Lurker > MariaTaylor

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

The cop appears on the island and then wanders around by himself doing things completely unrelated to the rest of the plot, until he wanders into a dead end and is killed without affecting the plot in any way.

Needless to say, the reason I didn't complain about him is because he's totally uninvolved in the story and you may as well just forget that he existed.


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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

Gunbuster: Noriko launches in the Gunbuster for the first time. I still rewatch this scene from time to time, and I can get emotional just from hearing the OST from this series. It's one of my favorite anime ever.

Aku no Hana: Kasuga breaks down in the rain, admits he's a fraud, there's nothing special about him, he was only pretending to like reading because he thought it would make him seem smart and seem unique compared to the other kids in his class. I think a lot of people don't really understand this series but for me, if you understand this scene, I think you have an idea of what this story is truly about.

Futari wa PreCure: Nagisa gets separated from Honoka, and fight two of the strongest enemy generals by herself without the ability to refresh her transformation or power source, or use any of her strongest attacks. This one is thematically very powerful because the strength of the PreCure comes from their bond with each other, but Nagisa shows her determination as well as the true strength of their bond. Even if they are apart, she will fight to reunite with Honoka again, and bring Honoka back from the darkness. This episode alone made me a fan of the PreCure franchise for life, and is one of the big reasons why the original series is still my favorite after over a decade of sequels.

Cool idea for a topic.

Also since I read a lot of manga, here are some manga ones.

Fraction: Kago reveals the solution to the mystery, showing evidence that was hidden outside of the manga panels for the entire time you've been reading. Really clever use of the story telling medium as a part of the story itself.

Gantz: Kurono survives the dinosaur mission after being teleported into the hunt without his suit, and without any of his allies from the previous hunts. Honestly this mission was full of badass moments, but it's pretty amazing how Kurono was able to not only survive, but even help with taking down the final boss, without the use of a gantz suit.

Aku no Hana: Yeah, again. This time in manga form. In the end, Kasuga looks back on his life and I felt like it wasn't meant to be entirely clear if he felt content or regret or a mix of both. He chose a normal life, and he was stuck with the consequences of that choice regardless of how he felt about it. Reading this made me feel a sense of existential dread, like a weird sort of mundane cosmic horror that nothing else has ever made me feel. Going back to the beginning of the story and seeing things from Nakamura's point of view, seeing that she really was never normal, and could probably never be normal, was a great way to end the manga after that revelation.


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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

nothing. my mother has no money and no assets. I have no father, legally speaking. or really in any other sense of the word.

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

CaptainOfCrush posted...

I've taken a few vacations where I'm too preoccupied to remember refreshing B8 for a day.

yeah that's the other weird thing. I know I don't check board 8 or even my private boards on gamefaqs every day, so it doesn't make sense to me that I'd somehow still be level 99 when I've surely missed random days. I guess the stats don't lie, but it feels very incorrect to me.


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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

I have 99 apparently but that seems wrong unless I am misunderstanding how the badge works. I've only had this account since 2013, so it seems weird that I could be so close to the theoretical maximum. Wouldn't there be years worth of "Faithful" badges that I missed out on?

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

one final bonus drawing

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@Llarian



if you wanted to be drawn and you haven't posted yet

too bad, get the hell out of my topic

everyone else may still send their thanks


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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@pjbasis



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@neonreaper



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

I'm glad to see Gantz on that list. Though it is weird they are suggesting to watch a movie than only adapts one of the later arcs completely out of context.

While it's not technically a Battle Royale it was really easy for me to see the similarities between Squid Game and Gantz, especially in the first few episodes. I wouldn't say that if you like Squid Game you will automatically like Gantz, but if you enjoyed the tension and improvisation of the players during Red Light, Green Light, I think that Gantz has the same type of appeal. Up to and including the moment where Ali reaches out his hand and saves another player he doesn't know, putting his own life at risk. That's more like something you would see in Gantz. I specifically referred to it as "a total Kato move" in my episode write ups. Additionally, Gantz is also heavily dependent for most of the story on the downtime spent between rounds. It's more like Predator than Squid Game, but in between hunts the characters are allowed to return to their normal lives and we learn a lot about them as people and see them develop as a result, as well as learning the circumstances who made them into the people they are during the hunts. Kato also has a story about him and his orphan little brother waiting for their parents to return, which is why I think the creator of Squid Game was likely influenced by Gantz and was probably a fan of that character.

Major differences is that Gantz is a lot more focused on action and violence and it's way more unpredictable in terms of who is safe from consequences. Additionally there is no traditional game or prize to be won, but over time the characters who manage to survive also get better at the hunt. Things are more deterministic based on skill and nerve and less reliant on complete random chance. Instead of getting pummeled repeatedly until the "winner" goes into a catatonic state, imagine if the good teams from episode 4 continued to fight together and grow strong together for success in later games. If you found yourself craving that, I think Gantz has an appeal you might be into.

Okay with that out of the way the major hurdle for getting into Gantz is that it's incredibly dark and also incredibly sexual in a way that Squid Game are not. The author is kinda a huge pervert and it has that ecchi anime angle that you simply can't ignore and can't pretend that it doesn't exist. It's a shame because the series is so fantastic otherwise for most of the run, but it's difficult to recommend to casuals. It also delves much deeper into the whole 'people are shit and treat each other awful' angle, both in an outside of the game. Imagine if something as violent as Game of Thrones was made by a guy who couldn't resist drawing a woman in a bikini at the start of each chapter.

