#and it’s also only on his left hand despite one cg showing that he has the one on the right arm??

[fanpageofthedead]

i adore the way diggers’ nails painted only on his left hand

he is obviously doing it himself and probably he just can’t paint nails on the right hand properly 🤧🤧

[littl3babybug]

Do you have any regressor Nightcrawler headcanons?

YEAESYESTWSYESTES

sorry. I’m a really normal person about Kurt, I promise.

Regressor!Nightcrawler Headcanons

🫐Kurt regresses from 1-8. So much baby fits into that little guy

🫐If he’s regressed smaller he is a picky eater and I mean as picky as picky can be

🫐When hes 6-8 though? That little guy will eat handfuls of dirt if left unattended

🫐He has done that. On multiple occasions.

🫐He’s a padded baby and cautionary kid, having someone watch him every 5 seconds so he doesn’t eat dirt or have an accident

🫐Very much likes building blocks, like the wooden ones

🫐Builds towers and just stares at them

🫐He will sit for hours watching the blocks do nothing like 0_o

🫐It’s quite cute actually, and slightly disturbing

🫐He is a cuddle bug, bamfing into your arms every chance he gets

🫐He gets along with other regressors but prefers to be with just his cg/sitter when baby

🫐Especially because they knock down his block towers (Logan)

🫐But it’s mainly cause he can only say limited words and mainly babbles or whines

🫐Baby Kurt is bottle fed and he loves it, he gets to cling to his cg while they feed him and run their fingers through his hair

🫐He loves being swaddled and carried

🫐Just being carried in general

🫐He will lay on the floor and whine to be picked up despite being table to teleport

🫐Toddler/kid Kurt is like the textbook definition of feral toddler

🫐He is outside. Do not bring him inside.

🫐He is in the dirt 90% of the time, he does outside all squeaky clean and comes back in with his fur mud clad and like 10 new bruises, cuts and bug bites

🫐He doesn’t even notice them till someone points them out

🫐Love hate relationship with plasters, on one hand he loves the fun designs but on the other hand ouchy they hurt when they rip his fur off while being taken off

🫐He’s a friend to the insects, showing his cg/sitter or friends all the caterpillars and beetles that crawl on him

🫐He is definitely more social as a kid/toddler, mainly cause he can form coherent sentences

🫐Prefers if his playmates are also in more of a toddler headspace but there’s been plenty of times the team have seen Kurt playing with baby Logan while using his tail to hold up a bottle or sippy cup for him

🫐He holds everything with his tail cause it leaves his hands free

🫐He’ll hold his sippy cup with it so he can use both hands to make mud pies or macaroni artwork

🫐His favourite snack, no matter how small or big he is, is bananas and yoghurt. Chopped bananas and yoghurt.

🫐He’s not prone to tantrums but that’s not to say he hasn’t thrown them

🫐He will yell and bite and oh good god do those bites hurt

🫐He has sharp little fangs that will make whoever he’s bitten bleed

🫐He’ll bamf away till someone finds him and puts him in time out

🫐He cries the whole time he’s in time out, sitting on a chair in the naughty corner

🫐He will very sincerely apologise to anyone he bit or yelled at while crying

🫐Might even make them a drawing or a colouring page as an apology gift

🫐He will also tail behind them with his tail between his legs and ears dropped

🫐Despite being able to communicate better while regressed older he will revert to German sometimes and gets very frustrated when the others don’t automatically know what he’s saying

🫐He really likes toy cars and rolling them at people so they roll them back to him

[kaydens-agere]

Could I request something with cg!logan and fem!reader plss? Id love to see more of this on here 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻

Left Behind || Caregiver Logan Howlett x Fem Little Reader!!

Hii thank you for the request :D Sorry this took a bit lol I've had work to do for my baking course but here it is, I hope you like it!!

Logan groans as he stretches out on the bed. He's had yet another long mission today and he's completely exhausted. It's nearing 2am and he's ready to crash for the night.

However, before he can completely relax, he hears a quiet knock on his door. He can tell it's you because he picks up on your scent, and he can also tell that you're little. Your scent changes depending on your headspace. It's a very specific scent that's hard for Logan to put into words.

He quickly gets up from his bed and opens the door. You're standing in his doorway, looking up at him with big eyes, paci in your mouth and a big fluffy blanket dragging across the ground. He's surprised that you're even up this late, you're usually well and truly asleep by now.

Logan's surprised expression softens as he sees you whine and do grabby hands at him, wanting to be picked up.

"Hey, sweetheart." he says softly as he picks you up.

"Hi, daddy." you reply softly, struggling to talk a bit around your paci. You gently nestle into his shoulder.

"What're you doing here, hm? I thought you'd be asleep by now." he gives you a small bounce and carries you into his room. You let out a hum, thinking about what you're going to say, before replying.

"Was waiting for you." you say quietly. "Missed you."

His heart ached a little when he heard your response. He hates leaving you behind when he has missions, especially when you're little. You try not to show it, but he knows how much you miss him. He can smell the fear on you whenever he says goodbye.

"Oh, honey. I missed you too." he says softly, putting his forehead against yours. "You have no idea how much I've missed my little girl."

He starts peppering you with kisses, you let out giggles and squeals as he does so.

"Awww, you like daddy's kisses, don't you?" He says before gently booping your nose.

You grin up at him and nod, but he can tell that somethings off. You're clinging onto him and being less vocal than you normally are, whether it's actual words or just babbles and sounds. It concerns him.

"You're holding on pretty tight there, honeybee." he teases gently.

He playful smirk turns into a frown as he hears a small whine escape your lips before you cling on even tighter.

"I'm sorry sweetie, I was only joking. You know I don't mind you clinging."

"That's not whats wrong." you murmur, your voice muffled from your head being tucked into the crook of his neck.

"What's wrong then, angel?" he asks gently, reaching one of his hands up to pet your hair.

Despite your voice being quiet and muffled, he can understand the next six words you say loud and clear;

"I don't want you to leave me again."

Those words send guilt right through him, he holds onto you a little tighter and sits on the bed with you in his lap. He hears a sniffle, which sends another pang of guilt through his chest. He starts to gently rock you in his arms to try and calm you down before speaking.

"I'm not going anywhere tonight, baby girl. Daddy's gonna stay right here, okay?" he presses a kiss to your forehead. "I hate leaving you for so long, I think about you a lot while I'm gone, y'know." he says gently.

You both sit in comfortable silence for a little while with Logan gently rubbing his hand up and down your back, whispering sweet nothings in your ear. You eventually calm down and speak up again.

"What if you get called out again tonight?" you look up and him as your lip starts to quiver.

"Oh baby, if I get called out tonight, I'm sure as hell not going anywhere. Not only do I have you to take care of, which I've been looking forward to all damn day, but I'm also tired and sore. Daddy needs his rest." he reassures you.

"You don' have to look after me if you wan' rest." you say quietly.

"This is my rest, baby girl. I love looking after you while you're small, helps me heal just as much as it helps you." he brings his hand up to your cheek.

You shift in his lap to lay back against his chest, sighing softly.

"Thank you, daddy." you say quietly. "I love you."

'He runs his hand through your hair again and gently pulls your blanket over you.

"I love you too, baby. I love you so much." he gently kisses your forehead.

You let out a yawn and settle down more into his lap. He chuckles as he watches you get comfortable.

"You getting tired there, bub?" he asks you quietly. You nod and let out another big yawn.

"Get some sleep, sweetie." he says gently.

Your eyes slowly close as you drift off into a peaceful sleep, laying safely in Logan's lap.

[suau-raised-by-corrupted-gems]

For a reason only known to myself I wanted to info-dump my design choice for our feral steeb.

This is a simplified pic and I'm not fully good with explaining, but bare with me;

I mean, it's all pretty obvious; and although I plan on amplifying these key traits in the near future.

On the physical side of things, I basically just took the OG future steeb and mashed in traits from Rose Quartz and his corrupted form.

I know Greg also had long hair, but it didn't have the curls like Rose does. And if I could draw hair ringlets correctly, they'd be more visible in his wild mane. And along with that comes his size; even when he was a kid, we was pretty big; just an inch or two bigger than OG classic Steven. That's because Fluffy would regrettably raid any nearby camps or civilizations for the best nutrients she could find, and once he was old enough to eat solid foods, she would hunt game animals which were high in protein.

That, and since his gem was still modifying his body to make him more adaptable to his wild environment and make him more Quartz like; he increased in size much quicker and his durability. By the time he was 16, he already towered over his father, reaching half of Rose's height. And yeah, I said eyes; I'm not good at mimicking her eye-shape yet (it'll be more obvious on older Lil Quartz, but it shows in other ways, as you've seen.

And in terms of the "corrupt form" since he grew up with those traits, it's all been significantly watered down, with most of his spikes being retractable and small, only coming out if he feels defensive or is brawling. And in terms of tusks, I know they're supposed to be at the sides of his face, but it ended up looking a bit awkward on a small human face. So those are only out when he's in full kaiju form.

As for his paws, they are still big and clumsy, but he can still operate phones and tablets easily enough without breaking them. And I know in the OG design, he had no "paw pads" on his hands of feet, but those came developed over time from being in an environment that requires walking on rougher grounds and running and scaling walls and trees.

And on the behavioral/mental side, he retains personality traits from when he was a kid, even when he's older. Despite his run in with the CGs, he's learned to be optimistic, and is excited at learning new things. (Though he's wary when it comes to Rose Quartz) And he's still very humorous, making light of certain situations, but in this realm, his humor is a bit dark at times. but he's also a bit more ambitious in this rendition, especially when it comes to proving himself and tying up any lose ends his "carrier" may have left intentionally.

He's also still quite helpful to others, though he's learned to be cautious from his Aunt Centi and to approach things carefully. But he won't dive in blindly to help either; hopefully in future posts, I'll be able to show his strategic side.

And of course, he's still got the Feral mentality of a corrupt gem, with animalistic qualities that don't really go away; from running and walking on all fours to hunting and digging for food like his mama and Aunt Tri-T taught him, something Pearl tries desperately to curve.

He's also not the one to be easy to control or follow orders; especially not by Gem Poofers Rude Crystal Gems. He's also fidgety in small spaces; growing up in such an open space, he has a hard time listening if he's somewhere he feels uncomfortable/stifled.

And if provoked, he can get a bit aggressive, but this was more prominent when he was younger. Insults and jabs towards him upset him easier when he was younger since he was still coming into himself, but when he's older, it's jabs towards his friends and family that upset him. He also hates anyone disturbing the peace in general.

And like most feral gems, he isn't too pacifistic; he will go down swinging if he needs to. Peace is always an option for him, but it all depends on whether or not the person deserves it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that's the end of my rambles for know, hope that made some semblance of sense.

Thanks for reading my nonsense!

[gamerdog1]

Inuyashiki Review

As time goes on, and technology progressively gets more and more complicated, we as humans can’t help but feel a little bit of fear. Any tool or technology, put into the wrong hands, can become a weapon of mass destruction, regardless of original purpose. What happens, then, when a person with a pure heart, and a bitter person, both gain something extraordinary? Will they make changes for the better, or lay waste to this land? All of this is to say, I was assigned the anime adaptation of Hiroya Oku’s hit manga Inuyashiki for my club’s monthly anime exchange. The series, which was surprisingly short, packed a hefty emotional punch, but sometimes left visuals at the wayside.

 Inuyashiki follows the titular character Ichirou Inuyashiki, an elderly-looking 58 year old who is diagnosed with late-stage cancer and given only a few months to live. While standing in a field, he and a highschool boy are struck by a mysterious object, killing them instantly. Their minds are transferred to robotic bodies, which look nearly identical to their original ones, but offer them extraordinary powers. The two grapple with their inhumanity, using their powers to try and regain a lost sense of self, and eventually come into conflict over the lives of Japan itself. 

Much of this series focuses on the deterioration of the human body. From the beginning, the concept of the human body being fragile and weak is ever present, as Inuyashiki is given his cancer diagnosis with little hope of recovery. Only when his body is quite literally destroyed then replaced does his health improve, but then, it is not quite his own. His back pain is gone, but so is his spinal chord, now replaced by rocket boosters. He can take down a few dozen thugs in a fist fight, but doesn’t bleed. His new body is a  spectacle, but also a horror, something which the series doesn’t shy away from discussing. Unlike other popular ‘suddenly-superhero’ anime characters, Inuyashiki is horrified of what his body has become, and takes a while to accept his new form and all it’s abilities. This, is what I believe, makes his story compelling.

Inuyashiki is not your average hero. His combat skills are lacking, and even when he chooses to fight, the computers in his body usually have to finish the job for him. His ranged attacks, while impressive, are rarely under his conscious control, though when they are, he can pull off some insane damage. For the most part, though, Inuyashiki chooses to forgo violence and instead try to help as many people as possible. Despite having at least a dozen cannons attached to his body, he is hesitant to use them, and takes quite a bit of effort to do so. His reluctance to use violence, even in the face of danger, is what makes him such an interesting character, and sets him apart from other anime cyborgs.

Rarely have I seen such a kind-hearted, gentle killer robot in all of my years of watching anime. Over the course of this series’ 11 episodes, I watched this man give everything he had to anyone in need, never asking for a cent in return. He has the sort of generosity and caring that you only ever really find in the elderly, to be honest. It’s not often that I find myself admiring a character of his age, but after seeing all that he had done for the people of Japan, I think I can make an exception just this once.

However, this series wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, at least, for me. I know that it’s a common complaint among anime fans, and at this point, most might be expecting this, but the I didn’t like the CG animation in this series. Please bear with me, as I understand this makes me sound like a whiny weeaboo, but it is important. CG animation is not the killer of anime, as recent shows like Trigun: Stampede have shown. In the right hands, CG has the potential to create charming and lively animation, but in the case of Inuyashiki, it’s clear that it was just used to save money. The series flip-flops between 2-D and 3-D on a whim, giving viewers like me visual whiplash. It makes sense why the studio would use 3-D, given the complexity of the robot bodies, but did they have to swap between styles so often? Perhaps this series would've been better if it had just been 3-D the entire time.

I say that, but the 3-D in this series leaves much to be desired. While not abhorrent to look at, there were times where a character’s expression was clearly supposed to look dramatic, and ended up looking comical. Its never a good sign when a character is fighting for their life, and your first response is to laugh. This series is not that old, too, which makes this even more egregious. If 3-D is the future of anime, someone get me a time machine, I want to go home. 

I wish I could say more positive things about this series, but it’s quite the mixed bag. For every groan-worthy or unintentionally hilarious moment, there were ones that were genuinely heartwarming or memorable. The villain, while a bit confusing motivations-wise, was a genuine threat whose powers were equally silly and terrifying. The dog, Hanako, was adorable, but her barks sounded like they came from an early 2000′s free sound effects pack. There were moments in this series that I really enjoyed, like Inuyashiki saving a woman from being kidnapped by the Yakuza, his unlikely friendship with a boy obsessed with Gantz, and the final fight between him and the main antagonist. This isn’t a terrible series: it’s got a strong emotional center that it uses in healthy amounts to keep audiences worrying for it’s protagonist or important side characters, a catchy opening that I’ve been humming all day, and pretty good fight scenes. If you are willing to look past the CG, give it a shot. It may not be for the faint of heart, but trust me, I’ve seen worse. 

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers DARK FATE ー Laito [VAMPIRE ENDING]

ー The scene starts in the hallway at Eden

Yui: ( ...I’ve reached my limit...!! I... )

Laito: Yui-chan...! Hang...in there!

Yui: Laito-kun...Uu...

Laito: I’ll save you right now...!

