The last thing we watched, cartoon/animu edition

Bob_McMillan

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Okay so I finished the last episode of Beastars. Someone fucking explain that shit to me... I haven't watched such a confusing/jarring/underwhelming finale in a while.

I also watched the latest episode of Rick and Morty. This whole season has been kind of meh for me, almost every episode has been way too tongue in cheek. The show became a parody of itself parodying other things. But the latest ep bucked the trend and we had actual characters being themselves again. I've always liked Bird Person, and his dynamic with Rick was great. He's not the smartest person in the universe, but he's someone who's earned Rick's respect. I'm looking forward to the finale, looks like we really might get something significant plot-wise.
 

TheMysteriousGX

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Okay so I finished the last episode of Beastars. Someone fucking explain that shit to me... I haven't watched such a confusing/jarring/underwhelming finale in a while.
It's mostly just Teens Being Dramatic
Legoshi got superpowers/Shonen Boost from eating meat. Bear guy sees Legoshi still being friends with the living but partially eaten Louis and realizes his worldview is bullshit, largely ending the fight. Eating meat from a living animal is "devouring" and is illegal regardless of circumstances, so Legoshi gets punished. They skipped over a lot of Louis's backstory, but the 4 on his foot was a brand from when he was being raised for meat as a child. It's actually a big deal to him and it's weird that they skipped most of it in the anime. The rest of the weird vibes are either just the standard Shonen Homoerotisim that plagues the genre when 95% of your principle characters are dudes or the fact that the society in Beastars is fundamentally broken and it leads to weird outcomes
 
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I decided to pop in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust after not seeing it for a while. The movie still holds up and moves at a brisk pace without feeling too fast and knowing when to have quiet moments. Whoever says this movie moves too slow, or "nothing happens" needs their head examined. Either that, or they have the intention span of a rodent and only go for dumb and loud action movies without much fluff. Bloodlust has so much detail and atmosphere. The soundtrack it just submerses you. The fact that all of this was hand drawn without any CGI and was one of the last films to do this is a work of art itself! This movie needs to go into a museum along with Akira. The background art is just top tier, the character details, their movements, body types, and all meld so well together. What I like about this movie is that it's uncomplicated. Yes, it's straightforward, but that does not make it a bad thing. Not every movie needs to be "deep", "complex", nor have a thousand plot twists per minute.

For an action movie, it knows romance better than most romance novels, anime/manga, and 99.999% of all the garbage Hollywood puts out as "romance". Let alone tragic romance. Yes, nothing new, this movie has better romance than Twilight or Vampire Knight.
 
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Gordon_4

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I decided to pop in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust after not seeing it for a while. The movie still holds up and moves at a brisk pace without feeling too fast and knowing when to have quiet moments. Whoever says this movie moves too slow, or "nothing happens" needs their head examined. Either that, or they have the intention span of a road in or only go for dumb and loud action movies without much fluff. Bloodlust has so much detail and atmosphere. The soundtrack it just submerses you. The fact that all of this was hand drawn without any CGI and was one of the last films to do this is a work of art itself! This movie needs to go into a museum along with Akira. The background are is just top tier, the character details, their movements, body types, and all mailed so well together. What I like about this movie is that it's uncomplicated. Yes, it's straightforward, but that does not make it a bad thing. Not every movie needs to be "deep", "complex", nor have a thousand plot twist per minute.

For an action movie, it knows romance better than most romance novels, anime/manga, and 99.999% of all the garbage Hollywood puts out as"romance". Let alone tragic romance. Yes, nothing new, this movie has been a romance than Twilight or Vampire Knight.
Its also a good example of making a great movie from a very trashy and sordid book. The Light Novel it’s based on is…..very different. Especially in regards to the Marcus family team.

But I agree, the movie has a wonderful gothic atmosphere and the weird mashup of high fantasy and technology is a treat. And Left Hand is hilarious.
 
