I lile them all. They’re all well developed and lovable in their own way, and have their own demension of depth to them. No, they’re not as deep as they aare in FMA2003/03, but from a writer’s perspective, that helps keep a balance with the overall plot of the stories. Now, some minor characters were just outrageous, but not to the level of boring (like 03!Kimblee and Archer), for example... Darius and Heinkel. There isn’t a vast difference in Brotherhood’s and 2003/03's cast of characters. However, if I had to note a difference, FMA2003/03′s characters were are more on the edge of realistic and Brotherhood’s were just... Loveable. However, that doesn’t mean that one counterpart of a character is better/worse than another. Both are quite memorable in their own way. Of course, in my opinion Brotherhood's villains are just better than 03's villains. Sure, the Homunculi aren’t given as much depth, but, they have redeeming qualities near the end of their time (i.e. Envy, and GreedLing). When Father was first introduced... his character made me think of how Dante started out, and I was worried that his character would end up just as rushed and he would just be the generic cliche Shounen villain. By the Promised Day Arc, however, I was surprised. Yeah, Father was still very shounen-y villain, but still a pretty darn good villain. I feel his backstory, and how he discarded all his human qualities which led to the creation of Homunculi was well put together, and I felt the concept how he created Alchemy in Amestris, while Hohenhime helped build Alkahestry in the east was well put together, and helped build the world of FMA (literally). To put it simply, his character was much more interesting than Dante, because it was fleshed out more. The Homunculi were awesome as well, Lust did her job, Pride and Wrath were simply awesome, GreeLing's development from an anti-villain to anti-hero was exceptionally well written and not the cliche anti-hero, which I can appreciate. Envy is the character you love to hate. And Gluttony and Sloth did their Part as Well. While I enjoyed 03′s portrayal of the homunculi, I felt like they only fleshed out some for that series (i.e. Lust) while others were just left to fall flat. With Brotherhood, all the Homunculi were evenly balanced out in their characters, not too much depth and not too little. Solf Kimblee was still the sadistic baster, but at least his entire personality was more explored this time, and I liked how they portrayed his psyche as an added affect to why he has his views.
Plot: Bortherhood’s plot was more fluid and weaved in seamlessly. As a lover of all things continuity... Brotherhood did it right, and every time I find an analysis of a teeny tiny subtle continuity detail (i.e. Ed’s gash on his forehead that lasts a few episodes), I get a writer-gasm! Sure, there were few plot devices and filler here and there. But the plot in gneeral wasn’t rushed or choppy, nor did it leave any holes in it. The way Brotherhood portrays it’s plot is to keep you as engaged as possible, adding some silly comic relief here and there to balance out the dramatic intensity every so often. Unlike 2003/03 where is was just one depressing and dark element after another, Brotherhood added in the comic relief points not and again to give it’s audience a break. And, that’s what I really appreciate, and think is a great story writing technique. All in all the Brotherhood series is literal binge-watch material
A Great Shounen: Many Shounen anime have their Arcs for the purpose of portraying the progress of a character, and keep introducing new villains; however, depsite this, there is rarely a sense of mystery, intrigue or a moving plot in a Battle Shounen Anime. What Brotherhood did was just that, except make it more digestible (and not super long like Naruto or One Piece), and added a great thematic exploration. For a shounen it was quite deep, the plot structure was more like seinen, and characters were awesome. In a way, we got everything we could in a Shounen anime that only lasted a little over 50 episodes: Depth, plot, characters in a shounen.
Thematic Exploration: Both FMA 2003/03′s and Brotherhood’s themes are the same, but Brotherhood makes it a bit more lighter. All the while, it also manages to raise questions on additional themes: revenge, truth, knowledge, sacrifice, worth of a human life, and many other things.
Soundtrack and Animation: Same as the analysis in the part of FMA 2003/03, and, once again... I will restate that I personally don’t believe that art style is what’s important to a series. It’s nothing more than glorified “eye candy”. However, for the sake of this analysis, I will be adding it in here. While Brotherhood’s art style and animation is more simplistic, it’s much easier to create those dynamic poses and expressions on an animation level. While FMA2003/03 did have it’s dynamic moments, it was mostly only during battle scenes or the really heavy moments in the series. Brotherhood maintains it’s art style through the series and keeps it a balance, so that some scenes aren’t too much animation but also not too little. And, both FMA2003/03′s and Brotherhood’s OST Soundtracks are beautiful orchestral pieces that really add additional effect to a scene that the respective series are trying to portray.
A sense of conclusion: A lot of Shounen Anime get prematurely cancelled, most Seinen end in a bittersweet manner. That’s why FMA2003/03′s ending with the fate of the Elric Bros was a bit more preferable for those who like a more realistic ending. But, I enjoy a story with a more conclusive ending that wraps all the plot points up together without leaving too many holes. Yeah, the “happy ending” of Brotherhood is cliche, but “happy endings” wouldn’t be “happy endings” if they weren’t. Not to mention, those types of endings are rare, because people really don’t want to write them, and, when they do, they’re rarely done well. Ed’s entire charcter arc wrapping up to where he swallows his pride as an Alchemist and gives up his Alchemy to bring his brother back is both wholesome and satisfying, because, through the show, it shows his progression and growth from beginning to end. And, having an arrogant character obsessed with Alchemy give it up and learn to humble himself because of it.. it’s really uplifting.
Now let's talk about the Cons within the Brotherhood series, they aren't a lot, but still, they did affect my experience quite a lot.
Overuse of Comic Relief: While the use is a nice balance to the already dark and dismal atmosphere of the series, it felt a bit overused. So much so that some emotional moments were inconvenienced by the use of that kind of humor. It was a bit much and created dissonance with the tone the scene was trying to portray. Now, it worked more in the Manga, because of the more visual gag of it, but, sometimes the visuals within the manga don’t translate as well to an animated one.
A Rushed First Half: While FMA 2003/03 began “In Media Res” with it’s first episode and then started a “flashback episodic arc” with the next handful of episodes.. Brotherhood just jumped right into it. While, yes, it was a better balance to not have the characters’ depth right at the beginning (slowly revealing it as the show goes on), the first half of Brotherhood was 0-100 through just the first few episodes. To the point it feels like the audience has to catch it’s bearings. But, once you get on the same page, it’s enjoyable from there.
So what’s the Point of this Ted Talk-esq FMA Post?
I’m sick and tired of seeing 03 Stans and MangaHood Stans fighting each other over just the smallest detail, especially when 03 Stans decided to bring leftist politics into it for no reason.
Personally, I just appreciate the fact that both series exist, ever since I've got in the franchise, it has become a part of my life, and still to this day is part of my life. Sure, I’m forever going to be part of this fandom.. but, I still see the beauty that peeks through the ruins and ashes of destruction now and then. I appreciate both series. Sure, I do prefer Brotherhood more, and get called a “Nazi” just because of it (ironic considering FMA: CoS was the movie sequel to 03... -__- ) , but 03 was excellent as well in it’s own way. It was very involving while FMAB was engaging. Both shows are something which you can learn something from and get attached to.
All in all, comparing both shows is okay, that's what I did here, but having a debate over which one is better isn’t just inherently bad... it’s TOXIC. Both series have their pros and cons, and they’re starkly different from each other. They’re two sides of the same coin. But, most importantly they are extremely important and impactful, so Pls don't have death battles over which one is better, don't say bad things about any fanbase, be respectful, and most importantly watch both and try to appreciate them. Because trust me liking both is a pretty darn good feeling.
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Time for my feels dump thoughts on Diabolical Box...! y’all, this game. this game. I don’t think people give it enough credit for... a lot of what it does, despite the messiness of the plot reveals... but it’s so special and unique, in ways I’m only now appreciating. also this is gonna be really REALLY fucking long I am so sorry, but I have a Lot to say about the ending parts... i just love this game so much...... so i wrote a fucking novel bc of course i did.
also i played this in October, completely unintentionally, so that’s noice.
The amount of voice acting and cutcenes in this compared to CV is amazing, I love it so much, even if it is funny sometimes the dialogue they choose to voice and then abruptly cut off a few lines later.
I had COMPLETELY forgotten about Luke jumping on Chelmey and trying to rip his face off and it’s just the funniest fucking thing omg; Hershel in the background going “NO LUKE THAT’S HIS FACE” is comedic gold.
Will we ever know what Hershel was going to say when Chelmey asked him what Luke’s relationship to him was... dammit Luke why’d you have to cut him off.
Hershel calling the hamster “generously proportioned” is amazing. also “I’ve always said that helping rodents in need is among the duties of every true gentleman” Hershel... please tell me what other situations have made you say that... please...
Why is there an entire subplot about finding this Karen’s dog, just to make Chelmey look like even more of an idiot? if they needed to pad the game out more, they definitely could have done it with flashbacks or in places that I’m... ahem... emotionally invested in
Flora’s treatment in this game is so infuriating to me, like... why did they think this was a good idea? What was the point of bringing her into the plot for NO other reason than to be kidnapped and impersonated? Was it literally just because they needed a way for Hershel and Luke to run into Don Paolo and get the box back from him??? Why couldn’t, idk, Katia run into him in Dropstone and get the box from him and save Flora, that would still get the box to her and keep Flora in the group, and it would tip them off to Katia being related to all this even earlier, and Don Paolo could still be shown there if he absolutely has to make an appearance in each game. I know it’s because he has to be built up and then revealed, and because Hershel always has to have a dramatic point-n’-reveal every game, but whyyyyyy does it have to be at the expense of Flora. :))))) It would have been interesting to see her reactions to Folsense and Anton and everything, and not have Katia be the only female involved in all this; maybe she could, you know, actually have a personality!! hahaaaa who am I kidding...
beluga: “it’s already been a year since she passed away” me: whythehellyoucryingsodamnloud.jpg
Anderson talking about Dropstone and the sacrifices made to found it and how it can’t die out like “other towns”... with the song playing... whythehellyoucryingsodamnloud.jpg
The sheer coincidence of Katia going to Folsense on the same day that Hershel and Luke would end up in Dropstone and then there, and on the 50th anniversary of the town... not a likely one.
Didn’t some versions of the game come with a real version of the train ticket to Folsense? I want it D:
i also want a real Elysian Box, like can i commission someone to make one minus the whole you know actual gold, please, i’ll pay aNYTHING- *sobs*
LUKE HOW COULD YOU FORGET THAT HERSHEL IS AN ARCHEOLOGIST, AFTER ALL THE ARCHEOLOGICAL SHIT YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH
Hershel to “Flora”: “you’re as white as a sheet!” Don Paolo, minutes ago while the others aren’t looking: *furiously powdering his face mask or some shit*
Why was Anton’s diary lying in the street though... it doesn’t make sense that Katia or Beluga would have it, and they couldn’t open it anyhow. probably just a gameplay thing that should go unquestioned but I want to knowwww lol. Also wish Hershel and Luke had reactions to the entries.
