My Page of Shit

This is where I put whatever I feel like.

[zoruru1]

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[zoruru1]

Finished: Hibike! Euphonium (Sound! Euphonium)

This is the first season of Hibike! Euphonium and I actually have already seen it many years ago, but I decided to rewatch it recently because I wanted to watch the new material, and I held the show in high regard. Also, I just love Kyoto Animation shows in general.

Hibike! Euphonium follows Kumiko Oumae as she enters high school and finds herself joining the band, and from there she meets all sorts of new people, confronts her past, and does some soul searching. Every character is likable or respectable to some degree, even if you disagree with something they did. Despite the fact that KyoAni is the studio behind this show, the show was full of tense drama and buildup, rather than the pure comfy stuff you would expect from something like K-On!. There always seemed to be some sort of problem after the next popping up into the lives of the cast, whether it be feelings of love, competition between band members, or self-improvement. Even with all these individual issues surfacing, the band still has a clear goal that is being worked upon throughout the whole season as well, making the anime feel like it has an overall direction it wants to follow. I very much liked how the confidence of the school band and its incompetency at the beginning was a major concern that involved pretty much all the students, including members slacking off in practice, characters unsure if going for nationals is something they can afford to do, and social dynamics between the older and younger members in the past and present. The show manages to express the stories of multiple characters without feeling like they were too rushed or too long. I really liked the band’s newly introduced teacher, Noboru Taki, because he is extremely strict and harsh on the group, despite his very calm and friendly outer demeanor. With Noboru’s help, the band manages to reach great heights, but his pressure make the members realize just how inferior they are and how cruel the costs of success can be. Hibikie! Euphonium not only succeeds in telling a compelling story, but it has amazing visuals (sasuga KyoAni) and sound. The animation and style was extremely pretty, and it always felt like there was something worth your time to look at on the screen at every passing second. I also noticed there were points where the camera of the scene wasn’t stabilized, which made scenes feel more dynamic.

They also drew the background characters to look distinct and have little personalities of their own in the very short moments those background characters got, which is something I love to see (this was also done in K-On!). I also love it when the side characters got more development and sometimes conflicted with the main cast. Humanizing the side characters with their own problems and developments made the world feel more alive, and it brought interesting conflict into the show that made you feel less one-sided to the protags. One specific example would be Yuuko Yoshikawa. At first she seems like a huge bitch who is super needy and wants the attention of Kaori Nakaseko really bad, to the extent that many would probably assume that Yuuko might be gay for her. However, you later learn how Yuuko actually greatly admires Kaori and wants to fight for her the way she fought for the underclassmen in the past. What made this plot point so great was when Yuuko castrated herself by bowing to Reina, begging her to let Kaori play trumpet solo because it was going to be her last year, and noting that Kaori was screwed over that position in the year before. This scene was so great because Yuuko is such a seemingly prideful and confrontational character, so when she bowed to the very person she hated, who was ruining Kaori’s last chance to show herself, it was very impactful and spoke volumes how much respect there was for Kaori. The final face off between Kaori and Reina was amazingly done and I loved it, even if it was painful.

The sound in this show was amazing to boot. I cannot speak as someone who knows anything about music theory, has been in a band, or has even mastered an instrument, but the sound design was amazing. It was very often you would be able to hear characters use their personal instruments as individuals or as a whole ensemble. There were moments when characters would compare their instrument playing to each other, and you could actually hear the difference between them in terms of skill. Not only were the mastered songs from the band sounding good when they did prepare for them, but the OST in just about any part of the anime was great as well. The soundtrack was always so beautiful, clean, and was great at trying to incite emotion to the scene. This anime kind of makes me wish I played in a band so I could fully appreciate the scenarios and the sound.

