General Anime/Manga Discussion 15: The Beach Episode

[Doorhandle]

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I think APE doesn't want their clone soldiers having relationships because then they mayrefuse to be sent to their deaths. Like "My loved one is in danger, screw the mission I'm saving them!". In particular if they end up loving somebody from another mecha pair. Same sex relationships would be particularly problematic since we've seen only male+female can pull off the mecha driving. Either way I really doubt APE feels guilty about anything since they were sending the mobile fortress cities into suicide attacks a few episodes ago.

Still my question is why the klangsaur queen goes "stop attacking my people" when it seems like the klangsaurs were the ones starting the attacks. Maybe all the magma drilling was affecting them? And we still have no idea what that giant hand was.

Spoiler: Even more Franxx speculation/spoilers

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I think the first Klaxxsaur was the equivalent of a peaceful envoy, stomped on the magama energy collectors and the humans panicked and killed it, leading to the war between them.

[deuterio12]

Spoiler: Even more Franxx speculation/spoilers

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I think the first Klaxxsaur was the equivalent of a peaceful envoy, stomped on the magama energy collectors and the humans panicked and killed it, leading to the war between them.

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They mention that the first one went inland and started rampaging around until they dropped 15 nukes to finish it off, leaving half of Australia turned into a wasteland. That heavily implies they threw a LOT of conventional forces beforehand and they all just bounced off, and probably then they went one nuke, two nukes, four nukes, eight nukes when everything else failed (notice multiple craters further reinforcing that battle dragged on for quite a bit).

Just saying, that's a really weird concept of a peaceful envoy.

[Doorhandle]

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They mention that the first one went inland and started rampaging around until they dropped 15 nukes to finish it off, leaving half of Australia turned into a wasteland. That heavily implies they threw a LOT of conventional forces beforehand and they all just bounced off, and probably then they went one nuke, two nukes, four nukes, eight nukes when everything else failed (notice multiple craters further reinforcing that battle dragged on for quite a bit).

Just saying, that's a really weird concept of a peaceful envoy.

Good point...Too soon to tell I guess. At least ep 19 answers a lot of the more burning background questions.

Also

Outlaw Star: Only up to episode 7, but I think V.T is probably a really strong contender for my favorite one-shot character in the series. Also, as someone who was born past the heyday of hand drawn anime it's quite refreshing to see it style-wise.

[deuterio12]

Good point...Too soon to tell I guess. At least ep 19 answers a lot of the more burning background questions.

And now episode 20.

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Turns out the magma they were sucking were klaxosaur souls or something.

Then we get to the real action:
-YOUR MECHAS ARE THE SAME MONSTERS THAT YOU WERE FIGHTING ALL ALONG!

-ALSO ALIENS MANIPULATING EVERYTHING BEHIND THE SCENES ALL ALONG IN THE NAME OF UNIVERSAL PEACE!!

-LUCKILY THE MONSTERS YOU WERE FIGHTING ARE ACTUALLY AGAINST THE EVIL ALIENS AND DEPLOY TITANIC MECHA!!!

-AND NOW IT IS SET TO SELF-DESTRUCT AND TAKE OUT THE PLANET WITH IT IN A MONTH 5 MINUTES!!!!

I wonder how drunk they were when writing this episode. Like seems they trying to cram every trope they could remember.

Still kudos to the VIRM for remembering to implement a remote-operated self-destruct system in the ultimate mecha just in case the monster princess got to it or the main protagonist decided to rebel.

[HMS Invincible]

My hero academy 3
The fight between All Might and AFO looks pretty relaxed right now. I'm hoping the fight finishes well.

[Doorhandle]

And now episode 20.

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Turns out the magma they were sucking were klaxosaur souls or something.

Then we get to the real action:
-YOUR MECHAS ARE THE SAME MONSTERS THAT YOU WERE FIGHTING ALL ALONG!

-ALSO ALIENS MANIPULATING EVERYTHING BEHIND THE SCENES ALL ALONG IN THE NAME OF UNIVERSAL PEACE!!

-LUCKILY THE MONSTERS YOU WERE FIGHTING ARE ACTUALLY AGAINST THE EVIL ALIENS AND DEPLOY TITANIC MECHA!!!

