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I finished Fire Force season 1. Rather than trying to give a run down on an episode by episode basis, I'll try to outline the story arc for the main story and key characters from where I left off...

 

Main story, the 8th having not had a science team nor engineering since it's foundation, gets assigned a dyed in the wool geek "Victor Licht" by Hajima Corporation, the kind that would stand in the middle of an explosion to record the effects up close and personal, where no scientist had gone before. Not very clever, no situational awareness, but a gifted scientist indeed. The engineer, "Vulcan", got his own story arc spanning multiple episodes. Vulcan has sort of adopted his own little family by picking up a few stray people. A little boy "Yu" and the girl "Lisa". Turns out Lisa was a traitor all along, working for the Evangelist. Vulcans dad and grand dad were all "tinkerers" creating a number of inventions. Both were murdered by his granddads other apprentice, which is revealed to be Dr. Giovanni, captain of the 3rd company. Turns out the good captain and a significant part of 3rd were all traitors. Dr. Givanni and several of the Evangelists henchmen shows up, surrounding Vulcans shed, wanted something called "The Key". Vulcan has no idea what they're talking about, but it turns out his dad and granddad were the ones creating the perpetual power plant that is the whole foundation of the New Tokyo Empire, the energy source being an eternally burning flame. It's not specified what the key can do to the power plant. The henchmen are all named after their "ability", so the sniper is "Archer", the burly guy who can conjure a giant, flaming mace is "mace" (groan) and the guy who can summon endless illusions to attack them is "mirage". Eventually they all get sent packing and Lisa ends up a sobbing wreck, not knowing where her loyalties lies anymore.  In the end, Vulcan joins the 8th, breaking his oath to his dad and grandad, about never working together with anyone affiliated with Hajima Corporation again.

 

Victor works out where they attacker may have come from and all of them head to "The Nether". I.e. the netherworld. Another name for the subway system that existed in Tokyo before the apocalypse centuries ago (before the world got almost entirely consumed by a giant conflagration, resulting in the post apocalyptic world of "now"). Lots of fighting later, the 8th knows a bit more about their enemies. Through the whole series, they have been referring to "Adolla Bursts" and "Adolla Links" when discussing their special abilities and Shinra's in particular. "Adolla" turns out to be a different dimension and the spontaneous human combustion and the second and third generation pyrokinetics abilities are in reality dimensional holes, letting in fire from this other dimension. Which btw turns out to be the biblical hell (literally), complete with a bright, white sky and a ground covered in blackened skeletal beings and sooty fires everywhere.

 

It took 10 episodes since the last time it happened, before poor Tamaki (aka Nekomata or Cat Girl) lost her clothes again 😂

She is also on suspension. Seemingly permanent, because something interferes every time the opportunity is there for her to get her suspension lifted. Doesn't prevent her from being in all the fights though.

 

Princess Hibana is really warming up the Shinra, the pupils of her eyes turning into little hearts whenever she looks at him. He however seems to have the hots for the sister (Iris, the nun), featuring in some steamy dreams of his.

 

Shinra eventually finds and confronts his little brother, which he knew didn't die in the fire 12 years ago. Turns out Sho (the brother) is an almost omnipotent being, which can manipulated time and space and phase in and out at will between reality and the dimension that is hell. After an long and hard fight, Shinra almost manages to knock some sense (and memory) back into Sho, but they get interrupted by The Evangelists henchmen, "Fog", "Mirage" and "Mace" (iirc) and a few more, very powerful and rather disturbing individuals, which I doubt are all humans. More like gibbering, half- to fully mad demons in human lookalike form. Part of the exposition is the goals of The Evangelist. The cataclysm was just a misfire. The true conflagration that shall consume Earth completely is the goal.

 

Captain Burns (of the 1st company) finally comes clean with what happened the knight Shinra's mother died and his brother was abducted. The Evangelists henchmen were active even then and the demonic infernal Shinra remember seeing taking his brother away was his mother turning into an infernal. I.e. both are still alive and in the service of The Evangelist.

