TWEWY The Animation Episodes 7 and 8

Episode 7 

I realized while watching this that my recap of the previous episode was incorrect haha, episode 6 of the anime is only 1 day: Week 2 Day 5. So this episode is Days 6 and 7 of Week 2.

It starts off with the first mission to be issued in days to Neku and Joshua. This is all very similar to the game, including them being unable to save Nao and Sota from being erased, and saving Uzuki and Kariya from Taboo noise. It’s all the same as the game, also with Miniamoto confronting those two at the end.

Watching Nao and Sota get erased was heartbreaking, similar to watching Rhyme die last week. Neku’s tantrum also highlights just how far he’s come connecting to other people. It’s great seeing this more fleshed out in an anime!

Then there’s Day 7, last day of Week 2. The writers changed it from Pork City to Mark City which amuses me to no end. It’s functionally the same, still the place where Shibuya’s emotions rise up above the city, but instead of pig noise it’s spider noise. Also Beat, Uzuki, and Kariya are all there as well?

Anyways Neku and Joshua get to the top and start fighting Miniamoto. They basically defeat him, but then Miniamoto send out his big ol flare. This scene is perfection as far as I’m concerned, Joshua then pushes Neku off of the building. We see Joshua turn back to the fight, and then sacrifice himself through the reflection in Neku’s eyes. It’s incredible.

Neku wakes up with the Conductor and learns that he’s about to do a third week of the Reapers Game. And that’s where we end.

The Joshua death scene was so gooooood, I really can’t get over that. I’m so excited for the last week and how they’re going to handle the end of the game!

Episode 8

First day of Week 3! Very exciting, it's the home stretch! This episode covered Days 1 and 2 and it was very similar to the game overall.

It starts with Neku getting cornered since there aren't any other Players this game. I kinda wish that they said outright that the other Players were his entry fee, but I think everyone could figure it out. Then Beat comes crashing in with Rhyme noise (finally get to see her!) and makes a pact with him to save his butt.

They clear the mission, and Beat shares his plan of becoming the Composer and bringing everyone back to life. Meanwhile the Reapers are chatting about this betrayal, and Kitaniji decides to put the Underground on Emergency Call. Konishi then goes to take Beat's entry fee, Rhyme's noise, and the first day ends there. Interestingly, Konishi absorbs Rhyme instead of turning her into a pin like in the game.

The next day starts with the UG being put on Emergency Call and Neku/Beat having to fight off Reapers. Also they get their mission, which is to defeat Konishi by the end of the week. They run into 777 while looking for Konishi in the concert space.

I really liked that 777 was wearing the sweatshirts of his former bandmates around his waist. I sorta suspected that those two were shown as being erased by Taboo Noise during Week 2, but wasn't sure since they're the generic Reaper type. It made a nice touch though.

They all fight, Neku and Beat win, and 777 gives them his keypin. The episode ends with 777 being erased by Konishi.

Overall I was super into this episode. It really sets the tone for the rest of the show and demonstrates that Konishi isn't kidding around here. Plus it had some hilarious Beat moments, I was dying when Neku found out his full name.

Onwards to the rest of the final week! Can't wait to see how this shakes out.

This Is Beautiful: Dogs

 Honestly I kinda just want to leave it at that. Dogs are amazing.

“The Battle of the Labyrinth” by Rick Riordan

I had a snafu with the library app in the middle of reading this book, but I finally finished it. 

After the previous installment in the Percy Jackson series (The Titan’s Curse) started kicking things up a notch, this book really just continues that development. We of course see more of characters that were introduced in the previous book, and dive deeper into their growth and their characters. Rachel Elizabeth Dare of course makes a reappearance and is as wonderfully snarky as ever. Nico grows up from an annoying kid and becomes an angsty teenager. The prophecy is looming ever closer and Percy just cannot talk to girls for the life of him.

