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starlight-bread-blog · 1 month

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"Katara Just Needed To Heal Zuko's Scar"

I understand why this argument is being made. After all, she offered to heal Zuko, and so she does. So why are the shippers trying to paint it as some romantic moment? It's a reasonable question. But I'm gonna try to answer it.

Zuko and Katara weren't in love in this scene for two reasons: Firstly, it's their first conversation, making any romantic development feel rushed and unnatural. Secondly, as fictional characters, they don't possess hidden feelings, unless the writers have confirmed otherwise.

So what argument is being made? The argument is that this moment is an example of ship baiting and could have served as romantic build up if the writers decided to go down that route, and I'll explain why.

1# Just because an action was necessary, doesn't mean it can't be seen as romantic

I know how this sounds, but hear me out. Let us take a look at another show, where you'd least expect to see a romantic connection, and the action was completely necessary. I want to discuss Rick and Morty's Beth x Beth.

Beth is the last person who'd have tension with Beth, clearly it's disgusting. And she really did have to install that chip. But the thought did cross your mind, they did get together, and this scene was romantic build up, despite not being romantic in-universe.

Now that we've looked at the most extreme example ever, it's time to look at a classic: Aladdin. One of the most iconic moments in the movie is when Aladdin simply offers his hand to Jasmine so she'd get on the flying carpet, asking "Do you trust me"?

Aladdin isn't asking if Jasmine trusts him because they're deeply bonded, he asks that because she's scared to get on the flying carpet. And he isn't reaching for her hand because he wants to hold her hand, he reaches because she'd needhelp getting on it. And yet, it's universally recognized as an incredibly romantic moment.

Very often writers use the mundane necessities like casual touch to set up romantic tension. This narrative approach allows for the gradual planting of the idea in the audience's mind, even in situations where intimacy may not be overtly present, adding nuance and depth to romantic storylines. And in fiction, it's everywhere.

2# The set up wasn't just necessity, it was an intimate moment

In this section I won't try to prove the gesture was romantic, I simply think it's crucial to understand the scene before analyzing it. Katara offering to heal Zuko's scar wasn't a necessity, the touch was the necessity after she already made the offer. This leaves us with a scene that begins with Katara thinking of Zuko as "the face of the enemy", and ends with Katara attempting to heal Zuko's scar.

The moment became intimate the second Katara brought up her mother, and Zuko, who doesn't normally share his emotions, make and effort to connect. Thus, they began to view the other differently, as someone similar to them.

Still, this is their first conversation. And Katara is under no obligation to be even somewhat nice to him. But she decides to use her spirit water on him, and if she had, Aang would have died. That's how important the spirit water is. Saying she "just needed to heal is scar" is quite reductant in my opinion. Choosing to heal him in and of itself is a radical and intimate decision.

Still, non of what I said so far is indicative of romantic build up. Nor is giving other examples from fiction of necessities being romantic indicative of this one being too. So, it's time to finally talk about the touch.

3# The action wasn't actually necessary, to the point where it makes very little sense

Let's remember how Katara did heal using the spirit water:

She bends the water straight on Aang's back and starts bending it. I repeat: She bends the water straight on the injury.

So writers, please do tell me, if Katara wanted to heal Zuko's scar, where is the water?

No water and no healing, becsuse it wouldn't look as intimate/shippy with water. Instead, what we got is two shots highlighting the pysical touch between them with soft violin sounds in the background.

In literature, what isn't in text isn't important and should be disregarded. Here, on paper Katara is healing Zuko's scar, but in practice there is no water and all of the focus is on the touching. Therefore, it's signaling the viewers that even though she just needs to cure him, it isn't important. With Katara's thumb on Zuko's lips, with a close up shot on the contact, the only thing that matters is, apparently, their pysical touch.

Additonally, they were interrupted before Katara could do actually anything anyway. In a universe where this scene wasn't ship teasing, Katara would take out the water, almost lay them on Zuko's scar, and then Aang and Iroh would break them out of the cave. Logically, Katara's hand shouldn't have gone anywhere near Zuko, and if it did, it should have looked incredibly unappealing.

But it didn't. In this already very intimate moment, the show puts all the focus on the pysicality of the healing, rather than the healing, and breaking its own logic to do so. Thus, they made it look a lot less like a simple necessity, but rather an act of pure intimacy, as often done in fiction when portraying romantic tension. And that's why this scene was ship baiting.

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chirpsythismorning · 9 months

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Ted Sarandos tries so hard to be like-able and relatable more than any other studio executive I've ever seen.

Like, look at this dude?

Don't you just want to punch him in the face?

And it gets worse...

He might look friendly and charismatic amongst these familiar faces, but at the end of the day, Ted is just another studio executive who is willing to cut costs wherever he can, in what he sees as loose ends capable of saving Netflix millions, but actually does in fact result in devastating repercussions for real people.

And yet still, I question his plan for all of this, as Ted is behind the company that has changed the way entertainment is consumed in the first place, with their company flourishing as a direct result of the 07-08 writer's strike. At first it was slow, but then it was full speed ahead, with Netflix starting a trend of streaming that upended the entire entertainment industry, essentially forcing everyone to follow suit. This has then brought us to a point where the conditions and compensation for workers do not at all match what is expected of them, because it is all based on an expired business model that no longer applies.

And yet, Ted has chosen the route as a CEO to create this friendly mask of familiarity amongst his talent and in the business as a whole, in a way that makes you want to trust him.

When new productions are coming out, he's in attendance making small talk and gushing in interviews about how important it is to tell all these stories, making it clear he's trying to convey that morality and this idea of doing the right thing, is important to him presumably.

But how can he call himself 'a union man', from 'a union family' and push this moral agenda, if he's going to continue to play one of the biggest roles in this strike, with the ability to solve it swiftly by just meeting the guilds demands, all the while tearing down that moral image entirely in the process by refusing to do so?

Because the thing is, this image of morality is him using human emotions that he knows make people fall in love with movies and TV in the first place. He knows that a lot of the support comes from people who give a fuck about human lives and people being treated fairly, especially now in 2023.

So, why in the hell would he expect the people he is presenting this morality to, as a cornerstone of their mission (manipulation tactic to distract from the true goal: exponential growth of profits...), to just sit by and be okay with the writers and actors and anyone and everyone on these movies/shows sets, to feel like they are being taken advantage of and abused because of his working conditions???

In the scenario Ted wins and the writers lose, Ted STILL loses, because this facade is now overshadowed by resentful workforce and an audience that is going to have a hard time getting behind trusting this company long term, eventually leading to their downfall.

You think people want to watch a show where we know the working conditions were awful, with them being on the cusp of changing that, only to be fucked over and have to go right back to those conditions?

The strike is a double edged sword at this point, but there's no denying these executives (esp charismatic Ted) would be much better off taking the -0.3 annual costs and calling it a day.

I guess it doesn't really matter though, because to Ted and all these other executives, the bottom line for investors will always be short term growth. They care about right now, not the future. If they can keep up the act that everything is going swell and convince their investors (and competitors) that profits went up this quarter and are projected to continue going up in the next one, they're doing their job. Even if that means burning to a crisp later on, so be it. It'll most likely be someone else's problem by then anyways...

Regardless, I look forward to seeing Ted succumbing to his inevitable fate of meeting the guilds demands, all while he himself has spent years building up and fostering this friendly image, encouraging this idea that morality is important to the end goal. Who would have thought Ted?? That your facade would contribute to backfiring in a strike for workers rights, supported heavily by the very public your company has spent the last decade providing content to, that supports that very same message?

#byler #netflix #stranger things #ted sarandos #jo rambles #oh and bob iger!... have you ever heard of a bugs life? or newsies??#congrats. you played yourself #btw i could not find that picture of noah with ted and nina dobrev on his instagram...#though he posted it in april of this year...#i guess he deleted it...#see Ted!?#your talent is turning on you #talent photo ops REVOKED from ted until further notice #in all seriousness #what really grosses me out is the very high likelihood this strike doesn't affect netflix at all the way it does major broadcasters #broadcasters are holding on for dear life all while Netflix and the other giants like Disney and Warner Bros. are totally fine for now #streamers benefit from a 6 month strike in contrast to broadcasters that are running on borrowed time #streaming is what literally led to the publics support for broadcast television to go down hill #you know... the system that allowed people to get residuals #so yeah i think they're ok with holding out until October #and leading up closer to that is when we're actually going to see the studios start making realistic negotiations #live tv has a very high likelihood of being dead after this is all said and done...#2007 all over again #but for real this time.#and then watch!#netflix is gonna try to revert back to a live tv system with ads #going back to a system they tore down #but have no intention of playing by that systems rules to ensure their workforce is protected in ways they've fought for decades before #fucking despicable #everyone has to suffer because these guys benefit from holding out a 6 month strike if it means coming out on top once and for all

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nancydrewwouldnever · 1 year

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Would he be offered "good movies and depth" without the fanbase? Even with the fanbase, is he being offered "good movies and depth"? // It really is a perfect catch-22. Maybe I just haven’t seen it, but I feel like most celebrities’ fanbases drop off in their overall fervor once the celeb reaches a certain age, and they become more of a respected legacy act of sorts. Chris’s engagement is still built on the excitable style of fandom a la Tom Holland. He’s kinda past the point of proving his worth without the ‘omg he’s so hot’ crowd

Hollywood isn’t interested in the “waiting to see what they can do” for people over, like, 30. Those comments are all over his old interviews, as is/was to be expected, but now I think most people feel they have seen what he can do, and it’s fine but not electrifying. So he has to keep appealing to the ‘fanbase’, and if that’s his audience, then the HW decision makers who think that all a ‘fanbase’ wants is low-brow, generic thirst bait, then that’s all he’ll keep being offered. It says enough that almost five years later he’s still being billed as Captain America in headlines - that’s what people think of, and it solidifies every time a new one appears

Oh, Anon, thank you for this two-part ask, there's so much meat here for discussion!

I think we really must admit that the career pivot Chris was trying post-Marvel was derailed by Covid. It began with two good redefining choices, Knives Out and Defending Jacob (even if that project ended up a little uneven when finished). But those are two solid rebrands: critical and box office success ensemble movie that showed he can hold his scenes with more established actors, prestige level drama series streamer.

Now, it's interesting when we think what 2020 was perhaps going to look like without Covid. First, the remake of Little Shop of Horrors. That's both big risk and completely outside of his comfort zone, shows he wants to still grow. ASP was meant to debut at SXSW in March 2020, a huge multi-media platform these days. That was meant to show he was a person with more substance to him than just muscles. Then, we know the announcement would have still come for TGM (since they had been negotiating it for "months" that year), but it probably would have filmed and released earlier than it eventually did. Finally, Lightyear announcement would have still been made that year as well, but who can say if Covid might have also affected its release date.