However, despite the fact I have been giving this show nothing but praise, there is one glaring “flaw” that I cannot get seem to get over or figure out. I put “flaw” in quotes because obsessed yuri fans would not consider this a flaw but rather an absolute win. This concern is the relationship between Kumiko and Reina Kousakal. Reina is actually a major plot point and motivation for Kumiko, and one cannot help but admire Reina’s dedication to her craft. The problem I had was that the show felt like it was yuri-baiting super hard. It felt like they had someone direct one episode where the two girls are gay, and then in the next episode they are no longer gay, but then they are gay in the one after that. It’s as if their interactions seem normal at a 1/10 on the yuri scale, but then the intern accidentally sat on the lever and shot it up to 10/10 for high moments. I’ve seen people use the source material to direct the debate, but KyoAni is known for saying fuck-all to the source and just doing what they think would be better. I’ve seen people arguing about the translation for an interview with the creators on whether or not they meant for it to be yuri, but the conclusion I have come to is that Kumiko was in love with Reina in a non-sexual way, but it’s still up in the air since it’s KyoAni. I say this is a confusing issue because a few times in the show, Kumiko would make eye contact or interact with Reina and then blush, which implies embarrassment that could be caused by her past with Reina or that she actually finds Reina attractive, so it’s still not clear. Later on, they have the well-known mountain scene where Kumiko says Reina’s non-hatred feeling towards pain is hot as they go up the mountain, and then Reina does her speech while sliding her finger down Kimiko’s face and flicking her lips. During Reina’s speech, Kumiko mentions how invested into Reina’s ambition she was becoming and that she felt like falling victim to her. During the walk up the mountain, Reina mentions love and the confession of her love a few times, but I think she was referring to her desire to work hard and stand out from the crowd. Because of how beautiful the whole exchange was, I could definitely see why people think it was intended to be romantic, especially because of the lip flicking scene, but I felt that Kumiko would’ve been much less blunt and more flustered if she actually did feel more than friends to her. Then in the episode where Reina has to compete for her trumpet solo again, she walks up SUPER close to Kumiko, putting her hand on Kumiko’s face. During the entire encounter, Kumiko emphasizes how much she supports Reina and that she will be by her side. Kumiko even says something along the lines of confessing her love, but they’re both so calm about it the whole time. To compile onto the Kumiko X Reina belief, both those girls have the Red Thread of Fate and I’m not sure there’s ever been an anime where that did not imply a destined love affair. When I first saw this scene a few years ago, I was convinced they were gay, but I have doubts after rewatching this season. After following the dialogue (putting my faith in subtitles) more closely, it seems like Kumiko had found herself in a rut in life, but Reina’s obsession had inspired Kumiko heavily. Kumiko could finally relate to Reina’s feelings in middle school when they failed to succeed in a music competition, and she realized she wanted to strive to achieve greatness just like Reina. Reina had become her person of admiration. The scenes with K&R are just so beautiful and intimate that it makes you wanna believe there’s more to it without actually explaining if there is. As intimate as the two scenes I talked about earlier were, Kumiko’s lack of flustering makes me believe that the bond between them is just a super strong friendship or camaraderie. But even the friendship part is iffy, not because I don’t believe they have a strong bond, but because Reina felt like an autist to me with how their development escalated. It’s not clear whether or not Kumiko was friends with her in middle school or earlier, so my assumption is that they were just in the same group and knew each other as band mates, but maybe not great friends. That idea is kind of odd though, because Kumiko feels so strongly towards apologizing for her comments to Reina when they lost the competition years ago, almost like she wants to rekindle an old friendship even though it’s not explicitly said if they were great friends previously. Reina’s personality was also distant and calm all the time, almost like a machine, so it was refreshing to see those moments where she vented out her emotions. However, whenever it wasn’t a high point in the interactions between K&R, Reina felt close yet distant at the same time. I don’t understand why Reina felt the need to vent so much to Kumiko, or even want to be friends so badly. There weren’t many moments if at all where I felt like Reina was just casually chilling with Kumiko, which wasn’t supposed to be an impactful scene. When Kumiko forgets her phone behind at school, she later finds out Reina tried to call her a ton of times, but why? Why was Reina so interested in Kumiko even though Kumiko’s earlier personality represents the type of person Reina said she dislikes (the type of people who don’t want to stand out and feel fine being in a crowd)? What do they even talk about when they’re not talking about something very important and drama related? I feel like this issue I have could’ve been alleviated if the show explained they were close friends up until that pivotal point in middle school, or if Reina had more moments where it didn’t feel so serious and she was very chill and friendly, or the climax moments between K&R didn’t feel like the perfect set-up for a love confession, or if we just had more insight into what Reina is thinking besides her goal in life. I did like that Reina had a lot of respect for their teacher and would lose her emotions to defend him. It was clear there was something going on with her when she screamed into the air earlier on in the season. For clarification, I wanted there to be moments with Reina in them that had a similar feel as when Kumiko is hanging out with Sapphire "Midori" Kawashima and Hazuki Katou. These two girls were an absolute joy to watch, and the dynamic between all three of them as a group was fantastic. On the other hand, Reina always felt distant up until she wasn’t. Also, a lot of people shit on Shuuichi Tsukamoto because he ruins the idea of the K&R ship, but I actually like him a lot. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, who just wants to rekindle his friendship and express his love to Kumiko. Despite the fact that Reina kept getting so much screen time and impactful moments, I couldn’t help but feel I wanted to support Shuuichi. There were a lot of playful moments between him and Kumiko, and he was also trying to support her too. People say that Kumiko is just being tsundere to him, but if that was what KyoAni was going for, they made her seem super indifferent to him, because there was no blushing or inner thoughts that made it seem like she was interested. One could argue that shows just how comfortable she is with him, but whatever. I’m really hoping that in the next season, if the K&R ship doesn’t actually take off, then K&S will address that situation in middle school where Shuuichi insulted her because he didn’t want her to embarrass him, because Kumiko seems caught up on that. Hopefully season 2 addresses my concerns. Because of this, I went back and turned my 10/10 rating to a 9/10 on MAL, only because I feel like K&R’s relationship is such an important part of the story that the mixed messages bothers me. However, it might as well be a 9.9/10.

Also, I just love these two characters.

