#OB had already become one of my favourite characters

[confusedspaceotter]

I feel like time slipping is just an excuse for Loki to flip his hair in the most slutty way possible

[ifeelallwrite]

Let’s talk about Hospital Playlist. (KDRAMA REVIEW)

note: does contain spoilers

When people ask me what is my favorite Korean drama of all time, with no doubt, IT’S HOSPITAL PLAYLIST. This drama has the comic relief, the emotional scenes, realistic characters-just to name a few. No toxic relationships and petty revenge fights. Nothing else will stop me for saying that this is the ultimate feel good drama.

SYNOPSIS: The drama shows insights into the daily lives of doctors and nurses working at Yulje Medical Hospital. It focuses on 5 doctors who have been friends since medical school, who also play together as a band.

This drama encompasses so many elements and characters so bear with me yo this might be real long 

Hospital Playlist is produced/written by the Shin-Lee PD and writer pairing, whose previous works were the renowned Reply trilogy and Prison Playbook (which are *chef’s kiss*) I really like that all their dramas really highlight humanism, and puts emphasis on creating a heartwarming and realistic series. There isn’t always a major conflict to be resolved, but instead it showcases how different people-in this case mostly those in the medical field-go on about their daily lives.  I also liked their reasoning to produce a medical drama which was that hospitals were where the most dramatic moments occurred, for example during births, deaths or sickness. And since we are still in the Covid-19 pandemic, it ties in greatly to be paying homage to all the medical personnel saving lives. Hence, props to those who were involved in this meaningful masterpiece <3

The drama is not the usual 16 episodes, but has 12 episodes for each season (SEASON 2 IS COMING SOON YAAS) Good thing is I felt that they were still able to weave a dynamic storyline in the first season even with lesser episodes. The writing was just top-notch with the witty humor bits. Additionally, the music is AMAZING. I love the concept of the main characters being a band and playing different songs every episode too.

Okay, now onto the characters. I thought that every character in this drama was well rounded. Starting of with the main five characters, also known as The 99ers, whose distinctive personalities and natural chemistry make all of them extremely likeable. All main characters are professors of different specialties, and I find the male OB-GYN (Seokhyeong) and female neurosurgeon (Songhwa) very refreshing. Also, I like Shin-Lee dramas always have characters that might be realistic yet hardly seen in other dramas or films. For example, Professor Ahn Jeongwon. Despite being a chaebol (inheritor/heir), he isn’t depicted as a spoilt brat or a cold character, instead as a warm Pediatric doctor who uses his wealth to secretly support patients in need. However it makes him stingy to his friends LOL

To be honest, I really thought I was gonna dislike Junwan due to his cold and tsundere nature. I pretty much believed that he was going to be the party pooper type of the bunch, but with the writer being a master of character development, he turned out to be really sincere and hilarious at times. Same for Ikjun, who apart from his enthusiastic and happy go lucky exterior, cares the most about the people around him. Although Seokhyeong seemed detached and introverted, he shows a emotional side to his friends as well as his mother. Songhwa is literally a girlboss though haha she’s smart, capable and gets along with everyone well. And she’s the most sane out of the bunch. 

With all the main characters, we have the relationships. Junwan is the first to date seriously with Iksun (the dog or Micky? jkjk) who is Ikjun’s sister. When it first happened I was like not again Jung Kyung Ho (bc he dated his best friend’s sis in prison playbook too LMAO) I think their relationship was realistic and open. It also showed a more sensitive side to Junwan who would do anything for her. I especially liked how he said he didn’t need access to her phone because he trusted her. Yet as all couples do, they have their fair share of ups and downs. Like conflicts on getting married and a long distance relationship as Iksun moves overseas for graduate studies. I don’t really know how to take the ambiguous ending for these two, as Junwan receives the returned box (that has the ring he sent) I really hope nothing bad happens to these two though.

I’m sure we all love Wintergarden couple though, tbh they’re kinda my OTP at the moment 🤣 It was pretty much a ‘will they won’t they’ relationship with a relatively slow build. I think Gyeoul turned out to be one of my favourite characters. Shin Hyun Been did a good job at portraying her as a straightforward but innocent Resident, who is pretty much openly crushing on Jeongwon. The scenes they had together were adorably awkward (and the scene where he gives her chocopies omg) And when Jeongwon battles his inner conflict to become a priest, the final decision where they kiss was beautifully shot, with the actors both showcasing their emotions extremely well. 

Then we have Chihong who pursues Songhwa, his professor. Midway through the drama, it is also shown that Ikjun and Songhwa might have had romantic feelings for each other. Songhwa ends up rejecting Chihong’s confession. In my opinion, Chihong was quite a interesting character but I didn’t really like him at the end. (I like the actor though) He did a real jerk move during drinking games, insisting on Ikjun to confess his feelings towards her even though he is already trying not to put Songhwa in an awkward spot. Although his character did end up making a cool exit and when I thought about his incredible story of soldier to doctor, I kinda regret disliking him that much. As for IkSong, In the final episode Ikjun confesses to her one last time, and we are left waiting for Songhwa’s reply. As much as I love this pairing, I don’t think that the ship will sail or maybe not as quickly as we think. I believe Songhwa would meticulously consider the sacrifices to their friendship or other aspects and might not be able to bring herself to it, but I hope it’s otherwise. 

Lastly not forgetting Seokhyeong and Minha, another Professor+resident pairing. This one’s a bit ambiguous though, mainly because there hasn’t been much romantic development. To me, the most impactful scene came from Minha who had been irritated by continuous night shifts and was on the verge of a breakdown. She ended up remarkably saving a patient, starting off surgery on her own for the first time. Oh man Minha was such a lovable character, I remember feeling so bad for her but extremely proud of her for her accomplishment. Although Seokhyeong seemed a bit aloof and distant (which was intentional bc he’s an introvert) I think the backstory and all the hardships he faced with his family really made me feel for him. I hate to break it to you, but I’m not so sure if the ship will sail because of the phone call from his ex-wife and Minha’s somewhat rejected confession. But who knows, they might pull off a twist 👀

Apart from all these characters, there are more characters HHAHAH However, I think this is the killing point of ShinLee dramas. Unlike typical dramas which usually focuses on a main character and 2-3 side characters, they like to cast a diverse range of actors (especially those from theatre/musicals and lesser known drama/movie actors) while actually give their characters personality or a reason to be there. I’ve seen many dramas where extras or side characters were kind of irrelevant thus making me feel that they weren’t needed to build the storyline, yet ShinLee dramas hit different y’all. Every role, no matter how small, holds significance to the drama. It really seemed like a collaborative work that shows off every actors skills (and not forgetting staffs) and teamwork.

Anyways because there are way too many characters and too many scenes for me to mention them all, I’ll just talk about some honourable mentions heheh

1. Sunbin and Seokmin confession scene (ahh so cute)

I kinda sensed that they liked each other at the start but I didn’t know Seokmin would ask her out on a date at the end. Even though it’s kinda awkward that they are dating and working with each other though (both are in the same department) but hey the confession was cute and awkward and just warm and fuzzy 🥰

2. MAMA ROSA IS THE QUEENN

I think we all (would) love Mama Rosa because she’s a real one ☝️ (probably the coolest mother ever) She’s feisty, hilarious and kind to others. Plus her friendship with Ju Jong Su was just adorable and super wholesome. The scenes where they were supporting one another through tough times and hanging out with each other when they felt lonely always put a smile on my face. Oh and how Mama Rosa treated Gyeoul was extremely sweet. (as well as Seokhyeong’s mother) Despite her tough exterior, she’s a likeable character for being a strong but caring woman.

3. Just Do Jae Hak

I seriously love this guy so muchhh omg he’s so funny

Do Jae Hak has a funny amd clumsy personality, though it’s clear he’s been through a lot and is strong willed person. From admitting his indecisiveness to counselling Jun Wan on his love issues, there’s literally nothing to hate about him.

4. Uju and his dadd

The father and son chemistry between these two is so good omg. The scenes with these two are so adorable and heartwarming (not to mention hilarious) It’s amazing to see how Ikjun cares so much for Uju despite his hectic workdays while going through infidelity issues with his ex-wife. Uju is matured for his age and shows his love and appreciation for his dad too, making their interaction a great portrayal of a healthy family relationship💞

5. the food stealing the show🥘

Who doesn’t love food and when a show has great food scenes? Some of the best scenes are definitely when the 99s gather to eat. It really showcases each character’s personality with the tiniest details as well as highlight warm delicious meals. Just don’t watch this when you’re hungry at 2am in the morning guys you’ll be drooling all over your screens HAHAHA

Of course there are way more aspects, like Hongdo and Yoonbok, Ikjun and Iksun’s pigeon jokes and raps, or Jeongwon drunk crying in the chicken shop with his brother (who was his coach in Reply 1994 when he played Chilbong LOL)

Most importantly, I think it is the themes and messages that you get from the drama that really create such a lasting impression. Not only does it hit you in the feels with the hardships of hospital patients, or the hardworking doctors+nurses who are working long shifts saving lives, it also tackles topics of friendships through the possibilities of platonic and friends-to-lovers relationships. However I think the biggest lesson for me came from Seokhyeong, who learns to live his life doing what he want, with the people he treasures. Although the drama might seem slow at times (mainly because there isn’t really a main plot line/conflict occurring), but this drama would still bring you on a journey where you would laugh, cry and finish the series, begging for season 2 ✌🏻

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Rhythm of War Review

PART 1

It feels a little separate from the rest of the book to me at the moment because I read it pre-release, but I think it did a good job setting up the rest of the plot. I greatly enjoyed Navani’s perspective and ideas throughout the book, and the first section established her much more firmly as a character than any of the previous books; her couple of chapters in Oathbringer were more focused on politics and her relationship with Dalinar, so it was great yo see much more of her scientific side.