And then after that we have the completely shifted landscape in the industry post-Covid.

I really do think that if he still wants to "redefine" himself as an actor his route now would have to be more through a series, rather than a movie. There are still more risks and originality in some limited series; better quality, too.

But is he willing to make the time commitment to one?

#ask

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captainbored · 10 months

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(feel free to answer this privately bc there's another ask from me here and i don't want to flood your page with my non-sims 4 shit lol) what do you think about the TMJ live action movie so far? 👀

Friend, my blog has been anything but Sims 4 for a while so no worries LMAO

Let's go by parts. First of all, the cast:

I like the cast for the most part. Mônica, Denise, Do Contra, and Milena are literally perfect I would not choose any other actors to play them.

I've seen pictures of Onion's actor and I think he's not so bad of a pick, but in every single promo picture I've seen of him something looks off LMAO Like he already has such thick brows and they fill in even more so it looks like he has two caterpillars sitting in his forehead.

Like it doesn't even look like the same person, the makeup artist is doing him so dirty (Also wtf is this Licurgo wig)

As for the plot, I don't know what I was expecting but I was really surprised to know it was a thriller (I mean... the name is literally Reflexos do MEDO).

I'm going to be optimistic but idk... there's room for a lot of things to go wrong. If they are going the thriller route then I think the movie should be aimed at a teen audience and not kids otherwise I don't think this will work.

The dedication to keep things as close to the source material, visual-wise, is also something I'm not really vibing it. I think it works for the movies with the old cast because they are for kids, so things looking cartoonish and "costumy" actually works. But when you're trying to make something eery I think it doesn't match the mood and it just looks off.

I'm excited for it still but I do have my reservations about it lmao

#pedroanswer #ask #Also... I'm just now realizing that this is kinda the BR equivalent of Riverdale LAINFAUHFUAH

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mysadcorner · 2 years

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Slasher Advocate: Defending the Indefensible / Debbie Loomis & Mickey Altieri SCREAM 2 - YouTube this is the theory,

not sure i agree about mrs loomis being like roman because i always got the impression, Mickey unlike Billy was already an established Killer cause she found him on a serial killer site? if i remember correct whilst Roman most likely groomed Billy into becoming a killer, because he most likely if Roman never showed him the video most likely Billy would never come to hate Maureen and the rest is history. I also sometimes wonder if Billy only killed Maureen and like Mrs Loomis just let their fall guys do their killings (because they enjoyed it) in order to get them on board with their plan. and Roman knew how it was the key to getting revenge to get someone hate Maureen as much as him but it still like why would he go to a teenager to do his dirty work, to me Roman just evil, he ruined so many lives even though i kind sympathise with him but it just like why he not kill Maureen himself? like? why he hate Sidney? she didn't know anything about her mum's secrets? it like why not try and form a relationship with her instead? but guess maybe bitter and questions why Maureen love Sidney but not him but i do feel for Roman being a product of rape and he him knowing that to then be rejected and probably made him feel ashamed as if he wrong/disgusting because of how he was conceived, to then Maureen to confirm he is by her rejection. but still wrong he to twist a teenager mind to be full of rage/hatred because he is.

I think Roman had so much power in this situation because he knew Billy would be easily manipulated towards this route regardless of who pushed it. Although, I must say that his character being so manipulative and having the agenda he stuck to definitely had a huge impact on how far Billy went and felt about his actions. I know a lot of the plot doesn’t make sense sometimes, but we must remember that it’s made this way to further the plot and add more complexity rather than giving us the answer that’s simple or expected. I also think the history of Romans character was to add another layer of sympathy that the audience may have felt for Billy when they found out his reasoning regardless of his actions, so it’s a recurring theme the movie keeps through the series.

#90s movies #scream #scream 1996 #billy loomis #ghostface #billy loomis scream

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shadowysharktidalwave · 6 months

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The Serenity of Scenery

Note* I couldn't find the movies so I chose Dragonball Super Super Hero's and the Five nights at Freddy's movie. I choose these wo as one, I have seen them both relatively recently, and more importantly two, they are excellent examples of scene structure in every category. The first film I would like to discuss is that Five Night's at Freddy's film.

The five Night's at Freddy's film follows Michael Schmidt as he gets a new job as a night time security officer to look better in court as to maintain custody over his little sister. Things quickly go array as the repeating nightmare of Michael's little brother begins to change once entering the pizzeria and the mystery of the animatronics is revealed. (spoilers) The animatronics are also dead kids like Michael's little brother and hijinks insue. Michaels little sister comes to work with Michael and this ceases any further assault on Michael for the time being as the animatronics are reminded of both themselves and Michael's dead little brother when seeing Michael's sister.

And this is where the scene I would like to discuss comes in to play. The "fort scene" as it has been dubbed online is is rather controversial with fans of the series. Most people make jokes along the lines of " FNAF was the friends that we made along the way" in a mocking tone to the film, and use this scene to exemplify this fact. And this distain is often rooted in wanting the film to have taken a route more akin to a retailing of the narrative of this scource material.

But I feel as if that was the entire point of the scene, to show that this is different. A different narrative, different style, and a different feel. See, up until this point the movie felt like a typical horror film. A quick intro showing the dangers a ahead, and a slow climb for our protagonists to encounter these horrors, even with another example of what these monsters were capable of.

And yet the fort scene comes right when the audience would expect that horror to occur, Michael's sister has wondered off and Michael chases around the dim abandoned building, only to find her surrounded by these monsters. And Michaels sister says to Michael that they are her friends, and Michael is hesitant. The Monster's do not like Michael, but are tolerant of him as they like his sister.

And this fort scene's purpose is to build these character relationships whilst also giving more depth to these monsters as not just monsters, but to remind us that these are just kids at the end of the day. Kids that lost their childhood because they were killed. They like Abby, just wanted to have fun and build a fort wit their friends.

And this de-escalation is done amazingly through lighting, perspective and camera angles. The lighting has only been getting darker through out the film up until this point. And Trough out the scene these screen slowly begins to get more and more illuminated by the string lights until the end where there are all together with a warm comforting glow enveloping everyone in a circle.

The perspective and cameras angles are also a huge factor in portraying this change in relationship dynamics. Up until now we have only ever looked up at the animatronics, viewing them as bigger and more powerful than us. And over the course of the scene the angle progressively gets higher, with the middle of the scene we are at eye level with them, and this is also conveniently the time that we begin to see their expressions soften as the accept Michael as no longer a threat, but a a friend. At the end of the scene when they are all laying the floor in a circle looking up from the floor at the ceiling of the fort, we the viewers are now looking down at this group, and are "above them" giving us a sense of control, and helping drive home that they are small children, and that viewing angle helps us no longer see them as towering monsters, but as these small children.

Now a much more lighthearted film is dragon ball super super hero's, and I wanted to pick this film because of how similar the principles that were used from a lighting an perspecscitve were, as the same ideas were used, but into achieve nearly the exact opposite feeling in the viewer.

Dragon ball Super Superhero's follows Piccolo and Gohan trying to stop the Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 Androids, and then these two unlikey groups come together to stop a force far greater than themselves, Cell Max.

Now, This is another property that relies on some prior knowledge of the franchise top properly appreciate. But Piccolo has been essentially sidelined from the fights due to power scaling over the years. This is made painfully apparent as Goku and Vegeta, the only to people strong enough to deal with the androids are off on another planet and are unable to be contacted. So after barley fleeing an encounter with Gamma 2 due to Gamma 2's arrogance, Piccolo goes off to find Gohan, who while having the most potential out of anybody else in the universe, has been supposedly slacking on his training.

Piccolo seeks out to find Shenron to fully waken his power, and since Piccolo made Shenron many lives ago, shenron's soft spot grant Piccolo a little extra power

Cut forwards to our hero's facing off with the Gamma's and they are kicking their buts kicked. The sun is shining and it almost would seem that we are to be rooting for the Gamma android based of of composition, with the bright and colorful atmosphere and the choreography always having us look down on our hero's. But has Piccolo get knocked down a dark cliff and we watch him fall down the abyss, we watch his power get awakened. Piccolo jumps from the cliff, landing in front of Gamma 1. Piccolo Towers over Gamma 1 in his new form, as we the viewer look up from essentially Gamma ones knee height, with Piccolo taking up nearly the Wole frame, looking down on Gamma 1. This shot perfectly encompasses and prepares both us the viewer and Gamma 1 for how powerful Piccolo has become, and the beat down that is about to go down.

After said beat down occurs, Cell Maxi a waken. Cell max Kills Piccilo, and we once again looking down on him, to show that even in his newly powered up state, it's over. We lost. Hard cut to a distraught Gohan, us looking down on him. With the realization of what has become of his master, an enraged and vengeful Gohan reaches powers of unseen heights. The camera quickly pans down and around Gohan, ending around foot height looking up at him, to give the viewers a sense of that we are merely at Gohan's feet given his power, and that he is above us in every way.

Another note is that with this transformation, He was so powerful that his power alone conjured up a storm. This changed the atmosphere from the sunny light heart sparring match essentially, to that of one where It was time for the business. Some one is going to die, and it's not going to be Gohan.

It's interesting How the same film strategies can be used to conjure up completely different feelings in the viewer, even if used almost in the same way, only with a few minor changes.

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the-celluloid-correspondent · 6 months

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Five Nights at Freddy's Movie Review

A troubled security guard begins working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the late shift at Feddy's won't be so easy to make it through.

Five Nights at Freddy’s became an international phenomenon when I was in high school. I remember watching countless YouTube Gamers lose their minds while immersed in a basic point-and-click survival horror game. Though the game is basic, it has an immersive atmosphere and lore that is hard to find in even the most AAA games. So for its big screen debut, I was not expecting much other than an atmospheric survival horror like Alien or The Thing but not as good as those masterpieces. Yet, Five Nights at Freddy’s manages to go lower than that. I partially respect it for at least attempting to tell a story, but the story is a crime against filmmaking.

The story presented is a contrived mess filled with plot holes and horrible internal logic. We witness numerous storytelling elements get picked up and dropped whenever the writers feel like it and are left asking questions such as “What did they do with the Aunt’s body?” or “Why are they choosing to trash the place in the middle of the day while it is locked, instead of at night to frame him?”. These questions and many more continued to buzz around my head while watching this disaster of a movie. I felt like my intelligence was insulted because of how lazy this story was. Then to cover this lazy story, it shoves in as much fanservice and references it possible can. Hardcore fans will be the only ones to enjoy this stupid film as they will gleefully clap, cheer, and praise at any reference/fan service, no matter how bad the movie is.