Ilyana tho. Also bootleg Clive asdfghjkl
I LOVE THE TOWER OF HANOI PANCAKE PUZZLES
Am I the only one who doesn’t understand the obsession with the tea set... like yeah it’s fun to serve tea when you actually get it right, but I’m stuck with like two recipes missing and getting frustrated just trying and trying countless ingredient combinations on end because some of the npcs are NOT helpful enough in telling what to make :))))
Obviously Katia can’t reveal anything or say anything about why she’s there at all to keep the suspense till the end, but it would have been cool to see her working together with them and making a plan to get into the castle and help Anton aka I just wanted more scenes with Anton being nice and not flying into a rage over a misunderstanding ugh
It’s honestly pretty impressive some of the deductions/connections Chelmey makes in this game, despite his... other incredibly stupid ones lol
“iSnT iT oBvIoUs?”
WHY DOES HERSHEL RISK KILLING LUKE (AGAIN) WITH THE BOX. And why tf does it not do anything to them since they assumed it would...?
The biggest mystery of the series is how Pavel gets where he does, truly
The music in the forest is truly one of the best osts, god I love it. I also adore the Herzen Castle ost now, I never really noticed it before but it is WONDERFULLY creepy and heavy and melancholic and just... idk, those harpsicords go hard. damn.
Opening the Elysian Box is the best puzzle in the series, because of the meaning behind it. Or at least, it’s my favorite for that reason :^)
Alright folks so I’m gonna be completely, unabashedly honest here, and reveal myself to be the superficial, shallow fucker I am lmao: Anton is super hot and I’m still attracted to him even now, and I hate that we get so little time with younger him dklslskdfkflssd I AM SORRY I CAN’T HELP IT OKAY. BLAME THE VOICE ACTOR, HE HAD NO RIGHT TO SOUND SO UNEXPECTEDLY DEEP AND INCREASE ANTON’S HOTNESS LEVEL BY 1000%... just. god damn. damn. the dining room scene. the lighting. the way he puts his hands down and closes his eyes at one point. the way he says Herzen. the freaking sass with “chalk it up to my bad taste then.” the little clap. his entire design which just oozes Victorian era anime bishie beauty. kudos to the character designer who was like “well they said make someone cool and handsome and i wasn’t sure what to do but i tried and i guess it worked out” GOOD SIR BOY DID YOU SUCCEED. how dare this man turn me on so much, fUCK. And I know it’s super shitty of me to not like his old design as much!!! but just!!! why the beak nose.... why.... he was so gorgeous and then you give him the Bronev nose treatment..... i’m already so sad over the ending but you make him look so much sADDER, THE SADDEST POSSIBLE DESIGN FOR OLDER ANTON. It’s not that I mind him being old, I just wish he looked more like himself... there didn’t need to be such a drastic change. But I know I’m just being petty lmao. anyway stan Anton for most beautiful PL character always 🙏 Descole and Clive’s hotness have nothing on this man
*ahem* But to get back to serious topics, replaying this now when I’m older, with the ones after it in mind, I think I finally realize why this game stands out to me so much from the others, making it my favorite. To put it as best I can, Diabolical Box, to me at least, just has a different feel from all the other PL games. Yes, it’s still definitely a Layton game, you still investigate a mystery, there’s still puzzles everywhere, it still has a relaxing city or country feel to the atmosphere, there’s still lots of charm, but once you hit Folsense and the climax and the ending reveals, the tone sort of... shifts? Not drastically, but enough that’s different from any point in all the other games that I can remember; I feel like Last Spector might have the closest kind of atmosphere to Folsense at certain parts, but even then the plot of that game is nowhere near to having the same tone as this one. Diabolical Box, when you really look close at it and think about it, is dark. Dark in a way that none of the other games are, despite the darkness some of the others do have. And I think part of that is because almost every other game/movie is connected to the overarching story involving Hershel’s past and people involved with him, and so the drama and angst is very much grounded in London or other places Hershel would be/was, and in his time, but Diabolical Box is unique in that the story and characters in it have nothing to do with him. And to reflect this, Anton and Sophia’s story is based in the early 1900′s, the Victorian era, in a city so far separated from, again, everything to do with Hershel, that if you were to just watch their story by itself and take the professor and Luke out of it, and you knew nothing about the series, you could reasonably argue that it isn’t from a Professor Layton game at all. What I mean is that Anton’s story could be an entire anime all on its own surely it’s not obvious how badly I want that, nope, not at all, completely separate from this series, and it would work; it could be its own period era-esque drama series, still with all the supernatural shit intact later on. I can think of a few existing anime similar to what I’m imagining.
And I really do think it would be amazing, because like I said this story is terribly, terribly dark, and sad; as a PL game, like a lot of the other ones, it can’t go deep into the nitty gritty of what makes Anton’s story so fucking depressing, but just like... Imagine it. Imagine being alone, for so long in that castle, so long that you don’t even know how long it’s been anymore, with virtually no one, after having your heart broken and being abandoned by the person you loved the most, and who you thought loved you, and getting no closure about it. This long post goes a ton of detail about Anton’s character and things he was probably feeling/reasons for his behavior, but in short, Anton’s mother is never mentioned, so combined with how distant he was from his father and the fact that he feels alone in his role in society and that no one truly sees him as a real person, it’s quite possible that he clung to Sophia unconsciously as a mother figure, and, in general, she was the only person who made him feel seen, and loved. The only exception was Beluga, but Beluga leaves the town and Anton behind after quarreling with their father, so... It’s just extremely apparent when you read the diary entries and his dialogue (with the voice acting) that Anton was always alone and terribly insecure, and that Sophia made him the happiest he ever was - and so her leaving him was devastating to him. He was alone for fifty years (and who knows how long it actually felt, to him), in a lonely castle and emptying town, his entire family either left or dead, his body slowly aging without him even knowing it, while he had a daughter and granddaughter born without even knowing it, and all the while he’s left with the misunderstanding that Sophia might have loved someone “better” than him all along, never getting answers, having to live with all that grief and guilt and blame and jealousy and self-hatred over a situation that wasn’t even entirely true. Imagine what your MENTAL STATE would be like, jfc it’s a miracle he’s as sane as he is in the game!! Not to mention everything that crashes down on him within TEN MINUTES AT THE END. Yes, Unwound Future and the prequels very purposefully heap the angst on with Clive/Dimitri and Descole respectively, like “we are trying so hard to make you feel for this guy cry cry cry” and I fall for it like the trash i am love them too, don’t get me wrong, but Anton’s tragedy is much more understated but in my opinion is by far the absolute saddest of them all. I just... i’m crying y’all, this poor man. give him a fucking HUG. Anton Did Nothing Wrong 2k20; he doesn’t even hurt the people he lures in with his vampire scheme!! he lets them go without a scratch!!! what a guy... give him a hug and blankets please i love him so much, him and Sophia- *sobs*
and also as a side note, I honestly think Descole/Desmond would fit perfectly into this game for a lot of these reasons, in the trend of “trying to fit Descole into the first trilogy”; he’s got the right Aesthetic™ for one thing, but mainly just he and Anton have a LOT in common...! actually, now that I think about it, Randall and Anton do too, but I much prefer the notion of Descole and Anton interacting. honestly, I’m toying with the idea of an AU where Desmond and resurrected Aurora end up in Folsense and solve that mystery themselves instead of Hershel and Luke; i think it’d be fascinating.
However, by the same token, as much as I LOVE this game and characters for all of those reasons... it also makes no fucking sense ahaha. How the FUCK does the gas work. The illness that started killing people when the ore was first unearthed and is the reason everyone starts leaving, is THAT from the gas I assume?? but like why?? cause eventually it just turns to making the town appear as it was years ago and keeping people young, so...? ARE ALL THE TOWNSPEOPLE NOT ACTUALLY THERE, OR THEY ARE AND ARE JUST YOUNG LIKE ANTON; I’m still not clear on this!! because Hershel at the end says they’re illusions, and yet when you talk to the npcs so many of them complain about being tired and feeling old, so what is the truth!! It would make sense if newcomers see the town as it is in the pictures, but there’s no reason for them to not age... in fact, I don’t understand where the not aging thing comes from at ALL, since if the idea is that the gas makes what you think will happen happen, how tf did that even come about in the first place??? There’s no way everyone who inhaled the gas would think the exact same things and have the exact same hallucination. And if fifty years passed in reality, how long did it feel like to Anton/others; surely it couldn’t have been that long if they never questioned why they weren’t aging? If the gas in the box put Schrader in a coma, what was his theory about what would happen? Why does nothing happen to Hershel and Luke upon opening it when they clearly assume something will happen? Related to other things, how does the box become the source of a rumor, and how does Schrader even get it? Do people just assume Anton is dead or otherwise gone, or do they know/assume he’s still in the castle but don’t try to see him because of the vampire? Does Beluga know Anton is still there, if he does it’s pretty shitty of him to ignore him, and why does he think the box has to do with the fortune of all things if he possibly knew Sophia wanted it and knew it had something to do with her and Anton (seriously I don’t understand Beluga, I really wish they’d done more with him; he looks so shitty even if you give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he knew the least amount possible)??? Did Sammy know that the drugged flowers related to getting into Folsense? Did Katia know how to get into Folsense, and what was she planning to do if she never found the box in order to prove she was who she said she was? Why do some of the npcs act like they know the deep dark secret of Folsense and keep saying Hershel and Luke don’t need to know, and keep talking about the town being cursed, like do they really know the truth?? Or not??? LEVEL-5 I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS AND I’M TOO DUMB TO FIGURE OUT THE ANSWERS. EVEN LAYTON VS. WRIGHT’S STUPID REVEALS MAKE MORE SENSE THAN THIS AAAAAHHHH
anyway DB best game anton hot Even with all the weirdness though that makes this game the most Layton the Layton series has ever Layton’d lmao, I still love Diabolical Box so damn much. I love it so much, guys. It’s not part of a huge narrative, it’s not connected to the main characters; it tells its own little story and it does that perfectly. It’s so unique from all the rest, like I said, the plot has so much depth I don’t really see talked about, Anton and Sophia’s story is so beautifully tragic and underrated on a mature level that none of the other games really reach, and despite how upset I am we don’t get to see more of them, their love story is so impactful and emotional just from what little we do see, despite some of the oddities of how it plays out... they’re so sweet together and I cry so damn much over them ಥ⌣ಥ Iris is one of the most beautiful and touching songs in the series, too, and my favorite. And I’m a sucker for the Victorian era and cute romance lmao, so it just gets me like nothing else does... it’s so wonderful. saddest PL game, I will die on this hill. Even if I seem to talk a lot more about some of the other games/characters simply because there’s more content to talk about and there’s more to say about the more flawed content. you can’t improve perfection *chef’s kiss*, deep down, I think, this game will always be my favorite. ❤️
#professor layton#professor layton spoilers#meta#'thoughts post' more like Dana Rants An Entire Novel of Feels#but what is tumblr for if not this amiright#anton and sophia utterly destroy me and they always will#there's not much shown but what IS shown is so goddamn devastating and painful and bittersweet#i don't ship much but they're one of my otps so u know they good :')#i wanted to say even more here but i felt so guilty for how fucking massive this post was alksdfkfl;ss i cut some of it out already#i can kinda relate to Anton though tbh.... not getting closure on a relationship ending is truly painful; it's one of the worst things ever#so i feel for him </3#and i love him#protect anton herzen always#and stan DB always
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Head empty, pre-TPN season 2 thoughts only.
