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bellatrixobsessed1 · 4 years ago

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Kissing Dead Pearls (Part 10)

He could never find her, no matter how hard he tried. No one could find her and no one ever did. Not until she wanted them too.

“It’s just a dumb game Azula!” Zuko would always declared. “Who cares if you always win.” He did and she knew it. They all cared and they were all jealous.

She always had the best hiding spots and she owed it partially to her teeny build; she could scramble into places that none of her friends, save for Toph, could fit in. To some extent, she still can, but not as many as she could as a child.

That day she had tucked herself into a particularly tight wedge nestled in the cove. During their play, nothing was off limits, every crevice and orifice was fair game. Though they mostly avoided the cave in the cove because it was too dark and too wet.

Azula had always been more adventurous, more darling, and, in childhood, more reckless and less careful. She shambled up a large rock, it was slick and wet and she was almost certain that she would fall and give away her hiding spot with a large splash. Luck was on her side, she managed to cling on and reach the top. From there she climbed her way into the wedge and waited, listening to the waves lapping against the sandstone and the steady drip drop of the moisture leaking from the cave ceiling. She could feel slimy seaweed sloughing down her arm and she stuck her tongue out in disgust. But she would endure it for the sake of her victory streak.

A few minutes turn into ten and then ten into fifteen before she heard Sokka and Zuko declare they gave up. Their voices were distant. It took another five before Katara made her declaration.

Azula’s smugness turned to pure dread in an instant. It is the instant that she tried to pull herself out of the wedge. It was an all encompassing terror when she found that the hole in the wall was too small for even she afterall. She remembers how her stomach had sank. How another ten minutes went by and then another. A feeling of suffocation and helplessness as she tried fruitlessly to back out of the crevice. An effort that only became more worthless as the panic had set in more.

Soon it had been an hour and then two before it finally occurred to her that she should cry or, at least, scream. She intended to only scream once, but that had opened the floodgates to all out bawling.

That was all she had needed to do. “I found you!” Sokka declared smugly. She had never been more relieved to lose a game.

Hakoda’s voice was the next that she’d heard, a soothing and soft one instructing her to stop crying for a moment and to relax her body as much as possible and then to suck in her belly and duck her head as close to the floor as she could.

Strong hands wrapped around her ankles and pulled. She’d heard Ursa whimpering softly. She was given a few bone jerking tugs before her body had come free. Her knees were skinned and her cheeks and elbows scrapped. Ozai had passed her to Ursa who’d held her nearly as tightly as the cave had and caressed her hair.

She hadn’t gotten in trouble that night, they were too relieved for that, but she had earned a reputation for constant childhood accidents and mishaps.

.oOo.

She doesn’t want to go home, she wants to go anywhere but home. But the longer she delays, the madder he is going to get. Katara knows this. She usually doesn’t like to be touched, but this time she lets Katara rub her back while she sits with her elbows digging into her thighs and her face buried in her hands.

Hakoda is just as aware as Katara. “If you need to stay here until he sobers up, you can take Sokka’s bed. I know that he won’t mind.”

Azula nods despite her apprehension. She hasn’t been in his room since he’d disappeared. She isn’t sure that she can take it, not tonight. Not when her mental state is already in the beginning stages of immense turmoil.

“You don’t mind the sofa, do you, Zuko?” The man asks.

“Couch is fine.” She hears his reply from down the hall.

She puts her hand on the doorknob but can’t bring herself to turn it. She gives a slight jolt at the sound of footsteps. “It was hard for me at first, too.” Katara confesses. “But it isn’t so bad after that.”

Azula takes a deep breath and twists the knob. The door falls open and she is greeted by a familiar ambiance. His walls are painted deep blue, he hasn’t bothered to take down the ocean life wall stickers that he’d put up as a kid. In fact he still has a few stuffed sharks and jellyfish strewn about in the corner. But he has also acquired several surfboards to hang on the wall--strictly decorative. And from the ceiling hang a collection of shark teeth and a few fishbones.

The floor has as much clutter as she remembers; a stack of knocked over reggaeton and reggae albums lies at the foot of his bed near a collection of sport-themed DVD’s. Clothes, mostly socks and aloha shirts, are cast randomly about the floor and drape over a chair by a desk.

The desk teems with other trinkets; a few bobble heads, 3D photo crystals depicting jelly fish, some unopened snack bars, and a few poorly done drawings along with pencils among other things. She then finds the pictures. There is one of just he and Katara holding fishing poles. Next to that is one of their family at the grand opening of their food joint. And next to that… Her stomach flutters and her eyes prickle. He has his arm around her, flashing the camera a goofy grin. He wears the most ridiculous pineapple shaped sunglasses and a straw hat. She remembers him forcing her to wear an even more ridiculous clownfish hat and a cheap rainbow lei.

Her tear finally escapes when she sees the next photo. She doesn’t remember it having been taken. Which is probably because she is asleep in the photo. Asleep and clutching a stuffed stingray. The same one she’d had since she was a child and her parents took she and Zuko to the aquarium. She is certain that Zuko still has his stuffed turtle.

She wishes that Sokka were home, if only to kick his ass for sneaking that picture. “He really liked that one.” Katara nods to that picture.

“Yeah…” she trails off quietly. “I’m sure he did.”

“I’ll leave you alone?”

Azula nods.

“I’ll send Zuko to get you when dinner is ready.”

She nods once more.

She waits until Katara leaves to make her way to Sokka’s bed. Her lower lip trembles as she climbs into it and bunches herself into a ball. It smells like him. In some way, being tangled in his blankets is like being swaddled in his arms. But it lacks the warmth that he had. In the privacy of the room she cries more openly. For the loss of Sokka. For the loss of her mother. For the loss of her father as he used to be.

She cries for her failed attempt. For her inability to even search for Sokka. For the abuse she’d taken and for the abuse she was about to take as soon as she inevitably faced her father. He was going to reek of alcohol and testosterone.

Her eyes are dry again and she has managed to catch an hour or so of sleep when she hears the knock. “The food is ready. It smells wonderful too.” Zuko calls.

“You can meet me at the table, Zuzu.” Groggily, Azula pulls herself up. She runs her hands over her face. She knows that her makeup is smeared and her hair is tousled. It doesn’t really matter, she has no one to impress right now.

She makes her way to the kitchen and pulls out a chair. Kya offers her a loving smile and her belly flutters again. That smile reminds her too much of her mothers for her to not have to bite the inside of her lip to keep tears at bay. She is being much too sentimental tonight.

“I’m sorry that you’re having such a rough night, sweetheart.” Kya cups her hand over Azula’s.

She doesn’t seem to take much offense at Azula’s lack of an answer. She eats in silence, listening to the other four make mundane conversation mostly about shows and how the restaurant repairs are coming along. She picks at her food, not really tasting it at all. It isn’t that the food isn’t rich and scrumptious, more so that her taste buds have dulled and her appetite has fled to make room for a feeling of sorrow.