When I first read Part 1 it felt very Kaladin-heavy, but after completing the book I see how it was necessary to establish his burnout in order to set up the rest of the plot. And Chapter 12 (A Way to Help), in addition to being our only chance in the book to see our trio together, did a great job setting up Kaladin’s later work with mentally ill people, both by establishing the need and showing what kind of help was needed. I was nonetheless quite frustrated by Kaladin reacting to Shallan’s DID with “that would be nice...”. She’s having serious problems, Kal! She’s your friend and could use support, not you regarding her issues as a neat way to take a holiday from one’s own brain! Kaladin’s very kind and caring with those he chooses to protect, as we see with Bridge 4 in TWOK and the mentally ill people in Chapter 25, but sometimes I think he’s not a very good friend. I know he was not in a good place, but in Oathbringer when they were in Shadesmar Shallan had just had a complete breakdown and she still went out of her way to emotionally support Kal, so it would be nice to see his friendships become a bit more two-way. (For similar reasons, I liked seeing the moments of Shallan-to-Adolin emotional support in Shadesmar in ROW, because a lot of their relationship in OB was her relying on him; it felt balanced in ROW as both supported each other.)

PART 2

I loved the Shadesmar arc! The emotional arcs for both main characters were very strong - I had been looking forward to seeing Adolin’s reaction to (in-universe) Oathbringer, and it did not disappoint; the conflict between genuinely loving Dalinar and being unable to forgive what he’d done was well-drawn. I was so pissed off at Dalinar in that last conversation! You burned his mom to death, you do not get to take the moral high ground and lecture him. And I do see a difference between killing innocents, as Taravangian does, and killing someone who’s effectively declared war on you and has a history of treason.

I also liked Adolin’s sense of being generally at sea with his purpose in the world. He’s been trained primarily as a warrior and general, and his combat skills have been made virtually obsolete by the Radiants. And at the same time, the reader can see what makes Adolin special, and it’s not combat skills - though those do give him a big heroic moment in a pinch - it’s his care and compassion for others. The way he interacts with Maya and slowly brings her life is absolutely beautiful. Chapter 35 was such a wonderful Shadolin moment (and starspren are amazing!); he really gets her and understands what she needs. Chapter 24 was sweet too, though super cheesy.

I spent the entire Shadesmar arc side-eying Veil and Radiant, especially with Veil’s takeover stunt at the start, but in the end they genuinely were supporting and helping Shallan. So in retrospect I do like scenes like the one with Veil trying to draw Shallan out by drawing Adolin badly.

Spoeking of drawing, I love the spren art, it’s some of the best art so far, and fascianting to see how they all look!

Kaladin finding non-violent ways to protect, culminating in pioneering Rosharan therapy - and Teft insisting on staying to support him - was everything I wanted for him. His arc could have just been that, and I’d have been perfectly happy. Chapter 25 (Devotary of Mercy) is still my favourite in the entire book.

Unfortunately, then Odium’s forces had to show up and SPOIL EVERYTHING. I’m rather appalled by how quickly Urithiru fell - the enemy forces were literally in the pillar room by the time anyone noticed them.

PART 3

Part 3 was a real slog for me, partly because it is a slog and partly because I hit it at the height of my sleep deptivation. (It’s really...not a good thing to be reading on zero sleep at the literal darkest-hour-before-dawn.) Kaladin’s arc in Urithiru is just so exhausting; he’s so clearly worn to the boneand everything feels so hopeless. Kaladin’s had bad times before - Bridge 4 in TWOK, for example - but then the reader could see progress even if Kaladin couldn’t. (Kaladin: I’m getting nowhere and failing at everything! Everyone else: Kaladin, you were literally just miraculously resurrected.) Here, though - well, I genuinely spent the whole book from Part 3 through to the climax thinking that they would lose Urithiru.

Navani’s arc, and Venli’s, I did enjoy.

The other section of Part 3, in Emul, just felt rather disjointed. It had some interesting moments, but it didn’t have a sense of cohesion or of where it was going. I was entertained by Dalinar’s musings on the merits of despositism and the need to free Queen Fen from having - horrors! - a parliament. (I wonder if the Fourth Ideal will be something like “I will recognize that it can sometimes be beneficial to have people oppose my decisions.”)

PART 4

Again, adored the Shadesmar arc. Really strong character arcs for both Adolin and Shallan, combined with excellent plots and a strong sense of momentum. I was pretty sure Maya would be crucial in the trial, but that didn’t make the moment any less powerful (though Sanders probably shouldn’t have tried quite as hard to replicate his “You. Cannot. Have. My. Pain.” moment from Oathbringer). I need to put together a proper post on the theme of choice in Oathbringer, because that moment - combined with Kaladin’s fourth ideal and the conflict with Lirin over the way he’s inspiring the resistance - really crystallized it for me. To treat a person’s choice and sacrifices as something done to them is to devalue their volition, their agency. Maya is put in the horrifying situation of being used as a prop and treated as evidence of a point that she is diametrically opposed to and turned into a weapon against someone she loves, and it’s enough to drive her to regain her voice and speak for herself. I am very curious to know what specifically led the spren to agree to the Recreance!

I did not remotely guess what Shallan’s secret was, even though in retrospect the Cryptic deadeye should have made it incredibly obvious. I think her fear that she’d lose Adolin if it came out was overblown - he already knows she killed both her parents, he’s not going to be fazed by “I was so distraught over having to kill my own mother in self-defence at age ten that I broke my Radiant oaths”. But obviously it’s not something Shalkan would be able to consider duspassionately. Her arc was rather terrifying once I realized that Formless was, well, basically her, but more specifically, Shallan’s idea of the monster that she was, and her breakdown was driving her to “accept who she was” as being that monster. I like Shallan and was never that into Veil - though she was fairly good in this book and went out well - so I’m not sad to see the back of her.

I haven’t managed to work through all the espionage/mole elements. Yes, Pattern used the box to talk to Wit, and Radiant killed Ialai so Shallan wouldn’t, but who’s Mraize’s spy close to Dalinar?

This arc ended too abruptly. I think Sanderson could easily have traded a Kaladin chapter in Part 3 for an extra chapter wrapping up events in Shadesmar; maybe one where Shallan first goes to see Testament.

I enjoyed the Urithiru arc in Part 4 as well. Switching to Bridge 4 points of view other than Kaladin was a good move - we already know he’s worn to ribbons, so we don’t need to be inside his head to see it. “The Dog and the Dragon” was amazing, and the most appropriate story ever for Kaladin. (I get how Wit’s schtick of telling incredibly topical stories and then saying “no, I don’t have a point, what point?” would be really aggravating in person.) It was nice to see him be gentle with Kaladin for a change, the way he is with Shallan - his two previous encounters with Kaladin read as rather baiting, which annoyed me.

Dabbid was - I don’t know quite how to say this, but his inclusion struck an amazing balance in this book. Navani’s arc is all about two amazingly smart people doing science and making incredible breakthroughs, and that is sincerely valued and given importance by the narrative, and then you get chapters like Dabbid’s and one of Taravangian’s emphasizing that a person’s value and ability to contribute is not determined by their intelligence.

Navani’s arc continued to be excellent. All of her research, and the way the story took you through the process, and her complex relationship with Raboniel, was great.

I loved Venli’s character development, and growing willingness to take risks for the sake of others. To me, her arc parallels Dalinar’s in the last book in some ways. If we can love the story of a bloodthirsty conqueror growing to become a good person, why can’t we equally love the story of a coward coming to become a good person? There seems to be a tendency to be more drawn to strength, even in its most terrible forms, than to weakness. To me, Venli’s confession to Rlain and acceptance of his disgust at her was one of the book’s great moments. (And I can’t understand people saying her arc took up two much space. She had 5 chapters in Part 3, and 4 in Part 4. That’s not very many! I’ll grant that the flasbacks packed less punch than some earlier flashback sequences because we already knew the main events - Brandon acknowledged that even before the book came out - but I still liked them well enough, and Venli’s present-day arc was excellent.)

Anyway, the amount of space I’ve spent on this section relative to Part 3 is another strong inducation of the differences in how I feel about them!

PART 5

I should probably start this section with a discussion of Moash. I’ll try to keep it summarized. here - I could, and may, write a short essay on his development through The Stormlight Archive. The first thing that jumps out about Moash’s arc in this book is his reaction to Renarin’s vision in Part 1. I think that vision is showing Moash who he could still be, in a similar way to Shallan’s inspirational drawings of people - both use the Surge of Illumination. So it’s not that Moash is irredeemable; Renarin is specifucally holding out to him the possibility of redemption.

And Moash’s reaction is to run away in terror. Because he desperately wants his decision to be irrevocable. He desperately wants there to only be one possible path forward for him. Because if there are alternative paths, it means he can choose them, and that would mean facing guilt, facing the fact that his past choices were wrong, and his current choices are wrong. And that is exactly what Moash sought to avoid by giving up his pain and sense of guilt to Odium.

