#and then an ep that focuses on the full cast of the other groups (so a aoi+rio+ai+kokoro focused ep and a rui+yu+sumire focused ep)

[hobisenby]

a request for male reader and jungkook. reader is 8th member of bangtan boys, and hes younger that jungkook, so he tends to go to him for everything (this is romantic btw) they are filming a run bts! episode (preferrably ep. 18) and maybe jin said something in the heat of competition and reader went to snitch to jungkook, they were scolded by jin and jungkook instantly gets up lol i think it would be so cute

Snitch

Y/N has always been a competitive guy, maybe that's why he and Jungkook attracted each other. During games he yells, make playful comments and is very close to swearing at his losses. Jungkook is more of a focused competitor, but competitive none the less. Jungkook and the boy are similar and opposite in all the right ways. Both the youngest of the group, but y/n just a bit younger than Jungkook. Both of them seem to he very skilled, like playing games and teasing the oldest.

Which is exactly what led to this moment.

"He said what?" Jungkook jumps up from his seat, eyes already focused on the door, wanting nothing more than to find his hyung.

-

It happened during the filming op run bts, episode 17 and 18 to be specific. The famous arcade episodes. After playing the dancing and basketball games they moved on to the racing game. And y/n being the competitive guy he is wanted nothing more than to beat his hyungs. He won from Yoongi, which was a relatively calm race considering how verbal y/n usually gets. And then he had to go against Jin, which was actually really close and full of surprises. Just as it seemed Jin was having a lead y/n got ahead of him, but Jin switched those positions back very quickly. This happened quite a few times before y/n did end up winning with just a second.

As the boys were cheering and talking y/n heard Jin mutter something under his breath, a small smile apparent on his face though. So, nothing serious.

-

"It's fine Jungkook, he just lost the game and was probably still heated from the race. It's nothing bad." Y/N explains, hoping to keep his boyfriend from scolding the eldest, knowing fully well how protective Jungkook is over him.

He has been since forever, always the person y/n goes to for guidance and advice. And to Jungkook it's always been cute, and it led him to falling for the younger boy.

"But he shouldn't have said that! I mean, he can't say that to my boyfriend." He speaks loudly, his eyes getting a bit wider as his gaze fixes on y/n. It's clear his mind is set. "I should give him a piece of mind." And after a bit of thinking y/n agrees, realizing having Jungkook scold Jin might even be a funny sight. When the elder hears the okay he grabs y/n hand and drags him with him to where Jin is.

"Hyung, I think you should say sorry to y/n." Jungkook says, standing right in front of Jin, raising an eyebrow at the male on the couch. This causes Jin to look up at him and then cast his gaze towards the other boy, a frown on his face. "Did I do something?" Y/N's first reaction is to reassure the oldest and tell him its fine, but decides against it. He wants to see him this plays out. "You don't even remember being rude to him?" Jungkook's voice is laced in disbelief. Y/N feels the urge to laugh, loving how serious Jungkook makes it seem and that Jin seems to belief it as well. After a few seconds of Jin trying to realize what he did wrong Jungkook speaks up again. "Earlier, at the arcade. You said some mean stuff to y/n. He won and you were being a sore loser, now apologize." Jungkooks tone gets a big more aggressive and y/n wonders if he is actually taking this as serious as he makes it seem. Jin's mouth makes an o-shape and looks back at y/n with unsure eyes. "I didn't realize it was that bad. It was in the heat of the moment, excuse me. I'm sorry." His apologize comes out sincere and he slightly bows his head. Y/N chuckles at that and shakes his head, "it's fine, hyung."

-

"Was I too harsh on him?" Jungkook asks the boy later that night. They're laying in bed, Jungkook on his back as y/n cuddles into him, head laying on his shoulder. Y/N hums lowly, planting a kiss on his boyfriends cheek. "Considering we were all playing games... maybe. But it was cute." Jungkook chuckles at that, circling his fingers on y/n's back. "I love you." This causes y/n's arms and legs to wrap around his boyfriend tighter, a warm and lazy smile taking over his features. "I love you too."

[floater0352]

TL;DR warning: TFATWS Ep. 6 / Finale There’s a lot to unpack in this series finale, and I sure as hell am not the expert to do this, but I thought I’d highlight some particular issues I have. Much of this, admittedly, will be coming from the high character tenors of the previous episodes, whereas this episode is really where the “MCU kind of movie denouement” kicks in. If you can call/criticize something as “Disney formula” writing, this might be it. Did it hamper/dampen my enjoyment of this series? Not THAT much, but it really stands out and suggests it could have been better. So let me do a few numbers. 1. PRO: A very acceptable execution of selling not only Sam’s first outing as ‘Captain America’, not only the affirmation of Bucky Barnes’ commitment to heroism, but the apotheosis long-denied to Isaiah Bradley. I’m getting the impression much of the gushing here in Tumblr will be focusing on that--and to an extent, I am in agreement.  their characters were very well fleshed out and to be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way. There may be still other things I would recommend as a better laid-out recognition for Isaiah (something more faithful to the Truth comic miniseries), but that’s a minor quibble compared to the others below.  

2. CON: Falling into the trap of a “GOT-layout” series ending Ok, that description might be too harsh. After all, point # 1 is near perfect. 

However, and this is a very big HOWEVER... A really good show does not rely solely on giving your main characters the best ending possible. Their supporting cast deserves at least a fair amount of character development (understandable motivations, a good appreciation of their character arcs, more moments which make you empathize with them especially if you are trying to experiment with moral ambiguity on their characters). The fact that the action sequence ate up more than half of the final episode’s near-50 minute runtime really prevented any further character development moments. How, to some extent, this became insufficient with Karli Morgenthau and John Walker become really apparent in the end.  3. CON: Under-served Character Denouements Karli and the Flag-Smashers, in practice, were basically given the “Killmonger” treatment: they’ll have to die, but the validity of their moral argument will be recognized. As someone with a very limited set of fandoms I follow, the only other place I’ve seen this done is Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. The protagonist cast was left to die, but the tragedy of their situation led their world to improve things for the better. (For those familiar with this fandom, many will understand that this did not go down well.) Compare this, in turn, to how Breaking Bad gives even the supporting cast and side-characters understandable character endings.

The reason of complaint here, being, that this kind of story flow robs these characters of agency not only in their tragedy--but also how they choose to go out. Sympathetic tragic characters, to an extent, are at least given some dignity in how they go out. The fact that Karli and the Flag-Smashers are practically disposed of by a) Sharon, now fully revealed as the criminal Power-Broker and b) Zemo, whose butler is no less capable in extreme action even while he was in prison further highlights how they are basically reduced into ‘plot elements’, not a fully-realized group/faction of people.

John Walker, for his part, is also given very little to do (and indeed, what little he was able to do in the entire fight sequence is laughable). Even his one spark of “good choice” (seeking to save the falling vehicle’s occupants), even if he failed, was ultimately overshadowed by Sam’s more flamboyant rescue. One might be able to make argument, perhaps, that that is the point: Walker’s arc in this episode, perhaps, is to finally learn why exactly he can’t become Captain America: because he remains primarily a soldier, and only good at that. Witnessing Sam arguing and pontificating in front of the cameras, perhaps, is what hammers it home to him--and why perhaps his last scene in the series is him accepting his new role as U.S. Agent. If his world is going to be small and he is going to be pigeonholed into what he is good at, so be it. If he can’t be Captain America (now that he knows why exactly that symbol is powerful, and what is required of it), he’ll find his way with people who will let him be what he can be. Notice, however, how even between these two underserved characters, John Walker has a more understandable progression. I don’t think I’ll really be able to fault ‘left-wing’ viewers of the show who will be left dissatisfied by this ending (especially those who are sympathetic to the Flag-Smashers’ demands--especially as to some extent (due to my own line of work and leanings, I’m kind of one of those). And then there’s the reveal of Sharon as the Power-Broker--its own can of worms, but I’ll fold it in the next item. 4. MIXED BAG: How the show’s social layout closes

The fact that the MCU’s undercurrent politics remains to be “institutions are bad, mob/grassroots action will always be misguided, let media-chosen/private individuals and orgs show you the ‘right way’ of doing things”--it isn’t really as helpful as it could be. The show basically ends with Sam and Bucky’s individual arcs and moral world-views affirmed. It is definitely a happy ending for them. It is, however, pretty difficult to swallow that it ends well for them when the bigger picture is left unaddressed.  (For those who may be interested in this line of critique, this video essay, “Imagining the Tyrant” by Kyle Kallgren / Brows Held High / oancitizen should be helpful.)

Nowhere is this better illustrated than in 2 instances: the setting of Walker’s rechristening as U.S. Agent, and Sharon’s “pardon” scene--now that we know she is in fact the Power Broker. Both events happen in the U.S. Senate Committee hearing hall--basically making the statement that even with a new Captain America that is more ‘home-grown’ and closer to the ground and common people (even as he literally flies high), the institutions of the U.S. government is still as impervious and clueless to its corruption and enabling of crime and injustice. Criminal elements like Valentina de Fontaine and the Power Broker foster the underground economy with impunity, and the U.S. government allows them to for a number of unbuilt/unestablished reasons. 

It’s a valid/backed-up argument to make, and with historical/real life basis at that, but this is the kind of plot development difficult to credibly sell within a 6-episode miniseries already crammed with character arcs--and it shows. Compare this, for example, with how the Netflix series The Punisher built throughout its Season 1 run how exactly can black market profiteering grow under the CIA in a believable way. There, you see exactly what needs to happen for a previously-established upstanding character living in a grey environment to turn grey--even full on black (be it Frank Castle/the Punisher himself, Dinah Madani, or even Billy Russo). I’d want to chalk this up to the possibility of merging/reintroducing that world--and by god, imagine Jon Bernthal’s Punisher returning in this kind of gray area--interacting with Captain America AND the Winter Soldier, as this series is now likely to be titled--should be very interesting.

---- These are the top points in my head after my first watch of this finale. I may be rewatching this again--who knows if I get to come back. Still, it’s been a pretty meaningful ride. P.S. I should probably admit to my Filipino background here again, but it’s hilarious how the closing shot of this series (Sam and Bucky having a party with their family/community near the Louisiana seaside) is basically how mosts 80′s/90′s era Filipino action and comedy films end (either a beach party or a wedding/outing near a beach/swimming pool). The presence of Pinoy shout-outs in this series (”Amatz” and “Isang Tao, Isang Mundo”) really emphasize how this might not be an accident.

[popculturebuffet]

Static Shock: Shock to the System and Aftershock Review

“You know what? 13 years ago, me and some friends sat in a restaurant all night and daydreamed about the kinds of stories we would tell if we had the chance. We wanted to expand the concept of superhero to include characters that kind of looked like us, who had some of the same background, experiences and dreams as we did. We wanted to create something fun that a new generation would respond to the same way we responded to our childhood heroes -and damn if we didn't succeed beyond my wildest dreams. Today, Static Shock is a household name with millions of fans of all ages (Is there stuff I'd do differently? Yeah, almost all of season four but why nitpick?) Static is the most successful thing I've ever helped create and I'm both proud and gratified that people have taken it into their hearts. “ 

Dwayne McDuffie, Co-Creator of Static and Writer for Static Shock

This review is dedicated to Dwayne McDuffie and Robert L. Washington III.                                                        Rest In Power Static Shock is awesome. I grew up with the show watching it both first run on the WB and second run on Cartoon Network and loved it as much as I did other large parts of my childhood courtsey of DC like Batman the Animated Series, Teen Titans and both Justice League Shows. What makes this unique among the DC Properties is that Static wasn’t really a big name when he got a show. He wasn’t even part of the DC Universe. 

See as I had no idea for probably a good decade, Static actually came from Milestone Comics, a company ran by and focused on african americans. The goal was understandable: While black heroes existed at the time, and there were some fantastic ones like Storm, Jim Rhodes and Steel... these guys weren’t the center of their universes. The big faces of the big  companies, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash.. were white. So milestone was a shakeup of that with the main teams and heroes all being black, from Icon, an alien who’d lived among man but rather than end up in kansas like say superman ended up imprinting on a slave woman centuries ago and has been with us since, who was encouraged by an energetic teenager named Rocket to put on a costume and do something with his powers and his community, Hardware, a tech genius who had his work stolen by a white asshole and wanted to fight back and BLood Syndicate, a group of gang members all caught in the “The Big Bang”, a huge fight between all of Dakota, the midwest city where the comics take place, that ended when the police released a bunch of experimental gas that gave them all super powers. 

As most of you who have watched the show already know, this is where Static comes from. Static was the company making their own Spider-Man, i.e. a nerdy teenager who suddenly gets super powers, in this case Virgil Hawkins who at the prodding of a friend took a gun to The Big Bang to get revenge on a bully. .but ultimately couldn’t go through with it, decided it wasn’t him and got rid of the gun and ran.. and still ended up in it, becoming Static, a young hero dedicated to using his powers to fight other “Bang Babies”.. a term that dosen’t really sound that great and they really should’ve thought through. But Phrasing aside the character was great and I look forward to reading more and only haven’t because I have to buy the issues gradually, but DC is currently re-releasing the individual issues of Static, Icon, and Hardware weekly in anticipation of a reboot of Milestone Coming in May digitally on Comixology at only 2 bucks a pop, and rereleased the original print collections that were long out of print for 10 bucks each, though i’m getting static on it’s own since i’ts really not that much less expensive as it only collects four issues while Icon and Hardware both collect 8, so I can wait a bit there on Hardware and already own Icon: A Hero’s Welcome.. and really need to review it at some point. 

While Milestone’s output was good, at least from the two books i’ve read, with Robert Washinton III, who sadly not only ahs also passed but was fucking homeless for a while  in the 2000′s.. what the actual hell, writing Static alongside Dwayne McDuffie, whose later moved onto animation writing tons of Static episodes all of them classics including the school shooting episode, the first three rubberbandman episodes and both Anasazi episodes. Point is it had good writers and artists and even had a distrbution deal with DC, so they had a leg up on the glut of other comic book companies.. but happened to start at the start of the comic book crash, a huge downturn in sales in the 90′s as the speculator boom, i.e. a bunch of people assuming every number one would be worth golden and silver age money, forgetting a character has to BUILD INTREST and this stuff takes time, and whose attempts to sell fast flooded the market with comics no one wanted,, caused the roof to cave in and with a bunch of assholes pegging milestone as a “Company for black people” rather than you know, a company trying to add fucking diversity and represntation to the comics industry, and that simply wanted a unvierse that was centered around people of color instead of white guys. The company eventually had to shut down, and was left to lisencing.  This is where the show comes in. Producers HAD been trying to make shows based on Milestone for a while, as far back as the mid-90s and the company was was all for it but the closest it got was an x-men style team series using various characters whose first draft was terrible and whose second draft by Alan Burnett, a producer on various DC Animated shows who’d go on to produce Static Shock, that McDuffie and others really liked but sadly did not get picked up. eventually though with presistance Static ended up getting a series and as I said McDuffie went on to write for it though he did not develop it. Some changes went into place naturally to make it work for an early 2000′s kids show and while i’ll probably miss so since again, only read one issue as we go. But due to Milestone coming back my intrest was peaking, hence finally reading the copy of Icon I had to buy from the library years ago due to keeping it overdue but am now EXTREMLEY glad I own as i’ts incredibly rare and really damn good, and wanting to read static, doing so lately since it’s finally on digtiial and again not too expensive. So join me as I give you a shock to the system and revisit this hell of a series to see if it holds up.. which just to cut that short it does and i’m only holding off binging MORE because I want the first two eps to be fresh enough in my head to review properly.. and also go over the various voice actors because that’s a thing with me now and charcter co-creator dwayne mcduffie because he’s awesome. 

As I like to do when covering a series first episodes, let’s run down the voice cast. 

First up is an UTTER LEGEND, and I use the term voice acting legend a lot, and mean it every time and have good reason to use it when I say it, and Phil LaMarr is a GOD in the buisness, having done a metric ton of voice acting roles, and being easily the most proflific black voice actor in animation. He’s also done some acting work, mostly in pulp fiction which I have not seen, but his true staying power and talent is in animation so here’s just the roles I feel are most notable or may not be very notable but i’m bringing up anyway because it’s my list. 

His roles besides Virgil include Lester Payton the Texas Ranger who showed up for one very good episode of king of the hill to be badass and show up the hickish, stupid and very punchable local Sheriff, Gearld’s obnoxious older brother Jamie O on Hey Arnold, Hermes Conrad from futurama, Carver from the Weekenders (PUT IT ON PLUS DISNEY), Axel Foley for exactly one bit in Clerks the Animated Series, but anyone whose seen it will know exactly which one, Micheal on the Proud Family, Black Vulcan on Harvey Birdman (In His Pants), Hector Con Carne and Dracula on Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Evil Con Carne, Jack on Samurai Jack something I didn’t know for decades (and I didn’t know about the carver thing till today though i’ts obvious in hindsight), John Motherfucking Stewart on Justice League and later Steel and Adult Static in the Unlimited seasons, Osmosis Jones on Ozzy and Drix, Bolbi Strogofski on Jimmy Neutron (And yes i’m just as shocked as you are.), Wilt on Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Marcus on Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Bull Sharkowski on My Gym Partner is A Monkey and Also a Sociopath Please Help God My Life is a waking nightmare..... okay the rest of that title is implied but we all watched the same show, we all know in our hearts that was the title

Moving on, he was also, and yes there’s MORE: Maxie Zeus on The Batman, Philly Phil on Class of 3000, Both Robertsons AND Fancy Dan on the Spectacular Spider-Man, Jazz on Transformers Animated, Kit Fisto and Bail Organa on Star Wars the Clone Wars, Gambit and Bolivar Trask on Wolverine and the X-Men, Aquaman I, L-Ron and Green Beetle on Young Justice, J.A.R.V.I.S. and Wonder Man (Simon Williams) In Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Gabe and Carny on Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters (Really miss that game and have been snapping up what cards I can get lately), Baxter Stockman in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (And there’s also an awesome photo of him with 2003 Baxter... the two best together in one place. I got chills), Dormammu (I’ve come to bargin) in various Marvel Shows, Noville in Mighty Magiswords, Zach’s dad Marcus in Milo Muprhy’s Law, Craig’s Douchey Brother Benard on Craig of the Creek, showing he’s clearly come full circle, And Mr. Scully on the Casagrndes. And given It took about two paragraphs to cover all of this, yeah, I MEANT legend. 

Next we have Kevin Micheal Richardson as Virgil’s Dad Robert, and it’s the first time since I started introducing Voice Actors on a show that i’ve overlapped. I already covered him during the second episode of legend of the three caballeros, but for the short version he’s also very acomplished, very damn good and I somehow missed he played the old blind guy in hey arnold> Needless to say the dude is awesome. 

Virgil’s Sister Sharon is played by Michele Morgan who was in the rap group BWP and did some smaller roles outside of this the one exception being Juicy on the PJ’s, which I have not watched much of but REALLY do not like, though i’ll at least give it credit for being a decently long lasted black claymation sitcom at at time when there were, and hoenstly still aren’t, many black animated shows. 

