#I'M IMAGINING ME FREAKING OUT ABOUT THIS AND WATCHING THE ACTUAL SEASON AND NONE OF THIS IS TRUE 😂💀 OR WHATEVER! SOMETHING CRAZY! IDUNNO!

[verosvault]

🚨 POSSIBLE POTENTIAL CORRECT THEORIES FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR SPOILERS!!!! READ THIS WITH CAUTION!!!! 😭😭✋✋🚨

OMGGGGGG!!! THIS IS SO WACK!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!

GORGUG GETS A GUN?!!!! (I ASSUME HE'S MADE A GUN!!! 😭✋)

"VULTURE WITH CACTUS"! OH NO! NOT THE VULTURE REFERENCE!!! 😭😭😭😭

BRUH!!! "FAVORITE CRAZY DND MONSTERS, BEHOLDER"....

A BEHOLDER???!!!! DUDE! BRENNAN! GET OUT OF HERE WITH THAT FR! 😭✋ 🚨LIVE SHOW SPOILER| THEY ALREADY FOUGHT ONE OF THOSE BEFORE DURING ONE OF THE LIVE SHOWS! 😭✋|LIVE SHOW SPOILER ENDS HERE🚨

The bu...ette might be a "Bulette" I think is what they're called. They're a common D&D monster. Just guessing. 🥴 Bulette's are kinda scary ngl! I only know that from watching SOME EARLY S1 of CritRole Campaign 1! It's basically a HEAVILY ARMORED MONSTER THING! WHICH MEANS IT HAS HIGH AC! 🥴🥴🥴🥴 WELL...NOT SUPER HIGH...JUST LOOKED IT UP! USUALLY 17 AC TO HIT IT! 🥴 Still kinda a high-ISH number to hit. 🥴

BLACK LIGHT STUFF SOUNDS SO INTERESTING!!! I'M CURIOUS TO SEE WHAT THEY DO WITH THAT!!! [EDIT: CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG! DIDN'T "ARCADE AMBUSH" IN EPISODE 14 OF "FANTASY HIGH S1" HAVE BLACK LIGHT STUFF IN IT?!!! IT HAD SOME KIND OF FREAKY COOL LIGHTING!!! NOW THAT I'M THINKING ABOUT IT! 👀👀👀👀]

I wonder if the "day glow run fragments" were those small red spiky things. 🤔🤔

I sure don't wanna think they're the PSEUDO PODS OF THE NIGHT YORB OR WHATEVER THEY'RE CALLED! 😭✋

"FLOOR IS OCTOPUS MADE OF SHADOWS"?! BRUH WHAT?!

"Purple Stone Castle Night Yorb Temple". There were SOME PICS OF THE DOME WHERE THEY HAD LIKE PURPLE-ISH ROCKS BEHIND THEM! BUT IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE RED WASTE AT NIGHT TIME?! IDK! 🥴 IT SEEMED LIKE THE SAME RED WASTE SCENERY BUT KINDA PURPLE-Y! 🥴

Yeah it literally is just the Red Waste at Night...I don't think that's the "Purple Stone Castle Night Yorb Temple"...Hmmm 🤔🤔🤔...I honestly don't even know if that map was shown in the trailer. I bet it wasn't. 🥴

I LOVE HOW SOMETIMES IT WOULD JUST BE REFERENCES GIVEN LIKE "DOCTOR STRANGE" AND LIKE- "SWORD AND SORCERY VIBES"!!!

I THINK IT'S COOL HOW THE NIGHT YORB IS LITERALLY JUST A SEA CREATURE! PROBABLY MAKES SENSE WHY RIZ SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SPEAKING THE NIGHT YORB'S NAME WHILE ON A SHIP HEADED TOWARDS LEVIATHAN! THE WORRINESS OF THE HANGMAN AND THE VAN WERE VERY ACCURATE REACTIONS TO HAVE! 😂💀 CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT THE NIGHT YORB IS A BIG MANTA RAY! 💀✋

IS THAT THE BBEG OF THE SEASON?! 😭✋

ONE OF THE POTENTIAL LOCATIONS ON THIS LIST SAYS "SAT PREP CLASS" AND I'M CURIOUS IF THAT'S THE SANDY TEMPLE TOMB LOOKIN' PLACE WITH THE CLASSROOM SEATS AND CHAIRS!!! THAT COULD BE SAT PREP CLASS MAYBE?! I MEAN! THEY FIGHT WHAT LOOKS TO BE A FREAKING HYDRA BEING IN THERE!!! 😭😭

DJWJCJKE A POTENTIAL LOCATION BEING BASRAR'S CONCERNS ME FOR MULTIPLE REASONS! 😭😱

THE SCREENSHOTS WE GOT OF RIZ AND ADAINE WITH THE RED STUFF ON HER AND GORGUG, FIG AND ADAINE STANDING IN FRONT OF THAT DOOR WITH THE SKULL ON IT COULD EITHER BE MORDRED MANOR! OR STRONG TOWER! STRONG TOWER IS CROSSED OUT THOUGH! SO IDK IF THAT MEANS IT'S DONE OR IF THAT MEANS THEY SCRAPPED IT! EITHER WAY! IT'S A POTENTIAL! THE SCENERY THEY'RE IN DOESN'T LOOK- OHHHHH!!!! NO!!!! IT COULD BE SEACASTER MANOR!!!! 😱😱😱😱😱 I DIDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT!!!! 😱😱😱😱😱😱 THAT WOULD EXPLAIN THE DOOR WITH THE SKULL ON IT...RIGHT?!!! 😱😱😱😱😱

MORDRED MANOR?! SEACASTER MANOR?! STRONGTOWER LUXURY APARTMENTS?! QUESTION MARK?! SKULL ON DOOR?! IDK! 😭✋

THE "UNDERWATER?" PART UNDER EP.704 AND THE THING WHERE IT'S CALLED "AGUEFORT CHASE SEQUENCE"! WE SAW A PLACE THAT WAS COMPLETELY BLUE! AND AGUEFORT WAS THERE. IT SAYS "UNDERWATER? BOOKS SUSPENDED FLOATING"! IDK! CAUSE THE FULLY BLUE SET LOOKED A LOT LIKE A MALL TO ME!! 😱😱😭😭

I'M EXCITED TO SEE THE SPIRIT GUARDIANS AGAIN!!! 😆😆😆

CONCERT OUTDOOR COACHELLA AT THE THISTLESPRING TREE? QUESTION MARK?!

BRUHHH!!! PORTER'S BEEN EVIL THIS WHOLE FREAKING TIMEEEE!!!!! BRO WHAAATTTTT??!!!!!! EISKKRKWKDKSKKFWKWLRL AAAAAAAAAA!!!! DUDDEEEEEEE!!!!! OMGGGG!!! THIS IS SOOOO WAAAACKKKKKKN!!!! IS PORTER THE BBEG?!!! NOOOO!!! I'M ACTUALLY WEEPING CRYING TEARSSSSSS!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

alright let’s go over the junior year clues we got in the rick perry documentary thing (disclaimer: i’ve definitely missed stuff, but i think i got the big things, feel free to reblog and add with stuff that i missed though)

[at the bottom of this post I've typed out the decipherable words that plan out some combats and NPCs from Rick's screen. it's the most interesting thing but it's super long so it's at the bottom under a cut]

We get a blurry look at some minis. I’m seeing at least the PC’s minis, as well as what looks like Baxter the Gryphon.

There’s some major shots of this battle. Includes a Baby mini, the Hangvan with some kind of laser canon on top, a stingray-esque monster that is likely Night Yorb (see below), something that looks like maybe an ice elemental or the crystal (see below), and some large bugs and shirtless people. Clearly set in the Red Wastes. Detailed info of the planning for this battle below.

One of the shots had reference boards in the background. One is clearly for the Hangvan (see earlier screencaps), but the other is unclear. It looks like it includes some sort of tennis or tennis-adjacent sport.

Confirmation that Mordred Manor is a set piece.

Finally, one shot showed Rick’s computer screen with some critical info about planning. I’ve put what I’ve been able to decipher below the screencaps. and under a cut, as it’s very long.

EP. 701 DEFEATING NIGHT YORB CHASE (RED WASTES) Hangvan, Night Yorb is giant flying Manta Ray thing? Rainbow road, being chased by night yorb while trying to throw crystal into portal. Crazy gun on rough [roof] that gorgug made, I can’t get a lock on it. Just need one last final thing to defeat night yorb. Red wastes, chasing the night yorb around, flying bats teleporting onto rough [roof] of van, NPC allies, Balthazar, two other cars they are in contact with, tiefling bakers or sidekicks are reveals Stormchaser twister, trying to get a lock onto it, Night Yorb is escaping the world. Maybe night yorb gets away, why didn [didn’t] you get it? And Balthazar died? Murph invented the Night Yorb. Don’t fuck with the Night Yorb. Exploded out of riz’s chest, needs to be dumb as hell. it’s the jabberwocky, it burbled, hugely terrifying, Horrifying cursed thing. Unending night for two months. Dragon sized, bigger than the Hang Van, 30’ wingspan Stars and moon. While the night yorb flies it is night and not day. Not malevolent force, but everything on earth will die Have giant ghost busters canon, Honey I shrunk the kids cannon Driver, mechanic, gunner, navigator (using SW 5e mechanics) Hang Man - Fabian motorcycle Tether is attached to night yorb, either magic or harpoon Night Yorb could out pace them. Could smash van. Cultist of the night yorb appearing on the road, mad max style ”The night yorb is our god” Red Wastes Cultists: Riding skeleton horses, classic fantasy cultists, Manta ray night yorb masks Sword and Sorcery vibes, MUSCELY, oiled, black leather, rings Shadow of Night Yorb Tether must be reeled in over 4 rounds Success Meter - 4 rounds or it escapes Pop up cultists in the middle of the road 4 maps Straight away, gully bridge crossing, rap popping up, giant portal It’s going to another world but if it gets away thats just as bad Ayada [Ayda?] thing built in. Chekov’s gun. Gun has cool helix of energy that is getting cranked in. Gun is on the back and on the hood is a binding circle that Adaine does. Cultists are making the portal. YORBIES if they catch it, it gets bound into the paint of their van Gun is gorgug’s stuff and circle is adaine 6 cultist perusing them, 4 or 5 at the portal, 1 or 2 back up Single person traps, Vulture with cactus MINIS: Night Yorb - Giant shadowy manta ray, inky black dripping, made of liquid, different underbelly, deep indigo or bone white. Made of shadows, dripping aberration, flat plane, long tail, two weird eyes coming off front on stalks. Second set of PCs TERRAIN: Red Wastes! NOTES: favorite crazy dnd monsters, beholder, [unclear word, bu…ette] Fungal Black light portal battle! Dr. Strange battle set, pseudo pods of elder pod night yorb, day glow run fragments, purple stone castle night yorb temple, floor is octopus made of shadows. Starting mid battle. [blank sections] PROJECTION: Counter here of some kind?

