#yes i am reading the manga from the start yes expect a lot of commentaries from me from now on

[beanghostprincess]

Absolutely adore how Luffy instantly went "But you don't know him!!" the second Koby told him Zoro was this evil beast he shouldn't trust and then proceeded to go to a marine base the same way somebody goes to an animal shelter to look for a dog

#'evil beast that turns human' ??? you mean a puppy #love how they keep describing zoro as this terrifying pirate hunter. he's a babygirl wdym #yes i am reading the manga from the start yes expect a lot of commentaries from me from now on #one piece #monkey d. luffy #roronoa zoro #koby one piece #zolu

[2n2n]

I love the Tsukasa and Nene ship, and it seems that you do too and I would like to know why? Because this ship doesn't seem to be very popular what attracted you to it? And do you think it's possible for this ship to happen in the manga? (Unfortunately seen from my point of view I don't think so, because Tsukasa seems so innocent for this to happen, besides he only thinks about Hanako-kun 😢)

Popularity or suggestions from others has little to do with what I ship; I read the work, I imbibe the story, and I ship things based on what I am intrigued by, or perceive, in the story. I don't tend to engage much with fandom when reading something first time, so I had no idea what was 'big' or what wasn't (I didn't look at the fandom at all until the Far Shore arc, where I only really suddenly glimpsed it because I was looking for Sumire/Hakubo stuff & was blindsided by other's dislike of Hakubo). For instance, the popularity of Mitsuba and Kou, and ?? Aoi and Nene ?? completely and utterly baffled me, I wouldn't have guessed people really cared about any of that. I came out of it only caring about the twins x Nene-chan.

As it is, it intrigued me early on that Amane can compare Nene-chan to Tsukasa. They share a lot in common, centrally their love of Amane. In canon and in AUs, Tsukasa often acts like a sort of informant, giving Nene-chan information. The canon itself gives me the impression he places a lot of trust on her, and likes her. The story itself lead me to asking questions about it, and its viability only kept increasing as I read. I went into this expecting to only like HanaNene, but, AmaTsuka became the next obvious thing, but then weirdly the final piece, TsuNene, felt like it started taking shape...

Yes, I think it's possible for the ship to happen. I think it's the point of a lot of threads and ideas… I really do believe that. There are enough comics, illustrations, and commentary from JP fandom that make me feel I am not the only one seeing it, either. It's just the American fandom is helpless.... I call myself delusional but like any good delusional person, I believe what I think is true.

I guess after playing Narisokonai Snow White especially-- wherein you spend half the game exploring the love between the Princess x one twin, and then the OTHER half of the game unraveling the love the OTHER twin feels for the Princess-- yet ultimately relinquishes her to his brother, who he feels the Princess loves truly and deserves to be with-- I'm, really convinced that it's not just my delusion, but the sort of multilayered love story intrigue Iro-sensei likes to tell. We have much more to learn about Tsukasa!

I don't think Tsukasa "only thinks about Hanako-kun". I think these sentiments are incredibly sincere:

and intentionally loaded. You don't get a single vibe from TsuNene scenes? Aren't these vibes why anyone ships it? Well, I get major vibes.... It's not like....... Teru x Natsuhiko, or, some other frivolous idea invented out of thin air. lol

It could be his love for Amane that makes him love Nene-chan; the only other person who can understand what it is like, to wish to die for Amane.

For him to be willing to let Nene-chan in on so much, and share so many precious moments with Amane, I feel he has to admire her.

Iro-sensei likes complex romantic intrigue!!! I can't say enough ... Narisokonai Snow White was so about the interplay between the cast of twins + a girl they both like. The Princess and Rasphard were similarly ill-behaved children, something the Ambrose family notes in the text. The Princess, who is already in love with Estelio, sees similarity between the twin boys. We use established love between individuals to implicate love all across the ships. As the player of the game, you can cause either twin to yandere out on the princess based on what choices you make....

I believe in twin romance supremacy. I think it is why we have twins + a girl.

I think it is Iro-sensei's fetish lol

Now what I will say is your thought of "Tsukasa is too innocent for it to happen" is kind of real, but you should give more credit, then, to Nene-chan, who could also make it happen... :) ;) I mean look at her as it is, chasing down Hanako all running away from her every few chapters....!

Maybe Tsukasa doesn't understand everything he feels or everything that could be possible! Amane also thought he didn't value anything, much less her life. Nene-chan teaches the boys many things about love~

#avvy's JSHK #JSHK to me is like. you gotta do what you couldnt manage in Snow White. you were weak then you were a teenage writer in HS #YOU CAN DO IT NOW!!! YOU CAN WRITE 300 CHAPTERS OF TIMELINE SHENANIGANS!!!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 272: (Directed by Michael Bay)

Previously on BnHA: The My Child Soldiers Academia arc finally started to live up to its name as Tokoyami became the first (but I assure you not the last) victim of traumatic mental scarring courtesy of Horikoshi’s sick games! So he and Dark Shadow showed up to stop Dabi from murdering Hawks and were all “please don’t kill our mentor.” Dabi was all “AH BUT YOUR MENTOR KILLED SOMEONE ELSE, AND ISN’T THAT JUST LIKE THE HEROES THOUGH, THEIR HANDS ARE SO STAINED WITH BLOOD” and then he tried to set both of them on fire several times in succession. Hawks was all “Tokoyami just run away while he’s in the middle of his five-hour sermon” and so they tried but Dabi followed them! But then Geten was all “ALL RIGHT EVERYONE... CHILL” and fucking froze everything for no discernible reason, and Tokoyami fled the building with an unconscious Hawks in tow as the battle raged on. The chapter then ended with Gigantomachia being all “I smell my master!” and standing up, hahaha oh fuck.

Today on BnHA: Well you guys are not going to believe this, but it turns out that Tomura waking up is actually a very bad thing. A “worst case scenario” if you will! Because, get this, he has a quirk that can destroy anything, which spreads from whatever he touches to fucking everything and everywhere else. Gosh, if only we’d known about this since like 35 chapters ago. If only we’d had a spy among the villains who could have warned us, and three entire months to plan our attack, and literally every single hero in Japan on call to help us when the time came. Anyway so you’re really going to be shocked by this I’m telling you, but it turns out that when a crazy powerful person who wants to destroy everything finally wakes up, he immediately starts destroying everything with his crazy power. So X-Less dies and Crust dies and everyone else runs, and meanwhile the kids, who are on the outskirts of the city finishing up the evacuation, stand there in shock as the plot rampages toward them ready to swallow them whole. The chapter ends with Deku powering up to FORTY-FIVE PERCENT YEAHHHHH, and oh shit. Finally we’re doing this.

I am not even remotely done with all the shit I’m supposed to be finishing up, but fuck it, I need a break and reading the new chapter is by far the funnest thing on my current to-do list, so!

OH SNAPS MY BOY HAS FINALLY OPENED HIS EYES

IT ONLY TOOK HIM... OKAY LOOK I’M NOT GOING TO GO BACK AND COUNT ALL OF THE CHAPTERS, BUT LET’S SAY... FIFTEEN. ...HUNDRED. CHAPTERS TO FINALLY SNAP TO IT AND COME JOIN THE PARTY. BUT IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT! PROBABLY. AHH LET’S JUST READ ON

-- ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohm --

[puts on glasses and unfolds map while poring through a mess of scribbles on post-it notes] -- hold up, if my calculations are correct, I’m pretty sure “somewhere a bit further from the hospital” is, in fact, where a certain THREE TROUBLE-PRONE DISASTERS ARE CURRENTLY HOLED UP. AHHH

can it really be true. are we finally rejoining our protagonist and his buddy cop friends after 97 years. how will everyone react to Deku reacting to Tomura waking up ahhhh

so Burnin’ is yelling at the civilians to let them know if they have any family or friends who need assistance evacuating

god I hate the fact that this is a fucking understatement

they’re not taking any chances after Kamino and Fukuoka huh. fool them once, shame on you. fool them twice, oh shit. but there will not be a third time! no one fucking destroys three cities in the span of six months on their watch, no sirree

(ETA: ...)

lol the kids are trying to get the elderly citizens on a bus to evacuate, but a lady is trying to give them candy and Kacchan and Ochako are of two different minds on whether or not to accept

Kacchan is absolutely right about Ochako’s motivations, but in her defense, who the fuck turns down free chocolate

IIDA!!

FUCKING CHRIST JAPAN IT’S 200 YEARS IN THE FUTURE AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T SWITCHED TO DIGITAL RECORD-KEEPING? WHY IS THIS THE MOST REALISTIC THING IN THE ENTIRE MANGA TO DATE. MY GOOD SIR, IIDA IS LYING THROUGH HIS TEETH, ALL RECORDS AND BUILDINGS ABSOLUTELY CAN AND WILL BE COMPLETELY OBLITERATED IN THE CARNAGE TO COME. I’M SORRY TO BE THE ONE TO INFORM YOU OF THIS, BUT DAMN IT SOMEONE HAS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

(ETA: I sure hope these poor bastards had good insurance.)

also. this man here who looks like Beaker from the Muppets, who presumably has the power of Doing Anything Those Wacky Flailing Inflatable Tube Men That You See Outside Of Car Dealerships Can Do. ...yes. that’s it. that’s an intentionally incomplete sentence with a subject but no predicate. I just feel like we should all sit and stare at him for a good thirty more seconds before continuing on with our lives

OH MY GOD

THEY’RE EVACUATING THE PETS TOO AHHHH. EXCUSE ME CERTAIN SOMEONES WHO THINK ALL HEROES ARE “DIRTY.” I SEE YOUR ARGUMENTS AND RAISE YOU THIS ONE SINGLE PANEL. YEAH THAT’S RIGHT. NOW WHAT DABI. AT A LOSS FOR WORDS I SEE. YOU JUST SIT AND PONDER THAT FOR A WHILE

is... this... a space shuttle man

is this literally just a man with a Boeing for a head. FUCKING QUIRKS THOUGH!!!!! ~*~wild~*~

OH MY GOD AND WE’RE BACK

time for some HORCRUX SHENANIGANS!! IS YOUR LIGHTNING BOLT SCAR BURNING DEKU. I CAN’T BELIEVE HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED IS BACK AHHHH

so now he’s slightly hunching forward with his hands pressed together and Todoroki is immediately sensing that something is wrong ahhhhh

(ETA from like 5 days later: I had that as “Tokoyami” instead of “Todoroki” for the better part of a solid week you guys. SHOUTO YOU WERE GONE FOR SO LONG I FORGOT YOUR FUCKING NAME whoop.)

here come dat angst. here comes Horikoshi’s hand beckoning the trio closer and welcoming them to the pain parade ahhh. from now on that’s how I’m ending all my sentences btw. it just seems right. ahhh

OH MY LORD OH MY

ladies and gentlemen, YOU WERE SAYING DEKU DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT LATELY? HE’S NOT INTERESTING ENOUGH AS A PROTAGONIST, IS HE? well maybe that’s because Horikoshi has been saving this one juiciest of plot nuggets for a rainy day precisely like this! BRING ON THAT CHOSEN ONE ANGST AHHHHH

anyway so yes it is indeed OFA speaking to him in the form of Lil Bro a.k.a. the first user

lol I’m trying to think of commentary but it’s difficult seeing as I’M ALREADY SCROLLING DOWN TO IMPATIENTLY READ THE NEXT PAGE

lmao the fuck

okay Princess Zelda. can you get any more flowery with those descriptions though. A TRANSCENDENT BEING. A SUPERLATIVE ENTITY. A SUBLIME, PREEMINENT ORGANISM. FREED FROM ITS SHACKLES. UNFETTERED BY ALL EARTHLY LIMITATIONS

OH MY GOD

it absolutely boggles my mind that this guy is somehow still alive. ??! how many chapters and panels has it been now. he’s like the goat in the t-rex pen in fucking Jurassic Park. WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GET EATEN ALREADY

...

do you... want a blanket. ...?

