#if that's wrong then it's wrong in such a spectacular plot twist way that i am genuinely at the edge of my seat to find out

[thefirstknife]

THOUGHTS

My thoughts are that I am insane right now!!!!!!!!

I was in a raid when this happened and then just like a few friends alerted us to come see the channel and we straight up did not believe them. TFS teaser THIS EARLY?? And then they also ofc said "Cayde is there" so we were convinced that they're messing with us.

But then we watched it and like, Cayde being there is the least of my concerns tbh. THE ENVIRONMENT???? It's the other side of the portal! It means we go through at some point in the next two seasons! This was expected of course, but I didn't think we would see anything about it until the actual campaign, definitely not this early. Like, seeing what it looks like on the other side is a huge teaser. I genuinely did not think we'll see a single glimpse before TFS, not even maybe during reveals and trailers later.

But Cayde being there is actually also important. He's not looking right! He has a weird glow on his eyes and other places, including the way Ace of Spades looks; some sort of weird gashes of light-ish tint, almost Taken in nature? But brighter. Kinda reminds me of the way time rifts look on Mars.

The fact that he has Ace in the first place is also suspect; we have Ace. Like, that was very much a huge plot. He can't have it back, not broken up like this, unless some truly WILD shit goes down in the next two seasons and YW like... dies or something. This, alongside the weird lights on him and the gun, seems to be indicating that he's not real. Like, he's obviously him and he is corporeal in some form and he speaks the same and knows who he is, but I think he's a memory that Ikora can access. (more under for length)

Which ties into the place they're at. Me and others have speculated before that what lies on the other side of the portal is the original garden from Unveiling, or some sort of a similar place outside of space and time. This can be neatly tied in with what we know about the Darkness and what has been the most important plot thread since Lightfall: Darkness is memory, emotions, psychic. It's history and time. I've spoken a lot about this recently. Lore has been focusing on it as well, most notably with Inspiral lore book from the raid that showed us two different ancient species that were capable of using the Darkness to access the collective consciousness and the memory of their civilisation, but this has also been brought up before, for example with the Psions who communicate in a psychic way and have an ancient religion that allowed them to contact their ancestors.

This is also heavily reiterated this season with Ahsa who has a similar power, as well as the Pyramid ships, the portal and the Veil who can all affect people's consciousness and give them access to their memories. One particular interesting bit is the ship from this season called Akashic Revelation. In it, we see the Titan, Joxer, making an attempt to pass through the portal. As he gets near, he goes through a massive whiplash of spacetime distortion and ends up having flashes of memories of his life before being a Guardian. The memories continue as he passes through, but we know what happens to him later. He is found outside, bent and broken, fused with his ship and dead. But the portal triggered a flash of memories of his past. Not only that, but the name of the ship is important as well: it refers to something called akashic records, an occult concept of there existing a compendium of everything that ever happened in the universe: all of past, present, future, all memories, events, emotions and people. Joxer seemingly accessed it as he touched and passed through the portal. This is absolutely a wild word to use here, given what we know of the Veil being the "mind and memory of the universe" and everything else I've mentioned.

What I'm trying to say is that the best way to tease about us gaining access to the source of the history of the universe is by showing Ikora speaking to a dead character who only exists as an imprint in the history of the universe. The potential here, if we're on the right track is huge. Not only is this super exciting on its own (a connection to everything that ever happened!), but it also brings the potential that other dead characters might also appear in some shape or form, to help us or tell us more.

It's also wild that this is a teaser. Meaning this is the least spoilery they could get and it's already so wild that it's making me lose my mind. I would definitely advise people not to expect Cayde (or other dead characters) to suddenly "come back" in the sense they expect them to. I don't think he or anyone else will be properly "alive." So in that sense, I don't think he's "back" the way people may think. He'll obviously have a presence in the story, and that makes sense if the story is focused on Ikora. Ikora has never truly recovered from his death and if there was a memory she would access (consciously or not), it would probably be his. She has already involuntarily accessed him as a nightmare.

But given how much we're focusing on the psychic aspects of the Darkness, including right now in this season which is pretty much all about the psychic bond between an ancient creature that has the power to show people visions of the past and the future and Sloane, a bond we have to strengthen to learn more about what's coming and what our enemy really is... The fact that the whole campaign and post-campaign and all lore and quests were focused on explaining the metaphysical properties of Darkness and its connection to the mind, the psychic, the consciousness, the emotions and the mind of the entire universe... Well. It's building up to something. And us being able to communicate with people long dead is not only useful, but might be necessary to understand how to defeat our enemy.

All of this is ofc purely wild speculation. It's way too early to say anything conclusive, outside of just trying to gauge which aspects of the lore Bungie wants us to pay attention to and which aspects of the lore are being focused on. The Veil and the memory of the universe seems to be this year's theme leading us into the Final Shape so for now, that's the direction to go into.

Full reveal will be on 22nd of August, which is the start of the next season. We'll definitely know more then, especially since Deep will be done and most of the new Ligthfall quest audio logs will likely be done too. Until then, I know people will go into wild directions and speculation, mostly because it's Cayde. In the same way that I advise people not to think that he'll suddenly be alive, I'd also ask people not to be too negative about what may happen because we literally don't know. Cayde's presence is not an indicator of either good or bad. I'd also like for people to focus more on the actual important background stuff rather than zero in on a single character, but I know that won't happen lmao.

In a way, I wish Cayde didn't overshadow the completely insane scene of Ikora sitting in a garden-like place on the other side of the portal that nobody has been able to go through before (and those that tried suffered violent deaths after being having visions of everything that ever happened). Because to me, that's the true teaser here. I can't wait to find out more and I'll definitely be looking at the upcoming lore from Deep in a different light. Things are building up and I hope people will pay attention to the background stuff that's been going on about the Veil, memory, history and consciousness.

#destiny 2 #destiny 2 spoilers #season of the deep #season of the deep spoilers #the final shape #cayde-6 #ikora #the veil #lore vibing #long post #long ass ramble about 50 seconds of a teaser #but i know what the major takeaway will be and i want to mention some of this stuff before people hype themselves into oblivion #about cayde being alive somehow. which is like. i'm 99% sure he's a memory in the fabric of the universe as everyone else is #if that's wrong then it's wrong in such a spectacular plot twist way that i am genuinely at the edge of my seat to find out #i definitely would've loved if ikora was more of a focus though. she should be #i feel like this is such a huge tease to drop this early but then again they KNOW what hype it will generate #ask

[blakeswritingimagines]

Dating Villain! Daemon Would Include:

Being a villain, people are going to talk about him. When someone talks about him, it's probably going to be about his deeds or actions. You know, who he's hurt, what he's destroyed. But when someone wants to talk about him as a person and they want to understand what makes him tick, to know him-he has to look at the person who loves him and asks you how you see him.

In simple terms. Exhilarating. He cannot tell you how thrilling it is to break so many moral and physical boundaries when you are with someone as twisted as he is. He feels free to be himself, to do as he pleases, knowing that regardless of what happens, you are always on the same twisted wavelength. And he is so unpredictable, that you are constantly on your toes. He loves the way he feels with his love by his side. And of course, you love watching him burn.

I must confess, that the relationship is not always easy. Despite the thrill, you both have a habit of becoming toxic, bound together, you are like a timebomb ready to explode. He often finds the intensity and unpredictability to be difficult to navigate in a relationship. But it is the drama that keeps him coming back. Love is messy, love is difficult, and being with you reminds him of that fact.

Aside from the excitement of doing the wrong thing, he finds himself fascinated with your mind and the way it works. You'll constantly be surprised by his thought processes, the reasoning behind his dark deeds. So much so that the little amount of morals you have left are constantly tested. And at the same time, you'll find yourself drawn deeper and deeper into his dark embrace. He is consumed by you, utterly and fully. He is yours, mind, body, and soul.

There is simply nothing quite like it. The rush of adrenaline, the thrill of testing fate, the excitement of pushing boundaries and defying conventional morality. But, to do so with your soulmate and partner in crime is something truly spectacular. You are made for one another. He is the embodiment of everything dark, wrong, and forbidden, and you will be in absolute heaven because of it. The things you can do together, both in and out of the spotlight, are things of legends.

You push him to be the best version of himself, and he believes you would say the same. He's been with many people in his time, and none of them have been able to truly bring out his darker side like you do. You know how to bring out his true colors and push him to his limits. And for someone as volatile and unpredictable as himself, he really needs a love like you to keep him engaged. You are the perfect combination of darkness and beauty, and he has no doubt you are his soulmate.

When he is with you, he feels no constraints. There are no limits to how far he can push the boundaries. And you push back just as hard, if not harder. You both are free to break rules and defy laws in pursuit of your interests and desires. It is exhilarating to know that he is with someone who is willing to go as far as him. It is almost as if you are daring him to cross the line, knowing full well that he will always push it further. The power dynamic is intoxicating.

The best part of it all is your sheer loyalty. There is no fear of betrayal, no need to worry about her abandoning or forsaking him, all of your plans and plots are always a joint effort and there is a level of stability and security he's never experienced before. You will always have his back and fight alongside him against those who would oppose your dark ways.

He feels a sense of freedom with his love by his side. He feels like he can live out his every dark desire, push the boundaries of what’s right and wrong, and even defy the Gods themselves because he knows that his love is right there with him. He feels free, empowered, and liberated in a way he never has before. He feels like he has a partner and a confidant who understands and accepts him for who he is and is able to match and even surpass him in terms of darkness.

Well, I have to say, it can also be quite the emotional rollercoaster. Because although you both love your dark and twisted lives, you are still two very troubled and emotionally complicated individuals. You'll have your ups and downs, like any normal relationship, but dare I say your ups and downs are a bit more extreme due to your wicked ways. But it's all part of the game for you both. You love each other, flaws and all. You learn to embrace the chaos.

When dating Daemon, one must be cautious of their words. He takes everything literally and is quick to anger. He is also prone to bouts of madness, so it is important to pay attention to the state of his mind when interacting with him. Despite these challenges, Daemon is passionate and loyal to the people he has loved and he has a soft spot for people even if he finds it funny that they fear him.

