#and i made asuka in like 10 minutes so its not very good

[nepdapurrbeast]

my tekken ponytown characters

ill do my fnaf ponies next 😋

[lilliganmusic]

If you had to ask me what my favourite anime OST’s would be then here they are! Top 10 obviously because who doesn’t love lists?

I have amazing taste in anime OST’s btw, so I will be eagerly awaiting comments from those who haven’t already been blessed by these anime, telling me how good these tracks are.

Honorable Track Mentions from anime that didn’t make the cut:

Ao Haru Ride

“Ao Haru Ride”

“I Will - Instrumental”

“忘れられない時間”

Cowboy Bebop

“Cats on Mars”

“Piano Black”

“Rush”

Demon Slayer

“A Butterfly’s Dream & Anger”

“Kamado Tanjiro no Uta”

“Rengoku’s Last Smile”

Neon Genesis Evangelion

“Asuka Strikes”

“Decisive Battle”

“Misato”

“Rei II”

One Punch Man

“BATTLE!!”

“Mysterious”

“Seigi Shikkou”

And now on with the list!

10. Wonder Egg Priority

YEAHHHH, GOOD OST!!! I think the music is really cool and funky in this show! Probably the most unique OST I’ve ever heard. I love how the music can be so light and whimsical one moment, then “oh shit, we are fighting the metaphorical manifestation of your trauma and could very well die”. It’s like the kind of music you would have for an alarm or a ringtone. I think “Wonder Egg” and “花開く時” might very well be my favourite tracks, but I have a special place for “いぎ戦わん、乙女たちよ” as well. It’s upbeat and creepy! There isn’t a bad song in the OST, the only downside with the tracks would be how short they are!!

“WEP fans shocked that someone is finally talking about the anime.”

9. Ouran High School Host Club

Honestly what a good anime, we all know how iconic the OP and ED are but what about the OST? I have a bias for orchestral themes and OHSHC delivers that in spades. They have so many funny tracks that perfectly evoke the crack energy of the lads and Haruhi, as well as some nostalgic ballads that sweep you right off your feet. “Polka Capriccioso” is their anthem, the minute I heard this again I started laughing. Then you have emotional tracks like “Nocturne for Orchestra” and “Pavan for Piano and Orchestra”. There’s not a single bad track, (which goes for most of the OST’s on here) and honestly I’ll be incorporating some of these tracks into my playlist.

“OHSHC fans rolling up to every social function to be as LGBTQIA+ as possible.”

8. Beastars

I love this jazzy anime!!! Like yasss!!! So melodramatic and angsty!!! This show just has a really good soundtrack, it was really hard not to list everything lol. “Beastars - Classical”, “Beastars - Another Side” and “Hope of this World” have my heart forevermore, while “Impending Darkness” and “Louis’ Feelings” are fucking BOPS! We don’t talk about “Bite Me!”…

“There’s no shoujo filter, you’re just a furry.”

7. Dr. Stone

I DUNNO HOW I MISSED THIS SOUNDTRACK OR JUST FAILED TO APPRECIATE IT, BUT MAYBE I WAS TOO ENTHRALLED WITH ALL THE SCIENCE HAPPENING TO PAY ATTENTION? WHAT THE FUCK I HAVE GOOSEBUMPS?? HOLY SHIT THIS SOUNDTRACK IS SO EPIC???? JUST GO LISTEN TO THE WHOLE THING I GUESS, NOT A SINGLE BAD TRACK. I WOULD RANK IT HIGHER BUT I JUST STARTED LISTENING TO IT WISNSOALSPDK. THIS COULD EASILY BE IN MY TOP 3.

“Me ascending to a higher plane while listening to the Dr. Stone OST.”

6. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

I can already hear the FMAB hardcore fans screaming about “FMAB IS PEAK FICTION!!! BEST ANIME EVER!!! THAT INCLUDES ITS SOUNDTRACK!!! IT SHOULD BE IN FIRST PLACE [gamer slur] [death threat]”. Shut up. I love FMAB, and my god when I hear “The Fullmetal Alchemist” and “Trisha’s Lullaby” am I frozen to the spot. I knew FMAB would go down as one of my favourite animes when it made me cry on the second episode. I watched this anime in 2020 and I still get nostalgia hearing the music. My two other faves are “Concerto ~ Brotherhood” and “Overture ~ Brotherhood”. Fitting since these two are my favourite brothers in fiction.

“Anime fans happy to see that FMAB didn’t take 1st place for something anime related.”

5. Toilet Bound Hanako-kun

OOOOOOOOH BOY!!! I first thought TBHK was just gonna be some pastel middle school reverse harem anime, but I was wrong, wrong, wrong! I love this anime and it’s music so much, I was listening to my fave tracks for a solid month straight. Also during 2021 I would just listen to a piano version of Tiny Lights during my online maths classes and sob my heart out. Maths is very stressful. This anime has RANGE!!! It has a lot of good comedic tracks, spooooky tracks and ROMANTIC ones. “Tomo Tomo” and “Firindotto” are such endearing tracks to hear, while “Fantasuteriasu” is downright ICONIC, but my absolutely favourite would obviously have to be “Sutarakushon”.

“TBHK fans when they get a Nene x Hanako moment right after being emotionally destroyed.”

4. My Hero Academia

I didn’t want to put My Hero Academia on the list. I’m not even up to date with the anime/manga — I’m still on S3. I have a love hate relationship with this show but goddamn does this OST make me so emotional. It makes me feel like I can do anything, and I can’t ignore that raw emotion. My Hero Academia was one of my first anime, I have to show it some love. My favourite tracks from S1 would be: “You Can Be A Hero”, “HERO A” and “My Hero Academia”. For S2: “You Say Run” (obviously), “Eiyuuteki Butou Sentoukyoku” and “Bakusatsuou”. Finally for S3 (which I never finished 💀) my absolute fave has to be “Bakugo’s Rescue Soundtrack”. THOSE DRUMS!!!! I SCREAM EVERY TIME!!!

“MHA fans when “You Say Run” starts playing.”

3. Hunter X Hunter

Oh yeah!! I started watching HXH because I found out the Among Us betrayed music was from the show, no that’s not a joke. I have also listened to Hyori Ittai an unhealthy amount of times. Probably my all time favourite song to ever exist, but we’re talking about OSTs! Truly the tracks for this anime are beyond iconic, you hear that music and you know it’s time for nostalgia. The thing with HXH is that it has so many OSTs and no, it’s not cheating to talk about all of them. My favourite tracks from the first would be: “The Silver-Haired Boy” and “The Silver-Haired Lullaby”. For the second OST my faves would be: “Zoldyck Family Theme”, “Go on Gon!”, and “Departure for Strings”. From the Phantom Rouge OST: “The Red-Eyed Monster” and “Emperor’s Time”. Finally the last OST, and holy shit is that an OST to contend with: “Kingdom of Predators”, “Hyori Ittai Lamento for Piano” and “Elegy of the Dynast”.

“HXH fans after hearing that HXH is never going to have an ending for the 1246396481623748292638 time.”

2. The Promised Neverland

There are no words for how much I love this soundtrack. It was originally going to be first, but I remembered one other anime with an OST that I’ve listened to religiously. If I liked a background song in an anime I’d try and find it, but TPN was the anime that got me to actually go find and listen to the OST. Even for the No. 1 anime OST. This OST is so haunting and ethereal, adding to the bittersweet tragedy of the show. Those motherfuckers bottled raw emotion in their music. My favourites would be “The Promised Neverland Track 1”, “Isabella’s Lullaby”, “Emma’s Sorrow” and “Emma’s Determination”.

(Edit: I forgot about how good Ray’s Retaliation is and how fun Dancing Krone is.)

“Ah fuck, ran out of ways to slaughter anime fans— ah well, Cloverworks already covered that with TPN S2.”

1. Violet Evergarden

I’ve listened to and enjoyed almost every single track in this OST. Each one is meticulously crafted in a way that adds to the world of Violet Evergarden. Everything about this anime is beautiful and the music, a thing of perfection in itself elevates the anime to where it is. There is not a single bad or boring track. Watch the anime and listen to the OST.

“‘Bwuwuhhwhhuwbbwbb’ - average Violet Evergarden fan trying to convince you to watch the show”

[maprron]

Growing up

A/N:Chendy family fluff… I felt bad for writing earlier so this is how I make up for it sorry for the gaps I am uploading from my phone 🙄 also once again I didn’t proofread so sorry there as well

~~

It started out as any normal mission, well as normal as it can be when she had to work alone as most of the team members now had kids. And Wendy was really alone with this one as Carla had stuck behind with Chelia and everyone else was spending time with their families which was surprisingly scarce these days. Wendy didn’t mind though, she found herself on many occasions being alone on missions, besides she was stronger now than she was all those years ago when she joined the guild, she could handle these missions by herself.

The mission was simple enough, find some bandits and capture them, so Wendy did exactly that. They were easily defeated as they didn’t expect the 25 year old girl who still looked 13 that asked them for directions to hold so much power so they let their guard down which is the exact time she striked.

By the time she got the bandits back to the town that they were camping near it was already night and Wendy desperately wished Carla had joined her. “That would have made this easier” Wendy thought out loud with a huff as she made her way to the only inn in the small town to sleep for the night.

As soon as she made it to her room she collapsed onto the bed and slept for 14 hours as if she was a cat. As soon as she woke up the next morning she quickly left the town so the inn owner didn’t think she was weird.

As she walked to the train station she considered just walking home but before she could make her mind up she was sitting in the train and it was heading back home to Magnolia. “Maybe” Wendy thought to herself as she rested her head in her hands as the motion sickness started to kick in “Maybe it is for the best that I took the train, Chelia would probably be upset if I showed up at 5 pm from a mission that only took 30 minutes”. Wendy was correct but for different reasons.

As soon as the train stopped Wendy grabbed her bag and ran out of the train. People looked at her as she lost her balance and fell onto the hot concrete of the train station though she didn’t mind. She laid there until a worker told her to get up, which she quickly did.

Wendy skipped down the streets that covered Magnolia on her way home to the cottage that they bought after they got married which was soon to be 6 years ago somehow. Wendy thought about how time flies. She remembered the day that Levy had told her she was pregnant and now the twins were 11. It felt strange to her. It felt like forever since the team went on the 100 year quest yet it also feels like it all happened yesterday. She was starting to feel old and maybe it was because she was or maybe that Nasha was 8 this year, maybe it was because Shutora and Yajeh were 11, or maybe it was because Asuka was already 17. All of that was put behind her as suddenly her body stopped right in its tracks as she heard soft cries coming from an alleyway next to her. She couldn’t stand hearing the poor cries so she decided to figure out what the source of the crying was.

Behind a bunch of trash lay a woven basket which held a small baby. Wendy froze. “Who would…?” The only words she could get out but she wondered who would leave a child in an alleyway instead of literally any other place.

There was a note in the basket that told anyone who had found the baby to take her as her mother was unable to take care of her. Wendy knew from the moment she saw her that she had to take her home.

When she got home she banged on the door using her foot, hoping that Chelia was home for once.

“I’m coming” the voice of a slightly agitated Chelia rang throughout the home. As she opened the door her face went from anger to happy to confusion

“Babe? Why were you kicking the door in?” Wendy had managed to hush the baby and Chelia hadn’t looked down at Wendy's arms yet to notice the baby in the basket.

Instead of responding Wendy glanced down at the basket and back up at her wife since she didn’t have a good way to explain it

Chelia was still oblivious to it all. They stared at each other for what felt like an excruciating amount of time to Wendy. The one who made the presence of the baby known was herself as she began to whine again.

Chelia jumped back, grabbing a hold of the door frame so she didn’t fall onto her back. “Where did you get that?”

“Seriously? That is how you are going to react?”

Chelia shook her head and grabbed the baby out of the basket and brought her inside. The baby was small, alarmingly small. She was the size of a premature baby yet she was very skinny, who knows how long she was in the alley.

“Carla!” Chelia yelled, placing the baby down on the counter top in the kitchen “can you help us out real quick?!”

“What do you need…” the exceed who was currently in her human form asked, slightly aggravated. She quickly stopped in her path as she walked into the kitchen noticed the two girl leaning over the counter

“Can you get us some baby formula or something please?” Wendy tucked a strand of her now short hair behind her ear as she looked up at Carla. “And maybe some other things, I don’t know can you just help us out here”

“Uh… sure” Carla looked around a little stunned before walking towards the door and putting her shoes on.

“Here take this” Wendy pulled out around 10000 jewels from her bag and handed it to Carla.

“Do you usually carry around this much-“

“It is part of my pay from my job” Wendy said as she cut Carla off. Carla just simply shrugged as she turned to leave for the store.

10 minutes later a familiar blond and redhead barged into the house

“Is what Carla said true?” Erza said as she walked into the kitchen

“Hey, there is a thing called knocking” Wendy remarked

“Ouch,” Erza pretended to clutch her heart at Wendy’s comment “where did my sweet like girl go?”

“She’s still here” Chelia smiled as she looked up at their guests

Lucy walked up behind Wendy, gasping as she rested her hands on Wendy’s shoulders “oh they are so small, where did you find them?”

“I found her in an ally, near your old apartment actually, and guess her mom was the one who had left a note saying that she couldn’t take care of her” Wendy softly answered

“Why would someone leave a newborn baby in an alleyway” Lucy’s motherly instincts talked for her as she looked at the poor baby

“Well, I’m glad you found her” Erza smiled at Wendy “are you going to keep her?”

Wendy and Chelia looked up at eachother, neither of them hadn’t thought about what they were going to do with her.

“Oh we don’t know yet” Chelia brushed of my question with a wave and Wendy smiled.

Lucy smiled at the two girls and let out a small laugh.

“What is it?” Wendy looked over at the blonde woman who had been like a mother to her for years, her and Erza both

“Oh nothing, I’m just am realizing your not a kid yourself still” she smiled

“You didn’t realize that when I got married?!” Wendy turned at looked at Lucy

“Wendy, no one thought of you as an adult when we got married” Chelia smiled, resting her head in one of her hands while the baby held her finger on the other.

Wendy slumped over and the comment “oh okay” she pouted. The three women laughed at Wendy which caused her to crack a smile.

Soon Carla returned with the things Wendy and Chelia had asked for along with some things Lucy and Erza had requested before they headed to see Wendy and Chelia for questioning.

“Crap, Lucy, how do you do this?” Chelia asked as she tried to fix the baby formula

“It says it on the box” Lucy laughed at her

“Yeah but… can you just help me” she looked at Lucy with puppy eyes and Lucy agreed, not like she was going to tell her no

“Aw poor baby” Erza spoke in her motherly voice as they took the baby out of the sink, where they were bathing her, and wrapped a towel around her small body

Wendy smiled at Erza’s funny tone as she dried the baby off before laying her back on the counter to put a diaper on her

“I DID IT!” Chelia yelled, throwing her arms up in the air. Lucy quickly took the bottle away from her before she spilled it all and handed it to Wendy.

“I’m proud of you, honey” Wendy smiled. She placed the bottle on the counter and then picked her up from the counter, holding her gently in her arms. She then picked up the bottle once again and began feeding her. Wendy smiled as the baby happily drank from the bottle instead of pushing it away. Chelia walked up behind Wendy and placed her hands on her bare shoulders.

Erza and Lucy smiled at the scene in front of them. “Yeah,” Lucy whispered to Erza “I think they will do fine” Erza simply nodded

‘Our little girl isn’t so little anymore I guess’ they both thought to themselves

[rawsanma]

In Memoriam of "Shin Evangelion: Curse"

*The following article contains a full spoiler for "Evangelion 3.0+1.0".*

I sat together with a person who was not in birth when EOE was released, and after watching the film we talked a bit and thought about the people who passed away without ever seeing this. I understand that fans from the old series and those who came from the new series may have very different perceptions of Shin-Eva. So I'd like to first correct a few things I said in my first impressions.

It may be somewhere between an honorable movie and a mediocre movie in general, but as Evangelion, it's garbage.

After about halfway through the two hours and thirty-five minutes, I started to look at my watch again and again. The double ending, which is both a personal novel and a product, was a fleeting fantasy, and the two songs "One Last Kiss" and "beautiful world (da capo ver.)" were not used effectively in relation to the story, only being played in the staff roll.

When I saw the first 10 minutes of the movie that was released last year, I thought that perhaps Paris was chosen as the setting for the story of "humanity fighting together in the face of destruction" or "the expansion of the Eva world (not G Gundam, but G Eva!)", but that was not the case at all. He just wanted to depict the battle using the Eiffel Tower as a FATALITY,　I realized that he hadn't made a single millimeter of progress since when he asked Hayao Miyazaki if I could film only this action scene of Her Highness Kushana in the re-animation of Nausicaa, he was scolded, "That's why you're no good!"

At the beginning of the film, they try to carefully describe the things behind the scenes that were not told in Eva Q.  The third Ayanami like the TV version is the main character, and they go on and on about living in the countryside, copying "My Neighbor Totoro". The large family of our parent's home that we go back to during the summer vacation is presented as an image of happiness in life and a decent human being. It is also connected to Gendou's narrative during the Human Instrumentality Project but isn't it too Showa-era and too simple a solution? I am interested in how the young fans who are children of nuclear families who left their large families in the countryside and moved to the city saw the too sudden depiction of "life in the countryside". It was almost a gag to see Ayanami walking around in a plug suit which is a sexual orientation that has manifested itself after Space Battleship Yamato, in the images of pre and post-war farming villages depicted by recent NHK morning dramas. The director, influenced by his wife, must have been immersed in the LOHAS and vegan lifestyle as a fashion statement, which is only possible because he is an urbanite with too much stuff and too much money. As for this theme, it has already been presented in the watermelon field scene in the second film, and it is merely a re-presentation of the same theme in a diluted form.

I've pointed out before that Eva Q is "a crack in reality because of the loss of reality to rely on. "It's rude not to eat what you're served!", Shinji was scolded by Touji's father, who looked like a subversion of Hayao Miyazaki's work (Gedo Senki!). I have a simple question, how can the interior of a house become so old and wretched after only 14 years? How can a community of people of all ages be formed in just 14 years?　There was a line that implied that Touji had killed someone for the village, and it is possible that the director had extremely beautified the "Showa era" as a sanctuary where people who are hurt and regret their committing murder during the war as a soldier live nearby, and when he opened the last drawer after using up all the materials, he found the image of the original landscape of his childhood.

Misato and Kaji's child, which is only described for a few minutes, is also abrupt, and I don't feel that it is more than a plot device for the purpose of staging the reconciliation with Shinji later on. Some people seem to be moved by the fact that "behind Misato's cold attitude towards Shinji in Q, there was such a conflict in her mind," but it's the opposite. All the answers are just excuses after wasting nine years of work. Even if the wounds healed and treated with a gentle "I'm sorry," after being beaten severely by a raging DV husband, the fact of the beating would not disappear, and the wife would feel nothing but fear at the sudden change in her husband. To a situation that he had set to minus 100, he spent 2 hours and 35 minutes gradually pouring water drawn from other places and past works to bring it back to zero...I've never seen such a horrible match pump. Well, now that I'm writing this, I'm thinking that I've seen this before.

The relationship between Eva Q and Shin Eva is very similar to the relationship between "The Last Jedi" and "The rise of Skywalker" in Star Wars. In a self-absorbed rampage of conjecture that did not listen to the opinions of others, the historical stage of the series that had been built up was turned into a mess, and then the destroyed story was carefully built up again from the ground using unnecessary length, and only the shape of the story was created to end it without being disgraceful, and every scene that tries to make things more exciting is a copy of past work. As for Star Wars, since 8 and 9 were directed by different directors, I was able to settle my feelings of resentment towards Ryan and gratitude towards Abrams, respectively, but as for Evangelion, the director looks like a child who has been proud to clean up his own mess and have his female cronies praise and pat him on the head. Moreover, what kind of sympathy do you expect when you are told to "I'll make amends" for the mere act of wiping your ass after defecating, in a cool, Showa-era chivalrous tone?

In this film, as a recovery from Q and a summary of new Eva, there are elements throughout the story that critics can easily relate to the old Eva. “Oh, I can talk about this in connection with that!” This is what gives them a good impression and it has nothing to do with how the old fans perceive it. The director seems to have a dedicated person in charge of communicating and negotiating with the outside, but now he wants the critics to communicate with the fans about Shin-Eva. As long as he doesn't speak for himself, he can correct their interpretations later based on the "misunderstandings" of the people in between himself and his fans. This is a very Japanese-style system of surmising feelings, a system of authority that is formed when only a limited number of cronies are informed of the true intentions of the president. If I talk about it in too much detail, right-winged Yakuza will show up very soon, so to make it short, it is an indigenous control structure unique to Japan that originated from the "Mikado behind the bamboo blind". This time the director was very conscious of that, and I was able to see that Eva, who was a challenger, has become an authority that does not tolerate any criticism.

And what fan from the past could enjoy watching the endless battle scenes after Shinji returns to Wunder in the middle of the film? One after another, the sister ships of Wunder appear--there's almost no difference in appearance, but Ritsuko is able to guess their names the moment they appear. Right after the line "I'm pretty sure there's a fourth ship," the fourth ship comes crashing upon them from underneath, with no intention other than to make us laugh, right? As well as the repeated tenseless bombardment fight with no description of damage no matter how many artillery shells are hit, and it's quite painful being poured Asuka and Mari's Me-Strong Battles which are already enough by the time of Q, continuously down my throat like a goose with a funnel in its mouth. There's no way to synchronize my feelings with the screen, and it just creates an atmosphere as if the story is going on with the unattractive super-robot action that I pointed out in Q. It's no use pointing out, but the repair and supply problems of Wille side in a world where the industry has been destroyed were shown in the farming village part, though it was inadequate. But those of NERV side, an organization of only a man and an old man, was completely thrown away.

