#SHOMA IS LOOKING GORGEOUS

[bl-bam-beyond]

LOVE IN THE AIR - KOI NO YOKAN (2024, JAPAN ADAPTATION)

Episode 1

Gagaoolala Premiere 11/2/2024

Screenplay and Directed By: Tomori Atsuki

Rei (HAMAYA TAKUTO) meets the much lauded Arashi (NAGUMO SHOMA) officially and remembers him. But Arashi doesn't remember Rei. Or does he?

@pose4photoml @just-another-boyslove-blog @negrowhat @absolutebl @wanderlust-in-my-soul

[divineandmajesticinone]

25 Ji, Akasaka de/ At 25:00 in Akasaka (2024) I 1.06

"I'll get your bag."

[alwayshappyhoursomewhere]

Shoma Uno - Timelapse, Spiegel im Spiegel (version for violin and piano) Carnival on Ice 2023

[nope-nora]

going from shoma’s free to ilia’s gave me actual psychic damage

[sunskate]

i love how you can get phone service everywhere in the Montreal subway. not true in nyc

maple lattes!!

Guillaume was at the practice behind the boards for IAM yesterday with an official lanyard though i didn’t see him working with a team

the last group of men practicing at Verdun this morning before the short: Kao, Adam, Jun, Ilia, Shoma, Yuma. Unbelievable group. Yuma feels like a very focused, hard working, very talented puppy. it's like he never learned anything the wrong way so there's an ease to him

i had never seen Adam live before - didn't totally get it watching on a screen, but i get it now - he's dynamic and has this extra gear where he can be explosive on the ice - he feels spontaneous and a little bit impulsive but kind of riveting to watch when he's on, which he kind of was at practice. so it was sad to see the short not go anything like it did just a few hours before

Ilia is looking more polished all the time. i thought he was being a little conservative in practice to save energy for the event, but then i read he was injured and it wasn't a sure thing that he was going to skate this event

amazing group of coaches at the boards for these skaters too

Shoma is always beautiful. this clair de lune program has these big silences which would be scary and a little empty for a less commanding skater

Jun - that white shirt is some magical thing, it ripples so beautifully in the wind when he skates lol and whatever fabric it's made from, it's gorgeous. i love the Masquerade Waltz, and he's looking good but maybe not quite back to peak form yet

Kao- please learn to fall less hard, omg. it's so scary. he launches himself fearlessly and almost recklessly- when it's clean it's impressive, but ow. it feels high risk high reward

then dance practice right after that - i saw a few groups before heading to the men's short - CPom were practicing last today, so i missed Madi's return to the boards. but Madi and Adrian were there with their little one in a stroller earlier too. all the IAM coaches plus Steffany Hanlen were there. Patrice came in balancing 2 coffees without lids and put one in front of MF at the boards. LaLa ran through Thriller - it looked like they weren't going full out on the twizzles or the RoLi - was wondering if spinning is one of the things that takes longer to be fine when you're recovering 😢 but they look sharp and polished

what was most memorable in dance practice today was watching Guignard and Fabbri - Marco at one point in the warmup traveled the long axis of the rink with 2 crossovers and one more stroke, going blazingly fast but really carving big curves. a lot of skaters go fast in the warmup, but beautiful stroking is just so satisfying. power and speed created organically using the blade masterfully on the ice is mesmerizing all by itself

and then they ran their free, and omg, live it's a different thing. sometimes on a screen i feel like they're not relating to the music enough, but the quality of the skating adds this extra 3 dimensional element that made it more moving

[stitching-in-time]

Worlds 2024, thoughts on the men: My overall takeaway is that they are mostly insane, and I love them.

Ilia freaking Malinin, and his six quads! What even! He just goes out there and does a quad axel on the spot, and then does five more quads. The audacity! I feel exhausted just watching. And then he teases to watch out for what he's going to do next season, like wtf? Quints? Is that what you're planning you insane, sick child? Disgusting! Fine! Do it! Whatever! I never thought I'd see a quad axel until I was in a nursing home in the future where we have flying cars, so fine, bring this dystopian quintuple jump future upon us. Omg! Ugh! (But seriously, he's a good skater and he's improving his artistic ability every year. He seems like a nice kid, and how can you not be happy for him? I'm not sure I'm ready for the quintuple revolution, but I support him going for it if he wants to!)

Adam Siao Him Fa is insane as well, putting in freaking illegal backflips in his come-from-behind freeskate! Jfc what is it with French skaters? Do they all make a pact when they start skating to be like, 'ooh la la, I am French and I will do illegal backflips to say f*** you to le judges, who are le stupid!' Is that how it goes? I think it must be, because what crazy person, who's coming from 19th place, willingly sacrifices 2 points when they could contend for a podium spot?? Adam Siao Him Fa, apparently. And the little smart ass still makes the podium anyway, I literally love him. He's so good and he's so crazy, and he wears mesh shirts with floral prints so we all know that while Ilia is the quad god, he's still the pretty one. Frenchmen. What are they. Ugh.

