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tyrantisterror · 3 months

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My Personal History with My Good Friend, Satan

My first encounter with The Devil - that I can remember, at least - came when I was about three or so. My mom liked to borrow VHS tapes from libraries to show me and my siblings a lot, and one of the libraries she used was the one at our church. It was a small and obviously very religion-centric collection, but it left a notable mark on me - like, that's where I saw this weird, kinda shitty cartoon version of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe which might be responsible for irreconcilably fucking up my taste in women? I just have this distinct memory of watching the scene where Edmund is tempted by the White Witch and thinking, "Yeah, he's making the right call." If anything I was frustrated that he hesitated - three year old me was already simping for this woman. Just imagine a child channeling Ernie Hudson in Ghostbusters and growling, "When a terrifying and beautiful woman offers you candy and a private sleigh ride, you say YES!" and that's basically me as a kid.

Where was I? Right, Satan. So, the other video from that library I remember was this cartoon retelling of Bible stories, and really I just remember the Adam and Eve part. The temptation scene had this huge, super gnarly-looking demonic red snake in it, and he was so cool and badass and I was already predisposed to like snakes anyway, so of course he was my instant favorite. But, like almost all media featuring reptiles that captured my little child heart, he turned out to be the bad guy - literally The Devil, in this case - and was punished at the end of the story. And that pissed me off.

Sometime shortly thereafter - or at least that's how I remember it, this was over thirty years ago so things might be smushed closer together than they really were by the fog of ages - some of the kids in my preschool chastised me for liking snakes. "Don't you know the devil is a snake? Snakes are evil!" I remembered the movie, and it made me angry.

Because snakes aren't evil, and as a kid I knew that because my parents taught me it. Snakes were just animals, they don't know right from wrong, and to call them evil it to judge them for what they are, not what they do. That experience taught me a very important lesson: The Devil is a tool to make people hate the innocent. And as I'd later learn, snakes were far from the only innocents people would vilify because of a demonic association.

The second time I met the devil came a few years later, when I was six or seven or so. My Grampa and Grams liked to take us up North to Mackinac City and the Upper Peninsula each summer, and I have a lot of fond memories of those trips, but there was one in particular that's relevant to this discussion. We saw a sign for a "laser light show" in the shopping district, and I got to stay up late to see it with my family. The show in question was basically a cartoon projected into the night sky adapting the song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It was super primitive and hokey and cornball and terrible and I loved every second of it. I was enchanted, absolutely delighted with the spectacle and the silly song where the devil was less a force of evil and more a comically bumbling inept supervillain - one of my favorite archetypes, even back then. So that's the second lesson about the devil I learned: The Devil can be fun sometimes.

Now, Godzilla, one of the few reptile characters I encountered as a kid who didn't end up a villain (at least not in the first movie of his I saw, Godzilla vs. Megalon), had already set me on the path to loving monsters of all stripes and, by extension, horror fiction in general, so as I grew up I had many more encounters with the devil. But while I warmed up quickly to most monster archetypes, like vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc., I always felt dismissive of demons. It kind of coincided with me becoming disillusioned with Christianity as a whole, in fact. A story about fighting evil, Christian-style demons is ultimately an allegory for fighting evil as defined by Christianity, and Christianity's definition of what evil is, well, sucks. It's bad! They got some things right, but some things horribly wrong. The devil is the tool Christianity uses to make you hate the innocent, and I struggled to enjoy a lot of demon stories because of that. Still do with some, in fact.

There were exceptions, of course - I loved The Evil Dead series as soon as I saw it at too-early-of-an-age, but then, the demons in it aren't super Christian. They aren't repelled by holy water or crucifixes or prayer, and in fact God and Jesus barely get mentioned in the series and never come up as a potential solution. They're kind of secular as demons go, and maybe that made them easier to stomach. But overall, demons ranked pretty low in the hierarchy of monsters to me - they were too tainted by the religion that spawned them for me to enjoy.

Until college, anyway. I quietly renounced my faith during my Freshmen year, and then, as if seeking one last chance at redemption in my eyes, the devil came to me again the following year. That's when I had a class on Medieval literature, and was exposed to far older devil stories than I had ever seen before. And Medieval devils kick ass. They have so much more personality and variety than I had come to expect, and some are downright affable, even sympathetic to a degree. It was one of many moments in college when I realized there was much more to a topic I'd previously written off as boring and trite.

This is when I read Dante's The Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost and Marlowe's Faust and Ben Johnson's The Devil Is An Ass. It's when I read early Gothic Horror novels like Matthew Gregory Lewis's The Monk, and dived into The Twilight Zone, which has more than a few episodes that are updates of medieval-style devil folktales in a more modern (i.e. 1960's) setting. And so many of these works presented the Devil not as a stand-in for everything Christianity hates, but as a person - a deeply flawed person, yes, but a person with actual wants and feelings and thoughts of his own, a person who was interesting and compelling - and sometimes funny, and sometimes charming, and sometimes really sad. There was, dare I say... sympathy for the devil growing in my heart.

In the last year of my undergraduate studies, I attended my college's yearly Medieval Studies Congress, where people from all over the world came to Kalamazoo just to share their research papers on medieval history and literature. One girl's thesis paper was on the subject of "rueful devils," i.e. depictions of demons in literature where they wanted to repent their sins and redeem themselves, which uniformly ended with the devils' hopes being dashed as they could not fully repent. This idea... possessed me. The idea that the devil could repent, or at least try to - that there could be hope even in the most debauched sinner. It was such a good narrative trope in my eyes - why did it die out centuries ago?

Well, because the church didn't like it, you see. If the devil can repent - if the Absolute King of Evil can choose to become a good person - then he's not very useful as a tool to make people hate the innocent anymore. The devil MUST be "pure evil" to work as intended. A rueful devil, a repentant devil, a devil that can be redeemed, forces us to be more forgiving and kind. It forces us to be better. It prevents us from hating people because an old book says so. And some people just couldn't have that, and so the trope died.

...

After I got my bachelor's degree, I entered the job market and, after applying to fifty different places or so, was finally hired as a high school english teacher about two weeks before the school year started. Said school year was the worst year of my life. Like, I've had extreme self loathing issues and suicidal ideation since, like, sixth grade, but holy shit it was NEVER as bad as it was in that nine month stretch between 2012 and 2013. There was this bridge I had to cross on the way to work each morning, and about two months in the job was so stressful that part of my morning routine was thinking, "You know, if I just swerve to the right, this can all be over and I'll never have to worry again." About halfway in I began drastically losing weight despite not changing my diet or getting more exercise and it was so traumatic that to this day whenever my weight starts to drop my initial reaction is dread rather than excitement. I impulse bought the first two Kung-Fu Panda movies and, after watching each for the first time and crying hideously, proceeded to watch them on repeat for an entire weekend while sobbing myself hoarse for reasons I couldn't comprehend at the time.

I was in Hell. And the devil met me there.

I started writing a story during that year. I didn't get very far, just a couple chapters, but it was one of the few things that gave me a sense of accomplishment. Despite all the stress and sadness and misery, I made something. It was a story about demons, and Hell, and trying to make your life better even when the world around you seems deadset on making you suffer as much as possible.

When my bosses called me into their office at the end of that year and told me that I had to quit my job so the assistant principal could take my teaching position and survive the downsizing they'd get next year, and that if I didn't quit they'd give me the lowest teacher evaluation they could and make it supremely difficult for me to get hired elsewhere... I was relieved. I'd been let out of Hell. After a handful of months left to finish out the year, I was free.

And then I went home, with nothing. No job, no desire to pursue the career for which I'd spent five years and an ungodly amount of money getting a degree to pursue, no nest egg, nothing. Nothing except a few chapters of a book.

The years that followed were hard. I did a lot of temp work, it took me a very long time to find something that worked for me. I may have left the worst year of my life, but there was still a lot of misery waiting for me. And through it all, I felt the need to accomplish... something, ANYTHING. I had to make something to prove I had a reason to exist, even if it was something that only had value to me.

With three years of work, those chapters became my first novel, No Sympathies: A Tale of Those Who Trespass Against Us. It was about the devil, and Hell, and finding salvation even when things seem inescapably bleak. It was my first novel, and now, eight years later, it's the first of five.

The devil saved my life. He saw me at my lowest, lifted me up, whispered, "It'll be ok. You have to keep going. I'll be with you, but you have to keep going," and goddammit, he kept me from swerving right.

That's when I learned the greatest truth about the devil, at least to me. The devil is a tool to make people hate the innocent, yes, this is true, but because of that, the devil can be a savior for the broken, the beaten, and the damned. You can feel like you're worthless, wretched, and doomed. But if the devil can rise from Hell, if the devil can choose to change, if people are willing to pray for the one sinner who needs it most - then there's hope for you too, isn't there?

Demons are creatures of rebellion - against God, against nature, against the powers that be, against doom and damnation itself. They were made to be a tool to hurt the innocent, but that's not what they have to be. Devils can lift us up, because no matter how far you fall, no one can say whether it's the end for you except you.

...I would like to point out that I am being figurative here. The devil does not literally exist, at least not in my view of things. He's a fictional character, nothing more. But he's a prolific fictional character, and how we portray him can say so much about us. And, to me, he is a dear friend, despite being imaginary, because the devil was there for me when I was low, and it was on his wings that I rose from doom.

...again, figuratively, not literally.

