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raining-dreams · 7 months

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Best Underrated Shows

Saving Me

Saving Me is about a lonely old guy who invents a time machine so he can go back to his child self and fix all his past mistakes. I learned about this show from this video titled Watch THIS instead of Hailey's On It by M!n!mal M!ss Art. Despite this video, I was still very excited to watch Hailey's On It. It seemed like a story with a cool premise and cute art style (and ultimately I do really like the show) But Hailey's On It wasn't gonna be out for weeks when I came across this video and this video really sold me on giving Saving Me a try. I never would have even heard of this show without that youtube video which would have been a real shame because Saving Me is fantastic! I hope this show reaches more people and I'm dying for a season 3!!!!!

House of Anubis

Mystery is my favorite genre and House of Anubis is chuck full of it. I used to be obsessed with this show back in high school. I had so much fun coming up with theories and live-blogging my thoughts and opinions about each new episode. Some of the acting & dialogue could be a little cringe sometimes but the story is just so good that it doesn't matter. I've heard that Het Huis Anubis (the Dutch version of the show that House of Anubis is based on) is even better, though I haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

Over the Garden Wall

Those of us who have seen Over the Garden Wall seem to agree that this show is amazing! Which makes it feel a little weird to call it underrated. But it seems like so few people have actually seen it. Maybe because it was a mini series, it couldn't reach the same level of popularity as other shows of similar quality. If you like Gravity Falls, you'll likely enjoy Over the Garden Wall as well. (Wirt is even voiced by the same guy who voiced Dipper!) I would highly recommend anyone that hasn't seen it already.

Dead End: Paranormal Park

I feel like it's pretty rare for animated series to exist in the horror genre for some reason. It truly is an untapped market. But if you love horror and animation, Dead End is the show for you! (Of course it's kid friendly horror since the target audience is children) The two main characters, Barney and Norma get jobs at a haunted park and work together to fight ghosts and demons. Dead End has a super cute animation style, in my opinion, and a very diverse set of characters. I encourage everyone to watch it!

Just Add Magic

Just Add Magic is based on a children's book by the same name. It's a show about three girls who love to cook and basically discover that they can use cooking to do magic. It's a pretty interesting take on how magic works in their universe. It's very fun to watch. All of the actors are also so talented! And one of those actors is Zach Callison (the voice of Steven Universe)!

The friendship between the trio is awe-inspiring! They have so much chemistry. It's a pretty fun watch.

The Last Kids On Earth

Based on a comic of the same name, this show is about a group of kids who have to survive on their own when a zombie apocalypse breaks out. And other various creatures start to threaten them (or even become their allies) It's basically a cute found family story. The premise is pretty simplistic but that's what I love about it. The animation style of The Last Kids On Earth is so beautiful as well!

I'm still waiting for a season 3!!!!!

Code Lyoko

I remember as a kid being aware of this show and thinking it looked kind of interesting (and I always loved the theme song!!) but I never ended up watching it back then because I let peer pressure get the better of me. I remember I met someone who brought up how much they loved the show. When I heard them express that interest, I was at first excited to ask them more but before I had the chance, everyone else started making fun of him for liking Code Lyoko.

I guess it was like the nerd show or something? I don't really know why it was considered cringe to like Code Lyoko but upon seeing my peers act this way, I decided I can't like Code Lyoko if I want to fit in. So, I avoided watching it. But earlier this year, when I was flipping through channels, they were showing old episodes of Code Lyoko! I was intrigued since I remembered it from childhood and thought I'd actually give it a chance this time. And it's actually a pretty good show! It can be slow at times but overall I enjoy it.

If you're like me and avoided watching this back then due to peer pressure, I highly recommend leaving that in the past and just letting yourself enjoy this show!!

Slugterra

Slugterra is honestly pretty similar to Pokemon, except it's slugs! And the entire series takes place underground. Basically, there's a whole underground world called Slugterra, home to slugs, trolls, moles, etc. And all the slugs have cool powers so the people collect & befriend slugs so they can use them as weapons ("slugslinging"). If you like Pokemon, you're sure to like Slugterra!

Detentionaire

I discovered Detentionaire randomly while I was searching through Amazon's library of cartoons. I was looking for a new show to watch and just stumbled upon this one. It looked pretty interesting and I was surprised to see it was a show from 2011. I don't know how I missed this show back then. Idk if maybe it only aired in Canada or something? (cuz it's a Canadian show) But anyways, Detentionaire is such an intriguing show where the main character, Lee, discovers some grand conspiracy and has to try to expose it to prove his innocence so he can get out of detention. It's such an interesting concept. And, as I mentioned earlier, mystery is my favor genre, so I had a lot of fun with this one.

The only problem though is, of course, it ends on a cliffhanger. The show got canceled before they had the chance to conclude the story in a satisfying way (or any type of way) so watch at your own risk.

Catscratch

I honestly don't even remember what this show was about but I do remember enjoying this show and being excited when I saw a new episode was out. I remember thinking it was so funny. I just don't think enough people know about this show.

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masezace · 8 months

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little off topic for my blog, but i started watching a new show since a friend mentioned it was good and i'd heard positive things about it, so i just wanted to talk about it a little bit (probably never again after this since this isn't a fandom blog, but it's the only one i have rn so idc it's going here)

the show is Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous, and just going on looks alone, despite my love for dinosaurs and the Jurassic Park franchise i never would have considered it. it appears to be very much for kids, and as i'm in my late twenties now i'm not particularly interested in especially kiddy media. however a friend my age enjoyed it and mentioned it has a canon lgbtq+ couple in it among the main characters, so of course i just had to watch it. i had already been hearing that despite its initial appearance and premise, it was surprisingly good for a kids' show, so i had already been curious, but i was even more keen after knowing there were queer characters, and not even the adults, the kids themselves (in a kid's show?!! what a time to be alive), so i finally sat down and watched it.

[spoiler warning, both minor and major, for the rest of this post btw, so continue reading at your own risk if you haven't seen it yet/are still watching]

the show overall

okay so firstly, i am coming at all of this from the perspective of a writer, so my observations are from a technical standpoint more so than just as a fan of the show. and honestly, it really is a well-written show as a whole. is it geared towards kids? definitely. there are plenty of jokes/gags in it that just don't appeal to me as an adult, but beyond that, there was plenty to appreciate as an adult.

the writing is actually phenomenal? there were several points in the series where i just sat back and mulled over the way a scene went, what the thought process behind writing it was like, how well it was executed, and how important it was to the characters and overall plot.

the suspense is spot on, nothing gets dragged out too long, and i will admit there have been a few scenes throughout that actually got me; i jumped! it's actually scarier than i expected a kid show to be, but i'm so glad they went where they did because it really elevated the experience.

the pacing overall is very good, adequately engaging for kids' short attention spans (and us adhd adults 🥲) but not too short either to a point where things felt abrupt or unfinished. plot arcs are well developed and tied up nicely. also, as a bit of a dinosaur nerd, the array of dinosaurs in the show is super broad and satisfying! very fun stuff.

character element

imo the real gem of this show is the character development. honestly it's just *chefs kiss*

the characters grow and change so much and so realistically over the course of the show, it's honestly so much better and more satisfying than the character growth in most adult fiction/media recently.

the growth in ben (who btw was def my favorite character by the end of s1) and kenji in particular were my favorites and, in my personal opinion, the most interesting. the way ben started out anxious, cowardly, and rule abiding to a fault, then grew into a brave, confident, adventurous little pyromaniac gremlin, then had that stint later in the series where he regressed a bit-questioning himself-until eventually ultimately striking a great balance and really coming into himself was just... peak character writing.

kenji started out overconfident, lazy, and overly concerned with money/status. but that arrogant overconfidence and laziness slowly turned into responsibility, and a desire to protect his found family, and the realization that it's the people in your life that really matter most.

honestly what i mentioned only scratches the surface in terms of those two characters, there's certainly more that can be said about them (as well as all the others) but i'm not really in the mood for a deep dive character analysis atm. just trust me tho when i say these characters are so well done and each one of them have arcs that are super satisfying to watch play out.

queer representation

and as for the queer couple? yasmina and sammy are PERFECT. it was so beautiful watching their relationship grow from one-sided to mutual friendship, to loyal devotion, then to love. they were set up incredibly well and incredibly naturally. i have like, no complaints when it comes to them. i don't even know if there's anything i can say that would add to things, they were just a really awesome couple to watch become canon, they're the beautiful and painfully needed representation we all beg for in tv and movies.

shipping, chemistry, and intent

but oh goodness... probably my only real complaint about the entire show would be how benji (ben x kenji) and kenji x brooklyn (kenlyn? brookji? idk and idrc) were handled. because for all that this show did SO much beautifully right, they really screwed the pooch here, sadly.

i'm gonna start by saying that the writing in this show, as with most, is deliberate. what i mean by this is that despite having no clue who it would be because my friend thankfully did not even spoil me as far as the genders of the queer couple, i clocked yas and sammy as the would-be queer couple as early as season one (actually it was between them and benji, but more on that later). i could already see the chemistry, because it was deliberately written in.

shipping is subjective. anyone can ship any character, and in most cases it's pretty easy to see how there could be (romantic) chemistry between fan pairings based on their personalities, their arcs, etc. and that's okay! ships don't even have to have any canon support to be valid, because shipping is for the fandom, and it's for fun (i have a few rarepairs and crack ships across different media that i just love).

