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duhragonball · 3 days

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Next Steps

I finished watching all the Evangelion stuff that I had planned, but I find myself still trying to figure things out about the show. I planned to be done with NGE in April, but it's becoming clear that it's not done with me.

Yesterday, I was talking about this Folding Ideas video from 2013. That was back when Dan Olson was still doing the puppets, but I had seen the video before and purposely avoided it, because it was about Evangelion and I didn't want to get spoiled. The video offered some insightful commentary on EoE, but it also pushed the "Anno's Revenge" theory of the movie, and from what I've read on fan wikis, it seems to have been mostly discredited? I think? It could just be that the wiki editors have an agenda, but I suspect that agendas were what led to the "revenge" theory in the first place. Having two endings to the same story will invariably split the fandom. Each side prefers one ending over another, and they're naturally going to push theories to explain why the other ending exists.

Also, the fan wikis aren't always aligned with themselves. That's Lilith up at the top of this post, and I've read two different versions of what that thing is on her face.

It's a mask that was placed on her face when she was strapped to that cross by SEELE. That's why it bears the SEELE coat of arms: seven eyes over a triangle.

It's Lilith's face, or if it's a mask, it's her mask, originally. SEELE's coat of arms was inspired by Lilith's appearance.

This would just be an interesting bit of trivia, except there's two contradictory explanations here, and that leads me to wonder if both of them are bullshit someone made up on the fly. When I first saw the character, I assumed those craters on the "mask" were meant to resemble the moon, but one of the wiki articles I read suggested that it was just wear and tear on the surface, which sounds kind of cheap.

I could probably get to the bottom of a lot of these things, but it would take time that I don't have. I'm starting a re-read of Jojolion next week. The more I think about it, Neon Genesis Evangelion demands a deeper dive, and I'll have to do my homework and rewatch the whole thing now that I know how it ends.

This is probably just as well, since I did want to go through the Rebuild movies. There's four of them and I own the third on Blu-ray, so I might as well see it through. Mostly, I kept wondering when Asuka would get her eyepatch in the original series, and it never happened. Turns out that's a Rebuild thing. So there's still pop culture landmarks that I've yet to see.

The more I think about it, the more I begin to see that the true appeal to this thing is trying to make sense of it. People have called End of Evangelion the greatest animated film of all time, but that's crap. It's not even the best film with a Toei logo and characters who strangle each other.

I mean, it's no shame losing to the best, but let's be real here.

So the fascination clearly lies with the analysis. Watching the show was just the first step into a larger world. I wasn't prepared for that, but I can't just turn back either.

What I'm saying is that I'll return to this someday. I need to bone up on some of these commentaries, and try to sort fact from guesswork, and then see how far I've come. Then again, it's 2024 and I'm still touting Transformers the Movie as a cinematic masterpiece, so maybe I've been standing in place for four decades in a row. Well, I didn't need to look up why Grimlock is awesome, so not everything has to be so damn enigmatic...

#2024ngeliveblog #first prime... then ultra magnus... now you #it's a pity you autobots die so easily or i might have a sense of satisfaction now #then hot rod gently pats him on the cheek like a golden retriever and galvatron calms down and start weeping

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shihalyfie · 2 years

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I don’t know if this has been asked before, but are there any elements from Adventure/02 that you personally wish could have been handled or explored better?

The truth is, I'm not really sure. I've rewatched both several times since I first did all those years ago, and my view of it changes every single time. Almost every opinion I have ever had about the series does not match the opinions I had on it ten years ago, and I'm sure that goes for many other people who have seen it this many times. I think after my fourth time or so, it really dawned on me that Adventure and 02 are both "bigger" series than 104 episodes could contain. At this point, they've stopped feeling like just a TV series, and more like an entire world that was barely capable of fitting itself inside 104 episodes and a bunch of drama CDs and side material, and even then you see more of it spilling outside the edges. Whatever the TV series did or didn't have started feeling so tiny in comparison, and if I started thinking about whether the TV series should have shown this or that instead, that would have meant sacrificing something else that contributed to making the series unique. Everything is so tightly intertwined into something so big that I can't really imagine the chain reaction of changing one thing and sending it into an entire domino effect before my head breaks. In the end I had to settle for "it is what it is, for better or for worse."

If there is one thing I do really, truly wish were different, it's simply that I wish the series had communicated its intentions a little better, especially since this is supposed to be a kids' show. Too much of its real value -- and especially 02's -- comes from reading between the lines to the point you feel like your head is stuck in a tinfoil hat, or from thinking way outside what normal storytelling logic should suggest. Or even worse, from drama CDs or the novels or from interviews fifteen years after the series finished. So of course kids would come out of it thinking major parts of it don't make sense, or that 02 doesn't have cohesive characters, because it didn't communicate its logical process clearly, and the only way you can figure it out is by getting more life experience under your belt and being willing to be patient with and sit down with the series by watching it multiple times. There's a reason I often am hesitant to recommend either series to newcomers and have no shame saying that Appmon or something would be a better starting point.

I know for a fact that I'm not just making things up and injecting substance and meaning into the series where it wasn't originally. I've seen staff interviews, side materials, and even Kizuna (supervised by Seki herself, so I know some of the stuff in there was intended since the beginning) confirm a ton of my hunches. And I look at fanart and fanfic from Adventure and 02 fans from all over the world, ones I've never consulted with even once, and they often came to the same conclusions I did, so I know it's something that's there if you just look hard enough. But it required so much squinting and twisting my head around that for a while, it really did feel like I was making terrible reaches with my tinfoil hat, and that's why I wasn't confident enough to open this blog until 2020 when Kizuna confirmed a lot of what I'd been saying.

But the flip side of this is that the more you start forming an intimate relationship with what was going on between the lines in Adventure and 02, the more alienated you start feeling from others in the fanbase, because after a certain point it stops feeling like you even saw the same series anymore. You look back and see everyone talking about apparently unaddressed questions (they were addressed, but incredibly subtly) or characters supposedly lacking in development (not true at all!), and you don't want to go up to them and correct them because you sound like one of those well, actually pretentious people, but at the same time it does feel like they're talking about a beaten dead horse that should have been resolved years ago. (Probably the biggest example of this: the idea that Takeru and Iori are "spares" and aren't appropriate Jogress partners. The dynamic between them and how the two complement each other is easily well-known and agreed on among 02 hardcores, but it relies on understanding certain nuances of both characters that weren't always put in clear words, so of course most people wouldn't see that on the first try.)

And it's really not their fault. No reasonable human being should be expected to have gotten what you saw out of the series after 15 years of studying it like it's your thesis topic from a kids' show they watched when they were in elementary school, and especially when that show was not very clear about it. With 02 in particular, it often leads to a chain reaction where because they didn't like it the first time, of course they have no reason to give it another try ever again (and they shouldn't be expected to!), so that'll just be what the series is to them and how it'll be seen by the public. From their perspective, the 02 hardcores picking things apart line by line and writing theses about them look like they're grasping at straws. I can't blame them. Most kids' shows aren't like this.

On the bright side, the series being like this means I do get to have the lovely experience of feeling like I'm discovering something new every time, even twenty years later. And I'm sure that if not for that, I wouldn't have had nearly as much material for this blog, because it would have been very clear in the series already, so there'd be no need to discuss it further. So in the end, Adventure and 02 are a very unique series, for better or for worse, and it is what it is. It's something the creative team very obviously had a ton of passion and love for, to the point they made a world far too big and characters far too deep for 104 episodes to cover neatly. Maybe that's enough. It's been more than twenty years, so I've accepted that we can't change anything about the past, that I'm grateful for the series we did get, and that we'll just have to make the most out of everything we were given to work with.

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #shiha's ask box #rustyrick2022

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byebyelemonpie · 7 months

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byebyelemonpie's august 2023 recommendations

Wow, my picks for this month are very weak, because I didn't watch any movie that stood up to me as much as previous months, and I've really liked only one series from the few ones I've finished.

My august top 5 movies:

Seriously. These movies are so mid that I don't even want to mention some of them in my top 5. Most movies I've seen from this month are rated 3.5 stars on letterboxd, and that's mostly because of great animation or great cinematography.

Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003, dir: McG) [Rewatch after more than a decade] I had rewatched the first one recently and found it worse than I remembered, but this one was actually awesome. I very much enjoyed watching it, with its action scenes, its plot twists, and its Badass Girls Doing Stuff! It's just a very fun film, and I loved rediscovering it. -

Atonement (2007, dir: Joe Wright) [Rewatch after 9 years] I actually decided to rewatch this movie because the first time I saw it, I didn't like it at all. I get why, though: it doesn't have the best ending that 18 year old me would have loved, but 27 year old me now understands the nuances and the storytelling. I think the way it's told might be a little confusing at first, but it's interesting to see the different points of view and the lies of the person who tells the story rather than what actually happened. And my goodness, the green dress cinematography and the sound design are amazing. -

Trainspotting (1996, dir: Danny Boyle) [Rewatched after seven years] I don't even know if I liked this movie. I might have even hated it at times. I surely thought that the narrator talked way too much, but the story required it and it wouldn't be it without his redundant monologues. Every character is awful, but you can't help to root for them at least a bit: they are in misery, and it doesn't matter if they've created it for themselves or if society had a big part in that creation. What I really loved though, was the originality in depicting those abstract sequences that showed the state the characters were in when they were abusing substances: the editing was all over the place. I also watched T2 for the first time, but I personally didn't find it as good as the first one. -

Red, White and Royal Blue (2023, dir: Matthew López) [First time watch] This was fun! Definitely funnier than I expected, never having read the book before. I think the first act and a half were very fast and fun to follow, while the second half of the movie was at the same time too long with a very fast ending. I thought it was quite cute, though. -

Elemental (2023, dir: Peter Sohn) [First time watch] Listen, I love Pixar and I've loved Pixar for a long time. That's why I can say with my whole heart that they can do better than this! Of course, this wasn't terrible: I enjoyed it very much and it had my attention the whole time, but I know Pixar can and has done better movies even decades ago. The story is quite nice, maybe not the most original overall, but Pixar had never made a rom-com as far as I remember, so I'll let that slide. It's fun to see how "perfect" the elements look, of course! They're beautiful! They way they interact with each other and with other elements is very clever and well animated. I know that Pixar has strived to animate realistic things since its beginnings, but this is a fictional land with abstract characters! Shouldn't the animation, or even better, the character design be a little less "perfect"? And I'm not saying it should lack talent: I'm saying it should gain more feeling, rather. And I know that this studio can do that, if even more recently we look at things like Luca or Red, even.

The fact is that this same month I also watched for the first time Atlantis: The Lost Empire, which is a Disney film from that era of Disney that made great movies, and that had amazing animation, and the character design varied from character to character, highlighting everybody's personalities from even the smallest details. I didn't put it on the top 5 list because unfortunately I watched it while doing something else and now I don't remember much of it and that's on me, but I think it can have this small shout out anyway.

Favourite series in august:

Be My Favorite (Thailand, 2023) [First time watch] This was such a cute drama, started as a light show about a boy using time travel to make a girl like him, and evolved into a deep, quite philosophical story revolving around fixed points in time, fate, fighting for what's important even if things won't change immediately, queer rights, and making a boy like him instead. Probably one of my favourite series from this year: I enjoyed its fairytale vibes and its storytelling. It's quite difficult to write a story with several parallel universes starting up from different time travels, but I think the writers of this show managed to keep it easy to understand and fun to follow.

[byebyelemonpie's 2023 recs]

#a post #byebyelemonpie's 2023 recs #about movies #about series #charlie's angels: full throttle #atonement #trainspotting #red white and royal blue #elemental #be my favorite #atlantis: the lost empire

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dwn024 · 1 year

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what are your top 10 favorite cartoons :?

this is such a difficult question i am both phenomenally indecisive and have a phenomenally bad memory so i don't think i can make a concise top ten but i Can randomly list off ten random ones i know i like in no particular order. or more than ten if i get extra indecisive

arcane genuinely is That Good regardless of the fact it's league of legends i don't care. it could do without the extended bureaucracy subplot but other than that everything else is Really Good especially the animation. i also never finished infinity train i only watched the first two seasons but one day i Need to finish it because that also is so so so so goddamn good genuinely

i also never finished rise of the TMNT just because of the "if i don't watch the last episode then it doesn't have to end" thing but while it was ongoing i rewatched the whole thing many many times it has i think, bar none, The Best fight choreography in animation except for maybe the barbershop gunfight in FLCL but rottmnt's animation is consistently so goddamn good that kind of motion is how i want to animate especially because i think(assume) it's combination puppet rigs and handdrawn which is A) a pretty standard animation technique these days and B) extremely good when done well (for example in rottmtn) also rottmnt is how i decided to start drawing square skulls i think it looks nice the art style is really fucking good. rottmnt might be the closest thing i have to a number one now that i think about it

the 2017 ducktales reboot is also very good my favorite character is boyd because he is a very good fun astroboy expy. futurama is also very good but again i never finished it despite how many times i have restarted from the beginning i am just bad at keeping up with shit i have to get VERY autistic about it. kipo was also very fun from what i watched of it but then i lost steam and never finished it

there are so goddamn many shows that i just have not gotten the momentum to watch yet because i need to be in a Very specific mindset to start a new series that i may or may not get attached to like i wish i could list off symbiotic titan too cuz i've been meaning to watch it since forever but i cannot vouch for something i have not seen yet. i have seen 2/3 seasons of transformers animated though which is A) very good and B) is exactly how i want to be able to draw mecha they look so Shaped and Streamlined and you can Tell Them Apart From A Distance it rules i still have the watchcartoononline tab for TFA open in this very firefox window since last july or whenever my ex told me to watch it one day i will finish it. motorcity from the one or two episodes i watched of it is also very good i ADORE the animation i need to finish that one day. there are lots of shows i have only watched the pilot episode of Literally for research purposes

i also really liked clone high + want that art style so bad you have no idea. moongirl and devil dinosaur is the most recent thing i have gotten around to watching and it is Very good and reminds me a lot of mlaatr which is a good thing i recommend watching moongirl it's fun the musical fight sequences are exactly some shit i have always wanted to do. also everyone needs to watch oddtaxi it's a strong contender for my favorite show ever it's SO goddamn well written i NEED to develop the ability to write something as intricately interwoven as oddtaxi my god. like at least give the first four episodes a shot cuz episode four is the marker point when it got so extremely good it skyrocketed to the top of my favorite animated whatever list

#sorry i did not mean for this to get so long and rambly i just like cartoons despite not actually watching all of them LOL #i really need to get around to watching More cartoons so i can vouch more confidently for a wider variety of them

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oh-you--pretty-things · 2 years

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The Split update!!!

So no surprise I caved and I’ve just finished the 3rd and FINAL series of the split!! 🙁

I’ll add my thoughts here in a few days because I’m about to hit play on a rewatch! 😂

Update--

I am REALLY going to miss Hannah Defoe, it’s crazy how I've been feeling since I finished series 3. I just need to curl up in a dark room so I can begin to feel a little normal. Nicola Walker is just too good; I just don’t understand what she’s done to me!! Cheers Nicola...

Anyway, nobody wants to hear any more about me. Let's ramble about The Split.

It's probably spoiler free, but just in case!

So, I didn’t really know what to expect from the final series, I tried my best to stay away from every bit of promotional media beforehand. The first couple of episodes I was a little worried about Hannahs character development (granted there was a lot going on in the first two eps) but thankfully things did get better.

A lot of people seemed to be willing Hannah and Nathan to get back together but I wasn’t really in that boat, I mean he’s already cheated on her and while they were on a ‘break’ or before deciding on the divorce he’d already got a girlfriend and got her pregnant, ok not intentionally, but still. Now that’s not to say that Nathan didn’t love Hannah I really think he does and she him, but I felt like they were coming to a natural end, Hannah seemed reluctant to let go probably due to the fact that Nathan is all she’s really known and didn't want her children to experience the distant father figure like she did, which lead her to hold a little resentment towards her father and most men for the majority of her life. I think as time went on, she knew that she was going to be able to do it differently for her kids and that allowed her to make that decision.

