majestic

I'd rather not talk about what goes on in my mind when I look at this manga volume cover. Let's just say it's not pretty. It's also not really making me want to check it out. Neither the manga, nor the anime.

Oh, no, that was a bit different. So far, while I didn't like some of the villains and found their reasoning stupid, they were at least consistent with their characterization. Shounenpads already defeated the girls and could have just killed them, but the endless mockery of his compatriots about being weaker than a pair of 14 year old girls made him give them back their transformation devices in order to defeat them in fair, "honorable" combat to prove that he is indeed the stronger fighter. He lost and died. Predictably, because he didn't have a chance in any of the fights before. It was still perfectly in character for him. Dumb-as-rocks was just dumb and had little to show other than brute force. The lady villain was smart about everything and came really close to defeating or even killing the girls, and would have, if the other boy on the villain squad didn't interfere. She was eventually pushed into a direct confrontation and, well, lost. Kiriya, meanwhile, just liked Honoka more than he should have, and with Honoka refusing to fight him at all, he just gave up and left. The last, pretty creepy guy on the squad is the only one so far who held his own in a fight with the two. So far they've always just been stronger than the villains or could rise to the occasion, unless being tricked or separated. I mean, that's one of the more consistently nice things about this show, the way the villains aren't complete morons and realize the position they are in. Creepy mage guy was already beaten in an episode prior, but only just barely, and he surprised them in this one. Leaving after having gathered the knowledge where the stones are isn't as senseless as I made it out to be, perhaps, but it's inconsistent, he should have at least tried to push his advantage while he had it, but the episode runtime was out... granted he'd just have lost becaues how else would this go, but still, yeah.

Futari wa Pretty Cure, episode 22. I recently didn't have the time or, ah... inclination to watch that series, and now here we are. The episode was, uhm, yeah. Eh. I dunno why, but even in a magical girl series with talking weirdo magical animal companions, two regular dogs talking to each other like it's nobody's business is weird. Overall it was okay.

Yeah you can do that, @KP the Torque Dork does that all the time. Go to your account settings in your profile and click change, then confirm your password and set a new display name.

After the second episode, I'm fairly sure Rich will suffer for that in some way. More than usual.

Oh, it gets better. The Confederation is going to hold "Eradication Day", a celebration of, uhm, mankind's enemies being eradicated, of course. This year's special execution is going to be the Borg Queen, and General Picard already requested to be granted the title of Borgslayer. I wonder if that's going to be the storyline for the entire season, because unlike the Discover mirror universe episodes, this isn't goofy, campy fun, but deadly serious and utterly cringeworthy. It's also not the mirror universe, of course, or even a mirror universe, but just a branched timeline. Imagine of the Brotherhood of Nod and the Federation from Starship Troopers had a bastard child without any fun, camp or satire, and here you are. Ugh. I think Westwood needs to demand royalties here. Can someone with decent Photoshop skills give Picard a goatee here? Please? Oh, before I forget it: Legolas starts chopping up people again, Picard shoots up a stage, uhm... things are back to normal. I was worried I'd have to like this, for exactly one episode. Phew.

Five minutes into the new episode. Q spews overwritten dialogue that would make Chris Avellone blush*, quotes actual Star Trek episode titles ("That's so Yesterday's Enterprise of you!" and "Through a mirror, darkly!") and actually whacks Picard in the face, telling him "This is penance, not a lesson." It also references climate change, I think. Not sure yet. May or may not play in the Mirror Universe, considering Through A Mirror, Darkly did... and Picard suddenly has Romulan slaves. Anyway, unless something changes drastically, that fell off a cliff faster than expected. Managed to get through the first episode without facepalming and almost without groaning, and now I'm already doing both. Plenty of times. Man, you'd think after all this time and all the terrible tripe I've watched, Kurtzman would be unable to surprise me. Turns out not so. There's always something new. And always something worse. Do you remember a time when Q was fun and silly? Also, it's now Picard's turn to swear around. *Let me give you an example: Picard: I am no longer your pawn! Q: Oh, you're not just a piece, but the very board on which the entire game is being played! Why, thanks, I hate it. edit: Seems to be a new sort of Mirror Universe, and Picard commands or commanded the CSS WORLD RAZER. Wow, that name for sure is even cooler than LASERVELOCIRAPTOR. At least when you're a thirteen year old Twilight fan. Picard has skull collection in his trophy room, the skulls of Sarek, Martok, Gul Dukat and a few others. Man, this is so edgy and awesome. Did I mention his ship is called the CSS WORLD RAZER yet? The C stands for Confederation by the way...

