#but still! i think stuff gets interesting there for the recurring cast

[riiye02]

WKBRL Transcript Part 4

As seen in this video This post will cover the 10th hour to the 12th, ending the first part!

10:03:39 (Music gets reversed) -[Smile Person, reversed. I think it says]: "Isn't happiness easy?"

10:06:24 -[Smile Person, reversed]: "What you are hearing is how it feels when you feel happy."

10:07:21 (Music stops) -[Introducer Person]: "Start tomorrow tomorrow. Start your day right now with me, a real live person who plays popular radio music, on the WKBRL." (Celebratory music plays, not reversed anymore)

10:20:08 (Music stops, news and weather intro plays:) -[News and Weather]: "News! Weather. News! Weather. News! Can you believe this weather? Weather. News! Weather. News. Have you heard the news? WKBRL news, and weather." (Jingle plays) "Live from Starr Park! This is the news and weather report from a news and weather person." -[News and Weather Person]: "Hello, and good day. I'm anchor name here. Or am I? The last thing I remember is news-" (News and weather outro plays while News and Weather Person is talking) "- outro cuts him o- Hmm? Oh. Yes, ha, I see what you did." (News and Weather outro stops) "Oh, thank you. I am a puppet." (Celebratory music plays)

10:32:10 (Music stops, KairosTim theme plays) -[KairosTim Person]: "Hello, fellow Brawlers! KairosTim would like to remind you that there is no better, safer way of wearing your Starr Hat than wearing it all the time. Even when you sleep. Even when you shower. Even when you try on another hat. This is Kairos!" (Celebratory music plays)

10:40:20 (Music stops) -[Introducer Person]: "You are tuned to WKBRL and because of that, you've won! And now, we must sing! We must sing! We must sing directly into the microphone or they won't know that we are singing because you won and therefore are happy." (Celebratory music plays)

10:43:09 (Music stops, jingle plays) -[Smile Person]: "This is your reminder to smile!" (Jingle plays, celebratory music starts)

10:53:39 (Music stops) -[Intermission Person]: "That was an hour of uninterrupted victory. I hope you feel it in whatever skin you're wearing. I hope your feet are marching in the correct direction. I hope you keep it tuned right here to WKBRL. And don't make the mistake of leaving!" -[People]: "WKBRL! The voice that hears you." (Echoes) -[Introducer Person]: "Up next, we will find happiness in the limitlessness of space. Our origin. Let's go back there, together." (Space music plays)

11:00:56 (Music stops and jingle plays) -[Smile Person]: "This is your smile reminder! Smile. Smile! Smile! Smile. Smile. Smile. Smile. Smile! SMILE. SMILE! SMILE! SMILE. There. That's better." (Jingle plays and space music resumes)

11:13:30 (Music stops) -[Intermission Person]: "Project yourself onto the outer reaches of the infinite galaxy. With laser focus, you can find yourself shining brighter than any star there never was. Because you're tuned in to WKBRL. And you, are drifting… through…" -[Distorted]: "space…" (Space music plays)

11:19:55 -[Smile Person]: "Technology has been domesticated to meet your insatiable appetite for fun."

11:40:07 (Music stops, news and weather intro plays:) -[News and Weather]: "News! Weather. News! Weather. News! Can you believe this weather? Weather. News! Weather. News. Have you heard the news? WKBRL news, and weather." (Jingle plays) "Live from Starr Park! This is the news and weather report from a news and weather person." -[News and Weather Person]: "Hello, and good day. I'm definitely anchor name here, and this is the news. This just in, everything is perfect! Ha haha, soo perfect. Too perfect, pfft- if you really think about it, hahah… Where the weather at?!" (News and Weather outro plays:) -[News and Weather]: "News! Weather. News! Weather. That was news, and weather." -[Introducer Person]: "This commercial free hour of space jams is made possible by the Ogawa Roofing company. Ogawa Roofing has not been fixing roofs for decades. Because there's been zero roof trouble to speak of whatsoever. No fiery objects have landed in the middle of any roofs that Ogawa knows of, but their roofers are always at the ready and happy to help if and when your roof collapses under the weight of a gigantic robotic foot, which it won't! But if it does, call Ogawa today." (Space music plays)

11:53:43 (Music stops and KairosTim theme plays) -[KairosTim Person]: "KairosTim here, and I have a riddle for you! What's fake, and not real, but says that he is real, but is fake? That's right, fake Kairos! Click, like and subscribe to the REAL Kairos. KairosTim." (Space music plays)

#brawl stars #wkbrl #brawlstars #idk how to directly respond to re-blog notes but in case they see this post too #thank YOU! I'm glad that people are still interested in WKBRL stuff even if it's been a while since the streams :D #there's still 12 hours left to be transcribed of this one #well technically 5 since the remaining hours are just trance music loops #but still! i think stuff gets interesting there for the recurring cast #even if these people don't turn out to actually be brawlers i still liked them #hope i find discussions about them out there somewhere bc i feel there's a very fair amount to be interpreted between the lines for each

[mylordshesacactus]

As I've picked it back up again after a long hiatus, I've realized that I probably have a lot of people around now who have no earthly idea what the hell my current longfic project even is anymore!

Anyway, this is a GREAT time to start reading

Reunification

Darnassus falls. In some timeline, in some version of the story, Nathanos Marris makes a mistake. In some timeline a word of kindness somewhere, a show of support somewhere else, a moment of humanity for lack of a better term, heads off a preemptive strike at the pass. In some timeline, Alliance intelligence is just a tiny bit more paranoid, a tiny bit more thorough, and the Horde stalls in Ashenvale. But today, Darnassus falls. Darnassus does not burn.

It's a single-point divergence AU of the War of Thorns--I was genuinely shocked that "AU where Sylvanas' original plan, to kill Malfurion and occupy Darnassus intact, succeeded" wasn't more prominent in the fandom. I was ALSO shocked to find so little Tyrande/Thalyssra anywhere, so I folded the two into a single project.

Some highlights:

Thalrande arranged marriage as a political-hostage bargaining chip

Sylvanas displaying both political and military competence while, crucially, still being a deeply obnoxious asshole (affectionate) the whole time

Valtrois TM

Anduin Wrynn, Living Embodiment Of Sunshine

Jaina, traumatized and angry and heartsick, dragged into overseeing the joint administration of Lordaeron and finding herself again in a city she's terrified to let herself love

All of my favorite minor NPCs/Hearthstone protagonists getting their day in the limelight (Rokara and Cariel Roame and Elise Starseeker my beloveds--)

The stark divide between high-level faction politics, and the lived reality of (what I hope you find to be) a rich cast of ordinary, sub-Champion citizens of Azeroth whose lives are a lot more complicated than killing people over a simple blue or red banner

(Seriously, if you like my OCs in general, the little folk of Azeroth are a major recurring thing here.)

Cannot emphasize how emphatically Valtrois is both Present and Extremely Herself.

We're currently right in the middle of a really interesting arc that's REALLY intertwining the parallel plotlines; I'm referring to them in my planning notes as the Ruby Dragonflight and Lordaeron Crisis arcs.

I'm having fun and I think there's some stuff here for a lot of people if y'all want to check it out! I have a much more sustainable approach to writing these days (and a partner who's ALSO writing warcraft longfic, and that's helping to keep the muse alive).

Anyway! Hope to see you over there.

#wow fic #thalrande #tyrande whisperwind #thalyssra #jaina proudmoore #this is wildly enough not a sylvaina au but if you're a fan of the kind of politics-heavy longfics #that we all love so much in sylvaina fandom? #might be right up your alley

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

GUYS I'VE OFFICIALLY LOST IT-

So. Awhile ago, I saw this post, right? Basically it just said that Sera and Sir Pentious' cards have very similar compositions, and that Seraphim, which is what Sera is, are often associated with serpents. Interesting, but could still be a coincidence, right?

So anyways I checked the reblogs and saw somebody say they should kiss. And now I'm insane.

Because like... the only thing we know really about Sir Pentious' potential story arc in the show is that he's gonna have a crush on one of the other characters. And the only thing confirmed about his sexuality(to my knowledge) is that he is attracted to women. We don't really have any way to know who his crush is, because there are a lot of women in Hazbin Hotel, but could still be noteworthy, right? And like... okay this is gonna sound like the most "trust me, bro" evidence I could possibly pull out of my ass at first but I just need you to hear me out here, okay? Sera's crown and Sir Pentious' hat have a lot of visual similarities. Here's a helpful diagram :)

Which like. Okay. Could literally be nothing, right? Except for two small things that I can't let go of: One, Sir Pentious' goggles + the v-shaped brim on his hat were added to his design AFTER he was given a more prominent role in the show-

(Pilot design, back when he was meant to be a one-off villain of the week vs current design as a member of the main cast)

And two, the Hellaverse shows kind of have a tendancy to use visuals in order to signify characters' relationships to eachother. It's also just a pretty popular form of symbolism as a whole tbh, but the Hellaverse has a lot of really good examples. Like, for instance, how Vaggie's new outfit is a lot closer to Charlie's color pallette than any of her previous designs, or this really good breakdown by @/raeynbowboi about the symbolism of hearts in Hazbin Hotel and how they pertain to Angel Dust/his relationships! It's from awhile ago so some of the info is a tad outdated, but overall I do think the analysis holds up. Meanwhile, in Helluva Boss, Moxxie and Millie have basically the same color pallette and they were the most functional relationship in the entire show before before Fizzmodeus came along. Which, speaking of those two...