Hannah was always wanting reassurances from Nathan that he wouldn’t turn out to be just like her dad. That has always seemed to be the main worry for Hannah of all men, except maybe for Christie, which is weird. That may be down to the fact they have quite a deep rooted friendship, this is me just surmising as we don’t really know that much about their younger years although Hannah does seem freer with him, she seems her true self so it’s maybe showing how comfortable she is with him, hinting again to a deep friendship. I’ve been on the Christie boat since season 1 and got really pissed off when they basically ruined his character in the second part of series 2, it was totally not him and just didn’t seem right but maybe it had to go down that route for the explosive s2 ending. Anyway, I was so happy to get the old Christie back for series 3. Christie has been in love with Hannah for over 20 years, there is absolutely no denying it and I think it has always been there for Hannah as well, but she done a better job at suppressing it than Christie. Now it’s probably more down to Nicola and Barry but together they are absolutely electric, between Hannah and Nathan there is deep devotion but maybe not that real spark. That’s maybe a factor on why she marries Nathan and not christie, she sees Nathan as the safer choice, less chance of getting hurt.

There is so much more to talk about, but this is getting a little incoherent because really, I need to rewatch the 3 series and take notes which probably won’t happen!

Anyway, hope Christie is getting on ok while he’s packing up his life in New York and making his way back to London for Hannah.

I’ve missed so much out! I also need to hear what everyone else is thinking but nobody is talking about it! 🙁

Don't want to say goodbye to the Defoes!

#the split #the split bbc #nicola walker #hannah stern #hannah defoe #barry atsma #stephen mangan #christie carmichael #hannah x christie #nathan stern #Lets talk about the split

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meimae · 3 years

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01/07/21

I'm finally on time for my June Immersion Overview! ...Well, at least in a different timezone I am! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

June was a weird month I suppose. I knew what I wanted to immerse in in terms of listening, but I was so indicisive for reading material. Everything seemed either too hard or too boring, so I just ended up dipping my toes in a variety of stuff until I ended falling back into the stuff I put on hold and have been dilly-dallying with.

It's really not for a lack of media, which makes immersion learning really good for Japanese since there's tons of it to consume all the time, I've just been kind of all over the place, not knowing if I like something enough to continue. Ahh, I miss the days when I could finish entire books and manga series in a month.

Anyway, overview time!

ANIME

Not feeling too good about anime. Maybe I'm not looking into seasonals enough, but I also dislike waiting for new episodes, because the immersion method really requires you to binge media to get better at comprehending the language faster.

HUNTERXHUNTER S2

I'm sorry, but that season was boring. The issues weren't even issues to begin with. I know that there are particularly outstanding arcs in HXH, but I'm not about to skip seasons because every minute counts as immersion.

GREAT PRETENDER

Club pick. I only ended up watching a few episodes. Wasn't really into it. I thought I'd like it because people were really into the animation and art style, but it's kind of meh.

DRAMAS

JDramas saved my entire immersion this month! I know a lot of people feel that the quality falls flat compared to what Korea has been producing, but there really are some gems here that I feel like people keep missing out on because they won't give it a chance.

恋はつづくよどこまでも

Unsubbed rewatch. Okay, I was dumb and included this last month, but I actually watched it very early in June. Anyway, this was 70% romance/drama, 30% medical drama so anything that I missed were mostly related to medical stuff that I wouldn't understand well in English either, so it didn't feel too bad of a watch.

ミス・シャーロック

Excuse me, there's a female Sherlock Holmes? Yes, please! I looove Sherlock Holmes, it's one of my favorite books and characters of all time, and the fact that Japan made a genderbent remake is giving me life. Love that they took inspiration from BBC Sherlock, too, which is one of my most favorite tv adaptations.

The portrayal of fem!Sherlock was very interesting and made perfect sense, really classy and very snooty and almost condencending, but now with realistic female perspective emotions. Ah, so good!

Watson or Wato, however, felt a little flat unfortunately. It did take a good look into the effects of PTSD, and mental health is always good for people to discuss, but it almost seemed that was all that Watson is, which s/he is not. The original Watson is brave and clever in a more human aspect, and would put a lot on the line to help Sherlock, regardless of his physical or mental state. It just didn't translate well, which is unfortunate. I guess the TV Drama Elementary version of Watson was what I was looking for, but it didn't end up that way.

5時から9時まで

Unsubbed rewatch. Kind of a filler drama, and just wanted to watch it to count as active immersion. The three guys in this show are cringe tbh: protag is a guy who can't take no for an answer, friend is a "nice guy" who thinks he's entitled to her because they've been friends for a while, and boss guy thinks it's fine to withhold the truth of him once being married. Female protagonist's personality started okay, but kinda broke down towards the end, and I'm not sure if the ending was to make up for that.

私たちはどうかしている

Uh, hello? New favorite drama! ヽ(^v^)ノ

Between the spicy family drama, beautiful garments and traditional 和菓子屋 in a modern setting, and the electric chemistry between the two main characters, which I'm not gonna lie was kinda toxic too, but for some reason I could not put this down and watched it in two days.

It's a combination of genres I love: "historical" fiction, romance, drama, mystery, and suspense. I'm not even going to discuss it anymore. Just go watch this show!

リコカツ

Interesting concept: two people meet, had a whirlwind wedding with many guests, and almost immediately after decide to divorce, but is too embarrased to admit it to everyone who wished their marriage the best, so they try to work things out while dancing around their feelings even though they are still married. Pretty cute, kind of frustrating at times, but you can't help but root for them anyway.

MOVIES

Why are these movies an 8 on MDL? lmao

君と100回目の恋

Interesting concept that got flushed down the drain in the first 20 minutes. Nobody even explained why the recording can do what it does, and the male protagonist also just gave up on his research just like that. It's implied that he redid things a hundred times, but bro, did you even try as hard as you think you did?

カノジョは嘘を愛しすぎてる

Another one of those standard template romance movies but now with a band as a costume. It's fine, not the greatest.

NOVELS

君の膵臓をたべたい

Finally finished! See stats and 感想 here!

本好きの下剋上司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません

Was able to wrap up 第一部兵士の娘I along with the audiobook! Stats and 感想 here!

Also started 第一部兵士の娘II, but got both distracted and indecisive with my reading material. Also this thing is close to 200k 文字 what the heck. That's a chunky light novel, and if it's going to be like the first one, it's going to talk a lot about the process of making stuff - both interesting and tedious to read about.

三日間の幸福

This is turning out to be another "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas" moment where I just inch forward everytime but never finish, but I'll get there. I'm starting to form an opinion about this protagonist and it's turning out pretty sour, so it's kinda hard to read with that in the back of my mind.

コンビニ人間

Started towards the end of the month, so I haven't actually made a dent in it, but I heard that people in the immersion community usually pick this up as one of their first reads. It's actually really short (60k 文字), so if it's as good as people say, I hope I can sit down and finish it in a few days. Wishful thinking maybe.

VISUAL NOVELS

ファタモルガーナの館

Look man, I'm halfway through this, and between that and the fact that this is an unvoiced 敬語 filled VN which is interesting to read in, makes this really hard to drop even though every door so far has been the standard historical fiction tragedy. And yes, even the "big secret" about the white haired girl is nothing surprising given how heavily hinted it was. Even Morgana's story is what you would expect to happen given the setting and timeline.

Anyway, I'm gonna trudge on because again, it's not like I'm not gaining any language skill from reading this. It's just painfully predictable, which makes it really disappointing coming from a huge historical fiction fan.

白昼夢の青写真

Just trying this out because I'm tired of being held back by unintresting reads, and although the first case feels like it's gonna turn out cringey, I'm keeping my hopes up for the rest. Also, the art for this is really cute?

-☆-

That's it for June!

I also technically read a few chapters of 名探偵コナン, but didn't include it in my overview, because I felt kind of detached from reading it. Like, was I really about to reread something I read (English fan translated) 900+ chapters of for most of my life, well, because I now can read it in Japanese? So I put it on hold only because I don't know if I should reread all of it, because you know, Japanese gains, or just pick up where I left off even though this manga is my childhood favorite and my heart was already crying just rereading the very first case.

Honestly, I didn't know what I was expecting from June. I thought I would have been able to read more, but I just played catchup with some stuff and drowned in the JDrama pit. No regrets though, I ended up loving a lot of my picks this month.

Still hoping to balance out my reading and listening though, as I really feel quite behind with my reading skill. It's just so hard to find something I like so I keep dawdling about. Eh, I'll figure it out.

Thanks for reading! Updates in the future as always.

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peachcitt · 3 years

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I've seen a lot of people saying that rot was BAD, what is your opinion?