Back to long casting sheets, next up is Jason Marsden, who is one of my faviorites as i’ve realized recently as Ritchie. As I also found out only recently he started on the Sitcom Step By Step and while that show is .. ehhhhhhhhh, he is great in it because he’s great in everything. He also apparently has his own internet variety show which I have to watch now. His roles include Max Goof, ironically given I was just talking about that role a few days ago, Haku in the english dub of Spirted Away, Micheal, the kid being yelled at by a bunch of 80′s cartoons characters not to take drugs in Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue!, Nermal in the DTV Garfield movies and The Garfield Show, Tino on the Weekenders (SERIOUSLY DISNEY), Snapper Carr on Justice League, Rikochet on Mucha Lucha! for the last season (Why I do not knkow and while I love the guy he was not the right choice), Felix on Kim Possible, Chase Young on Xiaolin Showdown (WHich I did not realize was him and now I do easily his best role and I REALLY should’ve), Red Star and Billy Numerous on Teen Titans, Speedy on Batman Brave and the Bold, Impulse/Kid Flash II on Young Justice, and Fingers on Kaijudo. He hasn’t done as much lately which is a shame but hopefully i’tll pick up again. 

Next up is Hotstreak, Virgil’s brutal bully turned unhinted pyromancer played by DANIEL COOKSY, another actor i’m happy to talk about and another faviorite I haven’t seen much of lately. Daniel was an actor from childhood, playing Budnick on Salute Your Shorts, but he quickly gained a long and storied catalogue of VA Work: His first big roll was as Montana Max on Tiny Toon Adventures and if there is a god he’ll be back for the reboot, Stoop Kid on Hey Arnold, the incomprable Jack Spicer on Xiaolin Showdown, far and away his best role and part of why Chronicles sucked so bad was he was he didn’t get to reprise the role, The titular Dave the Barbarian, Django of the Dead on El Tigre (Had no idea), Kicks utterly insufferable big Brother Brad on Kick Buttowski and apparently he’s back at it again after laying low for a bit as he’s voicing Snag in Long Gone Gultch.. which I already really needed to watch but hot damn, I missed him. Sign me up. 

Frieda, Virgil’s crush and close friend who in the comics was his main confidante and love intrest but here is eventually pushed aside, is voiced by Danica Mckeller whose work didn’t seem all that familiar.. until I found out she was Ms. Martian on Young Justice. Hello, Megan. Very talented and she did get a major role in a dc show eventually so good for her. Can’t wait for season 4. 

So with our major players out of the way,  let’s talk about Dwayne. McDuffie is an AWESOME man and my respect has grown for him more and more with time. A writer and editor at Marvel, McDuffie has a decent resume doing smaller but awesome books, which I got most of for free last year when Marvel was giving out free digital collections due to the lock down, like Damage Control, a sitcom set in the marvel universe about the company that picks up after superhero battles and the logistics and antics that insue and Dethlok, about a pacfist trapped inside a cyborg zombie. He was as mentioned one of Milestone’s founders, and wrote Icon, Hardware and co-wrote the first few issues of Static. He’d go on to a pretty stacked career in animation, writing on this show and Justice League before becoming  story editor and show runner for Unlimited , even making a return to comics as a result writing the Marvel miniseries beyond and an arc of Fantastic Four in which Black Panther and Storm filled in for Reed and Sue while the two of them worked on their marriage after Reed did.. pretty much everything he did in Civil War. He also became head writer and show runner for Ben 10: Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, revamping the franchise a bit, and Alien Force, at least the first two seasons are awesome and I feel people overreacted on the changes. Ultimate Alien is okay, but has it’s problems but the finale was awesome and left the man’s legacy on a high note.. as he sadly passed in 2011 due to heart complications. He is truly missed and produced some utterly amazing stuff whlie he was alive. So on that melacholy note let’s see what happens when his creation hits the tv screen shall we?

Shock to the System:

This episode is written by Christopher Simmons, who is apparently a huge art designer guy.. but i’m not sure that’s the same chirsptoher simmons. Much more notable is the writer of the episode after this Stan Berkowitz, who was showrunner for season 1 and has done a LOT of DCAU work and is suprising talent, having written a lot of awesome Justice League episodes including Secret Society and The Royal Flush One. Point is we’re in first class hands.  Before the episode itself I want to talk about the intro and how it’s unique among DCAU shows. Like most Western Animation the intros for DCAU shows didn’t change much over the seasons with the most I can see is JLU changing up the footage to preview the current episode and later adding Hawkgirl to the intro after her return to the team. I THINK superman the animated series changed some of it’s footage too, but I can’t confrim it and may of just been imagining it. As i’ve talked about on my blog it’s normally a pet peeve of mine, mostly because shows you know, change after season 1, characters get added some one shot characters used for the intro never return, and after a while it can feel dated especially in more recent shows where the status quo is not at all set in stone and things change quite a bit. But sometimes it can be good enough that either the dated elements don’t matter or general enough that you don’t need to change it and i’ts just that good.. and given Batman the Animated Series has both in spades, you can see why i’ts probably my golden standard for intros and after superman the animated series DC mostly followed suit. But being part of the teen superhero boom of the 2000′s Static is unique in that it splits the diffrence: It’s intro gets the character across perfectly like a good intro should starting with Virgil getting out of bed and running a comb across his head before showing off to his sister to bug her and literally running into his dad who hand shim his bag and smiles, silently showing off his family. He then runs to school and runs into some trouble.. and said trouble changes for each intro, with Rubberband Man for season 1, Kanga (Whose name I only know because I happened to run across it) for season 2 and your guess is as good as mine for seasons 3 and 4, though Hotstreak is a constant. They still save some money for seasons 1 and 2 by recycling some animation.. but that’s alright with mea s it was good animation, and the improtant thing is cycling out old villians for new ones, while Season 3 is the only out and out redo to show off Richie taking on the Gear identity, adding about 10 seconds of intro to let him show off.  Seriously it’s an utterly great intro and like the other DCAU intros outside of superman, stuck in my brain. 

The other change that’s ENTIRELY diffrent from the rest of htem is that the music changes each time. The first two have the same formula just with a difrent vocalist and backing track: a superhero theme but with some hip hop beat boxing over it. The first intro is fine enough, not specattcular but stilll god. The second song.. is eh. Not really great and feels like a marked downgrade from season 1 and just dosen’t blend an ocrehstiral superhero theme with the beatbox elements NEARLY as well. The third song though is my faviorite.. even if I HATED Little Romeo as a  kid because I really did not like his nick show, it’s more a straight up rap song, but it has a faster beat that fits the intro better, and Romeo’s bragging fits Virgil’s character and penchant for Spidey quips perfectly. I also find it ironic that the theme that blends in with the dcau the most, the first season’s, is the one from BEFORE they decided to put it in the same universe. Still this season’s intro slaps, I just like the LIttle Romeo one a bit more.  The opening scene is picture perfect. Some masked crooks looting a warehouse are loading some stolen TV’s into a van when suddenly the lights come on one by one above one of the crooks before his tv switches to various channels before going haywire. Cue our heroes’ entrance. Let’s tak ea good look at him

Static’s Costume is awesome. While I prefer the season 3 redesign, and clearly DC agrees as the redeisgn was used for both pre and post new-52 when they used him, and while he’s getting a fresh design for the reboot, said design takes a lot of cures from said outfit. As for how the outfit differs from the comics itself  this is the design he had in the comics

It didn’t change much from the first issue, with the exception of his now iconic big puffy jacket which was added pretty early into the character’s history but I was unaware of that and just assumed he had the bodysuit the whole time. The more you know. But as you can see outside of the cool puffy jacket over a costume the two couldn’t be more diffrent. While the Dakotaverse outfit is more a standard superhero outfit, with some regular clothes touches on top the first cartoon outfit comes off more realistic, looking fantastic, but still coming off as something two teenagers could realistically have thrown together with what clothes they could buy, while still looking awesomely superheroy. IN short it’s perfect and only topped by the season 3 onward look...

But the slicker look, with an even cooler jakcet and the new colors all fitting the lighting ascetic better, but fits: not only has Virgil come along farther since he started, but with Richie now having a genius brain as Gear, he can provide a far slicker, far more professional superhero outfit on the budget the two have.  This show is just great  at costume design. 

So getting back to the episode at hand, Static puts up a huge sign in elecrticy saying “Bad guys here”, PFFFT, and then hides away and narrates that a few days ago he’d be the last person anyone would’ve expected to be a hero. Cue Flashback. 

We meet Virgil Hawkins on an average day: rapping into his razor, getting into a petty argument with his older sister Sharon, as a younger brother myself I relate to this, and talking to his dad who tries to get them to cut that out. We find out his mom has passed via his sister making really terrible eggs and saying that’s how mom made them. Exposition! Though we do get a great bit through this as when his sister gets distracted by her boyfriend calling, he uses the opportunity of her leaving the room to dump the eggs.. after having earlier jokingly prayed to his mom for a way out of breakfast. “Thanks for looking out for me mom” That’s both very sweet and very hilarious. 

This is a change from the comics it turns out as I was utterly flored to find Virgil’s mom alive and well when reading the first issue of Static. Turns out this was a change made during development and one Dwane McDuffie admitted in the interview I got the tribute quote from to not liking as he had a good reason for having Virgil have a nuclear family, as most black families in media at the time were just one single parent and a kid or two with the other having either left or died. He wasn’t too bothered by it as while he preferred what he came up with in the first place, the show DID get some really good stories out of her being gone and didn’t just have her be absent because shut up. Virgil is still working over her death and the way HOW she died ends up playing an important role in this episode and gives Virgil a dislike of guns, as she died to gang violence. So the change wasn’t for stupid or racist reasons, but likely both to keep the character count down while giving them something to work with for storylines. Or it could’ve been for stupid reasons and the writers simpily made lemonade out of that very dumb lemon, either way it ended up working.  Virgil also plans to ask his friend Frieda out. Frieda was a bigger deal in the comics, being Virgil’s friend and confidante as well as his ocasional love intrest, but here while she was inteded to at least be his love intrest here, that sorta fizzled out. As for the best friend role we meet her replacement in Richie, which McDuffie conceded was the kind of change a studio would make swapping out a female character for a male one. That being said the crew made the best of it and Richie is awesome, a bit of an overcompensating dipstick at times, but a good sounding board and pal for virgil and funny as hell too. He was also gay, something only revealed post series by McDuffie.. but unlike say Dumbledore, it’s a bit easier to swallow here: The early 2000′s were an even worse time for gay characters in tv let alone cartoons, and if they couldn’t kiss or have sex scenes on regular tv, there was no way we were getting any representation in a children’s show. So it was largely just hinted at by Richie overcompensating in how “into girls” he was and i’m once again fine with this being word of god as it was literally the best they could do and his counterpart in the comics was also gay, if not as relevant.  Ritch encourages Virgil to work on his opening to ask her out as it’s awkward as heck, hits a bit close to home.. but I do appricate the show just .. having him try and ask her out from the first episode. They likely would’ve drug thigns out a bit granted had they used Frieda more, i’m not blind to the convetions of the time. .but as someone who got the very wrong idea from tv that just waiting around meant a girl would like you eventually, when no you need to actually try even if rejection happens, I honestly wish we had more of this in media than the other garbage morals at the time. 

So he prepares to , not helped by her mentioning guy after guy is asking her out.... but before he can F-Stop, the future hotstreak, shows up.  F-STOP

That being said...... it’s not as bad as the original gangster name for the comic’s version, Biz Money B. Yes BIZ MONEY B

So yeah while F-Stop is no more intimidating, it at least means I can stop laughing. Francis, because I can’t type F-Stop without laughing and this review is already behind, shoves Virgil out of the way and agressively hits on Frieda, even saying “you smell good”, the international sign your a douchebag and also to call the police. Virgil steps up to the guy and gets PAINFULLY slammed into the lockers, something I give the animation team a lot of credit for, as you can FEEL how fucking painful that was. Virgil is saved by Wade, another local gangbanger who in the comics was a close friend of Virgils but here saves him seemingly just because.. seemingly. 

On the way home though Virg’s problems don’t end as naturally, the giant sized asshole with nothing better to do has his goons corner virgil before VIOLENTLY beating him.. off screen but the noises, and the clear brusies including a black eye, on virgil afterwords.. just holy damn i’m suprsied they got away with this but it shows just how horrifing it was and that this is a step above regular bullying, which make no mistake is absoluttley terrible and the series would later do an episode on it and school shootings, into straight up gang violence. Wade shows up again and gets the bastards to flee.. but also makes it clear he can’t keep doing this.. and forces Virgil to meet him at his base under the bridge. And it’s a tense sequence, with Virgil KNOWING this is a bad idea but having no real choice and Wade making it abundantly clear that he wants Virgil to join his crew, and makes a chilling point: while Virgils dad RIGHTFULLY dosen’t want his son to join a gang as Virgil points out.. he can’t be there for him all the time and eventually one of those times, Francis will be around. And he may not surivive that. Virgil nods noncomittaly.  At home it gets even more grim as he dosen’t open up to his family, understandably as his dad would jsut say to call the police and well.. we’ve seen how the police treat black people. At best they’d just try and use Virgil as an informant and that likely wouldn’t end fucking well for Virgil. Ritchie points out he can’t join a gang, virgil’s mom died that way.. see told you it’d be important to the plot.. but I like how the story dosen’t offer an easy answer.. well okay he gets electric powers soon enough but without the fantastic element this is just an innocent kid caught between either joining the very thing his mom hated or hoping a system not built to protect him will keep him alive. It’s utterly saddening and chilling and holy shit is it amazing a cartoon in the early 2000′s was able to get away with.. ANY OF THIS, and they handle it great, paired down a bit from the comics but even then it’s still incredibly balsy they got THIS much in. 

Naturally Wade calls in his favor and our hero is forced to come running.. and soon finds out Wade’s brought him in for a massive gang war. Welcome to the big bang, baby. He hands Virgil a gun as things get started and Virgil.. drops the thing and tries to escape, in a harrowing sequence.. and runs into Francis because god apparently REALLY hates this kid today. As if to prove that the police show up and while that prevents a beating, they demand they disassemble. then release untested gas on them because of course they do. 

As a result the big bang truly begins, with the various gang members getting mutated.. and naturally so does virgil. Though he wakes up the next day seemingly fine. How’d he get home? Does his dad know where he was?

I don’t know and we’re not getting any answers, but Virgil soon finds weird stuff happening like his clock shorting out, change being attracted to him and his razor going wild. It’s only once he get sback to his room he gets an inkling of what’s going on and calls Ritchie to meet him at the Junk yard.. though it is a bit of a dick move as he dosen’t you know, tell him anything about Wade or Francis right away. He does at the yard though.. and that he has powers, having finally figured out how to use them to a point. And the series does provide a decent justification later as to why he’d get this so quickly: Virgil is a smart kid, gets great grades at school and apparnetly there’s even an episode later where he gets a scholarship to a fancy genius school. So him getting how elctromagntisim works or being a quick study on it makes perfect sense. 

Richie suggest the obvious.. to become a superhero. And the thought.. hadn’t occured to Virgil. It’s honestly a nice twist on the old trope. That he hadn’t thought of it, not because he’s selfish or any of that or needs to learn a hard lesson, those have been done.. simply because the rush of getting his powers, and implicitly of having a way out of his current predciament, a way to keep Francis off his back and keep Wade from pulling him in further. His own path. But once i’ts brought up.. he jumps on it. Part of it is being a nerd like you or I, of course he wants to.. and being a good intetioned one, he knows this is the right thing to do. It’s waht makes a superhero a hero: Anyone can get powers in a universe like this, esepcailly the dcau, but it takes true courage and heart to use them selflessly and knowing you’ll be in danger. It’s why I love surperheroes: they often didn’t ask for this but they do it anyway because somebody’s gotta. We also get an intresting wrinkle is superman is, at least I think in this episode I could’ve missed it or misremembered things, mentioned as a fictional character. That’s because originally like the comics this wasn’t part of the DCAU.. but eventually the crew decided it shared staff from it, shared a network, both first run and on reruns, why not just make it part of the DCAU proper. I fully support this decisionf: While i’m midly annoyed unlimited never really used anything from static shock outside of Static himself in the time travel episode, despite you know Static and Gear having BEEN to the tower and not being much younger than Kara and defintely older than Courtney, I chalk it up to weird rights issues or something like that. But having Batman, Batman Beyond, Superman, Green Lantern and the Justice League itself all guest star was a good idea, and expanded both static’s universe and gave the DCAU something differnt as most heroes in it were older and more experinced in contrast to the up and coming virgil. Again really would’ve been nice if he and gear could’ve been a part of the expanded league but production might of just been too far ahead or, given he had his own series, they might just have wanted to stick to toher characters. Also begs the question why Icon or Hardware wasn’t adapted for the expanded League but hey, questions for later and the tricky logisitics of the milestone rights might’ve been the issue. I don’t know I wasn’t in the room. 

So we get a costume montage, including Black Vulcan from Superfriends, who again ironically would be voiced by Lamarr not too long after this, though weirdly they DON’T use his outfit from the comics for this montage. I mean why not? It fits the gag and would’ve been a good second to last choice.But what could’ve been aside we get our winner and cut back to present day...

Thanks boys. Static finds out one of the things in the warehouse is a shipment of computers for the school and can’t help but show off, showing up to the school, where Frieda and Richie are setting up for the dance, and dropping off the computers, and even saying his catchphrase for the first time “I’ll put a shock to your system” (Which Richie chimes in with awesome line and I agree, great catcphrase), before helping set up and flirting with frieda. 

Though as Richtie says he’s a natural. He’s not wrong as he can work a crowd. .but back it up too as his first run out had him easily taking out the crooks, and as many teen superheros and fans of heroes of hte type, myself included will tell you, getting it right in one is not easy. Not even Miles MOrales was immune. All Static needs now is a villian. 

And the end of the episode provides one as we see, in horrifc and once again damn suprising detail most of hte new metas aren’t doing so good and are melting and other stuff and we catch up with Francis whose burning up.. and naturally given that hair, though given he named himself F-Stop it’s the least of his problems, he’s got fire powers and escapes to “Have me some fun���

So with that we end episode 1. And it’s excellent, a great way to introduce the hero and while the warehouse opening is a bit superflous, it is a decent addition, showing our heroes first outing in costume and giving us a bit of an action scene to get us through the very heavy rest of the episode. But the rest of the episode is no less grippping, telling the tale of a teen caught in an unwinnable scenario who suddenly finds a way out. And speaking of which waht of Wade? Will we see him again? Is he perhaps Ebon, the series big bad as I thought when I was a kid? What comes of the man who directly caused static’s origin?