I'll just quote the Wikipedia article: No wonder the flame jets on the bridge set come always from the same point and look like heavy metal concert pyrotechnics. Wouldn't want to damage that screen, huh? Picture of the thing in "action": I guess that's one way to make a bottle episode out of everything, at least set-wise. edit: This is from the spoiler part of last week's Discovery post. I honestly had no idea how accurate that caption would turn out to be.

Didn't George Lucas just film everything in front of green screens? Discovery apparently films in front of very large LCD screens that serve as set backgrounds... with the result that the depth of the shots always feels extremely off, and it explains why everything looks so weird in close ups (becaus the background of the set is literally a flat plane that cannot produce any real depth). More so than in the prequels even.

Wow, I really, really need to... to... not make myself an unperson right now. Carry on, Imma head out.

My alarm goes off at 8. The first one, that is. I ignore it and sleep until 08:40 or something, then drag my hide out of the bed. Work day begins sometime between 09:30 and 09:45, depending on how long I need to do the daily Swedish-style crossword in the newspaper. Yep, it's a rather short commute, back when I needed 45 minutes to get to the Office I was there at 10... or even later. Morning meetings are the worst.

Close to midnight now, and I've sent a work related mail to a guy in South Korea, and he immediately replied. It's not even eight in SK yet. I don't like early bird IT guys. They're creepy. It's wrong. Like looking at the Great Old Ones.

Star Trek Discovery Season 4, Episode 12: "I have no idea how this happened" Not the actual title, but an okay episode. It's still saddled with all the baggage of being Discovery, but there's some non-stupid technobabble, they get the distance from the Sun to Mars right, and start communicating with the creators of the negative space wedgie the season is about by using simple base emotions and mathematical equations. I also found out why the "sets" in this season look so terrible. They've been filming this in front of video walls that show CGI for whatever they need. Yeah, now it all comes together. Well, luckily, next week it'll be over, at least until it returns with season five. Tomorrow we'll see if Picard stays watchable or falls off a cliff. I'm expecting the latter.

Hey, what can I say, at the time I really liked broken goth people. Teens gonna teen, ey? Heh.

Unfair is unfun enough without any nerfing tweaks applied to the game, so I'm good. I doubt I'll ever play the game on anything but normal afterwards. Not even Core.