The last part of the story about the Human Instrumentality Project is like a fanzine where Gendou, Asuka, Kaworu, and Rei are lined up in a row and complemented in turn and then dismissed, whereas EOE was a total complement through Shinji. The director has tried to upgrade his framework by borrowing them from EOE and has failed miserably. Someone who has created works by putting his emotion and flair into a copy has dabbled in copying his own work. As a result, he had to confront his own sensibilities from when he was young and had to compare the old and the new by his old audience. Frankly speaking, only the techniques have been traced, the sound and the screen have become gorgeous, but the emotion and the sense have deteriorated. The face of the giant Ayanami that was replaced with a live-action one -- probably based on the face acting of Shinji's voice actor, and the "untested ordeal" of her tweet means this -- appears in the background like a gold folding screen in the high sand at a Japanese wedding reception. You're getting tired of all this, and you're not making it seriously, are you? The battle between Eva Unit01 and Eva Unit13 in Tokyo-III, which I expressed my anxiety about before the film's release, is a scene where the company's CG team can't produce what the director expects and he is so frustrated that he has the same mindset as in the final two episodes of the TV version, "I'd rather get a minus than a red", and after that, it became like a gag scene, including Eva fights in Misato's apartment and Shinji's school classroom, as if he was staged them in desperation. The side-shooting screenshot of the little Wunder charging at the head of the giant Ayanami is a picture of ”Cho Aniki (Japanese STG)” itself, and it's also meant to be funny, right? It's a series of loose, sloppy, and tenseless scenes that can't be compared to EOE.

What the hell have the CG team been doing for the past nine years, getting paid with no progress and making Eva look like an outdated piece of crap? Didn't anyone have the chivalrous spirit of the Showa era like "Don't embarrass our boss!"? Don't be so relieved when you get the green light! The director has just given up on you! There were a few scenes where the person at the top of the editing and collage, who has been making the coolest pictures, was not given as much good material as he used to be and seemed to make desperate staging in a way that he would never have given the green light in the past. It's been more than 10 years since Xapa was established, but I guess they don't have enough talent to meet the director's vision. Perhaps because of this, the conclusion of the film is exactly the same as the old one, that the director has no choice but to use his personal feelings to finish Eva, but the film ends up being a self-imitation of "Sincerely Yours". It is sad to see a person who "surpasses the original by putting his heart and soul into the copy" start to copy his own past works on the big screen of the theater, because he has become a big name in the animation world after reaching the age of 60, and there are no others left to be copied. However, right after "Komm, süsser Tod" started playing in the old movie, the scene where the titles of each episode and the reverse side of Cels were played in succession was projected on the wall of the studio using a projector -- the title of the new movie was added.  It made me mad and thought, "Don't touch my EOE with the dirty hands of the merchant.  I'll kill you."

The last things that the man who "transfers his own life onto films" presented in his costly self-published private novel were a naked confession of his own mental history up to the point where he met his wife, which he temporarily entrusted to Gendou, and the words "I think I loved you" and "I loved you" exchanged between himself and the former lover who could not be together and themselves who had separate spouses, just a reckoning of the muddled love affair that existed behind the scenes of EOE. I half-jokingly said that the distance between the director and Asuka's voice actor was important for the end of Eva, but it turned out to be true in a different way. During the recording session, Asuka's voice actor was told by the director, "I'm glad Miyamura is Asuka," which sent chills down my spine as it conveyed the horror of a creator who doesn't hide everything about his life and relationships and uses them to create his works.

In the scene where Shinji says "I liked you too" to the adult Asuka, who is wearing a tight latex suit and drawn in a more realistic character design (making us aware of the cosplay by Asuka's voice actor), while she is lying on the EOE beach, I thought "You guys should do this in a coffee shop or something between recording sessions! Don't make us watch middle-aged man and woman having unpleasant conversations on the big screen of the theater!", I almost screamed out. I think that's the scary part, the director's one-sided love for Asuka's voice actor is falsified by having the character say that she liked him, as if it was a mutual love. The director's statement at the beginning of the pamphlet says that he started working on the sequel right after Evangelion 2.0 without hesitation, using the worldview of "Q". I'm not trying to quote the line "You can change the reality you don't like by getting on Eva.", but it's not as if he's trying to cover up the fact, but he really believes that using his strong imagery, and it made me feel a bit chilly that there was no one around to correct his misconceptions.

At the end of Human Instrumentality Project, I wondered if the fact that a senior member of the movie industry had praised the shooting of EOE by flipping Cels over as a "tremendous deconstruction" was still fresh in his mind. This time, too, it was postponed after postponement, and even though the makings have been done in time, he showed the other side of the production with line drawings and roughs. The reason it was so innovative was that it was the first time anyone had tried it then, and now, 25 years later, it's just a rut. It's disgusting that everyone is praising the master's strange drawing habit and saying, "Oh yeah, that's it, that's it." As I've said before, it's like "defecating in a sixty-nine," which was successful because the first partner happened to be a scatologist. The expression of EOE was sharp and ”Rock’n’‐roll”, but Shin-Eva's "fun of anime images" has gone into the realm of traditional art, like slow "Gagaku".

The director hadn't decided who Mari Makinami was for a long time -- he was so indifferent to her that he threw the actor's acting plan to a sub-director -- but with Shin-Eva, he's changed her into an equal to Moyoco Anno, his wife. In other words, the flashy battle in the middle of the film, which is unimportant to many viewers, is revealed to have been a very pleasant pretend play for the director, in which he has his former love and his current wife fight on his favorite robots. Once again, we are shown the director's so-what-attitude, which has not progressed even a millimeter since "I'm an asshole," and which he can complete his work only by masturbation. So it's no wonder that they couldn't depict the extremely simple catharsis of Shinji's great success with Eva Unit01, which is what most of the old fans want. Because a robot with a pathetic old man on board can't get an erection due to impotence, let alone masturbation!　Oops, excuse me, sir.

And as I said before, it's time to realize that the English language has become so popular in Japan that it's become lame. You use Infinity, Another, Additional, Advanced, Commodity, and Imaginary, just because it sounds cool to you, right?　Everyone criticized the naming "Final Impact", but I never thought I'd see the time when I'd faint from the lack of taste and coolness in Evangelion, such as Another Impact, Additional Impact.

And the ending, with the wedding report in a live-action aerial shot of the director's hometown, newbie fans are screaming that it is like, "They're doing a very positive version of the old "Return to Reality!". But I felt it was too empty and cynical because it was intended to be read that way by the director. It depicts only the elation of marriage, and the pain of getting along with a partner and his or her family with different values is cut off (well, maybe Q was expressing the hardship of married life......). But isn't the emotional weight of a marriage report much higher when you meet your partner's parents?　The fact that he ended the movie by showing his own hometown instead of his wife's hometown leaves me with the impression that he's definitively an egotistical geek through and through. "You may have graduated from a good university and are making good money in the city, but if you're not married and don't have children, aren't you somehow humanly flawed?" After 25 years, Evangelion, which was such a forward-thinking Sci-Fi, is now completely in sync with the earthly ethics of Showa-era's farmers and farm horses. "I got married and it saved my life. I don't know about you, but why don't you try?" You can think what you want, but if you want to convey it as a message of salvation, you have to express it in the content of your work, not in your own talk.

I've been married for 20 years, I have two children, both of whom are about to reach the age of adulthood, I've paid off the mortgage on my home, and I'm finally at the end of raising my children, but all of that is just an outer shell of a social skin that has nothing to do with my true nature or where my soul is! There's no connection between what kind of life an individual lives in the real world and the Sci-Fi sense of wonder, in fact, there shouldn't be any connection! If you're a science fiction fan, take a page from the great Arthur C. Clarke! I was a nerd with a negative value of 100, but when I got married, I gradually poured the "common-sense values" of the Showa era into myself, and now I'm a true man with no negative value? Don't write such pathetic fiction proudly! Listen, what you presented to the audience at the end was the same thing that someone would say to you, "You seedless stallion!" It's the same kind of unethical and vulgar message that you shouldn't be giving! The old Eva became a classic of Japanimation, and no one was able to properly scold you, or you keep away those who tried, and the result of this is directly reflected in the ending of Shin Eva!　You've reached your 60th birthday and you only have such poor social common sense, damn it!

I'm sorry, I was so excited that I lost my control a little bit, just a little bit. I think the director is relying a little too much on his wife, who is ultimately a stranger on, to be his laison d'etre (lol). If they were to break up in the future, it would certainly be the soil for the next Eva, the content and development of which is completely predictable, but that is no longer my concern. I wonder if his wife doesn't like the fact that he's mentally dependent on her like this, and that it's being shown on screens all over the country. If it were me, I'd be furious, but since she's a creator, I guess she understands how he feels. Ignoring the other person's feelings and continuing to force what he believes to be love on her, thinking that it will make her happy, seems to me that there has been no progress at all since the way he treated his girlfriend 25 years ago. The person I want to hear from the most right now is not the self-proclaimed Eva fans who are looking at each other from the side and giving positive feedback in celebration of the final episode, but his wife. If the director had a child, he would not have been able to distinguish between his own ego and that of the child, and would have doted on his child, making a documentary film about his or her growth, but would most likely have turned into a controlling and poisonous parent in his or her adolescence. And he animated his feelings for his child who was rebelling against him, without the child's permission, considering it as a one-sided redemption for the child, and the child who was exposed to the whole country about their home life would have distanced from his father more and more.

In the end, Evangelion did not become a product like Gundam, but rather a robot animation that was the director's weird personal novel. The repeated use of the word "job" in the film has stuck in my mind, but in order for the studio to survive, it had to make Evangelion a product in this new series, and I'm sure that was the initial motivation behind the production of these new films. Your real "job" was to make Evangelion the same as Gundam, to protect the people who came to you because they loved Evangelion. Years from now, I can see a future where Xapa will be like Ghibli, behead the staff and continue as a copyright management company. The director, who didn't want to be embarrassed as a creator by a new challenge adopted the safe way -- I can't believe that I have to use the word "safe" for Evangelion -- to end the new series that relied on EOE only for himself, not for the future of the people who came to admire him. That's what Shin Evangelion is all about.

The good part? The fact that he didn't bring Shin Ultraman trailer at the end of the film makes me think he has grown up a bit. If you're declaring "Farewell, All Evangelions" with the intention of hurting, disappointing, and disinterested old fans like me, then your malice is unfathomable, and that's quite a feat. Brilliantly, your intentions have permanently killed a part of me that used to be an Eva fan.

As horrifying as it is to imagine, it must have crossed the director's mind to reschedule the film and set a new release date for March 11. The only reason he didn't do so is not that he has grown up to be a sensible adult, but rather because the idea of linking Evangelion 3.0 with the Great East Japan Earthquake was a fact that is too painful for him to make it public.

Ten years ago today, many lives were lost and Evangelion was destroyed.

This fact will never disappear, no matter how much the director denies and covers up with the "true" history. If there is any mission left for me as a fan, it is to continue to pass on this fact to future generations as a storyteller. It is a huge loss for Japanese fiction that the end of the great Evangelion has become a self-recovery work of the great failure of the reboot affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and that the potential of the great Evangelion has been consumed by the self-defense of someone who cannot admit his own mistakes, and I sincerely regret it. Shin Evangelion will be forever cursed by the dead, who yearn to see the sequel of Evangelion 2.0, and the living, who yearn to see the sequel of Evangelion 2.0.

This curse will be completed when it spreads, arrives, and is burned by the powers that be as a false history. I pray that my thoughts will reach him!

[tsuki-sennin]

Mina-san, bonne lecture~! (Tsuki recaps his feelings about Kamen Rider Saber, a personal essay.)

So, Saber... what a wild ride it's been, huh? Just a quick heads up, this is very long and rambling, and also contains spoilers for everything in Saber. It's fine if you don't wanna read all this, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out there.

TL:DR, Kamen Rider Saber's an undercooked hot mess I absolutely adore, warts and all.

Speaking as objectively as possible, it's a 6/10. Probably closer to a 5 than a 7... it's not great: All the different plot elements are cluttered and weirdly paced; character focus is disjointed and clearly biased toward certain characters, leaving great ones like Kento and Ogami, interesting ones like Kamijo and Hayato, and underdeveloped ones like Sophia and especially the Shindais in the dust; not to mention its balance of comedy and drama is off, and while both are very effective, there's a lot of mood whiplash that can take you out of the story. I also feel like a lot of the easily avoidable character conflict could've been easily resolved, even in universe, by simple conversations. Be careful Fukuda, I think Inoue might sue you if he finds out you've been biting his style and doing it worse.

Rider shows have a very frustrating tendency to drop cool form ideas and not do anything with them, and I don't think it's ever been more the case than with Saber. There's a similar argument to be made with the majority of Heisei Phase 2 after Gaim, but wow. The suits are expensive to make without just straight up recycling everything, I get that, but man, I really wanted to see more Wonder Rider forms. How come Touma got all the fun, eh? Of note are the Blades King of Arthur forms (which look amazing by the way), Espada's Jaaku Dragon forms (one of which I even drew last night), even the non-elemental random Wonder Ride Books all have awesome design elements that go tragically unused. Even if the other Swordsmen just kinda have the ones they do get to use slapped onto them, that's at least something. Touma also just straight up only uses Diago Speedy twice and never again. You have cool props guys, don't waste them like that!

Speaking of waste, Espada, goddamn. Since most of the Wonder Ride Books are Story Type and he needs one very specific Story Book to transform, he doesn't get much of... anything, really! No Wonder Rider forms like Blades, Lamp Do Cerberus being exclusive to Ganbarizing, only getting to use the Ride Gatriker like once, he even spends the second and third arcs as a completely different Rider, then once he comes back he doesn't get a King of Arthur-granted upgrade or even a Necrom Espada form. ...at least, not yet anyway. I'm holding out hope for Espada x Necrom and the eventual Saber V-Cinemas. Extra Rider stans, we will be well respected someday.

The Unreal Engine CGI used for fights in early Chapters was pretty good but wow it feels disconnected and they really drop it quick. I feel like if the animators had more freedom to use as many forms as they want, we'd have gotten a lot more mileage out of the books beyond... decoration basically. I actually really liked the CGI sequences, they felt creative and were fun to follow along with.

The soundtrack is pretty great on its own and conveys what it needs to, but they seriously overplay the orchestral themes. It honestly feels kind of... stock at times. I think my favorite parts of the score are when it winds down, since it feels a lot more natural and lets the cinematographers and actors speak for themselves.

As awesome as I think Falchion's design and the Mumeiken Kyomu are, The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin comes up short as its own standalone thing. You'd think 30 or so minutes of non-stop action would be awesome, and it almost is? It's as good as a typical episode of the series with a higher action budget, but it kinda drags on a bit too long; and although I think Emotional Dragon looks cool, it feels a bit tacked on. Coming off of the incredible Zero-One REAL×TIME, it doesn't give you much room to breathe, which Rider films are typically great at handling. I also thought the resolution for the kid's subplot was kinda forced. He does an okay job at acting considering his age and doesn't overstay his welcome, but I really don't see how 20 minutes of violence and action is enough to convince him to be brave enough to go play with the other kids. 5/10, it's closer to a 4 than a 6 and I think that maybe Zero-One should've stood on its own if they really had to push back Kiramager Bee-Bop Dream because of the pandemic.

Alright, with all that said... As imperfect and undercooked Saber was, like Ghost I can consider it a personal favorite, 10/10. Call it a guilty pleasure if you want, but holy hell it's just the show I needed. Takuro Fukuda has a talent for creating fun, wonderful characters and utterly fascinating worldbuilding and concepts. It's a shame he doesn't utilize them fully, but hey!

The action and fight choreography are pretty top notch as usual. Lots of beautiful shot composition and set pieces, and plenty of great angles to help keep up with the extra busy action. I love watching the suit actors perform and they deserve all the respect in the world for their hard work in those hot, sweaty, and heavy costumes. Their visual design is also top notch, with lots of unique and fascinating forms and cool weapons I desperately want to play with despite being broke, all with spectacular finishers and hype jingles with the voice of Akio motherfucking Ohtsuka calling them out. A real feast for the eyes. Not a single bad suit among them, yeah I said it, fight me.

The crossover specials are soooo good too.

-I went over my feelings on the Zenkaiger crossover episodes in a separate post (good luck finding that btw), but to sum it up, they were great character moments for Zox and the Shindai siblings with lots of great screwball comedy and some good old fashioned meta humor.

-The Ghost crossovers are great little side stories all about how Daitenku Temple somehow had the Ghost Ijunroku Wonder Ride Book? I genuinely have no idea why it was there, or how Makoto had the Specter Gekikou Senki, and as far as I remember neither of their origins are explained. Did Luna or Tassel hand them off to them and told them to wait for a sword guy? And why do these generic French Revolution Gamma villains working for Danton get their asses handed to them so easily by Kanon, who literally just became a Rider? I thought that Makoto deciding to adopt all the Kanon clones into his family was both hilarious and adorable though; considering all the crap they went through, I think it was a good ending to this plot. Gimme Espada x Necrom already Toei/Bandai/Fukuda/whoever I need to yell at, give Kento things to do, I beg you.

-I haven't actually seen Super Hero Senki since it's not available for subbing yet, but apparently there's a Journey to the West plot starring the Taros and Ohma Zi-O and I want to see that so badly.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra? Yoohei Kawakami? A match made in heaven, that's what they are. All of their themes are absolute bangers. All of them. Almighty, Kamen Rider Saber, Sparks, Taju Rokou, all excellent and empowering pieces. Rewrite the Story, Will Save Us, and The Story Never Ends are all amazing inserts done by the cast, and it makes me wish we had even more of them to help break up the monotony of the score.

The characters are what easily make this show such a great watch though. For the most part, they have great personalities and chemistry, consistently fun and interesting scenes, well acted and... sometimes well-written development, and deeply investing personal stakes.

Narrating it all is the delightfully eccentric Tassel/Viktor, portrayed by Romanesque Ishitobi "TOBI" of the Paris-based Les Romanesques. I was utterly confused by his presence at first, wondering why there needed to be a narrator when the story would've been perfectly fine without it. He even got a special spot in the opening despite having no stake in the plot despite seeming to live in Wonderworld, who the hell is this guy? But then I thought "OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD". I thought it'd be some subversion of expectations, true form, "That Was His Mistake!" shit. Trust me, it made a lot more sense in my head. I'm very happy that they didn't do that, as I grew to love having male Yuuka Kazami as my narrator, and when he was shown to be actually important by being friends with Yuri my mind was blown. And doubly so when I realized just how deeply necessary to the plot he really is.

Rintaro/Blades is up there as one of my all time favorite secondary Riders, since his curiosity is always consistently funny and adorable, his forms are all gorgeous and impressively designed, his relationships with Mei and Touma are absolutely sweet and compelling to see unfold, and his arcs about becoming willing to call out those he views as family and coming to terms with his feelings of inadequacy and both moving past and using them to strengthen himself are always great lessons to pass on to kids. ...even if they took like 10 goddamn episodes to be conveyed in what could've been 5, but hey, Takaya Yamaguchi does a stand-up job all throughout. Rider veteran Eitoku's refined, almost logical movements with the Suiseiken Nagare absolutely beautiful to see in action, and his final form having the same white and blue color scheme as Zooous's base form is an amazing touch I don't see appreciated enough.

Mei Sudo's also absolutely wonderful, serving as the perfect emotional core of the story, responsible for most of the funniest lines, sweetest character moments, and some of the most deceptively compelling drama. Asuka Kawazu brings the perfect energy for such a dynamic and well rounded character, and absolutely nails her scenes of quiet turmoil. As much as I would've loved her to become a Rider, I don't think she really needed to. She's already done so much to help, and as cool as it would've been to see her pick up a sword and fight alongside them as Espada, Calibur, or Falchion she's already endeared herself to me as one of my favorite supporting characters in the whole franchise.

I can't get enough of my homeboy Kento Fukamiya/Espada. Like Rintaro and everyone else for that matter, he also suffers from Saber's pacing issues; and like his predecessor Valkyrie from Zero-One, he doesn't get a proper upgrade aside from his Wonder Combo, instead becoming an anti-villain using a completely different powerset and shifting the Raimeiken Ikazuchi out of focus for the Ankokuken Kurayami, and I feel there's a serious missed opportunity to see him use Jaaku Dragon with Alangina. However, Ryo Aoki's performance is probably among the most easily praiseworthy in the whole cast, managing to convey both Kento's kind and knightly stoicism as Espada and his emotionally unstable despair as Calibur perfectly, in conjunction with Yuji Nakata's experienced and expressive stuntwork.

Ren Akamichi/Kenzan's a dark horse favorite for sure. I remember back when Saber was first picking up, people hated this breezy mad lad for being such a simple character at first. Overly concerned with strength? Black and white world view? Annoyingly energetic? Agh, real-feeling character flaws, I hate them, get him away from me! But then y'all came crawling back. Eiji Togashi's apparently a bit of a rookie actor, and it really shows with some stilted delivery and the way he sometimes bobs his head when giving his lines, but man he improves dramatically as the series goes on. His inexperience ironically ends up really selling his character development, and his unexpectedly beautiful relationship with Desast is special evidence of that. The Fuusouken Hayate's three modes and Satoshi Fujita putting them to excellent use through his stellar acrobatic movements are also really cool.