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fishtail-tavra · 6 months

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Dreamed of 1980’s animated adaptation of Age of Resistance (in the style of the last unicorn) and to be honest it was super fun

They pushed everything into one, hour and a half movie, so a lot of things that were secrets weren’t anymore and the set up got changed to move things right to the climax-

So everyone knows the Skeksis are evil and eating people, but the Skeksis are holding everyone hostage saying the Dark Crystal will die without them (taking all of Thra with it) and THEY will die without Gelfling essence, so from the very start tithes include sacrifices and the retuning of the drained people and

In my dream I cared more about the gays though, meaning Tavra and Onica.

Tavra got introduced arriving late to some big party Mayrin was hosting for the visiting Skeksis- no actually, it was for Brea? Some kind of coming of age thing?- anyway, Tavra trips and falls on her face coming in the doors and everyone’s very O_O; except her sisters who are already running over to say hi

She tripped though bc she saw ONICA in the crowd, disguised, and there were a lot of shots of her in the background during the main action of the party, looking worried and discreetly talking with Totally Not Onica while spilling things on herself absentmindedly or having to get tugged out of the way gently by Onica before she runs into/got run into by someone else

(there’s a morning scene later where we see them in bed together- very PG- both still fully dressed bc Tavra was up most of the night worrying- but Onica is watching Tavra sleep now, reaching out to touch her recently shortened hair (more on that later), and Tavra wakes up from that, smiling, and it’s the first time in the movie we see her really smile so)

In my dream I was mostly busy looking at screen caps and gifs of these two, but there was other changes I had fun with, like BADASS ARCHER NAIA

Naia showing up at the last big battle-

(right before the Skeksis get spooked into unleash the garthim and the clans all scatter desperately hoping at least one Gelfling survives the slaughter long enough to fulfil the Far-Dream that Onica led them into dreaming together blah blah)

-with this MASSIVE bow, bigger than she is, (lots of cool shots of her arms and back muscles whenever she drew it) and to fire the thing she actually needs to be either standing on something (usually her brother) (or one time both Kylan and Amri stood in for a single Gurjin) or she needs to be airborne

She and Gurjin had this trick where he’d kneel down and she’d run and jump on him, he’d boost her up, and she’d use her wings to slow her fall long enough to get off a shot or two before landing again

She didn’t used it to kill anyone (except Arathim) bc movie Naia still was big on not having the Mystics as collateral damage for stopping the Skeksis,

But she did get a few really dramatic shots- once shattering a Skeksis’s jeweled staff when they were using it to hypnotized and then almost kill someone- and another where (after her own bow got broken) she picks up urVa’s bow (MUCH bigger than hers) and uses her legs while lying on the ground wounded to shoot a flask of essence out of a skeksis hand before they can drink it

In this adaption though Brea is the one who really gets the rebellion kicking, still by reading something, but not a book this time

The movie had Brea going through the trial by wing that her grandmother started as like a coming of age/proof of power to rule kinda thing, where the women who lead the Vapra have to fly the dangerous winds of Raunip’s Pass alone, reach this one high spot where Raunip left an inscription, read it and bring back a stone from the pile siting nearby

This rock pile and inscribed stone is actually the movie version of Lore,

only this time Lore was created by ye oldie Tavra (Raunip’s Friend) to keep her friend Raunip company long after she was dead, and as a way to show no hard feelings for the fight they had over the UrSkeks.

But when Raunip left for the last time (passing through the mountains of Tavra’s home and what would later get named Raunip’s pass) he left Lore behind in the cliffs overlooking Ha’rar, so the Dream-Stitched stone could watch over Tavra’s people even after he was gone

This choked me up every time dream me saw a dream post about it ngl

Anyway, Seladon the 1st, Mayrin, Seladon the 2nd, and Tavra had all just flown up there, seen some old oddly etched rocks, the dedication from Raunip to his friend Tavra, shrugged and grabbed a rock before leaving

(the size of the rock you could manage to haul back was also part of the trial and Seladon was feeling both worried for ‘airheaded’ Brea and insecure knowing her little sister was probably going to bring back a larger stone than Seladon- with her crooked wing- had felt safe carrying)

Only Brea actually takes an interest the ancient writing and the symbols and the odd carvings and she gets distracted clearing away some dirt and rubble

underneath she finds the Dream-Stitching, activates it, gets a lore dump from ye oldie Tavra’s memories AND gets Lore itself to wake up, when it turns out to be able to play recordings of Raunip’s voice etched into stone- Tavra’s real gift to him, a way for him to Dream-Stitch his memories and be remembered even without vliya- so Brea ALSO gets all of RAUNIP’S fears and confessions about his involvement with the second great conjunction and the UrSkeks and the shattering and how things have gone downhill since then and

Brea’s family is getting increasingly worried she’s taking so long, what if she got smashing on the rocks by the winds, what if she’s hurt and needs help-

and the Skeksis get a chance to be evil and manipulative commenting that if Brea isn’t strong enough to follow in her grandmother’s flight path then maybe it’s the will of Thra that she fails this challenge and never comes home

I think I remember this being one of those moments where you can see everyone’s different reactions in a single frame, and it went something like Mayrin: devastated, Seladon: flinching and cringing, Tavra: looking absolutely murderous.

This is when Tavra steps forward and when questioned says she’s going to go look for her sister, since it was the will of Thra that they BE sisters in the first place, and Seladon hesitates before also saying she’ll go with Tavra

But that’s when Brea comes home with an entire rock monster and sort of accidentally starts a rebellion by asking questions, so

The night BEFORE this, the party scene, with the tithing and the prepping Brea for her big day, there had been this moment when the drained Gelflings were returned home, and Mira was one of them

And so Rian had come too, because up until this moment the “crystal anointed” were kept in seclusion, hooded and veiled, to keep a general panic from breaking out, and they only were released back to their own family in the clan they came from

(an information isolation tactic, to help the Skeksis spread rumors of each clan paying more than the other, or of their offered Gelfling being less worthy of the Crystal’s light and THAT’S why they are Like That Now, but the other clans aren’t being effected, no no no it’s totally just you, and you’re also having to give more people because the richer clans are paying more in tithes to send fewer offerings, so really the ones you should be mad at are the OTHER CLANS, not the Skeksis, the Skeksis don’t care how they get their sacrifices, the Skeksis only care about maintaining the Crystal that maintains all life on Thra obviously-)

Rian followed them to Ha’rar (with Gurjin) (and Naia because Naia’s not letting her twin go off into maybe danger without her) to finally reunite with Mira, but she’s been SO badly drained he barely recognizes her and she DOESN’T recognize him,

Cue very sad scene of Rian trying to help her remember, and after a bit she does reach out to dreamfast, like its instinct, only nothing happens, and Naia (the healer) checks and declares she doesn’t have enough vliya to dreamfast with- in fact, she doesn’t have enough to stay alive with, even. She isn’t just old and drained looking. She’s dying.

Rian is horrified, Rian breaks down, Rian shouts at the Skeksis while crying and holding Mira close,

The Skeksis don’t like that and we get a fun dramatic party screeches to a halt scene as the General gets up and draws his sword

Dream me thought it was very fun that Gurjin still got his hero moment, causing a distraction by taking on the castle guards that came here with the Skeksis so Rian could get Mira away

(also callback to the first movie, with a drained and totally out of it Mira still managing to break her and Rian’s fall with her wings when he has to throw them off a cliff)

(he totally thought they were gonna die together and was fine with that)

(instead they land on a Sifa ship and WOOO YEAH TAE AND ETHRI ARE HERE totally not because Oinca had a feeling it would be good and convenient if they parked their ship in this very specific spot)

Back in Ha’rar, Gurjin is captured by the guard, a pissed Naia challenges and fights the general about it

(there was a scene were the Skeksis realize Naia and Gurjin are twins and get Excited about that)

So they make a deal with Naia, if she wins, her brother will go free, if she loses… they both will go to the crystal together.

And while all THIS was happening, BREA ran off to fetch Tavra, who’d slipped away at some point, and runs in on the secret that her big stern sister is very much kissing a Sifa, which these days is Very Very illegal, but Brea’s just shocked to see very serious soldier Tavvra actually kissing anyone-

She remembers to tell Tavra what’s happening at the party, Tavra dives out the nearest window to get there faster, Onica suggests she and Brea take a detour along the way

(the detour is to set up a small tricky sabotage that will let Naia escape in moment)

The first time we see Tavra do anything cool in the movie is when she breaks through a window, sword drawn, and slashes at the General’s hand to make him drop Naia when he has her by the throat

Tavra and the General duel, Naia uses this distraction to attack the guards holding Gurjin and they exit stage right pursued by more guards, Seladon is freaking out and Mayrin calls for Tavra to stand down-

And in the tags of one post about this, ppl talk about how earlier in the movie it was set up how Gelfling don’t normally cut there hair short, since hair is kinda like tree rings or roots to them, so getting rid of it is like throwing away your life up till then and wanting to forget/distance yourself from it

(a thing traditionally associated with criminals, outlaws, Gelflings who went against their families)

BUT lately short hair has ALSO been used by rebels, the rumored Gelflings who refuse to pay tithes or offer up people to the castle

So this scene comes up, Tavra's duel, where the General says something like “blah blah traitorous Vapra, blah, oath breaking Gelfling scum”

