Ionathus's Random Banter #249 -- Directionless Rambling Is Now Mandatory

[LaZodiac]

One of the best things about sports and sports-adjacent manga and anime is that, due to the relatively lower stakes of the main subject matter, you can afford to push your villains to unacceptably evil levels and have it still be okay since it's not like they're actually going to cause anyone real physical harm, they're at best going to try and ruin someone's career.

But by that very same token, by pushing the villains THAT HARD, you can make a character so genuinely unlikable that is inspires just as much equal blood-thirsty rage.

all this to say: read Akane-Banashi, it is a manga in Shonen Jump about the Japanese art of Rakugo, and the current antagonist of the show is such a despicable piece of **** that for the first time in a long long while I had the thought of "I want him to die screaming".

[Peelee]

One of the best things about sports and sports-adjacent manga and anime is that, due to the relatively lower stakes of the main subject matter, you can afford to push your villains to unacceptably evil levels and have it still be okay since it's not like they're actually going to cause anyone real physical harm, they're at best going to try and ruin someone's career.

Note to self, LaZodiac hasn't seen Shaolin Soccer.

And you should because it's AMAZING.

[Bartmanhomer]

Speaking of sports, the New York Knicks Basketball Team is eliminated in the playoffs.

[halfeye]

I don't think ive ever seen a comment get every single person who read it to be the exact same level of uncomfortable before.

So anyway...



I always assumed it was just that bathrooms were small and kitchens were not, and those were the only rooms with plumbing access Ive seen some civil war era houses that also have the washing machine in the kitchen area because the bathrooms are, well, toilet sized, or shower sized if they have one.

I'm seeing a lot of flats and some small houses with shower rooms instead of bathrooms. It's clearly a smaller, cheaper, room for a housing builder.

There (allgededly?) used to be murders done by throwing toasters or mains radios into an occupied bath and claiming it was an accident.

Associating the virtuous neuro-divergent with the evil mentally deranged is a gross miscarriage of justice, the mentally ill and mentally deficient need to be exterminated now.

[Batcathat]

There (allgededly?) used to be murders done by throwing toasters or mains radios into an occupied bath and claiming it was an accident.

"She was just taking her bath and making some toast when disaster struck, officer!"

[BisectedBrioche]

Speaking of, I need to get back to looking for a place to live today.

Gonna call up some estate agents, book some views, and then I can get back to my usual Monday routine of dressing as a tiefling and streaming. =3

[Rynjin]

One of the best things about sports and sports-adjacent manga and anime is that, due to the relatively lower stakes of the main subject matter, you can afford to push your villains to unacceptably evil levels and have it still be okay since it's not like they're actually going to cause anyone real physical harm, they're at best going to try and ruin someone's career.

But by that very same token, by pushing the villains THAT HARD, you can make a character so genuinely unlikable that is inspires just as much equal blood-thirsty rage.

all this to say: read Akane-Banashi, it is a manga in Shonen Jump about the Japanese art of Rakugo, and the current antagonist of the show is such a despicable piece of **** that for the first time in a long long while I had the thought of "I want him to die screaming".

This is exactly why I love sports manga, yeah. Hajime no Ippo, Haikyuu, Slam Dunk, etc. all classics because they can afford to have a wide variety of characters with different motivations. You can have likable adversaries and even people you root for OVER THE PROTAGONIST(s) because the stakes aren't so serious. Good stuff.

Hell, that's kinda the entire premise of The Boxer (a manwha) past a certain point. "The main character's coach is turning him into a monster, somebody needs to make him lose to knock some sense into him".

[Bartmanhomer]

Happy Monday, Giant In The Playground Family. Today is a relaxing day for me.

[LaZodiac]

Note to self, LaZodiac hasn't seen Shaolin Soccer.

And you should because it's AMAZING.

