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the-bjd-community-confess · 3 years ago

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Dear 'Anime Bad' Anon: I Want To Help I pity your situation, so please have a list of weebshit that isn't moeified, or wherein the cutesy art-style serves a greater purpose. (Note: though they won't be soft marshmallow uguuuu, they may still have issues in other ways. Some may have aged badly with regards to how society views or portrays groups or beliefs, some may have upsetting content and dark themes, and some may simply not be to your taste. Note: Anime is a genre, not a monolith, and the disparaging stereotype that it's all cute girls uwuing over their brother s-s-senpai!!! is as much of a disservice as saying all western movies are just vapid cash grab superhero movie sequels with no inegrity or thought put into them. There are indeed a lot of superhero movies, but they're not all identical schlock (megamind vs venom vs kick-ass), but even more than that, there is a wealth of creative endeavor just beyond the veil of Marvel's cape: just as there are plenty of good anime if you dig past the isekai high school harem wish fulfillment genre that no one wants to keep making but people keep making because it prints money to a very small demographic of the animation equivalent of a mobile game whale thereby allowing this frankly quite-small industry to work on engaging and worthwhile series where the budget permits, Regardless,)

Mushi-shi: -Pros: gorgeous animation, tranquil vibes, episodic stories so you can cram in an episode between classes or on your lunch break. highly recommended by the literal-who typing this out. -Cons: some themes or stories may cause emotional distress, learning to tell apart Urushibara Yuki's characters is a learning curve.

Baccano-Pros: meticulously-researched 20s-and-30s-era mafia violence with a hint of the supernatural, as a treat, told anachronistically with flair and jazz music. practically made to be binge-watched. the novels are finally getting translated into english as well. -Cons: lots of characters to keep track of, fair bit of blood and violence, some scenes or themes may be upsetting, lots of jumping around between different time periods. See Also: Durarara, another series by Ryōgo Narita with a ton of characters and a plot with more threads an overpriced sheet.

Cowboy Bebop-Pros: incredibly well-regarded, space bounty hunters are cool, episodic series that slowly takes on a plot towards the end, fantastic animation, scoring, and even dub work. -Cons: some scenes or themes may be uncomfortable, some parts have not aged quite so well, the smart doll version of the main character is ugly, you're gonna carry that weight.

Trigun-Pros: starts lighthearted, develops an increasingly investing plot as the series goes along. fictional westerns are cool. this world is made of love and peace -Cons: some scenes or themes may be upsetting, and probably will be. gun violence is naturally present, but that ain't all of it.

Hellsing (standard or Ultimate. or Abridged)Pros: vampires killing nazis. the original adaptation isn't bad, the second adaptation (ultimate) is generally viewed as an improvement. abridged is a youtube parody version that was so popular the voice actors reference it in convention interviews.Cons: a Lot of violence, even trending to the gorey side of things. Uncomfortable Themes Everywhere, but it's a horror-tinged action series about killing nazis, so that's to be expected.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood-Pros: while the original anime was quite good, the second iteration is a large improvement. does to alchemy what naruto does to ninjas: It's Basically Battle Magic. the plot starts on a strong note and doesn't let up from there. -Cons: there are distressing scenes and themes that may or may not be tolerable to the viewer. there are moments of cheesecake and even an occasional joke or a moeblob here and there, and it's not all doom and all gloom all the time, but this doesn't detract from the abject horror-despair that comes to permeate this series as it progresses. finally understand why people on the internet respond so negatively to the name 'nina'!

[Mod: many more recs/reviews under the break, worth reading for those who like more obscure anime and animation]

Grave of the Fireflies-Pros: you will remember how to cry. it's a good reminder that one country's 'triumphs' often come at the expense of another country's people. -Cons: this movie is incredibly dark, do not watch if you are in a bad headspace. see also: Barefoot Gen, a similar tale but this time from the perspective of an actual survivor from Hiroshima.

Michiko to Hatchin-Pros: an actually diverse cast of characters tangled up in a messy and very humanizing story, interspersed with Shinichiro Watanabe's particular flare for adventure. -Cons: some scenes or themes are very likely to be distressing. can be tricky to find, too.

Mo no no Ke (not the ghibli movie, though it is also quite good.) -Pros: incredibly unique art style and pacing that draws heavily from japanese theatre traditions, every screenshot is wallpaper-worthy. -Cons: may cause motion sickness. it is a psychological horror series, and one that does not need blood, nor gore, to cause visceral emotional response in the viewer. scenes and themes will be distressing- as really, that's the point.

Tokyo Godfathers-Pros: a transwoman, a (self-identified) homeless bum, and a runaway teen girl find a newborn in the baby on christmas. incredibly wholesome, somehow, and grounded in reality, with wonderful animation from the tragically late satoshi kon. -Cons: it is grounded in realism, and sometimes, people are dicks. mild transphobia warning, too, but in-universe- the transwoman herself is portrayed with kindness and allowed to be her own (wonderful!!!) person. still, viewer be mindful.

Kino no Tabi (the first series is my preferred, the second is shinier but lacks emotional impact- in my onion.) -Pros: mostly episodic, very unique series that can be gritty where it counts and kind where it matters. -Cons: some scenes or themes might be disturbing. finding it's not easy, either, and unfortunately, i don't think the novels are being translated right now, either.

Spice and Wolf-Pros: it's mostly about economics. there are shenanigans, a harvest god, and a slowly burgeoning romance, sure, but it's still mostly about economics. -Cons: there are moments of cheesecake and comedy, and moments that may cause distress to the viewer. it may or may not be to your taste.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica-Cons: yeah i know, it's moeblobs. -Pros: you're gonna watch 'em die, though, in case that may interest you. it's quite a good subversion of the magical girl genre overall. somehow volks hasn't made an MDD of anyone from the series and i will never understand how that didn't happen.

Wolf Children: Ame to Yuki-Pros: watch a family grow together as a newly-single mother does her best to raise her twin children after the tragic loss of their father. -Cons: keep tissues handy. certain scenes or themes may be uncomfortable.

Lupin III (Red Jacket, Ghibli, and the new 3D animation are all A+) pros: heist comedy elevated to an art form before half (or more!) of the people reading this were born. the english dubbed series that used to air on adult swim is a treat. cons: this franchise started in THE SIXTIES, so naturally, some shit has not aged well. certain series (fujiko mine) are darker than others in themes and material. the 3d movie that released recently is an excellent starting point.

Samurai Champloo-Pros: breakdancing samurai, a fascinating roster of characters, and a superb soundtrack by the tragically passed Nujabes. -Cons: it was made in the weird era of the transition from analog to digital animation and so the /series master/ was animated at a painfully low resolution, so even if there's a bluray out there (I haven't looked,) it will be an upscale, which doesn't always look the best. as well, there are scenes and themes that may make the viewer uncomfortable here and there.

The Works of Studio Ghibli Oh, I'm sorry, Ponyo too suffused with childhood wonder for you? My Neighbor Totoro not depressing enough? In addition to the infamous Grave of the Fireflies, Studio Ghibli has made a wealth of movies that aren't aimed squarely at the kodomo (children's) sector. -Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind: climate change existential dread, the movie -Castle in the Sky: government obsession with obtaining weapons of mass destruction destroys everything beautiful, the movie -Pom Poko: human-caused deforestation and urbanization is destroying the natural world and all that live in it, the movie -Princess Mononoke: industrialization will be the death of everything beautiful in the world, the movie, with a side of sometimes everyone (and no one) is the villain when everyone is simply trying to survive -Howl's Moving Castle: The Physical Manifestation of Depression is a Liquid Ooze, the Movie, also War Is Bad It's not all depressing, but let it never be said that Hayao Miyazaki was subtle. Whisper of the Heart is a good coming-of-age story, Kiki's Delivery Service is a classic, Tales from Earthsea is divisive among fans of Ursula K. Le Guin but I personally liked it. From one studio alone there is a wealth of opportunities.

And that's really the point. These are just some from the top of my head. There are so very many options outside of the cute-girls-doing-cute-things genre that I couldn't list them all if I was here for a week. Or as Madoka Magica so ruthlessly showcases, even series that appear a certain way on the surface might not be what you bargained for once you look into them! These are all (I think) mostly older, mainstream-appeal series that should be easy to track down, too -- there are all kinds of singular animations like The Diary of Tortov Roddle, crowdfunded experiments like KICK-HEART, Masterpiece World Theatre renditions of classic (western) novels that never get talked about, films like A Silent Voice that confront social issues- and of course, series like Rozen Maiden that helped popularize this very hobby!

There is literally an ocean of content to explore from Japanese creators alone, and it opens up even more if you look into works from other parts of Asia- just look at how popular manwha have become, or Chinese animations like Leafie, a Hen Into the Wild! It's a genre unto itself, with all the breadth of content and inter-industry problems that come with it, and without any of the respect that similar art forms have been granted over the years. The way an entire culture's art form is often disparaged, disregarded, and belittled- and by extension, the way most of Asia's animated endeavors are often rolled up into that reductive dismissal along with anime and manga- is honestly Not Great, and there is absolutely a thread of xenophobia that runs through it. The industry has so very many problems (low wages, poor training, overwork of everyone ever, archaic financial modules, the exclusivity and breadth of merchandising necessary to turn a profit and how it leads to consumer burnout and disconnection over time, and yes, the way minors are portrayed not just in anime, but in Japanese media in general- and how much of that is actually bad (some of it is indeed,) and how much if it is cultural difference (I've heard people call the scene where the family in Totoro bathe together problematic because of the nudity, but I've also only heard people say that from the West)

-- none of the actual problems affecting the people who produce this medium are gonna improve when the general response to "animators frequently have to live at home to survive" is "that's what happens when you're a weeb." It's 5am and I'm gonna point out the problems in the narrative around how we discuss this genre of entertainment because it's important, damn you! Regardless, thank you for coming to my unasked for and overlong TED talk about animation on a doll collecting drama blog, feel free to call me a pathetic weeb etcetera on your way out- but while you do so, might I suggest you also go watch a choice animated series! My current go-to is Bofuri, which is a cute-girls-doing-cute-things moefied isekai series that I refuse to apologize for watching. Be free. (The battle scenes are great and it captures the feeling of learning to play a new MMO with your friends better than most video-game-based anime I've seen in a long, long time. does anyone even still remember .hack? how about serial experiments lain...?)

~Anonymous

#BJD #ABJD #BJD Confessions #TrueBJDConfessions #Anime

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cherryonigiri · 5 years ago

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Hello! May I ask headcanons for Kiseki no Sedai? Their reaction to their girl being cool and sexually dancing (something like k-pop girl group cover dance, if you know it) with her dance team at a school festival (or something like that).

A/N: Since my character limit is five I chose to do hcs for Akashi, Aomine, Kise, Murasakibara and Midorima, hope that’s fine with you! I immediately thought of Loona’s dance cover of Cherry Bomb by NCT 127 (https://youtu.be/s7kxoMYg3l8) which is so BADASS (both the song and choreography) and Move by Taemin (inspired by Twice’s cover: https://youtu.be/QTfzryUBlO0). Reader is in a group that dances to both in one set! Also I’m assuming the reader is in the school’s dance club/group that decided to do a cover of a lit K-pop song for some kind of school festival!

Akashi Seijuro

Since he is president of the student council, he is backstage helping ensure the performances/festival runs smoothly

Has timings of each performance down to the second — and he knows exactly when you and your dance group is slated to perform

Since your dance group had to submit the songs + a short clip of your performance to the student council, Akashi already knows what songs you are going to perform

Was going to do some more research on what the choreography involved, but you begged him not to because you wanted to surprise him at the festival

Doesn’t stop him from listening to the songs and familiarizing himself with the melodies and lyrics - k-pop is something you are passionate about and he always want to learn more about his girlfriend

While you and your group are on deck and getting ready to go on stage (he knows there are still two more acts before you) he stands next to you

Maybe kisses your forehead I AM SO SOFT FOR FOREHEAD KISSES FIGHT ME

“I’d say good luck, but I don’t think you’ll need it darling” afjaofe;ja;feka

You’re Akashi fucking Seijuro’s girlfriend - he has high standards and probably would date someone who is equally as hardworking + high achieving as him

Besides, outside of basketball he knows Rakuzan has an equally formidable dance program so the boy knows you are talented

Is so impressed when you start dancing to Cherry Bomb - the choreography is intense and requires so much synchronization as you switch between all the complex formations - he thinks you could teach the basketball team a thing or two about teamwork

You go HARD with the tutting at the end before you start doing edging your feet out until you’re almost doing the splits - Akashi respects how much strength and training went into performing the dance break + ending flawlessly

When the music changes to Move he is STARING at you - eyes are glued to your form as you perform

The moves are so sensual and he can see how you intensely look out into the audience - he can sense the sexual tension that fills the room

At the same time is awed by how much control you have over your body - he can see how every movement is planned, from the position of your hands to the way you shift your weight between each dance move

As your hands glide along your body, he can’t help but get slightly turned on

Also glares at all the male members of the student body who are looking at you a little too intently

When you finish your set he calmly hands you a water bottle while smiling proudly

May ask you for a private encore later

Aomine Daiki

You mention the performance in passing, probably while you and Aomine are having lunch on the roof

Despite his nonchalant response, Aomine remembers that you’re performing in the back of his mind - although he does get the occasional reminder from Momoi or teasing remark from Imayoshi

Doesn’t really want to get too involved in the school festival - it’s far too rowdy and he thinks the idea his class came up with for the festival is a hassle (imagine if it was a butler cafe LMAO poor Aomine)

Probably sneaks away from his shift managing his classroom’s booth or to find you and wish you luck (or uses you as an excuse to ditch his shift for a couple of minutes)

He knows you’re good at dance - he’s seen how many hours you spend rehearsing and how much you love dancing (and Kpop)

Will sneak into the auditorium and probably stand in the middle of the crowd - probably doesn’t see the point of cramming in the crowded area right in front of the stage

Impatiently waits for you to come up on stage, he’s bored and is sick of the skits that other groups are putting on

When it’s finally your turn he’s focusing intently on the stage. The instant you come out in a badass outfit with dark makeup and a black crop top he grins because you look AMAZING

The music starts and you launch into an intense sequence of tutting and formations shifts that has his eyes widening in surprise

now he understands why you always felt the need to drill the choreography into your muscle memory, because remembering moves on top of switching spots with everyone else makes the performance that much more impressive

Proud of his badass girlfriend

When Move comes on he smirks - although you can’t see him, he watches you move your hips and trace the outline of your figure

Can appreciate the sensual yet serious expression on your face that makes you look gorgeous, but definitely does not appreciate the dumbass boys in the audience who are drooling over your body

After the performance he finds you and kisses you before wrapping his arm around your shoulders

Scowling at the now intimidated boys from before, he says “Gotta remind those idiots that you’re mine”

Will definitely invite you over to his place to spend the night for some “quality time”

Kise Ryouta

Kise knows you’ll be performing a kpop dance at the school festival and is super excited

He probably helped style you and your team for each song - pulling out some leather jackets and ripped jeans for Cherry Bomb and picking out a diverse all black ensemble + accessories for your cover of Move

He hypes you up all day about the showcase: sends you good luck texts and gives you a hug before you have to go backstage + will keep you company when you do your make up before hand

Is not afraid to elbow his way through the audience so he can have a front row seat to your performance

Made the entire Kaijo basketball team come with him and instructs them to cheer loudly for your performance

He’s pretty up to date with current music trends and listens to a fair amount k-pop himself so he’d probably recognize the songs you were dancing to + be somewhat familiar with the choreography

When you come on stage he’s already shouting “Go y/n-chii!!!” which makes you smile and you manage to make brief eye contact with him right before you get into your starting pose

