#especially when its for a silly. comforting. diverse. comedy show | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

iggy-hands · 2 years

Note

I only watch the ofmd fandom from afar but some people give the impression of not conciliating well how the show is light hearted and comforting but also deals with heavy subjects in a general violent contex. the fact I've seen people say there's no homophobia when it's the central driving force of the plot is the most exaggerated example. but it's also in this attempt to flatten characters into "uwu baby" and "who's right vs who's wrong" (or at worse who's an abuser) when the show clearly does its best to create a likable flawed cast. Stede is extremely insecure and a horrible father/husband even before he abandons his family. Ed is an abuse survivor and he struggles with anger. Izzy is an asshole and it's funny- I mean he's a brit working class caricature. those things interact and its what makes the show human and interesting. why try to smash it into a simplistic dichotomy. it won't work 😭😭

and obviously you know all of this. so I guess it's: thanks for having braincells 😘😘

I don't actually know how old this ask is, but, it's been in my inbox for a while lol, sorry!

I think observing from a distance might be the most enjoyable way, it's been years since I was this close to the centre of a fandom and it's wild.

But yes, you're absolutely correct, it's a show about flawed characters and their ability to realise they're in the wrong, and change themselves - if that's what they want! Obviously not every character is given this opportunity, nor should they be, but I think my main issue with people coming down on the characters either way is that currently, they're unfinished!

...maybe Izzy will get worse next season, maybe his racism/general abusiveness and manipulation will become his main character traits, maybe his arc is that he rejects offers of kindness and belonging because of his own prejudices/self-importance and in the end this destroys him. I'd love to see that play out, but I'd love to see whatever they do with him play out too.

Taking a break for a while really made me realise that actually, this is a comedy show about pirates? What Are We Doing??

I love the meta and the drawn out explanation - I am an English Literature and Media Studies graduate, like literally I dedicated years of my life to this stuff! But one of the main reasons for these analyses is that it's supposed to be a discussion, there are supposed to be disagreements and alternative theories, and you should look at whether the evidence is actually in support of what is being said.

It isn't about deciding what is moral/immoral content to consume. Especially in a comedy show, where the character people are angry about is so cringe-fail within the show itself, and who's worst traits seem only to be evident through close-reading.

One of the first things you learn if you take Lit/Media in higher education is that you can be wrong about a text. You can't just say whatever you want without actual textual evidence (and, pet-peeve, but I personally do not count interviews etc). And sometimes, completely contrasting information can be true - because of the ambiguity! Whether these meanings are intentional or not - this is unknowable. And of course you can have your own personal opinions or readings of a text, but it's weird to decide that because you are right, everything else must be wrong.

I also see posts that essentially read - "this character is deep and multifaceted and we should look closely at them. But this character sucks and if you engage with content that looks closely at them then you suck too!" And I can't help but feel that that's worse than if we weren't to engage with textual analysis at all. Ignoring the actions of "evil" characters, who shape the narrative, feels very dismissive to me - disrespectful both to the text itself but also to the real world issues that it draws from.

I suppose in conclusion, everyone continue to think critically, consume media critically, but also, touch grass sometimes. and maybe read a book too.

#woes of emily #hhhh should i main tag this??#ofmd #is that. was that. a mistake?#long post #thank you for this ask/ a reason to say all of this essentially lol #i probably am wrong about some of this and that's fine. a lot of it is quite simplified and not universally true #thats because this is a response to an ask on tumblr and not an academic essay #i do think that fiction can affect real life. i think this is why things like copaganda exists #media is also a reflection is real life - whether we intend it to be or not. it's impossible for it not to be #but i also think the only way to combat this is to consume critically #and not write things off as problematic and simply ignore it like it's not there?#but i ALSO understand that engaging with a text in this way takes extra energy that we don't always have #especially when its for a silly. comforting. diverse. comedy show #that also just happens to deal with some big issues in a really engaging and often subtle way....#it's a complex issue!!#im a big fan of giving people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to things #and maybe that's one's on me but #I'd personally rather assume that other people also. have braincells. as the anon worded it here #than swathe entire sections of the fandom in accusations of supporting racism/homophobia/abuse etc etc #🤷‍♂️ idk #it's a complex issue i guess and i dont have the answers #and ive not even been actively looking for them #I'm just a guy #ask #anon #ask to tag

10 notes · View notes

tellytuber · 1 year

Text

12 Shows of 2022

The new (and sometimes old) series and seasons that made my year.

Law & Order (S1-12) + Law & Order: Criminal Intent + Law & Order: Los Angeles I started off the year catching the early (and Best) seasons of the mothership via cable reruns; got Peacock for CI; and then returned midyear when I was half-gone from covid and blearily endured the commercials of what was then IMDBtv for the very LA edition. While I am not technically a "geriatric millennial," I am a millennial and with geriatric interests. For me, peak television has become something that I can either focus on fully or play in the background while I do other things and be equally thoroughly entertained. That is why this franchise has become my number one comfort show.

