Counterbalance: Jessie & James

From November 2015 to August 2016, create a shrine or shrines to celebrate a dynamic duo! Lovers, enemies, brothers, sisters, parents, and close friends contribute to a character's being. Explore the fandom and the relationship from another side.
Robin
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Robin »

Kate wrote:I'm late AND I read the shrine and never left a comment! Ahhh.. But I truly loved your shrine. I loved reading about their relationship, and learning so much about them individually as well! I love your writing style and,,, ahh I just adored this shrine Robin! <3
Thank you!!! :D :D they are definitely two of my fav anime characters, and I'm glad I finally was able to give them both the tribute they deserved ^O^
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
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Andrea
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Andrea »

This entire shrine was so entertaining to read! Although it's been a super long time since I've watched the anime, I do have fond memories of the earlier episodes. Opening your shrine felt like turning on the TV after school to watch some cartoons, haha.

I love how clean yet dynamic the layout is! Everything is legible and I like the way the color scheme matches that of Jessi and James. Also the navigation is really cute, and the way you organized your content is awesome, especially considering how many episodes, etc. you had to sift through.

Everything is very concise while also being informative! I like how you not only introduced the characters but also went more in-depth, such as their background and even their Pokémon team. The way you incorporated episodes and accounted for discontinuities was also really well-done, too! It's clear that you put a lot of time and patience into making this shrine; I can't imagine how long it must've taken to rewatch these episodes and then—out of ALL those scenes—choose the ones that were the most important to talk about!

My favorite parts of the shrine were your articles, though. "... Sexuality and Gender Identity" and "Better Off Evil" were my favorites. I hadn't considered a "more evil" version of Team Rocket before reading the essay; it really gave me something to think about.

All in all, really nice work! :content: :heart: :star:
Robin
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Robin »

Thank you, Andrea!! :D :D <3 I'm glad you found the site approachable even after years of not viewing the show--that was my goal, to introduce the subject matter as well as dive deeper into it.

As far as rewatching the show, however, that actually started accidentally well before Dynamic Duos was planned. I started rewatching Pokemon on Netflix mid- to late last year and was like AWWWWW YEEEEEEEH CHILDHOOD FEELS, and then Todd announced Dynamic Duos and the timing just couldn't have been better :)

The only thing I didn't anticipate was finding screencaps as easily as I did--I thought that was going to be the biggest drag (because I hate searching for pics/taking screenshots), and although it did take me a while to select and save all the pics, I found some great screencap resources online which saved me a TON of work :D

Also, I'm SUPER excited that you liked the articles! (Fun fact: The "Better Off Evil?" article came from reading some other Pokemon sites that were like "OMG TEAM ROCKET WOULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER IF THEY HAD STAYED EVIL" and I was like "ummmmm no???" LOL)
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
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Aku
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Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2012 5:50 pm

Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Aku »

HEY I'M LATE BUT I REGRET NOTHING CUZ LIKE...

Wow! I really, really enjoyed this shrine Robin! Honestly, I think that a shrine to Jessie & James has every opportunity to be tacky or even a bit cringy given their characters, but this was never that. You took your subject super seriously despite their comical nature and I really appreciate that you took off the "kid gloves" and dealt with the topics you wanted to super maturely. When I clicked on this shrine & saw that you used Team Rocket's motto as navigation, I thought that was just too damn cute. :heart: But even more than that, I enjoyed that there was some thought behind it, and that the phrases linked actually related to the content provided. Honestly, you've hit a really amazing balance here, everything is presented very tastefully.

I like that you touched on both the pros and cons of their relationship as teammates! I think under the pretense of "Dynamic Duos" it's easy to focus on how their dynamic works and why they're a ~perfect pair~, but part of the beautiful thing about Team Rocket is how they stick together and never give up, despite how dysfunctional they really are.
Just as Ash isn't much of a Pokémon trainer to begin with, Jessie and James aren't great spies or Pokémon thieves either--so the two groups of characters balance each other. This is so atypical for a "hero's journey" such as Ash is on; who ever heard of villains having to learn how to be bad, just as the hero is learning how to be good? I believe this is because Jessie and James are both meant to teach us something about ourselves, just like Ash and his friends do.
GIRL, YAS!! Your voice is really present in this shrine and doesn't read like a wikipedia page whatsoever, I love the amount of insight that went into this and I thought you brought up so many amazing points. You've really picked apart what they mean to one another, the "romance" section was a great read (and a great stance on gender stereotypes), and you've even dug into what they mean to the Pokemon story as a whole and what Team Rocket can teach the audience. I genuinely felt like I was sitting with you over lunch and waxing philosophical about Jessie and James haha.

I feel super incoherent because I loved it so much, but excellent work over all! This was everything I love in a shrine: it has your personality, it's insightful, charming and funny, and it takes itself seriously without being overly boring. When I read a shrine to a subject I'm familiar with and find myself slamming my hands on the table in agreement, like "YAS! THANK YOU FOR SAYING THAT!" I know it was a good one. :heart: Congrats on finishing this! :heart:
Robin
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Robin »

YAY thank you Aku! I am so glad you enjoyed the site and found it worthwhile :D I wasn't sure if I could do all my feels justice, but it turned out a lot better than I could have imagined. (And YAY lunch conversation vibes! Those are the best kind of fandom jam sessions :D Now we just need a basket of fries and a couple burgers XD)
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
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Megan A
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Joined: Mon Feb 02, 2015 10:54 am

Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Megan A »

So..I APPARENTLY NEVER COMMENTED ON THIS, but I wanted to let you know that I LOVE this shrine. It's incredibly inspirational and just overall an amazing shrine. I think Jesse and James are such an iconic duo in such a great series, and it's awesome to see a dedication to them. I can tell just how much you love them just by your writing; your enthusiasm just shines through your words. I love how you provide separate character studies for the two, but it doesn't overshadow their relationship in the slightest. In fact, I'd say that it strengthens it because your shrine mentions how each character is separately and then together as a team.

ALSO I love how the image on the layout keeps changing. And how the navigation is nested into their motto. Such a great shrine. :D
Robin
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Re: Counterbalance: Jessie & James

Post by Robin »

@Megan A: thank you so so much!! :D omg, "inspirational," wow ;_; :'D
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
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