Kim's match reviews and pop culture emporium

Straight off the block this block is too many damn floors plus a bit overtutorialized. I've been struggling to voice why i find the combat of atlus games so satisfying in contrast to trails. I think the way persona utilizes weaknesses hits a pokemon nerve that i didn't realize actively still mattered to me until this playthrough though I do appreciate the initiative design after in trails after starting rogue trader(ponders getting a switch.) onto the characters first of all Kazushi up until the very end of rank two i was betting on this being about interpersonal dynamics between athletes. The pivot into a story about injury and the way boys are presumably socialized to deal with pain under toxic masculinity has me hyped. Yuko might be a frustrating one for me but I think if she is it would be because of the expectations that come with one of the only non white passing characters in the cast afaik. my mind did also go to that interview between Aja Kong and Darius lockhart on be...

I'm finding this match at a weird moment in my joshi viewing life. I'll be honest the match dissolves into brawling and fighting over the scissors so often it's a match that's hard to write about in a structured fashion. If the match is defined by something strategically it's which side can isolate the others weakest member in the form of Condor or Mika Suzuki respectively. It's always fun to see crush girls vs dump even if i was battling a bit of personal cynicsim in terms of there being any followup of note just cause of how far the feud has already gone. It was fun seeing Omori and dump interact as one of very few faces on the roster who could straight up outmuscle dump which was fun to see. on the whole 7.5/10

First defense for Uno and Hotta as far as what we have on the set. The challengers start off hot with jumping spin kicks to the back leading to multiple irish whips into the rails at ringside. The body of the first fall is mostly based around the challenger's targeting Uno's previously bad knee viciously. The champions counter mostly via Hotta's size. The finish comes via top rope tombstone. The second fall is a great mirror of the first with the champion's establishing a foothold with Hotta's strikes and eventually begin targeting Ogura's leg. The finish comes via top rope gutbuster. The third fall  breaks down quickly. If there is a throughline it's the challengers isolating hotta and eventually piling on enough damage for the win. Really fun interesting how the internal dynamics for Ogura and Nagahori have shifted especially in that first fall feels like Ogura's trying to find herself a bit. 7.9/10

 Asuka starts off the match quickly with a jumping spin kick the body of the match can essentially be boiled down to a really effective clash between strength and guile from Omori and Asuka respectively. Omori takes up a bunch of the offensive load with Asuka being on the back foot for most of it with Omori targeting the head and abdomen with a real mean streak. Match is finished with a elevated piledriver. simple but great. 8.5 give it a watch                       

 episodes 9 and 10 are the climax of the initial arc with Lacus and man Flay has these moments of desperation emotionally that make me want to reconsider her but at every opportunity she chooses the most violently racist option possible. Threatening to kill another teen on the other side to save your father is scummy as fuck. The thing i can sympathize with flay on is she has what i think is a worse version of an expectation that promises given will work out. The battle ends with Flay's father and the relief force at large being destroyed and Lacus being held as a hostage. episode ten deals with the aftermath of the battle with Flay blaming kira for not saving her father and Kira along with Sai and Miriallia helping Lacus escape from the archangel without permission after prodding during the battle from athrun. in the moment as a two parter 9/10 Sai Miriallia and Kuzzey are much more interesting on this watch than when i first watched as a teen, It's fascinating as the characte...

 First Japan grand prix match on the disk let's go. we start off fast with a Chigusa ambush via spinning wheel kick which i love but that's video game nostalgia talking. She follows up with a partial barrage but misses a enzuigiri leading to her getting put into a surfboard. Something I appreciate more about the surfboard as a move is it's a multivector attack for lack of a better phrase. it's interesting that Devil takes up most of the match offense wise with matwork kinda seems like a reversion whereas the evening out of offense between the crush girls and their elders is gone for at least one night. Chigusa does get one segment of legwork in via an achilles lock but the vast majority of her offense comes in from high impact counters. There is a segment of both trading bombs near the end at which point Devil snaps and goes berserk with her shinai which i love. Wish we got more unhinged Devil as a babyface leading to a chigusa win via disqualification. The finish takes...