My Little Pony Friendship is Magic part 18: We Don't Need No Stinkin Hiatus

[Dontrike]

Was super cloudy today during it, so I didn't see anything.

We're still alive, so I guess that's the 4592th incorrect end of world prediction.

I was disappointed demons didn't appear and start sucking souls. Maybe next time.

[Dontrike]

These Chinese MLP trading cards are fairly impressive. Usually these are just shots from the show/movie, but these arts could easily be on a CCG/TCG of some kind.

[Dontrike]

With me leaving my last job and having a bit of time until my next one starts I've been watching some things.

Rebel Moon: Part 2: The Scargiver - Where the first one was almost so bad it's good in a "Zack Snyder doesn't know how to dial back on his constant flourishes" way where the lead space Nazi had tentacle hentai in one scene this one is pure boredom. The movie is about 100 minutes long, without credits, and while short movies can be good, considering the tsunami of 150 minute long movies nowadays, this was an hour of setup followed by 30 minutes of sometimes decent action.

From the constant slow motion where there was further slow motion within some of the slow motion that if you took it out the movie would be 20 minutes shorter to the characters being so mundane and ill explained you could watch cardboard cutouts pull off the same performances and miss nothing. Let me put it this way, there's a point in this movie where they just sit around and explain their backstories for 15 minutes, and while it's good to have moments where characters talk to each other this isn't them interacting, this is just exposition 'cause Snyder doesn't know how to write characters. When the best character is a robot wearing deer antlers who only shows up for about 5 minutes throughout the whole movie it really tells you he can't direct or write worth a damn.

The fight scene at the end had some decent moments that almost got me excited, but it's ruined by so strange directing/writing decisions, and when it comes to our MC "the Scargiver" you care about her so little that her eventual victory just has me playing PoGo instead. Once again, Snyder tried to sell the first movie as his attempt to make a Star Wars movie for Disney, but I'd watch The Phantom Menace over either of the Rebel Moon movies any day of the week than watch this again. Worst part is that the first one has a rated R Snyder Cut and I can't imagine it will make this Star Wars/Seven Samurai adaptation any better.

Dr. Stone (Season 1) - Having rewatched this for fun I found out that this series doesn't get the attention it deserves. The story gets going immediately, it knows when to dial things up and down to keep you invested and the characters and plot are fun as hell. 10 billion points to this Science Shonen.

Konosuba (Season 1) - I've heard a lot of this show the last 6 years or so and having watched it (since Netflix got the first season) I will say that the characters can bring some great comedy, but it doesn't seem like any story is going on. Comparing this to another "playing with expectations isekai," Uncle from Another World, that has the same quirky characters that bring the comedy, but there's something else keeping the show together besides that. When Konosuba's masochist knight, useless goddess healer, mage that only knows one spell, and the "hero" and their usual jokes aren't landing you can really tell where the cracks in this show start to form.

Overlord (Season 1) - Netflix is getting a lot of random anime suddenly so this was another isekai I thought I'd get on. I've seen a couple clips and the characters, but know not much else and I'll say this isekai does it slightly better than Konosuba. You have the quirky characters, though they are toned back, like Konosuba, but there's just enough story that keeps you going when their usual antics aren't quite hitting. Sure, Overlord isn't as funny and it does linger a bit more with exposition, but I'd say this one kept me hooked more than the comedy did.

Suzume - The story of a girl and a chair that have to track a magic cat and put it back where it's supposed to do its job before a cataclysm causing worm destroys the world. Strange description aside this movie had the right amount of animation, art, and heart that keeps you from looking at your phone. While the story itself is nothing too new or done in a way that's breaking new ground it keeps you intrigued with the fantasy, Suzume's backstory, and the journey that she takes.

Sonic Prime - After Sonic screws up a big crystal that causes reality to split into different worlds he must go on a quest to put it back together before reality crumbles. What could have been a nice way to look at characters and how they would have changed without Sonic the whole thing is like watching a compilation cut scenes from one of the games. There's no real consequences, only a couple of characters are interesting enough that you hope they do something with it, but they never do, and it's the usual "power of friendship" moral that you get from every Sonic game and movie.

The thing that really gets me is one of the villain's, Nine (a different reality Tails), tries to control reality as he knows he'll die if Sonic wins. The whole time Sonic goes "why are you doing this?" even though it was explained. Then when Sonic wins he doesn't miss any of the people he met, doesn't care that he killed hundreds of people, and when he's about to explain his journey to the gang Eggman shows up and he's like "welp, no emotions here, time to attack this evil scientist" and that's. Show's not good, don't watch it.

Delicious in Dungeon - This has been one of the biggest surprises in anime I've had in a bit. After a party of adventurers are ambushed by a dragon in a dungeon and their healer is killed they go on a quest to save her (in this dragons digest slowly and they have a month until she's consumed.)

This story is basically if a classic D&D party had to know how to cook the monsters in order to survive to complete the quest. There are so many perfect D&D moments in this that it hit a level of nostalgia that I didn't know I was missing. Between the human knight (his sister is the one that died), elf mage, halfling rogue, and dwarf cook the characters are distinct, expressive, and all serve a purpose within the story. None of them are mishandled or left useless.

The monsters they meet are some classics from slimes to dragons and almost all of them have their own biology that the creator has thought of, and even changing up some to make them even more distinct within this world. For example Mimics here are just a variety of hermit crab that hide in furniture. It makes so much sense for their own take on mimics that you wonder why it never happened before.