Yeahhh that’s the one mistep I think the pilot makes. Frieda is understandable as that was likely a simple change in creative direction. This though? Why build this guy up if your not going to bring him back. I mean where he went was probably the grave, as he probably did due to his mutation, but it’s still VERY weird to spend a whole episode focusing on this guy, building him up as a big personal threat to our hero.. and NOT have him become the series big bad. And maybe he WAS supposed to be ebon and they just changed their mind. I don’t know but it bothers me it bothers me a lot. Otherwise though flawless. ONe more to go. 

Aftershock: We open outside an electronics store, as our heroes watch the news reacap what happened in the first episode, with the media dubbing it the Big Bang and revealing their could be hundreds of “Metahumans”, as Virgil dubs after deciding the media’s term “Mutant” dosen’t fit, a nice wink to the fact that that’s the term used in dc comics and I believe milestone but could be wrong there. Me I like the term, has a nice ring to it. 

At the store while Richie mulls over waht this means Static finds out he’s a human CD player.... this was before mp3 players and streaming on your phone made them horribly obsolete mind you and if you don’t know what one is congradualtions you live in some sort of bubble and you made me feel really old junior. 

Frieda happens to be there and Virgil quips “What’s the matter they run out of britney cds”. Dude she’s not bad. Also be careful what you wish for man. Nickeback returned the year after this. You have not truly suffered through bad music yet my young friend. They spot a kid looking feverish, and he soon turns into a purple werewolf, as you do. It’s a bang baby.. those are richie’s exact word and you may not want to start a panic there bud. Just saying your best friend is one. THeir not all like this. Our heroes book it only to run into Francis who naturally refuses to let them leave and only doesn’t try to beat up Virgil because Virgil points otu the werewolf and nonplussed, he goes to fight it, scarring it off by revealing his own powers. He’s now dubbed himself Hotstreak which points for getting an actually good name kid. No points for what happens next as unsuprisingly getting powers did NOT mak ehim a better person and he attacks Virgil who blocks with a garbage can lid and thankfully is blasted into an ally. Richie tries to guard frieda for damn obvious reasons but gets hsi shirt burnt up because shut up Thankfully Static shows up, and we get our firsdt full on superhuman fight as both fight each other with aplomb, and it’s a damn good fight.. and one that goes pear shaped for Virg as he’s caught off guard when he finds out Hotstreak can use his powers to fly, and tackles him and his previous trauma causes him to freeze up. Thankfully , as Frieda put in a call earlier, the fire department arrive and HOt streak has to retreat, though Virgil is bummed that he “Choked”. And I love this as it not only shows Virgil’s inepxerince, as this is his first time fighting a bad guy but that just because he HAS power now dosen’t mean trauma and his previous fear of Hotstreak goes away or you won’t freeze up from time to time. It dosen’t make him weak or anything like some assholes would call it .. it makes him human. Humans make mistakes, and it makes him all the more relatable that he’s not pefect and that he did freeze up as I know I certainly would at last once in the circumstances. 

Things don’t get better at dinner as Sharon and Pops argue over the bang babies with Pops calling them a meance and Sharon pointing out Static exists so they can’t all be bad. See assuming a group of superhumans are bad because a handful of them ar edick sis why the x-men had to get their own island nation. You can only save an ungreatful populous so many times before you say “fuck it i’m getting my own island, pay me for life saving drugs, save your damn selves and stop doing genocides on us. Kay thanks”. But he does bring up a valid point that rattles his son: We don’t know anything about the Bang Babies or their biological structures and it’s likely they might further mutate into monsters, Static included. 

Virgil, understandably, wants to check this and thus he and richie compare blood samples in science, to no real conclusion. She he checks out with his doctor who assumes he’s sexually active in a great getting crap past the radar bit and a bit of realisim, but he agrees to the test though if something came up he would have to tell Virgil’s dsad and is up front about this. Nice dose of realisim.

That night City Council has a meeting and the Mayor TRIES to deflect Papa Hawkins questions about the bang babies which again, while being a judgmental ass as not every person hit was a gang member (Virgil, and as we discover later some others), and not every gang member is there by choice, some by circumstnace some, like virgil almost was, because they HAD no other option. Again years of reading x-men may of just made me a bit touchy on assholes admitely assuming superpower people bad. But it’s clear the public is upset and while she says an investigation is underway... Virgil and Richie are not only not convinced, but figure she’s actively covering it up. And unlike everyone else there who probably suspects the same, they can do something about it and tail her.  It’s during this, and cleverly as I didn’t realie till writing this using similar skills to his human cd player act, Virgil listens in and discovers whose behind it: Edwin Alva, whose apparently richer than bill gates and a beloved phinarophist Alva, as it turns out, was actually the arch enemy of Hardware in the comics, taking advantage of the guy in his civiliian idtentiy and thus casuing him to launch a war on the asshole. He does transition into this series well though, being the one behind the gas that caused it and with the mayor agreeing to back off, planning to simply dump the info about the big bang on a disc then destroy everything for now till the heat dies down. Yup sounds like a corprate douchebag. 

Static tails him, finds the lab and infiltrates it, stealing the disc.. but getting caught by Alva’s goon, and trapped in a glass prison, forced to use ALL his power to escape and barely getting out alive, but not before bouncing off alva’s car. Still he now has the proof.. and meanwhile Hotstreak, who I was wrong did get captured, is forced to take pill sbut spits them out once the orderly is gone. Dude.. WHY DIDN’T YOU WATCH HIM. Make sure he swallows that shit especially since, as he has no powers right now and can’t harm you. 

Hotstreak escapes off screen and our heroes discuss the disc before he shows up, and we get a REALLY fucking amazing scene: Virgil ducks into an Alleway and ritchie is worried.. and Virgil disarms him with just one word responses Ritchie: Virg you can’t take him.  Virgil: Gotta. Ritchie: Well at least wait for the fire department Virgil: Can’t.  It’s simpile but it gets the point across: This is his fight, he can’t wait for help, and people need him. And this is what makes a true hero: It’s easy to be a hero when everythings going well.. but it’s the true ones who stick it out against the odds and fight anyway. And he’s going to.  So we get one hell of a fight, though naturally Hotstreak burns up the disc. And I do like this as it dosen’t feel contrived.. yes Static could’ve left it with ritchie.. but he wasn’t thinking in the moment and dind’t really have time to think abotu the disc, only that people were being hurt and he was all they had between them and Hotstreak. It was no choice at all. Still that pisses Virgil off that the last night’s work is now worthless, and he fully charges up and curbstomps francis who retreats into a clearing. Hostreak brags when static follows, as even he’s figured out Static needs to be around metal, as he’s usually on his disc or the street, and in the park there suppodsidly isn’t any. But he’s not THAT smart as Virgil points out two things: one, he hoped to do this on PURPOSE so they wouldn’t be around people and no on e would get hurt and 2).. this is a city, there’s metal everywhere.. and he awesomely and cleverly proves it by unlodging a sewage pipe with his powers and dousing his foe, winning and proving his stuff. I love this solution, it’s a clever spider-man type way to disarm him, using smarts and the einvroment instead of just brute forcing it. Though the sewage part wasn’t intetional our hero still won and gets praise from the people dumb enough to follow the fight. 

However at home Virgil points out it was  Pyrrhic Victory and shows off his smarts by telling the tale behind it, which I didn’t know,because tv tropes didn’t exist yet: king pyrhus fought the romans and WON.. but had so little armies left that he still lost overall. That’s what this feels like to Virgil: he beat hotstreak but any chance at a cure for Bang Babies and Alva going to jail for causing them is gone. His mood does get a boost though as the doctor calls and reveals he’s fine, he just has a bit too much elctrolytes and just needs to lay off teh salt. He celebrates, we get a quick gag and the episode ends

Aftershock is another stellar episoe, giving us Virgil’s first super foe and a personal one at that, while showing some growth. As richie tells him he’s not virgil anymore he’s static and he can’t let his past get to him.. and he does’nt going from cowering in fear to easily beating his foe with simple logic. It’s a good followup that answers questions you may have from the first ep, like what does this do to virgil’s body, who supplied the gas, and why has no one done anything about this, and sets up another villian for Static in Alva. Great stuff. I highly recommend these episodes and the show as a whole: it’s fast paced, grounded and enjoyable, having just enough levity to not be too dour but just enough tension and stakes to be intresting. A throughly fantastic superhero show and one that i’d certainly love to revisit on this blog If you have an episode of static or the dcau in general you’d want me to cover, my comissions are open and details are on a tab on my blog or can be gotten simply by asking me via ask or dm. Tommorow we’re going deeper underground, there’s too much damage in this town as the Lena Retrospective continues. So expect gay ducks, straight ducks and some terrfirmains. See you next rainbow. 

[marlasomething]

The Line Is Erased: Day 27 - Drive a Person Crazy

Hello there! This is the first time I write a RQG fic and it’s going to be…rusty (NO IT’S NOT A PUN). Since I don’t want to be depressing AF and I FUCKING KNOW MYSELF, I am going to choose to write from outsider’s PoV, with a teeny tiny group of characters that just happen to be around on the background.

Also, after writing the first one I realised how much this podcast motivates me to keep saying “yes” to my friends’ campaigns and that is always a good choice for many reasons, so this is homage to all of us, people playing as our always very particular characters and suffering because of dices and masters!

So…that is that.

Here is my contribution for Day 27: Damascus + Party, prompts given by @the-line-is-erased on Tumblr.

Episode that covers at least one of the prompts relistened to do this ep. 109 (SUCH A BLAST)

Do forgive me for any possible screw-ups (as well as for my quick tipper, non-native speaker writer).

Allons-y!

“Ok, our informer will me camouflaged as either a goblin or an orc, in the middle of an open conflict between both races”.

“Yorick! Do you think, next time, you will be able to get ACTUAL REAL PRECISE INFORMATION to act upon?”

“I did! Once our informer has given it to us…” they shrugged; the changeling didn’t understand the issue. Yes, finding their contact won’t be the easiest thing ever; but trying to get to an agreement while you are basically telling the other individual that you are not ready for a relationship (and, masterfully, stealing his diary, so full of potential great stories for your songs) wasn’t a piece of cake either.

Tara sighed, sometimes she took her ‘leader’ position too seriously; they recalled how much more loose she had been when their adventures together started.

“Fine, fine. I can try to camouflage have of you as orcs and the other half as goblins. I can cast this upon myself so…” her expression was so miserable Yorick felt pure compassion “…I’ll have to pretend to be a human guard. Of course, a bloody cop…”

She focused but…

“Fuck, the tickets. I’ve already used too many spells. I am too tired for this to work for all of us…one will have to stay behind. Perhaps Agnes, since you are the one that always seems more at the verge of dying (no offense)” Agnes was going to agree when something switched on the bard’s head.

“Wait Tara! I can turn into an orc! That way, when they see one of their kind being so talented with a viola maybe my music (and others’, of course) will start to be more popular amongst them.”

“Then…the other orc?”

“Flip a…shit, three, not two people…Uh…Let’s do it through song” Nym stared at them, almost deadpan.

“You require having SO MUCH PATIENCE.”

-----------------

There they were, Nym and them, shouting similar insults as the rest of the orcs (though they didn’t approach them much, since they had spotted Vincent when he became corporeal for a second and they had saved the moment by saying that Nym kept him around as both a trophy and a cautionary tale because he was the ghost of another orc that double-crossed her and that was what he looked when he died).

The song had been a success and, almost as important, it had the effect wanted.

Then, the music started. Both races had a tiny band (of a quality Yorick was willing to discus, for not very nice reasons) and had started to play at one another while orcs and goblins started…dancing in the same space?

“How dare them had a battle of bands and don’t ask me to come in!” they thought, automatically then joining, focussing their eyes on a goblin that seemed as lost as him and started his solo.

-----------------

Hours had passed and Yorick kept playing (and, from their perspective, winning) while quite enjoyable (well, depending who you asked) havoc got loose around him.

Best party ever.

-----------------------

Extra notes for flavour: title of the story is from the song “You Can Drive a Person Crazy” from Company; rest in peace Stephen Sondheim, you are still here.

As usual, likes/kudos (depending if you are reading this on Tumblr or AO3), feedback and random comments ARE SO HIGHLY APPRECIATED.

-----------------

Also, thanks to the TMA discord channel that posted this prompts! You are lovely, gracias!

Now also live on AO3.

Long life and prosperity,

Marla

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

I had a whole list of stuff I liked about Supergirl Ep. 6x07 “Fear Knot” typed out and then accidentally hit the keyboard command for ‘select all’ and THEN accidentally hit ‘b’ so.

A list! That will...be much shorter than the original! Because I’m very tired and don’t wanna type it up all over again! XD

Spoilers!

Okay, rapid fire highlights, HERE WE GO!

Space Dad was the true MVP here! Just wonderful J’onn content throughout.

The Danvers Sisters hug! I wanted exactly one thing from this episode and that was it. 

Interesting BTS info revealed about the hug: Originally, it was supposed to be the main trio (Kara, J’onn, Alex) but they trimmed it down for time so it ended up being just a Danvers Sisters moment AND, AND! Chyler’s ‘I got you,’ such a LOVELY callback to the Pilot, was ad-libbed!

Fine. Just. Make me feel feelings, show. Geez.

The Tower is a MARTIAN SPACESHIP!

Alex, re: the Tower reveal - “I love Martian technology.”

Same, Alex. Same.

 The ENTIRE* GANG OF SUPERFRIENDS got meaty character bits that build on all of the stuff introduced in earlier episodes! 

*Save for M’gann, but I appreciated they at least had a line about how she was staying behind to hold down the fort. 

Anyways, back to character stuff, in particular! We see Kelly grapple with feeling out of her depth as the lone ‘normal’ one in a group of heroes/vigilantes, introduced in...was it 6x03? AND we see the set-up for GUARDIAN, WOO!

The thing I love about the Guardian mantle, for James and as we’ll no doubt see for Kelly, is that it’s about protecting people; their weapon of choice isn’t really a weapon at all, but a shield.

:D

J’onn and Alex’s stuff more directly ties into how they’ve been handling the ‘save Kara’ mission

Obviously Alex’s fears in particular speak to the larger, ongoing stuff about how so much of Alex’s identity is wrapped up in protecting Kara, but this mini-arc of seven episodes has sort of...laser focused that? A little?

This made a lot more sense in the first draft I swear. XD

And J’onn gets to come full circle with successfully completing the mission by being both a dad AND a strategic leader.

And then poor Nia is still struggling with insecurities regarding her dreaming powers, a thread that looks like it’ll carry over into the next set of episodes.

BRAINY AND THE BALLOONS????

J’onn:

The Lena portion...occurred!

Not really gonna comment on it beyond the very good sci-fi references they packed in there. Of course, we have the Alien 3 reference (which I've opted not to include b/c it’s a pretty gross image that could be upsetting if you’re not expecting it? Also I’m sure it’s all over twitter.)

But the Kelpie also had an Abyss vibe, IMO:

J’onn’s Space Dad montage was EXCELLENT.

J’onn: “NOT TODAY SATAN”

Oh, also, the red Phantom eyes and in-synch talking in Kelly’s fear vision was very creepy.

The different pairings of various characters was cool! I really liked Brainy and Kelly chatting.

And then poor Kara! 

AT HER LOWEST!

WITHOUT HOPE!

FEELING LIKE A DANGER AND A BURDEN TO HER LOVED ONES!

Oh, that meaty character work, we LOVE. TO. SEE. IT.

And shock of all shocks, it is PAPA ZOR?!?!?! WHO SNAPS HER OUT OF IT!??!?!?!

BUT! Papa Zor-El is only able to snap Kara out of it because HE HIMSELF was snapped out of his funk by Kara!

And like. I’ve seen the complaint that this relationship has not been built up enough for us to really care but...IDK. I’m a sucker for the moment where he like, gently touches her face and delivers that hope speech and

GUH! FEEEEEELINGS!!!!

And you know what? I’m glad. That Kara’s dad is not The Worst in this particular adaptation.

I mean. He’s done some incredibly sketchy things still, but. Not quite ‘experimenting on your own child, sending her to a foreign planet WITHOUT ANY CLOTHES and brainwashing her into murdering her cousin’ levels, you know?

“That’s my family. They’re really here.”

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

And then the hug! THE HUG! It’s so quick but it’s so good and I can’t WAIT. UNTIL AUGUST 24th! 

I also love that we got a teaser of the next episode?! That was awesome and wholly unexpected.

(OFFICE SHENANIGANS! AAHHHH LOOKS SO GOOD!)

Oh, also, Nyxly (Nixly??) lives! And catches a ride to Earth Prime, which I’m sure will go over well. XD

As always, some OVERALL THOUGHTS!

ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR DAVID! An interesting but no doubt tricky episode to direct! It came together so nicely, though, and had some genuinely neat set-ups in terms of how they used the cast and set.

(Also round of applause for Chyler’s episode last week, totally forgot to give her props in my list. FOR SHAME. For shame.)

In terms of season 6 thus far as a whole...I’ve just really liked this front half, here.

The Supergirl folks have had to work around some incredibly challenging extenuating circumstances during the final season of their show--I mean. They didn’t have their LEAD ACTRESS until several months into filming! DURING A PANDEMIC!

And while...yeah, I’ll admit I found some of the exposition in various episodes to be. Trying? And still pretty packed because they’re juggling so many characters...that they’ve managed to have such nice character bits throughout is just. GOOD. IT’S VERY GOOD. I LIKE IT A LOT.

As I mentioned above, this mini-arc of seven episodes has done such a solid job of setting up and developing internal conflicts for the characters that are exacerbated by the external conflict that is Kara’s absence. Like, everything is pretty tight! And connected! There’s such a good through-line EVEN WITH the two time travel episodes!

(And, okay, I’ll indulge in one targeted bit of ‘c’mon fandom, really?’ - I’ve already seen complaints of, ‘I thought this show was about SUPERGIRL’ re: this particular episode and like...did you miss? The whole previous episode? That was such a nice Kara showcase? And I say again: LEAD ACTRESS. WAS UNAVAILABLE. AND HAD TO PLAY CATCH-UP. ALSO, PANDEMIC.)  

(And in fact, the whole Phantom Zone plot has been a BRILLIANT bit of efficient storytelling--you not only have an in-universe reason for your lack of a lead, but also, it creates this space for the other characters to really miss Kara.

I guess the way I would describe it is like...going back to Kara’s original death in Crisis--yeah, it sucked that she died, but the entire DC Universe came together to talk about how heroic and great she was. And in a final season? Of a show called Supergirl? If you can’t have your lead on screen, the NEXT BEST THING is to have the character’s presence really felt via the OTHER characters.

With stuff like, having her inspire them! And reflecting on what she means to them, as a friend and family member!

...Again, this made more sense in the original draft? XD)

...Anyways.

My only nitpicks: I miss Will! But understand why he hasn’t been around, from a story standpoint. Also, the dialogue in some of the earliest episodes didn’t always...gel? But these last three in particular have been much improved in that regard.

IDK if I’ll keep these li’l positivity lists going throughout the remainder of the last batch of episodes--the move to Tuesday night has been tough. XD But either way, SUPER (ha, ha) excited for the back half!