[zoruru1]

Finished: Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun (Toilet-bound Hanako-kun)

I decided to watch this anime solely on the art style. Toilet-bound Hanako-kun is an anime that follows a girl named Nene Yashiro as she meets an undead boy (Hanako-kun) who is one of the Seven Wonders of the school, and then later they both meet a young exorcist (Kou Minamoto). It is Hanako’s job to keep the balance of supernatural activities on the school campus from getting out of control, and together these three explore the mysteries of the school.

I absolutely adored the art style of this show and it was actually fun to watch. The main heroine, Nene, was so cute and innocent. I especially love the reoccurring joke that other people recognize Nene’s legs/ankles as abnormal and refer to her as a daikon. Hanako was also interesting because even though he loves playing tricks and teasing the cast, his past is mysterious and earlier on you have doubts about whether or not he’s a “good” person. I really liked the outfit he puts on when he powers up to fight, and his voice acting was real nice for the type of character I imagine they were trying to represent. I don’t really have any major bias to Kou, he seemed like a pretty standard young and outgoing character. I liked that apparitions are controlled by the rumors that humans spread about them, and if apparitions don’t adhere to the rules of their rumor, they have to adapt or cease to exist. I also think it was neat that the Seven Wonders are supposed to be extremely powerful in their respective worlds (boundaries), but had a weak spot in that world which would make them lose their full control over it. After the first few episodes, these little pink rabbit looking spirits start showing up in pretty much every episode, either doing miscellaneous things in the background or even helping the characters. These pink rabbits are called Mokke, and it was cool they started showing up so much because their existence was saved by Nene’s efforts. I really liked the arc with the 2nd Wonder, Misaki Stairs. Misaki’s boundary looked really pretty and the way to enter it was to step on a specific step on a staircase, which led to students essentially getting spirited away. It was cool that she could manipulate scissors to attack people and turn them into dolls, and I found her backstory pretty heartwarming, since she’s an somewhat ignorant spirit who is trying to bring a human back to life by forcing other humans to put together a body. I also really liked the 5th Wonder, The 4PM Bookstacks, because it was cool that an extension to the school’s library had books documenting the past, present, and future of people in the school. Although it wasn’t addressed directly, when Nene read her future in a book, it turned the book red and started leaking blood-like coloring. Earlier, you learn that black books are for dead people, white books are for the living, and that red books should never be opened, but there weren’t any visible red books up until Nene read her future. Also, after Nene read her future she was attacked by a mysterious entity. This seems to imply that knowing one’s future is forbidden knowledge, and I really like the concept of forbidden knowledge.

The show wasn’t without its problems though. I’m assuming that production was hurt by the recent Covid problem, because there are points where it felt like the animation was lacking, but the biggest concern was the fact that the voices weren’t actually synced correctly to the mouths of the characters sometimes. Luckily, the unique art style helps alleviate it through those issues, but it was disappointing to see it held back like this. I also felt like the middle episodes sometimes had a weird pacing feeling, one of those feelings due to the fact that there seemed to be a plot point that Kou has a lot of pressure on him by his older brother to exorcise ANY apparition he sees, since they come from a well-known lineage, but Kou later gets over this all of a sudden. After lurking in manga reader threads, I learned that they skipped an arc where Kou’s feeling towards his duty is addressed, and some lengthy exposition in The 4PM Bookstacks was “rushed” according to those forum posters. Despite the troubles I listed, I still found the show enjoyable and my favorite character so far has to be Nene. Gave it a 7/10 on MAL.

[zoruru1]

Finished: Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na! (Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!)

So I wasn’t too interested in this anime at first sight because the art style isn’t one that I love all too much, but I decided to check it out because it had a pretty nice rating on MAL and I wanted to try something different. I can safely say that I do not regret that decision. Unfortunately, this anime may not really get as much attention as it might deserve because the girls are NOT coomer bait.

The main motivation of the characters and basis of the show was to fulfill their dream of creating anime. Nothing too spectacular of a plot, but what really made this anime shine was how it presented the interactions between characters and the mysterious world they live in. One of the most noticeable things about this show was the emphasis on the creative brainstorming processes the characters were developing, and the world around them would shift to exactly display the fictional ideas they were conjuring. This led to the animation spicing up the environment and animation. The characters would also go out of their way to comment on why they would choose to animate something the way they would, the realistic inspirations, and how important some of the details are in properly conveying the image to the audience. It was very cool to see the girls planning how they wanted to create their animations, going through the construction process, and then actually showing their finished work at the “climax” episode of that arc. I loved how when the protags showed off their first animation, the audience in the room looked like they were experiencing the effects of the animation in real life, and aspects of the animation were popping out of the screen at them. But the fantasy moments weren’t the only entertaining details. It seemed to be hinted at that the world they live in is further into the future than ours, and the structural design of their city is very unique and sometimes convoluted. It was very interesting to see what kind of places they would see when going around town or running around school, and also the activities of the miscellaneous citizens in this world.