but onscreen/written romantic chemistry is a lot less subjective (to clarify, it is subjective whether or not the chemistry is good, but it's not subjective about whether or not it exists). there are literally scenes written with the sole purpose of building the romantic tension and/or chemistry between planned couples (some of which even have absolutely zero plot relevance, which usually is not advised tbh, and most of which are the cliches/tropes you see in literally any romance ever written, some are just disguised a little better than others. but make no mistake, it's all the same set of cliches. there is nothing new under the sun), as well as intentional, key moments within scenes that have other purposes. they are essential to establish romantic pairings.

and typically, the foundations for these couples are laid VERY early on. always within the first or second season (well, at least they are when the writer actually knows what they're doing and has at least a rough plan/outline for the entire series & characters. this is usually a large part of what separates the good chemistry from the poor chemistry. an author who knows who the couples are going to be and has a plan from the beginning to build them up is going to be more successful in creating a believable relationship with good chemistry. one who does not plan, or makes last minute plans will almost certainly fail, and the couple is just going to suck). when the set of characters you're working with are going to stay the same for most or all of the story, you start immediately.

i don't mean to toot my own horn, because i think it's because i'm a writer so i just pick up on narrative patterns very easily, and pretty much always clock the planned couples within the first few episodes of any series, and by the end i am right like 9 times out of 10.

that being said, do you know whose deliberately written chemistry i also clocked in jwcc? ben and kenji's.

kenji and... brooklyn?

no offense to people who like/enjoy kenji and brooklyn, you are free to love them, but the way their romance was written is... quite possibly the weakest point of the show. it felt like they were just trying to appease the upsetto heteros in charge, because there was definitely another het pairing that had a lot more potential than kenji and brooklyn (hello darius x brooklyn aka darilyn, you would have actually made sense because your relationship had amazing buildup and multiple standout scenes from s1 on. dgmw, i love that we got a m/f strong, supportive, purely platonic friendship out of them, i live for those and we really need more of them. but we could have had that with kenji and brooklyn, or darius and sammy, or ben and yas, literally any other pair instead).

kenji and brooklyn as a couple came out of absolutely nowhere. i honestly think they decided to shove them together last minute, and had no actual plan for them until they were working on s4. because their development barely started at the VERY end of s3 (the abruptness of him caring about her being held hostage so much more than literally anyone else in their group despite them having like zero buildup to that point gave me whiplash), but honestly didn't really even become "meaningful" development until s4, over halfway through the series. the two spend the first 3 seasons basically not particularly gaf about each other individually, only as part of the whole group and on an equal level with everyone else. they otherwise have no deliberate narrative foundation. it just starts in s4 with no prior hinting. which makes their development rocky and difficult to believe. the funny thing is their characters literally have dialogue (in s4) trying to draw comparisons/parallels between them to say that they especially have a lot in common and like??? no? they really don't? not any more so than any other two kids in the group. their relationship just, really falls flat.

it was disappointing to see it take such a massive spotlight in the series for almost all of seasons 4 and 5, overshadowing the friendships that have been the focus of the show and should have remained so, to the point where at times it just felt like i was watching some stereotypical het highschool romance. genuinely, it made s4 & 5 more of a drag to get through. yasammy and ben and yas' growing bond (which by the way was so sweet, it had the strongest queer solidarity vibes good lord, i sure wonder why yas chose ben out of everyone to come out to first, hmmm) were some of the few things that kept me invested, otherwise i would have dropped it if it had leaned much farther into becoming the kenlyn show than it already was. especially when it was that pair so much of the focus was given to, even though we had so readily and perfectly available, the pair that could have, should have been: benji. which finally brings me to:

ben and kenji

benji's foundation was laid in s1. their interactions, the situations they found themselves in, were deliberate (on the writers' part). i'm even gonna go out on a limb here and say the pairings were fully established in s1e3, even with parallels between yasammy and benji (sammy clinging to yas and ben clinging to kenji throughout the episode), and darilyn gets the beginning of their development too.

even though they bicker a lot in the beginning, they clearly care about each other? kenji protects/helps ben multiple times, and there are definitely some looks ben gives kenji at times. at the end of s1, the one who seems the most deeply effected over ben's "death," other than darius (understandably since he's the one who failed to save him), was kenji! immediately after it happens, we get two close up shots, darius and brooklyn then yasmina and sammy. after which, we go back to the whole group with kenji in center frame, the focus is intentionally on him. it is only kenji who drops to his knees at the loss, and then we get a close up of just kenji. he was saved for last, and he was alone in frame (tbf bumpy was in frame too, but i'm talking humans here), which implies his feelings are especially important in this moment. that is the reason for solo close ups.

after ben's "death," kenji takes to always wearing ben's fanny pack, and up until bumpy--who ben cares VERY much about--got separated from them, kenji was the one who (however briefly) took over her care, ensuring she got off the monorail with them, and he's extremely distraught, more than pretty much all of them, when they can't find her, and he's last to leave when they decide to accept that ben's gone. even when they do leave, he's distant and distracted and his mind is clearly still on ben.

other than darius, kenji is the only one (if i'm remembering correctly) to mention ben/say his name after they lost him, upset because he was actually trying not to think about him. he has clearly thought about ben, probably a lot, because it's hard not to be reminded constantly when you wear something that belonged to a deceased loved one. and frankly, he appears to be the only one who dwells on him that much.

when ben reappears alive (which btw he found the group again because of kenji's butter knife, hello), the frames literally purposely focus on kenji's reaction. he's the one in the foreground every time they show him and brooklyn in that scene. he is the first one to say ben's name, the first one to go to him and hug him, and the scene takes special care to highlight kenji's strong emotions at ben's reappearance, lingering on his teary face as the focus for a bit even after brooklyn enters the frame to hug ben (because she is not at all an important element in the scene at that moment). just like when ben "died," the way this scene is written and shot HEAVILY suggests that ben holds significant importance to kenji, specifically. because again, the focus here is on kenji and ben almost exclusively, with brooklyn as only an afterthought lol. and quite frankly literally everyone else's reaction to him being alive was pretty lackluster compared to the special attention they gave to kenji on this.

and then in s3 we have the infamous hat scene, where darius and ben are in the limo and ben sees and mentions kenji's sailor hat, looking sad and sounding like... longing?? then directly after we switch to kenji realizing he forgot his hat?? the scene has no real significance tbh other than to draw a connection between ben and kenji. like, it acts as a transition to switch to the pov of the group on the boat, but it was entirely unnecessary? why not just have darius say something about the others and then show them on the boat? if there were no special relationship between ben and kenji, it would have made far more sense if they really wanted it to be ben to say something, that he sees the hat, and sadly says something along the lines of "i hope the others are okay/doing better than we are right now/etc" which implies that the hat made him think of everyone, their whole group. rather than what we got... which very much implies that he was mostly just thinking about kenji 💀 and then kenji thinking about the hat at the same time ben's looking at it and thinking of kenji. like, this is.... a very blatant connection being made by the writing/directing here.

all of that. so many deliberate connections made between ben and kenji, they had a very solid foundation laid for a romance to develop, and by all intents and purposes one already WAS developing according to the show's own subtext. which was why up until s4 obliterated the idea, i was positive the queer couple in the show was either going to be yasammy or benji. it was extremely obvious imo. but as soon we started getting the typical, loud, cliche "we are going to pair off these characters" scenes for kenji and brooklyn, i knew we were getting yasammy and not benji (to be clear, i'm not at all upset about yasammy, they're beautiful and i love how their relationship was done, i wouldn't have had it end any other way for them. but i do personally prefer benji, i just like their personalities and dynamic more. and i feel they had so much potential that got wasted to make way for a far less interesting pairing between kenji and brooklyn. why can't we have 2 queer couples, huh? and if we really needed a minimum of one hetero pairing to appease whoever needed appeasing, darilyn was right there).

but then??? their like entire bond just gets dropped (honestly ben himself gets pretty heavily sidelined for almost all of the last two seasons, which is criminal imo). mostly so that a rushed kenji x brooklyn can be established. like there are still a few small moments here and there in early s4, and one episode in s5 (ep 10), but from early s4 till pretty much the end of the series we hardly see them have any meaningful conversations or interactions, meanwhile literally every other combo in the group does.

it's so weird? why build up benji so deliberately over the course of multiple seasons just to like, fully discard it for a pairing with far less chemistry, even after the chemistry-building scenes they shared, some of which literally had no other purpose than to affirm their connection? even though they were very sparse, the moments benji had were just so blatant (kenji leaps into the rock crevice right onto the back of a saber tooth to save ben?!!?? like he literally was just willing to exchange his life for him like that?? he basically says that he wasn't really thinking, he just did it. so he moved out of what, emotional instinct, that's what we're meant to intuit from that series of events? implying that he specifically has strong emotion and doesn't think things through when it comes to ben? because he doesn't do that kinda stuff for any of the others in the group! even better, this parallels when sammy jumped on the nothosaurus to save yasmina. and then the way benji look at each other after it's over??? hello??? and then how kenji pulls both brooklyn and ben in for that hug a couple minutes later... side eyeing the writers for that choice. they knew what they were doing there and they were evil for it). i just can't see any reason to have dropped them like they were, after all the development they shared for 3 seasons. confounding. biggest disappointment of the series.