Yuma Kagiyama is like always a bridesmaid with all these silver medals, but that's not exactly a bad problem to have. He really has the whole package, and while he wasn't perfect in the free, it wouldn't have mattered in the standings if he were, after Ilia's quad-fest, and I'm sure someday he'll have a perfect skate and skate away with this title yet.

Shoma Uno bby, so sad he had a rough free, he's so exquisite, and I really thought he'd defend, but he at least is experienced enough to be philosophical and gracious even when not making the podium. Truly a legend.

And omg hooray for Jason Brown and Deniss Vasilijevs! My quadless wonders! They both were so gorgeous and ended up in the top ten! I think this is the first time I've seen Deniss put together two clean programs in years! And his freeskate was totally new! He brought a brand new freeskate to freaking Worlds and nailed it! Incredible! Another insane man that I love!!

Sad to not see Matteo Rizzo, but I guess he's probably still recovering from the surgery he had instead of going to his Italian nationals, so glad he's looking after his health and getting better for next season. The other Italian guys were very good here, so hopefully they'll maintain at least two spots if not gain the three. The Italians are really building a strong team ahead of their home Olympics, we love to see it!

There was just a lot of good stuff, it was an exciting one this year, and I hope the men will continue to be their authentic, awesome and insane selves next season!

[winged-wolf-dreamer]

Some (Unorganized) Musings On A Year In the Unoverse

With Worlds 2023 over, it has been officially a year, more or less, of me having become a fan of Shoma, as I started following him at Worlds 2022 (so not exact year but I figured Worlds is easier to track than exact dates, sue me), so I felt like sharing some unasked for thoughts.

So this whole mess started with the Olympics, when figure skating was trending just about every day on tumblr. “But Wolf,” you might say, “Didn’t you say you became a fan of Shoma at Worlds?” Well, yes, cause see, it wasn’t Shoma that caught my attention, it was Yuzu. I saw gifs of him and people stressing over him showing up and found it mesmerizing, so I decided to follow along with his short. 

Well, we all know what happened at the short. The cursed hole.

Anyway, I watched a few of his other performances, mainly Notte Stellata and Hope & Legacy at Worlds 2017 and Ballade No. 1 at the 2018 Olys. And during all this, the doping scandal was going on and I got to watch, real time (I would look at live updates on the figure skating subreddit) as all that drama unfolded and got to witness the nonsense that was the IOC and ISU. Well, that soured me some, I feel, that plus the Olys being in Beijing and not having the energy to watch it all for one skater meant I didn’t watch the free, alas. I tried watching the gala, but that was my first real experience with how garbage skating coverage is in the US, but I did get to see Haru Yo Koi. It was beautiful.

And, by all indications, that was going to be it.

But wait, isn’t this supposed to be about Shoma? We’re getting to that, be patient! Why are you reading this anyway, I’m not important. This is just me rambling. Unorganized rambling where I’m getting the order of things and the exact circumstances confused...

Anyway, fast forward to Worlds a month later. I didn’t really care, tbh, I was still watching the subreddit, I think. And thing is, Yuzu wasn’t quite clicking with me. He is an amazing skater, but something wasn’t clicking with me that clicked with other people. I still liked him, and I loved watching his performances, very moving, but something was... missing for me. And as he would retire after Worlds, I may very well have left my brief look into figure skating at that.

Unfortunately, I saw this other Japanese skater wearing this gorgeous red costume do happy hops after completing his short at Worlds and I went, “oh I love him.”

AND I WAS DOOMED, I TELL YOU, DOOMED.

That was Shoma after finishing his short at Worlds. I don’t know if I saw it on twitter (twitter, that site I hadn’t logged into for over a year at that point and would wind up deleting once ownership changed, but I could still browse) or reddit or here, but I saw it and I loved it. Something about that grabbed me. I watched him do his free, I watched that glorious step sequence at the end and him claim his first World medal. I was hooked. My attention had been grabbed.

Why did Shoma catch my attention when Yuzu hadn’t, when I didn’t even watch Shoma’s performances at the Olys? I don’t know. Maybe it was cause Yuzu would wind up retiring after Worlds. Maybe it was something about the triumphant nature of Bolero at Worlds. Maybe it was the costumes. Maybe it was *sigh* the atmosphere of Yuzu’s fanbase was... not something I particularly liked. Maybe it was Shoma’s story of him going through a tough coachless year and him finding Stephane and how it all culminated, ultimately, in that first Worlds medal. Maybe it was cause, while Yuzu seemed like a spirit of the ice given human form to grace us with his beautiful skating, Shoma seemed like Just A Guy who went out there and Did His Best (and turned out his best was damn good), and I found him more relatable, ultimately, as I learned more about him as a person who loves sleeping and eating meat and hates vegetables. Mood.