[gizkasparadise]

What would you recommend for dramas to start watching? I've only seen Moon Lovers, but I liked it!

ha! moon lovers was my first one too, it’s hilarious to me how many of us started with that one :D WELCOME TO THE PIT

i’ll break it down to top 5 kdramas, top 5 cdramas, favorites im currently watching, and If You Liked Moon Lovers. the names of the dramas link to the reviews or powerpoints i’ve made for them!

TOP 5 KDRAMAS

mystic pop-up bar. found family story that features a hundreds-year old shaman who is cursed to help humans achieve their dreams (in a literal sense), a retired ghost cop turned sous chef, and a sensitive boy who’s got a lot of feelings (mostly from other people). they run a bar, fight ghost crime, and end up becoming True Family and my heaaaaaart

chicago typewriter. reincarnation story that pans between the lifespans of three True Companions between modern times and 1930s, Japan-occupied Korea. we got La Resistance, spies and snipers, love stories, ghosts, and a golden retriever. a fantastic show from start to finish, great if you’re into tragic friendships and second chances with a healthy dose of romance on the side. slow start, but once it gets going hot damn

welcome to waikiki. lol in my COMBO BREAKER move, welcome to waikiki is essentially a sitcom about three dudes who run a hostel/bed and breakfast called waikiki. they end up taking in a single mom, and shenanigans spiral from there. i think of it as chaotic good in tone, the same way it’s always sunny in philadelphia is chaotic evil. i laughed my ass off, and the main male lead (dong gu) is probably my favorite male lead

he is psychometric. build-a-bear meets CSI. an arsonist attack leaves lee ahn an orphan and also psychometric--meaning he can read the memories of objects and people with skin-to-skin contact. he uses this ability to team up with jae in, whose father was the convicted suspect of the arson, another survivor of the fire, and a Plucky Detective to reopen the case. one of the softest, sunshine-y male leads and then like. a total mindfuck of a plot twist in the last 4 eps

arthdal chronicles. you’ll either love or hate this one :’D. i love it!!! fantasy-ish, set in a pseudo bronze age era. there is so much to explain on this one, so just check out My Review. 

TOP 5 CDRAMAS

le coup de foudre. soft, slice-of-life story that follows a group of 5 mains (which make up 2 couples + a da chuan) from high school to working life. i’ve got such a weakness for this one because it has so many tropes i love. based on the author/screenwriter’s real life relationship with her husband

go ahead. found family: the series. slice-of-life story that follows two single dads, and their three “children” as they grow up and navigate life. tackles issues like toxic parenting, grief, insomnia/depression, emotional abuse, abandonment, etc. and the relationships between the pseudo-siblings and Primary Dad are beautiful. there’s some flaws, but i haven’t seen a drama like this before and it was so good

love and redemption. omg this show is pure crack, but WHAT A RIDE. i describe it to people as inuyasha if it was on speed. this. show. has. everything. star-crossed lovers, reincarnation, demons, heaven, hell, a merman who owns a magic micro pig. the male lead has more outfit changes than the entire cast combined. surprisingly feminist. NOT heteronormative????????

the romance of tiger and rose. a meta parody that is absolutely chalk full of tropes and focuses on a screenwriter getting stuck in her own wuxia hell of a show. features a murder cat husband

goodbye, my princess. first, if you loved the romantic tragedy of moon lovers YOU GOTTA check this one out. basically a huge, tragic deconstruction of the runaway princess trope. the female lead thinks she’s in a disney movie, the male lead is in game of thrones. this does not end well for either of them. for the days you wanna suffer and be happy about it

THINGS IM WATCHING RIGHT NOW AND REALLY LIKING

kairos. AN ABSOLUTE MINDFUCK. i have no idea what’s going to happen!!! crime/thriller with minimal-to-no romance, but dear god my head spins every ep in a very, very good way

twisted fate of love. time traveling, assassin lady starts dating scheming, ruthless politician. you’ll like if you were into the Edgy Boyfriend aspect of moon lovers

OTHERS IF YOU LIKED MOON LOVERS

hotel del luna. stars IU, and lee joon gi has a fun cameo! ghosts, fabulous outfits

empress ki. kickass heroine, palace politics, unescapable bittersweet ending, love triangle between first love and Unfavorite prince

flower of evil. really has nothing to do with moon lovers, but lee joon gi is there covered in blood and tragically crying

the princess’ man. star-crossed lovers, political backstabbing, palace politics

[isoisolated]

I have ADHD and it's not fun

29/12 edit: coming back to this post, I just wanted to add that at the time of writing, my adhd was unmedicated. Thought this might be good thing to note. 

My friend Ondrej kept sending me articles and texts posts written by other adhd people (mostly adult males) that it finally pushed me to write my own, because even though I could relate to some minor and major parts, something always felt a bit of and also because ADHD is a condition that's been heavily ignored by medical professionals not only in adults, but especially in adult women, which is a group I sort of represent myself. 

I could talk about this for ages, my therapist frequently tells me that I have this gift of intense self-analysis and immense passion to get it all sorted out once for all. I guess it's another way of saying I'm so hyperaware of my own existence and my brain simply latches onto it and constantly tries to solve its own problems. 

If you do not care about my own personal history, just skip to second headline.

I was clueless for the first 20 years of my existence

Now, ADHD isn't the only thing that's been making me feel almost alien, I dare to say that my puberty years were mostly about developing and internalising bit of trauma and processes that do no good in later life. 

I love music. And I mean I truly endlessly unconditionally love music. Being a daughter of music composer, I was 6 when I first asked my dad to show me where to press record in Logic Pro and told him to leave me alone while I recorded my first song. It was called Autumn is here and it sounded like something made by 6 years old. 

I remember we were attending castings for TV shows or commercials and later I was told that it was me who initiated such trips and that I always wanted to be a part of such things. I don't remember initiating such things but I remember for sure that I was very shy and uncomfortable when I was supposed to show off. 

I remember I was supposed to take piano lessons. And I was so baffled that I had to follow the book and play what's in the book, instead of playing thing I wanted. I think I told my parents after few lessons that I do not like it and was dropped outta it. This became a pattern, if I recall correctly. 

But that's nothing out of ordinary, kids are harder to get focused and entertained. I remember two moments from elementary school where I was told by my classmates that I'm acting like I have ADHD and it got me real mad every time, because in my head ADHD looked like not paying attention in class, being body hyper and overall just annoying. 

I could find a proof that I made myself first to-do list when I was 14. Since 14 I felt like I need more self control and self regulation, that I need to fit myself more into ambitions I had and have and in order to do that, I started making to-do lists with ambiguous tasks such as “work more on music” and “work-out”. It was also in during my great isolation era, I had no real life friends but one that I was seeing occasionally, I wasn't going out, I came from school on Friday afternoon and left my room on Monday morning. I was making friends online since I was 11 and lived mostly online. 

At that time I also started figuring out what was wrong with me. Since ever I always felt a bit “off” compared to my peers, I always felt weird (and was told that thousand of times in my life), I always felt like I was thinking about things a bit differently and my humour was different and my hobbies were seen obscure by my classmates (even though they weren't obscure at all). I felt alone for most of my growing up and feelings of complete loneliness and detachment haunt me to this day, making me spiral. 

I thought I might suffer from bipolar disorder, because I had high energy episodes and my emotions were so intense. I was crying almost everyday for both external and internal reasons, my head sometimes felt like too much and I found temporary peace in self-help books and esotericism. 

I was around 17-18 when I realised all of this is bullshit and that no book can make me do things that I wanna do. I'd spent hours, days and months thinking about doing things, being crippled by this weird force that hold my body down, unable to do anything, no matter how much I wanted it. I'd beat myself up for it, thinking I was just so damn lazy and stupid and pretentious. I wanna be a popstar, a successful musician, I have to do all these things and if not, I'm gonna fail so much and my life will lose its meaning. 

When I was 17, I released my first EP and for some reason, it found some attention and success, if we might call it that. Suddenly I felt on the right path, I was seen as a musician and also very young one. Even though I still was sad almost every day or had intense sadness episodes that could last for a week, it felt right and I couldn't wait to finish high school and become a full time musician. 

I'd produce music in unplanned episodes of total focus, where I would sit and do things for hours straight, without eating. My most favorite songs were made during 6-8 hour sessions and it felt amazing. I couldn't bring myself to produce music if I hadn't the right vibe or idea for it. 

It was around that time this woman texted me, saying she wants to be my manager and that she really likes my music. It felt so unreal but here I am, with my own professional manager, on my way to be the most amazing music person.

I'd crush on people (and mostly boys and men) constantly, it was also very episodic, could last for days to month where I'd had nothing on my mind but them, drowned in daydreaming and just imagining things and also letting them know all of that. It was magical but it was fleeting. It still is. But it is the greatest inspiration, where I feel so much emotions it makes me see things and then I can transform them into music. 

But there was still something wrong with me, I was very emotional, still struggling with making my routines work, I'd come up with new plans and schedules every week just to fail them the day after. It was exhausting and I saw nothing alike in my world too, I was alone and my experience was just not enough will power. 

I could get mad so easily, I'd clench my fists and was so close to punching someone and when I hated someone I hated them with immense passion and spent hours just imagining myself confronting them. I was so mad all the time on background too and even slightest thing would put me in classic rage mode.

I have problems remembering dates and names, I'm bad at remembering people's faces, I'm bad at learning things by myself even though I have interest in them. I'm bad at making routine for myself and actually following it.

I finished high school and planned to go study abroad but it turned out it isn't what I want so I came back and started looking for a job. Around that time I met my now best friend and thanks to him I actually started thinking even harder what might be wrong with me, so I looked up ADHD. And didn't believe that at all. I wasn't like this, was I? 

Then, the summer came and I met my friend (and also a fan) while being out for a beer. We chatted, had a great time and then told me I kinda am like a person with ADD. I was confused because I didn't recall what that does mean, later I remembered it's another (and outdated) term for ADHD, but it's the “quiet type”, where the hype happens mostly inside and doesn't manifest outside that much. So I started researching once again, because I trusted him and it was that one push I needed.

It's been year since that moment and it took me months to accept that I might suffer from ADHD and to this day I still have feelings of impostor syndrome, making it all harder for myself just like that, to be more interesting for myself. I still yet have to accept this. 

I was transitioning into adulthood and yet had actual emotional breakdowns, I was crying and my heart was aching and I couldn't bring myself to do things I want, to learn more about music production, to learn how to sing better, to learn my favorite k-pop choreos, to work-out, to embody my own vision of who I want to be. With music, I am my own boss and it's the worst.

Covid-19 hit our country and here came the first lockdown. It pushed me over the edge and I felt like I was losing all of my friends, I felt those feelings of loneliness and weirdness again, I felt like nobody knows what's wrong because I don't have it as bad as others, I was hurting so much my body was shaking and twisting. I decided to try medication, even though I told my psychiatrist I don't want to, I just felt like I cannot be like this anymore, it's too much pain and no matter how much I try, I can't make it better, I can't make it work. 

I started taking Strattera and after month or two, I saw it working. A bit, I could focus better and bring myself to do things more and more frequently, and if I had these weird emotional meltdowns, they weren't as intense as before. This serves me as ultimate proof that I am not making this up, because if I were, the medication wouldn't work and make me feel better, right? 

So, what am I doing now? 

I'm still a huge mess and I cannot see myself in a better light. Even though I have job that I perform at at stable rate, even though I have just a little problem cooking for myself, even though I have no troubles falling asleep, even though I can enjoy things greatly when those high energy waves hit me. 

I'm tired of myself, I'm tired of myself not being able to do anything again. I ignore my manager because I already know I have nothing else to say than “I cannot bring myself to do things and you know that, I'm sorry for being a constant failure.” When people compliment me, I thank them but deep inside I don't accept it. 

I have unreleased and WIP songs I can see never being released, ever. When I listen to music from my favorite artists, I can also feel the pain from the fact that I'm not like them and that I probably won't ever be, because my brain sabotages me every damn time. 

From the very moment I wake up to the very moment I fall asleep, there's music playing in my head. I don't choose what's playing, sometimes it's song I don't even like and yet it's stuck on loop. I talk with my therapist in my head, I'm having weird flashbacks in my head to my memories, I'm having “you should do X right now” and “why aren't you doing Y” stuck on loop too. This all is happening at once, every moment I'm awake, even when I'm talking with people. It's exhausting. 

I'm bored most of the time, I have interesting books in my bookshelf and still cannot read them because I have to reread paragraphs in order to actually understand them. And even then, I find my mind wandering again. I have problems with long texts and long tutorials.

I get frustrated easily, my head is overflowing with ideas I can't act on. I'm living in weird worlds I made up for myself, and then reality hits me. 

I had my first depressive episode few months ago. I felt like nothing matters, that I don't matter, I felt nothing and emptiness, I crawled up in bed and was mindlessly watching youtube videos. I didn't want to eat or drink, I wanted to not exist at all. That episode passed but it was my first encounter with actual depressive state and I know I can slip into it more easily now, it simply developed along the way, after 21 years without acknowledging that I have problems and I struggle. 

People don't understand the struggle, when talking to them about my problems, it's like talking to an automated assistant, coming up with phrases like “Did you try yoga?” “everyone struggles sometime” “you cannot accomplish everything”. They say they wanna listen and help until they don't. 

I have a mental graveyard for ideas I won't ever finish, no matter how good they are, because my brain won't let me. Proper medication would help, therapy also helps but I can't talk myself out of actual executive dysfunction. 

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, our brains are literally underdeveloped in some areas and wired differently. Our emotions lack regulation normal people have and our motivation is fragile. This can't be changed with yoga, this cannot be solved by trying more. Not to even mention, capitalist society is especially damaging to neurodivergent people (and not only them, of course). 

While on this journey, I am still meeting more and more people having same struggles like me, finding people who understand you is the best thing to battle impostor syndrome. Sometimes I can't help them and sometimes they can't help me, but it's okay, because we know we understand each other and if I wanna complain and vent, we can do so without having to explain this condition over and over. 

And I hope that someone finds this relatable too, because as a woman I know my group isn't represented enough. We are not children, nor adult males, we need more attention and more support, from both healthcare system and each other. 

While doing this, I hope to get myself proper medication and continue doing what I love the most - music. I don't love anything else more than that. I hope to get rid of “all or nothing” mindset, I hope to be more consistent, I hope my music will reach its listeners and fans. I still have enough time, I think, even though my sense of time is neurologically altered. 

[multimetaverse]

DOAFP 1x09 Review

State of the Union was a great ep and Doafp continues to be unlike anything else on TV. Let’s dig in!

Very nice to see Camila trying to help Bobby,  and I still can’t believe Fairy Gaymothers was said on Disney. She did try to help though in the end Danielle talking about Cami’s hesitance to come out to her parents as being part of Cami’s process was what did the trick for Bobby. It’s amazing that we get to see adult lgbtq characters interacting with and helping a young gay kid; really never thought I’d see this on Disney

Cami straight up says that she thinks Bobby likes Liam and that the fight was caused by misplaced passion; we’re well into textual territory. It’s interesting that they took the time to spell it out for the audience this ep. If Bobby ends up coming out to Liam or Sam or whoever by using the word gay rather than talking about his feelings for Liam then that would explain the writers having Cami spelling it out this ep but we’ll see soon enough

Glad that Bobby did the right thing and broke up with Monyca, she’s a sweet girl and by the end of the ep seems to get that Bobby likes Liam and not her. Seems like the mention of kissing in a closet at the new party is what finally tipped Bobby over which isn’t surprising given Bobby’s reaction to their first kiss

I’ll give the show credit for not having Bobby kiss Monyca again and for keeping their first kiss off screen. Realistically they’re going to have a very hard time getting Bobby kissing a boy on screen so limiting what they’ve shown when Bobby was with a girl will prove to be very wise should the show have further seasons. I don’t know how familiar the Doafp writers are with Andi Mack but they seem to be learning from its mistakes whether that’s deliberate or not. Cyrus’ story line was horribly censored and unequal when compared to all the straight characters but also compared to with what Cyrus was allowed to do when he was dating Iris, including kissing her twice

From a photo one of the writers, LaDarian Smith, posted ep 7 was already written by the end of May 2019 which suggests that all of the eps were at least in draft form before production started in summer 2019. It explains the coherence of the eps so far which seem to be well planned out. For Andi Mack S1 they only got final permission to have Cyrus come out just a few days before filming the lookback in 1x12 which shows in the writing since there wasn’t much set up for Cyrus’ crush on Jonah and until the lookback it really wasn’t anything that couldn’t be explained away by Cyrus just admiring Jonah. It’s clear that Doafp had permission either from the start or from very early on in the writing to go full steam ahead with Bobby’s story line which gives it a great sense of momentum

We once again get Gabi seemingly brushing off Cami’s concerns about her parents and implying that she should just come out to them already and we also saw that Danielle wants Cami to tell her parents about them.  Cami would know her parents best and presumably her fears that they’re homophobic aren’t unfounded but Gabi and Danielle seem to think that nothing bad would happen if Cami’s parents found out. Certainly a story line where Cami’s parents are somewhat homophobic could lead to some very interesting things especially if it happens around when Bobby eventually comes out to Gabi. But if they aren’t allowed to tackle it or can’t pull it off then having Cami realize that her fears were unfounded is a good way to go. There’s no real precedent for homophobia being tackled on Disney; Andi Mack vaguely alluded to it and it did tremendous damage to the Tyrus story line because it was poorly written and not something that the show could ever have pulled off with the censorship they were under. I don’t think the Doafp writers are so stupid to introduce such a serious topic without planning it out but I hope they tread carefully

I would not have thought that it was Spring Break already, it was clear that the season started with the school year already in session but I’m surprised that we are this far along. If they do get a S2 then they’ll have little choice but to skip ahead to Elena’s 7th grade year and Bobby’s 9th grade year

Lot’s of great jokes this ep, Bobby thinking RuPaul’s Drag Race is a car racing show was my favourite with Palo Alto first base being a close second

I really liked the transitions this ep

Ah yes Escape (The Piña Colada Song), the best song ever written about a married couple trying to cheat on each other. I like these little glimpses of Robert’s personality that we get and I love the focus on Gabi and Elena’s relationship

Sam was barely in the ep, certainly the least we’ve seen a main character. This is common to shows like GMW and Andi Mack where main cast members have to be in pretty much every ep even when there’s no real plot for them 

Elena finally apologizes to Sasha and we get the full version of the mall poem which is realistically awful

We see just how integrated Sam has become into the kids lives which is why Gabi was holding off on telling them the truth but also is exactly the reason why she needed to tell them the truth

Looking Ahead:

I’m not worried about Sabi longterm but if they’re having a clean break then why is Sam over at their house giving Bobby advice next ep? It’s a messy situation but if he and Gabi aren’t going to be in a relationship then there does need to be a discussion on what if any role he’ll still have in Bobby and Elena’s lives. I do wonder what the ultimate endgame is for Sabi. Weddings make for good series finales but unless there’s a major time skip I can’t see the show going on long enough to have that be a plausible ending for them. Maybe as the show draws to a close they move in with each other or get engaged?