And Tavra’s just like, it’s not breaking a vow to defend the people I’ve sworn to protect- which makes the General so mad he tries decapitating her, only she just kneels in response and bows her head-

So the sword cuts off her braid of hair instead. Big crowd reaction shot and gasp

(also revelation that Tavra’s hair is really wavy/curly when it’s short and not tied back, I don’t know why dream me thought that detail was super fun)

(tags on this post point out that this is kinda like, symbolism of how the Skeksis have being cutting Gelfling’s off from their actual old laws and traditions while making Gelflings bow to them instead)

And the other Skeksis sees this, hears the murmurs and muttering, sees the very bad PR image of a Skeksis about to kill a princess who is kneeling on the floor before him WHILE ALL THEIR PERSONAL GUARDS ARE MISSING and rushes in to pull the General back before he can split Tavra down the middle

The party ends… awkwardly, with the Skeksis placating the crowd by commending Tavra (through gritted beaks) for withstanding their ‘test’ of her loyalty and duty to her vows as a paladin, which they totally did on purpose, never would have actually killed anyone nope

They just barely restrain most of their rage when the guards come back (covered in odd powders that make them sneeze and slipping on boots covered in grease) to report that the three ‘criminals’ have escaped with their ‘abducted’ ‘prisoner’ (Mira)

annnnnnd they’re forced to accept Mayrin’s offer of Tavra leading her soldiers on the search, since they’re the only ones who know Ha’rar well enough to do it

(quick scene of Tavra directing her paladins to search the mountains and the cliffs and the village and the valley, and… no, not the seashore or the coast. Without the help of a Sifa they wouldn’t survive long there and would have to turn inland soon anyway. it’s not like there are any Sifa up here right now. Right? Right.)

I think I also remember that Deet gets introduced while she’s dreamfasting a giant taint-maddened nebrie-

(she can’t heal them, but as long as she’s dreamfasting with them SHE can take on the pain and horror of the taint, and when she sings while doing that they fall peacefully asleep, letting anyone nearby get safely away)

And it turns out she’s been working so hard to find out what’s going on with the tainted creatures of Thra she’s become sensitive to the presence of the taint, AND good enough at listening with her vliya that she can hear and understand what the Trees are saying, even though their voices have almost gone quiet

The trees lost contract with each other as the taint spread (some of them being taken over by it even) so Deet got sent out by her clan’s Tree to contact / warn / bring messages to the other trees and their clans

There was still that cool moment of Kylan dreamstitching the warning onto flower petals and everyone watching them fly off in a cloud so I guess Deet recruited him at some point… or no… maybe that was to summon the clans to what ended up being the big final battle?

I feel like there was a ‘lighting the beacons’ scene where all the clans lit their blue flames and a moment (echoing the opening of the tv show) where we saw their leaders all standing together in dreamfast on a map vision of Skarith land, reaching out to each other around a shared blue fire….

Anyway taking on the suffering of the taint was slowly tainting Deet herself, and she kept lashing out in pain more, or getting lost in the nightmare visions of the crystal’s breaking

She got one cool scene at the end though.

After the Gelfling come together to Far-Dream the prophecy of how the Skeksis might fall and the Skeksis see this and, in a panic, unleash all their Garthim before they can even control them properly, leading to many Gelfling being killed instead of captured for draining-

Deet is one of the ones caught and brought back to be drained, but she’s laughing when they strap her into the draining chair, and when she calls out,

all the tainted creatures she’s helped over the movie wake up in time to cause havoc on any nearby garthim-

and so do the Trees, reconnected briefly THROUGH the spreading taint BY Deet as she’s being DRAINED by the crystal, and the connection lasts just long enough for their roots to soak up as much of the taint as they can while tearing up the ground around the castle, breaking the crystal (and the taint’s) direct connection to the rest of Thra-

The trees all die, burning up in a last blaze of vliya along with Deet, but the tainted creatures aren't tainted anymore, and outside the barren land around the castle everything else starts growing in healthy again

Turns out it was the world that was feeding life to the crystal, not the other way around

(another skeksis lie)

Which makes the skeksis ultra SUPER unhappy the garthim rampage killed off so many useful Gelflings before their essence could be drained

The stinger ending was Kylan finishing writing all this down and hiding the book just before garthim burst in, the shot of his hand desperately tucking the book away-

-jump cutting to Jen’s hand gently pulling it’s crumbling pages out of hiding who knows how many trine later

Final shot being a slow pull back and pan out of Jen calling to Kira about what he found, and her excitedly calling back that she thinks a small nearby sapling might have just talked to her, so maybe he could read the book aloud to both of them?

end credits roll over the scene as Jen reads and Kira clears away weeds from a young baby tree, while fizzgig gets chased around the clearing by a whole pack of little angry baby fizzgigs

And that’s it, that’s the movie adaption that doesn’t exist but I got to be in the fandom of for a few glorious minutes

The last unicorn animation style REALLY went well with the vibes. loved it.

#the dark crystal: age of resistance #tdc:aor #tavra #brea #naia #rian #gurjin #deet #onica #adaption #au #non-canon

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zoomzooml · 9 months

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Rewatched Bumblebee movie so Alert: random thoughts of sleep deprived person go--

Bumblebee has hella powerful legs. Not only when he uses them in fight, but also when he jumps.

I just love how Bumblebee uses his legs in combat, like hell yeah dude! They may catchin' those hands but they ain't catchin' those legs (they actually did couple of times but shhhh).

Fight sequences are muah. Love them, the best ones in Transformers movies I think. I'm not sure but I also think they were storyboarded/planned by animator so if it's truth it does explain things lol.

Bumblebee is smaller and weaker than the Decepticons he has come to fight, and he doesn't just use their weight or size against them, but all the time seems to be looking for an advantage in his surroundings. This is likely not very unique to him, but it clearly stands out when his opponents the moment they realized their advantage wanted to simply overpower Bee.

Also love how everyone is trying to use their alt-mode during combat.

They could have done more with the fact that G1 Bumblebee was said to like swimming, and Charlie was swimmer in the past (specifically was in school's dive team if I remember correctly). Like some kind of bonding scene? Whatever, it was just such an opportunity. (And I know we had this seconds-post-end-battle scene but it is not what I'm talking about at all if it makes sense???)

Shatter often folds her hands behind her back in a gesture that I personally associate with a business woman (also in base scene she and military man both hold hands that way when talking so yeah). I feel that this reinforces her image as the leader/representative of the duo when Dropkick maintains a looser posture. Just cool body language.

I didn't pay attention to this in the movie, but I was reminded of how someone noticed the Autobot symbol on Shockwave's arm. If that's true, they could make it cool to pull it up under Senator Shockwave's MTMTE-style backstory, or maybe some variation of the spy (before he was known as a Decepticon, especially a high-level one) in TFA style. As far as I know the entire thing was because of recycling model parts but still.

I don't like Bumblebee's camaro root-mode. Idk, he was all round and huggable almost the entire movie, even when he had jeep as alt-mode, and then he is all blocky :((. Maybe it's because even as jeep he still has his chest mostly flat and as camaro it moves so much forward. His Cybertronian root-mode also has chest moved forward a bit but it's a lot more aerodynamic (you know what I mean) so he still looks round. Like, he is huggable all the time and then his camaro-boob looks like it would cut you. Idk how to say it, hope you get what I'm trying to communicate anyway :')

I really like how Decepticons were casually showing off that they are Triplechangers. I understand why they were doing this from storytelling point of view but it's still funny from in-universe one. ("Look how cool and badass we are.") I'm probably turning it up but oh well.

Also this will be a bit off but I never liked the idea of hammer as Bumblebee's weapon. Like his thing almost always was being small, kinda fast and not very strong and boom. They give him one of the weapons that is most effective welded by someone big, strong who doesn't loose much fighting weapon that kinda slows them down a bit (I think hammer does but you can correct me lol) because damn, this thing is big, at least in his serwos.

Plus, still on the hammer's topic, actual war hammers had this spike on the one end of the head so you could actually pierce armor of your opponent or just your opponent but not this one. This one is just for smashing like your mom's meat mallet. Ok, I'm done with this saltyness lol

But really, hammer as weapon doesn't fit Bee at all. Or it's just me.

#sorry for bad english #transformers #shitpost #maccadam #bumblebee #shatter #my thing #very random #may delete later #sleep deprived post #analysis #kinda????#all those things propably were told before but oh well #also next TFCheesy comic is almost finished wow #and i think I actually got better at drawing cars?? so profit

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most-datable-datable-bracket · 4 months

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ROUND 2 MATCH 9

Leviathan propaganda:

“(Throwing my hat in the ring here) I genuinely love this man so much. It only took me about 1 or 2 chapters in the OG game to realize I related to this man much more than I had originally thought. He is SO passionate about the things he loves and I always feel bad whenever his brothers sound so uninterested or flat out tell him to stop when he talks about a game/anime/whatever he just got into. I just feel the need to be that listening ear even if I don't fully understand everything.

Also this man is SO talented in the crafts because I'm telling you this guy can SEW. Off the top off my head there has been at LEAST two (2) sets of costumes that were in limited events for all of his brothers, and he makes his own cosplays as well! I think deadass if there's clothing or food or whatEVER that's from a game or show or anything he will go and make it to practical perfection so this guy is very much a hidden "Jack-of-All-Trades."