-AND NOW IT IS SET TO SELF-DESTRUCT AND TAKE OUT THE PLANET WITH IT IN A MONTH 5 MINUTES!!!!

I wonder how drunk they were when writing this episode. Like seems they trying to cram every trope they could remember.

Still kudos to the VIRM for remembering to implement a remote-operated self-destruct system in the ultimate mecha just in case the monster princess got to it or the main protagonist decided to rebel.

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You know, hearing those spoilers without seeing the episode makes it sound like a it was a shark jump, but having watched it this episode is now one of my favorites.

Although it helps that even the main cast was all "The **** is this? The **** are those?! The **** is happening?! What the **** even is my life right now?!" along with the audience.

[deuterio12]

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You know, hearing those spoilers without seeing the episode makes it sound like a it was a shark jump, but having watched it this episode is now one of my favorites.

Although it helps that even the main cast was all "The **** is this? The **** are those? the **** is happening? what the **** even is my life right now?!" along with the audience.

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Ah yes it was definitely between enjoyable and a wild ride.

Wonder how muc it because after 3 episodes of plotexpositionphilosophypregnancyissues with no mecha action we suddenly get SPACE FLEET ATTACKING EVERYBODY PULL OUT THE BIGGER GUNS!

In particular because that's just the reconoissance fleet, meaning there's plenty more evil aliens where those came from.

[Doorhandle]

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Ah yes it was definitely between enjoyable and a wild ride.

Wonder how muc it because after 3 episodes of plotexpositionphilosophypregnancyissues with no mecha action we suddenly get SPACE FLEET ATTACKING EVERYBODY PULL OUT THE BIGGER GUNS!

In particular because that's just the reconoissance fleet, meaning there's plenty more evil aliens where those came from.

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They suddenly remembered that it's part-produced by studio trigger.

And I will say the worst issue with DitF (besides minor culture clashes that are common to a lot of anime) is pacing issues. The weird bit is that each episode has decent pacing, but as a whole it's quite swingy. You could make a supercut of the show as "Entirely mecha action and plot twists" and "entirely romance drama and slow worldbuilding" and each would almost work.

[deuterio12]

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They suddenly remembered that it's part-produced by studio trigger.

And I will say the worst issue with DitF (besides minor culture clashes that are common to a lot of anime) is pacing issues. The weird bit is that each episode has decent pacing, but as a whole it's quite swingy. You could make a supercut of the show as "Entirely mecha action and plot twists" and "entirely romance drama and slow worldbuilding" and each would almost work.

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Yeah, this seems like a case of too many ingredients spoils the broth.

Although I think the romance drama would fit nicely with the mecha action and plot twists with the whole "you need a couple for the mecha to move". Then in the other side dystopian future where most of the population are immortals addicted to pleasure machines in sterile cities and thus don't care about what's happening beyond their homes while brainwashed genetically engineered soldiers fight and die a grinding war with no visible end against the horrors outside the fortified cities.

[Rynjin]

Man, this week's episode of Boku no Hero was super well done, particularly for a fight scene. It's not often I get that emotionally invested in an anime any more, I was near tears at some points.

[Pendulous]

It's not often I get that emotionally invested in an anime any more, I was near tears at some points.

Damn. And here I am thinking about what shows have made me legitimately cry.

Toraodra
K-On
A Place Further than the Universe
Couple spots in Fairy Tail
Couple spots in Haganai
Frequently in season 1 of Chihayafuru
The Pet Girl of Sakurasou
Yes, even a couple places in Is the Order a Rabbit?
Shounen Maid
Is this a Zombie?, couple good spots in season 1/OVA
Good Luck Girl I think had some moments. Yes, a parody comedy.
Love Live! Sunshine!! for sure
Hanayamata, with its similar feel to Love Live
Steins;Gate
Love, Chunibyou, and other Delusions
Kanon
Angel Beats

At least that's what I remember.

[Rynjin]

It's not many for me either. Angel Beats is an easy one, early on in Steins;Gate, one spot in One Piece, one in Naruto, and a very few others. It's usually books that get me closest, not anime.

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The imagery of the fire going out (which was TOP NOTCH) and the complete and total lockdown on manga spoilers I have left me feeling genuine tension, with All Might's fate being actually in question.