ーー Kuh, uu...!!

Yui: ( Laito-kun...At this rate...! )

Laito-kun...Just forget about me...and runーー

Laito: I refuse...!

*Rumble rumble*

Yui: Laito-kun!!

Laito: !!

Yui: I’ll be okay so...

Laito: Don’t say that...I will...save you...!

*Rumble rumble*

Yui: ( Laito-kun...!! )

Laito: Come on! Don’t close your eyes, grab my hand...!!

On certain CGs, little black roses will appear on the screen. If you click on them, you get an extra line of dialogue.

“My life has been worth it, simply because I was able to meet you. ...Thank you.”

“Fuck...! These stupid flames...! ...But don’t worry, Bitch-chan. I’ll keep you safe.”

Yui: ...!!

Laito: ...! Thank god...I made it just in time...

*Rustle*

Laito: Ugh...

Yui: Laito-kun, did you hurt yourself...!?

Laito: Fufu...It’s just a scratch...

It’s such a trivial matter, when I consider I could have lost you.

Yui: Laito-kun...

Laito: Even if I have been nothing but a marionette my whole life, my love for you is genuine.

Just like you said.

Even if everything else went exactly according to his plans, there’s at least one thing.

One thing which that guy has no say in. That’s...our feelings.

Yui: Yeah...You’re right.

Laito: I’ve been aimlessly walking around in a thorny forest, and tried to forget about the pain by numbing my own emotions.

However, a cute princess who wandered into that forest...she reminded me.

These feelings she taught me...They are forever.

Yui: Yeah...

Laito: My feelings are the only thing I can say are entirely my own. And what this heart of mine seeks outーー

That is the sole truth in my eyes...

Yui: Yeah...Exactly...You’re right. Laito-kun...

Laito: Cough cough...The fire...! Fuck, they flames have reached this far...

Yui: Ugh...

( Is there no way out...? )

( However, now that our hearts have become one, I feel like we found happiness regardless... )

*Flash*

Yui: ...Eh?

Laito: The door...The door to the Chamber of Time...opened...?

Yui: What is happening?

( It refused to even budge when Laito-kun was screaming at the top of his lungs. )

Karlheinz: ーー You who are fit to be Adam. You have been granted entry.

Now, step forward aiming for Eden.

Laito: ...!?

Yui: Karlheinz-san?

ー They enter the Chamber of Time

Yui: ( This is the Chamber of Time...It’s a very mysterious place... )

( I’m scared, yet strangely calm at the same time... )

Laito: ...

Karlheinz: No need to glare at me like that, Laito.

Laito: I’m not glaring. I just figured there’s something I should tell you beforehand. 

I’m no longer your puppet.

Karlheinz: Hmph.

Laito: I’m not quite sure what you’re setting me up for. However...

I have zero interest in carrying on your intentions.

No matter what those may be.

Karlheinz: I see. That is a shame.

Laito: The fact you don’t seem to feel any regret at all really gets on my nerves. ...Honestly, I can’t believe you...

You knew I would turn out like this, didn’t you?

Karlheinz: ...I wonder?

Laito: You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you. I bet you know what comes next too, don’t you?

Karlheinz: ...

Laito: Your silence proves that I’m right. Why did you let us in here?

Karlheinz: To give my blessings to the anticipated future. 

Laito: Your blessings? 

Karlheinz: You, who has become Adam, allow me to entrust you with this power...

Laito: ...!?

Karlheinz: You have become the first Demon who obtained the truth and learnt to experience human sentiment.

Therefore, I shall grant you my strength. Come on, accept it.

You will need these powers.

Laito: ...No thank you.

Yui: ...?

Laito: If you want to see me die from sheer self-hatred after accepting those powers, then go ahead and force them upon me.

Karlheinz: ...

Laito: I don’t care what you think. I’m free nowーー

Karlheinz: I see.

Laito: Goodbye.

Karlheinz: ...

ー The scene shifts back to the hallway

Yui: Laito-kun, are you sure you did the right thing?

Laito: Nfu~ I did. I don’t want those powers at all.

Come on, let’s go. Let’s leave Eden together.

Yui: ...Yeah...

Laito: I’m sure many trials will wait ahead of Adam and Eve after they’ve left Eden.

But you’ll come with me, right?

Yui: Yeah, of course!

ー The scene shifts back to the Chamber of Time

Karlheinz: ーー Good grief.

Socrates: Despite sighing, you seem happy somehow.

How does it feel to play the part of the ultimate villain?

Karlheinz: What happens to me is of no concern. As long as I consider that this will aid in the birth of a new humankind. 

Regardless of the circumstances, I have lost this fight.

Socrates: I think you are the only person I know who could rejoice in a loss, my friend.

Karlheinz: ーー Let us put the match on hold for a while.

Socrates: Very well.

Monologue

Surrounded by a sea of flames,

the two of us fled Eden hand-in-hand.

Amidst the scorching fire blocking our path,

Laito-kun somehow seemed happy.

At last...

We might just have obtained,

the freedom we’ve always wished for.

*TIMESKIP*

Monologue

In the end, it turned out that the one who set fire to Eden back then,

had been Shin-kun.

Afterwards, this escalated into an all-out war,

between the two Founders and the other demonic races.

The Sakamaki and Mukami brothers quickly became involved in this conflict,

with every day being just as busy as the last.

However, Laito-kun is the only one...

who insists that the war is none of his business.

He seemed to be enjoying his new freedom of mind to the fullest.

Perhaps they had realized this, 

but despite the many complaints from his brothers, none of them opposed his behavior.

I believe this might have been his brothers’ way,

to show that they actually do care about Laito-kun.

ー The scene shifts to the forest

Laito: ーー Phew. Now we just have to put a stone on top. ...There.

*Thud*

Yui: Done?

Laito: Nfu~ It’s complete. Come on, this way. I want you to be the first person I show this to.

*Rustle*

Laito: What do you think?

Yui: ーー I think it’s great. I’m sure Cordelia is very happy as well.

Laito: Fufu, I’m not so sure about that?

Yui: I’m positive.

Laito: When you say that, I’m tempted to believe it.

Yui: ( Cordelia’s grave. I was very shocked when Laito-kun suddenly said he would make her one. )

( This shows that Laito-kun was finally able to make peace with his past and move on, right? )

Laito: ...

Yui: I wonder if she’ll be able to rest in peace now?

Laito: Well, I doubt it.

Yui: Really...?

Laito: I mean, she was quite the fierce personality after all. The word ‘peaceful’ just doesn’t apply to her.

ーー However, now I’ve come to realize that this might have been what made her pain twice as bad.

Of course, I suffered too, and was hurt in many ways. However, by doing so...Sheーー

When I consider that she did those things, hoping that perhaps it would make Karlheinz finally look her way...

She suddenly seems so miserable..pitiful, and so very pathetic...

Yet incredibly sorrowfulーー

Yui: Laito-kun...

Laito: Her ways were wrong. However, that was a fate none of us could have escaped.

As a result, I was hurt. However, this is also what allowed me to eventually meet you.

Because I have had to bear many struggles (1), there was a truth to be discovered at the end of it all, don’t you think?

Yui: Yeah, I’m sure.

Laito: ...

Yui: ...

*Rustle*

Laito: ...

Yui: Um...Are you sure you don’t want to stay longer?

Laito: Yeah.

Yui: ーー Even though you’re crying?

Laito: Nfu~ These are happy tears because I’m thinking of our future together.

Yui: You’re joking around...even right now?

Laito: I’m not joking. How cruel.

...Come on, let’s go.

Yui: Yeah...

Laito: ーー See you. Mother.

Yui: !!

( Laito-kun referred to Cordelia as ‘Mother’ for the first time ever... )

( ...I’m glad. )

( With this...Laito-kun’s heart has truly been set free. )

ーー Where are we headed next?

Laito: Nfu~ I guess we should return to the human world for now? I’m pretty sure we’ll get involved in some annoying conflict if we stay here.

Yui: You haven’t made any concrete plans yet?

Laito: No. Not really. Disappointed?

Yui: No, Iーー

Laito: ‘ーーI will go anywhere as long as we’re together!’, right?

Yui: ...!!

Laito: Ah, I was right? I figured so. Well then, let’s depart to our lovely castle in the human worldー!

Yui: A castle in the human world...?

Laito: Nfu~ A wonderful place~ You’ve got nothing to worry about if you just leave everything to me.

Yui: ( That sounds a little fishy coming from him but oh well. )

( I also like that side of him after all. )

Laito: Ahー I’m so excited. Let’s do all things we’ve missed out on so far...Like ‘this’ and ‘that’~

Yui: What are you thinking of?

Laito: Eeh~? You’re curious? Sure, I don’t mind telling you...

Yui: N-No, nevermind, I don’t want to hear...!

Laito: Nfufu~ Oh come on, don’t say that. My precious Princess Bitch~!

Yui: Don’t call me that...!

Laito: Eeh~? Let me think? I can’t help myself when you protest like that though?

Yui: Laito-kun...Please...!

Laito: Nfu~ Then, ‘cutie’~

Yui: T-That’s kind of embarrassing too because I’m not used to you calling me that...

Laito: Eeh? Really? Then, ‘Bitch-chan’?

Yui: Yeah, that’s fiーー Wait.

That one’s getting a no too!

Laito: Fufufu~ I can’t believe you want to be called ‘Bitch-chan’. Honestly, you’re just so...Nfu~ 

ーー Very cute!

Yui: ...!!

( Laito-kun’s this happy yet he can still be himself. )

( That...makes me happier than anything else. )

( Since you remain by my side to this day, we can both vow our love for each other. )

( Now, until foreverーー )

ーー THE END ーー

Translation notes

(1) He continues to use the ‘thorns’ metaphor here, saying that he walked a path full of thorns. 

[ultimatetrashgoblin]

Blaire Reviews: Nahara Season 2

Disclaimer: All of this is my opinion, you are allowed to disagree with me. (Minor spoilers for Wrath as I do compare an event in her route to this one)

Thank you @onehopefuldreamer for your request!

First impressions

What a way to start a season! Nahara’s heart has just shattered, and she and MC are standing there dumbfounded by a seemingly impossible event happening less than a minute after their first kiss! MC feels she’s at fault, believing that the kiss is the reason for this.

Nahara is (understandably) very distraught by this situation, and we watch this normally very calm and collected woman fall apart trying to grasp an explanation for what has happened to her. I feel like this scene best describes what both MC and the reader are feeling.

MC cares about Nahara. She doesn’t want to see her suffering like this. When Nahara’s heart shattered, so did her sense of reality and security. She felt empty, hollow, alone.

A seer, by definition, is someone who is able to see what the future holds through supernatural insight. But she’s uncertain of what might become of this, and for her, that might be the most terrifying thing of all.

To move onto lighter topics, I am in LOVE with Nahara’s room, and representation for people who have multiple cups in their room is very appreciated.

The group reacts about as calmly as you’d expect people to react when they’ve just been told that their friend’s heart shattered. And gotta love Ripley’s “heart stealer” joke (Lovestruck please let me date her).

We got a very fun, low-stakes introduction to Shadow Renzei’s long lost twin, and the shocking reveals that MC knew this guy from high school (when I tell you I gasped).

My one question is if Shadow is a fail safe for the troupe, where was he in other routes when they almost died? Or does he only carry out his orders once the troupe is already dead?

To add to that, where is the troupe during all of this? Shouldn’t they be informed if their Seer has an evil doppelgänger? Or that their Seer’s heart shattered? Because I’m willing to bet Malakai has some book with a ritual that could help with this situation. Nahara has always been there to assist the troupe when they needed help, why couldn’t they return the favor? Also if alternate dimension Ripley is still human, does that mean Onyx never became the envy assassin? LOVESTRUCK I NEED ANSWERS

Moving on, a piece of Nahara’s heart just... comes back. Because of course it does. Slightly anticlimactic and raises several more questions, but Nahara is happy, and that’s all that matters.

Before I get into the finale (because w o w), I want to take a moment to talk about Cristal and Fifi.

Firstly, as someone who is also an enby who happens to appear more feminine, if I catch anyone misgendering Cristal, you will catch these hands. They are non-binary, they use they/them pronouns, and if you want to try to argue that they “look like a girl”, unfollow me right now. (Gender in fashion is a myth and social construct anyway, wear what you want and don’t let anyone give you shit for it, you are and always will be valid in your identity.)

Despite me wanting to date both Cristal and Ripley, I’m also strongly shipping them together in this route. And the scene where Ripley reveals that her Cristal died was heartbreaking, and the way Cristal tries so hard to brush it off when they’re clearly having trouble dealing with this information just-

In short, Cristal is a precious baby and I would die for them any day.

And then there’s Fifi. I don’t mean to sound like a bitch (granted, I am a huge bitch, but not intentionally), but what purpose does she have in this route? Unless she turns into some sort of villain (which might be the case seeing as she clearly holds some sort of resentment towards MC), I really don’t get why she needs to be here. Honestly, I think this route would be better without her. She’s not that likable as a character, and she doesn’t seem to be that helpful. Personally, I could’ve done without her.

Now the ending, holy shit the ending. Nahara decides that she needs to travel to the alternate world and defeat her evil self before she gets the chance to come to their world. Shadow agrees to help Nahara travel between worlds so she’ll be able to get back and Cristal doesn’t have to die.

To Fifi’s credit, her being concerned about Cristal’s safety during this ritual does give her some likability, but she still doesn’t seem very useful.

I feel like the cliffhanger was slightly predictable, especially so early on. Obviously MC was going to end up in the other world so she could help Nahara fight evil Nahara (who has abnormally large eyes for some reason). But the last thing I was expecting was MC’s dad to show up. I actually forgot about him after Wrath’s route ended.

The next point is going to include a minor spoiler for Wrath’s route, so if you haven’t read her route yet (which I highly recommend you do), skip the next point.

Does MC’s dad in the alternate world know about demons? Or did they switch it up and have the mom be the one to know about it? Or do neither of them know about it in this world?

Another question I have is if the MC from the other world died, wouldn’t the dad be more surprised by her being alive? Or is this a third world where she didn’t die? And if she didn’t die, wouldn’t that mean there’s two MCs in that world? Hopefully these will be answered in season 3.

Final thoughts

I adore Nahara and her route. It’s well written, the pacing is good, and Nahara herself is a goddess among humans and we are not worthy of her.

However, in reviewing this season, I discovered that there were actually quite a few plot holes that left me with a lot of unanswered questions. And Fifi is a pointless addition to the cast (again this is my personal opinion you’re allowed to like her), and the route would’ve been better without her.

Overall rating: 8/10

Also, I’ve had a few people message me asking me to include my favorite CG in my reviews, and after careful consideration (because I love all of them) I choose this one:

[incorrect-ikevamp-quotes]

Can you please tell us about the whole scenario where MC gets kidnapped and Comte rescues her? The one with the CG I mean.

Sure thing! I’ll do my best to relay the events accurately, as this is one of my favorite moments in his rt~

Sizable Comte rt spoilers below, pls don’t click if you’d like to wait for the ENG release!

Okay so some much needed context before I delve too deep. In the first few chapters of the route, MC debuts in French high society (introduced by Comte as a friend’s heiress from overseas). As such, the better part of the Parisian population knows MC as somebody of noble birth. This is important moving forward.

One day while she’s in town she goes out with a friend upon request (also of high rank, somebody she met and made friends with at her debut) and Sebas encourages her to have fun before meeting up again to return home. Problem is, there has apparently been a great deal of unrest among the people in the lower rungs of the social ladder. Joblessness has been a prominent issue, and so a group of men decide to target members of the elite in order to force them to give a damn about the problem. In their desperation, they choose to abduct MC and her friend and tie them up in separate locations.