He has a soft spot for those who show courage and loyalty. When it comes to the person he loves, he takes pleasure in watching you fight and struggle to please him. He will punish you for disobeying him but will reward you for being good, giving him exactly what he desires. The affection he desires must involve pain, pleasure, and domination.

#daemon targaryen x reader #daemon targaryen smut #daemon x reader #daemon targeryan #daemon targaryen #daemon targeryen x reader #house of the dragon #dating would include #hotd daemon targaryen #hotd daemon #hotd headcanon #hotd x reader #hotd #house of the dragon headcanon

[mx-misty-eyed]

i saw spiderverse yesterday and oh my god. (movie review/spoilers below)

First of all, trans gwen stacy, im literally going insane, gwen stacy is trans. Anyway it was the best spiderman movie I've ever seen, easily, best animated movie too. Across the spiderverse was so good I'm genuinely considering if it was the best movie I've ever seen. The cameos were so fucking awesome i was shaking my friend next to me and pointing at the scream like every two minutes, donald glover, spectacular spiderman, insomniac spiderman, scenes from andrew and tobey's movies. Gwen's back story and home life, her struggle with her dad and the way its so easily comparable to coming out to your parents, for both her and Miles. She told her dad she was spiderwoman and he couldnt accept that, their relationship from that point is incredibly difficult in which they cant really even look at each other, him getting upset because to him, she isnt his daughter anymore, eventually all of this ending in the heartbreaking talk at the end where they finally try to see each others points of views and get to say what they want and finally hugging as the world around them is painted in trans colors (little tangent here but oh my god the way gwens entire universe looks like paint or a painting is so fucking beautiful and the way it started running and she was yelling and crying at her dad, so fucking amazing)

And Miles hiding his identity from his parents, scared that they'll hate him or be mad at him lying about it for so long, and when he finally gets up the guts to tell his family (albeit the wrong family) the dialouge is so similar to trans people coming out. Him saying he has something to tell them and he doesnt want it to change the way they see him or anything and how he doesnt want them to be mad or love him any less. Me and my friend related way too much to that scene.

Miguel my husband and his backstory were heartbreaking too, not having a family, finding a universe where he does have one and trying to live there. Hobie Brown just being the coolest fucking guy ever from his accent to his genuinely accurate portrayal of punks and how they use it to be serious and have him realize the spider team aren't the good guys or play it up for jokes. THE INSANE FUCKING PLOT TWISTS OF, THE SPOT BEING THE GUY MILES HIT WITH A FUCKING BAGEL IN THE FIRST MOVIE, MILES BEING IN THE WRONG UNIVERSE WHEN HE GOES HOME BECAUSE HE WAS BIT BY THE SPIDER FROM THAT UNIVERSE AND SHOULDNT ACTUALLY EXIST AS SPIDERMAN, AND OTHER UNIVERSE HIM BEING THE FUCKING PROWLER. The entire theater was freaking out it was awesome. I dont think i even need to talk about the animation. The blend of different styles was awesome as usual, but they actually experimented more with this one and it paid off so well. The vulture in the beginning was so beautiful, me and my friend were freaking out every time he was on screen, and Hobie fucking brown. Hobie Brown was the most beautiful animation I've ever seen, the way he moved, the way he changed colors, they way he interacted with objects and people and the world around him, they experimented with him and it paid off so well and I hope in they next one they'll continue to do things like that. I literally never review movies but everything about this one was so awesome that i needed to talk about it

#spider man: across the spider verse #across the spiderverse #across the spiderverse spoilers #atsv spoilers #hobie brown #spider punk #spiderman 2099 #miles morales #miguel o'hara #gwen stacy

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC Review: 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall

4/5. Releases 10/17/2023.

Vibes: Hallmark Christmas movies with a twist, boss/employee, grumpy meets snarky, uptight meets defiant

Sam can't stand his controlling, uptight boss, Jonathan. When they get into a conflict (at the workplace!) right before Christmas, enough is enough, and Jonathan fires Sam... Right before accidentally causing an accident that gives Sam a concussion. Befuddlement and confusion at the hospital leads Jonathan to believe Sam has amnesia... And why not go with it...?

Another charming, funny romcom from Alexis Hall, full of chemistry. It's a little tame, but it's also Christmasy and offers me the same feeling a sugar cookie would. If you're a fan of Alexis--or want a seasonal good time--go for this.

Quick Takes:

--One thing I loved off the bat was that Jonathan was SO. VERY. STARCHED. And he hired Sam despite his lack of managerial experience because he "saw something in him" (or maybe he envisioned Sam inside him idk idk). So of course, he's so, so mad and so, so stuffy about his would-be protegee... kinda sucking at his job (more on that later).

Sam, meanwhile, is like--I wouldn't call this grumpy/sunshine. Sam is too snarky, too snappy, and too confrontational with Jonathan to be a sunshine. They're immediately combative, and you get this great tension, and then like... boom. Jonathan is trying to keep himself from getting sued to hell and Sam is pretending to be an amnesiac in order to keep his job. MESS.

As a sidebar... This is not a true amnesia romance, but if you like amnesia romance, I think you'll enjoy it. Jonathan fully thinks his employee! is an amnesiac and spends this whole time babysitting him, and having him meet his family... You know. Boss stuff.

--One thing I expected going into this book was like, this typical scenario where the millionaire asshole Jonathan was wrong, and Sam's soft managerial approach was entirely right. To me, Sam immediately had some noticeable issues as a manager that I've seen in real life, and they're often brushed off because it's nice and kind of passive.

I should've trusted in Alexis Hall more, because he really handles this well and humanizes both Jonathan and Sam. Neither one of them is perfect. Sam has a lot of growing to do. Romance arc aside (which was obviously good), I seriously appreciated where Sam ended up in this story. It was a very evolved take, and refreshingly realistic in a way I think Alexis handles better than almost any other author.

--The Christmas isn't OVERMUCH, but it's just enough to have that charming, snowflakes in the air over kisses vibe. And it has enough wit and chemistry to really overpower the schmaltzy Hallmark movie sensibility. Although it's nothing like this movie in terms of plot, in terms of romanticism this book reminded me more of Dashing in December, than a Hallmark movie.

The Sex:

This is a closed door romance, and I won't lie, that didn't feel completely right to me. I'm biased, and if anyone is going to sell me on closed door, it's Alexis Hall. And this couple did still feel very sexy--like I said, the chemistry is great. I would recommend this book as a closed door novel that will probably work for people like me (who don't really read closed door ever).

But... they do have sex. It's just not on the page. And I couldn't help but wonder why? It's probably just an artistic choice, and I respect that. Like I said, it works. I just think it would have been a little bit better if we'd seen that sex scene. Or really, those sex scenes. I also just love the way Alexis writes sex. Peggy and Orfeo's first time in Something Spectacular is one of my favorite sex scenes ever. Something on the love of Mortal Follies, a book which was pretty tame in terms of sex but still said a lot with a little, handled this a bit better to me.

With that being said, if you want a cute and witty Christmas romcom with a wacky twist, this will absolutely work for you. It's light, it's fun, it's satisfying. Can't complain about that!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

#romance novel blogging #arc reviews #netgalley #book recs #book reviews #books

[onceuponaroast]

Ok so. I have Thoughts about pokemon sv now that I've finished it. This is your spoiler warning, details below the cut for the full main storyline. You've been warned.

I have to admit, I think this is probably my new favorite game.

Don't get me wrong, I'm just as disappointed with the lagging/glitches as everyone else! I even spent much of the first part of the game feeling mildly underwhelmed

But then I hit the final storyline

I enjoy games with good writing above all, graphics etc second. So I was hooked pretty early by Arven and Penny's storylines. No offense to Nemona, I love her, but I've done the gym challenge before, so I was way more intrigued by them. Especially with the air of mystery surrounding those plots

I was super surprised by pokemon handling such mature themes, too! Arvens struggle to feel loved by his parent(s) and the possibility of losing a beloved pet- and Penny's storyline about how often when victims of bullying stand up for themselves they're the ones who end up getting in trouble with teachers. I have personal experience with parts of both of these stories (losing a pet and bullying) so these hit me hard!

But then! Oohhhh then when I finished those three plots and the all came together for the final storyline?? Beautiful!!! I'm a sucker for seemingly unrelated things coming together for something even bigger

The writers actually did a great job of portraying a bunch of teenagers hanging out together. Each character remained true to themselves, while also sounding like a realistic group of kids.

As we got closer to the final boss there were some breadcrumbs to pick up on, so I was suspecting *something* was up, but when the final twist dropped my jaw actually fell open

It was so well written! I was not expecting it, but in hindsight all the details clicked together. That's the best kind of plot twist in my opinion. When I first saw AI Sada I thought it was her dead body, but then it activated and I was like "Oh Shit, okay!!!!"

Then they subverted the evil AI trope, having the robot professor actually want to help us, but knowing they'll turn against us because of their programming... beautiful showstopping spectacular

I had a few fears going into the final battle (would we have to send Koraidon back to the past? Were we gonna loose Mabostiff for Dramatic Effect, wasting all the work we'd put in with Arven?) And I'm SO GLAD I was wrong.

The final storyline ended in such a satisfying way, and I was actually astounded by the level of care that went into the writing. My expectations after swsh and pla were not high, and I was blown away

I've never had a game make me actually cry before, let alone twice (once when Mabostiff was fully healed and once when Arven found out about his mom/lost AI Sada too. Yes Arven is my favorite why do you ask)

I am so happy with this game. Did it need some more time to iron out the rendering kinks? Absolutely. Were the programmers probably way overworked and am I totally pissed about that? Yeah 100%. But I can tell a lot of love went into this game, it's writing and characters, and I've still got more to do! There's a ton of post game activities I haven't even started yet

Overall I loved this game and I'm going to go cry some more now

#fi talks #long post #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon scarlett #pokemon sv #pokemon #pokemon sv spoilers #pokemon spoilers #sv spoilers

[animebw]

Short Reflection: Girls’ Last Tour

Post-apocalyse fiction is a surprisingly versatile genre. From zombie survival to natural disasters, from tales of humanity at war with itself to tales of humanity rising from the ashes, there’s a lot you can explore after the fall of civilization. As time goes on, though, I’ve found that my favorite sub-genre of post-apocalypse fiction involves stories that explore the very very end. Not just a world where society has collapsed, but a world that is, itself, staring down the barrel of its own demise. Maybe that’s just the sick, twisted freak in me, but I find something deeply compelling about stories that ask us to bear witness to the dying days of existence as we know it. When life itself is almost over, what purpose is left to pursue? What goal is left to fight over? How does one find meaning at the end of all things? These are heavy, heady questions, but when a story has the guts to ask them and the skill to answer them, the impact it leaves on me is second to none. And few stories in recent memory have pulled that off as spectacularly as Girls’ Last Tour.