There comes a knock, a heavy knock. Azula’s stomach plummets and the rest of her appetite is sapped away.

“I think that it is better if you return home.” Hakoda fills the doorway.

“I need to talk to her.” Ozai insists. She listens for a slur.

“We are in the middle of dinner.”

“I can wait.” She doesn’t need to see him to know that he his crossing his arms.

“After dinner we have other plans.”

“The discussion will not be long.” She hears no slur and she isn’t sure if this is more or less worrisome. She wonders if she should just get it over with. With a deep breath she stands.

“Azula…” Zuko starts. She pulls her wrist out of his grasp and makes her way to the door. Her eyes are dim and as impassive as she can will them to be.

Hakoda seems to go tense.

“Father.” She greets as dimly as her eyes.

The man looks her over and rubs his hand over his face again. “I didn’t come to the beach to fight with you.”

“But you still did it.” She mumbles, absently massaging her bruised wrists. His eyes follow her hand and find the purple-yellow. She thinks that he might have winced. She slips that hand into her pocket. “What do you want.”

He holds out an ice pack, “just to talk with you.”

“We can talk when you’re sober.” She replies with as much coldness as the pack he holds out. She retreats back into the house.

They are three of Sokka’s favorite romantic comedies in, and she still can’t get Ozai out of her mind. She wishes that Sokka could be there to watch the movies with them.

.oOo.

Being back in the lighthouse is dreadful. She knew that Hakoda and Kya couldn’t let them stay forever. Though they offered to take them back if Ozai laid a hand on either of them. Her father isn’t home yet, but this is much worse than him having waited by the door. The anxiety of waiting for him to finally arrive is getting to she and Zuko both.

Zuko spends the better portion of the day pacing around the lighthouse. She is more subdued, taking up the demeanor of a death row inmate, with a silent resignation of her fate.

The door falls open and Zuko jolts. Azula grips the edge of her chair as Ozai’s footfalls echo. “Both of you!” He calls. Zuko freezes where he stands, his body locks. Azula can feel her mind ebbing away. It has been a long time since her mind has gone distant and impassive, but it is her only defense. “Come down and have a seat.”

Zuko catches her hand as she numbly lets her feet take over. “Azula, don’t.” She shakes her head. “Better to get it over with.”

Zuko follows her down the spiral staircase. Ozai sits at the table, waiting. Feeling slightly wobbly, she takes her own seat. Zuko remains standing and a distance away from the table. When it comes to father, he might just be smarter than she.

Their father takes a deep breath, sets a stack of papers onto the table, and pushes them towards her. She quietly scans them over.

“What are those for?” Zuko asks.

She meets Ozai’s stare and he nods. “They’re...AA forms, Zuzu.”

“Khozen wouldn’t pour me another glass until I went.” He grumbles.

“How long have you been attending?” Zuko asks.

“Just a few days now.”

“Is that where you were on Monday?” Azula asks, suddenly feeling as though she had been the aggressor on the beach that day.

He pinches the bridge of his nose before confessing, “no, I was at the bar.”

“So much for, Khozen not pouring you another glass…” Zuko grumbles.

“I went to AA and he poured me a glass as he said he would.” Ozai shrugs.

“Have fun sharing that story at your next meeting.” Zuko crosses his arms. “Is that all you wanted?”

“Not quite.” Ozai replies. “I want you to take that boat that the two of you bough and return it…”

“I’m going to find Sokka.” Azula hisses. “I…”

“What you are going to do, Azula, is return that boat.” He pauses. “That money was your college fund, was it not?”

Azula flushes.

“And Zuko’s...and a good portion of our lighthouse fund.”

Her lower lip quivers.

“You are going to return that boat. Khozen’s will do us just fine and it will cost us much less.”

Azula looks up from the table. “Khonzen’s boat?”

“He used to be a pirate. He and I struck a deal. If I...succeed with this,” he gestures to the packets, “he will lend me the boat free of charge and we can go and search for answers together.” He pauses. “I lost your mother, I’m not about to let the two of you sail away without me. Understood.”

Tears well in her eyes again, but this time they are born of a different emotion. Hope, she realizes. She nods, “yes, father.”

“Does that sound fair to you?”

Frankly, she thinks that, for once, her father might be getting the short end of the deal. But then, getting clean isn’t such a terrible fate. “It does.”

“Does that sound fair to both of you?”

Zuko shifts his weight, never uncrossing his arms. “I guess.” Azula can’t blame him for his skepticism.

“Can you wait a little longer?” He asks. “Maybe help Katara and her family with La-bsters and have you surf tournaments with Chan? And then we can go out to sea.”

“Can I bring Katara?” Zuko asks.

“That is up to Hakoda and Kya.”

Azula doesn’t particularly want to delay, but the offer on the table shows more promise than spending her college fund and taking an impulsive, grief-driven expedition. “I can wait a little longer.”

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Zuko #Ozai #Sokkla #Sokka #Katara #Fanfiction

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hashtagartistlife · 6 years ago

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Thoughts TM on the Live Action (hard spoilers ahead. Also, warning: it’s long.):

- Firstly, the casting. The absolute Best casting decision in this whole movie, visuals-and-acting-wise, is Isshin hands down. He LOOKS like Isshin, he ACTS like Isshin-- actually, Movie!Isshin > Manga!Isshin. They toned down the goof a tiny bit, played up his love and concern for the kids, and put him in an APRON for 90% of his screentime and made him the homemaker. (A++++ MOVE, WHY THE HELL WAS YUZU COOKING FOR EVERYBODY AT THE AGE OF NINE. BAD DECISION KUBO).

- Second best casting decision is Kuchiki Rukia. I remember when her stills first came out I wasn’t 100% on this casting because sure she was gorgeous but she looked????? SO YOUNG????? but guys, she nailed it. NAILED IT. Hana Sugisaki based goddess and if u aren’t her fan now you will be by the time the movie ends.

- Sota Fukushi as Ichigo.... hm. Given that my only criteria when drawing Ichigo is to make him as hot as humanly possible, it was 100% guaranteed that any actor they put up for the role would fall short of my visual expectations from an Ichigo. NGL there are more good looking men out there than Sota Fukushi but to quote both Ro and I from our rabb.it chat during the movie...... sota fukushi hard smash

(- ok but a serious dilemma: are we attracted to him because he’s attractive, or because he’s playing ichigo and ichigo’s attractive????

-also, chad’s actor hard smash as well)

- SPEAKING of Chad.... he had. Minimal role in the movie but I love that they showed a bit of his bromance with Ichigo. It was always such a cute friendship and they did it justice with what little they showed! Anyway, I like his casting and Orihime’s too, visually speaking.