See, I made this diagram because, after I pointed out the similarities between Sera and Sir Pentious' headgear to my dad and asked him if those kinds of similarities were a valid form of analysis(because I am but a humble highschooler that doesn't know everything about media analysis, and also I felt like I was losing my mind-), my dad said that I should look at the creator's(Vivziepop's) other works to see if couples having similar motifs was a recurring theme. So obviously, I picked my favorite couple in either show and disected their designs for every little detail that could maybe possibly be an intentional parallel. And while some of it is kind of iffy, like Fizz's limbs being the same kind of blue as Ozzie's tufts could just be a way to show that Ozzie made them, or both of them having uh, two things sticking off of their head(that one's definitely a reach-), I think stuff like both of them having hearts as a recurring detail in their designs or having lITERALLY THE SAME EYE COLOR??? Are pretty good evidence that Viv/the Hellaverse design team tend to use visuals to signify characters relationships.

ALSO!!!! If the Fallen Angel Vaggie theory ends up being true, there could be some interesting parallels to draw between Chaggie and Sera/Sir Pentious! Something about like... demon royalty/random angel vs angel royalty/random demon. Could be used to draw parallels between how the two societies treat that kind of thing idk.

So, now that all the meta evidence is out of the way, we can get down to what really matters: would these two work as a couple? Do their personalities mesh well togther? And the answer to that is!

IM SORRY FOR USING THE GIF IT WAS A GOOD JOKE IN MY HEAD BUT TYPING THIS OUT IDK IF IT'S ACTUALLY FUNNY-

But in all seriousness, I don't actually know. We just... haven't seen enough of Sera to know for sure. In fact, this whole theory is based off of small details that definitely add up to SOMETHING, but could very well be pieces to some very different puzzles that I'm trying to shove together because somebody jokingly suggested that they would fit. Like, the parallels really COULD mean something, and it COULD have something to do with Sir Pentious having a crush on another character, but like. There could also be a million other answers to both of those questions, y'know? I also have a tendancy to make wild conspiracy theories about genuinely inconsequential details... I almost never talk about them publically, but still. Though I will say, based off of Sera's description in the leaks, I could definitely see a world where she bounces off of Sir Pentious pretty well. Her description in the leaks very much gave me uh... Isabela cover of Surface Pressure vibes, y'know? Shit that is- that is a weird way to describe that but most people on here have seen Encanto right? Y'all get it? And Sir Pentious is both a Victorian Gentleman Type and completely unhinged. Like... idk there's something there. I could maybe see it working. But at the end of the day, it's just too early to tell.

That being said I WILL be trying to pump out some fanart of these two before the actual show comes out and crushes my crackshipping dreams. Also their ship name is either SeraPentious or PentSera I can't decide.

Edit: Wait a second... SeraPent. Serpent. PUN!!!!!!!!!! Okay I think I'm going with SeraPent-

#this is really just my attempt to make PentSera a thing before the show airs and I look like a fool #CRACKSHIPPERS ARIIIIIIIISE!!!!!!!!! #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel analysis #idk if that's actually a tag but who cares #sera #hazbin sera #hazbin hotel sera #sir pentious #sir pentious x sera #sera x sir pentious #serapentious #pentsera #I might just stick with pentsera tbh it rolls off the tongue way better #analysis #long post #I feel like. I should tag this with late night ramblings. this feels like a late night ramblings post. #probably because I'm sleep deprived and so depressed I'm constantly exhausted #I'll tag late night ramblings for now and remove it if I change my mind ig #late night ramblings #serapent #gal overanalyzes random shit

[pteropodidaes]

it's been a while since i interacted with the marauders fandom, (like a month or two) but one recurring theme that i saw was the drastic recon of a lot of the slytherins in that era.

i remember when your main cast in your average marauders fic was mostly gryffindors, and then a lot of the antagonists were slytherins. barty and evan were almost always villains (bullies, toxic exes, etc) and regulus was an angst device for sirius. nowadays, the main cast is split into two main friend groups, gryffindors and slytherins. most gryffindors have a slytherin they're paired with (lily and dorcas [which btw i remember when dorcas was a gryffindor], james and regulus, etc etc). the slytherins all have family issues where their parents are blood purists and they don't agree with them and it's a whole thing blah blah blah

i like that there is more diversity in where the characters come from, but there is so much nuance that is stripped of these characters to make them all get along. regulus is the number one victim of this.

i've noticed there is a desire to make the characters people like morally good. they preach about grey characters, but when it comes down to it there is always a justification for the "bad" things they do. sometimes people do bad things because they believe bad things. regulus is a bad guy. he is a death eater, he gets the dark mark and everything. a lot of people write that regulus secretly agreed with sirius the whole time, but it makes it so much more interesting if sirius and regulus's morals actually clash instead of regulus just agreeing with his parents. i personally love when sirius and regulus are close in their childhood and then it changes as they both mature and find themselves.

i think if we look at the characters realistically, regulus barty and evan would never truly get along with people like james and sirius. they're both righteous people (ESPECIALLY james) who would not tolerate blood purism. and that's interesting to explore and to write! sirius watching his brother become a complete stranger who resents him because their morals conflict is so interesting!! you don't have to take away murky morals from a character so they can make out with your fav... which leads me to my next thing.

the jegulus boom. i remember when jegulus was a crack ship and now i think it's literally up there in popularity with wolfstar. i used to ship it as a joke, and in the beginning it was cute but honestly i don't see this ever being an actually healthy relationship. again, james has very strong morals and he would not tolerate regulus being a death eater. he would also ALWAYS choose sirius and he wouldn't stay in a relationship with someone who would cause sirius so much pain. there are a select few circumstances where i see them in a select few dynamics??? but i just don't see it happening.

it's sad because i feel like lily has been tossed aside for fandom's new bl ship. like i love wlw ships with all my heart but sometimes it seems like they come out of people wanting to do something with the canon female love interest. jily is such a beautiful and adorable ship, and the chemistry is honestly so much better than jegulus if i'm being honest. lily is also such an interesting character and you can still get your enemies to lovers fix out of jily. you don't need to compromise the morals of both james and regulus for your yaoi.

it always struck me as weird that these canon death eaters are suddenly heroes now, as in they never believed this shit at all and they're actually victims of their families and society and stuff. don't get me wrong, they definitely are, but it would be better if it wasn't just "i always thought this is wrong and i'm the rebel in my family!" people in these systems actually do get brainwashed and manipulated, and they do believe these things wholeheartedly.

i understand the whole thing with marauders is that there is no canon and you can do whatever you want, but sometimes the characters are just so flat. regulus is interesting to me because he was a bad person but he ultimately chose to sacrifice himself for something good. there's also the issue with changing the characters to the point where they're completely unrecognizable from canon. jkr is a shit writer, but that doesn't change the fact that james has been repeatedly described in canon as a righteous man with incredibly strong beliefs. he may have been a little shit, but never to the point where he would date a death eater. he literally pantsed one upside down and washed their mouth out with soap.

i'm also not saying the old fics were better. there used to be a LOTTT of inconsistency with the characterization of a lot of side characters like dorcas and mary and marlene. i love that the new fandom has given these characters a chance to shine. (well, the male ones at least...) i'm also also not saying that the slytherins should be just bad guys again. i feel like we've flopped from making them total assholes to angels that rebel a little bit.

i could honestly talk about the issues within the marauders fandom for literal hours, but the slytherins are something that has bothered me for a while now. don't be scared to make your skrunklies evil, they don't even have to be evil the whole time you can give them a killer redemption arc 👍

#this is messy i wrote it at midnight and i'm sick #we need to talk more about how everyone has done lily so dirty #ship who you want but objectively jily is better than jegulus idc #lily and james have more chemistry in their pinky toes than james and regulus do #harry potter #marauders #james potter #sirius black #lily evans #regulus black #anti jegulus

[theneighborhoodwatch]

i see a lot of speculation on this blog but its kinda hard to see where you're coming from when there's so little out, is there somewhere specific you look for secrets? a lot of the spooky images on the artist's main website are beta designs that will be changed (perfect example is the baphomet image of wally where he has 5 fingers instead of 4 and poppy's neck is still bent down-ward, also we know images with wally's cross cuff is beta and not up to date).

i'm liking your theories btw, this is not me critizing you, i think what you're saying is genuinely interesting but it feels,,, too easy? we know that the story itself will have something to do with the idea of "home", what it means, etc, etc. if you wanna talk more in dms i'd love to chat, im just very confused and feel like something is missing from the source. if you want we can work together to compile evidence about the story and stuff. it might help a ton in laying out the story as it progresses.