And!! He is a very loving pet owner!! He still cared about his first pet snake even after it got trapped in a labyrinth, grew 100x its original size, and wanted to eat the guy, and he especially cares for his goldfish too!!

TLDR: Leviathan is dateable material and I rest my (biased) case.”

Imtura propaganda:

"You first meet her when she and her orc pirate crew raids the ship you're on, and you have to fight her off of your ship BUT THEN. A bunch of Grobtars (nasty fuckin sea monsters) attack the ship as well so you both have to team up to fend the grobtars off your ship. how fucking cool is that. And when she joins the party after you help her stand up to her controlling ruthless mother (who happens to be The Queen of the Pirate Orcs) she's so fun and badass and her romance route is really well written (the undermount ball scene with her??? learning the orc martial art kaytar from her?? im in love)"

#leviathan #leviathan obey me #Obey Me #obey me shall we date #imtura tal kaelen #blades of light and shadow #Round 2 #MDDC 2

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yazzydream · 9 months

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part 3 of parts i'm excited for in shibuya arc! I swear i didn't expect this to go so long, but as i kept going over shibuya i realized there were SO MANY things i'm looking forward to seeing animated!

manga SPOILERS ahead, obviously.

(pt. 1 here | pt. 2 here)

YEA LET'S START THIS POST OFF WITH TOTAL DEVESTATION.

nanami's wretched state. mahito's reveal in the purikura booth. the welling dread. it's suspense. it's film. it's drama.

ah ah ah ah

i'm going to cry so much. i'm a crybaby. i will be crying so. much.

YEAAAAH THAT'S MY BABY GURL!! ACCOMPLICES PART DUEX!!! I absolutely ADORE that nobara is mahito's natural enemy. that friggin rocks!!! my favorite duo working together remotely is such a badass idea really highlighting how in sync they are with each other. (interesting contrast to how megumi found it difficult to work with yuji in the fight against the mustache guy earlier.)

bby nobara flashback from fumi's pov. 😭 she was such a precocious child and fumi's perspective of nobara was so interesting.

*sob sob sob sob* i love this scene so much. how it goes from surprisingly gentle to shockingly graphic.

👁️ akutami really loving that dismemberment and eye horror huh.

this whole daily life sequence is actually funny on its own. 😂 i laugh every time. AND THEN IT CUTS TO--

fuck me up, gege.

sorry, minor tangent. but basically, what i'm getting from rereading this, is that yuji's whole, 'giving people a proper death' is all bullshit. you die, you die. looking for logic or reason in a sorcerer's death-- deaths being "proper"-- is pointless. todo's right. mahito brought it up too, that yuji's motivations were childish. a kind of... typical shonen hero motivation that sounds half-hearted at best. you'll notice, from this point on, yuji never brings up giving people a "proper death" again. at least, i haven't noticed him doing so.

anyway, back to cool shit i wanna see in the anime.

aaaand there it is. yuuji's realization which leads directly to... i know i've said this over and over again, but this sequence is one of my all-time favorites in jjk. or... any manga actually. it's just so fucking cinematic. i can SEE it in motion and now it will be! please please pull this off, mappa. 🤞 i need this to be poetry in motion.

need to close this post off with something. so, here's psuedo-geto, an honestly compelling villain, bouncing with the prison realm. the heroes failed and didn't release or even retrieve gojo. scarred, mutilated, or dead. and we're left on the precipice of a world changing event while the big bad strolls away.

nice.

what a fucking way for the season to end? unless they go post-shibuya arc, but i honestly think the season ending on this fucked up cliffhanger would be fantastic. lol

#jjk season 2 #jujutsu kaisen #my jjk #jjk manga #jjk spoilers #let's try to be more bloggy shall we

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redtalksaboutstuffandthings · 7 months

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Anime Ramble 2: Banana Fish is mid

So, once again I'm going to use this empty blog to ramble incessantly about something that only matters to me. Specifically, the gay romance in a crime thriller anime. It took up my thoughts all day, today, and if I don't write them down I'm going to explode.

Banana Fish was written in the 1980's, but received an anime adaptation in 2018. And having watched the whole thing through, I fully believe that the story was written in the 80's. It has a very 1980's idea of what gay people look like and do, and I mean that in all the worst ways.

(Content Warning: Sexual Assault, Pedophilia, Homophobia. It's a deep hole we're going down.)

Banana Fish is the story of Ash Lynx, a runaway mafia hitman with a 200 IQ who is a crack shot with a revolver, spends his free time at the New York Central Library, and whose kill count exceeded his age somewhere around the time he was 15. His romantic interest is Eiji, Japanese photographer and the show's resident Very Good Boy.

Ash is gay. Or at least, that's how he's presented. He has an estranged relationship with his father, which apparently happened sometime after Ash was repeatedly assaulted by an adult, when he was eleven, and Ash was eventually forced to kill his abuser. Why is Ash's father so distant and harsh, even though he knows all of the stuff that happened to his youngest son? Unsure. The show asks the question, and there's a slight hint that a reconciliation is possible, but ultimately Ash's father isn't on screen long enough to provide a clear answer.

If I were a cynical person, I would point out that "a history of being a sexual abuse victim" and "an abusive father figure" are two very common "reasons" given by bigots who want to explain why gay people exist and why their state of mind is a mental health issue. This would have been especially true in the 80's, where homosexuality was only recently removed from the DSM as a mental disorder. However, I'm not a cynical person. I'll just assume that the writers just didn't have enough time to give us a compelling reason.

ASH AND EIJI ARE CUTE TOGETHER, I GUESS

The relationship between our two leads has quite a few nice points going for it. Ash makes a big deal about how tragic his past is and how he can't trust anyone, but around Eiji he's allowed to be his authentic self, without fear of judgment or betrayal. Their interactions together, particularly in safe moments where there isn't a bad guy to fight, is a very realistic depiction of what two good friends might get up to, when they're alone together. They enjoy each other's company, have a lot of cute moments, and there are even what I would identify as clear moments of emotional intimacy, that made for compelling viewing. I do, however, have two main issues with it.

The first is a phenomenon I'm beginning to see quite frequently, in the world of yaoi. It's what I refer to as the "Uke's dillemma." I can understand what Ash gets out of the relationship. A person who accepts him for him, who can look past his violent existence and treat him like a human being is something valuable and healing to him, and the show makes no bones about that. However, I find myself less able to answer what Eiji is getting, from the relationship.

His only real flaw as a character that Ash might be able to address is the temporary loss of his confidence, that he experienced before meeting Ash. That basically gets resolved a few episodes in, with a scene where he has to help save multiple people, including Ash. For the rest of the show, it really feels like Eiji is purely there for Ash's sake. He, being (as I mentioned previously) a Very Good Boy, sees a person who's clearly suffering, underneath the mask of a totally cool badass mafia assassin, and decides to show Ash the milk of human kindness in order to heal his pain and remind him that he's actually a person, and not just a wild animal that needs to be put down.

And while that's cute and cool and very much worth putting to film, that's not exactly a good reason to enter into a romantic relationship with someone. In fact, that feels more like a good reason to adopt a shelter animal.

0/10. NO HAND HOLDING

The second problem with the romantic relationship between our two leads is that... it's not really a romantic relationship. Like, make no mistake. It's not like I was expecting these two boys to spend their free time with their hands down each other's pants. However, they don't really do anything that indicates that they're in a relationship. They spend a lot of time together. They're clearly willing to throw down, when the other is in danger. They even share a few moments of genuine tenderness. But spending time and being emotionally intimate with your friend isn't gay, no matter what the dude-bros tell you, and neither they nor anyone around them seem to give any sort of indication that they should be read as being romantically involved.

Okay, they kiss, once, but I'll get to that in a second.

By itself, this isn't a big deal. It might even be a point in the show's favor. Considering how sleazy they make the world of gay people, how overloaded the plot is with sexual assaults and horrible, senseless violence, the fact that they make the relationship we're meant to root for wholesome? Not the worst decision.

It's a little weird, though. I mean, this was the chance for the show to show us what a good gay relationship might look like. It's a chance to show how Ash would engage with a partner he genuinely loves, when there isn't a gun to his head. A chance to present what a healthy, constructive relationship could look like, even in an environment as ugly as Banana Fish's. And what they gave us... was a very good friendship. Like, an outstanding friendship. A friendship I would happily defend, were it lucky enough to come my way. But that's all it is. You could honestly walk away from the show with the idea in your head that Eiji was straight, and was only staying close to Ash because he's a Very Good Boy and could see it was what Ash needed.

But... I'm overthinking this, maybe. A friendship is a good thing to put on screen, I think. Besides, even if they don't ever say the "L" word, there's enough subtext for you to be able to make the educated guess that they love each other. I don't need to give this any more thought. I could just sit back, and enjoy the wholesome vibes of Boy Assassin and Very Good Boy.

BUT IF I WERE A CYNICAL PERSON...

The show presents gay sexuality as being "bad." I'm not even sensationalizing. Ash's first crimes, his first acts of evil that send him down the violent road he finds himself on, happen as a direct result of being raped as a child and needing to defend himself. The show's main antagonist is a sadistic gay mob boss who's obsessed with owning Ash like a collector's item. Sexual assault and rape are employed or threatened by every throwaway minion who has any sort of power over the protagonists. The cast can be split into three groups: people who rape and abuse people, the victims of abuse... and Ash, who half the time is in the victim category, but the other half of the time uses sexuality as a cover for dishonest behavior.

