TV, Movies, & Anime Thoughts

Rating: ★★★★☆
Genre: Action, comedy, scifi, supernatural, shounen
Date Watched: Fall 2024
Length: 12 episodes

Thoughts: Maybe a controversial rating to not rate it five stars? I feel like this is a beloved show. And don't get me wrong, I surprisingly enjoyed it. I don't watch much shounen nowadays, and I also don't love shows that are super action heavy. However!!!! This show just reeled me in. I reeeeeeeeally liked the animation. It was so interesting and unique and I especially love the way that they drew/animated the faces. They just look so crisp and clear and I love it. Momo and Okarun are also just SUCH great characters. I love them and their friendship/relationship SO MUCH.

With this one, at one point I actually went and read a bunch of the manga just so I could know what happened LOL. I basically finished the current arc where the anime leaves off at the end of the season. Tbh I'm surprised they just stopped in the middle of an arc, but I guess it'll get pepople to watch the next one lol. At this point though I think I'm just reading/watching for the romance between Momo and Okarun and less for the action. I don't really find the humor to be to my taste too, and my god did I really hate Aira. I hope that things chill out with her and she and Momo become friends? Because as it is right now, I just find her really grating. Jiji is also a bit annoying, so... lol. I like him better in the manga though than the anime, but it could just be that his jokes and overbearing personality are just... less annoying in the manga.

Anyway! And of course, ugh I forgot what episode it was in the middle of the season... episode 7 or something? That was a huge fucking gut punch. I sobbed so hard. Definitely a highlight of the whole season. I really hope there are more moments like that in the future! I plan to keep reading the manga, but probably very sporadically. I'll definitely be watching season 2.

Rating: ★★★★★
Genre: Iyashikei, slice of life, fishing
Date Watched: Fall 2024
Length: 12 episodes

Thoughts: SO MUCH LOVE!!!! This was such a wonderful show and I cried several times throughout the season. I've had depression for more than half my life at this point, so I related to Hiro maybe a bit too much at times. But that's what made it so emotional and heartwarming for me. Seeing how low he starts off at the beginning of the season, and then watching him slowly take an interest in something and actually make friends and start to feel comfortable around other people? Ugh, my heart strings. I thought it was really nice that he gradually changed throughout the season - it's not like he met Takaaki, started fishing, and then his life was automatically better in two episodes. I think the only thing that slightly disappointed me was the ending. It felt a little bit rushed but also so bittersweet. I wanted him to keep living with Takaaki forever, or at least make plans to move back in with him after treatment. But the ending does make sense for the show and character, and I'm glad that we at least got to "see" him meet up with Takaaki and Hana at the very end.

Oh, another thing I liked throughout the series were the side characters. I really liked learning about them and I liked that they felt random. In a sense that they weren't all the same age - they seemed like they were just a collection of random people who happened to come together because they liked fishing. So I liked seeing them and learning more about their backstories. Machida was probably my least favorite, but even then he had such a nice side story with his son that felt so heartwarming to watch.

In terms of the visuals and whatnot, I really liked the art style. So much that it makes me want to draw some of the characters! I like that it felt like all the characters were very distinct. Hana's eyes and hair were completely different than Hiro's or Takaaki's, and I really liked that the characters were so unique looking.

It looks like this was an original series? I don't see any indication on Anilist that there's a manga or light novel, so that's kinda sad. I mean, it's cool that they made something like this! But I wish there was more. Anyway! I'll probably rewatch this again. It felt very peaceful and healing and that's exactly my jam.

Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★
Genre: Animation, action, sci-fantasy
Date Watched: December 4, 2024
Length: 1 hour 44 minutes

Thoughts: I had this one on my watchlist for soooooo long and I finally got around to watching it last night. I loved it so much!!! It was so cute, the art style was incredible, the character design was interesting, the music was fun, the story was great, etc. etc. etc. it was Perfect Perfect Perfect!! And I definitely cried for the entire last like 15 minutes of the movie LOL. Nimona is such a fun character, and I loved Ballister too. They make such a fun pair, and it was really heartwarming to see Ballister change little by little throughout the movie. Nimona's backstory broke me, especially since it happened right after Ballister and her had a falling out. Ugh I related to Nimona so much in just feeling an intense sense of loneliness and isolation, and feeling like no matter how much you try you'll never fit in. Found family type stories always make me weep because of how much I just want that for myself. Anyway! 10000 trillion stars out of 5 lol. Will definitely rewatch this.

Rating: ★★★★☆
Genre: Holiday, comedy, m/f romance
Date Watched: December 2, 2024 (rewatch)
Length: 1 hour 44 minutes

Thoughts: I watched this one last year and decided I wanted to rewatch it again this year. I really enjoy this one! There are quite a few moments that genuinely make me laugh out loud, and a couple that make me cry. It's not strictly a Christmas movie, but it starts and ends at Christmas and also encompasses a bunch of holidays throughout the year. Hmm not sure I really have enough fully formed thoughts to express this idea, but overall the movie just feels very typically heteronormative/straight? I mean, pretty much all the other ones I've written about do too except for Christmas on Cherry Lane, but this one just felt more in your face to me for some reason. I think it's probably because the two love interests often point out things that men/women typically do and how they behave. Either way though, not really a deal-breaker or anything for me. It's just something I noticed more upon rewatch. I'm most likely going to watch it again next year because I genuinely enjoy this movie.

Rating: ★★✭☆☆
Genre: Holiday, m/f romance
Date Watched: December 1, 2024
Length: 1 hour 32 minutes

Thoughts: lmao well... this one was A Time. Pitch Meetings actually did one for this, and it's what got me to give it a try because it seemed so ridiculous. It was very silly and I could see a lot of people having a good time with this. It wasn't really my cup of tea, but it was still entertaining. It was nice to see Boyle and Doug Judy together lol. Anyway! As for the story.... meh. The romance? meh. The main thing that made me emotional was Kathy grieving over her husband, and also this moment where Jack was telling her that he didn't want to hurt her because he didn't know how much time he had left and didn't want her to deal with losing someone else again. Ugh that was a big gut punch lol. The rest of the movie was very silly. Tbh Doug Judy stressed me out a little bit which also knocked some points off, but I know that's a me problem. I don't do well with annoying but also extremely obvlivious characters (reminds me too much of my childhood tbh T_T). He did redeem himself by the end though, so at least he wasn't all bad. It was also cool seeing Boyle play a different type of character. I've only seen him in Brooklyn 99 so it was fun to see him be similar, yet a little different lol. Anyway! Probably won't watch again, but tbh I think it's worth at least one watchthrough just to see how ridiculous it is lol.

Rating: ★★★★☆
Genre: Holiday
Date Watched: December 1, 2024
Length: 1 hour 30 minutes

Thoughts: This one was really cute. It follows around 3 different couples who all live on Cherry Lane, and their Christmas troubles. Um... so reading the synopsis, I definitely didn't "get" that each family we follow is happening during a different time period. Well, more like one family it's very obvious because they mention the president at the time, but the other two didn't feel that obvious. Either way, I definitely cried a couple times during this one. Each story just feels really heartwarming and I love how the conflicts within each family story were resolved, and I really like that we follow already established couples for two of the families, and with one of them it's more focused on parent child/sibling relationship stuff and grief. Would probably watch again next Christmas.