POTENTIAL LOCATIONS Basrar’s icecream shop? Mordred Manor Seacaster Manor [crossed out] Strong Tower Luxury Apartments SAT Prep class [screen cuts off]

EP. 704 DENTENTION [detention] STEALTH CHASE SEQUENCE/ QUIET LIBRARY/ Aguefort chase sequence? Combine sets interrupted by having to make it past a hall monitor Underwater? Books suspended floating, everything is affected by water Don’t wake daddy? Start in Library to get to Aguefort’s office Hallway Classroom Bathroom Lockerroom [blank sections] DYNAMIC ELEMENT: Water

CONCEPTS Dicks! SPIRITUAL GUARDIANS - Full service on minis, summons, etc Psycadelic fungal giant, black light, trippy, beautiful Revisiting old set [screen cuts off]

[fyi everything past this point was very blurry, so I could only decipher pieces here and there]

EP. 706 OUTDOOR CONCERT COACHELLA Music feature? Flaming [?], giant [?] [???] Fig and Gorgug on stage [???] Lighting effects, [???] Floating stage or something [???] Demons? PROJECTION: Lasers?

NPCS/ VILLAINS/ MONSTERS/ ETC. PORTER CLIFFBREAKER is secret servant of nightmare king tactical battlefield combat that [?] 2-3 times larger than PCs LED buried inside him [???] Porter was [???] basketball player [screen cuts off]

[the rest was too blurry to make out anything other than a blank section titled ROLE PLAY/ NEUTRAL BOARD and a section that seems to be for EP. 708 and says EXTRA with some blurry words after it]

[animebw]

Seasonal Reflection: Winter 2024 Anime

My feelings on the first anime season of 2024 can be summed up thusly: Most of my favorite shows from winter 2024 were continuations of shows that were already great from last season, not new entries. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and there were plenty of new anime I at least enjoyed watching. But it became clear about halfway through the season that aside from a couple fall 2023 holdovers, there was barely anything truly exciting going on here. Most of the adaptations I watched didn't do much to truly elevate their source material, and most of the few original series we got ended up the worst of the bunch. I can't say nothing good came out of winter 2024, but if this is any sign of how the rest of the year is gonna go, we may be in for a slog. For now, though, let's take stock of the anime I watched this season, and which ones are worth your time.

Metallic Rouge: 3/10

If you asked me what the worst show I finished this season would be at the start, I never would've guessed Metallic Rouge. I mean, it's a cool-ass original sci-fi anime from Bones with slick 2D mecha animation, surely that's gotta be at least a little cool, right? Sadly, no. Because this is, without question, one of the most baffling scripts I've ever seen in anime. Almost every single detail of its world and plot are barely explained, if at all, and the mechanics of what's even supposed to be going on are so nebulous that every attempt at a plot twist feels like a twist on something that never actually existed. Characters are plopped into the story without even an introduction. At times it feels like whole scenes have been cut out entirely. The only thing I can compare it to is the original Suicide Squad movie from 2016: a story so cut to the bone in the editing room that you can barely tell what's supposed to be happening half the time, and yet enough of the original story remains to suggest it was never any good in the first place. The one thing it gets right is the prickly chemistry between its two leads, and then it fucking keeps them separated for like half the damn runtime! How do you even unforced error that badly?

Bucchigiri: 3.5/10

Man, this was not a good season for original anime. Bucchigiri might not have been as staggering a writing trainwreck as Metallic Rouge, but its sin is arguably even worse; it's boring. It's a wacky, colorful high school delinquent romp with rainbow-haired Jojo's punks beating the snot out of each other with genie powers, it's sort of a re-imagining of Aladdin, it's got freaking Hiroko Utsumi at the helm, and it's boring. Why? Because this show gets absolutely stuck in the quicksand of its own status quo and refuses to budge an inch. Character growth is nonexistent, the protagonist is an aggravating loser wimp who never learns his lesson, and nothing of actual meaning happens from the first episode to the end. Literally everything you think is setting up a character arc where someone learns a lesson or grows as a person, all of it amounts to nothing. It's a limp, inert world that perpetuates the same overdone jokes and contrived, misunderstanding-based drama over and over again until all the outsized Utsumi visual personality feels like a tacky coat thrown on top of a lifeless corpse. What an utter waste.

Urusei Yatsura Season 2 (1st Cours): 5/10

I'm still not quite sure what to make of the Urusei Yatsura remake. is it charmingly dated? Annoyingly dated? A welcome throwback or a sign that some things should stay in the past? If nothing else, it never fails to get at least a couple chuckles out of me every episode. But the more it tries to lean into being actually sincere, the more its inherent cheesiness and lack of depth starts becoming a problem. I'm sorry, this cast of characters is just too abrasive and purposefully insane to take seriously, and none of their relationships are healthy enough to unironically root for. Lum and Ataru are not a couple I want to see actually get together, at least not unless Ataru stops being such a fucking shithead. And if him being a jackass could be charming in season 1, then this season is really starting to test my patience with him. It's one thing to be a serial skirt chaser, but his actions this season regularly cross a line from womanizing to unambiguous sex pest, and there's only so many wooden mallets he can get knocked over the head with before it stops feeling like like he's getting punished as much as he deserves to be.

Undead Unluck (2nd Cours): 5/10

Good news, everyone: Undead Unluck finally gave up on those awful groping gags that were ruining its central romance! Bad news: at the same time, it spontaneously developed one of the worst cases of recap padding I've ever seen! I'm not just talking overlong recap segments at the start of the episode, I'm talking constant flashbacks to events we just saw just moments before, straight up playing the same footage again just minutes apart, all climaxing in a truly unforgivable episode that spends seven goddamn minutes on recycled footage. Not even Tokyo Revengers was this bad with its time-wasting. And to add insult to injury, once it finally gets its feet unstuck and returns to a reasonable amount of recap for the final arc, it's probably the best arc of the entire show! It's some of the most bonkers high-concept emotional storytelling I've ever seen attempted, let alone pulled off so spectacularly. It's proof that there is so much brilliance to Undead Unluck, if it could just get out of its own way. But as long as it continues suffering from such massive systemic flaws, it's only ever going to be an also-ran.

Solo Leveling: 5.5/10

Okay, look; is this show dumb as a bag of rocks? Absolutely. Is it as nakedly an adolescent power fantasy as any anime has ever been? Ditto. Does it solely exist for dweeby incels to feel like swaggering douchebag chads getting revenge on all the normies who looked down on them by becoming The Bestest Strongest Chadliest Awesomest Of All Time? You know it. But god dammit, it's actually fun. I cannot pretend I'm too mature and sophisticated to enjoy a big, helping heaping of dumb edgy schlock when it's actually done well. I'm the one person on the face of the earth who still caries water for Akame ga Kill, for crying out loud. And Solo Leveling makes two really smart storytelling choices that keep it (mostly) on the entertaining side of dumb fun: building a genuinely interesting and intricate world that exists well beyond the scope of the protagonist's actions (for now, at least), and making sure that no matter how stupidly overpowered Jinwoo gets, his opponents are always just a little bit even more stupidly overpowered, so he's still pushed to his absolute breaking point and barely scraping together a win by the skin of his teeth every time. There is an art to edge that's too often taken for granted, and this show is proof that being the living embodiment of a twelve-year-old boy's wet dreams is no excuse not to be at least a decent version of that. That said, let's be real, Jinwoo was so much more attractive before his supposed glow-up. Give my boy back his scraggly rat locks, you cowards.

Bang Brave Bang Bravern: 6/10

What happens when a campy, cartoony 70s-style super robot anime crashes headfirst into a much grittier real robot anime? Well, what happens is Bang Brave Bang Bravern, the latest ten-car pileup of mismatched genres from the Cygames masterminds behind "What if horse racing but idols?" Take a desperate war story of survival against impossible odds, airdrop a skyscraper-sized superhero into the mix, and watch him completely shatter the original tone one cheekily ironic powerup and power-of-friendship speech at a time. It's a beautifully bonkers sendup of mecha tropes that has some of the funniest individual moments in this entire anime season, and the absolutely wild twist it pulls with the titular robot's identity in the back half is more than worth the price of admission on its own. Unfortunately, if it wanted to be as perfect a parody-until-it-isn't mecha series as Akiba Maid War was a parody-until-it-isn't mob flick, it probably should've tried being as long as most mecha series tend to be, i.e. more than just twelve measly episodes. There's just not enough time to develop any of the characters or world beyond the most essential parts, resulting in huge chunks of the supporting cast hanging around with nothing to do but take up space. And it leads to this show, which is trying to be so big and over the top, instead feeling so small and half-formed. Also, the secondary romance is gross. Like, really gross.

A Sign of Affection: 6/10

I think this show has helped clarify something for me: I'm really getting tired of how quickly modern romance anime get their main couple together. As much as we rag on the endless will-they-won't-they of ages past, taking so much time to build up the characters and their relationship before they finally make it official can result in some truly one-of-a-kind storytelling when done right. I might agonize over how long Sawako and Kuronoma take to get together in Kimi ni Todoke, but the payoff is so transcendent that none of those complaints matter. Whereas Yuki and Itsuomi getting together so quickly in A Sign of Affection... I mean, they're cute, I guess? His cool demeanor plays off her sincerity very well? But it feels like the show's in such a rush to get to the good stuff- and so determined to make Istuomi the dreamiest, most perfect boyfriend ever- that it skips over so much of the careful character-building that makes all the best anime romances so special. It's a sugary sweet confection, but wipe the frosting away and there's just not that much cake underneath. Honestly, I find the side characters a lot more interesting because they're allowed to have messy internal conflicts with a bit more meat on their bones. But hey, props for putting a deaf heroine at the center of your shoujo romance and taking so much time to explore how that affects the way she interacts with the world. That's a cause well worth celebrating.

Sengoku Youko: 6.5/10

Rejoice, everyone, we finally have an adaptation of a Satoshi Mizukami work that doesn't look like absolute garbage! After the flaming disaster that was Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer's barely animated hackjob production, Sengoku Youko has arrived to give the cult fave manga artist a chance for his work to actually shine on the silver screen. As someone who only knows him through Planet With, I've always wondered if Mizukami deserved the reputation his manga gets, and with White Fox delivering as tight and intense a production as they gave Re:Zero, I guess it's time to finally find out. And the answer is... mostly? Like, the biggest problems in this sci-fi/feudal fantasy mashup are the characters being a little too eager to state the themes out loud and one pretty crummy death that's about as hamfisted and over-telegraphed as I've seen in a while. But there's a shockingly gripping narrative underlying it all, a story about the scars trauma leaves on people, of characters making bad decisions and facing real consequences for them, of hatred and poisonous ideology forced to reckon with the more complex reality of the world as a whole. And it all climaxes in an absolute barn-burner final episode that knocked my score up a half point all on its own. If future seasons can make good on all the potential this first season has set up, then I may just end up a Mizukami fan myself when all is said and done.

Blue Exorcist Season 3: 6.5/10

I'm of two minds about Blue Exorcist's second return after a six-year gap between seasons. On one hand, it's clear the new staff is just nowhere near as talented as the folks who first brought this series to life at A-1 Pictures. The action is abysmal, the storyboarding is clunky, and the animation feels like it's constantly fighting for its life to maintain a passable standard. And it sucks that a series that once brought such great life to its story is now held back by such a mediocre production. But on the other hand... holy fuck, am I glad Blue Exorcist is back. I once described The Devil is a Part-Timer as the mathematical average of anime as a concept, but if you were to ask me what the best possible version of that mathematical average looks like? It would be Blue Exorcist. This is, hands down, one of the best straightforward shonen action stories in the whole medium, a reminder of why all the most generic and overused tropes were once powerful enough to become generic and overused in the first place. It's proof that even the simplest of "superpowered teens kick demon butt with the power of friendship" concepts can result in a wonderful goddamn series when handled with good old-fashioned storytelling fundamentals. And not even the rough-as-hell production is enough to keep season 3 from delivering on the thrills, tears, laughs, and cheers that make this series so magical. Just, please, give the next season more time in the oven so it doesn't feel like it's wading through molasses to hit those heights. Okay?