Moash is, nonetheless, very much Moash and not Vyre, as evidenced by his continuing obsession with Kaladin. As with his above need to not be wrong, here he needs to feel that he’s right, and the only way he can feel that he’s right is if Kaladin - whom he still deeply admires - makes the same decision as him, and if Moash can convince himself that he’s doing Kaladin a favour in driving him to that point. It’s ironic that he’s given up almost all feeling abd become almost enturely detached, but his worst actions are driven by his attitude towards the one person in the world who he still does have very strong feelings about. By the end of the book, he’s comprehensively broken, to the point that even when his ability to feel is restored he’s unable to even feel genuine remose over the cold-blooded murder of a friend. I don’t know where he’ll go from here - it would be ironic if he was only ever really appealing to Rayse-Odium, and Taravangian-Odium found Moash too much of a flat villain for his purposes and cast him off.

As the plot climaxes go, I thought the ones for Navani and Venli were excellent and very satisfying. I enjoyed Kaladin’s as well and found it cathartic, but it a was moment we all knew had to come, so it didn’t have quite the kick of some of Kaladin’s other big moments. I did love his reconciliation with Lirin. One of the themes of the book was finding common ground despite deeply felt disagreements - with Navani and Raboniel, with Navani and the Sibling, and with humans and singers/Fused more generally - and Kaladin and Lirin’s reconciliation fit well with that. I am far more favourable to Lirin than most people - if you’ve lived as a pacifist in storming Alethkar, which values the lives of its people slightly more than it does crem, you’re going to have been right a solid 95% of the time, where everyone else was wrong. I can make allowances for the other five percent, especially when Lirin’s life lesson from the last five or so years has been “resisting oppression and standing up for what you believe in will destroy everyone you love”.

And on the topic of finding common ground, Leshwi’s reaction to the revelation that Venli was a Radiant was one of the single most beautiful moments of the book, and one of my absolute favourites. It’s gorgeous and moving, and at the same time rather tragic, because - what might have bern different if Venli had revealed herself to Leshwi at the start of the book? How much of the conflict could have been avoided. Singers don’t appear to attract spren as strongly as humans do, which makes Leshwi drawing joyspren particularly powerful. And then the bittersweet note from “My soul is too long owned by someone else”. (Come to think of it, this is another inverted paralell to Moash. This is someone realizing “I was wrong about everything and I’m so glad about that because it means I have a chance to be someone better than I was.”) Oh my goodness, I would love a Leshwi chapter in a later book, just to check in on her and see how she’s doing in her new life with the Singers.

I also loved the climax of Navani’s arc, and was so relieved, because up until that very moment I wasn’t sure if the Sibling would survuve uncorrupted. I know that some people weren’t pleased because the Sibling didn’t even like her, but to me that became a core part of the story, like I said above - people who deeply disagree finding common ground and common cause. That is a key element of being a Bondsmith - the process of bringing people together in spite of their differences - and something that fits Navani so well given the rapport she found with Raboniel. (Though I was conflicted about the latter. On the one hand, she made amazing discoveries that enabled her to save Urithiru. One the other hand, she...kind of collaborated with the enemy and gave them terrible weapons out of intellectual curiosity and a desire to prove herself?) I will grant that it makes the series, and the characters with the most crucial importance to Roshar, rather Kholin-heavy.

For Taravodium, all I can say is - YIPES. I have no idea how to process the implications of that, but I feel like it will be bad. Really really bad. (Taravangian is probably my least favourite character in the entire Stormlight Archive. The attitude of “I am so brave and selfless for doing evil things and look at how wonderful I am for sacrificing my own morality for the benefit of all, you petty selfish people wanting to be good could never make such a grand sacrifice” drives me absolutely nuts. It’s a complete inversion and twisting of morality, and intensely arrogant.)

Dalinar’s encounter with Ishar was fascinating, and I’m very curious to see where this goes. The spren experiments were deeply creepy! And the way Radiant Oaths can temporarily restore a Herald’s sanity was fascinating - I’m very eager to see where this goes in the next book. I suspect that Dalinar may have made a very serious mistake with regards to this trial my combat, and I have no idea how/if they’re going to fit Szeth’s whole arc into the ten days before the duel. I’ve been eagerly anticipating Szeth’s arc ever since The Way of Kings!

[mcrmadness]

Oooo, how about two from each of them? Fanfic asks: J and P, film asks: 15 and 16, music asks: 20 and 26.

OMG thanks!!! :DDD

Ask games: Fanfic asks, Film asks and Music asks. (People you can still send me asks if you want, asks are fun to answer to!)

***

FANFIC ASKS:

A little background before we get to the questions: I haven’t written too many, actually only 6 quite short ones (and one of them is a bit longer than usual) about Die Ärzte (Bela/Farin FTW) and all of these I have written between the years 2009 and 2012, so I was 18-21 which means they are not that good. And there’s lots of things I wouldn’t write anymore. I also have a WIP on my computer, I started it in 2012 but stopped writing altogether only to start writing again in the end 2018, it has bit over 28k words currently and tbh I have written 90% of that when I started writing again two years ago. I still have my old ones up on LiveJournal (ask for a link), but I haven’t published anything fron this later one as I’ve just been writing down all kinds of snippets whenever I have had an inspiration. I think those are also a lot better in quality than what I wrote before, the old ones are quite cringey.

J. What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

I guess we talk about those fics I have also finished, now. It’s actually hard to decide but I would say my favourite is either Why not even once? or The Boring Book Freak. I think the latter is actually The favourite.

The first one (was actually my second dä ff overall) is set to happen in 2003 and in that one Farin is leaving for another vacation somewhere and Bela wants to go with him, but Farin wants to travel alone and Bela is struggling with that, as well as with Farin finally leaving and having to somehow survive his time at home without Farin there. The writing itself is bit stupid and I feel that the end got bit too far but otherwise I like the idea.

The second one (came actually after the previous one) is set to happen in the early/mid 90s (my fave Bela/Farin era btw) and on that they just are at some random summer cottage. Now, fuck cottagecores and such, I wrote it because summer cottages are a thing in Finland and I wrote it when cottagecore was not even cool yet. Somehow I imagined that it would be very Farin-like to rent a cottage from the middle of nowhere, in a forest and then spend a weekend or so there with Bela. Who then is not entertained at all and is bored because Farin won’t put away his book and won’t give him any attention, so he tries everything to get Farin’s attention. I especially like the visual images this fanfic gives to me, I can see their hairs and outfits so well and those are also aesthetically very pleasing. (They look the same as in that Absolut Live interview from the 90s, I don’t control their looks with my fics usually, I just have an idea and then my brain creates how they look in that particular scene :D)

I have also written a short songfic around the lyrics of their song “Ich weiß nicht (ob es Liebe ist)” and it was fun to imagine that as Bela/Farin. That was fun to write.

This got a bit long so I put the rest under a cut:

P. What are your favorite tropes to write?

(Had to google what a trope is lol. I’m old-school and no longer know most of the terms unless they’re old terms.)

Angst - I put my own angst, sadness and angriness into my writing often. It’s when I feel like in real life I would need other people but I don’t know how to reach out or don’t just feel comfortable about opening up, I open up a file and start writing. This is also where we get to the next trope...

Hurt/Comfort - But not so that X hurts Y, but that Y feels hurt for other reasons and then X comforts them. I kinda got obsessed with this theme after being bullied at school so I was always hurt but never comforted, so I often go back to those feels and emotions with my text to look for that comfort (hug, nice words, whatever) I never got in real life.

Fluff - This is bit complicated because I like writing fluff but I also hate reading fluff I have written. Because it does not sound like me. And sometimes when I write, I feel like standing behind my own back and vomiting a little on the inside because of how cheesy and disgusting that is but still I can’t stop writing. And then I feel like a different person when I read them because I can’t believe it’s ME who wrote them. The same way when I watch movies and people kiss, I always look away. And I want to look away when I read my fanfiction. But I can’t, especially because I know I looked at that scene in my head when I wrote it.

Humour - I love humour so much and I like to include this to my writing. Normally I put the humour in my comics but some of that fits also in the regular texts too.

***

FILM ASKS:

These are super tough but also fun - I have been trying to think of what to answer to these for days.

15. A film everyone loves but you hate?

The Avengers (-12). Sorry but not sorry. Well I don’t hate it but I don’t understand why everyone says it’s the best Marvel movie ever. It’s not. It’s full of clichés and stupid forced heteroromances and whatnot and the plot was just so, so predictive I don’t understand why it’s often talked about as some sort of cinematic master piece. I literally was able to tell everything that was gonna happen next when I watched it for the first time. Only cool things in that movie are Loki and Iron Man, whose character I already liked as I had seen the Iron Man movie and liked it. But I hated both Thor movies (the third one is awesome tho). 

I like Marvel and I have seen I guess most of the movies - before MCU all good Marvel movies to come out were The X-Men movies and Spider-Man movies, and because I saw so many terrible Marvel movies, I was avoiding the whole MCU and I got into these movies much later and still, after seeing them all, I say The Avengers is one of the worst ones. Thor and Thor 2 are pretty much even worse (and I haven’t even seen the Hulk movie because it looks terrible), mainly because I just can’t stand the fact they’re mainly just built around Thor and his love interest...

