"Then fall, Caesar"

twenty-six. huge nerd. Batman. costumes. draw. woo.

[thedarkvictory]

Flavors of Youth Review

This collaboration between CoMix Wave and Haoliners Animation falters at times, but is a good experience in the end.

An anthology in three parts, Flavors of Youth tells the stories of youth across China as they reach major junctions in their lives, along with all the stress and pain that entails.

The first of the three tales, The Rice Noodles, follows a young man’s connection to his grandmother through their shared love of a noodle dish, and how his life changes when the establishment that sells those noodles moves.While I would consider it to be narratively the weakest of the three, the story itself is a great concept, and it definitely communicates what it’s trying to.The background animation is great, and while the character animation can be stiff, I’m inclined to believe it resulted from short production times rather than any mishandling by the animation studios. The voice acting in this one is almost entirely exposition, and that’s what kept me from enjoying it as much as the rest. When you’re dealing with animation, where there are few hard limits, being told how characters feel versus being shown how they feel winds up appearing like a lazy directorial move.

The second story, A Little Fashion Show, revolves around a model‘s struggle with her place in the industry. Understanding that she has to put in twice as much effort to compete with the younger models, she begins to question whether she wants to keep going. A Little Fashion Show succeeds in its portrayal of a woman going through the roughest time in her life, and how her life outside of work informs her decisions regarding her ever-increasing slew of problems. The segment does get a little rocky in the way it handles the character of Shui Jing, a younger model who serves as the foil of the piece. Overall, however, A Little Fashion Show is a great short.

The final story, Love in Shanghai, is a story about love, plain and simple.In 1999 Shanghai, Li Mo agrees to help an injured Xiau Yu by recording missed lectures for her on cassette tapes. When he receives a cassette tape in response, it kicks off a relationship between the two that plays out in a spectacularly heartwarming way. It’s easy to understand why someone would consider this to be the best of the bunch. The voice acting really sells this one, and it comes off natural and honest to the characters. While I would love to talk about the ins-and-outs of the story, I wouldn’t want to include any spoilers, so I’ll just say that I recommend watching.

And just like the other CoMix Wave produced film we covered, The Garden of Words, this is one you should watch the credits for as well.

You can find Flavors of Youth, just like The Garden of Words, streaming on Netflix.

[thedarkvictory]

The Garden of Words Review

A look back at one of director Makoto Shinkai’s greatest works.

Released in 2013 from the director of the critically-acclaimed film Your Name, The Garden of Words surrounds the budding friendship between fifteen-year-old Takao Akizuki, and twenty-seven-year-old Yukari Yukino as they attempt to avoid the rain at the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden.

What starts as a calm, serene movie becomes an emotionally impactful drama very quickly within its short 46-minute run-time. The story somehow manages to survive its own brevity, perfectly conveying the progression of the relationship between its title characters without sacrificing its gentle pace. Looking back after the fact, it is impressive how such a well-paced, well-thought-out story managed to compact itself into such a small amount of time while preserving the natural escalation of emotion it needed to succeed. While the movie certainly didn’t feel long, it also didn’t feel short, and is one of the best examples of proper pacing I have seen in a long time.

Moreover, the relationship between the two characters never felt out of place or unrealistic. It’s easy to see a story about a minor and an adult in a similar setting and start to feel uncomfortable about the possibilities, but this movie handles its subject matter without so much as dipping a toe into that pond. Shinkai writes these characters with such a subtle hand that their words and actions never really feel uncharacteristic or unrealistic, and I often found myself relating to the fifteen-year-old Takao Akizuki and his frustration with his youth - his struggle to feel and appear more mature. I was certainly that kid at his age: hoping to be viewed as someone more than I am, and not wanting to be seen as just some kid.

On the other hand, it’s easy to relate to Yukari Yukino’s fear that she isn’t “adult enough”, and it’s a fear that director Makoto Shinkai seemed to relate to when he was her age. “We’re all just children at 27” said the director, echoing a similar statement made by the Japanese voice actress for Yukari, Kana Hanazawa.

I originally watched the subtitled version some years ago, but rewatched it over the weekend when I came across it on Netflix, dubbed. While many other anime have trouble keeping the emotional weight of their words after translation, the English dub does not suffer. The acting from Fate mainstay Patrick Poole and Monster Musume’s Maggie Flecknoe matches the tone of the film well, and avoids the kind of word jumble that can frequently occur in translations.