[2nd ask] omg i totally didnt see the resource doc, that's so embarrassing. dms are still open tho

no worries! although i will admit i was VERY confused for a second there lol (and quite frankly, a bit wounded that you'd think i'd forget the importance of The Home in the grand scheme of things!)

you do bring up a good point about it being a risky move to cite concept art as evidence, since there's always a chance of Something getting shuffled around or outright scrapped in development. even now, i don't really like looking at WH's concept art from a literal/Plot-Heavy perspective just yet; i tend to look more for recurring visual motifs, possible symbolism, that kinda thing. to help myself out, i have a very basic sorting system when it comes to combing through concept art, which looks something like this:

concept art from around 2018-2019: pertains to a now scrapped version of welcome home. harder to find since it was all on clown's old blog before partycoffin. you likely won't find much here that applies to welcome home as we know it today but it's fun to track those little Evolutionary Changes through it.

concept art from around 2020-2022: home is introduced! the cast lineup is finalized! the Themes begin to take shape! i keep an eye out for Motifs here, but it's important to keep in mind that if there's any era of concept art where shit gets shuffled around the most, it's Probably this one.

concept art from site launch (feb. 14th 2022-onward): the most dependable era. concrete plot details that can be gleaned from concept art alone are still scarce, and to be honest, i don't mind that at all - but the visual design, and any recurring motifs by proxy, seem to be set firmly in place. it's like a chew toy for my brain.

as for your offer - i have plenty of folks in the discord and friends from elsewhere trawling through the site with me, but if you have any findings that haven't been recorded in the observation document or any theories that you'd like to discuss, then yeah i'd be happy to dm!

#ask #nek0mancer #welcome home #is this wh speculation? it's more talking About speculation than anything else. oh well.

[lovecolibri]

It would also be nice if they introduced the character as just a character first and not a love interest to either guy? (I think that was maybe the initial intention with creating Lucy but having her kiss Buck that first episode destroyed that idea.) but hey, hire someone to be in the 911 call center, then after a few episodes intro her to the team. The other pairings work because either they’re all mains, or they’re a great actress like Tracie who can make any scene count.

Also, chemistry reads maybe. Just saying.

Maybe even a new casting director because wtf.

NGL while I absolutely understand what you're saying and I agree with the idea of the approach, it still doesn't work for me, specifically because this is already such a big ensemble cast and Kristen ALREADY cannot handle even making sure the main characters have stuff to do, much less their regular recurring characters. Did we not suffer enough in season 5 with them trying to flesh out tay kay more?!

"Oh they need to spend more time building up these women as their own characters outside of their romantic relationship with Buck or Eddie!" "Oh they need to be in the first responder world so they can flesh them out and make sure they're involved in the show if they want us to like them!" WHY?! Why go through all that and spend all that time when they ALREADY have two characters that are both in the first responder world and who are their own fully fleshed out characters already that the fans know and love, that could just...be TOGETHER? Instead of inventing TWO new regularly recurring characters that they need to develop AND show outside of just their connection to Buck or Eddie which KAREN doesn't even get?

Like, the approach makes sense but I would still not like them because a) Buck and Eddie already perfectly check every both the other has said or been shown to need in a partner, and b) because I love ALL of the firefam and would rather see them than two rando characters I don't know coming in and taking up their screentime 🤷🏻‍♀️

But also, for REAL about the chemistry reads because damn. Like, that was cringe to the point of being unwatchable for both Buck AND Eddie.

#my sweet nonnie friends #911 #911 spoilers #buddie #folger's girl #buck's theme of the week love interest

[sepublic]

Hunter: The Main Character who’s a Side Character

I’ve said it before with Any Sport in a Storm, but it really is so fascinating how a lot of previous development in Seasons 1 and 2 culminate in our protagonists imparting similar lessons to Hunter, and/or being in the same state of mind to receive that mutual growth with him.

It’s just... How they actually build off of past development and arcs so they matter as does their sequence and it adds up; With the payoff for all this careful setup being that it acts as a launching pad for characters to not just take their growth to the next level, but to pass that wisdom to Hunter as well. And that allows Hunter to grow faster than he might normally have; It reminds me a lot of how Eda learned a lot of lessons as a kid firsthand and passed them onto Luz, even as she learned and reiterated a couple things of her own...

And now we get to see Luz and her friends to the same, as the payoff and reward to their own journeys established in Season 1, that we actually worked on and reap the benefits of, while continuing to still build on that for the sake of said protagonists and not just Hunter. Because as Luz helps Eda too, Hunter does the same. And it really does feel like fate (it kinda is from a meta writing perspective) that Hunter meets these people one by one, and they all contribute their own past growth via a contained lesson, and all of their collaborative development combines to uplift Hunter and help him.

Because helping people with what you went through, so it’s easier for them, is SUCH a recurring theme in this show that you could make a drinking game out of it. It all comes into place and they’re not just building stuff for themselves but for Hunter, and it feels so sweet how everyone has lowkey adopted this kid into their found family mutually. Everyone is playing their part because it takes a village to raise a child.

It’s just so compelling and clever and efficient of the writers to take advantage of episodes they established, the work of those who came before makes things easier for those who come next, as it should be; And Hunter feels like... A sort of marker of our protagonists’ progress, part of his purpose is to reflect their own growth back at them, and now he’s narratively checking up on each of them, one by one, to celebrate and summarize what each protagonist has gone through. He’s like a vessel for the audience to do a character arc roll call with and I love it.

And what goes around comes around, because they not only pave the way for Hunter’s redemption, as the most indoctrinated protagonist who has the most to unlearn and thus learn; But we see how Hunter pays them back and makes them realize thing about themselves, in their recognition of the self in him, like a mirror. Hunter is a mirror not just to but for the protagonists, so Luz gains some contemplation about her future; Amity understands what unconditional love is; Willow has someone who gets to know her for who she is; And Gus learns to trust and believe in himself again.

Hunter is just... An almost chameleon character, multi-purpose with so many parallels, like a changeling. And he’s a wonderful narrative tool for our protagonists and a compelling character that we and the characters see themselves in, so there’s just that fun dynamic for them to bounce off of. I really do think Hunter helps enrich our protagonists and give appreciation to their past growth; He’s like a culmination of our beloved cast in a sense, a representative/champion on their behalf. I can see why Dana loves this dude...

In any other story Hunter would be the main character, which I think is meta and sonder; Having our POV be Luz, who wanted to be a main character but recognizes that so does everyone else, everyone is just as real with just as meaningful lives and backgrounds and perspectives as her. And it’s then interesting to explore the type of accumulative character that the main protagonist usually is, since usually it’s them finding others who are a reflection of them, rather than this subversion of the other way around; Our protagonists finding Hunter one at a time.

Hunter is almost like that kind of protagonist who serves as a consistent commentator, a fellow observer with the audience to the REAL protagonists’ stories per episode as we travel around, an episodic, anthological type of story almost. But again, he’s from a different perspective, which adds to the unique subversion and twist; As does Hunter’s deconstruction as a chosen one, his supposed destiny just a scam to keep him in line, just like Adegast’s scam for Luz. I did compare him to ‘Nevareth Bladestrife’, who complains about not being chosen as the hero despite being main character-bait...

Hunter really does feel like that type of central main character where everyone else reflects a different facet of him and exists to get his development and lesson of the day going, but... In the role of a side-character and seen as such from the POV of our ‘side characters’ who would in another story exist just for Hunter’s sake. He didn’t even properly debut until Season 2! And I feel Hunter ultimately uplifted these characters for me, and gave them an additional compelling dynamic to work with and explore themselves with. It’s all so weird and meta and subversive and strange and I just... IT’S SO FASCINATING Y’ALL!!!