Ash is openly sexual, at times, but these are always in controlled moments. Often, it's to distract or to call in a bad guy, so he can incapacitate or kill them when they're off guard. That time we get our big kiss between Ash and Eiji, it was all part of a clever ruse on Ash's part to sneak a message out of prison, and not an actual expression of love. For Ash, sex is either something that happens to him, or that he uses to get something he wants.

So, imagine the opportunity presented in front of us, here. Ash has a Very Good Boy, around. One who will not judge him, won't betray him, and who he can finally be his genuine self with. And when given that opportunity, the writer's apparently decided that their perfect gay relationship, the relationship Ash was going to have with his designated soulmate... is one that can easily be mistaken for generic friendship. One where you complain about food, together, but you sleep in separate beds. Where you call your partner "big brother" and only ever touch them when you're having a nervous breakdown and (understandably) need to be held. Where you never say the "love" part out loud, and none of your friends say it out loud, either.

And... I'm not a cynic. I'm not. But if I were, I could have a field day with this. I could write the entire world of Banana Fish as the sort of Gay Experience Conspiracy Theorycrafting that was absolutely rife in the mid and late 20th century. Because it seems like what the writers are suggesting is that the key to being happy as a gay character is to not be gay.

Being gay, according to the writers of Banana Fish, is a sort of corruption, that happens because you were abused and traumatized. Only bad people express thoughts that could be construed as gay sexuality, and in every case it's just meant to serve some greater purpose. Breaking a person's spirit. Getting them vulnerable so they can be killed. And when you find somebody who can finally let you heal from your trauma, all you ever wanna do is take Japanese lessons with your Very Good Boy friend who isn't your boyfriend. Let me just make that last part clear. He's just your very good friend, who just so happens to be a Very Good Boy, and the two of you don't even hold hands.

And then when it's time for your Very Good Boy friend to leave, to go to Japan and back to his regular Very Good Boy life, the moment you even think about going after him, you're gonna get stabbed in the street and murdered, as the consequences of your evil lifestyle finally catch up with you.

((Spoiler alert, btw.))

THAT'S HOW I'D READ IT, IF I WERE A CYNICAL PERSON

Luckily, I'm not a cynical person. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that all that could be inferred from a casual viewing. Surely, I'm just mad that the anime tagged with "gay" and "romance" didn't have enough obvious romance in it.

In conclusion, Banana Fish is a competently animated and drawn crime thriller. It's protagonist is a Mary Sue, but for the story it's telling that's not the worst thing he could be. Any sort of conspiracy theories I have about the writers and their opinion of gay people are probably irrelevant. 6/10. Watched it while I was sick. Killed time while the virus was being killed.

#anime #banana fish #content warning #too long for tumblr #don't actually read this #it's not worth it

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silent-sanctum · 1 year

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Storytime about Why I Personally Like Jotaro's Character

I think it's safe to assume that 90% of us ocean man simps (and/or the 11k followers of the joot tag) had to have hated the guy in the beginning, only to watch p4 and say "hold on wait a minute I'm feeling sumn" and then go back to p3 and say "oh shit hold up".

'cause when i first started p3, i remember jotaro calling holly a bitch and that led to my first impression of him: "Oh so if jonathan was the gentleman jojo and joseph is the wacky jojo, this is the edgy jojo. I'm sure I won't like him at all with that attitude".

let me tell you... i hate assholes. antagonists. absolute douchebags. the too obnoxious men, and edgy men for the sake of being solely edgy.

and i kind of had the same feeling of him throughout the first few episodes, and then the more the plot went, the more I got to see bits of his subtle heart of gold personality come through and I thought to myself "no way but he's still an asshole, why am i beginning to not hate him at all?"

but I couldn't bring myself to hate the guy when in certain moments he brings up his dorky one-liners, the tiny curl that forms his seldom smiles, his general badassery. So at the very least I now respected the dude by the end of p3.

And then p4 happened.

Oh man. Did 4taro do something because damn, this version of him was what got me simping for the man.

Idk what happened but right at the beginning of ep 1, I see him in that taxi in his white fit and immediately, I disregarded the sudden art change and already vibed with the first scene of jotaro in that moment.

and i was greatly confused to say the least. I've been keenly aware of my tastes in fictional men and so far before joots, they were often very.....

let's just say... "young anime boy" visuals.

LISTEN. Don't ask why Kirito is here; I was still in middle school when he became my fictional crush eye-

anyways-

soon after, even if i was enjoying josuke and his friends in their slice of life shenanigans, i admittedly looked forward for scenes where joot would be in it, got excited when he does something cool and badass, and just appreciate him just vibing silently in the background, probably thinking a million things at once- the murderer, his thesis, the stand arrow, his job etc.

cue to the end, and I really like like jotaro at this point. As in the "holy shit... my new fictional mans?" like.

I was in denial. Because no- Just no??? How did this happen?

Was it because he grew out of his angsty rebellious teen phase, and into this now mature professional, Stand expert, and mentor who's learned how to not be excessively rude while still keeping true to himself as seen in his stoicism, intelligence, and badass nature?

and then to realize he was a DILF in p6?? And a divorced man??? And that he explicitly shows the audience his feelings towards his family for the first time???

Oh man. I was never too into dilfs... but-

So I rewatched p3 scenes again and there I was able to like 3taro as much as 4taro and 6taro. I grew to notice more of his very subtle character amidst the rebellious façade- using that big brain of his in fights, the way he has fun with the crusaders by doing party tricks, the more amount of smiles he does that i failed to notice at first watch, understanding why he shouts at certain women, the utmost care and love he has for his friends and family and how much he'll go through just to keep them safe.

I even grew to love the rugged, buff design of 3taro, which I now admit is kind of a favorite now along with 4taro.

Ultimately, I like jotaro because even though he gives off a very bad first impression, you get to watch his character go through a bunch of events throughout the parts, and see how other bits of his sides and personality surface, develop, and change the more he grows in experience and age.

Idk if it's just me, but I am a sucker for quality character development and jotaro shows exactly that- from being a rebellious delinquent who walled his vulnerabilities behind a rude mask, to a wise mentor-figure who knows better than to be impulsive and rash, to a caring father who'll sacrifice the universe and himself for his only child to live.

holy shit this was l o n g but I needed to get this out of my system because my god, I love this man sm.

and i know i have ranted about this before, but istg, the dudebros be literally seeing jotaro's personality as nothing but a man who's misogynistic and simply punches his enemies to a pulp to solve the issue, without realizng that he has to think of ways of getting closer to the enemy in the first place. Hence why yall shallow mfers think he's a bland protagonist with the emotions of a brick wall smh.

#jotaro kujo #jojos bizarre adventure #mijin ramblings

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woogly-boogly · 7 months

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1, 2 + 16 Netflix Castlevania

1: what originally drew me to it

i’m pretty sure you did. i don’t remember it perfectly but in 2020 when i finished watching BoJack Horseman i saw Castlevania was recommended to me and i remembered you saying it was really good so i gave it a go and DAMN was it fun.

2: what i like most and least about it

i love the personal journeys the characters go on. in particular Isaac’s self discovery and Trevor and Sypha’s uncovering of the cult in Season 3. after Dracula died, Isaac had to come up with a new purpose for his life and he really struggled to learn that there are actually people who are good and deserve to live, and watching him grapple with that every time someone was good to him and then someone else was mean to him was fascinating to watch. as for Trevor and Sypha, i loved their dynamic together and you could see the influence they were having on each other, which was fun. plus i just really like mysterious shit and the cult scratched that itch for me. i also loved that Trevor and Sypha weren’t able to save the people of Lindenfeld, and discovered how corrupt the Judge really was. it’s not super common to have the protagonists fail in shows like this and it was refreshing to see how fucking upset they were about it.

idk i know Season 3 has some haters but it really clicks with me for some reason.

what i like least about it? Season 4 was hot dog water. that shit felt like a fanfiction written by a teenager who didn’t appreciate almost every single character taking an L in the last season and wanted a cutesy “✨and everyone was happy ☺️ and held hands ❤️❤️ and were best friends 😌✨” ending. it sucked fat booty. AND they ruined my man Saint Germain!! he was so cool and mysterious and they turned him into a horny loser!! i know i said it in your tags already but what a fucking waste of Bill Nighy. Saint Germain deserved better. the entire season deserved better.

also people in this show swear like a bunch of 14 year olds and it’s not the most endearing thing ever but not really annoying enough to not sound nitpicky when i say it

16: a scene/moment that makes me really emotional every time

normally the answer to a question like this would be something that makes you cry or something but i never cry watching this show so instead i’m gonna go with one of my favourite emotions, excitement. And that shit’s gotta go to the fight scene with the demons and the Visitor in Season 3. i know the Dracula fight was very badass and emotionally compelling and i’m not downplaying its impact but holy shit have you seen the Season 3 fight?? Sypha finding super creative ways to obliterate the demons?? Trevor busting out both whips and going absolutely crazy shredding the Visitor?! and the huge music buildup and then he slashes it one last time snd it goes slow mo and the whips fucking explode and the animation does that thing where it only shows the outlines and the Visitor gets fucking OBLITERATED!!! THAT WAS SO FUUUUUUN YEAH BOYYYYY

good show, i’ll have to get onto Nocturne sometime soon

here's the link to the questions if you want

#asks #castlevania #castlevania spoilers

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spacepunksupreme · 1 year

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What is some good vampire media i. Like just came to the realization that I don’t know much. Finishing Dracula and watching the movie soon, watched the Netflix castlevania and i wanna watch iwtv soon (both of them)! I ask because I trust ur taste :-]

AH Hi! Feeling very honored that you trust my taste aha

I hope you enjoy Interviw with The Vampire and whichever Dracula movie youre watching! There is certainly no shortage of Dracula movies out there for one, both actual attempts at adapting the book and otherwise. There is literally (at least) one for every year from 1969-1979 lol so if you dig 70s stuff that’s certainly something to explore.