 

The captain of the 6th is introduced as an extraordinary healer when it comes to healing "gifted" people. One of the sisters of the 6th is the grand daughter of the captain of the 3rd. Shinra asks the sister if she could arrange for him to talk to the captain (story ends before anything happens there though)

 

Yes, I left out like 90% of what happened. Just the gist of it. It's part drama, lots of tragedy and also a lot of completely unapologetic humour, where the art style turns into comic book style, simplified drawings to emphasize the comedic parts.

 

Victor the science guy

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Vulcan, engineer extraordinaire... he also dreams of restoring animal life back to Earth some day

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Lisa... the one he couldn't "repair" (yet, season 2 is next)

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"Fog" living up to his name... obscuring the battlefield and helping to separate the members of the 8th

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That "other" dimension, which Sho, Shinra and others are somehow linked to

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Sho and Shinra facing off

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The weather forecast for Tokyo... a hot day

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The Evangelist with baby Sho on his/her lap and Shinras (now Demon) mother

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Princess Hinabe. Not sure what the idea is, but a lot of characters besides her have "weird" eyes with symbols in the them

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Shinra and Arthur constant bickering, trying to outdo each other in words and deeds. Like siblings on steroids...

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“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
 

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6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

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.

One thing that makes me sad about this is how it gives lie to the statment I made immediately before, that fanservice is fine as long as it serves a narrative function. A couple of hours later I get some of that in a setting that is not the place for it, nor thematically fine for it to be there, and all of a sudden I have to rethink things again.

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

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.

That's also a thing, it's not exactly out of character for Tamako, but let me explain. Aside, yes, I do agree, it's the tone, framing and style of these scenes that's the issue, and the contrast they raise with the rest of the film. I'm pretty sure that there are people who enjoyed SuperS, for instance, based on the silliness that happens in the episodes, where I was sitting in front of the episodes being angry at Usagi for stalking Rei, rather than laughing at the antics, because it's doing a dissservice to the characters.

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

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, :p.

Yeah, you mean like dedicating an entire season to a pedophile alicorn approaching a nine-year-old girl? Yeah. Honestly, between the more serious story episodes (although many of them are not bad, just not interesting) and the entire fourth season, it's a testament of the strength of the rest of the show that it's still so highly rated, right? Heh.

So, regardless, let's go back to Tamako love story and examine what I meant by the first paragraph. Time to quote myself:

8 hours ago, majestic said:

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:

Emphasis mine, obviously. This isn't true. These scenes have a reason for being in the film beyond pandering to the questionable part of the anime fandom. They also have a narrative function, they're just framed and focused so completely out of touch with the rest of the series and the film that the only thing I could think off was to facepalm and take screenshots even though I originally set out to not make a three hour watch-and-post of the film.

I was happy with how it was going until then, these scenes are somewhat back to back in the early parts of the film. I need to stress this somehow for this to make sense. The film was great, overall, and the film was really, really, really so much better than the series, or at least consistently on the level of the final episodes sans the abrupt ending that ruined the series experience. This is doubly impressive because at a surface level this is just a silly romantic comedy film - the kind that I really don't like.

Instead it didn't do anything of the sort, or at least differently enough for it to be worthwhile.

Both of these scenes do have a purpose, they're just handled so badly that it becomes a major detriment to the enjoyment of the movie. Let's take the first one, where Tamako unhelpfully simply starts touching Midori's behind. She does that because she thinks it looks like mochi. She says as much, Tamako is always looking for new ways to shape mochi, and make new mochi, much to the chagrin of her father who is really conservative and just wants mochi to be mochi. Yes, we're essentially talking about small, ball-shaped rice cakes, but mochi is really important for Tamako.

The scene is meant to establish Tamako's mindset and innocent nature. She doesn't think anything of touching Midori like that, and while it really bothers Midori (for obvious reasons) and Kanna starts to call her perverted from then on, Tamako just has butt-shaped mochi in mind, or at least compares butts to mochi. There's nothing wrong with that in her mind. It would be fine, in some ways, if Tamako wasn't seventeen already. If she were nine (or some such) like her sister that would be completely fine.