(ETA: do you ever just. wake up and you’re like “ah shit it’s cold”, and then you destroy an entire city. mm.)

do you all suppose X-Less is fully aware that he’s about to die though? he hasn’t even moved. I imagine that sitting next to Tomura actually is much like sitting next to a giant t-rex. like he has to know there is no getting out of this alive. poor guy

damn Mic isn’t even looking back he’s just running back into the main room where all the rest of them are

wow this fight is still going on

I don’t know why, I just expected it to all magically be over all of a sudden now that we have bigger things to worry about. do you guys remember when we were all worried about the High End Noumus being the biggest threat. hahahahaha

(ETA: moment of silence for ALL OF THE FUCKING HIGH ENDS lmao. that did not go how I expected that plotline to go AT ALL, but at least we got the best fucking battle in the entire manga out of it.)

jesus CHRIST ENOUGH WITH THIS

WE GET IT TOMURA IS DANGEROUS AND SCARY AND EVIL AND AWAKE!!! JUST PLEASE GET TO IT ALREADY GOD I’M BEGGING YOU

FINALLY

goddammit. my reaction to this should have been much more “!!!” and “OH SHIT”, but he dragged it out so much that my initial reaction was one more of relief than horror. maybe it’s because of the way I read the chapters, constantly pausing to do commentary as I go along, but whenever a chapter has a ton of panels of people just staring into the distance awash with dread, it really stands out to me lol. there’s only so much I can write about that kind of thing. ah well at least we’re finally getting to the action

I genuinely can’t tell if Ujiko is frightened that he’s about to be disintegrated by Tomura’s quirk, or excited that Tomura is awake

maybe both lol. well don’t worry you’re not gonna die that easily, much as you would not catch me complaining if you did

thanks Gran

lol where was all this speed throughout the rest of this arc though. “we’re only competent when the plot necessitates it” huh. is that right

oh shit it’s destroying the rest of the lab

those are all of Ujiko’s collected quirks, right? someone please tell me if this is a good or a bad thing. on the one hand if they’re all destroyed it means Tomura can’t get them and Ujiko can’t make any more Noumus. but on the other hand this means they won’t ever be able to give them back to the original users (if any of them are even still alive). and also that’s a lot of evidence that’s being wiped out as well

oh shit they didn’t know about this?!

even after Deika City, you didn’t put two and two together?? even with all of Hawk’s intel?? what the hell did you think happened there?

well this explains why everyone was so la-dee-da-no-rush about capturing him though. well that’s on you guys. next time maybe don’t waste 20 minutes uselessly battling redshirt Noumus while Mirko has to do everything herself

anyway so I feel like people other than X-Less are almost certainly going to die here, and fuck. I’m not ready for any of this

AHH THE KIDS

BIT SLOW ON THE UPTAKE THERE KACCHAN LOL. FOR A MOMENT YOU HAD ME WORRIED THERE WAS SOMEHOW A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THREAT APPROACHING FROM THE OTHER SIDE, BEFORE YOU TURNED AROUND TO LOOK WHERE THE OTHERS WERE LOOKING

ALSO JUST A FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT SHOUTO’S DAD IS IN THAT HOSPITAL, ALONG WITH THEIR TEACHER! HERE. COME. DAT. ANGST

LOOK AT THIS CONSPICUOUSLY INTACT BUILDING AS IT STANDS THERE ALL OMINOUSLY WITH THE NEARBY BIRDS AND CRITTERS FRANTICALLY FLYING AWAY

I want to see it crumble so bad. now this is the kind of foreboding cinematic disaster movie bullshit I can get into

FFFF WHY IS THIS PANEL SO HARD TO SEE

THERE’S TOO MUCH CHAOS AND TOO MANY PEOPLE LOST AMIDST ALL THESE SHATTERING AND FALLING TUBES, BUT I NEED TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE IS SAFE AHHH

...okay so I see Ryuukyuu in the top right, and I think that’s RockLockRock on her back. Thirteen is clearly there in the bottom center, but I don’t know who that is next to them. and then of course Gran and Mic on the left. and a bunch of others spread out in various other places, but... where the hell is Aizawa??

OH THANK GOD

FUCK YOU HORIKOSHI, I KNOW FULL WELL YOU’RE NOT JUST GOING TO KILL OFF THE WORLD’S PREEMINENT DAD STRAIGHT UP OUT OF THE BLUE HERE, AND YET I STILL FELT ANXIETY AT THIS LAST PANEL. HOW DID YOU EVEN

BITCH YOU BETTER LET THE FUCK GO BEFORE I --

!!!

oh my god I gasped in real life. stop making me fear for the lives of main characters!!

he. he --. crust. he. ...

I literally stopped reading and had to stop and cover my mouth with both of my hands I’m

silence. no screaming. no flailing. no freaking out. just silence

shit. rest in peace you old sedimentary bastard. respect to you for saving the father of my children in your last fleeting moments. I still have not the slightest idea how you rose through the ranks to somehow become the sixth fucking highest rated hero (HERO BILLBOARD CHART, IS EVERYTHING ALL RIGHT. ARE YOU FEELING OKAY), but you sure did go out with style though

also this may be tacky of me to point out during such an emotionally charged moment, but one second Aizawa is wearing his goggles like normal, and the next they’re suddenly pushed up onto his forehead so we can see the anguish in his bloodshot eyes. there was no reason to do that other than angst and we all know it. so yes Shouta you dramatic bitch, I am calling you out. why Horikoshi felt he had to add to your many accumulated traumas is beyond me. you don’t deserve this and I am so, so sorry

OH GOOD I WAS JUST ABOUT TO ASK WHERE THE FUCK ENDEAVOR WAS

seeing as we just went over this with Gran, I will take the high road here and won’t ask why you’re only this fast now and couldn’t have been this useful this ages ago back before Tomura woke up. oh wait does sarcastically saying I won’t bring it up count as bringing it up. well whatever. middle road, then

sob I’m getting flashbacks to the end of Return of the Jedi when they’re all frantically flying out of the Death Star as it explodes

friendly reminder that Ryuukyuu, clearly the fastest one here despite carrying like 20 people, was number 10 in the rankings for some unknown reason. again, r.i.p. Crust you well-meaning geriatric soul

also just a stray thought, I hope it’s clear now why it was so important to give Deku those additional quirks. at a minimum he needs Blackwhip and Float just so he doesn’t instantly die the moment he’s in Tomura’s general vicinity. sob I’ve joked so much about flying quirks and here they are becoming fucking prerequisites now

anyway so Ujiko is mourning the loss of his lab, which again, good riddance mostly. but r.i.p. that evidence though

(ETA: nah the “total loss” part is referring to how the heroes fucked up so soundly and thoroughly. anyway no one would blame Mic if he accidentally dropped Ujiko in the midst of all this chaos, I’m just saying. I guess they need any intel he could still provide now more than ever though.)

OH MY GOD!!

LAUNDRY HERO WASH?! THIS SUDSY BOI CAN ACTUALLY KICK ASS WHAAAAT

oh my god oh my god it’s still spreading??!

fuck fuck fuck at this rate it’ll reach the kids

(ETA: that happened really fast actually.)

-- oh FUCK NO you had better NOT FUCKING TOUCH FUCKING PIXIE BOB, I WILL MAIL MYSELF TO JAPAN PANDEMIC OR NO PANDEMIC. DO YOU NOT SEE THE SIGN THAT SAYS “OFF-LIMITS.” RESPECT THE SIGN

SOB SHE’S SO BADASS BUT IT LOOKS LIKE IT’S STILL DISINTEGRATING FUCCCCCK. FUCK MY LIFE, FUCK EVERYTHING

AHHHHH

I can’t tell if her earthbending was able to stop it or not?? god help us all if it didn’t, I’m not even sure what else could stop it at this point

SHUT UP UJIKO!!

they really did. only to fuck it up completely at the finish line. well, the man most singularly responsible for it is dead now, again r.i.p. Crust you useless old legend

lmao despite myself

“by a miracle, or maybe through sheer will” even he acknowledges that Tomura waking up was basically complete bullshit. yes blah blah yadda yadda got zapped by some exposed wires explanation science. because we all know that getting electrocuted will fix you right up when your heart has stopped and you have completely flatlined. you can definitely trust Horikoshi on this and there’s absolutely no need to google how defibrillators actually work

also is he somehow wearing a cape now. again by a miracle or maybe through sheer will

YESSSSSSS

(ETA: one has to wonder what Ujiko’s plan was, assuming this scheme had actually played out. were they just banking on Tomura not waking up cranky and disoriented and wanting to test out his power. his quirk doesn’t exactly distinguish friend from foe here I’m just saying.)

the part of me that goes all “ooh ahh” when all the buildings explode in Independence Day is singing inside. but never fear, the rest of me is appropriately horrified though. what was that Burnin’ was saying about the city becoming a large-scale battle zone? sob

also this page sure serves as a nice refresher for exactly why Tomura Waking Up Was Bad, which was inexplicably a topic of some debate in recent weeks. yes in spite of everything the villains are still the bad guys who’d have thought. almost as if the purpose of humanizing a character is to show that they’re human, not that they’re right

WHAT’S THIS NOW???

WELL I’LL BE. IT’S BEEN AN EVENTFUL THREE MONTHS, APPARENTLY!??

HOOAHHHHHHHH

IT’S A BIRD IT’S A PLANE IT’S A BADASS OH SHIIIIITTTTTT

finally finally finally!!!!!!

THE SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN, REPEAT, THE SHIT HAS HIT THE PROVERBIAL FAN. THE PLOT IS FINALLY HAPPENING, REPEAT, THE PLOT IS FINALLY FUCKING HAPPENING AHHHHHH

and there is no one coming to save them this time. no one to arrive at the last second and say “it’s all right now because I am here.” they have to save themselves. they have to save everyone. the training wheels are finally coming off. the safety net has been removed. after 272 chapters, the story has finally reached a point where these kids, these children, who in spite of all they’ve been through have been protected and shielded from the worst of it up till now, will finally have to be the ones to save the day all on their own

and they are not ready. but also maybe they kind of are??! but they definitely are not. and oh god oh god oh god, FINALLY WE’RE REALLY DOING THIS. TIME TO FIX THE MESS THOSE SILLY GROWN-UPS MADE, CHILDREN. YOU GOT THIS

#bnha 272 #shigaraki tomura #midoriya izuku #aizawa shouta #ujiko daruma #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #if the next few chapters don't feature some kind of avengers-style epic team up pose I will sue #what has this all even been building up to if not that #remember that the kids are not allowed to die though horikoshi #remember what we agreed upon #you remember right #right #horikoshi???

