Toxic family members and friends can have an effect on a person’s well-being. Over time, I have dealt with several toxic family members and friends and it makes me sad to think about the situation. Many arguments and words were exchanged that cannot be taken back. It hurts more when you fight with a family member rather than a friend because family should always have your back and should understand you. When arguing with a family member, I’ve often been seen as the aggressor, not the victim. These things make you feel as if your feelings are invalid and do not matter. Once my friend got into an argument with her mom because she didn’t want to give her mom her paycheck. Her mom thought my friend was disrespecting her by keeping her money. Her mom acted like the victim when in reality she attacked my friend.

Toxic friends are a problem, as well. Friends are often the ones you may feel the most comfortable around because you share your secrets and daily thoughts with them. Interactions with these toxic friends have caused me to have situational depression for days or weeks at a time and caused me to have anxiety. I’ve come to terms with the fact that these particular situations were in fact, not my fault, but the toxic person’s fault. It takes a lot to come to that realization, especially after being blamed for almost everything by the toxic person.

You know that your family members may or may not be toxic due to their actions and the way you feel about them.  These toxic family members can make you feel drained, and as if you are less than worthy. It may be a scary experience to be around them because you’re scared that you will upset them. Toxic family members may hold their authority over you and treat you like a child. They can make threats by taking advantage of your insecurities or taking away something that is important to you to get what they want. Your feelings may be dismissed every time you talk to them, and they could act as if you are attacking them and they are the victim. This topic matters deeply because it not only affects our generation but the generations to come. Many kids my age seem to have at least one or two toxic people in their lives. This can affect our mental health, as well as the way we view things. We could be scared to open up to our parents, talk about our feelings or be ourselves. 

In the teenage community, parents often create this toxic relationship dynamic when we disagree with them and try to defend ourselves. However, this argument seems to go in one ear and out the other, as the teen is seen as being disrespectful for trying to get their parents to see their side and own up to their mistakes. It’s a sad feeling when we want to distance ourselves from our parents to be better as a person, but we wouldn’t know how to feel without them being in our lives. 

This issue is not talked about enough. Parents or friends often take it as you being "sensitive," but that's not the case because if it hurts you, then it hurts you. There's never a moment where you're too "sensitive." It’s so much easier to avoid the toxic friends, but harder to avoid the toxic family. Since they are your family, you may see them all the time and it could be hard for you to protect your own space when around them. 

We can make this better by making sure that we don’t carry toxic relationships over to the coming generations. As people, we can change how we speak about things, how we carry ourselves and how we approach certain topics. When a toxic person can no longer control you, then they will try to control how others see you. The misinformation may feel weird or unfair, but trust that other people will eventually see the truth. Being more positive and not thinking about how that person makes you feel can make you a better person. Not only will you be in a positive space but you will also be free to express your ideas or use this space to get better and grow without that person. 

(http://www.ilanelanzen.com/familyandparenting/10-signs-you-have-toxic-family-members-and-3-things-you-can-do-about-it/)

The anime show “Alice & Zouroku” is about an extraordinary girl named Sana that was born in a research facility and has powers that normal humans can't even wish for. She escaped the research facility that held her and caused her a lot of trouble so the facility is on a desperate search to find her and keep her away from human society.

This anime is amazing overall. From the poster, this series looks like a story about an old man who is raising a little girl but if you watch it, you’ll be quite surprised. Something I really like about this anime is that it always leaves you on edge. One episode may be about Sana fighting aliens, while another may be about Zoroku rescuing her. It leaves you hanging because you’re expecting something to happen but it may not ever happen. One episode that left me guessing was the first one due to Sana escaping the facility and risking getting kidnapped. 

One thing that I didn’t like was how the animation switched up. At certain points, the cartoon looked different from how the characters were drawn, almost as if they’re out of place. At some moments the two anime styles do come together well, but at other times the animation looks weird. 

