#me when i commit character assassination for the sake of drawing a pretty girl | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

biconicfinn · 6 years

Note

I had a lot of problems w loto too what were urs??

firstly, thank you for letting me know that i’m not alone in how i feel about loto because it seems to me that most of the rest of the fandom adores it and i liked it i guess? not as much as i love simon vs but enough to not say i absolutely hated it. secondly, these opinions i’m gonna share might be a little summarised/simplified for convenience’s sake

before i start digging into what i didn’t like, let’s start with the pros:

first and foremost, i really liked the idea of visiting the simonverse again, especially since the last book had been so good and personally meant alot to me and i was excited to see these characters in the pages again! (extra excited after seeing them grace the screens)

general excitedness aside, i loved garrett so much! i think he is hilarious and i loved that we got to see more of him and how he kind of fit himself in with the squad (he is my Angel Bro and deserves the world)

SPIERFELD!!!!! i loved seeing more simon/bram interactions and that promposal! wow i love them so much

i liked the way that morgan’s racism was handled. it was handled well and not shoehorned in to seem Progressive

as a subpoint(?) to morgan thing, i loved that there was just this acknowledgement of the entire squad’s nerdiness. you think they’re that group of kids who hang out together just because? lol no they’re all major nerds and that’s why

leah’s experience with finding a prom dress was so relatable; especially the part where she keeps struggling to find one that fits and suits her. i went through the same struggles finding a dress for my secondary school prom and it was so accurate i loved it.

now for the cons:

most of my issue with loto can be easily boiled down into a few reasons. namely, leah’s characterisation herself, the assassination of nick’s character, the way bisexuality was approached by the characters and the whole cal/nora thing

leah’s characterisation: i know she is one of the most popular simonverse characters, but leah isn’t really all that imho? i feel like she is a caricature of what people perceive a fangirl to be, from the m/m shipping, to the active fandom participation and the love for anime among other things. and another thing; i get that she has issues with bottling up her problems and communication, and that is fine and completely normal, but it just culminates in a rally ugly jealous and possessive streak when it comes to her friends. evidence? see: her feelings towards simon coming to abby, nick and abby taking simon to midtown, simon spending time with a friend who is Not Her. she is also really mean at times and i don’t get it? why are you so mean, especially to your friends?? why leah? and why can’t you accept that simon felt more comfortable coming out to abby first than you? are you not bisexual? or even if this wasn’t established in simon vs, you’d think her extensive fandom knowledge and knowledge of gay relationships (that granted, comes from fandom which is sorely missing in nuance when handling lgbt issues at times, but certainly has How to React When Your Friend Is Coming Out 101 down pat) would be of some help? coming out was simon’s thing and i don’t think it’s fair to do that to your best friend, regardless of how you feel about the person he came out to. also she ships drarry and that is a no-go for me just saying why would you ship drarry when deamus exists????

the assassination of nick’s character: now, this one goes hand in hand with how by breaking up nick and abby, nick gets character assassinated and the whole leah/abby thing seems more and more like fanservice. first off, nick and taylor metternich???? he doesn’t even break up with abby for an extended period of time before he attempts to move on? are you sure?? he was all for abby up until the very moment they break up and then he drops her for taylor? i’m not saying that leah shouldn’t have been with abby, more like, nick doesn’t/didn’t have to be paired off with someone else to give him a happy ending. you don’t need a romantic partner to be happy, and with nick, this message could have been conveyed in a beautiful way. also, nick and abby are pretty much head-over-heels in simon vs and for abby to suddenly have a change of heart and fall in love with leah doesn’t make sense to me. maybe that’s just me, idk. in conclusion, taylor and nick was so unnecessary and just made the leah/abby endgame seem very fanservice-y and shat all over nick’s character in the process.

the way the characters approached bisexuality: i felt that the way abby approached her sexuality, while normal was still rather upsetting, specifically the ‘lowkey bi’ thing. i felt that this is something i personally have heard straight people, specifically straight women say, when they find other women even moderately attractive and yet shun the idea of two women in a loving and committed relationship. you can be like figuring yourself out and trying to find your label (and you don’t even need one) but the ‘lowkey bi’ just sounds like a classic case of straight women with one (1) #wcw they would ‘totally date if like they had no choice!!11!!1!’ i know that this isn’t the case with abby, i know she isn’t straight and that is totally fine and cool and really awesome! i love it! but i think it could have been addressed in a better way, especially since many bi woc, particularly black bi women, were looking to abby as representation. it also seemed rather incongruent with abby’s characterisation to me. again, it could just be me, but this is something that just rubbed me the wrong way. (don’t worry, i still love abby and adore her with my whole heart!)

the whole cal/nora debacle: this to me was really sketchy because cal used to have a crush on simon and asked him out in simon vs, but got rejected. we also know that nora and simon (book!simon at least) look really alike. it just rubs me the wrong way that cal gets together with nora, simon’s younger sister who looks really alike to her older brother, who cal had a crush on. does that not seem very sketchy and shady and not very good? or healthy? just me?