This is a picture of the teachers’ office. With the staircases and bridge, you might think it’s just some strange double floor design, but closer inspection of the ladder and lines tells you that this office is in a pool. The main characters were also very likable. Midori Asakusa is constantly playing around with her fantasy ideas and is a big fan of adventuring. Tsubame Mizusaki is a famous girl who comes from a rich family, and her struggles in the show center around her desire to create anime conflicting with meeting her parents’ hopes of being an actress. Sayaka Kanamori is definitely a strange character but she’s also probably a common favorite because of her quirks. Kanamori is constantly trying to find ways to earn money or gain the upper hand in negotiations, while also being the driving force that helps the other two girls organize themselves in the anime production process. She’s very confident, meticulous, clever, and scheming. I could imagine some people finding Sayaka’s penny pinching and cutthroat personality to be off-putting, but she later on gets a charming backstory explanation for why she is like that. Some of the side characters were entertaining or charming as well. If you aren’t really down to watch the usual types of anime that is filled with cliches or ecchi, then this anime would be worth the try. I believe it to have a slower start, but I felt like it really takes off by the 3rd or 4th episode. This anime is definitely and example of S O U L to me. I gave it a 8/10 on MAL.

[zoruru1]

Finished: Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭ (Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend .flat)

This is the second season in the series. I actually made a post about the first season years ago in 2015, but I obviously don’t get as much free time anymore to watch and post stuff. I’m sure my tastes in anime have changed since then, but I rewatched the first season in preparation for this one and still liked it. I didn’t read the light novels so my thoughts on this are gonna be mostly anime exclusive without much knowledge of the source material.

The first thing I noticed about this season in comparison to the first season was the sharp increase in drama, sharper than the spike in Covid-19 positive tests from the US. The first season was full of romcom bullshittery and witty remarks, topped with a comfy feel and charming characters. The second season, however, has a bunch of tense developments and character breakdowns, distancing itself far away from the comfy comedy side. If you found yourself invested in the characters after the first season, the second season really is just a roller coaster of emotions, especially if you previously wanted Eriri or Utaha to win the protag’s heart. If you only watch for Michiru though, then the show ended at season one for you. It’s a shame that she came in super late during the first season, and got next to zero screen time during the second season, which is weird because the opening made her feel like she was gonna be relevant. Speaking of the opening, I feel like the first one was better and had that iconic moment when the animation focuses on each girl’s fingers as they work. The first couple episodes destroyed me and made me take a few days of break, because it was just full of Utaha getting shat on. I liked that she was so upset about her relationship with Tomoya, the two scenarios she wrote were metaphors for Tomoya to pick her or not, compounding on the fact that she asked him whether or not she should stay in the area after graduating. The build up to the after credits scene where Tomoya tells her both scenarios are crappy as she’s getting upset was so heartbreaking. Tomoya, like the chad he is, ignores her projections onto the group’s game efforts and defuses the situation in the next episode, making the after credits scene feel really forced (Jebaited). But the final nail in the coffin, is when Utaha basically admits “defeat” to Megumi on the school rooftop, leading Megumi to dance with Tomoya near the bonfire while Eriri draws them like the cuck she is. MY HEART, MY SOUL, MY SHIP. The next part of the story focuses on Eriri’s struggles to put out good artwork in time for the deadline, leading to her getting sick and Tomoya taking care of her at a vacation villa, which causes them to miss the deadline for printing the game cases. I actually liked this part of the story, but I’ve heard from LN readers that there was actually a lot of development between the two while they were alone at the villa and more development for Iori, which got rushed. What a shame, because the show only did 11 episodes anyway, so they could’ve just added one more episode to make it 12. Now my biggest problems come after this point in the story, immediately after they sell out of their games at Comiket. Megumi acts super cold towards Tomoya and then tells him she pissed and can’t forgive him easily for what he’s done, but she’s so vague about the issue. First of all, I don’t understand how so many anime watchers liked Megumi THAT much. Although she did work hard to contribute to the game’s development, cooked at Tomoya’s place, and had witty remarks, she was just so bland and boring, which was the point. I understand that she didn’t feel like a trope, more like a real life girl who is putting up with the situation and being quiet about it as next to zero emotions display in her face or voice, but she just felt like a contrarian pick to me in the first season and throughout 1/4th of the second season. Tomoya makes repeated attempt to talk to Megumi after that day, but Megumi keeps trying to avoid him and ignoring his calls, instead of confronting their problems. Now I wouldn’t have minded if this was like a week or something, but it lasted for TWO months. Like, what, what the fuck? The issue with this was that she was just being so mysterious to him about what the exact problem was. Yes, she did mention that she’s mad Tomoya didn’t call her when he was taking care of Eriri, leading to the game not getting the prints it needed in time, but she avoided him for two months about this. Eventually, Tomoya traps her in the AV room and gets her to cry when he acknowledges how hard she has been working on this game, but why did she have to make it two months of conflict? It’s so perplexing to me. Now from this point on, Megumi starts displaying emotions and speaking more, which is another problem. She has been such a cardboard person leading up this point, that her problem with Tomoya only made me wanna be annoyed at her. If she started displaying more emotion like an episode or two earlier, I would’ve been more inclined to care about that moment more. I guess she just wanted more acknowledgement? Okay, but screw all that, now let’s get to my biggest gripe.

