Like the way its structured to start with is the extremely tight view that drives home that all these other characters have their own lives and existence but you only ever the few bits when Frieren's around and then they're gone, while the pacing keeps up this constant feeling of time slipping inexorably away and being lost forever. It hits hard and is structured perfectly for those themes.

Then it hits a point where the story shatters into a bunch of separate threads and grinds to a complete halt in the way that stories that split into a bunch of threads inevitably do. It loses the tight focus and the feeling of "yes, these characters have their own existence but you only interact that during the moments you're actually there" sort of thing in favor of just showing you a blow by blow of everything that's going on with them, and instead of time slipping away no matter how hard you hold onto it it instead stands completely still.

It stops being unique and impactful and starts being "that annoying thing from BNHA where they spend like half an entire season going into excruciating detail about some little training exercise with mild competitive elements that every single member of a huge cast is participating in" instead.

This song is somehow simultaneously paint-by-numbers generic anisong #136 and a total banger. Been jamming to it ever since the anime started airing and the full versions just dropped today to coincide with the final episode of the anime!

Honestly, paint-by-numbers is a little harsh; I think it sounds like that at first blush since it doesn't do anything particularly innovative—Cry Baby, it's not (there are English subs!)—but it's well-written and blends a lot of typical J-pop tropes in just the right way such that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I love that they did a bunch of different versions--the piano one really allows you to appreciate the voice leading, while the acoustic guitar one emphasizes the rhythmic elements. Maybe it's just because it executes something really well that I'm a sucker for: taking the same melody and recontextualizing it by changing the underlying harmony (the first melodic motif in the chorus is repeated three times, and each time it gets different chord changes!). And the hook is such an earworm:

♫ MAGICAL LOVE, BE WITH YOU! ♪

source

I'm disappointed that there's no good flyby shots of Getter Robo Black near the WTC - so I don't have a a second Getter Robo has struck the towers pic.

The ruins of NYC do get wrecked to take down some kaiju.

The other Mecca

https://myanimelist.net/anime/51916/Dekiru_Neko_wa_Kyou_mo_Yuuutsu

It felt like my ears were bleeding I fucking loved it so much!

IMPORTANT NOTE: please use a VPN whenever visiting Hextube, or anywhere else on the internet, for that matter. Protect your privacy.

For this edition of Saturday Anime Night, the people demanded more Sailor Moon, and so, we’re continuing on, with episodes 67 through 72 of the 1992 series, the definitive magical-girl anime. This is the completely unabridged, unexpurgated, uncensored, Japanese version of the show, including everything that the English dub butchered, altered, and/or cut, which is quite a bit. Tonight’s episodes see the continuation of the Black Moon Clan arc, along with the infamous beach episode where the girls fight dinosaurs.

After that is Marona’s Fantastic Tale (2019), a French cartoon about a heckin’ pupperino’s surreal journey through life, spanning several masters and all sorts of bizarre, impressionistic adventures. Thus far, it is the magnum opus of director Anca Damian; animated features directed by women are rare enough, and this one is highly acclaimed, so let’s check it out.

We’ll start 8PM EST on Hextube, right here: https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies

Be there, comrades!

Letterboxd:

• Sailor Moon: Sorry, not on Letterboxd. Here’s the MAL page: https://myanimelist.net/anime/530/Bishoujo_Senshi_Sailor_Moon
• Marona’s Fantastic Tale: https://letterboxd.com/film/maronas-fantastic-tale/

Doesthedogdie.com links:

• Sailor Moon: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103369/parentalguide?ref_=tt_stry_pg
• Marona’s Fantastic Tale: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/47653

CWs for Sailor Moon:

• Nudity.
• Objectification of female characters.
• Bath scenes.
• Age-gap romance.
• Panty shots.
• Cutting of flesh.
• Blood and gore.
• Animal abuse.
• Children in peril.
• Smoking.
• Alcohol abuse.
• Sexual harassment of schoolgirls.
• Kissing.
• Deaths of parents.

CWs for Marona’s Fantastic Tale:

• Deaths of dog.
• Animal abuse.
• Needles.
• Hospital scene.
• Sad ending.

Links to movies:

• Sailor Moon episode 67: https://tankie.tube/w/i2nXaPoQEFSAWoQgVDdTzL
• Sailor Moon episode 68: https://tankie.tube/w/dUcBNGa9mgttomcXUdoMwm
• Sailor Moon episode 69: https://tankie.tube/w/v3UmH96Kvtv1AX2xAEWZwV
• Sailor Moon episode 70: https://tankie.tube/w/v92XEjrJXkpxYpNg8NfCUj
• Sailor Moon episode 71: https://tankie.tube/w/uSbYHbiXxfAWZLNBAuRNSm
• Sailor Moon episode 72: https://tankie.tube/w/oveArREhC3PAWBDmYmiv6K
• Marona's Fantastic Tale: https://tankie.tube/w/jdcUXQhoizgBSnmmfmZMRy

In case the gif doesn't work

He was ashamed of his persiflage, his boasting, his pretensions of courage and ruthlessness; he was sorry about his cold-bloodedness, his dispassion, his inability to express what he now believed was the case- that he truly regretted killing Jesse and James, that he missed them as much as anybody and wished their murder hadn't been necessary.

Even as he circulated his gym he knew that the smiles disappeared when he passed by. He received so many menacing emails that he could read them without any reaction except curiosity.

He kept to his mom's house all day, flipping over Pokemon cards, looking at his destiny in every Kingler and Muk.

Meowth came up from Viridian at 1pm on the 8th. He had no grand scheme. No strategy. No agreement with higher authorities. Nothing but a vague longing for glory, and a generalized wish for revenge against Ash Ketchum.

Meowth would be ordered to serve a life sentence in the Kanto Penitentiary for second degree murder. Over seven thousand signatures would eventually be gathered in a petition asking for Meowth's release, and in 2002, Professor Oak would pardon the cat.

There would be no eulogies for Ash, no photographs of his body would be sold in Pokemon Centers, no people would crowd the streets in the rain to see his funeral cortege, no Pokedex entries would be written about him, no Pokemon named after him, no one would ever pay twenty-five Pokemon Dollars to stand in the rooms he grew up in.

The shotgun would ignite, and Misty would scream, but Ash Ketchum would only lay on the floor and look at the ceiling, the light going out of his eyes before he could find the right words.

~~6m~~/3w

The Giant Pirates are evening the odds, but there's still 6 minutes left until Vegapunk's message!