To be honest, though, calling Girls’ Last Tour “spectacular” feels like doing it a disservice. Not because it’s inaccurate- it’s fucking great- but because it misrepresents what makes this show so powerful. To me, calling something “spectacular” suggests a high-impact, high-octane thrill ride that will have you cheering and crying at the intensity of the, well, spectacle unfolding before you. And Girls’ Last Tour is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. It doesn’t seek to shock and awe, but to envelop you in its tone and themes, slowly marinating you in them until they permeate every fiber of your being. It’s the kind of show that creeps into your subconscious and unlocks emotions in you so raw and primal you struggle to put them into words. This anime affected me, on a deep, intimate level few anime ever reach. And it did so not with shocking plot twists or epic battles, but with two girls traveling a dying earth, contemplating their place in life as they explore the bones of a world long since faded into the past.

That sentence basically sums up the entire plot. Chi and Yuu are two girls set adrift in a world where life as we know it has all but ended. All that remains are a series of giant super-structure cities, stacked on top of each other in massive plains of metal, and a near-perpetual snowfall that blankets the wasteland outside in a cold, desolate white (Between this, Wolf���s Rain, and Vampire in the Garden, I’m starting to realize that post-apocalyptic steampunk ice worlds are one of my all-time favorite aesthetics). There are no signs of life, no pockets of civilization, no way to fix what’s been so thoroughly broken. The world ended long ago; all that’s left now are the last few fading embers struggling to stay alight. But Chi and Yuu carry on all the same, rolling through the endless supercity in their miniscule tank, searching for a path to the highest level for some unknown reason. Along the way, they contemplate the ruins of the world that was, stumbling across relics of what used to be in abundance- a fish, a temple, a house, a camera, the concept of music, the rare encounter with another living thing-  and wonder what all this must have meant to the humans who lived here so long ago.

It wouldn’t be wrong to describe Girls’ Last Tour as a cute-girls slice-of-life show. Chi and Yuu are both adorable moeblobs with character designs that wouldn’t look out of place in Hidamari Sketch, and the show is all about them having episodic encounters with new and interesting situations. It’s just that the cute thing these girls are doing is pondering the meaning of life itself in a world where life is all but at its end. Or at least, Chi ponders it; Yuu’s content to just go with the flow and live for her next mealtime. And that push and pull between them lies at the heart of this show’s thematic power. Through Chi and Yuu’s intimate, bickering chemistry and the different ways they approach the world, Girls’ Last Tour asks us to consider: which is more important, the past or the present? Should be contemplate and record what used to be, even if no one will eventually be left to see it? Should we forget the past entirely and enjoy our too-brief time alive before its over? In a world where everything is about to end, is it still worth it to find meaning in what’s come before, or should we cherish what little time we have in the here and now before it slips through our fingers?

These questions are rarely stated aloud, but they hang over every transient episode in these girls’ lives. Every new object they find, every new person they talk to, every new concept they try to wrap their heads around, all of it bears the question of why. Why do these things matter? Why did people care so much about them? Why do we continue to care about them when their initial purpose is rendered meaningless? Why, in the end, do we live? And now that life itself is coming to a close and no one will be around to remember it, why was it worth living at all? The answers aren’t always painful; one of the greatest things about this show is how much joy there is to be found amidst the quiet, existential despair of a fading world. Simple actions like listening to the rain as it makes music by bouncing off various metal objects, or getting drunk and dancing under the moonlight, or Yuu drawing in Chi’s journal as a way of recording her own version of history, are able to rock you to your core with their understated sense of whimsy. Even when facing the end of all things, the human spirit remains as it ever was: curious, hopeful, forever reaching for the understanding that lies just beyond its grasp.

And perhaps that’s the best way to describe what makes Girls’ Last Tour so goddamn affecting. It’s a story that finds peace in the end of all things, not because it’s a release from a painful existence, but because it knows that we will continue to find a reason to live right up until it’s all over. It knows that everything will end someday, but it trusts us to make the most of the time we have left, whatever detours we end up taking along the way. It’s the ultimate artistic expression of that one Dr. Seuss quote: don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened. Nothing is eternal, not people, not planets, not even existence itself. But right now, we’re still here. So let’s live and love and wonder and wander and find peace in the meaning we make ourselves. And when it’s finally over, let’s go out with a smile on our face, content in the knowledge that it was worth being alive after all. That is the message of Girls’ Last Tour, in all its moments of joy and sorrow alike. And it’s a message that will linger with me every time I think back to these two girls far in the future, searching for meaning in the long-forgotten ruins of my current existence.

If there’s anything to criticize about this show, it’s that it’s sadly incomplete. The anime only adapts the first two thirds of the manga, and while it comes to about as perfect an ending as it could under the circumstances, the realities of cours-based anime production make it unlikely we’ll ever see the manga’s final two volumes animated. And that is a fucking crime, because without spoiling anything, the final third of the Girls’ Last Tour manga solidifies it as my favorite manga of all time. Don’t get me wrong, the stuff this adaptation covers is plenty fantastic, and the anime does an incredible job bringing the manga’s melancholy aesthetic to life (it honestly feels like an early 2000s Kino’s Journey-alike in its animation and direction, though with much better CG integration and digital compositing). But the way the manga develops and resolves in that final stretch laid me out on the floor like almost nothing else. It is a masterpiece like none other, and it’s deeply sad we’ll likely never see it adapted to completion. Though maybe that’s for the best, honestly; seeing those final chapters brought to life with the anime’s incredible presentation might just actually kill me.

Still, if the worst I can say about an anime is that it doesn’t reach the absolute best part of its source material, I can’t really complain that much. Girls’ Last Tour the Manga may be the most complete version of this story, but Girls’ Last Tour the Anime stands on its own just fine. It’s a beautiful, breathtaking, achingly earnest rumination on our place in the world, from a scale as large as the sweep of human history to a scale as small as two girls finding happiness in a weird square potato. This may be, as the title says, these girls’ last tour, but I can’t think of any better journey to say goodbye with. And I award this anime a score of:

9/10

Now go watch it and then read the manga. Both are fantastic and deserve your love. In the meantime, I’ve got some Fruits Basket to watch, so I’ll see you next time for that!

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #girls last tour #girls' last tour #shoujo shuumatsu ryokou #2017 aniwatch

[m0chigang]

July Wrap Up ✨

I know, a bit late, but bear with me, I felt lazy. As always, beware of any spoilers ahead.

1. Red, White and Royal Blue - 5/5

LISTEN, I admit I procrastinated reading this book not only for the movie but also because I was afraid of not liking it. I was wrong. I am in love?? It read like a fanfic in the best way possible, and I kind of fell in love with Henry too. I was just smiling throughout the whole thing, and my feet kicked a lot. ALSO, first kiss on chapter 3? YES PLEASE. The movie is better than I was expecting as well, Nicholas is such an amazing actor, the way he looks at Taylor just makes me want to cry. This truly is a new yearly rom-com watch.

2. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - 5/5

Another 5 star, yes, but, oh. my. god. I cried, obviously, Ari and Dante are just adorable. It was fascinating to read the mind of a teenage boy and his struggles and how he slowly starts growing into himself. I freaking loved this book. The last line?? The damage that made to my heart?? An instant buy.

3. Lore - 4/5

A Percy Jackson x Hunger Games crossover, I was fucking amazed. I felt betrayed so much, the plot twists caught me off guard. Miles is the best character, obviously, but Castor... CASTOR. How can someone say the things he says? Like... BRO JUST MARRY ME. I cried. Again. But I was so happy with the ending, it closed every door, it answered every question. I admit it took me 5 days to read 300 pages. But I read the last 200 in one sitting. Spectacular.

4. Artemis Made Me Do It - 4/5

Another poetry book, I really liked it. But I don't remember if I cried or not. It was a book I was reading in random moments on the bus or waiting for the train.

#reading #book tumblr #reading challenge #what i read this month #Artemis made me do it #red white and royal blue #lore #aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge

This is a somewhat unusually structured book.

I discovered after I finished reading that it had originally been serialized which was unsurprising. While there's an overarching plot the individual chapter are to a large extent self-contained.

It's tempting to make a comparison to monster of the week TV shows. There's a cast who appears across the various chapters and then the characters/beasts who appear for one chapter and then exit the narrative.

It's set in a fictionalized version of Yong'an and explores the beasts that inhabit the city alongside humans.

Other than a brief epilogue each chapter is dedicated to a specific type of beast. While they're called beasts it quickly becomes clear that they're sapient and it is pointed out in most chapters that the beasts are similar to humans except in the ways they are noted to differ.

The chapters open with a few paragraphs describing what is known about each beast before describing how the narrator, an author and ex-zoologist, encounters the beast in question.

The opening descriptions are often proven to be inaccurate or incomplete. Early in the book the narrator thinks "We have barely any knowledge, but are conceited enough to fill books with our ignorance anyway.”

It's an enjoyable interplay, first getting the official academic description and then discovering through the story how it is wrong, but later in the book it begins to feel a little formulaic.

Even so to the end that format never quite losses it's charm. There was a detail in the descriptions of the beast in a late chapter that didn't make sense and I thought might actually be a mistake on the author's part and it was very satisfying to see there was in fact a sensible explanation.

I always wonder with translated works how much of the quality of the prose reflects on the original author versus the translator. Regardless, while it was not quite spectacular I enjoyed the prose here.

Deeply disturbing elements of the setting are conveyed in such a matter of fact way that if you're not paying attention you could gloss over them.

