Detritus of the Mind

 So... this blog is pretty darn DEAD, right? Right. The last activity it's had has been a personal essay most people ignored, and me having to close the comments after some Lost-obsessed weirdo from Twitter used them to insult me. A show I've never really cared about. And people wonder why I hold term searchers on social media in such disdain... Anyway! This past year I've decided to start sharing some of my original fiction, in a monthly serialized format, and I felt that this site was just too dead for it. Updated every month on the 15th, here's the summary of the first story: In the late 90s, strange monsters started appearing around the world; shortly thereafter, young women appeared to fight them. By spring of 1999, both had vanished, and those that witnessed these creatures or knew these ladies were left with nothing but questions. Now, one has returned. Who is she, and what has brought her back? How has she changed? A story about magical girls and reconnection, t...

I wanted to put the old Toonami "Watch This Space" screen here, but Google has both failed me and insulted me with a bunch of Adult Swim crap. To say I do not like Adult Swim is an understatement. Anyway... You may have noticed that I haven't done squat here. I had plans, but here's what happened to them: - There are better nostalgia comic reviewers out there, the books I had planned either have gaps I can't fill or low interest rates, and frankly, lately the whole field of nostalgia comic reviewers attract people from a campaign that think having a character come out as gay is "character assassination". So between respect for people doing it better over more interesting titles and not wanting to have my comments filled with Comics Dudes, those aren't getting done. - The Legion essay and some of the points therein was permanently dropped, thanks to DC Comics devoting itself to wasting all of its best ideas, doubling down on its worst ones, and ...

Hi, I'm Mela, and (sigh) I like Magical Girl Raising Project . This is one of those magical girl series you aren't supposed to like if you're a fan of the genre. It's dark, it has a lot of violence, and to those who haven't watched or (preferably) read it, it seems like torture porn. But if you actually do read/watch, you learn that's not the case; none of the violence is glorified, the world is an interesting one filled with interesting characters on all sides, and it has a running theme about how bureaucratic apathy allows for terrible things to happen & good people have to push back against it to change things.  It also has some fairly creative powers and designs. So yeah, now that the books are available legally, I'd recommend them to anyone.  I'm still anxious to see how the cliffhanger at the end of the second book plays out, and since it's part of a murder mystery (a genre that's traditionally left me cold), I think that says some...

It's the most wonderful time of the year: Precure Leak Season! I have to admit, through not much fault of its own, I've kind of drifted away from Kira Kira Precure a la Mode ; the site I used decided to make like every other fansub site and align with some shady advertisers that every form of protection I have on my devices rebelled against me ever visiting.  I found some of what I could watch boring (I missed the fights & flashy attacks that weren't just glitter water), and thanks to my situation, I wound up missing really interesting developments with the characters (especially the villains). Because of this, I'm not too optimistic I'll be able to even watch Hugtto Precure  when it comes out, unless I find a safer place to do so.  Which kind of stinks cuz I really dig these designs. The theme this year apparently, according to a translation of the preview page on the official site, is "follow your dreams, you can do anything". So it seems prett...

Okay, so I've been putting this one off for a bunch of reasons (90% of them personal), but there's a big one - Maho Girls Precure was boring. It was DULL. And it's not because it followed in the wake of a really strong season - the fights were lackluster, the villains were rather bland, the stakes never felt dramatic in any way, and the universe didn't feel very fun (it really felt like someone had recently read the Harry Potter books & wanted to make them more cutesy). It just didn't have the humor or character pieces that even Precure's weaker seasons have managed, and it actively made me wonder if I still liked Precure at all because it was just so... blah. Somehow, blah is worse than bad, since with bad, you can at least see things that could have been executed well; with blah, there isn't even that squandered potential or that urge to rage-watch & see how much worse things get. I liked the designs a lot (especially the deliberate ridiculousness...

As sure as family crises and the occasional head cold, the newest Precure series has been announced this Christmas.   Maho Tsukai Precure  (a.k.a. Maho Girls Precure ) feels like a throwback in several ways - the two-girl team with a joint transformation, the monstrous-sounding villains, the visible age difference between civilian & Cure forms, etc. It also has some fun new concepts, such as having the girls attend a school for witches in training.  ANN has info on the overall premise, so I'll direct you there instead of repeating it.  Either way, it sounds like a deliberate nod to both Toei's own Ojamajo Doremi  series and the "cute witch" roots of the magical girl genre.  Since this past season was really very solid, I'm looking forward to this one.  But of course, I wanna review the new designs. First, the civilian forms for Mirai (top) and Riko (bottom).  Very cute - I like Mirai in particular, since she looks like she could be ...

So of course, after I say I can't think of anything to say, I have something to say. And it needs to be said. You are not entitled to information leaks about a TV show and/or movie. Again, you are not entitled to leaks. You are not entitled to leaks. As much as December info leaks are seen as a sort of Pretty Cure tradition at this point, they are not something the staff of the show actually wants to happen.  They want you to be surprised & interested in the show because of the information they offer, not because someone found an early design in a detail-reduced form on a candy wrapper.  They want you to enjoy the plot twists, not have them spoiled months in advance by copyright registrations being trolled for info.  Have a bit of basic respect for the creators wanting to give you the best experience they can. Toei has, on the whole, gotten pretty good at thwarting the leak-makers.  After the aforementioned copyright searchers spoiled the reveal of Cure...

