Bartimaeus

It was about the time I saw her go to the bathroom in a bucket inside her "home" that I was like "ok maybe not".

Hey, could just be because it's been a long and arduous journey, not because it was bad! When Sailor Moon finally ended, I had a similar feeling even though I loved it and really enjoyed Sailor Stars - it was just such a long journey to get to the end of it. Now whenever I hear Heart Moving or Moonlight Legend, I'm always filled with such a sense of nostalgia...even though I watched it literally less than a year ago. It sounds so horrid when you put it that way. Which it was, but still, . I've noticed that when there's a new "revival" or "reboot" of something starting, they have over the years tended to initially try to stay positive (e.g. Star Trek, Star Wars, The Hobbit)...but by the time the second one comes out, they're basically like "yeah so in retrospect, this has been a complete disaster". Can't blame 'em for trying to be positive and like something new from their old favorite series, I guess. I know you were mostly joking, but I was not. Why would I want to be as demanding and picky about these sorts of things as I am? It means I have to spend exponentially more time and effort to find the stuff that I like while getting super annoyed and displeased by the waves of stuff that I don't. There's no joy in that: much better to be like HS and happily enjoy almost everything you see.

Didn't get harassed by the police, but a couple of times by property owners who told her she couldn't be there. However, it makes sense in the context of the film, because she mostly was finding places out in the middle of nowhere to stay, often times by other nomads (there was a particular community of nomads she came and went from a few times throughout the films, plus a couple of friends she stuck close by with even elsewhere). The film mostly takes place in the vast West, places between like Nevada, Arizona, the Dakotas.

Nomadland (2020). Oddball film about a lady who lost everything but her van and turned into an automobile nomad that lives and travels around in said van. Almost makes me want to do the same...until I remember how difficult that would actually be.

It's not like I want to be the way I am! Emotional moments that fall comically flat are like instant death for a show or movie, though - there's no recovering from that for me. Miyu's something that probably is better taken slow anyways, especially given that it itself is pretty slow. I would've definitely watched it slower if it were myself.

Music: Ha, I used to suffer from the "I have to keep getting their new stuff even if I hate it" syndrome as well. At some point, I realized that if I was well and truly done with an artist and that there was nothing more I'd ever want from them (either because because I've changed or because they've changed), I can simply treat them as if they had disbanded and that there would never be any more to collect. It was a very liberating moment when I realized I could do that and I've made great use of it on artists who simply no longer appeal to me for whatever reason...but whose older stuff I still want to have around. I'll just pick a specific album that was the last one I liked and be like "everything post-this simply does not exist - begone!". I would heartily recommend it to you as well, . Erica: So I said there were two extreme ends of the spectrum here - those who are easily and frequently overwhelmed by what they're feeling (whatever that is) and can't find a way to express themselves...and those who are inexpressive because they don't feel anything. There's arguably another extreme: like the first group, they have way too much going on internally, but will instead *constantly* express anything and everything they feel or think immediately to the point of overloading others. Maybe there's another extreme end or two of the communication spectrum I'm not thinking of as well. Anyways, it's a weird thing, but I am specifically greatly frustrated by the first category - I may not always like the other two, but they don't draw the same sort of "get outta the show" reaction that the first type does.

Now that I think about it, that sort of makes sense, because this particular character trait can really manifest in a number of different character types. The constant state of being so overwhelmed and confused by your own emotions that you're unable to express or talk in anything approaching a normal manner can manifest in both the sweetest AND ill-tempered of people...but regardless, it's a trait that I find particularly maddening and unpleasant in entertainment. Well, real life too, but I subscribe to the belief (although admittedly I sometimes fail to always properly exemplify it) that all those who respect and tolerate others deserve respect and tolerance themselves, even if I find them very difficult to deal with. Plus, people who are actually legitimately like that are already dealing with enough as it is - undoubtedly more maddening for them than it is for the rest of us. Violet is basically the other extreme end of the spectrum, in that she feels basically nothing at all the vast majority of the time and is completely inexpressive. I don't love that either, but I do find it significantly less annoying, I suppose. Regardless, the show is just not really working for me on a number of fronts, and I don't think I'll be returning to it. Sorry! It really is something I think about, though...basically not ever being able to experiment with TV shows (or similar things) out of an absolute dread of disliking them and yet forcing yourself to finish them. The amount of shows, movies, books, albums, whatever I try just a small portion of am immediately like "yeah, nah, that's not going to work, into the trash it goes" - I would never try anything new ever again if I had to finish all of them. Just the thought of operating that way is enough to send shivers down my spine...

