#y'know. the one that represents a lot of their viewers

[hamofjustice]

it's nice that we're getting anything i guess, but, i'm gonna be what may come off as a little petty and whiny here; it'd be cool if either iteration of the gen 9 anime so far was actually about gen 9's characters instead of using them as cameos to promote original stories we have no investment in yet

it's like, i dunno, like the bait and switch with sonic appearing in wreck it ralph ads, except if wreck it ralph existing meant there would never be a sonic movie, and if you were invested in those characters and recognized they weren't generic platformer mascots, sucks for you, nobody cares

maybe they're just giving the DLC space to do its thing with them first (if they do anything at all...) but idk, i was cautiously optimistic about nemona in horizons, only for her to be a character of the day that the episode wasn't about, and pretty excited by "gen 9 prequel anime" only to find out it's going to be like, four short stories about OCs who have quick brushes with them. these are like the lacroix hint of what an anime about the game could've been like and you're left to imagine the rest yourself

i shouldn't be that surprised if the gen 8 anime reduced hero of galar hop to a character of the day with a level 5 wooloo in order to let the galaxy revolve around ash battling his brother because epic charizards, but man. what if it wasn't like that that now that ash is gone.

we haven't seen penny and team star at all because they're the hardest to talk about without bringing up the trauma of school bullying and the fear of being yourself at school when you're way too young to be dealing with all that drama responsibly. she's still learning to love and forgive herself and feel wanted.

arven's story is about, like, being a latchkey kid to a self-absorbed parent, being unsure how to feel about repairing the relationship or how seriously to take them saying they love him, and struggling to make friends due to misdirected resentment toward people he's jealous of for having apparently normal families and the stubborn self-reliance he was forced into. he's still trying to process things, find himself, and let people in.

nemona is supposed to have been a directionless lonely and depressed kid who hated being called gifted when everything was hard for her, until she met the player character and gained a peer who understood and appreciated she was a little different and she didn't have to mask her true self to have friends anymore. she's happy for now, but may still be under a little too much pressure to be perfect at the expense of her own personality, and probably won't deal well with being abandoned.

as much as they resonate with adults and are a little darker than usual pokemon fare, they're also smaller scale and realer. they are all stories that are explicitly about and meant to be relatable to kids going to school! y'know, your audience! you don't need to paint over them with 3-4 new characters and new stories every time like there was nothing there, or something shameful you need to sanitize and cover up! you can just use the game the way it is!

this got a little more heated than i intended, i just feel a little ridiculous waiting anxiously for loose scraps of a sign that this story isn't over and in the trash already and nemona's life-changing attachment to the player character isn't going to go totally ignored, as we are bombarded with what is supposed to be followup material that almost all seems eager to talk about literally anything else like they think the main story was a mistake they need to run away from

now, i'm not one to complain about original stories being told, but this was already a story that had room to grow. imagine a world where the gen 9 anime was actually about nemona, arven, penny, and the friend who brought them together. or what their lives were like before that friend came along. every episode. that would get me to watch the anime again and whatever movie came out for it. ask yourself why we don't have that, or even the traditional, like, 1-2 characters tagging along with the MCs per region thing that would leave us knowing them better than we know some irl friends

how was starting over with 100% original characters and new lore that might conflict hard with the upcoming DLC the safer bet? why is a 44 minute miniseries specifically for fans of the game making up OCs for them to get invested in and scrambling to tell their stories as quickly as possible before throwing them in the trash instead of being about the damn game?

sigh. i shouldn't get invested in a series that's about selling monster plushies just because it had one story that stuck with me

#paldean winds seems to mostly be making fun of the infodumping fat pokemon nerd character until he gets his own episode #y'know. the one that represents a lot of their viewers #while nemona is right there outside the window hyping up little kids about battles as usual because they don't hate her like her peers #honestly her overhearing the conversation and looking a little uncomfortable about it would've been a good touch #confirmation that the subtext i noticed is actually considered part of the canon and not a happy accident they'll never talk about again #something i have only gotten from pokemon masters so far #pokemon sv #pokemon #nemonaposting #pokemon scarvi #pokemon scarlet and violet #yada yada ten million other tags #'well at least there's the manga' the manga that inserted its own wacky main character that will probably also revolve around him #idk that one could still be good but it's also an AU and not the versions of the characters i'm invested in if that makes sense #i've been begging for pokemon to feel in touch with its audience forever and as soon as it is they treat it like a hot potato #i feel fucking obsessed because of how long this tease has been stretching on for no good reason #they could've just let us ACTUALLY hang out with the friend trio in vanilla postgame and shown them in the DLC a single time #and i could have had a normal social media presence for the past 3-6 months #instead of dreaming about a pokemon npc last night because of how little faith i have in her getting any justice outside of a fucking gacha #i am so sorry that this is who i am now except for the 2-3 of you who follow me specifically because i post these things #pennyposting #arvenposting

[vampirepunks]

I really love all the DS2 theories I've seen so far but one thing I'm picking up is a lot of people expecting Higgs to still be on the same trajectory/goal set as he was in the first game and y'know....... I don't think that's the case.