Incorrect! I have in fact watched Shaolin Soccer, and it does in fact rule! While what I said regarding sports and sports-adjacent series IS true, there is always going to be exceptions like Shaolin Soccer or Blue Lock where it's actually ****ing insane and wild. Ironically Blue Lock is also a soccer series, so maybe it's just a thing football does to people.

[Form]

Speaking of, I need to get back to looking for a place to live today.

Gonna call up some estate agents, book some views, and then I can get back to my usual Monday routine of dressing as a tiefling and streaming. =3

I hope you find a nice place within a reasonable time frame. House hunting can be a real pain these days.

[Keltest]

I hope you find a nice place within a reasonable time frame. House hunting can be a real pain these days.

Not gonna lie, I saw that out of the corner of my eye as "horse hunting" and was terribly confused for just, so many reasons.

[Batcathat]

Not gonna lie, I saw that out of the corner of my eye as "horse hunting" and was terribly confused for just, so many reasons.

Now I'll never look at Form's avatar the same way again...

[Peelee]

Speaking of, I need to get back to looking for a place to live today.

I recommend a flat or a house. The other options tend to be more problematic.

While what I said regarding sports and sports-adjacent series IS true, there is always going to be exceptions like Shaolin Soccer or Blue Lock where it's actually ****ing insane and wild.

Fair.

Incorrect! I have in fact watched Shaolin Soccer, and it does in fact rule!

Hooray! And hell yeah it does!

Ironically Blue Lock is also a soccer series, so maybe it's just a thing football does to people.

Imean it's a Hong Kong comedy. If it was set in Italy during World Cup, the violence would be more like a documentary.

House hunting can be a real pain these days.

Only if you use small caliber or are just ethically against dynamite-assisted hunting.

Not gonna lie, I saw that out of the corner of my eye as "horse hunting" and was terribly confused for just, so many reasons.

I know the human being and horse can coexist peacefully.

[LaZodiac]

Speaking of, I need to get back to looking for a place to live today.

Gonna call up some estate agents, book some views, and then I can get back to my usual Monday routine of dressing as a tiefling and streaming. =3

Oh, I'd missed this. Good luck Brioche!!!

Imean it's a Hong Kong comedy. If it was set in Italy during World Cup, the violence would be more like a documentary.

*nod nods* true, true. I'm familiar with Kung Fu Hustle as well, so I know the vibe.

Incidentally I think you'd enjoy Blue Lock. It's a soccer series that takes the general concept most team sport series have; that no player is god and it's all about friendship and unity, and says "okay but what if we were fffffffreeeeaks instead" and instead makes a soccer player factory where the goal is to make a team of nothing but awful, ruthless ace players who don't need a team, all on a single team, and win at the ol' footie with the overwhelming power of being a ****ing psychopath of sports.

Soccer is not a sport of teamwork and friendship. Soccer is a score of hitting the ball into the net and doing literally anything in your power to do so. Sometimes this involves devolving into some kind of sport-animal personality wise. It kind of rules.

[Bartmanhomer]

Soccer is not a sport of teamwork and friendship. Soccer is a score of hitting the ball into the net and doing anything in your power to do so. Sometimes this involves devolving into some kind of sport-animal personality. It kind of rules.

I politely disagree with it.

To explain a bit more, Soccer is a sport of teamwork and rapport on friendship. Sure it's competitive but players still need to work together as a team.

[LaZodiac]

I politely disagree with it.

To explain a bit more, Soccer is a sport of teamwork and rapport on friendship. Sure it's competitive but players still need to work together as a team.

That's not a thing I believe, it is the thesis of the manga in question I am talking about.

[Bartmanhomer]

That's not a thing I believe, it is the thesis of the manga in question I am talking about.

Ok. Fair enough.

[Anonymouswizard]

Soccer is not a sport of teamwork and friendship. Soccer is a score of hitting the ball into the net and doing literally anything in your power to do so. Sometimes this involves devolving into some kind of sport-animal personality wise. It kind of rules.

So this method turns out really good defenders, but mediocre at best midfielders and strikers? Oh, and utterly terrible goalies.

