#rawser rambles

i’ve seen a lot of mixed opinions so far..so i decided to make my own ramble about what i thought myself! there’s a lot of things i enjoyed and some things im partial to and some things i think would’ve been better not in the episode at all

i think it’s also important to remember that it is the first episode of the season, and while it does give a glimpse of what may be to come later on, it doesn’t necessarily mean everything is final completely. characters change as episodes are made which i feel is an important aspect of any analysis . with that said, there are some things i still want to comment on that seemed to have changed, starting with the pros:

the animation is really bouncy compared to ii2, and seems more expressive in general! i really think the animators outdid themselves with it, it’s genuinely really appealing compared to ii3 imo. the coloring and backgrounds are amazing too, and kept me invested the whole time . i really liked in this specific scene how the hospital reflects salt and pepper as objects (similar to how fans fantastic features and inanimate insanity infinity did, with the pink and heart theme)

it makes me happy to see the writers don’t forget about characters like salt who only have had big roles once or twice, it makes a lot of fans happy and stays true to their character.

the new voice actors are incredible too, and i think the voicing in this episode in general was just really well done :-) not much to comment on here, i just think the new voice actors were awesome. it’s nice to see more of them outside of the remaster too!

i loved seeing old debuters come back, along with some new characters too. the designs for jack and tapey are pretty awesome and had me excited to meet them. i hope we get to see more of how they develop and interact with other characters

also cheesecraft is back is that not awesome. it’s on java if anyone is interested LOL. i really like how they’re tying back to season one again, especially since early season 2 seemed to shy away from it a lot

i also enjoyed the starting plot/rising action, the idea of a sanitized, overly protective society that was created to avoid anyone getting hurt in any way is a cool way to stem off from season 2. especially protecting glass objects like lightbulb is really cool to me, she looks very cute in blue lol . i hope we learn more about it and shimmer power in general!

the play at the beginning portraying the way the contestants see mephone and mepad was really interesting to me, and showed a lot more into their characters, especially characters who weren’t seen in season 3 like floory and bot.

i see a lot of people upset about how mephone was portrayed, but i feel like people are failing to realize that it’s the writers intention, the contestants hold resentment towards mephone, so he is going to be villainized by them even when he isn’t. remember that most of contestants see mephone as their host and abuser, so they aren’t going to necessarily be overjoyed to talk about him (in play form or not). im 100% certain that the writers aren’t going to throw away mephone or 3gs just like that. things require time to be shown or explained, and with a 30 minute episode only so much can be done .

with that said, there are some things i really didn’t enjoy in the episode, im possibly more bewildered and confused than anything.

?this beginning. we learned about the red line game inside mephone, but never any other game requiring basketball of any sort. maybe i missed it somewhere, but it requires a lot of interpretation to understand what’s happening . also, how did 4s manage to meet these guys? did he remember them from season 1, or just met them inside mephone? it’s really hard to empathize with these new characters 2 minutes into the new episode, even though it’s supposed to be a heartfelt scene. we don’t know them yet, so it had little to no impact .

the town in general confuses me a lot too. how were these jobs assigned to everyone? some people seem to dislike their job more than others. how did everyone agree on what should be built with the shimmer magic? HOW does the shimmer magic even work? did the metag just decide to abandon meeple?? a lot of these things feel like they were just thrown in for comedic effect without much else behind it, which feels a lot more tainting to me, unless it is yet to be explained in a later episode

it feels like too much is happening at one time, like too many mini plots and characters were trying to be squeezed in 30 minutes. it felt like tpot, but more in a negative way. this kind of pacing doesn’t really seem to fit the ii characters as much

to backtrack for a minute, one of the things that made season 2 almost everyone’s favorite season was the storyline. each episode had dedicated segments to each character, without feeling pushed to only one storyline . in this episode, it felt like it was rapidly switching from one thing to another, while trying to fit in comedy and character progression only seconds apart, giving it a tacky feel to me. i felt like i couldn’t blink without something new happening, new characters and getting a feel of what the season will actually be like.

in all honesty, it felt like too much at once. i feel like it could’ve been better if it was stretched out a bit, so we can actually learn about the new characters and how season 2/3 characters interact with each other. a lot of it just feels so out of character and weird,

another issue i kept seeing happening was telling instead of showing. it felt like every action a character was doing they announce it, instead of just doing it. for example, it felt like fan kept on mentioning over and over again what made the old show so enjoyable, when instead an example could’ve been shown instead, like contestants enjoying something that was only in the show.

it’s stated that the shimmer power helped them rebuild and rejuvenate their society, but they don’t show how! everything felt so explicitly stated or not stated enough, making the episode less enjoyable to me

in all honesty, i’d give the episode a 6/10. it has its work, but it’s what’s expected from an opening. it feels like it gives too much away while also not saying enough at the same time. however, the visuals and new style of characters are stunning, and i can’t wait to see how it improves in the future. i think it just needs some time .