The overall theme of DS2 from what we've seen so far + Kojima's comments seems to be the concept of opposites, inverses, and dualities, as though it's saying, "take the entire idea and turn it inside out and upside down." It appears to challenge the viewer to subvert whatever expectation/understanding they have based on the first game. It's eternal recurrence as seen through a mirror. The first game was themed around blue and black, this one is red and white. Connection becomes disconnection. Hope becomes despair. Age becomes youth. Repetition becomes change.

Buckle up, I've got thoughts.

(This pattern of contrasts illustrates a theory I've had since DS1 based on Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathustra" and the three-stage journey of metamorphoses--camel -> lion -> child--required to become the overman, but that'll be a separate post. If you're already familiar with the book, just know that in this context DS1 would be the camel and thus DS2 encompasses the lion.)

So, in DS1, Higgs is a hyper-fatalist obsessed with extinction. It's easy to assume that hasn't changed, that he's still dedicated to Amelie and wants to end the world... Too easy, right? Has anything Kojima has written ever been that simple?

I raise you this: In the vein of eternal recurrence, Sam becomes Cliff and Higgs becomes Amelie/Bridget... but this is not a literal retelling, rather, a metaphorical one. A dark mirror to the stories we already know.

So if the theme is opposition, what's the opposite of extinction? Creation. What's the first thing we learn about Higgs in the DS2 trailers? He's a musician now. He sings and he plays guitar. And, arguably, music is the very essence and lifeblood of creation itself, one of the very first things mankind created when our species was in its infancy. Further, Higgs uses his own umbilical cord (yes, it's an umbilical cord), as a guitar jack, channeling his ties to life, death, and his own soul in his performance, highlighting that he has an intimate connection to this core act of creativity. More about that in this post.

Now, DS1 already has a lot of themes and motifs surrounding duality, most notably the concept of chirality: two things that are each other's opposite, two hands imperfectly overlapping, two objects that act as one another's mirror. Powerful things happen when they collide--anything ranging from drug interactions to voidouts to the very birth of the universe.

If I'm reading this right, Sam is set to become the chiral counterpart to his father's tragedy and Higgs is set to become the chiral counterpart to the extinction entity. The same narratives we know, recurring once more, but flipped to become something entirely new at the same time. A rope that becomes a stick and a stick that becomes a rope. Humanity will always need both; the stick is not evil for serving its purpose, nor is the rope inherently good for doing its job. "Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil."

I'm calling it now: Higgs is not serving Amelie, not seeking to bring her back, not trying to become her. He is rebelling against the idea of her, unshackling himself from the role she placed him in, taking back the autonomy he lost and acting to avenge the abandonment and manipulation he suffered. He's claiming her image as his own to make a mockery of what she represents, painting himself up to look like her decaying corpse, all in an effort to prove she no longer controls him, defiantly asserting, "The queen is dead... long live the king." And so, what is there left for him to do but throw himself into reckless acts of creation? Life from death. Extinction Entity? Cute. Try this on for size: Creation Entity.

#justice for my boy <3 #finally using the jokes i've been making in a serious post aha #i don't however expect this to work out for Higgs the way he plans/hopes #he thirsts and starves for connection but the divine is inherently disconnected. detached. distant. #to become a god is to be alone above the world. singular and unmatched. midas still can't shake hands no matter how beautiful his garden is #the higher they rise the harder they fall. i just hope sam is there to catch him when he does. just as he caught amelie at the end of DS1 #what was icarus when the sea embraced him if not more human than ever before? #i also really need to make a post about sam as sisyphus and higgs as prometheus. both trapped in a neverending cycle #higgs monaghan #death stranding #ds2 #ds2 theories #logan.txt

[amageish]

So, Nico Minoru's in Spider-Man Freshman Year... Let's talk about it.

About a year ago, Marvel spilled some details about the upcoming animated Spider-Man series, Spider-Man Freshman Year. There was a lot of discussion about it, what it was, what it wasn't, and whether what it is is better or worse then what people wanted it to be.

A couple weeks ago, a trademark filing indicated that the show was scheduled for Winter 2024. In an era where companies are killing announced and nearly-finished projects, I was honestly thinking the show was on thin ice... but since it seems to still exist, I want to talk about something that I feel has gotten surprisingly little discussion in all the discourse about the show: the inclusion of Nico Minoru, of the Runaways, as Peter Parker's best friend.

Now, from a Peter-centered perspective, I think this choice makes sense in a very specific way? If you flash back to the original 60s Spider-Man comics, which the show seems to be trying to invoke aesthetically from the little we've seen, Peter Parker had a female close friend who was representative of 1960s youth counter-culture: Mary Jane.

The degree to which Stan Lee's own values undercut MJ's counter-culturism is something that people could/do entire academic essays about, but suffice it to say that she was meant to appeal to the zeitgeist of the era and the character's spirit certainly got through to viewers. Like, there is a reason that she the OTP for Peter for so many people, even if Lee at the time had intended to keep the focus on Peter's more traditionally conservative romance with Gwen Stacy.