Normally I don’t even bother with hiding spoilers but since the new season is so close I’ll put everything below a cut (if tumblr cooperates) because I do want anime-onlys to enjoy the season with as little knowledge to what madness is about to happen as possible. This is just a bunch of notes that filled my head over the past couple days.. weeks? A long time.. and if I didn’t write them all down somewhere I wouldn’t stop thinking about them.. so if you understand this whole mess, then kudos to you.
So, here’s your post-season 1/ch37+ spoiler warning.
Demon language:
With Mujika and Sonju making their grand first appearances, I hope actually implement the demon language this time?
The only word spoken in the language in season 1 was the demon god’s name, which was just changed to “Him” (sub) or “The One” (dub), so ignoring it there was fine.
Granted, our demon friends don’t say much in their language during the upcoming arc, aside from this moment in ch48, but I can see the anime passing it off as a mere whisper between the two of them just so they don’t have to worry about it.
I don’t recall any of the GP poachers using the language though.. right? Pretty sure they don’t..
Anyways, all I’m saying is that they better figure something out by the Ayshe shows up way later in future seasons.
Episode count? 24?
Short answer: I don’t think so? Did once, but stuff happened. Anyways..
Season 1 ended in March 2019, which is also when we learned we were getting a second season and once we found later on that S2 was originally going to air in October 2020, I immediately thought we were getting about 24 eps.
I thought with all that time between seasons, 24 eps would be reasonable and that S2 would end at ch101. S1 managed to adapt 37 chapters, so 64 chapters in a season twice as long sound decent enough, right?
By the time we reach ch101, it would give us the demon forest, shelter B06-32, Goldy Pond and the short trip to Cuvitidala. (all of which would make this long wait for s2 sooo worth it btw.)
By this point we learn a bunch about the outside world, Norman being alive, what happened to Phil, and the demon bastard himself.
I bring up ch101 as a stopping point because it’s the last chapter before the two year time skip and.. I honestly can’t see them doing a time skip mid-season?
I mean, they could if they wanted to, I guess? Having everyone age up suddenly between episodes via a montage, a quick summary or even flashbacks of what we missed.. but maybe at the start of a season? Not in the middle.
Right now we know anime original scenes are going to be included into season 2 so I’m kinda hoping that once we do eventually reach the time skip we learn more about the search Emma’s group went on for T7W/golden water/temples.
I counted. If S2 does indeed get this many episodes, ep23 (or 22, if there’s a break in between somewhere or whatever) will land on my birthday and you can bet I’ll be beyond happy
HOWEVER! all the hope I once had about a 24ep season vanished due to the clusterfuck that was 2020. Thanks to the worldwide pandemic, many anime were put on hold and pushed back several months, with TPN airing this month rather than the original October date.
It was a bummer hearing about the delay at first but I never complained about it. I much rather have the studios prioritize their employee’s health over production.
Even if S2 did reach ch101, or even Goldy Pond, they would need to find a ton of new voice actors, and with how the world is working now.. eh, I have some doubts.
Cloverworks also has two other series airing this month aside from TPN so needless to say they’ll be a bit busy, especially if employees are still working from home, social distancing, or however they’re managing to produce these anime.
So, episode count.. 12?
The main reason I have a hard time grasping the idea of another 12ep season at all is because.. I don’t know where it’ll be a decent place for it to stop?
S1 ending at ch37 with the kids escaping? Perfect. You can’t question that decision. But now? When a whole bunch of craziness is about happen? How do you choose another perfect moment to end a season with?
No matter how many anime original scenes they have planned for the demon forest, I believe we’ll at least reach B06-32, which will get us to ch52.
Could they go farther? Sure. Perhaps ending at ch59-60? It would leave us off with Emma & Ray leaving the comfort of the shelter to follow Yuugo into yet another demon infested forest, much like how S1 left off, as the escapees left their once safe, comfortable life into the unknown world.
Or end at ch64? After Emma gets snatched by the poachers? It could work. It would certainly leave everyone wanting more, especially us manga readers because goddamn the GP arc would be SO close!
Perhaps ch74 after seeing Norman alive? Just so it’s not a big darn secret anymore to those who are going into this season blind? (how do people manage to stay anime only? i’m not trying to make anyone feel bad.. i’m just impressed? i caught up to the manga right after s1 because i didn’t have the self control to wait!)
Ending on that chapter would be so bittersweet to me.. because you know what appears in ch75 and it’s literally one of the only things I care about.
S2 preview trailers already teased some of the demon forest scenes I’m most excited about, so the only things left that will truly excite me are Yuugo and that darn outfit. (seriously, whenever we do get to see emma in her gp outfit for the first time, someone better scream at me so i can die from happiness.)
Okay, and all the GP kids too.. especially their trio!
Could they fit the Goldy Pond arc into a 12 episode season along with every other event that came before it? I.. seriously hope not?
Compared to s1, which was very dialogue heavy, GP is about as action packed as we’re gonna get in the near future, and those scenes are going to fly by once they get put into motion.
Quick example (because it was recent and i can’t think of something else atm): the Overhaul arc from My Hero Academia. Off the top my head it was about 40 total ch? That arc took up half of the show’s S4, which was a total 25 eps.
So with the GP ending at ch96, it’ll give us about 20-30 chapters (depending on where you personally see the start of this arc I guess? once yuugo leads the duo through the forest, when emma gets snatched or when the battle actually starts)
If GP were to happen in s2 where there’s 12 episodes.. literally everything would be so fast paced and I don’t want them to rush anything or leave stuff out?
Other options?
It’s very wishful thinking and I would be getting my hopes up for nothing, because I know it won’t happen, but I could possibly see them fitting GP arc if S2 was made up of 18eps?
6 eps for the demon forest, 6 for Goldy pPond, the remaining 6 to accommodate B06-32, Cuvitidala and any other anime original scenes as they wish.
Although fitting about 64 chapters into 12-18 episodes sounds a bit much.. but not really? I seriously have no idea at this point how much story we’re going to cover this season.
Could I perhaps place all my hopes towards a second cour later this year? Like for the summer.. or would I be expecting too much?
This all could’ve been avoided if they just tell us! Seriously, I’ve been thinking about episode count since last year.. and now you have to deal with this mindless chatter of mine.
I’d honestly be okay with another 12ep season though. We waited this long that I’ll just be excited to see all the children again.
Anime-only scenes:
Those 3 days the children spent learning from our demon friends? Yes please! Did you know Emma not only learned how to use a bow and arrow but a freakin’ harpoon as well? Like.. hello?? I must see this!
Perhaps they’ll even adopt some of the extra pages from some of the chapters, like they did in S1 with the flashback of Norman being sick in ep10.
I know this will be such a high hope, but I remember in ch177 how Emma claims that after they escaped, they all remembered how kind Isabella really was, so if they decide to adapt the extras from ch41-42 & ch45, I’ll cry.
And these pages? Cloverworks, please..
I’m literally begging here..
Especially these two! Even though I still doubt we’ll reach Goldy Pond if we get 12eps.. but in the future! Please!
Other random nonsense:
I may or may not get emotional upon seeing Isabella at the very start when she goes to confront Grandma Sarah. If her hair is kept down as it was at the end of S1 then I’ll give the anime staff my sincere thanks.
We only heard 15 seconds of “Identity” and yet it has been living in my head rent free ever since that trailer dropped. I need to hear the full song sooo damn badly, y’all have no idea.
Here’s hoping they don’t cut out the inner monologues again. At this moment I don’t remember any specific ones from the demon forest I want to see but I’m sure they’re present.
I’m ready to die at every cute Chris moment they give us.. and this entire scene where the kids scold Ray.
Literally every scene with Emma & Ray. They’re my top 2 favorites from this series okay? Of course I’m going to fangirl over them. (they already showed the hug in one of the trailers and i damn near cried)
If we see him, (which i’m sure we will, but i still have tiny some doubts) I hope they give Yuugo a fantastic voice actor.
Also, his nicknames for everyone!! Literally everything about that man I’m hyped for.
Again, very doubtful we’ll get GP in a 12ep season, but whenever that arc decides to grace us with its presence, “63194” better play on full blast when ch92-93 gets animated.
Speaking of music, while I’m completely excited to hear the new OST that Obata has in store for us (thank god he’s doing this season again btw!), I hope we hear some of those unused tracks from the first season, specifically “Their Own Thoughts.”
Every time Emma mentions their future, their goals or how her family will always be together, I’ll cry. (thanks demon god and your stupid reward)
Yes I’ll be doing those reaction posts (if you follow me i’m sure you’ve seen them by now) after every new episode as I do with other series I watch.. once I survive the usual long day at work, avoiding anything TPN related so I can watch in peace and quiet when I finally get home.. damn it, im already so anxious, help.
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SnK Episode 61 Poll Results (for Anime Only Watchers)
The poll closed with 164 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!
Please note that these are the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Manga Readers’ poll, click here.
Anime only watchers, beware of spoilers if you venture over to the manga readers’ poll results.
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RATE THE EPISODE
142 Responses
Episode 61 received even better reception than episode 60 did for anime only viewers, with all votes leaning 3-5 on the rating scale, none of our respondents seemed let down by the episode!
AMAZING!! not action heavy this time, but the information i gained was a big insight on what’s to come! lots of things are gonna go down and i’m s c a r e d. ready for next sunday 😈🔥
It was fire
I really loved this episode, better than the last episode. Animation quality was on par with movie quality. MAPPA is giving us their best, ALL HAIL MAPPA.
1 word. Awesome
I love the pacing on this episode and the small details in it.
Give me more!!!
bruh
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE SCENE/MOMENT?
142 Responses
Reiner monologuing about the 104th at the dinner table took front and center seat this week with 43% of viewers favoring this scene the most. Trailing behind, 16.9% enjoyed the scene where Reiner meets up with the Warrior Cadets, and 9.9% enjoyed seeing the human forms of the Cart and Jaw titans for the first time.
WE FORGOT TO ASK LAST WEEK D: WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING SCENES/MOMENTS FROM EPISODE 60 WAS YOUR FAVORITE?