Like as a premise to a series it's interesting, but it's also screaming for a healthy dose of reality where either a coordinated team out competes them (ideally in like a 2-1 win), or they start getting red carded.

Although now I kind of want to write a sports comic where a rugby team is doing terribly, gets forced into etiquette lessons, and suddenly becomes top tier...

[Form]

So this method turns out really good defenders, but mediocre at best midfielders and strikers? Oh, and utterly terrible goalies.

Like as a premise to a series it's interesting, but it's also screaming for a healthy dose of reality where either a coordinated team out competes them (ideally in like a 2-1 win), or they start getting red carded.

Although now I kind of want to write a sports comic where a rugby team is doing terribly, gets forced into etiquette lessons, and suddenly becomes top tier...

Sometimes you just gotta turn your brain off and embrace whatever over the top insanity a manga/anime/<insert media> offers.

[Keltest]

So this method turns out really good defenders, but mediocre at best midfielders and strikers? Oh, and utterly terrible goalies.

Like as a premise to a series it's interesting, but it's also screaming for a healthy dose of reality where either a coordinated team out competes them (ideally in like a 2-1 win), or they start getting red carded.

Although now I kind of want to write a sports comic where a rugby team is doing terribly, gets forced into etiquette lessons, and suddenly becomes top tier...

I think theres an actual documentary out there about such a team from real life baseball, where they were doing terrible, sat down, completely re-thought the traditions of the game versus the actual rules, and instead of anchoring their game on a couple of star players at each job, got everyone to the level of like 70-80% of their best players at everything, and suddenly their team was so versatile they went on a rampage for years before the rest of the sport caught up.

Wow that was a run-on sentence. Good thing I don't answer to my english teacher anymore.

[Rater202]

So I finally got caught up on Zodis' streams, then spent like ten minutes trying to figure out what colors various Owl House characters would be in Lorcana.

Has anyone else not done anything meaningfully productive?

[Anonymouswizard]

Sometimes you just gotta turn your brain off and embrace whatever over the top insanity a manga/anime/<insert media> offers.

I knew w, I am a fan of both 40k and JJBA.

...once I catch up on JoJo.

I think theres an actual documentary out there about such a team from real life baseball, where they were doing terrible, sat down, completely re-thought the traditions of the game versus the actual rules, and instead of anchoring their game on a couple of star players at each job, got everyone to the level of like 70-80% of their best players at everything, and suddenly their team was so versatile they went on a rampage for years before the rest of the sport caught up.

Well that's not cricket!

[Keltest]

Well that's not cricket!

How astute of you.

... Cricket is like, a sport, right? Its something you lot on the other side of the pond do?

[LaZodiac]

So this method turns out really good defenders, but mediocre at best midfielders and strikers? Oh, and utterly terrible goalies.

Like as a premise to a series it's interesting, but it's also screaming for a healthy dose of reality where either a coordinated team out competes them (ideally in like a 2-1 win), or they start getting red carded.

Although now I kind of want to write a sports comic where a rugby team is doing terribly, gets forced into etiquette lessons, and suddenly becomes top tier...

To be clear, they are capable of team-work, they're just all operating under the assumption that they are all the playmaker badass striker. Also it's a very stupid show but like, like, very enjoyable so it's fine.

Here is a taster.

Sometimes you just gotta turn your brain off and embrace whatever over the top insanity a manga/anime/<insert media> offers.

Especially in many sports manga! But that's part of the fun.

So I finally got caught up on Zodis' streams, then spent like ten minutes trying to figure out what colors various Owl House characters would be in Lorcana.

Has anyone else not done anything meaningfully productive?

I don't know Lorcana at all but I know MTG wise that Eda is 100% a heroic Grixis colour identity character. She is black/red/blue and going to beat you to death with her staff and or claws.

[Rater202]

I don't know Lorcana at all but I know MTG wise that Eda is 100% a heroic Grixis colour identity character. She is black/red/blue and going to beat you to death with her staff and or claws.

