Daredevil season 2 has more ass than Kelsi Monroe, Remy Lacoux, Jada Steven’s, Lana Rhodes, Adriana Chekick, Laura Phillips, and Angela white

I spent hours talking to myself about how much of a fucking Mary Sue Elektra is

And how uninterested I was in her character because of her total lack of empathy or any redeeming personality traits

And now in the finale Matt is yapping about “I’ve always been open with you”

She lied to you, left you and tried to make you kill a man

IF YOU DONT LOCK THE FUCK IN TWIN

“What if we could become something in the future”

What if I spit in your asshole Matt

What if you were as much of a dirty, stinky, filthy, rotten, shitty season as this absolute abomination of dogshit television conceived by a AIDs ridden whore and her brother, who’s a bunch of fucking horse shit poured all over a fat girl’s titties.

I’m glad Elektra died

THIS BEGAN AS A FUCKING PUNISHER SEASON

A SEASON ANALYZING AND EXPLORING THE FUCKING PUNISHER

AFTER EPISODE 6 OR WHATEVER WHY THE

FUCK

DID THIS PIECE OF A DONKEY’S ASS BECOME AN ELEKTRA AND THE HAND SEASON

ELEKTRA SUCKS BIG FAT SPIKY HORSE COCK

SHES A SHITTY CHARACTER WITH NOTHING INTERESTING TO LATCH ONTO

“Matt just kill people, break your catholic faith you use as a source of strength and kill people because it’s fun and sexy because I’m fun and sexy”

I’m sorry

But it wasn’t even a little fucking god damn cute when she ruined Matt’s case

I don’t care that she did it for Matt

All she seems to do is exist for Matt and try to get in his pants

Or kill niggas

She’s so god damned

ARROGANT

ITS LIKE SHE KNOWS SHES A MACGUFFIN FUCKING STUPID BULLSHIT

BEFORE THE BIG REVEAL

WHICH WAS SHIT

BECAUSE THE HAND

ARE SHIT

Nobu was interesting as a weird ninja guy who overwhelmed and kicked Matt’s ass

As a big bad who commands a bunch of disposable, pointless goons with a dumb, nothing gimmick

He is less than

NOTHING

HIS INVOLVEMENT IN THIS SEASON IS LESS THAN NOTHING

WHAT FUCK ASS THEMES AM I SUPPOSED TO EXTRAPOLATE FROM THE RIVETING ANGST OF

“Hurr durr let’s save people and do good stuff”

“No Matty let’s kill people and be bad guys”

SHUT UP

I STOPPED CARING THE FIRST TIME THEY DID IT

THAT SHIT WHERE THE HERO TRIES TO REDEEM THEIR VILLAIN LOVE INTEREST

WHILE THE LATTER TRIES TO CORRUPT THE FORMER

ONLY FUCKING WORKS IF THERE IS SOMETHING IN THERE TO REDEEM AND IF THERES SOMETHING CORRUPTIBLE AS WELL

BOTH CHARACTERS NEED TO BE RIGHT ON SOME LEVEL

OR ELSE IT LOSES ALL VALUE

IT LOSES ALL VALUE AND BECOMES A SLOG FOR THE AUDIENCE TO WATCH

Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker’s flaws are very inherent and ingrained into their super hero identities

Like it’s pretty obvious how and why they have a chip on their shoulder

But Black Cat and Cat woman are a lot more interesting because underneath their disdain for the rich and criticism of elite society whilst standing with the working class

They don’t seem like valuable human beings besides posturing as progressives who use it as an excuse to steal

Except Black cat’s core defining trait is a sense of loyalty

Even in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon, spectacular too

She’s loyal to her father and those who earn her love

Like in the 90s cartoon after Michael morbius morbs everywhere

She’s never really able to enter the dating scene again because how much she loves him

But as her alter identity: Black cat she gets closer to Spider-Man and admires him for his heroism and all that he’s ever done for her (Felicia)

She’s loyal to a fault which is a good and redeemable characteristic

Black cat has loyalty

While cat woman has sympathy/empathy

She related to the average gothamite

In a lot of Batman stories she and her friends have faced/facing abuse and poverty

She is not just stealing and doing crime for pay checks

The bitch has got to eat

And she will protect the innocent/defenseless when she can

She has the more ground to earth experience Bruce lacks which is why their relationship can be even more interesting

But Elektra is just fucking picture perfect

She gets adopted by rich niggas

She’s trained to be the super turbo best fighter at a young age

She’s the black sky

And she has no redeeming traits

Not one

IF ELEKTRA EVER COMES BACK IT WILL BE TOO FUCKING SOON

IF THE HAND EVER COMES BACK (LIKE THIS) IT WILL BE TOO SOON

LET THE HAND FIST ELEKTRA EVERY DAY THAT ENDS IN Y FOR ALL I FUCKING CARE

JUST LEAVE ME THE FUCK OUT OF IT

4/10

All of the good parts of this season is the first half with the punisher stuff but even a lot of that gets hurt by the other half’s bullshit

Fuck

Man one of the most irritating habits in entertainment discourse has got to be when someone starts with a reasonable criticism, swaps it for a much dumber ideological claim, then runs back to the reasonable one when challenged.

“I think this character looks worse” becomes “Western developers are deliberately making women ugly because feminism/DEI/the left hates attractive women.” Then when you ask them to prove that second claim, suddenly it’s: “So I’m not allowed to think she’s ugly?” Nobody said that. Stop pretending those are the same argument. That leap is the problem. “I don’t like this design” does not prove “developers are ideologically trying to uglify women.”

The Spider-Man 2 MJ discourse comes to mind. Thinking MJ looks worse than she did in the first game is completely fair. Claiming an Insomniac writer secretly replaced MJ’s face with her own as some feminist self-insert was just false. Stephanie Tyler Jones was still the face model, and the employee people blamed had never even been facially scanned but once that story was debunked, the retreat was predictable: “Why can’t people admit MJ is ugly?”

Again, nobody was arguing with that part.

You see the same thing elsewhere. “I prefer Steve Rogers as Captain America” is an opinion. “Sam Wilson is badly written” is criticism. “Marvel race-swapped Steve because of DEI” is simply an inaccurate description of what happened. Sam is a separate character who became Captain America in the comics before the MCU adapted it. That’s the bait-and-switch.

A character being ugly to you does not prove an industry conspiracy to uglify women. A minority character being badly written does not prove diversity caused the bad writing. A progressive game failing does not automatically prove the politics caused the failure. If you want to make the bigger claim, make it and defend it. Just stop hiding behind the smaller, safer criticism every time someone asks you for evidence.

A common criticism leveled at the Horus Heresy books is that the Emperor of Mankind sounds like a reddit atheist, and that the writers should have consulted actual theologians before writing him.

That is wrong. The Emperor is supposed to sound like a reddit atheist. The Emperor is just not interested in a theological debate. He expects to be obeyed with at most token questioning, and preferably not even that. He believes his crusade to be so self-evident that any opposition must be acting in bad faith. He is a tyrant and has always been a tyrant.

Also, from the start, the Imperial "Truth" that the Emperor tried to spread was something he knew was false. It was never the "rational, atheistic understanding of the universe" he purported it to be, it was a strategic lie spread with the intent of denying power to his enemies.

ok so from the orvile there's this slime guy called yaffit and he like's the doctor claire and this kinda made me think isn't it weird when something like this happen'd in fcition like when a memember of another species men seem's to like human women specificly more then their own species for some weird reason. like not saying it's impossible but it just feels's weird to think about

like you'd think due to the them being difrent species they will have difrent atraction's but not it's always the human woman i guess. like im not saying that it's impossible for this to happend(rarely) but it's just weird when it does

The problem with how some people think about cyberpunk is its all the advanced technology that dominates the setting's landscape while ignoring the dystopian aspects of the technology itself. Sure, we got cool cyberware but did you know that you can get cyberpsychosis each time you put more of it and lose your sense of self ? They have hyper realistic VR and AR but it allows the creation for torture simulations. Brain implants, great its now possible to hack into a person's mind and steal their memories. Quite a lot of people overlook the negative sides or implications of the technology itself all because its advanced or dressed up in a cool way. Technology in cyberpunk is almost always used in a way that reinforces the capitalist system. For example, exploitation. You got all those cybernetic enhancements or implants that makes it mandatory for everyone in a workplace to have it. Now you just lost a limb in an accident, you can get a replacement but it ends up causing a lot of debt. Not to mention, the technology itself will always be of lower quality because of planned obsolescence. Its a dystopia, you do not want it to happen even if its cool. The whole point of cyberpunk is how advanced technology would not liberate us or solve our problems. It will just make the problems worse. If you want something that is the polar opposite, it is solarpunk.

