I recently watched this stop-motion animated horror movie called La Casa Lobo. It's about a girl in Chile who runs away from a German colony to stay in a forest, only for everything to go to hell, as is the case with most horror movies. Apparently, it's based on true events- there was a German colony set up post WW2 in Southern Chile, which suffered a 40 year reign of terror after a former Nazi corporal was appointed leader in 1961. People were abused, drugged, made to work like slaves, and the Chilean government actually sent political dissidents there to be tortured instead of, y'know, stopping the rampant HR violations.

I went into the movie without all this context, but it's still a fascinating film- the use of misshapen, vaguely humanoid sculptures in a claustrophobic cottage really conveys the sense of a mysterious, alternative world locked within the woods, where the rules of logic don't apply and people have to suffer all the madness of old fairytales without any hopes of a magical ending. The way the stop-motion morphs environments really plays with your sense of space and security, making you feel like everything's forged from clay that shifts when you're not looking. It isn't just pretty or creepy for the sake of it either- the animations mirror the protagonist's frame of mind, so dark, empty rooms slowly start to get filled with dancing, undulating furniture as her eyes grow used to the shadows, and the structure of the house morphs as she starts to consider herself a living, breathing part of it. I won't spoil the trippier stuff, but suffice it to say that the movie's got some of the most surreally disturbing sequences I've seen in quite a while.

The whole film really just makes me wish there was more animated horror- the things you can do with a world moulded completely to a creator's mind far outweigh any trickery you can pull with actual sets and actors. Animation excels at nonstandard explorations of perception, at warping biology and physics past every boundary, and at creating landscapes dripped in rich allegory and symbolism- all of which are landmarks of the horror genre. It conveys terror in shifting, dreamlike ways seen only in nightmares, childhood or delirium, and goes beyond mere plot conventions to create experiences that are different on every level. It's an excellent, thoroughly unconventional film from start to finish, and I recommend it to anyone who's looking for a new and daring breed of horror.

^ Thanks! I'm glad to hear that. :)

This was entertainingly insane. I wasn't too keen on the idea of a series that fetishized literal torture (particularly with all those spec ops and military references), but the writing is so hilariously trippy and horny that it easily dances past reality and into 'so bad it's good' territory. The implements and techniques themselves were rather interesting as well. In terms of pure quality, this wasn't anything special, but the sheer novelty of a CGDCT based around torture handily justifies its existence.

I guess Alice's otome protagonist trait was on Margat-roids.

Yukari out here manipulating the boundary between scat and potty humour.

Iku reading the atmosphere in futile bids to deal with all the resident weirdos is such a neat gag. SNL fish is a great character, and it's criminal that she isn't featured more in canon or fanon.

Personally, I'm absolutely loving this series. Class S is my favourite subgenre of yuri, and I've also always wanted yuri works to intersect with various other arts, activities and settings, so this bottle-rocket marriage of fighting games and girls who playact at being sœurs is everything I've ever wanted. The repression of a stiflingly pure environment finds catharsis in the addictive competition of fighting games, and it's great to see the characters simultaneously finding outlets and growing closer through a shared hobby. The author of this series also wrote Yuzumori-san, a series that I admire and respect despite my immense distaste for lolicon, so it's immensely gratifying to get another work from her that caters perfectly to my interests. Each new chapter is a massive dose of pure, unadulterated fun.

I like how the rosy, shoujo-esque artsyle- you don't see it used in too many Touhou fanworks these days, which is sad, because long 2hus are amazing. Also, Kirisame 'Big Lasers Solve Everything' Marisa striving to be subtle with Hakurei 'Reality Is Just a Suggestion' Reimu is a recipe for hilarity.

Sakuya's as perfect and elegant as ever, I see. Also, this is one of the better uses of 'secretly useless defenceless lesbian' Alice I've seen. I personally prefer her more dispassionate characterizations, but she was adorable here.

^ Didn't Apple once try to sell branded computer stands for $1000 a piece?

They've elevated peddling horseshit into an art form.

^ While I agree that the engagement was never textually called off, this page seems to suggest that there's nothing to be gained from it, and this one adds that the Prince will be punished. While I doubt he'll be disinherited or exiled, the fact remains that going through with the marriage would be both humiliating and pointless. The King, being a pragmatic and honest sort of fellow who isn't afraid to lose face by punishing the Prince instead of, say, framing the heiress, would probably see sense and try to arrange an alternate engagement.

