straightforwardly | 138 | more Mystic Messenger, & more initial reactions to the Spring 2017 anime season

► Mystic Messenger: omg, Jumin’s Bad Ending 01 was a DELIGHT. I thought I was going to hate it, but nope, it ended up being one my favorites so far! The thing is, I’d already picked up via osmosis that there was going to be a “catfight” between the MC and Sarah, which made me go “ugh” at the screen. But the actual execution was fantastic? Especially Jumin’s reaction. I loved Jumin’s reaction, and that he actually seemed to respect the MC for how thoroughly and viciously she went after Sarah, and how “collected” she stayed while doing it. Also, while they’re watching the two snipe at each other, he asks Jaehee if she has popcorn. And he had such a happy expression on his face, too!

I was also weirdly touched by how, when Sarah demanded to know who the MC is, he told her, “She’s a friend.”

Finally, the flashforward was fantastic. I loved that Jumin appointed the MC as the head of a department with a lot of “nasty office politics”. I just like the faith that showed in his estimation of her abilities to handle that? Plus, the hints that they also ended up dating made me happy, for all that I’m not actually all that into Jumin/MC. I liked this ending for them more than the Normal Ending, tbh.

Speaking of A+ content, I also played through Seven’s Bad Ending 01 & 02. During the first bad ending, I hit a glitch where one of Saeran’s character sprites just didn’t go away after appearing— like, it transposed itself onto the CG and when other sprites (including other sprites of himself!) where there. I’ve uploaded examples here, here, and here.

As for the actual ending… it hurt my heart a bit. :( Saeyoung just seemed so desperate, like he was breaking. When he begged Saeran to not hurt anyone else just because of him…. ;_; Saeran was incredibly creepy in this ending. Not just because of the whole “kidnapping and torturing and taking pictures of post-torture MC to torment Saeyoung” thing, though that’s horrifying too, but because of this line: “I should have you after I’m done taking photos. Maybe it’ll be incredible.” Idk, maybe it’s badly translated, or I’m misinterpreting it, but if not… I never thought of Saeran as the type of person to make such threats, and I’m incredibly, viscerally horrified by it.

On a less emotional note, I did find it interesting that Saeran clearly knew what the switch would do in this ending, unlike in Jumin’s Bad Ending 03.

Okay. Moving on.

BAD ENDING 02 WAS INCREDIBLE. Seriously, seriously incredible. I mean, still clearly a Bad Ending in terms of character arcs and story development, but in terms of unhealthy coping mechanisms and intriguing relationship dynamics? A+. I am all for the MC pushing Saeyoung to the floor, and that CG where he’s looking up at her, tears in his eyes… asdfghjkl; excellent. I definitely approve.

Also, these lines:

MC: “I think your brother has passed the point of no return… You should be happy at least.”
Saeyoung: “The point of no return…”
Saeyoung: “Did he get that far while I didn’t know a thing? Will he ever be able to come back...?”
Saeyoung: “Maybe I just imagined a future that’s too good to be true for Saeran.”
Saeyoung: “I thought Rika and V will help him live a happy and peaceful life…”
Saeyoung: “But even I couldn’t escape from living like a shadow, how different could it be for him…?”
Saeyoung: “Yeah… Saeran and I couldn’t be happy from the first place. Maybe… the Sareran I saw was the best he could be.”

And:

Saeyoung: “Whatever he believes…. I hope he’s comfortable in his convictions. No more searching, no more waiting…”
Saeyoung: “If it’s best for him to think of me as the bad guy…”
Saeyoung: “then I should stop now.”
Saeyoung: “...[MC], I want to stop.”
Saeyoung: “[MC]. [MC]…”

So good. So sad, but so good. He just breaks so beautifully in this ending. And then his attempts to be just like the 707 in the messenger! Ahh, he’s so messed up, and it’s amazing. I want all the fic.

► More Spring 2017 anime first episode reactions! ~~Which I should have posted at the beginning of this week at the latest, especially since I already had this portion of this update written then, but oh well~~.

Sakura Quest
This one was cute, prettily animated, and thoroughly engaging! The episode just whizzed by as I was watching it, which isn’t something I can say for most series with a non-fantasy setting. I really liked the main character, despite having zero sympathy for her motivations. Idk, “I want to get out of the country & live in a huge city!” is something that’s never rung true to me (I grew up in the country). I also keep wanting to call her Sakura instead of Koharu, haha— I think it’s a combination of the anime’s title and her hair color. Also: I thought the chupacabra story was from Mexico/South America? I was surprised to see it pop up in an anime set in Japan. tl;dr I liked it a lot, and am definitely looking forward to the next episode!

KADO: The Right Answer
I only watched episode 0 of this, btw, not episode one. It was good, but slow, and I don’t think I'm continuing. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, but I just don’t feel super motivated to continue watching. (I was very charmed by all of the origami animals, though. Definitely my favorite part of the episode.)

I did give Twin Angels BREAK a shot, but didn’t finish the episode. I do love magical girl series, even the super generic ones (which that one definitely seems to be), but for whatever reason I’m not in the mood to watch a straightforward, paint-by-numbers take on the genre right now.

I was also going to try out Anonymous Noise as well, but that one’s on Amazon Strike, so I guess it’s not going to happen! I spend enough per year on my Amazon Prime account; like hell I’m going to shell out more on top of that just to watch one or two anime series per season. (This is also the reason why I skipped Scum’s Wish last season despite being initially very interested in it.)

► Edit: Ahhh, I can’t believe I almost forgot about this, but I have another fic update.

Think Also Of Us [AO3 Link] (Mystic Messenger, Seven/MC, 1.1K)

138 | more Mystic Messenger, & more initial reactions to the Spring 2017 anime season

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