Why did Luna have to be a child for so long? Does Wonderworld not age whoever inherits its power? Well since Luna randomly becomes an adult in Super Hero Senki and some of the final episodes, I guess so? Miku Okamoto does a fine job for a kid actor, but she's basically done all the heavy lifting for the whole series and doesn't give Mayuu Yokota enough time to get a feel for her character as an adult. How did she choose Touma to inherit the power anyway? Does she just subconsciously decide to trust him with it upon seeing how kind and passionate about storytelling he is? Well if that's the case, why didn't Kento get at least some of that power too? He's just as important to the merchan- I mean Luna-chan, isn't he? Why did Tassel pick her over someone who isn't a literal child who'd be understandably terrified about basically becoming an embodiment of storytelling?

Sophia also kinda suffers from the same problems. Rina Chinen's voice is very pleasant to listen to, but she doesn't really do much beyond serving as a source of exposition and support. I think her dynamic with Mei's adorable, and given her kindness I can certainly understand the respect Northern Base has for her, but she doesn't really contribute a whole lot. If she could use the Kurayami and become Calibur all this time, then why didn't she take it from Kento and Yuri and do so earlier when Kento decided to go back to being Espada? I know she's not much of a fighter and as the closet thing the Sword of Logos has to a leader after Isaac's death I'd understand not wanting to put her at risk, but considering Storious is destroying the world, and she's very evidently kicking a lot of ass in the first part of the final battle even in the basic Jaaku Dragon form, I think it would've helped a lot, just sayin'. Tassel at least has the excuse of being unable to interact with the real world, but Sophia obviously didn't just be put in charge of Northern Base just because she's a pawn in Isaac's plans right?

Ryou Ogami/Buster is also a victim of the disjointed character focus. I have no problem believing he's an excellent father and fighter thanks to Yuki Ikushima and Jiro Okamoto, respectively, but he feels a bit flat and simple in comparison. His rivalry with Desast is randomly dropped, his wife doesn't even show up until the final episodes, he's kinda sidelined in terms of action a whole lot. I imagine that must've sucked for the Rider Dads out there. He does get to star in his own manga, and that was pretty good, so I guess I can't be too mad.

Tetsuo Daishinji/Slash fares better though. Hiroaki Oka, being a Kamen Rider fanboy himself, manages to make him among the most relatable characters in the series. Not only are his hyperfixation on swordsmithing and anxiety played surprisingly believably, Hirotsugu Mori letting him cut loose is extremely cathartic and hilarious, and you really feel for him when the Onjuuken Suzune becomes the first victim of Calibur!Kento's sword sealing.

Yuri/Saikou's another dark horse favorite, for me at least. "Oh great, Avalon guy's got even more merchandise to sell, I wonder what his Sword of Light is- it's himself. Well... that's different." I admit, I didn't like him at first. He felt like he was there to fill out character dynamics in the absence of both Rintaro and Kento, I thought his gimmick was too silly even if his design and jingles were bangers, I didn't particularly care for his power set. But then XSwordman came around I totally got it. He's an endearing, hard-working man trying his best to catch up on all the cool shit he missed, unafraid of experimentation, ready to throw down at a moment's notice, serving as a wonderful bit of consistent support for our heroes, a truly knightly individual, an absolute Chad. and goddamn does he make me worry. Tomohiro Ichikawa, I salute you good sir.

Even if they fall short compared to the rest of the cast, the Shindai siblings are at least cool enough to not wanna write out entirely. They kinda devolve into comic relief after they become allies, something that villainous Riders from Chase onwards are very prone to doing, and it's especially awkward in their case because I think that they kinda get off scot-free for obeying the obviously sinister and crazy Isaac for so long, as well as driving a wedge between a lot of people and threatening children in Reika's case. I think their sibling dynamic is nice though, even if Fukuda recycled it from Makoto and Kanon and has some... questionable possessive undertones as a result. It's cool how they're basically foils to Touma and Rintaro though. The dispassionate and methodical Reika/Sabela is beautifully played by Angela Mei and her moments of emotional depth are fascinating to watch. Her Rider form is a thing of beauty, and its use of literal the Eneiken Noroshi's smokescreens and Yuki Miyazawa's precise and deadly stinging strikes are a joy to watch. And while Ken Shonozaki's not given the best direction as the undercooked plate of 7-Eleven fried fish that is Ryoga/Durendal, he manages to sell him as an experienced and hardened warrior with an awkward side that's especially evident in the Zenkaiger specials. His goddamn RWBY weapon that is the Jikokuken Kaiji is absolutely sick, I'm a sucker for transforming weapons and its combination of time and water powers is really cool, especially with Yasuhiko Amai's deliberate and forceful acting in the suit.

Daichi Kamijo/the Second Calibur, for as brief as his story was, was a pretty cool starter villain. Hiroyuki Hirayama brings this poor bastard to life in a genuinely touching way. I love how as Calibur he goes full force on his creative use of Wonder Ride Books for attacks, and his debut as Jaou Dragon got my blood pumping. His end is also deeply tragic, and I really felt for him when he realized just how badly he fucked up. Hayato Fukamiya also does wonders for the backstory, and while he also doesn't get much to work with, Mitsuru Karahashi makes his regrets and love for Kento feel genuine.

Legeiel and Zooous are both very intimidating and entertaining villains. On top of being just the right balance of goofy and threatening, Kairu Takano and Koji Saikawa's stage presences are both very strong, and their mixture of camaraderie and in-fighting is extremely believable. Zooous's rivalry with Rintaro feels incredible to see through to the end, and although Legeiel doesn't get quite the same treatment, Elemental Dragon had such a cool debut that it more than makes up for it. Their final fights are also absolute spectacles. I don't think their sympathetic angle works even close to as well as it does with MetsubouJinrai or even the Gamma, but I get it, power corrupts, and you probably feel a lot of sadness and regret for things you've done when you die unless you're a right bastard.

Isaac/Master Logos/Solomon is kinda generic. As wonderful as Keisuke Soma is, he doesn't get much dimension to work with. The result of that is while he nails being as smug and punchable as possible, he feels almost... comically generic. Genta Umemori from Shinkenger was full of personality! He was also basically some guy, but he was fun, he felt connected to the rest of the cast! Meanwhile the only real time we get to see Isaac's depth is when we see him crying over his failures. I almost appreciate him being unapologetically evil though, since I've seen way too many shows where redeemed villains get off scot free for way worse things, and some where they outright demand you to sympathize with them despite them doing nothing to warrant it.

Bahato/Falchion surprises me by not just being a movie villain whose actions affect the main plot, but also being a movie villain who actually gets to appear in series as a recurring threat! ...and it's not a particularly great showing on his part, sadly. Masashi Taniguchi does a wonderful job with what he's given, but his character feels like a retread of Eternal without any of what made Katsumi Daido a compelling and frightening villain. I'd like to believe Yuri when he says that he used to be a good person and a hero to the people, but I can only hear so many anime villain monologues about the pointlessness of life and the beauty of destruction before I can never take them seriously again. ...I think that's his biggest problem, actually. I thought he was an overall uninteresting and generic villain in the movie, and the cartoon nihilist he's shown to be in series is only a small step up. He still feels like filler. If only there were a far better written and much cooler villain who takes on the Mumeiken Kyomu after his de--

Desast is probably one of the finest anti-villains I've ever seen in recent years. On top of an absolutely badass character design and the excellent combination of Kazuya Okada/Danki Sakae's suit work and Koki Uchiyama's stellar voice acting, his story being so thoroughly intertwined with Ren's makes their shared journey and bromance a borderline Shakespearean tragedy. His struggle for identity despite Storious treating him as nothing more than a failed experiment and the Sword of Logos treating him as a mere monster really gripped me, and the way he uses what little time he has left to encourage Ren into blossoming on his own is absolutely beautiful. I think his enmity with Ogami is criminally underexplored in series, considering he killed several of the previous Riders and how Ogami's in desperate need of screentime.

Then there's our main villain, Kamen Rider Storious. Robin Furuya brings an incredible amount of charisma to this character, expertly portrayed as both a sinister, manipulative bastard , and as a lonely, tragic figure that arguably makes him feel even more villainous. Speaking as a struggling writer myself, it's easy to feel stuck in the idea of "fuck it, who cares, maybe everything is predestined", but I can't imagine what it's like to know that as the truth and carry it with you for all that time. All of your grand ideas have roots from your experiences, and you're not the only one who even could have those experiences. It's easy to just fall into despair and give up trying, but would that make you happy? Sure, Storious is sadistic, he may be fulfilling his goals, he may be ungodly powerful... but it's not enough for him, is it? All of his friends are gone, one of them even at his own hand, he probably doesn't have any idea what to do after he destroys all the world's stories, Touma even reached his full power before he did, and his downfall is so predictable that even a blind person could see it. He even seems to welcome it, what's up with that? But then I realized... OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD. He's so far gone, he's so desperate to stick it to the Almighty Book, he's willing to twist the archetype of the Hero's Journey so hard, it snaps in two. What I think is interesting is that he's ironically trying to chase the trend of "edgy superhero story" that became super popular in the 21st century. The Boys, Brightburn, Kamen Rider Amazons, The Sentry, No More Heroes, Magical Girl Site, even mainstream comics from DC and Marvel... Surely Storious must've seen the cruelty and tragedy these stories are filled with, but he chooses to go through with trying to force the world into this direction anyway. Did they, along with seeing the ever-popular tragedies of legendary playwrights and bleak satire of the twentieth century fuel his despair?

And yet... there's one who stands in determination against his ideals.

Our hero, Touma Kamiyama, the titular Kamen Rider portrayed by Syuichiro Naito and Kousuke Asai, he speaks to me on a personal level. There're plenty of jokes to be made about his procrastination in early chapters, his godless fashion sense, and him doing the funny run up the slope, that's all fine and dandy, but I rarely feel so connected to a character the way I did Touma. The struggle to create, find companionship, live your life, reach out to others... these're things a lot of people struggle with, and of course you see them depicted a lot in media about creators, but Saber gets to the root of what the greatest thing about storytelling really is. Giving people hope, while using the pain of the past as fuel for the future. Sure, Storious may be right about how every story has been done as far back as human civilization gets, he may even be right about how any spin or creativity humanity has is outright predestined. It should be pointless to even try, right? That's where Touma Kamiyama disagrees. He didn't spend all that time fighting and creating just to give up at the idea of predestination. His novel writing-fueled creativity in his early training, his devotion to his friends that let him surpass Kamijo as Dragonic Knight, his compassion for the Primitive Dragon that let him combine their powers to destroy Legeiel as Elemental Dragon, his resolve that let Xross Saber dethrone Solomon, and his passion for the craft of storytelling that let our heroes channel their wishes into Wonder Almighty... all stemming from the belief imparted onto him by his predecessor that "Hope lies beyond your resolution." And that you decide how your story ends. He may not be the greatest Rider to some, he may be as lame as others think he is, he may not even be my favorite, but I have no issue calling Touma Kamiyama... Kamen Rider Saber, one of the all time greatest carriers of the Kamen Rider name.

The final chapter's definitely not as great as some other Rider finales, but goddamn. Primitive Dragon consciously choosing to save Touma is so sweet and such a great emotional payoff, I loved jamming out to the opening theme while our boys lay the smackdown on Storious. Wonder Almighty's a fitting final bit to close the main series out with, if not exactly a great one. I think the cover is great, and the book's body is a lovely shade of candy apple red, but I really don't like how its pages are just the covers of the other books copy-pasted onto onto the pages, that feels lazy. Maybe if it were a panorama of all the books' characters, I'd like it a lot more as a symbol of how unified the Swordsmen are, but eh, what can you do? On a related note, does this mean all the "last episode extra final forms" of the Reiwa Era are gonna be named after their series's opening? That's a neat idea.

I felt a lot of feelings seeing all those video messages of Rider fans all across Japan talking about their favorite stories, and how their passion and fond memories help reshape the world. Mei's monologue at the ceremony about is also really touching and- IS THAT A HUMAGEAR!? :O

Y-yeah dude, it is! Wow, where have you guys been for the past 48 episodes?! Are you guys doing okay? How come you're like... the only one here? Is the technology of Hiden Intelligence only really that prevalent in that very specific metropolitan part of Japan and they're just not coming around much over here? Is it like Dragon Ball where anthropomorphic animals are just vibin' with humans while the heroes are off kicking ass? Apparently he's played by Hasegawa Keiichi, who wrote this episode and had the award ceremony named after him. ...is Hasegawa Keiichi a HumaGear in this universe then? Did he set up this award ceremony in Touma's honor? If so, why is it named after him? Did reading one of Touma's books lead to his Singularity? I know this is just a cameo, but... god, I have so many questions that probably will never be satisfactorily answered.

Overall, if I had to compare Saber to anything, it'd probably be Sam Reimi's Spider-Man trilogy. It's awkward, stupid, overwrought, undercooked, illogically written, scattershot, cheesy as fuck, and has a tendency to squander its otherwise fine execution; but the sheer passion for storytelling, sense of spectacle, deeply fascinating characters, and belief in the ideals set forth by the cast, crew, and fans are absolutely admirable. Improvements would certainly make it an overall better experience, to be sure, but there's something deeply captivating about how wonky this series is. Seeing everybody get their happy ending after all they've been through felt extremely gratifying though, and I may have to wait another for the epilogue to and then wait for Revice, but... man. I'm hella proud of our awkwardly-emoting, fashion disaster novelist and all of his heavily flawed friends for carrying the Kamen Rider name on to the future. Here's hoping Revice will keep it going.

Alright, that's everything I wanted to talk about. Sorry this was so long and ramble-y, I had a lot to say. I'll probably be liveblogging Revice as episodes of that come out, so... look forward to that, I guess. See ya.

[very-grownup]

THE YEAR IS 2020 AND I WATCHED NEON GENESIS EVANGELION FOR THE FIRST TIME, PART 6

Episode 17.

A military tribunal grills Misato and gives her shit for not presenting Shinji for grilling and/or grilling him herself. There are a lot of shots of silhouettes in isolation and heavily shadowed faces obscuring expression in this episode. Lots of NERV talk about branches and the Dead Sea scrolls and attempting to intuit the intentions of Angels.

The rest of Episode 17 and Episode 18 behind the cut.

There are apparently two more EVAs out there in the US and Germany but actually only one more because one of the other two just fucking disappeared with like everything including the people all around it?

There's also ... another teen with the power to pilot the giant upsetting robots and it is both a shock and concern when various people find out who it is although we the audience do not find out who it is (it is probably Shinji's classmate with the little sister who got hurt).

There's just a lot of stuff that seems to be setting up things for the next episode with no resolution so there's not much to report on. Kaji isn't dead. Rei misses some school. That one girl in class who isn't an EVA pilot is trying badly to express interest in dude with sister.

Shinji cleans Rei's shitty garbage apartment, Rei blushes and has some kind of quiet Rei crisis about thanking him after he's gone and also about Shinji's awful father because she still has his broken glasses and they're like the only non-utilitarian thing she owns.

There's no angel attack or anything particularly weird or cool or gross. Just a big sense of building to something. Ritsuko has a coffee mug with cats on it that says CAT CAT CAT CAT and that's pretty great. This concludes my report on Episode 17 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Episode 18.

It culminates in maybe 10 solid minutes of me with my hands over my mouth in absolute horror, so. Let's go.

After all the setup of last week's episode with the mysteriously disappeared EVA and the EVA coming from America for a new pilot who is clearly Tohji whose sister got hospitalized because of EVA fight fallout, things open with Americans talking American! They're transporting the American EVA by air on I don't know bungee cords or something and this thing is such obviously colour-coded bad news. It's like, dark grey and black. Then they fly into huge ominous clouds with lightning flashes. This is fine and will be fine.

Misato's off to be involved in all the stuff that NERV needs to do for having a new EVA and even though she has a perfectly good roommate to look after Shinji and Asuka, she tells Shinji that Kaji will be babysitting them instead of Penpen. Fuckin' Kaji. Before she goes she tries to work up to telling Shinji the identity of the new EVA pilot while Shinji works up to asking her about the disappeared EVA rumour. Good job Shinji! Asking questions, even though it's scary! Misato reassures him about THEIR EVAs and safety to avoid bringing up Tohji because ... Misato's a disaster who is trying to be a responsible grown-up and sometimes knowing the right thing to do and wanting to do it isn't enough. Ritsuko gives her a hard time about this later because everyone agrees that Shinji should know Tohji is going to pilot an EVA and since Misato is the only person who said 'someone needs to look after this literal child when he isn't in the robot' she has to be the one to tell him. Because EVERY ADULT IN THIS SHOW SUCKS AND IS FAILING THE NEXT GENERATION except for Misato and she's an overworked alcoholic who gets a pity pass.

All the kids are tense and weird because they know Tohji is going to be piloting an EVA or want to pilot an Eva themselves or are trying to confess to Tohji or they're Shinji. (Asuka almost manages to relate to someone like a normal teen so good job, Asuka.) Rei has a feeling. Lots of opportunity for /literally anyone else/ to tell Shinji that Tohji's the new pilot at multiple opportunities but no one does.

Instead, Shinji tries to have a nighttime man-to-man conversation with Kaji. Fuckin' Kaji. Shinji wants to know what Kaji thinks of his father. Kaji mocks him for this being the only way Shinji can think of to get to know his horrible father, then is flippant about how actually you can never really know another person. But you know who you can really never know?

WOMEN.

Fuckin' Kaji.

So the next day Tohji isn't in class because he's getting EVA orientation which at NERV means he gets in the EVA and they turn it on and see what happens and hey, guess what, the ominous dark EVA almost immediately becomes a BAD TIME. It opens the mouth it has to scream and also it has jagged red teeth in its horrible unnecessary mouth and then a part cracks or something and it's like a huge gooey organic pulsing thing on the EVA and when they try to eject the pilot plug it becomes blocked with goo tendrils.

It's been whole episodes since I last commented on how upsetting I found the design of these giant robots but hey, the giant robot is upsetting and I hate how it has teeth and screaming and all the goo even if the goo is possibly not part of the design since it's also an Angel?

THEN THE GIANT ROBOT GOES MORE BERSERK AND FUCKING BLOWS UP THE ORIENTATION TEST SITE OR SOMETHING AND IS ON THE RUN and there's a weird, creepy quality to how the EVAs are animated when they move, a hugeness of arm movement that is very unrobotic, but moreso with this EVA. It's good and cool but also I hate it.

The kids get called in and this is around when I covered my mouth and just kept getting increasingly upset because Shinji's dad is in charge due to Misato maybe being blown up and Shinji's dad wants the kids to eliminate the rogue EVA with Tohji inside. Rei knows, Asuka knows. Shinji still doesn't know but he knows /a/ kid is in there and that is enough to make him unhappy and reluctant with his father's 'destroy the rampaging robot' orders. But Asuka gets taken out fast. Then it basically teleports onto Rei and starts dripping more awful goop. There's lots of gross veiny pulsing in this episode, very Akira, I hate it, and the goop from Tohji's evil EVA melts and infects the hand of Rei's Eva and I guess it's Angel goop that lets the Angel control the EVA? So the infection can't get further than the EVA hand. And under the brave leadership of Commander Ikari the obvious solution is just /fuck that whole limb/ without desynching Rei from her EVA so hey why not just a teenage girl screaming as she feels like her entire arm is ripped off, cool cool cool.

So now it's down to Shinji who still doesn't want to destroy this giant robot with a child in it and even if his heart was in it, this thing is fucking intense. ALSO IT'S STRETCH ARMSTRONG? Like, it goes from shambling to shooting its arms out insanely long to choke Shinji's EVA. It's choking Shinji's EVA so hard that bruise marks are showing up on Shinji's throat. Meanwhile, his father is telling him to stop being a useless child who is being choked to death by a giant robot and do the child murder like I'm ordering you to, child I hate. Shinji won't and also Shinji can't because he is being choked to death.

At NERV it is suggested to Commander Ikari maybe they should lower the synch on Shinji's robot so he can't be choked to death /through a robot/ and for reasons known only to shitty dads, that's not an option. But what is an option is just shifting control from Shinji to the AI control and if AI control is an option maybe just work on doing that instead of this whole child soldier thing but no one at NERV can hear me over the sound of parental neglect.

Everything goes red when the dummy AI is implemented and fuck the colour work in this series is /so good/ and Shinji just has to sit and feel everything as his robot proceeds to destroy Tohji's robot. Ripping limbs, punching until everything is cracking and blood is everywhere. Don't worry, America made sure their giant robot was also full of red, red, red blood. Vast quantities of blood. In the setting sun a river looks like blood. There is blood weighing down a traffic light in an amazing shot. It's awful. Shinji doesn't know it's Tohji, but we do. The robot that is so clearly an extension of Shinji's body even if he can't control it removes the pilot plug from the grisly wreckage of Tohji's robot and it crushes the plug, the orange liquid spurting out and he /still doesn't know/.

Commander Ikari smiles.

Shinji's father has been a bad father throughout, sometimes in ways that really, distressingly resonate, in really lowkey, banal 'bad dad' ways, but here he's just a monster. He can see his son, hear him, but he doesn't care. It doesn't penetrate.