I'd also say if you're going to bother with it, you should read the manga. While it's true that there is an anime adaptation, as well as a few movie adaptations... Okay so the anime is not terrible but it has god awful pacing. The dub is particularly funny, it's one of the ones where they say FUCK a lot. However, it ends in a really dumb filler arc, and never gets to the best material from the manga. The movies are just mediocre all around and they have the same problem that they stop right before one of the best hunts in the manga. The best hunt from the manga is never adapted, and while there are some amazing, probably even top tier moments in the first few hunts, I feel like the best part of Gantz starts right after the adaptations usually end.

The movies cut out a lot of the extremely sexual material, while the anime is borderline hentai in some scenes. I think one of the advantages of reading the manga is that if you're not into the fanservice it's much easier to ignore.

Anyway, I probably wrote more about it than is warranted and I'd be doubtful if even one person reads Gantz after reading my thoughts. But oh well, there it is. Proceed at your own peril.


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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

Would I recommend Squid Game to others? Mm... I'd say it's a solid 7/10. It's for sure overrated, but still good in its own right. I think the average, casual viewer would probably enjoy it without much thought. But I'm not sure who specifically I would recommend it to.

By the end I realized it probably doesn't appeal to people who like Kaiji in the same way that Kaiji does. The lack of mental games and even structured luck based games is a huge thing that is missing from this series that would have made it much better. The luck based games in this are almost all instant lose bullshit RNG, it's not the same as playing out 50 hands of poker and using your skill to deal with the variance. And unlike Gantz, Promised Neverland, and other high stakes desperate survival games, we never see the heroes do anything heroic or triumph in this series.They just constantly get beaten down into the fucking dirt with no hope and no payoff.

I think episode 6 in particular is overrated. It's very predictable: As soon as they asked people to split in pairs I knew they would be facing off against each other, even though somehow no character suspected this. Every pairing ends with the more main character winning and the more supporting character losing. There's not a single upset in the entire series, actually, but it's particularly egregious that not a single dark horse won in all of the marble games. The game itself is very lazy: Here are some marbles, go make up your own games. If I was a VIP I'd be asking for my refund at this point. The idea of this being a way to sort out players makes very little sense and is unsatisfying narratively and within the logic of the universe. It really only makes sense from the perspective of the writers room setting up ways to kill off characters in a way that will tug at the heartstrings of the viewers.

Overall the games suffer from a lack of good game design, but some of them were entertaining to watch.

It's essentially a neatly packaged experience for people who wouldn't have watched this type of thing before, and didn't realize they would enjoy it until they gave it a try. It exploded in popularity for the same reason that HololiveEN did: Vtubers already existed, and vtubers that spoke english already existed. But this was released at the right time, with the right coat of paint, at a time when the lack of mainstream supply and high demand was perfectly in balance

The ending is particularly bad, but the start of the series was good enough that I was still overall happy that I decided to watch it. I did get some entertainment out of the series. I'd watch another season of this as long as it was not a direct sequel and if the directors and writers promised to put more effort into designing actually good games next time.

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

I'm pretty sure I have seen a picture of Raka at some point in the past, but all of the other 'surprisingly accurate' ones most likely emerged as a result of my ESP abilities or complete coincidence

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@Alanna82



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@ctesjbuvf
@Pirateking2000



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@handsomeboy2012
@Steiner
@Raka_Putra



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@Isquen



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@GenesisSaga



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

I'm glad you enjoyed my writing that much, to remember it even now. Honestly there are times where I feel like I wasted a lot of effort writing materials for board 8. I mean, with the amount of words, sentences, chapters, and stories that I generated, I probably could have finished and at least made a good attempt at publishing my own Lord of the Rings. I don't think anything will take away from the enjoyment and satisfaction of knowing that other people really loved what I wrote, but it also definitely makes me think about the fact that I spent hours and hours of writing what would essentially only ever be read by 30 or fewer people....

@norenxaq



@LusterSoldier




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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@Mega_Mana



I do feel the need to stress that this is not a dig against you, it's a dig against 21 year olds

unless you talk like this

in which case it is a dig against you

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@Murphiroth
@MegaWentEvil
@Colegreen_c12



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@JeffreyRaze



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@Spikedross
@GOGZero



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@Johnbobb



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@Zigzagoon



I know enough to know from memory that this is NOT accurate, but I also didn't have enough energy to look up a reference picture. My own laziness has saved me from Nintendo's lawyers for another day.


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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

MZero posted...

what if I don't post

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5QGkOGZubQ

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@Zea_Destroyer



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

yeah I don't think the rest is very accurate (IIRC you're actually married?), but I decided to just go high concept with the prompt I was given and focus on the idea of a 35 year old male in a post apocalyptic 2021 society

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@Leonhart4



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@Snake5555555555



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

how uncomfortable is the turtleneck?

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@BlueCrystalTear
@NFUN





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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

@th3l3fty
@Mac_Arrowny
@swordz9



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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

provide some useful information for a better picture

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i want to see the stars with you
https://i.ibb.co/Tcv7RFV/KotoneFR.jpg

I find it amusing that my nominations are the only ones in lower case

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only less than nothing, as nothing could have equaled you
https://i.ibb.co/5skW2Jq/Mado2.png

do I dare post in a topic that is going to stay in my post history for the next 3 years

sure why not

madotsuki (yume nikki)
kotegawa chisa (grand blue dreaming)
nyotengu (dead or alive)
stocking (panty and stocking)
annalise, queen of the vilebloods (bloodborne)


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i want to see the stars with you
https://i.ibb.co/Tcv7RFV/KotoneFR.jpg