That depends an awful lot on the party you run and whether or not you add mercenaries and know how to game the system*. With a smite mercenary coupled with a Court Poet, you can easily get over 30 CHA, that does a lot with Mark of Justice, and you can just stack Smites too. With Guarded Hearth, every attack bonus buff in the book, plus some extra cheese on top (like an extended duration Fortune) and debuffs on PD, and it's not impossible to actually hit Playful Darkness with some regularity. The problem is withstanding its attacks, and generally, even with a Last Stand tank, it's just much easier if you can use Creeping Doom, the summoned swarms can tank Playful Darkness for the entire duration of the spell with no real issues as they are immune to PD's attacks. The trick is to stack Pillars of Life so that the swarms don't accidentially go after the Shadows because they all die the moment they come into contact with the pillars. Oh, and use turn based mode for the fight, otherwise you'll probably not be able to control PD enough. From there you just pelt it dead. It's also not immune to mind affecting spells, or at least it wasn't before 1.2, so in theory Gromnir's Thug approach could work too, but I don't really know if the roll works out all right on Unfair. I just blocked it with Creeping Swarm and used the smite mercenary's long spear from behind the swarms while Ember used her supercharged Hellfire Rays and the Oracle threw Bolts of Justice. That'll do a some 200+ damage per round, and that's enough. Still managed to kill one of the animal companions, but that's just a minor setback. That's pretty much what they're there for anyway. 94 AC isn't enough for full immunity to physical attacks outside of natural 20ies, but it's not very far away from that either. For all intents and purposes though, that fight is very much designed to be cheesed. I have no idea if they hired Westley Weimar to design it, but Kuroisan the Acid Kensai felt pretty similar. Except that was a mod made to provide the player with a threat on the level of their own party (or rather, to make the player see how it feels to be on the receiving end of some fine cheese). The other is just questionable game design. *Like casting all four Geniekind variants on your frontline with Elemental Barrage on the Brown-Fur Transmuter (that works and yields very funny results), then size buffs afterwards as it doesn't work the other way around. You can really roll some ludicrous numbers with that. By the time you reach Playful Darkness buffing 4x Geniekind + Legendary Proportions should be possible.

Playful Darkness has 94 AC against regular attacks on Unfair. Good thing it can't do anything against Creeping Doom swarms but wait and sit until Ember is done Hellfire Raying his behind while the Angel MC nukes it with Bolts of Justice. Several Pillars of Life made the Shadows go boom after the ran into the fray. I don't see a way to defeat this thing in a non-cheese way on Unfair. Well, if you have a front-line with Last Stand, you can tank it for three turns, I guess. Not necessarily enough to nuke it dead, but it's doable. Still, bringing Creeping Doom along is probably the best way. Swarms suck, huh? Good thing when they suck on your side. Ember got her Cross-Blooded Sorcerer level and spell focus Hellfire Ray, so she's pretty much one-shotting dangerous things that aren't bosses left and right now. Pretty much over the hump now. Sure, ludicrous 300 damage crits can still randomly make any given mook battle an instant reload, but those are getting sparser.

I honestly have no idea. That's just random stuff strung together without any rhyme or reason as far as I can see. I have no idea how old the author is, but I'm guessing having seen Sailor Stars in teenage years is kind of out of the question if they're about as old as one would expect an editor at a magazine to be, unless they were serious anime nerds and watched fansubs of Stars and had both the internet access necessary to get the episodes as well as the know how. It's not impossible though. Or maybe they're really young, that could explain a thing or two. Although, why would you let someone who just recently watched the series for the first time write a 30 year nostalgia piece. That seems silly. I can confirm that in part. My perception of certain things in Sailor Moon certainly changed during the recent rewatch, most notably my intense dislike for Chibi-Usa disappeared, and my appreciation for Hotaru as woobie dropped a little. My overall favorite season stayed the same with Sailor Moon S, the second place once again went to Sailor Stars (but it's close, so close, in spite of all the problems of Sailor Stars), but Sailor Moon R dropped a bit. SuperS is dead last now and something I barely remember from the first watch, so I'm going to assume it was dead last too. The biggest surprise (which really wasn't not hating Chibi-Usa ) of the rewatch was that I really enjoyed the first season, more so than parts of R, but overall they're kind of equal now. As far as the storyline episodes go, back when I was a teenager, I really liked the S storyline, and the end of Stars, in the sense that I didn't really think they were strange or out of whack with the rest of the show, nor did the inconsistencies bother me all too much. R was a mixed bag even then, the Doom Tree arc I thought was thoroughly enjoyable (never mind making sure that I actually fell in love with the show), the DEATH PHANTOM storyline was so-so - the middle parts were fine, the ending was a tad too silly. Now, as an adult, the R storyline at the end is complete pants, while I actually liked the middle parts, or some of it, at least. The redemption of the Spectre Sisters, for instance, or how effortlessly the show made me feel bad for Saphir and especially Petz. I still get the feeling that having watched this much earlier makes me less negatively disposed towards the storyline episodes, even though it's very plain to see how much of a break they represent compared to the other episodes. There's also something else to consider. For instance, the pacing issues of the Sailor Stars finale aren't as bothersome when you're on a TV station controlled watch schedule and they just air one episode a day. You watch that for 20 minutes, are glad that there's Sailor Moon on TV and that's about it. Having control over when you want to continue, you suddenly run into the issue that the finale of Stars is mired in issues that kind of make you want to not click on "next episode" - something that never even could up during the regular TV watching. It's probably even more different for a weekly schedule like Japan had. Overall, I think my impressions of the story episodes would change again on another rewatch, mostly because I now read parts of the source material and watched Crystal, and it's really hard not to appreciate how much effort the writing team of the anime had to put into making a passable anime adaptation at all, never mind one that's semi-coherent, has consistent characterization (outside of SuperS of course) and produced some of my most favorite anime moments of all time. The writers for Crystal did nothing of that, and the result was a disaster. Crystal was way worse than the manga, which is interesting overall because it was rather faithful (not in all things). That also harkens back to the manga being a monthly issue. Reading it all at once reveals an immense amount of issues that one would be more willing to forgive when you read the 20 or so pages an issue has after a month.