Shrink + Michael: Tuesdays Thursdays Grouping these into one because I just so happened to watch one immediately after the other, and because they're both about moderately adept therapists who are codependent with their patients. They are also both incredibly funny! These got the biggest laughs out of me than anything else all year. (A shame I didn't get to them till December.) While they are both hilarious, each manage to sweep into very heavy topics and deep emotion without toppling over. #ReviveShrink

Big Love While I’m pretty sure I’ve watched more L&O than anything else this year, I’m deeming 2022 the year of sister wives. In my post marathon blues, I went surfing on HBO and turned on Big Love (after once trying the pilot a while ago and being turned off by its HBO-ness.) But this time it hit me right in the late-00's cable nostalgia. The melodrama, the humor, the cast - Mary Kay Place! It's a (new) classic for me.

Grand Crew (S1) With its simple if derivative set-up, this delightful sitcom got better and better every episode! The ensemble is funny and charming, and the stories silly and fun. Thank god it snagged a renewal and will return because I will need my weekly fix of Carl Tart in between his Comedy Bang! Bang! appearances.

American Auto (S1) At base level, it's just another workplace comedy with a pseudo diverse cast. And the setting of the executive floor of a car company is quite baffling. (It's not even a riff on Telsa. Neither is it too concerned with Detroit.) But it all came together during the commercial episode: During which the team spiral in heated disagreements over how to shoot a commercial that is appropriately inclusive but not too inclusive. Funny! From then on, I started to watch it from a new angle. The ensemble itself is a focus group - and every week is a new satirical debate on the weird standards of contemporary ethics. The show is at its best when it’s everyone in the conference room talking over each other in the voices of their respective demo. I still don't necessarily like it - But it does get me thinking. (About all that I wish it was!) But honestly, I'm only really including this on the list because of the perfect Cyrus played by Michael Benjamin Washington who is never not incredibly funny. He was my favorite character/performance of the year.

Severance (S1) Part Office Space, part Fringe, with the style of Legion. This trippy, beautiful, and exciting drama was a dream to watch! Especially since I watched most of it in the very very early morning with a cup of coffee - the very best way to watch something creepy.

Claws (S4/final) While, the finale was one of the worst I've ever seen (Niecy Nash's scenes were almost exclusively Facetimed!) - This show will go down as being one of the most iconic. The outfits, the colors, the insane swings. It was never not outrageous and gonzo. Did it always work? I don't know. But they had a Vision and Went For It! It was always a wild ride, and I had fun.

Better Things (S5/final) Every year Better Things airs, it automatically gets a spot on my list. And this is the last time. A beautiful show so full of humor and love and art and great music and lots of food.

Search Party (S5/final) Every season comes with a genre turn. And when this one turned, I didn't want to believe it. It wasn't until it turned to black without the Actually It Was All A Dream rewind I was expecting did it set in. I have yet to rewatch it, but when I do I'm sure I'll love it (as my experience with S3). But I do understand it. For Dory, who began the show adrift and yearning for a meaning to her life - to enact some sort of change, to literally change the world is a fitting end. (For me, S4 is the real ending and this is a bonus season.) Either way, it still earns a spot in the TV Hall of Fame. A crazy comedy with twisty mysteries. Extremely sharp and biting, confident in its hipsterness, unafraid of being unlikable - An ideal close to my heart.

Sister Wives (S17) As Elizabeth Laime so astutely put it in the Sister Wives spin-off of Bitch Sesh: There is no other show in which less time was spent making it than time spent watching it. Save for the very beginning (of the end) when Robin joined the family, nothing has happened. (Save for The Catfish, and even then nothing actually happened.) But all that nothing was for the cameras. Big Happy Family propoganda. And this was the season it all fell apart. Now, too much is happening! Cody-19! Christine leaving! Robin wants to talk! Janelle needs a truck for her trailer! (To Cody's dismay) Meri is also there! The knife to the kidneys! As I said before: This was the year of the sister wives. Incredible television.

Evil (S3) The beginning of this season had a lot of splitting up of the trio, which bummed me out. But it made the eventual reunion of the team that much more satisfying, and each of their individual crises of belief more affecting in their isolation. Every season is more weird, more tense, more absurd. I love it so very much!

My Liberation Notes Every year I have one thing that completely consumes me. This year it was My Liberation Notes. It captured me from the very first episode: A story about a introversion and anti-socialism, when to hold on to it and when to let it go. A story about adult siblings, reared together yet all very different people seemingly in different worlds. So many existential ruminations. Plus an exceedingly slow teasing romance, barely one in the conventional sense, but deeply so as a connection of souls. All about life and its disappointments and mundanity, what beats you down and how you change, how people change you and how you change others.

