#and each audience would have a different definition of it cause the stories it tell won’t apply to anyone

[neptunesenceladus]

thinking about Themes and Motifs and how Tone can be conveyed through the layout of the page

[quondam-et-futurus]

bbc merlin writers hate parents (transcript below the cut)

[Video Description: four characters, all played by the same person in different outfits, are having a conversation.

Writer 1: Okay so here are our four protagonists. They’re young, they’re hot, we’re putting a twist on the tradition, telling a different version of the story, cornering the youth market. Which means we gotta figure out what’s up with their parents. First up, Arthur, ideas. Hit me.

Writer 2: Well obviously we gotta have Uther there--

Writer 3: Obviously.

Writer 4: Obviously

Writer 2: But what about his mom? 'Cause in the legends she was married to another man…

Writer 3: *sucks in through teeth*

Writer 4: Mm. Can’t have that.

Writer 1: no, no, this is a family show!

Writer 2: Soooo… dead?

Writers 3 and 4: (crosstalk) Dead, yeah, dead.

Writer 1: Right. So. What about Merlin?

Writer 3: Well. If Arthur’s mom is dead he should definitely have a mom, right?

Writer 4: Yeah, makes sense

Writer 2: Yeah, like a mom we like, but we basically never see 'cause she’s in a different town.

Writer 4: Yeah, exactly!

Writer 3: Buuut I’m thinking for his dad that maybe he’s just sort of gone? Like not dead, but....

Writer 2 (offscreen): Basically dead.

Writer 3: Basically dead, yeah, exactly. Then if we need to kill him off later we can just have him show up.

Writer 1: Love it. Who’s next?

Writer 2: Morgana.

Writer 1: Right... right. And she’s gonna be Uther’s ward... So obviously both of her parents gotta be dead.

Writer 3: Oh yeah, super dead.

Writer 2: In the ground for years.

Writer 1: Great, I love it.

Writer 4: Uh By the way, have decided if she’s gonna be Arthur’s sister? Or if there's gonna be kind of a flirty vibe between them. Because I don't remember where we landed on that.

Writer 2: Eh, don’t worry about it, we’ll figure it out if we get a season two.

Writer 1: okay, nice, so that just leaves us with Gwen, right?

Writer 4: Yeah, and I mean, I don’t see any reason why she can’t have just two totally normal, perfectly alive parents, both present and named and everything.

Writer 1: Huh.

Writer 4: Just... You know, all our protagonists are kind of… lacking relevant parents, and we want to feel very, like, realistic to how it feels to be a young person in the world, like really connect to our audience on that level. And we’ve got some great variety, like, being out on your own for the first time, or living up to family expectations... But I just think it would be really nice to just show another side of that that's just a family with two nice, supportive parents caring about their daughter and being there for her as she starts a career.

Writer 3: ...

Writer 1: ...

Writer 2: ... Dead mom.

Writer 3: Dead mom!

Writer 2: (pointing at each of the other writers in turn) Dead mom? Dead mom? Dead mommm?

Writer 4: (crosstalk) You know, now that I’m hearing you say it, it actually sounds so much better.

Writer 2: And we kill off her dad at the end of season one.

Writer 1: Yes, yes.

Writer 4: Yeah, no one wants parents in the story it ruins all the adventure!

Writer 3: Uther should definitely live for, like, way too long though, right?

Writer 1: oh yeah, are you kidding me, with Anthony head on board? He’s in it for the long haul no doubt.

[beevean]

So some recent... discourse put into my mind the concept of "power fantasy", and how people relate to it in different ways. Of course, I'm talking about Hector :P

Is Hector, in the games, a power fantasy? I think the answer is "yes but actually no but actually yes it's complicated".

Let's be honest, first: Hector is a product of his time. He is, in many aspects, Castlevania's response to the wave of edginess that was en vogue in the mid-2000s - I don't compare CoD to ShTH for no reason lol. Hector was always meant to be an anti-hero contrasting the pure heroes the games always starred before him:

—Why did you choose the theme of "revenge" for this game? Iga: Up to now, the Belmonts have been seen as the good guys. I thought it'd be nice to do something other than a moralistic "good triumps over evil" theme sometime. After all, Castlevania has always had an excellent world for telling a "dark hero" story. Alucard would be one such character… though even he is fighting for a just cause: "I've got to stop my Father!" So he's still kind of a good guy. This time, though, I wanted the motivation itself to be impure. So this theme is what I came up with, and then I thought it would be even more interesting if each side was out for revenge on the other.

Hector has "impure" motivations. His quest is completely selfish: while all the other protagonists want to face Dracula (or others in his place) because it's the right thing to do, Hector is just in to kill the man who ruined his life. In fact, he really couldn't care less about the Curse, and multiple times in the game he asks why can't Trevor just deal with the issues he doesn't want to deal with lol. This is in line with other characters of the same caliber, such as Shadow sneering at a city being invaded by aliens until there is something in for him, or Guts who declares that he's willing to let a whole town fall prey to demons, as long as Casca is safe. However, this is not a detriment to Hector's character like it would be nowadays, as he's also very much mean to be "cool": while obviously every protagonist has his cool factor, even going back to Simon in the first games who defeated Dracula all by himself and then had to heroically struggle with the Curse, Hector is cool in that, well, deliciously over-the-top way that was all the rage back then. He can ride wyverns as he slashes them, he can go toe to toe with Trevor himself to the point that even he is impressed, he can forge a gun and an electric guitar, cutscenes show him punching a stone devil with his bare first, he gloats in Dracula's face that he can nullify his Curse... yeah, he's a gigachad lol. The flaws are only meant to make him cooler and not "boring", as paragon heroes were seen at the time.

I, personally, never cared about this part. I'm not the target audience for this kind of power fantasy. Sure, I like that Hector is over-the-top cool and I will always joke about his most outlandish feats, but I'm not so keen on reducing him to those alone. I couldn't even explain why avenging your dead lover counts as part of a power fantasy lol.

This is why I latched on so much on the first half of his story, the one where Hector deals with Dracula, and why I insist that Hector is much more than his admittedly cliché archetype of "angry man on a revenge quest".

Calling Hector "stoic" is not even knowing the meaning of the word. Calling pretty much any CV protagonist "stoic" is factually wrong, as even the more serious ones like Alucard and Shanoa have other depths to them (Alucard is still grieving for his mother and we see it in a nightmare, Shanoa was deliberately made stoic and she subtly longs to feel again), but Hector doesn't even begin to fit the definition of "One who is seemingly indifferent to or unaffected by joy, grief, pleasure, or pain". The whole point of CoD is that Hector was left so emotionally vulnerable by his grief that both Isaac and Zead used him as a puppet. Anger is the complete antithesis of stoicism. "well anger is still a toxically masculine emotion" - memes aside, Hector shows other emotions too, most notably around Julia, the only person with which we see how actually gentle and polite he is when he doesn't have Dracula's influence scrambling his brain. By the way, you cannot ignore the effects of the Curse on both Hector and Isaac when you analyze them, especially the former:

It can't be plainer than this.

And it doesn't come out of nowhere, because not only Julia herself tries to warn Hector that Devil Forgemasters are susceptible to the Curse, he acts vulnerable around her. He apologizes for his unjust outbursts, sympathizes with her plight, is visibly affected by her grief when Isaac dies... sure, it might be all because he's lowkey crushing on her, if you want to see it that way (and I do have my words over the plot point of Julia looking like Rosaly: I would have preferred if the game had more time to show that Hector grew to see Julia as her own person beyond her appearance), but the point is that this behavior highly contrasts with how angry and aggressive he is to everyone else, which the reveal of the Curse recontextualizes.

Also, just saying, while anger can be toxic, the point of these storylines is usually precisely that revenge is bad. Unchecked anger is bad for you, and you shouldn't let yourself fall down that spiral, lest you lose yourself. Isaac got consumed by his own hatred and died as a tool; Hector realized in time that he should snap out of it and survives, also because he was nice to Julia and so she grew to care about him and saved him when he tried to kill himself <- a reaction that is very unmasculine, might I add, as toxic masculinity dictates that men should make other people pay for their pain. bro. bro this is the complete antithesis of "toxic masculinity". Again, this is really not knowing the meaning of the word.

I don't even need to pull examples from the manga, but just for completion's sake:

iunno about you chief, but someone who bursts into tears just because wifey told him that she's happy he was born isn't exactly the portrayal of toxic masculinity to me.

Which makes me segue into the next point!

Hector and Isaac are victims of abuse, and this is another very important angle to understand them. And I'm not just talking about their childhoods, of which we only get hints, although of course it does matter that the two experienced so much hatred and rejection in their youth that Dracula was the better option for them.

We don't see the details, but Dracula affected both of them deeply. He put them in a competitive dynamic, favoring Hector over Isaac: Isaac grew bitter with resentment, which made him double down on his loyalty to Dracula, while Hector only got the appreciation he craved at the price of his very humanity and morals, which weighed on him. The point of this favoritism is not really the core of their rivalry in game, as that one was caused by Hector's betrayal, but it gives a different dimension to the character. It would have been easy to have the mistreated guy the one who decided to turn his back to Dracula, but no, it was the golden child. Isaac was so entrenched in this dynamic that he never broke free, choosing instead to blame Hector and do everything in his power to prove himself to an uncaring Lord, including (in the manga) killing his own underlings so that he would be free to face Hector by himself. From PtR:

"My own body is proof of Your expectations for him" is such a hard-hitting line. Isaac fears that he didn't even disappoint his Lord, because his Lord didn't have expectations for him in the first place. It's Hector the one he's so proud of.

And Hector hates it. By all means, he should be happy to have a home, to be respected and appreciated and free to use his powers. And he used to be!

"Lord Dracula... You once accepted and needed my powers. There was a time when such a thing gave me joy..."

Hector was grateful for his Lord, but he couldn't live anymore in the safety of the castle, if the price was committing indiscriminate murder for the sake of a senseless revenge, going against his morals and being used as a weapon. Hector had to make a choice: keep living under Lord Dracula's protection, but losing his humanity piece by piece, or breaking free and facing the world that hated him, but as a free man?