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also a good example of making a great movie from a very trashy and sordid book. The Light Novel it’s based on is…..very different. Especially in regards to the Marcus family team.
I already know about how the Marcus clan raped Leila. All of them. I don't know what the original author of the novels was thinking with that. I'm glad Kawajiri had enough standards not to do that.


But I agree, the movie has a wonderful gothic atmosphere and the weird mashup of high fantasy and technology is a treat. And Left Hand is hilarious.
Yes. Lefty is Best. Parasite. Ever.
 

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Watching We Bare Bears with my girlfriend. It's a cute show. I'm not sure how old the bears are supposed to be. It's a kiddy show but (maybe I'm projecting) they behave like young (if immature) adults. I wanna say they're somewhere around their mid-20s, canon "bear age" aside. Even if the show's meant for teens, it's kinda weird having the protagonists be this much older. Or maybe I'm out of the loop from not watching cartoons in years and nowadays the norm is people in their 30s and 40s watch them because they're nostalgic for them while 25 and under just youtube crap.
 

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Arrietty. The Borrowers, but made Studio Ghibli. This movie is beautiful like any SG film. The Blu Ray does even more wonders. I did not see this when it first released in 2012, but I am glad to be able to catch it now. I've had it in the back burner for a while. It's movie that is just that real good, but has all of these subtle little character moments. The dubbing is on point and everyone played their part. I know there is the UK dub, but I'll catch it at another time. The soundtrack is just relaxing and is one of the movies you put on to unwind, feel good. I recommend it if you got 94 minutes to spare and is something kiddies will definitely love.
 

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So because Rebuild of Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0:Thr....No, It's fucking 4.0. Why the fuck when you pick the most awkward numbering follow up to 3, Anno? Seriously? *Screams in a closet for 30 seconds* Sorry, as I was saying, the last Eva Rebuild movie is finally out after 7 billion years(God this series has suffered from development hell and schedule slip) and I decided to rewatch all of the previous movies before watching the latest one(as is tradition by now).

Also, Spoilers.

Rebuild of Evangelion 1.11: You are (not) Alone

The first movie is basically an enhanced remake of the first 6 episodes of the series for the most part, with some notably upgraded visuals in some places. Notably the best examples of this are during the 3rd of the movie, when the geometric angel shows up and shows off out that eldritch CGI, but a lot of the lead up to that point has montages of them prepping for the operation. There's also a scene I rather like near the beginning of this sequence when everyone is crowded into a dark little room trying to figure out how to fight Grey Diamond, while there's not much action, the shot framing and set up for the final act just works so well for me.

Besides that, there's not much to say. The only other thing to mention how it cuts some of the dead weight from the early episodes of the series, notably trucating that entire episode where Shinji is riding the damn train around for an entire episode down to about 5 or so minutes(thank fucking god), thus getting the set up done and moving on to the more interesting stuff. There are hints, here and there that this is going to be a different, and then the movie has a scene at the end with Kaworu on the moon looking at a bunch of giant coffins, which has got to be a giant nod to the original series because god knows it doesn't make sense any other way.

Also, SEELE, our resident Illuminati weirdos, show up from the get go(in the series Gendo initially video-chatted with the committee before SEELE showed up) and they waste no time going on about the Mystic Bullshit, something that didn't start until probably halfway through the series.
 

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Rebuild of Evangelion 2.22: You can (not) Advance

While the first movie is more or less a remake of the show, the 2nd movie is where the films start to follow a different path. The film starts out with a new character (Mari) and a new eva (Unit 5, I think) fighting a new angel in an offshore facility named for locations in Dante's Inferno(Cocytus, Limbo, Acheron), signaling shit is gonna be different here. And while it generally follows the series, a number of angels don't show up, some others are a bit different and there's at least a couple new ones.