If you’re looking for something that is interesting and has plot twists, this is the show for you. You can watch this anime on streaming services such as Crunchyroll, and other anime streaming services. 

I heard about the movie “The Sand” from Facebook. Facebook stated it as “a really good movie,” so I got interested in watching it. The trailer that I watched on Facebook seemed cool and your eyes just wanted to keep watching. 

At the start of the movie, many young boys and girls were having a party on an abandoned beach, and many of them were drinking alcohol. There was a girl named Marsha (Nikki Leigh) who didn’t want to drink alcohol, but when she saw her boyfriend, Jonah (Dean Geyer), with another girl named Chanda (Meagan Holder), Marsha started to drink. This night was fun for all of the kids. The next day, there were only eight people alive out of the 40 people at the party. Four people were in a car, two other people were in a boat, one boy was in a barrel (put there by his friend), and one girl was on top of a table. The sand swallowed and killed the others.

When I first started watching this movie, it was boring. I thought the movie was going to start with a group of people from different places going to that beach because of the trailer, but it just started with a person taking a video of his friends drinking and having fun on the beach. Every five minutes the movie was getting more boring because there was no action. The eight people who survived were in the same place always, on the beach, and it would be better if the actors who were there, would have had more to do. 

The acting and editing were really bad, and the actors didn’t seem interesting. I think they were in that movie because all of them were handsome and would get people to watch the movie. I became more interested in Marsha, Kaylee, and Ronnie not because they were acting well, but because they were cute.

Don’t waste your time watching this kind of movie. I do not recommend this movie to anyone. The actors have to do a better job the next time, and also they have to be careful about what they are going to act in. This movie should be more realistic, and also have the actors in many places, not just in one place, because that makes the movie boring. 

I watched this movie on an app on my phone, called Tubi TV. On this app, there are many good movies, but also bad movies like “The Sand.”  

“The Violet Evergarden” is an anime by Kyoto Animation Studios that unpacks the life of Violet, a fourteen-year-old veteran who is dealing with the aftermath of war on her continent Telesis. Kyoto Animation carries us through the first two episodes with breathtaking scenes of Violet’s hometown and a soundtrack that will fasten your seat belt and take you on a rollercoaster of emotions. “The Violet Evergarden” is a promising piece that shows us its extraordinary potential in the first two episodes.

This anime centers around Violet, who was raised to serve as a weapon to the army. She was given to Lieutenant Gilbert Bougainvillea by his brother Dietfried Bougainvillea who told him, "She is a weapon with no heart, treat her as such do not catch feelings." Gilbert completely ignored that and fell in love anyway. After the war, Violet is left without a purpose, both of her arms, and the love of her life, Gilbert. She ends up in the care of former Lieutenant Claudia Hodgins and struggles to adjust to a normal life after growing up in the military her whole life. 

Although I only watched two episodes of the series, I could already grasp the plot and the challenges Violet faces. The first two episodes do a good job showing how Violet struggles with unlearning behaviors she was taught as an army child. It's interesting how even though Violet doesn't show her emotions through her facial expressions, I could still tell how she is feeling. This is a product of great writing and animation.  Although Hodgins hasn't told Violet that Lieutenant Gilbert has passed, it makes me excited but terrified of her reaction to this news. Violet sees herself only as a tool, but her actions show that she is much more than that and is capable of becoming more. Kyoto did a good job showing Violet's depth without having to literally explain it. It was also beautiful, with the show lighting up my laptop screen with delicate spring colors. The studio utilized the power of colors to the max and combined it with perfect animation to make every make movement pop. 

Something that could have been done better was explaining to the viewer who characters are. Some scenes confused me because random characters would appear in scenes and talk like you should know them, but you don't because the character hadn’t been introduced.

That said, Violet Evergarden is rightfully an award-winning anime series. This series is only available on Netflix since it's one of its original series. It has a slow, but solid, start and I would advise patience while watching it.