Well. Lorcana is basically a simplified Magic-Alike. Players take the roles ofIlluminaries, who use magical ink refined from strdust to work spells and bring fictional characters to life. These characters can be canonical versions from specific points in the story or "what ifs" based on speculation or hypotheticals and some are corrupted by outside forces(though aren't nessesarily evil.) There can be multibles of the same individual and some individuals can be represented by multible colors—Mickey Mouse in particular has two ro three cards in every color.

A single illuminary however can only use one or two colors of Ink(IE, only cards of those colors in your deck.)

There six colors relating to gemstones and metal.

Amber is the color of selfless love and hospitality. Amber colored characters tend to be well-meaning types and amber magic focuses on healing and assistance. Mirable Madrigal is an Amber character.

Amethyst is the color magic and wonder. Amythest characters wiled powerful magic on their own, and Amythest magic has a great deal of depth to it. Think Elsa is an Amethyst

Emerald is adaptable. Not necessarily intelligent, Meerald characters are quick-thinking and likely to land on their feet and their magic is versatile... But there are also a lot of tricksters and manipulators here as well. Hades is an Emerald character, but so is Megera.

Ruby is the color of courage. ruby characters are brave, but often get in over their heads. Ruby magic is very direct. Flynn Rider has a Ruby card.

Sapphire is the color of creativity and intellect, such characters tend to be explorers and planners. Ariel is a sapphire character.

Steel is all about physicality. Steel characters tend to be strong and tough. Hercules is a steel character.

But of course, there's overlap. Lots of characters have multible cards and not every character perfectly matches the color they're assigned to.

the obvious conclusion to me is that most of the major characters in the Owl House would be Amythest or Sapphire, as they end to be magically powerful, sometimes inherently so, and also studious or intellectually/academically gifted.

Like... In my head a card based on Season 1 Luz would be Ruby or Amber, season 2 would be Sapphire and Season 3 would be Amethyst. Willow would also be Amethyst but probably also has a Steel variant, Gus and Amity would both be blue but Amity would also have a Ruby card, Hunter would also have Ruby and Sapphire cards, Lilith would be pre-Sapphire, Eda would be Ruby, Sapphire, and Amber with Amethyst as a "what if" reflecting her in her prime before the curse robbed her of her power... Vee, probably Emerald. Very versatile abilities on this one, but Ruby is also a possibility as courage is not being without fear but acting in spite of it and Vee has two solid moments of confronting her fears to help others.

Camilia is pure Amber. She's a loving Mom who's doing her best and immediately steps up when people need her help, going above and beyond in the process, and... There's an Amber spell card that invokes Mufafa's appearing before Simba and giving him the "you can be more than you are" speech and the pep-talk Camila gave Luz in For the Future, the one that cured her depression, helped her reach an epiphany about herself, and made Stringbean hatch? Yeah, very much the same energy.

Belos would be Emerald for much the same reason that a lot of villains are Emerald: He's a manipulator. I can also see an argument for Sapphire, but he doesn't explore, study, or innovate for the oy of it but as a means to an end and the fact that he never discovered the Light Glyph despite it being clearly visible in the sky as a constellation is very telling.

[Lord Raziere]

So I finally got caught up on Zodis' streams, then spent like ten minutes trying to figure out what colors various Owl House characters would be in Lorcana.

Has anyone else not done anything meaningfully productive?