Obviously there’s vampire stuff out there in a range of aesthetics and subgenres, so I’m gonna try to cover a little variety of vibes off the top of my head, and hopefully one of these things is in your preferred flavor of vampire :)

unorganized list with brief synonsis’ under the cut

As for serious vampire series the only thing that comes to mind rn are some anime/manga. Vampire Hunter D is a light novel series with two anime film adaptations. The newer one, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000) is like an all-time favorite animated movie for mine. D is an angsty half-vampire vampire hunter, and it’s also set in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi/fantasy world. Really good mix of more traditional vampire lore with science fiction elements. Vampirism is implied to be the effects of a plague that swept earth as well as like a magical affliction in this.

Trinity Blood is a similar post-apocalyptic hard sci-fi/fantasy mix. Leaning more on the gothic fantasy side. It’s set in a world where we’ve gone back to the Catholic church being the dominate like governing force, so the main character Abel is (again an angsty half-vampire vampire hunter) a funny little priest man. The vampires are like really demon/angel vibes in this, but are also implied to be the result of intermingling with an alien species that humanity fought pre-apocalypse, if I remember correctly. I havn’t read or watched any of this since high school so it might suck now lol

The Hellsing manga/Hellsing Ultimate OVA. An all time fav of mine, but I also havnt reread any since high school so, again, it may suck now lol. This one is more modern than anything traditional fantasy. It’s set in the 90s and centered around Abraham Van Helsing’s (great?) granddaughter, Integra, running a vampire-hunting organization, with thee Dracula now calling himself Alucard (lol) as her weird devoted man-slave. The villains are undead nazis who have come back to take over the world after scientifically achieving vampirism in the pursuit of immortality. So it’s basically like Dracula and his cool lesbian boss fight vampire nazis … with guns. It’s good stupid fun. And Alucard is a really good example of vampire character who is both a gleeful killing machine and a miserable “I regret the loss of my humanity and the fact that I can never die” poor little meow meow type.

And in non-serious and non-anime (lol) there’s also the What We Do in The Shadows TV show which I’ve seen best described as “what if vampires were gay and stupid”, pokes good fun a lot of common vampire media tropes. And the characters are great. The 2014 movie is the same premise, but different characters.

Some other movies I might recommend are Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974) cheesy 70s movie but has some really great exploration of lesser-discussed vampire lore; the main vampire antagonist doesn’t drink blood but drains youth with a kiss, can have their hypnotic power projected back at them with a reflected surface, and causes dead animals to come back to life when passing over them in the ground, etc. It’s also got fantasic sword fighting scenes, and really fun characters. Kronos in particular is definitely supposed to be a mysterious badass type, but he really just comes off as a socially awkward loveable weirdo. He’s super strange and he smokes weed lol. Set in like a mid-19th century fantasy germanic country.

Lost Boys (1987) or Blade (1998) for more edgy modern vampires. Both movies are stupid. Lost Boys is fun for the vamp characters which are southern Californian teenage biker gang members (gay). and Blade is fun because it’s just so bad it’s good, it’s a movie to be watched for laughs, with vampires who are just like goths that go to blood raves and sit around in suits in fancy rooms. Blade himself is also another angsty half-vampire vampire hunter (I’m realizing I’m fond of this type of character lol).

And finally if you’re looking for something more similar to the Dracula novel, I think I can only recommend Le Fanu’s Carmilla. Older and shorter than Dracula and perhaps a little less exciting, but a solid classic in vampire literature (and lesbian literature), and has a lot of its own adaptations ranging from serious to silly as well.

#I confess I actually havnt seen the netflix Castlevania! I should change that. I saw maybe like two and half random episodes in college #also integra van helsing is not canonically a lesbian btw. but she is in my heart <3 #ANYWAY. this is by no means an exhaustive list of vamp stuff I've seen/read and would recommend. so do feel free to let me know if there's #a specific vibe/era/subgenre you're seeking and I can totally give you more :)#asks

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deaddee-anime-brownfanlady · 6 months

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So I finally finished watching the rest of Captain Lazerhawk and I must say that was a wild and very kickass interesting animated show. I really, seriously enjoyed it a lot honestly, while its far from perfect and does has its flaws to it, I thought the whole series was a pretty good balls to the wall entertaining & fun but still pretty serious at times and having its good emotional moments overall awesome animated action show.

That cliffhanger at the end with little video RPG game Dolph who seems to be alive? In some kind of VR void. And then you had Sarah dad or at least I think it was her dad or perhaps someone else popping up saying " This is where we fight back " Which I'm hoping could lead to a possible Season 2 maybe.

Other aspects and just random thoughts on this final episode.

Seriously was so glad that Dolph finally took out that red ranger asshole because that guy was truly getting on my nerves and man what a cool fight / battle scene at that. I swear the animation to this show is so freaking good especially during action scenes as I said before its really gives me that Studio Trigger vibe from it, also So happy that Bullfrog was spared from being executed because he is truly one of my favorites characters from this show for many reasons including being both badass and cute as HELL.

Also Ray-man or better yet Ramon was also I feel one of the highlight's of this show with seeing his development and him finding out the truth about how super corrupted Eden actually is and him being used as their alien Poster-boy mascot for their propaganda. It was defiantly good to see him kill those Eden higher-ups...but something tells me that they are likely aren't the only ones.

Would so love to see more of this show and were it could possibly go in terms of the worldbuilding and dealing with Eden deep lies / corruption & its shitty treatment of hybrids and its people also Sarah still not freaking Dead! and her proposal to Holloway on changing Eden ( Which I'm very iffy about & still don't trust her ass ).

Again would love to see more of this, but knowing how Netflix is with their long record of mistreating shows, especially animated ones like crap and just cancelling them out of nowhere. So yeah...but either way, Captain Lazhawk was a wild gay action-packed fun crazy ride of an animated show.

#Captain Laserhawk #adult animation #captain lazerhawk spoilers #animation #adult animated shows #adult animated series #Netflix animation #2023 animation #just talking #animated series #animated shows

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romantichomicide95 · 1 year

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hello :3 i was wondering whats ur least/ most fav aot arcs and plot twists?

i really liked the female titan arc. everyone i talk to abt aot HATES annie but i was lowkey rooting for her titan idk🤭

i would say anything after s3 is my least favourite arc bc i havent watched s4 or read the manga, so none of it makes sense to me.

one of the best plot twists i think was reiner killing marco and him having split personalities (?). when it was revealed i was so shocked it was so interesting i think. ALSO i love how ymir figured out that reiner was a traitor in the castles episodes bc she knew he could read the language on the food cans (pls correct me if im wrong haha) byeee <333

-🍰

Hello! Oof this is such a cool question thanks for asking.

I actually strongly dislike Annie, and still didn’t like her in the end but I think it’s fine that you do!

My favorite plot arc is probably S3 when the battle turns from Titans to people. Everything with Kenny and the MPs. Finally finding out answers to a lot of the questions the series has been building up. The battles with Kenny and his team. The animation of the use of ODM gear. (Hello the iconic “kennny” and Levis use of the gear is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen). Everything was just perfect, and than afterwards when they finally head to the basement and we get the epic Beast Titan battle which is one of my top favorite scenes of the whole show. I obviously love Levi and we all knew up to that point how badass and strong he was but the Beast Titan at that point seemed like some big Titan leader and seeing Levi take him on with ease was just amazing. If I could watch anything again for the first time it would be that fight.

My least favorite arc is the beginning of season 4 because I didn’t and still couldn’t give a shit about any of the new characters from Marley except Reiner. Super unpopular opinion but it’s just how I feel. I won’t spoil it for you though.

My favorite plot twist was probably Reiner/Berthdolt being the armored and collosal titans! The way Reiner just casually tells Eren like in the background was just done so well for me. It was like a blink and you miss it and than all of sudden shit gets serious.

I also like the twist of the titans being former humans which at the time we learned of that was just so heavy. We thought of them as these mindless monsters so to know we’d been rooting against people who were turned without consent was heartbreaking.

Also another one of my favorite scenes is then making it to the ocean. It fills me with goosebumps and brings me to tears when I watch it. It’s like from the time they were kids Armin and Eren just wanted to see the ocean. Idk it’s fucking heartbreaking. Also when Eren says “If we kill all our enemies will we finally be free”(I’m paraphrasing I can’t remember the exact quote). That moment kills me every time. Especially on rewatch knowing that he knew what he was going to do!