[wondereads]

Personal Recommendation (04/25/21)

The Evil Queen by Gena Showalter

Why am I recommending this book?

I've had my eye on this book for so long. I love when characters that are typically thought of as villains rise up and take hold of their fate (yes I read all those villainess mangas).

Want something quick and short? Check out my tiktok

Plot 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Everly and her twin, Hartly, were raised in our world, but their mother hails from another dimension known as Enchantia, a deceptively pleasant name. Everly, Hartly, and the people around them are prophesized to eventually take part in the fairy tale of Snow White and the Evil Queen, and everyone seems to think Everly is the Evil Queen. It especially does not help that her magic involves her speaking to mirrors. Everly enters Enchantia in order to discover the truth behind her mother's escape and what the prophecy really means.

The plot was mostly character-driven. There was no big goal the characters were working towards; they made their decisions based on their emotions and in reaction to the other characters. Because of that, I could never really predict where the book was going to go next. Unfortunately, I was a little spoiled because one of the last chapters is at the beginning of the book. I get why it's there–it removes any expectations that Everly will come out of this untouched–but I still recommend that you skip it. There's just a bit too much there, so it's a major spoiler.

Showalter does a really good job of evoking outrage in the reader. At a lot of points in the book I was genuinely mad at what the characters decided to do, but it only made me want to keep reading so I could see what Everly would decide to do in response.

Characters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Everly is so great. It's so nice to have a YA female protagonist that is completely unapologetic. She's not the nicest person, and she knows it. She gets her revenge and takes pleasure in it. It was very cathartic to read from her point of view, especially after all the horrible things that happened to her. It was really great because she was 100% justified in doing so many horrible things to the people who wronged her, but she chose to have mercy not because it was the right thing to do but because she knew she was better than them. At times, I felt like she sort of fell into the trap of brash, over-sharing girl from another world, but she moved past that in the second half of the book.

Roth. My opinion on Roth went from one extreme to the other in the book. His general personality was good, especially for a traumatized and somewhat entitled prince. He was a good example of what happens to good people when they're taught to hate, and he really did love Everly. I really did enjoy their relationship for the most part. It was some weird balance between enemies to lovers and friends to lovers which doesn't sound real, but it is. There were some points that threw up some red flags for me (you'll know it when you read it), but I think he's on the way to redeeming himself by the end of the book. I did appreciate that Everly didn't just immediately accept him at the end; it'll take some time for them to work things out and set boundaries before even considering running off together.

God, I was so ready to end up hating Hartly. I was just bracing myself for that inevitable moment, but I loved that she turned out to be perfect throughout. Also, she made me cry. As for Truly, she swapped sides so often during this book, but I did end up liking her. Her conflicting relationships with Farrah and Everly were pretty interesting.

Below here are characters that will spoiler the book! Skip this part if you haven't read it yet!

I'll keep it short. Ophelia and Noel were awful; I can't believe Everly ever trusted them again after what they did to her. I loved to hate Farrah. I thought her punishment was fitting although I wouldn't have been mad if Everly killed her. Nicolas was definitely a wild card; I'm still not entirely sure what side he's on, and I finished the book.

Writing Style 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The book is from the perspective of Everly, a modern teenage girl, so I felt it was mostly fitting. I did really like how the way Everly and Hartly talked contrasted with the fairytale world inhabitants like Roth and Truly. However, there were some points where it felt like Everly was trying too hard to be a ~relatable teenager~, which is a pitfall a lot of adult YA authors fall into.

I loved the map, I always love the maps. The poem that was written line by line at the beginning of each chapter was a nice touch too. I also really liked how Everly, Hartly, Truly, and Farrah were all based on fairytale-ish words (ever, heart, true, and fair), but Farrah's was still a little different because she distinguished herself as the protagonist and therefore didn't have the lasting bonds like the other girls did.

Meaning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I wouldn't say there was a big, glaring, over-arching message in this one, but it did have some really poignant commentary on hypocrisy, stereotyping, and hating for the sake of hate.

To start with, everyone dislikes Everly because her powers involve taking it from others, but everyone is also 100% ready to use her powers for themselves. Also, Everly is pretty much constantly railed on for the sake of the fairytale in the middle of the book. Even though she's done absolutely nothing to warrant it, she's forced into these horrible situations because people have pegged her as the Evil Queen, not realizing that they are why she will eventually become the antagonist. God, I love shit like that. When she retaliates to protect herself, she's all of a sudden this unforgiving, violent witch (which might also be a jab at how society shits on women and then villainizes them when they fight back). The best thing is that Everly doesn't stop standing up for herself and the ones she loves, and, while she isn't actively cruel to those against her, she certainly doesn't let them get away with it.

Overall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I loved this book. I have always loved twisted fairytales, and now I also love stereotypically evil women taking back power for themselves. I genuinely liked the main character, the romance was pretty good, and the side characters were all well-developed. The social commentary wasn't subtle, but, like Everly, sometimes being unapologetic isn't bad. This book was kind of cathartic to read. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy fairytales, romance with a lot of sexual tension, and those villainess mangas.

The Author

Gena Showalter—46, America, also wrote Alice in Zombieland, Firstlife, and The Glass Queen

The Reviewer

My name is Wonderose; I try to post a review every two weeks, and I take recommendations. Check out my about me post for more!

#books #recommendations #reviews #the evil queen #gena showalter #fantasy #ya #fairytale retelling

[masteroftheblade]

What are your favorite and least favorite animes? Why do you like/dislike them?

oh god here we go lmao 🤠👍 prepare for an entire novel as always lol

my favorite animes atm are Naruto, Dragon Ball, Attack on Titan, and Claymore. Overall, my favorite genre of anime is shonen (and in case you dont know what that is, its basically shows that are marketed to young boys. it'll have shit like superpowers and poorly written female characters). My least favorite genre is Shoujo (marketed at young girls). I honestly don't hate the entire genre, I just hate how much romance is in there since im pretty romance-repulsed. If there were more Shoujo series like Claymore, I'd probably be in love w/ it. I'll start talking about these shows individually, starting w/ Naruto.

1. Naruto.

Honestly, the only reason I started watching Naruto was because my friends peer pressured me into doing it, and it actually differed from what I expected it to be story-wise. The beginning of the show started off amazing; it had excellent world building, magic systems, interesting characters, and it attempted to address how messed up the whole shinobi system is. But then Naruto got on the front page of Shonen Jump, and everything went down from there. It started to focus more on cool fight scenes than the actual plot. I wont get too much into that, because you can literally find entire blogs dedicated to dissecting that, but Naruto killed itself w/ its own popularity. That said, I love the characters and world building and I can look past most of its flaws anyway.

Would I recommend reading/watching it? Yes, but only to say you did it for bragging rights. Don't go into watching Naruto if you want deep looks into imperialism and militarized governments, because you will get the complete opposite of that :P Also the best way to watch it is to watch it with friends.

2. Dragon Ball.

I only started watching DB about a month ago, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but I think its a garbage series. The fight scenes have little to no weight to them, because no matter what, the protagonist of that episode will always succeed in some way. For example, when Goku (a 12 y/o boy) was fighting Giran (a 10ft tall godzilla man) and was getting his ass beat until Goku just... randomly grows back his tail that was cut off earlier and wins. We are never told why he grew back his tail, and i think he only gets it back so he can have a cool fight scene in a later episode. Goku can literally be battling genocidal gods and he will still always win. The show also goes out of its way to sexualize/show a female character being harrassed. Every. Fucking. Episode.

That said, it is a fun show, and I really enjoy watching it. Like Naruto, I really love the characters and the world they are in, I just hate the way it was handled, and its painfully obvious that DB was made by a bunch of old men in the 80s. Unlike Naruto, however, I really appreciate how simple it is. It doesn't force a narrative about space genocide or whatever being bad, and I'm very thankful because that kind of narrative would be absolutely botched in this kind of series. It's also nice to have a show that doesn't take itself too seriously. Shows like AOT are amazing and important, but those shows can be overwhelming with their heavy subject matter. I would only recommend watching DB if you want to see some really good art/character design. Don't take the show seriously, and you'll have a good time.

3.Attack On Titan.

This anime was actually the first I've ever seen! I saw the very first episode when it aired in 2014, so I'm definetely biased in that regard, but I still try to look at this show in the most objective way I can. This show does almost everything right. The pacing, the characters, the art, the plot, you name it. It takes a concept that looks silly on paper and turns it into this grueling story about war, politics, and the trauma of being a soldier. It never treats it's characters like they're only one-dimensional, or like they are there just for one purpose only. These characters feel human in a way Naruto and Dragon Ball could never be. But there is one thing that has me concerned about this show, and its about the weirdly anti-Semitic undertones it has.

You probably heard the controversy already, but it really effected the way people on the outside of the fandom view the series. The show is heavily inspired by European culture, specifically that of Germany, and there are an ethnic group of people called The Eldians in the show that are pretty anti-Semitic in this kind of setting. The Eldian people have the capability of turning into Titans, and the Titans are what divided the world and killed millions. As a result, another group of people started doing the shit the Nazis did to Jewish people, basically making the Eldians into this weird allegory for the holocaust??? Which was kind of a shock to me when I first realized that was the angle they were going for. I genuinely did not expect that considering what the series started off as. The foreshadowing is there and all, I just didn't think they'd use real-world events as inspiration.

Now, this actually has the complete opposite problem Naruto and DB had. Naruto and DB had amazing ideas and concepts that went to shit, AOT's whole holocaust narrative was trash from the beginning.

The show could have easily had a different kind of social/political commentary without even going near the holocaust narrative. It comes off as kind of a half assed idea that people put way too much effort in, so it's kind of in this weird grey-area between "modern anime masterpiece" and "what the fuck were they trying to get across with this show?". If you asked me what the moral of the show was, I wouldn't be able to tell you.

Now, because of the fact that the Eldians can literally turn into man-eating beasts, this makes the comparison of Jewish people and Eldians very racist, and it doesn't help that Japan is still full of legitimate Nazis, making the whole situation look even worse. Since I am not Jewish, I wont speak for other Jewish people. There is a very heated debate on whether the show is racist, and frankly I don't think it's within my right to say if it is or isn't. What I will say, is that I really loved the show and appreciated the social commentary it provided, and I think a lot of people would benefit from watching it, but I think it's also important to listen to Jewish people's views on the show. For this reason, I specifically avoid reblogging AOT stuff, but I do love that show and I wont hate on people who do reblog stuff from it. It's definitely not a light watch, but it does provide a lot of thinking material.