Hector chose freedom over conditional safety and love. He was ready to die, as long as he died a free man. He put himself first, he turned his back against people who did not truly appreciate him, and despite the mess he left behind it was the right decision. And that's the power fantasy I adore, and that is what makes him a strong character in my opinion. It's the embodiment of achieving self-confidence, the healthy selfishness, the affirmation of the self when everyone else around you only sees you as an object or a prize, the reassurance that even if you fall, you can always get up and try again and become a person you can be proud of.

And Hector, after breaking free, very much acts like a victim of abuse. I spent countless words over how he displays the belief that he needs to do something to earn the right to be loved by Rosaly, unaccepting of the fact that she simply does because, well, he likes him and sees the good in him, and that's it. I wrote a whole analysis on how this belief stems from a sad naiveté on how the world works, because Hector is naive underneath the aloof exterior, and it's not something to make fun of him for, but a tragic result of living under Dracula for so long. I'll also point again to him having breakdowns because he hates himself and sees himself as inherently unlovable.

I could also spend all the words about the parallels about how Hector loves Dracula and how he loves Rosaly:

In both cases, he latches onto the only person who has showed him a modicum of kindness. He wants to give his life for them. The difference being, of course, that Dracula only appreciates Hector for what he does (and I could also go into a whole tangent on how Hector was personally raised by Dracula to be his knight and he has a piece of his essence inside him which parallels how abusive parents see their children as an extension of themselves), while Rosaly for who he is. With Dracula, Hector understands that all the shallow care in the world doesn't matter if he isn't also respected as a person: he still cares about him, in some fashion, but not the point of clinging.

And if Hector is ready to lay down his life for Rosaly because she finally showed him what real love looks like, is it any wonder that seeing her die would spark such a fury in him that it makes him prey to the Curse and to being once again twisted into a tool?

The power fantasy comes from the part where Hector breaks free of the abuse and manipulation - twice over. But he is also relatable, with all of his flaws, weaknesses, and mistakes he makes. The whole point of Hector's journey in the first half of his story is that he feels the need to atone for his sins, and the consequences of his actions all catch up to him in the worst of ways. Ignoring this to reduce Hector to an edgelord who only spends his life angry and then hooks up with a Rosaly replacement (which incidentally also ignores Julia's personality and agency and I might even call as misogynist as the plot point itself) is a huge disservice to the thought and care put into him to make him stand out from his own archetype.

Power fantasies are not inherently bad. Depending on the fantasy, they can be inspirational. Hector is inspirational to me, if that wasn't clear, I see part of me in his circumstances and I admire his arc: it tells you, "you can break free too, you have the strength to do so, and you will find people who will love you without reason". And I just generally speaking find him a very well written character despite stemming from a rather outdated context, because all the details come together to make him fleshed out and tridimensional.

[clairedaring]

Thank you for always writing the posts to share information from the creators/writers' point of view of Spare Me Your Mercy. But what is your opinion on their approach?

Hi nonnie 🥰

Aww thank you for enjoying my posts ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ when I'm really just spreading machine translations of interesting stuff I find (huge shoutout to @recentadultburnout who actually provided us with many fansub videos from the promotion cycle of SMYM). Hmm... Good question nonnie. I'm assuming you're referring to screenwriter Lux's 'we tried not to put NC scenes in this so fans will focus on euthanasia rather than the romance' so I'll focus my thoughts on that for this ask.

I think I'm a rather emphathetic person so I have a tendency to try to put myself in their shoes to try and understand what the writers aim at conveying so I do get what they tried to do. While I appreciate how they did to present the topic of euthanasia, I think the scriptwriting kind of undermined the beloved novel!Wasan I had known prior. Actually both characters kinda suffered from the writing choices that were made but Wasan/Tew definitely got a bit more undermined.

Had they have more times/episodes, I would have loved to see the mindset change of Wasan and how he came to terms with Kan's reasons for euthanasia and his principles. Like I know it's very cliche, very cheesy, very HEA for Sammon to write like that for novel!Wasan but it's what audience wants to read no? If the characters started out with a clash of ideals and they're expected to be romantically involved by the end, since it's only natural for characters to undergo character development.

The series wrote itself into a corner where with its set up and the characterisation they had given Kan and Tew, the only logical and natural ending is the one we got in EP.8.

But from the interview with Lux, I could tell this was her (and Wo's) passion project which they spent five years developing. I could see that she tried to challenge herself to write two characters who had feelings for each other (i don't dare to use the word 'love' because i know many people will contest that) even if there were little to no ROMANTIC (i wouldn't even use NC because they deprived us of romance in general, not nc/explicit scenes) scenes.

I'm not Thai but being chronically in Thai twitter sphere, I think their approach has worked for their intended mainstream audience with many online discussions generated about Kan's actions, about euthanasia, about the living will, about health care inequality, about health problems caused by air pollution. Not to say that their approach is to be credited for this at all, I personally think a well developed romance would have elevated the script.

In fact, a good comparison for me would be between another OneD original Thicha, which is a revenge story that surface-levelly touched on human trafficking through the narrative of the protagonist, while Spare Me Your Mercy is a PSA-like series for euthanasia with an investigative storyline and characters' relationship as plot driving catalysts or plot devices. I like the comparison between these two vastly different stories because with similar runtime (8 episodes), you can see in Thicha - how a well written the romance between the leads (with only two episodes) can effectively drive its plot forward but at the same time when the revenge part isn't well thought out/executed, the ending can feel rather flat and as if there were no justice served for the antagonist/human trafficker.

On the other hand, SMYM had a thinly developed romance but it managed to cover more about the targeted social issue it aimed to raise public awareness on than Thicha did. SMYM conveyed multiple views of a resentful ableist who misunderstood that euthanasia can be used to free relatives from caring for terminally ill people, the ungrateful children who are sick of taking care of their parents, the people whose loved ones had chosen euthanasia, the palliative doctor who is helpless at the sight of his patients in suffering... Different approaches to peaceful deaths like Kan with Wasan's mom where you can see a proper and principled case of euthanasia for him or with the monk who doesn't need euthanasia to pass away peacefully.

Not all views are presented equally or sophisticately, but it's enough to instigate public discussions, which I can understand is their biggest end goal through this series.

funnily enough both series had foreshadowed their sad/open endings but i still ate these oned originals up like it's breakfast ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

tldr: i think that 8 minute final confrontation scene between kan and tew effectively conveyed whatever they wanted to say on euthanasia/health care/rule of law and their approach made smym a very decent psa-filled series without going into preachy territories as they had promised at the start of the promotion cycle for smym. i will forever be in mourning of the beautiful romance between novel!kanwasan but it'll always be there for me to revisit. this series had its own agendas and they served it well.

[elainsgirl]

Hello, I've stumbled upon your blog when researching about Elriel. Thank you for being a nice positive place Elriel shippers can come back to ❤️ I'm new to the fandom and thought it was obvious Elriel was endgame to many until I saw how many hated on Elriel or specifically Elain. I don't think she/they deserve(s) that hate, because when you look at their development and how there had been hints about rejecting mates and there not being many books left (2 if I'm not wrong) it's just logical to conclude that there's a big chance Elain will reject her mate bond with L/ucien. It's also obvious she has feelings for Azriel so... 🤷

What I wondered about is actually not about the characters itself but more about the moves of the author. Obviously I haven't been inside the fandom for long and so haven't witnessed how the fanwars had been the past years when it comes to Elriel. Were things as bad before the BC with POV of Azriel came out?

I did observe that gw/ynriel is really popular atm and their fans are being very vocal about it, also in a very negative way since they dismiss everything else and most of them hate Elain and think she's not worthy of Azriel. But they are a loud part of the fandom. Maybe Elains book will bring a change in that, we will see

What I wonder about is what the chances would be that Sjm would change the original plot/storyline/couple to appeal to the majority of the fandom? Just so they could appeal to as many readers as possible?. This is a more commercial move to get as much money as possible or positive reviews since I can imagine how Elriel becoming endgame will make many other shippers rage and they could become very nasty. I know a similar thing happened around Nessa's story and the mmc had been shipped with another female as well. This hasn't stopped from the author following the original story, but I also heard the fanwars weren't this much out of hand at that time.

So while I believe story/development wise Elriel definitely has the most chance of being endgame (also making most sense), I can't help but worry if they could bring last minute changes like I mentioned. I know some authors did do it in the past, they went for the options that were most popular out of fear for fanwars getting out of hand...

I don't know sjm/her publisher/staff that well so don't know if there's a possibility for this, I'm sure you would know better and would appreciate your opinion on this as someone who has been around for long.

This got very long, so I'm sorry for that🙏🏻

Thank you for answering ☺️

Hey anon 🫶

Thank you sm for the kind words 💕

Elriel hate is mainly based on people not liking Elain or feeling too bad for Lucien if Elain rejects him. You’re right, they don’t deserve the hate. Elriel is such a beautiful ship with two characters who like and know each other well. They’re a ship Mass has been building up on from acowar, some may even say acomaf. The rejecting mate storyline only makes sense between Elucien as they’re the only canon mates that 1) have had their bond questioned and 2) don’t fit Sjms typcial mate like parallels, the plotline doesn’t make sense with anyone else and with how much focus Sjm has put on this idea that true love is what’s chosen and not all mates will be happy together-> Its clear a mate rejection is something she wants to explore within one of the novels again, only suiting Elains story as she canonically does not want her mate.

If Sjm was an author that listened to her audience and changed her story to suit her readers’ preferences, then HOFAS would have gone very differently to appeal to the “masses” yet Sjm ignored all the most popular Hofas theories, stuck to the story she wanted to tell and generally speaking- Hofas still performed well.

This alone showed me as a reader that Sjm will do what she wants to do. If elriel was the plan, it will happen regardless of how disliked they are by the fandom. I feel like whilst online readers may cause a fuss - majority of her stans will happily read the next book even if its elriel because 1) its been so long that a lot of people have lost interest in the shipwars and now just want the next book to release and 2) majority of her fans are casual readers who do not care that much about who or which couple the next book will be about. They see Sjm - a bestseller - has released a new book? Immediately buy it,

This may be unpopular but elriel being so disliked is something I take positively. Sjm loves writing about polarising characters - take Chaol and Nesta as example, she loves to change her readers minds. So the fact Elain and elriel are heavily disliked - might’ve made Mass more inclined to write them and make people change their minds.