After everything, Shinji is just numb in the robot, still and shocked, unable to grapple with this overwhelming sense of having just killed someone, horribly and violently and brutally. It's bad and you feel bad and I started crying and still Shinji /doesn't know/.

Then cleanup and ambulances arrive and out of the giant robot wreckage they pull the somehow still alive Tohji and then Shinji /does/ know, he sees Tohji's battered and beaten body, and Shinji starts screaming because somehow it's worse. This concludes my report on Episode 18 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

[lettersofwrittencollective]

The Pull (30/?)

Summary: The Ragnulf’s are one of the oldest lines of werewolves known. A gift from ancient times was given to the line. Though not all of the line will experience it. There are some who will experience a Pull. This Pull leads them to their true mate, a soulmate. The problem is, just because the wolf finds their true mate does not mean that they are the same for that person.

Author: @lettersofwrittencollective

Pairing: Stiles x Hale!Cousin OC (Reader)

Word count: 4281

Warnings: 

A/N: PLEASE let me know what you think of this scene/ story! There’s a different writing style near the end I am not sure how I feel about so I hope you enjoy at least! Truthfully, interaction makes me so very happy and I love to hear from all of you! So, comment, reblog, send me smashed keyboards, anything works 😘

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You’re at lunch with Lydia, Isaac, and Allison. Isaac and Allison are talking about some weird voicemail she had gotten yesterday and Lydia seems like she’s lost. Every sound seems to make her jumpy.

Reaching out, you cover her hands with yours. She looks up at you and smiles sadly. Rubbing your fingers across her knuckles, you offer whatever support you actually can.

It takes her a moment, but she squeezes your hand back before she turns to Ally, “So what do you know about the recording?”

“Nothing yet. We’re going to ask Mr. Yukimura after classes today. Did you wanna come with?”

Lydia immediately shakes her head, “I should just head home.”

“Are you sure?”

Lydia nods her head before standing up from the table abruptly and making her way out of the cafeteria.

“What about you Tasha?” Allison asks.

You had watched Lydia walk out of the cafeteria, eyes still glued to her retreating form you nodded your head, offering an absentminded, “sure.”

Pulling your phone out you look at the texts you’d gotten.

Peter: I’ve got a possible lead. But let me stress this Little Wolf, there is no guarantee this is going to work.

Ro: Dad’s trying to get in contact with Mr. Akihiro

Aaric: T and I are trying to get in contact with Akimi and Asuka.

T: They’ve gone underground since their Tia got another tail. It’s apparently not a good idea to piss off a four-tailed kitsune.

You look at the texts but don’t respond. Of course, there’s no guarantee that anything would work. You were dealing with a damned Kukan. These weren’t like demons, not something to be excorcised by some holy person. You’re not even sure Constantine could help with this.

Kukan were a force of nature, like all other Kitsune they enjoyed mischief. But a Kukan derived its pleasure from chaos, from fear, and from the powerlessness those they played their tricks upon felt.

The boys, well you weren’t sure that you liked the idea of Aaric and T anywhere near Akimi or Asuka but that just may be because the two had been trying to secure what you saw as yours.

Hearing your name being called, you turn and see Derek coming down the halls. Waiting for him, it’s not long before he’s got a hand on your shoulder and is lifting your chin.

“Peter said you had a rough night.”

You made a hmm sound in the affirmative, “Bad enough I wanted to shift.”

“And today?”

“Back to the dull ache. Whatever last night was about it seems to have settled if only for now. Though, I’m not sure that means anything.”

“Wait, back to a dull ache?” Derek stresses the word back and you realize that you hadn’t told him that the ache was there. It was just always something you dealt with. Isaac knew but he hadn’t told Derek which made you smile.

Shaking your head at Derek you murmur, “It’s nothing. Leave it be.”

Derek’s face scrunches in that way that you know means he’s annoyed but there’s nothing to be done for it and you tell him as much. He merely makes a negative huffing like sound.

Wanting to change the subject, you step away and ask “So, were you able to get a hold of Kira?”

“Found her scent but she was at home.”

“Why didn’t you have Aiden knock and ask for her?”

“Because it was after midnight and you have school today,” he points out like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Truthfully, it should have been but you had been much too distracted with everything going on. Stiles’ well being had been the most important thing.

“Well then, we’ll have to find her. It won’t take too long. Classes are gonna be out in about 10 minutes. First, though I wanna check on Scott.”

He nods his head and the two of you make your way to the boys' locker room, Derek goes in and a moment later he’s out with Scott.

“Anything?”

You shake your head, “Nothing concrete. Though not for lack of trying.”

“Deaton says he’s still looking into it too.”

Scott pulls his backpack tighter against his shoulder, “I’m gonna go check on him - in the hospital.  Make sure he’s doing okay. You wanna come?”

You start to say yes but the weight of your cousin's hand on your shoulder stops you.

“She can’t. We’ve got a few things to take care of first.”

Scott just nods his head. You reach out and squeeze his arm, trying to be reassuring. When he turns to you, you suggest “I can come by after.”

Just as the words leave your lips the bell rings. The sound seems to take Scott by surprise but he nods his head. He turns and begins to walk away. The sight of him breaking your heart, it’s as if every step carries the weight of the world with it.

You look at Derek and then back to Scott. It takes you a split second to make the choice but you do. Moving towards Scott you call over your shoulder, “Text me the details. I’ll be there in a bit.”

Scott’s not made it very far so you’re able to fall in step with him pretty quickly, “I’ll give you a ride to the hospital.’

“But my bike-” he begins before being cut off by your negative tsking sounds,  “You can have one of the twins get it for you or have someone bring you back when you’re in better shape but if you ride right now, you’re not gonna make it in one piece.”

Scott stops his walk and turns to look at you, his eyes are scrutinizing you and you wait for him to say something. He hasn’t struck you as the type to lash out but he’s going through a lot and, from what you’ve seen with Stiles, he probably hasn’t had a chance to recover from the issue with the sacrifices.

He nods his head and you motion for him to follow you towards your bike. As the two of you walk, he thanks you - for finding Stiles.

“It was nothing,” you brush off, uncomfortable with the praise. A part of you feels like you should have kept him from ever ending up there. It was something that you were gonna have to work on.

“It’s not nothing Natasha.  He could have died if you hadn’t found him! The rest of us were looking in buildings but you thought about the preserve.”

“Scott,” you beg, “it was instinctual and I got lucky.”

“But you listened to them.”

At this point, Scotts stepped in front of you and you can only nod your head as you bite your lower lip. You’re not sure what Scott sees on your features but he deflates and nods his head as well, “Let’s go.”

Hopping on your bike, you wait for Scott to get situated before the two of you are taking off. It doesn’t take you nearly as long as you thought it would, or you’re more distracted with your thoughts than you care to admit before you’re pulling up to the hospital.

Taking his helmet off, Scott asks you, “Are you sure you don’t want to come in right now?”

Grateful for the visor that covers your face gives you a moment, you shake your head before lifting, “I have to take care of something with Derek. Hopefully, it’ll help with whatever this is.”

“Have you ever dealt with something like this?”

“Not me… I don’t think anyone in my family has. But, they’re looking into it.”

Scott nods his head and walks into the hospital. You watch him go before checking your phone. Derek’s taken Kira to the substation to walk through what happened with Barrow. It’s a good idea, especially if that had been a vision of something more.

Revving up your bike, you pull up not too long after them.  The three of you are walking through the room and you have to work at controlling your breathing. The place is threatening to overwhelm you with memories of that night.

“It’s Stiles’ bat…” you hear Derek say.

Looking to where he and Kira are, you see that Stiles’ bat had, in fact, managed to get stuck to some metal box of some sort. Derek goes to pull the bat down but it takes him a moment and he actually has to put some strength into it.

“Der?” you ask softly,

“It’s magnetized,” he says as he moves the bat against what looks to be a scratch on the floor. The bat travels along the scratch when it gets pulled to the metal box.

Stepping back from it, Derek looks at you then at Kira. “Kira, I need you to tell me everything you know about foxfire.”

Kira looks at you, a terrified look on her face before she begins to shake her head, “I - I don’t.. I don’t know anything more than just the, just - um… children's stories.”

“Kira, it’s okay,” you reassure her, “Just tell us what you do know.”

They’re running tests on his host but the blood work is all coming back normal. The wonderful thing about technology is, the more the humans have evolved it, the less they believe in his powers. Which makes them more terrified when they’re unleashed.

The problem is he’s not a demon. He can’t just posses his host. No, he has to get approval since the man is still alive. Which means that he has to figure out a way to be allowed in. Threatening the girl hadn’t done anything so he would have to get more creative.  

They’re taking him to a new room and this one has a machine in it. Watching the group, there is his host's father, his best friend, and the mother figure. Another man, this one in white is talking to him, “... you’re going to hear a lot of noise during the MRI. It’s due to pulses of electricity…”

Void’s laughter echoes within his host's mind and he can feel the terror. The electricity is going to allow him to communicate. But, what to do with the gift he’s been given.

His father walks out and he observes as Stiles turns to Scott, “You know what they’re looking for right?”

Scott looks like he’s trying to put it together for a moment and Void needs him not to get it. He needs to know what this healer is looking for.

“It’s called frontotemporal dementia,” Stiles is saying and that’s when he has it. Quieting down, he listens to what Stiles has to say and begins to sift through the memories the boy has, “Areas of your brain start to shrink. It’s what my mother had… It’s the only form of dementia that can hit teenagers… There’s no cure..”

Sinking further into the memories, Void looks for the memories that involving the mother.  He can hear Scott promising to do something, to fix the situation should his host have this frontotemporal dementia. It makes no difference, he only needs his host to accept him and then there is nothing they can do. Stiles will be no more. Once he has the memories he wants just below the surface, he notices that Stiles is now in the machine.

Feeling the electricity crackling Void relishes in each pulse of electricity.

Pulling into the hospital parking lot, Derek’s lucky to get a parking spot pretty close to the front. He gets off the jeep quickly followed by you and Kira. While she hadn’t known a whole lot about fox fire, what she did know from her stories was rather terrifying and you needed to get the information to Scott.

You’re rushing but Derek calls your name and you turn to see Kira, standing nervously by the jeep.

“Kira?”

“I don’t know if I should go in. You’re going to tell Scott that Barrow might have used fox-fire, created by me, to jumpstart the Nogitsune’s power inside Stiles”

The way she words it sounds awful and you nod your head but Derek looks like it hasn’t clicked so you point out, “We’re going to tell Scott that she basically helped a dark spirit take control of his best friend.”

You can see it click in Derek and he tells her she should probably stay behind. Tossing her the keys, the two of you make your way into the hospital building.

Finding Scott turns out to be pretty easy, grabbing his attention he comes to you and Derek. “I’ll let you two talk,” you motion. “Ummm, where’s Stiles?”

“They’re uh- gonna run some MRI stuff. If you wanna go check on him before they start or uh- let the sheriff know you’re here,” Scott informs you, pointing at a door just down the hall.

You look towards the door but decide against going in there. You’re not exactly sure that you’re welcome. Clearing your throat you inform them that you’ll just go get some water and be back in a bit.

You take your time getting the water. Figuring that you should check on Allison and Isaac you call. When Isaac doesn’t pick up, you try Allison. It would seem that the voicemail that Allison got was a prank of some sort from a Japanese internment camp. The problem is that the one on Allison's phone has to be a fake as the name of the internment camp, Oak Creek, wasn’t actually one that existed.

When she asks where you are, you tell her, you’re at the hospital waiting with Scott for them to do some tests on Stiles. She asks if you want her to come over and you agree, thinking that Scott would probably appreciate the help the most.

Not sure how long it actually takes but when you make your way back up to the waiting room their in, you hear Derek and Scott conversing.

“Think of it more like sharing a few trade secrets,” Derek is saying and you smile softly. It would seem that Derek is doing something for Scott. You’re willing to bet it’s a way of helping him. Derek, meanwhile, hasn’t finished his part of the conversation with Scott.

Coming to the waiting room, you lean against the door and watch as Scott nods, confirming that he knew Cora was back in South America. Derek’s telling Scott that taking Cora back, however, wasn’t the only reason he’d left.

You’re curious as to what else would make him leave and so you pay closer attention. Derek says, “I needed to talk to my mother,” and you stiffen.

He had used the claws to talk to his mother when she had told him about you. What else had he talked to her about?

Scotts asking Derek for clarification, “Your dead mother?”

Derek nods and you point out to Scott, “It’s actually possible to communicate with the dead if they were supernatural. There are ways that are less uncomfortable than others but they’re all there.”

Pulling the conversation back to what was at hand, Derek tells Scott, “She told me something that changed my perspective… on a lot of things.” You’re holding your breath, waiting to see what it is that he’s going to share.

“She said my family didn’t just live in Beacon Hills. They protected it. This town needs someone to protect it,” he points out and levels a look at Scott, “Someone like you.”

You’re somewhat embarrassed that you thought Derek would out you but at his words you can’t help the feeling of pride. Perhaps, if he trained up Scott, then he would come home with you, and possibly your mate.

Scott looks confused and asks why, Derek is about to respond but you cut him off, “It’s what we do. When we claim territories, it’s our job to be the protector of the lives within our territories. Allow people to live their lives but keep them as protected as you can.”

Nodding his head, Scott looks like he’s contemplating something when he says, “And someone like you to teach me a few trade secrets.” There’s a moment of calmness in this. Scotts trust in Derek something that you’re happy to see. Derek, unsurprisingly, shows no outward response but you can tell that he’s enjoying the praise.

The moment of calmness passes very quickly however when Scott's whole demeanor changes as he stands, “He was trying to protect us.”

“What?”

“Stiles, Stiles was protecting us,” he says emphasizing Stiles’ name the second time around. Before you or Derek can get any further clarification, Scotts taken off running down the hallways. You both follow after him only to end up on the roof of the hospital.

Scotts standing there, looking around and you look at Derek only to see the confusion on his face. A moment later, he’s asking, “Scott, what are we looking for?”

Scott shakes his head and says he’s not sure.

“Okay guys, let’s think about it then. What kind of damage can someone do on the roof of a hospital? If Scott’s right, Stiles wasn’t just up here struggling with himself. He would have been struggling not to do something,” you point out. The feeling from earlier, though this time it feels as if it’s building.

The three of you begin to look around the rooftop. A loud clanging sound catches your attention and you turned to see that Scott’s pulled down a duffle bag. Partially open, the bag is full of different types of tools, one of which is a wire cutter.   

Stepping forward, you kneel down and pick up one of the cutters. “Guys, what…” you trail off as you turn the tool in your hand.

A whispered fuck gets your attention and you turn to see that both Scott and Derek are looking on top of one of the cages. Moving so that you can see, there’s an electrical cord that’s been cut into, the wiring now exposed.

The terror in the pit of your stomach suddenly feels like a tangible weight and before you realize it, you’re sprinting through the halls.

He’s never been so grateful for the curiosity of children. Though it’s not likely that Stiles remembered what his mothers MRI looked like consciously, but thanks to the curiosity of an 8-year-old, it was still in his subconscious.

Using some fox magic, Void layered a picture of Stiles mother’s MRI over Stiles own brain. The sorrow and hopelessness that began to sink in from the other room a welcome feast.

As they continued in the machine, Void could feel his host becoming restless. From what he’d noticed, the boy wasn’t one to be still for very long and this was frustrating him.

Good. Now the games could truly begin.

Stiles was blinking his eyes, trying to ignore the sound of the whirring machine he was in. The blinking turned into him squeezing them tight. Opening them, he found himself standing outside the machine.

He was dressed in regular clothing so he knew it had to be a dream of some kind. Turning, he saw the bandaged figure he’d seen yesterday. The one that had been haunting his dreams

“Have you figured out my riddle yet?” The bandaged creature asked as it walked around the room.

Following, Stiles tried to catch sight of the creature but it moved too fast.

Void watched as the brunette tried to catch sight of him and stepped closer to the boy, “If you answer correctly, we might consider letting them go.”

The two beings looked at each other. A sense of foreboding filling the space between them. One taking the foreboding sense as a gift to be cherished the other fearful of what lay before him.

The brunette, terrified of the answer questions, “Letting who go?”

The creature in the tattered bandages bares pointed, silver fangs at him, “Your friends, your family. Everyone who ever meant something to you,” it taunts. Moving towards the Stiles, Void continues, “We’re going to destroy all of them Stiles. One by one.”

Terror runs down Stiles’ spine. He can tell that the bandaged creature means what he says. Flashes of his friends and family dead fill his vision and all tears fall.

“Why?” he questions, his voice shaking from fear.

Void feels the fear and merely smiles wider, “Everyone has it, but no one can lose it,” he begins before turning to Stiles, “What is it?”

Stiles hears the damned riddle again and Stiles shakes his head, “I don’t know.”

“Everyone has it, but no one can lose it,” Void questions again, this time, the frustration evident in his voice.

“I don’t know,” Stiles responds again with shaking voice.

Void needs him to understand, if he doesn’t understand then there’s no way that he can get in. His voice drops into a guttural, demonic sound as he repeats, once again, “Everyone has it, but no one can lose it.” Pulling at the bandages around him he asks, “What is it?”

Stiles, who has turned away from the creature in front of him puts his head between his hands. He’s trying to push out the ice in his veins. Trying to focus on the words and what they could mean.

“What is it?”

Still, nothing comes and in desperation, Stiles screams that he doesn’t know.  When suddenly it hits him.

There was a night, after having figured out Anansi that he had sat down with Natasha for a movie. They’d watched Peter Pan and she had made a comment that she was curious if the thread would be enough to keep both parts of Peter together before she went on to ask how they’d been separated to begin with. That’s what it was!  

“A shadow,” he whispers and turns. The creature was taking off the last of his bandages and Stiles finds that he’s looking at himself. Except, there’s an unending cold depth in his eyes.

“Your friends, your family,” his mirror states, “Everyone who ever meant something to you.”

“No,” Stiles begs with a shake of his head.

“Your friends, your family. Everyone who ever meant something to you. Scott, Allison, Lydia, Natasha…”

Hearing her name, Stiles couldn’t explain the feeling of dread that ran through him. It was as if everything the world had ceased to be and he was being slowly flayed alive. A growl escaped him before he’d realized and he went to attack his mirror when suddenly he saw his friends dead on the ground before him.

Scott’s throat had been slashed open as blood poured out of him. Allison had been stabbed and an arm was missing as she lay covered in dirt. He could barely make out Lydia’s red hair but it was matted and there was bruising on everything he could see. There was a body that was strewn across the room in different pieces, skin charred beyond recognition but somehow he knew it was Natasha.

“Please,” he whispered softly as he closed his eyes to the sight in front of him.

Finally! Void had what he needed. Cackling, he stepped into the forefront and pushed Stiles back. Opening his hosts eyes, he found that he was back in the whirring machine.  He may have misjudged the boys feelings for the girl but it was not a mistake he would make again.

Laying there, he watched and reveled in the feeling of the world around him. The cold air of the hospital room and the metal of the machine. The lights flickered and he watched as his previous plans were proven to already be in motion.  

As you ran back through the hospital, the lights flickered in and out. You had to weave in and out of people. Just as you were about to make it to the door to the MRI room, the power went out completely. The lights come back on and you can hear Mr. Stilinski’s frantic voice as he asks where his son is.

Pulling the door open you pass the adults and both you and Mr. Stilisnki are the room that holds the MRi machine. Checking around and behind the machine, both of you confirming that Stiles isn’t there.

“Help me find my son,” Noah asks and you nod your head.

Making your way through the hallways you move down the stairs. Completely missing the sight at the end of a hallway in your rush.

Void watches as the elevator doors open and she appears. It has been a long time since he’s seen her and it's not a very pleasant sight now. She will have to pay for what she’s done.

“You know me,” she states and Void is tempted to scoff at the understatement. Instead, he merely nods his head and she continues, “Then you know I won’t be deterred by your choice of hose. Even if it’s an innocent boy.”

He’s counting on it. Instead of letting anything go though, he calmly asks her, “Are you threatening us?”

Smoke pops up around the Kitsune and her Oni appear. “Now I’m threatening you,” she smugly points out..

Void’s not sure of their strength at this distance but remembers the one from the other day and responds to her, “We’re not really afraid of your little fireflies.”

Having said what he needs, he turns around and begins to walk away, joining the crowd. The kitsune calls out that if she cannot defeat him she knows someone who will and Void merely keeps walking, taking in the fear of those in the hospital and the despair of those who know they are to die.

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[bearpillowmonster]

Evangelion 3.0 Review

NOTE: I had a few sketches for a review format that I made a while ago but never used, I want to try it out here to see how it goes, it’s based on my Letterboxd profile pic.

Imagine a world of Asuka’s. Where she rules and is the boss and stupid Shinji is there. This is what I thought of when I saw that there was an Evangelion reboot, then was surprised when I saw the first two actually rebuilding the series and branching out. However this doesn’t even focus on Asuka (which might’ve made the movie 10x better if I’m honest) it still focuses on Shinji which I’ll get to why that’s a bad thing in a minute.

The music is pretty good, another 9.

The art is the same and part of what I actually like about this movie, Asuka's suit looks better than the last one, some of the 3D elements felt really cool, I'll leave it as a 9 as I rated the others.