4 notes · View notes

jacnaylor · 4 years

Text

tv recs: happy shows edition

I haven’t done this in a really long time, so here are the older editions. (If there’s overlap then I’m sorry, also these are shows that specifically make me have that cozy, happy feeling or that are comforting. all tv rec posts, including ones previously mentioning a couple of these, are here. if some of these i haven’t said as much about it’s probably because they are repeats. also there’s only so many times you can say ‘it makes me happy’)

1. The durrells (aka the durrells in corfu)

a slightly hapless, chaotic british family go and live in corfu in the 30′s. absolutely wild. there’s animals. there’s people falling in the sea. screaming out of windows. it’s fun, it’s silly, it’s gentle and gorgeous. keeley hawes is magnificent.

2. call the midwife

starting in the 50′s and now up to 1965, this follows the trials and triumphs of midwives (some of whom are nuns) in the east end. it covers hard topics as well but mostly it’s that lovely mix of sweetness, compassion and great characters. it’s really just lovely. there’s so many female characters that i love. makes you feel warm and cozy, especially the christmas episodes which air every year

3. lewis

so this follows two police men solving crimes in oxford. they’re opposites but they end up working well together. lewis is the boss, he’s a gentle man from newcastle mourning his late wife. the young dc is james hathaway - a clever, ex priest turned police man. they ramble around, soft oboe music is playing. they solve crimes, they quote poetry. it’s not a gritty police drama. it’s a subtle show. it loves and showcases oxford. honestly i repeat: the police officers are not ‘gritty’ or ‘hard men’. they’re sad, sure, but in a nice, sensitive sort of way. they want to help people. they care. they aren’t afraid of showing emotions. hathaway talks about his faith and how it affects his work. it’s just not what you expect from a mystery show and it really is worth a watch.

4. good omens

an angel and a demon slowly become friends. they are perfectly happy living on earth, eating sushi and driving old cars. they are slightly perturbed when the anti christ is born and therefore is set to bring about the end of the world. silly, funny, beautifully shot. david tennant and michael sheen are wonderful. it’s absurd and it’s just so great and self aware. and british.

5. gavin and stacey

one of the best british sitcoms of all time. it’s about an essex boy who falls in love with a welsh girl, and their families and friends coming together. hilarious, heartfelt, incredible. still funny to this day. one of those shows you can watch a hundred times and still find something new. like coming home.

6. derry girls

5 teenagers living in derry in the 90′s. the most chaotic group of people alive. they act like real teenagers, they love each other a lot but they also get themselves into a lot of scrapes. it’s just such a good show to bingewatch and curl up with.

7. galavant

a medieval musical comedy show. diverse cast, great songs, im so bitter it got cancelled but it got a great end so don’t worry.

8. buzzfeed unsolved true crime and supernatural

so i wasn’t sure about this one but i adore this show so its here. it’s a youtube show with ryan begara, who definitely believes in ghosts and shane madej, who definitely doesn’t. there’s also the true crime edition. it’s HILARIOUS. it’s just these two guys talking like normal people about crimes and ghosts and its just so funny and wonderful and interesting. ryan is having a break down over an empty chair. shane is inviting demons to inhabit his body. it’s a good time.

9. anne with an e

one of the best recent period dramas. following orphan anne shirley and living with her adopted family in green gables. it has hard topics but its also about finding people you love. it’s about family, acceptance and imagination. wonderful!

10. ashes to ashes (and life on mars....i’ll explain)

life on mars is the first in two shows. it follows a police officer who is involved in a car accident and wakes up in 1973. I personally love this show but since ashes to ashes, the continuation (the sequel, if you like) has a happier feel because its set in the 80′s (and the mc is a female police officer.) ashes to ashes is funny, a bit bolshy, but its so fun. it’s a time travel/sci fi cop show that fully leans into the absurdity and is all the better for it. im my opinion it’s best to watch lom first because it’s all one big continuation of the same story. honestly it just makes me happy.

11. miss fisher’s murder mysteries

phryne fisher, in the late 20′s is a single woman of means. she decides she wants to solve crimes and look good whilst doing it. she also flirts with a police man. her best friend is a lesbian doctor who lets her look at dead bodies. it’s honestly the best. phryne is the most charismatic lead!! includes the line “men. can’t live with them, can’t kill them with an axe.” so worth it just for that

13. great british bake off

a group of contestants bake in a tent in an effort to win the bake off. unlike american competition shows it really is about friendship and the love of baking. they all help each other out! they get very stressed about custard! gorgeous

14. hustle

cheesy, silly, fun 00′s show about a group of con men who decide to only con people who deserve it. i mean. whats not to love. it really does feel 2000s if that makes sense. in the best way. these shows aren’t focusing on being shocking or slick, it’s just telling a fun story.

15. car share

this one is a comedy, a slice of life, a romance all in the setting of a car. it’s about two work colleagues who are made to join in their works car share initiative. it’s so funny but it’s also just. sweet. its about two normal people. they sing to the radio. they have to jump out to post cards to their nan whilst stuck in a traffic jam. it’s about them connecting and it’s just. it’s so good.