OH IM SO GLAD YOU ASKED

like most people (im sure) after finishing rise of the titans, after wiping up my tears i went to the rot tag to see maybe some gifs or something. you know, make myself cry a little more. instead, i found a bunch of people saying how much they hated the ending, how it was as terrible as some of the worst big finale bombs (endgame, game of thrones, etc) and uh. im not saying the ending is perfect, but it is DEFINITELY not as disastrous as what people are making it out to be, in my opinion. i thoroughly enjoyed the movie, actually, and i thought it was an effective way to end the tales of arcadia.

warning: rise of the titans spoilers, as well as general tales of arcadia spoilers

were there some things i didn't like? yeah!

the major things i didn't like align with a lot of what i see other people saying:

the weird mpreg plotline with steve. it just felt so strange and out of place, and it was used as a tactic to remove eli and steve from the major action, which i don't like.

and the 'ninth configuration' thing that, once again, excluded eli and steve. i didn't see a reason why they shouldn't have been there, seeing as they have contributed to trollhunting since nearly the start of all of the tales of arcadia. multiples of three are clean and smooth, i get it, but at the expense of two characters that were so lovingly developed in trollhunters and 3below?? yikes

with that being said, though, i don't agree with what a lot of people are saying about the time travel at the end. obviously, they bring up some good points - by changing the timeline so drastically, there's no way for jim to ensure that they'll be able to succeed or if the arcane order will even act in the same way. it's a big 'if' and it is worth thinking about

but people have been saying that the ending is out of jim's character and negates his arc, and i have to say. that's not true.

if you've been following my blog since july 1st, you'll know that ive spent the past twenty one days rewatching the entire tales of arcadia series at a steady pace, and within that time, i've paid a whole lot of attention to jim's arc as a character and how the finale of trollhunters left me feeling as if something just wasn't clicking right. his arc wasn't finished.

because all throughout trollhunters, jim is constantly having to prove his worth - and most of the time, the way he's proving his worth is by sacrificing himself. he takes all the blame when anything goes wrong, and on some level, jim never truly learns the lesson from season one of trollhunters that he's enough as a hero because he has his friends to back him up. like, yeah, he relies on them a bit more after that, but in the end, he still stands in the bathroom alone, separated from all his allies, and shoulders the burden of turning into a troll alone. and he leaves arcadia, the city he was fighting so hard to protect, and he leaves his best friend, the one that has been with him since the beginning.

then we get wizards, where jim lets himself be corrupted to save his friends. and then, because of that sacrifice, he ends up hurting all of them. i believe this fact - that he willingly corrupted himself, separated himself from his allies, and ended up hurting the people he loved - shook jim's foundation as a hero, which is why he can't believe he's the trollhunter without the amulet. the amulet was the physical manifestation of what it meant to be a hero to him, but it was destroyed when he was corrupted - it was destroyed when he hurt his friends.

that's how we see him in rise of the titans; he's still struggling with his identity as a hero because he doesn't have the amulet or the unshakable foundation he previously had of his heroism. literally everyone is looking for him to be the leader and make the huge, world-saving-or-destroying decisions, but he can't shoulder that huge burden knowing he could hurt everyone. and then, just to add fuel to the fire, it's his plan that causes people to die or be permanently separated from the group. and he can't even get the sword out of the stone! why? because he himself doesn't see himself as worthy - how can you think of yourself as worthy when you just got two of your allies killed and two more gone, presumably for forever?

but this is the moment it finally clicks for jim. he looks around at his allies, and he sees them reflected in the amulet. he's not alone, he doesn't have to be worthy just by himself, he has an entire group of people who have fought by his side time and time again that, even despite all the mistakes and missteps he's made, are still by his side.

and what makes the amulet work, in the final fight, is his firm determination to see this fight through, no matter if he has the armor or not. he's terrified, he's probably going to die - but it's that bravery despite the fear that makes him a hero, a trollhunter, amulet or not. and he knows that now - he's had to face it before, in the unbecoming episode, but it's different now. in the unbecoming episode, he was truly alone when he decided to face the fight. and he's alone here in rise of the titans - but not for long! because almost immediately after jim comes to terms with his place as a hero again, toby comes along, and he doesn't finish this fight alone!! he finishes this fight with another trollhunter, who doesn't have an amulet!!

jim deciding to rewind time to back before the events of trollhunters is a bold choice, but it tracks with a theme in wizards - merlin told douxie that what set him apart as a master wizard was his belief that every life was valuable and worthy of being saved. this theme is repeated in the new amulet in rise of the guardians; it's for the glory of all, not just for one person.

and jim deciding to have toby become the trollhunter finally marks the completion of jim's arc. instead of shouldering the burden alone, which is inevitably what would've happened if jim had rewound time, kept all of his memories, and accepted the amulet again, jim is choosing to accept allies into his life sooner. instead of being the trollhunter, jim is letting himself be a trollhunter, alongside all the other trollhunters.

of course, there's some things in this alternate timeline i don't like; mainly that no one stepped in to stop steve from bullying eli. that, to me, was the most out of character, and i can only assume jim didn't step in because he's leaving room for that fight to be toby's; competing against steve was a large jumpstart to jim feeling like he could be strong enough to bear the mantle, and maybe jim was just trying leave it up to toby to establish that on his own. still, i didn't like it.

and, of course, there are people lamenting the fact that none of the heroes of arcadia know each other or that they might not have the same relationships, but i immediately thought of the time loop episode in 3below. in that episode, the trollhunters team and the gang from 3below meet and become friends and ultimately lose the memory of that friendship from that day. however, in that episode, blinky says that true friendship would last against the test of time; if they were meant to be together, then they would be. and guess what? even though none of them remember that happening, they all still became friends. it was meant to be.

i think a lot of anxieties about the changed timeline are because people loved the events of trollhunters so much that they a) don't want to see anything changed and/or b) are trying to project the events of trollhunters onto the new timeline and are upset when they don't fit. toby won't be the same kind of hero that jim is, though - he never has been. inevitably, the story will be different, and that's scary. that was the risk jim took, though, and jim has always trusted in toby, so why shouldn't we?

to me, tales of arcadia has never been about clean endings that make you feel entirely good. they've always left me with a tang of bitter along with the sweet, and i think that's the point. tales of arcadia has always battled with hard questions and difficult endings, and i don't see rise of the titans being any different from that.

like i said before, i don't think rise of the titans is perfect. but you can hate it as much as you want; i still really think it did a good job with the story it was trying to tell. i mean, ending with the idea that all lives are important and worth saving, no matter the risk? that heroism inherently means being part of a collective that you trust and believe in? that through time and space, you will always be able to find and connect with the people you love? that's powerful.

im climbing off my soapbox now, but basically tl;dr: rise of the titans was a good finale, despite it's imperfections, and i think that's all i can ask for.

also if you don't like toby as the trollhunter just because you don't like him breaking out of the 'funny sidekick' archetype you can die by my blade

#anon #ask #rise of the titans #rot #rot spoilers #jim lake jr #rott #rott spoilers #what im trying to say is media does not have to be perfect in order for you to enjoy it #and not only did i enjoy rot i also just. thought it was good? it didn't invalidate any of the rest of toa to me at all #the story we witnessed was still valuable; that was why we were shown this version #i won't get philosophical but like. i am.#all that being said it should've been jim telling the story in the beginning #WBKEBKEWKW I JUST REALIZED THERE WAS NO DOUXIE WITH HIS SICK ASS GUITAR. so that too

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letsbeoutoftouch · 3 years

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Back in December 2016, during a sleepover, my friends and I decided to watch EXO's Chanyeol's most recent movie, "So I Married an Anti-Fan". It effortlessly became one of my favourite movies, so much so that I rewatch it —at least— once a year.

Therefore, when it was first announced that South Korea was going to produce a drama based on the same story, I was thrilled. The feeling only increased when I found out that the male lead was Choi Tae-Joon, whom I loved because of Suspicious Partner. Later (to be more precise, this year), I discovered that the other lead was the one and only Sooyoung from SNSD!

The drama was filmed back in 2018, and it was supposed to air a loooot sooner, but it had a few problems and it finally came out this year. Since I don't like waiting for episodes to come out each week, I waited until it finished airing to watch it... And, today, I finished it!

So, here's my review, fresh out the oven!

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So I Married an Anti-Fan is a 2021 South Korean drama, featuring Choi Tae-Joon, Choi Sooyoung, Hwang Chansung and Han Ji-Ahn. It's based on the novel "그래서 나는 안티팬과 결혼했다" (So I Married an Anti-Fan), written by Kim Eun Jun and published in 2010.

youtube

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♡ PLOT:

The story revolves around Hoo Joon (Tae-Joon), a well-known idol, and Geun Young (Sooyoung), a magazine reporter. They meet during an event, where a series of misunderstandings leads them to have a bad impression of each other.