Characters. Here's where things start to dip. I'm going to give it a 6, as well as its story. What if Shinji wasn’t needed to pilot the EVA? Curious but doesn’t that idea break the game? Well he suffers from boredom and introduces the main theme and lesson of this movie as “change”. I could see that being a statement since it’s a reboot and I welcome change but this just doesn’t do anything with it. In a way it’s a double standard because Kaworu keeps saying to accept it and to repeat the same notes until it feels good but at the same time he’s like “the same thing won’t do anything” “let’s go reboot the planet the way it was”, basically whatever Shinji wants to hear at the time and in a way, it’s reflective, he’s acting as temptation. The truth weakened Shinji and Kaworu was there when nobody else was. Then it seems kind of mucked up by the 3rd quarter because they throw it out the window and Shinji is a little dweeb used for plot convenience, I asked myself "Why?" Shinji's decisions don't make much sense at that point, everything before that point (and you'll know if you see it) can be attributed to trauma and as I mentioned, Kaworu.

I'm not sure if he's meant to be evil in this version or not, I mean the ending doesn't say a whole lot about his character type. Mari predicted the Hit or Miss girl, wearing pink and white, taunting with “I never miss” but she's just that, there's no depth to her character.

This also might be the biggest example of keeping the main character out of the loop and unfortunately that also means the viewer (at times). To quote: 1:34:55 - “I don’t understand what you’re telling me. I DON’T UNDERSTAND!”

Asuka is cool and that's about it for characters, everybody else changed into something I'm not all that big of a fan of, wasn't there or is a new character (which means barely anything is known about them)

The thing that surprised me is that it panders, it’s...slow. With the fast pacing of the last 2 movies, I’m very surprised, if you thought there was too much action in the last two, look no further because there are very few scenes (however that opening scene took about 1/4 of the movie). And I’m not someone who needs “pretty lights and colors and explosions” to keep me entertained (says the guy obsessed with Tron) I like to think I have pretty decent standards.

During the last movie, my jaw dropped at the final set piece. This movie, I couldn’t wait for it to be over. I was relieved to see that last minute or so. It just doesn't live up to anything Evangelion has done thus far and while it adds new characters and skips a whopping amount of time after the last one, it feels stale because the only reason I could see to do that was just a cheap method to change everything to set the stage for this final movie, by all means, let it prove me wrong; The plot just doesn't seem relevant enough to grant it a movie, it's not good alone and it's not good as a companion piece, you could've just said that what happened at the end of the last movie caused everything about to come, not try to up the anty because it's not exciting anymore, it's like biting off more than you can chew.

6/10

[burnouts3s3]

Bloom Into You, a Blu-ray review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP): 69.98 USD How much I paid: 45.99 USD , the pre-order price Animation Studio: TROYCA Licensed and Localized by: Sentai Filmworks Audio: Japanese Audio with Subtitles and English Dub available.   English Cast: Tia Ballard as Yuu Koito, Luci Christian as Touko Nanami, Shanae’a Moore as Sayaka Saeki, Amber Lee Connors as Akari Hyuga, Brittney Karbowski as Koyomi Kano, Patricia Duran as Riko Hakozaki and Samantha Stevens as Miyako Kodama. Number of Episodes: 13 Episodes Length per Episode: 25 Minutes on average. 21 Without Intro and Ending song. Number of Discs: 2 Blu-ray discs Episodes per Disc: Episodes 1 through 9 on the 1st Blu-ray Disc. Episodes 10 through 13 on the 2nd Blu-ray disc. Does this come a digital voucher to redeem?: No. This only has the Blu-ray discs. Are there plans for a DVD release: Not as of the writing of this review. Also on: HiDive, Sentai Streamwork’s Streaming Service. Bonus Features: Clean Opening Animation, Clean Closing Animation and two Japanese Promos. Notable Localization Changes: For the most part, Bloom Into You sticks as close to the original Japanese script as possible. Which Edition are you reviewing: The Standard Edition, that comes with just the Blu-rays. What does the other Edition come with: The Premium Box Set comes with a Special Book, Storyboard Book, Original Scriptbooklet, 6 art cards and Rei’s receipe for cheesecake. (Yes, really). It is priced at 149.98 USD. My Personal Biases: I’ve seen Kannazuki no Miko, Strawberry Panic, Maria Watches Over Us, Kase-san and Morning Glories, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, Simoun, Citrus, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Yurikuma Arashi, Sweet Blue Flowers, Whispered Words and others. To say I’ve been waiting for something like Bloom Into You would be an understatement. My Verdict: Not only does Bloom Into You stand amongst the pinnacles of Yuri anime, it outshines some regular romance shows in the process. Yuu and Touko feel like fully fleshed out characters instead of the usual stock types and gives ample amount of time to not only developing the main girls but the rest of the cast as well. My hopes is that the success of this show will spawn a 2nd season. Buy it! A/N: SPOILERS for this show and other Shoujo-ai shows below. Bloom Into You a Bluray review

I honestly think many newcomers to the Shoujo Ai genre don’t know how good they have it nowadays. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Before the 1-2-3 Punch of Strawberry Panic, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl and Simoun in 2006, Kannazuki no Miko was considered the pinnacle of Yuri Anime. But in 2018, Yuri anime seemed to make a comeback in full force with the 1-2-3 punches of Kase-san and Morning Glories, Bloom Into You and, yes, Citrus. The three adaptations of manga titles managed to be an oasis in the desert after titles such as Simoun failed to find an audience, Sweet Blue Flowers ending on a cliffhanger and Whispered Words bombed so hard, it was rumored to have killed the Yuri anime genre for years. Even titles after that such as Yurikuma Arashi and Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid didn’t manage to find a larger audience other than the converted niches they were aiming for. But then, Bloom Into You came onto the scene and became a revolution, for both longtime fans of the genre and newcomers. Bloom Into You didn’t just manage to be a critical success, but also managed to be a commercial juggernaut, spawning a stage play, multiple light novels and having numerous books of its manga sold. Freshman high schooler Yuu Koito has always loved shojou manga, so she is aware of what she ought to be feeling if she were to receive a love confession. But when a junior high classmate confesses his feelings for her, she somehow does not feel anything. She delays her response, and ends up entering high school, still unsure of how to respond to those type of feelings. While there, she happens to see the student council president, Touko Nanami, elegantly turning down a confession. Yuu is inspired to ask her for advice. She finds out that Nanami has never accepted a confession because none of them has ever made her feel anything in particular. The two bond over their similarities. Nanami realizes that she could be falling in love with Yuu, so she suddenly confesses her feelings to her. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the upperclassman and lowerclassman (or the Senpai and Kouhai) relationship. We’ve seen countless pairings with Sachiko and Yumi or Shizuma and Nagisa or Amane and Hikari or Utena and Anthy or Asuka Rei and Nanako or… you get the idea. (I watch a lot of Shoujo ai). Even when it’s established both girls are of the same age such as Kannazuki no Miko’s Chikane Himemiya and Himeko Kurusugawa or Kase Tomoka and Yui Yamada, there’s a notable class difference between the popular girl and the unpopular girl. But Touko and Yuu take all those past pairings and put them to shame. Yuu actually does feel like a fully fleshed out human being with her own agency and thoughts (a far cry from the naïve Himeko Kurusugawa and Nagisa Aoi). Yuu isn’t sure if she’ll ever be in a relationship and we’re treated to her inner monologue of whether she is capable of loving Touko the same way Touko loves her. At the same time, the more we see Touko, the more the outer exterior falls apart. Interior voice-over is said to be a lazy storytelling technique in fiction, but Yagakimi uses it to explore the very real and unsure feelings of Yuu. Yes, the trope of ‘the popular girl isn’t perfect after all’ trope has been done to death with Chikane, Shizuma, Shizuru, Asuka and others, but Touko feels particularly tragic as she’s locked in arrested development. Touko’s been trying to live in the footsteps of her deceased sister who was also Student Council president, only to find out that her sister wasn’t the image she always had in her head. It’s up to Yuu to find a way to save Touko from herself. Also, no one rapes or tries to rape each other. So, you know, progress! Also a breath of fresh air are the additions of other queer characters such as an older lesbian couple living together and Sayaka Saeki, Touko’s classmate who also harbors romantic feelings for Touko. Sayaka has been a fan favorite in the franchise and even has a Light Novel adapted after her. (Though spoilers indicate she’s to join the ranks of ‘lesbian best friend who is friendzoned by love interest’ alongside Strawberry Panic’s Tamao Suzumi and Yaya Nanto, Hajimete no Gal’s Ranko Honjou and Cardcaptor Sakura’s Tomoyo Daidouji). Sentai Filmworks did the localization of the show and for the most part, it has been a very solid translation to little or no changes. Luci Christian (who’s voiced Honey-sempai in Ouran High School Host Club and other lesbian characters such as Himiko from Shattered Angels) really brings a lot of range to the character. But Tia Ballard (who performed Teruhashi from the Disastrous Life of Saiki K, Marron in Dragon Ball Super and Lady Rain from Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid) manages to wring out real depth through Yuu. Her performance is subtle, slow and has enough energy to make it feel real. Rounding out the cast are familiar voice performers. Amber Lee Connors (who voiced Mei Aihara in Citrus) is nice to hear and Brittney Karbowski turns in a surprisingly toned down character, a far cry from some of her more energetic performances. JAPANESE AUDIO WITH SUBTITLES IS ALSO AVAILABLE. CAVEAT:  Through Shoujo-ai’s vast, incredible and at times, problematic, history, we’ve seen milestones and steps being placed into BiY’s direction. Slowly but surely, the path was being placed as every woman love woman anime placed its mark to getting here. From the tragedies in the past, to the slice of life shows to the shows pandering to titillation, Bloom Into You is not only an accomplishment in its own right, but a climax to every other shoujo-ai show out there. My only hope is that we get the much deserved 2nd season and adapt the rest of the wonderful manga. Verdict: Full Price!

[darkarfs]

This is gonna make so many horrible people unhappy. EVERY Takeover has had at least one match-of-the-year candidate on it. Some of the most emotional moments in that brand have come from cards that even aren't quite as good. I even considered not doing this list, because, by all accounts, NXT Takeover: Tampa isn't even going ahead. But then I thought, fuck it, let's celebrate, taken all together, for my taste, the best wrestling product in the history of mankind. It's not just moves; it's emotional investment, sharply-focused, character-based storytelling, intricately-performed spectactle from the greatest physical specimens ever to lace their boots. It FINALLY legitimized Western women's wrestling in the mainstream (Michelle McCool, Trish, Molly, Mickie, Jazz, Victoria, you all were stunning performers in your own right, but you and your kind were, until NXT, only given 3 minutes: the longest women's match IN HISTORY, until 'Mania 32, was Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James at Wrestlemania 22, and it got 9 minutes.), it's got some of the greatest tag wrestling ever seen on ANY brand, it's created the longest-drawn storytelling ever, it's the best of the indies, the best of the WWE, wrapped up in a sequence of shows that were epic without being FIVE FUCKING HOURS LONG.

Where do I even start...?

Honorable mention: Takeover: R Evolution (I have to, because I've only got 10) Sami Zayn spends over a year, clawing and sweating and tearing walls down, just to get to the top of the mountain in NXT. He has the opportunity to cheat, but does it his OWN way, as beautiful, unique babyface Sami Zayn...before being no-scoped by his best friend, who debuted THAT NIGHT. The undercard isn't as strong, so I can't officially include it, but this payoff, this triumph, and this tragedy represents everything the first era of NXT was, and kickstarted it, truly, onto its first golden era. So, properly, then...

10. Takeover: Rival If you leave this list feeling like the title reigns, and thus, ERAS, of Zayn/Owens are a little under-represented by it, I completely understand. After all, so much good came from that time. American Alpha soldifying themselves as the dominant tag team, the Iron-Woman match between Sasha and Bayley, Becky Lynch putting all the pieces together, Enzo and Cass actually being GOOD...it was, still, at its heart, a developmental brand at that time. It had indie megastars, yes, but it also had the likes of Bull Dempsey. And that's not a dig at Bull Dempsey, it's just that those early Takeovers were an eclectic mix of skill levels, which is what NXT was at that time. It was a place to showcase these people. That said, some of these cards were truly *fantastic.* Case in point: Takeover: Rival. Not only was the undercard completely stacked (Hideo Itami vs. Tyler Breeze over-delivered; we had the first and still SOMEHOW ONLY Fatal 4-Way match between the Four Horsewomen; and Finn Balor vs. Neville was a solid match of the year candidate), but the main event was the first step in one of the most storied rivalries in the history of wrestling: Zayn vs. Owens. The video package is one of the best NXT ever did, and the match...was a masterpiece of simple-but unexpected booking. Zayn mistimes a leap to the outside, hits his head, and Owens responds by powerbombing him over...and over...and over again, until the ref stops the match. Zayn loses nothing, because he was never pinned, Owens is made to look even MORE the loathsome monster, and Zayn's title reign ends after just a month, without the champion nor the championship devalued in any way. It showed that NXT knew, even then, how to reward fans for their emotional investment.

9. Takeover: Portland Right now, NXT feels like it's approaching the very end of a special time in its life. Like it's on the verge of hitting critical mass. One of either Gargano or Ciampa probably leaving the company after the next Takeover, and the reign of the Undisputed Era seems to be crumbling, too. In yesteryear, this would indicate a raft of very important call-ups, neccessitating a shift in the roster and a period of calm centered around more patient character-building. NXT's existence now as a third brand throws that formula into uncertainty, but it definitely feels like they're ramping up to a finale, because goddamn, this is NXT almost at a point of self-parody. Every match is so. MUCH. Lee/Dijakovic is the pinnacle of HOT wrestling (and Lee, will you marry me?) Bianca Belair breaks out as an actual superstar...just as Charlotte decides to visit and to ruin everything, which is just dreadful timing. Gargano/Balor being everything we need it to be, and also Balor pinning Gargano with his fucking dick. And the Broserweights being VERY DUMB...but also VERY, VERY GOOD. The only thing that lets this card down...and this is obviously subjective...is that NXT has almost come TOO FAR, now, in its delivery on its main events, in that every kickout starts to beggar belief. On the level of Triple H/Undertaker at Wrestlemania 28, in that I still love it, but...hoo, it can be exhausting. Depends on how much Ring of Honor you like in your gumbo, I guess, but it feels like everyone on the roster is racing toward Tampa to explode, like a wrestling Crisis on Infinite Earths, and then MAYBE...things can calm down. Just a hair. Y'know, if Tampa even...still happens.

8. Takeover: Philadelphia If there's one man that's become synonymous with NXT, it's Johnny fucking Wrestling. You know, what would happen if a meerkat put on muscle mass and became the best set-piece wrestler this side of Daniel Bryan. We knew since he started his tag team with Tommaso Ciampa that he was an exceptional wrestler, but it wasn't until Philadelphia, and his INSANE match with Andrade "Cien" Almas, that we saw him as truly the industry's next star. It was the first Takeover match to go over 30 minutes (Sasha/Bayley at Respect went EXACTLY 30, don't @ me), it was the first NXT match to get 5 stars from Dave Meltzer (if that matters to you), and it set a new bar for Takeover main events. And while the undercard doesn't live up to it, it's still loaded with excellent matches. A.O.P. vs. the Undisputed Era is something special. Shayna Baszler makes her Takeover debut, and while she's nowhere near her prime, it cemented her immediately. Velveteen Dream and Kassius Ohno have a very fun match, and Aleister Black and Adam Cole have a ludcriously stupid no-holds-barred match, featuring two men doing with chairs what no one ought to do with chairs. But as good as all of that is, it's really a one match show, but what a match, and Ciampa ending it by being an utter bastard yet again.

7. Takeover: Brooklyn I Does the first Brooklyn Takeover feature Canadian Destroyers, 18 kick-outs and "fight forever" chants? It does not. Does it create moments of wrestling happiness that are rarely, if ever, replicated? It sure does. Firstly, Blue Pants appears and helps the Vaudevillains defeat Blake and Murphy. Seems quaint to look back on it, but it made everyone SO goddamn HAPPY that night. If you're forgetting, Leva Bates (that wrestling librarian in AEW right now) was once a comedy jobber in NXT, who wore Blue Pants. Adorable. Ignore what happened on the main roster (which is something you'll probably have to do with a lot of these shows, I imagine), but the Vaudevillains were once incredibly over (I promise!), and their win was one of several beam-inducing moments from this stellar night. Samoa Joe destroyed Baron Corbin at the height of his game, Apollo Crews debuted brilliantly (again, ignore what happens next!) and Balor and Owens' ladder match was also fantastic. Also, what's Jushin Thunder Liger doing here?? Wrestling like he's in his early 30s, that's goddamn what!! But of course, the reason we're all here is Sasha Banks vs. Bayley, and...there's still something in my eye. Anytime people want to rag on NXT for being "predictable," remind them that giving the people a moment they've genuinely prayed for...is a good thing. Bayley besting Sasha Banks at her prime just made us all...so happy. All of us. Everyone. When that curtain call took place, it was so earned. The narrative of women's wrestling dominated most of 2015, and this moment, this match, was the apex of that narrative.

6. Takeover: Chicago I And speaking of feelings...hello, Ciampa, you godless fuck. And so begins maybe the actual greatest rivalry in all of NXT. It is truly an odyessy, with twists, turns, injuries, betrayals, wounds torn open, and this is the nexus point. Well, the seeds had already sort of been planted, because Triple H knows what he's doing. Ciampa almost ALMOST turns on Gargano after their terrific match in the Cruiserweight Classic, only for the team to die another day...and what a death it was. After a great ladder match, the two stand atop the ramp, and you think "will it happen?" And the absolute bastards show you the copyright logo, just to make you think the show ends there, because it always does, seconds after that happens. You unclench, you breathe out, relax...Ciampa whispers "this is MY moment" and then...It is a perfectly engineered bait-and-switch, and exactly as vicious as it needs to be. Pats on the back, all 'round. This moment alone makes this a worthwhile Takeover, but there's also a hell of an undercard. The women's triple-threat (Ruby Riott vs. Asuka vs. Nikki Cross) is stellar, Bobby Roode and Hideo Itami have their respective best Takeover matches ever, and then there was Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne. An absolute show-stealer of a match, a star-making performance for both men (especially Dunne), it cemented the career of several men, and was a fully-formed GREAT show, as opposed to a good show in service to a storyline.

5. Takeover: Brooklyn IV Gargano and Ciampa's battle of brotherhood, betrayal and brainwashing was supposed to blow off at Takeover: New York, but because God hates necks, Tomato Champion was out of action, making this the final singles encounter to date, until Tampa (again, IF it even happens). This is the weakest of their 3 excellent encounters (which still makes it better than any match over SummerSlam weekend), but it also features Johnny Stupid running into a speaker, because his dumb ass can't seem to quit Ciampa. It's one of the greatest long-form feuds for a reason, mirroring Bret and Owen from 1993 into 1994, with all the repeated imagery, the callbacks, the nuances, the psychological cruelty. The street fight at Chicago II is MAYBE better, but this undercard, for me, is a lot stronger. It featured the Undisputed Era vs. Moustache Mountain, aka the Brothers Shithead vs. the Proud Circus Bear and His Beautiful Son. Velveteen Dream vs. EC3 was the closest NXT got to WWE-style storytelling and was still brilliant (remember when EC3 wrestled?), and HEY, wouldn't you know it, Kairi Sane was once a character with dimensions, as evidenced by an amazing match with Shayna Bazsler. But what makes this undercard truly stellar is Adam Cole vs. Ricochet. It is so nice to see Ricochet used well, etc., but I will still never stop pissing myself at Cole nailing him square in the jaw with a superkick WHILE HE'S MID-MOONSAULT UPSIDE-DOWN SWEET JESUS. Sometimes...sometimes...things fall exactly into place.

4. Takeover: WarGames (2018) The WarGames Takeovers are just so silly. It's a silly shoebox, filled with huge, silly men who only barely know why they're killing each other. It's as close as we ever get to WWE's now-terminal problem of "set aside whatever feuds you have right now, because it's Stipulation Month!" (see: Hell In a Cell, most Money In the Bank shows, though Elimination Chamber largely sidesteps this). The other Shoebox Takeovers are really good, no doubt, but this one stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. But there is not a bad match on this card. Kassius Ohno rides Matt Riddle's knee all the way to heaven; NXT shows why 2-out-of-3-falls is fast becoming its signature stipulation with the excellent blowoff between Sane/Baszler; Sexy Mindgames Prince had a star-making match against Tommaso Ciampa, showing why he may be the best overall character in NXT right now, and sweet lord, Aleister Black vs. Johnny Wrestling. It somehow showed that Gargano was JUST AS, if NOT MORE engaging as a dirtbag than as a good guy. And those Black Masses are presents just for me, a guy who tends to like more community theater in his wrestling than flips ("I ABSOLVE YOU...OF ALL YOUR SINS!"). And then we get to the Shoebox, and gosh it's silly! The Viking Experience, Ricochet and Pete Dunne take on the Undisputed Era, and...its a fucking LOT. 45 minutes of spots and smashing, with just a sprinkling of story, with Fish locking Dunne in his cage so he can't participate in the match. Since this seems to be what this match is designed for...let's rattle off some spots! Ricochet, jumping from one ring to the other! That amazing face-off that recreates the Captain America: Civil War poster! Perhaps the beefiest Tower of Doom in all of wrestling! And then Ricochet proving just how amazing he is...with the double moonsault off the top of the cage. What a stupid thing to do in an amazing, amazing show.

