43. Whisper of the Heart
Rewatch. The story of Tsukishima Shizuku, a 14
year old Japanese school girl who meets Amasawa Seiji, a boy her age. who
challenges her creatively, as they grow closer to each other. This is a rather
good film, showing the trials and tribulations everyone goes through as they
try to find their passion. Shizuku’s growth is shown consistently throughout
the film. 9/10.
Wedding Trouble – Conclusion
Leeville
In the meantime, Helen had continued to drink. “Honey,
maybe we ought to think about getting back,” Jake said.
“No, my little party's just beginning,” Helen objected.
“Waiter!”
“Here, I'll get you some coffee and wedding cake,” Jake
said trying to defuse the situation.
“Oh, Rita would love that, seeing me balloon up right in
front of her.”
“Helen, um, you're being kind of loud.”
“Oh, no! We don't want a scene do we? We
don't want to spoil the lovely wedding that lovely mother spent
so much lovely money on.”
Paul arrived at the table at that moment. “Is everything
okay here?” he asked.
“Well, you're right about one thing; she sure knows how
to pick'em!” Helen said in her intoxicated state.
“Hey!” Paul cried out.
“Keep it down!” Jake cried out.
“Wanna make me?” Paul asked.
Rita and Erin then arrived. “What's going on? Helen?”
Rita asked, shocked at the scene.
Erin was even more shocked. “Oh, you know perfectly well
what's going on, Mother. Your pathetic boyfriend is making a scene!”
“What do you mean, pathetic?” Paul asked.
“Look in the mirror, pal!” Jake answered, his voice
rising.
Helen stood, swaying. “I just want to say one thing,
Rita. You may be the pretty one, you may be the one Mom loves, but I worked my
damn butt off!”
Erin didn't like this at all! “Aunt Helen! Please!”
Brian then arrived at the table...
“What's going on? No cat fights, ladies!” he said.
“Shut the hell up, you prehistoric imbicile!” Rita called
out.
Amy and Daria looked at the increasing fracas with
increasing worry. “Things are getting ugly. I suggest we make a hasty but
unobtrusive exit,” Amy suggested.
“I agree!” Daria said. She was angry at the
situation, but she didn't want to get involved.
“Let's go find a place that serves cheese fries. You eat,
I'll watch.”
Daria turned to Luhrman. “I'm taking off.”
“Oh, sure, leave me to the dogs,” Luhrman said, his
monotone unaffected.
“You can come if you want,” Daria offerred.
“No, I prefer to sit here and watch the carnage unfold.
It's been fun, though,” Luhrman said. He offered his hand to Daria.
Daria shook it. “Yeah,” she said.
As they began to walk out, they heard Quinn call out.
“Wait!” They turned and saw Quinn running up to them. “Don't leave me here!”
“What about Garrett?” Daria asked.
“He can look after himself,” Quinn said defensively. “He
knocked out that creepy minister when he started to hit on Daphne.”
“I see,” Daria said.
“Follow me,” Amy said as Daria and Quinn followed her.
“Don't look to the left or the right. There's nothing you can do for these
people now.”
They drove around Leville, looking for a place to eat.
“What would be a good place?” Amy asked her neices.
“A fast food place,” Quinn answered.
“Probably not,” Daria objected.
“Maybe a place that sells fast food, but not as their
primary business, like an arcade!” Quinn said.
“Quinn, I'm not in the mood for your gamer persona,”
Daria said.
“Persona!” Quinn objected.
“Yes. Persona, as in not your true self!” Daria said.
“What a lot of mumbo jumbo!” Quinn objected.
“Stop!” Amy said.
“What?” Quinn asked.
“You're sounding like your Mom and Rita at your age,” Amy
explained. She paused. “I had enough of it then.”
“So, they fought from their tween years?” Quinn asked.
“If you mean, 'pre-teen', yes,” Amy answered. She glanced
at Daria who was still seething. “Although Helen didn't get quite that angry.”
“I see,” Daria said.
Amy waited a few seconds before asking the question
again. “A bowling alley,” Quinn answered.
“Daria?” Amy asked.
“That would do.”
Ten minutes later, they found the bowling alley.
“Amy, is life always tawdry, stupid, and humiliating, or
is it just a phase?” Daria asked.
“Oh, Daria!” Quinn said with exhasperation.
“A phase that I'm expected to grow out of any time now,”
Amy answered. She noted Quinn's response, but decided that she hadn't hit that
phase yet. 'Or if she has, she's either hiding it really well, or has friends
who help her see the good stuff,' she thought. She remembered that Rita had had
plenty of friends back in high school, but she still had her down moments.
“Um, sure,” Quinn said, uncertain.
As they entered, they saw that Brian had beat them there.