We’ll see if the Elena, Sasha, and Jessica friendship can be repaired. I remember parties where only some people in a class or group were invited though those didn’t happen until I was in High School

We got Sam talking to Bobby earlier in the season and his advice made Bobby realize that he shouldn’t have pranked Liam. As nice as it would be to see Bobby come out to Sam I’m not sure that’s a good choice for the show as that would leave Sam keeping a secret from Gabi about her own son

I do think Bobby comes out to Liam in some fashion and that Bobby will be canonly gay after the finale which is exciting especially as his story line came out of nowhere

I remain skeptical that Cartero is mutual though Brandon Severs has still been hyping the ship up. If he’s telling the truth then we’re just days away from Disney’s first bisexual character which would be very exciting. If he’s not then he’ll have a lot to answer for. Either way he’s either spoiling the show or stringing people along and neither should be happening and I hope that someone gets him to cut back on his twitter messiness. Charlie Bushnell is now on twitter and he’s been much more circumspect and professional not getting too much into Cartero and focusing on tweets about Bobby’s sexuality and the show itself as well as the petitions and campaigns to save the show

On that note, I fear that the show is likely over for good after this Friday. It sucks that the diversity and inclusivity that makes the show so amazing is also why it’s in danger of not being renewed. The cast was due to have a Q&A at the Paley Centre in May before the coronavirus intervened which may be a hopeful sign as it would be pretty pointless to hype up a cancelled show. A part of me hopes that with Bobby being officially gay next after the finale that Disney + may be wary of outright cancelling it especially after the Love Victor debacle but I don’t have much faith in Disney. The series is co-produced by CBS studios and was originally envisioned as being a CW show which explains why it doesn’t feel like a Disney show but how comfortable Disney would be with all the boundary pushing the show has done and would continue to do in future seasons is an open question. Regardless, I’m excited for the finale and hope that it does justice for the truly wonderful season the show has had

[a-singing-carebear]

Thank You Critical Role - My D&D story

“The adventure begins, they were always beside you. Your nerdy best friends and the DM to guide you”. Critical role, what more can I say?

I started playing dungeons and dragons when I was around 4\5th grade, playing with a group as an afternoon group\class. 4E, and I don't remember much besides my halfling ranger and a lot of glances and readthrough of my still existing Player's Handbook. (Well the first half of the book, the miniatures section didn’t really speak to me) Finding out my father was a DM when he was younger, and I even went to some events. I can't at all recall why I stopped, but the happiness and creativity wonder I felt still lingered in my mind. 

I had the love for fantasy, I had things like LOTR, “hey! it’s just like D&D”, and a lot of creativity and storytelling crafting.

After that, I kinda moved on I guess, felt lonely, and like geekness and role-playing was a bad and childish thing (though it made me feel so spectacular). The closest I got was some lively Avatar OC with some new friends.

Fast forward to 2015, The episode “Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons” from gravity falls. All those feelings rose again and I remembered how much I loved playing.

(also enjoy role-playing and with LARP being mentioned there too, when I went to some Cons I had a blast with the foam swords there).

I took out the 4e Player's Handbook, made with my brother (who got in and out of d&d by that time) a carved foam platform and a cubes map - thus started a made-up game by the name of "D&F" (Dungeons & Fandoms), using his found old dices and it's a 1 on 1 encounter magic arena with no distinct roles. What started as "let's make Ability Scores to characters from shows" became a random "I cast a tree of pancakes on you! -no, I burned it with fire-bending you’re dead". A game that also slowly died as we grew up and apart (“I mean, they used to be best friends, but then they got all stupid. Can you promise me you won't get stupid?”)

(FOUND IT!!!) A mild discovery of the ingenious song “Never Split The Party”, an actual d&d song I discovered after watching Semblance of Sanity and figuring out that their ditty “don’t you know you never split the party” is an actual song their singing.

[This video is just a d&d podcast they had, but kinda sums up everything I feel about why I enjoy D&D!]

Then another tiny spark 3 years later when the Voltron episode “Monsters & Mana” came out (BTW, a great d&d parody episode). Which mostly came to an end after a glance in the book and dices and helping a friend with ideas to craft his own RPG game.

We arrive at the date when everything changed (well, almost), December 7th, 2018. The day I discovered the “Mighty Nein Animated Intro - Your Turn To Roll” and my life were never the same.

Stumbled upon it by complete accident. I was at a loss for words, I heard the name “Critical Role” thrown about many times on tumbler’s trending list and saw pictures and art of mostly Jester. I didn't even know what is it - a tv show? a game? well, it looks like D&D. The song was incredible and brought me back, I started writing a full-fleshed out character - a human ranger taught by an elf, but the idea was quickly shifted to another fantasy story by me (it’s heard sticking to it when you know it’s just backstory and character info and you will not play and you have no one). But I continue watching this video on repeat (haha not even knowing what it actually is), scouting tumbler for info and watching some random animatics, learning it's probably a podcast d&d\rpg or something. It could have been amazing as a tv show (XD)… and then another video got released, same incredible essence of d&d song but different animation, and different characters That was my first introduction to Vox Machina.

I had to check this out. Tried to get into the fandom but got lost, even though the interest was there. Stepping upon the awesome cosplay OP and even found out about a hamilton album parody - and my musical loving self was ecstatic.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIDuJAvTTRc&list=PL39vwIwCtLi3l4J6IMV6rS2HaLCujNzRT -  Vox Machina: An Exandrian Musical)

Found the full podcast list of champion 1 and started this May. But it was hard following just by voice, and I wanted to see what was happening, every episode was 3-4 hours long, with me in my military base it was impossible. (also I thought to myself “it looks cool, but what so investing and amazing about watching some people play D&D - boy I was wrong).

Then my unexpected savior arrived, miss Corona the pandemic.

I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands and the Critical Role vids got suggested again on YouTube, yes indeed, I discovered there are actually filmed episodes. Towards the end of May, I started the journey and the flame reignited. I started talking to a good friend of mine about his interest in d&d and we started crafting characters - I resurrected my charter into a half-elven ranger with a full backstory. Down the road, I asked another two friends of mine about their interest in d&d (because maybe I can join together an actual party), one of them said, and I’m quoting “no I don’t have experience playing…but I swear I wanted to talk to you about D&D”. Unfortunately, the two friends groups didn’t mix but we made an improved first session with me as the fucking DM, simply magical. Later that week I started a 1on1 campaign with the other friend, with him as the DM and a marvelous start of an adventure (and helping him learn the rules as an ADM, with the past faded expirations I had).

All while fangirly, hyperfixation way continuing with the journey of Vox Machina, it’s amazing because as opposed to other shows I can also completely see the fandom growing along with the show and cast (i just hope I can catch up to the Mighty Nein before the inevitable 3rd campaign, 198 episodes to go - happy 100th ep!). It’s also difficult to get into the Critters fandom right now because most of the community is focused and recognized by Mighty Nein. Also burning up creativity slots and making more various characters then I could ever use - I’m enjoying myself so muchhh. Diving headfirst into this beautiful crazy of the mess that is D&D.

Nothing’s never too late and it’s ok if you have hiatus. It doesn’t make you any less worthy and I don’t need to feel bad about this journey of that a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons got me back to loving, playing and caring about the world of d&d, it’s part of the intent. As a fantasy lover (spells, costumes, items, structures, creatures, you name it), aspiring creative writer and an untalented lover of acting theatrical and role-playing, along with the incredible mechanism of RPG and the vast community, the amazing time with friends, its the game for me, it always had been. So thank you Critical Role for igniting that flame once again - even if I will lose it again I will always have you guys. “Can you answer the call? Dig in deep in your soul. As the legend unfolds, now it's your turn to roll!”

(sorry for the lengthy length, it was meant to be much shorter)

[benthemusicalbeard]

15 Jul 2020

Hello there and thank you muchly for taking the time to read my little music blog. The premise is very simple; I pick three songs I like, some new some old, and write a little description about the artist and if you like what you hear then the rest is up to you to go searching for more material from said artist! I am merely a facilitator to hopefully bring some new sounds into your life. This week, three more songs I hope you enjoy, let us begin! 

First up this week and UK based post punk group Warmduscher. Formed by members of different groups following an impromptu New Years Eve jam session the group have released three albums to date and have wondered onto my musical radar this week. The song I’m sharing is not only their most popular on Spotify but also the one which appeared on my weekly mix this week and is the standout track from all the nonsense I usually get recommended! The song is taken from their latest album, the 2019 release ‘Tainted Lunch’, which I have given a listen to with as positive an outlook as one can give as punk music is not really my cup of tea. The album is quirky in part with tracks ‘Fill It, Don’t Spill It’ and ‘Precious Things’ bordering on the surreal but the stronger tracks like ‘Disco Peanuts’, ‘Dream Lotion’ and the track I’m sharing ‘Midnight Dipper’, whilst still quirky and funky are definitely worth a listen for all those wanting to be slightly confused by some electronic post punk! From the odd track I’ve sampled from their earlier albums ‘Tainted Lunch’ certainly appears to be their most outlandish effort but overall enjoyable nevertheless.

Warmduscher - Midnight Dipper - https://youtu.be/1blq4KCLYpA

Second up this week and the talented Emmy The Great. Born Emma-Lee Moss in Hong Kong to a Chinese mother and English father she has lived in the UK since the age of 12 but sings in both English and Chinese. Falling within the folk/indie folk genre her style of music is poetic in both musical composition and lyrically. Having released three albums as well as a host of EP’s and collaborations, this week I have listened to her first album ‘First Love’ which was released in 2009 and re-released a decade later on vinyl. The album received mixed reviews upon release with the NME criticising her "constant stance of diary-entry victim-hood" but I find the album to be a refreshing experience, one in which I find myself focusing so much on the quick fire and intelligent lyrics that I almost forget there is music at all! For me the victim-hood gives the album substance due to her lyrical aptitude to convey the history of that personal experience and the way the lyrics captivate you and tell you a meaningful story. Endless other albums draw upon personal experience, it is after all the main inspiration for writing music and whilst many fail to connect with the listener, happily this one has been a good find. It’s an album which is certainly best played when you have chance to listen to the words of the tracks, I shall be interested to see if her follow up albums ‘Virtue’ from 2011 and ‘Second Love’ from 2016 grab my attention in the same way that this one has. 

Emmy The Great - 24 - https://youtu.be/nGverngX1Es

Finally this week and an old favourite courtesy of Blur. We all know Blur and I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you much about them. Britpop ‘happened’ just at the stage I was really getting into music and the main players were Oasis, Pulp, Blur, Ocean Colour Scene, Cast etc etc. So many great bands and recently I found a brilliant playlist on Spotify called ‘Britpop Classics’. 7 hours and 16 minutes of superb music mainly from the 90′s and it got me thinking about the Oasis v Blur battle that occurred around August 1995 when ‘Country House’ released by Blur went up against the Oasis single ‘Roll With It’ in the charts. Blur ended up on the winning side that time and rightfully so as Country House is a better song in my opinion. Whilst Oasis have always been my preferred Britpop act I always had a soft spot for Blur as many of their tracks are much fuller and rounded than the more simpler indie sing-a-long hits from Oasis. My favourite Blur track I have chosen to share with you is a live version from the ‘Parklive’ album which was from Hyde Park during the London 2012 closing ceremony celebrations. The track has widely been regarded as a masterpiece amongst Blur’s catalogue of songs whilst at the same time not being one of the main hits the band achieved with the likes of ‘Parklife’, ‘Girls & Boys’ or ‘Country House’ always being the first that spring to mind. I was fortunate enough to see Blur in their warm up gig for that 2012 Hyde Park outing and I am not ashamed to admit that I welled up a fraction when this song was played. When the crowd joined in with the chorus, as they do on the live version here, in the least pretentious way possible I was in some sort of weird musical nirvana where it just felt right. It felt like I was meant to be there at that time hearing that song and gladly when it appears on my shuffle on whatever playlist of mine it finds itself on, needless to say it get’s a full airing. (n.b. other Britpop acts and songs are available, see aforementioned Britpop Playlist). 

Blur - This Is A Low (live) - https://youtu.be/VpaO7ST0br4

Three more tracks to give a listen to, until next time we meet stay safe. End of communique. 

[symphoniofficial]

[ARTICLE] X-ENTERTAINMENT HOLDS DEBUT SHOWCASE FOR GIRL GROUP, SYMPHONi

X-Entertainment’s SYMPHONi held their debut showcase on November 15 at YES24 Live Hall in Gwangjang-dong.

SYMPHONi kicked off the showcase by performing their B-side “Moon”, an upbeat EDM song co-written by the group’s rapper, MiMi. Immediately following the performance came their introductions; the members introduced themselves individually.

EV: I’m EV of the fresh-faced group, SYMPHONi! I'm the leader who also works on our choreography. Please love and support us in the future!

Jade: Hello. I’m SYMPHONi’s lead vocalist and lyricist, Jade. Please look after us.

Mimi: Hello, SYMPHONi’s cute main rapper Mimi here! Thank you all for meeting us~

Mei: Hello, I am SYMPHONi’s visual and lead dancer, Mei! We’ve worked really hard on our debut, so please watch carefully!

Serah: Hello! SYMPHONi's sunshine maknae, Serah, here. I hold the main vocalist title and compose for the group. Look at my unnis, aren't they beautiful? Please watch us well; we have a lot to show you!

When asked about the group’s meaning, the leader described SYMPHONi as the group that’s capable of filling up an entire venue through their charisma alone; combined with their talent, the five girls can put on a powerful performance.

“Our talent will speak for itself.”

What’s unique about SYMPHONi are the members’ experiences before debut.

EV is the daughter of a famous dancer and producer, Jade was a former contestant on an MNET survival show, and Mimi and Serah were previously introduced as DALBIT. Each of the members expressed their feelings on the expectations the public has and being a member of a girl group.

EV: Before we had officially debuted, I felt overwhelmed and unsure of if I was capable of being the member that these talented girls looked up to. As the leader of an upcoming group, there’s already pressure to do well, especially in such a competitive market. I don’t feel my parents gave me any advantages here; they never even crossed my mind. My and my members talents’ will be the reason we go far, so you’ll have to watch us closely.

Jade: [Being in front of the cameras] was a little uncomfortable at first. I’ve never performed onstage before, so I wanted to make sure that I did well for our members. I focused so much on making sure I didn’t make any mistakes, that I think my expressions were a little… [She laughs.] But with the members by my side, it became comfortable and fun.

Mimi: We have a strong team of girls here, and the company does its best to give us everything that we need. I think SYMPHONi can go far in the industry, and I look forward to growing as an idol group, but as well as close friends. I hold them dear to me.

Serah: You can expect to see many colors of myself. I don’t want to be known as just cute Serah, but attractive and cool Serah, too. I want to show all aspects of myself. "LADY" will start show a cooler side, so please look out for it. I want to be as cool as MIMI and EV unni. They're so powerful on stage; maybe I could be like that some day. I also have a hand in composing more, I hope our projects lead me to showcase even more writing talents. You’ll see WRITERSEO here soon enough!

One member, Mei, didn’t have any experience before SYMPHONi. However, she didn’t have any worries about debuting.

Mei: Truthfully, I am no longer nervous about debuting. While we were getting the EP ready and practicing the choreography I would get nervous, but after expressing my feelings to the members, they calmed my worries and I now feel confident to debut.

Mimi and Serah’s relationship is particularly special; they’ve followed each other loyally since their first encounter under Royal Crown, a now-defunct company.

Mimi: Serah and I have known each other for a while and we’ve been through a lot over the years, so this debut means a lot to both of us. Debuting is always exciting, but doing it with someone who is your best friend makes it more special and meaningful. I’ll never forget it.

Serah: Mimi is the love of my life, honestly. Everyone has that person that speaks to your soul, who is not a lover romantically but platonically. She supports me-- everything I've put out or written she's supported. When dealing with boys and family issues, Mimi has always been there. She's everything to me and I cherish her so much.

Mimi: Serah isn’t only like a sister to me, but one of my closest friends. I really value the friendship she gave me. Ever since I met her, she’s always been there for me and shown how supportive she can be. She’s like a cute little baby. I feel like I have to protect and love her endlessly.

Love is the central theme of “LADY”. When asked about the meaning of “Moon”, Mimi described it as a song that describes wanting to become closer to someone.

Mimi: “Moon” is a song about wanting to get to know someone on a deeper level, but part of them is always hidden from you despite your efforts of learning more about them.

The explanation led to a similar B-side called “Goodnight Like Yesterday”. Albeit slower in tempo, Jade described a different one-sided longing.

Jade: “Goodnight Like Yesterday” is the opposite of “Lady”. It’s about someone who laments a relationship that is on the verge of falling apart. The melody is light and bittersweet, reflecting the thoughts of the person who’s in denial of losing the person they love.

Who is SYMPHONi?

After their second performance, SYMPHONi took the opportunity to acquaint themselves with their fans by playing games and answering fan questions, including showcasing their individual charms.

EV: Gymnastics! I can do the splits, backflips, and a backbend.

Jade: Acrostic poems [using the letter of each word to create a line of poetry].

Mimi: I...can do cheeseburger aegyo!

Mei: Like EV unni, I’m very flexible. I can turn my hands around in a full circle.

Serah: I can play the guitar and make unnis fall for my charms!

When Mimi showed off her cheeseburger aegyo, the fans reacted positively. The members had different responses, much to the amusement of everyone else; the older members were embarrassed, while the younger members were supportive of Mimi’s aegyo.

The next question also showcased the girls’ creativity. A fan asked each member what they’d do if given a pencil and piece of paper.

EV: I’m not much of a writer, nor am I great at drawing, but my initial thought is that I’d write a letter to my parents. Since I’ve been training, it’s hard to see them or even call them, but I want them to know that I’m doing well and that I’m thinking of them.

Jade: It depends on how I’m feeling at that moment. I’ve really been into origami lately, so I might try and make something out of it; I’d use the pencil to add details once I finished.

Mimi: I would probably do some cute little doodles. If I don’t have anything to do, I just sit and draw what ever may come to mind.

Mei: Right now? Ah…I’d write notes to the fans that came here today, and I’d fold the paper into an airplane and throw it into the crowd. [She smiles and nods, making a heart with her hands.]

Serah: I would tear it nicely and write sweet notes to each of my members with cute little drawings! They deserve cute messages. I might even give one to my older sister and brother.

Next, the girls began to choose questions that were handwritten by the audience.

Q. Which member(s) do you feel the closest with and why?

EV: I feel protective over all of them, and I don’t say this to spare anyone’s feelings. I make a conscious effort to make sure everyone’s included in our activities. They bring out an instinct in me to make sure they’re happy and healthy, even if I don’t say it forwardly. I want to take care of them.

Q. If you could switch bodies with any member for a day, who would you choose and why?

Jade: My answer might seem a little unexpected, but… [She looks at Mimi.] I’d like to switch with Mimi. Mimi is known for being our vitamin in the group. She also has a lot of aegyo. Compared to her, I have neither the energy nor the ability to act cute, so I’d like to experience it for a day.

