Using it. Saved 40 minutes of time there.

This fuck is still around? And why is he sponsored???

All the buzz from fighting game pros talking about how mechanically excellent the Avatar game looks to be, getting hyped up thinking about doing some crazy stuff as Toph and Azula, and then I guess it all hit the shitter. Why can’t things be good and give me hope without caveats?

What’s the move for tonight, chat?

Me: “holy shit, Tom Cruise is doing something old and weird, he’s letting himself be vulnerable and really ACT again, awesome” *checks credits for the movie* *Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu* “Ehhhh okay, gotta temper my expectations a little.”

Continuing some of my director backlog grind and trying to clear up some big files on my hard drive (Yuki) to make room for more stuff to fill it up lol

We have GameStop in Canada too btw lol seems like an arbitrary comparison

to another dozen or so new anime added to my list lol. What I got so far. If anyone is familiar with the manga for these as well, feel free to lemme know if they are a skip or not. Think I heard Thunder 3 was good? But not 100% sure.

183. Marriagetoxin (anime): it’s got a charming premise, I’m more interested in the romance side than the action stuff but the story currently feels a little the opposite, & I think the direction suffers from that as well with how muted & perfunctory the emotional beats are handled. Dece tho. 7/10

Timing couldn’t be more perfect

182. Yuki (anime): decent politics about peasants continuing to stand up against many oppressive groups that threaten to exploit them and how the shape of them changes, but most of the production is so workmanlike and the lead is so de-emphasized for most of it. Odd storytelling. Very mediocre. 5/10

is an innate ability you have to be born with (even if it needs awakening) Do I have that right? Come the fuck on man. The Gum Gum Fruit retcon was one thing, but now this is getting dumb.

I uhh…guess that’s one way to resolve the stuff with Takamura. Not sure why he went right for Kei though, thought this would be a clean square off of Sakamoto vs Kei, while maybe Nagumo is using his ability to finish things with Gaku perhaps? But seems it’s just anyone’s game.

Maybe get a little farther than 11 chapters on an already so-so manga before you start lampshading about how the manga is doomed to fail, Sorachi. Come on now.

181. Crusher Joe OVAs (anime): a bit better than Yaz’s movie, but not by much. Still thinks itself to be a platonic ideal romantic sci-fi adventure thing with a bunch of mercs but instead is a facsimile of such things. Nothing characters & nothing politics build to *mostly* nothing action. 5.5/10

Friend shared a post she’d seen about a leaked SBR anime release model, looks fucking BRUTAL

180. Everyone Says I Love You (film): messy but has charm, kind of an anti-musical that deals a lot with the tension between fantasy (as musicals call for) & reality & revealing how such ideals can be kind of phony. Not pointed enough & leaves some muddled optics in its ideas, but nice ending. 7/10?

179. The Stranger (1946 film): neat premise about Welles playing a covert Nazi agent post-war trying to plant himself in American society & leaving a trail of bodies along the way. Unfortunately it kinda goes nowhere & feels pretty arch, even the style only comes in glimmers, no real shape. 6/10

178. Othello (1951 film): haven’t read the original play but I hear this mostly cuts to the central themes of the text at a 1h30m film where normally it needs twice as long I guess? Style for days, but some of shot length is disorienting and ADR is really bad at times, can be hard to feel for. 7/10?

177. Mr. Arkadin aka ‘Confidential Report’ (film): feels like a greatest hits of Orson Welles themes & story ideas while being a little more tongue in cheek in tone. Got style aplenty but can be restless & distracting in how chaotic the cuts are. Neat riffs on foreign intervention & class. 7/10

176. Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger vs Super Sentai (toku): one of my moots championed this one a little but can’t say it did much for me, found the segments kind of unevenly paced and thinly motivated for its compilation stuff and as an ode to heroism to inspire the Gaorangers and such. Meh. 5.5/10

175. Witch Hat Atelier (anime): the worldbuilding seems pretty neat, cool settings, animation is very strong, though this batch of episodes seems a little uneventful, but I see the potential. Really should’ve been 2 cour given that slower pace and the odd cliffhanger this leaves on. Neat! 7/10

I’ve already had a big crush on Penelope Cruz for decades practically, but didn’t know how much more down bad seeing her with this blonde cut in The Invite would make me. Good lord.

174. Love and Death (1975 film): before Allen made Annie Hall & built his style around reflexive neuroses, he made a total anachronistic, absurdist period farce more influenced by slapstick comedy & wordplay wit of comedians of old, & it’s pretty solid! Just lots of goofy vibes. Well directed! 8/10

173. Zelig (film): amusing shitpost mockumentary thing, has a bizarre premise that could read really dicey, but it’s so ridiculous and mostly uses it for an earnest theme about identity and conformity that it kind of works. Format limits it from a strong emotional core, but it’s interesting. 6-7/10

172. Interiors (film): I don’t *love* Bergman (yet) but he has a better hit rate than Fellini for me, and Allen gives an earnest go at a raw Bergman-esque drama, but it clashes incongruously with his overly fussy dialogue that lacks terseness & becomes histrionic. Makes Keaton look bad. Eh. 5/10

171. Stardust Memories (film): Allen does a “””parody””” of 8½, a movie I already (controversially) don’t like, & naturally it is even more insufferable. Allen casting himself as the lead celeb Suffering From Success & getting too much pussy while claiming it’s not about him is a choice. Bleh. 4/10

And a Build joke, that’s at least relevant.

They made a Dragon Ball joke??? Haha alright

170. Stand By Me Doraemon 2 (anime): I remember finding the previous film awkwardly structured & emotionally cloying, & this is more of the same but now with extra self-pitying yet self-important cynical BS. Nobita is a pathetic beta who does nothing & gets rewarded for it. Otherwise mid. 5/10