However, one of the most disappointing aspects of Five Nights at Freddy’s is that it’s not even a horror movie. Yes, there are some horror elements, but they are few and far between as they are nothing but cheap jump scares. It does not have any of the creepy ambiance the original game had. Instead, it is cheezy with its ambiance and tone as they are dragged all over the place. I wished it would have stuck to its routes and stayed as a survival horror. This would have allowed the movie to retain a creepy ambiance that is not found here. Also, it should have been rated R because those kills were way too safe.

With that stated, there were some elements that I enjoyed. For one I appreciate that the possessed animatronics were actually animatronics. Though they did not look as creepy as they were in the game, I still respect bringing them to life practically rather than through cheap CGI.

Furthermore, Matthew Lillard understood the assignment. Despite being on screen for only a few minutes he gives the only memorable performance. Josh Hutcherson tries his hardest to make this material work but is held back by the horrid dialogue. While Elizabeth Lail gives no effort in her performance as she looks like she is contimplating signing up for this movie.

Five Nights at Freddy’s feels like it was written by a 10-year-old for a 10-year-old. But the fact it was written by professional writers, is not only an insult to my intelligence, but to the entire audience. This movie is an excellent example of today’s modern filmmaking philosophy of “don’t think, just consume product and get excited for next product.” Listen, I wasn’t expecting a horror masterpiece, but it manages to go lower than that. It’s just a consumer product that believes everyone is stupid.

My Rating: D

#film #cinema #movies #movie #filmmaking #filmmaker #moviemaking #moviemaker #cinephile #cinematography #film community #film is not dead #film review #movie review #film critic #movie critic #five nights at freddy's #josh hutcherson #matthew lillard

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yurimother · 3 years

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The Best Yuri of 2020

2020 was hell in every way, and many of us are looking forward to new possibilities and advances in 2021. However, the year brought us many small moments and gifts worth celebrating. Among these, the explosive growth and change within the Yuri genre are among the most precious and most outstanding achievements. This second century of Yuri opened with a bang, as phenomenal new works, creators, and moments made their mark and helped change the future genre.

This annual list is a celebration of just a handful of the fantastic titles, people, and events in Yuri. There are likely some even greater ones that did not make the list because there is so much content in both English and Japanese that even I cannot keep up. However, among the troves of treasure, these titles stood out as shining examples of Yuri excellence. Some were released this year, others were recently adapted into English, and still, others are established titles that rose to prominence to dominate the conversation and my mind this year, but every one of them is worthy of being on this list and in your heart.

Here is the Best Yuri of 2020!

15: The Curse of Kudan Remastered

Japanese Yuri visual novel developers show no sign of slowing down as they continue to push to new heights and try new ideas. These are the same amazing people who brought us the delightful educational Yuri game The Expression Amrilato and the hilarious and surprisingly queer OshiRabu: Waifus Over Husbando’s. However, this most recent release, The Curse of Kudan Remastered, is their best work yet. Released near Halloween, this game brings a new edge of dark mystery and the occult to Yuri audiences worldwide.

The Curse of Kudan is available on MangaGamer, JAST USA, Denpasoft, and Sekai Project.

14: Adachi and Shimamura

English audiences were finally treated this year to Hitoma Iruma’s long-running and wildly successful Yuri light novel series, Adachi and Shimamura. Although the story struggles to gain traction, dedicated readers’ have their patience rewarded with a sweet tale full of gay pining. Alternatively, you can jump into its stellar anime adaptation, with gorgeous visuals and realized characters you will actually be willing to put up with the annoying Yashiro just to see where the title characters go. The series shows no sign of slowing down either, as the manga adaptation is coming to Western audiences next year.

Adachi and Shimamura is available to stream on Funimation. The light novel series is published by Seven Seas - https://amzn.to/3rTSZTK

Honorable Mention: Happy Go Lucky Days

The OVA adaptation of Fragtime got most of the attention this year. Still, director Takuya Satou and Pony Canyon also gave us this much-overlooked “love is love” anthology movie based on Takako Shimura’s manga (Sweet Blue Flowers, Wandering Son). The first short in the film, “Happy,” is easily the best Yuri anime of the year. It follows the beautiful yet realistic queer love story of two women hooking up at a mutual ex-girlfriend’s wedding, only for the relationship to blossom and warm viewers’ hearts. Sadly, while stylized, the budget demanded the animation cut a few too many corners. Additionally, the subsequent stories are at best tedious and at worst alarmingly problematic, which is why Happy Go Lucky Days only gets an honorable mention.

The OVA is streaming on HIDIVE

13: Mieri Hiranishi

The Yuri scene has many colorful creators with a breadth of different ideas and stories in the genre, yet few have provided as much humor and joy as Mieri. This talented creator spectacularly tumbled into the scene with her manga essay The Moment I Realized I Wasn’t Straight, which embodies the brutal honesty and realism of Nagata Kabi and matches it with exaggerated hilarity. She continues to chronicle her painful struggles of being a butch girl in love with butch girls in the monthly series The Girl that Can’t Get a Girlfriend. Alternatively, you can follow her on Twitter for just as much heart and laughter.

Read The Girl that Can’t get a Girlfriend on Tapas and Webtoon.

12: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

My Next Life as a Villainess has what can only be described as volcanic bisexual energy. Every character protagonist Catarina Claes encounters is entirely enthralled by her. Of course, she is far too preoccupied with her quest to avoid doom flags and change her ultimate fate to notice any romantic interest. The series is rewarding and well structured, as views are just as focused on how Catarina plans to avoid certain doom as they are with the various romantic misses her band of companions cooks up. While the “friendship ending” did not capitalize on its Yuri potential, it was perhaps the most satisfying possibility for this crazy harem, at least until season two comes out, which looks, unfortunately, to be significantly less queer.

My Next Life as a Villainess is streaming on Crunchyroll

11: Love Me for Who I Am

Kata Konayama’s manga series is less Yuri than a general LGBT work, but it has a lesbian character and explores her identity and struggles in great detail. Few titles before have captured the exciting and nervous waves of emotions that young people feel as they explore gender and sexual identities and try to find themselves. This heartfelt and extremely queer series rubberbands between cute moe dress up to tragic and gripping backstory, keeping readers on their toes the whole time.

Love me for Who I Am is published by Seven Seas - https://amzn.to/3rTSZTK

10: A Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986

Oracle and Bone’s debut visual novel, A Summer’s End, is set in a vibrant and electric 1980’s Hong Kong. Drawing inspiration from classic Asian cinema, music, and fashion. The worlds of Michelle, a young office worker, and a free-spirited woman named Same collide. The two struggle to comprehend and accept each other’s feelings just as they struggle against society’s expectations and prejudices. An incredibly thoughtful and touching adventure, the creators incorporated vital contemporary elements include Asian LGBTQ rights and growing political unrest in Hong Kong, into this illustrious game.

The visual novel is available on Steam.

Honorable Mention: Goodbye, My Rose Garden

In the same vein as A Summer’s End, Goodbye, My Rose Garden is a beautiful period piece that incorporates LGBT views into its shattering narrative. The story follows a bright-eyed immigrant, Hanako, wanting to make a new life in England as an author at the dawn of the twentieth century. She takes a job as a maid to noblewoman Alice, but their relationship takes a turn when Alice asks Hanako to kill her. This poignant tale is beautiful and an honest depiction of love and its conflict with responsibility and society.

Goodbye, My Rose Garden is published by Seven Seas Entertainment - https://amzn.to/3hFSyaG

9: Shio Usui

Usui’s hit Shaikaijin Yuri manga Doughnuts Under a Crescent Moon could easily take this spot even though it is not even out in English until February 2021. The manga is already making waves and receiving constant praise. The characters and their journey to discover love and self-acceptance are as charming as they are relatable and grounded. However, it is the creator, Usui, who really deserves acclaim. Not just for their work on Doughnuts, but having a second serialized story, Onna Tomodachi to Kekkon Shitemita, in monthly Yuri magazine Comic Yuri Hime simultaneously. It is even more remarkable when you consider these two iconic stories are Usui’s first long-running works, as they only contributed one-shots before.

8: Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka

Bloom Into You is possibly the most iconic Yuri series in the past decade, and while the manga deserves its own place on this list, the best thing to come out of the series as a whole is easily the light novels. This trilogy by Adachi and Shimamura creator Hitoma Iruma dives deep into supporting cast member Sayaka. Readers are treated to a delightful journey as she discovers her sexuality, experiences heartbreak, and finally finds herself breaking free and falling in love. With the help of gorgeous illustrations by Nakatani Nio herself, Iruma masterfully captures Sayaka’s unique voice and emotions in this wonderful series. Whether a fan of the originals or not, every Yurijin must check out Regarding Saeki Sayaka.

The light novel series is published by Seven Seas - https://amzn.to/3hFSyaG

7: Our Teachers are Dating

The best a Yuri can get. This workplace romance follows two teachers at the start of a new relationship taking nervous yet enthusiastic first steps, including saying I love you, going on their first date, and even sleeping together. It is so heartfelt and salacious that readers will squeal the whole time. Additionally, our heroines are supported in their relationship by everyone they know, their students, colleagues, and even the principal. It is a perfect world for these two lovebirds! Our Teachers are Dating would easily be number one or two in any other year, but the competition is fierce in 2020. So even though this is only number seven, it is still a master class Yuri manga.

The manga is published by Seven Seas Entertainment - https://amzn.to/38XY3O9

6: Amongst Us

Who would have thought that a comedy alternative universe story spinoff of a fantasy action series would be the single best Yuri webcomic this year? Shilin’s astounding artwork illustrations the hilarious and irresistible journey of girlfriends Blackbird and Veloce. These two eccentric young women get into all kinds of everyday mischief that bounces between tender and touching romance, completely outrageous comedy, and downright thirst-inducing sorcery. Seriously, you should buy the first volume for Veloce’s back muscles alone. The storyline skips between time, but both their established relationship and their meeting as teenagers are adorkable and captivating.

Amongst Us is available online free on Webtoon and the comic’s website. The first volume is in paperback on Shilin’s site.

