Anime and Manga - < To Be Continued I \ I /

[majestic]

Tamako Market, episode 8.

Choi calls Dera a chicken after he doesn't fit into a bird house Kanna built for him, and has to go on a diet. Whenever something happens that Dera doesn't like, either Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor or Beethoven's 5th symphony starts playing.

Can't say this isn't trying its damndest to be appealing. Many of the jokes in this episode made me have an inward laugh. I could appreciate the jokes, but they didn't land for me. Par for the course, I'm beginning to wonder what the difference to K-On! is, because K-On!'s jokes were... funnier? Maybe better timed. No idea, really.

On 1/11/2022 at 12:53 AM, Bartimaeus said:

This show sounds an awful lot like how I felt when I watched Okko's Inn. It's fine, there's nothing wrong with it, I should be into it to some degree...but it ain't grabbing me for whatever reason.

Haven't watched Okko's Inn, but the experience sounds familiar. I'm not sure something like this happened before***. Sure, there's plenty of films** (or series) I didn't really enjoy but not hate, but those I can always find flaws with, but this doesn't... really have flaws, outside of being too meandering, perhaps. Only four episodes left, and there wasn't even the barest hint of trying to resolve any of the ongoing minor storylines, i.e. Dera's quest for the princess or Tamako and Mochizo's, uhm, would be romance*. The writing is decent, sometimes good and very occassionally brilliant, there's a lot of effort that went into making this and it doesn't look like dreck (okay, that's debateable, but it looks a bit similar to K-On! which I've grown to, well, maybe not like, but not to... mind, I guess).

The voice acting work is good, some of it is great. Kanna and Shiori could be better, but they fit their character, so that's not exactly a problem I can find outside of personal preferences. It just doesn't appeal to me that much.  I want it to, but it doesn't. In this episode Tamako and her friends go and buy Choi new clothes because it's autumn and getting colder. That should work for the character stuff, but it doesn't. Not really.

edit: The footnotes are out of order because I edited them in out of order and didn't want to shuffle them around, plus there's a certain timeline to follow.

*Given that the follow-up film is called Tamako Market: Love Story, I'm not expecting that to be resolved in the series though, to be honest.

**I suspect that there are films like that and I just haven't watched them. Like Pretty Woman, for instance. Never saw it, and I most likely never will. If I did, it would probably be similar, given its apparent quality but total lack of appeal for me.

***I just realized that it did. I watched The Devil Wears Prada (at the theater, no less, for reasons I don't want to disclose**** ), and the experience was similar, I guess. I didn't hate it, it was actually a pretty well made film with decent performances all around, but just not my thing.

****

Spoiler

Date that didn't go so well.

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

The End of Samurai Champloo

The gang separates. Fuu takes a walk, Jin duels a master swordsman, and Mugen goes toe to toe with a gang led by DIO. A great ending to a great show.

[Sarex]

7 hours ago, KP on top of ZA WARUDO said:

The End of Samurai Champloo

The gang separates. Fuu takes a walk, Jin duels a master swordsman, and Mugen goes toe to toe with a gang led by DIO. A great ending to a great show.

Took you a while to finish, did you take a break?

[Bartimaeus]

14 hours ago, majestic said:

Sure, there's plenty of films** (or series) I didn't really enjoy but not hate, but those I can always find flaws with, but this doesn't... really have flaws, outside of being too meandering, perhaps.

To be fair, there's lots of things I've tried where I've had specific pointed criticisms...that I could've easily ignored if the work had grabbed me in other ways and made it so I wouldn't focus too much on what I didn't like, but it didn't, so those criticisms were front and center. Often times, the reality is if something doesn't appeal to you, it doesn't appeal to you, and nothing more needs to be said or done about it, move on, .

P.S. When are you going to make a fan translation of the Miyu books for me?

14 hours ago, majestic said:

Pretty Woman

I'm not totally against the premise, but it looks like a typical Hollywood affair.

14 hours ago, majestic said:

The Devil Wears Prada

On the other hand, I might prefer to watch Pretty Woman over this. High fashion is like...I don't even know, I don't think I could be less interested. Seems like a less than ideal date movie.

13 hours ago, KP on top of ZA WARUDO said:

The End of Samurai Champloo

I really am going to get back into this soon...

Edited January 12, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

7 hours ago, Sarex said:

Took you a while to finish, did you take a break?