Maybe I’m just gay and thought Shoma was more attractive than Yuzu. Maybe this all happened cause I’m very shallow.

Regardless, I became part of the Unoverse. I wound up keeping up with a lot of relevant twitter accounts even though I could only observe, wishing all of them were on tumblr. I followed several Unoverse tumblrs here (special shoutouts to @myjunkisyuzuruhanyu and @vilyae for all the info and pictures and such), I read the figure skating subreddit. I watched the fans deal with... an annoying amount of hate from others for reasons that infuriated and befuddled me. I learned way too much about the season schedules.

I watched Turandot at the 2018 Olys. I watched his triumphant DOMO at JNats 2019 (god, those twizzles. And that utter happiness during the step sequence). I watched La Vie En Rose at MoI 2019 (that skate is so beautiful and gentle...). I would slowly watch all of his programs at least once over the year and fall that cantilever every single time...

I watched his videos on his own YT channel where he could not do English, even as I myself didn’t understand a word he said. I watched Unowan and him constantly being attacked by puppies. I saved way too many pictures to my phone (as of this writing, 2434 photos).

I watched as the fans waited for him to announce his programs for the season. I watched the first performances of Gravity and Aria in shows. I then... got to experience the joys of watching figure skating in the United States without a VPN or Peacock. I wound up watching Aria from Skate Canada on NBC’s “highlights” broadcast, but for every other performance of the GP (INCLUDING THE GPF, WHY WASN’T THE GPF PROPERLY TAPED FOR A BROADCAST ACROSS ALL DISCIPLINES) I had to stick to embed videos on twitter, ultimately, besides maybe a few here and there on youtube (for whatever reason, it seems to me his programs this season are really hard to find on YT versus every other program he has, it’s annoying). I got to see him finally win the GPF. I got to finally watch a good performance of Padam, Padam from JNats on YT (before it got taken down).

And then I got to witness the emotional roller coaster that was this Worlds as he struggled with injury and I prayed he wouldn’t injure himself further and hopefully take the victory and defend his World Champion status.

And he did. I didn’t watch it live cause time zones, but I watched Aria on NBC’s highlights and saw it. It was a good thing to wake up to. The utter joy and finding out he’s the first Japanese man to win consecutive golds in Worlds.

And now here we are. There’s still WTT, but I still wanted to write this, now. Then the season will be over and we’ll be in the offseason, waiting for shows (including him and Yuzu skating together at SoI!), waiting for new program announcements. For it all to start again. There was a small article about him winning Worlds in my local paper today, and I was so happy. I hope to keep it.

I am... still not all that invested in figure skating as a whole, ultimately. If he retired tomorrow (he’s not retiring, for the record), I would peace out then and there. Even without the... Everything regarding the ISU and such (please don’t let Russia back in...), watching this sport in the US is... hard, and I don’t have investment in other skaters to make an effort, for better or worse. That’s not a slight on them, I just have other things in my life.

Still, I’ll be here until he does retire, and I hope that he’ll skate as long as he’s happy and healthy doing it. And maybe he’ll make it to the 2026 Olys and finally get that gold.

Ganbatte Shoma!

[an-odd-idea]

Men’s free skate, a totally-normal recap

Adam with the most Benoit program I’ve ever seen, good job making that shirt choreo work. He held on to that quad Lutz a la Yuzuru with the Axel that time, amazing. And that side flip thingy he does, crazy. He’s so good. It’s a shame the short program had him so far behind

Kevin no, Kevin (watch the light dude, he didn’t) The only good Bolero program there is, he sells it so hard and does such cool, interesting things, and then that choreo sequence where everybody just starts screaming. Unfortunately the program didn’t go too well, really badly, actually, so I will be erasing it from my mind and thinking about the short program instead because I could watch that one move that’s like knee slide and then magical swoop to spread eagle all day

Kao was so nervous, I could actually see the tension in him. He wasn’t able to give the amazing performance that made me suddenly crazy for him, and the jumps were all a lil scary, and that last spin was uhhhhh… but he didn’t fall and that is nice. There will be other competitions and he’ll be more secure at those hopefully

Yuma popped his gorgeous amazing showstopping make you catch your breath Salchow, but all the other jumps were perfection, and ah, HIM, Yuma’s back, baby! I’m so happy to see him on the podium at the final in his first season back, that’s crazy