142 Responses
Last week, the highest percentage of people (at 30.3%) enjoyed Reiner’s, “I’m sick and tired… of walls.” 19% favored the scene of Zeke’s scream turning Eldians into titans. 17.6% were most hyped up over Reiner and Galliard wrecking Fort Slava.
MAPPA WENT ALL OUT WITH THE CINEMATOGRAPHY IN THIS EPISODE. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE CINEMATIC PANS AND ROTOSCOPE ANIMATION?
142 Responses
Overall, 75.4% of the total vote went in favor of the animation this week, with 33.8% of viewers stating they felt as though they were watching a movie, 32.4% enjoying the fluidity, and 9.2% enjoying the upgrade from the stiffer animation in the previous season. 10.6% felt the rotoscoping and cinematic shots were a little too over the top for an anime, and 10.6% are indifferent. A small handful aren’t enjoying the cinematic animation at all.
Hated the rotoscope, loved everything else.
It was a bit off-putting at first but I've grown to really like it
it was different but i liked it! it was cool. reminded me of some anime movies i’ve seen, though unique in it own sense
Thought it was great and fluid just at some points like the scene with udo on the docks felt a bit choppy.
Beautiful work, it honestly felt like I was watching a movie. From cinematography to shot framing to the animation. A dialogue heavy episode felt exciting, which is amazing.
I really liked the animation
The animation is so glowy
NOW THAT WE’VE GOTTEN TO HEAR A LITTLE MORE OF THE NEW OST TRACKS, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SOUNDTRACK SO FAR THIS SEASON?
142 Responses
People are overall enjoying the new music so far, with 41.5% feeling it really compliments the change in atmosphere and 35.9% REALLY enjoying the songs and finding their usage very good. 9.9% feel they’re just ok while 7.7% miss the music being composed solely by Sawano. A smaller handful aren’t enjoying the new music.
They DEFINITELY bring the right vibes lol. again, different, but i like it!
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CLOSEUP OF ZEKE’S MOUTH?
141 Responses
In our first of a series of unnecessary crack questions, 31.9% find Zeke’s mouth closeup to have been pretty cool animation. 24.8% are very concerned about Zeke’s treatment of his lungs (do shifters get lung damage?). 20.6% didn’t care about Zeke’s mouth at aoo, while 14.2% would welcome a smooch from him. A handful of people just think it’s gross, lol.
Fucking hate zeke smh 🙄
He smokin a spliffy 😂 not no ciggy
what chapstick using??lmao. it was a cool scene
WHAT’S YOUR OPINION ABOUT ELDIAN ASSES?
140 Responses
Eldian asses didn’t turn out to be too controversial, with the majority (42.1%) just wanting to know the details of Zeke’s secret ass wiping technique. 10.7% just think Eldian asses are neat, and another 10% are more enthusiastic about some nice Eldian asses. 25.7% are confused about the question’s inclusion, and 11.4% don’t understand why this was asked at all.
DO YOU WANT REINER TO GIVE YOU A HEAD PAT?
140 Responses
In a close race, 42.1% of respondents would be thrilled to get a nice head pat from Reiner! 41.4% apparently don’t, and just wanna know what the heck the pollsters are smoking while writing up these questions. 11.4% do NOT want Reiner head pats. :(
ZEKE SEEMS TO BE KEEPING HIS ROYAL LINEAGE A SECRET FROM MARLEY DESPITE HIS LOYALTY TO THEM. ANY IDEAS WHY YOU THINK HE IS?
139 Responses
Zeke, the “wonderboy” (as General Calvi puts it) who sold out his own parents, has never been doubted by Marley in terms of his loyalty. Yet, for some reason he seems to be keeping his royal bloodline a secret from them. When we asked why that is, over half of respondents (56.1%) state that they are suspicious of Zeke and his real motives, believing that he is plotting something under Marley’s nose. 25.2% feel that he doesn’t want them to know he’s royal so that they can’t abuse his power, and 12.9% think he simply doesn’t let them know so that they won’t kill him.
I forgot he was royal
maybe they will force him to continue the bloodline through children, or maybe he will get used or killed
Well if they dont know hes got a hereditary advantage over both his predeccesors and succesors, he'll always be recognised as the best beast titan and heaps better than my boy Colt.
WE LEARNED IN THIS EPISODE THAT FALCO’S LAST NAME IS “GRICE.” DO YOU THINK THIS WILL HOLD ANY SIGNIFICANCE?
139 Responses
32.4% of respondents don’t remember anyone named Grice. To recap, “Grice” is the name of the person who recruited Grisha Yeager into the Restorationist group, and is the one who was kicked off the wall for the restorationist titans to chase after once they were transformed by Marley. For those that did remember this seemingly random person, 52.2% feel that this relation will be brought up again and have importance to the story, and 12.9% feel it doesn’t really mean anything other than being a neat little detail.
I feel like you asking this implies that there’s something to it
Not sure yet. But, Falco and Colt seem to be really caring and aware of how the Marlyeans treat Marly-Eldians (at least compared to the other warrior candidates). Also, when we saw their parents they seemed kind too, showing lots of concern for Colt. Maybe they learnt what the former restorationist/other Grice was doing and his cause of death and sent their kids to the warrior program for the same reason Grisha and Dina did Zeke? My bet is Colt & Falco are the restorationist Grice's nephews?
YOUR REACTION TO THE CART TITAN BEING A CUTE WOMAN?
140 Responses
Pieck deserves a colorful pie chart, and she got one! 25.7% say she’s best girl, 22.9% think she’s utterly adorable. 13.6% of viewers already knew about Pieck before getting to this point and were unsurprised. At a tie, 11.4% of voters think that it’s amazing, or they were shocked to find out that the quadrupedal nightmare titan is really just a short, cute woman.
I worked it out last episode since the armbands appeared to indicate the 'type/status' of Eldians, but I was a bit surprised last episode I thought from the trailer the red bands may be special lineages i.e. Ackerman, Oriental clan, and Riess/Fritz. Still think she may be from the oriental clan though since the only characters we've seen with a similar appearance to her are Mikasa and her mother.
she kinda shawty 👀 but she looks scary too
WE WERE FORMALLY INTRODUCED TO MORE CHARACTERS THIS WEEK, SO WE WILL ASK AGAIN… WHICH NEW CHARACTER IS YOUR FAVORITE SO FAR?
143 Responses
Last week, Falco was the most favored of the new cast with only 40% of the vote. This week, he shoots up over 10 percentage points, with 50.3% of viewers feeling the most positively toward him. Pieck comes in second with 17.5% of the vote, and Gabi is hanging on with just 12.6% of the vote. Colt and Galliard are trailing just a little bit more behind them.
Gabi best girl
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE FATE OF YMIR?
144 Responses
While we did get teased about Ymir’s fate in Season 3, seeing the scene in full can definitely have more of an impact. 37.5% of respondents have accepted the notion of Ymir dying, and feel that it was a decent end for her character, all things considered. 22.9% are in complete and total anguish over her fate, and 20.1% are simply just disappointed and had hoped to see more of her. A very small percentage think that this is actually a red herring, and that Ymir is somehow still alive somewhere.
Already saw this in season 3
Appropriately grim and realistic given what lengths Marley will go to in order to protect themselves
I am in so much pain please euthanize me that’s my wife
i didn’t really like her anyway so it’s fine(but it was still a bit sad)
Kinda hate crimey considering shes the only OUT (@jean) charcter. Nah jk. Like wasnt shocked tho coz we saw Galliard last ep
Let's fucking GOOOOOO
Galliard will NEVER replace Ymir, I already hate his bitch ass
So Galliard really is a replacement scrappy eh? I already hate him JUST for that.
TURNS OUT THAT GALLIARD IS MARCEL’S BROTHER. DO YOU THINK THIS WILL BE SIGNIFICANT?
143 Responses
Over half of respondents (52.4%) believe that Galliard’s relation to Marcel will have significance at some point. 32.9% think that it might, but don’t want to say either way. A small percentage feel it’s just a detail that won’t matter. 12.6% have completely forgotten who Marcel is (to refresh your memory, Ymir ate him before RBA attacked the walls).
DO YOU THINK THE MAN WEARING THE ARMBAND INCORRECTLY WILL BE IMPORTANT?
144 Responses
At 73.6%, the majority of viewers are eyeing the random amputee soldier who Falco briefly helped out, believing that he will be important in some manner moving forward. 13.9% believe that it’s just a random soldier, and the scene maybe meant more in terms of showing Falco’s kindness. 12.5% aren’t sure what to make of the amputee soldier at all.
LAST WEEK, WHEN ASKED WHO WILL INHERIT THE ARMORED TITAN, THE MAJORITY PICKED FALCO. AFTER THIS EPISODE, WHO DO YOU THINK WILL INHERIT THE ARMORED TITAN NOW?
143 Responses
Falco is still the most favored to inherit the Armored Titan from Reiner with the percentage of people believing he will jumping from 37.6% to 48.3%. 21.7% are still confident that Gabi will ultimately be the one who gets to eat Reiner. 28.7% believe that neither of them will inherit Reiner’s titan at all.
DO YOU THINK THAT REINER REALLY BELIEVES THE PARADISIANS ARE DEVILS?
143 Responses
The overwhelming majority of respondents don’t believe that Reiner really means what he says when he calls the Paradisians “savage, heartless devils.” Only a small percentage feel he does really means what he says, and a handful of others aren’t sure.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT REINER WITH WHAT WE’VE SEEN IN THIS ARC SO FAR?
143 Responses
The majority of viewers feel very positively about Reiner and are enjoying seeing more of him, with 46.2% stating that Reiner is really starting to grow on them, while 26.6% already liked Reiner from the start. 18.2% are beginning to feel more empathy for Reiner, although they still aren’t huge fans, and a smaller percentage don’t like him and haven’t been swayed by the narrative as of yet.
Always seemed like there was lots to him, enjoying the furthered development into his psyche :)
he’s so hot omg. i feel so terrible cause he’s clearly suffering from ptsd and his disorder too. he seems torn. i do like how he is playing a major role so far.
I’m in love with Reiner and always have been
Meh
Reiner became 1000% hotter after his life fell apart
REINER AND GABI ARE REVEALED TO BE COUSINS. THOUGHTS?
142 Responses
36.6% of respondents were genuinely shocked to learn that Gabi and Reiner are cousins. 21.8% feel more invested in Gabi’s character arc after knowing this information. 19% were already spoiled on this, and 15.5% don’t really care about it at all.
Kinda thought she wanted to fuck her cousin lmao
Makes me horrified how casually they talk abt eating Reiner
They had the same last name so I figured they must have had some relation.