The scene in the bath happens after she forgets to take out her contact lenses. They fog up and she doesn't see well, and runs into the big breasted woman. So far that's fine. There's just no need to focus shot like that and make Tamako say boing, which is the single most ridiculous thing the series did, and is contrasted with the rest of the series and the film one of the most offensive things that I've come across, and that includes the nude scene in the fifth episode of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. This wouldn't even be worth a thought in any other anime. Well, except for Cardcaptor Sakura perhaps.

Tamako ends up talking to Anko (her sister) about making boob shaped mochi. Anko sure feels the shame that Tamako doesn't here, but that's not the issue. We're again shown that Tamako, while 17, still has the mindset of a child. There's no real need for two scenes like that, or to bother Midori with it.

When I wrote in which universe a girl would tell a boy that she saw a woman with big breasts, then that's not really ours, I guess, but that's the point of the entire setup. Tamako thinks of Mochizo as her best friend, and there's nothing wrong with her telling him, to be honest. Just not like that. In the last scene there it's the writing, not the framing or that it exists. All of these scenes could be fixed easily by taking out the fanservicy element. Tamako could just poke Midori and say something about mochi shapes. She could run into the woman without saying boing, then wonder about how mochi looks a bit like breasts, and even tell Mochizo about it later. She could say that she accidentially ran into some woman with big breasts at the bath. But actually saying "I saw some huge boobs at the bath!" is... no, just no. Sorry writer(s), this is on you and you alone.

That would do the same, serve the same function, establish everything necessary and not be offensive at the same time. It didn't. I don't even understand why it is there, which part of the fanbase of Tamako Market could this possible be meant to pander to? No one? Tone deaf, tone deaf, tone deaf. Framed badly. Not nonsense in general, just inserted in the worst possible way. Why? To get a big boob fanboy or two into the theater? They're not going to go and watch Tamako love story, are they?

Fun fact: The forum just ate the post. Boy am I glad I saved it. :p

Edited by majestic
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6 minutes ago, majestic said:

This wouldn't even be worth a thought in any other anime. Well, except for Cardcaptor Sakura perhaps.

firefox_b3dEQSM9El.png

20 minutes ago, majestic said:

it's a testament of the strength of the rest of the show that it's still so highly rated, right?

Outside of SuperS, Sailor Moon is pretty consistent in all of its key strengths...and weaknesses. If you're the type of person that loves its strengths while its weaknesses are conversely the least important part of the show to you and thus forgivable, then it would make sense you love it...and that would be me, :p.

25 minutes ago, majestic said:

Sorry writer(s), this is on you and you alone.

Ah, it's a classic case of an "instantly take you out of the show and make you become skeptical and annoyed with everything the show does even slightly wrong because you've become hyper-critical of its failings and weaknesses as the result of the show having gleefully and unabashedly shattered its own illusion of meaningfulness and integrity forevermore" moment. Well, at least that's what it would be for me - though such moments usually happen early on in cartoons/animes, so at least there's that. Tamako Market seems to be an exception...inexplicable as it may be, ;).

32 minutes ago, majestic said:

Fun fact: The forum just ate the post. Boy am I glad I saved it.

No kidding - I've noticed myself randomly and reflxively CTRL+A-ing long messages in other places as a result of this phenomenon.

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Quote

How I have existed fills me with horror. For I have failed in everything - spelling, arithmetic, riding, tennis, golf; dancing, singing, acting; wife, mistress, whore, friend. Even cooking. And I do not excuse myself with the usual escape of 'not trying'. I tried with all my heart.

In my dreams, I am not crippled. In my dreams, I dance.

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Diamond is Unbreakable: Aliens, Dice, hungry feet, and a plant who was once a cat. 1999 was very weird.