Shoma nooooo, I really hoped he’d win, but alas. He was still beautiful, though, nailing that quad loop and flip that was I was so nervous for, and then argh! popped Axel jumpscare! But everybody shut up, his step sequence. It hardly registers as “oh, now it’s step sequence time” it’s just so beautiful and smooth and perfect that you don’t even think and then you realize later what difficult stuff he was doing with perfect posture and glide and all his movements measured and placed exactly. And he really did fight, went for the triple Axel again and got it and did an unplanned combination with a triple flip on the end, he’s just amazing. I think he does different arms on the choreo sequence every time. Is he still tweaking it to find exactly what he wants it to look like, or does he just improvise whatever he’s feeling? I was watching that last spin go on like “pleeeaaaase don’t get a time deduction” and he did, but it’s okay. Beautiful ice guy, he always looks a little bit self-conscious when he’s done like he just woke up from a trance, which to be fair is what his skating does to a person, and he’s like “oh, whoa, there are people watching me?”

Ilia won, and it was well earned. He makes quads look so easy I always think they’re triples, and he’s working so hard on the component score, you gotta love him. That twisty jump he invented was perfect to the music and I’m glad the people liked it so much. Good job Ilia!

[vilyae]

Is shoma that good-looking in real life?

100%!! He is just gorgeous irl 🤯

[tharizdun-03]

Mawaru Penguindrum Review

Moving some of my Twitter threads over to Tumblr as well. This is one of them.

I recently finished Penguindrum, and while it definitely has its interesting ideas with plenty of potential, I sadly ended up thinking it was a disappointing mess. I want to try and sort out my thoughts on why that is in this post.

If you haven’t watched all of Penguindrum, beware that I will spoil the fuck out of it here.

Introduction

Let’s talk about the production side of things first. It’s a gorgeous-looking show, with a distinctly imaginative style, and charming character designs. As inventive as Ikuhara’s directing is, it’s never too busy.

His use of repetition (survival strategy, scene transitions, the crowd being cardboard cutouts, etc.) is great and really lends to the series carving its own identity. Yukari Hashimoto’s score is also fantastic, as expected. Absolutely no complaints there. Then we move on the characters.

Characters

Himari

For most of its run, Himari was mostly a plot device, I felt. Nothing really deeper to dig into, but by the climax, we actually got some genuine character stuff from Himari, showing how lost and isolated she is. It’s not amazing stuff, and definitely should’ve come sooner, but I appreciate the series finally giving me a reason to get invested in her. Something that did annoy me when it came to the presentation with Himari in the meta-space, is that she’s always in some state of undress, and as time went on, just got progressively more naked.

Even when other characters are with her in the meta-space, and they’re fully clothed, she’s still naked.

Maybe you can try and twist this into it being symbolic, cause Himari is exposing herself or something. I dunno, I can’t quite justify it, and even if I could, is it worth it? Is it worth undercutting the emotional power of a scene because Himari’s flashing her ass crack at me? I think it’s easier to just say it’s a fetish, and I’d rather it wasn’t there at all. A lot of the final episode consisted of me shouting at Himari stop undressing.

Talking about Himari, we might as well address her role in the final, where it turns out her favorite phrase, ”Let’s share the fruit of fate”, is the spell to activating the diary.

How does Ringo know this? Has she heard Himari say it? When have we ever heard Himari say this phrase? It’s certainly possible she’s said it once or twice in the show, I can’t possibly remember everything, but the show hasn’t really emphasized it, so it comes out of nowhere. But, also, it's Momoka's diary? Why would her spell be Himari's favourite phrase? I was told of a fan-theory, that Kanba, Shoma, Ringo, and Masako are reincarnations of Momoka, but none of this is explained in the show. In fact, the show instead states that the essence of Momoka lives within the two penguin hats Mario and Himari wear. So, it comes down to fan speculation to explain this, cause in the show it feels very random, which is indicative, that it’s just messy and didn’t work.

Shouma

Shouma was the character, who from the very start, felt like the most well-rounded one. But, his indecisiveness and general incompetence made it difficult to get really invested in him, cause he just ended up annoying me lol.

And when his issues with his parents were brought up, I was just kinda turned off altogether. I'm not against the idea of internalizing your parents' sins, but them being punished for their sins, it just didn’t make sense to me.

However, I do appreciate the series, once again, in the climax, giving him a more central role at the heart of the story, being Himari’s ”soulmate.” I don't think it added much, but it's something for him, which was needed.

Kanba

Kanba was, I’d say, probably, for the most part, the most engaging character for me, being more active since the very beginning (Shouma hadn’t gotten much to do for a large part of the early half of the story, and Himari hadn’t done shit, so didn’t have many to choose from).