Overall, I think the film is a perfect example of the “simple plot but complex characters” dynamic, and everything from the tone, pacing, music, writing, and acting work in concert to produce something that is as close to perfect as it can be. I would recommend anyone with a Netflix subscription and an interest in anime watch it, and definitely stay for the end credits.

All in all, I’m now more excited than ever for the American release of Shinkai's Weathering With You this January 2020.

[thedarkvictory]

Overstep Review

An ambitious genre mix with a lot of charm that needs a little more time to cook.

Overstep, the freshman title from Estonian developers Gamecan, is a free-to-play competitive arena shooter with an X-Games twist.

Equal parts Quake and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Overstep's scoring mechanic is all about style. The rules are simple: jump, slide, wall-run, and grind rails to increase your multiplier and fill your "Heat" meter while taking down enemies trying to do the same. The first team to fill their meter wins the round.

It might seem that, with the free-running options provided in Overstep, the gameplay might include a steep learning curve, but it is deceptively simple. Competing against other players may feel daunting at first, but the rapid pace of the rounds temper after one or two matches, and it isn't long before you find yourself stringing together complex combos while ducking gunfire.

Unfortunately, as it stands, Overstep is a pretty bare despite its ambitious ideas. Currently in Early Access, the game includes a training and a 1v1 mode, and not much else. The 3v3 mode advertised on its Steam page has yet to be implemented, it only features one map, and it offers nothing in the way of customization outside of a few purchasable skins.

Overstep makes me feel like Tony Hawk with a glock, and I am here for it.

The most pressing issue Overstep has, however, is its sometimes dreadfully long queue times. Whether it exists as a side-effect of being so early in development or whether it simply lacks an appropriate player base, it can take a very long time to find and load into a match. The only time I consistently loaded into matches within moments was around 10-11pm PST. Outside of that, I found that matchmaking could last the better part of fourteen minutes before loading in, and that's a shame, because the gimmick is enjoyable and its short matches leave me wanting to jump back in to experience more immediately.

Overstep is definitely a game to watch, and I would recommend that anyone who is even mildly intrigued by the concept check it out. Gamecan has the potential to have a real winner on their hands, and I'm excited to see what new characters, maps, and modes they dream up with this concept.

Overstep is a free-to-play game for Windows and can be downloaded on Steam here.

[thedarkvictory]

Rainbow Six Siege’s Latest Event Was A Major Disappointment

Ubisoft’s latest mission based on the popular Netflix show Money Heist carried none of the charm of its previous events.

A mix of tactical gameplay and a robbery-gone-wrong shouldn’t have disappointed.

An event in Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege over the weekend had the popular competitive tactical shooter cross over with the Spanish series Money Heist, or, La Casa De Papel. Given the execution of prior events, this combination of a tactical shooter and a show based on the assault on the Royal Mint of Spain should have carried the same frantic, intense action of the show, or even older events like Outbreak, Showdown, or The Doktor’s Curse, but it ultimately fell flat.

On it’s own, there’s very little to pick apart about the event that isn’t fitting for the theme. One team assaults a bank to retrieve a hostage, and the other team tries to prevent that from happening. However, nothing about this event was explicitly new or inspired.

The event takes place in Bank - a standard Rainbow Six map that is in regular rotation for every mode, and the map itself has had no alterations or allusions to the property it is supposed to be replicating. Unlike The Doktor’s Curse, where an existing map, Theme Park, was used but was significantly altered to add to the mood of to the event, Bank stays exactly the same, lacking any environmental storytelling to help cement its connection to the Money Heist property. Adding to the disappointment, the mode is a simple Hostage re-skin, which, for a property about a bank robbery, one would assume a Money Heist event would involve stealing money.

The only thing new about the event: Money Heist skins for Hibana and Vigil.

In the end, the Money Heist event felt more disappointing than exciting. It may be because of Ubisoft’s track record prior to this event, but an event that exists only to sell a couple of costumes feels a little off in Siege. Going into the event, I assumed the event would have been a version of Hostage sure, but given the Money Heist property, having a smash-and-grab event where the attackers have to retrieve two or three bags of cash from the vault and deliver them outside of the bank would have been more fitting. I hope that the next event will have a little more TLC put into it and return to the previous model of adding a dramatic gameplay shift that makes the event feel genuinely unique.

