Mikey (Manjirou) Sano of Tokyo Manji is a lil badass. That is all.
Oh my gosh!
“Have a seat over here.”
“Sure.”
“Close your eyes and count to sixty.”
“Huh? Is this a joke?”
“No it’s not. Close your eyes and don’t open them.”
“But what for?”
“Now! One...”
“Eyes are closed!”
“Twoooo... Threeeee...”
:heart:
This story is simple, but very cute. The art is wonderful... just exquisite in places. The story is simple but somehow satisfying, like comfort food. This episode was the best yet. The story is definitely warming up.
The animation is a lil weird, but the story is quite good, and well told.
Don’t mind the folks on the Internet streets who disparage it, it wasn’t a bad show and I got sucked in quickly and my attention held until the last shot.
Illie is cute. Kidou is ‘the bad boy’. There is a villainous empire, bureaucratic foolishment, political wrangling, back biting, great big insect monsters, plot twists, romance... stop complaining about the animation. There is more than enough meat here to make a meal.
I loved many of the side characters too, especially the orphans and Miss Mario. Miss Mario was my favourite never mind the hammy voice acting, I still loved the character, her impressive jaw and lovely bows.
Yes it’s weird in places, but there is some gorgeous art in there too, and the story is solid. Well worth watching.
Oooooh! Love me some Levi Ackerman. This show is so badass... I’m rewatching for the second time in a month. I. Love. Me. Some. Levi. Ackerman. What I say? What I SAY?
Such pitched drama! I was almost in tears when Petal got lost!!
Golly... wild how the awful music this season has grown on me. Especially the closing theme.
I did not expect to like this show, and when I pulled it up and saw RDM, I blinked and said, Oh definitely.” And I wasn’t proved wrong. I’m pretty sure if RDM wants to do anything he will get the money to do it. His ability to find and pull the right people together to tell a specific story is phenomenal to me. He never disappoints. Long story short: This is great! It is very good. The season 2 closer was devastating. But of course, beautifully sets up Season 3. Do it. It’s a great watch.
So "His Dark Materials" is quite amazing.
It's not just the visuals, and aesthetic which are amazing, it's that as a staunch and stolid lover of the books, it is utterly glorious to see the story come to life and so faithfully.
The monstrosity that was the film version of this story, which although beautiful, was horribly truncated while being overpacked and veered so wildly from the source material in some crucial ways, I was glad they never made the remaining parts of the story as it would have been excruciating. Even with Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman, it was just not the story I had hoped to see.
For me, it was that the actress who played Lyra, was far too pretty, far too pretty even in her 'scrappy' running around Jordan College as a hoyden of chaos and ruin.
In all the major ways that the film failed, this single first episode of the HBO series succeeds and with the most thrilling reaction in me as a fan.
I know the story. I've read the trilogy at least once a year since 2004.
But this still makes me want to sink deep into this visual retelling. And oh, oh my, the visuals... Lyra's world is exceptionally realised, and we still are yet to see much beyond Jordan College.
I love the added scene of Lord Asriel delivering baby Lyra and Pantalaimon to the Master of Jordan College, during the Great Flood. This was a beautifully added detail, that in the books was only retold to Lyra in a second-hand fashion by Ma Costa. Here we're given a snippet of this, at the beginning, where we're well into the first story before we get anything real about the amazing Lyra Belacqua aka Lyra Silvertongue.
This episode, whets the appetite of even the most ardent and devoted fan of His Dark Materials (like myself). I and eagerly awaiting the second episode, and thoroughly enjoyed watching it with my thirteen year old son last night.
I must say that James MacAvoy is looking RATHER distinguished! Plus he manages to convey the ferocity and intensity of Lord Asriel in a way I never got from Daniel Craig who was merely cold.
This and Carnival Row, both exceeded my expectations! Do watch!
As a writer who has used my life, named names, and unapologetically written about my experiences with my friends and family, quite frankly, I appreciate and understand why Nova has done what she's done.