Q. You previously starred in a rap survival show, but were eliminated rather quickly. What were your thoughts and feelings as you prepared to be on the show, and how did you deal with the elimination?

Mimi: I was only eighteen when I was cast to join [a rap survival show]. I’d never really rapped prior to this, so I didn’t know a lot since I had only ever done it when I was alone. I thought if I tried hard enough, I’d be able to last a few rounds, but sadly I lost in the first round. It was rough. I felt so disappointed in myself for it and I was a little depressed after I went home. Since then, I think my rapping has improved greatly and I look forward to showing everyone what I can do.

Q. Your Korean is really good! Do you think your Korean is the best out of all the members? Who do you think has the hardest time with foreign languages?

Mei: [She smiles awkwardly at the compliment before collecting herself.] Coming from a foreign country while knowing only a little of the language, even after learning a lot, I don’t think my Korean could ever surpass the rest of the members. Sometimes in the dorm, I mix up my languages still-- it’s a steady process and I think once you start learning a different language, you never stop. I don’t think any of the members have a harder time with foreign languages; we’re all trying our best to learn for our foreign fans and there are all parts we struggle with, but we’re getting better each day. We hope our foreign fans watch out for us, we’ll make you proud!

Q. You’re very affectionate towards the members. Who receives the most and least affection from you?

Serah: I think it's pretty obvious Mimi unni receives the most love. She's had the most time to obtain it. It's been almost seven years since we've met; that's almost half my life. I see her as a big sister, so she gets a lot of love.

That's not saying I don't love on my other members. Mei unni receives lots of love because she's so pretty, cute, and talented. EV unni receives a lot of love because she's our beautiful leader who takes care of us; if I ever need anything, I can go to EV unni. I give her love afterwards. I can learn a lot from Jade unni-- I have already. She's so smart and gorgeous. I trust her a lot and love on her differently; I enjoy sitting and talking with her, and creating with her.

Each of the members receive love in their own way. I love all of my members and I hope you will too. They're so talented and precious...please treasure them like the jewels they are.

Their final question came from the MC, who asked the girls about their thoughts on their debut EP and how they participated in “LADY”.

EV: There were late nights where all of us would stay up and write tirelessly. This EP meant the world to us, and we wanted to pour our hearts out into it. I worked hardest on our song “Don't Text Me”. While I've never properly been in a relationship, I wrote my feelings into this song with the help of Jade. Yeah… [She chuckles.]

Jade: The theme in “LADY” was unique to me because I don’t have any experience with love. While I was writing with EV, I felt a little nervous about portraying these thoughts appropriately. I received encouragement and help from the people around me, so I think the song came out well. We [the members] really came together to showcase our colors.

Mimi: I was really excited! It was nice to know that after our hard work, we were finally making it happen. I think I cried when we were told we’d debut. I wrote my own raps for the EP with the help of not only my members, but the producer too.

Mei: Ah…our debut EP was already in production when I joined SYMPHONi, so there wasn’t much left for me to do. Our members worked really hard, and I’m very proud; I think it came out very well. I want to return the favor and make everyone proud with our performances!

Serah: It was very exciting, writing with my talented members. I remember back in Royal Crown, I couldn't write very well. Mimi and I experienced a lot before our EP release, writing music we enjoy and love with other talented women. It's a dream come true. I really hope our fans really enjoy our music and listen well. We put a lot of work and heart into this release!

After the interactive segment of the showcase, the SYMPHONi members introduced the last three songs of their EP: “LADY”, “Don’t Text Me”, and “Sweet and Easy”.

EV: Our title track, “LADY”, is a cool song about being with someone who doesn’t share your feelings anymore. Even if they don’t feel the same way about you, you still want them to tell you how they truly feel. The song has a retro, nostalgic vibe that makes you want to dance and sing along.

Mei: “Don’t Text Me” is about a relationship that has ended, and wanting to move on but the other person won’t let go. It expresses frustrated feelings, but does so with a sweet melody.

Serah: “Sweet and Easy” is a callout to longing for a loving and carefree relationship, something I hope to have when I age.

“We wouldn’t be here without your love and support.”

After their final performance, SYMPHONi spent the last thirty minutes of the showcase with the audience relaying their final thoughts and expressing gratitude to everyone who came to support them.

They also thanked their family and fans in four different languages-- Korean, Mandarin, Japanese, English-- and KSL, to the surprise of many.

EV: All of us have worked especially hard to be here today-- not just on this stage, but in our lives. We have everyone here and our families to thank. I’m very grateful for all the attention we’ve garnered in such a short time, and the amount of love our fans gave us without falter. I couldn’t be more thankful. I wish to bring you more great music in the future. Please continue to watch us.

Jade: “LADY” is not only our first EP, but our first work as SYMPHONi. Though we’re still lacking, we hope that you enjoy our songs and continue looking after us. I’m extremely thankful that I get to debut with five members who’ve become like family to me; let’s continue working hard and moving forward together.

Mimi: First, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has helped not only myself, but my other members over the years. I’ve had a rough journey to become a member of SYMPHONi. I also have to prove my spot among these talented ladies. My family has always supported me and I want to make them proud.  Thank you to everyone who joined us today.

Mei: I want to thank my family for encouraging me to travel all this way and continue my dreams. It helped me grow out of my shell more. My fans are so supportive...you're a pillar of strength for me, and I’ve found light and support in you all, including the members. I’m so happy to be a part of SYMPHONi, and wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my friends, family, and fans. I hope you enjoy our first EP, and that you’ll watch out and be excited for more.

Serah: My whole family is here today, on and offstage. I'd like to thank everyone who helped me get this far. The road was hard and painful, and there were moments when I thought of giving up. I had a few heroes during those times. My big brother Jung-min supported me through my hardships and really believed in me. He supported me financially and emotionally through so much. [She starts to tear up.] Even now, he's here watching this showcase to support. I know now that wherever I go I have my own personal cheerleader and hero. Thank you for helping me get to this point. I hope all our fans, family, and friends enjoy this EP. We've worked so hard, look after us well. The music always speaks what the heart cannot.

Please continue to show love and support for SYMPHONi as they embark on their new journey!

[ladyloveandjustice]

Fall 2018 Anime Overview: Zombieland Saga

Sakura Minamoto wakes up in a creepy old mansion one day to find out she’s a zombie with no memory of her past life. What’s more, a mysterious and obnoxious man has gathered her and a bunch of other zombie girls because he wants them to become pop idols who will revitalize the Saga prefecture. 

Zombieland Saga lets you know right out the gate it’s all about the unexpected, when it interrupts the typical “cute clumsy girl following her dreams” anime schtick with a (literally) heart-stopping surprise. It’s a show that celebrates the unusual and features some of the most loveable and charming characters of 2018.

ZS sort of straddles the line between being an affectionate parody of idol shows and a quirky celebration, but whatever its goes for, it’s always an entertaining, wacky romp. The first episode sees this gang of zombie girls doing a heavy metal concert, the second features a rap battle and the fifth episode involves the girls running around in ungainly chicken costumes. ZS also fully plays up the body-horror-comedy potential of its zombie cast- expect to see some eyeballs flying. It’s wild, weird and colorful.

But wacky hijinks aren’t enough to carry a show, it has to have character and heart behind it, and this show fortunately has plenty of that. I love this gang of misfit girls. The zombie idol group Franchouchou includes a former child star, 19th century courtesan, biker gang leader and one shambling classic non-verbal zombie who remains shrouded in mystery, on top of idols from different eras and what not. Needless to say, it’s a cast from far more varied backgrounds than most idol shows and they all have a fun dynamic.

Saki was definitely a big fave, because I absolutely adore aggressive delinquent girls and the show clearly does too, glorying in her tough girl ridiculousness. Her focus episode, rather than fully condemning her delinquent lifestyle, celebrates her individuality. Though one of her friends is happy leaving delinquency behind settling down to what she calls a “normal” family life, Saki’s response is “what even is normal? I don’t think I’ll ever get it.” She attracts biker girls to the audience and gives a performance where all the girls join in on her sukeban style. The message is clear- Saki is happy living an unconventional life and she’s not going tone down her vulgar attitude as an idol either, in fact, she’ll flaunt it. 

And happily, the show really puts its money where its mouth is in showing an idol group that accepts all. If you’re big into the anime community, odds are you’ve heard that one of these girls is revealed to be trans. It’s handled better than most would expect from a comedy anime- the girl is a full rounded, realized character, she comes out and reveals her past on her own terms and the other girls ultimately accept her and support her, saying they won’t treat her any differently.

 Which isn’t to say its unassailably perfect by any means- the depiction of her dysphoria might be considered too slap-stick-y, she’s thrilled with being a zombie because she was concerned about her body changing which ignores that there are medical options for that way preferable to y’know, dying young (still, nice she found an upside to her situation), the girls are obnoxious about it when they first find out, with one even going into a laughing fit about the “manliness” of her dead name, though they are at least called out and settle down about it- but all in all, its a sympathetic portrayal and just presented as being a new facet of an already great character, and that’s sadly rare to see in anime and media overall with trans characters.

The show could have focused solely on teamwork and cooperation like a lot of its type, but I think the fact it puts a lot of emphasis on individuality and people from all walks of life coming together is what allowed me to click with it a little more than I have with other shows in the genre. This is reflected in Franchouchou’s fans- because the girls are so versatile, they end up with an audience that included death-metal-heads, the elderly, pre-teen girl gangsters and so on. As one of them puts it “More weirdos! That’s what Franchouchou’s all about!”

The show’’s got more going on than that too. There’s some gentle jabs and examination regarding the business side of the idol industry- two of the zombie are former pro-idols from different eras, and clash over how the business has changed in with how it involves the fans over the years, which is an interesting aspect to see. There’s some faint zingers thrown in occasionally too, like a flippant comment that at least as zombies they can’t die from overwork, and stuff about staying “in-character”. It’s nothing too challenging, and is ultimately the show is very glowing about idols overall, but it’s at least interesting to see these things acknowledged. There’s also stirrings of a larger plot starting to unfold with hints about how the girls may have become zombies, reporters noticing fishy things and mysteries abounding. It makes me look forward to seeing where the show goes- anything could happen, honestly.

Though I do admit there are some faults. The girls’ manager, Kotaro, was always a bit of a sticky element in the show because he’s a raging asshole who has gathered all these young girls to do his bidding, without giving them any info about what’s going on or how they ended up here. I was okay with it because the girls basically always snapped back at him, treated him as the shady weirdo he is, didn’t have any regard for his orders and did what they wanted, and even beat the shit out him when he went too far. It IS really weird they don’t demand more answers from him, instead just accepting the status quo, and the whole thing kinda falls apart if you think too hard about it, but, you can roll with it.

What I can’t roll with is how Kotaro just kind of makes the transition from horribly obnoxious shady person no one trusts to quirky-mentor-who-is-extra-but-means-well without really earning it. He’s still keeping the girls in the dark, he’s still a jerk, he’s done nothing to clarify or make up for his earlier behavior, but the show seems to expect me to accept him as a benign cryptic ally after a few pep talks and it uh, doesn’t really work for me. 

And then there’s the final episodes, which revealed something potentially very concerning. Major spoiler territory here for a bit, so watch out.

I did find the last arc, which focuses on Sakura’s angst over her memories of her past life and wanting to quit the group, a bit predictable and “meh”, though it wasn’t bad by any means. I was probably a little disappointed because there were other characters who hadn’t been explored at all  who I really wanted to see more of, but the show’s almost certainly getting a second season, so I should be patient, I guess.

Our first hint of Kotaro’s backstory is given in these final eps and it’s...a little troubling. It could go in some bad directions, some of which would have to potential to break the show. It turns out he was a classmate of Sakura’s when she was alive, and he’s kept this from her, which makes the dynamic between them even more screwed up. Especially since Sakura had been agonizing about not remembering for so long while he said nothing, and clearly doesn’t remember him even now. Why did he bring her back from the dead? If it turns out he had a crush on her when they were kids and WORSE, if we find out that crush persists even now that she’s still a teenage zombie and he’s an adult and this is framed as okay- yeah, that would be a reason to drop the show for sure. 

I’m hoping it doesn’t go there. ZS is all about playing around with expectations after all- the first episode already took a piss on the idea of a romance by having Kotaro get all up in her face and seem like he was talking seductively and giving her the doki dokis...only to show she was actually just freaked out this weirdo had fried squid in his pocket. (And later it’s shown throughout the show Kotaro does his up-close-and-personal thing with anyone, regardless of age or gender, so presumably he doesn’t mean it romantically and it’s just how he is.)

But still, Sakura being the one of the girls most willing to go along with Kotaro’s bullshit and accept his orders makes this revelation even more troubling, the power dynamic between them is BADLY unbalanced and Sakura is in a very vulnerable position.

I AM intrigued how the hell Kotaro went from “apparently regular high school student” to “weirdo who knows how to raise the dead” and what his connection to the other characters are (especially the mysterious man in the bar), so provided they DON’T go a super creepy direction with it and he IS called out properly for his deception it could be a really interesting plotline. So, we’ll see I guess.

spoilers over

Overall, Zombieland Saga wasn’t a perfect show, but it was a fun time with fun characters, and that’s exactly what it set out to be. The show’s also mercifully light on fanservice and other nonsense, which is a plus. If you like zombies, hijinks, friendship, zany comedy and awesome girls, this is definitely worth a look.

[paulisweeabootrash]

Retrospective Review: Rewatching Azumanga Daioh as an Adult

This may seem hard to believe if you are a younger reader or one who got into anime only recently, but there was once a time when recommendations spread by word of mouth, it was absolutely commonplace for anime seasons to last longer than 13 episodes, and the vocabulary of the anime fandom wasn’t nearly as full of internet-originated in-jokes.  A time when the internet-savvy congregated on forums dedicated to specific topics instead of social networking sites, and the imageboards that generate so much of the internet meme landscape were just starting to take off among lonely nerds as an obscure haven for perverts, racists, and assholes instead of the role they have today as… uh… well... a well-known haven for perverts, racists, and assholes.  A time when there was no such term as “weeaboo trash” because that Perry Bible Fellowship comic hadn’t been published yet, let alone used for that meaning.  It wasn’t some golden age, but it was different, and today I’m taking a self-indulgent trip back to the end of that period, when I was in high school in the mid-2000s.

Azumanga Daioh (2002).

1. Why is this show important to me?

My introduction to anime consisted mostly of Pokémon and Sailor Moon, and took off with scattered episodes of several other shows that aired on WB and Cartoon Network, which were generally driven by action and combat.  I can’t remember the circumstances or even who did it, but someone who owned, or perhaps pirated, a copy of Azumanga Daioh must have shown me a few episodes at some point.

Here was a show that had been on the leading edge of the moe trend a few years earlier, and although certainly available, such things were not yet common.  Moe has, of course, taken over a large chunk of anime since, to mixed reception since it can range from innocently delightful to extraordinarily creepy.  Azumanga is close to the innocent end of the spectrum, and absolutely delightful (as, BTW, is the author’s current ongoing manga series Yotsuba&!), with a softer, cuter art style than I was accustomed to and instantly-lovable characters.

It was clearly in a different genre and had a different sensibility about how to make a show, too.  It had few repeated or filler elements, unlike any of the shows following the “monster of the week” formula.  It was broken up into several vignettes per episode — a practice that I was familiar with from the format of many Nicktoons, but while American shows with that format told multiple self-contained stories, the short segments here were typically parts of larger episode-long stories, often focusing on different parts of the same event or different anecdotes about the same character.  It showed us, the foreign audience, something about life in Japan, and at least for me was the first time I’d heard of distinctly Japanese school practices like applications for public high schools, students cleaning classrooms, or the particular kinds of seasonal festivals they have.  It lacked story arcs driven by overcoming some enemy and instead was driven by character relationships themselves and the instantly-relatable experience of school.  It was an encounter with something utterly different — and it made an excellent first impression.

Eventually, I bought a copy of the complete series of the manga it’s based on.  Azumanga Daioh was originally, well, a manga, written by Azuma Kiyohiko and originally published in the form of a 4-panel comic strip that ran in the magazine Dengeki Daioh.  See, it’s Azuma’s manga in Dengeki Daioh.  Azuma manga, Dengeki Daioh.  Azumanga Daioh.  Ha.  Clever.  Anyway, in there, I encountered largely the same characters and interactions, a mix of believable school life and quick gags, just presented in a different format.  I eventually got the DVD box set of the show, too, and I’ve rewatched a few favorite episodes several times, but this review is the first time I’ve revisited the whole series in years.

2. Who are all these people?

Rather than focusing on a small core friend group like Three Leaves, Three Colors, another much more recent adorable high school slice-of-life I greatly enjoy (and should maybe review?), Azumanga has a pretty large ensemble.  Most of them are students and the “story arc” such as it is follows them through three years, from entering to graduating from high school, over a single 26-episode season.  So rather than cover a plot synopsis, I think it would make more sense to dive into specific characters and their relationships.  The show its at its funniest and sweetest with the dynamics of certain combinations of the main characters, and there are a lot of combinations available.  Covering all of the recurring named characters approximately in the order we meet them (except a few characters who show up only in an episode or two each and another classmate named Chihiro who shows up on the periphery as a friend of Kaorin), let’s look at the relationships that stand out:

Yukari and Nyamo: Yukari Tanizaki, the English teacher who is the homeroom teacher to most of the cast, is unprofessional and insensitive from the first moment we see her, traits which are elaborated in later episodes into a sort of impulsive over-the-top-ness that clashes with the fact that she actually is a pretty good teacher.  Emphasizing her less-serious attitude, students even refer to or address her by her given name (although the subtitles exaggerate this a bit by consistently calling her “Miss Yukari” when she’s usually just addressed as “teacher”).  Minamo Kurasawa, the gym teacher, is a long-time friend of Yukari.  She and Yukari (who calls her “Nyamo”) were even classmates at the same high school they currently teach at.  In addition to being central to the gym class/sports-related episodes, she’s also Yukari’s more caring, approachable, and professional foil, which sets up interactions where Nyamo tries to be helpful and manage situations in the face of Yukari being antagonistic (and, outside of school hours, drunk) towards her and the students.  Yukari in particular prods at Nyamo’s sore spots: being single and having done embarrassing things in high school.

Tomo and Yomi: Tomo Takino is 100% genki girl.  I mean, come on, she’s the illustration for the TV Tropes article by that name.  She’s not only enthusiastic, but loud, intrusive, and pointlessly competitive to the point of being just plain mean.  She’s the kind of person who might mature into a less competent Yukari if she burnt out a bit.  Koyomi Mizuhara, on the other hand, is much more serious and self-conscious, and although she still genuinely is Tomo’s friend and goes along with some of her silliness, she barely puts up with Tomo’s teasing and flurry of bad ideas.  She is the Nyamo to Tomo’s Yukari, complete with Tomo enforcing a nickname on her, so she’s almost always called “Yomi” throughout.  Yomi is much more considerate than Tomo, too.  This often comes out in Yomi scolding Tomo’s insensitivity, but it’s also seen less directly when they are giving Chiyo (more on her below) birthday presents — Tomo offers first a joke that doesn’t go over well, then a magic wand she apparently expects Chiyo to believe will make her grow taller, which Chiyo dismisses, while Yomi offers a book which Chiyo enthusiastically accepts and says she expects to enjoy.