Violet Evergarden, episode 2. ...This isn't working. I think it's time for me to dispose of Ms. Evergarden just as she asked in the first episode, . Ironically, it's not Violet herself that is annoying me so much (I'm okay with her so far), it's literally everybody else. I'd greatly prefer prefer to just sit and watch Violet get better at type-writing than to listen to this needlessly over-dramatic and/or faux emotional dialogue over and over. I got to the point where Poutylips McAutist barged into whatshisface and whatsherface having a meeting about firing Violet, cue her begging them not to do it for whatever reasons, and I'm just so done, man - this is painful. Yet another day I feel #hashtag #blessed I have no OCD about finishing things I've started, . (e): So, using the word "autist" is offensive and not something I particularly like doing...if someone has a better label that accurately describes the type of characters who have no idea how to properly emote or modulate their emotions, please let me know, because I'd be more than happy to drop that particular word from my lexicon. There are other anime labels for character archetypes like "tsundere" - is there one for this?

That's the crazy thing, it ain't just him, there have been multiple...characters throughout the past 15 or so years (since I started using this name) whom I've despised that have inexplicably used it. Worse, other people read them using it, and then think "oh, I guess that's the correct form of shortening it, guess I'll use it too!" and I have to correct them because, no, I don't hate you, so you shouldn't use this, please use the correct one. Have to nip it in the bud before it gets out of control when I see it. (e): In a way, it's actually almost kind of like a test: if you use it and I don't try to correct you, it almost definitely means I hate you, or at the very least have no desire to interact with you to tell you to fix it. I wouldn't let someone I don't already dislike continue to use it without at least letting them know...especially with repeat uses.

Gosh, I really am picky about literally everything in some manner, aren't I? All I was trying to do was explain that literally any other spelling of my name was greatly preferable over the specific one used... Yes, even "Barotimaeusu", .

Hey, well, you can see my explanation on what kind of names I prefer in the post directly above yours, but those are still better than the thingy, so whatever, .

The first part or the second part? The first part shouldn't be that hard...my name doesn't exactly lend itself to that many gross play-ons, though I'm sure if you spent enough time thinking you could come up with a couple. Although I guess if you literally do what I said and just call me whatever terrible thing you can think of, there are a lot more options. The second part is also surprisingly not that difficult either, because I'm not that picky about names (except that I prefer...actual literal names, and not titles or other epithets - e.g. simply "Bartimaeus" is a name, so is "Sue", but "Bart the Man" is not and just "The Man" isn't either). My favorite names are always that of people and characters that I like, rarely ever to do with the name itself (proof of that would be that I literally didn't think anything of the name Miyu before watching Miyu...now I love that name - that's almost always how it goes for me; names are very much a matter of associations for me).

As long as it's not overly crass or vulgar and I (e): DON'T have some other major type of negative association with it, I don't really care, . (e): Also, Sueamitrab (and just Sue, too, actually) has been done before as well. You can call me Sue, I'm fine with that as well, .

IIRC, there were alternative and deleted scenes, including a different ending where Will Smith survived after coming to an understanding with the "zombies" and realizing they were intelligent and just exactly the damage that he was doing to them, that were originally in the movie...but apparently American test audiences didn't like them not being stupid zombies, so they rewrote and reshot to end with a big stupid bang instead.

Congratulations, you thought of another...that I've already been called probably by 4-5 other people over the last decade, . However, I do not have the same overwhelmingly negative Pavlovian response to that as I do to the other one. I was half completely joking, half deadly serious...but for the record, my preferred shortened version is actually "Barty" - I've never felt like much of a "Bart", but that's perfectly fine too if anyone prefers that. Literally just calling me a completely different name would be better than the one - the memories associated with that particular spelling are somehow legitimately that bad.

I don't know if you're doing that on purpose, but for the love of all that is good and holy, please, don't be a complete psychopath and just have mercy on me... This, unfortunately. @Sakura: I'm making progress! It's happening!

No way, it's on my list of bookmarks of things to eventually check out. Mind you, it is super weird looking to me, but it's just that its style looks very distinct and that's immediately what I was reminded of when I saw Queen Millennia. Turns out, there was good reason for that, .

