#also they're the best comedy duo in this show

[beif0ngs]

#really living for this whole tired foster mom/aunt energy Sevika’s got going on with Jinx in this season

[helluva-bored-critical]

A Quick Review Of Helluva Shorts #4: Chupacabras

Hey everyone, helluva bored critical here to give a review of the newest HB short; CHUPACABRAS. I'll do my best to cover the plot, the goods and the bads, and to give my two cents.

First off, the composition of the title card is a bit awkward; the flashy text of "CHUPACABRAS" reminiscent of Mexican culture clash with the duller tones of the background, making it less appealing. If a different screencap was chosen, such as this:

I think the text would've fit better.

However, the plot premise is pretty good, let me talk about that if you haven't seen it yet; I.M.P. head out to kill a client, but they're surrounded by a hoard of goats and they try to clear 'em out. The client, Gerardo, wakes due to the ruckus, and Blitz is captured and mistaken for a chupacabra.

Note: the folklore of the chupacabra originates from Puerto Rico, though sightings of it have spread to Mexico and other parts of Latin America. Mexicans do know about chupacabra, but it's commonly misinterpreted as being of Mexican origin.

In Mexico, if I'm not mistaken, the chupacabra looks similar to a mangy coyote. Blitz is wearing more goat-like rags, which isn't entirely accurate.

Anyways, Gerardo has taken Blitz's gun and crystal, so he's unable to break out of his sitch.

The D.H.O.R.K.S., getting word of a "chupacabra" in Tijuana, head to Gerardo's display, where he's chargin' 100 pesos per view. The agent duo gets into a funny squabble about payment, and the tiny black goat that you see in the image above, meanwhile, heads over to Blitz. Blitz bribes it with a nice slice of cheese to help him out.

Gerardo is close to shooting up the D.H.O.R.K.S with Blitz's gun, but since it's demonic, it burns his hand and leads to an improbably catastrophe bullet ricochet that kills him.

The goat retrieves Blitz's crystal; Blitz and the D.H.O.R.K.S. make a hasty escape, and the episode ends with the small goat beginning its Cult of the Lamb arc :).

What was good:

Moxxie and Blitz's interaction at the beginning is a good joke, it got a chuckle out of me:

"I want to say these are Earth goats, sir." "I don't care how great they are, they are In. My. Way!"

The Hispanic voice actors did an awesome job.

The music is energetic and fun.

D.H.O.R.K.S. and Gerardo's interaction is well-executed, it was my favorite joke of the short.

Blitz's escape is well-animated and he looks like a rascal.

Background jokes, such as Agent #1's badge saying "Insert Text Here".

The art of the final shot, where the goat is ruling over its disciples in a candle-lit shed, has great composition and lighting. Whichever artists created this shot, you executed it damn well.

Along with this, the shot of Gerardo's house is beautiful.

The beginning frenzy was entertaining. I liked the shot of Blitz shooting like a madman:

What could've improved:

Millie had no lines in this short, despite being present in it. I wish she did; being a farm girl, she could've had some quick commentary 'bout the place or interact with Moxxie a bit.

Blitz's swearing in this short can drag on a bit. He's a crude imp, but some of the jokes just got the punchline of a swear. They could be crafted better.

As mentioned in the beginning, the title card could use some work.

Also mentioned, how the chupacabra is represented isn't accurate. I'm no expert though; if you're reading this and wanna counter me, I'm alright with that.

Other comments/opinions:

The pesos ain't exactly accurate, but they get the main idea across.

I ain't a fan of HB humor to be honest, but I won't fault you if you like it.

I.M.P. missions are starting to get restricted to shorts, which I'm not a particular fan of either. The show was originally advertised as a hitman dark comedy, but its main plot has changed to something that I can no longer be invested in.

I appreciate the background team and the music composer, Alexander Arntzen. I'm a big sucker for art.

Overall rating: 6/10 or 7/10. Nothing too spectacular, but it's pretty cool! Let me know what you thought of the short in the comments.

[loving-family-poll]

Ultimate Incest Tournament - Round 2

Propaganda under the cut:

Hikaru/Kaoru:

notable for actually leaning into the incest thing because twincest was their entire schtick while working at the host club

the twincest ship that defined a generation. taking the bait seems obvious when their performance gimmick for club guests is to fawn over each other and play up the affection tenfold, but it just gets better when you learn that for most of their lives they didnt have other friends and really only had each other until joining becoming members of the host club. so on top of being willing to flirt in public for attention, they're also codependent as hell <333

They're twins. They sleep in the same bed. They pretend to be in forbidden love to bait fujoshis but are maybe also in forbidden love for real. They were in high school before they met a single person who could tell them apart. They were devastating to my middle school psyche

Rick/Morty:

INCEST ICONS!! They've somehow got a MAJORITY of their fans on one of the most popular shows on TV to root for a guy who is CLEARLY sexually abusing his grandson ~subtextually~, but also sometimes ON SCREEN, and it's hilarious and fucked up, and Morty would kill anyone who tried to take his grandpa away <3

they're codependent in so many universes, they've gotta be fucking in a few

They get married!!!!! It's right there!! I wish I had more coherent thoughts about them but just. They. It's awful. It's abusive. It's twisted and cruel. It's a comedy duo. It's the best thing either have going for them. Rick will never fully respect Morty. Morty will never fully respect Rick. I want them to run away together. They're Something

the power dynamic is crazy! Morty's deeply lonely at the start and his grandfather takes advantage of that, rick pulls the kid out of bed, out of school, whenever he wants and gets him to do whatever he wants, covers up their activities, threatens and endangers and inflicts pain upon morty with intent and cruelty. he shapes morty according to his needs, the entire show is about the space adventures of an old man and his 14 year old grandson and you just gotta wonder, isn't it fucked up that this guy's sidekick and best friend and life partner is a kid? and it is!

Since morty is traumatized on the daily rick sometimes takes his memories, he controls what morty can remember (and therefore who he gets to be), the memory gun is just sci-fi gaslighting i say. and there's transdimensional travel and at one point it's revealed that ricks from different dimensions work together to "breed" mortys, ensure they're born (clone a bunch of them too) because a morty by nature is loyal and forgiving and makes the perfect partner that's easy to manipulate, easy to use. i will forever think of the "bred for forgiveness" line as perverted horrifying incest bait<3

Also one time they were hosts for alien parasites and they fell in love and made out and in the Very First episode rick gets morty to stick giant seeds (that rick needs for an experiment or smth) up his ass to smuggle them through security. they had some kind of dragon soul bond orgasm together. my point is it's borderline incestuous abuse and it's crazy that they imply these characters are tied together cosmically.. if they are it's rick holding their red string of fate like a leash

they are together (sometimes romantically/sexually, sometimes not explicitly so) in EVERY universe there is canonically a club on the citadel called The Creepy Morty. Miami Morty has an R tattooed on his asscheek they love each other they hate each other they cant stand being together they cannot be separated Rick loves grooming Morty. like. he has literally pushed Morty into comitting genocides and conditioned him into becoming desensitized to all kinds of sexual and violent things. Rick keeps a memory vial of Morty's entitled "virginity" Rick C137 (the main one in the show) has sacrificed his life to save Morty

[constellationandcompendium]

Writeblr Intro

Greetings traveller!

About Me:

She/her, early 30s

PhD graduate working in heritage

British (obsessed with tea)

Also sings and crochets

Enjoys both Star Trek & Star Wars

Occasional NaNoWriMo participant

Fanfic writer of 15 years making the jump into original fiction (find my fandom blog @thetamehistorian)

Happy to take asks / play tag games etc.

Has a habit of designing covers rather than writing

Second attempt at this blog (main blog this time, cha cha real smooth)

Tends To Write / Read

Sci-Fi & Cyberpunk

Urban Fantasy & Fantasy

Historical

Comedy (this suprised me too)

Introducing My WIPS

A crime thriller with a touch of cyberpunk...

Featuring

Man with habit of doing wrong thing for right reason

Best buds to reluctant allies to ‘I would die for you’

That ‘I can’t believe you’ve done this’ meme

Conspiracies and double agents

Lots of angst and hurt (with some comfort)

Wholesome parent / child relationships

Summary

Solaris City has a problem. Whilst the metropolis flourishes, down below in the old mines the Undercity grows wild and dangerous, it’s people cut off from the prosperity above, dreaming of the sun and spreading Haze - an addictive drug.

Elias also has a problem. Working for the Bureau has cleaned his slate but he hasn’t cut all ties with those underground. Now there’s a girl hidden in his flat and something big has been uncovered that has his contacts in a flurry.

With two days to go to a vote on unifying the two halves of the city, and his friend Sebastien caught right in the middle, Elias has a feeling that it'll only take one domino falling for everything to come crashing down.

Work Page

First Draft Complete, If Messy (Mind the Plot Holes)

A sci-fi comedy of a ship of misfits...

Featuring

Puns for ship names (and just bad jokes in general)

Captain packing up the ship and all its crew because they can no longer thrive in this household

Overly social parents (please stop inviting my professor over to dinner)

Space worker unions (and aliens)

Learning self-worth and finding strength through working together

Found family

Summary

The United Earth Ship Archimedes patrols the border of charted space. Beyond it - the vast and unexplored reaches of the universe.

It’s an exciting prospect for Aster Kobor, newly graduated from the fleet academy and hoping to make her mark upon the stars. Unfortunately, it only takes a few weeks for Aster to realise that the Archimedes is nicknamed ‘the screw’ for a reason. It’s a ship for the rejects and misfits, those deemed unfit to serve in the frontier ships and command never lets them do anything exciting. Still, Aster is determined to make the best of it and, unbeknownst to her, her meddling Captain is about to give the crew of the Archimedes their chance to show command what they're made of.

Soon a bad reputation is the least of their troubles and, whether the crew like it or not, they’ll have to learn to survive in deep space - where their only certainty is each other.

Work Page

Currently Wrangling Vibes Into ~ Characters ~ and ~ Plot ~

A historical novel about determined women, trains, and winning a war…

Featuring

One woman’s obsession with the railways

Code breaking commuters

Breakfasts cooked on a coal shovel

Being accidentally adopted by an elderly fireman and driver duo

Occasional air raid for added ~spice~

Solidarity in the face of adversity and outdated systems

Summary

Bea had always been fascinated by the railways, but her dream of driving one of the locomotives always seemed out of reach. Working the trains is dangerous, dirty, and completely off limits to the fairer sex.

Then the war came and the men went off the fight. Answering the call to help, Bea and her fellow railway volunteers find themselves with an opportunity of a lifetime. Obscured from judging eyes by steam and smoke they shadow the veteran drivers and engineers, learning what they can on the job and hitting the library when they can't.

