This Is Beautiful: Chocolate

 It's been a rough week so shoutout to this enormous box of Lindt truffles that my parents gave me ages ago. It's seriously so huge I think I've had it since Valentine's Day, only been eating one or two per day, and it's still like half full. Anyways, love that my favorite snack is around when I need a little pick me up.

“The Titan’s Curse” by Rick Riordan

So if The Sea of Monsters felt like a continuation of the first Percy Jackson novel, this one feels more like a sequel. We start to see more world building here and more new characters, as well as actual development on that big prophecy that the entire series of books is building to. All without losing the quirky writing we know and love from Riordan.

This book starts with Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia going to a military school to grab two new demigods that Grover found. Their mission ends tragically though with Annabeth getting kidnapped, even Artemis and her hunters weren’t able to save the day. Bianca, one of the new demigods, ends up joining the hunters, while Nico goes with the rest of them to Half-Blood Hill. The hunters end up staying with the camp as well, while Artemis hunts a monster alone. There they learn that Artemis is in danger, and a squad consisting of Thalia, Grover, Zoe (the lieutenant of the hunters), Bianca, and a bonus Percy who sneaks out with them. They head to San Francisco, Bianca tragically dies in a fight along the day, and challenge Atlas who made Annabeth hold the sky up until Artemis (who was captured) takes it from her. In the closing battle, Zoe is also killed, but our heroes are triumphant! Thalia then decides to join the hunters, meaning that this prophecy is almost certainly about Percy now. They return to camp bringing the good news, but Nico hates Percy now for not being able to save Bianca.

So as you can tell from that last paragraph, a lot does happen in this book. It builds on previous installments, such as Grover trying to pick up hints of the great god Pan or mentions of the Lotus Casino, while also foreshadowing things to come, like Percy meeting a certain mortal who can see through the Mist. (She comes back later.) This is also the first book where characters die on quests, most tragically with Bianca who we didn’t really have enough time to get to know. And it sets up Nico for his arc in the remainder of the series.

Thalia joining the hunters of Artemis always seemed like a bit of a cop-out to me. Riordan builds so much tension between Percy and Thalia, whether they’ll get along or who the big prophecy is about, but then shuts it down rather simply. To be fair, it builds throughout the book with Percy finding out about how she was asked to join them years ago as well. And there is a really nice reflection between the two encounters. The first time, she turns them down because she didn’t want to leave Luke. Now though, she has no qualms about leaving Percy, because she’s learned that she can trust him and doesn’t have to always be looking out for him. But something about her joining the hunters still feels… Unlike her character, to me. I adore the hunters, if I was in this universe I might be one of them, but Thalia seems too much like a lone wolf for that. I don’t know, others may disagree here, either way I have to get used to it and it is a poetic resolution for her arc in this book.

Things are getting real with this big prophecy, the reader still does not know what it contains but by now Percy has taken it upon himself and has chosen to have the prophecy be about him. Which is a really cool way to interact with Fate, choosing your own and embracing it rather than running from it. Can’t wait to see how this develops in the next couple of books.

This Is Beautiful: The World Ends With You

 Don't worry, it's not another post about this game and anime that I've been obsessed with. I'm just announcing that I made a tag for it! All of the old posts should be found now under the "The World Ends With You" tag on this blog. I have tags for everything else that I'm obsessed with, I might as well have one for this too. 

It's a little embarrassing, to me anyways, that this anime game has been such a big part of my life. But that's the thing, I think everyone who interacts with this game is changed with it. And I am working on embracing that and not being embarrassed by pieces of media that have had such an impact on me. Because that isn't embarrassing! It's great to have things in the world that have taught you lessons about life and others around you. So it's a tag on my blog now, haha.

TWEWY The Animation Episodes 1 and 2

Finally got around to typing up my reactions and thoughts to the first and second episodes! I’m hoping to do these every other week as the series develops.

Episode 1

Overall I was absolutely thrilled with it. I mean it’s finally a TWEWY anime, I’ve waited so long for this game to get the attention that it deserves, and that happiness is going to color everything else that I say about it. I will say though that it seems like the production team is being careful and doing this adaptation with love, and that really comes through and makes me happy.

First I’ll just go over the similarities and differences between this and the game. It starts off the same, the opening animation is incredibly similar to what you see when you power up the game for the first time. Neku wakes up in the middle of an intersection with no memory of who he is. He meets Shiki, pairs up with her, and learns that he’s in the middle of the Reaper’s Game, where if he doesn’t survive 7 days he will be erased.