Mentors dying is a good way to get my waterworks primed, but even after he lived the show really drives home how this is the end of an era; Toshinori Yagi may still be alive, but All Might, the Symbol of Peace is, effectively, dead.

[Kato]

Eh... Can't say I ever cried over an anime or manga. But then I cry hardly ever. There are a few that can get me choked up but it's rarely the parts most people agree on, rather than things that are in some way important to me personally, because I'm selfish like that.


Also, I can't believe Food Wars has started another arc and it's getting even more ridiculous..

[LaZodiac]

Eh... Can't say I ever cried over an anime or manga. But then I cry hardly ever. There are a few that can get me choked up but it's rarely the parts most people agree on, rather than things that are in some way important to me personally, because I'm selfish like that.


Also, I can't believe Food Wars has started another arc and it's getting even more ridiculous..

I hope Food Wars just goes completely off the wall. Food based murder investigations, food based bank robbers, the power of Gifting is already basically a super power just make it go hard on the ridiculous now that they're clearly not going to let Megumi do anything relevant.

[Kato]

I hope Food Wars just goes completely off the wall. Food based murder investigations, food based bank robbers, the power of Gifting is already basically a super power just make it go hard on the ridiculous now that they're clearly not going to let Megumi do anything relevant.

It totally needs a new set of cooking related super powers to, like Yakitate had. And aliens, absolutely aliens.
Also, Megumi might actually get to do something.

[LaZodiac]

It totally needs a new set of cooking related super powers to, like Yakitate had. And aliens, absolutely aliens.
Also, Megumi might actually get to do something.

Admitidly I wrote that haven't not read this chapter. I hope Megumi kicks this american in the balls and face.

[deuterio12]

Darling in the Franxx new ep

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We're approaching max Tomino-level. Klaxossaur princess dead, 02 dead, seemingly all the klaxossaurs dead too and most of humanity dead ascended to a higher form of existence (well Amuro seemed to be enjoying his in Unicorn Gundam).

And wait, the Klaxossaurs themselves also gave up on their ability to reproduce, so how were they piloting their own bio-mecha? Also why did they even do that? In a state of constant war they would want to be multiplying their numbers as much as possible to keep up with losses. And they had millions of years to figure out a way to reproduce again in between. Did they all become emo "I'm strongest alone, others will only slow me down" edgelords and never recovered? While still keeping the two-pilot system?

Details aside still feels like quite a phyrric victory. Most of their machines were wrecked along their bases and with both red and blue oni princesses dead can they even pilot their extra-giant mecha anymore?

At least it seems like the 9s may be realizing papa isn't that good of a person.

[BWR]

So CCS:Clear Card Arc is over with a totally unsurprising enemy reveal and an unsatisfying end. The entire show was, my initial impression being right, a rather boring retread of the previous arc, saved only by Sakura being so darn cute and her brother being fun.

It seems I neglected to mention Cute High Earth Defense Club Happy Kiss so far in the thread. It's obvious the quality of the series is deteriorating but it's still enjoyable. At this rate of deterioration they probably have another season/series or two before I give up on it. It seems like the main thought in the writers' heads is "how can we make this gayer than last time?" I don't know if they've succeeded but it's a damn good attempt. The new cast took a bit longer to get much by the way of character, and the generally uninterested and lazy MC is mostly fun but doesn't quite work with the magical boy concept the same way Yumoto in Love! did.

As for anime that have made me cry, none that I can think of. Several have gotten me misty eyed and slightly choked, but no actual weeping occurred. Manly tears are the way to go. Most recently, Violet Evergarden had a goodly supply of onion ninjas in pretty much every episode. I know there are others but I can't recall them right now.

[deuterio12]

So CCS:Clear Card Arc is over with a totally unsurprising enemy reveal and an unsatisfying end. The entire show was, my initial impression being right, a rather boring retread of the previous arc, saved only by Sakura being so darn cute and her brother being fun.

Sakura was indeed pretty cute, but the Meiling trilogy was my favorite part.

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Gone from love rival to best sassy friend of the protagonist magical girl sharing girly secrets like cooking and synchronized kung-fu fighting.

Also you following the manga?

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Because it isn't over yet, the anime basically ended with the same events as the last released chapter.