#the owl house #the owl house hunter #meta #character analysis

[natsspammityspamspamham]

I'm actually writing this post specifically for @deepwoodenheart because they followed my main and were not a porn blog. Thanks! They've recently expressed an interest in Yuichiro Umehara (a voice actor), and @msyuksanh is his number one fan who is the one who actually introduced me to this specific voice actor. Since I watch a ton of anime (an unhealthy amount), I will be running through some of the stuff I have watched (and some stuff I haven't). Some of these are just to make fun of these anime, but I don't fault any seiyuu for taking a bad role because you do what you need to to make that bread 🍞

His list of roles is big but not as big as some other voice actors, so I was able to go through which ones I had watched or heard of quite quickly. He has made some random appearances in other anime that I've watched where I went "Huh, definitely know this guy from somewhere" like Fire Force, Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, and Kaguya-sama.

Note: I haven't watched Jojo Part 6 yet or that parody magic anime with the wombat. The anime will go in no specific order, but it generally goes from "good" to "mediocre" to "these anime can go suck cheese" with anything below the "keep reading" being literal trash-tier anime. There's also some missing stuff, especially in terms of idol anime because I haven't watched those and don't plan on it for now. From looking at the cast list, I think his major idol roles are in Magic Kyun, Tsukipro, Ensemble Stars, and Idolmaster SideM (regular Idolmaster is for female idols).

Akagami no Shirayuki-hime

I was talking to a friend of mine recently when we went Christmas shopping, and when he saw this manga he went, "I didn't like that one." I personally did like this one. His complaint was that too much time was given to the secondary love interest. Umehara plays a supporting (but recurring) character.

((This scene still makes me laugh to this day. Kaori Nazuka was really funny here.))

Fruits Basket (remake)

Okay, Umehara admittedly barely shows up in this one, but people should watch Fruits Basket no matter who they are. It's good for the soul. That is all.

((It took me so long to find a fricking gif of this bir-- guy.))

Romantic Killer

Anyone who reads this or anyone who has Netflix should go watch this.

((Kabe-down))

Tenchi Souzou Design-bu

This anime is surprisingly not directly creationism, but it sure comes close! As a biology major, this anime was pretty neat, but some of it made me go, "What am I watching anyway?" I'm not an ecology specialist though, so maybe this makes more sense to others. His character is a supporting character, but he has some funny bits.

((He also gets to rap in this role, so that was kind of funny. My other favourite lines are "Wow, Mercury is dead!" and "WOO! SAIKOU NI COOL!!!"))

SSSS.Dynazenon

This one was not nearly as good as Gridman which was already divisive in the mecha community (that I'm not a part of). I heard from others that it was enjoyable, but I personally thought it was a bit of a bore. Props to the casting director for getting Chika Anzai and her cousin Junya Enoki. There are some subbed radio segments that are funny too.

((Also, this is the first anime I watched where he was cast as an ugly adult. Ain't nobody falling for kinoko hair over here. He has also played a piece of sperm, but I digress.))

Dame x Prince

This anime was built for cringe, and it succeeds at cringe. But because it embraces the cringe, it unironically becomes one of the better anime adaptations of an otome game which is like saying you're the tallest dwarf of the seven dwarfs. It also gave a long-running radio with Kaito Ishikawa and Soma Saito.

Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul

I genuinely remember so little about this anime that I went to go watch clips to refresh my memory, and this anime wasn't even bad. It was mediocre, but for something based off a card game, they did really well. I actually watched this for Sumire Morohoshi and her bubbly character Nina. This is technically a sequel, so you'd need to watch the previous one to fully understand it. Oddly enough, I didn't know the first season was a romance until some characters kissed.

Gakuen Babysitters

This one was essentially built to be a comfort watch. It works at what it wants to do, but I don't like kids. The ending theme is cute, but Nishiyama looked way more into it (Umehara was there to get paid).

Shinchou Yuusha

I personally thought this anime was gonna be a Konosuba, and it kind of was, but it was far more palatable for me (I was not able to make it through Konosuba and will try again at a later date). Aki Toyosaki carries 99% of the comedy in this anime.

((That slime never did anything to youuuuuuu)

Orenchi no Furo Jijou

Fun fact: I watched this before knowing what a shounen ai was! I saw the shounen part and went "Oh, so my demographic" watched it, came out, and went "What. Was. That?!" I don't remember a whole ton about it, but I don't remember it being horrendous. It's just some mermaid in a bathtub. I think this was his debut role, and he does play a main character.

Juuni Taisen

This is probably in a similar boat as Tenkuu Shinpan (later in the list). It's just a bloodbath of an anime, but I will give it credit that it has fanservice for both sides (they sexualize men and women). Anyways, it has a stacked seiyuu cast for something that is so incredibly mediocre.

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai

He had to be replaced partway through due to his acute immune disease. However, I think he recorded it in post-production. Either way, it's a supporting character in an anime that I think wasn't worth the watch besides the banger of an opening. Masayoshi Ohishi has a knack for writing openings for romcoms (he likes romcoms himself).

((He's the glasses guy))

Tenkuu Shinpan

I kinda want to watch this one just to turn off my brain and watch some Battle Royale-style gore.

((That character looks sick.))

Darling in the Franxx

Apparently, you're supposed to watch the first 12 episodes then dip, but come on, when the mechas are built like that, I'm not touching that thing. Even though it has Haruka Tomatsu and one of her most famous characters, I'm not watching it.

((It took me over 100 gifs to find one with Gorou in them despite typing in "Gorou Darling in the Franxx", and he is part of the main cast.))

Goblin Slayer

You know, for such an edgy first episode, this series is so mid at the genre it tries to take on after. Umehara said himself, "He doesn't really say much of importance." This anime has sexual violence (and it's explicit), and it's not even good.

Plunderer

I haven't watched this one, but he does star alongside his bandmate Yoshiki Nakajima. Both of them have been in better anime that is certainly not this one. I even read a chapter or two of the manga when it first started airing and went, "They're really making that, huh?"

((He forgot one streak of hair when dyeing it haha))

Kabuki-bu!

I couldn't make it through three episodes, but maybe I'll try again-- actually, no I won't.

Uchitama

Hmm... I haven't watched this one. It's not hard to see why, but basically, I have not reached that level of degeneracy, and if I do, someone should put me out of my misery.

Senjuushi

Fun fact: This anime is so bad that it has a rating similar to Boku no P-- I'm not finishing that title. I obviously didn't watch this one.

Makura no Danshi

I didn't watch this one, but I saw a video on it and was near tears from laughter and despair because there's no fricking way someone made an anime about this concept AND got Masayoshi Ohishi to write an OP for it. This is the stupidest thing I've seen in a while, and just being close to it made me even more embarrassed that I watch anime. I also listened to Masayoshi's version of the OP before I knew what it was connected to or how to understand some words in Japanese. After learning its association, I was legally obligated to take that song off my playlist.

#long post #umehara yuuichirou #umehara yuichiro #seiyuu #I'm not tagging the rest

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

So, I’d somehow managed to never have heard the Flight of the Conchords radio sitcom before. I first watched their TV sitcom in about 2009, I think. And got into their music from there. I’ve re-watched that show many, many times in the last fifteen years, it’s probably one of the shows I’ve watched the most times in full. Yet somehow, never bothered to hear the radio show that came first until this week, when I was gathering Daniel Kitson radio things like, to borrow a phrase I’ve heard someone else use, a comedy magpie. Kitson was only in one episode, but I listened to all six, deciding that’s long overdue.

Here are some thoughts:

- Interesting (to me) that the only actor, besides the main two, to reprise his radio role in the TV show was Rhys Darby. I guess that should be obvious – he’s the only other Kiwi main character, he’s the one who started out with them. But for some reason I hadn’t thought of the fact that he had more history with the band than just being cast in their TV show. That’s cool.

He plays almost the same character. Different name, and in the radio show he was still with his wife, though only barely. And no useful job outside the band. That’s the difference between British radio and American TV for you – America and TV make their characters have glamourous jobs like working in the New Zealand consulate office.

- On that subject, the big and obvious difference is that the radio show is on the BBC and about a Kiwi band trying to make it in England, while the TV show is on HBO and about a Kiwi band trying to make it in America. That may reflect the band’s actual growing success – in 2005, they were trying to get somewhere in Britain, and by 2007, they were breaking America.

- Daniel Kitson plays a novelty music guy for whom the Conchords do support work. His character performs with a panda puppet. This is funny to me because about a year and a half earlier, Daniel Kitson was ranting to at least one audience about his dislike of people who perform with puppets (the immortal line “If you want to say rude things on stage, take the sock off your hand and start losing friends, you fucking chicken”), based on a radio show he had to do with ventriloquist Nina Conti.

- This also makes it amusing to me that Nina Conti appeared in that radio show, though not with her puppet and not in the same episode as Daniel Kitson. She played a slightly different version of the character played by Kristen Schaal in the TV show, and Jimmy Carr played her husband. I think Jimmy Carr was the only guest star to turn up in more than one episode, and I hate to say this, but he was quite good.