The other young lady’s butler/servant is present when they’re taken, but is unable to do anything to stop them. Surprising no one, he races over to find Sebas and tell him what’s happened. Naturally, Sebas is beside himself and takes the man with him in order to alert Comte. And Comte.........well........let’s just say he does not take the news well to say the LEAST. He hears them out, goes silent and it shows his furious sprite, and he’s about to storm out when Leonardo appears out of nowhere after he says MC’s name raggedly. (Note: not that odd bc purebloods seem to be able to sense each other’s feelings easily, and it’s likely he was responding to Comte’s acute and sudden distress). Leonardo has to grab Comte’s shoulder and tell him to calm down before he collects himself again, and then he leaves with Napoleon and Jeanne to go find them asap. 

Iirc, Sebas/the other residents take up the task of alerting the police and trying to find more information while the search party is underway. There is a hilarious tidbit I’d like to share, only because it’s uproarious and makes me laugh every fucking time I translate it fdkhdgdjfsf. So basically they’re all trying to figure out what’s going on, until Sebastian mentions the whole coalition of impoverished people looking to get back at high society for the financial inequities of the historic moment. Now Mozart, in a moment of brilliant word association, says “Oh, well yeah under those circumstances that would make MC the ideal target.” And I fucking. Isaac just turns around and is like. “Could you not. Say it like that. When our dad is hAVING A FUCKING MELTDOWN AND A DISPLACED HUMAN WOMAN IS IN MORTAL DANGER. COULD YOU MAYBE NOT???? JUST THIS ONCE.” And I just fucking lose it every time????? Like are those not the most Mozart-core and Isaac-core responses imaginable????? Mozart being so focused on the logic of the situation he just doesn’t seem to be able to read the room/keep in mind how upset Comte might be. Isaac being HYPERSENSITIVE to the emotions in the room and being MORTIFIED that Mozart wouldn’t word things more carefully.

Also a short note since I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. One parallel between Comte and Isaac I find utterly fascinating is that the two seem to share a formidable understanding when it comes to anxiety especially. Despite how composed Comte appears in the game, we later see more and more evidence of how deeply anxious he is when it comes to his future and the prospect of sudden loss. As a result, I feel like their biggest difference lies in the fact that Comte is a great deal older--so he has an easier time concealing/stifling/de-escalating his anxious responses. Even so, they seem to share difficulty in maintaining emotional distance. If Comte doesn’t exercise control, he gets too close to people, and the inevitable fallout (since they usually die first) is devastating. I think Isaac operates similarly, but his anxiety was so overwhelming he didn’t manage to get that close to most of the people in his time (Essentially, he doesn’t have the same charisma Comte possesses and he hasn’t lost as many people consecutively as Comte has). 

Moving right along. So! Comte and our swashbuckling friends (the Baguettes, as I like to call them) pinpoint the location/bunkers where MC and her friend are being kept against their will. (They find them after they receive a tip as to where the two ladies were last seen in town.) I’d like to note that in Comte’s POV of this chapter, he continuously blames himself for everything that’s happened. Saying that if he had been more careful, if he had done the right/smart thing and kept his distance, then she would have been out of harm’s way. (I disagree in that, when trouble seeks to find you it’s usually more a matter of entropy). In the midst of his agonizing, his mind goes to the worst case scenario and he forces the terror down--desperately wishing that he isn’t too late. 

So our bois split up into two groups, one being Comte and the other being Napoleon and Jeanne (yes this is Area 51 and Comte literally does Naruto run--but he doesn’t dodge the bullets bc they can’t kill him). Naturally our pureblood wonder manages to take out all the guards present and kicks down the door to where she’s tied up. The moment he sees her relief floods him and he rushes forward, untying her immediately. MC sees him covered in wounds--blood and torn clothing as far as the eye can see--and has a moment of genuine shock. She’s so used to the immaculate and ethereal appearance (not a hair out of place) that seeing him so disheveled and wild-eyed startles her. He asks her if she’s injured anywhere and she’s able to confirm she’s fine. He seems to be unable to register that she’s alright until she says those words, and he draws her close in his arms and starts shaking. She’s surprised again by his sudden proximity, but when she feels him trembling she hugs him back and strokes gently along his back, murmuring over and over again that’s she okay. She feels fine, she’s safe now.

In his POV, he speaks to the terror of her life lost that was weighing on him. He’s only able to verify that she’s alive when he feels her body heat, can feel her heart beat, can feel her arms moving--that’s why he hugs her; to have undeniable evidence that she’s still breathing. He hates himself for being so fragile, for being so needy, but melts under the gentleness of her touch.

Before the scene ends, MC hears his broken mumble at her shoulder: “Thank goodness...I don’t want to lose anyone anymore.”

And just to make it hurt even more! From Comte’s POV it reads (the brackets are his unspoken thoughts): 

"I......I don't want to lose anyone.......anymore" [I don't want to lose you... She hugs me back and her hands stroke gently along my back, as if cradling my heart. Her hands are so warm, proof that she's alive. You're so strong.....and so, so gentle. I know I should be prepared to say goodbye. I know I shouldn't be doing this. But I don't want to let you go...]

;-; I just. Every single time I read those lines I just start sobbing. He’s so tired of being alone, so exhausted. He loves her so much!!!!!!! He just wants one moment of PEACE GOD DAMN IT, LEAVE HIM ALONE CYBIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANYWAY the story then skips to the aftermath, where Comte is back to his usual collected self. He’s at his desk doing his work (as usual) when MC comes in asking about how everything's going. He explains that he was able to find work for the people who attacked her, citing once again the concept of “Noblesse Oblige.” (For those unaware, it means “noble obligation” in French and alludes to this notion that the wealthy/privileged parties of society have nothing short of an obligation to use their resources in service to the less fortunate.) MC starts gushing about how both her and the police are really impressed by his ability to forgive them and help them anyway. This is where Comte drops that L E G E N D A R Y line where he says “Forgiven them? I never said I had forgiven them. On the contrary, the only reason I’m doing this is because they left you unharmed.” with that chilling smile.

So like. Get you a fucking mans that has the ability to pretend everything’s fine when you get abducted, beat the shit out of your assailants to free you, have a panic attack after you’ve been secured, and then still manages to have the grace to help the people that put him through his literal worst fear imaginable/re-traumatizing him even if they didn’t know it. This was essentially the scene that made me fall 100% in love with him. It was one of the first moments of profound, undeniable proof that not only does he care about people--he cares so deeply it shakes him to the very core. There’s just something....so moving about the fact that no matter how hard he tries to pretend that he’s distanced from something/someone, beneath that persona you just find a veritable avalanche of compassionate feeling/love. 

[officialotakudome]

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Sentai Acquires New Anime

Sentai Filmworks has acquired several new anime titles for this year:

HOUSTON, TX — May 27, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired Nozo x Kimi, the risqué comedy OVA spinoff series of Nozoki Ana, for audiences in the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Republic of South Africa, Latin America and Scandinavia.

Kimio Suga didn’t intend anything untoward, but a cascading series of unlucky events leaves him hiding in a gym locker as his female classmates return from PE class. Luckily he’s found by Nozomi Komine, a shy classmate who covers for Kimio despite his incriminating predicament. But Nozomi isn’t as demure as she seems, because shortly after saving Kimio, she blackmails him into a series of clandestine and compromising scenarios!

A production of Studio Zexcs (Diabolik Lovers, Cuticle Detective Inaba, Say “I Love You”), Nozo x Kimi is directed by Masato Jinbo (Senryu Girl, Restaurant to Another World, Shomin Sample) with series composition from Hideki Shirane (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Hayate the Combat Butler!!, Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar). The OVA series stars Ayaka Suwa (The Fruit of Grisaia, Love Lab, The Demon Girl Next Door) as Nozomi Komine and Yusuke Kobayashi (Darwin’s Game, Dr. Stone, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-) as Kimio Suga.

Sentai will stream the Nozo x Kimi OVA in association with select digital outlets with a home video release to follow.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

About Sentai

A Cool Japan Fund portfolio company, Sentai is a leading global supplier of anime and official anime merchandise, distributing and curating one of the industry’s most diverse libraries of top trending and classic titles. Sentai offers thousands of hours of content across both traditional and digital platforms and is dedicated to bringing captivating stories and iconic characters directly from Japan. With hit series that include MADE IN ABYSS, Food Wars!, Princess Tutu and Parasyte -the maxim-, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight and O Maidens in Your Savage Season, as well as classic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and The Big O. For more information, visit www.sentai.com.

HOUSTON, TX — May 24, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired omnibus movie The Magnificent KOTOBUKI THE MOVIE, which sends the high-flying aerial action of The Magnificent KOTOBUKI to new heights. Sentai will distribute the film to audiences in the Unites States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Central America and South America.

In a desolate desert world, air pirates rule the skies. They prey on aerial commerce and hold remote towns for ransom, but the talented pilots of Team KOTOBUKI use their impressive aerial instincts and hard-won skills to defend cities and cargo shipments from these vultures… for the right price, of course. In their existent reciprocating engine aircraft and with ice in their veins, Team KOTOBUKI will take on any enemy that comes their way in an explosive frenzy of aerial dogfights, including never-before-seen new fights unique to The Magnificent KOTOBUKI THE MOVIE.

The film stars Sayumi Suzushiro (Bloom into You, We Never Learn) as Kylie, Eri Yukimura (A Certain Magical Index Ⅲ) as Emma, Sayaka Nakaya (AKB0048, Momokuri) as Kate, Asami Seto (Chihayafuru, Food Wars!) as Reona, Hibiku Yamamura (Arata The Legend, DOREIKU: The Animation) as Zara and Miyu Tomita (MADE IN ABYSS, Holmes of Kyoto) as Chika.

Sentai will release The Magnificent KOTOBUKI THE MOVIE on home video in Summer 2021.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

About Sentai

A Cool Japan Fund portfolio company, Sentai is a leading global supplier of anime and official anime merchandise, distributing and curating one of the industry’s most diverse libraries of top trending and classic titles. Sentai offers thousands of hours of content across both traditional and digital platforms and is dedicated to bringing captivating stories and iconic characters directly from Japan. With hit series that include MADE IN ABYSS, Food Wars!, Princess Tutu and Parasyte -the maxim-, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight and O Maidens in Your Savage Season, as well as classic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and The Big O. For more information, visit www.sentai.com.

HOUSTON, TX — May 20, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired exclusive home video distribution rights to critically acclaimed Vinland Saga, WIT STUDIO’s Viking-inspired anime epic based on the award-winning manga of the same name. Originally a streaming-only release, Sentai is now readying Vinland Saga for home video and targeting a Summer 2021 release. Sentai is planning both collector and standard editions for this highly anticipated series.

Raised on tales of the legendary land of Vinland, where warmth and plenty abound, young Thorfinn dreams of leaving behind the cold climate of Iceland and venturing into the great unknown. But when Viking sails appear on the horizon, the young boy is conscripted into a life of violence and brutality at the hands of merciless Viking Askalaad. With nothing left to him save revenge, Thorfinn swears vengeance against the man who slew his family, plunging headlong into a sprawling, blood-soaked, coming-of-age epic that marches to the drums of war.

Vinland Saga is animated by WIT STUDIO (Attack on Titan, Great Pretender, The Ancient Magus’ Bride) and directed by Shuhei Yabuta (Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress: Director, Inuyashiki: CG Director, No Game, No Life: CG Director). Hiroshi Seko (Jujutsu Kaisen, Mob Psycho 100, Dorohedoro) provides the series’ script and series composition; Kenta Ihara (Ajin: Demi-Human, The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious) provides the series’ script and screenplay. Vinland Saga stars Yuto Uemura (Tsurune, Bungou Stray Dogs, Darling in the FranXX) as Thorfinn, Naoya Uchida as Askeladd (Dororo, Kaiji, Drifters), Kensho Ono (Tanaka-kun is Always Listless, Kuroko no Basket, Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign) as Canute, and Yumi Hara (Overlord, Trinity Seven, Brave Witches) as Anne.

The series was awarded Anime of the Year at the 6th Anime Trending Awards, with Gerald Rathkolb of Otaku USA stating, “[Vinland Saga] is one of those rare anime that could have appeal outside of the anime sphere because of its setting and focus on complex characters and the excellent political intrigue ever-present in the show. It comes with my highest recommendation.”

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

About Sentai

A Cool Japan Fund portfolio company, Sentai is a leading global supplier of anime and official anime merchandise, distributing and curating one of the industry’s most diverse libraries of top trending and classic titles. Sentai offers thousands of hours of content across both traditional and digital platforms and is dedicated to bringing captivating stories and iconic characters directly from Japan. With hit series that include MADE IN ABYSS, Food Wars!, Princess Tutu and Parasyte -the maxim-, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight and O Maidens in Your Savage Season, as well as classic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and The Big O. For more information, visit www.sentai.com.

HOUSTON, TX — May 13, 2021 — Sentai announced today that it acquired the psycho-suspense thriller Alice in Borderland OVA series, based upon the manga series by Haro Aso, Imawa no Kuni no Alice. Sentai will distribute the three-episode Alice in Borderland OVA series to audiences in the United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa as well as Latin America.

Be careful what you wish for. Antisocial misfit Ryohei Arisu wanted nothing more than to leave his mundane life behind, but a careless wish on a firework transports him to the post-apocalyptic Borderland, a sinister parallel reality where danger lurks around every corner and survival is not guaranteed. To live to fight another day, Ryohei and other unwilling contestants must win a series of deadly games, each more dangerous than the last — but returning home means putting not only his skills, but also Ryohei’s humanity to the ultimate test.

The OVA series stars Yoshimasa Hosoya (Akame ga Kill!, Chihayafuru, ID: INVADED) as Ryohei Arisu, Takahiro Sakurai (7SEEDS, Babylon, Mob Psycho 100) as Shuntaro Chishiya, Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Beyond the Boundary, Diabolik Lovers More,Blood, My Little Monster) as Daikichi Karube, Tsubasa Yonaga (Free!, Demon King Daimao, D.Gray-man HALLOW) as Chota Segawa, Maya Sakamoto (Cutie Honey Universe, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Arrow of the Orion, Black Butler) as Saori Shibuki and Minako Kotobuki (Punch Line, K-On!, Bloom Into You) as Yuzuha Usagi.

A production of studios SILVER LINK. (Chivalry of a Failed Knight, Armed Girl’s Machiavellism, Strike the Blood), the Alice in Borderland OVA is directed by Hideki Tachibana (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? III, Armed Girl’s Machiavellism, Dragon Crisis!) with series composition from Ryosuke Nakamura (director Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions, episode scriptwriter Monster, Aiura).

Sentai will stream the Alice in Borderland OVA in association with select digital outlets with a home video release to follow.

For Sentai’s latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

About Sentai

A Cool Japan Fund portfolio company, Sentai is a leading global supplier of anime and official anime merchandise, distributing and curating one of the industry’s most diverse libraries of top trending and classic titles. Sentai offers thousands of hours of content across both traditional and digital platforms and is dedicated to bringing captivating stories and iconic characters directly from Japan. With hit series that include MADE IN ABYSS, Food Wars!, Princess Tutu and Parasyte -the maxim-, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Bloom Into You, Revue Starlight and O Maidens in Your Savage Season, as well as classic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and The Big O. For more information, visit www.sentai.com.

