#LIKE BRO ITS ALWAYS THE SONGS THAT I LIKE ON THOSE LISTS

[spookyteeth]

guys i can't take the "what's mcrs worst song(s)" question anymore do you people have no whimsy

[yujipg]

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧︱ YANG JUNGWON [정원] HCS — him as your gamer bf.

fluff (wow 😲😲😲 me writing pure fluff for the first time? we all cheered!) contains slight swears & terms of endearment, jw’s a dork tbh. read until the end for a small surprise!

gamer!bf jungwon would share his earphones with you on the way to school.

he’d play songs that remind him of you and always make sure that his hands hold yours tightly because it puts him at ease ꉂ(ˊᗜˋ*)♡

personally i don’t think he’s a big fan of pda, he’s the subtle type bc he wants to be careful as to not make you uncomfortable especially in public

more under the cut!

although, jungwon is surprisingly kinda clingy especially when it’s just the two of you!! (っ◞‸◟c)

he doesn’t want to admit it because he thinks its dumb, but when you two are in private he’d lean on your shoulder a lot.

when you’re around and he’s playing a few rounds in valorant, jungwon makes sure that his games end quickly so he could make time for you

coffee!!! dates!!!! Σ(￣□￣)！

jungwon also doesn’t use terms of endearment much because he finds it awkward using it on you! he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to use them on you but he’s just so used to calling you “bro” or something like that (*」>д<)」──

“i love you man” “aw i love you too!”

awkwardly cute but he has good intentions

would teach you how to play games at first, so he’d have someone to play with if his friends are off :(((

you’d apologize a lot when you end up messing up / not understanding the instructions at first but jungwon would console you

“shh, don’t worry. it’s alright to mess up, you’re actually doing pretty good! take your time, i’m going to carry you anyway.” ♡

would brag about you to his friends with no shame 🥱🥱🥱

���oh yeah, did you know my s/o literally aims better than sunghoon in valorant? plus it was their first time too!” // “shut up jungwon!”

has multiple albums of you on his phone

puts a polaroid of you behind his phone case (bought a clear one on purpose so he’d look at it every night before going to sleep (*´ω｀*)

overall, gamer!bf jungwon is veeerry. cute. hehe.

❃.✮:▹ GAMER JUNGWON SHENANIGANS!

𓆩♡𓆪 — a small lil drabble for you guys! ;>

“hey, i finished my game,” jungwon announces proudly, plopping right next to you. he wraps his arm around your shoulder and gives a quick peck on your cheek. “i hope it didn’t take too long. missed you, a lot.”

chuckling, you lay your head on his shoulder. “i missed you too, my love. don’t you think you just played for such a short time? you must be bored,” you remark.

jungwon raises an eyebrow. “oh please, i wouldn’t want to be too occupied. plus, you always come first before my games. it’d be rude of me to ignore you… dear.”

there’s a short moment of silence.

“uh,” jungwon clears his throat, “ahem. i’m sorry. i don’t know if that sounded natural… i really don’t know how to use terms of endearment. i’m sorry if i made you uncomfo–”

you break into giggles due to your boyfriend’s awkwardly cute intentions. “jungwon… you’re my boyfriend. you don’t have to force yourself to use those terms if you don’t want to. plus, you sounded very natural. i’m proud of ya.”

“but like, wouldn’t it be weird if i still called you stuff like “bro, man, dude” in a relationship?” jungwon rubs his neck, chuckling. “it’s not like i didn’t want to call you those terms, i.. i’m just not used to it.

but like, you still are my dearest — my love. all that lovey dovey shit.”

“please, jungwon, you’re cracking me up.”

“hey! not even an “i love you?” hmph.”

“are you seriously sulking right now?”

“whatever. i am so, so, so beating you at mario kart!”

“dude, shut up. you can’t even beat me at cooking mama.”

“oh really? that’s going to change today!”

if you’d like to be added on my permanent tag list, please send me an ask!

© yujipg 2023. do not plagiarize my works! reblogs & feedback are always appreciated. ♡

[akiraiscute]

can you write something for hisoka and illumi who both have a crush on reader? and maybe they get jealous, fight and stuff

I wasn’t gonna write for hisoka but, since this is my second request! Ima add him to the masterlink and write for him. Only requests though as i won’t write for him normally<3

As i think about it, you would absolutely have to be strong to HAVE ILLUMI AND HISOKA crushing on u so!! Gonna make reader strong and prob a blacklist hunter bc those make me giggle. — Song : Noel’s Lament (Covered by Anna !!)

“I wanna be that fucked up girl~”

Hisoka X Black-List Hunter!Reader X Illumi.

Tw : its hisoka bro what the fuck do u expect😞 and illumi. Nah bc both??? UR FUCKED, anyways stalking and fighting <3

You met hisoka and illumi in the hunter exam, also when you met two kids. Gon and killua, you wouldn’t say that you got attached (you did.) but of course, you had to go your different ways but with these two well mainly hisoka always around you. You couldn’t get away from him which always annoyed you, you know? Hisoka always followed you and so did illumi just far away of course unless he was on a mission, Illumi really didn’t want Hisoka around you at all but yet he couldn’t speak to you, not yet at least.. You ended up befriending the weird clown, always finding him around you since. But in this month, he has been at heaven’s arena or whatever. Talking about gon and killua, which that made you wanna go to see those kids that you found so ever sweet (whenever you were near them, you acted like their mother) but you had too many missions you were delaying so.. you couldn’t and that made you upset so. Each mission sorta and.. definitely ended with a blood bath! Which you didn’t mind, you weren’t the one who would be cleaning the mess up.

(As i said, reader would be pretty strong so they probably already knew nen😭) By the end of this one mission though, Illumi finally came out of hiding and started to talk to you! Well. Not really as he only spoke like maybe one word through the whole conversation which was just you absolutely venting about how you were so upset that you were delaying too many missions that you couldn’t see those kids! And as you finished your ranting.. you were already walking out with illumi without him even saying a word, which you sorta minded? You didn’t really know how to feel about that but it was at least nice to rant to someone who wasn’t at all like hisoka.. But anyways, you were smiling at Illumi and finally jumping away even if you could off walked but listen. You were just too tired to walk! Anyways, when you got back home and closed the door behind and locked it.. always made sure you could off locked it, you turned around to see the clown right on your couch playing with cards. It seemed hisoka couldn’t get enough off you!

You ended up finding out that hisoka and illumi were friends which was nice? You think, as that meant you could find out more about illumi and maybe hisoka wasn’t gonna be that werid, oh boy were you so wrong.. As you spent more time with the two of thems, hisoka grew more flirty and touchy as Illumi at least grew to have spoken a few more than five words to you which was always appealing to you at least because every time hisoka saw illumi talk to you, he grew even more touchy and very much more flirty. This all happened in front of illumi as well… You always looked confused when he did it but always rolled with whatever he said as he couldn’t get much worse than that really, well. You think, like hope as well that hisoka couldn’t or wouldn’t get much worse… as you didn’t wanna see like a whore in front of illumi really, you at least wanted to see a bit nice. (He already saw you as nice and good fitting for a spouse to create another heir to the zoldyck family…) You still talked to hisoka, of course. He seemed fun or just.. weird but you couldn’t pick which one actually and you still talked to illumi.. well it was sorta one-sided as he didn’t speak, only maybe ten words now and there… but at least it’s not just one like before! That at least made you always a bit happier!

One day really, just a random day.. well not really as you were on a mission but both of them said they could join and so now. You were talking to both, hisoka and illumi which wasn’t that bad of a idea untill… Hisoka just made a really.. well just flirted with you like he usually did but you already felt his seductive aura, it was like he was trying to make you give into him already which made you suspicious a bit..

“My heart, today~ you look so.. so delicious that i could just eat you right up..~ and right here in front of illumi darling..”

“Hisoka we’re on a mission.”

“And? My heart, i don’t really mind just eating you up anywhere..”

“Hisoka. Focus.”

You looked at illumi, you were shocked. Illumi usually didn’t say shit about Hisoka flirting, maybe it was because Hisoka added illumi to his flirting but.. god, you tried to make yourself remember any time that hisoka added illumi to his flirting like he just did now! It was honestly annoying and you were growing frustrated with yourself that you couldn’t even remember you spent time with them, which you didn’t mind as you didn’t care but now it was sorta important to your curiosity and you needed to at least remember something… until Hisoka spoke up as he was smirking and leaning on your shoulder which you tried knocking him off but you couldn’t really as he stuck to his place on your shoulder. Hisoka let out a playful giggle as he tilted his head a bit, you can hear the smugness already..

“And what if i dont illumi?~”

“Then you go away, simple. You’re gonna ruin the mission if you keep flirting.”

Illumi’s voice strict as ever as he responded to Hisoka, Hisoka stood up completely as he kept smirking. Which made you able to turn around to see what was going to happen and.. this wasn’t as boring as the mission really, that you didn’t even wanted to do but it was good enough money for it so…. Maybe you could watch this go down, then go back to the mission???

“And yet, my darling doesnt seem to mind that im flirting, only you~”

“I guess but "your darling" isn’t taking their mission seriously. And i do wanna fix that.”

“Oh? Wanna fix my darling illumi~ that isn’t nice..~”

“They aren’t your darling Hisoka.”

“Oh?.”

This made you even more interested in this, like really interested. You never took Hisoka’s flirting seriously as he never really seemed that serious, but maybe illumi took each flirty conversation hisoka and you had serious? But he never spoke up about it until now which.. made you even more confused, this whole thing was confused but you didn’t even mind, how could you since this was just now getting good! It was like a dramatic tv show!

“Does illumi like my darling?~”

“I do think, i like them. They seem like the perfect spouse.”

“Oh my~ I do think that’s a problem.”

“And why is that a problem?”

“I also like my darling~, of course i do~”

“Ah.. this is much of a problem really.”

“Well, just you that’s the problem~”

“Not really Hisoka.”

If you had water in your mouth, you would off spit it out onto the ground. They both- woah. Woah woah woah wait what. Now this is why? Illumi was jealous, but how can he be even jealous?! God this was so god damn confusing… still interesting though as now you learned that you got two men almost arguing over you whicn made you feel sorta confident, who wouldn’t be confident? Anyways. This was causing the main target of this god damn mission to hear them both, which made you sorta annoyed with them both. And yet, you couldn’t even stopped it as their aura was already both menacing.. they were both arguing still and sorta seemed like they were getting ready to fight until. The target came over to where you guys were, seeming nice and asking what’s wrong before their head was on the ground! Thank god you three were in a alley but the mission was over which was.. also good as the two couldn’t finsh their fighting really. But in reality that just made them more angry and you didn’t really wanna be in that anymore! As much as it was interesting, you had to leave pretty quickly. And you did, leaving them both behind and getting ready to get your money and leave the city to get another mission and you could off until you heard both of their footsteps well.. mainly hisoka’s. You couldn’t hear illumis.

“My darling, where are you going~?”

“Away from you two, isn’t it obvious? Well, actually getting my money and getting done with this stupid mission.”

“Aw my darling~, you can’t just leave me~”

“nor me. You can’t and i won’t allow it.”

“I don’t care, if you keep fighting like cats and dogs well. Mainly like cats and cats, i will keep leaving until you stop because it’s annoying as fuck.”

They both stayed quiet before one of them smirking and the other one without no emotion on his face and agreeing to you but that doesn’t mean they still didn’t like the other being close to you until they actually got around to think about ideas to share you. Which, you don’t remember agreeing to that at all.. it’s not like you really have a choice. You did but, honestly.. you didn’t know how the fuck you would win against a crazy ass clown and someone that was apart of the zoldyck family. It may be a challenge for another day but not today nor tomorrow. So, might as well accept it right? Right..?

Again, I will only do hisoka bu requests, i wont do him normally until someone asks for him. But i hope that anon likes this! Was honestly just going to not post today until i saw the request as i didnt know what to write😭 probably gotta write something up as well and post that soon, now! Thank you for being my second request:D i hope this was what you wanted!! I didnt really know how to put them fighting so i just made them kill someone else besides from each other. It was nice writing for illumi for the first time:D, hope i did good enough for him!! And if you guys wanted, send in some requests! I wouldn’t mind<3

— Akira Logging Off !

[victor-veloci-simp-69]

Episode 1:

I've always loved the intro song ngl. A good intro song makes me love a cartoon. That's how W.I.T.C.H and Huntik got me

Fiona gets to class. Ms Moynihan says she broke three rules. She says this before Fiona bites her apple. Fiona then says that's only two and then misses her shot, making three. This inplies that Fiona either does this regularly, or that Ms Moynihan has some form of clairvoyance.