Asuka air drops in near the beginning and while she's a little bit different here then her series incarnation, she's still an abusive jerk who flat out assaulted several people for no particular reason and is allowed to get away with it because apparently just kicking people in the face is cool in Japan or something. The New character, Mari, who showed up in the intro and subsequently blew up her Eva and the facility it was in, airdrops boob first onto Shinjis face because FANSERVICE and then wanders off to occasionally pop up doing stuff for reasons(the only real plot thing she does is steal Unit 2 for the final battle). It's unclear exactly who she works for or what her purpose is other then to be a Manic Pixie Dream girl with a nice chest in a form fitting suit and almost nobody else seems to even know who she is or encounters her. Maybe she's a spy but that was Originally Kaji's Role(maybe he's still a spy).

Speaking of Kaji, I'm a bit concerned they kept that one scene where Kaji creeps on Shinji(who is 14, BTW). Shinji points out that he's a boy and Kaji just remarks "Love has no gender". Which seems to ignore the point Kaji is 30-something and Shinji is 14(which is below Japan age of Consent laws, btw) and his "Just joking" doesn't make it any less creepy. I know this was made in 2009 but I'm pretty sure acting like a damn pedo was frowned upon even back then(unless Japan is just Okay 30 something men creeping on 14 year olds, in which case, Japan, we need to talk). Yeah, something like this was in the series but the rebuild has already shown it's happen enough to change things around and there's no reason that particular bit of creeping couldn't have gone in the rubbish bin, unless the point was to make Kaji look like a future guest on To Catch a Predator.

Moving on, this entry is a bit more interesting and better all around then 1.11, now that everything is going and they can start knocking out plot points. There's also a couple of nice slow bits, particularly a class trip a facility working to reintroduce life to the oceans(which are implied if not stated to be void of life after 2nd Impact) which is a wonderful bit of worldbuilding. There's also some interludes just showing some of people doing their thing is Tokyo 3, providing some breather moments between the more tense and frantic set pieces. It does work to make you feel despite the fact much of the world is in shambles after 2nd impact(50% of the human race died presumably within a year, Thanks Gendo), things might be ok in the end and life is going on. And then the film decides to pull the rug hard.

As with the previous film, the 3rd act is where shit gets real. An eva explosion more or less wipes out part of North America and the Americans send NERV Unit 3(on a hanging cross, because SYMBOLISM!) and because of course this has to happen, Eva 3 is somehow infested with and becomes an Angel, which is arguably one of the more disturbing angels in the show and the movie(that and the one that was basically a microorganism that could adapt itself to anything and just showed up in their test facilities because why the fuck not?). From there on it's just one big fucking cavalcade of shit going from bad to worse until Shinji jump starts the apocalypse without even realizing it in a desperate attempt to save Rei from an angel that fucking ate her. All while this cute little song plays. It's a clear nod to Komm Susser Tod in End of Evangelion, but unlike that song, it's actually an uplifting song and not a song about suicide that just sounds really nice until you actually listen to it. Which arguably makes it worse in perspective.

It's a fascinating contrast to the original series but also interesting in its own right. Especially since all those moments of hope earlier pretty much get ripped away in preparation for the sheer depressive, piano filled angst of Rebuild 3.333, which Ill do in a later post because oh boy that's gonna be fun.
 
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Rebuild of Evangelion 3.33(what's with these numbers, seriously dude?): You can (not) redo.

So this is where the film series really takes a left turn from the anime. It starts off with a space battle, with Units 2 and....whatever the fuck unit Mari has, in orbit trying to retrieve Unit 1, which apparently made it into Orbit somehow after the last movie. Inside they retrieve Shinji, who has effectively been in stasis for the last 14 years and bring him the Wunder, a massive flying battleship run by Wille, an organization who opposes NERV, who are now the bad guys. So it turns out that Shinji basically kicked off the Apocylype/3rd Impact like in EoE, but was stopped before it could fully take, so instead of everyone becoming Tang in the original film, only 99% of humanity was, with a number of important characters being spared to survive the living hell that followed.