The ending didn't quite land for me. It's not that it's predictable though in the main it is. The twist struck me a something that would be more interesting to tease the implications out of once it was revealed rather than presenting it so close to end that it could only be briefly examined.

I liked this one a lot but it falls into that odd category of books that are so close to being great that the shortcomings become more salient to me.

#strange beasts of china #yan ge

[my-weird-news]

Tragic Ohio School Bus Crash: Student Dies, 23 Injured on First Day 😢

Oh, School Buses and Minivan Madness! So picture this: a bright morning in Ohio, kids bouncing off the walls with the excitement of their first day of school. A school bus, on a mission to wrangle these mini-munchkins, was cruising along like a seasoned captain with a cargo of 52 spirited sailors. Just your typical Tuesday, right? Wrong! 🚌 Meet the Hero of the Hour: The School Bus, aka the Kid-Mobile. It was on a roll, making its way northeast of Dayton, when out of nowhere, like a ninja in a Honda Odyssey, this minivan decided to crash the party. No RSVP, no warning, just a spectacular sideswipe move that could earn it a spot in a minivan action movie. Now, the school bus driver saw the Honda Odyssey's move and thought, "Hey, maybe they're just trying to show off their parallel parking skills." But no, it was more like a high-speed tango gone wrong. The bus swerved, the minivan swerved, and the kids inside were probably doing a mix of screaming and "wheeeee" like they were on a roller coaster. 🚦 Plot Twist: One brave kiddo decided they'd had enough of the wild ride and took an unexpected exit through a window. That's right, folks, the bus rolled, and this pint-sized daredevil was ejected from the bus, probably yelling, "I've had it with field trips!" 🚑 Emergency Extravaganza: In the aftermath of this automotive ballet, we had 23 students who suddenly found themselves signed up for the "Emergency Room Express." Some sported non-life-threatening injuries, which is code for "I survived the minivan storm," while one student went all out and scored a serious injury. Now, here's where it gets even more absurd. Imagine a school bus, a vehicle designed to transport students, without any seatbelts. It's like sending kids on a roller coaster without the safety bar—only, this time, it's on the road! The driver, bless their heart, had a seatbelt on, but the bus full of bouncing beans didn't have any. Guess those school buses were designed by the same folks who thought roller coasters were meant to be an extreme sport! 🚧 Mystery Minivan: Now, let's not forget the star of the crash, the Honda Odyssey that wanted a piece of the school bus spotlight. Driven by Hermanio Joseph (seriously, could the name be any more dramatic?), this minivan had one passenger on board, Roberto Mompremier. They both ended up on a speedy detour to Springfield Regional Medical Center, probably wondering how they ended up in the middle of a school bus showdown. 🏫 The Aftermath: With the bus casualties accounted for, the Northwestern Local Schools in Springfield decided it was time for a grand reunion. Parents, imagine this: your little angel's first day of school, and instead of cheerful stories about crayons and friends, you get the unforgettable tale of "The Great Minivan Encounter." So there you have it, folks! The bus, the minivan, the daredevil escape artist, and the drama worthy of its own Netflix series. Stay tuned for the next episode of “When Minivans Attack!” 🚗💥# Oh, School Buses and Minivan Madness! So picture this: a bright morning in Ohio, kids bouncing off the walls with the excitement of their first day of school. A school bus, on a mission to wrangle these mini-munchkins, was cruising along like a seasoned captain with a cargo of 52 spirited sailors. Just your typical Tuesday, right? Wrong! 🚌 Meet the Hero of the Hour: The School Bus, aka the Kid-Mobile. It was on a roll, making its way northeast of Dayton, when out of nowhere, like a ninja in a Honda Odyssey, this minivan decided to crash the party. No RSVP, no warning, just a spectacular sideswipe move that could earn it a spot in a minivan action movie. Now, the school bus driver saw the Honda Odyssey's move and thought, "Hey, maybe they're just trying to show off their parallel parking skills." But no, it was more like a high-speed tango gone wrong. The bus swerved, the minivan swerved, and the kids inside were probably doing a mix of screaming and "wheeeee" like they were on a roller coaster. 🚦 Plot Twist: One brave kiddo decided they'd had enough of the wild ride and took an unexpected exit through a window. That's right, folks, the bus rolled, and this pint-sized daredevil was ejected from the bus, probably yelling, "I've had it with field trips!" 🚑 Emergency Extravaganza: In the aftermath of this automotive ballet, we had 23 students who suddenly found themselves signed up for the "Emergency Room Express." Some sported non-life-threatening injuries, which is code for "I survived the minivan storm," while one student went all out and scored a serious injury. Now, here's where it gets even more absurd. Imagine a school bus, a vehicle designed to transport students, without any seatbelts. It's like sending kids on a roller coaster without the safety bar—only, this time, it's on the road! The driver, bless their heart, had a seatbelt on, but the bus full of bouncing beans didn't have any. Guess those school buses were designed by the same folks who thought roller coasters were meant to be an extreme sport! 🚧 Mystery Minivan: Now, let's not forget the star of the crash, the Honda Odyssey that wanted a piece of the school bus spotlight. Driven by Hermanio Joseph (seriously, could the name be any more dramatic?), this minivan had one passenger on board, Roberto Mompremier. They both ended up on a speedy detour to Springfield Regional Medical Center, probably wondering how they ended up in the middle of a school bus showdown. 🏫 The Aftermath: With the bus casualties accounted for, the Northwestern Local Schools in Springfield decided it was time for a grand reunion. Parents, imagine this: your little angel's first day of school, and instead of cheerful stories about crayons and friends, you get the unforgettable tale of "The Great Minivan Encounter." So there you have it, folks! The bus, the minivan, the daredevil escape artist, and the drama worthy of its own Netflix series. Stay tuned for the next episode of “When Minivans Attack!” 🚗💥 Read the full article

[ahiraethsoul]

As I keep staring at the beautiful night sky, a million thoughts and questions run across my mind. The moon and the brilliant stars glance across my sight, giving each other a solitary company. Embracing each other. Maybe that is what love is.

And there comes the soft whiff of the hanging loneliness in the air. The destiny.

A deep heartache, a sad longing to frolick across the spectacular carpet of stars and clouds, without a thought to care about, but I can't. It's not a fictional life that we lead. This is shattering, when they’re our only company. The truth really does hurt.

Coming across many people romanticizing the moon, for her eerie loneliness, as the poets say, but deep down, my mind goes through a flurry of questions, with no triumphant answers.

How could someone be lonely, when they have so many beautiful companions around? How often does one have a million of shiny little specks doting on them? How does she feel, with all of those charming attention? What goes on inside her head? I wonder how it'll be like. To feel like the moon.

Maybe this is what love truly is. A shoulder to lean on, when you're going through storms, just like how the stars give the moon company, when she's going through her phases. A guiding light.

But life doesn't go as you plan, destiny likes to give you some plot twists, some puzzles to solve, as life without them will be bland. But we, the wanderers, don't want a bland story either, we love adventure.

Everytime I stare at the moon, on the other side, I get reminded of not love, but the failed relationships I hold. Why can't I have someone within my gravitational pull? Maybe it's just as hard for the moon too.

The answer is, things don't work as per your wish. Yes, you might be worthy of some things you deserve, but still it won't work like that. You have to be someone's moon for that. Exert the right amount of influence on them to spin at the right angle, to be stable. Not trying to enforce your gravitational power on them. This is what love probably is.

And another thought crosses my mind. As the famous quote goes, "We're all made of stardust". Whom did we chase? The stars or the moon? How did we end up as stardust?

Also, is pushing someone away trying to come under your pull, wrong? Maybe, maybe not. Who knows? We're all scientists trying to figure that out, but deep down we know that each one of us got a different problem to solve. Maybe, one day, like the moon herself, we fade away for a break.

"I will disappear,

Just the same way I entered,

And confusion shall prevail,

The truth never known"

No one knows.

Except you.

And one day, we shall reach our home,

The skies.

Till then.

Patience.

#moon #moonchild #literature #writing #thoughts #deep feelings

[piaoza]

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel written in the 80s. It's about a time of military control of state power, when women, called Handmaidens, were forced to breed - for more elite members of society, in an age of rapidly declining population. I've read quite a bit of YA dystopia, and this was my first try at adult dystopia. The way it's written doesn't always lay it all out before you, doesn't spoonfeed you like YA dystopia. It can be a little more tricky, some words a bit more difficult, some metaphors tough to comprehend. But that's what I like about novels like these. It takes an effort.

It's nothing grand or eloquent that you'll recognize right away, but it seems very raw and natural and spur-of-the-moment when the protagonist explains the happenings. That said, the novel is not what i would call fast-paced; it was quite slow and built up the story at its own speed, but I didn't mind that, and I'm sure it won't be a bother because the dystopian plot is enticing enough to keep you going.

The regime described in the book is quite patriarchal and stomps down upon certain women, forces them into certain jobs that they would never consider. That's the thing about dystopia; there is rarely an evident alternative. And even though the book seemed to cry out loud for some strong feminist plot twist, a heroic lead, we didn't get it, and in some ways, I'm glad about that. There were side characters described in the book who were openly feminist and admirably stubborn in their ideals, but the protagonist wasn't one of them, atleast not in the obvious ways.

She was more real, more human, in the sense that she consciously made mistakes, but she also knew that the times she lived in were so cruel, that her beliefs, honesty and faith, and even her courage, may be some things she could not afford to have - that she had to be whatever the world wanted her to if she wanted to survive. And yet, she didn't completely lose her inner defiance, the whisper of the wronged in her mind. In her own subtle, complicated and confusing ways, she was powerful. And she was ready to be flawed, she accepted it, and I liked that. That's another difference between adult dystopia and YA dystopia, I suppose. It may not always give you that wholesome outcome you expect from a lead in a brutal dystopian regime, perhaps because the plot and the point it conveys is more important to the author than our victory and the character's victory. It helps stimulate the importance of the storyline more than what it makes us, as readers, feel.

Personally, I enjoyed this book. At times, I did feel that it was slow-paced, as I said, but at no point did I feel like putting it down. It was definitely interesting in any case, as dystopia almost always tends to be, and was written the right way. Every chapter begins in a different way, sometimes there isn't a noticeable continuation, but it adds to the beauty of the book. It knows how to lure readers in, even when there may not be anything spectacular going on.