16. miranda

follows miranda, who is about 5′9 and socially incompetent in the extreme whilst she tries to navigate her chaotic life. honestly one of the loveliest shows ever made.

bonus: the mallorca files, santa clarita diet, strictly come dancing, last tango in halifax, brooklyn nine nine, monarch of the glen

#tv recs #i gave up at the end just WATCH THEM #miranda #lewis #ashes to ashes #the durrells #i think if there's some shows on here you like then #you'd like the others you know?#if you like x then you'll like y #mine #long post

19 notes · View notes

venus-says · 5 years

Text

Round of Randoms #1 - Shorties

The one with the skeleton, the cat boys, and the card game.

Look who's back!

After a much-needed break to cool off from the Aikatsu marathon, here I again to delight the world with my unnecessary opinions. XD

You may be asking yourself, what is this? Well, I was thinking of what to do to come back to the blog, but still on my break mindset and I didn't want to get back to my regular stuff. So I thought about it and decided to get back to my roots and one of the reasons why I created this blog in the first place and went down on my anime list and see what was there that I could watch and bring to here. I've made a huge list of things, divided them into categories, and I'm planning to watch them in between the regular shows I comment here. I was lazy and pretty much only picked stuff that came out this year, but is still a somewhat diverse range of the usual things I talk about here.

Since I wanted something quick and easy to do at first I went with my "shorties" category that is composed of shows with a run time of 15 minutes or less per episode, and "one-shot" OVAs, in other words, things that I could watch on a single day with not much trouble. These are "reviews" of the entire season so they won't be as detailed, but that was never the point of these to begin with, If there's a show on my list that I have a lot to talk about I'll probably do it on a separate post.

Anyway, let's begin.

MYSTERIA Friends

Starting off is MYSTERIA Friends (or Manaria Friends in the original). This wasn't a show that was on my list actually, but once I saw that it was only 10 episodes of 15 minutes each and that both Yoko and Nana were voicing characters on this show I was "okay, I need to watch this now". I had no previous knowledge of anything related to this show and I was kinda excited to see what it was about, I don't know what I was expecting from it, but in reality, I got really disappointed.

Like, the show technically is gorgeous, I think that because of the shorter airing time they could pay more attention to the drawing and animation and you get stunned by the visuals. The soundtrack is also pretty decent, there's nothing exceptional aside of maybe the insert song Nana's character sings in one the episodes, but the general background music is pretty effective on putting yourself on that world.

With that being said, this is probably where the positives end. The show has no plot, which in itself it's not a problem, most of this short shows are episodic anyway and that's one of the charms of this type of anime, but in this case it's a problem because it just seems empty, the show seems to be trying to talk about inter-species relationships, but it actually never touches on that what gives this "empty media" vibe. This ties in with another problem that is the fact that this fantastic, magical setting has no purpose of being there other than aesthetics, I feel that the excuse of going "magic medieval" was we gonna show how this human and this half-demon can get along and bring peace and harmony to this world, but they never touch on the topic and it becomes pretty obvious that they only went with that route because the author has a thing for girl dragons.

Which ties in with my biggest problem, the useless ecchi. Honestly, the amount of ecchi they got to put in such a short amount of time is unbelievable, like, right on the second episode Grea is pain because she's molting, but the scene is shot as like she's having sex and the moans are more like pleasure moans rather than moans of someone who's in pain, and is just so uncomfortable, and to add more into this weirdness Anne steals the shed skin of Grea's tail and in the final episode she's smelling that like those pervs smelling on panties and IT'S SO AWKWARD. This threw me off so much, I think I only got through because the show was very short and I know the suffering would be very low, otherwise I would definitely have dropped it right on episode 2.

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san

Honda-san was that show that I had always seen people commenting on and was very interested in watching since the beginning, but I never did because I'm lazy, so when I decided to do this I knew I had to put the show on the list and finally watch it, and that's a decision I definitely don't regret making.

Honestly, this show is so good. It's not that comedy that will let you laughing your pants off, but it doesn't mean that it ain't funny. It's mentioned in the show that the manga that originated from this anime was written by Honda-san himself about his experiences working on a bookstore, I don't know how truthful the stories are, but is this sense of "damn this really happens irl" that makes everything way much funnier and it is a true joy to watch. The anime isn't ambitious, I don't think it's trying to convey a message or make a commentary or anything, but this doesn't come as a detriment for the show, this anime didn't need any of that and they don't try to make it be about something big. It's just a wholesome show about life that is really comforting, especially if you're an adult that already had some experience with retailing.

What else do I have to say? I love the style, I love the soundtrack, I love the weird situation that happens, and the characters are just amazing, aside of Honda-san I love manager Armor she's lots of fun, and Chief Pestmask (who's VA is, look at that, Hikasa Yoko once again) who doesn't appear a lot, but when she comes she sure leaves an impression on you. This show did crush my fantasies of working on a bookstore someday, but I loved every second of it anyway. XD

Hey, Your Cat Ears Are Showing! Season 2

So when I heard Hora Mimi was getting a second season, I was both excited and apprehensive. This one of the rare short shows that have an episodic narrative but that has an overall plot to the whole thing, and I was quite satisfied with the ending of season 1, it was sweet and heartwarming as the rest of the series was and I really didn't think a second season was needed, thus I really didn't watch it while it was airing. But this was the perfect opportunity for me to finally watch it.