3. Takeover: Dallas I get it; a lot of people might not rank this Takeover quite so high. But it might be my actual personal favorite...? Overall...? More than any other Takeover, this show feels the most like it's filled with living, breathing superheroes. Many NXT stars are seen as just indie guys whose only gimmick is "I'm a very good wrestler," making them almost anti-WWE at the core. But NXT doesn't get enough credit for being, at its core, the best aspects of WWE. The showmanship, the things that elevate mere wrestlers to things like monsters, gods, and demons. I will always like my NXT WWE-style: the best wrestling cut with the most theater, the most camp. And Dallas is that concept, writ large. Baron Corbin coming out with lil' skulls on his shoulders. American Alpha finally becoming Super Saiyan Nerds. Asuka killing our hero, because Bayley is a person, and Asuka is a goddess who can perform brain surgery with her feet. Finn Balor coming out and going actual Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Samoa Joe. It's excellent wrestling, near-mythic visuals...and then we get to Nakamura/Zayn. The most special moment of a very special night. It is, from nearly every perspective, perfect. The hype of the crowd, salivating with anticipation. That moment when Nakamura appears in silhouette, and that violin note slides like a knife across steel, to reveal the man who set New Japan aflame. Sami Zayn getting the best possible swan song in a promotion built almost entirely on HIS back. The end of his era. That bit where they just KEEP PUNCHING ONE ANOTHER. I know it's not a perfect show (Balor/Joe stops for 3 minutes to address a cut on Joe's forehead, stalling its momentum; that Corbin/Ares match isn't as good as it could be) but that all means nothing. It's a sentimental choice, and I'd make it #1 if I could.

2. Takeover: New Orleans I went around and around in my head, and this one and #1 kept jockeying for position in my brain. But these top two Takeovers are literally note-perfect, from ship to shore, soup to nuts, top to tails. So if this is YOUR favorite? (Honestly, maybe 1 person I know who loves wrestling as much as I do will even see this mess). I'm here for you, and I understand. But this show has TWO 5-star matches from the Wrestling Observer, and I don't ever agree with that. In this case, I agree with BOTH, in the North American Championship ladder match, and the first (and so far, BEST) match in the Gargano/Ciampa feud. Everything. Is. Amazing. Shayna Bazsler became Women's Champion after BEAST-MODING her SHOULDER back INTO IT'S SOCKET to show that, YES, she gets pro-wrestling. Roderick Strong shocked the world (and the System) by joining the Undisputed Era and becoming the final Chaos Emerald needed to make that stable Super Sonic. Aleister Black took the championship from Andrade "Cien" Almas and SMILED, I fucking SAW IT! And it all depends on what you want from your wrestling, but Gargs/Tamps might actually be the best main event in Takeover history, at least from a storytelling standpoint. The crutch, the neckbrace. Each man going back to their DIY roots (the tag team - they didn't build another ring when that one broke), and then sitting side-by-side, like they did at the Cruiserweight Classic. Brothers. Completely spent. Destroyed. No one but each other. And then Ciampa shits any chance at redemption up the goddamn wall, cementing his own destruction. Every. Bit. Counts.

and #1...

Takeover: New York For a whole bunch of other wrestling fans, this has the greatest main event in Takeover history. But first, let's take a minute to appreciate how lucky we are, or were, that NXT exists. It justfies the existence of WWE, artistically, almost by itself. If this one's only slightly worse than New Orleans, it is argued, it's that the North American title ladder match was TOO good, and hurt every other match on the card. It has been argued. Not by me, but this one is somehow the most perfectly paced, perfectly sized wrestling card, on its own, ever. Every match, through alchemy or magic, manages to enthrall the crowd equally, and completely. The Viking Raiders vs. Grumpy Smaller Undertaker and the Human Pinball was off the hook incredible, and that warm "thank you" feeling has translated, currently to a man trapped in a room and a man trapped in Vince McMahon's scorn for smaller wrestlers, respectively. Matt Riddle and Velveteen Dream put on an absolute fantasy match, pitting the best of MMA vs. the best of WWE-style theatricality, and adds to the complete, demented character-world of this brand, and the fact that Dream WINS against one of the hottest new prospects is so deserved, and shows that he can, and will, shine forever brighter. Then AAAAGH WALTER vs. Pete Dunne! WALTER LAYS into poor Dunne, his chops alone having you believe that after the match, he's going to run into the arena's parking lot to FIGHT THE CARS. Then Shirai vs. Baszler vs. Sane vs. Belair and goddammit how do I even expound on that without crashing thesarus.com? And then Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole wrestled for. 40. MINUTES. With Gargano as the defacto heel because it was allegedly Cole's time. And by the match's end, he had the crowd more behind him than maybe they ever had been before. Is it a bit much? Yes. Too many kickouts? Probably. But it stands as the apex of Johnny Wrestling's journey. After everything had been taken from him: DIY, his health, his sanity, even his chance at revenge...the only thing he has left is the NXT Championship. And in that moment, he is invincible, he is more than enough.

What a show. What a host of shows.

Thanks for reading, everyone.

[swampgallows]

after SEVERAL DAYS ive finally completed my own version of this. not to be confused with husbando squares. i had to really reach for a couple of these as i was trying very hard to make this a favorite list and not a kin list but you can see the parts where i failed

descriptions under the cut, starting at the top and left to right:

JAN VALENTINE from Hellsing: i was obsessed with this dude when i was like 13. i wanted his beanie and i loved his fucked up piercings. also the first blowjob i ever saw. i covered my eyes. traumatizing!

RED DEATH from Venture Bros.: a dignified killer. the voice of clancy brown is absolutely integral to this character and my affinity for him. cant go wrong with a murderous family man. “brownies? yes, thank you!” plus he had a sick mohawk in the 80s.

GENERAL GRIEVOUS from Star Wars: coughing bastard wields four glowsticks at once. what’s not to love?

LURTZ from Lord of the Rings: ground zero for the closest thing to a sexual awakening

KUP from Transformers: that’s just ME, babey! old know-it-all curmudgeon stops at mcdonalds for one black coffee and leaves

JANE LANE from Daria: if i’d watched Daria in high school instead of college I would have modeled my entire existence after her. she treads between being an ideal older sister and being the greatest lesbian/girlfriend ever

THRALL from Warcraft: thrall practically raised me through my teen years and was there for me as a surrogate orc dad before he became an actual dad. the horde is thrall’s family and when i say i’m his child i MEAN it

MEWTWO from Pokémon: mewtwo knocked my socks off when i encountered him in cerulean cave in 1998 on pokémon red, and then once i found out about the first 10 minutes cut from the english version of the movie in 99, it was all over

REXXAR from Warcraft: that’s just my strong asexual mok’nathal husband. i used to pal around with him in desolace back when he was champion of the horde, and once he made his way back to his people at thunderlord stronghold we consummated our vows

DIN from Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons: this is the only zelda game i have ever played, one i bought with my own money, with CASH, and i played the shit out of it. i love nature magic and dancing and din has both. 

CHERNABOG from Disney’s Fantasia: i warped the VHS watching this part over and over as a kid. he’s called chernabog now but he was referred to as “satan” initially, and bela lugosi modeled his movement (though they ended up using the director’s poses instead). when he unfurls his wings? that’s the real shit

TWILIGHT SPARKLE from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: i love all of the ponies in their own way and despite how much i abhor tara strong’s VA work twilight remains a top favorite. her anxiety and perfectionism show the downsides of her ardent studiousness, but dont portray her erudition in a negative light. a lot of cartoons i saw growing up always had an “egghead” nerdy character who was unpopular for doing well in school or caring about academia. while i know as an adult that it’s all essentially worthless it’s really affirming to see that pressure candidly portrayed while also not being totally dismissive of it. school was one of the only things i was ever good at, and twilight’s character shows both its heavy downsides and the ways in which it actually can be applied to the real world. 

[free space] GARROSH HELLSCREAM from Warcraft: literally me

WASHU HAKUBI from Tenchi Muyo!: one of my longtime faves! washu is a genius scientist, but with tenchi muyo being a mythological sci-fi series, that points her closer to witch/mad scientist/alchemist. i also liked the gimmick of her being thousands of years old but insisting on portraying herself as a short snarky teenager. plus i love her crab motif and her little wooden cheerleader puppets

JOHN SILVER from Treasure Planet: bear cyborg dad. super huggable, great voice, and has a lil irish jig follow him around in the soundtrack. neck rolls + tooth gap = hell fuckkin yeah babey

AIUSHTHA THE ENCHANTRESS from DotA 2: sproink!

PEPPER ANN from Disney’s Pepper Ann: this show made me excited to attend middle school LMFAO because i related to pepper ann so much as a kid. much like twilight sparkle, PA is super neurotic but has an explosive, if not borderline delusional, imagination. she dressed and behaved like an actual kid, and plus she looked like me too. even in the 90s it was rare to see a kid with glasses that wasn’t shafted to the poindexter stereotype, especially a girl (e.g. Gretchen from the fellow Disney show Recess). i liked that she wasn’t feminine but also wasn’t a hard tomboy; she gave me space to feel like i was allowed to exist outside of that kind of gender binary (and especially her younger sister Moose blows all gender expectations out of the water). 

ASUKA LANGLEY SORYU from Neon Genesis Evangelion: foundation of my childhood identity along with all the trauma and posturing therein. think garrosh if he were a 12 year old girl who piloted a mech

DEVIL ZUKIN from Dance Dance Revolution: amazing outfit, rocked the konamix. i like evil zukin too but devil zukin is the fave. sleeveless crop top hell yeah

UNDYNE from Undertale: my bi awakening at 25. strong fish lady love spagety

HELLBOY from Hellboy: mike mignola’s art style has influenced a lot of my own. he’s a demon who chooses to be the good guy and that’s everything to me. he loves kitty cats and pancakes and punches nazis, and hellboy ii: the golden army is one of the best movies of all time.

BLACKARACHNIA from Beast Wars (Transformers): LOVE this bitch. she got to hang out with tarantulas and also expressed that moral grayness i totally love, chillin with rattrap and makin jokes. spider motif is v good also

LEAH from Stardew Valley: life goals. wife goals.

NAILS from Cool World: this movie fucking blows LMFAO it’s absolutely awful but it has the most banger rave soundtrack next to hackers and ralph bakshi’s animation as always is a spectacle. Nails is a hapless anxious cop-spider who can barely load his own gun and looks like a predecessor to a Cuphead reject. plus he’s voiced by charlie adler so he’s got huge personality. funny spider guy

HAWK MOTH from Miraculous: i know what i am. im a bitch who loves bug motifs and villains who are outwitted by literal children, who are utterly convinced they are doing the right and just thing, who stare a redemption arc in the face and go “...nah”

[closetofanxiety]

Let’s Get Ready to (Review the Royal) Rumble!!

I watched all 11 hours of this thing, so I might as well jot down some thoughts

Rusev w/Lana vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

This was the first WWE pre-show I’ve watched in a long time. Lots of banter from the panel, which included Shawn Michaels. I’m not sure how often I will watch the pre-shows going forward. This match existed, and it concluded with a title change. Nakamura is your new United States champion. Lana took a bump and hurt her ankle in storyline. “Lana, get up!” Rusev yelled at his prone wife after she was knocked off the apron. Show a little more concern there, Rusev. Later in the show this would turn out to be a momentous ankle injury

Hideo Itami vs. Buddy Murhpy vs. Kalisto vs. Akira Tozawa

I haven’t watched 205 Live in forever, but I hear Mike Kanellis is there now. This match was not as sensational as I had expected, but it had some good spots. No reason for these guys to go full-tilt, I guess. They’re wrestling as the crowd files in to Chase Field, and when it’s done they go back to 205 Live. Kalisto should have won by default, as he is the only member of this quartet who weighs 205 pounds or less. He did not win, though, and Buddy Murphy remains your cruiserweight champion. In a year, perhaps this match will feature Kushida, Trevor Lee, Sonjay Dutt, and Kalisto. Always Kalisto. Poor, lost Kalisto.

Asuka vs. Becky Lynch

Although it would later become clear why this went on first, it was still a little surprising. And, to be honest, I did not love this match. It finished up very well, but until the last five minutes or so it was a lot slower and more tentative than I would have expected from these two. It ended on something of a surprise note, with Becky tapping and Asuka retaining. They’ve  succeeded in bringing Asuka back from the foggy post-Wrestlemania wasteland in which they stranded her. What happens to her now? Another feud with Charlotte? They should bring up Io Shirai and Kairi Sane and form a new version of Triple Tails. They will not do this.

The Bar vs. Shane McMahon and The Miz

Mark and I watched this entire match barely 12 hours ago, and now all I can remember is Shane McMahon doing a credible Shooting Star Press. Few things in pro wrestling are more boring, in 2019, than the state of the Smackdown tag team title picture. And now there are new champs. Perhaps this is the beginning of splitting up The Bar. They’ve been a tag team since September 2016. They’re both terrific wrestlers and have had many good matches, but there’s nothing about them that really sticks with me. It doesn’t help that they have one of the worst tag team names in the history of pro wrestling.

Ronda Rousey vs. Sasha Banks

I was surprised to see this match was almost 14 minutes long. It felt like it went by quickly. This was the best Sasha Banks match I’ve seen in a looooong time, and maybe Rousey’s best WWE match to date. She looked really good. The work with Gulak is paying off. Sasha also looked like the relentless competitor we remember from her NXT days. I enjoyed this match a lot. Based on what happened the last time I mentioned Ronda Rousey, I now expect to get several anonymous messages calling me a fucking imbecile. That’s OK. It’s true, I am a fucking imbecile, but Ronda Rousey is still good in a wrestling ring. After the match, Sasha held up the Horsemen/women sign. If Rousey is finishing up at Wrestlemania, I’m not sure they’re going to have time for the epochal Clash of the Horsewomen. Hey! One good thing about this match in particular is that Rousey didn’t win with her armbar. That’s good storytelling; it establishes her as a multi-tool threat. 

Royal Rumble (women)

The last 5-10 minutes of this were an absolute blast, with Lana being unable to walk out because of her ankle, and Belfast’s Fit Finaly giving the green light to Dublin’s Becky Lynch to enter the match in Lana’s place. Cue a recording of the Wolfe Tones’ “We’re On the One Road.” When the field narrowed down to Becky, Charlotte, and Nia, it was a great moment. I am not a big Nia Jax advocate, but based on the crowd reaction, she is the top heel in the women’s division. Becky winning was a legitimately cathartic moment, and kudos to leathery madman Vince for making the right call. Unfortunately, the rest of the match was kind of a slog. The surprise entrants were great, and I was particularly pleased to see Io Shirai, Kairi Sane, and Candice LeRae. I once saw Candice LeRae wrestle in a tiny performance space that normally hosted noise bands and avant-garde literature readings. People on Twitter were complaining there weren’t enough “Legends” among the surprise entrants, but come on. The pool is not nearly as deep for the women as it is for the men. The biggest women stars of the Attitude Era tended to not be wrestlers, which actually was kind of true of the WWE women’s division even after the Attitude Era. They’ve already had Trish and Lita at the previous Rumble and the Evolution PPV; at some point, it’s not a surprise anymore. It’s also good to build up the future than to be like “Remember Kelly Kelly?? Well, here she is for three minutes of listless punching!” Maria Kanellis counts as a legend by that math, and she was in the Rumble. That was kind of a surprise. I had no idea what she and Alicia Fox were doing. It seemed like challenging absurdist theater, like they spontaneously decided to act out a scene from an Ionesco play. Talk about going into business for yourself. Swoggle also appeared and chased Zelina Vega around with a lascivious look on his face, which was, uh, unexpected. 

Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles

First, let’s consider how great it is that a WWE championship match featuring two of the most popular wrestlers on the roster is in the cool-down spot after a women’s match. That genuinely rules. That would have been unthinkable as recently as two years ago. As the women get more and more popular, those Saudi shows are going to get harder to pull off. Hurry up with those reforms, Prince MBS! Haha, just kidding, they’re not going to reform their brutal autocracy. Oh, right; this match. This was a chore to watch. It was so boring. It was not helped by its spot on the card, but this listless, will-this-do performance wouldn’t have been good in any spot. These are two of the best wrestlers of the last 30 years, but sometimes it just doesn’t click. It did not click here. I was relieved when Erick Rowan made his mysterious (re)appearance because I knew it signaled the match was almost over. It seems they’re going to make Rowan some kind of eco-brute, helping Daniel Bryan advance his monstrous agenda of caring about the planet. Fine. At least he’s not dressed like a second-tier TMNT villain anymore.

Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman vs. Finn Balor

By contrast, this was a hoot. They knew they had to recapture the crowd, and they went at it full-tilt for eight minutes. The story here was great: Brock was surprised to find himself being pushed to his limits by this lithe little Irishman, and so after he won, he lashed out like a petulant, over-the-hill bully. An example of how you can tell a great story in an eight-minute match. Not every big match has to be 25 minutes. Especially not that dogshit Daniel Bryan-AJ Styles match. It would have been great to see Finn win, but the Irish have to content themselves with Becky’s Rumble win tonight.

Royal Rumble (men)

This moved along at a quicker clip than the women’s rumble, perhaps because it was nearly 11 p.m. EST when it started. Damn and heck, this was a long show. It was lots of fun to see Jarrett come out in his ridiculous 1990s gear. HUGE missed opportunity by not having Honky Tonk Man come out, but you can’t have everything. Johnny Gargano looked great, Andrade looked great, Kurt Angle looked very, very old. The best moment was when Mustafa Ali eliminated his current antagonist, Samoa Joe. The incomprehension and fury on Joe’s face were magnificent grace notes. Joe is such a great addition to the roster. It’s crazy that it didn’t happen sooner. No Way Jose was essentially used as a quick punchline. Boy, that guy’s main roster tenure has not been pretty. The big surprise I guess was an enraged Nia Jax coming out and entering herself in the Rumble and then taking four guys’ finishers. CUE: CONTROVERSY. WWE’s been dipping its toes in intergender wrestling for a bit, but it’s hard to see them going whole hog. Nia is one thing, but imagine the response if it was Alexa Bliss being ethered by Randall Keith Orton. Seth Rollins was the odds-on favorite to win (although I picked Drew McIntyre, going with my heart rather than my head) so it feels a little anti-climactic that he actually won, but whatever. Afterwards, he pointed to the Wrestlemania “sign,” which was a computer graphic visible only to people watching on the network, so to those in attendance it looked like he was pointing out the place where he spotted a UFO. 

[frankbelloriley]

top ten wrasslin’ matches of 2018

So before I get into this, I’m gonna lay down some ground rules--well, more like tell you the rules I gave myself and those rules are 1) did it make me laugh a bunch and forget about how stupid the world is? (which is the basis for every one of these kinds of lists really) 2) would I show this to someone who had never seen wrestling before? and 3) one (1) match per episode/pay-per-view with one (1) exception for a good reason With that in mind, I’m going to get some honorable mentions out of the way:

Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Kenny Omega vs Chris Jericho for the IWGP US Championship, and the Fatal Four Way for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship between Marty Scurll, KUSHIDA, Hiromu Takahashi, and Will Ospreay from Wrestle Kingdom 12-- they’re all really good and fun and worth checking out, but another Wrestle Kingdom 12 match is going on this list

The other two Chris Jericho NJPW matches versus Tetsuya Naito and EVIL--not on this list literally only due to the “one match per ppv” rule, but they’re all very fun, Chris Jericho is delightfully dickish and you should watch them in order to see Chris Jericho become a progressively more goth dad (he out gothed a dude named “EVIL” (all caps theirs, not mine) that’s how goth Chris Jericho got)

As much as it pains me and as much as it is a testament to what good wrestling there was in 2018, none of the Johnny Gargano-Tommaso Ciampa matches (1, 2, 3, which I can’t find online and whatever) are on this list (my favorite is probably their second match), and neither is Velveteen Dream-Tommaso Ciampa which rips (can I interest you in a fight between a Prince inspired wrassler who refers to himself in the third person and whose act became a giant subtweet of Hulk Hogan against just the biggest asshole in the world?). There is only one Johnny Gargano match on here, and if I’m writing a list of the best character arcs in 2018, the list goes Gargano’s redemption only to succumb to the dark side, Kazuchika Okada’s existential crisis after losing the championship, and Becky Lynch becoming The Man in that order. Becky’s arc really only started four-five months ago and much of it was spent by creative trying and utterly failing to get the crowd to boo her, and Okada’s arc was, by design, slow and frustrating after he lost the championship, but Gargano basically started the year as Luke Skywalker getting his hand cut off and ended the year as Kylo Ren yelling at a ghost on the salt planet, with every character turn making sense. It’s fascinating.

Speaking of, no Aleister Black-Johnny Gargano at NXT War Games 2 match which might be as pure a classic wrestling story as there is, second only to the Gargano match that is actually on here. (In real life, Aleister Black hurt his leg, so in story, they explained it that he got attacked in the parking lot by an unknown person, so the mystery of who attacked him would go on for months (coincidentally the same amount of time it would take someone to recover from an injury like Aleister Black’s) until Johnny Gargano fessed up to the act by kicking him in the face, so now Aleister is seeking justice. Wrestling is delightfully extra.