But even with that, I always kinda got the impression that he was a bit of ass who kind of acted as if Himari was an object that belonged to him, which just devolved into pure, plain obsession, by the end. You know, how he kinda became the KIGA leader and orchestrated all those bombings and almost murdered Ringo? 

On top of that, Himari and Masako still sacrificed themselves for him (fake-deaths ofc, a running theme in this mess), and I just didn’t really feel like he was worth all these women sacrificing themselves for his sake after everything he's done, and it pissed me off. He was beyond redemption at this point for me, and yet by the end, both he and Shouma ended up sharing the same fate as if they’re equivalent (even though one of them lived their life selfishly and killed people and the other one, you know, didn’t), which was sealed when they shared that apple way back? Why have this fate forced upon them? It doesn’t vibe with me that the two of them should have to accept this punishment for something their parents did, something that happened when they were just kids. And it certainly didn’t help that while Kanba sacrificed himself to save Himari, Shouma sacrificed himself to save Ringo (but returned Kanba his part of the apple at least), and Shouma tells Ringo he loves her (but nothing to Himari which is a fucking crime).

I just felt that everyone needed to stop trying to hold onto Himari’s life and let her move on already. You have to accept that death is a natural part of life instead of trying to bend fate to your own selfishness.

What happened to the two brothers at the very end is up to your own interpretation. Whether they reincarnated again, or if they’re now some sort of trans-dimensional beings that have escaped the cycle. I got the impression of the latter personally.

Ringo

Ringo by far the most interesting and inventive character in the story, but represents a big issue with the character writing, that connects back to everyone else in the cast. Ringo has a big stretch in the first half of the series mostly focused on her, and it’s awful. Not even digging into the core ideas behind it, just the actual basic execution, it’s the same fucking recycled gags over and over again with her (the obsessiveness over an older man she has no right to, the theatrical presentation of the same fucked up fantasy scenarios she imagines, the abuse of Shouma, the world rightfully pushing back at her but her just doing even more depraved things in response over and over again). It just goes around in circles. It was a very difficult stretch of the show to get through, because as at that point, none of the other characters had really gotten too much interesting substance, so it meant that she was practically at the center of the narrative for a while, which meant that I was stuck with a delusional, manipulative stalker who’s also an attempted rapist.

Oh yes, cause let’s bring that up while we’re at it. Penguindrum does not do a good job of using rape as a narrative device. I mean, rape is always a dangerous topic to add to your story, as with the amount of real-life baggage it carries, it can just overshadow anything you wanted to say. And while, yes. Penguindrum does make it clear to me why it's choosing this, it's twice in the story that a main character has turned to rape as a solution, and it just makes it difficult for me to care for people that are capable of such evil. I haven’t forgiven Ringo for what she tried to do to Tabuki, for example. So, you can imagine how it was difficult for me to care when we were supposed to root for her in the second half of the story. A large part as to why I couldn’t bring myself to care for her afterward was because the execution just so badly mishandled the actual reality of rape, almost as if the series doesn't understand how grave of an action it actually is. Ringo never really got to grapple with what an irredeemable thing she was about to commit, and she also showed no signs of trauma from having been kidnapped, drugged, and raped herself (if it didn’t quite get that point, goddamn was it just a hair away from it). Also, Sho trying to stop them and stumbling around in a contrived and comedic fashion (which didn’t amount to anything) was just not appropriate during an attempted rape scene. Oh, speaking of Shouma, who by the way, doesn't even condemn Ringo for what she was about to do to Tabuki, but even defends her to Kanba, after the traffic accident.

Now, this digs into another major issue I have with the series (that I’ll revisit later), and that is its metaphorical nature, to the point that I can’t tell when the metaphors end and the real stuff begin. It affects every detail, from random odd moments, to big character arcs. Are these arcs meant to be so broad and divorced from basic logic because they’re not supposed to be literal, or are these characters just bad characters? Are the absurd actions some of them commit, like the two characters who attempt sexual assault, meant to be symbolic representations of literal actions, or am I being asked to sympathize with actual fucking rapists?

So yeah, the show not really forcing her to confront what she’s done made it difficult for me to buy into her redemption. What happens when she has Tabuki strapped and nude at the bed for her to do whatever she wishes (because apparently, the frog magic worked? It’s never addressed again)? Only then, after sexual assault, does she realize that this isn’t what she wants. 

And a bit later, Yuri makes Ringo realize that she was actually in love with Shouma? Oh, you mean the guy that she’s basically done nothing to but be abusive and doesn’t actually have any chemistry with whatsoever? Come on. Am I supposed to feel sad for her when she’s rejected by Shouma in EP 14 (ofc he tells her he loves her in the finale)?

It also doesn’t help that I was very annoyed that Kanba, and mostly Shouma, even followed along Ringo’s whims from the start. If my sister’s life depended on borrowing a book from some random person, I’d do it by force, and not follow along this crazy person’s conditions cause then ”maybe” she’ll let me borrow it for a bit.