And this season was a very good surprise, it expanded on what the first season had built and it became three times gayer by giving Dong Dong and Jin Zhu partners, Jin Zhu partner being an Ear People but from another species, which made this season even more fun and cute. The final arc of this season where they established that Da Shu and Miao had met each other before the events of season 1 is probably the only thing I don't like about this sequel because on my eyes it looks silly, but I wouldn't call it a negative that renders the show. Hora Mimi remains a very adorable, heartwarming show that everyone definitely should check it out.

The Girl From the Other Side

Totsukuni no Shoujo was never on my radar for mangas so I wasn't aware of its existence. A few months back I saw someone reblogging gifs from this OVA on my dash and I got really intrigued by it, the aesthetic was kinda similar to Ancient Magus Bridge but it was darker and it had this antique style to it that made me fall in love instantly.

Since I don't know the manga, I'm not familiar with the characters and their stories, but even though I was in the dark I could grasp the concept without major difficulties because the characters are very expressive, and the music is very well used on passing to was what is going on with those characters. I thought an anime with no dialogue would be boring, but this OVA was very captivating, not just by its visuals but also by the narrative and the music that got me hooked from beginning to end. I feel like this is a very shallow review of the thing, but I don't think I'm smart enough to elaborate more on what to say about this show.

I'm not familiar with the manga and I don't know how things work there, neither I know if such style could hold up for an entire season, but I definitely wanna see more, and I'll definitely look up the manga if I can make my tablet work again someday.

Zenonzard THE ANIMATION - Episode 0

And to wrap up we have Zenonzard, which was another show that I wasn't aware of until I decided to do this thing and it's only here because the poster looked cool, and it was officially available on youtube with subs and no region locks so I thought, "why not?"

This is probably the weirdest of the bunch since it's a show based on a card game, and I haven't watched one of these in ages, and it's weird, but I was kinda into it? Like, I don't like that most of the girls in this show have ginormous breasts and this thing of a female coming to an apparently normal boy saying "I choose you" seems that it's going to backfire and will create a huge mess in the future, but as the episode was progressing I was getting more and more into it?

The plot doesn't seem as good, if they even have a plot. It does a crap job at explaining what this game is and how it works, and also the CG used for the monsters is horrendous. But it got me interested, it had some great music playing and I think this is what caught me the most, even though there's one song, that I believe is sung by Nanase who did voices for Aikatsu, that I feel like it was very misplaced. I also like the futuristic aesthetic, I'm a sucker for these things and I was pleased for the most part of it.

I don't know if this will become a thing, but if they actually release an anime and if they publish it on youtube like what they've done with this ONA/Special/Prequel? I may keep watching it. Which comes to as a surprise to me.

And this was the first Round of Randoms (provisory name) of this blog. I quite enjoyed doing this thing, I think I'm gonna keep doing it to always have something different and new around here. What did you think of it? Have you watched any of these shows? What are your opinions about it? Is there any show you have to recommend? And what's a good name for this new thing I'm trying to do? Thank you so much for sticking with me until the end, and I'll see you guys at another time.

#MYSTERIA Friends #Manaria Friends #Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san #Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san #Hora Mimi ga Mieteru yo #Totsukuni no Shoujo #The Girl From the Other Side #Zenonzard #Round of Randoms #others

15 notes · View notes

gyrlversion · 5 years

Text

How The Bold Types Women-Powered Soundtrack Elevates The Show

What do Lizzo, Maggie Rogers, and Sigrid have in common? Aside from releasing breakout albums in 2019, each artist has had her music featured on the third season of Freeform’s hit dramedy The Bold Type. Part juicy journalism drama, part Sex and the City-esque comedy, the series — which chronicles the lives of three besties working for a glossy women’s magazine in Manhattan — has resonated because it tackles vital issues that young women face today, like sexism, cancel culture, and Internet harassment. But the show also shines thanks to its soundtrack — like The O.C. and Grey’s Anatomy before it, The Bold Type uses fresh and relevant tunes that weave into plot lines, making the music a central thread of the show’s fabric. Notably, that thread spotlights women in ways no other series on television is doing.

In April, the show’s music supervisor, Rob Lowry, tweeted, “We only use artists on #TheBoldType that identify as a woman or non-binary (there are very few exceptions). Yes, this is purposeful. I had to fight for this creative decision. It is important.” His mentions were promptly flooded with positive feedback from some fans who had already picked up on the show’s female-driven soundtrack, and others who hadn’t. After all, Lowry had never explicitly acknowledged that creative decision, but as he recalled to MTV News a few weeks later, he wanted to highlight the fact and make it known that The Bold Type‘s musical blueprint puts it in a league of its own.

Lowry, who has worked on The Bold Type since the series premiered in June 2017, didn’t set out with the intention of exclusively using music made by women. In fact, about half of the songs used in the pilot episode were by male artists. But as the show found its footing over the course of Season 1, its musical identity began to take shape.

