u/Hour_Trade_3691

I became a Phineas and Ferb Fan literally on the tail end of being apart of the target audience. I was like 15, and my younger step siblings put it on and I loved it. I remember being more invested in the 2nd Dimension Movie than anyone else in the room. Perry revealing himself is a core memory for me. The fact that he wouldn't do it to save himself, but he would do it to save Them is genuienly one of the greatest cinematic moments of all time.

But of course, my Dad hated it.

To be fair, my step siblings loved to watch shows like iCarly and stuff, which I liked enough at the time, but kinda hate them now as an adult.

But I remember one time when my Dad was really ticked off for some reason, and he said:

"I am fine with watching Any Show, as long as it's not Phineas and Ferb, or any of those iCarly Shows."

I like how even when my Dad was basically saying he hated everything we watched, he Still had to acknowledge that Phineas and Ferb is in a seperate category than Anything Else. 😅

Hey, I've already made a post or two like this to this subreddit, but it just keeps coming to my mind.

I know a lot of people here have different opinions on Tomodachi Game. Personally, I think it's similar enough to Liar Game and gave me similar thrills. Yeah, it's clearly targeted at a slightly younger audience (one that would get thrills out of seeing female characters being a little... Explicit at times), but I always appreciated its themes and its realistic depiction on how even the closest of friendships can fall apart, and yet you can still find hope in salvaging it.

Anyway, with the Liar Game Anime close to its End, I was honestly kinda surprised when they threw in the Scene declaring that Akagi is coming with us to Round 4. I was wondering if they were just going to omit that for if they Actually for renewed, but they kept it in. All things considered, the Anime is set to End on quite the cliffhanger.

The thing is, Tomodachi Game ended on a cliffhanger too. And yet despite that, Season 2 hasn't been Renewed (and the author is too busy writing the absolute freak Show that is Dead Tube to care 😭).

Thing is, Liar Game Is already in a better boat. It had 24 Episodes while Tomodachi Game only had 12. Liar Game has already adapted one of its Best Arcs, while Tomodachi Game was cut just Before it got really good.

And then I think about other anime in the same genre. Kaiji had two 26 Episode Seasons covering the First and Second Parts of the Manga, but no sign of Adapting Parts 3-6 have been seen.

Kakegurui also only had 2 Seasons and has left much of its Manga unadapted. Interestingly though, Both of those Seasons only had 1 Cour, and thus 24 Episodes total, meaning Liar Game Already has as many Episodes as Kakegurui.

Akagi and One Outs are interesting cases as they are similar to Liar Game in that they were adapted by Madhouse, but were just left aside once the Batch was done.

No Game, No Life has 12 Episodes, was considered one of the Best Animes of All Time, and then was abandoned never to be seen again. All the while it seems very few people who watch it are actually willing to pick up the books, VS Liar Game and Tomodachi Game, where tons of people are flocking to the Manga already to see what happens Next.

And as for Usogui... Honestly, I don't even know what to make of it. It's always hyped as one of the best Manga of all time, but apparently you need to read through almost 200 Chapters (The entire length of Liar Game) for it to actually get good? I'd Love to see how the general public reacts to That Anime.

Anyway, I guess I'm just making this post because I feel people think that if Liar Game doesn't get renewed for Season 2, it's somehow a: 'failure,' when it isn't. The fact that this Anime even Exists is a miracle, and all it took was a handful of people deciding to take it on. :)

Spoilers for the Light Novel-

In universe, Protection Points were invented by Nagumo to justify the existence of the Class Poll, while also using it as an excuse to come up with some extra difficult Special Exams.

Out of universe, they were most likely just made to allow important characters to lose without actually getting Expelled, but still having that threat of Expulsion for Clickbait.

We don't really know what's been going on, and the Unaminous Vote Special Exam Was a surprising opportunity to add a ton of extra Protection Points to various Classes. Each Class has the opprutunity to grant 3 Protection Points to random Students if they were willing to be bankrupt for half a year. However, it seems that they all just went for the bottom 5 Students having to be bankrupt instead.

Sakayanagi has a Protection Point, but she's Dropped Out, so it's no longer in play.

Ichinose, Ayanaokoji, and Horikita have all Used their Protection Points.

The Uninhabited Island Exam Was pretty unique, as it's the only known time that characters younger or older than Ayanaokoji's Grade could have gotten a Protection Point, and if a younger student got it, then once they got to Third Year, They would supposedly be the only student in the entire school to have one, since the school seems to have no interest in continuing with these pesky little Protection Points now that Nagumo is no longer School Council President.

So as of now, there are only two Protection Points left on the Field- Kouenji, and Kanade.

I assume these Protection Points Will actually play some sort of role later on, otherwise they were kind of just hyped up for nothing.

In the latest Volume, Kanade considered trying to force himself to lose and use his Protection Point for the sake of saving Hiyori, however, it was pointing out that even if he did that, he would only Tie with Hiyori, and that would still result in Hiyori getting Expelled due to Kanade beating her in OAA.

I was kind of surprised, because I think this is actually the first time that it's been acknowledged that Kanade has a Protection Point. It's the only Protection Point Ryueen's Class has, And it's the only one that Anyone has besides Kouenji.