Nico Minoru slots into this classic pre-MJ-as-the-love-interest MJ role very well, in my opinion at least? In her 2000s comics, she was cast as a edgy goth social outcast who made her own clothes and did her own thing... In her 2010s MCU show, she was cast again as an outcast, but with a certain amount of doomerpilled depression that she outgrows as the show goes on... In the 2020s game Midnight Suns, Nico is still a devoted goth, but also draws from queer youth culture and has a certain semi-ironic peppiness to her (she calls the player "friendo" constantly - she's just like me fr).

So, honestly, I think picking Nico Minoru for Spider-Man's best friend is a really clever move that slots her into this historical role of the foil to Peter Parker - fun choice!

However, from a Nico-centered perspective, I have a lot of questions about what this version of the character will be like practically... The biggest one being: Why is Nico in New York? One of the core concepts of the Runaways as a team is that they are a response to the oft-asked question "Why is New York always under threat? Why are there no superheroes having to save LA?". While the West Coast Avengers do, y'know, exist, the Runaways introduces another answer to this question: Supervillains cannot operate in LA without permission of the Pride, a LA-based supervillain mafia who made a pact with a demon from Limbo and require a cut of all crime committed in the city. The titular Runaways are the children of these villains, who choose to reject their parent's lifestyle and go on the run rather then be complicit in their villainy.

So... How did Nico get in New York and end up enrolling in a New York high school? That's a big change for her and I hope the explanation is satisfying.

Nico and her team also don't usually appear as traditional costumed heroes with secret identities, at least not for prolonged periods of time. They've used several codenames and several costumes, but it's always bit a touch comedic - Nico goes by "Sister Grimm" because they decide they need nicknames to be superheroes as somewhat-cringy-teens while she later uses "The Gloom" partially at the encouragement of her girlfriend, but she's still largely just... Nico. It's worth noting that both Midnight Suns and Marvel Snap break naming conventions to call her by her first/last name instead of an alias - something Snap mostly does with big-deal characters like Jean Grey and Kitty Pryde, with even other characters more known by their real name like Emma Frost and Danielle Moonstar being called by their hero names instead...

So, I'm curious if Nico will be using her powers to fight crime and, if she is, what codename/costume she has... On top of that, I wonder if Peter Parker will know that Nico is a blood witch and if Nico will know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man - or if they mutually uncover that across the events of the series... Doctor Strange is also set to be in this show - will he be a mentor for her as a budding witch, perhaps even more then he is a mentor for Peter? There's a lot of possibilities there too.

Finally, there's the big question of Nico Minoru's queerness. Now, there's basically two lists of Marvel queers - the characters written as queer by the writers and artists at Marvel and the characters Marvel corporate have actually approved as being queer and stamped with a big rainbow stamp of approval. This is what separates your "did a gay kiss once" characters from your "paraded out every June" characters...

Nico is in the latter category and is potentially one of the most corporate-approved queer characters there are. This girl is BISEXUAL and Marvel is uncharacteristically interested in making sure you know it. She got a Pride variant cover kissing her girlfriend when Pearlmutter was still at the company. Her MCU show is full of gay kisses and has not one but TWO fantasy gay wedding sequences (it also got removed from Disney+ earlier this year, funny that).

Now, uh, America Chavez is basically the face of Sapphic Marvel in the comics and her queerness got reduced to a Pride pin in her movie, so I'm not sure if Nico's bisexuality will be acknowledged in the show given that precedent... but I sure hope it does!!! It'd be cute if Karolina pops in too, helping her girlfriend out with whatever antics she gets into... She wasn't in the initial revealed character line-up, but I could also see them waiting to reveal her and hoping to get hype specifically from shippers who haven't thought about the pairing in a few years since the Runaways TV show ended.

ANYWAY. That was a lot of thoughts, but I'm just very curious what's going to happen here... I love Nico and am eager to see her in this show, but it also just feels like such an unconventional choice... to the point where I am apparently thinking about it this hard a year later.

#spiderman freshman year #nico minoru #deanoru #the runaways

[starberrywander]