Yee haw
GABI QUESTIONS REINER AFTER HE TALKED ABOUT THE 104TH, ASKING IF PEOPLE ON PARADIS WERE ALL BAD. DO YOU THINK SHE CAN OVERCOME HER BRAINWASHING TO SEE THAT PARADISIANS AREN’T EVIL?
143 Responses
The majority think that there is a possibility for Gabi to see things from a new perspective over time. 40.6% aren’t completely sold on it yet, but also believe that it’s within the realm of possibility. 32.9% are very confident that this is the direction her story arc is going to take, and 26.6% think that nothing will be able to undo years of brainwashing for her.
THE TYBURS ARE SAID TO BE AN AFFLUENT FAMILY THAT HOLDS THE WARHAMMER TITAN, BUT HAVE NEVER BEEN INVOLVED IN ANY CONFLICT. WHY WOULD THEY WANT TO GET INVOLVED NOW?
139 Responses
While we still don’t know much about the Tybur family, we thought we’d check in and see what preconceived notions viewers may already have about them. 27.3% believe the Tybur family feel the same as Marley and see Paradis as a threat. 30.2% think that the only reason they’d want to get involved in the conflict is if they get something about it. 41.7% think that the Tyburs are super sus and ultimately will have their own agenda for attacking Paradis.
They got the good life already, why battle?
WITH AN ATTACK ON PARADIS BEING IMMINENT, HOW DO YOU THINK REINER WILL REACT WHEN HE RETURNS TO THE ISLAND?
139 Responses
We’ve seen Reiner struggle over the weight of his sins in previous seasons, with Ymir even pointing out that he has developed a type of “split personality” to cope with the horror he forced onto the people of Paradis. With the prospect of returning to the island, we asked how you think Reiner will handle the situation. With the highest percentage, 32.4% of respondents feel that Reiner’s mental state will make him completely ineffective if he returns to Paradis. 28.8% think he may even completely switch back to his “soldier persona” once he faces his former comrades again. 26.6% believe that he will keep himself together and stay focused on the mission handed to him. 9.4% think he will find a way to avoid going back altogether.
Honestly, don't know.
I wouldnt say ineffective, probably just ina daze of sorts. Like hes not fully in the moment.
Idk if he is even gonna go
Not Sure
I hope my boi Reiner makes it through!
REINER FLASHBACKS NEXT WEEK! ARE YOU EXCITED TO FINALLY GET THE WARRIORS’ BACKSTORY?
142 Responses
The vast majority are happy to be finally getting the Warriors’ backstory in the next episode, with 69% feeling overwhelmed with excitement about it, and 19.7% just happy to finally be getting to this point. A smaller percentage don’t really care about learning their backstory and a handful of people are actually dreading it.
I loved the baby warrior flashback and can’t wait for next week.
ON A SCALE OF REINER TO ZEKE, HOW EAGER ARE YOU TO GET BACK TO PARADIS?
141 Responses
While there is a handful of people who are enjoying the new perspective and getting to know these new characters in Marley, the majority of viewers are (unsurprisingly) eager to see what’s going on with the original cast after the 4 year time skip and the cliffhanger at the ocean in season 3. A message from manga readers: we know your pain, just hang in there!
This arc isn't really doing it for me. The story is only interesting when it focused on the 104th.
If their goal is to make me sympathize with the Warriors it ain't working, I frankly don't give a crap about their sob stories and want to see Eren and friends wreck shit for them
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?
Animation and graphics quality is amazing. The sea was CGI too which feels a bit too detailed compared to other things. The plot and vibe is amazing. I like the WW2 style of things. There are so many interactions coming just the thought makes me hyped up. I can easily rewatch it and notice new details and i enjoy it too. Feels really packed and intense.
Solid, loved the animation props to MAPPA, cant wait to see Reiner's character development.
Kinda just people walking around with HELLA ptsd. Overall kinda vibey Very reminiscent of seas 3 part 1. I will say kinda tgf about these knew kids accept Colt, just wanna see the ogs and Jeans side part. I also HATE Reiner but.........dare I say.....he's growing in me???? Not gabi tho
Great episode, the trailer's beginning to make a lot more sense now. I didn't expect that guy with the long blonde hair declaring Eren as the enemy (from the trailer) to be part of the Tybur family (maybe I'm wrong here but he looked identical to one of the Tybur family members in the photo Zeke showed.) I assumed he was maybe the Marley leader haha. I think he may be the warhammer titan but it's hard to tell at this point. Regarding the Tybur family, another curious thing is how they are celebrated internationally not just domestically for their help during the great titan war. I am curious whether Marley only treat the Tybur family well because if they didn't that would create issues globally? It seems like the Tybur's have lots of power. But, I wonder if the war hammer titan will be a letdown... I thought it would be the 'big boss' of the titans but after learning that titan doesn't go through training like the other titan shifters and never fought I feel like it's a 50/50 on whether the shifter will be strong or not... I also feel like the guy Falco spoke to was Eren, and this could hint at Eren noticing and possibly trying to indoctrinate Falco? and he was possibly watching Reiner talk to the kids? That was probably Pieck though. Curious how Pieck's father was shown but not mother, he also didn't look like he was from the oriental clan maybe we have another Mikasa on our hands (half Ackerman/Oriental clan) that would be cool, maybe a little bit fanservicey tho.
I like that the focus is on world building right now
I’m just so excited to see what’s coming next
It was friggin awesome but I’m curious on who fell off the roof 🤔
Who is the guy who jumped and died ? :(
WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES?
138 Responses
Thank you again for participating! We’ll see you again next week!
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∘⡊ ☾ ˚⊹Now Loading⊹ — Kim Alex: Updated Profile
ooc note:
so, as i said the other day, this is just a small post showing sort of an update on alex with how he is now compared to when he first joined the company. whether it's changes to his personality or even connections and even his deepest inner thoughts (maybe lol). me being the lazy person that i am, these will all be just listed in bullet form because in my mind that's "easier" than making this into some long paragraph post.
the updates:
when first joining the company, alex could care less about debuting and even didn't care much for his training. now, he's come to realize that he actually does want to debut and doesn't find the idea of being an idol that unbearable. he finally started realizing this during his star quality portion for Future Dreams ( see this solo here for that moment ) of course we have to thank Kim Hyuncheol, Park Jeongan, Lee Iseul, and Roe Kangdae for helping him realize this 100% as well ( see this here where he gets called out for his bs which was 100% deserved ). he was also super confident in his own body at the time ( still is actually but he doesn't brag as much now. don't get me wrong, he would upload gym photos of himself if he could lol ).
many may not have known this ( in character or ooc ) but he was once a university student (doesn't seem like a dummy like him would even be a student right? lol), however, when he began filming for Future Dreams he decided to drop out and put a pause on his studies ( see this solo here ). the decision to do this wasn't really something he had thought that he would ever do, especially since he never imagined the day would come where he actually wanted to take being a trainee seriously, but it wasn't a hard decision to make. he figures that if he fails at debuting through the show then he can just return to his studies.
in the beginning, he would take on things such as Date Lottery or even auditioned for one of lgc's opportunities to do one of their OST's for Cram School S1 ( too lazy to find this ), and he only would do such things because "it will gain me publicity and help me debut sooner so i can win this bet". though, after filming for his first CF with Royal Canin ( he's always had a soft spot for animals tbh ) he realized that he actually didn't mind being on shows for the enjoyment of it rather than just doing it 'because'. there was one point where he was a guest on The Kim Family and claimed he only was doing it for the publicity, though he actually did it because he wanted to see what acting was like. now he's someone who will sign up for shows such as Masterchef Legacy because he actually wants to and not just to gain a few fans from it all.
he used to hate things like vlive shows, he just didn't like the idea of being live and having to fake some smile or laugh. now, he doesn't mind them at all and has even appeared on a couple vlive shows such as Hot Spot, did the vlive for his Favorite Fall Recipe, he did the Q&A with fans, and recently was on Jaesun's EAT WITH JAE. ( notice how these are all mainly about food... ) i don't ever see him having his own vlive show, maybe in the future it's a possibility, but he sure doesn't mind at least guest starring on some shows every now and then.
something that hasn't changed is his love for his car and that probably will never change no matter how much time passes. Stella ( yes, he named his car ) is still his pride and joy but so is his Pomsky Luna ( she's now known ooc atm as the little matchmaker who caused Alex and Ichika to end up in a pond at the park. Ichika is the only female that Luna even likes which surprised Alex because puppy doesn't like other females and will usually growl at them unless they're family or close friends of Alex. )
his hate for things like aegyo is still the same. that probably won't ever change really. during one of the missions for Future Dreams he was sort of forced to do aegyo while meeting with fans and he's still cringing over that.
nothing has changed about his workout habits really. he still goes to the gym and has the usual workout routine he does, along with still eating healthy (because gotta keep them abs in check just in case the company ever makes him show abs again like in his teaser for Future Dreams).
the relationships/connections:
first, let's start off with the reason why he used to be cautious about relationships or even feeling something towards others in a romantic way. for those that truly know him, you know that he had an ex back in the states that he loved at the time and put his all into that relationship with her, that is until she told him that she wanted to not only see him but others on the side as well. you also know that he ended up telling her more or less to f off. ( /claps for him/ ) because of this his heart basically froze over and the word 'love' didn't even exist in his dictionary. afterwards, any kind of 'relationship' he had wasn't exactly something he really even put his all into anymore and just sort of dated here and there out of boredom ( he has a few exes because of this ).
now on to the reason why he had trust issues even more with letting people in past the walls he had built up. he felt betrayed due to seeing that ex of his with someone he thought was his best friend. basically, boy broke the 'bro code' and alex started having a harder time trusting even those who wanted to be his friend and he became closed off/distant with others that he didn't trust fully.
fast forward to more recent times, he's grown quite a bit and has started to slowly let others in a bit more. he's made some new friends within legacy that he actually does seem to care for, even if he won't admit it out loud but he does. he's also started catching feelings for a specific person ( /cough/ ichika ) but if you've been sort of keeping up with that, or even haven't, well they're both in denial but improving little by little. lol
his family has always been the number one priority in his life, and always will be no matter what. even now he still does get embarrassed by his sister Mia quite a bit, though he still loves her and it's just always been the sort of sibling relationship where she embarrasses him and he acts like he's bothered by it ( he's a faker tbh ).
his cousins, Jueun and Hyunbin, are still two of the family members who he will always be protective of, even if he does tend to mess with them just for the hell of it at times.
before, when meeting new people, alex would be cold and very distant (he still sort of is but not as much anymore). now he's less cautious with those he's meeting for the first time but he still does keep that bit of distance until someone has gained his trust fully. those that he's been friends/aquaintances with for a few years he's super close with and will still tease/mess with them occasionally for shits and giggles or whatever.