Probably the same time-frame as was expected for Nadia...sometime within the next few days to maybe next week. If there's an afterlife where you can just sit and binge anime literally as much as you want, perhaps... Exactly my thoughts re: watching Attack No. 1 (or something else much more likely to be appealing to me than Captain Tsubasa, like 1981 1989's Yawara which is available on a seemingly pretty good-looking bluray that I will have to check out at some point!). Trust me, I know. I'd been preparing for Nadia for literally weeks now and finally getting myself into the idea of watching it after Miyu, and suddenly I had my chair pulled from under me in exchange for another Utena. What joy.

Great looking backgrounds and scenes are...just that: great looking, . When used to punctuate particularly important moments, they can really give depth and gravitas and tickle the imagination. Consider, though, that I am actually quite happy with art that much more simply looks like this (though that's not to say the art you posted isn't great in of its own self, I'm just making an example to demonstrate a point here): ...so long as I'm into the style of the designs and enjoy what's written. For this Miyu manga, it was "sometimes" to the former (I like how these panels in particular look, others decidedly less so) and "not particularly?" to the latter (...just the writing here in this ultra-basic entrance/introduction scene somehow manages to feel inexplicably choppy and unnatural for no good reason, and that's kind of how the entire book was). I grew up on Calvin & Hobbes where there very often literally were no backgrounds and instead it was only basic character graphics and poignant dialogue - characters and how they're written and stylized will always be king above all else for me. Very often, I seem to prefer minimalistic, understated, and more "boring" art over the crazy and out there stuff, even though the latter is more visually interesting...perhaps because of how it affects the "language" of characters, but I'm not one hundred percent sure. Good looking pieces, thank you! I can't really talk specifics in regards to what I dislike about Bleach...except that I had a couple of close friends that were super into it and One Piece and both of them seemed to be suuuper long and I couldn't understand the appeal. That's essentially the extent of my knowledge!

You remember how I said we were going to watch Nadia next? ...I mentioned to my other party that a friend was watching Princess Tutu and how it apparently had a lot of similarities to Utena but was maybe a little bit better and they were like "oh yeah, I've heard of that one too, let's watch that instead". For the record, for as much as I had serious problems with Utena, my impression outside of the movie was still overall positive (if only just barely)...in contrast, they borderline hated Utena by the end of it, so I was not at all expecting that response. So now I'm being strong-armed into watching Princess Tutu instead, and I kind of feel bad because I don't want to outpace you on your own show or anything like that, but I could easily see that happening if we at least sort of like it, . I apologize in advance if that ends up happening...and I'll let you know how that goes. Yeah, there's no way. Even just Bleach had nearly 400 episodes and a number of movies. How could you even consider it given your OCD problem? Queen Millennia looks so much like Galaxy Express 999. And I've looked at both Captain Tsubasa and Captain Future before as well...prooobably not something I'm ever gonna try, . @Sarex Okay, now I can see why people say Dark Souls was Berserk-inspired, because if I hadn't been given any context, I would've a hundred percent assumed that at least the first one was actually a Dark Souls drawing. Those are danged nice-looking, .

Yeah, that was you, me, InsaneCommander, and KP. Am I forgetting someone? If so, yikes! Yeah, it's very weird how...different stuff can inherently speak to us. What's especially weird in my case is I was actually exposed to a number of different animes during some very formative years like Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Inuyasha*...stuff of that nature from the late 90s/early 2000s. Instead of taking a liking or even just a tolerance to it, I had the exact opposite reaction: an absolute burning hatred that closed me off from it entirely. If instead I had been born ten years earlier...and especially twenty years earlier, it could've been a completely different story. Well, if I had been, instead of trying to broaden my horizons and find oddball things that I like such as Miyu right now, I guess I'd have already seen all of it already and instead be totally "Old Man Yells at Clouds"-ing it up and constantly complaining about them not making it how they used to, . So I guess, in a sense, it's good to be young, . (P.S. Cartoons with that kind of Bojack Horseman-style, and there are a few of them that have it or something very similar to it, are still literally disgusting to look at to me. In comparison, something like Invincible is generally displeasing to look at, but not actually DISGUSTING.) *Funnily, when I look at that early 2000s Inuyasha now, I can almost...kind of tolerate it, particularly in comparison to the other three I listed. Makes a kind of sense - it seems to be a little bit of a throwback to the late 80s kind of style. So my horizons have been broadened somewhat indeed, .