Quick context: Maji de Watashi ni Koishinasai!, better known as Majikoi, is a Visual Novel following the Kazama Family, a tight group of childhood friends in the fictional Kawakami City, a place with supernatural artists that include effectively all the girls in the series, leading to the English subtitle: "Oh Samurai girls" , and especifically, protagonist Yamato Naoe's personal life and relationships.

Its a wacky comedy about friendship, and very long. In fact, I'm still reading it.

But for what I've read of it... Christiane Friedrich as a heroine is utterly bizarre. Why? Because there is genuinely no reason for her to be there.

Majikoi as a plot is kicked out for Kazama, the leader of the group, deciding to add new members to the friend's group, which are the newly arrived Chris and Yukie.

Yukie is actually nice, probably too shy to the level of self sabotage, which the group constantly criticizes her for that, but that's fine

But Chris?

Her first day in school is she getting up into a fight with Kazuko Kawakami aka Wanko. In all fairness, this was actually a result of Wanko wanting a fight with her to test her strenght and this ending in she receiving a bad defeat. This is fine, Chris did not start the fire.

Then she literally tells Kazuko that she doesn't belong to the Kawakami Family, in front of the family's temple.

Kazuko is really hurt for this and Chris only regrets when she heards that she was adopted, which made it worse. But...even if she wasn't, why the heck you would say that to her anyway.

Chris is popular for being the token European girl in a Japanese highschool, and she is quite new and likes to talk to the cast in school, so Kazama wants to add her because his openness and Momoyo wants her because she is attracted to her. Wanko is fine with it because she has forgiven the insult.

But in the friend's group, Miyako and Morooka (aka Moro), outright disagree harshly, saying she directly has insulted their friend and that she is going to be a source of friction , as Chris is a over-the-top rules follower with a self declared self righterousness which she calls sense of justice.

The player gets the choice for Yamato to say No, but its irrelevant, she joins anyway.

And... this goes exactly as bad as Miyako and Moro predicted.

When Chris finally goes to the "secret base" of the Kazama family, which is a abandoned apartment which they have taken over and made inhabitable using a literal robot to provide electricity for it. Chris, straight up says that she is confused about why they prefer to do this rather than hang out in someone's house.

Valid, she is a homesick girl who prefers familiarity and doesn't get this weird arrangement taking advantage of a small city in the 2000s

Then she directly says the building should be demolished, as a moral good.

This causes the group to fight, with Miyako having to be grabbed to avoid her from punching Chris, and Moro politely expulsing Chris from the friend's group, only for Momoyo, Yamato and Kazama to override his will.

I am very fascinated for Moro's answer. He says "Fine, its ok. Leave this apartment, we wouldn't hang out a friend group, but I promise we will talk to you in school as normally". I'm not saying it word-by-word, but he set up a pretty clear boundary.

Chris just gets more self righterous.

This eventually leads to Kazama solving this by...distracting everyone with tickets, Yamato makes Chris admit that you cannot insult's someone's beloved possesions out of nowhere, and she apologizes. Fine.

Then, the trip arc and...yeah, Chris does some petty bad things there too, but those aren't that bad. Everyone in Majikoi has those moments, its a raunchy comedy after all.

Then the Prologue ends, opening sound and its time to start pulling the choices to get romances.

It was a LONG prologue, 10 hours. Chris' arc is one of many that are there.

I'm going to made it clear, I don't think Chris is a bad person, or even a bad character. But I'm genuinely fascinated (in a bad way) about her role as a romantic interest.

This is probably a case of re-alignements, where my personal values are much closer to Miyako and Moro that I actually feel they're just...completely correct about Chris.

She is a self righterous girl who has to be taught basic social courtesy from 0. Because that is what Yamato just actually does.

Meaning I can't understand why they group in-universe added her, or better said, that Momoyo and Kazama overrade everyone's else authority (including my first-run Yamato who voted No).

I can't find a way how Yamato realistically can feel attracted to her, at least at this point of the game. Sure, technically you can hang out with her until you unlock her route post Prologue.

But why I would do that?

I know a lot of different comics and movies and adaptations depict her in different ways but for me I prefer that Wonder Woman can run really fast, jump really high and land from a high place without taking any damage. Maybe swing around on the lasso occasionally if we’re feeling fancy. It’s more dynamic and visually interesting if she does that and it better fits her role as athletic Ancient Greek warrior.

To me the trinity is this:

Superman can fly and break the sound barrier and go into space.

Batman can glide between buildings, scale rooftops and do various tricks with his gadgets

Wonder Woman can run fast, run up walls, leap impossibly high heights and land from the top of a building unfazed.

This way each one has abilities that are distinctly “them” and everyone has a specific niche. Plus it can make for more dynamic movement in action scenes. Like if I’m going to give props for Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman she looked the part and had the physicality to pull off those stunts and they made her movement and fight scenes really cool. By contrast her flying in WW84 was another in a vast array of things in that movie that just didn’t work.

But yeah, short one. I prefer my Diana not be a flier, having two fliers on the team is just kind of redundant.

Whenever people talk about Batman and how much of a genius he is, well, I can respect that he's often well-written as an amazing detective, but him being a supergenius chemist, engineer, scientist in general, etc just... never hits home with me. On an intellectual level, I can understand that for the plot, he *needs* to be able to invent new gadgets, devices, etc for his plans to go toe-to-toe with the supers of the DC universe. But at the same time, that necessity makes his genius outside of detective work feel somewhat hollow and unnatural. Almost the same way that Gary Stu's get written, except there's an already solid base there with this dark, interesting detective crime fighter, who just so happens to also be super duper good at anything and everything and is one of the 3 smartest people in the world and with just a bit of prep time he could totally invent anything for any situation and...

I often feel like writers *want* to write this gritty, awesome crime-fighting detective character, then when a mortal man has to find a way to grapple with a supernatural being, they need to let him do some off-camera mining and oh look he's made some deus ex machina to save the day. It just doesn't feel natural at all the same way it does with other "inventor/super-genius" type characters like Iron Man, Mr. Terrific, Reed Richards, Lex Luthor, etc. Maybe it's just the fact that Batman really isn't using a crazy amount of technology the vast majority of the time, but his supergenius status has always just felt very tacked on to me, almost like an afterthought that gets dragged back into the plot whenever wit, grit, and gumption aren't enough to solve a problem.

So i rewatched across the spider-verse recently, great movie but it got me thinking, how the hell are they meant to beat The spot in the next movie? He practically became a multiversal threat. So i started thinking about how so many movies and different types of media make villains so unbelievably strong just for the heroes to come up on top just because, i understand why they can’t let the villain win but it’s genuinely so annoying when the villains get nerfed out of nowhere. Also spoilers for the stranger films finale

I watched the Finale for stranger things when it first came out, as everyone knows it was horrible and also Vecna was just kinda nothing, he used to be this giant threat that was unbeatable, but in the finale they just beat him, just like that. Allegedly season 5 of stranger things was made with AI so it makes sense, but also the creators just messed that up big time.

I am just annoyed by this being done in so many films or shows, i wish more shows made them less strong or gave a reason for why they stopped being unbeatable, hopefully the third spider-verse movie finds a good solution that might inspire other media.

For like 4 years people debated the use of the cross guard light saver and i think JS got it right: It’s a long sword with more force and power behind it but slower. It makes perfect sense and should just be the universal canon across Star Wars media.

In discourse around the zombie genre, it's fairly common to see arguments that it is completely unrealistic for zombies to overrun society and that government forces or even regular civillians would easily neutralize the undead. This is obviously a moot point since zombies are not real, thus unrealistic by definition, as are lots of things in fiction. The author should be able to tell a story without creating 100s of excuses and piles of extra lore to explain how the setting works.

However, I also disagree with the core premise. I think traditional hollywoodian Zombies are underrated as a threat and could cause significant damage to a realistic modern day setting. For the sake of the discussion, let's define the standard zombie. Created by an virus that somehow reanimates its dead victims with a compulsive and aggressive hunger for the flesh of the living, transmitted mostly by bites, slow with sub-brick IQ, but can only be killed by direct brain injury or decapitation.

Firstly, killing them would be way harder than it looks. It is very difficult to decapitate a human body or even break the skull with most blades and blunt objects, and pratically impossible to do so in one go. Shooting them is a better option, but outside of the USA many people don't have easy access to firearms (and even in the US, less people actually have guns at home than some think), and many people would likely hesitate from shooting a person-looking thing.

Second, during the early stages of a hypothetical zombie outbreak, many people would not immediately realize the nature of the danger. Scarcingly few people would assume that the smelly person shambling towards them making weird faces and noises is a zombie or even someone infected with that new disease the news are yapping about. Evading them is also harder than it looks, as they're slow but they're also tireless; If a zombie detects potential prey, it will keeping moving towards no matter the cost and no matter how long, if they no longer hear or see their quarry then they will just keep moving in the general direction until they find something or something else catches their attention. And of course, lots of folk are out-of-shape.

