#and he's probably a reason why some year certain brands dare and some don't

[itoshikinozomu]

Ok but tate gotta have this: color chart.

[alison-anonymous]

I Want to Write a Mikayuu Series

Okay.

So um.

If you're reading this, HELLO. All of you long time ONS fans probably don't know me, but I'm Alison and I'm a hardcore Mikayuu, Mitsunoa, Gureshin, etc shipper. I've been in the ONS fandom for almost a year and dear god. The amount of people telling me that Mikayuu is queerbait is just making me really sad 😅 I'm a writer, and I'm the type of person who honestly feels like the author of a series should have the ability to choose how a story ends without influence of their readers. I mean, if it's their story, then it should be their ending, right? However, I also do have some qualms when it comes to how this "love triangle" between Yu, Mika, and Shinoa is being portrayed. This is entirely my personal opinion, but I feel like Shinoa seems to be forcing herself to love Yu. I honestly don't think she cares for him in a romantic way, but more of a very deep-rooted admiration or even envy that she's trying to convince herself to be romantic love. And Yu has said multiple times that he values Mika's life above his own, that he doesn't know what he would do without him if he were to die again (I mean the fact that he suffered seeing his best friend and potential lover die a first time was definitely scarring enough, PLEASE STOP TORTURING OUR POOR BABIES). And it's basically confirmed by now that when Mika said I love you in the manga, it was in the romantic sense. Even though I wish, I hope, I dream, and I pray that Mikayuu will become canon, I honestly can't say for certain what I think will happen. I think it could sway any way, with Mikayuu becoming canon, Yu and Shinoa becoming canon, or it being one of those ambiguous endings where it's heavily implied but nothing actually happens. And in order to make myself feel better when stuff like this happens, I tend to rewrite the entire story with the ending that I would have liked to see ;)

You're probably wondering where the hell this stranger is going with this. Well, I want to write a book. A series, actually.

One that's inspired by Seraph of the End.

Now, if you're interested in hearing me out, then feel free to keep reading. But if not, continue on with your scrolling, no hard feelings. But if you do, and I really hope that you do, give me a chance to explain.

I want to write a series inspired by Seraph of the End called Bloodsucker (working title, obviously). And this series is going to be a reimagination of ONS with an ending that I would have loved to see in the anime and manga. I plan to have three main characters (please keep in mind that I'm going to have name changes): Yuichiro, Mikaela, and a brand new character, Epic.

Now, I would begin this series a bit before the anime and I'm assuming the manga begins. I'd start with introducing our main three characters as they meet in the orphanage (yes, Epic would be a part of this orphanage as well) and how Epic and Yu try to make moves to run away only to be stopped by Mika and Akane.

I plan to include a scene between Epic and Akane where Epic tries to run out in the middle of the night only to be stopped by Akane, and this is what caused Epic to develop a crush on her (Epic is a girl btw). Then I would begin the whole shit with the vampires and how they set the world on fire and shit, but instead of the apocolypse, I'd make it so that most of the adults died in the fire while the kids were taken alive (because young blood is better and whatnot). This includes our little Hyakuya family. The directors would have tried to trade the kids lives for their own, and due to their selfishness, the vamps killed them and took the kids anyway.

This would begin my first story arc: the prewar.

Epic, Akane, Mika, and Yu would all be living under the vampires at this point along with the rest of the kids in their orphanage. I plan to include lots of moments of bonding that heavily imply Epic loves Akane even though she doesn't know it yet and Mika loves Yu, but Yu is fucking oblivious. The four begin to plot their escape, but while Mika and Akane (yes Akane too) are making deals with the vampires to help out with their family, Epic is constantly finding herself getting dragged along to visit Queen Krul. The pink haired vamp has a soft spot for her for some reason and often tells her that Epic and her family are "special" or sum shit. And she's super confused and semi grossed out. But none of the vamps ever dare to hurt her so she thinks it's fine. Then one day they all plot their escape and it's much more planned out and lengthy and less rushed than it is in the anime. Things almost seem to work out until the vampires stop them

And Mika and Akane DIE.

I know. I'm horrid.

Epic is standing here in shock as she watches the love of her life die before her and Mika BEGS for Yu to take Epic and run while they can. So while in the series only Yu survives, he obeys Mika and both him and Epic survive this. They're found by Guren (a new character I haven't come up with yet lol) and Yu is super protective over Epic, not wanting anyone to take the only piece of his family he has left (he's a fucking mess without Mika let's just be honest) and Guren ends up taking them under his wing.

Now we hit the second arc. Still with me?

The War.