Rating: ★★★★☆
Genre: Holiday, m/w romance
Date Watched: November 30, 2024
Length: 1 hour 45 minutes

Thoughts: Finally, a good holiday movie! Honestly this would have been rated a little higher if I didn't feel like it was one big Pentatonix advertisement lol. That being said, the soundtrack was very good and extremely festive. But yeah! Man, I really enjoyed the premise, I liked the acting, and the main love interests actually had chemistry. They had me kicking my feet when they got together. Honestly I don't really have many thoughts other than those lol. I had a really great time watching this and would happily watch this again.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Genre: Holiday
Date Watched: November 30, 2024
Length: 1 hour 22 minutes

Thoughts: Another mediocre Christmas film, woo! This one was a bit hard to watch because the main character, Charlotte, is so unbearable for most of it. She spends more than half the movie being jealous and extremely shitty to her family and to Jackie and her husband. There are parts that resonate - being so obsessed with this perfect version of the people that you know and feeling insanely jealous of them and feeling like your own life is sad or shitty because of it. I was literally doing that to myself this morning lmao. The movie loses me when she starts snooping and it's sort of played off as her thinking there's something going on between her husband and Jackie instead of her looking for "proof" that Jackie isn't perfect. Instead of you know, just talking to her huskband and/or to Jackie >__>

I think also I'm maybe not a fan of this actress, Heather Graham? At least not in this movie - I haven't really seen much of the stuff she's been in. Lmao apparently she was in Austin Powers and I definitely remember her character, so that's great lol. I guess she's in The Hangover also, but I honestly don't remember that movie at all. ANYWAY lol, the main reason I didn't like her is because she looks like she's smiling ever so slightly all the time? So there were a couple times when she was being genuine and I found it incredibly hard to tell because she just... didn't look or sound sincere? Mainly I'm thinking of this moment where she apologized to Jackie.

Lmao that all being said, I did cry when Jackie talked about losing her son. Tbh I think the movie would have been more enjoyable if it was from Jackie's perspective. They could still keep the light-hearted aspect by making Jackie and her husband fuck with Charlotte since they know Charlotte has been snooping through their house the entire time.

Anyway, as far as movies go, it's definitely better than Haul out the Holly, but I won't be watching this again most likely.

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Genre: Scifi, dystopian
Date watched: November 28, 2024
Length: 1 hour 22 minutes

Thoughts: Tbh I'm glad that I saw a bunch of videos of people's thoughts and stuff on tiktok about this film when it first came out. I feel like it gave me a pretty realistic way of looking at it, and stuff to think about as I was watching it. One caveat too is that I've never read the books so I have no idea how it compares to those. Though it did confirm something for me - that I'm not totally imagining this feeling I get when I watch a lot of adapted materials. Which is feeling like the pacing is completely off and that everything feels weirdly simplified. Complex topics are dumbed down to a couple lines of dialogue. It feels like the characters and the world don't have room to breathe and everything just keeps happening one after the other because the director and writers (I assume) feel like they need to hit XYZ plot points so they speed through everything to make sure they're getting everything.... Anyway, that's how I felt here lol. I always thought I felt this way because I knew what was supposed to happen and that any adaptation would feel shitty in comparison. But yeah... I think it's just adaptatations that really suck nowadays (minus Dune. I'm obsessed with those movies. And Twilight, and LOTR (minus Faramir's character assassination!!)).

Okay that all being said lol, I didn't mind it overall! I had a major crush on Shay throughout (well before she got her Pretty surgery anyway lol), and tbh I thought she and Tally had more chemistry than Tally had with anyone else >__> But that's not the main point lol... Overall, the topic felt very fitting and like most dystopian novels I think it reflects a lot of the uglier (hehe) aspects of our society. I know a lot of people critiqued it saying "why did they choose attractive actors to play the uglies?" but I feel like that's the entire point. We have so many celebrities and people in general who are perfectly gorgeous the way they are, but there's so much messaging out there telling us that we're ugly, hideous creatures who need to be perfect at all times. So people get plastic surgery and botox and filler and starve themselves, go on dagnerous diets, or take ozempic and all of that just to feel attractive. And then the cycle repeats itself because there will always be a new flaw, a new thing to "fix," especially as we age. Everything felt a little on the nose and I kind of wish that they were a bit more subtle with some of the messaging, but oh well.

All in all though I thought that the concept was interesting and the execution was a bit meh. I'd definitely watch the sequel though if they come out with more.