16. A film you love but everyone else hates?

Spider-Man 3 (or the whole trilogy with Tobey Maguire). I see we continue with Marvel here but seriously I don’t understand why everyone is always picking on Tobey’s version of Spider-Man? And people especially hate the third movie and how Venom was portrayed in it (I’m obsessed with Venom’s human teeth pls I want his teeth), when it’s actually the best one for me. The second one is bit boring because it was again all about whining and Mary-Jane... Anyway, the reason why I am so attached to these movies is that I saw the first Spider-Man movie from TV when I was a teenager and in junior high myself, and I was bullied and a bit of a nerd so I could relate to Peter Parker a lot, and it gave me just so much strength to see him become Spider-Man and to stand up against the bullies and other assholes.

I also saw the third movie in the movie theater and there was one scene during which I started hysterically laughing with my friend because of an expression Tobey made as he was sitting on a bed, I don’t know why but somehow I just totally lost it at that :D It still makes me laugh so much when I see it! And when the movie ended, I heard a The Killers song “Move Away” for the first time during the end credits and TK was one of my favorite bands at the time (and still is).

***

MUSIC ASKS:

20. a song that empowers you

It gotta be Dead! by My Chemical Romance:

This album was what got me through all the shit that happened when I was 15+ and especially this song always made (and still makes) me feel so good. I often listened to my old mp3 player while walking to school and back home and every time this song came by, I just felt like nothing can harm and that life FINALLY was so great! It’s so energetic and still makes me feel that living is actually super awesome.

26. a song that taught you a lesson

Hmmm. I think I will answer to this with Dusche by Farin Urlaub.

That thumbnail is terrible but... And why did I choose this song? Well, I’m all for the sound what comes to music and I’d say at least 80% of all lyrics go way over my head. I just don’t have the skills for understanding poetry and also very poetic lyrics make me go crazy. I hate not knowing and when I have to assume, guess and interpret something. I don’t want to guess but I wanna know what someone has actually thought.

Dusche was the first song that had lyrics that for the first time ever actually spoke for me. I probably saw some video with English subtitles a fan had made and it just blew me away because holy shit, people are capable of writing lyrics even I can understand??? And that way I realized I can like lyrics but only if they make absolutely no sense (aka are funny or somewhat crazy, like Dusche) or when they are written in a story form or sung from the 1st person view or to “you” or in passive - but only if I can get behind the idea there.

After Dusche, Farin’s song Porzellan followed. And one of my absolute favourites is Karten. So, Farin is one of the only few people whose lyrics I have been able to understand. I still don’t hear lyrics and don’t understand a majority of the lyrics my fave bands write, and I have understood only a couple of Bela’s lyrics and I’m not sure if I’ve understood any of Rod’s lyrics. It’s not even about the language barrier anymore really, it’s just the topics or wordings I cannot comprehend.

Thank you again for the ask! This was very interesting to ponder and answer to :)

[momorabu]

Ensemble Stars! Event Story - Baton Pass! Repayment Festival of Tears and Bonds / Climax (Part 1)

Sorry for the really really long hiatus since the last Ensemble Stars event story ><” I really wanted to finish reading and translating awhile ago, but even reading through all 23 chapters took a long time actually… (while juggling other stuff I have ongoing)

This story is one that’s close to my heart since it talks about separation and it’s the story of one of my favourite unit - Ryuseitai’s afterall~ There are parts that I really felt sad and almost teared up at one point…

As this event story is really long and I want to make it as detailed as possible this time, I’ll split the story into 2 posts. Also, similar to Valentine’s event, it’s recommended that you’ve read the last White Day event as some of the things they talked about may cross-reference to there. Anyway as always, the summary of the story can be found below. Translation may not be 100% accurate due to my poor Japanese skills~

Prologue

Kaoru actually went to the marine club one day, greeting Kanata that he’s here to play as he’s too free XD (I’ve never thought Kaoru will be a person who will bother to show up there, considering his record of skipping all the club activities in the past ^^;)

However, Kanata was not in a good mood to entertain him. He grumbled about the din that’s happening outside not far from the club room, complaining that it made him irritated. Kaoru mentioned that he had seen the basketball club organising a farewell party at the basketball club as he was walking past just now, and it was really lively and noisy since “Mori-chi” has a really loud voice.

Kanata noticed that Kaoru had used “Mori-chi” to refer to Chiaki actually, (nickname for his surname Morisawa), and Kaoru thought he was being jealous and said that he could also call Kanata “Kana-chi” too if he wants.

Kanata showed an angry face after hearing that though, and that made Kaoru panicked that perhaps he has unexpectedly stepped onto a sensitive area of Kanata and that Kanata may not like people calling him by a nickname. Turns out it was just Kanata playing a trick on him, as he breaks into a smile and called Kaoru “Kao-chi” instead XD

Kaoru was not used to getting in a really close friendship with guys though, and admitted he’ll prefer Kanata to just call him “Kaoru” instead, since even his family members don’t call him by a nickname that shortens his name. Even though in the past Kaoru used to be close with alot of girls and let them call him “Kaoru”, now he plans to “clean up” his relationships and stopped playing around with these girls gradually. For now, Kaoru is just glad to have Kanata and “me” by his side to “heal” him ^^

Talking about the farewell party outside, Kaoru predicted that Chiaki would be crying his eyes out, but Kanata confidently said that Chiaki would definitely not cry during the party instead. The topic then turns towards their remaining club member, Souma, who seems to be missing and Keito who was in the same class as Kaoru was getting worried about the whereabouts of his unit member. But even Kanata doesn’t know where he is and thus he got worried too.

Since Souma will be the only marine club member once Kanata and Kaoru graduate, Kanata hoped that Souma will be able to gather alot of new members for their club because if there are not enough members, the club might be closed and these sea creatures will be “gotten rid of”. Hearing about Kanata wanting to “get rid” of the sea creatures, Kaoru grimaced and yelled that it’s not a good idea to just kill lives that easily just because he wants to get rid of them, claiming that it’s scary that Kanata could just blurt it out so suddenly. (I didn’t know Kanata would be one to say things that’s so cold-blooded like it’s a matter of fact OAO”)

But for Kanata, it’s the natural thought that came to him as he felt that the sea creatures will cause “trouble” and be a burden if they are left behind when there's no more club existing anymore, but Kaoru stopped him and said that they’re similar to humans, since everyone’s the same that when they are living, they’ll definitely cause trouble to other people, and also might end up being a burden to others too…

Thinking that Souma would definitely have a hard time to clean up all these water tanks by himself, Kaoru mentioned that both Kanata and he could always show up to help him after graduation, as “shameless OB/alumni graduates” if there are no new members that could help him by then XD

(I really think Kaoru had gone through a huge change, from thinking that doing things with guys are annoying and troublesome, to even volunteering to come and show up at activities and gatherings ^^)

The Person Who Doesn’t Cry / 泣かない人: Chapter 1

Over at the basketball court, Subaru sat next to Midori and strike up a conversation with him. Seems like Midori was already feeling tired when the day has set, explaining that usually, he would be getting ready for bed at this time actually, since he has to wake up early usually. (Wait… Midori slept that early actually?! The night hasn’t even begun OAO”)

Subaru was glad to find a similarity with Midori, saying that he wakes up early too, but in his case he has to take his dog - Daikichi for a morning walk. However for Midori’s case, since his family operates a vegetable stall, he has to wake up in the morning to help out his family. Subaru thought he’s being a really capable son and wanted to cheer him up by patting him on the head, but ended up giving Midori the impression that he’s trying to be like “that someone” doing skinship with him, even thinking that they could be brothers.(We all know that the “that someone” he’s referring to was Chiaki ^^;…)

Subaru laughed and said he didn’t want to be the same as Chiaki, as Subaru thinks he’s not as great as him being able to get along well with EVERYONE. (Subaru definitely has people that he finds it hard and difficult to get along with… *cough* Arashi *cough*)

Since the topic has turned onto Chiaki, they started to talk more about him, mentioning that he’s able to get along and talk with anybody, even people like Midori and Subaru, and always treat them nicely and was gentle with them as well, as noticed by Midori. However, Subaru seems to be offended being treated as the same group as Midori, being the “characters with no friends” group (This group’s name XD), saying that he doesn’t want to be the same as Midori. (Ouch Subaru, and you were happy about having a similarity with Midori and being the same a moment ago… And now you flat out reject him D:)

Midori was curious that Subaru wanted to talk to him actually since even though they were both in the same club, both of them didn’t really have the chance nor the desire to talk to each other much actually. Subaru answered that that’s just because Chiaki has always been taking care and around Midori all the time ever since he has enrolled and that he even get abit jealous. (Does that mean that this made Subaru feel that it’s hard to get close to Midori to talk to him? o.O)

Just then, Chiaki rushed up and hugged onto Midori, as he has noticed both Subaru and Midori talking (happily?) together, and wanted to join in as well. Midori complained that the way he rushed over (or say fly over) onto him almost made his bones crack though XD Even Subaru warned Chiaki that though they’ve already gotten used to his random hugs, if Chiaki went and hugged a stranger randomly like this, there’s a high possibility that he would get caught instead. (He even acted out this scene “Mr Policeman, this person is a hentai!” *points at Chiaki* XD)

Chiaki said that he felt cold wearing just a sports singlet, and wanted to share and get some warmth by hugging. (This guy… I thought he said he was going to get rid of his bad habit during the end of year party?!) Midori complained that he’s cold too and he doesn’t get why they are holding this farewell party outdoors at the basketball court since Midori felt stuffy to having so many people crowding around in a tiny basketball court.