When Tomoya finds out from Utaha that both her and Eriri were jumping ship to join another project, it tore a hole in my heart. He got betrayed so painfully bad. The problem isn’t the idea of the two most successful girls leaving the group, because I think it creates an interesting dilemma, but the circumstances surrounding it. Utaha rants that Tomoya isn’t pushing them hard enough as a director despite this being a friend group project and Tomoya doing this for the first time, Akane (the woman who poached them) has a super scummy personality and was heavily pressuring and harassing them at the meetup, the acknowledgement from Eriri about this being a second betrayal, and the most criminalizing detail that is leagues above the former complaints is the fact that they were holding out on telling the group for a WHOLE MONTH. It was a very real fear that Utaha and Eriri were just too advanced for Tomoya’s group to stick around forever, but the fact that they were planning this break off together for a whole month without saying anything is just painful. I don’t know if it was both of them were hoping the other would inform the group out of fear, but that was awful. This leads into my next point being that how quickly Tomoya forgives them, which I really hope was an anime original decision and wasn’t what happened in the source material because I hate it. Tomoya meets the two deserters at the train station before they leave for Kyoto and tells them it’s all OK. No, it’s not OK. Yes, it’s reasonable to be happy that your super talented friends are gonna get to work on a famous series, but not that they held out on you for a whole month, leading you on to think the circle was safely preparing for the next game. Megumi also forgives Eriri, even though they played a short scene of her crying at Eriri’s doorstep during a confrontation. That confrontation between Eriri and Megumi definitely needed to be heard, because I felt like it would’ve really helped establish Megumi more than the background support she has been doing for so long (I’ve heard that in the novels she takes way longer to forgive Eriri). It just feels so awful because they betrayed Tomoya, and there was no real direct conflict between them about it. This makes me want to hate them for it. The scene where Eriri is drawing for Utaha in the art club and yells about how Tomoya couldn’t motivate her to draw better but Akane could, felt like some NTR shit. It’s pretty clear from my season one post that I really like Utaha and was rooting for her, but I left season 1 with a winning girls ranking order of

                                    Utaha > Eriri > Michiru > Megumi 

                  and then left season 2 with a winning girls ranking order of

                                    Megumi > Michiru > Utaha > Eriri

This doesn’t meant I no longer find the previous high rankers to have likable traits, but they did the near unforgivable in the second season, and I don’t want them winning Tomoya as a result, unless somehow this betrayal is addressed later in the movie or something, which I doubt. This is gonna keep me up at night. I really wish there was more Michiru because she always kept the mood up. No idea when I will get to the movie, because I’m just so sad about the betrayal right now. Not gonna lie though, when Utaha stole Eriri’s kiss at the train station, it made me want to forgive her but I cannot do that in good faith. Also I wrote this while running on fumes because I have a fucked up sleep life. I think I gave this a 7/10 on MAL.

[zoruru1]

Luna Letdown

So I have purchased some Squishable plushies in the past during sales (because I hate paying full price for something that is not food), and have started following some of their prototype designs in hopes I would like the final product. They usually put up some kind of concept art to provide you with an idea of what the plushie is supposed to look like. I recently received an email telling me their Luna Moth plushie has just released, and I was excited to see how it looks. I will now attach photos of the concept art and the physical plushie.

So I have four specific complaints. The first complaint is that the colors seem off from the concept art. The final shade of red does not feel like it blends well with the final shade of green. The green is also just too bright. The second complaint is that they decided to color the bottom edge of the wings white instead of red. The third is the fact that the antennae do not get wider as they go higher. The final complaint is that the fur collar doesn’t have this more natural looking puffball look like in the concept art. I feel depressed about it because I really wanted one that looks just like in the concept art. Shame, but at least I do not have to spend money.

[zoruru1]

They Did It Again

My last Tumblr post was me complaining about how I feel about the state of Overwatch and why I struggle to find it fun, and the post ended with me hoping the next character they add would breathe some life into me or some shit. Sometime after, I am immediately flabbergasted and disappointed yet again. When I saw the teaser where Hammond popped out of his mech I was hoping it was just a joke or something but if it was true his gameplay mechanics would be cool and enjoyable, which they are, only for the people playing him. He looks extremely annoying to deal with and also unfun to play against unless you are looking for shits and giggles. The grappling hook is the ability I currently have the biggest issue with. It looks fun as fuck to be swinging around and using your momentum to expand your route options, but it’s on a 5 second cooldown at the moment, allowing him to use it very often. This ability alone isn’t the spirit killer for me, it’s the combination with his other abilities that make me dread playing against him. His job is to be disruptive and disruptive he will be. Using his grappling hook to swing above you and then slamming down on you just seems so unfun to deal with as low mobility characters, on top of him possibly just popping a minefield all over you as he slams down. He moves pretty quick while rolling in his ball form and while grappling around. On top of that, he has an ability that lets him gain hundreds of shield health to prolong his existence, granted it has a 15 seconds cooldown though. Another aspect is that his primary fire automatically reloads after going into ball form for a while from his shooting form. The combinations of all this stuff just sound like hell to deal with when players start getting good with him. Death from above might be a reoccurring theme for low mobility characters once Hammond players learn to fluidly move around with their grappling hook. I can already see the how Hammond will swing in above your backline, slam down on their heads and while everyone who got displaced is reacting, he’ll just open up and get hundreds of shield health while blasting away with his primary fire and then trying to escape after 5 seconds, all to repeat the process again. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I think he’s some OP unstoppable force while simultaneously being an immovable object, but playing against him is not something I look forward to at all. 