[atopearth]

Piofiore: Fated Memories Part 1 - Nicola Francesca Route

Okay, I pre-ordered this game because I loved the art and I have a secret fetish (not so secret anymore now) for mafia stuff LOL. There's just something about it that makes me love it even if it's trashy, I guess it's the setting that always amuses me. Anyway, Gilbert looks the hottest to me but it seems like you can only do his route last? It's okay, let's see how this goes~~ The lawlessness and how the different Mafia families control respective territories is what I dig~ I hope this will give me what I wanted from Ozmafia loll. Omg wow, Elena and everyone is so pretty as well. Anyway, it's kinda awkward to hear them call the heroine Lili (her name is Liliana) because my name is Lily! Lol! I'm not a good girl like her though hahaha, she seems to be a nice girl that's grateful to the church for raising her and wants to do the same for all the other children. Is Roberto not an LI? I mean, he looks pretty good too...🥺 Oooh, I was planning on doing the Nicola route first but I didn't even realise this fluffy kinda curly hair guy was him! I'll take him, he's pretty cuteee. I love how he winked at Lili and she got a bit startled and bumped into Roberto making her drop her lemons, it was gentlemanly of Nicola to come and pick it up for her. On the other hand, Roberto is such a stick in the mud lolll, like dude, it's cool to want to change things but you wanna understand the system here? Anyway, Nicola seems like a nice pushy person haha.

Ooh these meanwhile stories/reels are pretty cool! I like them since you get to see what other people are doing~ Anyway, omg I was wondering why Yang sounded familiar, it's Accelerator's (To Aru Majutsu no Index) VA!! I didn't like Yang's appearance but I might have to change my mind now because I love his voice hahaha. Okay, not good, I have a soft spot for Orlok too, not only is he hot and cute at the same time, his voice is so demure but warm, I love it!! I can't choose my favourite🤣 Lmao, I'm using a walkthrough and everyyyy answer I pick is different from what should be picked hahaha, I guess Nicola is not for me hahaha! Anyway, I was wondering why Gilbert's voice sounded familiar and it's the same VA as Okita Souji from Hakuouki! Okita wasn't my favourite though, character and voice wise so hmm, but I do love Gilbert's looks the most haha. Let's see, it's funny but it seems like everyone I was not interested in (Yang and Orlok) when I first picked up the game are now the ones I'm most interested in hahaha. Dante and Gilbert's looks are the best though~ Anyway, back to the story, Gilbert seems like a much more chill mafia boss than I thought haha. Omg when Elena got stabbed, I was like nooo, not the sweet pretty girl!! Thankfully, she didn't die because of Orlok saving them and taking Elena to the hospital. Lmao at Orlok asking Lili if she can run and then deciding that actually it's faster if he just carries her lol.

Well, I'm glad Nicola saved her before those thugs got to her, but dang, he was ruthless. Hmm, assuming that Lili and Elena were targeted for human trafficking just like all the other girls that supposedly "left" the town to go to city, why did those thugs say they'll get in trouble for doing it to nuns?🤔 Because they know that the Falzone family protect the church since they believe that they have what they possess right now because of the blessings of the land, so the Falzone family would take action if they hurt nuns? But then in that meanwhile story, they attacked the Falzone family members so...it can't be that simple? I would assume the most obvious answer is that another family or outsider is killing all these people rather than the Lao-Shu but we shall see~ How sweet of Nicola to stand guard for her to sleep peacefully! I still think there's something about Nicola that I can't trust right now, but having someone warm up some milk and honey for you, lull you to sleep and help you vent out your fears from everything that just happened is something I can't help but be touched by. It felt very comforting to see Nicola do all that for Lili.

Omg, is it just me or does Nicola look better without a hat, and Dante looks better with a hat?? Hahaha. Aww Leo sounds so cute and thoughtful, he'll be a nice bodyguard for Lili. I'm so hungry with all the descriptions of the good food lmao, all the mains and desserts sound so yummm🥺🥺 Aww, Nicola doesn't like lardo/pork lard but he still ate the broiled bream Lili made with it🥺 So, um just because the abductions stopped, the police closed the case on it? Like, don't they need to find a culprit or if there's something like a syndicate? Anyway, Roberto needs to get off his high horse, especially since he seems to think the police has no fault in anything and that the Mafia are bad because they're the Mafia more than actually finding reprehensible actions with them, but I guess the Mafia's actions make themselves seem above the law so I can't blame Roberto, but he really needs to reel in his emotions and thoughts if he wants to properly deal with them lol. Honestly though, Lili said Nicola was surprisingly harsh with how he dealt with the subordinate that let Roberto into the estate, but I don't think he was harsh at all, he didn't even punish him lol, and really, Nicola's right, Roberto had no business coming in and should not have been allowed in for no reason, especially if anything happened. Nicola is such a tease though, making Lili feed him the crostata in appreciation of him loll (btw it was nice of Lili to bake something for Dante to thank him for allowing her to stay here so comfortably).

Awww, although he kinda took her off guard, it was cute how Nicola laid on her lap to rest since he hasn't had much time to sleep lately considering all the family members that have been killed recently. Stylistically, Yang looks pretty dang cool, but omg, not sure what Lao-Shu would be in Chinese or if it's made up but it keeps making me think of mice because that's how you pronounce mice in Mandarin hahahaha; Yang the master of the mice family hahaaha🤣 I'm not sure why exactly the Lao-Shu or whatever in particular want to kill Lili but I can understand why she begged Dante and Nicola to let the guy go even though she nearly died. On the other hand, it's nice to see more of the "less nice" parts of being in the Mafia haha, I do feel sorry for the guy since he seemed to have done it for his family, but I don't at the same time because that means he chose to endanger the whole Falzone family for them, I'm sure that with them, the Mafia family should be just as important as their own little family or even more important, and technically, instead of betraying Dante and them, he should have told them what was happening. Him betraying the Falzone basically means that he was willing to potentially give up on their lives to save his own and his family's and that definitely shouldn't be tolerated. Regardless though, it must have been shocking for Lili to see Nicola so ruthless and cut the guy's fingernail and ear off. Honestly, at this point though, I wouldn't be surprised if the one that's causing all this turmoil and killing Dominico (one of the higher up members in the Falzone) is actually Roberto lol.

I can imagine Nicola betraying the family, but I don't feel like he would ever betray Dante. But that CG of him pointing the gun at Lili was very pretty I have to admit haha. Anyway, it's amusing to think that the Visconti Family are kinda branched off from the Falzone Family after disagreeing with how the Falzone prioritise blood kin for the bosses/positions, I wonder how Gilbert feels about Dante and them. I can't say that I like the Nicola and Lili pairing but I do admire Lili for doing her best to try to communicate properly with Nicola and understand him despite his harshness towards her. LMAO at the corny scenario Gilbert made up to make Nicola protect her and show he really cares for Lili. Kid Dante is so cute, I can see why Nicola would want to protect him like a big brother🥺 Anyway, I really like how Lili is the one initiating talks with Nicola to try and get any opportunity to get to know him better, like in a sense she does feel a bit weirdly desperate and too nice, but he's the only one she really knows here and she's always appreciated how kind he was back at Falzone, so for him and for her current situation, it would be beneficial to try and understand his actions better haha. Hmm, so I guess the reason Nicola wants to destroy the Falzone family is because he wants to free Dante from the Mafia since Dante always hated being forced to do all these things as a child.. Aww, did Dante bring along the traitor Falzone member to the Burlone Mafia meeting to indirectly tell Nicola that he'll forgive him if he comes back?

Honestly, I feel sorry for Marco having to deal with the shit Roberto causes all the time, sometimes I think back to when I first started the game thinking Roberto was hot and needed a route, and now I kinda regret even that thought because he's such a shit LOL. Anyway, although I feel sorry for Marco, I have to admit that it feels weird with Marco's experience and keen eye to neglect how deluded Roberto is getting. It also annoys me to think about those Rome higher ups that threw Roberto here to "learn something", like uh, I don't know what logic you went with, but for someone so hell bent on his own form of justice to go to a lawless area sounds like a crappy idea. Anyway, it was obvious that Roberto was going to shoot Nicola and Lili would shield him, it's just nice that her arm only got grazed, but that's probably already too much for Nicola lol. I have to agree with Yang that in the long term, it's much easier to just kill off Roberto now, and they're really too soft to let this crazy dog run around, I mean I doubt it's difficult for any of them to "kill him" without a trace to them. Okay, I expected the kiss but it was still nice to see, so cute lol🥺 I guess at least now Nicola can kinda understand to treasure himself and his own life more through Lili wanting to protect him with her life. OKAY, I am so sad, I expected it when Roberto appeared, but it was so sad to see him kill Marco because he protected Dante. I know Yang kinda "manipulated" him into delving deeper into his self-serving justice, but really, I'm sure he would have come to this point himself anyway because he obviously doesn't listen to others and definitely needs some counselling more than anything, but geez, poor Marco, he deserved to reach his retirement🥺

It was nice to see Nicola finally properly open up to Lili even though what he said is something we already knew. Her confession was cute~ Honestly, I find it kinda silly how easily the people have been swayed into thinking that Nicola is actually responsible for every killing and bad thing that has happened just through Roberto's lie saying Marco's last words were that Nicola did it (and rumours), since I personally feel like regardless of him being a traitor or not, it's a bit ridiculous to pin it on him other than because of your personal feelings. Anyway, Roberto's arrogance makes me want to punch him in the face every time he talks now and I hope his downfall will be satisfying loll, but yeah, as expected, Roberto was the serial killer too. I love how chill Gilbert is though, just strolling to Dante's place like they're friends haha. I also love how much both Dante and Nicola love and care for each other that they'd rather risk their own lives than the other's. I'm happy that Dante told Nicola to go and protect Lili from Roberto, since at least Dante can take care of himself and he's got the Visconti, but Lili doesn't really have anyone she can trust. Well, Roberto gets more and more insane by the second~ I feel sorry for the poor innocent people he shot... Anyway, lmao at the typo when Nicola shot Roberto, way to kill the supposedly cool scene! Hahaha. Otherwise, I'm not too sure about the publishing saying Nicola's betrayal was all done to lure out the killer and was actually a joint operation between the Falzone and Visconti, like why would the serial killer care if he's a traitor or not? Anyway, considering how the Lao-Shu are gone after this debacle, was it really smart or worth it for Yang to have used Roberto for his schemes knowing how crazy the guy was? It was so cute how Gil kept teasing Nicola about going back to face Dante and being honest with him about why he betrayed the Falzone. I'm glad he could finally tell him, and I'm happy that Dante understood his intentions pretty much immediately. As expected though, even though Dante does feel bound by his bloodline and the family, the Falzone will always be his home and it is a place and gathering of people he'll want to protect no matter what, and that includes Nicola, so rather than feeling like his freedom is being sacrificed now, I'm sure he's happy that he has so many people who believe in him and want to follow him.

Awww I thought the ending was going to give another kiss CG when he asked if he could kiss her! I'm so sad loll! Okay, all good, that best ending CG was hot hahaha. As for the good ending, I'm not sure why Nicola had to kill Roberto like that when he already saved Lili? I felt like there were many other ways to handle that situation and he just took the fastest one that was most disadvantageous to him. Regardless though, Nicola and Lili running away from Burlone and finding happiness going from place to place is pretty cute in its own way, like look at that CG!! Lili has impeccable hair and clothes even on the run, they're obviously having the time of their lives hahaha. Omggg, that tragic ending, I knew Nicola would go a bit nuts after finding out that Dante is dead, but that ungrateful guy!! He literally killed Gil (although Gil should have known better to guard against him imo since he knew how important Dante was to him), like I know it was a mutually beneficial relationship, but c'mon, Gil is like the nicest and most courteous Mafia boss and treated him so well, ugh. I won't forgive you, Nicola. Although, I do have to say, our Mafia bosses all sure died easily! I know it was for the dramatic effect but loll. Hmm, I feel like since Dante died, Nicola is crazy enough to go back to the Falzone family just to kill everyone in it to kinda take revenge on them for being the reason for Dante's death (edit: I kinda wanted this kind of tragic end XD). Honestly, Lili shouldn't enable Nicola especially considering how he's basically raping her but I guess it's not like she can escape anymore anyway since she knows that she doesn't really have a choice, and Nicola told her that too. Okay, the tragic ending was more tame than I thought because I honestly thought he was going to kill everyone hahhaha, he only held Lili in the cage of her room never allowing her to meet anyone so that he can always protect her, which although creepy is understandable since if someone like Dante could die, he's gotta protect someone super frail like her, pretty nice CG too. Bad ending 1 is kinda confusing though, like why did Nicola need to kill her when he was betraying Dante? I'm sure he could have escaped regardless lol, like umm, don't you like her?!

Overall, Nicola and his route was all right but definitely not a favourite. I guess I'm just not into him, although I do love his relationship with Dante and how much they both care for each other, it was probably the best part of the route, because it was so much more touching and heartwarming than any of the other romantic scenes with Lili haha. I guess for Nicola, Lili just had to be really accommodating with him and chase him all the time, but I feel like the story lacked showing why Lili had such conviction to believe in Nicola like that and be with him no matter how he treated her. Like, aside from being flirty, a bit pushy and nice, he really didn't do enough for me to think, yeah, he's worth all this trouble haha. His reason for betraying the Falzone was understandable and of course quite one-sided but you could see why he came to that conclusion so I liked how much he thought about Dante and how much he was willing to sacrifice for him. Oh, and I thought there was going to be some flashback to why he seems to have liked her since the beginning but I guess not LOL. Anyway, the last part was probably the weakest part plot wise imo, but it was okay. Otherwise, I'm sad that Roberto turned out to be a crazy guy hahaha. 

[the-awkward-outlaw]

A New Adventure - Pt. 4

Motion of Things to Come

Warnings: spoilers

Masterlist

Read on AO3

A week has passed since you found Arthur. He’s adjusted better than you thought to life inside your home. Over the weekend, you even took him to the grocery store for your weekly trip. You told him if it got to be too overwhelming to let you know and you’d leave and come back another day, but he took it very well. He asked a lot of questions that attracted funny glances from a few people, but he seemed fascinated by it.

He was even more fascinated when a guy on a motorcycle zoomed past you on the way home. Despite it being February and still the middle of winter, it was a warm day. Not unusual for Utah. People always take advantage of the warm weather when it comes around. 

You can tell Arthur’s getting stir crazy in your home, being cooped up all the time, spending long hours alone while you’re at work. Sage, your dog, is his only company. You feel bad, but you just can’t risk him getting into trouble. 

It’s Friday afternoon and you decide to take him for a walk in the park where you met him. Since it’s at the foot of a mountain, he’s welcome to explore it. It’s not pretty by any terms, mostly just dead grass and some dried up sage bushes, dormant in the winter, but it’s still outdoors. 

Arthur’s mood picks up quite a lot more than you thought it would as you walk down the street towards the park. You let him hold Sage’s leash (you’ll let her off once you actually hit the park). Arthur doesn’t stare as much as he did when you first met him. 

Despite his frustrations at being cooped up, he’s been sweet and kind to you. You know from playing the game he has a quick temper, but it hasn’t shown. Perhaps he’s trying to keep it down because he knows how much you’re helping him, how much you’ve already helped him. He’s responding extremely well to the antibiotics. 

Once you reach the park, Sage goes running off, barking wildly purely for the fun of it. Arthur watches her with a fond smile. 

You ask him what he watched on Netflix today while you were at work. He’s long since finished that history series you started him off with and has tentatively ventured into more adventurous shows. He recently stumbled into the Planet Earth series and has found it fascinating. You’ve come home the last few days to find him sitting on the couch with his journal in hand, his eyes staring amazed at the animals on the screen. 