Yeah, it's a show that for whatever reason I couldn't watch too much at once and had a hard time watching two-parters. It's very good.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I really am going to get back into this soon...

It's really good. So far everything I've watched from the director has been great. Even Carole & Tuesday.

 

[majestic]

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

 Often times, the reality is if something doesn't appeal to you, it doesn't appeal to you, and nothing more needs to be said or done about it, move on, .

Yeah, move on. Erm... luckily Tamako Market isn't very long.

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

P.S. When are you going to make a fan translation of the Miyu books for me?

I've installed a SRS tool to learn kanji with. It features the "education" (i.e. everything Japanese students are supposed to be able to read at the end of high school) kanji, their meanings, readings and compound uses, as well as a basic vocabulary that you should know before starting. Keep in mind that these are the kanji necessary to achieve literacy, i.e. to be able to fluently read a book that does not contain obscure or outdated characters. Spoilered for formatting reasons mostly.

Spoiler

On the bright side, I'm like 1/50th through a pretty daunting task, and it's bound to get easier, rather than harder, in time, due to the modular setup of the characters. There's a kanji for fish, for instance, which is also the radical for fish, and once you know that, every kanji that contains it has something to do with fishes. So while the list contains fish like salmon or red snappers as separate kanji, they're recognizeable as some sort of fish, at least.

Fish: 魚, salmon: 鮭, trout: 鱒, red snapper 鯛.

After a while you get the hang of it and it becomes possible to guess what something means, at least in very general sense. Less so with compound words, but that's something else. Now actually reading that stuff is really hard part. この木は高いです。for instance is "this tree is tall", read: Kono ki wa takaidesu. 木曜日 on the other hand is Thursday. Mokuyoubi.

As you can see, it'll be a while yet...

9 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

On the other hand, I might prefer to watch Pretty Woman over this. High fashion is like...I don't even know, I don't think I could be less interested. Seems like a less than ideal date movie.

It was a less than ideal evening, for a lot of reasons, but hey, that's a story for another time, because otherwise this post becomes a fourty page story on how much of a failure that was. Still, the film was something she wanted to watch, and I just went along with it, but ultimately was supposed to say no to. How was I supposed to know that? I have no idea. I probably missed some very obvious clue, but being who I am, well... 

Spoiler

Fun fact: She actually had a master's degree in psychology. Makes this all the more hilarious in hindsight, huh?

 

[majestic]

Tamako Market, episode 9.

Okay, looks like it finally happened. Not only do I have nothing bad to say about this one (much like the others), this episode was fantastic from start to finish. Looks like this wasn't a complete waste of time, after all. It's a little late, but if the remaining three episodes and the movie are about as good, then I might even walk away with an overall positive impression. Huh.

Spoiler

Tamako isn't an airhead and does super nice things for her sister who is sulking around for the better part of the episode beause the boy she likes transfers to a different school, she gets Mochizo a birthday present he doesn't expect, Dera is hilarious again and Tamako's father is super embarrassed when the record store owner shows his children a video tape of the school band they both were in.

Some setup also pays off in the form of Tamako finding out that the song she's been humming every now and then was written by her father for her mother, and part of that video.

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by majestic

[InsaneCommander]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stone Ocean 8-9: Fu Faitazu and Maririn Manson

JoJo and Erumesu look for a tractor. Later they relax playing baseball with D'arby Mirashon.

 

Spoiler

Oh yes, the old tradition of completely ignoring a murderer's past and becoming best friends forever. But I can't blame them, FF was a great help not only hiding Star Platinum's disc, but also winning the bet.

Daru Pucci is in the perfect place. Nobody will suspect a priest.

 

[Bartimaeus]

13 hours ago, KP on top of ZA WARUDO said:

It's really good. So far everything I've watched from the director has been great. Even Carole & Tuesday.

Are you deliberately trying to get majestic to never watch Samurai Champloo?

5 hours ago, majestic said:

After a while you get the hang of it

Nope, I did not, you are wrong. Better luck next time, pal!

5 hours ago, majestic said:

Makes this all the more hilarious in hindsight, huh?

"Hilarious" is one word for it, .

Episode 22 of Samurai Champloo. Mushrooms, necromancers, and meteors. I don't know what to make of this episode. It was fine, but probably the weakest episode of the entire show thus far.