4. Claymore.

This. Show. Was. Amazing. But. Underrated.

First off, this is a shonen show that is led by a majority female cast and a female protagonist, and all of those women are badass swordwielding lesbians and I love it. Second, the art style is beautiful. Third, the story is really interesting from so many angles, so much so I am not even going to mention what its about because you dont need to know, you just need to watch it and see what happens. The first season was an absoloute ride of a show, and if you love shows like AOT or Berserk, you'll love Claymore. Honestly, this show was what AOT should have tried to be. It also has its fair share of militarized imperialist commentary, but this is the only show on this list that actually fucking critiques imperialist ideals and has a main character that actively refuses to participate in that kind of oppressive system, choosing to fight it all together.

But the show got fucking cancelled right before the first arc even finished. You can thank shows like Naruto for that 🙃🙃🙃

10/10 Would reccomend, but just be prepared to be left on a major cliffhanger. You can try reading the manga, but it's kind of hard to follow since all of the warrior girls look the same.

#i spent too much time writing this #oh well #im not gonna tag the shows i talked about in this bcuz if i do ill get discourse blogs to start shitting on me #so im just gonna avoid it all together lol #also didnt write abt my least faves because this was too long to write as is #anyway as promised we can now get married any time you want @kindasortasalty /j /p #👩‍🦲

[klonoadreams]

Been on a Villainess* kick, have some of my favorites (*not all are villainess but most are)(mostly manga not webtoons, sorry if that's a deal breaker)(wow, there was more than I was expecting, feel free to ignore!)

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!- if you're a fan of the genre you've probably already read/watched it but! I'll rec it anyway just in case

The Result Of Being Reincarnated Is Having A Master-Servant Relationship With The Yandere Love Interest- or that one where almost everybody is reincarnated and trying to stop the bad ends

The Villainess, Cecilia Silvie, Doesn't Want To Die, So She Decided To Cross-Dress!- er, exactly what it says on the tin

Fiancée’s Observation Log Of The Self-Proclaimed Villainess- good mostly outsider pov

Endo And Kobayashi’s Live Commentary On The Villainess- if you could change the story of a game (as the player), would you?

I Am Troubled That My Fiance Is A Villain- accidentally getting involved

The Reincarnated Villainess' Dark History- reincarnated in your middle school fanfic

The Villainess Is Adored By The Crown Prince Of The Neighboring Kingdom- very shoujo

Tearmoon Empire Story- no isekai, just trying not to die

Fiancee Be Chosen By The Ring- no isekai or reincarnation, just dorks in a panicked arranged engagement

I'm The Prince’s Consort Candidate However, I Believe I Can Certainly Surpass It!- magic arranged engagement

Middle-Aged Man's Noble Daughter Reincarnation- yes, if nothing else, read this comedy

OHH, I’ve read most of them actually!!! Y’all underestimate how much me and the guys in my server just INHALE these things.

We go at them carefully, cuz some of them tend to be a bit...YEAH.

There’s one where our MC ended up with black hair and dark skin (which isn’t really dark, she’s got a light olive tone at best in the cover art) because she can control darkness that made a LOT of people wary of her, when really, she’s just a nice kid... BUT UHHH, the implications about THAT.

And not helping, is that in the comments, there were some spoilers from the novel, that later on, she loses her dark skin, like...wtf?????? EVEN WORSE, THE WAY SHE’S TREATED IS CHANGED IMMEDIATELY BECAUSE OF IT (they treat her BETTER).

I just dropped it after that, I’m not even gonna bother with stuff like that. Idk what’s going on there, but I literally cannot deal with that shit cuz of the implications. (it’s called  I'm Not a Villainess!! Just Because I Can Control Darkness Doesn't Mean I'm a Bad Person!)

(literally the premise is so damaging, and like, I’m nowhere near pale, but I’m still on the lighter end of brown, so seeing that is just...it’s gross)

ANYWAYS, the Old man reincarnated as the villainess is AMAZING. Literally all started when the Zoids Mangaka was posting stuff on twitter about what HE wanted to see from an isekai like that.

I followed it pre serialization, and am currently following it now that it’s been serialized. Literally, old man KEEPS FUCKING RAISING FLAGS. BECAUSE HE’S BAD AT BEING MEAN. He’s just...A DAD. But also, really nice.

The Fiance’s Observation Log is also good!! Was following it when the LN was getting translated, and then immediately jumped to the manga adaptation when I saw it existed.

Same goes with our girl, Katarina in Destruction Flag Otome. And a lot of these, really. Eheheh, when I came across Destruction Flag Otome, I went on a BINGE on novel updates under the villainess tag.

Read the Yandere one, and I have another one to suggest, It Seems Like I Got Reincarnated Into the World of a Yandere Otome Game. Lycoris is our girl, and she’s doing her best to avoid getting killed, but like...ehehhee, the yanderes are still THERE, despite her meddling. It’s just that it turned into a softer yan, where everyone is just protective of her. It has some elements of horror and psychological stuff here, which is what makes it so interesting.

There’s May I Please Ask You Just One Last Thing? if you want some catharsis since our MC will beat the shit out of those who piss her off. The downside is that the guy interested in her is...really pissing me off, since he only likes her because everyone else bores him like. No. Just no. That’s not romantic.

If you want to use a premise like that, Fiance’s Observation Log does it better because it started off with him being a CHILD, and doing things cuz it was interesting...AND THEN HE GOT ATTACHED because of it.

The Daughter of the Albert House Wishes for Ruin is AMAZING, our MC wants to be a villainess because she has REASONS, but the problem is THAT SHE KEEPS COMING OFF AS A TSUNDERE. And the Heroine just accepts that, like “WOW!!!!”

Milady Just Wants To Relax is a good one if you want fluffy beast-kin getting treated nicely by our MC, who opens up a cafe after reaching her destruction flag. She’s having a nice time and the beast-kin have taken to protecting her. They try to stay in their human form, to keep her from feeling intimidated, when in reality, she likes their beast form. It’s just fluffy times here.

I have so many others to recommend, but I just suggest looking up the Villainess tag on mangadex.

THAT SAID, do keep an eye out for any red flags that pop up. Because you never know when you’ll come across another Abandoned Empress. Anyways, thanks for the recs!! Gonna read Tearmoon Empire Story!!

[clemenlemonsims]

21 Questions

21 Questions

I was tagged by @queer-as-sims Don’t worry. I totally don’t regret following lol

Anywho ~

Rules: answer 21 questions, then tag 21 people you want to get to know better.

Nickname: I don’t have one actually 

Zodiac: Cancer. And yes, I’m as sensative as you think I am lol I’m not obvious about it. A quiet sensitive. 

Height: 5′6

Last thing searched: Live Love Polish. I’m not big on polishing my nails, but I like art and polish is included. Someone I follow on instagram got a Jane Austen collection and I thought it was pretty.

Favorite musicians: That so hard because I listen to random stuff all the time, but I guess I’ll say people who I’ve actually bought albums for and have gone out of my way to listen to all their music. 

(Top 10 current and I can listen to any song of theirs and love it)

Ed. Sheeran. Kendrick Lamar. BTS (Yes I listen to kpop. Mostly the old stuff). Logic. Hoody. Jay Park. Bruno Mars. Jooyoung. Normani.

If you had a time machine, would you go back in time or visit the future? I’d go to the future even though I love history. If I could though, I’d be a spectator and not actually be able to interact with anything. Like a projection because I don’t know how things will end up in the future and it might be bad and I don’t want to get hurt physically.

Do I get asks? No. I just started so I completely understand lol

Following: 107. I follow a lot of writing blogs 

Would you rather be rich or famous? I’d rather be rich. When I was younger I probably would have said famous, but fame comes with a lot of social scrutiny and I like my privacy.

Amount of sleep: It’s really random, but I’d say at the most 6 hours. I sleep really late and wake up really early like clockwork.

What I’m wearing: A tribal pattern tank top and knee length gray sweat pants

Dream job: Freelance writer.

Dream trip: Korea and Japan.

If you were an animal. What would you be? Probably a cat. I’m pretty much a cat already, but I’m really bad at jumping haha

What are some of your favourite books/films/shows/games/etc.? Books: There’s so many, but I’ll go for ones that I always think about when writing.

Harry Potter (Read this series at the age of 24. I’m 25. It’s so good). The Bear and the Nightingale (Beautiful story). All the Crooked Saints (Beyond my expectations). Bakuman & Deathnote (Manga both written and drawn by the same people. I love mental battles). Smoke&Bone. Saint Everything. And everything by Rainbow Rowell.

Films: I love Animations btw. Grease 2 (I know it’s a musical and kinda cheesy but I’m still obsessed with it). Howl’s Moving Castle&Spirited Away (Basically anything Studio Ghibli). Toy Story. All Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Friday. Thirteen Ghosts (A classic). Casper movies. Most movies from my childhood, but I can’t think of all of the good ones I’ve watched. My brain isn’t working lol

Shows: Carnival Row. Bob’s Burgers. X-Files. Case Closed (anime). Elementary. Supernatural. Peaky Blinders. The Simpsons. Hilda (Animation).  Queen In Hyun’s Man&Thirty but Seventeen&He is Psychometric&My Love from another Star (KDramas). The Originals. Stranger Things. There’s a lot more ~ 

Games: Bioshock Infinite (My ULIMATE favorite game ever). Detroit Become Human (My other ULTIMATE fav). Yakuza 0. Crash Bandicoot&Spyro (classic). Little Nightmares. Undertale. Red Dead Redemption. Beyond: Two Souls. The Last of Us. Catherine. Sleeping Dogs. And so much more.

Etc: Favorite Youtubers: Cryaotic (Streamer). Jacksepticeye (Gamer). Christ Stuckman (Movie Reviews). Thoughts on Tomes&Chelseadolling Reads (Book Reviews). JK News (Comedy/News). Asian Boss (Documentaries/Interviews). Neecxle (Simmer). Caleb Joseph (Booktuber/Comentary). Kennie J.D. (Hair/Makeup/Commentary). Binging with Babish (food).

Play any instruments? I used to play the clarinet in middle school lol

Language(s): English. I’m slowly learning Korean (I know how to read and write and I know simple sentences). I want to also learn Spanish..  

Describe yourself as aesthetic: Reserved? Not sure if that’s right or not :D

I TAG 3 people who follow me and anyone else who wants to join in! I feel a little shy tagging people right now since I’m so new and I don’t want to bother anyone ~

@marceltorak @simsulate @dreamstatesims

#tag #tag post #21 questions

[secret-diary-of-an-fa]

Some Bally Good Sci-Fi Shows For Your Consideration

You ‘orrible lot may have noticed that I haven’t written anything on here in a really, really long time. Even longer than usual, in fact. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, I have a column with a real online magazine now. I’m a regular contributor to Culture Matters. So suck on that. Secondly, I’m happy for the first time in awhile, because I’m seeing someone beautiful and amazing. Since my best writing definitely comes from a place of hate, I don’t write during those periods when my life doesn’t suck. However, the world of cultural commentary still has need of me, so here I am. today’s topic, is sci-fi shows! I’ve moaned about the poor quality of Doctor Who and how distasteful I find its cheap, nasty gender-flipping antics (way to get rid of a great example of non-toxic masculinity, BBC... you fucking berks). But now I think it behoves me, as your guiding voice in the modern cultural wasteland, to suggest some alternatives. If you’re looking for offbeat space sci-fi that can replace the gaping Who-shaped hole in your life, I have a few suggestions. Read on, ye fuckin’ reader-man.