He was sitting there watching tv. “One three-time hubby is not enough for
this red hot mammal. The polygamous hippopotamus, when Sick Sad World
returns.”
“I'm not going back there. I don't care who sent you.”
“Does he look familiar to you?” Amy asked.
“I think I saw him on America's Least Wanted,”
Daria said.
Quinn giggled in response to Daria's statement.
Soon they sat at a table. “I suppose you want to ask me
what your mother was like as a child,” Amy said.
“You already gave some hints,” Quinn pointed out.
“True,” Amy said.
“Okay, what else?” Daria asked.
“A tightly wound pain in the ass,” Amy answered.
“That's still true!” Quinn said with a slightly subdued
giggle.
“Tell me more,” Amy encouraged.
“No, we need a new topic,” Daria said with irritation.
“I'm curious,” Amy said.
“Earlier this year, she tried to introduce ridiculous
rules, and put us through a 'Family Court'!” Quinn elaborated.
“That...” Amy began with disbelief.
“Very annoying...” Daria began. She paused. “Like a
certain sister...”
“Dar-i-a! Amy would like to know!”
“We'll talk about something else, later. At the moment,
Quinn. I'd like to know more,”
“It started after Daria and I arrived home late,” Quinn
began.
Back at the reception. Daphne was trying to soothe,
Garret's wounds, both to his body, and to his ego.
“I don't know what happened. One minute I had him, and
then...”
“Shush, Garrett,” Daphne said. “It's very sweet, sticking
up for me.”
“Yes...” He stopped, in pain.
'He's cute,' Daphne thought.
Out on the golf course, despite the fact that it was
night, someone was there. “Sir, wouldn't this be more enjoyable in the day
time?” a caddy asked.
Jake was enjoying himself plenty, focusing on the game,
trying not the worry about his wife causing a scene with her family. “Don't
talk son. You're shaking the light,” he said to the caddy.
The Spy Humongous
The sixth episode of the second season. Cerritos
arrives at the Pakled homeworld, called Pakled Planet, to negotiate a cease fire.
The Pakleds send an envoy (in actuality a spy) on board while Freeman and Shax are
on the surface. Meanwhile Boimler hangs out with a group of junior officers
called ‘The Red Shirts’ while Tendi and the others clean up anomalous junk. The
shenanigans on the surface are done well, showing that the Pakleds really are
that dumb. (Duh!) The way the situation with the envoy/spy was dealt with was
excellent.
But something happens to Tendi in the course of
her duties. The way Boimler deals with that situation was appropriately
comedic, and well done. The way he grows
as a result of the interaction with the ‘Red Shirts’ was quite well done too.
Overall it was a great episode. 8.35/10.
42. The Ant Bully
Rewatch. The story of a bullied boy who spends
time in an Ant colony. Lucus Nickle finds himself in over his head after an Ant
shaman/wizard shrinks him with a potion. Now he must learn how to be a
productive part of the ant colony and somehow call off an exterminator he had
hired… Overall it was a good story. 7.95/10.
Part 2
Later in the afternoon, the 'Esteem-a-Teen' 'course' had
started. Alex sat there, bored out of her skull as Mr. O'Neill droned on.
“Esteem... a teen. They don't really rhyme, do they? The
sounds don't quite mesh. And that, in fact, is often the case when it comes to
a teen and esteem. The two just don't seem to go together. But we are here to
begin realizing your actuality...”
'Exactly the same,' Alex thought.
However, the girl in front of her, whom she recognised
from the previous morning, put up her hand; “Excuse me. I have a question.”
“I want to know what 'realizing your actuality' means.”
“It means... look, just let me get through this part,
okay? Then there'll be a video!”
Alex looked around. Everyone else had ignored her.
(Except for the artist girl, but she was on the other side of the room.) So she
leaned forward. “He doesn't know what he is saying. It's all a script.”
“Then how am I supposed to follow him?” the other girl
asked in a monotone.
“I have notes, somewhere. I have taken this course six
times.”
After the class, Alex and her new acquaintance, Daria,
heard the artist girl, call out, “Wait!”
Alex and Daria turned, and waited as the artistic girl effortlessly
jogged up to them. “Yeah?” Alex asked.
“I also have notes. I know where they are,” she said.
“Sure...” Alex said.
The other girl extended her hand and said. “Jane Lane.”
Daria shook her hand. “Let's go and discuss our
situation,” she said.
Soon, they were walking through Lawndale towards Jane's
house.
“...So, then, after the role-playing, next class they put
the girls and the guys in separate rooms and a female counsellor talks to us
about body image,” Jane said.
“Like, totally unnecessary,” Alex put in.
Daria glanced at Alex and her slightly pudgy figure. She
couldn't tell if she was being facetious. “What do they talk to the boys
about?” she asked.
