#i guess i'm mostly mad because this series has been hyped up so much | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hubby-wubby · 2 years

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The Umbrella Academy Season 3 was um... Well it was something I'll give them that. Spoilers warning.

I felt like all the Umbrellas became really annoying like they just become the worst versions of themselves. Luther feels like he got dumber or poorer at making decisions, Five got more egocentric, Klaus even more irresponsible. Also speaking of that, the amount of stupidity that they display is astounding. Like they kept asking Ben stuff that only their own Ben would know and expects him to get it, well of course he's gonna be mad. They also kinda provoked the Sparrows into the first fight by saying stuff like this was their house and whatever as if they don't understand that changing stuff in the pass changes things in the future. Don't get me started on how Allison still expected to find Claire and even how she managed to get in to Patrick's house in the first place. The cherry on top was also her downward spiral to villainy (yes, even as an Allison fan in the previous seasons, one has to admit that she is the Villain now and I'm guessing also the villain for season 4). She became extremely unlikeable. Not to mention *that* horrific moment.

Also the Sparrows were such a wasted potential. They were hyped up only to have half die off by episode 5 or 6. I don't get why people like Sloane so much. She's the most generic 'nice girl next door' with a Juliette complex ever. Her personality is mostly just being nice. At least she's really smart. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate her, I just don't live for her. And I find her and Luther's love story to be extremely rushed and two dimensional. But hey at least it's not as problematic or toxic as Allison and Luther. Jayme and Alphonso have cool concepts, but they also had problems. Idk if it's the acting but Jayme feels so robotic in any scenes that are not fight scenes. Alphonso is also pretty unlikable and his powers are inconsistent (but was never explained in the show why it's not consistent so it just makes it seem like plot armor). Marcus is... I don't even know what to do with this one since he got like 17 seconds of screen time. The only ones I actually like is Fei. She actually has a distinct personality; cold, calculating, smart, but underneath that veneer, someone who cares about her siblings. Also Christopher was alright, but cmon people, let's be real. He was a floating cube with no dialogues who got barely any screen time.

On top of that, I feel like most of the conflict in the series could easily be resolved by simply talking to each other. If Five told the family his plan, most of the fights would've never happened. Now don't get me wrong, I love me some dysfunctional family dynamics and I get that years of childhood trauma leaves a significant impact on your adult character, but it's been 3 seasons, at some point they gotta show some progress to character development. Why are they still so bad at communicating after 2 apocalypses?? Here they kinda feel like their Season 1 selves, slightly better or worst at that.

I love this series and I want to love this season but I just have so many gripes with it, well mostly just the annoying character regressions and a couple of 'this happened because it needed to happen don't ask questions' moments. Viktor Hargreaves being trans is like the least of the season's problem (also I don't get why people keep saying that the show makes a big deal of Viktor's transitioning when it was literally covered in like a couple minutes of dialogue). In fact Viktor's character is, dare I say, one of the ones that I actually like. He became reasonable but still compassionate. A perfect contrast to Allison's arc.

The season's not all bad. I think there were some touching moments and the Sparrows, as much of a disappointment they are, had awesome powers. Glad to know Reggie's motives and why he build the hotel etc. Idk I have mixed feelings about this season. Hopefully season 4 would be better.

Edit I can't believe I forgot arguably the best highlight of the season; the footloose dance sequence 👁👄👁

TL;DR season 3 was definitely *something*

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scaredysap · 2 years

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okay so as you all know, the editing in UN has been bothering me. so i combed through episode 8 and separated all the various cuts between sequences and made a few notes on what each sequence portrayed.

obviously, spoilers for up till UN ep8

open for full size, the writing is small.

okay so. as we can see here, most of the scenes are usually around 2 minutes, with a few exceptions. the most remarkable ones being a ridiculously fast heihua action scene of the two of them escaping a room that’s exploding, which lasts for only 40 second, and a fight+chase with a big snake that lasts 9.36 minutes.

the latter is definitely the best sequence in the episode: it builds tension and then delivers as the chase begins; we think Xiaoge defeated the snake only for him to lose his sword and get running again; after a brief lapse in tension to reminisce about that poor sword, we run again and culminate in a narrow escape. great action, cool music, tension rising within the party and then coming together at the end. great stuff!

....then for some reason we cut back to heihua arriving in the rainforest, then wu xie group relaxing and then heihua standing around again.

so close and yet so far, the ending could have been great.

I think the main issue here is that a lot of these scenes clearly belong together, like that almost 10 minute long sequence, but for some reason they were split up into a hiccupping rythm that steals away all the tension and emotion.

let’s take the heihua scenes. their entire journey throughout 40 minutes of episode is climbing some stairs, taking a nap, finding some camaraderie and then jumping off a cliff to avoid exploding, ending up in a rainforest as the next step of their exploration. pretty coherent stuff, huh?

however we see that this simple sequence is split up beyond belief. in one instance (number 7 on the grid) HXZ almost dies but is pulled up from a cliff at the last second and the scene cuts away before he’s even landed on safe ground; we don’t even get a moment to breathe a sigh of relief before we cut to a comedic scene playing off of pangxie getting undressed.