I know the hype of Kouenji actually doing anything seems to be more and more in vain with every Volume, every but it seems that it's likely that Kouenji would either-

A- Do what Kanade wanted to do to save Mii-Chan.

Or B- Actually have a serious fight and Lose, resulting in his Protection Point being used, saving him, but also meaning he has to continue his school life with a hit to his ego.

There have been all sorts of theories as to how Kouenji would we react if he actually lost, and I think it would be actually hilarious if he actually loses, uses his Protection Point, but then just Drops Out of School on his own accord to avoid the humiliation. Making Kouenji a hassel right up until the End.

I know this is going to get downvoted and get hit with a bunch of comments telling me I'm wrong without even reading my post, but I figured I'd throw this out there regardless.

Yes, people's attention spans can change. I'm not saying that it's impossible for someone's attention span to get worse, or get better.

Nor do I think that having a short attention span is necessarily bad, or having a long one is necessarily good.

My mom is over 50 years old, but she's not elderly by any means, but even she struggles a lot with paying attention to something if she's not interested in it. Even if I'm showing her a YouTube short, that's not even 30 seconds, if she's not invested in the topic, she'll quickly tune out before the video is even halfway through.

So I don't think that having a short attention span is connected to younger generations.

My favorite Manga is Liar Game and I'm obsessed with it. I have a very long attention span when it comes to reading it, but many people wonder why I don't bother to pick up anything else. And I'm not opposed to it, and I have read actually watched other stuff, but when I devote myself to a new piece of media, I want to actually devote myself to it.

I think a lot of people see a TV show or book series or whatever as just something to plow through. If they hear it's good, they find it as soon as possible and binge it all in one night.

I have definitely binged stuff before, but only when I find myself insanely invested in it. Otherwise, I like to take my time and absorb it bit by bit. For example, Alice in Borderland I binged Season 1 completely, watching the first six episodes in one night, and then only taking a break to go to sleep, and then immediately watching the remaining two when I woke up. Then I hunted down the manga and read the rest of the story before Season 2 was even released.

On the other hand, the other Netflix series You all occasionally binge a few episodes in a row, but then I'll take a break for days or weeks before coming back to it.

I remember when I played the video game portal, and I felt that it was a very fun experience and I looked forward to playing the sequel, but I wasn't planning to play it immediately. I was honestly surprised with how people were asking me why I wasn't playing Portal 2 yet. Like people were very impatient, wanting me to play it right away, not realizing that I felt that I had earned a break after defeating GlaDos.

And when it comes to the Bible, bruh. There was a toxic church group I was a part of that literally demanded that I read the entire Bible, so I proceeded to actually copy down the entirety of Genesis, color coding. Whenever a different character was speaking. It took me 10 months, but I did it. And yet despite that achievement, all that the people in the group could ask was when I was going to do the rest of the Bible, not realizing that this was very easily a lifetime long project.

All of this is to say, I don't think people have short attentions vans. It's just that if we have options, we are naturally going to focus on stuff that interests us. And if something starts out intriguing, but begins to bore us, it makes sense that we would just go to another video that actually seems fascinating. That's healthy. Of course, if we feel we somehow owe it to someone to pay more attention to something, we should, but if you're alone on your phones scrolling on tiktok, you shouldn't feel bad for scrolling to the next video if you get bored of the current one. If we never moved on, we would never advance as a species in the first place.

Whenever the Wi-Fi gets cut, of course people are going to pick up a book or go look at clouds like it was supposedly so well done in the old days. That's only natural. We are going to find entertainment where we can.

Teachers used to run protests in the streets in the 20th century, declaring that calculators were rotting kids brains.

Socrates apparently thought that simply writing things down was brainwrought, as it was training people to not just memorize everything.

If you give people the right to choose, they're going to choose.

I've only seen up to midpoint Season 3, but I heard that while many characters at least make cameo appearances in the last Season, Ellie apparently never appears again past Season 2, and is never even Mentioned past one reference in Season 3.

This isn't exactly anything new to me. There are a lot of franchises that have a character that got away. One that just didn't really have a satisfying ending and you don't really get to find out what happened to them, and you felt like there was a need for closure that just wasn't there.

Ellie really hurts though. She relied so much on her sister, and her sister was born out of the picture. So abruptly as well. Then Ellie has a hella relatable freakout about people wanting to get away from her all the time, and literally the last we see of her is Joe saying confidently, but not with certainty, that her sister is probably gone and never coming back, and she literally says that she hates him, and then exit stage left. The only instructions being to get on a train and head east and Joe will consistently send her money.

In Season 3, Joe mentions that he's fulfilling on this promise, And that's apparently the last that we'll ever hear from her.

I wonder how people would have felt if there was just a random line mentioning her in Season 5. In it would have felt awkward, since apparently all the other characters actually get cameos on TikTok, but I wonder how things would have went down if there was just a random line after that montage where Joe mentions that Ellie made a video too. That wasn't helping his case, and we just didn't get to see it. I can understand the decision to not throw in this line, as it would only draw attention to the fact that Ellie didn't physically appear, but it would have been nice and bittersweet.

