RJ Writing Ink

Hello, everyone, and how are you? As you might recall, last year I did a special event where I reviewed a different holiday special in the days leading up to Christmas. I had so much fun doing that, I decided that this year, I’m doing the same thing for my favorite holiday. I’m talking about Halloween. All rise for the anthem of the holiday!

To say I love Halloween is an understatement; it’s my favorite holiday. I love the specials, the costumes, the decorations, and the candy. So I want to help everyone get hyped for the coolest holiday with my month long tradition. Everyday leading up to Halloween, I’ll be posting a review for a different special, episode, or scary movie.

Here’s the ground rules I’m setting for myself: I’d prefer to use something Halloween related, though it doesn’t have to be directly related to the holiday. If it’s indirectly related to the holiday or an episode that came out with Halloween-tones in mind, I’ll accept it.

Rule two is that unless it’s part of a series, I’m limiting myself to one special per show. This way, I can encourage myself to see new Halloween stuff alongside the classics of my childhood.

See you tomorrow, and who knows? Maybe I’ll do something you love, or something you should see.

Click here to see the FANDOM Article I did for Halloween last year

Click here to see my other animation stuff. Or here to see all holiday related posts!

Edens Zero chapter 61 Review/Recap

So, last chapter saw Shiki move against Homura’s evil mom in order to avenge the death of Valkyrie. Right when Shiki starts to back her into a corner, a new player emerges. Drakken Joe’s come to collect on a debt the Scarlet Woman owes. The chaotic fight continues, and it is getting crazier than I thought possible.

Recap

Livid that Drakken Joe is attacking her, Kurenai decides to crush him, kill Shiki, and wipe out the Labor District At once. While she unleashes a giant mech to do battle with Shiki in, Joe sets his sights on a bigger prize. He’s located the Edens Zero, and he aims to take it.

Meanwhile, the Labor Districts under attack from Kurenai’s army. With Homura still in a state of shock, Rebecca leads the charge against the Scarlet Woman’s robots. Her luck goes south, though, when she ones across one of Kurenai’s lieutenants, Fuzaiten Baku. Right when Rebecca looks to be in trouble, she’s saved by Weisz, who’s clad in a cross between a Power Rangers costume and Iron Man called Arsenal.

Review

I stand by my previous statement of this arc getting overly complicated. It feels like Mashima’s rushing towards a clash between Shiki and Drakken Joe. I thought that would be conclusion of the Sakura Cosmos portion of the manga, but I hoped that it would be a little ways off.

On the plus side, though, we see Weisz go “Great Saiyaman” as a Sentai Hero! If this is what he’s been up to, then I looking forward to seeing what “Arsenal” can do. I hope that the arc doesn’t end up collapsing in on itself, though. It could go either way at this point.

I give “Enter: Arsenal” a 2.5/5

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Once upon a time, we thought that Spider-Man was out of the MCU, and the fandom almost went to war over it. I even gave my two cents about the whole thing. Earlier today, though, we got a special announcement:

That is right, Spider-Man shall remain in the MCU for the time being. This has made fans go crazy with joy. I actually squealed in sheer happiness when I heard about this!

For those not aware, over the summer Disney and Sony’s deal over the use of Spider-Man fell apart. Sony owns Spider-Man and the film rights, so Disney has to give up most of the profits. They only got 5% and merchandising. Then they got dollar signs in their eyes and wanted half of what Sony was making, which led them to break off their deal.

I said that both sides were to blame, but I felt that Disney was being too greedy. Fortunately, it appears that the Mouse came to its senses and compromised. According to Variety, this new deal let’s them keep merchandising rights, but they only get a quarter the profits.

This is the best deal we could have gotten, and I think everyone will benefit. Tom Holland can keep playing his breakout role for a little longer. Sony gets to move forward with its own Spider-Plans, and Disney gets the hero who could be the MCU’s new anchor back. I’m happy with this!

twitter.com/getfandom/status/1177602222139592707

I will be blogging about this in a day or so! I’m so happy!

One Piece, Chapter 957 Review/Recap

Three for three, people. Three weeks in a row I’ve woken up and found One Piece trending on Twitter. I think that’s a testament to how invested people are right now in Eichiro Oda’s epic. While Act Three of the Wano arc doesn’t start this week, we get something just as amazing: vital world building. What we learn in this chapter ties not only to Wano, but to the past and future of One Piece.

Recap

Around the world, the Marines are stretched thin trying to capture the former Warlords. When news reaches them about Kaido and Big Mom’s alliance, many are shocked. Issho even fears it’s the second coming of the Rocks. Who are the Rocks, though, and why do so few know of them, though?

Forty years ago, the Rocks were a pirate crew that formed and ran wild. Among their number included:

• Big Mom
• Whitebeard
• Kaido
• Shiki the Golden Lion
• John

According to Sengoku, it all came to a head when they attacked the Celestial Dragon’s on an island called God Valley. Officially, they were defeated by Garp, which gave him his nickname “Hero of the Marines”. The Rocks were then covered up by the World Government, and God Valley vanished without a trace. The truth’s more complicated.

The reason why few know of the Rocks existence is their leader, Rocks D. Xebec. He delved into things the World Government forbid knowledge of. What’s more, Garp didn’t defeat Rocks alone. He defeated him by teaming up with none other than Gol D. Roger, with Rocks being Roger’s greatest enemy.

The alliance between Kaido and Big Mom as they are now, though, is worse than anything the Rocks were. With so few forces, all the Marines can do is wait for what may come.