I figure this was done to try and make you wonder: oh! is HXZ safe? did they make it? but... they obviously did. you saw them when they were pulled to safety. there is no reason to delay the relief of seeing heihua safe and recuperating for another two whole minutes.

The pacing in Ultimate Note ends up feeling like a skipping record: it breaks up tense scenes without payoff until you’ve gone through some more circular dialogue and then it goes back to the action again. This way the viewer’s experience feels like you’re being handed several different foods at the same time, eating all sorts of contrasting flavours at once and it becomes very muddy. I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel through most of these scenes because they just kept taking them away before I could get to the emotional payoff.

An easy fix is to just. Unify the sequences.

Start with the tick ‘arc’ ending in the comedy of the pangxie semi-walk of shame. Pretty low stakes but we get some cute character moments, introduce the rainforest critters as a threat.

Have all the heihua scenes from day 1 (climbing the stairs, jumping onto the platform, XYC saving HXZ and the two of them deciding to take a break). Emotional moment; they start by apparently competing but are actually finally ready to work together, at least on an instinctual level. Have a peak of tension with the jump and a quiet moment of ‘oh snap.... we almost died there’

Back to Wu group and analysing the snake carcass Xiaoge found. Let the audience breathe before the next action sequence; add some exposition while they’re still paying attention from the big heihua moment just now. introduce the next big threat (snek of doom)

Heihua bonding moment and exploding room, jump off the cliff and the subsequent flirting as they reach the bottom of the canyon. Emotional core of the episode; HXZ turns out to care for XYC more than we thought, XYC is finally willingly lending a hand for HXZ to touch so that they overcome the issue together. they flirt and act cute at the end, still trying to hold their previous witty banter but now with the added sweetness of ‘aaaw they do care’. Moment of relief before...

Wu group and the snek of doom, build the tension of the episode to an even greater height and then finish their section up with A-Ning’s animal facts corner. We get an example of teamwork almost not working out with the triangle fighting but finally also coming together despite their situation. They find a moment of respite to chill out together and talk about how there are even doomier sneks in the rainforest.

End the episode on Heihua going deeper into the rainforest, finding all the snake statues to confirm that yes, the next big problem is gonna be snakes.

End the episode.

This way the tension rises consistently throughout the episode while also introducing threats in a way that doesn’t require the scenes to catch us up on what the latest problem is. the reason that 40 second scene was so silly is that they run like, 2 steps. stop and turn back to show us that the room is indeed catching on fire. run 2 more steps and come face to face with a drop into the void.

we wouldn’t have needed that stilted run if the sequence had been unified to begin with.

#dmbj #ultimate note #ultimate note spoilers #dmbj ultimate note #handling an ensemble cast is hard #but this ain't it chief #so much could be improved if they just fixed the pacing #i guess i'm mostly mad because this series has been hyped up so much #ESPECIALLY for the pacing #but there is a difference between 'consistent' and 'fractured'#and UN is definitely the latter #pacing is not supposed to be an average flat line because you're swinging wildly between two extremes #it should rise and fall according to an emotional thoroughline #and it should so so episode by episode #you can't just hope your viewers will all have seen all the previous installments and be absolutely caught up #especially when said previous installments have different crews and actors working on them #okay that's it this is my hot take this evening #i'm going to bed now #if you wanna talk more about how UN is structured/written then feel free to ask #but i know UN is the fandom darling so i don't think many people will be open to that XD

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tigerlover16-uk · 6 years

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So, um, you doing alright? I'm sad about Super ending too

Eh, I’ll live.

I mean, I’m upset, and I’m concerned about the possibility, but I’ve calmed down a bit.

Again though, I don’t think the show is actually going to end. Super is just too profitable for Toei to want to give up at this point, and I feel like it‘s mostly going off the air for business and practical reasons

The Kitaro series obviously had to happen, as part of that franchise‘s big anniversary celebration, and it needed the slot that Super’s in to air because of traditional reasons. And it doesn’t seem like there’s a good spot to air Super at this particular moment.

Plus, Toei have another Dragon Ball movie coming up, so a lot of the production staff will have to go work on that (The ones that don’t will move onto other projects for the time being. I’m pretty sure I heard that either one of the animators or writers was working on the next Precure show now).

So with all that in mind, it’s probably best for Dragon Ball on tv to take a quick break, since while the show’s production (Or at least the production values) have improved, it’s still hectic and not as stable as it should have been from the start. Having to keep up work on the show at the same time as a new movie, along with all of Toei’s other projects, and it’s probably a smart idea to give the show a break. Don’t want to risk getting another Resurrection F arc, now do we?

it’s pretty clear from all of those factors that the show’s not ending because Toei want to end it with the current saga. It was just a matter of convenience. I feel confident in believing that after the movie is finished and released, they’ll start production on either a new arc of Super, or a new Dragon Ball show continuing on from it. It’s not like shonen anime never take breaks. Fairy Tail has been off the air for nearly two years now, but it’ll come back eventually to adapt the final arcs of the manga. And it had a movie released last year in the meantime.