Elriel have always been disliked, even pre-acosf but now its 1000x worse as antis have found Gwyn - who hasn’t even shown romantic interest in the guy - to ship Az with.

Acotar 5 will sell regardless. Even if its elriel. It’ll still do well, the shipwars can be loud but its a small part of the fandom arguing on the next couple. The larger part do not care. Everyone thought acosf would flop and nobody wanted to read about Nesta yet she has now become one of the most popular and beloved characters of the fandom and her book is still relevant to this day.

I wouldn’t worry at all. Sjm has a lot of faults - but as an author, she does not let her readers change her plans and that is something one can admire. If elriel are meant to be endgame - nothing will change that. Definitely not the antis complaining or saying they will dnf the series.

[confusedacenb]

Weird rant time but I just couldn't stop thinking about it.

So .. Ghosts (US) version there is a lot of hate on Sam's character some people because they find her too toxic in there perspective, some cause they just don't particularly vibe with the character and writing, and lastly misogyny (or at least hating on a female character for feminine qualities but to shorten it ya know).

But like idk maybe it's cause I've been on the outside of pretty toxic relationships that my siblings were in and one myself, Sam does not seem like this super evil toxic manipulative character that at least the hate I've seen of her seems to portray.

Like yeah lying to your partner is shitty but like they both have done it numerous times with each other. And like I get Jay not having privacy with the Ghosts or having to walk on eggshells because of said ghosts but like that's not necessarily Sam's fault? Like in the first seasons she was definitely slower to adapt and warn Jay when a ghost has interrupted their private conversation but it the later seasons she's quicker to inform him. Also like someone mentioned that Jay deals with constant psychological warfare from the ghosts which can get tiresome but only really seems to annoy him from what he's stated when they write on the bathroom mirror (Trevor) text his sister (Trevor again) and also not to mention the various other ghosts abilities besides that he doesn't really deal with the ghosts and he can have a break and peace from the ghosts as he does not have to see or hear them. For example literally every one episode in each season where Jay and Sam have alone time they have to either literally leave the house or bribe one of the other ghosts to get alone time. Season 1 literally the first two episodes where the Ghosts plan was to literally drive Sam insane until she acknowledged them. Which seems to be their go to plan whenever Sam tries to get any quiet time or personal work done, or business work done, or again anytime to herself.

Also I just want it known that there are things that I believe Sam went too far on (the DND episode, and the dream episode). The dream thing being the worst of the two and honestly can't defend her on that one it was fucked up. But the DnD one (firstly it would be boring if you and your partner were a hundred percent into the same stuff at the same level, being able to have differing opinions and perspectives should open way to conversation not keep shit gatekept if you don't love it the same way as another person) yeah she lied and said the ghosts didn't want to and the writers did great story telling by showing us all the way into the climax Jay's side and how lonely he is (giving the audience an inside into Jay's perspective of things which they do a lot of great work with Show versus Tell when it comes to Jay's perspective) then the whole thing with Isaac and Nigel happens and what does she do she turns to Jay gives him a good reason to bring D&D back out after admitting she hates it and furthermore what happens after they resolve the conflict she tells Jay to keep going and when he asks her if she's sure he admits that he too faked shit to do with her and that now it's basically fair (at least that what it seemed like that tried to joke).

Also again massive D&D nerd, um y'all understand how long D&D takes and they had what like 4/5 ghosts at the table and we'd assume that one of the ghost D&D sessions takes about 2-4 hours like damn I feel bad for girls throat (also, talking and acting as characters takes a lot of energy and add onto that of being expected by the ghost to give the correct information told)(as a dm voicing more than two characters is a nightmare as it's literally 30 mins. Of racking your brain and going 'okay so and so says this 'line') like shitty to lie but understandable from this perspective and they resolved it in a day and most importantly Sam apologized and her behavior notably changed (at least I don't remember her actively dismissing D&D anymore, she now more reacts with adoration at her husband getting passionate and has more understanding of his interests) I'm sorry but who the hell would willingly voice that many characters for that long just to be manipulative?

Sam almost (and I say almost) never makes the same mistake twice she takes accountability (even for shit that she really should not be taking accountability as seen in cases like Sass not wanting his tree cut down or when the puritan ghost poured blood down the wall (to which they all were afraid of the puritan ghost except for Jay at the end). At most I guess she could be labeled as whiny(?) but personally I always saw it as more so she takes every mistake she makes the same way which what I mean is that when she makes a mistake and it gets pointed out to her, she genuinely feels like the worst person (which makes sense considering her mom and the fact that her dad wasn't in her life) but she's not saying she's the worst to be manipulative or for people to feel bad for her, at least given from her actions and such she genuinely seems to see herself worse than others see her.

[kumabeom]

anti romantic

chapter 19 : this thing was a masterpiece ‘til you tore it all apart

synopsis : anti romantic, college student choi yeonjun who thinks he’s seen everything in a relationship, promising himself that he won’t go through another relationship ever again to prevent himself from going through another heartbreak. that was until he sees yn, a classmate, chasing his heart. will his walls be enough to scare yn away, or will they continue chasing yeonjun with all they have ?

warnings: cuss words, angst, yeonjun seeming like the bad guy but he’s not :(( i need someone to give jun a hug :(( OH also a mention of committing suicide in one of the tweets..

pink cherry-like leaves fell from the trees, slight spring breeze shaking them off the tree branches, decorating the sidewalk. the sun beginning to set, hiding behind a few clouds, the moon made its presence known. there were certainties in the world: when spring arrived, more flowers bloomed, while others died because they weren’t in season.. when the sun were to rise, the daylight would soon enough lose its shine and be covered the by the moon.

and maybe another certainty, was that you were meant to lose yeonjun.

with everything that yoojung had already tried to do to get the two of you to split up, well it was inevitable. the sad thing was that you were so willing to sacrifice your own mental being to stay with yeonjun, and that wasn’t right. whereas yeonjun was willing to give up his relationship with you to ensure your happiness.. but why was that also not right ? it was the right thing to do, but yeonjun had made such a huge impact in your life that.. well you couldn’t lose him, especially not to yoojung, who had already caused so much harm on his life.

although, you knew. you knew that this little “cheating” scandal was just supposed to act as a way to get you and yeonjun to tussle over it. so if you knew that this was probably apart of yoojung’s whole plan to get you and yeonjun to break up, why did it hurt so much. to be fair, yeonjun’s lips were very much placed on someone else’s.

the boy in the picture was him.

and yoojung just so happened to be the one receiving the kiss.

it hurt. it hurt so badly.

the two of you promised to treat each other so well. to love each other a way that no one else has ever showed the two of you. a love so sweet and powerful that it was bound to stick along forever.

that’s what you planned with yeonjun.

a future so loving and adoring that the only people you would need in your life was each other.

a future where all you needed was to tell each other that you loved one another, and end each day off with cuddles.

so here you were as your head lied on soobin’s shoulder, tiny crystal-like tears escaping your eyes. the tv displaying a random rom-com, but each rom-com came with its unfortunate climax, where the main characters would learn something about the other causing them to call it off.

you never believed life would ever be like a rom-com, after all they were fictional stories that were being told to place hope in its audience or just to get a good giggle out of the viewer. but here you were, planning a movie-like future with yeonjun while facing the many obstacles that it would take to overcome any problems and show yeonjun just how much you truly loved him.

you felt soobin tense up, feeling like maybe it was making you uncomfortable… and it was, but after all you were the one who chose the movie, even after soobin recommended a ton of different action, disney movies.

soobin hated this entire situation, he hated yeonjun.. well maybe he didn’t hate hate him.but he definitely didn’t like him as much as he did before. he for sure did hate yoojung, who was she to try to destroy your relationship. the blame was all on her, she’s the one who cheated on yeonjun so why did you and yeonjun deserve to suffer over an option that she made.

soobin hated one thing the most : seeing you cry.

you were such a warm-hearted person, crying did not look good on you at all. there were times when soobin would come off a bit cold, and you were always volunteering to stay by his side. even a few months ago when beomgyu accidentally rejected soobin, you were there immediately after finding out what happened.

soobin recalled back to his childhood. the way that not all the kids in his neighborhood liked him, specifically because his name was always used as a comparison to the other kids. their mothers always making comments like “you should’ve done better, i heard soobin made a 110.” and while your grades weren’t always perfect, they were close, but even your own mother compared you to soobin, you were always there for him.

soobin remembers one time when he was walking out to get groceries, seeing a bundle of kids in the playground. they were all surrounding you, they continuously attempted to talk behind his back, not knowing that he was right there. however; you happened to shut down each insult, talking about how he isn’t a bad guy, and how it’s rude for them to talk behind his back. he remembers the way that you walked up to him, catching his presence. gifting him your presence to his way to the convenience store. as he asked why you were so adamant on not allowing others to talk bad about him. recalling your words, “well because it’s simply just rude, not only that but you work so hard to get such good grades and it’s not fair that they look down on you just because you do well. you’re not even a bad guy, you’re quite lovely.”

he knew what other kids said about him everyday, even if you tried to cover it up from him. he appreciated the thought. and since then, you two were like peas in a pod. never separating, only having each other to protect yourselves from the cruel, harsh world.

so here he was, his ears catching the noise of a few sniffles that originated from your nose. he leaned forward a bit, not wanting to move you too much. he grabbed a few tissues, passing them onto you. you showed him a soft yet sad smile, trying to hide your sadness.

“yah, don’t try to force yourself to seem happy, let it all out yn.. you deserve that atleast-“

soobin was cut off by a knock at the door, looking over at you. “i’ll get it, soob, don’t worry..” you removed your head off his shoulder, getting up. you slipped on a pair of black slippers that soobin brought.

your legs guided you towards the door. your hand twisting the knob, opening the door only to spot a tense-looking yeonjun.

“h-hey…” you greeted, your body still blocking the path to enter your apartment.

“do you have someone over ?” he asked, taking a peek at his watch, noticing as time passed.

“just soobin..” you mumbled, watching as yeonjun seemed to be in a rush. and in all honestly it hurt you, he couldn’t spare you a bit of time even after such an intense picture was revealed to you and nearly 18 thousand people ?