Plus the manga explicitly confirms Syaoran's somehow been stealing syphong borrowing Sakura's old card magic. The anime ended up only hinting at that with a split moment of Windy's shape when fighting the fire bird and the floating ball thingies over his magic board.

So basically here's hoping Clear Card Arc will get a second season to properly conclude all the hanging plot lines.

[Doorhandle]

Darling in the Franxx new ep

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We're approaching max Tomino-level. Klaxossaur princess dead, 02 dead, seemingly all the klaxossaurs dead too and most of humanity dead ascended to a higher form of existence (well Amuro seemed to be enjoying his in Unicorn Gundam).

And wait, the Klaxossaurs themselves also gave up on their ability to reproduce, so how were they piloting their own bio-mecha? Also why did they even do that? In a state of constant war they would want to be multiplying their numbers as much as possible to keep up with losses. And they had millions of years to figure out a way to reproduce again in between. Did they all become emo "I'm strongest alone, others will only slow me down" edgelords and never recovered? While still keeping the two-pilot system?

Details aside still feels like quite a phyrric victory. Most of their machines were wrecked along their bases and with both red and blue oni princesses dead can they even pilot their extra-giant mecha anymore?

At least it seems like the 9s may be realizing papa isn't that good of a person.

Spoiler: Franxx

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You forgot all the people who are about...90% dead, in this ep or the next few.
Ikuno is either dead or wishes she was. Those poor nines eaten by VIRM are SUPER dead, and we only know alpha and his stamen is alive for sure right now (and 2 more nines-couples who are as yet unidentified.)
Mitsuru is struggling, so he's GOING TO die, but is not actually dead. Same with Futoshi; though he seems fine currently, an earlier episode was a bad omen.

Honestly I was going make an explanation along the lines of " "We're both part of the mech now, we can't leave it to breed", but judging by the Princess's comments at the very end of the episode, the "edgelord" explanation is probably correct. Which is A) kinda stupid of them and b) totally fair considering the entire theme of the show.

If TTGL has told me anything, it's that Hiro is probably going to be able to pilot by keeping the memory of Zero-Two alive in his head...
That or Zero isn't actually dead, which may be more likely as we still have 4 more episodes for her to die in. The most interesting option for me here is that she's finally become human...at the worst possible point.

edit: I'm thinking 9 alpha is going to go completely mad, and fight for papa's side to the bitter end...despite the fact that he's betrayed them.

As always, lots of spectacle and heartwarming, few answers.

It's kinda fun spectualting honestly. Normally I arrive in a series far too late to enjoy guessing what will happen next.

EDIT: Someone on crunchyroll speculated that Zero-two's mind is now stuck inside the franxx, hence "Darling In the Franxx." I will laugh so hard if that pun is canon.

[deuterio12]

Spoiler: Franxx

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You forgot all the people who are about...90% dead, in this ep or the next few.
Ikuno is either dead or wishes she was. Those poor nines eaten by VIRM are SUPER dead, and we only know alpha and his stamen is alive for sure right now (and 2 more nines-couples who are as yet unidentified.)
Mitsuru is struggling, so he's GOING TO die, but is not actually dead. Same with Futoshi; though he seems fine currently, an earlier episode was a bad omen.

Honestly I was going make an explanation along the lines of " "We're both part of the mech now, we can't leave it to breed", but judging by the Princess's comments at the very end of the episode, the "edgelord" explanation is probably correct. Which is A) kinda stupid of them and b) totally fair considering the entire theme of the show.

If TTGL has told me anything, it's that Hiro is probably going to be able to pilot by keeping the memory of Zero-Two alive in his head...
That or Zero isn't actually dead, which may be more likely as we still have 4 more episodes for her to die in. The most interesting option for me here is that she's finally become human...at the worst possible point.

As always lots of spectacle and heartwarming, few answers.

It's kinda fun spectualting honestly. Normally I arrive in a series far too late to enjoy guessing what will happen next.

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Yeah, most parasites dead or mind broken. Somebody will need to throw a rallying hotblooded speech or two.

Hmm, 02 was saying that she'll always be with him and we see her ghost self floating over him. So maybe her mind fully fused with him or the mecha itself?

[Doorhandle]

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Yeah, most parasites dead or mind broken. Somebody will need to throw a rallying hotblooded speech or two.