Delicious in Dungeon (1st Cours): 7/10

Delicious in Dungeon's biggest problem is that it takes a while to really settle into itself. The opening scene of the protagonist's sister being devoured by a dragon sets the tone for an intense and desperate rescue mission, but the actual series that follows this harrowing opening is as lackadaisical as can be. And it's jarring to be thrust into a gag-filled, character-driven fantasy cooking comedy where the harsh tone of that opening scene and the ticking clock of Falin's digestion completely disappear from the characters' heads in favor of how beast to cook and eat the various fantasy monsters they encounter in the dungeon. Yes, it makes a little more sense once the mechanics of death and resurrection are explained later on, but it's a weird note to start on. Which is a shame, because once Delicious in Dungeon gets a handle on what kind of story it's trying to be, it's really fun! Its sense of deadpan comedy coupled with Trigger's expressive animation makes for some really unexpected gags, and the way it explores its fantasy cuisine is genuinely some of the most creative stuff I've ever seen in the cooking anime genre. Plus, with the dark tone coming back in at the end of the first cours- and landing much more naturally this time- I have high hopes for how this series will marry those two sides of itself moving forward. If the manga fans' reactions are any indication, I think we're in for a damn good time.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (2nd Cours): 8/10

So remember in my last post how I said that it was kind of disappointing whenever Frieren turned into an action show because of how disconnected the fights were from the beating heart that makes this show so special? Well, apparently the writers heard me and decided what I meant was I wanted this peaceful, meditative tale about grief, change and the passage of time to turn into the goddamn Hunter Exams for ten episodes straight. It's one of the most shockingly ill-advised storytelling swerves I've seen in an otherwise good show, discarding all this series' strengths in favor of a half-baked tournament arc with tonally jarring grimdark elements and a bland, overstuffed cast of characters who only start becoming interesting in the rare moments they're allowed to stop slinging spells at each other and just, like, talk about life? You know, the stuff that Frieren's actually good at? Not this brainless slice of shonen envy that only avoids being a complete slog thanks to how spectacular the action is across the board? Ugh. Look, Frieren is officially the most beloved anime on the goddamn planet right now, and its best moments are so incredible that I wish I could join that chorus as well. But it's so disappointing to me that a show this singular and special has so often chosen to be the least interesting version of itself.

The Dangers in My Heart Season 2: 8.5/10

It's official: director Hiroaki Akagi is the master of middle school rom-coms. No other creator so perfectly grasps the specific blend of immaturity, awkwardness, cringe, and heart-on-sleeve sincerity that defines the love stories of early adolescence. That was already clear with his work on Teasing Master Takagi-san, but now that he's pulled it off twice, there's no room left for argument. And just like with Takagi-san, the second season of The Dangers in My Heart takes a show that was already shockingly good and catapults it into all-time greatness. This is a coming-of-age triumph, a soaring tribute to embracing your own cringeworthy self, flaws and all, and sharing that self openly with the people who matter most to you. Ichikawa's journey toward maturity, Yamada's journey toward self-love, and the way their romance sparks the best in both of them is the stuff that dreams are made of. I laughed, I cried, I squealed like a little girl, and I felt my heart grow three sizes by the time it was done. This is a new gold standard for anime rom-coms, and if you can stomach a bit of groanworthy fanservice, it more than deserves your attention.

The Apothecary Diaries (2nd Cours): 8.5/10

Most of the time when I cover a two-cours show on these seasonal reflections, I end up in a pretty different place by the end of the second cours than I did at the first. Either it sort of fell apart in the second half, or found its footing and took it to the next level, or it changed in some interesting way that affects how I view the show as a whole. But The Apothecary Diaries has stayed the course from the first episode all the way to the end. Start to finish, it's remained pretty much the same show, with the same ideas and attitude, exploring the same themes in the same ways. And you know what? When you're as good as The Apothecary Diaries ended up being, there's nothing wrong with that. This is a spectacular historical drama that builds such a rich, compelling world for its equally rich, compelling characters to inhabit. It's a powerful exploration of how old society treated the disadvantaged- women, poor people, people with all severities of disability- and how one deeply abnormal girl carves her way through this viper's den with her body and soul intact. It's the kind of mature, thoughtful series we so rarely seen done this well, and with the announcement of a season 2 already confirmed, we may well end up with close to 50 episodes when all is said and done. That, folks, is what a true shoujo/josei renaissance looks like. And I'm so happy such a deserving series is leading the way in reminding us how damn good women's stories can be when they're given a chance to shine this brightly.

DROPPED

Cherry Magic: Dropped at 2 episodes for looking like butt and the central romance feeling pretty lifeless.

High Card Season 2: Dropped at 1 episode because I realized I didn't care anymore.

Ninja Kamui: Dropped at 2 episodes for being dull tryhard edgy bullshit with overdone fight scenes that are impossible to follow.

[poughkeepsies]

okay I promised my full deranged buddie s7 spec so walk with me here

imagine we start the season, its a couple weeks/months after the bridge collapse, and bobby and athena have just left for their cruise. cut to buck and eddie and buck seems kind of sad/dejected for some reason but no one knows why and eddie is riding the high of starting dating again and taking his shot with marisol. then chris drops the bombshell that he's dating on eddie and asking him for advice and eddie starts panicking because what the hell does he know about women he very spectacularly ran off the last two and the night's still young with marisol. so he goes to buck, because its chris and buck always has the answers with chris and anyway buck may suck at keeping a girlfriend but he's good at the dating part and he has natalia now and he seems so sure about her so clearly he's doing something right. and buck says yes, of course he's gonna say yes, it's chris, but while chris is asking all these questions about love, and dating, and how do you know when you really like someone and what do you do when you like someone like that, buck is answering them but the weird kicked puppy air keeps clinging to him and he sounds wistful if nothing else. and toward the end of the episode, he admits to eddie that him and natalia broke up. he dodges the question of why no matter how anyone asks throughout the rest of the season.

the rest of the cruise ship arc goes by and then its ep 100 and HOWEVER it happens (maybe its tommy, maybe its anything else I actually have no spec for this part) buck starts questioning his sexuality or just plain going "why the fuck not clearly I'm doing something wrong with the way I've been going about dating maybe its the fact that they've all been women" and starts thinking about dating men. he talks to eddie about it and eddie starts feeling some type of way but tries to be supportive anyways (and then immediately goes to bobby and begs for a transfer which is why bobby tells him he can't tell him how to feel about the job. jk but i actually have no idea where that line fits into any of this or what its about so we're ignoring it). eddie and marisol are still doing perfectly fine and going on casual dates atp.

then ep 5 rolls around, which looks like a pretty shenanigans filled episode, so it could mostly have nothing to do with the rest of the plot or it could have some of that underlying tension festering between buck and eddie, especially with a name like "you don't know me"

now starting with episode 6 I'm not totally decided where this spec plot would go but it can go a couple different ways. if episode 6 is the bachelor party episode only and there's no actual wedding the tension could just keep building OR there's actually gonna be a Moment. maybe nothing happens or maybe they get drunk and wake up in the same bed but even if they do they immediately start freaking out or avoiding each other and not acknowledging it. either way, the wedding will happen. it will be chaotic and insane and beautiful and by the end of the night buck is standing in his sad little corner watching everyone when hen or maddie comes up to him and he will finally admit that the reason why natalia broke up with him was because she knew he's in love with eddie. maybe eddie's also looking back at him or maybe he's glowing, twirling marisol around on the dance floor.

ORRRRRRR

nothing actually happens between buck and eddie after buck comes out. eddie and marisol break up sometime before the wedding/bachelor party for seemingly unrelated reasons. the bachelor party and wedding go off with several hitches but none involving buck and eddie's relationship. and then the next morning they wake up in bed together à la chandler and monica getting together in Friends.

[eldritcheden]

so it's totally past my bedtime but I've been watching NCIS again lately and need to go on a ramble so here goes

...not the full rewatch like back to series one and JAG and Kate and such, just from Netflix's catalogue on so like season 10 or something onwards

it was my number 1 obsession in my tweens and early teens but up until now I had seen little to none of the post Ziva era

here's a collection of thoughts:

I used to ship Tiva soooo hard - like I used to use 'Tiva' in usernames! and now I watch them and am just like euuuhhhh idk I feel like Ziva deserves better. In all honesty a lot of my ships (particularly when I was younger) are basically just a reflection of whatever the piece of media 'wanted' me to ship. like it was all just pattern recognition and the autism y'know.

having said that, and while we're on ships. I enjoyed the ride Ellick (apparently that's their ship name?) took me on. honestly as an extension of Ellie's arc in particular. Like there's that episode when she's dating Qasim but the team doesn't know yet and they talk about her compatibility with Reeves vs Torres, and the thing is like they were totally right Ellie and Torres totally weren't compatible at that point in Ellie's character arc. When she joins she's like the most stable 'normal' member of the team, she's maybe even a little naive, she's happily married to a fellow intellectual business-y soft-boy type. Then there's Qasim, still a fellow intellectual still a soft-boy type but much more of a romantic idealistic(?) soul. And throughout her tenure Ellie becomes more and more 'NCIS'- she gets more reckless and badass etc etc etc until the point where she kinda meets nick at his level for their compatibility. Like his character is comparatively relatively unchanged in that time, like he's settled a little bit really it's Ellie that 'matches his freak'. But her arc wasn't finished- she had to keep going and left him behind in her wake. and I dont think i really latched on until Ellie left but Torres is really one of My Guys at this point - like Elliot Spencer of Leverage flavoured guy. Y'know on the outside a bit of a broody (slightly sassy) lone-wolf badass type, super strong protective drive, vulnerable inside and don't believe they're worthy of love... Love that flavour of guy.

Okay that was a long one but I'm not really done with this topic but just think about the potential this holds for the future. I don't know why the actress left the show and that will effect how likely she'd ever be to come back but ugghhhh just imagine.

They run into Ellie on an op. She's undercover and 'working with' the bad guys. To protect both her cover and Torres she shoots him ala Gibbs and McGee in 1mm. THE ANGST. His little heart broken eyes. the tension the conflict. Nom Nom Nom Nom Nom delicious. She becomes one of their reoccurring 'villains' maybe her pic is even up on the most wanted wall. Maybe there's tie-ins with the Tony and Ziva series? Cause like I've seen that speculation and it kinda makes sense but again I need the drama of her being 'in opposition' to our mains. and anyway I need the friends to lovers to enemies to lovers /enemy lovers pipeline for them. The tension they could deliver, both dramatic and sexual, unprecedented. Sign me up.

I'm rambling, this isn't even general thoughts lol it's all Ellick with an honourable mention to Tiva.

Quick actually general thoughts:

They keep setting mcgee up as future director, and have been for a couple of seasons, I wonder if thats gonna come to fruition any time soon

12 yo me really did have a moment when Ziva came back.

Having said that I'm really not a cast purist. (I probably was at 12 tho lol) Like I don't mind people leaving and being replaced, that happens in long running shows and I feel like so far it's gone relatively well. Even Gibbs leaving- like he was iconic but they managed to make his departure seem refreshing rather than.. 'emptying'.. if that makes sense.