My head canon is that Ellie was already so mentally distraught by being away from her sister, and then when she saw all this TikTok drama, she just couldn't bring herself to participate in it, and proabably felt a little bit guilty for taking a bunch of Joe's money anyway, and decided to let Justice run its course

Death Note- 90%

This automatically gets scaled High no matter what because this is one of the most popular animes in the whole world. People have probably watched it before coming to SCD at all, to and have most likely forgotten a lot of what happens.

Liar Game- 85%

Definitely gaining more popularity as time goes on. It's one of the first Franchises that people will be exposed to when talking in SCD. 'Akiyama level,' Is a real term that people use to describe where about other random characters are ranked. Glad it's finally got an Anime Now!

Usogui- 85%

About the same as Liar Game. It's more than double the length, but Liar Game has live action shows with original content that I don't think many people have actually seen, but Usogui is basically just as popular as Liar Game in SCD. Akiyama and Baku are the only characters that I actually see consistently get called: 'Akiyama level,' or: 'Baku level," To compare to other characters. Other than that, it's pretty much just Yuichi and Fang Yuan, as no one can agree on Ayanokoji anyway.

Classroom of the Elite- 70%

There are probably quite a few people who have actually read all of the light novels, but there is a lot of novels to read, and I think a lot of people do honestly just go off of the Anime, which still counts, but just loses some points.

The Mentalist- 70%

I think The Mentalist and Classroom of the Elite Are about the same level. A lot of people like talking about Patrick Jane, and it's a show, so it's a lot easier to binge than a manga or book series, but it's seven seasons long which is quite the commitment, and I think a lot of people probably scale Patrick Jane based on clips on YouTube. But I Have seen a lot of people defend the quality of this show, declaring that I'm crazy for thinking that Danganronpa would be more popular.

Tomodachi Game- 70%

I honestly think that there's quite a few people who claim to have read the manga but actually haven't. Either that, or they went into the manga being incredibly biased, because I genuinely have no clue why Yuichi is always scaled so low. However, Yuichi is one of the most famous people in SCD, even more so than Patrick Jane, in so that's got to count for something. I think most people just watched the Anime and maybe read up to the Prison Game in the Manga and then Decided they got it.

Code Geass- 65%

I genuinely I'm not sure how many people have actually consumed this one. It's one of the rare SCD Franchises where it was an anime first before it was anything else. And it's pretty popular too, but I haven't seen it, and I rarely see LeLouche get scaled here. Is it because he's low? I've seen Yuichi come up all the time, so why not LeLouche?

Psycho Pass- 50%

This is another one where it was actually an anime before it was anything else apparently. Based purely on that, I imagine quite a few people have seen it, simply because anime is easier to consume than reading full-on books or manga. Still, I hardly see Makishima get talked about in SCD, but when he Does show up, people tend to rank him around Akiyama.

Kakegurui- 30%

I don't actually think that many people are reading this series. Worth mentioning that the manga is still ongoing, but I never see anyone here talking about the latest chapters. I've seen people declare that Yumeko can likely clear Tomodachi Game, but would get tripped up by Yuichi, But a lot of people have gone back on that claim, purely based on the fact that the series has gone on a while, so she: 'probably,' has taken over Yuichi by now. It's a shame, because this was one of the first SCD Franchises to come about, along with Classroom of the Elite, Tomodachi Game, and Death Note (And, Maybe Monster). I think a lot of people just watched the Anime, and then maybe checked out a bit of the Manga too.

Moriarty the Patriot- 15%

I remember I once saw a post that referred to this as having the chillest fan base, when I think it's honestly more of just people not actually watching/reading this. 😅 I honestly have no idea where Moriarty is even ranked, as I've seen a few people imply that he's around: 'Akiyama level,' But I've only heard like three people say that, so I'm not sure if that's accurate. 😅

No Game, No Life- 10%

I'm not convinced there's that many people reading this series. Lots of people scale Sora and Shiro extremely high, but they aren't able to actually say any notable Feats past the Anime.

Bungo Stray Dogs- 10%

Same reasoning as previous, but just replace Sora and Shiro with Dazai and Fyodor (And Maybe Ranpo).

The Detective is Already Dead- 10%

Siesta Used to be scaled incredibly High, but now she's hardly even talked about. It makes sense, because this light novel series isn't really about the smart characters, and is more about Siesta's sidekick trying to figure out how to move on without her. After all, Siesta is Already Dead.

It seems so ridiculous to me. When Joe at first said that he kept a spare key, I thought that he meant that he keeps a spare key ON HIMSELF, Not that he had One IN THE CAGE. Season 2 is so weird to watch because Will is in there for literal weeks it seems. And he's entirely mentally stable as well. He would have 100% Found that Key.

I talk about Liar Game a lot, I talk about Classroom of the Elite sometimes, I talk about Tomodachi Game occasionally, and I can talk about Death Note when prompted.

But I definitely talk about Liar Game more than anything else, often relating a lot of the scenes to our society as a whole.

And yet for whatever reason, most people seem to just group Liar Game in as: 'Anime.'

It's not that I talk about Liar Game too much. It's that I talk about; 'Anime,' too much.