1. Red Dwarf Yes, I know I bring up Red Dwarf every time I talk about TV, but there’s a reason for that: it’s great. For those of you who somehow don’t know what it is, it’s a British sci-fi show about a slobby, well-meaning human, an uptight, sarcastic hologram, a narcissistic cat-person and a prissy cleaning droid with a head “shaped like a freak formation of mash potato”. They’re trapped in space on a failed mining vessel and therefore, inevitably, get involved in all sorts of high-concept sci-fi misadventures. As you can probably tell, it’s a comedy. The genius of it, however, is that the sci-fi scenarios themselves are totally serious and carefully-plotted. The humour arises from the neuroses of the characters and their skewed, off-kilter reactions to the perils they find themselves in. Speaking as a Brit, I think it encapsulates our sense of humour and our attitude to science fiction better than any other show. Including Doctor Who when it was still good.

2. Farscape Farscape is brilliant. It may be the single greatest space opera ever told in a visual medium. I could tell you it concerns a random assortment of aliens on the run from a fascist galactic police force while an internecine and complicated interplanetary conflict bubbles away in the background, constantly threatening to spill over into outright war. However, that sounds a bit generic and doesn’t really do it justice. The greatness of Farscape lies in its patient and heartfelt characterisation and the care and authenticity it uses to develop every planet and civilisation. There are wonderful digressions and side-plots that flesh out world or characters and feel just as vital and important as the main plot arc while you watch them. It helps that the universe it portrays is actually completely unique and unlike anything else in the genre once you get past the broad-strokes stuff. 

3. Hyperdrive Another British space comedy. I’ve heard it described as The Office in space, but it really isn’t. It applies the bureaucracy, incompetence and mild weirdness of a UK office environment to the process of space exploration, but it’s not like The Office. For a start, it’s fundamentally optimistic. The Office was bleak as fuck (which is also good, but not relevant here). It’s kind of nice to watch people who are a bit like people you actually know bumbling their way through theoretically-epic space adventures. Watching Hyperdrive always feels a bit like slipping into a lovely, warm pair of well-worn slippers, even if you’ve never seen it before. It’s just nice. It’s also piss-yourself-laughing funny.

4. Lexx Lexx isn’t just an alternative to modern Doctor Who, it’s an antidote to it. Cynical, nihilistic and bitingly satirical, it regularly features entire planets getting blown up for no reason, random support characters being reduced to protein or devoured by sexy plant-women, gleeful acts of wholly unnecessary sadism and moral quandaries that never actually get resolved. It’s also never heard of gender politics, but has a surprisingly egalitarian attitude towards fan-service, so expect lots of nudity and weird sex shenanigans that serve no purpose other than to remind you that Lexx doesn’t care one fucking jot if normal people are grossed out or offended by it. The unremitting ethical void that the show offers instead of a conventional sci-fi universe is balanced out by the core cast, who are all loveable losers, who alternate between trying to be good and just trying not to die. It could only have been made in the 90s (by a Canadian and German production team, no less) and it’s amazing.

5. Space Dandy Why yes, I have mentioned Space Dandy before. It’s the demented space-manga that features entire episodes about hunting for great ramen or sentient vaccuum cleaners falling in love with coffee machines. It’s also got a talking genius gorilla in it who dresses like a cross between George Washington and a mad scientist. Because reasons. Bizarrely, it actually has continuity, but that continuity is subjected, within the show’s lore, to the unpredictable nature of an infinite pseudo-multiverse. It’s bonkers and I  urge you to go watch it right now.

Right, that lot ought to keep you busy. Honourable mentions go to the 1980s version Flash Gordon, in which Brian Blessed plays a vengeful humanoid kestrel (the film says ‘hawkman’, but he clearly looks more like a fucking kestrel), Cowboy Bebob, which came out of the same minds as Space Dandy but doesn’t reach quite the same level of transcendent weirdness and The Orville, which is just Star Trek if the characters all had the rods surgically removed from up their arses. 

#Secret Diary of a Fat Admirer #red dwarf #space dandy #hyperdrive #farscape #lexx #sci fi #good telly #watch these things

[snkpolls]

SnK S3E06 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 490 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that this is the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!

NOTE: Another week, a few more mess ups and overlooked things. Upon realizing that we are rushing ourselves a bit too much and the poll dropping in quality is the unfortunate side effect, we will be moving the poll to Tuesdays from this point forward. This will allow us more time to see what others are discussing, think up questions, make sure we’ve touched on all of the important points, and to proofread more thoroughly before publishing. Thank you for being patient with us throughout this whole process! We apologize for our mess ups over the last couple of weeks.

RATE THE EPISODE 478 Responses

Overall the episode got high rankings and positive reviews!

I loved it, just wish they had given the Grisha vs Frieda segment more time and fully animated it rather than show it in flashes and stills. Though it wouldn't surprise me if they do later when we get his full story.

It was awesome! I'm starting to enjoy this season more with each episode. I'm hyped for the action next episode.

the best episode so far

Once the uprising arc is done, this episode will definitely be included in my favorite episodes list.

I was skeptical at first of the changes they were making to Frieda's foreshadowing, but the sequencing of events in the episode made up for it! Everything flowed so smoothly, from Eren's memories to Historia's, introducing the concept of mindwipe immunity followed immediately by Kenny's old talk with his grandpa. Each point led right into the next.

This week's episode felt almost slow with the way it ended. I'm not complaining, although I feel the sting of all those missed moments that got cut off prior to this.

This episode was freaking awesome. I keep replaying the scene where Eren sees Grisha's memories. The whole sequence and the OST is amazing!!

When it comes to rating these last few eps, I keep second-guessing myself on how to rate them. On the one hand, they've been fairly faithful to the manga and the animation, as always, has been top notch. So in that aspect they are good and deserve a high rating. It's just that the Uprising arc is so incredibly dull to me, that I am also not exactly excited about these eps and probably will skip all of them on future rewatches. But the anime is not to blame for that.  ¯\_㋡_/¯

ep of the season so far

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING SCENES DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST? 485 Responses

Eren unlocking Grisha’s memories was the big moment of the episode, winning the majority vote. Followed closely is Historia unlocking her memories of Frieda, Rod’s retelling of Grisha’s attack and Kenny’s flashback to his talk with his grandpa.

I also enjoyed the Ackerman talk, it gives more significance to what’s to come in the future

OPENING SCENE WAS BOMB

I absolutely love Frieda! She was the greatest sister ever. Too bad she had to die so young. I liked her voice as well :) The scene with her and Historia symbolized peace, love and happiness, while the scenes in the crystal cave symbolized pain and sorrow. I liked that.

KENNYKENNYKENNYKENNYKENNY

Is it weird that I liked the Zacklay part more than the flashback? C:

My fav scene was when Mikasa and Levi were talking about Mikasa's past and their awaking of power

Really liked the focus on each character when Levi asked them if they were ready to get their hands dirty. They looked resolved.

The Ackertalk!!!!!!!!

ON A SCALE OF “I’D RATHER IT WAS DIFFERENT” TO “SAWANO IS A GENIUS!” HOW MUCH HAVE YOU BEEN ENJOYING THE SOUNDTRACK TO THE SEASON SO FAR? 482 Responses

As expected of Sawano! The majority of respondents are enjoying the music this season. A few think the picks could be better, however.

The OST in this season has been awesome.

To the music part: I haven't found a track that really stands out, I want something as good as youseebigttgirl

WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO EREN’S MEMORY SEQUENCE? 477 Responses

The majority of respondents were overall pleased with the way that Eren’s flashes of the altercation in the cave went down. A few would rather it have been different.

Frieda was beautiful and that's all I care about

I love the way wit did Eren's eyes during the flashback sequence. Honestly it made me feel more like dead

I loved it, some amazing voice acting with Erens scream at the end

While the fast flashes made total sense to me as a narrative choice I would have personally liked it better if it was Slower

Great paths depiction, mindblowing OST, not biggest fan of how they presented goblin Eren in just two still images

Pretty awesome. I don't like how Frieda's titan looks however, I thought that the manga design gave off a far more divine and powerful aura than the anime one, which honestly just looks like a regular titan with different eyes.

The P A T H S visuals were beautiful but I feel like the flashbacks themselves could have been done better. The RIP Grisha scene was practically still images when it could have been one of the most visceral and intense moments in the series. Idk I just found the flashbacks themselves very underwhelming

openly sobbing

Eren’s shocked expression while seeing those memories/listening to rod talk makes me feel bad for him all over again, but WIT also gave a lot of shots of his abs and back muscles *-* like, idk if I wanna hug him or fuck him

could've been much better. kid Eren screaming after realizing he ate his dad was heartbreaking though

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT THE MECHANICS OF ZACKLEY’S “ART”? 479 Responses

It goes without saying that most respondents were put off by Zackley’s torture device, although there’s a sizable amount who did find it amusing. Generally speaking, most fans aren’t happy about the scene being included overall.

AoT will end, but Art will last forever

I HATE THE SHIT MACHINE!!!!!!

I cant believe we got the shit machine! Art is still alive!

I feel kinda tired of the whole shitmachine stuff. What is so special about some old, fat, ugly, nude, sweating dude who was forced to drink own piss? Why so many fans is obsessed with it? The episode had so many great moments - but almost everything I'm actually hearing about it this dumb shitbitchmachine.

I still fail to see what that machine added to this part of the story....

HOW DADDY IS ERWIN’S NEW HAIRDO? 480 Responses

Although there were mixed responses, overall the fandom is digging the new hairdo. Many even think Commander Handsome is looking even more dashing than before! ;)

Can we get more scenes with Erwin being Commander Handsome?

Erwin looks much younger now on my opinion XD

OMG ERWIIIIIIIIIN SO HOT

GRISHA’S EYES WERE GLOWING GREEN BEFORE HE ATE FRIEDA, AND THEY STARTED GLOWING PURPLE AFTERWARDS. DO YOU THINK THIS HAS ANY MEANING? 481 Responses

The overwhelming majority believe that the glowing eyes do have significant meaning. We covered this concept in more detail a few questions down!

Erens attack Titans eyes glow green too, I think it's just for effects

Yes, Frieda was not tasty and Grisha's stomach hort a lot after eating her

I didn't even noticed XD But I'm not sure if it has any meaning

Super saiyan

Frieda's eyes were purple during her Titan transformation. Grisha's eyes changing to the same colour after he ate Frieda, meant that he gained the Founding Titan power, gained Frieda's memories and the memories of the previous Founding Titan holders.