For this reason, when Geun Young loses her job, she's under the impression that it was Hoo Joon's doing and is therefore keen on "reveal" Joon's real character. However, her retaliation backfires, and she attracts a lot of attention as his "anti-fan".

Later, a TV producer approaches them both to star in a reality show. Geun Young and Hoo Joon accept and think to give each other a hard time on set. But, as time goes by, they get to know each other better and better.

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♡ EPISODES:

It's made up of 16 episodes, running for an hour each (i.e., your typical k-drama).

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♡ CHARACTERS:

-Geun Young (FL): She's the best character, hands down (I swear I'm not being biased because I love Sooyoung).

For some reason, I've seen a lot of bad comments about this character. I don't truly understand why some people said that she didn't stand up for herself or that she was so-so, when she dealt really well with everything that had happened to her. I'd like to see all those people in her shoes—I bet they'd have cracked up quickly.

Also, she's like the least toxic character I've ever come across in a drama. She waits patiently for Joon to deal with his problems and doesn't jump to conclusions regarding his relationship with In Hyeong and Jae Joon. She lets him do his thing, is an independent woman, and tries to be as little of a burden as she can to the people she cares about. So, props to her!

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-Hoo Joon (ML): Although I overall liked his character, I admit that if I hadn't previously watched the movie, I'd probably be wary of him at the beginning. But, don't worry: as the story progresses, you get to know him better. He's patient and thinks of other people's feelings and well-being a lot (sometimes, a little too much for his own good, but he's a good boy).

I felt the need to include that there was this one scene where he acts... In a way that I didn't find appealing. Fortunately, he isn't like that all throughout the drama. Also, he isn't toxic like a lot of the male leads in drama-land. If you're wondering which scene I'm referring to, here's a spoiler: *SPOILER ALERT* When he and Geun Young start dating, they are requested to film an advertisement together. In the filming, he acts all "jealous" because the dress she was wearing was too short for his liking. I'm sorry, but she's the only one who has a say on how short a dress she's wearing is—not you, not even if you're her partner *END OF SPOILER ALERT*.

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-JJ/Jae Joon (SML): Jae Joon is the second male lead, and he was portrayed by 2PM's Chansung.

I'm sorry, but I never could come to terms with this character, not even during the last episodes. If the writers' intention was for me to hate him, they (and Chansung's acting) totally achieved that purpose.

He is incredibly selfish and keeps this attitude up to episode 13/14. Towards the ending, the story tries that the audience feels some sympathy towards him—it is shown why he acted the way he did. Nevertheless, in my opinion, while his past may explain his actions, it doesn't justify any of them. That's why I couldn't bring myself to feel sympathetic or empathetic towards him. *SPOILER ALERT* In fact, I think Hoo Joon was too nice to be there for him in the last two or three episodes. *END OF SPOILER ALERT*

He's also outright abusive. *SPOILER ALERT* I mean, he slapped In Hyeong and broke her laptop ¿?... Even though I didn't like her that much, nothing justifies that kind of violent behaviour. *END OF SPOILER ALERT*

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-In Hyeong (SFL): She's the second female lead, portrayed by actress Han Ji-Ahn.

Oh, man. I had a hard time trying to wrap my head around this character. I was just going to say that I couldn't stand her because she was always purposely putting a spanner in the works, making everyone's life difficult.

However, as I was drafting this review, I began reflecting on the character and felt sympathy for her. She was in a vulnerable place—leaving aside that she felt abandoned by her first love, she had trouble trying to make her career take off, and she was in a really abusive relationship. It could be argued that JJ and In Hyeon were both toxic to each other, but it was clear that he was the one with the upper hand (he was the CEO of her new agency, which brings a real disbalance of power).

Moreover, it was hinted several times that all she went through took a toll on her mental health (*SPOILER ALERT* she was always taking pills to calm down, and she freaking tried to kill herself!!!!!!! *END OF SPOILER ALERT*). I believe she needed professional help to put herself back together, so she could let go of her past and finally leave that abusive relationship.

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♡ COUPLES:

Since this drama mostly gravitates towards romantic relationships, I'm including this section.

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-Geun Young x Hoo Joon: They are your typical enemies to lovers.

In the beginning, their relationship was tainted by a lot of misunderstandings, which led them to hate each other's guts (but, where's the charm in a k-drama that isn't filled with misunderstandings, am I right?). Once they started to spend more time together, they began understanding each other better. In time, they were able to leave their pride aside and got rid of their prejudices (yes, the story gives Jane Austen-ish vibes, so much so that "Pride and Prejudice" is mentioned a few times).

Their chemistry was alright. I would have changed some parts of the script that made a lot of scenes to be super cringey—especially, before some of their kisses (like, what a way to ruin such an awaited moment!).

The thing I liked the most about them was that neither of them was toxic, and they knew how and when to give the other person space. They were sweet, but not unbearable sweet—just the exact amount.

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-In Hyeong x Jae Joon: I don't know if they can be considered a true couple, but I'm adding them here just to repeat that I HATED THEM TOGETHER.

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♡ SOME PERSONAL INTERPRETATIONS AND THOUGHTS:

For me, the story tries to show the two sides of the same coin: things that may seem completely different, but are essentially the same. You can see it with Hoo Joon/Geun Young, their friends, and even with Hoo Joon/Jae Joon. Of course, this could be argued—it is just my personal impression.

Also, while the drama condemns some of the toxic fan behaviour, it sometimes romanticises it. *SPOILER ALERT* one fan freaking kidnapped him, and everything was suddenly alright ¿¿ Nuh-uh *END OF SPOILER ALERT*

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♡ DRAMA VS. MOVIE:

As I mentioned above, there's a prior Chinese movie from 2016 that was based on this novel. It features EXO's Chanyeol, Yuan Shan Shan, SNSD's Seohyun, and Jian Chao.

For obvious reasons, the story is shrunk down in the movie. There are a lot of things that weren't included in the movie, other things were overly simplified, and some stuff was missing and/or changed.

If you want to have a good laugh, then I recommend you to watch the movie. It's filled with non-sensical comedy that, in my opinion, China excels at. However, if you are more inclined towards drama, then the South Korean version is the one for you (you'll laugh, too, don't worry).

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♡ SUMMARY:

This is, basically, a sweet enemies-to-lovers, famous-person-and-normal-person story. If you like any of those troupes, then you're in for a treat.

It's a really lighthearted story that will make you laugh. Don't expect a complicated plot because there won't be one. It's ideal to have a break from all those dramas where you can't miss a single detail because you'll get lost, or from those dramas which plots are so heavy they end up tiring your mind out.

I loved the cast, and their acting was great (especially Chansung's, because he made me hate his character with a passion, lmao).

ALSO, if you like Sung Hoon (My Secret Romance, Oh My Venus) like me, then WATCH THIS DRAMA, lol. He has a guest role in some episodes!

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So I Married an Anti-Fan is available on VIKI!

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If you read the whole review, thank you very much! I hope you liked it.

#so i married an anti fan #so i married the anti fan #kdrama #kdramas #choi sooyoung #choi tae joon #chansung #han ji ahn #review

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reviewting · 3 years

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Kingdom

I've tried watching kdramas for years now and I almost always ended up hating them or just didn't finish them (then forgets about them). It's thoroughly my own fault for choosing the ones with romance as the main stories, I'm not a big fan of them. There are, however, some romance kdramas that I've finished over the years but nothing has ever left an impression on my mind. A few weeks back I tried to look for kdrama that are available on Netflix and I saw the poster of this series. I mean, who am I kidding, everyone was talking about this series way back. I know I'm a bit late. I finished this series with my brother because his girlfriend is so opposed to watching anything remotely resembling zombies (LMAO).

Score

Storyline : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (8/10)*

Plot : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (10/10)

Pace : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (10/10)

Acting : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (10/10)

Rewatch value : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (10/10)

*I honestly gave that 8 out 10 scores for the storyline because I'm still bitter that season 3 is cancelled and there was a big plot at the end of season 2. Also, there are many questions that I want to be answered.

Storyline

I honestly don't know where to begin but I will try to explain it as brief as possible so I won't spoil the entire story. Prince Chang, the crown prince is banned from seeing his sick father. People told him that The King is sick but the Prince becomes very suspicious, probably because rumours are saying that The King is in fact has died from an illness. He sneaked into the King's palace and discovered that there was a monster living there. Curious and wanting to know what really happened to his father, The Prince and his sole bodyguard went to find the royal physician that took care of his father while he was sick.