Anyway sorry that was so long! I can talk about AOT all day. Thanks for the question anon! ❤️

#attack on titan #aot #levi aot #levi ackerman #aot fandom #shingeki no kyojin #anon asks #answered #snk

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watching-pictures-move · 1 year

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Movie Review | Royal Warriors (Chung, 1986)

You know you're off to a good start when a movie opens with not just one, but two great action sequences. First you get Michelle Yeoh as a cop on vacation visiting Japan and doing touristy things like snapping pictures of street performers, only to run into a bunch of mob goons chasing some poor bastard. These mob goons are extra dangerous because they have swords, but you get Yeoh and the precision of her movements as she takes these suckers out one by one. Then you get Yeoh on a plane with Hiroyuki Sanada holding a giant stuffed animal and Michael Wong providing security, and a bunch of bad guys being transported as prisoners, only for some other bad guys to try to free them. You learn that two of the bad guys are named Tiger and Cockerel, and you know which one pulled the short straw when picking cool nicknames. You get a lot of punching and kicking and shooting in close quarters, one guy going out like Goldfinger (almost), and a thing with a grenade that you probably shouldn't try at home. We're off to a great start.

This is an early girls with guns actioner, in that it stars a girl with a gun in Michelle Yeoh (although she uses her arms and legs too), but pairs her with a couple of guys probably because producers were still uncertain about the viability of female-led action films and wanted to hedge their bets. To the movie's credit, Yeoh gets to be plenty badass and does not need much saving, as can happen in more annoying examples of bet-hedging, and actually plays off pretty well with the male leads while providing a charismatic centre. And she also plays things pretty by the book, at least until the end, which is a nice enough surprise. Anyway, alongside Yeoh you get Michael Wong as a hunky, goofy cop, providing some comedic elements without getting too annoying. He hits on Yeoh with some regularity, but it feels more like flirting between coworkers than the straight up sexual harassment you often get in these movies. And you get Hiroyuki Sanada as a Japanese cop, a more stoic counterpoint to the other two. I guess he's hunky too, but for him it's not really a character trait. And I suppose Yeoh is hunky too, whatever the girl version of hunky is. Hunkette. Let's go with that. I promise I'll be less thirsty in my reviews going forward but I've been sick the last few days so please forgive me. I'm drinking lots of water so that should help. Anyway, how hunky he is doesn't matter because he's a family man and off the market, until his family gets horrifically murdered with a car bomb. But there's no time to get back in the dating scene because he's off to get his revenge.

The bad guys do some revenging too, and in fact murdered Sanada's family in the first place for that reason, although there's a bit of a chain reaction happening here. Anyway, you get a lot of great action scenes, one of them in a neon-lit nightclub, a car chase turned demolition derby, lots of collateral damage in the form of innocent bystanders, non-zero amounts of Seinfeld bass, some sacrifices, some heroism, plenty of bloodshed, some heroic bloodshed while we're at it, some mishandled evidence, a twist involving two carefully edited videotapes, a fight scene involving a chainsaw, Sanada trapped under a car sliding across a gravel pit as Yeoh pushes it with her armoured car, a bunch of explosions that look too close for comfort, and I'm having a good time. If you're watching it on the Criterion Channel, I should note that the subtitles drop out for a little bit during a climactic fight scene, but as the characters are conversing through the universal language of punching and kicking, little is lost in translation.

#film #movie review #royal warriors #david chung

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artistic-mathematics · 1 year

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season finale of Velma

honestly? it was actually not bad. the ending actually tied things together pretty well, though it makes me wish we’d spent more of the season actually working on solving the mystery instead of just the last 3-4 episodes, but it is what it is

last two episodes get an 8/10, season as a whole I’d give a 6.5/10

overall as soon the first two episodes were over and stopped making the show as... inappropriate...... it was much better. the last two episodes had much less cringeworthy moments and was actually really interesting to watch.

I still wouldn’t recommend watching the season (bc let’s be fair.) but as I said a ton of times before, if they just stopped leaning on the nsfw stuff this show would be SO much better. the writing just needs to be better, but the voice acting, art style, and animation are still peak.

it has an amazing set-up and at least the mystery-aspect of the first season was pretty good, just.... please do better with the writing and the other dialogue.

spoilers below with a much more detailed review, including my takes on the characters

they actually ended up tying the four (obviously without Scoob) core members of the gang together, which is cool, and it’s especially good that they’re all fighting over each other for some reason. they introduced a reason for Shaggy and Fred to actually like interact with each other with Shaggy killing Fred’s mom. they started fighting over it in the end and I smell some enemies to lovers in that direction

there’s some weird love triangle that got yeeted into play during the last episode which is just,,, pls let Daphne and Velma be together fr,,, why is Shaggy in this picture at all LOL??? Velma was legitimately such a shit friend to him idk why he’s still on that train

(oh and I stg if Velma ends up like, actually developing a crush on him I’m going to throw hands BC SHE LITERALLY USED HIM ALL SEASON??? THIS IS NOT HEALTHY)

(I should mention that they confirmed season 2 was greenlit despite the bad reviews LMFAO, I mean the show really isn’t as bad as most people have been making it out to be but I 100% understand the controversies,,,,,)

so Velma’s mom was technically the culprit (so I was teeeechnically right), but it actually being Fred’s mom makes so much sense??? it never occurred to me that the brain-swapping shit wasn’t just to yeet people from existence, but to possibly make a living person more likable. it was good though, they did drop a shitload of hints and the mystery actually made sense, not to mention there was a good ol’ unmasking (which also got interrupted! the villain actually had a backup plan!)

(they also had a semi-traditional Scooby chase scene a few episodes back that I forgot to mention, but the amount of 4th wall breaks that happened in it...)

I honestly wish all iterations of Daphne moving forwards are as vocal and genuinely badass as the one in this current show. her redesign and character are SO much better (she’s also the only one who genuinely improved) and while yes, the whole drug dealing thing wasn’t great (AGAIN THAT WASN’T A PERMANENT THING, stop acting like it IS, she wanted to know who her fucking biological parents were and didn’t have the funds), she acted almost exactly as I’d expected a past Daphne would have acted (aka I lowkey??? characterized her that way in my chapter fic???). people have been complaining about her the least and so I think there’s at least some sort of a consensus that her character works.

I hope that this is a good direction to make Velma less... rude. honestly, it feels lowkey like a riff on MI Velma where she’s constantly sassy, but like this isn’t even just sass, it’s just her being shitty to friends as a whole and pretending it’s not an issue. I hope they actually give her character development bc so far it just feels like people are liking her despite her rudeness and it’s like,,,, in what world does this work???? I feel like the only thing she’s learned is that her ignoring Shaggy is what set him off, but it still feels like she’s just. Using Him. and I hate that the only way they can portray understanding other characters is through romantic love. like no Velma and Shaggy can still be best friends for Velma to love him. but this show’s Velma would need to fucking fix herself first like

Shaggy is just. man. they gave him some character development only to literally undo it in the matter of five seconds bc Velma had a revelation. ALSO his redesign was just not needed, like they honestly just shouldn’t have changed him so drastically??? he was iconic and it didn’t need fixing, not to mention that everyone else’s redesign actually looks like the original. Velma’s skin color got darker as a result of her being South Asian and Daphne’s eyes were changed to reflect the fact that she’s Asian in the show, but that was it, so idk why Shaggy became a whole new person entirely. Shaggy’s dad looks more like Shaggy and that’s depressing. he looks and acts more like an OC than anything and most of the time I don’t even register him as Shaggy, he’s just another guy. I can’t even talk much ab him bc it’s just.... not it.

Fred???? dude idk why back when the show started airing everyone was talking about how Fred was the funniest part of the show bc. he WASN’T. he literally made the show so much worse, like they literally made him incapable of anything and he embodied toxic masculinity sm that it was painful to watch. he did, however, get a decent amount of character development, and it was at least an interesting turn of events to watch him actually stop being as much of a goddamn wuss and someone who literally could not exist for two seconds without someone taking care of him (only for his own mother to use that against him in the next scene, but we’ll just ignore that.) they did start taking steps in the right direction where Fred started actually learning to do things on his own, but I feel like a big reason as to why he ended up becoming this way is BECAUSE of his own mother. not that’s an excuse for the way they absolutely butchered his character but honestly I hope they fix it.

anyway if season 2 actually doesn’t get cancelled and makes it out, just. writing. focus on the goddamn writing. please.

#hbo velma #velma the series #I feel like tagging the characters at this point is a sin #op reviews so you don't have to watch it

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casliveblog · 1 year

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Custom Toonami Block Week 130 Rundown

Inuyasha: We’re still on the string of post-Hakurei filler but at least this one’s kind of dealing with the fallout of some of the events there. Mostly centered around the dramatic shenanigans that happened between Miroku and Sango, this episode kind of pulls on the thread that it’s odd their relationship just kinda reset after that. But yeah there’s a village of women kidnapping dudes and feeding them to paintings, it’s kinda weird shit and there’s a subplot about a dude looking for his fiancée but basically we get a cliffhanger of Sango about to be brainwashed by the painting cult so we can do the ‘oh my god they love each other but they’re fighting’ plot that Yashahime did like four times.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Still breaking down the Sensui reveal from last episode, we get the full backstory of Sensui breaking into Sakyo’s Speed Grapher style Roppongi demon torture club and having his Saturday Morning Cartoon view of the world shattered and then decided to recruit as many people as he could to the ‘humans are assholes’ bandwagon. I do kinda like how we’re still incorporating parts of past arcs to explain some of the history between Sakyo and Koenma to make the world feel fleshed out and explain how Sakyo and the Black Black Club managed to get their hands on so many demon bodyguards for their demonic slavery ring. However the exposition is cut short when Sensui and Sniper decide to jump into their own backstory explanation and try to off Seaman, revealing they were tracking him and caught his doubts on tape. Surprise surprise it’s Kuwabara they’re after because man can’t get a powerup without it being a plot device to actually help the bad guys. Though Seaman seems to be really dragging his feet on getting this info to everyone and Yusuke and co. go to confront Sensui in a good old street standoff and they tell him it’s actually only two days until the demon portal opens and just when it seems like Yusuke made a move Sensui can’t predict, he snaps to block it and is about to deck Yusuke because you can’t have shit in this anime.

