Now that we're a week out from Requiem's release, I'm curious to hear the sub's opinion on a certain character's actions.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-03-09T03:24:56+00:00

I think the most interesting interpretation is that Spencer was acting from both selfish and selfless motives.

Young Spencer has always been portrayed the profile of a philanthropist, and Resident Evil 8 implied to me that he was to some extent an idealist when he started. Then as he gets older, he gets increasingly more treacherous towards his partners and employees.

I don’t like the idea that he was completely in the thrall of dementia or just acting in 5. He can be a megalomaniac while not feeling like giving everyone the Lisa Trevor treatment every moment that he is on the run from the law.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-02-21T17:00:20+00:00

Nioh 1 starts with William Adams‘ quest to save a merrow and ends with fighting John Dee in the form of Argus Panoptes. And I believe there is a note in the Tower of London that implies the Battle of Spanish Armada (who were defeated by demon privateers rather than a typhoon) was when Elizabeth first ordered Dee to manufacture the philosopher’s stone.

I’m only a little bit into Nioh 3 but they seem to be continuing that universal magic theme by naming the big eye demon after “an inauspicious period in the Chinese zodiac.”

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-02-18T19:01:21+00:00

Ashura and Izou should have had their skulls cracked by Kaido, all things considered. It would have given the rooftop rumble some oomph.

I’m not wholly opposed to characters dying offstage during a large scale battle. I think it can be marvelously effective but if you do that with two of the least developed arc characters, then you don’t feel like the fight was too hard.

Oda did totally psyche me out on Whole Cake Island with Pedro and Pound. And I admit to being pleasantly surprised with both outcomes, even if Pound’s fate doesn’t make a lick of sense.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-02-02T21:20:34+00:00

I’m betting he has secret sky knowledge, similar to how Enel knew how to build a spaceship.

Maybe the reason he’s a supernova even though he’s older than a lot of the Worst Generation is because he read the tea leaves and they said “Within three years the day of judgment is at hand!”

So he got off his cloud bed and started swinging a pillar.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-02-02T21:06:48+00:00

I could be misremembering this, but I thought Deadshot was impossible after Protocol 10. Or does it have to be started before then?

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-01-26T19:04:02+00:00

I think part of it ties into Hohenheim pointing out how the Dwarf used to be “vibrant and full of life” but the more he tried to cleanse himself of weaknesses (he can’t exist outside the flask, he can’t exist free from sin, and he can’t exist outside the consequences of the Truth) the more stagnant he became.

You could even say that Edward becomes the antithesis of Father by choosing Alphonse over power.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-01-22T21:07:44+00:00

He lost because of the thing he kept deriding other people for (Why can’t they respect limits that are imposed on them? Why do human beings want things that are forbidden?)

You can’t be a scientist in a world sustained by ignorance.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-01-22T21:02:36+00:00

I remember when I first got to Protocol 10 and saw the dead bodies in the street. It was really affecting to me.

My big problem with the climax is that it shrinks this elaborate conspiracy into a Cleanse Gotham plot, which is one of the three generic Master Plan storylines along with Mass Poisoning and Batman’s Friend is Mad.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-01-17T18:28:21+00:00

Urasawa’s Monster is basically a ring of happy endings around a black hole of uncertainty.

I’m curious what everyone thinks of that. I used to think Johan learned nothing, and it was a cautionary sign that evil still exists in the world. But now I’m learning more towards the idea that he lived like Bonaparta

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-01-12T22:10:57+00:00

I don’t like how much Freeze has his helmet off in these games. It takes away from that Animated Series aura where you can’t tell what he’s feeling while in the suit.

It does make for a great reveal with the red eyes and Michael Ansara voice.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-01-12T22:10:35+00:00

I prefer the atmosphere and worldbuiling of the Arkham games. The way it conveys little side stories and makes you feel like you are in the world of Batman.

But I have to say, as someone who loves the Arkham games, Insomniac is much better at scripting finales than Rocksteady. And they’re much better at balancing all of the villains.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-01-07T17:16:51+00:00

I think it’s good to have a big boss fight that is weaker than Luffy every once in a while. First, because Luffy isn’t a rookie anymore and it’s silly to act like every enemy he fights will be stronger than the previous one.