But damn... I also know the cost. I know exactly what it cost me to do it. I don't have even a fraction of the closeness with my family that these characters do, so I know this will lead to one of two things:
Catharsis or Cut and Burn.
I see ALL the drama for this season laid out for us.
https://www.thegoddessroom.com/blog/2019/08/10/queen-sugar-4x01-pleasure-is-black/
I've watched the entire series multiple times, regardless of my Trakt count, and this is always one of the most heartbreaking. Everyone's grief is so palpable, and Sybill's character such a softening middle ground... the aftermath so very nearly sundering.
Alas... the sweetest sprite is gone.
One of this show's best episodes in terms of performance.
Ive watched this episode (indeed all the episodes of BSG) and this remains one of the finest hours of this show. I will never, ever not be awed by Galactica dropping out of the atmosphere, or the demise of the Pegasaus.
When I do my Best of BSG, this is always the number one episode... shit, when I do my best of TV, this episode is always right up there.
NOOOOOO! NO Charley! Don't do it! Don't DO IT!!! AGGGGGGHHHH! Girl, you go cry. SEEEEEEE! Ya crying! Look at you! Look at you!!! DON'T DO IT! DON'T DO IT!!! *** phew *** That was too close a call, and I just don't know what you doing girl. I just don't know what you doing...
: sideeye :
NOVA BORDELONE!!! I see you girl! I SEE YA!
P.S. I loved Charley's nails in this episode. LOVED them.
Creepy fucking Whispers. The trap set over the last few episodes finally springs, and oh my goodness, no many how many times I see this episode (it numbers in the low teens now, never mind my Trakt count) it is still such a beautiful executed twisty bit of lush and balletic narrative. Lana just gets better. I can't believe they won't give her more money to make MORE CONTENT DAMNIT.
The gorgeous soundtrack and score, the wonderful build up and gloriousness of the last ten minutes or so. Wolfgang (my darling), and Kala's growing connection, the solidifying of Will and Riley's love that makes both Riley's sad tale, and Will's fucking unwavering determination just a wonderful watch. A tactile kind of visual storytelling and sharp editing makes this episode exceptional.
I love this show. It's right up there with BSG. My undoubted #2.
Sun is an undoubted bad ass... and you can tell she LOVES to cut men's asses.
The urgency continues to build with this episode, and I can feel big bad Whispers just a breath away.
In the build up to the final episode of the season, the story palpably and exquisitely begins to build.
The discovering sweetness of Will and RIley, the growing closeness between Wolfgang and Kala, the amazing editing and stunt coordination of Sun, Will, Nomi and Caupheus... this was a well done bridge episode. You can feel Whispers closing in, and you can feel the cluster... well 'clustering'.
This was one of the better episodes of Season 1.
In a world that holds almost no space for the mental health of people of colour, and especially black women and children, this movie was a simple and beautiful story...
It didn't need to be complicated, but it was nice to see a story where the black boy isn't trying to be 'hard', but trying to find equilibrium. Anthony Anderson's performance is in many ways, the subtle glue here... the 'real man' and the bridge for August to find his way back into the world.
Simple and beautiful... it's a good watch, with a feel good ending.
So catty!!! Rajah throwing the purple wig on the floor was soooo petty. This group of queens are spicy as hell. I agree with another commenter that they are some of the shadiest groups of all eleven seasons. I'm deadheated between Yvie and Silky to win. Yvie because I think she's so beautifully weird, and Silky, because I want to see a big girl win for once.
This season was entertaining, but the infighting was... catty. Just so catty. And transparent in almost every case.
As Superhero shows go, this was so unusual, subversive, corny, clever and entertaining, that I didn’t mind even the slowest of moments... I enjoyed this way more than any recent time traveling show (featuring either regular-ish humans and well, supers.)
I thoroughly enjoyed not just the premise, but the execution. Special effects were not the point of the story. The mix of characters soooo eclectic, that I throughly enjoyed the way the story played itself out.