The trains need to run, they are vital to the war effort. All it would take is one rogue bomb, one mishap to take out a driver and the wheels stop spinning.

Or at least, that's what the station manager thinks.

Work Page

Currently Doing Research and Initial Planning!

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Underrated QSMP Duos/Groups

Tina and Forever

Since day one Tina has had a soft spot for Forever, of which she stated during the Bagina date. She talked about how much of an impression he made on her when he welcomed them to the server, and she really did feel welcomed by his presence. During the Happy Pills arc, she was probably the most consistent person to ask and worry about his state outside of the Curing squad

Felps and Maxo

Fofoquieros who gossip about other people's love lives, enough said

Maxo and Baghera

They can match each others' energy so well in both comedy and with lore and investigations. They're also surprisingly keen on picking up on each others' subtleties

Forever and Pac

Probs not underrated after Happy Pills but they're moments sometimes go unnoticed. Pac is one of the people Forever trusts the most, and Pac looks up to Forever probably more than anyone save for maybe Fit. Pac was given a direct message in Forever's goodbye message, and his reaction should show you just how much they mean to each other (os moços <3)

Foolish, Mouse, Tina, Felps

They hung out together and did dungeon raids that one time after a big lore event and while Foolish, Mouse and Tina already know each other quite well, Felps fit in and matched their energy perfectly. 10/10 vibes that stream was

Ironmouse and Philza

Don't have too many moments together but when they do, they always make each other laugh. That one time they had to be spies but couldn't keep quiet cause they kept making each other crack up pretty much says it all

Tina and Badboyhalo

Somehow Bad annoys Tina more than Foolish does and that in itself is an accomplishment, but just like Bad and Foolish, Bad and Tina still hang out together quite a bit, and they're bickering has just become part of the friendship <3 (also this post)

Rivers and Roier

Rivers is a bit more reclusive so I don't see her talk to people that much, but her and Roier are great friends who can be themselves around each other. They're very funny together and have come up with some great bits/gimmicks, and we get to see Rivers being herself at some of her best when he's around. Roier also gets to joke around with her in ways that sometimes fly over other peoples' heads (sometimes its cultural, sometimes its just a Rivoier thing)

Etoiles and Antoine

They won't be underrated to the French community, but the non-French may have missed how great these two are (and all the French tbh, Baghera + Etoiles are another great duo). Etoiles and Antoine are those friends who have been married for 1000 years and also insults each other whenever the other one breathes; they know each other like no one else and can bring out the most in each other (whatever that "most" is depends on the time of day)

AyPierre and Maxo

Despite the breakup, at their peak Maxo and Pierre could always convince each other to say and do the most batshit things that most other people wouldn't be able to draw out of them. They make each other act way more cursed in the best way (see the Furry club for evidence); there's a sort of freedom in being able to find someone who's just as much of a freak as you are

Foolish and the Capybaras

Foolish actually knows the capybaras quite well, and has each of them distinctly memorized in his mind (he even named most of them). He pays attention to who they are as individuals, and he finds genuine delight in their antics. They've felt appreciated and happy enough with him that they allowed him to be their king, and its because of Foolish that they developed stronger lore relevancy

Honorable mentions (Egg Edition): Roier and Leo, Tubbo and Ramón, Bad and Richas, Pomme and Tallulah (can match each others angst levels), Tallulah and Richas

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Wash Day With Venom & Eddie

Pairing: Eddie Brock x Black!Reader x Venom

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: none it's very cute

Genre: fluff, I'd say a lil comedy cuz Eddie and Venom are a very unserious duo

Summary: Venom is curious about how you wash your hair

***

You check the clock on the wall as the latest episode of your current date night watch with Eddie comes to an end and let out a sigh realizing you have to get going. You stand up and stretch with Eddie and Venom turning down the volume on whatever preview Netflix is playing.

"Alright, boys I have to get going now." You say leaning down to kiss Eddie's cheek.

"WHAT?! WHY? I THOUGHT YOU WERE SPENDING THE NIGHT!" Venom stretches his head to look at you closely when you stand back up.

"I can't tonight V, I have today is wash day." You tell him petting the top of his head.

"LIKE FOR YOUR LAUNDRY?!"

"No sweetie, for my hair." You smile.

"WASH IT HERE."

"I don't have any of my hair products here Venom I can't do that." You laugh.

"USE EDDIE'S. HE HAS THAT HAIR SOAP TOO. RIGHT EDDIE?"

"No way. My hair is far too temperamental for me to just be borrowing any old shampoo. She has very specific requirements." You say.

"ISN'T IT ALL THE SAME?"

"No Venom it's not. My hair is very different than Eddie's so it requires very different care." You chuckle.

"OH. SO BRING YOUR PRODUCTS HERE. I WANT TO SEE THIS DIFFERENT CARE."

"You're surprisingly curious about this, but I'm not bringing all my hair care here that's quite a few items."

"SO WE WILL COME TO YOUR PLACE." Venom declares.

"Venom bud, I know you wanna spend every moment of every day with her but we gotta let her have her personal time ya know." Eddie steps in.

"I WANT TO SEE HOW SHE WASHES HER HAIR!" Venom glares at Eddie.

"We know but maybe that's not something she wants to show you." Eddie says.

"It's a long process V, takes like an hour and you are not exactly known for your patience." You say.

"AN HOUR?! EDDIE'S HAIR TAKES LIKE FIFTEEN MINUTES IN THE SHOWER EVERY OTHER DAY!"

"Eddie's hair gets gross and oily much quicker than mine. Washing it that often would pretty much destroy it."

"Hey! My hair does not get gross, okay?" 

"Because you wash it regularly. My point still stands what happens to you in like 3 days would take at least a month or two for my type of hair. Probably longer. That's not important. V, it takes a long while to wash."

"I CAN BE PATIENT!" Venom protests.

"I actually don't think you can." Eddie snorts.

"IS THAT A CHALLENGE?"

"No, not at all." He shakes his head.

"PLEASE LITTLE DROP, LET US COME OVER SO I CAN WATCH YOU WASH YOUR HAIR." Venom turns his attention back to you.

"If, and I do mean if, if I let you guys come to my place so you can satisfy your curiosity I don't want to hear a single complaint about how long it takes V." You point a finger at him.

"I HAVE NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT WHEN I'M WITH YOU." He offers a smile.

"That was very smooth." Eddie says with surprise.

"Also, no distracting. It already takes long enough, and I have to get it done. I mean it Venom you can't get all handsy with me when I'm in the shower."

"I CAN BEHAVE!"

"You have to. Or you'll have to leave. Once the hair washing has started I can't really just stop the process in the middle. I'm serious V."

"I WILL BE ON MY BEST BEHAVIOR. I PROMISE."

"Venom our girlfriend isn't an observational study you know you can't just watch her doing everyday tasks like that." Eddie chuckles.

"IS IT NOT NORMAL TO WANT TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT SOMEONE YOU LOVE? I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU." Venom says to him.

"It's fine to want to know about her sure, but don't treat her regular tasks like they're something strange."

"I DON'T THINK THEY'RE STRANGE BUT THEY'RE DIFFERENT THAN YOURS AND I'M CURIOUS."

"Okay boys don't fight. I know you're being considerate Eddie and I appreciate that advocacy but Venom is an alien so I feel like this curosity is pretty standard for him and I don't really mind." You jump in before the two of them get into it like they so often do.

"I just don't want you to be uncomfortable. I know being watched while washing your hair can be weird." Eddie frowns.

"I'd probably be uncomfortable if it was anyone but Venom so I get where you're coming from." You shrug.

"I PROMISE I'M NOT TRYING TO MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE AND I WILL DO MY BEST NOT TO ACT LIKE I'M STUDYING YOU BUT CAN WE GO NOW?" Venom asks making you and Eddie laugh at his impatience.

"Fine! We'll go." Eddie rolls his eyes. Venom at this point takes over and scoops you into his arms suddenly, swinging out of Eddie's window.

"Venom we could've walked!" You shout.

"THIS IS QUICKER!" Venom insists. It's only a couple of moments before Venom opens your window and climbs inside.

"Geez you're impatient." You huff out a laugh as you take your shoes off and toss them by the door. You head into your room to grab a t-shirt and your comb before going to your bathroom with Venom tailing behind you. You get into your shower and run the warm water over your hair for several minutes. Venom gives Eddie back his body now but the alien stretches his neck enough to watch over the top of your shower.

"I cannot believe you dragged us here to watch her wash her hair." Eddie scoffs.

"Welcome back Eddie." You laugh.

"IF YOU'RE GOING TO COMPLAIN I WILL JUST TAKE THE BODY BACK. SHE SAID WE CAN ONLY STAY IF WE DON'T COMPLAIN." Venom says.

"Well technically the condition was you don't complain about how long this whole thing takes you tell Venom. You laugh as you put in your shampoo and scrub at your scalp until there's a decent lather. You rinse it thoroughly before turning the water off for the next part.

"ARE YOU DONE?" Venom asks and Eddie snorts out a laugh.

"No, not done, but the next part takes the longest and if I left the water on it would get cold before I got out of here." You explain as you run decent amounts of conditioner through your hair.

"THE NEXT PART?"

"I'm putting in conditioner and then I have to detangle my hair."

"DE...TANGLE?"

"Dude I'm sure you know that means." Eddie says.

"SURE BUT NOT WITH HAIR."

"It means the same thing regardless of the context V, my hair is very thick it gets tangled with itself after a while so I have to use a comb to get work out the knots." You explain as you start to work the comb through your hair in small sections.

"EDDIE HAS A COMB. IT'S MUCH SMALLER."

"Yeah, that's mostly a styling comb. Plus his hair is thinner. My hair would... probably break those combs." You tell him.

"DO ALL WOMEN DO THIS?"

"Well it's not a woman specific thing. Really just anyone with long hair probably has a similar process but how time consuming it is depends on a few things though, length, texture, thickness- that sort of thing. Thick coily hair, like mine, which is common for Black people takes longer than straight hair, like Eddie's when he goes to long without a haircut."

"Hey! I rock the longer hair." Eddie protests.

"Eddie you hate when your hair gets too shaggy." You laugh.

"Not always. Do you think it looks bad?"

"No but I think you don't like taking proper care of your hair when it gets too long."

"Y/N I LIKE YOUR CURLS."

"Thank you, so do I. That's why I don't mind the maintenance of spending half an hour detangling it. Plus I get to do so much with it as far as styling goes." You shrug.