It's certainly not about level of detail, because I literally like the style of this better than the style of the manga you suggested. No, this is not a good or even okay style by any means (not even for something drawn up in literally 10-15 minutes like this quite probably was, it's really bad - it would look a lot better if it got even more minimalistic than it already is and the artist started focusing purely on making better shapes and cleaning up their linework), but somehow, it doesn't offend the very core of my being like the other one. So if that doesn't tell you how drastically different of a perspective I have in my approach to cartoons and art styles, and how utterly alien my and your perspectives must be to each other, I don't know what will! It's a good reminder that I come from an extremely anti-anime background, and it's only within the past couple of years that I have become even kind of open to anime. I grew up my entire life actively hating all things anime...MODERN anime, that is, because I'd never really seen anything older because, well, yeah, modern popular stuff takes up all the air in the room, and I was never exposed to anything earlier than the late 90s at best. Until I accidentally chanced across a poster of Nausicaa a couple of years back... ...and felt such an instant swell of "holy crap, that looks INCREDIBLE, I need to watch that!". So I did, and then I started investigating anime and its different eras and styles more, watched the other Ghibli movies, saw a few Satoshi Kon movies that I had chanced across (starting with Perfect Blue, ye gods what a first non-Ghibli anime film that was, and to watch it without doing any investigation at all just because I *also* adored the poster I saw of it*), eventually saw clips of the original Sailor Moon and realized I liked that too and started watching it (it's what lead to us resurrecting this thread, the original of which was created back in like...2014 before I started watching Sailor Moon and talking about it on here, leading to multiple of us watching it at the same time!). I could go into at least some of the specifics of what I dislike so much about that style (though there's probably more that I would fail to be able to put into words because I am by no means an artist with any kind of art training/knowledge to be able to understand everything that I'm seeing), but what would be the point? As you said, it's all subjective anyways, so no point getting worked up about it, . Suffice to say, I very much stay away from more modern stuff - virtually none of it works for me as a medium, it really just doesn't, and that's that. I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but I cannot understate how insanely particular and specific my sensibilities about...well, really, most everything are. It's what makes almost everyone unable to successfully recommend anything to me. I really truly am just that much of an absolute heartless, mercurial, and nebulous bastard, and for that, I apologize to everyone basically ever...but also, I'm almost definitely not ever going to change. I will try to at least keep apologizing for it when appropriate, though, . *I mean, how do you see this poster and not immediately go "holy ****ing ****"? Because that was my reaction.

I really do. I took one look at that manga and thought to myself... ...But then I read the premise and was like "ok, actually, at least this sounds like a neat premise...but boy do I hate high fantasy anime stuff, and doggone me if this ain't the ugliest manga I ever seen". Not that I've seen many mangas, but still. Roger that, keep me updated, it looks and sounds kind of interesting, but so did Utena. I'm now 30 episodes (out of 51) into Eriko. At this point, it'd be difficult not to recommend that to specifically you as well, especially given your background of having watched shows like Heidi and this really kind of feeling like a moderately more adult, interesting, and dynamic take on something from that era. I feel fairly certainly you'd at least like it. But maybe something to check out sometime in the future when your plate isn't nearly so full, . Even worse news yet: I've been strong-armed into watching Gainax's Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water next, probably starting next week. Pray for me. Maybe not, more on this later...

Oops, good call, I spoilered the Evergarden-specific stuff. I'd come across Princess Tutu before - I had to check my browsing history, because I couldn't clearly remember what I'd seen about it or why it hadn't made my list of bookmarks. Then I saw the screenshots, and I was like, oh yeah, because it looks really weird and uncomfortable! I think I'd probably be correct in assuming that I would not enjoy it?

I edited this in to the previous post: I consider myself someone that's pretty sensitive to framing. If a character is having an emotional moment and then suddenly you unnecessarily cut down to her chest, congratulations, you've ruined the scene as well was whatever was going on with her, I simply no longer care just as the show obviously doesn't care if it's going to pull that crap. If two characters are supposed to be in love, but never freaking show it and instead they just tell you it over and over instead, I'm not going to buy it. If a character is a child (either literally or even just personality-wise) and starts getting involved with someone that should really clearly be a parent figure but instead inexplicably takes on a creepy sort of adult love interest, you better either avert that somehow or I'm probably going to barf. And...(Evergarden movie spoilers)