Episode 23 of Samurai Champloo. Bills, yankees, and baseball. I don't know what to make of this episode...except that there's a little bit of a resemblance to that one Steven Universe baseball episode. Feels like I stepped straight off into crazy-town for these two episodes - hopefully the last three will be a little more connected to our characters and the plot, as the rest of the show has done a much better job of meaningfully tying both of those into the crazy rather than the other way around like these two did.

Edited January 13, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

48 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Are you deliberately trying to get majestic to never watch Samurai Champloo?

By the time he gets to it the world will have already ended.

4 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stone Ocean 8-9: Fu Faitazu and Maririn Manson

JoJo and Erumesu look for a tractor. Later they relax playing baseball with D'arby Mirashon.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Oh yes, the old tradition of completely ignoring a murderer's past and becoming best friends forever. But I can't blame them, FF was a great help not only hiding Star Platinum's disc, but also winning the bet.

Daru Pucci is in the perfect place. Nobody will suspect a priest.

 

Well...

Even if they do suspect him, Pucci can use White Snake to modify their memory or steal their stand. It's not ZA WARUDO or KINGU KRIMSON but his stand is really powerful.

[majestic]

Didn't get much done in between, so I'm kinda not where I wanted to be at this point. I should get to more Carried by the Wind soon(tm).

Tamako Market, episode 10.

I'm going to go ahead and give this series credit where it is due, this is the only the second time I've watched a series that had a (high) school festival and had no maid café. The other one barely counts because it was Cardcaptor Sakura, and Sakura was an elementary school girl, so not even junior high. CCS really had something similar with Sakura in a pink maid costume. Yikes. It's not really the same, but close enough. Woops.

At one point they all yell out what's important to them, Tamako says mochi, and Dera yells ore. Yeah, that fits. He sure is the most important part in his life. In the final moments of the episode, Choi really convinces herself that she found the princes' foretold bride in Tamako, and tells her so. She looks at the camera unblinking for a bit, then goes huh?, cue outro.

The comedic timing in K-On! was definitely better than in Tamako Market. The episode was good, but not great. That's a little sad, but not entirely unexpected.

On 1/13/2022 at 5:20 AM, Bartimaeus said:

Are you deliberately trying to get majestic to never watch Samurai Champloo?

I'll get to it eventually, if half the thread - or really everyone except myself, that is - thinks the show is great then I'll have to check it out. If it's not my thing, I'll just stop, right?

Right?

But first I really need to wrap up Carried by the Wind, Tamako Market and the two Nanoha movies that are left.

Looking forward to the Nanoha films so I can finally go back to what we anime fans really crave.

Spoiler

 

I'll cry myself to sleep tonight knowing that it was meant as a joke, but is probably closer to reality than I'd like to admit. Sheesh.

Edited January 14, 2022 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

5 minutes ago, majestic said:

I'll cry myself to sleep tonight knowing that it was meant as a joke, but is probably closer to reality than I'd like to admit.

[Gorth]

3 episodes into Fire Force. Not bad so far (despite some worrying posts in this thread). Still 21 episodes to go of course

 

The protagonist joins the firefighters 8th company and first episode is a basic introduction to the scenario and the protagonist. His mother and little brother were killed in a fire and he was blamed for it (he didn't do it). Since he couldn't protect his loved ones, he decides to protect as many people as possible from the scourge of self immolation that has popped up all over the world, creating social unrest and deterioration of existing nations. His home "country" is The Empire of Tokyo, which is basically an extended city state with a church, a government and a corporation running it.

Second episode introduces a second character, which immediately is at odds with our protagonist. A self proclaimed "knight... king", role playing a knight. Both rookies are assigned the task of participating in the annual rookie games (an annual event where the various companies new rookies compete against each other).

Third episode is about the rookie games and the protagonist finding somebody (the captain of 1st company) he thinks he remembers from the past and he also believes knows more about his family's death. The rookie games turns out to be a trap and he is confronted by someone who definitely knows a lot and offers him a choice, to be a hero and live on in ignorance or become a devil and he'll share what he knows with our protagonist.

 

Bit of background, people have begun being born with innate pyrokinetic powers, which manifest themselves in different ways. The characters are labeled as such when they are presented, i.e. "unpowered", "second generation", "third generation" etc. The protagonist has the power to ignite his feet and produce a significant force propelling him around (including up in the air) fast. The firefighter squads are equipped with various tools and different roles, from praying nuns (they worship "Sol" in Tokyo) to chemical fire extinguishing material to fully automatic assault rifles.