Hearing that Midori was feeling stuffy, Chiaki joked to him that he could give him a “mouth-to-mouth” to try to save his life, saying that he has learnt (?) this from Kanata. (I… do not want to know how you guys teach and practise this though ><”) Obviously, Midori did not like it when Chiaki leaned so close to him and claimed that he might really end up calling the police at this rate ^^;

Subaru thought that Chiaki might have drunk and thus become drunk, but for Chiaki, it’s not possible as they’re not of age yet. He said that it’s just the whole atmosphere had made him abit too livelier than always, that he has to control himself if not he might end up even kissing someone OWO” (Welp… someone helps this guy please~)

Lastly, it was suggested that the graduating seniors shall have a last match with the remaining juniors, saying that it’ll be a waste to not use the basketball court and just sitting around and eating snacks like this. (But sitting around and eating snacks, and talking is fun too~ ^^;) Midori passed the chance to play, as expected of him, and Subaru ended up accepting Chiaki’s challenge.

Chiaki was just glad to have Midori to stay by the sidelines and cheer for him, reminding him that this may be the last time to see his “handsome” look in the sports uniform, and asked him to watch him till his eyes burn. Midori still manage to calmly replied that if his eyes start to burn and even ended up burning his retina, he would have difficulty even sleeping at night D:

The Person Who Doesn’t Cry / 泣かない人: Chapter 2 - 3

It was late by the time the farewell party has ended, and Midori was so tired that he wished he would go home soon to crash on his bed. He went to his classroom to retrieve his bag that he had left there, and thought to himself that he’s really bad at attending such parties. Though Midori had wanted to just stand on the sidelines, he still ended up being forced to participate in a couple of basketball matches in the end. Though Midori was glad that due to a large number of people in the basketball club, he was lucky not to be selected to participate in too many matches ^^; (And Midori really hates exercising though he finds basketball is still alright.)

Seems like every member of the basketball club wanted to grab this chance to play a match with Chiaki, and Midori noticed that Chiaki was actually quite popular among the juniors. Midori wondered if he should have taken the chance today to be nicer to Chiaki, since he felt like he seems to be the one hogging Chiaki’s attention when he has alot of other juniors who really like him. He wondered too why on earth Chiaki wants to bother with him by grabbing him to join the same club and unit as him. (Since Midori is in the same club and the same unit as Chiaki, the two of them are frequently together in school I guess?)

Midori found that the farewell party today isn’t as sad as he had expected initially, and the whole atmosphere was still happy and lively until the end. (He had expected there will be a grand speech + some huge emotional scene of people crying.)

Just then he noticed that the lights at the indoor sports hall are still on, and initially he thought that some of the basketball members might have stayed behind for another round of partying. But it was so quiet that there doesn’t seem to be anybody there. Midori decided to head there in case it’s just someone who had forgotten to off the lights and in case if he did meet someone there, he thought to ask the person to go home together as he was afraid of walking on the dark road alone. (Midori is actually a timid person too? OWO)

However, when Midori reached the sports hall and was heading towards the switch to turn off the lights, he saw someone standing in the middle of the sports hall and some strange sounds could be heard over there. (And that gave Midori a fright there, he had though that there might be a monster over there ^^;)

On closer look, he realised it was Chiaki… and he was crying, with his shoulders shaking as he controlled himself not to cry out loud. (Chiaki… TWT TWT) Midori wondered why Chiaki was hiding here in the night crying by himself and felt that he had seen something that he shouldn’t. He even thought about leaving before Chiaki discovered him, even though he felt ashamed for escaping like this when there’s someone crying in front of him, as that made him not seem like a hero at all.

Midori realised that Chiaki must be hiding here and cry because he wanted to act cool just now and not cry in front of everyone. Thinking of the always-smiling Chiaki, who always pulling along the people around him and causing trouble to them… and comparing to the Chiaki who is crying in front of him now, Midori felt like this isn’t like the usual Chiaki that he had known at all.

Suddenly, Chiaki turned back and talked to Midori, realising that he’s still around and hasn’t returned home yet. Because the change was too sudden, Midori thought he had misunderstood that Chiaki was crying, but he soon noticed the tears that are still by the side of his eyes even though he was still smiling like usual. He realised that Chiaki must have already known he was there and quickly stopped crying and try to act cheerful again.

Knowing that Midori was afraid of walking home by himself on the dark road, Chiaki offered to send him home, and also mentioned he was in the sports hall doing some clean up. (Since Chiaki has always been a regular in using the sports hall for practicing) Midori asked Chiaki whether he is fine, but Chiaki just continued smiling and answered he is of course. (Chiaki is definitely not going to admit he cried TWT TWT)

Somehow Midori felt angry that Chiaki is acting like this in front of him, smiling like everything’s alright, when on the inside he’s crying because he likes everyone so much that he feels lonely knowing that he’s going to graduate soon… Chiaki noticed him staring at him and wondered what was up with him, commenting that though he looks handsome (what XD), when he doesn’t talk and has a neutral face like this, it’s kind of scary.

(*Sigh* Reading this part was actually kind of depressing and sad to me, knowing that both of them probably realised what the other is thinking about, but no one is really speaking up about it… Since I don’t think Chiaki is that dense not to realise what Midori is thinking about his actions ><”) (If it was me, I’ll really want to run up and hug Chiaki when I realised he was crying though - that image + his voice is heartbreaking TWT)

The Person Who Doesn’t Cry / 泣かない人: Chapter  3

Mao had arrived late to the basketball court since by the time he came the party was long over. Subaru was waiting for him and Mao felt bad for missing the farewell party, but he couldn’t get over here in time due to having to process alot of paperwork over at the student council. On the student council side, it seems that it has now become the next era for the juniors to take over, and since Mao was supposedly to be the next student council leader, he’s feeling the stress of being in the middle, with the upperclassman not being satisfied with the quality of work he’s doing now (They’re strict!), and juniors feeling insecure and at a loss of what to do actually, (So Mao have to show them a good example to follow as a leader)

Hearing Mao’s side of story, and feeling bad for him, Subaru decided to go and pat his head to cheer him up.

For Trickstar though, they’re not affected by the 3rd years graduating soon since their unit only consists of 2nd-year members. However, for other units who have 3rd-year members, the unit would be facing lineup changes. Subaru wondered what will happen to Ryuseitai, as soon there won’t be five members saying their lines together anymore. He even noticed that Chiaki and Midori seem to be behaving abit awkward and weird today, and feeling worried about both of them, it’s why Subaru decided to chat with Midori earlier that day.

Mao smiled and said that this scenario is unavoidable and that the juniors will just have to buck up, smile and say “Good Bye” to their seniors. Subaru commented that it’ll be hard for Midori since he even has trouble smiling today, and besides Chiaki was smiling abit too much that Subaru just felt that both of them are similar in a way. (Mao just thinks that they are opposites instead though ^^;)

The two initially decided to go and choose presents actually, but since Mao was late, they didn’t get to do it. However, Subaru said that there’s still time before graduation to prepare it, and besides, today’s farewell party doesn't seem like the mood to give presents either, with the atmosphere being lively as per usual. However, soon this “usual” atmosphere will disappear, and Subaru found it hard to believe that it’s coming soon, as he admitted that he really dislikes graduation, since even Subaru found it hard to break into a smile at this situation.

Wishes And Compensation / 祝福と返礼: Chapter 1 - 2

On another day, Eichi had called upon Chiaki to come and visit him at the student council room and was surprised that Kanata had tagged along too. He commented that since he was used to seeing Kanata “submerging” himself at the fountain, now he finds it weird that Kanata is walking around normally XD (Eichi is being kind of mean saying that to Kanata =3=“)

Chiaki had a bad feeling of being called here by Eichi, thinking that he’s up to something again. (…guess Eichi brought that reputation upon himself for all the things he had done in the past =w=“) However, Eichi asked him not to worry and to hold out his hand. Chiaki did so and wondered if Eichi was going to give him a palm reading XD (If that’s exactly what Eichi asked Chiaki over to do, that’ll be hilarious XD Even though Eichi said he did have some knowledge on palm reading due to Tsumugi being a fan of it in the past~)

Eichi handed a letter to Chiaki, and also some candies, as the white day present from him. He talked about getting chocolates from Tori on Valentine’s day but he was too embarrassed to give it to Eichi in front of everybody, and ended up melting the chocolate by holding it too tightly in his hands~ (Aww imagine Tori flustered in that scenario~ So cute XD) And so, Eichi decided to do the same by giving gifts to others too, but Chiaki said bluntly that he feels scared when Eichi does the same XD (Perhaps when Eichi gives gifts to others, it feels that he has an agenda for it? =w=“)

Eichi also ended up giving some chocolates to Kanata, since he did receive chocolates from him on Valentine’s Day. (Eh? I didn’t know Kanata would be someone who would give chocolates around, and even to his enemies… OWO”) But then he added on that giving to Kanata was just an “extra”, (which means he didn’t plan to give him, but since Kanata is here, maybe he felt bad or impolite ignoring him =w=“) thanking him and the rest in the five oddballs for sacrificing themselves so that Eichi could start the next era. (Ahh! That sounds so sarcastic coming out from Eichi! D: I might end up punching him if I was Kanata… Orz)

Kanata was being nice about it and even gave him a soft toy he had to thank him that due to Eichi’s actions, Kanata was able to lead a normal high schoolers life. (That sounds sarcastic too coming out from Kanata) They started smiling at each other while Chiaki could feel the sparks shooting at each other from their eyes.