- The other casts were fine. Not !!!! worthy but like not terrible casting either. Honestly I feel like Miyavi as Byakuya could have really worked if they hadn’t given him that... AWFUL hair. The hair is even more awful in the movie than it is in the still cuts. Believe it.

- A final note on the casting... I really hated noticing this but Orihime’s actress? Erina Mano? Looks a LOT like the actress they cast for Masaki and i hate noticing it but I did. But it’s not time for the ir tea/ih salt yet that comes later

- Secondly: Characterisation. Overall decent, but you can really tell that like... they spent the most amount of care on getting the central IR dynamic right and sorta just went ‘lol that’s good enough’ for the others. It’s almost like they spent all of their characterisation budget on IR and had minimal left over to spare for minor characters (e.g: Orihime). You’ll see what I mean.

- Once again, hands down best characterisation in the whole movie is Isshin and Rukia. Isshin’s bodily comedy with Ichigo was done SO realistically, in a way that’s funny and not too over-the-top. The way they kept playing off each other as slightly overbearing father and moody teenage son was FANTASTIC. And one of the moments that had me MOST emotional in this movie was when Isshin was shown by Ichigo’s bedside, taking care of him while he’s recovering from injuries. Ichigo, upon waking from a dream of his mum, asks Isshin if he ever dreams of her. Isshin’s answer? ‘Every night’. EVERY NIGHT, MOTHERFUCKER. GOD I was never a hard isshimassa stan but this movie got me FEELING things for them

- Hana’s interpretation of Rukia is FANTASTIC. Unbelievably spot on. The emotional unavailability, her rigid initial adherence to what she believes is the shinigami code, the adorable naivete re: human world customs, the way she steamrollers over Ichigo, the way that, no matter how hard she tries to be aloof, she can’t hide the fact that she cares. She cares so much. And honestly, if there’s one thing this movie does well, it’s how they managed to get those manga-panel comic violence situations to translate so well to reality. Isshin-on-Ichigo violence translated well, and the Rukia-on-Ichigo violence translates excellently as well. Their little bickering scenes play out EXACTLY how I, at least, imagined them to go, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Also, I honestly think her looking really young works to her advantage, because it really gives you a sense of like… how bemused Ichigo must be by this whole situation. My predominant thought every time hana is on screen is SHE’S SO CUTE AND LOVELY I CAN’T DEAL WITH IT, except this tiny girl who you can only think of as ‘cute’ is like…. Bossing you around and beating your ass with a sword and instilling fucking philosophy lessons in you. It’s so surreal? And if it’s surreal for US then just imagine how surreal it must be for Ichigo.

- Sota’s Ichigo.... once again, hmm. His ‘trying to be cool’ acting (i.e. during the fight scenes) was cringey, but I can’t tell if that’s his acting skill or just the fact that what looks ‘cool’ on manga panels inVARIABLY look cringey in real life. Probably the latter. And I think he’s a LITTLE too growly for my taste, but then again, I’m used to post-timeskip Ichigo who’s a bit more... low-key cynical rather than prickly. Initial Ichigo was pretty abrasive, so I guess that’s in-character. Also, his most-said line of dialogue in this movie is ‘HAH??’ which is hilarious and very in-character. Honestly, Hana as Rukia is straight up excellent for the whole duration of the movie but I definitely think Sota shone MOST when he was acting in combination with Isshin or Rukia. Whatever I think about his individual acting skills, he definitely had chemistry with those actors in terms of dynamics.

- Guys, the IR in this is fantastic. Brilliant. Like I said, their bickering plays out to a TEE how I imagined things to go. Literally cannot fault their bickering. Their soft heartfelt moments are SO GOOD too. And they were all shot so…. Intimately? Their softer scenes were shot with such heartbreaking tenderness and I just….. ugh. Hana Sugisaki REALLY brought her acting A-game. ALSO THE WAY LITERALLY EVERYONE THINKS THEY’RE DATING??? RENJI SHOWS UP AND IS LIKE ‘OOPS I THINK I KILLED YOUR BOYFRIEND’ TO RUKIA. RENJI SAYS THAT. BYAKUYA THINKS SHE’S TOO ‘EMOTIONALLY INVOLVED’. Not to even mention Keigo and Tatsuki and Orihime……. God. Absolutely unbelievable.

- Now, if I was being picky and HAD to talk about a few gripes…. Let’s see. It takes Ichigo more time to warm up to Rukia than in canon, and he’s more of an asshole to her in this time period too. But y’know, that’s a very minor gripe. The other teeny tiny gripe I have about the IR is like…. A gripe but also not a gripe at the same time lmfao. OK so at the end when Renji and Byakuya are trying to take Rukia away, Ichigo plants himself in front of Rukia and says ‘I’m going to protect you’ and he repeats this multiple times in the fight, which, yes, extremely shippy, I’m going to die on the pavement et al, but also… this might be a weird gripe for some, because the ir dynamic has always been them protecting and saving each other. But not in so many words? It’s always been a very equal protection dynamic, partly because Rukia won’t LET him be her protector. I subscribe to the meta that this is precisely why she’s good for Ichigo. It’s also what drives him up the wall, because WHY WON’T SHE LET HIM KEEP HER SAFE, but it’s the fact that Rukia REFUSES to be one of his ‘protected people’, the fact that Rukia DEMANDS equal footing to him, that quashes down the more destructive aspects of his will to protect. But yeah, I feel like that line – ‘I’m going to protect you/her’, repeated multiple times—sort of erases the inherent equality in their dynamic and puts Rukia in the ‘protected’ pile. But that’s just because the movie didn’t have enough time for the rest of the arc. Look honestly the ir in the movie is FINE. The only reason I’m even bringing this up is because I have the manga version to compare it to, and it’s an unfair comparison to begin with because obviously the manga has so much more to work with. Overall, if you’re worried about the IR characterisation in this movie—don’t be. They hard carried the whole thing. Sota and Hana are an absolute DELIGHT to watch playing off each other. They have GREAT chemistry supported by well-shot scenes and good dialogue. 11/10 worth watching just for these two alone.

- Yuzu and Karin. Even though they changed their designs to look identical in the movie (I’m guessing for the instant visual cue of ‘oh they’re twins!’), I’m glad they kept their personalities the same. Karin is snarky as ever, Yuzu is sweet. So +1 for that. But then they made Yuzu (Karin?) say ‘Onii-chan, I’m scared’ during the fishbone D attack, rather than the canonical ‘get away, you’ll get hurt’. Which… look, fair, she’s eleven, I think that’s more realistic, but ALSO YOU JUST???? CHANGED HER WHOLE CHARACTERISATION. CAN WE PUT SOME RESPECT ON HER NAME PLEASE

- Uryuu……hmm. They made him a LITTLE more chill than he was in the manga, but he was such a dramatic character in canon already that he still comes off pretty darn dramatic in the movie. I did really like his characterisation, but he had such little screentime that I’m finding it difficult to like… do any substantial comparisons to his manga character. I’m thinking I might need a rewatch to solidify my opinions on Uryuu. But his little scene at the very end with Ichigo after they all lose their memories of Rukia is very sweet and makes me wonder about their dynamic if they hadn’t had all this quincy-shinigami bs to sort through.