Something about watching his mother die in the flames, caused the protagonist to develop a weird tic, where when he gets nervous, his face puts (unwillingly) a smug, evil looking smile, earning him the nickname "demon" (which is also sort of a pun the guy above was playing on).

 

The self immolation of people, doesn't just turn them into ashes. It turns them into fiery demons (aka "Infernals"), often being a danger to their surroundings and they are very hard to kill. Hence special forces needed to deal with them. Part of the Fire Force mandate is, besides putting them out of their misery, to try to track down the possible source(s) of the infliction. But despite having had years to do so, none is any the wiser. The captain of the 8th, reveals his suspicion that the 7 other companies, all having different patrons (i.e. 1st company backed by the church, 5th backed by the corporation etc.), are hoarding any knowledge for themselves rather than sharing it. Hence why they haven't really gotten any closer to figuring out why it happens.

 

I'll watch some more episodes before trying to give an actual character rundown of the main npcs, as I suspect, even if there is stuff to tell now, there will a lot more to tell in say 5 episodes time

 

[majestic]

 

5 hours ago, Gorth said:

3 episodes into Fire Force. Not bad so far (despite some worrying posts in this thread). Still 21 episodes to go of course

Those were mostly there not to worry you. I, on the other hand, am pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy this anime, even though the premise is silly enough to be somewhat funny or interesting.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Diamond is Unbreakable: Janken!

Ken's Boy II Man is potentially powerful but only shows up once. Kira's dad flying around in a photograph is extremely funny to me.

[majestic]

Finished the Tamako Market series, there's the movie left.

I... really have no idea what to think of the series, and the finale. For a while, I thought I'd be able to preface this differently, because for almost 30 of the 40 minutes of the series' final two episodes, it was actually quite good. Doubly so now that I've realized that the finale was actually written by... yep, the Love Live! guy. Ahem.

Spoiler

Tamako doesn't deal with the news very well and largely ignores it. She gets a medal from the arcade for collecting ten thousand loyalty points (one per purchase at any of the shops). Everyone else is understandably going nuts about the news that she might marry a prince. Choi's predictions always come true, after all. Her friends hate the idea of her leaving, especially Midori and Mochizoi. Her father is distraught enough to get drunk with his former band friend who tells him that sometimes it's necessary to let go of things that you love.

Tamako and her sister share a nice moment after Tamako is annoyed that everyone wishes her happiness and good fortune instead of asking her to stay. Even Mochizo is the nice friend who says that she should do what makes her happy.

Tamako loses her medal and is distraught about it until the prince shows up and hands it over to her, he apparently found it when Tamako accidentially dropped it somewhere. Tamako goes to school, and when she comes back finds every shop closed because everyone is badgering the prince. She walks home with her friends and Dera, and casually remarks that this reminds her an awful lot of the day her mother died, with the shops closed at noon.

Dera does his best to cheer her up again, then does the one thing only Dera can do, and asks her what she's thinking. Tamako goes on a monologue about how the shopping street is the only thing she's ever known in her life, and that all she cares about it here. Dera runs off to the prince, and tells him that he should give up on Tamako, regardless of any divinations. He does that by saying she's unfit for being a princess, because she's just too nice. It's a very Dera thing to do and shows his appreciation for Tamako in his typical and ridiculous manner.

Tamako comes chasing after him.

Up untli this point the finale was great. Then... all of it is just over. Choi admits to not having done any divination and that she suggested Tamako as bride because she likes her. The prince says that he didn't consider her after he learned from the flower shop owner that there's a flower around that smells like the bride is supposed to smell, so it's not Tamako. This goes all the way back to the first episode and the reason why Dera is staying around was because he fell asleep next to these flowers because they reminded him of home.

Choi and the prince pack up and leave. Midori and Mochizo share a bonding moment of happiness that their crush is still going to be around. Dera wants to stay, but Choi tells him off, so he just vanishes and sticks around. Choi and the prince go back.

All of that happens in like a minute, and I have no idea why. It's so incredibly sudden that it became distracting. Obviously Tamako was never going to leave with the prince. There's no need to have Choi tell that she never divined that she's the bride and have the prince figure it out on his own, then make everyone go home in such a short time, with barely any payoff.