Fate/Apocrypha: We continue the final battle matchups and we’ve got Semiramis vs Mordred which for the poster girl of the series giving her like one and a half fights the whole show I kinda expected more but okay. Apparently Semiramis can just like flood poison everywhere and negate Command Seals because… reasons, idk she doesn’t explain except saying ‘yeah that doesn’t work’ because Semiramis is a shitty DM. But yeah Mordred fights her and they get Lion Dude in to give her her epi-pen or whatever and it’s another cool-looking Getsuga Tensho fight and Mordred’s motivation is different every Fate scene I see her in so idk what to make of her character but she’s badass and kills a billion giant snakes so that’s all I could really ask for but Lion Dude dies in the fight and I guess Mordred just like loses the will to live because she dies immediately after that despite Servants usually being able to stick it out for a bit after their Masters die and Lion Dude implying she’d have time to make another contract if she wanted like I get she’s not Archer Emiya and isn’t THAT self-sufficient but you’d think it’d be not like immediate death after him. Fate seems to explain its rules a lot and then go ‘fuck it’ for whatever’s most dramatic so idk what to think. Then we have Shakespear vs Jeanne where Shakespeare just narrates Jeanne’s backstory at her and like given Jeanne’s backstory is historical fact instead of mythological fiction I feel like hers is the one we least need narrated to us but okay. She gets bored of the Christmas Carol treatment pretty quick and he’s like ‘oh boy you killed people and died doesn’t that suck’. Anyway he brings out Saber Gilles and is all ‘hey bro you killed people but like Sieg, what’s up with that’ and it’s like… fuck off bro she didn’t say she liked killing or thought of the people she killed as nothing, plus of course she’s gonna react a bit different to a dude she knows to still be alive being murdered in front of her like Shakespeare really is a terrible writer. Though given Jeanne is literally of two minds on the subject as a bastardized historical figure and a horny French college waifu I guess it makes a little more sense for her to be somewhat conflicted.

Speed Grapher: We’re coming up to the finale! Japan’s currently in chaos because every single person on a management level for any government position is stuck down in Suitengu’s fuckdungeon and the Prime Minister is dead, makes me wonder how the place functioned while everyone was at the club in the first place like you’re telling me EVERY SINGLE person of import was a part of the Roppongi Club? I guess it doesn’t have to be all of them but they seem to paint it that way. And judging by a cutaway we see later they’re still down there fucking each other, like it’s been like two days and they still down there doing the humpty hump, like I kinda feel bad for all the sex workers Suitengu hired for this like I doubt they signed up for this shit but we saw last episode Suitengu doesn’t necessarily put high value on their lives either and is kinda too far gone to care at this point. But yeah with the Japanese Government essentially non-function, it’s time for everyone’s favorite villain to step in… ANIME AMERICA. God I love when Anime America is the villain in these things like it’s just random shadowy capitalists doing shit for money and odd pastiches of George W. Bush and god bless Anime America. Basically the plan is to bomb Suitengu’s building and then sell Japan the weapons they just used to bomb the fuck out of them so they can defend themselves in case Blood Sephiroths decide to attack again. Knowing Kagura’s still there Saiga decideds to storm the place and seeing as he’s get Mangekyo Sharingan blindness going on atm Ginza decides her character arc is complete and she’s done being a hedonist and she’s gonna help him. Suitengu and Kagura have a nice little chat about how the existential nightmares that are their lives have progressed and Kagura’s made her peace while Suitengu just wants the pain to end. Also they find out if Kagura survives if they can induce her first period the hormone imbalance will throw off her Euphoria Factor enough o possible stop it from killing her which… idk what that’ll do about the tumor but okay sure, that was something that was foreshadowed that they were trying to keep Kagura a child despite dressing her up as a woman and changing her birth certificate so she could marry Suitengu. I feel kinda weird about how much of an easy out this is for Kagura’s terminal condition but at the same time like I said it was foreshadowed and I do kinda like how the symbolism is for Kagura to not die from the greed of her parents is to just… become an adult, that’s a neat little metaphor. So yeah Ginza fights off Tsujido’s group while Saiga goes to confront Suitengu who has apparently cashed out all the money the unregulated government and corporate infrastructure of Japan have invested in the Tennozu group which is apparently something you can just do I guess. But yeah his plan is that once the Americans bomb him and Kagura into the stone age that the Euphoria Factor will die and take enough out of the Japanese Economy to tank the fucking thing and wreck Capitalism. I just kinda love this plan like no notes, excellent plan bro, just stick all the millionaires in a fuckdungeon and burn all the money, Capitalism over. I get this weird feeling this is where that scene from the Dark Knight of the Joker burning the huge stack of money was inspired from but I may be talking out of my ass, god this show is bonkers the whole way through and I love it.

#ooc #Toonami #Custom Toonami Block #Inuyasha #Yu Yu Hakusho #Fate Apocrypha #Speed Grapher

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recurring-polynya · 2 years

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Happy New Year! Apologies if you’ve talked about this already but what are your thoughts about the anime trailer? And what is your wishlist for the anime?

I probably gushed about it on Twitter and reblogged a bunch of gifsets, but I am not sure I have talked about it coherently on here.

I thought the trailer was awesome and a very good first trailer! With the cool remix of Number One, and the way it opens with Ichigo calmly strolling up to a bunch of hollering Hollows, his big-ass sword slung over one shoulder, I felt like it just perfectly hit that chord of "Hey, remember the way the first time you watched Bleach? Yeah, it's kind of dated now, but remember the way it blew you away? Well, hold on to your butts." If I hadn't already come back to the fandom, it would have grabbed me by the shirt and headbutted me. The animation is gorgeous and it showed my two faves in their most badass moments, back-to-back in the same dramatic color palette. I expect there to be a second trailer, maybe in the spring, that might show a little more of what the story is gonna be about, but as far as getting people who may have forgotten how much they love Bleach to sit up and pay attention, I think it was great.

I am honestly a simple woman, I just really love Bleach, and I am very forgiving of its flaws. I do not think that the TYBW arc was a masterpiece by any means, but I do hope that they stick as close to the manga as possible, with some fleshing out of the fights and maybe some addition character moments. (Give us more of Senjumaru, you cowards!!) The original anime had a bad habit of changing random things for no reason, often ruining the pacing of an arc, or just being weird, and I hope they just don't. Anyway, here are some things I am hoping for:

Bleach has always set the bar for OPs and I am looking forward to an absolute bop. Stretch wish: Let the OP feature one of those classic flash-thrus of every captain posing with their lieutenants, we never got a single scene of Rukia and Ukitake doing Captain Shit together, the least they can do is throw us a dramatic power pose.

The OST in the classic anime kept the old bangers while adding in a new motif as new settings and villains were introduced, and I hope that gets retained. Please, please, please let me hear Precipice of Defeat in the year 2022. If they play Reminiscence while Byakuya tells As Nodt “It is not I who will defeat you”, I will probably burst into tears.

Shinigami's Cup, please please please. I would also like roughly 4 filler episodes. Not, like, Bount filler, but the High Quality filler like the Lamp Society episode or the Maid Cop movie. What I really, really want is a third New Year's episode in the same A-side lieutenant wacky hijinks/B-side sweet Renruki story format to round out the trio.

To be honest, the one part I am extremely worried about them messing up is the part where Rukia confronts her fears while fighting As Nodt. I actually rather like the way the manga never shows what her greatest fear is, but subtlety hints that it's Renji-related (he isn't shown among her lesser fears, the fact that the title of issue 566. What is your fear? is placed on the same page as Rukia warning Renji to play it safe and hide between battles). It would aslo be fine if the anime wants to make this more explicit, but I will flip a table if they ruin this for me.

At one point, I was convinced they would never include the dick-rope scene + sensual sweating, but... maybe??? After this summer’s one-shot was catered so specifically to my interests, I feel like there’s actually a possibiity!

The Kenpachi - Unohana fight better fuck.

I am also really looking forward to the part with Yachiru's shikai and I hope it is more than 3 seconds long

There are so many fights in the TYBW and so many of them are boring, I hope they deal with this somehow, I really do not want this to be another Fake Karakura Town arc. At least in this case, they aren't stalling for the manga to catch up, so I don't anticipate them repeating so much between consecutive episodes, at least.

We deserve to see Byakuya's caboose in the Royal Realm. I am not even into this man, I just think this shot should be full length, to, you know, emphasize how Serious this arc is.

#i know i should probably have an opinion on the sternritter but i honestly just don't care about them #i hope the people who love the sternritter get whatever they want out of this arc #i just care about royal realm antics and byakuya making that speech at sasakibe's funeral #also that bit where grimmjow is like 'if hueco mundo is gone where would i kill you?'#i legitimately cannot wait to see gifs of that one everywhere

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