[zoruru1]

Overbotched

What are they doing? Why do they do what they do? How did they come to this conclusion? Everything onwards is just an opinion on how the game should be based on a personal conclusion and should not be taken as a confident, objectively correct statement. When Overwatch first came out, I was super addicted to the game. The diversity of the cast and the gameplay is what sucked me in. Nowadays, the gameplay seems to be the most lacking part. I totally feel like Overwatch is trying to appeal more towards the casual players who don’t spend the majority of their time in Overwatch. The type of guy who stops by and plays every now and then as opposed to the no life (me) who sits in the dark and mindlessly grips the mouse 24/7. This might reason why balance changes have such a huge time gap in between each one, they want to be really sure of the changes they push out so that the more casual player doesn’t get disheartened that they have to relearn a character or aspect of the game. An example of this was how long the Mercy meta lasted (when her ult was first reworked). That meta was by far one of the worst metas I have ever played and it was especially worse for support players. The majority of my disdain is held towards the characters they have been releasing. Let’s take a look at my personal hate. 

This character, what is this character? Look at it. Let me pull up the wiki so I can be more accurate with my salt. Fajita, the latest edition to Overwatch. There seems to be a trend with making all supports pretty good except for Ana. What’s wrong with Brigitte? How much of annoyance she is allowed to be for a support. Brigitte has crazy 1v1 potential. I’m not gonna act like she can’t be played around because she can, but it’s not like the enemy player is automatically a bot that’ll let you play the way you want. If you’re not a tank and she gets the jump on you, you’re pretty much dead. A quick hit, stun, hit, and bash and you’re dead. Her shield lets her safely close the distance on you if you can’t break it in time, and if she starts hitting you she begins to self-heal which gives her an advantage against anyone who can’t self-heal. Don’t get me started on hitting then popping shield up really quick, then hitting against and popping shield up really quick. This makes her extremely unfun to fight against. Not to mention missing the flail is basically not going to happen if she is in range. Next up on the list is her heal. The heal can’t be missed because it’s a lock-on and it also over heals with armor (I’m glad they made the armor from E disappear after a few seconds) which cucks you from getting kills so hard. Compared to clutch last-minute heals from other healers, Brigitte’s E is by far the most frustrating to have to appear last second. Her ultimate is also super lame. When she first came out people were using her ult reactively, but now players are just popping it as soon as they get it and grouping up to get full armor benefits. And this armor is permanent too. Enough armor on someone blocks out a sniper’s headshot on a squishy. This ult has basically turned into “grant your teammates max armor”. A support that’s fearless and protects her team is what I understand they were going for, but this thing shouldn’t be fearless on her own. On maps like king of the hill which force you to get up close makes interaction with Brigitte inevitable and there won’t be enough time to pressure her shield down. The cooldown for her shield is only 3 seconds anyway, which leaves a really small window to punish. On top of that, she has the option to environmental kill with her flail and the knockback from the shift is no joke.

Shields galore. This bitch is Reinhardt without the drawback of not being able to do anything while shielding. And even when her shield does break she isn’t a helpless melee that just hides until it’s back, she can still function perfectly fine assuming she isn’t taking too much heat or doesn’t have fortify up. She also has the option to environmental kill without much risk, with her gravity orb able to pull multiple players. To me, she is just an annoying shield bot that slows the game down and halts actual interaction by making picks more difficult. Her shield has 900 health and the cooldown is only 8 seconds, that’s too short. In the ideal world, everyone focuses down Orisa’s shield before she gets the next one off cooldown but that doesn’t happen as often as you’d hope. There was also a time where picking Rein would lead you to get flamed for not picking Orisa. Seeing an Orisa instantly tilts me because I know it’ll be a game of “shoot the shield and hope you still have enough resources left by the time it’s gone or hope her next shield isn’t already off cooldown”. 

