Cinderella-ish

 I've read the first seven chapters of The Other Bennet Sister. I feel like Mrs. Hill is being portrayed as a fairy godmother of sorts, if this is a Cinderella story for Mary. Her mother and two younger sisters certainly fit the description of wicked, even if they're not step. I'm excited for her to get a dress and go to the ball for the first time. Now we're at the beginning of the story proper, but from Mary's perspective instead of Elizabeth's. Mary also got glasses, and maybe she's interested in the oculist's son (named John Sparrow, hmmm), but she doesn't really have a reason to see him again unless her eyesight gets worse, and I'm not sure of where the story will go if she even marries in the end.

Speaking of Cinderella, the rest of the Fruits Basket dub uploaded, and more Laura funny noises occur, especially in 24. She said during the most recent Talks Machina, Laura realizes she based a lot of Jester's personality on Tohru. I wonder what she thinks of the expanded lore of the series. Season three may be the last, but if they wanted to do an OVA covering Another, that would be cool too. The series does end on a shot of Kyo and Tohru as grandparents going for a walk. I can’t wait for the rest. It’s been very well acted, and it’s only going to get more emotional from here. As previously stated, I'm working on a Fruits Basket video (not waiting until the series wraps to do it, maybe doing another one later?), and I want to do a Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel video too. We'll see how the new year goes.
 

Ren and Whitley finally came in clutch in the midseason finale. Instead of brooding himself to death out in the cold, it seems that Ren came to an epiphany which evolved his semblance to actually see other people’s emotions as colored petals swirling around them. I cheered when he pointed out that Marrow and Winter don’t want to be under Ironwood’s command anymore. Whitley, overhearing a rant from May that also called him out by name, decided to ask Klein to come back to treat Nora. Weiss hugs her little tsundere brother, and then a crash is heard outside (she asks him if he called anyone else). If Penny falling to Earth at the end of the previous episode would've been a bad place to end, her crash-landing in front of the Schnee Manor was worse (“I love you" vs “I'm sorry”). Cinder's backstory made me feel sorry for her, but she needs to stop. I also recognized the Sohma maid's voice as her wicked adoptive mother.

But Wait, There's More!

I watched all of the cutscenes of Melody of Memory in order to make the video I've working on (before I’d only watched the new material, not Kairi’s recaps of every game). Zexion is the only Organization member in Castle Oblivion to be mentioned by name, as his fight with Riku was important to Riku’s character growth. It just made me feel even more sorry for him, and it didn’t even include the part where he got killed by the replica (she just said Riku defeated him and then the replica, and that Zexion was using magic). Watching the rest of it again, I noticed the pause in what Ienzo is explaining. Did they put that in there to give his voice actors a chance to breathe? Is the pause important? No one was interrupting him. Between that and the finger tapping (Even did this too when he got impatient while they were analyzing Kairi’s heart in Re:Mind), I’m not sure he’s comfortable talking at length to people he barely knows, considering how he was mute during Birth By Sleep. Someone, probably not Nomura, put some thought into this, and I want to know the whole story.

‭I read the novelization of Hocus Pocus and “The All-New Sequel,” and I wasn’t impressed. The sequel was twice as long as the original, and there’s even a sequel beg involving the brother (a wizard) of Billy Butcherson summoning him from the grave. There were some good ideas, but it just tried to do too much. Like the second Equestria Girls movie novelization, it may not be the final script for the actual movie that they’re planning to make. Next, I’m moving on from the other Sanderson sister to The Other Bennet Sister. If only I could hibernate long enough to finish it sooner.
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I've also been watching Brad's Berenstain Bears videos. The algorithm then brought me to the Berenstain Bears official YouTube channel, where I watched old shorts that I remembered from childhood. He's right, though - Mama Bear is not okay.
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It seems like every time Fruits Basket misses a week or two, I assume that there's another hiatus, but then they come back with more. Next is the play, and the final three episodes of season 2. Laura probably didn't remember that Kyoko's nickname was the Red Butterfly, but it's neat that Jester's mom is called the Ruby of the Sea. Tohru is like her little sapphire, or morpho, I guess. That's not a bad idea for some fan art.

Just Do It Already

 ‭I’ve been watching RWBY and Fruits Basket back-to-back as episodes came out, and it’s whiplash to go from Aaron Dismuke as Oscar to Aaron Dismuke as Kakeru. The line “I’ll be more evil than the devil himself" was changed to “I’ll be the evilest evil stepsister you’ve ever seen." Brina really did give the performance of a lifetime as Isuzu. Too bad they’re on hiatus again,‭ and RWBY’s hiatus will last longer this time due to Covid.

‭I like the new Digimon end theme sequences with Kari and Gatomon in it. Gatomon doesn’t know what to make of those colored-pencil spires.
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I read volume 8 of the Clear Card manga and it’s still not ending anytime soon. I don’t even know the release date of volume 9, but I know there’s going to be one. It sort of ruined the fun knowing it would not end, but we still got some interesting developments, namely that Nadeshiko knew Akiho’s mom (or met her twice or something). Mint Chocolate Girls is a thing, as Sakura, Nadeshiko, Tomoyo, Mizuki-sensei, Akiho and her mom all like mint chocolate but the guys don’t. I liked the high-five between Ruby and Yuki, and then they went back to the shrine for reasons that will come up later. It seemed like a random scene that didn’t last very long. I just wish they wouldn’t keep approaching an ending then walking it back with Kaito’s time travel spell, which should have killed him by now with the number of times he’s had to use it. This story has no business being this long.
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DuckTales got cancelled, so I wonder if Sam will say anything about that at any point. The last two episodes I watched (the family feud episode and the Christmas episode) weren’t all that great but it didn’t need to be cancelled, unless it was always planned for three seasons and they’ll deal with F.O.W.L. at the end. Out of the two Phantom Blot episodes, one had Mr. Peanutbutter and the other had Princess Carolyn.

I'm working on one more video this year for Melody of Memory, if anyone cares. There will be another stinger attached to it. I'm really proud of this one. Maybe I'll end up making a second royalty-free stinger video.