Rating: ★✭☆☆☆
Genre: Holiday, m/w romance
Date watched: November 27, 2024
Length: 1 hour 24 minutes

Thoughts: It's the time of year for shitty Christmas movies! I've been watching a few for the last couple weeks but this is the first one I'm going to talk about on here. Man, this was basically an hour and a half but it felt like it lasted forever. The entire movie felt really weird and I kept wondering if maybe there was some magical element to it with how bizarre everyone was acting (there wasn't). The romance also just felt off as well. I felt more chemistry between the main characters when they were kids versus how they acted as adults. I was surprised when the main character (I literally cannot remember any names now) at the end was like "kiss me!" because up until that point I didn't see any romantic tension at all. Like yeah there were a couple moments when the male lead was hinting at liking her, but I didn't get the sense that she cared or liked him as more than a friend. So... yeah. I also felt like her "transition" from someone who felt indifferent/a little bitter about Christmas to somehow finding the Christmas spirit wasn't done well either. More like I think I just wanted to see a more drastic change in how she felt about Christmas. She went from being somewhat annoyed by it, but still doing Christmasy things out of an obligation to her parents, to having fun. Anyway... it's a Hallmark movie so I don't expect high quality lol. I just kinda wish it was more enjoyable. Definitely won't watch again next Christmas.

Rating: ★★★★☆
Genre: Reality, Feel good
Date Watched: December 2024
Length: 10 episodes

Thoughts: As usual, there were many tears to be had at almost every episode. It was weird not having Bobby there - he had become my favorite of the fab 5 and I especially liked him a lot in later seasons. That being said, I do think that Jeremiah seems to mesh well with the rest of the cast. And I really liked how much he cried and how emotional he got over some of the makeovers, because that would be me as well lol. I cry a lot and very easily, and it was just nice seeing Jeremiah affected by what he does for people. His interior design sense is.... a bit questionable though, LOL. I think his style is hit or miss for me - some aspects look a bit dated to me, and other aspects feel fine. He seems to have a penchant for very rounded sofas and love seats, so that's something lol.

One thing that bothered me a lot during this season was the amount of advertising. It felt so much more heavy handed than it's felt in the past, and I hated it. The episode with Billy was particularly egregious with the very obvious Ebay ad. Microsoft was another obvious sponsor of the show, and Amazon at one point (I think in Sara's makeover? I can't remember which one). On one hand I get it, the show probably costs a shitload of money especially with house makeovers and shit. But on the other hand, I really fucking hate being advertised to.

ANYWAY lol. I think my favorite people that they helped were Nicole, Clyde, and Jen'ya. Though of course all of the episodes were touching and inspiring in one way or another. Sean had such a huge physical transformation that was really great to see. He really lost like 20 years on his appearance lolol. But yeah, Clyde was a really interesting one. He's living my ideal living situation - basically someday I just want to be able to live with friends and a future partner in one house and have that be normal. Anyway... all the episodes featuring mothers really hit me right in the feels. They all overcame so much to get to where they are and to see the fab 5 come in and truly help them (especially in more tangible ways, like giving Sara a car or giving Jen'ya money) was sooo fucking moving.

Rating: ★★★★★
Genre: Cooking, competition
Date Watched: Finished December 7, 2024
Length: 10 episodes

Thoughts: Another lovely season! I really liked this group overall, but my absolute favorites were Nelly, Mike, and Georgie. I really liked how the semi-finals seemed like such high stakes because everyone did so well, and I thought that the finalists all deserved to be there. Honestly I was really happy when Gill didn't move forward. I felt like she was a consistent baker, but never really pushed the envelope or did anything that felt really interesting or unique. For the first couple of weeks I kept forgetting that she was there. I felt so bad for Dylan during the finals. He was such a consistent baker and always had such interesting bakes, but it seemed like he just couldn't really keep it together. Overall a great season, and one I'll probably rewatch very soon even though it just ended lol.