Shinji has a bomb collar placed around his neck and told never to get in an Eva again because of what happened last time. Except, nobody really tells him much of anything. Everyone all kinda talks around him, despite his repeated pleas to explain just what the fuck is going on. Asuka shows up just to try to punch him and then leaves, but for a good 10-15 minutes everyone just gives Shinji the silent "You know what you did" treatment, leaving the poor kid to wonder just why everyone seems to hate him now. He barely realizes 14 years have passed because people are a bit older but no one tells him "Yeah, you pretty much killed 99% of humanity and made much of the world uninhabitable thanks to your stunt in Unit 01" which would have gone a long way to making sure he didn't get in an eva again, probably. Instead, everyone just says he's not allowed to pilot but not WHY.

So when Rei shows up and Jailbreaks him from Wunder, Shinji jumps at the chance is taken to NERV HQ, which is now a decaying ruin inhabited by Gendo, Rei, Fuyutsuki and Kaworu. It's also a fully automated factory dedicated to producing a metric told of evas that are also disturbingly similar to the angels they've long since defeated and act as Gendos private military, being sent out to harass Willie. It's here Shinji finally finds out what happened 14 years ago and that Rei is just one of many clones, which drives him over the edge and eventually try to undo his mistake. And because both Fate and Gendo both fucking hate this kid, he ends up nearly triggering the apocalypses again.

The middle of the film inside NERV is arguably the least liked(or most hated) part of this film, mostly because it's very slow and not much really happens. It feels like a arthouse film in it's minimalism, and knowing not much happens made it easier to appreciate it because I was aware it was gonna be long and slow and just went with it. What it does well is being extremely atmospheric. NERV is now a cold, almost lifeless place of machines and ruin in the middle of a wasteland that used to be Tokyo 3. The massive nature of the facility seen only serves to enhance this sense of isolation, lonieness and decay now that pretty much nobody lives or works there anymore. It also leads to a particularly powerful moment where Kaworu takes shinji outside to see the world of the future and he gets to soak in it's full silent desolation. Yes, it's not unlike what we saw at the end of EoE but because we're given a chance to Linger on it and Shinji finally realizes this was all his doing, despite his best intentions to save Rei at the end of the last film, it hits hard and should be given more credit for showing just why everyone in Willi fucking hates him now. It doesn't invalidate my criticism of nobody fucking attempting to explain this but it does work very well as a full gut punch to Shinji and eventually setting the stage for him to almost fuck everything up even more at the end.

One of the more interesting things I learned when looking into this was that the original plan apparently was very different when the final version, considering the trailers at the end of 2.22. Supposedly 90%ish percent of the film was rewritten during the development hell of this production and the time skip wasn't supposed to happen until near the end. The other thing that does a lot to explain just what happened here is that Anno, who had previously struggled with depression during the production of the series, had a full on relapse of depression around this time, apparently not coming into the studio for a full year at one point and becoming downright suicidal. And by god, knowing that explains a lot of the sheer bleakness of Rebuild 3.33 and the direction it went it.

I do think 3.33 is the weakest of the 4 films but don't hate it. I do admire the fact it was made at all considering Anno having a fucking mental breakdown, and the fact it went in a very different direction then I think anyone imagined it going and making it kinda work. Yes, it has way to much angsty piano sessions and it does drag a bit in the middle but does manage to get something out of that as well. Probably the worst thing, IMHO is that this is the point you better have watched everything going on before it because this film ceases to hold your hand in any way, shape or form and pretty much just assumes you've been paying very close attention. At points it throws shit at you left and right and much of it isn't explained much if at all, so even series vets will no doubt be wondering what the fuck is happening(especially during the ending).
 