"OH LIKE WHEN YOU HAD THOSE ROPE-LIKE THINGS IN YOUR HAIR."

"They're called braids Venom. I told you this before." Eddie tsks at him while you chuckle.

"BRAIDS. WILL YOU DO THEM AGAIN? YOU HAD THEM WHEN YOU AND EDDIE FIRST STARTED DATING."

"Yeah, I'm actually planning to do them tomorrow. I typically don't do them in the summer that's why it's been while." You tell him.

"HOW DO YOU DO THEM?" Venom asks.

"I can show you, tomorrow if you'd like to see how it works. It's a little hard to explain really."

"I WOULD LIKE TO SEE!" He nods excitedly. You put down the comb with a small huff, satisfied with the detangling you've done.

"Venom." Eddie sighs.

"Then if Eddie isn't busy tomorrow you guys can come by while I do my hair." You say grabbing your bodywash and washcloth. You give the conditioner a few minutes to sit in your hair by washing your body and face first.

"WHY DO IT TOMORROW AND NOT TONIGHT?" Venom asks.

"Because it takes hours and I'd be up all night if I tried to do it now. Plus I try not to use the hairdryer if I don't have to and braiding wet hair if you plan to keep the braids in is a bad idea. It needs to be dry first so I do that overnight." You wash the conditioner out of your hair careful to minimize retangling.

"SO DOING YOUR HAIR IS A TWO DAY PROCESS?"

"Only if I plan to do anything else with either day. Like if I had gotten up super early and washed my hair, let it dry throughout the day I could maybe have been doing it through the evening but- I don't like to spend a continuous twenty-four hours on my hair so, there's that." You shrug.

"WOW. EDDIE NEVER TAKES THAT LONG TO DO HIS HAIR."

"I don't have enough hair to justify taking this long." Eddie says.

"Yeah but lucky for me the day-to-day styling can be pretty minimal it's just upkeep days like this that are extensive but they aren't super frequent. At most few times a month depending on the style I have in and how busy I am. Some styles let me get away with a whole month plus." You tell him turning off the shower and opening the door. You dry off your body and wrap the t-shirt around your hair.

"YOU USE A T-SHIRT FOR YOUR HAIR AND NOT A TOWEL?" Venom tilts his head curiously at you.

"Yeah- towel fabrics can be pretty harsh on my hair so I use a t-shirt instead because, like I said earlier, it's very temperamental." You tell him going back to your bedroom once you're not trailing water. Eddie takes a seat at your desk.

"NOW WHAT?" Venom asks while you put on lotion.

"Now, I get dressed, dry my hair with this t-shirt, enough that it won't soak through my hair cover, and then have a snack before going to bed. Since I ate dinner with you guys." You tell him.

"OH. YOUR HAIR REALLY DOES TAKE A WHILE." Venom hums.

"Yeah I told you, but I'm mostly done for the night besides drying it so if you wanna head out now you can." You say with a shrug as you put on some pajamas.

"Curiosty satisfied Venom?" Eddie asks.

"WE WILL BE BACK TOMORROW." Venom announces.

"Venom I don't just sit around all day you know we might have something to do-"

"You don't have to be with me the whole day babe, it's a fairly repretative process so you can swing by for like twenty minutes just so Venom can see how it works and then you can have the rest of your day back." You say kissing Eddie lightly.

"Fine when's a good time?"

"I'll be at it most of the afternoon so, if you come before five I'll for sure have some left to show Venom." You say.

"Sounds good, I'll text you."

"Sure thing."

"Have a good night sweetheart." He says to you. "Alright Venom, since you got us here. Take us home." Eddie tells Venom.

"CAN DO!" Venom takes over from Eddie again and pulls you into a tight hug. "I AM VERY EXCITED TO SEE YOU TOMORROW LITTLE DROP!" He tells you.

"See you tomorrow my loves." You say once Venom puts you back down. He's down the hall and out your window living room very quickly and you shut the window behind them going back to your room to finish drying your hair. Even with as long as he's been here, Venom's curiosity seems to be neverending, but you'll never complain about the way he seems so interested in every single thing you do. Even something as monotonous and time consuming as doing your hair.

***

[yarrayora]

I bet there's a not insignificant portion of people who don't think Mahiru is doing that on accident

🪩kaitov3official follow

kjbdkjabKJSBDKJASDB ok. ok. so, mamahiru got his first ever talk show debut which is great. but it's also one of those japanese variety shows hosted by a comedy duo which really shows how much people are taking him seriously right now, which is not great.

but back to the thing that made me laugh. the hosts were trying really REALLY hard to make mamahiru the butt of the jokes. he brought up about how vampires are the best people for dealing with other vampires and the host was like "but wouldn't they just help their friend escape??" and mamahiru was like "you and [insert rival comedian name] are both comedians but you're not friends."

the Funny Guy laughs it off and says "well, i mean, i'm just saying vampires catching other vampires... it wouldn't be weird if they end up covering each other's asses."

and my beloved tumblr mutuals you will not believe what happened next.

mamahiru in his full glorious kindergarten teacher voice asks "we have cops in charge of catching criminals. are the criminals they're catching humans or vampires?"

funny guy once again fumbles "well, yes, they're humans but"

and mamahiru claps. CLAPS. tells funny guy he did a good job remembering!!! im going insane!!!

🎚️lichtansbootlicker follow

im losing my shit theres no way that wasnt on purpose

🪩kaitov3official follow

BUT IT WASN'T!!! mamahiru got REALLY embarrassed afterward he apologized

#hi sorry for spamming about this like threeposts in a row #i think we can fix the tories if we treat them like toddlers on live tv too

1,995 notes

🪩kaitov3official follow

beloved mutuals you would not believe what just happened during this week's nichiyo toron

for context it's a sunday morning talk show discussing Serious Issues in japan

guess who got invited as a speaker. guess what happened for the fourth time this week

read more

☠️alwaysunnyinthedas follow

jesus christ hes killing them

📯napoleonbonapartescockandballtorture

not sure if this is still relevant or even remembered by today's internet but you know that thing in evil overlord list that's like "one of my advisors is going to be an average toddler and if they can see any flaw in my plan then i'll correct it first" or something

this is what's happening in japan right now

#they should stop inviting him to live shows #EVISCERATED

3,565 notes

[cursedvibes]

Kenjaku and Takaba's comedy show is actually so funny, I don't even know which part I like the most.

Boomer Takaba and Millennial Kenny is actually so real. Also, Kenjaku being able to cancel out toxicity with a few nice words is true. They do the most horrible shit and then do things like calling Tengen their friend, Yuuji their son and genuinely complimenting Takaba and it makes me rethink their whole character.

This whole sequence of Kenjaku wanting to feed a random dog (John) and wanting to find his owner was so cute. You always get me with villains caring about animals (even if this one is fake and part of a joke).

This might be my favourite part. Kenjaku looking up the oni on yelp, naming the dog, "haven't you heard of air force supremacy??" "first things first, we gotta ice the pheasant". They're really the best at making up stories.

Takaba is also great here. I love him playing the straight man for once because he's actually gay. It's very different from the fool he presented himself as previously, but in line with his actually quite serious personality. He acts similar to how he appeared in his flashback, except here it falls in his favour because his partner can work with it instead of being pushed away. Kenjaku managed to make the characteristics he wanted to change about himself shine and showed him he can be himself and still funny. (not that I'm saying his usual silliness is fake, just that he pushed parts of himself down because he wanted people to like him and that worked best when he joked around)

People finally see the real him and like him for who he is. This introduction poster shows it very well. He looks almost angry here, but because of his partner people aren't scared away, they like his comedy because of who he is. They compliment each other, just like a duo is supposed to.

[fangxin-guoshi]

Banana fish re-review ~

I did a rewatch of banana fish and oh my God I forgot how good this series was. Considering the original manga came out in the 80's in JAPAN, it was SO ahead of its time. One of the best depictions of gay characters I've ever seen in Japanese media, even by today's standards.

Some more silly thoughts:

Like yoshida just casually dropped a manga with an insanely progressive take on the bl genre by showing a complex queer interracial relationship with incredibly well-written characters. Honestly the fact that ash and eiji's relationship wasn't explicitly defined as romantic is a plus imo. Not being able to rely on obvious romantic gestures like kissing, hand-holding, romantic confessions, etc. actually forces the writer to develop their relationship without that crutch to lean on. That's why ash and eiji's relationship is so good, because it doesn't rely on surface-level romance to get across the fact that they love each other and instead use subtlety and little nuances in their interactions. It's obvious from the subtext and how much they're shown to care for each other.

Not to mention the great depiction of black characters (I know portraying black characters non-offensively is like, the bare minimum, but may I remind you this is the EIGHTIES in JAPAN, and there are so many CURRENT animes that have an issue with it).

I mean yea does it have its flaws? Sure. Ash's admittedly very lame "lynx" title that comes with many wildcat metaphors, eiji being a bit passive in the first half, sort of cringe portrayal of America, etc. but my God the way she handles the trauma and character dynamics is incredible.

Ok so I did have a uh... Not really a criticism but something that I noticed that got me thinking. I feel like some shows use dark subject matter as a bit of an easy way to evoke an emotional reaction from the audience. Sometimes authors give characters horrible backstories as a way to make the audience THINK the character is complex and interesting but in reality it's a bit of a lazy writing tactic. Low effort high reward kind of thing. Banana fish obviously does have brutal subject matter and ash is really put through the ringer, but I love that yoshida doesn't let that become the axis of his character. He has trauma that greatly impacts him, but he's also super developed on his own apart from that. When I think about Ash's character, I don't immediately think about the traumatic backstory parts. The balance between how significantly the trauma affects him vs making sure that's not the ONLY part of his character is extremely well-executed.

Scenes that stuck out to me (not including asheiji ones bc it goes without saying theyre all amazing)

- the interrogator playing Ash's tapes after being arrested ("later, movie star" was the most brutal line ever omg)

- max burning the photos of ash (underrated moment this was SO good),

- any and all interactions between sing and blanca (they're such an unlikely duo peak comedy right there)

- the convo between sing and yut lung in the last episode

- ash stabbing the guy in the dick with a fork

- callback to ^^^, ash stabbing the banana with a fork

- Ash's breakdown in front of dino (ep 19 I believe)

- the entirety of ash escaping from the "mental hospital" and then having to go rescue ibe and max lmaooo

- ash brutally murdering Abraham(?, the redhead guy) by blowing abt a thousand holes in him w a machine gun as payback for shorter

- ash shooting shorter

- running joke of max being Ash's dad

- everyone constantly manhandling yut lung by yanking on his hair (dude get a haircut)

- ash immediately going to shoot himself no hesitation after yut lung told him he wouldn't hurt eiji if he did so (technically asheiji but I'm keeping it since this was a yut lung and ash scene)

- "what does this picture look like?" "Your wife"

- eiji's cute stupid little outfit he wore when he went to go find shorter in Chinatown

I also have a confession:

I LOVE yut lung. Him being paralleled with ash, but instead of finding love he let hate consume him because he had no one unlike ash who had eiji was just devastating but in a good way.