I'm not giving this Church a thrown together sermon about Liar Game. I am giving a thrown together sermon about: 'Anime.'

I like it when people say that I'm very clearly passionate about it.

I remember a few years ago when people kept referring to Liar Game on my behalf as an: 'Anime,' and my Catchphrase has essentially become: 'Its not an Anime!'

Can't say that Anymore!

This will pretty much have all the spoilers for the first half of Steal Beam Crossing.

I haven't actually finished this Arc yet (I'm not exactly in a rush to catch up to a Manga that might not ever Finish anyway 😅). But I was really impressed with this first half.

Firstly, while there isn't exactly the same mind game element to it, as with the restricted rock paper scissors, there are definitely elements that are similar. It's not so much as the mind game outsmarting, but rather the mind game psychology of the thought of actually dying here.

I hope this isn't triggering for anyone, but it very much felt similar to when you're standing on a really high apartment balcony. It can be a nice view, but there's always that moment where you look directly downward, and you realize that there isn't actually a safety net there. There's nothing to stop you from. Just accidentally leaning too far forward and throwing yourself off, or someone shoving you off either.

The thing is, it isn't the thought of dying that scares me the most. It's not even the thought of falling. But rather, it's the thought of landing, and Not dying. What if the fall is just short enough to keep you barely alive, but severely injured and conscious? That would be more scary than just dying.

Kaiji's contemplation of society being about people at the top having to keep kicking people who are already below them, as he tries to justify the need to shove the person in front of him off of the being, only to abruptly decide not to.

Then, it turns out that literally none of this mattered. Like, and none of it at all.

The winners aren't actually winners unless if they go and achieve the money, but all of the other players are free to go and grab it too, so it literally did not matter how fast or slow you walked across those beams.

And the panel revealing the final two beams is probably one of the most eerie shots ever. I'm not sure how it's done in the anime, but I feel like in a live action movie, it would be done with that type of very eerie violin playing that's usually played for scenes like this, that just really raise your discomfort levels.

Those two very thin and very long beams. Just lying there, connecting too literal skyscrapers, with the mission being clear- If you want the money- You gotta cross this.

I'm genuinely not sure how many people could actually do this. Not only is there just the natural fear of falling to your death that will probably result in you collapsing anyway, as it's not like you can grab the beams with your hands, but also the high winds that would be blowing at that time. Like they're lucky that it happens to be clear weather, but even then, there will be lots of air blowing in your face when you're that high up. And all it takes is for you to lose your balance. Just a tiny little bit to be thrown off.

All of this is obviously incredibly unfair, and the people running this whole gig are entirely despicable.

But the thing is, that monologue that the guy gives at the beginning of this is almost so based that it justifies it.

That monologue about how people are so absorbed into thinking that their life hasn't actually begun yet, when it has, is so tough to think about, because it's so true.

And it's sad too because I feel like people still haven't actually figured out what's the best way to live your life. You have to find a really good and solid balance between preparing for your future, while also enjoying the present.

There are so many students at University who will just absorb themselves in studying and working, and fine almost no time to rest or play at all, and then by the time that they're in their '40s and they realized that they should start enjoying life before they're too old to call themselves young anymore, they're already incredibly burnt out by all the work they just put in, and they're also surrounded by a bunch of people who have actually started families, and don't have as much time to actually hang out.

We're taught growing up that if we do well in school, we'll have a good future, but even if we make it to a good University or college, we just find ourselves still thrown with a bunch of school work to do, but it's all okay, because once we get a job, we'll have a good future.

Only for us to get a job and realize that working sucks, but it's okay, because once we have a family, we'll have a good future.

And then if we get a family going, we're super stressed about raising these bratty kids and wanting them to not become the negative aspects that we see in ourselves.

But hey, it's okay, because once we f*****g retire, we'll have a good future.

And then we finally retire, just in time for our midlife crisis.

And at the end of the day, that's kind of what a midlife crisis is all about; realizing that we just spent the last 40 to 50 years of our life worrying about the future, and now it feels like we don't even have that much future left.

And as the guy says, there are people who risk so much of their lives, whether it's their financial lives, educational lives, love lives, whatever. People are pushing themselves to literal hell and back just to get a stupid job where they can barely make enough money to actually get by.

And compared to that... How exactly are crossing these stupid beams supposed to be considered too rough?

If you were stood in front of a spinning wheel, with a 99% chance of you, just dying on the spot, and a 1% chance of you being able to live your literal dream life, it's easy to say that you wouldn't spin it. But if the alternative is continuing to fight for survival in a toxic world that doesn't really care if you live or die.... Isn't it just so much easier to just spin that wheel and let fate be decided here and now?