The royal physician brought back his dead assistant with him. The assistant died from an illness that he contracted while he was attending to the sick King at the palace. The people where the physician lives are so poor and sick. For the patients to be healthier, this mysterious guy who also lives there cook the dead assistant to give them something to eat, especially meat. Those people become very sick and they turn into blood-thirsty monsters. So, just like any other sicknesses, it spread across the area and went bigger and bigger and then there's chaos.

There are some politics, science, and a whole lot of blood in this series and if you don't like gory things don't watch this. But if you don't mind them, this series is one of the best out there to watch.

Characters

There are a lot of people in this series, reminded me of Game of Thrones. So it's a bit hard to keep track if you have a very short term memory like me but after some time, they caught up with me.

I enjoy watching the Prince interacting with the people around him. He's very wise, smart, and just a good human being that is not greedy and thirsty for power. I just love him and my brother and I agreed that the guy who plays the prince is a great actor (well, every single one of them is great, no kidding).

What kind of people would hate on Young-Shin? Those people deserve pain. LOL joking, but I just love how minimal his lines were but it just feels like everything is going to be okay every time he's there. He's an awesome fighter, he uses his body as a weapon, throwing himself into things, really.

Seo-Bi, the woman physician amazed me. Just like Young-shin, her lines are not plenty but she is just so damn smart and not a damsel in distress. I just love her character, she is basically the greatest scientist out there since she found the 'cure' to disease without any help from anyone (I mean there's this book but let's pretend that it's not there).

I don't want to talk about Moo-Young. I'm just letting y'all know that I love him so much, all he wants is just to eat meat.

Where to watch

Netflix

Viki

Recommendations

#reviewthingmovie #reviewtingkdrama #kingdom kdrama

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fragmentwitch · 3 years

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Pondering Eua and Re:Unanswered Questions

Me after finishing Gou:

I have several questions but I will spend most of this post trying to answer just one.

If a new rule allows Rika and Satoko to transfer to the same new fragment after dying, did she really keep track of which Rika since that was made only after the Chandelier death?

Is Gou Rika Matsuribayashi Rika? Or Chandelier Rika? If the Rika she gets in her happy ending isn't her actual original Rika, could this be the cost Eua might have vaguely warned about and not actually the loops bleeding into people's memories?

Is Satoko a piece of Lambdadelta along with Vier/LD3105/Mitsuyo and Eua a piece of Featherine's? And not actually Lambdatoko? Or is Ryukishi just trolling with having Eua babble nonsense (Thinking Emoji)

Where/when will the Logic Error occur?

I used to believe the error was in the original series going off the VERY VAGUE statement about the beginning and end being connected. Never has there ever been a perfectly airtight idea of what the real Logic Error is though, and the new mechanics shown by Gou really makes my brain hurt.

Are Hanyuu and Eua the same person? Are Eua and FEATHERINE the same person?

I continue to have hope Hanyuu doesn't get retconned into being a Big Bad Evil Demon Lady named Eua, despite mounting implications that suggest otherwise. I had originally been led to believe Hanyuu was a piece that was left to roam the game board by her Game Master: given that she's been part of the Hinamizawa world for 1k years I wondered for a bit if she was a Witch that somehow lost her memory. Kotohogushi is a bit dubious on the canonicity so I have to remind myself the translation about Hanyuu coming from a line of 'alien' like people transferring their consciousness from another dimension with a grain of salt.

But Eua looks so much like Featherine I've been rewatching her scenes lately and thinking... this line I really keep thinking about:

What did Eua mean by this? She phrases it like there is someone/something of a higher power than even herself.

In terms of ranking, Lambda described Aurora higher than Voyagers/Witches. She was one step below THE Creator (supposedly there is a typo where there is actually just One Creator and Aurora is merely a Witch with a comparable power to a creator but idk Japanese so cant verify this).

From the way she worded things, she isn't talking to Satoko exclusively: she's talking about Vier, LD3105, and Mitsuyo. Referencing that it took hundreds of millions of loops for Eua and Satoko to meet 'once more'. Surely this can't mean Rika's looping merely referring to Hanyuu and Satoko; that sort of looping sounds beyond 100 years' worth.

Could it be that Eua is a self-aware god piece referring to all the various Expies in the WTCverse as being the same person at the heart of things? Possibly... but let's remember that Featherine lost her memory when her device was damaged; Lambda described it as one severe enough to alter her memory, appearance, and personality. It happened once, and Featherine would likely be extremely guarded against letting it happen again. How it happened is one more mystery.

Back to Eua: when Satoko asks her to 'alter' the rules of the game, and she acts like it's no biggie, then this carries heavy implications of being the Game Master/Territory Lord. If she was merely a piece, no amount of self-awareness would make her capable of altering the actual rules on a whim would it?

There's also this line she spoke to Satoko in episode 18ish: "The horn that granted the cat power was damaged, but mine is not."

Note that she says horn singular. Not plural. She doesn't say "mine are not" and confirms Rika was given the looping ability by something external. Yet she doesn't assign it a name (Hanyuu), just refers to it as an object. Which might be a hint as to how Featherine might create piece Witches: her device might be a way of transferring loop power with more permanence that gets around a 'sponsorship' which can be withdrawn at the Witch's discretion.

Also recall that when Satoko touches the Oyashiro statue (whose arm is intact but has a hollow head), it shatters on the upper part and only one horn falls out onto the floor. Not a horseshoe shaped device like Featherine's. It's also black, while Eua's is all white. Yet Hanyuu's horns are still with one chunk missing and colored black. Eua also mentions she isn't supposed to even have a name, in fact, her meeting with Satoko seems almost by 'chance' (she speaks like Satoko summoned her to the fragment in this manner). Hanyuu's full real name is given in a chapter that is dubiously semi-canon, so Ryukishi might elect to leave it out of Gou, but her husband Riku Furude gave her the nickname 'Hanyuu'. (Which still contains the character for Feather)

These observations are making me consider the possibility that Hanyuu and Eua are separate personas of a singular entity: The smooth horn belongs to Eua while the broken one belongs to Hanyuu. Black and White; a contrast between the kind demon mother who feels Rika's pain and lived on the gameboard & the demon who relishes in tormenting humans, too above to be part of the gameboard herself.

So, that leads us to the million dollar question: who is the entity if we put both horns together? Do we get Featherine Augustus Aurora? Or the Oyashiro living in this reverse-world Hinamizawa and hiding inside the actual statue? (Seriously is there a corpse in there? Wtf)

Or are these two halves of a GM making a tug of war for control over the Higurashi Catbox via their loopers? Now THAT is a mindblower if true.

We got our answer that Takano forfeited her villain role before Gou actually began so that may explain why the legend of Oyashiro is told deceptively 'wrong', but how does one account for the unbroken statue with a removeable head... could we potentially get a fragment in Sotsu where Satoko doesn't break the arm off it as a child and thus it affects all the loops afterwards? Hmm.

Either way we haven't actually caught up to GOU chronologically speaking, so until Sotsu comes out, there's no way to tell for sure if Eua and Hanyuu are one and the same or if they are actually two halves of a whole. But I will be a happy camper if this crackpot theory turns out to be right. Usually I'm wrong though. Lol

But now I'll definitely see about cooking up a diagram or something if we can actually make a branching map of the different Rikas to figure out which one is Gou Rika.

#higurashi gou #featherine augustus aurora #higurashi #hanyuu furude #eua #eua (higurashi)#featherine #oyashiro sama #theories

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the-trashy-phoenix · 3 years

Text

Supernatural season 1 review (part 1, with a little summary)

Link to part 2:

As Carly just said, some weeks ago she finished to watch the last season of Supernatural (if you've never seen or heard about this TV series, I'm sorry to inform you that it has 15 seasons, yeah, crazy) and for some reason she wanted to rewatch every single episode from the beginning, with me. I'm not really into TV series and I haven't watched many, but I accepted because I thought I couldn't leave my teen years without making this thrilling experience.

We've just finished the first season (I don't wanna know when we'll finish the whole show, I'll probably spend the next two or three years on this) and I collected some opinions about it.