He talks about the most recent episode he saw, one documenting the migration patterns of wildebeest in Africa.

After a short period of comfortable silence, Arthur asks you about your job and if you like it. 

“It’s alright,” you say. “I’m just a processor now.” You explain what that is. “But I only have three more months to go before they decide if they want me as an appraiser. I have to take some classes if they say yes and then I can start working from home.” 

Arthur’s eyes brighten when you say that you can work remotely. He’s probably just happy to know he’ll have a companion that can actually talk back. 

When you reach the cave where he came out of, with the funny drawing that ended up being the portal that brought him here, you both stop.

“You ever think of going back?” you ask, fearing the answer.

“Yes,” he says. “But I don’t know if I can. Not unless I wanna die.” When you ask what he’s talking about, he admits that a few days ago, he snuck out of the house and went back to West Elizabeth. Everything was exactly the way it was when he left. His horse was even nibbling on the same patch of grass. However, he said the full effects of his TB slammed into him. It was as though he’d never taken any of the medicine. When he returned here, he was back to healing and he did feel better. 

“Guess that means that unless I wanna die, I’m stayin’ with you,” he finishes. 

Your stomach does a backflip. Of course, you doubt anything will ever happen between the two of you. He probably finds you weird or is just uninterested in you in that way. Not that you blame him. It’s not like anyone’s ever found you attractive, desirable or even remotely interesting. 

“So I guess when it comes to your world, it’s like a Narnia thing,” you say. 

“A what?” he says brusquely. 

“Nevermind,” you say quickly. You’ll show him those types of movies when he’s a bit more familiar with movies that have a lot of CG and thick plots in them. 

You keep walking away from the cave, following the natural trails around the foot of the mountain. Sage looks back on the pair of you every few moments, wagging her tail furiously. 

“Shit,” you say, looking ahead. Further up the trail, you see a pair of female deer grazing. Sage isn’t afraid of deer at all. Most dogs probably would be because of their size, but you’ve lived out here since before she was born and you got her as a puppy. She’s used to deer and she even likes to bark and chase them. One time though, a doe that probably had a fawn hidden close by got mean right back with her and nearly kicked her in the head. It took everything you had to get Sage’s attention and she ran back with a furious deer on her tail. 

Arthur just chuckles. “Ah, I wouldn’t be too worried,” he says. “She’s a smart girl.” 

“Yeah, but she has her stupid moments.” 

As if to prove a point, Sage looks at the deer hard, sniffs and then looks back at you. She trots back to you and then stares hard at the deer again. Then she gives a loud “borf” and the deer look up. Upon spotting you, they leap away into the grass and disappear. 

“See? Smarter than you think,” Arthur chuckles. 

Suddenly your hands bump into each other as you walk. You both pass awkward apologies and “it was my fault,  you’re fine”. However, you can’t help but feel like your hand’s burning where his touched yours. 

The next morning, you take him to the Smith and Edwards Hardware store in the south end of the valley. You love coming here, it has all sorts of odds and ends for decent prices. It’s also definitely a store Arthur would like. There’s hunting gear, camping gear, things for owning and riding horses. And most importantly: clothes fit for a cowboy. 

After first meeting him, you bought him a couple of cheap shirts and jeans, but they were generic and, as mentioned, cheap. You could tell he didn’t like them and was fine wearing his blue button up shirt. 

When you get to the store and go to the shirt section, you spread your arms and say “Mr. Morgan, go find whatever clothes you like and pick to your heart’s desire!” 

“Morgan?” you hear a voice say. Turning around, you find a boy in his early twenties maybe. He’s looking hard at Arthur. “Hey, you do look just like Arthur Morgan! Nice cosplay, man! You’re killing it!” 

He asks Arthur to take a couple of pictures. Since you’ve introduced him to the widespread functions of phones already, he’s not shocked by the camera in the man’s hand. He is shocked that he recognized him, but he graciously takes photos with him with a flabbergasted smile.

When the man thanks him and walks off, Arthur turns to you. “A’right, spill,” he says. 

“What?” you say, trying to sound dumb. 

“How in the hell do so many people know me? You knew my name the second you set eyes on me and so did he. What, am I a historical figure or something?” He scoffs at this thought. 

“Not exactly,” you say. You haven’t brushed up on the game or video games at all in fact. 

“Listen, Arthur, I know it’s not ideal, but I will explain it all when it’s the right time. When you’ve gotten a little more used to… this world, I’ll show you. You might not like it though.” 

He just huffs. “Fine. But at least tell me the general idea of it. I deserve to know that much at least.” 

You really don’t want to do this in a store where other people can hear you, so you tell him you’ll explain it in the car. 

Arthur just shrugs his shoulders and goes around picking out a few shirts and two pairs of jeans. You browse the isles of vintage candy for a moment, stalling to go check out. How in the hell are you going to explain this?

The inevitable comes and soon you’re in the car, driving home with Arthur. He brings the subject up again. 

“Okay, Arthur. There’s something called a video game. Video games are a sort of… type of visual story telling but not like movies. You get to play the main character of the game and kind of experience it as if you were them. Well, a couple years back, a game came out that focused on you after things fell apart in Blackwater for the game. It follows you until…” 

“Until what?” he says in a deep growl. This is clearly not what he was expecting. 

“Well, until you end up… dying.” 

He sighs heavily. “It’s the TB, ain’t it?” 

You nod, deciding not to go into the complications of the four possible endings in the game. “Yeah. Then the game switches perspective to John Marston a few years after. It won a lot of awards and people raved that it changed the industry of video games. It made a lot of waves. Think about it, Arthur. You’re famous!” 

He sighs again and looks out the window. “Famous for dyin’ or bein’ a damn fool, I guess. I think… Dutch has changed, Y/N. When we got back from Guarma, and when we were there too, he just… liked killin’ folk I think.”

You grab his hand and squeeze it reassuringly before you can stop yourself. “I know, Arthur. I’ve played the game. A few times, actually. And I know what happens to Dutch. But you try. You try your hardest to help him see reason and when that doesn’t work to get John and his family out. You’re a good man, Arthur.”

“I’m not, Y/N. You don’t know the things I done.” 

“But I do, Arthur. Obviously not everything, but I know a good chunk of it. I know a lot more than you think, in fact. Now I don’t have a lot of faith in people. Think everyone is out for themselves, more than happy to step on the little people. I’ve been one of them for longer than I care to admit. But trust me when I say I know you and you’re a good man. You may have made some poor decisions, but who hasn’t? We’ve all done things, said things, intentionally hurt people and later regretted it. But you try. You try to do better, to make up for them. Besides, no one’s inherently good or evil. We all have both inside us.” 

He sighs again and looks at you as you stop at a light. His hand flips up to meet yours and you swear you feel him squeeze it. “Thank you, Y/N. I got real lucky when I stepped out of that cave and bumped into you.” 

You’re glad the light turns green so you have an excuse to look away and hide your blush. 

[plasticpokedex]

Other toys that aren’t that bad: Mega Man: Fully Charged (Jakks Pacific)

(F you, i liked it...)

Nobody asked for a Mega Man redesign and a cartoon about it.

...Maybe...

But “Fully Charged” would turn out to be Mega Man “1% battery left”, featuring the CG adventures of local robot Aki Light’s secret superhero life as “Mega Man”. Aided by his friends, Suna, Rush and Mega-mini, he saves the city  against the rebellious Robot Masters and various other techno-criminals. 

Perhaps if this appeared back in the early 90′s, it would be a cult classic. But video game properties have evolved so much through decades of established deep lore...and cutscenes...to the point where taking too much creative liberties any further would only detract loyal fans. And that is what happened, airing only one season and nobody buying the toys.

Mega Man is also a brand that gets thrown around A LOT. A bit too much, really. Bandai, Jazwares, Mattel, Fukno, Kotobukiya, etc have all dipped their hands into the Mega Man money bin to a perpetually endless cycle of shelves blurring in blue bomber bulk. 

>time to make Mega Man

>time to make Green Mega Man

>okay okay ONE Robot Ma-OH NO CANCELLED

also:

>Time to make X, time to make Zero, okay time to make BLACK Zero OH NO CANCELLED

oh and:

>Time to make Roll this time! But let’s make TWO of the same Rolls each with different accessories so that people will definitely by both OH NO CANCELLED

It’s like the lemon dance but with toys instead of teachers, and Mega Man ain’t no lemon. Just the guys who make them, apparently. Waiting for “Proto Man” over here...😥

But despite all that, Fully Charged’s cartoon and toys weren’t THAT bad, IMO. The cartoon’s setting took place after an unseen robot war, and Dr. Light was one of its veterans. It even features a new villain (not Wily, who is portrayed as a child and friend to Mega Man), and a mysterious character is unmasked at the last episode. Plus we get these neat action figures of the Robot Masters, more than what we’ve been getting in the past decade. Ball (hinge) joints in the shoulders and legs, and knee joints as well. No elbow joints unfortunately, but I drilled in some revoltech joints in there and now they’re an improvement. The toys are a fixer-upper, some needing parts cut out, or a lot of Pledge Future Shine on the joints for tightening.

Of the many redesigns the show has gone through, I’ve grown to love the lanky Wave Man and bulky Drill Man. Air Man, Ice Man and Guts Man are pretty much, “Fuck, Man”, but they’re still just ok toys with the articulation they were given. I still say Ice Man is the worst, but we were still ROBBED of a near-proper Air Man.

While the standard 6″ robot masters came with an interchangeable Mega Buster for the Man himself (just like the Ruby-Spears ones!) Drill Man and Guts Man are “action feature” toys. Drill Man has rev-triggered drill hands and I love it sooo much, but Guts Man gets an...inflatable belly. His ability in the cartoon, instead of just super strength, is eating garbage and slamming his full stomach to emit powerful shockwaves. Oof.

In the end, I would still recommend these toys for any Mega Man fans/purists. With one-offs like 4inchNel Cutman and two-pack Block Man in cancelled lines, I feel these curb the hunger well for more Robot Master toys. As of writing, they are still readily available on Amazon at MSRP. Drill and Wave Man are first priority gets. There aren’t a lot of “drills for hands” toys out there neither.

Air Man is an acquired taste. I just like how round he is, and has those neat turbines resulting in some “Mega Mickey Mouse logo” thing going on. Guts Man is hefty and I just needs me a Guts Man, especially since he didn’t show up in stores. Ice Man...I don’t have Ice Man anymore. I just didnt like that one because he didn’t channel the Mega Man-esque design as much as the others did, and even Air Man has those BIG angry eyes. You can ignore Ice Man, as with the two toys of Mega Man himself since we already have had better toys of him anyway. Would love to use the busters with those too.

And with all that said, here are some other characters I would’ve wanted:

Fire Man:

Dr. Light, with gun, because he has one and look how fit he is.

Elec Man

and Man Man, who is a clear reference to “Bad Box Art Mega Man”. To think, we were thiiiis close...

Mega-bye...

😭

[dukereviewsxtra]

Duke Reviews Xtra: Dumbo 2019

Hello I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Another Duke Reviews Xtra Where We Continue Our Look At Disney

And Last Sunday On Duke Reviews, I Reviewed Dumbo, So, Since I Looked At The Original On There We Might As Well Do The Remake Here...

Directed By Tim Burton, This Movie Sees A Family That Works At A Failing Travelling Circus That Encounters A Baby Elephant With Extremely Large Ears Who Is Capable Of Flying Which They Use To Help Save The Circus...

But When The Circus Attracts A New Investor (Played By...)

They Soon Discover His New Plans That Conceal Dark Secrets...

Will The Family Stop The Investor And Save Dumbo?

Let's Find Out As We Watch Dumbo...

The Movie Starts In 1919 As The Medici Bros. Circus Packs Up And Gets On Board Their Train, Casey Jr. To Go On Tour To Various Locations...

Stopping In Joplin, The Circus Sets Up As We Meet Milly And Joe Farrier (Played By Finley Hobbins And Nico Parker, Who Is Honestly The Worst Thing In This Movie, I'm Sorry But The Girl Just Cannot Act)...

Whose Mother Died From The Flu While Their Father, Holt Farrier (Played By Colin Farrell) Fought In World War 1 And Is Returning Today..

But Unfortunately He Lost His Left Arm In The War And Is Unable To Do What He Used To Do In The Circus But Asking The Owner, Max Medici (Played By Danny Devito) For A Job...

Wait A Minute! 1st Off Since This Is A Tim Burton Movie, Is Danny Devito Playing The Same Ringmaster Character He Played In Big Fish Or Is This Ringmaster A Different Character? Because I'm Confused...

And Second, Danny Devito And Michael Keaton In The Same Movie? All We Need Is Michelle Pfeiffer To Go...

And We'd Have Ourselves A Batman Returns Reunion!

So, Unable To Give Holt His Old Job Back As He Sold The Horses Holt Uses To Get Money For The Circus And Because Of Holt's Arm, Max Gives Him The Job Of Taking Care Of The Elephants Including One Named Mrs. Jumbo Who Is Pregnant...

The Next Day, Mrs. Jumbo Gives Birth To A Baby Elephant With Abnormally Large Big Ears. Feeling He Got Ripped Off, Max Orders Holt To Get Rid Of The Ears Before The Public Can See Them...

However, The Baby Accidentally Reveals His Ears In His Debut Performance And The Crowd Laughs At Him And Names Him Dumbo While Pelting Him With Peanuts....

Horrified And Enraged At Her Son's Mistreatment, Mrs. Jumbo Races Into The Ring And Causes Extensive Damage, Collapsing The Big Top Which Results In The Death Of An Abusive Handler Named Rufus...

Afterwards We Get The Baby Mine Scene...

Before Max Decides Sell Mrs. Jumbo To Avoid A Public Relations Disaster...

What The Hell, Burton!

How Could You Have This Happen In This Movie! And The Sad Part Is Nobody Does Anything To Prevent It! Not Even Colin Freaking Farrell..

Who In My Opinion Is The Worst Character In This Movie As Ever Since He Got Back He Hasn't Acted Like Much Like A Father To These Kids...

Talking With Dumbo In His Cage, Milly And Joe Comfort Dumbo And Discover That He Can Fly By Flapping His Ears And That Feathers Are The Key To Get Him To Do It...

So, The Next Night, Dumbo Plays The Role Of A Firefighter Who Puts Out A Fire With Water From His Trunk But When The Performance Goes Wrong And Dumbo Is Trapped On A Platform Surrounded By Flames, Milly Risks Her Life To Deliver A Feather To Dumbo To Give Him The Confidence To Fly...

(Start At 1:32, End At 2:27)

Hearing The News About Dumbo, V.A. Vandevere, Owner Of Dreamland Amusement Park Visits The Circus And Proposes A Collaboration With Medici As His Partner And Circus Troupe Employed To Perform At Dreamland...

However, Later Vandevere Demands That Dumbo Should Fly With His Trapeze Artist College Marchant (Played By Eva Green)...

In A Role That For Once Requires No Nudity From Her...

On Dumbo's Back...

Later That Night We Get The Pink Elephants Sequence Of This Movie And While Alot Hate What They Did To It, I Kind Of Like It...

(Start At 0:10)

I Know That Some People Are Going To Say That I'm A Sell Out But Imagine You Were At A Real Circus And You Saw This, I Would Be Astonished By What I'm Seeing...

This Leads Up To Their Debut Performance Which Has A Cleaver Introduction From Michael Buffer Who You May Know From Saying This Most Of His Life..,

(Start At 0:09)

And In This It's..,

(Start At 0:39, End At 0:45)

Anyway, Their Debut Goes Horribly Wrong With Collette Nearly Falling To Her Death (Thanks To Colin Farrell Saving Her After Realizing She Didn't Have A Net Under Her Like She Did In Practice) And Dumbo Barely Hanging On And Trumpeting For Help...