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Casual Shinji

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Arrietty. The Borrowers, but made Studio Ghibli. This movie is beautiful like any SG film. The Blu Ray does even more wonders. I did not see this when it first released in 2012, but I am glad to be able to catch it now. I've had it in the back burner for a while. It's movie that is just that real good, but has all of these subtle little character moments. The dubbing is on point and everyone played their part. I know there is the UK dub, but I'll catch it at another time. The soundtrack is just relaxing and is one of the movies you put on to unwind, feel good. I recommend it if you got 94 minutes to spare and is something kiddies will definitely love.
Does it make you feel good though? I don't know, there's this undercurrent running through this movie about how the world just comes down hard on people, and all one can do is try and get out of the way. The borrowers have this constant cloud hanging over them that at any moment humans could discover them and then they're fucked. The movie does a great job of demystifying the concept of the secret tiny people society living under our noses, and how it isn't cute, whimsical, and magical. It's actually really hard, dangerous, and isolating.

I did have some issues with Arrietty constantly reaching out to Sho to tell him that it's dangerous for her to be in his presence, and I'm just yelling 'girl, just stop fucking going to this kid'. I think they could've made this work if they framed it as Arrietty just really wanting to reach out to someone her own age, which she likely hasn't seen in years, and maybe that's how it's supposed to be framed, but to me it came across as her not even really liking this kid but still going over to him to tell him how danergous it is for a borrower to be around a human.
 

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Shinji has a bomb collar placed around his neck and told never to get in an Eva again because of what happened last time. Except, nobody really tells him much of anything. Everyone all kinda talks around him, despite his repeated pleas to explain just what the fuck is going on. Asuka shows up just to try to punch him and then leaves, but for a good 10-15 minutes everyone just gives Shinji the silent "You know what you did" treatment, leaving the poor kid to wonder just why everyone seems to hate him now. He barely realizes 14 years have past because people are a bit older but no one tells him "Yeah, you pretty much killed 99% of humanity and made much of the world uninhabitable thanks to your stunt in Unit 01" which would have gone a long way to making sure he didn't get in an eva again, probably. Instead, everyone just says he's not allowed to pilot but not WHY.
Remember at the end of Rebuild 2 when Shinji does his thing and Misato is cheering him on? Saying like 'Go Shinji! Do this for yourself and nobody else. Do it because you want to.' And then in Rebuild 3 she'll all 'How fucking dare you!' Jesus Christ b*tch, you were goating him on, and now you're pissed that he did it. *sigh* God fuck the Rebuilds.
 

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Remember at the end of Rebuild 2 when Shinji does his thing and Misato is cheering him on? Saying like 'Go Shinji! Do this for yourself and nobody else. Do it because you want to.' And then in Rebuild 3 she'll all 'How fucking dare you!' Jesus Christ b*tch, you were goating him on, and now you're pissed that he did it. *sigh* God fuck the Rebuilds.
To the rebuilds credit, it very specifically highlights this in 4.0 and it no doubt explains why Misato didn't detonate the bomb collar when she had plenty of time to do so during Shinji's escape. But yeah, it does make her shitty silent treatment even worse with that in mind.
 
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Does it make you feel good though? I don't know, there's this undercurrent running through this movie about how the world just comes down hard on people, and all one can do is try and get out of the way. The borrowers have this constant cloud hanging over them that at any moment humans could discover them and then they're fucked. The movie does a great job of demystifying the concept of the secret tiny people society living under our noses, and how it isn't cute, whimsical, and magical. It's actually really hard, dangerous, and isolating.
Don't get me wrong, I am more than aware than the melancholy and bitter sweet undertones, but it's not that depressing. They live in an environment where they have to be on guard, but at the same time, not everyone and everything is out to get them. Another theme I did notice is a case of not so different and "you're not alone". While the family (rightfully) believes they are the only Borrowers left they later find out in the middle of the story that there are others still alive. At the end, it turns out the other Borrowers are only a few houses down. I find it somewhat hilarious and ironic. It does ruin the mystery and ambiguity of the fate of the other Borrowers for me a little, but I understand why it was done.