That said, the acting across the board is ok, with the stand out performance being Aidan Ghallegher’s performance of Number 5. He really brings forward this wizened and hardened nearly sixty-year old consciousness to a child’s body. And sells it!
I also enjoyed Robert Sheehan as Klaus... he was not just comic relief, but the most human of all the main characters. I thought Sheehan captured both the trauma and the joy of Klaus’s reprobate ways, and his joie d’vivre beautifully.
The only other performance that stood out for me, and not in a good way, was Emmy Raver-Lampman as Allison Hargreeves. It’s not that she is a bad actress, I just didn’t buy her belief in her character’s story. It felt like she was forcing, and her face didn’t convey her emotions well.
Everybody else was good to fine... enough that this was an enjoyable romp. I’m looking forward to Season 2.
It didn’t make me weep for the last twenty minutes like the second half of BSG’s “Daybreak”, in fact I only teared up when The Starks broke up on the dock. However, nothing compares to BSG for me... nothing.
The writing on this show started to deteriorate the further away it went from the source. I don’t think that’s the fault of the show, but George Martin. Even with him informing the major plot points, it’s clear that his nuances went missing almost as soon as they left his established world’s defining moments.
The show runners and writers did the best they could and it shows.
But as TV goes I’m fine with the way it all ended. It all seemed appropriate.
Reading responses to this entire season, and the finale, there is no way a good handful of people would have been satisfied with the way it ended... but it’s a good story told with a satisfying ending.
:pound_symbol:GoT
:pound_symbol:NotTheNightKingWunna
:pound_symbol:TheKingDem
:pound_symbol:GoTFinale
I discovered Chinese dramas in the wake of the news about ‘The Most Googled Show On Earth’, and I admit, Yanxi Palace was my gateway ‘drug’.
Since then I’ve watched two other 60 episode series, neither of which prepared me for the gloriousness of Ever Night.
Arthur Chen is undoubtedly the star of this piece, and despite is stunning youth (18 years old), he turns in an insouciant, endearing, impressive performance.
He captured his character’s braggadocio and swagger perfectly, and his fight sequences, from the first to the last, are incredibly well choreographed and edited incredibly well. Everyone admits he is a scamp, but he revels in it. (Doesn’t hurt that he’s adorable either.)
Irenie Song, who plays my darling Sang Sang, a tiny little girl with a BIG HEART and a sharp tongue also turns in an adorable and heart warming performance.
The chemistry between Chen and Song on screen goes from brother/sister to cameraderie to romantic, and they both do an incredible job with their characters.
The narrative, simple and uncomplicated, but with enough ups and downs and thrills, is a story well told. I thoroughly enjoyed the set up, and the long arc of development Ning Que (Chen) and Sang Sang that allowed me to invest in them...
Every time Ning Que gained in experience and advantage, I cheered a bit. When he and Sang Sang fought over The Bookworm Maniac, my heart hurt a bit too... because SANG SANG! And I knew pretty early on that Sang Sang was never going to be ‘the Little Maid’.
And mi dears... the lead up to the final battle, with its bit of a shocker (about who Ning Que really is), and the final, epic battle between Ning Que and Xia Hou, is like NOTHING I’ve seen on a TV screen.
Maybe I am old and corny now, and I don’t watch anywhere near the amount of anime I used to in my 20s, but the final battle sequence was one of, if not the best fights I’ve ever seen on film.
Beautifully acrobatic, with some moves I’ve had to watch on replay five or six times to fully catch just how badass Ning Que really is (he’s an original Badass, I said it, OG!), and its heart breaking, frightening end, it is worth watching this fight over and over... deeply rewarding it is.
After the relatively straight forward palace intrigue story lines of the last three dramas I watched, Ever Night’s story, fight sequences, special effects (industrial light and magic) and the unaffected performances of Chen and Song (and others like the actor playing Chen Pipi, and several others I just loved, like Yan Se, and Brother Chao) make this show just good, without qualification. This drama was thoroughly entertaining, from beginning to end. I liked the world created for it, and the magic in it, and I am FAN of Ning Que and Sang Sang. I ship ‘em!