But After He Hears His Mom's Call, Dumbo Finds A Feather And Flies Around The Arena Before Exiting To Go Find His Mom In A Place Called Nightmare Island, Eventually Finding Her, He Is Taken Away From Her By Vandevere And His Men As The Kids And Holt Realize That The Elephant On Nightmare Island Is Mrs. Jumbo...

Telling This To Vandevere, He Feels That Dumbo Is Better Off Alone As That's How He Grew Up, He Orders Jumbo To Be Taken Away And Killed Before He Fires The Other Members Of The Medici Circus Troupe Believing Them To Be Pale Imitations Of The Acts They Have At Dreamland...

As They Go To Say Goodbye To Dumbo, Vandevere Right Hand Man, Sotheby Clears His Conscience By Telling Holt, The Kids, Collette And The Troupe About Vandevere's Intentions To Kill Jumbo...

Wow, This Has Got To Be The Biggest Betrayal To A Character That Michael Keaton Has Played Since Alfred Showed Vicki Vale The Batcave...

So Utilizing Their Various Talents, The Medici Troupe Decides To Break Jumbo Out Of Her Enclosure While Holt And Collette Guide Dumbo To Fly Out Of The Circus With Help From Max When He Realizes What's Going On...

In Attempting To Stop Them, Vandevere Starts That Is Triggered By His Bad Handling Of The Electrical System Which Spreads And Destroys Dreamland...

Taking Dumbo And Jumbo To A Port, Everyone Says Goodbye To Dumbo Before Him And Jumbo Board A Ship Back To Their Native Land...

With Vandevere Arrested For Arson Through Misconduct, The Medici Brothers Circus Is ReEstablished As The Medici Family Circus Which Is Flourishes As Dumbo And Jumbo Reunite With A Herd Of Elephants In The Jungle...

And That Is The Remake Of Dumbo And Despite Everyone Hating This One, I Liked It...

I Admit When This Came Out I Didn't Like The Way It Looked, I Wanted Dumbo And Jumbo To Look More Like Real Elephants Instead Of CG Ones...

I Didn't Like Danny Devito As The Ringmaster In This Because As I Said He Played A Ringmaster In Big Fish And I Thought People Would Get Confused Between That Ringmaster And This One...

I Didn't Like The Fact That They Didn't Have Any Of The Other Songs From The Movie In It And I Didn't Like How It Wasn't More Like The Movie...

But Looking Back At The Original Movie I Realized Not Only That Making It Like The Animated Movie Would Have Been Wrong And That Unlike Snow White Pinocchio And Fantasia That Came Before It And Was Longer, Dumbo Is Shorter Than Those Movies And It Can Be Expanded On And Added To...

I Also Understand Why They Didn't Have Any Other Songs In The Movie Because Having When I See An Elephant Fly And Not Have It Be Sung By The Black Crows (Despite It Being Racist) Would Have Been Wrong...

But I Still Would To Have Heard Pink Elephants On Parade During The Pink Elephants Sequence (Even If They Just Make It A Musical Score) The Same Could Have Been With Casey Jr. At The Very Beginning Of The Movie But I Do Like The Scene Where Danny Devito Sings It...

Also I Would Have Liked It If They Used A Real Elephants In Some Scenes And CG Elephants In Others Instead Of Just Going Full CG...

But Despite Those Complaints And Realizations I Liked The Story For What It Was I Liked Most Of The Cast (Except For Colin Farrell And That One Girl Who Played His Daughter) The Visual Effects Were Amazing And I Just Honestly Enjoyed It So This One I'm Saying See It...

Tune In Next Week As We Look At Bambi 2, Till Then, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[a-m-e-t-h-y-s-t-r-o-s-e]

Universe Charm AU

So this is my weird little AU for SU (lol,) Universe Charm. 

The short version is; Greg had children with more than just Rose Quartz, resulting in a lot of changes but moreover, making him a dad with tons of magic children.

The ridiculously long version nobody wants to read is under the cut. I tried my best to include major events (so basically, what led to Greg dating all the gems.)

I got loosey-goosey with ages/years/time gaps, so eeeh. Take it as you will.

Greg falls in love with Rose, yadda yadda, and she gets pregnant with Steven. Pearl gets upset, obviously, but in this universe, she decides to see what the big deal is with Greg. Turns out, Pearl doesn’t mind spending time with Greg. She really likes it. Amethyst likes hanging out with Greg too, and both of them end up pregnant too. All three of the gems decide to prepare together, and Greg’s gonna be a father of three.

Pearl empties out her gem in preparation for the new baby (so it doesn’t pull anything harmful out of the gem), revealing the mirror with Lapis Lazuli’s gem in it. Greg befriends the mirror (like in Mirror Gem) and it grows a crush on him. He frees Lapis from the mirror and she loves him for it, but she’s cracked. He takes her to Rose for healing, and she lets herself be healed, but flees to Homeworld to get away from the Crystal Gems.

Shortly after Rose, Pearl, and Amethyst’s babies are born, Lapis comes back with Peridot and Jasper, who are now aware gems are still on Earth. They easily defeat Garnet and destabilize her, but seeing the infants have the gems of the CG, they kidnap everyone and take them into space.

Greg, being human, can’t be destabilized by the prisons, so he breaks out of space jail and saves his three babies before saving Ruby and Sapphire. Garnet re-fuses, beats Jasper, Peridot escapes, and Greg makes a last-ditch attempt to save Lapis before the ship crashes into the beach (only saved by Steven’s bubble, summoned entirely by instinct.)

Jasper demands Lapis fuse with her to beat Garnet, but Lapis loves Greg too much. Jasper runs off.

A couple of years pass, Lapis has a baby, and it’s just Garnet and Greg raising a brood of kids. The house starts getting crazy cramped, and Steven accidentally frees Bismuth, who expands the house and adds another responsible adult in the mix.

Meanwhile, Garnet’s been looking for Peridot and Jasper while hunting down the corrupted gems, and she finds the fusion experiments (this is still years before it happens in canon.) Since she went on her own and Steven isn’t there to talk her down, she unfuses and blames herself for everything. When Ruby comes back home alone, Greg comforts her (and then finds Sapphire and calms her down) and both of them start falling under the Universe charm. The two reunite, and Garnet feels attached to Greg.

SO NATURALLY A BABY HAPPENS.

but anyway

Now they have an idea of where Peridot is, so Bismuth decides to go capture Peridot. Peridot warns Bismuth about the cluster, so instead of shattering her, Bismuth lets her reform without her limb enhancers and they team up to stop the cluster.

They work at the barn and build the drill, but since Steven is still too young (think beginning of the series age) he’s not there to soothe the cluster that desperately wants to take form. It starts to erupt from the crust and forms the giant hand, and threatens Greg and the family Universe.

Bismuth knows Greg has a supernatural charm, so she convinces him to try to communicate with the Cluster. He essentially tells it what Steven told it in canon, and that if it really needed someone, he’d be a friend. The Cluster is soothed immensely and rips a chunk of Greg’s hair out before disappearing beneath the ground again (hence why Greg is balding.)

A couple months later, Jasper shows up with her army of corrupted quartzes ready to battle, but the only opponents are Bismuth, Peridot, Greg, and the children/toddlers. She mostly wants to take on Rose Quartz (12 year old Steven,) so everyone’s set to defend him. Jasper easily defeats Peridot and Bismuth, and she threatens to kill Greg, so ALL OF THE CHILDREN use their wild and uncontrollable magic powers to BTFO Jasper to protect their dad. The final blow to Jasper and her army is a new challenger; CLUSTER UNIVERSE, an ethereal ghost-like fusion of Greg’s DNA (his hair) and the Cluster’s many gem shards.

Jasper flees with her tail between her legs (metaphorically, she didn’t corrupt this time) and Bismuth agrees to help train Greg so he can protect his kids instead of it being the other way around.

Andy eventually comes back to find the barn ransacked by Bismuth and Peridot, and while he’s pissed at first, he reconnects with Greg and the magical family. He offers to take Greg on a flight to reconnect and celebrate the reunion of the Demayos/Universes, and on their flight they run into Blue Diamond in korea mourning Pink. Blue kidnaps Greg just like in the show, and Andy goes back to Beach City to get Bismuth and Peridot’s help.

It takes a while, but the CG’s construct a ship and fly to the zoo to save Greg. BUT, it turns out he didn’t stay in the zoo; Blue Diamond was so charmed by Greg, she made him a court musician. AND the father of her half-human offspring.

The CG’s save Greg and flee Homeworld, leaving a pregnant Blue Diamond. Soon after, though, Yellow comes to Earth to bring BD’s baby and Blue Pearl as its attendant. She also demands to know what it is Greg does that makes even Diamonds fall for his charms, so Greg courts Yellow Diamond.

By the time Jasper comes back a second time, YD already gave up her form. She challenges Greg to a fight, one-on-one, no armies or magic gem hybrids, but despite his training Greg just can’t beat the perfect quartz soldier. His family comes to his defense and Jasper insists she won because his family intervened, but he tells her that nobody should have to be alone. True power isn’t found in brute strength, but in the bonds you form with others.

They poof Jasper this time, and when she reforms she reluctantly asks Greg to teach her what he knows. She allies herself with the man who took down her diamond, blue diamond, AND the one who defeated Rose Quartz, shatterer of Pink Diamond.

Bismuth is confused AF at this point because “wait, Rose didn’t shatter Pink Diamond, I suggested that,” and since Pearl is now gone, Lion is the one who has the answer. They open the chest inside Lion’s mane and discover the truth among the things Pearl had cleared out of her gem, and while it’s shocking to everyone, Greg is the one who keeps everybody together and reminds them that who Rose was in the end was a loving person.

After all of this, Steven expresses concern about the corrupted gems. He and his younger diamond half-siblings try to heal the gems but they need White’s help. The whole fam damily goes back to Homeworld where they’re revered as conquerors in their own right, but White Diamond is having none of that. She tries to take everyone’s gems out, but nobody reforms like they ought to. Greg reaches out to White Diamond and gets through to her, and everybody goes back to Earth and heals the corrupted gems.

Years later, Spinel shows up while they’re building Little Homeworld and wants to destroy the Earth, but she’s no match for all of the Universes + Jasper. Andy, who’s been visiting more often, finds Spinel, and uses his own meager charm to relate to her. They both felt left out by people who should’ve loved them, both missed long stretches of time even though they had the ability to go at any time, both show up out of nowhere to cause drama, etc. They form a relationship and eventually, also have a child.

So by the time SU Future is, in canon, the children are as follows:

Rose (Steven Quartz Universe) male

Pearl (Nora Pearl Universe) female

Amethyst (Butler Universe) male

Lapis (Ocean Universe) female

Garnet (S.R. Universe) male

Cluster (Cluster Universe) n/a

Blue Diamond (Harmony Blue-Note Universe) female

Yellow Diamond (Ochre Universe) male

Spinel (with Andy) (Spinner Andrew DeMayo) male

Bismuth never had a relationship with Greg, Peridot is asexual, and Jasper isn't very sentimental but respects Greg/the Universes.

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior Feb. 14, 2020 – SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, FANTASY ISLAND, THE PHOTOGRAPH, DOWNHILL, OLYMPIC DREAMS

It’s Valentine’s Day on Friday and President’s Day on Monday, which means that this weekend is going to be absolutely nuts in terms of getting four new wide releases.  Last week’s Birds of Prey did not do even remotely close to where I predicted/projected – almost half!! -- and here I thought all those raves reviews might help, but apparently not. It will still make money with its global release but it’s gonna fall short even of last year’s Shazam! and many have already started questioning whether an R-rating is the way to go with a movie semi-targeted towards younger women. (Warner Bros. has already sent out a mandate to theaters to change the title of the movie to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. I cannot believe that it took this long for them to figure out what a terrible title they had previously!)

With the four-day weekend, it’s very likely that Paramount Pictures’ SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, will prevail, as it brings the beloved SEGA video game character to the big screen with James Marsdenand Jim Carrey, the latter starring in one of his first big-screen appearances in a while. It should be an easy victor this weekend in a market that could desperately use another strong family film.

For those unfamiliar with SEGA’s flagship video game “mascot,” Sonic has appeared in all sorts of other media including animated series and comic books, so one can say that the character is almost but not quite as well known and popular as Nintendo’s Pokemon, which has had a much wider reach in terms of both games and cartoons.

Of course, it’s impossible not to look at Sonic the Hedgehog and completely ignore the relative success of last year’s Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, which had the added benefits of a popular A-list star in Ryan Reynoldsand a summer release. That opened with $54.4 million and made $144 million domestic and $429.7 million worldwide.

On the other hand, Sonic does have Jim Carrey, who hasn’t been in an American wide release since the 2014 sequel Dumb and Dumber To, which only made about $156 million worldwide. At one point, Carrey was one of the biggest box office stars with multiple $240 million plus domestic blockbusters. Maybe the kids won’t be as invested in Carrey’s Mr. Robotnik, but many parents who grew up with Carrey’s comedies will be happy to see him in such a perfect role.

The Presidents Day weekend allows one extra day for parents with kids needing something to do with them sans school. Even so, the biggest movies on the weekend have been superhero movies, including Black Panther, Deadpool and Fifty Shades of Grey, the latter two definitely not for kids. (Daredeviland Ghost Rider also fared well on the weekend.) In fifth place for the weekend is Warner Bros’ The LEGO Movie, which made $62.5 million over the four-day weekend, but that was in its SECOND WEEKEND! So yeah, lots of money to be had for a family movie even though the biggest opener was Christopher Columbus’ Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (now on Broadway!), which opened with $38.7 million ten years ago.

I have to imagine that Sonic is more popular, and even with the tragic misstep of that first trailer last year which got such a negative reaction to Sonic’s appearance, Paramount delayed the movie and went back to the CG drawing board, there will be enough fans interested to see how he translates to the screen that $40 million over the weekend should be doable even with three other wide releases. I also don’t think reviews will be so bad, so it should be good for $100 million plus.

Mini-Review: For whatever reason, Sonic the Hedgehog is the kind of movie that lazy critics love to dump on, maybe because it’s a kids’ movie or because it’s a movie based on a video game they played as kids, or more likely, a character their kids know from popular cartoons and comic books. It doesn’t help that judgments were mostly cast when the first trailer hit last year and Sonic looked different than what people expected. Regardless, I went into the movie with very low expectations, maybe because I really had no passionate connection to the character despite being generally familiar with some of the games.

We meet Sonic as he’s being chased by robots, and we flash back to him as a kid on a planet where he’s able to zoom around freely, until he’s discovered by predators that are hunting him (it’s never explained why), so his mentor owl gives Sonic gold rings that can take him off-planet. Sonic ends up in a small town called Green Hills where he watches the townsfolk in hiding for years, including a local police officer (James Marsden) and his wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter). The former eventually discovers Sonic after he causes a major power outage that gets the attention of the government and its genius robotics scientist, Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey).

Despite not having much previous connection to Sonic, it’s hard for me not to appreciate this character, because I’ve been known to zip around myself. I also enjoyed Sonic’s haste since who knows when we might see that movie based on one of my favorite comic characters, The Flash. Sonic does a good job capturing the intensity and yes, speed, of having speed powers in quite a masterful way compared to previous attempts, giving me hope that a Flash movie is possible. (Granted, they do rip-off the fun thing Quicksilver does in the recent X-movies by slowing everything around Sonic down to a halt, but it’s still amusing.)