Hmm, 02 was saying that she'll always be with him and we see her ghost self floating over him. So maybe her mind fully fused with him or the mecha itself?

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Either-or.

Also, we missed a death: Dr. Franxx himself got smushed by rocks, and was well on the way to bleeding out.
Godspeed you nutty lovesick otherkin scientist.

[deuterio12]

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Either-or.

Also, we missed a death: Dr. Franxx himself got smushed by rocks, and was well on the way to bleeding out.
Godspeed you nutty lovesick otherkin scientist.

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Bleeding out after offering his mechanical arm as offering to open the klaxossaur door.

And he still got to see his greatest creation work out, so a pretty metal way to go.

Also gotta admire how the nutty lovesick otherkin scientist basically went "Yeah I have no idea if this plan will work or not but kinda out of ideas. so let's just roll with it"

[LaZodiac]

So CCS:Clear Card Arc is over with a totally unsurprising enemy reveal and an unsatisfying end. The entire show was, my initial impression being right, a rather boring retread of the previous arc, saved only by Sakura being so darn cute and her brother being fun.

I'm not saying you're wrong, and I haven't seen the next episode so maybe it'll surprise me, but I will say that I do not understand this thought at all? This was super exciting, and I felt it had some great twists and turns. It was more focused on world building, yeah, but that's something this series needed and also the monsters were pretty active in trying to kill Sakura which is way more than we can say for the original series.

Also if you haven't sat through the 12+ episodes of Eriol testing Sakura, each of which is literally identical in every way except the actual magic he's employing to test her, you do not know what tedium is. It's literally some of the laziest, cookie cutter episodes I've ever seen. Not one episode of Clear Card has come off that way to me, and for that alone it's an enjoyable experience.

[deuterio12]

I'm not saying you're wrong, and I haven't seen the next episode so maybe it'll surprise me, but I will say that I do not understand this thought at all? This was super exciting, and I felt it had some great twists and turns. It was more focused on world building, yeah, but that's something this series needed and also the monsters were pretty active in trying to kill Sakura which is way more than we can say for the original series.

I would say the exact opposite, pretty much all the new cards have been considerably tamer:

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Windy vs Gale- Ok, old one submitted right away while new one actually tried to attack Sakura, but still meekly enough enough that the card captor wins with just her staff.

Fly vs Flight-Old one was a giant angry bird that almost crushed Sakura, the new one was just really timid.

Fight vs Rumble-Old one beat the crap out of Meiling and Syaoran then Sakura had to power herself up to win, new one gets the crap beaten out of her by two teen girls, one of which never done martial arts before.

Mirror vs Mirror-Old one tried to drag Sakura's reputation into the mud and almost killed her brother, new one just stood there waiting to be captured.

Siege-Beaten by a simple needle.

Watery vs Spiral-Both tried to drown Sakura, draw.

Illusion vs Mirage-Old one tries to drag Sakura off a cliff by taking the shape of her dead mother, the new one turned Meiling into a nekomimi.

Maze vs Labyrinth-Old one locked Sakura and demanded outside help to beat, new one just had to be whacked with staff.

Sleep vs Snooze-Old one had Sakura break her father's laptop, new one didn't do any significant damage.

Firey vs Blaze-New one tried to set fire to Sakura, but old one was about to burn a big segment of the city down to the ground.

Earthy vs Earthquake thingy-Old one rampaged accross the whole city, new one just accross Tomoyo's home.

Create vs cake thingy-New one spawns an angry sweet, dangerous enough, but the old one CREATED A GIANT DRAGON that almost barbecued Sakura and she only survives by blind lucky.

Hail vs Snow/Ice-New one just makes bad weather at school, old Snow covered the whole city and made a giant killer snowstorm while Ice was a bloodthirsty beast freezing everybody in its path.

Then there were cards like the Sword almost turning one of Sakura's friends into a cold blooded killer, Mist melting everything in its path, Sand trying to burrow people into a vortex (luckily Sakura can fly) and Erase wiping out people one by one.

Not to mention it was somewhat annoying how Sakura seems to have gone back to being a noob for most of the Clear Card Arc like she was at the start of the original series.