Osaka, Tomo, and Kagura: Ayumu Kasuga is a distractible and soft-spoken transfer student from Osaka whom Yukari, Tomo, and Yomi pester with misinformed questions and assumptions about her home city.  Tomo, naturally, saddles her with the nickname “Osaka” as if that is her entire identity.  The nickname quickly catches on, with even Yukari calling her that instead of her actual name in class.  She is accepted as a friend by the other students who still consider her eccentric and baffling, but not annoying or embarrassing like you might expect.  (In fact, the other girls react more and more to Tomo as the annoying and embarrassing one.)  During the second year of school,  she bonds with Tomo and Kagura (introduced as a star athlete from Nyamo’s homeroom during the first year, she becomes a major character in the second year) over their similar incredible forgetfulness and poor academics.  Yomi calls them “bonkura”, translated as “knuckleheads”, and the three of them adopt the name for themselves as they study together — an idea which is doomed from the outset.  The three of them together, or any two of them, play off each other wonderfully.

Chiyo and Osaka: Chiyo Mihama, a child prodigy who is only 10 years old at the beginning of the series, is so academically gifted it can upset and embarrass her classmates, but on the other hand is naive, and not just because she’s a child.  She is in fact clueless about the outside world.  She fails in the first summer break trip (ep. 5) to understand that the other characters’ families are nowhere near as rich as hers, and in the second summer break (ep. 14), even after a year and a half of being around high schoolers, she entirely fails to understand Nyamo’s off-screen explanation of “adult relationships” (kids innocently being oblivious to what sex is seems to be a common basis for jokes in Japanese media).  Chiyo being five years younger than her classmates — and on the other side of puberty from them — also makes her lag far behind them in athletics.  On the one hand, this makes her very self-conscious and afraid of being a burden on her classmates in team activities, and on the other, it sets up a running gag of Chiyo and Osaka teaming up to be by far the worst pair of athletes across the board.  Oh, and Osaka’s dream about Chiyo’s pigtails in the New Year’s episode is one of the weirdest and most authentically dreamlike dream sequences I’ve ever seen.  Although maybe that just says more about my own dreams than about the show.

Sakaki and Nobody (or, Multiple Kinds of Unrequited Feelings): Sakaki is considered effortlessly cool and somewhat intimidating — Kagura calls her a “silent lone wolf” — but she’s not big on that reputation.  Students openly admire her, especially for her athletic talent, and treat her with distance and respect by almost universally calling her “Miss Sakaki” (since this is apparently her family name, not given name).  She does not enjoy this treatment, but is also too private (and perhaps too insecure) to complain about or discuss it.  She is indifferent to sports despite excelling at them, and doesn’t even recognize Kagura when she proclaims herself Sakaki’s rival, presumably because the first-year sports festival just didn’t stick out in her memory the way it did in Kagura’s.  Despite calling it rivalry, however, Kagura quickly inserts herself into Sakaki’s life in a friendship that Sakaki responds to more with quiet tolerance than reciprocation.

Kaorin, meanwhile, mistakes Kagura’s one-sided friendly rivalry for a very different kind of attention, and accordingly treats her one-sidedly as a romantic rival (although she does eventually calm down about it).  Kaori (family name not mentioned), usually addressed by the more affectionate “Kaorin”, is shown at first to ambiguously admire Sakaki, but it quickly becomes clear that she is infatuated with her.  And, despite the insistence of many fanfic writers since, Sakaki never catches on to this, even with Kaorin gazing dreamily at her while dancing with her, or clinging to her arm while posing for a picture together.  I'm sure, given how over-the-top she is, that Kaorin’s unrequited feelings are supposed to be funny, but I find it sweet and sad and end up rooting for her.

Sakaki and Cute Animals: Sakaki is not unfriendly, or even very socially inept, though.  She gets along well with the main cast, especially Chiyo.  But she is aloof, not just because of shyness but because she has a secret love of all things cute, especially cats and dogs, and gets caught up in her own thoughts about cute things.  Although she loves animals, they don’t necessarily love her back.  There is a series-spanning running gag with a cat in the neighborhood whom she repeatedly tries to pet, no matter how many times it bites her for doing so.  In fact, in that very same episode where Kagura declares her rivalry, the strongest emotional reactions we see from Sakaki are horror directed at Kagura for scaring that cat away and, later, being moved to tears by a story she’s constructing in her head about another cat while Kagura is trying to talk to her.  Sakaki’s thoughts on cute animals also yield a second running gag: "Chiyo's dad".  An orange cat-like doll (evidently some kind of character or mascot in-universe?) that appears numerous times in the background early in the show appears in Sakaki’s New Year’s dream and introduces himself to her as Chiyo’s father, so Sakaki refers to the doll as “Chiyo’s dad” for the rest of the series without explanation, much to the confusion of the other characters.  While he’s an inanimate object in the background before the dream, afterwards he appears as alive and magical, sometimes in Sakaki’s imagination and sometimes intruding into the real world as short transition clips between scenes.

Kimura vs. Everyone (mostly Kaorin): Last and certainly least, let’s consider Mr. Kimura, the literature teacher.  Within a minute of the first time we the audience see him, Tomo asks him why he became a teacher and he blurts out that it’s because he likes high school girls.  Which a group of creepy boys in the class call “brave”.  Ugh.  This presages chronic inappropriateness of varying levels from Kimura — from unsolicited suggestions for cheerleading uniforms to hanging out during gym class to watch the girls swim to heaping unwanted “favors” on Kaorin, to whom he is obviously attracted.  Beyond the increasing variety of his inappropriateness, he doesn’t really develop as a character.  He is, interestingly, shown as an otherwise decent person outside of school, but this is not portrayed as excusing him.  Rather, it’s made clear that his creepiness is contextual, and his role throughout the series is consistently as a grotesque comic relief, not a sympathetic character.  Kaorin even consciously tries to improve her opinion of Kimura because his wife is so nice, leading her to believe that this means Kimura himself must have good points to deserve someone like that, only to be immediately shown otherwise.  We the audience are laughing at him, not with him, and at some points are genuinely upset at him on the girls’ behalf.  Or at least, I hope that’s how the rest of the audience takes him.

3. Yeah, but there's some kind of progression, right, even if it's not really a story arc?

Again, it's not the kind of show that has an overarching goal or conflict.  The goal, such as it is, is the characters' graduation from high school.  The topic of what they'll each do after graduating comes up several times, as you might expect, but isn't that much of a plot point.  Not all of the main characters even have clear plans laid out that we know of, but the plans we do know about match their established personalities well.  Tomo changes her mind repeatedly between several half-baked ideas.  Osaka decides at the last minute to try to become a teacher based on Chiyo straining to think of something fitting Osaka's... unique way of looking at things.  Chiyo is perhaps overconfident, planning to study abroad in America despite being only 13 when she graduates.  Sakaki anonymously showed interest in veterinary school early on, but didn't discuss it with her friends until much later, after she started showing her weakness for cuteness in front of them.

The main progression that happens is some evolution in the characters' relationships and attitudes.  There is of course the progression from strangers to friends among the main cast, but also some character development growing out of things that started as gags.  Osaka, for example, begins as the butt monkey of the class, but by the end of the first year, she is very well accepted by her classmates, and she even gets along particularly well with Tomo, who was originally shown teasing and stereotyping her the most but has now toned it down a bit.  Nyamo’s miserable singlehood, previously a running joke, leads her to open up to the idea of trying matchmaking instead of dating.  Sakaki becomes more willing to express her love of cute animals in front of the other girls, starting with Chiyo, and her running gag experiences with the hostile cat play out to a resolution when she adopts, of all things, an endangered wildcat which is the only cat that doesn’t bite her, then has a final encounter with the hostile cat where she tries to make amends.  Chiyo's academic talents were met with light irritation and mockery at first, but by the end, her new friends are grateful for her help and rise in applause when she is recognized for her grades during the graduation ceremony.  Kagura relaxes her Tomo-like tendencies more and more, and shows a degree of gratitude and sentimentality towards her new friend group that would’ve been shocking when she was first introduced.  Even Tomo, usually the show's last bastion of immaturity, shows tiny bits of improvement: self-reflection and regret during a serious conversation with Yomi over what American audiences would call "finding your passion", and later leading the applause for Chiyo.  To compare Azumanga to Three Leaves, Three Colors again, it’s true that this show doesn't go into as much depth in character relationships as that one despite running for more than twice the number of episodes, but I don’t think that’s a flaw in Azumanga so much as a combination of Azumanga’s larger main cast, gag comedy focus, and choice of a different “zoom level” on the main cast’s lives.

The show itself evolves a little bit, too.  As it goes on, more episodes have segments that flow together and they contain more references to events in previous episodes.  By the last few episodes, with graduation looming, it almost feels like it has become a conventional plot-driven show.  The shift from shorter to longer segments, shorter to longer jokes, etc., is seamless — and pretty typical of comic strips where perhaps the author hasn’t “figured out” their own characters at the beginning.  Surreal elements also get more common, like the “Chiyo’s dad” running gag and increasingly-elaborate looks into what characters are imagining.  As I recall, these changes reflect the stylistic evolution of the original manga, but... uh... my copy of the manga is with my parents at the moment so I didn’t check myself on that.

4. How is it different in retrospect?

As I said, I first saw this in high school, so I was about the age of the main cast.  Perhaps this was one of the things that made it so enjoyable.  The characters seemed relatable, and I lacked the aversion to depictions of ordinary life that some people had because I didn’t have a particularly negative high school experience despite being decidedly uncool.  (I was, in fact, neither interested in being cool nor in being self-consciously uncool, and was content with the set of people I got along with.  I was never really an angsty teenager so much as a sad one.)  My experience of the show is, if anything, even greater appreciation now.  Some of that difference comes from knowledge and some from aging.

I’ve become a bit less of a poser and/or snob about some things since then.  I’d seen a lot of obviously-atrocious dubs growing up, and they really put me off the idea that anyone actually cared about dubbing into English well.  Since then, I’ve lightened up a bit, partly because it seems like nowadays distributors do a lot less 4Kids-style butchery of shows when they’re translated and partly because I’ve realized that there is plenty of bad Japanese voice acting, too, so sometimes the English version is just plain easier on the ears.  So I’ve watched this mostly in the English dub this time around (some episodes in both to check the different versions of specific jokes) and I really enjoy it.  The voices are character-appropriate and the English lines fit the lip movements better than the original Japanese voice track while only rarely resulting in rhythms and stresses that sound unnatural in English, which really impresses me.

Just from the sort of vocabulary one picks up by being weeaboo trash, I occasionally notice differences in meaning between the dialogue and subtitles when watching the sub version.  And I even picked up on an interesting translation choice for a joke I hadn’t noticed before.  When Yomi tells Osaka that Chiyo is a child prodigy in ep. 2, Osaka responds comparing Chiyo to a boy she knew growing up, resulting in her expressing a different misunderstanding in each version about how the boy was described by adults.  In the English dub, Osaka says something about him “smarting off”, the joke being she thinks that means he’s smart.  In the English subtitles, she says he was “precocious”, to which Yomi says she doesn’t think that meant he was smart by calling him that.  This time around, I finally caught that the Japanese dialogue there clearly uses the phrase “otoko no ko”, insinuating that the boy is a crossdresser and/or gay.  Even though I don’t understand the full Japanese joke, the implication is clearer than it was in English (because I, um, also didn’t think of the double entendre on the word “precocious” until now), as is the degree of the misunderstanding.

I appreciate now how many scenes are psychologically-savvy.  Just in the episode in which the main cast of students move up to their second year of high school, we see two scenes that just click with me as “yes, people do this, and I don’t know why we don’t seem to notice it!”.  I mentioned above Kagura wanting to compete more because of the sports festival while Sakaki thinks nothing of it at all, which hinges on the simple difference in the sports festival having been a memorable event in Kagura’s life but not Sakaki’s.  That episode also features a scene in which Tomo eggs on her classmates to eat their lunches early because it’s a thing that (according to her) second-years do, which sets up Mr. Kimura to arrive the room for literature class, see everyone eating, and therefore assume he must be the one who has the time wrong and go back to the faculty lounge for his own lunch.  This tendency to defer to others in decisions in our own lives, not through peer pressure per se but through assuming that something done commonly or confidently must be correct, is just something I don’t see portrayed or acknowledged much in Japanese or American media.  And I love it.  For those two scenes alone, this is one of my favorite episodes in the whole series.

As far as the characters, I still find the students charming and relatable, and I’m willing to bet that everyone knows someone like most of them in real life.  They fit Japanese character archetypes to a certain extent, but are also developed enough especially in their interactions with each other that they come off as realistic to me.  So they hold up well.  But mainly, I find I have much more appreciation for the teacher characters as an adult.  I can think of times when I’ve been the Yukari in a situation, whether that means being overbearing and inconsiderate when I think I’m being funny or whether it means or digging through a messy desk swearing that I know exactly where something is before creating a landslide.  And I can think of times when I’ve been the Nyamo accidentally antagonizing the Yukari by trying to be helpful.  I even appreciate Kimura, not because I think he’s relatable or a good guy, but because he’s distressingly realistic.  His creepiness comes at the same time as genuine competence and, as far as we are aware, a normal and functional home life.  It is widely-acknowledged yet never stopped by the administration, even though it ranges from unprofessional obnoxiousness to genuinely alarming sexual harassment.  Kimura is unfortunately plausible and all-around frustratingly topical.

Revisiting these characters, I’ve also realized something about myself.  When I first watched this show (and read the manga), I got a serious crush on Osaka.  She would go solidly in the “endearingly pathetic” column if I were to evaluate her that way, and she also reminded me at the time of a few different confidently strange and spacy people I went to high school with.  And then, getting older, I realized…  She’s endlessly distractible by trivial things.  She asks weird hypotheticals and follows odd tangents to other topics.  She often misunderstands people.  She’s hopelessly unathletic and clumsy.  Oh no.  I'm the Osaka of my circle of friends.  So, uh, that’s a thing that happened, and I have no idea what to make of it.

Azumanga is relaxed, wholesome, and hilarious, and its characters and major events are believable even when highly stylized for comedic effect.  When it's not in hyper-simple comedy mode, the art can be downright beautiful.  It’s clearly an artifact of its time given, for example, the lack of cell phones (even basic ones) and persistence of film cameras, but that kind of aging happens to any show.  The situations are still relatable despite not being topical, which makes me think — or at least hope — that this can last well into the future as something new audiences find worth watching.

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W/A/S Scores: 8 / 3? / 3

Weeb: There are lots of little things that will seem odd if you go in believing that Japanese school schedules and activities are the same as American ones, but anime is so saturated with high school comedies nowadays that it is much less weeb now than it was then to expect that background knowledge.  Many non-school things like flower-gazing or the fact that seasonal fairs in Japan have different activities and expected clothing than in American ones will seem distinctly foreign but understandable to a naive audience, while a few episodes might need some looking up to “get” because they expect audience familiarity with things still obscure to most Western audiences, like lucky dreams in the New Year’s episode or the yōkai in the second culture festival episode.  Mostly, familiarity with the conventions of other anime or of Japanese culture will enhance enjoyment but aren’t strictly required to enjoy it.  The art style sometimes shifts for specific gags to a particular style of minimal-movement chibi characters on very simple backgrounds which is more at home in the 4-panel comic world in which Azumanga originated (and in pre-moe-era comedy anime, or at least the few I've seen) than in other manga formats or newer anime, creating an additional small hurdle even for those with different Japanese media exposure.

The show runs into more of a barrier with hard-to-translate jokes than anything else, leaving the viewer the choice between replacement jokes with similar general ideas in the dub vs. the occasional feeling that there should be a joke but you’re not quite getting it in the sub.  One particular joke that they made no attempt to adapt ended up being utter nonsense in both the sub and dub unless you get that "Mr. Yukichi" refers to 19th Century Westernization advocate Fukuzawa Yukichi, who is on the ¥10,000 bill, and I gave the show an entire extra point on the Weeb scale just because I had to look that up.

Ass: Unless you’re Mr. Kimura, probably no “ass” score at all as far as sexualizing the characters, but there is the occasional sexual joke or implication.  Even the obligatory beach episodes aren’t fanservicey in the way or to the degree that a contemporary moe high school show often is.  Probably the single most sexual-looking thing is characters holding their skirts down in the intro, which is tame by comparison to anything released in the last decade.  Kimura, however, does make the show unsuitable for audiences… well… younger than the show’s main cast, probably.

Shit (writing): I have very little problem with the bulk of the content.  I think the show works and the characters are relatable and delightful.  But I do have some gripes about translation, mostly in the dub.  Although I still maintain the dub is unusually good in acting and synchronization, they do take more liberties than I’d like with changing jokes, and the dub and sub both lose some subtlety in how characters address each other, as mentioned before.

On top of that, there are some odd localization choices in the dub.  For example, the way Yukari, their English teacher in the original Japanese, is not portrayed as teaching a foreign language at all in the dub, while still making a big deal of her foreign language skills outside of class, or how characters repeatedly say “taiyaki pastry” in the dub instead of just establishing once for the English-speaking audience that taiyaki is the name of a specific style of pastry and using the name “taiyaki” from then on.  Also, I know this is very small and specific, but I noticed a place in ep. 17 where they inserted a strained pun in the dub where there was intentional awkward silence in the sub, so that’s just… weird.

Shit (other): The animation is often sparse, and although this is usually fine, it does sometimes come off as cheap.  The biggest problem visually is that the DVDs I’m watching have noticeable and pretty frequent combing, which I was able to reduce but not eliminate by fiddling with video player settings.  On the other hand, kudos to the director for hitting a sweet spot on shots that are lingered on or actions that are repeated for “too long” (e.g., Nyamo demonstrating chopstick use, or any of the scenes of Chiyo and Osaka failing at sports, or Osaka trying to wake up Yukari) because they end up hilarious when they could have been tedious.

Oh, and I love the soundtrack.  Some people may also find the frequent use of recorders annoying, but those people are (1) wrong and (2) not writing this blog.  The soundtrack is appropriately lighthearted and/or relaxing.  The opening theme “Soramimi Cake” is catchy and accompanied by an opening credits sequence that decently shows who the main characters are.  But “Raspberry Heaven”, the ending theme… ah… the sequence accompanying it is a beautiful dream and the music is movingly bittersweet for reasons I lack the music theory background to articulate.  Like, this is a really weird example, but it conveys my feelings: have you seen Soylent Green?  You know the scene where Sol is listening to a medley of classical music while he’s being euthanized?  If the last thing I ever heard were “Raspberry Heaven”, I would die totally content.