That's just going to be the best film ever. It has to be. It cannot be anything else.

Here comes the big one, I guess I cannot say no to meat when it so readily presents itself in my lair. No, I'm not doing a creepy impression of a freaking spider swarm in a dark wood. I also have no idea how Aragog managed to procreate, I mean look at the size of that thing, and where's the... never mind, never mind. I tried to read this as unbiased as I could, and I did not get very far into the article before failing. Alas, even as much as the second paragraph confirmed my wildest fears. The filler content in Sailor Moon is a lot of things. In some cases it's frustrating, in some cases it's boring, in some cases it tries to do something and falls flat, however, there is one thing it barely ever is, especially when compared to the non-filler story material: Forgettable - never mind that almost all (and you could make a case for really all) of the best episode of this wonderful anime are, well, filler. Technically, many of the episodes on the list are. I can agree on it being by no means perfect, but when you look at the source material, even that statement can be looked at in a very different light. It's by no means perfect, but unlike the source material, at least it's not incoherent nonsense at the best of times. Sweet mother of Jesus, at least read the source material before you post about it. There's no character development in the first two arcs of the manga, and very little in the third. It's not until Dream where the characters get much of a personality even - and by then the anime already did the job. Famously, Naoko Takeuchi hated the changes made, especially to Rei, but Rei in the manga is pretty boring. Harping on about this lost a lot of its fun though, after actually reading her commentary about the manga and the working conditions, so there's that, and I won't say much more, at least for the time being. Let's go through the list: This is one of the forgettable filler padding. It's one of the funniest episodes, has a whacky monster and Minako and Usagi at their very comedic best, and at the end of the day it toys heavily with gender roles and expectations without being obtrusive and annoying, however, to the manga's credit, that part of Haruka was there too. I can agree with placing this in the top 10, even. We're off to a good start. So we're doing Black Lady as top 10 episode. If I wasn't convinced that this Wilson Chapman character doesn't know what they're talking about, well, now I'm certain. Granted, the anime version of Black Lady at least doesn't dominate the mind of her father and make out with him in front of her mother (with the implication of much worse having happened) like the manga version did, but it's best to not think too much about this Electra complex stand-in gone too far. This one is hard for me. I absolutely love the episode because if - and only if - you can ignore the nature of Sailor Moon, the impact this potentially has is enormous. On the other hand, it also highlights the very core of the issue of the story episodes in the anime, even in the first season where they are at their most focused and consistently good: They break with the rest of the show so hard you can't fault anyone for either not caring, losing immersion or quite frankly realizing that there's no stake at all to be had, and when you just know everything will be all right in the end, then what does it matter if everyone dies? It won't stick. In a way, this is also the major contrast between the anime and the manga. The manga is almost always this dour and serious, while the anime only is when it can no longer avoid adapting the manga chapters into story episodes. In a way it's a bit like with the Marvel vs. the DC movies of the recent decade. Many films of the former realize that superheroes are inherentily silly and ridiculous, and the films reflect that, while the latter simply takes itself far too seriously most of the time. You might get some entertainment out of the DC films (the recent ones were supposedly good, but I stopped after being subjected to Batman v. Superman), but if you want to have a good time, you're much better off watching the Marvel films. Before someone tries to bash my head in, I'm not saying the MCU is as good as Sailor Moon. It is a good episode, I think, but a far cry from top 10 material. R's filler arc is certainly a treasure trove of fun, and something that only the complete filler arcs in the series managed to do. However, as a top ten episode, I don't know. It showed Usagi accepting her role as Sailor Moon, but the truth is, we already did that in the finale in the last season, kind of. The finale of the first season had her accepting being Princess Serenity, this one is about her being a defender of love and justice. It works, it's great, but... huh. No. Also, we're now 2:2 with the filler padding versus storyline episodes. Okay, so for this resident Sailor Jupiter fanboy, it's hard to disagree that this is one whammy of an episode, and the Sailor Stars filler arc is pretty great. Just about the only time Sailor Moon does a story arc that's somewhat serious so well that it doesn't feel alien to the rest of the series, all the characters are more or less behaving the way they should with perhaps the exception of Minako being a more serious leader type for a change (carrying over her manga personality more than her anime one). 