“oh.. well do you have time to talk, it’ll be quick.” yeonjun questioned. in all honesty he was in pain too, he hated coming off too coldly towards you. after everything that has happened, he just wanted to wrap you in his arms and tell you that it was all going to be okay. he wanted to press small kisses all over your face and tell you that you’re the only one he’s ever wanted. he wanted to tell you about how you changed him, how you made him into such a loving being. but here he was, about to hurt you even more. he hated this. he hated your red swollen eyes, your nose was also red, looking down to your hand seeing the tissue that you grasped. it broke his heart, he didn’t want to ever see you in such a state of vulnerability, you didn’t deserve that.. you only deserved all the happiness in the world.

“umm.. yeah-“

“lets break up.”

you looked at him, wide eyes open. eyes tearing up, your mouth open. before you composed yourself, eyes still shiny with tears, looking at him with still a bit of shock on your face.

“y-yeonjun you’re not being serious, right ? i know that picture wasn’t as it seemed.. it was all yoojung and karina’s doing right ! i don’t hate you over those pictures yeonjun ! i know that it’s all just to get us to brea-“

“yn.. i’m being serious, it was me in those pictures. karina had nothing to do with it, it was just me and yoojung. yn, i just- i don’t love you.” yeonjun tried his best to avoid your eyes, his voice nearly cracking from delivering those words to you.

yeonjun regretted this so much, but it was better for you, it was better for you to stay happy without him. he needed to protect you.. he had no idea what yoojung would do to hurt you.

he continued to avoid your eyes, seeing the way that they were tearing up, he knew you were holding it back. all he wanted to do was to hug you, tell you that it’s all because of yoojung. tell you that it was all because yoojung is threatening your mental being and your relationship. but he couldn’t, he wanted to, but it was best if you hated him, rather than trying to change his mind. he knew that you would rather go through so much pain to stay with him.

soobin got up from the couch, only hearing the last few words that yeonjun said to you. he made his way to the door way, eying yeonjun from head to toe.

“leave.” soobin said, backing you away from the door. he knew he was about to make a few remarks towards yeonjun and he didn’t want you to be there for that. he didn’t want you to see him fighting with the person who you adored for such a long time.

“yah, soobin, this has nothing to do with you.”

“it does, yn is my best friend, and if you’re going to be so fucking rude while breaking up with them, then i’m going to get involved. did you expect me to just stand there while you hurt my friend.. they did their best to make you happy, yn helped you recover from a breakup, and yet here you are.. you’re no different than yoojung. so leave. what is it about cheating that makes the two of you feel so fulfilled ? and you can’t even say that you lacked gaining affection, because yn gave you more than enough of affection..”

yeonjun’s heart crumpled from soobin’s words, ‘you’re no different than yoojung.’ he didn’t like that, he didn’t want to be like yoojung.. he never wanted to be compared to yoojung.

soobin pushed yeonjun’s shoulder with two fingers, ignoring anything that you were saying to him.

“leave and never come back.” soobin yelled, slamming the door shut and locking it. looking over to see your crying figure. pulling you into a hug, his hand on the back of your head, as if you could get any closer. he felt the wet patch growing on his tee. he didn’t mind though, that was the least of his worries. he just wanted you to feel okay.

“don’t listen to anything that he said, i know that i kinda pushed it too far. but.. im sure he did love you, i took a psychology class, remember ? that means i know all about body language..” soobin claimed, hoping to at least get a little giggle out of you. which worked, he felt you laugh against his chest. you pulled away from his embrace, wiping off your tears aggressively.

“lets finish the movie !” you exclaimed, tears still rolling down your face and a pout still visible on your lips. but soobin loved that you were trying your best to recover.

whereas, yeonjun walked through the city, the night sky engulfing him as he walked without a destination. he scanned the crowd, seeing a few familiar faces from his dance students, smiles plastered on their faces. but yeonjun continued walking, not stopping to say hello. his throat felt clogged, and his eyes felt teary, but he was holding it all in. he took a seat on a bench, wired headphones in his ears, attempting to distract him.. but in reality it only made things worse as he could only think of the situation.. he wanted to full on bawl, but he didn’t want to go home to taehyun…

©️kumabeom

taglist : @soobadooba @beoms-sugar @yxnjvnnie @myahfig4 @sato-chan-2709 @grayscorner @run2seob @destairea @lol6sposts @cutesince2000 @forever-in-the-sky2 @soobs-things @soobinsman @mackjestic @ameliabs-world @mochijjunie @hyuneyeon @jakevascaino @jesssssmaybankk

an: bro i literally cried while writing… i was listening to so much sad music to set the atmosphere but bro… don’t listen to sad music while reading this. also someone pls hug junnie he needs it… also yn trying to stay positive near soobin bc they don’t want soobin to know how much they’re hurting… but soobin knows :((( ALSO NING NING SPEAKING THE TRUTH !!

[iguessitsjustme]

Love Sea Ep 1 Thoughts

Okay. I know I said my next liveblog would be She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat because it won my poll BUT I decided I’m gonna be liveblogging Love Sea as it airs each week. And I will be liveblogging She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat later today. Or at least starting the liveblog. But liveblogging Love is the only way I think I make it through this series. I got my snacks I my got a diet coke. Pray for me watching a MAME show. Keep in mind that I am not a fan of MAME generally (and I have now finished this episode and this show is no exception. Don't get mad at me if you click the read more and don't like what I say). Under the cut as per usual:

I do like water so the water effect and sheer amount of water at the very beginning makes me extremely happy. I want more water forever.

FISH!!!!

“Dive and go get it” is not an appropriate response to dropping a pen in the water. Accept your loss.

DON’T PUSH PEOPLE OFF OF BOATS. DO NOT PUSH PEOPLE OFF OF BOATS. I DO NOT CARE. DO NOT PUSH PEOPLE OFF OF BOATS. HE IS NOT WEARING A LIFE JACKET. HE IS NOT PREPARED TO BE IN THAT WATER AT ALL. DO NOT PUSH PEOPLE OFF OF BOATS.

A nice, tranquil place being called heaven on earth makes sense. Our protagonist showing up and immediately calling it hell on earth because ???? does not make sense. Maybe see more than two feet of it before declaring it to be hell?

Calling someone that speaks a different dialect an idiot when you are on their island…bold. Dumb. And bold.

Do not steal his phone. You’re just an asshole. You’re both assholes. But you pushed a man off of a boat so I hate you more. All the other guy has done is been uppity and snobbish. He hasn’t actively endangered anyone’s life for a laugh.

And now purposefully speaking a dialect he doesn’t understand. Yes, he was an ass about it, but you knew he didn’t understand and did it anyway. And now he has explicitly said he doesn’t understand and you’re rubbing it in his face. You can speak a dialect he knows and understands and you both know you can and yet…

Oh I got it. He behaves like a teenager. But like the kind of teenager that needs a good life resorting. He’s a bully but no one really calls him out for it because he disguises it behind class clown behavior. He needs a swift kick in the pants considering he’s an adult that’s behaving this way.

I dislike how these shows always portray women as incapable of talking about the hotness of these guys. It’s not just BL. Other dramas are just as guilty if not more so. But c’mon. Having women characters does not excuse your portrayal of the other women in the story as only caring about some random dude’s hotness. Mut is hot? Not my taste but I can see why people consider him hot. But I guarantee most women on vacation, while they talk about hot guys, are also doing other things and talking about other things. Like the books they are reading on the beach. And how hot they themselves are. And the next activity they’re doing. They aren’t laser focusing on Mut. Except that the show says they are. Because they have no identities outside of a weak plot device to convince the audience of how hot Mut is. If he was really that hot, this tactic would not be needed. It would be conveyed in the rest of the show.

See how differently it’s framed for the men? Women are the ones interest in Mut, but when it’s for the men, it’s that Mut is open to them. The attraction is his. This is definitely setting the tone for the relationship that’s being built. Cause our other lowkey asshole (I’ll learn his name eventually maybe) is a man. He is not interested in Mut. But he is apparently Mut’s type so Mut will be attracted to him. It’s a different way of taking away agency but here it is on a character level and not removing agency from an entire gender.

They better be delivering this to me I have a feeling I’m gonna need it.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA get em

This montage of people interacting with Mut trying to tell us what a good person and community member he is feels like such lazy writing. Incredibly lazy writing. Like makes me angry because despite her faults, I know MAME is capable of better than…that.

DID HE JUST LEFT HIMSELF INTO THE ROOM BECAUSE HE HAS A KEY. ABSOLUTELY THE FUCK NOT.

Romance *gags* aside, this is incredibly poor customer service. He didn’t knock. He didn’t announce he was coming in. I’m hoping it’s not early in the morning and that our lowkey asshole is just sleeping in. He’s cleaning the room and going through not-his-things. HE TOOK PICTURES. Someone call the police. Or call the me. I’ll go kick his ass.

Also also also the fact that he had that key that he was supposed to give to lowkey asshole means that HE SHOULD NOT HAVE USED IT TO ENTER THE ROOM. HE SHOULD NOT HAVE HAD IT.

Okay I need a break. This scene has gone on entirely too long with just the two of them standing on talking. There needs to be some movement on the screen and the tiny amount of body movement is not cutting it. Lowkey asshole should be walking away during this conversation. That would be in character and provide the necessary movement. But as it is…this whole scene feels stale and stagnant. So I’m gonna go make some food. Maybe I’ll be less pissy about this whole scene when I come back.

Okay. I am back but I am not less pissy. Tell me, how did I manage to mess up pasta? Truly is a skill I must say. And I’m not that bad of a cook. I swear but…I digress. Let’s just get back into it *grumbles*

That was the weakest punch I’ve ever seen. And I have weak little noodle arms.

Even the GL part of this is toxic. Miss secretary ma’am. I have an idea. Send her all of the shit on your plate. Email her all of the shit you have to do. In the email tell her what hours you are actually available and if she cannot work with that, then that’s unfortunate but that is her only option.

You don’t call the owner’s secretary to fix a light bulb. You call maintenance. Girl if you don’t grow a spine and tell her no….

I had to mute this damn show because the music is trying to convince me this is romantic and I am not a fool. I have eyes. Also stop using flashbacks of things that happened earlier this episode. This is the first episode. We know what Mut is thinking about when staring at his hand. We were there for that scene five minutes ago.

If someone started reading what I was writing over my shoulder without being explicitly invited to, I would pour hot sauce in their eyes.

This hug makes me mad. I’ll leave it at that.