At least the skins looked pretty cool.

[thedarkvictory]

Everybody, meet the new gargoyle mascot for my Twitch channel!

[thedarkvictory]

Drawing I just recently did of an outfit that may or may not be a little too much to actually wear around. 

[iraffiruse]

[medic-ludilo]

carnalincarnate

[paramedicdownsouth]

You can’t not reblog this

[thatsthat24]

There should be a limit to how many times your mind can be blown in one post.

[farinurlaubofficial-deactivated]

this fucking vine. i want steve buscemi to say this. like i want a remake of this vine starring steve buscemi

[de4ct1v4t3d-deactivated20210506]

it’s comforting to know we have a backup buscemi in case we lose the other one

[friedchickenugget]

me when i go on vacation

[tastefullyoffensive]

(via hbarinsky)

[thedarkvictory]

Clark Kent in Man of Steel: *holds back from using his powers against human bullies because he knows he could hurt them very badly*

Clark Kent in Man of Steel: *wanders the world trying to keep a low profile and helping people whenever he can*

Clark Kent in Man of Steel: *practically glows when Lois Lane smiles at him*

Clark Kent in Dawn of Justice: *buys his girlfriend flowers and cooks for her*

Clark Kent in Dawn of Justice: *does his best to continue helping people in spite of his detractors*

Clark Kent in Dawn of Justice: *struggles with crippling feelings of guilt and self-doubt*

Clark Kent in Dawn of Justice: *sacrifices himself to save a world which has rejected him*

Critics: DC's nascent cinematic universe has so far depicted Superman as an angry god; a violent, alien entity that needs to be kept in check.

[luwha]

Reasons to live

Junkrat’s smile

That’s it.

[luwha]

Let me prove my point

[junkphilia]

LaY ME T O R e S T,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[8amba]

look at this cutiepie

[missraven-c]

@dontyoufourcheddarboutme

[justiceleague]

They taught me the world only makes sense if you force it to.

[jessicahenwicks-deactivated2018]

[deadpan-searcher]

Alfred “Why won’t you give me any heirs” Pennyworth

[fuckyeahnightmares]

Turn That Pussy Shit Off

amurderofhungrycrows submitted: 

  There was this guy that I knew who worked at my apartment complex.  From my own personal experience in dealing with him I could tell he was a bit of a jackass.  I’d see him pretty often in the gym with his buddies, and sometimes I’d listen in on their macho bullshit just because it was ridiculous.  He was saying how earlier he saw a dead body because someone had killed themselves in the apartment complex. 

 There had been complaints of someone blaring their music in the morning.  Normally they are not allowed to enter someone’s apartment, but the music was so loud they had to intervene.  It was the same song playing on repeat.  He said he was with a maintenance worker, and another office employee. 

 The other office employee had looked into the bathroom because the door was open and she screamed because they were hanging from the shower rod.  She ran out of the apartment.  He said the maintenance worker rushed in and pulled the shower curtain to cover the body, so he only saw half of it but that, “They looked taller, and their eye was still open.”  He said the song was Memory from the Cats musical, and that his mom used to listen to it all the time so he knew what it was. 

 He told the maintenance worker, “Turn that pussy shit off.” The way that he said it you could tell he felt pretty badass about it.  I had no idea of the death because I live in another building, and didn’t hear the music and wasn’t aware anything had happened.  

So the next day few days I don’t see him at the gym.  When I do see him again he’s in the courtyard area talking to one of his friends.  I met eyes with him briefly.  When you can just look at a person and tell something is very wrong- it’s usually something very bad.  He was smoking a cigarette and pacing.  I pretended to tie my shoe so I could listen. 

 He was angry and ranting about presumably his other buddy.  "You know how he is, and I know he’s doing this to get back at me.  He’s into computers and stuff and I just know it was him.  Fucking hacker.  I’m going to knock the shit out of him.“  He kept repeating variations of “I know it was him,” and “I’m going to beat him up.”  I was getting up to leave when I heard him say, “That same song, playing late as fuck on my computer and I can’t turn it off.”

Fuck Yeah Nightmares Mod Fey: 7/10 for scares and thank you for sharing!

[rockhardgeologist]

[renzo649]

[brinconvenient]

Aw, man, this scene is so much better now that TFA came out and Rogue One’s trailer dropped.