I wish I had the programming skills or technical know-how to make a website or open source program for creative works. Like, I would love to make something that allows creators to publish their work and get support without all the capitalist bs. Book authors could publish completely free. They could choose to publish at whatever price they want, or for free. No minimum requirements by the site. They could connect with freelance editors, cover artists, beta readers etc. to help with their book. If readers really liked the author and wanted to support them, there would be a way for them to donate directly to the author. Again, no website fee. Plus, there would be no higher ups to punish authors for their books being pirated (a practice whose existence caused the spite that fuels this post) and any earnings would go directly to the author. Like if the author charged $20 + tax for their book, they would get $20 for every book they sell. Simple as.  Filmmakers would be in a similar situation; their works could be published completely free and they decide the prices charged. Screenwriters could use the platform to connect with actors, editors, animators, etc. to build a team and produce their project. Viewers could support projects with donations directly to the creative team or even just individual members of the team to show appreciation for their work. And again, like with the book authors, all earnings by a project would go directly to the creators. There would be no higher ups to take a portion of the profits, 100% of it would go to the creators. The website would be sustained mostly by ads, probably. Maybe there could also be a place to donate directly to the site to keep it running. If I started it myself, I would probably buy my own servers and power them with solar panels or something to decrease costs. Idk, my knowledge of servers and how the internet works is limited, but hopefully it would be like a non-profit indie Netflix that also had books and artwork. The creators on the platform could direct the development of the platform with suggestions of what would help them with their work. Viewers could direct development by suggesting ways that the platform could be more user friendly. The whole thing would be directed by users and creators wouldn't have to go through the bs of publishing companies and studios. It could be kinda like a crowdfunding thing, where if creators needed funding they could share a little teaser about their work and people who wanted to see it come to fruition could donate to the project. People would be able to tell the stories they want without it being watered down for fear that it wouldn't make as much money if it was too controversial (y'know, like how a lot of big companies are hesitant to represent lgbt characters and stories out of fear of decreased profits and "alienating an audience").  Like, my coding knowledge is extremely limited and I can't do anything without tutorials. I have no idea how I would build a website like this or work out the cybersecurity details but damn, I really want to. I want to see creators unrestricted by the regulations of publishing businesses. I want to see the creators and stories that would otherwise get rejected by the big companies. I want to see creativity thrive, unhindered by the pressures of capitalism. And I know what I've proposed isn't exactly "free of capitalism" but at least it would be a step toward true creative freedom. It would give opportunities for so many creators to get their work out into the world when they otherwise wouldn't have been able to. Anyway, this is one of my many dreams. I dunno if I'll ever make it a reality, but I wanted to share it so maybe it can inspire someone else who has more knowledge in this area to want to try something similar.

#indie film #artists #authors #creative works #website #nonprofit #open source idea #idea #idk how to do it but I would love to #indie creators #anti-capitalism #capitalism ruins creativity #free creativity #anarchism #anarchy #support creators #support creatives #I guess it would kinda be like youtube but for more than just videos #and specifically for creative works #and with less tos restrictions #like anyone could put their stuff up for free #but the site would be designed with creative projects in mind #rather than how youtube is designed for just whatever videos you want

[the-world-annealing]

A spoiler-free review of Barbie (2023)

This is like the third post about Barbie I've started writing and then abandoned but y'know, let's just bang this thing out and be done with it.

After its trippy opening, Barbie (2023) starts us off in Barbieland: a fantasy world inhabited by an endless parade of well-dressed attractive working women, who are all Barbie, because Barbie can be anything and do anything. Our protagonist, 'stereotypical Barbie', one day wakes to the terror of Things Not Being Perfect All the Time, and is told she must travel to the real world in order to stop her life being ruined.

Traveling along her is Ken, who is by far the best character in the entire movie. Core to his arc is the fact that he's an accessory, an 'and Ken', without traits or competences of his own, and that his identity does not extend beyond being Barbie's boyfriend. As one character puts it: "Nobody cares about Ken", and in fact you could argue that Ken's main goal is learning to care about himself. There's some genuinely solid character work here, Ryan Gosling is obviously an amazing actor, and he's got by far the best musical number in the entire movie (you'll know it when you see it).

But enough about the barebones plot details: let's talk about the movie on a more abstract level.

Barbie as a comedy The movie rarely hesitates when presented with the opportunity for a gag; its metaphysics rarely remain consistent, reasonable questions get dismissed with a quip, and in one egregious example Ken betrays his final chance to explain his core arc so he can instead set up a gag about horses. That is, in itself, not something bad; movies are allowed to prioritize humor over story, comedies especially.

And credit where credit is due, Barbie is a good comedy. The jokes are funny, the pacing is slightly rushed but never uncomfortably so, the soundtrack is amazing, the Barbieland sets explode with color. There's a lot of references to Barbie products in here, but I never felt like I was watching a two-hour ad. The movie is by far at its best when it embraces its own zaniness, and for the most part it does just that.

But Barbie wants to be more than the Summer Blockbuster (pink edition) of 2023, it wants to... well, actually, let's take a brief digression to analyze some of the themes you could reasonably want to say Barbie is trying to explore.

Barbie as things that aren't a comedy There's a strain of discourse, long preceding this movie but invigorated by its announcement, where one side will say "Barbie is sexist and the face of patriarchal standards" and the other side will say "Actually Barbie is canonically an astronaut and a senator and a racecar driver, which is breaking gender roles, and thus feminist, because women can do anything".

The movie multi-track drifts these opinions for its entire length, and ends up concluding something like "Barbie represents a sort of idealized female figure, and having such a figure to project your hopes and dreams and fears on can be legitimately useful. At the same time, nobody can actually live up to those standards, so just be yourself and voice your frustrations with patriarchal standards when you encounter them". We'll get back to this in a second.

Another reading of the movie is as a sort of opposite-world mirror, one that assigns typically-female roles to the male characters and in doing so, invites its viewers to think about the way women in movies get typically treated. I'm not sure how I feel about this: I think a common failure mode for Subversive movies is to end up preaching to the choir, and I'm unsure how much of Barbie's target audience needs to hear 'when directors add a two-dimensional female love interest to a movie, this is bad'. Someone I discussed it with half-jokingly suggested that those messages are aimed at 'boyfriends who got dragged into the movie'; perhaps they are.