I was informed about the storyline and the contents, nevertheless the very beginning of the first episode quite shocked me. For those who don't know, the first scene is about the murder of a woman by a supernatural creature, which gives start to the narration because from then on her husband and their two sons, Sam and Dean, dedicate their life to hunting that demon and all kinds of supernatural creatures they find on the way, so that every episode is devoted to a different "hunt", as they call it. The background storyline, in the first half of the season, is the search for Sam and Dean's father, who is somewhere missing hunting that demon that killed his wife, while in the second and final part the family gathers in order to be stronger to eventually fight it.

Of course the supernatural creatures they hunt are different every time, and I appreciated that the authors had a great fantasy to invent or desume them from local traditions and myths: Sam and Dean fight all kinds of demons, ghosts, animals and even people and, being the first season, you learn how to defeat them with the protagonists and feel deeply involved in their job. What they're doing, freeing the world from evil, feels so right that you can even easily understand and excuse their continuous breaking the law and lying, also because every episode has a happy ending and all the people involved end up trusting and thanking them. Moreover, the general skepticism they meet really contributes in making the story realistic and believable, making unbelievable, but still true, everything the brothers find on their way and making us feel like we know something secret to most of other people.

I've just said "job" ... Well, they call it job but in fact they never get paid and I wondered many times how they can live or travel all around the USA on a beatiful car without any money, but, you know, that's just fiction. By the way, they really travel a lot to catch supernatural events, it could probably be interesting to draw a map of their journey...

The only aspect I have to criticize is that the episodes are not so linked by a sort of "fil rouge", but Carly reassured me that the next seasons will be much better also under this point of view.

Talking about her, I highly recommend to watch this show with someone, and better when you're not home alone, if you get frightened easily like me, because some scenes are quite scary.

It's of course a thriller/horror series, and other themes, such as love, are touched, as far as I can say at this point, just to contribute to the characterization of the protagonists. I can never tell what is my "favourite thing" out of a group, so I won't say what's my favourite episode because I couldn't choose, but I'll make an effort and confess my favourite character so far is Sam.

He's the younger brother, and he's always been an outsider in his family: while his father and Dean thought hunting supernatural creatures was their duty and activity for life, he decided to leave them to have a "normal life" studying at University. This dream vanishes when Dean convinces him to come back with the family because their father is missing, but Sam never really quits thinking about studying. Also because the "hunting life" means never settling down, never building strong relationships (while before leaving he had a girlfriend), and Dean, apparently convinced they must dedicate their life to hunting, seems to underestimate the choice he forces Sam into. Of course it's not Dean's fault, but maybe he should've been more comprehensive about what his brother was going through. So, Sam often seems to be more sensitive and wise than his brother, and I say "seems" because I also think Dean hides much more of his personality and feelings which I hope will emerge in the next seasons. I feel like he experienced somehow similar struggles, but he knew how to make hunting fun, and he is able to show Sam that their life could be much better than he expected. Together they make an amazing team, always supporting and taking care of each other, because they are so different that they find help in the other one every time.

Family is certainly the main motive of the first season: Dean gathers Sam and eventually their father together, but it's not that simple as he had imagined. Every family has some hidden issues, and when the Winchesters start hunting together Sam can't stand John's domineering attitude, to which Dean is completely used, because his only desire is to emancipate from him and show him his worth. That's the power of the last episodes: you can fully understand Sam wanting to create his own future but also willing to follow his family and do the job he's destined to. But you can also understand Dean (or maybe you'd want him as a friend since he's so fun!) who loves his brother and father so much he has to be strong to support them. You will even understand some of John's actions, because at the end he made all his choices in the name of the love for Sam and Dean, even if not without mistakes.

So, if you haven't watched Supernatural already, go and do it because you'll grow with these two boys and you will slowly grow fond of them (or at least you'll know how to defeat a demon speaking Latin, which could always come in handy).

Can't wait to see what's happening next…

- Irene 💕

#supernatural #spn #dean #sam #dean winchester #sam winchester #supernatural season one #Supernatural season one review #Supernatural season one summary #Review #Spn review #Supernatural review #Summary #john winchester #First time watching supernatural #mary winchester

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littlemisssquiggles · 4 years

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Hello! I don't know if you've seen the Trollhunters series, but in the third season Jim has the opportunity to become a troll/human. However the effects would be permanent, and in the words of Merlin "Part of you will remain Jim, but the other part will never be the same." I've been thinking that something similar could happen with Oscar. That he has the opportunity to "fuse" his soul with the soul of Ozpin. Feeling not like Oscar, nor as Ozpin, but as someone else.

Hi there Los! I have actually seen Trollhunters and was a fan of the series for a while when it first dropped. However I sadly never finished the series (or checking out all it’s other spin-offs). I made it as far as I think the sixth or seventh episode of S2 and never got around to finishing it. So…yeah, thank you for that nice spoiler there XD Just kidding, I kind of already know about the Jim turning into a troll bit but mostly from spoiler screenshots on Twitter. I didn’t really know the context behind it until you explained it. Again, thanks for the spoiler but it’s cool.

In regards to Oscar and Ozpin and the Merge—well once upon a time, in a RWBY Musing of mine way back before V6, I shared my own views on the merging of the two souls that was not so different from your theory fam.

I figured that the Merge would’ve been similar to fusion in Steven Universe and I even used the character of Garnet as my example. Not sure if you’re a SU fan but in the series, Garnet is a fusion of two gems named Ruby and Sapphire and the embodiment of their love for one another.

While Ruby and Sapphire are their own individual characters with their owndistinctive personalities, what’s interesting to note about Garnet is thatinspite of being a fusion of two gems, the show and by extension, the other characters within the Steven Universe world have always treated Garnet as her own character outside of the two gems she’s comprised of.

As a fusion, Garnet possesses physical characteristics, mannerisms and of course abilities that she inherited from Ruby and Sapphire respectively. Nonetheless, Garnet is still seen as her own gem and thus her own character. This is how I originally pegged the Merge to be with the treatment of the ‘new Oscar’ afterwards.

This squiggle meister has NEVER 100% bought into the holdnotion of Oscar completely losing himself to the Merge. Ever more after I recapped V5 and remembered how Ozpin told RNJR that HE is the one destined to change with the fusing of the two souls. NOT Oscar.

I originally pictured the Merge would’ve involved Oscar and Oz forming a new persona who I dubbed the Wizard—the embodiment of both minds,inheriting all of Ozpin’s original memories and abilities while still retainingOscar as the dominant personality since he is supposed to be Ozpin’s successor.

Despite the CRWBY Writers attempting to sort of convince the FNDM with the idea of Oscar disappearing entirely by having that be a concern of said character, I still don’t buy into it because there have been other little breadcrumbs sprinkled throughout the last few seasons that highlight Oscar’s experience with the Merge being different from his predecessors.

Hence why I’ve now dropped my original theory in favour of a new one. Nowadays, I’ve deviated to my Pinehead headcanon where I think that Oscar is actually Ozma

I’m going to tag @daggerpawstudios here as well since my points in this response post also answers her inboxed question:

Hey squiggles!! I read your theory on Ozma and Oscar joining souls to just make Oscar whole again. I think you mat be on to something. I recebtly just rewatched eipsode 3 of volume 6 and i never noticed that Oscar and Ozma have the same voice actor as well. You can hear it wheb Ozma says his lines in the stories. I also find it interesting because it is implied that Oscar is the last recarnination of Ozma by the way he speaks in volume 5.

Basically my idea was that Oscar is possibly the teenage re-embodiment of Ozma’s original form that he never regained after his soul was first resurrected in the body of Diggs (Ozma 2.0). In the Lost Fable, it was highlighted that only Ozma was only brought back soul form. He never truly regained his original body; hence Ozma’s genuine surprise when he realized that he wasn’t in his old body and was instead inhabiting the mind of somebody else’s (Diggs).

It also justifies Oscar’s reaction to seeing Ozma’s shock of being paired with Diggs the firs time and his solemn “He didn’t know” remark since Ozma didn’t know the Gods would bring him back in the body that wasn’t his own.

The narrative has placed too much emphasis on Oscar being his own person to just have him become somebody else.

Not to mention there’s the whole important bit with Ozpin’s allies and enemies reacting to his sudden reappearance as if they weren’t expecting him back, at least not so soon.

My hunch with that the Ozma Cycle doesn’t work like the Avatar Cycle or the Doctor Lineage. Instead of being brought back almost immediately after the death of their predescessor within the same time period, my guess is that a new Wizard is reborn every half a century or so. I do a much better job at explaining this theory in this post right here.