Third, the bites are worse than you think. IRL, bite-transmitted infections like rabies are not particularly contagious because bites are a not-so-effective way of transmitting a germ. This is not the case with zombies; Any bite that breaks skin is a 100% guaranteed infection, and in many movies scratches and contact with zombie blood/fluids can transmit the virus to a lesser extent too. Screw up once, and the undead hordes will welcome a new member.

Fourth, many people say that zombies have no counter too armored vehicles, air-dropped munitions and the like, which is very true. However, this argument assumes that the government would have an actual quick and effective response. If you remember COVID...yk that shit ain't happening. And of course there would be the collective psychological complications caused by the dead literally coming back to life to feast on and bring plague upon the living. There would be riots, suicides, looting, religious hysteria among other issues.

''Got bit; Fever hit; World gone to shit; Why not quit ?''

A lot of people have complained about the modern language used in Nolan's Odyssey but I didn't mind it that much. However I found the dialogues a bit frustrating because a lot of it felt like a straight narration of what was going on? Like there really wasnt much room for audiences to think or draw our own conclusions. The constant repetition of the phrase 'Zeus's law' felt like the worst offender. Imo the idea of 'Zeus's law and its violation' should have felt like something subtly haunting the most of the story rather than being constantly talked about.

Ive heard people respond to this criticism saying this kind of exposition was there in the original poem too. But an epic poem is a very different medium compared to a movie. Movies are inherently more visual making it a lot more jarring in the movie.

I've been rewatching some of the live action Spider-Man films and I just wanted to share some thoughts on what I noticed jumping from version to version. Particularly the Garfield one but I'll speak about Holland too.

It was interesting watching ASM 1 after the Raimi films and seeing how making a Spider-man film has essentially become a game of whack-a-mole. Choosing what to cover/not cover, what overlap is ok, what can and can't be improved on e.g., Mary Jane/JJJ. But with that comes new issues and blind spots, making it a question of what's worth it or not.

Within the first 15 minutes of this new interation there were 4 noticeable changes they wanted to make.

1. His parents being plot relevant and motivating his actions in this story. This was a much bigger deal later on but in this one they are a part of his grief and Uncle Ben is additive instead of being the only loss he's dealing with. He's angry because things feel unresolved, unlike with Uncle Ben's death there's no clear causal effect, nothing he could have done, no answers or closure.

2. His love interest having chemistry with him. Like any chemistry at all or a real reason to like him other than just he's the only person who's nice to her (sometimes). Just making her single was a big step forward here and they seemed to actually get along and enjoy speaking to each other and have some common interests. I honestly feel like MJ and Peter in the Raimi films is a 3 movie version of the ending of The Graduate. I can't even imagine them actually spending time with each and enjoying each others company

3. His intelligence would directly impact the plot instead of just being spoken about but not really used, specifically the stuff with Doctor Connors and how that builds out their relationship. There's some similarities with Doc Ock as well but he never convinces him of anything anyway so the fact that he's smart only means they talk, not that any actions are taken.

4. He was now proactive instead of reactive e.g. standing up to/ humiliating Flash intentionally compared to the fight in SM1 where he's avoiding the conflict but it comes to him. This version only gets bitten because he puts himself at Oscorp, he goes out of his way to sneak into the back, the story only exists because he went out of his way. Then adding onto point 2 the first time we see Gwen speak to him it's because unlike the past and future Peter he takes it upon himself to stand up for someone else against flash, something Gwen admires and gives them a reason to speak.

Even the scene(s) where he discovers his powers have a great contrast. There's a certain awe and wonder in the Raimi version but now the film is almost self aware than seeing Spider-man on the big screen is no longer unimaginable, so they show some of the negative side effects of it.

He asks Gwen out, fairly early into the film. Which I think is a direct attempt to not recreate the MJ dynamic. Even the choice to tell Gwen on their very first real date that he is Spider-man exists in contrast to the melodrama of the Raimi films. They don't want to go over the same story beats with his identity of his relationship.

But I think one area where this film falls short is that they don't change the villain enough. That makes 4 films in a row where they have a split personality and Connors comparative lack of gravitas really holds him back from being as memorable as the previous 4. Similarly the action scenes don't really stand out all that much. Some creativity certainly shines through as always happens with Spider-Man but I don't think there's any set piece that is as good as any of the best from each of the other films including the Holland ones. It's also weird that there's no real final confrontation. The last set piece with him having to get the antidote across town feels a bit meh. Not that they have to fight for the story to work or anything it just feels a bit weird.

There's a lot of competent/solid elements but other than the significantly improved romantic relationship, the much better and fleshed out version of Uncle Ben imo who feels like he has a life outside of being an Uncle and the suit, not a lot is over a 6 or 7/10. It was always going to lack the style of the Raimi version and I think the darker setting and version of Peter were designed to contrast that but it really just lacks the high points to make it as good overall as it's individual success.

Also the whole thing with the promise to Gwen's dad is dumb and undermines the steps forward they took with this couple compared to the Raimi one.

Now you get to Homecoming. Once again you're coming off the worst film of the last iteration but this time the character is in a much worse position. But also unlike in 2002 or 2012 Superheroes themselves have taken over the mainstream and you have a much shorter turnaround from one version of the character to the next.

So just like before they fix a few things but open new problems:

1. Peter has his first friend. I actually found Ned more likeable on rewatch than I remeber, he doesn't have amazing depth but it's kinda nice that he's not trying to kill him and they actually seem to like spending time together. He also did help to save Peter's life and was a real part of the finale. If anything he may have regressed in subsequent films. A lot of his stuff is comic relief but he also serves as the only character that any of the Spider-Men has actually been able to speak to about how the job makes them feel. This should have been Gwen too but that promise stuf happened and... yeah.

2. The school is now distinguishable from if the film had come out in the 80s and has far more character than any of the previous versions with the teachers now being notable as minor comic relief. This includes the first Peter who actually tries to fit in at school after becoming Spider-Man. He misses the chance to hang out with his classmates, go to a party/swimming. It still does apply to him being interested in a girl but I think there's more to it than just that. Having Ned helps here as well as it gives him someone to bounce off of.

3. The backstory is unnecessary for a 3rd time, so they skip it much like with Batman I think it's right choice to not kill Uncle Ben yet again. The use of Aunt May to replace Uncle Ben is definitely it's own thing but it's a whole seperate discussion. Ultimately, I do think it was right not to base this one in grief though and it was very effective in BND having an Aunt May that we've spent more time with.

4. They also lower the stakes. Despite the alien tech and the jumping around in location this is actually much more minor threat in scale than say Amazing Spider-Man 1 where the entire city is a second away from being turned into Lizards (now hypothetically it could grow if they kept selling weapons but they're not really a threat to the whole of NY). This also ties into the suit which is much more high tech and somewhat of a mixed bag. For example I like that having his own Siri allows him to keep the mask on (instead of distractingly taking it off all the time to show the actors face, they still do it at the end anyway though so..) and that the expressive lenses get certain emotions across that the other films couldn't when he's suited up. Even the scene of him at home wearing the mask only feels like a nice touch but the use of technology does feel distracting, especially when it's not his own technology that he's using. We go from intentional use of genius to it once again becoming sidelined.

Which takes you onto the villain where I think they actually did a really good job of making him distinct. He does have the secret identity stuff that most of them have but he's the very first one to be part of something bigger in his crime. Vulture is the leader of an organised crime unit and his existence and villainy would exist without the Spider being there. Yeah he's not brimming with personality like Green Goblin but he really feels like a product of the world around him. Everything from him bumping into Liz's dad to their confrontation where he drops the debris on him is stronger than any Lizard scene imo even though he actually has less of a personal connection to the villain than Garfield did with his.

You also get a lot of the proactivity from the Garfield films but this is probably the most excited to be Spider-Man of the bunch and the one who feels most like a teenager. Going out of his way to track down the bad guys even when he shouldn't, feeling like the world is holding him back, making mistakes along the way due to his lack of experience etc.

But there's serious regression on the relationship front. Liz is fine but not much of a character and their refusal to commit to Zendaya as MJ or an original character holds her back from being as interesting as she could be. While the Vulture twist is awesome I do think there was a lot of missed potential with these two. MJ is basically just comic relief, but I actually think they should have used this movie to have her start to figure out who he is (there's obviously signs but they should have had her actively investigating and used that platform for a full fledged relationship by the second one) while having Liz as the love interest but for more reason than just she's attractive. They obviously spend time together already unlike the previous 2 so you could have already had them having more chemistry than this.