3:2 filler versus manga content, by the way. Huh. Also, there's this gem in the text: Amen. If there's nothing else I could agree with in this list, it's this. This, this, and a thousand times this. SuperS is the worst. Okay, so personally I am of the opinion that if you really want any super serious storyline episode in a top ten list, then this is simply the contender for it. Not only the contender, but potentially the only serious mode episode one could potentially put near the very top. It's also the highest rated Sailor Moon episode on IMBD, although that doesn't say too much, like all user ratings (and critical ones to boot, just look at this list). Minor interesting thing first: This is also filler, because nothing of the sort happens in the manga. The entire talisman storyline is made up for the anime, in the manga verison, they just always have those. While it's a story episode, it's also padding, in a way. What sets it apart is that while it is more serious in tone, it also follows more directly from the rest of the season. Neptune and Uranus were built up the entire season, not just get dropped on you (like, oh, pretty much every evil energy entity behind the villains in like, oh, every season!). It is also the only time any thematic exploration in Sailor Moon really works and it's just heartbreaking to see Uranus and Neptune fail in their promises and their utilitarian outlook, best exemplified when Haruka asks Usagi, of all people, to continue her work. I absolutely love this episode, but I can also see why one wouldn't, although it cleverly avoids the watcher knowing that none of them will die in the end. They're side characters and sacrifices were a theme before. One that goes through character development even, like with Minako when she wonders if it is all worth it. Generall, S is by far and large the best season, and some of the best entertainment of all time, period. Let's bring the counter to 3:3, if only because of the serious nature, and it does advance the basic manga storyline too, in some minor way. Yeah, uhm, no, just no. I get it, after like 33 episodes the mythology of the series finally moves a bit, but how is this in a top 10 list. It wouldn't even make a top 10 list limited to the first season, outside of maybe having the most ridiculous DiC dub moment when Usagi finds out who Tuxedo Mask really is. Give me more filler with Naru and Nephrite over this. If you want a serious first season episode, take Nephrite's redemption out of the honorable mentions, and put it... maybe not here exactly, but in the list. Even that can be argued against. 4:4 Filler vs. Story now. Considering that there are less story episodes than filler, this is looking good for the story episode, but that's only if you agree with their placements, which I really don't. There's nothing wrong with picking this episode as a top 10, it's a perfect representation of Sailor Stars, makes fun of the neurotic forumla Sailor Moon has by making a mockery of everything, including the secret transformations, and shows how ridiculous Usagi's wings are when in a cramped situation. Honestly... there's nothing wrong with placing this at #3, outside of the top 5 being reserved for the best character moments of the show as a matter of course, so it really can't be there simply because other episodes are both funny and meaningful, instead of just funny. I liked that episode more than most other posters here, I think, but number two? Nope, no dice. 4:5 for Filler vs. Storyline in the list though. Not sure what else to say about this, other than this being an episode that in many ways not only influenced but is directly referenced in Steven Universe and Steven's little tussle with Bismuth. Much of the Sailor Stars story arc is referenced in Steven Universe, not very surprising since it was a major source of inspiration for Rebecca Sugar. And now for the absulte biggest huh moment: Huh? How is this episode any better than the one you put at #5? How? In what way? Once again, I might want to add that I was the least hard on Sailor Moon's story stuff in our watch here, and I probably liked the story culmination of S more than the other season's, but we're talking about the best episode of the show here, and nothing in the final story episode of Sailor Moon S is top 10 material, let alone a contender for the best episode of the anime. I'm not sure if The Death of Uranus and Neptune: The Talisman Appears is, even if the users of IMDB disagree. Final tally 4:6, not too bad for the author's idea of Sailor Moon. In my top 10 that would probably be more like 9:1. Naru's Tears is a fine episode, and one of the more serious ones you could easily place in a top 10 list if you wanted one of those in them. The season two episodes, well, no, not really. The Labyrinth of Water: Ami Targeted is honestly one of the best episodes of S even if you don't like Ami all that much, and therefore one of the best in the series, and I'd place it in a top 10 list, probably. Along with all the other Sailor Moon S character focus pieces except the one that explores Uranus and Neptune's past. That was a fine idea in theory that didn't work out in practice. Mirrors of Dreams: the Amazon’s Last Stage I already complained about, Farewells and Encounters: the Transitioning Stars of Destiny is nice, but there are better Sailor Stars episodes. The Shining Power of a Star: Chibi-Chibi’s Transformation is the one with Usagi and Seiya playing softball, and for that sequence alone it deserves a spot in the list, not just one in the honorable mentions. Well, so not everything the author said was wrong. Just most if it! Also, there's clearly ONE thing that's wrong with Sailor Moon, and that is it doesn't have enough... Just because I can.

