#LET ME READ TOO DEEP INTO A DYNAMIC TWO CHARACTERS WHO ONLY INTERACTED FOR EACHOTHER 20 MINUTES MAX IN THE WHOLE SHOW OKAY

[cowchickenbeefpork]

okay but can we talk about how ???? Lucius is with Edward? Like this man is a freak I can’t hold it in anymore. How did one episode make a man get revealed as a fucking freak in a way.

Ed has both gassed up a entire group of cops which made them fear about a poison threat he made up, held Lucius’s coworker hostage dangling over a flight of stairs, admitted to having something to do with their missing mayor via omission (not responding at all when Lucius asked him about it) broke into Lucius’s car and pointed a gun at him once Lucius got in ALL IN THE SAME DAY AND HE DOESN'T FREAK OUT ONCE???? He doesn’t freak out at all with Edward. Never once does he freak out. He stays level headed, empathetic and genuinely caring about Edward’s mental state while talking to him???? The way he’s so level headed here feels like he has a fucking screw loose in his cranium. Literally how.

Mind you Ed is a man who his first interaction with was ED ADMITTING HE HAD A MISSING COP IN HIS HOME VIA A RIDDLE. HIS SECOND INTERACTION WITH THIS MAN IS HIM MAKING HIM ANSWER FUCKING RIDDLES IN ARKHAM OR ELSE HE WILL KILL THEM BOTH WITH POISON. I KNOW HE WAS BLUFFING ABOUT THE POISON HERE AGAIN BUT GENUINELY HOW IS HE ALWAYS LEVEL HEADED WITH THIS MAN. FREAK BEHAVIOR!!!!

Also him acting like this strengthens the fact the only riddle he got right was reflection. He understands at least some part of Ed. Even though that part is small and fuzzy in his understanding, it’s still something. It’s still something that he can empathize with. Something that is worth trying to understand more of even despite their brief encounters. God do I love his weird push over ways with Ed it’s so fucking fun I wish they interacted more. This is horrific for me

[missolineaux]

15 questions on Prince of Tennis

1. Favourite Character

• Sanada Genichirou. He's a character that has grown a lot. He went from: We're not allowed to lose to realising that sometimes defeat is unavoidable and learn from those. While still prideful, I feel he's a lot less uppity. He needed to be taught some lessons on humility and he DID. And he has grown to be an amazing character. When I met him he was aggressive, too prideful and way too arrogant. Which led to his defeat at Kantou. From then on, though, you see him grow. You see him train. You see him lose. And win. You see how much he cares about his team. And how, despite always asking a lot from others, he always asks even more of himself. You see him struggle and mature. I like a lot his portrayal on some of the TeniRabi event because it shows a lot of other shades on him. (Encouraging Yukimura not to let his plants die, helping Akaya pass a videogame stage, memorizing where are a certain type of flowers to show to Yukimura once they bloom). He may not say it often, but he has a lot of little moments where you can see that he cares about others way more than he shows. I mean. He gifted calligraphy to ATOBE and that's CANON. And during Senbatsu ark he tells Akaya: "What would Rikkai do without you?" And damn if that doesn't show his soft spot for the baby of the team. He is strong-willed, and passionate, and softer than he admits, he is disciplined, and an 80 year old on the body of a 15 year old, and he sings Japan's anthem in the middle of a stadium in Australia. And seriously, how could I not love him?

2. Least liked character

• Ryoga Echizen. WHAT? Yes. I know. You can sue me. But I don't quite like his personality and I find that switching from Japan to USA to Spain was a very shitty move on his part that proves him as a completely self-centered unreliable bastard.

Having said so, I'm not going to hate on anyone for loving him. Like, you do you.

3. Favourite Team

• RIKKAI. Come on most of my faves belong there. And Nioh/Yagyuu was the reason why I got in the PoT world in the first place (curiously though, they aren't between my top ten anymore. I like them, but I got to love others way more) I feel they are a very dysfunctional family with a lot of underlying issues (and not so underlying) that need a lot of love and, deep down, have a heart of gold. Except Yagyuu. Yagyuu is E V I L.

4. Least liked team

• Rokakku? Like I don't know, none of them really are my cup of tea. I don't hate them or anything. They are very nice guys and all but... That's that? Like no strong opinions?

5. Favourite Ship

• OH BOI. ALL THE SHIPS. I have at least 7 strong ships for Sanada and some low-key ones. And that's only for Sanada. So uhm yeah...

But I'll go with Sanada X Atobe for the dynamics and Sanada X Yukimura for the softness (they are soft for eachother and I'm not gonna change my mind on that)

6. Least liked ship

• I guess... Echizencest? Like Incest is not my cup of tea and I don't particularly like either Ryoma or Ryoga? So, yeah, wouldn't read anything about them.

