Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[Tami]

Oh, just stuff. Like how ordinary people will be fine dealing with a horse that's offering them a book, or clearly trying to communicate, then say things like 'Don't be stupid, horses can't ride trains!' It's like reality has been twisted about 90 degrees for this manga in a rather ridiculous fashion. But it's consistent and amusing rather than annoying.

As for what just happened...um, hero team is going after Lord (forget their name) in the enormous temple and has just split up.

Yeah, the manga is ridiculous, but again, it's in a consistent fashion (another example - the exact manner in which Gash and Tia charge toward things O_o) that amuses and delights rather than frustrates and bounces me out of the story. This is how things go in their world. This is how people are. Likely some parody and social commentary happening as well, but I'm too busy being amused.

And yeah, the various powers and demons are sometimes somewhat ridiculous or just bizarre, but at the same time we see some rather incredible strategies come out of that ridiculous stuff.

It's like the series just embraces its incredible weirdness without any thought of cringe, and then USES that as a vehicle to drive plot and character development. ^_^

Loving it.



I feel, based on discussion, that most people are creeped out to at least some extent by snakes and spiders. Movement is very alien, they have bad reps, people are afraid of venoms, etc. For myself, having handled snakes from a young age I'm not at all worried about them (Edit: other than the actually venomous ones), but I completely understand if other people are, and I 100% understand phobias. Heck, it's the same with spiders - some people aren't creeped out by them at all.

Bell curves. ^_^

Phobias being somewhat different than 'have a natural fear of snakes and spiders because Reasons', of course, being literally classed as an Anxiety Disorder. And they often have nothing actually to do with the fear, itself (mine seems tied to my self-confidence and childhood trauma, and I am fully aware that at least in my situation spiders are 99.9995% harmless - there's nothing sufficiently venomous around here, and while wolf spiders can get awfully large, they're not dangerous at all).

Edit: Amusingly, the wiki entry states that specific phobias should be treated with exposure therapy. I tried that. It...didn't work out, and in fact my phobia got worse at that time (bleah, bad memories). Maybe it would work better now, and certainly over the years I've become more desensitized to spiders - my phobia no longer rules me in the same way it did when I was in my teens (part of this having also to do with no longer having crippling lack of confidence, I suspect). Getting surprised by a large one or the sight (even in photographs) of one of the really big kinds can still provoke a full-on phobic reaction, though, and I still have anxiety over that kind of thing (as illogical as that might be).



Sorry to hear that - sounds rather miserable.

Phobias suck.

Exposure therapy for me is a life event. For example, about a week or so ago I needed to make a long trip on a route I am familiar with but hadn't taken in years. However, I was not expecting that the bridge I needed to cross (a mid-sized bridge over train tracks) was being rebuilt one side at a time. Which means that an otherwise not quite so scary two lane bridge was now a single strip of road with drop offs on either side. I had no choice but to take a deep breath and keep driving forward even though I was terrified.

Though I've found that surviving an encounter with a fear does help make a second encounter less scary.

[Sharpandpointies]

Exposure therapy for me is a life event. For example, about a week or so ago I needed to make a long trip on a route I am familiar with but hadn't taken in years. However, I was not expecting that the bridge I needed to cross (a mid-sized bridge over train tracks) was being rebuilt one side at a time. Which means that an otherwise not quite so scary two lane bridge was now a single strip of road with drop offs on either side. I had no choice but to take a deep breath and keep driving forward even though I was terrified.

Though I've found that surviving an encounter with a fear does help make a second encounter less scary.

Yeesh, that's awful.

Sorry you had to go through that.

[Nik Hasta]

Oh, just stuff. Like how ordinary people will be fine dealing with a horse that's offering them a book, or clearly trying to communicate, then say things like 'Don't be stupid, horses can't ride trains!' It's like reality has been twisted about 90 degrees for this manga in a rather ridiculous fashion. But it's consistent and amusing rather than annoying.

As for what just happened...um, hero team is going after Lord (forget their name) in the enormous temple and has just split up.