(The clairvoyance thing could make some absolutely fantastic fanfiction ngl. *writes that down* oooh, I have IDEAS now) anyway, back to episode

The fact that Fiona only took one bite of that apple bothers me

Oh man, that bio class room looks almost exactly like the one I had in high school.

Oooooh yaayyyy! Mah Boi is here!!! Stripey gay boi

Okay, first off:

This place looks like a giant OSHA violation.

Regardless of that (Peter, go fix this giant OSHA violation. Hey, maybe that's why we never see him again, he's too busy fixing the questionable workplace) those scientists look properly enriched.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE THINGS IN THE TUBES THEY LOOK LIKE THEY'RE FROM BEN 10 I SWEAR TO GOD THAT LOOKS LIKE SWAMPFIRE.

On that note, why do we never see Veloci's creepy test tube creatures??? His scientists worked hard on The Horrors

The one on the pink test tube looks like the rose from beauty and the beast

Is that a fucking rail track. I think I remember that one featuring in an ep, but I could be wrong. If I'm right then why was the continuity placed here and not on anything else???

"I got into business to swim with the sharks, not be eaten by them"

Me: Oh, you're declining it? Unexpected.

Peter: I'm in!

Me: ???

That bit of dialogue has always thrown me off. Its the clunkiness.

Bye Peter. It was nice to meet you.

"Break into your usual groups". The dinosquad comes together but kinda acts like they've never interacted before.

Max and Roger seem like they've teamed up before tho.

Caruso at 4:21 is barefoot. He has shoes on at 4:26. We know he had no time to put shoes on and off and on because he's barefoot when he leans over and drops his jacket. When he picks it up he has shoes on again.

...why did they all (I understand Caruso getting his jacket and Buzz getting thrown in) go into the water????

Roger says "nah, I ain't getting in" and then not only gets in the water but throws buzz in.

(The fact that Roger throws Buzz in the water which later results in him becoming a Dino is a great angst fic waiting to happen. If Roger hadn't thrown him in, he would still have been living a normal life)

Ms Moynihan shows up and goes " I thought I made it clear no one was to go in the water"

First off, that was never shown on screen and I don't like that

With the context of dinosquad as a whole, this kind of implies she knows Veloci is dumping his nuclear jizz in the water

I guess it could also be because she didn't want wet students on the bus, but still.

Wait. If no one was suppose to go in the water, and there doesn't seem to be an area with tide pools, then Caruso's stupid sushi list is even more useless since fish don't count.

Anyway, MY BABY RUMP!!! BOOBOO! I LOVE YOU BABY! MY BABY!!!

Hnnngg sexy library I wants please I will crawl into my computer just let me at that library I can live with dinosaur shenanigans. (But can I live with redoing high school? No.)

"Young man, if you don't remember, this is a library 😡 "

My brother in christ, what horrors have you been through that you hear a dinosaur roar and conclude that that is the sound a normal teenager makes naturally.

Caruso's jacket gets shredded. He immidiately blames the dry cleaners. Bro, it was whole when you put it in your locker. What

Fiona gets a tail and it sticks out her truck window. My good bitch, how did you not feel the cold air on your tail???

The fact that Buzz waves his arms while playing video games is kinda adorable

The fact that Ms Moynihan showed them what happened telepathically leaves a lot of possibility for her to leave certain things out and show them only what she wants them to see and think.

And besides that, its also kinda fucked up. There are implications here. My brain is a little fried to parse them all, but there are implications. I know it.

Ohhh!! The cave has a light source! That implies that there are two entrances, which solves my age old question of how tf did they get out of that cave.

Oh holy shit. Young Ms Moynihan is HOT

...she looks a lot like Caruso. Hmmm. Formulating THOUGHTS tm

You think that (if the story she tells is actually true and not her lying to hide a bigger truth that she doesn't want them to know about) Ms Moynihan and Veloci gained the ability to transform because of. Idk. Space radiation or something?

Cuz your genes don't just. Mutate. For no reason. This backstory feels fake af. I think she just lied bc she knew her students knew fuck all about biology and would believe anything

Why did ms Moynihan change foreheads. Did she want to be inclusive and touch everyone's forehead or is she afraid their brains can only handle so much... or did they refuse to hold hands like she asked and now she has to switch foreheads?

"You're a vicious Carnivore!"

"I've moved past that but there is one who hasn't: Victor Veloci"

Might be because I'm getting back into twilight, but this gives off major Vegetarian Vampires vs Normal Vampires vibes.

In this case, Ms Moynihan is Dr Carlisle Cullen and Victor Veloci is Aro Volturi.

"What do you believe?"

Ms Moynihan: "Humans gained dominance because brute force lost out to reason...and love. That's why I parted ways with Veloci long ago."

I smell a Secret. I smell Tea. Spill. I can practically hear tragic dramatic backstory. Was this a "I fell in love story" or a "Veloci didn't care about me" story. Ms Moynihan sounds bitter.

Also, the sheer contempt in her voice when she talks about Victor Veloci. Say what you will about Dinosquad, but it has some pretty good voice acting sometimes.

Max: "I don't want to be a dinosaur"

Ms Moynihan: this is bigger than you, this is about saving the world.

"Can you cure us?"

"Yeah"

Roger: "But I want to stop Victor Veloci :( "

Ms Moynihan mentally: *nevermind, ya'll are too stupid to help me save the world. What was I thinking*

(Genuinely a very confusing arguement. People changed opinions so quickly damn. Not even a line space in between)

"I can't afford all the fancy tech Veloci has" <takes them to her lighthouse filled with huge computers and monitoring equiptment> hmmm. Ms M, I'mma assume you banged some rich bitches in your time and inherited, because no way can you affort a lighthouse on a teacher's salary.

Conclusion: Ms M is loaded.

"The cold forces the Dino DNA to the skin as it seeks warmth" um. That's ominous. It makes the DNA sound like a living parasite. Ugh

Ms Moynihan definitely faked "curing them". She is way too calm about the situation. She was very insistent on them helping her fight Veloci before. And the fact that she could cure literally everything else except for them is sus.

That Megalodon shark was trolling ngl

Veloci sees Fiona as dino: this can only be bc of my experimental dna...or....

That 'or' implies things. Ms Moynihan things.

The fact that Veloci sees the Dinosaurs but not the squad turning into dinosaurs the dinosaurs. Like, by the time Ms Moynihan jammed the feed several transformations have already taken place

Veloci ending with his ominous ass "can't wait to find out more about my new dinosaur friends" is so fun. Love him. Dramatic ass fuck. Ominous. Very sexy.

[boizandgurlzinthehouse]

𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑 ; 𝐧𝐢𝐤𝐤𝐢 𝐬𝐢𝐱𝐱 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟏. 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟐.  𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟑. 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟒.

word count: 2.371k (i'm sorry 😭😭😭) trigger warning: swearing, kissing

the fact of preparing their first actual concert caused her goosebumps every time she thought about it. getting platformed high heels, faux fur coats and faux leather jackets, body painting and hairspray, it was fucking exciting for her. she and the boys made pictures, then cutting themselves out, y/n was the one who went to the press, where she could get thousands of posters. mick was the one who got the place, and they played the songs on every day of the week. sticking out posters with jessica's and the other girls' help, y/n ran around whole los angeles.

and now, here they were, minutes from stepping out to perform for the first time. drawing with her eyeliner, y/n looked at the others: tommy spinned his drumstick between his fingers, nikki was puffing his hair up on her side, mick played his guitar and vince stretched out the pants his girlfriend bought him.

"man, my girlfriend spent like, 8000 bucks on these leather pants. you like 'em?" he asked tommy.

"they're cool, bro."

"you say everything's cool, drummer." mick muttered, getting a nod from y/n. she turned away from the mirror, standing up in her platform high heels that give at least 6 inches to her height. all the boys begin to snicker, nikki whistled as she adjusted her black bodycon dress. y/n had red and black makeup, dusting her cheeks in highlighter.

"what the fuck are those, y/n?" vince asked, getting her attention. she turned in her shoes, striking a pose.

"these are my favorite shoes. i stole it from a shop, so i hope the owner or the cashier is not gonna be here tonight." she answered, testing that the heels weren't unstable.

"you look so mad girl, like a rocker barbie! could you do my eyes for the next time?"

"of course, toms."

"so you think there's gonna be anybody out there tonight?"

vince's question was the one that y/n was interested about too. she feared a little that it's gonna be a big disgrace, but they had only minutes, and she had a lot worse situations in her life.

"we put up enough fliers, i hope so."

"it's gonna be fine, guys." y/n added. "first concerts are always the most difficult ones, but we had rehearsals many, many times. whatever happens, we're here for each other, right?"

"that's right, princess." nikki answered her as he stood up, making y/n snicker. he wore red high heels, fucking red high heeled boots! "what's up?"

"you all were wondering about what i wear, but you wear fucking red high heeled boots too! what the fuck?"

"it's called style."

"no, it's called women footwear."

stepping out, her heartbeat began to increase as fast as a ferrari. there weren't many people, but maybe it was better. if the 'concert' is shit, then there's not any people to brag about it. okay, y/n, you just quit your job, you moved out and moved in with a junkie runaway, and you banded up with four guys for this shit. you aren't a slutty pole dancer from right now on, you're a fucking rock star.

"you all right?" mic asked her as she exhaled an inhaled, making her nod.

"yeah, yeah."

nikki taped the song list on of the speakers, scattered applause could be heard. vince tapped y/n's shoulder, as she walked in and took out the microphone from its stand.

"hello everybody! we're mötley crüe." she said, the lights coming onto her. tommy tried to drum some solo, but with too big drive, he accidentally knocked over one of the drums.

"fuck!" he muttered, hurrying to pick it up. some of the audience laughed at this, making y/n's blood pressure driving up. keep calm, keep calm, keep calm.

"come on!" nikki whispered to tommy turning around, getting a glance from y/n. this is his first actual concert, bloopers like this are fine. or so she thought. everybody was on the edge.

"you suck!"

"get off the stage!"

y/n spinned the microphone, pointing to the dudes who yelled these words.

"hey you two, fuck y'all! let's rock this hole!"

starting to play live wire, y/n almost forgot the bad comments, but she was wrong in her assumption that those assholes gonna stop.

"who's the chick singer? and the other chick?"

"she's the band-whore or can i fuck her too after the concert? because if yes, then i'll stay!"

wait wait wait, what the fuck did he just say? y/n stopped in her movements, looking at vince.

"fuck you, asshole." the blonde said, getting the buff guy with a beard spit on his jeans. those famous, white leather jeans.

y/n smirked as she saw vince getting off the stage. hell could break loose, because she's not gonna let some fuckers humiliate her neither.

as vince fell back, she got into the eyesight of the buff guy, but she saw from the corner of her eye that nikki was on the way, swinging his guitar. mick still played the song, and somehow this was just fucking funny. grabbing the microphone, she used the cable to swing into the other guy's face, the whole room filled with a sharp piping. before she could enjoy her first knock-out, someone grabbed her hair to hit her face, exactly her nose. it was just the edge of it, but still, it hurt like a bomb exploded on her face.

"how the fuck dare you hit her?" she heard nikki, getting into the fight, diverting a guy from her, so now, it was a one versus one. swiping off the blood, she got up, eluding a hit from the guy who hit her, she kicked with her fucking perfect shoes right into the middle of his crotch, getting him falling back, grabbing his dick with two hands. one guy hissed from the audience.

"how the fuck dare you to touch my hair?" as the guy stood up, she was ready to kick again, but one security guy hold her arms back, another trying to keep back the guy. as he tried to break out, y/n kicked him in the face from drive, a little blood falling on the floor. this got a bigger 'ow' from the audience.

"it's enough, chill out, lady!" the security guy told her, letting her go as he and the other tossed the guys out, she picked up the microphone that she used as a weapon. tommy just stopped beating the last guy, she stumbled back to vince and nikki. y/n didn't even noticed that everybody got silent while they were probably just doing things on their own way.

this was over. this was fucking cool, but seriously, who'd want to go to a band's concert that beats their audience, even if they're fucking assholes?

"FUCK YEAH, MÖTLEY CRÜE!" a guy yelled, breaking the silence, clapping as loud as he could. others began to clap too, and soon, the whole room echoed from the applause. she felt nikki's tap on her shoulder, singing her to get up to the stage again. with the microphone in her hand, she was happy that it still worked.

"you alright, y/n?" vince asked, making her turn to him, hugging her.

"oh, yeah, i'm fucking fine, and you?"

"everything's alright. your nose is bloody."