Honorable Mention: Éclair

There are a lot of Yuri anthologies out there, and they have done some beautiful things. Many focus on themes like Syrup. Others collect a series of stories by an author into one bound work. However, out of all of them, Éclair is the most successful. ASCII Media Works took some of the genre’s most extraordinary creators and let them do whatever they wanted, and the results are spectacular. The incredible talent behind Éclair somehow packs a full volume’s worth of story and character into just a few pages with every chapter. While the first volume came overseas a few years ago, Yen Press gave Yurijin a gift this year by releasing the entire rest of the series in which readers can get lost.

The anthology series is published by Yen Press - https://amzn.to/38XY3O9

5: I’m in Love with the Villainess

A small trend of isekai Yuri with villainesses emerged recently, and I honestly had few hopes of I’m in Love with the Villainess. The series is pretty popular, but I often find that this does not denote quality, and with isekai having some institutional issues, I suspected this would fall flat. Then the volume three cover showcased an incredible accomplishment, allowing for a lesbian relationship to blossom into a family with children, and it blew me away. Finally, I read volume one and realized that the series has incredible character, some of the best world-building I have ever seen in a light novel, thoughtful discussions of inequality and societal issues, and most impressively, open and frank discussion of queer identity and life Yuri has ever seen! This one is something special.

The series is published by Seven Seas Entertainment - https://amzn.to/3nedvdZ

4: The Last of Us Part II

Yes, I know this one is not Yuri and that a portion of the population despises this game and will likely be exceptionally angry at me for including it. However, I maintain that it was an incredibly challenging masterpiece. Naughty Dog did not take the easy route out and delivered one of the most devastating media experiences I have ever seen. As I said in my article about the game, playing it changed me, and it sticks with me to this day. The Last of Us Part II earns its spot on this list because it pushed boundaries more with LGBTQ inclusion than any other AAA game. From brave inclusion of LGBTQ themes to queer characters and storylines at its center, the game changes gaming and it will never go back.

The Last of Us Part II is available on PlayStation 4

3: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

She-Ra feels like the culmination of all the LGBTQ progress western cartoons have made over the past few years. From The Legend of Korra to Steven Universe, young people are finally seeing more LGBTQ people represented on the small screen. This epic fantasy concluded with an amazing and powerful lesbian romance, delivering on its queer promise and revolutionized representation in a trope-defying crescendo.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is streaming on Netflix

2: The Conditions of Paradise

The greatest single Yuri work of all in 2020 was the English release of Akiko Morishima’s breakthrough manga, The Conditions of Paradise. Initially released in 2007, this anthology detailed the love between adult women. It was in every way a manga ahead of its time, and seeing it finally get a small piece of the recognition it deserves overseas is a true gift. The fact that we can own this legendary piece of Yuri history and Morishima’s other anthologies is nothing short of a blessing from the Yuri goddess.

The Conditions of Paradise is published by Seven Seas Entertainment - https://amzn.to/38bh4xq

Honorable Mention: Otherside Picnic

This eerie sci-fi horror series combines the best of pulse-pounding thrillers, complex and intelligent hard science fiction, and exciting Yuri romance. Author Iori Miyazawa spends as much time crafting a well-paced and intriguing narrative about a mysterious world where occult creatures roam as he does establishing two believable and grounded heroes in Sorawo and Toriko. The romance between the two may be slow to start, but their chemistry is undeniable and as the stakes and story build, so too does their relationship. Not only are the light novels incredible, but the series’ manga adaptation is coming soon to the West as well as an upcoming TV anime in early 2021.

Otherside Picnic is streaming on Funimation. The light novels are published by J-Novel Club - https://amzn.to/3niiv1g

1. Yuri subgenres

For a long time, Yuri was not a genre of its own, but elements of romances or bonds between women found in other works. Now, thanks to an increasing library of works, the advent of social media, and a wider audience, Yuri is a genre on its own, with many creators telling different stories in different styles. However, 2020 saw the continued emergence of something extraordinary, subgenres. Yuri is now so vast, we can actually categorize the works within. Depending on their characters, like classic schoolgirl romances or spicy shakaijin office affairs, their world, such as fantasy or isekai series and thrilling science fiction adventures, and even other elements within. One of my personal favorites is the feminist Yuri that emerges from titles like Sexiled, where women celebrate the accomplishments of other women and dismantle power structures stacked against them. Now, no matter what kind of Yurijin you are, there is something for you to love.

I am happy to leave 2020 behind, but I bring with me a renewed love and admiration for Yuri. 2021 looks to be a somehow even better year for the genre, and I am thrilled to experience every minute of it that I can. Yuri has transformed into something far greater than I ever thought it would be, and let us all enjoy its evolution and expansion together in 2021.

#yuri #manga #anime #top 10 #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq+#queer #gay #girls love #gl #adachi and shimamura #otherside picnic #lists #2020 #happy new year #2021 #new year

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kannra21 · 3 years

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Hey, wanna cry over Junpin together 😭😭

Junpain is all I feel bestie. 😭

He's the first character in the series that got me right in the feels gal. His death was unpredictable bc of the OP video showing him happy with everyone but that was a big fat lie and Gege is the master of psychological manipulation who goes into a disassociative state and commits atrocities.

This is Junpei's amount of cursed energy made from his negative emotions. It's rly big and it makes me sad yk, bc he's such a good person and he didn't deserve to go through all this suffering. Gege said at one point that he wanted to show more of his good side but his fate was already decided from the begging and he ended up mostly depicting his troubled side.

What I like ab him is that he's rly thoughtful and smart. He sees the bigger picture and he's v relatable regarding his outlook on life. Sometimes ppl ain't shit and he has the full right to express his disappointment in society, those who wronged him and others who didn't do anything besides watching him from the back. He never asked for help and it seems like he never wanted to trouble his single mother which proves that he's a rly strong individual who can hold his own.

However, being strong sometimes doesn't solve all the problems. He should've talked to authorities instead of skipping school to avoid facing bad people. His mom was irresponsible as a parent but she still loved him deeply and cheered him on regardless of his career which is rare considering that most parents enforce the belief that education is the only route for success. It isn't the only route, however, I agree with Yaga when he says "Education is making people realize things." bc it makes you smarter and more difficult to manipulate which, unfortunately, happened to Junpei.

And MAPPA needed to slay extra hard on this one, thank you v much (no offense to other studios but MAPPA should just animate everything). 🤭

There are some other quotes that I liked, for instance-

"If there was a button that would make everyone I hate die, I probably wouldn't push it. But if there was a button that would make everyone who hated me die, I'd push it without hesitation."

"What's the point of indiscriminate salvation? Don't mistake the value of life! People pretend their emotions are everything, but the heart is just the metabolism of the soul. It's all a delusion! Don't restrict me with rules that are based on a delusion."

"People don't have hearts. They don't! Otherwise... That would mean people cursed me and my mom with those hearts! That would just be too much... I wouldn't know what is right or what is wrong anymore..."

He's got a good head on his shoulders but at the end of the day his overthinking prevailed, ultimately concluding his fate.

His apathy and Yuuji's jujutsu knowledge were the reasons why Yuuji managed to stop him bc Junpei's hatred wasn't as strong, he was just deeply disappointed by the world's injustice.

And like I said, everyone was probably expecting Yuuji to help him deal with his grief and make him join the Jujutsu High but things don't always work out the way we want them to and I think that this was Gege's way of depicting this awful state of uncertainty.

Because of that, I refuse to believe in saying "Life is what you make it." bc there are external factors responsible for all kinds of outcomes and we're not the only ones deciding our fate.

I agree with Megumi when he says "The only thing granted equally to all is an unfair reality." bc he doesn't feel bad for the lives he couldn't save, instead, he's grateful for all the things that he could do for others which is beautiful. It's a thankless job and they're faced with death every day but he can't stop feeling hopeful and I love Megumi for this. He's my fave.

Junpei gives me strong Cancer vibes and he likes horror movies which is cool bc it's also one of the things that makes him relatable to the audience. Some people might not perceive him that way but he's cool and I'm glad that Gege introduced him even if it lasted for 4 episodes. 😭

Besides, he'd look so hot. Imagine his scars healed, hair slicked back, wearing Jujutsu uniform, training his shikigami with Megumi and doing hand-to-hand exercises with Yuuji. Hanging with Nobara would boost his confidence but she'd also exploit him for bag carrying haha. Now that I'm thinking ab it, he'd probably resemble Yuuta with his hair back, what a coincidence (why is everyone so hot in this show??).

He'll be missed... 😔

#jjk #jujutsu kaisen #yoshino junpei #junpei #itadori yuuji #yuuji #fushiguro megumi #megumi #kugisaki nobara #nobara #jjk quotes #jujutsu kaisen spoilers #jjk ep12

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kuiperblog · 3 years

Text

Deathloop sure is a video game

Every October, there's pop-up entertainment venues like "haunted houses" (or other haunted attractions) that attempt to artificially recreate the motifs common in horror movies, complete with live actors who are dressed as vampires or zombies or serial killers or whatever who leap out and scare the guests who squeal in delight, if only because it gives them an excuse to tightly cling to their partner. It's more exciting than going to a horror movie, because it's a more tactile experience, so you're mostly just there to experience the various horror motifs without being concerned about a plot.

The thing is, there are actual horror movies that are set in haunted attractions. And while this does make for some fun early reveals (like when the teenagers laugh at the knife-wielding man who they assume is an actor and part of the attraction, only to realize that he's actually a homicidal madman), the very idea of a horror movie set in a haunted house kind of feels like cheating. Haunted attractions are, in a way, a simulacrum of a horror movie, which I suppose is an odd thing to say considering that haunted attractions are real and the events in horror movies are not, but I think that is the main level on which most haunted attractions are designed: a haunted attraction is a "horror movie IRL," so to then make that the setting of your horror movie “horror movie IRL but in a movie” is like a simulacrum of a simulacrum. It’s shortcutting past the part where you would ordinarily come up with some kind of lore-based explanation for why the teenagers are hanging out in a creepy house and why there’s a demented killer or vampires or whatever who are trying to kill them.

I sort of feel this way about one of the first levels I played in Deathloop, which is a video game both in medium and form. It's a bit like Dishonored (one of Arkane's earlier titles) in the sense that the core objectives boil down to identifying an assassination target, and hunting them down in their mansion or laboratory or whatever. The first target I assassinated was a fellow by the name of Charlie Montague, who is obsessed with games, and has populated a section of the world where you can speed-run an obstacle course to be rewarded with a gun, because this is a first-person shooter video game that is set on murder island, where everyone's favorite hobby is killing each other because they’re in a timeloop where everyone will revive the next day. However, when I found Charlie Montague, he was in the middle of a LARP session. This is literally how the game describes it: Charlie is hosting a game where he invites guests to participate in a game somewhat akin to a murder mystery, or maybe more like Among Us. When I arrived, Charlie announced over the loudspeaker to all of his guests that the killer monster (me) had arrived, and the objective was now for them to hunt me down. (I, for my part, did my best to avoid the guests, but I had to gun down the entire party before finally getting to Charlie at the top floor.)