So yea those are my messy thoughts after finishing it. I'd argue that it was probably one of the best pieces of queer media to exist at the time. In the world. And one of my personal favorite pieces of queer media ever.

[hello-nichya-here]

Concerning Friends: With Chandler being your favourite, could you explain what draws you to him? What you find interesting in his character, in his development? Love hearing your takes on..well, literally everything 🤍

Gladly!

Chandler Bing Appreciation

Humor

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Chandler is "He's the funniest of the cast", and considering the competition he had, that's a pretty big accomplishment. I'm a sucker for sarcastic jokes, and Chandler was the king of it. I always liked how he could think of hilarious replies to literally everything everyone said so fast, and his way of delivering the jokes was so specific to him that even the show itself poked fun at it.

And I loved how, just like he was quick to make jokes at everyone else's expense, he also did it to himself, which showed both that he could take a joke AND that he was very insecure. To quote one of my favorite exchanges between him and Rachel (that I totally don't relate to on a spiritual level)

R: You should never be allowed to talk to people! C: I'm sure you're right, but why?!

Him being Joey's best friend also created a lot of naturally funny moments because Joey was way more confident, and far dumber, than Chandler, so one of them is always being the butt of a joke just by being next to the other.

I promise this whole thing won't be just quotes, but nothing better exemplifies what I mean quite like this bit of dialogue when they're discussing possibly having a threesome with a girl, and flipping a coin to decide on which end each will be:

J: What's heads and what's tails? C: If you don't know that, then I don't wanna do this with you.

But my absolute favorite thing about the jokes written for Chandler was that they often poked fun at the show itself, like him responding to Monica giving him a key to her appartment with "Door hasn't been locked in five years, but okay", or making fun of typical Ross and Rachel drama, or just point out how completely absurd some of the situations they got into was, like when Ross was murdering everyone's ears while playing bagpipes for Chandler and Monica's wedding.

M: Why is your family scottish? C: Why is your family Ross?

The guy also looked funny. I've seen one of the directors say Matthew was always aware of the camera, and it shows, because he is always doing something, even in the background, mainly funny faces to react to what the other five are doing. And that led to lots of improv on his part, and you can actually see some of the other actors breaking character in the background because they couldn't hold back the laughter.

His physical comedy was great, and nothing puts a smile on my face quite like seeing Chandler make a joke just a little bity funnier by jumping up when reacting to stuff, or doing a little dance out of the blue - or even better, reacting to stuff that was not supposed to happen. One of my favorite exemples of it in the whole show is him and Rachel (a criminally underused comedic duo of the show) in her office, with him trying to convince her to uncuff him after he hooked up with her boss, and Matthew's face just breaks me every single time I see it.

Combine his habit of playing off of EVERYTHING with the improvs both from him and co-stars, and you have little moments like this one in which Ross gets a call from his second (ex) wife and Matthew just reacts to David's improv on instinct, then doesn't know what to do next:

Seriously: could he be more iconic?

Trauma, Insecurities & Awkwardness

For all of his hilarity, Chandler also had quite a lot of emotional baggage that he often either refused to deal with or didn't know how to deal with.

His parents were a disaster, with the dad cheating, the mom hooking up with one of his friends when he was already very uncomfortable with how much he (and everyone) knew about her sex-life and sexual fantasies - to the point that Chandler legitimately thought it was normal for kids to have seen orgies - and, more importantly, he was told about ALL the drama of their messy divorce, and even at his wedding they were at each other's throats.

He went through a lot as a child and naturally that affected how he acted as an adult, making him a messy, flawed, sympathetic character. It was easy not to judge him too much for things like his deeply dysfunctional on-again off-again relationship with Janice, or the moments of immaturity/anxiety in his romance with Monica - especially because he did make progress and grew a lot.

But the dude was also a mess in other (deeply relatable) ways. He flew to Yemen to avoid telling his ex he didn't want to get back together. He lied to said ex about still having feelings for her/wanting to have an affair so she wouldn't show up at his wedding/move to the house next to his. He lied about not being able to come home and was actually gonna let Joey think Monica was cheating, just to not have to tell his best friend that he wanted to spend the night with his wife instead of hanging out. This man let a co-worker call him by the wrong name for months, got in the way of him getting a promotion, then helped the dude trash his office - all to avoid going through the awkwardness of correcting him.

There's a reason he said stuff like "What must it be like not to be crippled by fear and self-loathing?"

A Caring Friend

Even though Chandler didn't think very highly of himself, another thing that made him a personal favorite for me is that he clearly had a very kind, loving side.

He invited both of his parents to his wedding even after all the shit they pulled. His goodbye to Rachel at the end of the show broke my heart in a million little pieces because he was just so sweet to her. He and Joey were so close they were practically a couple, and when he fell for his girlfriend and kissed her, he not only confessed, he was willing to not go after her because he wanted to prove to Joey he'd never betray him again. There's also a "Joey room" in the house he and Monica bought at the end of the show.

Even though his romance with Janice was a mess, he was a really good boyfriend to her when she was leaving her husband for him - and then he stepped aside when Janice realized she still had feelings for the guy, so her kid would not grow up with two dysfunctional parents like he did.

Those moments made the character feel far more real and, once again, made it a lot easier for me to still feel a lot of sympathy for him even when he was in the wrong.

But come on. If we're REALLY gonna talk about Chandler's sweet, caring, understanding, mature side, we gotta talk about the person that brought it out the most.

Chandler & Monica

Mondler, Mondler, Mondler. The best couple on the show without a shadow of a doubt, and possibly one of the best sitcom couples in history. And it was the dynamic that allowed Chandler to develop as a character and let the qualities he already had be front and center in many episodes.

Before the writers even considered pairing them up, we already Chandler offer to be her boyfriend/husband and father of her kids later in life if she doesn't find someone. Monica is offended the first time because why wouldn't she have found someone by then, and in the second time she just laughs because, come on, they're friends, JUST friends????? It'd neeeeever happen.

Both are played for laughs (though Monica does let him try to win her over the second time), but they already highlight some very important things:

1 - Chandler cares so much about Monica that just saying "I'm sure you'll find someone eventually" isn't enough. He has to assure her that even if nothing goes according to plan, she'll still have someone to grow old with.

2 - As early as season one, Chandler already liked and trusted Monica enough that he was not at all hesitant to suggest "Hey, maybe you and I could get together in the future and even have kids." I remind you that at that point in the story Chandler had never so much as let one of his girlfriends have a drawer with their things in his home due to his fear of commitment, and he had assumed EVERY COUPLE broke up after their first fight because pretty much none of his previous relationships survived it (except Janice, but that was more of a "They DID break up, they just got back together later" kind of deal).

And that last point is really made it so easy for audiences to get attached to their romance - which was originally only going to last a couple of episodes! They were already super comfortable with each other and were clearly compatible, which allowed their relationship to progress without the need for the neverending drama, Ross and Rachel style.

Monica was neurotic, had a serious case of OCD, could be very bossy, often needed things done ONE way and one way only - which meant Chandler always knew where he stood with her. If something was wrong, she'd tell him. If she said she was happy and loved him, he could believe her more easily because she simply could not fake it when something was bothering her.

Much like Chandler, her family life was not at all ideal (due to her parents pretty openly liking Ross more than her) and she had tons of self-esteem issues (again, because of her parents and because she used to be overweight) - but she also take a joke, or at the very least, make fun of people right back. I think Chandler related to that.

And, more importantly, their friend group had not imploded after Ross and Rachel's relationship ended very badly, twice. So Chandler just knew that, even if he and Monica didn't work out, it wouldn't be the end of the world, or of their friendship.

It made perfect sense that lots of his typical paranoia didn't affect him as much during their relationship, because by that point he just knew that Monica would always be part of his life.

But the writers also didn't make the mistake of dropping his insecurities, anxiety and even immaturity completely. They came back every now then, sometimes for jokes, other times in a more serious way.

He can't bring himself to full on say that he wants them to be exclusive right away, got way too cocky about being the best sex she ever had and thus made her mad, assumed they'd break up after the first fight, nearly gave himself a heart-attack when he accidentally said "I love you", proposed to her because he wanted them to be on good terms after a fight but didn't know how to fix things without her guiding him, pretended to storm out in Vegas with an empty bag because he just wanted to be dramatic after a fight, and he almost didn't show up at their wedding.

The fact that the writers allowed to still have flaws, took the time to have him overcome said flaws and without being judgemental of him, like Monica was wasting her time with a total loser, is one of the reasons why his character development worked so well, and why I'll defend even the worst seasons of the show.

More importantly, despite the fact Monica is the one with the more experience on how to actually have a relationship, they also let Chandler be the one be the mature one every now and again, and talk sense into her when she's being unreasonable (like when she wanted to spend ALL the money he had saved for their future on their wedding alone).

I also really like how they have HIM taking the lead in some major events for their relationship, showing not just that he cares, but that he really is growing as a character and becoming more comfortable with being an equal in the relationship, instead of just needing Monica to guide/push him or just agreeing whenever she wants to takes things to the next level.

He is the one that decides they're still in "London time", the one to first say "I love you" (twice), the one to propose in Vegas and then start the conversation about whether they should really get married once they both think it over and are afraid they're rushing into it, the one to decide it's time for them to move in together, the one to propose for real (only took the writers five fucking tries to realize "Damn, maybe they SHOULD get married"), and while Monica says she wants a baby, she does it as a joke and it's Chandler who then brings up the subject seriously.

That last one also brings us one of the sweetest, saddest moments in the entire show. Them discovering they can't have kids, and Chandler making that whole speech to the mother of the baby they want to adopt that, when the time comes, he'll figure out how to be a dad, but Monica is already a mother - without a baby.

It just showed how much he loved her and how great of a partner he was, and it was FAR from being the one time in which they remain an loveable, interesting couple to watch post-marriage (seriously, it's crazy how Friends was THE show to get both a dramatic mess of a couple that can never reconciliate until the finale AND a stable couple that is just allowed to be happy together).