It’s like a switch is flicked - you went from being his cute and smiley girlfriend to a serious BADASS - your expressions are so intense and serious Kise can’t help but be drawn in

When he hears the opening line of Cherry Bomb he’s thinking oh shit because damn that choreography is tough

From the tutting, to moving in sync with all the other members, to all the different formation changes - he knows this is a challenging piece to perform

Gave you his leather jacket (he probably got it from a modelling gig or something) to wear and seeing you dance in his jacket is just *chef’s kiss* stunning

and it lets all the other annoying boys in the crowd know that you’re his because it has his jersey number embroidered on the back

If people start shouting the fanchants he’ll join in because anything to support his amazing girlfriend

When you all change outfits and switch to move he is dying

He’s right in front of you and you are making very direct and SENSUAL eye contact with your boyfriend while you move your hips into another body roll

Kise smirks back and will pin you with an equally intense and lustful stare

When he sees you after the performance he immediately strides towards you and pulls you into a fierce kiss

Spends the rest of the festival with his arm around you, bragging about his amazing girlfriend to anyone who will listen, then he’ll take you home and ;)

May take advantage of perfect copy and learn a duet/routine with you sometime in the future

Midorima Shintaro

MY CARROT BOI — I swear I am taking this seriously

Midorima probably doesn’t listen to too much kpop - he prefers being able to enjoy the lyrics of a song and listening to Japanese music means he won’t have to look up lyric translations

Maybe has heard some Japanese versions of kpop songs on the radio, but is overall unfamiliar with the genre (context: Since Japan has such a huge market for K-pop, it’s not uncommon for groups to release Japanese albums where they sing the the in Japanese)

When you first mention that your club is going to be performing at the school festival, he probably pictures some cutesy, bubblegum pop girl group song

Is putting this into his calendar and making sure he sets reminders because he is NOT about to miss his girlfriend’s performance

Secretly happy because you are putting in extra practice for the rehearsal which means you stay late at school. Since basketball practice always runs late he’s glad he now has the chance to walk you home

Day of: checks your Oha-Asa horoscope and makes sure that you have your lucky item - he will buy it himself if necessary

Knows you worked super hard on this performance so he knows you’re going to be fine

This tsundere carrot shyly wishes you good luck before you head backstage: “Good luck y/n, not that you’ll need it! Nanodayo…” with a slight blush on his cheeks

Makes his way back to the audience - he made Takao save him a spot

Somehow Takao got his hands on a setlist/hear rumors and figured out what you were performing and is secretly filming Midorima’s reaction because your boyfriend is about to COMBUST

Cherry Bomb comes up and Midorima immediately realizes this is NOT the cute girl group dance he was envisioning

Is probably watching your performance intently - he never realized that your choreography would be this intense and physical

Probably not as blushy during this one, just entranced and absorbed into your performance (will refuse to admit that he stared at you the entire time, even though Takao teases him about it later)

But when you transition to the cover of Move, oh gosh, this boy goes from stony faced to bright red tomato

Is 100% blushing and gaping at you while you perform the sensual routine, especially when your hands move across your body and you purposefully make eye contact with him

Realizing holy shit my girlfriend is so sexy holy shit you thought he was staring at you during Cherry Bomb his eyes are glued to your figure during Move

Probably rushes up to you awkwardly and gives you a surprise hug before whispering “Give me a little warning next time y/n.”

You giggle a bit, not mentioning the routine you’re learning on your own (Dally by Hyolyn: https://youtu.be/b75eENj0WCQ) surprise him with it in the future hehehehehehe)

Murasakibara Atsuhi

Murasakibara is hanging out in your dorm room when you mention that you have an upcoming performance

“Ohh y/n-chan that sounds fun”

Lowkey pouty baby because he wanted to laze around during the festival and just spend the day trying all the food with you

Now he won’t have his girlfriend to keep him company for the whole day

When you ask him if he’s going to come and watch, he’ll agree, because it’s at the school and it isn’t too much of a hassle and he knows you put in a lot of practice so he wants to support

Tatsuya probably still has to remind him about the performance on the day of

On the morning of your performance you wake up to find a bag of your favorite snacks and candies hanging on your doorknob

Murasakibara probably went to the nearby convenience store and bought you a bunch of “good luck” snacks to surprise you

Tatsuya and him walk into the auditorium, is kind of disappointed to see that it’s already packed so he has to settle for a seat farther away than what he liked

Thankfully he’s tall AF so he still gets a clear view of the stage

Snacks through the other performances/skits and gets pretty bored, he’s here to see you and you only

Finally, they announce your club - Murasakibara immediately perks up with interest

Your group has a badass entrance before you start performing Cherry Bomb

You decided to temporarily dye your hair red for the performance and Murasakibara is surprised when you whip off the hat you were wearing to reveal bright cherry tinted hair

He’s watched you practice the moves several time and knows you struggled to master some of them - super proud when he sees you slay those hard bits of choreography on stage

Move comes on the speaker and he immediately can sense that this is definitely a very sensual dance

Like damn, watching you move your hips to the beat and confidently gazing into the crowd, he is very turned on definitely wants an encore from you in private

When you hit the last pose and the lights dim he is IMMEDIATELY walking out of the auditorium to find you

Sees that you’re surrounded by some newly acquired fanboys and casually steps in behind you to wrap an arm around your waist

Towers over the guys surrounding at you, a scowl from him scares them off

You giggle at his antics because he’s cute when he’s jealous: “You don’t need to be that mean to them Atsushi”

“Y/n-chaaaan, can we go get food now?” - probably buys you all the snacks you want because he is proud

Also suggests that you dye your hair to match his purple locks just because

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americangodstalk · 4 years ago

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When season 2 was airing (or about to air), Collider had an interview with Bruce Langley. Here are some highlights of it:

# Bruce Langley made a deliberate choice to not read the novel before going for the audition, because the character had changed so much that Langley wanted to base himself on the script and entirely on the television series idea of the character. He wanted his own character - and apparently Neil Gaiman agreed to this when they talked together about the character.

# Langley talks about the central concept around which the show is based: your beliefs give birth to representations of your ideas in real life. It is a metaphor for basically warning people about what they believe in and what stories they decide to tell, what stories they decide to believe - by making them think about what gods they create and to what they will be sacrificing themselves.

# Langley also remembers that the story reminds its audience that America is a nation of immigrant, build as a patchwork of cultures and religions, the foundation of the national identity of America being made up of “different stories”. He also mentions that it is ridiculous to try to ignore that, especially with a “political trend” that wants to ignore or cut the fact that America is an immigrant’s nation.

# Bruce Langley talks a bit about how season 2 (and him) dig deeper into the Technical Boy’s psyche. He mentions the effects of what “fully engaging with this level of technology” does to one’s psyche and emotional health. He explains that the New Gods are alert and aware all of the time because they are aware that they can be replaced and need to stay relevant - if they are not completely up to date and refreshed with a new hardware, they become irrelevant, and in their world “irrelevance means death”. This is also why the New Gods lack the “laid-back” nature of the Old Gods.

# Bruce Langley refers to Mr. World, New Media and Technical Boy as an “unholy trinity” and a “screwed-up triumvirate”, but an “accurate representation of how those deities would respond to each other”. Being a god wouldn’t be as much fun as people think - because in the show, it is a traumatic experience. They get “fancy bells and whistles”, but they are literaly their own creation, something made only to be worshipped, and thus “separate and alone”. Gods have a synergistic relationship with other gods, because they basically have to work with other creatures that feed off the same thing that keeps you alive. The Old Gods at least have a way to be bound together: the solidarity of being screwed. That’s what keeps them together. But the New Gods don’t have this solidarity - so they are always “doubling down and growing in worship, all of the time”.

# Technical Boy can never be truly satisfied, due being linked to a technology forever updating and upgrading. He is all about chasing the next thing to be relevant, because to stop would mean destruction. Technical Boy “trauma” is the translation in a human and emotional context of how an artificial mind needs to always be incorporated new calculations and algorithms. On this note, Bruce Langley mentions a very interesting boy - the only times we see Technical Boy exhale, really exhale, both in physical and emotional sense, it is after taking a “big hit of syntehtic toadskin”. Technical Boy, due to always be ready to adapt and react, only “breathes out” when some kinds of drugs or chemical engagement is involved.

# For the scene where Technical Boy has his eyes destroyed by Mr. World’s thumbs, Bruce Langley explains the whole thumb-in-eyes-sockets idea came from Crispin Glover, who felt it was right for Mr. World to act in this way because it would fit the “sight” thematic of their dialogue.

# Bruce Langley mentions that Mr. World’s position allows him to know much more than any other person in the room, he is always more knowledgeable all the time and in a consistent way. The main difference between him and Technical Boy is that Technical Boy actually process the information faster than anyone else - faster than Mr. World even. This is because Technical Boy has a partly-artificial mind faster than any computer in the world, an artificial super-intelligence that allows him to process informations quickly and deduce fast all the statistics and logics - while Mr. World simply “knows” things naturally. As a result, when Tech Boy listens to Mr. World speaks, as he does so he also run other paradigms of possibilities in his consciousness, resulting in a “little power play” between them. Tech Boy is a fast thinker, and deduces things faster than Mr. World, but Mr. World knows more than Technical Boy and TB can’t actually understand why Mr. World does the things he does.

# Bruce Langley also talked about Kahyun Kim and New Media. He mentionned that a big difference between Media and New Media is that Media has an “implicit level of authority” that came through both the actress, Gillian Anderson, and through the iconic personas used (David Bowie and Marilyn Monroe), which gave Media a “level of status”. New Media is literally new and reborn - the same deity in context, but different and changed. A “hard resert” as Langley mentions. New Media and Technical Boy have an interesting symbiosis according to Langley: New Media exists only because of technology and needs Technical Boy to survive, he is the one that “birthed” her, but in the facts, she is actually by her mere presence much stronger than Technical Boy. This results in a mutual dependance for the sake of existing, but also a rivalry and power play.

# Bruce Langley also mentions that viewers should pick up the nuances of Kahyun’s peformance to realize that New Media knows a lot more than she is letting on, and that while she plays “cutesy and dumb” it is only to interact easily with the brash and impulsive Technical Boy. Because there is actually a lot more happening and she knows what is going on - she is willing to be observed and underestimated to ultimately make “her plays” when she needs to, and as a result people never saw her coming. She is “much smarter than she lets on”.

#american gods #television series #season 2 #interview #bruce langley #technical boy #crispin glover #mr. world #kahyun kim #new media #new gods

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edengarden · 4 years ago

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oh ofc, here’s my stuff again (all in one ask cause tumblr lets me now thank god (but it’s still really long mb 😅))

i’m a 16YO bisexual mixed cis girl with tan skin, a little under 5’4, i have shoulder-length deep brown/black hair in little ringlets (3C type), my eyes are the same color, i have semi-thick black glasses, rosy round cheeks, and i’m overweight with a sort of thick hourglass figure going on. i don’t usually wear makeup or indulge in a bunch of skin care, but i still take pride in my appearance which shows more through my outfits! i feel best wearing feminine but simplistic stuff; graphic tops, boots, leggings, things with skirts, etc, and swap between light and dark colors depending on whether i’m feeling more cutesy or elegant. personality wise i’m an infj-t, gemini sun + rising and virgo moon, and a ravenclaw with some hufflepuff aspects. some of my best qualities are being analytical, as i notice details and make connections in my environment or media i consume that others may pass over, my kindness, as i always strive to aid and uplift others i care about and who i think need it, and my equity, because i can easily understand different perspectives and come to fair and just solutions that benefit as many people as possible. some of my flaws include being blunt and sarcastic when i speak, since i see things simply and sometimes forget to be mindful that others don’t, being anxious, due to my constant overthinking of situations and possibilities, and a tendency to be lazy and unmotivated, since i more care about others and their goals than myself. though im an introvert and use a lot of energy with social interactions, i treasure all my relationships and romanticize the time i spend with those close to me. i can get along with pretty much anyone, and though i’m not popular i’ve noticed i often become the center or connecting piece in nearly all my friend groups without meaning to, and tend to attract those who’re disheartened or otherwise outcasts. i do have a tendency to be rough and poke fun with people as soon as i get comfortable, though, but if i ever strike a nerve i’m quick to apologize and make it up to them, it’s just a weird way of showing my love and i always hate seeing people upset, and feel astronomically worse if it was because of me. i can’t stand people who are overly arrogant entitled and/or don’t think or worry about the consequences of their actions though, they get on my last nerve and i do my best to stay away from them. i appreciate when people are genuine with their feelings and understand the value of communication like i do, it’s the most important part of any relationship, platonic or romantic, but you can’t easily find that nowadays. it’s also a plus if they can be mature when need be but are still silly and light-hearted and make me laugh (which isn’t that hard i react to pretty much anything) otherwise i enjoy artsy things like drawing, writing, baking, and just creating in general! plus listening to music, watching youtube, plus comedy shows and horror movies, and sleeping :P i can like any individual song regardless of genre, i more so pay attention to how the lyrics are crafted and certain instrumental motifs i enjoy, so it leaves my music taste pretty all over the place and i end up crafting playlists for ‘vibes’ rather than adhering to genres; however i do end up enjoying alternative rock and pop the most often. some other facts about me are i’m good at color theory, my cheeks flare really easily, i love rhythm games, i have a relatively nice singing voice, laughter is my ABSOLUTE weakness and i can even end up cackling and falling over, i don’t have any social media and i’m really bad at keeping up with trends (i’m always either early or late to the party)

again, take your time since ik youre super busy! and reminder to take care of yourself too! 💖💖

Oh, you’re DEFINITELY a third year.

Now, I can’t exactly remember who I matched you up with, but from the way you are as a person, you 100% get along with Mirio and Nejire. Since day one the three of you were the Sunshine Gang. Honestly, sharing that trait together makes you all very approachable people and I think even Tamaki would end up befriending you because he sees that you’re a good person at heart (plus Mirio seemed to really like you, which was definitely a good addition). People always seem to underestimate you, especially when you’re so close (and often compared) to the big three, but holy crap, your sense of observation is out of this world and you know how to use it in battles. It always got you very far in school training and, well, some underclassmen really admire you for it.

Through the years at UA, though (especially being close with Mirio and Nejire), you learned to value yourself and your own goals. After all, you’re at a hero school. Everyone is here to become the best version of themselves. I can assure you that the first year you would be astonished to see how far you’ve come as a third year. I’d also like to add that together, you and Nejire tend to be almost ruthless with curiosity. While she asks the invasive questions and does her thing, you’re picking apart EVERYTHING about the subject and yes, it tends to make people uneasy, but it’s also HILARIOUS.

#class matchup #mha #bnha #mha matchup #bnha matchup

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into-september · 4 years ago

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MLB dub stuff

Re-run of “Cat Blanc” and “Felix” today. Given how whatshisname did as Cat Blanc and in “Chameleon”, I’m very certain that he could’ve handled voicing Felix as well, but that judgment clearly wasn’t shared by the people in charge.

Since they’re already working with a not terribly long list of actors they’ve got on cast, recycling happens and I’m 70% certain that Felix was voiced by whoever does Luka. And that’s admittedly pretty funny, that rooftop scene with Ladybug considered.

But let’s talk “Cat Blanc”, which my dub-nerding self has watched in some three different languages before, but only once in Norwegian. But boy oh boy did I have thoughts about their translation choices, because there is one key scene that would be very difficult to get right thanks to the long-established choice of pet names: Cat Noir doesn't call her "my lady" around here.

He doesn't call her "my lady" because the expression is foreign to the point of nonsensical in a country that hasn't had any native nobility since 1350. Presumably, they also don't trust the target audience to understand neither the words nor the historical framework behind them. This is common for all the Scandi dubs; it's "min sköna" ("my beautiful") and "min kære" ("my dear") in Swedish and Danish, and I highly doubt that this choice to ix-nay the ladyword was coordinated.