At the climax, the last 5 pages when things were starting to happen, I definitely felt my heart beating faster. It does not fail to deliver that adrenaline rush that dystopia always does. And that was a great refreshment to me; I haven't read a book like this in a while.

This book may be for you, or it may not, but there's a reason it's considered a classic in this era. It's brutal, it's smart, it's powerful in its own ways if you can manage to find that power in the genius writing style. In any case, it is really and truly dystopian, and entails all the terror and wonder that the genre boasts about.

#thehandmaid'stale #margaretatwood #literature #books #reading #currentread

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 5

Through a Glass, Darkly

Welcome back to the Temple of the Earth Defiant where the girls and their magical horses (and one pony!) have found refuge from the strange, twisted, fae creatures that have been chasing them. The statue of Asha Hammerheart that Ost animated last episode is still alive and wrecking house on the remaining harpies and beasts that are foolish enough to keep fighting and the rest soon get the hint and flee. 

Ost does some healing (boosted by the ambient Hallow effect of the temple which gives everyone a short rest) and then, seeing the damage to the temple caused by erosion, starts using Mending to fix things up. Her friends help out too with Sam and Yelle being most effective--Sam by repairing water damage and Yelle by creating tree cover and other druid-y tricks. But of course, we can’t overlook Katja’s crucial addition of carving “A Horse is a Home” into one of the walls of this sacred temple. 

Anyway, the girls are nesting super hard, the horses are having their scrapbooking reviewing club (an insane thing that was established last episode) and then Sam asks a question. Did y’all mention something about a photo of me going viral? Everyone’s like yeah, but don’t worry, you looked super hot. That’s not the part Sam was worried about. What she’s worried about and what all the girls except Zelda don’t really seem to know is that Sam doesn’t really have a social media presence. So like, 180k and climbing views (as decided by a dice roll) isn’t really what she wants. She scrolls through the comments really quick and sees that they’re not awful but one person is like, “Hey that girl looks a lot like that character from that old show”. Which Sam doesn’t love. She says that she’s fine but also that, even without an Insight check, she’s obviously not. 

Sam kind of looks to Zelda to bail her out and Zelda is like, “Hey, I’m gonna delete this video.” The other girls follow suit, even though they don’t quite know what’s happening. When they have to split up to investigate, Sam has Zelda kind of bail her out again and they split up to go check a nest outside--Zelda waving off Danielle when she wants to go with. Ant and Yelle decide to check out a cache of some treasure they saw earlier and Ost and Katja stay with the horses to keep fixing the temple up. Penny initially goes with Ant and Yelle but rushes back to be with Ost and Kat when Ost discovers a hidden lock while she’s fixing a wall.

So, the girls are split up, let’s run all these scenes.

Antiope and Yelle

Ant and Yelle go see the pile of treasure (near the statue of dwarven paladin Yvonna) which they learn is like a “take a penny leave a penny” situation for weapons and items. They were left by adventures who were similarly chased here and you can take what you need as long as you leave something to help others. Like, “Oh no I only have an ice sword and I need flaming arrows.” It doesn’t have to be equivalent exchange, you just need to leave something useful.

In this space, Yelle feels a weird melancholy and like they’re within the watch of something vast and powerful. She tries to check for TK’s presence but rolls low. Antiope leaves her Kalvaxus killing shortsword and takes some really nice, white feather fledged arrows with mirror tips and an ax Kat wants as a present for her dad. Danielle takes a bandolier of potions (3 healing and 2 mystery I believe) and leaves a bunch of mushrooms. Some of them are psychedelic and Ant takes one because this is probably a good time to be high, right?

It’s not messing with her competence obviously though because she rolls a 25 on Primeval Awareness and gets a weird sense, like something is closing in on this place. And like something very powerful is bleeding, which combined with the chaos of the mountains might explain the weird harpies and the cat/dogs. But she’s high so she explains this is a very spacey, stoner way. Probably a good thing she’s with Yelle.

Sam and Zelda

Sam can fly and Zelda can basically walk vertically with her goat legs so they check out the nest. Well, ostensibly that’s what they’re doing. Really they’re just having a heart to heart. Sam thanks Zelda for saving her ass and apologizes profusely for being so short with her. Zelda gives her a huge mid-air hug and says it’s not a big deal because she knows Sam is just lashing out because she’s hurting but Sam says it’s not a good enough excuse and she’s truly sorry. It’s been her coping mechanism for so long but she doesn’t want to be that way. She tells Zelda that the Everpetals are divorcing and that she’s living alone and Zelda says that any one of the girls would be happy to have her stay with them. Sam further explains that this is a big part of the reason she’s been so broken up about the possibility of their group splitting up and Zelda immediately takes out her crystal and texts her “I’m in” in the thread, breaking Sam again. 

Since they’re in heart to heart mode, Sam tells her that she talked to her bio-mom and an agent and she’s not sure what to do. Zelda says that she’s gonna be spectacular no matter what she does and she doesn’t have to do any of them but it’s cool doors are opening for her but also Antiope and Penny are gonna be PISSED that she’s out here making side plans after she gave them so much shit for theirs. Lol, well it’s a nice moment in the meantime and we cut to…

Penny, Ost, and Katja 

While Penny is lockpicking (and also trying to teach one of the horses to lockpick because sure) Katja and Ost go talk to the statue of Asha Hammerheart. It seems to be animated with at least some level of her true consciousness from beyond the grave and that she can kind of woge into her statue when she wants, which is cool. She’s been there for like 250 years so that’s a lot of history to see. 

Ost is maybe the most polite we’ve ever seen her talking to Asha (at least to begin with lol) and they ask her about TK. Asha says she saw TK show up 12 years ago but she never left, at least not through the front door. And then about 2 years ago (right around when they were in the crystals) that’s when the harpy queen showed up. At first they were normal and then they started mutating. Also, recently, Korra (one of the other statues/heroes) saw a woman in the mountains--not TK. 

Ost then takes a page from the book of one St. Kristen Applebees and asks, “Hey. What’s the deal with our god? He never talks to us, does he just suck?” Asha--who has never talked to him even though she’s a martyred hero and literally in dwarf heaven makes some excuses for the guy but Katja scoffs at them. “If people wanna take care of you, they do.” Ost then straight up asks if Logran Soulforger is even real which sets Asha off but Ost isn’t mad AT her, she’s mad FOR her. You go and do all this cool shit to the point where you have this cool ass statue, you fully DIE for him and he doesn’t even say hi? With a 21 Persuasion check, Asha admits that yeah, she would have liked some recognition. She decides she’s gonna go do some talking to some people and leaves after getting Ost’s number but before they can ask more about the woman Korra saw (who they think is Charity). 

OK, that’s all the small group stuff! Everyone comes back as Penny finishes up with the lock and they go down into this room that’s full of polished, precious stones. This is probably where people who were upkeeping the temple stayed. While everyone else is going down, Sam feels some powerful magical pull--much like her episode 1 Lightning Lure--calling her from the top of the stairs so she goes back up. We’ll get back to her in a bit. 

Penny rolls a high check to clock what’s going on down here. First off, she finds flintlock bullets and airship uniform scraps which makes it seem like there was a battle here involving some airship guys from the Baronies. Which is not just the place of origin of Riz’s imaginary Romance Partner. It’s a cluster of nations known for high rates of monarchical turnover and renaissance style intrigue. I’m picturing just a nation of [REDACTED]s from Crown of Candy. 

With all of this stuff, Penny finds an emblem of a billionaire airship mogul named Lord Talcidimir Tallbreeze who is a friend of her dad’s. Yelle is immediately like FUCK billionaires which isn’t plot relevant but it’s nice to know she’s always on brand. 

Oh also, Penny just casually finds the Legendarium so that’s neat. 

To be safe, Ost casts Protection from Energy on Ant (who is the one who knows how to use it) and brings out her Spirit Guardian (who is a combo of her mom, nona, and Asha, with her dad’s rings). Ant checks it out and sees that there are currently no A, B, or C quests in all of Spyre. While Penny cross references the bylaws to see if there’s a way to get around this, Yelle does some druid BS that I still do not understand to use the crystals in the cave to jailbreak this super powerful magical Artifact so they can just have copies on their crystals. While that’s happening, let’s check on Sam. 

Sam goes back up the staircase where she sees Ending who doesn’t look menacing at all, just extremely sad. She’s looking out the mouth of the cave and, when she turns, Sam can see she’s crying blood. 

“What’s wrong?” asks Sam, the acid-tongued but good-hearted. “Can I help you?”

With a 25 Persuasion check to get her to talk, Ending apologizes for scaring her and her friends before. She didn’t mean to. She sometimes forgets that her very nature can be frightening and dangerous to others. She says that when she escaped, she tried to rejoin her sisters but found their mirrors shattered and them gone. Sam thought they escaped but that doesn’t make sense to Ending. If they had, why wouldn’t they have freed her as well?

Sam asks who her sisters were and we finally get true names for Ending and her sisters:

Chrona, Terra, Pyrria, Nira, Zefira, Anima, and herself, Talura (which is what I’ll be calling her now that we know). Talura is the baby, the youngest. Sam realizes she’s talking about the Eidolons and Talura seems surprised and a bit pleased that Sam recognizes them. 

Sam asks if she can hug her and Talura hugs her tightly in a very cold embrace that doesn’t hurt. Downstairs, she hears her friends (Penny specifically) freaking about about the lack of quests but she doesn’t break the hug. 

“My own sisters are struggling right now but I’m gonna stay with you because you don’t know where yours are. But maybe we can find them.”

Talura clocks that the way that Sam is being is her true nature, not the bitchiness she often uses as a shield. Then she starts to talk about her history. That she and her sisters were sealed away when the gods were done with them (Sam can relate to being used and set aside) and the only way out was death. Talura has been crying and looking for her sisters to no avail. Her tears of blood leaking seems to be what caused the monsters to mutate which is in line with what Yelle and Ant were sensing. 

Talura doesn’t think anything could have destroyed her sisters so she’s very confused. Sam offers Talura her Mirror of the Past because it almost knocked out Sam to get god-tier information but Talura presumably won’t have that problem. Talura offers her a boon in exchange for this great kindness but Sam says she doesn’t need any quid pro quo. “This is just because you’re hurting.”