It could hardly be a slip of the hand in the animation department. They did it for a reason

The purple is the same as Frieda's Titan so it's likely because he came in contact with a Titan with Royal Blood and that changed his Titan's eye color

it's his magical girl transformation

WHICH TITAN WORE THEIR CHEST HAIR BETTER? 478 Responses

This was a close one! But ultimately Grisha inched just a few percentage points above Zeke. The commentary also reflects this and, frankly, we are a bit concerned. Are you guys okay?

Gaston ain't got nothing on Grisha Titan's chest hair.

Grisha's titan can spank me

Titan Grisha can mount me anytime.

WHEN FRIEDA READS HISTORIA THE FAIRY TALE, THE “GOOD GIRL” CHARACTER IS NAMED KRISTA. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS ADDITION?  478 Responses

It was a close split between excitement over seeing (or rather, being reminded) how Historia got the name “Krista” for her persona  and those who are questioning the validity of the name in the book. We also received plenty of snarky reminders that we overlooked the detail of this being mentioned in chapter 51. Perhaps it’s time for us to take a week off!  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I love how they’re differentiating the Marleyan legend from the Eldian one

I thought I was supposed to be Ymir, but I think it’s a really interesting addition to how Historia got the name Krista.

Since we know Rod gave her the name Krista, it felt kinda irrelevant. It also somehow implies that Krista's personality is the result of what remained in Historia's head from Frieda's preaching which I don't think was necessary to justify at all. Historia could've chosen to be the kind of girl Krista is by herself.

I love how, as time passed and memories changes, Ymir Fritz became Krista Lenz. And so, both Ymir and Historia got named by someone else after the same person. I love it.

It's not really an addition since her name appeared in the manga (at the beginning of chapter 51 when Historia goes crazy)

It did make things pretty confusing. I think that the government could've entirely changed the story of Ymir and the titan's and renamed Ymir in the books, and that's why she is now called Christa.

On one hand I think it's appropriate because the Reiss family didn't want Historia to know the Eldian history, yet I think the specific name of Krista wasn't a great decision because as I remember it, Rod was the one who made Historia take on the name Krista, so to suggest that Historia chose it because of that story is inconsistent.

‪Historia did say Krista was “a girl from a book she read as a child” in chapter 51, but learning in chapter 86 that the girl is Ymir Fritz led some people to believe that, back then, Historia was referring only to the girl's personality and not her name. The anime just clarified that in Frieda's book she is indeed named Krista, perhaps suggesting the story has different versions in Marley/the world and Paradis.‬

IT’S CONFIRMED THAT GRISHA’S AND FRIEDA’S TITANS HAD GLOWING EYES, SIMILAR TO THE PURE TITANS THAT THE COORDINATE CONTROLLED, DO YOU THINK THIS RELATES TO EREN’S EYES GLOWING IN LIBERIO? 466 Responses

As reflected above, most respondents believe that the glowing eyes do bear significance. 41% of voters believe that it’s indicative of the power of the titan taking over its host, while 32% believe the significance is something else. 16% of voters think it’s simply just a cool aesthetic effect. 

I don't understand anything any more

Woah I've not thought about that enough to give an answer!!

I have no fucking clue, this stuff is confusing.

I honestly just think those titans happen to have glowing eyes. Nothing more.

WHICH TRANSITION DID YOU LIKE BETTER? 479 Responses

70% loved the transition of Kenny looking into the knife and revealing his younger self. 

I truly love Kenny <3

Kenny is beautiful and the transition from younger to older Kenny in the reflection of his knife was my absolute favorite part of the entire episode.

Kenny was a highlight in this episode once again, I especially loved the flashback scene with him and grandpa Ackerman talking about family history after Levi and Mikasa's Ackertalk. The transition back to Levi was really unsubtle, though.

WHICH PV SCENE ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MOST? 482 Responses

Generally, the majority are most looking forward to the showdown between Squad Levi/Hange vs. the Interior MP Squad. About 31% of voters altogether are looking forward more to more Jaeger/Reiss focus, however! 

Can I vote again for Hange is a BAMF?

i honestly don't care at all about the interior MP v.s squad levi fight. I just wanna get back to the reiss/jaeger action

Give me Levi yelling Hange's name or give me DEATH

can't wait for the next episode and the showdown!!!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

Finally we arrived to my favorite part of this arc. Even though it doesn't have that much action as the other seasons, this is the part I love the most. Knowing how Eren got the Attack AND the Founding titans, Historia becoming the rightful queen of the walls, Levi's backstory, Kenny's dream and his friendship with Rod Reiss' brother, learning that there's a world outside of the walls by Keith Shadis; all of this until the fight against the collosal and armored titans back in Shignashina district and everybody discovering the sea.

Now I finally understand why Kenny killed so many MP officers. I used to believe he had done that for fun. Now I know he did that to protect his family. I really enjoyed the moments between him and his grandpa - it made me to feel how important the bloodline was for him.

I'm a bit disappointed that they made Frieda's titan hair black, I was hoping for it to be a lighter colour, and I preferred the lighter hair a bit more. But overall her titan form was pretty cool!

They left out the part where Kenny tells Rod he is looking for a bathroom because he has to go #2! ಠ_ಠ How could they skip that after they included the whole poop machine scene?! I also wasn’t sure how I felt about the girl being named Krista in the book being read to Historia. I thought that was supposed to be Ymir. Otherwise, the episode was superb.

Erwin is my husband and I love it when he goes into Commander Mode™. Also so not ready for more information about Levi’s childhood, and yet also I need to see Little Levi™ at the same time

FRIEDA WAS GREAT

Now that two big plot points are over (the overthrowing of the government and Grisha’s deed) and another one is under way, I can say this season is so underwhelming compared to the manga. There is no suspense, no feeling of satisfaction, no tension, because they cut too many parts in the beginning that hinted at future events (eren’s experiments for examples) and simplified characters’ moral struggles that i think are understandable only to us manga readers because “we know”. I think, for a story (the one of uprising) that relied on suspense so much, this lighting-fast, confusing pace just made every victory totally underwhelming. I’m left with a feeling of “oh...okay” and i am hating it because the Uprising Arc is my favorite manga Arc.

With this episode I'm back to being sad about how coldly Erwin is portrayed again, but I guess that is just the way it's going to be. I don't think anyone can be as successful of a leader as Erwin has been with such a cold and uncaring facade, so I'm just going to agree to disagree with Isayama and WIT how a character like Erwin should be portrayed. The only positive about the anime is how Erwin's developing depression is really hammered home in this and the previous episode. From the manga it was quite unclear to me how all that had happened, but now I can see the progression very clearly starting from Erwin's little talk with Zackley the Creepy Artist and continuing with Pixis' merciless opinion of Erwin and his gamble.

Yeah for all the flashbaCks! And omg Frieda!! I love her sooo much! I was looking forward to see her in this episode and I'm not disappointed at all! I just wanted to hug her and little Historia! ;-;

THOUGHTS ON EPISODE 5:

104th celebrating their freedom was dope

I really loved this episode because Erwin had his chance to shine for once. I especially loved the foreshadowing of what a huge mistake they might have just made with the coup d'état. And I loved seeing my second favourite commander, Nile, as well! He's been growing on me for a longer while now, but the anime is really reminding me how Nile has always been a sensible but kind person.

Episode was ok. The cinematography of the episode was rather lacking at points and without some of the conversations with Nile and Pixis, the confrontation is somewhat oversimplified.

The conversation between Erwin and Zackley broke my heart. Implying the two would have anything in common is outrageous, and Erwin's reaction to the comparison is the proof of it. Erwin was so human and vulnerable in that moment that I thought finally they did justice to his character.

EREN'S ABS WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH TO REPLACE ERWIN'S AND LEVI'S ABS!!! THAT'S THE WORST BETRAYAL EVER, WIT!!!!!

I like that there is more and more dialogue and information during the recent episodes!

i thought it was good. at the time i was sad the "do you remember your father's sin" reveal wasn't the cliffhanger but since it was the opening for this episode and it was amazing in my opinion i have no problems.

Eren is hot

Erwin=Daddy

That cliffhanger with Historia was great! I wonder if they'll be able to replicate the one in the manga where it looks like she's about to inject herself. It'll be disappointing if they don't.

The Hange monologue at the end, however, with Levi's input was really weird and it didn't make much sense to me how they could infer so many ""clues"" about the truth and the Reiss family from what Hange was telling. The same is true about Armin's sudden but oh so convenient musings about how Eren inherited his titan powers. It was clear foreshadowing, but really badly executed.

i was waiting for this question on ep 5 poll, thnks! Well my thought were "there's no way they'll animate the shit machine" and "I WANT MOAR LEVI"

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 468 Responses

We overlooked a platform this week, our apologies! 

Oi where's the 4chan option

Thank you again to everyone who participated. We’ll see you back on Tuesday! 

#snk poll #snk polls #snk spoilers #snk s3 #poll results

[fuyu-mayoi]

Magi 369 - My last commentary

WARNING! This is an extremely long commentary. Everything written undercut it’s just the result of a personal reflection. If you have the will to read this papyrus, may the force be with you. The content is almost completely negative so if you liked the chapter and don’t want people to ruin your good day simply don’t read it. 

The first thing I asked myself before writing this commentary is: 

How would I describe Magi’s last chapter in few words? 

I wasn’t able to think about a proper answer in the beginning so I searched here and there to take inspiration from the others’ perspective and the adjectives I met the most were “ terrible, awful, disappointing”. If I have to choose only one or two words probably those would be “Magi final chapter is a meaningless décalage.”

What comes to the eyes first is an extremely anticlimatic subversion of a situation that in truth was already anticlimatic since the start. Let’s be honest: Magi played a lot during these 8 years on the alternation of anticlimatic levels but in the Final Arc Ohtaka abused a lot of this narrative device. Overthrowing the dramatic tension built in ch.368 was a bit too drastic and allow me to say unnecessary. I would have rather preferred to see the end of the battle, the tension slowly decreasing and turning into something else. Something warmer that would have led to an epilogue. 

In this regard the chapter completely missed some (if not all the) focal points that needed development.

- the acceptance of Sinbad’s loss.

- a kaleidoscope of everyone’s emotions with a little focus on every group: the main trio, the Kou siblings, the Reim group, the Magi team etc., in other words a little panormaic on everyone’s daily life. 

- the most common explanations ( about djinns, Solomon, Arba etc)

- even the wedding was thrown randomly.

How I feel about the final chapter? Emotionally speaking this chapter gave me nothing. The answers us readers were waiting, were not there. The subplots that needed a closure were not closed. The mysteries introduced were not solved. The characters abandoned were ignored again. It inspires me indifference. And this is the main problem: everything there is so rushed and inconclusive to the point of being meaningless. I felt nothing even for my favourite character’s death. It’s like reading a bad fanfiction. If the ending was not preannounced I alone would have never guessed this was the finale. Also I am quite perplexed that the editor didn’t offer to Ohtaka the opportunity of making a longer epilogue with a 50 pages chapter. 