Because in Norwegian, it's "unge dame", literally "young lady" and used in the exact same way as in English. It should be mega weird in the "cross father talking to sulky daughter" kind of way, but he makes it work. SOMEHOW. If nothing else, it sounds suitably oldfashioned.

So I was curious to hear them solve that one in THAT SCENE in “Cat Blanc”. I mean, all the money said they’d leave it as “young lady”, which thanks to the lacking ambivalence misses out on the massive change of meaning “my lady” has undertaken during the course of the episode. Second, that also means that Marinette’s echoing “my prince” which is BAD ENOUGH IN ENGLISH would sound even worse here because it’ll be lost that she is, in fact, echoing his last words to her and not just using the worst possible pet name.

Unrelated but also fascinating is that there are a bit of variation on the translation of “Bugaboo”. I’ve been rewatching some random episodes, and these are the ones I’ve noticed:

- "lille bille" ("little beetle", v. cute)

- "billeba" (once. might or might not be a real name, the only person I've known to carry it was a karen in some nineties soap opera. It might a beetle pun on "lilleba", a cutesy nickname common enough to have been used two generations ago on both sides of my family. Either way, the possibility is high indeed that it is a low-key shoutout to a nineties scandinavian soap opera that nobody remembers these days and I find that absolutely hilarious)

- "jenta mi" (once. lit. "my girl", does NOT have the same connotations as the corresponding English. Would not be used by anyone under fifty, and depending on who uses it, would come across as condescending enough to set MeToo trending. Fun usage note though, Hawkmoth goes "my boy" at Cat Noir right before akumatising him and IIRC also when he’s begging him to transform in “Gorizilla”, and that’s pretty heartwarming in a horrible kind of way)

One last inconsistency that might or might not be intentional: I remember two instances of Adrien calling his father the equivalent of “dad”. I think the first one might’ve been a way early episode, but the second one was “Sandboy”. At that point, they’d long since clued in on the fact that things are Awkward between father and son there, and consistently stuck with “father” (has not been used for adressing your male parent the last fifty years, yikes Gabriel).

Then we see Adrien Agreste living his worst nightmare, and desperately calling for help - he calls for Nathalie. And he calls for "dad", which given the situation - he’s helpless and terrified in a situation he cannot escape - would suggest that he’s reverting to some older speech pattern. That he used to once call Gabriel that, but at some point changed that to a formal and extremely dated way of talking to his father. It reflects the “vous” adress in the French, I guess, and hearing him break out of it - to suggest that his happy childhood wasn’t just his mother being around, it was his father being a father -

well, that was some heartbreak happening in this dub only.

#dubbing #miraculous ladybug #scandinavia #linguistics

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sshakespeare · 5 years ago

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An Analysis of NYC Scorpii

I’ve now seen all but one of the actors who have played Scorpius in Cursed Child NYC and I wanted to do a quick write up of some of the interesting differences I’ve found in their portrayals.

Alex W.

(not putting their full names because that feels a hint strange)

My most recent Scorpius! He has understudied Scorpius for both Year 1 and 2 in NYC and it shows; he felt very comfortable in the role.

His Scorpius is the most understated I’ve seen. My brother, seeing the show for the first time, summed it up best when he said Alex’s Scorpius feels very secure in who he is (different from the Hot Mess that is Bubba’s Scorpius). His Scorpius very rarely yells, even when excited, which made the library scene particularly intense because you could tell just how upset his Scorpius is.

Going off of that, Alex doesn’t always “play the laugh” the way Bubba will. His Scorpius is more grounded, but I did find some lines got lost (in particular, one of my favorite Scorpius lines is “No, I’m pretty sure your dad is exactly the same” and Bubba almost always gets a laugh there).

Alex does adorable accents though! When he says “My geekness is a-quivering” he twirls a little fake mustache. He’ll do little bows on his more nerdy lines. When Albus says this Scorpius is a geek, it’s spot on.

He straight up HISSES at Polly Chapman like he’s a velociraptor when he’s trying to hide Delphi. Instead of trying to play it cool on the stairs and flirt with Polly, he hides Delphi behind his cloak like it’s wings. It’s hilarious.

He also koala hugs Draco when they’re reunited in Godric’s Hollow. That moment probably got the biggest applause of the night.

Can confirm he did the Bubba signature “Scar Zap” before the polyjuice transformation. Bubba, king of trends.

His Scorpius and Nadia’s Rose are the only Scorpius/Rose that ever made me go “Huh, maybe.” Which is weird because Alex’s Scorpius seemed pretty romantically uninterested in her up until their last scene. The bread scene on the train was still funny, but it always felt like Alex’s Scorpius was just trying to be her friend. But then in their last scene, when Rose calls him Scorpion King and hisses, Scorpius follows her down the stairs and hisses with her and it’s a genuinely flirty moment.

One bizarre thing: Nick Albus did not let Alex Scorpius hug him when they both emerged from the lake. Alex launched forward, but they never really hugged. It was more that Alex just backed Nick into the wall. I didn’t know what to make of that. They’re definitely not the most tactile Scorpius/Albus pair, but I thought they had sweet chemistry especially in their last scene.

Nathan S.

My first ever Scorpius! I remember going into the show being a little disappointed in not seeing Anto (it was a good ⅕ of the reason I bought my ticket before the NYC cast change), but I left the show thinking how damn cute Nathan’s Scorpius is. Unfortunately, I don’t remember a ton about him since it was a while ago but I’ll do my best.

Nathan’s Scorpius is a true Follower. I’ve always thought there’s a universe where Anto’s Scorpius would not follow Albus off of the train, but Nathan’s Scorpius would follow Albus anywhere. All the lines Draco has about Scorpius not being much of a leader (at least in the beginning) check out with this Scorpius.

I remember the library scene was particularly devastating with Nathan because his Scorpius felt so defeated. Anto plays the scene with more anger, but Nathan Scorpius just seemed exhausted by all Albus had put him through thus far. He cried and I cried.

Like Alex, Nathan is also a more grounded Scorpius. This interpretation might partly come from how distinct Anto’s vocal choices were, but Nathan favored a quieter, nerdier Scorpius vs. one with huge explosions of energy.

I wish I remembered more about Nathan’s Scorpius. My biggest takeaway was just “Cute, cute cute!”

Anthony

OG Scorpius! The man who started it all! His Scorpius is the ultimate Weirdo and no one else (that I’ve seen) has captured the sheer amount of weird energy Anto channels. You can tell his Scorpius is a kid who grew up isolated, with no friends, and just has no clue how social interaction works.

To get into it a little more, I think Scorpius is a deceivingly difficult character to play. Any audience is going to love him no matter what, but because of that, an actor could fall into the trap of making him too cutesy, or too comedic, or even too melodramatic. Anto really embraced making Scorpius a strange, strange kid (I mean...those vocal choices).

Anto’s Scorpius always feels like a kid, as well. He has little ticks like rubbing at his eyes and fidgeting that makes his Scorpius feel very youthful and subtly anxious. While I love Alex Scorpius and Nathan Scorpius, there were times their interpretations felt older than fourteen (this is exacerbated for Alex because Nick’s Albus is so honed in at fourteen at all times).

I love the way Anto delivers “Are we?” and “DO WE?!” in the Amos scene. No one else tops it.

Same with “HELP, HELP, HELP!” Not just anyone could pull off all the yelling, but Anto consistently did.

Going back to something I said in Nathan’s section, Anto Scorpius is the most assertive Scorpius I’ve seen. He pushes back against Albus more directly, seems to get frustrated more easily.

I want to say more, but like with Nathan, it’s been awhile, but if more things pop into my head, I’ll add them here!

Bubba

My favorite Scorpius! Going to get that bias out of the way right now. I love Bubba’s Scorpius. He is the softest, most anxious, hottest mess of a character.

Like Anto Scorpius, there is so much raw energy radiating off of Bubba’s Scorpius at any given time. He’s either going to explode with happiness or explode into tears, possibly both at the same time.

Huge difference between Anto Scorpius and Bubba Scorpius though: Anto Scorpius clearly wanted to be a Slytherin and Bubba Scorpius clearly did not. Anto looks so proud when the Sorting Hat announces Slytherin, but Bubba looks resigned, like he knew it was going to happen but he was desperately hoping for Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.

Bubba Scorpius = most flirty Scorpius. He’s constantly trying to be suave and failing miserably. See: Hiding Delphi completely under his body on the staircase and trying to play it cool with Polly Chapman. See also: Playing with his hair and trying to make his voice deeper when flirting with Rose in his last scene.

Yet, Bubba Scorpius = most insecure Scorpius. It feels like his Scorpius second guesses just about everything he says and does, at least around the other students. That makes it so relieving when he can be his awkward, shimmy-ing self around Albus and Bubba really plays into how comfortable Scorpius is with Albus.

Bubba and Nick do my most favorite version of the Staircase Ballet. When the staircase shifts and the two end up standing next to each other, Bubba’s Scorpius sits down, inviting Nick’s Albus to sit with him. It implies so much about their previous relationship, how they’ve probably had a thousand heart to hearts sitting across from each other on the stairs, and when Albus does not sit, Scorpius looks absolutely devastated.

They’re by far the most tactile version of Scorpius and Albus I’ve seen. Any given scene they’re in together, one of them will put a hand on the others shoulder, on their wrist, anywhere. They somewhat hold hands in the St. Jerome’s scene (Ginny is holding Albus and Bubba will kneel behind Nick on the other side and put his hand on his shoulder. Nick will almost always have Albus grab that hand).

Which brings us to That Moment. After the fourth and final Albus/Scorpius hug, Bubba pulls away but only slightly to deliver “...in this new version of us I had in my head.” I can confirm Alex also only pulls away slightly to deliver that line, but when Nick says “You better ask Rose…” to Alex it’s very jokey (like Sam to Anto). When Nick delivers it to Bubba, it’s uncertain and almost disappointed? If that makes sense? Like Nick Albus does not want Scorpius going anywhere near Rose ever again. And then it takes a solid five seconds for Bubba Scorpius to snap out of the moment and run back down the stairs, looking very much like he’s realized a Moment just happened. The difference in how Nick plays the scene with Bubba vs. Alex has me hypothesizing that Nick and Bubba want their Albus/Scorpius ending to be ambiguous and open for a future romantic relationship. But that’s just a theory!

Back to stray Bubba observations!

In the Draco/Scorpius hug, Jonno picks Bubba slightly off the ground. It’s adorable.

Bubba does this funny exaggerated march when he says “My geekness is a-quivering!” It’s bizarre and I love it. Bless all the boys who somehow make that line work.

Scar Zap.

I could talk about Bubba Scorpius all day so hit me up please and thank you.

#cursed child #scorpius malfoy #posting this on a side blog because this is Ultimate Niche Posting #but hey come talk about cursed child if ya fancy it #personal

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 4 years ago

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Deca-Dence 5

“…cannon won’t ignite in time!” The subbers spell cannon as “canon” later as well.

Off to the cliffside, where Kaburagi goes to die…

Deca-Dence 6

“Maybe someone intervened.” – I think Minato did, somehow.

This Death Dive reminds me of Wipeout.

Moriarty 3

I once made up a quote that goes, “When life detests you, fight back.” I think it’s also roughly along the lines of advice Albert needs.

I remembered an odd line from Macbeth: “Brother, he has killed me!” Seriously, Moriarty is scarier than some actual horror anime, I swear…Update: It’s actually “he has killed me, Mother!”, but same impact.

I had my hands over my mouth from the moment the fire began. That’s how intense this is.

This ED…doesn’t sound like an ED. It sounds like the OP for a different anime, like Joker Game or something. Also, having Saito Soma as Gentaro and Moriarty…is a bit unsettling because they have a lot of overlap but one’s basically the evil twin of the other.

Yashahime 4

“…was raised here…”

“…we can…”

I felt a heart twinge when I saw Towa tear up…man, it’s been years since I last dealt with Inuyasha properly.

“…nights where I can’t fall asleep.” – So…you’ll play it a lot then, Setsuna.

Oh, so Kirara is a nekomata? I never knew until now.

Kikyo!

According to the mythology, the kirin rules over the middle…so why is Kirinmaru the monster in the east?

Is “s***” unwarranted here? I didn’t have the volume on, so I don’t know…Going back, I think Moroha said “kuso”, but it’s still kinda weird to have a swear word in a mostly family-friendly series in a slot near Detective Conan. (Then again, Detective Conan is where I learnt “kuso” from…so my standards are probably not as up-to-scratch as they should be.)

Rin! People keep saying Rin is the mother of the girls and it’s basically the only conclusion that could be done, considering the relationship the two had…but it’s still kind of squick…(Says a person who has no problem with SGRS s2’s ending.)

Update: Someone on ANN said the teacher’s name (Osamu Kirin) being similar to Kirinmaru is sketchy and I agree.

Maou-jou 4

There’s no pun for Rocket Turtle…that’s kinda startling, actually.

I’m not going to translate the eyecatches anymore. Seems they were actually translated in the manga and someone just copies them over or something.

I’ve seen some characters use wa when they really aren’t that feminine. However, the voice Suwabe uses for the Sorceror leads me to believe this guy really is trying to be feminine, even if in just a vocal capacity.

…aw, no puns here too.

Oh no, the seal…!

…hmm? The Scissors Sorceror’s info is…we’re not allowed to look at it. That’s what the red text says.

…my brain exploded for a second when I suddenly heard jazz music. It’s a Detective Conan parody! *screams*

Iina! doesn’t really mean “Lucky!” It means more like “cool!” or “It’s good, isn’t it?”

I7 s2 5

I missed these boys!

I like the Kinako transition. It’s cute.

I don’t really like it when Tenn looks at the screen…it gives me 1st person cam vibes.

Why is Tsunashi being called “this”, anyway?

Oh yeah…mensore = youkoso = welcome.

Uh oh…is Yuki actually evil???

Riku (earth) vs. Tenn (heaven). Hmm.

I still can’t believe they don’t believe Gaku is the soba guy. It’s so obvious!

Chikuzen-ni.

Someone on staff ships Gaku and Tsumugi together…hmm…

Oh! So this is DESTINY, huh? I’ve probably heard it on Spotify before, but I don’t recognise it by sheer sound like I do HypMic. (Then again, the half-year off the airwaves probably really hurt I7, man…)

Akudama 4

Say what you will about how bad Funi translations can get…they’re definitely entertaining!

Geesh, Doctor gets all the sexy shots, but Brawler gets all the ab shots. Can I get a sexy Courier shot…?

“…she’s right.” – There’s a lot of dialogue here, so…uh, who’s “she” in this case?

What’s a “bro fro”?

Wow, Brawler, talk about being punched into next Tuesday…(partially joking)

Swindler’s face, LOL. (I know she’s an ordinary gal, but calling her “Swindler” is shorter to type.)

I remember reading around and people agree Swindler works at the Seal Centre.

The shark and bunny’s shirts say things like “Kanto/Kansai”, “earth, air/water” and “pollution/clean” during their montage.

“feminist” – Uh, ex-squeeze me?! Feminism does not equal “ladies first” or “going easy on ladies”. Update: I went and listenend to it and although one of my ears is mysteriously almost constantly plugged these days, I’m fairly sure Doctor did not say “feminist” (in katakana). Update 2: Then I listened to it again and…I’m not sure anymore.

LOL, Hoodlum hit the in-series camera. With his face.

Oh, vault = garage or storage. Right, how did I not know that?

Cat, nooooooooooooooooo! Don’t die!