She’s ugly to me, that’s her biggest crime. Now let’s take a look at her kit. Her biggest offender is her fade, it is such an unbelievably solid ability. Sure, it doesn’t last very long but during the ability, she gains increased movement speed, become invisible, and uninteractable. Despite being uninteractable, she can still pick up health packs. Now an ability like this wouldn’t usually be that big a deal, if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s only on a 6 (six) second cooldown. That’s a pretty huge deal. Her fade lets her avoid damage from anything including D.va ult as well. The potential with this ability is limitless. Dodge a shatter, dodge a hog hook, dodge a flashbang, dodge a tire explosion, dodge a hanzo ult, GET OUT OF A GRAV. That’s right, movement abilities are disabled inside Zarya’s graviton except for Moira’s fade. Why the hell is this a thing? Is Moira just not allowed to be punished? This ability is way too forgiving. It’s so lenient, that I see Moira players simply using it for no reason sometimes, just because they wanted to save a few seconds walking somewhere when there wasn’t a good reason. The fact that she becomes invisible as well makes her a threat in a 1v1 situation because then she can possibly get the jump on you twice in one fight. Her healing spray can heal multiple people at once and does not require much aiming skills. The only downside is that she runs on a resource system when it comes to her vape juice, but the aim she needs with her S U C C beam is forgiving and has a decently long range. It doesn’t stop there, because the  S U C C beam also heals her. Onto another bullshit part of the kit. Her damage/healing orb. This ability is great. She has the option to accidentally kill people around the map or heal groups of people a shit ton without having to consume her own resource meter. What is the cooldown? 10 seconds. Oh, okay, that’s pretty mid-length, not too long not too short. Wait what was that? It LASTS 10 SECONDS LONG??? Why does this ability last the same time length as the cooldown? This means the orb has the potential to be up every single second of the game Moira is alive. In a 1v1 situation, she can just bounce a damage orb around the area and drain you whilst healing herself, and if she starts losing she can just fade out of your sight line to gain the upper hand. If you somehow make it 10 whole seconds of fighting her, congratulations, you’ll have to deal with another orb. If you’re not a character that can deal a lot of damage fast, you better have dead-on aim and tracking. Next up is her ultimate ability. This thing heals allies, hurts enemies, has super long range, and MAKES IT SUPER FUCKING HARD TO SEE. They changed that issue not too long ago in a patch but it took them so long to implement it. I don’t have too many qualms about it, but it can be used offensively and defensively and this will be an important point I’ll bring up later. Moira is just a super safe support. Trying to kill a good Moira in more than one shot/combo is a nightmare. 

Now unlike the previous portions of this text, I will not be ranting about Ana being unfun to play against but rather complaining about how lacking she is compared to the other supports. I don’t understand why they give the other supports reliable ways to protect themselves but then leave Ana the way she is. Does her kit have amazing potential? Yes. Is it easy to execute? Far from. The barriers I mentioned earlier with the introduction of Orisa and Brigitte are some of the offenders of this. Whenever a shield is around, Ana not only gets denied the ability to damage enemies but if her teammates position on the other side of the barrier she becomes incapable of healing them. Every other support does not struggle with this issue, only Ana has major problems with it. You know what else barriers can block? All of her abilities. Her healing/anti-heal grenade is one of the strongest tools in your kit when your teammates don’t get in the way of the toss, or when you’re not forced to use it on yourself as your only form of self-heal. Seriously, every other support can heal themselves in some convenient way (save for Brigitte who has to melee or hit a shift but her barrier keeps her safe enough for another healer to get to her). The grenade also only heals back 100 health, so you’re not guaranteed a way to fully heal yourself. What do you do when you see on Ana? Jump her. What is she gonna do? Run away? She has no mobility options. Sleep dart you say? Sleep dart is on a 12 second cooldown (reasonable) but your allies can wake up the enemy, barriers can block the dark, defense matrix can eat the dart, Genji can deflect the dart, and if you’re a flanker you’re generally difficult to hit. Sleeper dart can only sleep one person though, so if multiple people jump you then you have to depend on your team. All Ana has going for her is potential but what is potential if it can never be achieved? She’s the only support that has to stop healing for a reload (Moira has to suck resource but her healing orbs last 10 seconds and are on cooldown for 10 seconds). The reasoning for this? Probably because her darts have extreme healing potential, especially if her target has the healing buff but the requirements for this are the grenade hitting the correct target, and then Ana having to actually aim herself for every single shot in hopes nothing blocks her healing shots. Ana is the only support that requires intensive aim. If you miss one shot or have it blocked in a tense moment, your teammate dies and you’re next. For the longest time, your own teammates could block your healing darts. Yeah, the existence of your teammates could cripple you. They changed this not too long ago by having her healing darts pierce full health teammates. It took them so long to decide on and implement this change which goes back to the point I made earlier about how it’s possible they don’t wanna do changes too often because it might daunt the more casual players. Now onto her ultimate ability. Out of all the support ults, hers has to be the absolute worse one. It requires cooperation from teammates to execute well. Although it’s really rare, you can lose Nanoboost and the ult charge if something happens to you or your target at the perfect time. Nanoboost is used offensively almost exclusively because using it defensively is very situational, requires quick decision making, and results in you getting flamed 100% of the time by non-Ana players because “Ana should only every ult in combo with someone else’s ult” - Socrates with brain damage. Ana’s ult is the only support ult that constantly puts pressure on Ana to hold onto it until a fellow DPS has his ult, or spend it at unsure times only for the person who got nano boosted to miss all their shots without their built-in aimbot and flame you. Remember when picking Ana was considered borderline trolling and got you flamed immediately in ranked? Mercy meta was great. The other supports have the full impact of their ults left up to them and are not bound by any friendly ults. Many supports can use ults offensively or defensively more reliably in some way (In Zen and Lucio’s case ulting to push in on the enemies) while affecting their entire team. Ana’s ult also only applies to a single person and lasts only 8 seconds. Moira can potentially hit up to 11 targets for 8 seconds. Mercy can chain heal, chain damage boost, fly freely, move fast as fuck, gain increased health regen, all for 15 fucking seconds long. Mercy players at this point stop being scared and whip out their pistols to chase down DPS players or even tanks. What is that? Brigitte’s ult can affect her whole team with the potential for max armor that doesn’t decay over time and the ult lasts 10 seconds. Transcendence lasts only 6 seconds but the healing and damage denial it does is insane and it lasts just long enough to deny many damage based ults. Also can affect the whole team. At this point, I don’t feel like typing the rest about ults. The overlying issue with this is that it seems like characters who take less skill to play are being rewarded more than characters that take more skill to play. It makes the game super unfun not just in that aspect but in how you have to interact with this characters. Mercy’s ult is straight ridiculous. DPS players just ignore her half the time if they don’t have their ults because trying to whittle her down just doesn’t work unless you’re dead on your aim consistently without much damage dropoff. My credibility with these thoughts is just overall gaming experience and reaching 3900 highest in competitive mode. There is a little more that could be said but I feel that my point has come across on why I find the game less fun than I used to. Hopefully, the next character they add will make me feel some type of way and breathe some life back into me.