i know this probably reads to some as just "wahh, my ship didn't become canon" nonsense. but that's not why i'm bugged. this wasn't just a ship i liked and wanted canon despite no actual narrative support, as most ships tend to be. this ship did have narrative support. there was intent behind many of their scenes together, lingering looks and little things that matter narratively and are always used to signify a stronger/special connection. and it led nowhere, for no good reason. that bothers me. writing that implies and promises something, but never delivers on it. like a person who never finishes their sentences (think Dr McPhee from Night at the Museum). ultimately it's not a HUGE deal or anything, at the end of the day it's just a ship and just a kids' show. but as a writer, it's just irritating to see something like that be done. what can i say 🤷

conclusion

even despite the wasted potential between certain pairings, and even though i do think the first three seasons were superior to the last two, overall i really enjoyed the show, and for what it was, it was really well-made. the overarching focus was of course on found family and friendship before anything else, which i absolutely love, and it was masterfully done. out of 6 kids, all of them had at least one or two meaningful bonding moments one-on-one with another in the group, so every possible combination had their moment to build strong, believable friendships with each other. i'm just so surprised by how good it was as a whole honestly, good enough to binge over the course of a week. i will happily recommend jwcc to anyone willing to give it a watch regardless of age, because i definitely think there's no age limit for a good story, no matter the medium it's told in. :)

#jwcc #jurassic world camp cretaceous #benji jwcc #benji #yasammy #yasammy jwcc #i would say that there's prob an age minimum tho... it's a bit scary so depending on the kid i wouldn't rec it to under 10 years #this is a long post #omg so long i'm sorry #i just have a lot to say #gotta shout into the void #it just be like that sometimes #fair warning this post is literally just me praising the show in the first half n then going absolutely off about benji in the second half #review #tv show review #as always with stuff like this that has any mention of ships it is bound to ruffle some feathers #so let me postface this with the reminder that this is all just MY OPINION #you are free to disagree but i'd rather you don't share your disagreements on my post via reblog/notes #feel free to write up your own show/ship review if you feel so strongly #otherwise if you dislike anything i've said you can just scroll past or block me <3

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ecargmura · 24 days

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Wind Breaker Episode 1 Review - Better Than Bucchigiri?!

As the finale of Bucchigiri approaches, I watch Wind Breaker and I realize that this is the delinquent anime I was expecting the former to be, but wasn’t met with it. Wind Breaker’s premise starts off strong with an impressionable main character with a goal to become the strongest. A bit typical, but at least it’s consistent with his story. Haruka Sakura (First name is Haruka and last name is Sakura) might have the girliest name ever, but he’s a lonely boy with a rather prickly side due to being shunned from others for a very long time due to his unusual hair and heterochromatic eyes. He fights because he believes that’s the only way he can fit in and be something other than a pariah. In the case of Arajin, he’s stuck with a fight-crazy genie, yet only fights like 3 times in the show so far (and four once the finale airs on Saturday). His schtick is that he wants to get laid and wishes to lose his virginity. Also, when pressured to fight, he starts getting toilet problems; the interesting fights in the show are all from characters not named Arajin. Look, I don’t mean to compare two shows, but it had to be done.

WInd Breaker is a story about Haruka Sakura moving into a new town and the first thing he does after moving in is to beat up scummy gangsters trying to hit on a lady named Kotoha. Sakura sees this and beats them up and as he does, he tells them to remember his name so that the weak can avoid him and the strong will come to him. After getting treated to omurice by Kotoha, she teaches him about what this town is like and why Sakura won’t be able to become the top of Furin High School. It’s because the school has started to reform into a place where “good” delinquents beat up gangsters and anyone who causes harm to the town. After another scuffle with the gangsters from earlier and getting help from his future schoolmates, Sakura realizes that what they’re doing—being Wind Breakers and protecting the school from evil gangsters—is exactly what he wants to do as well.

Just seeing a delinquent anime where the characters just use their fists for their fights is nice to see. The fact that Clover Works is the animation studio and the way they animated Sakura’s beating up the rival gang by himself was a real treat to see. Hot damn, they’re doing an amazing job from episode 1. The fight scene was the highlight of the premiere. If its already this good from the beginning, I can’t wait to see what future fights will be like. The music is nice too! I liked the soundtrack that the fight scene had and I also liked the opening song.

From the opening, there seems to be a large cast of characters, but for this episode, a few of them show up. Sakura seems like the textbook delinquent at first glance, but he’s a lonely boy who had been hurt from society shunning him for his hair and eyes. He’s used to misunderstanding, but it still took a large toll on his self esteem. He’s actually super adorable! Like when Kotoha thanks him, he gets all shy and his face turns red because he’s not used to gratitude. When she treats him to food, he starts acting super cute when the food is good and even asks if she does takeout. While he’s a great fighter, I do wonder if his past will be explored later on, I’d like to learn more about him.

About his hair, I remember watching a Korean talk show program called Hello Counselor where civilians talk about their concerns in public television. One concern I remember watching was about a mother who’s very young daughter had partially white hair and was worried about how society would treat her growing up. The daughter had a large streak of white hair in the front, so it made me learn that such thing does exist. It’s considered albinism. Despite this, Sakura’s design is mesmerizing. I love how unique his design is.

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Kotoha seems to be the cool big sister type. I just hope she’s not his love interest because he’s a child and she’s an adult. It’d get weird given that Sakura might not even know what love is due to his loneliness. I do love how strong-willed she is. I just hope she isn’t the constant target of gang leaders because female characters tend to be that, especially in stories where it’s mainly male characters. Then there’s Hiragi and his posse. They seem like honorable people that the town loves, but I’d like to learn more about them.

The voice acting is amazing. Yuma Uchida really does show off his range. While he’s an expert at voicing tsunderes, I do love how gravely his voice is when Sakura shouts. It sort of reminds me of Yoshitsugu Matsuoka’s gravely voice, especially when he voices Inosuke. Kotoha is voiced by Ikumi Hasegawa. I normally hear her voice teen girls, so for her to voice an adult is a first for me, but I’d like to hear her voice adults more often. She has a strong tone. Hiragi is voiced by Ryota Suzuki, who’s another rising star in the voice acting industry. I’m familiar with his role as Kurosawa from Cherry Magic and the Wanima brothers from Blue Lock.

In my opinion, this was a strong start. I just hope it stays consistent and not stray off. I want to see the same type of action scenes presented in this episode. I want to see the main character be active and prominent to the story’s plot. I want to see growth and friendship too. Just give me things that Bucchigiri lacked. If you have watched the premiere of this anime, what are your honest thoughts?

#Wind Breaker #Haruka sakura #sakura haruka #Kotoha tachibana #review #anime #anime review #first impressions #spring 2024 anime #ecargmura #arum journal #Youtube

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queerfables · 3 days

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My impressions of 911, as at the end of 1x04:

So far I like the show a bunch!

I'd heard Buck starts out as a bit of a jerk but so far he's been a likeable one. It helps that there are (very nearly) consequences for his more outrageous behaviour.

I like Abby and Buck for each other but Abby as a character is appallingly under utilised. I feel like her role as a 911 operator underpinned the entire PREMISE of the show and yet it only took one episode for them to realise they didn't know what to do with her. She's also just... not a super compelling character? Maybe she'll get more interesting, I'm mostly mad because I think the concept is really solid but I'm not sold on the execution. The big problem with her personal life is that she doesn't have one, so it drags a bit when we spend so much time with her outside her job. At this stage I'm unsurprised she left after the first season, just because it feels like they don't quite know how to write for her.

I love Athena and oh boy is she doing it tough but I desperately need her to not use her power as a police officer to harass teenage girls. What the girl bullying her daughter did was terrible but she was still waaay out of line.

Related though, something I like about this show so far is that the characters' strengths are also their weaknesses. Buck is impulsive in ways that are good and bad; Abby is caring and empathetic, sometimes to a fault; the passion and assertiveness that makes Athena out of line with her daughter's bully is the same thing that makes her great at standing up to the assholes who deserve it. It's good character building.

I also like that characters are allowed to do shit bad enough to actually warrant censure from higher ups. And then receive appropriate condemnation for their behaviour. Often when shows try to do that kind of story line they go too soft on the characters either by over justifying why their bad behaviour is understandable or by having the consequences be wildly disproportionate to the wrongdoing in a way that makes them feel like the victim. So far 911 seem to be be striking a pretty solid balance on trusting the audience to empathise with the characters even when they do bad things and get called out by the narrative for those things.

I don't think the show has killed any kids yet, which I'm grateful for but also wary about. I'm betting they're saving that up for a real gut punch of an episode. I already cried over the mother in the plane who DIDN'T die?? If there are any big Kids Dying episodes I should watch out for maybe let me know. (I'm already aware of the basics of Bobby's backstory, though)

#911 abc

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jjs-other-other-blog · 5 months

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Okay so I did it. I finally watched the rest of Supernatural which I hadn't seen yet and it was both better and worse than I thought. Let me explain:

Now that I've actually seen it I can say that a lot of season 13, 14 and 15 felt like the show was half dead already, like they just kept going through the motions. Stick to the basic formular and keep it running. Big bad evil. Somebody makes a deal and lies about it. One of them is about to go darkside and has to be reined in. Somebody tries to sacrifice themselves. The wheels on the bus go round and round. The villains, the heroes, their sacrifices - we've seen this film before.

The only new player on the board who at the same time really changes up some dynamics in these last few seasons is Jack. He's a bit cluesless and he likes nougat. Cute, but not that exciting to be honest. What really makes him interesting though is the effect he had on the people around him. Because both Sam and Cas form a sort of fatherly bond with Jack which drives a huge wedge between them and Dean who violently swings between wanting to kill Jack and taking him fishing. But even that knew clusterfuck of dynamics gets old and frankly unnerving rather quickly.

Because over the last couple of seasons we see Dean become less the macho stereotype he tried to be for his father, he becomes gentler, kinder. Except when it comes to Jack which makes zero sense in my opinion and also makes me hate Dean which makes watching this part super uncomfortable.