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair vs Asuka TLC match for the Smackdown Women’s Championship (no link, couldn’t find)-- whew (not “woo” in this house we boo the woo) Asuka was finally Asuka again (her first and last ppv matches in 2018 (this and against Charlotte at Wrestlemania) are super great and everything else is super not), Becky Lynch continued being the actual greatest, and I literally do not know how Charlotte Flair did not end up in the hospital after this. It’s not making the list for how the match ends in bullshit fashion even though it ends perfectly in character with consistent story logic (a pleasant fucking surprise from WWE especially considering, again, the rest of Asuka’s year)

None of the Shayna Baszler-Kairi Sane matches (can’t find NXT Takeover Brooklyn 4, but I found Evolution and NXT War Games II) (NXT was really good this year), which is a shame because all of which are great, but my personal favorite is on Evolution, and another match beats it out. As I’m writing out the list, I realized there aren’t a bunch of women’s matches, but that’s because WWE’s creative ideas for its women’s division was garbage until the Becky Lynch turn happened in August and got a crowd reaction they super didn’t want and tried to change until they were finally forced them to lean into it. However, Evolution was easily the best main roster WWE ppv.

Nothing from All In literally only because that show is for Wrestling Fans, and this list is supposed to be a “if you’ve never watched wrestling in your life” list. All In is good good fun, but if you show it to someone who’s never seen wrestling before, they’re gonna ask why are there dick druids, and you’re gonna have to explain that Joey Ryan, a dude who wrestles with his dick, came back to life after being murdered and the number one suspect was the guy from Arrow (really). Get into wrestling, then watch that PPV.

Good god, that’s a lot of honorable mentions. Anyway:

10. Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens, an open Intercontinental Championship Challenge on Monday Night RAW, August 27th - this is just a really fun wrestling match between two talented guys who were stuck in other feuds that were prolonged needlessly in 2018, and it was just fun to see these guys branch out, do something different, and tear the house down against each other like, “oh yeah, these two are really good at what they do, I almost forgot.”

9. Andrade Cien Almas vs. AJ Styles - Smackdown Live on September 18--Like Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins, AJ Styles was stuck in bad storylines that meant to make him look like a strong champion but ended up making him look like a plot armored goober. Here we have the story of the cocky upstart Almas taking the veteran champion Styles to his absolute limit with a finish that is smooth as hell.

8. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Will Ospreay, IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship at NJPW Dominion on June 9th - Spoiler for the number two entrant but this is where I’m breaking the “one per ppv rule” because Hiromu Takahashi has a broken neck and no one knows if he’ll ever wrestle again, so this might be his swan song. (He doesn’t break his neck in this match, I wouldn’t introduce him like that) These are two dudes who flip with zero caution to themselves with some incredible flippy shit. Watch it and pray for Hiromu to make a full recovery.

7. Six Man Ladder Match for the NXT North American Championship with Adam Cole, Ricochet, Velveteen Dream, EC3, Killian Dane, and Lars Sullivan - Okay, so, about this. Excepting Killian Dane and maybe Lars Sullivan, everyone here has had a better match elsewhere this year (Lars probably had a better match against Keith Lee, Adam Cole had his best match against Ricochet, Ricochet and EC3 had their best matches against Velveteen Dream, and Velveteen Dream had his best match against Tommaso Ciampa), but everyone gets a moment to shine here, and this is the NXT introduction of Ricochet who is basically a flippy videogame cheat code who is made out of some sort of alien substance. At one point the two large men Lars Sullivan and Killian Dane toss Ricochet across the ring to each other like they’re playing fucking catch. It’s hilarious and maybe the fifth most insane thing that happens here. If someone was to come up to me like, “I know nothing about wrestling, what should I watch to find out if I like it?” I would probably show them this.

6. Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii,  G1 Tournament Match - I’m laughing just thinking about this match. I don’t think anyone would call Tomohiro Ishii the best wrestler in the world, but I love him with my heart. Kenny too, but a boyish giggle comes out of me every time Tomohiro no sells someone slapping the utter shit out of him and he says (presumably) something like “that it?!” (I’m a fan of this gif of Pete Dunne slapping a no-selling Tomohiro for Pete Dunne shaking his hand afterwards. Physical comedy!). Anyway, the story here is Kenny Omega has gone 6-0 in this tournament, Ishii (who he has a competitive history with) has gone 0-6 in the tournament, so Kenny takes him for granted and when he realizes his opponent won’t go down that easily, it’s too late. It’s quick, it’s fast paced, and very fun.

5. Meiko Satomura vs Mercedes Martinez, Mae Young Classic Quarterfinals - I had no idea who these women were before the Mae Young Classic, but I loved Meiko with her first match in it, while Mercedes was just, you know, fine. But this? Wheeew. Two veterans giving it their all, and if you don’t turn into a Michael Scott crying gif after when they show each other respect, we ain’t the same.

4. Johnny Gargano vs Andrade Cien Almas, NXT Takeover: Philadelphia -  Going with this one because it’s the most newbie friendly match, it kicks off Johnny Gargano’s year storyline at the finish, and Andrade Cien Almas is really really good at his job. It’s a simple “good guy versus arrogant heel” match, and Andrade comes out to a masked mariachi band as his entrance.

3. Kota Ibushi vs Cody Rhodes, Wrestle Kingdom 12 - there are probably better matches from Wrestle Kingdom 12 but this is my list so fuck you but this is the match where pro wrestling finally clicked with me after starting to watch it because of GLOW. Folks, this is a 20 minute Jackie Chan fight with Kota as the daffy Jackie Chan-like hero and Cody as Anime Biff Tannen. It is fast, has some wild acrobatics, and it is funny as hell.

2. Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega, 2/3 Falls Match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (Part 1, Part 2), NJPW Dominion on June 9th - If the last one was a comedy, this is an epic. This thing last an hour and a half, and it goes by in a flash. The entire Okada-Omega series is basically wrestling’s Lord of the Rings, and this is its Return of the King. The only reason it’s not number one because of the match’s lack of follow through in the months since, but man, this is great.

1. Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair, Last Woman Standing Match at Evolution (start at 29:45 then watch the end here)- *types then deletes a bunch of unintelligible vowels* Okay, so this is the first match that really took advantage of the NXT Horsewomen since their call up in a good long while and it rules. I’d say Bayley, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch had been given nothing for 2018 until August, but “nothing” would be a step up in some cases *cough* group therapy *cough* *cough* Nia Jax injuring every single one of them plus others and the only reason she still has a job is that she’s The Rock’s cousin *cough* Charlotte had her Wrestlemania match against Asuka, but this? This is mean, this is rough, this is the story of a girl, no this is the story of two former friends wanting to throw the other through a table. When pro wrestling is bad, it’s “what the fuck am I doing with my life watching this shit” bad, and when it’s good, there is nothing like it. This is the latter (not the ladder, but there are those here).

[placetobenation]

Hard to believe folks, but we are less than one full month away from WrestleMania. In any normal year, we’d already have half the card planned for wrestling’s biggest stage. Yet, here we stand with only one match solidified going into April 10-11’s two-night event in Tampa at Raymond James Stadium.

We’ve got Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. That’s it. The only other match that’s close is the Universal Championship match with Edge taking on whoever walks out of FastLane as the champ – either Roman Reigns or Daniel Bryan. Everything else is up for grabs or better yet, Vince McMahon’s whim.

It’s a WrestleMania like no other and with the FastLane PPV, the first ever on Peacock, coming next Sunday, it’ll be a mad dash after the PPV to get things in shape and hyped up for Tampa. Sure, we have our guesses as to who might fill out the rest of the card. Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre or maybe it’s a returning Brock Lesnar could be on tap. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair maybe? Randy Orton vs. The Fiend or whatever he’ll come back as. Bad Bunny & Damien Priest vs. The Miz and John Morrison is sure to happen as well. Whichever way they go, the WWE has its hands full and not a lot of time to get it done.

RAW

RESULTS

WWE Championship Match: Bobby Lashley defeated The Miz to retain title

No DQ Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus went to a no-contest

Xavier Woods defeated Shelton Benjamin

Riddle defeated SLAPJACK

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler defeated Naomi & Lana to retain titles

AJ Styles defeated Randy Orton

I’ll give it to RAW the past few weeks. It’s been better and that trend continues again this week.

The Hurt Lock signaled the end of the match and @fightbobby remains #WWEChampion!#AndStill#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/CcKEsEZZj8

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

Talk about starting with a bang. No need for one of those cliche championship celebrations. All new WWE Champion Bobby Lashley did was remain dominant and make quick work of The Miz to make his case to highlight a main event at WrestleMania. It’s a quality move by the WWE to make Lashley look as strong as possible headed towards April.

THIS IS AWE-SOME!

#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/8DMXiSQHqc

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

We praised Drew McIntyre and Sheamus last week for a wonderful one-on-one contest. This week, Sheamus wants more after attacking Drew backstage. Now, just when we were getting more of the brutal beatdown between the two behemoths, oh my the welts on their backs with those kendo sticks, the duo decided to pick up the steel ring steps and collide into each other. Instead of taking out the other, they both take out themselves to end it in a no-contest. I’m sure match three will be on tap for Fastlane.

"Oh, Randy… Not yet."@AlexaBliss_WWE's mind games continue to plague @RandyOrton. #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/N5cYmLQ2It

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

To complete a trio of kudos, AJ Styles and Randy Orton put on a very good main event. Of course, the ending was a bit predictable with Alexa Bliss distracting Orton from the big screen just long enough for an explosion, more black goo spewing from Randy’s mouth and a top rope forearm splash from Styles to give him the pinfall. The Fiend’s resurrection is coming. We’ll just have to wait a bit longer for it, right Miss Bliss?!

Otherwise, Xavier Woods earns The New Day a tag team title shot with a singles victory over Shelton Benjamin. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler get an uneventful championship match win over Naomi & Lana. BTW: not a big fan of putting Reginald with Nia and taking him out of the mix of SmackDown even for one show. Reggie deserves better. Plus, Riddle takes out SLAPJACK. If it’s not Riddle vs. Ali, which we get this Monday night for the US Title, I’m not interested in RETRIBUTION. 

There’s so much left to be done to set up for WrestleMania and with Fastlane being the bump in the road to get there, I’m sure a lot will happen over the next 10 days. Take Charlotte Flair for instance, her only appearance of the night was to tell Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose to bring it when it comes to asking for a RAW Women’s Championship Match against Asuka. Something tells me Rhea Ripley is soon to be added to that mix.

Yes, I’ve left Shane McMahon and Braun Strowman for last. That may have been one of the worst 10 minutes of RAW in many a year. I get it that the WWE wants us to hate Shane and cheer Braun, but that promo from McMahon not only made no sense, it hurt my head to try and listen to it. And, not for nothing, why not give Braun a microphone. Nothing about that segment or the storyline is making me have any interest in it. It’s just more square pegs trying to be pounded into a round hole.

NXT

RESULTS

NXT Women’s Championship Match: Io Shirai defeated Toni Storm

Pete Dunne defeated Jake Atlas

NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Shotzi Blackheart & Ember Moon defeated Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez to win titles

Xia Li defeated Kayden Carter by DQ

Legado del Fantasma defeated Grizzled Young Veterans

NXT Championship Match: Finn Balor defeated Adam Cole

Raw emotion. Pure talent. #AndNew #WWENXT Congratulations @ShotziWWE & @WWEEmberMoon! pic.twitter.com/pZFQDxKXhK

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 11, 2021

So, that didn’t take long! General manager William Regal wasted little time in banging out the two “game-changing” announcements for the NXT brand. First, we get a two-night TakeOver: Stand and Deliver during WrestleMania week. Then, after last week’s tag team fiasco, Regal declares Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez as the first ever NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long for Kai & Gonzalez as Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart take them out in their very first title defense. It’s a good way to keep things moving and doesn’t leave any room for doubters to say that the champs were just handed the titles. Moon and Blackheart won them in the ring and move on with the gold.

In an incredible battle for the #WWENXT #WomensTitle, @shirai_io retained against a determined Toni Storm! pic.twitter.com/QjVZmjHd2s

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 12, 2021

Io Shirai just keeps going strong. No matter who or where the challenge comes from, Shirai continues to prove she’s the best thing going these days in NXT. I really thought it could be Toni Time for Storm in this one, but Shirai made her tap out surprisingly clean. Next up for champ, she wants Raquel Gonzalez. Now that’s an easy way for her to forget about a quick tag team title loss.

Jordan Devlin is back from the travel ban and yes, ladies and gentleman, it looks like we’ve got a fight for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship next week!

A tip of the hat, or is that a space helmet tip to Breezango as MSK distracts the Grizzled Young Veterans enough to give Legado del Fantasma the win. But, not to be left out, Breezango arrives to give Legado a little payback for last week’s beatdown. Maybe we’ve got an 8-man tag team in our future between these teams.

Kacy Catanazaro’s got a little fire in her belly, taking the crutches to Xia Li during her match with bestie Kayden Carter. Unfortunately, while getting some payback, she also costs Carter a chance at a win, giving Li the DQ victory. This one’s far from over as Kacy gets over her knee injury at the hands of the badass Li.

LA Knight vs. Bronson Reed? Could it be with Knight’s in-ring debut coming next week?

It looks like Imperium wants to grow and is recruiting Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa. Interesting mix to say the least although it looks like Ciampa has his sights set a bit higher on WALTER and the NXT UK Championship. Now that would be a fun fight on either side of the pond. But first, it looks like we get a fight between the four coming up this Wednesday night. 

"What took you so long?"

#WWENXT @FinnBalor @WWEKarrionKross pic.twitter.com/U7zaOlGJDX

— WWE (@WWE) March 11, 2021

Finn Balor vs. Adam Cole – thumbs up! Terrific main event between two of the best in NXT. Both men had their chances near the end and Kyle O’Reilly’s appearance ringside distracted Cole just enough for Balor to get the Coup de Grace and the win. It was a clean victory that I wasn’t sure was in the making. O’Reilly gets his licks in on Cole after the match to boot as well leaving the ring clear for the face-to-face between Balor and Karrion Kross. Finn’s line – “what took you so long” was perfect to end the show too! I hope they build it up for the main event of NXT TakeOver: Stand and Deliver instead of rushing to it too soon. O’Reilly ripping The Undisputed Era armband off Cole was nice symbolism as well.

I don’t know about you, but NXT was so good this week, it felt like it was over in about five minutes rather than two+ hours. Great in-ring matches. History-making announcements. Storylines opened and advanced. Really good show folks.

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

The Street Profits, Rey & Dominik Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Chad Gable & Otis

Cesaro defeated Buddy Murphy by DQ

Tamina & Natalya defeated Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair

Intercontinental Championship Match: Big E defeated Sami Zayn to retain title

"You're better than this… But you're not better than me."

#SmackDown @EdgeRatedR @WWEDanielBryan pic.twitter.com/PUQKdgX4lf

— WWE (@WWE) March 13, 2021

Just in case there’s an upset at FastLane, Edge and Daniel Bryan sure did a nice job starting off SmackDown giving us some really good personal heat between two of the bigger babyfaces in the company. You wonder if Edge will do whatever it takes to make sure Roman Reigns wins, even if it means costing Bryan a shot at WrestleMania.

I don’t know about you, but I really enjoyed the 8-man tag team match. With The Street Profits joining forces with The Mysterios to get the better of the tag champs, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode, along with Otis & Chad Gable, it set the right tone and put both teams in line to make their case for a title match. There was never a down time in the match and there were bodies flying everywhere. Solid action to start the night in the ring with the good guys going over.

Poor Reggie! Nia Jax is smitten over him! That shopping spree made me harken back to the days of the Tuesday Night Titans skits. A bit too long, but got the job done. I will say this though. Shayna Baszler is about to snap. Book it. She’s beyond tired of the Nia-Reggie show already and it’s only a matter of time before she takes them both out.

Speaking of Reginald, he cost Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks their tag match against Tamina & Natalya. Something that made Belair not too happy and continues to build the heat between Banks and Belair with Banks continued attention to Carmella’s fired old friend.

After a vicious attack on @WWECesaro, It seems like @WWERollins has the attention of @ShinsukeN!

#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/GcGIOYJKC8

— WWE (@WWE) March 13, 2021

Buddy Murphy vs. Cesaro, part 2 was really just there to set up Seth Rollins attack on Cesaro of course. The most intriguing part though comes after the match. Is Shinsuke Nakamura about to join the Messiah against his former mate? Maybe the evil side of Shinsuke is about to return? I like it. And let’s be honest, Nakamura would be one heck of an upgrade over Murphy.

.@WWEApollo blindsides @WWEBigE after his #ICTitle Match with a vicious attack! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/jI9lQqcMvJ

— WWE (@WWE) March 13, 2021

Oh my Big E! That’s as serious as it gets for The New Day’s biggest superstar. “I need to end you.” WOW! But, instead of getting Apollo Crews and some justified payback, Big E made Sami Zayn his latest Intercontinental Championship Open Challenge victim. Zayn’s loss only comes after he steals King Corbin’s attempt to accept the challenge. Zayn’s right, you snooze, you lose Corbin. Apparently, Crews caught Big E snoozing celebrating his victory with a brutal post-match attack. Damn, what is the WWE’s love for those ringside steps these days. It’s only a matter of time before these two will be battling again for that I-C Gold. UPDATE: WWE has added a title match between the two to FastLane.

Not too shabby! That’s one way to liven up your tired old contract signing. First, Daniel Bryan guilts Roman Reigns into signing the contract for the match at FastLane. Then, when Jey Uso tries to force him into the equation as the special enforcer, Edge ups the ante, challenging Uso next week for that job at the PPV. It’ll be the first time in over a decade that Edge is back wrestling live on the blue brand. Now, that’s how you dot the “I’s” and cross the “T’s” on a go-home show next Friday night.

Parting shots:

@PeytonRoyceWWE just went OFF on #RawTalk. She wants an opportunity against #WWERaw #WomensChampion @WWEAsuka! pic.twitter.com/alnsKByeYA

— WWE (@WWE) March 9, 2021

If you missed RAW Talk this past Monday night, you missed Peyton Royce getting as personal and as real as she’s ever gotten. Her best promo of her WWE career, hands down. Talking Smack continues to be must see watching on Saturdays on the WWE Network.

Coming up this week:

RAW: RAW Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day vs. The Hurt Business United States Championship Match: Riddle vs. Mustafa Ali

NXT: Leon Ruff vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott LA Knight’s in-ring debut Dexter Lumis vs. Austin Theory

SMACKDOWN: SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax Edge vs. Jey Uso – winner gets to be special enforcer for Universal Championship at FastLane

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

[lonelypond]

Casual Lunacy, Chapter 2

Love Live, main pairing NicoMaki, 3K, Chapter 2/?

Nico makes a new friend, but have they met before? Rin bounds into the scene, Nozomi tries predicting the future and Umi gets a couple of visitors.

Princess At The Door

AFTERNOON ACCIDENTAL

Light class morning for Maki Nishikino so she showed up in Psych 303 and napped until someone nudged her that the class was over. Then she headed back to the dorm she had a meal plan at, in time for lunch. She’d grabbed a drinkable yogurt for breakfast so hunger after last night’s wander downtown still lurked. She filled up a tray with salmon and salad and found a corner table. Then Rin Hoshizora slid into the seat next to her, bumping into her side and jostling the latest bite off her fork.

“RIN.” Maki slammed her fork down.

“Maki didn’t come over last night.” Rin whined, her eyebrows flat.

“I was busy.” Maki shoved Rin with her elbow.

“Busy?” Rin had a burger in her hands and continued to talk while chewing her way through it.

“Tried out a new coffee shop,” Maki muttered, dragging her fork through her salad.

Rin put down her burger and tilted her head to stare at Maki, who looked away, refusing to acknowledge Rin at all. Rin jumped up on her seat, waving her arms above her head, shouting across the room, “Kayo-chin, Maki went to meet that barista without us.”

Maki just reached one hand up to tug on the back of Rin’s sweatshirt, dropping Rin back into her seat, “Shut it, Rin.”

“We’re going back tonight. I want to see her too. She smells nice.” Rin pushed against Maki as a flustered and rushing Hanayo Koizumi arrived at the table.

“Hi Maki! What was her name? Did she like you? Was she pretty? Did you talk?” Hanayo’s words rushed out as she slid her tray into Maki’s.

Maki shrugged, “It was only 5 minutes.” Maki would never tell them that she’d crashed and Nico had driven her home. Maki would probably never tell them Nico’s name, if she were honest. But they knew where Nico worked because Rin had been prowling with Maki the first night she’d become aware of Nico. And Rin told her fiancee everything.

Maki could feel the growl starting, probably her ears were starting to slide up, if the worried look on Hanayo’s face was a clue. Rin knew that anger was a trigger for Maki, she liked to nudge Maki into transforming so they could play, but a dorm cafeteria was not the place. Maki stood, automatically heading toward the nearest exit. Empty classroom, then Lakefill.

Rin watched, a gleeful expression on her face, but Hanayo reached out a hand to press Rin’s forearm against the table. She shook her head and Rin’s entire aura drooped. Maki would have teased her friend, but she was too busy trying to hold herself together until she could be alone somewhere.

AHHHHH, Nico was behind schedule and almost sprinting across campus. First day of rehearsal for the new musical and Nico was late late late. She’d even managed to nab one of the bigger parts, with two solos and a love interest. At least she hadn’t worn heels, the cute sparkly sneakers were perfect for racing across campus. But not as perfect as paws, Nico thought as a red streak stopped directly in front of her, causing Nico to tumble forward into a warm, largish animal body.