Now, note that Barbie, both in marketing and in the movie itself, is making a big deal out of saying something about Women and Sexism and Social Standards: its ability to credibly say something about those issues thus depends on its ability to represent these subjects accurately. And unfortunately, that's where it goes wrong.

Patriarchy Without spoiling too much, suffice to say that the real world is far from the benevolent female-centric utopia that is Barbieland. The second act explores the contrast between Barbieland and the real world; the third ends with Barbie defeating the patriarchy.

Or, rather, some weird alien mind virus that everyone constantly calls 'the patriarchy'. Barbie's patriarchy (supposedly the same one we ourselves have) is utterly individualistic: sexist ideas are introduced, men and women both instantly adopt sexist attitudes, and boom, patriarchal society where former confident career women are now submissive housewives in miniskirts. It's impressive in how utterly dismissive it is of the idea that an issue could be structural.

For instance, under patriarchy, a man will put on The Godfather and mansplain it to you. Or your male employees will judge you both for being 'too soft' and 'a hardass'. Or a man will say 'you look prettier without glasses'. Or a man may see you struggling with photoshop and mansplain it to you. As you might've guessed by now, Barbie's portrayal of crushing patriarchal norms is limited to a very particular subset; the sort of interpersonal frustrations likely to get encountered by a thirty-something managerial-class woman and her social circle. Which to be clear isn't something you shouldn't get bothered by, but it speaks to the sort of myopia that is regrettably common in certain feminist schools of thought.

A very recurrent shape that the movie's patriarchy takes is when men receive undeserved power and attention, and it's unsurprising to see the movie's own solution come down to 'elevating female voices, maybe getting a few more female CEOs'. It's just a disappointingly basic take on sexism and how to address it, and it sours everything that the movie has to say about its chosen subject matter.

How it could have been better In a way that ironically mirrors the movie's central moral, Barbie (2023) suffers from needing to be everything at once: feminist parable, zany comedy, and surrealist art film. So it might be surprising that my proposed fix is to accentuate yet another genre: horror.

In all the movie's talk of Barbie being a sexist ideal or a tool for self-actualization or a symbol of female omnicompetence, it (deliberately?) forgets that she is a product first and foremost, and her identity and skillset is defined by a marketing department as much as it is defined by innocently hopeful six-year-olds. The idea is raised once, subtly, during a speech that isn't sure whether it wants to be a serious argument or a long-winded joke.

So to fix the movie, play up the dissonance between being a person with thoughts and hopes and fears and being an utterly artificial construct! Emphasize the contrast between "Barbie can be anything and do anything" and "Barbie can only do those things that a board of designers approved", and the terror of being Barbie in that scenario, of believing the first but discovering the second!

And there's a lot of directions you can go from there; you can have Barbie meet women who aren't marketable professionals, and learn something meaningful about the broad definition of womanhood from them, you can involve Barbieland's barbies as enthusiastic participants in the system who are more than willing to expel protagonist-Barbie once she stops fitting their mold (something loosely hinted at in the actual movie), you can introduce all sorts of human villains who want to manipulate the concept of womanhood for their own gain, whatever you want, as long as you somehow, somewhere, acknowledge that barbie's wardrobe is 90% pink (that barbie has a sizeable wardrobe) for reasons other than the Innate Feminine Need to wear that particular color.

You still get to keep the feminist angle, but instead of centering the frustrations of middle class female professionals it now focuses on the fundamentally artificial nature of gender roles: I shouldn't have to say why that makes for a more compelling core theme!

(and if your response is something like "Okay, I get where you're coming from but mainstream femininity catches so much undeserved flak that we need a movie bold enough to come to its defense." I will simply note that we seem to have different priorities on that matter)

The movie could have been this: it got so close around the midpoint! But it backs off, because it wants to tell a story about women controlled by men, not people controlled by systems. Unfortunately in doing so it becomes a much less interesting movie, and one hampered in its ability to make meaningful points in favor of feminism.

#barbie #barbie movie #barbie 2023 #barbie review #discourse #metadiscourse

[bon-nii]

Sorry for spam reblogging from u but im very mad about episode 3 and ur blog conveyed pretty much everything i couldn't scream at my anime only fans friends

Omg hey anon don't worry about it, no need to apologize!! Honestly it makes me happy when I see people spam reblog from me like "damn ur going thru it too then?" 😭 My blog and inbox are always open for whatever <3

Glad you could find a voice thru all my TPN shitposts and reblogs. I know what it's like to be SUPER OBSESSED with something that none of your friends are obsessed with so you can't share it with anyone and then feel like you are gonna explode lmfao

Here are some thoughts I have about episode three below the cut. It got a bit long but I'm really passionate about this series aaaaa:

From an anime-only standpoint, I think it was a great episode. It lures the viewer into a false sense of security, only to drop two massive bombshells on them--the "Help" room and the call from William Minerva. From a manga standpoint, what the FUCK is going on!?

We have known for awhile now that the anime is going to change things up, so I have been trying to separate the anime from the manga a bit, in terms of plot and execution. I am not against this idea, but I am not really for it either. I think it is too early to determine whether this is a good call or not, but I'm not necessarily hopeful lol. But if done right, I think this anime-only thing could be a great addition to the story.