HypMic 5

After the two “darker” divisions, it seems almost strange to not have a “dark” introduction about the seedy underbelly of alt. future Japan…

Oh, my gosh. That’s Ichijiku on the phone.

The studio has the word “drops” on it.

Lemme guess: Neither hand!...Yup.

The only spoiler I know for this ep. is it’s a Halloween episode, and “Ramuda ruins Halloween”. That quote is way too subjective to mean anything, though…

…hmm, Gentaro doesn’t say “shousei” in that sentence involving “this humble bard” (not that I heard, but one of my ears is mysteriously plugged after I stayed up late browsing Twitter on my phone – don’t tell anyone that, though! They’re not meant to know!). Gentaro is not a humble bard (although that would translate “shousei” quite correctly in the Shakespearean), he’s an author.

LOL, that “ding!”

Gentaro actually says “ghostbusters” in katakana, LOL.

I almost thought this Shinjuku man was Doppo…but no, this Aoyama Cemetery exists. It has nice cherry blossoms.

The “dun dun dun” soundtrack is great. It really sets the atmosphere.

Gentaro really is an idiots’ minder, just as I used to characterise him. (Then the FP and M manga and developments regarding Ramuda being evil changed my mind.)

I-Is this just gonna be an episode of FP being scared and Ramuda yelling? It’s fun for a bit, but when you’re stopping to analyse every few seconds, Ramuda’s voice is gonna get annoying eventually…

Kurosu seems to be a cross between Jyushi and Doppo.

This ep…makes FP look money-crazy. Dice is only money-crazy when he’s broke…because of course you would be…but the others aren’t.

That rock track that plays when FP hand out flyers is cool!

Are they…eating squid?...Welp, squid jerky. I’d say I’m correct.

Oh, so they’re all street photographers? Not just Tom?

I was wondering…how would the “tie to a different division” occur in episode 5, considering episode 6 is where the plot really kicks in? Turns out…they tie back to BB, which is not a thing I was expecting at all.

BB have a BB tablet…makes sense, because I think Hypster have iPhone cases for each division.

Oh, they’re planting the seeds of Ramuda’s ability here, so to speak. By knowing what Hypnosis Mics are capable of doing, you can see the building blocks of Rap Abilities as well.

Okonbanwa! The extra O is meant to make things formal, but only in front of nouns (sometimes it’s “go”, e.g. goshujin), so it’s Ramuda being overly formal to be cutesy and unconventional.

*lightbulb goes off in head* It makes sense that the group affiliated with illusions and randomness does the Halloween episode, actually.

…Yargh! Of course all these onee-sans are FP stans!...*lightly touches temple, as if to get rid of a headache* I should’ve known.

The new song is “Shibuya Ghost Night” by Tokyo Health Club, Yuki “T-Groove” Takahashi and Yuma Hara.

*stops video before the darn airhorn sounds* Thank goodness…hey, isn’t this quote from Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka…?

This episode is very seasonal, but doesn’t really make sense outside of airing on Halloween. C’mon, couldn’t you have given us a Sasara appearance instead of having Ramuda yell down the house…? I knew the FP episode was going to be either lighthearted with a dark undercurrent, like the BB ep (considering we haven’t gotten to Ramuda dying yet), or full-on lighthearted, but…I somehow wonder if the staff had an empty spot labelled “Fling Posse episode” due to COVID and went, “Okay, it airs on Halloween this year, let’s make it Halloween-inspired”…or something. Also, I feel Gentaro got the short end of the stick here.

Update: As for yakuwarigo, Ramuda trends towards the feminine side, which is not something I noticed until my groupwork partner pointed it out to me. The message in this episode has a “yone”, which proves that point even further. “Dayo~n” is a variant of the gender-neutral “yo” ending. Meanwhile, I have game samples that prove Dice uses “ze” like BB/MTC, while Gentaro uses “yo” and desu/masu like Jakurai, so it was really Ramuda anyone wanted to pay attention to since his speech patterns are the most feminine-leaning, possibly due to his extensive hanging out with ladies. (I once read a Tofugu post on how non-binary people deal with language that said if you hang out with ladies a lot, you take on feminine yakuwarigo and if you hang out with guys a lot, you do the same in that direction, but I clearly remember Ramuda using “sa”, which is a slightly male-leaning ending.)

Taiso Samurai 4

There’s something in the background which stops me from listening to it and one of my ears is blocked, but I gotta find out what Tackey was saying about the NHK Cup (the joke, I mean). Update: So I think it’s ninja/nukihara/kekkou, but I may have heard that wrong due to my blocked ear…I should get someone to clean it out properly.

Here’s the YoI monologue about competitions again. <- (neutral on it) Also, NHK is in English letters/romaji in the term “NHK Cup”, but the “Cup” isn’t (it’s in kanji).

Sekigahara had a huge historical battle.

Huh? This episode’s called “Samurai Musume (daughter)”, so…where did “Battling Samurai” come from? That’s one of the previous episodes, right?

Selfies, before they were cool.

I was wondering if Leo actually calls Rei “Rachel” like he calls Jotaro “Joe”…and he does. I just haven’t paid much attention to the audio, that’s all.

The Battle of Chibi? Never heard of it until now, but the Battle of Red Cliffs is the same thing.

Leo Naruto runs…LOL.

If Rei was in 4th grade in 2002…are we going to see the characters in the present in the end? She would be 28 in 2020.

I guess I should’ve guessed from “hat trick”, but a Bergkamp trap is related to soccer.

There’s a random Japanese-sounding track in the background…didn’t expect that.

A cemetery…on the day after Halloween.

“Grandma’s place” = the bar…Ohhhhhhhhhh. I was wondering, didn’t the grandma and Rei live together? Then it all came together.

Jim Beeam (sic), LOL.

I wonder, are Tackey and Ayu dating like he asks?

Gotta love a man in a suit! *chef’s kiss*

Yashahime 5

Who’s this Tokotsu guy again…? Also, the “ja” in Jakotsumaru means “young”.

Oh, Myoga. It’s been a while.

Can there be 4 Perils when there’s only 3 of them…?

Well, it makes sense that a dog demon would have demon fleas…in a sense.

Why is “trying to swallow up this world and turn it into a degenerate age” (or whatever Kirinmaru’s aim is) so vague? You could say the present is already an age of mass degeneracy…

Maybe the Dream Butterfly took Moroha’s memories…?

Wait, why is Myoga only allowed to drink Moroha’s blood when she puts on the rouge?

So this is an arhat. Also, aren’t morals an Anglophone ideal imported into Japan and the rest of Asia? That’s what separates Towa from Setsuna.

Akudama 5

This drone definitely won’t come in handy at all…(sarcastic)

There’s an Evangelion feel to these “masks”…

That box is like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! It’s great!

I like how the kids jump to the potential fact (?) this is a Swindler trick.

You can see Courier’s bike in the background when the bunny says “…and I mean everything.”

*Knights of Sidonia music starts playing* Search! And! Destroy! *record scratch as music stops*

I think this little discussion between Courier and Swindler will go down in Akudama Drive history as one of my favourite moments because it’s the little conversations that count. Also…does Courier have a mechanical hand, or is that just me thinking weird things…? Is that a glove?

Ooh, scars. Sexy. (On the Executioner Master, at least.)…Now I get why the guy wears that mouth covering.

HypMic 6

Halfway through the season already…? Yikes, how time flies. By the way, my assignment’s come and gone so I don’t need to focus on it anymore.

Hmm? Why did the subbers put “Prime Minister” when Ichijiku merely says “yes”…?

Wait, 1st question: how does one sign up for a rap battle? I don’t think that’s ever been answered. 2nd question (well, not a question): Dice is paying attention to Otome now…

I’m fairly sure that red brick warehouse was just that…as in the Red Brick Warehouse in Yokohama, which was also featured in Bungou Stray Dogs. Update: Oh, it’s (partially) a shopping mall…? I didn’t know that until now.

See, I told you they’re (Tom, Iris and Rex) probably foreigners…

That one shot of Jakurai? *chef’s kiss* Beautiful. Give me a million of ‘em. (Okay, I’m kidding to some degree, but I can’t help staring at it. Jakurai’s just too pretty…)

“Tweet-like lyrics”? Eh? When was Twitter a collective pessimist?

Oh, that’s basically the scene from the drama track. Where the heck is Jakurai fishing though…? I always imagined it to be at a river or a pier, not some concrete complex. Update: According to a user on Twitter, the fishing place is called “Ichigaya Fishing Centre”. It is, as you would expect, found in Shinjuku. Apparently, even Osomatsu-san featured the place...which would explain why it looks vaguely familiar to me.

Wow, I can’t believe how upfront they’re being about Ramuda breaking up TDD.

Ramuda thought in his deep voice…I almost didn’t recognise it for a second. It doesn’t even sound like Shirai. It sounds more like…Hayami, in fact.

“F*** yeah!” - …and they’re still going with the F bomb. Keep being you, subbers, keep being you.

That shot of Saburo in a dimly-lit room almost looks like the SR card in ARB, except in that one he has his headphones on (and might be outside, to my memory).

Oh, so the round thing really is Ichiro’s ring. It’s got an “I” on it too, i.e. the Roman numeral for one.

*Ichiro explains what happened to TDD from his and Samatoki’s side* - I don’t think we’ve ever seen the story from Ichiro’s or Samatoki’s perspective enough to know either thought this (or this way).

“Jiro! Saburo! Let’s go!” - …and Tom’s just taking photos as they leave, LOL.

I didn’t expect the TsudaKen guy to be back again, really.

Well, if this Google route is to be believed, “Sadamezuka’s soul” only lasts about 30 minutes by car crossing from one point to the other, hence Jiro’s remark.

Googling “Toyotama” and “Toyotama Line” gets you…Ghost of Tsushima links…?

…hmm. I’m not listening to it on a hugely loud volume, so I can’t quite tell what the pun is, but I think the word for “monk” in this case is “bouzu”. Then what’s the word for “electric dynamo”…? Update: The pun, according to Takahisa Maeyama, is Erekiteruteru Bouzu.

That ticking thing was really effective in terms of the song…but sasuga HypMic. Things went ka-blammo again.

So we’re probably going to see BB’s first DRB round next ep…or Matenrou doing another takedown similar to ep. 3. Or both. Both is good. (Or it could be the FP/M side of things, much like we got the BB/MTC side of things here.)

...Uh, shouldn’t that be “dawn”? The anime’s generally been very good about this (aside from the obvious typo in the BB logo), but…welp, they’ve done it now.

Update: The LOVE you see Hifumi and Doppo near is this one.

Update 2: As for the yakuwarigo, it…turns out, to no one’s surprise, it stays oddly consistent across all media, although individual treatment of the characters can differ depending on the author.

HGPC 4

Ooh, is this Element of Light?

Fate/Stay PreCure! Here we come!

Moriarty 4

Why is the “to” capitalised? (Is that even capitalised?)

Quinine.

I kind of knew the grapefruit and the heart condition and/or quinine would be relevant somehow…and boy howdy, was I right! I just didn’t really know what it was going to do, that’s all.

I thought the ED didn’t match very well, but looking at the translated lyrics…now it kind of makes sense.

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duxarcana · 5 years ago

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Clear Card Chapter 40 Review

Looks like the fandom has kind of died down; there was no hype about the new chapter, and no one is talking about it. Since it seems no one else has uploaded a review of the new chapter, I’ll do so here (not that anyone will ever read it).

So let’s start off with the GLORIOUS cover artwork. I’ll admit I let out a rather loud squeal when I first saw the video thumbnail. This is one of the most beautiful outfits Syaoran has worn, and the similarity of its style and color scheme to his previous outfits makes me hope that we may one day see this as a battle costume. Kaito looks stunning here as well, and it’s nice to see his staff in colour. The image of these two enemy magicians who both hold the power of the Moon and are connected to time, depicted together, wielding their magical artefacts among clock gears with a full moon in the background--this image is simply ethereal.

Now, moving on to the content of the chapter:

We start off with Sakura recounting to Tomoyo the circumstances of The Mirror attending school in her place. I’m always down for some good Tomoyo content (which seems to be kind of lacking in Clear Card), so this chapter was off to a great start.

We also find out that because of all this, poor Syaoran was late to class. Since he seems to have quite a serious concern for punctuality, I hope he wasn’t too stressed out about the situation. I feel bad for the poor card, too. Accidentally coming to class without the homework was scary enough for me back when I was in secondary school, even without attempting to impersonate someone else on top of it! At least Sakura apologizes for putting her through that.

Sakura then gives the outfit she wore back to Tomoyo, and explains that she repaired it with Repair. Tomoyo comments on how much the card resembles her. I find it kind of funny that although she had seen it earlier in Chapter 34, she didn’t notice it looked like her because she was too busy fangirling over the adorableness of Rewind (weren’t we all?).

She then asks Sakura to not use the card except in emergencies, and to bring all other items to be repaired to her instead (she even makes a pun on the card’s name by saying “repair” in English, which was cute). I also find Tomoyo’s protectiveness of the dresses she made to be really cute. I hope at some point CLAMP allows her to tell Sakura how she feels, as it would not only continue their trend of LGBTQ+ inclusiveness (another aspect which seems to be lacking in Clear Card), but would be an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how much Sakura has matured in the supportive answer she would surely give to her dear friend.

Suddenly, enter Syaoran! He apologizes for being late and talks about his conversation with the teacher. We are also blessed with this precious image:

Anyway, something interesting is that since Japanese typically doesn’t require pronouns if they’re implied, the gender of his teacher is never revealed, but in other languages, these pronouns are necessary. The Spanish and French translations both chose female, but the English translation chose male.

Syaoran mentions how the teacher was worried about him taking care of himself when he’s living alone. I agree with your teacher (and Yue, and Sakura, and Eriol...), Syaoran! Please make sure you’re taking good care of yourself!

Then poor Syaoran goes on to do what he always does: doubt his own abilities and claim to not be able to do anything. As much as I hate it when he does this, I can honestly relate to him a lot. I hope he learns to develop more self-confidence and realizes how important his contributions are!

Sakura does her best to reassure him a bit, but it doesn’t look like it did much. Another thing I am hoping for in the series is for Sakura to at some point attempt to help Syaoran with his anxiety, instead of just commenting about it to others. I get that she’s trying her best, but I wish she would realize the extent of Syaoran’s insecurities and actively help him to overcome some of them.

Thankfully, Tomoyo brightens the mood a bit by starting to film them, leading them to start quickly opening their bentô in embarrassment, where we are graced with another beautiful picture of Syaoran:

Syaoran informs the two that the teacher also told him that on Saturday, their school will be having a zyugyôsankan, an event in Japanese culture where parental figures visit the school to observe their child in class for a day. And that’s the last we see of Syaoran in this chapter...

Sakura brings home the information, worried that her father will be unable to attend due to work. Tôya begins to offer to go in his place, but Fujitaka interrupts and excitedly declares that he can go, calling the university to arrange for him to not work that day. It feels like Fujitaka has been shown to be very cheerful and innocent in Clear Card. Sakura’s personality is often compared to Nadeshiko, but it is nice to see that she gets some of it from her father as well.

We then see that Akiho is having a similar conversation with Kaito. She talks about how she told the teacher that no one could come to observe her, as all her family is living overseas. She also mentions that there were other students who didn’t have any family members who could come, one of which would obviously be Syaoran. Since we don’t see him at school at all on Saturday, I wonder if he went about his school day alone or just stayed home. I just wish someone (like one of his friends, maybe? Looking at you, Sakura and Tomoyo) had remembered him that day and made sure he wasn’t lonely :(

But anyway, enough about my favorite character, since CLAMP clearly doesn’t feel the same way.