The series ends with a new year's celebration where nobody is talking about what just happened, Dera wants to finally leave without saying goodbye, but again is exhausted from flying around, and accidentially ends up being packed into Mochizo's birthday present for Tamako.

The end. Or rather, おしまい (oshimai), as the text helpfully reads.

Tragedy, and so easy to fix. Have the flower shop owner give the prince the flowers. Put a little focus on that scene, but don't reveal anything just yet. Make Tamako burst in, then Dera argue some more that Tamako should stay, flapping around like he usually does, then make the prince ask Choi about the divination, get her to apologize for wanting Tamako to stay with them, then have everyone invite him to stay over New Year's (he can accept or decline, that doesn't really matter) and end the series.

What the hell.

I have a hard time coming up with any series ending that I thought fell this hard on its nose after being actually really, really good for three quarters of its runtime. A lot of series finales are just bad. Some are decent, some are no endings at all, some are thematic endings that provide no narrative closure. This isn't bad at all, for a long while it was great, on the verge of making it worth watching the anime for, and then it falls off a cliff.

For a moment I felt like Wile E. Coyote after he realized that gravity is a thing and that the Road Runner's gotten the better of him again. Whee, down the gulch I go.

Worst: Probably a "me" thing. I'm sure most watchers were perfectly happy with the anime as a whole, and the ending. Dunno. I think this is how Caesar must have felt when the Egyptians presented him with the head of Pompey, denying him the sweet victory of brining him home to Rome in chains.

Edited January 15, 2022 by majestic

[Gorth]

Watched more episodes of Fire Force (up to and including episode 9). It's a bit hard writing about individual episodes as it is a continuous story, overlapping multiple episodes, so just a few "highlights".

Our protagonist (whose name btw is Shinra) and other parts of 8th Company learns more about the 5th company's hoarding of information (presumably passing it on the Hajima Corporation) and decides to take action. A night assault penetrates the 5th's defenses and they gain access to the research they've been hiding. Learning amongst other things, that a number of the "Infernals" (the fiery demons resulting from the self immolated people) have been found to have insect dna in them. I.e. an important clue to the suspicion, that it isn't an entirely naturally occurring phenomenon. Enter stage left, the captain of the 5th company, Princess Hibana, who is one of those infuriatingly condescending people, who considers everyone and anything either below her or her playthings. Long story short, she eventually gets to see things differently and agrees to help the 8th in finding out who's behind it.

A bit of logic applied and someone works out, that a number of those corpses originates from the 1st company's territory. Through a rookie exchange program, Shinra and Arthur (the Knight King wannaba) gets tasked with an undercover assignment, to infiltrate 1st company (the biggest, most resourceful and most powerful company, with the church itself as its patron). No rundown, repurposed buildings or small numbers here. Shinra manages to observe from a distance, how somebody's arm suddenly reaches out from a building, and squeezes a small glass jar against the back of a civilian, before the civilian start bursting into flames. Turns out there was something rotten in the 1st company. One of the Lieutenant-Preachers has been doing a bit of work on the side for someone he calls "The Evangelist", experimenting a lot on people, preferably children, setting them alight, looking for a "compatible" individual that can host the "pilot light" (he doesn't expand on that, before eventually getting taken down). The captain of the 1st (which Shinra suspect knows more about his mother and brothers death in the fire) also introduces himself as a badass, taking on both Shinra and Arthur at the same time and wipes the floor with them in an introduction sparring bout. So much for trying to beat the truth out of him I guess...

Also introduced is Tamaki, a something annoying, yet funny character with a "lucky lecher" curse, which seems to always bring her into embarrassing situations, usually a result of weird accidents.

Iris is the resident nun at the 8th, and a major reason that Princess Hibana was convinced to have a change of heart (they grew up in a convent together as kids until they watched all the other kids burn to death).

 

Other notable characters (good guys) for now, are two ex military people, Takehisa who is the 8th second in command and Maki, who kicks everybodys ass at intervals with some impressive close combat skills and the company captain, Akitaru who is sort of an idealized commander with all the right traits.