Yes, exactly. Anyone who rates an episode where a pedophile horse rescues three rapists from their well deserved punishment, fulfills their every wish and takes them to watch what he does at his lake where he brings his little girl(s)... even as much as an honorable mention... I don't even... that's just vile, man. Vile. edit: In all fairness (and that is REALLY hard to do when it comes to SuperS), the episode did do a good job at showing how little agency these three SOBs had over their own "life" and sparked a modicum of understanding for their position and made their sacrifice somewhat meaningful, in the end. Then comes Pegasus and everything falls hard apart. Because, really, even without agency, these three were just terrible people all in all. Could have been a really nice episode if they just stayed dead after giving up their "life" as pseudo-humans to save Usagi.

Well, not every single thing, but more on that later...

Fun fact there, watching on Amazon Prime and turning on the subtitles, the words "Look up" uttered by the Borg Queen are actually captioned as coming from Yvette (Picard). Rich is probably right about that, and this isn't the first time subtitles spoiled who characters are before they are supposed to be revealed. edit: Fun fact 2: I started out hating Wesley Crusher in TNG, and I still hate him on rewatches, but less and less with each rewatch. This is an inverse of Wil Wheaton. The more I see of the guy, the more I just loathe him. That he apparently lives in Alex Kurtzman's rectum doesn't help that impression. Sheesh. Golden age of Star Trek? Forget brown-nosed, he's got a brown neck already. Yikes.

Of course not, you're just being you, as usual. Something we're all guilty of, of course.

Pretty much my impression as well.