okay also last point but more of an unpopular opinion that you might not agree with but i felt that the leah/abby relationship was super fanservice-y. i know i briefly touched on this in the second point but i just… why did you need to break nick and abby up in senior year to give leah a gf? it doesn’t make sense to me. we could have had a new character or brought another of the supporting girls like anna or even taylor be leah’s love interest. i know that based on canon, abby and nick might not have survived through college realistically, because long distance relationships are tough, but the hope of ending your last year of school in love, with your friends, finally yourself seems to be an ending with a more bittersweet feeling as college draws near and time together runs out than awkward relationship drama at prom and tension everywhere. i know that it isn’t as realistic, but i think that the characters, having been through what they have, deserve a happily ever after. i think it also is a powerful message to teenagers that yeah, high school is rough and things get dramatic and confusing, but there are people who care for you and will be there for you and stand with you and these friends will quite literally change your life. i just want some happy endings for these kids okay? sue me, i’m a little bit of a romantic.

please don’t kill me these are just my opinions

#skyrambles #leah on the offbeat spoilers #loto #leah on the offbeat #loto critical #leah on the offbeat critical #loto spoilers #also sorry this is a day late #i needed to gather my thoughts and be Coherent #which is difficult because i'm doing pw concurrently while writing this #skygetsasks

16 notes · View notes

sparda3g · 6 years

Text

Gintama Chapter 674 Review

youtube

There’s no other way to say it. Sorachi is absolutely a mad man. If there’s someone worthy of a title, “Best Troll of all time,” he will be the best candidate. The best part is that his tactic comes off with a hilarious payoff that makes the moment all the more brilliant. This chapter continues off with this new or second half of an arc in a hilarious and charming way.

There are plenty of times that I often predict the outcome before it happens. While there are some that I hope to get it wrong, I wouldn’t mind it; so long it comes out with a greater payoff. It’s my way to say, “Surprise me!” Sorachi has been a rare creature that never fails to do so. I have laughed so much throughout the chapter with its hilarious buildup, including the one that we left waiting for the long-waited reunion. So I thought…

Kagura punches Shinpachi through the glass two chapters ago, so we had to wait for a bit in order to see her new design. This chapter resumes that scene and the hype is phenomenal. When Shinpachi couldn’t believe that it’s her but knows that accent, you can already feel the anticipation. Mutsu even fills in the introduction to her reveal. Part of me thought that Kagura would end up looking strange like unexpectedly designed for the sake of comedy delivery. Comedy or not, I was excited to see the reunion with Kagura.

The more panels it shows her design from a different angle, the more it was taunting my patience. At that point, I thought maybe she would end up looking like the same as two years ago, which I wouldn’t mind as well. So finally, the big reveal is here and…the girl is really short. In fact, she’s a kid. I skipped the text bubble because I was frozen to think Kagura has gone backward in aging. Then, I finally read the text bubble and…

It’s Kanna…Kagura’s daughter…

My mind was absolutely blown away to the center of the Sun. It would have been fine if Kagura somehow went younger, but an idea of a daughter has never, ever, ever, came to my mind. It was so unbelievable, Shinpachi literally thunderstruck to space with this revelation, which even got him paralyzed. Can you honestly blame him? This is madness; absolutely madness! This is comedy gold.

Sorachi is no doubt having a time of his life making fun of the concept of a time-skip that it’s making other series look baffling in compare. It’s incredible that he is able to execute the running gag for so long that it continues to deliver the punch line time after time. Final Fantasy running gag should have ran its course already, but Sorachi not only sticks around but utilizes in an unexpected way, especially to a character that I wouldn’t guess at all. He brings in a new level of the concept “milk for all its worth.” He certainly did…

Shinpachi was so struck by the revelation, the scene shifts back to Gintoki and Hijikata continuing to discuss. This questionable situation with Takasugi does remain a mystery as it intended to be. We do know that he has taken Utsuro’s blood from Tendoushuu to obtain semi-immortal ability, but there are still plenty of unsolved questions. It was said that he has planned this since two years ago, which is why he was helping Earth in the space battle. It is possible though I don’t think that’s the only reason.

Gintoki and Hijikata still feel uncertain on his agenda to commit these acts like we have gone back to the beginning. If that is the case, we can’t draw the conclusion just yet if no one has a concrete answer. We shouldn’t jump to it until everything is on the table. We only know that he has a new ability and assumingly searches for Utsuro to finish the job. Other than that, we don’t know why is he like this, what happened to Kiheitai, and so on. It’s wise to wait and see how the story connects completely.