Content Warning: Kimura.

—–

Stray observations:

- I think Kaorin may have been the first unambiguously gay character I saw in any anime.  Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura would’ve beaten Azumanga to the punch with representation, but I grew up on the butchered-for-pearl-clutching-audiences versions of those shows.

- Kimura has, incidentally, produced one piece of lasting weeb culture.  While trying to save his illustration for a proposed magical girl cheerleading outfit, he drops a picture of a woman.  Tomo picks it up and wonders out loud who it is.  Kimura responds, in heavily-accented English, “my waifu”.  So… yup.  We have him to thank for the whole waifu/hasubando phenomenon.  Or, well, the terminology, since attraction to fictional characters is probably a phenomenon as old as fiction itself.

- More of a fun fact than a stray observation, Kuricorder Orchestra, who collaborated with Oranges & Lemons on the Azumanga soundtrack, recorded two Yotsuba-inspired concept albums, which are also adorable.  They’re hard to come by in official copies, but I can’t help but notice that nobody seems to be stopping anyone from uploading them to YouTube...

- The background music in the cheerleading scene in ep. 6 is the “Grandpa Polka”, a.k.a. “The Clarinet Polka”, which fans of various other weird geeky media may recognize as the melody for the Candy Mountain song in “Charlie the Unicorn” and/or as the song between “Love Shack” and “Pump Up the Jam” in Weird Al’s medley “Polka Your Eyes Out”.

- My junior high, oddly, did have sports festivals somewhat like those depicted in anime, but I don’t hear much about other American schools doing similar things.

[roominthecastle]

A ‘bullet point text reaction’ post thing to the season premiere would be forking good. If you can spare the time in between all the rewatching and RL, which again might be messin with the rewatching. Ps. sexy librarian ftw.

Apologies for the late reply, anon, and thank you for the interest. I gave it a try but apparently I had a lot more rambling in me than expected, so I’m not sure how much the bullet point format will help. Still, I rolled w/ it behind the cut:

obv spoilers ahead for those who haven’t seen + it’s mostly Michael focused but who is surprised at this point? ok, here we go:

Yes. All hail the Sexy Librarian Guy! 👍

and his ~~flawless~~ Australian accent lmao. I am no native speaker but even I could hear it was just… delightfully off. I love this disaster zone demon so much.

and how pleased he was that Eleanor was pleased w/ that particular “intervention”. It’s a small but nice reminder of how making her happy makes him happy now. #oppositeTorturesRule

it’s a v small thing but I also loved the “fast food link”: Michael being ecstatic about the Pizza Hut/Taco Bell combo & Eleanor fantasizing about Chipotle during Chidi’s lecture on Aristotle. It reminded me of that s1 moment when she tells Michael about those Arizona churro dogs and they both just go ahhhhhhhh at the image + Judge Gen ofc (they love fast food in the afterlife)

also also the sweet ache of Michael being entangled in her ticker tape while insisting on nudgy-nudge-nudge her & Chidi together bc that’s how it should be is still pressing hard on my heart thank you v much

but

I think that being deprived of close contact w/ his humans is causing Michael to slide back into puppet master mode again. His motivation is different or “reformed” now (secretly helping instead of secretly torturing) but his methods, his itch to control everything (and failing), and the rigid focus on his goals are… not so much, imo, and I love it bc this is Michael: he is a nerd but also an idiot w/ Wile E. Coyote vibes. Janet tries to reel him in but she can’t. Eleanor was the only one who could control him and she was the only one whose advice he actively sought and listened to, but she cannot be there for him now, so yes, I am getting a lot of S1 vibes from this double ep complete w/ her unintentionally messing w/ his formula by not falling for Chidi & the arrival of Trevor. *rubs hands*

COCOONS

so many

so… squishy

and TODD! I never thought I would see him so soon but I was right: he is the best lava monster and fork you, Shawn, for being a jerk to him when he was nothing but supportive and even brought you guys Dunkin’ Spiders to snack on.

I love Shawn, he is the perfect baddie, and I love that we got another glimpse into how TBP operates w/ all their excruciatingly low-tech gadgets. It’s in sharp contrast to (even Michael’s fake) TGP where everything is so neat, efficient, and high-tech. It’s another nice reminder of how the torturers are also being made miserable in TBP in various ways. I can’t blame Michael for wanting to keep his failing experiment running as long as possible.

Judge Gen (who continues to be a delight and way too relatable w/ her binge-watching of media content) is so up to something, people. I cannot shake this feeling that this whole “Operation Resurrection” is not what it looks like on the surface at all. Maybe it’s an experiment within an experiment sort of deal. I mean, why does she trust Michael of all creatures w/ the monitoring duty at all?? She might be quirky but she is def not stupid. She must know he’s a natural rule breaker who’s incapable of sitting still for longer than 2 seconds and he’s not at all impartial here. The way she set this all up reminds me of the test she gave Jason, and Michael is already failing just like Jason did bc he couldn’t opt out of “playing” due to lack of impulse control and a massive personal bias regarding his favorite team, the Cockroaches. idk what this will mean long-term but I think he’s gonna be in a lot of trouble soon.

speaking of Jason and Michael: theirs is my favorite (sort of bonding) scene, hands down. Again, it reminded me of an early S2 moment when Jason stumbles on a brooding, lost Michael and tells him a dope story about his 60-person dance crew that unexpectedly inspires Michael to seek out Eleanor & Co. The situations are reversed here but it’s an excellent parallel, esp when you compare the two scenes and see the development in both characters and their relationship. Jason is a bit   more grounded and Michael is less dismissive and much kinder to him now. I also love Jason’s continued immunity to Michael’s b.s. It’s different from Eleanor’s (his is stupid-based and hers is about being smartbrained) but it works and pushes Michael to just level w/ him and the second he does, Jason becomes instantly receptive. It’s just a really really great character moment that also moves the plot, so it’s basically perfect. Also I think this is the moment when Michael is temporarily pulled from his puppet master mode due to being near one of his human friends again, and his other side peeks out as he lets himself rest a bit - it’s in his body language, too, as he leans back against the bridge railing and has a semi-honest chat w/ Jason.

Michael’s disguises are an eternal source of happiness to me. All of them (and based on promo pics, more is coming). I also love the way he approaches each human bc it is reminiscent of how he steered them during the reboots: to Eleanor he gave a small clue and just let her chew on it and work w/ it. W/ Chidi, he was more direct, posing as a wise helper/guide. W/ Tahani, he targeted her sense of self-worth. W/ Jason, he gave up after 5 seconds and just told him what he wanted him to do.

I doubt his aliases raised many eyebrows, tho, not in a universe where Simone has colleagues called Mrelk and Catapulp :D but Eleanor seemed to have a bit of a “hmm” reaction to the name of Dr. Charles Brainman, so… we’ll see.

Dr. Simone Garnett had probably the smoothest entry into an established character group, imo. I’m usually sensitive to changes like this but it’s like she’s always been here - another excellent casting choice right there. I am not gonna touch shipping issues, thank you, but I love how Simone’s presence, which is a lot of fun in itself, instantly enriched the landscape of relationship dynamics regarding the present, the future and also the past. I feel that every character combination exists somewhere in canon whether it’s explicitly on screen or not, and that’s just an incredibly freeing, resourceful attitude to have on a show w/ this sort of “multiverse” setup, imo. They have the premise, so why not milk its full potential? The writers use relationships as tools to aid character development, they have admitted as much already, and I am looking forward to seeing what other combos they have in mind and how they play out.

despite his limited screen time and despite him spending most of it being flat and emotionless, frog guy aka The Doorman managed to deliver the biggest punch in my heart w/ that reaction to Michael’s gift. I.crumbled. the way his flatness did when he saw the frog on the mug. Thank you, Mike O'Malley.

It’s probably a good thing that they are becoming buddies now bc w/ evil Trevor in the mix, Michael’s gonna turn that Earth entrance into a revolving door. Unless Judge Gen is onto him and steps in at some point. And I still don’t know how he will interact w/ the team now since they’ve all met him already and he was posing as a different person each time. And given his track record, whatever solution he comes up with, Eleanor will see right through him eventually anyway.

ok this is way too long already, so I’m just gonna say that I am very excited for this season, I love the new setup, I miss the fake Good Place but the university environment is growing on me fast, too, and just bring it, show, ok?

my body is ready

[darkspellmaster]

funny how the sh3 r4 fandom is probably going to ignore the show stereotyping and using disrespectful cliches of autists for a villain and only focus on the “rep” they try to force themselves to believe they got

What’s interesting in this situation that part of the whole reason for She-ra being made the way it was in the 80s was the idea of it being different than other girls shows at the time. It was an adventure story and yes there were tropes, but this show seemed to want to cover all sorts of bases and in doing so I think they shot themselves in the foot. 

Let me point out that Entrapta was and has always been a villain, so I can’t say that they just decided to make her such. However I can say that I think they, like Voltron, kind of took on more than they could chew. With Voltron it was the fact that they were putting a massive story that needed like 26 episodes a season to cover everything into basically six seasons with 13 eps a piece so a lot of things got cut off from that. 

In She-ra’s case I feel like they are putting too many of the Princesses in at the get go and not leaving any room for development for them. They are their tropes, for the most part, and that I think is an issue. The fact that their personalities and such can be paired down into key words bugs me because it feels like there’s not much there to begin with, or at least if they have things there there are too many characters to focus and give enough development too. 

Like take Perfuma, for example, how much do we know about her from her time on screen? Yes I know it’s the first season, but if she’s a main than she should be identifiable by more than her traits. 

Right now my main issue is some of the animation, and I’m giving that a bit of a pass because the artist are new to the job, and the writing, which I’m giving less too because they have two producers (and at least one that has had a longer experience in the field then the other) that should be working on the plotting and the creation, and it feels like they dumped everything into the first season and didn’t think about the others. Regarding rep, not sure how to take it honestly. For example, we’re told “Hey Bow has two dads.” Cool are we going to see them this season? No? Is he going to talk about them (Unless I missed something which I may have and correct me, politely, if I’m wrong)? Are we going to see them at all? No? Good on you for mentioning it, but unless it’s going to play a role in the story some how, I don’t see the point? This is not to say it’s not important, but rather, if it’s just stuff adding to his character that’s not going to be in the arc for him, then you could have waited a while to mention it. 

Stereotyping isn’t bad, persay, if you use it as a sort of guide or skeletal structure. And when I mean stereotype I mean the ones that make sense not the crap like “X character’s like watermelons because they are X race” if you get my drift on this old crappy bit of representation that was used way back in the 30s. Things that are like “Tall girls have a hard time walking in heels” or “Single parent can have trouble with child because of money” or things like that. These are types that can be used to build on and create a complex character. The problem is that the size of the cast already limits that. You could have kept a hand full of Princesses, (Mermista, Nettossa, Spinerella, and Perfuma) and held off on Sea Hawk and Frosta, and focused on this small group allowing Entrapta to grow a bit and for us to see different sides of her. 

This is always the issue with large casts and small seasons. They do not work. You either have to have a series where the characters are developed outside of the main show, IE Avengers or Big Hero 6 or JLA, where people already know who they are and you can run at the start with a large group because of it. Or you have to pair it way down to a hand full of people and focus only on them. I have yet to see a 13 episode series with a large cast do well developing all the characters properly because of time. 

The other aspect of this is the question of, how much research did the team do in regard to various things. Now I read that various characters were given the treatment that they were because of the fact that a lot of their backstory is built around personal experience, which is fine, as they saying goes write what you know. But that brings up a point of just because something affected you one way doesn’t mean it affected someone else the same way, and, again I point to dragon prince on this, it’s better to get people that work with people who have either the illness that you’re trying to showcase, or the relationship that you’re going for, to help create a greater view point and a wider net for the audience to get a stronger understanding of the issues with your character. TDP went and got people who work with and understand sign language to help them with Amaya and get her to behave the way that they need her too to make her a convincing character. I have to wonder if the same was considered at all for Entrapta if they are going for her being autistic. 

The issue is that they haven’t said one way or another. Is she just a quirky inventor, or is there more to her personality? 

[dotthings]

spn 14.05 is another solid ep, and I’m pretty excited for both Sam and Dean’s invididual storylines this season as well as how their dynamics are evolving.

Breaking my commentaries on the ep out into separate posts. This post is Sam and Dean’s individual arcs with some notes about how the bunker crew links with that since I had a lot to say.

Sam

SPN has been telegraphing Sam as ops manager and a leader of hunters for a few seasons, mostly in S12, so this isn’t coming out of nowhere, but it is also a little surprising because it is defying the expected roles. Dean has been head of family and leader of TFW (which he named) for a really long time. But rather than “stealing” Dean’s storyline—Dean has his own meaty storyline going on—this is a flip in roles. Sam is now the lead manager and strategizer watching over everyone while there is Something Wrong With Dean (more on that in the Dean section).

I have been wanting to see this for a long time—Winchesters as teachers of hunters.

Sam worried about Dean was Sam not sleeping and not shaving. Sam getting Dean back is Sam shaves again but left a little stubble I noticed...and now he is sleeping but only about 3-4 hrs a night which is like the grief beard is gone but leaves some stubble behind. What’s going on in your head, Sam?

He seems grounded and focused and I’m getting no vibe here of Sam trying to hide in being busy, otoh not sleeping enough and losing himself in his new role are red flags. Sam seems to be thriving, but the lack of downtime or full sleeps, he’s compensating for something he felt was lacking before. A sense of purpose other than just killing monsters. A whole bunker of people relies on him. This aligns with Cas finding sense of purpose in being a father to Jack. Jack trying to figure out his own role. Dean is adrift (more on that in the Dean section). What’s Sam’s role outside of Dean’s shadow and little brother, just as we ask what is Dean’s role outside of watching over Sam.

The bunker people are like the cantina is Star Wars. I noticed spn casts and costumes and dresses them non-generically. They are distinct, if un-named and unknown to us. Uptick in incidental casual representarion. Like the cantina, you know every one of them has a good story to tell but we aren’t going to see it. They are background. Worldbuilding. There to give main characters a frame. The crowdedness, the lack of connection the audience feels—kinda part of the point. It’s there to reflect on our main characters. Sam as leader, Dean feeling out of step. Hunter community at work.

Sam leads them and he knows them and cares—remember he knows them and audience doesn’t (please try to remember that distinction)—but he isn’t one of them. Sam takes point in saving Maggie and feels responsible for watching over this rookie hunter. He’s not in the group hug reunion with Maggie. He watches over them. SPN is having Sam and Dean witness a warm supportive hunter community circle, while they build and expand their extended family, Sam, Dean, Cas, and Jack all living under one roof even if some wander in and out, their connection with Jody and the Waywards, Mary (who is in and out) maybe AU Bobby...AU Charlie question mark...Rowena is possibly drawn into this as well, she is there in a pinch. But 4 steady bunker inhabitants.

The big warm circle that surrounds Maggie isn’t anything Sam and Dean had growing up...maybe SPN is showing them a possible future. Maybe telegraphing, maybe just a comment on what they’ve somewhat missed out on but are building for themselves, and the AU hunters will return home.

Sam is emerging amid all this into a role other than “little brother in distress” or “research guy.”

Dean

The annoyance Dean feels at the bunker overrun with strangers, the sense of being out of step, while Dean recovers from trauma—that’s all on purpose and it’s not here to diminish Dean or cut him out. Dean had drilled into him by John since the age of 4 that his only value was “watch out for Sammy” and then that expanded to “keep all my loved ones alive.” “You did it for me, for Jack, for family.” Or look at Dean’s devastation over losing Cas. It’s not just about Sam. Dean’s relationship with family is a mutli-armed thing. Dean doesn’t define himself looking after Cas the way he did with Sam but Dean’s primary role is still “protect the ones I love” and that encompasses Cas. Which is admirable but also what else is he? Just as Sam isn’t just little brother in peril research guy with demon blood. Who is Dean?

S14 is showing Dean’s trauma and showing us more of his geeky side. It’s explored how fear drives his actions at times. In this ep we see his out of stepness with the crowded bunker. Dean, without a whiff of restlessness or regret or resentment, accepts Sam’s new role. Dean still seems like head of family, emotionally. But Sam is managing a bunkerful of hunters and takes point to save Maggie. What role does Dean see for himself if “Sammy” is a capable, competent grown-ass adult with a skill for managing a whole team of hunters and has become a mentor to them? Dean has already mentored Sam and now the mentor is mentoring others. Which fits with Sam and Dean mentoring Cas who is now teaching Jack how to hunt.

The talk Dean has with the old man’s daughter, about the old man, yells with John parallels. The father consumed with his work who emotionally neglected his children. All the things we know of how John raised his kids, not just neglect but at the least emotional abuse. The horrors he drew his children into. Dean advising her to put it behind her, to not let the bad feelings and hurt define her and how he tries to do that “every day” inplies it’s not the least bit easy and it’s a work in progress. It’s not about forgiveness even. It’s an admission it’s not okay what happened but he’s also not willing to let it consume him. It doesn’t define him. Dean has come to terms with John as a not great father. He had his confrontation with Mary, he loves her and hates her and forgives her. Dean’s his own person, not consumed with pleasing his parents. It hurts but he’ll keep moving forward. He’s trying to figure out how not to drown in the post-Michael trauma—no getting over it but he’ll keep putting one foot in front of the other and be Dean as much as he can. Not avoiding or denying. It just is.

Dean’s post-Michael trauma isn’t healed but Dean seems to be moving towards some self-acceptance. He’s not threatened by Sam as leader he just isn’t sure what his role is while Sam is doing that. He’s so used to his job being watching over someone who is now on more even footing with him. Roles change. Characters evolve—as they certainly should on a show over a decade old.

As I expected, Michael Dean continues to be an A-plot. This time sneaking into a MOTW. So we have flashbacks and we have Dean being directly confronted in realtime with the dominoes Michael knocked over, his supermonsters.

That djinn saw something horrifying when it touched Dean. It was something that scared the beejesus out if a djinn who specializes in feeding off other people’s fears. So it’s something that scares the djinn, not just something Dean fears. WTF did the djinn see inside Dean?

Maybe my theory about sleeper Michael hiding in there isn’t wrong, or maybe it’s something even scarier than Michael.

So for Dean we have a slow burn self-acceptance and how he is dealing with his trauma, Dean coming to terms with the nature of his parents as parents, Dean trying to figure out how he fits in the crowded bunker, Dean’s role re-aligning as he and Sam move past their childhood roles of “Dean protect Sammy” as their primary mechanism, and Dean continuing to be faced with his nemesis, Michael, via fallout...his mirror as well as Michael represents some fears Dean has about the darker aspects of himself.

There’s a lot going on for both Sam and Dean and in turn the relationship is growing into a space where I’m regaining some of my feeling of connection with it that I lost. While placing them in context of being part of the wider family of TFW 2.0 and plonking a warm supportive hunter community under their noses for them to witness. Oh and Cas is with Jack in Sarasota, a beach community, after Dean’s talk last season about TFW retiring on a beach.