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"Akiva Goldsman and Alex Kurtzman run the 21st century version of MK ULTRA." - majestic

"you're a damned filthy lying robot and you deserve to die and burn in hell." - Bartimaeus

"Without individual thinking you can't notice the plot holes." - InsaneCommander

"Just feed off the suffering of gamers." - Malcador

"You are calling my taste crap." -Hurlshort

"thankfully it seems like the creators like Hungary less this time around." - Sarex

"Don't forget the wakame, dumbass" -Keyrock

"Are you trolling or just being inadvertently nonsensical?' -Pidesco

"we have already been forced to admit you are at least human" - uuuhhii

"I refuse to buy from non-woke businesses" - HoonDing

"feral camels are now considered a pest" - Gorth

"Melkathi is known to be an overly critical grumpy person" - Melkathi

"Oddly enough Sanderson was a lot more direct despite being a Mormon" - Zoraptor

"I found it greatly disturbing to scroll through my cartoon's halfing selection of genitalias." - Wormerine

"Am I phrasing in the most negative light for them? Yes, but it's not untrue." - ShadySands

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There are some short specials for Tamako Market where the characters are all drawn like stickers and when something weird happens they peel off the screen. It was cute and funny, for the most part. Except for a silly scene where the girls finally end up in maid costumes because... because maid costumes. They were missing from the show, right?

JATUAEa.png

M1CDMeT.png

EMRdOK3.png

One more final insult for the road, good sir?

Well, that's done and dusted.

I really need to get this aversion under control, and as such, I have opted for exposure therapy, and will now be watching this:

My Dress-Up Darling

I'll let you know how that goes. :yes:

Spoiler

Yes, I now have lost it completely.

 

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No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering.

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5 minutes ago, majestic said:

There are some short specials for Tamako Market where the characters are all drawn like stickers and when something weird happens they peel off the screen. It was cute and funny, for the most part. Except for a silly scene where the girls finally end up in maid costumes because... because maid costumes. They were missing from the show, right?

JATUAEa.png

M1CDMeT.png

EMRdOK3.png

One more final insult for the road, good sir?

Well, that's done and dusted.

I really need to get this aversion under control, and as such, I have opted for exposure therapy, and will now be watching this:

My Dress-Up Darling

I'll let you know how that goes. :yes:

  Reveal hidden contents

Yes, I now have lost it completely.

 

Save yourself!

b19.jpg

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"Akiva Goldsman and Alex Kurtzman run the 21st century version of MK ULTRA." - majestic

"you're a damned filthy lying robot and you deserve to die and burn in hell." - Bartimaeus

"Without individual thinking you can't notice the plot holes." - InsaneCommander

"Just feed off the suffering of gamers." - Malcador

"You are calling my taste crap." -Hurlshort

"thankfully it seems like the creators like Hungary less this time around." - Sarex

"Don't forget the wakame, dumbass" -Keyrock

"Are you trolling or just being inadvertently nonsensical?' -Pidesco

"we have already been forced to admit you are at least human" - uuuhhii

"I refuse to buy from non-woke businesses" - HoonDing

"feral camels are now considered a pest" - Gorth

"Melkathi is known to be an overly critical grumpy person" - Melkathi

"Oddly enough Sanderson was a lot more direct despite being a Mormon" - Zoraptor

"I found it greatly disturbing to scroll through my cartoon's halfing selection of genitalias." - Wormerine

"Am I phrasing in the most negative light for them? Yes, but it's not untrue." - ShadySands

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1 hour ago, majestic said:

For those who have not seen the film, warning, graphic. :p

 

3pka5wcbiez21.jpg

Yes they speak Latin in JoJo. Why? Who knows?

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"Akiva Goldsman and Alex Kurtzman run the 21st century version of MK ULTRA." - majestic

"you're a damned filthy lying robot and you deserve to die and burn in hell." - Bartimaeus

"Without individual thinking you can't notice the plot holes." - InsaneCommander

"Just feed off the suffering of gamers." - Malcador

"You are calling my taste crap." -Hurlshort

"thankfully it seems like the creators like Hungary less this time around." - Sarex

"Don't forget the wakame, dumbass" -Keyrock

"Are you trolling or just being inadvertently nonsensical?' -Pidesco

"we have already been forced to admit you are at least human" - uuuhhii

"I refuse to buy from non-woke businesses" - HoonDing

"feral camels are now considered a pest" - Gorth

"Melkathi is known to be an overly critical grumpy person" - Melkathi

"Oddly enough Sanderson was a lot more direct despite being a Mormon" - Zoraptor

"I found it greatly disturbing to scroll through my cartoon's halfing selection of genitalias." - Wormerine

"Am I phrasing in the most negative light for them? Yes, but it's not untrue." - ShadySands

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Diamond is Unbreakable: July 15th 1999. Super Fly, Cheap Trick, and Enigma try to harass the gang, but come up short. Kira takes a shower and his dad walks in.