"again?" she asked disappointedly, trying to wipe the blood off with little to no success.

as they stood back, tommy began to play the drums, y/n looked at nikki. reaching out, he swiped off the blood from her nose, touching her lips while looking into her eyes. she wanted smudge the black paint on his face with her lips ad her fingers, it was fucking hot, and she felt her knees going weak a little bit. she only smiled, every sound was muffled by the guitar that mick played.

the concert was successful in the end, some people got in the bar through the concert. y/n made little gigs, she let vince spin her, shaking her body and throwing her hair like she was a vogue model, in her ridiculously high platformed heels, twisting the cable of the microphone around her arm.

after their third concert, y/n was blowing a cigarette as she talked with the people who went to mötley crüe's concert, and soon, she felt an arm around her shoulders.

"what's up, princess?" nikki asked from her, and in exchange, she let her took a drag from her cigarette as she took it to his mouth.

"nikki? oh my god, your riff was so cool! i loved it so fucking much!" the guy said, making y/n and nikki smile. "can i ask you something, guys?"

y/n furrowed her eyebrows, then shrugged her shoulders.

"you already did it, mate." she said, getting a slight laugh from the others who were listening to them.

"are you two a couple?"

"excuse me?" she asked, looking at nikki, who seemed at least as surprised as she, if not more.

"sorry, excuse me! just, like, you two just give off the energy."

at this, y/n choked on the smoke she just inhaled, coughing a little while nikki laughed.

"you hear that, princess? we seem like a couple." nikki said loudly, licking her hair, her temple wetted from his tongue.

"fuck you, sixx. you know, the problem is, that there's too much testosterone on the stage with those four boys."

"yeah, we can feel that! but you're like a rock angel, y/n, i don't have seen many good frontwomen, but you're cool. you fill up the stage with vince, and it's not like you're there because you're just a wannabe-rockstar chick, you act casually."

"thank you." y/n muttered, leaning into nikki. "but no, we're not a couple. that'd fuck up the band, i think."

going home, nikki nudged y/n's shoulder, y/n tossed on him in exchange. they were drunk, y/n could barely walk on her big heels, grabbing into his arms before this little gig.

"oh, really?" he said, spinning and pinning her to the phone booth. trying to move, she whined from the nikki's arm that didn't let her go, trying to sneak out from it, he shook his head, tutting. "what now, princess?" he asked.

"let me go." she whined, giggling, trying to toouch the ground with her legs. nikki was taller than her, and in her drunk state, she couldn't deny that it was really hot.

"for a kiss." looking at him, y/n smiled and looked away.

"nope."

"come on, just a little kiss."

the girl shrugged her shoulders the best she could, whispering in his ear. "i don't want to be your one-timer, nikki. i'm not in your band just to fuck with you, and if we want to do this, we have to do it proper."

"proper? what do you know about proper dating?" he pulled up his eyebrows.

"i just know that they didn't say that i'm your whore, they said that we look like a couple. don't make your fans disappointed, nikki."

"my fans? our fans. fuck them, i don't want to make you disappointed. i'm not good in relationships, i mostly had flings, so you can take my relationship-virginity."

"really? you want it? a relationships has boundaries and duties, are you ready for that?" she asked. she haven't felt ready either, but she loved to watch the wonder on nikki's face.

"i'm not sure... but you know what i'm sure about?" he spat the words, brushing their noses together, making her smirk and giggle again, she tried to bite him but he leaned away.

"what?"

"i'm sure that i want to give you everything."

y/n stopped in her motion, and for a moment, she got sober. did he really want to be in a relationship with her? come on, their band and their career basically just started, what if they break up in two weeks? if they really gonna make it, facing each other through long years is not gonna be easy.

"fuck, nikki." she muttered, tilting her forehead to his.

"fuck you, y/n, for not believing in me. what if i want to travel the world with you? to play in big stadiums, getting stupidly rich and high and have good sex? and of course, caring about each other, and all those lovey-dovey shit you girls like?" he said, brushing his lips against her forehead, then her cheeks, her nose, edging her. y/n's lips began to burn from lacking his lips on hers.

"i like that lovey-dovey shit." y/n answered, stroking his face.

"then i'll give it to you." he towered over her. "just say that you want it, that you want to be my girlfriend." nikki's whisper wandered around her mind. just say that you want it. i'll give it to you.

fuck, why not? y/n stroked nikki's face, smiling, and she felt that in seconds, a bomb's gonna explode.

"i want it, nikki."

nikki smiled, leaning closer to touch his lips with hers. grabbing the back of his neck, curling his black locks around her fingers, y/n bit into his lips.

"fuck, it's so crazy how you got me feel for you in fucking weeks." he muttered, trying to get her legs around her waist, but y/n tapped on his chest.

"stop, niks, i don't want to be on some handycam recorded sex-tapes that leaks out after we get famous." she muttered, making him laugh.

"me neither. only i get to see what's underneath these pretty clothes." he slapped her ass as they began to walk home. "can we continue this at home?"

y/n clicked with her tongue, holding onto his arm.

"i don't know... i need to shower first, the concert got me sweaty. and bloody, fuck."

"you were so fucking hot as you were fighting those guys."

"were i good?" she asked, leaning her head onto his arm.

"you were amazing, baby. you kicked out at least two of that asshole's teeth." nikki replied, making her giggle. "did you learn this at the orphanage?"

"i learned it in life. but orphanage was hard as hell, too."

"but now you are in perfect hands. well, not perfect, but pretty good hands."

"your hands?" y/n looked up, smiling as she brushed her nose against his jawline.

"my hands." nikki nodded, kissing her.

a/n: i know it's short, but i got a lot of work )): hope u don't mind. see u in the next chapter!!

taglist: @xamapolax

[dnangelic]

Get to know the mun ! repost, don’t reblog .

——— BASICS.

[ NAME ] : tsun (short for tsundere)

PRONOUNS : he / him

ZODIAC SIGN : pisces-aries

TAKEN OR SINGLE : single

ANYTHING ELSE ? : my dog is way cuter and more interesting than me

——— THREE SERIOUS FACTS.

you don't have to soften up your muse with me. really. i've written mainly antagonistic/villainous/horror-centric muses in the past so i'd like to at the very last believe i understand at least some of the struggle when it comes to having a muse like that. which isn't to say that daisuke won't still try to appeal to some form of compassion for even the most reprehensible muses because that's just the way that he's built, but nobody has to apologize and worry about hurting me, the mun's feelings for being mean to daisuke. if he wasn't built for helping then he was built for a lil bullying. it's okay. i love to see it <- mean older bro/failboy aficionado syndrome

i don't really do starter calls or memes anymore. the best way to start something with me is to either get at me directly for a thread/plot discussion or if that's too scary just make an ic remark on any random ass post and i'll probably make a new ic post for it. or send me an ask and we can go from there since my askbox is always open. i try to do the occasional inbox call but since i don't like my asks to be overly bland and it takes a whole lotta creativity, i don't do those super often either.

if you don't know something about my muse it's best if you ask. really. seriously. DN 'canon' is scattered in multiple directions and multiple pieces across multiple formats, and most eng speakers have only seen the anime or read the manga, which imo are the two bottom-most "best" formats for grasping what the hell is even going on overall in the series. atp pointing people to either my public vs private knowledge post or my canon divergence post is probably the best i can do to provide a comprehensive list of different 'facts' about how i work my characterization.

——— THREE RANDOM FACTS.

i have in fact been with DN since the early 2000/2010s-ish, around middleschool. i wasn't there when its re-serialization was announced in 2020 or so but the first and second volumes will always be a formative memory for me, and the tokyopop ENG translation set i have (up to book 12) has somehow survived over the course of like at least five different moves. this is also probably why i find sugisaki's original, absolute oldest style the most nostalgic/'best' in a way, if only to me. i've also been a vkei fan since vanan'ice started releasing music, immoral memory lost memory has and always will be my #1 comfort song. no wonder i ended up writing dn charas

i like to cook and bake. baking more than cooking, which is sometimes a problem since i can end up baking more than my family ever eats. i'd love to make DN style parfaits/cake cups sometime, i just don't know who's going to be able to eat all of it laksdjlakgjl. but anything to see icing wiz in a cup for realsies!

my life has been dominated by roguelike/dungeon crawler looter type video games. i've probably got literally like ten billion hours on mabinogi since that was my social system in 2000-2010 range (look i know but it was hot stuff back then ok) and now that elin's been released i've jumped from messing around in elona to there, but put me in front of something in the vein of the whole fate/torchlight series etc and i'm probably clocked out forever

——— EXPERIENCE.

i started a tumblr rp blog as a joke for a friend (now no longer my friend) i'd chat with during ~2015 give or take a year. i didn't even care about the chara at first but i've always loved writing, and i ended up actually getting into said chara and the series they were from to write some more/beyond just sheer crack for my friend. i've never written fic for the same reason that i've never written anything standalone tho, that being i completely lose confidence all the way down to the last drop in my bones

i like deep and firm muse connections. this doesn't necessarily even mean positive ic ones, but i like it best when muses absolutely have something. it doesn't even have to be definite either, like the way satoshi and daisuke's relationship within canon is somehow balancing both a killer rivalry and deep caring friendship and just about everything else they always got goin on in between. it's usually after any sort of dynamic is established that i feel much more comfortable sending unprompted asks too.

i have like 50 tabs open at all times and 600 things in my drafts. i did this to myself. but if i never catch DMs on tumblr it's probably because i never got a notif thanks to the 50 tabs, and if i never catch DMs on discord it's probably because i saw it, got busy, then forgot about it til i checked again and bam it's been like a month and now responding feels too awkward. i'm so bad at personal communication i'm so sorry. use my askbox if it's urgent i swear i've never failed to respond to any of those asap. losing drafts is thanks to the 600 things, but if you want me to dig up something because you miss it and so i can respond to it asap i can always do that too. im literally just too tired to scroll to find shit that isn't my most recent sometimes iawjewahjaiijkrf it's a bad hobby habit i knooooow

——— MUSE PREFERENCE.

i've tried to find the common denominator between all of my muses in the past multiple times and i've never been able to find it. i've written anything and everyone from, like, folklore ocs to meta knight from kirby. in general i like to have a muse that i don't always have to take too seriously though. or that comes off as comedic on the surface but i can still handle in a serious and legitimate/realistic way, ie just like dark and daisuke being clowns and a singular failboy but still just. kids, teenagers grappling with very real uncertainty about themselves and their futures and identities. muses have to have a voice, and i'm very particular about being able to clearly hear my muses in my head and my writing, so if anything that's probably my largest deciding factor.

——— FLUFF / ANGST / SMUT.

FLUFF : yep

ANGST : yep

SMUT : hell no. idk how many times i have to tell people i don't give a shit how hot you think dark is, he's physically 16-17 and is directly linked to daisuke, who's 14-15. these are minors. there's 2892859864 anime charas who are of age for you to smut with, get away from the middleschoolers!!!

——— PLOT / MEMES : see all the way above. i basically live in my activity notes so it's better to grab my attention somehow through that. i get shy about sending memes and also am just..... not around constantly so checking dash can be annoying. if there's a meme you have a really good idea for and you want me to send it specifically i've got no problem doing that though. love u guys

TAGGED BY : @cherriedrage thanks zaggy!!

[solarsonicsoda]

Rating 500+ Theme Tunes - #4: Animaniacs

Have you ever wondered who the Warner Bros. are? Well, they were probably some real guys but they're also two... creatures of some form, and they even have a sister! These are the Animaniacs! Yakko, Wakko, & Dot Warner live in the Warner Bros. water tower, and our the main characters of this 90's classic. The show features all sorts of comedic segments with all sorts of characters however, even being the origin of the infamous Pinky & The Brain. I'd liken this show to a sketch comedy show in a way, with wall-to-wall jokes and a variety of settings.

Now, Animaniacs is the first show thus far that was truly before my time. It's original run finished four whole years before my birth. I'll give you a sentence to process that. While I haven't watched full episodes of the show, I did watch the Pinky & The Brain standalone show and I'm also familiar with many segments from the show. I frequently listen to Yakko Warner's Nations of the World and Wakko Warner's America.

The show seems like an absolute hoot from everything I see, absolutely something I would get a lot of enjoyment from. It always makes me laugh! It's pretty weird too that Steven Spielburg is behind Animaniacs! That man really got around. Anyway, while we're here, I also haven't seen the revival series. We don't even get Hulu in the UK.

Theme time!

Animaniacs Theme Tune

This song goes so goddamn hard. I can't even lie. One of the biggest earworms I have ever heard in the history of intros. Everytime I find myself singing it! Just everything about this one makes me love this show, which is really exactly what you want. So much of the humour comes across perfectly in this song, even including a line about the characters' "pay-for-play contracts"! The meta-humour, the quick-humour, and while it can't influence my decision here, the physical humour of the animation is all perfect. Big brassy and mischievous instrumentals tie it all together brilliantly, making it that classic Warner Bros. cartoon mayhem for the audience of the 90's, with pop-culture of the time and fourth-wall breaks aplenty. This show and this theme knows what it is and wants to use that fully to its advantage.