#˜”*°• OOC - Em Speaks •°*”˜#∘⡊ ☾ ˚⊹Now Loading⊹ — Kim Alex: Updated Profile#| this was supposed to be short.... it's not. orz#| i probably missed some stuff but i'll update it later if i remember anything... c:
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Hibike Chikai no final - review with spoilers -
So, I finally watched Hibike Euphonium Chikai no final, and I wanted to do a “quick” review about it. I know this is going to be a bit subjective because I am obviously biased, but I am gonna try to be as objective as I can.
Also little disclaimer, but I am going to spoil so I can really give my arguments about the movie without holding myself.
For my general opinion if people wanna know without reading everything, I would give this movie a 4/10 at most. I had a huge problem with the pacing, with some directing decisions and with some scenes. I know I have to take the movie as an individual work and not comparing it to the novel (because a lot of important scenes have been cut from the novel), but I would say that if we compare Chikai No Final to Liz To Aoi tori... For a music anime, Chikai barely has any music, and most of the OST is truly forgetable.
For the in-depth part review...
I will start with the positive points.
- Most of the side characters (and by that, I mean... All the characters who aren’t Kumiko, for this movie) are really amazing. But this isn’t much of a surprise: they already were in the past. The new ones are really lovable too, but I am keeping something for the “bad part”.
I am giving a point to Reina alone, but it’s because I love her with all my heart.
- The aesthetic is as beautiful as ever. But once again, it was to be expected from a Kyoani movie. The background is amazing, the colours are lively and give a true paw to the work, not mentioning that it gives a life to the movie.
There was one moment I also found really great in term of directing. During the Kantai competition, when they are playing Liz and the blue bird... During Mizore Oboe and Nozomi Flute “talking” to each other, the oboe part focus on Kumiko (implying that she is the blue bird) and the flute answer focus on Reina (implying that she is Liz). And that part was really well done.
Aaaaand that’s pretty much already it. Now I will go for everything I consider as negative.
- The pacing. Truly, this movie is going wayyyyy too fast. I know it’s only a movie to summarize two whole novels covering both Liz to aoi Tori and Chikai no final, but they cut a lot of character development and important matters due to the pacing.
First of all, Kumiko... Seems to have absolutely no idea about what she is doing in this movie. She is... here. Sometimes she makes cute Kumiko noise and she is being her usual self.
But I can’t find the impact this girl had on me during the two seasons. How relatable she was, how emotional she could make me feel. And due to that, there were a lot of important scenes that were supposed to have a high impact... And ended up like a flop to me. I think, for example, about the scene with Kanade.
Surely, Kumiko is shining and helpful with Kanade. And she has grown, which is really nice to see. But sometimes, she is just... Smiling, for no reason, and not reacting the way I have been used to see Kumiko reacting whenever she is serious.
Speaking of Kanade, I said I wouldn’t compare with the novel, but... She is mostly being cute and hinting a small part of her personality in the movie... But clearly doesn’t show all her potential. The movie clearly overlook her relationship with Natsuki, only quickly showing it during... One scene (when it’s totally built up in the novel).
Kanade is supposed to be really close of Ririka, and... I don’t even think we see them interacting in the movie. Like, at all.
I am doing another paragraph for this one, because it counts for Kanade, but also for all the other characters: due to the pacing, we don’t see them playing individually, and we don’t really hear them in the group (because there aren’t many performances, in fact.)
So... When, for example, Natsuki mentions that Kanade’s euphonium is way better than hers... Yes, nice. But we didn’t hear it. We have no real idea if it’s really the case beside hearing the characters talking about it.
Same for Mirei and Sasuki. When they have their issue, it’s hard to really believe what they say considering we barely saw them playing together.
Also yes, Nozomi and Mizore got their own movie with Liz... But here, they don’t talk at all. I think we can easily count the frames where they appear during the 1h40. A lot of other characters (like, Natsuki) don’t have many lines or appearance either.
- The continuity. And along the continuity, I am also going to talk about the relationship between Shuuichi and Kumiko.
This movie is supposed to continue Hibike after the second season. And that gives me a huge issue with the way Ishihara threated ShuMiko relationship.
I am going to compare it with both the novel, but also with Tamako Market (because I saw a lot of people comparing it with the way Tamako love story was created).
In the novel, there’s a build up to their relationship. Shuuichi has way more scenes than in the anime, some parts actually can make sense to give credit to their relationship, and Shuuichi’s confession take place during second season of Hibike. But it doesn’t come out of nowhere. There was something clearly established. And then, during the second year novel, Kumiko doubt about her feelings. They are clearly more acting like friends than a couple, and when the break up scene happen after all the doubts and also everything that happened during the novel, it also makes complete sense.
In Hibike season 1 and 2, Shuuichi is inexistant. He barely appear, and when he does, Kumiko doesn’t show any interest into him. Like, at all. Their relationship looked completely like a brotp with one sided love from Shuuichi side.
And when Shuuichi confess literally during the first minute of the movie... Not only it seems wrong, but it’s totally coming out of nowhere in the continuity of the previous seasons. They sell it like a kind of Tamako Love Story scene, but...
The reason why it worked in Tamako Love story was because Tamako had actually quite some scenes with Mochisu during the anime season. Surely, she was completely oblivious about his feelings for her, but they had some nice scenes together, Tamako never blocked Mochisu, and the build up was there. Then, they had an entire movie LITERALLY building up their relationship. It doesn’t happen in the first minutes of the movie, but mostly at the very end.
In this case, the whole Shuuichi Kumiko relationship just come out of somewhere ???
And something that really annoyed me was the fact they added some pointless drama (that wasn’t even a drama) about Shuuichi and a random first year... And then added a lot to the Agata festival scene (because basically, in the novel, Kumiko didn’t plan to go with him. She just spends a bit of time with him before they just part way without doing anything because Kumiko planned to join Reina at her place, and Shuuichi is too scared of Reina to even walk Kumiko to her place - not mentioning she refused, anyway -)
And since they cut so many scenes mentioning Kumiko’s doubt about her feelings for him that were in the novel, when they actually break up in the movie... It’s also totally out of nowhere. Kumiko mentions that she is busy, but... In Chikai, we don’t actually see her being busy. (Which join the problem of pacing I mentioned earlier).
- Some scenes are completely out of character. And I am thinking about one scene in particular that I absolutely hated when it should have been one of my favorite (on a very subjective side).
During the Agata festival, when Kumiko joins Reina atop Mt Daikichi, they have a similar discussion to what they have in the novel... Except that it doesn’t happen the same way and the discussion cut in the middle of nowhere when Kumiko asks for Reina to play for her.
As I already mentioned, they can totally change some scenes. As long as it still make sense and have the same meaning, it’s perfectly fine to do so. I didn’t expect them to adapt 100% of the novel scene.
In the novel, Kumiko and Reina were way more intimate during this scene. Kumiko mostly lays with her head against Reina’s laps, and when she asks Reina to play for her... She simply enjoy the music and wish they could stay this way and that nothing would change between them (because they were talking about their future, like in the anime... Except that the exchange was more powerful).
What I REALLY hated in the anime because it’s a huge finger raised to everyone, and totally out of character from Kumiko’s part... Kumiko asked Reina to play. Reina is playing her trumpet for Kumiko, and Kumiko... Text Shuuichi during the performance.
Just. No.
Kumiko loves music, and she loves Reina’s sound. When Reina is playing, she would NEVER do anything else but listening to her performance... And it made me wanna bang my head against a wall (which is also an Ishihara addition, just like a lot of parts of the Reina arc in season 2... And I really dislike some of his choices.)
- Some scenes aesthetic.
Showing a few scenes through a phone could be a nice and interesting idea... Not when it’s every x minutes, and when it shows mostly characters we have never heard about, and we won’t see anymore for the remaining of the movie. The two first scenes made me low key smile. The 25 other made me wanna facepalm.
We are quite far from the impeccable aesthetic of Liz and the blue bird, and the animation between the scenes always on point. I can also understand why he decided to show the lamps during the kantai competiton... But nope, it doesn’t work in this case and just seems a bit “what the...?”
And I would say that’s pretty much it for the review... I wasn’t really expecting anything after the pictures I saw and the various spoilers I read, and I am still disappointed... I really believe they should have made a whole season to cover Kumiko’s second year. It would have been way better, and they wouldn’t have overlooked a lot of important scenes.
I know Kumiko’s third year is gonna be covered in one movie as well... At least, that’s what they were talking about. I kind of hope they are gonna do a season instead. I don’t know what to expect from it, but I am kinda sad I ended up disliking a movie in one of my favorite franchise (if not my favorite). So I do hope third year movie, whenever it’s out, is going to make me dream the way Hibike always did.
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Just finished my watch through of Doug, so I guess I’ll give some general thoughts about it while they’re still fresh in my mind:
- Roger, Judy, Bud and Tippi Dink, are easily the best characters in the show.
- The earlier episodes are awkward and the animation in them is on the wonky side. The writing and animation starts to improve starting at episode 4A/4B, but I think the show starts to fully take shape starting at season 2. I think seasons 3 and 4 are the best ones, and it's no surprise that almost all of my favorite episodes are from those ones. I've heard animators from Spumco eventually worked on the show on the side, so I guess that would explain the improvement in the animation later on.(Probably was nice for them to get a break from John Kricfalusi, too, assuming this was before he was fired from Ren & Stimpy.)
- It's nice to see there was no stupid love triangle between Doug, Patti, and Roger, or any kind of major romantic drama in general- something I, thankfully, falsely remembered being a thing from watching the show growing up. That's something I appreciate in a Slice of Life series. The only time there was a mention of Roger being a romantic rival was in the pilot and that was dropped after it. Any other time it's just from Doug being paranoid and assuming the worst. Other than that, all Roger did was just annoy Patti by doing things like begging her to help him cheat on his school work, and it's clear Patti at the very most tolerates him. If there's any possibility of Roger having a crush on someone it's not towards Patti, intentional or not.
- The structure for the episodes are very formulaic. But since they're told from the perspective of a kid writing a journal entry, and the episodes are only 11 minutes long, it didn't really bother me much. Even the plots of later episodes became less about "Doug is afraid of looking like a loser and assumes the worst outcome."
- I know the show and the subjects it tackles is considered "safe" by today's standards, but I still don't really see anything bad about it. I still think they're told in a way that's still relatable to it's target audience, while still be entertaining at the same time. There's even some episodes I found more relatable and even funnier now that I watch them, compared to when I saw them in my childhood. Like the episode where Doug and Skeeter collaborate on a comic book, but they keep butting heads over creative differences.
- Watching the show now makes me realize how much effort was put into the music, in terms of how distinct a lot of the tracks sound from each other. There's a lot of tracks from the show I actually like listening to on their own beyond just The Beets songs(whoever managed to find a super rare ost CD of the show deserves a huge medal). With the Scat style they went for the show's music, a lot of the background music would sound like it would fit right into an Earthbound/Mother game if they were composed to fit into the SNES sound chip.