Yeah, the manga is ridiculous, but again, it's in a consistent fashion (another example - the exact manner in which Gash and Tia charge toward things O_o) that amuses and delights rather than frustrates and bounces me out of the story. This is how things go in their world. This is how people are. Likely some parody and social commentary happening as well, but I'm too busy being amused.

And yeah, the various powers and demons are sometimes somewhat ridiculous or just bizarre, but at the same time we see some rather incredible strategies come out of that ridiculous stuff.

It's like the series just embraces its incredible weirdness without any thought of cringe, and then USES that as a vehicle to drive plot and character development. ^_^

Loving it.

It's a fine balance certainly. Raiku can go between very goofy and kind of surreal humour to action and badass sincerity on a dime like few other mangaka.

Vector Ball, for example, did not manage to split the difference but it got a lot more surreal and comedic which meant it didn't land as well.

Glad you're having fun!

[Tami]

Yeesh, that's awful.

Sorry you had to go through that.

Nah, it's okay. Thanks though. As they say, anything you survive .... just gives you another chance to be scared witless in the future.

[Sharpandpointies]

It's a fine balance certainly. Raiku can go between very goofy and kind of surreal humour to action and badass sincerity on a dime like few other mangaka.

Vector Ball, for example, did not manage to split the difference but it got a lot more surreal and comedic which meant it didn't land as well.

Glad you're having fun!

Yeah, it's good. Thanks for that recommend. ^_^

Nah, it's okay. Thanks though. As they say, anything you survive .... just gives you another chance to be scared witless in the future.

Inconvenient truth.

[Guy1]

[bruceleegreyhulk]

[Postmania]

Just came back from Everything Everywhere All At Once.

There’s a feeling while playing Elden Ring where everytime you unlock a piece of the map what you thought were the boundaries of what was traversible is increased in a way that is astonishing. The scale of the work before you opens up to an extent you could not have guessed.

Watching the movie was kind of like that, not necessarily in scale (although it’s that too) but in the unerring ability of the movie to shift focus and push up against boundaries you assumed were set, via genre or character or at times convention. It’s less of a martial arts movie than a ridiculously energetic exploration of family, possibility in life, and the paths that could have been taken. It’s hilarious, action filled, and almost always pressing forward in an interesting way. Sone might consider this movie to be a bit maudlin. Maybe it is, but while watching the latter (half?) of this film my mind was sent to an alternate dimension where I’d never seen a movie before and knew how to judge or expect what was to come. Incredible film.

[Len Ikari145]

It's been announced that RWBY is being made into an actual Anime by Shaft.

[Jcogginsa]

One Piece: spoilers:

Too early to tell, but Luffy's new power up might just be some toon Force Stuff.

end of spoilers

It's been announced that RWBY is being made into an actual Anime by Shaft.

To be clear, this is a spin off. They're not remaking the show

[Crunkula]

One Piece Mega Spoilers

spoilers:

Luffy's True Devil Fruit Is The Hito-Hito No Mi: Model Nika.

end of spoilers

Really don't know how to feel about that one.

[Len Ikari145]

[Nik Hasta]

One Piece:

spoilers:

It's not direct reincarnation, which I like, and it's thematic and logical extension of both Luffy's abilities and the ethos of the story. I think it being a Zoan and a human fruit is quite a fun little twist. Still not sure how this squares up with him being insulated against lightning because his power is now confirmed as "morphing human body," rather than "being made of rubber," but that's a small quibble in the grand scheme of things.

end of spoilers

I don't get why people are going like "this is the greatest chapter of manga ever to be written," about it. I'm glad they are having fun but, overall, this is fine for me.

I was worried we'd go in a different direction that would have hurt my enjoyment of the story a lot and that didn't happen so thumbs up from me.

[The Dog]

One Piece: spoilers:

Too early to tell, but Luffy's new power up might just be some toon Force Stuff.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Oda has said that he gave Luffy stretching powers because they're inherently silly, so that no matter how serious the story gets, the reader can still relax and enjoy the story. So making Luffy a low-key Loony Tune would be the logical evolution of it.

end of spoilers

[bruceleegreyhulk]