The first day is pretty short, but it’s very similar to the game. I had to rewatch to catch the Joshua cameo in the shot where the first person is erased, but it’s wonderful that it’s there. I also adore the way that they’re showing pins visually, how they flash on the screen right before Neku uses them. And how Neku can use the uppercut to jump onto buildings and the flames to propel himself. It’s really cool what they did with the battle mechanics!

Second day is also pretty truncated, but this is where it gets interesting. We meet Beat and Rhyme (whose characters are perfect omg) and learn that today the Players must set the cursed statue free. So Neku dives in and destroys the Noise around Hachiko. Interesting thing about the anime is that Neku can attack on his own, which is important since it demonstrates that he isn’t a team player. In the game, it’s literally impossible to attack without your partner.

Also there’s the Noise possessing Neku in the choking scene. I’ll be honest, this is the one change I didn’t like, and I’ve read some opinions for and against it. He’s possessed by Noise before choking Shiki, and it just makes it seem like he had no autonomy or control over the situation while in the game he makes the conscious choice to try and kill Shiki. This is especially evident in how in the anime he says “I will” in response to being told to kill Shiki, while in the game he says “I have to.” Completely different connotation there. In the game he thinks about it, considers his options, and decides to kill her. In the anime, he obeys as if he’s taking orders.

What’s also interesting is I don’t think in the game there are any instances of Noise possessing Players or Reapers, and in episode 1 we see both things happen. Food for thought.

Hanekoma’s role is massively truncated as well, we barely get to talk to him at all. I don’t think viewers even learn his name! I hope that there’s more of him in the future, because he’s an incredible character.

Day 3 also gets changed up a bit. Now the tech guy at O-East is a Reaper and can interact with the Players. I suspect this is because they took out BJ and Tenho, the other members of 777′s band, so they upgraded the techie. 777 also just hands over a keypin to them, which seems like an incredibly easy way to get something that the Players fight for in the game. Possibly the writers are just shortening up and condensing the story with that, but something to keep in mind for later. Also the boss fight is supposed to be Shiki/Neku take out the big bat, while Beat/Rhyme realize that the real boss is the little bat. So in that sense they literally couldn’t have completed it without Beat and Rhyme. Here it’s just Neku/Shiki kicking butt. I suppose that they’re emphasizing more the teamwork between Neku and Shiki rather than between the pairs, but it’s a detail that I liked better in the game.

RIP the “what’s a meme” scene, it’s iconic but I do see how it wouldn’t fit into the anime haha.

Episode 2

Episode 2 I think was a great improvement over the first episode! There's the improved opening animation and theme where they're using "Twister" instead of "Calling" and it's only 2 days so they can take their time with it more. As the opening should be, honestly. "Twister" is so ingrained in my head with the game that nothing else really makes sense. (I did like "Teenage City Riot" but it's just not the same.)

So the episode opens with Shiki, Neku, Beat, and Rhyme talking about Shibuya, from there we are introduced to Eji Oji, the Prince. Then it looks like the writers changed up the order of the missions, skipping Day 4 in the game for now. This is probably because they're saving Rhyme's sacrifice for later, so that she can be the emotional center of an episode. It's a little strange though since the last episode ended with the four players teaming up and now they are immediately separating again.

Shiki is now the center of the episode with her figuring out how to make Mina and Ai make up for the first mission, and seeing Eri again. It's handled really well in my opinion, you super feel for her as she sees Eri talking about how Shiki died. It's the second day, Day 5, where the mission is the red skull pins that we get a pretty big departure from the game. After the ad is shown at the Scramble Crossing, Kitoniji's noise sigil is shown in the sky and Players are blasted. Neku and Shiki dodge it, and then it looks like Joshua snaps his fingers and it stops. 

My primary issue is that Reapers can't directly attack Players, and this seems to be in direct violation of that. I guess they want to emphasize that there's barely any Players left, in the game, Day 4 where Rhyme is erased is what seriously narrows down the numbers and I guess they needed an equivalent. It's still strange to see though, no explanation for any of that has been given yet. And the episode ends with Neku learning that he's dead.

Other change that they make is that there's barely any Reapers in this episode, just one by a wall at Center St. In the game, the Game Master tries to use Shiki and her envy of Eri to bring her downfall before Neku talks her out of it. But here we don't see that at all, we've really only had one scene in the first episode with the Game Master. So next episode probably will have a lot of him since it'll be the end of Week 1.