Essentially the plot follows Annabeth’s first quest. Chiron suspects that Luke’s forces are using the mythical labyrinth that Daedalus developed and wants to send a party into it to explore. After finding an entrance that leads directly to Camp Half-Blood, they are forced to do so. Annabeth knows the most about it and leads it, taking Grover, Percy, and Tyson with her. Percy and Annabeth get separated from Grover and Tyson when Grover finds a path that seems to lead to the god Pan. So they split up, since Percy and Annabeth are taking a side quest from the god Hephaestus to check out what’s been going on in his forge. Once they get there, Percy accidentally triggers a volcano and ends up bruised and beaten on Calypso’s island. There he has to make a choice: stay with Calypso and give up on the mortal world, or leave and never be able to return. Of course he elects to leave. Meanwhile back at the camp, they’ve given up on Percy for dead until he returns. Percy also realizes that they need the eyes of a mortal who can see through the Mist to navigate the maze. Which pulls in Rachel. Annabeth is very annoyed about the whole thing, both this new girl and Percy staying on an island with another girl. So their relationship becomes strained. They manage to catch up with Grover and Tyson just in time to find out that Pan is dying, and book it back to camp before Luke’s forces attack.

This battle is the titular one and it’s where you know that Riordan isn’t pulling any punches. Many characters die in the battle, both side ones and Daedalus himself. That destroys the labyrinth, making Camp Half-Blood safe again. But the group learns that Luke is now hosting the remaining soul of Kronos. This destroys Annabeth, especially since Percy wants to give up on Luke and she hasn’t stopped caring about him. So the book ends at an impasse between the two of them.

So there’s a lot going on in this story, as you can tell from the very long recap. I didn’t even mention Nico in it and his contributions to this book are pretty big. But his arc shows how he’s coping with life as an outsider. Since he’s the son of Hades, he has a lot of power at his disposal and is often shunned by the others. However, the book ends with Percy inviting Nico inside for a chat, and to celebrate Percy’s birthday. It’s a nice gesture, and hints at the role Nico will play in the next book.

There’s also the death of Pan. This section sometimes gets glossed over, but I think it’s key. Essentially Pan dies and tells Grover to take on the role of looking after all of the wild places himself instead of relying on a god. It’s a very obvious metaphor for what we all have to do to save nature and wild animals on earth. It’s up to us to make conservation efforts. It’s a good ending to Grover’s quest to find Pan though, and it’s nice to see that wrapped up.

A lot of this is leading the reader up to the final book in the series, The Last Olympian. Honestly I can’t wait to read it, the big ol’ prophecy will be happening and there will be so much drama. Here we go!

This Is Beautiful: Validation

 Not going to go into details, but I've had a rough time lately and might be burning a couple bridges soon. It's really easy when you're debating these things to gaslight yourself and think that your own feelings are irrational or not important. I made the choice to unload a lot of stress on a good friend of mine that I trusted, and she immediately validated me and told me that I had every right to feel this way. It felt so good, it got me out of a depressive funk. Validation is so important, I have no idea how I got this far without realizing that.

TWEWY The Animation: Episodes 5 and 6

Episode 5

Episode 5 covers Week 2 Days 3 and 4. Interestingly, they skip what is Day 3 in the game and go straight to game days 4 and 5. (Day 3 in the game is the Tin Pin Tournament that Nao and Sota win for you.)

Day 3 in the anime then is the day that Joshua tricks Neku into running to Cat Street with him to meet Mr. H and get their phones upgraded. I really like being able to see more of Mr. H, and see the cafe, but I still feel as though we don’t know much about him. Joshua makes one comment about him keeping Players safe from cheating Reapers, but that’s about it. Maybe that’s all we need for now, I’m not sure.

In the game, this day ends with Joshua and Neku checking out the new ramen store and catching up with Makoto and the Prince. But that’s skipped here in favor of them just noticing that there’s more red skull pins around.

The next day then is when the duo heads up to Udagawa. First they see the band members of Death March and Joshua quickly helps them find their mic with his phone. Interestingly, BJ and Tenho are both there and haven’t been replaced by the techie like I thought after episode 1. They then run into Nao and Sota who warn them about the Taboo noise. In the game, this is actually a really cute conversation where Neku tells them about how he’s playing the game again for Shiki, and the couple reassures him that it’s not his fault that she’s his entry fee. They’d play the game a million times for each other, it’s good that he cares about her so much. That’s all skipped here. I’m not sure why, maybe it’ll come back later. Here’s hoping anyways, I really like that interaction and I think it shows a lot about Neku’s guilt.