- Chad was in the movie even less than Uryuu, but I have no complaints about his characterisation. Pretty accurate to manga canon.

- Guys I LOVE Keigo in this movie. ‘He died on the spot’ Iconic roast. LET KEIGO ROAST ICHIGO 2K18

- Tatsuki was eh. She wasn’t in the movie long enough for me to really have an opinion on her characterisation, and it’s unfortunate that the only part of her character they brought from manga canon was the ‘give Orihime bad advice on how to date Ichigo’ part, but whatever. It’s not technically WRONG characterisation, just not the FULL characterisation.

- Orihime…………… god, Orihime. Look you guys know that even though I have my ‘and NONE FOR ORIHIME BYE’ days, they’re mostly in jest, and I actually do appreciate her as a character. I like her, mostly! I think she’s fascinating to write about and explore! I think she deserved good things, better things than what the ending set her up for!

- But I’d strangle movie Orihime without hesitation. Bye bitch

- OK, you know how you thought anime Orihime with her constant ‘Kurosaki-kun’s was annoying??? Movie orihime was WORSE. Movie Orihime? Straight up yandere. She literally doesn’t have a single appearance where she’s not talking about Ichigo or being weirdly jealous of Ichigo and Rukia’s friendship or worrying about Ichigo in an overbearing, over-the-top way. And I’m actually really frustrated and disappointed about this, because early Karakura Orihime was ACTUALLY A GOOD CHARACTER!!!!!! Orihime, imo, is the most egregious OOC in this movie. Which is a shame, because the rest of the characterisation was actually… ok and decent

- Renji and Byakuya….. ohhhh boy. Renji and Byakuya are characterised as straight up villains for the whole movie with no redemption. There’s no nuance of them being possibly friendly and/or having concern for Rukia at all throughout the whole movie, which could be OOC depending on how you look at it, but honestly it makes sense considering this movie only covers up to chapter 56 Broken Coda and does NONE of the SS arc. Basically, their characterisations are how we would characterise them based on the one time they came to collect Rukia. They’re cold, uncaring, think humans aren’t worth anything, and that emotions are a human weakness. RENJI STRAIGHT UP SWINGS A SWORD AT AN UNARMED CIVILIAN CLOTHED RUKIA (yes I know it happened in the manga too but. It’s a lot more shocking watching it happen real-time) and also STABBED!!!! URYUU!!!!!! IN THE BACK!!! WHILE HE WASN’T DOING ANYTHING THREATENING!!! So, uh, this movie really said ‘fuck renji rights’. God I’m imagining like… if ur introduction to Bleach was through this movie, and you decided to look up how the manga ends and it’s RENRUKI and you’re like ?????????????? THE DUDE SWUNG A SWORD AT HER????? Like FORGET IH, this movie really fucking hated rr. Which… im not mad about lmfao

- Final note on characterisation: as usual, IR fucking hard carries, but what ELSE is new for this franchise. Isshin was a surprising dark horse. Overall, characterisation FINE, not OOC with one glaring exception, but sometimes because of time constraints certain characters didn’t get their FULL RANGE of characterisation.

- THIRDLY: overall technical excellence of the movie in terms of script, camera angles, choreography, CGI, etc etc

- My one line summary for this is…. It’s an anime live action adaptation. I hope ur not expecting much from this department at all

- Like, in terms of is it a GOOD movie? Lmfao. I enjoyed the hell out of it, sure, but I don’t think someone who has no idea what bleach is would a) understand what the heck is going on OR b) find the story to be well-paced and well-told. Like, I KNEW what was coming and what was going on, and even I found the movie to be a bit disjointed, kind of like old metal machinery that needs oiling to get going.

- Honestly this movie is similar to the manga in that… technically speaking it’s not great, but its strengths lie in the character arcs and the overall poetic parallels it tries to pull. It may not have been the most artistically executed, but I could tell that they really tried to put the parallel in between IR protecting each other and Masaki dying to protect Ichigo. Like, an attempt was noted! It was appreciated! Obviously they don’t do it with as much grace as the manga did but y’know, they tried!

- The script was actually really great in this movie. Bleach is a very snarky manga and the script really showcases that. Everyone shows a lot of sass. I like that. The one exception to the script being good was whenever a hollow opened its mouth to speak. They really gave the hollows dialogue like ‘I WANT YOUR SOUL’ and ‘GIVE ME YOUR SOUL’…. Like. Someone got paid for that dialogue and they really shouldn’t have.

- I honestly don’t have an opinion on the CGI. Ro kept saying that the cgi was BAD and like I guess it was, but I’m pretty lenient about CGI in general. I already know it’s going to be CGI so unless it’s BLATANTLY fake I overlook it.

- But there is this ONE SCENE of Renji going into shikai that looks so awfully fake that even I was like ‘ok no that was BAD’ so I guess CGI bad

- The choreo in the fight scenes is messy and disjointed and very cringey. I can’t believe they managed to pull manga-style comical violence in REAL LIFE and make it look believable and funny, but couldn’t choreography a decent fight scene……. Man idk. I guess they really DID spend all their budget on making IR as excellent as possible.

- Overall: technically speaking it’s a terrible movie, but will that hinder your enjoyment of it? Probably not. Watch it just for the excellent banter.

- FINALLY: Miscellaneous yelling about various scenes through 120% Ichiruki-filtered glasses.

- Guys, this movie. This movie. They really sat down and said ‘ok give them literally every single early-karakura ichiruki fanfic trope situation ever’ and that’s it, that’s the movie

- ICHIGO KEEPS LEANING DOWN RIGHT INTO RUKIA’S FACE!!!! THEY HAVE NOOOOO CONCEPT OF PERSONAL SPACE!!!! Which I guess is canon but THEY KEEP!!!!! LEANING!!!!! INTO EACH OTHER!!!! I will DIE

- The sPARRING????????? THE SPARRING?????

- Ichigo smirks while sparring her. She’s kicking his ass and goddammit, he LIKES it

- They legit made Rukia tackle Ichigo and pin him to the ground and then they made Ichigo flip them around

- And then they made ORIHIME WALK IN ON THAT

- UN!!!! BELIEVABLE!!!!!!!