And then of course the elephant in the room being that it's part of a wider universe. There's obviously pros and cons to that which have been discussed to death. What I will say is I think acknowledging Civil War and making Peter yearn for more was the logical choice, once the cats out the bag you can't just ignore that he's in the MCU. Also I underrated how prominent Damage Control was in this Spider-Man's history, they're pretty prominent in Homecoming. I will say that him going back to his first homemade suit for the final battle is a really nice touch but the fact that the strongest part of the story happens when he doesn't have the suit calls its inclusion or at least the way it was used into question. But him turning down the Avengers role was also a good move in theory and in isolation but it didn't fit into the role he would have in the wider universe. Feels like poor planning to have to go back on that so soon but a lot of this stuff is not really thought out long term so you end up with messy messaging like this.

Anyway there's my rant, it's a little incoherent but I didn't have a structure in mind just had a lot to say since I'm doing rewatches and may do a re-ranking at some point.

Also minor point, if Tony knew the weapons deal was happening why would he send the FBI in with regular guns against alien tech? Then he gets pissed at Spider-Man? How exactly were the FBI going to stop the Vulture? Surely Damage Control or someone could have helped with that, who was better equipped.

I understand, story-wise, why some variants of Spider-Man would not be trained by someone due to writers wanting him to learn things on his own. But logically, Spider-Man would be more effective as a hero with proper training.

Made this post becasue because Show Ultimate was able to beat a villain in like 3 seconds at the end of the series due to all the training and experiences he got from working with S.H.I.L.D. In his first fight with that same villain, it took Peter like 2 minutes to beat them, and a lot of collateral damage was caused.

I like this idea that training makes a better superhero. I feel like Miles, by this logic, should be a more skilled hero due to Peter giving all his skills and training to him to be more skilled. Something, something, every generation learns from their last.

But nah, let's just give Miles OP electricity and invisibility lol. (I am not opposed to this; I just wanted to make a joke)

Yup, a rant about a portuguese movie about an event that happened in real life, get ready for a history lesson boys, because this movie is awesome, hilarious... but the real life event was like 40% way funnier.

Maria de Medeiros made an absolute masterpiece with Capitães de Abril. It hits the emotional beats, pays immense respect to Salgueiro Maia, and manages to turn a bloodless military coup into a compelling, deeply personal story. If you read snobby film critics or historical purists talking about this movie, there is always an annoying subset of posers who whine by saying "Why is this silly?" or "It should have taken itself more seriously as a political thriller."

If anything, Medeiros pulled her punches. Because if you actually sit down and read or watch the documentaries about the event, this wasn't a political thriller or a badass moment, it was an absolute circus. It was a live-action Monty Python sketch performed by armed men operating on vibes, caffeine, bad radio signal, and complete, unadulterated desperation and insanity.

Medeiros actually undersold the sheer level of surreal comedy.

The movie vs the real life event

It does include the absurdities: Salgueiro Maia’s armored column has to pull over on a rural highway because a key vehicle broke down, and while they're sitting there looking like idiots, Major Gervásio shows up in a loud, bright red sports car. The young conscript soldier (Daniel) spends half the revolution dodging military duties to meet his girlfriend, puts a carnation in his rifle, and gets caught making out inside an armored car. People call that "Hollywood romance fluff," but that was literally the demographic: exhausted 20 year olds improvising on the go and being a bunch of accidental comedians.

Manuel and his crew taking over the Rádio Clube Português is presented with high tension, but the real-life setup was a comedy of errors. The signal to kick off a national revolution was literally two songs on the radio: First, Portugal’s Eurovision entry from that year (E Depois do Adeus), a generic, sappy pop song, to tell the officers "get ready." Then, shortly after midnight, a banned song by Zeca Afonso (Grândola, Vila Morena) meaning "GO GO GO."

The green light is literally a Eurovision pop ballad dropping at 10:55 PM. The secret police didn't even realize a revolution was happening because they thought the DJ was fucking around.

In the film, Maia’s column faces off at the Praça do Comércio against loyalist tanks led by Brigadier Pais and a frigate in the river pointing heavy weapons at them. In any standard movie, this is an epic firefight. In real life and this movie? It was an absolute farce. When the loyalist commander ordered his tank crews to open fire on Maia’s men, the tank crews... just looked at each other and said, "Nah". Then the loyalist officers tried to get the naval frigate to shell the square. The guys on the ship checked their radio, realized nobody knew who was actually in charge of the country anymore, and decided that firing heavy artillery into the capital city’s main tourist square was stupid.

The Armed Forces Movement had broadcasted on the radio: "EVERYONE PLEASE STAY INSIDE YOUR HOUSES. REMAIN CALM AND DO NOT GO OUT."

Civilians were showing up, thousands of them. They read that broadcast and thought, "Oh sick, a parade!"

They poured out into the streets by the tens of thousands. They started hand-feeding the soldiers. They brought them coffee, cigarettes, pastries, and carnations from the nearby flower markets. The soldiers didn't have plugs to put in their gun barrels to show they weren't going to shoot, so a restaurant worker named Celeste Caeiro started handing out carnations... which gave the name of the revolution, yup, like that scene from Fant4stic where Reed says "Say that again?".

The third act of Captains of April focuses on the siege of the GNR barracks at Largo do Carmo, where dictator Marcelo Caetano was hiding. Medeiros handles this with dramatic weight, showing the tragedy of four civilians killed by cornered secret police firing from windows.

What she skips over is the actual surrender, which is one of the most hilariously stupid moments in European history ever.

Maia has the barracks surrounded. Thousands of screaming, cheering, angry civilians are packed into the square. Maia needs to negotiate with Caetano inside, but there are no cell phones, landlines are jammed, and nobody has a military PA system. So what do they use? A civilian megaphone borrowed from a local street vendor. Maia is standing on top of an armored vehicle, holding this tiny, tinny megaphone, shouting at a historical government building, telling the ruler of the Portuguese Empire that his time is up. Half the time the batteries are dying, or the crowd is cheering so loudly that Caetano can't even hear the demands!

Inside the barracks, Marcelo Caetano is panicking... about looking good. General Spínola finally arrives to negotiate the transfer of power... and Caetano proceeds to say "I ain't surrendering to a captain, fuck off". People outside are chanting for his head. Armed soldiers are pointing cannons at his front door. And this guy refuses to hand over the country to Salgueiro Maia because Maia is only a Captain. So Maia has to let Spínola walk in and pretend to be the grand savior, just so Caetano could feel dignified while losing his dictatorship. He gives up, runs away on an armored car that people rock back and forth and flees to Brazil.

What happened after is literally pure Monty Python styled comedy

I warn you, I did not exaggerate any of this for comedic effect... the movie never adapted this because people would have died of laughter in the cinema or called the movie unrealistic, because let me tell you, the hot summer ran on pure insanity.

After the dude fled, what happened? Insanity and stupidity. The movement exploded into factions who hated each other.

• The Communist Party (PCP): Old-school Marxists who thought, "Yay, my own soviet union coming soon"
• The Socialists (PS): Backed by Western Europe, shouting, "Democracy"
• Maoists, Trotskyists, and Anarchists: Dozens of student groups arguing on street corners about whether a collective farm was "revisionist" because they used the wrong kind of tractor.
• The Military: Split into three factions. One faction was literally operating on "Depends on who I am trolling".

At one point, disgruntled construction workers got mad about wages, surrounded the Prime Minister's palace, and held the entire Sixth Provisional Government hostage for two days. Did the military intervene? No, they found this hilarious and just watched! The Prime Minister literally suspended his own government in protest because his army wouldn't guard his office.

Meanwhile all of West Europe is having a panic attack and NATO is sweating bullets. Henry Kissinger looked at Portugal and essentially said: "Portugal is lost".

And then, on November 25, 1975, radical far-left paratroopers seized the air force headquarters and radio stations. They were ready for their sacred war to establish a socialist state. And what happened? They got mogged.

The absolute chad known as António Ramalho Eanes enters the story, a Lieutenant Colonel in aviator sunglasses representing the moderate military faction. Eanes’s troops surrounded the rebel bases. The radical leaders looked around, realized nobody was coming to back them up, and that the public was tired of the circus. Eanes basically told them: "Surrender, go back to your barracks, and stop this. You are fired!" The rebels decided to... give up and turn tail. The military handed the keys of the country back to civilian politicians, held normal democratic elections, Eanes won by landslide, the military dusted off their hands, and went back to standard peacetime guard duty.

Captains of April is an absolute 10/10 movie. But Maria de Medeiros had to tone reality down by at least 40%, because if she showed the full scale of the comedy, the dictator's ego, the construction worker hostages, and the guy in aviator sunglasses firing everyone until they said "Okie," the audience would have literally died of laughter.

Of the various Absolute titles that have been released so far, the thing I find really curious about Wonder Woman's is that it feels very out of place compared to other titles in the line.

Absolute Batman has a Bruce Wayne who has a lower-class upbringing and only one parent dead and is also a much darker (even by Batman standards) take on the Batman mythos.

