Valerie

Well this episode was faithful to the anime origin in the case that IT WAS TERRIFYING. I hate clowns.

Faye’s video always made me cry in the original series and this got me just as choked up. I really liked it.

Radical Ed mention! Lesbians, yay! Spike and Julia’s virtual reunion kind of took the thunder from any actual reunion we get to see down the road.

I heard a new Mai Yamane song and I need it. Now.

Woodcock was a hoot. Oh my god that first scene in the Bebop had me in stitches. The slaughter in the factory was hard to watch. Ein is best boi in any version of Bebop. Wait, so Spike and Vicious are brothers in this?

I liked it too. I agree that Cho isn't as effortlessly flippant as he needs to be, but it's possible that he'll get more into it as we go through the episodes. Loved hearing snippets of the original soundtrack along with the new music Kanno composed just for this series. Vicious and Julia being more in the foreground than in the original is also an interesting change. I love Faye so much.

It's interesting that they're jumping all over the place in terms of the "bounty of the day" villains. Le Fou was a back-half villain (and imo the one that creeped me out the most).

Naseer was just way too trusting for this game. Xander and Erika are two of my favourites so I was legit cheering with my mom when they both won immunity. I was hoping their wins would shake up the alliances a bit more but sadly they didn't. I still loathe Ricard but I am enjoying him slowly realizing what a controlling trainwreck Shan is. Evvie was never my favourite so I'm not sad to see her go, and at first I was shaking my head that Xander didn't play his idol for her -- but as many (including my mom) have pointed out, with so many gunning for Xander he bought himself an extra few days in the game by keeping his idol. Shan's obsession with getting out Erika is as annoying as Liana's obsession with getting out Xander.

Oooooo I do like those titles. Shall we speculate on rough plot pairings? Session 2 -- waltz for Venus? Session 3 -- Stray Dog Strut Session 6 -- Jupiter Jazz? (Gren is non-binary in this I believe) Session 8 -- clearly Pierrot Le Fou

I love Kanno so much. Seeing her conduct the Seatbelts was just... actual goosebumps. I'm so excited to see what she's come up with since she said she only used about 10% of the original soundtrack. I know the Tank! OP was remixed by Steve Aoki, but I'd love to hear a new version of The Real Folk Blues for the ending...

Ughhhhh that has me worried but IMO I was expecting mixed reviews from the start. The good thing about this adaptation is that it's not meant to replace the original in any way; even if it bombs the original is still there and just as fantastic as ever.

Yoko is so tiny and cute. And I am stoked to hear the remixed OP.

Thanks for sharing for us poor Canadians who usually can't get the Ponderosa content. Tiff is hilarious. "I don't use toilets anymore, I go by rocks on the beach." I liked that we actually got a little Fijian culture lesson in this first episode. The food looks delicious.

I'm happy because it looks like Shan and Ricard (the two people I don't want to win) are starting to crumble. Ricard with Papayagate and Shan getting on the outs of her alliance due to her big mouth and bad attitude. Sad to see Tiff go as she was growing on me. Of the two "mom" figures, I prefer her over Heather. I don't like Evie still but I enjoyed that her winning immunity threw a big wrench into the plot.

Yes, the Swordfish is the red ship in the poster (just above the title, behind Faye).

And here's one of the Special Live Sessions they did during COVID as well, my favourite song Space Lion.

I still loathe Ricard so I was grumpy that he won immunity. He doesn't need a reason to be even more arrogant. Xander giving his idol to a third party was smart. Evvie going from practically crying thinking she was about to be voted off to full-on partying when Syd was voted out was tacky. I still don't like her.

At least they're no longer afraid of Halloween?

Damnit, that's cute.

I like Erika and I don't get where all the hate is coming from. Maybe I'm biased because she's a fellow Canadian, but I don't think she's played the game any more aggressively than anyone else. I hope she turns back time to save herself and earn some points with the people she saved as well as a result. It's satisfying to see Shan down a peg and now a small fish in a big pond. I still want her and Ricard gone.

Ugh, another of my favourites gone. I can't stand Shan or Ricard and if either win I am going to be pretty choked. I'm optimistic that Shan will lose her footing when they merge and she's no longer running the tribe. Genie was too honest and trusting for this game.

It's been over 2 decades since I read them so it's possible haha! I do remember "BEST JAPANESE FOOD EVER!" was the punchline. Edit: According to the BSC wiki, they went to a pizza place.

As someone who is Canadian, we do that anyway so I didn't note that as such a big thing! Just finished Season 2. I didn't even notice the change of actresses for Dawn -- I thought she was fine, especially her big fight scenes with Mary-Anne. Claudia is still my favourite (she always was) and I definitely got choked up during Mimi's episode. I liked the plot twist of Janine and Ashley being a couple. I also loved the Mimi stories were right out of the books, such as the biker bar pizza and the ambulance chaser -- though in the books, the ambulance went to Claudia's Uncle Russ and Aunt Peaches' house instead. I got the vibe that Season 2's stories weren't as tight to the titles as they were in Season 1 which I think is fine since they're not moving in the same chronological order. Stacey's Emergency was hardly an emergency for example, and the baby parade was also very different to the books. The Mary-Anne/Logan pairing has also grown on me since Season 1; they do seem to have better chemistry now. I have to remind myself that they're teenagers, not adults playing teenagers (cough Riverdale) so they're in that awkward, fumbling phase in their real romantic lives in addition to on-screen. The adults continue to entertain me as well, even if Watson is still a bit of a doof who tries too hard.

I feel like the closest thing to this was the Friends Forever series -- it lead up to them graduating middle school, drifting apart, boyfriend drama (I believe Claudia's crush ends up dating Stacey and they have a HUGE multi-book fight). I quite liked them actually though I know they didn't get as much love.

Where the fuck did this new, confident Tiffany come from? Damn, girl! My mom and I were laughing out loud during the slow cuts to Deshawn and Danny looking horrified that they couldn't even throw the challenge thanks to Naseer going beast mode.