I am pleased there will be another season, but heart broken Chen won’t be back as Ning Que. I’m looking forward to the continuation of the story, but I’m not sure I can buy anyone else as Ning Que. Chen possessed that role. His little side smirk and that thing he does with his mouth will forever be etched on the fabric of Ning Que for me.
A note here on the character Long Qing: Piss in his pocket! Arrogant, over praised, over pretty, twaddle head! Of course Ning Que will cut his ass eventually too, but his character arc in this season left me despising his ‘butter can’t melt in his mouth’ ass. And instead of learning, he just descended even deeper into the morass of his mediocrity. All that he did to make him myself powerful, in the end it will be his undoing. And let me also add: I think HE is the Child of Hades. Trying to malign my boy Ning Que? NO! It is Long Qing!! When S02 drops, bet me money that is what is revealed.
I watch on Viki, but for English speakers a warning: These subtitles are almost hilarious in how they interpret English. So if you watch, you will need to understand proper English yourself so you can extrapolate. It’s not terrible, but definitely not perfect.
*** rubs hands gleefully ***
Season 2 is just around the corner! I may rewatch all 60 episodes and do some short summaries for The Goddess Room, because this is definitely going HIGH on my list for Game of Thrones withdrawal fare.
Watch it. You won’t be sorry.
I have been re-watching the every season of Deep Space Nine in these binge batches, and my brother Jomo (RIP) was right: It is Star Trek’s darkest turn, and it’s most heart breaking.
I just finished watching “The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson”... spent the last twenty minutes or so with tears running down my face. Unexpectedly, it was Sylvia Rivera’s story, woven into the larger tale that broke my heart. Islam Nettles story too, illustrates how little has changed for transgendered women since Marsha’s body was found.
The sequencing of the club scene and the 'handover' that was more like a scramble, was one of the tightest of this entire show, with a single shot fired. I thought it was beautifully done.
Still resonates after an almost mind boggling twenty years.
That double chanté! I thought I was about to lose a favourite and was literally shouting 'NOOOOOOO!" at the screen.
Trying to distract myself with a Game of Thrones rewatch while I wait on the premiere. Because, this is my shit right here.
This is such an interesting balance to Star Trek: Discovery... as though the ethos of these two shows have somehow been swapped. This is light and comedic and trots old territory in a fresh way, and Star Trek: Discovery has gone off boldly where Star Trek hasn't really gone before.
That said, I am enjoying this show's humor and the familiarity of it even though it is absolutely NOT Star Trek.
Forgive, but it is impossible not to make the comparison.
Oh... yes! Where ever in space and time you are Jomo, this space battle is for you! #RIP (It's another Janeway!!! Kinda! You'd love her!!)
After a lifetime of love for the Star Trek universe, it's hard to be impressed by some of the iterations between the end of Voyager, and the start of the recent movie reboots. As much as I love Scott Bakula, I panned "Enterprise" sometime after the first season, unable to find a way into the story or caring about that crew.
However, as if the showrunners of Discovery knew what, my intersectional heart was longing for. A powerful new female lead of colour (wearing her natural hair), in a very different take on the Federation and enemies of old. When I realised which enemy of old it was being reimagined—indeed, the extent to which the Federation has been a little reimagined—I became deeply impressed, moment by moment.
I'm uncertain if I like the makeup and costume design for the new 'Others' in the story, and the very 'colourfulness' of their ship interiors, but you know, I might just let it grow on me and see how it goes.
A word here on Sonequa Martin-Green's performance: Yes muh girl! Yes! I like you... A nuanced and compelling performance.
That said, this was an impressive opener. Oh CBS.. you play too much. They banned reviews to pique interest, and I am in for it. Here for it. I'm glad I took the chance and watched, and I'm glad to be so pleasantly surprised. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