- (Sidenote: they made Orihime act so weirdly jealous of that?? Like… wtf orihime. You’re not his girlfriend like she has no rights to be acting like this…. Look the Orihime characterisation in this movie is A Mess)

- They have conversations through shut closet doors while ichigo’s lying on his bed THIS APPEARS IN EVERY. SINGLE. IR EARLY KARAKURA FIC EVER IM

- Ichigo: CAN YOU GET OUT OF MY CLOSET. NO YOU CAN’T LIVE IN MY HOUSE

- Also Ichigo, the INSTANT he can’t find Rukia in his closet: WHERE IS SHE. LET ME JUST RUN AROUND IN THE DARK OUTSIDE TO FIND HER. HEY URYUU HOW DO I GET TO THE AFTERLIFE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T BRING HER BACK. SO WHAT IF I DO, HUH? WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT. FIGHT ME

- Also ichigo becomes so much SOFTER towards Rukia after a certain point in this movie and…. God…… I love that you can see that switch in Sota’s acting. I’m going to CRY

- OK THIS IS A VERY SHORT SCENE BUT AT ONE POINT RUKIA LANDS ON A ROOFTOP WITH AN INJURED ICHIGO AND SHE LIT. RUBS HER HANDS ALL OVER THE BARE SKIN ON HIS CHEST BC SHE’S RUBBING MEDICINE INTO HIM!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!! WHERE’S THE M-15 RATING ON THIS MOVIE BC SHE LEGIT!!! HAD HER HANDS!!!! ALL OVER HIM!!!!! Ro and I shouted abt this so much God

- The final fight is RIDICULOUS in terms of HOW MUCH ICHIGO WON’T STAY DOWN and it’s framed SO dramatically lmfao but y’know, it’s shot in a very IR light, I’ll take it

- Ro and I literally were just like IT’S THE POWER OF LOVE BITCH bc he legit just KEPT getting up it was ridiculous

- Also rukia’s final speech to ichigo after she does her whole broken coda ‘don’t touch my brother lowly human’ spiel is…. Beautiful. Fucking excellent

- ‘you’re rude and brash and I’m sick of all humans especially you’ but like. Why is this literally kate’s ’10 things I hate about you’ speech at the end of that movie

- ICHIGO DOESN’T TAKE HIS EYES OFF RUKIA THE WHOLE TIME SHE’S ERASING HIS MEMORIES. DOESN’T EVEN BLINK. THIS IS SOME EP 342 TEAS ALL OVER AGAIN. FUCK. I’M GOING TO!!!! DIE!!!

- Ok so my opinion on how they changed the end: it was necessary to tie things all up in one movie but that doesn’t mean I don’t hate the fact that ichigo ostensibly forgot rukia when in canon HE’S THE ONLY ONE THAT REMEMBERED

- I guess the final scene where he looks at her writing on his textbook and smiles could be a sort of clue that he’s starting to remember. Man idk I think I’d just feel really cheated as a viewer who isn’t coming from a bleach manga/anime background, that everyone just conveniently ‘forgot’. It’s equivalent to an ‘it was all a dream!’ kind of ending imo. It’s a copout. But at the same time I can see why it was necessary :’/

- Also, this exchange with uryuu at the end where they exchange hellos before pulling up short and going ‘wait- do I know you?’ ‘no. but good to know you’ was SO HEARTBREAKING BUT SO GOOD I REALLY DID LOVE THAT

- Whoo ok I’m SURE I’ve forgotten some details but this is already EXCESSIVELY long so. Final FINAL thoughts:

- The quality of the movie is, obviously, not great, but if you were worried about weird chara interpretations and relationships, don’t be. Unless you’re an IH/RRstan or an Orihime fan. This will not be a fun movie for you. But then again, you managed to work through 686 chapters of a manga that clearly wasn’t fun for you and seemed to be ok with it, so maybe this movie won’t bother you either.

- The script is surprisingly solid and has genuinely good, occasionally touching, snarky, sassy dialogue. Good attempts at poeticism and various parallels and callbacks.

- Ichiruki fucking hard carries, and so does isshin. I love uryuu but that may just be my uryuu bias talking.

- Objectively, maybe a 4, 5/10. Ichiruki-wise? 8/10. Obviously this was written in a high straight after the movie and like, maybe after a few days or like a rewatch or w/e my opinions may change. But rn? God I love stanning legends, viva la ichiruki fuck you

#bleach #bleach live action #ichiruki #fangirl life #incredible.... guys who wants to watch the movie again w me bc honestly im up for a massive rewatch #bleach liveblogging

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astridthevalkyrie · 7 years ago

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Dead of Night: Chapter 11

Modern AU. Includes magic. Hiccup Haddock never wanted to move to Berk and start a completely new life. With a new mom, weird kids, and an embarrassing crush on a blonde girl, things aren’t going his way. And worst of all, Berk is hiding a secret. In the dead of night, when no one is awake, something...is out there.

Chapter 10

Despite the possible looming threat descending onto Berk very soon, Hiccup found himself enjoying himself in the next few days.

One reason was because of the now very real friends. He hung out with the gang frequently, and he was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t simply because they wanted to hear more about the manor, but because they genuinely wanted to be friends with him. It was so cool.

Not that they didn’t discuss the manor. Snotlout and Astrid especially loved using curse words to describe the mayor, while Fishlegs chastised them.

Hiccup was drawing Toothless in his notebook distractedly as the gang broke out into yet another argument. They were sitting in his room, simply flopped on the bed with Tuff trying dangerous poses on his chair. This time the squabble was about another one of his ancestors.

“Hamish the Second did look a lot like Hiccup!”

“Oh yeah?” Ruff challenged, standing up. “Then explain why Hamish the Second looks like a total beefcake in his portraits while this Hiccup is a fishbone!”

“Hey!”

A few inches next to him, Astrid snorted into her drink. Fishlegs took a deep breath before explaining his counter argument. He was the one trying so hard and he was still somehow losing the argument.

Astrid leaned over to see Hiccup’s notebook and raised an eye, whistling appreciatively. “You’re not bad. Ever been in a competition?”

“No.” He kept his eyes focused on the drawing, because he was certain he’d blush if he actually looked at Astrid, but a smile grew on his face. She was still gazing at the drawing, interested as she scooted closer to him.

“What else have you drawn?”

Nope, the blush was coming whether he looked at her or not. “Uh...I’ve drawn some places I like. I’ve drawn -”

“Have you drawn Astrid?” Tuff, who had apparently been eavesdropping as he sat upside down on the chair, asked.

That got everyone else’s attention very quickly, and as Ruffnut began to make kissy faces, Astrid scowled. “Oh, shut up. He hasn’t drawn me.”

He had, though. Minor sketches, mind you, but he still had.

“Cut it out,” she snapped at Ruff, leaning back with her arms crossed. That was the end of conversation with Astrid for the day. Hiccup sighed. She became closed off and cold so quickly - he wished the the rest of the teens hadn’t said anything, or they could still have been talking at the moment. And he liked talking to her.