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- I like how there was not only regularly reoccurring pudgy or fat characters in the show like Connie, but they were never used as the butt of a fat joke.(Something that was kind of hard to come by in the early 90s.) The only time there was any kind of fat jokes in the general was during Doug's daydreaming segments in, "Doug Tips The Scale", but that was not only to show how insecure Doug was about his body, but the execution of them was actually funny.
- There wasn't really a character I disliked during my watch through of this. Bill Bluff came very close to it, though, with him trying to have Porkchop put down in the Christmas special, something that goes beyond just being a stuffy businessman.
- "Doug Needs Xanax".
Just like with the rest of the “Nicktoons”, I grew up watching this show, but not in the same way as the others. It was more of a show I watched because it was on before Rugrats or because of endless reruns. I still liked it, but I didn’t go out of my way to watch it compared to Rugrats.
I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did watching it now. Maybe it’s because now that I’m older I can better relate, or I now get a lot of the jokes and humor that went over my head back then. It’s not the best out of the original “Nicktoons”, but it still has a lot of heart and charm, and it’s genuinely wholesome(and I do mean that in a good way). I definitely appreciate it a lot more now compared to when I was a kid.
Now that I’m finished with the original Nickelodeon series of Doug, I’m going to try and watch the Disney seasons. Unlike the Nickelodeon one, I’ve only seen a handful of episodes from the Disney series but only have a vague memory of them, and the movie. So it’s going to nearly be a first time, blind watch through of it.
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♡ 。• * this is an idol life ship for my goddess @rr0zu !! hope you enjoy your ship sami <3
____________
♡ 。• * your entertainment company
♡ 。• * your pre-debut days
you’ve always loved singing and had an incredible talent for it but you were uncertain about pursuing it as more than a hobby and make a career out of it. but with your friends’ encouragement, you decided to give it a chance so you auditioned through sm global auditions and was accepted as a trainee.
when first moved to seoul and first joined sm, it was a similar situation as irene from red velvet when she was a trainee. with your visuals and talents, fellow trainees were intimidated by you but that didn’t last long because of your outgoing, charming, friendly, and kind personality.
you have an aptitude for languages so you can already speak basic-level korean which made it easier for you to socialize with fellow trainees.
before even auditioning, you posted one video of you singing ‘a whole new world’ on the internet and that video resurfaced and pretty much went viral for a few days.
you were a very popular trainee and you have had several pre-debut exposures; you appeared in some music videos of exo and nct.
sm originally had plans to debut you as a solo artist after just a year of training but plans changed and you debuted in a girl group a year later. so you trained for two years in total.
♡ 。• * your position(s), role(s), and what you’re known for
your positions are main vocalist, visual, center, and face of the group.
you’re the ‘mom’ of the group; you don’t really dote on the members but you are very level-headed, understanding, and reliable, and offer the best advice. you always know the right things to say and have natural leadership abilities.
you’re known for your amazing vocals and is often called one of the best vocalists in the industry. i mean, as expected from sm, right?
you’re also known as the ‘language master’ because of your ability to be able to speak multiple languages. you’re able to connect to a lot of fans around the world because of this. you’re also very eloquent which is why your members rely on you a lot in interviews, especially foreign ones.
another thing you’re known for is your athleticism. you shine a lot at isac (idol stars athletics championships) where you consistently impress other idols and fans alike as you win medals for your team every year.
♡ 。• * your group
there are five members in your group, including you.
all members of your group has had pre-debut exposures so even before officially debuting, you guys already had a decent amount of fanbase and a lot of people were anticipating and excited for you guys.
there is no official leader in your group. you guys all just help each other during the practice and other activities; each member takes the leadership role in different areas and situations.
your group members (in order of age) includes:
della ( ‘97-liner ) is the oldest and is from new york city. she is half-korean and half-japanese. she’s the main dancer, lead vocalist, and face of the group. she’s also another language master of the group. she also appeared in 1million’s dance videos a lot which is where fans started noticing her. if you’re the mom of the group then she’s the dad. you guys are fans’ favorite ‘mom and dad’ ship of the group. she was one of your first friends in seoul, joining the company around the same time and debuting together. you guys like to debate a lot which is both entertaining and informative. and you have so many playful banters.
suri ( ‘98-liner ) is from daegu, south korea. her positions are lead-rapper, and another visual of the group. she trained for the least amount of time, having trained only for eight months before debuting. she’s your same-age friend in the group. she is also the fake maknae, known for her natural aegyo and cute antics. suri was actually a child model and actress and she still models as a side profession apart from being an idol; she has walked on some runways. you and suri are the roommates.
yun ( ‘00 liner ) is korean and was born in seoul but she grew up in berlin, germany with her aunt’s family. she’s the main rapper and sub-vocalist of the group. she trained for the longest time in the group: four years. she’s actually the most introverted one of the group; she isn’t exactly shy but she doesn’t speak much unless spoken to or if she has something to say. but on the stage, she turns into a charisma-machine. she participated on highschool rapper.
mey ( ‘01 liner ) is from hong kong. she’s the lead dancer, sub-vocalist, sub-rapper, center, and maknae. she trained for around three years before debuting. she definitely fits the “maknae on top” description. she’s the mood-maker and happy virus of the group. she is extremely funny and known for her extra yet endearing antics. tiktok queen.
♡ 。• * your group’s concept
you guys generally have this mature, sensual, feminine, strong yet soft concept. there is also a lot of female empowerment and embracing femininity messages in your songs. the debut song is similar to starry night by mamamoo. a lot of songs by mamamoo are good representations of your group’s discography.
♡ 。• * your female best-friend
irene from red velvet || queens. your friendship is the sweetest and is one of those fan-favorite friendships. your platonic ship name is samrene.
you guys are pretty similar in some ways so knetizens compared you two a lot but honestly there is no rivalry and only genuine sisterly bond between you guys.
you guys are from the same company so it’s even easier to meet up and hang out.
honestly your group is very close with red velvet. so you guys would often to go their dorm and sleep-over. you and irene would cook for the others and you would eat together while talking, sharing stories, and have the best time together.
other than irene, you’re also extremely close with joy.
♡ 。• * your male best-friend
dean (soloist) || you and dean sang an ost together for a very popular k-drama and since then, you have become very close and often name each other best-friends. the song also became a hit and became the best ost award at kbs drama awards. that night, you also sang it live together at the event.
since then, you also feature sometimes on some of dean’s songs.
you guys have a very mature and pure friendship. you have a lot of deep, insightful, and eye-opening talks with each other. you often eat out a lot at more lowkey restaurants.
˚ ． ♡ your crush (mutual) ( i was going to go with someone from nct but idk why i couldn’t get the image of you and sehun out of my head throughout this whole ship so yea bby <3 might also be influenced by the fact that you told us a reading said your next partner would be an aries with broad shoulder lmao - you did right ? oml i went to your blog and scrolled a bit to check but i didn’t see any lmao. h e l p. but anyway this is a pretty solid ship i love it. )
sehun from exo || you guys met when you were a trainee at which point he was already a pretty established idol. the first time you met was at the sm cafe. he was there with chanyeol and you were behind them, next in line to order.
it was kind of late at night and they weren’t a lot of people - only one other customer who’s an employee at the company. anyway they were taking their time choosing what to order and sehun was the first one who noticed you behind them and not wanting to make you wait longer, he let you order first. you were like oh no it’s okay but he and chanyeol insisted, saying they haven’t made up their mind on what to order yet.
but other than that, nothing much happened afterwards for that night and you never saw each other again until about six months later when you were chosen to appear in one of exo’s music videos.
then you guys started becoming closer afterwards and talked often. he was so supportive of your debut and your group as a whole. so many fancams of him and other sm artists dancing/singing/vibing along to your songs at award shows.
he’s pretty shy yet open and straightforward about his feelings for you but you guys are at a stage where you’re just giving more time to learn about each other.
it’s a slow-burn type of romance.
but honestly, everyone at sm can see you’re more than just friends and they’re all just waiting for one of you to make a move at this point.
˚ ． ♡ miscellaneous
a lot of your fancams go viral on social medias
your group wins best girl group at mama only after a year of debuting.
you’re named as an ideal type a lot by rookie artists.
you’re sponsored by burberry and you’re also the brand ambassador of the brand.
____________
thank you for requesting bby !! <3 have a beautiful day/night hehe
#kpop ships#ship requests#kpop ship requests#idol life ships#selca ships#written ships#rr0zu#sam#sami#<3
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Overall Thoughts on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
I talked about my feelings and complaints of individual seasons, and I won’t get into that here. This discussion on what works and what doesn’t in the series taken in aggregate.
The story was an engaging watch the vast majority of the shows run. I have an attention span the size of a mustard seed and rarely watch a show longer than around 2 seasons, so the fact that I binged all of it in about a week and a half says something about how compelling the narrative was.
Helping my desire to continue to watch the show were that the vast majority of the cast was extremely likeable. Even most of the villains were either incredibly sympathetic or well-written enough to serve their narrative purpose. The few characters that I didn’t appreciate so much I mentioned in my other discussions, but Hordak stands to be mentioned here because my frustration is mostly with how he is treated in the narrative (we’ll get to that). The only character I think should have been removed entirely is Seahawk as I personally think he was not a very good fit for the show.
There were some tonal issues in my opinion. Balancing comedic moments and serious scenes is very important in shows like this, especially in shows for young children where too grim a tone for an extended period of time may start to scare them too much. Most of the time the show manages the balancing act decently. A few times there are some gaffs. One of the more egregious examples was when they followed an episode where Salineas is razed to ground with one where Seahawk gets himself and two other characters kidnapped via stupidity and wacky hijinks ensue. There were a few other parts of the story with similar sudden jumps in tone.
There are two main issues with the redemption arcs in the show. First, There is a ceiling on the severity of the bad actions you can have your redeemable characters commit before people won’t want them to be redeemable characters anymore. This is the main issue with Hordak’s redemption; the war he was directly responsible for and the amount of deaths and suffering that followed would realistically make most of the characters not really want to see him anywhere but in front of a war tribunal. You’ve trapped yourself into a corner when it comes to the typical redeemed character narrative of children’s shows because you can’t have anyone forgive the character without writing them egregiously out of character. I will say that it’s my personal belief that just about anyone could become a better person if they tried, and having a character make the slow and difficult journey to being a better person in spite of the fact that nobody will forgive what they’ve done and some things can never be taken back would be an amazing and mature lesson for a children’s show. She-ra, however, wants the kind of redemption where people are forgiven and become friends at the end, and having the characters you intend to redeem in that fashion commit widespread atrocities is a poor writing choice.