Yuri

We talked about Yuri recently, let’s dig into her a bit more in-depth. Yes, she (attempts?) to rape Ringo, in a twisted attempt of basically lesbianizing Ringo so she’ll be more like her sister. It’s creative, I’ll give you that, Ikuhara. 

At first, I got the vibe from Yuri that maybe she was a hermaphrodite. You know, with the whole nobody’s seen the real here, and her Dad wanting to resculpt her into something beautiful? But, on further reflection, I think he just didn’t consider her beautiful because she wasn’t fully under his control and damaging her was a way of making her permanently his. 

But yeah, so here’s the thing, foreshadowing is an issue in this show. I’d be hard pressed to think you could figure out what would happen in the second cour from the first cour alone, they’re almost like two different shows, and this extends to Yuri. Given that there’s basically been no attention to Yuri’s attraction to Ringo in this way, and then it’s resolved pretty quickly and not focused on again either lol.

Tabuki

Tabuki's twist to evil, comic-book villain is also jarring. Like, I get it? He ties his self-worth to the first person who showed him it. And he finds kinship with Yuri, both were scarred by their parents who exerted far too much pressure on them, and both came to see themselves as disposable, but for both, Momoka showed them the value they couldn't, so they latched onto that, and when it was ripped away from them, they became bitter, self-loathing people who created this fake relationship around their shared connection to Momoka, and just want somebody to lash out at, they want scapegoats. 

But the execution doesn't help sell that as a compelling conflict to get emotionally invested in when it is so different from what Tabuki has acted like before, and he acts like such a basic, stereotypical superhero villain during his crazy episode. And then it’s just kinda resolved.

Masako

Masako, I was confused by. Cause her not being Kanba’s ex-girlfriend but actually, his sister felt like it came out of nowhere, you know, since all this happened.

Other than that, she was fine. Her backstory was very weird tho. Funny, but the metaphorical aspect of the show makes it difficult for me to know what I’m supposed to take literally cause are you telling me her grandfather comes back from the dead and possessed her little bother?

Also, kinda shoehorned conclusion for her, cause when did Kanba say that lol?

Sanetoshi

Sanetoshi, I was actually a bit disappointed by. I guess he more so functioned as a thematic tool, but we didn’t really get a motive as to why Sanetoshi loathes this world so much? Those boxes represented being forced by the rigidity of the world to conform to an inauthentic self, and I guess was that it? Just feel like if that was it, that theme should’ve been more prominent throughout the entire story. Also, he’s dead, so how does that work?

Momoka

Momoka also confused me. Cause, her in the penguin hat acts NOTHING like when she was a human, so what’s that about?

The Penguins

I really like the penguins. I find them genuinely funny in an effective manner I didn't expect. I’m not quite sure what the point of them are beyond that, or what they are really lol, but I’m kinda cool with not digging into that. I really like them.

The Metaphorical Storytelling

Yeah, so the metaphorical nature of the story troubles things in many ways, and there are just some examples of random moments that are confusing because of it. What was up with the frog curse working on Tabuki? How did Tabuki reach Himari all the way down there to save her?

What’s up with the child boiler? I assumed it was metaphorical, but Himari remembered by seeing the windmills, so is that the literal place or a metaphysical world with those literal features? What happened to the plot line of Mario’s penguin hat?

Ringo’s whole deal of being crazily obsessed in the first half, besides it showing how she wants to become Momoka, what does that plot line contribute to the larger picture? 

So, Kanba imagined all the convos with his parents at that restaurant, fine.But, he still got the money there? Are you telling me the organization just left their corpses there rotting for 16 years? Nobody noticed? Why have your transactions there? 

This character just popped up out of nowhere, stabbed Tabuki, left, and then was never addressed again lol.

Lots of fake deaths. Himari has had at least four, Shouma and Ringo at least two each, Tabuki, Kanba, Masako at least twice. We had several in just one episode sometimes. Even Momoka and Sanetoshi are technically dead but not really lol.

Conclusion

Overall, Penguindrum was a fascinating mess that just didn’t come together. Does it have some merit? Yes, of course, it does. It’s stylish and intellectually dense. Its main message, that you should reach out to an unwanted person and make them feel needed, give them love, is a great one.

Contrary to Sanetoshi’s ideology of the boxes restricting people into selfish cages, the power to reach outside that box and truly reach out to another person, that’s can change someone’s entire life, it can save someone. Love is the essence of this world, and it needs to be shared with others. I think that’s a lovely message! 