What I disliked the most and made me mad was that all the plotlines were merged and then submitted to a single bigger one (Alibaba’s one) in a very convenient way. The characters’ individualities were overshadowed by “Alibaba’s amazingness” till becoming insignificant. Well we all know the first Magi law: if Alibaba is happy then everything is ok! 

One of the most interesting thing in Magi was the multilevel-system with every character having his own storyline made of tragic past, inner complexes etc. Then during the Sacred Palace Arc something happened. Ohtaka forced all the different subplots and cutted everything under Sinbad’s storyline only to change her mind soon later. Sinbad’s storyline indeed was reworked inside Alibaba’s storyline for a reason I a have an hard time to understand. What a useless mess.

Is Sinbad’s death a narrative failure? I didn’t liked that Sinbad’s death was foreshadowed so much. It ruined the moment. Maybe if things were hidden a little more I would have been surprised. After all that happened I can’t see Sinbad redeeming himself so much easily at least not now, not immediately. He needs to live his purgatory and ironically the better way of doing it is to stay dead for a little. It is implyed he will come back (we don’t know nor how nor when) he is a Singularity so it’s entirely possible for him to be dead only temporarily. That said my opinion is that Sinbad’s “first death” was perfect. I would have stopped there without beating a dead horse.

A question comes to my mind:

Is this the ending Ohtaka planned from the beginning? I would answer yes and no.

In the first chapters of the manga there were only 3 relevant characters : Aladdin, Alibaba and Morgiana. It was obvious that the ending would have turned around these three. What shocked me instead is the few space it was left to Aladdin...Aladdin was the first character introduced in the whole manga. Aladdin was probably what gives Ohtaka the initial inspiration. In more than half of the manga it’s mainly Aladdin’s storyline the one that moves the action and not Alibaba’s one. The story started with him so I was expecting the story to end with him. But we canonically now that Ohtaka changed her mind often (as an example she stated that in the beginning Kougyoku was supposed to die but then she changed her mind). So I wouldn’t be surprised if Ohtaka changed a bit her initial position. This doesn’t explain why one of the main characters was ignored though. At least I’m glad that Morgiana was there.

Will some plot holes be covered in snb or a sequel? Maybe something like Judal’s true name will slip from the plot sooner or later in Snb. But I don’t think there will ever be a sequel.

Little consolation. What I liked (Yeah, incredible there was something I liked! xD) is the open ending which means us fans can fill all the holes with our imagination. 

If you really menaged to read till here without falling asleep then congratulations ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ ! 

Also sorry for my bad english and eventual errors m( _ _ )m

With this I ended my journey. See you to the next manga! 

#I doubt that someone will read all of this #I mean you are crazy if you really do it #please don't do it #with this I say goodbye to the fandom #although everythin I am happy of being part of it #now time to start a new series #magi spoilers #magi 369 #fuyu babbles

[meowsaidmayaanime]

What I'm Watching June 2016

Here I will post the anime's that I am currently watching or re-watching, of course this does not include simulcasts as they are in a separate category all together. No, this is a list of the (some partially completed) anime that I binge watch. This post is constantly updated, as I tend to go through a single anime in its entirety within a couple of days, so keep your eye out!

6/25 Blood Blockade Battlefront

Let me get this down now. This anime is visually beautiful, sooooooo much time went into the art and details. Its movie quality beautiful, which is very unusual in a series. So onto the series itself it's about a boy who began living in a post apocalyptic New York after the gates between the human world and the 'monster' world opened. The characters are great, the premise was great, the episodes were great, everything was going wonderfully. Until the anime took an arrow to the knee... Metaphorically of course. So much was left unresolved, and in the last few episodes an obstacle was haphazardly thrown at us. I didn't check the episode count before watching the anime so I was shocked when I found out that there were only 13 (well 12 really) episodes. I get the impression that the studio was initially expecting to do a full 24 ep season considering the pacing of the anime up until episode 10. Evidently this is where the anime diverges quite a bit from the manga itself (my guess is that its unfinished. SOOOOO many anime are left in disappointment because the anime company decides to start a series before the manga has a chance to complete itself leaving the anime with a weird and out of place ending. sigh)

It really is a huge shame that Blood Blockade Battlefront ended the way it did. And its a shame that this recent trend of only creating 'half seasons' has once again resulted in a poor ending. I really liked this anime too, like I said earlier it was amazing. Seriously here's a quote from Toshi Nakamura who wrote a review of the anime itself.

"All in all, Blood Blockade Battlefront was a beautiful jewelry box filled with glittering stones that are individually beautiful, but when you put them on a string to make a necklace, on a whole, they lose a lot of their shine. Plus it feels like some of the most precious gems were left in the box."

My thoughts exactly. Those loose gems left in the box being the other 12 episodes this anime deserved in order to make one complete 24 ep season. I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Its so hard trying to recommend an anime when the end is a let down. I want people to see it because the first 9 episodes are fabulous, but I don't want to subject an unsatisfactory anime to anyone. Its not like the ending was bad, for how last minute it was, it was pretty well done, and it did make sense. It just wasn't the ending this anime deserved. If your willing to take this on I highly recommend it to anyone who loves the paranormal genre. Maybe it would just be best to read the manga. Its definitely on my list to read.

6/21 Sankarea Undying Love re-watch

Last time I watched this anime it was in high school after a friend recommended it to me. So I figured why not watch it again? Its a short 12 episode zombie love story. Haha, yup a zombie slice of life love story. In the world of American media, its a really unusual combination of genres, but in anime its no real surprise. I suppose the only real surprise about the anime is the fact that its relatively good, and not at all a harem like High School of the Dead. Its very cute and I think well done. The main female characters father is a total creep and wack-job but that is one of the reasons why he is the main antagonist. For being a zombie anime, its very laid back and you'll find out why as you watch it. Sankarea is an anime that I would recommend to people if I was aware of what kind of anime they liked. If you like the zombie scene but want to watch something not totally gruesome and hyped up, or if you like unusual/ supernatural/ paranormal/ ect. romances I think this is worth a shot.

6/17 Barakamon

WOW, this was really good. I initially started watching this because Funimation's YouTube channel posts trailers and promo videos for its anime. I watched the promo trailer for the English dub, recognized a lot of the voice actors in it and decided to give it a try. I'm gonna say this now, it's probably the best slice of life anime I have seen. and I mean full on slice of life, no paranormal or fantasy or anything else, it's pure slice of life. Its well written, the episodes flow, and its got a great story and great characters. The premise is that a young 20-something artist calligrapher Seishu punches a man who criticized his work as being unimaginative. As a result Seishu's father sends him to live on a rural island to 'cool his head'. The anime then follows the life of Seishu as he makes unexpected friendships and discovers who he is as an artist.

I just loved this anime, If you like slice of life, yes DEFINITELY watch this. Same if you like watching characters grow and their struggle to discover themselves, or if you like comedy, or if you like realism, or if you want a well made anime to calm down with after watching an emotionally draining one. Even if your not into the genre I recommend you give the first episode a try at least. I was immensely impressed with it.

Oh, and the full series won't be released in English until August 9, 2016, but Funimation is releasing the first two episodes in English on June 28th. I know I will definitely be re-watching this when the full English dub release comes out!!

6/16 Charlotte (re-watch)

I LOVED this anime when it came out last year. I remember getting to the last few episodes and going to the public library to finish watching it because the power went out in my house. I just finished re-watching it with one of my friends who had never seen it before. Haha, she was mad at me cause she got so invested in it. It is a doozy. But anyway, it follows high school boy Yuu Otosaka who recently became aware of a supernatural ability of his to be able to control a persons body for 5 seconds at a time. After abusing this power to cheat his way into a good high school, a girl named Tomoe catches him and makes him transfer to a school for people with other abilities. It goes on from there showing their lives, introducing characters and fortifying relationships until the REAL plot reveals itself~

If you like supernatural anime this is a really one, full story in only 13 episodes. It also touches up on quite a few 'heavy' topics, which it actually handles really well. I do recommend this to anyone actually, it was my third favourite 2015 anime of the one I watched that year.

(Bonus: I don't know who wrote this or how far into the anime hey were in, but I agree.)

6/14 50% Off (re-watch)

Oh man, I love this show. I just watched their two A-kon panels from a few weeks ago, and it's great. Just watch this show, make sure you watch it. Here's a link to my post on my favourite parody/abridge series where I talk about this show more. You don't have to know the original anime to enjoy it (I didn't watch Free until recently), so get on YouTube type it in and get going!

6/13 Princess Jellyfish (re-watch)

Alright, So now you guys are up to speed on the anime I watched during my vacation, I just started re-watching Princess Jellyfish. Oh man, I completely forgot about this little gem. I first watched it my freshman year of college (two years ago), and LOVED it. It's basically about a household of otaku young women, and one in particular who is in love with jellyfish, who make friends with their arch enemy, a stylish person! Haha, it is hilarious and a great commentary on stereotypes/social norms in Japanese culture (and really many other first world cultures for that matter.) I am having so much fun re-watching this series, it is slice of life so there is not much of an overarching plot so much as it is just following the exploits of the group after becoming friends with said stylish person I mentioned earlier. Each episode flows naturally into the next creating a constant story with each episode having to do with the next. So despite it being a slice of life, there are no filler episodes that forgotten or have nothing to do with anything. it also consistently references pop-culture and media not just from Japan, but from America too. Really, I can't express how great it is. Watch it, you won't regret it.

6/9 & 6/12

HEY! Sorry for the inactivity, I was on vacation out of state. While I was not able to do anything on this site for the past week, I was able to watch a few anime! AND hey are new ones!

So during my summer vay-cay (haha, thats such a terrible word) I watched:

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia

and Amnesia

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia was good. It's about a high school boy who makes a friend out of a ghost, Yuuko, who doesn't remember anything from when she was alive. In terms of content, while they do try to figure out how she died and who she is, a good portion is about tellig the story of the two main characters. Doing high school activities, developing relationships, ect. While the anime does frequently talk about the mystery and paranormal throughout these episodes, its not until the end of the series that the mystery of Yuuko ACTUALLY begins being solved, and they find out REAL information of her past. In hindsight, her past and the climax of the series is thrust upon you towards the end. It would have been better in my opinion if the events and info were more evenly dispersed throughout each episode from the beginning. I still really liked this anime, though I'm not sure as to how good it is. If your into the sort of subdued paranormal scene, then you may want to give this a shot. Its short, its sweet, I really liked learning about Yuuko's past when it finally got around to it, and I personally really liked it. But again, if you like the paranormal, you may like this. If your not into paranormal stuff, then I wouldn't recommend it.