- I find it very funny that they still did a storyline with Bret being self-conscious about being too skinny, even in the radio version. Because we can’t see him there. They could have had any character self-conscious about anything. But they still decided to pick on Bret McKenzie by making it a plot point that what he actually looks like is a terrible thing to look (even though it’s definitely not… I mean, I’m not often attracted to men, but I very occasionally am, and when I am, they tend to look like Bret McKenzie).

- Other plot points common to both versions: they have a Yoko Ono (different name, very similar character, her episode is probably the most similar between the radio and TV versions), Bret quits the band, Rhys Darby struggles to get them bookings.

- Actually, I was wrong about Rhys Darby being the only one to reprise his role. Greg Proops plays the same character who sends them off on basically the same plotline.

- Writing this post got me looking at the Wikipedia page for their TV show, and it is quite cool to just look at that list of guest stars, keeping in mind that this was all pre-2010. Look at all the stuff the guest and recurring stars have gone on to do, in addition to Kristen Schaal and Rhys Darby’s careers.

I’m pretty sure Bret and Jermaine count as official Chocolate Milk Gang members, as does Demitri Martin (who’s billed on the Wikipedia page as a guest star in that TV show because he’s only in one episode, but he has such a significant role in that episode that I tend to think of him as a major character). And a number of the other names on that page are people I think of as CMG-adjacent for various reasons. The Flight of the Conchords TV sitcom is basically a gathering of the NYC wing of the CMG (yes I realize it may not be entirely accurate to define the New York alternative comedy scene as merely a branch of some stuff that happened in Britain, but this is how I choose to see the world). See, this sort of thing is why I have described the Chocolate Milk Gang as “an international crime syndicate that sometimes organizes soccer matches” (that is a quote from John Oliver, even though he may have been actually talking about FIFA when he said it).

[cina-full-moon-xanadium]

Well, that’s it then! That’s me finished B-Fighter Kabuto -- and I imagine I’m one of the first people in the west to do so?

That alone made for a pretty fun and unique experience -- by the time I got into Toku all the 2000s stuff I was interested in had been subbed, and then by the time I decided to look into a broader range of 20th century Toku all of Sentai and Rider and Ultra and most of the other notable ones had been subbed, too! Which is a really really cool thing to say, it’s great we live in such an age; but it also means I kinda missed out on this “watch along with an old show as it’s being subbed” thing, so I’m glad I got to catch the train on one of the last Metal Heroes shows out there to be subbed. Like, man, I started watching this in September!

Anyway uh yeah the actual, the actual show. ... I had fun! It’s alright! Some of what I was saying about Decker last night applies -- it’s just a decent solid season where there’s not much wrong with it, but it’s also because it doesn’t take a lot of risks. It does a lot of cool shit for sure but it’s... pretty standard? I think I said a lot of the same stuff about B-Fighter, actually... it’s a bit like a Sentai without the specific limits of a Sentai, though that comparison is a bit of a shame when I feel the Sentai from around this time really outclasses it.

There’s a lot of stuff that just kinda gets dropped or changed around the middle of the show for the worse, too? The initial conflict is a pretty good one of invaders from beneath the Earth rather than last season’s outer space, cast against the current citizens of the planet for ownership of who gets to live here. But then mid-season they do this whole big continuity backstory thing with the original B-Fighter which is WILD to watch but it recontextualises everything as this “battle between the will of light and the will of darkness” and it’s about as bland and meaningless as it sounds; just kinda robs the gravity from the characters at times when they’re saying they’re soldiers of light and fighting in its name or whatever rather than the much more natural initial conflict.

Still! It’s got some really fun stuff for the time. 11 whole guys, four of which are antagonists; some really great mecha stuff including one of the hypest robo introductions and build-up I’ve ever seen, an awesome soundtrack, a fun rotating door of a recurring cast to keep episodes feeling fresh... again, it’s a good, fun watch, just not one you should go into expecting to get a lot out of as a whole. It’s a decent time, but not much more than that.

#Invincible Kabuto

[lesbianmarrow]

okayyyyy well i watched legends of tomorrow 6.01 “ground control to sara lance” :O what a wild episode!!! i have to admit, it didn’t feel as season premiere-y as past season premieres, but it still does a good job of setting up what this season is going to be like, and it’s really compelling and entertaining. aliens!!!!!!!!

i watched this episode twice, and i’m glad i did, because it helped me get a better understanding of what the episode is doing with sara’s character. there’s a moment where nate brings up sara’s fling with alex danvers of supergirl, and ava brushes it off by saying “sara never liked to be alone.” and then it cuts to sara, wandering around the alien spacecraft, alone. sara has crazy assassin skills, and as this episode shows, she’s able to hold her own pretty well even in such a foreign disorienting situation. but for the past several years, she has had her team to rely on. so it makes sense that operating alone is a challenge for her. the inclusion of spartacus highlights this: he keeps talking about how he is such a valiant leader of men, and sara keeps reminding him that he doesn’t have his men with him. it turns out that on his own, spartacus isn’t a very formidable fighter at all. sara fears this may be true of her as well, that she’s become all bark and no bite. fortunately this isn’t true, but it’s still scary for her to be by herself on an alien ship. 

worse than the tactical disadvantages of isolation is the loneliness. when sara nearly succumbs, it isn’t because she’s physically overwhelmed in a fight; it’s because she feels despair at being alone. sara has grown into a person who needs other people, and that’s a good thing, but it means that when she’s suddenly ripped from the legends’ side it’s hard for her to cope. ava’s astral projection reinvigorates sara because ava reminds her that the isolation is temporary, and that they will be reunited again. sara just has to stay strong until that point. that reminder that the loneliness is temporary is what gives sara the strength to break free, defeat the alien, and take over the ship. given that this season was written, shot, and produced during the pandemic, this plot of sara dealing with being separated from her loved ones feels very much like a response to quarantine. space is the perfect setting for a story that explores the impact of isolation, so i think it’s really interesting that the first season of legends of tomorrow made during covid is also the one that is set partially in space. i’m curious to see whether this idea comes up again in later episodes. 

i have very mixed feelings on the reveal that gary is an alien. on the one hand i think it’s bold and brilliant to reveal that a recurring character (now part of the main cast) was actually an alien in disguise the whole time. and gary is so weird and awkward that in some ways he feels like a natural fit as an alien. but on the other hand revealing that the only(?) jewish character on the show is an alien who was sent to secretly infiltrate human society and whose species eats humans feels wildly, blatantly antisemitic. and like in an old-fashioned mccarthyist kind of way too. the implications are really really bad. i would be interested in seeing what other fans have to say about it but yeah i feel like they should have thought that one through a bit more. 

zari/constantine stuff was fun. i liked when ava saw them together in bed and it made her nauseous. me too ava. i still feel like constantine is not made for long-term relationships but it is interesting to see how he and zari really care about each other. and how zari is sort of trying to “tame” him. i liked how she saved him when the magic was hurting him and she sat by him till he woke up but she was on her phone in order to maintain the facade of disinterest. it will be interesting to see how that develops. again even though i find a lasting relationship between them hard to believe i think the actors have so much chemistry that i don’t mind seeing them together. i also like how zari is pals with astra and asked about her network. i need zari to teach me some networking skills. i liked the insight into how astra is spending her time on earth and i loved the line about how she wants to learn to love earth the way the others do. i am excited to see her development as well. 

dont have much to say on spooner except she seems cool and i look forward to learning more about her. i like that she’s a total weirdo. i feel like that should be a prerequisite to joining the legends, is being just a complete misfit. i liked seeing ava’s struggle of trying to bottle up her feelings and how nate helps her deal with those feelings. i was not thrilled about sara planning to propose to ava just because as i’ve said before i don’t think they should get married because marriage is stupid and bad and they’ve transcended those earthly conventions but it was kind of sweet i guess. i mean it’s the cw what are you gonna do. i am excited to watch further episodes and see everybody fighting ALIENS

#legends of tomorrow #sara lance #gary green #zari tarazi #legends constantine #astra logue #ava sharpe #syl posts

[psychewritesbs]

even though I do not mind the weekly or bi weekly chapter releases and enjoy them, I kind of wish I would wake up one day and the final chapter of jjk would be here lol