[BWR]

What bugs me most about CCS:CCA is that yet again Sakura has to capture the cards. OK, so it wouldn't be the Cardcaptor if she had them and used them, but it would be fun to see challenges that require her to intelligently use all her cards from the get go and develop her magical powers, rather than having her start from scratch again and again. At least there is some permanent development among the characters. The aforementioned Meilin bit was pretty good.

Another series that ended recently was Fist of the Blue sky: Regenesis. I had intended to give it a miss but ended up watching it because I'm a sucker for that series. Sometimes I even managed to forget the terrible CG. Much though I like the original FotNS, FotBS does have a better plot and Kasumi Kenshiro does have more depth and variety to him than Kenshiro. Part two is slated for the Fall season, IIRC, so yay.

[deuterio12]

Yeah, it would've been great if Sakura was using her old deck to face some greater new challenge since it turns out there's other powerful magicians out there besides Clow Reed (in particular since clock butler keeps spamming time magic which is supposed to be really high tier stuff that drained Syaoran and Sakura hard whenever they used it).

But what irks me more than the reset is that most of the cards are supposed to be sentient beings, in particular ones like the original Mirror, and Sakura had developed deep bonds with all them. She cared for her cards... And after a couple of episodes of Clear Card Arc Sakura barely spends a thought for her old cards while drooling all over the new ones. We don't see her making any real effort to try to figure out what's wrong with them or how to bring them back.

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And then Syaoran is able to to channel their magic but keeps it a complete secret from Sakura because...

Well still nice to see Syaoran going ZA WARUDO!

[LaZodiac]

I would say the exact opposite, pretty much all the new cards have been considerably tamer:

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Windy vs Gale- Ok, old one submitted right away while new one actually tried to attack Sakura, but still meekly enough enough that the card captor wins with just her staff.

Fly vs Flight-Old one was a giant angry bird that almost crushed Sakura, the new one was just really timid.

Fight vs Rumble-Old one beat the crap out of Meiling and Syaoran then Sakura had to power herself up to win, new one gets the crap beaten out of her by two teen girls, one of which never done martial arts before.

Mirror vs Mirror-Old one tried to drag Sakura's reputation into the mud and almost killed her brother, new one just stood there waiting to be captured.

Siege-Beaten by a simple needle.

Watery vs Spiral-Both tried to drown Sakura, draw.

Illusion vs Mirage-Old one tries to drag Sakura off a cliff by taking the shape of her dead mother, the new one turned Meiling into a nekomimi.

Maze vs Labyrinth-Old one locked Sakura and demanded outside help to beat, new one just had to be whacked with staff.

Sleep vs Snooze-Old one had Sakura break her father's laptop, new one didn't do any significant damage.

Firey vs Blaze-New one tried to set fire to Sakura, but old one was about to burn a big segment of the city down to the ground.

Earthy vs Earthquake thingy-Old one rampaged accross the whole city, new one just accross Tomoyo's home.

Create vs cake thingy-New one spawns an angry sweet, dangerous enough, but the old one CREATED A GIANT DRAGON that almost barbecued Sakura and she only survives by blind lucky.

Hail vs Snow/Ice-New one just makes bad weather at school, old Snow covered the whole city and made a giant killer snowstorm while Ice was a bloodthirsty beast freezing everybody in its path.

Then there were cards like the Sword almost turning one of Sakura's friends into a cold blooded killer, Mist melting everything in its path, Sand trying to burrow people into a vortex (luckily Sakura can fly) and Erase wiping out people one by one.

Not to mention it was somewhat annoying how Sakura seems to have gone back to being a noob for most of the Clear Card Arc like she was at the start of the original series.

I'd contest some of these, but I am tired. It FEELS deadlier, since unlike the Clow Cards these aren't a TEST being pulled on her by a rude wizard *******, this is someone actually trying to attack her, for the most part.

I don't...understand how you could say she's back to a noob? She uses multiple cards at once, rather inventively, and does some slick secret usage (like that time she did a bow to 'swing' her staff to cast) and she's shown she's capable of casting WITHOUT doing the swing if she needs to.

Yeah, it would've been great if Sakura was using her old deck to face some greater new challenge since it turns out there's other powerful magicians out there besides Clow Reed (in particular since clock butler keeps spamming time magic which is supposed to be really high tier stuff that drained Syaoran and Sakura hard whenever they used it).