This >!is Joe's most justified freak out. All this camping trip was was my personal hell. I mean, I'm a trans girl, So I especially wouldn't fit in with a bunch of shirtless dudes telling me to: 'embrace my manhood.' Especially when the guy killed the squirrel. Like what the heck was that? That scene didn't even need to be there, but it seemed to literally just exist to show how despicable this random guy is. I assume they're setting him up to eventually actually be killed or at least trapped in the cage, because I think he deserves it more than any of Joe or Love's previous victims.!<

It's >!also Kind of weird to me that this Season seems especially obsessed with being locked in 2021 or 2022. It kind of has to take place in one of these years, with comments about anti-vaxxers, COVID, 'Tumblr, For those of you who still use that,' and talking about electric scooters being: ' a socially acceptable way for adults to get around now.'!<

Love's >!bond with Theo has been bizarre up until this point, as he's frequently sexually harassed her and made crude comments despite her telling him to stop. Yet, all that goes out the window when she actively cheats on Joe with him. I mean heck, Joe THOUGHT about cheating on Love but didn't actually do it. She flat out did it. Love Is only given the slightest of leverages because Joe has actively been distancing himself from her, but their ultimately on equal levels of morality at this point.!<

The >!comment from Love's mother about her liking Joe back when he was someone to save is surprisengly based. It's actually like... Identical to what Joe's going through. I've heard a lot of people say that Love is better than Joe because she's willing to embrace her murderous tendencies, whether as Joe wants to believe that he's a good person who's just in bad circumstances. That's why this Season paints Joe as so irredeemable. Because now he has great circumstances, arguably the best possible, and yet he still acting like he always does. He doesn't like Love because she doesn't fit the: ' damsel in distress,' girl that he likes going after. It's kind of nuclear if Love would actually be satisfied if Joe was completely happy with her. They definitely seem to be happy enough, with the whole: 'Remeber when we used to say: 'I wolf you,'' Comments.!<

Love >!and Joe's conversation at the end of the Episode is so awkward considering This is actually the most normal Joe has ever been, while Love is actively cheating on him. The flashbacks also feel like they're designed to make us feel bad for Joe again.!<

The >!last scenes of this Episode Are genuinely funny, but also uncomfortable. Joe and Love Are both just incredibly toxic and don't even believe in their own marriage. Love Just has to find some other guy to fix, and Joe just has to find some other girl to stalk. Theo Is also incredibly toxic as well. Like, obviously. He gets worse with literally every scene that he appears in. Up until this last scene, what he was doing was almost understandable, as again, like Joe, it seemed to come from a place of extreme loneliness. But now, we find out that he's perfectly capable of getting a girl to be sexual with him, and he actively makes sure to do it where Love can see it happen.!<

I guess it says enough about this show if I just accidentally binged three episodes forgetting to write individual reviews to each one.

One thing's for certain, and that's that this Season is INFINITETY better than Seasons 1 and 2.

A >!large part of why this show is so watchable is that Joe is now someone that's pretty much impossible to root for now.!<

In >!earlier Seasons, anytime Joe did something extremely bad, it was pretty much always paired with a flashback to his childhood that showed just how messed up it was for him. I mean heck, we find out in Season 2 that his father consistently abused his mother, and he felt that the only way to save his mom was to kill his dad, but when he did that, his mother had completely juxtaposed reactions, first telling him that he shouldn't have done that, but then telling him that it was fine and that he's a good boy and that he wouldn't actually kill anyone despite the fact that he just did. His mom flat out says that he was just protecting her, and that makes it okay. And then immediately after Joe asking her if they can be together forever. Now, she suddenly sends him away to a boarding school (or whatever it was), never to be seen again.!<

Paired >!with the fact that Joe just seems completely oblivious on how to socialize, it was easy to honestly feel bad for him. His view of love was so distorted, and while Candace hinted at something deeper and worse, the only proper romance that we ever saw him go through was Beck, who was also toxic. (Seriously, Who in this day and age has a cell phone that doesn't at least have a password lock?)!<

Season 3 >!though strips away all safety nets from Joe's morality. You can no longer say that he's just a poor lost soul who never got to experience love. He has love. He has one of the few people, let alone romantic partners, who is willing to see Joe for who he really is and not run away.!<

Even >!if he didn't have that, if he just had a family like he does now, that would also strip him away of safety nets. And yet, despite that, he's continuing to just stalk random people. He finds interesting. First it was his neighbor, but when Love killed her, when and after they had to deal with disposing of her body and getting away from all that, Joe IMMEDEATELY starts fantasizing about the random toxic librarian he's working with who keeps making random annoying comments at him when he's literally just minding his own business.!<

Literally >!the only redeeming factor of Joe that is left is that he ultimately decided that he couldn't frame his neighbor's husband for her death.!<

But >!even then, he ALMOST did it, and probably would have if he wasn't caught in the House.!<

Just >!even when Joe is desperately trying to cover up his neighbor's body, burying her in the dirt, it's not redeemable. For a brief moment, it looks like he might be confronting the person who he was through Love, and knows that he deserves to go through covering up for someone else's murders, because he caused so much pain to people himself. Him trying to get Love to stop doing this feels like the potential Redemption Arc that he would need to ever become an actual good guy.!<

But >!then it immediately cuts to her bloody face and Joe reveals that he just had to take her teeth out for some reason.!<

I >!honestly find it funny that Joe and Love promise each other to not cause any more murders, and then Love immedeately locks up the first person who pisses her off.!<

The only reason I don't rate this episode of 10/10 is because I feel like the show has slightly more potential than this. I feel like there will hopefully be episodes later down the line that are more deserving of a 10/10, hence I'm giving this a 9/10. It just doesn't have the same mind game complication feeling that the last 3 Episodes of Season 2 had for instance.