An absolutely delightful intro. This one has to be an S-tier for me. Those are the facts!

Stay tuned for more and be sure to send in any suggestions for other shows you'd like to see done (after the 500 already in the pipeline that is). Check out the intro to this series here, and now, the tier list.

[thefinalcinderella]

Tsurune Book 3 Chapter 6 - Genuine (Part 2)

My brain as I was translating this: what is bro yapping about

also please don't ask me to clarify anything that happened in this chapter, i also have no idea. i'm pretty sure only the author knows 😂all i know is that they were definitely doing kyudo.

TW: suicide mention

Glossary here

Full list of translations here

Translation Notes

A saijiki is an almanac of Japanese seasonal terms used for poetry

Asahina's name (朝日奈) contains the characters for morning sun

Adults (成人) and saints (聖人) have the same reading (seijin)

A box-like structure where rain shutters are stored when not in use

Previous | Next

Masa-san, there’s something I want to tell you.

Don’t laugh and just listen to me.

The competitors from both schools met face to face at the prefectural finals. The sky began preparations to show off its triumphant end.

Asahina and Minato faced each other.

“Looks like ‘Minahead’ worked. Thanks.”

“Please don’t make surprise attacks like you did the other day.”

“Hahaha, sorry. The protection around you was strong, so that was the best I could do.”

Eddie pushed up his hair. “We have no need for superstition anymore.”

“That’s right, partner.”

Asahina and Eddie bumped elbows. They were like children who played a secret prank on their parents.

Haneina’s coach, Tsucchi, and Masa-san faced off.

“My archers are in top form. We’re going to win.”

“I don’t know about that. Kazemai can use the wind, after all.”

“I don’t want any funny tricks. Show us what you can do.”

“Go easy on us.”

The archers from both schools entered the shajo with orange and yellow-green headbands tied around their heads.

Haneina High School had Eddie, Matsuda, Kanuma, Igarashi, and Asahina.

Kazemai High School had Kaito, Ryouhei, Seiya, Nanao, and Minato.

They each stepped onto the shooting line and spread their legs.

The oomae of Haneina was Eddie. His golden hair fluttered in the sun. Spreading his white wings, the archangel descended upon the land of the east. The eccentric was an assumed figure, and the truth was revealed.

He objected to the strange land of Japan, where everyone wore matching outfits to find jobs. Who told them to wear black? Was it because it wouldn’t stand out even if they settled down in a graveyard? Those who prepared loyalty tests for the company would have been promoted and given a nice apartment. Ceasing to think for yourself was what politicians wanted you to do. Misguided servility made the conceited even more fattened. If you were going to dance the same dance, then dance in your own colors.

The arrow was aimed at the demon’s heart. But Eddie and Kaito hit the center.

Next was Matsuda on the second target. One day, a house party was held. The servants, who were usually unsmiling, broke out into big smiles as soon as the host appeared in the room. Before he knew it, everyone in the room had smiles pasted onto their faces. “Supporting the disabled is my purpose in life. We are very concerned about you. With this product, you can reduce your anxiety about your future,” they whispered, but the bow made no distinction between the disabled and the able-bodied. The love that asked for nothing in return was always there.

The released arrow shattered the window glass. Ryouhei followed as well.

Kanuma on the third target opened his haiku saijiki. (1) Beautiful phrases that reflected Japan’s weather, astronomy, geography, and human affairs were lined up side by side. The finely honed senses of their ancestors that resided in each phrase hadn’t faded away even now.

Words were twisted, woven, knitted, and tied together. Weaving brocade was the living wisdom and culture of creatures without fur. The clothes we wore revealed our environment and thoughts. Those who could manipulate words and know the hidden power of words could transcend the concept of time and fly to the moment at any time. Right now, Kanuma has composed a song.

Kanuma and Seiya summoned tsurune.

Brain, be deceived. Make a miracle happen.

Taking the sound of the matooto as a signal, Igarashi raised his bow. Anyone could step into his flower garden. Flowers such as bellflowers, gentians, and campanulas were preferred, and the bells rang when the wind blew. Bees and butterflies frolicked amidst the flowers, grass lizards and rainbow-colored lizards lay in the grass, and red-flanked blue tails rested on the branches. He picked the withered flowers and thinned out overcrowded foliage. A garden that took time to grow was a treasure. Igarashi applied that image to his own bow. He slept every night holding his bow, of which only one existed in this world.

As Igarashi and Nanao’s arrows flew, flowers bloomed along the path.

In the stands, Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo gasped. Since there were a lot of hits in quick succession, they braced themselves so they wouldn’t miss the chance to cheer.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful.”

“Both schools are sparkling.”

“This is exactly what ‘brilliance’ is.”

The ochi Asahina, as his name suggested, was the embodiment of the sun. (2) His red hair burned in the twilight.

Fire.

Fire knew what you had done.

It also knew the name and face of your accomplice.

If you wanted to purify yourself, go to the sea. If you wanted power, go to the mountains. Whichever path you chose, he would be a torchbearer and a guide. Heaven watched the deeds of those who lived on earth. Three children were born out of the fire. At any given time, there existed something that recorded the events on earth. Memories that were passed down became stories.

Asahina and Minato released their arrows.

For the second shot, nobody missed.

For the third short, the sound of the matooto didn’t cease.

The wind blew through the kyudojo, where conversation and even breathing were taboo.

Where was the wind going? Who was it bringing with it?

A memory of a day he spent with Masa-san flashed through Minato’s mind.

Yata Forest, where the crescent moon hang in the deep blue sky. The sound of rustling leaves sounded like the trees were welcoming them as the two walked along the white path illuminated by moonlight.

“Masa-san, there’s something I want to tell you. I had a strange experience a long time ago. I haven’t even told Seiya and Ryouhei about it. They’ll probably think I’m crazy or just laugh at me and say I was dreaming. Will you listen to me?”

“I will.”

“You won’t laugh?”

“I won’t.”

Minato took a deep breath.

“I was a bit out of it that day, and when people told me that it was Setsubun today, I was like, ‘Huh?’ It seemed like I got the date wrong by a day, and I had no memory of the day before Setsubun.”

“Hmm.”

“After scattering the beans, I slept like usual, and the next thing I knew, I was paralyzed. My arms and legs were numb, and I couldn’t move my body at all. While I was panicking, I heard three sounds. It kind of sounded like something used in an old sci-fi movie. Then, all of a sudden, a beam of light hit me from right above my head to my feet with a ker-wham. Just as I was thinking Oh crap, what do I do, I heard the three sounds again, and then I was hit on the top of my head with a wham. I still couldn’t move my body, so I was thinking about reciting the Heart Sutra when my dad woke me up. Apparently I was crying out in my sleep.”

Masa-san’s eyes widened. He burst into laughter.

“So you laughed at me after all. I’m a chuunibyou even in my dreams.”

“No, I was laughing at the onomatopoeia. I wasn’t laughing at what you said.”

“Are you telling the truth?”

“I had a similar experience. I never told anyone about it, so it’s a secret.”

Masa-san began speaking.

I’ve told you before that when I was in my third year of high school, I got target panic and my master gave up on me. I’ve also told you that in my first year in university, my father sent me a notification of my brother’s death, but actually, when I was nineteen, I got into an argument with my master. I declared that I will never forgive the person who made my brother disappear and that I will take revenge, but my master just lectured me in the usual way, saying that revenge was a foolish thing and that my anger will burn me to death. I asked him why he had been ignoring it until now, and why is it that you, my own family, didn’t understand me. I showered my master with the hateful words that should have been directed towards my father. That ended up being our final conversation.

When I was twenty, in my second year of university, my master passed away. I overcame my target panic and received invitations from several kyudo schools to join them, but I had lost sight of the significance of drawing the bow. I kept asking myself why I was drawing a bow—and then I realized it. No, I finally admitted it. I wanted to be acknowledged as an archer by my “master Yasaka,” no one else. And that will never come true.

In the spring of my third year, I completed shooting a hundred arrows, but all I felt was a sense of emptiness. My father casually sent us letters, as if he was unaware of the despair and threat he posed to us. Was it okay to just do nothing? Would I have no choice but to take these negative feelings with me to the grave?

As summer approached, I began to deeply regret the last words I spoke to my master. Every time I entered the kyudojo, my body became stiff, and I found it hard to breathe. Before I knew it, I couldn’t sleep soundly, and the doctor’s comforting words and medicine didn’t make me feel better. My mother, unable to just watch, took me to a temple in Shikoku.

The chief priest was a quiet person. He read sutras in the morning and sat in front of the Buddha at noon and night. He would visit me from time to time, and we would talk about casual everyday things before going home. During that time, I remained lying on my bed.

Several choruses of cicadas passed by. Everything that lived was covered in shame, and I longed to disappear, but I couldn’t commit suicide for the sake of the family I would be leaving behind. At night, I closed my eyes, hoping that I would never wake up again. If I could at least forget everything, I could live.

I closed my mouth in the morning and laid down on the ground during the day and night.

Sleepless days. I couldn’t escape the memories that replayed over and over again.

One night, as I was looking back on my life and regretting every detail, I heard a voice coming from the upper left corner of my head. Just a single “Good.”

The two looked at each other and smiled.

It was a strange feeling of empathy with each other.

Ah, that’s right. Someday, when the time was right, I can tell others about this day. When the truth dwells in Minato’s words.

When Masa-san finished, he grinned.

This was a secret between master and disciple.

“Good.”

“Good.”

The sixth voice was heard.

With three scales, arrows of light descended from the heavens and pierced through Minato’s body. His whole body went numb and his head became hazy.

The sounds came again.

When he decided to “come,” the arrows passed through his body and spread from the soles of his feet to the ground.

Meigen. That was the sound of the dawn.

Three sounds and arrows of light fell from the sky.

The arrows of light pierced my body.

The ultimate goal of kyudo was “the true, the good, and the beautiful.” True archery didn’t lie, deceive, or betray.

Truth in archery was proven by the brilliance of the bow, the tsurune, and hitting the target. What was true was beautiful, and what was good was also beautiful. Once you met the genuine article, you would never be confused again.

Hayake—Yips was a state in which the body became warped due to accumulated fatigue and stress, and the brain ends up malfunctioning. That was why beginners didn’t get target panic. It occurred when the brain remembered the experience of failure so strongly that it issued an emergency alert every time those memories replayed. This became a regular occurrence, and if proper treatment wasn’t taken, it would only get worse. In archery, hayake was called “target panic,” and it was an accurate description of this sickness.

The solution was to regulate one’s breathing. It was to get rid of the distortions in one’s body and allow the brain and body to rest.

There were actually very few people who could maintain a natural and comfortable posture. Regulating the autonomic nervous system and improving the functioning of the central nervous system was the key to good health. The autonomic nervous system referred to the nerves that were responsible for unconscious processes such as pulse, breathing, and digestion. The sympathetic nervous system was dominant during the day, and the parasympathetic nervous system was dominant when sleeping at night. The central nervous system were the nerves that acted like a command center, issuing commands to various parts of the body.

Anxiety and fear were a kind of self-protective instinct. Once living things experienced something scary or painful, they tried to avoid it next time. When it was overreacted to, they became stuck in the memories of the past, worried about the future, and unable to take even a step forward.

When you drove a car, you got too scared to drive if you thought about what would happen if you caused an accident. You made sure you were in good physical condition and inspected your vehicle before driving. Even so, if you caused an accident, you would have to pay for it for the rest of your life. If you were willing to accept all of that, everything else would become possible.

Cars run on gasoline or electricity, but what did the human body need to move? Oxygen. Oxygen produced heat. “Breathing” was an important way to obtain oxygen efficiently. Because modern people breathed with their chests, they were unaware that they were about to drown due to the lack of oxygen in their brains.

Let’s slowly take a deep breath.

You could see what you couldn’t see before.

You could touch what you couldn’t touch before.

The days I spent with you.

The days I will spend with you from now on.

Who should I thank for this happiness?

Right now, I’m breathing.

Blessed are the creatures that shed their fur.

They have rented lodgings on earth and eaten many lives.

Now, I offer a moment of silence.

The fourth shot began. The ten’s heartbeats grated.

Gradually, slowly, the surroundings were dyed in green, like vines were creeping around. This place, with its spreading leaves and blooming orange flowers, was just like the earth after humans have left.

Those who gathered in the Land of the Rising Sun. Kaito, who had just been born, let out a single cry. The roar that announced the joy of birth hit right in the middle of the target.

Ryouhei also raised his voice. What beautiful stars, what delightful companions. Now, let’s set off. Let’s row the boat. What kind of place would the new continent be? What kind of encounters await us?