I guess I was surprised to find out that LA was cancelled, just cause it was the most solid spinoff they'd had but honestly I hadn't seen that in years either so who knows how it was actually doing.

I think 12 yo me is very excited for the Tony and Ziva spinoff. I just can't quite hear her over current me's excited projecting about future ellie possibilities- there's so much meat on that bone.

Ok. I really don't even know what I'm talking about at this point. Good. Night.

Edit: I remembered another thought. I was honestly low-key surprised that Knight and Jimmy became a thing cause I feel like at first they were kinda setting knights character up to be a lesbian- the way she clocked Marcy, and I feel like there was at least one other moment that I can't think of off the top of my head. I guess she could still be bi, but idk, I feel like I definately clocked a few hints early on that she wasn't into dudes? She and jimmy were a cute plotline though so I'm not gonna knock it

[fountainpenguin]

"So sing your sad excuses... You've got the scars to prove it."

---

Wait, this isn't an Origin of the Pixies update... We have a new Frayed Knots chapter today!

Chapter 34 - “Floodgates”

Read on FFN || Read on AO3

---

While Anti-Cosmo and his mother are on Anti-Fairy migration season, they decide to hatch a little scheme... and pick the Head Pixie's brain while they're at it. They've got questions about Anti-Fairy World's inheritance laws, and who better to ask than the pointy-hatted freak in the spreadsheets himself?

... And if you like that joke, Anti-Wanda's got a few more up her sleeve. Check it out!

(First 1,000 words under the cut)

---

Floodgates

In which Anti-Cosmo and his mother network with the Head Pixie, Anti-Blade challenges Anti-Lance, and Anti-Cosmo tutors Anti-Wanda in the Winter of the Scattered Whispers

---

Anti-Buster approved me to wear a new betrothal ring, seeing as I'd thrown mine off in the Eros Nest and none of us dared ask the Eros Triplets if I could have it back. We spoke of it in private. I kept my eyes downcast and told him what I wanted. He did not deny me that request, nor urge me to break ties with Mona.

For that, I was grateful. If she'd discovered our false betrothal all because Anti-Buster had put down his foot on the matter, well… I think I would have flown away from Cedarcross and never shown my face in Anti-Fairy World again. I might still be out there in the wild now, my entire body horribly overcome with gangrene, likely addicted to regeneration cycles and whimpering about all that I had lost. No, thank you… I'd cling on to my comforting lies. Without them, I might not be able to breathe.

Well, I met Anti-Buster, Fairy-Coleen, and the High Count all in the breakfast room in the very early hours of the day. Anti-Buster did all the fitting for me, though Coleen Prime floated nearby so she could offer the occasional thumbs up. The Fernfire family knows their gems… I'll say that much. I only wished I could choose one from the box she'd brought downstairs for Anti-Bryndin. My betrothal ring was mere foggilite. I wouldn't get the traditional black leather band with a gem until my wedding day. Though, I'd been wondering if I might be able to swap the leather out for a less animal-related material…

"A citrine," the High Count decided at last. He actually was the High Count right now, for Winni had shifted his attention somewhere else and had no interest in using his body at the crack of dawn. I turned away from the small mirror in Anti-Buster's hands to see Anti-Bryndin lifting a small jewel from Fairy-Coleen's display box. He weighed it in his palm. It was neatly cut, perfectly square. "Yes, this is good. An amethyst holds a pretty colour, but here is my true need. This best represents our friendship now."

"It suits him," Fairy-Coleen said, bowing low. She would have said that about any gem, I'm sure, but Anti-Bryndin looked satisfied nonetheless. He motioned for Anti-Buster to turn the mirror away from me and focus on him instead. Oh. As I watched, Anti-Bryndin took hold of his tongue and dragged it down. We Anti-Fairies are known for our long tongues, which we decorate with gemstones representing our closest friends and partners. I still carried both Anti-Lance's and Anti-Kanin's on the back of my tongue, although I'd considered removing the latter several times.

Anti-Bryndin looked as though he had a few gemstones in need of replacing. It's one of the downsides to acidic saliva, but of course… one of the perks of being noble is to enjoy gemstones any time of day you want them. A piece of jade on the High Count's tongue represented Anti-Elina. The ruby was for my mother. Although no one had confirmed the amethyst for me, I couldn't imagine anyone more fitting for it to represent than Shamaiin Vieldgarr, his childhood friend and the current Purple Robe.

There were two more gems for people I didn't recognise. So… did he plan to add the citrine to his tongue, then? That didn't seem quite right to me. It's traditional to select a favour together, with the favoured person identifying a stone they feel truly represents them and the recipient covering costs…

I didn't mean to stare, but Anti-Bryndin caught sight of me in the mirror and turned his ears my way. "Ah. Do you wonder about this citrine, Anti-Cosmo?"

My wings jumped. "Oh! Um…" I ducked my head, glancing off. "No, sir. I didn't mean to intrude on your personal space." I adjusted the Water-blue ring on my knuckle. But Anti-Bryndin didn't seem to notice I'd just tried to dip out of the conversation.

"Yes, it is a long time in coming, this favour jewel for my tongue…" Leaning his hip against the small food table beside us, Anti-Bryndin reached out and casually plucked up an apple. Its surface had grown dull, now freckled with brown, but he held it before his eyes as though it shone. He smiled. "These sounds in the energy field betray your curiosity. I do not mind this. It is for the Head Pixie that I choose a favour, but time zones have ruined him. We will discuss details tonight."

I coughed. More than a bit, actually; I spluttered. I only felt grateful that I hadn't been drinking from the wineglass one of the servants had brought me. But even without the shower of wine to accompany my shock, I forgot my composure. I forgot where I stood and whom I addressed. I whirled around.

"What? You don't mean he actually-? But- but… He's Seelie!" I couldn't believe the bizarre timing of it all, imagining this revelation back to back with my explanation to Blonda on why Seelie and Unseelie interactions rarely ever worked. I shook my head. "H-how did you manage to pierce your tongue if he doesn't even have…?"

Anti-Buster lay his hand on my shoulder. I fumbled my sentence to a close. Anti-Bryndin looked me over with pure amusement sparkling in his eyes. He nodded with a slight dip of his head. "The Head Pixie and I hold a relationship that is very close, and we choose to exchange the deepest of commitments."

"C-congratulations." My face must have been raspberry purple. I… I didn't understand. Certainly I knew that Anti-Bryndin and the Head Pixie must preen together, even deep preen, as Seelie political expectations would dictate the two leaders of two powerful races do, but for Anti-Bryndin to go as far as adorning the Head Pixie's chosen favour on his tongue…

I shivered. That was one step beyond political expectations. There must be deep affection between the two of them indeed, but I couldn't imagine how Anti-Bryndin had coaxed such commitment from the Head Pixie in such a short span of time. Um… Relatively speaking, anyway. I suppose they've had their friendship for nearly 10,000 years, so I may be exaggerating somewhat. But still, the Head Pixie agreeing to exchange favours…

… Had Anti-Bryndin actually informed the Head Pixie what that sort of bond implied? It might be incredibly rude of me to imply he didn't. But had he? My core twitched and fluttered in my head. Are you even allowed to exchange favours with another head of state? Surely that interferes with politics, and surely that must be seen as a conflict of interest somewhere along the way, wot?

[Cnt'd on FFN / AO3 - Links at top]

[golden-bubblebee]

Bubbles watches Supernatural pt7

Season 4 babey. (Pt1)

Okay, current theory; castiel rose dean from the dead

Okay but when dean calls the phone company and bobbys like 'how d you know he would use that name' and dean replies 'are you kidding me, what don't i know about that kid

MAJOR feels

IT IS IT IS ITS CASTIEEEEEEWWEEL

Oh my god castiel wtf

Okay magic boy

Such a chaos child

IM SORRY HE SOUND LIKE-THAT-???(Cas)

Fucking called it. It was Cas who brought Dean back

Thats beautiful can you imagine the winchester boys drivin round in a hippie van

Dean breaking my heart again

'What's he like? John?' HE WANTS TO GET TO KNOW HIS DAD WHO WAS HIS ACTUAL DAD AND NOT SOME CRAZY FUCKEF UP BITCH

Im in pain

Cruing crying crying

No I'm actually sobbing

As in making noise sobbing. Literally

'On november second 1983. Promise me you won't get out of bed. No matter what you hear.

You know what well and truly freaks me out

Grandpa winchester, when possesed by the yellow eyed demon really really reminds me of john winchester

Prolly bc he also reminds me a lil of Negan from twd and theyre the same actor

IM SORRY WTF JOHN JUST GOT KILLED

Okay I know the guy is posseded by a demon but this is very wrong (Mary and grandpop winchester kissing to seal the deal)

Ive heard castiel speak about 4 times now and his voice still catches me off guard

Im sorry what??? My guy Dean just ripped an ear off

Nawh little baby sam being all flabberghasted meeting cas

Nawh not Dean turning big brother comforting Sam when hes dissapointed abt the angels, evem tho Dean doesn't believe the same way

Sams bday is 2/2 hihi

I love that 'busty asian beauties' is a returning theme in spn

Dean I love you

'We are teddy bear doctors!'

Thats a dad right there

OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK

I knew something would be up with teddy

But I did -not- expect a whole as grown man to live in this childs room

Nah the depressed alcoholic teddy bear got me cracking upp

I need Sam and Ruby to fuck nasty

oh my god nah 5 minutes later my wish got granted

Nooo sam you coward

YES THANK YOU LORD

They really said 'sam gets to fuck a demon, well then, Dean gets an angel

Love that sam and dean don't even believe in death anymore

Teenager Dean hurts me

Him not realising that not having a curfew and being home alone with his brother for 2 weeks isn't, in fact 'a sweet setup'

Okay Losechester is kinda funny

I need Sam and Ruby to fuck nasty again

Obsessed with Bobby having a phone line for each of their covers

He truly is dad™

Noo sam with the Siren doctor is just sad

Hes so absolutely besotted and none of it is real

OH MY GOD NEW THEORY

The doctor isnt the siren, but the other FBI agent is

He is, after all, Deans dream guy

OY MYY GOD IT ISSS

Nah who does this stupid siren think he is

Does he really think he can make Dean 'I went to hell for sammy' winchester kill the guy? Lmfao

SAM YOU DICK WHY DO YOU KEEP LYING

Oh my god I Just realised

I'm finally a true tumblrina

I have reached superwholock

I think my castiel feelings are starting

'we need u to torture demon, uwu'

'no I dont wanna'

'i also dont wanna, but you need to'

'u wont like who i'll be afterwards'

'I know, uwu, Im sad I dont wanna make u do this. Also, btw, Im so attached to you even tho weve spoken like. Five times, that god is downgeading me'

Okay but what even is up with akastairs voice

WHAT IN THE FANGGANG IS GOING ON HERE (an amazing vampire Sterek fic written by aclosedficisneverread)

Why is this genuinly like the fic

'its okay sammy, you can have it'

Horny bloodsucking

Both of them enjoying it

sam joined the fanggang

Wtf they are fucking angels and they couldnt be bothered to use waterproof spray paint? Why use shitty chalk

HELLO CASS WHERE ARE YOU YOUR BF IS GETTING BEATEN TO BITS

'oh you are losing the war? Let me kill my soldiers as punishment so we defo cant win'

HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE

URIEL WTF

Oh my god uriel you sound like a middle child

Its not blame that falls on you, Dean, its fate

Aaaah How am I Meant to be normal about them

HES THE CHOSEN ONE

How did I completely miss the moment castiel went frim castiel to cass for Dean

Uhm wtf feverdream

NO NO NO I DO NAT ACCEPT THIS CAR WHERE IS THE IMPALA

Okay but this bit is so good. That little music + jareds facial expressions convey so good that this is not our Dean

Dean SMITH?