Chandler getting a look at what his life would be like if Monica left him when his boss is dragging him into his mid-life crisis. Monica being all excited to show him her new boots AND allow to actually guess what's changed about her look instead of doing the obligatory sitcom thing of "Wife gets mad at the husband for petty shit", and then Chandler carrying her on his back because said boots hurt her feet (then saying the other pair she wants to buy will cost her one husband, which always cracks me up). Chandler having to move to Tulsa because of his job, them missing each other like crazy, Chandler remaining faithful when another woman makes a move on him and quitting his job because he just wants to be with his wife, who is then super supportive of him when he's unsure of what to do in his professional life from then on - which of course, leads to this great joke.

M: I want you to have a job that you love, not statistical analysis and data reconfiguration. C: I quit and you learn what I do?

(And in case anyone is wondering, yes, I had to google what his job was because I forgot too)

They're simply an incredible couple that I would gladly watch doing the dishes together, and their relationship being so well-written was one of the best things that could have happened to Chandler's characterization because the show deconstructed and evolved it without betraying the core of who Chandler Bing was.

Also their romance led to the iconic episode of everyone finding out and messing with each other about it, and thus the scene of him and Phoebe trying to "seduce each other." I want to find the genius who wrote that scene in particular and send them a thank you card because it was the best thing in the whole world and I'll cherish it forever.

Matthew Perry, The Absolute Legend

Naturally, I have to end this post by remembering the guy that brought this amazing character to life.

Like I said before, he was always aware of the camera and making sure even the smallest reaction was funny for the audience. Like the other main actors, his charisma made good scenes great, and bad/mediocre scenes enjoyable - and whenever the script gave him something truly excellent to work with, he'd do it perfectly and make it all the more special.

He also stopped the writers from commiting THE biggest mistake they could have ever made: In the season 5 finale, after discovering Monica had lunch with her ex, he was supposed to cheat on her in Vegas, basically copying the Ross and Rachel break up drama of season 3. The actor asked them to change the script because he felt it would make everyone hate his character, sparing the audience of more unecessary drama and giving us the super cute almost-wedding in Vegas, that they chicken out of like two dorks, and then leads to them moving in together.

Matthew Perry was gave this role everything he had, even while going through really dark times, and in doing so he made millions of fans happy all over the world - and he'll be dearly missed.

[fategoflatass]

My Winter 2024 Watchlist & Opinions

The feared time has come. After avoiding this post like the plague, I finally put myself to write my pretty unnecessary thoughts on this season that's departing next week or so.

Admittely, it wasn't that big of a deal, but that might be because the bigger titles will come out the following season? (Should I also make a post about that?)

Anyway, let's get started!

Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu 2nd Season

Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆☆

CW: cringey teenagers

Here, we one again get to follow our favorite middle school duo—the edgy boy and the gluttony in human form—as they grow up and find out just how complicated being a teen can be. Awkwardness, idiots and cutsie romance ensured!

This series is just so damn adorable, man! And awkward, holy fuck it can be awkward. But being a teenager is, in big part, going through the cringiest phases possible to cleanse the karma of a lifetime, so is that a bad quality or an amazing depiction of real life?

Anyway, my guys are back and I can't explain just how happy I am about it! I'm usually not that fond of school romances since, well, they tend to be too immature for what I'm currently looking for. This was made especially obvious since I began watching more and more series centered around adult characters.

But this series is quite different—they're immature, yes, but it's not as annoying as they tend to be. You know why? Because they found out about this thing called communication. Yes, they're not the greatests at it, but at least they're trying!

I've been thinking on checking the manga out, although I haven't decided yet. If anyone here has read it/is up to date, should I get into it or wait until next season comes out?

BUCCHIGIRI?!

Action, Supernatural // ☆☆

CW: big ammounts of cringe

Arajin Tomoshibi's reunion with his old pal Matakara Asamine takes an unexpected turn when they stumble into a brawl with the toughest guys in town. And just when you thought things couldn't get weirder, a colossal genie decides to drop in. Brace yourself for the ultimate showdown. It's the clash of the cool and the magical!

(Yes, I stole the summary from AniList. Couldn't bother to write something down for this one).

This series comes from Utsumi Hiroko—the same woman who worked on Free! and Banana Fish, the mind behind SK8; one of my biggest comfort shows. And honestly, it shows!

Because BUCCHIGIRI?! is an amalgamation of all her previous ones.

You have the childhood friend pair composed of the Gentle Giant™ (who's quite literally Makoto 2.0, personality and appareance wise) and a dude who has only one goal in life—for Haru, it was to swim free style. For Arajin, is to get laid. And no, I'm not kidding.

Then you get the delinquents (I refuse to call them gangs. They remind me too much to the Tokyo Revengers guys, and I despise that show) and their corresponding leaders—the fruity freak (who I love, ngl) with the obssesive, brocon little sister (who I despise, ngl), the big ass bitch whose age's unknown but seems too old to be hanging around teens, and later on we get a guy who reminds me a lot of Jamil from Twisted Wonderland only that he's utterly pathetic, a professional crybaby and, overall, unbearable—entirely different from my totally cool and more than respectable guy.

There's not much to say about the rest of the cast since they're forgettable to a fault, having little to not charisma. Expect for the skirt guy, he's neat.

When it comes to the supernatural side of things, ugh. The dude who follows Arajin around is exasperating and so cringey I tend to skip fowards when I know a joke—the joke, the only thing he knows besides fighting—is coming.

Speaking of which, the fight scenes are cool, MAPPA doing their best as always. I just wish they would beat up Arajin more often (and that he didn't have to scream his primal urges every time he's going for a punch).

And, for fuck's sake, don't get me started on Arajin. He's the worst protagonist this woman has ever come out with—zero charisma, a total asshole, a terrible friend, and a guy who'd make you want to die if he ever got a crush on you.

I'll cut it here since it's getting too long and I don't wanna get into spoiler territory (in case anyone cares about that), but yeah. I don't recommend, at all. Go watch her other shows instead.

Dungeon Meshi

Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy // ☆☆☆¾

CW: blood, death, violence

While exploring a dungeon, the adventurer Laios and his party are confronted by and lose against a red dragon—they're left without money, provisions and Laios' sister. But not everything is lost, since they can still save her while the creature digests its food. The problem is, they can't fight with an empty stomach!

The best show of the season, hands down. Not like it had much competition to begin with, but anyway.

When I first heard about the show's plot, I admit it, it didn't call me at all. But certain someone (*cough* @arataka-reigen *cough*) convinced me to give it a try. And here we are!

Honestly, I haven't had a laugh like this with an anime in so long! Not only because of the jokes, but the characters are perfectly designed for the viewer to laugh with and, most importantly, at them. I actually have the theory that they're the ones responsible for the BUCCHIGIRI?! cast's lack of charisma. I mean, they had to steal it from somewhere—is too much!

From what I know, more characters are yet to appear (I saw a catgirl and, as a cat lover, I just gotta see the catgirl) and the story gets darker with time (in case episode eleven wasn't enough hint for you).

I can't wait to see what this story has to offer next!

Gekai Elise

Comedy, Fantasy, Romance // ☆☆½

CW: tracheotomies without gloves

In seek of redemption, Takamoto Aoi becomes a doctor to help those who she would've either mistreated or ignored in her past life. Sadly, she gets involved in a plane crash and dies—only to wake up as her past self, ten years before her demise! She'll now look to become a surgeon once again, in the hopes of changing her fate.

If I had to describe it with one word, it would be meh.

The characters, the plot, the romance—it's all pretty average. A wet piece of cardboard is way more interesting than the entire cast and the story put together. The love story is whatever, not engaging enough to get me interested on their scenes.

What I would've liked is if they went on and changed the affections names for something more fantasy-ish or that has to do with the world in which they live in—I highly doubt these people knew about the existence of Dr. James Parkinson, so why would they name a disease after him? That sorta thing, you know?

But anyways, basic ass story with basic ass characters, and I'm a fool for having given it a chance.

And if I may ask, where the hell is the lamp?!

HIGH CARD Season 2

Action, Fantasy // ☆☆½

CW: cultural appropiation (?), blood, some violence

The High Card team keeps on fighting to mantain peace in the city, all meanwhile some of its members are still dealing with past consequences. But when new trouble surrounding the cards surges, they have to get to work to save the day once again!

Look, if the summary ain't shit is mainly because this show has me so uninspired. The only reason why I didn't steal it from AniList is because it doesn't have one.

In case anyone wonders why I'm still watching this show, same. I guess season one wasn't that bad for me to go and drop it, so I decided to give it a second chance. Do I regret it? Mmh, kinda.

To be honest, it's not entirely bad. I mean, it's certainly worst than its predecessor, but it had an interesting section that had me paying a little more attention than usual for like, two episodes or so. And then it lost me again.

The section I'm talking about is around episodes five to seven, where—and spoiling as little as I can—things get rather dramatic. It felt like a cry for help disguised as character growth that did nothing, absolutely nothing, to the characters themselves. They could've skipped those episodes and it would've been business as usual.

In the first two episodes we get introduced to his superhero-like guy who loves spitting random words in Spanish and, no, he's not even Hispanic. Then, he proceeded to not appear for the rest of the season. At least for now, we're currently in episode ten. But even if he were to appear once again, I don't think there's enough time to develop him or create a plot surrounding his cringey ass.

Also, and this might be petty as hell: they never explain why the cards look like the poker ones? I mean, they shared the lore behind them, yet that didn't explain this? How did they come out with the cards' and combination's names if they're supposed to not be poker related?

Hime-sama, "Goumon" no Jikan desu

Comedy, Fantasy // ☆☆¼

CW: none

Amidst the war between their kingdoms, the Princess is captured and imprisoned by the demons alongside her mythical sword and companion, Excalibur. It all seems grim for these two but, when the time comes around, the demons' torture methods seem a bit... gourmet?

I came into this show solely because of the trailer. What can I say? It looked nice. And to be honest, the entires series does.

These type of shows don't tend to be my cup of tea, but I thought it could turn out to be something similar to Maou-jou de Oyasumi—something that doesn't catch me at first, yet its second half leaves me wanting some more of those charismatic characters (Twilight my beloved).

The problem here is that God, it's repetitive. This series has one sole formula and will repeat it till the end of times, with barely some exceptions.

As LunarEquinox would put it, "it not her being tortured, it's you being tortured by repitition".

Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san

Comedy, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆½

CW: none

Planet Earth and its habitants are in danger; they've become the main target of an evil intergalactic organization who seeks to rule the world! The Rangers do everything in their power to defend the citizens from the General—but today's his day off.

Another fluffly, non plot-centric series. But this one I'm quite fond of.