Other thing I forgot to mention is that it's really cool how whenever they move to a new section of the town there's an image from the game that would pop up to indicate that you moved to a new place. It's a nice bit of continuity.

Anyways, I was super impressed with the improvement from Episode 1 to Episode 2, and I'm really excited (and scared) for next week's episode. End of the first week, here we come!

This Is Beautiful: This Podcast Ends With You

 ALRIGHT so the The World Ends With You (TWEWY) anime just started and I definitely will be writing about this a lot like constantly I'm not going to shut up about this. But I also wanted to take a second to appreciate a new podcast that I found, called "This Podcast Ends With You," which is of course about TWEWY.

It's run by three TWEWY fans who stream on Twitch and then post onto YouTube and all of the podcast places. You can check out more info here. The banter is cute, and they are all much more with the fandom than I typically am so the information is good. If nothing else, it is so nice to hear 3 people come together to talk about how this one piece of media positively impacted their lives, and how excited they are to finally see it get more appreciation. I think it's just so cool how everyone who played this game was impacted so powerfully by it.

International Asexuality Day!

 This past Tuesday, April 6th, was the first ever International Asexuality Day! Which is incredibly exciting, and highlights how far asexuality has come as a community where we are now able to organize internationally!

This was an excellent day to think more about how individuals in different countries experience asexuality. Queerness is still largely seen as a "white/Western thing" and voices of those in non-English speaking countries are often excluded from conversations about asexuality. To celebrate, consider educating yourself about queer experiences worldwide.

To learn more about asexual organizations in other countries, check out the IAD website! 

The events that they are promoting are over now, but you can still find cool asexual organizations all around the world by looking under "Find Local Advocates." I came up with a cool list of Twitter handles to follow which can be found here as well.

It was so cool to be a part of this, it really felt like a day for and by aces. And we got the hashtag #InternationalAsexualityDay trending on Twitter! I saw barely any negativity, mostly just positivity for being asexual and the asexual community.

I wish we had days like this more often, but I am sure that there are many more International Asexuality Days in the future. 

This Is Beautiful: Video Editing

 For a club that I'm in I recently started playing around with video editing software, specifically Adobe Premiere Pro. I'd done some dabbling in the past, but only with Windows Media Maker, a free software that isn't even available anymore. (Seriously when I got a new laptop I had to hunt down an older version to download so that I could continue with a project I was working on.)

Premiere Pro isn't the most intuitive, but I'm having a lot of fun learning about it! It's nice to spread out a little and learn something new, and it's good to be working on something artistic and creative again. So I'm having fun, even if it isn't coming out amazing.

“The Sea of Monsters” by Rick Riordan

Finally got to the next installment in the Percy Jackson series, the second book, always interesting to see what authors do with these. Honestly this book was just as good as I remembered it from when I was younger. It doesn’t so much build on The Lightning Thief as it just continues the story. Which is really all that I was looking for to be honest. Too deep into the Greek myths and it gets to be a bit too much, whereas the real draw is Percy’s narration and the witty jokes sprinkled in throughout. The Sea of Monsters keeps the same sense of humor while sending your favorite characters off on another adventure.

The plot centers around Percy trying to rescue his friend Grover who has gotten himself kidnapped by a cyclops who wants to marry him. Meanwhile the tree protecting Half Blood Camp has been infected and is slowly dying, so he decides to kill two birds with one stone and rescue Grover while stealing a magical healing fleece from the cyclops that kidnapped him.

The best addition to this story is Percy’s new half-brother Tyson. He’s a baby cyclops who Percy befriends while he is living on the streets of New York City. Tyson adds more humor to the mix for sure, but also adds an extra dimension to Percy’s relationship with the gods and his father specifically. He has mixed feelings about his brother, the other campers make fun of him for being a monster and specifically Percy’s best friend Annabeth has a grudge against cyclops. But of course he learns to love and appreciate his brother.

The book also steadily pushes the overarching plot of the series, revealing that Percy is possibly the subject of a prophecy about a certain hero who could either save Western civilization or bring it crashing down. Not much is revealed, other than a couple more details, but the end is where things begin to get going more intensely. Another half blood is revealed to possibly be the subject of the prophesy as well. It is a pretty good cliffhanger for the next book of the series.

Onwards to the third installment, The Titan’s Curse! Honestly I am having a lot of fun with this, it is nice to be reading something light for once.