I mean, there has to be some sort of friction between the brothers, but Jack just becomes another loop on the carousel. Dean has forgiven worse before, but still hates Jack, then changes his mind about it a thousand times. He teaches him to drive (in the Impala no less), he wants to put Jack down like a rabid dog, he hugs him, he will never forgive him. Hamster in a wheel, round and round he goes for no tangible reason.

They should've played the "this is all Chuck, it feels weird and off because it's all Chuck and he's a terrible writer" card more - it could've been brilliant. Lean into the "this is a show written by the villain" narrative more. Use more technichal terms. Have Sam say out loud that he has plot armour and stuff like that. Have Jack explain that Cas isn't at the big show down because the boss doesn't like him and wants this to be about the two brothers. Say out loud that Dean's anger with Jack is misplaced because it's not his anger, Chuck put it there. It's vaguely there, sometimes you can see the implications shimmer through, but they should've gone for it 100%.

They were onto a so very interesting idea that was meta in a way I have never really seen before, but as usual they only scratched the surface. It's just so sad. Season 15 had some very emotional heavy hitters. The big fight and reconciliation bewteen Dean and Cas. Cas stepping into the role of Jack's father for real. The empty finally collecting its debt. And as I said, fighting the narrative is an amazing premise. Season 15 had everything it needed to be great and then they screwed up royally only a few steps before crossing the finish line.

TL;DR: As always, Supernatural had a great idea, but never fully explored it and instead repeated the same drama they recycle every season. I know it's really just terrible writing, but the Chuck won theory actually explains why they didn't dive further into this concept and why even in seaon 15 they all kept spinning that wheel instead of breaking it.

#supernatural #spn #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #jack kline #chuck won #chuck shurley

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secretgamergirl · 2 months

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Consider cloning one of these games...

So the other day someone was showing me the trailer to some neat new indie game they were getting into, and my immediate thought was "that does look pretty nice but FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING! INDIE DEVS, PLAY A SECOND GAME ALREADY!"

Presumably you've already guessed this, but it was a nice little handcrafted thing that was very plainly inspired primarily by Super Metroid. Even had those bubble-looking platforms. I'd say what it was specifically, but I already forgot the name, because, you know, I've kinda seen a few games do this before.

It's not like Super Metroid isn't one of my favorite games of all time, obviously. I'm one of the shockingly few people who played it when it was new and totally fell in love then. And it's also not like there aren't several games made in its image that I also love. It's just that there's way too damn many of them out there for anyone to play, and while I'd never be one to tell someone not to make the thing they want to make due to market saturation or whatever, I kinda feel like we're doing a huge disservice to our collective creativity and appreciation of classic games to all be so hyper-focused on putting our own spins on this one particular game, especially when it kinda knocked things out of the park back when this wasn't a genre it was just this one super cool game with, among other things, a compelling structure to it.

Like, I do love that Super Metroid became A game that's served as a focal point for indie devs to try and recreate. Back when it was first released it actually sold kinda terribly by Nintendo's standards, and didn't really have anything else out there trying to iterate on the concept until we eventually got the Castlevania series going that route, and Cave Story. But at this point, yeah, Super Metroid has been all canonized and studied to death and if you're the sort of person who cares about this sort of thing in the slightest you know all about how it ticks and the appeal and what other ways the basic premise can be pulled in. So it's well past time for people to take another game that's super great and fairly unique and use that as a jumping off point to make some new things. So I'm just going to ramble here a little about some real gems that nobody's ever really gotten around to trying to replicate.

Punch-Out!!

I want to say we're all familiar with Punch-Out!! but... are we? It's a famously difficult game, so odds are good you've seen speedruns or other challenge runs, but you really have to play it for yourself to see what's so interesting about it. A big part of the initial appeal of course was having these really expressive screen-filling characters, which isn't something we're lacking now. It's also real twitchy, basically unplayable towards the end if you're dealing with any sort of input lag at all, which isn't super unique these days, but structurally, the way it's coded, there's all this weird artificial drama to it.

Like, on the surface, it's a pretty straightforward thing. Enemies have tells for their attacks, you dodge those, you hit them in the resulting openings. But there's also the round based structure, knock-downs, and one-off gimmick mechanics in the mix. Officially, we're playing by the rules of boxing where the outcome of a match is decided by either knocking someone down and them not getting back up, knocking them down three times in a round, or running out of time and having to go to some judge's decision. But that's not REALLY how it works.

There's no random chance of someone going down and staying down. You've got HP meters, you take one down, your opponent falls over, waits until late in the count and gets up, forcing you to drain that HP down three times before the round ends, and if yours bottoms out, you get to mash buttons to stand up and have your other two chances. But then there's times you CAN take someone down, not only keeping them down for a KO win, but even getting there without your opponent bottoming out on HP first. The most famous example, I believe of both of these, being Bald Bull's charge. The big dramatic make or break where he just keeps using this special move which isn't terribly hard to dodge, but deadly if it connects, and dodging doesn't really help as he won't stop until the round ends, and then might spend the whole second round doing nothing but. You need to take that risk, and get that frame perfect stomach strike just before he connects to dramatically KO him and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat... or you can do this:

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I was actually looking for an example of the all or nothing strike when I found this. If you don't face the charge in round 1, he gets into it sooner in round 2 to force the matter, but if you're still not confident enough to go for it there, turns out you can just drop him early into round 3 and have him stay down... and the only real consistent rule any of this follows is drama. Heck looking at the opening screen here, this person knows tricks for getting a KO on at least the first 10 opponents. Most of them I've always just taken the TKOs on myself. Point is though, the mechanics really run on drama. AI scripts change up if you move onto new rounds. Knock-downs turn into knock outs if and only if it fits a certain narrative. This sort of thing is super fascinating to me. Makes me want to look through the game's code line by line. And the only thing I can think of in any other game that even comes close is, of all things, the Ace Attorney series, with those scenery chewing meltdowns, and scattered scenes that "break the rules" with instant failure penalties or no-win situations where you're then suddenly saved by a friendly NPC's dramatic appearance.

I wouldn't suggest anyone literally try to make a Punch-Out!! clone. There's no real reason to stick to the boxing framework. I'd definitely advise against copying all the broad stereotypes. But there's a real unique soul to the drama-driven mechanics breaking stated rules I'd love to see people really digging into to gain a deep understanding of it and apply that to original games.

Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic

I'm not just being pretentious and refusing to say Super Mario Bros. 2. When it was Mario-ized, there were two huge changes- A run button the original FDS game didn't have, and the fundamental structural change of just having you finish levels with whatever character you like (or use warp zones to skip them entirely). In the original game, in order to see the proper ending, you had to play each and every level with each and every character with no run button. And that's neat, actually.

See, just as an example, there's a bit of a skip early on in both versons of the game, where you can avoid taking a door through some whole area by just leaping across a big waterfall. In Super Mario Bros. 2 anyone can do this, just needing a running start, but in the original release, there are no running starts. Either you can jump that gap by way of good airtime, or you can't. Depends which character you play as. Everyone has different stats, so being forced through the same full set of levels, there's a few little things like this where you have to alter your strategy to reflect the character you're running with at the time. That's cool. The whole mechanic of lifting things and throwing them, or riding on enemies' heads, or stacking blocks to reach higher areas or block fireballs, this is also just cool (and another thing SMB2 tweaked actually, play both and see for yourself).

I have seen literally one indie game that riffed on this idea, Curse of the Crescent Isle.

Umihara Kawase

If you've played it, you know. If you haven't, please just watch this speedrun:

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Nothing has physics quite like this game. Nothing really has the same weird mildly distressing dream sort of tone to it either, or weird as hell branching level structure, or the weird system where the game has a time limit, but rather than giving a game over just makes it end after your current level. Other games have played with grappling hooks, but nothing I've ever seen has made me feel like this here is what they were going for.

Altered Beast

You know, I don't even particularly LIKE Altered Beast. I always thought it was a bit too short, a bit too simple, and still somehow it felt like you were just killing time until getting the power-ups that kinda make you invincible for the rest of the level.

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There's... something here though. Somewhere with these bodies getting so bulky and beefy with no change to their heads and the voice samples and the sense of spectacle to it all, and yeah the dramatic gameplay shifts with the power-ups. I don't quite know what the secret sauce is, but if you find it, bottle it up, and slather it over something less shallow, you might really have something there.

Ecco the Dolphin

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There is such a weird mix in the whole series of new age hippie save the whales vibes and genuinely disquieting horror just kinda seamlessly blended together. So much of it is the sound design, but the claustrophobia, the weird sense of speed, the constant pressure of drowning or suddenly being in the face of some huge nasty thing that'll basically one-shot you. The... unspoken but pronounced notion that this is set in a world where all of humanity died and are totally unremembered. There's a hell of a lot you could do with any of this, and the only game I can think of that comes close to hitting the same notes is Subnautica. Actually for that matter...

Subnautica

I don't want to get into what's so great about Subnautica here, because the most common sentiment I hear from people who have played it is they wish there was some way they could play Subnautica for the first time, again. Just... yeah. If you haven't already, play through it all completely blind, and if you can think of how to recapture all of that, do it, and put it in my hands without a word.