Unless they are fuckin, rewriting the ENTIRE story, I can't possibly imagine a reason why they would omit both Yuugo AND Goldy Pond--two of the most beloved and favorite things from the series.

Yuugo is everyone's favorite trash uncle, we all love his goofy ass, but I think a lot of people forget that he serves a very explicit and important purpose for the narrative. He represents what Emma could become if her plans, ideals, and dreams cost her everything. He is the second big challenge to Emma's ideals (the first being Isabella, the third being Norman). I really, REALLY would not understand why they would remove him, if they remove him.

There is a lot of disinformation going around about the anime, so much that nobody really even knows what is disinformation and what is real. There's this idea going around that they cut GP and Yuugo entirely from the anime, and people are spreading this like it's fact. It's not, we simply do not know what they plan to do from here. I understand why everyone is panicking, I'm lowkey panicking too because Yuugo is so near and dear to my heart, but I think in the heat of the moment there has been a bit of an overreaction. Just my opinion though, but I think it is way too early to tell if this will be good or not. I think we will know after episode 4

If Yuugo will be introduced, I think it is highly likely that they will have him show up at the bunker at some point and discover the kids, rather than the other way around. This would add a lot of suspense--imagine, the kids see some unknown figure entering the bunker from the monitors? Imagine being Yuugo, walking into the bunker, thinking you are completely alone. His mental state is extremely fragile, he is severely suicidal, he has nightmares and lives his life constantly haunted by the ghosts of his family...and now he is hearing children's voices and laughter when he enters the bunker??? YIKES!!!

Yuugo's intro in the manga was FIRE, but it probably didn't have the level of suspense that the anime was looking for. There isn't really any build up except for the one or two panels before they find him where Emma hears noises behind the door. (I think his intro had suspense at the time it was published because he was introduced as a cliffhanger at the end of volume 6, and then the manga went on a two month hiatus and everyone was like "ayo who tf is that guy?!?!??!")

Right before Yuugo dies, he thinks back on that day, the day he "failed to die". In this flashback, we see that he was out gathering food, came back to the bunker, had a mental breakdown, and was going to shoot himself, but was interrupted by the kids arriving at the shelter. So, he was out of the bunker before they met. The things that make me nervous about this theory: the moldy cookies, the empty garden, and the letter pinned to the wall.

Don't get your hopes up that this is going to happen. Speaking from experience as someone who went through both the great BBC Sherlock season 4 meltdown and the great Voltron meltdown, if you get in too deep with theorizing to the point where you become convinced that *this specific thing* is going to happen, it's probably going to come back to bite you in the ass BIG TIME and it is going to ruin the series and the love you have for it entirely. For the sake of sparing myself that stress, I am going to assume the worst case scenario, which is that this doesn't happen and they fuck everything up. I love this series but I am not going to revert back to my Sherlock and Voltron mental state for it lmfao

If worst comes to worst, we have the manga. That's it. We have the original story and that's what matters. It exists, whether the anime adapts it or not. Yeah it will suck if they don't adapt it, but it won't destroy the manga's story, y'know? Yuugo will be here for us to love, regardless of what form he is in. They will never be able to take bunker dad from us lol

I do have other thoughts concerning the phone call, and what that might mean about James, Norman, and Lambda, but this is getting way too long and the mass majority of the concern is about Yuugo and GP so I'll leave it at this. Heads up guys, no matter what happens, it's not the end of the world. Don't let whatever happens ruin this series for you.

I hope that I was maybe able to help you feel better about everything? Thank you again for visiting, for the reblogs and taking the time to inbox me, it really means a lot to me!! Feel free to spam me anytime! 💕 :>

#the promised neverland #tpn #yakusoku no neverland #tpn norman #tpn ray #ynn #tpn emma #tpn yuugo #promised neverland #tpn s2 #tpn lucas

[seigyokus]

2.2 - Unknown Wound

Idolish Seven - Part 3, Chapter 2.2 For more Part 3 translations, click here!

Translation below the cut!

Director: Hmm....... Not quite. Nikaidou Yamato: Ah....... Sorry.... Director: Did you read the original work? Nikaidou Yamato: I did. Director: In the last scene, the police and his father break into the collection room, right? There, he yells at his father: Director: "Father, this is all your fault!" I want that to be a little more intense. Can you try saying this line again? Nikaidou Yamato: Father, this is all your fault! Director: Hmm....... Again. Nikaidou Yamato: Father…. This is all your fault! Director: Hmm....... Haha, sorry. It's not bad, though. Nikaidou Yamato: ....... Director: Idols are really good at acting. This goes for Yuki-kun as well. Director: They've all got superb pacing. And because they're used to it, when they gotta deliver something, they deliver it with a bang! When you ask them to do something, they present it in a really good way. Director: Their expressions and voices are like direct attacks to the viewers' hearts. Bam! Just like a heart massage, y'know? They're so cool-- I'm always mesmerized. Director: But for this last scene, I don't want something that just straightforwardly tugs at the heartstrings. I want it to pull something out from deep inside their hearts and leave a lasting impression on the viewers. Director: I want you to throw away the skills you've honed as a master artisan and be more like an artist. That way you'll be able to draw out the true depth of the original work and be more persuasive as an actor. Director: For example, Chiba Shizuo-san's-- Ah....... Nikaidou Yamato: ......It's fine. What about Shizuo-san? Director: Shizuo-san's acting in "The Crescent Moon Wolf." That famous scene where the rōnin glares down the enemy group in the moonlit night, after his wife and daughter have been killed. Director: Everyone knew that Shizuo-san was good at striking poses. He'd give 'em a single glare, and then settle the scene with a bang. Director: But, Shizuo-san just stood still and gazed at the enemy. Director: The audience could only hold their breath, as if they forgot to breathe. They felt the rōnin's anguish, resentment, and determination-- as if they were their own feelings. Nikaidou Yamato: ....... Director: That's what I want you to bring out for the last scene. Don't think of this as entertainment, be less aware of that fact. It's okay. I know you can do it, Nikaidou-kun. Nikaidou Yamato: ......I understand. I'll try it out.