4 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

key.jpg

0d2.png

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"Akiva Goldsman and Alex Kurtzman run the 21st century version of MK ULTRA." - majestic

"you're a damned filthy lying robot and you deserve to die and burn in hell." - Bartimaeus

"Without individual thinking you can't notice the plot holes." - InsaneCommander

"Just feed off the suffering of gamers." - Malcador

"You are calling my taste crap." -Hurlshort

"thankfully it seems like the creators like Hungary less this time around." - Sarex

"Don't forget the wakame, dumbass" -Keyrock

"Are you trolling or just being inadvertently nonsensical?' -Pidesco

"we have already been forced to admit you are at least human" - uuuhhii

"I refuse to buy from non-woke businesses" - HoonDing

"feral camels are now considered a pest" - Gorth

"Melkathi is known to be an overly critical grumpy person" - Melkathi

"Oddly enough Sanderson was a lot more direct despite being a Mormon" - Zoraptor

"I found it greatly disturbing to scroll through my cartoon's halfing selection of genitalias." - Wormerine

"Am I phrasing in the most negative light for them? Yes, but it's not untrue." - ShadySands

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Supēsu Kobura aka Space Cobra aka Space Adventure Cobra 

Episode IX: "Shutsugen!! Kaizoku Sunō Gorira"  aka "Behold!! The Snow Gorilla Pirates!"

Cobra gets a lead on the last Royal sister, but she's a member of an elusive band of all women pirates.

Sandra_SGP.jpg.28890a6512f5232da0cfd8738ce919eb.jpg

Sandra and the Snow Gorilla Pirates

Spoiler

Things get hairy at the Gorilla base (ha-ha) when Cobra finally realizes his guide (who literally introduces herself by her last name and Cobra misses it.  Probably too busy being lecherous...) is Dominique Royal, the woman he's looking for.  All goes well until Pirate Royal is revealed to be Sgt. Royal of the Galactic Patrol.  The Pirate leader then sics... Piragators on the suspected Galactic Patrol agents, killing the two recruits recruited with Dominique.  The Piragators - robots with gator like Jaws that eat people in packs in seconds are one of the more bizarre sights on offer.  Cobra and Dominique escape after Cobra reveals his identity to save them, the Piragators being no match for the Psychogun.

Definitely feels like we're headed towards a conclusion for this story arc, as we're at the point the only thing left to reveal is the location and the treasure itself.

 

Couldn't find a pic of the Piragators, but this is what they looked like in the comic...

Spoiler

piragator_comic.png.001d20d25a5039b7415450c39fb0e9d2.png

 

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I cannot - yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do "must" and "cannot" meet? Yet I must - but I cannot! ~ Ro-Man

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@Amentep Why is it when I try to look up pictures of the Psychogun, all I get are goofy-looking space-age screwdrivers?

31+D+FLGPeL._AC_SX425_.jpg

Quote

How I have existed fills me with horror. For I have failed in everything - spelling, arithmetic, riding, tennis, golf; dancing, singing, acting; wife, mistress, whore, friend. Even cooking. And I do not excuse myself with the usual escape of 'not trying'. I tried with all my heart.

In my dreams, I am not crippled. In my dreams, I dance.

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55 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

@Amentep Why is it when I try to look up pictures of the Psychogun, all I get are goofy-looking space-age screwdrivers?

31+D+FLGPeL._AC_SX425_.jpg

Imagine it attached to someone's arm and that it shoots super-laser-beams and that seems about right.

Spoiler

cobrapsychogun.thumb.jpg.42f0b291af87c9aed07086bd04423db2.jpg

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I cannot - yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do "must" and "cannot" meet? Yet I must - but I cannot! ~ Ro-Man

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Diamond is Unbreakable: Bites the Dust and the end of 1999. Wow, what a ride. Kira is one of the most creepy anime villains without being an edgelord, off the top of my head he's only topped by Pedosus.