Talura is supremely touched and still wants to do something for her new...friend? Sam accepts the title and says that what she needs is some help on her GED quest. Once she explains what she means, Talura again recognizes Aguefort and is like, Oh, you need a quest? I can totally help with that! As we learned earlier, these guys are kinda genie connected so it’s not super surprising when Talura very happily goes full your wish is my command.

Downstairs, a Class A quest suddenly appears in Spyre on the screen. 

Back upstairs, Talura says that it’s been too long since she got to grant a wish and seems really happy about it. Sam gives her the mirror so she can check what happened to her sisters but when she does, she totally flips out and gets super angry--not at Sam, just at whatever she’s looking at. She can hardly believe it. Sam tries to figure out what’s wrong but she just gets super big and then disappears into a puff of smoke, leaving Sam's mirror on the ground, covered in frost. 

Downstairs, the Class A quest expands across the entire globe and then the Legendarium cracks. Ost’s spirit guardian disappears because of alarm bells ringing in the afterlife. And the girls learn that a Class A quest is a quest that affects the whole MULTIVERSE. Yikes!

So anyway, they girls go upstairs to check on Sam (on a bear that Penny makes because sure) and they see that something clearly just happened with Sam. Yelle asks if she’s good and Sam is like yeahhhh I don’t think ANYONE is good right now. Sam seems like she’s about to cry and Antiope instantly forgets all the petty bullshit going on between them and rushes to make sure she’s not hurt. 

Sam gives the girls a rundown of what happened and Yelle concretely puts together what I said earlier about Talura’s tears messing with nature. 

Sam wants to check her mirror to see what Talura saw and Brennan says she can do it the safe way with risk of failure of the surefire way with risk of personal harm. She, of course, picks door 2 and rolls a 13 on her con save which means she rises into the air like Storm from X-Men, eyes wide, and then instantly passes out and goes into shock. Antiope is there to catch her as she does. 

Also, she looks SUPER hot while falling on a 31. Honestly, it’s a shame she doesn’t allow herself a social media presence. 

Anyway, we’ll get to what she sees in a bit. Yelle and Ant make sure she’s OK (she is, but the has to be knocked out for this or she won’t be able to handle it). 

Penny tells them what she knows about each Eidolon from her earlier research which is what element each goes with:

Chrona: Time (Related to astral and elemental planes) 

Terra: Earth

Pyrria: Fire

Nira: Water

Zefira: Air

Anima: Life

Talura: Death 

They also talk about TK never leaving via the front door and all this airship stuff being around. Maybe she left out the top of the mountain on an airship? Katja has the hookup with this Tal guy (she’s met him when she was younger) so they decide they need to check it out once Sam is good. 

The girls fix the Legendarium and Ost, when she goes to pray for her spells for the night, doesn’t pray to her usual god. She prays to Asha. And not only does she get her spells, she also gets a new one--Commune. 

And now let’s get to what Sam is seeing in her Vision Coma. 

She was told by Talura that the only way out of the mirrors given to them by the gods was death. And what Talura saw that drove her to do whatever multiverse threatening thing that she did was every one of her sisters walking out of their mirrors and choosing death. I will specifically highlight that the oldest sister leaves almost immediately with a small, “Oh,” of realization and Anima, the closest sister to her seems terrified before coming to a joyful realization and leaving.

And that’s the end of the episode! Join us next week when apparently there is talk of a masquerade ball?????? Brennan, you shouldn’t have!   

Superlatives 

Sam: Most Likely to Accidently Snag a Brand Deal

Did you guys ever read the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche? Where Psyche was born so hot that it was basically a curse and she was miserable because she was so hot that Aphrodite hated her? That’s Sam. She is incapable of almost dying in a non-aesthetic way. It’s like a Pantene commercial every time. This is my favorite running gag.

Random Thoughts

Man, I have so many feelings about Sam. She’s such a BITCH in so many ways but it’s so obvious that she has a good heart. Every time she has an opportunity to be nice with no gain--helping Lola find her dog, magically turning the pages for the horses during book club, fully refusing a boon from Talura--she does. And I’m glad she gave Zelda such a sincere apology and didn’t let the extenuating circumstances absolve her because she said some pretty uncalled for things. But at her core she’s so kind and I want only good things for her. 

Also those of you who know me from my FH recaps know I’m a messy bitch for sister stuff so Talura and Sam both referring to the other maidens as her sister had me dead. You can tell when something in this show is f’ing me up when I just start directly quoting instead of paraphrasing. 

Katja being richer than Helio but having no idea what any of the brands Ost is mentioning are is peak comedy.  

As is Ant’s response to the take and penny leave a penny translation from Ost, “No, Penny didn’t come with us.”

Ost: I get service in the afterlife.

You could really tell which of the players watched Sophomore Year because the Baronies came up and all of them went into fight or flight immediately. 

Very Elsa vibes from Sam during the top of the scene with Talura. (Sam is, of course, a better sister but we simply do not have time to get into my feelings on Frozen 2 right now).

I was wondering why this season was called just “The Seven” when it dropped initially. Like, was it snappier? Did they not want to use the word “maiden”? But they still call themselves the Seven Maidens in the show so it’s probably not that. Now I’m wondering if it’s just to parallel the 7 of them w/ the 7 Eidolons. 

So it seems clear based on the reactions of the first and sixth sisters that they didn’t just “go gently into that good night” as Ant would say and ditch Talura. It seems like they figured something out. Also Brennan isn’t really a “and then they all died, the end” kind of DM, you know? Credit to my friend @camwritery for getting here before I did but the gods said the only way out was death and she is death so you know? Those def seem like puzzle pieces that go together. 

The only crit rolled this episode is a 1 by Penny which she gets to reroll as a halfling. 

#the seven #the seven spoilers #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers

[wow-its-me]

⚠️Ducktales SPOILERS⚠️

AGHJAHGFJSHDFKSDJFGOLEHGLSDRHGKDHJRGSOEHJGORHJGDLRGJLRHJKDHKDTHJGKLSRDJGLSKJRGLSJGHLDKJGHLDKHGLSHJGOSHGIAUEHOSHNOXIGPSUGJOSGIOSHGSGHJOPDJHODIRJHKDRJHISHTISRHIDTHDORJGOSEHFOSIJGODRRJHPSOHJDPHKFPOHITFPJHDPOTJ

OMG

I CANT EVEN WORDS

That was absolutely amazing, I was honestly worried about not liking the finale or it not wrapping up the show in a satisfying was. BUT IT WAS SO GOOD. 

ok but lets talk real spoilers

At first it was kind of odd to me that they revealed May and June so early on because I thought that was the big plot twist everyone was talking about. but wow was I wrong. Webby being April was also something I had theorized about and I was very excited that I was correct about that and about how May and June are clones of Webby. However Webby being a clone of Scrooge was something I would have never guessed but at the same time I love it so much and it makes complete sense. I did think Webby would be the heir but being scourges daughter!!!!!! I’m just utterly blown away. 

Also Ms.Beakly taking her from FOWL? Giving her her late son in laws last name? taking her to live in the safest place she knows? giving up her secret agent life to protect her? Coincidentally taking her to live with the person that she is a clone of? Coincidentally taking her to live with her father?!? *chefs kiss* BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING, AWSOME, SPECTACULAR, HEARTWARMING, IM RUNNING OUT OF WORDS BUT I LOVE IT!!!!!

And the triplets! their Character arks all came to a wonderful and satisfying conclusion. Hueys woodchuck knowledge finally being extremely useful. Dewey trolling being a hero instead of a show off. Louie protecting his family, motivating them, and being able to lead the way. They truly are the smartest of the smarties, the toughest of the toughies, and the sharpest of the sharpies. 

They also got some amazing brotherly moments. when louie and dewey saved Huey I almost cried. same goes for when they were all tied up together. 

Lena and Violet had some great moments, AKA violet freaking out when Huey was kidnapped, and Lena going full magic-girl. 

I also loooooved Boyd in this episode. He is sweet and funny and amazing and will always be one of my favorite Characters. I also loved his team up with Gos. They seem so different and I honestly didn't think they'd be a team but they work so well together 

ALSO GYRO CALLING LIL-BULB BOYD’S BROTHER MADE ME SQUEAL, I CANT THEIR SO ADORABLE

ALSO MANNY TALKING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? AND SECRETLY BEING MAGICAL?!?!?!?!?🥺🥺 

Launchpad getting back up was also genuine really amazing and heartwarming. HIM PILOTING THE GIZMO SUIT?!?! GROUND BRAKING, BRILLIANT HILARIOUS. 

AND DRAKE IS SUCH A HIMBO AND I LOVE HIM. “WAIT SO GIZMO DUCK CHICKENED OUT AND MAKE YOU WEAR THE SUIT?”

Fenton and Gandra were also adorable as usual. 

Also Bradford being Isabella Finches grandson was something that I definitely didn't expect bu it also really worked with his Character and I loved seeing his ark and backstory really come together with an awesome battle and satisfying ending. 

wow and I haven't even begun to talk about May and June and how they were so quickly welcomed accepted as part of the family. 

in conclusion this was the best finale I could've possibly wanted. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time The messages about family where extremely heartwarming and inspiring. to the creators of the show : thank you. thank you so so much. and I've only been in this fandom for a couple months but the amount of joy it has brought into my life is astronomical so... thank you. and to the fandom DuckTales might be done but it will never truly be over, it will live on forever in our hearts (and spin-offs) but it will always be there for us to go back to, and we will forever keep this fandom alive 

#ducktales #dt spoilers #dt17 spoilers #ducktales spoilers #spoilers #ducktales finale #Huey duck #dewy duck #louie duck #webby vanderquack #ducktales may and June #della duck #Donald duck #scrooge mcduck #bentina beakley #launchpad mcquack #drake mallard #gyro gearloose #fenton crackshell cabrera #gandra dee #manny the headless man horse #lena saberwing #violet saberwing #gosalyn mallard #boyd gearloose #boyd drake #darkwing duck #gizmo duck #ludwig von drake #Isabella Finch

[averykedavra]

20. Do you have a favorite fanfic or author? If so, tag them/post a link and share the love!

!!! An excuse to recommend my favorite fics and authors? Don’t mind if I do! Here’s a top fourteen list of some great fics and a top nine list of my favorite authors, in no particular order! Because I had way too many. (Plus I’m bound to forget a million good ones, so take these with a grain of salt!)