7. Favourite Arc

• Senbatsu. You can sue me. I know. A lot of people didn't like it. I DID. First of all, we have TANGO pair. And the two idiots fighting over Tezuka. We have the scene of Sanada actually showing he cares about Akaya. Akaya's evolution through all the arc?????????? HELLO?????? I think it was during this arc that I actually came to love him and see how soft he really was. Him covering for Ann?? Because he really thinks he deserves it?? And actually realising that his devil mode is wrong and hurts people? Okay bye.

Then. Sanada. Singing. Yeah. Hehe. I simp.

Also I kind of like Hanamura sensei? Her vibes??

I think there were a lot of things they could have improved, but at the same time there were a lot of things right that helped with the character development.

And. I ACTUALLY LIKED THE AMERICAN TEAM AND AM VERY PISSED OFF THAT THEY ARE NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN.

8. Least liked Arc

• I've forgotten. Like seriously. I don't remember.

9. Favourite Movie/Ova

• Oofff that's a close call between Atobe's Gift and Battle of the British castle.

Like Atobe's gift was basically one hour or so of Atobe being soft for Kabaji, Kabaji appreciation and AtobexTezuka at its finest.

Battle of the British castle was: Prince Fuji. Atobe being extra. Kite apparently being a bitch but actually not and he helps them. SANADA BREAKING A FUCKING WALL. Sanada and Akaya bonding which is a stone I'll die in. And. They break a fucking castle. I mean. It's all very extra and I loved every second of it.

10. Least liked Movie/Ova

• Two Samurais. Sorry.

11. Favourite Match

• TEZUKA VS SANADA WAS A HUGE GROW UP FOR BOTH OF THEM, A BREAKING POINT FOR THEIR RELATIONSHIP AND THE ULTIMATE PROOF THAT SANADA AND TEZUKA ARE FRIENDS.

• Atobe Vs Tezuka is my second favourite but I'm biased.

12. Least liked match/a match you think should have gone differently

• SANADA SHOULD HAVE WON THAT MATCH AND I'M SURE YOU ALL KNOW WHICH MATCH I'M TALKING ABOUT.

13. A match you'd like to see

• Sanada VS Atobe where they actually reach a fucking conclusion. They have way too many unfinished matches. I don't even care about who wins. I just want to see them fight and then make out.

14. An interaction you'd like to see

• Plant Trio plotting someone's murder.

• Yukimura apologizing to Sanada for what happened at the hospital (canonly recognised as something Yukimura deeply regrets)

15. How do you feel about adding Aliens?

• Y E S. P L E A S E. KONOMI DON'T LISTEN TO YOUR EDITOR.

★ Tag 5 people:

@a-kuma @atobeinspace @imaginetenipuri @puff-cat @waterlinkedgirl and anyone who reads this

[korinsu-t-blog]

May 27 // Kabuki

Oh man oh man oh man. To start off, watching kabuki in real life was honestly a ton of fun. It’s like the Japanese analogue to shakespearean plays: very culturally rooted, lots of deep motifs, and the stories are typically history-based. The particulars of how the plays go aren’t at all like what oldern western style productions tend to do, but I think that’s part of the appeal. It’s a uniquely Japanese take on stage productions.

Overall, we got to see three different kabuki shows back-to-back, with short intermissions. The seats were awfully cramped; I kid you not when I was sitting perfectly straight and upright my knees were flush with the seat in front of me. Supremely uncomfortable in the moment, but I think that looking back on this day in the future will entail a lot more appreciation of what I did get to see. Kabuki performance was, somewhat unironically, a lot like real life Jojo’s: there were a lot of random poses being struck, there was a lot of shouting, and a lot of actors menacingly approaching eachother. Asides from the last play (which was not a historical reenactment, but rather a historical slice of life) the actors spoke veeeeeeeeerryyyyyyyy sloooooooooooowwwwwww. There was almost always a shamisen (3-string banjo), drum, or tap-stick playing to accentuate the lines and actions of the actors, so they didn’t have to deliver everything flatly. Lastly, to reinforce the dynamicness of running and to symbolize the actor striking someone else (such as with a weapon), a single attendant on the side of the stage would slap wooden blocks into the stage to make a really loud clapping noise. This person also used the wood slap to mimic footsteps when actors would enter/leave via the runway going into the crowd- yet another unique feature of Japanese theater.