Sure, you could suggest that once the Prince becomes King, he'll have the duke's daughter and her maid framed or tortured or publicly executed in revenge (assuming they aren't smart enough to leave the country by then), but seeing as this story is already chock-full of cliched tropes and contrived writing, we might as well do the author's work for them and toss 'generic happy ending' atop the pile.

Ichirin is powerful and Murasa is cute.

This is an interesting twist on the useless teacher x proactive student dynamic, to be sure. Both seem aware of the fundamental dynamic and the roles they need to play, but also act to invert them now and again to balance the relationship, and this intertwining of cozy reliability and pleasant unpredictability allows them to adapt to a huge variety of situations. Iri's really mastered the art of writing compact, fascinating side romances- most of these segments would be every bit as entertaining even as individual oneshots.

but the ending was sweet none the less

I don't recall seeing anything about the engagement being called off you know. So Milady's still scheduled for a political marriage to a vain, overprivileged idiot who disliked her to begin with and now doubtless outright hates her.

Did you even read the title? "...Her Engagement was Annulled..."

It's what the dumbass prince declares.

Which is completely irrelevant if the King and the ducal family don't happen to agree, which is likely because lolpolitics.

Milady Looked Extremely Troubled When Her Engagement was Annulled, so I Stepped In to Help Her.
"But You're Just A Random-Ass maid." They Said.
"Oh," I Replied, and Stepped Out.

This image captures Edelgard rather well. She seems like the type of person who'd brood first thing in the morning after frantically shoving her Byleth fanfics under the covers the moment her wife stirs.

Suwako giving the ol' wife a kiss before she saunters off to start the latest incident.

For some reason, this image fits perfectly with the ED from Gunbuster.

Blondie's thumb is gonna smell terrible in about an hour, but she'll probably be chill with it.

^^ By virtue of being in heat every time she's around Shimamura, Adachi is invulnerable to freezing temperatures. She'd melt a hole right through the South Pole if Shimamura called her while she was on an expedition.

Port-a-Oni.

Eye of the tiger.

Tfw when the friendly dragon who helped you out at the start of the game ends up being the final boss, but you already have the dragonslayer skill maxed out.

This series' frankness about the gayness of the leads seems nearly too good to be true. It was hard to tell the general direction of the series from the first chapter, but from hereon out, it seems like it'll be like the HR equivalent of a buddy cop comedy. Each of our leads will presumably influence the other- I'm guessing the blonde will be persuaded to act a bit more professional in her choice of targets, whereas the brunette might learn to be a little less furtive (I am terrible with names, sorrymasen).

They'll probably help each other get some game, grow closer in the thrill of the hunt, and likely end up sleeping with each other at the end of Volume One after suitably exciting or distressing circumstances lower their inhibitions, before the quintessential, 'Where do we go from here?' question. A comedy about two lesbian playboys awkwardly falling in love and dealing with each other's flirtatious, manipulative tendencies in a relationship sounds like it'll be good fun.

I know nothing about Kemono Friends, but this was very gratifying.

I've never played either of The Last of Us games, but good lord, the complaints that OrangePekoe shared seem to amount to a lot of people refusing to understand how fiction works and that parts of it are not supposed to make you feel good. Especially the deadnaming part. Again, I haven't played the game, but it seems like the entire point of that scenario is to make you hate the people who are deadnaming this person. Griping about it and saying it shouldn't have been done seems to be ignoring its (perceived) intended effect. Evoking both positive and negative emotions from the player is the mark of a good narrative. If I'm completely off-base on that particular scenario and there's more to it that I'm just ignorant of, please forgive me.

As with most matters of representation, people's reactions to it depend strongly upon their interpretations. Some people felt bad for the character and blamed the game for being needlessly grimdark, others said that this was true to what trans folks go through in real life, many honestly didn't dwell much on the 'trans' part of the character's identity and have either praised the game for not making it central, or panned it for making it so token. If you're cool with Kotaku articles, I'd like to link a fairly neutral and comprehensive take by an actual trans writer who takes all the perspectives into account while admitting their own subjectivity. Even if you haven't played the game, I feel like it'd give you a good perspective.
https://kotaku.com/i-have-mixed-feelings-about-the-last-of-us-part-2s-tran-1844245756