Okay. It’s time for something I can’t believe I’ve never done before! Rae’s hatred scale. Where I rank the characters on how much I hate them:

Vi - 2/10. Honestly give this girl a raise. She isn’t paid enough to deal with this. I do need her to get a backbone though. C’mon my girl you can do it. You can learn to stand up for yourself. I believe in you.

Rak - 5/10. Look I learned his name! I think. He’s lowkey an asshole but honestly he just wants to be left alone but was sent on this trip that he didn’t ask for and is now being harassed by this guy that he doesn’t like because his “friend” paid for it.

Mook - 10/10. Girl what’s wrong with you? I hope someone slaps you in your face. Learn how to treat people.

Mut - 1000000000/10. DO NOT PUSH PEOPLE OFF OF BOATS.

[vivziepopwhatthehell]

Ep 4 Review

There are mentions of SA in this document. Reader discretion is advised.

Introduction

There’s so many things that I want to say about Hazbin Hotel but for now, I’m only going to keep my thoughts relevant to episode four. It’s the episode that everyone is talking about, after all. I’d love to hear everyone else’s thoughts too. 

The Positives

- I was expecting Blake Roman's voice acting to be subpar, and initially, it fell short of my expectations. The first episode featured what I believe is his weakest voice direction among all the released episodes. However, my initial concerns were proven wrong as the series progressed. In this episode, Blake's performance truly stood out and showcased his considerable talent. He skillfully conveyed emotions that he wasn't given an opportunity to show in the earlier episodes. Despite this improvement, he still faces the challenges with maintaining the Angel Dust accent. Blake Roman would definitely shine if he was given a role that wasn't previously defined by another talented voice actor like Michael Kovach. That being said, I'm really excited to see more from Blake Roman in future episodes.

- Valentino's character is now effectively portrayed with the menacing demeanor befitting his role, a notable departure from his initial appearance in episode two. The shift in his portrayal makes it more evident why Angel Dust fears him. To enhance the impact of Valentino's introduction in this episode, a strategic adjustment in episode two's writing could have been beneficial. Specifically, focusing more on Vox and Alastor, and introducing Valentino through Angel Dust's voicemail instead. This approach would have spared Valentino from the perception of being pathetic and whiny in previous showcases, ensuring a more powerful debut. However, it's worth noting that episode four rectifies this mistake to a significant extent, making the suggestion to rewrite episode two more of a reflection on what could have been done differently rather than a critique of the current narrative.

- The animation is a lot smoother in this episode compared to two and three. The characters are also a lot more expressive and the art is overall pretty to look at. That's my overall opinion on the art direction. The storyboard is great in several areas, too. I loved the visuals when Husk talks about how he signed his contract with Alastor. 

- The beginning of the episode actually had a few jokes that made me laugh.

The Negatives

- Hazbin Hotel has huge pacing problems present in all of the episodes. Because the show only has 23 minutes and 10 episodes to tell its story, a bunch of minor inconveniences need to be escalated unrealistically either to change a scene or develop character relationships (this one is mainly in relation to Charlie and Vaggie). In this episode, Charlie's tiny stumble over a plug must hastily snowball into a fire to justify the subsequent escalation of tension with Valentino. But how does that even start a fire? Charlie could instead accidentally knock over a lit candle on the bedside table in the set. Following this mishap, the employees, who are off exploring Charlie's hotel idea after their conversation during the shoot, are absent when the fire starts, causing it to spread. This change is still stupid, but it maintains the same elements while offering a more believable catalyst for the escalating tension. Another area that could have been improved was the ending, because I feel like Angel Dust forgave Charlie way too easily.

- Hazbin Hotel often relies heavily on exposition dumps and tends to tell rather than show. Husker's dialogue in the beginning of the episode serves as a means to spoon-feed the audience information about each character's struggle, which is a really boring way to storytell. Husker also seems to have such an intimate understanding of every character that he should be the one to run the hotel at this point. I am hoping that we get a Husker and Charlie episode, where Husker tells her to listen to her friends more. Maybe then she’d have a better understanding on how to help them out with their problems.

- Valentino's powers are confusing me. In "Addict," the red smoke from Valentino and Angel Dust's cigarettes, initially symbolic, seems to become literal in episode four. For instance, Valentino uses the smoke to create chains around Angel Dust's throat and pulls him upwards to focus on the contract he signed. The smoke should not have been made a physical entity that can control the characters this way, because now it completely devalues its presence in the music video (even if the music video is no longer canon). 

- Regrettably, the episode has become difficult for me to view objectively due to some storyboard artists openly sharing their personal bedroom preferences. I'm making a concerted effort to distinguish the artists from their work, but it is hard to not view this as just another fuel for fetish. To illustrate, consider the smoke chain scene preceding "Poison," where Valentino employs a chain around Angel's neck to compel him to review the contract. It's notable that Valentino could have achieved the same effect by grabbing Angel's hair, but the inclusion of the chain appears to be a direct reference to the storyboard artist's leash kink.

- There’s too many songs. When the song title leaks came out for Hazbin Hotel, I thought that most of them were just the names of the instrumentals. They are all actually two-four minute length songs. When these songs do come onto the screen, none of them have build-up. The song just randomly starts, and many times, the song replaces moments that are crucial to have dialogue in. Just because you have Broadway stars doesn’t mean that you need to have three songs per episode. Cap it to one to leave a good impression on your audience, because most of these songs left me REALLY bored not even halfway through them. The lyrics and how they are sung are also offensive at times, specifically in “Loser Baby”. 

- Charlie's fixation on the hotel has reached an alarming level of insensitivity in this episode. While the hotel's success remains crucial, her approach comes off as callous and indifferent to the people around her. The episode kicks off with what seems like a thoughtful gesture toward Angel Dust, trying to help him get a day off work. But her motivation is solely to ensure he can continue his daily redeemer exercises at the hotel. Then, when Angel Dust begs her to leave (while sounding completely terrified in the process), Charlie overstays her welcome and actively disrupts the employees during the shoot to advertise her hotel. There’s a time and place, Charlie! In my ideal version of the episode, Charlie remains determined to secure a day off for Angel Dust (just to spend time with him). Charlie doesn’t get to speak to Angel Dust before she proposes the idea to Valentino. Valentino responds nicely to her, but we see a bunch of subtle cues to his anger about Angel Dust trying to “escape” before he glares at Angel Dust and brings him into the other room.

-  Keith David is talented, but his voice for Husker just isn’t doing it for me. Sorry, Keith. It isn’t as rough and gravelly as it should be, but you were obviously just miscast. The same applies to Stephanie Beatriz as Vaggie. 

- A trigger warning is absent from the episode. The warning wouldn't have benefited the narrative in any way, but it would have definitely aided the members of the audience that it is meant to represent.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the episode is overall “okay”. It still suffers a lot of the same problems as the other episodes. Though, episode four does have its own improvements as well. I am hoping that the show continues to get better from here.

Edit: accidentally deleted one of my points before publishing + added a tag.

[eroticwound]

Okay so, I’m still getting through the new season but I need to see if I’m the only one who feels the Claire/Carmy scenes this far are kinda a retcon of last season?

Like, putting stupid shipping discourse to the side, one of the main criticisms of that subplot was that there was too much telling and not enough showing of how their relationship progressed as Carmy avoided the renovation. We saw them drop off the liquor license documents, go to the house party, first kiss, Carmy making dinner for her after talking to Fak about whether Claire is actually his girlfriend, and their love scene. Then there is friends and family, where Carmy is freaking out about everything and he inadvertently tells Claire their relationship was a waste of time (meanwhile Claire just said she loved him, which I don’t doubt)

But, according to the new scenes, they spent a lot of time together seemingly as a couple during those few months, as Carmy was clearly infatuated with her in those moments. So I guess my main confusion is — when the hell did all of this happen? Were those scenes before or after Braciole, because at that point Carmy doesn’t actually think of Claire as his *girlfriend* but obviously likes her a lot. Those new scenes scream “they were fully into each other and with mutual affection for each other” and definitely would’ve made me more convinced of their connection — rather than be told by every other character in the Berzatto clan all throughout s2 about how great Claire is for him. Because I never actually *saw* the effect she had on him — we only see it now that Carmy has pushed her away.

So far Claire is haunting the narrative (Carmy), sorta like Mikey in s1. But all of this new info has only made me more confused about the timeline of events and the significance of this romance subplot, rather than provide clarity for why an ongoing conflict is occurring.

i mean, carmy was said to be unfocused and away from the renovation, and that was because he was with claire. everyone says this. syd is especially annoyed by it, because carmy can't spare enough of his attention for the bear, and things are getting dropped. to your point, most of this happens off-camera, but that ep where he fucks off with claire to the post office and the party very much illustrates that.

the thing about the bear is that the first season carmy was solidly our main character, and then second season transitions into more of an ensemble show. there are some incredible pluses because of this, like an entire episode with marcus in copenhagen or richie staging at ever (tho i have issues with forks). however, by dedicating more screen time to fleshing out our ensemble, the show has to dedicate less time to carmy's plots.

and claire as a character and her relationship with carmy are the biggest casualties of this. a really clear example of this is when we follow syd during her food crawl in sundae, instead of sticking with carmy who ditches syd to help claire’s uncle(?) move. i'm sure a scene where we see carmy help claire would have done a lot of work to flesh out her character and their relationship more. but the writers had different priorities, and i am so happy they went with syd on her food crawl instead. that was some great syd character work, and a beautiful ep in general.

claire is not involved with the restaurant, but she's thee focus of carmy's arc second season. there isn't any cause for her to be at the restaurant, and they don't spare any scenes for claire to interact with our ensemble of characters. they only way they can include her in these scenes is to have characters talk about her.

now, how this translates for claire is that she felt very two dimensional, because she only exists in the story in relation to carmy and their (tepid, imo) love story, where they are mostly talking about him or the restaurant. it feels like she spontaneously spawned into the story, and all the characters know of her, but the audience isn't shown how they know her. we have to be told. repeatedly.

as for your timeline question, i think carmy was spending a loooot of time with claire from sundae onward. i think carm was confused about claire being his girlfriend before bolognese (assuming you meant bolognese s2e8, not braciole s1e8) because he's never had a gf before. he’s basically been a food monk most of his adult life (not to say he’s never fucked… tho i am personally in the carm is ace camp). he doesn’t understand the nuance. both the feelings and experience are exciting and bright (and so scary). it’s all new for him!

so the carmy/claire scenes this season did not feel like retconning to me. they really felt like more of the same. which was still bad, imo.

and ugggghhhhhhhh this explicit haunting theme this season felt.. like way too on the nose. like everything with claire, they have to make it obnoxiously explicit because there’s not enough time to flesh it out in a satisfying way. like did they ever have to tell us mikey was haunting everyone in season 1? no! they showed us that. but like their shoehorned love story s2, they have to keep telling the audience directly.