Eichi finally got to the main reason why he had called Chiaki to come, he wanted to ask them whether Ryuseitai would be participating in the upcoming White Day event, since the student council had not received their application form in wanting to join this event, and there hasn’t been any information that they seems to be preparing for it either. (Eichi just wanted to ask to make sure so as to predict the number of visitors or something, since if Ryuseitai isn’t goig to participate, some visitors may not come as they’re Ryuseitai’s fans ^^;)

Thinking that the event is the first event to be handled by the juniors, Chiaki admitted that he hasn’t heard anything from them about it either, as he was preparing for jobs and plans after his graduation. The envelope given by Eichi earlier was actually a job offer for Chiaki, as he knew that his passion lies in being a hero, and decided to give him a hand in that area in the entertainment field. (Since Chiaki was planning that he might start with another idol job if the jobscope for hero live stages are too hard to find)

Eichi looked forward to hoping that Ryuseitai would participate in the White Day event, as this is the time where the seniors take a step back from leading and the juniors will get to shine and make the unit to be what they “want to be” that’s different from the seniors.

Chiaki started to get worried for the first years after hearing from Eichi that there hasn’t been any movement from them at all recently regarding the white day event, and thus asked Kanata if he had heard anything from them. Kanata worried that the first years may have lost their “sun” (meaning Chiaki) to show them the path currently, and in front of them might be just pitch darkness, since Kanata still consider them “little kids” who are at lost of what to do. He suggested to Chiaki that perhaps they should go and check up on them to see how they’re doing, but Chiaki said that it’s too early for them to help them, saying that this is the time for them to start being independent since Kanata and him won’t always be around for them to rely on any much longer TWT TWT Therefore, for now, Chiaki decide to believe in the first years and let them decide things on their own, but if they start asking for help, Chiaki would be the first one to rush over and help them XD

Eichi started to talk about his own unit Fine - that they’re doing fine even though now that Eichi and Wataru had stepped back, it’s now Tori’s turn to shine as Eichi thought that he has been growing well and there’s also Fushimi by his side supporting him ^^ Akatsuki’s side was more worrying since there’s only Souma and currently he seems to be missing. (If you have read the last White Day event, you would know what Souma was doing all this while by the end of that story ^^ Keito was very worried about Souma at this time actually.)

Worries And Silence / 不安と沈默: Chapter 1

At this time, Shinobu was enjoying his “slightly early” white day present from Yuta, and turns out it was cookies with spicy powder (?) on it, which leads to Shinobu thinking that perhaps he was being disliked by Yuta to receive such a gift. (We all know that’s not true~ I guess Yuta gave this because it is delicious to him? OWO) The spicy cookies warmed him up though, so he was really grateful to Yuta actually~

Just as he was thinking what gift he should prepare to give to Yuta for the white day, Shinobu sensed someone approaching him quietly from behind and decided to throw a cookie at this suspicious intruder. The intruder turns out to be “me”, and “I” ended up at staring at Shinobu (ji~~~~) without saying anything, and that made him scared as he’s afraid that he had made “me” angry.

Seeing that “I” didn’t respond to him, Shinobu panicked and said that he would prefer that “I”teased/bullied him like how “I” did in the past, by pinching his cheeks, as he knew that “I” seems to like treating him that way. He admitted that since he’s in the wrong for throwing the cookie, he’s willing to suffer the “punishment”. (Erm… Shinobu was smiling when he said this, which made me think for a moment that he had become a DO-M OWO”)

Shinobu was more worried that “I’m” ignoring him actually, and thought that perhaps him being ignored might be his punishment (which I think it is…). Even though it’s definitely not painful being ignored than being pinched by “me”, Shinobu felt scary when “I” don’t talk at all ^^;

Finally “I” broke my silent treatment and was interested in why Shinobu was by himself in the classroom. (He was the one doing the duty roster today) Shinobu talked about how there’s actually a white day event gift exchange in class today, but he hasn’t prepared any gifts for his classmates so he felt bad being the one who just keeps receiving gifts from others, and thus planned to choose some gifts for his classmates after school today. (And of course, he assured “me” that he’ll give “me” a gift as well~)

The reason “I” was here was to ask about this, since “my” job was to ask around the various units that haven’t applied to participate in the white day event on their decision (whether they’re joining or not). And knowing that Mao was probably even busier with the preparations for the event now, Shinobu hopes that he will grow stronger to become someone that Mao could rely on (since he really admires Mao alot XD), and “I” ended up patting his head saying he’s a “good child” (though he doesn’t want me to do that, complaining that I would make his hair messy XD)~

Asking Shinobu about Ryuseitai’s activities led him to answer that there doesn’t seem to be any activities nor practices recently and that he knew that they didn’t hand in any application for the white day event. Shinobu thought that now it might be too late now to start preparing and practising for the event, even though he does want to participate to give a performance for his seniors as a thank you to them, and also to let them feel at ease knowing that Shinobu can be independent as a person.

However, Shinobu had no idea what the other two first-year members feel about it, since he doesn’t really have the chance to ask them, being in a different class and now that there isn’t any Ryuseitai’s practice, Shinobu found that he hardly had any chance to meet up with them, not even say to talk to them ><” Shinobu was also too shy and lacks the courage to call them on the phone, nor the chance to talk to them when they met in the corridor. Sensing that they might be avoiding him on purpose, Shinobu worried again that he might be disliked by them, and wondered what he might have done to press on their buttons and made them angry.

Worries And Silence / 不安と沈默: Chapter 2

In the end, Shinobu and “me” decided to head off in search for Tetora to ask him what does he thought about participating in the white day event. As we walked along the corridor, Shinobu commented about the decorations, and talked about the chocolates for the white day were made by the manufacturers whereas the chocolate for valentines was hand-made by the members, and that it was a mad rush at that time to prepare so many chocolates.

But for Shinobu, it was very fun and enjoyable to make chocolates with the members at that time, as he remembered Tetora causing a little fire in the kitchen just as expected XD, and also of Kanata who keep wanting to put some weird stuff in the chocolate ^^; Thinking that there might won’t be another time like this where the five of them are gathered happily anymore, Shinobu can’t help but to feel lonely suddenly. But he knew he has to smile for the seniors, and that the remaining three of them will work hard to maintain the superhero team. (Aww~~ I just want to hug Shinobu when he started feeling lonely and sad regarding the seniors’ graduation TWT TWT)

We reached the training dojo and ended up surprising Tetora with our appearance that he accidentally called Shinobu “Shinobu” instead of his surname - Sengoku. However, he realised it and quickly corrected himself, but that made Shinobu mad instead as he actually prefer Tetora calling him by his name, and that it made him feel left out and lonely that both Tetora and Midori always call him by his surname. Shinobu thought he might have been disliked by his members and perhaps they wanted to maintain a distance from him instead. (Ahhh~~ Poor Shinobu hasn’t been feeling good about his relationships with his members now that they don’t meet up very often D:) Tetora decided to call Shinobu by his name from then on but still finds it hard to change suddenly as he’s already quite used to calling him “Sengoku” instead.

(Also the next part was cute too that Shinobu was jealous that Tetora has been becoming more and more mature recently, saying that it’s unfair that Tetora is becoming an adult at a faster rate than he is, when poor Shinobu is already having a complex feeling of always seeming like a child - being tiny and kind of childish/immature ^^;)

Knowing that “I’ve” came with Shinobu to ask regarding Ryuseitai’s participation in the white day event, Tetora was sorry to let “me” come all the way to the dojo to confirm on this, as he felt bad for not having activities for Ryuseitai recently. And feeling very sorry, Tetora announced that… unfortunately, Ryuseitai won’t be planning to participate in the white day event. (But why?!! And they haven’t even asked Midori for his opinion yet but the decision had already been made?! OAO)

The Bystanders / 旁觀者たち: Chapter 1

On Chiaki’s side, Kaoru had met up with him and asked him about what he was planning on doing when he graduated. Chiaki had planned to continue on being an idol and doing usual idol activities, but he doesn’t want to abandon his childhood dream of being a hero either, and thus wanted to act as a superhero in TV dramas (something like masked rider/power ranger), or to participate in educational programmes that could give out hope and dreams to children. (That sounds like a really good goal and dream to have, Chiaki! ^///^)

For Kaoru, he planned to become an idol officially as a job and thus will have to first go through the obstacle of convincing his parents and brother about wanting to fulfil his dream. The good thing is, he has an elder sister who fully supports him, even though Kaoru thought that the rest of his family are too realistic and they probably would want him to step up and take over the family business. Luckily for Kaoru, Rei will be joining him and they’ll form a unit together.

Chiaki was being very supportive of Kaoru, saying that he’ll definitely make it since he has alot of talent, and if Kaoru doesn’t make it as an idol, other people won’t be able to make it as well. (Weird way of Chiaki to say it like this, but I understood what he meant.)He asked Kaoru to work hard, and if he ever ran into any problems next time, Chiaki will always be there to help him ^^ (The power of friendship! +W+)

The topic then turns towards Kanata, as Kaoru mentioned that even Rei was interested to know what he’ll be doing after graduation. But Chiaki didn’t know either and that got Kaoru worried, as he thought Kanata might have discussed anything with Chiaki. (But Chiaki thought that Kanata might have talked to Kaoru about it, so they are both thinking about the same thing ^^;) Chiaki started to get worried and wondered if Kanata might just “disappear” like that after graduation.