Kaito slyly remarks that he could go to the school as her parental figure, if Akiho so desired. Akiho, blissfully ignorant of Kaito’s evident malicious intent, says she would be very happy if he did so. I must admit that while I wish Akiho were a bit more perceptive, her elation is very cute. I hope Kaito listens to Momo and realizes how much Akiho cares about him before he decides to do any evil stuff around her--or worse, continue to use his time magic and sever his soul beyond repair.

After Akiho is safely out of earshot, Momo asks Kaito if he intends to “do something”; i.e., attempt to cause the creation of another Clear Card. Kaito says that he would like to if he has an opportunity, but explains that his real reason for wanting to go is that there is a person he assumes will be there whom he would like to meet.

The day comes, the parents see the children in class, et cetera. The topic of Sakura and Tomoyo resembling their parents comes up, and Sakura asks Akiho if she looks like any of her family members. Akiho says she doesn’t know, as she has rarely seen the faces of any of her family members, and she was told her parents passed away right after she was born. This is very interesting information. While the depiction of the person assumed to be Akiho’s mother on the cover of Chapter 37 having angel wings did suggest that she was not alive, it has now been more or less confirmed. However, Akiho’s phrasing unnerves me a bit. The creepy and clearly evil Clan to which she belongs, which has always valued the gaining of more power above even the lives of its members, informed Akiho that right after she was born, her parents “passed away”? I wonder what terrible fate befell the two of them after their failure to bear a magical child...

Sakura, being kind as always, takes Akiho’s hand and tells her with a smile that she is the first person whom Akiho resembles. An innocent comment that, with the knowledge of the forced magical synchronization of Sakura and Akiho, becomes slightly less cutesy.

Kaito comes in to watch the choir practice, and Fujitaka seems quite startled--I wonder if, with half of Clow’s power, he can sense Kaito’s presence?

We find out that the person Kaito wanted to meet was indeed Fujitaka. Here lies another bit of discrepancy between translations. In the Japanese and Spanish versions, Kaito says that the vessel they have created (i.e. Akiho) holds even greater magic potential than Fujitaka, half of the reincarnation of Clow Reed. In the English version, however, he says that Fujitaka himself is a vessel, and that he is an even bigger one than Akiho. (I did not finish the chapter in French, and it seems CLAMP has taken down the video now, so I unfortunately do not know how the French version translated this scene.) The quality of the official English translations for Cardcaptor Sakura, whether the original manga or the Clear Card chapters, is just pathetic. It’s no wonder I spend half my time in the fandom answering basic questions for English fans--the garbage translations can’t even bother to properly translate essential plot points. Just how is it that the unofficial fan translations people produce are more accurately translated than all of the OFFICIAL English translations? Alright, I’m done being salty. Back to the chapter.

Kaito is all ready to start causing mischief in order to inspire the creation of a new card, when who should appear...but NADESHIKO. Oh my god. The intensity of her expression, the mild fear in Kaito’s eyes...I am entirely ready to see Nadeshiko protect her husband and the two little Alices in Chapter 41!

If you read this far, thank you so much for taking the time to hear my thoughts!

#ccs #clear card #lgbtq #syaoran #yuna d. kaito #cardcaptor sakura #cardcaptor sakura clear card

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empresspersephone · 5 years ago

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How to Name Your Baby Tastefully

Avoid the top 50 like the plague.

As a person whose birth name is rather common, I know that it sucks to have multiple friends with the same name. It’s confusing, and it doesn’t exactly foster individuality in your child. I highly suggest looking at sites like behindthename, where you can find the year’s top names so you know what to avoid.

Don’t give in to trends.

This is similar to the first point, but important nonetheless. Currently the major trend is unique names, or regular names spelled uniquely (see the next section for that!). This is almost always tacky, and your child will undoubtedly be bullied if you name them something like in the picture above. And some “unique” names are just plain embarrassing, like Abcde.

Other trends include things like Xs in names, such as Braxton. This sounds ugly, and if you think otherwise then you have been brainwashed by trends. There’s also Aiden, Brayden, Caiden, Jaiden, Traiden, Xaiden, Raiden, any sort of -aiden name that is cringy to anyone with a brain.

Oh, and let’s not forget the awful trend of Ys replacing other vowels, such as Londyn, or even Emersyn for a girl. Place names names London or Paris or Rio are tacky already, and messing with the vowels just makes it worse. There’s also the awful Mc names, such as McKayla or McKinley.

Please please please name your kid an actual human name, and not something that sounds like it came from a dystopian YA novel. Also, Nevaeh (”It’s heaven spelled backwards!!!”) does not count as an actual human name, considering it is almost universally hated. And, of course...

No bad spellings!

Yes, some names have a few different spellings. Riley vs Reilly, Sarah vs Sara. What makes the trend of “unique” spellings different is that, well, they’re ridiculous. They’re aggressively phonetic and positively pathetic.

Don’t name your kids Gécynne (Jason) or Gynnenufirre (Jennifer). And DEFINITELY no KVIIIlyn (pronounced Kaitlyn). Even a simple misspelling of a name can be cringy, such as Alivia (or Aliviyah!).

If you want something that is unique but spelled correctly and definitely human, I again suggest behindthename, because you can find a name you like and look at the variations of it. For example, Jennifer originally comes from Gwynhwyfar (please don’t name your baby this), which over time turned into Guinevere, Genevieve, Ginevra, and Jennifer.

No word names, please!

Word names are another trend that is rather horrible. Sailor, Blade, Paisley, Story, and the cringy animal names such as Bear. If you think these names won’t get your kid bullied, you are terribly incorrect. Naming your kid something like Pixie is setting them up to get shoved into lockers. Heck, you might as well shove ‘em yourself since you clearly hate your child so much.

Older names aren’t always your friend.

Names like Eleanor, Alice, and Andrew are always going to be safe names for your kid, but Arnold, George, or Ethel? Absolutely terrible.

My best friend is named Ethel, and gosh does she hate it. At this point, Ethel and Esther aren’t even grandma names, they’re great-great-great grandma names.

I also know a nice young woman who named her son Gregory, and not only is that name terribly old, but it also just sounds gross. Margaret is another gross-sounding oldie name. Stick with names like Charlotte and Hazel that never go out of style, and avoid names like Robert that make you think of a 50-year-old.

TV show names? Really?

Like in the case of Game of Thrones, everyone who names their kid after a popular fictional character will regret it. Parents of Khaleesi (which is equivalent to Queen) and Daenerys ended up pretty bummed when the show ended horribly and their kid was now stuck with a name associated to such bad writing.

Some names are safe, like if it’s also a regular human name, but a name that is distinctly from a piece of media will get your kid bullied by classmates and grown-ups alike.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

In short, please show some compassion to your child. Names like Erynn or Novalie may sound cutesy, but the trend will die out and your child will be stuck with a cringy name. Remember, you’re not just naming a baby, you’re naming a human being that will grow up to be an adult, so please consider the future implications of the name you will choose.

#tradfem #traditional femininity #traditional gender roles #traditional wife #tradwife #baby names #text post #me

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hcpefulmarshmallow · 6 years ago

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Hello friends, this is just a thing that I wanted to mention real quick (you: “stop it Jenny, we know you don’t do real quick”) because it’s been playing on my mind for some time. Trigger warning for mental illness.

To begin, a (somewhat) brief preface. When I talk about what’s a ‘real’ diagnosis and what’s not, I’m referring to what exists in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-V); and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).

The most recent edition of the DSM-V was published in 2013 by the American Psychiatric Association, and the most recent edition of the ICD-11 in 2018. They are both common diagnostic tools for mental disorders, offering clear, standardised criteria. The DSM is more commonly used in America and is more universally known, while the ICD-11, despite being less common knowledge, actually has a wider reach professionally and is used more in Europe and other parts of the world. It also has a broader scope than the DSM, covering overall health instead of just mental disorders.

Please bear in mind that I have not read either resource in their entirety, this is just what I can work out from more general research of the two, compared to patterns in writing that I see all the time. And just know that I’m not calling anyone out or trying to police anyone’s creativity. Consider this an information dump, and inspiration to research what you write.

So, with all the boring stuff out of the way: what’s my damn point? Why did I take on the mammoth task of reducing a complicated and very nuanced issue to a single post? In fact, what is the issue at hand? 5 paragraphs in and I’ve still not addressed it, I’m a great essayist.

Well, it all started with the song “Sweet But Psycho” by Ava Max. And no, I don’t know it -- and neither does my sister who seems to think she does, because I hear the first four lines sung out loud more than I ever needed to: “Oh, she's sweet but a psycho / A little bit psycho / At night she's screamin' / I'm-ma-ma-ma out my mind”. And when you have that catchy but annoying tune in your head, the things you hate about it are inescapable.

At this point, you’re probably thinking this is another rant about the glorification (or even, gasp, the cutesification) of mental illness around us and, uh...sort of? Like I said, I’m not here to police anybody. And I don’t think almost anything is truly bad in isolation -- it’s the trend that scares me. There’s not much I, a lowly internet dweeb, can do about the mainstream, but I do think I can educate my fellow peers. And what I want to educate you on today is the use of words that don’t mean what we think they mean, as an example of why we need to mind the subject matter we handle.

So. ‘Psycho’. In terms of writing, most people use it to refer to their characters who are your batshit off-the-wall cutesy crazy types. Your Yanderes and Jeff The Killers of the fandom world. It’s usually short for two different terms: either Psychopath or Psychotic, and in neither case does this do anybody any favours. Let me explain.

The term ‘Psychopath’ is often used to describe someone who is cruel, violent, has no care for others, and is often bloodthirsty. These characters are usually presented in one of two ways: as someone who can blend into wider society until their true dark nature is triggered, at which point they become deadly and dangerous; or as someone who is simply unapproachable at all times. Psychopath also has a sister term it’s often treated as interchangeable with, of which I am sure you’re aware: Sociopath. A ‘Sociopath’ is someone who cannot or simply does not experience empathy, sympathy, all those wonderful emotions that make us caring and considerate towards others. As a result, a ‘Sociopath’ often winds up doing radically hurtful things to other people.

The trouble with both of these words is that, medically, they do not exist. Not how we think they do. We just made them up to be mean to each other. That’s right, you can’t be diagnosed as a Sociopath, or a Psychopath. Yeah, I was shocked too. I got so used to hearing people described like this, I thought they must be real.

And I’m not saying that these words are invalid, just because they’re not real diagnoses. That’s not how words work. The beauty of language is that we invented it, and we can keep on reinventing it. If people use the term ‘Psychopath’ in this way, it will inevitably come to mean this exact thing, no matter what psychology says. And that’s fine. The trouble is that they are often conflated with real mental illness. Used in the place of a genuine diagnosis so we can still have our crazy villain type without the constraints of real, attributable illness. Because you gotta keep ‘em guessing!!1! In the same way they become real words if we use them like they are, they become interchangeable with actual mental issues if we use them that way. The ‘symptoms’ of being a Psycho- or Sociopath are oftentimes just exaggerated forms of symptoms belonging to actual, diagnosed illnesses. And like I said, trends are worse than individual problems, but when we see a combination of symptoms in an illness, whether that illness is given a fake name or not, in exclusively characters who we’d never want to meet in real life, the real sufferers suffer. It puts a stigma in our minds whether we mean for it to or not; it closes us off to conversations, to understanding these people and how to help them.

The worst cases are when writers take the opportunity to justify their use of the word by ‘diagnosing’ the character themselves, which takes on a whole new level of Yikes. We’re in such an awkward place in terms of representation at the moment, and I know it’s hard to navigate. I have all the love for people who do so with pure intentions. If, for example, you have a straight character, it’s easy for that character to be themselves. But if you have a gay character, everything they do is Gay, and it’s a representation of the Gay Community, and you will be held to a higher standard because of that. That is the lens through which we look at media right now, and it sucks for everyone, and is so easily exploited, but it is what it is. In much the same way, if your character is the only character in your story with a certain illness and they’re also your Big Bad, or someone who would be genuinely terrifying to approach -- well, I don’t think I need to explain why that could be seen as a major disservice. And of course, if your character is the only one in a whole darn genre...yeah. This is why trends matter. And why the trend of mental health getting misrepresented is so troublesome.

But I digress: because remember, I did say there were two uses of the word Psycho, and the second is grounded in reality. The word ‘Psychotic’ is, medically speaking, a real thing. Again, used to mean someone who is deranged, possibly murderous - and like I said, if a word is used a certain way, it will come to mean a certain thing. But the term has a psychological basis. Psychotic describes someone experiencing Psychosis - a mental disorder in which the sufferer experiences a break from reality. The most classic case is a war veteran who thinks he is suddenly back on the battlefield.

But obviously, a sufferer of a serious and damaging phenomenon isn’t what we think of when we hear ‘Psycho’ or even ‘Psychotic’. I don’t want to lean too much into the impact on mental health as a whole; that the idea of being neurodivergent is subsequently glamourised and demonised at the same time; that people latch onto labels that have real, practical use, all for the sake of feeling special. I want to keep it basic now. I want to ask: do terms like these have a place in writing? Specifically, in RP, since that is the form with which I am most acquainted right now. Obviously I can only answer with my own opinion, since there’s no Holy Doctrine to tell us one way or another.

I’m not going to sit here and demonise everyone I think has mishandled subject matter. Believe me, I’ve not always been good at it -- I’m still not always good at it. And as someone actively playing a character whose mental issues are a major part of his characterisation, and who does things that make him unlikeable because of those mental illnesses, I know the pressure to get it right all the time. That unsteady balance between realism and demonisation, glorification and representation. The desire to put labels to traits, to have an understanding of what’s going on in such a complicated mind. It’s tricky. Everyone’s experiences are different. And I’m not saying we need to get rid of “crazy for the sake of crazy” characters, or view everything through the lens of “but who will this hurt??”; or get rid of these terms altogether. Like I said, societal meaning is still meaning. And I personally like to believe that most authors have good intentions, even those with poor execution. And I’m certainly not trying to shame anyone for falling for societal opinion. Everyone has about something at some point.

If there’s a point to this at all, it’s this: research. Learn. Adapt. Not even my information is perfect and correct. I’ve seen everything above done a million times in so many ways, good and bad. If you want to follow a trend in writing or in storytelling, do, but try to understand it first so you can execute it better. Give it a purpose, and a place. Seize your right to be creative, by all means, but also take the opportunity to learn something new. And in turn, use your art to not only express and entertain, but educate.

Tl;dr: The best premise in the word can still be executed poorly, but likewise, a poor premise can be executed well. No subject matter has to be wholly off limits, and not everything has to be a statement about something. But handling matters, so handle your work with respect. Do your research and understand what you’re saying before you say it. Make something you’re proud to stand by.

#( man that got long and waffly #but hopefully this will inspire someone to learn a new thing #and maybe even grow as a writer )#ɪ ᴡᴀs ᴊᴜsᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪᴅᴅʟᴇ ᴏғ ᴀɴ ɪɴɴᴇʀ ᴍᴏɴᴏʟᴏɢᴜᴇ [mun]#ʜᴇʏ! [psa]#long post/

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ridiasfangirlings · 6 years ago

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So I've seen all the LSW movie now and I have Thoughts and it's been a while since I did any kind of anime review so I just had to type this up.

(Note 1: No, I'm not sharing any links to where to find it. I know there's a less-than-legal link floating around that you can find on Tumblr in the tag if you look around. I actually used Google Chrome and a VPN to rent LSW for 500 yen for two days from the official Bandai Channel site linked here.)

(Note 2: The entire thing has not been subbed yet as far as I know. My knowledge of Japanese is spotty at best especially when it comes to listening rather than reading, but I've read the novel translations and the manga enough that even without subs I have a pretty good idea of what's going on.)