[one-britt-to-rule-them-all]

Just me rambling about my fanfic projects

(I didn't really proofread, I'm sorry.)

Listen, I know nobody's really gonna give a fuck, but screw it, I need to word vomit a bit.

I've posted on another platform about how I've been writing some Twisted Wonderland fics behind the scenes – three of them, to be exact. I haven't published them because I've been enjoying writing and indulging in this hobby in a stress-free manner, because I sometimes feel overwhelmed when having to cater to an audience, which incidentally takes the fun out of writing for me and causes me to block or burn out easily.

Doing this has really been making me happy, and I'm on the fence about publishing the fics. I probably will at some point; it would be a waste to not share the works. Plus, they're already written in a reader insert format, so it's not like I'd have to change much about the stories to cater them to my typical audience. I think I'd publish them only when I'm nearing their completion or when I have a lot – and I mean a lot – of chapters done. That way, I can set a consistent upload schedule.

But regardless of what I end up doing, I'd like to share the basics of the three books I've been working on! So continue reading if you're interested! ~

I'd like to give a preemptive warning that the second story I talk about is heavily NSFW-based. So, if you're uncomfortable with that, then skip over to #3.

Another thing: the reader is referred to with she/her pronouns throughout the explanations, though if published, they might be changed to GN, but I'm not really sure yet.

#1

So, the first book I want to talk about is called 'The Devil's Wonderland.'

This story is definitely inspired by some elements of Obey Me, though you don't need to have played Obey Me to understand what's going on because although it's inspired, it's not a crossover and the OM characters are never mentioned. 

This book does follow Twisted Wonderland's main story, though, with some artistic liberty taken to make it more unique to me and my story-telling. The reader is the highly-respected and somewhat feared demon lord of the Nether Realm (hell) and runs an institution where demons of all ages learn various things about the Nether Realm and important skills to have as a demon. The idea of the institution was first brought forth by the previous demon lord, her father, but the reader is the one to have actually gone through with it. Much like the Twisted Wonderland side of things, the institution has seven dorms with one demon at the head of each of them, and each dorm is based on one of the seven deadly sins. The dorm heads are personally very close to the reader in one way or another, and all come from different social standings of demon hierarchy. 

Her office has a mirror that allows her to look into different universes and realms, as well as travel to said universes, which is where the reader learns of Twisted Wonderland, a Realm she finds absolutely enchanting and fascinating and was contemplating taking a vacation there. However, when one of the freshmen, a mischievous cambion who has already earned himself the reputation of being troubled, gets called into the office, he goes into the mirror and Twisted Wonderland. So, with her trusty right-hand demon man at her side, they go into the mirror, where they are transported into Twisted Wonderland at NRC. They end up using humanoid disguises with magic to not draw much attention to themselves — they're unaware of what constitutes normal for the world — and originally have a mission to retrieve the troubled student and bring him back to the Nether, but they get dragged into the mess of the prologue of the main game. The thing is, the reader realizes that she likes being in Twisted Wonderland because of the way she's being treated. She's not being treated with fear and superiority. People aren't sucking up to her or blindly following and adoring her for her status because the NRC men don't know that this is the literal queen of hell.

She likes it. She likes being just another person. Hell, she gets excited when people outright disrespect her because nobody would ever dare say their true thoughts to her back in the Nether. So, she wants to stay in Twisted Wonderland to experience a semblance of normality, though she still has to flip-flop between realms because she has duties back in the Nether, so she's living this double life. Much to the chagrin of her right-hand man.

To make the story more unique to me, I've implemented a lot of elements of the original universe I've been building for myself and OCs, and there a few of OCs that will be added to add a little something! 

I'd like to briefly introduce these OCs to you. Please note that all the artwork that I'm about to show you have not been made by me. They are all paid commissions of my characters, directly taken from my ToyHouse account. I'd also like to apologize for the poorly-done collages of the images. I tied to condense things as much as possible.

Obviously I won't be revealing too much info on them as I don't want to spoil things should the books come to the public, but I want to share a few tidbits!

Starting off with my personal favourite and one of the most relevant characters, meet Alastair:

Al is the right-hand man and butler to the reader. His loyalty to her knows no bounds, and he's almost always seen with her. They actually have a very close relationship and respect each other as way more than just business partners, instead seeing each other as very close friends. Alastair is an absolute badass in his own way and possibly my favourite character. I'd even go as far as to say that he's my favourite of ALL of my OCs. I've just grown super attached to this dude and can't wait to show him off in story.

Next, we have Luka:

Luka is the cambion that got Alastair and the reader in the mess in the first place. Being half demon and half human, he struggles with his identity as he's unsure of where he fits in best. He faces prejudice in the human community for being unpure (racism is actually a big thing in my universe regarding human views on non-humans) and the demon community often reject cambions for being 'not demon enough'. Luka gets a lot of character development throughout the story, and his relationship with Alastair is pretty comical, and the relationship he grows with the reader is so wholesome to the point where I'm debating not making Luka a love interest because I feel like they have a very familial bond.

So, Luka and Alastair are the main OCs and the ones that are seen the most. The other OCs get introduced slowly but surely and are less present — though they still hold weight — so I will rapid-fire them at you.

So, let's get into the seven dorm heads of the demon institution!

First, we have Melchom:

Melchom is the dorm head of the Superbia dorm, which is centred around the sin of pride. He is a noble who is very well-acquainted with the reader and her family, being a childhood friend of hers. They were brought up with the intent of wedded to one another, but that didn't happen for reasons I'm not spoiling. With striking good looks, great power, a high rank in demon society and the sheer confidence he exhibits, Mel is definitely one of the more popular and admired demons at the institution, seemingly being perfect in every sense of the word.  

Next is Lucius:

Lucius runs Avaritia, the dorm based around the sin of greed. Although neither a noble nor anywhere near royalty, Lucius is a pretty successful business demon. He's incredibly skilled in business affairs and has made a name for himself in both the Nether and human realms, but is his money all from honest, hard work? Probably not. But he sure is good at convincing others that it is. He's a demon, give the shady man a break!

We move on over to Jinn!

Jinn is at the top of the Invidia dorm, which is based on envy. Out of all the dorm heads, Jinn is the most difficult with which to get along. Deep-rooted insecurities manifest as envy towards his comrades for one way or another, making it difficult to form a genuine bond. 

Next is the duo of Gael and Aziel:

Leading the Ira dorm, based on wrath, are Gael and Aziel. Gael is the only human that currently inhabits the Nether Realm, and he shares his body with a demon named Aziel. The reasons as to why Aziel is possessing Gael are redacted for the time being as I don't want to spoil, but much like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing, Gael and Aziel are completely different in terms of personality, and Aziel can take over Gael's body.

Next, we have Ezekiel, or just Zeke for short:

The Luxuria dorm is based on the sin of lust, and Zeke is the one who runs it. Zeke is a super open, chill and fun-loving guy who is all about self-expression and will absolutely shame kink and slut-shamers. He's allergic to wearing proper shirts, but if he must, he will. He also runs various clubs at the institution, including a dance club and a yoga club.

Next is Iblis:

At the top of the Gula dorm, home of gluttony, is Iblis. Iblis is an absolute sweetheart and cinnamon roll, whose tail and butt will do little waggles when food is involved. Despite constantly eating, he's rather fit due to gluttony demons essentially being bottomless voids, nearly immediately burning up anything they consume. And yes, his tail is as warm and squishy as it looks, and he's all for letting people use it as a weighted blanket. Once a human, reincarnated as a demon after death, one really wonders what the hell this guy has done to wind up in hell, he's such a sweetie... ~

For the last dorm head, we have Izzin:

The last dorm, representing sloth, is Acedia, which is run by Izzin. Much like, Iblis, Izzin was also once human and turned into a demon after death. Being a sloth demon, Izzin is forced into a perpetual state of sleepiness and because of that, he's the most uninvolved of all the dorm heads. Make no mistake, even in sleep, he's somehow perfectly aware of what's going on around him. He hears all, don't test him. Though when he's awake and aware, he's amongst the more mischievous and scheming of the dorm heads and often gets involved in Lucius' scams- I mean business.

There's one last character I want to show, and that's the reader. Now, in and of itself, the reader is not given a set appearance. The skin colour, body type, hair colour and style, eye colour, etc. remain ambiguous so that the reader can insert themself or their OC. Plus, this is made to be my sona as the MC of the story, but I still wanted to show! This is more to show what I have in mind with the outfit, crown, wings and horns when in demon form.

OKAY. Moving on to the next book!

#2

The next book is... something. It's called 'She's a Monster.'

Let me explain this book's existence with a simple conversation between my friend and I.

Friend: Hey, Britt! You know how everybody writes fics where the reader is a monster fucker?

Me: ... yeah?

Friend: Well, hear me out... what if the reader is the one who's a monster, and the guys are the ones who are monster fuckers??

Me: ...

Me: *Opens Google Docs.* Say no more.

So... this book is a collect-all-the-men reverse-harem-porn-with-plot... thing.

To make this simple, it's Twisted Wonderland, but the reader is a big, strong, naga woman that brings out the monster fucker in the NRC men. There's the plot that follows TW and my added plot lines, but there's a lot of sex and kink exploration.

My portrayal of nagas is not accurate to our real-world legends. My portrayal of nagas is purely driven by my original universe and narrative, so keep that in mind!

The gyst is that the reader is a naga — half human, half snake monster — a rare creature on the brink of extinction in Twisted Wonderland. The reader has been living completely isolated in the depths of a forest near the Dwarf Mines. She's rather lonely and craves having a clutch — what nagas use to refer to their group of mates — so when she sees Yuu, Ace, Deuce and Grim adventure into the mines, she's compelled to help them out a bit and interact.