I guess it's because I really like the «gap moe» concept? The difference between the protagonist's intimidating and powerful look at work and his casual, awkward and panda-obsessed self once he's home it's pretty adorable. It's like he goes from being a lion to one of those long ass domestic cats who'd let you hold him if close enough—only that I think he's supposed to be a lizard(?) of some sorts.

But it's not only him; you also get to see his coworkers with are all very formidable, and even the Rangers themselves. Red having no sense of orientation whatsoever is too relatable, I hate it here.

Not much to say, really. It's just a show about a long ass dude on a trenchcoat whose (most probably, undiagnosed) autism gets him to buy anything panda-related. If he were to become the ruler of the new world, I wouldn't oppose to it.

Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimamana Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsu Suru

Fantasy, Romance // ☆☆☆¾

CW: violence, mentions of war

Rishe Irmgard Weitzner, a duke's daughter, has lived many lives—and it's not a saying. For the past few decades, she's been trapped in a timeloop where her engagement gets called off at age fifteen and, from then fowards, she's decided to go down different paths. A merchant, a doctor, a maid—whatever called her attention. Is in her seventh time she become subject of the affections of infamous crown prince, Arnold Hein—the very same man who'd killed her in one of her past lives as a knight. When he asks Rishe to become his wife, she decides to utilize her every skill to avoid the upcoming war.

This one's different from the others, in the sense that I wasn't there when the first episode premiered. I guess it hadn't caught my attention (and the way they colored the hairs looked so bad to me at times, and still does). But again, certain someone began posting about it and I couldn't help myself.

I found this series to be a tad more interesting than the average female public-centric fantasy series. They actually cared to build an appealing plot with its politics and all, while also giving us an attractive main couple whose chemistry is quite nice. I like it when the characters banter, they go back and forth a little bit, but still show feelings for each other—is entertaining, isn't it?

While it's not my favorite series from this season, I do find it highly recommendable—independently of whether you're already into this type of shows or you'd like to give them a try.

Majo to Yajuu

Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy // ☆☆

CW: violence, blood

A guy carrying a coffin alongside his companion appear in a town, searching for the witch who cursed her and fighting some others in the meantime.

I love dark fantasy stories, so when I stumbled upon this show it grabbed my attention almost immediately. The whole concept of wiches, curses and different types of magic has always been a concept I quite enjoy. When it's well done, that is.

What Majo to Yajuu brings to the table is an uninspired series that unapologetically grabs concepts from other stories similar in concept, and doesn't even try to do anything new with them. The magic system is has is so average and uninteresting, and the same happens with the different conflicts that surround the main plot.

And even when it is supposed to have a more mature tone, there are times where they spoon feed you basic information as if you were too stupid to comprehend the intricacies of something you've seen multiple times—not even in other places, but in the same show, even the same episode.

The characters are heavily boring, the main duo being the most salvable of all. They do have some chemistry, but it's just not enough.

Anyways, just another letdown.

Metallic Rouge

Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi // ☆½

CW: violence

In a future where humankind coexists with androids called Neans, a group of them known as the Immortal Nine rises to cause havoc in society. Rouge, a Nean, alongside investigator Naomi are tasked with going all the way to Mars to stop them.

Also known as Bones' 25th Anniversary project, Metallic Rouge arrived to put many interesting question on the table—question that have been talked about multiple times in movies and series revolving androids and robots, yet is always cool to see what different authors have to say about the matter.

Sadly, the way they decide to manage the story is quite futile when it comes to enjoyment. That is, they decided to take the "show, don't tell" narrative route—something we've seen in series like Tengoku Daimakyou, and damn if it worked there. The thing is that this narration style is rather complicated, and can't be saved if done wrong.

Well, guess what happened?

Whether it's the scripwriters' fault or not, I've no idea. The only thing I know for sure is that they fucked up. The give you little to no information, which doesn't help the viewer to try solving the mystery by themselves nor succeeds at keeping them engaged. The only thing attractive enough are the fight scenes, but they become more are more scarse as the episodes go on. Is then when the staff realizes they messed things up, and as a result you get episode nine—a huge ass info dump, with twists that no one would've been able to guess since they hadn't given us enough hints to even get a hunch of what could be going on.

An absolute mess and a masterful class on how not to do things.

Ninja Kamui

Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi // ☆☆☆¾

CW: death, fire, blood, violence

Higan is a retired ninja who lives in hiding with his family in rural America. One night, assassins from his former organization end up slaughtering both his wife and son due to him breaking their ancient code. Now seeking for revenge, Higan goes back to his old ways in the means to make them pay.

This one is such a wild ride! From the same director who worked on Jujutsu Kaisen's first season, we get an action-packed revenge series.

Yes, it might not be the most original or complex plot of all times, yet that's not its main focus. What it is its main focus are the fight scenes which are absolutely amazing, so fluid and entertaining. You won't be able to take your eyes from the screen!

Even then, the characters are compelling enough for you to either root for them or hope for the hero to end their lives once and for all.

This series is an absolute banger and no one should sleep on it!

Ore dake Level Up na Ken

Action, Adventure, Fantasy // ☆☆½

CW: death, violence, blood, edgelords

After being slaughtered by monsters in a dungeon that was far from matching his rank, Jinwoo, or "the weakest Hunter of all" as called by many others, wakes up only to find out he now that the "System" by his side. This program that only he can see will help him do the impossible—level up.

So here we are, huh.

The biggest anime this season, and it's a fucking power fantasy with extra steps. I swear to God...

Jinwoo is a boring ass piece of wet cardboard, which is meant for the viewer to find it easier to self-insert as him. Those around him are either beings with no personality at all, default mean guys, or the love interest that just has to be there to tell us just how cool and attractive the protagonist has become—not like we needed her for that, since everyone is a simp for that guy for some hell of a reason—and to be saved because she'd be dead without him.

The only thing worth your time would be the action scenes, but since they depend so much on the viewer's hype, and that mainly comes from those who root for the protagonist, it just doesn't work on me.

This shit's boring, man.

Yubisaki to Renren

Romance, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆½

CW: ableism

Yuki is just your average college student who struggles with classes as one does. One day, she gets helped in the train by an upperclassman named Itsuomi. That's when he finds out that she's actually deaf.

One of the most hyped up series from this season, and for good reasons. Not only is a shoujo—sadly, this series don't tend to get anime adaptations as often as their counterparts—, but is a rather well known one.

To the surprise of no one, this is one fluffy series! The characters are all charismatic and sweet, some more than others, and their personalities and struggles feel very human.

The romance is adorable, although I have it hard to not see Itsuomi as someone who's trying to complete a dating speedrun—might be my demi ass, but they've known each other for like, what, two to three months? And they're already dating?

Yuki's deafness is touched upon with such respect, except for when Oushi opens his fucking mouth. I don't know if it's him or the author themself who sugarcoats his ableism as if it came from sheer worry for her future, but saying deaf people should stay at home is in no way a cool thing to say or think. I doubt he'll stay like this forever, but warning you just in case it results uncomfortable for someone.

To end on a more positive note, I love the fact that they center so much around the character's lip movements! It just feels right for the themes that the series touches upon.

Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern

Action, Comedy, Mecha // ☆☆☆½

CW: violence, war, torture (it's just one scene)

In a world where the military utilizes mechas as weapons, Oahu island, where both the Japanese and American troops are located at the moment, gets attacked by an unknown, intergalatic enemy. They'll now have to join forces to defend the planet.

I think it was Mother's Basement's video that convinced me to give this show a chance and, honestly? I don't quite regret it. After all, I like parodies and mechas, so why not combine both?

Given, I haven't watched every mecha anime there is out there—and with that, I mean that I've yet to watch Gundam which I think was a major inspiration for this one series. But even if you haven't watched it either, that doesn't mean you won't get to enjoy it.

It does make references to the genre's different tropes, yeah, but it serves as a standalone. The comedy works even if it's your first mecha series since some scenes are just so absurd.

The characters are cool, each and every one of them having enough charisma for you to be able to remember them through the entire season. They all have enough chemistry with each other to make their bonds belieable.

With time, the series starts leaving the comedy aspect aside and gets more centered around its actual plot—although the laughs never truly leave. And it actually works, which I admit surprised me a bit.

A series curious enough I think you should give it a chance.

[bokettochild]

LU Opera AU

Links, Zeldas and other major characters run a moderately successful opera house/musical theater. Some are onstage, others are in the orchestra pit or are working Behind The Scenes (special effects, costuming, etc)

Wars is the headlining diva singer

I love it

I can see Four and Flora as like, the special effects crew, they handle anything and everything that isn't the actors and they're fantastic at it.

Lullaby is their director/the owner of the opera house, and Time is her trusty right hand who also acts as the choreography director and main stunt writer. He doesn't preform, but he runs the actors through their hoops before they can even think of stepping out onto the stage.

I see Wind less as a performer and more like the gopher, and Legend is less an actor and more a jack-of-all-trades. Costume department had a flummox? Call Legend, he'll fix it. One of the props is missing? Legend will find something you can use until that one shows up again. Someone's sick? Get a wig and a dress, Legend will fill in tonight. Just, dude does everything, but never consistently, and never without complaining at least a little.

Warriors would totally be a diva 100%, but he also works hard for it and puts his all into every role. Blood, sweat, and tears, baby, literally. He loves his work and will do whatever it takes to keep his role and status (short of harming someone else of course)

I see Twilight as playing one of two roles, or potentially both. He's the top stunt guy, but he also does the heavy lifting backstage and helps craft the sets with Four. Both are decent actors to boot, so if they need a large cast, both will fill in roles that suit them (Four ends up playing the villain a lot for some reason) as long as someone else can cover their asses in other departments (Flora had lights/sounds covered, no worries)

Wild is that one actor who plays random roles whenever is needed, and he's a comedy genius. My current manager's husband and I were in theater club together and he was brilliant with turning boring moments into comedy gold, and Wild does this 100%. He's best when paired with Fable (they make a good team in SMASH I hear) and they're a brilliant duo, although Legend threatens Wild about his sister a LOT.

Dusk and Artemis are both Warriors' most common co-stars (besides Twilight, Lullaby likes playing up their contrast with each other on stage) and Dusk takes an almost mentorly role with the younger woman. They and Warriors make up the Diva Trio of the group and are the ones who's names pull in teh most money. The only downside is that while Artemis and Wars can both sing, Dusk cannot and it's kinda acting as a road-block in her career.

For this reason, I can see Malon as a music coach Time hired (and is totally not falling in love with, what are you talking about) who kinda just works beside Ravio (their in house prop maker)to get this group of dedicated idiots to take care of themselves. not that Time's sisters and brothers (Saria and the others) don't try, but they don't work there.