Joshua and Neku make it to Udagawa, where Neku seeing Joshua’s memory of Neku dying and realizes that he’s partnered to his killer. Episode ends there.

I know I just complained about a bunch of changes from the game, but I bet these decisions were made for time reasons. I do think that this was a super solid episode all around, I just hope that the conversation with Nao and Sota comes back, as well as the Tin Pin tournament mission. It’d be cool to see later on!

Episode 6

This episode covered Days 5 and 6 of Week 2. Interestingly, it looks like they took Day 6 from the game version and dragged it out into two days. In the game, they go see Mr. H, then head for the Shibuya River, Joshua demolishing some Taboo Noise along the way. Here they spend one day going to see Mr. H, and another to get to the river.

While at Cat Street, Neku runs into Nao and Sota again who finish their conversation from earlier and tell Neku that he didn't do anything wrong to get Shiki taken as his entry fee. I'm really happy that this was thrown in! Since we missed it last episode I was hoping that it'd come back in some form.

Joshua and Neku then head back through the park, where Joshua tells Neku that CAT is Mr. H. It's a really well done interaction actually, I was laughing at Neku's embarrassment and enthusiasm for having met CAT and explaining what CAT is to CAT. Beat attacks them again, and Neku grabs Rhyme's pendant after Beat drops it and the day ends there.

Next day Joshua and Neku head to the Shibuya River where they are jumped by Taboo Noise. Joshua does his super powerful thing and Kariya realizes that Joshua's alive. It's a pretty short day, and all in all, very similar to the game. 

What's interesting is that Day 6 in the game also involved a mission being issued to defeat some Noise. Miniamoto actually helps Neku and Joshua with their first fight so that they don't get erased, and as the person playing the game you can choose to help others along the way. This is actually the day that Nao and Sota get erased because you can't save them in time. I'm guessing the writers are leaving that important point for the next episode, it's going to be interesting to see how that turns out.

So Week 2 is basically over, and I guess the writers are completely ignoring Tin Pin haha. The next episode wraps up Joshua's week, we have the boss battle, probably multiple characters dying, and other fun things. Can't wait haha.

This Is Beautiful: Making Art

 I know that I posted about my leviwand video on Saturday, but I'm still not over it. It's just really nice being able to make something, and to be able to control it as much as I could with that video. I mean I did the music, the choreography, the video capture, and the video editing. I controlled so much of that video, it could look and sound exactly how I wanted it to. It's not necessarily the same if you have a video of a performance you did somewhere.

It's also just so nice to be making art again. I love it when you look at the work of one artist and can see them grapple with different ideas and how their work changes. I've now done 4 total (3 consecutive) of these videos and I can see what different ideas I was working with and how my mental state affected the output. It's really cool, and a neat way to look back on the last couple of years.

It's good to be back at my craft. I probably won't make another until next year, but I'm so happy I did it.

Leviwand Video 2021

 I made a leviwand video for this year! I wasn't sure if I should make one, since I won't be performing anywhere, but it was nice to work on my own choreo and my own music for a while. And maybe someday I'll turn it into a performance! Who knows though, I'd probably be more likely to just make something new. Song is "Everything Affects Me Now" by Love, Fame, Tragedy.

When I first heard the song almost a year ago I knew that I was going to choreograph to it at some point. Sometimes that's just how I find songs, it strikes me and I know it'll make a good act. The lyrics really resonate with me as well, the idea that "everything affects me now" applies to so much of how I've grown the past few years. I really do feel as though I've become more sensitized to certain things, and can more easily pick up on troubling things around me.

Video can be found here! I hope you like it.

This Is Beautiful: Random Pride Things

 So I'm a sucker for some pride merch. I own a couple shirts with the asexual flag, plus a sweatshirt and some face paint. My partner this week though got me a mask with the asexual flag on it, plus some pride teas! It's literally a asexuali(tea)!

It doesn't even matter if I like the tea or not, I just like that it has a flag on it and it makes me feel valid. Random pride junk like that can be so powerful, and I forget that sometimes, because it truly is the little things. It is strange that 4 different colors can be so powerful, but we've put more symbolism into less to be honest.