I mean this as like the time left with the series is fast forwarded. I don't like rushing in any context, but I feel like I want to know the ending before I fall out of love with the series. I've enjoyed what gege has given in the story so far, but there is plenty of choices I would say I do not agree with imo. He seems like he has a vision of how things need to go, but getting there seems to have some issues. I also kind of hate it when authors say they want to end the story especially when it feels like it will be rushed, and is JJK's case it's sometimes hard to enjoy the story after its been said bc I'm just wondering if we're spending too much time on one thing before we need to move to the next point, but I'll still try to see the story's good and the bad and enjoy what I can. I'm going to reread the culling game arc soon, but I feel like those first fights were about gaining allies, but I can say I wasn't expecting it to go like that if that was the intention. I don't mind kenjaku having secret plans bc it's obvious when it comes to them, but I feel as though that plan overshadowed the point of the cg?? I thought there would be more focus of to kill or not, etc and I see that the most for megumi and yuji (they had my fav colony battles), and I get it somewhat with yuta, but I dont see it too importantly with hakari or maki. I'm going to reread the arc regardless because I can always be confused or a bit slower in catching on so forgive me if my insight is lackluster. I liked the running themes during yuki vs kenjaku, but her "death" felt very unnecessary because she seemed really important in achieving a curse free world and idk about you but that seems like an important goal imo and yeah someone else could lead that charge but what was wrong with yuki doing that? I don't know, but I can only hope the remaining part of the story alongside its ending is something not only we can gain some satisfaction with, but the author too can look back and say, "hey it was pretty good at least"

Gege doesn't seem to drop the ball too much with Yuji or at least megumi too, and I'm not too worried since they're my characters of interest currently, but I want to reread this story and actually believe it when I say I thought all the cast was good and I believe the writing can be better or can get worse (idk) but time will tell it all. I'm a recurring anon, so I'm sorry if the apologies are constant and sound like emails at the end 😅

Dear Recurring Anon,

HOLA! Thanks for being my recurring anon and reaching out again!

Ok but listen... I’ve been sitting on your ask for a while thinking of what I wanted to say and how to say it. I’ve probably started 3 different drafts for my response. So thanks for your patience!

Truth of the matter is that when I read your words, what it comes down to is that, even though you don’t like the recent direction the manga has taken, Jujutsu Kaisen still holds an important place in your heart. 

So I think the most important question to keep in mind is that, in a story like JJK where the strongest sorcerers have the most overwhelming sense of self... where does your sense of self stand in all of this?

What do you want to take with you from JJK? 

The stuff you didn’t like because it didn’t live up to your expectations? 

Or the stuff you loved even though JJK was incredibly flawed?

Of course there’s more word vomit under the cut lol... you know how I roll.

I’ll start by asking you to forgive me if I’m wrong and you just really needed a container where your thoughts on the current state of JJK would be honored and acknowledged. The truth is that I totally get where you’re coming from. 

I do. 

I hear you.

It’s just that it’s in my perhaps annoying nature to be stupidly optimistic even when I am being a realist. There’s always a silver lining to everything if you are willing to make the effort to find it. 

So, yes, I agree, and I’m also going to challenge you to find a way to continue loving JJK if that’s what you want for yourself.

That said... lets get on with the bitching lol.

Problems with JJK, problems everywhere!

Your concern regarding the pacing in the story is something that I share with you. Most especially the concern that, moving forward, Gege is going to cut corners. I’d also say that at this point this “concern” is factually canon lol. 

I also agree so much with the sentiment of “is he taking too much time on this when he should be addressing this other plot point?” And I think nothing captures that dilemma quite like the Culling Game arc does--ESPECIALLY with the way he handled the chosoyuki ordeal.

Like we got pages upon pages of all of these characters and exposition and dialogue and like... wait, what was the point of the Culling Game again? 

Why has no one died yet?! 

Why is Yuta kissing a cockroach and why are Kashi-chan and Kin-chan trying to see who has the biggest ego (pun intended)? 

Like I swear for weeks I've been like “ok it’s going down!!!! yeah here comes the angst and the deaths aaaaaaand ok never mind then.... maybe next chapter? ok.... next chapter? ok next chapter for sure. no? next chapter?”

FOR WEEKS! It’s all recorded in my chapter liveblogs lol.

Truth is, to me, the Culling Game is a weird arc because I am still trying to understand its significance within the larger Jujutsu scheme of things.

Perhaps he bit more than he could chew with the Culling Game? And as a writer myself I find this kind of relatable. I’m actually seeing what is happening with JJK and taking note of how having too many themes and plot lines can ultimately be detrimental to a story if you can’t, or are unable to execute them all to a satisfying conclusion.

So to your point about re-reading the Culling Game arc... let’s hope that Gege manages to bring it all full circle. But as things stand right now, we’re in the middle of whatever Gege has in mind so it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.

What I’ll say is that I have enjoyed parts of it with reckless abandon...

Literal picture of me reading through the absolutely ridiculous battle between Kashi-chan and Kin-chan:

I also think that, at best, we have gotten in-depth character studies (because Gege is harping on the idea about the sense of self being at the core of power in JJK) and needed exposition. 

For example, even though Naoya coming back was soooooo cringe to me, I can still see the purpose it served in the narrative. Did I enjoy the journey? Not really. Same for Maki’s development.

The thing is that even if I agree with you on everything I just mentioned... I can’t unsee the story written between the lines even if the execution of the panels falls short, because I am always reading at a meta level.

I am passionate about story telling and how stories move humans, so to me, now that I’ve seen and acknowledge these flaws in the work, reading JJK is less about what’s on the panels, and more about the story he is trying to tell on a meta level through the panels.

My chosoyuki meta is a great example of me recognizing the story being told between the lines. And once I went down all of the rabbit holes I went down, even though I agree wholeheartedly that the execution fell short, the story told in the symbols was amazing to me. It honestly made me wish that Gege would have had the patience, time, energy, and space to birth that side story into the world the way it deserved to be told.

To me, I want Gege to be able to ground his vision onto the page, but if he is not able to, I’m still there for the “story” told between the lines because there’s so few mangaka whose imagination has captivated me.

In the end, as you say, it does feel like Gege is struggling to ground his vision into the page. And it kind of does suck because we, as an audience, have to work that much harder to understand the story he is trying to tell.

But the story being told is still there... so now it’s up to you to decide what you want to focus on: the flop, the bad execution, the failed attempt, JJK not living up to your expectations, or Gege, the flawed human behind the manga, trying and showing up.

What is good enough for you? That’s something for you to decide. 

I’m not saying to ignore the execution. 

I’m saying to remember that this is Gege’s first manga and that JJK is not what it started as--but not because it’s gotten worse, but rather because JJK is now more like Gege than it has ever been... because in a story like JJK where the strongest sorcerers have the strongest sense of self... yadda yadda yadda.

Trust the process: life is a journey, not a destination

I think your concern that you want to experience the ending makes a lot of sense and feels very relatable even at this point in my life. 

But the truth is... 

Foregoing the journey in favor of the destination is a recipe for perpetual dissatisfaction. Look at what happened to Denji after he finally got to touch boobs!

Ok yeah, there’s a lot more to it than that in this particular case but the concept still applies.

It also applies to JJK. Again, right now we can’t see the forest for the trees because Gege is executing a complex arc.

The timeline is confusing af, and I think it’s because he may be trying to pull a similar literary trick to what happened in Westworld’s season 1 and 2 where the timeline is scrambled out of order to purposely confuse and mislead the audience. 

Perhaps the timeline is out of order for another grand purpose. Perhaps he just thought it would be fun and wanted to try to execute a fun literary trick.

But we won’t know until he delivers--and delivering is a process, not a destination.

And you know what... if you still get to the end and realize that you didn’t like JJK and the latter part of the story ruined your love for JJK, well...

It’s personal

Dude like... I respect that people LOVE Chainsaw Man, and I also think Chainsaw Man is ridiculously overhyped. I’ve seen countless of videos with people hyping it as the all end be all of manga and that Fujimoto is a genius and...

I. 

just. 

don’t. 

get. 

it.

I am just not a fan of Fujimoto’s brand of navel-gazing existentialism. It feels so anti-climatic to me.

Does that mean that CSM objectively sucks and is bad?! No. It’s personal.

Similarly, I overhype the hell out of CLAMP manga, and I am also aware that people might read CLAMP manga and not like it. 

Even so, to me, the four women behind CLAMP are genius story-tellers.

Shameless Subaru and CLAMP plug because this is one of my favorite Tokyo Babylon panels.

It comes back to personal taste, right?

For me, I love JJK despite the flaws because I still love the story being told between the lines, I find Gege’s brand of ironic humor funny, and I like how the story has progressed. 

Say goodbye to mainstream, Gege’s work might become a cult classic moving forward

Now... I bring up Fujimoto and CLAMP to illustrate the idea that there are people who are going to be dedicated fans of a mangaka and their work, people who enjoy and appreciate their work but don’t necessarily love it,  people who are in it for the hype, and people who don’t like their work.

CLAMP’s Cardcaptor Sakura is mainstream hype. Tokyo Babylon and Clover are what you read when you’re a hardcore fan.

Fujimoto’s CSM is mainstream hype. Fire dude punch something something and Goodbye Eri is what you read when you’re a hardcore fan. 