Honestly, i'm running out of ideas. But to finish off Sky would be Time's best student. I mean, his sword-fighting and stunts are through the roof (sometimes literally) and he enjoys most of his work. maybe because he has a sword-fighting instructor outside of work (Fi) but that's beside the point.

Hyrule is the new kid who signed on to help Legend and Ravio with props and costumes and stuff, but he's like, really talented and crap and all the teams are trying to poach him from Leg and Rav, despite how fiercely protective of him they are. He's not exactly comfortable with the idea of performing yet, but everyone is trying to have him at least try (were this a story, warriors would try and coach him, end up mysteriously and plot-relevantly sick/injured and Hyrule would have to heroically step up and fill his role because Legend can't for some reason)

....

Okay that's all I got, sorry for the dump, but inspiration hit me like a lightning bolt to Legend's boat

[lingeringscars]

top 5 yj dynamics

fuck you <;3 @wilderchose also asked

shauna x tai x nat. this is the biggest cheating thing i could have ever done. their adult dynamic and scenes together are perfect and comedy genius. their scenes together in the teen timeline are petty and beautiful. and it has the added bonus of including: shauna x tai, shauna x nat, tai x nat. three of the best dynamics of the show. shaunatai i talk about in a post scheduled for tomorrow, shaunanat i also talk about there. but basically people who know each other and understand each other and love each other and also hate each other. then there is tainat which is also sooo fascinating. they stayed in (relative) contact because tai funding nat's rehab. tai throwing money at a problem and hoping it will go away but never turning her back on nat. getting her out of shit situations with travis, helping her on her feet, bailing her out every time except the last. nat calling tai not for the money but because tai is someone she knows she can go to. someone she trusts. and the one number she has still. they are the trio. and each duo is so important. they fit together and apart. they are number 1 to me.

shauna x travis. hi <3 shauna and travis not really interacting yet they live forever in my head. shauna being around and helping javi in a much more gentle approach than that by travis, only for this to switch in s2 where shauna ignores javi and travis is the one being gentle with him. shauna giving javi outlets, travis holding a piece of that. shuana losing jackie to the snow, travis losing javi to ice water. them finding and holding them in the same place. the most important person to them coming to the wilderness being lost to them because of their own actions (maybe you should leave; get lost). shauna hearing about travis' death and completley shutting down. travis starting the prayer circle. travis. starting. the. prayer. circle. travis. someone who is not as deeply connected to the wilderness as some of the others. starting. the circle. for shauna. crying. for shauna. doing this. for shauna. they are soooooooooooooooooooooo. they truly understand each other in a way no one else ever will, too.

shauna x jackie. they mess me up. there are so many misperceptions in their relationship, it's truly so juicy. shauna swallowing and never giving jackie a chance to explain or come back, just piling all this resentment. jackie loving shauna more than anyone else that she doesn't see how her comments are hurtful (making the quality you love about someone about herself; wear the boob dress, these are our dorm colors). jackie who couldn't conceive a world where her and shauna weren't together. shauna who make sure that she would never live in a world without jackie after she dies. also they have this giant, friendship ending fight, and in society they may have come back from that some day, but in the wilderness, jackie died for it, and how is that not the most fascinating thing to ever happen?

mari x akilah. this is probably number 2 but i needed to get my shuana thoughts out there while i was at it. her dynamics are, as you can see, something i rotate in my head all the time. i think they are so fascinating because they weren't close, barely knew each other, and just happened to sit next to each other on the plane, yet they became so vital to each other. they slept next to each other that first night and almost every night since. mari goes to akilah for comfort; they make decisions together because they are a team. mari wants to help akilah cheat, akilah stops clinging to return to help mari with the present. mari needs akilah's support, but she also loves her as a person. they went from never or barely speaking to being everything to each other like shut up??? some of this is developed but it's also so clear that they mean so much to each other sorry. they're always together, super close, mari goes to her all the time and looks to her when she isn't right beside her whenever something happens.

travis x javi. the fact that they were not supposed to be there, that they were not part of the team, and that they were only there because of their father who died at the very start is going to haunt travis forever and it GETS me. travis who can't show outward kindness to his brother, javi who tries to sit with travis on the plane, who is so fascinated and just wants to be let in by travis, and now he'll never be let in again (except in the very literal way). travis digging up his father for a gift for javi that he can't explain. travis pissing people off to try to care for javi the best that he knows how. javi disappearing, travis blaming himself, and travis searching every day for months, hoping, wishing, waiting, wanting. javi coming back, the relief in their hugs that they were safe only for that to be ripped away. losing his brother twice, losing his brother every day after. doomed from the start because they were never supposed to be there but also belong nowhere else. GOD!!!!

bonus for dynamics that really fascinate me but maybe are not actually top 5 and just intrigue me and i want to develop more in rp and also see more in show. also ones i do not rotate in my head as much but i do think about: van x nat. a lot of my connection to them is from the original script and i think there is so much there. mari x van. mari x laura lee. mari x tai. mari x travis. the quad of mari x akilah x van x laura lee for bg chars you see interacting and are important to me. akilah x laura lee. akilah x van. akilah x shauna. special mention to gen and melissa, a comedy duo. shauna x van. i considered really hard and ultimately decided not to place this one in there. so much that it is this far down because i had it there. i think ultimately it came off because it fell flat (to me) a little in s2. i think shauna trying to rescue van despite being in a haze and trying to go back when she realizes what happened and the conflict that sparked there with jackie is so fascinating. i also think that their hug in 1x07 is so important to me. adult van throwing shauna's keys away is a comedy. i just want More. tai x akilah. another one i was debating before putting the martinez brothers. i love their connection. i think they're so important, and i don't need to talk about how akilah influences tai because you do that for me. sadecki family almost made it because god how fascinating they are. also callie x jackie who will never meet but callie who is so influenced by who jackie was. lottie lee / lottie nat. the only 2 lottie ships i have. they are very important to me and i was actually v surprised (spoilers) that lottie/nat didn't make my top 5 ships because i was v sure it would (lottie/lee did. spoilers). nat/jackie another one that got taken off my ship lists. i think i'm just a little removed from them rn but they hooked up in my head. jackie seeing nat as someone unafraid to be herself while jackie is so petrified. they make me AHHHH. not me forgetting taivan i am a mess. they're also on my ship list. i think they have such a compelling dynamic and i DO think about them a lot but ultimately shuana dynamics win out here & i needed to include my tragic siblings help TRAV NAT WERE GONNA BE ON THIS LIST OOPS. i've written about them before and how entwined their stories are and how they need each other and also can't be around each other. javi in the center of them.

ultimately, the really beautiful thing about this show and rp in general is getting to build on connections that aren't really established that much, so there are so many dynamics that absolutely fascinate me, but i went with the ones that i rotate in my head a lot or consistently come back to. and despite this giant ass list i still feel like i am missing dynamics that live in my head.

ask me my top 5 anything // always accepting

[sassybluee]

Dramas in 2023 roundup!

It's midway thru January, but it's never too late to reflect on the year before. I think I watched the most dramas I've ever had this past year, so I wanted to write a little roundup with my thoughts.

Here's an overview of the ones I completed!

Unchained Love (2022) ⭐️ 7.5

I've Fallen for You (2020) ⭐️ 8

Miss the Dragon (2021) ⭐️ 7

The Rational Life (2021) ⭐️ 9

Till the End of the Moon (2023) ⭐️8.5

A Romance of the Little Forest (2022) ⭐️ 7

Back from the Brink (2023) ⭐️ 8.5

The Starry Love (2023) ⭐️ 7.5

The Wolf (2020) ⭐️ 8.5

My Journey to You (2023) ⭐️ 8

Never Give Up (2023) ⭐️ 8.5

Ancient Love Poetry (2021) ⭐️ 9

Destined With You (2023) ⭐️ 7.5

Here are the ones I placed on hold/dropped

Legend of Anle

Love You Seven Times

Love in Flames of War

Only for Love (dropped)

The Snow Moon (dropped)

More detailed thoughts below the cut!

Unchained Love (2022) ⭐️ 7.5

Part palace drama, part comedy, this was a fun ride. I really liked watching the relationship between Bu Yinlou and Xiao Duo develop from friendship into romance. The comedy moments were really well done, and had me actually laughing out loud. The fight sequences were also really well done, and I liked the costumes. However, the last five or so episodes had such an abrupt tonal shift, and there were some questionable decisions made by otherwise smart characters, so it kind of fell flat at the end. BUT I would still watch it again, just maybe just skip the last eps.

I've Fallen for You (2020) ⭐️ 8

I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did. The basic concept is: childhood sweethearts try to find their way back to each other, end up married after a strange series of events, but they aren't sure their spouse is the childhood sweetheart they're looking for. It's silly, cute, and very good fun. I really liked the secondary couple as well. The ending managed to make me very emotional, which surprised me. And I enjoyed that the heroine was a fan of doing autopsies (something that does occasionally become plot-relevant).

Miss the Dragon (2021) ⭐️ 7

Okay, first off, I know this one has a reputation of being a bad drama. And tbh, I agree! Objectively, it's not very good. HOWEVER! The viewing experience? Was so fun. The characters? Very entertaining. The frenemy dynamic between the ML and 2ndML? Hilarious and also a bit gay. The FL is a bit flat, but she does develop more personality through her various reincarnations. My fave life of hers was the 3rd, I believe (the lady general arc). Wang Hedi's acting is not the best but I still think he's very cute lol and he's watchable! It's just maybe not what you'd expect from him if you saw CLJ or The Rational Life first.

The Rational Life (2021) ⭐️ 9

Yes, this was for a bit of a palate cleanser after the overall ride that was Miss the Dragon. I wasn't sure if I'd be into the modern cdrama genre cuz fantasy/historical is more my preferred vibe of media, HOWEVER, I wanted to give it a shot because I'd seen some cute gifs. I really loved it, far more than I expected to. Every character was really well done, and I really liked how the story was centred on women's experiences in various workplaces/times in their life. It also gave me age gap brainrot, I won't lie. I loved the gradual build from coworkers to friendship to romance with Qi Xiao and Shen Ruoxin. I will say tho... I would like to know what whoever dressed Wang Hedi in this show was thinking. Some of those outfits were... a choice lol.

Till the End of the Moon (2023) ⭐️ 8.5

Everyone has seen or at least heard about it at this point. Dare I say it's iconic? I won't lie, my rating upon finishing it was lower. I had issues with the pacing in parts and I found the last episodes difficult to get thru because they just didn't capture my attention the way the beginning of the drama did. However, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. Plus, the performances by Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu are amazing. And I really feel they embody the "enemies to lovers" trope better than anyone!

