lick behind the knee… goddammit, i need to know

so the title’s left unresolved, and next episode there could either be an unnecessary killing, or a killing to prevent an unnecessary killing – with the obvious question in the latter case of “was that a necessary killing?”

until recently the series has been war between humans and demons, and they go out of their way to convince the viewer that the villains (demons) really are inhuman: creatures incapable of feeling empathy toward anyone and therefore not worth your own empathy. and the heroes (at least in the ideal) are those who do exactly what’s necessary, but no more, when it comes to violence. i don’t know that the story can veer too far from that ideal framing of heroism without losing its charm, but they may be setting up to challenge that framing of villainy.

also, seems it’s becoming a pattern that Fern’s opponents are caught off-guard by her speed & stamina. when she fought the demon in episode 10, that was explained as her suppressing her mana, and the demon being careless/overconfident against such a technique. but here in ep 20 everyone is familiar with mana suppression: that Fern’s overwhelming experienced mages with just raw speed/stamina has me suspicious.

author’s other famous manga is 100% worth the read then, if you haven’t already: Kaguya-sama: Love Is War

still the best OVA of all time (change my mind)

i’m betting 80% odds this is from Bakemonogatari.

that kind of door is fine for me. it’s doorknobs – where you have to rotate them more than a quarter turn to unlatch the door – for which i’m always spilling stuff (and then ranting to anyone who will listen about how dumb it is that of all the types of door handle, the U.S. uniformly settled on knobs for inside the home).

mm, i think it’d be good to loop in @reddthat@reddthat.com & also whoever operates that @reddthatbot@reddthat.com account. user description even says “Not a fan of something I posted? Report it and the Admins will sort it out.”

1hr bot posting is totally drowning out the actual human posts in this sub. i’m not even sure i get what the bot’s trying to accomplish, unless its goal is for anime & pics to be only a feed of pretty pictures i idly scroll through with zero connection to the artist/characters or really anything social (which, cool – if the mod wants it to be that then say so – but that wasn’t obvious when i joined so it’s worth clarification at least).

and they’re absolutely right about this. when’s the last time i watched a preview before going into a Ghibli film? at most, i’ll decide “i want to watch a Ghibli film this week” and then go to the review sites or fan forums or ask my friends to choose which one to watch. but you don’t really need more than that when you’ve built an audience that trusts you in the way Miyazaki’s fans do.

he’s earned his respect, and now he’s calling upon it. i respect that.