“What the heck?” Nico grumbled, as the dog?!? shrugged and Nico fell back onto the ground, one arm draped across the its shoulders. Then the dog lowered its head and stayed still, not looking at Nico.

“Nico was dressed really well for rehearsal too,” Nico grumbled, imagining the dirt stain on her skirt, but the dog, although awfully big for a dog, with teeth that looked more dangerous than anything that showed up at the Westminster Dog show, was giving off more of a shy vibe than anything else, which made it hard for Nico to be as angry at it as she might have been. Nico tried to remember how to treat friendly strays and reached a slightly shaking hand toward it -- no collar -- only to be surprised when it skipped back with a yelp.  Nico sighed and stood up, brushing herself off, “Nico is now officially the scariest person on campus.” Nico cocked her head at the dog, whose fur was a dark reddish brown with soft cream color underneath, “At least for redheads.”  The dog chuffed at Nico, bumping her, and Nico laughed, “Guess you have a sense of humor.”  Nico petted the dog’s side as she heard two sets of footsteps arrive at a sprinting pace.

“There she is,” said one, a light haired brunette with glasses and soft purple eyes.

“Is she yours?” Nico wondered, hand still resting on the silky soft fur of a surprisingly quiescent canine, “Good. I’m late for rehearsal, but I didn’t want to leave her. She’s very pretty. Does she have a name?”

“M…” a short ginger haired woman started but the dog barked a sharp warning and Nico pulled her hand back, startled. The short haired woman glanced at the dog, who shook her head, confusing Nico, who thought dogs responded differently than people. “I don’t remember her name.” the woman corrected slowly.

That was ridiculous, but before Nico could snap out a response, Glasses said, “She belongs to a friend of ours. We’re sorry she bothered you. I’m Hanayo Koizumi and this is Rin.” Rin waved, before squatting to whisper something to the dog.

“Nice to meet you. I have to run. You might want to try a leash.” Nico nodded, started to reach down to pet the dog then decided to not get too friendly and sprinted off, not looking behind her to see a laughing Rin grab the dog and hold it back. Then Rin transformed into a smaller, browner form, as Hanayo chided her, “We’re out in public, Rin. You can’t.”

Nico thought she heard a bark like a laugh behind her, but didn’t look back.

Nozomi had saved Nico a seat. Nico liked to be in the front row, where everyone could be dazzled by her, but Nozomi was more of an edge person. And as Nico was at least 10 minutes late, she appreciated being able to sidle into a seat.

“I signed you in.” Nozomi leaned over.

Nico nodded, grateful, trying to get her breathing back to nonsprinting levels in case the director or production stage manager called on her. Nozomi slid her a script and a pencil. “So how cute was the person you met on the way here?”

Nozomi was pulling the divination scam again — or something. Nico wasn’t sure if Nozomi brewed up potions, scattered tea leaves or whatever you did with them … chewed maybe, or just laid out those worn Tarot cards of hers in intricate patterns. Nico’s personal theory was that Nozomi had all her friends bugged and a zoom lens capable of Cassini-level detail on her camera.

“Very cute.” Nico stretched and then when Nozomi giggled, “for a dog.”

“Really?” Nozomi sounded surprised, which Nico realized was unprecedented for her friend.

“Yep. Are you sure you don’t need a tune-up?” Nico teased, tapping Nozomi’s noggin with her pencil.

Nozomi turned, turquoise eyes serious, “Magic doesn’t work like that, Nico-chi.”

Nico flipped open her script, keeping one eye on the scrum at the front where Professor Asuka was speaking intently to her management team. One of them, a cute light brown haired girl with an undercut, stared at Nico and Nico waved. Always good to have friends backstage, especially cute ones.

“She’ll be a redhead, Nico-chi.” Nozomi took Nico's wrist, lowering the hand.

“And she was." Nico smiled, remembering.  "Have you seen a dog running around campus before, Nozomi? Very pretty, red and cream, kinda wolfish.”

Nozomi shook her head as Professor Asuka stepped forward, finally ready and Nico shushed Nozomi’s reply, intent on her next theatrical conquest.

Nico opened the door to her apartment and heard her name shouted, “NICO” so she prepared for the spin that would come when the blue eyed, orange haired vortex that was Honoka grabbed her and lifted her off the ground, “Kotori said you got a great part!”

“Nico got the best part! Two solo songs and a love interest. And Nico helps catch the bad guy.”

Umi appeared suddenly, separating Honoka from Nico, with a stern glance at Honoka, “Honoka and Kotori stopped by after class, but they will be leaving soon so we can study without interruption.” Honoka still had an arm around Umi, and a silly grin as she kissed an unyielding Umi on the cheek, “As I attempt to explain to Honoka on a near daily basis, routine is important for success at anything.”

Kotori looked over the couch, fawn hair spread over her shoulders, and snapped a stealthy pic of Umi and Honoka together, “Hi Nico! Nozomi texted me you needed a little luck in love so I bought over this.”  Kotori held up a long light pink scarf with an irregular pattern of rose petals, “I found it in a vintage shop my last trip, I thought it would match your eyes.”

Nico took the scarf, silk from the feel, “Thanks, Kotori.”

Kotori winked, “I’ve picked out a really cute pattern for your trance nightshirt. Want to see a picture?”

Nico bounced over the couch, as Kotori swept through her pics, “Are you and Honoka staying for dinner? I can make a quick stirfry.”

Kotori glanced back at Umi speculatively. She had herded Honoka into a corner and from what Nico could hear was lecturing about advance preparations for midterms. Kotori giggled, “If we can change the subject.”

“Trust Nico, we can change the topic,” and then Nico groaned as her phone beeped. She pulled it out. Text message from Dario, her Cup o’ coworker, who needed a HUGE favor.

Nico wanted to stay home, cook something and have more fun harassing Umi but Dario was begging her to take his shift tonight and promising to cover for her whenever she had rehearsal for the next two months.

Nico showed Kotori the text, “Nico has to go.” Kotori nodded, a little sad. Nico knew that it was too good an offer to ignore right at the start of a complicated show. Plus, Nico was too kind by nature.

Umi stopped berating Honoka when Nico opened the fridge, “Was that work?”

“Dario needs me to switch.” Nico grabbed a slice of pizza.

Kotori came up behind her, wrapping the scarf around her neck. It was so light, “Don’t forget this, in case that redhead stops by again.”

Nico glared at her roommate, “UMI!”

“Ooohh,” Honoka grabbed Umi around the waist, “Is Umi in trouble?”

Nico was amused as she watched an Umi torn between breaking Honoka’s grip and leaning back into a hug, but she glanced down at her scarf before Umi noticed the scrutiny.

“Nico knows I only have her best interests in mind when I share information,” Umi blustered.

Nico chuckled, “Nico knows you can’t say no to Kotori.”

Umi blushed and broke free, “Leftover pizza is not a meal.”

Nico ignored the chiding and hurried out the door, “Enjoy your evening!”

Maki had gone back to their dorm room with Rin and Hanayo, to change, after she’d led them to where she’d stashed her clothes. So she was lying on their spare bed and snacking on apple chips while Rin crashed cars over and over in the newest MarioKart. Rin had made Maki buy her the latest Nintendo game system for Christmas. Maki hadn’t minded, it would keep her on Santa’s good side.

“Going to go home tonight, Maki?” Hanayo asked, noticing Maki’s increasing fidgets. Maki sometimes crashed there when she had an early class or had been out too late roaming. Her friends had a drawer set aside with spare t-shirts and sweats she’d left there.

“Yeah.” Maki decided, rolling the bag closed and standing. “My mom’ll be there. I haven’t seen her in a week or so.”

“Tell her we said ‘hi.’” Rin said while shaking the Switch uselessly. Princess Peach still vroomed to her doom.

Maki nodded, “See you tomorrow.”

As soon as Maki left, Rin tossed the game aside and pulled Hanayo out of her seat, “Let’s go Kayo-chin. I wanna meet that barista Maki’s trying to hide from us.”

Hanayo pursed her lips, “Maki won’t like that.”

“Maki won’t know.” Rin grinned.

Maki stopped outside of the dorm entrance, sniffing the air. She wondered if Nico would be back at the coffee shop tonight. She could sense the moon, just over the horizon, giving everything an overlay, a pulse of magnetism. Some directions, some people pulled her, some pushed her away and Maki had decided years ago just to move with the pulse and not question the why of anything. Not questioning the why was how Maki pushed through most challenges, relying on animal instinct more often than other decision making processes.

Maki knew a secluded place to change near Rin and Hanayo’s dorm, her clothes were usually there in the morning and the moon was daring her to take a chance. If Nico wasn’t there, she could come back, call the driver, go home. If Nico was there...well, last night had been fun, Nico had surprised her. And she felt a call to further serendipities surging in her blood. But first stop, student center, locker for her phone and ID.

Slow night again, mostly regulars, so Nico was reviewing her lines. Biggest part she’d ever had. Fangs, a world premiere contemporary adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula by a composer-lyricist Pulitzer winning alum team. Prestige. People would know about it. The NY Times would write an article. The Tribune’s theatre critic would write a review and find Nico darling. Opportunities. Her ringtone would never stop, producers begging her to take their job. All those thoughts had Nico so excited, she found herself hopping and humming the songs she had to learn. Halfway through her shift, the place had emptied out and Sergeant Alvaraz was likely to swing by. Nico couldn’t wait to tell her about the show.

And then she heard the low growl. Growl? Nico’s head snapped up and she checked the door, still closed. She’d heard rumors about packs of dogs but she’d never seen them. She’d also heard rumors about werepanthers but she’d never seen one of those either. Now the Lake Monster, that she might have seen, but she’d been very tired that night and the fraternity’s punch had been rancid swill.

Nico moved to the door. Something was moving outside, blocking the door. Sergeant Alvaraz also stood there, brown hair tucked under her hat, hand slowly reaching for her com. Nico took a good look, the reddish and cream fur looked familiar…she opened the door, “Wait.”

The dog growled at Sergeant Alvaraz but thumped her tail against Nico’s leg.

“Do you know this dog, Nico?” the sergeant asked, speaking softly and quietly, never taking her eyes off the dog.

“We met this afternoon. I guess she got away from her owners again.” Nico rubbed between the dog’s ears, once again surprised by how silky the fur was. Then she remembered the scarf Kotori had made her wear and quickly took it from her neck, tied a knot and pulled it over the dog before she could react. Nico was good with knots, having helped her sisters with their Girl Scout badges and a quick bowline was simple enough. The dog twisted around quickly, eyes wide, surprised to find Nico had control of her head, but there was no snarl, just a confused noise. Nico remembered Rin squatting next to the dog and did the same, but the dog refused to look her in the eye, “Hey, pretty girl, remember me? Sergeant Alvaraz is going to call animal control so we can get you back to your owner.” The dog leaned against Nico.

“DON’T CALL ANYONE!” Nico heard a shout and the orange haired girl from this afternoon sprinted around the corner. The dog growled slightly but stayed pressed against Nico; Sgt. Alvaraz continued watching the dog and Nico, her voice still calm, “Is this your dog.”

“uhhh….” Rin stuttered, Nico rolled her eyes.

“Does she have a name yet?” Nico stood, scarf held tightly.

RIn’s mouth gaped open, “N….no…”

Nico looked down at the dog, which actually made eye contact for a second, eerily luminescent eyes, lavender mixed with neon green,which Nico was sure looked more CGI than animal, maybe it was an experimental robodog? But the fur was so soft and warm to the touch and there was a plea as she looked at Nico and a worry and other emotions Nico could only feel, not read in the blink of a glance. But much less strange than Nico would expect from an animal. “Well, Nico keeps rescuing you, so I think I’ll call you Princess.”

Rin giggled as Princess yelped. Then Hanayo came around the corner at a much lower speed than Rin. Nico nodded at her, “You should tell your friend to keep a better eye on Princess.”

“I agree. It’s dangerous for a dog to run loose, without a collar.” Sgt Alvaraz shook her head. Rin nodded earnestly.  Hanayo looked like a 5 year old who’d been scolded.

“I have to get back to work.” Nico announced. “Can you get her back to her owner?”

Rin snorted, “Back?”

Princess growled and surged Rin-ward. Nico kept a firm grip, her voice sharp, “Princess.” The dog sat.

Rin turned away, doubled over, shaking with what Nico assumed was laughter.  

“Rin.” Hanayo shushed Rin and then smiled at the sergeant, Princess and Nico, “I’ll make sure she gets home. Rin just gets silly when she’s tired. Don’t worry about Princess…” Hanayo held Nico’s glance.

“It’s Nico.”

“Good night, Nico. Nice to see you again.” Hanayo smiled.

Nico rubbed Princess’s ears, whispering “Stay safe, you” before handing the scarf to Hanayo. Princess looked away again and Nico sighed. “Want some coffee, Sergeant?”

Alvaraz couldn’t help frowning suspiciously as Princess pulled Hanayo down the street, Rin skipping after. “Yeah, Nico. It’s been a weird night.”

“Tell me about it. Last time I take a shift for Dario.” Nico shivered as she opened the door. When she wasn’t standing next to Princess, the wind seemed much colder.

Alvaraz laughed as she followed Nico inside, “Isn’t that what you said last time?”

A/N Want to post this before I start rehearsals for this week. Have been working out the magic and werewolf rules for this universe...this is not a magic the clothes back environment, eye color will be a measure of how much control a person is in, and heightened emotions can also trigger changes, although transformations are mostly voluntary, although the closer to the full moon, the more difficult control can be. Hope you enjoy this chapter 

[billiekaysource]

MIAMIHERALD  —  Billie Kay interview; WWE NXT in Orlando, Miami, Fort Pierce

A subtle rivalry existed between Billie Kay and Peyton Royce as to who carried the banner ‘biggest WWE fan’ while growing up in Sydney, Australia.

“We went to the same high school,” Kay said. “I was three years ahead of her. Westfields Sports High, I was there for basketball, and she was there for dancing.

“We actually didn’t get along at first. We would see each other in line for all the shows WWE would do in Australia, all the signings they would do.

“One time Mickie James was signing near our hometown, and I remember Peyton being like four or five people in front of me in line, and I had been there about five hours at this point. So we used to have a little silent competition as to who was the biggest WWE fan.”

They eventually set aside their youthful egos, sharing a passion which led both to WWE NXT.

“[Peyton] joined PWA, and from the moment we actually spoke to each other there, we’ve been best friends ever since.”

PWA (Pro Wrestling Alliance) is the wrestling promotion in Sydney, Australia, where each got their start. Peyton in 2009 and Billie in 2007. They signed with WWE in 2015, assigned to the state-of-the-art WWE Performance Center in Orlando, where they learned the WWE way.

“Every single trainer at the Performance Center has their own style, their own uniqueness to this business,” Kay said. “I just love learning from each and every single one of them..I just want to continue to learn because there is decades and decades of knowledge in that building. So I want to make sure I’m taking full advantage of it.”

By doing that, Kay and Royce are two promising NXT superstars blazing a trail for others – fans and wrestlers alike, especially those in Australia – to be inspired by them.

It’s a process, leaving family and friends behind to pursue your dream in another country far, far across the long-stretched waterways.

“It was pretty hard,” she said. “I was very close to my family. They are my biggest supporters. They were so excited and grateful I got this opportunity with WWE.

“I still get homesick every now and then. It was a big thing. I had never left for another country before. I packed up everything that I owned in two suitcases and jumped on the plane..and 20, 24 hours later..I was in Orlando.

“I don’t regret anything, and I would absolutely do it all over again.”

Training in Sydney around 2007, Billie worked throughout Australia. It didn’t take her long to attract attention, and the athletic beauty began venturing to North America, wrestling for Combat Zone, NCW, Ring of Honor, Shimmer, and Shine.

Billie, 27, is friends with another Australian pro wrestling/sports entertainment talent.

“I am friends with Emma [now WWE Superstar Emmalina],” she said. “I was contacted through her as well as another mentor of mine, Jag, from Adelaide in Australia that WWE was having a tryout in Melbourne.

“I sent my stuff through, and I was fortunate enough to receive the OK to attend the tryout. It was three days, and it was before WWE had a live event in Melbourne. It was incredible, and then eight weeks later, I was fortunate enough to get an email, saying they were interested in signing me.

“That was one of the best days of my life,” she said with a smile. “I still remember screaming and crying and just jumping for joy with my family.“

How things change.

“The first person I told was Peyton Royce,” she chuckled. “As soon as I got the email I rang her, and I said WWE wants to hire me, and she said, ‘Me, too,’ and we just cried on the phone a good 15 minutes…and then said, ‘OK, it’s time to tell our families,’ and the rest is history.”

Part of that history is watching the maturation process of Kay and Royce in NXT. The hard work is paying off. They starred in a fatal fourway for the NXT women’s title against each other, champ Asuka and Nikki Cross at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio during Royal Rumble Weekend.

“It was overwhelming to say the least,” Kay said. “I had actually written out my 2017 goals a couple of weeks before that, and the first one was to wrestle for the NXT women’s championship on a TakeOver...and I was able to check that one off on the [bucket] list the first month of the year.

“And the fact that I was able to do it with Peyton Royce just made it a little more special.

“Going out there in front of almost 20,000 people is a feeling I want to continue to have over my career.”

Once part of the crowd, Kay is a longtime pro wrestling fan.

“I started watching wrestling when I was 10-years-old with my big brother [Jacob],” she said. “He sat me down in front of the TV to watch it, and ever since then I’ve been absolutely hooked.”

Now big brother is watching her on TV.

“It’s very surreal to him,” Kay noted. “We watched it all the time, growing up together, and we idolized the same wrestlers -- The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin. So for him to see me achieve my dream and to be here in NXT, it’s really special.”

Kay also excelled in basketball, beginning at age 5.

“I loved it,” she said. “I played in the ABA [Australian Basketball Association], which is kind of like college basketball [in America]. We won the state championship one year. It’s something I continue to miss.”

Though, following high school, at age 18, her mind was already made up.

“There were always opportunities to play basketball that would come about,” she said, “but I always knew deep down I wanted to be in WWE and NXT. So I never really put all my energy into basketball because I knew that being here in Orlando was my dream job, and I wanted to put 110-percent effort into that.”

Unfortunately, finding pro wrestling in Australia isn’t like the United States.

“It is a little bit harder [to do that in Australia],” she said. “There isn’t much wrestling in Australia as compared to America. So in that sense it was a little bit tougher to get into the business. Fortunately, one of my brother’s friends owned a wrestling school [PWA]. As soon as I finished high school, I joined up, and that was almost 10 years ago now...I just wrestled as much as I could around Australia and was fortunate enough to come to America a couple of times to wrestle.”

Now Kay is wrestling regularly in America, and she is striving to complete her list.

TwitterBillieKay

- NXT in Miami

WWE’s NXT makes its third visit to Miami on Friday, Feb. 24 at the Fieldhouse at the Watsco Center (formerly Bank United Center) at the the University of Miami in Coral Gables.

“Fans can expect to see a really family friendly, awesome, entertaining show,” Kay said. “You can bring your whole family, your friends, and make a great night of it. We got great NXT Superstars -- Tye Dillinger, Shinsuke Nakamara, Bobby Roode, myself, Peyton Royce -- we really want to perform for the NXT Universe, and it’s going to be a great night.”

Also see some of the newer faces on the NXT roster as well as the progressing talent who are continuing to build a hot NXT brand and working toward joining the ranks of the main roster in WWE.

Asuka, #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa), Authors of Pain (Rezar and Akam) and more.

Bell time is 7:30 p.m.

“I’ve been to Miami once before with NXT,” she said. “It’s a beautiful city. I couldn’t stop looking around. It’s just stunning, and the crowd there was incredible as well. So I’m eager to get back there to Miami and put on another great show.”

Tickets are on sale online and at the Watsco Center box office.

Visit NXTTickets.com.

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0D005224DB339A6B

NXTUCFOrlandoMiamiShowInfo

- NXT in Orlando

WWE’s NXT returns for TV tapings at University of Central Florida in Orlando at The Venue at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22.

The Venue is behind the CFE Arena.

Featured superstars include NXT champ Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura and NXT women’s champ Asuka.

For tickets click NXTUCFTickets or visit the CFE Arena box office.

- NXT in Fort Pierce

WWE’s NXT is Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Havert L. Fenn Center in (South Florida) Fort Pierce.

There will be a pre-show meet-n-greet around ringside included in the price of admission. WWE NXT superstars Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford participated in the January meet-n-greet at the Havert L. Fenn Center.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Bell time is 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: General Admission $10; Gold Circle (Ringside) $20.

NXTFortPierceTickets

@wwenxt

- NXT on WWE Network

WWE NXT is 8 p.m. Wednesdays on WWE Network.

- NXT abroad

To see NXT in a city near you, check www.wwe.com/events

- NXT/WrestleMania 33 Orlando

WWE WrestleMania 33 is Sunday, April 2, 2017 at Camping World Stadium, formerly Citrus Bowl Stadium, in Orlando.

“I think it’s going to be probably the biggest WrestleMania ever,” Kay said. “It’s in Orlando where NXT is based. There are going to be so many exciting events and activities happening around that whole week...So I will be grateful if I can be included in anything.”

During WrestleMania Week, NXT TakeOver: Orlando is Saturday, April 1 at the Amway Center, home of the NBA Orlando Magic.

She added: “Obviously I would love to wrestle at TakeOver in Orlando because I think it’s going to be really special and an amazing event to be part of.”