“Do you need some help?” Hiccup asked quietly, watching his stepmom about to start mopping the kitchen floors.

Kara smiled at him, and her eyes twinkled before she leaned in as though telling a secret. “I bet I can clean the counters faster than you can mop the floor.”

Hiccup grinned - and took the challenge. He was relieved she hadn’t brought up anything that had happened before, even if he hadn’t really expected her to. They started cleaning quickly, and he took the time to truly see that their work ethic was a lot alike too.

Kara was the most normal person in this whole town, wasn’t she? His dad certainly wasn’t.

Which the man proved when he trampled into the kitchen, setting down a huge bag of groceries and collapsing into the chair. Hiccup’s eyes widened in horror at the mud tracks. Kara smiled amusedly.

Damn challenge. He had lost.

Hiccup was left alone in the forge again. Okay, he had sneaked in at night. But it was really hard to be in there alone at all - this was the only way. It wasn’t as though he was breaking in, either, he worked here.

Sucking in a breath of air, he got started on two projects. A new tail fin, and a saddle. It would be close to impossible to ride Toothless’s back if he didn’t have a clutch.

Which meant he had to make a new outfit for riding. It could be similar to horse riding, he’d read up on that.

Bang after bang went the hammer. Despite the sweat and occasional bruise it caused, Hiccup quite liked the work.

He had wrapped the materials in cloth and was struggling to carry them back home, when out of nowhere, Excellinor was in front of his path, grinning madly.

Hiccup yelped, the saddle and fin nearly slipping from his hands. “What is your problem?”

“You killed my son…” she crooned sadly. “Of course, he tried to kill you first, but you just wouldn’t cooperate.”

“I haven’t killed anyone,” Hiccup said quietly, “please, just let me…”

He tried to sidestep her, but she blocked him and came even closer, close enough for him to smell her rank breath. “He lives in you! Oh, that horrible brat of a Hiccup lives in you! I thought - I thought it’d be your mother...but she…”

He stepped back and narrowed his eyes. “What about my mother?”

“Oh, it couldn’t be her,” the woman said, scowling, “it’s always a Hiccup. But she reminded me of him, oh yes. Not as much as you do, of course,” she cooed, grinning, “but enough that they didn’t let her into the manor. The day she went in is the day she never came back.”

Fear rose up inside Hiccup. Valka? Valka Haddock. His mother, had died in the manor? They had been told she’d had a heart attack, that she had just gave out…

Hiccup started to run towards the manor, his mind racing. Excellinor called out after him.

“You won’t find her in your little home, Hiccup! You’ll only see her blood!”

Toothless was most certainly becoming the best part of his days.

It was today that he dropped down shakily next to the dragon, no longer worried about any of the others in the sky. They never came down, never touched him.

“Mom moved when I was six after her and Dad got divorced,” he mumbled to the dragon, scratching behind his ear, “and then all of a sudden she died last year. But if she was involved in all of this, it makes sense that she would…”

Hiccup hated Viggo Grimborn even more now. He was the reason for the death of his mother, he just knew it. And by association, Ryker.

He didn’t realize Toothless was nudging his hand until it was a few seconds late. “Sorry, bud. I guess - that witch really spooked me out. Let’s go flying.”

He unwrapped the new tail fin first. That Toothless had no problem with, he happily put it on, eager to fly again. It was when the saddle came out that there was a power struggle. It ended up with him chasing the useless reptile all around the yard, being hit by his tail many times, and falling a lot before he finally got Toothless still enough to put on the saddle.

And with that they were flying again. It wasn’t any less exhilarating - he was glad the spirit world was as windy as the real one.

It was a nice end to a tiring day. And it should have ended there.

But it didn’t. Instead, Hiccup got off Toothless, and was about to go back when his arms were roughly grabbed, and he was yanked off the ground. Toothless letting out the loudest roar he had ever heard as boy and dragon were separated from each other.

It was the dragon on the floor, and the boy flying away.

#httyd #hiccup #toothless #astrid #excellinor #valka #valkyrie stories

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zarinthelwrites · 7 years ago

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Blooming from the Mud Pt. 2 (Bleach/ DGM)

Rukia throws the brick at his head.

As if that will hit me, Kanda thinks, before realizing a second too late that he is in a nine year old body, and it absolutely will.

His stomach wakes him back up. He thought it was bad before, but now it feels like the hollow caverns he grew up in, empty and echoing and painful.

“Why are you so hungry, bastard?” It's the redhead. He’s crouched down beside Kanda, as he and the girl seem to have taken him to somewhere better than the marketplace with bright green grass and a bubbling stream.

“I’ve been hungry since I got here,” says Kanda. “What do you mean, why?” Now that he thinks about it, it is strange that he’s hungry now that he’s dead. If it turns out he needs to eat souls to survive in this place, he is going to do something that the beansprout would regret. Or maybe not, considering how much Allen loves the damned.

“Since you got here?” The kids eyes widen, then narrow in annoyance. “You know you’re dead, right?”

“Renji,” scolds the girl. She has dirt on her face, deliberately smeared to hide the fact that she’s going to be beautiful. So there are scum everywhere, even in death.

“I know,” says Kanda. “I’m looking for someone who died at the same time as me.”

Pain flashes across Rukia’s face, while Renji spits in disgust.

“If they even remember you,” Rukia says, quietly. “They could be anywhere in the 320 Districts of the Rukongai. North, South, East, West-- it’s....unusual. For family members to end up anywhere near each other. A one in a million chance.”

Kanda stared at her, then closes his eyes. Of course. He should have known better.

“But you’re starving,” says Rukia. “That means you have...spiritual power. Anyone who needs to eat has power, and the more you need to eat the stronger it means you are.”

“The head of those assholes who keep encroaching on our turf-- the Rust Fang gang-- eats three meals a day then vomits it all back up,” says Renji, viciously. “That son of a bitch Inomata, walking around with a shinigami sword even though everyone knows he got it by sending the black robe into a Hollow nest.”

“So this guy has food and a sword,” says Kanda. He wants to be absolutely clear.

“Are you crazy!” Renji yells, loud enough that birds take off from a nearby tree. Yes, thinks Kanda. There are lotus blossoms in the river, and when he looks at them for too long they multiply.

“Don’t follow me,” he says instead. “You’ll just get in the way.” He knows even as he says it that it’s the wrong thing to say, that they will ignore him, because Rukia will do anything for family and Renji will do anything for Rukia, and they took him to safety and took care of him while he was unconscious, even though they shouldn’t have. Lenalee would adopt these children in a heartbeat.

If Allen were here, he would smile, and come up with some other important task that the kids could do, and then sneak away while they were distracted.

Kanda hates lying to children above all else. Maybe he even hates it more than he hates the Black Order.