For a number of reasons, I've been thinking lately of old Sailor Moon fan senshi series.  I created some (they're down, so don't bother looking), and they're still one of my favorite things about the online Sailor Moon fan world.  So I decided to list off a few that are gone or dormant that left an impression on me.  If any of these are still standing or you can fill in any blanks, please let me know.  These are strictly ones that no longer exist; good stuff like the  stories at Sailor Astera ,  Tower of Time , and even the inactive  Sailormoon Millennia Trilogy   are still available to read. The one I cannot remember the name of no matter how hard I try:  This is what I mean about filling in info blanks. There was a fan series built around the premise of a now-grown Chibi-Chibi, who had become a separate person, traveling to other worlds and gathering a new team of senshi to fight with her against a great threat.  One was an elf-like ...

So once again, real life has been kicking me repeatedly in the butt.  But I still want to keep this going.  I plan to finish the Bierbaum Legionnaires this year (friggin' finally! ), but after that, I have a list of possible subjects to address.  The only thing I wanted to review that I've put on the back-burner is X-Men 2099 , and that is entirely because the Great 2099 Creator Walk-Off still can't be verified/refuted/what-have-you.  If it's true, it's important to address; if not, I don't want to keep repeating it as fact.  When it's a comic rumor and Brian Cronin can't help you verify or deny it, you're in trouble. So here's a list of potential projects to review: - Several comic series are on the proverbial docket.  I have a couple that are either notoriously bad or have hidden potential buried in layers of badness - namely, Marvel's Mutant X  for the former and DC's Son of Vulcan  mini for the latter.  I wanted to do a review tha...

The Pilot Program is a look at various merchandise-centric cartoons that were released as specials in the 80s & 90s; while they were clearly set up to go to series, they never did.  Every entry will look at a new show, who made it, what it was selling, and whether it would’ve made a good series. STAR FAIRIES (1985) SUMMARY:   Princess Sparkle lives in the land of Wish-Come-True; from her home at Castle Wishstar, she receives every wish desired by a child who has ever wished on the first star of the evening (you know, the “star light, star bright” rhyme).  However, she’s getting overwhelmed from the sheer volume of requests, so she petitions the Wishing Well for a helper.  It directs her to Mount Wishmore to make her own wish with her magic wand on a shooting star; the magic from the wand then turns into five new helpers for her – Spice, Jazz, Nightsong, Whisper, and True Love.  Each sets out to help a child with their wish, and all but Spice ...

Yes, the leaks for the new Precure season, Go! Princess Precure , have been revealed via a candy company, quickly followed by an official debut on the next Precure All-Stars poster.  Here, see for yourselves. Now, this is another Shibata season, so I'm not super optimistic.  But I just wanna put this out here, since it's apparently a minority opinion - I love  these designs.  About the only thing I don't like is the mascot, who looks like 80s Poochie got lost trying to infiltrate the next season of Jewelpet  (even then, I'm happy to see a mascot that's specifically a dog).  Here's a quick bullet point of the stuff that I like: The Pink Cure (no official name yet) looks younger & less mature than her teammates, which sounds like a potential plot point. In a nice break from a minor tradition, only one Cure has an eye color that matches her theme color.  This started with Yes!  & sort of became an unofficial rule, but a break...

Shockingly, this blog isn't dead. I have had an exceptionally hectic private life right now, so I spend time off catching up on necessary things instead of doing fun stuff like blogging. I have a special thing planned for next year called "Pilot Program", a look at the unsold pilots for merchandising toons that aired in the 80s & 90s as "specials" but never went to a full series (although the subject planned for the finale is sort of a special case).  But that won't be ready until after the holidays. I don't anything I feel is worthy of doing a year-end wrap-up to discuss.  The same things that annoy & disappoint continue to multiply, and the handful of happy things can probably be predicted if you've read enough of my ramblings.  Smarter folks out there have sung the praises of Ms. Marvel and Guardians of the Galaxy (and its amazing stinger guest star), so it's better to just read them. In magical girl news, the new Precure season hasn...

Because it's a genre I like & talk about a LOT, I've decided to create yet another sub-category.  Welcome to the inaugural Magical Girl Obsession (MGO) entry, not the first of its topic but the first to bear the name. Since October is traditionally when news about the next Precure series starts to be found (usually by people combing patent info), I've heard some folks start speculating what they'd like to see in the next season of Precure.  I usually reserve full judgement until I at least hear a title & see one bit of imagery (increasingly, it's from merchandise listings rather than releases), but given the past couple of seasons, I am making a short wish list of things I want from the next season of Precure. A New Showrunner:   This one should be obvious.  Ever since Hiroaki Shibata took over starting with Doki Doki, the series has been known more for its wasted potential & gross missteps than actual decent plots/characters.  HaChaPre should st...

The last couple of seasons of Precure have been... rough.   Doki Doki  was a carnival of wasted ideas that were thrown out throughout the series (Cure Sword's world having a standing army of Precures to defend it, the existence of Cure Empress & her unnamed teammates spring most readily to mind), and it chose to focus on a main character in Mana who was dully infallible.  And while Happiness Charge started strong & has addressed many of the character problems with The Mana Show (along with giving fandom a gift on a silver platter as far as creating new fan Cures), one character & said character's impending story arc has more than soured me on watching the rest.  But then I encountered  this translated interview  and one quote in particular: ...Speaking of which, Pretty Cure is separated into three periods by which producer is doing the show.  First is the  Washio era,  starting from Futari wa to Yes! 5 GoGo. Second is the...