All three paused. “Nocturnal emissions.”
“Uh!” Alex said as she shuddered,
“I don't get it, you both have the course memorised. Why
not just pass the test?” Daria asked.
“I could pass the test, but I like having low
self-esteem. It makes me feel special,” Jane said.
“Gives me an excuse to have a lazy afternoon,” Alex said
quietly.
They then remained silent until they reached Jane's
house.
After dealing with a foreclosure attempt on the Lane's
property (solved by Jane finding a stash of signed cheques in one of the
not-so-empty rooms of her wandering siblings), the trio settled in Jane's room
to skim over Jane's notes.
After that Alex headed home. Even with the extra time
spent walking to Jane's house and then home (with the former further away from
the school than the latter) and the time spent at the former, she got home
before her mother did. She used the time to do her homework. (Especially the
history homework, DeMartino seemed to be getting tougher.)
Linda arrived home at the usual time. She found her
daughter doing homework in the living room. “You were at that self-esteem
class?”
“Yes,” Alex answered. “I have started a plan on exiting
it.”
“Good,” Linda said as she went back to the kitchen.
The Morgendorffers were having dinner. “...And so that is
how I came up with the name, the Club of Cute,” Quinn said.
“That's fascinating,” Helen said.
“A great name, honey,” Jake said.
“Sounds like Brainy stuff,” Daria commented.
“Dar-i-a!” Quinn objected.
“The Japanese cartoon bit, does,” Daria said, trying to stir
Quinn up.
“Daria!” Helen admonished.
“It sounds great,” Jake said, wondering why Daria didn't
like it.
Daria remained silent.
“How that class, Daria?” Jake asked.
“It's full of helpfulness,” Daria answered.
“That's great!”
“Jake!”
“I have met two people who may become friends.”
“That's a step in the right direction, Daria,” Helen
said.
At the Griffin's dinner... “So, besides the class, how
was school?” Linda asked.
“The same,” Alex deadpanned.
“What is your plan for escaping the class?”
“I'll tell you when I have, like, carried it out,” Alex
mumbled.
Linda held back a sigh. She hoped that Alex actually had
a plan, and wasn't simply lying about it.
Wednesday, September 7, 1997
Daria, Jane and Alex met after the first class of the
day. As they walked down the hall, they passed Quinn, who was talking to a
possible dating partner. “So... like, what do you like, to do after school?”
“Oh, nothing special. Go to the movies... or like a theme
park... or out for a really fancy meal now and then,,, or maybe go to a
concert, if, like I know somebody's got good seats and is renting a limo and
stuff,” Quinn answered.
“You hear that?” Jane commented. “He hasn't got a
prayer.”
“Tell me about it,” Daria said. “That's my sister.”
“So, you've got any brothers or sisters?” the guy asked.
“I'm an only child,” Quinn said.
Daria got a sour expression on her face.
“That's not right!” Alex spoke up.
“That wasn't the first time,” Daria said.
The self-esteem class was held again after school.
“So, what are we talking about when we talk about
ourselves?” Mr O'Neill asked. “Anyone?” He pointed to a boy in the class.
“We're.... talking about us!”
“Excellent! When we are talking about 'ourselves', we are
talking about 'us'. Now guys, I've got a little challenge for you. Today we
talked about turning our daydreams into reality. Tonight, I want each one of
you to go home and do just that. What do you say?” O'Neill said. “Um... You.”
He pointed to Daria. “What's a daydream you would like to come true?”
“Well, I guess I'd like my whole family to do something
together,” she answered.
“Excellent!”
“Something that will really make them suffer.”
That gave O'Neill pause. “It's healthy to air these
feelings... I think.” The bell rang.
41. My Neighbors the Yamadas
Rewatch. Series of slice of life stories about
the Yamada family as they navigate various crises and relate with each other.
Each of the stories is well written, and covers a specific situation (such as
the young daughter being left behind at a department store) and how the family
navigates that situation. Overall, it is a very good character study. 8.9/10.
An Embarrasment of Dooplers
The fifth episode of the second season. Cerritos
escorts a Doopler envoy to Starbase 25. While the envoy’s emotional insecurities
literally overwhelm Cerritos, Boimler and Mariner try to enter an exclusive
party being held on the Starbase. Captain Freeman does get overwhelmed by the Duplications
of the Doopler envoy but she eventually figures out how to contain the
situation. Mariner and Boimler manage to talk out their differences regarding
the latter’s assignment to Titan. This was a very good scene.
Definitely worth the wait for it. Tendi and
Rutherford’s bonding over the model Cerritos was also good too. Rutherford
discovering that his past self wanted to bond with Tendi rather than just make
the model was well realized. 8.4/10.