Director: Haa....... This sure is difficult....... Yuki: Director. Director: Woah! Yuki-kun, you surprised me there.... Yuki: I think it'd be better if you gave him more concrete instructions. Yuki: Telling him to be less of an artisan and more of an artist is much too abstract and extreme for a new actor. I myself would've been thrown into utter disarray, gone crazy, and burst into haka. Director: Haka? You mean that Maori dance......? Yuki: Yep. I'd be so confused, that I'd have no other choice but to try to inspire you. Be thorough with him, as you were with me. (2) Director: No way, it's impossible for me to boss Shizuo-san's son around like that. My palms were sweating just now....... Yuki: I don't think Shizuo-san would mind. Director: No, no. You see, one of my old teachers got a call-- from Shizuo-san. Director: Apparently Shizuo-san had heard that his son would be starring in one of my movies, and gave me his regards. My mentor gave gave me a hefty warning, told me not to destroy his reputation. Absolutely terrifying. Director: Well, he's young and it's a really crucial time for him right now. But didn't he get trained by Shizuo-san? I'm sure he's getting advice from him as he goes. Yuki: ....... Director: He's not? So those rumors about them not getting along are true? Is that why he debuted as an idol outside of Hoshikage? Yuki: ....... You won't be getting anything out of me. Director: Gotcha. I won't ask. Well, if it's Nikaidou-kun, I'm sure he'll be okay. Director: Both you and Nikaidou-kun are great actors full of potential. I don't even wanna call you idol actors at this point. Director: You never get confused either-- You're an artist, through and through. You're keen and sensitive, you go at your own pace, and you're lonely. Yuki: Lonely? Please don't say that. I've been working with my partner for five years now, and I'm also senpai to many younger stars. Director: Really? I've been doing this job for a long, long time, so I'm really familiar with people like you. Director: People like you are like flowing rivers, you see? You won't stop by anyone's side, nor do you let anyone stop by your side. Director: But if the stream is brought to a halt, then the water becomes dirty and clouded. That's why even the people you love leave so freely, because they know you're like that. Yuki: ....... Director: Shizuo-san is exactly like that too. Nobody can fully understand that man's charms and appeals-- he is brilliant, high and unreachable. Director: ......Perhaps that's the reason why he isn't cut out for family life.......

Nikaidou Yamato: Artisan...? ...Artist? Something that doesn't pull at the heartstrings, but instead pulls it out of their heart......? Nikaidou Yamato: ...I don't really get it....... I gotta kick it up a notch and properly study, huh....... Nikaidou Yamato: Maybe I should try asking him again? No....... Nikaidou Yamato: .......He's only gonna compare me to that man again. Natsume Minami: Nikaidou-san. Nikaidou Yamato: Ah....... Natsume Minami: I'm Natsume Minami. I play that girl's fiancé, the one who you massacre. You had quite a long chat with the director. Nikaidou Yamato: Yeah. I didn't have a good understanding of the work, that's all. Natsume Minami: The director has great expectations for you. After all, you're the son of Japan's most famous and representative actor. Nikaidou Yamato: ....... So you know too? Natsume Minami: It's because I'm from Hoshikage Entertainment. Even if you take that into account, very few people know about it right now. Nikaidou Yamato: I see....... Natsume Minami: But wouldn’t it be nice if this didn't get leaked to the weekly magazines in a convoluted manner? Natsume Minami: If that happened then both Shizuo-san, universally known a devoted husband, and IDOLiSH7 will have their images dragged down. Natsume Minami: That topic is a little too graphic for an idol group that's marketed as bright, fresh, and wholesome, isn't it? Nikaidou Yamato: ....... That's…. true....... Natsume Minami: Oh, don't be sad. If you achieve a lot through this movie, then you'll be able to shrug off all of the negativity. Natsume Minami: You're very talented, Nikaidou-san. You could continue on and survive as a fully fledged actor instead, even if IDOLiSH7's popularity falls. Nikaidou Yamato: ......Haha. So you're saying that I'm the only one who ends up escaping, even though I sank that ship? Nikaidou Yamato: As if I could do something like that-- Natsume Minami: But it's going to happen sooner or later, is it not? Nikaidou Yamato: ....... Natsume Minami: Ahaha.... You really do resemble him when you glare. Shizuo-san, that is. Natsume Minami: By the way, men who have small irises are highly suspicious of others, with a fiery temperament like an untamed horse. They're belligerent, and tend to resort to lowly and cunning methods. (1) Nikaidou Yamato: Oh? Then how about I use some of those lowly and cunning methods to shut your mouth? Natsume Minami: Ahaha. Pardon me, I meant no harm. It's just that I found it a little.... hilarious. Natsume Minami: I look forward to seeing your activities. Excuse me. Nikaidou Yamato: ....... Nikaidou Yamato: ...Fuck.......