But the general consensus is that Oz was NOT supposed to be back this soon.

I initially figured this was the case after recalling Lionheart’s reaction to Oscar back in V5 and Tyrian’s reaction to the news of his return in V6 and now Ironwood’s reaction to Oscar being revealed as Ozpin’s successor in V7 further supports my theory.

“...This can’t be...I knew you would be back, but...you made it here! You found Qrow! How?” - Lionheart (RWBY V5 Chapter 11)

“...Ma’am. I have more to report. Qrow and the children are taking the Lamp to Atlas...” Hazel Rainart.“...Not if I can help it...” Tyrian Callows“...And they’re being led by Ozpin.” Hazel“...So soon?!” Tyrian (RWBY V6 Chapter 4)

“Oz? I’m so glad you’re here. I didn’t think you---” Ironwood (RWBY V7 Chapter 2)

Here are three examples of characters being surprised to see Ozpin back so prematurely so clearly there is something is very, very different about the Cycle when it comes to Oscar.

Instead of being reborn in another like-minded soul possibly years down the line as the cycle probably works, Ozpin’s soul took an unexpected detour and was instead paired up with Oscar.

You might be asking why though?

Why would the cycle suddenly do this all of a sudden and why would it suddenly chose Oscar Pine—a 14-year-old farm boy from Mistral all of a sudden.

This brings me to my headcanon. I’d like to believe that Ozma’s cyclehas been pretty consistent up until Oscar’s lifetime. While the show didn’thave Ozpin make a big deal about him suddenly being brought back sooner than usual inside the body of Oscar Pine, it’s the characters associated with Ozpin and the Ozma Cycle that give me this strong impression.

I’d like to think there is something very special about Oscar that sets him apart from other Wizards and Ozma successors and it’s why I strongly believe his experience with the Merge will be much different and much more significant.

This is why I like my theory of Oscar secretly being Ozma’s original body that he never regained after his first reincarnation, now resurrected in Modern Remnant and given a second chance at life.

This theory of mine was inspired by a similar scenario in the magical girl series Sakura Cardcaptors where the character of Eriol Hiraigazawa is one half reincarnation of the great wizard and creator of the Clow Cards: Clow Reed while the second half was Sakura’s father.

Both characters were two halves of Clow Reed, only Eriol was the younger half who inherited all of Clow’s memories and magical abiltiies while Sakura’s father---Fujitaka Kinomoto---didn’t.

My idea was that since Ozpin is the current version of Ozma’s soul (theculmination of him and all the other Wizards over the years), if Oscar is revealed as the other reincarnated half of Ozma---his body--- then that could mean that our impression of the Merge has been wrong.

What if...the Merge isn’t meant to erase Oscar. It’s meant to make him whole. Body and Soul together as one make a person, right?

So my idea was that merging with Ozpin would help Oscar see the truth of who he really is. That Oscar is in fact the one true Ozma.

This also ties into my theory where I believe Oscar is meant to represent the end of the Ozma Reincarnation Cycle. He’s meant to be the last life.

This is also why I love the idea of him being revealed to be the true Ozma. This whole shebang with Salem began with him in his first lifetime and therefore should end with him in his last lifetime.

Ozma was the beginning so Oscar will be the end. The end of a cycle.

I love the concept of the Merging of the Two Souls actually representing the reunion of Ozma’s soul with his original body, therefore fully resurrecting the original Warrior of Light from First Remnant to become the Warrior of Light of the New Remnant.

...or at least one of them.

The irony with this is that neither Ozma’s soul nor his body are the same anymore. They’ve both been changed. Ozma or rather the soul of Ozma has definitely changed from all of his lifetimes spent living in the company of the like-minded men he was paired with while his original body was given a new life and purpose in the Modern Word.

Ozma has been a lingering sentiment of First Remnant who has withstood the ultimately test of time. This all started with him and Salem basically. Ozma is a primary player in RWBY’s key arc with Salem. All the more reason why I think it would be so cool if Ozma and Oscar are actually one and the same.Thinkabout it.

I also really love the concept ofor the obvious nod to the Wizard of Oz and its sequel story--- The Marvelous Land of Oz.

Wasn’t the Wizard original believed to be the ruler of Oz until later it was ultimately revealed that Princess Ozma was the true ruler.

Princess Ozma was the true ruler of Oz. Oscar is true reincarnation of Ozma. Here we’re all thinking that Oscar is going to become the Wizard when it actuality, he’s the true ruler of Oz. Think about it.

Imagine…how compelling of a twist it would be if, here we have Oscar believing that he’s going to lose himself entirely to Ozma—becoming someone he didn’t recognize—living as just another one of Ozma’s many lives when in reality, he’s not meant to lose himself.

He’s going to be made whole again. He wouldn’t become someone he didn’t know. He’ll be himself again and instead of living another life as Ozma, Oscar will be the proper second chance at a new life that Ozma never thought he’d get.

I really like the idea of Oscar realizing he is in fact the real Ozma and then afterwards deciding for himself who he wants to be.

Now that he knows the truth of who he really is, courtesy of the Merge, does hetake back his original Ozma name or will be continue forward as Oscar?

Naturally, Oscar chooses to be Oscar. Although folks can still address him as ‘Oz’ if they’d like for those who were more familiar with him under that nickname.

Fun Fact: Did you know that ‘Oz’ is actually a pet name for ‘Oscar’.

As Oscar, our little barn prince now fully reborn as a Warrior of Light, still plans on fulfilling his duty to save humanity from Salem but he now does so under the firm motivation that his life as Oscar will be his final one. No more innocent souls being dragged into his war with Salem. It may have began with Ozma but it will end with Oscar.

This is my current impression on the Merge and my main theory for where I think Oscar’s Arc might go. I could essentially be wrong but nonetheless, this is one of my favourite Pinehead headcanons that I really, really love at the moment. And I hope you like it too, Los.

I hope this post also answers your question along with Dagger’s.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

#loscardonofrio #squiggles answer: rwby #oscar pine #professor ozpin #oscar and ozpin #rwby theories #rwby volume 7 theories #pinehead headcanons #squiggles pinehead headcanons

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thebestplltheories · 6 years

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I've watched pll since the beginning and have been following you for several years. Tbh, It has been a long time since I visited your blog. You know, pll ended and I like, moved on I guess haha. But a month ago I started rewatching the entire series and I immediately thought of this blog and the excitement I felt one year ago. Always reading your posts and theories after another episode. I decided to visit your blog once again and I saw this picture of you with Marlene and Sacha and I'm (1)

Part 2: just so happy for you you actually got to meet them. You so deserved it! And also this. I was so so so surprised about the way you look. You’re like, handsome, seriously you are. So happy I now actually know what you look like haha. Anyway, thank you again for the effort you have put in theories and posts, following you blog made watching the show even more exciting for me! xxx——-That’s fair enough! It ended... time to move on. I was *going* to do that, because as the months went on after the finale, it was getting increasingly boring on here as there was seriously just NOTHING to talk about. But then they announced a spinoff literally only 3 months after PLL finished, so knowing that it’s coming back in some capacity is what is making me feel like it’s okay to still be here and not move on, if that makes sense. I’ve lost literally 5000 followers since the show ended so they fact that you came back to check up, and the fact that others are still here to this day, genuinely mind blows me. I expected to loose everyyyyyyone, not just a portion. Honestly I could never get enough of hearing that. That is so heart warming, that you think of my blog when you think of PLL. To have been a part of that is amazing, so thank you :)A picture of me with Marlene and Sasha?? There was that time I went on the Warner Bros lot and SAW Marlene walking to her office, but my frickn tour guide didn’t let me leave the group to go say hi. That is cruel. He knew he was bringing a PLL fan on to the set of PLL and he didn’t let me go say hi to Marlene for “safety” reasons. Yeah, cos I was gonna go punch her???? What safety reasons?? That must be some lame euphemism for ‘we don’t have time’. Anyway, I did once post a picture of me on set but I had to delete it because some people I know personally started to connect the dots about this blog and it pissed me off at the comments they were making, so I had to act dumb like it’s not me on here. But that was like a year ago now. Or maybe you’re talking about my header image with Marlene and Sasha? If so, that’s actually the cast of the spinoff! That guy isn’t me, that’s Eli Brown, and he’s playing Dylan on The Perfectionists :)Nonetheless thanks for the kind words.

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