Review

Wow, just wow; where do I even start? With the fact that three of the Yonko, Shiki, and other heavy hitters served in the same crew? That their captain was so dangerous the World Government wiped him from history? So many revelations, I can’t keep my head on straight.

Well, I found it easy to accept that Roger and Garp teamed up to defeat Rocks. One Piece has seen temporary alliances between pirates and the marines before. Luffy and Smoker did team up on Punk Hazard, so I’m not surprised. Plus, I’ve thought that if they weren’t on opposite sides of the law, Roger and Garp would have been best buddies.

On the surface, I can see why the WG would keep quiet about Rocks. It would be embarrassing to say he got taken down with help from the future Pirate King. Underneath that, though, I have my theories. I think Rocks tried to learn more about the Void Century, and longtime fans know how far the WG will go to keep that a secret.

As storytelling elements go, I found this chapter to be another great round of worldbuilding. I now want to see a prequel series about this conflict, and I bet many fans want the same thing. We’ve gotten flashbacks and glimpses before, but a prequel would be epic!

Largest Bounties Ever

Even cooler, though, is how the chapter gave us a little something fans have wanted. We got to see the bounties of the Yonko and Gol D. Roger.

While I don’t expect this to really impact Act Three, it’s nice to see context behind Big Mom and Kaido’s relationship. The chapter also drives a big point home: Luffy and his friends are facing one of the greatest challenges ever. They’ll be pushed to their limits and beyond. I’m giddy with anticipation.

I give “Ultimate” a 4/5. Great World building but I want Act Three already

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South Park, Season 23 Episode 1 Review- Mexican Joker

Fall is finally here, and that means it’s time for our favorite shows to come out with new seasons. Of course, this means it’s time for new episodes of South Park. I’ve been waiting all year to write about Comedy Central’s topical hit, and after the promo from this earlier this week, I had high hopes. After seeing the season premiere of “Mexican Joker”, though, I felt like the show only met us 65% of the way.

After a hilarious opening focusing on Tegridy Farms, the weed farm Randy started last season, we then get into the main plots of the episode. The first one is how Randy feels his business is threatened when people start growing their own weed, leading him to try and get it banned. He tries justifying it by saying it’s taking away his livelihood and threatening his kids health and future, but I see through him. He only cares about the money, like how he’s the only one in his family invested in the farm.

I get the appeal behind Randy: he’s an idiotic man child that lets the show do things they can’t do with the kids. But it can get old relying on one guy all the time. Personally, I hoped that the Tegridy Farms would have flopped last season, so we could put some focus back on the four main boys.

The Boys are Back

Regarding the boys themselves, their story was the funnier of the two. When Cartman learns about ICE arresting potential illegal immigrants, he does what you’d expect: sic them on Kyle’s family and laugh his butt off. It’s such a classic Cartman thing for him to do, and even though we know it’s reprehensible, we can’t help but laugh at it.

So Kyle gets sent to a Detention Camp by himself, and the show could have easily run with the joke that ICE thinks he’s an illegal immigrant, they do something better.

Over the summer, people have debated over whether ICE’s detainment camps are “concentration camps”. So when the guards realize Kyle’s Jewish and American, they have an “Oh Crap” moment, and realize this will make them look like racists. So they offer to let Kyle go, but in true Kyle fashion, he demands all the kids be set free.

Kyle’s long been the voice of reason on the show, but after the whole PC Principal thing, that side of him started to be downplayed. Seeing him stand up for what he thinks is right is a return to his roots that I appreciated seeing.

What’s Happening Now?

Then things took a turn for the weirder. Kyle’s comparison of the kids mistreatment to a supervillains origin story is clever, but saying it would create a “Mexican Joker” fell flat for me. Erik Killmonger came to my mind first; I never even considered Joker. Since it’s South Park, though, the guards get the wrong idea and just try to get the kids to not hate them.

Then Randy goes full on Heath Ledger Joker and blows up everyone’s weed gardens. To be honest, I wasn’t paying attention to his story, caring more about Kyle. Unfortunately, the episode ends on a cliffhanger. Everyone’s now afraid of Mexican Joker and the kids still locked up in detention camps. Which means South Park’s still using serialized stories.

So what was South Park trying to say here, again? Were they ripping on ICE by comparing the camps they run to concentration camps? Were they cashing in on the upcoming Joker film? And why do they still care about Tegridy Farms? There are a lot of ways this story could go this season, but this was a shaky start. Hopefully, next week will resolve the detention camp story in an entertaining fashion. That, and I want to see how far Randy will fall before Tegridy Farms goes under.

I Give “Mexican Joker” a 3/5. Lots of Potential, Poor Delivery

Stray Observations

• I thought it was genuinely hilarious when Cartman realized Kyle+Detention Camp= Sensitive Subject. How did he forget Kyle’s Jewish
• Cartman’s completely nonchalant about being sent to the camp by Stan is so him.
• I want Tegridy Farms to burn down so Stan can move back to South Park
• ICE named the princess in their puppet show Star. Is that a coincidence? Because I hope so.

Click here to see my other animation stuff.

corsolanite.tumblr.com/post/187739441666/the-internet-reacts-to-ash-ketchums-pokémon

lavelis.tumblr.com/post/187883595681/one-of-the-things-i-love-the-most-about-svtfoe

This is some great art. I think this person has a future as an artist.

www.youtube.com/watch

I’ve been waiting all year to do this. South Park is back for their 23rd season, and I have every intention of covering it. Starting this week, I’ll be reviewing every new episode of South Park, you guys.

In this episode, I think Cartman just invented the idea of ICEing people. It’s like Swatting, but calling the ICE on them.