“If I was working on a show that took place in 1972, I would only want to use songs from 1972 or beforehand. I see Bold Type and the soundtrack playing a role in the show in a similar way,” Lowry explained. “This is a show about strong women, diversity, identity, empowering yourself, and feeling comfortable in your skin. So it only makes sense that the people soundtracking the show would also be women talking about these things.”

Lowry gives the example of a scene from the second episode of Season 1, when Kat proves herself an invaluable friend by gamely helping Jane get a Yoni egg unstuck from her vagina. “What does a male perspective and voice have to comment on that situation?” he asked.

Showrunner Amanda Lasher recalls that when she joined The Bold Type for Season 2, Lowry and series creator Sarah Watson were keen to continue evolving the women-powered soundtrack, because the audience was “really responding to it.” She explained, “I think that there’s a depth to the feminism and the female lens of the show. The more levels it’s baked into, the more it’s going to resonate.”

While music may be an afterthought for some television shows, Lasher described it as an integral component of The Bold Type. It gives real-life context to the progressiveness and inclusivity viewers see onscreen.

“Everybody is cognizant that they’re working on a show that has a point of view and is portraying women in a way that is empowering and that’s intentional,” she said. “And I think, more than some of the other shows I’ve worked on, people are really proud of the message that The Bold Type is putting out there, so they bring a thoughtfulness to their choices.”

That’s not to say that the team’s music strategy went immediately unquestioned. As Lowry indicated in his tweet from April, he faced some “resistance” from higher-ups who worried that his music choices were too monotonous.

“I remember there was a scene in particular where we got a note about, ‘Why isn’t there a male vocal here?'” Lowry recalled. “Because it was all women singing, I think some people felt like it was just a wall of music and you weren’t really able to differentiate between the songs or the vocals or the sound. Which is kind of silly to me, because when you hear a Dua Lipa song, you know that’s not Camilla Cabello. That’s a pretty bland note, and it’s kind of a lazy note.”

And while the team’s creative decision does, technically, restrict them by giving them fewer options for songs, Lowry has never felt hindered by it, simply because of the sheer quantity of music available. “It does put us in a box in a sense, but to me, it’s exciting. I like the challenge,” he said. More importantly, it’s a challenge with a purpose — that creative decision, he says, is about heightening and deepening the narrative of what’s happening onscreen, especially because the show is “telling underserved stories.” It also has ripple effects behind the camera; the stories seen onscreen are supplemented by the stories of female artists sharing their own music, their own words, and their own experiences.

Singer-songwriter FLETCHER, whose song “Gold” was featured in Season 1, told MTV News, “The fact that it’s a show about the female perspective and female stories, who better than to have narrating the storylines and the music behind it than female and non-binary artists? There’s not enough women on radio or on playlists, and I love that this show is a space for female artists like myself.”

Part of the way the show shares those stories of female and non-binary artists is by using their music intentionally. This season, for example, there’s an episode called “Plus It Up” that centers around an elaborate Queer Prom fundraiser. The episode featured primarily LGBTQ artists and specifically women of color, like Lao Ra and Kehlani. Doing so enhanced the story being told onscreen while also highlighting underrepresented artists and sharing their music in a way that took their own identities into account.

As Lowry conceded in his tweet, there are exceptions to the show’s “women only” music rule. In the third episode of Season 3, there’s a storyline involving Alex, a male writer at Scarlet who takes a hard look at his dating life after realizing he’s the subject of a viral #MeToo exposé. During a pivotal scene for him, the song that plays is “I Know” by the male electronic producer Bayonne — it was a musical choice that fit Alex’s perspective and the scene’s transition, Lowry explained. Exceptions like that are few and far between, though, especially now that the show’s musical DNA is firmly established. To hear Lowry explain it, “female-driven” is only part of that identity; more than anything, it’s about the feeling the music conveys.

“Even talking about how we only use female artists, I’m not entirely sure how to say that because ‘female’ is not a genre; it’s not an identifying factor for a piece of music,” Lowry said. “But obviously, women being at the forefront is a huge part of it. Beyond that, a lot of [our music] does feel anthemic. It feels empowering. These songs have a lot of emotions packed into them. For a lot of them, we do the goosebumps test, where it’s like, did that song give you goosebumps in that moment? If it didn’t, we’re going to find something better.”

That litmus test has given way to some of the series’ most thrilling musical moments to date, from Selena Gomez’s “Hands to Myself” playing over Jane and Pinstripe’s first kiss, to MILCK’s “Quiet” soundtracking the climactic Season 1 finale that shined a light on sexual assault survivors. This season, the music has only continued elevating — Lowry scored a coveted Taylor Swift sync, and the premiere episode featured a performance from Betty Who, appearing as herself. Who is a longtime fan of the show, and she explained to MTV News why it’s important to her that the show uses art in a thoughtful way.