But In terms of setting up a new status quo, this is pretty much perfect.

The >!Episode itself feels very tame compared to what came before. Nothing really disturbing is actually happening, and it seems like Joe and Love really are just leaving their previous lives behind and having a fresh start. The only out of the ordinary and disturbing thing that is happening is that Joe is now stocking a neighbor.!<

Which >!makes the whiplash Twist at the End of this Episode all the more incredible, because it reminds and reassures us that the Show we've been watching for the last 2 Seasons is Still here. I always love it when I show has the guts to spend an entire Episode pitching its own premise to us, and then proceeding to blow that premise up and declaring they don't even need it. Shows like The Good Place did that basically every 3-4 Episodes, and Alice in Borderland infamously does that in its 3rd Episode, so it's nice to see this Show pull a similar Twist in a Season Premier.!<

Joe >!is Much more despicable and easy to hate in this Episode. In previous Seasons, you could ALMOST empathize with his stalking behavior because it appeared to come from a state of intense loneliness. His actions weren't excusable, but they were understandable. In both Seasons 1 and 2, Joe Is incredibly lonely, and his only known romantic relationships up until that point. Both ended in traumatic tragedy in his eyes, so he really was just looking for proper love.!<

Trouble >!is, now he HAS Love. He's married, and has a kid. He's essentially won at life, but that comes at the price of him now having no excuses. Left. Him stalking and fantasizing about his neighbor has absolutely no redeemable angle at this point. He's no better than Beck was when she cheated on him. The scene in the car was actively funny, which was surprising to me since it mirrors a Scene in the Season 2 Opener. This thing was, THAT scene made me uncomfortable, whether as THIS one made me laugh. In the Season 2 Premier, it was seen as uncomfortably pathetic. Here though, it's just hilarious, because Joe has no right to be fantasizing over someone else when he's literally married with a child. The fact that the scene was played with so quickly as well added to the comedy.!<

Love >!trying to fit in with a group of passive aggressive nutjobs actively make me feel bad for Love. She really does just feel like the odd one out nerd. And the fact that she's worried about her marriage now that Henry/Forty is born while Joe is literally cheating on her (mentally), behind her back.!<

Joe's >!neighbor actively leading him on makes this whole dynamic even more hallarious. There's a brief scene where it seems like we're hearing HER internal monologue for once, Which I'm pretty sure would have been the first time in this entire Show that we heard the internal monologue of anyone other than Joe himself. However, we abruptly cut to the next scene where it's reveal that she's in fact speaking these words to Joe, but it was a fun little bait and switch.!<

Then >!the other show drops and it's revealled his neighbor is Absolutely Fine with him cheating on Love with her, and it's THEN when Joe bails out and goes back to Love. Still, regardless of how it actually went down, he Still fantasized about her Right up until the point when he realized she Actually liked him, which makes him look like way more of a d*******g.!<

2020 is Canon in You. Awesome.

Joe >!and Love hanging around the party awkwardly together is fun. No longer is Joe. Just a single loser who doesn't know how to fit in, he can actively be awkward WITH his poor Spouse.!<

Love >!genuinely saying There's nothing authentic or intimidating about. Her is so juxtaposed to what we know about her from the previous Episode. It truly does make the Show feel like it's completely changing Genre to a depressing sitcom in Suburban Hell. Love even says that: "the man I fell in love with would do anything for the people he loves." It's crazy hearing them act like normal people and talk like normal people, while recontextualizing everything they went through in the last 2 Seasons.!<

Joe >!finally seems to have a Scene of Redemption, where he's finally going to Stop being a prick, let alone a Murderer.!<

Then >!Love asks to: 'see Downstairs,' and... Uh, Ohh...!<

It's >!really Fun, because it's like I forgot what Show I've been watching for the last hour. Love can forgive Joe for everything he's done Before being in a marriage with her, but now, it's time for her to inact her inner insanity.!<

I've only seen Seasons 1-2 so far-

Since this Show bounces back between complete garbage and amazing material, when I'm rewatching this or showing it to someone, this is my Plan-

Episode 1

Episode 2 (ONLY the Scenes with Benji in the Cage)

The Last 5 Minutes of the Penultimate Episode

Season 1 Finale

Season 2, Episode 2- ONLY the Scenes with the Butcher Guy

S2 EP8

S2 EP9

S2 EP10

Hopefully these next Seasons are good the whole way out. 😅

Guys, you got to listen to me, I tried writing this post like three times already, and I'm really trying to phrase this in a way so that it won't cause a debate. This is purely my opinion.

I made a commitment to watch this show, I am currently on season 2 episode 8. This show has me trapped a little bit like Joe. I have a very toxic relationship with this show. I am giving it my full attention, and it is literally bouncing between being incredible quality content, and absolute gar- ... Absolute... Questionable quality.

Episode 1 was good. Like a 6.5/10. Not That great, But had some very comedic moments, and a good setup.

Episode 2 Wasn't nearly as good, but was decent for >!the scenes between Joe and Benji.!<

I feel like I need to record this whole show, and then edit out 90% of it, and you would have a very good solid movie.