1. chivalry is dead by Uncrowned_King! There really wasn’t another option. After Roman disappears into the Imagination, the other Sides come to look for him, and find several Romans fighting for ownership of the land. My all-time favorite Roman angst, with some beautifully written worldbuilding and my favorite OCs ever and a plot twist that sent me reeling. With some cute DLAMP, too! What’s not to love?

2. Breathe Out by Odaigahara! This is darker than I usually read but so, so worth it! Set pre-canon, Virgil and Janus team up against the other dark sides and find their feelings go beyond platonic after a relationship of convenience becomes something more. It’s a WIP and I don’t know where it’s going yet, but I’m really intrigued and the writing is incredible!

3. The Black Hole Group Chat by Greenninjagal! Definitely my favorite comfort fic. After Logan accidentally joins a group chat and is forced into sticking around, he finds himself making his first friends--but past feelings and present conflicts threaten to tear apart the first place they’ve ever felt comfortable. So good, so funny, makes the most of the texting medium, and I always cry at the end.

4. Monsters of the Subconscious by Quarantinevibes! Ohh, everything by this author is fantastic which goes for all of them. After PoF, Janus visits the Imagination to apologize. Instead, him and Roman are sucked into the Subconscious, a wild land full of mysterious dangers. They must team up to escape, and come to terms with their feelings for each other. Some wonderfully soft Roceit, hilarious comedy and incredible action, and great emotional moments!

5. the feelings in my headspace rearranged by mutemelody! Some canon divergence for the soul. Anxiety doesn’t have a name, and after the AA arc, has to make his way through acceptance and love. Canon turns on its head, old friends make a reappearance, and through it all Anxiety has to find his own identity, nameless or not. Gosh, this fic is incredible--the writing is stunning, the plot is amazing, and it’s some of the best Virgil angst I’ve ever read.

6. There’s a Word For That by plumcat! I cannot recommend this fic enough. Roman, a Slytherin, has been pining over arguing with Patton, a Hufflepuff, since the beginning of time. But with the Quidditch match coming up, his two annoying best friends relentlessly teasing him, and Patton himself spending more and more time with Roman, Roman has to figure out what he really wants and who he wants to be. This fic is hilarious and makes me feel feelings and please, please read it.

7. (i’d never) want once from the cherry tree by ace_corvid! Prinxiety! And a Youtuber AU that really takes advantage of the medium! Virgil and Roman are two of the most popular creators on YouTube and their fans have been begging them to do a crossover episode. The collaboration goes surprisingly well, but it’s one thing to explore a relationship, and another to do it when the whole world is watching. So cute, so hilarious, has some amazing art as well, and I just highly recommend it.

8. double down on the paradigms by remrose! Here’s a lovely college AU! Logan is doing his best to pass his classes, and everything is going fine, despite his roommate Virgil’s concerns about his late study nights and compulsive behavior. Then he meets Patton, and every wall Logan’s constructed slowly begins to crumble. To show how much I love this fic, I have not stopped thinking about it, even though it’s the only one on this list I’ve only read once. It stuck with me that much and hey maybe I should reread it, hold on--

9. In a Tizzy by coconutcluster! Cute fluff, so wholesome, much love. After Logan finds out that Roman gets flustered at compliments, he enlists the other Sides to test this theory. But Roman gets upset when he thinks they’re playing a joke on him by being nice. The writing is great and it’s a fantastic pick-me-up on a bad day! Just so full of nice wonderful feelings!

10. Communication Issues by WaeRose! Analogince! The alternative title that I cut out says it all! After Logan and Virgil find Roman crying in his room, they make an effort to spend more time together as a group. But platonic feelings quickly become non-platonic, misunderstandings abound, insecurities rise, and they’ll have to learn how to communicate their feelings if those feelings could ever lead to a relationship. The writing is incredible, the second-person POV is done expertly, and the characterization is top-notch!

11. a heart he couldn’t control by codevassie! Prinxiety that tore me into a million pieces. Roman traded away his true love’s life to save his brother from a witch, but when he actually meets said true love, he begins to regret his choice. Now Virgil is trapped once again with the witch, Roman is on a rescue mission, Patton and Logan are hiding something, and Janus is definitely not who he seems. Once again, this AU hurts me, and the incredible writing makes it a gut-punch! It’s a WIP but I love where it’s going and need to catch up on it but shhh

12. Another Goddamn Hero Story by rosesisupposes! I’m a sucker for a superhero AU and this one is stellar! Logan and Virgil are a hero team, trying to subdue Patton and Roman, the most famous villain duo in the city. But nobody’s exactly who they say, everyone’s not quite sure which side is right, and past wrongs are coming back to draw new blood. It’s endgame LAMP and the romances are built perfectly! Supervillains Royality is amazing, the action is incredible, and the plot twist blew me away!

13. Hurt, and How We Grow Past It by Jinx72! Another comfort fic of mine, by one of my all-time favorite authors! After Deceit visits the Imagination and lights a fire larger than he intended, Roman is left injured while the other Sides try to put the pieces back together. Old grudges come to light, new bonds are forged, and they all fall in love slowly while all simultaneously being extremely insecure. The characterization is incredible, the writing is top-notch, and the DLAMP is heartfelt and wonderful!

14. Eucatastrophe by arealsword! I added this one last-minute because it’s incredible and deserves to be on this list! The writing is incredible, the world-building is top-notch, and the plot manages to be coherent and incredible while throwing me for a loop every other line! It creeped me the heck out, but I’d expect nothing less from the author of Pick a Side. I’m not even gonna summarize this one because that’d spoil the fun, but suffice it to say, Thomas gets kidnapped by faeries and things get interesting very fast.

And now for the authors! (I chose authors who I didn’t mention above, but all the ones I already talked about are hella good, check them out too!)

1. @/sleeplessinstarbucks. You want good losleep content? Here. You want good QPR content? Here. You want good content in general? Here! Lia has amazing hurt/comfort, beautiful writing, and stellar characterization. I binge their writing every time I get bored. If you want your heart to be warmed, this is where to go!

2. @/theeternalspace. Okay, so Acantha is the Royal of Long Fics. Every one of theirs is a winner! They’re an expert at plotting and characterization, and I’ve been sucked into every one of their many AUs. Plus their writing is godly! And did I mention there are so many chapter fics on their Ao3? If you want a bunch of bingeable emotional rollercoasters, head on over here!

3. @/whenisitenoughtrees. Cat...how. How do you do it. See, Cat writes the best one shots. Their writing is incredible and they’ve written some of my all-time favorite short fics! Their characterization is always on point, and their dialogue always lands, and did I mention their writing is just so deliciously readable--you feel like they chose every word carefully to make it pack as much of a punch as possible. If you want some incredible one shots, this is your writer!

4. @/tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors. I mean, I couldn’t not include Violet. LAOFT is still my favorite series of all time and deserves all the attention it’s got! They’re the expert at well-done short fics that serve a longer narrative, giving everything an almost episodic structure. Plus, their fluff is the fluffiest and the best, and their angst hurts me deep within my soul, so they’re double-powerful! If you want standalone fics or a complex, emotional series, check them out!

5. @/impatentpending. Elena, our writing god, our Deity, which all other writers must respect. Every fic of hers is top-tier, from short to long, and she’s unrivaled at plotting and worldbuilding! You’ll get sucked in to every world and story she creates, and she’s an expert on letting the stories linger. I’m still thinking about Powerless and Monster and it’s been almost a year. If you want expertly crafted stories that leave you in emotional pieces, she’s got them.

6. @/ironwoman359. A classic choice here! She’s got it all--incredible one shots,  great characterization, and a big enough master list for basically any ship to be found! She also writes some of the best hurt/comfort in the genre, so if you’re a fan of bad things that lead to good endings, there’s always something to read. If you want a large catalog of fantastic stories, she’s your gal!

7. @/caffeinatedcryptid. You may have seen El’s fantastic art on tumblr, but have you read their incredible stories? If not, you’re missing out! They’ve got several spectacular one shots already written, and each one of them broke me in their own special way. Their writing style is incredible and their characterization is fantastic. If you want longer one shots with well-thought-through plots, head over there!

8. @/astronomical-bagel. Astro, our Lord of Roman Angst, always ready to punch me in the gut with feelings! Act One, Scene Three still hurts me to this day. They’re always ready to turn anything into Roman angst (or any angst, check HDABST) but they’ve got some comfort in there as well! A little bit. Somewhat. Yeah. If you want to be emotionally destroyed, you know who to call.

9. @/green-writes-sanderssides. Green’s fics were some of the first I ever read in this fandom, and they’ve stuck with me to this day! They're an expert at the fluff-angst balance and causing all sorts of Emotions. They’re currently working on an incomplete LAMP fic that just completes me. But I digress. Green is spectacular! They’ve got wonderful canon-verse fics that explore the characters and their relationships expertly. If you want amazing fics with fantastic characterization in-canon, stop by!

And that’s all of them! Again, there are tons more I didn’t get to mention, but these are just a few I love! Congrats if you read all the way to the bottom, I know it was a lot--I just get really excited when I can compliment my favorite writers! Anyway, check them out if you want, I highly encourage it!

#sanders sides #fic recs #sanders sides fic #sanders sides fic recs #tw long post #long post #asks and answers #ask game #anon

[tirorah]

Road to Berlin – The Strike Witches Magnum Opus?

Hello! It’s been a long time. I don’t plan on returning to Tumblr long-term—it simply stole away too much of my time and energy, and I had to do what was best for myself. However, I thought I’d pop in for a very special message.

You see, Strike Witches’ third season, Road to Berlin, has now reached its halfway point. And I need you to watch it.

“Strike Witches?!” I hear you say. “That weird show about girls with no pants that you’re obsessed with for some reason?”