Sure, Fugi tv says they have no plans on airing a new series, but that’s understandable considering Super hasn’t even ended yet and the show probably won’t return, or a new one won’t be put into production, until next year at the earliest. Of course they wouldn’t know that yet. Nothing to panic about. If a continuation does happen, we’ll probably hear about it later in the year, close to the movie’s release. They’re going to be hush hush about it for now though, Toyotaro says he’s not allowed to comment on the show’s end for example.

And I really don’t think they’ll just end it here. I mean, just going off of merchandise sales, do you want to know how much the Dragon Ball brand made in 2017?

https://twitter.com/KenXyro/status/954308162580111361

60 billion yen. Up from 15 billion in 2014, and 20 billion more than the projected 40 billion.

I’m not good at math, so I can’t tell you how much that is in either dollars or pounds, but I can still confirm that’s a freaking lot of money. Not to mention, the show is an international success, does well in it’s tv ratings in Japan and is viewed all over the world. The Goku vs Jiren special (And to a lesser extent, the latest episode) got so much traffic to Crunchyroll that it caused it to crash. Whatever a number of fans may think of it, the show is popular and a huge financial success for Toei.

And they really need that, considering One Piece is apparently in decline lately, from everything to manga sales, ratings and most importantly merchandise. Not to mention Sailor Moon Crystal didn’t exactly go over well, even if it did push some merchandise.

Toei are unlikely to actively stop producing any new ongoing Dragon Ball series for the foreseeable future. Why would they. According to some members of staff, Toei have wanted to make a new Dragon Ball show since not long after GT ended. Kai was partly made because Toei couldn’t convince Toriyama to sign off on a new anime at the time (Or at least contribute to it I’m guessing, they can actually make new Dragon Ball stuff regardless of what he wants).

Considering they’ve just recently gotten Toriyama on board with coming up with new Dragon Ball story ideas, and the non-stop success Super has brought them financially, do you really think Toei are going to just call it quits with the Universe Survival saga and go back to making movies and specials every few years?

Sooner or later the momentum Super brought the Dragon ball brand would die down, which would hurt their bottom line, and they don’t want that. They recently set up something called the Dragon Ball room to keep coming up with ideas for stuff that’ll keep Dragon Ball as a franchise relevant and produce new creative projects, so that’s a sign that Toei are committed to keep on making new Dragon Ball stories in various capacities.

Having Dragon Ball go off the air for a while can also be good for another reason. When they eventually do announce a continuation, especially coming off the heels of the movie (Which I’m sure they’re hoping will be a big success), that’ll generate hype again for new Dragon Ball, which’ll hopefully mean strong ratings early on in that run.

I mean… say what you want about Super from a narrative and critical standpoint, but speaking strictly from a financial standpoint, Toei would have to be mad to not want to capitalize on the brand further by keeping it going next year, or at least putting a new Dragon Ball show out in the next few years. So even if Super itself does end in March, I can’t feel too worried about Dragon Ball “Going away” as far as ongoing anime shows are concerned.

And you know what… maybe it will. Maybe Toei actually will have Super end in March and we won’t see a continuation anytime soon,,, but we will get a new Dragon Ball show. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that Dragon Ball will always have new shows coming out every once in a while is inevitable.

It’s a big franchise, pretty much Japan’s answer to Star Wars. No matter how much like it seems the ongoing story of it might be over, Toei will eventually come out with new shows for it. That’s just how the world of entertainment works. Super’s very existence is proof that this will be a reality.

Which… I get why a lot of people might find that frustrating, since Dragon Ball wrapped up perfectly well with the manga, but… You can’t tell me that if you were Toei and Shueisha and you really needed the money, you wouldn’t try and do the same thing after a while.

If we don’t get a new Dragon Ball series or at least an announcement for one next year or the year after, then it’ll happen within the next decade at least. I’d be annoyed if we had to wait a whole decade for a new Dragon Ball series of course, tried that once and didn’t like it. But, as painful as the wait would be… I’ll survive (At least I hope I will. Never know what could happen in ten years, you know).

Even if you think this is the legit end for Super, go ahead and tell me I’m wrong and that another continuation (Or, heck, a reboot or something maybe) won’t happen in the relatively near future with all that in consideration.

To sum it up, I’m just going to enjoy the rest of Super while I can, buy FighterZ when it comes out, look forward to the movie when it comes out and eventually gets a dub, and cross my fingers that we’ll get an announcement relatively soon of where things are going for the franchise. Hopefully all this means next year we’ll get a new series going past End of Z, that’s all I’ve wanted since Super was announced.

#dragon ball super #dbs #dragon ball #dragon ball z #toei #toei animation

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