The entirety of Season 1 except those first 2 Episodes were really tough to get through, and I honestly wasn't enjoying it at all.

Until the last 5 minutes of the penultimate Episode. Then, right up until the end of the Finale, it's 7.5/10 material.

Then Season 2 starts and it shows promise for like the first 5 minutes and then plumits into questionable quality territory once again.

Then Season 2 Episode 8 comes in, and it's a 10/10.

Like, I'm not joking, I feel like I'm losing my mind >!like Joe is while on that acid.!< I literally had completely lost faith in this Show, but Season 2 Episode 8 has been hilarious from start to finish! Where were all these jokes a moment ago???

I honestly love the fact that different colors of Kryptonite are used purely to drive various wacky plots. There's no scientific reason why different colored bits of rock from Superman's home planet should affect him or other folks in various ways, but then again, it's not like Superman was all that scientific to begin with. Heck, the very first page of Action Comics #1 has the writers attempt to give a: 'Scientific Explanation,' For Superman's powers, but they basically just say that Ants and Grasshoppers Exist.

The only type of Kryptonite that actually shows up consistently, and does the same thing. Every single time, is green Kryptonite. Which makes sense, because it was the first. It just makes Superman weak, sick, and can supposedly kill him if he's exposed to it for long enough.

The next down on the list is gold Kryptonite in terms of how they often they show up and how consistent they are in their effects. Gold Kryptonite can take away Superman's Powers permanently If he ever comes into direct contact with it, but is otherwise: 'harmless.'

Blue Kryptonite Confused me a lot because my first exposure to it was the show Smallville which demonstrated that Blue Kryptonite is Also able to take away Superman's powers, but only while he's in contact with it. Once he lets go of the Kryptonite, he returns to normal, however, actually letting go of the Kryptonite is a lot harder than it seems.

Red Kryptonite Is the most interesting one for me, because I always thought that it was the most dangerous one. It's most used tactic is just causing Superman to have strong mood swings, but I consider an out of control Superman to be much more dangerous than a weak Superman. However, apparently in the comics, red Kryptonite is used to do basically anything.

I mean heck, there was one comic where Superman got hit with a blast of green and red Kryptonite mixed together. Instead of having the obvious effect of causing him to become both weak And mentally unstable, it instead apparently caused him to grow a third eye in the back of his head for some reason.

There's also other forms of Kryptonite that have no effect on Superman, but have various effects on Other living beings.

Anti Kryptonite does Nothing to Superman, but causes HUMANS to get weak and sick as Green Kryptonite would for Superman.

White Kryptonite Has the same effect, but it only affects plants. Any other living beings are safe.

X Kryptonite is able to give non-kryptonians the same Powers as Superman.

Orange Kryptonite Does the same thing, but it only works on animals, and is apparently the reason for Krypto the Super Dog.

And then of course, the infamous pink Kryptonite, who's only known effect is apparently causing Superman to become homosexual. Despite many people brushing this off as a funny and out of touch a goof, it's actually a huge inspiration for one of the main plot devices I use in the stories I write. I won't give that away though!

I'm very glad that they bothered to make a new run of Comics titled: 'Kryptonite Spectrum,' That literally just exists to be a parody of this whole post. Superman and Batman find four brand new Colors of Kryptonite that they had never discovered before, and the entire plot of this short comic run is that they decide to test all four of these on Superman one by one in order to see what they do.

I was a little bit disappointed by this run though, as while Purple Kryptonite had the incredibly unique effect of Apparently messing with Superman's sense of time, it also happened to be the most interesting of the four, with the other four having pretty lackluster powers in comparison.

Hopefully they'll make a sequel run and get even more insane. When do we get our Yellow Kryptonite???

I think out of every single episode of Arthur, this is the one that's the most tough to take seriously in terms of its resolution.

Arthur comes up with a supposed master plan, and literally everyone is saying it's brilliant. Francine says it's brilliant, his own Dad says he wish he thought of it.

But his plan is to literally just trick everyone into coming to his house and then they'll all just stick around because they all just happen to be there.

Granted, it's a little more thought out than that. But there are a few aspects of this plan that just don't make sense to me.

First of all, this must take place very shortly after all of Arthur's friends actually meet, because we know in newer episodes that every character knows where Arthur lives, so this plan of just giving all of the girls the wrong address on purpose only works. If literally none of the girls recognize that as Arthur's house. While this takes place in the '90s before cell phones, we know that the characters have no problem calling each other on home phones, so if even one girl noticed the address problem and called Muffy asking about it, the whole plan is gone.

But also- This whole concept of: 'Next year, we'll do it at your house,' doesn't make sense either, because Muffy has objectively harder to cancel plans than Arthur. Muffy says that Pickles the Clown has been booked for months, and yet everyone just seems to forget about it.

Meanwhile, Arthur's supposed relatives that are the main reason why he can't reschedule are nowhere to be seen, and regardless, it would make way more sense just to gather everyone at Muffy's house.