Watanabe’s Cowboy Bebop is mainstream hype. Zankyou no Terror and Carole and Tuesday are what you watch when you’re a hardcore fan.

Akutami’s Jujutsu Kaisen is mainstream hype. 

Gege followed the Battle Shonen recipe, added his own twists, and created an accidental mega hit. In fact, oddly enough, JJK has always been known as a story that defies expectations and uses tropes in new and unexpected ways.

So what happened? Why are people not liking Gege’s current execution?

To me, there’s something about how JJK is written that has changed, and it has nothing to do with Gege’s ability to write, and everything to do with his sense of self, who he has become in the process of writing JJK, and what he wants to express through his work.

In other words, JJK is more like Gege than it has ever been. Some people are going to like that, and some are not. 

Truth is that Gege is one of the VERY few mangaka who can write beautiful, multidimensional, engaging and extremely human characters who are true to their nature and aspirations.

He also writes on a very meta level and you don’t see that very often... like at all. 

All this to say that I think this is why you see such vastly different reactions in fandom right now. 

Some people still think he’s a fantastic writer and that he’s writing a unique work that has transcended generic Shonen tropes (like yours truly), and some people think that the way JJK is right now is generic Shonen. I don’t understand this last take but...

Who is right?

Who holds THE ultimate truth?

It doesn’t really matter because it’s personal.

All I know is that I am going to keep up with anything Gege publishes moving forward because I like the story he is telling through JJK.

Above all, I’m curious to see what other stories want to be born through him into this world.

Now, I HIGHLY recommend you listen to this 20 minute Ted talk by Elizabeth Gilbert to understand what I mean when I say that Gege is giving birth to stories. Her talk is a mind-opening take on what happens to your sense of self when you accidentally write a mega hit, and how that in turn affects your creative process.

I don’t know that this is how Gege sees his work as a mangaka, but I have to wonder about the possibility that Gege, someone who has very clearly studied the psychology of Carl Jung, sees JJK as an exercise in creative imagination, and/or as a story he’s been handed from the collective unconscious.

His job as a mangaka is to show up and write, to play, to express himself creatively.

That means that sometimes what he writes is going to be magnificent in the eyes of others, and sometimes it’s going to fall short of everybody’s expectations.

And that’s what it comes down to... 

Expectations

I see a lot of people complain about JJK failing to live up to their expectations without acknowledging that their expectations are simply that, expectations.

There’s nothing wrong with having expectations per se, and it is also important to realize when expectations are defining what we think is and isn’t good enough. 

And let’s not forget that you too probably don’t live up to other’s expectations. Does that mean that your effort too isn’t good enough? Gosh now I sound like Lacus.

Again... who holds the ultimate truth?

In the end, Gege is the one telling the Jujutsu Kaisen story. 

I also cannot emphasize enough that Gege is also a mangaka in the very early stages of his writing career. 

I don’t buy that his writing was better in the beginning of JJK. 

Quite the opposite, I see his writing AND art in the beginning of JJK as having followed a recipe: the three man team, found family, the strong mentor figure, etc... all the tropes are there executed in fresh and unexpected ways. 

But that was 5 years ago. Again... in a story like JJK where the strongest sorcerers have the strongest sense of self... what does that mean for Gege?

That said, Gege isn’t following the same recipe anymore, he’s coming up with his own recipe and he’s learning how to write his own recipe.

This is not to make excuses for him, it’s just something to think about because most people aren’t born naturally talented at anything that requires mastery, and writing is a craft that requires mastery through execution. 

As a quick side note, if you read Tokyo Babylon and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle by CLAMP, the 10+ year gap between both manga shows a marked improvement in the writing. AND EVEN THEN CLAMP MANAGED TO FUCK UP THE TSUBASA PLOT!

In other words, Gege has to fail to get better. 

Now add to that the pressure of a weekly publishing schedule that dampens the creative process with tight deadlines, and then on top of that having to draw the whole thing. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.

Gosh, if I had to guess, I would have to say Gege is ready for an extended vacation. 

But, as you say, I also just want for him to be satisfied with his story. 

As for us being satisfied with his story... well, it depends on what we choose to focus on.

Will you focus on how he failed at executing his vision?

Will you focus on the beautiful story he told between the lines?

Or will you focus on how how he managed to tell a beautiful story despite failing at the execution?

Can you hold the tension of opposites?

Ok SO SORRY this took me so long to get back to you my dear recurring anon. I just had so many thoughts because, like I said before, I agree with you, and I also wanted to challenge you to see things a little differently without being patronizing.

In the end, you want to continue to love JJK, right? 

So love JJK! 

Acknowledge its flaws and be at peace with them for the sake of that love. Nothing is perfect.

Anyways, I love that we can be in conversation about this and that you have come to me to share your thoughts on jjk. 

Merci beaucoup. 

#for anyone who thinks the writing in jjk sucks right now #and is worried about it #god I love jujutsu kaisen #ask the mental gymnastics anime girl

[mayasdeluca]

Acting Coach Anon here: how are you?

I love that you are into WoSo as well, I’m in LA and have the season ticket for ACFC, and I may start soon to work with something related to it. 😏

You know that I don’t even have the energy or interest in watching S19 any longer, not even the trailer, last season destroyed me, there’s no recovery from it imo, they reached the point of no return under many different aspects of production (and reading the comments of fans it’s enough to get an idea about what’s going on). 😒

The writing is obviously bias, repetitive, inconsistent, boring and hurtful towards all women characters. 😩

The BTS drama. 🙄

Clearly the budget was cut and that hurt many possibilities of storytelling and character development. ☹️

The casting and acting is subpar, only a few are all right.

If I were Danielle of Stefania I will get the fuck out of there ASAP, the problem in Hollywood right now is that no job is safe or guaranteed, so I do understand why they stick with it, especially for Stefania, it’s no easy for her to get roles being Italian and all, a part should be purposely written for her (or with an Italian woman in mind) and that’s hard to find.

Danielle may have more chances to land another TV role in the next 5 years Barrett and Boris the same but the rest of the cast I think it’s more likely to get some guest role or recurring character part.

Overall S19 wasted a lot of talent sad sad sad

Acting coach anon!!! It's so good to hear from you, I was just thinking about you recently as the show gets close to coming back, wondering how you were doing so I'm so glad you checked in! I'm doing good and I hope you are as well!

That's amazing that you have a season ticket to Angel City games! I really hope you're able to get some work related to the organization, that would be great! It would be incredible for the team and club if they're able to make the playoffs in their first year so I'm rooting for them to do it. Especially since Gotham is terrible lol

I don't blame you for not having the energy or patience to even watch S19 anymore. I think I just am still too attached to Marina so I'm still going to give it a go, but I don't expect to be pleased with anything this season unfortunately, especially after last. It's really a shame how much they've destroyed the characters and just the show in general and some of the decisions they've made due to outer factors (like BTS stuff) is just unfortunate.

I wish Danielle & Stefania could get out of there because they both deserve better and it would be ideal if we could see them together on another show because their chemistry is unmatched but of course that's unrealistic. I really hope they'll both continue on to be successful though because they deserve it. You're probably right that it will be easier for Danielle than Stefania though. I just will never understand how a show sees their chemistry and talent and decides to ruin it by inserting a man with less talent or just trying to dull it by pushing it to the side. It's wild to me.

#asks #anon #acting coach anon #don't be a stranger even if you're not going to watch the show anymore! we can def talk woso also :)

[phrootsnacks]

jjba thursday: part 4 ep 13-15

I have so much homework to do and I'm behind in my classes and I dont really feel like a person and I think someone has a crush on me (I am oblivious to these things but still) and I dont know how I feel about it and my prof didn't finish the letter of recommendation in time for the application deadline. but I have been thinking a lot about jojo's bizarre adventure

so now I'm gonna watch. jojo's bizarre adventure

episode 13 - We Picked Up Something Crazy!

man I love this show. its cringe but I love it

hey why does. why does old man joseph have a cheetah pattern hat.

hey. why does. why does josuke always turn his back on the things / people he's supposed to be watching.

those handprints are so small..... BABY STAND?????!?!

BABY STAND BABY STAND BABY STAND

.... INVISIBLE BABY STAND

what. what did old man joseph

oh. my god. lol

ww. w uh

old man joseph. all on josuke's card. wh

god forbid someone from class sees josuke with. an invisible baby

no no no no oh my god do not put makeup on the invisible baby stand that is so much worse wha

?????

oh my god. and you just spent all that money on baby stuff!

uhhhhhhhhhh

WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAA

im sorry that was. wow. ok

is. is the invisible baby gonna be a recurring character

episode 14 - Let's Go to the Manga Artist's House, Part 1

these guys. why do the look more chibi than usual. or have I gotten used to characters built like jotaro and this is just what normal sized people look like in this universe

what do we think the manga artist looks like. and is it a self insert character?

oh. ok

they're being so cute

hes definitely a stand user right

I really like that his earrings are pen nibs. thats so cute

um

sir????