Arrietty comes to learn from Sho's actions and kindness that not all humans are bad or dangerous. She learns that he has his own struggles like anyone else. Sho's heart condition. Despite the dangers, he pushes himself to make sure no harm comes to her or family to the best of his abilities. Arrietty learns to trust. Hell, even the pet cat learn not to bother her anymore. There are plenty of moments that made me feel good. Through the characters interactions, how the family functions, to the beautiful nature (from Arrietty's and Sho's view), to the sad, but heartwarming good bye.

I did have some issues with Arrietty constantly reaching out to Sho to tell him that it's dangerous for her to be in his presence, and I'm just yelling 'girl, just stop fucking going to this kid'. I think they could've made this work if they framed it as Arrietty just really wanting to reach out to someone her own age, which she likely hasn't seen in years, and maybe that's how it's supposed to be framed, but to me it came across as her not even really liking this kid but still going over to him to tell him how danergous it is for a borrower to be around a human.
An indecisive teenager; that ain't new. While I can see how something like this can be frustrating, that's the point. She has to learn to conquer her prejudice, uncertainty, and fears. To learn that not all humans wish to harm and capture them. Arrietty being at such a young age had insecurities like most of us as kids or teenagers. She's someone still growing and learning. That was my take away from it.
 

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Remember at the end of Rebuild 2 when Shinji does his thing and Misato is cheering him on? Saying like 'Go Shinji! Do this for yourself and nobody else. Do it because you want to.' And then in Rebuild 3 she'll all 'How fucking dare you!' Jesus Christ b*tch, you were goating him on, and now you're pissed that he did it. *sigh* God fuck the Rebuilds.
I don't know what the fuck they expected when they gave the manic depressive the God machine and let him drive after an alien monster has performed a gross act of desecration on someone he loved. Like, that train wasn't gonna have any fucking brakes no matter what way you slice it. Frankly fuck them and the shitty train they rode in on.
 
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I don't know what the fuck they expected when they gave the manic depressive the God machine and let him drive after an alien monster has performed a gross act of desecration on someone he loved. Like, that train wasn't gonna have any fucking brakes no matter what way you slice it. Frankly fuck them and the shitty train they rode in on.
"So, our plan is take an emotionally damaged and isolated teenager, continually gaslight and abuse him physiologically, stick him in a giant eldritch abomination of a war machine that is powered by his mom's soul and grown using Lovecraftian black magic using Weird fucking alien shit and somehow has the power to become god and cause the apocalypse we're so desperately trying to avoid(apparently and send him out over and over again to fight said cosmic horrors while continually emphasizing that if he fucks up once the world will end while giving him almost no positive feedback or consistent guidance. He'll also be living with a barely functional alcoholic who has serious daddy issues(and is his CO too boot) and another teenager with dubious psychological scores and uncontrolled rage issues who will repeatedly abuse him physically and emotionally. There's no possible way this could go horribly, horribly wrong and cause the end of humankind"

Or it's part of Gendos plan or something.

I remember listening to the DVD commentary on one of the Box Sets of the series and one of the VA brought up the idea that Gendo doesn't actually plan anything. He mostly just sits in the back looking all sinister and when things work out for him, he just says "All According to plan" to make himself sound like some 5D chessmaster, when in reality he's extremely lucky shit just happens to work out in a way that somehow benefits him.

And honestly, that's my headcanon now. Rewatching the series more or less made me realize what a valid interpretation that is because Gendo mostly doesn't do shit that we ever see. He just lets things happen around him and eventually shows up at the end of EoE to try to stick his Adam in Litlth(that didn't come out right). That and the fact it makes it easier for Gendo to justify his child abuse/neglect then to admit he's perhaps the worlds worst dad.
 