So, this is a video game level that felt very much like a video game level. Which I don't really mean as a knock against it -- it was a fun environment, I had fun hunting down the game designer Charlie Montague and murdering his LARPing buddies, and the environment was set up in a way that made the confrontation with Charlie himself interesting, since Charlie possesses the blink power that lets him teleport across gaps and between floors. But it kind of feels like cheating to have a video game level where the setting premise is, as explained by the game's fiction, literally a game created by a game designer (as opposed to trying to sell you on the idea that the level you're traipsing through is just some rich dude's mansion, or a military base, or whatever). It is the video game equivalent of setting your horror movie in a haunted house attraction.

As an Arkane Studios fan (who started with 2006's Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and counts Dishonored among my personal top 10 games of all time), I quite enjoyed Deathloop. But it is by far the most video game video game that they've ever released.

Games like Dishonored and Prey (2017) exist in what is sometimes described as the "immersive sim" genre, where there's a big emphasis on player choice and giving the players a bunch of tools to approach objectives without giving them a prescribed route through the game. Dishonored pushes you in the direction of being stealthy and quiet (with a "chaos" system that causes the world to become more desolate if you kill too many enemies in each level), but there are many routes through the levels -- and sometimes, you'll find your way to an objective through what feels like it isn't a prescribed "route" at all. The objectives are often quite simple -- "infiltrate, kill a dude, exfiltrate" -- but a level that could be completed in just a few minutes might take an hour to complete the first time you play it as you spend time scoping out the target, gradually getting a feel for the environment and learning which parts of the level have lots of enemies and which parts are safe and easy to stealth your way through.

The immersive sim's emphasis on carving your own way through levels leads to a phenomenon where a lot of the progression that you make is "meta" progression that exists entirely outside of your avatar -- you might spend an hour prowling around a level, and your character hasn't gotten any stronger (apart from maybe finding a few optional collectibles), but you as a player have "leveled up" to the point that you now know the level like the back of your hand, which is how you have people who spend hours exploring a level in Hitman so that they can do a perfect 5-minute speedrun of that level.

Sometimes, this sense of "meta-progression" is further emphasized by making some of the collectibles information that you as a player can store. I remember a part in Dishonored where I found a locked safe, and I had to root around the game environment and find the code to the safe before I could come back and get the goodie inside. But if I wanted to, I could write that number down so that on any subsequent playthrough, I could just go right to the safe and open it right away -- which feels a bit like cheating, but it's no less cheating than sprinting through a specific route through a level because I know from previous playthroughs that the path I'm taking has no guards.

Deathloop isn't quite like that: the game is filled with combinations and whatnot (in one "puzzle" I had to insert specifically-labeled tapes into a machine in a specific order), but all of these are generated randomly: you can't take that information with you across playthroughs, and you can't look the number up in a walkthrough like some older immersive sims would let you do. But Deathloop takes this meta progression and makes it actual progression: it's a time-loop story, and your character (Colt) remembers everything that he encounters across playthrough, so when you find the combination to a door, Colt will make a mental note of it (no need to bust out your pen and paper), and the next time you come to a locked door that requires that combination, you don't even have to punch in the numbers: just hold the triangle button on your Playstation controller and Colt will automatically punch in the numbers that he learned during an earlier loop.

Deathloop is full of little things like this that, on first glance, almost just feel like QoL improvements. But there's something that feels very different about how things are done in Deathloop: in gameplay terms, it basically boils down to, "Go to this place and press square to read the password, then go to this other place and unlock the door," which is really not that different from "go to this place and press square to pick up the key, then go to this other place to unlock the door." The "passwords" that exist throughout this game are basically just keys that Colt can store in his brain and take with him whenever you advance to the next loop.

And to be clear, that's not necessarily a *bad* thing. In fact, immersive sims are kind of a niche genre that don't have a very big audience, so anything that helps streamline and make it more like, well, what you'd expect from a "video game," is probably going to make the game accessible to a lot more people. And they streamline a *lot* in this game. The game is all about planning the "perfect loop" where you manage to kill the 8 big baddies in a single day, and everything before that point is just preparing for that final loop. Even though that seems like an abstract thing that might require you to hold a bunch of disparate information in your head, the game is actually *really* good at making it so that Colt is already mentally mapping out the game plan as you go, to the point where you can just go into the quest book, select a thread, and then just follow the waypoints. Colt is planning for the "perfect loop" and collecting all the information he needs (including passwords, and memorizing information about how to get certain bosses to go to certain areas where they'll be vulnerable), and Colt is so good at remembering these things that the player never has to: you can play the entire game from start to finish just by traveling from waypoint to waypoint and stealthing or shooting your way past anything that stands in your way.

That is, of course, incredibly reductive. The process of getting from point A to point B in Deathloop is fun for the same reason that getting from point A to point B is fun in any other game. The guns feel good to shoot, the levels are interesting to navigate, and the game lets you earn the ability to take certain pieces of gear with you between loops so it always feels like there's forward progression. But I think that there's a critical thing that's missing:

Immersive sims aren't just about getting from point A to point B. Before you can get to point B, you have to discover where point B is. *Where* in this mansion is the assassination target? Better spend some time skulking around and listening to his staff gossip about his daily habits so you know which parts of the mansion he's likely to appear in. Oh wait, I don't want to just get in the same room with this guy, I want to get myself in the same room with him *when he's not surrounded by his guards*. How do I do that? Better do some more snooping. And in a sense, Deathloop *sort* of does this. Before you can follow the waypoint objective marker to your target, you have to find out where they are. But the "find out where they are" is often, "follow this *other* waypoint objective marker to find the slip of paper that tells you where they're going to be, at which point you can follow the waypoint objective marker to their exact location!"

And to be fair to Deathloop, it's not *all* like that. There are some times where the game sort of just points you in the right direction and leaves you to figure it out, like one dude who has hosted a masquerade party where he and his guests are all wearing the same masks, and so you have to figure out a way to ferret him out. (Or you can just murder everyone at the party to figure it out by process of elimination -- which is actually much easier said than done, because this is murder island and everybody is packing heat, and this is an exclusive party so his guests are the type of people who carry around heavy weapons.)

Another way that Deathloop takes the "meta progression" inherent to immersive sims and makes it explicit in-game progression is by having a time loop where you can encounter and kill the same targets over and over again. That's the kind of thing that tends to happen in immersive sims across multiple playthroughs -- Hitman doesn't *require* you to play each level multiple times, but you generally want to, because each level is filled with tons of different routes to explore and different ways to deal with each of the targets. But that's all on the player: it's not as if in the fiction of the Hitman universe, Agent 47 is repeatedly murdering a bunch of people who magically revive so that he can kill them again, whereas in Deathloop, that is very explicitly what is happening.

The thing is, because Deathloop is kind of designed with the assumption that you'll kill each target multiple times, the first time you encounter them and blow their head off, it doesn't feel like the grand emotional climax. In fact, in a way, it feels like the *start* of a relationship. "Goodbye, Charlie Montague. I hardly knew ye. But I'm sure I'll know you better by the third time I'm leaving your LARPing session with that slab upgrade you're carrying." I feel like that robs the kills of some of their impact, and maybe that's just inherent to what kind of game this is: in Dishonored, you feel as though over the course of a level, you get to know your target as you snoop through their quarters, overhear what their staff have to say about them, read the journals of their rivals while looking for possible weaknesses, and so on. Because it's a stealth game, it makes sense to hide in the background and learn about their life. Stalking a character through a level while waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike can actually feel incredibly intimate, because as the eponymous Visible Man in Chuck Klosterman’s novel says, to truly know who someone is, you have to see them when they’re alone at home; their behavior anywhere else is just a performance.

But when I'm chasing down Charlie Montague with an SMG in one hand and a pistol in the other, the only thing I really know about him is what he's announcing over the loudspeaker. (I don't really remember exactly what he said, but the subtext is that he's mentally unstable, and he's obsessed with games.) And even though Charlie Montague was shouting at me what kind of person he said, I feel like I never really got to *know* him like I got to know some targets in Dishonored. In fact, the moments when I got to know Charlie best weren't when he was yelling at my over the loudspeaker as I ran through his level as Shooty McFPS guy, but the moments when I got to read his notes or chat correspondence (which is *entirely optional*, because even if I don't learn the relevant facts from Charlie Montague's notes, Cole will -- and he'll verbally narrate the cliffsnotes version of them as I'm headed to the next objective)

Despite feeling like a clear descendant of Arkane’s earlier titles, Deathloop feels neither "immersive" nor "sim." It's constantly doing things that remind me that I'm playing a video game -- which, to be clear, is not a bad thing! It’s fun to be Shooty McFPS guy without worrying about hiding guards bodies or making noise. More than any other Arkane Studios game, it does everything it can to minimize player frustration, whether that means feeling lost, or feeling like you're not making forward progress, or feeling like your progress is being gated by a huge spike in difficulty.

Dishonored is a game that rewards patience. This is one of my favorite things about it, but the fact that it rewards patience so generously means that it also *asks* patience of the player in order to get its best moments, which means that some players will never experience them. Deathloop asks very little from the player. Deathloop is a very "even" and "smooth" experience, but that's both for better and for worse. The lows aren't as low, but the highs aren't nearly as high. Deathloop is a good game. And it will probably be a "good game" to a greater number of people than Arkane's previous titles, but it didn’t have nearly the same impact on me.

Anyway, more than anything, my time with Deathloop has convinced that I should go back and play Prey (2017).

#deathloop #arkane studios #I apologize for such a long letter #dishonored #prey 2017 #immersive sim #video games

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mira--mira · 3 years

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Hi! I was wondering

How do you think Hashirama and Madara would be in a Road to Ninja version?

I remember once reading a Hashimada fic (which I never finished RIP) that was about Madara appearing in the RTN universe and the 3 things that stucked with me were:

1.- Madara was the first Hokage (something that Madara thought was horrible when he saw his sculpted face on the Hokage mountain 🤣)

And personally I think that it would not have been like that even in the RTN universe because we didn't see his face along with the other faces of Hokages in the movie (Yeah, apparently I'm basing myself on a movie which I'm not even sure if it's canon or not, even though Kishimoto wrote it) and the RTN characters didn't seem to even know who Madara is.