TWEWY The Animation: Episodes 3 and 4

Episode 3 

This episode covered Days 6 and 7 of the first week. Day 6 is now the day that Rhyme dies (in the game it’s Day 3). Overall though, this day is very true to the game and what happens there.

I love getting to see more of the characters, Beat’s antics and personality really shine through! And seeing it with the anime sound gags is really great. Rhyme’s death is brutal though here, you see her face as she’s erased by the Noise and it’s absolutely heart wrenching.

My only issue is that we don’t really know Hanekoma all that well by this point. Skipping the initial conversation with him means that we still have no idea who he is or what role he plays in the game. I hope that this gets added later, because at this point him dragging Beat off seems like a random thing to do. Also the “someday you’ll know” line when Neku asks him why he’s doing this is just a littttleeee heavy-handed.

Which brings us to Day 7, the boss battle. I thought the battle itself was pretty cool, really liked the way that Higashizawa’s powers are portrayed with his ability to suck in attacks from the Players. And big Mr. Mew for the win!

The other nice thing about this episode is getting to see our favorite Reapers again. I absolutely adored the scene of them inside Mexican Dog, doing normal friendship things. Surprised that it wasn’t ramen, but I love the hot dog fusion place so this is fine.

Neku and Shiki are absolutely adorable here as well, which is important because we don’t get a ton of time to really care about Shiki. I think the previous episode did a really good job, which is why them smiling at each other here as they win the game is so dang cute.

All that’s left now is the after game scene. I had a couple issues with it. First of all, I don’t understand why Beat is left out. Putting in that he survived and decides to become a Reaper wouldn’t have taken that much time. Unless they wanted it to be a cliff hanger? Hopefully that’ll just get tied up quickly the next episode.

Shiki looking like she’s in pain and reaching for Neku is pretty devastating, and it’s a big change from the game. In the game, she peacefully ascends while Neku watches and looks happy for her. Guess it’s a way to hammer home how much he cares for her now. And they don’t specify that Neku has his memory back. Again, might get taken care of in the next episode quickly, or maybe it’s a bigger change. Unclear at this point.

I can’t believe that this episode was basically the last we see of Shiki and Rhyme! But we get to meet Joshua next week, and what a trip that’s going to be!

Episode 4

Overall I thought that this episode was really good and a great way to show the transition between weeks. It starts with Neku at Hachiko thinking about how he’s keeping Shiki from going back to life, which is a great way to frame the episode.

Noise then pops up, Joshua grabs Neku and is just like “alright, I’ll be your partner.” I do like how it is in the game, where you just see Neku make a pact and have no idea who it’s with, but this does show Joshua’s personality really well. The mission mail is also perfectly done, with Sho basically screaming it through his megaphone. Excellent introduction to the new Game Master.

The two make it to 104 and this is where things get different. Sho says that it’s now Player vs. Player to survive, and Neku/Joshua try to rally the other Players to stick together and trust each other. Which is an interesting way to show Neku’s growth, I thought it was a little out of character for him to have made so much progress already. I mean he clearly doesn’t trust Joshua even though he knows that he should. It also is a strange way to portray Sho, in the game Sho’s really amusing to walk and interact with, but here he seems like a psycho loose cannon. 

Day 2 then starts, the mission is to defeat the bosses of route 3 (a street in Shibuya). Neku realizes that his memory’s back, tying up a loose end from last episode, and he and Joshua defeat some Taboo Noise together. The show also introduces the idea that Neku can scan Joshua and possibly is seeing how he died. Oh and they show the Reaper decals on places Players can shop! Doesn’t make sense really this late in the show, but it’s a nice touch to include.

The best addition though was the scene at the end with Eri. It’s super heartbreaking seeing Eri buy flowers for Shiki, with Neku looking on sadly. They writers really know what they’re doing with the relationship between Neku and Shiki, and clearly are trying to keep her in the viewers’ minds. 

And then finally, the episode ends with us learning that Beat has become a Reaper (again, tying up the loose end from last episode) and that he has been assigned to take Neku out. Nice lil hook for next week. Beat’s arc is one of the coolest in the game (probably second only to Neku) so I’m interested to see where this goes.

Very excited for next episode, looks like Hanekoma will be back and we all love some Mr. H!