-We open on Fushimi's rainy Scepter 4 induction ceremony that was shown in the trailer. I suddenly remember how in the novel it's mentioned that the raindrops don't hit Munakata because of his King powers and it makes the part in MK where he has Awashima holding an umbrella for him while everyone else gets soaked that much more peak troll.

-There's this weird computer-y thing as Fushimi closes his eyes and I don't know if it quite works for me? This isn't jungle guys, the Blues can just be fancy in the rain, it's cool.

-Fushimi takes the sword and they totally cut out Saru snarking back at Munakata about the whole 'pride and pledge and such isn't really necessary.' I wanted to see Fushimi being a little shit why do you deny me.

-They also cut out Fushimi seeing Yata's hand reaching for the sword, instead we only have Fushimi taking it as he voiceovers the whole 'The first King said take this hand. The second King said take this sword.' The background also gets all computer-y again and it looks a little cheap and weird? This is not the first strange decision this movie will be making.

-Then that weird kid from the sixth movie promo material who looks like he escaped from Handshakers and has pokeballs for eyes says something profound-ish, etc etc TIME FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL BABIES.

-We cut to Yata on the toilet. Not what it sounds like I swear.

-Middle school Misaki so cute and dissatisfied as he hides in the bathroom. He spots something in the next stall and climbs up to look, like Romeo ascending Juliet's toilet balcony or somesuch.

-Fushimi is also on the toilet. Also not what it sounds like.

-Flirting ensues, with Yata being cute and enthusiastic and Fushimi playing hard to get by yelling at him to go away. Ah, young love.

-Yata mentions his phone has been getting weird messages due to jungle. That's called spam, Yata-chan, and you're probably too young to be reading anything that has a lot of xs in the subject line.

-Triumphant video game music plays as Fushimi's voice gets all excited and he lets Yata come over to watch him, which is when we see poor baby has a bruise from being beaten up by upperclassmen. (I'd say that's what happens without Yata there to save him but he probably ended up getting beaten less in the movie than the novel precisely because of that XD)

-They've known each other for like two minutes and already Yata wants to beat people up to defend Fushimi's honor.

-Fushimi proceeds to beat his opponent in jcube while Yata yells about how amazing it is and we get that 'this guy is scary...but amazing' moment, aka the actual exact moment where Yata falls totally in love.

-Fushimi's triumphant smile gives me life.

-Cue Yata walking to school. We don't really get any exact passage of time indications here but I like to assume this was at least a few days later – Fushimi's still a bit standoffish but Yata has clearly already officially adopted him as New Best Friend.

-Yata gets Aya's letter in his locker and proceeds to show us all that yes, he can get even cuter than he already was.

-He goes running after Fushimi and there's this weird slo-mo thing for a moment? I feel like if we're going for that there should be like romantic music playing or something.

-Other students stare at them, wondering if these two are really going continue to be this gay in public. (Spoiler alert: yes. Yes they are.)

-And then Aya tackle-hugs Yata. I really like her voice, it sounds super cutesy in just the right affected way, and even the big anime eyes work well for her character (since I get the impression from the novel she's supposed to look young). Also that 'Mi-sa-ki-pyuun!' is so cute.

-'You know what would be completely gratuitous?' 'What?' 'If instead of Aya wearing pumpkin pants like she explicitly says she is in the novel, we put in a middle schooler pantyshot.' 'Great idea!' -Gora, probably.

-Yata hides behind Fushimi because he too has had enough of this fanservice.

-Yata tries to use Fushimi as his totally heterosexual excuse to get away from the scary girl and Aya's voice becomes noticeably less high pitched and cutesy as she talks to Fushimi. I think they did a good job with showing the shift in the way she talks to Fushimi versus how she speaks to Yata.

-Aya tells Yata about the jungle mission and then shows him all the hateful messages she received. Yata looks away and we see his own phone, with the mean chat messages his 'friends' exchanged about him. The former Yata team still sucks and are not even worthy of showing up in this movie.

-Yata adorably clings to Fushimi and have I mentioned he is adorable because I'm dying here.

-So our trio heads out to summon the airship. Aya shows Yata the program she created to decode jungle's hints and Fushimi noticeably sighs and walks away when Yata calls it 'cool.' Someone's jealous~

-Aya's mom calls and Yata takes the opportunity to go talk with Fushimi. This part is really abbreviated from the novel, with Fushimi only confirming that Aya's his cousin before Aya breaks in to ask Yata to talk to her mom, so we don't get any of the family talk between them. I get that there was no way the movie could fit everything in but I think it's an unfortunate loss that will pretty much continue throughout the movie – Yata's backstory gets really shafted here, continuing the trend of LSW tending to be more about Fushimi than about both Fushimi and Yata as it should be.

-Yata's face as he starts his girl impersonation, I can't. Fukujun's female voice sounds like an old woman, Aya is cracking up and so am I, this is beautiful.

-And Fushimi laughs. I think I like how the manga did this one better, in the movie it seems more like mocking laughter than real happy laughter that I think it's supposed to be, and it felt more like he was trying to suppress it. Basically even though Aya's like 'Fushimi's laughing?' I don't get the impression that this is supposed to be a rare event, which I think the novel was intending and which for me the manga managed to convey.

-They spot the airship in the distance and Fushimi starts recalculating the position as Yata stares in awe and Aya gets annoyed. No smiley face like in the novel though, alas.

-Fushimi's ready to give up on chasing the airship but of course Yata's fired up now, and the bicycle built for three kicks off in hot pursuit. Yata strains to peddle even though you know Aya and Fushimi combined probably weigh like barely anything.

-Of course they still can't catch up and we get that 'If we'd gotten on...would anything change?' I feel like the visuals let this moment down a little – the manga was more dynamic here – but Mamoru Miyano's voice acting almost makes up for it, with just a slight undercurrent of longing underneath the tone.

-'A different world?' Yes Yata, you would have seen a different world where an immortal man has an airship complete with its own Real Doll or whatever that thing Colorless was dancing with in S1 was. Maybe it's better they missed the airship.

-Another cut straight to Yata in front of Fushimi's house. Again this makes sense to cut everything before it to streamline things, but I'm sad to lose Aya's comments on Fushimi's family and the mention of him being home when the house got robbed.

-Precious sick baby Saru coughing as he works on what is clearly meant to be Yata's watch. Someone's already got a crush.

-We get the whole 'Yata taking care of sick Fushimi' part and I love everything this scene chooses to be, Fushimi is just so precious and confused as to why Yata's there taking care of him. Also huge props to Mamoru Miyano because the voice acting in this scene is adorable, every little 'Yataaa' makes my heart go doki doki.

-The last time Yata goes back to check on him and Fushimi is sitting up and looking so shocked and amazed because Yata came when he called and he's being loved and taken care of and no one has ever done that before someone hold me my heart can't take this.

-Yata makes Fushimi food and then falls asleep and it's all so wonderful and sweet gosh I hope a raging asshole doesn't show up to ruin it all.

-'Who are you?' One raging asshole, right on time.

-Niki's voice...isn't really what I was expecting? It's a bit deep in a way that I'm not sure works for me... I mean, he does sound like he needs to be punched in the face so that's spot on. As far as Nikis go though I think I give stage play Niki the edge as far as how I imagined him sounding.

-Niki threatens to stuff a mantis in Yata's mouth and we hear the sounds of poor sick baby Fushimi stumbling his way through the giant house as fast as he can go, likely falling over things and breathing hard and just terrified because he needs to get Yata away from his asshole trash king father now.

-And Fushimi absolutely screams at Niki to shut up and it's beautiful and painful and this entire scene just makes me want to kidnap him and save him from his terrible dad.

-Niki's laugh is just kinda there too, like anime!Niki doesn't quite manage that distinctive 'gyahaha' that stage play Niki did so well.

-Fushimi outside with Yata and again the voice acting is so good, that desperate little 'Yata!' and then the hesitant, stumbling attempts at thanking Yata when Fushimi's never thanked anyone before. My heart.

-Yata says he'll see Fushimi at school and Fushimi smiles and I just...precious baby. Must protect.

-Of course this beauty couldn't last forever and Fushimi's face falls as he has to go back inside to face the piece of unburnable trash sitting on the stairs. This is the one place Niki's voice 100% worked for me – that 'Saruhiko! Asoboze~' was just chilling.

-And we begin part two, with Yata and Fushimi hanging out on the street where they'll shortly meet Mikoto. Yata mom gets cheated out of not just a name but a cameo animated appearance too, why this Gora.

-They use a mix of old and new animation for this part – Yata drinking and then throwing the drink is clearly the exact animation from S1 but Mikoto catching it has been newly animated. That's probably for the best – the bigger eyes work well enough with Fushimi and Yata, since they're supposed to be kids, but there would be a pretty obvious difference between the old and new styles with Mikoto. (I think Mikoto looking back at them might be from S1 though...honestly this just makes me miss the S1 animation style again.)

-Cut to Fushimi getting yelled at for having his phone out in class. Fushimi of course gives no fucks and walks right out, and Yata runs after him while their teacher is completely done with this level of gay.

-I don't really like how those last two scenes went flow-wise, it feels kinda abrupt? The scene with Sarumi meeting Homra continues to feel shoved in and awkwardly out of place even in its own movie, and having nothing to really indicate the passing of time between Yata visiting Fushimi at his home to the two of them on the street and then back to class makes things feel choppy to me here. I assume they rearranged things from the novel for time reasons but it definitely feels shuffled around.

-Yata asks if Fushimi's going home and says he'll go too, and Fushimi has this little '...sorry' moment that's adorable, especially when Yata proceeds to put a hand on his shoulder and smiles and I think this movie is as in love with Yata as Fushimi is, every scene of him smiling is so bright.

-Yata mentions that they're third years already, finally giving some indication of how time moves in this movie thank you Yata.

-Fushimi pulls up jungle, showing Yata pictures that jungle's managed to take of various Homra members as part of a mission. I'm just concerned that someone is stalking Kusanagi.

-They discuss the rumors of the 'Red Monster' as images of Mikoto looking scary cross the screen. My favorite part of this is when they show Mikoto and the Homra members in silhouette with glowing red eyes looking all ominous, except one of the silhouettes is clearly Totsuka and I'm pretty sure the worst he's gonna do to you guys is ask if you want to help him with a hobby.

-We also get a close up of glowing eyes Fujishima. Did someone kick a dog in his presence, or...?

-Yata proposes to Fushimi talks about how they should get a place together and we get a quick flash of Niki looking like an asshole, which is his specialty. 'You don't need a home like that.'

-Yata says their place should have a helicopter pad and suddenly we're in Yata vision with an adorable cartoony plane rising up from a hidden door and just when you thought Yata couldn't be cuter.

-...Followed by Fushimi vision which is basically a mad science lab featuring human-like organisms in glowing pods. The chuunibyou is strong.

-The two of them walk off discussing plans and being in love as Aya stares down from the window, wondering why she's even in this movie again.

-Back to the Fushimi House of Shitty Parents, with Kisa making her cameo. Her character design is just way too....soft, I think, for my tastes. I feel like the manga did the better job of portraying a beautiful but cold and professional woman. Also she's got a hedgehog on her shoulder (or it's some kind of fluffy necklace thing, idk, it's weird why is it there why isn't she in her party dress like she should be).

-Her voice feels a little too pleasant for me too, though it does shift slightly colder when she gets off the phone and starts talking to Fushimi.

-Also while on the one hand the front of the house being wide and empty fits, since we know they don't keep anything valuable where people can see, the background here feels a bit...off? Like at one point we see these huge open doorways behind Fushimi and Kisa and it looks like they live in a fucking museum or something, like there's 'rich person's house' and 'no one actually has a house that looks like this.'

-Kisa tells Fushimi his dad is in the hospital and leaves, her cameo appearance over for the day. She still got more screentime than Yata's mom.

-Fushimi thinks about Niki's illness and then smiles and laughs, as we all should.

-Back to school, and Aya is pissed at Fushimi only being in 45th place in exams and that he isn't competing with her, because once again Fushimi gives no fucks he's moving in with his boyfriend and doesn't need no education.

-Aya mentions getting into Tsubakigahara high school and Fushimi cleans his glasses, reminding me that I wish we'd gotten to see Aya in her glasses animated.

-'Have you ever listened to me with your eyes sparkling and saying 'amazing'?' And Fushimi walks right past her because he doesn't want a rival, he wants someone who will look at him as he is and think that he's worth something, that he's amazing from the point of view beyond just what society expects.

-And Aya scores a direct hit with her backpack! Throwing things at people must run in the Fushimi family.

-Fushimi says he doesn't hate Aya and for a moment she stares at him with romance in her eyes....and then he kicks her backpack right back in her face. Such a smooth talker. At least they resisted the urge to put in another pantyshot there.

-Cut to the Sarumi Apartment of Love. The quick pan up the building makes it feel like they should be on the top floor even though we know from the novel it's a first floor apartment. Also the building looks a bit too fancy for me, considering their apartment's supposed to be cheap and purchased via an underworld-type realtor.

-Yata shows off his skateboard tricks and Fushimi is not interested. He's just playing hard to get again.

-Yata and Fushimi plan their attack on the surprise party and are so cute and hopeful and it's depressing knowing this is really the beginning of the end of their sense of invincibility.

-KNUCKLE BUMP!

-Also please note Fushimi's loft is big enough that Yata can like climb right up there with him and there's plenty of room for things like for example making out if the two of them wanted to do such things you know just saying.

-The night of the surprise party. Dewa and Chitose get to make appearances trying to disperse the crowd as Yata waits on top of the roof and Fushimi runs the computers while wearing a cute stripey blanket.

-They discuss the plan as tiny CGI people hang out around Homra. It looks like the bar is being attacked by rogue escapees from a Sims game (new plan: Yata leads them to the nearest pool and Fushimi removes the ladder).

-Fushimi is still wearing a stripey blanket on his head, and he is adorable. Just to make note of the important things.

-Fushimi begins the hacking mission as everyone puts on freaky-ass masks. Did Hisui have a coupon for the local freaky mask shop or something? Was this a wholesale deal?

-The jungle kids start shooting off party poppers. Sensing a threat to his bar counter, Kusanagi finally makes an appearance.

-Fushimi sends out a fake mail to indicate jungle's having server issues and we see Aya in the crowd, which makes you think her presence here is going to be important. Spoiler alert: unlike in the novel, her presence has no payoff and means nothing.

-Yata dons his own freaky mask and skateboards into the fray. His acting is slightly less bad than I expected it to be but Fushimi still facepalms over it.

-Fushimi's terminal sparks green and a tiny avatar appears in the corner. I think I liked the manga interpretation of Hisui's avatar guy better, there he was just a faceless completely unassuming avatar and here it's a little guy in a suit and glasses who looks more distinctive. I do like the way his voice is computerized but still obviously Hisui under it, which gets more pronounced the more he talks.

-At the end when the avatar goes all demony, I think this is another point for the manga which actually looked scary, businessman-avatar looks a bit more on the silly side. Though for Fushimi it was probably creepy either way (also it makes me wonder about Hisui on the other end of that transmission turning his avatar into a scary demon while his parrot eats his hair).

-Fushimi pulls the plug on his computer and then is off and running, yelling Yata's name over and over again, just so desperate to be sure Yata's all right.

-”Saruhiko!” “Misaki!” My heart.

-Yata drags Fushimi into a corner and Fushimi has that 'it's our—my loss' moment before they suddenly get attacked by party poppers again. One hits close to Fushimi's eye but it's just a random hit, which makes me wonder why they bothered even showing Aya before.

-I love Fushimi dragging Yata away here – he sounds just so harried, like here he's lost and he wasn't superior at all, and even worse he's put Misaki in danger and he just has no idea what to do.