X-Com Apocalypse

So... X-Com is a truly amazing game that to this day feels like a unique enough beast it also wouldn't be bad to try and learn from, but there's actually a good number of attempts at clones already, none quite seem willing to get into the same levels of complexity, and there's the whole remade Firaxis series with a simpler take that a lot of games are using as a template. But Apocalypse? The original third game? That tried to do a lot of new and different stuff. I don't know how much of it didn't work vs. how much is secretly amazing if you internalize how it works vs. what's sort of half-baked per se, but there's some real ambition with mixing the original's tactical intricacies and destructible terrain and such (which somehow works even better with the realtime mode this one has), with this living breathing city. You aren't intercepting UFOs on a featureless world map. You've got a whole separate combat engine on a persistent map where stray shots can damage roads and cause long-term problems because the supplies you order get shipped via trucks that travel on those roads. Tons of factions you ideally want support from but can go attack and rob if they feel like lost causes. A tech tree with really dramatic progress and early discoveries that are either double-edges swords or genuinely just terrible things to try to use.

And then the endgame is really neat because instead of just one big final mission, you flip the whole script, and suddenly you're invading an alien city, picking targets to wreak havoc on and ultimately destroy, one by one. Incidentally this also did headcrabs before Half-Life so... I feel like it should be better known just for historical context.

Shadow of the Colossus

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I know this is kind of a big technical ask, but why the hell were we not FLOODED with a whole generation of grandiose setpiece-y boss rush games after this first dropped? Perhaps more than anything else on here, someone really needs to get onto scratching this specific itch again, immediately.

I could totally keep going, but more importantly I'm sure you had some game that really left a mark on you that's been largely forgotten since, which I don't even know about, and you should really, if you're up to it, try and teach the world about it and how great it was by blending the old with something new of your own.

Just... draw from wider pools of inspiration, people.

#game design #inspiration #indie games #lost gems #punch out!!#doki doki panic #ecco the dolphin #subnautica #shadow of the colossus #altered beast #umihara kawase #x-com apocalypse #when I say 'play a second game' don't you dare just go play Dark Souls too #Youtube

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withacapitalp · 1 year

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Hidden Gem Friday

Hi guys!!! Okay so today is the first Hidden Gem Friday!!! I'm super pumped to be able to do this, I think it's gonna be so much fun. I have like 30 prompts already, so I'm going to try and do a little bit of a variety in these? Anyways!! I'm super psyched about this and I hope you guys leave comments for these writers when you read their stuff!!! Also let the writer know how you found them bc I always wonder when I get a random uptick in hits/comments/kudos! Anyways here's the actual rec list

Shoot by alligator_writes recced by me written by @riality-check! 1.2k words (Complete)- Jancy

Summary:

Jonathan shoots to capture. Nancy shoots to kill. OR A character study of the two of them and their relationship.

My Thoughts:

WOW Honestly that's my thought with everything Ria writes, but this one is so overlooked!!! It's so short but every word packs an incredibly punch and it's the epitome of quality over quantity. The characterization is perfect, the parallels are so well written. Ah I just love this one

always surprised by what i do for love by birthdaycandles recced by @andrea-csenge 6.3k words (Complete)- Gen

Summary:

“He’s dressed like Steve.” Dustin says plainly, monotone in that way he gets when he’s genuinely upset and not just worked up for show. “Why?” Mike is asking because he still hasn’t processed the ugly fact of the matter, reasonably so considering how bizarre it is to witness someone be so braindead in public, but Lucas would like an answer that addresses the other type of why. Like, why is Conner Marrigan such a fucking asshole? “Clearly, uh, Marrigan wanted to have a costume no one else would think of.” Eddie chimes in. For once he sounds almost nervous, though Lucas has no idea why. “I figured I’d let you know, considering your allegiance to Harrington and also the general fact that it’s a pretty fucked up thing to do.”

My thoughts:

I love this one so much!!!! It's really well written first of all, and secondly the characterization of Lucas here is so unique!! This is my kind of Lucas, and the thought behind the premise is really interesting. Plus the Jason here is accurate to real Jason and I like that a lot (So many people just make irredeemable monster Jason when like before he went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs he was just your regular small town jock asshole)

It has been a beautiful fight. (it still is.) by througheden aka the amazing @thefreakandthehair !!!!! Recced by Lex technically, but also by me bc wowwww 3.3k words (Complete) - Steddie

Summary:

Steve wasn’t sure how the fuck he ended up at The Hideout on a Tuesday night. Okay, that wasn’t true— Eddie invited him, he was loath to admit that he was still harboring an unexpected and ill-fated crush, and he’d agreed to go before his brain could catch up with his mouth. That's how he ended up at The Hideout on a Tuesday night.

My thoughts

Augh I just love the way you write. Something about it is so flowy, like a river or a silk dress. Anyways this is such a sweet little one shot, I always get so eeeeeee over a first kiss, and this was perfect!!!! I have a v similar idea for a story ending that is taking place soon, so great minds lolol but yes amazing show stopping wonderful etc. etc.

Words caught in my throat (who talks first?) by fragilecapric0rn recced by @flashyysins 12.2k (Complete)- Steddie

Summary:

Steve and Eddie get snowed in together. Emotional constipation and all the things left unsaid are also in attendance.

My Thoughts:

Okay so I said to myself I would put at least one WIP on this, but then I just read this one and Was going to skim it, but I literally couldn't put it down. It's so fucking good and I got choked up more than once I loved all the characterizations they felt so in synch. There are some spicy bits in this so fair warning, but there's also dad hopper and Wayne and stobin soulmate moments and just AUGH this is amazing it really honestly Is everyone should go read this and the fact that it only has 886 hits is a fucking travesty. I could easily see this as one of the seminal steddie fics tbh.

#hidden gem friday #fic rec #steddie fic recs #steddie fic #stranger things fic rec #Steve harrington #Eddie munson #steddie #Lucas sinclair #Jonathan byers #Nancy wheeler #jancy #Jancy fic rec #I loooooved all of these sm!!!#Should I include some of my own in this list ever?#Anyways you're always free to send me more!!!#Liam speaks up

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suffarustuffaru · 4 months

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What are your thoughts on Prideful Cinderella by Pinkshuchan

ooohh prideful cinderella..... again gonna leave the link to the fic here please show the author some love <3 ill try to keep linking to the og fic like this if i get any more asks like this hah

i remember reading it a loooong time ago when it first came out. and then i actually read the first several chapters of it recently again because "hey i havent seen it in a while. and i dont remember much about it" so i gave it another go out of curiosity and i got to around ch4?

but yeah i did enjoy reading it!! not sure if ill continue it soon but it was pretty solid. the writing style is very - formal, i'd say? a little flowery? but anyway the writing style is very well written. it gives the fic a super nice atmosphere which i think fits the whole point of the story - a cinderella inspired, fairytale-esque fic thats made a little Off on purpose just because its pride if and pride if is Understandably. you know. off the rails. yeah i think my favorite part was exactly that - the atmosphere and style was very nice to read through, imo. its just the perfect combo with the premise, as i said, and the setting of this ball and the fact that a certain doomed by the narrative duo reinsuba are having their drama HAH.

and also that antagonist is so. hes so hateable but that seems to be the point. and also he Definitely feels like someone you could come across in real life (unfortunately). so big kudos to the writer for that!!! the part where the antagonist states his viewpoint on women and how theyre like Flowers is so chilling. and also a perfect counterpoint to reinhard, whos 1. genuinely fond of gardening 2. not horribly misogynistic and 3. his family has this. Motif. with flowers.

and also i know its been a small detail so far (at my uhh. around ch4 mark hah.) but reinhard drinking and not getting drunk because of his dps has gotta be one of my favorite details of this fic. theres already like small little bits of details in canon regarding reinhard and his thoughts on drinking (other than the fact that his dad is an alcoholic but lajfls), but yeah. i think reinhard purposefully trying and failing to get intoxicated is interesting. and the whole reinsuba drama and this taking place in pride if is all very interesting as well. the author does a good job of establishing the premise of the fic (cinderella inspired) and making it Make Sense with rezero's setting - its not forced at all i think!!

also i liked the julius reinhard friendship moments <3 (i am someone very normal about their friendship (lying through my teeth))

other than that i do have like. a few criticisms but theyre more a matter of personal taste. like the formal writing style is wonderful with the narration and with dialogue from people like julius or reinhard. it does however feel a little stilted with subaru just bc i Personally cant see him talking like that Unless hes putting up an act (which he does in this fic to be fair!!! but even when hes not he sounds a little too formal for my taste). and also i have General tastes regarding pride if subaru characterization which 1. will of course be a little different with other people and i am welcome to people criticizing my own pridebaru characterization hah and 2. yeah my opinion with prideful cinderella is that pridebaru is a little too nice at times? yeah. hes just a little too nice at times imo despite the fact that this is post-pride if arc 1 and post-subaru joining the witch cult. so i do wish stuff like his hatred of reinhard was more pronounced bc i feel like it Would be at this stage.

but i do get that pridebarus One Line he wont cross is like. people like regulus mistreating his wives and the antag of this fic sure is a bit similar so ig that makes sense? :o and also i did enjoy a lot of pridebaru moments and lines in this fic otherwise (the detail of him rbding to practice his disguise for the ball and him casually going "yeah i did it like 30+ times lol" in his own narration was SO good). i think the characterization of pridebaru just had some moments that i Personally didnt like and others that i Liked A Lot so a bit of a mixed bag to me personally. i liked everyone elses characterizations though!! the witch cultist lackey was also an interesting take yes.

yeah so thats my thoughts on it!!! overall its a good fic just had a few things that werent to my taste but thats perfectly fine!!

#rezero #re:zero #ask

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linkspooky · 8 months

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TITANS, ISSUE #2 THOUGHTS.