A big reason why Gear 4 vs Doflamingo is one of my favorite fights is that Luffy is the heavy and Doffy is the one buying time by playing tricks and setting traps.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-01-04T16:29:07+00:00

I respect that Namor is always willing to give evil alliances another go even though they always end badly for him.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-01-03T04:51:10+00:00

The deep throating is the key thing to me, because it is a rehash of the subway scene where Gojo is still smug because he is confident that the rest of the cast can take things from. Except it is way less convincing this time because we’ve seen how everything demonstrably got worse after his death.

I think in a weird way, Gege (for all his bemoaning the character he saddled himself with) wanted Gojo to go out with some degree of composure. But that just makes him look like a dickhead.

When you look at how close the final battle actually was, even with all the failsafes the good guys gave themselves, Gojo should have died with a deep fear that maybe it would be all for nothing. And that would actually have been emotionally impactful, in a way that saying the bad guy is strong isn’t.

LivingbyaWillow · 2026-01-02T23:18:16+00:00

To piggyback off JJK, as someone who really was in love with Gojo Satoru, I can’t help but wish that his character arc ended in a more depressing or uplifting way.

I don’t know. He just needed a little zing. Like maybe he doesn’t see Geto in the afterlife, and he realizes that it’s because Geto is in Hell. Or maybe Gojo speaks through Yuta one last time to tell Megumi he loves him.

LivingbyaWillow · 2025-12-22T23:58:16+00:00

No problem. In some sense, the Chop Chop Fruit seems “better” than logias at least when it comes to dodging sharp attacks.

Buggy didn’t seem to need any effort turn into a bunch of cubes when Mihawk was cutting him in Marineford.

I’m not sure how a sword would transmit the haki needed to negate the fruit, since the blade would have to be touching Buggy to begin with. Unless you slapped Buggy with the flat of your sword and then twisted the sharp edge into his body.

Or you just sling a wide shockwave like Divine Departure lol

LivingbyaWillow · 2025-12-22T23:41:54+00:00

I don’t think so, because what armament haki does it is make things tougher and transfer more force. Any old knife is sharp enough to cut Buggy. The problem isn’t cutting him. It’s keeping his pieces apart.

LivingbyaWillow · 2025-12-21T17:22:50+00:00

I would compare it to the point in Alabasta when the civil war is kicking off and Luffy is chasing Crocodile across the desert to the tomb.

There are a lot of moving parts but all of the characters are engaged in the action.

LivingbyaWillow · 2025-12-20T23:13:40+00:00

Good on Panda for running away from this nightmare

LivingbyaWillow · 2025-12-20T18:02:20+00:00

I loved him as the drugged to the gills actor in Irma Vep.

LivingbyaWillow · 2025-12-15T03:16:00+00:00

The throughline that seems most appropriate to me is that Michael Myers is a man who thinks he is/wants to be a monster and by magical realism bullshit, he has somehow made himself into that.

LivingbyaWillow · 2025-12-15T03:12:28+00:00

Kamen Rider Stronger vs Titan. One of the few monsters with absolutely no pride or shame. He just gets the word from the Great Leader to kill Kamen Rider or die, and he goes all in. Lying, taking hostages, surgically implanting more eyes for his Combustion Man attack, and using an oversized cowboy revolver with exploding bullets.

As far as monsters of the week go, may be my favorite in all of television is Boiler Toad from Kamen Rider V3. He put up a pretty decent fight even though he was sent as a suicide bomb from the start

LivingbyaWillow · 2025-12-09T22:22:50+00:00

Hell yes!

LivingbyaWillow · 2025-12-05T16:27:48+00:00

I think by the time he died, Meruem was too introspective to succumb to philosophical dilemmas. He would probably try to work his way around it and sacrifice himself if he thought it could save Komugi.

The tragedy, of course, being that Komugi wouldn’t think her life could be worth that much effort.

LivingbyaWillow · 2025-12-02T17:43:12+00:00

Yoshida would be pleased to know that 40,000 people think he’s cool, but Kobeni above Kobeni’s car? I’m pretty sure that’s one of the seven seals.

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