Attack on Titan: The final half of the final season. There's a lot of screaming and warfare.

  • Like 1

"Akiva Goldsman and Alex Kurtzman run the 21st century version of MK ULTRA." - majestic

"you're a damned filthy lying robot and you deserve to die and burn in hell." - Bartimaeus

"Without individual thinking you can't notice the plot holes." - InsaneCommander

"Just feed off the suffering of gamers." - Malcador

"You are calling my taste crap." -Hurlshort

"thankfully it seems like the creators like Hungary less this time around." - Sarex

"Don't forget the wakame, dumbass" -Keyrock

"Are you trolling or just being inadvertently nonsensical?' -Pidesco

"we have already been forced to admit you are at least human" - uuuhhii

"I refuse to buy from non-woke businesses" - HoonDing

"feral camels are now considered a pest" - Gorth

"Melkathi is known to be an overly critical grumpy person" - Melkathi

"Oddly enough Sanderson was a lot more direct despite being a Mormon" - Zoraptor

"I found it greatly disturbing to scroll through my cartoon's halfing selection of genitalias." - Wormerine

"Am I phrasing in the most negative light for them? Yes, but it's not untrue." - ShadySands

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44 minutes ago, KP on top of ZA WARUDO said:

Diamond is Unbreakable: Bites the Dust and the end of 1999. Wow, what a ride. Kira is one of the most creepy anime villains without being an edgelord, off the top of my head he's only topped by Pedosus.

But, but... Pedosus was a cute romantic interest for Chibi-Usa, not a villain, how can you say such things?

No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering.

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Magic User's Club, TV edition. Episode one.

There are moments in life when you instantly regret something you've done. Like casually telling your wife that her sister is really attractive, or sitting down naked in a field of nettles, or you could perhaps attempt to use a needle and some ink to tattoo yourself instead of leaving it a professional.

Then there are things like... the opening of this series, where you suddenly start to think that the sweet caress of nettles on your nether regions or swift kick therein by your wife is preferable to seeing Takeo and Ayanojō - in case you have forgotten my previous posts or repressed them, the former is the Magic User's Club president, and the latter is his really obviously gay friend who is voiced by DIO and had a nice talk about having a crush on someone who doesn't reciprocate it with Sae's friend Nanaka, which was one of the few highlights of the OVA - sitting on top of each other in a darkened room, softly moaning, leaving you only to wonder what sort of stupid joke they came up with to explain what's painfully obviously not the hot gay seks it appears to be.

MV5BY2ViMTc2ZmYtMWQzMy00YjU3LWEyMDktNTFm

From left to right: Sae, Nanaka, Takeo, DIO Ayanojō and Akane.
I
n case you can't figure out who DIO and who Akane is because they're on top of each other,
keep in mind that DIO is the really, really gay one. Yep.

If your answer was that Ayanojō is sewing a hole in Takeo's pants and Takeo moaning because his back hurts, then congratulations, you're as retarded as the writer of this travesty, but what would you expect from the same person that wrote Futari Ecchi, episodes of Princess Tutu and Serial Experiments Lain and an episode of Vampire Princess Miyu... wait a moment. What?

Everything else is pretty much as the OVA left it, except it looks worse because they probably made 13 episodes and not 6 out of the same budget, and that budget couldn't have been high considering the screenshots I posted from the commercial "documentary" about the making of the OVA. Akane is busy slutting around and not coming to the club meeting, Nanaka is coming along with Sae but complains about it all the time, Sae tries to be confident but isn't, Ayanojō is really, really gay (did I mention that yet?) and Takeo... well, at least he didn't have a nosebleed yet, or at least I don't think being totally red in face from imagining Sae in a ripped club uniform counts.

I'll admit that the premise of this episode, which is the club fighting a giant cherry blossom tree that is now where the alien ship of the OVA was, isn't so bad. Sae messes up the spell and animates the tree instead of turning it into petals, and big tiddies manga lady is off to negotiate on behalf of humanity because she thinks herself special after the aliens from the OVA fondled her with their tentacle probes. No, really, not only is that exactly what happend in the OVA, it's also what they went with in this episode.