[uuuhhii]

tried to watch fire force a few years ago

confusing and boring with a lot of unmemorable character

can not follow the story at all

reread souleater not instead

[majestic]

9 hours ago, Gorth said:

 

I originally wanted to reply to this picture with the usual confused blinking guy gif, but that's not nearly enough, so stoned Jeff Bridges will have to do instead:

Yeah, so fanservice isn't any better if its naked buff dudes playing throne for a woman. Sheesh.

[Gorth]

2 hours ago, majestic said:

I originally wanted to reply to this picture with the usual confused blinking guy gif, but that's not nearly enough, so stoned Jeff Bridges will have to do instead:

Yeah, so fanservice isn't any better if its naked buff dudes playing throne for a woman. Sheesh.

I'm fairly sure the top 2/3 of the picture is fan art, not fan service. I just thought it illustrated her attitude and world view so well

 

That being said, yeah, it probably has its fair share of fan service. Mostly Tamaki's clothes that seems to catch fire leaving her in her underwear, someone tripping and landing with his head between her boobs (complete with squeaky sound etc.)... so if that disturbs your sensibilities, you'll probably be cut off from a fair share of anime out there I guess

 

I like it so far. If it doesn't keep me interested, I can put it aside and waste just a few hours of my life (the time from I begin thinking it sucks to actually dropping it). Unlike Mieruko-chan, which I bought, this one is free on crunchyroll, so I didn't feel too bad about giving it a try.

 

Edit: Tamaki does look hot in her black underwear though (yes, bad pun), so I'm not too upset about it

 

[majestic]

38 minutes ago, Gorth said:

That being said, yeah, it probably has its fair share of fan service. Mostly Tamaki's clothes that seems to catch fire leaving her in her underwear, someone tripping and landing with his head between her boobs (complete with squeaky sound etc.)... so if that disturbs your sensibilities, you'll probably be cut off from a fair share of anime out there I guess

Oh, don't I know that.

Plenty of shows that could be better if they didn't give me the feeling that a large part of the content was made with the intention of having ridiculous otakus, weebs, or otaku weebs **** to it (since **** is probably still on the filter, substitute wring the one eyed trouser snake for the asterisks). It depends a lot on the frequence and severity too, and it doesn't mean that I'm against nudity as a matter of course - or against any and all sexual content, just as long as it's not only there to provide "entertainment"*.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - the regular show, not the new films - is a decent example that provides both. While it does have prominent shots of various character assets that very clearly also come from the creative team's enjoyment of such (or spelled out more directly, I'm pretty sure Mr. Anno likes watching animated butts and boobs as much as the rest of the anime fandom), the scenes also almost always come with a narrative function or are part of the ongoing characterization, and often a reflection of the interaction between characters, like Asuka's feeble attempts at appealing to Shinji because she craves the one thing he can't give her (validation, not what's in his pants).

There are borderline cases like Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's Aleph/Arf (there are definite non-borderline ridiculous scenes in Nanoha too, but that's something else), a character that's always running around in unbuttoned hot pants and a crop top too small for her own good, but Arf is a decent character and by far and large not defined by how much she appeals to the audience on a base level. Whenever the balance stops working, it becomes problematic for me.

Magic User's Club was a step too far, for instance, and ugh, I still have the TV version to watch. *sigh*

38 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I'm fairly sure the top 2/3 of the picture is fan art, not fan service. I just thought it illustrated her attitude and world view so well

Well that's... worse.

38 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I like it so far. If it doesn't keep me interested, I can put it aside and waste just a few hours of my life (the time from I begin thinking it sucks to actually dropping it). Unlike Mieruko-chan, which I bought, this one is free on crunchyroll, so I didn't feel too bad about giving it a try.

I'm not saying you shouldn't like it... don't misunderestimate (intentional Bushism!) me here.

*Varies a lot by the target demographic too. For live action movies and TV shows, the occasional superflous nude or sex scene doesn't bother me. It's content that appears to have specificially been made for the incel crowd that makes me feel embarrassed for liking the same medium.

Edited January 15, 2022 by majestic

[Gorth]

Now at episode 12...