This is way late but welcome back to my continual coverage of the new Titans series currently being released by DC Comics. Goodbye anime it's time to return to my real passion cheesey super hero comics. This is the first series since the N52 and Rebirth reboots to feature the classic New Teen Titans lineup so as a fan of the old comics I'm interested to see where they're taking these characters. Especially since this is the first time in like three reboots the focus is on letting these characters grow up.

This is also running simultaneously with World's Finest! Teen Titans which is bringing back the silver age lineup + Bumble Bee and making them canon again. As a fan of the silver age comics I'll be covering that series eventually too. Anyway, issue number two under the cut.

MEET THE NEW BOSS

We open with a much younger version of the Teen Titans about to ambush Brother Blood only to find the Justice League has already taken care of them. As far as I know something like this never really happened in the old continuity. Robin always acted separate from Batman that was sort of the point, and the only time they really clashed was the crossover with Batman and the Outsiders. It culminated in a story arc where Dick Grayson realizing he'd been emulating batman a little too much realized he didn't actually want to lead people the same way that Bruce did.

Then much, much later in the JLA and Titans crossover Technis Imperative. So yeah, The Justice League never really sniped one of the Titans targets. It was more of a silver age Teen Titans thing that they were just considered the Jr. Justice League and the Justice League / Their mentors were more active in interfering with them. By the time of New Teen TItans, they were just the Titans their own independent group.

Wally's not dead (obviously), but an alternate timeline version of him does give us the interesting premise that Dick is tasked with solving a murder before it even happens. It gives Dick a chance to show off his detective training here presenting a unique challenge to his skill set.

Cyborg's question of whether or not Dick has contingencies in place is a reference to the Tower of Babel storyline where Batman prepared weapons to use against the Justice League with the knowledge of all their weaknesses, only for those same weapons to get stolen by Ra'as al Ghul who put them into place and crippled the league while at the same time sending Batman on a wild goose chase by robbing his parent's grave an forcing him to track down where Ra's moved the bodies in order to distract them. It was a pretty big deal in the pre-reboot continuity.

Dick having those same contingencies shows his control-freak Bruce foiling, but at least he's open about it I guess. I'd say that Nightwing having all of those weapons and contingency plans though does put a little too much power in his hands over the others. The whole point of Tower of Babel is it's not so much about Batman always needing to carry krytponite around in case Superman goes evil, as it is that Bruce needs to feel in control and in order to achieve that he disrespects all of his comrades agency by devising methods to control them.

THough later on Dick does have a point that it's Wally's tendency to rush off immediately without thinking because he is a speedster and therefore stretch himself too thin. IT's the right call to keep Wally close when Dick knows that he's going to get murdered soon, but it's kind of wrong to hold "I can keep you here if I want because I know your weaknesses" over his head to get him to stay.

Dick makes another controversial decision by putting Donna in charge instead of Starfire. This is probably to give Donna a character conflict.

It's funny that Dick chose Donna over Starfire considering their track record with leadership. One of the biggest fights Donna and Dick ever had is when Dick trusted Donna with leading the team in his absence and Donna let the whole team fall apart. Basically while Dick was gone Cyborg and Beast Boy ran off, Raven was kidnapped by Brother Blood and missing for months and Donna basically sat on her hands and did nothing about it. All because Donna's greatest character flaw is being unable to live up to the perfect image that everyone else has on her.

It sparked one of the biggest fights Dick and Donna ever had in the comics, they literally got into a fist fight over this. Anyway, in summary Donna does not have the best leadership skills. On the other hand Starfire led the Titans pretty succesfully when they were mentoring Young Justice in the 2003 comics and Dick walked away from the team.

Dick probably just made the call because it's his tendency to trust Donna with everything, due to their close friendship.

At least it doesn't get in the way of Donna and Starfire's friendship. There's a funny little nod here to the New Teen Titans which had pretty constant inner-group conflict, to the point Cyborg would make fun of it by calling their lives a soap opera. The Titans are pretty famously a dysfunctional found family. We'll see if they keep that element in or not.

Two more things set up for future issues, number one it's Garth's turn to be brainwashed by Brother Blood this week. Garth seems like the natural choice to get brainwashed, despite being a member of the original four he's kind of been more of an outsider to the group. In the original silver age titans he felt so insecure about his place in the group he literally developed an illness and had to quit.

The second is that it's mentioned that the explosion that started the fire is Tamaranean in origin. Considering Starfire's Tales of the Titan comic deals with her encountering a pair of sisters with a healthy relationship, and featured an off-hand mentioned of Blackfire.

This could be foreshadowing the return of Blackfire, which I'm excited but also nervous for. Blackfire is one of my favorite villains in all of comics, but her relationship with Starfire is often reduced to "Starfire is the good one, and Blackfire is the bad one" when in the New Teen Titans it became much more complicated than that and became a pretty nuanced analysis of the conflict between a golden child and a scapegoat.

However, my hot take about Blackfire and Starfire's relationship is a rat for another post, so I'll just end things here.

#teen titans #tt meta #teen titans meta #titans 2023 #titans #new teen titans #dick grayson #garth #donna troy #nightwing #wondergirl #starfire #dc comics #dc comics meta

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scumcoin · 1 year

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Pondering and Rambling About Isekai A Little Bittttt.....

Rewatching VS Knights of Lamune & 40 Fire. (mouthful of a title, henceforth 40 Fire)

For the unfamiliar, the Lamune series is SD mecha anime series, comparable to Mashin Eiyuu Wataru and Madou King Granzort. in both TV anime the hero is some bozo kid who gets sucked into a video game (in 40 Fire's case, a CD-ROM game that was inserted into a console that suspiciously resembles a playstation) only to be gilded with the title of the great hero Lamuness: in this case, our new protagonist Lamunedo is christened Lamuness the Third. It's pretty much text that Lamunedo is the son of the previous hero... I honestly don't wanna think about it too hard so I won't but his parents look like Milk, the last show's heroine and love interest, and the original protagonist.

It really be like that.

Given I've already watched this show (albeit over a decade ago and never in Japanese, and I suspect heavily censored as well), I probably won't be doing a lot of posts on it, but I recently rewatched a chunk of the original and I've been thinking about both shows approach to isekai and hell, the approach many other isekai shows take. Shows like this, Fushigi Yuugi, Those Who Hunt Elves, et cetera. There... wasn't much "I died and now I'm permanently in another world"... was there? But I'm not really thinking about those shows because I have seen neither, we're talking about Lamuness, a series aimed at kids. There's a lot to unpack about modern isekai's penchant for escapism in a Japan that's settled into its post-Bubble Era woes, but I'm not qualified to talk about something so culturally heavy nor is it super related. But I do wanna touch on the "method" of being spirited away into another world, and the story structure.

Like I said, it's anything but permanent. There's no truck, no sudden heart attack from overwork. Come, Lamuness, time to save the world. There's no time to waste. Get in the fucking TV. The method is an incredibly accessible one, arguably: getting sold a shady CD-ROM for like a dollar and getting whisked away when it boots.

The premise of this series is very goal-based, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that even if the person in these kinds of older isekai in general comes to love the world and decides to stay, there is always the goal of "get back home". Lamunedo has the hefty weight of defeating the demon god's henchmen before they revive him, and when it all ends he gets to go home (sorry for spoiling an anime that's like 25 years old at this point, but that's how most of these ended). In contrast to newer isekai shows where the story begins with the protagonist's life ending, cementing that this is their new life and that they have no real grand goal... unless the goal is to not die. You have to live your new life, effectively an escape from the old life lived previously. The protagonists often skew older in their original lives, office workers over the age of 20 or NEETs who have wasted their lives and what have you. The issue with a lot of newer isekai media is not that they're paint by the numbers, but that because there isn't much of an immediate goal in most, many cannot deliver on the breadth of the premise or many would consider a gimmick. They drown in trying to tick boxes of "you should know the genre the protagonist is stuck in if you've picked up this book/manga/anime, so I'm not gonna think too hard about it either". It's not a diss or anything, but if your protagonist is just going to live and adapt to a new world and you make it the entire premise then you better have thought of the world building at least a little, or give it an actual plot structure to follow that isn't just you going through a buffet table and piling on more cute girls/boys/etc onto the protagonist's plate. They overwhelm with technicalities like video game stats (STOP!!!!!!! STOP PUTTING STATS IN YOUR SHIT I'M GOING TO KILL MYSELF AND YOUR NAME WILL BE IN MY NOTE) and are indulgent in a lot of the wrong ways that may alienate those who do not consume the inspiration of the isekai much.

The best isekai that don't get immediately lambasted by the audience are isekai that dive right into the story without treating the outsider protagonist like someone standing behind the fourth wall at all times, and the rest of the world actually matters. Drawing attention to the fact that other characters are NPCs is tiring and makes me think I'm not supposed to care about them. It creates a vacuum where the only real person in the story is the protagonist and it's difficult to feel for a protagonist when everyone else is treated like an object. Both a literal object to interact with in a video game sense and in many cases a sexual object. Most good isekai will have you forget that the setting is based on something previously assumed to be fictional. It's not enough for the protagonist to be invested in the world, by the way. That's why shit like Shield Hero sucks ass even when you ignore the slavery shit (why would you though?!). I find that I prefer when it seems like the protagonist is in the story just like everyone else, rather than someone who consistently pushes against it. Of course there are many different ways to do it. This is a topic that's way too deep for me, and contrary to what my tone may convey I think that the genre is painted with an unfair brush so a lot of good shows slip through the cracks.

