I've been really enjoying Sousou no Frieren and by enjoying I mean feeling like I want to cry.

I'll need to find something more upbeat next.

  • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    8 months ago

    Even though it was very lib, I enjoyed the premise of Gundam 00 and Celestial Being. It's a very cathartic concept, if not totally ignorant of how the world works. On brand for Gundam tho. IBO was 🔥.

    • Cromalin [she/her]
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      i liked season 1 a lot. celestial being going into not!venezuela and bombing the city because them trying to exit the united states' control counts as starting war is good stuff, it's juicy and fucked up and interesting to think about. in season 2 they say "we're antifa but not in an ideological sense" and only really seem interested in the innovades who are so boring. you wouldn't think that a group where all the members were named shit like bring stabbity or healing care could be boring, but this show finds a way

      also i just hate allelujah so much, he sucks so bad. doesn't even have the decency to be a FUN bad stereotype of plurality, he's just miserable to be around and makes the show worse every time he's on screen. "ohhhh marie.... i can't accept that maybe you aren't exactly like you were when i knew you when we were 5 and i'm going to make it everyone else's problem"

      • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        8 months ago

        celestial being going into not!venezuela and bombing the city because them trying to exit the united states' control counts as starting war is good stuff, it's juicy and fucked up and interesting to think about.

        I thought so at the time too, but seeing libs response to Palestine's uprising, I feel like there probably wasn't a lot of people that thought about it too much. Especially nowadays when it seems like every other MCU content is successfully framing revolutionaries as terrorists. The western brainworms yearn for that negative peace and anyone who disrupts it must be the bad guy.

        also i just hate allelujah so much

        lmao, it's been many years since I saw it when it first came out, but yeah he totally got way too much screen time. data-laughing 00 Raiser was cool though. Honestly, the plot of 00 and SEED are kinda blended in my head.

        • Cromalin [she/her]
          ·
          edit-2
          7 months ago

          yeah it might just be that this was always what the show was, but it used to feel like it had space to be read in interesting ways. i was never expecting it to start advocating for revolution or anything, but season one felt like it at the very least was willing to explore stuff like that, and season two just isn't

          also yeah a lot of this stuff is very seed coded

          • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
            ·
            7 months ago

            Unfortunately, Gundam kinda does that a lot where they'll toe the line and then not really go anywhere with it. As per someone around here talking about it, I recently watched Dallos and found it pretty interesting. It's full on about class struggle from the POV of space colonies. If you haven't seen it, I'd recommend it. It's older, but holds up.

            • Cromalin [she/her]
              ·
              7 months ago

              i'm like 90% certain the one talking about dallos was me lmao. it's good!

              and yeah, gundam has a problem with this in general. i mentioned that i had a bigger problem with it here because i watched iron blooded orphans (which does not have this problem*) but i also think in general 00 is worse about it than say, any of the tomino uc stuff for example. it helps that the newtype stuff is connected to the politics in a way that the innovators just aren't. it's also that season 1 seemed really clear eyed about the political landscape and just drops all of it, which is worse than if it was a more gradual shift from politics to arguing about scifi concepts

              *ibo never advocates for revolution or anything, but it never loses sight of the actual things happening that matter. it doesn't introduce the illuminati at the end of season 1 and then stop caring about gjallerhorn beyond how the illuminati is controlling gjallerhorn

              • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
                ·
                7 months ago

                lmao, my apologies, it totally was you. data-laughing chomsky-yes-honey

                That all sounds like fair criticism, I'd say. Sadly, as I've given away, my memory is shit. And I watched all these series at much different places in my life, politically. I think I watched IBO as per someone recommending it on r/cth when it first came out. So at the time all these shows seemed radical, and now 7-20 years down the line I'm like, those fucking LIB s.

                • Cromalin [she/her]
                  ·
                  7 months ago

                  now you've probably seen me talk about this before, but you should read unjust depths

                  it's a mecha web novel that's just straight up by a marxist leninist about a postcolonial soviet state called the union in a post apocalyptic earth, where the main characters are on a mission to support revolutionaries in the empire the union revolted from, it's got the high concept scifi stuff but it never forgets that the core of the story is about colonialism and the evils of capitalism. i cannot recommend it enough

                  • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
                    ·
                    7 months ago

                    Ah, I have. But while I read plenty of webcomics, i have an aversion to web novels for some reason. Is there an end in sight? Because it does sound pretty cool.

                    • Cromalin [she/her]
                      ·
                      7 months ago

                      there's an end in sight but it's going to be a while before it's reached. i personally really like getting a new thing to read every two weeks but i get it if that's not your speed. i can't make that work with manga, but i can with unjust depths

                      • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
                        ·
                        7 months ago

                        Hmm, I'll add it to my calendar to check on the progress this summer. Thanks for the heads up, it definitely sounds cool.

                        • Cromalin [she/her]
                          ·
                          7 months ago

                          my gut says that it's probably 2/3rds of the way through things, but i can't say for certain and updates have been coming out slower lately

        • LaGG_3 [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          8 months ago

          Honestly, the plot of 00 and SEED are kinda blended in my head.

          Em from Great Gundam Project has been describing a lot of the mid-season 2 00 stuff as "SEED-coded" lmao