 

The gathered intelligence has been shared with the powers that be and The Emperor has summoned all 8 company captains to the palace. New orders, finding The Evangelist is a priority. Their only connection, the Lieutenant-Preacher from 1st company which died, wasn't killed by any Special Fire Force soldier, but a sniper team sent by The Evangelist to cover their tracks. Episode 11 is mostly about 7th company, which is literally a gang, that got press-ganged into becoming a company. They still act like a gang, although they 8th manages to almost get on friendly terms with them (part of the story of episodes 10-12). Behind the scenes, The Evangelist is issuing orders to exterminate the Special Fire Force units as they are now seemingly getting a bit too close for comfort.  He sets a trap with some kind of illusion trick, making the captain of the 7th watch a scene where the captain and second of command of the 8th are openly discussing how to turn the entire neighbourhood into infernals. Like duh, obvious bait is obvious, right? Except he swallows it raw and wants to kill them all right away.

 

A bit of "bits and pieces" from the conversations involving The Evangelists henchmen, hints at them being fanatic Sol worshipers, who wants to turn Earth into a new Sol ("Sun") by igniting it completely. If you're an old Warhammer 40k fan, there's of course nothing outrageous or unusual in that way of thinking....

From the exciting lives of the 8th... finding tracks and traces of any references that can give clues... in thousands upon thousands of reports

[InsaneCommander]

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Stone Ocean 10-12

 

Jolyne races against time. Pucci worries about his 800 dollar pants.

 

Spoiler

Weather Forecast is really powerful. Pucci almost didn’t make it.

Not sure it makes sense for the air to leave that room without gravity. What about air pressure from outside? And if Weather Forecast can hold the clouds in place to form spacesuits, why not keep the air in the room?

 

On 1/13/2022 at 2:11 AM, KP on top of ZA WARUDO said:

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Even if they do suspect him, Pucci can use White Snake to modify their memory or steal their stand. It's not ZA WARUDO or KINGU KRIMSON but his stand is really powerful.

 

It is.

Spoiler

It reminds me of Dollhouse and how they programmed people to do whatever they wanted. Have a bunch of loyalists nearby, with powerful stands, and nobody can defeat you.

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by InsaneCommander

[majestic]

たまこラブストーリー (Tamako love story)

Well, that's going to be more difficult than I thought it would be. On the one hand, it does a whole lot of things I hoped the actual series would do, and then it does a whole lot of things the series didn't do, and all of them were just distracting. There are moments in this that are so tone deaf that I wonder how and what the hell everyone involved was taking during the production of the film. It's baffling, and I know I've said that plenty of times before, but it's never been truer than here.

There's a contrast between certain scenes that simply tears at the fabric of reality, or if it doesn't, then at least it breaks my mind.

For a very, very large part this film is nothing short of amazing, and I mean that. It's also one of these films where not having watched the preceeding anime would hurt enjoyment, so I can't recommend watching this as a standalone feature, and I can't recommend watching the series for the reasons I've already posted about. Plus there are the parts of the film that really drag it down, but I'm almost - almost, that is - willing to forgive them being in there.

Almost being the operative word.

What it does is taking the confines of the show, the all permeating static nature of both Tamako and the shopping street she lives in, and introduces the most destabilizing element to Tamako's life that is possible. Mochizo tells Tamako that he will go to film school in Tokyo, and admits his feelings for her. Tamako does as Tamako has to, neither does she take it well, nor does she answer anything that makes sense. She very politely excuses herself, and runs way. What is the basic premise of every ridiculous teenage romantic comedy (or drama) ever begins a profound exploration of Tamako's existence and immobile nature.

Spoilers from here, not that anyone cares, I think. Yeah, technically that comment above is also a spoiler, but in reality it's given away by the title anyway.

Spoiler

Back when we were little...

Tamako talks about comparing herself to mochi, making people happy. She asks Mochizo if she can be a person like that, perhaps.

She thinks she can't.

...remember, back when we were kids, we would fit in this frame, and now it's different? Honestly, sometimes the shots in this film are nothing but impeccable.

The filmmakers interestingly enough put this scene right at the beginning of the film, at around a quarter to a third of the runtime. Much of the remainder of the film is Tamako dealing with change - the fact that school life will end soon, the fact that everyone has thought about their future while she has not, the fact that Mochizoi loves her while she does... what exactly? She runs around mixing the words mochi and Mochizo all the time, is constantly distracted, fails to pay attention in class and can't concentrate on practice for a marching competition her baton club wants to participate in.

She ends up talking to Midori about what happened, the one other person who has a crush on Tamako too. Midori, of course, just listens. Shiori talks about her future with Tamako for a bit, then says she's scared, but there's a first time for everything - making Shiori show some real growth compared to the meek beginnings of her as the shy girl of the week that ran away because Tamako looked at her.