Mister Shimooka: Our guest this week is IDOLiSH7! And boy are they popular...! Nanase Riku: Thank you very much! It's all thanks to everyone! Mister Shimooka: I've been cheering them on ever since they debuted, so I'm really moved too! What do you think of the current idol craze, Riku-kun? Mister Shimooka: The number of idol fans and, of course, the number of people aiming to be idols just keeps going up! Nanase Riku: That makes me really happy! It was also my dream to be an idol, ever since I was a kid! Nanase Riku: I'll do my best to make the people who love idols and the people aiming to be idols happy! Audience: Kyaaaaa...!

Girl: IDOLiSH7's so amazing...! I'm glad I supported them this whole time! Older Sister: You've gotten more friends lately too. Girl: Yeah! I have all of the old articles about IDOLiSH7, and I've been showing it to the other girls in my class! Mother: You're so popular now! Aren't you glad you're a fan of IDOLiSH7? Girl: Yep!

OL: We got more hits on our website! I'm happy that the number of IDOLiSH7 fans is increasing! OL: Can't even keep up with them nowadays! We gotta do our best to update from now on!

Mister Shimooka: Good job, Mitsuki-kun! Your responses were on fire today! You just keep getting better and better with words! Izumi Mitsuki: Thank you very much! Mister Shimooka: You made it easier for the other guests to talk, and I'm really glad someone like you is in IDOLiSH7. No wonder you guys are so popular! Izumi Mitsuki: Ehehe. It's not like that at all, but thank you very much. I’m really happy! Mister Shimooka: I'm a lot less worried about Yamato-kun now. Sure he's got that Chiba Salon thing, but if anything happens you'll be there to follow-up. Izumi Mitsuki: ....... Mister Shimooka: Hoshikage-san's been real noisy about it lately, so I was a little concerned.... But I'm relieved after watching you guys today! Izumi Mitsuki: Um.... Uh....... Mister Shimooka: ......Wait, you don't know? You haven't heard anything? Izumi Mitsuki: Ah..... No....... Mister Shimooka: No way! You guys are such good friends though.... But you haven't heard a single thing about this......? Izumi Mitsuki: ....... Mister Shimooka: Ah, no-- I see....... Sorry about that. Forget what I just said. Izumi Mitsuki: ......Shimaoka-san, just what is 'Chiba Salon?' Mister Shimooka: I'm sorry! Please forget it! I can't tell you anything, especially because I'm not a part of Hoshikage.... I…. I was so sure you knew about it....... Izumi Mitsuki: It's okay, I understand.... Mister Shimooka: I'm really sorry about that! Well, I’ll see you later.... Izumi Mitsuki: It's fine, good work today....... Izumi Mitsuki: ....... Izumi Mitsuki: We...... We are good friends....... Right...?

To be continued.... 

TL Notes/comments:

Sorry for the wait!! both me and kuri were dying over exams (Esp kuri), and thank you as always for proofreading and catching my 102938129038 stupid 2-5 am typos!!! 

(1) The eye type minami describes is actually just one where you can see the whites of the eye at the bottom lashline normally but that's way too goddamn long even for this bad luck + death flag fortune cookie kiddo. ALSO, methods is kinda shoehorned in for smoother tling of yamato's line in response to this. 

(2) dunno why Yuki talks about inspiration here but Okay. Other TL things to note: Director. BOY the way he speaks is kinda fun, very much so an artistic type (nice metaphors bro) and very enthusiastic. I was a bit more liberal with his lines bc of that. Artisan vs artist: if you google you get “An artist is a person who performs any of the creative arts. This can range from painting to music. An artisan, on the other hand, is a skilled worker who makes things by hand” from the second result. Usually I’d go with craftsman but in this case, to up the confusion factor, I chose artisan. My brain also kept trying to mix Chiba and Shizuo and I repeatedly typed Chizuo instead of Shizuo LMAO I cannot stress how important it is to listen thru the story because holy cow, I love what Shirai did with the “father this is all your fault!!!” line! The text is actually the same in the story script, but I’ve reformatted the translation a bit so it reads like how it sounds in Japanese (love U shirai). Um also at some point in time I ended up in the youtube rabbit hole of watching haka videos!!! They’re so cool and also v addicting to watch, just wow. Wow.

As usual, if you see any mistakes/mistranslations/etc, please message me!

Thank you for reading!!

#idolish7 #アイドリッシュセブン #story3:text #story3:tl #translation