He better be 7 miles deep undercover

Sam is gonna be in that elevetor aint he

BITCH WDYM DO I KNOW YOU, YOU HAVE A DYSFUNXTIONAL CODEPENDENT BROTHER

SAM YOU CANT TALK ABOUT YOUR WEIRD DREAMS TO A STRANGER

Im sorry but why are the winchesters set up like an office romance in this episode

Running into eachother in the lift

Glances across the office

Like, if you forget they are brothers, this is soo suggestive

My theory is that cas put em in an alternate universe so that Dean can have his peace

But it also isnt plausible, bc what abt the seals

HOW THE HELL DID YOU KNOW THAT GHOSTS ARE SCARED OF WRENCHESS HAHAHAHA

OH MY GOD I KNEW ITTTT

'There! I just found the jackpot! Real actual gosthunters with instructional videos!'

GHOSTFACERSS

Okay but imagine coming across a real life ghosts and following a yt tutorial by those idiots

It was the angels!

Just not cas

Zacahary

To teach the boys a lesson

[lonestarfangirl2014]

I know word already reach a number of you about the passing of power ranger legend JASON DAVID FRANK.

I'd like to share a post I made on rangerboard in regards to his passing. Of course I'm paraphrasing a bit to fit more into a tumblr type of tribute.

(None of the photos are mine obviously)

I was born in early 1995 i was a major tomboy growing up. I'm autistic plus i have both adhd/add and other issues(rare genetic disorder of the trisomy kind and heart issues) so obviously i was going non stop as a kid but i always stood still when a PR episode was on.. heck one can ask my older relatives and they would say i was always memorized by the show...one of my earliest memories were of watching the power rangers in spaces psycho saga on tv.

This.....it hurts like crazy. I remember growing up catching reruns of mmpr zeo and turbo on tv and everything.

I'm the type to deep dive into the lore and browse tv tropes and the ranger wiki for fun. Plus interacting with the tumblr power rangers Fandom(aka yall who are reading this on this gremlin filled site).

Every season from Turbo to Mystic Force were definitely a big part of my childhood and of course some of my favorite seasons growing up.

Heck i loved every season and made absolutely sure from lightspeed on to watched each new episode when it premiered dispite my then busy kid life(so many doctor appointments and youth athletic life) and my now busy adult life.

Tommykat was always my preferred tommy ship and I was ecstatic when I first heard it was truly both characters endgame ship(lol I loved that Xmas special or whatever it was and it sold young me on the ship plus you can imagine how giddy i was when j.j. oliver became a thing)

Jdf death hurts almost as much as puas death did(I remember just being numb and crying in my bed when I heard about him)

Yes they both had their issues but the fangirl in me can't help but love their characters and admire the actors despite everything.

All the actors and actresses from the 90s and early 00s seasons I've followed religiously as much as I could on social media as well as being fans of any non PR roles.

Power rangers was such a big part of my life.

I can't even imagine the 2010s-2020s PR actors/actresses reactions to the news let alone the ones from earlier seasons who actually worked with JDF.

My heart goes out to jdf kids and the rest of his family obviously. God this is so unbelievable

GO GO POWER RANGERS YOU MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS!!

Now to Binge watch MMPR on Netflix and then to binge watch all the seasons after that avaliable on YouTube through the official channel.

I haven't slept at all last night and I'm running on two large sugar filled coffees.

I am a freaking mess rn guys just ugh

Rest in paradise Jason David Frank you'll always be a legend in my eyes.

[toujoursmiraculous]

Thoughts and Reaction to ROCKETEAR!

It's a long post, but when are these ever really short? xD Seeing Carapace first made me so excited. I've been sad we haven't had much of him in the show. And then I saw that it seemed like Ladynoir was doing pretty good as they only had Carapace helping them this time. More S2 & S3 like. So I was like cool, cool, this is great. But what the heck scientist WHY ARE YOU BRINGING TYRANNOSAURUS REX'S BACK! Obviously she's going to be something big later on, she's too nicely animated not to be back. Not to mention Bob Roth's plans. Anyone else both intrigued but also scared at what that could do later? Big upcoming plot point, I think.

I screamed awwww because this is everything. I've wanted a LB/Carapace and Marinette/Nino friendship bond in this show since season 1. This scene made me incredibly happy! I'm a huge Nino fan, for those that don't know, so you can imagine how much I love this episode. Even though sad Nino.

"Alya, everyone has to believe that you will never use the Miraculous again!" End of episode: So anyway... So what I'm seeing here is, Alya's not fond of the idea of being just a spy, not being in on the action. Even though it's Ladybug's plan. Chat Noir isn't fond of what's going on right now either, where he thinks what's going on is all Ladybug's plans. Alya makes the decision to not do what Ladybug wants and tells Nino she's still Rena Rouge. So what's Chat Noir going to do to go against her? Because that's coming up on the horizon. Despite everything being easier for Marinette since everything's not just on her shoulders now, she's still been unable to play video games with her dad, and we know how much she loves doing that. :c That's really sad she doesn't even have time for her family anymore. DJWifi over here being all adorable. "You don't love me anymore!" Me: *Chat Blanc flashbacks* Alya suggests her new content could be Chat Noir edits and Marinette's like YES DO THOSE. Then those edits helped push Nino into thinking she was into Chat. Big oops. Not gonna lie, the rewind freaked me out for a moment. Last time I saw that was Chat Blanc so I thought something big was up. But nope, it's just like that scene in Puppeteer 2. Ugh poor Nino! He knows something's bothering Alya, but she won't say what it is and her behavior's too off from how she normally is. Poor guy. x.x Grumpy Nino that Carapace doesn't get attention and then they wrote his girlfriend with Chat Noir. I remember when Alya was grumpy for a bit about Rena Rouge not getting a party to celebrate her. Movie Ladybug telling Movie Chat Noir that he's better with Movie Rena Rouge. Is this a reference to the episode in Avatar, The Ember Island Players? Getting strong vibes when Play Aang and Play Katara were like, we're just friends nothing more and it's great! Play Katara was extremely into Play Zuko. I can see why Ladybug dismissed the movie (or was it the previous one since it's been awhile? Maybe?) because Rena Rouge and Chat Noir???? The writers (of the movie) just wanted to be different because everyone can see Ladynoir, unless they're blind. Alya and Nino are Andre's favorite couple. YES THANK YOU. I mean they're not my favorite because Love Square. BUT they're my second favorite next to them. Those kids are super adorable but definitely that kid playing Chat wasn't doing Nino any favors. First picture Alya shows. Chat with a heart tail. Yeah that's not doing her any favors lol. Nino: UGH CHAT NOIR'S COMING IN BETWEEN ME AND MY GIRLFRIEND. I KNOW, I'LL CALL MY BEST FRIEND TO VENT TO ABOUT IT. Best Friend Chat Noir: Best Friend Chat Noir: Welp maybe I should see what's up. Maybe I went a little to hard on the cat charm and she's fallen in love with me. Me: Oh oof here we go. Also can I ask, if anyone knows, who animated this episode? The fluidity is great and it looks really pretty. But it doesn't quite look like SAMG's work either. Whoever did it, I love it. S2 Chat Noir: You're not replacing me with a turtle, are you? :c S4 Nino: Who would want a reckless turtle as a partner? BOYS STOP. But yeah this whole scene had me laughing so hard XD Very dramatic and I love it. Nino's hilarious even when he's worried and sad! I would've absolutely loved to have heard this in English with the old English voice of Nino, but the new one worries me on whether or not he'll do a good job sounding like Nino and less high-pitched and whiny. :/ New York Nino was great but S4 Nino....x.x THE TRANSITION BETWEEN HIS INNER MONOLOGUE AND SPEAKING REGULARLY AGAIN 😂😂😂😂 Brilliant! It doesn't really feel like Miraculous Ladybug this episode, and I love it. Not that I don't love the show as usual but wow this is great. Okay, I want to point out that Chat Noir

probably was more worried about it than he would've been otherwise because of what happened with Marinette in Weredad. It probably made him more cautious about this sort of thing.

LOL Chat's sulking because Alya's laughing at the idea of being interested in him. 😂😂 I know that's a blow to one's ego and all, and he's dealt with this kind of thing a lot so I do feel bad for him, but that is his best friend's girlfriend and he definitely doesn't want her to like him. Alya: With him it's not just ❤️it's *makes massive hand gesture indicating she loves him deeply* SO SO SO CUTE OKAY ALL THIS DJWIFI 😭 Alya: And I don't even know your secret identity! I would never fall in love with someone I don't know. Chat Noir, literally fell in love with Ladybug, whose identity he doesn't know. Well Alya, I wonder if you saying that matters for later somehow.... o.O Nino running away crying is honestly one of the things that hurts me most in the entire show. Ugh. Adrien over here being all, I'm having a good day. I'm happy and smiling and it's great. And then it wasn't. Adrien, if Nino let him and didn't interrupt, would've told him about how Alya really doesn't love Chat Noir, and that would've seriously led up to his identity being exposed since Nino was watching and filmed them. o.o Did you notice how he was going to tell him about it? S4, the basement is where it's at. Adrien: Uhh, when did you arrange all this? Nino: *pounds fist on desk* I ASK THE QUESTIONS! 😂 So like. Why is Nino interrogating Adrien when he's after Chat Noir? He doesn't know they're the same person. XD He's looking at him like Adrien has info he's keeping or something omg.