2.- Hashirama having his bowlcut as an adult

And I agree with the Madara from that fanfic, it looks awful on him. Hashirama, babe, I'm sorry but the only ones who can rock that style are Guy Sensei and Rock Lee, I know you just were trying to be cool but it doesn't suite you.

3.- Tobirama was a porn writer

Instead of being a fan of forbidden jutsu and creating justus, he wrote porn novels a la Jiraiya. And I'll hold that headcanon with my dead hands.

The only other fanfic that places the founders in the RTN universe is one where the protagonist is Mito (it's an interesting one-shot that pairs her with Itama 🤔)

She was kind of a shy person 🤔? And so it was Tobirama 🤣 which I found fun.

Hashirama, as the first fanfic I mentioned, was the Tobirama of the place (saddenly Madara wasn't in this fic).

So I would like to know what are your versions of the founders (or only Hashirama and Madara if it is too much) in the RTN universe! And how do you think things would be

Hmm, RTN is an interesting concept to me but, to be honest, I don't think Konoha would exist if a lot of personalities got flipped 😂 I haven't read any RTN fics with the founders, but if you, or anyone else, have links at hand I'd love to check them out 👀

1. Madara

Here's the big one and the crux of why I don't think the village would exist. Typically I characterize Madara as an extremely responsible man who internalizes things when he shouldn't, takes himself way too seriously, is aggressive and abrasive even to people he loves sometimes, but genuinely loves the people closest too him. Reversing this would make a character that slacks off, takes no responsibility, and is completely passive in life and has fleeting attachments to others around him. Assuming he wouldn't die on the battlefield, I could see the RTN "alternate" personality coming about of Madara's being so overpowered and competent that he loses interest and distances himself from things before he can get attached and lose them.

It makes building a village very hard though. (At first I was tempted to go RTN Sasuke route and maybe RTN!Madara is a little more openly flirty than canon!Madara, but the passivity and refusal to take responsibility would be the "core" qualities for me.)

2. Hashirama

Hashirama is a bit weird because he has a lot of surface-level "conflicting" traits in canon. He is optimistic but he pushes beyond his natural attitude and uses it as a mask to hide instead of addressing his feelings. He's mischievous, likes jokes and games, and can be a bit hedonistic with his pleasure but can equally be serious when necessary and will willingly sacrifice for others around him. And simultaneously, Hashirama and Madara are connected by a shared sense of idealism but also anger. Hashirama is a very kind, but extremely angry, man. I think a RTN!Hashirama would share a kind of apathy of RTN!Madara but instead of passivity his lack of anger would manifest as cruelty. Because canon!Hashirama is angry but his anger is usually a righteous kind. I don't think RTN!Hashirama would go out of his way to be cruel, but he doesn't have the empathy of canon!Hashirama, especially to others' suffering. He enjoys fighting just a bit too much and has no qualms about killing. In his mind, he should always come first in any situation and prioritizing (or even considering) others' is effort and him going out of his way to be "nice" and the other should be thankful. Similarly if he feels any negative emotion, he won't bottle it up and swallow it down, he'll immediately address it, usually confrontationally. RTN!Hashirama is as intelligent as his canon counterpart but he doesn't suffer fools and he hates it when people underestimate him. He's pretty proud and vain, tbh.

I really don't think the above would make him the "Tobirama" of RTN verse. To me Hashirama and Tobirama have different core values and perspectives and inverting Hashirama's doesn't make it become Tobirama's, if that makes sense. This one is also wordy bc I immediately knew how RTN!Madara would be RTN!Hashirama is a bit harder to pin down. But I hope it's clear why I have doubts about the village existing...maybe if RTN!Hashirama got it in his mind as a pet project for the hell of it, that he'd be a better leader for the country and not just the Senju alone, and RTN!Madara liked the idea of no responsibility and being able to detach even further than he already was? But that's still kind of grasping for a reason.

3. Hashimada

Equally I think any Hashirama/Madara relationship would be ehhh. They definitely wouldn't have the overwhelming bond of their canon counterparts, and it could be a relationship ripe for unhappiness. The closest I can think of to making the ship work is RTN!Madara would be drawn to Hashirama's absurd level of self-confidence and able to let the casual cruelty slide off instead of getting worked up about it. In a way RTN!Hashirama is stable and predictable. If he's pretty overpowered, there's less of a chance RTN!Madara would lose him, so their relationship isn't deep but it's more or less dependable and Madara knows exactly what he's going to get. In contrast RTN!Hashirama has an audience in the form of RTN!Madara and a partner that's not going to push back against his ideas. RTN!Madara doesn't ask for much and he doesn't complain when RTN!Hashirama puts himself first. He doesn't want, or might not be capable of, the deep emotional bond their canon counterparts have. RTN!Madara wouldn't leave Konoha (if it existed) in the AU, because he doesn't really care. If someone upset RTN!Hashirama and he decided to leave to 'do it right' RTN!Madara would probably follow, maybe out of some loyalty for RTN!Hashirama but mostly because it's what's easiest.

4. Tobirama

The core of Tobirama's character to me is prioritizing logic over emotion and both a conscious and unconscious failure to realize he can't completely eliminate emotion. Tobirama loves his brother, he's curious and has a desire to find out what makes things work and is willing to bend morality to get results if it'll serve a greater good. He's very aware of the unfairness of the world but believes it's an unspoken truth of humanity and can only be mitigated through logical means, but never completely erased. He'll be the sacrificial lamb, the one that works in shadows so his brother can have his utopian dream. Despite everything, he loves his genin, the strongest bonds he has aside from Hashirama, and does try to instill in them lessons he think will help them and lead to peace and stability in the village. He's still influenced by the prejudices of his time and can never find it in him to truly forgive the Uchiha.

A RTN!Tobirama would be a man ruled by emotion. Him writing erotica all day definitely could be one way this manifests lol. But overall he's sensitive and spiritual and can't stand the idea of killing. He and RTN!Hashirama don't get along and he actively tries to avoid his brother. RTN!Tobirama has equally strong principles as canon!Tobirama, but they're pacifist in nature and while he likes his studies, he prefers to be out talking to people and learning from them first hand. He's very naive and can be easily taken advantage of and he has trouble focusing on any one thing for too long. No matter how many times this happens, he never can harden his heart or be overly suspicious of others. RTN!Tobirama would most likely be the one support peace in this AU. He embraces the Uchiha and all the Senjus past enemies with open arms, almost to a foolish degree. It'd be a bad idea if he became hokage in this AU because he's a terrible negotiator and has a bad people-pleasing streak and struggles with long-term tactics. With the exception of RTN!Hashirama, who he considers an aberration who doesn't have a soul, humans at their core all have good intentions at heart.

5. Mito

I characterize Mito as a very level-headed woman. Her marriage to Hashirama is political in nature but they grow to be good friends and she never expected to fall in love and she's glad Hashirama didn't want a traditional wife. Mito is devoted to her community work (she works hands-on with people in the village), she seeks out connections with others and, despite the distance, remains close with her family in Uzushio, constantly writing them letters. She's spiritual and follows the Uzumakis' beliefs (not gonna list this OoT spoiler lol) and studies fuinjutsu in her spare time, something she's done since she was a child. She is willing to sacrifice if it meant protecting something she considered greater than herself, much to her own personal detriment. She loves and is proud of her children and grandchildren, but if she had a choice, she would have chosen to remain childless, she finds her true calling elsewhere.

RTN!Mito, similarly to RTN!Tobirama, is ruled by emotions. She dreams of one day making a good marriage for herself and centers romance and being a mother as her ideal life, but she's extremely picky when it comes picking the perfect husband. RTN!Mito knows how much she's worth and she refuses to settle and will not even entertain the idea of an arranged marriage. She has a hard time forming long-lasting, deep bonds with other people and views starting her own family as the solution to this problem. At times she can be a bit absent-minded and unintentionally selfish, but she's not actively malicious. She blusters a lot and depending on the situation can come off as cold and uncaring, but it's only to hide the depth of her true feelings and loneliness. In this AU she would absolutely refuse to marriage RTN!Hashirama. Nothing on hell or earth, could make her change her mind.

Mito is such a blank-slate character it feels like writing an oc more than a canon character, tbh. And this is something I don't see brought up a lot but a "heart full of love" to combat the kyuubi's hatred to me has never been exclusive to romantic or familial (to children) love. *cough* I want a complex female character who's not vilified for not wanting to have children and/or regretting having them *cough* Mito's "love" was for the people of Konoha and Uzushio. My personal headcanon regarding her and Hashirama's child (I don't think she had more than one) was that she was dedicated to her son, but quickly realized being a mother wasn't her dream or something she even actively liked. The kid was well-cared for and she was dutiful towards him, but Hashirama was the parent that loved and embraced him with his whole heart and it led to some tension between Mito and her son as the kid could tell the difference and neither of them were "wrong" to feel the way they did. This is why Tsunade was shown with Hashirama instead of Mito, he was a lot more present in her life when she was young (instead of Kishi just not having made Mito as a character yet). But after Hashirama and Tsunade's dad died (and then Nawaki), she and Mito grew close but it was definitely more of a friendship or student/mentor relationship rather than a traditional grandmother/granddaughter relationship but both were satisfied with it and loved eachother. Likewise I didn't want RTN!Mito's characterization to be shallow and hit misogynistic undertones with her being an "opposite" to Mito's calm, level-headed, focused on her work/passions characterization.

6. Closing thoughts

#1: Wow this got long #2: I feel conflicted about RTN because it seemed to flip surface-level characteristics instead of deep characterizations, and ignored flaws altogether. The ones above, esp. Hashirama and Madara's, are kind of dark in a way? But that's the only way it makes sense to me...Gai and Lee caring about style and being stylish is a funny joke but if you were to actually poke and prod and say their personalities were inverted, neither of them would be top-notch ninja as we know...unless I'm just completely misremembering RTN because I realize it's been years since I saw it lol. Anyway, hope this was entertaining!