If you have Netflix or the pirate life is for you then I highly recommend this one.

Everything Everywhere All at Once - Easily one of the most pessimistic yet optimistic movies ever. In a struggling laundromat a wife deals with her life falling apart as suddenly the multiverse opens up to her to defeat an unknown threat.

It's honestly hard to describe this movie besides saying how good it is. I think it's like Kung Fu Hustle with the insane action sequences, but it has a ton more personal philosophy in it that keeps you entranced the entire time. It's silly and insightful all at once that you can't help but take in the lessons that they give you.

Hands down one of the best movies this decade.

[Pendulous]

Dr. Stone gets good once they get to the village and we're introduced to the rest of the cast. I do think it's a bit underrated. I can't remember if the next season is set to be the last, but it sure looks like we'll get an ending to the series since the manga is done.

[Dontrike]

Dr. Stone gets good once they get to the village and we're introduced to the rest of the cast. I do think it's a bit underrated. I can't remember if the next season is set to be the last, but it sure looks like we'll get an ending to the series since the manga is done.

If the next season of the anime is the last it will likely be a Part 1 & 2 situation, as you can't do that final arc in a single season with what's there between the other science team, the battles and chases within, Suika living alone, and the build up to the end.

[Powerogue]

With me leaving my last job and having a bit of time until my next one starts I've been watching some things.

Konosuba is definitely a fluffier anime focused on the comedy over things like character arcs but I still love it to bits.

And absolutely agree on Delicious in Dungeon, I have been watching that on release through Netflix and loving every episode.

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is probably the best movie I've ever gone into completely blind.

[Pendulous]

I'm meh on Delicious in Dungeon, but I keep watching so it must be doing something right. For this season, the chiller stuff like Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night is keeping me entertained. Konosuba, Slime, and Yuru Camp all seem a bit weak for sequels. Coincidentally, all season 3's.

[Dontrike]

Konosuba is definitely a fluffier anime focused on the comedy over things like character arcs but I still love it to bits.

And I'm alright with shows like that, but don't start with a "We need to defeat the Demon King" and then just do slice of life fantasy stuff for 20 episodes. When it's funny it's funny, but when it's not it makes me wonder why nothing else is happening. That's the problem with pure comedies, if jokes don't land then you're left yawning.

[Dontrike]

Watched a couple movies recently and boy are they on different spectrums of quality.

Godzilla Minus One. I've never seen a Japenese Godzilla movie, only the ones put out in America (and we all know how those are), but I heard nothing but good things and I was not disappointed. If you like Godzilla movies or just the well made ones then I recommend this one highly. It's rare to see Godzilla as the villain after decades of him basically being the biggest anti-hero around. With the backdrop of WW2 you get a ton of characterization through the main character's grief in both the recovery of the country, but also Godzilla and astonishing. For a movie that only cost $12 million to make it easily beats out similar movies that spend $300+ million in both CG and green screen effects.


IF. This is the primary reason I'm writing this as I just got done watching it an hour ago. This movie is equal parts heartwarming and infuriating. The movie takes about 50 minutes to truly get started and then when it does there's great moments that are fun and heartfelt, but then the movie seems to get in its own way and mess it up. To explain it perfectly would take about a dozen paragraphs, but in the end this movie messes up its very premise and practically puts a good chunk of the movie as a montaged segment just before the credits. What would easily be a 7.5/10 becomes a 5 because of how it stumbles over itself.

[Dontrike]

Apparently there was some big news for MLP. To sum it up they want to do a Pony-verse of some kind. Who knows what exactly that means, but here's the one image for it, though we'll see if this comes to fruition. I have wondered what happened with G5, since we haven't heard anything about it since the season ended earlier this year.



- - - Updated - - -

So Netflix pushed out a Terminator anime this weekend (the first of many of the high end IP animes coming out like Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider) and for someone like me that has only seen the second, third, and, I think, fourth movies and also not a huge fun of the series that knows the second one is an amazing film that holds up to this day I have to say that this was dang decent.

In a way this show is technically a reboot, but because of the way time travel works within the universe it makes perfect sense how this comes about. What helps this not feel like a reboot, even though it sort of is, is that it's not trying to force references to the first two films down your throat and not having the same characters/actors helps this be its own thing. Once it cements the plot and you understand what its doing it really does become its own thing within an already established, if sort of disastrous, franchise.

While a couple "surprises" are easily seen from a mile away the rest of them make a lot of sense and keeps engaged.

What definitely helps is the tone and direction of the show. You can tell this was inspired a lot by the first two films and the way everything is a lot more serious. The show takes its time with setting up tension and its themes and it does damn well at it.

If you have a few hours to watch the eight episodes and are somewhat familiar with Terminator then I think you'll have fun with it.

[Pendulous]

Speaking of western IP's getting an anime, Suicide Squad Isekai was pretty fun. Harley of course carried the show, but she did it so well. Clayface was pretty good too with his breaking the fourth wall and being genre savvy.

[Dontrike]

Speaking of western IP's getting an anime, Suicide Squad Isekai was pretty fun. Harley of course carried the show, but she did it so well. Clayface was pretty good too with his breaking the fourth wall and being genre savvy.

I completely forgot that was coming out.

[Dontrike]

Looks like Tell Your Tale, the mini series of episodes of G5, will be ending next month. I watched the first 20 episodes or so of that, it was alright. No idea what will happen with the CG cartoon.