Also again this animation is so nice. Adrien, feeling uncomfortable and so turns the music off. Nino, wanting his dramatic music on while he interrogates Adrien, turns it back on. Adrien, feeling even more irritated and uncomfortable, wants the music OFF and turns it off. Nino, turns the music back on. This may be a reference to something, I don't know, but lolol it's so funny. This episode is both super hilarious and super angsty! Honestly they've done such a good job in my opinion. Nino: I'm talking about something that I shouldn't tell you! ...but I'm going to tell you anyway! Alya's Rena Rouge and I'm Carapace! Okay but the way Adrien went from shock to utter anger, knocked his chair back and grabbed Nino's shoulders like "Tell me the truth. You two know about each other?" Aw man, my poor sunshine boy. A lot of the stuff bothering Adrien is all circumstantial, none of it is to purposefully keep him in the dark. And yet from his perspective, that's how it looks. "I thought secret identities must be protected at all times! If that was the truth, you would never tell me this!" Alright so three things. If he's referring to him saying that Nino and Alya know about each other, that was situational and important info for him to know now that this is out. It wasn't important to know before this. The time it happened was dire and was really no time to get around it. If he's talking about Nino telling him the secrets, well yeah that's not supposed to happen and Nino broke that trust. But also, I get the feeling pretty strongly at this point Adrien's going to be breaking some rules too and one of which is he's going to tell Nino who he is. Adrien's being too emotional in this scene to not be involved in it all, I'm wondering if that's going to be questioned later by Nino. He's acting like he knows too much to be a random viewer of the heroes like the rest of Paris. Also Adrien's best friend just totally dissed Chat Noir and went off about how he throws himself at Ladybug whenever he sees her with roses and love confessions. 😂😂😂 This is just too funny! "But he's always rejected because Ladybug finds him annoying! And she's completely right!" Omg Nino, that's not the reason anymore, shush! "And then Rena Rouge appears and he goes *tickles under Adrien's chin* hey pretty lady! You look elegant and you have great perfume." OMG does Chat Noir actually say and do stuff like that to Rena Rouge or is he just exaggerating here XD "If I could I would shut his mouth forever!" Yeah Nino, say what you really think about your best friend in the entire world. Yikes poor Adrien though. I never imagined he'd hear all these bad things about himself from his best friend directly like that. :/ That's a major misunderstanding of him. Which kind of pushes me more towards the "he's going to tell Nino" theory. Sad Adrien transformation DDDX Alya: *explained everything about why Chat Noir went over to her house in the middle of the night* Marinette *facepalm* Ugh that Chat Noir... Well at least there will be no misunderstandings there! xD "Chat Noir, you stole Alya from me! I will steal your life from you." Good lord man calm down. You can't just kill a man! Fanon: Chat Noir gets attacked by a guy over Marinette. Canon: Chat Noir gets attacked by a guy over Alya. Time to go back to the basement! lol Nino's music's still playing xD And the video is left with it paused on Chat Noir hugging Alya. Marinette looked a bit sad, but it was probably more about the situation being a mess rather than being sad he'd hug her. Meanwhile, Chat Noir's fighting Nino and would rather get beaten up by him than fight. x.x "I can't believe that I doubted you." "I can't believe I chose to do anything but be with you!" She wiped away akumatized Nino's tear just like how Ladybug wiped away akumatized Chat Noir's. ALL THE PARALLELS 😭😭😭 But that hug is so sweet!! Nino broke off the akumatization just like Alya did :o Dang, I wonder if that means something later too. "Love and secrets do not go well together, Ladybug. And I'm sure you have a lot of

them!" Secrets = from Chat Noir. Love = for Chat Noir. Yeah even Shadow Moth knows at this point. xP Thanks for that foreshadowing. Nino's charm is my favorite charm so far! It's my favorite shade of blue. Chat Noir: Everybody has doubts sometimes...even me." Ladybug: Is everything okay, Chat Noir? Chat: Oh yes...pound it!

So um. The placemet of Adrien's poster in between Chat Noir, Ladybug, and just with this entire situation feels very strange. Very intentional. But no clue exactly what that could mean..... Nino and Alya are happy over there watching those two, like they're waiting for them to figure things out or something. But really, Adrien should've talked to Ladybug when he could still do so calmly and be reasonable. I doubt that's going to be the case later on. And honestly Ladybug doesn't even know what's going on. Every episode we've seen really either has them working together or she's unable to be Ladybug when he's unable to be Chat Noir most of the time. I've said it before but these two really need to communicate. Nino and Alya are like a less adorably romantic version of what they'd be. "But they're a couple and they know their secret identities, so why does that rule exist for us but they can know?" Very simple. Because they were temporary holders and the Miraculous they had, Hawk Moth hasn't made it his life's mission to obtain, unlike them, who are permanent holders and Hawk Moth's been after them fiercely to make a Wish that could destroy everything. But. The fact he's asking this, and Marinette's Chat Blanc nightmare, really points in the direction that he's going to eventually find out that while she's thought about telling him all along, Chat Blanc's kept her from doing so.

Okay, so while it looks like he's staring up at the moon, if you notice, it really is just one of the pink bubbles.

Now, they could be making it seem like it's the moon though to give it a double meaning. But poor Kitty, he's feeling so awful right now over in that dark corner Dx Nino felt bad for only two episodes? and it got resolved, so hopefully this all won't last too much longer for him! Marinette had a few shaky episodes so hopefully he'll have a few before it gets resolved. But somehow I think that may be wishful thinking. This episode was so amazing, honestly. Wonderful writing, made me laugh a lot, aw a lot, and hurt a lot. It focused on the core 4 characters which I've wanted more of for a long time. The animation was beautiful. And it just felt so different in such a good way. Chat Noir's having a hard time right now, and I know there's a lot of anger and hate about it going around. But please, think of this as him hitting a rough spot in the road to a much better and brighter future. He's going to end up okay, he'll understand it all someday. And that day's honestly not that far for him if you think about it.

[karlajoyner]

Stole My heart (Owen Patrick Joyner x Reader)

A/n: Hey guys so there’s this imagine let me know if I should make a part 2? Possibly a smut? I don’t know let me know! Also let me know if I should post these on wattpad too!!!

Warnings: None

————

"Owen seriously if someone catches us I'm gonna kill you"

"No ones gonna catch us. They're filming a scene" He mumbled leaving a trail of kisses down my neck.

"That's what you said last time"

"They didn't catch us" He said pushing my shirt down my shoulder.

"Yeah but they almost did- wait. Are you? Owen" I scolded pushing him away.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"What do you mean what? The makeup department will literally kill me if I show up with another hickey. Then their gonna interrogate me like they did last time since there are limited people I see daily" I groaned.

"They're not gonna kill you y/n. Relax"

"I can't relax. Now that we landed a season 2 the chances of us getting caught are much higher now. Plus my character has such a bigger part now" I spoke pacing back and forth in the dimly lit room. Julie's room set to be exact.

"I know. But you can't let that get to you now. You did amazing the first season and your gonna kill it this season. And if we get caught then oh well"

"Oh well? Oh well. Owen I already told you I don't want anyone to know about us until-"

"Until we're sure it's not gonna effect our worth ethic. I know" He muttered sitting down on the bed. I sighed realizing he was upset. It was never my intention to date my co-star. Let alone fall in love with him. But after spending countless of hours on set and off set with him there was no denying the chemistry. And what to everyone seemed like an amazing friendship was actually something more.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I wish things could be different but-"

"But this is your first big part. I get it" he said moving to sit me on his lap.

"I'll back off. We'll just have to keep sneaking around"

"Owen-"

"No harm. No foul. If this is what I have to do to be with you I'll do it" He said kissing the spot he had previously been sucking on.

"And I'd do it again" He whispered kissing my skin once more.

"And again" Another kiss.

"And again" He spoke finally meeting my lips. The kiss last longer than the ones shared previously. It was much more passionate on both ends. The risk of getting caught high.

"Owen" I giggled as he flipped us over on the bed.

"Yes?" He questioned as his fingers made their way up my shirt.

"Baby" I moaned as his hands cupped my left boob.

"Mmm" He muttered against my lips.

"We've got to get back on set soon. I have a scene with Jer" I panted pulling away.

"Don't do it"

"Owen" I warned.

"Fine" He groaned getting off me.

"But for the record if they did know we were dating I would not give my approval for the stupid kissing scene" He said kicking the ground like a little kid. Referring to the fact that my character became Reggies love interest this season.

"Be careful there babe the jealousy is peeking through. Just be lucky he's married and they cut it down from a whole make out scene" I teased checking myself in the full length mirror.

"Yeah yeah. God the unholy things I would've done to you in that bed" He whispered in my ear as his hands explored my body.

"Don't temp me Joyner" I said a smirk making it's way onto his face.

"I'm here!" I called running onto set.

"Finally! Where were you?" Charlie asked exasperatedly standing beside Kenny who was looking at script at hand.

"We don't have time to interrogate her Charlie we've got to get this scene filmed if we wanna stick to schedule. Y/n next time be on set 5 minutes before"

"Yes Kenny. Sorry I was um was distracted. Lost track of time" I said noticing Owen had walking onto set casually going to talk to Mads and Savannah.

"Okay so this scene your gonna walk in on cue to your mark. Find Luke sitting on the couch playing his guitar. Sentimental talk. Confess your undying love for Reggie. Then Jers gonna come in tell y/c/n he loves her too. But he can't be with her because he had this girlfriend back in 95 who he never officially broke up with. Then he says screw it. You kiss. End scene"

"Oh the kiss. That's this scene?" I asked finding Owen who was deeply in conversation.

"Yeah. Is there a problem?"

"No, no I'm ready" I said not expecting to have to do this in front of my secret boyfriend right now.

I sighed going to stand on my beginning mark. I watched as Charlie did the same.

The lights dimming in the studio to replicate nightfall.

"And action!" Kenny yelled.

I opened the barn like doors walking in slowly.

"Oh Luke. I didn't know you were here sorry I'll go-"

"No. No it's okay. I was just messing around. What's up?"

"I was looking for Reggie"

"Looking for Reggie? Oh he's with Alex and Willie. He should be back soon"

"Then I'll just go. Thanks I guess"

"Wait. Can I play you something?" Charlie questioned taking a hold of my wrist.

"Um sure. Why not?" I asked sitting down next to him. I listened as he began strumming his guitar to a familiar tune. A small smile forming on my lips.

"That was great Luke. Did you write that? Maybe about someone whose name rhymes with Judy" I spoke in a teasing matter.

"No. Actually Reggie wrote it. About someone who name rhymes with yours" He said a blush forming on my face.

"Okay. I get what your saying" I said playfully rolling my eyes.

"Good. I thought I'd have to follow up with home is where my horse is" He said making me giggle.

"How could I possibly tell a ghost who died 25 years ago that I'm completely head over heels for him?"

"Maybe the same way your telling a ghost who died 25 years ago right now" Charlie said jokingly bumping my shoulder.

"Right... I just- I don't want to get rejected by a ghost. It's one thing when they're alive but if the dead doesn't want me I think that's saying something"

"Y/n, Reggies in love with you. He'd be thrilled if you showed any romantic interest in him. At least more than you already do" He teased me once again.

"Thanks Luke. I just hope he doesn't freak out on me like last time"

"Last time?"

"Yeah last time I brought up relationships in a topic he got all weird and left. So I just never did it again"

"Oh. Look y/c/n back in 95 we had a decent following and a ton of girls following after us" A strange look forming on Charlie's face.

"Okayyy" I stretched out the word.

"And Reggie. You know him he uh well he's a fl-" Charlie words were cut off.

On cue Jeremy strolled into the studio set as Charlie and I sat facing each other stiffly.

I stifled a giggle knowing this would later be edited so it'd look like Jer flashed in out of nowhere.

"Y/c/n? Luke?"

"Oh Reggie. Hi" I stood up continuing the scene.

"Hey. What are you doing here? I thought you'd be home"

"I was. Julie invited me over for a bit and I thought I'd say hi before I uh left. I though maybe we could talk for a bit"

"Oh. Okay yeah" He slightly smiled before turning to the brunette beside me.

"And what are you still doing here?" Jeremy asked looking at Charlie.

"Hey, I was just leaving man. She's all yours" Charlie smirked at us before walking off set.

Jer and I paused until his footsteps could no longer be heard before continuing.

"So um what did you want to talk about?"

"Just um stuff" I said standing still in my spot.

"What stuff?" He asked coming to stand in front of me.

"Luke. He played me your song" I said picking up the piece of paper with chicken scratch from the coffe table.

"Lifer Girl?" I finally read the title before looking up into his brown eyes.

"Uh yeah. I'm still working on the name. Did you like it?"

"I loved it. This lifer girl. She's one lucky girl. Do I know her?"

"Of course you do. Your practically the same person" he said a piece of my hair falling to the front of my face. I nervously played with my fingers as he pushed the strand behind my ears.

"Oh. Can you tell me about her?"