Now that world peace has been achieved and everyone universally agrees that Liar Game is the greatest thing ever made and if you don't agree with that, you're a huge nerd-

I still find it funny to think back to when Episode 1 came out and this subreddit was like the most negative space on the internet with literally 2 criticisms-

Animation Bad

Smartphone Bad

I remember with the days leading up to Episode 1 being released and I actually said-

"There's a scene where Nao is going to be betrayed by someone, and she goes home and cries her eyes out, confronting for the first time that she was treated horribly by a person she trusted. I just hope they do that scene well."

Holy crap- The scene was so well done my only criticism is that it was a bit overkill.

Here's the thing though- People criticize Nao for being stupid, Without realizing how easy it is to get fooled.

Sometimes I wonder if the Stars literally just aligned for me to fall in love with this manga, because I started reading it at about the exact same time that I was betrayed by a group of people I trusted. One minute, I thought there was a silly misunderstanding and I would be able to clear everything up- The next- People are literally treating me like I'm the reincarnation of Hitler. It's a long and complicated story, but that was basically the gist of it, and in that moment, I felt betrayed, humiliated, and permanently scarred.

Basically, every feeling Nao felt in that moment.

Which is why her forgiveness of Fujisawa after she beats him is all the more powerful.

It's crazy to think that we live in a world where Contraband Game is a f*****g Anime. But holy crap, Episode 1 will always hold a special place in my heart.

Spoilers ahead to the Ending-

I don't mean the epilogue, or anything else that came out after it that I don't know about. I'm referring to the last official chapter. The one that ends with >!Yuichi in the hospital bed.!<

The >!epilogue is great, but I always considered it a little bonus thing. I choose to remember the hospital bed ending as the official ending. !<

Which >!is ironic, considering one of the huge twists at the end of the story is that Yuichi's mom was not as pure hearted as she seemed.!<

And >!yet despite that, Yuichi claimed he didn't care. He was going to choose to remember the version of his mom who always told him that friends are more important than money.!<

As >!I've lived through life, I really respect that ability. It happens so many times in life where someone who we thought was a good person ends up leaving or betraying.!<

When >!someone dies, that can be very sad, but when someone leaves for reasons other than death, it can hurt even more. If you lose someone to death, it's at least you can still remember them as someone who you were grateful to have in your life. But if they leave for a different reason, it makes you question if they ever actually saw value in your friendship to begin with.!<

I >!often find myself thinking of this last chapter, specifically because of Yuichi's mindset. Even if a friendship ends in a more toxic way than you were hoping, it can still be a blessing to think back on the good times you had with that person. Their present self doesn't have to corrupt the past.!<

Was just explaining the Contraband Game to someone who knows nothing about Liar Game And I was mentioning how the fan base was disappointed because the teams are supposed to be called North and South as a direct career meant for, but instead got changed to Day and Night.

The person I was talking to though Did point out that those names are still technically direct metaphors of the two Koreas, although more subtle, because during the night, South Korea is much more lit up than North Korea is, which remains pretty much entirely in pitch black with the sole exception of its capital.

There was a psychologist that I saw for almost a decade. I think I started seeing her around grade 10 or grade 11, and that was a few years before the pandemic, so it was for quite a while.

But I haven't seen her in about a year and a half now. I stopped seeing her because I realized that she wasn't actually helping me, and there was no point in continuing to spend so much money on going to a session that literally just stressed me out.

The biggest problem with her was that she seemed to think that I was much more capable than I actually was. She seems to genuinely think that my problems were easy to overcome, and it was just a matter of building my confidence. And that worked for a while, but there came a point where she had no choice but to realize that I genuinely was doing the best I could, and it just wasn't enough.

The thing that completely destroyed my faith in was when she started regularly asking me the question:

"How many friends do you have?"

Which is the single most triggering question that could ever be asked of me. Every time she asked it, I firmly put my foot down and made it clear that I was never going to answer that question. At first, she laughed it off, but it seemed like she kept having her memory wiped that. I hate that question, because she just kept asking it session after session.

What really kicks me off is that I actually left a post about this on this subreddit a while ago, and people seem to completely dismiss the fact that that question gets me genuinely furious.

What kind of question is that? How many friends do I have? Do you think life is that luxurious? Do you get to have friends who never abandon you and humiliate you in front of everyone?

If the answer is yes, then congratulations. You have a level of privilege that I will never understand. That I will never even come close to feeling. Let alone what it feels like to actually be hugged by someone who loves me.

It genuinely makes me very very angry that she kept asking me that question. I hated it.

... Sigh. Deep breath.

Anyway, I tried looking into seeing another therapist, but it was incredibly unfortunate timing, as just when they started to email me to try and set up a session, I lost my job.

Now sure, you could point out the irony that after losing my job, maybe therapy is what I needed more than anything else, but I just couldn't do it. I had already felt betrayed by my previous therapist, and taking another step into therapy was going to already be stressful no matter what, and I wasn't able to do it when I already had other direct stress on my mind. So I emailed the new therapist apologizing, but saying that I wasn't going to be able to look into booking a session for a while because of me losing my job, and they understood.

I haven't reached out or actually tried to find another therapist since. Honestly, I'm wondering if all that's happened as a sign from God that it's just not for me. I have no clue.