Seiya followed suit. I knew you were worried about me. I was taking advantage of your kindness. Thank you for being by my side. Thank you for getting angry.

Nanao was enjoying himself, happy, and sun—. The place I belong is where I draw my bow. I want it, I want it, I want it. But it didn’t come true. I got an abode that I should have given up sometime ago. Someone whispered to me that it’s okay to stay here, that there’s no need to leave so quickly. When he blew a whistle, the matooto resounded at the azuchi.

Minato was standing on the earth.

We are temporary residents who are renting a part of the earth.

His memory flew back to a few weeks ago, to something Saionji had said with blooming azaleas behind him.

“Narumiya-kun, please try to explain the ‘Heart Sutra’ to me.”

“Yes. The universe is emptiness. If you think something exists, it exists. If you don’t think it exists, it doesn’t exist. You can see it if you try to see it, and you can’t see it if you don’t try. It’s dyed in every color, and it’s not dyed in any color. The mind is emptiness. The mind is the body, and the body is the mind. Although they are considered different things, they used to be one and the same. The ‘box’ that is me contains all the necessary software. Now, recite the password called an incantation and open the box. The box will then start up normally.”

“That’s a bold interpretation. It’s very interesting. Continuing studying in that vein.”

“Thank you very much.”

“It’s not about right or wrong, it’s about how you feel. That is the answer of the current you. Religion was originally meant to be a guidebook to help you live a better life.”

The mind and body were the same person.

The heart was responsible for pumping blood, the stomach was responsible for digesting food, and the brain was responsible for thinking. All were functions of internal organs, and each had a role. It was just that the roles were divided, and it didn’t mean that the brain was the best and the others weren’t. Confusion arose because only the brain was viewed as special.

Humans tended to rely on vision when obtaining information, and were creatures who liked to take things apart before observing them. However, if you were too short-sighted, you would lose sight of the true essence. If you take a step back, you could see the whole thing. Man and woman, good and evil, the surface and below, real and imaginary numbers, joy and anger, sadness and healing, health and illness, life and death, meetings and partings. Dualism was just one classification method, and the classification depended on the time and situation.

The two couldn’t be separated. They were intertwined from the start.

They were one from the beginning.

A spell was a mysterious word that went beyond human comprehension. Although words could be shown to have special power, the basis for the current phenomenon couldn’t be explained. Because it was “power beyond human understanding,” it was difficult for ordinary people to understand, much less put into words. Just because you couldn’t see, hear, or quantify it doesn’t mean that it “didn’t exist.” It was only latent, not yet manifested.

A text that had been simplified by an expert in the field by only extracting the important points was, on the contrary, even more difficult for beginners to understand. Rewording the text into concrete episodes, in other words, accumulating stories, helps to deepen understanding. Stories were the perfect tool to convey something. It was hoped that someday, someone would explain it in an easy-to-understand text.

Minato and Asahina’s arrows pierced their targets.

Ten people. Forty perfect hits.

This was in the exact region of a hundred shots and a hundred hits.

Viewing this amazing scene, there was a standing ovation in the spectators’ seats.

Ren, who was watching in the stands, squeezed his hands. Seiya’s brother Gaku hugged himself.

“It looks cold. How long will this continue?”

“…I hope it doesn’t end like this.”

No winner was decided, so it became a shoot-out. Each archer released a shot, and the school with the most hits won. If it couldn’t be determined in one round, it was repeated until the ranking was decided.

The oomae had begun to raise their bows.

Roaring bows. Arrows that cut through the wind. Summoning thunderclouds, colorful dragons swam through the archery range.

Dizzingly clear paths of light bounce, dance, and splashed. Legendary creatures ran to the end without turning around or stopping. The “insect” contained in the kanji for “wind” and “rainbow” meant dragon, and although they were feared as gods in the East and monsters in the West, they weren’t influenced by human expectations. Each went their own way. Their colors and speeds were different, but they all arrived at one place—somewhere bright.

Once more, everyone hit.

The people watching the ten, who never missed, felt a thirst in their throats. What were they witnessing? Did something like this truly exist? Were they becoming witnesses to history?

Kaito, Ryouhei, Seiya, Nanao, and Minato faced the target.

The five melted into one and returned to that day. They were hearing Greensleeves.

Minato was talking to his mother in a dream.

“This song is about the moment when a disciple told their master the answer to a problem, right? I think the moment the master heard this, they smiled with joy.”

Greensleeves was a “Song of Naru.”

After completing his trials, the boy became an adult.

It was a rite of passage, an initiation.

Farewells and encounters were one and the same. On the winter solstice, the sun died and was reborn. Rather than having two sides, rather than being parallel, it was a chaotic thing that blended and mixed together. Today was like yesterday, and tomorrow was like today. Time didn’t exist there.

“Goodbye” was a magic word. It was devised from the beginning.

The sound of knocking on the door. A ringing sound.

Yearning, chasing, wishing.

Cowering, struggling, being doubted, despised.

Raging, despairing, cursing.

When you repent, mourn, accept death…

And give up.

Bow your head, love, and forgive. The door finally opens.

With a “welcome.”

Love meant forgiving yourself and others.

Could you embrace the person in front of you who you hated so much that you wanted to kill?

Those who cleared this final task were called “adults (saints)”. (3)

Admiration for the opposite sex and affection between parents and children were biological desires based on the perpetuation of descendants, and it wouldn’t be too difficult to love someone who had been kind to you. True friendship was rare and beautiful. Those who walked on the same path, master and disciple and friends. The two would be on a journey that would never end. The only difference was whether one went first or went later.

Even if one, two, three, or even four people finished, the match wasn’t decided.

The fifth, Asahina and Minato, began to raise their bows. They opened their chests wide and stretched their limbs in all directions. Two crosses emerged in the shajo dyed by the sunset. The boys flew into the sky. Migratory birds passed between the clouds, rivers meandering across the land, and cows grazing. A dragonfly rested its wings on the tip of an ear of wheat and flew away, seemingly uninterested in human activity.

A beautiful bow with a length unparalleled in the world. That was a divine implement. The sacred instrument inherited by archers chose its user. It looked for those with clear, unclouded eyes. The sun was a form of unconditional love. An existence that shined on everyone, both good or bad, without distinction. The Japanese called that star Amaterasu Oomikami.

When Minato’s arrow was sucked into its target, Asahina gently brought down his bow.

It was at that moment that Kazemai High School’s victory was decided.

Exclamations and screams arose at the long battle. The applause and cheers were deafening. In the stands, Hanazawa, Shiragiku, Seo, and Gaku were crying.

Kaito and Eddie, Ryouhei and Matsuda, Seiya and Kanuma, Nanao and Igarashi, and Minato and Asahina bumped gloves.

Asahina laughed. “That was so much fun. Let’s do it again.”

“Yeah, I had fun too.”

After they finished leaving the shajo, the first years Kanbayashi and Himuro ran up to them, and the members of Kazemai High School’s kyudo club hugged each other’s shoulders.

Minato and Kaito were screaming.

“Woooooooo!”

“Yeaaaaaah!”

“You don’t have to do your yagoe here. You’re hurting my ears,” Seiya chided them, but made no move to remove their hands from his shoulders. Ryouhei put his weight on them, causing the seven to lose their balance and collapse to the ground.

Nanao’s eyes were wet with emotion. It was not a little frustrating for him to be left out of the lineup in the preliminaries. He didn’t want to admit that he was frustrated, not wanting to show such an uncool part of himself, and unconsciously tried to keep up appearances. The other members all noticed this. They had the same feelings. Kaito, Seiya, Minato, Ryouhei, and even Himuro and Kanbayashi patted Nanao on the head. Nanao did the same thing back to them. Tommy-sensei watched the seven boys with a smile as they seemed to return to their childhood. Masa-san picked Nanao up and walked around with him. “Pick me up too!” Ryouhei badgered him.

The appearance of the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club was deeply etched into people’s memories.

After the awards ceremony, Kazemai prepared to go home. The support group that brought the cars walked ahead, followed by the club members. The championship cup was held by the president, Seiya.

The feeling of elation couldn’t be contained. The scenery they usually saw was more color saturated and lacked a sense of reality. On the stage of the finals, all five of them achieved six shots without missing. This was exactly a dream came true.

As they were leaving the kyudojo, the Kirisaki members came to congratulate them. The Young Prince’s eyes were more melancholic than usual.

Ryouhei put his arms around Kaito and Nanao’s shoulders.

“Ah, I’m still excited. I feel like running.”

“Alright, let’s run home.”

“You guys are gonna get wiped out if you do that,” Kaito said, but he couldn’t remain still either and started walking faster.

Minato, Kanbayashi, and Himuro formed the tail end of the group. After the match, they walked slowly from exhaustion.

“I’ve been inspired. I’m going to become an archer like Narumiya-senpai.”

“You’re making too much of me. I’m not even close to Masa-san or Shuu.”

“All three of you are amazing.”

Himuro nodded wordlessly.

“Kyah, I’m sorry!”

Someone appeared, interrupting Minato and the others’ conversation. A girl passing by bumped into him when he wasn’t looking, it seemed. The contents of the plastic bottle she was holding spilled onto Minato, and he wiped the liquid with his sleeve.

“Your collar got soaked. Do you want to change?”

“Some of it got into my mouth, but it seems to be just water. It’ll dry right away.”

By the time they finished loading their bags into the car, Minato felt sluggish. He felt nauseous, and his whole body was itching. When he looked at the inside of his arm, he saw that a rash had broken out.

“What’s wrong with me? I feel itchy, and kinda sick…”

“Your neck is turning red! Should I call Takehaya-senpai? He might have some medicine.”

“Ah, it’s fine. I’ll wait until we get back.”

But soon, Minato was crouching down in a corner of the parking lot. Seiya, noticing that Minato and the others were acting strange, rushed over. Minato was clutching his throat as he crouched.

“What’s wrong, Minato!?”

“…I don’t know, but I feel sick and lightheaded.”

“Could it be heatstroke? Do you have a fever? How’s your stomach?”

“It’s hard to breathe…my throat…”

His voice was raspy and his breathes came in short gasps. Nanao rubbed Minato’s back, and the other members formed a human barricade to guard him. From Seiya’s perspective, he was experiencing system symptoms such as nausea, sweating, dizziness, rashes, and shivering. What was going on?

Seiya’s brother Gaku, who had gotten into the car earlier, also ran over and put his nose on the back of Minato’s neck.

“Seiya, wait. It’s really faint, but he smells different than usual. …It’s an unpleasant smell. What is this, ginkgo fruit?”

Seiya and Ryouhei looked at each other.

“Minato’s allergic to ginkgo!”

“That’s right. A long time ago, when our families went to pick ginkgo fruits, we were shocked when Minato got a rash even though he never touched them with his bare hands.”

“But there aren’t any ginkgo fruits this time of year,” Gaku murmured. “Are these symptoms of anaphylactic shock?”

Seiya’s expression froze.

Anaphylactic shock was a condition in which an allergic reaction to food or other allergens caused a drop in blood pressure and deterioration of consciousness.

Masa-san pushed through the human barricade and went to Minato. He was lying limp in the laps of Kanbayashi and Himuro. His face was chalk white.

“Sorry about this, Minato.”

Masa-san suddenly lifted up Minato’s hakama and pushed something that looked like a thick pen into his thigh. There was a click sound. Seiya widened his eyes, and Kanbayashi blinked rapidly.

“It’s a self-injection of adrenaline. I’m allergic to wasp poison, so I carry it around with me.”

Gaku got out his phone. “Coach Takigawa, thank goodness. Don’t worry, I’ll get him to the hospital right away.”

The injection seemed to have worked, and after a while Minato was able to sit up on his own. His breathing had settled down, and it seemed that his life was no longer in danger. Minato was escorted to the hospital by the Takehaya brothers.

Afterwards, the dashcam in one of the parents’ cars parked in the parking lot showed the girl who was holding the bottle. Despite repeated appeals that the water in the bottle was suspicious, the case was shelved without much investigation, as it was assumed that Minato had just accidentally ingested food that he was allergic to.

Seiya had a pained expression on his face.

“I know someone whose hobbies include hacking into surveillance camera data and using AI to analyze internet articles. The girl from the dashcam is a Kuon devotee. We also confirmed contact between a detective and a Kuon family servant. Apparently, the detective got their hands on ginkgo fruits from a university lab. It seems like there are all sorts of people at Kuon’s house.”

“Why Minato?” Ryouhei asked.

“It’s probably jealousy. The Young Prince only has one brother disciple. No one can take Minato’s place.”

Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo stamped on the ground in frustration.

“I can’t believe we can’t do anything even though we know that much.”