"Well she's funny and makes me feel happy when I'm around her. She's really smart and her grades skyrocket compared to what mine use to be. And she's beautiful, drop dead gorgeous" He whispered tilting my head up with his fingers.

For a moment I looked up into his brown eyes wishing. Longing for them to be someone else's. I felt his finger leave my chin before he turned away dramatically.

"I shouldn't"

"Shouldn't?" I asked curiously.

"I can't"

"Can't? Why not?" I questioned once more.

"Y/c/n there's something I need to tell you"

"What is it Reg?"

"Back in 1995 you know before we died. I uh-"

"You what?" I asked urging him to continue.

"I had a girlfriend and well then we died. So we never officially broke up" Jer said.

"Oh" I mumbled backing away from him.

"I get it"

"No wait y/c/-"

"No Reggie it's okay. Your still in love with her. Of course you are. God how could I be so stupid to think that you'd actually love me. Let alone like m-" My eyes widened as I felt him crash his lips into mine completely going off script. Which wasn't uncommon. But it was supposed to be a short kiss. There were lines that were missing.

Slowly I pretended to sink into the kiss. Pulling away after a couple of seconds amongst hearing the word.

"Cut!" Kenny yelled Jeremy finally letting me go.

"That was amazing! Spectacular! Great improve Jer! We're done with this scene!" He called out to us. But all I could focus on was the look plastered on Owens face. He was hurt. But not because of the kiss. But because of the fact that he couldn't do that. Not out in public anyways.

"Yeah great going Jer" I commented to the boy in front of me.

"Thanks y/n. You did great too" He said getting near me.

"But if I were you I'd go talk to your boyfriend before he bursts" He whispered in my ear leaving me wide eyed.

"H-how'd you?"

"Know? Please everyone knows. I mean you guys aren't great at hiding things. There's actually a poll between Kenny and Charlie. Whichever one of you slips up firsts. My bets on Owen" He chuckled.

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Seriously"

“Who was the first one to know"

"Sonya in makeup. The first hickey you showed up with only matched with the timeframe that you and Owen had been together. Clearly not getting lunch like you had said you were"

"That long?" I asked.

"Yup" He spoke popping his p.

"Just don't tell anyone I told you. Carolynn insisted I put you out of your misery"

"Thanks. I think" He smiled at me before walking away.

A grin began to form on my face as I made my way toward the blonde who was leaning against a wall twirling one of his drumsticks in his left hand.

"Hey. Great scene back there" He commented as I now stood in front of him.

"Thanks. You know Jers a good kisser and all but I think your better" I spoke aloud noticing Savannah's and Madison's head whipping towards us.

"What?" He asked making sure he heard right.

"You heard me Joyner" I spoke giggling at his shocked reaction.

"Now shut up and kiss me would you?" He tilted his head to be extra sure. Something I adored about him.

He always wanted to make sure I was certain about these things. I simply nodded feeling his arms wrap around me bringing his lips to meet mine.

I smiled into the kiss as he turned us around pushing me up against the wall. I giggled upon hearing clapping around us from the cast and crew.

"Finally!" I heard Savannah shout.

"Keep it PG kids!" Kenny shouted laughter following.

"You owe me 20 Gillespie!" He yelled again followed by a groan by presumably Charlie. I finally pulled away first leaving Owen in shock.

"I'm gonna need you to come back to reality lover boy" I said rubbing my thumb against his cheek.

"What made you change your mind?" He asked keeping a tight hold on my waist.

"Let's just say you have Carolynn to thank for that. Apparently everyone knew"

"What? How?"

"I guess we weren't as good at keeping a secret as we thought"

"How long?"

"First hickey"

“That long?"

"That's what I said" I laughed as he pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"You two are so cute"

"Thanks Mads" I smiled at the girl.

Finally able to wrap my arms around the boy who had stolen my heart without any warning.

[nicetomeetmew]

If LU was an anime (VA headcanons)

Okay so! A while back I uploaded a video (which you can find here) giving the LU boys voice actors. And in the description of said video, I promised that I was going to post a list of explanations for my voices and link it. Which I am only doing now.

These choices, bar a few, are my own personal opinion, so I'd love to hear your thoughts about them! I spent far to long working and watching anime for this but I am pretty happy with the end result, bar one (glares at Four). So I hope you enjoy! And prepare yourself. Cause this is LONG.

Legend - Vic Mignoga (Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

So fun fact. Back when I first discovered LU, I almost immediately imaged Leg with this voice. He had strong Ed vibes for me and when I started making this list, he was the only one I immediately knew was perfect. At least to me. It just has that quality; the snark with the capability of being genuine and emotional (I do apologise if the voice clips I included in the video made you sad. That's a hazard of FMA). I didn't consider anyone else for Legend, even though I did briefly consider Vic Mignoga for Warriors (more on that later).

Sky - Aleks Le (Zenitsu Agatsuma from Demon Slayer)

Man, I considered a fair few KnY voices for this list, including the voice of Tanjiro for Wild and the voice of Giyu for Twilight. But this is the one that stuck. I was struck between Sky having a youthful, soft voice or an older, soft voice (I knew his voice had to be soft. I mean. It's Sky.)

I watched the dub of Demon Slayer solely for this and it never would've occurred to me to consider Zenitsu's voice for Sky. But as the show progressed and I heard it when he wasn't... you know... begging some poor lass to marry him, I realised he actually has quite a soft voice. And when I heard it get all serious I thought "Yep. That works." And thus I placed Aleks Le as the Chosen Hero. You could argue that his voice is a bit too youthful for him but I still think it works.

Wind - Amanda Miller (Boruto from Boruto: Naruto Next Generations)

Ugh. Ugh. *increasing sounds of disgust*. I hate this.

But let's start from the beginning. Right off the bat, I was 99.9% sure Wind would be voiced by a woman. Okay so he's not 10 (that will make more sense in a second), but he's still pretty young and I imagine him with quite a youthful voice. For him, I considered Sarah Natochenny, the current voice of Ash Ketchum in Pokémon, and also Colleen Clickenbeard's voice for Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece. But these two voices shared the same problem. They were too raspy. I just cannot see Wind with a raspy voice. I guess if you really, really, really focus on it it could work but I just could get it to work for me hfff.

And then... ugh. I spoke to a mate about. He doesn't know about LU so I just told him I was making voice headcanons and couldn't think of a good one for a 14 year old boy. And he said "have you heard Boruto's English voice?" And I think my response was something along the lines of, "Ben, I have standards." But he insisted it would probably work so I watched a clip of Boruto on YouTube and much to my horror, it did seem to work. But there was problem. None of the clips had lines I could picture Wind saying. And because of that I was struggling to actually give Wind the voice. But something told me that it was the right one so... I... *shudders*... watched Boruto. I watched I think 5 full episodes before I had no more braincells and skipped thorough a bunch more and sure enough, I could finally see Wind with that voice. I think it fits him great and it honestly might be my favourite choice just because I had to watch that nightmare.

Hyrule - Justin Briner (Izuku Midoriya from My Hero Academia)

Ah. This one is much more pleasant. First of all, I never realised this at first but Midoriya and Hyrule are kind of similar. For one thing, they do kinda look alike. And for another they have the same "I will never give up" kinda thing going on.

Roolie is another one I knew would have a soft voice. I think Justin Briner was always down as a choice for him, except for when I briefly considered him for Four (more on that later *big sigh*). This is another anime I watched the dub for solely for this and there were a ton of lines right from the get go I could instantly imagine Roolie saying. So yeah. Aside from the tiny moment I almost assigned Justin Briner to Four, this was a pretty easy one. Midoriya has a soft voice that I could easily imagine Hyrule having. And when he got angry and his voice got harsher, I could also easily see Roolie like that too. Fun fact: there's another BNHA voice on this list... heh.

Wild - Michael Sinternklaas (Dagger from Black Butler)

AW YEAH. YOU HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH BRITISH BOI.

Ahem. Anyway. Yes Wild is British. Everyone rejoice. I was unsure of how people would react to this but I think this is the only voice on the list everyone agreed on. Which I'm happy about.

As I mentioned, I considered the English voice of Tanjiro (Zach Aguilar) for Wild. There were issues with this; mainly that it was too soft, too young, and made him sound too similar to Sky. Now here's the thing. I WANTED to give Wild a English accent. I am almost certain he would have one, like most people. However the only anime I could think of with decent English accents was Black Butler (and yes I know his final voice is from it, bear with me) and there was a problem with that. Most of the voices from Black Butler are ridiculously posh. Now you may be thinking "But Kai, Zelda has a posh English accent" and to that I would say "Ah yes but she's a princess and Wild is not". And now you might be thinking "But Kai, he's a knight an probably spent a lot of time in a place with posh English accents". To which I would say "But he wasn't always". Two words. Hateno Village.

Let me explain.

I feel like a lot of people hear the words 'English accent' and immediately think of an accent like Zelda's (and no, I am not saying everyone does and I'm also not implying that there aren't people out there who aren't British and know that there are multiple accents). Anyway, English accents are different depending on the place. And, since one can assume Wild is from Hateno Village, I would imagine their accent is different to that of those born in Castle Town. So that's why I was reluctant to give Wild a voice from Black Butler. Because all the voices that weren't insanely fancy were either far too old or did not have the right vibe.

Then one day, taking a break from this, I was watching season 3 of Black Butler (one of the only anime I watch dubbed) and I heard two voices that I suddenly thought, hang on just a second. One of those was the voice of Ronald Knox, who's a grim reaper. And the other, of course, was Dagger. I was leaning towards Dagger and what sold me was one scene in particular, which I chose as the final voice clip for Wild (you cannot tell me that is not exactly something he would say). And that was it. But Wild's was easily one of the most frustrating (not the most *glares at Four again*).

Time - David Matranga (The Father from Wolf Children)

Another tough one and also one I heavily considered for Twilight (for obvious reasons). Time's was kind of tricky because I knew I wanted it to be deep but there's such of variety of deep voices. At one point I even considered dumping the deep voice idea because it was so hard. It was a this time I thought of the voice of space cowboy extraordinaire, Spike Spiegel. But my brain said "hell no". There were other voices I considered for him, loads of which I cannot find the notes for and another one which will likely appear in part two as another character (no spoilers), but when I was picking a voice for Twi, some of the lines the father said just kept ringing big old Time vibes with me. So in the end, I decided to for it. Like I said, I imagine time with a deep voice and while to father's might be a bit more... gravelly (?) than I imagined, I think it fits him pretty well. It's serious and mature but still a certain kindness I'd imagine Time's voice to have.

Warriors - Johnny Yong Bosch (Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach)

Don't lie. You knew Johnny Yong Bosch was gonna be on here and not just because I put his name (albeit spelled incorrectly) in the thumbnail. When I started making this, I knew I wanted to fit JYB into it. In my mind, LU would be an amazing anime and almost all amazing anime have Johnny Yong Bosch in it.

Now, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out whether he would be better for Wars or Twi. At one point I was convinced he would be best for Twi and that's when I briefly thought about Vic Mignoga for Warriors (his voice for Tamaki Suoh from Ouran High School Host Club. Don't tell me Tamaki and Wars aren't at least a tiny bit similar). But I could bear to part with Vic for Legend so I decided heck it, Johnny is Warriors and I'll find someone else for Twi later. As for the voice in particular, the two voices I considered for Twi definitely did not fit Wars. And then I remembered Bleach and immediately I thought "Yep. That's the one". I imagine Warriors having an authoritative voice, not too deep and very... uh... I don't know the right word. Clean sounding? Anyway, Ichigo just seemed to fit nicely and thus it was so.