Just then Kanata appeared, and hearing that Kaoru and Chiaki were talking bad about him, he pouted and asked whether they are talking behind him. Seeing that Kanata seems to be in a bad mood, Kaoru realised that he must be unhappy that he won’t be able to submerge himself in the fountain now that the school has decorated it with decorations. Chiaki tried to cheer Kanata up, saying that if he really wants to “submerge” in water, they could always go to the sento (bathhouse) together, but Kanata was still feeling angry about it, saying that the school hasn’t gotten his permission and decorated the fountain on their own and he won’t forgive them XD (But even Chiaki has to diss him on that he doesn’t have the authority to give permission, as the fountain doesn’t even belong to Kanata ^^;)

Chiaki asked Kanata if he has any plans after graduation, and if he doesn’t, Chiaki won’t mind pairing up with him and they can act as superheroes together XD But it seems like Kanata has things that he doesn’t want to talk about yet, so Chiaki decided to stop forcing him, and said that if he has any problems, call for him and he’ll even go to the end of the universe for Kanata’s sake +W+ (I love how Chiaki always speaks so dramatically when saying he’s willing to do anything to help his friends ^///^)

The Bystanders / 旁觀者たち: Chapter 2

The trio moved to the cafe and continued their conversations. Kanata was still feeling down, but this time he was feeling worried for the kids (the first years) after hearing what Eichi had mentioned about them earlier on. He was also worried about Souma too and asked Kaoru if he had known anything about his whereabouts. Kaoru said that he had called Souma to check up on him, but since the two of them didn’t have a good relationship before, it ended up Souma shouting that he’s annoying and blocked his calls/messages><” (Wah… did Souma really dislike Kaoru that much? But in the end, Kaoru did help out Souma to get over his problems for the white day event… OWO)

Kaoru was worried about his UNDEAD juniors too, but Chiaki said that they can’t help them with the preparations this time, as this is the first event that the juniors have to handle everything by themselves and be independent. Saying that it feels like being a parent and leaving their child alone, it’s a time period that they can’t do anything about it even though they feel lonely and worried too.

Kaoru had to head back to school in the midst of the conversation, as Rei had contacted him and wanted to talk to him about “DEADMANS” suddenly. Kaoru felt that it’s been a long time since he had heard this name, and couldn’t help but wonder why on earth does Rei wants to talk about this all of a sudden?

Just then, Shinobu rushed in with a panicked look on his face, Chiaki are Kanata were shocked that he had known that they were here, but turns out Shinobu was just running past when he saw them, but quickly corrected himself and convinced them that obviously it’s because of his “ninja skills” ^^;

Shinobu suddenly kneeled down in front of the two of them, and started crying, and that made Kanata and Chiaki worried.

With tears streaming down his face, Shinobu cried out that Midori and Tetora had gotten into a fight and even though both Shinobu and “me” tried to help, both of them aren’t listening. Shinobu felt helpless and thus quickly came here to beg Chiaki and Kanata to help him to stop both of them. (Looking at Shinobu crying here and begging them leads me to think that the situation must be very serious TWT TWT)

And… I’m so sorry that I chose to stop this post at a cliffhanger ><” What exactly happened to Midori and Tetora that made them got into a fight like that? All will be revealed in the next post which hopefully I’ll get it written up soon~ ^^;

[movies-are-magic]

Moana (pt. 2)

Moana (called Vaiana in many countries of Europe for copyright reasons) is Disney’s latest animated feature film. It garnered outstanding success as well as critical acclaim all over the world. This being more of a review than an actual piece of analysis, here are some thoughts on why its positive reception is so well-deserved. Because of the length of this piece, I'm posting this in two parts, this being the second.

part 1

WARNING: Contains heavy spoilers. If you have not seen the movie, chances are that this text will be difficult to understand.

Before I return to the characters, let us take a look at depiction, for that is highly interesting. A ton of work must have gone into these many little lively details that make the movie so interesting, such as the children on the boats trying to catch the rain. There is all the detail in the clothing, and it is thick, heavy clothing, the way it is when made from natural materials. In contrast to the standard cartoon-y characters, these people are allowed to have real weight on screen, muscles and body fat, and that shows their strength and weight. Moana herself does a lot of heavy lifting and shoving, which tells about how she works just like the others of her people.

Moana’s learning of the world and sailing is another very interesting aspect in the storytelling. In the beginning, she makes mistakes over and over because nobody taught her how to sail – and that is okay. The ocean doesn’t always assist, only when it’s necessary and not always in ways Moana understands, for example by sending her a terrible storm to bring her to Maui’s island. She has to do the work first and show that she wants and deserves help, and then she receives it in abundance, thus making the ocean a character all of itself: another great supporting character, one who represents an aspect of nature so very important to humanity. One who loses their patience with a rooster and pricks Maui with a dart when he is arrogant again, but never you mind.

The friendship building up between Moana and Maui successfully sails around (sorry) all those boring old stereotypes of hero development. As they keep grinding against each other,  they start to define each other, not changing at all at the base of their characters, but seeing each other a little differently. It is both interesting and entertaining how Maui starts to see Moana as a capable partner, while Moana learns that she shouldn’t be too impressed by the demigod, and even how to actually manipulate him. Interpret this however you like.

Side note: a demigod has one divine parent and one human parent. In the myths Maui is a proper demigod because his father was a god and his mother a human, but in the movie he’s technically a human with godly abilities.

The dialogue is seasoned with well-crafted lines, such as Maui hauntily asking ‘Lava monster? Ever defeat a lava monster?’, to which Moana replies with a sharkish smile, ‘No. Have you?’

Mini-Maui often gets such lines thrown at him, such as ‘Stay out of it, or you’re sleeping in my armpit’, although the little guy knows how to keep the upper hand. My favourite one is Tamatoa’s ‘the power of creation/for a crustacean’ though, closely followed by his mini-science-dump about bioluminescent algae.

This brings me directly to the villains in the movie, who are altogether fantastic. It is good to see that danger is shown as actually dangerous and scary, especially in the underworld. Once more this place is a delightful example of visual creativity and the incorporation of Polynesian mythology into the story, combined with the neon look of deep sea abysses as well as sheer incredible boat designs for the Kakamora.

But visuals are not all there is to this world of monsters. Just like with every other character, there are more sides to these villains than mere meanness. The Kakamora are ridiculously cute, but also highly dangerous, and obvious master builders of gigantic ships with intricate mechanics ob board. In one of the best action scenes of the whole movie (and a lot of others), Moana is shown knocked down by a Kakamora, then fighting them with no more than a paddle, climbing around the ship parcour-style, and saving a chicken by gripping it with her teeth, only to swing and jump back down to her boat. There are not enough words to describe the magnificence of this.

It is also the humour that defines these villains, such as the giant crab Tamatoa and his immense conceit. I found this interesting, because it is actually a baddie who tells Moana that she shouldn’t believe in her grandmother’s lesson of listening to her heart, and that she should instead go for a sparkling look because looks are everything – and that Tamatoa tricks ‘lesser’ fish into his mouth that way. Even more interesting, he compares himself to Maui. Both Maui and Tamatoa are shown with gigantic ego problems and keen on their looks, which Moana completely ignores.

Maui gets a bit of a humbling lesson when he turns out unable to shift shape in the cave, and his motivations behind the theft of Te Fiti’s heart are revealed. Moana accepts these, but never does she let him off the hook. (I should stop these metaphors, but they just keep coming…) She cannot help him if he doesn’t let her, and he starts to understand this. As she says, ‘But the Gods aren’t the ones who make you Maui. You are.’ She builds up his self-esteem, and only then does he start to trust her. Mind you, this is not the female character being pushed up because she already is that strong. Neither is Maui the main character of the story. This highlights Moana’s inner strength just as shows Maui’s difficulties. She even trains him – cutest bug ever by the way – just as he teaches her how to sail. When he tells her about her ancestors having sailed the seas, linking this to her learning, this is the greatest thing in the world for her. They finally start to understand each other, sharing insider jokes, but giving up on their mission to Te Fiti is no option, even when Maui turns out scared to the bones of Te Fiti’s heart. Why? Because it bears the power to create life itself?

Branching off a little, I think it is important to remember that this power is a more than natural one, and usually associated with femaleness. This is represented by the goddess Te Fiti, but also that she ‘gave birth’ (mind the wording) to Te Kâ as this life-giving heart of hers is ripped out. Obviously Te Kâ is but another aspect of Te Fiti, just as volcanoes and green islands can be one and the same thing.

Moana is the one who finally understands this. This is her greatest power, her ways of seeing and understanding, and being true to her principles when dealing with the world. She sends off Maui to deliver the heart, but it cannot be done, he fails – because he fights Te Kâ when he should apologise to her. It is not Maui who can save the world, and instead of admitting that he was wrong, he blames Moana for his damaged hook. Moana thinks that if he can’t, what is she supposed to do?

So Moana gives back the heart, but instead of yelling at the ocean, she begs it in tears to choose someone else. But, and this is fantastic, it’s her grandmother and her many other ancestors who show up when she is all alone in the middle of the ocean and at the end of her strength.  Gramma Tala tells her that it’s okay to fail, that she can go home if she’s ready – and that is a real option. Failure is okay. Sometimes things are too difficult.