“It’s so fucking cool. I love that the show is so progressive and they care about their impact in the choices they make,” she said. “They don’t have to. [Lowry] could just pick whatever songs he wanted and nobody would think about it twice because nobody does music by female artists only. But they were like, ‘No. We have the opportunity to do something that’s important. Let’s do it.'”

Last week, Freeform announced that The Bold Type has officially been picked up for Season 4, meaning fans are in for more of Jane’s digital drama, Sutton’s styling schemes, and Kat’s political prowess. Accompanying it all will be Lowry’s carefully curated soundtrack, and while he has lofty goals in mind for future seasons — he’d love to do a musical episode and is gunning for a Carly Rae Jepsen cameo — the first priority is keeping the show’s unprecedented musical mission reverberating.

The post How The Bold Types Women-Powered Soundtrack Elevates The Show appeared first on Gyrlversion.

from WordPress http://www.gyrlversion.net/how-the-bold-types-women-powered-soundtrack-elevates-the-show/

#Uncategorized

0 notes

animeindoblog-blog · 6 years

Text

UQ HOLDER! ~Mahou Sensei Negima! 2~ – An Impossible Task, Done Fine-ish

New Post has been published on https://animeindo.org/blog/2017/12/24/uq-holder-mahou-sensei-negima-2-an-impossible-task-done-fine-ish/

UQ HOLDER! ~Mahou Sensei Negima! 2~ – An Impossible Task, Done Fine-ish

A rare battle scene where no one’s naked.

Akamatsu Ken manga are notoriously difficult to adapt. Unlike, say, Arakawa Hiromu, whose manga can damn near be used as storyboards, Akamatsu-sensei takes too many diversions, adds too many characters, takes too long getting to the point, and adds in too many chapters that seem like (and occasionally are) just silly fluff. The end result as a manga is delightful—his action is stirring, his comedy is hilarious, and he can deftly switch between world-ending drama and goofy romcom hijinks in the middle of a scene—but too much of it depends on the particular eccentricities of manga, which don’t always translate comfortably to anime. (Ex: he’s a master of slipping extra side comments into a panel that are super hilarious, but which would eat up too much time in an anime.) His stories amble toward their ultimate conclusions, but the entire trip really is important. Without it, you’re getting a shell of a story. The only real way to adapt an Akamatsu Ken manga properly is to adapt every single chapter, even the ones that don’t seem important, because they are. But no one greenlights 100+ episodes for a fantasy action ecchi romcom epic battle anime. Not anymore.

So UQ HOLDER! ~Mahou Sensei Negima! 2~ was saddled with an impossible task. A task I had a feeling was impossible even before I read the manga, and now that I’ve caught up on it, I realize how right I was. How much I undersold the herculean task, if anything. With the heavy lore/characters of Negima intertwining with the new UQ Holder additions—not to mention it needing to serve not only as a sequel to Negima, but to in some ways make up for and finish Negima’s original story, which was cut short—this is a bear of a manga to adapt.

So. How’d they do?

Fine. It didn’t end up being a good anime, but given the task the anime team did a decent job. For non-manga readers, this adaptation covered (loosely) 134 chapters of manga, which—I mean, how were they going to do that well? Other than trying to do far less, which would have been my pitch, even if the stopping point they were trying to get to was a good one. Like I said, Akamatsu Ken stories tend to meander, and this one does it even more so than Negima or Love Hina. (Okay, actually less than Love Hina, but that was so much lighter on plot that you could stop almost anywhere.)

There are certain decisions that I find unforgivable, chief among them the absence of Santa. For non-manga readers, I’ll only say that leaving out Santa is like leaving out Kotarou in the original Negima anime, and was likely done for similar reasons—but it can’t all be haremettes. I mean, it can be if that’s the plan, but c’mon! Santa, as Kotarou was before him, is vital to the plot! Did you notice how Albireo Imma (Ku:nel Sanders) was conspicuously absent from the final fight? That’s because Santa wasn’t there to fight him, and without Santa, Albiereo would have wrecked havoc on the others and Team Negi-Ialda would have easily won. Leaving him out is especially unforgivable because it was so easy to fix—even if you’re not doing his arc, just have him be part of UQ Holder from the beginning, like Ikku was. It wouldn’t be the same, but at least he’d be there.

Other deleted characters had huge impacts on the story, Dana chief among them. Though it really comes down to what always happens when you try to condense 134 chapters into 12 episodes: all context is lost. The connections are lost. Nothing makes sense, because all the connective tissue that makes this (admittedly convoluted) plot work in stretched-out manga form was completely absent here. Does an anime-only viewer know why Touta is so important, other than the clone thing? Because that alone isn’t the reason. It’s what that means that is important. But we never hear about it. Without that, their plan to beat Negi-Ialda doesn’t make sense, because they don’t really have one. Which makes sense, since the battle comes so quickly after other events that it’s not like they had time to grapple with the danger upon them.

