scheduled post ‘cause of that poll regarding diaries and rebirth (˶>u<˶)
rewatching mystreet prompted me to rewatch rebirth for the first time since it stopped airing, but i found it hard to get through specifically because of aphmau.
she’s so naive and childlike at first, it’s hard to get through the first two episodes. it could be a bit easier to digest if the dialogue was delivered differently by jess—aphmau speaks so dawdlingly and flat that it really just adds to the toddler in an adult’s body i’m not a fan of. she continues to speak flatly the entire way through, but she does start speaking a bit more like an adult which is nice though (it kinda fluctuates between normal and stunted).
i like episode three going through the tasks jess did in early diaries and setting up her becoming the lord, but i do wish she had more agency—or any at all, really. i think the switch of aphmau starting out irene-like and for lack of a nicer word, being stupid, really hurt that.
aph was naive throughout early diaries but it was more in a sense of disbelief in a kind of evil existed in the world imo.
i guess though in rebirth, the angle would’ve been aphmau becoming more human-like as she meets people and experiences life—that’s what it looks like to me at least—but i think diaries’ aphmau heart and humanity being so critical to… everything? made the new direction sour for me. i don’t think aphmau needed to be changed, just tighten up her backstory to accommodate from the shift from survival-roleplay to full roleplay. i incredibly don’t like her starting out with her magicks, though i might’ve liked it a bit more if it wasn’t coupled with the childishness of rebirth aphmau. (at least been more open to it, maybe).
episode three is really nice! but i hate the way aphmau becomes lord. it’s similar to the way she becomes lord in diaries, they’re both accidents, but it falls flat for me because of how blank aphmau is as a character, especially considering it’s so early. in diaries it’s an accident that she becomes lord, but it’s because of her unending kindness. in rebirth the situation is funny, but thinking more about it i kind of hate it, because of just how aphmau is.
i like episode four’s opening, and shadow knights being overtaken by the o’khasis priest is such a good addition i enjoy! but i don’t think zane should’ve appeared at all, not even his name. the high priest of o’khasis was such a threat, especially given all his build-up. i think the opening scene could flow well without him, simply the jury of nine—janus and lillian— acting in his stead, vaguely eluding to a higher authority. i think had rebirth been longer, slow build-up like diaries would’ve made zane more of a threat, and it almost would’ve been an ‘oh, shit, the jury isn’t the big bad?’. i really liked zane as a kid and on my rewatch he was so fun, but i liked that he was kinda an entity for a while.
the introduction of magicks users and witchcraft being in danger was nice. going back to the immediate powers, aphmau’s powers not appearing until later might’ve worked much better. either way, it would’ve been great if the series had gone on longer. i do also wish they had spent a few more episodes in phoenix drop just because when they send aphmau to bright port, it felt like they just sent a baby into the abyss. guys this woman barely knows how to exist, lets put our thinking caps on for a second this is a bad idea.
tl;dr rebirth… kinda… sucks for me? i didn’t remember not liking it this much, and i can’t help but wonder how much of that depends on the fact that i have the original diaries to compare it to.
but a very large part of my dislike for rebirth definitely comes from aphmau’s character, which is really unfortunate because she’s the main character 😭 rebirth also does move really fast, but i think it makes sense because i think past brenden getting shot, it was going to go in a different direction than diaries. it just feels weird because of having diaries’ pace to compare it to.
tl;dr 2 rebirth really suffers from having diaries to compare it to imo. i might’ve liked it more if i had never seen diaries/grown up on it like. i’d still dislike aphmau’s character, but i think i didn’t have diaries aph to compare her to, i’d get over it (had the series continued). which is the second downside, that it ended so soon. #truthbomb: i did the poll because i wanted to know if i was just a hater or we were all haters in this together
jacobvanloon
vaporwave
romaincrisis
kaledo-art
annaxmalina