“I can’t protect you,” he says instead, because these children are old enough to make their own choices. What are they? 10? Older than him, or Lenalee, or Timothy. And there’s no such thing as too young to die. Or die again, as it is.

“We know where Inomata’s hideout is,” says Renji. He bares his little baby teeth. “We’re the only ones who can take you there.” He’s still bargaining. He should leave the bargaining to Rukia. She knows better.

“Okay,” says Kanda. “Lead the way.”

The way appears to be through a lot of back alleys that eventually open up to reveal a building guarded by two men wielding rusted knives and a smell so awful that Kanda seriously considers if it's an intentional secondary weapon. Neither Renji nor Rukia do more than wrinkle their noses at it, though, so maybe it’s just him who hasn’t acclimated to the Howling Dog District. Kanda takes a deep breath, and then immediately regrets it. Now it feels like his tongue is covered in rotting garbage. He’s been bathed in blood and felt more clean than this.

Having learned from previous mistakes caused by arrogance, Kanda approaches the two men with his hands behind his back, doing his best to seem harmless. As he has zero experience with this, he assumes that he comes across as more dead eyed and indifferent than anything. But he’d been underestimated a lot, when he’d looked this age before. Every Akuma in entire cities would seek him out, seeing the child in the uniform and mistaking him for prey. Understandable, as that was also what Kanda saw when he looked back at them. He’d killed a lot of Akuma dressed in mother’s skins, those first few months outside.

“What’s a pretty little thing like you doing out here?” One of the guards laughs. “Got lost on the way to the whorehouse, girlie? Or your mama waiting til you’re older, so she can get a better price?”

It’s been awhile since Kanda has been mistaken for a girl. It happened less as he failed to age gracefully, and the frown lines radiated out from his eyes in a cross pattern with his cursed tattoo.

“Leave her alone, Yoshiaki,” says the other one. “You know what the boss thinks about leaving the gate when you’re on duty.” He drags a finger across his throat, makes a gagging sound.

“Nobody needs to know, Niou,” Yoshiaki says, lazily beckoning Kanda to come closer. “Isn’t that right?”

“No,” says Kanda, and throws a brick at his head. The piece of shit staggers and falls, bleeding heavily from his temple. The second one opens his mouth to sound the alarm and Kanda kicks him in the crotch, hard enough that he hears something pop. The almost yell turns into a quiet, horrified gasp for air. That one might live, but Yoshiaki is never getting back up again.

Kanda continues past them into the main building. It’s mid morning, and Kanda has been assured that most of the men of the Rust Fang gang will be too busy trying to sleep off their hangovers or general sickness to do anything but groan in his direction. Kanda bypasses them for now, resolving to figure out if it’s worth killing them once he actually has a sword to help him do the job.

The last room of the hideout is so utterly strange that Kanda has to stop for a minute in order to convince himself that the entire thing is more than just him seeing things. Inside the room, the light comes from unstably burning candles that flared and guttered at random intervals. The sleeping gang boss keeps two dogs chained to the wall on opposite sides of the room, both wearing animal skulls carved to resemble the not-Akuma masks along with polluted, spiked collars. The one closest to Kanda is awake and watching him, but has made no sound to alert his master of the threat. Its skull mask is actually a huge fish head that bobbles over the dog's mouth in a way reminiscent of a muzzle. The other dog has one ridged like a lizard. Inomata himself sleeps in the center of the room on a mound of fur, mouth open as he snores. The sword lies in easy reach of his hands, should he be suddenly thrust from his sprawling slumber. At least he is alone in the bed.

Stealth has never been a strong point of Kanda’s, so the fact that he’s gotten this far without having to deal with anyone other than the outer guardsmen is so much better than how he thought this whole thing would go that he doesn’t really have a plan for how to get the sword without fighting the man, the dogs, and the entire organization for it.

Kanda shrugs, dismissing the issue. Whatever. As long as he has the sword, he doesn’t care if he does end up fighting the whole organization for it.

He’s been barefoot ever since he got to this afterworld, so he doesn’t need to change anything in order to make himself as quiet as possible.

The dog huffs a bit as Kanda draws close to him, so Kanda stops to pet him. On one hand, he regrets this because the dog’s fur is matted with black blood and fish guts. On the other hand, he’s going to make Inomata regret it even more. He crawls over to where Inomata is sleeping, carefully staying below the bed’s line of sight until he can reach up and grab the sword. He feels a short second of

Resistance. Who?

But it's nothing to him. The sword trembles ever so slightly in his hands, reflecting the dim light of the tallow candles that line the room and add to the giant stink. He kills Inomata quickly.

The dogs are both up now, pacing and tugging at the end of their chain leashes. Fishbone is still silent, still watching him. Lizard is growling deep in his throat. Kanda looks next to him, where she is laughing at him, calloused hand reaching up to hide her mouth and petticoats aflutter.

Allen always thought that it was how Kanda was made that sentenced him to a life of ruin. Kanda knows that’s just Allen projecting. Dying, chaining himself to the Order, Falling-- he doesn’t need other people to damn him.

He breaks Fishbone’s chain first, then Lizard. The sword works better than it should, cutting through the wrought iron with only a couple of chops. He’s expecting the dogs to attack him, to howl and wake the base so he can fight his way out properly. Instead, one of them sticks its cold, slimy nose into the section between his throat and his collarbone, and he’s the one that shrieks louder than Komui at three in the morning.

He’s going to skin these dogs alive and then use their coats as laundry rags. Lizard opens up its jaws and lets its long, gross tongue loll out of its mouth. It’s laughing at him, Kanda knows. He hadn’t realized that dogs could be used to so expertly stand in for that dumb rabbit.

“Where is the food kept?” Kanda asks the dogs, not having any high expectations. But maybe they're better at standing in for Lavi than he thought, as they both immediately start trotting towards a door hidden in a cluttered corner of the room. At first glance it looks rusted shut, but when Kanda kicks the door it creaks open to show pantry full of fermenting alcohol and food just on the edge of rotting.

Kanda gives the alcohol a dark scowl. Chasing Allen through the red light districts of Eastern Europe while nursing a throbbing hangover had managed to slip right into the cracks of his nightmares to the point where he point blank refused to touch the substance anymore. But he can’t ignore his hunger any longer, and he goes through the stale, spoiled food so fast that beansprout would be jealous.

He is still hungry, when he pauses. But it is ignorable.

The dogs have eaten their fill behind him, gobbling up dropped crusts of bread, bones of meat, fish heads and tails and other less pleasant things that cover the ground. Some of them are things that dogs probably shouldn’t eat, but Kanda makes no moves to stop them. There is nothing living in this strange world beyond. He can taste the food as he eats it and it tastes like the air and the dust and his blood-- it tastes of when he drank down his Innocence and chained his fate to Allen.

What are Akuma made of? Death, tragedy, machine.

What is he made of? Death, tragedy, persistence. Regret.