I haven't been learning programming as fast as I wanted, and instead been doing things like trying to figure out what Exalt types a bunch of FFXIV characters would be:

Spoiler

Show

Scions of the Seventh Dawn:
Alphinaud: Chosen of Serenity
Alisae: Chosen of Battles
Urianger: Chosen of Secrets
Tataru: Eclipse Caste
Thancred: Full Moon Caste
Estinien: Dawn Caste
Y'shtola: Twilight Caste
Krile: Twilight Caste
Minfilia and Ryne: Zenith Caste
Graha'tia: No Moon Caste
The Warrior of Light: Either Dawn Caste or Casteless Lunar or Chosen of Endings depending on how you interpret their story role and how they function and all interpretations are valid (there is room for alt interpretations of ALL of them but especially the warrior of light)

Others:
Zenos: Dusk caste
Lord Hien: Zenith Caste or Fire Aspect
Yugiri: Night Caste
Gosetsu: Earth Aspect

as for Owl House Exalted headcanons:
Luz: No Moon caste
Amity: Twilight Caste
and they are lunar/solar mates
Eda: also No Moon Caste

or have been watching videos about cryptography and weird mysteries, did you know there an art piece called a Kryptos Code outside the CIA building that despite being made by an artist has evaded being fully cracked by cryptographers both professional and amateur since 1992? because there is.

[Anonymouswizard]

... Cricket is like, a sport, right? Its something you lot on the other side of the pond do?

Less of a sport and more of it's own culture really.

[Form]

To be clear, they are capable of team-work, they're just all operating under the assumption that they are all the playmaker badass striker. Also it's a very stupid show but like, like, very enjoyable so it's fine.

Here is a taster.

The guy even gets a battle aura when he makes that goal near the end. Glorious. It reminds me of Akagi. It's this manga/anime which dramatizes the hell out of playing Riichi mahjong (it is also the reason that I know how to play Riichi mahjong myself). Now, it helps a little that they play against hardened criminals (yakuza) so that the stakes are high, but it's still basically a more 'serious' Yu-Gi-Oh.

[LaZodiac]

I forgot to hit quote on Rater's thing but I want to say it was very interesting I'm just completely out of spoons today.

I haven't been learning programming as fast as I wanted, and instead been doing things like trying to figure out what Exalt types a bunch of FFXIV characters would be:

Spoiler

Show

Scions of the Seventh Dawn:
Alphinaud: Chosen of Serenity
Alisae: Chosen of Battles
Urianger: Chosen of Secrets
Tataru: Eclipse Caste
Thancred: Full Moon Caste
Estinien: Dawn Caste
Y'shtola: Twilight Caste
Krile: Twilight Caste
Minfilia and Ryne: Zenith Caste
Graha'tia: No Moon Caste
The Warrior of Light: Either Dawn Caste or Casteless Lunar or Chosen of Endings depending on how you interpret their story role and how they function and all interpretations are valid (there is room for alt interpretations of ALL of them but especially the warrior of light)

Others:
Zenos: Dusk caste
Lord Hien: Zenith Caste or Fire Aspect
Yugiri: Night Caste
Gosetsu: Earth Aspect

as for Owl House Exalted headcanons:
Luz: No Moon caste
Amity: Twilight Caste
and they are lunar/solar mates
Eda: also No Moon Caste

or have been watching videos about cryptography and weird mysteries, did you know there an art piece called a Kryptos Code outside the CIA building that despite being made by an artist has evaded being fully cracked by cryptographers both professional and amateur since 1992? because there is.

This is all very good but I feel like Zenos is a Lunar- or thinks he is or was a Lunar- after he's met the WoL.

The guy even gets a battle aura when he makes that goal near the end. Glorious. It reminds me of Akagi. It's this manga/anime which dramatizes the hell out of playing Riichi mahjong (it is also the reason that I know how to play Riichi mahjong myself). Now, it helps a little that they play against hardened criminals (yakuza) so that the stakes are high, but it's still basically a more 'serious' Yu-Gi-Oh.

If you like Akagi at all please watch its parent show Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor. You will not be disappointed.

Well. You'll be disappointed in Kaiji the guy, but not like... the show. Zawa zawaaaa.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Apparently UK laws forbid electrical outlets in the bathroom.

Strictly speaking, no. The rule is that you can't have a power socket (except a shaver socket) closer than 3 meters from the edge of the bath or shower.

Of course, most bathrooms in the UK are somewhat less than three meters in size before you even factor in the bath or shower...