Hold onto your hats everyone because this is where shit is about to get complicated. So I do plan to have a bit of a time skip into the current spot where Yu and Epic are attending school with Guren as their father figure and they've become very close. So close that Yu refuses to work with anyone else but her. They end up getting onto Shinoa Squad (obviously going to be completely different in my version) and they get put onto the battlefield. But here's the catch. Well, two catches.

Yu and Epic do have demon weapons. I do plan to try to incorporate that into this. BUT the backstory is different. I plan to make it so that the vampires obviously see the humans as fies. Insignificant things that are more playthings than threats. And they didn't want to have to deal with killing all of them, so they sent demons in their place to handle it. But the humans were able to form deals or "contracts" with the demons and therefore turned the vampires' own secret weapon against them.

Now, catch no. 2

So, Epic, Mika, and Yu aren't seraphs in this. But they are something else. I'm going to try to explain this as simply as I can, but each of them (besides Mika since he doesn't have a demon) have 3 souls inside their body:

Soul 1 is their current soul, the one that identifies as Mika or Epic or Yu.

Soul 2 is their demon soul, like what Asuramaru is to Yu.

And soul 3 is their archangel soul (I might change that name later on).

So I'm just going to come right out and say it. In this series, Epic is the villain.

Yes.

You read that right.

Epic is the villain. But she doesn't know that she is. These Soul 3s were reincarnated into the current bodies of Mika, Epic, and Ari (and I know that's not exactly how it works but screw logic this is just a fucking concept) from their lives centuries ago.

These souls existed way before vampires existed and Epic (or Essie) was very close friends with Yu (or Aytigin). Aytigin was in love with Haru (Mika) but for one reason or another, they couldn't be together. Essie wanted to do something, willing to do anything to make the two of them happy. So she made a deal that brought the vampires into creation so that Haru and Aytigin could be happy. She was willing to sacrifice everything that they stood for so that the two of them could be in love together.

She had good intentions, but of course Haru and Aytigin were furious because now the vampires were turning against the humans and they all basically died. Until they were reborn respectively, but unknowingly.

Now picking back up in the present, Yu and Epic are fighting in one of the main battles and the two are very confused when the vampires make a very deliberate attempt not to hurt Epic. They're unsure as to why, but Guren tells them not to worry about it.

Suspicious bastard.

Anyway, it's revealed finally that MIKA IS ALIVE

BUT HE'S ALSO DEAD

Yes he is a vampire. And Yu falls in love all over again upon seeing him, and after a bunch of struggling, Epic gets kidnapped. At first she gets strangled by Lacus and then she gets kidnapped by Ferid who doesn't kill her surprisingly.

Oh and uh... Ferid is nice in this. He's still a fucking creep, but he's a lot nicer than he is in the series. I plan to make Queen Krul or whoever I turn her into be the villain.

Anyway, they take Epic back to the vampire palace or whatever and Queen Krul and Epic are reunited! And Krul is the one who reveals to Epic exactly who she, Mika, and Yu are and this is what sparks Epic's fall to insanity.

I mean, she's the killer. She's the one who brought them into this world. She's responsible for every death the vampires cause.

I would go crazy too.

So, she manages to escape (partially thanks to Mika) and the two join Yu and the others again and it's revealed a second time exactly what is going on. And while no one actually blames Epic on the Shinoa Squad, that doesn't stop people like Kureto and even herself from blaming.

And this causes her demon to go haywire.

She begins losing her marbles, almost killing her teammates and trying to kill herself, all while the three begin to experience dreams or visions of their Soul 3s.

While all this shit is going on, there's heavy romance between Mika and Yu because these two lovers just got reunited and FUCK did they have glow ups but yes -

Oh. And there is another spark for Epic, even though she doesn't think she's worthy of love.

Okay. I'm just gonna say it.

Lacus falls in love with Epic. Yes. You read that correctly too.

I plan to make the two of them get trapped together at some point and they have to work together to escape. It's during this time that Epic realizes he's not all that bad and has some form of self control and he realizes that she's the most interesting thing he's ever met in this disgusting and boring life and damn do her eyes look pretty-

But yes. She forms a permanent alliance with him that he jokes about as marriage and they meet on other occassions too, but lol yes.

Anyway, blah blah blah, more fall to insanity, the Soul 3s take over their bodies on multiple occasions and there's a lot of bonding and fighting and Epic and Mika somehow manage to get some of the vampires on the human side.

And in the end, Epic and Yu basically sacifice themselves to save the human race and kill Queen Krul. It's a very rough ending I haven't quite perfected yet, but Yu has a moment like he did with the King of Salt. But though he inflicted a lot of damage, it's not enough. So while the team is worried about him, Epic takes this opportunity to fix her and Essie's mistakes.

She allows both Essie and her demon to take control of her body and dies on the battlefield. Queen Krul is eliminated. Most of the vampires are gone. The humans won.