Ne, Midori-chan, can I talk to you about something that's going to hurt you?

Therein lies the brilliant nature of this. Everyone around her is making Tamako understand things she never really considered until now, in their own way. Tamako, throughout the film, repeatedly walks through the shopping street, like usual, but starts noticing different things every time.

Then there's the framing of certain shots, and the dialogue that is for the most part really, really good, even translated in subtitles. When Mochizo walks into the coffee shop to get a coffee and ask the owner if Tamako has been around - which is her wont whenever she needs to think about something, the coffee shop owner pulls out his most amazing piece of wisdom yet. Mochizo is about to put a spoonful of sugar into his coffee, then stops and wonders to himself if his confessing to Tamako was  perhaps too sudden.

The ancient, all knowing and mind reading wise guy puts on a record, as he always does when giving out advice, and says: "Youth is fleeting. Young people can't even wait for a spoonful of sugar to dissolve, and bitter regret is the proof of that. Bit by bit, you get a taste for it." At this point, who cares if knowing everything is not very realistic? Mochizo ends up drinking his coffee black.

Fate conspires a little when Tamako's grandfather chokes on a bit of mochi and is admitted to the hospital, with Mochizo accompanying Tamako, and both her father and Mochizo's parents then making sure that the two of them will have to go home by bus. To work things out. It's maybe not the best plot device, but it's fine. I've seen worse. Mochizo offers to go back to how everything was. Offered to go back to being static, Tamako isn't happy with that either.

When Tamako fails to catch the baton during practice again, Kanna goes on a rant about magnets. Kanna is who she is. When Shiori walks by, Kanna starts talking to her too, just without any of the context. Shiori just plays along with it. I'm still not entirely sure what to make of Kanna as a character. Tamako is supremely uncomfortable listening to Kanna talking about attraction and rejection (editor's note: technically, repulsion, but context matters ), then the girls all have a talk and everyone agrees that she most certainly loves Mochizo back. Something inside Midori breaks apart.

Which one of you knows how she feels right now?

Tamako talks to her sister about change, and the tape her father made for her mother runs out, and the boom box auto-reverse plays the b-side, where her mother recorded a song for her father, and she apologizes for running away. Tamako, who stopped working at the shop for a bit to figure things out, tells Anko that she'll be back at work tomorrow. The marching competition comes up, and Tamako nails her catch for the first time ever.

Tamako doesn't continue a call chain because Mochizo would be the next one to call, then ends up at school, waiting alone. Midori shows up and lies to her that Mochizo wants to transfer away immediately because it's better to finish high school in Tokyo, while in reality he's just going to Tokyo for his entrance exam. Tamako believes all of it and runs after Mochizo. Kanna shows up and wants to build a new cabinet, because of course she does, talks to Midori a bit and wants to go someplace high to work through her fear of heights.

Midori helps Kanna climb a tree, and the film ends with Tamako telling Mochizo how she feels, at the railway station, with the string phone they've always used to talk to each other from one window to the other.

Weirdos at the station (駅).

So why the complaining, you ask, assuming you made it this far? Well, look for yourself, because this is very unhelpfully also a part of the film for no reason I can..., no wait, for no reason I want to think about:

Spoiler

 

 

Target acquired.

So nice and shapely, really!

Kanna is totally into it while Tamako runs after Midori and wants another grab of her firm, mochi-like behind.

Yes, Tamako runs into this woman and actually says BOING. BOING.

Boing inspired her... really inspired her. Really!

This is shortly before Mochizo confesses to Tamako. I have no idea why he did this after this scene. Not really, anyway.

In which universe does a 17 year old girl say that to a boy?

 

Edited January 16, 2022 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Other people forgive and forget stupid, ill-fitting moments in their entertainment all the time...that is, when they even notice them to start with - I'm sure many viewers of this movie didn't notice anything out of place with those kinds of scenes. However, majestic, we do not seem to be like other people - consistency and integrity in characters, framing, tone, and style are usually a requirement and not a suggestion for us. The only leeway I usually ever give anything is for something that's already had a good run and only makes minor unforced errors and/or indulgences. Even then, some of the questionable decisions some of my favorite shows made, such as in Steven Universe, still bother me when I think about them, .