Probably the most genius idea by Sonic’s filmmakers was to convince Jim Carrey to return to the big screen as Dr. Robotnik. He quickly reminds us how hilarious he can be when going as fully into a character as he does this one, and it’s prime Carey vs. the semi-lazy Carrey that made movies in the early ‘00s. Robotnik is a super-genius with no patience for anyone on a lower level of intellect (aka everyone), and Carrey takes that idea to the utmost extreme. (It’s hard not to compare what he’s doing in this movie to what Ewan McGregor does in Birds of Prey and see how Carey does it effortlessly whereas McGregor was clearly trying too hard.)

That’s not to take away from Marsden and Sumpter, Sonic’s other prominent human co-stars, who bring such a warmth and humanity to those characters that you rarely even think that you’re watching them interact with a fully CG-character. (Kudos to Ben Schwartz and what he brings to Sonic as his voice.)

Sure, the plot can be a bit predictable with certain parts clearly geared to kids, but there’s also slew of pop references that display some real talent in the writing of the movie so that it can be watched and enjoyed by people of all ages.

Is it possible that Sonic the Hedgehog is the first thoroughly entertaining movie of the year? Yes, indeedy. (Definitely stay through the first bunch of credits if you are a Sonic fan!)

Rating: 8/10

One of the more interesting releases of the weekend is BLUMHOUSE’S FANTASY ISLAND (Sony Pictures Releasing), which as you can guess is a PG-13 horror version of the popular ‘80s show, starring Michael Peña as Mr. Rouke, the head of a program in which people can pay lots of money to achieve their greatest wishes… with a catch! Since this is Blumhouse, you probably know that the catch involves some sort of horror/thriller premise, and if you’ve seen the trailer, you might get some idea how it works… or not. (I wish I can say more but I’m under embargo!)

The rest of the cast is decent including Maggie Q (from Mission: Impossible 3), Lucy Hale, Portia Doubleday, Michael Rooker, Ryan Hansen, Jimmy O . Yang and more, plus it’s directed by Jeff Wadlow, who last did Blumhouse’s Truth Or Dare (a very bad movie!) and then Kick Ass 2 before that. (He was supposed to direct Sony’s upcoming Bloodshot movie but he left that to do other things, like this.)

Unfortunately, Sony Pictures Releasing (another specialized imprint from the parent company?) seems to have taken a cue from Screen Gems by deciding not to screen the movie for critics until Thursday afternoon (just like with The Grudge!), plus there won’t be ANY Thursday previews for this. It’s a shame since… well, I can’t really tell you if I liked the movie or not since I’m under embargo until Friday. J

Either way, it seems like a strong enough counter to Sonic and Birds of Prey that it should be good for $15 million plus over the four days. Personally, I think it would have opened even bigger if Sony and Blumhouse had shown some balls and screened it for critics in advance, but what do I know? I’ve only written about this stuff for ALMOST TWENTY FUCKING YEARS! (Not sure I’m gonna review the movie but we’ll see.)

I know far less about Universal’s Valentine’s Day offering THE PHOTOGRAPH (Universal), which I guess is a romantic drama that’s targeting African-Americans looking for something to see on the biggest date nights of the year. In fact, we’ve seen some interesting hits on this weekend just by putting “Date” in the movie title, as was the case with Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore’s 50 First Dates ($45.1 million four-day opening) and even Date Movie ($21.8 million), which satirized romantic movies. But the real winner has to be a movie that went all out for Valentine’s Day by actually going with the title Valentine’s Day, which helped it open with $63 million over the four-day weekend ten years ago. ($23.4 million of that was on Valentine’s Day alone!)

Since I won’t see The Photograph until Weds. night, I can only talk about the little bit of marketing I’ve seen and what’s out there. Apparently, this is more in the vein of Valentine’s Day in that it’s a series of intertwined romantic stories, but it has an impressive cast of African-American actors who are on the verge of breaking out such as the great LaKeith Stanfield and amazing Kelvin Harrison Jr., as well as Rob Morgan (from “Daredevil” and Mudbound) and Courtney B. Vance. I’d be neglect if I didn’t mention any of the women involved and having Issa Raefrom the TV show “Insecure” as the primary female lead is something that shouldn’t be ignored. Stanfield isn’t the only connection to Jordan Peele, though, asLil Rel Howery from Get Outis also in this movie as is Peele’s actual wife, Chelsea Peretti!

I actually had to double check to make sure Peele wasn’t one of the film’s producers, but no, this is from Will Packer, a producer who is responsible for so many huge hits among African-Americans that one of these days I won’t underestimate his drawing power, even though all three of his 2019 movies underdelivered, including the comedy Little (co-starring Rae), although did well compared to their lower budgets.

In that sense, The Photograph could be compared to Packer’s Screen Gems comedy About Last Night, which opened with $27.8 million in just over 2,200 theaters in 2014, but that also had the power of proven box office draw Kevin Hartto bring in audiences. I certainly don’t want to be accused of underestimating Packer again, but with such a generic title and premise (and next to no marketing?), I’m just not sure the movie will deliver despite being decent counter-programming for AA audiences. With that in mind, I think the movie will probably make somewhere between $12 and 14 million.

Then there’s DOWNHILL (Searchlight Studios), the new movie from The Way, Way Back directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (who also won the Oscar for cowriting Alexander Payne’s The Descendants), this one being a direct remake of Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund’s 2014 film Force Majeure.

In this version, Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus play a squabbling couple who travel to the alps with their kids, but after barely escaping an avalanche – one in which he runs away leaving his family behind – they start questioning their lives. The film also stars Zach Woods (also from “Veep”), Miranda Otto and Zoe Chao, and though it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival (just like the duo’s previous movie), it did not receive great reviews, as it currently sits at 48% on Rotten Tomatoes.

I don’t think that will matter since like Carey above, Ferrell hasn’t been oversaturating the market with movies in the past couple year, maybe because his last movie, Holmes & Watson, reteaming him with John C. Reilly from Step Brothers bombed with $41 million worldwide after horrifying reviews. Fortunately, Louis-Dreyfus is far more loved thanks to her run on “Seinfeld” and her Emmy-winning run on HBO’s “Veep,” and that should help get people into theaters despite all the competition aboe and below.

Searchlight (no more Fox!!) will be releasing the movie into roughly 1,500 theaters, a moderate release to see how it fares, and the extended holiday weekend (plus the chance of it attracting older moviegoers on Valentine’s Day) should help it make $5 million plus over the extended weekend.

Mini-Review: If you’re reading this review hoping for a play-by-play of how Downhill differs from Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure, then you’re bound to be disappointed, because a.) I don’t really remember it, b.) I wasn’t as big a fan of the movie as so many others, and c.) I’m going to assume that a lot of people never got around to seeing it.

In this version, it’s Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfus as Peter and Billie Stanton, and there’s much more focus on their roles as parents and the responsibility that goes with that. Once again, Peter runs off when a controlled avalanche comes their way, but they don’t really talk about it so much even as it hangs over their heads.

Nat Faxon and Jim Rash once again find a manageable way of making “dramedy” out of a situation, making sure not to go for constant visual laughs or the zaniness Ferrell usually goes for. (Granted, we can totally believe him as a careless father/husband who does dumb things.) In fact, Ferrell plays his role fairly toned down, which allows Louis-Dreyfus to shine in what’s, oddly, a quite rare movie appearance. How they deal with the aftermath of the avalanche comes to a head when Pete’s work-buddy Zack (Zach Woods) arrives with a ladyfriend (Zoe Chao) allows the two to go at each other. It doesn’t get quite as intense as Marriage Story, but it’s obvious that they both have reached the point in their marriage where they need a separation.

It is kind of amusing that Miranda Otto almost steals her scenes with the two leads because she’s so funny as a hot-to-trot European guest they keep running into and who sets Billie up with a hot Italian ski trainer. There’s a few other funny characters but it mostly stays on Ferrell and Louis-Dreyfus either alone or together, and that’ll be enough for most people.

Faxon and Rash find interesting ways to play with the basic premise, although Downhill is very much comedy with a lower-case “c,” and like the original movie, it should lead to some interesting conversations.

Rating: 7/10

This week’s Top 10 should look something like this… (bearing in mind that the below are all four-day projections). It’ll be interesting to see if the name change for “Birds of Prey” will make a difference, but look for NEON’s Parasite to make its first foray into the top 10 this weekend after 19 (!!!) weeks in theaters, thanks to its Best Picture win last Sunday.

1. Sonic the Hedgehog (Paramount) - $44 million N/A (up $1.5 million)* 2. Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey  (Warner Bros) - $20 million -39% (down $1.5 million)* 3. Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island (Sony) - $15.8 million N/A (up $.3 million)* 4. The Photograph (Universal) - $13.5 million N/A 5. Bad Boys for Life (Sony) - $8 million -35% (up .2 million)* 6. 1917 (Universal) - $7 million -23% 7. Downhill (Searchlight) - $5.6 million N/A (up .2 million)* 8. Parasite (NEON) - $5 million +300% (up .4 million and one place) 9. Dolittle  (Universal) - $4.5 million -30% (down .4 million and one place) 10. Jumanji: The Next Level  (Sony) - $4.2 million -24%

*UPDATE: A few minor updates based on actual theater counts with Parasite being expanded into 2,000 theaters, the widest its been so far. I feel like most of the new movies will do well, including Downhill (which will be in 2,301 theaters vs. the 1,500 estimated earlier in the week). Anyway, it should be a fairly hearty and robust weekend at the box office.

LIMITED RELEASES

Before we get to the regular limited releases opening Friday, I want to mention two special releases for Weds. night, Trafalgar Releasing is giving a one-night screening of The Doors: Break on Thru - A Celebration of Ray Manzarek, which I haven’t seen but I’m definitely interested in as a fan of the ‘60s group (and Manzarek’s keyboard work). You can get tickets for that here. Also, Kino Lorber is giving one-night release of Emily Taguchi & Jake Lefferman’s doc After Parkland to commemorate the second anniversary of the shootings at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 people and began a nationwide student movement for gun control. It’s a fairly sobering and emotional doc, as you can imagine, especially since so little has been done to prevent incidents like this even two years later.

My favorite movie of the weekend is Jeremy Teicher’s OLYMPIC DREAMS ( IFC Films), opening at the IFC Center Friday. It stars Nick Kroll (who you’ll know from “The League,” “Oh, Hello” and other things) and (actual Olympian distance runner) Alexi Pappas, who you may or may not be as familiar with. Pappas plays Penelope, an American competitor in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, who is feeling lonely and unable to connect with others until she meets Kroll’s volunteer dentist, Ezra. While at first, it wouldn’t seem like they would have anything in common, they spend a night hanging out and while some might be expecting something romantic, since this is opening on Valentine’s Day, well I won’t ruin what does or doesn’t happen, k?  Either way, it’s a wonderful film co-written by Teichter, Pappas and Kroll, and if that sounds like a familiar formula, then it is indeed the one Richard Linklater used for his sequels to Before Sunrise with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Olympic Dreams isn’t nearly as deep and philosophical (or wordy), but the two actors are so wonderful together, and they actually filmed this in the Athletes Village at the Olympics (the first film to do so) which adds some authenticity to the sweet little movie. (There will be a sneak preview Weds night at the IFC Center with Teicher, Kroll and Pappas all in attendance!)

Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig returns with THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS (Vertical), a star-studded ensemble piece starring Zoe Kazan, Andrea Riseborough, Caleb Landry Jones, Jay Baruchel and Bill Nighy (who appeared in Lone’s previous film Their Finest). This is a New York City story about six strangers whose lives intersect and mingle while trying to find help, hope and love. I know it sounds like the Crash-style movie we’ve seen far too many times before, but I have faith in Ms. Scherfig and hopefully I’ll have a chance to watch it in the next day or two.

I also still haven’t gotten around to watching Kenji Tanagaki’s action-comedy ENTER THE FAT DRAGON (Go WELL USA), starring the always-amazing Donnie Yen as police officer Zhu, who is sent to Japan on a routine police escort of a suspect… who mysteriously dies, forcing Zhu to call upon a former undercover inspector to help solve the murder. I’m assuming the latter is the “Fat Dragon” and Yen didn’t gain 200 lbs. for the part.

Opening at the Quad Cinemaon Friday and in L.A. on Feb. 21 is Dimitri de Clercq’sFrench/Belgian film You Go to My Head (First Run Features) about an architect who finds a young woman lost, alone and in a fog in the Sahara after a mysterious accident, but when he takes her to the hospital, he claims to be her husband. As she gets better, he creates an elaborate life to fill in the life they shared which she can no longer remember. It also sounds perfect for Valentine’s Day, so you have plenty of options!

I didn’t have too much to say about Céline Sciamma’s PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (NEON), because I think I wrote about it last year, and I haven’t seen the movie since the New York Film Festival. Set in the 18thCentury, it’s about a woman painter who travels to a remote island where she’s commissioned to do a painting of a grieving widow, who she ends up falling in love with. I probably should see the movie again as it didn’t really connect with me the first time, but I can totally understand why others love it so much. (Unfortunately, the 7:10 screening on Friday night at the Angelika with a QnA moderated by my pal, Valerie Complex, is already sold out!)

The second documentary in the last year about a man named “Cunningham” (a different one this time) is Mark Bozek’s The Times of Bill Cunningham (Greenwich) about the famed photographer who died in 2016… and whom I know even less about than I did dancer/choreographer Merce Cunningham. Apparently, he was a New York Timesphotographer for four decades and had a long relationship with First Lady Jackie Kennedy, and this doc is even narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker! It also opens at the Angelika and City Cinemas 1, 2 & 3, and maybe L.A.?

Due to the usual conflicts and circumstances, I wasn’t able to see Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn’s Ordinary Love (Bleecker Street) as planned, but it’s an appropriately-timed romantic drama starring Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville as a middle-aged couple who must deal with her beast cancer diagnosis. I actually am interested in seeing this, especially to see Neeson back in serious drama mode (it’s been a while), so hopefully I’ll have a chance to see this down the road.

Also opening Friday is Tanya Wexler’s Buffaloed (Magnolia), starring Zoey Deutch as Peg Dahl, a young woman living in Buffalo, the debt collection capital of America but hopes to get out of town and into an Ivy League university. When she’s accepted to her top choice but can’t afford the tuition, she gets pulled into the rope of debt collection.  Also starring Judy Greer, Germaine Fowler, Noah Reid and Jai Courtney, it will open at New York’s Quad Cinema, the Loz Feliz 3 in L.A., Buffalo’s North Park Theater and more theaters.

Opening at the Quad Cinemaon Friday and in L.A. on Feb. 21 is Dimitri de Clercq’sFrench/Belgian film You Go to My Head (First Run Features) about an architect who finds a young woman lost, alone and in a fog in the Sahara after a mysterious accident, but when he takes her to the hospital, he claims to be her husband. As she gets better, he creates an elaborate life to fill in the life they shared which she can no longer remember. It also sounds perfect for Valentine’s Day, so you have plenty of options!

Another SXSW 2019 movie is Richard Wong’s Come As You Are (Samuel Goldwyn), starring Gabourey Sidibe, Grant Rosenmeyer, Ravi Patel, Hayden Szeto and Janeane Garofolo. The three guys in the middle play men with disabilities who go on a road trip to a Montreal brothel to get away from their suffocating parents. Sidibe (from Precious) plays their travelling nurse who drives them across the border to help them lose their virginity. This is an English remake of the Belgian Film Hasta La Vista about the real-life adventure of Asta Philpot.