-More fireworks come flying at them as Mikoto makes his grand appearance at last, in a giant ball of flame.

-I feel like the blocking of this scene was really weird, it seems like Fushimi and Yata should have been being swarmed by masked people but in order to save animation budget they just had random firecrackers flying around and then all of a sudden Saru's being dragged off by fangirls enemies. I wish it had been a little more frantic.

-Yata running towards Mikoto while yelling at him to save Saruhiko was perfect though, he's just so terrified for Fushimi's sake.

-I really loved the whole scene of Mikoto saving Fushimi, the way Fushimi looks up as the fire rains down and then Totsuka coming up behind him and holding him as lovely music plays, the atmosphere was so lovely (….though it kinda made me suddenly want some TotsuFushi. Just a little).

-Totsuka keeps hugging Fushimi, doing what we all wish we could.

-And we finally get a proper Sarumi hug! If nothing else at least the anime didn't punk out with a leg hug, we got a real hug this time.

-Fushimi and Yata head home in failure. Fushimi clenches his fist and you can see bruises on his fingers, my poor child.

-Back to the hospital where ding dong the dick is dead. The manga only implied that Kisa was a terrible mother who made her middle school age son collect his dead dad's body, the anime nicely confirms it by having her call Fushimi and tell him to do it.

-The manga was a little more abrupt and creepy with this scene, where Fushimi briefly sees Niki sitting up and mocking him. Even dead Niki is punchable.

-Also I like how even dead Niki's hair is perfectly styled. Are those bangs natural or what?

-Fushimi loses it and starts yelling at a corpse. It's almost like making your traumatized and abused middle schooler son retrieve his dad's dead body was a bad idea or something.

-A rubix cube falls from Niki's hand and--

-And--

-H E L P M E

-HE'S SO CUTE

-L O O K A T H I M

-HE HAS A TINY BOWTIE AND LITTLE NERD GLASSES LOOK AT HIS SMOL HANDS I LOVE HIM

-Only a true piece of utter trash could upset such a pure baby

-D I E

-Okay, things that aren't baby Saru, right, there's still movie left.

-Yata and Aya talk in the rain, I'm mostly distracted by how cute Yata looks in a poncho.

-It feels a little depressing that the last we see of Aya is her sobbing in the rain. I don't think the novel's resolution for her was the best either but at least there was something like closure.

-'The first King said take this hand. The second King said take this sword.' Fushimi voiceovers once again as Yata and Fushimi stand side by side in front of Mikoto at Bar Homra. They reach for Mikoto's flaming hands and...roll credits. Wait, roll credits?

-So yeah the entire back half of the novel isn't in the movie, it ends with Sarumi joining Homra. I wonder how this plays to people who haven't read the novel, because to me it very much feels like this is a narrative without an actual ending. I think they tried to make a parallel with the 'take this hand/take this sword' part but without the latter half of the novel the opening scene actually feels somewhat out of place to me, like it has no real relation to the rest of the movie (I almost feel like since they were messing with the novel anyway they should have started the movie with Yata and Fushimi reaching for Mikoto's hand, then backtracking to how we got to this point and finally jumping forward just as Fushimi's hand is about to take Mikoto's and suddenly have him reaching for the sword instead, looking to the side as Yata's phantom hand next to him fades away).

-I think they were in somewhat of a difficult position with LSW because the novel's too long for the movie they were making so some things had to be cut – and to be fair I have no idea how I would get the whole novel into a movie of this length either – but I can't deny it doesn't suffer for losing that back half. LSW is the story of how Yata and Fushimi met and then how they broke apart, and the movie to me feels like it's building towards a resolution that doesn't happen. In that sense starting the movie with the Homra installation rather than S4 might have worked better, restructuring the source material so it's more focused around how the two of them became friends and joined Homra with only the hovering specter of future betrayal at the end.

-Similarly, as far as dropped plot threads go, I liked seeing Aya animated but she feels somewhat... extraneous in the movie as it is. Her presence is mainly necessary for kickstarting the airship plot but as the movie stands that's it, and her arc feels rushed with a lot of pointless moments – having her be at the surprise party, for example, but not having her attack Fushimi and then cutting out the two of them speaking at Niki's funeral and Aya talking about being Fushimi's enemy, all of which ultimately makes her appearance there in the movie be without any real payoff. It also means her final interaction in the movie is with Yata rather than Fushimi, even though her character is more of a foil for Fushimi than Yata and her relationship with him more complex.

-Other things they cut I didn't like: no anthill? Seeing babu Saru with the rubix cube was fine enough and I do think the movie made it pretty clear that Fushimi was being abused, but the anthill is so essential to Fushimi's worldview that I feel losing it downplays some of his trauma a bit. As sad as poor upset Fushimi's face was when Niki destroyed the rubix cube it really doesn't carry the punch that this image does:

-Also this was a weakness in the novel too but once again, Yata gets really shafted by LSW. In the novel he at least has some presence in the first part of the novel but the movie completely removes everything about feeling left out of his family and even the part where he finds out his 'friends' hate him is a lot more downplayed than in the novel. A lot of what we see of Yata feels like it's from Fushimi's view, all those dazzling smiles, and it's wonderful from that perspective but I wish we'd gotten a little more of Yata's inner life here.

-On the good end, I am glad we at least got what we did of animated LSW. Middle school Yata is an utter gem of adorableness and I am so thankful to have him. The voice acting was also really great, Fukujun and Mamo knocked it out of the part (best in show probably goes to Mamo's 'Yataaa' during the scene where he's sick in bed, that was absolutely precious). Niki was complete trash in just the right way and I think the movie did a good job in conveying the dread and fear Fushimi feels towards him. If I had to rank adaptations I would probably put the anime last after the manga and the stage play but it's still a good watch and I'm looking forward to actually being able to, y'know, watch a nice legal stream with subs and then actually be able to buy it on disc some time in the next decade whenever Viz finally stops being jerks and give people who can't go running across the country to random cons on half a week's notice a chance to watch.

#k project #Sarumi #Talking K #episode review #okay it's not really an episode per se but just for tagging purposes #I haven't done one of these in a while this was fun #please don't ask me where to watch the less than legal stream it's in the tag if you look #no judging those who watched it tho Viz has given us little choice #seriously just put up a legal US stream already you bastards at least announce a date for it or something #throw us a bone here

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thesinglesjukebox · 6 years ago

Video

youtube

APINK - I'M SO SICK

[6.67]

Seven years into its career, K-pop group makes its Jukebox debut...

Alex Clifton: Have we finally found the successor to the Wonder Girls' Reboot? I think we have, and I couldn't be happier about it. I love disco and chilled synths and stuff that ends on a minor chord so I have the compulsion to play it again, so this hits literally all my pop buttons. This is so different from Apink's previous material -- I remember them as catchy but almost sickeningly cutesy -- so I am really excited to see how they follow this one up. [8]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: I'd readily argue that Apink peaked in their debut year, with "I Don't Know" and "My My" fleshing out their cutesy shtick enough during a time when SNSD had moved into more "serious" territories. The following year, they climbed higher on the charts with the markedly different "Hush," but it was "Bubibu" that foretold their future. To be certain, Apink's success is in large part due to their consistent sound and image -- one that has sustained itself through K-pop's overt sexualization (ca. 2013) and numerous genre trends. While a smart strategy, it's been hard to care about their output for much of their career. Given the ubiquity of cutesy girl groups as of late, and how I've even heard their type of music in South Korea's CCM scene, a shift in style feels more welcome than ever. The group enlists Black Eyed Pilseung to do the job, and it's immediately clear that this is not another "Only One." "I'm sick of lying, you gotta know that" is uttered with a soft, pained tone; it stands in stark contrast to the doe-eyed oppa-isms that Yookyung used to spout, and prepares the listener for the dancefloor catharsis that follows. Musically, this very much sounds like a tastefully tropified version of "Hush," and its chilly synths bring to mind other 2012 K-pop songs. Six years ago, a version of "I'm So Sick" would've sounded a bit too T-ara-esque, preventing listeners from feeling how muted every synth wobble and vocal sample is. And that's ultimately the song's biggest asset: the instrumentation feels dull despite all the flash, highlighting the numbness that's spoken of in the lyrics. [6]

Alfred Soto: "I'm So Happy" more like -- the synths and vocals signify as pure euphoria. [7]

Julian de Valliere: "I'm So Sick" starts off sounding like a statement of strength -- only to swiftly crack and reveal itself as the tears-on-the-dance-floor banger it truly is. One of my favourite aspects of these types of tunes -- and something which this track in particular does exceptionally well -- is the recognition that no matter how desperately bad your life situation may be, the world rarely affords you time to sit in your feelings. So now you're trapped in a sweaty club with a bestie who's too drunk to be attentive, a song playing has triggered a very specific memory that you were hoping not to deal with, and you can suddenly feel a grand concoction of fizzy emotions sloshing round your chest -- seconds away from rushing up to your head and bursting right out. Apink too, are struggling with the pressure to stay moving while the wound's still raw -- and while the defiance initially put on display makes for a fun time, the ensuing chaos feels far more real, and "I'm So Sick" is all the more beautiful for it. [9]

Anjy Ou: As the singers struggle with the conflicting demands of heart and head, the production moves from melancholy synth-pop to defiant disco and dance-your-tears-away EDM, drawing connecting lines between the genres. It's kind of brilliant, to be honest. Apink has never failed to deliver on the vocals, and they sound effortless here. Maybe not a banger, but definitely a bop. I hope the group continues to explore new sounds and expand their range because they're clearly capable of more than they've shown us in the past. [7]

Katherine St Asaph: Reaction trajectory: wholehearted approval of the intro, especially the traded-off vocal runs; most audible of groans when the trop-pop came in; relief, somehow, when it turned into a 2011 Calvin Harris breakdown; pleasant surprise at the '90s R&B glissando and skidding car in the bridge, or the music dropping out for a whispered "do you love me?" [6]

Will Rivitz: If we're going to be pulling from genres that have been out of pop vogue for at least a decade or two, I'd have preferred nu-metal. [5]

Jessica Doyle: #ConfessYourUnpopularOpinions, APink Edition: "Five" is (1) underrated and (2) more of a precedent for "I'm So Sick" than the videos and styling for each would lead you to believe. (Witness APink refusing to take this concept any more seriously than they took any of the previous ones.) So I'm less inclined to give this new song points solely for breaking APink out of the cutesy dungeon. Or, for that matter, shrug off my experience of the pre-chorus: I can't tell if it's my headphones or my hearing or the mixing or what, but it seems like after the relative spare setting of Naeun's and Chorong's lines, we have a deeper beat kick in, plus a rising synth, plus an unlocated oooh, all trying to build momentum, while Namjoo, who is also trying to build momentum, can hardly be heard at all, and Hayoung, with an additional squelch to deal with and a line that ends four beats before it should, doesn't fare much better. The result is a bit of a mess. So even with Most Formidable Leader getting far more mileage out of "himdeuro himdeuro himdeuro baby" than would have previously been considered possible, I'm unsatisfied. [5]

Anna Suiter: Apink has been known for a consistent sound, and in general it's worked for them. But this works too for a group that's seven years in and don't need to prove much anymore. Maybe they aren't "sick" of promoting, but they are a little sick of love, here, and they make that more convincing than maybe anyone was expecting. [7]

[Read and comment on The Singles Jukebox]

#Apink

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hdawg1995 · 7 years ago

Text

Chapter two, this time with the P4 cast!

The Cognitive net; a Persona 4 and Persona 5 cross over fanfic with OCs. Summary:

When a string of missing persons cases all seem to be linked by a far too familiar rumor, detective shirogane tries to enlist the help of her old investigation team. Unfortunately, not all of the original members are able to make it to shibuya-the sight of the latest case- but she finds help from an unexpected hacker and her friends. Elsewhere, a small team of brand new persona users have already figured out the “cognitive web” and it’s strange search engine. Will detective Shirogane and the hacker Alibaba discover the new group of heroes in time to realize this case is not city wide, but WORLD wide?

Chapter 2: one new message/a run down for the newbie

1/2/3/4/5

If the walls of Detective Shirogane’s office could speak, they would have very little to say but those words would be astonishing. 45 cases- murders, kidnappings, petty crimes and robberies- in the two years she returned to the force alone. The bluenette was diligently looking over the latest case files; missing persons cases that were handed to her not because they were another case to solve, but because SHE could possibly be the only one to solve them.

“5 people have gone missing in the past three weeks. The first went missing at 8am while in their own home. His mother reported him missing after she came to check on him. He had been playing video games…” she flipped to the other file. “This one went missing in the middle of school, the only thing the police were able to find was her cell phone…” Naoto stared at the file and made a note to make a request to look at the phone. She shifted though the other files and saw a pattern with those who went missing and leaving their phones behind. The 3 phones that were not locked led to a website and all apps aside from the web browser were locked.

There was something about these cases she couldn’t shake. They felt familiar and it sent a rock like weight down to her stomach.

“I need a second opinion… maybe a third.” She fiddled with the brim of her hat and reached for her cell phone. It has been a long time, least to her.

Opening the phone, she found the old text chat she had been added to the day it seemed everyone became adults and parted ways.

<Thisll b how we stay in toch!

<Yosuke please type like a normal person.

<yu, plz stp txtin lk a old man.

She laughed at the interaction between the two partners. Scrolling though the old chat she felt a wave of nostalgia. It was bitter sweet- she missed the old times and the silly things they would do, but all that changed a year and a few months ago. That was the last she talked to any of her old friends from Inaba.

>Hello Everyone. It Has Been A Long Time. I Wish I Was Contacting You All With Happy News Or Questions About Your Lives But I Have Been Given A Case And I Request Your Opinions On It.

She stared at her phone for a few moments. She did not expect the almost instant “many people are typing” notification and gasped when her phone buzzed with text messages.

<Naoto kun! I will be happy to help you! I’m taking a break from performing, so I’m all ears!

<Holy shit shes not texting in all caps!

>My Word Yosuke, You’re Texting In Full Words!

The chat grew abuzz with laughter and the nostalgia was fading. The truth was she didn’t have to stay in the past; her friends were right here, even if they were miles away.

<Naoto, I’m happy you remembered this chat but out of all the cases “The Returning Prince of justice” has solved, what makes this one special enough to ask for our assistance?

Senpai. Even in text form she was able to hear that suspicious tone he had when he knew she was avoiding something.

<oh man I’m not dreaming! This chat IS active again!

<whoa, Kanji! You’re not getting long distance charges are you?

<oh my that’s right! you’re in America!

<nah, don’t worry yukiko, i get free texts from japan since ma checks in with me. wait, Yosuke how did you know I would have been getting long distance charges?? What about you? Weren’t you in America as well?

The detective blinked down at her phone with shock. So much has happened she was almost floored. She made a note to speak with her friends more often.

<haha yeah. About that…

<guys! I love you all but I don’t have long for my break! Naoto still needs to explain why she is coming to us for this case!

>Yes, My Apologies. It Would Seem There Has Been A String Of Missing Persons Cases, Three Of Which I Have Noticed A Trend That My Gut Is Telling Me The Other Two Cases Will Also Exhibit Once I Investigate The Crime Scene Of One Case.

<I heard of this. Nanako mentioned it to me the other day. one of her class mates’s older siblings knew the 3rd victim.

<How is nana-chan, Yu san?

<focus yukiko! I heard about these too. My teacher at the training camp is working on the case with you Naoto!

>Does That Mean You Are In Shibuya, Chie?

The detective sat up strait in her chair. She reached for a note pad and pen when her phone buzzed, Chie confirming her location and adding she would be visiting the district her office is in with said teacher (he had planned to surprise her she guessed, but the cat is out of the bag now).

<hey I know! Lets all meet up!