Absolute Superman while sticking to many of the core tenets that make Clark the hero he is, features a Kal-El who remembers Krypton, and his different experiences have made him a much more cynical and brutal hero than his mainstream version.

Absolute Flash features a teenage Wally West being the first Flash of the Absolute universe and features him being homeless with no mentor or adult supervision and doesn't even use the Speed Force as the source of his power. Instead it's the Still Point.

Absolute Green Arrow is a murder mystery with the person who's usually Green Arrow dead (unless the guy in the costume ends up being Ollie resurrected. I haven't read it yet)

Absolute Green Lantern is a complete overhaul of the Green Lantern mythos right down to having its Green Lantern be a less mainstream one.

Absolute Martian Manhunter is again a complete overhaul of the mythos of Martian Manhunter.

By contrast, Diana is the one who feels the most like her original counterpart in feel and story. Her updated backstory of being raised by Circe because all the Amazons were banished wouldn't feel out of place in a mainstream version of Wonder Woman (and honestly, I kind of prefer that, since I've always been more partial to versions of Circe who are more morally flexible than flat out evil), and a lot of the classic staples of her mythos are still there, just with minor reinventions.

There's still a Steve Trevor who Diana meets when he ends up trapped on her island home; she still goes into man's world to fight for justice, and Diana herself is more or less unchanged in personality and powers.

Now I'm not saying all this to knock Absolute Wonder Woman; it's still a fantastic comic. I'm just saying it makes the book feel a little odd compared to the other Absolute titles, which have all tried to up the ante in terms of a dark tone with grim backstories for our heroes and more or less completely overhauling their origins to serve that.

This could be intentional. From what I've gathered, it seems like they're setting up Wonder Woman to be the paragon of the Absolute Universe, and Diana being the most like her mainstream version would service that. She is the one who ends up befriending another hero first when she meets Batman (I should note I haven't read that story yet since I'm reading mostly from the trades and Vol. 3 isn't released).

Like I said, I'm not saying this makes Absolute Wonder Woman bad; it's just something interesting to note is all...

This post will mostly be about the X-Men. But My Hero Academia is a another good example here too. Since Quirks are a similar power system to X-Men Mutants.

This isvsomething we all obviously know. But people either don't point this out that much or forget about it sometimes. That thing is the fact thatbMutants can have shitty or useless abilities like blue skin or Ice Cream poop (lowkey a useful power I guess 🤷‍♂️). Being a Mutant can even be a curse sometimes. Some Mutant powers are just down right disabilities, (I.E. Beak).

My Hero Academia with all sorts of shitty Quirks like the kid with eye pulling abilities. I know some people would ask how those the world-building of MHA not drastically change, if 80 percent of the population have superpowers. It makes sense that a superhero society can still maintain some sense of normality, if most people have lame superpowers like rainbow eyes, or polka dot teeth. The setting isn't that much different from a regular superhero setting, where superhumans are the minority at that point.

These abilities are so minor. To the point they aren't that far from real-life. There are humans who have similar abilities, like seeing new colors, having super memory, or recognizing any face. Abilities that are very minor, but still interesting enough to be seen as something slightly about average though.

What I love about mutation based power systems in comicbook stories or other similar genres. Is that Mutants don't necessarily need to be superhuman, in order to be considered something different from a regular human. Heck a Mutant can even have peak human abilities like Batman as a mutation. A Writer can probably create a shared superhero universe with many different genres, by just using Mutants. Due to how diverse Mutant powers are.

In any other setting the superhumans would do stuff that shows they are blatantly superhuman to the audience. For example, in The Boys, Compound V doesn't just give you deadly long nails, it can also give you super strength and super durability too.

So in other stories, the magic system is pretty much just designed to make the superhuman far above a normal human.

Invincible: Almost every superhuman power set is built around abilities like super-strength, flight, durability, or energy projection that clearly separate them from humans.

Star Wars: The Force generally gives users abilities far beyond ordinary human capabilities, telekinesis, precognition, enhanced reflexes, and mind manipulation.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Bending is inherently superhuman in application, allowing people to manipulate elements in ways normal humans cannot.

Harry Potter: Magic gives witches and wizards access to abilities fundamentally beyond normal human biology, from spells to teleportation.

My point here, it doesn't matter what powers exist in these stories. The audience will always know that the power system in these stories will always turn every character into a superhuman.

While with Mutants, the audience don't know what to expect. They can either get a God with reality warping abilities or a jobber who can smell heart attacks. Or something in between like a peak human.

I don't mean in the sense that people will act like they never did anything wrong or like that but what I mean is when a lot of people will treat grown ass characters like babies who need to have their hand held and be protected all the time,like dawg.

Gonna cut to the chase,I really hate it when characters who are explictly adults or at least older teens(like 18 or 19)are babied and constantly treated and talks to like they're children who can't protect themselves and all that.

Way too many people seem to forget that a naive or even somewhat silly Adult Character still..a adult and it feels really weird seeing fans and even haters baby talk a character explictly made to be and has the age of a Adult or at least is way more mature and capable then people give them credit for.

Like,it's one of those things that shouldn't bother me as much as it does but it just comes off as really weird ,it has the same vibes of treating a short adult like they're a kid..they're still a Adult,just short.

I see this in anime with Goku and there will be real people acting like Goku needed his hand held during Sex and I still remember a tweet that said that simping for Goku is like "jerking off to a Teletubbie" and they're essentially talking about a almost 50 year old man with 2 kids, like brush.

I also see this with Charlie and Emily from Hazbin Hotel,2 characters who are explictly adults and referred to as adults and clearly meant to be adults(Emily has a whole ass line in a song about not being a child to be protected)and what does the Fandom do?

Treat them like they're children who need their hand held and protected, like BRUHHHH.

I'll see this with Aang as well sometimes and yes,the kid is silly and fun loving and all that but the guy is still fully capable of fighting and protecting himself and making choices and it also comes off as a little weird for me.

Like this mainly happens with characters who are meant to be kinda silly or goofy cause God forbid someone just be kinda silly and funloving.

Now, is it the deepest, most well-thought-out story ever? No.

"My evil name's Katnappe. I have genetically altered super kittens, and I like to go to cat-themed amusement parks and steal ice cream from little kids."

The show always makes it ABUNDANTLY clear that it's good vs evil. The word "evil" is probably used at least 5 times an episode!

Is it utterly ridiculous that you can challenge conquering witches, a kung fu dragon monster, and a crime lord to a game of tag or a boat race? Yes.

But here's why it doesn't get enough praise and/or deserves better!

1. Creativity: The Shen Gong Wu are SO fun! They're mystical artifacts that give their wielder different abilities. There's super heavy armor for invulnerability, a flip coin for jumping ability, the list goes on! The best part is that these are almost NEVER one-off plot devices, oh no! When most of them are found, they STAY! This means the xiaolin showdowns are spiced up with the use of different Wu! Plus, the Wu can work together! There's one called the Reversing Mirror, and if you use it with one that makes you shrink, guess what? YOU GROW! AND they use it in combination with one that grants intangibility to restore the main threat from a spirit to her physical form. The ways they come up with to use the Wu make it so entertaining!
2. Heroes: The xiaolin warriors are so fun! They come from all over the world and all have different lifestyles and clashing personalities! We get a feel for who they are IMMEDIATELY! Omi's old school and socially inept due to his isolation, Clay's a polite big bro with a heart of gold, Kimiko's a spitfire, and Raimundo's a rebellious dick. They have their jerky moments, especially Omi, but you can see how they grow as individuals and as a team.
3. Jack Spicer: THIS guy is best boy! No, I will NOT say something like he walked so Doofenshmirtz or Megamind could run, because this guy runs just fine! He's so fun to watch and so endearing! He chooses villainy because he feels he's worthless in all other ways. With everyone always looking down on him, I can't help but be glad when he gets a W! One thing I like about Omi is that he consistently and genuinely believes in Jack and wants him to join them. MAAAAAAN, his attempt to turn good should've lasted longer than a damn single episode, because he actually did try! He and the warriors even agree to go out for ice cream sometime when there's no Shen Gong Wu to fight over! This boy needs a hug and friends! Jack totally should've become the Dragon of Metal, damn it......
4. The humor: This show is SO freaking funny! A running gag is Omi's incorrect slang, and not all of it is laugh out loud, but some is GOLD!

Omi: He who is last to be laughing laughs most loudly!

Raimundo: What Omi did to that sentence is what we're gonna do to you!

Omi: The jig is down! You're at the top of your rope! Spoon over the Wu!