The second issue with the show’s redemption is that, for a good redemption arc, the character needs to specifically apologize for every major wrong they committed and make amends for it. They got so, so close with Catra’s redemption arc. She was sympathetic from the beginning and a lot of the most egregious bad things she did were poor treatment of specific people that she apologized to and forgave her. The portal and being Hordak’s second-in-command during the war skirts kind of close to the moral event horizon, but it could be reasonably argued that the things that she did to save the universe could cause people to forgive a lot of that (that happens a lot in real life wars when people defect to the right side and get immunity for some of all their past actions). The stain on what was otherwise a well-written and clearly planned redemption arc for her is the fact that she kills someone (Angela) and it is not mentioned once after they get her back. I’m not saying she has to go to prison for murder, though that would certainly be a reasonable reaction. Maybe she gets a pardon because she helped saved the universe, mitigating factors from being an abused teenager, Adora begged for leniency, Queen Glimmer is merciful, or some combination of the above. But the show should be addressing it. Catra should be apologizing for it. Glimmer should be angry about it. It should be the main factor that causes a huge barrier making her an ally. Background characters should be upset that the killer of their beloved monarch is just walking around like nothing is wrong. The show should at least mention it. As of right now, this unresolved plot thread is the biggest elephant in the room and the one thing that will bother me long after I’ve moved on to other shows.
One of the main things that this show wanted to do was have a realistic portrayal of abuse in a children’s show. The show succeeded. I especially appreciated that it went out of their way to show that even though Adora was the ‘favorite’, that Shadow Weaver fucked her up too and gave her a different, but equally severe set of psychological issues from it and the show doesn’t compare their suffering or try to portray what happened to her as ‘not as bad’ as what happened to Catra. Well done
The animation was very solid all around. I noticed that they did a better job in later seasons of portraying Adora as noticeably taller than most of the other characters when she’s transformed into She-Ra.
The soundtrack was generally decent. There are only a few particular tracks that I would go back and listen to outside of watching the show, but the tracks as a whole did a good job setting the appropriate tone for the scene they were played in (as a side, if any of you have the clip for the ost that plays when Catra fights Tongue Lashor, please give it to me, I’ve been looking for it everywhere).
Best characters: Entrapta, Bow, Scorpia, Frosta, I love most of them to be fair
Worst Characters: Shadow Weaver, Hordak, Seahawk
My favorite moment of the series is difficult to choose but the moment where Catra apologizes to Entrapta and Entrapta gives a quiet “I forgive you” had a weight that not a lot of scenes in the show had. That baptism scene was also one of the more creepy scenes I’ve seen in a children’s show in a while
The score for the show gets -1 point for Angela not being brought up once in season five, -1 point for Hordak’s redemption arc in general, and -0.5 points for the tonal issues and basically everything else that I complained about while watching the show but I didn’t feel was bad enough to warrant a significant deduction on it’s own, for a grand total of 7.5/10. That is not bad on my scale. For reference a 1 is something you couldn’t pay me to see again, a 5 is a show that I would be willing to let run while I study but otherwise wouldn’t care about one way or the other (e.g Bleach), a 7.5-8 is where I would start recommending the show to most people, and a 10 is one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen. She-Ra and the princesses of power is not the greatest show I’ve ever seen. It has flaws. But I’ve had genuine enjoyment for shows with far, far more serious flaws than this show. And it’s one of the few recent nostalgic reboots that appears to far surpass the original. I would recommend She-Ra.
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Asian Drama Watchlist & Review for Jan 2020
Wow, got through a lot of shows and films this month compared to my norm (probably due to my lack of a social life, but meh, that’s beside the point)!!!
So here are my thoughts and reviews for the shows I watched in January... probably not going to be completely spoiler free
And yeah this got long, so putting my reviews below the break so it doesn’t take up the whole wall!!
Finished Watching this month:
1) Ashes of Love
Wowww, what a journey this show takes you on!! It took me awhile to get through, as I often find with Fantasy CDramas, as I find it hard to binge too many eps at a time, but I was hooked from the start! I love the actors, the characters, I loved the leads but fell in love with several side characters as well, the angst gave you all the feels, there were plenty of funny moments, and the love stories really made your heart flutter (I especially fell in love with the side love story, which is rare for me!). Really loved this one!
Where I watched: Viki, also on Netflix
2) TharnType the Series
Hands down one of my favorite BL couples!! Their chemistry is out of this world. Are there problematic parts of the show? Yes, most definitely, especially near the beginning, but their connection and sweet moments are worth it, and honestly I just made up my own head cannon where those parts don’t exist haha!! I LOVE this couple, they way they look at each other and all the touches, ugh it just does things to me!! And their acting was fabulous, I fell in love with Mew (more than I already was) and Gulf as well!
Where I watched: Links to Line TV (found on Official TharnType Twitter)
4) Coffee & Vanilla
Skinship, Skinship, Skinship!! From ep 1, I was like woah! So I started this one because I saw the 2 leads in Good Morning Call and think Dori Sakurada is just a beautiful human being and had SLS big time, so was curious to see him get the girl this time!! And yeah he didn’t disappoint, he’s gorgeous and whoooo did that boy have some kinks! Honestly, I thought their chemistry was good and I thoroughly enjoyed all the skinship scenes, if anything I would have been happy to see more of his kinky side actually get reciprocated haha!! I personally enjoy a clingy, head-over-heels in love ML, and am for the alpha-male/innocent girl dynamic, and that’s exactly what you get!!!
I can see why this show wouldn’t be for everyone though, it has problematic parts for sure! It has a really weak FL who doesn’t really have a lot of character growth (despite her saying at the end she got stronger, I was like really?? fooled me! but at least she’s aware of her weakness??), but her “innocent” character is one of the things that drives the story so it didn’t bother me that much. I could have done without so much manhandling (by pretty much every male in the series). I could see how it could be triggering for some. I also thought she had the worst best friend in the world and was way too forgiving. But if you can get over these points, I enjoyed it quite a lot! I may make some gifs for this one since there are several scenes I liked and no one seems to be making any!!
Where I watched: Viki
3) He is Psychometric
So this was different than I expected. Not bad by any means, just different. I was expecting more romance, more healing from shared trauma, etc. Maybe I was hoping it would be a bit more like Just Between Lovers after seeing that first ep and the trauma? But I know nothing will ever replace that show in my heart, it will always be a fave! Anyways, this wasn’t like that one haha! It was a lot more mystery/crime genre than anything, which isn’t my fave, but there were a few sweet moments and the acting was sooo good and by the time I realized the romance & story wasn’t really what I was expecting I was drawn into the mystery I had to know how it ended!
Where I watched: Viki
5) Theory of Love
I love OffGun as celebrities and in their variety shows, but never saw them in a series so decided to give this one a go! Wow, I totally ended up in a major binge session with this one!! I didn’t want to stop watching! I’ve always thought Gun was a cutie, but after seeing him act I have a whole new respect for him. Did I think it was one of the best BL stories I’ve seen? No. But they have great chemistry and it was a cute story overall! Really enjoyed this one!!
Where I watched: YouTube (GMM channel)
6) Dark Blue Kiss
I’ve seen the various Kiss prequels so was excited about this one! Honestly, I felt the MorkSun story overpowered PeteKao a bit but am not complaining as I loved both stories! There were a lot of sweet moments and just enough angst to keep you interested. But above all, I have to say the superstars of the series were the parents!! The acceptance every person should get, open talks about sex and condoms, advocating for your child, I mean it really doesn’t get much better! It hit on many important lgbtq topics and for that alone I thought it was very well-done! All the couples were very cute and made me root for them!
Where I watched: YouTube (GMM channel)
7) Love by Chance (rewatch)
In prep for the 2nd season I decided to rewatch LBC in a binge session! Oh my goodness, I forgot how much I missed AePete, I fell in love with them big time the first time around and all of that just came rushing back. I’m reeeally going to miss Pete in season 2!!! Their relationship is just so healthy compared to most in the BL world and their chemistry is sooo good!! They better at least let them stay happy and in love even if Pete is abroad!! I admit I was never one to get crazy about TinCan, but knowing they’ll be the center of season 2 I watched their scenes more closely and definitely felt a stronger pull for them this time around. I’m very excited to see how their story continues!!!!
Where I watched: Youtube (Studio Wabi Sabi channel)
8) The Hows of Us
This filipino film stars one of my fave love teams... KathNeil!! I love their films and that they are a reel to real couple as well!! I enjoyed this movie a lot, it was more mature than many of their previous works together and showed how they’ve been growing. It wasn’t a typical falling in love story that ends when the couple gets together but explores how couples grow apart and how real life can sometimes get in the way of our dreams. I found the film relatable and also optimistic. And I love the pining and longing looks... that always gets me and there was a lot of it in this film!!
Where I watched: TFC
9) Hotel Del Luna
This is what kdramas are all about - Superb acting, gorgeous cinematography, interesting characters, beautiful OST, the whole production was incredible! It wasn’t my favorite story ever and it took me several months to finish but it kept puliing my back in and I finally got through it. I really was mesmerized each ep by how beautiful the whole thing was. I liked the back story and all the fun side characters. And I swear it was worth watching just for IU’s costumes, hair, and different styles alone!! I didn’t love the ending, that was my biggest complaint, I guess you could call it “open?” I just think it could have wrapped up better, but overall it was a beautiful series!
Where I watched: Viki
10) Itsuka, Nemuri Ni Tsuku Hi (Someday When I Fall Asleep)
Wow what a trippy series. It was short enough to binge in one afternoon and it looked interesting, so that’s exactly what I did. It was intriguing from the start and there was a mystery about it that kept my interest, it was a bit creepy at times, and had some twists I totally was NOT expecting at all. Overall it was one of those that made me think and ponder for awhile after, but it did make me a bit sad too, so only watch if you’re willing to experience some feels, but it was a good one and I’m glad I stumbled upon it!
Where I watched: Viki
Currently Watching for Feb:
1) Guardian (woah, another good “bromance” with all those looks!)
2) The Untamed (rewatch - and so far it’s even BETTER the 2nd time around!!!)
3) ‘Cause You’re My Boy (cute so far)
4) Moment of Eighteen (my Astro loving heart was so excited to see Moonbin!!)
5) Until We Meet Again The Series (so many feeeels)
6) Why R U? The Series (jury is still out but I LOVE Saint!)
7) Itaewon Class (super excited for this one, Park Seo Joon, need I say more?!)
8) Crash Landing on You (excellent so far!)
9) Make it With You (filipino series starring my FAVE love team, LizQuen!!)
#Asian dramas#kdrama#Cdrama#jdrama#bl drama#thai bl#filipino drama#ashes of love#TharnType#hotel del luna#the hows of us#love by chance the series#dark blue kiss#theory of love#he is psychometric#coffee & vanilla#Itsuka Nemuri Ni Tsuku Hi#drama review#kdrama review#k reviews kdramas#january 2020
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