Other problems are easier to fix, such as the piss-poor animation. It doesn’t look like UQ Holder got much in the way of budget, and it shows. Then there was the pacing, which is very difficult to get right. I think Akamatsu anime need a gifted comedy director at the helm, because one of Akamatsu-sensei’s greatest strengths is that he lays out scenes and uses the pacing of a hijinks-filled romcom, even if he’s writing a bunch of action—which is to say, UQ Holder needs the energy of a romcom for the story to work. This anime never had that. Which is somewhat surprising since Suzuki Youhei has some good credits to his name, but maybe it wasn’t enough to make up for the everliving rush, or the lack of budget hurt him here too.

The funny thing is that this adaptation is a classic case of hitting a lot of the memorable moments/images, but neutering them by not understanding or conveying the connections that made them so memorable originally. It’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice thinking—just get Batman in that metal suit and the fanboys will go wild, it doesn’t matter if none of it makes sense!—where as long as you hit the right scenes then it should all work out. Which is extra crazy, since Akamatsu-sensei himself did series composition for this anime! So maybe he knew too much, or more likely, there was just no way to put all the connections in. Not with twelve episodes and a shit budget. This anime was doomed as soon as they decided to adapt up to ch134 in a single cour. Everything else was just deciding on the particular flavor of failure—though prioritizing contextless action and harem hijinks probably didn’t help. Once again: RIP Santa. You were missed.

But in the end, this was probably 80% of as good of an adaptation as this anime was ever going to get, once they made that initial (fatal) decision to adapt so much. That’s not exactly praise, it’s just a hard assessment of the truth. They were screwed from that decision, so the fact that they more or less kept the wheels on—and some changes even kind of worked, as long as you don’t think too much about the gaping plotholes they left—is impressive in a way. Things threatened to fall apart in the last two episodes though, and that weird 3-A dream sequence in the middle of the last battle was pretty pointless.

I wouldn’t recommend the UQ Holder anime to anyone, but the manga is still good. Take the time to read it if you haven’t yet. It’s time well spent. I just wish the anime team had taken more time, so they could luxuriate in those early chapters, rather than speeding toward failure.

Now, I’m going to end on some comments about the manga, mostly from chapters that take place after this adaptation ends (so ch135+). If you haven’t caught up on the manga, don’t click on the tag below. Seriously, don’t do it. Go read the manga, THEN click on it. Or just read the manga. It’s good stuff.

Show More ▼

Holy hell, Chisame as end girl!? Who’da thunk it. I mean, it makes sense within the context of UQ Holder—Chisame winning the Negi Bowl sets up Kirie as the chief contender for Touta’s heart, along with Yukihime, who not coincidentally ends up with Nagi in the Good End world, further solidifing her as the other contender—but if I were guessing who’d end up with Negi at the end of Negima itself, I’da probably guessed Yue. Nodoka is another strong candidate too, or even Asuna—she’s always been my favorite, though in the end she never got past the big sister vibe. Or a bunch of other girls! Still, Chisame does feel right, the more I think about it. And I’ve been thinking of it a lot, as I remember that wedding picture and smile. D’aaaawwww! Also, kudos to Akamatsu-sensei for having the cojones to actually pick an end girl, even if he did it in the sequel years later.

Speaking of, I’m glad that the Good End world still exists. Originally when I started reading UQ Holder, I was assuming this was that world, and that Negi had lived his life and died peacefully, only for shit to get wonky after that—but then Negi reappeared, and we learned that he very much did not get a happy ending, and that was news I didn’t like so much. Seeing that the Good End world is still out there—where Asuna got to live out her life with her friends, where Nagi was saved, where Negi and Eva and everyone else got to be happy in the end—just makes me smile. They deserve that happy end, especially now that we finally got to see how they earned it.

As for UQ Holder, I was originally on the Kuromaru ship, but I’ve since gone over to the Kirie side, though I’d be happy with a Yukihime ending too. It’s just hard to not like Kirie, especially after the time freeze chapters—which the anime didn’t do, by the way, so Kirie falling for Touta in the anime makes zero sense. And she also doesn’t have her time freeze powers, so Cutlass is totally pointless in the anime BUT I DIGRESS!

I also have mixed feelings about how much the manga has turned into Negima: The Ending I Didn’t Get To Do Before: The Manga, especially in these latest releases, where there were multiple extra-long chapters where often ZERO UQ Holder characters actually appeared. I wanted to see those chapters, I’ve wanted to know what went down with all of that for a long time, but it was also hard to see all the actual UQ Holder characters sidelined for so long. I like mixing in the Negima mythology, but I still want UQ Holder to be its own thing. Mixed feelings.

Either way, UQ Holder manga still rocks. Glad I finally caught up on it, even if I didn’t get a whole lot out of the anime in the end. Such is life, at least where Akamatsu Ken anime adaptations are concerned.

My SECOND novel, Freelance Heroics, is available now! (Now in print!) (Also available: Firesign #1 Wage Slave Rebellion.) Sign up for my email list for updates. At stephenwgee.com, the latest post: The Last Jedi SUPER SPOILERY Review.

0 notes