[zoruru1]

Spicy Spiel

Why do companies insist on teasing me? This giant flame on the bag clearly indicates to the average shopper “I’m spicy as fuck boi!!!!” and yet this was not the case at all. Sure, I expected the lime to offset the spicy flavor IF THERE WAS ANY SPICY FLAVOR TO IT. <---- (the period is also bolded) Fuck you HEB, make this spicier or rebrand this mayonnaise flavor. 

[ecchifortheplot]

[sugoidekai]

[zoruru1]

Art

Inspired by my school lunch, I have created this work of art. You can see that I took tips from my school lunch, as many of the key elements to a proper public school lunch can be identified from this image. You can feel the passion leaking from this image. This thing is a pile of meat squished together, with a hole dug into it so I can bury an egg yolk. Random spices were dropped on it, and it was baked in a toaster oven. This, however, is not the final product. I put it back in the toaster oven for some time longer, and the end result was unbelievably beautiful. I had to wear oven mits on top of oven mits to prevent the righteousness emitting from it. I had to wear three sets of sunglasses under my welding mask to prevent the holiness from burning out my eyes and shriveling up my lips. WARNING, NSFL. THE FOLLOWING IMAGE IS A DOCUMENTED PHOTO OF AN IGNORANT PASSERBY IN MY KITCHEN WHO SUFFERED A CASUALTY DUE TO IMPROPER SAFETY GEAR.

The taste was divine. Divine was the closest word I could imagine to defining its glorious taste, because no mortal words could produce the terms necessary to accurately convey the real flavor. This event was an enlightenment that I will value and never forget.

[zoruru1]

This Country Fried Steak

You may be wondering why I am not uploading shitty information about anime, and am uploading shitty food instead. I don’t know but behold this school lunch. You are looking at a pile of potato au gratin, country fried steak (with gravy), a biscuit, some carrots, chocolate milk, and jalapenos. Let’s get the jalapenos out of the way, they are not spicy. However, they do get spicy if you eat multiple at a time. The potato au gratin is not horrible, but it’s the texture that gets me and by “gets me” I mean it chases me down and strangles me. The fresher it is the better, but if you let it sit there long enough it just starts looking funny and feels pasty. The carrots are whatever, but the milk always tastes like polluted waters retrieved from a juiced landfill, so I always give it away to people with lead-lined stomachs. The biscuit is actually not that bad. It’s soft and that’s all it needs to be, but it feels powdery for some reason. Now for the entree. The fried steak itself just tastes like a generic meat with no flavor but as of lately, the skin is now crispier (though not even close to crunchy) which makes it more bearable. The gravy is a nice touch, it’s thick and adds some flavor to the meat. Sometimes the sauce is too thick though, and it makes me wonder if it’s actually jello. If you don’t get the gravy with your steak then you’re actually a degenerate. If you do get the gravy, however, you must consume the meat fast or the skin will get super soggy and feel like a wet shag carpet. Grabbing some jalapenos is a must with this order because you’ll be tasting air the whole time if you don’t. Sometimes I dip the potato au gratin in ketchup. Overall I would have to give this meal a 6/10 compared to a Lunchables package. 4/10 without the gravy and jalapenos though.

[zoruru1]

This Hair

Part of every balanced school lunch. If this pube isn’t in your lunch, then you need to report your school.

[zoruru1]

Faker confirmed reincarnated Hitler

[zoruru1]

How C9 looked against Flash Wolves

[sugoidekai]