<yukiko, what about the Inn? And Kanji is in America. Plus Rise is on tour!

<my Tour is ending soon Yosuke kun!

<WHAT? But I didn’t get to see you on stage yet!

<I’m sorry, the last 3 stops had to cancel due to

>Rise?

<I just realized! The last 3 stops had to cancel because the kids of the venue owners went missing! oh no Naoto kun I think I know why you want our opinions! Is it because they went missing like people from the midnight channel went missing?

Naoto smiled grimly at her phone. Rise may have been a bubbly idol but she wasn’t dumb like morooka had implied she was (least that’s what one of Yoskue’s stories about the former home room teacher suggested).

>Yes. I Am Afraid There Seems To Be A Connection To The Victims That Feels Far Too Familiar To That Of The Midnight Channle.

<Holy shit.

<Naoto you said you were in Shibuya?

>Yes, That Is Where My Office Has Been For Two Years Now, Yu San.

<I can be there in a few days to discuss things face to face.

<I will not be joining. Yosuke kun is right, I can not leave the Inn. Not yet at least. If the case hasn’t been solved in a month I will be joining you! But I certainly hope you will be able to solve this soon. Those poor parents must me worried sick.

<I can swing by in two weeks, Naoto kun! And my break is over, love you everyone! Tty real soon!

<Count me out. Unfortunately I’m in America for the next year. I havn’t told you guys this, but I got invited to do a run way show a few months back and one of the companies loved my designs so much they offered me an internship.

<Kanji that’s amazing! You HAVE to make me an outfit some time!

<Rise go, you’re going to be late. As for me you know I will be there!

<sorry, I can’t swing the train ticket or plane ticket or… anything like that right now.

>Do You Need Me To Send You The Money? This Counts As Case Related So I Can Use The Funds The Department Has Granted Me.

<its not just that Naoto. I actually have to get going anyway, customer needs me. I Will explain another time.

<wow. Since when has yosuke been responsible?

<Chie have you never noticed his dedication?

<OF COURSE I HAVE! Its just. I don’t remember him putting anything before us. Shoot, he even let me buy teddie’s outfit with his money!

<hes an adult now. As we all have noticed we can’t put our friends first all the time anymore. As sad as that is, I am proud to see he is still dedicated to his work.

Naoto nodded at Yu’s words. She felt better about not speaking to anyone in such a long time and decided to make the notes she was beginning to make. First, to make arrangements for three of her friends to be a part of the case, and second… to visit the first victim’s home and investigate his computer.

“I certainly believe you are right Yukiko. Lets both hope we are able to solve this case before the Calvary is needed.”

--------------------------------------

meanwhile, in the world wide cognitive web, The Admins stood around, waiting on their leader.

With a wave of her hand a blue room appeared. It was a box and it fit with the other random structures in the cognitive web. A door appeared with the number 5 on it. as everyone filed in Alpha paused and looked out at the ninja that was watching them a moment ago. Sure enough, he was still there, still watching, however now he looked ready to spring away into the artificial night the web was simulating.

“Alpha? [what are you doing?]” the rabbit poked its head out of the litteral chat room to become it’s partner inside.

She didn’t respond, she simply walked inside. Once the door was closed the 5 glowed for a moment before shifting to a 6. On the inside two couches and a coffee table appeared. J4k3 and Skitty took the one to the left while Click sat at the one at the back of the table. Alpha stood at the front and opened a text chat.

“whats with that? Were all here.” Skitty leaned forward and clawed at the table, testing the cutesy paws that appeared when she wasn’t thinking.

“that sillouete we all saw is Hero. He is a unofficial member of the Admins.” The toy rabbit leaped onto Alpha’s sholder as she moved the chat box to be at her right. “Alpha is allowing him to listen in if he wishes.”

“we figure hes mute since he doesn’t talk to us, but he has messaged us once. Is that what the chat is for? Incase he has something to say?” J4k3 gently took Skitty’s…paw? Hand? Into his to keep her from clawing the table any further.

With a nod their leader presented the group with the IP address she was able to trace.

“okay everyone! Since this is Skitty’s first meeting lets give a run down!” the rabbit hopped down onto the table and pulled up various floating documents. “our first rescue was ClickClickBoom, Alpha’s right hand man! He was support until I entered the web!” the star arcana explained as they puffed out their chest. “now I am support. I scan shadows and tell you their weaknesses.”

“shadows, Nyan?” Skitty tilted her head and click rolled his eyes.

“I’ll explain what shadows are if you agree to stop with the nyan stuff.”

“aww you’re no fun�� but fine.” She purred as she leaned back in her seat and gave the youngest her full attention.

“Shadows are the manifestations of human hearts. There like personas, but bad. Your shadow can be your suppressed emotions, your over inflated ego, or even your inner darkness. They are always exaggerated tho.”

Skitty nodded “you explained that when I got Leomund. So all shadows are like that? Not just the ones that drag their other halves here?” the Magician turned from The Lovers and regarded the Fool, who simply nodded.

“Yup! They all have weaknesses, which means you also have weaknesses! We’ll figure those out later. Anyway, back to the meeting!” the rabbit sprang up and landed on a floating document.

“we have discovered that we have about a week to rescue someone. When you are dragged here you become data. Your shadow however starts to corrupt your data; if you become corrupted, your body can’t return to reality.” The air became somber as J4k3 leaned back.

“but even then we don’t know why some people can return and others can’t.” the Emperor reached out and tapped a floating file. The image of a chibi girl appeared. She smiled at the Admins and waved.

“This is Hallie. She was the team’s first rescue after me-“

“Rescue mission five!”

“-but like Gerade she became a data card instead of returning to reality.”

Hallie frowned and bowed her head. The robot reached out and hesitantly gave her a pat on the head. it wasn’t anyone’s fault she was like this.

“wait, so even if we save people they just become those cute tamagchi things? then whats the point!”

“its better then them becoming corrupted data.” Side Kick jumped up and flipped Hallie’s data card. “see? All of Hallie is right here. She is healthy and stable. She can return to reality once we figure out how to open her data card!”

The room felt warmer as click stood. “that’s our second job as Admins. We HAVE to figure out how to open the data cards and safely return the victims to reality.”

Alpha nodded and glanced at the text chat. there was a notification that a 6th persona had joined the chat room. She turned to the rest of her team. “Normally we have to trace the IP address that was used to access Cogntive.net, and then find a entry point. This takes a few days. At most 3. After that we track down the dungeon.” Alpha reached out and a map appeared. “These are the 9 dungeons we have found.” she grew silent to let Skitty look over the map when a block of pixels shifted to reveal a 11th dungeon. There was a ping and the Admins looked to the text chat to find a message.

Hero> I found a dungeon while you all were out. It was the “false alarm” you dismissed. I did not know dealing with the situation myself would affect the algorithm.

“Dude… you found a dungeon, took down a shadow, AND rescued someone in the span of a few minutes? That’s crazy!” J4k3 stood up to get a better view of the map.

“Hero, was the person… are they a data card?” Skitty also stood to look at the map better. There was another ping.

Hero> no, they will be assisting me. They insisted on it. You have two people on your side now.

Alpha nodded and went back to the map. “Any dungeon we encounter will become part of this map. However this is not a map of the cognitive web. The web is constantly changing. But when a new dungeon appears it rarely takes a day to travel to.”

Skitty blinked and her cat ears twitched. “you said “normally”. Does that mean this case is different? Is it going to be easier to find the dungeon?”

“yup!” click stood up and slammed his foot on the table, a wall of binary coming up. “since the victim used a public wi-fi we can just enter the IP address into the search engine and we’ll be teleported there! Public wi-fi isn’t password protected, that’s why you always gatta be careful when you’re using it, ya dig?” the motioned at the binary as it formed the cognitive net search engine, the IP already in the search bar.

“If we are ready, we can head out right now to save yuki mishima!” Side kick stated as the other gave their own affirmatives.

“one more thing!” Alpha stated as the chat room became barren again. “time is different here, Skitty. Don’t worry about things taking a week. Once we are in the dungeon it will feel like we’ve been in there for days, but in reality it had only been a few minutes.” She placed a hand on the cat themed idol’s shoulder. “are you ready to put your talents to good use?”

With a chestier grin she gave her leader a firm nod and The Admins were teleported away.

#Cognitive Net #persona 4 #persona 5 #cross over #fanfic #fanfiction #original characters #i spelt so many names wrong i know it

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teacupdragon · 7 years ago

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This was a nice thing to see on a quick break from work. But something got my attention which interested me to look deeper. It made me go back a couple of times to see if I missed something, but no, it’s right there, visible and plain as day. The most curious thing is absent in this video.

One learns to become accustomed to the screaming that involves the fans in reception of Benedict Cumberbatch. If not and if you are like me, you learn to get accustomed to expect ear shattering screaming. The deft and swift maneuvering of fingers to lower volumes, plug ears or fling earphones are always at the ready. Miss and you are punished on the spot. You learn. It’s not even like it’s in the movies where the screaming and yelling is pleasurable and giddy. Instead a lot of the times they get it so wrong you think their bladders burst open onto the people next to them. You know, that kind of scream? No? Well, replace bladder with bowels. See? Feel free to use your imagination. There’s a reason he walks so fast.

Of course it is also an expression of joy and respect and giddiness and value and surprise and a number of descriptions. However, in this video, when Ben comes on, it is strangely silent.

.........

Why?

This can’t be a coincidence. Not with the kind of reception he gets at SDCC, D23, the convention circuit in general and at so many appearances he makes. And certainly not with the kind of respect he has drummed up over the years. Yes, yes the screaming is standard. But. There is a standard. Why is it silent here??

No whooping no cheers no vocals at all in appreciation?? Hmmmmmmm...

Let us tabulate! So we have 3 directors who did not receive much cheering - Bryan Singer, Peyton Reed and Taika Waititi (I love that name). Taika cracks a joke as the video proceeds and draws some laughter but then, humour is always a wonderful draw. See Mark Hamill! His little anecdote was perfectly executed! Point in case. That brings me to the actors.

We have 8 actors on this little appreciation vid for Stan Lee.

Mark Hamill is a legend so let’s take him out. Ian McKellan too.

The most cheer was earned by Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool, followed by Tom Hiddleston as, of course, Loki. Hmmmmmmmmm.

RDJ earned some of the more respectable whooping and cheering but we can all see why. Chris Hemsworth’s front was also silent. That’s surprising and interesting again. All of these stars have been around for a while with at least one, if not more than one movie out. The exception is young Tom Holland whose debut as Spiderman in Homecoming is still fresh in people’s minds and still collecting at the box office. Understandable. And he did a good job with the movie and in promoting it too. He’s a fresh face, young but trying to be all grown up; and one can tell he’s been absorbing cues from a few highly respected actors and peers in how he presents himself. Circles around to being very funny and natural... I see the draw.

Let’s break this down to its variables quickly :

Chris Hemsworth : Aussie. Hard working and talented, possesses a physique most men dream of. Married. Plays Thor and complements Tom’s Loki beautifully but hasn’t yet stretched out his acting abilities. To counter that Ragnarok looks very, very promising.

Tom Hiddleston : ............ - He validated and unleashed all our inner Lokis enough said.

Brit. Not married.

Ryan Reynolds : American. Personifies Deadpool completely and perfectly and remembered fondly for carrying it over onto Twitter too. Married.

Benedict Cumberbatch : Cast perfectly as Dr. Strange and even broke Marvel’s internal box office records by grossing higher than RDJ’s Iron Man. Took an arguably minor character from the Marvel Universe and brought it enigmatically to life such that the bar is set significantly high for anyone who may follow in his footsteps to don the Cloak in the distant future. Married.

For an origin story as the breakout debut full feature length film for this character, he was put through the wringer. A testament to his not so insignificant talent and ability is that he makes it look quite easy. Next time stretch him out more.

Brit. Tom Holland too, but not married.

That leaves only Hiddleston and Holland with the kind of visibility where their marital/relationship status has not impacted them negatively.

Ben has everything going for him except one thing that impacts him badly. And you know it. You’ve got 3 years worth of data and figures and numbers to carve it deeply in stone. You lost a large part of his fan base not just because of the sham, but also because in that period you simply failed to attract people back at a similar rate. You simply could not undo the slide or the drop. Some fools might contend it was because he got married and ended his bachelorhood? Hell no. Sophie turns people off! She’s not Amal! She doesn’t command the kind of respect or interest or awe that someone like Amal does. The greater majority of people who lost interest did so because something very important put them off. They may be aware of something being off or they may have made bets about how long the ‘marriage’ will last. If that’s far fetched, well your numbers would reflect their presence and growth, would it not?

Roll out the split. Drop her already. You don’t have the time to keep this going. And you are losing money because you can’t draw people back nor can you devise anything interesting PR wise for him. For a man who’s natural joyfulness and adventurous spirit draws people to him like moths to a flame, what kind of a rubbish PR setup would allow just the opposite to continue unabated?? Set him free. The nannies and antis who stalk my blog will raise their hackles about me calling for two people to be divorced, but my dear hopeless idiots, this is a sham, and I have nothing more to say to them.

You, PR, have nothing to lose by rolling out the split. He looks healthy and glowing and joyful again. He’ll be more interesting as a single man doing his own thing and you can all carry on where you got hijacked left off. The formula before worked. Private life was indeed private. There wasn’t a very great deal on whom he dated and that’s just fine. It was all about work and it was prolific. You can tweak that and make it better. Way better! He’s got to have grown and learned so much from all this. Use it!

You’ve got 3 years of dwindling interest and revenues behind you and 5 months ahead to end it on a very high note. But, it has to start NOW. Not after 3 moths. You do not have the time you think you do.

Let me also bring up the fact that you have nothing going on in the fandom. Nothing of interest whatsoever. You have the nannies, the general populace who are not a very large number at present and you have the skeptics. And everybody’s eyes are on the skeptics. EVERYBODY’S. PR is watching us. PR trends and companies are watching us. Many parts of the industry are watching us as potential employers or just industry insiders. Neighbouring fandoms are watching us. Heck the Taylor Swift and Hiddleston fiasco didn’t survive because of the exposure we brought here. And the nannies simply cannot take their eyes off us! They create multiple side blogs where they can attack the skeptics pseudo secretly while pretending to be noble and aristocratic. And that’s the only drama here. So, as long as you continue to delay taking command of the stage, PR, far from allowing this fandom to become the critically engaging field it is poised to become, it remains shackled and stunted as the backyard of a talented actor that is dominated by group of militant nannies. You have seen twitter right? It takes just 3 days and not more to get a grip of the landscape that is governed by these nannies and how they behave is enough to give people permanent and detrimental eye rolling twitches. They are one of the biggest thwarts to your business. They have not taken your cues and continue to work against you. So please stop pandering to them. You have nothing going for you at present.

From a financial point of view I understand the requirement and inclusivity of nannies. They are a steady source of revenue who may never get turned off as long as there’s plenty of cutesy and every year they get to all come together at the cons and sell out most of the events that Ben is announced for. Many of them even plan multiple trips and photoshop themselves next to him. I could expand on that as well but let’s not digress too far.

And then there are also people who fly into London from all over the world for a chance to meet him and take in the big experience and see him perform and why the hell not. On a larger scale it undoubtedly brings in a lot of revenue in terms of tourism fees. Didn’t Britain name him a national treasure a few years ago?

Don’t you think he’s worth a lot more and deserves better?

Nannies by nature are a mainstay of civilisation as much as they are of fandoms. We can’t do without them and at some time in our lives and at different phases they have always been beneficial. Functionally, they will always be required, needed and even appreciated to their capacities in protecting their charges. However, everybody outgrows them.

#Disney #Marvel #Karon Maskill #Benedict Cumberbatch

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