Now Amnesia was a whole different box of pillows. By that I mean body pillows, and by that I mean I am sure that there area tons available. Why? Because this short anime was adapted from a dating sim called Amnesia: Memories. I wish I had known that before I started watching it, but no matter. In terms of dating sim adaptations, it's pretty good. In terms of an anime, not so much. The premise for both the anime and the game is that you are a girl who just woke up and knows absolutely nothing about herself, where she is, or who anyone else is. She has, you guessed it, amnesia. Amnesia caused by a fairy 'bumping' into her? which doesn't make too much sense. (but hey at least it wasn't because she performed horrific acts of manslaughter, created a patchwork monster, and played a huge part in nearly destroying humanity all so Alexander could become godlike, am I right?) Anyway, she wakes up and begins jumping alternate worlds in which she is dating different guys, thus the dating sim part comes in. In therms of the anime itself, the plot is a little wobbly waiting until the last 2 or 3 episodes to actually explain her true past and give a substantial story line. Because in the game, the female character and her name/personality is you, the anime version of her is left 'blank' for self insertion. Making a poor main character being pushed to and fro. But I will tell you this the music was REALLY good, the opening, closing and background music were absolutely fantastic. SO, if you have played this game and enjoyed it then I would definitely recommend it. If you have not, and have absolutely no interest in self-insertion romance, then its not worth the watch for the plot. Although I did like it myself. It's a good addition to my, quote-unquote, "trash anime" (watch out for a post in the maybe near future). Basically a list of guilty pleasure anime which are terrible when it comes to plot and characters, but I just can't resist. Its like reading trashy romance novels, but better and worse at the same time.

6/5 Red Data Girl (re-watch)

Another re-watch, maybe June will be a month of oldies~ (at least for me). RDG is an adorable anime, its a short 12 ep, one season series based off the Japanese novels of the same title. 6 novels (no official translation, but this person on tumblr has been translating them in their spare time), 4 manga novel adaptations, and one anime as mentioned. I'm not familiar with the novels or manga, but I do know that the anime covers most but not all of the novels. One person said it covers the first 5 novels but that's it. Anyway, the anime is super cute, and I really like the premise. My only issue is that the end felt like the completion of a smaller story arch within a larger one. Leaving no REAL ending, you can't even argue that the end is open to interpretation because they didn't leave you wondering what happened, they leave you without ever continuing the main story arch. Without explaining the endless questions that rose with the intention of it being resolved later. Hopefully the manga will give me some solace but with 4 books, i'm not sure if it will... I really like it, and I really wish it would continue.

oh btw, as of right now it's available on netflix, the English voice acting is ok, its not bad, but its also not great. The voice actors are able to but the right voice out, but not give the voice the emotion that the words give. I greatly prefer the Japanese voice acting, but I'm able to live with the English if I'm multi-tasking. (random note: the ending theme is super pretty. Actually, a lot about this anime is pretty)

6/2 Blue Exorcist Movie TOP PICK FOR THIS MONTH (new)

The movie has nothing to do with the plot of the anime at all, and takes place after the events in the series. Atleast I'm fairly certain it does? There's an important (and spoiler-y) thing that happens at the end of the series, that is never addressed or acknowledged in the movie which I think is really weird..... Either way, the movie itself is simply a completely stand alone story from the series. And it was absolutely stunning! Sooooo much detail went into all of the backgrounds and items. On top of that its very well scripted, and the plot flowed incredibly well together without being convoluted, which is surprising since a number of movie sequels to tv series's tend to go overboard by stuffing too much information into an hour and a half.

It was amazing. Its possible that someone could watch the movie without watching the single season anime, just because of how it was written. However you would not know the relationships or the back story of the main character, which helps to explain a lot of the terminology and setting. Especially the part about demons ect ect.

Either way, I LOVED this movie. I didn't even know that there was a movie at all until just now. I'm going to re-watch it with a friend when she gets back into town and I am soooooo excited because I KNOW she will love it too. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. I RECOMMEND THIS SO HARD.

6/1 Blue Exorcist (re-watch)

Well I can't sleep, so what better opportunity than this to re-watch Ao no Exorcist in the English dub~ Ah, I love this anime. Its funny, has great main characters, a good story and writing, and I seem to have a week spot for exorcist anime's, haha. Man, I remember watching this when it first came out in high school, I have a distinct memory of watching one of the later episodes before going to one of my friends concerts. There was a movie made about a year later, AAAAAND a series of specials. Oh, man the movie was so amazing. It has nothing to do with the plot of the anime at all, in fact the anime wrapped up everything rather nicely. The Movie itself is simply another story in cinematic format. It was absolutely beautiful, well made, well scripted, and the plot flowed incredibly well together without being convoluted. Would 100% recommend.

Oh, right! The dub isn't that bad, I mean I wish they had a different voice actor for Rin, I just don't feel like this one really lives up to the character. The other voice actors are great though, really fit the characters. The dub is well done, but I think I preferred the Japanese voice actors (they have a better pick than we do.) I just think that someone with a slightly lower, more thug-ish voice would have been better. The English actors voice is a little too high for me, it's even higher than Yukio's voice ._.

6/1 Black Butler (re-watch)

I decided to re-watch the show (minus the second season) after writing up my post from yesterday about anime whose second season could just go and disappear from existence. I love Sebastian, he is a saint, well a saint among devils. Not only is he one hell of a butler, but one hell of a contractor too, he REALLY get into his jobs, and it is amazing. Even I would enter into a contract if I could have him as a butler~ It's a goon anime, not sure if its recommendation worthy though. I mean yes it's good but it's not something that you HAVE to see, or something you would be missing out on. It's surprisingly fun and while it can and does get intense in certain areas, its not so intense that its going to mess you up.  As long as you never touch the second season, NEVER.

Bonus image, cause why not:

[hotcupofmucha]

My Favorite YA Reads Thus Far

After joining the library field since February of this year, I have probably tripled the amounts of books I read.  And I definitely have to, the way books come out as quickly as they do.  Although it has been hard to keep up, I feel that I have hit on some great books so far and am very eager to read more.  For those of you new to the YA genre, perhaps you will find these updates valuable.  I really need to get those classics read, but I’m trying to do a mix of new and old to get a good basis.  If you would like to extend your reading knowledge and keep track of everything you’ve read and would like to read in the future, I recommend making an account on goodreads.com.  Here’s my list since February 2017:

1. My Sister Rosa (2016) by Justine Larbalestier - Great if you like creepy, sociopathic characters; rated a 3/5 stars.  Basic premise:  older brother must keep said creepy, sociopathic sister in check.

Detailed and diverse character development, kind of blah on the thrill factor.  Warning to parents: some sexual content.

2. A Good Idea (2017) by Cristina Moracho - Great if you like brash, adventurous characters wrapped up in a murder mystery; rated 4/5 stars.  Basic premise:  girl going into college finds out her friend mysteriously disappeared while she was living away from childhood home.  It’s solely up to her to find out what happened to her friend who had a rather unsavory reputation before she disappeared.

Pretty good character development, interesting premise, but didn’t get my full 5 stars due to it’s slow pace.  It was worth the ending though!  Warning to parents:  sexual content, strong language, violence and drug references.

3.  Food Wars:  Vols. 1-11 (2014) by Yuto Tsakuda - Great if you love food, manga and an egregious amount of fan service; rated 4-5/5 stars, depending on the volume.  Basic premise:  small town cook Soma gets into culinary school and has to battle daily to show he’s worthy of competing with the best.  

This series is probably one of the best manga I’ve read.  I love everything about it, yes even the ridiculous level of fan service.  The illustrations are beautiful - the food could jump off the page (and I wouldn’t hate that!)  It makes me want to watch the anime just to see all the dishes.  The food battles are exciting, the characters are entertaining and the main character is very charming and relatable.  Warning to parents: some near nudity (lots of boobage and under-the-skirt action).

4. Descender Vols. 1-3 (2015) by Jeff Lemire - Great if you love android-centered sci-fi and graphic novels.  If you liked the anime Ergo Proxy or Ghost in the Shell (not that stupid 2017 remake), you will love this.  Rated 5/5 stars.

I wouldn’t say the plot is totally new, but certain aspects were intriguing and I enjoyed this series immensely.  I really like the characters, especially the robots, which you wouldn't expect to connect with the most.  The illustrations are stellar, they tie everything together.  Sadly, my library does not have Vol. 4, but I will have to read the e-book for now because I don’t want to wait!

5. Princess Jellyfish Vol. 1 (2016) by Akiko Higashimura - Great if you love nerdy girls, jellyfish and one particularly charming cross-dressing boy.  Basic premise:  jellyfish loving girl with tragic backstory and a house full of anti-social housemates befriend a charming boy who prefers to crossdress and may also have a handsome older brother.  Rated 5/5 stars for originality.  It’s not as out-there as it sounds, I swear.

This manga broke so many old stereotypes for me, which made it so fresh to read.  The main female characters of the communal house they share were so unique and quirky, not typical at all.  The main male character enjoys dressing like a girl, but it is unclear what his sexuality is, and that’s totally fine!  Yes, there is romance of course, but even that is fun and different.  I look forward to volume two of this unconventional, beautifully designed manga!

6.  Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie (2004) by Jordan Sonnenblick - Great if you love sarcastic, funny high schoolers with the weight of the world on them, but can still manage to make the audience laugh and also cry.  Basic premise:  13 year old finds out his little brother has leukemia and must deal with his own emotions, as well as his family’s.  His commentary is the best part.  And of course the “dangerous pie”.

I wasn’t sure if I would originally like this book.  I’m usually not a realistic fiction fan, but I had to read this for a middle school book discussion.  Stellar!  The main character was believable, hilarious and well-written.  You felt everything he felt and understood why he reacted the way he did.  I’ve been told there is a sequel written from the point of view of his brother - where is it and when can I read it!

7.  Studio Ghibli:  The Films of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata (2009) by Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc - Great if you love Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli films and want to learn more.  Basic premise:  pretty much the historical catalogue of pre-Ghibli, Studio Ghibli and smaller projects (which I did not catalogue on my blog).  Rated 5/5 stars, of course.

This book will definitely be dry for some, hands down.  But if you really want to learn more about Studio Ghibli, not just their most popular films, please read this.  I didn’t realize how much work they have actually done and how prolific they are until I read this.  

8.  El Deafo (2014) by Cece Bell - Great if you love cute graphic novel characters with a real story, (seriously, it’s an autobiography of the author’s childhood)! Basic premise:  Young Cece becomes ill at the age of four and loses her hearing - at such a young age, she must learn how to adapt to her new life.  Rated 5/5 stars, definitely one of my favorites so far.

Don’t judge this by the fact that it’s in the juvenile section, or that it’s a graphic novel.  Cece explains the challenges of being deaf through a child’s eyes, but it is relatable to all ages.  I have recommended this to old women and they loved it, it doesn’t matter.  Never judge by genre.  Just read and enjoy.  Cece is charming and relatable - this is great for anyone hoping to understand people facing disabilities since she explains it so well.  I read this for a middle school book discussion - I think it’s so important for kids to understand early how to react to all levels of diversity and be accepting of everyone, no matter what challenge they face.

Here’s what I’m currently working on:

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (just finished)

Food Wars, Vol. 12 (haven’t started)

The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm (haven’t started)