A Romance of the Little Forest (2022) ⭐️ 7

Tbh... this show deserves less than a 7, but I rated it as such because I love my queen Xinxin, and her chemistry with Zhang Binbin was good. I think this would've worked better as a 24-episode drama, as the last couple plot arcs felt kind of tacked on. It's great if you want to see Yu Shuxin in various adorable outfits and a fun fake dating plot, but maybe stopping midway is good enough. Fair warning, the second couple's storyline was awful on several levels. Essentially, the man lies about being in a wheelchair to garner sympathy with his crush, who herself is partially Deaf. Yeah, it's BAD. Just skip all their scenes.

Back from the Brink (2023) ⭐️ 8.5

I really enjoyed this, especially how silly it could be. They really amped up the humour, and to me that worked well. At the same time, there were also some very heartfelt moments that made me tear up. I really liked the side couples as well, they were all quite likeable. It was just a really fun show from beginning to end.

The Starry Love (2023) ⭐️ 7.5

I really enjoyed this, up until the last arc. I found after that, it dragged a bit. To be honest, it dragged a bit in earlier parts too. What saved it for me was the humour, the relationship between the two sisters, the Void Realm subplots, and the adorable Di Lanjue. Unfortunately, Yetan/Youqin didn't really do much for me, but I still found them enjoyable at times.

The Wolf (2020) ⭐️ 8.5

This was a surprise for me. I didn't expect I'd like it much going in, but I still wanted to give it a try for my guy Xiao Zhan. I'd tried watching it before when it first aired, but I found the first couple episodes too cheesy. I still found them incredibly cheesy this time, but after about midway through episode 3 when the main plot kicked off, I found myself really invested. Fair warning, Xiao Zhan only shows up in episode 11, so if you're watching it just for him, you may be disappointed. Fortunately, I found myself invested in all the characters quite a bit. If you like messy toxic bitches, this is the drama for you. Warning: there was an attempted rape scene I found quite uncomfortable (though it's not played as being romantic, thankfully). There are a couple other dubcon incidents I wasn't a huge fan of, and one character has a miscarriage. Just things to keep in mind before viewing.

My Journey to You ⭐️ 8

Where do I even start here? Once again, I probably should rate it lower, because the story itself is a mess. HOWEVER, the characters, aesthetics, and cinematography are all excellent. The characters are really what stayed with me the most, and the episode focusing on Yun Que was devastating in all the best ways. The beginning episodes were also fantastic, the way the story unfurled. It just became clear in the latter half of the series that the writer had written himself into a corner and didn't know how to get out. Frustrating, but I don't regret my journey with this show (heh, get it). It's for that reason I'm not sure I can ever rec it to anyone, but I'll gladly talk about it to anyone who will listen.

Never Give Up (2023) ⭐️ 8.5

This was a fun office sitcom-style drama that I really breezed through after the horror show that was MJTY. Lighthearted with short episodes, it was very enjoyable. If you've ever worked in an office, you can probably relate. Once again, I'd like to speak with whoever dressed Wang Hedi cuz they made some interesting choices lol.

Ancient Love Poetry (2021) ⭐️ 9

Another surprise for me. I had tried the first episodes a while back and found it a bit dense, but restarting it this year I found it a lot more interesting. Maybe having more xianxia general knowledge helped me out. It was a really beautifully done drama. The CGI and sets were all superb. There was a whole host of characters to get invested in as well. It was a truly epic story from start to finish.

Destined With You (2023) ⭐️ 7.5

The one Kdrama on this list! I really loved the two actors, their chemistry, and the plot in general, but the pacing in the middle took me out a bit. I would still recommend watching it, as there was lots to enjoy. The modern with magic elements were really intriguing, as was the concept of past lives. I also like that the ML and 2ndML work together instead of constantly butting heads once it becomes clear who the FL will pick. The flashbacks to the past life were also really interesting--I wish we'd had more of that tbh! I'll definitely be looking out for both actors in other dramas!

As for the shows I placed on hold, I will likely stop lying to myself and drop them. But I might give them another shot before doing so. I'm still really disappointed by Only for Love, but I couldn't bring myself to finish it. Not even the power of Didi and Bai Lu could make me do it. It just got too frustrating.

Now, I'm currently watching Story of Kunning Palace, Royal Rumours, and The Last Immortal. I'm not super sold on the last 2, but SOKP has really grabbed me by the throat (just like Xie Wei to Jiang Xuening) so I'm glad to be starting the year off strong!

[sushicha]

I'm feeling very grateful for Shourtney right now! This has nothing to do with the ship, but everything to do with Shayne and Courtney and how they've helped me grow as a person!

So growing up, my parents weren't very strong influences in my personal development, so I always tell people I was practically raised by the internet and was obsessed with YouTube since I was 8 years old (I'm 24 now...). But I've spent so much of my life surfing through garbage trying to find positive influences. There were times I was almost sucked into the alt-right pipeline, and even though I was eventually guided to the left, I made it through so much shit that I'm still unpacking a lot of the bullshit I consumed...

Rediscovering Smosh and the cast was a GODSEND! Not only is Smosh non-problematic and left-leaning, it's a COMEDY GROUP? Y'all have no idea how rare that is... so many creators out there whose sense of humor is being as offensive and edgy as possible. I just like silly content, dude. And Smosh is IT, man. Their stuff was cool back when it was Ian and Anthony, but modern Smosh is just SOOOOO good 😭

I was in an extremely toxic work environment for the last 4 years (toxic masculinity, homophobia, racism, misogyny, you name it...), and I'm so glad I rediscovered Smosh around that time. I became obsessed and watched everything they put out because it was in such stark contrast to the environment I was in.

Shayne became my biggest influence because he's so outwardly not a toxic masculine man. Very respectful, very understanding, very uplifting, just trying to make everyone laugh and feel good about themselves. I know he's pretty traditionally masculine, but I'm also that way and I just can't stand how many men get sucked into this idea of never showing emotion, never being vulnerable, hating the powerless, hating anything remotely considered feminine... he's none of that. I've spent my entire adult life trying to purge all my internalized misogyny and toxic traits (it's not easy!) and he's been such a great influence in that way. And his influence over my sense of humor has been GALACTIC. His humor isn't at anyone's expense but (sometimes) himself, and that's the best way to be funny is to just be as silly and ironic of an entertainer as possible. It's everything I aspire to be. I just wish he dressed a little better sometimes, LMAO 💀

If Shayne is my yang, Courtney is my yin! Courtney represents everything I've come to love and appreciate about personal growth, self-expression, and femininity (even though I know they're NB). They're SO weird and SO not afraid to be themself, even at the risk of seeming "cringe". But I freaking love it, dude! It takes so much pressure off of trying to be perfect and fit into everyone's box, and I think that's what makes them so funny and entertaining! They're so... authentic. And Courtney's always the one to uplift the vibes, to bounce off people's energy, to bring out everyone's potential. They have this natural charisma that makes it insanely difficult not to want them to be in every video. And they've grown SO MUCH in the last 4 years! You would think 2018 Courtney vs. 2022 Courtney are completely different people! Getting to witness that change in real-time was soooo epic. And them understanding their own identity helped me reevaluate my own understanding of gender, masculinity, and femininity. I'm still cishet, but I think it's important that everyone have a thorough understanding of themselves and Courtney got me to explore those questions more than I ever would have.

Putting Shayne and Courtney in a room together makes actual magic, y'all. Everything I just said about them individually, put that TOGETHER. PLACE AN EXPONENT AT THE END OF THAT SHIT 👏 They bring out the best in each other, and it makes for some of the most entertaining shit. Like yes, I'm a Shourtney shipper, but dating or not, they are an unrivaled duo and I'm here for every minute of it.

Y'all, I was DEVASTATED when they cancelled Smoshcast. I listened to it every week at work because it was so refreshing listening to such intelligent and adorable humans talk about life vs. the sea of brainless testosterone I was drowning in 😓 AND COULD YOU IMAGINE SMOSHCAST NOW??? A BRAND NEW COURTNEY, ALL THESE NEW CAST AND CREW MEMBERS, ALL THE STORIES THEY WOULD HAVE TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME??? I get why they cancelled Smoshcast, they want to focus on other stuff, but man, it still hurts 🥺 I'M FINE

ok RANT OVER, GO AWAY 😌❤️

[bonesandthebees]

BASED OMG I LOVE TUBBO AND WILBUR SM DHFKGK dude one of my all time fav streams is the one where Wilbur googles himself and Tubbo 😭😭😭😭 I have rewatched that stream an unhealthy amount of times I just . Idk I love the comedy that comes with google just being completely wrong about ccs, it's so funny to me (also I mean. Literally they said Tubbo was blonde WHEN THEY HAD??? A PHOTO OF HIM??? WITH OBVIOUSLY BROWN HAIR??? AND THEN JUST THE LINE WITH THEM SAYING "To the average eye, he may just look like a handsome teenage boy" or whatever the phrasing was about Wilbur I JUST CANTTT ITS SO FUNNYDHFJFKDKDK AND THE WAY WILBUR READS IT ALOUD MANDJFJFKF I LOVE THAT STREAM SO MUCH)

Also Wilbur reading aloud an article on how to reheat a pizza made me laugh. Man. My humour is so broken.

(also for the crimeboysers, Wilbur talking about how he wanted to be a good role model for Tommy in that stream made me SO ILL also I find it hilarious that he had no problem with telling Tubbo about his grievances and yet for Tommy . Ough,, crimeboys (context: the ppl behind him at the Hamilton show kept kicking his seat and Wilbur didn't tell them off bc ^^wanted to be a good role model for Tommy))

Sorry I'm ill I love that stream so much

(also I had to physically restrain myself from using Wilbur and tubbos duo name . Ur so valid there are so many and it's so hard to keep up but they r also just engrained into me LMAOFHFJF)

((it's quirkyduo))

LMAO yeah those celebrity 'info' websites are so funny, I'm honestly convinced they're written by bots or something because they just get information so blatantly wrong there's no way it can be written by an actual human with critical thinking ability. it's always very funny when ccs read them on stream though and that one was so good

again, vibes of hanging out with your best friend's older brother. wilbur doesn't need to worry about being a good role model for tubbo 😭

(also it's ok i also know their duo name is quirkyduo you can use it with me i'm not like, angry about duo names lol i'm just not gonna bother learning new ones for qsmp unless they're actually good) (codebreakers my beloved that name is great)