Or to be honest... the fact of the matter is that people are biased and judge stuff harshly just because they're a genre that's in vogue right now. Go figure. <-guy who hasn't even watched that many newer isekai shows

I'll make myself clear here: both old and new isekai are escapist fantasy and I dislike it when people try to paint escapism as a pathetic thing that only the NEW bad isekai shows employ. What's more escapist than being sucked into a video game and being told you're the hero that will save the world? You, a normal kid. What I find refreshing about the Lamuness series that I think newer light novels could learn from. There isn't any "I'll use my experience from the old world". Because Lamunedo is a child, and hero can never be an adult.

So that's a modern isekai shorthand immediately eliminated. (Note that I haven't once called anything a cliche in this post, I don't have that kind of scorn for the genre. I think it'd be good for actual critics to remove this buzzword from their vocabulary unless they truly face off against something that is an actual ripoff, because people have now taken the word cliche and turned it into an entirely negative thing, same with the word trope. But I digress.)

The entire point of the series is to be an escapist fantasy for little kids who love RPGs, but you'll never once see a stat block nor will you hear much of bosses in the video game sense. Sure, maybe the tyke will wonder about home every now and then but after this point you're set off into the story with the express goal of saving the world. There's nothing deep to think about. Traversing through different "space"s and RPG village-like places is a given, and it seems like they're made up as you go unless they're on a map explicitly (they are supposedly, but they still feel made up). You won't hear much about what Lamunedo thinks besides the fact that his (and Da Cider's) BIG COOL MECHA has his blood pumping.

This is what I mean by goal driven: it ironically feels much more like a video game without constantly bringing attention to the fact that it's supposed to be a video game. A big greater goal punctuated by smaller goals and pitstops is how a lot of JRPGs progress. Perhaps it's prescient to compare a lot of newer isekais to an open world game: you're doing... something, there are story important cutscenes, but you meander around until you hit them and often you are sidetracked. It works when you're the one doing it, but when an isekai story is overwhelmed by the lack of nothing it is accomplishing that's when the audience disengages and starts wondering why the protagonist is a fucking idiot, and why they won't do something that actually matters. Have you ever watched someone dick around in Skyrim? Unless you really like Skyrim in my opinion it's not very fun to watch.

I find that this is why villainess isekai is so popular. Many employ the otome genre, which are much more linear in comparison. Sure, you make choices that lead you off to other routes and affect what ending you get, but everyone who plays Norn9 for example is playing the same Norn9 that the next person plays. Even with linear RPGs, you could be underleveled, you could favor certain characters, your experience can still be somewhat varied. Therefore, in a villainess scenario where the base is an otome game, there is an enforcement of an in-game clock where events will happen regardless of how much you dawdle. In fact, slacking tends to be punished. I'm aware that there are similar premises that don't employ a villainess or are based on other genres that are associated with women like management sims and mobile games, but in general they tend to emphasize proactiveness (also I'm speaking very broadly). Even the characters are treated with care. Sure, the heroine may casually spoil their supposed fate and metagame with previous knowledge, but they feel like actual characters.

In any case, as I've stated several times I carry no ire towards the genre. You'll catch me dead before I watch crap like Mushoku Tensei and Shield Hero but there's plenty of isekai manga and anime that I've either enjoyed or am looking forward to enjoying, past or present. But rewatching the Lamuness series got me thinking a lot about it. I wasn't even intending on writing most of what I wrote and I'll be honest when I say I don't consider myself a writer: I'm not the most eloquent and I struggle to express how I feel but by god do I express.

#general thoughts #cullen rewatches 40 fire #isekai #any comments feedback and reblogs appreciated :pleading:#anime essay #essay #isekai is such a fascinating genre even though i dont have much exp with it

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animebw · 2 years

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What is it with devil part timer? I wasn't ever going to watch it but now i am curious.

Short version, it's an anime from 2013 that's sort of a reverse-isekai: instead of a normal person getting teleported to a fantasy world, a demon lord and a couple of his minions get teleported to our world and have to work at McDonalds (sorry, MgRonalds) to make a living. It's basically a sitcom about super-powerful demons and angels adjusting to the life of a low-wage service worker, with some occasional action thrown in for good measure. I wasn't in the anime fandom when it was released, but it apparently got quite a passionate following. And they suffered for almost a decade with no season 2 announcement until a new studio finally picked it up just this season. So people were excited.

And then they saw what the new season was actually gonna look like.

See, the first season was produced by White Fox, the studio behind Steins;Gate and Re:Zero. And while it wasn't a visual masterpiece or anything, it was very well put together on a technical front. Solid action, solid direction, solid editing from shot to shot, and- and this was the real ace up its sleeve- some of the best damn expression work of its time. So much of this show's comedy works before of just how damn expressive and intense everyone's faces are. It's just the right balance of snappy and over-the-top. And while the studio producing season 2, 3Hz, isn't a bad studio by any stretch, the style they chose to go with was a lot softer, a lot rounder, and a lot less suited to the style of comedy it's going for.

Like, this is how the average punchy expression looks in season 1:

And this is the baseline for season 2:

Like... there's just no personality to the second one. It's the most generic anime face of concern imaginable. Plus now every female character has that godawful perma-blush that way too many female character designs have nowadays, and there's so much less animation overall, and the production quality really sinks as the season goes on, and... look, this whole season just looks so bland. There's no imagination or energy to any of the visual choices, and the first season had both of those in spades.

And unfortunately, once you take away the strong visual presentation, you're forced to confront the fact that The Devil is a Part-Timer... really kind of sucks in the story department. Yeah, it's a neat premise, but the execution of that premise mostly just results in every overused anime trope you were already getting tired of back in 2013. Half-baked lore, unnecessary love triangle/harem, the main guy being somehow completely oblivious to the girls' interest in him (despite one of them LITERALLY TELLING HIM TO HIS FACE SHE LIKES HIM AND HE STILL DOESN'T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND SERIOUSLY), groan-inducing fanservice, casual fatphobia, That One Scene From Sword Art Online, you get the picture. But at least the first season had enough energy that you could mostly overlook those things for the sake of a well-produced comedy. Season 2, though? It's so lifeless and aimless that the flaws in the writing become impossible to ignore. This is just not a good story, and it doesn't even have enough style to be passable anymore.

...man, I had more thoughts on this than I realized, lmao.

Anyway, we'll see if the last two episodes turn things around. But in all likelihood, this season is going to end up a 3/10 for me. And even if you're a fan of the first season, I wouldn't recommend it, because basically everything that made the first season work is gone now.

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #tabw q+a #the devil is a part timer #hataraku maou sama!#2013 aniwatch #summer 2022 anime #summer 2022 sr

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whatyourusherthinks · 2 months

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Bob Marley: One Love Review

Bob Marley: One Love has had a weird pre-watching history for me. When I heard the premise, I thought, dope. I'd totally watch a Bob Marley biopic. Then a manager at work told me it was supposed to come out last year and they had screenings that went down horribly. Egh. But the opening weekend sold a lot of tickets! And sales went significantly down shortly after...

Whatever happens this is going to be interesting.

What's The Movie About?

The biopic shows the attempted assassination of Bob and the aftermath of everyone's survival. Kinda.

What I Liked.

First, the music is really good. Obviously. There was a couple moments here and there I thought were pretty interesting, for example they showed Bob getting the inspiration of the album Exodus and that was cool. I liked Bob's charity work and how they showed his beliefs through his music career. And there was a pretty touching moment at the end when Bob confronts his would-be assassin, although I don't know if it actually happened or not.

What I Didn't Like.

The story is unfocused. It starts about Bob dealing with the aftermath of the shooting and having PTSD, but then he moves to London and it seems like the movie completely forgets about that plot point. There's three plot developments that seem like they should important but are brought up 40 minutes before the credits roll and resolve super quick, or is the outcome of the plot point is explained with text over actual pictures or video of the real Bob Marley. Speaking of which, this is a nitpick, but the actor who plays Bob Marley does not look like him, and it's really obvious with the ending. Also, there's a scene of the Bob singing 'Three Little Birds' and he stops and the crowd continues to sing in the trailer that is not in the final movie. Speaking if nitpicks, there's like a million flashbacks in the movie that aren't presented super well, but whenever the flashback to Bob and his wife when they are young adults (I think they're supposed to be like 18 or 20) the actors look 15. Also, I went to see this movie with my sister. And we couldn't understand half the dialogue. Is it because we're two white kids who've never been to or met anyone from Jamaica? Probably.

My final criticism is getting it's own section because I feel like I'll need to justify myself, but half this movie is a shitty religious movie. What I mean by that is half the movie is about Rastafari and how Bob Marley is a believer of that religion, but rather that having an explanation of the religion or focusing on debate between people of different faiths, it's just dogma. Either Bob says he's struggling emotionally and his wife or his priest says "Believe Rastafari!" and he's all better, or some white guy is questioning how he's promoting himself or making his music and he says "I'm doing it the way Rastafari wants!" and it completely shuts down the conversation. See, I've praised spirituality in other movies like The Color Purple, but that felt like I was being explained a unique perspective on an already existing belief. I like learning about theology because I'm gaining knowledge that can be pretty damn fascinating. The only thing I really learned from this movie is that Lions are an important symbol of Rastafarians, but I don't know why. It's just reiterating the movie's beliefs, refusing to accept criticism, and saying fuck you if you disagree.

Final Summation.

So the movie is not good. It's fine, but my big sticking point is that the only reason to see this movie is to hear the music, and to learn about Bob Marley. And you could literally get the same experience reading Bob's Wikipedia page while listening to a Bob Marley and the Wailers record. So save your money on a ticket.