The first kabuki play was a tale of two brothers who, after being orphaned when their father was killed by one of his allies, spent the next eighteen years tracking down said ally so they could kill him. They were invited into the daimyo’s court by the court jester (sympathetic to their cause), and were about to introduce themselves when the daimyo immediately recognized them as the sons of the guy he had killed eighteen years ago. Deciding that the ruse was indeed up, the sons moved to kill him before the daimyo declared that they couldn’t kill him because “the ancient sacred sword of our people’s is still missing after hundreds of years”. This is very reasonable, of course, so the boys sheathe their swords and are about to sit down again when a runner comes in declaring that they’re found the legendary sacred sword. This ignites the fury of the younger brother once again, but before he can move to kill the daimyo for a second time, the daimyo declares that “I was put in charge of a hunt on mount Fuji for the Shogun in a few months, so you can’t kill me yet!”

This, too, was very reasonable. Taking some tickets to the great hunt as a consolation prize and vowing to meet the daimyo on that fated day, the brothers leave the palace and prepare to... fade to black, ‘cause that’s where the play ends with a little blurb on the text screen that says “they got revenge but died in the attempt.” No ending or anything.

The second play was one of the most popular kabuki productions of all time: Kanjinchou, aka “The Subscription Scroll”. It’s honestly the most well written of the bunch we saw, and tells the tale of an adventuring party consisting of the outcast prince Yoshitsune, the strongest monk in the land Benkei, and their three loyal samurai as they journey away from the lands where Yoshitsune is being hunted by his elder brother. To escape further to the north, they must first sneak through a gatehouse guarded by servants of the elder brother- and to do that, they have to disguise themselves as priests, with Benkei taking the lead and Yoshitsune donning the garb and straw hat of a packman. The gate is on the lookout for priests though, and what ensues is a battle of question and improvisation starting with the leader of the gate guards asking Benkei to read the list of people who are donating money to the stated goal of the monks. No such list exists of course, so Benkei draws out a blank scroll (all while concealing it from the gaze of the commander) and proceeds to improvise a long and grandiose speech using his monk upbringing- basically rolling a Nat 20. The commander knows the scroll is blank, but eventually becomes so enamored with Benkei’s improvisation and constant answers to his deeper and deeper philosophical questions that in the end he resigns himself to an early death and passes Yoshitsune’s party through without letting them know he knows- not before Benkei is forced to beat his own master though. When the party is through the gates, the most touching and emotional part of the play occurs in the form of a conversation between the weeping Benkei- an all-powerful warrior who can lift the mightiest weights yet still faltered when lifting a hand against his own master- and Yoshitsune, who forgives him with a kindness begetting the Buddha.

The last play was, quite simply, Firefighters vs. Sumo in a slow burning drama that eventually ends in a thirty man all-out brawl between the two forces. Well over an hour long, it was entirely worth for the amazing fight scenes at the end which struck the perfect balance of flow, comedy, and drama. Much more a contemporary play, people talked at a normal speed and interacted with much less formality- quite a relief after having to sit through the first two. Not much else needs to be said about it besides that opening sentence.

[The kabuki theater from the exterior. Very nice, one of the largest kabuki-only theaters in Japan.]

[Interior, high up on the third floor balcony.]

[I swear half of these scripts are real life Jojo’s.]

[A painting inside the theater, I thought it was pretty dope.]

[The kabuki theater also happened to be in the supercar district, I saw so many expensive ones rolling around the city.]

[Yes, that is indeed James Bowlingsan.]

[Today’s candid: Ian! He’s a pretty quiet dude but every time he talks it’s absolutely hilarious. His hair is nice, too. 100% a good roommate to have on our floor, I wouldn’t want it any other way- he adds a lot to our day-to-day group.]

==========

Literature review:

Today’s literature was on kabuki. Some fun facts about it:

-Women weren’t allowed to act in kabuki, so men acted as women. These men were so good at acting as women that they actually set fashion trends for women who traveled to see popular kabuki performances. Generally speaking, they were akin to modern day drag-queens? Only the male actors who played female characters tho.

-Kabuki actors were extremely wealthy celebrities that technically occupied the commoner class, making them socially lower than samurai but far more influential.

-Kabuki was originally a thing of the common folk and very unsuited for high courts. It was only over time and extended cultivation through a specific effort to enhance Japanese-specific culture to compete with Western plays and opera that it rose to being honorable enough for even the emperor to view. Nowadays, it’s analogous to Shakespearean plays... not so much when it first came out.

-Kabuki scripts often had to go to great lengths to mock the samurai while still maintaining social order, as it was originally an outlet for expressing dissatisfaction with and rebellion against the samurai class. These methods often included a protagonist who was secretly a high-ranking samurai but who dressed as a commoner for some unusual reason, allowing him (a commoner) to outwit and defeat the samurai without having an actual commoner doing it. I swear officer, he’s really a 500 year old demon samurai, not a commoner.