Horray.

Epic is dead.

Kinda. Yu and Mika take her back home and this is the preview to the last arc where everyone's in the hospital and Epic's in a coma. Mika and Yu barely ever leave her side and it's only when Lacus of all people comes to visit that she fucking wakes up.

Okay. Are you still with me? Now come with me to the final arc.

The Post-War.

No my friend. It doesn't end there. Because Mika and Lacus are still vamps and life still sucks and I drank too much coffee this morning.

No it's not over yet.

So flash forward a couple years and Kureto and Crew are working as the heads of this city. Stuff is being rebuilt, people are settling down in homes, Lacus and some of the other "good" vampires find jobs, and Mika, Yu, and Epic get a house together (in case I didn't mention before, Epic is pansexual. She loved Akane dearly and I plan to include scenes where she sees her in her mind and dreams like Mikayuu so she's never truly gone, but she falls for Lacus too when he's not being a sadistic asshole). Things are going strangely when

BAM. Epic and Yu come up with a cure for vampirism.

How, you may ask? I don't fucking know, I haven't read about it in the manga yet but before we come up with an idea for it, imma say they came up with it through a spell. They share their findings with Guren and soon all vampires are being cured, most notably Mika, Lacus, and even Rene.

BUT and there's always a but, Kureto passes a new law claiming all vampires to be property. That any vampire or previous vampire or even vampire supporter/owner that tries to disobey these new laws is to be killed immediately. Now Epic and Yu are in jeopardy because their ex-vampires are in danger (Epic and Lacus have been hanging out a lot more and he's proven himself to be a decent guy. Contrary to popular belief, I headcanon him as not really knowing what to do when he actually cares about someone since he's been a heartless vamp for so long. So when he turns to Mika and begrudgingly asks him for LOVE ADVICE of all fucking things, Mika is ready to die). So basically, Mika and Lacus end up getting locked up along with the other ex-vamps (including Ferid which was a pain in the ass) and did I forget to mention that there's a proposal?

Oh yeah, Yu proposes to Mika and the blond still has yet to give him an actual answer because poor baby is still having a hard time accepting that Yu can love a "monster" like him.

But anyways, now Epic and Yu are furious and SHINOA SQUAD IS BACK IN BUSINESS. With the help of Guren and Shinya and everyone, they form a sort of rebellion and blah blah blah they manage to get Mika and Lacus and everyone out and blah blah blah they all get separated and Lacus begins to get INSANELY protective of Epic and ends up confessing his feelings to her before he nearly dies and blah blah blah did I forget to mention that I'm making Mitsunnoa and Kimizuki x Yoichi canon and blah blah blah.

Epic kisses Lacus as an instinct. Lacus kisses her again. Mika accepts Yu's proposal then almost dies AGAIN. I kill off some characters for emotional tugs and after a ton of more fighting and revenge and psychological breakings later, Kureto is killed. And Guren (or someone else haven't decided yet) is the new head of their city.

Epic, Mika, and Yu finally let Akane and the kids go. There's a lot of Shinoa Squad bonding but this is a summary so I haven't included much besides the main three. Epic and Lacus becomes canon. Mika and Yu get married. Guren and Shinya get married. Shinoa gets pregnant.

And everyone gets the FUCKING HAPPY ENDING THAT THEY ALL FUCKING DESERVE BECAUSE FUCK

I do plan to be slightly ruthless like the creator and include a lot of heartbreaking scenes, but it's going to be much different than ONS but I still want it to hold on to some core relationships.

I just want them to be happy. And I just want to make other people happy because fuck I JUST WANT TO BE HAPPY

So. Yeah.

That's Bloodsucker...

So my question to you is... if I wrote this shit.

If I sat down and typed about 30 books roughly inspired by Seraph of the End and Mikayuu and Mitsunnoa and shit...

Would anyone read it?

♡ a.a.

[kelnius]

A Viewer’s Review of . . .

When I first turned on the DVD player and opened up the case to my copy of Now You See Me 2, I saw a slip of glossy magazine-style paper on the inside cover, a kind of advertisement or promotion for the movie. Curious, I read the colourful page which simply said:

     "Thanks for buying NOW YOU SEE ME 2 Unfortunately you're not a lucky prize winner this time, better luck next time. Enjoy the film!"

I have no idea what contest this promo was referring to, since I didn't even know there was a contest; however, before I'd even put on the movie, there was a note in the DVD case letting me know that I am a loser. Thanks for that . . .

Despite that, and the film prior, I wanted to give this film a chance. Even though I really didn't like the first movie, it had some good elements and I've been pleasantly surprised by sequels in the past.