It will have to do.

A/N: all of yall waiting for allen to show up: i apologize, i’ve got some of this planned out and he probably wont show up for at least 15 chapters, if i get that far. i will b explaining what happens to not japanese souls at one point tho. sooner or later.

#bleach #dgm #please talk to me about this #i live on feedback alone

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365footballorg-blog · 7 years ago

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Black History Month: How Cobi Jones sparked a generation to get in the game

February 22, 20185:02PM EST

EDITOR’S NOTE: This year, MLS and its community outreach initiative, MLS WORKS, will launch a new platform, called “Soccer for All.” Soccer for All signifies that everyone is welcome to MLS, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or ability. MLS embraces the diversity of our league and is committed to ending discrimination by driving positive social change and fostering more inclusive communities.

Cobi Jones is not soccer’s Jackie Robinson. He wasn’t the first African-American to take to an American pro soccer field, not by a stretch. Nor was he the first Black player to make a significant impact on the field for the U.S. national team. (Joe Gaetjens, we see you!)

But a case can be made – and I will happily make it – that Jones was the first Black soccer player in America to be both talented enough and visible enough to inspire other African-Americans to get into the game.

Like many Americans, my older brother and I were introduced to Jones in the summer of 1994, when the World Cup party came to the United States for the first time. That year, the U.S. team and its cast of characters broke into the mainstream consciousness like no other team before or, arguably, since.

Alexi Lalas, with his long red hair, bushy beard, and acoustic guitar. Eric Wynalda, who scored that incredible freekick goal to earn a draw with Switzerland that let everyone know we weren’t going to be pushovers. Tony Meola, Claudio Reyna, Tab Ramos, and Johnny Harkes – all dripping with North Jersey soccer swagger.

And then there was Cobi Jones.

Cobi Jones in action against Romania during 1994 World Cup | Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

An arresting mix of catch-me-if-you-can speed, impeccable skill and iconic dreadlocks, Jones was instantly intriguing. Watching him come on as a late sub vs. Switzerland, my brother and I locked eyes and both said something to the effect of: “Yo, who is this dude?!”

It may sound extra in the era of Jozy Altidore, but for us two soccer-loving Black kids in Texas, Cobi Jones was a near-deity at that time. To give you an analogy rooted in the era, he was the sporting equivalent of Living Colour (the rock band) and In Living Color (the sketch TV show).

He was someone who looked like us doing stuff we’d never really seen people who looked like us doing.

Alongside pro skater Steve Steadham and ska-punk outfit Fishbone, Jones was the third point of light in our little Holy Trinity of weird Black guy idols. It’s not that we didn’t like soccer – or skateboarding or rock music – until we saw them do it; it just made us feel normal for once to see someone other than us do it.

Representation counts.

Suddenly that summer I was out kicking a ball for the first time since I was 11. It was only pick-up – the options for organized soccer for an 18-year-old after a seven-year absence from the game are limited – but I didn’t care. I was back on the field and with zero hang-ups about it. I was also now buying any soccer magazines I could get my hands on, meticulously combing through them for details on the imminent launch of MLS; with the World Cup over, I needed a new way to get my Cobi fix.

Jones: “I was never the type to say ‘Look at me! I’m your role model.'”” | Hana Asano/@hanaasano – LA Galaxy

The thing with Cobi Jones, though, was that he didn’t just do it. He did it damn good. Cobi’s resume is so thick with accomplishment that you would be foolish to accuse him of being an icon on skin-tone alone.

Internationally, he repped the U.S. at the Olympics and at three World Cups. Before he was done, he earned 164 caps, a record that still stands despite Landon Donovan’s best efforts to catch him.

On the club front, Jones played a record 392 games for the Galaxy, his only MLS club. He notched 76 goals – including the club’s first ever – and 104 assists, and before retiring in 2007, he won two MLS Cup trophies, two Supporters Shields, a U.S. Open Cup, and a CONCACAF championship.

Simply put, the man produced.

But the record books will never account for what he did to help produce a new generation of African-American soccer players and fans.

Getting Jones to talk about his position as a role model has never been an easy task. Gregarious but never one who seemed comfortable being the center of attention, he always preferred to let his game do the talking.

Until now.

Cobi Jones is currently the lead soccer analyst for Spectrum SportsNet in LA | Hana Asano/@hanaasano – LA Galaxy

“I never talked about it much, but I think right now, in the times we’re living in, it’s important to,” Jones recently told me. “We’re going through a watershed time in this country. And now some things that didn’t have to be said in the recent past need to be said out loud today.”

Things like how the representation of people of color in administrative roles needs to improve. How the economic barriers to high-level youth soccer can limit the opportunities for Black and Hispanic kids. How American soccer’s traditional suburban development pathway, so at odds with development pathway in the rest of the world, is probably hamstringing the game’s potential here.

In many ways, by speaking out, Cobi is once again acting as a north star for people. It isn’t easy now, just as it wasn’t easy when he was trying to just be part of a team. But, as always, the man produces.

“You feel that you are different, but you also feel that you have a responsibility to hold yourself in a certain way,” he says of being a role model. “I always wanted to make sure that I carried myself with a certain amount of self-respect that was evident.”

“I was never the type to say ‘Look at me! I’m your role model.’ But I always had a sense of what I was representing. I wanted others to see what I was doing and know that they could do it as well.”

SHAWN FRANCIS is the founder of the pioneering The Offside Rules soccer blog, a co-founder of Asbury Park FC and a long-suffering New York Red Bulls fan.

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Black History Month: How Cobi Jones sparked a generation to get in the game was originally published on 365 Football

#Black #Cobi #game #Generation #history #Jones #month #sparked

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365footballorg-blog · 7 years ago

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Black History Month: How Cobi Jones ignited one man's passion for soccer

February 22, 20185:02PM EST

And then there was Cobi Jones.

Cobi Jones in action against Romania during 1994 World Cup | Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

He was someone who looked like us doing stuff we’d never really seen people who looked like us doing.

Representation counts.

Jones: “I was never the type to say ‘Look at me! I’m your role model.'”” | Hana Asano/@hanaasano – LA Galaxy

Internationally, he repped the U.S. at the Olympics and at three World Cups. Before he was done, he earned 164 caps, a record that still stands despite Landon Donovan’s best efforts to catch him.

Simply put, the man produced.

But the record books will never account for what he did to help produce a new generation of African-American soccer players and fans.

Until now.

Cobi Jones is currently the lead soccer analyst for Spectrum SportsNet in LA | Hana Asano/@hanaasano – LA Galaxy

SHAWN FRANCIS is the founder of the pioneering The Offside Rules soccer blog, a co-founder of Asbury Park FC and a long-suffering New York Red Bulls fan.

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Black History Month: How Cobi Jones ignited one man's passion for soccer was originally published on 365 Football

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