But, yes, as the show isn’t very cohesive, takes way too long to get to this point with its overcomplicated and haphazard presentation, mysteries that just kept being piled upon the other without giving me much back for trying to solve it until the very end, subplots that are kind of just dropped, themes about fate that didn’t vibe with me, and unlikeable characters with messy arcs, it didn’t really work for me.

But, at least it’s always more interesting to see people with genuine talent fail (which Ikuhara definitely has even if he didn’t use it to effect here imo) than some other mediocre isekai writer that didn’t even have something interesting in the first place? 

Ikuhara’s voice is still a unique one, and as this was my first work of his, I’m still hopeful that as I explore more of his works in the future, I end up finding one that speaks to me.

Score:

Original Twitter Thread: https://twitter.com/Tharizdun03/status/1558128850357198849?s=20&t=EFhraK5-tU99lC2bk2FoNA

[sirenthatmakesyouwantcake]

this is what i think of some of the 2023-24 figure skating worlds winners programs

SHORT PROGRAMS

Shoma Uno was so beautiful and graceful. it was a very beautiful program that he did so well with almost no mistakes. I've never really watched his programs but he has become one of my favorites just form this program. One of the things I love seeing is when they look like they are floating as they jump and he really did that.

Yuma Kagiyama was good, I really liked his song choice and costume. the commentators are so right, he really has marshmallow legs and is really stable. Overall, this program had some really good chorography that he executed well.

Ilia Malinin is definitely a prodigy, there is nothing that could be said against this. He could be more artistic, if that makes, from what I could tell, that's what set Shoma Uno and Yuma Kagiyam apart from him. His program had so much personality to it especially in the last half. He has come such a far way and did so well for being a little injured. His raspberry twist is so cool and I really love the way he just... well, I really don't know what to say about it, its just looks so cool. He seems like he really does love skating. I hope he does well on Saturday, he could even win.

I couldn't find Leona Hendrixx or Lee hea-in because they aren't available in my country.

Isabeau Levito was the first one I watched this year. She's so young and has done so well this year and last. She also looked like she was floating in her jumps. For her program, I don't know what is was about her spins but they were so beautiful and done well especially with the biellmann at the end. If she does well in her free skate, she could also win.

I think I've seen Jason Brown's name before but I'm not sure where, he did good and I especially liked the way he moved. Through I don't know what the song was about, I feel like the movement matched the song nicely.

FREE SKATE PROGRAMS

Sakamoto Kaori's contrast with the dress she wore was nice and I loved how it sort of matched the energy of the song she chose. It's so nice how they are moving away from classical music. Towards the end of her program, when it picked up, it looked like a very fun program and the crowd sounded so happy. For this one, I couldn't find the official video so its a little harder to see what was going on. Lastly, the spin sequence at the end was gorgeous and I thought that the stuff at the very end (I don't know what to call it) was also cool.

Isabeau Levito is so young and preforms so well, it's wonderful to see someone like that. I really liked the little hops that she did and how made them look so effort less. She looked so happy at the end. I guess the take away from her performance was to just believe in your self. To get a podium at such a young age for both short and free is so cool.

I couldn't find Kim Chae-yeon, but I did see a picture of her wining bronze and her dress was nice, I wish I could have more to say about her because I'm sure it was a beautiful program.

I loved the opening of ilia Malinin's program, I remember watching nationals (I think), it's so fun to watch he's arm movements in it. The program was beautiful earlier this season and he had only improved. He is the quad god. The way he amazed everyone and made his triple jump sequence EVEN HARDER, I don't have words for this guy. After all of that, he's legs must have felt like jelly, I don't blame him for taking a moment to lay on the ice. There was something missing in his short program, but this one had it all. He is truly a prodigy, up there with Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathen Chen, the people who use consider God's on ice. He's only 19 and already the highest score. It's unbelievable to have seen this. I'm so glad that I hadn't gone to bed a few minutes earlier and missed watching this tonight although, I might have some trouble sleeping after watching such an amazing performance (but editing this the next day was not as fun).

Adam Siao Him Fa was good. I didn't find the official videos for him to. From what I could tell, he didn't land all of his jumps perfectly but he was still good. I really liked the step sequence he did in the later half the end. And to top it off, he went from 19th to 2nd, that also really cool. I almost forgot this but he did a back flip and I thought that was brave since it kind of dangerous but then again the whole sport can be (I actually did a school project that included why the skaters are 'risk-takers')

Yuma Kagiyama (another one I couldn't get an official one of) had a great choose of song, a very dramatic one that he added so much to with his program. He was close to getting sliver but that fall wasn't so good for his score. The program was still as graceful as he always makes them and fun to watch.

I was seriously surprised to see Shoma Uno in 4th when I was looking at the scores, once I watched a video (I couldn't find an official one of this) it was clear. He is so talented and I really hope he's doing ok. Most of the performances was graceful and everything that he makes them but for this program, there must have been something wrong.