But Gramma Tala also asks Moana who she is, and it’s the vision of her ancestors that makes her realise who that is. She jumps into ocean to retrieve the heart herself, without any help, and realises she has to deliver the heart, not some hero. It was her task all along.

The difference in Moana’s approach is that she has a plan to get past Te Kâ, not to defeat her, and that she has spotted a weakness of the fire demon. Moana actually looks like Maui from the legend here, a slender figure with her hair in a knot, and she shows her full strength and ability with the boat. She becomes the heroine to save the world, and when Maui changes his mind and helps her again, he acknowledges that.

Why Moana then? Another great aspect of this movie’s storytelling is that it is not straightforward in its answer. Maui says that she was chosen for her ancestry, but that is only part of the truth. Moana herself was picked because she is both brave and just, and cares for nature and those weaker than she. Even as a toddler, instead of running for the beautiful sea shell, she helps the turtle. When she extends a hand to the ocean, she’s not so much chosen, but accepted as a friend and some sort of foster-daughter.

There is another very good question though, and that is why the ocean didn’t just bring the heart back to Te Fiti itself. The answer is, because it had to be done by someone who understood Te Kâ’s nature, and why she is the way she is: not a villain, but a deeply wronged and wounded creature whose very essence was taken from her. Moana has this understanding. She asks the ocean to let Te Kâ come to her, and encounters her with friendliness, which Te Kâ understands and becomes solid so as not to burn her. They exchange the touching of foreheads, which is a gesture of deeply respectful, harmonious greeting. Te Kâ turns into Te Fiti again after having received the heart, revealing who she was all along.

Maui not just apologises to Te Fiti, he has also learned that he doesn’t need the hook to be himself. Moana is rewarded by the goddess with a boat: not only her way home, but also what she always wanted and a nod to her heritage as a wayfarer. The hug between her and Maui is very sweet and, let me just point that out again, there is no boring lovestory involved.

When Moana returns home, she finds nature restored and both her parents have noticed so, paying close attention to their surroundings. They are all visibly moved to be reunited again, another important aspect of their characters. Moana especially almost cries, so much has she missed then. This is not the end of her adventure, this is closure on its beginning.

Instead of putting a stone on top of the mountain the way chiefs have done before, she adds a seashell the kind of which the ocean offered to her when she was but tiny, which is a great way to continue that story arc. She accepts her position, but in her own ways. It is Moana who brings her people back to the sea. She teaches her father how to sail, she is in perfect harmony with her mother as they handle the boat, and she even sees a manta ray with her grandmother’s tattoo. When Maui returns to accompany her people as they sail the waves at high speed in their ancestors’ boats, this is the greatest moment for Moana.

This final image of Moana on the literal top of everything her people have achieved, so deeply happy and fully in her place, is the central message of the movie, and a fantastic one. It is not a story about being somehow chosen, but of finding her own identity in the lived history of her people, their deep respect for nature, and that approaching the world and other people with an open heart and mind, with understanding and kindness, with self-integrity and being an active part in one’s community for the better of everyone, is what makes out happiness for her. Personally, I cannot think of a better movie for our times and any.

DISCLAIMER: I’m not Polynesian, so if you are and you spot something in this essay that’s not okay, please don’t hesitate to call me out on it. I’d be very grateful!

[frankensteined]

RULES: 1. Answer the new questions given by the previous person 2. Write 11 new questions 3. Tag 11 people

tagged by @sharkodactyl AND @shkodrans like two days ago but i suck at memes so here we are

NATALIE’S QUESTIONS:

1. if you had the ability to control your dreams, what would you dream about?

i would literally just hang out with my favourite fictional characters all the time. “you know what would make this thing better? me.” 

2. what’s your favorite myth or fairy tale?

the lady of shalott doesn’t really count, cuz the whole plot of it is from a ballad poem thing, but it’s based off of an arthurian legend, so i’m taking it. gal wants friends, goes outside, becomes the center of attention and dies? #relatable. 

3. what’s a song you love right now?

i. don’t know?? i’ve just been listening to instrumental soundtracks lately! i need song recommendations!

4. if you could suddenly gain the ability to EITHER bake breads & pastries perfectly OR be able to dance with perfect rhythm, which would you choose?

baking perfectly, because terrible dancing while baking is endearing, while terrible baking while dancing is weird and frowned upon. also: pastries.

5. what’s your favorite painting?

HA. since i already brought her up, any of waterhouse’s lady of shalott paintings! good theme for today: “i am half-sick of shadows”

6. if you were a pokemon trainer, what would your team be? if you don’t know anything about pokemon, make up six pokemon you would want. no, you can’t pick pikachu, put some effort in

oh no oh no limiting myself to 6…do i do a team of I Love Them, Forget Team Balance or a team of Destroy Everything???

okay whatever i’ll just go with ones that i’d wanna travel with places:

flareon

skiddo (eventually GOGOAT. stop me from nicknaming her “go-go the gogoat”)

altaria 

houndoom

dwebble 

spheal

BUT i’m waffling on the dwebble due to my fondness for nidoran♀ and alolan rattata. but look at dwebble! 

7. do you wear socks when you go to sleep?

only sometimes in winter, because Canada is Cold. but even then i usually kick them off in my sleep because, subconsciously, i hate it. 

8. how fast a walker are you?

according to people, i am a speedy walker, but that’s because my legs are short and i’ve got something to prove. and that thing is: out of my way, tall people.

9. what is your next meal going to be?

lunch-supper hybrid maybe? or maybe just a smoothie so i can skip the chewing part of eating. 

10. what’s your favorite part of your own blog?

the part where 90% of any post is in the tags because i can never shut up in them ever

11. if you could suddenly create – without having to sit down and write/draw/etc. – one beautiful piece of fanwork (fic, art, etc.), what would it be?

“adventures in offscreensville”, that joke!au where all the characters and plots that ob has absolutely dropped without mention over the years have come together into one neighbourhood to live out the rest of their lives. it’s the real place that helena went off to for most of s4 (she was staying with mark and gracie). it’s where vic bumped into tony and tony winked at him when he did a double take. it’s where angie is off investigating the murder of amelia. shay’s got a holistic something or other business there. 

jason kellerman is not there.

it’s a good au. 

JAMES’ QUESTIONS:

1. what’s ur favorite meme

i’m a sucker for the good ol’ fashioned “applicable text post photoshopped over appropriate picture of fictional character” meme. that’s a good time every time.

2. what show/movie/album are u most looking forward to this year, you can answer all three of these things or just two or only just one whichever u prefer

i’d say “literally only orphan black”, but i’m also looking forward to wynonna earp’s return too, but ob is still #1 for me always

3. what conspiracy theory are u most intrigued by

THIS ONE because i googled “conspiracy theories” and this was right at the top of the page and it’s amazing. 

4. are you drinking enough water today? i only ask bc i care

…okay….no, BUT. i will. and i did yesterday! so. soon??

5. what is ur go-to song to play loudly and scream along to as a form of catharsis

…the first thing to pop into my head was “you stupid bitch” from crazy ex-girlfriend, but i do not regularly jam out to self loathing power ballads, i promise. 

6. when the aliens finally reach out to us (provided they’re the friendly sort) and the world needs to assemble a group of people to represent the best of humanity and it was somehow up to you to choose this group, who would you choose, i promise in this fictional scenario the aliens will not kill any of these people

dwayne “the rock” johnson, mark hamill, lupita nyong’o, lin manuel miranda, cher, laverne cox, george takei, and amal clooney 

also andy samberg, cuz i wanna see the brooklyn nine-nine episode about this

7. what is ur dream cast of actors in whichever type of film you want? you also have access to a time machine so you could, say, have 80′s harrison ford with modern day folk, if that’s what you want. or if a certain actor is just dead present day bc sometimes it be like that

i can’t personally think of anyone, but i’d bring gene kelly back for my best friend’s sake. and then i’d let her cast the rest of this movie, too, cuz it’d be all her own show after he showed up. 

8. i can’t think of eleven questions but you did great answering the rest of these, good job

thank u friend thank u :’)

OKAY NOW MY QUESTIONS FOR PEOPLE:

you get to ride one animal into battle, regardless of size or where it lives. what animal do you choose?

if you could be historically infamous for one thing what would it be?

what is your favourite curse word?

what's your favourite cryptid?

what's scarier: clowns or ventriloquist dummies?

what's the one tv show or movie from your childhood that you think best shaped you? (doesn't need to necessarily have been something made for kids! just the one that you look back on and can go "ah. yeah, that's where that trait/interest/aesthetic came from")

if you could be drawn in any popular cartoon style, which style would you pick?

do you love the colour of the sky is there a popular tumblr post that you just can’t stand?

forget the zombie apocalypse: if you could pick a fictional character to escape a haunted house with, who would you choose?

what is the one ridiculous rom-com cliche that you secretly (or not-so secretly) would be down for happening to you?

what is the one type of food or specific dish that you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t yet?

tagging: @gwendolinechristie, @bhavvyyy, @epiphanygreaves @batsonthebrain, @andocado, @willwriteforruns, @mercurygray, @milkteaaa, @labratslabcoat, @professionaltimetraveler, @wanderingdame

and anyone else who might want to answer!