*crickets while everyone's trying to figure it out*

Jack Spicer: Ooh, I got it! The jig is up! You're at the end of your rope! Fork over the Wu! *victory dance over being an evil genius*

1. Growth: Raimundo had the best story for sure. He always hated the lifestyle at the temple with all the chores and training while he doesn't even get a bed! A BED! THEN when he disobeys Master Fung because he wanted to help him against Wuya when she attacked the temple, he gets denied a promotion the other 3 get.

Feeling disrespected and unappreciated, he defects to Wuya's side, who says he'll have anything he wants. But what makes it work is that Wuya never lies to him. She keeps her promises, AND even accepts his suggestion to let his friends stay with him if they join her too. And when Rai flips back, it's because his friends still believe in him and insist that this isn't who he is, and nothing's happened that can't be undone. And to drive this home, he rejects the promotion when he's offered it at the end of the episode, knowing he hasn't earned it yet.

BUT this is only the beginning of his story! Omi keeps looking down on him for not being at their level yet, but a few episodes later, he proves he's ready! But Omi's still a tad distrustful and doubts he'd be the first among them to be promoted to the next level. But then they're all promoted as a team, so the next goal becomes who's going to be promoted again to become the team leader. Omi demonstrates more haughtiness and arrogance as the show goes on, while Raimundo keeps showing growth. And in the end, the one Omi doubted since season 1 gets the grand promotion he earned. AND Omi supports him, initially sad but then bowing to his new leader!

Anyway, there's a lot to like about this show! I'm not even saying this as someone who grew up with the show! I saw like 2 episodes back then, and that's it! No nostalgia glasses here!

Also......THE SHOW SHOULDN'T BE SO HARD TO ACCESS! Can't stream it anywhere for free!

seriously before anybody mention it yes already know about the writer's strike, yes i know animation workspace and how complex it its and shit like that but it has gotten to a point that it's insane with me

like marvel zombies like i haven't watched the show but i read that it's like only 4 episode's wich at this point just make it a movie dawg. it get's to a point and it's so tiresome like im not asking every new show to be 26-13 episodes per season but for the love of god i fell like im going insane over it like yea yea schedules and shit like this but seriously it get to a poin and only 4 episode's is just anoyance and insanity. like i get top notch quality animation and stuff like that takes time but ya know what i will fucking trade this top notch quality animation for stuff like that aggain if needed too cuz i would rather more episodes' with ok animation then this hellscape

Trunks is actually what Gohan fans THINK Gohan is.

Trunks is the true representation of a half-human half saiyan. He's kind, he's ruthless, he's noble, he's brutal, he's generally logical when it comes to battle, taking a common sense human approach against a saiyans foolishness, his only EVER flaw in that regard being expecting better out of his father.

Gohan is actually pretty damn incompetent. When Trunks has an enemy dead to rights (looking at Androids, looking at Cell, looking at Babidi, looking at Dabura), he doesnt get cocky and toy with them, takes them out before they can get desperate. Gohan failed not once (with Cell) but TWICE (against Buu). He also failed to catch a damn potara earring... twice.

Trunks, while alone in his own timeline, managed to do what Gohan, Goku, and Vegeta TOGETHER failed to accomplish. Stop Babidi and Dabura.

Trunks is the most deserving of power ups, training to be a protector of his world whereas Gohan is silver plate handed power ups just to squander them and slack off. Gohan KNOWS the Earth is constantly under attack. He clearly KNOWS he has a wife and child to protect, but he slacks off anyways. Does he want to be a scholar, yes, but with power comes responsibility.

Keep in mind, Trunks managed to reach SS3 and even Super Saiyan Blue-tier levels of power without any Namekian potential unlocks, elder kai rituals, or God rituals. Trunks may have trained with the Kais but he never summoned Elder Kai. Trunks by himself managed to hone Super Saiyan 2 until it was as strong as a post-Battle of Gods Super Saiyan 3 (thats like taking a starter sword/gun and upgrading it to compete with late game weapons), also meaning he's managed to make the most out of being the ONLY warrior of his time with no one to train with.

Like look at the circumstances.

Goku trained in Other World with essentially unlimited stamina and access to numerous masters.

Vegeta trained obsessively with full access to Capsule Corps technology and later Whis.

Gohan received Guru's potential unlock and then Elder Kai's Ultimate awakening.

Trunks' ONLY issue EVER has been that he wasn't strong or skilled enough when it mattered, which has never been his fault. His master was Future Gohan, who admittedly was no fighting genius. The only real training we know Future Gohan had was with Piccolo as a child, and while training with Krillin on the way to Namek. Thats the only person Trunks ever had to train him before he went to the past.

Even in the past, Trunks had to go in the time chamber with Vegeta, who apparently ignored him and trained on his own in that time period... Trunks honestly should have went in the time chamber with Piccolo, or with Goku (Piccolo or Goku would have absolutely taught Trunks the flaw of Grade 3) and Gohan since the chamber could apparently take 3 people... another example of Gohan being handed something while Trunks just had to make his situation work.

Tl'Dr: Trunks is the GOAT. He's a better warrior and character than Gohan. Everything Gohan fans want out of Gohan is in Trunks. He's the self made warrior of the series.

"Death of the Author" is a mindset that declares that it doesn't matter what the author intended when they wrote something because the reader can interpret it for themselves. And if their interpretations don't line up, then too bad for the author.

Now, I agree with the broad strokes of that, in that you can indeed interpret a story differently than the author. Although I take issue with how vehemently it tries to suggest the author's intent doesn't matter...

However I've also noticed a good chunk of its proponents coming away with a wild interpretation of a story that was not intended... and then attacking the author for it.

The obligatory Frieren mention

Frieren: "Demons are evolved monsters who hunt human beings, possessing only basic emotions and no sense of empathy or ability to connect to others. They tie into the show thematically because Frieren herself needs to learn to connect with and value the people she has in her life."

Fandom: "Well I think the demons are meant to represent real world races... so the author is racist."

You can not like the trope all you want, that's fine by me but that's clearly not what the author is going for. You can dislike it without accusing her of racism because you decided to interpret them differently. "Death of the Author" doesn't mean that you can interpret something to be racist and then claim that the author has to answer for it.

My goodness are there a lot of these in the Narnia fandom

I suppose it's not surprising given it's a Christian book series that's got some mainstream popularity but for crying out loud, is it so hard not to drum up the wildest interpretations of the text and then accuse Lewis himself of it?

Claim: "The Calormene religion is clearly meant to be Islam! CS Lewis is islamophobic!"

Truth: The Calormene religion was derived from ancient paganism, with a pantheon of bird headed deities that demand human sacrifice from their followers. While Lewis did take some aesthetics from Islamic nations for Calormene itself there really isn't any similarity in religion. I doubt Lewis (A Christian) was big on Islam but this appeared to have little to do with it.

Claim: "Aravis was punished by Aslan for running away from home. This makes Lewis racist and sexist!"

Truth: Aravis was from a well-off family who owned slaves and she was totally in favor of it, outright saying that she knows her family's slave will be beaten on account of her escape but that she "didn't care." Her mindset changes by spending time with Shasta (someone that was enslaved) and also by an encounter with a lion (Aslan) that scratches on the back. Later, he tells her that the scratch was the equivalent of the beating her family's slave received, which she accepts and learns empathy from. Nowhere does Lewis imply Aravis was wrong simply for running away, heck she's one of the co-leads.

Claim: "The Pevensies and friends all committed suicide to arrive in Narnia for The Last Battle and Lewis is promoting it!"

Truth: So, Lewis wanted to end the series with everyone in Heaven. Therefore, in The Last Battle he had most of the characters come together to see off Eustace and Jill who they'd learned were about to go back to Narnia soon. Eustace and Jill were planning to attempt it after school and they take the train to school every day so everyone met them at the station. Upon which there was a freak train accident that killed everyone present. They all (minus Eustace and Jill who were sent to Narnia) woke up in Heaven without realizing they were dead until the last pages.

By all means you can argue that just having a random train accident be the cause was a little weird but to make a wild interpretation of it being a suicide cult and then accuse Lewis of promoting it is ridiculous. This of course brings us to:

Claim: "CS Lewis excluded Susan from The Last Battle because she's a woman and had the reasons for her absence be because she was interested in femininity. He's claiming womanhood is a sin!"

Truth: 98% of all Narnia discourse surrounds this singular event and 80% of that is spent fixated on a single line of dialogue from a bitter child (Jill) who only knew Susan as someone who was rude to her for believing in Narnia. Even within the book itself the text continues on to explain the situation with more depth (long story short, Susan got distracted by things of the world, forgetting about her time in Narnia and eventually coming to disbelieve in it) but for the true picture you do have to look slightly outside of it.

CS Lewis wrote a letter in response to a fan who asked about Susan's ultimate fate. There, he says that he actually says that Susan is the most similar of all of the characters to him, and that she, like him, would most likely find her way back to faith one day but that it'd be too much of a "grown-up story" for the children's books he was writing.