#naruto #hashimada #hashirama senju #madara uchiha #mito uzumaki #tobirama senju #asks #al-stuffy #rtn au #long post

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rosemary-is-in-pesterquest · 3 years

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HS2's themes are fuckin wack crap cuz like... idk it all starts with the epilogues, right? the thing that the epilogues are trying to say is that all conflict that the characters face within the narrative is there because the audience cast their gaze upon this story and demanded entertainment. something has to happen on the stage to keep us watching, thus, it is the audience's fault that the characters suffer. but that's bullshit for so many reasons. for one thing, it ignores the role of the author. audience demand doesn't force an author's hands to write... that's a decision that the author made. we could've lived with nothing at all.

and conflict comes in many flavors. some stories hardly have any conflict at all. the whole iyashikei genre exists, like, I think we're well past understanding that cynicism, tragedy, and destruction are not the only forces that can drive a narrative. "conflict" is not the only reason for a story to be told. once again, stories tell us as much about the author as their audience. the kind of story an author deems worthy of telling is just as relevant to consider as the kind of story an audience deems worthy of attention.

and even in conflict driven stories... it matters what the conflict is, who wins, how, and why. as a simple example, when the conflict is a battle between good and evil, good wins, it does so by way of the power of friendship, and the reason it is presented this way is to promote the idea that you should be kind and help others... that's a story with a purpose. obviously this is like, children's cartoon level simple, and a story can be written to say different or more complex things, but I should always be able to ask those questions and come up with an answer.

if, as an author, Hussie wanted to accuse his audience of being culpable in the suffering of his characters, he would at least have to present the reader with a meaningful choice. and at first glance, it would almost seem like he did. meat and candy, even by their naming convention, seem as though they are giving you the option to consume a light or dark tale. but even in the names, there is a seed of judgement. Hussie has described the concept of a narrative containing both "meat" and "candy" in terms of story content, wherein meat is anything heavy in terms of plot or drama, and candy is anything that provides levity as a counterbalance, such as jokes or feel good fluff. these categories are already identified as "substance" vs. "a lack of substance" which places value on the cynical, dark route as being more truthful... conflating cynicism with realism.

and already I can see making a case for the idea that neither route is legitimate, because no story should subsist on just one or the other... both need to be at play for the story to be balanced. and you could even argue that the lampooning of the epilogues' legitimacy was the point... that they were supposed to be outside of canon and regarded as illegitimate all along. but then not only does that negate the author's ability to let the audience choose the kind of story they're participating in, but the story itself doesn't play by its own rules.

does candy truly read like some fluffy pandering fanservice filler, the way one might expect it to? and is meat totally devoid of any levity, while focusing only on plot machinations and/or the characters' dramatic downward spiral? I would argue that, even though the consensus seems to be that both routes are equally dismal, neither even gets dark enough to live up to that end of the bargain either. the execution is messy... the concept doesn't hold up.

and what of the initial concept? that the audience's observation of a story forces the characters to enact a conflict for the sake of our entertainment? is that really what's going on here? from the initial pitch, you could already tell that the answer was no. nobody asked for this. and so we cast our apparently destructive audience gaze onto Homestuck 2.

but there, we find another curveball. the story is... almost becoming self aware? in that it casts a character in the role of the author, and also identifies him firmly as the villain. but see, this is still a blame shift. and maybe that would've been less obvious if Andrew Hussie had not introduced himself as a character inside of his own web comic throughout the original narrative. the true author is already here.

the villain of homestuck was never the audience, and it was never a fictional character. if we're really shattering the 4th wall... if we're really ceasing our suspension of disbelief, pulling back the curtain, and acknowledging that these characters are fabricated, manipulated entities with real people behind the wheel, then there is only one conclusion we can possibly come to. the author has control over the narrative... no one else. and the things the author chooses to say with the platform they've made for themselves? those things are on them. what are we to understand about the author, as his audience?

this is why people are looking past the story entirely and engaging with the creative team, for better or for worse. if you break your story enough, it won't work anymore. and when the audience finds it in shambles, completely unusable as a story... you know, the thing it was intended to be? they might actually look to the people who broke it and ask them why they did that. it was a nice story. it performed several functions that people actually enjoyed. was dismantling it like this really the most fulfilling thing they could've done with it?

and I'll tell you another thing. part of why people take it so personally is because, just like how Andrew Hussie, the homestuck character, was a stand-in for Andrew Hussie, the human being... many of the characters in homestuck were stand-ins for us. John Egbert was for people who had an obsessive nerdy interest in movies, Rose was for people who wrote fanfiction, Nepeta was for people who ship characters a lot, she and Terezi were for people who RP, and also... Dave was for people who were trying to act cooler than they felt, Jade was for people who were lonely, Kanaya was for people who wanted to help people and be accepted, Vriska was for people who were hard to love and felt judged for that.

who do these writers think they're messing with?

and I just want to make it clear that I'm not condoning any kind of harassment of them, or anything like that. ultimately, my point here is that we are not our effigies. and in the same way that an author can't blame shift onto a fictional character, a person cannot claim the direction of a fictional story as a reason to do real harm.

but homestuck was always unique in that it spoke very directly to its audience. when Hussie added real pieces of us to his fake people, he had a powerful vehicle for the messages that he wanted us to hear. lots of stories have characters that are written to be relatable, but you'd be hard pressed to find ones that feel quite so specific as the cast of homestuck. to our era. to our humor. to the values of people growing up in our online cultural circumstances.

if this specific author is going to choose to act like a villain, at least in the small-scale context of this comic, then what is that setting us up to be? maybe nothing so presumptuous as a hero... maybe just like, Dave of Guy, y'know? but Dave made normal a pretty heroic thing to be... I think it's up to us to just be normal and have normal fun, in spite of the shit show. regular old homestuck already said all the valuable stuff it was gonna. for my part, I'm just gonna take that and run off with it. ignoring HS2 doesn't make it go away, but paying attention to it doesn't make it good either... so I guess whatever.

that's the themes. the themes are just a big "so what" shrug. most complicated way to say "who cares" I've ever seen.

This is a really good analysis

#long post /#I should probably start using that tag just in case it clogs up people's feeds

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shewholovestoread · 3 years

Text

Fear Street Trilogy Review

Beware, spoilers ahead.

I love horror movies but good horror movies are so hard to come by. Fear Street grabbed my attention as soon as they released the first trailer, it looked like a call-back to the slasher films of old, back when they were still good. And the best part was the apparent presence of lesbians, count me in!

Fear Street is based on the books by the same name by R. L. Stine, a lot of us remember Stine for another horror classic, Goosebumps. The Fear Street novels were aimed at older audiences and were way more bloody than Goosebumps- lots of teenagers dying. The films don’t adapt any particular book but rather the tone and rough setting and I think that works to its advantage.

The Setting:

Fear Street is based on the fictional town of Shadyside, the poorer and more unfortunate twin of its sister-town Sunnyside. Sunnyside is sunny, wealthy and where nothing bad ever happens. Shadyside in contrast is poorer, the homes more run-down and where, every few years, some resident snaps and goes on a murderous rampage, killing their own friends, family or whoever they can get their hands on. There are those who believe that Shadyside is cursed by Sarah Fier, a witch who was hanged in the 1600s when she cut off her hand and used it to curse the town.

Fear Street Part 1:

1994 functions like the introduction and set-up for the trilogy. It introduces us to the characters, Deena (Kiana Madeira), Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.), Kate (Julia Rehwald) and Simon (Fred Hechinger). They unwittingly trigger the curse when they stumble across the bones of Sarah Fiers, soon killers are chasing them, killing-machines powered by the curse and who can’t be killed. Deena, Sam, Josh, Kate and Simon have to put aside their differences and work together to survive the night.

Fear Street Part 2: 1978

1978 opens with the survivors of 1994 going to C. Berman (Gillian Jacobs), the lone survivor of the Camp Nightwing massacre. It provides insight into the massacre that saw dozens of Shadyside kids being killed. 1978 takes us back to the day leading up to the bloody night. We meet the Berman sisters, Ziggy and Cindy (Sadie Sink and Emily Rudd respectively), Alice (Ryan Simpkins) and Tommy (McCabe Syle) When an axe-wielding murderer starts butchering the camp residents, Cindy and Alice, while trying to escape, stumble into the cave system that runs under the camp and discover Sarah’s hand and that the only way to break the curse is to reunite the hand with her body. However, they are unable to break the curse when they realise that the body is not buried where they thought it would be. Alice, Cindy and Ziggy are killed by the cursed murderers with only Ziggy being revived thus being labeled the lone survivor. In the present day, Deena and Josh dig out the hand from where Ziggy and Cindy left it, when Deena reunites the hand with the body, she sees visions of Sarah Fiers, leading us into the third and final film.

Fear Street Part 3: 1666

1666, the year it all started. We see the events play out leading up to the hanging. Deena is inside Sarah’s body, seeing and experiencing her life as if it were own. We learn that it was never Sarah’s curse, but in fact it was the Goodes who had made a deal with the devil, securing power for themselves (their descendants are the mayor and sheriff in 1994) Sarah Fiers was just the scapegoat. Every time someone saw a vision of Sarah, she was trying to show them the truth and un-dead killers hunted them to keep them from exposing it.

The films work individually but their impact really hits home once you’ve watched all 3. Leigh Janiak crafts such an intricate story and links 3 time periods, weaving them through each other seamlessly. With 3 films, she also has the time to invest in these different time periods and the characters that inhabit them.

The story, both in terms of individual films as well as the trilogy as a whole, is engaging and engrossing. It keeps the audience on their toes and the edge of their seats, waiting and dreading as the bodies pile up. Janiak also grounds the story so that it feels real even as the characters are fighting off un-dead killers, adding to the nail-biting tension.

There’s plenty to admire for a horror film buff, from the Scream reference in 1994, to Friday the 13th in 1978 and The Witch (or VVitch) in 1666. There’s also a good amount of gore to be found along with some really inventive ways of killing, who knew bread cutters/slicers could be so menacing.

There’s so much attention to detail in terms of costume and production design that you really feel like you’re in 1994, 1978 or even 1666. All of these work to draw you in as the viewer, adding to the authenticity on screen. The clothes and places feel lived-in. The song choices are amazing with popular hits from 1994 and 1978, the soundtrack definitely elevates the visuals. The original score in 1666 was absolutely gorgeous, especially Deena and Sam’s theme.

The sequence of the films with 1994 being the first, followed by 1978 and finally 1666 was a great choice with each film revealing a little more of the puzzle till all the pieces are revealed in 1666. It keeps the tension alive and keeps the characters and the audience constantly guessing. It also allows Janiak to sprinkle just enough subtle clues that become apparent when rewatching the films.