Now, in this story, nagas are rare and almost extinct, so while it's not normal for her species, the reader is willing to get with humans and humanoids because she's a little desperate. Here's the thing: nagas have a weird male-to-female ratio, with females being much rarer than males, where there's only about a single female for every nine males, so it isn't uncommon for females to have multiple partners, and this instinct is still very present, and so that is why the reader is compelled to get with multiple guys. However, despite this, female nagas are very respectful and gentle with their partners and love them all equally.

The reader in this can shift between her proper, monstrous form and a more humanoid form where she has legs, though she's not fond of being in that form as she gets sore from containing her monster form. So, there are scenes where the men fuck the reader in her human form and some scenes where it's human on monster.

The reader is portrayed as a switch in the book, but there's a focus on her being dominant. I'm just tired of always writing submissive readers, so I'm trying something different. Plus, female nagas, in this interpretation, are typically larger, stronger and more dominant than the males.

Also... the reader has both female and male anatomy. I primarily work with female anatomy in the story, but when in her full monster form, the reader can sheathe and unsheathe two dicks, so there are some scenes where the dudes get dicked down.

There's some genuine fluff and emotional connections made, it's not all smut, and there are definitely some comedic moments, especially with the reader just... not understanding everyday slang, technology and human things in general.

So yeah, this one is definitely sexually charged and not for the sexually squeamish.

I'd like to give a visual reference of my OC that I've used to base the reader off. Again, keep in mind that my showing you these images is only to give you an idea of the physical traits the reader has in her monster form. Her skin/scale colour, hairstyle and hair colour, body type and shape, eye colour, etc, are all for you to pick. The basic appearance of the reader's insert is their choice, but this is a template for you to know what I have in mind when writing in terms of physical traits. The reader's 'colour palette' while in her monster form isn't mentioned, so feel free to think of her as the colour of your choice. Doesn't have to be purple and gold.

Her name's usually Lilith in my universe, but she's (Y/N) here, obviously! I have some more art of her, but the images are... very NSFW. So, I'm not showing.

Onto the last book!

#3

The last book is called 'Monsters & Magic.'

I don't have a cover for this one yet, but here's a commission that's in progress that I should get this week. There's gonna be a nice background of NRC's courtyard!

POKÉMON X TWISTED WONDERLAND CROSSOVER!!!

Okay, so this book is a little different... it's kind of a CYOA? 

Also, you don't NEED to be a pokémon expert to read this, but it definitely helps.

Basically, the reader is a champion-level and gets yeeted into the world of Twisted Wonderland thanks to Arceus. Basic stuff. But here's where it gets a little different: the book has three prologue chapters, and in the third prologue chapter, the reader stands in front of the mirror, and the story branches. There are seven branches for the seven dorms, and the reader will be placed in one of the dorms, and you choose which paths you want to read. So there are basically seven stories in one.

I decided to do this because I wanted to follow the stories of Twisted Wonderland, but I wanted the reader to experience the events of every dorm from the perspective of someone who's in that dorm. I wanted to write a bit more of an inside view of the dorm dramas and characters, with added plot lines and scenes made by me, of course. This is also a good way to give more depth to some characters I feel got screwed over by the writers. Leona, my love, I'm looking at you.

The reader also changes depending on the dorm she's in. Her personality and backstory are different, her pokémon team is different, etc. This is for variety because I don't want to write the same character over and over again but in a different setting.

The reader is from a different region for every dorm and has experienced the events of the main games associated with that region, plus more. The thing is, there are nine main regions and only seven dorms, so I can't honor them all. Plus, if you count Hisui, Orre, Fiore, Almia and Oblivia, there are even more regions.

Since I wanted to involve as many of the regions as possible, I fused some of them together, so here's what I got:

Heartslabyul: Paldea + Galar

Savanaclaw: Sinnoh

Octavinelle: Hoenn + Alola

Scarabia: Orre

Pomefiore: Kalos

Ignihyde: Kanto + Johto

Diasomnia: Unova

Because Hisui is basically old Sinnoh, I decided to not include it at all, but there are some nods and references to Legends Arceus, notably in the prologue of the book where Arceus brings the reader to Twisted Wonderland, and how pokémon are portrayed to be, as they are, wild creatures that can be extremely dangerous when not tamed.

Fiore, Almia and Oblivia... as much as I love the ranger games, I decided to not include them. Mostly because I haven't plsyed the games in so long that I don't remember them that much, but also because I wabted the reader's history to be more trainer-oriented.

Orre is included becasue I'm a sucker for the GC games, but also because I think the story and atmosphere based on those regions is great, and I'd love to incorporate it!

----

All in all, I'm having so much fun writing these books, and if I ever release them to the public, I hope y'all will enjoy them as well! 

Welp, thank you for coming to my TED talk! See ya!

[kakirokero]

They’re Many Things.

I find myself constantly comparing some elements of this season of The Mandalorian to The X-Files, which might be a bit odd, I know, and trust me you don’t want me to go into details about that lol.

But one thing I’m often reminded of these days is the varied perception of Mulder and Scully’s partnership.

Now, if you’d ask most xf fans how they’d define their relationship, especially from s1 to s6, they wouldn’t tell you it’s either platonic or romantic, that it’s just one thing but not the other, but instead they’d tell you – it’s many things (not even just the two options).

Each perception is relevant to the full narrative that delivers one big, complex picture of what they are.

But if one is taken away, or if one is singled out— the view would be incomplete.

And this incomplete prescription also affects the general understanding of the series as a whole.

But how is this specific aspect relevant to Bo and Din?

Their similarly purpose-driven partnership & complex dynamic could’ve been easily made into much much more definitive and clear labels throughout the season— but it wasn’t.

Why? Because it serves the narrative. The vagueness and varied possibilities are part of the story; to wonder for example weather Din has followed Bo from the very start because he believed in their shared cause or because her character has affected him in a different way,

or to ask if Bo defended Din in front of the other Mandalorians so intensely because she’s a true leader or because she formed a close connection to him,

to even think why these two opposite characters have such a strong influence on each other– is all meant to be questioned, but isn’t going to be answered in one fixed way. Not by the audience, or the narrative itself.

‘Cause it’s not supposed to be.

Just as their individual characters are very layered, so is the relationship. Adding more layers doesn't change what it essentially is.

So what I’m trying to say is,

You really don’t need to label it.

&Enjoy their story as a whole. It’s really great.

[chasingshadowsblog]

Review: Little Fish - Something For Your Mind

Title: Little Fish Directed by: Chad Hartigan Written by: Mattson Tomlin, Aja Gabel Cast: Olivia Cooke, Jack O'Connell Year: 2021

As a memory-loss virus spreads across the world, Emma and Jude fight to hold on to their memories and love for each other. Similar to another British-made dystopian feature, The End We Start From, Little Fish offers glimpses of the end of the world in its nascence, but chooses to focus on its main characters and their determinaton to quietly battle their impending doom and retain as much of their lives as possible while the world falls apart around them. The low-sci-fi setting of a world on the verge of collapse allows the audience and the filmmakers to explore familiar concepts - dementia and its impact on loved ones - from a very original perspective, resulting in a beautifully depicted relationship and its tragic fallout.

As Emma and Jude, Olivia Cooke and Jack O'Connell are truly wonderful but working with a script that doesn't always live up to their capabilities. Emma delivers exposition and narrates their experiences in a matter-of-fact voice-over that is jarring against the film's otherwise moody atmosphere. The out of sequence story-telling works effectively but never tries to deceive the audience into believing one thing or another. We have all the info we need to keep track of Jude and Emma's relationship and catch the slips as memories become hazy and scrambled.

The film is lucky to have such talented leads as it's the execution of Emma and Jude's relationship that makes Little Fish such a good film; it's the sometimes indulgent pacing and heavy narration that stop it from being a great one. It is a good thing, then, that the story itself and the chemistry between O'Connell and Cooke are so compelling. While the indulgent pace occassionally tests patience, the film's poignant final scenes leave the viewer satisfied and shaken and feeling as if we've just witnessed something special. For the most part, we have.

Other bits:

I really hope I don't sound overly derisive because it is a film worth watching

If you're a fan of either Olivia Cooke or Jack O'Connell (both of whom I would like to see more of in general) then it is definitely worth the watch

And I do think The End We Start From is a good companion piece for it

I didn't want to be overly critical in the review so as not to put people off, but I had more dialogue issues where sometimes I felt the language was a bit contrived but, again, saved by Cooke and O'Connell

Spoilers ahead!

While my overall feelings about the film are that it's good but not great, Emma and Jude's story really has stuck with me and I've enjoyed thinking about all of the hints that were dropped throughout

Jude says that the first time they meet is at a waterpark and Emma doesn't correct him, but that is an obvious enough clue for us to catch that we don't feel deceived by the ending

also, it being from Emma's perspective means that nobody is catching her memory losses and slips in the way that she is catching Jude's

the stress of Jude forgetting her finally and totally causes Emma to snap and forget at a much faster pace than Jude ever did (I believe Emma refers to the different ways that people react to the virus early in the movie - fading vs snap)

the woman panicking on the boat showing how such a person might experience their sudden memory loss

Emma speaks early in the movie about how maybe things are so bad in the world that people are forgetting things as a defense mechanism, and maybe that is what happened to her at the end, losing Jude was so painful she just forgot she ever knew him maybe

the final scene on the beach leaves the impression that Jude and Emma are so intertwined or meant to be with each other that even if they forget each other and have to 'meet' all over again, at the very least they will continue to form a connection

they could be meeting for the third time for all we know

(I'm separating this final note for emphasis)

the moment Jude frowns, lowers the camera and hands it back to Emma on the beach is so heart-breaking and well-acted by Jack O'Connell!

and then that very final moment of all the lights turning off around them was stunning and so effective

[okthatsgreat]

For the headcanon thing, I'm specifically asking you for a Celeste headcanon on behalf of that person who didn't get Celeste headcanon. Checkmate, Lee - rotate Taeko Yasuhiro in your mind until the headcanons manifest. 😎👉👉