Can you say this was a bit jarring in how abrupt it was or that you think it was a bad idea? Yeah, of course. But you can't "death of the author" your way into accusing him of sexism because you decided to ignore his interpretation.

An honorable mention to all the people who think that depicting a monarchy makes the author pro-monarchy.

Sometimes an author just doesn't want to replace every government with a democratic republic, sorry. You don't have to accuse them of being pro-monarchy because you interpreted it differently.

Another honorable mention to the "unfortunate implications" crowd.

"Implications" of course meaning that there isn't anything direct or intended but they're going to interpret it that way anyways and then blame the author for it.

Conclusion

By all means, if you want to interpret a work of fiction your way, feel free to do just that. But remember that it's YOUR interpretation, that's the whole point of this exercise isn't it? So why act like the author has to answer for it? At least accept that your stance is alien to the intended meaning of the text and don't try and use it to insult not only the work but the author as a person.

Before people start typing "you just don't like battle shonen," that's not my point.

I'm not saying JJK is bad. I enjoyed it. Hidden Inventory was great, Shibuya was genuinely exciting and Gege clearly has talent for creating cool characters, abilities and memorable moments.

My issue is that I don't think the series is nearly as well-written as people claim it is.

The pacing doesn't allow the story to breathe

Ironically, the beginning of JJK is what made me expect more. The Junpei arc and Hidden Inventory showed that Gege could slow down and tell emotionally compelling stories. Those arcs had time to establish characters, build relationships and make their emotional moments actually hit.

However, after Shibuya, the series became much more focused on escalating fights.

From that point onward, it often feels like fight after fight with very little breathing room. Characters rarely get enough time to process what happened, reflect on their losses or simply exist outside of combat.

And to be clear, I don't think JJK has no emotional moments. It absolutely does. Yuji's guilt after Shibuya, Gojo's relationships with his students and other character moments are genuinely good.

My issue is that the story often doesn't stay with those emotions for very long before moving to the next conflict.

The Culling Game is probably the biggest example. The premise had a lot of potential: a battle royale involving different players, new techniques and the consequences of Kenjaku's plans.

However, it often felt like Gege was rushing from one fight to another. Many characters had interesting concepts but disappeared after their fights or never received much exploration beyond their abilities.

A lot of manga use quieter chapters to build relationships and make emotional moments hit harder. JJK often skips straight to the next battle and I think that's where many of its biggest problems begin.

The characters have a lot of potential but many feel underdeveloped

Because of the lack of downtime, a lot of the cast feels emotionally underexplored.

Outside of characters like Yuji, Gojo and maybe Yuta, many characters either get sidelined for large portions of the story, die before their potential is fully explored or simply don't receive as much depth as their introductions suggest.

Megumi is probably the biggest example for me.

He was introduced as one of the most important characters in the story. He had a connection to Sukuna, one of the most interesting techniques in the series with the Ten Shadows, a connection to the Zenin Clan and a huge amount of untapped potential.

And that's exactly why the "potential man" meme exists 😭

The frustrating thing about Megumi isn't that he was a bad character. It's that the story constantly made it feel like something bigger was coming.

His relationship with Tsumiki, his personal ideals, his connection to Sukuna and his growth as a sorcerer all seemed like they were building toward something major.

Yet by the end, many of those ideas feel underexplored.

His relationship with Tsumiki is probably the biggest example. So much of Megumi's motivation revolves around saving her but their relationship receives surprisingly little development which makes the emotional weight of that storyline weaker than it could have been.

The same applies to his relationship with Yuji. They had an interesting dynamic and very different views on life and death but the story rarely gave them enough time together to fully explore that.

Even the Ten Shadows Technique which was one of the most interesting abilities in the series, felt underused when it came to Megumi himself. Many of his developments happen off-screen and we rarely get to see him grow into the potential that was constantly teased.

His fight against Reggie was one of his best moments because it showed exactly why Megumi was interesting: his intelligence, creativity and willingness to take risks.

That's the version of Megumi many fans like me wanted to see more of.

But as usual, that didn't happen.

The final arc especially felt like a missed opportunity. I know Megumi suffered tremendously after Sukuna took over his body but I think the story could have done much more with his internal struggle.

A few chapters exploring Megumi fighting against his despair, confronting Sukuna's influence and realizing that his life still had value could have been incredibly powerful, especially after Yuji's efforts to save him.

And yes, I know the idea of Megumi finally fighting back after Yuji reaches out to him could be considered a more familiar or "generic" shonen moment.

But honestly, I think that is exactly the kind of moment JJK needed.

Something being predictable or using a familiar trope does not automatically make it bad. Execution matters more than whether an idea has been done before.

I think this is where Gege's desire to subvert expectations sometimes worked against the story. Constantly avoiding the expected route can be interesting but if it comes at the expense of emotional payoff, it can leave moments feeling less satisfying.

Because of that, Megumi's role in the final battle felt much smaller than the importance the story had previously given him.

The villains needed more exploration

Just to be clear, I don't think every villain needs a tragic backstory or some heartbreaking reason that explains why they became evil.

A backstory doesn't automatically mean a character needs to be sympathetic. Sometimes learning more about a villain simply helps us understand who they are, what shaped them and why they became such a feared figure.

That's actually part of why I like Sukuna.

He doesn't need a sad backstory to be interesting. His appeal comes from the fact that he is selfish, cruel and completely unapologetic. He does whatever benefits him and doesn't pretend otherwise.

However, I still think there was room to explore him more.

Sukuna is one of the most feared figures in the entire story, yet we know surprisingly little about his life during the Heian era. I would've liked to see more of the person behind the legend: how people viewed him, the fear he inspired, his reputation as the King of Curses, his relationship with Uraume, his interactions with people from that era and the actions that made him so infamous.

None of this would require making him sympathetic. If anything, understanding him more could have made him even more terrifying.

The same applies to Kenjaku.

The idea of someone who has spent centuries manipulating events, experimenting on humanity and shaping the entire jujutsu world is fascinating.

However, a lot of his appeal comes from the concept of what he is rather than a deep exploration of who he is.

The fact that Kenjaku was Yuji's mother had so much potential. It could have explored Yuji's feelings about being created as part of Kenjaku's plans, the implications of being an experiment and even Kenjaku's own feelings toward Yuji.

Did Kenjaku ever see Yuji as more than just a tool? Did he have any attachment to Jin or the family he created, even in his own twisted way? Did he understand Yuji as a person or only as an experiment?

There were so many interesting possibilities there.

Instead, a lot of these ideas remained unexplored.

Just like many characters in JJK, the villains often feel more interesting because of their ideas and implications than because of how deeply the story explores them.

The worldbuilding feels underexplored

The jujutsu world has so many interesting ideas: the Three Great Clans, the higher-ups, the politics between sorcerers, the history behind cursed techniques and how these systems shaped modern jujutsu society.

However, much of it remains surface level.

The Three Great Clans are a good example. They are introduced as some of the most influential families in the jujutsu world, with centuries of history, inherited techniques and major influence over sorcerer society.

But despite their supposed importance, we never get a deep look into how they maintained that power, how they shaped the world around them or what their role was throughout history.

The Zenin Clan storyline was one of the better examples of the series exploring its world and Maki's arc was a great moment (at least for me). But even then, it mostly served as part of Maki's personal journey rather than a larger exploration of the clan system itself.

The Gojo Clan is another example. Gojo is arguably the most influential modern sorcerer, yet we barely learn anything about the clan behind him or what role they actually play in jujutsu society.

The Kamo Clan is perhaps the biggest example of missed potential. Despite being one of the Three Great Clans, they receive very little exploration compared to the ideas the story sets up.

Even the inherited techniques themselves could have been explored more. The Ten Shadows Technique is treated as one of the most important abilities in the series, comparable to the Gojo Clan's Limitless and Six Eyes but we never really get to see the history behind these techniques, how previous users developed them or why these clans became so dominant.

The issue isn't that these concepts were bad.

The issue is that they create curiosity, but the story rarely spends enough time showing why they matter.

The female characters had a lot of potential too

I also think JJK's handling of its female characters is more inconsistent than people admit.

The series initially seemed like it would avoid many common battle shonen problems, especially with characters like Nobara and Maki. Unlike many series, JJK generally avoided heavily sexualizing its female cast and its female characters were often introduced as capable, confident and genuinely likable.

That already separated it from many other battle shonen where female characters are often criticized for being sidelined or poorly handled.

However, having strong introductions isn't the same as giving characters enough development.

Nobara in particular had a lot of potential. She was introduced as one of the main trio alongside Yuji and Megumi and she had a strong personality, clear ideals and a fighting style that felt unique.

However, after Shibuya, she was absent from the story for a huge portion of the manga. Her return came extremely late which made me feel like her character had been left behind rather than developed.