But what irks me more than the reset is that most of the cards are supposed to be sentient beings, in particular ones like the original Mirror, and Sakura had developed deep bonds with all them. She cared for her cards... And after a couple of episodes of Clear Card Arc Sakura barely spends a thought for her old cards while drooling all over the new ones. We don't see her making any real effort to try to figure out what's wrong with them or how to bring them back.

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And then Syaoran is able to to channel their magic but keeps it a complete secret from Sakura because...

Well still nice to see Syaoran going ZA WARUDO!

I don't see that at all. She's not drooling over any of them except maybe Record and Flight, which are unique for the most part. She still misses her cards, but there's nothing she can do. No use worrying about it 24/7.

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I'd have to imagine Li isn't telling Sakura for a multitude of good reasons. For one, it sort of implicates him in stealing them? It also is PROBABLY KILLING HIM given how worn out he gets after using them. That'd concern her.

[deuterio12]

I'd contest some of these, but I am tired. It FEELS deadlier, since unlike the Clow Cards these aren't a TEST being pulled on her by a rude wizard *******, this is someone actually trying to attack her, for the most part.

What?

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First, the cards are being spawned by Sakura's feelings herself. Syaoran says as much, she's so powerful she's just making them in the fly without noticing it based on whatever's in her mind at the moment.

Second, clock butler explicitly says he actually wants her to make even more cards, which implies that he needs Sakura alive and in good health.

Plus, there's the bit where Yue never lifted a finger to help Sakura despite he having a vast array of magic abilities and supposedly being one of her guardians. If Sakura was in greater danger than ever before, don't you think he would be tailing her all over the place and jumping in for support?

I don't...understand how you could say she's back to a noob? She uses multiple cards at once, rather inventively, and does some slick secret usage (like that time she did a bow to 'swing' her staff to cast) and she's shown she's capable of casting WITHOUT doing the swing if she needs to.

She gets better again later on yes, but in episodes like Mirage poor Sakura just panics. Against the new fighting girl she doesn't even remember to use any cards. She struggles with controling Flight when she's supposed to be a seasoned flier and forgets she can fly at all against the thing reversing one.

Then she also gets gravity, a fundamental force with insane potential... And uses it only as a glorified Jump for all but one episode.

I don't see that at all. She's not drooling over any of them except maybe Record and Flight, which are unique for the most part. She still misses her cards, but there's nothing she can do. No use worrying about it 24/7.

She could check them now and then at least. Sakura has time to talk to her dead mother's picture at every chance, could spare some words for her dear deck now and then.

Instead between the 2nd movie and Clear Card Arc she just kept them stuffed in the book and never even checked on them until getting a dream about it.

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I'd have to imagine Li isn't telling Sakura for a multitude of good reasons. For one, it sort of implicates him in stealing them? It also is PROBABLY KILLING HIM given how worn out he gets after using them. That'd concern her.

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Well concern is a good justification since Sakura's creating new cards out of whatever she's feeling at the moment so Syaoran would want to evade telling anything that would worry her.

[Eldariel]

Spoiler: Boku no Hero Academia manga

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So is it just me or are the characters that have been occurring as villains and such way more powerful than all the billboard heroes? Overhaul for example makes the whole list look like chumps and Shigaraki and Kuroroki and AFO of course and so on...all the villains that Midoriya has been engaged with lately seem to totally walk over such weaklings. The heroes being showcased right now look cool but like...Shigaraki would simply one-shot the Nomu for example. Same with all the heroes-in-training; Lemillion, Todoroki, even Bakugo show way more power than all the heroes we're seeing with very run-of-the-mill power and no way to challenge any of the villains that are actually occurring in this show. To say nothing of Eri. I wonder if it's intentional? The current Endeavor arc probably ends with Endeavor getting surprise help for cooling down and being able to barely take out the Nomu but even so, it feels like he's actually a "power hero" rather than "popularity hero" and regardless completely outclassed by an opponent All-Might handily defeated. And one that basically all the spotlight characters that are not billboard heroes. It feels like creator power creep or something; they have to keep challenging Midoriya & al. with truly dangerous-seeming enemies so they keep creating even more ridiculous quirks and make the actual "big heroes of the world" seem like nobodies.