"mangaka are not normal!" lol

heaven's door?????? that's not... thats not a heaven's gate reference is it......?

oh wow

ok so I don't think you need to turn people into books in order to get realistic experiences into your manga. you could just write gender bent versions of your friends, like what nozaki does

this guy doesn't have friends does he

dude I dont know what to tell you. you live in a town FULL of stand users why is everyone so surprised when they learn there are other stand users

I like this rohan guy, and his stand is interesting

WHOA ok um. hazamada, what the fuck

never mind I remember now he's an incel

read him to filth!!!!

rohan. hes just like me fr (in the sense that I too am always anxious about what people think of me and then I get depressed about it)

seriously is heaven's door supposed to be a reference. again I dont know much about 80s music but it feels like a reference to heaven's gate????? but it doesn't seem to be actually referencing heaven's gate?????

uhhhhh . w. what just happened

he just ripped off pages of koichis face. I dont feel like that was necessary but uh now it's uhh. what

hes just like me fr (in the sense that I too forget really important things. but then I get really anxious about forgetting things)

episode 15 - Let's Go to the Manga Artist's House, Part 2

I love that the manga artist (araki) made the manga artist character (rohan) so epic at drawing manga.

new intro!

I also love that the house itself is like. part of the horror of the stand

lol

read him to filth!!!!!!!!!

hey so how does. his editor read his pages? is the editor.... under the effects of the stand too??

oh wow

why is okuyasu on fire and screaming on the floor so funny lol

going for his hair..... oh boy...........

josuke's ego is too strong for him to join a death cult

oh lore? oh shit!

wh

who is that???????

thats actually kinda sweet. but why did that guy have that hairstyle????

lol. I love this show its so funnyyyyy

this show is great. and all of the enemy stand users have been pretty fun and interesting. and none of the side characters are really pissing me off yet either? like I fucking hated polnareff in part 3 im a polnareff hater. but the cast of characters is pretty large so the annoying ones dont get too much airtime yknow. and I like the emotional beats too, between josuke and old man joseph. and we have another baby stand lol

#jjba thursday

[loregoddess]

no spoilers below the cut, I was just having a lot of thoughts about Engage earlier that I felt like I wanted to write--talking about the narrative themes and motifs in broad strokes, so no specific spoilers or character names (aside from a brief Alear mention bc, protag). Mostly just wanted to get the thoughts down, bc damn this game is so good

was thinking about Engage earlier, and specifically like, how really carefully written the themes and stuff are and just how well written they are, like sure, the plot's nothing special, it's simple and predictable, and that is honestly the beauty of it. Because when you're not trying to write the most interesting plot in the world, when you're not caught up in trying to plan the best plot twist or most deranged events to top previous games' deranged events, when you allow yourself to have a simple, even campy or corny, earnestly campy and simple plot, then you free yourself to have so much room to really dig deep and explore the actual narrative themes and motifs like, like--

there's a recurring theme of loss and grief. The entire narrative is arguably about grieving. It's not as easy to track as like, the symbolism of the Five Stages of Grief in Majora's Mask, but how Engage handles grief is still so deeply, carefully, thoughtfully written. There's the obvious grief of losing a loved one, yes, but it's also about the grief of losing the past, of becoming a new person (however good that may be, there's still the loss, a "death," of the past self), the grief of growing up and being unable to return to simpler times, the grief of the onward march of time and of losing what precious time one has. There's so much grief in Engage, and yet the story is so, bittersweetly, hopeful, for it is also a story of healing, and metamorphosis, and love.

adjacent to the themes of grief are also recurring narrative themes of self and identity. There are several characters who, whether by their own choice or by forces outside there control, have a separation from their past self. And there's a variety of characters in different stages of this life change. Some are very near to their old self, trying to remake themselves into a person they want to be but they're not there yet, they're in the messy area between their past self and who they want to become. There's characters who've become the person they were trying to become, but are still haunted by their pasts. There are characters who seek to know their pasts, because the truth is essential and important, no matter how painful. And there are characters who know they will have to change, to become a new version of themselves, who either resist that or try to waylay that future. And it's so fascinating, because every character is treated as the best possible version of themselves, in the present moment, no matter where they are in their personal journey, because at the end of the day we can only be the person we are in the present, no matter how close or far it is to who we want to be or who we were, and there is beauty in that, there is beauty in that perfectly imperfect present self, and that self is okay for simply being and trying

there's just, so many weird little narrative themes I keep finding the more I reflect on the game, and reading through more character supports and learning more about the characters, and like, this really is a gem of a narrative experience. Because the scale of the narrative is so small, it's not like the characterization or worldbuilding can be easily mixed up or inconsistently written, there are no branching timelines to confound the writers with "what ifs"--there's just a simple, straightforward concept that allowed deeper thematic elements of the narrative to shine through, and the cast of characters is incredibly consistent and surprisingly varied, making the entire experience of the narrative overall just, really incredible

sure there's not the nuance of the horrors of war or whatever, but in my opinion FE has never been a good series for war-critical narratives, since the war is almost always just a game mechanics backdrop and narrative metaphor for whatever issue the characters are actually dealing with. And that's part of what makes Engage so good to me, is that, yes there's a war and a zombie apocalypse going on, yes these are part of the plot, but they're at best metaphoric devices to reflect the actual inner struggles of Alear and several other characters, for moving through grief can feel like a battle, and trying to gain a grasp of one's self and identity is a struggle at times, and what is fantasy for if not reflecting the most confusing inner turmoil in fantastic, over-the-top--and therefore safe--settings?

#hmmmm lots of thoughts but mostly narrative good #narrative themes and motifs good #lots of those in this game #very good #oracle of lore

[perryhedge]

yugioh sevens - goha 6 elementary arc

finally finished this arc!

overall i liked it, but not as much as maximum. i didn't find asana particularly compelling on her own (same with her go rush counterpart) or as a foil to yuuga and some of the one-off duels were just alright. the major theme of this arc was freedom vs duty, so i thought it was weird that gakuto didn't have much of a focus when that's his whole thing...but instead that theme was mostly explored through tazaki and ranze. poor romin I don't think even had a duel past the one with the sushi lady where she LOSES......lol.

there was some of my favorite episodes yet though. the luke club episode...pure genius. when the show really gets into a certain rhythm of high-paced absurdity, i feel like i connect with its humor really strongly. loved the tiger episode as well...and honestly the rush duel / rappa duet gag killed me. there's this absolutely wild improvisational energy to the way the story moves episode to episode sometimes, which i find refreshing and honestly a little shocking -- it takes a long time to make anime, so i feel like you rarely see something so spontaneous as allowing entire storylines to be built on of silly puns or callbacks. of course, not all these gags are hits, since the giant cast of recurring characters mostly stick to a one joke quota. there are several who i'm already sick of (and the fact that they are brought into go rush exacerbates this). but i'm surprised at how many of the gags do make me laugh every time, and even when they don't i have to marvel at the absolute gall to write some of that stuff. this manic quality is definitely emblematic of bridge era writing, and i'm not 100% sure who to attribute it to, but i'd guess based on knowing a few fans of his work that director nobuhiro kondou had a hand in this.

the animation of the show is already catastrophic, which i expected, but still bums me out massively. if i didn't like the characters so much, i'd definitely have stopped watching by now, because okay is seemingly the best it will ever get. i remember being shocked that some earlier episodes looked actually good, but those days are behind me now, it seems. and look, i know why it's like this -- covid definitely plays a role, and looking at their work bridge seems like a studio that loves to push out as much anime as possible and that situation cannot be good for a production schedule. it just depresses me, because although even in the gallop era yugioh was never a super lavishly animated affair, and fan favorites (i'm fan) like gx were definitely not the prettiest anime ever made, i would like some flashy poses, some interesting layouts, just something, anything to look at. anyway, i guess that's just why i watch shadowverse, too.

i also noticed it feels like there's more luke focus this arc, which makes sense. though the final duel this arc ended up pretty hype, it seems like yuuga is a bit of a struggle to write conflict with. he can't really be allowed to fail, unless it's existential despair for him, or maybe even rush duels itself, lol. that's why I found the maximum arc so compelling. on the other hand, luke's whole life is failure in a sense, and I say that with love. it's much easier to write interesting scenarios around, both where he's the butt of the joke but also his unexpected triumphs. i really like luke as a character so i don't really mind if the show does shift more focus on him. as usual no idea where the show is going next so looking forward to it

#yugioh sevens #perrylog