#Bob Marley: One Love #Rejected Movies

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oc-cinematic-universe · 10 months

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explanations for the answers to this post! answers are under the cut both for how lengthy this is going to get and just in case you don't want to know for whatever reason!

there will be a fully animated scene with music and everything - FALSE

while doing a fully animated scene would be really cool, it is not feasible as a single person working on this comic. i've also thought it through and realized, while the story itself is better suited for a movie, having individual scenes be animated when i've worked so hard to fit the story to a webcomic medium would be a huge disservice to the story! it would be cool, but would not have the effect i want! but it is mainly just the fact that it would be too much for me to handle. animated pages will happen, but the animations are small and simple so i can reasonably get them done

the demon has a backstory. this will not come up in comic

the demon was a previous reaper of souls working under the previous god who handled the underworld before death took over. demons are created when reapers are basically fired from their jobs, corrupted into a form that needs to seek out souls for sustenance. while This Demon was one of many to be cast out after death took over and started getting rid of all the dumbasses, it was one of few who managed to actually find a food source of any kind, and one of even fewer to still be around and a threat.

none of this really matters for the plot because nobody cares about this bitch and its main personality trait is being annoying so no one would ever listen to it if it did bother to provide an explanation. death may vaguely bring it up, but i have no plans for him to explain either. it's just not as important as the fact that the demon is here

superhell is real

while the current gods do not know where it came from, an inter-dimensional pocket connected itself to the underworld. with it came an understanding that it is a place to send the worst a universe has to offer. the universe killers, those who even in death cannot be contained and pose a danger to the safety of the universe. so yeah superhell's real and the gods don't know how it got there

The Wizard Maze. Oh God The Wizard Maze.

this is basically the entire premise of chapter 9. the demon uses newfound power to rearrange the school and trap certain people in their game of cat and mouse.

characters have arguments with me personally

dara has literally already done this!

kid becomes a necromancer out of spite

elowen, the goddess of life, thinks necromancy is bad because she thinks everything should always happen in its natural path and straying from that path will only harm the world. cody thinks this is bullshit and does it anyways!

joe gets a gun

joe tries to shoot his doppleganger in the face!

gods as a species have been thought out in detail. none of it is plot relevant

i think the way the gods function with the world is super fucking cool and interesting and a fascinating bit of worldbuilding but the gods are not the most important characters in the comic, and How they work, like the demon, is not as important as the fact that they're here

a set of pages must be viewed by layering them on top of each other

"must" is a bit of an exaggeration. i only realized after posting i should have changed it to "can". emotions and feelings and the state the characters are in is an incredibly important part of this comic to me, and finding interesting ways to go about showing it is a passion of mine. there will be a point of time where dara can't think clearly at all and is experiencing massive deja vu on top of dissociating in general. while the pages will be readable on their own, the plan is to make it so you are able to overlay parts of pages to get a clearer picture of what's going on in the present and in reality, and not purely what dara's experiencing. because pushing your way through an episode like she's having is *hard* and requires effort to get any kind of grip

NOTE: THERE IS POTENTIAL THAT THE OVERLAID PAGES THING WILL NOT HAPPEN. if i can't manage to pull it off the way i want to, i will have to scrap it and attempt something else. i have back up plans in place already. but i do WANT it to happen and will try my best with it

demon asks god for power. god says "ok", does so, and then leaves

i don't know what else to say about this one man. lonan's just an asshole and doesn't care if this demon kills everyone. yeah sure why the fuck not, take the power, who gives a shit. the demon didn't exactly realize it would have to talk to its former boss to get the power but it worked out in the end didn't it

#text #the deathspeaker

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bloodgulchblog · 2 years

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I feel like Pandora opening the fucking box here but I have to ask- What the fuck is Red vs. Blue. What is it? I've seen the first season twice I think but have never been able to watch past that. It's funny, sure. The first episode is iconic. But I still don't understand it, you feel? Do things happen in the later seasons? What is the appeal?

Shit, fuck, okay, so...

(This is a long post, and nobody concerned is at all surprised.)

You've seen the first season so I don't have to go over the very basic starting premise, at least. I'll try and avoid glaring spoilers.

ANYWAY.

Red vs Blue was only supposed to last for a couple of episodes, but it got away from them and the first arc (seasons 1-5) ran from '03-'07 and it's like 9.5 hours of content all together. Part way in, it found its legs and started telling a funny story about how this pile of color coded idiots in Blood Gulch got tangled up loosely in some stuff pointing vaguely in the direction of the alien war and saved the day. They go through some portals. They get wildly lost. They think they've traveled in time. There are a lot of stupid jokes that become plot points. They fight a guy who is a lot better at fighting than them. There's a big explosion. It's stupid, extremely 2000s in both good ways and terrible ways, and incredibly dear to my heart, all in equal measure.

After it ended and had been silent for a while, RT decided to continue Red vs Blue but this time it was going to have an actual plot on purpose! From the beginning! For real this time!

The way they did this was by retconning and adding onto the only backstory anyone in the Blood Gulch Chronicles had: Agent Texas was from a top secret military project (Project Freelancer) where she got paired with an aggressive artificial intelligence for space war reasons.

Seasons 6-8 (about 6 hours of content) form an arc that is called The Recollection. It starts a while after Season 5 ends, and introduces the character of Agent Washington (from the same project as Tex, naturally.) Wash is trying to investigate what happened back in Blood Gulch (and specifically where the character Church has ended up) while also contending with a mysterious, aggressive, mute man called the Meta who's been hunting down and killing agents for their AIs.

A lot of shit happens, there's A Twist that idk if you've already heard but it's fun if you haven't. It ends with some strong forgiveness and power of friendship vibes.

After that, seasons 9 and 10 are the Project Freelancer Saga (about 5 hours, can you tell episodes were getting longer) which has big flashbacks to what actually went down during the project. Season 9 is plagued (for me) by having the "current" events mostly be a bunch of stuff that happens as a dream sequence (more or less) for one character and nobody else in it is real. (It's interesting if you care about him, but otherwise it's a lot of sitting through things that don't matter.) 10 gets back to things happening in the present and it has problems from being ten pounds of plot in a five pound bag, but also I love Agent Carolina a lot and much of the plot is about her dragging the gang into a revenge quest to try to get closure so... *raises and lowers one shoulder.* (I have a lot of unpopular opinions because the flashback characters are some of the most popular in this fandom, but I think the flashbacks are one of the weakest parts of the whole show.)

The show ended there for a while, having resolved the Project Freelancer plot and given the characters a theoretical sendoff. Then, seasons 11-13 (The Chorus Trilogy, about 8 hours) were produced by a new showrunner and, quite frankly, it was better than RvB ever deserved. After heroically bringing down what remained of the super shady Project Freelancer, the gang is finally richly rewarded with being able to go home to Earth! Unfortunately, they get stranded on a colony world called Chorus instead and dragged into the civil war currently plaguing the planet. It is the best-handled arc in the whole show, really nicely done, and I very honestly think that Season 11 is the best place to start RvB if you aren't sure whether you want to or not. It stands alone really well, it came at a point where the show had matured a lot, and Season 11 actually does the work of re-introducing the characters and gives you enough information that you don't have to see anything prior in order to understand about them. If you like 11-13, then you can decide if you care enough to go back for the rest of it. If not, you can safely say you saw the best of the show.

The characters have responsibility and have to deal with what it means to have people depending on and looking up to you (especially when you're still mostly the same pile of idiots you've always been.) There's a lot of great shit in here about friendship and being flawed people trying their best. It's still dumb, RvB is always dumb, but it has a good heart.

15 and 16 were by a new guy, and were such badly-received seasons they took the guy who wrote them off the show. 16 is, hands down, the worst. 17 felt like an apology. It was really good, but oh god at what cost?

I figure if you end up caring enough about RvB you'll find out about this period on your own, otherwise summarizing it beyond "there's a lot of bad characterization and unfunny humor and there's a time travel plot, then the apology season was actually great" is wasting your time.

We don't speak of RvB Zero. It was so poorly received that neither does RT, now.

OKAY BUT WHAT IS THE APPEAL OF RED VS BLUE?

Full disclosure: While RvB matured some over time and got less bad about some of its jokes, the humor has aged badly in a lot of places and wasn't okay in the first place (looking @ u, homophobic jokes and the only black character is a guy who sleeps around and probably has a bunch of kids he doesn't support jokes, I cannot blame anyone for being put off especially by the early material) but when it's good it's witty, the breakneck pacing of jokes is great. When RvB is funny, it's really funny.

The characters are all very flawed and remain flawed, but most of them grow and you get to see them as people struggling with situations that are so much bigger and scarier and more important than the world at large has told them they're ever going to be allowed to be. The Blood Gulch crew are not just losers, but a specifically selected pack of losers. But the thing that matters about them is they can, despite their flaws and their frequently shitty personalities and their petty squabbling, band together when it matters. And when some very damaged characters who are supposedly "better" and more important than they are crash and burn and are at their lowest? The Blood Gulch gang goes "hey, you can sit with us" and offers some pretty unconditional acceptance and friendship that is pretty much lifesaving.

RvB isn't deep, the Freelancer plot is full of holes so big you can drive a tank through them, the first showrunner couldn't write female characters, I've mentioned how much of it was in poor taste, and I could go on...

But I bonded with RvB when I was young and a lot of the things in it have meaning to me, it's quotable as hell, and I owe RvB for a lot of enjoyment I had over the years messing around with ideas and characters in it and talking for hours to my friends about it.

#rvb tag #ask #measlyfurball13

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