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"So, our plan is take an emotionally damaged and isolated teenager, continually gaslight and abuse him physiologically, stick him in a giant eldritch abomination of a war machine that is powered by his mom's soul and grown using Lovecraftian black magic using Weird fucking alien shit and somehow has the power to become god and cause the apocalypse we're so desperately trying to avoid(apparently and send him out over and over again to fight said cosmic horrors while continually emphasizing that if he fucks up once the world will end while giving him almost no positive feedback or consistent guidance. He'll also be living with a barely functional alcoholic who has serious daddy issues(and is his CO too boot) and another teenager with dubious psychological scores and uncontrolled rage issues who will repeatedly abuse him physically and emotionally. There's no possible way this could go horribly, horribly wrong and cause the end of humankind"

Or it's part of Gendos plan or something.

I remember listening to the DVD commentary on one of the Box Sets of the series and one of the VA brought up the idea that Gendo doesn't actually plan anything. He mostly just sits in the back looking all sinister and when things work out for him, he just says "All According to plan" to make himself sound like some 5D chessmaster, when in reality he's extremely lucky shit just happens to work out in a way that somehow benefits him.

And honestly, that's my headcanon now. Rewatching the series more or less made me realize what a valid interpretation that is because Gendo mostly doesn't do shit that we ever see. He just lets things happen around him and eventually shows up at the end of EoE to try to stick his Adam in Litlth(that didn't come out right). That and the fact it makes it easier for Gendo to justify his child abuse/neglect then to admit he's perhaps the worlds worst dad.
They're not exactly wrong. It oft gets overlooked but the plan Gendo is enacting is like 98% the Seele Council’s. He’s just planning to Serbian Jew Double Bluff them right at the end. Its like a game of Among Us with two sets of traitors both waiting for the right moment to call a meeting and say “Red is suss”
 
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UUUUUUGGGHHHH I just finished Beastars. Man I was so close to giving this show like 5 stars until the last like ten minutes. For most of its two seasons it was a enigmatic three dimensional exploration of so many themes of sex, race, xenophobia, and a million other weird subthemes. I even liked that the villain was far more complex than just some carnivore off his meds. I liked that the villain started out having no ill intent, that it was a myriad of emotions that overwhelmed him and that he wasn't just some evil serial killer. However the idea that the protagonist spends the whole series proving that carnivores could exist, be happy and functional without eating meat only to throw all that out at the last moment, at a whim, for such low stakes, because "consent" or some bullshit just murdered the whole thing. "here eat me to prove a point" "cool beans!", no fucking way. At this point I feel like the waters of the shows narrative are so muddied at this point theres no moral compass anymore through which to enjoy it. I enjoyed a lot of it. Very compelling stuff, but its too much of a mess for me to commit to sticking around if they do another season.
 

Dalisclock

Making lemons combustible again
Legacy
Escapist +
Feb 9, 2008
11,230
7,007
118
A Barrel In the Marketplace
Country
Eagleland
Gender
Male
Watched Evangelion Rebuild 4.0 but since there's already a thread for that movie I posted it there. Click below if interested in reading my rambly ass thoughts on it(it's a bit much to post it here as well)

 
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Johnny Novgorod

Bebop Man
Legacy
Feb 9, 2012
18,467
3,006
118
Animaniacs 2020

Really funny but I got tired of the political humor pretty quickly. It was burnout more than a matter of principle. As an adult I'm sick to my stomach of politics and the news in ways that I couldn't possibly be watching as a kid in 1998. And not only is it hard enough to lampoon walking caricatures like Trump and Fox News, but I've been exposed to that particular sport longer than the show's been in production. So I don't find it particularly clever or funny to attest to Trump's narcissism for the billionth time. My point being: watching the Animaniacs catch up to the current sociopolitical scene isn't as funny as being ahead of their time. Which at least that's how they felt in '98.

The other thing is that for a variety show there's a sore lack of variety. If you were rebooting Animaniacs in 2020 the first characters you'd secure would be the Warner Brothers (and Warner sister) and Pinky & Brain. Check. But is that it? Where's the other 70% of the cast (cameos aside)?