“It’s frustrating.”

“Yeah, I feel you. But wouldn’t it also be bad if the hacking is discovered?”

Masa-san, who had been listening silently until then, rubbed his cheek.

“We have to punish him hard for this.”

Kuon was spending the weekend at the villa.

“Has that woman’s identity been exposed? How useless. Hmm, no need to bother with a orthopedic surgeon’s son and a bunch of commoners.”

His phone rang, and the screen displayed a certain person’s name.

It was Fujiwara Shuu.

“Kuon Takumi, will you apologize to Minato?”

Perhaps it was because he was calling from somewhere far away, but there was so much noise in the background that it was hard to hear.

“What are you talking about? I’m on vacation right now. Do you mind if I ask you to refrain from calling?”

“He’s heading your way right now. I’m not going to be able to stop him.”

“He?”

Asahina and Eddie had pinpointed Kuon’s location. He was in a richly decorated mansion deep in the mountains. The heavy doors opened.

Masa-san leisurely walked from the central entrance to the front stairwell. A female servant of the mansion, suspicious of the smiling, cheerfully walking stranger, called out to him.

“Excuse me, sir? Are you a guest?”

“Hey there, young lady. I’m glad you seem to be doing well.”

“I’m afraid that I cannot let you through to the next room.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m very close to Takumi-kun.”

Masa-san smiled softly, and the servant felt cold air blowing on the back of her neck. Contrary to his words, his quiet anger was something that couldn’t be hidden no matter how hard he tried.

The woman screamed. “Takumi-sama, there’s a suspicious person here! Somebody help!”

Kuon sensed the man’s impending presence and hurried outside.

Masa-san got behind the men guarding Kuon and slammed his fist into the back of his liver. He dodged another man’s kick, and when he fell to the ground with a heavy thud, Masa-san jumped over the stair railing.

All the while, Kuon was running at full speed. His pursuer closed the distance in the blink of an eye, and Kuon, panicking, tripped on the grass and fell. Despite this, he still crawled on the ground, trying to escape, but couldn’t move forward.

Masa-san grabbed Kuon by the nape of his neck.

“Swear that you’ll never lay a finger on Kazemai’s students again.”

“O-Okay. I swear, so let me go first.”

When Masa-san loosened his grip, Kuon raised himself up and faced him directly. Immediately after, he saw the shadow of a muscular man behind Masa-san. Masa-san punched him in the face without looking back.

Kuon clutched at the soil.

“Who the hell are you!? There’s no way an ordinary person can do that!”

“I’m sure you know that I’m Kazemai’s coach. A long time ago, I learned self-defense. You don’t seem to realize what you’ve done.”

“Isn’t it just a little bit of itchiness? A long time ago, I had a classmate who got itchy after eating eggs, but it cleared up after a week. Isn’t this just a child’s adorable prank?”

“Don’t tell me that you’ve done the same thing in the past? Allergies can be life-threatening if you don’t take care of them properly. What you did was equivalent to poisoning him. Lately, I haven’t been able to control myself…whatever will I do?”

Masa-san put his hand in the inside pocket of his jacket. He took out a permanent marker, and after removing the cap, he placed the tip of the pen on Kuon’s cheek.

Approximately ten seconds later, Kuon’s face was covered with the same pattern as the one on the powder container Masa-san had received from his master. Yes, depending on how you looked at it, it looked like a bikini.

The look in Kuon’s eyes changed when he saw Masa-san turn on his phone.

“No way, you’re going to take a photo?”

“A souvenir. I borrowed the pen from Kazemai’s president, and it turned out to be a very tasteful picture, if I do say so myself.”

“You lowly citizen! I’ll call Father!”

“As you requested, I’ve already called him. ‘My foolish son has wronged your friend. Please scold him on my behalf,’ he said and invited me to this villa. Now that I’ve taken some pictures, I think I’ll send them to the Kirisaki twins.”

“Father would never… S-Stop it! Doesn’t Buddhism tell you to not take revenge even when something is done to you? Your real job is being a monk, isn’t it?”

“Everyone keeps calling me a monk, monk, monk. I’m not a monk, I’m a priest!”

As Masa-san’s finger was about to slide across his phone’s screen, the wind created by a helicopter made the leaves and branches of the mountains shake. It was a tremendous amount of dust. When he looked up, the door of the low-flying aircraft opened.

Shuu jumped down. His pale eyelashes were swaying.

“Kuon, if you’re going to use the power of your family, I won’t hesitate to borrow the power of my family as well. Have you forgotten my name?”

“…Fujiwara-senpai.”

Minato also peeked out from the helicopter.

“Masa-san, stop! Don’t do anything more than that! I haven’t learned pro wrestling yet.”

“Good grief, my disciples are always too soft!”

Masa-san and Shuu stood in front of Kuon, who bowed his head in resignation.

Young leaves danced in the sky.

Members of the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club gathered at the Yata no Mori Kyudojo.

A fleeting time of overnight practice. The warm sunlight that poured down upon them made them sleepy.

“Oh, what happened to the boys?” Tommy-sensei asked Hanazawa, Shiragiku, and Seo.

“They went to see the dormouse.”

Masa-san pressed his hand to his forehead. “They got too much power, don’t they? Let’s get started on dinner.”

“Yes.”

Minato and his friends were in the forest. They were standing in front of an old mountain hut.

Nanao pointed to the door of the hut.

“At dawn, I volunteered to go look for Miyama stag beetles. Then, I saw it there.”

“Wow, that early morning walk was all about collecting bugs? I’m glad I didn’t go,” Ryouhei said, patting his chest.

Minato asked him to let him sit on his shoulders and peered through the gaps in the tobukuro.* It was a nostalgic scene for Seiya, who was watching them from the side as he waited for his turn to sit on Ryouhei’s shoulders.

“You guys are way too big to do little kid stuff like this,” Kaito said to Seiya.

“You don’t have to look, Kaito.”

“…I guess it’s fine to take just one look.”

Keyaki and Kanbayashi were searching around for new discoveries, and Himuro was listening to the voice of the forest’s master.

The mountains were shining.

The mountains were singing.

By the time the owl woke up from its sleep, Minato and the others had dinner.

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[jackalsinthekitchen]

pop report #8 (today's top hits, 9/24/24)

today's top twenty – short n' salty

A whole Brat Summer has come and gone since we last left off. I tumbled belatedly down Charli’s rabbit hole in January, when I was looking for something to flatter a high, and she ended up blowing my world apart. I’d slept on her a decade ago, when she was both sugar and spice – everything nice, really – in hits which have aged varying degrees of well. Yet her 2015 union with PC Music was what put the form to her urge to soundscape – unlike the DMT-addled Todd Rundgren of fifty years ago, of whom she’s a fan, she’s nothing if not collaborative. When I first played brat, besotted as any sane person would be by the effervescent “360”, I found its music too metallic and its melodies overly astringent. Mea culpa – now no less an authority than our next president [knock, knock] has validated her cultural primacy.

So you won’t catch me complaining anymore – it couldn’t have happened to a more visionary icon. But of course, the year belongs to neither Charli, nor the victor in the battle of the quarter-century (not talking about Beyoncé v. Swift, who I think it’s safe to say overdid themselves into a draw this time out). Armed with little more than a wand, a rabbit, and a kabuki-meets-Cyndi Lauper aesthetic, the Midwest Princess finally completed her year-long rise this fall. Meanwhile, in Chappell’s shadow, the Last Straight Femme has put a bow on a fascinating saga that kicked off with “Drivers License”, while Olivia takes sour selfies abroad. And the season of the sticks is long over, with the cabal of bros who once threatened to turn 2024 into the Year of the Dude proving one-hit wonders – or if not one, at least a lot less than F-1 trillion.

But the bro atop half of Today’s Top Hit, Bruno Mars, is a different breed altogether – like his duet partner, one L. Gaga, a star so massive he’s transcended this plane, if not the material world. The languidly soulful waltz “Die with a Smile” sounds to me like an AI dream about “Beautiful Things” being less annoying, and as with everything else America can’t stop listening to (including “Beautiful Things”), someday soon I’m sure I’ll love it. But it still turns on vocals which grind into sincerity, yielding more sawdust than sparks, and presumably won’t unite a wedding dancefloor like “Uptown Funk” or “Bad Romance” ages from now. I suppose each artist thought they had to remind us that they were alive, and forgive my cynicism that the song is doing so well on branding power alone (well, and maybe those outfits).

Tate McRae is another one who feels greedier for the public than vice versa, but it’s ok – “It’s ok I’m ok” is a bit more than OK, the rapid-fire rap hook and sudden wash of synth atmospherics disrupting its relative self-repetition. It's another one that promises to grow over a slow fade; I’d say pop hits are fading slower than ever, but really, it’s always been this way. It does boast some brevity, said to be the soul of something in limited currency – its brisk two and a half minutes feel closer to 75 seconds. Lasting as long is #3, a single about lingering, Short n’ Sweet (ha)’s attention-seizing opener “Taste”. Whereas Olivia’s overtures to authenticity made her so compelling, Sabrina leans into the prefab, and it’s fab every time, fam. Its throwback feel is one of its chiefest virtues – it’s a dead ringer for the Divinvyls, and who doesn't dig the Divinyvls?

The fun of Chappell Roan is which of her big hits you can’t escape at any given moment – only “Pink Pony Club”, which is basically a standard now, is falling behind the rest of the pack. #4 on today’s TTH is “Good Luck, Babe”, its chorus such a pristine flourish of frosting it’s always good for getting through, coming out or kissing off. It’s the first in a trio of queer victories down the list, followed by Charli’s zero-melody banger “Guess”, feat. Billie E, whose subsequently-slotted “Birds of a Feather” is to “we can’t be friends” (#21) as Sour is to Short n’ Sweet. Here’s a girl who writes like she earned both her Oscars. This sapphic streak goes up in flames with the Weeknd, a painfully-straight whose strongest hits sound super gay anyway. After The Idol, the flames are all he can dance in.

#s 8-12 are five stalwart inescapables – that me espresso, H-O-T-T-O-G-O, J.J. Abrams’ nepo baby keenly cornering the “wounded submissive with an acoustic guitar” half of the Taylor Swift market (her vocals softening Olivia’s bratty diction with Billie’s volume control – “I Love You, I’m Sorry”, not as good as “Risk” but still good), Hozier cornering the Adam Levine market (it’s not my aphrodisiac, but the sky still splits open at that wailing instrumental break), errybody in the bahr gittin’ tyup-seh. Then the crisp, honeyed “Apple”, one of a handful of excellent hooks (not to mention lyrics) I missed like a dumb bitch when I was being a brat about brat. Benson Boone’s “Slow it Down” (no one asked you to, BB) sounds extra hoary directly after – though yet again, he builds up to something more worth your while than you expect from the first minute.

Depending on how you look at it, no two bros need more or less help than Post Malone and Morgan Wallen. But for their stab at the song of the summer – per Billboard, it worked – six additional bros lent a hand (though, credit where due, one of them is named Ashley). “I Had Some Help” is solid, and as with all decent-plus generic pop hits gets better or worse depending on the weather in your town or head. Still, the main takeaway is that both men would love to be Sabrina Carpenter, if not Chappell Roan. Next in line is the only member of the Tortured Poets’ Department that doesn’t sound asleep, "I Can Do it With a Broken Heart", a missile aimed directly under Joe Alwyn’s skin – the same summer the latter decided it would be a canny career move to play a rapist in Yorgos Lanthimos’ hasty surrender of his newly-acquired feminist cred.

After Tommy “Temporarily” Richman’s programmatic percolator “Million Dollar Baby” – his album will be called Coyote, though he might’ve just as easily gone with I, Robot – comes a new one for the stomp-clappers Noah Kahan pulled out of the woodwork: Myles Smith’s “Stargazing”. Anyone who’s ever wondered what Chris Martin would sound like fronting Mumford & Sons will be free to turn their attention elsewhere. Then there’s an arresting little club-designed mystery I haven’t heard before – “Move”, by two white guys (Adam Port and Stryv) and a Black vocalist (Malachiii) gently cashing in on a bourgeoning Afrobeats bubble (on this hemisphere, anyway – it’s an embarrassment of riches on the other). It’s a big hit in Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Austria – shades of ABBA, who never crossed the color line in their lives.