Sara Zandieh’s indie rom-com A Simple Wedding (Blue Fox Entertainment) also opens in theaters and On Demand on Valentine’s Day, this one following an Iranian-American named Nousha (Tara Grammy) whose hopes for a Persian wedding are dashed when she falls for a bisexual artist/DJ named Alex (Christopher O’Shea). She has to make sure her parents don’t realize they’re living together before marriage. The film also stars Shohreh Aghdashloo, Rita Wilson, Maz Jobrani, Peter McKenzie and James Eckhouse.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

Some cool festivals and series in New York are happening this weekend to offer competition for all the choices above.

Let’s begin with the “Winter Showcase” for one of my favorite annual film festivals, the New York Asian Film Festivalsubtitled “Love at First Bite,” since they’re including a special Valentine’s Day screening of the Korean hit Extreme Job followed by a reception including delicious Korean food. The rest of the line-up is probably more appropriate for the rep section as it will including Asian classics like Stephen Chow’s God of Cookery (1996), Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman (1994),Tampopo (1985) on Saturday, as well as Ritesh Batra’s amazing The Lunchbox and more on Sunday.

Up at Film at Lincoln Center, there’s the annual “Neighboring Scenes,” the annual celebration of “New Latin American Cinema,” opening Friday with Joanna Reposi Garibaldi’s Lemebel, a documentary about writer/visual artist Pedro Lemebel and his controversial performances amidst Chilean upheaval. Of course, I’m most interested in the Brazilian offerings, but sadly, there just isn’t enough time in the day/week to see as many of the films in this series I’m curious about including the New York premiere of Ema from Chile’s Pablo Larrain (Neruda, Jackie). Click on the link above and check out that line-up.

Further North (in terms of global geography) but South (in terms of New York City geography) is this year’s “Canada Now” series, taking place at the IFC Center from Thursday through Sunday. It will kick off with Guest of Honor, the new film from Canada’s Atom Egoyan, starring David Thewlis and Laysla De Oliveira as father and music school teacher daughter whose lives become complicated when she’s put in prison for earlier crimes. There are seven other movies in this series, most of them getting their U.S. debuts, so that’s another alternative for what could be a busy movie-going weekend.

STREAMING AND CABLE

Lots of stuff premiering on streaming services this weekend including the British animated sequel A Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon on Netflix, as well as the rom-com sequel To All the Boys: PS I Still Love You, which will premiere on Weds and may end up being the “Netflix and chill” choice for many young people on V-Day. (I honestly never got around to seeing the first movies of either of those yet!)

Over on Hulu, they’re premiering the gender-swapped series loosely based on Nick Horny’s High Fidelity, this one starring Zoe Kravitz, the daughter of Lisa Bonet, who appeared opposite John Cusack in Stephen Frears’ adaptation of Hornby’s book from 2000 that was one of my favorite movies that year! Wait a second, even though Kravitz plays a character named Rob, just like Cusack, is she meant to be the daughter of Cusack and Bonet’s characters in that movie? That would be intense! (But probably not. I’m sure I’ll check it out.)

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

The Metrograph’s Valentine’s Dayweekend offerings include Casablanca (1942), Howard Hawks’ 1944 film To Have and  Have Not, the 1932 film Trouble in Paradise, Douglas Sirk’s Written on the Wind (1956) and another screening of Makoto Shinkai’s animated Your Name. The “To Hong Kong with Love” series continues through the end of February, this weekend screening Yellowing (2016), which I haven’t seen.This weekend, the  Welcome To Metrograph: Reduxwill offer two more screenings of Edward Yang’s 4-hour 1991 film A Brighter Summer Day, while Late Nites at Metrograph  will screen Nagisa Oshima’s 1978 film Empire of Passion, also which I have never seen! Rounding out the weekend’s Asian offering is the Playtime: Family Matineesoffering of Yoshifumi Kondo’s 1995 animated film Whisper of the Heart, which guess what? I haven’t seen that either! Clearly, I need to try to get to one of the four movies, right?  

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE BROOKLYN (NYC)

Tonight’s “Weird Wednesday” is the Susan Sarandon-James Spader romantic drama White Palace (1990). Oddly, the Alamo is CLOSED on Valentine’s Day.. is this true?!? On Sunday is a special “Drew Believers: Drew Barrymore Movie Marathon” with four of Barrymore’s movies in 35mm! (As of this writing, there are a few seats available near the front.) Monday’s “Fist City” is Sam Raimi’s The Quick and The Dead from 1995 and that’s quickly selling out as well. The “Terror Tuesday” is James Gunn’s hilarious Slither and then next week’s “Weird Wednesday” is the 1987 Ken Russell film Gothic.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Wednesday’s “Afternoon Classic” is the 1961 Oscar-winning musical West Side Story. Weds and Thursday night’s double feature is Robert Altman’s 1971 film McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Sydney Pollack’s 1972 film Jeremiah Johnson, starring Robert Redford. This week’s “Freaky Friday” offering is the classic The Bride of Frankenstein (1935, while Friday’s midnight movie is True Romanceand Saturday’s midnight is 1978’s Mean Dog Blues in 16mm! This weekend continues the “Kiddee Matinee” run with the Alfonso Cuaron-directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Monday’s matinee of David Lynch’s Wild at Heart is already sold out but that night is a Robert Clouse double feature of The Pack(1977) and Darker than Amber (1970). Tuesday’s Grindhouse double feature is 1976’s Sky Riders and 1981’s Force: Five.  

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Thursday is a “Black Voices” double feature of Car Wash (1976) and Cooley High (1975) with guest including Bill Duke in person. John Sayles and Joe Dante will be on hand Friday night for a “John Sayles: Independent” double feature of Piranha (1978) and The Howling (1981). This weekend is the “HFPA Restoration Summit” including a Saturday afternoon presentation called “Serge Bromberg Presents from the Silent Era” with the Lobster Films founder, while the one and only Jane Fonda will be on-hand Saturday evening to present a 4k restoration of the 1972 film F.T.A., which she produced with Donald Sutherland. Saturday night is a screening of The Black Vampire, the 1953 Argentine adaptation of Fritz Lang’s M, and there’s more classic cinema on Sunday as part of the series.

AERO  (LA):

Thursday’s “Antiwar Cinema” matinee is Richard Attenborough’s Oh! What a Lovely War from 1969 with an all-star cast, while that night is a Eugene Levy/Christopher Guest double feature of A Might Windand For Your Consideration. The AERO is ALSO showing Casablancaon Valentine’s Day and then Saturday is another Levy/Guest double feature of Best in Show (2000)and Waiting for Guffman  (1996) with Levy doing a discussion between films. John Sayles and Frances McDormand will appear in person for a Sunday afternoon double feature of 1996’s Lone Star and 1999’s Limbo.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

MOMI is going a bit crazy with its Valentine’s offering but it’s a good one…Jane Fonda in 1968’s Barbarella as part of its new 2001-inspired series “See It Big! Outer Space”! (If MOMI wasn’t all the way in Astoria, I’d totally go.)  It will play again Sunday with Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972) playing on Friday and Saturday and 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Pictureon Sunday. Sunday will also be a repeat of Kubrick’s 1969 film 2001: A Space Odyssey in 70mm with a discussion before the movie between Doug Trumbull and Piers Bizony. There’s also the usual DCP screening of 2001on Saturday afternoon, as part of the exhibition. On Saturday, they’ll screen Marjane Satrapi’s excellent Persepolis(2007) as part of its “World of Animation.”

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Starting Friday, the Forum will be screening a DCP restoration of Luchino Visconti’s L’Innocente (1976), starring Giancarlo Giannini. This weekend’s “Film Forum Jr.” is Guys and Dolls from 1955, starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons and Frank Sinatra. (If you read this on Wednesday, you can catch Joseph Strick’s 1963 film The Balcony, starring Shelley Winters, Peter Falk and Lee Grant, in 35mm.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

The Quad’s run of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman continues through the weekend, and there will be Valentine’s Day screenings of Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy on Thursday and Friday night. (How romantic!)

ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES (NYC):

The Anthology’s great “The Devil Probably: A Century of Satanic Panic” continues this weekend with screenings of Robert Eggers’ The Witch, Alan Parker’s Angel Heart, another screening of Rosemary’s Baby, as well as screenings of Race with the Devil on Weds. and Thursday night. I missed it last week but they’ve been showing Mark Rappaport’s 1975 film Mozart in Love the past week, as well.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

The Cage-athon continues Weds. with Neil Labute’s The Wicker Man (2006) and 2009’s Knowing on Thursday. Valentine’s Day sees screening of Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, as well as the 1987 Nicolas Cage movie Moonstruck, co-starring Cher. Spike Jonez and Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation (2003), starring Cage, repeats on Saturday.

NITEHAWK CINEMA  (NYC):

Williamsburg‘s “Uncaged” series continues Friday with last year’s Mandy at midnight and 1983’s Valley Girl on Saturday morning. Casabalanca is also playing at the Prospect Park on Thursday, and unrelated but Back to the Future will play there on Monday night. Billy Wilder’s 1954 film Sabrina, starring Bogart, Hepburn and Holden will play on Saturay morning.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Weekend Classics: Luis Buñuel is back with Belle de Jour from 1967, starring Catherine Deneuve.  Waverly Midnights: Hindsight is 2020 will screen the animated Ghost in the Shell, while Late Night Favorites: Winter 2020 will also go with an Anime film, Paprika.

MOMA  (NYC):

Modern Matinees: Jack Lemmon is off Weds. and Thursday but will return Friday with Billy Wilder’s Irma La Douce (1963).

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

BAM will continue to show Horace Jenkins’ 1982 film Cane River through the weekend.

Next week, the second to last week of February (man, it flew right by!) will include Fox’s The Call of the Wild, starring Harrison Ford, and the horror sequel, Brahms: The Boy II.

[ikemenotaku82]

My dabble of Mitsuhide

This is based off the sketch CG posted in the Twitter page on Mitsuhide holding a rifle, with MC behind him. So it's going to be like reading chapter 2, episode 1 to 5 😁

@acrispyapple I hope this is within copyrights of Cybird...

Tagging @mitsuhidethesnek @colivara @louveau

Based off this link here

"Hmmm, I wonder what is the little mouse up to now..."

Mitsuhide stood silently off the side of the corridor as he shuts the door behind him. Nobunaga continues on with another of his war councils with the rest of the Oda forces. It seems like after he brought in the rumors of the Tiger and Dragon still alive has caused quite a stir among his fellow warlords.

Strike by the sudden urge to seek out their newly appointed chatelaine, Mitsuhide excuses himself from the council and heads for her room. He already concluded that the female is no spy from anyone against his lord, nor is she someone that belongs here. His network of information gathering as he would call brought little to zero details about her. He still remembers his lord offhand remarks about her coming from the future and decides its time to get the truth from the source.

After making a couple of turns and walking through several shortcuts known only to him, Mitsuhide reaches the corridor that leads to her room. As he is about to step forward, his ears pick up the noise of someone dropping from the ceiling. He waits and was rewarded when he hears her talking to someone. Despite the fact he could not hear their conversation, it is clear that someone, other than the Oda knew of her and perhaps her origin.

Intrigued, he decided to keep a close eye on her and waits for her next move. It didn't take long before she'd established a routine, one of them was to always stop by the free trading market where merchants beyond Azuchi come to set up and sell their wares. Mitsuhide chooses to follow her instead of sending one of his men, his instincts tell him that the lesser people know about their chatelaine's background, the better it is for her safety.

Imagine his surprise when she shows familiarize with the one person everyone in the castle has been searching for, Yukimura Sanada. Soon, another male, wearing glasses like Mitsunari, but of a different color, appears out of nowhere and the three of them set off together. He felt a slight disappointment, believing that she's just a victim of circumstances. Before he could decide what to do with this new fact, more people gathered out of the blue and follow the trio.

On high alert, Mitsuhide trails after them, making note of their appearances and attires. He witnesses her chatting with the crimson demon from Takada and he guessed, is the ninja belonging to the God of War. The group he is following kept their distance as if waiting for an opportunity. His mind already made the connections, but he holds himself back, watching and waiting.

The three of them stopped at their tracks when a stranger approaches them. The two males make their apologies and left her alone. She makes a turn and heads back towards the direction of the castle, using the alleyway since it's getting dark. The group that was following them starts to scatter and approach her. Mitsuhide then knew whoever they are, they are not from the Takada-Uesugi alliance.

All too soon, he saw that they got her surrounded, and one of them reaches out and tries to grab her arm.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, she might slap you in retaliation." His voice, soft yet distinct, resounds around them. As the men stood in astonishment that someone sneaks up to them, Mitsuhide drew his sword out.

"Now do drop those weapons, and come quietly with me. Or face the consequences." One of the men present scoffs, "You and what army? I only see a lone man against the lot of us. And since you saw us, you're not allowed to live here alive."

"Whoever says I'm alone......" In the opposite direction, two tall figures appear before them. As they approach, she let out a gasp as she realized their identities.

"...Sasuke-kun...Yuki..." Her bewilderment is all the answer he needs to confirmed that she is not involved with them. The man she calls Yuki is wielding a spear, while the bespectacled man has his face all covered, armed with a kunai. It was a stroke of luck that one of his vassals was around the area and he got him to pass the letter he hastily wrote to them. The way they react and how 'Yuki' defer to him about her safety was enough to convince him to include them in his plan.

"It's only three men, we can take them down. Come on!" Mitsuhide strikes the nearest person, taking him down in one blow before anyone could react to the order. The other two moves in quickly, in sync with each other as they disarm them of their weapons. One of the men saw that capture is imminent and decides to grab her as a hostage. Mitsuhide anticipates that and stood between them, this time with his rifle drawn and locked into position.

"That is not a wise decision you have made. And this is the price you have to pay..." Before anyone could say anything, the man sank to the ground and beg for forgiveness. Three pairs of eyes stare at him, two of them look on without any indication of their emotions. Mitsuhide felt a small hand pressing on the back of his shoulder blade, "...Please...let him live..."

Mitsuhide huffs softly, only for her ears. "You're too soft. This native thinking of yours will get you killed... But then, so am I..." He raises his rifle and knocks the man out cold. He turns towards the enemies of his lord, his smiling mask on, "Welcome to Azuchi, Yukimura Sanada, Shingen Takeda's top general, and you, the ninja from Kenshin Uesugi. My gratitude for assisting in the rescue of our Chatelaine. As a show of my appreciation, I would like you to leave this place and return to Echigo. On my part, I will keep mum of your presences as long as possible until your departure."

"You're the man they called the silver kitsune, Mitsuhide Akechi. I have heard a lot about you and I believe we can work out a compromise." The ninja voice out to break up the tension caused by his demand. "But before that, let me introduce myself, my name is Sasuke Sarutobi, and as you said, I worked under Kenshin-sama. My friend here, Yuki, A.K.A. Yukimura Sanada, follows Shingen-sama."

"What is Ee, Ke, Ee?" Yuki hissed under his breath.

"It stands for also known as, it's an acronym," Sasuke explains blandly.

"Ah-ko...Ahhh, you and your weird sayings! Cut it out, already. Can't you see our cover have been exposed!" Yukimura snaps at his companion.

"Yes, and that is why I suggest a compromise, Yukimura." Sasuke pushes up his glasses, his eyes show his determination despite the lack of facial emotion.

"Fu, fu, fu. You are an interesting fellow, much like the little mouse right here......You got my undivided attention and curiosity now, Sasuke-san. Let's talk and in the meantime, tell me about the both of you, about how you came here, 500 years from the future"

~Owari for now~