One thing I noticed about Hijikata is how he rubs Gintoki’s face by emphasizing his abandonment on Yorozuya; as if he is no innocent to talk negatively on anyone else since he more or less did the same. Memory is an amazing feature for mankind to have and he is exploiting that to the core. After all, it is questionable on why Gintoki disbanded them in the first place; for two years no less. The question is if the family can be forever lasting. Even that robotic looking guy questions him further, but Gintoki is good at hiding it. As good it was to get us discussing, there’s just one problem: who is that robotic guy?

I didn’t mention him in my last chapter review because he appeared for a short moment to take orders from Gintoki. This kicks off with another hilarious segment that has a great buildup for the reveal. Up close, he looks like Robocop, only he is called Mobcop; good save from copyright lawsuit there. I was laughing throughout this moment because of how dumbfounded Hijikata was feeling since he thought he came out of nowhere, but even Mobcop tells him he was in the last chapter. So we got another new character in this late part of the series. Right?

Mobcop is treated like a rookie, first day at the job and all. It’s hysterical that while he was preparing the order in an awkward pose, Hijikata continues to discuss in a very serious manner, but I couldn’t take it. It focuses too much on Mobcop doing “something” and ruins the flow of tension, which got Hijikata pissed off. He was making cutlet bowl, which is nice, but why on God’s name in a taking a dump position. If that wasn’t enough, his mayonnaise squirting has him position like taking a piss. Sorachi has no boundary.

Mobcop was going all over the place that even Hijikata can’t comprehend his action anymore. First, he was making food in unspeakable manner, then he starts threating Gintoki to confess with the intent to kill, and lastly, somehow he becomes all sincere and has a sad flashback to boot. What’s hilarious is how Sorachi cleverly use this opportunity to make fun of series that quickly introduced a new character and already shoving in people’s throat to care about him immediately. Hijikata wasn’t having any of it because it’s only this chapter that we got to know him yet he’s treated like a real relevant character. Oddly enough, I already like Mobcop by this point.

His backstory is pretty much the same as Robocop; fights crime, only to be nearly killed, revived as a cyborg, and the rest is history. It was actually touching in a funny way that he ended up like this, including keeping his emotions, hence the tears. I don’t know if I should be impressed or not, but Gintoki somehow knows how to turn the table to his favor and start investigating Mobcop. The investigator becomes investigated; that’s hysterical. Sorachi knows how to make new characters in the last minute charming and fun. And then, a book was thrown out…

Mobcop is not a new character. It’s a forgotten one: Yamazaki.

I rolled out of my seat with this big reveal. The punch line is so incredible; no man can say Sorachi has lost his touch. I still remember Yamazaki, but the series did a brilliant job to ignore him after that last scene from the War. It’s sadistically sad to even ignore his possible death, but hey, he’s a Mobcop equipped with food and firepower. I died from this scene as well as with Kanna’s reveal. Basically, Yamazaki is a cyborg; an awesome one as he stated it. On the bright side, one day, if Tama ever wakes up, they can spend together for a long time. That’s actually clever of Sorachi if you ask me.

The charming spot moment from this outcry is when Gintoki makes his escape, but not without asking one question to Hijikata: is Yorozuya doing okay? He replies, “Go see for yourself.” He honestly wants them back and that brings me to tear. In fact, that smile from Gintoki got to me. Now that I know that this series isn’t ending just yet, I am very curious on how the reunion would play out and what to expect for their actual future. In other words, don’t think this is finalized for everyone. It’s only a new path to work out and seek for the greater future.

I have to say, I am still in favor for a sequel with this new trio. Those two little girls are so charming that it could make a new line of comedy hijinks. I love how Kanna was taught that glasses is an actual being and needs a human body to wake up; she’s really the daughter of Kagura. I also love Shinpachi finally got react to the revelation and how unbelievable to believe Kagura is a mother at a very young age. He reacted nearly the same way I did, including Jump having the major Kintama to even green light this idea. I could imagine an angry mob already in this PC country. It is hilarious Shinpachi also include himself because he’s a virgin and losing to someone else is sad.

To top everything, Kanna’s origin is revealed and good God, I need air. Kagura ate too many bananas in one planet and ta-da, Kanna is born, Piccolo style. I won’t even think about the implications. So basically, it’s more of fission than a child birth I guess, but it’s so mind-numbingly strange, so I will just wait for Kagura to give me a clear understanding. It’s so bizarre, even for this series; that’s an amazing accomplishment.

Right before Kanna was about to answer Shinpachi’s questions, a stranger that is rocking the gangster design really well comes by. This must be the guy that will help them to assassinate Zurump. The chapter ends with a close-up shot that does scream Sougo. If true, and God it better be true before I think he’s the son, it will completely debunk his seppuku story.

This chapter was amazing in a bizarre way. It’s one that no man has gone before and Sorachi has done it. While it may cause fans to lose their mind, it is filled with hysterical moments with great buildup to the reveal of new and old characters. The art is spot on with the comedy delivery, which got me rolling. The ending has to be Sougo, unless we are about to get mind blown once again. We have two weeks to recover…

#gintama #chapter 674 #review

4 notes · View notes