Four - Micah Solusod (Yukine from Noragamai)

Ugh. UGH. Okay. This is my least favourite. Four was, excuse my French, A FUCKING NIGHTMARES. There was not ONE SINGLE VOICE that seemed to work for him at all. I watched a bit of the Noragmai dub because I was thinking about Yato's voice for someone (I can't remember who. It might have been Wild) and I heard Yukine's and decided to put it into reserve. As in, my last resort. And I had to use it. Oh my god Four. I love you but your voice is literally a nightmare. Is it high? Is it low? Is it young sounding? Surprisingly grown up sounding? I DON'T FREAKING KNOW.

I mentioned earlier that I considered Justin Briner for him. I was thinking about his voice for Luck from Black Clover, which may have honestly worked a bit better, but I was pretty attached to Justin as Roolie by this point. So I had to whip out Micah.

Let me be clear. No, I do not think this works well at all. I appreciate the people who tried to see that good in it, but I honestly just don't think it works. The only reason I went for it is because Yukine's voice switches between older sounding and younger sounding throughout the show and since I could decide what Four's would sound like I said to myself "Fine. Four can be the same", found some clips, slapped it together and never looked back.

I am still looking for another voice for Four and if I find a decent one, I will include it in part two.

And last but not least...

Twilight - Aaron Mitchell Dismuke (Tamaki Amajiki - My Hero Academia)

Told ya there was another BHNA voice.

So Twi was another tricky one. As I mentioned, I was seriously considering Johnny Yong Bosch for him. More specifically, his voices for Giyu Tomioka from Demon Slayer and Kiba from Wolf's Rain (for obvious reasons). I did almost go for Kiba but something was stopping me. I'm honestly not sure what.

So I was talking to a mate (and by that I mean I rambled. A lot) about VA's and at one point he suggested Aaron Mitchell Dismuke but not for Twilight. I can't actually remember who he suggested it for but anyway, that didn't work out. But when I was looking through his work, I saw that we played Amajiki and I was curious. I listened to him and I liked it.

Okay to be fair I wanted a country accent for Twi. Of course I did. But I could not a find a decent one. They few I found were absolutely terrible. So I gave up on that and decided that was Amajiki. And that was that.

And that concludes the Links VA headcanons! I am happy with most of them and once more these are my opinion but I would love to hear your own ideas!

As I have said many times, I am working on a part two and as a sneak peak (sort of) I'll tell you two of the characters that will be featured (excluding Four, if I find him another voice).

Dink (even though he hasn't, technically shown up yet) and Malon (which is proving to be a lot tricker than I thought). There a couple more but my lips are sealed heh.

Oh and speaking of Dink, the voice I considered for Time and then thought it would be better for someone else? Yeah that's the voice that's currently in the lead to be Dink's :)

I hope enjoyed my long winded explanations! And thank you for reading/watching!

[takaraphoenix]

04 fandom ask how about a show I haven't heard you talk about in a hot minute. Phineas and Ferb?

I kind of enjoyed you discovering the weird and wonderful cartoon most of the people under 25 grew up with. I think that's a good age range cuz I'm under that and I definitely grew up with it as a good part of my childhood but I'm also still well into cartoons in going in my twenties lol... my birthday was last month and I had quite the number of Elena of avalor presents. You can do that fandom if you want to but not necessary

Well, happy belated birthday first! And then thanks for playing! And also, yeeeah I haven’t been watching Phineas and Ferb in a bit, the 10 minute format asks a lot of concentration of me that I simply don’t have lately so it’s on the backburner. I got the tab open and I definitely wanna finish it because I like the show, but I just don’t have the space for it right now.

Phineas and Ferb:

the character i least understand: Baljeet? I mean, he is... best friends with his bully... that is such a weird dynamic, I genuinely do not understand it at all?

interactions i enjoyed the most: Heinz and Perry, for sure, they’re so weird

the character who scares me the most: Heinz, Phineas and Ferb like those three have the actual capability to destroy the world if they so deem but all three use this power for incredibly specific stupid silly things, like imagine what they could do if they actually tried to be evil? Terrifying

the character who is mostly like me: I really don’t think any of them tbh

hottest looks character: Vanessa probably?

one thing i dislike about my fave character: sometimes, Isabella is very passive-aggressive with Phineas when he once again completely fails at realizing something is/could be romantic, I feel like clearer communication would be the better approach and like that boy needs these things spelled out for him so just spell it out for him

one thing i like about my hated character: I... don’t hate any of the characters? Aside from maybe Heinz’s parents I guess? And like... the thing I like about them is that they... made... Heinz, I guess? xD

a quote or scene that haunts me: The fact that in Isabella’s head, Phineas is a centaur for some reason

a death that left me indifferent: no one has died (yet)

a character i wish died but didn’t: none, nope, this show doesn’t have such characters

my ship that never sailed: I dunno, I do think Vanessa/Candace would be hella cute and a great way to tie the two plots more together also queers in a Disney show that early, could you imagine

Elena of Avalor:

the character i least understand: Naomi when she went “well, your cousin who you love like a brother just betrayed you and is on the run and so are dangerous sorcerers but like I’ll just fuck off to travel the world now because that’s what I need”, like I understand that being a captain is what she always wanted but that timing was incredibly insensitive considering their friendship and her own commitment into being a council member? Like, the open sea doesn’t run away, it would still be there after they caught Esteban, but to leave Elena and Avalor like that, during times where she - as one of only two (2) people in the entire country who actually can read the freaking ancient language - would have been needed? That made no sense for her character

interactions i enjoyed the most: Elena and Naomi, Elena and Isabel

the character who scares me the most: None, I think?

the character who is mostly like me: Maybe Mateo, a little?

hottest looks character: Ash Delgado

one thing i dislike about my fave character: For a princess, Elena is really bad at deligating and like... even into the final season, she proves to be bad at that and at that point, she should have spent years learning to deligate, you can not run around and solve every problem yourself once you’re queen and you do have a big network of people you can trust

one thing i like about my hated character: error, redeeming qualities on Shuriki not found

a quote or scene that haunts me: okay so on a more complex level, the fact that Elena can see and talk to their parents and just didn’t fucking tell Isabel for forever, I get it is only one day a year that she can talk to them, but... she really just... forgot to tell other people that she could see ghosts, more specifically her dead parents, when there is Isabel and their grandparents and they all deserved a chance to talk to them too, even if just indirectly. So, it haunts me that the second Dias de los Muertos episode wasn’t just their family, together, and just... talking

a death that left me indifferent: Did anyone die, aside from the pre-dead parents? I don’t think so

a character i wish died but didn’t: Nope, not really

my ship that never sailed: Elena/Naomi. Y’all can say what you want but if that finale wasn’t queerbaity af, when Elena approached Naomi when she was supposed to pick a partner to dance with, while the boys puffed their chests out hoping they would be chosen and for a split-second even Naomi thought Elena wanted to dance with her? I really thought they pulled a “queer in the last second” there and I think they should. I am already eternally grateful that the show didn’t force the four main characters into two heteronormative couples, but can you imagine the raw power of Elena of Avalor, first queer Disney princess?

Send me a fandom and i’ll tell you

[x0401x]

Do you happen to know how the Japanese fans were reacting to the Tsurune anime? Was it well-received or was there any criticism? Is it popular enough to warrant a second season? I vaguely remember you mentioning it's a flop, but I'm not sure if you referred to the DVD/BD sales or just the overall interest in the series in fandom spaces?

I wouldn’t say I know how the selling is going, but my guess is that Tsurune is at the lowest in the list of copies sold per volume amongst KyoAni’s stuff. I honestly don’t think it’s been well received enough to get a second season, but if the light novel continues selling, maybe KyoAni will give it a try. I think their monetary condition allows them to take risks every now and then.

I was referring to both. Mostly to the overall interest. Sure, there are a few people who liked it, but the manifestation of the fans, be it at Pixiv, Twitter, NicoNico or anywhere else, was pretty weak. And there was indeed a lot of criticism, mainly at the fanservice.

Just to give you an idea, the amount of fanart for Tsurune on Pixiv is of about 525 works. That’s a pathetic number at best. Also, it seems most of the artists are novel fans, because over 1/5 of the tag is MasaMina stuff, and a good chunk of it is canon-compliant. What I mean by this is that it seems the people who went along with the anime’s changes are in a really scarce number on the Japanese side of the fandom, and that most of those who only watched the anime weren’t touched or inspired by it enough to make fanworks out of it.

Other than that, I’ve also visited quite a few forums, and what I see most often is people calling out the “homosexual fanservice”. There are literally so many jokes about this that I’ve lost count. Some of them were funny, hands down. I swear I’ll never forget the one motherfucker who went, “Touken Ranbu→ gay swords, Tsurune→ gay bow”. However, a lot of people were angry. Comments like, “it’s the same as Free” appeared fairly often. I’ve seen many users blaming this on fujoshis, dragging them for pretending that they’re “LGBT connoisseurs” when they actually don’t understand anything about it.

These parts of the discussions were hella intense, so I decided to avoid them, but the call-out got specially heavy on episodes 9 and 10. Even people who were responding positively to the anime expressed shock at Seiya’s hatred for Masaki, and commented that Seiya saying he hated Masaki one second time with a smile on his face was harsh.

A little after the last episode, I went into a Japanese thread that was discussing it separately from the other episodes. It’s a normal thread, not ship or character-oriented. The people posting were watching the last episode on TV, so you can imagine the mess. Here’s a summarized list of what went down, other than a shitton of OPs calling out the fanservice and all the nasty jokes:

Lots of people pointing out some of the divergences from the novel, mainly about Masaki appearing for an insignificant amount of time, and passive-aggressively pointing that KyoAni should have done better if they were planning to change it from the original work. This one surprised me, honestly.

Someone complaining that it was too hard to tell how Shuu thinks.

Some saying that it was just too boring, some saying it was filthy, some saying it was trash until the very end, and one lamenting that “the muscles are over”.

Someone retitling the episode to “The Last of Homo Archery”. I freaking lost it.

A few claiming that they probably wouldn’t watch it again even if there was a rerun later.

Someone commenting that Kaito was an unpleasant character until the last episode.

One little fucker who went, “Cry, you shitty twin” at Manji.

Literally everybody celebrating when Masaki showed up.

Nobody being able to tell that Shuu had said “congratulations” to Minato before he left and guessing that he had said “thanks” instead.

All of them going, “Eh? It’s over? Just like that??” when the ending started. The thread was torn between those saying that it was a good end and those who were like, “what the heck was that way of finishing it”.

People joking about Masaki’s lack of presence and going, “Actually, I was a ghost all along” at the last scene.

My props to the OPs who went, “It’s a Masa-san End?” and, “So they came bringing in the MasaMina last-minute? www”.

Most important of all for answering the question: quite a few people were saying that it didn’t feel like there would be a second season.

Anyway, this is just a few glimpses into the Japanese fandom. I wouldn’t dare say that it represents all of it, but it’s what I’ve been seeing until this point.

Frankly, if we were going to get a second season, there would have been at least an end-card indicating it. Plus, none of the happenings that led up to the events of the second volume of the novel made it to the screen, so it feels like a definite end. I really don’t think S2 gonna happen, and I don’t think I’d want it to happen with Yamamura Takuya as director.