Unfortunately, this film maintains the standard set by its predecessor. So, if you enjoyed Now You See Me, I'm certain you'll like this one too, as it's more of the same. It has some elements of the plot that shake things up in a new way that tests the main characters, and although I found the conflict underdeveloped, if you like watching people use illusion-inspired skills and contrivance to steal stuff, well, this has that as well.

Certainly, this has some improvements, because it fixes the issues I mentioned in my prior review. Instead of the lack of focus, this time we have clear main characters in our magicians, they are the protagonists and we even have a clear antagonist of Walter Mabry, a socially maladaptive tech geek being played by Daniel Radcliffe.

Unfortunately, since Isla Fisher was pregnant at time of filming, she was written out of the sequel; but, she was replaced with Lizzy Caplan, playing Lula a sort of "cringy, dorky, jokeshop" type of magician, and with her comedy, she lit up every scene she was in. Heck, even though it didn't serve the narrative, her sexual attraction to Jack, played by Dave Franco, was woven throughout the story much more naturally.

They also seem to have gotten rid of those weird, futuristic holograms, so at least that wasn't anywhere near as distracting. Oh, and they also brought back the magic trick combat, which I still enjoyed although it seems like they are running out of ideas as to how magic tricks can be used combatively. At one point, he breathes fire, which isn't really a magic trick . . . in the next film, is someone going to "juggle knives" at their enemy? But, despite those positive elements, the plot still felt uninspired, contrived and overcomplicated.

For one thing, the original movie wasn't written to have sequels, but they made one anyway, by unravelling the loose plot threads. I mean, when you create a story, you can't explain everything and tie up every loose end - in fact, some elements are designed to be left open-ended. But, if you're working in the movie industry, they mistake this open-endedness for "incompleteness".

Hence, although the magician dying during his last trick was just a footnote in the last film, this movie shows it in full detail. Even though "the Eye" was just an undefined secret society in the last film, this film develops the mythology. And, even though the last film was a complex series of heists that took 30 years to plan, most of the heists or showpiece illusions in this film were planned overnight, making them seem all the more unrealistic.

In fact, being unrealistc is probably the greatest problem this film has. For the last film, and this one, I kept complaining that magic tricks seemed "impossible", and the reason why is that the grand majority of the magic tricks being used could only be accomplished with the use of CGI, jump-cuts and "movie magic". If these are supposed to be real magicians with real skills, why not just use real illusions? You can do fifty takes to make it look perfect, but why use computers when you could save money and make a more believable movie just by doing the illusions practically? I’m not complaining about bad CGI, the CGI looks good for what they do, but they keep using it to do the impossible, which makes it all the more obvious how unrealistic these movies are.

My next complaint is pretty deep into the second act, so all I'll say is that a regular playing card does not have the same aerodynamics as a playing card with metal in it. Also, based on some simple calculations I did, if you count it backwards, this movie's timeline would begin on or just after Christmas, yet there's no mention of the holiday season, meaning the scriptwriters couldn't count backwards from seven. And at this point, do I even need to mention that hypnotism is not the same thing as mind control? Even the film knows this because it uses all four of the magicians, even though the hypnosis powers on display are powerful enough to solve every problem they come across - it takes 15 seconds and can make anyone do as their told - it’s not a magic trick, it’s a superpower.

But, those are some minor quibbles. Unlike the last film, rather than some spoilers messing up the film, this films has most of its issues on the surface.

When this movie finally ended, I was left wondering how they were going to wring a sequel out of this film, and don't kid yourself, they are working on it. This earned just as much at the box office as its predecessor and there are plans for Now You See Me 3 to be released in 2019.

When this sequel was first announced, I was wondering why they called this Now You See Me 2 instead of "Now You Don't" - I mean, it seems like an obvious sequel title, right? Well, now I know the answer. It's because this isn't so much a movie as it is a product of the "Now You See Me" brand, or #NYSM for the kids. You need that brand recognition to sell tickets, so they wouldn't dare change it. Not to mention, “...Now You Don't” is a conclusion to that turn of phrase, but they don't want a conclusion, they want something that can churn out films again and again. This time around, the ending even included some set-up that could lead to a third film, but it still feels artificial and empty.

So, how can they continue from here? I'm not asking because I want to see "the next chapter of this adventure", I'm asking because I didn't think there was enough substance to make two movies out of this. After watching the film, I still feel that way, so I don't know how you could stretch this premise any thinner or water it down with more cliches and irrelevant subplots. Which is pretty disappointing overall because I still think this was a good idea - magicians pulling off a heist, that's cool, I'd love to see a movie do that well.

Maybe someday, I'll see that movie . . . unfortunately, these films would rather rely on lazy writing and cheap tricks.

Old Hat, and there was still No Rabbit . . . - 4.0 ⁄₁₀