The mosnter tree is slowly moving through the city, and the military is attempting to intercept it. Sae, who befriended the tree in the meantime (sort of) wants to protect it, and so they cast a spell to save the tree from a helicopter borne misslie barrage by creating a sakura whirlwind.

Actually, the episode wasn't nearly as bad as the post makes it out to be. The ecchi elements were toned down a lot, probably because keeping them at the OVA level wouldn't have worked too well with a TV release. The animation is understandably worse than in the OVA, which isn't much of a surprise. Giant breasted lady and the gay joke from the opening aside, this was as okay as you can reasonably expect an episode of this trash to be.

I'll say one nice thing about it, and I hope that won't turn into regret in the next episode, that ending and Sae making friends with the tree was pretty nice, and Ikuko Itō's character designs are - as in the OVA, and as usual - pretty good. The voice acting and direction is also fine, but that feels like such an afterthought it barely matters.

They used the old outro lullaby in the episode, instead for the ending. So boo. The opening and ending songs are okay, though.

Edited by majestic
Spelink pad tonite!
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No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering.

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5 hours ago, majestic said:

But, but... Pedosus was a cute romantic interest for Chibi-Usa, not a villain, how can you say such things?

Because the real villains in Sailor Moon are the men (and horse, for Pedosus) trapping Sailor Moons' into starting and staying in toxic relationships. Yes Tuxedo Mask is also a villain.

And also, Kira is really creepy. DIO and Kars may be eccentric undead monsters, but they never do anything as creepy as Kira. It's funny that Diamond is Unbreakable was intended to be more lighthearted only to drop a character like him in. Given how disliked Pegasus is, I figured using him as a reference would drive home how unsettling Kira is.

ea50287697aa1ae9fea07f610775e267.jpg

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"Akiva Goldsman and Alex Kurtzman run the 21st century version of MK ULTRA." - majestic

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On 1/16/2022 at 10:29 PM, majestic said:

My Dress-Up Darling

I'll let you know how that goes. :yes:

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Yes, I now have lost it completely.

 

I like the manga for what it's worth. The plot is unique enough and for now the story has not yet devolved in to a rom-com.

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"because they filled mommy with enough mythic power to become a demi-god" - KP

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JoJo GioGio Golden Wind: Giorno encounters the mob and fights a shadow. This is probably my favorite part and oh it is ****ing weird.

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"Akiva Goldsman and Alex Kurtzman run the 21st century version of MK ULTRA." - majestic

"you're a damned filthy lying robot and you deserve to die and burn in hell." - Bartimaeus

"Without individual thinking you can't notice the plot holes." - InsaneCommander

"Just feed off the suffering of gamers." - Malcador

"You are calling my taste crap." -Hurlshort

"thankfully it seems like the creators like Hungary less this time around." - Sarex

"Don't forget the wakame, dumbass" -Keyrock

"Are you trolling or just being inadvertently nonsensical?' -Pidesco

"we have already been forced to admit you are at least human" - uuuhhii

"I refuse to buy from non-woke businesses" - HoonDing

"feral camels are now considered a pest" - Gorth

"Melkathi is known to be an overly critical grumpy person" - Melkathi

"Oddly enough Sanderson was a lot more direct despite being a Mormon" - Zoraptor

"I found it greatly disturbing to scroll through my cartoon's halfing selection of genitalias." - Wormerine

"Am I phrasing in the most negative light for them? Yes, but it's not untrue." - ShadySands

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Final three episodes of Samurai Champloo: Much better than the previous two...but boy, what a bad day for everyone. Everyone's gonna have to take some time to sleep this one off... Great show, pretty good conclusion that thankfully didn't do anything too dumb, which I was kind of worried about going into it - they played it straight while sticking to the show's strengths, and that's a good thing.

Future Boy Conan verdict: Yep, it's exactly what it presents itself as, so if that strikes your fancy, you should like it. Wish I'd liked it a bit more myself, but while the show doesn't do anything in particular to annoy me, it also just didn't do that much to ever really grab or retain my interest either. The characters that I thought were most likeable were actually three off/on minor antagonists, strangely...while I had trouble with most of the main cast, particularly the titular character and the most other important character, Lana. I should re-watch Laputa, I feel like I liked that a little bit more at least than Future Boy Conan, even if it's not particularly one of my favorite Ghibli films.