Yes, exactly! Hold on, don’t run away yet! Sit with me for a spell and allow me to explain my boundless love for this silly, emotionally gripping show. Allow me to tell you why it might affect you in the same way, and why Road to Berlin may be the best offering yet.

Welcome to the 501st Joint Fighter Wing

If you’ve heard of this anime, you’ve undoubtedly heard of (or witnessed) its rather infamous claim to fame: a group of teenage soldiers fighting strange creatures in an Alternate Universe World War 2 Europe, flying around with guns and magic-fueled leg machines, and none of them are wearing any decent trousers.

That takes some getting used to, doesn’t it? I’m not going to deny that. But while Strike Witches’ rather peculiar design decisions are inescapable, there’s one thing you need to take into account: Season 1 aired all the way back in 2008. And over those thirteen years, it’s evolved into an experience unlike anything its roots would suggest.

Strike Witches has always been a strange beast. It has a large cast and divides its activities evenly between (light) war drama and slice-of-life shenanigans. And there’s fanservice, lots and lots of it! But the show’s emphasis on risqué camera work, and how that camera work is handled, highly depends on which entry you’re watching.

You see, Strike Witches is strangely ambitious. It could’ve easily taken its bizarre concept and pushed that to its limits, bringing in as much fanservice as possible and playing a simple story in the background as window dressing. But it was never satisfied with just that. Even early on in Season 1, the show deals with heavier themes like pressure, trauma and loss.

And then there are the characters, the undisputed stars of the show. Twelve strong and all with different backgrounds and personal quirks, they may at first seem like TV Tropes come to life. And certainly, sometimes they are. However, as the series progressed, things started to change. Even Season 2, arguably the lightest and silliest of all entries, featured material that built on character development and character growth earned in its predecessor.

With the movie and a trio of OVAs to round out the cast a bit more, the stage was set for Road to Berlin.

The Difficult Road Ahead

When this season was first announced back in 2018, two things stood out to me. First of all, the key visual and promotional video released along with the announcement were much more similar in style to the movies and the OVAs, featuring serious-looking characters and stormy clouds. Secondly, for the first time in Strike Witches history, an entry received a subtitle. Yes, the OVAs were named Operation Victory Arrow, but that was merely wordplay to spell out “OVA.” It wasn’t wholly serious.

Road to Berlin, however, is deadly serious.

Let’s start with an overall theme. The vaunted 501st Joint Fighter Wing has had some major victories, but much of the continent is still under occupation by the Neuroi. The Hive over Berlin is the Wing’s new target, but the journey there is fraught with obstacles. Plans are thwarted and delayed by Neuroi more powerful and far craftier than their 2008 counterparts.

And as the opening song tells us: “We all have flaws.” The Road to Berlin isn’t an entirely literal road; it’s also a metaphorical one. The push to Berlin is their hardest battle yet. Victory can only be achieved if the characters face and overcome their weaknesses. But they’re not alone.

Friendship Is Power

As the characters have long since been established, there’s greater room for growth not just in one character, but also in how that character interacts with others. Road to Berlin chose the best possible route and decided to emphasize character dynamics. Episodes don’t focus on a single character anymore; they focus on relationships, and those relationships are at their peak here.

There’s a newfound maturity to the writing in Road to Berlin, a gentle touch that allows the characters to breathe and be more than their foremost traits. You get a sense that the characters have grown from their experiences; they feel different, more well-rounded, but they still behave exactly as they should. This is difficult to get right, and while I’m sure there might be a few eyebrow-raising moments here and there, the overall result is a cast that continues to improve every week.

Chekhov’s Gun

Underpinning the character work is a highly intriguing execution. Road to Berlin delivers subtle setups and satisfying payoffs in every episode. The pacing is also seriously tight. No moment is left unused, every opportunity for additional development is taken. Even the script itself doesn’t like to waste time; it explains things here and there, but it rightly assumes you know who the characters are and what everything means, so it doesn’t bother with many unnecessary lines.

On top of all that, this season is reaching new heights in confidence and sheer audacity, and it uses that to deliver something truly special. There are interactions here that I never could’ve imagined, twists that genuinely caught me off-guard, moments where I had to sit back and digest what I’d just witnessed.

Not a single episode has been predictable thus far; I’ve had more surprises than I can count. In fact, before I started watching I made a bingo card on a whim, filling it with trends and running gags I’d spotted over the course of the series. Some of those bingo spaces have already been proven wrong, and others are in question. Road to Berlin has done such a spectacular job at simultaneously defying and exceeding my expectations that I honestly have no idea where this journey will take me.

The Fault in Our Stars

Okay, hold up, stop the hype train! I admit, I’m a massive sucker for Strike Witches. One could say this somewhat clouds my judgement. Shocking, I know. So, to make this enthusiastic recommendation fairer, let’s dig into something that I hope to see an improvement on.

There is some terrible imbalance in screen time going on here. I know I said earlier that the cast is great, and it is amazing, but some characters have definitely been favored over others. Yoshika is the main character, of course, so it’s not unreasonable for her to have a large role. Similarly, characters like Minna, Gertrud and Shirley have more experience and higher ranks than the others, which means they have an easier time fitting into scenes.

So, who’s gotten the short end of the stick?

Let’s start with Lynne. She hasn’t had as much of a presence as I’d hoped. The primary reason for this is Shizuka, who’s taken up the role of newbie to the squadron and is often paired with Yoshika because they’re working together. As each episode focuses on the relationships between a select few characters at a time, the others are often relegated to minor roles, and poor Lynne hasn’t had an episode to highlight her yet. I’m sure her moment will come eventually.

I don’t know if the same thing applies to Minna. She’s mostly stuck behind her desk again, it seems, and while she’s definitely had some scenes, her role as Wing Commander hasn’t allowed her as much wiggle room as some of the others. What I want to see from Minna is more time to be a nurturing mom to her girls. The thing is, I’m not sure how they’d accomplish a Minna-centric episode. I suppose they could pair her up with Mio, but even then, I’m uncertain where to take her. It seems redundant to have her be worried out of her mind over Mio again, and she seems to be keeping it together pretty well so far anyway.

In a trend so merciless it’s almost comical, Sanya and Eila seem forever doomed to the peanut gallery. They started out with few lines and have pretty much remained in the background since. Of course, a big factor to it all is their role as the night patrol, which naturally separates their activities from everyone else’s. It’s my current prediction that their relationship is next in line to be showcased. The quality of that episode will likely hinge on how their personalities are tuned, but there’s potential for something great.

And most shocking of all, Mio—She Who Has Practiced Plot Armor Ten Thousand Times—has had the most infinitesimal role of all. I’m of two minds on this. It appears that Road to Berlin has realized that having Mio fly into battle without a shield or Striker Unit is silly, and this is good. On the other hand, Mio is an iconic and beloved character. She deserves some screen time as long as she doesn’t overshadow the others. For now, she seems to be relegated to strategizing and logistics, although I have a hunch that a way to circumvent her newfound vulnerability has already been set up. Time will tell if this ends up being utilized.

Journey’s End

In closing, Road to Berlin highlights the best of what Strike Witches has to offer. It’s striding boldly forward, eager to dazzle us with its animation and audio, grinning as it challenges our preconceptions about where its characters can go and what they can do.

The path to this greatness can be tough. Watching Strike Witches means accepting a number of strange concepts, which can give quite a few viewers a rough start with the series. However, if you made it all the way here and haven’t given Strike Witches a try yet, I sincerely implore you to make the attempt. If you allow the characters to sweep you off your feet, then Road to Berlin could be the apex of a most satisfying viewing experience.

Especially if its second half is as impressive as the first. I, personally, have high hopes. There’s no sky this show can’t conquer.

#strike witches #road to berlin #anime #yes I made a bingo card in Excel #I'm a passionate fangirl with ample Microsoft experience #oh right #I should point out that I changed my name from NeandaFFnet to TirOrah #as I don't use that old handle anymore #sorry for any confusion caused

[whataframeup]

The tasty Florida finale, text, post, thing. Light spoilers 📣.

I mean. Is The tasty Florida a masterpiece? No, not at all. Is it spectacular? Not really.

But.

It's cute. I loved it from the first moment but it does have a few issues I wish were, not.

For one, where is the plot? It's adorable and the chemistry is great but. What is it about, really? Ok so a guy moves to Seoul, stays at a hostel, gets a job at the restaurant at the hostel, falls in love with the chef and theeeeen? A few looks, some cooking and attractive men? Don't get me wrong I do like me some attractive men or people in general but. I'd love for there to be a plot and realistic motives and twists and turns! But alas, it's barely 10 min per episode so the plot suffers. Which brings me to..

For two, it's too short to really develop the characters and build the universe it's set in. It's not impossible to build a world in that amount of time but, this truly needed more scenes to fully express and explore their world. I would've wanted to know more about the characters, who they were before this, how some of them met, their favorite movie. Literally anything to give them a hint of personality beyond Handsome. With more time they could've even developed the support characters in to a relationship as well. But aLaS!!

For three, a love triangle done Wrong, on a basis of Wrong. Dibs? Really? What are you like foive???? Please if it had been even just 20 min per eps they could've given the character a better motive than DIBS. Not gonna lie, dibs is a little, Cheap Plot Device. Like I understand that within the two old friends of 15 years, one always had to fold for the other in many ways. Meaning one would always get their way and one would stand by and watch. Honestly if they wanted rivalry, they could've allowed them to coexist and respectfully persue their crush. Then allowing the crush to pick the one his heart wants to be with. I don't know it's just a suggestion.

I give them 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 (7) out of 10 overall and for Effort. Reason being that s.korea is very much trying at least and I fully support and respect that. I give them 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 (4) for plot which I feel might be a bit generous but.. I give them 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 (8) for cuteness. Could've been cuter but.. Alasssssss.. Not enough time..

I had a feeling 2021 would see a change in s.korea to be honest. I mean it began in 2019, really. Slowly working it's way to this point and onward. I have faith that one day there will be a full length, primetime TV gay drama in South Korea. Full trust. But I Digress.

In conclusion I liked The tasty Florida, the potential is there but fell short in some aspects. But I respect the people who worked hard on it, bringing it to life.

✨

#the tasty florida #The tasty Florida spoilers #Whatapost