UR KIDDINNGGGGG oh god. ok concentrating concentrating

headcanon a (realistic): do not bring her to board game night if you were planning on winning or having fun. she takes every single game so seriously and kicks ass every single time. she becomes a millionare in monopoly and nobody was aware that was even possible. shes even good at quiplash because she memorises the stupid jokes that her classmates keep repeating day after day and puts that into the text box each time. of COURSE her classmates are going to pick the answer that says "freeby fazber" why WOULDN'T they

headcanon b (may not be realistic but it is hilarious): see the thing about celeste is it is truly impossible to tell what parts of her story are real and what are complete lies .. i think she lives an extremely average life outside of being "celestia ludenburg" and that is why she created this false persona in the first place. born to a working class family definitely went through it a bit when she was younger but was able to garner quite a bit of notoriety and wealth from gambling to get her own place-- but definitely not enough to live in luxury. enough to get her out of poverty but not enough to avoid living paycheck to paycheck yknow. the REAL headcanon i have is that every single time she brings one of her classmates back to her home she rents out a different spot each time just to keep them on their toes. eventually she lets one of them (idk sayaka maybe) finally enter her actual house and its this one bedroom apartment with no air conditioner and a bunch of gothic lolita posters everywhere and sayaka genuinely thinks shes being pranked until celeste is like "no im being serious. youve signed a non disclosure agreement btw this information will not be leaving this room"

headcanon c (heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends): i dont think even celeste is aware of what her true personality is anymore. i really do like to believe that there are parts of it that are still left over, most of which is fuelling this deeply rooted imposter syndrome she certainly tries not to dwell on, but by all means her desire to seperate herself from taeko yasuhiro has caused her to practically forget who she once was. telling celeste to "stop lying" is much easier said than done, and i think it'll take years before she could ever reach the point where she is truly authentic and "herself". and even then celestia ludenburg will certainly still remain in a lot of her actions and speech patterns. she wont just wake up one day and suddenly be vulnerable and fragile and guilty, it's gonna take her a loooooooong while to adjust

headcanon d (unrealistic, but i will disregard canon about it): i think she's a bit geekier than she lets on GHFDKG its that small bit of taeko thats still there......... she would never admit it in a million years but sometimes, SOMETIMES, shes able to listen in on hifumis ramblings and go "oh i remember that show. his opinion about this character is totally wrong. oh well time to add that to the list of things i do not like about that man." oooooooo also fun fact whenever i write celestia in my "danganronpa is a reality tv show thats been going on for ages" aus i always always write her as a character that adapts with the changing trends. same with ibuki!! her aesthetic adapts over the years towards what is more recognisable with the target audience at the time, and while it definitely isn't as noticeable as ibuki's style swap there are certainly a LOT of wild changes team dr tries to throw at her before quickly reverting her style back and pretending it never happened ghfjdksgk

headcanon ask game!! :)

[ffl-johnmark-au]

TW: Homophobia, SA, sexism, age gap, death.

Ships??? Well...

JohnMark: The main characters, of course. They met in NCIT, when Johnny started working there as an English teacher after a few years since he lost his piano abilities —and his husband, who abruptly passed away—. Mark is a student, so they had not many significant interactions until Johnny became the Music Club teacher, where Mark is an acknowledged member. There is another tragic event that makes them come absentmindedly closer to each other. Little by little, they become friends and later, dubious feelings twist things between them. Johnny was 32 years old when he (really) met Mark, and Mark was 23.

JohnYong: They had the sweetest and happiest marriage in life. They met in college. Johnny had constant confrontations with his parents about his future and his true self, and Taeyong was a lifesaver for him and his inspiration to make his dreams come true. Not only Taeyong but his entire family made Johnny feel like he was finally at home. When Johnny announced that he was marrying Taeyong, he was despised and practically thrown out of his own family, but Taeyong and all his surroundings received him with all of the love he could never imagined. Unfortunately, Johnny and Taeyong's story, which started kind of early in time, ended in the same way when Taeyong had a cardiac arrest that took his life in 2015, when they both were 25 years old, only 2 years after their wedding.

Mark × Yoorim: They met when Mark's mother chose her as the perfect partner for his son, as he was too ‘shy and insecure’ about hanging out with someone. Mark really felt a kind of affection towards her, but Yoorim started treating him like a puppet, and he couldn't do anything about it. He was afraid to disappoint his mother telling her he was not interesed in Yoorim —or in any girl—, he tried to convince himself about his ‘male strength’ and ‘natural dominance’, just like his mother always taught him. Unfortunately, he didn't realized the seriousness of the matter until he suffered an attempted r*pe by his own girlfriend, who drugged him in an unknown bar. From that moment on, Mark only thought about how to end that relationship, although it caused him too many problems. Yoorim is 3 years older than Mark.

Donghyuck × Sungchan: Donghyuck had a crush at first sight with Sungchan, when he met him in the first class of the Music Club new semester. However, Donghyuck's recklessness is just a nope for Sungchan, who is very focused on succeeding and doing better than everyone else. Although at first he has a strong crush, over time Donghyuck realizes that Sungchan is not the type of person he needs by his side, plus he hates his best friend, Mark. Nevertheless, the opposite happens to Sungchan, who ends up falling for Donghyuck's charms and determination without even noticing. Donghyuck is 22 years old, while Sungchan is 21.

DoHyuck: Donghyuck just hates Dongyoung so much he doesn't even bother to pronounce his name correctly, giving him what would later become his official alias, ‘Doyoung’. Their relationship just starts very badly, because Donghyuck does not tolerate Doyoung's excessively formal and 'slubby' personality, and Doyoung hates how shameless and rude Donghyuck is. They are the definition of opposite poles, and it is what ends up pairing them in different activities. Donghyuck eventually finds out why Doyoung always acts so cautiously, and Doyoung ends up meeting new facets of Donghyuck. Doyoung is 4 years older than Donghyuck.

XiuYeol: They officially met in the ‘Lovingly, yours FEST’, a Valentine's Day music festival which invited Chanyeol's band, KING, to have a special performance. Minseok was part of the audience that night, as he went to the event with his younger brother and some friends. Chanyeol saw him in the crowds, Minseok's face was so familiar and yet so stunning that he couldn't help but staring at him while singing. Being respectively Johnny's friend and Mark's brother, it was about time to them to meet and get to know each other better, which would result in a slow-burn romance, as Minseok has commitment issues due to past experiences and low self-esteem. Also, Johnny and Mark's relationship does not have Minseok's approval, which leads to tense moments and arguments. Minseok is 32 years old, Chanyeol is 33.

ChenNing: They are good friends, but Chenle has developed feelings towards Yizhuo (aka ‘Yiyi’) and is constantly trying to send her some signals about that. Yiyi just seems unaware about her friend's romantic interest on her, but their relationship slowly grows deeper and stronger, until Chenle reaches the right moment to confess and gives their friendship a happy ending, so both of them give their romance an exciting start. Chenle is 22 years old, while Yizhuo is 20.

Ten × Solar: They met in college days, Ten was a Physicomathematics student and Yongsun a Business Administration student. She was on an academic exchange in Thailand. They fell in love so fast, but their relationship didn't go well from the very beginning. However, his marriage was arranged by Yongsun's family, who promised Ten a life full of luxuries and money that he could use to help his parents, who were in a precarious situation and yet, they made the effort to pay for such an expensive professional career. Ten accepted, thinking that things would be better for everyone. They got married as soon as they graduated and flew to South Korea, where they began their life as a couple. Sadly, this life was not a dream at all, since the strong and explosive personalities of both made a hell out of their coexistence. In the remaining crumbs of their marriage, something still brought them together, something beyond money and appearance, and they have a long way to go to discover what that is. They are 28 years old.

Suhyun × Dongwook: Mostly of the information about this couple is provided by Suhyun in conversations she has with Johnny, but their relationship is just known to be perfect and healthy. In some point of the story, they get married and have a beautiful wedding. Suhyun is 26 years old, Dongwook is 34.

YunGi: As the previous one, this is a background couple formed by Yunho and Mingi, and almost all the knowledge about it is provided by Yunho. He is just so in love with his boyfriend, who is very supportive towards Yunho's dreams and goals.

Only mentioned/implied: Jaemin × Jisung, Lisa × Rosé, Sehun × Suho.

[romanceyourdemons]

the big parade (1986), one of chen kaige’s earliest films, is an interesting piece. it does not tell a sweeping historical narrative that explores the role of women and femininity in chinese history and society, the way that yellow earth (1984) and farewell my concubine (1993) and temptress moon (1997) do. instead, it takes on the most quintessentially masculine space—the military—through the lens of the event that most quintessentially encapsulates collectivism and the subsumption of the individual into a greater cause, the mainstay of propaganda from both sides of the pacific, the chinese military parade. the film depicts a group of soldiers training for the eponymous parade, and, through the mount of one of its characters, the stubborn and eloquent lü chun, argues that the parade is antiquated, barbaric, and represents an antithesis to the modern and fulfilling individualism. and yet the narrative complicates the picture. the parade itself remains arbitrary. however, through the process of training for the parade, the characters and audience form one-on-one connections with the various vividly portrayed characters, to each of whom the parade represents something different and deeply personal. to one, participating in the parade is an expression of filial piety and a way to process grief; for another, it is his last chance to have something to show for a long and gloryless military career; for some it is a chance to prove themselves worthy of marriage while for others it is a way to prove that their breakup was worth it, and many more reasons; each individual’s experience is so vividly portrayed that, as the final minutes of the film linger on the countless near-identical faces of the parade, one cannot help wonder how many stories are contained within every shot. zhang yimou’s cinematography is, in my opinion, the best part of an already-excellent film. bodies and their physical presence are the central axis of the film. zhang frequently cuts heads off of bodies or bodies off of heads with the frame in order to defamiliarize the shapes. in scenes where the soldiers rehearse the parade, a well-ordered lineal focus turns their bodies into architecture. in scenes where they socialize in the barracks, the chaos of constantly moving flesh makes their bodies look like a natural landscape, and zhang frequently keeps an unrelated body in the foreground of conversations so that the audience does not forget the context of the individual. this context is one of pure and intense camaraderie, with the full experience of Being In The Military unwrinkled by the physical and ideological horrors of being in a war. the resulting discussions of the individual and the collective, of discipline and camaraderie, of the connections men want to form with women and the ones they form with each other, are very interesting, and i would definitely recommend the big parade (1986) as a significant entry in chen kaige’s filmography