Edit (5/20/24): he just retired the other day, from what I've seen, he was lacking motivation since nathen chen and yuzuru hanyu leaving, apparently they had a friendly competitive relationship and he's been lonely. He said he would continue skating but now he will do the moves that he wants to do instead of being constrained by ISU rules. Im looking forward to seeing what will come from his professional career. (Link)

OTHER

Madison Chock and Evan Bates is one of the few ice dances I have ever watched (as well as anything with two people). The song they chose was a wonderful choice and their outfits really matched it. I have also just learned the different between ice dance and pair skating because of them.

This year, I really liked and payed attention to the catch foots and butterfly jumps.

This year the skaters I watched looked like they really liked it and we're genuinely happy, it's kind of sad when they are forced in to it like the Russians often are by the time they're adults (or at least that's what it seems like from their reactions).

Since starting to do some figure skating about a year ago, it has been interesting to see just how good these skaters are. Before, they looked like they were born on the ice but now I can see just how much work they put into every performance.

I said I would put this out today, and after not having a keyboarded with me all day, I have finally finished it. This has been an amazing season with someone doing what no one else could and then setting a record, than you for reading, I really enjoyed writing this this year. goodnight

[figurelifeflirt]

2022 Worlds entry #5

Men free program

Morisi Kvitelashvili(GEO)

Thoughts: he needs a different hairstyle. But I love the energy of this program.

Yuma Kagiyama(JPN)

Thoughts: the two screens. I get the idea. But it was kind of confusing to watch it this way.

Keegan Messing(CAN)

Thoughts: I felt for him. He had some hard falls out there.

Men short program

Yuma Kagiyama(JPN)

Thoughts: I love all his sparkles

Keegan Messing(CAN)

Thoughts: I don’t why he thought facial hair would make me like him more

Shoma Uno(JPN)

Thoughts: I’ve missed him. He looks so good

Daniel Grassl(ITA)

Thoughts: he has gorgeous shoulders. He could do with a haircut though.

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

Shoma on an event for his sponsor Mizuno

[alwayshappyhoursomewhere]

Worlds 2023 | Day 6 free skate

[resssistance]

[sunskate]

GP 🇫🇷 FD- omg Hannah and Ye 😭 that was beautiful - emotionally they're going deeper, not a false note - i hope they keep killing it and being rewarded so we can keep seeing them happy and hear that ahahehe laugh of hers

Olivia and Tim had some mistakes today, but i don't care lol she said in an interview earlier in the season that her turns weren't clean in practice right before that competition, but they were going for the expression first and then refining - the fine tuning and conditioning will come over time - they're still running out of energy at the very end of the FD. but i do love watching her- her OFt is huge, she makes the position changes in the serpentine lift look languid. he's a good lifter

Dupayage/Nabais had a twizzle issue and lost a couple spin levels, but i still really like this oddball program

lol the way Mark rolls the r in Corpse Brrride is great. he brought up VM twice today

L/LeG - so nerve-wracking 😨 watching that torn piece of her dress flying long and loose - glad they made it through without snagging it. this program works so well for them. and we got a slightly different angle on how she's holding herself up at the end

CPom look beautiful, and the program is gorgeous - Christina's getting so good, a bit more extension in places, keeping her frame open (idk what you call that- in that little clip of VM coaching Shoma they talk about this) esp when she faints or swoons across him would elevate this even more. i wish that lovely Sui/Han spin position started about 3 beats later with the swell of the music. Anthony looked so steady this time on that curve lift when he's on one foot. i don't totally get the other curve lift where he hoists her on his shoulder and then swings her back again

i love this program- there are great touches in the storytelling like at the end of the twizzles when he grabs her wrists, and swooshes her around in a lunge- like he has her more in his web from then - i want them to rise further with this FD, i hope it gets even more ferocious, more dreamy, or both

the US judge had them in 4th behind L/LeG in the FD (and L/B in 6th wha?) and gave McN/S a far bigger push 🤷🏻‍♀️

the camera work at this event - whyyy lol we don't need to see CPom's twizzles from foot level way across the rink and traveling away - don't be arty, just show us the skaters. why change cameras mid-twizzles for L/B

L/B are lovely skaters - i wish she'd fully extend her legs in the RoLi and ChLi - her dress is simple and elegant and perfect for her and this program; i like that his shirt isn't matchy matchy. the fact that i'm focused on the costumes probably means i wasn't totally caught up in the program this time

Lolo and Nik! i was glued to this program - he looks downright balletic in the twizzles, more emotional - the heightened music is bringing out good things, they're so invested. and she's amazing. this one made me 😭

and G/F- respect but not love is my general reaction to them. i wish it was more