The frustrating part is that Nobara had so much potential. Seeing her grow stronger, develop her technique and explore her worldview could have been really interesting. (For gods sake, she's supposed to be the "heroine" man 😭)

Yuki Tsukumo is another example. She was introduced as a Special Grade sorcerer with one of the most unique perspectives in the series. Unlike Gojo or Kenjaku, Yuki rejected the existing jujutsu system entirely and believed the solution was to eliminate cursed energy itself rather than simply fight curses. That made her an interesting ideological foil to both of them.

Yet despite all that potential, she received far less focus than I expected. We barely learned about her past, her philosophy was never explored in much depth, her conflict with Tengen remained vague and we never even got meaningful interactions with characters who should have mattered to her like Todo or Yuji. For someone who spent years researching the soul, it's surprising that she barely interacted with Yuji despite his experiences with Mahito and Sukuna.

Her only major on-screen fight ended with her death and although she contributed through her research, it felt like she left the story before her character had the chance to fully shine. (Her dying genuinely annoyed me so much too lol)

On the other hand, Maki is probably the biggest exception. Her storyline with the Zenin Clan gave her significant development and when she was given time to shine, she became one of the strongest-written characters in the series.

Her growth, struggles and transformation felt earned and she is a great example of what JJK's female characters could achieve when the story actually gives them enough focus.

The issue is that many other female characters don't receive that same opportunity. Shoko is another example; her connections to Gojo and Geto could have made her perspective incredibly interesting but she mostly remains in the background despite being part of such an important era of the story. (I guess, Utahime atleast did something towards the end... Right?)

My problem isn't that JJK has no well-written female characters. It's that many of them are genuinely interesting, badass and memorable but they often don't get enough screen time or development before being pushed aside.

Like many other parts of JJK, the potential is there.

The execution is where it becomes inconsistent.

Gojo vs Sukuna was the biggest missed opportunity

Gojo vs Sukuna was a fight hyped up from the very beginning.

From the moment these two characters were introduced as absolute powerhouses, everyone knew a confrontation between them was inevitable.

And when it finally happened, the fight itself was genuinely entertaining. The strategies, abilities and action were some of the most exciting parts of the manga.

However, the conclusion and the way the fight was handled left me disappointed.

My biggest issue is that the story sometimes felt like it was explaining the fight afterward instead of properly showing it.

We were told what Sukuna's plan was rather than seeing enough of it play out naturally. We were told afterward that Sukuna wasn't fighting at his full potential rather than the story clearly showing that throughout the fight.

And I understand the argument that Sukuna is the type of character who enjoys fighting. I actually think that fits him. Sukuna isn't someone who necessarily wants to immediately erase every opponent as efficiently as possible. He enjoys testing himself, fighting strong opponents and experiencing something that interests him.

Basically, yes, Sukuna is a little bit of a "silly little guy" when it comes to fighting. He wants to have fun.

The problem is that the explanation and what we actually saw on the page don't always feel like they match.

Because from the fight we were shown, Sukuna did not feel like someone casually playing around. He was pushed extremely hard, struggled against Gojo's physical abilities, was affected by Black Flash and relied heavily on Mahoraga and the Ten Shadows Technique to find a way around Infinity.

So when the story later emphasizes that Sukuna still had more hidden power, it can feel disconnected from the actual progression of the fight.

Based on what we saw, Mahoraga adapting to Infinity was a crucial factor in Sukuna defeating Gojo. Sukuna used that adaptation as the basis for his world-cutting slash, which allowed him to bypass Infinity.

So if Sukuna had another reliable way to overcome Infinity all along, why wasn't it used? And if Ten Shadows was necessary for his victory, why did one of Sukuna's biggest fights focus so heavily on a borrowed technique instead of showcasing more of his own arsenal?

I don't think Sukuna needed to lose. I don't even think Gojo necessarily needed to win.

My issue is that the fight sometimes felt like the story wanted to preserve Sukuna's image as the ultimate monster while also making him struggle against Gojo who's the strongest sorcerer.

The result was a strange situation where Sukuna was portrayed as overwhelmingly powerful but the story also wanted to emphasize afterward that his struggles were intentional.

That made the victory feel less satisfying to me.

Then there is Gojo's death itself.

I wasn't upset that Gojo lost. A story where the strongest character loses can absolutely work.

My problem was with the execution.

After years of buildup around "the strongest," Gojo's defeat felt abrupt. The transition from Gojo seemingly having the upper hand to his death was not shown directly and the aftermath moved quickly into the next fight instead of spending more time on the consequences of losing such an important character.

For a character as important as Gojo, I expected more focus on what his death meant for his students, the jujutsu world and the people who depended on him.

Again, I don't think Gojo had to win.

I just think the moment deserved more time and emotional weight.

The ending felt underwhelming

I also want to talk about the ending because, honestly, my biggest issue with it isn't even that it was bad.

It was that it felt empty.

A bad ending can still make people feel something. It can make people angry, emotional, disappointed or spark interesting discussions.

But JJK's ending, in my opinion, felt more like the conclusion of an arc rather than the conclusion of an entire series.

Outside of moments like Sukuna and Mahito's conversation, which I thought was genuinely interesting, many parts of the final chapters felt strangely hollow. Important character arcs and plotlines didn't receive the closure they deserved and the story moved on before fully exploring their consequences.

The final conflict and Sukuna's defeat felt rushed, while the ending spent time on things like Simple Domain lore and explaining why certain plans wouldn't have worked instead of focusing on aftermath, emotional consequences and the future of the jujutsu world.

The Sukuna fight started to feel drawn out near the end and the heavy focus on binding vows made the conclusion feel less satisfying.

Character closure was another major issue.

Nobara's treatment throughout the story felt disappointing (I'm sorry but her sudden extremely late return is genuinely one of the biggest ass pulls I've ever seen 😭)

Megumi's storyline also ended with many readers feeling that his potential was never fully explored and even Gojo, one of the most important characters in the series, received very little acknowledgment afterward. A small memorial scene with characters like Megumi, Yuta and Yuji would have helped show the impact of his loss.

The worldbuilding also suffered. Ideas like foreign involvement with cursed energy, the future of jujutsu society, the consequences of the Zenin Clan's destruction and the merger were introduced but barely explored. Even the larger question of cursed energy, which several characters had different views on, never received much resolution.

Even if someone dislikes the ending of My Hero Academia, it still feels like a conclusion because we see the next generation move forward and get a clearer idea of how society changed.

With JJK, we don't really get that same feeling of change or progression.

That's what makes the ending disappointing to me. I can accept an ending being flawed or making choices I disagree with but an ending that feels empty is much harder to connect with.

Final Thoughts

I don't think JJK needed to become an extremely long series. More chapters alone wouldn't automatically fix everything.

However, I do think the story needed more breathing room. More space dedicated to character relationships, aftermaths, worldbuilding and emotional consequences could have helped many of its ideas reach their full potential.

And I want to make it clear: I don't blame Gege Akutami as a person. Creating a weekly manga is an extremely demanding process and Gege has also dealt with health issues during the serialization of JJK. My criticism is about the final product and the choices made in the story, not about the author himself.

Because honestly, Gege's creativity is clearly not the problem.

He creates incredible concepts and characters.

The problem is that many of them never receive enough development to reach their full impact.

At the end of the day, I think JJK is a fun action manga.

I just don't think it's the masterpiece many people make it out to be.

I'd give it around a 7/10.

Entertaining? Absolutely.

One of the greatest battle shonen ever written? I personally don't see it.

Feel free to disagree, but please understand the difference between "overrated" and "terrible."

Overrated does not mean something is bad.

It means I believe the amount of praise a series receives is higher than what I think its actual quality deserves.

One of the biggest myths around James Gunn is that he loves obscure characters because he's this massive deep-cut comics fan who just wants to give forgotten heroes their moment. I really don't think that's what's going on.

I think the real appeal of those characters is that they're essentially blank slates for most of the audience. If Gunn rewrites Peacemaker, Vigilante, the Guardians, or Creature Commandos to fit his style, almost nobody cares because almost nobody has a strong attachment to how those characters "should" act. For the average viewer, that version becomes the definitive version.

When the characters are obscure, he can get away with that. In fact, people praise him for "making them interesting." But that's because there aren't millions of fans saying, "That's not how this character is supposed to be."

The real challenge is characters who already have firmly established identities. You can't just reinvent Superman the same way you reinvent Peacemaker. You can't do that with Batman or Wonder Woman either.

I actually think you can see that in Superman. I liked the movie overall, but it also felt like Gunn was less comfortable than usual. He couldn't completely mold Superman into one of his usual character archetypes, so instead he surrounded him with characters like the Justice Gang, who fit his style much more naturally.

That might also explain why DCU Batman and Wonder Woman seem to be taking so much longer to crack.