I’d call #20 the secret song of the summer – while many of us are feeling hot to go and so Julia, there are still plenty of shitty vibes to go around, not to mention shitty men (this writer included). Justice doesn’t get more poetic than “Please Please Please” hitting the top in a surging crop of penis-pop. While Sabrina’s triumphs are often trifles, “Please” nails an almost unprecedented level of sexual-politics profundity without a speck of strain or waste (I’d be shocked if it featured more than three instruments). Sure, Olivia’s righteous rage always hits like a tonic, but something about Carpenter’s straight-to-the-point disappointment feels a great deal more potent. Imagine if Lesley Gore, not to mention Aretha Franklin, had had “I beg you, don’t embarrass me motherfucker” at their disposal. Even then, neither would’ve delivered that last word with the same score-settling perfection. Morgan Wallen and Post Malone will always have some help. 2024’s pop queens don’t need any.

[peridot-tears]

TOP 5 “EZIO’S FAMILY” VERSIONS + TOP 5 TRACKS

Reviving this list from @thatcrazycrowgirl because AC OSTs need love.

Ezio’s Family - Favorite Versions:

Main Theme (AC Rogue) I'm a sucker for traditional Irish instrumentals, and you can feel the adventure of the North Atlantic through it. It doesn't just convey Shay's sense of freedom, but his will to fight against great odds and tragedy (and the cold). The way it builds up, then when the beat drops, it explodes into the Irish whistle, backed up by a drumbeat that sounds like both a heartbeat and the beating of your oars against the waves -- and then, as it ends, the music disperses into what sounds like a migratory flock of birds flying overhead.

2. Ezio's Family (Origins Version) (AC Origins)

It's a really tired but determined version of this song. You can feel how the chasm between Aya and Bayek is only as deep as their love. The things that bring them together are the same things that separate them: Their love for Khemu, the common folk, and Egypt. AC Origins is so perfect because it conveys the thing we love about the franchise the most: The ability to feel the will of the people reaching out from thousands of years away. This is the sound of hope. I am constantly mentally reliving the scene when the chorus plays for the first time in the game (notice how on the title screen, they always fade out the tune before the chorus actually drops, so they tease you with the signature beginning of Ezio's Family, but only the beginning):

"Good Bayek of Siwa. What are you of now?" "A new creed. Ours is finished."

3. The Flight (AC Odyssey)

Just like Legend of the Eagle Bearer, you can feel the literal odyssey in it. You feel the tides under your ship. Also, those vocals? Fucking fantastic. I thought I was done with Ezio's Family remakes when Odyssey came out, but then I actually listened to it. Oof. Amazing.

4. Main Theme (AC Chronicles: India)

I'm a sucker for strings. Like, this is why I love Shao Jun's version, but I've spent my whole life listening to pipa and gu zheng strings, ykyk, so I love it a lot, but AC India gives me just the right amount of familiarity in terms of string instrumentals while giving me the sense of a completely different world. It's the novelty for me. It's also just super chill and puts me in a good headspace, while still ending on an exciting, high note. There's also a tempo at the beginning where I feel like I'm listening to a clock tick.

(Oof, there's no gif for him. Sadge.)

5. Earth (AC 2)

Yo, when I tell you that the first time I played AC 2 and Ezio put on his father's Assassin's robes, and this played, I lost my goddamned MIND. I used to listen to this song, Ezio's Family, and Venice Rooftops one after the other like they were all one really long song, on loop, to get myself to fall asleep. I feel like I'm leaping from rooftop to rooftop, until I've achieved full flight. Ugh. Just. Perfection.

Honorable Mention: Somewhere between AC Unity and AC Syndicate versions, because hot DAMN, you really feel the beat of their cities in them.

Additional Favorite Tracks (in no particular order):

I Walk on Your Water (AC Origins) Bro, the first time I heard this when AC Origins came out and I was playing the soundtrack while I cooked, hearing this song was like a religious experience. And when the scene where Layla first experiences Aya's memories and says the line herself -- breathless, exalted -- was like the Second Coming.

2. Fight Club (AC III)

RATOHNHAKÉ:TON MY BELOVED. Yo, when I tell you I was in love with this game and its music and main character YEARS before I even touched ACIII, I am not fucking kidding. I listened to this shit on repeat. It pumps me up like nothing else. It motivates me at work, when I'm writing, and when I'm training. This song is the shit. AND FUCK YEAH I LINKED YOU TO THE EXTENDED VERSION WHAT OF IT. It's high-energy and determined and FUN. It's like a really nice round of sparring where you beat the shit out of your opponent but you're both happy about it.

3. Committee of One (AC Unity)

Yo, when I started stalking the King of Thieves and this beat dropped, I knew this was gonna be a good fucking game. I felt the thrill and danger, but I also felt unstoppable. I was fully immersed in Arno strolling into the den of the rats, not to mention how the Unity version of Ezio's Family starts playing once you've killed the King and escape. I ran into Templar thugs on the street on purpose just to hear this while they chased me. That abyssal heartbeat (AC Unity soundtrack has a living, breathing pulse) that falls into the familiar strains of that violin, followed by that harpsichord? Chef's fucking kiss.

4. Legend of the Eagle Bearer (AC Odyssey)

You can feel the waves under your oars! You can hear the sun rise over the horizon as the water changes colors! You can hear the relentless drive of your rowers as dawn breaks and the early-morning silence slowly dwindles down. And when you break into a full flight, it feels like you've gone wild, on the chase.

5. City of Rome (AC Brotherhood)

Oldie but goodie. It's so calm and inviting, but promises you adventure. You really feel like you've stepped into a city that's already ancient, but has so much to offer.

Honorable Mention: Master Assassin from AC Brotherhood and Parting Glass, Anne Bonny in Black Flag version.

I am tagging @sprawca @especiallyhaytham @teecupangel @canonless5 @starpineninja but no pressure to do it! If I didn't tag you but you're also a trash Assassin's Creed aficionado, feel free to join in!

[chiiyuuvv]

super random but i just realized we got the same biases in riize and xikers 🤭 btw how long have you been stanning them both and when did you choose your biases? <3

STOPPPPP you're hunter + anton + shotaro too????? NAUR THIS IS A JOKEE

Ive been stanning xikers for little over a year, discovered them through ateez when they were promoting as kq fellaz 2. Hunter has also been my bae for little over a year, literally first glance and i had fallen hard wai-

LOOK. AT. BEAUTIFUL- SURREAL- URGHHHHH HES SO HSISKSJSKSOSKSNSJ

yeah and idk if ive said this or not but i have a really big english kink.. i think that says a lot 🤷‍♀️

As of riize, i heard about get a guitar but never paid attention to it bc wth am going to do with a guitar?? Learned about them more through a friend that was obsessing over anton (@yawnzzznnn COUGH COUGH) and then i listened to get a guitar.. it was okay. Listened to memories and that. Was. My song.

I had already knew most of the members names bc i was reading fanfics of them bc i wanted something new to read-

Ummm.. how/why did i start stanning for me to be able to stan a group, i have to find a song that i like a lot, and then a member that really reels me into the group, making me want to learn more about them. In this case it was seunghan haha

So erm.. i remember talk saxy came out but i never listened to it, just saw the thumbnail on youtube and i was just like "oh cool!" And continued on with my day. A few days later though (fun fact talk saxy was released on my kpop anniversary) it finally dawned on me that they had a new mv so i listened to it at school. It was just okay. Watched the mv when i got home; the song was songing (for context, when i have a fav song i play the crap out of it then get tired of it a week later.. talk saxy took me a month to recover-) and seunghan was seunghaning.

So uhh.. decided to look more into them. My bias list at the time was seunghan.. maybe shotaro then sohee then sungchan (reminds me of yujun) and then anton (idk if anton was up or down or not)

Shotaro caught my eye bc usually hes really giggly and smiley but i had watched the bts of talk saxy and my jaw DROPPED bc how he so foine like?????

As far as anton.. me bestieee (@starryriize) is sohee biased and i was too kinda, but anton was catching my eye a little bit so i just declared he would be my bias even though i thought it would change in a week or so (IT DIDNT HAHAHAH)

I don't really remember when anton started giving.. like bro just spawned on top and just stayed there 💀 i think it was when i was watching those old riize videos where their preparing everything and anton was so SOFTTT and TINYYY and SQUISHYY (i get lots of cute agression with riize)

And honestly, i thought his english was just okay so i stopped looking it up. But i think i looked it up like a week later again just because or something like that AND OH MY GOD

i also love me some good predebut anton 😋

Anyways, cant exactly pinpoint when i started being down bad for the boy (bc im so down bad its crazy form 😞) just know bro came out of no where and hes not going just yet.

Sorry for the rant lmao, i always find it so interesting to think back on my pre-stan days and i usually think about it with myself, ive never actually told anyone so this feels a bit new.

I wub my english speakers + shotaro <3

TALK SAXY IS PLAYING RN LMAOOOOOO

[trans-queen-administrator]

oh i have been tagged in a thing. ty @yugonostalgia2019. time to overshare

3 ships: Hmmmm ok I gotta list Taylor x Lisa, their dynamic makes me go absolutely feral without fail. Honestly I don't even need them as a ship I just love how horrible and amazing they are for each other. I am limiting myself to one Worm ship here, despite how much it pains me, but I shall provide brief descriptions for the other ships for the people who don't know the non-worm stuff here. Marina x Pearl from Splatoon are so damn cute and I adore them. Nepotism baby punk soundcloud rapper x runaway genius former child soldier military engineer is honestly just 10/10, and they're just so good! I swear to god if the DLC doesn't have a 20 minute cutscene of lesbian cephalopod kissing I'll riot. Splatoon is my biggest fandom besides Worm which is kind of hilarious to me considering the sharp difference in tone. Third ship... hmmm, The Doctor x River Song. I just think it's genuinely such a sweet concept and wonderfully executed, two time travelers who are in love but keep meeting each other in the wrong order so their experiences and knowledge of the other don't match up is tragic and great and I nearly cried at their final episode. Honestly just been a River Song fan forever too, she's eternally my transition goals.

First ever ship: Ohhhhh gosh this one is lame. Back when I was a wee lass in middle school browsing FF.net endlessly, my main fandoms were Pokemon and Super Smash Bros. I flat out didn't realize that you could ship anything except a man and a woman because like, no one told me, and I kinda was just not a fan of romance because I thought it was always forced in stories (I was right about that tho). But then I read a Smash Bros fanfic that had Lucina and Palutena shipped and I was just like... damn, women can kiss? That sounds so cool. Shame I can never do that. And so I read the shockingly large number of fics shipping those two because it was the only wlw ship I knew existed.

Last song: I don't actually listen to music that much. Last song is uhhh... the Monster Sanctuary PVP Theme I guess due to playing Monster Sanctuary PVP. If we're talking actual music, I think my sister forced me to listen to some Taylor Swift song recently? Idk what it was but I think the album was called 1984.

Last movie: I also don't watch movies much! Uhhhhhhhhh I think it was Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No. Might have been a different one? The Sharknado movie that ends with them crashing down to Earth inside of a shark after fighting them off from a satellite and one of the characters gives birth while coming down inside the shark and the baby cuts its way out with a chainsaw before the mom gets crushed by falling debris. Sorry for spoiling, I know everyone was really looking forward to watching Sharknado 3.

Currently reading: Making my way through the Snapshots series of Splatoon fics which are so fucking good. For published stories though, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for a class. Thinking about rereading Worm and posting about it but I gotta beat the Lakesbian copy allegations.

Currently watching: I'm don't really watch anything when I'm on my own, I prefer to read in almost all situations. When I go home though, I watch One Piece with my sister because it is nice to spend time with her and she's very passionate about the show.

Currently consuming: Nerds Gummy Clusters. I regret every bite but I bought this shitty bag of candy so I gotta finish it. Fuck these are terrible.

Currently craving: Mini Chewy Sweettarts. They're my favorite candy and I have a massive sweet tooth so I've been craving them, but I swear every single damn store in a mile radius stopped stocking them and is now selling "Sweettart gummies" or "Sweettart chewy fusions" or "Sweettart ropes" or "Sweettart rope bites" and that is not what I desire! Where is my delicious mouth hurting candy ;-;

[hsmtmts-arrows]

my brain is genuinely so tired after making all those textposts so fuck it. got any jeddox hcs???

uh hmmm lemme think some up hold on xoxo

when he was younger jet probably did sports (parents forced him) and maddie would always go to his games. she'd walk him home even if he was kinda "cramping his style" if you will. but when he would lose and be in a bad mood she'd get him like takeout food or basically whatever he'd want for dinner. she was probably like 12 at this point in time btw.

anyways :D when he was first learning piano he'd get her to request him songs to learn. he knew all of her favs on piano. maddie assumes he's forgotten them all by now. (he hasn't. how could he?)

i feel like at tech week she always makes sure he has his stuff before anyone else is even at that stage yet like as if its the first day of school. richard has probably just turned up at that point and miss jenn is about to start and jet has already been forced to get his whole list of shit together in a little pile. he's got everything :)

okay ik this is a weird one but their fav songs on GUTS to sing together in the car is bad idea right? (however, jet's fav song like in general is probably teenage dream and maddie's fav is the grudge)

double dates !! jet gets all silly around kourtney asking her but she's all for it and maddie has already asked ash about the double date before she's even clarified it with bro bear. they've done all sorts of double dates. cinema, pottery, picnic, even roadtrips (don't ask about that one ur honor. they had to stop halfway because kourtney was unaware that jet is carsick)

sometimes jet like. randomly writes lyrics to songs he likes down on sticky notes that also make him think of maddie and put them around the apartment. there's a whole wall of them staggered around in their room. she puts them all there when she finds them. its like an easter egg hunt but all year round.