21 hours ago, majestic said:

I'll say one nice thing about it, and I hope that won't turn into regret in the next episode, that ending and Sae making friends with the tree was pretty nice, and Ikuko Itō's character designs are - as in the OVA, and as usual - pretty good. The voice acting and direction is also fine, but that feels like such an afterthought it barely matters.

I've actually looked at this show multiple times specifically because every time I see the character designs, I think that it has to be at least decent. Then I see the random screenshots users have uploaded and nope right out - that's not going to happen.

Edited by Bartimaeus
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How I have existed fills me with horror. For I have failed in everything - spelling, arithmetic, riding, tennis, golf; dancing, singing, acting; wife, mistress, whore, friend. Even cooking. And I do not excuse myself with the usual escape of 'not trying'. I tried with all my heart.

In my dreams, I am not crippled. In my dreams, I dance.

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As an aside, I've got my hands on the Cowboy Bebop series, so that'll be in my future (but after Future Boy Conan, most likely, and possibly after the Galaxy Express 999 70s series).

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1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I've actually looked at this show multiple times specifically because every time I see the character designs, I think that it has to be at least decent. Then I see the random screenshots users have uploaded and nope right out - that's not going to happen.

To be "fair" to the OVA, I haven't talked much about the decent things there are. It looks good, the animation is good, like you already noted, Ms. IItō's character designs are really great in her own style, which also ends up being a detriment at times because they look so distinctly like "her" characters and reminded me a bit of Sailor Moon every now and then. There are moments in the OVA that are brilliant character stuff, but it's always in between Takeo summoning panties on his face, getting a nosebleed from seeing Sae, Nanaka and Akana in their swimwear or Sae flying a broom handle up Takeo's butt where I'm like: "Guys, I didn't find any of that funny when I was the target demographic for it, and it's not gotten funny in the meantime, how am I supposed to take the nice character moments serious now?"

Sometimes I wish it wasn't so, and I could be one of the people who laugh at Takeo being penetrated by a broom handle. Ha. Ha. That's like laughing at Ben Stiller zipping up his asterisk in There's Something About Mary. Boy did I laugh when I was subjected to that film. Imagine me being like the Box o' Laughs from Day of the Tentacle.

Ben Stiller has the distinction of having starred in, directed and contributed to a somewhat clever comedy film with Zoolander, and guess what? That one has gotten pretty mixed reviews and audience ratings. Figures. :)

Yeah, so, if you want to look at her character designs some more and not be subjected to mind numbing torture, Princess Tutu does a pretty good job of that, at the expense of being more of a fairy tale than a nice character driven slice of life anime.

Edited by majestic
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No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering.

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Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran, episode 8:

Myao breaks her neck (or else dislocates something), then runs into a faith healer promising healing if the villagers let go of their worldly possesions and join him and his clan in training. For show he "heals" two of his disciples, who clearly are in on the scheme, of their "pain" and Myao is so impressed she keeps bugging him into "healing" her of her neck issue to the point where the gathered victims villagers demand that the good healer work his magic on her.

To the dismay of all his gathered inner circle, he agrees, then casually remarks that without proper training first, it might not work immediately, then does his spiel, Myao is startled, falls over backwards and the impact fixes her neck.

Good job Myao. Good job. :p

Edited by majestic
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Myao is really beginning to remind me of Nadine the Brain. I have no idea if there's a video of hers with subtitles, but let me check... yeah, no, but a short clip, it's not like you can't hear what's going on even without missing the meaning entirely.

Unlike Myao, who is funny and all that, Nadine is real... and she has a kid. Yeah. Oh boy. Someone save the little bugger please.

 

Anyway, great episode. :p

edit:

So in case you want to know what's she's talking about, she's saying that chocolate is good for children because it contains milk, bread and sausages don't make you gain weight because they contain no sugar, unlike organic vegetables. Yep. That's... yeah.

Edited by majestic
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No mind to think. No will to break. No voice to cry suffering.

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