The characters are one of the best things in the trilogy, they are so well written, and I mean that for almost all of the main cast which is rare. One of the best things that Janiak does is repeat actors, especially the principle cast. For instance, a lot of actors we see in 1994 and 1978 appear in 1666 playing different roles but with a similar dynamic. It helps tell the story without worrying about too many new faces and worrying about whether or not the audience will be able to keep track of them. The return of old faces also ensures that the audience is already a little invested in them and their well-being.

Small side-note: I really appreciated that there was no sexual violence. It always worries me when I start a horror show/film and it was such a relief that they did not go that route. There is a lot of violence and a lot of people and kids die but it’s always just slightly campy enough that keeps it from being genuinely disturbing.

One of the things that always irk me with slasher films (especially the old ones) are how white they were, no characters of colour and if there were any, they always died. There were also no queer characters. Fear Street undoes that beautifully, all of our main characters are outsiders, they are people of colour, they are queer. In another film, they would have been nameless characters, among the first to die. Here they are the heroes. I loved all of them and I hated that Alice, Kate and Simon died, to be honest, I expected the core group to survive, Kate especially.

Fear Street is also unapologetically feminist and Janiak does this without it being too obvious. The central conflicts in the story are between women (sister/ friends/ ex-girlfriends) but they also band together and fight for each other. It’s worth noting that most of the core relationships are between women (Deena-Sam, Ziggy-Cindy-Alice, Sarah-Hannah) and those are not coincidences.

I loved how gay this trilogy was, Deena and Sam’s love for each other was the driving force and was at the heart of the story. Even in 1666, Sarah’s crime was not so much witchcraft as it was daring to love someone you’re not supposed to and fighting back against the proprietary nature of the men who sought to control them. Sarah and Hannah loved each other fiercely and we see that same love reflected hundreds of years later in Deena and Sam who fight for each other relentlessly. I also appreciated that Deena and Sam were exes instead of a new relationship. It meant that they already had history, they shared a familiarity and comfort with each other that a new relationship would have had to build onscreen.

The Fear Street Trilogy is one of the best horror trilogies I’ve seen in a while, each film is consistently great and delivers gore and violence coupled with immense heart. It has one of the best queer relationships I’ve seen on screen and spoiler alert, they get a happy ending. I’m sick and tired of lesbian women dying or separating because of realism. Damn realism, give me happy women loving women and who live through their traumatic ordeal. Watch Fear Street for them if for nothing else. Now excuse me as I prepare to rewatch the trilogy.

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shinidamachu · 3 years

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On the Japanese side plenty of fans are calling Sesshōmaru “ロリコン丸” or Loliconmaru and making quite a few statements like “Please don’t call this a sequel,” and “I am very disappointed,” so we know it’s not just the western fans freaking out. I think Sunrise is targeting the fans who’re likely to spend more money on merchandise

So I’ve heard, anon. So I’ve heard.

Regardless of how this mess turns out, this is the legacy Sunrise is gonna leave behind when this show is over.

If they go down that route, it’s gonna be extremely hard to separate $esshomaru from that stigma and with a reason. I’m not gonna pretend that I know what his stans are feeling right now because he was never my cup of tea. But I do know what is like to hold a character dear to your heart, looking up to them, growing up with them, loving them like a real friend. If it was Inuyasha in this situation I would be devastated. So at the very least I can empathize with you lot.

About the “please don’t call this a sequel” statement, again: you don’t have to. Nobody does. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. I don’t care how much Takahashi was involved: no one thinks the movies are canon. Hell, some of us don’t even see the manga-based anime as canon. Yashah!me was created not to expand Inuyasha’s universe, but for the sole purpose of making money, so it seems to me it’s up to each and every one of us, their audience/costumers, to decide for ourselves if we think it’s canon or not. Personally, Moroha is the only thing I’m keeping with me.

The sentiment of disappointment is mutual and it comes with frustration too, because it would have been so easy to make this work. They had us the moment the design of the trio dropped and if they had shown the original characters just a little bit of respect and had their children actually caring about what happened to them as much as we did, it would have worked. Instead they opted for giving us mystery for the sake of mystery and drowned themseves in a sea of inconsistency.

We were supposed to be thrilled to make theories about who the mother is, not calculating to see if a character is old enough to be a part of the potential list. That’s just messed up. And I know that ruling said character off from the start would compromise a part of the audience, but there’s a difference between not denying something and straight up teasing it for profit knowing exactly what they are doing and the implications of it.

What makes it worse is that the whole “foundation” of the ship they are catering to is that she was supposed to be a woman now. Not longer a child. A whole ass woman, capable of making her own choices. That’s why some people claim in order to justify it. So they were supposed to be working their asses off to put as many distance as possible from the little girl we know to this hypothetical woman. That’s, like, the bare minimum. Yet there they are, portraying her as a kid in the merch, in the opening... even in the screenshot of the scene in which she supposedly gave birth, she looks disturbly young. They didn’t put any effort to properly age her up whatsoever.

So if a loved character such as $esshomaru is now carrying this disgusting label, that’s on Sunrise. If the Inuyasha franchise is gonna be associated with these sickening words from now on, that’s on Sunrise. If we’re divided and fighting, that’s on Sunrise. If people are fleeing the fandom left and right, that’s on Sunrise. If the rating drops and the people enjoying the show don’t get another season, that’s on Sunrise. And on Rumiko too, I’m not giving her a free pass on this.

As for the japanese fans, I just want to say I’m sorry some people felt entitled to speak in your behalf and your people’s. I’m sorry they think they know more about your culture than you do. But I assure you most of us are quite aware your country is made of individuals that can speak and think for themselves, just like, I don’t know... the rest of the fucking world?

We knew from the start this was a cash grab thriving on nostalgia, but like many of you, I lowered my expectations to the core of the earth, told myself it was just a high budget fanfic and was super excited about it... Only to realize by episode four that I’ve read at least 15 better fanfics than this and coming back to reading them would be a better use of my time. So that’s what I did.

At this point, I just want the band-aid to be ripped off already so we can finally move on as a fandom, but they won’t even give us that because they are not done assaulting our wallets. Well, guess what? They didn’t get a penny from me and now I’m gonna make my level best to assure they never will.

And it’s not that I think me not giving them money will change anything, but I’m not doing it to change them, I’m doing it so they don’t change me.

#Thank you for the ask #Sorry I got carried away #I guess I didn't realize how much I still needed to vent #Anti Sessrin

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nintendroid · 3 years

Photo

Conker’s Bad Fur Day is a cult classic, a staple of the Nintendo 64 library and I want to throw it out the window.

Ok, maybe that’s going overboard, especially considering how expensive an original copy is. To say that Conker’s BFD was a less-than-stellar experience for me is an understatement. After completing my 14-hour playthrough, I was left bummed out and disappointed - thanks in part to the unbelievably depressing ending.

I understand why it’s a cult classic - it’s got a lot going for it, but after years of hype and top 10 lists and accolades, I just don’t feel that it’s up there with the likes of Super Mario 64 or Donkey Kong 64.

“Blasphemy!” you say, “Heresy!” you say “You’re talking out of your rear-end!” you say, but that’s physically impossible, sir. I have my reasons and I think they’re justified. Does it mean you should hate the game too? Absolutely not. Play what you enjoy - this is simply a recital of my personal experience and at the end of it all, this is one guy’s opinion.

So let’s start with the good stuff. Conker’s BFD is a very good-looking game graphically, and I adore the sound effects in this game - walking through mud/poop is like ASMR to me. The juxtaposition of a foul-mouthed, drunken squirrel with a cutesy, cartoony backdrop is funny at times and when the humor is good, it’s good. While a majority of the humor fell flat with me, there is some clever humor sprinkled throughout. I enjoyed the fourth-wall breaking stuff, the way stacks of cash would insult you in a Brooklyn-esq accent, the references to R-rated movies are pretty fun as well.

Some of the levels have enjoyable gameplay. The Mighty Poo boss-fight and the gladiator-style caveman fight kept me playing, when I felt like tapping out. For better or worse, there’s a fair amount of variety here, ranging from platforming segments to third-person shooter, to puzzle-solving.

That sounds pretty good as I type it out and it gives me fond memories of the short times I enjoyed Conker’s BFD - then I remember the bad stuff. A big turn-off from the get go was the cynical humor. I know comedy is subjective - I watched “Joker” too but as a 30+ year-old man, my days of forcing myself to laugh at gore and mean-spirited humor are long in the past. Watching a cow crap like a fountain before being blown into bloody chunks or having the top of Conker’s head being sniped off with a fountain of blood accompanying it isn’t funny. Being that this dropped in 2001, Rare was definitely gunning for the South Park audience - which was white hot at the time.

Performance issues are a big problem in crucial moments. BFD looks awesome and for the most part plays ok. If there’s a lot going on onscreen however, expect the framerate to nearly rival that of a slideshow. The worst example I can point to from the top of my head is the “Saving Private Ryan” stage near the end of the game. The rockets and gunfire slow the action down to a crawl, while the enemies spawn out of nowhere to destroy you in one quick blast. Speaking of...

Conker is pretty underpowered for the most part. You can’t upgrade your health so from start-to-finish you have six hits of life. Fall damage is ridiculous too and it’s very easy to take damage from falling even if you use your tail to float down. However, lives are easy to acquire and checkpoints are reasonable so it’s not an impossible game. It can be difficult, especially the dreaded “Saving Private Ryan” stage as mentioned.

I think next to the humor, the biggest flaw in BFD is just the gameplay. I mentioned the variety, but it isn’t variety in the same way as Banjo-Kazooie or Donkey Kong 64 where things feel different but cohesive - Its variety feels like they started with one idea to abandon it for the other. The “context” power-ups support that claim, where you only have power-ups related to whatever is going on in that stage. A clever humor device, but not an empowering video game mechanic. Is it really that hard to let me freely roam the land with a flamethrower and a shotgun? Why wait until I hop on a stupid “B”?

Conker’s Bad Fur Day could’ve been so much more in my eyes. A little more thought put into the gameplay, scale the humor back to PG-13 territory who, knows what kind of heights it would’ve reached? From here on I’ll choose to remember Conker fondly as the little squirrel who was fun to race as in Diddy Kong Racing. I’m interested to check out his Game Boy Color game to see what could’ve been. As far as Bad Fur Day goes, I’ll probably never play it again. I know it’s a classic in the minds of many, but this kind of stuff just isn’t for me.

I’ll leave off with a question: If a sequel was made today, would you want to see them continue in the direction of Bad Fur Day, or take a more traditional platforming mascot route?

Screenshots/images: MobyGames

#conker's bad fur day #conker live and reloaded #rareware #n64 #nintendo 64 #conker #diddy kong racing #nintendroid

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