[perelka-l]

Idk what other fandoms you have outside the Naruto fandom sooo how 'bout Madara

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i know those links on my profile don't work in mobile and idk how to fix that???? but ye i have a handy dandy list lol

Anyway, meme time:

favorite thing about them

He's a big emotional dumbass with dumbassery maybe rivalring his hair he is absolutely horrible and look how far that got him. Also, six paths form. And everything. Man, it's hard to choose. He's a well constructed villain and also it's kinda cool how whole series starts with mentioning that name in hushed voices of disbelief and fear. for a reason huh.

least favorite thing about them

"i only ever use a jutsu once" bitch and yet you used susanoo over 2137 times in this series shut the fuck up and stop stroking your dick in front of everyone's faces

favorite line

ya think i will say it's about the second meteorite. it is indeed, the second meteorite line. I mean. It's that line, it's excellent for a reason.

brOTP

That man has no bros. Honestly. He doesn't. I cannot answer this question, I have nothing in my mind, he canonically literally scared everyone away and nobody wanted to associate with him, he isn't bitchless, he is broless.

OTP

Oh man, where do I start. I will just go for those that I have most thots about, okie?

For starters, MadaIzu. Like, ofc we didn't have much of them shown but a) Uchiha is incest anyway and I will stand by it and b) Izuna was shown to be the only one that stood next to Madara. Nobody, literally almost nobody in this series could ever achieve that, no matter how willing one was - and Izuna was, I assume, entirely here for Madara. Maybe even was one of few people that thought about him, maybe even had him wrapped around his little finger and Madara would do a lot for his little bro. Man.

MadaObi. WHERE DO I EVEN START like I feel like I am going crazy when I start thinking about it. They are connected on so many fields, Obito being his descendant, Madara getting his body, stitching it together (man, there was that one fantastic art with old madara and obito.... doing precisely that), literally putting his hands on this boy's heart and sealing it (POETRY), brainwashing into becoming himself and later using Obito for all his worth, giving him life and choosing when to take it away, and Obito starting to resists like jfc my brainworms. I like them both as also shit jiji and bratty mago. THEY ARE JUST SO GOOD FUCKKKKKKKK I AM GNAWING AT MY HOODIE LIKE A RABID ANIMAL AAAAAA

HashiMada. That's all. Although... I like it a bit darker, not in means of whump and such but I can't help but thing that Hashirama unknowingly stumbled on something that swallowed both of them. Hashirama may have best interests in heart, but he isn't a good person, and Madara... Madara has his own issues. More below.

MadaTobi is nice. I always found it hilarious how similar they are and yet so different, and I like to think that's why they are so appealing together. Those two are not alright but maybe that's why they could have a relationship that would be akin to watching a slow hurricane in a distance. Gorgeous but pity everyone in its path. Those lads have mental issues but both are crazy scientists, and both are prickly cats, yanno?

I FORGOT MADAGAI HOW COULD I SFJKHD YALL KNOW WHY PPL SHIP THIS SHIT AND ME TOO OK

nOTP

nothing comes to my mind atm

random headcanon

A dumbass ace. And he is a dumbass. Well, more like mentally ill, not like those two things cancel out, but he really genuinely didn't question a moment when he heard a voice in his head say "do x thing" and he just fucking goes and does it. If you ask me, that guy even without zetsu around has some real fucking issues that are either exploited (hashi i see you you fucking whore) or misunderstood... And his power makes it dangerous because he can achieve all that he wants.

unpopular opinion

fem madara superiority ganggggggggggggggggg aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

song i associate with them

Some are: Not Worth Remembering (Turk Dietrich Remix) by SONOIO, Tomorrow by Lorn, Sweet Shadows by Daughter Darling, NO FEAR by §E▲ ▓F D▓G§, Mavericks by Johnossi, Arzusun by Niyaz*, Candy Shop by Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, Szamar Madar by Venetian Snares, The Elm Guest House by Gefradah, Velvet Divorce by Sneaker Pimps*, Begin Again by Purity Ring, SINKING by Diskette Park, Subterranean and Empires Lost by melodysheep, Voices in the Static by Hybrid*.

Songs marked with * are 6P specific... Yeah.

favorite picture of them

bitch

[themaninyourcomputer]

Ranking every song in Spring Awakening

(Feel free to correct me, I had a hard time choosing favorites.)

1. Don't do sadness/blue wind

My god. I have no words. The way Moritz contains his rage at first, and then finally lets it out during the chorus. Ilse's vocals, the color metaphors. This song is so cathartic, both to listen to and to sing. All of Mortiz's pent up frustration is released, and it's spectacular. I have never related more to a song in my life. (This is actually the song that got me into Spring Awakening, I heard it and was like "who is this man and why does he want to be a little butterfly?")

2. left behind

This is the song that always makes me tear up. Every time without fail. Also the cabaret version where Jonathan Groff starts crying??? I was in shambles, shambles I tell you.

3. Touch me

Such a good song. It's so..wow oh my god?? Everyone sounds so good, and when Otto comes in it's just...wow. Also, so fun to sing.

4. The dark I know well

I mean, what do I even say here? This song is phenomenal. I love how you can feel the anger seething out of every word that Ilse and Marta sing.

5. And then there were none

This is when we really begin to see Moritz unravel, and it's fantastic. You can literally pinpoint the exact moment that Moritz decides to kill himself. ("Another day of utter shit...and then there were none." That's it, that subtle change in tone between the two lines. That little pause: you can hear the resolve settle into his voice. Ouch, man.)

6. The bitch of living

There are only so many ways I can phrase "good song" but yeah, good song. Poor Mortiz.

7. The word of your body (reprise)

Honestly? I prefer the vocals in the reprise over the original version. I adore both though.

8. Mama Who Bore Me (reprise)

Listen to those harmonies, dear lord that's breathtaking. But...why bongos?

9. Those you've known

Heartbreaking. I love how hollow Moritz and Wendla sound, like ghosts. Only shells of the actual characters (which I think is the point).

10. The word of your body

It's good, I love how (and this is the case for a lot of songs in this musical) it is deceptively innocent. It's so pure in its discussion of lust, which is sort of beautiful. This song is haunting and deserves more appreciation.

11. Totally fucked

Overrated, but not awful. The Tony Awards performance where they censor themselves by comically slapping their hands over their mouths makes me giggle.

12. Whispering

This is a hot take, I know. I just feel like this should have been Wendla's moment, you know? It should have been devastating, it should have been emotional! I was, however, not devastated. I was slightly bored, actually. This song could be so much better. I dislike how much the diologue breaks it up. (I know Don't Do Sadness is also mixed with diologue, but unlike in Whispering it makes the song feel more intimate and creates more of an emotional buildup. In Whispering it just kind of...interrupts the song.)

13. The Guilty One's

It's a slow song, sure, but listen to those harmonies bro. I'm ranking it lower on the list because there are better songs but just know that I actually like this one a lot. I love Lea Michele's voice here, it's so soft.

14. The song of purple summer.

It's just okay. I understand its narrative purpose, but honestly there should have been another reprise or just like, a callback to an earlier song at the end. That would have made it feel more cyclical. It's a strong song though, I don't dislike it. (The ending is great, I don't want to be too harsh on Purple Summer. I love the metephors ((blue + red and summer rather than spring)))

15. All that's known

The intro is so good, solid melody. It's just kind of background noise though.

16. The mirror-blue night

I love this song, but the build-up to the good part is so fucking long. Also why is Melchior doing an interpretive dance?? I mean, I guess we all cope in our own ways?

17. Mama who bore me

Perfect for an opening number, it builds anticipation, and it's a great tone setter. It's just kind of boring on its own.

18. My Junk

Stupid lyrics, stupid song (the dialogue is hilarious, but the song itself is not that good)

19. I believe

I am literally so bored. I love the ending, but I always skip it when listening to the album.

[butterscotch-brigade]

the Mario Movie Post

ok SO heres a more expansive post listing my Thoughts on the mario movie. HUGE spoiler warning under the cut btw

it was....good! i keep comparing it to the sonic movies in my head bc thats what ive seen a lot of other ppl doing, and i think, compared to those movies, this one is a “safer” adaptation of the source material; and ofc this isnt an inherently good or bad thing, but it may influence ur opinion if u were expecting a more derivative adaptation like the sonic movies, which take more risks and creative liberties. id rank the mario movie below sonic 2 (the greatest movie of all time btw), but idk if id put it above or below sonic 1; ultimately, like i said, it depends on whether u prefer the adaptation thats “safer” or “riskier” in terms of what its trying to accomplish.

anyway, here r some things i rly liked abt the movie!! warning for me gushing abt bowser bc im in love with him btw ASDLJKADS

bowser is the greatest character in the entire thing ofc. not surprising at all ASLKJDSLKJDS my big beautiful monster husband he is SOOOO GOOOODDD like.....hes the most expressive, full of personality, and jack black gives an AMAZING performance as him. his fucking song???? the princess peach love song??? beautiful. lovely. i love bowser so fucking much......like yeah he “kidnaps people” and “tries to kill innocents” or whatever but errmmm he does it in the name of love so its ok uwu my big strong cuddly ferocious teddy bear i love him I LOVE HIIMMMMM KLASJDKLJASDLKJ HES SO PERFECT HES A SWEET LOVEY DOVEY DORK BUT HES ALSO FUCKED UP EVIL AND POWERFUL AND WILLING TO CRUSH ANYONE WHO STANDS IN HIS WAY GOOOODDDDD I WANT HIM SO BAD

animation is gorgeous, including the environments and character models. say what u want abt illumination but u have to admit their actual animation game is pretty damn good and this film is no exception

i rly appreciate all the references and easter eggs! i like how they used music from the games in various ways, and how they incorporated the different worlds/levels.

i LOVE the little additional bits of lore they added!!! ive been a huge Mario Lore Enthusiast pretty much since i first learned how to use the internet so this was very satisfying to my autistic brain ALSKJLKDASJ

as far as specific lore elements go, i loved getting to see mario and luigi’s parents (+ extended family!!!). u dont understand for the longest time the only CANON picture we had of mario and luigis parents were these images from the end of yoshis island ASKLDJSLAKDJ so im very happy we got more detailed designs for them

i love the backstory they gave princess peach!! ive always wondered why she rules the mushroom kingdom despite not being a toad. i hope they expand on her story more if they ever make a second movie bc i think it would be rly interesting to know more abt where she came from!!

i LOOOVE the kongs so so much......ty mario movie for finally ending the debate abt whether or not dk is cranky kongs son or grandson SALKJDALKSJ also i love dk’s characterization in this too, his friendly rivalry w mario was rly funny

i love love LOOOVVE the sibling dynamic between mario and luigi. Bro They Are Bros

i like the incorporation of the power-ups and how they work

king bob-omb is there. i like him :)

and now for some criticisms (note that these r all pretty minor, there wasnt rly anything i Disliked abt the movie which is admittedly more than i can say abt the first sonic movie actually LKSAJLKD):

a lot of the characters just kinda felt flat, especially compared to bowser who has the most personality. luigi is the only one i can think of who has any kind of significant “arc.” peach, toad, and dk dont rly have any kind of significant character growth, while mario’s arc is just kinda....He Learns To Get Better At Fighting And Navigating The Mushroom Kingdom i guess. to be fair mario games in general arent rly known for focusing on character development (w some exceptions like the rpgs, but none of that development is rly focused on mario himself), but that ultimately just made this movie’s writing pale in comparison to the sonic movies (which arent perfect (except for the second one) but still)

luigi didnt rly do much throughout the whole thing.....i liked him a lot in the beginning, but he spends most of the movie being captured. i DID like the fight scene at the end where mario and luigi team up to beat the shit out of bowser tho!! i just wish we got to spend a little more time with luigi so his arc had a more satisfying conclusion

Why didnt they credit grant kirkhope for the dk rap. wtf nintendo/illumination

but yeah those r my Thoughts. overall it was a pretty good movie, id maybe give it like....7/10? 7.5/10? it wasnt Great but it was good. definitely better than the Other mario movie thats for sure LKASJFLKJS